remembrance

On British Literature & Fate: What it Means to be Remembered || OWLS “Legacy”

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Chances are that if you were linked here from another blogger pal, then you might be new. To those first-timers, “Hi, I’m Takuto, welcome to my anime cafe!” For the OWLS blog tour’s second monthly topic of 2020, “Legacy,” I’m gonna stand on the soapbox for a bit and just talk about my own experiences with the word, while also making  connections to some of my favorite stories, both in anime and literature.

We have mentors, teachers, coaches, and role models whose stories inspired us in some way. Even when these role models are gone, their stories will live on from generation to generation. For this month, we will be exploring stories that have inspired or taught us some important lessons about life.

This will be a shorter post, but hopefully one still with merit to it. Thanks Lyn for the prompt!

rider drinks

Of Legends and Lore

So I’m currently taking this Survey of British Literature class at uni and we just read (well for me reread) the old manuscript of Beowulf. In case you didn’t know, Beowulf is the titular protagonist of the oldest poem in English literature. Set in what is currently the areas between southern Sweden and Denmark, the folk epic recounts the tale of one of the world’s oldest documented heroes. Battle-brave, brazen, and bold, Beowulf is a champion all throughout his lifetime—and for his mighty deeds and charisma, his glory continues to live on well over 1,000 years as students are told and retold the story of bravery, loyalty, and honor.

Our society likes heroes. Typically, such figures like Beowulf (or anyone from the popular MCU) provide icons we can admire or stories to fall in love with. Beowulf defeats the wretched, demonic Grendel, slays the beast’s sea-witch of a mother, and even conquers a dragon—the very representation of the mythical and the divine—transcending his mortality at the tragic cost of his own life. In his last moments on earth, Beowulf performs this unbelievable feat, and is rewarded for his courage and virtue by becoming a figure forever enshrined in the hearts of his men. Truly, Beowulf is a hero.

Even if it’s not the most “stimulating” read, I enjoy this Old English poem a great deal. The timeless values of a warrior society often feel much easier to discern than the overtly emotionally-conflicted minds of, say, a Shakespeare work. At its core, Beowulf is a simple tale, yet one that imparts upon the reader a vision of the past—of whale-path waves crashing against the beaten rocky shore, and of powerful sailors that can command these swan-road seas on a whim. As we behold a man in his final hours transcend heroism from one thing to something else, we find that Beowulf embodies the changing spirit of this long-lost warrior society—as well as its very best parts.

rider smiles

Knights of the Round

We flash forward a few centuries with a different set of morals and mindsets, but the same human heart, with the Arthurian legends. No more are people barbarians at sea; this is a time of knighthood, and with it comes refined honor and bravery, courtliness, gallantry towards women, and most of all, chivalry. Like most chivalric romance, Arthurian poetry employs the motif of a quest to tell its tales, which always comes in a familiar set of 3’s: a challenge, a journey, and a test.

Whether conquering an enemy’s castle for the sake of one’s kingdom or fighting off the nasty temptations of Morgan le Fay and at times even Britain’s own Queen Guinevere, upholding the virtues of a knight was certainly not the easiest task to accomplish. Courtly love can lead the men and women of this time to spiral into all kinds of romantic trouble, but the chivalric code must always be upheld. Stories like Lanval and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight perfectly illustrate the delicate balance between desire and doing what is right. 

knights of the round

Despite being some of the hardest Old English literature out there to decipher, endless fun can be had with Arthurian lore. Today, the names of King Arthur and his knights are often trivialized, which is saddening given how excruciatingly poignant the tragic irony of a given character’s betrayal or death can be.

Yet, when done justice, we get incredible works like those from Type-Moon’s Nasuverse, including the Fate/Grand Order mobile game, Yoshiyuki Asai’s Fate/Apocrypha, and Gen Urobuchi’s masterpiece of pseudo-historical fiction, Fate/Zero. Fate‘s portrayals of Artoria (Arthur) Pendragon, Lancelot, and Mordred are easily my favorite ones out there, as their combined cinematic lore is almost as deeply interwoven as the original legends themselves are.

I suppose having your name recorded in the history books is a form of immortality. But if that just means your name gets passed down for two thousand years and nothing else, I’d have preferred to have even a hundredth of that added to my actual life. — Rider, Fate/Zero

And while on the subject of past deeds influencing the present, seeing how intensely Alexander the Great (Iskandar) continues to influence young Waver Velvet’s life even a whole ten years after the Holy Grail War in The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II lends allegoric proof to the fact that history’s greatest heroes can especially impact our hearts with the legacies they leave behind.

rider and waver

Even Heroes Die

The tales of Beowulf and King Arthur’s knights have long-since been told. While we know they lived valiant lives, we’ve also come to understand that even heroes die. Unfortunately, we are past the time in which we can rely on a single hero. We can’t rely on just one person solely to be responsible for watching after us all. And so, we must become heroes in our own lives, even if our deeds often go unrewarded. We can choose to embody the fiery bravery of a warrior, the dutiful chivalry of a knight, or even some other code of honor that I didn’t discuss in this post.

We don’t have to be the strongest or the greatest. We can be weak heroes, for even a weak hero is still a hero. This sentiment is echoed in K-pop sensation BTS’s “Anpanman,” which describes the popular red bean bun mascot’s determination to help those who are closest to him, even if he’s no Batman or Superman.

Anpanman is the local hero in our own lives we can rely on time and time again. The best part is that we can be each other’s Anpanman, so long as we are willing to help those in our lives who need it most. We can be heroes, too. And just like those who inspired us to be great, our legacies can live on in the lives we touch, and maybe—just maybe—be remembered for a long time to come.

lancelot and the lake

Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you. — Shannon L. Adler

Afterword

For the first time, coming up with a single series to talk about proved more difficult than it should have. Maybe that is why I settled on this loose discussion over something current and relevant to my life: Brit lit. Or, perhaps, I had been wanting to talk about these famous knights and warriors from the days of old for a while now . . .

Regardless, I had one more quote running through my head as I was writing this: “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever. The goal is to create something that will” (Chuck Palahniuk). As a blogger, artist, and musician, all I can do is create things. And thus, even if this blog is the only thing even remotely memorable I can leave behind, I’d still be eternally grateful for the opportunity to share my words with people like you. Please, continue to chase after your dreams and your passions, for what you can share with others will only add to the stories they will share about you!

This concludes my February 8th entry in the OWLS “Legacy” blog tour. Megan (Nerd Rambles) went right before me with a post about the literature that has left an impact on her, which you can read right here! Now, look out for Aria (The AniManga Spellbook) with a post over the recently aired Magia Record anime on Tuesday, February 11th! Thank you so much for reading, and until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host

The Scope of the Universe: Gurren Lagann Revisited

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A few days ago, I took to Twitter following my rewatch of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and tweeted this:

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If you didn’t notice it sitting there in my collection post, I recently (and FINALLY) got a hold of the Gurren Lagann limited edition DVD set released by Aniplex of America several years back. It’s a set that I’ve wanted ever since I laid eyes on it—and that was before I even watched the series! You can only imagine my elation when I managed to get this OOP set for just $60 after haggling with the eBay seller for a couple days.

Now, as the title of this post indicates, I’m not going to review the series. Nah, I’ve already done that, and I still stand by everything I say in my review of Gurren Lagann. Rather, this is just to express my feelings about it now, three years after my first viewing. I like to think I’m a different person compared to when I first watched this series, and correspondingly, the show means different things to me now than when I first saw Lagann take flight in that iconic opening episode.

This isn’t anything new. Y’all are probably familiar with this show’s hype given how well it has been passed on from fan to fan. Heck, perhaps the only reason you watched it was because of someone else’s recommendation. And there’s a good reason for its constant spreading throughout the past decade.

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From Gainax’s off-the-walls animation to the high-octane soundtrack of ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWAHHH, Gurren Lagann delivers consistent quality, still holding up TWELVE years later as one of anime’s best-looking and best-sounding. I literally started CRYING once I heard “Libera Me From Hell” again in the finale, you guys. It’s the stuff of legends, I’m telling you. And with all this recent circulation of what it means for an anime to be “classic,” well, can I just say that whatever your standards may be, Gurren Lagann most certainly fits the bill.

And the ENDING. I can’t even begin to fathom the scope of Team Dai-Gurren’s galactic quest. From a tiny hole in the ground, to the Earth’s surface, the moon, and beyond the Milky Way. That’s just nuts! Since my rewatch, I’ve found myself sitting here just staring at the wall more and more, just trying to comprehend it all. What even is at the end of the universe? What other kinds of life are out there among the stars? Will we ever earn the chance to interact with such forces? I mean, this is a Gainax series, so I’m theoretically not supposed to risk a massive headache over trying to rationalize the impossible, but that’s half the fun, really.

According to Wikipedia, the universe measures 93 billion light years across. The freakin’ Universe. Proportionally, that’s how big Gurren Lagann‘s story is. Ok, maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but when you have a climax that ends in two cosmically sized robots (or energy beings at this point) hurling galaxies at each other, you know your story is kinda big. My point is, to discount any of the events of Gurren Lagann and label it as anything less would be, well, a lie.

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In my review, I called Gurren Lagann “The Larger-Than-Life Story of Us.” Pretty title, right? That’s not simply me trying to be poetic, though. The series is all about evolution. Each and every day, we try to evolve—to push ourselves to the max—just to be better, EVEN IF only the slightest bit, than we were the day before.

The death of Kamina is one of many pathos the series evokes to inspire that drive to change, to improve. Within Simon, Yoko, and everyone else is this incredible swell of kinetic energy, a rawness that can only expressed through a studio like Gainax. Sometimes this spiral force spills over as a storm of chaotic emotions; other times it is love, a powerhouse which carries the potential to change this simultaneously rational and insane universe we live in.

Gurren Lagann is zany through to the very end. So much happens in such little time, it’s absolutely unbelievable. Lagann’s bombastic protagonists and equally bizarre antagonists thrust upon you a story that demands your attention as it dares to break through the heavens. It’s a weight that doesn’t have to be shouldered alone, however; the series has solidified itself as a timeless ode to the vigor of the human spirit, and a demonstration of the sheer audacity of the human race.

gurren lagann ep 23

I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this post anymore, but I do know one thing for certain: the day we decide to forget this classic story is the day the anime community will lose a monumental part of its core—but not without gaining something new to fill its place. What that new show or shows will be, only the future us will know. I do hope we never give up on Gurren Lagann, but the inevitability of fate that the series itself wields might prove my wish otherwise.

So, going back to my desperate-sounding tweet, please, PLEASE never stop sharing Gurren Lagann with all your friends and the wonderful people of this community. Such a vibrant star should never lose its light, but as we too continue to change and evolve, sometimes we have to leave even the best and most precious of our memories behind.

I only hope that the great Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann doesn’t fade from our hearts anytime soon.

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When does a man die? When he is hit by a bullet? No. When he suffers a disease? No. When he eats a soup made out of a poisonous mushroom? No! A man dies when he is forgotten. — Kamina

I really haven’t done a post like this before, but I had some thoughts I needed to vent and didn’t know how else to do it. If you share the same sentiments about this beloved title, I’d love to hear them! Tell me your stories, I’ll listen. In fact, merely sharing mine with you again led me to the creation of a new category on my blog: the Revisited titles. Since I tend to rewatch stuff a bunch, it only felt right to finally honor the series that are worthy of such revisits!

The weirdest thing about all of this was that, even just a couple months ago, I didn’t even feel that passionately about the series. But as soon as summer hit—the exact same time of the year in which I initially watched Lagann—man, it just kicked on like crazy. I HAVE to watch Gurren Lagann again, I kept telling myself. So I did, and I bought it, too. If you’re strapped for cash, however, the entire series is available on Crunchyroll for FREE!

Anyway, thanks for reading my loose ramblings. It was quite enjoyable being able to get these thoughts out here. Now, I can finally move on. ‘Till next time!

– Takuto, your host