Make the Punishment Fit the Crime

[foxinthestars]

Okay, dwircle/lj-friends, here's the deal. Among the various things I do at my Unitarian Fellowship, I'm in charge of wranging volunteers to lead the Sunday morning adult forum discussion. It's a pretty tight-knit, friendly sort of group. But, in a rare turn of events, no one has stepped up to lead for next week. Of course it's possible that someone will e-mail me within the coming week and volunteer, but I want to have something in reserve in case they don't. When I do it, I generally bring videos for them to discuss.

Now, if I'm taking the job seriously, I could show them Bill Moyers' interview with Naomi Klein, or if anybody knows a good TED Talk (they've heard Brene Brown, BTW, she was like the first one I showed 'em), or something like that.

But I'm tempted to punish them for their sloth and make them watch anime.

If I'm still taking my job somewhat seriously, I've got Kino's Journey and Mushishi (Season 1), which could be good to just show an episode of and discuss it (I've actually shown episodes from each of them before, "Land of Prophecy" and "Shrine in the Sea" to be specific), but maybe I just want to totally spike it this time.

Let's see, what else have I got on my shelf...

I'll rule out Revolutionary Girl Utena --- although the chances of any of them pursuing the rest of the show are pretty slim and thus they'd probably never know what I'd begun to put over on them.

I don't know that I feel like showing Rurouni Kenshin.

Princess Tutu's first two eps don't do it justice, IIRC.

Oh, hey, there's the Cromartie High School DVD I got as a bonus in that one Right Stuf order. ::snert:: Yeah, I don't think so...

I would *just* have time to show them the entire Psychic Force OVA, but that might be cruel and unusual.

That leaves The Twelve Kingdoms, Haibane Renmei, Moribito, and Natsume Yuujinchou. (Plus Voices of a Distant Star, although I never have gotten around to watching that one myself; I'd have to preview it).

I could also show them Mystery Science Theater shorts.

So, online friends, what do you think I should do?


EDIT: Well, I got a volunteer after all. ::Snap!:: Still welcome opinions in case this comes up again. ^_~

Comments

[branchandroot]

Haibane Renmei would be a shoo-in if there were time for more than one ep. Of course, you could be evil and make them draw conclusions from just one episode. But I think I'd vote for Natsume, not least because there's such a good chance of hooking one or more people on it for good.

[foxinthestars]

Well, (un)fortunately I did get a volunteer just now, so we're actually going to be discussing racial profiling as reflected in a local vehicle stops report. Important stuff.

But!

If I do this at some later date, it would probably be one episode or just possibly two. (I do wish I had a format to show these people whole series, but as of now I don't.) I will have to keep Natsume in mind, particularly. Ep 1 never fails to make me cry.

[annotated_em]

I'd vote Mushishi or Natsume Yuujinchou, myself.

[foxinthestars]

It was funny the time I showed them Mushishi before, a guy happened to come that day who was already a fan of the show (had never attended before and I don't recall seeing him since). I showed the episode, one with a really interesting ethical quandary, and then me and fan-who-happened-by spent the next half-hour trying to explain to the regulars what the heck they'd just watched. At some point I threw up my hands like "You watched it, you know as much as I do!"

I did get pre-empted by a volunteer this time, but I am filing away the idea of showing them Natsume Yuujinchou.

Are there any particular Mushishi eps that you have in mind?

[annotated_em]

Mmm, maybe the one about the traveling swamp? Or the inkstone? Or the first episode is a good one, too.