A couple of months ago, I was browsing my AniList feed when I noticed a curious pattern…
a not insignificant amount of my friends were absolutely tearing through Futari wa Precure.
Now, I knew of the show’s existence, but was completely baffled at why a show that
had finished airing over a decade ago was now picking up steam among my circles.
It finally came to me when I finished catching up with Hugtto Precure.
The latest episode had featured Cure Black and Cure White, the “Futari wa” of “Futari
wa Precure.”
And while it now made sense why the OG series had such renewed interest, it got me thinking
about exactly what drives us to do things like binge a hundred episodes for characters
that have less than 10 minutes of screen time.
I think the answer is that context is king (or queen).
Human beings are curious creatures, and obtaining proper context behind something can be a large
source of enjoyment.
In this case, my friends were seeking to establish a stronger connection with Nagisa and Honoka,
thus making their appearance in Hugtto carry that much more weight.
In philosophy, there exists two fancy terms in regards to knowledge, a priori and a posteriori.
And despite sounding like they’re straight from the middle ages, their meanings are quite
simple.
A priori literally means “from the earlier,” and represents knowledge that is independent
of experience—basically things that you could reason for yourself without consulting
*any* outside reference, even your own senses.
However, Cure White and Cure Black’s appearances in Hugtto Precure are an example of a posteriori
knowledge, the literal definition being (not surprisingly), “from the later.”
You would have to know of Futari wa Precure’s existence in order to know who they are, and
you would’ve had to have seen the show to know what they’re all about.
This dichotomy between a priori knowledge and a posteriori knowledge is an interesting
component of how we view anime.
It’s not exactly a perfect comparison, since a priori knowledge refers to things like math
and tautologies (Fun things are fun!), but I’m using it here to refer to what we can
glean from purely the anime itself, compared to what we get with the benefit of outside
knowledge and context.
You’re kind of able to “have your cake and eat it too,” meaning you’re able to
derive the meaning and enjoyment inherent within a show’s given narrative, and then
later reap the benefits of recontextualization that a posteriori knowledge provides.
And I can’t think of a better show that showcases this than Madoka Magica.
Depending on the framework from which you approach it, different themes are either emphasized
or outright revealed entirely—making the gaining of perspective something that everyone
should pursue, it can only make a good show even better.
Not to say that Madoka isn’t already fantastic on its own merits—one can clearly see that
purely from a priori knowledge, or everything that’s in the show itself.
For example, a common thing to hear is that one must watch at least up to episode 3 of
Madoka in order to give it a fair shake, however this implies that Madoka doesn’t reveal
what kind of show it is at first glance.
There is a noticeable attempt at misdirection, but SHAFT and Urobuchi left plenty of clues
for one to pick up on.
A simple look into the directing and cinematography betrays the show’s sinister nature, well
before episode 3.
In fact this intricate attention to detail and symbolism is not unique to Madoka’s
start, there is plenty of foreshadowing to be gleaned if one simply pays attention.
But even to the most inattentive viewer, I don’t know how you could make it through
the fever dream that is the opening scene set to Kalafina’s Magia and still expect
a happy go lucky magical girl anime.
However, what happens if you go into Madoka having read Goethe’s Faust, a well regarded
piece of German literature?
Well, it’d be pretty much like “seeing the Matrix” or turning the lights on.
A number of doors leading to renewed appreciation of the show open to you.
You’d probably notice how Madoka’s beginning mirrors Faust’s, with the two titular characters
both lamenting their positions in life, and you bet that you wouldn’t trust Mephistopheles
stand-in Kyubey for a single second, since you were probably anticipating the infamous
Faustian bargain.
If your fansub group was dedicated enough, or if you just really liked cryptography,
the opening title card whose runes proudly displays ‘Prologue in Heaven 2011” would
clue you in immediately.
You would be primed to look for the themes of morality, life and death, and spirituality
that are present in Faust, and be on the edge of your seat seeing how Madoka presents its
own version of a classic story.
And you’d kind of already be expecting a tragedy, knowing that Faust accepted a bargain
with consequences he was ill-prepared to deal with.
Though, I acknowledge that the vast majority of anime-watchers probably haven’t read
Faust.
The point of this video is not to admonish you for not having read classic literature,
but rather encourage you to seek context, any context, since it can only add to the
experience.
For example, I didn’t go into Madoka with Faust in mind, and as such missed many of
the Faustian elements.
Instead, I came into it just having taken psychology, meaning the doors that opened
for me were different, but I think just as valuable.
You see, there’s a famous thought experiment known as the trolley problem.
You’re a train track operator faced with a dilemma, a runaway train is barreling towards
a group of five unknowing workers, while another track only has a single worker.
Do you sit back and do nothing?
Or do you switch the tracks to sacrifice one for the lives of many?
This ethics thought experiment has been discussed for quite some time, and while some may have
the answer come to them immediately, it usually ends up being a hard choice.
Utilitarianism indicates that not only is it the moral choice, it is obligatory for
one to switch the tracks.
However, some argue that making an active decision in the process makes you responsible
for the death when it would just be an unfortunate incident otherwise.
Kyubey presents basically the exact same dilemma from a utilitarian view.
Is the suffering of a (relative) few justifiable to save the lives of many, in this case “many”
being the entire universe.
While one can pick up on this question of whether or not the “greater good” is worth
it, having knowledge of the trolley problem adds a new tinge and nuance to the theme,
and if one wished, they could read up on the decades of prior discussion surrounding it.
Is it worth losing Madoka for the sake of everyone else?
Ultimately the end of the series, as well as Homura...says no.
Something interesting to note is that this theme of one’s actions being part of a greater
whole is also present in Faust—meaning one can arrive at the same conclusions from different
starting points.
You just need to go out and get them.
Speaking of starting points, when one watches Madoka within their anime career can drastically
change their opinion of the show.
For example, if you were relatively new to anime you might consider Madoka “darker”
than you expected of the mahou shoujo genre.
And to that statement, anyone who has seen Princess Tutu or Sailor Moon might laugh at
you.
Atelier Emily notes in her blog “For Me in Full Bloom” that for her, “Madoka was
always a celebration of the magical girl genre.
It takes existing tropes from other series of its ilk and revels in them, rather than
repositioning them to say something new.
The ending of Madoka, where Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname embrace each other in a galaxy
is a fantastic homage to the finale of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars.”
This is where anitube and aniblogging excel, you could say a large portion of their value
lies in the provision of a posteriori knowledge.
Another common misconception is that something like Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero is a Madoka rip-off,
but like Zeria states in the aptly named “Stop Calling Everything a Madoka Rip-off!”, their
differences become readily apparent given one has the tiniest foothold in the genre.
As for me personally, watching Cardcaptor Sakura and Princess Tutu ramped up my appreciation
of something like Madoka, and I think it’s incredibly important to go back and mingle
with the classics.
They’ve stood the test of time for a reason, and you should know how a genre plays it straight
before diving into the quirks and twists that future iterations may implement.
I often get comments along the lines of “Man, I wish I could see anime the way you do.”
But, at the risk of dispelling this notion that I’m some sort of “enlightened
mind,” I’m not special.
I just have a particular background and prior context that I bring to the shows I watch.
Hell, do you know what was on my mind watching the last third of Cardcaptor Sakura?
The fact that neurons are myelinated.
Because without a little bit of resistance, nerve impulses can’t travel as fast, and
I saw Eriol as providing that push-back for Sakura, forcing her to adapt and become stronger.
As a result, he was never that much of a villain to me, due to my background in biology.
So here’s my plea to you.
Read more things, watch more anime.
Because how you experience anime is shaped by what contextualization you have available
to you.
Watching One Punch Man is a riot in and of itself, but it’s a different experience
entirely having seen DBZ, the unorthodoxy of Ore Monogatari!!’s main character may
be lost on someone who has never seen or read a shoujo, and while I saw a landmark African
text in Little Witch Academia, Caffeinated Telescope’s interpretation of Akko representing
a young creator is just as valid, if not more in line with Yoshinari’s intent.
Whether it means reading literature, watching old anime, or more content from me and my
peers—I just want you to give yourself more doors to open.
It can only make already great anime somehow even better.
Thanks for watching and be sure to like and subscribe for more content.
Here’s a reminder that for most of my videos I provide additional reading and references
in the description below, not only because I want to be accountable, but because I want
to encourage this expanding of perspective that I stress in this video.
If you enjoyed the video, you may enjoy this one by Kor Reviews talking about why we should
watch old anime without resorting to weird latin words like I had to.
And of course if anything I said was wrong, I’m sorry.
I must’ve stuttered.