Review on Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood
(Gigguk short film – YouTube)
From Reviewer to Creator: Why Bãan Matters
Gigguk is a well-respected critic, YouTuber, and podcaster in the anime community. Starting his channel on YouTube with a love of anime, making reviews that garnered millions of views for his thought-out and personal opinions, he touched and made many think of anime as more than just a Japanese cartoon, but also a literary and cultural medium.
Bâan is a 19-minute short film created by Gigguk professionally, with real and known studios, animators, voice actors, and musicians. From Kevin Penkin (who composed tracks in A-grade anime series like Made in Abyss and The Apothecary Diaries), to Studio Daisy, and voice direction from professional voice actor (and his friend) Connor (CDawgVA), and also real Japanese voice actors. A real professional cast, from planning, production to artistry.
This is a cultural movement for anime. It is the first ever successful move of a fan and reviewer of the medium to creator in the industry. It is also noted that this is one of the few times where someone outside of Japan has created an anime. After all, when people think of “anime”, they think of Japanese animation made by Japanese people. Here we have a Thai ethnic with a British background stepping into the scene.
Further, Gigguk’s Bâan also relays his own cultural influences from being Thai through character designs and Thai mythology. Bâan — the title, means “home” in Thai. The plot line also focuses on leaving the nest and making your own home in another country (or in the film’s case; another world). Thus the animation also touches on the well known isekai genre. This breaks the wall of anime being just Japanese, but also still includes common themes that make anime its medium.
Bâan also blurs the boundary between fan and creator, critique and art. This cultural first for the anime community opens the floodgates for the medium and its culture. Showing it is possible to tell your own story and make your own anime. This could lead to more personal projects from other fans, similar to how books have fanfiction novels. However, it is noted that this was only possible for Gigguk because of his own personal branding and public platform. It was mentioned by Gigguk as well, that this short film — despite being 19 minutes — was a huge spend and I am unsure if it made profit.
The Constraints of Short Films
Bâan was a 19-minute short film. This is a short window for storytelling. I personally view this film to be a passion project. A film the creator made for himself and this shows through the cultural and emotional touches, to the character design, world-building and music. However in terms of plot, I’d say it was somewhat lacklustre.
This is not to the fault of Gigguk, the choice of storyline seemed to be more slice of life with a touch of isekai. It relays the ups and downs of leaving the nest and finding your own home. I personally believe this type of story needs to be fleshed out with deep character backgrounds, making climax and storyline more of a slow burn. Thus the boundaries of 19 minutes is not nearly enough to show the true depths of his story. I personally felt that due to pacing, lack of time and a bigger focus on character concept and world building as opposed to character building, the film felt more like a teaser to a real movie or 12-episode anime season.
Professional Polish
That is not to say there were no positives to Bâan as a work of art. I’d say, in terms of professional polish, Bâan is up there, and stands its own against even big name anime
productions.
Using professional artists and creatives such as music composer Kevin Penkin, Japanese voice actors, professional English voice direction and known studios, animators, and directors really made a difference. This is not an amateur production, this was Gigguk’s fledgling start to creative works as a director. That in itself is inspirational.
Gigguk’s ability to coordinate and bring these people and work packages together is not the only testament to professionalism. Gigguk shows that passion doesn’t have to be compromised for professionalism and that is a talent not everyone has. Being able to still show that this is his own independent vision and add his own touches to make Bâan charming is what makes this art. While the time constraints made the film’s plot lacklustre, the professional polish relayed the story’s charms.
The character designs were lovely and well thought-out. It has the professionalism of real anime designs as opposed to fanfiction OCs (original characters) and still showed his cultural background through inspiration of Thai mythology. The music was not just chosen because of the A-list name of Kevin Penkin. But actually added to the vibe of the film and the world-building. It made the isekai and world-building integral.
I also noticed none of the music was overtly dramatic, which suited the slice of life vibes. I appreciated that despite the lack of climax in terms of plot, the film did not try to artificially create drama that did not suit the storytelling with music. I believe this further shows Gigguk himself understood he would not be able to show both world-building and in-depth characters and chose to direct using skills over storytelling due to time constraints.
Narrative Strengths and Weaknesses
Due to time constraints, I felt that the plot was lacklustre. There was a lack of climax even for a slice of life anime, where there isn’t much drama. Bâan felt more like a 4-panel slice of life comic than a traditional slice of life anime. In a traditional slice of life anime where all of the episodes are about the daily life of characters, there is still a climax that hits you. Usually it makes the audience question about the mundanity and fragility of humanity or cherish their actual present lives. Watchers will start tearing up because they feel for the characters who have been built up through the story.
For example, in Bâan there was the difficulty of finding your own home, a sense of comfort and homesickness was shown in the movie. But due to the lack of character development, I, as the watcher, understood but did not feel for the characters. I believe this is because for me, the characters stayed as concepts and were not built upon due to there only being 19 minutes. Due to the time constraints I understand why there was no major climax. But the film still had the slice of life anime vibe so it gave me the expectation and excitement of wanting to feel something that Bâan did not provide. Had it been more humorous like a slice of life 4 panel comic or not been made with such professionalism, maybe I would have not expected much as an audience.
However I must also mention that being able to bring about this feeling of expectation from the audience is the charm of Bâan. The charm of the plot is also the fact that it takes itself seriously, as it shows Gigguk’s life experiences and passion for anime. Which is why I felt this film was lackluster, in a way I wanted to watch more of the film because Gigguk made it professionally and because the concepts were individual.
Bâan has showstopping professionalism for Gigguk’s first project, that is not to say however there are no creative strengths. I believe the world-building and character concepts are the true creative charm of the film. The comfort of touching on isekai genres made it familiar and anime-like. The personal touches of Thai mythology in both character concepts and world-building made it charming and made me want more of the anime.
Gigguk made a film that wanted me to question and know more about the world he built in the film by using his own life experiences and touching on his own culture. This personal charm he added to the film is by far the biggest narrative strength. It is also why I wished there was more
to the film.
Unfortunately it felt like vibes replaced narrative tension. This made me feel like Bâan was a teaser to an A-grade anime slice of life as opposed to being an A-grade stand-alone short film. The lack of climax and character development but intense world-building was a double-edged sword. It made me want to know more about Bâan and excited about Gigguk’s potential. However, it also made the short film feel too lacklustre despite its charm and passion.
The Yes-Man Problem
Upon finishing Bâan, I was immediately excited to discuss this culture first. Only to find most people loved the film but did not have much to say on it apart from; “it was cool” and “I can’t believe he did it”. I do believe it is important to pat him on the back as Gigguk has created a cultural landmark in anime.
But the silence speaks. The anime community is not willing to dive deeper and critique their own. For future anime productions this film is a big positive. It could lead to more content and the dream of many fans being reality - to work in the anime industry. Not just making anime as a director, but even as animators, musicians, editors etc. However I still believe discussion on the medium objectively still needs to be had, especially in the area of fans and critics making art as the discussions is what contributes to movement.
Conclusion
To conclude, Bãan is not just a film. It is the first step of the audience being the creators. This film is a cultural movement in the anime community. While it had its flaws, there is no doubt that it is a landmark that shows the medium’s potential to grow. It also shows Gigguk’s talent and if he decides to lean into this creative direction I look forward to his potential and its effects on anime.
Note: Thanks for reading. Even if you don’t like it because it takes a lot of effort to read this many words haha. I actually wrote this by hand with a pen 1 hour after finishing Bâan and later typed it out. Took about three hours of my time when I was bored. |
