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Schools in the Japanese Eye
It's nothing earthshattering, and it doesn't influence your daily lives, but it's a little bit of culture that passes on from anime to you.
Have you ever noticed the wanton wholesale destruction of schools? That's right, schools. Let me list the examples. All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku has an advanced helicopter firing missiles into its school. A possessed demon rampages through a school in Sazan Eyes II OAV episode 1. The same thing happens in Blue Seed. Tenchi Muyo has the lovable Ryouko setting off a gas explosion. Bakuen Campus, which means "combustible campus," is all about demons trying to destroy the school. Lum's electric attacks and the general mayhem of the characters all affect the schools in Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. This writer cannot even guess as to how many anime titles have schools demolished for whatever reason. Never fear. Where anime exists, schools are trashed.
"Why do all these schools get trashed?" you ask. Imagine if you will, a society that's very structured and formal. The common family wants the children to be smart and pushes those children to excel. The schools are devoted to memorization of facts, and that knowledge is ultimately used to pass the college entrance exams. This is not a place for creativity, a frivolous waste of time.
Imagine the creators, who are subjugated by peers, finally able to vent their frustration by drawing a copy of their old high schools. Then they trash it! Let's detonate a bomb right here where the teacher used to sit. Does anyone really blame the Japanese audience, who have also felt the oppressive sting of their schools, if they like to see schools trashed, and destroyed?
So, in conclusion, when you watch anime, take a note of the school. Remember, as a school is totaled, the creators are enjoying it just as much as you are.
It's nothing earthshattering, and it doesn't influence your daily lives, but it's a little bit of culture that passes on from anime to you.
Have you ever noticed the wanton wholesale destruction of schools? That's right, schools. Let me list the examples. All-Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku has an advanced helicopter firing missiles into its school. A possessed demon rampages through a school in Sazan Eyes II OAV episode 1. The same thing happens in Blue Seed. Tenchi Muyo has the lovable Ryouko setting off a gas explosion. Bakuen Campus, which means "combustible campus," is all about demons trying to destroy the school. Lum's electric attacks and the general mayhem of the characters all affect the schools in Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2. This writer cannot even guess as to how many anime titles have schools demolished for whatever reason. Never fear. Where anime exists, schools are trashed.
"Why do all these schools get trashed?" you ask. Imagine if you will, a society that's very structured and formal. The common family wants the children to be smart and pushes those children to excel. The schools are devoted to memorization of facts, and that knowledge is ultimately used to pass the college entrance exams. This is not a place for creativity, a frivolous waste of time.
Imagine the creators, who are subjugated by peers, finally able to vent their frustration by drawing a copy of their old high schools. Then they trash it! Let's detonate a bomb right here where the teacher used to sit. Does anyone really blame the Japanese audience, who have also felt the oppressive sting of their schools, if they like to see schools trashed, and destroyed?
So, in conclusion, when you watch anime, take a note of the school. Remember, as a school is totaled, the creators are enjoying it just as much as you are.
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