Anno's Animator Expo

[Dataprime]

Watched ME!ME!ME!

That was awesome!!

I was totally trippin' balls. More please

[ONIAgent150]

Khara's love/hate relationship with the otaku of the world continues in fine form in ME!ME!ME! Honestly, I find it pretty ballsy that they directly call out an Eva fan (the main character) for his sexism and self-destructiveness. After all, the fans who buy those figurines make up a lot of revenue for Khara...

OT Response to discussion a few pages back:

SPOILER: Show

No way the last installment of Rebuild comes after 2015. They gotta have that brand synergy. If I'm a marketing director at Khara, I push the "Year the World Ends" angle on all sorts of merch and tie in the final Rebuild movie for extra $$$.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

But it wouldn't be feasible to do the bike porn without it!

True, but I didn't like the fact that they went full CG on the characters in scenes where bike porn wasn't involved. That scene where they were talking at the end was a great scene, but the CG became a little obvious to my eye and while it by no means ruined the short, it made it slightly less enjoyable. I think there's a perfect mix here, and so far Ha has been the film that I think has executed the union the best. Maybe Q, but Ha leaps to mind first.

[TMBounty_Hunter]

If I'm a marketing director at Khara, I push the "Year the World Ends" angle on all sorts of merch and tie in the final Rebuild movie for extra $$$.

Anno spends years building up his own studio so that he can have complete creative freedom and then lets a marketing ruin everything because money is more important? Nah. That's beyond dumb.

[Mr. Tines]

Are you watching Yowamushi Pedal then?

It's not on Crunchy (locally at least) and I CBA to hoist the Jolly Roger in these days after the death of fansubbing.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Does anyone know what the lyrics for ME!ME!ME! translate into? Something tells me that it would be important when it comes to more accurately interpreting this work.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I've been thinking the same thing lately. Hopefully somebody with Japanese knowledge gets around to subbing it.

[Dataprime]

Interesting interpretation of ME!ME!ME! found on /a/:

SPOILER: Show

This guy is depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.

The TV/anime girls represent escapism, both sexual and otherwise
(Though obviously primarily sexual). The first song begins with him looking all happy about it,
but as he delves further into it, it becomes more of an addiction that he can't escape from.
In the middle of losing himself in it, a bit into the second song, he remembers the happy times
he shared with his ex. But then he realized that while running away from the sad memories of
the relationship, he got consumed (literally, really) by his addiction to escapism.

Then realizing that it was worth having spent time together with his ex, he
gathers the courage to try and fight back again. In the end though, he doesn't make it, and he
loses the battle, remaining complacent and sexually satisfied by escapist anime.
His decapitated head falling down at the end literally represents him failing to get
a life and socially dying.

The video repeats because this is the continuing struggle he's having
in his head as he lies in bed all depressed.

[Rosenakahara]

(@The music video with creepy eva dolls)

The message of the thing is basically this guy go so obsessed with anime and his sexual fantasies that he neglected his real girlfriend and judged her on those expectations, him being killed in the dream at the end is symbolic of their relationship being over (and him slinking into a social rut like data mentioned) after he tried to live out childish power fantasies (that random power-up he got near the end).

So yeah Japan thinks otaku are the worst kinds of people and the sky is blue, nothing new here.
Though the comments are kind of proving Japan right since nobody on youtube seems to get it and keep coming to the vids for uncensored boobs....

And i got ninja-d (sort of since my is a similar but different interpretation of the events) by data.

[Squigsquasher]

One could argue it's also a metaphor for the toxicity of modern society where people are put under so much strain that the only happiness they can derive from life is the escapism of anime, games etc, with life being so stressful that nobody has the time or energy left to commit to a proper relationship. I'd wager that there's more to it than "this guy is an otaku loser who lost his girlfriend".

[Rosenakahara]

Depends, did anno help make the video? im not asking because i think everything anno touches turns to gold like some people do (in fact some of his movies i really don't like) but just because i know anno doesn't exactly HATE otaku, but a surprisingly large amount of animators do.
Yeah i dont exactly trust a lot of animators these days, but with all the harem bullshit that is being pumped in recently (as in more so than usual) can ya blame me?

[Dataprime]

^ Wasn't Anno's former company Gainax founded by Otaku?

[Rosenakahara]

Yes, yes it was.

[Squigsquasher]

Anno didn't make it, no. That said, Anno certainly doesn't "hate" otaku by any stretch- IIRC his opinion on them is "It's fine to be an otaku, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but you shouldn't let it take over your life". I highly doubt the guy who made this hates otaku either- the main character is clearly a sympathetic individual whose life is in disarray, rather than the stereotypical "obnoxious nerd".

[Rosenakahara]

Anno didn't make it, no. That said, Anno certainly doesn't "hate" otaku by any stretch- IIRC his opinion on them is "It's fine to be an otaku, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but you shouldn't let it take over your life". I highly doubt the guy who made this hates otaku either- the main character is clearly a sympathetic individual whose life is in disarray, rather than the stereotypical "obnoxious nerd".

I already said that anno doesnt hate otaku, the emphasis on the word hate was a bit mis-used there sorry, only put it that way because the general perception from the west is: these overseas directors (anno, kojima (well kojima kinda does) ect.) hate you and you should never trust them.

As for the character maybe, im still not sure though guy doesn't really show too much remorse at certain points when he should so im having trouble deciding whether he was meant to be shown as a douche or as a sympathetic tragedy.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Depends, did anno help make the video? im not asking because i think everything anno touches turns to gold like some people do (in fact some of his movies i really don't like) but just because i know anno doesn't exactly HATE otaku, but a surprisingly large amount of animators do.
Yeah i dont exactly trust a lot of animators these days, but with all the harem bullshit that is being pumped in recently (as in more so than usual) can ya blame me?

I personally think that Anno hasn’t made a bad film yet. (I kinda swing back and fourth about how much I really like Shiki-Jitsu, the rest I more assuredly enjoy on various levels.) That being said, I don’t quite see Anno's influence here with ME!ME!ME!

Hibiki Yoshizaki, the guy at Khara responsible for computer screen graphics in the new Eva movies, is credited as the auteur behind everything in this case. (Planning, Original Work, Storyboard, and Technical Director.) Seeing as how Yoshizaki’s usual line of work involves a lot of motion graphic designs and such, one can certainly see that school of visual thought in this short film. Much of the video spends it’s time establishing its presence by using district and iconic shapes and colors (visuals that are more along the lines of motion graphic arts) and not necessarily using visuals based in film or television cinema like much of traditional Japanese animation is. The iconography takes centerstage in this piece, while the cinematography of it all only appears to support the iconography.

[Rosenakahara]

^ Oh don't worry i was only asking in the sense of "did he contribute a tiny bit" cause literally nothing about this short was anything like the way anno does his stuff, i have at least watched enough to know that.

I'm interested to see if yoshizaki ever confirms an interpretation of what this is about because while i think we have the general idea, its the specifics that are in question here.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

^ After a while the website will post an interview with the filmmakers. You can read the thoughts of the filmmakers behind both Dragon Dentist and Hill Climb Girl in articles posted in the “News” section of the site. Hopefully after a while they’ll do the same for ME!ME!ME!

[Xard]

Holy crap that Me!Me!Me! was amazing. It would've been smoking hot had the eroguro & tripping balls aspect of it not gone so fucking wild. Which of course is what made it bloody amazing.


Also it's really easy to interprept in particularly LOLDEEP manner. Anno would be proud of le otaku complex criticism of this sort.

nice job /a/, for once  SPOILER: Show

>>
Anonymous 11/22/14(Sat)18:56:30 No.117310418▶
>>117310492

>>117310242
The dream "girlfriend" isn't really his girlfriend. It's his lust and self-loathing, taking the form of his ex-girlfriend because of his guilt over his breakup with her.


>>
Anonymous 11/22/14(Sat)18:57:12 No.117310455▶
>>117310588 >>117310609 >>117310724

>>117310386

The best part is that she's vomiting alcohol into his mouth.


>
Anonymous 11/22/14(Sat)19:02:40 No.117310724▶
>>117311153

>>117310455
It's not alcohol or cum. It's his own desires being forced back on him. She is a pure creation of his mind and by being pleasured by her he is basically pleasuring himself. He is eating his own desires, so to speak, and these desires make him feel sick. Once he "ejaculates" he immediately has these feelings become negative. He has major guilt problems.



>>
Anonymous 11/22/14(Sat)19:08:37 No.117311002▶
>>117311629

>>117310712
The dude feels guilty that 2D is taking over his life, making him spend less time with his gf. So he has crazy nightmares caused by his self-hatred. The vomit-scene is some rather non-subtle imagery in which all the cum he spilt over 2D is given back to him, making him realize just how big his problem is.

It's also there to give you a boner.

>
Anonymous 11/22/14(Sat)19:12:14 No.117311153▶

>>117310724
Reposting:
This sort of dream is more or less a part of yourelf that you're rejecting or compartmentalizing, and that's haunting your dreams because your subconcious is aware of the cognitive dissonance that kind of rejection creates.

The puking is symbolising the subconcious desire to re-integrate that aspect into your self, forcefully through whatever barriers of rejection you've built up to it. Usually, when anything emotional appears personified in a man's dream, it shows up as a woman, though not always. The person that appears is essentially just a carrier for whatever you've split off. Guilt and regret are possible candidates, but it's also something as fundamental as desire, expectation, excitement, anger -essentially the willingness to engage emotionally and actively with the world around you in a way that makes you vulnerable.

In the video notice how the 'girlfriend' character doesn't make an appearance until immediately after the vomit scene, where the recollection suddenly comes pouring into him. The narrative works on a literal level and a figurative one simultaneously because the dichotomy between the 2 pink-haired girls can be viewed as a representation of the character's affect personified, rejected as he disengages from the outside world, and then haunts him in a self-destructive manner as his desire to feel that fulfillment while refusing to open himself to what he's rejected (affect but also vulnerability) creates precisely the cognitive dissonance that his hyper-sexual idol character panders to.


****

et cetera et cetera

I personally think that Anno hasn’t made a bad film yet. (I kinda swing back and fourth about how much I really like Shiki-Jitsu, the rest I more assuredly enjoy on various levels.) That being said, I don’t quite see Anno's influence here with ME!ME!ME!

Oh? Why swinging? I'd say that's the most even-handed and meticulously realized of his non-NGE film projects and big favourite of mine in general (though Gunbuster is my second favourite Anno work overall).

[Dataprime]

Holy crap that Me!Me!Me! was amazing. It would've been smoking hot had the eroguro & tripping balls aspect of it gone so fucking wild. Which of course is what made it bloody amazing.

Did you have a favorite scene? (hard choice I know)