A short update for those of you who were wondering where my blog went, and why Sasa’s feed was flooding AnimeNano earlier: Ikimashou.net is currently in the hands of a squatter, no thanks to the registrar screwing Randall over by conveniently “forgetting” to e-mail him about the domain lapsing. As a result, everything broke, and he’s fighting to get the domain back now. In the meantime, don’t bother updating your links, unless you feel like changing them later on. If this Dasaku.net domain turns out to be permanent, I’ll be using a different subdomain name to go with it in good time.

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but Hirose looks a lot like Yuki Nagato

A fitting analogy to describe the inevitably large quantities of noise that appear at the advent of every season popped into my mind while watching H2O. Imagine a cake with icing. What type of cake it is doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a cake with enough icing that you’re unable to tell, from external appearances, what sort of cake it is. Now, multiply aforementioned cake by about 20 to 30, and give them different icing designs.

This is what happens every time: the haters that Stripey describes are those who, instead of eating a slice from each cake in order to get an impression of what the cake is all about, instead nibble on a small slice of icing. They then proceed to make fun of how the icing looks, how the icing tastes, and how it makes the whole cake taste terrible when they haven’t even eaten the real thing to begin with, and declare it a lost case before tossing it aside in favour of other cake.

In case you’re wondering what all of this has to do with anything, yes, my soul was rocked, and in considerable quantity at that. But that joke is stale. Considering I wasn’t expecting much from its initial description in the previews, this was surprising. What H2O - Footprints in the Sand is to me at this point is nothing short of Myself; Yourself potential — while it doesn’t have the cross-genre appeal of, say, Clannad to wow non-harem fans over, it’s a force to be reckoned with among its peers.

this, of course, is the only reason why the girls are all over him

What I got from the three episodes I’ve seen so far back to back would be the Key-busting myth that the only worthwhile tragedy is a semi-fictional and situational one. I am aware that Hayami’s predicament would seem like the natural step forward from an average Key scenario where the girl is either a childhood friend forgotten by the protagonist, facing supernatural hardship, or a combination of both, but what struck me about the setup so far was how you don’t have to juxtapose characters in situations so outlandish and farfetched to feel sorry for them, when conventional ones are more than enough.

Of course, it might be due to the violence against females portrayed in the show that made me take Hayami seriously as someone to be pitied, nevermind the glaring fact that a teenage girl living by her own in the wilderness in two rusty buses with no parents in sight and no visible means of self-support does seem pretty contrived, when you put it under the microscope. Then again, what doesn’t these days? So I’m letting the so-called “realistic” reasons for loathing her aside.

Coming from a normal and functional household where my father taught me to treat women with respect by never lifting a finger against my mother or speaking harshly to her, it was a painful affair to see Hayami being beaten up. I mean, no self-respecting guy would hit a girl, and for it to be treated as a non-matter by both the beater and the beatee… let’s just say that the mindless viciousness of that scene worked. I’m sold on this, for as long as they don’t give her supernatural powers or a forgotten past by the end of the series, at any rate.

with the exception of Mikur- I mean, Hinata, who resists

The rest of the show comes off as non-offensive (”I don’t particularly hate it”) and perhaps a bit too by the book at times, but its endearing music and annoyingly catchy OP/ED, alongside its generally functional and run of the mill animation, help make the experience somewhat, if mostly justifiable. It’s still too early to call a verdict on this one. Did anyone else hear the opening strains of Berlin’s Take My Breath Away in one of the music pieces being used, by the way? It’s not the first time that it’s been played, but one example I can remember is episode 3 at around 15:10.

I’ve read very few posts, if any at all, about the new season’s anime. That being said, though, a glimpse at one particular post let me to watch true tears with the knowledge that hashihime thinks highly of it — thankfully, I was sold on the first episode, too, so I can claim I’m bias-free. I’m not quite sure where to begin about a series that feels familiar yet not quite, with just that right element of deja vu and a style that I can only begin to tentatively label “bishoujo slice of life”. It’s not quite kimikiss, not quite ef, not quite Shinkai, as much as I find bits of all three in it.

I like how this looks so awkward out of context

The similarities with kimikiss stem from how it doesn’t really have a focus. It’s a level of superior animation higher, to be sure, given the crisp, hyper-real illustrations and impeccable character design, but the focus is generally the same, in that it doesn’t have a focus: unlike kimikiss, however, which at least has a “let’s make a movie!” as a uniting theme for the characters right from the start, three episodes have passed in true tears without anything of the sort possibly happening — in fact, it’s strictly more “realistic” in that sense, with no real reason for the cast to interact with each other at the moment, passing interest and existing relationships aside.

The meta-fiction angle that Shin’ichiro explores bears superficial similarity to ef. Aside from how he’s like a mixture of both Hirono and Kyousuke in that he’s an aspiring artist who also wants to capture that moment (of tears), there’s nothing like a moment of reflection adrift in murky, sometimes hilarious symbols that document the understated characterisation slowly happening behind the scenes. He also possesses a refreshing individuality that, as far as guys in this genre and its ilk go, are rare, looking like a cross between Naota of FLCL and Kyon of Haruhi fame, with traits of both coming together in a character that isn’t hard to not dislike.

Finally, the overarching feel that true tears has is unmistakably like that of the Shinkai/Tenmon combo, even if fans of the latter may beg to differ. I mentioned in my Spice and Wolf preview that the OP was “like Shinkai”, but didn’t mention in what respect exactly — it doesn’t have to be exactly like Shinkai per se in order to warrant a comparison, and I’m not going to act as if Shinkai is a sacred term that should be put on a pedestal somehow, I mean, heaven forbid anyone compare your hallowed director with another work. What I meant by the comparison was the quality in which it sets itself apart from its contemporaries in a category of its own, a clear distinction made between the standards enjoyed by most anime, and the one in mention particularly.

ditto this one, although when Miyokichi said “she likes you, right?” I had the hilarious impression that he was talking about Shin’ichiro’s mom, given the fruit and all

I didn’t watch Futakoi so this is my first time encountering Hajime Kikuchi’s work with a soundtrack, but from what I can make of it he sounds more than capable, given his extensive history with composing OPs for his group, eufonius. P.A. Works, who appears to be making their major animating debut with true tears, are off on an impressive start, with a style so exquisite and distinctive at the same time that they can make the ordinary look extraordinary. The next KyoAni, anyone?

The resulting combination is amazing. Since I know a lot of you have trouble reading between the lines, I need to add here that this is easily one of the best anime of the season, if not year. It’s hard to describe how well the soundtrack complements true tears, and even more difficult to illustrate how intricately and pretty the animation is, but all I can offer in my defence is that a mere close-up of Hiromi makes even Yuumi of kimikiss look plain in comparison, if you’re into that sort of thing. Recommended if you like anime.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 5:34 am and is filed under Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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