The Antifascist Praxis of Gatchaman Crowds

It's a well known point that I won't belabor too much that Gatchaman Crowds insight was visionary. At the time it seemed to predict the 2016 election and beyond, and even now revisiting it reveals it may have even predicted people becoming dependent on sycophantic chatbots. At the time I praised it mostly for how it seemed to be demonstrating a better, healthier form of heroism that typical comic book superheroes. But the show itself, in all of its elements, is full of the spirit of antifascist resistance. It was baked in from the very beginning.

Fascism doesn't have a theory or text because it's basically a psychological or sociological breakdown. Good primers on fascist theory have been written by many, although Umberto Eco's landmark work on Ur-fascism is a good start. Fascism has a lot of flexible elements that can combine in novels ways, so a certain degree of psychological and social vigilance is needed to be on guard.

And it just so happens Gatchaman Crowds' Hajime Ichinose is the Tyler Durden of antifascism, an iconic hero for our time. So, what are the best practices against fascism that Hajime embodies?

Practice 1. Sitting With Fear and Anxiety

At first this doesn't quite seem to fit, as Hajime is a well known ball of sunshine, to the point of being insufferable to a lot of viewers of the first season. A character like Sugane, Rui, Jo, or Tsubasa seems to exemplify this better with their struggles. But even Hajime herself faces this. In Gatchaman Crowds insight, she has ingested the evil Berg Katze into herself, and Katze represents the death drive incarnate. All negativity and destruction, Katze tells Hajime that all of her actions are worthless. Instead of engaging or fighting, Hajime just listens and lets the thoughts pass by. Katze can only antagonize and destroy. Hajime acknowledges him, but doesn't ruminate. She seeks to create more interesting things than mere destruction.

Practice 2. Gender Flexibility

The links between fascism and rigid patriarchal gender roles is well known. The writer of Gatchaman Crowds originally wrote Sugane as the main character, and then rethought this, deciding a girl main character would be a better future leader. Hajime isn't afraid to embrace girlishness and femininity and the standouts in the cast don't either. The queer coded Rui and OD, and the casting of Aya Hirano as Paiman, the Gatchaman's leader, are obvious examples but both Sugane and Jo soften in their embrace of the heroic ideal. As violence fails, Sugane and Jo decide to become more nurturing and communicative, instead of choosing violent reaction as a first resort.

Practice 3. Embodied Physicality

Hajime is not estranged from her body or physically tense. She is always skipping, dancing, and flailing around. She is present in herself and the moment. She doesn't possess the rigidity of the disciplined fascist body. She is also not performing for the male gaze or for status. She moves with joy and a desire for expression. Even in combat she is having fun. She rarely transforms unless it is necessary, showing a comfort in her own skin. When the body transforms, either into a Gatchaman form or even CROWDS, in order to perform violence or perform for an audience, authenticity is lost. If the psychosexual dimensions of fascism exist as theorized, being at home in one's own body is the surest way to healthily exorcise them, with exercise.

Practice 4. Community, not Tribe

Both the Gatchaman and GALAX start out as essentially benevolent secret societies, good intentioned but secretive and selective. Neither is really equipped to deal with the threats they will face. Meanwhile, Hajime is using social connections, both online and offline to communicate and organize with diverse groups to help on goals from earthquake recovery to arts and crafts. She opens the Gatchaman up to public scrutiny and transparency. And as Rui's benevolent dictatorship as LOAD GALAX falls apart, GALAX is reformed by ensuring there's no hierarchy or elite. Hajime leads through facilitation, not embodiment. She is communicative and open. She doesn't control anyone directly, she just persuades. She models best practices, and never punishes or excludes anyone for their failures. Flexible networks of public spirited volunteers do not fall to authoritarianism the way Rui's elite CROWDS unit did.

Practice 5. Epistemic Humility

Hajime often says "I don't know" or "I'm not sure." She guesses. She isn't quick to pick sides. This is in strict contrast to season 2's Tsubasa, who is always quick to act and judge. Hajime observes and considers for much of season 2 stepping back from the lead role in the series to think about what is happening. She is always provisional, experimental, collaborative, communicative, comfortable with ambiguity, and curious about mistakes that have been made. She memorably makes Tsubasa uncomfortable when she says conflict can be good, and unity can be bad. Being able to sit with ambiguity and resist certainty allows you to resist emotional contagion and the mob mentality it leads to. Hajime always offers a well considered solution instead of a pat, knee jerk answer unlike Jo, Rui, and Tsubasa, leading to their respective downfalls.

Practice 6. Irony and Playfulness

There is much to be said about how fascism thrives in the irony poisoned spaces of the modern internet. But fascism thrives in contradiction. Fascism revels in the ironic mockery of the weak, but becomes earnest and sensitive when itself is mocked. The fascist has absolutely no sense of humor about himself. Suddenly the mockery isn't as funny when pointed in the other direction. From its characters to it's designs, Gatchaman Crowds is playful, colorful, feminine, and silly. There are tons of ridiculous and goofy elements to the story, winking at the viewer about how silly it all is. It references the original anime, toys with superhero conventions, and contains a lot of incongruous absurdity. But this is the irony of play and not mockery. It is not detached, the irony of an elite pouring scorn on the lesser. Hajime is always engaged and caring, able to laugh at herself. The ability to not take oneself seriously is one the fascist does not possess.

Practice 7. Accepting Limits

Hajime is rather hands off and passive in contrast to Sugane, Rui, and Tsubasa. The need for control and certainty leads to absolutism. Hajime is always willing to take a break and do something different. Eat, play, go outside, sit and think. Rui however is driven, a pure idealist who wants to bring about a revolution she thinks only she can bring about. For Rui, everything is always moving too slowly, but using Katze's power of CROWDS backfires in the end. In the second season, Rui is much more willing to compromise and accept partial solutions, to hear other people out, and to wait. This is entirely due to Hajime's influence on her. Accepting flexibility and limitations allows her to act at the time and place of her choosing instead of being eternally vigilant and burned out.

Practice 8. Political Action, not Political Performance

Gatchaman Crowds does not provide a political program, just a methodology. Hajime works both within and outside of existing systems. She works with individuals and institutions, she trusts people, and she focuses on concrete problems. Most importantly, she organizes. We first learn about her group to help survivors of the 2011 earthquake. She knows all of the people in charge of the police and military in the city, so she knows who to call when Katze strikes. She trusts people with education and tools, and knows when to rely on others' expertise. Most importantly, in the conclusion to Gatchaman Crowds insight, she makes the violence the people of Japan wish on their enemies to be made explicit instead of hidden behind abstractions.

Practice 9. Gratitude and Wonder

Hajime thinks everything is cool. She thinks everything is interesting. But she isn't purely positive in a cruel, smug way. We can see her get upset and concerned. She acknowledges setbacks and difficulties, and feels the emotions appropriate for the trouble. But she doesn't linger in negativity, learning to bounce back and learn from the mistakes. Curiosity is the key to Hajime's power. When problems are puzzles, you don't need to create enemies.

Practice 10. Having Multiple Identities

When people put all of their value in one role they perform, they become vulnerable to having that role stripped from them. This kind of aimless anomie can lead to fascist thinking. You can see this with both Jo and Rui when their role of superhero or tech messiah are violently taken from them. If you value yourself for multiple reasons, you're not bound to a strict self definition. The show itself has a large ensemble cast, with lots of characters, and a lot of viewpoints. Among the Gatchaman, being a superhero isn't all they do. They have other jobs. They have friends, social lives, hobbies, and interests. Rui and Tsubasa become obsessed with one primary role among all of the others, and it becomes a weakness to be exploited. As always, flexibility is key. No one identity should be totalizing. The more identities you possess, the more robust to shocks your personality will be.

Practice 11. Intellectual Rigor

If Gatchaman Crowds insight has a simple lesson, it's think, don't react. The show itself demonstrates careful thinking by allowing characters with different perspectives to discuss their values and perspectives. Not even Tsubasa is always wrong. There's always a valid point made in every argument. The conclusions of the show also have a lot of nuance instead of providing easy answers. The most important thing the show demonstrates is changing your mind when you've been shown to be wrong. Lots of characters fail, but then they grow. They get better. The learn from their mistakes and become better people. As Hajime says, from conflict can come a lot of pretty sparks.

Practice 12. Just Turn it Off

Gatchaman Crowds had a scene where Hajime tells Utsutsu to just turn her phone off if people are being mean. This was widely considered dismissive of real issues with cyberbulling. If people are using technology to torment you, removing yourself from the computer isn't going to fix anything. However there is a certain amount of damage that is self inflicted. There's science now that shows that technology is leading people to be more reactive and moved by emotional contagion and not thoughtful deliberation. Technology must be used carefully and mindfully, or it should not be used at all. Even when Hajime was wrong, from another perspective, her point is still valid.

Gatchaman Crowds insight shows the way the Hajime antifascism method can work. In Tsubasa, you have an earnest, sentimental, hard working girl who accidentally ushers in a fascist dictatorship. But Hajime always leaves her communication channels open. She does not condemn, as this leads to positions hardening. She does not exclude, which only creates martyrs. She does not fight, as this only validates the opposing narrative.

In insight's conclusion, Hajime makes the consequences of the lynch mob's violence visible to all of Japan. She appeals to people's inner values, and provides them an off-ramp to deescalate without losing face. Then, she trusts their fundamental humanity. There are signs this method is working with the troublesome median voter in the real world. A hardened fascist can't be reasoned with, but taking away any potential recruit is important.

Gatchaman Crowds is important because it shows that antifascist media can be fun, powerful, and relevant. It holds up today because these principles hold in every element of the show's production. But it's also just a really entertaining show. You should watch it!