It's a really brilliant show, this, in that gets-under-your-skin kind of way had by only a tiny handful of anime series. And keep in mind that this thing came out in <i>2001</i>, years before the plague of moe and "slice of life" shows hit full force and way, WAY before K-On (like, by eight years). It's no masterpiece (I'd put it on the level of Uta-Kata or the first Higurashi), mostly for the reasons you mention, but it gets much props from me for deconstructing the post-Azumanga slice-of-life brood before they even left their shells.
Ah, that's been on my mind ever since I've seen Alien Nine, and now it's been made clear to me: The Iceberg Theory. (Why didn't I think of Hemingway, since he's the master of this!?) It had been flipping and flopping around in my thoughts whenever I've tried to express what's happening in Alien Nine on a larger (and subtler) scale. It was difficult to say exactly what was at work in this OVA, and I didn't think all of the omissions were just a product of poor production (some of them, perhaps, but not all of them). I think they had something else going on that wasn't explicitly presented as neat concrete info. There was something else about the story-telling that suggested that they in fact were giving us the story, the sense.
Maybe that's why I never really complained or been bothered by what's not there; what was there is what rightfully should have been there all along - and it was! It just hadn't been given to me with a nice bow and packaging, and I don't hold that against it.
If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to have to think some more about this, lest this iceberg sink me. Thanks for sharing more of your thoughts on this. I find it very helpful with my own!
Edit: Aww, you didn't wait for the flower petals to enter the screencap! I thought that bit was an amusing touch during that scene.
Last edited by Pleiades Rising at 1:47:26 AM EDT on May 11, 2010.
Fasteriskhead
Otakuite++ | Posted 05/11/10 | Reply
It's a really brilliant show, this, in that gets-under-your-skin kind of way had by only a tiny handful of anime series. And keep in mind that this thing came out in <i>2001</i>, years before the plague of moe and "slice of life" shows hit full force and way, WAY before K-On (like, by eight years). It's no masterpiece (I'd put it on the level of Uta-Kata or the first Higurashi), mostly for the reasons you mention, but it gets much props from me for deconstructing the post-Azumanga slice-of-life brood before they even left their shells.
Pleiades Rising
Otaku Idol (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 05/11/10 | Reply
Ah, that's been on my mind ever since I've seen Alien Nine, and now it's been made clear to me: The Iceberg Theory. (Why didn't I think of Hemingway, since he's the master of this!?) It had been flipping and flopping around in my thoughts whenever I've tried to express what's happening in Alien Nine on a larger (and subtler) scale. It was difficult to say exactly what was at work in this OVA, and I didn't think all of the omissions were just a product of poor production (some of them, perhaps, but not all of them). I think they had something else going on that wasn't explicitly presented as neat concrete info. There was something else about the story-telling that suggested that they in fact were giving us the story, the sense.
Maybe that's why I never really complained or been bothered by what's not there; what was there is what rightfully should have been there all along - and it was! It just hadn't been given to me with a nice bow and packaging, and I don't hold that against it.
If you'll excuse me now, I'm going to have to think some more about this, lest this iceberg sink me. Thanks for sharing more of your thoughts on this. I find it very helpful with my own!
Edit: Aww, you didn't wait for the flower petals to enter the screencap! I thought that bit was an amusing touch during that scene.
Last edited by Pleiades Rising at 1:47:26 AM EDT on May 11, 2010.