You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February, 2008.
I’m going to get the bad out of the way first because it’s fresh in my mind having been crammed mostly into the end of the series. Through the first 18 episodes the show was nonstop great and I thought would be a shoe-in candidate for my alltime favorites but the rest of the show went and ruined it. The plot gets totally unfocused, the pacing goes fucking insane, a new character who I found it thoroughly impossible to care about is thrown in and wastes plenty of time, and generally the quality was unimpressive.
It all seems to have to do with the 6-part episode ‘14 days’ which is interrupted for 2 random eps before the ending. The first part is okay only because of it’s totally awesome experimental animation techniques, but shit and fan collide for the next 3 eps. Besides a few good moments, it was almost entirely ass. Episode 13 finally seemed to be getting good again and episode 24 was awesome for he first half, the second half being recap. In fact, I think this would have made a perfectly fine ending to the series, but there were 2 more eps.
Luckily, episode 25 might have been my favorite episode of the whole show, however it SHOULD NOT have been episode 15 because it is a complete aside form any of the going plots. The last episode, though, is definitely the worst. At first it seems to be taking on a ‘darkest just before dawn’ approach or something with prospects of a potentially good ending but then, after some more of the ‘this is all nice, but could we get some more plot please?’ scenes that had plagued this arc the whole shebang ends in a shattering anti-climax with no real conclusions of anything. I know that the anime only makes up a small part of the manga but FOR GODS FUCKING SAKE, AT LEAST FUCKING TRY TO MAKE A REAL FUCKING ENDIND.
Setting aside my anger and trying to reach back into the nexus of my fond memories of this show, it’s another one like Manabi that came for me at the right time with the right messages only this one was the most direct of em all. One of the main themes was literally that certain things are more important than schoolwork IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Thank you for understanding, fellow smart kids. It was also a really nice, quick-paced romance with interesting side-stories (aside from that fucking bullshit of the last arc). Putting aside her great looks, grades, and popularity, I relate with Yukino on many levels, so that was fun to see as well.
Honestly, though, even though I know the first 18 eps were freaking great I just can’t shake the terrible that happened afterward. It just leaves an utterly horrible taste in my mouth. In addition, this show should NOT have been 26 eps. Like I said, I know the manga is much longer, but the amount of shit they got done could have fit in 13 episodes, had there not been SOOOOOOOO MUUUUCH RECAAAAAAP!!! It felt like the entire story was re-told from the start up to it’s current point a zillion times either in pre-show or in characters’ thoughts or in the 2 recap episodes (really it’s 1 and 2 halves of eps but still good fucking god). Not to mention all the parts with just random cityscape pictures for up to a full minute.
In any case, I probably have to check out the manga now and I feel like I need to rewatch only the good episodes to get this bad taste out of my mouth lest my memories turn all sour since I was REALLY looking forward to praising this show and can’t even remember what I had to say >_<
Oh! The characters. Arima was a great guy, Yukino is, as mentioned, very relatable, Asapin was funny, basically everyone was great except the basketball douchebag. My favorite, even though she was woefully underdeveloped, was the resident writer girl. I always have a thing for the character who follows their dreams, plus she had a personality made of win and best of all, she’s a smoker! Charaters seem like another good reason I should read the manga, just to get to know them better.
Just cuz I haven’t posed in several days and because I didn’t copypasta my overview of Haibane Renmei from the forums and now I don’t feel like making it into a blog post. Currently I’m watching Kare Kano which I’ve seen certain episodes of on the Funimation network.
I bought a couple manga today (Shugo Chara and Stray Little Devils) haven’t read SC yet but the other one is a true gem. Maybe I’ll do a part on it for my manga page : O Anywho, not that you’ll read this in real time so it doesn’t matter really but I’m staying up all night tonight. Just because I can. For those of you who aren’t emo faggots and therefor don’t use myspace (I only just created one for networking purposes) I am currently at a quandry because my progress report comes on Friday and I have been putting 0 effort into schoolwork. Of course, I don’t give half a damn about my grades but I’m curious as to how my parents will receive this.
Anyway, this isn’t Emo Boy’s Anime Blog so I’ll get back to what matters. For those who don’t know, I’m a director with a sort of partnership with my cousin whom is also doing other projects with me. I’ve also been writing for years however I’ve never been good at literature because I don’t read enough, however I have the most utterly pretentious taste in anime and that, combined with a creative mind and writing ability, is enough for me to have started work on a show script. YES I am fully aware that I cannot write an anime because, no shit, I can’t speak Japanese. However, maybe I’ve got some chance in convincing a risk-taking cartoon company into helping me. Or maybe I should give up now, but hey, at least I’m dedicated to the project and I’ve been planning the living shit out of it instead of doing classwork for a while now. You can bet your ass it’s full of crazy plot twists, yuri, many character deaths, and the all-important shared aspect of 4 of my top 5 - dream following though not in anywhere near the context of my favorites, oddly enough. If I absolutely had to compare it to something I’d consider it a mix between Gurren Lagann, 12 Kingdoms (even though I dislike the show I admit there are certain things it pulls off spectacularly that I hope to pull off just as well) and some dosage of a show I haven’t seen but can probably find comparable.
Now that you are in a state of full-on inability to care about a word I’m saying, I’m going to bring up how awesomely grateful I am to have received this Right Stuf catalog which has been POSITIVELY DISTURBINGLY helpful to me the last few days. Having read the history of the company celebrating their 20th anniversary, I figured out that the disk read error when I put in Kare Kane volume 1 was probably because the PS2 couldn’t handle the advanced DVD and sure enough the PS3 played it just fine. Next, they were talking about a series of theirs called Shingu which dm, a person I usually listen to, brought it up the next day as an underrated series. Lastly, I’d happened to catch notice of a picture from a manga called Stray Little Devils that looked interesting and when I happened to be buying manga on a whim it cought my eye, I bought it, and it was wonderfull. Also, because I realized that Kare Kano was a Right Stuf license, I was able to realise how it’s possible for Boogiepop and Shinobuden to be coming to the FUNimation network.
Right Stuf has quickly become amongst my favorite licensing companies. Especially because they seem like the most likely to bring over any other UFOTable shows :O
Seeing as how I am very very late to the party, I’m not going to talk about what made Nadesico an amazing show. I’m sure you can find a zillion reasons by asking anyone who’s been around anime for a long time, or better yet asking the man who I think explained it best and inspired me to watch it (among other things) Omoikane (who’s name’s origin I now understand, haha) Instead of why the show was great (see: amazing characters, burning passion, etc.) I want to talk about my reception of it.
My reception is currently a reflection of my recent rewatching of Welcome to the NHK. I’ve gotten used to it, but it is still an amazing sight. Had I seen this show before Eureka Seven or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, I’d have found myself in tears at the end, raving about the beauty of manly passion and following your dreams. No, I’m not saying my reaction has weakened, in fact, it’s just grown stronger. At first, when I saw this kind of show, I was completely blown away by the spirit and inspiration which oozed from it. Shows like this are what keep me going - what showed me how to live and push me onward toward the future. Shows like this are the things everyone should know about and come to understand. Because I’ve gotten used to them, Nadesico didn’t leave me in an emotional stupor, but the emotion is just as strong. Like with NHK, which had bewildered me the first time I watched it, I now watch it only thinking of how I know it’s truths well. Of course, those two shows have entirely different messages, but that’s not the point XD.
My only question now is how is this supposed to infiltrate my top 5? Are all of my five going to be mech shows about a man’s romance? XDDD
Upon completing RahXephon, I believe this is the only anime I’ve ever watched in which, while watching, I honestly didn’t know what was going on. The weakness of RahXephon can be summarized in a way that is so simplistic it belies the importance of the fallacy. I recognize the mistake rather easily because it is a trouble I have encountered many times in my writing which, like RahXephon, tends to be full of mystery and pretentiousness. It is apparent that the show’s writer knew what he wanted the show to be, and how he wanted everything to be, but he didn’t communicate it in a way that fully explains himself. I get the feeling that the show makes perfect sense to him, but the rest of us will have to settle with interpreting details in our own way. Another trouble with RahXephon is that throughout, there always seem to be things that the viewer purposefully isn’t informed of which only serves to make situations more contrived and confusing. This continued up to the last episode which answered only as many questions as it raised before usurping everything into a singular conclusion.
Now that the negative is out of the way, I can get down to what i really liked about RahXephon. Firstly, it moves fast, with a lot of emotions rushing at you from all directions all the way through. Admittedly it did seem rushed at times as many epics of this length do (contrary to popular opinion, I think Eureka Seven’s greatest advantage was the time it allowed itself to take deep breaths) however the fast moving did work to Rah’s advantage in that it kept me on my toes. Ayato makes for a great lead because he isn’t caught up in any single emotion. He doesn’t go through stages from weak to strong, he just goes with a suitable mentality for his situation, and it makes for one of the more realistic characters I’ve seen in anime.
Characters could be considered both a strong and weak point of Rah. Emotionally, the characters were all very well developed, however we are never given much of an indication of who they are. Besides Ayato liking to draw and Haruka’s love of drinking and old music, most of the characters are a personality without a really solid being. That’s not really a bad thing, but it leaves most of them quite unmemorable despite the way they wonderfully advanced the plot. Haruka could have been my favorite character as a strong willed girl with a strong heart, but I felt she was really weakened in the last few episodes along with the rest of the female cast as most of them turned into helpless saps crying over their men which was less than satisfying. Likewise, a lot of the secondary characters would have been a little better if I’d known exactly what they were up to. The doctor in the glasses seemed like a great guy but I never could grasp his real motives. My favorite ended up being the goofy older inspector character who’s fun antics made great scenes throughout the show, and even managed to walk away with the best idea of what happened when the dust cleared, even if I have no idea what he knew.
I think the biggest reason for all the confusion in RahXephon is the lack of a real antagonist, or rather that it’s near impossible to tell what each designated faction is really up to. SO many people are under the control of so many others that it all ends up being a giant contrivance, none of which matters in the end because the whole structure of hierarchy falls apart b the end, and most of the people who’s intentions were unclear get shot or stabbed in the conclusion. By the end, wether things went ‘just a planned’ for the bad guys or Ayato blew the cap off of everything is left up for interpretation, but the basis of any interpretation would be difficult to find.
I know that it sounds like I have more bad to say than good, but I really did like RahXephon. A lot of it was in the singular moments which just plain rocked. I gotta give props to the director for taking certain scenes and really figuring out how to put the most stylish and cool spin on them. Even in this case, though, Rah does seem a bit confused with it’s mix of apparently symbolic artwork and plethora of insane designs which sort of reminded me of Neo-Ranga. The execution of artistic ideas was hit and miss, but when it hit, it hit hard. My favorite episode had to be episode 19 which is almost a self-contained story full of gripping dialogue and all-around well-made action splattered with glorious irony. The last episode was another pretty good one with a very impressive style, and even managed to pull a groundbreaking plot twist out of the last minute or so which totally reinvents one’s perception of many of the show’s scenes.
Over time, I always had a mixed vision of how I would receive RahXephon - part of me expected something psychological and pretentious which I would enjoy for those very reasons, and another part expected something boring and gaudy which I wouldn’t like. However, I was surprised by the humbleness of RahXephon even in the face of it’s immense self-consumedness and managed to enjoy it. I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites, but I think of it fondly.
Back in October/November I decided I wanted to get into anime figures. I did a lot of looking around at them to see which ones I wanted to get. The thing I found most obvious was Yunocchi, because she is pretty much my favorite anime gal ever, however I found out she was sold out, and my friend who is far more experienced in these maters told me that there was little chance there’d ever be restock. Taking this to heart, I decided that if I really wanted a figure I would preorder it, therefor assuring my stock and if I decided it was a stupid idea I could cancel the order. So I preordered the soon to be released Kino figure which was slated for January 31. Now, for a good while I didn’t need to worry about it, but once January hit I had to carefully plot out my expenditures to make sure I’d have enough when the figure was released. At the time I had also preordered the Hatsune Miku nendoroid, but cancelled it halfway trough January. I was uber looking forward to Kino still, though. However, near the end of January, I found out she got pushed back to February 15th. Now, I was a bit irked because it meant I’d been saving money I could have been spending, but I was glad that I would be able to spend it. So now the 15th was drawing near and I had just enough money ready. Literally, on the fucking 14th, they announced it would be pushed back again to the end of February. Now, I’m a very patient person, but it really fucks me up when I plan my whole goddamn allowance around something, stopping myself from buying things I want in anticipation only for it to be pushed back. I also have a Horo figure on preorder, though only because I think she will be a great character, I haven’t exactly decided if I will get it, but my friend was saying how it was likely she’d end up getting pushed back. He said ‘your prolly better off just spending your money’. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not completely whining, because now I can buy the Noein boxset on sale and get the next volume of Shadow Star, I just wish they wouldn’t fuck with me like that. I am very anal about organizing my money, and it just throws me off-balance.
Ever have a period of disturbingly low activity? That’s me the last few days. Having decided I didn’t feel like watching 12 K a few days back, I’ve spent the past few days evading both forums and anime. Yesterday, that meant recording for my next video (holy shit, I just realized that I’ve never even advertised my videos on here O_o) but today it meant sitting around and listening to obscure music. And not much else. What’s funny is, though, that even when I’m not thinking about anime, I’m still thinking about anime. When I’m listening to music, it might be anime music (current track, The Girl in Byakkoya) when I’m looking at porn, it’s always anime porn, etc. As I’ve mentioned, my dream is to be a director, especially on anime. However, because of my nature (lets blame that) I tend to write everything I direct as well as play the main character, so it’s not like I’m just a director. I’v been trying to write so many things over the years that my mind is a flurry of ideas, old and new, that I’m constantly trying. A couple months ago I had a concept for a slice of life show which I really liked but had abandoned sort of early on, and now I’m getting back to working on it because I found the stuff I’d written lying around and still liked the concept. If anyone’s interested in looking at some of my projects, just tell me so I can start attaching them to this blog, and maybe actually get them looked at XD. Also, since I’ve realized that I’ve never promoted my video series, go watch it. Go to youtube and search ‘Project Awesomeness’. It is currently 8 episodes, 1 behind the scenes ep, and a bloopers ep. You have to watch them in order to get some of the jokes, unfortunetally (I say this because episodes 4 and 7 are horrible) but eps 6 and 8 are great. 8 is a fucking masterpiece. Probably the best thing on youtube ever.
As you know by now, I am never up-to-date with shows because I am busy watching old-ass shit. Currently, I’m most actively watching Juuni Kokki which is good. That’s the only word for it though, ‘good’. As it stands, the plot, characters, setting, and all that are solid but just not very interesting. It’d be easy to go on about how the character development is on a level above most shows, but the characters are rather boring overall. But meh, maybe I need to finish it before I keep talking like that.
I was also watching 2×2=Shinobuden which is as stupid and hilarious as I wanted it to be. Shinobu’s yuri moments are amazing.
That reminds me, Candy Boy is getting made into a 7-ep show. This will be great, great news.
Speaking of short shows, the first episode of Mnemosyne was amazing and totally left me wanting the next one. This is a show that simply has everything. Style, badassery, amazing animation, great music, tastefully placed nudity, lots of blod and torture, sadists, SHOTGUN GLOVES, zombies, the most classic death ever, and moving on to what’s really important, tons of yuri and FUCKING GALNERYUS (for both op AND ed!!!)
Anywho, the distance between posts just now can be attributed to my cousin visiting to celebrate both his and my brother’s birthday. My cousin is the one who got me into anime way back on the first ep of Cowboy Bebop and he and I have retained extremely similar tastes over the years in all mediums, though he doesn’t watch nearly as much anime as me. In any event, for those who didn’t know my dream is to become a director and my cousin has very similar aspirations so we were talking about how we should help each other reach our goals and stuff. Fun times.
In the meanwhile, my brother got an assload of new games for his bday. DMC 4, Metroid Prime 3, Odin Sphere, UT3, and those Oblivion expansions. Well, UT3 looks fun as hell so I’ll be getting my hands on that, and even though I’ve heard it’s not as good as i’d hope, I still intend to put some time into Odin Sphere.
Oh, and I watched some berserk with my cousin since he’s rediculously into the manga and stuff. Got through half of it. Stuff started to get good, but was still just so damn cheesy…
I haven’t had much chance to play GrimGrimoire. I decided to not play on ’sweet’ since that was a little too easy, and only got through the first cycle of 5 days, however the last mission in which I was simply told to survive for 20 minutes was so much fun that I know the game will be great. If I do have any kind of complaint, it’s that sometimes you aren’t sure if you could be classified as winning or loosing, but it’s still fun all in all.
Currently, I’m feeling a little pissed off because of school rearing it’s ugly head. I make a good point to ignore school so it’s pissing me off that it still tried to get a hold of my time. bah, whatever. Peace.
Yes, this is a rant, or a tangent, at least. I can’t really pick a concise topic due to the nature of my blog as being a place where I just talk about anime in general, and since my life is pretty much “anime and school” there’s a lot to talk about.
So, where to start? I watched Gankutsuou this past weekend, having seen 16 eps previously but going back to watch it all at once. If you’ve seen it, I probably can’t say much to you, and if you haven’t I won’t spoil anything. To call it the most incredible visual experience ever might be an understatement and saying it had the best special effects ever might be a rushed statement, but that’s how I feel. All around, it’s something not to be missed if you take anime seriously.
Oh snap! Was that a topic I just cleverly segued into? Taking anime seriously is something I do to an extent and something I’d like to gauge in the people I talk to sometimes. There are many reasons to watch anime, and two people watching for different reasons will have a hard time agreeing with or understanding each other I think. It’s not so much about genre, because there are anime that will simply please every kind of viewer, but there are also those that plain won’t. I haven’t given this subject quite the thought in order to categorize the people who watch anime, but I’ve got some ideas like ‘people who watch to be entertained’ or ‘people who want to find a deeper meaning’ or ‘people looking to the medium’s artistic expression’ and of course, some people want all of these things.
I’m more than sure that there are people who watched NHK and found it funny, some found it reflective, some found it sad, and I thought about it too much. I rewatched NHK over the last 3 days as a reaction to the ADV incident which seems to have washed away already and found it to be as good as I remembered. That’s great, because after so long and having read the extremely great novel, I had a very blurred memory of the anime but was thinking I wouldn’t like it as much the second time because of the extreme difference from the superior novel. However, I was wrong, and instead found the show and novel to sort of be on level if only because their messages really were the same even if portrayed differently, and either road is fine for getting the point across.
What I did find interesting was that I seem to have accepted the morals as a fact of life, finally. After years of reading and rereading Boogiepop and Others, watching and reading NHK, and having seen Hitohira, broken down after Manabi, and being sobered by Niea_7, I was rather used to the idea that every time I was reminded of the dark nature of the future, I would become depressed. Most of those things I experienced at times of great indecision in my life, however now that I saw NHK again it was not so much depressing as inspiring. Even if you realize that the ending is ultimately sad, you can still take joy in it just by seeing the smile on Misaki and Satou’s faces.
Of course, it helps that I watched Lain again recently, and know the way the ending really would have been. It’s honestly a kind of unrelated subject from the other shows I mentioned as far as the theme goes, only connected by the fact that both deal directly with society. And overall, the fact that two shows perceive society differently means they are different, and Lain is surely different, plus more up my alley. I’m not going to sit here and talk about my perception of reality, but if you watch this show and think about it in anywhere near the same context I did, you will probably feel the same way about it.
So, what do I watch anime for? I will say that I always try to look at everything that an anime is. When I decide what it is, I won’t be picky about it, though. Say I decide a show is, in fact, thoroughly shallow. I will accept it as such, but it’s not like that determines my enjoyment. If I see the show as deep, it only means it’s deep. Some people probably think that sounds obvious, but when I loaned Boogiepop Phantom to a friend he had the nerve to skip an episode and refuse to watch it. I know that he liked the show, but I can’t possibly accept that he really saw it on the level I did, nor did so with the novels.
That isn’t a bad thing. I don’t mind that someone else read Boogiepop and Others as a good but “kind of boring” supernatural horror story, but of course he won’t have the same opinion of it as I do, seeing it as the ultimate culmination of societarial fact and emotional journey. Perception and reason are still two different things, though.
I watch a LOT of anime. But overall, the ones I enjoy are ones that teach me something, and that lesson can be anything. It can even just be ‘yes, this exists’ but when I see it, I will be happy. ef gave me a new definition of story, inspiration, art, direction, and so much more, so I love it. However, Hatenkou Yuugi has shallow plots, an episodic nature, and uninspired animation, but you’d be hard-presseed to find better dialogue or more fun characters in any other anime.
Sometimes, I forget what I’ve learned and need to rewatch something. Occasionally, I’ll even realize upon rewatching that there is something I need to study. However, with every lesson I gain from anime, I feel like the entire medium grows in importance for me, and I can’t tell you how great it is to add a new show to my top 10, even if it makes me only question how far I’ve come, showing me how much more is still out there.
A week ago, I got my friend to hack into my computer and IP ban me from otakuboards.com because I used to go there too much, and I’ve since watched a lot more anime, having had more time. However, as always, it’s less than I schedule myself for, haha! today I was to go back to the start of Blue Drop and watch the whole thing. While it’s good again, I don’t really feel like I’m in the mood for it. Mostly this is because of my getting a little involved in the annual Anime Grand Prix on Megatokyo’s Forum which left me in an odd mood. I am very poor at disagreeing with people, because I like my opinion a lot. For me, anime is my life and my opinions are my everything. I spend a lot of time recommending things to people and such just trying to get them to see what I see, because it is my dream for people to feel the same way I do about things. However, a contest literally forces yourself to disagree with people, and more often than not, they aren’t actually able to be convinced away from their opinion, which just tends to piss me off.
However, right after watching many great series in a row, I really feel the need to be moved by something and inspired. Part of my reason for giving myself extra time was to get started on a project of my own, but I’m still at a little bit of a standstill deciding which direction to go in. I just need to find a way to convince myself of something new.
On another note, my new time has gotten me to return to gaming somewhat. On Saturday I bought No More Heroes and GrimGrimoire which I’ve been meaning to get for a long time, only convincing myself I’d never end up playing it. I’m near the end of No More Heroes which is pretty great. It’s the first Wii game I’ve ever gotten into. There was a small amount of disappointment because I kind of expected it to be the OMG greatest game ever, but what there is is still great fun and entertainment. It is definitely a game that begs you to play it more than once, which I may end up doing, which is very rare for me outside the occasional handheld.
If do get back into gaming, I’ll be sure to incorporate that into this blog. If only because the video game industry doesn’t see enough variety to have as unique interests as I do in anime in music.
(holy crap, I didn’t have a boogiepop tab?) (or an ef one? WTF?)
This Series (In Order of Favoritism):
Hatenkou yuugi - The character interaction and dialogue are just too awesome. It’s like if Jing had better writing and characters (ot to say Jing wasn’t cool, but the anime weakened him)
Shigofumi - Still haven’t gotten around to the second ep, but everyone seems to love it enough
Hakaba Kitaro - Gegegegege…
Wolf and Spice - Haven’t gotten to ep 2 but I heard it gets much better
True Tears - okay, I haven’t seen more than 1 ep of anything but Hatenkou yuugi
Persona - I was trying to watch this, but trying right after seeing Tokyo Maajin and KARAS wasn’t working. Will try again soon.
Might drop:
H2O - For the same reason I dropped most of the ero adaptions I started last year, when it comes to making a choice of what to watch, no time for something silly and mediocre.
Gunslinger Girl S2 - I haven’t even started it, I’m too scared
Planning to watch soon:
ARIA the ORIGINATION - gunna finish the first 2 seasons this weekend and then get to this.
Zoku SZS - need to finish first season.
Stuff that isn’t from this season that I am actually actively watching:
Gankutsuou - seen through 16 before, about to marathon it all finally
Pani Poni Dash - My brain asploded.
Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko - Trying to figure out where it will go
KARAS - saw first OVE - so awesome
Hidamari Sketch - Need to finish S1 plus special
Neon Genesis Evangelion - rewatching, because it has been WAY too long.
Kino’s Journey - need to bu it again I guess T_T at least I’ll be helping out ADV
Was watching a couple days ago and now I’m not sure:
La Cordo d’Oro - not bad, but not great.
Loveless - soooo good. Will finish on the next rainy afternoon.
History’s Strongest Desciple Kenichi - random eps here and there, it’s pretty hilarious.
Recent Comments