Anime and the Visual Novel: Narrative Structure, Design and Play at the Crossroads of Animation and Computer Games

269 Pages·2009·6.393 MB·English

by  Dani Cavallaro

Anime and the
Visual Novel
ALSOBYDANICAVALLARO
ANDFROMMCFARLAND
Anime and Memory: Aesthetic, Cultural
and Thematic Perspectives (2009)
The Art of Studio Gainax: Experimentation, Style and
Innovation at the Leading Edge of Anime(2009)
The Animé Art of Hayao Miyazaki (2006)
The Cinema of Mamoru Oshii:
Fantasy, Technology and Politics (2006)
Anime and the
Visual Novel
Narrative Structure, Design and Play
at the Crossroads of Animation
and Computer Games
D C
ANI AVALLARO
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
To Paddy,
with love and gratitude
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Cavallaro, Dani.
Anime and the visual novel : narrative structure, design and
play at the crossroads of animation and computer games /
Dani Cavallaro.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-4427-4
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
¡. Animated films—Japan—Themes, motives.
2. Computer games—Japan. I. Title.
NC1766.J3C374 2010
791.43'340952—dc22 2009039280
British Library cataloguing data are available
©2010 Dani Cavallaro All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover art by Kasuga
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Contents
Preface 1
1. Anime and the Visual Novel: Theoretical Approaches 7
2. Parallel Worlds 33
3. Returns to the Past 78
4. Epic Exploits 132
5. Journeys of Self-Discovery 194
Filmography 247
Chapter Notes 255
Bibliography 257
Index 261
v

Preface
We live immersed in narrative, recounting and reassessing the
meaningof our past actions, anticipating the outcome of our future
projects, situating ourselves at the intersection of several stories not yet
completed.
—Peter Brooks
Imagination is always the fabric of social life and the dynamic of
history.
—Simone Weil
This study is the fruit of a deep-rooted dedication to the animated
medium at large and to the art of anime in particular, progressively consol-
idated over time by the exploration of diverse studios and of their multifar-
ious productions within that sector of the contemporary culture industry. Its
goal is to delineate the thematic, structural and aesthetic traits of a relatively
new-sprung and increasingly popular development within the realm of anime:
namely, animated series adapted from visual novels. In the realm of anime,
the term “visual novel” connotes a gaming event of an eminently participa-
tory nature, consistently harnessing the player’s own productivity to the gen-
eration of the narrative fabric and thus circumventing many of the constraints
entailed by more author-centered videogames. The visual novel characteris-
tically dramatizes alternate and intersecting story arcs and its ending there-
fore varies depending on the choices made by the player at certain pivotal
“decision points.” For the player to experience all of the available—and always
partial—solutions potentially entailed by a visual novel, it is necessary to
replay the game several times, opting for different routes on each occasion.
Relatedly, multiperspectivalism is accorded a cardinal status within the cumu-
lative diegetic construct insofar as the game’s take on the action alters accord-
ing to the point of view from which it is tackled by different personae. Taken
1
2 Preface
in tandem, ramifying plot strands and plural viewpoints buttress at virtually
every turn the medium’s cultivation of fictionally elaborate situations and
adventures. Narrative and ludic priorities are steadily regarded as interde-
pendent and inseverable.
The visual novel’s composite diegesis is articulated by recourse to lengthy
textual passages that record either conversations or interior monologues. These
are complemented both by frames with character sprites intended to desig-
nate the speaker and by visually enticing natural and architectural back-
grounds. Such settings characteristically exude a unique sense of painterly
opulence abetted by alternately exuberant and mellow palettes, as well as a
painstaking attention to details. Finally, it is in the areas of character design
and development that the visual novel most sonorously declares its distinc-
tiveness by yielding richly nuanced galleries of psychologically complex actors
and a panoply of varyingly intricate or even tortuous relationships. This book
argues that anime productions based on visual novels represent an art-within-
the-art characterized by particular modalities of perception and reception, on
the one hand, and by an original take on philosophical and societal issues of
cross-cultural relevance on the other. Their aesthetic and diegetic character-
istics are deeply influenced by many of the formal conventions and graphic
flourishes associated with the parent games. This makes them a form of ani-
mation sui generis: a unique microcosmic constellation within the macrocosm
of anime.
In assessing the present cogency of a study of anime productions based
on visual novels, it is important to stress that the existing works are already
very popular, as demonstrated by numerous online databases, review panels
and discussion groups. Several of these have already been released on
DVD in the West, while others are slated for release in the near future. Even
prior to their licensing for global distribution and marketing, all the works
have thus far been widely available in the form of top-quality fansubs
and are enjoyed in this format by extensive audiences the world over. The
rapidly growing nature of the medium indicates that additional titles of
wide appeal will go on materializing in years to come. The book’s most plau-
sible readership within academic establishments includes students in the
areas of film studies generally and animation studies in particular, interested
in exploring a burgeoning expression of the art of anime. Given its concep-
tual scope, however, it is also likely to appeal to wider audiences, especially
in the field of cultural studies. Both established and developing courses cur-
rently offered by U.S. and U.K. colleges that use anime as a component of
their syllabi (in areas as varied as popular culture, art history and Asian stud-
ies among others) are some of the book’s most likely beneficiaries.
Chapter 1, Anime and the Visual Novel: Theoretical Approaches, opens with
Preface 3
an assessment of anime’s relationship with the realm of videogaming at large.
It then evaluates the most salient characteristics of the visual novel as a ludic
format within the broader context of role-playing games (RPGs), as well as
the impact of the medium’s stylistic formulae and thematic foci on the anime
it has spawned. The chapter subsequently outlines the principal recurrent
themes and motifs articulated by the narratives explored in the book. Special
attention is paid to the articulation of creative quests and related inclusion of
self-reflexive gestures; the deployment of dreams and visions; the relationship
between individuals and collectivities; the collusion of mythical and mun-
dane realities; the depiction of both the natural environment and architec-
tural sceneries; the dramatization of mnemonic disorders connected with
hidden traumas; and the synthesis within a single text of diverse generic codes
and conventions. Finally, the chapter engages in an evaluation of some of the
principles underpinning the visual novel’s (and related anime’s) execution of
characters and settings with reference to pertinent aspects of indigenous aes-
thetics and architectural history.
Each of the ensuing chapters opens with an assessment of theoretical per-
spectives relevant to the visual novel, and hence to the shows deriving from
it. These include: the debate surrounding the relationship between ludology
and narratology (Chapter 2); the player’s role as an active producer of
the story (Chapter 3); the concept of immersion as a ludic and narrative
phenomenon (Chapter 4); and the importance of character presentation and
its intimate relationship with broader developments in the domain of indige-
nous graphic design (Chapter 5). In the course of the analysis, it will emerge
that these issues are intimately interrelated. Indeed, the evaluation of a game’s
narrative import, which is at the heart of the narratology-versus-ludology
debate, inevitably invites reflection on the player’s part in the construction of
stories. This, in turn, encourages an assessment of the specifically immersive
component of the player’s experiences. Finally, immersion itself could be ad-
dressed as a corollary of effective character and background portrayal. Cumu-
latively, Chapters 2 to 5 thereby trace the analytical trajectory mapped out below.
• Although the visual novel may not constitute a narrative as such,
it contains the materials (characters, structures and events) of a
potential or virtual story.
• It is up to the player to narrativize the game—i.e., to constellate
those materials into an actual story.
• To ensure the player’s creative involvement, the visual novel seeks to
draw him or her into its textual skein through immersivestrategies. In
so doing, however, it challenges the mimetic imperatives of narrative
absorption by self-consciously foregrounding its artificiality.