Franchises - The Ever Distant Utopia
(Originally written for the Slate of 2024 year end posts over at The GLORIO Blog)
Is it year end post time already? In 2022 I wrote on the myriad adaptations I watched that year and in 2023 I reflected on what I even wanted from my anime. Now watch! No tricks, no gimmicks! I'm going to tie these two things together with a third, yes folks, a third post!
I ended last year with the following:
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but I think this might be why franchises are so powerful. With something like Gundam, Star Wars, or Super Sentai, you've got a basic template, a "box" that the work will fit in no matter what, a smattering of extra free spaces on your bingo card. You know what you're getting just by the name, and so you're free to focus your expectations of novelty on the details. We knew G-Witch would have mecha, war, and politics; we were blindsided by the fact it had lesbians. And it meant we collectively spent nine months hooting and hollering about a show produced by the biggest toy company on Earth. It's self-perpetuating.
And really, what is a franchise other than a series of adaptations of the same work?
Let's get this part out of the way: on a sort of conceptual, creative level, I disapprove of franchises. I crave novelty. However, I am not immune to propaganda. I still bought the new Zelda game at launch. I still watched the terrible Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance because it's got "Gundam" in front of it and played Fate/Samurai Remnant because it's got "Fate" in front of it. I'm still watching Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. What is wrong with me?
The problem isn't with me, it's with the world. As per usual, it's capitalism's fault. A relatively sure thing is always more appealing to the suits - and often, the fans - than something totally brand new. A franchise is the promise of comfort, of a foundation in this unstable world, but it's also an excuse to keep serving the same meal over and over.
As I reflect over the past year, I've become somewhat more sympathetic to the idea, but more out of exhaustion than anything else. If I know something's going to hit some kind of baseline, why take the chance with something else? My time and energy is limited. Perhaps it's unrealistic to always push outside of my comfort zone.
Why else would remakes and re-releases be so popular? That could be its own article, and it's one that's certainly been written hundreds of times at this point. And again: I'm not immune. One of the most notable bits of media for me this year was the Tsukihime remake, for fuck's sake (go read my review). I bought Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on the Switch day one.
Though I have to ask, how many remakes even have the original creatives involved? Less than I'd like, to be sure. I don't know that I really care about the product if they aren't. The Castlevania DS games rereleased on modern platforms this year, and what's that gonna even do for you other than make you spend money on a dead franchise? How many people who worked on those games are still at Konami?
It'd take a lot to get me interested in a new Castlevania because I'd have no guarantee it would have any creative lineage that I care about. What I like about Symphony of the Night is all the weird details and shit like the confessional booth or the meal tickets. Who would put that stuff in now? The reason I broadly like Bloodstained even though I think it kinda looks bad and plays sluggishly is that it does have weird little details like that. It still feels like Igarashi is involved.
That's why I'm watching Dragon Ball Daima, while I didn't bother to give Dragon Ball Super the time of day. Toriyama - rest his soul - was closely involved with Daima, down to little story details, and it feels like it. The kind of people writing Super would never just casually drop that Namekians actually used to be demons. They would never fuse Majin Buu's remains with a Saibaman and call him "Majin Kuu", only to do it again the next week with “Majin Duu”. It's too stupid, too good. It's the kind of concept that could only appear from Toriyama's childish sense of humor and devil-may-care attitude towards his own series.
Yet, I get the feeling that for a franchise to truly be successful, to evolve from merely being a series, then it can't be limited to the purview of an individual creative. It has to inspire others in some way. I feel like the final form of a franchise is something malleable, a bundle of aesthetics, a coat of paint that can be laid atop whatever other stories by various other creators. For example, arguably Gundam didn't truly become a franchise until either 0080 War in the Pocket - because it was the first time Tomino didn't direct - or Mobile Fight G Gundam, which fully abandoned the UC continuity.
The recent announcement of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX puts these things on the brain. Tsurumaki, Enokido, and I guess Anno finally make something new, and it's... a Gundam show. An established franchise. After they've been doing work on Evangelion - a franchise big enough to get McDonald's toys - for ages.
We've discussed this in detail on the podcast; a large part of my distaste for Rebuild of Evangelion is the proverbial opportunity cost. What else could some of the most notable creators in the anime space have made over the past 15 years if they hadn't been shackled to Evangelion? How many Nadias, how many FLCLs, how many Aim for the Tops?
Diebuster is a pertinent example here. According to interviews, the first thing director Kazuya Tsurumaki did was get the entire team on the same page that there was no need whatsoever for a sequel to Gunbuster (he's fucking right, by the way). Diebuster was fundamentally made with that in mind, so it's not as beholden to being just like Gunbuster. The team looked at the constituent parts of Gunbuster - mecha, yuri, bluff aesthetics - and created a new show from those starting points with the sensibilities of the time. It's not going to feel like an 80s show and I don't want it to. It's a window into how the studio's creative output has changed over time and I love it for that. If we must have franchises, this is the kind of mindset I want; this long-term creative continuity is more important to me than a brand name.
To continue the Gainax/Trigger thread, I love Gurren Lagann. It's one of my favorite anime of all time. Few things can stand up to its whole package. But I would never want a Gurren Lagann 2 or a Gurren Lagann 0. I want to see new things made by the core staff. I want to investigate what the core staff worked on before they made Gurren Lagann.
Do I think Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, Kill La Kill, Brand New Animal, or Promare are better than Gurren Lagann? Obviously not, and expecting proverbial unlimited growth and surprises would be foolish. But I can see the threads of how we got here and pick out the commonalities without any of these shows being sequels. I can examine specific members of the team and see what else they worked on and find those threads in those works. This is the entire reason Gee and I did the Tomino Power Hour last year.
Just then sometimes someone's new work ends up as, well, an adaptation or franchise installment itself. Cyberpunk Edgerunners was our AOTY in 2022. Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon has a solid shot for 2024. I love SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon, but they're also reinterpretations of an existing tokusatsu show, with Tsuburaya's name plastered all over.
I was gonna watch G-Quacks anyway because it's a Gundam show, but I'm extra interested because it brings up the question of what these specific people might bring to the framework of "Gundam". In following this train of thought, have I not already lost? I can claim that I'd be more excited for a fully original show by all the same people all I want, but other than one-offs like The Dragon Dentist, they haven't done anything scare-quotes "original" in years. I wouldn't even know what to make of such a thing. But Gundam? I know what Gundam is.
So I must confront the sobering reality: perhaps this is the only way that any of them could actually have an opportunity to make anything. Perhaps more franchise installments, of whatever damn property, is all that our capitalist hell world has room for now. Perhaps novelty can only be found within the franchise.
If the choice is between A) Tsurumaki being shackled to Evangelion for 15 years and then moving on to fucking Gundam, and B) Tsurumaki makes nothing? I will choose A every time, as much as I'll grumble. I'd love to see more originals from Studio Trigger, but I can derive interest and enjoyment from seeing how they'll interpret something like Dungeon Meshi. The creative continuity is still there. Perhaps the framework of a "franchise" only adds more, as it evokes the continuity of everyone else who has tread the same ground.
With this in mind, I feel a bit silly thinking back to all the complaining I've done about constantly rehashing the same franchises instead of getting more originals. It's just not realistic in this world where all artistic expression also has to make money. From a marketing standpoint, there's no reason not to slap on that coat of paint; you'd be leaving money on the table.
But...
From an ideological standpoint, I've got to keep fighting the good fight. I will still complain that Trigger's making a new Panty and Stocking - even though I'll watch it and probably have a great time - because I want to see something new from Imaishi and crew that builds on everything they've made since Season 1. I have great affection for Tsukihime, and yet I still want to see what Nasu could cook up without being beholden to visual novels over two decades old. I'm fascinated by Tsurumaki and Enokido making a Gundam, but can you imagine what the FLCL director and writer would make from scratch in 2025? I can't, and that has such a bigger possibility space. It might never happen, but I can dream.
Until then, I'll check out the new Gundam's model kits. I'll laugh at Dragon Ball Daima's juvenile gags. I'll groan at whatever stupid sounds come out of the new Kamen Rider's belt. I will eat my bread and delight in the circus. In these dark times, I'll take what I can get.
#anime #games #tokusatsu #type-moon
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