Final Thoughts - Dennou Coil
Best show of 2007. ’nuff said. I suppose I should be a little more verbose, however…
I do think that Dennou Coil is hands down the best anime I’ve seen this year in any quantity. However, I don’t think it met my expectations because it didn’t end up being quite what I thought it would be - in this case, though, I think that’s a good thing.
To be honest, I’m not sure what exactly I thought it would be - with the credits behind it, I think that I and perhaps many others who were waiting for the show to air possibly thought it was going to be a bit more arty and experimental. The first half of the series perhaps led many viewers to believe the show would exploit its “digital world” conceit to showcase Mitsuo Iso’s digital animation trickery and various ideas about computers etc. - something like Ghost in the Shell with cyber-moustaches and piranhas, perhaps.
What we got was actually a more conventional anime story in that there ended up being high derring-do, lots of plot twists and angst up the wazoo. Maybe it didn’t totally work on a cerebral level, some of which I will discuss in the extended entry, and I’m not convinced that I actually knew what was really going on some of the time, but it certainly worked on an emotional and dramatic level and I think that’s what really counts. Too many shows get carried away with their lofty ideas and fail to provide a compelling piece of entertainment, and given that Dennou Coil is theoretically a kid’s show I think it was an extremely accomplished achievement to be as cerebral as it was.
Top notch talent oozed out of every pore of the show from start to finish, despite the occasional shortcuts in animation and writing, and it was an absolute pleasure to watch each and every episode. Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but Dennou Coil was a whole lot of fun from start to finish and easily tops anything else that’s aired this year from my point of view - sure, there are shows out there that are more artistically daring or have cleverer writing, but for sheer consistent high-quality entertainment Dennou Coil beats the lot of them.
Okay, there are a few things that I think bear discussion that may just be my lacking of understanding as to certain elements of the plot (I watched the second half of the series pretty much in one go and some parts may have been a little fuzzy as a result). In no particular order:
Imago
The concept of Imago was rather hazily dealt with, in my opinion. It started the series as being the reason that Isako didn’t need the ofuda-like encodes to wield her angouya powers. It then seemed to turn into Yasako’s ability to find the paths leading to old space (and it seemed to have something to do with the noises Denpa heard, which was dropped after The Last Plesiosaur) before being something that the Coil group had invented! It may have been dodgy translating from myself or one of the fansubbers I ended up following for the end, but the show didn’t seem to settle on what it was supposed to be, just that Yasako and Isako definitely had it.
4423 and the questions raised therein
So Professor Okonogi created a virtual space for Isako’s consciousness to heal itself that Yasako accidentally intruded on, thus setting in motion the whole Michiko thing. I buy most of this - it’s typical anime convolution, but I thought it was quite an interesting way to bring everything together and really encapsulated the theme of connection that really drove the show.
However, the central concepts of the Coil Domain and “the other side” raise a lot of questions that the show stopped short of answering, presumably deliberately. In the course of writing this post I resolved some of the difficulties I had with the concept (I had forgotten that the “Nobuhiko” Illegal that appears in the final episodes with Michiko-san was really the remnants of the 4423 rehabilitation program and not Nobuhiko at all) but the show attempts to sidestep the metaphysical implications of the dissociation of the physical and Dennou worlds. Is Kanna’s Dennou-self that lives on in the Coil Domain her soul, or something else entirely that Descartes et al couldn’t even conceive of? I don’t think we’re supposed to think too much about it, but it would make an interesting topic for someone with waaaay too much time on their hands - besides, this idea’s really been dealt with by Chiaki Konaka and (repeatedly. Seriously, think of something else to write about.) Masamune Shirow in far more detail than Dennou Coil needed.
Actually, now that I’ve thought about it and read what other people have thought about the series, I don’t think I have any additional questions or issues I need to raise. It’s so rare to get to the end of a series and find that it hasn’t really dropped the ball in any way - everything was resolved to my satisfaction, essentially, and although I’d love to see the characters again I don’t think there’s any great need for a second series (besides, the law of diminishing returns dictates that it wouldn’t be as good, and that would be heart-breaking).
December 19th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
It was a satisfactory ending but I thought it could have been better with one or more episodes to explain things a little clearer. Nonetheless an amazing series overall. Too bad marketing in Japan failed miserably and it isn’t getting the attention it should be getting. Quite a shame.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
A great overview that captures what I believe were the most important aspects of the show. It’s strange but your thoughts pretty much mirror my own!
Some details weren’t clear and others didn’t get explored as fully as they could have done - these are only incidentals that don’t detract from the impact of the main themes though. I just loved the way in which the characterisation was handled with such dignity and dexterity - the angst wasn’t overdone and the imagination that underpins the technology and mythology in the background is quite extraordinary. It’s not a perfect series but it’s near enough for me. In closing,
“Best show of 2007. ’nuff said.”
Quoted for truth.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:12 am
On the contrary I thought Denno Coil failed to engage me on a dramatic level but it was really great setting forth the mood, feel and its very creative premise and setting from the get go. The direction was great, especially during the duller part of the second half as well as some of the stand-alone episodes earlier on. Having watched the latter half of the series answered my questions about setting, but I don’t really give a hair more of damn about the entire cast of tools and brats sans Kyoko, Densuke and maybe Megaba. I guess it’s still a kids show when it comes to engaging its audience on a visceral level.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:43 am
I may be in the minority, but Denno Coil stopped being my favorite show of 2007 in its last few episodes. I still struggle to clearly say why.
December 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am
muhootsaver said:
“Too bad marketing in Japan failed miserably and it isn’t getting the attention it should be getting.”
Pardon me if I stink of elitism if I say this but I think the precise lack of aggressive advertising (ala Code Geass and every other MBS show) is… a good sign as far as I’m concerned, because it implies that they’re generally less reliant on advertising dollars and on courting fans.
Anyway I think it has gotten quite a bit of attention - within the industry I hear it’s been widely talked about thanks to the great animators behind it, and it DOES air on primetime on a respected national TV station. At least going by 2ch it seemed to be popular enough (Personally I’d rather it DIDN’T have the masses of fans ala Haruhi or Lucky Star or whatever.)
As for popularity outside of Japan, though… *sheds a tear*
December 20th, 2007 at 10:20 am
omo - personally I felt that the three characters you listed were the most childish and exaggerated of them all, so I find it odd that you seem to criticise the show for being too “kiddie” for you. Not to say I didn’t like them (Densuke made me cry. Almost.) but I was surprised by how complex Yasako turned out to be, for instance (although her little Mayumi-bullying arc was sorely underdeveloped). Each to their own, obviously.
roastedpekingduck - perhaps the show turned out to be too conventional for you? I know you like your shows weirder than most, and the end of Dennou Coil is very conventional for anime (although perhaps a little poorly paced; I almost felt the Haraken/Kanna arc went on for too long, although I don’t feel shortchanged by the ending). Whilst the plot revelations are quite surprising (if you’re stupid like me!) the actual execution of the show is not.
wao - I’m sure you’re aware Dennou Coil just won a prize for excellence from one of Japan’s culture bodies (alongside Gurren Lagann, of all things!).
I don’t think Dennou Coil was THAT unpopular amongst Western fansub/raw watchers compared to a lot of the shows I’ve watched in recent years; 2007 has been a very strong year for “otaku-type” shows, however, and it’s very easy for shows like Dennou Coil and Seirei no Moribito to appear to be lost in the kerfuffle over KyoAni shows, Gurren Lagann etc. There’s been good discussion of the show on various forums, the fansubs have been timely and regular, and there’s a pretty decent groundswell of support behind the show. At least, that’s how it seems to me.
December 20th, 2007 at 10:51 pm
Ah, that was it! Thanks for helping me figure it out. It was definitely the Haraken/Kanna arc that dropped the show a bit in my eyes.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:22 am
“On the contrary I thought Denno Coil failed to engage me on a dramatic level but it was really great setting forth the mood, feel and its very creative premise and setting from the get go. The direction was great, especially during the duller part of the second half as well as some of the stand-alone episodes earlier on.” -Omo
That’s exactly my opinion. I suppose the high point of the series for me was the beard episode, and the switch to character-based drama in the second half weakened my enjoyment somewhat, as I found the characters to actually be rather weak. The ending also suffered from rather hasty exposition that still left a lot of gaps, with many of the characters’ motivations revealed to be rather cliche and, unfortunately, eye-roll inducing. This is not to say that I disliked the show. On the contrary, I’d rate it highly. It just had too many problems, according to my taste, for it to be labeled the best of the year.
December 24th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Regarding Imago, my impression is as follows. The Coils company invented a super-efficient antenna that massively increased transmission bandwidth as compared to existing technologies and enabled wireless VR terminals (the glasses). Later, they realized that they their technology allowed then to tune into, and interact with, channels used by the human mind itself, right? (This is where the technology starts to seem semi-magical.) Possibly Imago was an innate ability to tune into those same channels without the need for the technology?
I have one complaint about the consistency of how the VR technology is portrayed in “Dennou Coil”. At some times it appears that Coils objects have mass and interact physically with the real world. (Example: when Kyoko carries Densuke, her posture seems to adapt to added weight.) However, at other times it is explicitly stated and shown that this is not so. This caused my to have suspension-of-belief problems in the beginning.
December 28th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I am in agreement as the Best series of 2007. Personally, it may not have accomplished as much as other series, but it did everything so well, and managed to be very touching in the end.
The Telephone and Urban Legends
Since I just marathoned the series yesterday so I haven’t pondered a bunch on it, but I tried not to speculate while watching and just let the details come. Reading your thought this came to me, “I don’t think all the information provided in the series was meant to be accurate.”
Urban legends were a recurring topic as was the telephone; why did the characters need to put their hand like a telephone? My thought is that, just like a game of telephone, the information and urban legends were never true from the start, in the end we may not have found the final truth to the Spaces; misinformation is like a boundary. Imago wasn’t fully defined even by the ones that researched it, there were unknowns. What was real before Telephone, if the original information wasn’t fully understood?
Much to ponder… ^^
January 1st, 2008 at 1:39 am
For me as well, it was the best anime of the year, and then, well, followed by Code Geass perhaps - but that’s another story- but hey, there’s another anime that suffers from the very same disease this year among the western community, I’m taking about Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which from my point of view is almost as creative as this one, but barely followed up, I guess it’s because of its high-leveled japanese, but anyway, I also agree there are too many factors that made it not to be the first place this year, like having dealt with many aspects of the Dennou technology, and let them aside while the emotional arc started, so, one can say it lacked of the impressing factor series usually relay their success on, and therefore, maybe it didn’t had the impact others did, but exactly for that reason it’s my best option of the 2007. Very Otaku-type indeed.
@ dbm: Couldn’t “mass” interaction be also a result of being dealing with the very human brain connections itself, so it was an illusion at the very end?
January 2nd, 2008 at 4:02 am
Imago from what I understood is sort of a mystery as to why some kids have it and don’t. But it does seem to be some type of program that wasn’t intentionally made but just there, that would access the glasses to the brain. Now considering that the rehab program was sort off connected to the brain I thought that perhaps thats why children who seem to have access to imago could find the way to the program. Things are still fuzzy but thats my two cents. Still biggest mystery is how some kids ended up accessing Imago while the others couldn’t? I can see how Isako and Yasako have it, the doctor did after all seem to be one of the first to really exploit it and seeing as he had a connection to both girls I’m guessing he may have given them the glasses or some sort of way to access it. Yet, question is what about Kanna, she was well another one with solid evidence of access to imago, along with that girl Yasako used to bully, who also seems to have imago after all she found the path. Still its not too much a nagging question.