High Guardian Spice - Tumblr: The CalArt Anime

[Resident Evil]

These school fantasy things are more like noob traps. Everyone thinks it would be fun to be in a magical school and learn magical shit (thanks to Harry Potter and Anime), but in reality, its a done to death nonesense trope that no one really likes to expand on.

I want there to be more Magic Tradeschools then there are Academies. Some might be confused as they are similar, but I disagree- let me explain.

School is quite literally formatted in it’s very governing structure to give children basic knowledge, functions, and only elaborate on the basics for more basics- it’s to turn you into a cog or gear for a business or group. It’s designed to make you a subordinate to be more effective within a standard job- it’s a Jack of all trades, and more often then not, most of the real world doesn’t want generalist, it wants specialist, which school discourages. Magic Schools try remedying this but they very rarely address the effectiveness of the system, leaving it to feel more like a backdrop then it is a true setting, even with things such as electives.

In worlds where magic literally makes the world go round, along with everything in it, this would be exacerbated by a million degrees. Specialization would be required to be unique or even useful. No one wants someone with just vast knowledge, but vast application, and specialization within even more specialization. This is where I’d bring in tradeschools. Buisness, organizations, and other groups of people who take in those they believe to have potential in a very niche field and invest time and resources into them, not only further perpetuating a culture, a unique environment, a code of conduct, and a classification for their standing in the world and job, but also give identity and meaning to those who choose to go to a specific trade school.

Many kid’s and young adults go to specific schools and trades for specific reasons. Some may want it for money, so perhaps they’d go invest in a magic skill set and way of life to get more money- because that is what personally allows them to live the way they want. Some may never want to go to an applicable trade, and simply go off on their own, going from place to place to teach themselves- perhaps some aspect of the magic defines them and inversely they define it when given their perspective. A journey is perhaps important, literal and internal, so a young magic user goes with a traveling band, and gets real world experience with the skills they wish to better themselves, which would then allow for more world building to naturally occur, and development of in world time and space to be tangible.


OKAY, TL;DR- There are much better, much more creative ways to deal with a school setting, by even questioning WHAT a school setting should be, who’s to say our world’s would even remotely function like theirs? Explore every avenue with a genre and trope. Heck, there’s nothing wrong with tropes, no story is without them, but if you do not develop a trope or expand on it, you have failed as not only a writer, but as a creative force in the world. Also, sorry for sperging. I’d like to be a writer someday.

Edit: I swear, is the collapsibles broken? Gimme a minute…

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Gibiate

Gibiate at least looks and feels like an anime despite being garbage. It helps the character designer was Yoshitaka Amano, even if it didn't look like it in places.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

[this whole comment]

See what you're describing here is actually already a thing in most fantasy settings. Trade unions, or as they were called in the old timey days; guilds, are a foundational cornerstone of most fantasy settings and it stands to figure that each discipline of magic would have a corresponding guild. I think this is just a lack of imagination on the part of writers since they figure since magic requires strict academic learning they just model magic school after modern day academia. What would make more sense is either a very robust apprenticeship/trade school (guild) program for those who just want to get into the magical workforce and start plying their trade and a second university track for those who want higher concept learning. This would probably look like an old school catholic education or liberal arts course where higher concepts in a wide variety of fields are taught and it is on the student's initiative to then specialize further if they want to.

 

[Resident Evil]

This other whole comment

You’re right, sorry. That was exactly what I was describing and wasn’t even thinking of it.

Small brain moment.

In all seriousness, you seem to perceive this as common, while I had trouble even associating a proper label to the whole concept. Are there any works you’ve read or written that do this in the fashion described, and well? Emphasis on the well part. The one thing I can think of that uses Guilds but also is a Japanese story is Fairy Tail, and despite me having read and watched all of it, I was left feeling pretty disappointed. So, if you got anything for me to digest, lemme know.

 

[Faggitory]

I like how Patrick Rothfuss did it in his novels. It's basically magical chem/physics lab. And all the interesting magic has to be learned outside of the school. Realism! Now those books would make a good anime. But I think he gave the TV rights to that homo who did Hamilton.

I'd like to see a magic school show, only its depicted more realistic in a reasonable way. Not realistic like "Oh, this is serious, so the MC's gonna get raped in the 1st episode", but more like it would have its ups and downs like real life. It would be a fun undercurrent to have Rosemary excited to run out and use her new found skills on a school sanctioned mission, but she finds out that killing stuff isn't as easy. She's fighting goblins, and she runs one through, but she's actually disturbed and saddened as it struggles and dies.

I didn't watch all of HGS, but I doubt there was a scene like that in it. Correct me if I'm wrong of course.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

You’re right, sorry. That was exactly what I was describing and wasn’t even thinking of it.

Nothing to apologize for friend, it was honestly a great idea and I agree with everything you said.

EDIT: As for the question of whether I see it commonly in literature or not? Kinda sorta. If you read Weiss and Hickman a lot of their wizards go to magic school but then end up more or less working as independent contractors. Salvatore writes a lot of stuff in the Forgotten Realms and they have magic schools but the vast majority of wizards are either self taught or work under apprenticeships. I'd suggest reading more western fantasy for that stuff, especially older stuff that corresponds with D&D settings.

 

[Atatata]

You’re right, sorry. That was exactly what I was describing and wasn’t even thinking of it.

Small brain moment.

In all seriousness, you seem to perceive this as common, while I had trouble even associating a proper label to the whole concept. Are there any works you’ve read or written that do this in the fashion described, and well? Emphasis on the well part. The one thing I can think of that uses Guilds but also is a Japanese story is Fairy Tail, and despite me having read and watched all of it, I was left feeling pretty disappointed. So, if you got anything for me to digest, lemme know.

Don't know if its exactly what you're looking for, but I think Magus of the Library fits the bill pretty well. Its not a guild but a school for (fantasy) librarians though.
Worth shilling anyway since the art is gorgeous and it has cool world building.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Gibiate at least looks and feels like an anime despite being garbage. It helps the character designer was Yoshitaka Amano, even if it didn't look like it in places.

True, but I was meaning more of a general sense of quality.

 

[Rezza]

On discussion about fantasy trope, I also want to add about tropes of races/species in fantasy. Too many fantastical races like elves and dwarves, especially these days, are just "humans with flavors". Example would be Elves are tall with long ears, dwarves are just small with stout body, orcs/ogres are tall and buff. All of those without any additional things to make them that much different than humans

And that extend to their culture and society too. As a guy with basis in cultural studies, too often these fantastical races are just "one occupation/type society", without even any explanation how it came to be. Culture irl was formed as a result of a group's geographical position, their history, their socio-economic condition, and sometimes their genetics and physical bodies. Too many fantasy (and sf) works neglected these elements

One work that I seriously love for explaining their races in a very fun way is the anime/manga Interspecies Reviewers. It shows how sex and biology led to difference in culture among species. Outside of the (admittedly fetishy) sex, the series often showed these interesting cultures the races have, and how they would work. How difference in biology and perception ability could influence one's judgement of others and the world, how a guild of centaurs could becomes a communication and trade network, and many others. Its a very interesting and revolutionary work in the fantasy genre that I couldn't recommend enough

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

On discussion about fantasy trope, I also want to add about tropes of races/species in fantasy. Too many fantastical races like elves and dwarves, especially these days, are just "humans with flavors". Example would be Elves are tall with long ears, dwarves are just small with stout body, orcs/ogres are tall and buff. All of those without any additional things to make them that much different than humans

One setting that you may like is Battletech/Mechwarrior. It's a sci-fi setting but there aren't any aliens and so there are no monocultures, everyone is human and every culture has reasons for being the way they are. But I fully agree with you on the monoculture problem in sci-fi and fantasy when it comes to nonhuman species, if you can't write a species as vibrant and diverse then just make them a different flavor of whatever your main species is.

 

[Rezza]

One setting that you may like is Battletech/Mechwarrior. It's a sci-fi setting but there aren't any aliens and so there are no monocultures, everyone is human and every culture has reasons for being the way they are. But I fully agree with you on the monoculture problem in sci-fi and fantasy when it comes to nonhuman species, if you can't write a species as vibrant and diverse then just make them a different flavor of whatever your main species is.

Yeah, that's something that I've been thinking about as well, how the other races itself could have a difference in cultures, belief, and opinion. If humans in real life could have difference in cultures, belief, and socio-economic, then why couldn't the fantasy races as well? Sure there are some like the dark elf, but more often than not they're treated like their own races

But this is not just a problem for western creators, even anime/manga also has this problem. My suspicion was because the creators were only inspired by the gamification of fantasy races, and treat it as such. You know, "this race is the wizard, this race is the warrior, etc". You can see HGS also has this problem as well, especially since Raye's was only influenced by surperficial and shallow elements

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

But this is not just a problem for western creators, even anime/manga also has this problem. My suspicion was because the creators were only inspired by the gamification of fantasy races, and treat it as such. You know, "this race is the wizard, this race is the warrior, etc". You can see HGS also has this problem as well, especially since Raye's was only influenced by surperficial and shallow elements

Almost every video game RPG can trace it's lineage in some way to tabletop, and almost every TTRPG can trace at least part of it's lineage to D&D. In older editions of D&D (we're talking first and second edition here) race equaled class. "Elf" "Dwarf" etc. was a class and so you kinda had to play them the same way every time. In a video game it makes perfect sense since a big part of video game balance (and tabletop balance too) is being able to get a general measure of your opponent quickly so that you can formulate a strategy and/or decide if the fight is even worth it quickly so as to expend as few resources as possible. The unfortunate side effect of this is that most people nowadays get their first tastes of narrative and storytelling through video games and so they want to bring those tropes and narrative beats/styles over into other mediums that just plain don't support them, this is also why you see such a heavy push towards worldbuilding in literature lately even though in literature and TV your setting serves the characters and story, not the other way around. But we have to try to appeal to the Wookiepedia generation who want to quote "did you know" facts at their friends in an effort to appear smart about their favorite IP.

 

[Faggitory]

Outside of the (admittedly fetishy) sex, the series often showed these interesting cultures the races have, and how they would work.

I like when Japanese creators start with sex, but then end up actually world building in an interesting way.

 

[Elpizo]

I certainly have. After seeing their originals and how most of them look as bad as HGS (seriously, Nobelese, Gibiate and Freakangels look utterly horrendous on a fundamental level while HGS just looks like the Korean animators hired didn't want to put their best on it), I got to wonder how much money CR even had to fund their label to begin with.

You forgot Ex-Arm, of all titles.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

You forgot Ex-Arm, of all titles.

highest quality of the animes

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

On discussion about fantasy trope, I also want to add about tropes of races/species in fantasy. Too many fantastical races like elves and dwarves, especially these days, are just "humans with flavors". Example would be Elves are tall with long ears, dwarves are just small with stout body, orcs/ogres are tall and buff. All of those without any additional things to make them that much different than humans

And that extend to their culture and society too. As a guy with basis in cultural studies, too often these fantastical races are just "one occupation/type society", without even any explanation how it came to be. Culture irl was formed as a result of a group's geographical position, their history, their socio-economic condition, and sometimes their genetics and physical bodies. Too many fantasy (and sf) works neglected these elements

One work that I seriously love for explaining their races in a very fun way is the anime/manga Interspecies Reviewers. It shows how sex and biology led to difference in culture among species. Outside of the (admittedly fetishy) sex, the series often showed these interesting cultures the races have, and how they would work. How difference in biology and perception ability could influence one's judgement of others and the world, how a guild of centaurs could becomes a communication and trade network, and many others. Its a very interesting and revolutionary work in the fantasy genre that I couldn't recommend enough

Another manga/anime I can recommend with a similar vein (but without as much ecchi/adult content so it's safer for work) is centaur no Nayami, or Centaurs life/worries. Focuses on a world of just magical creatures, no humans, and how they would use things like we do and how stuff would look different etc, such as holes in clothing for tails and wings (or how centaurs would even wear clothes) or cars adapted for larger/smaller beings. Also discusses politics and wars in such a world and different cultures that develop (like how reptile races are very different in structure to the mammal ones).

 

[Uranus Pink]

You forgot Ex-Arm, of all titles.

It is quite telling when CGI TV anime from the late 90ies to early aughts are done much better than something made roughly twenty years after them. RUN=DIM being one example of such.

 

[Trilby]

I like when Japanese creators start with sex, but then end up actually world building in an interesting way.

Now I'm reminded of Johji Manabe's "Drakuun".

 

[Sarcastic sockpuppet]

...Throw in a pervert for good measure, too (or maybe the snarky character is the pervert). HGS was supposed to have been inspired by anime but clearly cherry-picked what tropes to play with, and you are obligated as an aspiring creator to have a perverted character to show that yes, you do understand anime tropes and you do respect anime as-is, boobs and all.

You are the one who is cherry-picking. Plenty of both classical and new anime do not have a "pervert" .
Anime and anime-inspired stuff will do just fine without recycling that old trope of the lovable sex pest. Other tropes go out of style constantly. And you could introduce some sensuality in better ways if you feel inclined to.

High guardian Spice looks like shit on a stick, i am just reading the thread to get confirmation than it is.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

You are the one who is cherry-picking. Plenty of both classical and new anime do not have a "pervert" .
Anime and anime-inspired stuff will do just fine without recycling that old trope of the lovable sex pest. Other tropes go out of style constantly. And you could introduce some sensuality in better ways if you feel inclined to.

I totally agree, but pervert characters really piss off SJWs because "muh sexism/misogyny" even though you can actually work with them to give them character development or play around with them in a more "realist" sense if you want that. HGS has some Rumiko Takahashi references (InuYasha and Ranma 1/2, mainly), and in a vast majority of her work, she has at least one pervert in the cast, but they act and are treated differently from each other. Minus the obvious Ghibli and CLAMP influences (CLAMP's only perverted work I think was Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, most male characters of theirs are just womanizers), you can name an anime reference in the show and that anime's likely to have a pervert in the supporting cast than in the main cast.

(Was going to say "magical girl" instead of CLAMP but Tokyo Mew Mew has Quiche and Sailor Moon has Melvin Butlers Gurio Umino.)