The End of the World

[Categories: Editorials]

On plotting the perfect (anime) murder

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Chaos;Head, Mouryou no Hako]

I’m a huge fan of mystery stories, which meant that I was overjoyed that there was not one but two murder-mystery series this season in the form of Chaos;Head and Mouryou no Hako. The likes of CSI and NCIS are good fun with their Hollywood sheen (the cool music, the SHADES OF JUSTICE and so on) but I particularly enjoy stuff like the Marlowe novels from Raymond Chandler. In addition to the deductive processes the devil is in the details: things like the rendering of Marlowe’s world, and to a certain degree CSI’s environs of Las Vegas, Miami and New York for example, make all the difference.

An important rule of classic detective fiction: the more beautiful she is, the more dangerous she will be

Since the murder-mystery genre is steeped in tropes and clichés, any new contender has to bring something new to the table, whether it’s an unusual setting, a film noir-inspired aesthetic or high-tech and psychological twists. The problem is of course that going after a serial killer is a stock premise: it’s dependable enough but can sink or swim depending on the execution (sic) of the story. The point where Mouryou no Hako and Chaos;Head part company is the way in which this tried-and-tested premise/plot device is handled; although my appreciation of the specifics are less-clear cut, I’m loving the former but on the verge of dropping the latter.

Over at Anime Diet Mike was delighted at how Chaos;Head takes Kon-inspired weirdness and injects a level of Welcome to the NHK!-esque social commentary, which fits in with the paranoia and isolation themes quite well and includes an unusual type of hero into the bargain. Given that Kon is one of my favourite directors and that NHK’s social commentary was fun too, I had high hopes for this show. The unreliable mental state of the protagonist means that everything we see on-screen carries that “Is this really happening?” feeling in that we’re never sure if it’s a reliable account of what’s going on; the whole experience lacks any definite point of reference so allows plenty of room to get your own opinion on things.

This is all well and good but apart from the obvious stumbling-block of every female character seemingly eager to play along with his every whim even though he’s a cantankerous ass, the story seems to veer into fantasy territory and drag it away from its realistic mystery-thriller grounding. I’m actually less upset about the latter point because I’m aware of how the viewer can get an idea into his/her head and act all disappointed when the series doesn’t play out exactly as s/he intended; I was expecting less fantasy and more realism, and I admit that when I’m disappointed with the way things play out it’s my own fault.

C’mon, does this guy look maladjusted to you?!

The presence of bishoujos who are falling over themselves - suspiciously so - to get closer to the decidedly unlikable hero grates on me however (as well as being unconvincing, unless it’s part of his delusion), and moves the series away from Kon-meets-NHK and back into the well-trodden realm of otaku fodder. It ruins the tension and takes something that’s a refreshing break from the norm and and lets it fall back on the same old plot devices, which is particularly disappointing for me. The concept of Di-Swords and moe girls who wield them suggests that this is less about real-life crimes and paranoia and more about fantasy worlds; I was enjoying this on the assumption that the story wouldn’t retreat into a cop-out fantasy plot thread and concentrate on the madness instead.

The little criticisms then keep on coming, becoming more detrimental every time: the disappearance of the doctor is just another over-used plot device; the animation quality slips down to Gonzo’s standards of inconsistency (the Madhouse Win Effect, where are you when I need you?) with uninspiring, generic character designs, and to cap it all this is starting to look like some lame harem show. Not a good harem show *cough*Love Hina*cough* either, but a lame one. Sigh.

I’m therefore not watching Chaos;Head mainly because I’m enjoying the way things are progressing; I just want to know who dunnit at the end. Is this enough for a murder-mystery? Strictly speaking, I suppose it is. But then, consider what Mouryou no Hako offers in addition to this.

Mouryou no hako is, so far, excellent. Author isn’t interested in it at all, which pretty much proves my point on the logic that I never agree with his opinions at the best of times. But joking aside, it really is excellent. Granted, T.H.A.T.’s Maipeisu is one of the few bloggers I’ve found who are truly blown away by it but its charms aren’t exactly pandering to your average anime fan anyway. That just makes me like it even more, of course: the period setting sets it aside but the very fact that it’s set in the 1950s puts it closer to the Chandler-esque fare, complete with femme fatales and chain-smoking stoic detectives in trilby hats.

The CLAMP character designs offer the gothic elegance, the Madhouse visuals are stunning (ironic considering my lamentations just a couple of paragraphs earlier) and it takes a more complex and - most importantly for me - mature approach to presenting a serial killer-type murder case. It’s not just about keeping the viewer hanging on and guessing for twelve or so episodes to see who’s bumping off innocent(?) people: it has atmosphere, character and individuality to keep your attention in the meantime. I can immerse myself in MnH’s worldview, which I never feel compelled to do in C;H; there’s tension, a feeling of danger and peril as side-characters are killed off. While both series have a central character following a trail and digging in search of the truth I’m finding MnH to be doing the job so much better.

You can keep your moe girls with knives. THIS is messed-up

Chaos;Head has the edge in terms of adding a contemporary spin with the technology - specifically the Internet and the rumours and lurid pictures distributed right to the hapless hero’s doorstep - providing an extra layer of confusion, as it did in Serial Experiments: Lain. It has a sense of claustrophobia in that these frightening images are beamed onto a computer monitor inside a hikikomori’s refuge, with an imaginary companion speaking his thoughts aloud. Mouryou no Hako has none of this thanks to its period setting; on the other hand the horrors of war, and the trauma that stays with those who were affected (which reminds me a bit of The Daughter of Twenty Faces, incidentally), are compounded with more primitive technology that harks back to Shelley’s Frankenstein and The House on Haunted Hill. For some reason, I find the clunky and complex mechanical contrivances inside the hospital facility that were keeping a beautiful and mysterious girl alive to be very creepy indeed; moreso than the urban myths that sprung up around the New-Gen incidents.

It’s interesting to see two very different approaches to similar ideas being aired at the same time; I like my headscratchers so I feel spoiled in some ways that Chaos;Head and Mouryou no Hako are airing in the same season. Nevertheless, one is proving to be frustrating at points in being simultaneously quite clever and infurating, while the other uses old-school storytelling to create a more sophisticated sense of mystery and unease. Another way of looking at it is that for every generic looking show of a certain genre or type of subject matter, another is willing to risk obscurity in doing different. I really hope Mouryou no Hako doesn’t fall in the shadow of its shinier, and to my mind, inferior rival.

[Filed under Editorials]  [Tags: Chaos;Head, Mouryou no Hako]

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