Ask John: Are Anime Comedies Becoming a Little Too Self-Aware?

Question:
I’m generally enjoying Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, but I’ve noticed that the show has kind of shifted gears in the last couple of episodes. What started out as a relatively “straight” light fantasy, mild romance, slice-of-life “magical girlfriend” show has become increasingly self-aware, with the members of the art club essentially being just surrogates for the 2ch message-board-reading otaku audience, even breaking the fourth wall a couple of times.

I suppose I shouldn’t really have expected any different since the show is from the same director as the first four Lucky Star episodes. But I find it just a little bit frustrating as Kannagi is a show with an interesting enough premise that could easily sustain itself on its own merits without having to resort to winking to the audience. I enjoy that kind of thing in Lucky Star, where Konata is an amalgam of internet memes and tropes, but the self-aware tone just feels a little out of place in Kannagi.

Answer:
I have two different responses to this perspective. One addresses the viewer. One places the program in context. It’s not my intention to seem snobbish, but I do feel obligated to suggest that dissatisfaction with the Kannagi anime may be caused by misperceived expectations. Again, I don’t want to seem condescending, but I think it’s relative, in this discussion, to point out that last August, two months before the Kannagi anime premiered, I implied that the show could have the same characteristics as the self-referential cult hit Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. In fact, I’ve been surprised that the Kannagi television series delayed the introduction of its metafictional humor until its fifth and sixth episodes.

The dramatic device of breaking the fourth wall or satirizing cinematic techniques within anime goes back to at least the early 1980s, but late 90s and early 2000 anime like Excel Saga and Miami Guns initiated the full force of self-referential anime satire, and 2006’s Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu introduced a new, modernist subtlety to the comedy of anime that consciously engages the audience’s sarcasm in addition to the audience’s expectations. Earlier anime like the 2004 Netrunmon OVA and 2005’s Ultimate Girls included subtle in-joke references to real world otaku culture, but Suzumiya Haruhi introduced the policy of hinging gags upon insider awareness instead of using the cameo references to enhance original gags. Lucky Star inherited the technique, and now the technique has passed on to Kannagi. This inheritance shouldn’t be surprising considering that Kannagi is directed by Yutaka Yamamoto – an episode director on the Suzumiya Haruhi and Lucky Star series – and written by Hideyuki Kurata – a script writer for Excel Saga.

Put into context, Kannagi is one of the fall 2008’s nine new comedy anime TV shows, and the only one that exhibits its unique style of self-aware humor. The Macademy Wasshoi television series typically has more anime parody gags in a single episode than the first eight episodes of Kannagi combined, but Macademy Wasshoi’s style of humor is in the vein of shows like Excel Saga that reference anime conventions and expectations, but don’t reference specific individuals or events within the real world otaku community.

The first four episodes of Kannagi certainly prove that the show could function successfully exclusively with its internal characters, relationships, and situations. However, I think that the show was always intended to, and destined to invoke metafictional satire. Personally, I’ve found the episodes increasingly entertaining as they increase their self-referential humor, and I think that the show’s increasing popularity suggests that the show simply got off to a slow start, rather than dramatically changing style after the fourth episode. It’s unfortunate if you’re somewhat dismayed with the direction the humor in Kannagi is taking, but I think that the show is simply revealing what it was always intended to be. And given that Toradora, Noramimi 2, Rosario to Vampire Capu 2, Hyakko, Tentai Senshi Sunred, Kemeko DX, Macademy Wasshoi, and Kyou no Go no Ni are all current season comedy anime without Kannagi’s sense of self-awareness, I definitely don’t think that the comedy anime genre is becoming too metafictional.