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| Image Taken from us.entertainmentfield.net |
An anime based on a classic Japanese novel rather than a manga, Botchan. This film is a parody of the education in Japan of which I know is highly disciplined and rigorous in studies. Back in 8th grade I did a research paper on the Japanese education system which was more so about the modern system, not so much the older one. Trust me when I say it is rigorous, but it just shows that the Japanese are serious about their studies which the short film Student Days presents a great visual of. This short film shows what it is really like in the Japanese education system unlike the parody that Botchan portrays. Botchan is more of a humorous film regarding the education system. It portrays corruption in the school administration, disrespect in the classroom, arrogance, and friendship.
As I watched this anime, corruption was ridiculously obvious. Certain teachers (Red Shirt and Buffoon) do various things that people in their position should not do. For example, Red Shirt is seeing a geisha which is apparently a forbidden thing. Plus incredibly evil seeing as “Weakling” was engaged to her at some point but the engagement fell through due to some complications. They go to meet geishas late at night at the inn. They also tried pitting Hotta and Botchan against each other with lies regarding the student pranks. I noticed this in JROTC, none of my instructors seemed to agree with the other on anything. They all had their own thing to say about the program and how to do things and so on… it could easily leave a student confused as what was the proper way of doing things to get a good grade.
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Along with the corruption of school administration is the disrespect for Botchan that the students display. If you go the stereotypical route, most boys would try to pull pranks on the new teacher to try and piss him off for however long it takes till the teacher just snaps and quits the job. It is quite obvious that Botchan has a short temper because he “blows a fuse” quite often, most of which are comical moments in the film… but in Japan the students must show their teacher respect, not play pranks. Such an act is usually given an adequate punishment, though in this film it doesn’t seem to happen since Red Shirt is pulling all the strings. I’ve experienced such a mild outburst myself… not directly toward me, but the class I was a part of, though JROTC is supposed to be serious business, but if you get stuck in a class with about half the cadets not caring the slightest, you do end up with a “colorful” choice of words from the instructor. Made me feel disgraced to be a part of that class, honestly.
I mention arrogance because Botchan shows a lot of it along with impatience when it comes to him adjusting to this new town. He refers to it as a “hick town” and thinks his students are a bunch of “dolts” (or idiots if you prefer to say that). He seems to be quite the “know-it-all” as well. Just because he’s from Tokyo doesn’t mean he has to be a jerk about intelligence. I will say I’ve encountered my fair share of people like that in high school… all of which completely agitated me to the fullest extent. I made the same grades as them (or better sometimes) yet I didn’t rub it in their faces like they would amongst everyone else. Usually people like that tend to alienate themselves which could possibly be why Botchan never felt like he fits in with the town.
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| Image taken from MyAnimeShelf.com |
This last bit is not a negative thing, surprisingly, but I wanted to mention it because it’s always nice to have a friend, which was something Botchan really needed being new to the town. It is obvious he and Hotta are good friends in the film, despite how Red Shirt and Buffoon tried to muck it up. They still ended up apologizing to each other and patching up their friendship again…. And of course in the end, they gave quite a nice beating to those wicked fools. In high school, I always had my best friends with me to make the experience better even when I felt like high school was going to eat me alive. If it wasn’t for them, I probably would not have been as successful in school as I have been because when you are absolutely alone, things feel 100x worse than it really is in actuality. Having people there to back you up and assist you along the way can help increase your endurance and willpower toward the situation. When Botchan and Hotta did things together, they seemed unstoppable. They went back to their homes at the end of the film, but I’m pretty sure neither one will forget the other.
Your take on Japanese education is very interesting. In your third passage you point out that that they never punish any of the students for pulling pranks on Botchan, witch you say they would usually do in modern Japan’s education. This might be a sign that in the end there was a huge western influence on Japan’s schooling system. I get the impression that in the movie, the teacher earns the students respect by being a good teacher and respecting their students. But in modern Japan, respect is demanded of you much like it is in western cultures. Its kind of cool how that worked out.
ReplyDeleteIt's really kind of amusing when you think about how rigorous the Japanese school system is considered to be, and then how they are now wanting to more like western schools. I've wondered whether that's fueled by the fact that that kind of strict system is still having such a negative effect on the students. Their society doesn't allow its citizens quite as much room to breathe as ours does; maybe they want to change that.
ReplyDeleteCompared to some animes that I have seen about school and this one. Shcool in Botchan seems like a joke. The students always get into fights with one another, as we can see when the students who are in the same shcool fight in the river. Another thing is that the students care more about making fun of their teacher instead of learning about him and respecting him, since he is their elder.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing agree with you is how Botchan instead of taking a negative attitude towards the town, starts nicknaming everything and making it seem like he is better than everything in the little town. Even the people seem to be below him.
Finally there is the corruption which in this town, the one with most power are the teachers, which makes sence since they are the smartest people and have studied and continue to study. But instead of using that knowledge for the better of the town red-shirt uses it for his own gain. We can see this in everything that happends to Botchan, since everything that happends to him is the red-shirts fault.