By Stephen Esdale (SESDALE@flemingc.on.ca) (29, Nov 94)
Yet, even this did not satisfy Mika totally. For some stange reason, just drawing the futuristic vehicles, the sleek mecha-suits, and menacing weaponry was not good enough. Something deep inside wished to go beyond the celluloid of film, wanted to make her designs real.
Mika was embarrased by these feelings. She did not have the engineering degrees to build such devices, even if building such things were possible. She barely had enough education to be a technical artist. Anime is the art of the impossible. It would unimaginable to create a cycle that could do bootleg turns at 70mph, or vehicles with an endless supply of interal equipment, weaponry, and gadgets. Even the simple job of building a powered mecha-suit of human size presented a formidable job for even the best technical minds in the world.
She dismissed her dreams and for two years worked at her job faithfully. Worked, that is, until she was laid off. It seems that several films produced by the animation house had bombed at the box office. The studios involved lost the equivalent of millions of American dollars. Thousands were laid off, Mika being one of them. The industry itself was in a lull after years of unchecked growth. There were no jobs for animators in Japan, even for talented ones as Mika.
She was forced to find work at a small business, producing cheap technical drawings for a tiny engineering magazine. The magazine, called the Tokyo Paradigm, often discussed theories that totally went against normal science. Its editor, Naori Kochiya, was an eccentric scientist who still believed that ether existed in some form in outer space. Drinking heavily during this time, Mika was oblivious to the fact the she'd never seen the Tokyo Paradigm in newsstands. Nor did she notice the strange objects, some as big as refrigerators, seemed to appear overnight and then as quickly disappear or that weird things, and strange noises were going on in the basement. Or that Naori was taking an awful interest in her technical work.
One night, she left her workstation, half-drunk. She had been glossing over old sketches that were used in many of the films she had been a part of. The flying cruiser in Silent Moebius, Kaneda's bike from Akira... The memories were too harsh to take, so she started into the stash of saki she kept in her desk. By the time she reached the streets, all thoughts of the past were hidden in an alcholic haze.
She was so wasted that the whole night was a very unrecognizable muddle. It was for that reason that when she stumbled into work the next day, she didn't immediately recognize the object before her. Standing in the middle of the office was the Akira motorcycle, with Naori, the smug little scientist with a sheepish grin on his face, standing beside it. When it finally dawned on her, she nearly fainted. From the plans on her desk, Naori had built the Akira bike in less than six hours!
"You couldn't have build this on your own... You had help, you kept it in the basement, you..." Mika spat out the words.
"No. No help." Naori's smile broadened. "I made it in about fifteen minutes. Including five minutes for coffee."
"You couldn't have. Its phsyically impossible!"
"Physical laws are not immutable. My friend, you will soon learn the elasticity of physics."
Naori taught the young Mika the best he could, but the training did not go as well as both of them had hoped. Mika was uninterested in learning the outmoded physics of the Sons of Ether. 19th century gibberish and 20th century techo-mysticism were alien and repulsive concepts. How was one to free technology from the Technomancer static reality if these ancient, usless theories were employed.
In the end Mika left Naori's tutelage, their relationship strained but still intact. Amongst her own Tradtion, she was frowned upon. She had had the audacity to question the SoE paradigm! This artist with no degrees, no knowledge of the universe was telling them how reality was supposed to work! The Sons of Ether worked hard to discredit her work, finally forcing her to leave.
In response, she formed the sub-tradition of the Sons of Ether known as the Animagicians. To prevent the SoE from recognizing her name she took the pseudonm Yuki Katsumi, using two first names of characters from Silent Moebius. She then went on to recruit other animators and Anime enthusiasts that had vision.
From there it spread to North America (and spawned the ACMEngineers, a group of Mages using western cartoons as their paradigm). Currently it is unknown how many Animagicians there are in the World, though with both the Technocracy and the Sons of Ether eager to know their whereabouts, they rarely make their presence known.
Matter/Life/Prime - Drawing Utensils: The most important part of a Animagician (and the common foci of the Tradition). This is any device used to draw freehand (pen, pencil, crayon, finger-paint). Since Drawing is the most important thing in a Japanimators life, it is no surprise that it is very important in creating things, both animate and inanimate, and keeping it in the real world (Prime). The writing utensil is a unique item, the most cherished of the Mage's possessions. Drawing can be a quick sketch (+1 to +3 initiative, depending on size and complexity of object), though in non-combat situations an Animagician may spend days drawing.
Spirit/Forces - Heads Up Display: A set of Goggles (or the classic Anime monocle-visor). These specifically display all sorts of information about Spectroscopic and Spiritscopic information. It is not unique.
Time/Correspondence/Entropy - Calculating Device: Animagicians who use these spheres need some device to calculate the intricacies involved. It is not exactly known what kind of Mathematics an Animagician uses when calculating the space-time relations or possibility analysis or a spell, but its definitely unrelated to anything the SoE or the Technomancers use). This may be some Anime calculator, or a complex body-computer with holographic display and voice readout. Animagicans go very wild as in regards to this Foci item design. However it is not a unique item (as regards to its importance to magick). Adds +2/+3 to spheres used with this foci.
Mind - Communicator: No, not the Star Trek one, but very similar. They range from headset microphones, to handheld or wrist mounted models. Some have outlandish antennae, while others are barely noticeable. Depends on your outlook. It is not unique.
Akashic Brotherhood: Yeah, we've used plenty of Martial Arts in Anime. This "uniting mind and body" is interesting, but personally I like uniting mind and matter better.
Celestial Chorus: Songs and rituals mean nothing to me. I want something more concrete than some metaphysical mumbo-jumbo.
Cult of Ecstasy: I admire their free spirit, but they are wasted talent. They should focus their energies more into art than debauchery.
Dreamspeakers: The future of humanity dwells in the physical not in the spiritual. Gaia's plight may be serious as you say, but I don't think bouncing around in the Umbra is going to help. A Mecha-tank with a converging beam cannon will stop those Amazonian plunderers right in their tracks.
Euthanatos: Entropy? You guys must be very sick, killing people because you feel they are "ready to die." The only way to reach Ascension is by building things, not tearing them down.
Hollow Ones: All these guys need are mentors of some kind, someone to give them guidance and hope. Just don't expect us to do it. These mages are just too depressing to be around.
Order of Hermes: Hermetic magic is no better than the crap the Technocracy is dishing out. Magic must be dynamic and not a jumble of formulae, no matter how much magical significance they hold.
Sons of Ether: Bunch of old fools. You expect us to follow the same antiquated path you have followed for decades. Hunt us down if you wish; we have a few experiments are dying to show you!
Verbena: They do with living things, what we do with matter. I bit too bloody for my taste though.
Virtual Adepts: I'd put them in the same category with the Technos and the Sons of Anachronism if it wasn't for the Digital Web. WOW! We have to meet with these guys...the Web will make a great place to test new Mecha designs!
...Not your father's [insert car name here] (Correspondence 5, Matter 4): Basically the same as Semi-Auto CAD CAM (see Mage Rotes, pg. 221) except it combines the best aspects of vehicles into one form. Each success allows the mage to exchange one aspect of the vehicle (top speed, size, maneuverability, etc). The vehicle will resemble both of the old vehicles with a distinctive Anime twist (if the Animagician doesn't force himself not to).
Thought made Form (Matter 2, Mind 3, Prime 2): Allows the Mage to create an object envisioned by another. This is normally done by Animagicians when they recruit a new Mage, creating their heart's desire (normally some Anime device) to show them the power they could possess. One success will give a flawed or warped translation of the object; three success will create the item accurately, and five success or more will give an exact replica of the object (right down to the colour and "feel").
Akira Bootleg (Correspondence 5): Not a rote but a magickal effect, the Akira Bootleg allows the person to make stops and bootleg turns at any speed. The Mage casts the spell, only braking if he is intending to stop the vehicle (the famous Akira 70-0 mph skid). The Correspondence power warps space, causing the bike to loop back upon itself or increasing the immediate length of the road to allow more room to slow down. While not totally imitating the Akira manoeuvre, the Animagicians think its a first step into understanding the principles required in creating Anime-style working technology.