I've been known to watch more anime than is healthy for me. It has gotten to the point where most of it stops having any sort of effect on me, even when it tries so damn hard to. It might have something to do with how themes that are common threads of real life are presented in worlds that are as far from real as can be imagined. That's not saying that there are no shows that can affect me as intended. Far from it. However, the ones that can do that tend to be a truly, truly short list. There's the mind-fuck that is
Shin Seiki Evangelion, for one.
Grave of the Fireflies is another, even if I can't bring myself to watch it more than once a year.
But these things have one thing in common: negativity. I watch these shows and I get the overwhelming impression that they're built from the ground up to affect viewers negatively, to bring out emotions like despair and depression, to build up a cloud of gloom and doom. In fact, some of the most moving or affecting of shows relied heavily on negativity.
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni relied on shock value and horror at the thought of people turning into monstrous-but-cunning killers, along with showing the slow descent of the person's mind such that their actions actually start to look reasonable from the right angle, for one thing. However, very few anime that focuses more on the positive aspects of life are really all that powerful, emotionally speaking.
Until I watched
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! that is.
For the unaware, the show is 12 episodes filled with high school girls trying to put together a fun, memorable school festival --- the last one their school will ever have. Why this is positive and uplifting, when this is an otherwise mundane and dull concept, requires explanation.
The show takes place in the not-so-near future, where birth rates have declined such that there are very few students. It gets even worse when you learn that many students prefer to make a living, rather than study. This leaves most of the schools underpopulated, and the few kids that choose to study rather than work find it depressing and dull. Even more so than normal school, anyway. School activities are slowly being removed one by one, largely due to student apathy and lack of participation. Some schools are even shutting down due to lack of actual students.
The show's setting, Seioh High School, is no different. Until Amamiya Manami comes along.
The show revolves around Manami (nicknamed Manabi) and the other members (official and otherwise) of the student council. Initially, it just consists of her and another character, Mika Inamori (nicknamed Mikan). The core of the plot revolves around Manabi and Mikan trying to get Seioh's student population to actually care. It starts off with little things, like Manabi becoming student council president by singing the school's anthem, which resonates deeply in the student body. She eventually gets them to help renovate the student council office, which had sort of turned into an overgrown storage closet with boxes much older than any of the students being somewhere in it. All of this is because she triggers something in them that hasn't been alive in a long, long time: school spirit.
However, the whole "put together a school festival that everyone can enjoy" premise is really little more than a vehicle for the show to focus on the five main characters.
Each of the Manabi girls has their own quirks and personalities, making them easily distinct from one another. Whether they're distinct from other anime characters of the type is arguable. The real heart of the show, and the aspect that really pulls on the heart strings, is how we get to watch how the friendship between the girls develops and grows over time. This is no mean feat to make believable, largely because they're all so different from one another.
Manabi is hyperactive and energetic, but almost completely unreliable on a practical level. Mikan is shy and withdrawn, lacking confidence in herself. Mucchi is a tomboy, more interested in sports and physical activities, and not much else. Momo is just plain strange, and anyone who's seen the show will likely enjoy a chuckle or two when they hear the words "Made in China." And then there's Mei, who starts off as your average "looks cold, but is actually quite shy" girl that eventually learns to accept friendship from those around her.
Friendship and being able to develop lifelong bonds with people that you barely share anything with, I feel, lies at the heart of the show' appeal. This is perhaps best expressed in a few key scenes and characters. While seemingly small, the dialog shared by Mucchi and Mikan in the Miss Donut shop reveals much about the relationships of the characters. Fundamentally, they share very little in common, but have become such close friends over the course of the series that the prospect of geographical distance separating them doesn't worry them in the least. Of particular highlight here are two characters Mika "Mikan" Inamori and Mei "Mee-chan" Etoh.
Mikan, over the course of the show, grows from an insecure girl with no confidence to someone who is willing to break her own boundaries and explores a world completely alien to her own by studying in America. She gains confidence in herself, granting her an inner strength that was absent at the start. This is best exemplified by moments of her doubting herself and her bond with her friends gradually fading throughout the series, such that she does not fear losing her friendship with Manabi, Momo, Mucchi, or Mei by going to America.
Mei is a different case. She begins the series cold and aloof, preferring to just walk on by whenever someone greets her. This isn't because of genuine coldness, but an intense shyness and unwillingness to befriend people due to negative experiences in the past. Over the course of the series, she comes to accept offers of friendship and learns to trust in those around her. Manabi stated that she believed Mei was capable of earning more money than she needed by using her skills, but was at school because she was looking for something. Whereas she started the series avoiding taking on any sort of authoritative position because she fears being burdened with taking on everyone's responsibilities, she eventually comes to a position in the student council after realizing that Manabi and the others had been what she'd been seeking all along.
I don't normally go around suggesting anime on this blog. If I have, it has been a long, long time since I did so. Even rarer are the times when I say that any given show is something that
must be watched. I can unequivocally recommend
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! though. The show doesn't have a whole lot in terms of plot depth, but the dialog and the characters give this show a life and vibrancy that you can't find in a whole lot of shows nowadays. The theme of friendship and the bond between the characters is very touching at several moments, and it just might remind you of what it means to have a truly treasured friend.
And just because I can and because she's my favorite character, a picture of Mei.
So for now, I leave you with the words that, while simple, have proven to be the driving force behind the show, and the condensed representation of the optimism and hope that underline the show.
Massugu Go!
