Trying to Explain...Toriko

Welcome to the final installment (for now) of 'Trying to Explain...Anime'. In honor of the holiday of Thanksgiving (as well as Black Friday, since it is often treated as a holiday), let us talk more about food.

I can figure out some of you already thinking, "Wait, so there are some manga and anime that focus on food?" Pretty much, yes.

Really, there is a surprising amount of food-based anime that have come and gone. Right now, there is 'Shokugeki no Soma', a manga series dealing with the protagonist training in one of the most illustrious (and incredible tough) culinary schools. The author of the manga collaborated with an actual chef to come up with a lot of the recipes that are used in the story. Also tends to use a lot of metaphors of describing the food, along with imagery that makes them look downright amazing.

There was also the 'Fightin Foodon' series, which had different food and dishes transforming into creatures that fought one another. It certainly fits the more ridiculous side of anime, with a lot more comedy thrown in. It has so much that some would've considered it a rip-off of the 'Pokemon' anime, but it embraces its over-the-top nature to a higher degree than 'Pokemon'.

As for the series today, it certainly places emphasis on food, how to capture it and prepare it for eating. The thing is, getting the ingredients can be a daunting task, one suited only for hunters specialized for such a task.

One such 'Gourmet Hunter' is the titular character, Toriko!

(This ain't your typical Shonen anime)

Debuting in 2008, 'Toriko' is a Shonen manga focusing on a cast of characters hunting down the rarest of ingredients, often going to dangerous locales to capture, prepare and eat. Seems simple enough, except for the hundreds of dangers in their world, like powerful monsters capable of destroying cities and organizations bent on capturing the best ingredients for themselves.

The image itself speaks for itself, standing out from the usual shonen stories by subverting old tropes. For example, the titular hero Toriko isn't a kid nor teenager. He's that big blue-haired, muscle bound man in the orange jumpsuit. He is also a Gourmet Hunter, one whose been trained to fight off some of the most monstrous creatures in the world and eat to his heart's content. His body, alongside other Gourmet Hunters, possess 'Gourmet Cells', granting them incredible physiques that can perform amazing techniques. For Toriko, he utilizes a fighting style with his hands as a 'fork' and 'knife' (a clawed and chopping hand respectively), as well as the 'Nail Punch', which allows him to strike an area or person with repeated and focused force.

As with most Shonen stories, Toriko isn't alone in his adventures. He is later joined by his old friend Coco (the guy in black and green) who uses poisons in order to defeat monsters. I'm not talking about setting traps with poisons either: his body is composed of so much poison that he is capable of launching it outwards like bullets and even form into hardened objects like arrows and armor. There is also Sunny, whose flamboyant hair is so long and so strong that it is capable of lifting objects several hundred times his own size. Like Toriko, they are also Gourmet Hunters.

But what is a Gourmet Hunter without a Gourmet Chef?

Enter Komatsu, a chef from a five star restaurant under the IGO Corporation, which helps in maintaining the food supply and research into new flavors and ingredients. While he may not possess the combat skills that would benefit Gourmet Hunters, he does have the fine cooking skill to prepare the captured ingredients for consumption. Also think of him as the eyes of the readers, seeing just how strange this world truly is through the eyes of someone living in it.

(Like this green haired guy attacking the pressure points of this one handed clown)

(How about the massive 'Regal Mammoth', who is miles across big that eats smaller animals through its two nostrils)

(Then there's the time Toriko fought a guy with four arms that uses a GIANT STRAW as a weapon.)

Can't tell if I've already said it before, but anime and manga are so weird.

Anyway, there is a big prize at the end of this adventure. Long story short, the world was involved in an intense war that destroyed millions of lives thanks to food shortages. Thanks to the discover and consumption of legendary ingredients (the chief among them being named GOD), the leaders of the world came to a true and the 'Gourmet Age' was born. Now, Toriko is among the many who go out to see these legendary ingredients, as well as the IGO and villainous groups like the Bishokuyou.

So, are all these ingredients really as great as they sound? Well...

...there is the Rainbow Fruit, a long-thought extinct fruit whose juices are capable of turning an olympic-sized pool into said juice, whose flavor can change seven times in a person's mouth while eating it...

...there is the Jewel Meat, a piece of the dangerous Regal Mammoth, that combines all the tastes of other meats into one, which glistens the air through its bright radiance...

...there is the Century Soup, a rare delicacy that can only be made every one hundred years in the inhospitable 'Ice Hell' continent, whose taste and aura is capable of satisfying those that manage to acquire it (while leaving a dopey smile across their faces)...

...okay, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. Thankfully, that is why we have Thanksgiving leftovers.

Until next time...

Trying to Explain...Ouran High School Host Club

Continuing on with trying to explain some anime series, I'm keeping to the theme of 'comedy' while also wanting to talk a bit more about the 'shoujo' genre of manga.

For those who are unaware, 'shoujo' manga is the equivalent of 'shonen' manga, instead focusing on girl readers instead of boys. It focuses more on female protagonists instead of males, tends to have more romantic plots and story resolutions that have characters grow as, well, characters. It has also been know to feature a lot of homosexual relationships, whether it is between boys (called yaoi) or between girls (called yuri). It doesn't exactly go to the levels were it would be referred to as 'josei' manga (more for older women), but it is an easy point for people to make light fun with (nothing serious, of course).

Something else that would need an explanation would be the 'host club'. Think of it as a 'home away from home' for female workers of hostess clubs, where instead of pampering overworked salarymen, they are the ones pampered instead. Sex isn't involved, just a lot of flattery and flirting at a cost rate that could make your heads' spin.

Here, we have the 'Ouran High School Host Club', which can be considered the PG version of a standard host club. A group of boys in a high school for the ultra rich host (get it?) the club as a means to spend some free time with the girls of the same school. A new arrival ends up in debt to them due to breaking something expensive, so they must work for them until the debt is paid off (which tends to build on occasion). They quickly find out the new arrival isn't actually a boy, but a girl, which they try to hide so that they don't get into too much trouble (I think). Don't worry about this, since its actually revealed in the first episode.

(Though, now you have the pleasure of figuring out which is the girl. Good luck.)

Let me at least go through the main cast, so that you can figure out where everyone fits in the group.
We have:

• Kyouya Otori, the business end of the host club, managing all their finances with an air of calm to counteract the group's buffoonery, 
• The twins, Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachin,
• Mitsukuni Haninozuka, also known as 'Hani' (pronounced 'Honey') is the small scale student who is actually one of the oldest students in the group,
• Takashi Morinozuka, also known as 'Mori', who is actually the friend/bodyguard to Hani due to their families,
• and we have Tamaki Suoh, the 'leader' of the Ouran Host Club with a flair for the dramatic (and goofiness, at least unintentionally).

Actually, wait, I'm leaving out one person. Haruhi Fujioka, the newest student of the ultra rich high school.

Yep, probably took you awhile to realize it too.

(The wonders of modern cosmetics and human gullibility)

Considering how there are female voice actors that also voice young male characters, it may actually come off as a surprise to anyone watching it the first time. After all, the twins and 'Hani' are also voiced by female voice actors (both in the original Japanese and English dub).

Really, the series is quite light-hearted while still having moments of drama and comedy tossed in from time to time. Not to mention some character development not just for Haruhi, but also most of the host club members themselves. It also tends to parody the 'shoujo' style of manga stories while also embracing it.

Keeping that in mind, I don't see many male viewers grabbing onto this as quickly as you would think. Some may not want to gravitate to something considered 'girly' and would do better to ignore it. Not to mention people who don't understand how characters like 'Hani', Kyouya or Tamaki are popular both within the show and without.

In the end, it is a rather well-done parody that highlights 'shoujo' style manga while also showing off what makes it popular.

Until next time...

Trying to Explain...Shimoneta

Going to continue this month's themes of trying to explain some of the different anime and manga. This next one deals with a subject matter that is quite familiar to a lot of people: censorship. People want to protect their children from inappropriate acts such as dirty jokes, extreme violence, and foul language. It isn't bad in of itself, but it can be pushed to extremes that would do more harm than good. This is where this series comes in.

Debuting in the summer of 2015, we have...Shimoneta!

(A world which George Carlin himself would rebel against.)

In truth, the full title of the series is "Shimoneta to lu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai", which comes out translated as "A Boring World where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist". Yeah, its an interesting subject matter to tackle in anime, a medium that can get into more 'risque' matters. However, there is a clear point in this case.

For some who are unaware, Japan is a lot more strict in its day to day lifestyle than one would initially think. A lot of jobs, from the white collar to blue collar, tend to put a focus on their work and ignoring outside distractions. Anime is an outlet for those emotions put away, as to help balance that lifestyle of hard work and hard play (at least how I'm trying to view it). Think of it as going to a strict school, where you need to be on your best behavior, but once you get back home, you can be more open and expressive with your more 'expletive' interests. Its all about finding that balance.

Still, there are those who want to push the boundaries further on what could be subjected or not. There may be good reasons behind it, but not always to the support of the whole population. Going too extreme with it may lead to some unfortunate problems in the future. This anime happens to capture that a lot more than some would realize.

(Though, you get stuff like this makes it hard to take it seriously)

The story is actually set years after the more heavily-enforced censorship laws were set in Japan (where sex education films were shown involving insects, not people). People care constantly monitored to watch their behavior and language, even amongst students. Tanukichi Okuma, one of our main characters, ends up discovering the identity of a 'ero-terrorist' Blue Snow, who is actually member of his school's student council, Ayame Kajou (aka, the girl in the pic above). As a result, she ropes him into her activities as part of SOX, as a means to spread sexual education (sometimes) to inform the improperly informed, usually while waiting underwear over their faces (anime, after all).

So, what exactly has me personally so surprised with this anime? In a way, I kind of look at it as a social commentary of taking sexual censorship too far. Aside from a sex education film that features insects mating, information on subjects human conception and 'flirting' are close to nil. That's kind of important information to keep open, especially if you want to keep the human race going. This is especially true if you want someone to avoid nearly committing rape cause they were unfamiliar with the difference between love and lust.

Enter Anna Nishikinoyama.

Anna is the leader of the student council of the same school as Ayame and Tanukichi. She had been raised to keep down anything considered 'dirty', despite having no knowledge of what they could be. She is still considered nice, though ends up locking lips with Tanukichi after the latter saved her from a minor attack (both ended up falling down, Tanukichi on top of Anna.) She ends up falling in love with him, but her pursuit for the same love in return is a bit...extreme.

Despite being raised in an environment that holds clean morals high and dismisses the obscene (thanks to her parents), Anna is unable to properly display her affection in a way deemed 'appropriate'. This has led to very uncomfortable situations between her and Tanukichi, particularly when other women are involved. The extremes she goes to often involve breaking out violent maneuvers in order to get her way, like threatening someone with a knife after pinning them down to the ground. She believes in her pursuit of love to be 'just' and 'pure', not realizing her methods make more along the lines of a sexual predator.

Really, her behavior is more along the lines of a 'yandere', one who is crazy in love with someone and willing to commit violent acts to get their 'affection'.

(Now you can put a face to the crazy. Enjoy!)

So yeah, another anime series many can write off as being immature also has some deeper meaning to it regarding today's social issues.

Don't get me wrong, there are some people out there who won't get into this kind of anime for its inappropriate content. Its okay, since it isn't being forced on them (or at least it shouldn't be). But there is far worse than this out there, often for a quick buck. When you get some real thought put into this kind of subject matter, it certainly stands out more.

Be sure to catch it online on sites like CrunchyRoll and Funmination.

Until next time...

Trying to Explain...Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Yeah, had a thought recently about some of the anime and manga coming from Japan. Some of this is pretty straight forward, but others can be a bit...weirder (by Western standards, anyway).

Figured it would make for an interesting theme this month: trying to explain a few popular, but still somewhat out there manga and anime series for those who aren't familiar with the medium. We're going to going into a bit of spoiler territory, so please keep that in mind.

First up is a series that I've started getting into recently: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure!

(One Big Dysfunctional Family)

Oh boy, where do we begin? Okay, the series was created by Hirohiko Araki back in the 1986 that was part of Shonen Jump until 2004, when it was soon published by seinen magazine Ultra Jump. For anyone unfamiliar with the terms, 'Shonen' refers to younger readers between 8 and 18 (give or take), while 'Seinen' refers to an older audience. Considering how much stuff you can get away with Shonen manga, it says a lot of what Seinen manga is capable of.

Anyway, the series is considered an action adventure with elements of the supernatural, horror and thriller tossed in. It is a generational story, focusing on the members of the Joestar family as they fight against evil. The earliest part of the story takes place in the 1880s and stretches onward into the 2000s and even alternate realities. We're just getting started here, so please hold on to your seats.

As you can no doubt tell by the above picture, a lot of the characters can be rather...flamboyant. It is part of Araki's way of parodying manga like 'Fist of the North Star', which features a more serious and manly protagonist treated as a 'man's man'.  Hence, what we got here is a but of equally manly-men (and women) who tend to pose in outrageous ways from time to time. Humor is also tossed in, which helps set the series as truly 'bizarre'.

I will give in with a few details of the first couple of story arcs (for lack of a better word) of this massive series.

It all starts in the 'Phantom Blood' arc, taking place in the 1880s with an English nobleman named Jonathan Joestar. His life changed when his father adopted a street urchin named Dio Brando. With nothing but pain and suffering to inflict on the world, Dio utilized an ancient Aztec mask to become a vampire and try to take over the world. Jon himself steps in to try and stop him, learning the ways of 'Hamon' martial arts to fight him. Here, 'Hamon' is utilizing hot blood cells in the body for attacks, making it an excellent counter against the cold heart of vampires like Dio.

The next story, 'Battle Tendency', picks up in 1938 during World War 2. Jonathan's grandson, Joseph Joestar, ends up wrapped up in the story to stop a group called the 'Pillar Men'. As it turns out, this group was ressurected by the Nazi occultists to try and win the war, but end up going their own to try and conquer the world. They were also the ones who originally created the Aztec mask from the previous story. 'Hamon' is once again brought up and utilized to combat the 'Pillar Men', though utilized in a different form through the clever Joseph.

The third story is 'Stardust Crusaders', taking place in the 1980s, with Jotaro Kujo. The grandson to Joseph Joestar, he must track down and defeat an evil that has corrupted his mother in order to save her life. He ends up traveling halfway around the world and must combat dangerous enemies alongside new allies. Here, the combat changes from the 'Hamon' style into the more psionic/spiritual manifestation of 'Stands'. These are created by an intense force from a person, often manifesting in different forms depending on their abilities. The names for these 'Stands' range from Tarot cards to Egyptian gods to even musicians and bands.

(Plus it helps that the first three actually have their stories adapted to anime)

Speaking of musicians, Hirohiko Araki enjoys a lot of Western music, particularly the rock genre. Hence, if you look at a lot of the characters and stands, you can point out the different references they make to music. For example, the villain of the first arc, Dio Brando, is named after rock metal legend Ronnie James Dio. Also in the first arc is Robert Edwards O. Speedwagon (after the group REO Speedwagon) and Will A. Zeppeli (named after the band Led Zeppelin). Other references are dotted throughout the series, such as :

• The 'Pillar Men' are named Santana (after the rock band of the same name), Esidisi (after the rock band AD/DC), Wammu (after the band Wham!), and Kars (the new wave rock band The Cars). 
• Mohammed Avdol from 'Stardust Crusaders' is named after the musician Paula Abdul.
• Jean Pierre Polnareff from the same series is named after french musician Michel Polnareff.
• A villain from 'Stardust Crusaders' was named Steely Dan (like the musician, of course), but translation changes made him into 'Dan of Steel'.

Judging by that last name, you can see how the translation meanings have shifted from East to West. Copyright laws a bit different in Japan than in the US, enabling Hirohiko Araki to get away with naming much of his characters after musicians without needed to worry about royalty fees or the like. When it came time to translate the series into the West, that was when the fees hit and it has become a bit of a problem for a few decades. They figured away around it by altering some of the more noticeable names into different ones, like the 'Steely Dan' name from before and others, like a character named Vanilla Ice (after the white rapper of the same name) became Cool Ice. It worked out, especially since we've gotten the aforementioned anime series recently.

The series itself is more fascinating than meets the eye. Even after all these years of being unable to be properly brought to the West, 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure' has managed to gain and sustain an audience to last through several volumes of stories. From action to drama, supernatural to comedy, the story managed to jump through genres like it was no big issue. Really, I don't blame people for having such a hard time getting into it. Hopefully now, you'll have a better understand once you get through the first few stories.

I recommend starting in the beginning of each story arc, of course, as a jumping on point. Whether it be 'Phantom Blood' or 'Stardust Crusaders', the earlier arcs are a good way to understand just what is going on in that universe.

Until next time...