jmarken
12-07-2006, 11:41 PM
A few months ago, I shared some pictures of the first ESPer Mami box set. I thought I’d try and put together an episode guide as well. This will take me forever to finish, as my new day job has been taking up a lot of my time, but I do intend to finish it. The show is pretty unknown in the US, which is a shame as it’s a pretty good show. Obviously these episode guides will contain massive spoilers, but at the same time they’re really more like summaries. I’ve left out quite a bit, but you’ll get the idea of the episode.
The Romanization scheme I’ll be using is a combination of Hepburn-shiki and wapro-shiki. If I were more famous, I’d call it Marken-shiki. Basically it’s just what I find intuitive for the phrase I’m typing. Please don’t mistake it for any official Romanization.
Some notes on the DVD box set
A few comments on the DVD set itself; first, the negatives: I really hate that the disk is locked down until the show starts. I really really hate that. The stop button is even locked out! Give me a break. To make things worse, not only do you have to sit through company logos, you have to sit through a cutsy little verbal opening, in which they’ve brought Mami’s VA back (sounding much older) to warn you not to sit too close to the TV and to be sure and watch in a well-lit room. Please.
I’m also exceedingly disappointed that they decided to leave the next episode previews off. I’ve lost all faith in humankind. How could they not put the next episode previews on??? That’s tantamount to sacrilege. No, that is sacrilege. As much as I like this show, and I like it a lot, this is a measurable minus that affects my enjoyment of the show. This could have been perfect. It should have been perfect. As it is, it’s not.
On the positive side, the transfer looks quite nice on my setup. (Pioneer DV-343 region-free DVD player connected to a Sharp 27F541 through component cables.) The colors look great, and there’s no hint of damage to the masters. The show looks fresh and new, with only the character designs giving away its age.
Overall notes on the show itself
There are three reasons I like the show ESPer Mami a great deal. The first is that it’s an interesting variation on the magical girl theme—rather than having magical powers, Mami has psychic powers; but we can see many parallels between the traditional manifestation of the genre and the way it’s instantiated in ESPer Mami. Many magical girl conventions can be found in ESPer Mami: the animal familiar, the “monster of the week” format, the male love interest; but there are interesting differences too. Mami’s powers come not from an object and a spell, but from within herself; and as such there are no transformation sequences. (I also find the idea of “power from within” to be more empowering; another reason I like the show.) Even when corresponding elements are identifiable, there are differences. Konpoko is the animal familiar, but Konpoko doesn’t talk (though he often comes exceedingly close, and is clearly expressive in human ways). Instead of fighting a “monster of the week”, Mami often solves a “mondai (problem) of the week”. And even then the show often takes a break to be just about one of the characters. Takahata is clearly Mami’s love interest, but their relationship remains strictly platonic and their actual feelings for each other, while hinted at (sometimes strongly), never get explored, developed, or even discussed, in any overt way.
What’s also interesting is where this show fits in the evolution of the magical girl genre. At the time ESPer Mami came out, most magical girls shows were aimed at younger (elementary school age) girls, while Mami targets what we would today call “tween” kids of both sexes. Sailor Moon was still several years away, and the magical girl genre was dominated by shows like Pastel Yumi or Magical Emi, not to mention earlier shows like Creamy Mami or Minky Momo, going of course all the way back to Mahoutsukai Sally. ESPer Mami was an interesting variation on the theme that, in another universe, might have changed the direction of the genre. Psychic powers must have been in the air (at least a little bit) in the ‘80s, as we also have KOR’s psychic Kasuga Kyosuke on the air at the same time as Mami. But the genre didn’t really go in a psychic direction, and it was Sailor Moon’s rolling together of a magical girl base with heavy doses of sentai that established a new direction for the genre, raised the age level of the target audience(s), reached across the gender divide, and set the stage for much of what became magical girldom in the modern (by which I mean 90’s and 00’s) age.
So here we have ESPer Mami, a small bud on the magical girl tree that never grew into an alternate branch. As such, I find it deeply interesting.
The second reason I like the show is that, despite Mami’s psychic powers, the show is fundamentally rational and even skeptical (in the CSI* sense). Generally, in anime, once you’re in the realm of the fantastic, you’re pretty much fully in that realm. So in magical girls shows, magic exists. If there are psychics, there are teams of psychics. Often battling one another. Those shows are cool enough in their own way, but in ESPer Mami, Mami is pretty much it; and that too is interesting in its own way.
Mami herself is pretty open to the idea of paranormal phenomena (such as the existence of ghosts or the ability to see the future), which, given her own psychic powers, is certainly understandable. Takahata, however, is at heart a rational skeptic. He does not believe in ghosts, for example; and whenever Mami brings him a situation that she thinks is caused by some paranormal event or force, he is the one who considers the situation, gathers evidence, and invariably finds the true (non-paranormal) cause. Now armed with a genuine (i.e., true) understanding of the situation, Mami is able to use her powers to put things right, or at least back on track to being right. Takahata’s rationalism is a great counter-point to Mami’s psychic powers; and it takes both of them, using their respective talents, to solve the problem.
So here we have a show whose main character is psychic, yet one of the show’s recurring themes is that there is a rational explanation for seemingly fantastic events. To that extent, it reminds me of the original Scooby Doo. Despite what seemed to be paranormal phenomena, it was always a series of tricks perpetrated by a bad guy, and exposed by a gang of “meddling kids”. The rational skeptic in me is always heartened to see such portrayals in stories targeted at kids. There’s nothing wrong with fantasy in fiction; nothing wrong with that at all. But it’s also nice to see some rational skepticism in fiction.
The third reason I find this show intriguing is the deliberately casual nudity that often (but not always) shows up in the show. I still remember the shock and confusion this caused me, as a naïve American living in Japan, when I first saw the show. Was this supposed to be erotic? Or was that just me being unable to overcome the conditioning of my culture, which strongly associates nudity with sexuality? I mean come on, she’s in 7th grade!! Given the character designs, an erotic reading hardly seemed possible; but who knows what otaku might find titillating? At any rate, it certainly was blatant! What to make of this show? (And this country!) I still haven’t actually decided; every time Mami walks around her father’s studio nude, casually discussing everyday life with him, it makes me wonder anew. Clearly the show is sending a message here, but is it a healthy one wherein girls are encouraged to think of their bodies as natural and nothing to be ashamed of, or is the author just trying to desensitize young girls to the idea of undressing for the male gaze, all to the benefit of slobbering adolescent boys and/or pedophiles? I think both cases could be made, though in the final analysis I think the former argument is stronger. Some scenes in the show indicate that Mami is not unaware of the sexual subtext of nudity, but imply that she regards both nudity and sex as natural and nothing to be either ashamed of or worried about, as long as they are done in a proper context. For example, her modeling nude for her father is art, and in that context she’s not ashamed of her participation, nor is she self-conscious about having others look at paintings of her nude. In contrast, Takahata is invariably flustered by seeing nudes of her, probably because he is romantically interested in her, and thus contextualizes her nudity in a different way. But there is one episode (much later in the series) where some schoolmates of Mami’s, with lascivious intent, try to maneuver her into undressing for them. This upsets her greatly, and shows that she’s not simply clueless about what nudity can mean. (Given her powers, I was hoping to see her get a little medieval on them, but sadly that didn’t happen.)
In addition, because the show is designed to appeal to boys as well as girls (and not just because Mami runs around nude so often, though that might be part of it), the message that the show is trying to send applies to them as well. What is the show trying to say to Japanese tween boys?
This is an interesting question, as Takahata is often depicted (and often for comic effect) in “role-reversal” sorts of situations vis-*-vis conventional anime clichés. For example, there are a couple of instances where Mami sees him nude. One is an instance on disk 1 when Mami is experimenting with her powers, and teleports him but not his clothes outside (thus establishing that she can teleport parts independent of wholes). She runs out, bringing his clothes to him. She walks right up to him, but he immediately freaks out, turns around and hides his strategic parts. There’s also an episode (later in the series) where she walks in on him in the bath, and he immediately dives under the water and throws things at her to get her out—the exact opposite of the bath gag so common in anime where the guy walks in on the girl and sees her nude.
So Takahata has a much more conventional sense of decorum. Yet he fantasizes about Mami nude, and is otherwise shown to be interested in her erotically. At the same time, he clearly respects her and regards her as a friend. There are but a few anime couples that I truly admire. Jinto and Lafiel from Crest/Banner are one, Kurata Sana and Hayama Akito from Kodocha are another, KareKano’s Miyazawa and Arima a third; but the first anime couple I really came to admire was Mami and Takahata. And the reason was the mutual support and respect they gave one another. If Takahata is the carrier of the message to the boys, I see that message as being: it’s ok to be sexually interested, but in a good relationship that sexual interest never trumps respect, support, or friendship with the person you’re interested in.
And it’s for that reason that I think the message of the show is fundamentally healthy, and one of the reasons I like this show so much.
*Edit: Good grief, no sooner do I post this, then I get the latest issue of the Skeptical Inquirer and I read that the name of the organization has changed from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). Oh well.
The Romanization scheme I’ll be using is a combination of Hepburn-shiki and wapro-shiki. If I were more famous, I’d call it Marken-shiki. Basically it’s just what I find intuitive for the phrase I’m typing. Please don’t mistake it for any official Romanization.
Some notes on the DVD box set
A few comments on the DVD set itself; first, the negatives: I really hate that the disk is locked down until the show starts. I really really hate that. The stop button is even locked out! Give me a break. To make things worse, not only do you have to sit through company logos, you have to sit through a cutsy little verbal opening, in which they’ve brought Mami’s VA back (sounding much older) to warn you not to sit too close to the TV and to be sure and watch in a well-lit room. Please.
I’m also exceedingly disappointed that they decided to leave the next episode previews off. I’ve lost all faith in humankind. How could they not put the next episode previews on??? That’s tantamount to sacrilege. No, that is sacrilege. As much as I like this show, and I like it a lot, this is a measurable minus that affects my enjoyment of the show. This could have been perfect. It should have been perfect. As it is, it’s not.
On the positive side, the transfer looks quite nice on my setup. (Pioneer DV-343 region-free DVD player connected to a Sharp 27F541 through component cables.) The colors look great, and there’s no hint of damage to the masters. The show looks fresh and new, with only the character designs giving away its age.
Overall notes on the show itself
There are three reasons I like the show ESPer Mami a great deal. The first is that it’s an interesting variation on the magical girl theme—rather than having magical powers, Mami has psychic powers; but we can see many parallels between the traditional manifestation of the genre and the way it’s instantiated in ESPer Mami. Many magical girl conventions can be found in ESPer Mami: the animal familiar, the “monster of the week” format, the male love interest; but there are interesting differences too. Mami’s powers come not from an object and a spell, but from within herself; and as such there are no transformation sequences. (I also find the idea of “power from within” to be more empowering; another reason I like the show.) Even when corresponding elements are identifiable, there are differences. Konpoko is the animal familiar, but Konpoko doesn’t talk (though he often comes exceedingly close, and is clearly expressive in human ways). Instead of fighting a “monster of the week”, Mami often solves a “mondai (problem) of the week”. And even then the show often takes a break to be just about one of the characters. Takahata is clearly Mami’s love interest, but their relationship remains strictly platonic and their actual feelings for each other, while hinted at (sometimes strongly), never get explored, developed, or even discussed, in any overt way.
What’s also interesting is where this show fits in the evolution of the magical girl genre. At the time ESPer Mami came out, most magical girls shows were aimed at younger (elementary school age) girls, while Mami targets what we would today call “tween” kids of both sexes. Sailor Moon was still several years away, and the magical girl genre was dominated by shows like Pastel Yumi or Magical Emi, not to mention earlier shows like Creamy Mami or Minky Momo, going of course all the way back to Mahoutsukai Sally. ESPer Mami was an interesting variation on the theme that, in another universe, might have changed the direction of the genre. Psychic powers must have been in the air (at least a little bit) in the ‘80s, as we also have KOR’s psychic Kasuga Kyosuke on the air at the same time as Mami. But the genre didn’t really go in a psychic direction, and it was Sailor Moon’s rolling together of a magical girl base with heavy doses of sentai that established a new direction for the genre, raised the age level of the target audience(s), reached across the gender divide, and set the stage for much of what became magical girldom in the modern (by which I mean 90’s and 00’s) age.
So here we have ESPer Mami, a small bud on the magical girl tree that never grew into an alternate branch. As such, I find it deeply interesting.
The second reason I like the show is that, despite Mami’s psychic powers, the show is fundamentally rational and even skeptical (in the CSI* sense). Generally, in anime, once you’re in the realm of the fantastic, you’re pretty much fully in that realm. So in magical girls shows, magic exists. If there are psychics, there are teams of psychics. Often battling one another. Those shows are cool enough in their own way, but in ESPer Mami, Mami is pretty much it; and that too is interesting in its own way.
Mami herself is pretty open to the idea of paranormal phenomena (such as the existence of ghosts or the ability to see the future), which, given her own psychic powers, is certainly understandable. Takahata, however, is at heart a rational skeptic. He does not believe in ghosts, for example; and whenever Mami brings him a situation that she thinks is caused by some paranormal event or force, he is the one who considers the situation, gathers evidence, and invariably finds the true (non-paranormal) cause. Now armed with a genuine (i.e., true) understanding of the situation, Mami is able to use her powers to put things right, or at least back on track to being right. Takahata’s rationalism is a great counter-point to Mami’s psychic powers; and it takes both of them, using their respective talents, to solve the problem.
So here we have a show whose main character is psychic, yet one of the show’s recurring themes is that there is a rational explanation for seemingly fantastic events. To that extent, it reminds me of the original Scooby Doo. Despite what seemed to be paranormal phenomena, it was always a series of tricks perpetrated by a bad guy, and exposed by a gang of “meddling kids”. The rational skeptic in me is always heartened to see such portrayals in stories targeted at kids. There’s nothing wrong with fantasy in fiction; nothing wrong with that at all. But it’s also nice to see some rational skepticism in fiction.
The third reason I find this show intriguing is the deliberately casual nudity that often (but not always) shows up in the show. I still remember the shock and confusion this caused me, as a naïve American living in Japan, when I first saw the show. Was this supposed to be erotic? Or was that just me being unable to overcome the conditioning of my culture, which strongly associates nudity with sexuality? I mean come on, she’s in 7th grade!! Given the character designs, an erotic reading hardly seemed possible; but who knows what otaku might find titillating? At any rate, it certainly was blatant! What to make of this show? (And this country!) I still haven’t actually decided; every time Mami walks around her father’s studio nude, casually discussing everyday life with him, it makes me wonder anew. Clearly the show is sending a message here, but is it a healthy one wherein girls are encouraged to think of their bodies as natural and nothing to be ashamed of, or is the author just trying to desensitize young girls to the idea of undressing for the male gaze, all to the benefit of slobbering adolescent boys and/or pedophiles? I think both cases could be made, though in the final analysis I think the former argument is stronger. Some scenes in the show indicate that Mami is not unaware of the sexual subtext of nudity, but imply that she regards both nudity and sex as natural and nothing to be either ashamed of or worried about, as long as they are done in a proper context. For example, her modeling nude for her father is art, and in that context she’s not ashamed of her participation, nor is she self-conscious about having others look at paintings of her nude. In contrast, Takahata is invariably flustered by seeing nudes of her, probably because he is romantically interested in her, and thus contextualizes her nudity in a different way. But there is one episode (much later in the series) where some schoolmates of Mami’s, with lascivious intent, try to maneuver her into undressing for them. This upsets her greatly, and shows that she’s not simply clueless about what nudity can mean. (Given her powers, I was hoping to see her get a little medieval on them, but sadly that didn’t happen.)
In addition, because the show is designed to appeal to boys as well as girls (and not just because Mami runs around nude so often, though that might be part of it), the message that the show is trying to send applies to them as well. What is the show trying to say to Japanese tween boys?
This is an interesting question, as Takahata is often depicted (and often for comic effect) in “role-reversal” sorts of situations vis-*-vis conventional anime clichés. For example, there are a couple of instances where Mami sees him nude. One is an instance on disk 1 when Mami is experimenting with her powers, and teleports him but not his clothes outside (thus establishing that she can teleport parts independent of wholes). She runs out, bringing his clothes to him. She walks right up to him, but he immediately freaks out, turns around and hides his strategic parts. There’s also an episode (later in the series) where she walks in on him in the bath, and he immediately dives under the water and throws things at her to get her out—the exact opposite of the bath gag so common in anime where the guy walks in on the girl and sees her nude.
So Takahata has a much more conventional sense of decorum. Yet he fantasizes about Mami nude, and is otherwise shown to be interested in her erotically. At the same time, he clearly respects her and regards her as a friend. There are but a few anime couples that I truly admire. Jinto and Lafiel from Crest/Banner are one, Kurata Sana and Hayama Akito from Kodocha are another, KareKano’s Miyazawa and Arima a third; but the first anime couple I really came to admire was Mami and Takahata. And the reason was the mutual support and respect they gave one another. If Takahata is the carrier of the message to the boys, I see that message as being: it’s ok to be sexually interested, but in a good relationship that sexual interest never trumps respect, support, or friendship with the person you’re interested in.
And it’s for that reason that I think the message of the show is fundamentally healthy, and one of the reasons I like this show so much.
*Edit: Good grief, no sooner do I post this, then I get the latest issue of the Skeptical Inquirer and I read that the name of the organization has changed from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). Oh well.