There’s a press release announcing that some of ADV’s titles will be available for the ZVUE on Active Anime. As the owner of a ZVUE myself, I can’t help but say “way cool.”

About midway through the Amazing Nurse Nanako OVA series, I started to have my doubts about whether I could actually put a review for the series into FanCruft’s database. By the end of the third disc, I knew that I couldn’t – Nanako is a series that is simply way too offensive to too many different types of people. There are lines, even for anime, even for anime very well aimed at adults, and Nanako crosses those lines. I can’t really get myself angry over this series; it’s clear it wasn’t intended to be taken seriously, but I can’t include it in good faith as an anime recommendation for anyone.

What is it about Nanako that rubs me the wrong way? Well Doctor that Nanako serves is supposed to be a mad scientist. I can understand that, but why is he an abusive asshat? Why does no one see any problem with torturing Nanako in order to make her scream in order to lure out a monster that’s run amuck in the hospital? And what exactly is so “amazing” about Nanako anyhow? If it’s supposed to be her bust, I have to say that the character design from the original Divergence Eve is still even more absurd.

Additionally, I think there’s something slightly insideous about the views implied in Nanako about religion. It’s no Da Vinci Code in terms of its popularity, but if it were on the radar, I think the Vatican might be offended as being portrayed as trying to resurrect Jesus Christ through cloning, failing, and then burning the results alive. Nanako inadvertantly bombs Buddist* monks praying at a temple. The good doctor, combining both of the serious problems of this OVA into one, says that he won’t let the “so-called God” take his “toy [Nanako]” away from him.

The juxtapostion of the humorious Nanako with the more serious plot and animation style of global conspiracy could have gone somewhere interesting. As it is, little is resolved in the slightly unstomachable work.

*I think

I just had this interesting article, “What Makes Anime So
Popular,” sent to me. The writer, "http://rkquest.fusionxhost.com/">Darren Pangan, comes to a
conclusion that shouldn’t surprise anyone – it’s the character
development! But then he goes on to point out that character
development is often accompanied by development in skills, not
unlike a video game:

…characters grow as the story goes along. A good example
would be the “Dragonball Z” characters where they even use “power
levels” to show the improvement in a character’s fighting skill.
In the sports Anime titles “Slam Dunk: Team Shohoku” and “Hajime
No Ippo”, the main characters learn different techniques in every
match. – "http://ezinearticles.com/?id=166788">http://ezinearticles.com/?id=166788

*Originally sent to me from DailyIndia: "http://www.dailyindia.com/show/22738.php">http://www.dailyindia.com/show/22738.php
(Warning: Pop-ups). A "http://www.google.com/search?q=%22What+Makes+Anime+So+Popular%3F%22+Darren+Pangan&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&filter=0">
search seems to indicate that it originated from the URL
above.

A few days ago, Google’s personalized home page’s quote of the day box had an interesting thought:

No opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible. – W. H. Auden

I think that there’s probably a bit of insight in that quote to anime. Let’s face it – anime isn’t “sensible” for the most part – it’s silly! Giant anthropomorphic robots? Impossible*! Naturally bright pink hair? There’s no such thing. Spaceships with FTL abilities? Beyond the wildest dreams of mainstream physicists. Worldwide apocalypse? Let’s hope we never see that one! Sword-fighting? It doesn’t matter how good someone is with a sword – against a larger number of people with guns, they’re doomed.

So why is anime unrealistic? Some it it is just fantasy. Who wouldn’t want to wander off, meet new people, see new places? All the better is those people are suave and sexy and the locations are wonderlands. But that’s not the whole story by a long shot, IMHO. You can’t examine people in unusual circumstance in real life – unusual circumstances just don’t come around enough. So, by imagining unusual circumstances, anime (and other forms of great literature), get to ask “what if?”

Which doesn’t make it any less silly… or any less enjoyable!

*More or less. I’m sure someone will build one someday, but don’t hold your breath.