I remember watching this using Comcast's ancient version of OnDemand back in the day. as a girl who was maybe a year or two shy of being the protagonists' age at the time it really stuck with me. I never thought of it as a precursor to the deconstruction of magical girl stuff before but that's a really apt comparison. The complete lack of concern for Yuri's wellbeing really rubbed me the wrong way even then. You could easily take the entire plot as being a criticism of how unforgiving it is to come of age in Japanese society--it was really ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Thank you for covering this.
"Deconstruction of magical girl stuff" is a terrible meme. Neither Alien 9 nor Madoka has anything to do with it - no wonder, there is no such thing. I've never even met a person who can explain what "deconstruction" means in relation to Derrida's writing, myself included. Hell, even scholars can't seem to agree on it. Your latter analysis is not wrong, but the message goes beyond criticism of Japanese society (which is no doubt very guilty in this regard - 'the nail that sticks out' etc.). "Why do kids have to fight the Aliens?" - one might ask. Well, because the adults said so. It is a criticism of the society itself. But most of all, it is a hopeful story about individualism.
Even if it is supposed to be a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, it is really hard to separate it from it's themes of growing up and being expected to adapt to uncomfortable situations almost as quickly as you experience them
@@KaiserBeamz Have dropped it after the first episode 'cause of character design (I'm a sucker for the art in the cartoons and not for the story like many others are), but after your review... Maybe I'll give it the second shot^^ Thanks
I came across Alien 9 the manga while living in Kyoto. The anime was anounced a few months after I picked up the manga. I remember having seen some commercials in a local Animate and I rented the first OAV afterwards on VHS and got one of the opening singles. Later I got the U.S. release on DVD but I haven't seen it for years now. I have to agree, the CGI sticks out a lot today but back then, it didn't bother me at all.
Art direction is awesome 'cause it's directed by Jirô Fujimoto/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Welcome to the N.H.K., Samurai 7 + Yasuhiro Irie/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, Cowboy Bebop + Kazunori Iwakura/Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie + and Sadayuki Murai/Perfect Blue Soundtrack by Kuniaki Haishima/Monster, Macross Zero, Gasaraki
I'm not ashamed to say that i'm one of the magical girl fans who disliked the legacy Madoka left, the series is worth a watch, but MAN it is so disheartening to see that a LOT of magical girl shows that weren't Precure or Sailor Moon Crystal were these dark takes on the genre all to capitalize on the popularity of 1 entry that wowed audiences at the time, plus given who directed said Madoka series and their past work its no surprise that the tone went the way it did. I just hope we can get magical girl shows that are fun and capture that spirit from the older shows instead of being cynical or trying to subvert the genre. Just BE the Genre. Alien nine looks interesting though i'm glad I watched this video and I have to say, it lives up to the "Adults are Useless" trope to a T
Man, this got me on the OVA/mangas and this is probably one of the few things I can think of that understays its welcome. Not just the OVA, but the manga too, the conclusions for both runs are cool, and then out of nowhere a 3-chapter CG series that ends out of NOWHERE. I feel like this series would be really cool with like, any kind of extended content. You don't even have to actually continue the story, I'd read tf out of Alien 9 but it's a regular slice of life with these characters taking place in a world where things have eventually settled down
Alien 9 I remember for mostly that scene where the girl gets eaten by the white shadow monster towards the end of the second last episode. I also remember Figure 17, a story about a girl who has an Alien Twin clone of herself and they come together to fight against Alien Parasites. There is also Mahoromatic as well as This Ugly yet Beautiful World that have some beautiful moments with some really dark and heavy subject matter like Mahoromatic being about a Android Maid who has a limited time left to live so she serves her remaining time to help out the son of her former commander. While This Ugly yet Beautiful World is about a Girl who came to Earth and sees the beauty within it, despite the fact that she was meant to be an alien life form that is the catalyst to the next Mass Extinction on Earth.
Alien Nine has more than one OVA series in its franchise that be animated now since it deals with the MCs as older people and they're Alien 9 Emulators(2002), and Alien 9 Next (2015).
Really weird anime - like an evil FLCL. I definitely second the recommendation for those looking for something unusual. Be advised: I felt worse watching this then Neon Genesis, don't go in expecting fun and games.
this is such an interesting point of view to look at alien nine from!! never thought of it like this, just as the bizarre lovable thing it is. watching this n seein some clips is makin me really want to rewatch it! re-read the manga multiple times now but only watched the OVA once...... gotta get on that! dunno if you know, but the manga got a physical release in four languages n i think thats pretty impressive for how small it kindof is!
Thank you for your analysis of an anime that stuck with me for years. Yuri's plight is that of a child soldier, drafted into facing horrors of war that even adults can't cope with. The only entity in the world that expresses the wrongness of the alien wars are the respondents to the girls' magazine poll that say the number one reason for not joining their school's alien party is that aliens are gross. I'd also like to praise the Japanese VA for Yuri's borg. He gives a great performance as the skeevy middle-aged guy that's going to hang around eating Yuri's sweat for the rest of her life.
I recently just finished watching Alien 9. It felt like a fever dream. I plan on reading it soon, but man.. I really enjoyed it but I'm so confused at the same time.
The idea that something tramatizing constantly befalls schoolchildren in school while the adults are completely apathetic to it, and blindly defer to some kind of law enforcement to take care of it, because that's just how things are. Man, it sounds too on the nose.
on the "Dark Magical girl" genre or the "anti-mecha" genres is as you've said and more when deconstructionist media becomes the norm it's no longer "Deconstructionist" Sometimes unironic optimism and "F%^& yeah humanity!" is welcomed . An endless maudlin and depressing mood is just as insulting as perpetual optimism.
alien nine showed me thers people that enjoy the bizare and weird and praise it, the biopunk asthetic is something u can really play with and theres really few works that show it
Umm did anyone else think of this being a perfect imagining of the looming fear of school shootings and the ineffectual and sometimes coldly unfeeling some reactions to stopping it have been? I mean the scene of the teacher smiling and telling the classroom of cowering children it will all be OK seems like a farcical recontextualizing of the homicidal reality. I think it could a totally unintentional, and probably unimaginable to the creators, metaphor imo.
I have disconnected memories of this and yet I also feel like I confuse it with the manga cencoroll when I read that. I think I've also picked up and put down alien nine so many times it's ridiculous. Bio-punk is also a favorite genre of mine as well, so I guess I have to find this again .. *sigh*
What's your thoughts on Madoka: Rebellion? I have... thoughts on it but I don't feel like dropping spoilers. All I will say is this: the phrase "Bunnycat's a dick" exists for a _reason_ .
Yeah, going through the playlist but skipping this one because I fucking HATE Alien Nine. I despise this disgusting and horribly unpleasant series SO much, I don't even want to be reminded of it. I watched 1 and a half episodes long ago, and swore off watching another second of it.
I remember watching this using Comcast's ancient version of OnDemand back in the day. as a girl who was maybe a year or two shy of being the protagonists' age at the time it really stuck with me. I never thought of it as a precursor to the deconstruction of magical girl stuff before but that's a really apt comparison. The complete lack of concern for Yuri's wellbeing really rubbed me the wrong way even then. You could easily take the entire plot as being a criticism of how unforgiving it is to come of age in Japanese society--it was really ahead of its time in a lot of ways. Thank you for covering this.
"Deconstruction of magical girl stuff" is a terrible meme. Neither Alien 9 nor Madoka has anything to do with it - no wonder, there is no such thing. I've never even met a person who can explain what "deconstruction" means in relation to Derrida's writing, myself included. Hell, even scholars can't seem to agree on it.
Your latter analysis is not wrong, but the message goes beyond criticism of Japanese society (which is no doubt very guilty in this regard - 'the nail that sticks out' etc.). "Why do kids have to fight the Aliens?" - one might ask. Well, because the adults said so. It is a criticism of the society itself. But most of all, it is a hopeful story about individualism.
Christ, that crying is horrifyingly realistic. Props to the V.A.
Even if it is supposed to be a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, it is really hard to separate it from it's themes of growing up and being expected to adapt to uncomfortable situations almost as quickly as you experience them
Thank you for turning me on to this series. It's criminal that this anime and your channel don't get enough attention.
The only way anime and channels like mine can get attention is through word of mouth. That's why I created this lil' series in the first place.
@@KaiserBeamz Have dropped it after the first episode 'cause of character design (I'm a sucker for the art in the cartoons and not for the story like many others are), but after your review... Maybe I'll give it the second shot^^
Thanks
@@KaiserBeamz I found you, funny enough, by just looking for random Fighting Game anime reviews to listen to while I worked.
I came across Alien 9 the manga while living in Kyoto. The anime was anounced a few months after I picked up the manga. I remember having seen some commercials in a local Animate and I rented the first OAV afterwards on VHS and got one of the opening singles. Later I got the U.S. release on DVD but I haven't seen it for years now. I have to agree, the CGI sticks out a lot today but back then, it didn't bother me at all.
Art direction is awesome 'cause it's directed by Jirô Fujimoto/JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Welcome to the N.H.K., Samurai 7 + Yasuhiro Irie/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Soul Eater, Cowboy Bebop + Kazunori Iwakura/Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie + and Sadayuki Murai/Perfect Blue Soundtrack by Kuniaki Haishima/Monster, Macross Zero, Gasaraki
It's crazy your basically one the the only people to make a long form video essay on Alien 9. Loved your discussion on it.
I'm not ashamed to say that i'm one of the magical girl fans who disliked the legacy Madoka left, the series is worth a watch, but MAN it is so disheartening to see that a LOT of magical girl shows that weren't Precure or Sailor Moon Crystal were these dark takes on the genre all to capitalize on the popularity of 1 entry that wowed audiences at the time, plus given who directed said Madoka series and their past work its no surprise that the tone went the way it did.
I just hope we can get magical girl shows that are fun and capture that spirit from the older shows instead of being cynical or trying to subvert the genre.
Just BE the Genre.
Alien nine looks interesting though i'm glad I watched this video and I have to say, it lives up to the "Adults are Useless" trope to a T
The adults arent useless in this series, theyre actively malicious/only seek their own agenda
Man, this got me on the OVA/mangas and this is probably one of the few things I can think of that understays its welcome.
Not just the OVA, but the manga too, the conclusions for both runs are cool, and then out of nowhere a 3-chapter CG series that ends out of NOWHERE.
I feel like this series would be really cool with like, any kind of extended content. You don't even have to actually continue the story, I'd read tf out of Alien 9 but it's a regular slice of life with these characters taking place in a world where things have eventually settled down
this was awesome and very informative! alien nine is my favorite show and i'm glad to see it get any love it can
I started via the Manga. And at the end of the day I wanted to slap the adults silly.
Alien 9 I remember for mostly that scene where the girl gets eaten by the white shadow monster towards the end of the second last episode.
I also remember Figure 17, a story about a girl who has an Alien Twin clone of herself and they come together to fight against Alien Parasites.
There is also Mahoromatic as well as This Ugly yet Beautiful World that have some beautiful moments with some really dark and heavy subject matter like Mahoromatic being about a Android Maid who has a limited time left to live so she serves her remaining time to help out the son of her former commander.
While This Ugly yet Beautiful World is about a Girl who came to Earth and sees the beauty within it, despite the fact that she was meant to be an alien life form that is the catalyst to the next Mass Extinction on Earth.
Wow. All these years later I realize that it was Kaori "Lain" Shimizu voicing Kumi. Hard to not hear it now in those clips.
Alien Nine has more than one OVA series in its franchise that be animated now since it deals with the MCs as older people and they're Alien 9 Emulators(2002), and Alien 9 Next (2015).
Really weird anime - like an evil FLCL. I definitely second the recommendation for those looking for something unusual. Be advised: I felt worse watching this then Neon Genesis, don't go in expecting fun and games.
It's always nice to find out someone whose critical work I enjoy has discussed one of my all-time favourite pieces of media. :3
Uta~Kata also adds a dark twist on the genre. Especially psychologically
this is such an interesting point of view to look at alien nine from!! never thought of it like this, just as the bizarre lovable thing it is. watching this n seein some clips is makin me really want to rewatch it! re-read the manga multiple times now but only watched the OVA once...... gotta get on that! dunno if you know, but the manga got a physical release in four languages n i think thats pretty impressive for how small it kindof is!
Oh, you can find this show free on TubiTV!
Ella Starbrook It also has both the subbed and dubbed versions
Howl's Moving Castle is a Magical Girl story then! I'm okay with that.
This video is so perfect! I was looking for a good review of this anime, and than I found the best one.
Very solid coverage!
And also, the superflat? Seems most recently used for Girls Last Tour and Made in Abyss.
I love Madoka Magica, but I will neither forgive not forget the end of Rebellion.
The phrase “bunnycat’s a DICK” exists for a _reason_ .
Thank you for your analysis of an anime that stuck with me for years. Yuri's plight is that of a child soldier, drafted into facing horrors of war that even adults can't cope with. The only entity in the world that expresses the wrongness of the alien wars are the respondents to the girls' magazine poll that say the number one reason for not joining their school's alien party is that aliens are gross.
I'd also like to praise the Japanese VA for Yuri's borg. He gives a great performance as the skeevy middle-aged guy that's going to hang around eating Yuri's sweat for the rest of her life.
I recently just finished watching Alien 9. It felt like a fever dream. I plan on reading it soon, but man.. I really enjoyed it but I'm so confused at the same time.
The idea that something tramatizing constantly befalls schoolchildren in school while the adults are completely apathetic to it, and blindly defer to some kind of law enforcement to take care of it, because that's just how things are. Man, it sounds too on the nose.
This anime creep the crap outta me when I was 6
thank you for the vid
on the "Dark Magical girl" genre or the "anti-mecha" genres is as you've said and more when deconstructionist media becomes the norm it's no longer "Deconstructionist" Sometimes unironic optimism and "F%^& yeah humanity!" is welcomed . An endless maudlin and depressing mood is just as insulting as perpetual optimism.
alien nine showed me thers people that enjoy the bizare and weird and praise it, the biopunk asthetic is something u can really play with and theres really few works that show it
This is a great video!
Umm did anyone else think of this being a perfect imagining of the looming fear of school shootings and the ineffectual and sometimes coldly unfeeling some reactions to stopping it have been? I mean the scene of the teacher smiling and telling the classroom of cowering children it will all be OK seems like a farcical recontextualizing of the homicidal reality. I think it could a totally unintentional, and probably unimaginable to the creators, metaphor imo.
Also, pretear at some point?
So with your definition of what counts as a magical girl series does that mean parasite eve is magical girl?
Why not? It's already a Christmas game.
Was Shamanic Princess the OG, or merely ONE of the OG?
I have disconnected memories of this and yet I also feel like I confuse it with the manga cencoroll when I read that. I think I've also picked up and put down alien nine so many times it's ridiculous.
Bio-punk is also a favorite genre of mine as well, so I guess I have to find this again .. *sigh*
Sorry before anything else, can I ask if there is a full version of your intro cos I love it.
I think the dub adds to the uncomfortable atmosphere.
Yes
Does Saikano count as dark magical girl?
What's your thoughts on Madoka: Rebellion? I have... thoughts on it but I don't feel like dropping spoilers.
All I will say is this: the phrase "Bunnycat's a dick" exists for a _reason_ .
15:30 editing mistake!
What's the mistake?
@@cliscia A stuttering girl on the stairs does not look like intended to me.
what a load of 💩
I'm not a grammer natzi, But i had tried taking Latin, and you pronounced puella wrong
Yeah, going through the playlist but skipping this one because I fucking HATE Alien Nine. I despise this disgusting and horribly unpleasant series SO much, I don't even want to be reminded of it. I watched 1 and a half episodes long ago, and swore off watching another second of it.