Monty Oum: The Ultimate “Otaku”
SPOILER ALERT: Plot details for Haloid, Dead Fantasy, and RWBY
A Not-So-Wasted Youth
I can’t recall how I first exactly ran into Monty Oum, but it was the right time, I know that. In my middle school days, my mind was overrun with the action manga of Naruto, Bleach, and Dragonball, the video game worlds of Final Fantasy, Soul Calibur, and Zelda, along with explosive film trilogies like The Matrix, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t read very much in those days. So there wasn’t much room in my brain to slow down, only fast-paced over the top action for me. As one who spent his evenings scouring YouTube for anime and video game music videos, it seemed only a matter of fate that I run into Oum.
Haloid was the crossover video game fans would die to see. Halo meets Metroid. Master Chief versus Samus Aran. This wasn’t some cheap rip-off, either, no. Oum pulled out all the stops in this explosive free-for-all. Oum shows off as a Jon Woo come Yuen Wo-Ping, a choreography wunderkind, while incorporating into the fights everything that made Halo and Metroid so fun. (Speaking of Woo, Oum, made a tribute to him called Icarus, a notable change being that the white doves were replaced with black crows). Elements from The Matrix Trilogy are also added for good measure, with Oum throwing a creative spin on the usage of various firearms and blades. Of course, the big twist of the film is that the soldier in the Spartan suit is not Master Chief, but a young woman. (It happens.) The two ladies have a romantic walk around the beach out of a Harlequin novel, but it’s sweet. Oh, and there’s a funny dance at the end of the credits. Oum had a passion for dancing.
Dead Fantasy was Monty Oum’s unfinished opus. A crossover of Final Fantasy/ Kingdom Hearts characters and Dead or Alive characters. They are to fight, of course. The characters go over a vast roster, mostly women, including Tifa Lockhart, Kasumi, Yuna, Cloud Strife, Hitomi, Hayate, Rinoa, and Ayana, among others. At the time of writing this essay, there are six parts available. They start off with a few of the characters before expanding into all out brawl. Each part of Dead Fantasy is more impressive than the first, with Oum clearly trying to top the previous entry. I can’t imagine how much work must’ve gone into keeping track of each character’s individual movements, while having them look spectacular at the same time. A wide variety of creative fights are to be seen, from a hand-to-hand fight in a church between Tifa and Hitomi, Yuna summoning Aeons such as Bahamut and Ifrit to fight Kasumi’s ninja clones, to a free-fall battle that moves to a river of lava and ends on a lake of ice. In ways, Oum belonged to the Quentin Tarantino school of filmmaking, referencing as many inspirations as you wish while using them to propel a unique narrative.
Seeking to go above fan videos, Oum teamed up with Rooster Teeth to craft his own “anime” RWBY. He had previously been working with Rooster Teeth on their Red vs. Blue parody series of the Halo games. If you don’t have time for RWBY (which would be unusual, considering how short it is), then I recommend that you at least watch the trailers. Four of them were released (red, white, black, and yellow), each one highlighting one of the four leads, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. The usage of color, particularly with the main characters, was a good choice. It makes them easy to remember and distinguish.
Ruby’s trailer looks like retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, that is, if Little Red had a scythe that doubled as a firearm. Weiss’s trailer is a music video, she sings before a crowd, while recalling a battle with a giant knight, wading him off with a rapier of ice. Blake’s trailer is probably my favorite, with a great contrast between black and red made in the visual environments. It begins with a raid on a train (similar to Final Fantasy XIII’s opening scene), that leads to fighting against robots set to rock music. Yang’s trailer is the most comedic, with plenty of slapstick elements along with a brawl during a rave where she seems to almost go “Super Saiyan.” Just look at her hair. Much like Oum’s earlier work, these stories feature beautiful women, but make no mistake, he does not “objectify” them. Oum portrayed his women with vivaciousness and respect. They were pretty, of course, but never degraded. They were lionized.
RWBY will be tiresome to seasoned anime fans, but it’s still a bit fun to see the cliches recreated, even if they’re done ad nauseum, almost to the point of self-parody. Ruby being the awkward, cheerful every-girl, Weiss the pretentious tsundere know-it-all, Yang the upbeat, but tough older sister, and Blake the quiet, intelligent one with a mysterious past (she’s my favorite). Of course, there are other characters, including one voiced by Oum himself. The humor works a bit better than I initially thought. There’s funny scene where Blake is being teased with a laser dot. It has no dialogue, but Blake’s facial expressions are priceless. I must say that these characters grew on me. With Roman Torchwick and Sun Wukong being pleasant surprises to see.
As far as the plot goes, I think Oum wanted to make RWBY an amalgamation of every anime trope he could find. Take for instance, the school setting, the upcoming tournament, and of course, the melodramatic romance (‘ship’ away!). You could play a sort of anime bingo with this show. In his review of RWBY, Richard Eisenbeis said, “The biggest drawback in doing a micro-series, where each episode has to be wrapped up in a few scant minutes, is that there is precious little time for good characterization-especially with a main cast of eight. So when it comes down to it, in this two hour and fifteen minute season, many of the characters are left as little more than walking clichés with practically nothing in terms of real depth.” I technically agree with Eisenbeis in this respect, but I’d also argue that the cliches are part of the fun.
Oum was big fan of Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann, which is one of the most extreme, over-the-top animes in recent memory. Not a surprise that Oum found his way into it. For an interview he had this to say, “Toppa Tengen Gurren Lagann is probably my all time favorite anime. It just has a level of energy and enthusiasm I enjoy. There are subtle (and not so subtle) lessons in Gurren Lagann about not giving up; energy that persists beyond oneself that I apply to RWBY.” For those who never saw Gurren Lagann, it’s a show that celebrates the cliches of the shonen and mecha genres, while cranking them up to the -nth degree. Gurren Lagann had no delusions about the kind of show that it was, and it took unabashed pride in that. The show was so good at what does (the mechs throw galaxies at each other for Pete’s sake!) that to call it a guilty pleasure would be a disservice.
I imagine that Oum probably wanted RWBY to do the same, but with anime in general. He has said, “The biggest motivation for [RWBY] is the need to tell a story much like those I needed when I was growing up. The stories about not giving up that pushed me along, and the people I’d meet along the way. Knowing how much all the shows and games I’d played all my life has influenced me, it is a great honor to be able to bring something of my own to a generation of people who are also looking for something to believe in.”
RWBY was Monty Oum’s love letter to the anime. A vanity project that indulges and shamelessly glorifies what anime did. It’s not very good, in terms of writing, but it tapped into a nerve. Yes, the pacing can be slow, the lines can be cringe-worthy, and the characters lack depth, but RWBY somehow manages to put a smile on my face. This comes from the fact that Oum and the team at Rooster Teeth never took themselves too seriously. A lesson they learned from Gurren Lagann. Okay, there were serious moments in RWBY to keep the series grounded and the audience invested. Gurren Lagann had its serious moments, too, but by the end of the day, it was all about having an explosive good time. Derivative though it painfully is, however, RWBY certainly stands out in a number of ways.
If there’s one thing to respect about RWBY, it’s this: ambition. The show is seething with it. For a micro-series with a limited budget, the staff involved are clearly aiming for heights unseen. This kingdom of Veil that Oum created was very imaginative, populated with ruined cities, supernatural life-forms both Grim and Faunus, as well as technological glory. The shifting gears in Ozpin’s office would make Dumbledore envious. I found myself getting really caught up in the mythos and lore of RWBY.
Of course, the centerpiece of Monty Oum’s mastery of visuals is seen in his fight scenes. Well, obviously. This stuff is just ripe material for music videos. It’s hard not to cry out with glee when Ruby Rose swings her over-sized scythe, as rose petals follow, or better yet, see the whole quartet take on Torchwick in a mech suit. I would be remiss not to say that Season 2 opened with an epic food fight that goes to lengths both more silly and extreme than the paintball wars in Community.
Then there’s the soundtrack, done by Jeff Williams, with many tracks sung by his daughter Casey Lee Williams. Good lord, this music is great, so much so that it rivals those of many actual animes out there. It’s exciting and eclectic. You have the solid rock pieces “This Will Be The Day” and “From Shadows”, a possible J-pop influence in “Gold” and “Time To Say Goodbye”, the poetic “Red Like Roses” and “Mirror, Mirror,” and who could forget the ever catchy dance tune “Shine.” I hope that Williams gets work elsewhere, because he has talent. As does Casey Lee, with her assertive, in-your-face vocals. The show would not have been quite the same without them.
The Ultimate Otaku
In the title of this essay, I described Monty Oum as an “otaku.” That’s a term originally intended as a slur in Japan, but has been graciously embraced by anime fans elsewhere. A very cohesive definition was given by a blogger of Japanese culture, Danny Choo, “I think folks outside of Japan use the term otaku to generally refer to folks who enjoy anime culture by watching, consuming and being creative with anime culture through cosplaying or drawing fanart.” Oum embodied this well, using anime and even video games. I think that one significant facet of otaku culture is fan-fiction, writing your own take on a popular narrative. Pop culture blogger Arthur Chu, once described it as the “king of pop culture”, elaborating that,
“What makes something read “like fanfiction” is hard to describe for the uninitiated, but there’s a certain kind of childlike glee that runs as an undercurrent through all of it. A sense of intoxicating freedom at finally getting your hands on something you’ve watched from outside since childhood and now, finally, get to control-of being able to finally make real all the things you wanted to see on the show but that you knew the people running the show would never do.”
Chu wasn’t thinking of Oum when he wrote this, but it seems so indicative of the late animator’s work, to the very letter. RWBY is well within the otaku tradition of making anime based on other anime. Why, where would Evangelion, Madoka Magica, and Naruto be, without Mobile Suit Gundam, Sailor Moon, or Dragon Ball? RWBY is even being sent to Japanese audiences with a dub and everything. I think that they’ll have as much fun with it as we did. Oum was terribly passionate about what he did. These following words should be in the head of every artist who breathes on this planet:
“Can you match my resolve?
“If so then you will succeed.
“I believe that the human spirit is indomitable. If you endeavor to achieve, it will happen given enough resolve. It may not be immediate, and often your greater dreams is something you will not achieve within your own lifetime. The effort you put forth to anything transcends yourself, for there is no futility even in death.”
Oum, perhaps, marked a new shift in the anime fandom. Now, otaku can draw inspiration from their favorite animes to create their own works, in whatever form they may take. I foresee an outpouring of such works, a Renaissance in animation, if you will. Soon, the line between what is anime and what is a Western cartoon, will blur. Perhaps to the point where they’re indistinguishable. RWBY along with Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender have provoked these conversations, and we’ll have more of them to come.
Honestly, I don’t care much for labels. Animation is animation, be it from the East or the West. Oum believed enough in RWBY to call it an “anime”, and he deserves that right. His body may have passed, but his creative spirit, that of the otaku, will be felt in the anime community for many a year to come. In announcing his passing, Rooster Teeth said this,
“As for honoring Monty, we will do that in our own way. In lieu of flowers or gifts, we ask that you simply do something creative. Use your imagination to make the world a better place in any way that you can. If you know Monty like we do, then you know he would certainly be doing that if he were able to.”
I’ll try, Monty. God knows, I’ll try.
Originally published at http://sansuthecat.blogspot.com on February 25, 2015, piece has been edited and revised since its original publication for clarity and conciseness.
