Fictional sex doesn’t have to be porn: example: Garo delivers murder, mayhem, rape, and consensual sex

When Garo tells us about a “witch hunt,” initially the viewer thinks it will be a “witch hunt” like a Marxist-Leninist kangaroo court, in which people with no means to defend themselves get butchered.  At first we see a guy who seems to be a political prisoner with no connection to “witchcraft.”  Mendoza is implementing tyranny, Guillermo is just a freedom-fighter trying to resist tyranny for the good of his nation.  The sickly greenish light of a physically sick king’s palace contrasts with the vigorous but scary torchlit red of bloody violence.

 

 

But then, we see that some witches really do practice something worthy of the name “witchcraft,” and these witches can defend themselves somewhat.  And a strange old guy with an eyepatch and poison-green magic might be just as ethically questionable as Mendoza the evil bureaucrat.

Even though the witchcraft includes BIG GLOWY POWER, the human cost of violence is harshly familiar – suspicion, accusation, rape.

Unfortunately, many anime shows will throw in rape scenes for cheap titillation. This is problematic in several ways, but one artistic problem is that once an artist has used rape to indicate “exciting sex,” that artist often has trouble distinguishing between different varieties of sex.

Garo, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of showing that rape is not normal by putting a scene that hints at rape into a montage of scenes showing the violent abuse of government power. After we see government thugs killing various people, we see two smirking thugs chuckling with one another as they leave a passive woman. The viewer can get the message: what happened offscreen was violent, and was an abuse of power.

 

If Garo stopped there, it would just be vaguely prudish. But it doesn’t stop there. Shortly thereafter, it gives a different scene that also strongly suggests that sexual contact just happened offscreen, but the message is very different. The colors suggest sensual indulgence, the woman is obviously participating of her own volition, and the woman provokes the man to persuade her that his sexual attentions are worth her time.

I dislike a lot of shows that depict versions of magic that are too reliable, too mechanical, too much like technology. If magic is just a superpower that works whenever the user wants it to work, the writer often delivers a story where the special effects could be done with high technology. Examples might include Hitsugi no Chaika, most “magical girl” shows, and also magical mech shows like Escaflowne.

Magic should draw on the parapsychology of mediumistic dealings with spirits. That tends to produce stories in which the magician is just a medium and the spirits do all the important stuff, as was the case with xxxHolic. If, on the other hand, magic is just “whatever the gods want” or “whatever the demons want,” then the story is also not very magical. It’s a story about politics – and that might explain why I haven’t bothered to watch all of xxxHolic – its ensemble cast is too huge to keep track of.

Magic is similar to athletic effort. When it gets too similar, one ends up with a story in which athletic talent produces super-qigong, which grants super-powers. And that is exactly what happened to Hunter X Hunter. I’m glad Hunter X Hunter ended up being a strong story, but in my opinion, it ended on a strong note because it understood the point at which it had run out of good ideas. I think it was a great show because the creator was “lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle,” not because he really understood something profound about qigong.

Magic, in my arrogant opinion, ought to have a skill/effort element. It should rely on the skill and effort of the magician, not just on the whim of a god or demon who grants superpowers. But magic should not be as convenient as flipping a light switch. Magic should touch the dark Collective Unconsciousness discussed by C. G. Jung. (Even though Isegoria warns us to be careful of what we let through the trapdoor.) Magic should touch the mythical worldview discussed by Joseph Campbell. Magic should resemble asceticism – which comes from a word meaning “athleticism” – an ascetic, like the qigong masters of Hunter X Hunter, is an athlete, one who undergoes training to become stronger. And, yes, magic should touch the empowering human instinct to make tools. Magic should resemble technology, but it should not be modern, mechanistic technology.

Garo reminds me of Shingeki no Bahamut, insofar as both put magic into a convincingly non-modern world.  Garo‘s magic is not a perfect match for my tastes (it’s a little too BIG GLOWY POWER and not mythological or Jungian enough), but if I wanted a perfect match, I would write my own story.  (I don’t think most people would want to read my story – it would be drearily realistic, and not exciting like a typical story about magic.)

I’m already impressed with Shingeki no Bahamut. I hope that Garo will likewise convince me to commit my time.