NoaIzumiAnime Trend: Fear of ghosts
December 8th 2008 23:31
Not just fear of ghosts in general, but in a character, usually a woman, who is otherwise extremely able in everything she does and is admired for this by all the other characters. They may be wonderfully accomplished and almost super-human at some things, but start telling a ghost story or show them something spooky, and all that confidence disappears, and they turn to babbling blobs.
The first character is Takeo Kumagami of Patlabor. She’s sweet, capable, and seems to be the perfect police officer. She’s a great cook (a skill very appreciated by the under-fed folks of SV2), a good detective (and often puts this skill to use), and is one the few officers able to control loose cannon labor pilot Ota. Her weakness? A debilitating fear of ghosts or anything supernatural. In fact, if she’s scared badly enough, she’s prone to fainting, and then some poor schlub (usually the gentle giant Hiromi) is stuck carrying her for the rest of the episode. It’s an interesting (to say the least) contrast between the smart, capable, take-charge officer and the scared little girl who is literally completely paralyzed by her fear. Where it comes from is never explained in the anime, but non-canon sources suggest her grandfather told her too many ghost stories when she was a child.
Then there’s Miyuki Kobayakowa, the ace police officer of You’re Under Arrest. She’s sweet, capable, a genius with machines, and she and her partner are arguably the best policewoman team in Tokyo. Any case with a supernatural bent, though, and she wants nothing to do with it, and it’s up to her partner Natsumi to drag her in (although Natsumi isn’t above making fun of Miyuki for her phobia at the same time). Her fear is a relatively recent development, having only been seen in the mini-specials, which aired after the first TV season. Whether it continues remains to be seen by American audiences.
A less well-known example is Arisa Mitaka of 801 T.T.S. Airbats. She’s a pilot in the Japanese Self-Defense Force, and a darned good one. She’s hardly perfect, as she’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of Hokkaido, but she’s generally acknowledged as the best pilot in the squadron. Her capability and cool vanishes however, when the squadron goes to a hot spring and runs into the “Ghost of the kamikaze pilot.” Everyone is a little rattled by the spooky visions, but none more than Mitaka. Being Mitaka, she puts on a brave front, but you can only hide the obvious for so long. Of course, once the “ghost” is revealed to be an imposter, she’s first in line to rip him a new one.
Finally, we come to Yao Sakurakouji of the parody police anime Miami Guns. She’s beautiful, brilliant, famous, rich, and the entire world revolves around her. (She tells you so herself.) But, she and her partner Lou Amano are sent to a haunted island where spooky things are going on and, well, you know the rest.
I’m not sure how widespread this trend is (I need to watch more anime!), but this is something I’m going to keep an eye out for in the future. If anyone knows of any other examples, please comment.
The first character is Takeo Kumagami of Patlabor. She’s sweet, capable, and seems to be the perfect police officer. She’s a great cook (a skill very appreciated by the under-fed folks of SV2), a good detective (and often puts this skill to use), and is one the few officers able to control loose cannon labor pilot Ota. Her weakness? A debilitating fear of ghosts or anything supernatural. In fact, if she’s scared badly enough, she’s prone to fainting, and then some poor schlub (usually the gentle giant Hiromi) is stuck carrying her for the rest of the episode. It’s an interesting (to say the least) contrast between the smart, capable, take-charge officer and the scared little girl who is literally completely paralyzed by her fear. Where it comes from is never explained in the anime, but non-canon sources suggest her grandfather told her too many ghost stories when she was a child.
Then there’s Miyuki Kobayakowa, the ace police officer of You’re Under Arrest. She’s sweet, capable, a genius with machines, and she and her partner are arguably the best policewoman team in Tokyo. Any case with a supernatural bent, though, and she wants nothing to do with it, and it’s up to her partner Natsumi to drag her in (although Natsumi isn’t above making fun of Miyuki for her phobia at the same time). Her fear is a relatively recent development, having only been seen in the mini-specials, which aired after the first TV season. Whether it continues remains to be seen by American audiences.
A less well-known example is Arisa Mitaka of 801 T.T.S. Airbats. She’s a pilot in the Japanese Self-Defense Force, and a darned good one. She’s hardly perfect, as she’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of Hokkaido, but she’s generally acknowledged as the best pilot in the squadron. Her capability and cool vanishes however, when the squadron goes to a hot spring and runs into the “Ghost of the kamikaze pilot.” Everyone is a little rattled by the spooky visions, but none more than Mitaka. Being Mitaka, she puts on a brave front, but you can only hide the obvious for so long. Of course, once the “ghost” is revealed to be an imposter, she’s first in line to rip him a new one.
Finally, we come to Yao Sakurakouji of the parody police anime Miami Guns. She’s beautiful, brilliant, famous, rich, and the entire world revolves around her. (She tells you so herself.) But, she and her partner Lou Amano are sent to a haunted island where spooky things are going on and, well, you know the rest.
I’m not sure how widespread this trend is (I need to watch more anime!), but this is something I’m going to keep an eye out for in the future. If anyone knows of any other examples, please comment.
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