Cormier Ah! My Goddess

So this week we watched Ah! My Goddess.  After becoming extremely frustrated with the streaming, I went to YouTube, where, luckily, there was a subtitled version of the movie. But I actually really enjoyed it. It’s obvious that it’s a shojo, or an anime targeted to girls, but I found it to be really cute. I also liked the romance too. Compared to the other anime we’ve watched, such as Vampire Hunter D, where the romance was just corny and cliché’d, or Ninja Scroll, where it was just awkward and even humorous at some points, Keiichi and Belldandy make an adorable and believable couple. It’s just straight up adorable when they walk through the judgment gate together. I wonder if it’s weird that I enjoyed the romance twists in the movie. From Belldandy and Keiichi to Belldandy and Celestin to Keiichi and Morgan. I just enjoyed it all, haha.

Ah! My Goddess also has the theme of powerful women again. The main roles in the movie, other than Keiichi and Celestin, are female. It’s also interesting because Celestin, one of the few male characters, is also the villain. But like Lady Eboshi in Princess Mononoke, it’s unclear whether or not he’s really the bad guy. He, also like Lady Eboshi, desires a utopia free from suffering. So he intends to destroy the world and begin with a fresh start. Morgan, the fairy princess’s, allegiance is also unclear. Even though she can also be considered a villain, she only wanted to love again. And she even went after Keiichi, so I was kind of like, “Whoa.”

But overall, A!MG was good. I liked it.

Belldandy!

Cormier Princess Mononoke

So we watched Princess Mononoke this week and I really liked it! The best parts were Xavi’s snoring and the part where the wolf grabs Ashitaka’s head and starts shaking him around! Sooo funny! But anyway, one of the most interesting characters in the anime is Lady Aboshi. In a way, she has two sides to her personality because she’s kind yet destructive. She rescues several prostitutes and lepers, the outcasts in society, and they become some of the most productive and powerful people in Iron Town. However, the effect the “sustainability” of Iron Town has on the surrounding environment is horrible and many of the animals and plant life either die off or are in danger of dying. Lady Aboshi is also kind of greedy because even though she knows her actions will destroy the environment, her dream of expanding Iron Town holds more weight than the habitats in the forest.

What strikes me as really interesting about Princess Mononoke though is the powerful role women have throughout the movie. Lady Aboshi is the leader of Iron Town and the men in the town support her. The women in the town are in charge of creating the iron, which is the town’s main resource. Also, San’s mother, the wolf goddess, is also shown to be smarter and wiser than the boar god. Some people may think that women’s roles in this anime may be a sign that women may be getting better, or more prominent roles in media, but I think it’s slightly strange that Lady Aboshi is a lead female character but she’s portrayed as having evil intentions. And her plans are also foiled. It kind of makes me wonder if women have unsuccessful roles in the anime on purpose or something. I don’t know, but it’s just something I thought of.

Lady Aboshi and San fighting. GET IT