the explosive nature of school buildings in anime

:) Smiley · November 1, 2003, 16:42

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~animage/v5i9AE.html

Quote:

Schools in the Japanese Eye
It's nothing earthshattering, and it doesn't influence your daily lives, but it's a little bit of culture that passes on from anime to you.

Have you ever noticed the wanton wholesale destruction of schools? That's right, schools. Let me list the examples. All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku has an advanced helicopter firing missiles into its school. A possessed demon rampages through a school in Sazan Eyes II OAV episode 1. The same thing happens in Blue Seed. Tenchi Muyo has the lovable Ryouko setting off a gas explosion. Bakuen Campus, which means "combustible campus," is all about demons trying to destroy the school. Lum's electric attacks and the general mayhem of the characters all affect the schools in Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. This writer cannot even guess as to how many anime titles have schools demolished for whatever reason. Never fear. Where anime exists, schools are trashed.

"Why do all these schools get trashed?" you ask. Imagine if you will, a society that's very structured and formal. The common family wants the children to be smart and pushes those children to excel. The schools are devoted to memorization of facts, and that knowledge is ultimately used to pass the college entrance exams. This is not a place for creativity, a frivolous waste of time.

Imagine the creators, who are subjugated by peers, finally able to vent their frustration by drawing a copy of their old high schools. Then they trash it! Let's detonate a bomb right here where the teacher used to sit. Does anyone really blame the Japanese audience, who have also felt the oppressive sting of their schools, if they like to see schools trashed, and destroyed?

So, in conclusion, when you watch anime, take a note of the school. Remember, as a school is totaled, the creators are enjoying it just as much as you are.

Sarxis · November 1, 2003, 17:22

No wonder I'm so attracted to anime. But in fact, this is a rather narrow thing to say. A lot of anime doesn't even have any schools in them.

monolith94 · November 1, 2003, 17:27

The school in Neon Genesis Evangelion remains, iirc, remarkably pristine. Big O doesn't have any schools, and neither does Cowboy Bebop.

There might be some in FLCL though.

Zylka · November 1, 2003, 18:07

Given the sheer number of Anime out there, and the direct connection between its biggest audiences and the atmosphere of "school" (hey know what, I went to school too!) - I'd say this is the stupidest thing I've read all morning

Congratulations

Nubclear · November 1, 2003, 18:09

Quote:

Originally posted by monolith94
Neon Genesis Evangelion

What a redundancy. Why not just say Evangelion? It's like saying "The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya does not like the United States of America.". Just say Libya and America.

[/Badtroll]

St Leo · November 1, 2003, 18:20

I think this proves that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is actually anime.:g:

DanS · November 1, 2003, 19:59

In Full Metal Panic, they blow up the school repeatedly and nobody gets punished!

Kassiopeia · November 1, 2003, 20:02

It's not limited to just school buildings. Big cities, Tokyo in particular, are the most explosive substance known to man. Thus I think that it's more related to just blowing **** up.

mrmitchell · November 1, 2003, 20:41

Wanting to turn your school into a cloud of dust is a universal wish, not just Japanese.

St Leo · November 1, 2003, 21:27

Bart graphically dreams of destroying his school in a few episodes.

Zero · November 1, 2003, 21:30

dumb research. Since a lot of scenes involves characters being in school, its only natural that there would be alot of scenes with explosions and violence occuring in school, even if explosion and violence was randomly placed in different locations.

Quote:

"Why do all these schools get trashed?" you ask. Imagine if you will, a society that's very structured and formal. The common family wants the children to be smart and pushes those children to excel. The schools are devoted to memorization of facts, and that knowledge is ultimately used to pass the college entrance exams. This is not a place for creativity, a frivolous waste of time

He doesnt know what he is talking about. School is actually a bigger part of social life for japanese kids than ours. Which is actually why theres alot of story/scenes about school life anyway (audience targetted is japanes students)

Not alot of asian students talk about blowing up schools. Usually they refer to hating a subject not the entire school when they dont like school work.