Anime Column] 100 Anime to Watch by Keyword! 100 Anime to Watch No.16 "Correct Answer Kado" etc.

Drinking parties among anime fans tend to be a game of association. When someone says, "XXX has XXX scene," someone else replies, "Speaking of XXX scene, don't forget XXX. Anime and animation are connected by invisible threads like this. Let's follow the "anime to watch" using keywords as clues.

The first episode of "Correct Answer Kado" had a big impact.
A mysterious cube suddenly appears in a corner of the runway at Haneda Airport. This huge cube, measuring 2 km on each side, with fractal patterns floating on its surface, swallows a passenger plane on the runway. The government tries every possible means to find out what the cube is and what is inside. However, the cube does not respond to any sensors. Even when tanks fire at one corner of the cube, the shells that touch the walls are deformed into a round shape and cannot cause a scratch.

Soon, a mysterious figure appears from the top of the cube. His name is Yahaksy Zashnina. On the other side is the man who was supposed to be swallowed up by the airliner, Kojiro Mamichi, a tough negotiator who is the pride and joy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
What was the purpose of Yahak-i-Zashnina and the cube? And what is the role that Koujiro Mamichi is to play? ......

The first episode was made in the style of a realistic simulation film overall, although some of the characters were presented in an anime-like manner. This attitude is clearly expressed in the line "It is important to confirm the obvious" by theoretical physicist Shinawa Kanata (the aforementioned beautiful scientist), who appears on stage to investigate the properties of cubes. As this line suggests, this work is trying to portray an improbable event in a big way by building up the logic of what seems to be possible one by one. The first episode left us wondering what will happen in the future.

If I had to categorize the genre of this work, it would be first-contact science fiction. The various frictions and changes that occur when people come into contact with different cultures (many of which are often alien civilizations) have often been the subject of anime.

The most prominent first-contact science fiction in anime history is "Densetsu Kyojin Ideon" (The Legendary God Ideon).

Human beings begin to emigrate into outer space and discover the ruins of an alien civilization on the planet Solo in the Andromeda Nebula. The ruins are a spacecraft and three vehicles that appear to be ready to move at any moment. The alien Buff Clan came to the Solo Star in search of the legendary infinite energy Ides. An armed clash occurs between the earthlings and the Buff Clan, and the immigrants of the Solo planet escape the Solo planet in a spaceship of the ruins, while the Buff Clan pursues them. The three vehicles then combine to form the giant robot "Ideon," which demonstrates a fighting power so great that it overwhelms the Buff Clan.

The interesting aspect of "Ideon's" first-contact science fiction lies in its fascinating depiction of the civilization known as the Buff Clan.
Although the Buff Klan look almost identical to earthlings, their hair and eyes are colored blue and red, and their pupils are not drawn to give them an "alien" appearance. The two are depicted as "similar" and "different" in terms of culture and biology, such as a class society with a "samurai" culture and the possibility of childbirth between the two. This is why both similarities and differences stand out, and the meeting of the two aliens can be perceived as "the will of the idée" with a sense of reality.

Episode 6, "White Flag of Betrayal," is the most typical first-contact science fiction episode of the film. In this episode, when the Soloships use a white flag to signify surrender, the Buff Clan sees it in a different light: .......
The main attraction of this film is that the encounter between these two aliens leads to the astonishing final scene that no one could have imagined.

When it comes to culture gap, one cannot miss "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Ai Oboete Kareka" (The Super Dimension Fortress: Macross, Ai Oboete Kareka ). In this film, the Earth makes first contact with the Zentraedi and the Mel-trandi, who are engaged in a battle. The story is that the attraction of "song," which both races have forgotten, changes the war situation and brings it to an end.

The point is that the fighting race specializes only in fighting and has completely lost the concept of "reproduction. This has created a culture gap with the people of Earth.
The Zentraedi are a male-only race, and the number of them is increasing through cloning technology. Therefore, the very idea of humans making love or kissing each other is a threat. And since they do not know how to sing, they are moved when they hear idol songs. Some of the Zentraedi, moved by the "culture" of the Earth, will side with the humans.

In other words, the central dogma of pop songs = love = reproduction (as in the '80s?). The central dogma of pop songs = love = reproduction is expressed as the core of "culture," and the fact that such a simple thing becomes the key to the space war is a twist of this film as a first-contact story.

The cube in "Correct Answer Cadet" was depicted as a completely unidentifiable entity, and " Mobile Su it Gundam 00: A wakening of the Trailblazer" is another work that depicts first contact with an unidentifiable entity.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00" depicted the possibility of mankind evolving beyond the level of conflict within the Earth's sphere to become a being capable of expanding into space. The film version finally depicts the "coming dialogue" that awaits us beyond that point.

In this film, the metallic life form, ELS, which has a completely different form of communication from that of humans, and the question is whether humanity will be able to understand each other. Will the ELS destroy the human race? This work inherited the motif of the "New Type," the "humans who can understand each other," which appeared in the "Gundam" series, in the setting of "Innovator," and combined it with the theme of First Contact, which is a science fiction concept with a lot of scope.

What will be the final scene of the first contact in "Correct Answer Kado"?

(Text by Ryota Fujitsu)

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