Welcome back to Anime Academy,
where we give you quick, easy, lessons on
anime terminology to help demystify some of
the weirdness that is anime.
The subject today is deconstruction!
A deconstruction is an alternate take on an
existing genre of anime that challenges its
common narrative and thematic tropes.
With giant robots, ninjas, and magical spirits
acting as the foundations of their respective
genres, some storytelling elements are definitely
going to get taken for granted, and characters
reactions to what should be unusual situations
might be glossed over for ease of story.
Rather than grease the narrative wheels, deconstruction
anime take a more critical approach, portraying
how real people might react in the face of
abnormal circumstance.
Unsurprisingly, this usually means things
get pretty dark...
As we said before, deconstruction anime have
no specific genre and therefore don’t cater
to a particular audience,
but the most popular examples so far have
been focused on the young male shonen demographic.
Since deconstruction anime take apart elements
of other genres, the easiest way describe
them is through example.
Let's look at one of the more popular recent
deconstructions to see how it turned the storytelling
elements of the genre on it’s heads.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica became a major hit
deconstructing the magical girl genre and
inspiring a new generation of dark mahou shoujo
series.
The series author, Gen Urobuchi, took the
primary elements of the mahou shoujo genre,
(which you can check out in our mahou shoujo
episode) and examined them with a critical
eye and a dash of his own dark storytelling
style.
While we highlighted juggling saving the world
by moonlight with the drama of everyday school
life as one of the major components of a mahou
shoujo anime.
Madoka took a more pessimistic approach, portraying
the impossibility of selflessly living a double
life -- saving the world while trying to live,
succeed, and manage personal relationships.
The girls falter, fail, and lose hope when
faced with responsibility far too great for
anyone to handle.
Where most mahou shoujo stories only really
take off when the girls have formed a team,
Madoka focuses on the difficult decisions
the girls individually have to make about
accepting the responsibility of becoming a
magical girl.
As some girls struggle with the decisions
they have already made and others hesitate
to make their own commitment while seeing
their friends suffer, a question posed to
our heroine is “is this even worth it?”
Add in some uncomfortable questions about
why young girls are being asked to make this
sacrifice and subversive themes about the
commodification of the strong emotions they
use as the source of their power and you have
a truly unique and twisted tale that challenges
the way we look at all mahou shoujo anime.
Deconstructions aren’t as common as some
of our other subjects, but there are definitely
a few more you can check out!
Some other good examples are Re:ZERO and School
Days, but remember what we said about these
being DARK.
What are some of your favorite DECONSTRUCTION
series?
Let us know in the comment section below or
tweet your answers to us with the #animeacademy
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