A strange and new personal journey for me, and by request of this program's biggest fan, Janet, who is the chairperson of Octocon in Ireland.







Some time ago, I was asked to produce a program featuring Anime music for a very special event happening in Ireland this year, Octocon. The program came by request of Janet Ní Ghúilleabháin, who just happens to be this program's biggest fan.







Here's the challenge: I really know nothing about Anime at all. So, over the last several months, in hoping to relaunch this program after a 10 month absence, I got some pointers from her and my sister-in-arms, Coral Mallow, about where to start.







The cast from Sailor Moon, 1991







I don't know if I know anything more about Anime than I did three months ago. So, instead of the normal historical intro that precedes these programs traditionally, I have decided to just wing it, based upon the research and rabbit holes I kept falling into as time went on. This program isn't meant to be authoritative or the defining word on music from this media, but rather an odd trip into what I discovered.







I did have the good sense to ask Coral a series of questions that I kept running into as time went on. I will be reading her wonderful responses here, attempting not to sound too much like an idiot, but hey, the night is still young...







Film poster from the film Akira, 1988.







Q: Can you tell me about the concept of "the chosen one"? It seems in stark contrast to characters in Western media, who rise to the occasion, so to speak, and have some sort of Socratic idealism.







A: Many of the Japanese story structures come from the Journey to the West , a Chinese tale. This is why we have so many teams of people facilitating the journey of a single protagonist. The modern Voltron adaption is literally this is space (and damn good too). Buddhism is a huge influence. 







I personally feel that the idea runs parallel to superheroes in that ordinary people want to be extraordinary (you are so much more than you know, the power of friendship, and let's give a heavy nod to all Christian influence of savior here) and extraordinary people want to be either normal or villians (You should not get above your station, with great power comes great responsibility, it is all a lie why can't you people see that..etc...).







"What is the Anime that is the Sgt. Pepper of the genre? That is, which piece of Anime art is the one that changed the rules and people are still dissecting/arguing over decades later?"Coral Mallow: "Akira".







Q: Travis recently watched a series of the Wolverine from the X-Men that was done in Anime fashion. Do you believe this is a step forward or a step back?







A: Step back mostly cause they blew it on the character and story. But the adoption of anime style is not even a new trick to try and get cross genre engagement. A better success would be Warren Ellis' adaptation of Castlevania on Netflix.







Astroboy, 1963.







Q: Have streaming services enhanced or diminished what Anime is and can be?







A: More like they have given access to and provided legitimization for funding of projects outside of Japan and Korea such as the American manga Rwby. Anime is about storytelling and therefore like with all manner of story there is no medium that is unsuitable, there is only what medium will reach an audience.







Most modern anime viewers struggle with original 1970's and 1980's anime because they seem so coarse in animation and voice acting as well as depict social aspects that are problematic even by today's&nbs...