*waves hand* This is not the post you were looking for...

Today's post was written by your favourite blog sidekick, Neko-chan. This was supposed to be a detailed account of her and Nathaniel's adventure to see L'arc~en~Ciel perform at Madison Square Garden, a long-overdue guest post; however, due to Neko-chan being a lazy over-sleeping slacker, this will instead be a short spotlight about the anime series "To."

Friday was Star Wars Day ("May the Fourth be with you"), and I decided I wanted to do more than just wear a licensed t-shirt to celebrate. I have seen the movies countless times, and didn't feel like watching them again on my own (Nathaniel was away on a fishing trip), so instead I kept with the "sci-fi spirit" of the holiday and curled up with a different space-themed show from our Netflix queue, "To."

Released in 2009 by Avex, and directed by Fumihiko SORI (who also did "Vexille" and the latest version of "Appleseed"), the anime series "To" is comprised of two 40-minute episodes set within the backdrop of outer space. The opening music by Tetsuya Takahashi is reminiscent of Yoko Kanno's "Ghost in the Shell," electronica with tribal-ethereal female voices, and the animation is completely computer-generated. I was especially impressed by the cg for the space station and the environments, it was some of the most realistic-looking design work I had ever seen, but something about the cg for the characters was a bit off-putting. It was like a cross between the rotoscoped-over actors of "Waking Life" and a very pretty video game cutscene. Furthermore, unlike the generically beautiful 18-25 year old characters in most anime, "To" actually attempts to bring in a bit of realism by giving its characters wrinkles and other signs of aging and individuality, however the animation still has a "painted" quality to it, so the result was that they looked more like well-sculpted dolls than people, and the juxtaposition of the figures against hyper-realistic backgrounds actually makes them seem even more photoshopped and unrealistic than they would have otherwise.

Both episodes are set in the same world, however there is no cross-over between the characters, and it is difficult to say how they relate to each other in terms of timeline. The first episode centers around Dan, the captain of a space station that acts as the main supply line of goods between earth and its moon colony (the whole station is designed as a cannon that shoots supply crates through space), and Maria, the leader of a deep-space mining operation who has just returned to earth after a 15 year expedition and is stopping at the station to repair and refuel before delivering her cargo of extremely valuable proton energy.

This episode touches on a variety of space-related subjects including earth vs. colony tensions, space terrorism, space exploration and ownership rights, and with how human relationships have adapted to the conditions of space travel (truly long-distance relationships, crew polyamory, and age gaps due to cryofreezing). I was intrigued by the world that was portrayed, however my one problem with this episode was the English translation. It was a bit confusing as to what the nature of the relationship was supposed to be between Dan and Maria, and I actually had to Google it afterwards to understand exactly what the flashbacks and insinuations had meant. 

*SPOILER*
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They first make it appear as if Maria is Dan's wife who left him and his son, however in actuality she is his mother who abandoned him to seek her own dreams. She left earth 45 years ago on the first of three 15-year expeditions. Each time she finishes an excursion she stops back by earth to catch up with Dan, so it has been 15 years since they have last spoken. During that time, the earth has been plunged into war, his son has died in the fighting, and his wife has passed on, but Maria has been traveling in cryofreeze for most of that time and has missed these events. She has only aged a total of 6 years since she first left earth.



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*End Spoiler* 

The second episode is much more straightforward, complete, and cohesive than the first. It involves mediation talks between two colonies on a survey planet, the Eurasian colony and the European-American colony, who are fighting over resources and terraforming rights on the planet's surface. It does a good job of showing how national feuds don't end at the border to space, but are carried on within the prejudices of the people. As one character states "Humans can start a war anywhere."

This episode also raises some interesting points about alien life forms: What constitutes sentient life? Do humans have the right to terraform without considering the local ecosystems? Is it irresponsible to destroy something before understanding whether it is truly a threat? Do humans really have a lasting impact on the worlds they contact?

Woven throughout this story is a subplot of lovers caught on opposite sides of the conflict. Additionally, there is an overarching theme of "symbiotic versus parasitic relationships" that carries throughout the episode, and which ties all of the events together. I liked that there was no wasted exposition, everything that is introduced comes back full circle at the end - a bit predictably and heavy-handed perhaps, but in the same way that a short campfire story might be.

Overall, I give "To" 8 wookies out of 10. I enjoyed the visuals, even despite the figure-background disconnect. I enjoyed the soundtrack. The voice-acting was some of the best dubbing I have heard in a long time. I enjoyed that these episodes made me think about the issues that were raised, and that this OVA reminded me of longer anime series such as Planetes, or of book series such as the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, both of which deal with the socio-political aspects of space travel and colonization in a semi-realistic manner. Also, in looking up more information about the show, I learned that this was based on a 10-volume Japanese comic book series called "2001 Nights" written by Yukinobu Hoshino, a comic book series that Nathaniel just happened to pick up last year, and which is just sitting on our bookshelves waiting for me to read.

So whether you are an anime fan, a cg fan, or a comic book fan, I recommend taking a chance on this show. It is short and doesn't require a huge time investment, and it is available on Netflix or DVD, so you have no excuse not to exfand your horizons.