A Believer

I’ve had my eye on ‘Gravitation’ for a while. It’s a Yaoi animé, I knew that much, and I’d seen some of those awful Youtube things of it, y’know? The things where people badly edit scenes together from an animé, and put Linkin Park over the top? AMVs, I think they’re called?

Why I’m being a dick about them, I’m not sure? I was young once, I probably would have done something like that, had I had rudimentary editing software and immediate access to cool shit (not Linkin Park, though. No good songs, them). I vaguely remember writing some sort of King of Fighters fanfic as an early-teen, a page for each team, describing the events leading up to the fighting tournament. I know what it is like to like things! To have the hunger, the aching need to express love for and identification with cultural product!

(All of the previous shite I have just typed is relevant to Gravitation. Even the stuff about Linkin Park)

But yeah, aye, I was aware of Gravitation but sort of forgot all about it until I saw the DVD in a high street shop. I had absolutely no idea it existed in Europe as anything other than an internet fansub, and seeing it in real life gave it some sort of ludicrous authenticity or something?

Anyway, long story sort of shorter? I bought the boxed set with some Christmas vouchers. There’s the entire series (16 episodes), and a stand-alone OVA thingy. Cool beans, eh?

You know what, here’s a trailer:

Anyway: it’s appealing to me as it features bands, ludicrous outfits, homosexuality (I recognise that seems a bit ‘homosexuality as novelty’ which is problematic in all sorts of ways, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen an animé that deals with it in any way other than “there’s a camp guy over there who is either creepy or near-asexual”, so I am genuinely interested to see it dealt with in any kind of ‘proper’ way? To be honest, ).

I have watched the first four episodes, just as it implies in my masterpiece of a header image. What are my THOUUUGHTS?

Basic plot: There’s some folks in a band called ‘Bad News’. Their singer is a naive, cutesy man-child called Shuichi, and he has fallen for this moody jerk who writes dark romance novels, or something, who has a reputation as a “ladies’ man”. Will romance happen? Huh? But more importantly, will Bad News succeed as a band, in the heady world of sugary rock?

1: LOVEY-DOVEY

It’s really pleasing how the homosexuality is being handled, so far, for one thing. It’s not sensationalised, and everyone seems utterly accepting of it, in a way that suggests NOT accepting it wouldn’t ever be an issue, which is totally great! There’s some very brief vague angst about “b…but he’s the same gender as me!” which is quickly dismissed by the characters in an offhand “doesn’t matter at all. Let’s get on with the plot” sort of way. Hooray! I am hoping there isn’t too much (if any) angst regarding being homosexual in it, so we can just enjoy all the soapy bullshit that’s likely to happen.

The relationship itself isn’t particularly interesting yet, though. Shuichi (guy in the band) is an irrational idiot, and his actions barely seem believably human (assuming he can move in as they’ve shared two kisses or something?), and Eiri is a rude, hurtful bastard with no regard for anyone’s feelings. They are both awful. That said, there’s hints for the reasons behind Eiri’s cold personality. He’s been hurt before! Oh no! And Shuichi at least has grim determination to succeed at music and be a pop maverick, and I fully expect his character to become less grating as we see ‘hidden depths’.

There’s also this  guitarist dude (above) who also fancies Shuichi, but I forget his name? I quite like him, he has a motorbike and a sort of 8os soft-metal doucherock mullet (there’s a lot of endearingly terrible hair in Gravitation). He has accepted that Shuichi has the hots for this other guy, and is now just making sure Eiri doesn’t treat him like crap. Go, guy! NEEOOOWEOOOWOWOWOWOOOOO (guitar noise). Which brings us (me) to…

2. BEING IN A BAND IS HARD

My definite favourite thing about Gravitation so far is the stuff about being in a band. Everything that happens, such as playing a gig, or meeting other bands, or writing a song, is portrayed as being supremely important. It has the message that MUSIC (AND THE MAKING OF IT) IS IMPORTANT.

As the greatest band of all time, and powerful formative influence (and animé-named) Urusei Yatsura once sang in statement-of-intent noise attack, Siamese: take a stand, make a plan, form a gang, a lo-fi band!

Not that Bad News are in any way lo-fi, of course. They are slick, slick bastards, yet still sound like they’d fit in with some sort of John Peely 1996 indiepop night, maybe involving Dweeb and Helen Love and Disco Pistol? They’re nowhere near as catchy as those guys, though.

But yeah, fuuuck! The ‘making music is life-or-death’ thing seems a bit trite and ludicrous, I SUPPOSE, and in many ways it is? I remember though, I remember being a teenager, I remember how being in a band felt back then. A feeling of self-importance, a Last Gang In Town attitude, pals together doing something that makes you feel better about all the shite that might be going on in ‘real’ life. A sense of togetherness! The roar of the crowd (sometimes!)! The sense of possibility!

Then I hit my 20s and got cynical/moved to a city. One thing Gravitation gets right is what I learned by being part of some sort of music ‘scene’ at one point: people in other bands are bastards, and you need to prove you are better than them as YOU ARE (at least in your head). There is rarely an Olympia-style ‘helpful palz’ component. It’s just your team of joyless schlubs festering in bitterness as another identical bunch you pretend to be pals with gets to play above you on the bill/gets a better support slot/gets on the radio/gets a fan that’s someone that doesn’t know them personally, probably just because of SOMEONE THEY KNOW IN THE ‘BIZ’.

I do not miss that backbiting shit. It’s there in Gravitation, though, and it is ridiculous but there’s truth in it and I fucking love it.

SIDENOTE: Sometimes, you grow old, find yourself without a band, so start making ludicrous noise in your bedroom that’s sort of awful but closer to what you want from music, and it’s all you, you, you, and then you perform one set with some pals at an art show and there’s no hideous backbiting or illusion of ‘high stakes’, it’s just pals having fun, and it’s  cool. But will you ever recapture the thrill of being young and in a band? I do not know? Sometimes you just make something ridiculous like this and end up on a Warren Ellis podcast, much to your surprise:

Oh, the joy of being old and nothing mattering anymore.

3. LOOKING GOOD HAS NEVER  LOOKED SO BAD

Sadly, though, Gravitation looks kinda awful. As a Modern Consumer, I’ve not really had to watch much animé that looks bad, I can just turn it off, not like in the old days when I’d lap up any old shite just as it was so difficult to get hold of. Oh, memories of falling asleep on a saturday night as I’d stayed up super-late to watch Doomed Megalopolis on Channel 4!

But yeah, Gravitation is like what dicks say animé is like, to ‘do it down’: re-used scenes, sliding, still shots, general bad animation.

I guess I can live with it. As long as I can understand what’s going on, that’s all I need. I like the character designs, there’s a sort of ‘visual kei meets Benimaru, in an 80s office’ thing going on. Lots of camp buckles and midriffs, big coats and huge hair.

I don’t really want to insult Gravitation too much, as I really get the impression that it means a lot to some people, and I guess there’s no need to shit on that bitterly with my lazy cynicism? I would have been pretty protective of Gravitation when I was younger, like I was with my favourite bands. I wish I still was, and I guess maybe I am in some ways, but my icy-cool exterior is maintained by a disgusting crust of cynicism that I need to pick off, so I can plunge my…hand…back into…the wet, turdy puddle…of…genuine…enjoyment?

That meant nothing, didn’t it?

Anyway, Gravitation: I’m really enjoying it and will keep watching, one episode a night, as I eat tea.

I’ll leave you with a charmingly cheap video by the aforementioned Greatest Band Ever, Urusei Yatsura. Sonic Youth-meets-pop tunes-meets animé references? Cannae beat it.

P.S. How do Linkin Park relate to Gravitation? Well, just like L.Parxxx, Bad News get a new member forced upon them by the record label to make them less shit. Zany!