OP: “Utopia” by 04 Limited Sazabys
I don’t want to make too big a deal about how “important” Radiant is – if for no other reason than because the snark rains down hard and heavy whenever I say that about a series. But let’s face it, this is kind of a big one. It’s important for me personally because it’s the clear top contender outside my big three this season, and because this looks like a pretty weak season overall. But in the big picture it’s vital for far more “important” reasons, whether modern anime fans want to admit it or not.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, France’s comic culture is enormous – second only to Japan’s, in fact, in all the world. Micheal Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle) addressed this when I interviewed him, citing it as the main reason France has embraced manga and anime more than any Western country. France has a large pool of interesting manga (whether you choose to call them that or not) which would make great candidates for anime adaptation. Frankly I’m pretty sick of the LN, cellphone game and formulaic original series vicious cycle which now dominates the anime development chain. Anything that breaks that stranglehold is a good thing – and if Radiant succeeds, it may just open the door a crack to more French or other Western comics being adapted into anime. If it fails? The impact of that is not hard to figure out.
In the end, Radiant will succeed or fail artistically (commercially is another matter) based on its own merits, and none of the above will make a jot of difference. I have my doubts about the latter for reasons I’ll touch on, but as to the former I feel very encouraged by this premiere. It was, in a word, great. It looked great in a throwback sort of way, it sounded great, it bristled with fun and energy and charm. But it’s going to be a real test of the anime audience, because it’s about as untrendy as it’s possible for a series to be. I’m already bracing for a barrage of “generic”, “kiddie” and “boring” complaints from cynical viewers who won’t bother to look past the veneer and see the substance beneath.
Radiant is the work of Tony Valente, a 33 year-old mangaka who was born in France and now lives in Quebec. The series (which is still ongoing) is a pretty big hit in France, and has gotten a release in Japan as well. When this adaptation was announced, I was kind of expecting Satelight to get the call, given all their history and connections with France – but it instead went to the studio with the German name, Lerche. And they gave it to their top director, Kishi Seiji. I’m a fan, because Kishi at his best – like Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita and Tsuki ga Kirei – is one of the best in the business. But there seems to be an equation with Kishi-sensei, where the degree to which he’s invested in the material severely impacts the care he puts into it – he’s certainly sleepwalked through his share of game adaptations in his time. I never thought that would be the case with Radiant, but a part of you always worries until there’s product on the screen to judge.
Radiant is absolutely, 100% fantasy – as traditional fantasy as it gets. Young hero trying to prove himself, sorcerers, monsters, skeptical villagers. This sort of fantasy was pretty common in anime at one time, but will probably be seen as very old-fashioned now – so be it. The hero is Seth (a strikingly good Hanamori Yumiri) a young apprentice sorcerer under the tutelage of Alma (the always wonderful Paku Romi). They live in a world where a magical force called Fantasia “infects” and can turn beings to either good or evil. The evil ones are known as Nemesis and the good become the sorcerers who travel the world to fight them – but the sorcerers are seemingly disliked by the general public because of their association with magic.
This show may be French, but elements of it are as anime (at least old-school anime as it gets), and that includes Seth. He’s a straight-up shounen hero – overeager and reckless and often irresponsible, but possessed of good intentions and ample bravery. It seems as if his road to sorcery began with his village being attacked by Nemesis, and Alma saving him. It’s clear Seth feels both a great debt to and affection for Alma, and part of what drives him is the desire to see her respected as Seth feels she deserves. But they butt heads, of course, because this is that sort of story and it’s that sort of relationship.
When a Nemesis egg lands on the village where Alma and Seth are currently stationed (in a floating home base), Alma is away fighting elsewhere – leaving the burden of saving an ungrateful town on Seth alone. When the egg hatches he manages to save his younger friend Tommy in his clumsy way, but Seth is clearly in over his head here. Fortunately help arrives in the nick of time – not from a returning Alma, but from a man who’s part of what’s called the Bravery Quartet – he doesn’t identify himself by name, but he does make it very clear that he’s a sorcerer himself.
Is there formula in all this? Absolutely – but even stuff like Boku no Hero Academia and Hunter X Hunter starts off with shounen formula. It’s all about the delivery, and the delivery with Radiant is fantastic – it’s full of the martial spirit and goofiness that only really good shounen can deliver in quite this fashion. I’m kind of stumped as to whether Radiant will find an audience, to be honest – it’s really good, and it may scratch a nostalgia itch with a certain chunk of the market, but generally speaking I’m not optimistic. In any event it’s got 21 episodes locked in to tell its story, so I’m not so much worried about Radiant itself. It’s more what its success – or lack thereof – will signal to the money side of the anime industry about whether tapping into this rich vein of material is a viable option for the future that worries me. Time, as the saying goes, will tell…
ED: “Radiant” by Polkadot Stingray
End Card:
Simone
October 6, 2018 at 11:33 pmIt was pretty nice :). I don’t think anyone can be blamed too much for mentioning either the words “generic” or “kiddie”… as you said, it IS tropey – because so is the whole genre it was born to pay tribute to. It’s not necessarily a bad sign, but it also means it’ll take a while to see if it has something really special to set it apart from the rest. Shonen anime and manga is traditionally a slow starter (and I’ll remind you that it took you almost one whole cour of HunterXHunter to decide that the people hyping it up DID really have a point after all :D…). As for kiddie… well, the target audience for the genre is 12-13 year olds. Older people can find something in it too, but it’s not necessarily by design (except, again, in HXH, but that’s just a weird case). Things can be good while still not being interesting to everyone. But I’m still a fan of the genre, age and all, so I’ll stick with it and hope it really pays off on its promise.
Guardian Enzo
October 6, 2018 at 11:51 pmYou hardly need to remind me – I cited it as an example.
I think “the target audience for the genre is 12-13 year olds” in the same way the target audience for Haikyuu or KuroBas is boys because they appear(ed) in Shounen Jump. Sure, in theory – but the target audience is anyone who’s buying what a series is selling.
Simone
October 6, 2018 at 11:56 pmOh, sure, and sometimes it’s a completely unexpected one (like how what happened with “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” in the west). I mean that mostly they’re designed to appeal to a specific demographic, so while they can go beyond that, it usually won’t necessarily be on purpose. It can happen, but we shouldn’t expect it to happen *often*, is what I mean, or judge a show negatively if it doesn’t. For an extreme example, I’m sure Pingu in the City may be great for 3 year olds, but I’m still not watching it.
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 12:03 amWe’ll see. I think a substantial target market for this series (to the extent that it has one) is going to be older fans who want a more traditional shounen fantasy (which is ironic, given the source). From what I’ve heard about the original manga (or whatever you want to call it) the plot gets pretty complex and dark going forward.
Deluxe
October 7, 2018 at 2:13 amSorry but I’m going to be the snark here.
This episode was fine but it was too busy checking boxes to give a powerful lasting impression. The only people who will be interested are those who are actively looking for those tropes, i.e. nostalgics, and there aren’t as many nostalgics in the anime fandom as you may believe.
I am French and you are right about the importance of comic culture (and anime) in the country but the fandom itself has always been kind of defiant towards those who try to pass off as manga artists (or anime studios) when they’re not Japanese. French culture is very legitimist in that regard.
Of course all of this doesn’t apply to the anime since it’s made in Japan by Japanese, but I’m not expecting Seiji Kishi to deliver something groundbreaking considering how little he delivered in the 50+ shows he “directed”. Frankly, Kishi and his studio are near the bottom of the barrel of anime industry as far as I’m concerned.
If you want to see another type of manga-inspired French anime show, you can look at “LastMan”, it’s on Netflix since July. Much more adult though.
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 6:49 amKishi is divisive, that’s for sure. I don’t see the man who directed Tsuki ga Kirei, Kamisama Dolls and Jinrui as bottom of the barrel – those are all legit classics are far as I’m concerned. He has done a lot of crap, I don’t deny that – but bad directors can’t do great work. To me, it all boils down to how committed he is to the project (which is a serious criticism, to be sure).
I don’t believe there are that many nostalgics – I fully expect this show to fail commercially. I’m just saying that if it does have any chance not to, that would probably be it.
Yann
October 7, 2018 at 6:15 amSecond to Japan in terms of… Volume? I’d argue that in terms of quality, French comics were (at least up to late 90s) way better than Japanese. Purely in terms of artistry I mean. When an author take a year to finish one volume… It shows 😉
I wanted to like this show but… The character design and art in general is somewhere between generic and plain ugly for me. It’s subjective I guess… Although I’d argue in this case it’s not 😛 The story would have to be really amazing for me to keep watching something so ugly but nothing really stood out for me.
I followed your advice for Hi Score Girl (couldn’t take the 3D initially) and that ended up being my fav show (thank you!) but I’m gonna have to skip this one or else my eyes are gonna bleed 😀
Dauntingoverlord
October 7, 2018 at 7:11 amI think I’m going to enjoy this. While not the prettiest show, I enjoyed Wakfu which also started pretty simple before branching out really well. I really want to see how anime could change by taking stories outside Japan. Interesting to think about!
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 7:48 amYup, pretty much where I am too. I like it both for what it is and for the opportunity it represents. And it’s good not to forget that shounen adventure series – even French ones – tend to all start out formulaic before they assert their identity. What you can judge in the early chapter/eps is execution.
Arabesque
October 7, 2018 at 3:43 pmThis was nice. The first episode did remind me a lot of anime from the World Masterpiece Theater collection in some bits, which I guess where the French touch comes in, but it is without a doubt taking inspiration from very old Shonen series for its opening episode a la Hunter x Hunter or Dragon Ball, but it doesn’t do it in a way that makes it feel incredibly derivative like Black Clover had during its start. I do look forward to seeing how it unfolds.
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 4:25 pmAh! I was hoping you’d be weighing in at some point. Are you at all familiar with the source material? Any thoughts about what’s to come?
Arabesque
October 7, 2018 at 7:14 pmHeya! Long time since we last spoke here huh?
In terms of familiarity with the source, I read the first volume that came out in English and decided to skim through the second French volume before concluding I wanted to watch how the anime tackles its adaptation before jumping back in. Non-spoiler impressions would be that the manga is very much the result of a melding of cultures, and a love for Adventure/Action Shonens of late 90’s, told with a French (Western?) sensibility.
As an aside, I’m of the opinion that it is very much a manga, and one that is told from a place of love to the medium and the genre it is inspired from.
In terms of what to come, just expecting it to be a very solid, good action adventure show, with the potential that it might breakthrough to be something remarkable by the end. I’m keeping my expectations in check, but I do have hope since the start is pretty good.
Going back to the comparison with Black Clover, since the two’s share the main hook of appealing to the nostalgia of a specific type of story, I feel that where Radiant gets right from the start that Black Clover got terribly wrong is that even if it is inspired by many late 90’s shonen manga/anime, it doesn’t use that inspiration as a crutch but rather as a launching off point to its story. And if Black Clover managed to get around to forming its own identity after an incredibly derivative start, I think Radiant is going to be in a better position going forward.
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 7:23 pmThanks – very interesting observations. Very much looking forward to seeing where this show goes, as are the other six of us who’ll be watching.
As for Black Clover I’ll have to take your word for that, as I dropped it before it ever accomplished what you describe.
Arabesque
October 7, 2018 at 7:49 pmWell, the six of us in the English speaking sphere at least. I’m pretty sure those in France are going to be talking about it.
Black Clover got to that point perhaps 80 chapters into it’s run, so I wouldn’t say it accomplished it well haha. By the time the BC anime gets to that point, it would have been over 50 episodes into it’s run.
Radiant has that on lock much sooner I feel. And it has to, since it has a shorter run time (and is better written)
Guardian Enzo
October 7, 2018 at 8:07 pmIt’s still ongoing, right?
Arabesque
October 7, 2018 at 9:53 pmAh, yes, the Radiant manga is ongoing still. I am talking about how the anime is going to have a shorter run than Black Clovers 100+ episode run.
Should have been clearer on that.
Yi
October 7, 2018 at 4:47 pmIf you want the French to save anime, why does it have to be through this particular show? I’m willing to give it a try, but the first episode didn’t exactly impress.
It’s not like this is the first ever French-Japanese effort, or the first successful one. You said in the preview thread that you’ve never even watched Savin Yeatman-Eiffel’s very nice “Oban Star-Racers”, which according to Wikipedia has aired in 100+ countries. Not enough popularity for you or do you need a show to be distributed with a sticker “This is JAPANESE ANIME! Not just an animated show! JAPANESE ANIME! ONLY IN JAPANESE! Guaranteed no Chinese, French, or any other language not customary for American JAPANESE ANIME fans!”?
I don’t see why the French would have to go through Japan at all or mold themselves into Japanese tropes to show off their creativity. For example Code Lyoko was a perfectly good French show without any Japanese involvement and their Once Upon a Time properties are true classics.
Rita
October 8, 2018 at 10:32 amI don’t think Enzo is asking for the French to save anime. He’s just stating that there’s a large amount of potential series that could be adapted.
Also I think that’s projecting a bit. I’ve watched Oban but if you bring it up to the average anime fan chances are they haven’t seen it. Does that mean every single person who hasn’t watched a show is just biased against it or where it’s produced? Of course not, but if you wanna argue that you certainly won’t get a lot of converts.
Radiant happened to get picked up by an anime studio in Japan and that makes it the first (not a collaboration, but produced in it’s entirety) which makes it an interesting litmus test. Blaming Enzo for paying attention to it despite the fact that he hasn’t watched other collabs first is kinda silly
Guardian Enzo
October 8, 2018 at 10:45 amHasn’t the ship sailed on Oban as an influencer of anime? There wasn’t exactly a flood of adaptations in its wake, was there?
I would love to talk about all the other adaptations of European comics and how they might impact anime. Except, you know, this is the only one at the moment so it would be kinda hard.
Kurik
October 7, 2018 at 8:09 pmI must admit Enzo that I watched this solely on your high recommendation/expectations for it as usually I try to avoid the kiddie looking anime and veer more towards the adult protagonist series or at least almost adult. This was, as you said, fun and goofy and colourful and I enjoyed it for the most part. My disappointment though lies in the fact that Seth is reckless,irresponsible and very naive which tends to grate on me when they do stupid things – which was almost everything he did in this episode. I am hoping his whole arc development touches on him getting less reckless/irresponsible and naive so will give it a few more episodes to see how it goes.
The wild guesser
October 9, 2018 at 6:32 pmThe second I saw cow elephants, I was hooked. I don’t know what to expect from here on out, but this episode was brimming with vibrant colors and personality.
It is very difficult to pull off a traditional Shounen MC without making him feel grating, but Radiant has pulled it off.
Episode 1 has won my curiosity, will episode 2 win my attention tho?