Recent news & updates
Baseball, Greek goddesses and Valentine's, among other things… · 17 February 2008
I’ve been sitting around trying to figure out a good way to talk about Ookiku Furikabutte for a while, but I can’t. Nothing I say seems to be right and the more I write the more dissatisfied I become with my words. So, going to back to my second grade English class, keepin’ it simple: I like it. Yes, three words, ‘I like it’ and it being Oofuri. I can’t say anything else. I’m in love with Mihashi, Abe, Tajima and everyone else on the Nishiura team. There’s something wonderful about the whole series and it permeates through the story, the characters, page after page, episode after episode like hot fudge on a sundae. I can’t resist Mihashi’s awkward tenderness, I can’t resist Abe’s seriousness, Tajima’s humor, or anything the series throws at me, hook, line and sinker, no puns intended. The whole experience is just like ice cream on a hot summer day, the fluidity of Mihashi’s pitches, the sharp noise when the batter connects, the hardball sailing through the solid, cloudless blue sky, the expressions on their faces, the love they have for the sport. If I go any further, my words will become muddled and lost, even edging on pretension, so I’m going to stop here and stick the original statement, with a slight alternation: I love it.
I realized today that I’m only following two shows from the fall season, Gundam 00 and Rental Magica. I gave up on Dragonaut. Watching anime shouldn’t be like fighting an already lost battle. When you walk into a GONZO production, you have to brace yourself for terrible animation. Unlike their other shows, Speed Grapher, Pumpkin Scissors, even Last Exile, Dragonaut’s missing GONZO’s only saving grace, good stories, not so subtle moralistic undertones and likable characters. Everything Kazuki does is like a bullet to the head, starting, way back when, with the haircut. Dragonaut’s story had potential, it’s not everyday you see some guys riding around in space dragons. I even overlooked the gigantic, bouncing breasts! But after a dozen episodes of “Toa!” “Jin!” “Toa!”, I’m through! I don’t care what happens on Mars, with that creepy prince guy and Scarlet, I’m done! Maybe one day I’ll pick it up again and finish it, but for now, I need to go dunk my head in cold water.
Gundam 00, on the other hand, is starting to pick and my interest is increasing with each episode. The introduction of Trinity and the three new gundams and that strange prologue near Jupiter, along with that AEU Professor’s death and Nena blowing Louise’s family to hell is setting the remaining six something episodes up for a really big, loud, possibly emo conclusion. And, I loved Graham Aker totally pwning Johann Trinity. Half a minute of pure pwnage. He comes in flying, pulls out one energy sword, bam, bam, pulls out a second sword, more bam, bam. Then, sends Johann’s saber flying, ditches the two he has already, grabs Johann’s sword and even more bam, bam, he severs one of the gundam’s arms. Haha! Take that! And, then he coughs up a lot of blood. Graham Aker feels like G00’s November 11, it’s almost like they share a spiritual connection. I was looking forward to Exia either getting pwned, or pwning the Trinity guys when the ending set it. According to the previews, Lockon’s got a gun and is aiming it at Setsuna. It happens a lot, the whole point guns at Setsuna thing, but no one’s pulling the trigger. And, oh! The kiss! Nena’s kiss, I almost saw that coming, almost, but I can’t lie, it did shock me. Where this is all going to go? Who knows. Maybe all the leagues will join together with Celestial Beings to take down the Trinity gundams. I still can’t really figure out what Louise, Saji and Saji’s sister role in all of this is. Maybe Saji’s sister will fall victim to Trinity, seeing how the prof kicked the bucket because he finally figured out the whole story and Saji’s sister’s chasing the same end.
Maybe it’s Valentine’s, or something, but there’s been an awful lot of kissing and love, despite tragedy. Somewhere along the way, Adelicia ended up kissing Itsuki. It was going to happen sooner or later and at no better a time than facing a fire breathing demon queen with sharp claws. I’m glad Ituski’s no longer pulling the eye patch off and is finally learning some magic of his own. Seeing him get rid of that larva and holding his own against the aforementioned demon queen was good. Even more curious was the whole thing with Daphne and Seriken, which seems to parallel Adelicia and Ituski’s situation. I’ve always been for Ituski and Honami, but, you never know, he’s always surrounded by women. The real surprise came when Daphne ended up being Adelicia’s sister and that the Gara guy had sabotaged Oswald Mathers’ ceremony. Rental Magica is probably one of the few series I’m content with. Every episode, every arc, I’ve never had a real complaint, I’m just watching the story progress, enjoying each new twist, each new character, each new development. It’s nothing ground breaking, but it’s a good feeling knowing that you’ll walk away at the end with a solid series under your belt.
And, finally, the show I’ve been waiting for: Mnemosyne. With a name like that, how could I refuse? Judging by the first episode, Mnemosyne is probably a series I’m going to enjoy. The 1990s setting is slightly reminiscent of Speed Grapher and in a similar fashion, Mnemosyne doesn’t hold back on the sex and violence. The protagonist dies in the first two minutes. Some chick with a shotgun blasts her, hanging from the edge of a roof, a couple times and her corpse falls off snapping power lines and what not. She wakes up and you’re thinking it’s a dream, but it’s not. I hate and love shows that tease you with ambiguity, leaving subtle clues here and there. It’s like a painfully slow striptease, a flash of skin here and there just to keep you awake. There are also these random bubble floating through walls, people, cars and everything and a giant tree thing in the background, coupled with that phone call. It’s got my gears turning, but I’m not connecting any dots.
There’s a lot of blood, a lot of piercing, a lot of breasts and a lot of death, gunshots, zombies, all that nice sci-fi, but it’s set in the ’90s. I mean, the cars aren’t hovering in mid air, nothing fancy going on, trucks are still trucks, shotguns are still shotguns, it’s like a little bit of the future in the past. Mimi, the loli, when I first saw her I rolled my eyes, when I thought something unique came down the pipe, behold, a loli. But apparently, like the series, she’s got her own little secret, Mimi, forever. Every once in a while, I need something that’s not a meditation on life, deep things and existence, but just blood, gore, death, action and a little of bit of thinking, to keep everyone happy.
As for Valentine’s Day? Well, I meant to make a post, I meant to. I had nothing good to write about and I was out most of the night and just gave up on the idea in the end. Happy Late Valentine’s, everyone!
Patriots lost! Damn! · 3 February 2008
I know this is an anime blog, but I can’t help it. PATRIOTS LOST! DAMN! I know I live in New York, but a perfect season! A perfect season! Damn…..I’m going to sit in the corner and weep now.
Speed Grapher – The End · 30 January 2008
Speed Grapher’s been on my To Watch List for ages, sitting in the dark recesses of my external hard drive, waiting. When I pulled it out last night and decided, with intense determination, to plow through all twenty something episodes of the GONZO production, I really wasn’t sure what I was in for. Reading blurbs is an essential part to shopping for books, DVDs, even anime, but since I didn’t pay a penny for the fansubbed post-licensing Speed Grapher episodes, I simply dove head first into the series. And I dove head first into a deep, abysmal, bottomless pit of black…stuff.
In retrospect, Speed Grapher scared me more than anything, not the shock value of seeing a mad dentist sprout drill tipped spider legs, but the hideousness brought to light by the show. For some reason, GONZO has a knack for turning out incredibly moralistic (see: Pumpkin Scissors), severely critical and metaphoric series, as if they were standing on a pulpit, preaching to the rest of the world through anime, exposing the horrors and injustices of the world and how easily people get away with it.
Speed Grapher is like one giant life lesson. You’ve got this guy who loves taking pictures for the sake of taking pictures, a war photographer who risks his own life to record bits and pieces of history, a rarity in a world seduced by money and intoxicated by greed. You’ve got another guy, who (here comes the spoilers) was severely screwed over in his childhood, both parents killed, sister taken away, all because his father didn’t have the money to pay off his debts. He’s a crazy bio-weapon out for revenge on, basically, the entire human race. Fast forward a decade or two, these two guys, who have unknowingly met each other before on a distant battlefield, clash. And, the cherry to top it all off, bio-weapon guy runs a ‘club’ that lets people attain their ultimate desires. There more, but it gets complicated. Another GONZO trademark, there’s no way in hell to explain the plot in less than one paragraph.
The creepiest part, the part that freaks me out the most, is still how Speed Grapher plays and toys with human nature. The mutations of the Euphorias, the terrifying shapes they take on, how indulgent they are with their desires, how sick and depraved they become, how close, how utterly close it is to the truth, it’s like the message in the car mirror, “Objects are closer than they appear”. One of these days, it’s going to catch up with us and sadly people, myself included, are just walking blindly right into it.
Forget the terrible animation, forget the storyline even, there’s something a bit more alarming here. Speed Grapher might have even been allegorical, over exaggerating the truth so much to make its point. Well, it got it across. Another GONZO thing, everyone of its shows carries the largest banner advocating one ideal or another and waves it like crazy for the entirety of the show. Speed Grapher’s banner reads something like: The world’s a fucked place, do something about it. I can’t really think of any other way to sum up Speed Grapher, with all it’s sex and violence and money and death and for some strange reason, a sweetness, a bittersweetness that lingers like an aftertaste. Saiga, the photographer, and people like him, that’s the aftertaste, and maybe even a bit of hope.
And…Yet another GONZO thing, Speed Grapher doesn’t beat around the bush. Darker Than Black reminds me, for one reason or another, of Speed Grapher and takes a three mile detour to get around to saying something and fails to deliver the message entirely. Speed Grapher has one goal, that’s not to say it didn’t stray from it’s intended path and dabble in social commentary and all that other melodrama, but in the end, you walk away knowing damn well what you saw with a crystal clear understanding of what the show meant. Stuff that takes such a simple and not so pseudo-intellectual path is rare.
I can’t say Speed Grapher had unique characters, Suitengu, bio-weapon man, looks like Sephiroth no matter what I do, but Saiga’s not a character I’m going to forget soon. Not only did he fall for a terminal, mutant goddess less than half his age, he risked everything for it, even possible death by his crazy, obsessive detective girlfriend who goes around pumping things full of lead under ‘self-defense’. And then he went blind for her, he paid his contract in full, if you will. There are a couple of Saiga/Kagura scenes that were ridiculously cheesy, but at the same time, I loved them. The first parachute scene when they escape from the Kagura’s home and when they flee the wedding by helicopter, reminiscent of that whole Matrix sequence with the chopper (don’t ask.) I’m all for the couple, despite the age gap. A good love story is a good love story, to hell with society, if he’s in love with her, so be it! Kagura as character, though, was less than satisfying. Damsels in distress are one thing, but she barely spoke for a good chunk of the time and anything she said for the other good chunk of the time, was “Saiga-san! I want to stay with Saiga-san!”
Lesser characters that I’m going to have a hard time forgetting, Tsujidou, Wakabe and Niihari. Shockingly enough, all three were extremely loyal to Suitengu, two of them risking their lives for him. I guess they owed him their lives to begin with. And, though, I started off hating Suitengu to pieces, I couldn’t help but pity him, as sense we’re being honest, Shinsen, too. I hate the fact there is no true line between love and hate, instead there’s just this great big area of grey pity. A more memorable scene, in the epilogue of sorts, was when Niihari says that he has a dream, he’s going to get rich and erect three building in the middle of the city, one for Suitengu, one for Tsujidou and one for Wakabe. Camaraderie like that gets me.
Speed Grapher had style. Not as cool and slick as Bebop, not as refined and melancholic as Darker Than Black, but it had style, the gritty, battered, shocking reality of a stunning photograph, framing in one snap shot all the sins of society.
Everything, and I mean everything… · 29 January 2008
Warning: Long Post Ahead
Behold! My long awaited return to blogging! I kid. Anyway…
I finally got around to watching Mononoke, which, I have to say was an exceptionally brilliant piece of art, not just anime, but art. When you have a show like Mononoke floating in the same patch of ocean as ef, the contrast becomes sharper and the distinction clearer, you start seeing the fine line that separates Great and Almost Great and even the Not So Great.
Watching Mononoke was like eating cake, not just a slice, but the entire cake, bite after bite of lush, soft cake, icing, the decorative fruit, layer after layer, just stuffing yourself full with the most decadent, indulgent dessert you can imagine. Not only was each and every scene a pure explosion of color, the fantastical nature of the stories, the emotions of the characters were just as vivid as the artwork. Each episode trumps the previous, culminating in one of the most exhilarating and amazing finales.
Mononoke isn’t scary in the contemporary, Hollywood sense, no zombies, no chainsaws, no giant monsters. But there is a lot of blood, not in the usual shade of crimson but a myriad of different colors, splashed across flimsy screen doors and white kimonos. The scariest part of Mononoke is probably watching the characters find themselves, admit their mistakes and almost regurgitated their past sins. That’s the key to exorcising a Mononoke, truth, form and regret. In short, and for a lack of better words, it’s one of the most beautiful and brilliant mind fucks to have ever graced my monitor. Half-way through an episode, with all the color, all the screams and shrieks, the flurry of subtitles (though this really only affects non-Japanese speaking people like me) bombarding my sense, I slipped and fell down a deep and treacherous rabbit hole.
And to add to my growing fondness for the series, it had a damn fine opening and ending theme.
It’s a spin off, sure, but it was a damn good spin off. Not to mention Takahiro Sakurai was the Medicine Seller. It was as if the world fell apart and was slowly pieced back together, the paper thin pieces of our reality held together by glue, drowning in color, patterns, textures, that’s Mononoke. Sometimes you start thinking that maybe the people behind these shows live on a different plane than you do, how else are they able to see the world in such a different way?
I also managed to pull through the remainder of ef – a tale of memories and Night Wizard. I can’t say they were on the same level of enjoyment as Mononoke, but the former was an interesting detour into uncharted waters, and latter was a shameless, self-indulgent exercise in watching anime shunned by elitist bloggers, a dip into mediocrity if there ever were such a thing.
I’ve already ranted and incoherently blabbed about ef and having finished it, my final verdict is it’s just another run of the mill love story. Granted, for a while there Chihiro and Renji had me in pretty deep, especially when she threw away all the pages of her journal. And I was deliriously happy when Kei walked in on Hiro and Miyako, literally pointing and laughing. To call ef some great masterpiece would be a stretch, sure, it’s stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey with symbols, pretty, and random, imagery, but I’m at a loss as to what all that noise was about.
If you want to talk symbols and pretty imagery, watch Mononoke, if you want tear jerking romances, well, those are a dime a dozen. The most prevalent theme in anime is romance, from shows like Gurren Lagann to Zetsubou Sensei, every sub-category, ever genre of anime is infected with romance. Sometimes, the romance is so down right tragic, it makes ef look like a sheep in wolf’s clothing (and it’s not a typo). It was like the sappier version of Fifty First Dates, with a lot of angst and crying and some more angst and crying and a church. And when Chihiro and Renji finally reached the zenith of that unforgiving mountain they call love, she pushes him right off the peak. Typically, Renji would have just died, been shot, ruthlessly raped by a giant demon, or fade into the night sky on the eve of their wedding, but he came back. He came back and they made up and I was really expecting something, dare I say it, deeper for a show so examined and talked about.
I liked Night Wizard. I really did. It was one of the series I was borderline anticipating from the fall season, all because Hiiragi Renji, the falling man, was cute. The show captured very nicely the essence of a role playing game, battle music, nonsense attack names, giant weapons, hordes of demons, quests, even parties for the formation of the party and options (For the next question I’m about to ask you, please answer “Okay” or “Yes”), and of course, a serious twist I did not see coming.
The whole premise of the show was that Elis was the One, like Neo from the Matrix, with the power to save the world! And just like the Matrix, the world’s been saved before, by a multitude of other people! And when she, along with Hiiragi, Kureha and Akira finally gathered all seven jewels to open the door to the demon world and save the normal world, everything goes wrong. Enter, another pretty cute kid, Kirihito, the ‘Geizer’, I’m under the impression it should be Gazer, anyway. He apparently set everyone up and created Elis to be a vessel for this great demon who’s name I can’t spell who has the ability to completely destroy, well, everything! And then, cue the typical friends, love and peace prevailing against all odds theme and you have, in the nutshell, Night Wizard, unbearably simple and complex at the same time.
I walked away, in the end, feeling pretty good about myself. It goes back to that post I wrote up on Pumpkin Scissors, Night Wizard was one of those things that gave me such a warm feeling on the inside, a sense of companionship, if you will. Sometimes, there’s just not a lot to say about a series aside from “I liked it” and you’re not even sure why you liked it to begin with, but you did.
Rental Magica falls into the same category. I watched it because the lead character looked cute, I’m still watching it because he’s cute and because it’s a feel good thing. Every episode ends on such a light hearted joyous note. Rental Magica is going to end up being my Feel Good show of the season. I’m still waiting to see who that other kid in the opening is, as well.
I’ve been keeping up with Gundam 00. It weirds me out every once in a while that they’re still making gundam series and that I’m living through the actual broadcast of a gundam series. Mainly, because I regard anything gundam related as a relic of the anime past. The mecha designs are different, they’ve even migrated to a different timeline and protruded into the real world, but strangely, it’s still gundam. It’s nothing like the days of G Gundam (who’s racial stereotypes are even worse than G00’s) and Wing, but, again, it’s still gundam. So, to quote a line from one of my favorite songs, where did they go wrong?
The appearance of the three new gundams, sprouting somewhat satanic looking red GN particles actually gave me an incentive to watch the show. It seems the Celestial Beings organization is bigger and far more mysterious than they let on. Especially with the whole recap episode where they had talking pieces of art, reminiscent of SEELE from Evangelion and even the council from Star Wars. Aside from the new plot twists and, possibly, the beginning of a second arc (hence the recap), the new opening and ending were also pretty good. I’ve got the second ending sequence to G00 picked out as one of the best endings this year, and it’s only January. For one, it’s about a minute and a half of partially naked, emo guys on the beach. Need I say more?
As for Winter seasons shows, I’m only keeping up with two or three, Persona, Wolf and Spice, the second season Zetsubou Sensei (an issue I’ll address in a separate post all together) and that’s about it. Maybe I’ll pick up on some other series later, but nothing else seems to be of interest.
Persona’s been on my “have to watch when on air” list for a while. Iwatsuki Taku’s soundtrack is an added bonus, sometimes I hear bits and pieces of Gurren Lagann, maybe I’m just trying too hard. The title of the opening theme doesn’t help either, Breakin’ Through? Doesn’t that just scream Gurren Lagann? In any case, the two shows have nothing to do with each other. I seem to have a thing, lately, for role playing game adaptations (see: Night Wizard), because Persona, apparently, was a game as well. You can also see hints of rpg-ness, if you will, when the big monsters start clubbing each other. The animation is also pretty solid, the transparency of the fighting shadows is a nice touch. The plot isn’t in full swing yet, in fact, all the pieces of the puzzle haven’t even been revealed. Four episodes in, the most astonishing occurrence was Jun’s gender bending collapse at the end of episode four.
Wolf and Spice is probably the last thing I’m going to talk about. This post has become incredibly long. As Martin pointed out in his post, Wolf and Spice might just be one of the better shows this season. There’s something gentle, child-like about the series, but it also carries with it an almost melancholic sense of being, much like the characters. How Horo seems to sway from frivolity to severity like the ticking pendulum of a grandfather clock, how even just the grayness of Lawrence’s hair adds another level to his maturity, how, at first glance, there’s nothing amazing about the show and how half way through, I almost fell asleep, it all adds up to being something different. Perhaps, I find this amazing because I haven’t watched Kino or Mushishi, well haven’t finished but it’s almost the same thing. I’m digging the random merchanting segments, how Horo and Lawrence’s personalities bounce off each, it’s like fireworks without the spark, but beautiful nonetheless.
I lied, actually, because I left out Moyashimon. I thoroughly enjoyed Moyashimon, it was quirky from beginning to end, from the bird anus to the little floating microbes. It was like a short distraction, that’s what I end up calling all of these thirteen episode series, a short distraction. It taught me some really random facts about microbes and it pains me now to spray anti-bacterial things around my house, ever since that episode with the dead microbes. It was a pleasant shock for me to find out that Kei was the gothic lolita girl, but I saw it coming. I always thought he looked a lot like a girl, but I’m under the impression that borderline feminine men are good looking. The Spring Festival episode was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while. College activities are, apparently, just as eccentric as the college.
Moyashimon also managed to dwell on other issues and there’s a lot more beyond the microbes, even though that’s what most people tend to notice. When Sawaki lost his ability but the microbes wrote his name on the bread anyway and he realized that microbes are always around him, that one of the strangest, most profound existential discoveries, ever. That whole scene, in a serious and comical way, stuck with me for a while. Microbes are always around. It was a zany ride, from start to finish, a few road bumps of hilarity here and there, like the bird anus (which I will never forget), Kei as the gothic lolital girl, the liquor store, Fatso and Mustache, Muto’s drinking problems, Hasegawa and Oikawa’s kiss and that hug scene of epic microbe-ness.
To sum up everything, it’s been a pretty amazing year for me in terms of anime. Well, mostly in part because I ‘re-discovered’ anime and now it’s a staple in my diet, just like rice, canned soda and video gaming. I could ask for no better an introduction than Darker Than Black, though in retrospect, it wasn’t as great as it could have been, blame the ending. Gurren Lagann is going to haunt my dreams for the rest of my life, not only because they threw galaxies at each other, but just because!! And, of course, my entry into the anime blogging community, which I did not know existed, and all the new people I’ve met, friends I’ve made. To avoid sounding cheesy, I’ll just leave it here. It’s all good. It’s all good.
(Christ, I left out Dragonaut as well…)
Finals Week · 15 January 2008
I know, where have I been? I’ve actually been right here the entire time, I’m (for quite possibly the first time) swamped with so much work that I just can’t cramp any time into my schedule for anime. Speaking of cramming, I need to seriously start studying for my APs, because my attention span is about the size of a walnut and I don’t take notes. With this said, I’m not abandoning my blog, or even going on hiatus (despite the fact that I’ve been MIA for quite a while now).
I have a list of things I’ve been dying to talk about, Mononoke, ef, the new winter shows and G00, Rental Magica and all that. And to quote the ever so brilliant and punctual General MacArthur, I shall return.
Pumpkin Scissors – The End · 25 December 2007
I finally got around to finishing Pumpkin Scissors. I was fairly impressed with how the series turned out, especially because even the slightest mention of Gonzo has me shuddering, see Last Exile. The plot itself was reason enough for me to watch the show. Anti-tank troopers? Tanks that amusingly resemble German Panzers? Guns that amusingly resemble Garands? A rag tag war relief unit out to salvage the Empire from poverty and turmoil? And! A possible romance between a corporal with a hidden past and a second lieutenant with noble blood? How much more can I ask for?! It’s like Fullmetal Alchemist without the alchemists, more bullets and a better, even more stubborn blonde protagonist!
The show, to say the least, had personality. In this sea of boring, recycled plot lines and cliche characters, Pumpkin Scissors shimmered like a rare jewel. It wasn’t afraid to say what it wanted. Without resorting to any subtle metaphors or symbolism or any of that, it kind of just shoved it all right in your face. You need talent to miss Pumpkin Scissors’ message. It was like a giant statement against war, against poverty, against corruption, against all the evil and all the unfairness in world. And, yes, there is a certain naivety in such simple beliefs, but at the same time the world needs excessive naivety. According to Alice L. Malvin, the leader of the Pumpkin Scissors unit, the meaning behind the seemingly ridiculous name is that all the corruption and evil in the world is a pumpkin and only a tough pair of scissors would be able to penetrate the skin. And the series did just that.
I found the ending to be quite satisfying, Alice falling into the Corporal’s arms, Section III continuing it’s mission and all (they call him Corporal or Big Guy so much that it’s hard for me to call him Orlando), despite the many loose plot lines and unresolved mysteries. The show never truly addressed the top secret nine-oh-something units. Even when it did, they were only minor mentions, a peek here and there. I was hoping they’d reveal more about the Corporal’s past, like what happened with Hans from the 908th Flamethrower unit. I was hoping to see what horrible Army experiments were behind the Corporal’s enormous size and that lantern of his, especially since the opening hinted at it so much. It felt like the show ended just as the major plot line was beginning. The whole Marquis Hoost and the Silver Wheel thing was just taking off when the show ended. Perhaps they had intended for a second season, twenty four episodes felt too short.
In all honesty, I loved pretty much every aspect of the show, good or bad. Corporal Orlando, the big guy, the anti-tank trooper with a heart of gold, he had me at hello. He’s got to be one of the most interesting characters I’ve encountered. On one hand, he’s this amazing, gigantic, brutish, Leviathan. He takes out tanks single-handedly! He’s like Frankenstein, with all the scars and that eerie blue lantern and those bulging, crazed eyes and everything. But, he’s shy and he’s timid and he’s quiet, and he feeds kitties under the bridge! How he struggles to deal with his own identity, his own being, how much pain he has balled up in that enormous heart of his, how warm his smile is, it’s maddening, it’s maddening! The scene where he comes back to the bridge with food for the kittens, and they’re afraid of him, afraid of the smell of blood, it breaks my heart. Where do such selfless characters come from? Then you have Alice L. Malvin and the rest of Section III. They’re all great characters in their own right.
I guess what I’m saying is that the show had a lot of heart, a lot of personality and a lot of heart. Looking back at the shows I’ve watched, the shows I’m watching, the shows I’ve liked and shows I’ve felt were lacking, I guess what I fall is a big heart, that strange undertone of warmth that not a lot of shows carry. Since it’s Christmas, it’s like the moment where the Grinch’s heart grows three times its size! Stuff that makes you feel good when you walk away, and it doesn’t even have to be out of pure joy, this feeling, it just has to be grand, swinging on the borderline of epic. I can’t say that it’s a rare feeling, certain parts of Naruto has the same affect on me, but it’s what brings me back time and time again.
Gundam 00 – Episode 09 (Boy, am I late to this party…) · 11 December 2007
I just realized this is my first actual post completely dedicated to G00. Somehow I skipped episode seven, but it doesn’t look like I missed anything of grave importance so I hopped on over to episodes eight and nine. After the first few episodes, I wrote G00 off as another shiny, flashy piece of mecha porn. Granted, there are a few goods things about watching Exia take down mobile suits like rag dolls, random stuff blowing up here and there, a couple of hot guys running around in the name of justice and what not.
Echoing the current political situation worldwide, Gundam 00 waves the same anti-war banner countless series before it have carried. It’s remarkably similar to Gundam Wing, in terms of plot and characters. Through the course of the show, you can literally match up characters from the respective shows. Let’s see, Setsuna is the new Heero, just as quiet, just as weird, just as single minded and just as bad with girls. Therefore, Marina fills the role of Relena Peacecraft, the girl’s got some big shows to fill if she wants to live up to her predecessor. Lockon is without a doubt Duo, except I think he’s Irish. Tieria is half Trowa, half Wufei. He’s as mild as Trowa is, sometimes, and pretty much just as ruthless as Wufei all the time. And, last but not least, Allelujah. He’s got his role down pretty well as the new Quatre. He’s almost, if not more so, disturbed than Quarte. In fact, he looses his marbles a lot earlier judging from the episode 9 preview. Of course, the AEU November 11 reincarnation, Graham Acre, is Milliardo Peacecraft. For some reason, Soma reminds me of Dorothy, minus the weird eyebrows.
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed by the first half a dozen episodes of G00. The plot was an absolute mess filled with incoherent political power play made worse by speed of light subtitles, and in the case of Nyoro, subtitles that didn’t even make sense. With all the explosions, I honestly just wanted them to cut the crap and give me the goddamn action. I’m willing to mark episode nine as a turning point of sorts. I might just be stupid, but for the past couple of episodes, I forwarded through all the talking bits and watched the explosions and fights. In the closing moments of the episode, as the Ptolemy falls headfirst into Sergei’s trap, it occurred to me, that, woah, this was getting pretty good. It’s making an attempt, with Setsuna’s confrontation with Marina and Lockon’s little moment with Felt, to have character development! It’s making an effort to actually explain what the bloody hell is going on! Rejoice, friends! Gundam 00 might start making sense!
G00 has potential to be a pretty decent show, simulating Wing might actually serve to it’s advantage. It’s not even a quarter of the way through the series and my opinions are definitely subject to change. So at this point, it’s too early to call it either a hit or a flop. I’m not sure why the sky suddenly caved in because G00 didn’t live up to people’s expectations. From a purely technical point of view, it’s a perfect show. Big names, good voice actors, HD animation, a nice soundtrack, but it’s missing the attraction, it’s missing the kick that Wing had to it. Looking at it now, it’s walking closer to the right path than it did three or four episodes ago. In any case, I have to see episode 10, see how they’ll resolve this mess the Celestial Being have gotten themselves into and just exactly how many marbles Allelujah manages to loose. I can’t say I’m sick with apprehension, for me, I’ve had enough mecha this year, Gurren Lagann pretty much killed any possible competition and even if I didn’t enjoy Code Geass as much as I thought I would, Lancelot was a kickass Knightmare frame. It’s like when people saying that Darker Than Black was Cowboy Bebop’s successor, G00 better live up to being Wing’s successor.
Back from the dead, going to an anime con. · 6 December 2007
I’ve returned! While, sort of. For one thing, I can’t really return if I didn’t leave to begin with and for another, I’ve just been to busy to properly blog about anything. I’ve so much backlog and so little time, not to mention, I’m going to the New York Anime Festival this weekend. I’m gonna save everything for winter break. I’ll probably post something about the festival, maybe pictures, but my camera’s not doing so well…
In any case, if you get a really strange error when you visit, refresh and it’ll go away. I have no idea how to fix said error, I’m terribly inept with PHP and all this fancy code, but trust me, refresh!
Well, that was kinda short, but that’s all I have to say. Look out for that post about the festival, coming sometime soon.
Another theme change!? · 24 November 2007
Yes, that’s right. I’ve changed the theme again. We’ve been through this, just be happy I kept my old theme that long. I really don’t believe in love at first sight, but there is really no other way to describe this. I saw this theme and it was perfect. I hardly changed anything at all, just tweaked a little with the code here and there and basically, left it as is. The colors work, the font’s big enough, it’s tight and compact and well, just plain nifty.
Well, that’s that. Hopefully this one will last longer than the last.
The arrogance of yours truly: Why I'm late to the ef – a tale of memories party · 24 November 2007
I watched ef.
Shocker, ain’t it? It was one the series I wrote off immediately. I can’t stress how quickly I dismissed ef upon initial examination, really, it was a faster than light decision, I broke the laws of physics on that one. And, here I am. I watched the first seven episodes about half an hour ago after reading J.Valdez’s post. In a way, his post was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I mean, the ABC even pulled out a joint blogging post, packed with symbolic interpretations, not to mention it’s a SHAFT production (which, probably, played a big role in my final decision) and it was a simple one liner from J.Valdez’s post that pushed me over the edge: “A good example of this is the symbolism in ef – a tale of memories.”
This was a totally impulsive decision (much, in retrospect, like my decision to watch Gurren Lagann) and I’m not sure whether its regrettable or not. I’m sailing in uncharted waters, without direction, purpose or destination. ef, in all honesty, was just a bit boring – until Miyako went bananas and spammed Hiro with voicemails and Renji freaked out when Chihiro asked him to kiss her.
Anyways, I don’t think you need another generic ef interpretation, but here’s my take on the whole thing…
SHAFT’s production definitely made the biggest splash. What otherwise would have been a dull, and far too cliche, story was saved and almost reinvented by the sheer visual experience. SHAFT has a total mastery of the animated medium, evident in ef, and quite possibly, has tapped into animation’s fourth dimension, visually. However, there are limitations. ef, in the end, is missing (for me, anyways) the vital emotional response. For a show that’s so bold and explosive in nature, it’s missing the one thing that connects the audience to the show.
It goes back to that argument between Hiro and Kyosuke, what role does the audience play in the creation process, pivotal or none at all? SHAFT productions are unique, their visual style is a rarity and I hold a certain pleasure in watching their shows. Though, on some level, it reminds me of modern art, which I never understood. I’ve been to the MoMA, numerous times actually, but I’ll never understand why random geometric shapes are so damn symbolic. People create these things just so other people can stand around and muse on the multiple interpretations behind why the yellow square is smaller than the blue circle and why they are the only things on a ten foot canvas. Really, I don’t think any of it has a purpose, there is no reason.
In terms of art, French Impressionism is my favorite period, symbolic but with substance. And this is pretty much where ef fails me, and pretty much where I get really arrogant, there is no substance to the anime itself. What good is beauty if no one sees it but you? Understandably, ef is meant to carve the middle ground between these said arguments, but it’s focusing too much on the latter (Kyosuke’s point) and ignoring the viewer (Hiro’s point). On the other hand, I also see ef as an experiment of sorts addressing the very argument between Hiro and Kyosuke. It’s certainly not the answer, it’s not even trying to be, but it’s shedding light on that debate itself. The story, the way I see, is just a vehicle carrying that one question, who matters more? The artist or the audience? In other words, ef fails as an anime but exceeds as a metaphor for art in general.
I still maintain the fact that it has no substance. Three episodes in, I grew weary of the visuals and the plot was moving a snail’s pace. Then, episode seven hit with the freakishly intense voicemail scene and I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Honestly, I think I, along with my fellow bloggers, are just overdoing it a little on the analyzation. Damien, from Otakuism pretty much hit the nail on the head, all visuals and what not aside, ef is just a “decent romance with excellent animation.” Truth to tell, it’s not my cup of tea at all, but seeing how I’m already halfway into it, I’ll see this little escapade through. In the end, I’m still stuck in no man’s land, not truly impressed by what ef had to offer and not truly ready to dismiss it as just another eroge adaptation.