Anime 'DAN DA DAN Episode 7' To a Gentle World / Something Beautiful That Is Good for Nothing, and a Gentle World
Watched episode 7 of the anime 'DAN DA DAN'. It was an amazing episode. I want to write something down for now, so even though my thoughts aren't organized at all, I'm jotting down what I'm thinking right now.
#Contains spoilers
● Where does the conviction that this isn't 'inspiration porn' come from?
There is a term called 'inspiration porn.' According to Wikipedia, it is 'a term used critically to describe the consumption of content, mainly featuring people with disabilities, as a way to bring sympathy or inspiration to able-bodied people.' Since 'inspiration' is accompanied by pleasure, drug-like content is sometimes created to make it easy to feel inspired. That's why whenever I see 'direction intended to make the audience cry,' that term inevitably flickers in my mind. In episode 7, I was made to cry by 'intense direction.' It was a series of directorial choices that made me think, 'That's cheating.' Was that, for me, something like inspiration porn? No, it was different. I have that conviction. Where does this conviction of mine come from?
● Things that can only be grasped in the midst of sadness
The second half of episode 7 is the spectacular backstory of the supernatural entity 'Acrobatic Silky.' She was torn away from the daughter she loved deeply. The two of them were happy even though they were poor. They were hurt and torn apart by debt collectors (?). In a way, it's a common plot. People have archetypes for tragedy. There are things like 'buttons to make you cry' that, when stimulated, make you weep. A characteristic of inspiration porn is 'direction specialized in stimulating those crying buttons.' The direction in episode 7 was very similar to inspiration porn. But it had a decisively different effect. This direction didn't just make me feel sad. In the midst of that sadness, I was able to perceive something that can only be felt within it. That is 'the helplessly beautiful nature that her very existence possessed.' I realize this during her dance scene. This scene is beautiful. The light, the music, the movement. But while watching this scene, what I feel most is not the beauty of the light, music, or movement. It is the 'helplessly beautiful nature' that lies within the transience and sadness of her life. No matter how beautiful the visuals, music, and wonderful animation are, if they aren't combined with 'the stimulation of a heart-wrenching button of sadness,' we cannot perceive such deep beauty. I believe that to feel this 'deep beauty,' that 'cheating direction'—which seems like inspiration porn—was necessary.
● Something good for nothing but beautiful, and a gentle world
While watching 'Acrobatic Silky' crumble away, Turbo Granny grumbles.
Well, it was a good-for-nothing life anyway. It doesn't matter if the existence of someone like this disappears.
Certainly, 'Acrobatic Silky's' life must have been a 'good-for-nothing life.' But we cannot bear the fact that the existence of someone like that 'disappears.' Like Aira, who hugged her without thinking, we desperately wish for her to be saved somehow. That is because we have come to know that there is a 'helplessly beautiful nature' within her existence.
Aira whispers at the end, 'I won't forget. Never.' That is, of course, a declaration of will that she will not forget 'Acrobatic Silky.' But I think it also contained the conviction that 'the experience of having touched that beauty can never be forgotten.' And I'm sure Momo and Okarun felt that conviction too. That final scene of the three of them, having known a beauty that could never be forgotten. At that moment, in that place, it was a 'gentle world.' That is how it felt to me.
