LAWYER TOKISAKI/THOU SHALT NOT SWIPE WHEN COMES OUR TURN

ALEXANDRE HAÏOUN-PERDRIX - Writer, 3rd Year, Philosophy

"Thought is useless. All you need is devotion to Ms Tokisaki."

Today, in the Court for way too often Misjudged Anime, Ms. Tokisaki Kurumi will be the lawyer for Date A Live. A position usually forbidden for one’s own series but 1) who cares and 2) the usher in charge of enforcing this rule has mysteriously disappeared. The lawyer has entered the room, and is saluting all of the jurors… She does not seem to have many sheets in her folder, despite charges being quite important. Is it that she has already forsaken? Or that she is going to deliver a tremendous speech?

MS TOKISAKI, after a little and charming cough

Dear all, I shall be brief. I am here to defend a masterpiece mocked by critics I cannot describe as insensitive – for they are not only so, they are also soulless, and, worse, tasteless.

Boos erupt from within the benches of the public, the usher, still absent – but quickly stopped by the deaths of two spectators, whose torsos are torn to shreds by bullet holes.

What kind of charges dare they bring upon us? Clichés, indecency, poor scenario choices, lack of intensity, lack of consistency… Charges that have not prevented major series from having great and, I must say, sometimes much less deserved success than that of Date A Live. Moreover, those charges, I shall prove, are perfectly unjust.

Let us first examine that accusation some might deem as the most serious, that Date A Live is full of clichés, especially with its characters. Perhaps surprisingly, that one I shall not reject, and barely nuance. After all, what does one who uses stereotypes? He frees space in the minds of the spectators to witness and understand a denser plot, or just helping them relax and enjoy the show. Moreover, just because your characters are a bit stereotypical doesn’t mean that there isn’t a variety of them. Nor does it mean that those clichés are not used with great panache and in a very creative fashion, which is twice the case in Date A Live. Stereotypes are a basic matter: one may, with no setbacks, use it to get a better result than would have been possible to some others, even if those latter had dealt with much newer and unexpected material. Besides, they allow the other traits of those characters’ personalities to be emphasized more heavily, for they pop out of a very conventional frame, whereas its other defining features do thus require much less attention. I have no problem to affirm that our characters are for some and possibly, if not probably, among the most interesting of the last decade of anime!

“Before the trial: Ms Tokisaki calmly explaining herself to journalists in front of the court”

Indignated yells within some of those who have courageously chosen not to desert the benches of the public. The tiresome shouters are promptly taken out of the room by Ms Tokisaki’s worshippers. Sorrowful but quickly muffled groans are heard for a little moment, then Ms Tokisaki’s speech resumes.

Well, let me come to the question of the combination of magic and science, which, according to some people, whose brains I shall personally check, leads to inconsistencies and lesser quality. I shall first argue that this is so when a series has the idea to come into the details of such a combination, but not the means to do so efficiently, which Date A Live has the wisdom to try as little as possible. Our version of that combination is much better managed than in many, if not most, works which try to use it, for it is more its tool than its core – which is its characters and their relationships. Moreover, one may not be sure that it is truly magic that is used rather than another kind of science. One should be cautious and wait for season 5 to come before asserting with so little caution things like that, or find and read the light novels [which the author of this article confesses he has not done].

Ms Tokisaki’s smile becomes more ferocious and a dangerous glimmer begins to appear behind the darkness of her pupils.

And secondly, dear jurors, let me tell you that I have made sure that fans of Code Geass are present and ready to ambush everywhere in that city, from the parks to the cafés – from your workplaces to your neighbourhood. Condemn the combination of science and magic, and your fate will be out of my hands and out of yours as well.

The third charge…Ms Tokisaki sighs

…is maybe the worst, and thereby I mean the least interesting. Date A Live’s scenario being “flat” and “lacking intensity”. Well, for sure, unlike many anime, we do not have the habit to make grand revelations or to have incredible plot twists at each episode. However, I believe that it is a compliment our enemies grant us, for does it not mean that we do not need it? That we prefer to let place to our characters, our music, and of course, our humour. Our series is funny: should we be ashamed of that? It does not make it less serious, just more appreciable and does not prevent it to be sometimes, if not often, quite intense emotionally. Is our action concentrated, or a bit repetitive? For sure, it is a background for the plot and the characters and their relationships, as was the case for Revolutionary girl Utena. The financial and technological means of our camps are unrealistic, and we barely know where they come from? Absolutely. I do not see the problem. Are our tragic moments too rare? Well, if you want to see or read a tragedy, I shall exhort you to go to a bookshop and buy or order Hamlet or Bajazet. That is what you need, that is not what we do propose, let alone what we need to propose. Next charge?

Ms Tokisaki, in a dress thought to belong to Ms Nagatoro, the attorney — who never showed up at the trial, but once again, who cares?”

Oh, gods, that is the last one. We would be “too prone to show barely clothed bodies, which is terrible because it contributes to making the characters “mere objects” etc.. Well, I guess that accusation has been made by people who never saw our female characters speaking or in action, whom I shall thus urge to do so, to make them sure so it is not. And, em, let us say that… that success has its price and that…

Ms Tokisaki clears her throat and coughs a little

…em, one does not want trials against series such as One Piece, isn’t it?

One of the three last spectators who do not belong to Ms Tokisaki’s worshippers stands up and tries to argue that it does not respond to the accusation, but is stopped by the disappearance of his head following a short salvo.

Well, dear jurors, this concludes my speech which I hope shall have convinced you. If it did not, well, let us entrust your destiny to Code Geass’s fans!

Thunder of applause from the rest of the benches.