Greetings from Salt Lake City! We’ve finished our first day of auditions here, and I’m relaxing back at the hotel while my body fights the time change. Tomorrow I’m going to head over to Night Flight Comics, just a few blocks away, as recommended by Tangognat‘s Anna. In the meantime, Lissa Pattillo got me thinking about the recent “Hey, Answerfans!” question at ANN’s Hey, Answerman! and so I’m posting my own response here!
The question was, “If you could live in the world of any anime or manga series, which would it be, and why?” My answer to this is, frighteningly, Please Save My Earth.
When I first read Please Save My Earth, I think I mentioned that it was pretty much my ideal teen/pre-teen fantasy. Seriously. A group of teenagers who share collective memory through their dreams about their former lives as alien scientists observing earth from the moon?? You could not possibly come up with something more appealing to the twelve-year-old me. Have I mentioned that they all have special powers, like ESP or the ability to fly? I mean, come on. So, if you needed proof that I’m basically still a twelve-year-old deep down, look no further, because for me this concept still holds substantial appeal.
Let’s ignore for the moment the petty drama that these teenagers carried over from their former incarnations, and focus on the freakin’ awesomeness of it all:
Reincarnation: I can hardly imagine something more attractive than the idea that we might be able to remember and actually connect with ourselves in former lives, like the kids in PSME do. Sure, it’s confusing, and probably scary, but so fascinating! I don’t so much like the idea of being controlled by my past or anyone else’s, but the prospect of having access to the memories of a former self would outweigh the dangers for me. This goes double if the former self is an alien.
Collective dreams: Stories about dreams are irresistible to me in general, but I can’t think of much that’s more exciting to me than the concept of collective dreaming. Twelve-year-old MJwould have sold her soul to obtain such an experience. I am not far behind her.
Alien superpowers: Thanks to Zenna Henderson’s Pilgrimage, I spent most of my youth completely obsessed with telepathy, telekinesis, and the ability to fly, and the PSME kids each have their own unique abilities in these areas. Flying, in particular, is a special fixation of mine. It is an ability I have in all of my dreams, and as a child and pre-teen especially I spent a lot of time thinking about whether I could reproduce that ability in my waking life if I focused on the sensation of it from my dream life. I was, of course, never able to make it happen, but that didn’t stop me from trying. Probably this would be my favorite aspect of living in the world of Please Save My Earth, provided that my former alien self had that ability!
Awesome hair: This speaks for itself.
Naked women singing to plants: I know that most of the characters in Please Save My Earth were pretty irritated whenever Mokuren would overrun their base with plants overnight by singing a song, but personally, I’d love to live in a world where people could do things like that. Speaking of this, where is all the Mokuren/Neville Longbottom fanfiction? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
So how about it? Anyone want to come live with me in the Please Save My Earth universe? If not, where do you want to live?
StephA says
November 19, 2008 at 12:35 pmI always wanted comic-book hair, too. :)
Melinda Beasi says
November 20, 2008 at 11:02 amWhy oh why can’t we have it? :D
Hana says
February 20, 2010 at 7:08 pmEvery time this question comes up (and surprisingly it does quite often, in some form of another) I send my mind spinning to its farthest corners, trying to think of something that isn’t the answer I am immediately tempted to give. This of course defeats the purpose of the question, as a gut reaction answer is likely to be the most truthful, but I always feel like I am missing some amazing world I would rather be alive in. However, again and again I always find myself coming to the same conclusion.
If I could live in any fictional world, it would be the Avatar Universe.
Now that I successfully sound like a wishful eight year-old (to your 12 year-old self) here comes the justification.
First off, I consider Avatar anime. Which is a huge debate in and of its self.
Secondly, this is a world, where women are endowed with just as much (and sometimes more) power than men. There are female fire benders serving liberally in the fire nation army. There are women earth benders who are considered just as dangerous as the men (and in the case of one of the main characters, the MOST TALENTED earth bender ever). The general state of gender equality in terms of occupation and general badass-ness are so well developed and clear that I find myself grinning wildly whenever thinking about it.
Thirdly, there is the plain awesome fact that everyone has the chance to be born with crazy awesome elemental skills. I mean, come on! Who wouldn’t want that!?
Also, there’s a chance to be born as an AVATAR. I mean, sign me up!
Not to mention that a spit world exists (an idea I find VERY appealing) and not only does it exist, it can be accessed.
…That’s pretty much it.
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