The Onion AV Club has done a two-part staff Q&A series on movie cliches that they loathe and love. Inspired by the “love” half (besides, we’ve got a million posts here already about the cliches we hate), here are the anime cliches that I love:
#1 and #2: “Nobody could survive that!” and the “forbidden technique” that hurts the hero more than the villain, but is the only way to defeat him
My love of this cliche probably arose out of the fact that I like (or rather, I should say “liked” since I haven’t watched it in probably 5 years) pro wrestling, and they use that one all the time there. This one still requires a modicum of finesse to pull off, however. If it is overused, then it becomes clear that well, anyone could survive that or that that technique can’t be too dangerous if he uses it all the time. I put these two together because they’re often used together in the same scene
#3: Elaborate activation scenes where someone has to flip up a lot of those covers to hit switches, smash the glass barrier covering a button that is only to be pressed during emergencies, and/or turn two keys simultaneously
I’m looking at you, GaoGaiGar. The best part here is that despite the fact that they (if I remember correctly) always approve Final Fusion and have to do this constantly, they still always get hella pumped about doing it and still always replace the glass over the button that Mikoto smashes every time.
#4-#9001: The tough guy captain barking orders, the bridge crew spinning around to give him updates, hyperbolic status reports, the enemy breaking through the final defense line…you know what? I’ll just write out a scene here.
Crewmember #1: Admiral! Enemy ships on the radar/scanner. Approximately…TOO MANY TO CALCULATE!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: Launch all fighters!
Crewmember #2: High energy reaction detected in the enemy flagship! THE OUTPUT EXCEEDS ALL THEORETICAL MAXIMUMS!
(One of those energy beams arcs around with lots of explosions)
Crewmember #1: Susa-no-ou, lost! Admiral Soga, killed in action! Tsukuyomi, lost! Admiral Konoe, killed in action! Bishamonten, lost! Admiral Nijou, killed in action!
Lieutenant Commander Shimazu: Admiral, we need to resist until the Amaterasu arrives or this is all in vain!
Crewmember #1: Izanagi, lost! Admiral Takatsukasa, killed in action!
Crewmember #2: Admiral, enemy fighters have broken through the final defensive line!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: Evade hard to port!
(Explosions)
Lieutenant Commander Shimazu: Damage report!
Crewmember #1: Severe damage in engineering and munitions!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: Seal off bulkheads 2, 3, 5, 7, and 13!
Lieutenant Commander Shimazu: But Admiral, our men will be trapped in there!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: (looks sternly so obviously everyone understands)
Crewmember #2: Admiral, engine room reports critical failure!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: Shimazu, take the crew and establish the Ame-no-Uzume as the new flagship
Lieutenant Commander Shimazu: We can’t leave you behind, Admiral!
Admiral Ooi-no-miyako: Godspeed, Admiral Shimazu. (That’s the best way that I can think of to translate “ご武運を祈る”)
I think that little scenario covered the rest of them
No comments:
Post a Comment