Seriously... are you really Sirius? (A half-baked analysis on Sirius the Jaeger) Ep 1

Originally, John wondered whether he should just break out from his character by putting this under Breaking Character. Then he realised it's much better to put it under Drifting. Because by doing so, more topics can be placed under this label. And besides, history is meant to be more serious. After all, there's a reason why many an American (note that John said many, not all) has never progressed beyond the American Civil War. Offensive as it sounds, it could have been worse. Try asking an Asian, John dares you.

Please note that Emiya Kiritsugu was the only Asian in this scene. Also, John needs to start watching Fate/Zero asap. The DVDs are waiting for John like the Holy Grail waiting for Kiritsugu.

In other news, we got The Return of the King (and Queen). Okay, it's not. The only reason behind this statement isn't about the King of the North and his beloved Queen of the South. Rather, no one expected this vid to do an Aragorn.

Seriously... are you really Sirius?

Let John give the verdict here: Sirius the Jaeger is an enjoyable watch (at least for the first episode). IMDb (not to be confused with 1MDB) gave a modest 6.7 out of 10. However, it must also be stated that it's a movie rating site instead of an anime rating one. In fact, it seemed that Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works was one of the very few to buck the trend so far with a score of 8.1 out of 10. That's like 0.6 higher than Wonder Woman despite the plaudits. Maybe it's due to Archer's humanity instead of how GAR he is. Or maybe it's the theme of contradiction expressed in the form of the protagonist Emiya Shirou, something which Hollywood has never tried before (then again, Hollywood is never known to do philosophy). After all, it's safe to say that Magic Kinoko does do philosophical themes like a boss (e.g. Tsukihime and Notes). Maybe that's a major factor behind his friendship with Urobutcher Gen, hence the great and awesome work known as Fate/Zero.

As a vampire-themed anime, there's nothing much in terms of originality. You have vampires attempting a global takeover (something which read like #MAGA plus Darwinism). That's not original. You have the cliched eternal struggle between vampires and werewolves. Might as well watch the Underworld movies and read Twilight. Pedigree wise, Sirius the Jaeger is no Hellsing Ultimate where Alucard was truly more than just a soulless OP protagonist.

Just discovered Hellsing Ultimate is yet another anime scoring more than Wonder Woman. 8.3 out of 10 to be exact. This is proof that we Asians can be just as creative as our counterparts in the West.

But Sirius the Jaeger can be quite enjoyable if you decide to lower your standard. If it makes people feel better, human creativity is never a case of six-day creation. We're not God.

Badass fighting scenes

Sirius the Jaeger's main draw lies in the awesome fighting scene. Despite being more than just a few steps too late to save the (non-white) damsels in distress, Yuliy made sure vengeance was still exacted on Broc... erm, John means the vampires. Of course, there's no moral logic behind the bestial retribution involved. Just pure carnage. Plenty of blood, but no guts were spilt in the process. This makes Sirius the Jaeger more of the shonen fare. Yet. it must be stated that in a certain way, the first fight felt like more like the seinen fare. It's a compliment. As it turned out, Sirius the Jaeger managed to maintain this very high standard of shonen warfare.

Interesting BGM

The music is totally cool. In an era where the likes of Taylor "hopefully not Swiftly gone in 60 secs" Swift and Justin "yet another Canadian Justin" Bieber are the famous names, no one gives a damn to the likes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Let alone Shalynn "not Jolin" Tsai playing the violin. While the correct Tsai wasn't in charge of doing the OST, StJ truly gave us listeners a very big surprise. Violin is the theme of the BGM game. No matter which music entered your ears, the violin would be there. It's very rare to have an anime OST running on a violin theme. In fact, StJ has to be the first in John's (non-existent) life featuring the correct Tsai's musical instrument. Not that she's a fan of stuff like Love Hina, Naruto, and (the baddest of them all) Berserk anyway. At least John's pretty sure she's NOT a fan of Miura Doragonkoroshitaro or Urobutcher Gen. And you think anime and manga are only for kids while Hollywood movies are for adults?

One interesting aspect of the anime lies in the Jaegers' choice of cover. Unlike America, carrying weapons in plain sight was nothing short of dodgy during the Shōwa period. You couldn't carry them in plain sight. That's why as weapon-bearing gaijins, the Jaegers needed some semblance of cover. Their preferred choice? The correct Tsai's preferred musical instrument case (seriously, John is enjoying himself here). In fact, Philip actually played the violin during the opening scene at Shanghai. Much to the delight of a random Chinese little girl for some reason. And did John mention Philip's great command of Mandarin despite being white and British? Even though it's only two words: 给你. And you think SPG is some unique national culture of Singapore?

A foreshadowing of things to come?

Episode 1 was full of three things: Badass fighting, Yuliy's inner world, and foreshadowing. In fact, the foreshadowing was effectively the tool where Yuliy's character was concerned. John will come to that later. For this part, three things will be touched upon: Dude Wonder Kershner's Darwinistic speech, opium dens, and Willard's actual identity.

First, Dude Wonder Kershner. America has Boy Wonder Kushner, the vampires got Dude Wonder Kershner. The latter was clearly a sophisticated gentleman capable of political speech and beyond. In fact, his speech about saving the vampires and the world via Darwin's logic of the jungle did sound political. It's like somebody saying "Let's build bridges!" or another somebody saying "Let's make America great again!" It's the same thing, Dude Wonder or no Dude Wonder. One could see Dude Wonder Kershner as a master manipulator albeit his right-hand woman (?) Agatha Christie pointing out his tendency to lose control once he got too damn high like the rents in New York.

So what was his Darwinistic speech all about? Was it just empty talk like what cynics always said about politicians? Or was it something more insidious? Like Hitler talking or Stalin speaking?

This comes to the opium den scene. Why opium den? It's not as if we're watching an anime based on the life of the great Asian evangelist John Sung Shang Chieh. In fact, using opium den as the background felt counter-intuitive. Was it supposed to be a pointless Easter Egg or something so much more than a mere Easter bunny conjured out from a hat? You'd be surprised at what John has to say later.

And lastly, Willard's actual identity. He's human, right? Surely he's no werewolf because he's not Asian in the first place! After all, werewolves in the world of StJ were... well, Asians. In fact, Yuliy could be seen as part-Asian due to the geographic relationship between Central Asia and Eastern Europe (note that Yuliy was, in fact, an East European name). However, it was implied that Willard might have visited Japan much earlier. It's not just his understanding of the Japanese way of nationalism. More importantly, his conversation with whoever the who's who in Japanese politics seemed to expose so much more than a mere foreigner around Bill Haslam's age. More specifically, there's this implying that Willard might have actually visited Japan as early as the Tokugawa era where protectionism began much earlier than Donald Trump's day of birth and isolation being far earlier than the Korean War. This is NOT fake news out to slander Japan. You can ask any Japanese, Aragaki "not Gaki no Tsukai" Yui or no Aragaki "not Gaki no Tsukai" Yui, whether that's the case in actual history after the Battle of Sekigahara.

Edit: It's either something's not right with Willard's existence or it's due to whatever post-World War 1 fallout. Come to think of it, it's very likely the latter. Ignore whatever John said above here unless something else happens in the plot.

The Latin word for Art is...

Ars. No, this is not some sick joke made at the expense of girls. Because there's no letter e in the first place. Ars in Latin is art. Or technique. For Yuliy, ars is not about how badass his fighting technique was. Ars, in Yuliy's case, is actually ARS. A for Aloof, R for Reckless, and S for Smart.

Let's talk about the A first. Aloof. This was clearly shown in the scene where the Jaegers earned a luxurious cruise to Japan. The conversation between Yuliy and Willard was brief. But his look was effectively one of a person who never belonged to the world around him. It's like a Singaporean who has always been emotionally detached from his nation despite the fanfare of National Day and the ongoing debate about politicians' pay. It's also like a Christian whose inner world was always a great distance between himself and whoever sitting beside him every Sunday. In an organisation stressing teamwork (and most likely bonding as well), Yuliy was that anomaly. He's exactly the StJ equivalent of a wolf living in a nation known as the Lion City. It's not that he's someone spoiling for a fight. Rather, he never cared. Why? Because he implied clearly that he has never belonged to his surroundings in the first place. Which wasn't entirely inaccurate, to be fair.

Next, Reckless. If the Jaegers could be compared to a pack of wolves (an analogy implied by Willard), then Yuliy was that lone wolf. A maverick who never failed to make people wonder how fast his death would arrive when it came to the vampires. In fact, he hated them so much, one could liken his hatred to that of an outraged gentleman in the face of racist vampires and those impeding the #MeToo movement. The beginning scene of kicking vampiric ass and cutting them apart (i.e. the vampires, not the ass) wasn't there to tell you how badass Yuliy was meant to be. He's reckless. And if you think he's the reason why the dead Chinese girls were successfully avenged, think again. You have Philip, a Mexican (?) Dorothea, and a Fallon who looked like Jimmy "not Kimmel" Fallon opening fire like les pros. So no, Yuliy wasn't the reason why an army of bloodsuckers was downed. He merely sped things up under a situation Willard never wanted in the first place. In fact, his recklessness nearly got him killed at the end. Thankfully, there's Naoe Ryoko around to make sure this guy wouldn't die. Because more than the likes of Dude Wonder Kershner, racists, and sexual predators, Yuliy has the true potential to be an actual gentleman. He just needed to get out more and socialise. When we talk about being reckless, we have reckless by nature and reckless by circumstances. The former points to someone prone to do stupid things in real life and say equally stupid things on the internet. The latter, however, refers to someone NOT prone to do these things by default. He can be mild-mannered during work, even a capable coworker in your department. He can be someone able to tolerate the most intolerable person in the workplace even! But set the trigger off and he will risk turning green instead of remaining like Bruce Banner. If Yuliy was a real person, he would belong to the reckless by circumstances type. 

Lastly, Smart. Despite being half a man and half a wolf dude, Yuliy was more intelligent than your average high SES'er for a reason. On one hand, he's not the strongest guy on the proven basis. In fact, his reckless rage against the vampires nearly cost him his life! But the scene at Ryoko's backyard served as an interesting look at a circumstantially reckless guy. His analysis of the flowers revealed a surprisingly sharp mind. Ask any high SES'er out to impress a girl like Ryoko and he would comment how beautiful the flowers were. But not Yuliy. In fact, he's so used to living out an inner world countless leagues apart from the actual one, John truly doubted he felt a thing for Ryoko. At least not initially, no matter how rich, pretty, and intelligent she was. His answer to what the average high SES'er would say otherwise was about how rotten the roots have gotten instead of the superficial. It's like looking at the U.S and noticing the red-blue divide instead of asking which side is correct. It's like looking at Singapore and noticing that the society is never moralistic beyond being merely more moralistic than other nations in comparison. In fact, the opium den scene could have served as a foreshadowing to what Yuliy saw compared to what the average high SES'er would see. An opium den was a place for vice and money to thrive. It robbed people of their dignity and the families of their homes. It's definitely even more destructive than any Pink Dot related event. Was this a reflection of the reality Yuliy knew? The kind of reality hoodwinking the masses all the while? If so, then Yuliy was one hell of a smart guy. Never mind the fact that he's half a man, half a wolf dude, and part Asian. Ironically, such a knowledge would have placed him on an equal ground with Dude Wonder Kershner as in the whole "what's wrong with the world" logic. The key difference? Dude Wonder Kershner talked and behaved like a politician while Yuliy was quite obviously not the type interested in Oxleygate.

And lastly, Naoe Ryoko

You know this is going to happen. A guy living in poverty attracting a girl who happened to be rich, beautiful, and intelligent. It was at their workplace where the girl fixated her gaze on the guy bending over to carry his manual load. As it turned out, one does not simply build Rome on a single day.

John knows this sounds like something K-drama fans would like to see next. The point, however, is this: Above scenario is only used as a comparison. It's not literally the situation between Yuliy and Ryoko. Figuratively? You can bet your SGD the answer is a yes. No one knew why Ryoko was so obsessed with Yuliy. Firstly and foremost, he's not a high SES'er. Secondly, he's no crazy rich Asian. Thirdly, his only source of education hailed from experience and the wilderness of Russia/Central Asia. You know this guy never studied in RI, NUS, or Harvard. Period. Given that this is a shonen anime, what it means (apart from Ryoko's apparent Narita Airport) is what you see from Miyazaki "anime was a mistake" Hayao below.

Simply put, John doubts we'd be seeing much info on why someone rich, beautiful, and intelligent like her would be attracted to a person no different from a wolf living in a civilised world. That is apart from the dumb romantic attraction logic called Sasukenomics.

P.S: Despite the historical significance surrounding the Shōwa period (i.e. the Emperor back then was Hirohito, the very same Emperor of Japan during the Second World War), John doubts the mina-san at P.A. Works would want to do the next series of The Legend of Koizumi. After all, history has always been a proven global bummer in Japan.

Add P.S: Events outside Sirius the Jaeger anime portrayed here should be seen as an intended case of coincidence. It's either that or you're just being paranoid.