Backlog Marathon #2 - The Divergence of Military Moe

Backlog Marathon

issue #2

The Divergence of Military Moe

 

Military moe is a niche subgenre that combines the contrasting elements of bishoujo works and military technology into a harmonized environment that allows them to thrive in coexistence. Simply put, it's the art of letting a cute girl shoot a big gun. It's letting a moe bishoujo heroine drive a Humvee. It's a slice of life cast that's always hanging out at the naval base in town. It's allowing young women to fly in the kind of attack formation one would learn about in aviation training. While the moe boom is largely associated with KyoAni's rise in the 2000s, its roots stretch back well into the '80s and '90s. Japanese creatives of the era had inherited the aftermath of a century rocked by war and conflict. Their perspective was built by the images and words of their predecessors. In the late hours of the cold war, the concept of "military" became a novelty for the Japanese. They had long been defanged since the adoption of the MacArthur Constitution in 1947 which stripped the country's right to declare war and maintain an active military force. The compromise was the creation of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, more commonly known as the JSDF. Japanese citizens growing up in the late 20th century were largely distanced from conflict, but were frequently exposed to military technology through the JSDF and the presence of United States armed forces in the country.

As such, moe otaku and military otaku were frequently overlapping circles in the culture of manga and anime as time crept toward the new millennium. The rise of Gundam in the 1980s was a major catalyst for this phenomenon. The earliest contributions to the mecha genre, now known as "super robot" works, were largely fantastical stories where the robot served as an analog for the modern superhero. Yoshiyuki Tomino's work on Mobile Suit Gundam transformed the genre's potential by creating a context in which the robot could exist as a byproduct of scientific progress. To accomplish this, the robot needed a realistic purpose for existing. Tomino soberly provided a fitting context - warfare. A massive weapon with high destructive capability would no doubt be a tool of conflict in any time period. Despite the role of Gundam as a war drama that challenged the existence of a righteous conflict, it had the unintended side effect of exhibiting the appeal of military technology and strategy when divorced from real life consequences. Further entries in the "real robot" genre helped cultivate an entire generation of military otaku who were equally passionate about the medium.

The earliest flirtations between military hardware and moe bishoujo culture took place during this time frame. Moe anthropomorphism wouldn't become a major fixation in otaku spaces until the rise of internet culture during the early 2000s, but that didn't stop visionaries in the 1980s from drawing Gundam fanart that depicted the mecha robots as cute girls. Two decades later, Japanese artist Shimada Humikane would revitalize this concept and expand it to real world military technology. This would become known as "mecha shoujo", but many still refer to it with the name that Humikane gave his own creations - mecha musume. The very same year that Lucky Star aired, Humikane's partnership with Japanese entertainment giant Konami helped produce one of the earliest military moe anime - Sky Girls. While not the first of its kind, the show airing in close proximity to the moe boom and the subsequent release of Humikane's passion project Strike Witches secured a decade of military moe works that have only recently begun to thin out.

I'm not a huge military enthusiast by anyone's metric, but I can abstract a gun away from its capability to produce harm. A machine only scrutinized by its form, function, and ability becomes legitimate artwork. I think fictional stories are an effective purifier that pose an interesting question: can a tool of destruction be sanctioned a role divorced from its context of use? Military moe, to me, is one of the most compelling arguments in its favor. It is philosophical hedonism to understand a weapon's role in real world struggles but allow it to be appreciated through iconography removed from harm. One may even ascribe intrinsic harm in doing so, as if depiction alone implies sanction. But it's an indulgence we should allow ourselves because there is a valuable tragedy to be found in a machine that was built for destruction. It's a sickly sweet idealism, yet a necessary counterbalance to avoid drowning in cynicism. Sometimes it's okay to go, "wow, cute girls with a cool gun!" or, "wow, cute girl with a cool tank!" or, "wow, cute girl with a cool plane!" and not agonize meaninglessly over it. We're talking about Japanese animation for teenagers, not America's Army. The moe bishoujo heroine is trying to end war. This isn't the recruitment drive!

After completing my rewatch of the World Witches anime series, my craving for military moe anime persisted despite the extensive venture. Luckily, I hadn't checked in on my backlog for quite some time. I already had two anime lined up that fit the criteria and there was no better moment to push them up in the queue. While they both stem from very similar origins, the anime themselves turned out to be quite different. I decided it would be fun to compare and contrast their qualities while exploring their place in the military moe canon. Instead of watching these shows individually, I swapped back and forth between the two after each episode. This gave me a much clearer perspective on their respective strengths and weaknesses as I followed the progression of both stories in tandem with each other. Now that I've completed both anime, I'll be able to share the fruits of that labor.

On one side, we have Vividred Operation - a 2013 original anime project directed by Strike Witches series lead Kazuhiro Takamura and produced under A-1 Pictures. In the opposite corner is Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai (The Magnificent Kotobuki), a 2019 anime tie-in for a mobile game that was directed by Girls und Panzer creator Tsutomu Mizushima with animation co-produced by GEMBA and WAO World. Both of these men have a major role in the modern military moe landscape, and these projects can be seen as an extension of their respective skills. Does their effort stand up to scrutiny or do they miss the mark on producing something worthwhile outside of their flagship work? How do they stand up to their contemporaries? Hell, are they any good in the first place? On the long awaited second installment of Backlog Marathon, all these questions and more you haven't thought about will be answered here and now. It's time to determine if I was enriched by pure cut otaku culture or burdened by mediocre tripe padded with combat sequences!

 

Side Takamura: Vividred Operation (2013)

Kazuhiro Takamura got his start as a humble in-between animator in the late '80s under the animation subcontractor Nakamura Production. He would frequently provide support on a wide variety of anime projects over the next two decades. However, his career path truly began in 1995 when he was brought on board at studio Gainax to assist with their newest project - Shinseiki Evangelion (Neon Genesis Evangelion). He remained close with the studio while continuing his support work, providing key animation and storyboards on Hideaki Anno's adaptation of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances) and the OVA series FLCL. When Gainax teamed up with SHAFT in 2001 to animate Mahoromatic, Takamura served as chief animation director for the first time in his career. This also gave him the opportunity to provide character designs for the anime; a role he would frequently take in future projects. 

His first stint as lead director would not come from Gainax. As fate would have it, a different studio comprised by former Gainax staff recruited Takamura to oversee a passion project they were working on. The studio's name was Gonzo, and the anime was none other than Humikane's Strike Witches. This opportunity fundamentally changed the course of his entire career. He took on an even greater load of the work when the series changed hands to AIC for Strike Witches 2, ensuring the franchise would become his life's work. As Gainax fell from grace in the early 2010s, he left the old haunt behind and performed the last of his animation support work. After returning as director on the 2012 Strike Witches film, Takamura had earned enough confidence and industry connections to leverage for a television anime of his own design.

In the early 2010s, Aniplex's internal production studio A-1 Pictures was seeking out more opportunities to produce original anime projects. They had already reinforced this commitment by participating in the Anime no Chikara initiative with TV Tokyo, releasing three original shows in 2010 which included the military moe cult classic Sora no Woto (Sound of the Sky). Despite the uphill battle to make these productions financially viable, A-1 did not relent as they continued to invest further. Japanese screenwriter Hiroyuki Yoshino had become acquainted with the studio after assisting on Black Butler and taking the lead scriptwriter role on Sora no Woto. At the time, he was better known for his work at Sunrise, particularly for being the lead writer on the supernatural mahou shoujo series Mai-HiME. The real freaks will recognize him as the brazen mind behind the breastfeeding action romp known as Seikon no Qwaser (The Qwaser of Stigmata). Takamura, whose deep appreciation for feminine butts was well explored in the Strike Witches universe, would team up with Yoshino to co-write an original work for the A-1 Pictures lineup. 

Vividred Operation is a collaboration between two like minds; a statement with positive and negative connotations. It's a magical girl story where young women fight giant monsters - familiar territory for these two men as Mai-HiME and Strike Witches had at least this much in common. But it's also a cartoonish science fiction adventure with the kind of drama nine year old girls watch PreCure to experience. Do you know who the other demographic of PreCure is? Fully grown otaku men above the age of thirty. This show is for them. It's the only anime I've ever watched that has power scaling based on friendship. The enemy creatures our heroines fight are called the "Alone" which may have something to do with the thematic undercurrent at play here. It has the conventional mahou shoujo plotline involving an evil magical girl that is actually misunderstood and being emotionally manipulated by the true villain. Most importantly, it has voluptuous butts, bountiful breasts. and thinly veiled homoerotic imagery. The magical girls are capable of "docking" by exposing each other to their deepest secrets triggered by a forehead kiss. Everyone's attacks have the word "naked" in them for an undisclosed reason.

 

 

In this story, the world's energy crisis has been fully solved thanks to Japan's role in creating the Manifestation Engine - an island bound structure capable of constructing raw energy from the atmosphere and distributing it across the globe. Our plucky protagonist Akane Isshiki lives in the island community of Izu Oshima with her grandfather Kenjirou, a research scientist who helped invent the machine that brought about world peace. Akane has a carefree existence delivering newspapers on her flying bike, attending middle school, and eating copious amounts of mayonnaise. This utopian status quo is shattered by the arrival of the Alone who seek to destroy the Manifestation Engine and plunge humanity into an age of darkness. Kenjirou was made aware of this threat years prior and failed to secure military support to prevent it. Instead he invents the nebulous Vivid System and creates the Operation Key for Akane to use, but this process incidentally transfers his soul into a stuffed otter doll and turns him into the show's animal mascot. The key allows Akane to tap into the overflowing energy of the Manifestation Engine and transform into a flying red streak of justice with a giant boomerang that is capable of destroying these alien enemies with the raw strength of friendship no jutsu.

In the same way that Yoshika Miyafuji's brute force ironically scaled with her healing magic, Akane has the ability to acquire destructive power by cultivating friendships. She is the nicest, most understanding young girl on the planet whose sheer optimism could create sunshine and cast rainbows. Using the Vivid System, she is able to create new keys to allow only the truest of friends to assist her struggle against the Alone. The first half of the show builds up her team of colorful allies, one episode at a time. Each one of them even has a unique ED sequence with Akane. The blue key goes to Akane's best friend Aoi Futaba, equipping her with a giant hammer. When the two are forced to switch schools, they meet the other two members of the team. Takamura borrowed notes from Mio Sakamoto of Strike Witches fame to create the kendo club captain Wakaba Saegusa, a highly competitive sword fighter who initially clashes with Akane but ultimately acknowledges her resolve and accepts the green key. The final spot goes to Himawari Shinomiya, a reclusive hacker who the gang has to drag back to school. She admires Akane's grandfather so much that she naturally interfaces with the Vivid System and secures the yellow key. This allows her to use what are basically Gundam bits that can swap between offense and defense.

The fifth episode introduces Rei Kuroki, a brooding black haired girl who goes to school with our heroines and is secretly helping the Alone by shooting them with shimmering arrows to increase their power. The writers very quickly dispel any pretense of her being truly evil. After all, she tends to animals! She saves children from getting hurt! They farm the tragedy of this lonely young girl who was forced to become evil when she clearly has a heart of gold. I very recently rewatched Flip Flappers which had this exact setup with Yayaka so this is pretty familiar territory for me. The viewer can tell she is dying to be friends with Akane and company, but her soul crushing past has trapped her on the path of darkness as she seeks the destruction of the Manifestation Engine. An evil crow shows up to her house every other episode and inflicts pain on her just to increase the suffering. She is the most alone person alive and has the only solo ED in the anime. Akane will painstakingly spend the entire show begging her to join Team Friendship.

Despite this being billed as an ecchi anime, it's not all that risque outside of the frequent low angle crotch shots and a few scenes with nipple exposure. The only exception to this is the state mandated swimsuit episode. All these middle schoolers wear booty shorts but the most suggestive visuals in the show tend to be whichever part of the transformation sequence played that episode. When one of the other members docks with Akane, they turn into a voluptuous aged up super magical girl that matches that matches the docker's color. These fusions are known as "Operations" and they come in four flavors - Vividblue, Vividgreen, Vividyellow, and of course, Vividred. The last one is a little special, if the title of the anime didn't already give it away. In a similar fashion to Strike Witches, the actual combat sequences are often the climax of a character driven plot that frames the whole episode. The girls tackle their own personal struggles and engage in folly as they anticipate the appearance of their next enemy. There are several side characters that orbit around our main heroines but have no presence to speak of beyond propping up the set dressing. Kenjirou cycles between being the dedicated gag character and acting as the primary source of exposition for the few aspects of the plot the writers felt like explaining.

 

 

You may be wondering how the "military" aspect of this military moe program comes into play. "Passively" is the best way I can describe it. Kenjirou works with the military through his contact at the bureau which oversees the Manifestation Engine. They send out fighter jets and naval ships to help assist the girls, but they're essentially operating as superheroes at the lease of the National Defense Force. Our heroines aren't quite tied to the military apparatus like the 501st Joint Fighter Wing were in their show. Takamura is a director who adheres to the doctrine known as "rule of cool", which is of little surprise to me since many of his peers at Gainax subscribed to the same school of thought. The military's presence is to make the fighters cooler and more explosive. He loves juxtaposing moe bishoujo characters flying through the sky with fighter jets coasting alongside them. The camera revels in drawing the contrast between the two subjects. When a giant alien enemy appears, somebody has to be there to shoot bullets and explosives at it before the real fight starts. Ultimately, it is not the war machines who end the battle. Only the four girls who wield large melee weapons charged with friendship juice are capable of saving the world. Your mileage may vary on the significance of that implication.

This is a show where the character drama has two distinct instances involving tomatoes. One of the earliest conflicts in the anime is Aoi's insecurity over lying to Akane about eating one. Rei later makes Akane upset after crushing a giant tomato angrily in her hand because she was experiencing a post-traumatic episode. There are multiple incidents where a member of the cast starts crying because they lost an item that a different character already found in an earlier scene. This isn't high brow writing by anyone's measure. It's highly pasteurized otaku chicken nuggets; colorful junk food with slightly above average quality margins. The conflict and resolution process is clearly a pastiche of children's programming and it's effective until a character's highly rendered butt cheeks enter the camera frame. The anime is a constant reminder that one is watching a juvenile superhero adventure tailored for children but written for adults. You can put a girl in a fetish swimsuit that can inflate into a giant ball but it doesn't change the fact that this is a story about four pure souls powered by magical science whose strength increases with the coefficient of friendship. It is a profoundly stupid experience that will be highly entertaining for some and dreadfully miserable for others. Every single story beat and drama subplot achieves the most convenient outcome.

I'm fond of this particular approach to otaku media, but the real issue is that Vividred Operation is hardly the strongest work from either of the creative minds who created it. Sora no Woto is legitimately fantastic and highly underrated in the domain of original anime works from the last few decades. The ecchi and slice of life comedy hybrid is not nearly as strong as Strike Witches, where Takamura was able to convey the natural charm of Humikane's characters with ease. The main cast is trapped too close to their moe personality assignments. Akane is an energetic cinnamon roll filled with happiness and understanding. Aoi is the kindly girl from a wealthy family. Wakaba is the seasoned warrior who is weak to cute things. Himawari is the bratty socially awkward computer nerd. Rei is the tragic edgelord with a fallen angel motif. The supportive cast is even more transparent. The homeroom teacher is also their military handler but this dynamic is rarely explored. Akane's little sister Momo exists to be cute. Rei's parakeet has more presence in this show than some of the named characters. There's backstory and exposition dumping but this rarely seems to explain the finer details of the plot or expand on the main cast in a significant way. It's all emotions and justification, but it's not nearly fun or stupid enough in the moments where it would be most appreciated.

It's a palatable A-1 Pictures production with decent visuals that were propped up by some of Takamura's former associates at Gainax, such as Atsushi Nishigori who helped storyboard the vibrant OP sequence. It's probably a single step above the early Strike Witches entries on consistency but there aren't a lot of standout moments even in the last few episodes. The transformation sequences seem like they got the lion's share of the effort but the standard visual direction is fairly decent. The animators put enough elbow grease in to avoid taking too many shortcuts, with some sequences utilizing minimal CG for touching up key frames. While I can appreciate the labor on display here, the end result is extremely okay. Vividred Operation barely qualifies for its spot in the military moe canon, coasting by on a technicality caused by compounding genre tropes. It's a show that exhibits indecisiveness in regards to the audience being courted. This certainly isn't for young girls, but its overt simplicity and childish whimsy often falls short of appealing to the adult brain. There's a thin line of niche appeal that will captivate a select few, but even a moe appreciator like me struggled to remain attached to this experience for the whole run. What's most baffling is that this anime somehow got two video games out of the equation. Guess that's the Aniplex money at work. Akane being the mayonnaise girl is perhaps the one true legacy this show really has. Better than nothing at all, I suppose!

 

Side Mizushima: Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai (2019)

Tsutomu Mizushima started as a production assistant on Doraemon in the mid-80s. When the 90s rolled around, he transitioned over to the beloved Japanese animated comedy Crayon Shin-chan where he worked on storyboards and earned nearly a decade of experience as an episode director. In 2001, he made his full directorial debut on Shin-Ei Animation's adaptation of the gag humor manga Jungle wa Itsumo Hare nochi Guu (Hare+Guu). It was on this project that Mizushima became acquainted with Michiko Yokote, a talented scriptwriter who would become his frequent collaborator and creative partner. His directorial career would be defined by this alliance as the duo helped produce a long string of notable television anime from xxxHOLIC to Joshiraku. While working on the adaptation of Genshiken, these two would meet fellow scriptwriter and Tokyo Mew Mew author Reiko Yoshida. Mizushima did not collaborate with Yoshida nearly as often, but her writing ability was a critical strength in the project that would permanently redefine his work in the anime industry - Girls und Panzer.

Mizushima's interest quickly pivoted to producing original works, and he teamed back up with Yokote at P.A. Works to create Shirobako in 2014. In the following year, he would direct Prison School as his final anime adaptation. Girls und Panzer quickly pivoted to franchise status with multiple planned feature films, and its lead production company - Bandai Visual - would buy out studio Actas two years later. After putting the Mari Okada penned Mayoiga out of its misery and completing the first of the Girls und Panzer das Finale films, Mizushima was looking to move forward with a concept he and Yokote had been fleshing out for years. Loosely based on the fictional Third Aerial Girls Squad anime from Shirobako, the two sought to create a series focused on moe bishoujo fighter pilots who form an air squadron in a world where society's greatest conflicts are fought in the skies. In 2018, this would be formally announced as Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai. 

Mizushima had turned the concept of cute girls in tanks into a bombshell success by dressing it up as a competitive sports thriller with slice of life comedy scenes. Despite his proven efforts, selling Kotobuki to his production contacts at Bandai Namco was no easy feat. The military moe niche was starting to lose favor in a rapidly growing industry. Its strongest franchises - Girls und Panzer and the World Witches series - were thriving from existing momentum. Production IMS had recently fallen into bankruptcy from producing High School Fleet. There simply wasn't enough real estate for new blood to capture the existing audience, especially with five more Garupan films on the horizon. Bandai Namco's eventual participation in the project came with a major caveat; they would publish a mobile game based on the concept and use Mizushima's anime to market the IP ahead of time. Although the show came first, it was ultimately destined to be glorified advertising for the mobile game market - a phenomenon that was becoming increasingly common.

Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai may be one of the most imbalanced hybrids of 2D and 3DCG animation I've ever seen. Bandai Namco secured production assistance from Digital Frontier who were the owners of 3DCG animation studio GEMBA. They had quite the reputation after co-animating the infamous 2010s Berserk adaptation with Millepensee - a production that served as a trial run for mixing their 3DCG work with 2D animation cuts. GEMBA was provided the 3D models from the game's developer QualiArts to help with building the Kotobuki anime. However, there were many characters and locations planned for the anime that were not developed for the game concept. To fill in these gaps, the 2D animation support studio WAO World was brought in to cover the other half of production. Some characters are only animated in 3DCG; others lack a 3D model and exclusively remain 2D animated throughout the full run. As a result, 2D and 3D characters are often placed on screen together despite clashing appearances. There are rare sequences throughout the show that are entirely comprised of 2D cuts. Certain characters who typically appear as 3D models will sporadically appear in 2D form after a scene change. Needless to say, this anime has an acclimation period and it took me a handful of episodes to get used to its spontaneous visual direction.

 

 

The world of Ijitsu has been turned into a desert wasteland after an inexplicable event dried up all the bodies of water on the planet. This phenomenon also brought about an era of rapid technological advancement. Civilization was reshaped by a massive aircraft industry that fueled a long and destructive conflict. The war's aftermath led to a society of splintered city-states spread throughout the wild frontier. In order to survive and acquire supplies, a trade industry is formed with independent companies transporting goods using massive Zeppelin airships. Due to the widespread distribution of combat aircraft, air pirates are rampant and operate like highway bandits as they attempt to plunder these shipments for themselves. To fend off these pillagers, companies begin hiring mercenary pilots as security forces to ensure the completion of their work. On the airship Hagoromo, the Ouni Company and its president Madam Loulou have enlisted a mercenary group of six young women who exclusively fly in Hayabusa fighter planes. This is the story of the legendary Kotobuki Squadron, whose role in protecting a shipment drags them into a greater political conspiracy which threatens to limit their freedom under a Machiavellian dictatorship. 

Kotobuki's setting is pulled straight from the Wild West frontier culture of cowboys and outlaws which is fundamentally altered by its anachronisms. The mysterious appearance of technology from the early 20th century brings freedom and convenience to a world that was centuries behind schedule. However, as much of this technology was military ordinance and aircraft, it was impossible for humanity to avoid a catastrophic power struggle. As the political cold war settles in, differing parties seek to enshrine their own vision of peace. It's a neat juxtaposition between time periods and the clever use of soft isekai elements (the show heavily implies from the first episode that this is an alternate world from our own) helps to sell the fantastic nature of this premise. Our main cast primarily hangs out at a bar built into the airship that is deliberately styled to look like a wild west saloon. Mercenary pilots retain the cowboy vigilante spirit as they shoot down crooks and ne'er-do-wells. The fighter planes are their loyal steeds that they fly off into the sunset after a job well done. Much of this anime's charm comes from how well it executes this clash of cultures and depicting the kind of characters who can survive in these bizarre times.

Our heroines in the Kotobuki Squadron are an assortment of contrasting personalities that should be a familiar composition for fans of Mizushima's work. The man loves his cast banter, and Yokote is the writer that best understands his proclivities. Kirie is the main protagonist - a pancake addict and ace pilot whose raw skill is only held back by her reckless personality. Her squad rival is Chika, a mischievous ex-pirate who dreams of restoring Ijitsu's seas. Kirie was brought into the squad by her childhood friend Emma, a refined lady from a once wealthy family that was robbed blind in a financial scheme. She is supported by Kate, a socially disinterested kuudere who grew up as a research assistant for her physically disabled brother Allen. Leading the squadron are its founding members, the war hero Reona and her loyal partner Zara. Reona is the stoic squad captain who struggles to suppress her combat instincts so she can properly manage the crew. Zara is the squad mom and a seasoned alcoholic who uses her sexy woman energy and job experience to manage the executive affairs of the group. These girls banter, bicker, and cause all sorts of trouble regardless of whether they're on leave or fighting valiantly in the skies above.

The sum of its parts is more than just Girls und Panzer for fighter plane enthusiasts. Garupan is a sports drama involving tanks where (generally) nobody gets hurt thanks to miraculous innovations. It has a massive ensemble cast that is primarily comprised of young bishoujo characters. Kotobuki takes an inverse approach by establishing the life-or-death stakes of air combat. A squadron of young women is considered an outlier in a world where arrogant men are robbing innocents and razing cities to secure dominance over a fractured society. This is maybe the most overt feminist writing Mizushima has ever put his stamp on. What's really fortunate is that this is the Tomino kind of feminism. Most of the men are bumbling fools who play second fiddle to strong women but then a sexy bimbo pilot with large breasts will fall on her face like a Looney Tunes character in her first appearance. Julia is an extremely toxic politician with a childish personality but the plot completely vindicates her beliefs as correct. Saneatsu is just Holland Novak from Eureka Seven if he was too pathetic to get laid but is exclusively dominated by an attractive MILF. The main villain is a gimmick magician with an evil butler who somehow convinces people to elect him to power. They let the desperate male simp pilot win the girl in the end, but the writers also established the most obvious yuri pairing between Reona and Zara. The most divorced man of all time is also a master gunslinger who hides his weapon cache at the bar. From my perspective, this is just good entertainment.

 

 

Overcoming the awkward split between animation styles allowed me to appreciate this anime with less resistance. For what it's worth, I think GEMBA could've done much worse with the CG character animation. It's hardly hall of shame material. In fact, the studio deserves legitimate credit for their hand in crafting the show's flying segments. I assume most of the dogfights were built off storyboards, but they really nail the perspective and flow of air combat in a way that's satisfying to watch. Mizushima himself served as sound director to ensure that the effects used in the combat sequences would be as accurate to life as possible. The mixing is fairly dynamic and does some heavy lifting to sell the experience. I have a great deal of appreciation for that level of effort in the audio department when it comes to producing anime. Shiboyugi impressed me nearly on its sound direction alone. An underappreciated craft, but if someone needs to appreciate it then I'm likely the guy to do it. The mid fight communications and banter are also a nice addition that Mizushima often leveraged in Garupan to great effect. The combat scenes in the latter half of the show start to scale against each other quickly and become more action focused, but the climactic fight made up for it with plenty of character highlights and communication between the girls in between the long stretches of fighter planes maneuvering and shooting at each other.

There isn't much to say about the 2D animation quality, it's the definition of "good enough". Clearly they were more concerned about filling out the episode runtime than farming sakuga cuts. WAO World isn't really a full fledged studio going off their track record, so this was probably the best they could do even with help. That rough around the edges quality gives it some charm points in my eyes. It has a chaotic passion project quality where the talent can't quite match its ambition, but it's still impressive to see what the studio could pull off. This definitely isn't a show for anyone who can't stomach a little crud and jank in their visual animation. There's a crude kind of cuteness that only an aging soul like mine can appreciate. It's the little things like the 2D painted backgrounds and the expressive storyboards that help elevate the visual direction above its quality deficit. Vividred Operation had far more consistency with its animation but fell short of leaving much of an impression. If I can say anything about the general animation on display here, it's certainly memorable. That counts for a lot in this medium even if it's not quite great in the traditional scale of quality.

Kotobuki is good fun. Frankly, I think it's too good to be advertising fodder for a Bandai Namco outsource job. The show stumbles on unsteady footing but quickly finds its stride. After some initial certainty, I found myself quickly attached to the cast and their dynamic interactions. Even the minor characters get their moment of appreciation. The politicking side plot was more entertaining than I expected and adds some weight to the combat scenes. It's blessed with a OP song performed by ZAQ. Mizushima's captivation with military technology and his desire to rewrite the world to allow it meaningful context is fascinating to me, but I find he's more level headed here in comparison to the exaggerated idealism of Garupan. The fighter planes are acknowledged as weapons but serve as symbols of freedom that can exist outside of conflict. Most importantly, they're cool! The entire mission statement of this anime is to show how cool fighter planes are. Just look at the manuevers! Appreciate the art of piloting for a little while. There's truth in the idea that you can make anyone care about a subject if cute anime girls are involved. Sometimes it doesn't have to be deeper than that.

The twist ending is that this series was doomed from the start. Its mobile game launched four weeks after the anime started airing and died three months after getting a recap movie in 2020. Our heroes from the Kotobuki Squadron lived fast and died young off screen. I recently saw footage of the mobile game for the first time and was met with a low effort JPEG clicker. It was a 2D strategy game from the top-down perspective when it should've been bootleg Ace Combat. Leave it to Bandai Namco to take the path of least resistance. Well, not everything is built for a long and prosperous life in the creative ecosystem we have now. You have to appreciate what's good while it still lasts. Thankfully, the collapse of Kotobuki seemed to discourage Mizushima and Yokote very little as they have collaborated on another original project since then. Every tragedy has its silver lining. Kotobuki is an underappreciated gem that is definitely engineered for air combat appreciators but has plenty to offer for slice of life fans who don't mind a little action in their diet. It's another curiosity in the world of original anime projects. That's enough to make its skies worth exploring.

 

 

I'm going to give this selection a pass. Vividred Operation barely qualifies for the subject matter but its lineage to Strike Witches has earned some favoritism from me. I stand by what I said though. Not a great anime from a director who has cooked up much better takes on the power of friendship. Comfortably predictable on all fronts like a delivery pizza. Kotobuki was the great equalizer that offered up an enjoyable narrative that was authentic to the military moe experience with plenty of otaku expression for flavor. The power duo of Mizushima and Yokote have worked on more than a few anime projects I've enjoyed, so there's some natural appeal to my particular tastes to consider. Even with its setbacks, the show was captivating enough to earn some leeway. Watching these two back and forth was a great idea in hindsight. Kotobuki was the gunsmoke chaser for the cotton candy nonsense of Vividred Operation and lent critical support in preventing me from getting burned out. Unlike last time, I actually finished both of these anime in a reasonable amount of time instead of wasting several months!

Speaking of which, it's been nearly a year since I wrote the first Backlog Marathon post. Time sure does fly after a few decades of being alive. I wanted to make this a more frequent addition to my blog, but the time I spent moving and the World Witches writing project took up all the energy I had in between Seasonals of the Abyss posts. As soon as my schedule opened up, I was eager to revisit the backlog and put together a new post. I have a couple writing project ideas building up steam in the background, but there's a high likelihood I'll put out another backlog post before I commit to those. The concept of pairing two shows together based on overlapping qualities has become a fun exercise for me and there's plenty of fodder I tossed on the list for a rainy day. With no shortage of titles to pick from, I'm sure there will be some colorful pairings to explore in the near future. Look forward to that!

Vividred Operation has a spiritual successor airing at the time of writing this post. It's called Vertex Force, and it is as similar as it is different from Takamura's previous work. I won't spoil all the fun before the next Seasonals of the Abyss, but this is a director that has proven he sticks to his guns regardless of the outcome. It exudes the same "chidren's media for adults" aura but with some core differences. It has a young male protagonist and a plot with extreme Super Sentai vibes. Ami Koshimizu (who voices Shirley in Strike Witches) plays a loudmouthed American woman. It also has hybrid animation similar to Kotobuki, but the 3DCG is far more prevalent with 2D animation often saved for exposition flashbacks. The enemy units are extremely unpleasant to look at. They call it mecha but it's more like Ultraman. With only four episodes out, I can only guess where Takamura will take this one. It's probably the least ecchi work he's done in a long time despite the painstaking effort the 3D modelers went through to ensure that Haruka's underwear is visible through her spats. Maybe they'll cram a nonsense comedy episode somewhere in the mix. Give me four to six weeks and I'll come back with the answer.

That's all I've got. Until next time - stay moe, friends.