So my predictions in my previous post were wrong. I’m glad they were, for had I been right, it would’ve meant that kimikiss would have been unpredictably predictable, and we all know how well that would have went down. The masses need their closure, even if the more discerning among us can do without all that finality riff-raff, and I suppose it’s nice to have a good old-fashioned choice for once. You win some, you lose some.

I had a feeling the eyecatch would be that of the victorious girls

I know, I haven’t been posting about kimikiss as of late, but I’m sure I explained that in the past few posts or something. Reserving the best for the last when it comes to my viewing schedule always has that effect, and while I’m late to all the discussion and hubbub generated by what seems like an impending anime disaster, I hope to rectify that in a bit with my predictions about how things are going to be wrapped up.

So here’s what the experts have been saying: Jen thinks that love is over after reading spoilers (much like any chances that Kyou et al had of hooking up with Tomoya in Clannad circa episode 18). Michael thinks that he can see it just a little (like all good shounen protagonists do their antagonist’s impossibly quick movements, just before a surprise power-up takes place). CCY’s waffling between endless possibilities (not unlike Tonegawa’s gametheory that ultimately cost him).

What can I possibly add to all three trains of thought at this point? As my friend with benefits Caffeine has pointed out to me in a sleep-deprived haze during my viewing of Kimikiss ep 22 earlier today, there’s more to it than meets the eye. There’s a greater possibility out there that vindicates one opinion, puts paid to another one, and makes the last one seem ultra-conservative in comparison.

The number of posts don’t seem to be letting up any time soon. Ditto this. While I’m officially semi-tired of all the true tears discussion that’s been going on as of late, I still consider it to be awesome even if I’m kind burnt out from people talking about it — you know what they say about too much of a good thing. When was the last time something from this maligned genre provoked so much discussion and dissection, on such a rich level, too? I can understand the rationale behind Shinkai not making that leap from movies to a TV series, if only somewhat.

It happened previously to me with ef, and I don’t know why getting burnt out on discussion about a good anime happens, because it technically shouldn’t. Maybe everyone’s already repeating what I already know, and I can’t be arsed to comment, even if I’ve read their posts. Maybe I like talking about a series better when it’s indie, although that wouldn’t explain Clannad. Maybe I need to read less blogs, even if this goes against what I believe about reading more. But I digress.

This rather lengthy dialogue I had with Mike of AnimeDiet was conducted last Sunday, under the guise of dissecting what I felt was the core theme of both kimikiss and true tears, and what makes them such a powerful experience: character inconsistency, and the difference between what a character feels and what he or she subsequently demonstrates. That part’s still there, but it’s buried in a plethora of other stuff, all of which I came up on the fly. The second half of this dialogue is linked to at the end of this post.

It was an entertaining episode, I’ll grant you that. As a good blogger’s duty’s all about highlighting underrated shows that might have dropped off the radar as a result of underexposure or consistency (with Bamboo Blade coming to mind), when I take into consideration how episode 17 brought to light the series’ strengths very well, I feel duty-bound to write about it as a result. But what is this show about, anyway?

To my knowledge, the general idea that those who aren’t interested in it have is that it seems to be just another, milder, member of the fetish persuasion, nevermind how the example I linked to is already so far gone that I’m using it ironically here. For all the “I have no idea why, but FUCK YES I’M WATCHING A GIRLY SHOW!” fans there’s the intially-nonplussed ones to balance them out, and if you’re in the latter group and reading this, here’s the hard sell in a paragraph:

At its basics, Shugo Chara is about believing in yourself that believes in you. It’s all about doing the impossible, seeing the invisible, touching the untouchable, and breaking the unbreakable. Yes, I just compared it to Gurren Lagann. No, you’re not going to get much sense out of that statement until you read further, so hold your bile for the end.

The only problem I had with episode 18 was how it reminded me that there would be no Kyou End. A nail in the coffin for the silent fan in me, whom, like many others, got captivated along the way, whether by means of gym storeroom escapades, a potent combination of character design and voice acting, or both. Needless to say, there will never be another game of tennis in anime with such heart-rending implications ever again. I suppose this will only make the widescreen re-watch some time in the future all the more bittersweet, but that’s the price you’ve got to pay for taking sides…

what she said

Happy Valentines Day — belated if you’re in the Eastern hemisphere — to all you ronery and non-ronery people out there. In choosing to do this joint feature I figured that a certain someone would be just the girl for the job, considering how she’s posted twice on Tokyo Marble Chocolate before this, and with such passion and eloquence, too.

But what’s the point, you say, in covering something that’s already written to death about, and much earlier on, too? It’s quite simple — aside from being suitable Valentines fodder, it also has two very different sides to the same story, with the girl’s and the guy’s sides showing off distinct perspectives. Naturally, it’d only make sense to have two bloggers of the relevant genders covering it from their respective angles, which is rationale behind this little feature.

There’s also the relatively more sombre tone of TMC that I found to be its selling point. While Valentines Day is famous for glorifying the union of the couple and all its romantic trappings, I wanted to take the road less travelled in writing about those who once had a significant other, and TMC fit the bill. It’s all well and good to have someone to make presents and profess your undying love for, but for those single by choice, those who aren’t exactly eager to get into a new relationship after the trauma of a past love, this is for you.

Happy Chinese New Year to those of you descended from the motherland, and may you collect more of those delicious red packets this festive season. I spent the reunion dinner eve in bed, with a majority of the New Year’s Day going towards getting more sleep in view of my erratic nocturnal schedule. While part of me felt like Nobita in that chapter of Doraemon where he decides to spend the first day of the new year in his room with gadgets in lieu of real human company, I figured trying it just this once wouldn’t hurt.

obligatory picture since it’s the year of Yuki Sohma the Mouse

In other news, the discussion over at In Search of Number Nine and a later post by Cameron Probert reminded me that I should stick to this rule in 2008: If comments don’t achieve their required effect after the first one, taking it to a post would be more productive given the growing length.

Relax, kuro, we understand j00. In case you have difficulty in deciphering the gist of this post due to my verbosity, here’s Cliff Notes for you: It’s like casting pearls before swine. Which is my passive-aggressive, catty and unnecessarily confrontational way of saying either “What is wrong with you, true tears is excellent, get out”, or “If you think Winter is trash and you haven’t seen true tears, please end your life now.” Of course, I say it by means of a large post like this since for all my efforts to take this to be the gospel truth like the ardent fanboy I am, I still have to maintain a civil fa�ade all purposes aside.

Call it a man’s gut instinct (intuition is for women), but true tears seems hardly like the type of thing to go wrong any time soon: it’s so pretty, and no, I won’t stop talking about the animation until you, my reader, watch it, if you’re one of the unfortunate few that haven’t. You could surely write this off as another star-struck fan rambling about the glitz behind this diamond in the rough, this rose among thorns, but hey, it’s the director of Simoun at work, and whatever he did that was good about the series, he’s brought the magic around to play.

I expect true tears to be one of those shows that I come away from consistently wowed everytime, and to crown it “Anime of the Year” seems like a daring feat to be sure, but I know what I’m talking about. true tears is, to be honest, very much like the girl (or guy, for the ladies) that you meet one day who strikes you as just so damn attractive for a number of compelling reasons, all of which you can only begin to describe in detail later. When love strikes it strikes hard, leaves you babbling, and it’s only when you pick up the pieces later can you barely decipher the reasons for falling in such a chemistry-charged, primal manner.

This, my friends, is how the ideal blogosphere should be (all links open in a new window). An epic show, bloggers inspired to write about it, bloggers writing said inspired posts that are so inspirational, they inspire other bloggers to write posts that are even more inspired than ever, so much that they up the ante on the anticipation factor every week. As it is, despite my 100~ odd posts that I still need to read, posts I still need to write, and a backlog still looming, I can’t resist stopping the presses for kimikiss. It’s that good.

To kick things off, if I may an analogy: assuming that relationships are like battles of the physical variety, then Honey and Clover was a sniping one. It had the occasional epic stand-off and various impasses, feints, and manoeuvres that made it all the more exciting, as self-respecting snipers are wont to do when they go at it. It was hard-hitting, like a shot from an AWP generally does on a human body — being on the receiving edge of one one too many times during CounterStrike, I should know. For all purposes it was powerful, even if it took a long time to resolve.

kimikiss, on the other hand, has been visceral. It started off like any other skirmish before degenerating into an outright war, and the stakes are getting higher as time passes, like the four Gundam Meisters being held up for half a day or so in their mechs. While H&C had lofty ambitions that worked and wasn’t contrived or anything, I do think that the two sets of triangles were “safer” in the sense that they were pre-defined in their boundaries. You didn’t see Morita suddenly deciding to take that hand-holding consoling with Yamada to another level, or Mayama suddenly giving Hagu the once-over. All that crossover possibility was sealed off pretty nicely.

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 reference-laden quote needs a little something to give it context, and considering how I’ve learned to not look at harem and its deriatives with derision anymore (I credit CCYoshi partially for that accomplishment, who, coincidentally, has an awesome new blog over at Mega Megane Moé — we’re hosting buddies now!), it seems all the more apt.

Make your choice, adventurous Stranger;
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.

This is, of course, the premise by which I’m watching the more “dubious” picks this season. Considering how subs are going to be and have been frighteningly efficient due to the alliance of m.3.3.w + BakaWolf + Ayako, passing up on what could be the ef of Winter seems patently obtuse. I mean, all the cool kids are doing it, so it should be fine, right?

This was originally supposed to be one of those comments, the long type that almost deserve a blog post of their own, but not quite. I’ve found that those prone towards leaving long and elaborate comments eventually buckle under collective pressure and get a blog of their own, and while I was writing the fourth paragraph of this particular comment I realised the redundancy of it all, and saved it for a post instead. Author’s probably doing a victory dance right now.

speaking of frogs, the pseudo-yuri pair need to die, along with their puppets

Spice and Wolf has what is possibly one of the most vivid and breathtaking OPs, with gorgeous animation not seen since Byousoku 5cm, although for all purposes, this high-quality YouTube can only come so close to capturing the enrapturing experience on a full-screen.

I’ve always found honesty to be the best policy, which is why I’m going to state upfront that I found Dennou Coil to be horribly overrated. Not in the “this is bad, what were you thinking” sense, but the “this is good, but there were other infinitely superior shows this year” sense. It’s one of those anime that sound great on paper, at least from what I’ve seen of the other reviews already written out there. It hit all the right notes, or at least knew what notes to hit while looking incredibly hip and cool, a contemporary tour de force a decade in the making.

Unfortunately, DC felt like Noein to me; something that just didn’t cut it regardless of technical superiority. It had a stellar soundtrack, a more or less original premise, solid characterisation, avant-garde animation, and quantum physics jargon — a winning combination, by any standards. Yet for all its promise and potential I found myself watching an anime just like any other, even if it had everything going for it. I was, for a lack of better word, nonplussed, and couldn’t understand the praise heaped upon it.

Naturally, it gets my goat whenever I have to wonder if I just didn’t “get it”. This inevitably volatile issue of taste will of course differ across the blogosphere, but what exactly was it this time round that made me stay in my chair when everyone else was giving a standing ovation? I made the connection a few days ago, and it’s an answer that takes us all the way back to 2002: Haibane Renmei.