AliceC wrote:Well, how to put this...our society has become less and less...uh...into theortical and epic literature.
Also, people's attention span has greatly diminished. They want to know everything within the first 15 minutes (if not shorter) and not have to use their brain to think. I'm not excluding myself from this category, just acknowledging that with the time obsessed society that we are in, it's not likely people will really get into Juuni Kokki that quickly.
Actually, I have to disagree. Society has always been impatient. People have always had short attention spans. They always wanted to get more than they put in, and get it yesterday. This is a nature of human beings. Hence, I can't even exclude myself out of this tendancy because I am, in the end, a human being.
The only thing that changes is the technology. We now have a vast amount of information a our fingertips, and we can lose ourselves in the world that is called the internet. Thus, we can complete lose personal contact with other people. But has this really changed? People have always lost themselves in TV shows, movies, books, scientific research, inventions, car projects, sports, drugs, music, and so on, and never really talk one-on-one with other people or with themselves.
Besides, it's not for everyone (even though I feel it is >.<).
Now people are always looking for and have always looked for entertainment. Hence, entertainment has to be, well, entertaining. And this is really where I find problems may occur with the begining of
Juuni Kokki. Unless you're interested in the world that's being presented or getting the many questions that rise up in these first five episodes answered, this series will just lose you because not many people will really enjoy watching 3 kids suffer, have to steal for food and clothes, and be betrayed over and over again.
It's a similar problem with the anime series
Now and Then, Here and There and the anime movie
Grave of the Fireflies. These are amazing works of art, but as entertainment, they really do fail, because it is not truly entertaining to watch children killing other children, young kids being tortured, or the implication of a young girl getting raped or watching two very young children slowly starve to death in the aftermath of World War II. If these things entertain you, then I worry about you and will do my best to keep away...
. But these animes are works of art because they bring out strong emotions and can make you think of the consequences of self pity, wars, and pride.
These things will not make them immediately popular though. What they will do, though, is eventually become classics.
Grave of the Fireflies is already considered a classic since it was released in 1988 and we have big named American film critics such as Roger Ebert saying that this Japanese anime movie "belongs on any list of the greatest war films ever made."
So, again, I have to disagree. Art is for everyone, but not everybody is ready for it. Even in my case, I was not ready for Juuni Kokki the first time I watched it about 2 years ago. I really liked it, but I could not fathom why, until I rewatched it earlier this year.
So, in the end, if you want to help Juuni Kokki's popularity, start from the bottom. Build up ground support by showing it to all of your friends and family. Try to get them past the early hump of the first 10 episodes, but don't force it on them. Just be there with them watching it and answer every question with "it will be explained later"
. It they are not interested in the world or any of the characters by now, then I don't think it's necessary for them to continue; this series is simply not for them. (Then again, they might love the second arc. It's hard to say.)
Ack, that was long. Hope it wasn't confusing...
i don't understand why he literally doesn't got any emotions...that's very weird....some characters might be unemotonal outside, but they hide sumthin inside....i don't think keiki hides anything...really weird....
