The Best Parental Guidance My Mother Ever Gave Me

 

In the rating system, PG stands for Parental Guidance, as we all know, but how often do parents give guidance during films or even while watching TV with their kids?  Looking back at my childhood, there was one instance that stood out.  It was the best advice my mother gave me about a cartoon, and I still carry those thoughts with me into adulthood.

In the 1990s, people dealt abrasive snap judgments on appearance and intelligence.  It was the norm.  So when I was watching Animaniacs, I saw nothing strange in the narrative of Pinky and the Brain.  After school, I deferred my swamp of homework to relax and watch TV.  After dozens of episodes of Animaniacs, which included the hapless lab rats attempting world domination, I was used to the cartoon’s routine plotline.  Brain was focused on world conquest, and the easily distracted, unaware Pinky said randomly stupid things.

As the theme song went, “It’s Pinky and the Brain.  It’s Pinky and the Brain.  One is a genius, and the other’s insane!”  My mother was listening in and sometimes she would chime in with, “The Brain is insane!”  I didn’t understand at first.  Being smart meant everyone respected you and took you seriously.  Being perceived as less intelligent meant that you would be scrutinized by a closeted eugenics-favoring school psychologist and undergo a battery of medical tests to find out what was wrong with you.  I was in the latter category.  The premise for Pinky and the Brain seemed consistent with mainstream worldviews.  I knew I wasn’t as dumb as Pinky, but I wasn’t nearly as smart as the Brain, who was strangely more respected in the series.

At one point my mom stepped in.  I think it was the episode with a role reversal where Pinky became smart.  The song lyrics deviated, “One is a genius, and the other’s ……….. the Brain.”  The producers just couldn’t imagine Brain being in a strait jacket like Pinky was in the regular theme song.  However my mother saw what was plainly obvious.  She reemphasized her point, “The Brain is the one who is insane!”  I argued otherwise, but my mom explained something important.

She told me that even though Pinky is dumb, he’s nice.  He’s harmless.  The Brain is the one who is mentally ill.  People who try to take over the world are crazy.  “Even if he’s a genius?”  My mother strongly answered, “Yes!  There are crazy geniuses!”  I was surprised to hear this, and I was 11 at the time.

I’m glad my mom stepped in and taught me that mentally ill people can be intelligent, and that less intelligent people can be sane.  Nowadays this seems like common sense.  The terms, “crazy genius” and “insanely smart” are not oxymorons.  However, when I was younger, negative conclusions were drawn quicker, and I’m grateful my mom opened my mind so I wouldn’t sink into the crevice of narrowmindedness where everyone wanted to fit in.  Sanity and intelligence are not the same measure.  Although, Pinky was technically the accomplice, he otherwise never posed a threat to himself or others.  Brain was power hungry, and taking over the world would involve controlling everyone.  Thankfully, my mother didn’t just let pop culture misguide me with animated ableism. 

I still watched Pinky and the Brain and appreciated it, but with a more mature mind.  The funny cartoon was written with trending attitudes towards IQ levels.  I learned society could be ignorant and lack moral insight, while one sane mother saw through the cloudy craziness, and taught me something important that my “normal” peers would only figure out decades later. 

Thank you, Mom, for opening my eyes. 

I know it’s early, so I say in advance,

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Anime with Adult Protagonists

 

                My love for anime and manga started in my early adolescence, and the main characters were relatable since they were around my age.  Now as a woman who has voyaged far into adulthood, I’ve grown tired of the redundant, formulaic high school themes in anime with teenagers and tweenagers taking central roles.  I’ve searched and found animes that are geared towards more mature audiences – that are NOT hentai!  There are plenty of anime nerds, otherwise known as otakus, who are not perverts and appreciate Japanimation for its colorful art and complex storytelling.

                If you’re an adult otaku who wants anime that’s reflective of your grownup circumstances, there’s something for everyone.  There always is with anime.  Studio Ghibli is the choice for people who want to sound sophisticated but not oblivious to Japanimation.  Alternative to Hayao Miyazaki’s productions, there are still acclaimed films marketed to wider audiences, like Millennium Actress, Read or Die, and Akira.  However, this entry focuses on series rather than full motion pictures.

The following list involves anime with grownup protagonists and plotlines that are relatable with older age groups, produced as recently as 2021 and as early as the 1967.  The school scenery disappears, and say good-bye to the sailor school uniforms.  Characters are professionals or enduring life transformations.  The careers are diverse, whether the main character is an accountant, a racecar driver, or even a brain surgeon.  Some situations are fantastical, or absurdly comical.  Some premises take place in the future or the ancient past, or maybe just 1986 or 2017.  The setting doesn’t have to be Japan, either.  The only children in these series are related to the adult characters, hospital patients, or the random coworker who is a computer hacker.

 

1.       The Way of the Househusband (2021) – An ex-yakuza marries a beautiful working woman, and he lives his life as a house husband.  Despite leaving his life of crime, his gangster ways are still imprinted in his perspective on everything.  Even yoga positions are yakuza related to him.  There are a lot of yakuza jokes every time a white powdery substance is involved with cooking and cleaning, but the substance is never cocaine.  This show is definitely not for kids.  The main character, Tatsu (aka the Immortal Dragon) is about 30, and his wife is 26 and loves anime.

2.       God Troubles Me (2019) – On short notice 24-year-old Su Moting’s parents reveal that they are otherworldly, and kick her out of the house so they can start traveling.  Su is a picky young adult who searches for the perfect apartment, and once she signs the rental contract, her roommates turn out to be gods.  The landlord is a god too.  One god transfigures into a cat, and the other is a humanoid cellphone.  Both are controlling since mortal humans seem easily manipulated by cats and cellphones.  Su can be a jerk sometimes, but they all get along.  Moving out and living on your own is a milestone that adults can empathize with.  The series is in Mandarin Chinese, has short episodes, and there are no English dubs yet.  Although it’s not technically Japanimation, the animation style and abnormalcy in plot make it good enough for this list.

3.       Aggretsuko (2018) – This is like Hello Kitty for adults.  The female protagonist is a 25-year-old accountant, and the plot is centered in office life.  In Aggretsko’s free time, she sings heavy metal, in which she expresses her frustrations of everyday life.  The episodes involve grownup situations like relationships, networking, and problems like stalkers, and corporate corruption.

4.       Uncle from another World (2018) – A man wakes from a 17-year coma at the age of 34, and proves to his nephew that he has virtual reality powers that make ordinary telekinesis look yawn-worthy.  While he was comatose, he lived in an alternative universe that aired on television in the real world.  He and his nephew review the online episodes of his life in the other world, Granbahamal.  The worst part about waking up is the downfall of SEGA, the uncle’s beloved video game company.  A lot of millennials can identify with Uncle Yousuke, for his nostalgia for a time that no longer exists and his gradual adaptation into the present.

5.       Cells at Work (2018) – This is a sci-fi where the characters are humanized body cells.  The workplace is a human body.  The heroine is a red blood cell who tends to get lost while making deliveries, and she frequently meets a white blood cell who fights pathogens.  The other characters have names like Killer T Cell, Macrophage, Platelet, Helper T Cell, Dendritic Cell, etc.  This series is great for someone studying biology or nursing.

6.       Thermae Romae (2012) – The main character, Lucius, is an architect living in Ancient Rome.  He discovers a tunnel that spirits him to present day Japan.  From the future, he gets ideas for spas, theme parks, zoos, and other places.  In returning to ancient Rome, he encounters architectural problems in trying to implement his discoveries in his time period.

7.       Monster (2004) – A Japanese brain surgeon works in West Germany in 1986.  Dr. Tenma faces the ethical dilemma of patient intake based on socioeconomic status and fame, and upholding his hospital’s high reputation.  Dr. Tenma faces consequences for doing the right thing.  Then a string of murders occur inside the hospital.  Dr. Tenma is suspected, but could not be arrested.  Nine years later, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a murderous spree continues, and the main suspect is being treated by Dr. Tenma.  With his medical knowledge, he may find the answer to solve the murders. However, his work is based in ethics, not the crave for money or publicity.  This series has adult situations involving bureaucracy, discrimination, gold digging, and morality.

8.       Witch Hunter Robin (2002) – Robin was raised in Italy to track down genetically empowered witches who psychically attack people.  Robin also has witch powers but she only uses them for fighting evil witches.  In this series witchcraft is not a religious path, but a genetic phenomenon that lays dormant in any individual until the gene becomes expressed through supernaturally antisocial acts.  Obviously the villains are not happy, tree-hugging Wiccans.  Anyone with the negative powers in the dormant state is a “seed,” which includes Robin, who looks to be in her 20s.

9.       Hellsing (2001) - A royal order of guardians serves to protect England from supernatural monsters.  Led by a knighted woman, she discovers a vampire sworn to protect her, Alucard, who became her most powerful defender.  Alucard turns a police woman into a vampire, and she joins the guardians in fighting evil forces.

10.   Trigun (1998) – This is one of the few animes set in the Wild West.  An outlaw, Vash the Stampede, travels around fending off bounty hunters, and sometimes with the help of his motorcycle riding priest friend, Wolfwood.  Two journalists trail Vash and document his adventures.  One journalist falls in love with Vash.

11.   Cowboy Bebop (1998) – In contrast to Trigun, the main characters in this series are the bounty hunters.  Set in the future of 2071, Earth is no longer habitable and space is colonized.  The team consists of an Inter Solar System Police officer, an estranged hitman; a con artist with amnesia and a gambling problem.  The only child on the team is a skilled hacker.  Also part of the team is a genetically enhanced Welsh Corgi who is probably smarter than most people.  They are all aboard the ship, Bebop, hunting for criminals.

12.   Ghost in the Shell (1995) – A series of films surrounding a female cyborg, who nearly died in childhood.  Her brain was preserved and the rest of her was replaced with a prosthetic body with an operable computer chip connecting the mind and body.  She is literally a ghost living inside a shell body.  In this form, she prevents crime.  Her main weakness is that hackers can breach her mind’s computer chip.  There was also a live action version of this in 2017, starring Scarlett Johansson.

13.   Dragon Ball Z (1989) – A muscle bound warrior, Goku, who once collected the dragon balls and fought in tournaments, becomes a father.  Goku refused to conquer worlds with his brother, Raditz, who then kidnaps Goku’s son.  Raditz demands a hefty blood ransom, and the child eventually conquers the villain.  That’s only one adventure.  The Dragon Ball franchise has a lot of epic tales involving multiple alien races and intergalactic battles.  It runs as long as a soap opera for transcending fictional generations, but it’s definitely nowhere near as boring as a soap opera.  This world is filled with aliens, androids, and monsters, therefore the cast of Days of our Lives can take a hike.  Most of the DBZ characters have muscles that bodybuilders fantasize in achieving.  The men have chiseled faces unlike other animes where male characters have pointy, feminine jawlines.

14.   Speed Racer (1967) – The plot surrounds an 18-year-old racecar driver named Gou Mifune, who competes in his Mach 5 challenge car.  His family manufactures cars, and his father used to be a professional wrestler.  His girlfriend travels by helicopter during his races, and she is not the “damsel in distress type.”  Not all grownup situations are centered around office cubicles.  This anime even has a pet chimpanzee.  I remember this show being on MTV, so it was marketed to an older audience.

 

Magical Girl Anime - 12 Series that are Noteworthy

 

                Almost everyone has a favorite anime, and with a neverending array of titles, they are split into genres – so there is something for everyone.  One of the most recognized anime genres is Magical Girl.  In America, superheroes have a few traits in common like the cape, superpowers, a side kick, and a secret identity.  In Japanimation, Magical Girl type superheroines also have common attributes, with few exceptions to the formula.  They are ordinary girls who gain superpowers and have an animal life coach.  Once the heroines’ new identities are realized, they have lengthy transformations and attack sequences.  More often than not, the title heroine has magical friends who work as a team to conquer villains and promote morals and believing in oneself.

                The first Magical Girl anime dates back to 1966 with Sally the Witch.  In the 1970s, there were more added to the category, with Majokko being popular.  In the 1990s, the genre grew exponentially with the debut of Sailor Moon.

                Magical Girl anime and manga can be uplifting and give a sense of female empowerment, which women and girls vicariously experience through the superheroines.  Our joys and struggles are reflected in the characters, and since multiple heroes cooperate as a team with diverse personalities, viewers have more characters to identify with.

The following is a list of twelve Magical Girl titles that are recognized in contemporary anime/manga.  Included are the elements of the Magical Girl genre, storyline synopses, manga comparisons, some marketing techniques, and cultural reactions.  By the way, manga is a Japanese comic book, and anime is the Japanese word for animation.  An otaku is an anime nerd. 

I have watched most of these animes or have read the manga, sometimes in Japanese or German.  However, I only became recently familiar with two titles, Wedding Peach and Tokyo Mew Mew.  Some passages are short as not to spoil too much, especially if it’s a favorite, like Princess Tutu.

Just as a quick way to compare and contrast, here is a table displaying the Magical Girl aspects each show exhibits.  Then there is a short analysis of the table, and after that come the more comprehensive detailing of the twelve shows from the table.

                To clarify the abbreviations….

T seq = Transformation Sequence
A seq = Attack Sequence
Yes and No are shortened to Y and N.
N/A is Non-Applicable.

 

 

 

                Ten out of twelve series have a signature transformation sequence, and three quarters have attack sequences.  Half of the titles have magical girls with nature-related powers.  Looking over the individual warriors, it is still 51% as having nature magic.

                One quarter have cats for coaches.  The cat who dresses like a soccer coach in Princess Tutu hardly takes on the advisory role, so he doesn’t count.  However there are two robots serving as guides in Tokyo Mew Mew.  Although they are not fuzzy, they fulfill the role as pet/life coach in a Tamagotchi capacity.  The second robot emerges in the sequel.  There is an average of 1.5 mini-advisors in these titles.  Having half an advisor may not seem possible, but Japanimation may predictably try it someday.

                The next column regards where the story takes place most of the time.  Three quarters of the titles take place in the real world, including fictional Earth cities.  By fantasy standards, this is called low fantasy since impossible things happen in a real world, whereas high fantasy takes place in a fantasy realm exclusively.

                Some stories fit into middle fantasy, meaning the character transcends into a fantasy world.  The Wizard of Oz is a perfect non-anime example.  In these Magical Girl animes, more than half involve transcending into another world.  Five stories involve being whisked away into a fantastical realm, while two are the reverse.  For instance, the sailor scouts leave the Moon Kingdom to live on Earth.

 

 

Sailor Moon

 

It’s undoubtedly a classic and a first anime for scores of otakus.  The creator Naoko Takeuchi created an epic story about solar systemic princesses who unite to take down villains with geological names.  Each sailor scout embodies the personality traits of astrological signs associated with their respective planets.

                Serena is a normal teen until a cat, Luna, gives her super powers to fight monsters.  She becomes Sailor Moon and meets friends who become her fellow sailor scouts.  The sailor scouts represent planets and have mostly elemental powers, with some exceptions like bubbles.  They all eventually find out that they were princesses from other planets, and that their souls were sent to Earth after the Moon Kingdom was sieged by the Negaverse’s army. 

                American marketers tried to target the show to little girls, but the show appealed to teens and adults with no gender boundaries.  For awhile it was the highest viewed show on Cartoon Network.  Acquiring more seasons was difficult due to conservatives’ protests against Uranus and Neptune’s relationship, which required altering the English translation to portray them as cousins.

                The show’s popularity has spawned storefronts with Sailor Moon related merchandise, a Sailor Moon café in Japan, and even a musical.  To dispel the uninformed argument that Sailor Moon is just for kids, there is a hentai titled, Sailor X, and there is Sailor Moon themed lingerie.  Ultimately, Sailor Moon is for all ages, but some things are adults-only.  Nothing is kids-only here.

 

Sailor V

 

She was the predecessor of Sailor Moon, and Takeuchi’s original idea.  The V is short for Venus.  She was the video game character in Sailor Moon’s earlier episodes, and later Serena meets her gaming icon who joins the team.  The manga has been rereleased and is easier to obtain, but usually Sailor Venus is depicted in her orange skirt and collar, and rarely in her original colors and mask.

                Like Sailor Moon, Sailor V finds out she has magical powers from a talking cat named Artemis.  In contrast, Sailor V is British.  What the two sailors have in common are that they are both frequently late for school.  It makes me wonder if the creator had similar personality traits to her first two heroines.

                Here is the original opening theme song for Sailor V, and you can see how much the original heroine had in common with Sailor Moon.  Molly and Melvin were in the series too.

                Code Name is Sailor V - Opening Theme

 

Magic Knight Rayearth

 

A masterpiece by CLAMP, alongside Chobits, Rayearth’s breathtaking imagery draws in the fans.  The artistic complexity is best shown in the manga with its mural-like displays of scenery and characters.

                Three girls from different schools are whisked away to Cephiro to save a princess who protected her world from chaos.  A wizard initially explained everything and gave the first sets of armor and magically empowered one girl.  The other two gained powers from the bouncing creature, Mokona, who seems to have a one-worded vocabulary.  Their armor and weapons evolve, and their elemental powers advance with their convictions of friendship. 

 

 

Cardcaptor Sakura

 

                Another wildly popular anime by CLAMP, this is like Pokemon mixed with Lolita fashions.  A 10-year-old girl, Sakura, finds a sorcerer’s book in her basement, and inadvertently releases numerous cards containing beasts.  Keroberos, a small yellow winged primate, serves as her guide in retrieving all the Clow Cards.  Sakura has a magic staff with a winged end, allowing her to fly.  The other end has a beak-shaped jewel that unlocks a card’s creature to battle escaped Clow Card monsters.  Each conquest results in collecting more Clow Cards to use in subsequent battles.

                Unlike the other Magical Girl series, Cardcaptor Sakura does not transform or have a lengthy attack sequence.  Her cousin, Tomoyo, provides her costumes for donning her superheroine identity.

 

Glitter Force/Smile Precure

 

 

This is a more child appropriate version of Sailor Moon that will appease even the most conservative parents.  The heroines wear shorts under their dresses, and there’s an absence of romance.  Instead the focus is more on friendship and morals with fairytale themes throughout the series.  The villains are ones featured in folklore, and they conjure the least nightmarish monsters for the heroines to battle. 

The five Glitter Force warriors have more innocent weaknesses like shyness and a fear of bugs.  Whereas in Sailor Moon, characters had tempers, eating disorders, and one was expelled for fighting.  The original Japanese version of Sailor Moon had alcohol references.  In the sailor scouts’ defense, they were not mono-dimensional characters.  Moreover, it’s fun to find the parallels between Glitter Force and Sailor Moon.  I jokingly refer to Urlic as “Furry Malachite.”

In Glitter Force, there are creative episodes, where the members shrink, become invisible, turn into children, and one girl temporarily is transformed into a giant robot.  Whoever writes the script is pretty good at clean comedy too. 

Glitter Force is the Americanized version of the Japanese original Smile PreCure, which is the ninth in the Pretty Cure franchise.  There are a total of 18 Pretty Cure series so far, and it was Glitter Force/Smile PreCure that caught my eye.  A few years prior, I had seen a picture of some PreCure characters and I loved the color usage.  Along with Sailor Moon, each series can be compared and contrasted with the others, yet the stories and characters are all lovable in their own way.

 

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch

 

 

The premise of the story is simple.  Mermaids turn into popstars and save the world.  A mermaid princess leaves the sea to become human to pursue her love interest.  If people find out she’s a mermaid, she dies by turning into bubbles.  Her two friends from school are also mermaids, and when the villains try to cause problems, the protagonists transform into human songstresses and thwart them with their songs. 

The animal companion who gives guidance is an anthropomorphic penguin named Hippo.  He may seem bossy, but in the Japanese voiceovers, he speaks in honorifics towards the main character since she is royalty.

 

Alice 19th

 

                A teenage girl, Alice, saves a rabbit from a busy intersection.  The rabbit transforms into a human with rabbit ears, and for saving her she empowers Alice with a jeweled bracelet to become a Lotis Master.  Her first Lotis Word is Courage.  With magical words coupled with runes, Alice could enter people’s minds and vanquish the darkness from within their inner-worlds.  With time, Alice gains more Lotis Word virtues to advance her mastery as an inter-psychological warrior princess.  The oppositional terms are the Maram Words, which are vices.

                Unfortunately, this beautiful manga did not make it to anime, so there’s no epic transformation into her Lotis Master outfit or her casting of her virtue runes.  However, there is still hope that an Alice 19th anime may be developed, and you may live the dream of voicing the talking rabbit, Nyozeka.

 

Princess Tutu

 

                A storyteller’s fictional world lives on after his death.  Within this realm, a girl attends a ballet school run by a cat in a jogging suit who threatens to marry everyone.  Ahiru morphs between humanity and duckhood every time she deals with her low self-esteem.  When she gains inner-strength, she transforms into Princess Tutu in time to battle a perceived enemy.  Her powers are derived from classical ballet.

                The plot displays fairytale elements and Tchaikovsky storylines, and of course ballet.  The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake are recurring themes.  Overall, if you love weirdness, this is an anime for you.

 

Wedding Peach

 

                Three friends in the school newspaper club become angel warriors with bridal superpowers and battle devils from the hellish realm.  Their celestial leader is Aphrodite, and their transformation tools and weaponized jewelry are prefixed with Saint.  They are angels reincarnated into humans on Earth, and the main angel warrior is Wedding Peach.  Her fellow Love Angels are Angel Daisy, Angel Lily, and Angel Salvia.  (I don’t recommend salvia usage; that’s just her name.)  The latter’s secret identity is named after the protagonist from Gone with the Wind, Scarlet O’Hara.  This same angel falls in love with someone named Dean Butler.

                Their magical attacks include, “Wedding Engagement Gift - St. Crystal Love for You,” “St. Mirror – Bridal Flash,” and “St. Pure Sword – Passionate Cake Cut!”  Wedding Peach has a gun with a heart-scope that shoots love only.  A whip comes out of Angel Lily’s armor-garter, and Angel Daisy has boomerangs and a fan.  Angel Salvia has a sword and sometimes she fights in a wedding gown.

 

Tokyo Mew Mew

 

                Young waitresses merge with endangered species’ DNA to become the Mew Mews, who fight Chimera Animas, which are alien parasites that turn animals into monsters.  The villains controlling the parasites are aliens named after fattening foods, and the heroines are named after health foods and one herb.  No major food group is left out, including pudding – wait that’s not a health food!  Oh, it might be low fat.  Anyway, onward!  One villain, Quiche, falls in love with the first warrior, Mew Ichigo – but he wants to destroy all her friends, which may pose a problem.  She never gives into Quiche’s romantic demands.  In contrast, Mew Pudding struggles with her emotions akin to Stockholm Syndrome after being abducted by Tart.  She eventually has to face him in magical combat.

                Mew Ichigo, whose name means strawberry in Japanese, is the main hero who merged with Iriomote cat genes.  Her weapon is a bell attached to a heart-shaped ring.  Mew Mint loves ballet, and she mixed DNA with a blue lorikeet, a rare bird.  Don’t be fooled by her wings and tutu, because her archery is en pointe.  Mew Lettuce merged genetics with finless porpoise, and morphs into a mermaid once in awhile.  Mew Lettuce and Mew Pudding have musical instruments for weapons, castanets and a tambourine respectively.  Mew Pudding was exposed to golden lion tamarin genes, which is a reddish primate – not a lion.  Mew Zakuro, whose name is Japanese for pomegranate, was infused with gray wolf genes, the only non-endangered species.  Her genetic totem fits her persona since she prefers to be a lone wolf.  Her weapon is a laser dancing ribbon attached to a crucifix.

 

 

Honorable Mention:  The following fit the formula of the Magical Girl genre, but they are both Italianimation.

 

Winx Club

 

This is a combination of Sailor Moon, Harry Potter, and fairies.  Six fairies attend Alfea College for good magic, and they fight off evil witches from the rival school of dark magic.  Their powers involve elements, music, and technology.  The witches have different powers as well – ice, storms, and mind control.  Instead of having an animal to provide moral support, they each have a miniature fairy, a pixie, who tries to help them with their weak spots in life.  Their pixies seem to embody personality traits that are opposite of their own.

                The storyline feels like a soap opera except more colorful, with its relationship dynamics, personal problems the girls face, and the saga-type continuity in plot.

 

W.I.T.C.H.

 

Five girls are elemental guardians whose first names spell “witch,” and ironically they are not witches.  The original comic book is from Italy, and was later adapted into an animated series for American and French production companies.  In the original Italian comic book, the girls are guardians with powers of earth, air, fire, water, and energy, and they guard the center of the universe.  In the cartoon, the energy empowered character has the element of quintessence, and the team guards the Veil.  They transcend their fictional Earth city of Heatherfield into fantastical realms.  They have to manage superheroine issues as well as mundane teenage girl responsibilities on Earth.