Landmarks Are Made to Be Destroyed

It's an interesting quirk of the human psyche that as much as we enjoy seeing monuments built as a landmark for generations to come, we also enjoy imagining what it would be like to see those monuments destroyed, to watch them all come tumbling down. Perhaps I should have said it was a sick, twisted quirk. But it is true nonetheless. All you have to do is watch an action movie.

Destruction is interesting to watch. This has something to do with its speed, and something to do with the fact that we rarely get to see such events personally. Creation usually takes a long time; it requires vision and dedication to see it through to its end, and though its interesting to see it happen in a time lapse or historically recounted way, it is often too slow to keep our interest. Destruction generally happens very quickly. For all the time and effort it takes to build something from scratch, it can be destroyed in a matter of seconds with disgustingly little effort.

I suppose I've been thinking about this lately because I've been watching too much Full Metal Panic, and it's made me realize that Tokyo Tower is no longer the favorite landmark for destruction in anime. Odaiba, a man made island in Tokyo Bay, is one of the newest targets for fantasy destruction. I freaked when I saw a mecha fight taking place at Tokyo Big Sight, the location where we attended the Tokyo Anime Fair. Though I have yet to see it be destroyed, the enormous ferris wheel on Odaiba has also made an appearance in just about every anime I've seen lately. Too bad I didn't get a chance to ride on it while I was there. (I have a feeling it will be the next landmark to be destroyed by mecha or some kind of apocalyptic circumstance. I'm sure Clamp would be tempted to destroy it if they ever managed to finish X.

Though I don't really enjoy seeing landmarks destroyed I do like seeing places I've visited in animation. Even if it's only for a moment before they're turned into dust.