Okane ga Nai...

[fajrdrako]

Over dinner, maaseru and maaboroshi and I started watching the recent Babylon 5 movie, The Lost Tales. Now, many of my my friends were more into Babylon 5 than I was, and though there were things I loved about it - including some of the characters - after the fifth season, I felt horribly betrayed by the show, rather as I felt with X-Files, though I cared about X-Files infinitely more. One of my more successful slash stories was about Babylon 5 characters (Garibaldi and Sinclair), and that alone gives me fond memories.

But The Lost Tales was ghastly, or possibly several steps beyond ghastly. Static scenes without backgrounds, talking heads using pompous cliches and a storyline that was stale twenty years ago - what happened?

The odd thing is, I was reading a story by J. Michael Straczynski today and thinking how good it was. The story was in Spider-Man #544, "One More Day" part one of four. Straczynski writes Spider-Man extremely well, and I found this story to be an interesting development following from the Civil War storyline, including a confrontation between Peter Parker and Tony Stark. Good pacing, good dialogue, good concepts. Now, some of this - the plot in particular - may well be due to the editors (Joe Quesada and Axel Alonso) and the artist (Joe Quesada), again. Or maybe Straczynski is simply more interested in Spider-Man these days. Or maybe he needs strong editors.

Galen had been one of my favourite characters in the Babylon 5 universe and I'm a big fan of Peter Woodward, but by the time we got to him I could bear no more: the dialogue wasn't improving. Was Straczynski trying to set a record for number of cliches per minute? Galen's first scene turned out to be the same as recently done in Heroes, but done there so much better. We bailed.

Instead, we watched Okane ga Nai, which was lots of shameless fun. I should probably call it a guilty pleasure - if I was ever guilty about pleasures. It's anime, the story told from the point of view of a ruthless and wealthy magnate named Kanou, who buys a beautiful young man he once knew, Ayase, in a sex-slave auction run by ruthless gangsters. The sweet and delicate Ayase was drugged and sold by his evil cousin. Much of the story is Kanou's angst-ridden ruminations as he wonders how to win Ayase's love after he has raped him and refused to let him go. Eventually he strikes a deal with Ayase to let him buy off what he cost by paying him for sex. But Ayase, of the big liquid eyes and the trembling whisper is so little, cute and pet-like that Kanou tries to learn how to tame him by reading a book about keeping small pets like hamsters. And Kanou also acquires Ayase's evil cousin by making a deal with the gangsters, and winning a game of Russian roulette. By cheating. But that's okay, because of course the gangsters were cheating too. And the characters I liked best were Kanoe's identical twin assistants, who are watching these events with fascination.

Imagine George R.R. Martin at his most twisted, writing m/m sex comedy....

Comments

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I think I'm going to have to watch Okane ga Nai. Even though it's drawn in the style of anime art which I really *don't* like. I'm simply must watch it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

We certainly enjoyed it. It isn't my favourite style of anime art either, but it was well crafted. In fact I was having fun looking for pictures for reference for my post here, and finding it. Like this (http://fan.whiteplums.com/ogn/skins/ogn4/Image1.jpg) and this (http://www.littlesanime.ru/a/862/okane_ga_nai_art_N0005.jpg) and this (http://ai.reya.se/images/1173394528.jpeg)...

Okay, okay, I'll stop now.

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

Too bad about the B5 movie sucking. Talking heads and pompous cliches unfortunately were always a hazard even when the series was at its best; and it sounds like going direct-to-DVD has only freed JMS to give in to his worst tendencies.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of things in Japanese culture that simply boggle me, from the humiliating game-shows (which, sadly, have now been copied here) to the idea that sexual slavery and rape (especially involving an infantilised character – "little, cute and pet-like", in your words) can be the basis of comedy…

I'm horrified by it.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It's a kind of parody. I've never seen any of those game shows; pretty sure I don't want to.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they gave JMS too much freedom? He doesn't seem to have been edited at all - just given free reign. And he didn't have the judgement to use it wisely.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Sounds beyond parody to me…
What would the Western reaction be, methinks, if the sex-slave were a woman rather than a young man depicted in an extremely effeminate and child-like way?
This is the stuff of sordid tragedy.
Yuck.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

...Okane ga Nai. I once owned its drama CD. A friend gave it to me, because Okane ga Nai's audio drama has one of my favorite Japanese voice actors, Akira Ishida, as Ayase. (However, it turned out that I didn't like his portrayal much here.) I tried to listen to it and found it...creepy. I know we're supposed to see the sex-slave situation as a game, a joke. But...it still makes me feel bad. Maybe it's just me.

I hear the voice actor for Ayase in the OVAs of Okane ga Nai is Jun Fukuyama. Even worse. I still remember his Albert in Gankutsuou (The Count of Monte Cristo), another pet-like character with no backbone at all. Although I'm not a huge fan of Albert de Morcerf in the novel, but I don't think he deserves this.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I kinda got a kick out of looking at those in the library XD

Anyway, now to my reaction: *is speechless bc she lacks the vocabulary* Seriously, I've just been exposed to a completely alien genre for the first time. It's like a new color or something.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

How gratifying to have rendered you speechless.

There are a lot of colours on the spectrum, and more things on this earth than can be dreamt of in anybody's philosophy.

I'm not sure which genre was new to you - Japanese sex comedy? yaoi in general? anime sex-slave stories? I think this is the third I have seen that I would call part of the latter genre. The first was Ai No Kusabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_no_Kusabi), which is the highbrow science fiction end of the spectrum, very beautifully drawn and based on a successful novel, about a world where the high-caste people use the low-caste people as sex toys. The story is about a high-caste aristocrat, Iason, who falls in love with his low-caste motorcycle-riding pet Riki, which he isn't supposed to do. Drama and tragedy follow.

The other one I've seen was less literary: Boku no sexual harrassment (http://www.boysonboysonfilm.com/anime/bokunosexualharassment.html) - which I am surprised to see actually has a wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sexual_Harassment). The good-looking boss of a corporation makes the handome young hero into the company whore.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I think the combination of the art style, the subject matter, and knowing a little about the relationship between the characters. I've seen the art style before, but have always been sufficiently put-off to not pursue it.

But now I'm being speechless at the idea that sex-slave stories comprise a whole subgenre of manga/anime ; ) I'm intrigued - mmm, power dynamics, interpersonal and social - and I think I'll be able to stand the art in Ai No Kusabi quite easily.

It's funny hearing about sex slave anime from you - you're the one who's into wholesome Dr. Who, after all.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm being speechless at the idea that sex-slave stories comprise a whole subgenre of manga/anime ; )

I imagine maaboroshi dropped me into the deep end right off with Ai No Kusabi, and, in fact, passed on to me some fan-created yaoi manga that were too extreme for her, though she is probably as shameless as I am - just has her own different set of kinks and squicks. As do we all.

Yes, there are lots of power dynamics in the Japanese material. And it's done in ways I wouldn't think of, and have never seen in western culture. Overlapping of genres and ideas. For example: Kanou reading about small furry pets to learn how to handle Ayase. Implications of furry fandom. Yes, done as a joke, but even so.

In my own slash writing and fandom choices, I tend to gravitate to equality between characters - Bodie and Doyle, for example - who are similar in build, type, profession, maturity, background and temperament. And though I love differences in age or status or both (e.g., Mulder/Skinner, Pellew/Horatio, Captain Jack/the Doctor) the characters do tend to be similar personal types. So something like Okane ga Nai, where the one character is exaggeratedly large/masculine/tough/authoritative, and the other exaggeratedly small/effeminate/weak/frightened, well, it's both a shock and a kick. But it isn't just that. I do like slave stories - though I don't often read or write them.

Anyway, I would recommend Ai No Kusabi.

Yes, Doctor Who is wholesome, or at least has a wholesome veneer - if you look too closely at, say, "The Last of the Time Lords", maybe not so much. Torchwood, less so.

As for me... I have no aspirations to wholesomeness! Wisdom, yes. Intelligence, yes. Breadth and width of vision, yes. I strive for all those things. But wholesomeness? ... not so much.

This reminds me of a conversation I had a year or so ago with a good friend who is not into online fandom, or fanfic, but is a very good friend, a media fan, and not a prude. She said in passing she'd like to read some of my fic. I gave her the URL of the website with my fic on it. She picked a Smallville story at random. Now, most of my Smallville stories were Clark/Lex slash and not particularly extreme. She picked by chance the Lex/Lionel/Dominic sex-slave incestuous threesome story. She said it was "interesting" and hasn't read any of my fic since - I think it frightened her off. As well it might....

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try to take a class in East Asian studies some time - I've already got my eye on more classes than I could handle for next semester. Maybe I'll just keep learning through osmosis for a while. But if I end up in Media Studies, I will totally get into manga/anime, online culture of. Not to mention American/non-Japenese interest in.

I really really don't grok the seme/uke thing, or its appeal. But then, I don't really grok a dom/sub relationship that has no switchy element at all. I think my tastes in power relations are not fully developed simply because I've never had sex. Perhaps if I find someone I am close enough to and trust enough to be in a dom/sub relationship, that sort of thing will have more appeal to me in fiction. Or perhaps I'll turn out to be irremedially switchy both in thought and deed ; )

Eh, I was being facetious with the wholesomeness thing, I shoulda put an emoticon in. I'm pretty sure someone who knew me in RL would have known I was being wry there.

Re: your non-fen friend reading the sex-slave incestuous threesome story XD XD XD But she said it was interesting! And she's still speaking to you, so it can't have been that bad ; ) I got my best friend to read some Bujold, and I hope to get her to watch some Black Lagoon, but Naruto is so fricking long already, and personally I really needed fandom to appreciate it, and watching it with a fan helped a lot too otherwise I'm not sure I would have stuck with it since omg the pacing is ridiculous sometimes. So my fanfic will never make sense to her, alas. Once I get going on Bells, though, she'll be seeing that. Maybe I'll do NaNoWriMo next year! Oh wait, that's senior year. Year after, then. Or maybe I'll do a NaNoWriMo in the summer or something. Whatever. But there will be much writing of original fiction w00t.

This is me being unenthusiastic about the readings I left for last.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Other commenters' negative reactions are getting me even more intrigued.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

if I end up in Media Studies, I will totally get into manga/anime, online culture of.

Oh, yes! Good. then I can learn from you.

I really really don't grok the seme/uke thing, or its appeal.

No. It's essentially the opposite of what I like to see. Or what I think I like to see. But - contrary to my expectations - it doesn't bother me in Japanese movies. Maybe it depends on context. Maybe it depends how it's done. There are certainly examples of slave-fic and BDSM fic in English-language slash fandom that I love - thoroughly Western stuff - so there's some psychological trigger there that I wouldn't normally even be aware of.

Yes, my friend is still speaking to me, and quite nicely, too, I'm happy to say. She didn't seemed shocked, though I expect she was surprised - perhaps I have too much of a respectable outward veneer? (Surely not!) But she wasn't offended. I'd like to think that all my stories are intelligent, psychologically astute, moving, convincing, and, well, 'interesting', whatever the theme. At least... that's what I strive for.

I've been putting off doing NaNoWriMo for two years: this time is the time to do it. Yes, I'm going to. Hold me to that!

I look forward to seeing your fic! And Naruto intrigues me, but I haven't found the time to track it down and pay attention and I don't know when I will be able to.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yes. Many people, many opinions, and it's a big world out there.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

I kinda like Ai No Kusabi. I first read the novel when I was a teenager, then listened to the audio drama a few years later. I only watched the anime last year. I think I still like it. Well, Riki does have a backbone. And it's the first yaoi stories about power play that I've read. It's indeed beautifully drawn and voiced. It's a pity that the voice actor for Iason passed away three years ago.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I kinda like Ai No Kusabi.

As do I. Haven't read the novel.

Riki does have a backbone.

Yes; I liked that. He seemed more of a real person than a token or fantasy construction.

It's a pity that the voice actor for Iason passed away three years ago.

I didn't know that. I'm sorry to hear it. He was very good.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

"I didn't know that. I'm sorry to hear it. He was very good."

Yeah, I think he was only fifty when he died. It's a pity.

And the voice actor for Riki is the one and the same as for the 10th Doctor, when Doctor Who shown in Japan.

(Now why does this give me filthy thoughts?)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Talented people shouldn't die so young. What was his name?

I'm now trying to picture Riki as the Doctor. Or vice versa. My brain is whimpering, but in a rather nice way.

Filthy thoughts about the Doctor? Iason? Riki? Hmm.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

"Talented people shouldn't die so young. What was his name?"

His name was Kaneto Shiozawa.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaneto_Shiozawa
Well, he was only 46 years old when he died(my memories!). The first time I heard his voice, I was only eight. Talking about nostalgia...

"I'm now trying to picture Riki as the Doctor. Or vice versa."

The Riki voice and the Ten voice are very different, if I remember them right. But still...I think this could have made the Master/Doctor fangirls (if there are some in Japan) very happy.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

And here's the YouTube link for a little bit of the Japanese version of the second series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY2n7KHCF5c&mode=related&search=

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love it!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Okane ga Nai is a strange story. It's so silly, it's hard to rationalize any of it - and of course the morality of it is grotesque. That grotesquerie seems to concoct a strange kind of comic absurdity. I still haven't figured it out.

The Count of Monte Cristo has a pet-like wimpy character? The concept is bizarre. Albert de Morcerf was not my favourite character either - in fact, he didn't make much of an impression - but what impression he did make, wasn't along those lines at all.

Interesting the way that story has had some extremely diverse interpretations of both characters and themes.