Scott Pilgrim vol.5

[petronia]

Originally uploaded by Edgar Wright.

From the upcoming movie. I like how Scott Pilgrim appeals specifically to the intersection between Nerddom and Hipsterdom. "DKSK KCBK"? What does that even mean. Do we need to ask Emily Haines

Erin lent me volume 5 the other day. The series is clearly set to wrap up by volume 6, and all one can hope for at this point is that Gideon lives up to the fucking hype, cos dude is basically Ohtori Akio @ Bowery Ballroom Y/Y??? Maybe it's the way the video game conceit leads straight back to Jung, or maybe it's just the obvious structural parallel, but I've come to realize the psychological acuity of Scott Pilgrim is at least as akin to that of Utena as to that of Nana. The question mark that is Ramona is as unsettling as the question mark that is Anthy because it's presented and developed in the same way, by inference and innuendo... and you're thinking, well it can't possibly be as bad as Anthy, right, because on the evidence of it all you have is a bunch of twentysomething T-Dot hipsters being dicks to each other. And yet.

This is doubly weird because Scott Pilgrim is basically MY LIFE (the characters even have the same standard-issue Samsung phone as me, my bff and her dad, probably for the same reason), and I don't really need to see MY LIFE as an alternate-reality Ohtori Gakuen.

Next up: the second season of Haruhi Suzumiya! I am hyped.

Comments

packing in the pop!

[motorbike.livejournal.com]

I have not watched Haruhi but I have watched K-on, which I remember I enjoyed because it is a good series to watch at 1:30 in the morning when you're warm under a blanket but not yet 100% sleepy; i.e. it requires no mental engagement whatsoever, like America's Next top Model. This is sometimes a good thing.

Since nowadays it is hip to dress like you own a Mac and to watch Japanese cartoons -- or American movies based on Japanese cartoons -- I feel very secure knowing that Scott Polgrim is cool for the same reasons I... might... be? I should really read past volume 2! Everyone thinks SP is boss, and I loved O'Malley's arts on the Hopeless Savages Ground Zero book (he drew me a sweet sketch of Twitch some 4 years back before he went all famous! awesome). Unfortunately I think I just processed the whole thing like I processed K-on, which means I enjoyed the hipster gratuity and the charm but lost interest. I'll try to think of Ramona as Anthy next time, ahaha. "The Clash at Demonhead" just sounds like a Clash retrospective to me, btw.

Re: packing in the pop!

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I gotta make this clear - Ramona actually is Anthy. Probably without the incest. But I wouldn't rule out abuse. (Also there is not a lot of gendercrap in Scott Pilgrim: everyone is equally free to be dicks. Or rather there's not a lot of suggestion that Ramona isn't free to make her own choices, which interestingly doesn't seem to make a difference to the icky feeling one gets. OK well I guess people like Shiori or Juri were free to make shitty life choices in Utena too.)

I kind of see volume 3** as a turning point in the series? I don't really remember what happens in the first two books, tbh. XD;


** In which The Clash At Demonhead are played by Metric

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaahh, volume 5 is out! Thanks for the heads-up.