See, you say that like it would help, but I'm guessing it would only make the show more uncomfortable. Plus, he seems like he works best when he is writing a script, not an adaptation.
I hope that Hideaki Anno Together with Hayao Miyazaki would Direct Eromanga and OreImo crossover with Hiroyuki Imaishi as a main animator for hentai scenes God pls make it happen
Konaka had a whole blog post talking about digimon tamers and what he wanted to do with it. Digimon can't die in canon world and he thought kids shouldn't be taught that and wanted to make a whole digimon series about death
I remember watching Tamers when I was like maybe 13? when it aired here in Finland. I ended up liking it a whole lot more than any other Digimon series and I remember bawling my eyes out many times near the end. Such a fantastic take on Digimon's world. I would later start watching anime independently online and ended up watching Lain a couple of years later. Only now do I get this bombshell, that they were written by the same guy, dropped on me
the opening, THE OPENING of Lain was the most silent hill 2 ending song I ever listen to, It's great and if you don't like the anime you will love that song, duvet highly recommendable
pls don't forget Ryutaro Nakamura, who was the director on Lain,Ghost Hound and Kino's Journey before he died on cancer. The wierd galaxies in the shadows are on his behalf.
Ok when commented, I haven't watched until the end, I'm a slug. But still, I know, since ur a writter you might have a bias towards writters. I think the pair of three made it, haibane, lain and texhnolyze. Having watched all of Konaka's, ABe's and Nakamura's main series. I belive the most they could bloom, was when they worked together.
@@asinussum I know this comment is old, but the last Kino no Tabi adaptation shows very well how much the industry needs people like them back. It was a complete disaster.
I wish I knew anime was weird from the beginning, I would have watched so much sooner, Serial Experiments Lain is one of the best that I've watched so far!
Simao Pereira It's odd to hear everyone say Tamers is underrated since it's always brought up as the best season. While there are people who didn't like it, Tamers is heavily praised overall due to its strong writing all around in comparison to other Digimon seasons.
Danti o Well I watched it some time ago and while I understood all of its main and hidden themes I found it so boring that I literally waited it to end. Gave it 4/10 just for being ahead of time. It's not ahead of time so if it was aired this year, it would be dumped by everyone for presenting already discussed ideas in a VERY bad way.
I honestly get so excited when people analyze and talk about his work and especially Lain. I loved your episodic analysis series regarding Lain and I was so excited to see this video for the first time. My favorite anime is Lain so I get really passionate about people who are just as passionate about it and the crew behind it. Awesome video.
THANK YOU DIGIBRO! This kind of videos are so important to anime as culture. Sometimes I feel the comments don't seem to realize the scope of what you are doing, so its worth to emphasize it. This is the anime journalism and analysis we need!
a lot of people forget to mention this but lain heavily borrows from Carl Jung's psychology (much like evangelion borrows from freud) . the collective unconscious(how everyone is connected) , the good and bad lains are just representations of the persona vs the shadow. I couldn't have fully understood the show without doing some reading on these concepts.
@@noname-yw2gw We don't know if she actually became God, or if she was God from the very beginning, summoned by humans dabbling with the very fabric of reality. The show clearly asks that question when the Wired's creator confronts his "admin program" (Lain) and starts doubting her actual nature as a mere virtual entity, he first arrogantly proclaims himself as God, but starts realising that Lain has somehow accessed higher layers of the Wired, later realising she effectively controls reality itself, upon this he commits suicide; It's implied Eiri realised that Lain is really God, but whether or not she is God the creator, or a human creation is never actually delineated.
I wasn't even sure I liked Serial Experiments: Lain until almost halfway through, and then it ended up being one of my very favorite shows of all time. It's that kind of show.
Chiaki J Konaka is a fantastic writer and definetly a one of a kind writer, so much that I don't see ANYONE competing with him, Kinda hoping that some fucked up in the head writer submerges and carries on Chiaki's legacy but lets be real that might not happen. Only one who can do it is Chiaki himself.
You mentioned how the weirdness of anime can become jaded and boring because it's like the same thing is done over and over again. That's why I love JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it's so strange and unique that you'll never see anything like it and it's so entertaining because of that.
I've re-watched things this guy has been involved in so many times, and all the while had no idea it was all made by the same person. It makes sense, but is surprising that I love so many of his works the way I do.
That's odd. I always thought that ghost hound was an amazing piece of art. I mean when I saw how the anime portrayed the altered memory of a kid traumatized by death of his sibling in at least 10+ different ways throughout the series, I realized that the author must've wanted to convey how altered perception of reality through memory can be devastating to a person. I mean heck, it made buzzing sound coming from fly on dead sister's lips the most terrifying sound I've ever heard and did a damn good job of making audience feel that way. Beats me why people don't like it.
Wow, you should really do more videos about writers. I often listen to/watch your videos about directors, animators, and studios, and mostly just think "eh, whatever," but finding out that the same writer worked on nearly all of my favorite anime, which I had no idea were connected in any way, and I had absolutely no clue about it, was a kind of eye-opening experience. Thanks a lot for this one!
And come to think of it, out of all your "follow the career of some person in the anime industry" videos, the one that interested me most before this one was probably your Ghost in the Shell retrospective, and as I recall, that one was, in large part, about Masamune Shirow as a writer. I have a feeling that, unless they're also visual artists or directors, writers don't really get enough credit in the anime industry.
You know, as someone who's a massive fan of The Big O (though I totally get where you're coming from with a lot of the reveals and themes in Season 2 not explaining themselves all that well), I've been meaning to take a look at some of Konaka's other works, and this video actually gave me a pretty good baseline to start from. Great analysis!
*watches this video* *eyes anime collection* *sees Lain, Texhnolyze & Ghost Hound* *clasps hands & grins* “TIME FOR A MUH-FUH-IN MARATHON OF MIND MELTING MADNESS!”
I love this video so much that I've rewatched it at least a dozen times and have begun striking off the shows mentioned here. I love your recommendations/insights!
My favorite anime scriptwriter along with Youji Enokido. Lain is one of my favorite shows and Big O, Princess Tutu and Texhnolyze don't stride far after it. Glad you made a video about him and hope you make more videos about screenwriters in the future, since more of them deserve attention.
Man, I just want to thank you so much for bringing up Konaka's works! Seriously, the guy created some of the most atmospheric, deep and filled with "Holy shiiiiiiiiiit!" moments anime series I watched. Oh, and The Big O, this thing literally changed my mind and my view on things and life in general. Such a pity both The Big O and Texhnolyze were criminally overlooked by masses back then.
I liked Ghost Hound's first half, it was just the second half that I didn't like as much. But I had an english teacher once that really liked it. Let her borrow a dvd of Kino no Tabi, since it was my fav :')
I feel you should be payed large sums of money for the insight and quality delivery of your post. Professional. Your expose on the auteur is thorough. I had not expected he had such a broad opus, and now, will probably have to experience the more obscure works. The films I’ve see push a bunch of my buttons, but it would be worth the trouble to understand his arch, the overlaying why. Kudos.
Digimon with tentacles, now that is what got me into Anime in a deeper way. I remember watching Digimon Tamers, Season 3 of the Digimon series from the Saban dub and I loved it for that tentacle scene with Jerrie. Also her tragic back story was one to really move you to tears over especially with her friendship with Leomon that was tragically cut to an end. Thank you Konaka for letting us all know that even Tentacles can be in kids anime and it can be pulled off so well.
I have been using the image you used as this vids thumbnail for my avatar in many things for so long lol. I was surprised to see it on youtube. I love lains creepy smile so much.
A small thing he didn't mention is that Konaka also directed the episode "His Master's Voice" for Digimon 02 were Kari(Hikari) and T.K.(Takeru) go to the dark ocean fight this weird creatures that serve Dagomon, a cthulhu-like digimon. A episode famous for not only being one of the darkest episodes of 02 but and for introducing another plot-hole to 02 because Dagomon never gets fucking mention again, you watch that episode and thinks he's going to be a major villain and the show completely forgets about him, it's kind of hilarious. He also basically design the Daemon Corps that appear close to the end of the season, Konaka didn't direct the episodes the they appear in but he came up with the general scenario and who was going to be in the corps, like Skullsatamon and LadyDevimon(who became pretty iconic after her fight with Angewomon in season 1).
Thank you for this video. I have never really considered Konaka's unique voice and the impact he had on the industry. Maybe because I was quite young when I watched Lain on TechTV all those years ago, but now all the dots have been connected for me. Will be finally watching Technolyze now, after years of constantly pushing it to the bottom of my backlog.
Holy... How did you...? I mean... How to think about it, while watching a guy who speaks abou dark animes? Even if this guy loves lolis...??? Does it mean... loli animes are actualy dark? : O
Yoshitoshi ABe is a GOD. Haibane Renmei is a fucking masterpiece. After watching it 20+ time, I still pick out new details every time I watch it, and always cry my fucking eyes out.
What you say at the end: He might be returning to anime. A BD box for Digimon Tamers is going to be released soon and it advertises a new audio drama to expand on that season a bit written by him, which has led to some fans to speculate that there might be a Tamers sequel coming after Adventure tri (and let's be honest, if there's any season of Digimon that's going to get a sequel, it's going to be Tamers). So who knows, we may see him return.
You saw Texhnolyze more than once? The first and last time I watched it, it left me completely emotionally drained. That shit was heavy. I'm glad I watched it, but never again.
arcanask first time I watched it was 10 years ago as a teenager. 3 years ago I rewatched it, the same last year and two weeks ago. And now I can say I really see things clearer. A rewatch really helps to understand ftbe show. But of course there are some questions open. :)
i feel like lain isn't a "fun" anime. i watched it in two days and it was really interesting, and good, and has exciting themes, but it's not a fun viewing experience. kind of like reading classics often isn't fun but still interesting if you put your mind to it. also, ghost hound is absolutely my favourite and i've watched it several times. it's not perfect but it just vibes with me in a way i can't quite put into words.
Maybe it's just be me, but I'd say Lain is a very depressing watch, because of the brooding atmosphere of loneliness and despair, which is so well done it consumes you. If you're already struggling with low mood, you might want to set it aside. I didn't, and felt emotionally drained by the end.
God, finally someone who know Serial Experiments Lain and likes. I was almost losing the faith in mankind. Despera is the anime we need, but no the one we deserve....
thank you for putting this man into the light. he made my mid-twenties bearable. no wonder the last years were shitty as hel without him. oh .. and you got a new sub with that. GJ and i hope for further great stuff llike that
I've been watching a ton of anime lately, only really starting to get into it within the past couple months, and the anime from my childhood which completely stuck with me as my favorite is Digimon Tamers. As I've seen other fascinating works in the medium, I've wondered why it is that I regard it so highly, and if I even really love it as much as I did then. Every time I do, though, I'd realize that I love so many things that really hold up in my memory. So, probably about a week ago, I spent a tiny bit of time trying to figure out how the hell that happened in the middle of a long running children's series. Now I know!
Huge fan of Big O, and Lain was back when sci fi channel still ran some anime occasionally. I for one am glad you reinvigorated my interest, because a lot of his work I consider necessary cornerstones in the anime I'm interested in and reccomend.
Turns out this guy's involved in like, everything I ever liked about anime! This guy basically formed my preference in anime and is probably why I keep telling everyone "Anime these days is missing something."
Chiaki J. Konaka also wrote the best episode of Digimon Adventure 02, it was called The Call of Dagomon. I still find it odd that they let Chiaki J. Konaka write a season of Digimon, but I glad they did let him. For anyone who interested, here a link to Chiaki J. Konaka's website on his work with Digimon Tamers www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/index.html It a cool read.
Without looking it up I'm 120% sure you're talking about the episode where Kari is alone in the school at night and all the floors are flooded with water.
Limey Lassen Yep, that's the one. Since the 02 staff in general seemed very disorganized with plot structuring in general I'm out surprised his ideas were tossed out. It would have been fun to see Kari in that kind of situation since she's a character the franchise kind of doesn't do much with it comparison to others. It was a bit much in 02, that's all.
When I found out that one of the writers behind Tamers was also behind Lain; I had a small fangasm. I remember watching Lain, and loving it's weirdness. I haven't gone back and watched it a second time, I've been meaning to, but I haven't yet. Tamers was fantastic though. Also; one girl loses some clothes, and a guy's sword increases in size. I'm never going to get over that specific moment.
Tamers was essentially my 2nd favorite, really close behind my first and utmost favorite : Savers. There's nothing quite like watching Masaru jump 3 storeys high to punch a digimon's face and watching it flinch just so that Agumon can evolve. While every single other series protagonists pretty much did nothing other than provide moral support (or morphed into digimon themselves), both Tamers and Savers had the characters do things outside of just showing moral support. Takeru, Lee and Rika had the whole card swipe thing, and during Matrix Digivolution we can see Megagargomon do kung fu moves because Lee was the one in control, Rika was the strategist. Toma was pretty much the coach of a boxing champion, Yoshino was the callback to the old "morale support" tamer that the previous seasons chosen children were, while Masaru... well... punches Mega level digimons as tall as skyscrapers.
Didn't frontier had the kids evolve into digimons themselves? Granted I never completely bought into that premise, but that technically counts as doing things other than moral support.
Yeahhhhhh but that went against the idea of Digimon, see Digimon for me was the bond and friendship between the trainer and the monster, making the trainers evolve into digimons themselves is more of a kamen rider thing, and if I wanted to watch Kamen Rider, I'd watch Kamen Rider, not a Digimon show. Imagine if they made a season of Pokemon, but instead of having pokemon battles, you had Ash joining a boxing championship and there was absolutely no pokemons in sight other than Pikachu occasionally handing him the towel and drink, and the entire season was just about how Ash continuously climbed up ranks in the boxing world, granted that it may be a great show, and entertaining to boot, but it's just... not a Pokemon season to me? It's a show about boxing that has pokemons, but not a pokemon season. I never liked Frontier for anything other than the Opening Song.
I don't even have to look up which episodes he did on Eureka 7, I can guess... And may I say, catching one such episode partly through on TV one day is THE reason I watched the show, AND played a huge role in making me an avid anime fan like I am today.
Autumn Coker Yeah, funny thing about Chiaki is that he has popped up on the staff of random magical girl anime from time to time. I recall looking at the credits for Tutu years ago and being a bit surprised by it.
Started watching Lain because of this video and I'm obsessed. The art turned me off so I never gave it a chance. It's quickly becoming one of my favourites of all time. So glad I found your channel!
Ah!! Thanks for finally putting a name to all these seemingly unconnected anime I have loved over the years! I'll definitely be looking further into his works. I'm such a fan of Lain, Mononoke, Tutu, heck even Magic Users Club, I really thought it was all unrelated until now, haha. Also, I may be the minority here but I've been evangelizing about Ghost Hound for a decade now for it's blend of fantasy mythology, exploration of trauma, and the science of dreaming.
This guy and Mamoru Oshii are the people that got me into anime. I have all of his shows. (with the exception of Digimon Tamers which tbh I've yet to see)
tardifan It's the best season of Digimon, according to me and many others. If you even have the slightest interest then it could be really fun. It basically takes place in a world where the first two seasons of Digimon were just a TV show, like they are here.
I know this video is old but I remember watching Ghost Hound and loving it. I was young and I barely remember anything but when I saw the staircase and the tapes I had a light bulb moment. I remember the guy getting hit by the truck, I've never had a memory so violently brought back before.
I wonder what would happen if TMS brought Konaka in to write some anime-original cases for Detective Conan, like they did Toshiki Ino'ue in the early run.
Narutaru fascinates me. I think about how the original mangaka was the same man behind Bokurano, who seemingly specializes in putting his child protagonists into the insanely violent and morally fucked scenarios while giving them control over some sort of superpower. While Bokurano is a lot more complex (even in the largely unfaithful and visually meh Gonzo adaptation), Narutaru’s anime adaptation remains one of the most painful anime viewing experiences to come out of the 21st century (at least that I’ve seen). I’m not sure how faithful it is to the manga, but watching Narutaru’s anime was like sinking into a nightmare. It borders on being edgelord shlock, but somehow it maintains a level of realism, nuance, and purpose with how it presents its cast. If Chiaki Konaka doesn’t return to anime, I’m personally hoping for another Mohiro Kitoh manga to get adapted. In the decade of edgefests following Madoka and Mirai Nikki, I’m surprised none of his work got adapted after Bokurano.
"and people outside of Japan who don't understand the medium" No bro, anime is weird in Japan too. Otaku culture is just as much of a niche there (maybe slightly bigger) and if you wander outside of those dedicated subculture being a weeb is pretty much the same as it is in the west. You know what was terribly surprising though? How big weeb culture is in Shanghai. I spent a year living there a few years ago and I was shocked at just how mainstream and visible anime was compared to the rest of Asia. It's possibly that I happened upon disproportionately saturated levels of it in the specific places I went, but it was terribly surprising. Unfortunately most of the anime that is popular in China isn't very good and the Mandarin dubs that you see on TV are always terrible.
I think what he mean is that anime may look cool and unique from a western perspective but in most cases it's a committee-driven product not so diferent from the western media the otaku despises. Part of that western ignorance is to believe late night anime is mainstream entertainment while actually it's a niche entertainment aimed to social rejects. The otaku term has a negative connotations in Japan.
Big O is the show that got me into anime, and you're exactly right about it being thought provoking. I racked my brain for weeks while I worked, drove, whatever.....trying to make sense of the very vague final scenes and unresolved plot elements. But the complexity of the show and my lack of anime experience helped to narrow my preference for the media. Now almost 20 years later my collection, while not enormous, contains nearly all of the shows you mentioned here.....without me even knowing they were the works of the same man. Sure, I have some fluff shows just for fun but I've never pondered the meaning behind an episode of ToraDora or Black Lagoon. Not that they are bad, but having a multi-layered story with confusing and convoluted twists and turns, cranks up the experience for those looking for something more than just popcorn entertainment.
Great video! I've enjoyed some of these shows and others I've never heard of but I wasn't aware of Chiaki J. Konaka. Seems like much of what I enjoy in animation is directly inline with Konaka's work.
That shit about Chiaki and Baby Metal is the wackiest thing I've heard in a month. That book needs to come stateside. Also your timing is pretty good. I just started Mononoke the the first two episodes slayed me, and hearing that Konaka did and arc makes the show peak my interest further. Thanks Digi.
This video popped up in my recommendations and TH-cam's algorithms are doing their job correctly for once. Lain is my all time favorite anime series. I also love Big O and Narutaru. (Somehow I didn't even know the same guy wrote the latter series, though it absolutely makes sense he did.) Will have to give Mononoke and Ghost Hound a look. Will also be watching your Lain analysis series.
The Writer Who Kept Anime WIRED
Perfect!
I WAS GONNA COMMENT THIS
layer 01 WIRED
I literally was about to comment this lmao
I thought it was mistyped in the title
Fun fact, My friend's name is Lain, he is a guy, and his father named him after an anime he really liked...
Let's all love Lain
Lain’s memory lives on. We can’t let her life be forgotten.
Let's all love Lain, I guess 😂
The great thing about the name lain is that it is fairly androgynous so it can be used for males and females
What a weeb
>Sees Lain in the thumbnail
>Instant clickbait
LETS ALL LOVE LAIN
let's not
Present day, present time HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Based
Should we show our love the same way like Griffith showed his love to you.
>lets love lain
I'm pretty sure that's what started her suffering
I hope they bring him on to write a couple episodes of Eromanga Sensei season 2.
I would watch Eromanga 2 if that happened
See, you say that like it would help, but I'm guessing it would only make the show more uncomfortable.
Plus, he seems like he works best when he is writing a script, not an adaptation.
I hope that Hideaki Anno Together with Hayao Miyazaki would Direct Eromanga and OreImo crossover with Hiroyuki Imaishi as a main animator for hentai scenes
God pls make it happen
I posted this. Now I'm thinking about parallels between Lain and Sagiri and I'm utterly disgusted by myself.
Didn't Digi say that the guy died already?
LAYER_01
PRESENT DAY
PRESENT TIME
HA HA HA HA
AND YOU DON'T SEEM TO UNDERSTAND
Not enough layers. We need to go deeper.
This is how made in abyss ends, there's just a tv at the bottom with lain on it. There's just static and lain talking to them.
Being a Lain fan I mistakenly read "wired" instead of "weird"
Finding out that the writer of Serial Experiments Lain is apparently a huge Babymetal fanboy somehow made me really happy.
It's also surprisingly unsurprising.
Konaka had a whole blog post talking about digimon tamers and what he wanted to do with it. Digimon can't die in canon world and he thought kids shouldn't be taught that and wanted to make a whole digimon series about death
he laid it on like a mountain with leomons death.
I remember watching Tamers when I was like maybe 13? when it aired here in Finland. I ended up liking it a whole lot more than any other Digimon series and I remember bawling my eyes out many times near the end. Such a fantastic take on Digimon's world. I would later start watching anime independently online and ended up watching Lain a couple of years later. Only now do I get this bombshell, that they were written by the same guy, dropped on me
I feel like I'm being peer pressured into watching Technolyze.
no bullying guys
Good luck.
Bring tissues and a lamp, it's going to get dark...literally dark, like so dark you won't see the screen 😂
Do it
WATCH TEXHNOLYZE DAMMIT! All it asks for is a lot of patience and mindful understanding.
the opening, THE OPENING of Lain was the most silent hill 2 ending song I ever listen to, It's great and if you don't like the anime you will love that song, duvet highly recommendable
pls don't forget Ryutaro Nakamura, who was the director on Lain,Ghost Hound and Kino's Journey before he died on cancer.
The wierd galaxies in the shadows are on his behalf.
Ok when commented, I haven't watched until the end, I'm a slug.
But still, I know, since ur a writter you might have a bias towards writters.
I think the pair of three made it, haibane, lain and texhnolyze.
Having watched all of Konaka's, ABe's and Nakamura's main series. I belive the most they could bloom, was when they worked together.
Konaka and Nakamura didn't work on Haibane; ABe wrote the script himself for that show
yea, thats true, but stil, I think the core of them worked best.
I loved Kino no Tabi. It goes great back-to-back with King of Bandit Jing.
@@asinussum I know this comment is old, but the last Kino no Tabi adaptation shows very well how much the industry needs people like them back. It was a complete disaster.
I wish I knew anime was weird from the beginning, I would have watched so much sooner, Serial Experiments Lain is one of the best that I've watched so far!
Digimon Tamers is an underrated series, glad to see people giving it recognition.
Simao Pereira my top favorite, loved its dark setting.
Digimon tamers is like the seond most popular digimon behind the first season though
Simao Pereira It's odd to hear everyone say Tamers is underrated since it's always brought up as the best season. While there are people who didn't like it, Tamers is heavily praised overall due to its strong writing all around in comparison to other Digimon seasons.
i seen it on tv way back and was like the fuck is happing y is is so dark ? now i know why
And why is that, Iderus?
11:56 this shot alone made me REALLY want to watch Serial Experiments Lain
Do it.
And good luck.
I read that as "this shota alone"
Danti o Well I watched it some time ago and while I understood all of its main and hidden themes I found it so boring that I literally waited it to end. Gave it 4/10 just for being ahead of time. It's not ahead of time so if it was aired this year, it would be dumped by everyone for presenting already discussed ideas in a VERY bad way.
Ayato Very weird and random shit
It's slow but well written, makes you question way more then the matrix or inception could ever hope to
I honestly get so excited when people analyze and talk about his work and especially Lain. I loved your episodic analysis series regarding Lain and I was so excited to see this video for the first time. My favorite anime is Lain so I get really passionate about people who are just as passionate about it and the crew behind it. Awesome video.
THANK YOU DIGIBRO! This kind of videos are so important to anime as culture. Sometimes I feel the comments don't seem to realize the scope of what you are doing, so its worth to emphasize it. This is the anime journalism and analysis we need!
Here to archive this video. One of the most important videos on this channel for me. Thank you for all the work you've done over the years Beatrice.
a lot of people forget to mention this but lain heavily borrows from Carl Jung's psychology (much like evangelion borrows from freud) . the collective unconscious(how everyone is connected) , the good and bad lains are just representations of the persona vs the shadow. I couldn't have fully understood the show without doing some reading on these concepts.
Yaaas!
explain why she becomes God?
@@noname-yw2gw We don't know if she actually became God, or if she was God from the very beginning, summoned by humans dabbling with the very fabric of reality.
The show clearly asks that question when the Wired's creator confronts his "admin program" (Lain) and starts doubting her actual nature as a mere virtual entity, he first arrogantly proclaims himself as God, but starts realising that Lain has somehow accessed higher layers of the Wired, later realising she effectively controls reality itself, upon this he commits suicide; It's implied Eiri realised that Lain is really God, but whether or not she is God the creator, or a human creation is never actually delineated.
I wasn't even sure I liked Serial Experiments: Lain until almost halfway through, and then it ended up being one of my very favorite shows of all time. It's that kind of show.
Best writer in anime by a long shot. To reduce him as someone who's solely known to write "weird" stuff is a huge understatement.
For me, watching Serial Experiments Lain is like embarking on a pilgrimage. It's a religious experience.
"also, he blogs about babymetal" shhhh shut your lips child, say no more. Clearly this is a beautiful man like no other.
Imagine this guy working together with the evangelion creator, berserk, gantz and MGS. *chills*
Chiaki J Konaka is a fantastic writer and definetly a one of a kind writer, so much that I don't see ANYONE competing with him, Kinda hoping that some fucked up in the head writer submerges and carries on Chiaki's legacy but lets be real that might not happen. Only one who can do it is Chiaki himself.
Tatsuki Fujimoto and Oshii
it's a good thing youtube kept popping this video up, i finally watching and now i have some new shows to watch. thanks for the vid man :)
You mentioned how the weirdness of anime can become jaded and boring because it's like the same thing is done over and over again. That's why I love JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it's so strange and unique that you'll never see anything like it and it's so entertaining because of that.
I've re-watched things this guy has been involved in so many times, and all the while had no idea it was all made by the same person. It makes sense, but is surprising that I love so many of his works the way I do.
That's odd. I always thought that ghost hound was an amazing piece of art. I mean when I saw how the anime portrayed the altered memory of a kid traumatized by death of his sibling in at least 10+ different ways throughout the series, I realized that the author must've wanted to convey how altered perception of reality through memory can be devastating to a person. I mean heck, it made buzzing sound coming from fly on dead sister's lips the most terrifying sound I've ever heard and did a damn good job of making audience feel that way. Beats me why people don't like it.
I love this man and his content so damn much, and I've barely seen the collection of it, but I'll be damned if I won't go binge it all now
I need that baby metal book more than I need air
YES! So glad you finally made a video on Chiaki's work as a whole. Love his work and wish more people would to.
Wow, you should really do more videos about writers. I often listen to/watch your videos about directors, animators, and studios, and mostly just think "eh, whatever," but finding out that the same writer worked on nearly all of my favorite anime, which I had no idea were connected in any way, and I had absolutely no clue about it, was a kind of eye-opening experience. Thanks a lot for this one!
And come to think of it, out of all your "follow the career of some person in the anime industry" videos, the one that interested me most before this one was probably your Ghost in the Shell retrospective, and as I recall, that one was, in large part, about Masamune Shirow as a writer. I have a feeling that, unless they're also visual artists or directors, writers don't really get enough credit in the anime industry.
You know, as someone who's a massive fan of The Big O (though I totally get where you're coming from with a lot of the reveals and themes in Season 2 not explaining themselves all that well), I've been meaning to take a look at some of Konaka's other works, and this video actually gave me a pretty good baseline to start from. Great analysis!
*watches this video*
*eyes anime collection*
*sees Lain, Texhnolyze & Ghost Hound*
*clasps hands & grins*
“TIME FOR A MUH-FUH-IN MARATHON OF MIND MELTING MADNESS!”
I love this video so much that I've rewatched it at least a dozen times and have begun striking off the shows mentioned here. I love your recommendations/insights!
I cried on Texhnolyze joke. This anime is a masterpiece.
My favorite anime scriptwriter along with Youji Enokido. Lain is one of my favorite shows and Big O, Princess Tutu and Texhnolyze don't stride far after it. Glad you made a video about him and hope you make more videos about screenwriters in the future, since more of them deserve attention.
anime scriptwriters really do need attention. Most of the time directors are praised, but rarely the scriptwriters.
Present Day Present Time
HaHAHAHH
And I still never got that part🙃
@@thatkidyoshi and you don't seem to understand...
@@thatkidyoshi is it really present?
Man, I just want to thank you so much for bringing up Konaka's works! Seriously, the guy created some of the most atmospheric, deep and filled with "Holy shiiiiiiiiiit!" moments anime series I watched. Oh, and The Big O, this thing literally changed my mind and my view on things and life in general.
Such a pity both The Big O and Texhnolyze were criminally overlooked by masses back then.
Thanks to the Lain thumbnail, I thought the title said: The Writer Who Kept anime WIRED
Someday you should talk about Dai Sato, another interesting screenwritter. He was involved in series like Eureka Seven, Ergo Proxy and Wolf's Rain.
I KNEW WHO THIS WAS GONNA BE ABOUT BEFORE I OPENED THE VIDEO
geez, that explains the princess tutu weirdness. watched it as a kid and never understood why it suddenly turned so dark and deep
I actually enjoyed Ghost Hound very much.
It was pretty cool, but it does pail a bit in comparison to other Nakamura and Konaka works.
Same! I'm deeply fascinated with the "God of One Word" bit
I liked Ghost Hound's first half, it was just the second half that I didn't like as much. But I had an english teacher once that really liked it. Let her borrow a dvd of Kino no Tabi, since it was my fav :')
Ghost Hound is really good and extremly underrated.
FlowerEmblem: Looks like we're in agreement about Kino no Tabi -- my #1 favorite anime.
I feel you should be payed large sums of money for the insight and quality delivery of your post. Professional.
Your expose on the auteur is thorough. I had not expected he had such a broad opus, and now, will probably have to experience the more obscure works. The films I’ve see push a bunch of my buttons, but it would be worth the trouble to understand his arch, the overlaying why.
Kudos.
Digimon with tentacles, now that is what got me into Anime in a deeper way.
I remember watching Digimon Tamers, Season 3 of the Digimon series from the Saban dub and I loved it for that tentacle scene with Jerrie.
Also her tragic back story was one to really move you to tears over especially with her friendship with Leomon that was tragically cut to an end.
Thank you Konaka for letting us all know that even Tentacles can be in kids anime and it can be pulled off so well.
I have been using the image you used as this vids thumbnail for my avatar in many things for so long lol. I was surprised to see it on youtube. I love lains creepy smile so much.
A small thing he didn't mention is that Konaka also directed the episode "His Master's Voice" for Digimon 02 were Kari(Hikari) and T.K.(Takeru) go to the dark ocean fight this weird creatures that serve Dagomon, a cthulhu-like digimon. A episode famous for not only being one of the darkest episodes of 02 but and for introducing another plot-hole to 02 because Dagomon never gets fucking mention again, you watch that episode and thinks he's going to be a major villain and the show completely forgets about him, it's kind of hilarious. He also basically design the Daemon Corps that appear close to the end of the season, Konaka didn't direct the episodes the they appear in but he came up with the general scenario and who was going to be in the corps, like Skullsatamon and LadyDevimon(who became pretty iconic after her fight with Angewomon in season 1).
Thank you for this video. I have never really considered Konaka's unique voice and the impact he had on the industry. Maybe because I was quite young when I watched Lain on TechTV all those years ago, but now all the dots have been connected for me. Will be finally watching Technolyze now, after years of constantly pushing it to the bottom of my backlog.
11:25 - Digi describing lolis.
Holy... How did you...? I mean... How to think about it, while watching a guy who speaks abou dark animes? Even if this guy loves lolis...??? Does it mean... loli animes are actualy dark? : O
Detective_Andrey They are certainly dark when viewed from inside the containment cell you'll occupy if normies find out you like little girls.
69th like, guess I'm going to hell...
TheApexSurvivor 96th
I can't believe I watched this for 10 minutes
It felt like a minute or something
that's how I say I really enjoy watching your videos :)
Yoshitoshi ABe is a GOD. Haibane Renmei is a fucking masterpiece. After watching it 20+ time, I still pick out new details every time I watch it, and always cry my fucking eyes out.
What you say at the end: He might be returning to anime. A BD box for Digimon Tamers is going to be released soon and it advertises a new audio drama to expand on that season a bit written by him, which has led to some fans to speculate that there might be a Tamers sequel coming after Adventure tri (and let's be honest, if there's any season of Digimon that's going to get a sequel, it's going to be Tamers). So who knows, we may see him return.
You saw Texhnolyze more than once? The first and last time I watched it, it left me completely emotionally drained. That shit was heavy. I'm glad I watched it, but never again.
arcanask first time I watched it was 10 years ago as a teenager. 3 years ago I rewatched it, the same last year and two weeks ago. And now I can say I really see things clearer. A rewatch really helps to understand ftbe show. But of course there are some questions open. :)
I really love the way he writes story and is probably one of my favorite writers
i feel like lain isn't a "fun" anime. i watched it in two days and it was really interesting, and good, and has exciting themes, but it's not a fun viewing experience. kind of like reading classics often isn't fun but still interesting if you put your mind to it.
also, ghost hound is absolutely my favourite and i've watched it several times. it's not perfect but it just vibes with me in a way i can't quite put into words.
Maybe it's just be me, but I'd say Lain is a very depressing watch, because of the brooding atmosphere of loneliness and despair, which is so well done it consumes you.
If you're already struggling with low mood, you might want to set it aside. I didn't, and felt emotionally drained by the end.
Thank you. This video was amazing and it pointed me towards the type of anime that I know I'll love.
God, finally someone who know Serial Experiments Lain and likes. I was almost losing the faith in mankind.
Despera is the anime we need, but no the one we deserve....
Dan'el Jácome we still need it
little did you know normies would flood it on tiktok for aesthetic coombait posting
thank you for putting this man into the light. he made my mid-twenties bearable. no wonder the last years were shitty as hel without him. oh .. and you got a new sub with that. GJ and i hope for further great stuff llike that
I've been watching a ton of anime lately, only really starting to get into it within the past couple months, and the anime from my childhood which completely stuck with me as my favorite is Digimon Tamers. As I've seen other fascinating works in the medium, I've wondered why it is that I regard it so highly, and if I even really love it as much as I did then. Every time I do, though, I'd realize that I love so many things that really hold up in my memory. So, probably about a week ago, I spent a tiny bit of time trying to figure out how the hell that happened in the middle of a long running children's series. Now I know!
Huge fan of Big O, and Lain was back when sci fi channel still ran some anime occasionally. I for one am glad you reinvigorated my interest, because a lot of his work I consider necessary cornerstones in the anime I'm interested in and reccomend.
STAY WEIRD JAPAN STAY WEIRD
Just like Nux: "Say wierd fam."
Dude, this seems like my kind of writer, thanks for turning me onto his work. :o
If anyone here grew up with Digimon Tamers and has yet to check out the original Japanese version, I implore you to do so immediately. It's masterful.
Turns out this guy's involved in like, everything I ever liked about anime! This guy basically formed my preference in anime and is probably why I keep telling everyone "Anime these days is missing something."
Ghost Hound is one of my favorite shows.
7:24 this is the kind of visual that i would expect out of the davoo lol
him an satoshi kon are my favorites(its such a shame that satoshi kon no longer lives
i can't believe i didn't realize that he did tamers, everything about tamers makes so much sense now
Chiaki J. Konaka also wrote the best episode of Digimon Adventure 02, it was called The Call of Dagomon. I still find it odd that they let Chiaki J. Konaka write a season of Digimon, but I glad they did let him. For anyone who interested, here a link to Chiaki J. Konaka's website on his work with Digimon Tamers www.konaka.com/alice6/tamers/index.html It a cool read.
Without looking it up I'm 120% sure you're talking about the episode where Kari is alone in the school at night and all the floors are flooded with water.
Limey Lassen Yep, that's the one. Since the 02 staff in general seemed very disorganized with plot structuring in general I'm out surprised his ideas were tossed out. It would have been fun to see Kari in that kind of situation since she's a character the franchise kind of doesn't do much with it comparison to others. It was a bit much in 02, that's all.
When I found out that one of the writers behind Tamers was also behind Lain; I had a small fangasm. I remember watching Lain, and loving it's weirdness. I haven't gone back and watched it a second time, I've been meaning to, but I haven't yet. Tamers was fantastic though.
Also; one girl loses some clothes, and a guy's sword increases in size. I'm never going to get over that specific moment.
Let's be real, Digimon Tamers was, and is, the best Digimon.
It was also the last time Digimon was any good.
heeeey now i wouldn't go that far, digimon still has good stuff after it.
Tamers was essentially my 2nd favorite, really close behind my first and utmost favorite : Savers.
There's nothing quite like watching Masaru jump 3 storeys high to punch a digimon's face and watching it flinch just so that Agumon can evolve.
While every single other series protagonists pretty much did nothing other than provide moral support (or morphed into digimon themselves), both Tamers and Savers had the characters do things outside of just showing moral support.
Takeru, Lee and Rika had the whole card swipe thing, and during Matrix Digivolution we can see Megagargomon do kung fu moves because Lee was the one in control, Rika was the strategist.
Toma was pretty much the coach of a boxing champion, Yoshino was the callback to the old "morale support" tamer that the previous seasons chosen children were, while Masaru... well... punches Mega level digimons as tall as skyscrapers.
Didn't frontier had the kids evolve into digimons themselves? Granted I never completely bought into that premise, but that technically counts as doing things other than moral support.
Yeahhhhhh but that went against the idea of Digimon, see
Digimon for me was the bond and friendship between the trainer and the monster, making the trainers evolve into digimons themselves is more of a kamen rider thing, and if I wanted to watch Kamen Rider, I'd watch Kamen Rider, not a Digimon show.
Imagine if they made a season of Pokemon, but instead of having pokemon battles, you had Ash joining a boxing championship and there was absolutely no pokemons in sight other than Pikachu occasionally handing him the towel and drink, and the entire season was just about how Ash continuously climbed up ranks in the boxing world, granted that it may be a great show, and entertaining to boot, but it's just... not a Pokemon season to me? It's a show about boxing that has pokemons, but not a pokemon season.
I never liked Frontier for anything other than the Opening Song.
I don't even have to look up which episodes he did on Eureka 7, I can guess... And may I say, catching one such episode partly through on TV one day is THE reason I watched the show, AND played a huge role in making me an avid anime fan like I am today.
I HAD NO IDEA THAT INE OF MY FAVORITE ANIME WRITERS WROTE FOR MY FAVORITE ANIME PRINCESS TUTU
Princess Tutu was quite good. ^^
Things tend to get a bit crazy toward the end. I hope people aren't afraid of crows. :)
Autumn Coker Yeah, funny thing about Chiaki is that he has popped up on the staff of random magical girl anime from time to time. I recall looking at the credits for Tutu years ago and being a bit surprised by it.
Thank you so much for making this video, been looking hard for some interesting anime :D
I consider this channel a "What to Watch" guide. If it's featured on here, watch. If it's featured on here and it's slice of life, avoid!
Same. My list of shows to watch almost entirely comes from Digibro at this point.
So you're a K-On hater, huh...
Paul Ocone Can't really hate what you avoid.
Paul Ocone K On kicks ass ok
The hell are you trying to say is wrong with slice of life?
Both Lain from Serial Experiments Lain and Juri from Digimon Tamers have the same voice actress for their dubs.
Started watching Lain because of this video and I'm obsessed. The art turned me off so I never gave it a chance. It's quickly becoming one of my favourites of all time. So glad I found your channel!
Noor P. Sucks for you, I Have The Official Art Book, you are missing out
Shadowtechnik now that I've binged the entire series I'm so envious and neeeeeed the art book
Ah!! Thanks for finally putting a name to all these seemingly unconnected anime I have loved over the years! I'll definitely be looking further into his works. I'm such a fan of Lain, Mononoke, Tutu, heck even Magic Users Club, I really thought it was all unrelated until now, haha. Also, I may be the minority here but I've been evangelizing about Ghost Hound for a decade now for it's blend of fantasy mythology, exploration of trauma, and the science of dreaming.
This guy and Mamoru Oshii are the people that got me into anime. I have all of his shows. (with the exception of Digimon Tamers which tbh I've yet to see)
tardifan It's the best season of Digimon, according to me and many others.
If you even have the slightest interest then it could be really fun. It basically takes place in a world where the first two seasons of Digimon were just a TV show, like they are here.
I know this video is old but I remember watching Ghost Hound and loving it. I was young and I barely remember anything but when I saw the staircase and the tapes I had a light bulb moment. I remember the guy getting hit by the truck, I've never had a memory so violently brought back before.
Hey Digibro, can you make a video about the importance of good writing in TH-cam videos and how to accomplish it?
If you check his second channel, Digibro After Dark, he has made a multitude of videos on that subject.
It's fun that you are asking for this on a unscripted video
I've been in an Anime slump, but hey, now I have a bunch of new shit to tackle! Thanks Digi! This is why I stay subscribed!
I wonder what would happen if TMS brought Konaka in to write some anime-original cases for Detective Conan, like they did Toshiki Ino'ue in the early run.
That'd be hella interesting. Both Detective Conan and Tamers are among my favorite animes
I loved Ghost Hound, think I'm gonna rewatch it now that you reminded me of it's existence
i thought i was the only one who liked lain,Ghost hound and Texhnolyze equally...
The ending theme of lain still gets to me I have that same mood quite often
Narutaru fascinates me. I think about how the original mangaka was the same man behind Bokurano, who seemingly specializes in putting his child protagonists into the insanely violent and morally fucked scenarios while giving them control over some sort of superpower. While Bokurano is a lot more complex (even in the largely unfaithful and visually meh Gonzo adaptation), Narutaru’s anime adaptation remains one of the most painful anime viewing experiences to come out of the 21st century (at least that I’ve seen). I’m not sure how faithful it is to the manga, but watching Narutaru’s anime was like sinking into a nightmare. It borders on being edgelord shlock, but somehow it maintains a level of realism, nuance, and purpose with how it presents its cast. If Chiaki Konaka doesn’t return to anime, I’m personally hoping for another Mohiro Kitoh manga to get adapted. In the decade of edgefests following Madoka and Mirai Nikki, I’m surprised none of his work got adapted after Bokurano.
I had no idea that one man was involved with so many of my favorite anime series and individual episodes!! Omg
"and people outside of Japan who don't understand the medium"
No bro, anime is weird in Japan too. Otaku culture is just as much of a niche there (maybe slightly bigger) and if you wander outside of those dedicated subculture being a weeb is pretty much the same as it is in the west.
You know what was terribly surprising though? How big weeb culture is in Shanghai. I spent a year living there a few years ago and I was shocked at just how mainstream and visible anime was compared to the rest of Asia. It's possibly that I happened upon disproportionately saturated levels of it in the specific places I went, but it was terribly surprising. Unfortunately most of the anime that is popular in China isn't very good and the Mandarin dubs that you see on TV are always terrible.
I think what he mean is that anime may look cool and unique from a western perspective but in most cases it's a committee-driven product not so diferent from the western media the otaku despises. Part of that western ignorance is to believe late night anime is mainstream entertainment while actually it's a niche entertainment aimed to social rejects. The otaku term has a negative connotations in Japan.
Big O is the show that got me into anime, and you're exactly right about it being thought provoking. I racked my brain for weeks while I worked, drove, whatever.....trying to make sense of the very vague final scenes and unresolved plot elements. But the complexity of the show and my lack of anime experience helped to narrow my preference for the media. Now almost 20 years later my collection, while not enormous, contains nearly all of the shows you mentioned here.....without me even knowing they were the works of the same man.
Sure, I have some fluff shows just for fun but I've never pondered the meaning behind an episode of ToraDora or Black Lagoon. Not that they are bad, but having a multi-layered story with confusing and convoluted twists and turns, cranks up the experience for those looking for something more than just popcorn entertainment.
5:52 well memed.
Great video! I've enjoyed some of these shows and others I've never heard of but I wasn't aware of Chiaki J. Konaka. Seems like much of what I enjoy in animation is directly inline with Konaka's work.
That shit about Chiaki and Baby Metal is the wackiest thing I've heard in a month. That book needs to come stateside.
Also your timing is pretty good. I just started Mononoke the the first two episodes slayed me, and hearing that Konaka did and arc makes the show peak my interest further. Thanks Digi.
9:39 *John: Put cassette into case*
And there I go, thinking about buying the Big O series again.
Those few seconds of Ikuhara when the narrator speaks of people who 'seem dedicated to keep anime weird' made my evening :)
Despera :'(
The Dream Machine :'(
projectfear22 i want that
This video popped up in my recommendations and TH-cam's algorithms are doing their job correctly for once. Lain is my all time favorite anime series. I also love Big O and Narutaru. (Somehow I didn't even know the same guy wrote the latter series, though it absolutely makes sense he did.) Will have to give Mononoke and Ghost Hound a look. Will also be watching your Lain analysis series.
Zack C. Same