Tuesday 4 May 2004

Pic of the day: This is from the moment when everything changes. In the movie, we see as she touches him everything around them starts to fade away from the edges until they are suspended alone in the white light. Kinda like a near death experience, and in a way it is. This remarkable effect is not why I tend to think of this anime as "Koi haze" though...

Koi Kaze

I guess I was a bit too categorical in my journal entry two days ago, when I said that I could only remember one realistic anime. For instance, I have recently heaped praise upon Aishiteru ze Baby, and it has no supernatural features at all. (Unless you count the supernatural cuteness of the main characters... the art is far less realistic than the characters.) And then there is Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, which is only too realistic. It is about a young man who just can't say no to women. He is basically a good boy, but because of his weakness he becomes that kind of two timing scum which we all like to dislike, causing hurt to those he loves. This story shows the shadow side of love. But it is not the worst that could happen. There is, for instance, Koi Kaze.

"Koi Kaze" means Love Wind, or more exactly Wind of Romance. As I have written about before, the Japanese have a clearer distinction between the love that is caring for other people and the love that is tinged with desire. As the proverb goes: Koi is always wanting, Ai is always giving. If you have trouble remembering this, you won't have often seeing this anime.

***

The anime is realistically drawn, almost drab for the most part. Only the large eyes and small noses place it squarely in the anime genre, and even those are moderate and easily forgotten unless this is your first anime. And I sincerely hope this will not be your first anime, because it is probably the most disturbing anime I have ever seen. Not in the blood and entrails sense, but in a psychological sense. The horror is in the realism: Even though it shouldn't happen, it just could. It probably has happened, and will happen, and may even be happening right now. And nobody would even know.

The plot is basically this: A 27-year-old man falls in love with a 15 year-old girl he meets on the train. This is dubious enough, even in Japan; but then they learn that she is his baby sister who has come to live with his father and him. She adapts easily enough to her role as a younger sister, but he continues to think of her in a very different way. He knows it is wrong, he tries to stop himself, but he cannot change his heart. His emotions are to him like foreigners: They are quite real and he can see them in action, but he cannot understand them and he cannot make them listen to him.

Much of the impact comes from the sheer realism. In this anime there are no robots or gleaming spires, no angels or demons, no cat girls or magic spells. People don't have bright blue or green hair, and they move at normal speed instead of running or jumping around. The colors are subdued, the surroundings are drab and slightly hazy. Most people aren't pretty, and certainly not the main characters. The sister is just plain... plain, someone you would not notice in a crowd. The brother and father are, if anything, leaning slightly into the ugly side of average. Kinda like me. (Although it helps to get rid of that scraggly beard.)

The story itself is also all too realistic. The main character has been living with his girlfriend and broke up only recently. He hasn't seen his sister since she was a baby. When they meet, it is clear that they both feel a vague sense of recognition, but not enough that they really believe they have met before. It is all too easy for them to misinterpret this feeling, and especially for the guy who was recently dumped and hasn't gotten any love for three months...

Oh, and you don't need to worry that this is one of those "hentai" anime. Despite the underlying perversity, it is very tastefully executed. You don't see any "fan service" in the form of panty shots and suggestive poses. The purpose of this anime is clearly not to excite the pervert but to make the viewer understand what is going on in such a mind. Recommended for the mature viewer in the true sense of the word.

Confession: I only have the first 5 episodes, but I think it is safe to say there will be no happy ending. And if the characters suddenly grow wings and fly away, I will be most royally non-amused.)

***

The renowned psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung points out that intellectual people have strong emotions, but they don't have refined emotions. They have a hard time controlling their feelings, and their judgments in these matters are often wrong. Conversely, emotional people often have trouble with their opinions, which are also strong and lacking in logic. It may be that as a natural intellectual myself I have an easier time identifying with the male character in this story. It could even be that the whole romance/familiarity conflict hits a bit closer to home than it should have done, even though I don't have any sisters in a literal sense. But even so, I think this story will have an impact on the almost anyone who watches it. It has the inner drive of a Greek tragedy, where the characters flaw becomes clear early in the story, but the character is as helpless as the audience to change fate.