This episode proved to be an outstanding one, with exceptional expositional dialogue that made me grin triumphantly when I realised where everything was headed halfway through; it was one of those Eureka, feel-good moments that you can’t help but pat your back for. It’s a niche, to be sure — different people will value different things, but what I value the most above all is good writing. Show, not tell. Never spoonfeed the viewer. Don’t assume that your audience is mostly dense (even if they are), because there will always be those who will get what you’re trying to say, even if you’re not saying it through normal means.

character designs like this would have robbed the show of its seriousness

Naturally, I was one of those who got it.

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

This is another Anime Blogging Collective� joint blogging effort brought to you by TheBigN, Roxas, CCYoshi, Moogy, Damien, and Martin. As ef is the Lucky Star of the season in that it’s a severely misunderstood anime that’s getting bad press due to badly written, snap judgement opinions that prefer to brand it the misunderstood problem child from a couple of episodes, we thought that a feature like this was severely overdue.

If you haven’t started on this gem of an anime, now would be a great time to do so. A note of interest would be that the seemingly random images only appear for 10% of the time in the first two episodes, before dipping to about 5% in episode 03 and further dropping to non-existent amounts on consecutive episodes. I’ve heard people comment on ef getting better, but it isn’t merely my opinion when I say that it was always good.

I say this on the strength of rewatching the entire series up till episode 06 so far; it’s evidently an anime that’s intended to be viewed more than once. You could say it’s a flaw in that the first two episodes are incoherent on a first viewing but make perfect sense when viewed later, but I’d rather look at it as a strength. It’s undeniably ambitious and artsy in its own idiosyncratic way, but powerfully executed, only underwhelming due to its extensive usage of what seem like red herrings in the beginning, and I hope that this series of posts will clear the air on that, enhancing your enjoyment of the show as a result.

ef - a tale of memories could very well be- no, it is the Lucky Star of Autumn. It’s easy to bash for reasons like “random visual crap”, “distracting”, “confusing”, and equally as easy to hate for the very same reasons, which are, by some coincidental measure, only skin-deep. I feel that ef has its share of detractors due to how they’re not exactly comfortable with its method of presentation, which is unorthodox; or it could be due to how it’s supervised by Akiyuki Shinbo (note: supervise is not the same as direct), who apparently has a track record of psychedelic and random shows under his belt, thus enforcing a placebo effect like “this has to be bad”, which is, ironically, the direct opposite of the reason why we’re all watching kimikiss (”this has to be good, it has Honey & Clover’s director working on it!”).

I think it’s too convenient to not think at all, deriding the style and ignoring the substance in order to push away another show conveniently, declaring that it’s the work of the anime devil etc. Style is not substance. Once I got past the initial weirdness that the show’s now infamous for, I finally realised that there was a method to the madness — if you could call it that — that was displayed by ef. Word is on the street that SHAFT’s being as faithful as KyoAni and it’s not their style, because it’s what was part of the original CG in the game.

How many of you noticed that the visuals only decide to go kaleidoscope when it’s any one of the three couples having protracted conversations together? No, you couldn’t have, I mean, no one’s watching this show anymore right? I owe this post to Mike of Anime Diet for his keen and shrewd Lit Student observations; in particular, his post about ef 03 finally made me see the light, for I was still floundering about trying to figure out the meaning behind it all. No thanks to him pointing me in the right direction I can indeed see what ef’s trying to do, and it’s a thing of beauty.

What I mean by “the point of adaptations” isn’t “the point where adaptations start sucking”, but more of like “what is the point of adaptations?” After all, regardless of how good or bad an adaptation will be, you’ll always have the grassroots insisting on the superiority of the original. The fanbase is fickle and insatiable, which means most, if not all of the discussions will result in a discordant clamour of “YOU NEVER SAW HOW BRILLIANT THE MANGA WAS”, or “YOU’RE BIASED BECAUSE YOU READ IT FIRST”.

Which brings me to two shows, both brilliant manga in their own domains: Bokurano and Claymore. I thought it’d be a good opportunity to review the anime for both seeing how they’re both based off a manga; furthermore, I’ve only read the manga for Claymore, and only saw the anime adaptation of Bokurano. So I have two questions:

What can be really constituted as perception bias? How should an adaptation from its source material, be it a visual novel, manga, or light novel, be truly judged? I find these questions to be of utmost relevance especially in this Autumn season for the top-tier, or at least what I perceive as the fandom perceiving as top-tier anime, i.e. Clannad and Shana II, happen to be adaptations too.

When introspect made that observation about Darker than Black being the spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, he knew what he was talking about. Come on, I can hear the purists say, there’s no way you can match that. I clearly beg to differ. Tensai Okamura, original creator and director of DtB, had quite a hand in CB, being involved in both the TV series and movie. There’s the composer for both, Yoko Kanno. Most of all, DtB and CB share a potent sense of pathos.

DtB overtakes this by a mile, and then some. It’s never really quite clear why or how it makes me feel the way I do, but it’s something that can’t be described through mere words alone — a common understanding is all I can hope to achieve. Whether it’s the harsh green of the cityscape, lights gleaming coldly in the distance, or the sense of immeasurable pain that Hei’s holding back, or the little revelations that made me gasp in silence before biting my lip, it’s all there, and it’s been a gut-wrenching affair.

What is �deep�, for starters? Some of my other fellow bloggers, like Martin, Bateszi, TheBigN, Higevs, Hidoshi, and Impz might be able to tell you more about it. There�s a thousand and one ways with regards to how one might go about the issue if one were so inclined as to play the semantics card. Personally, though, what with my distaste for such time-wasting matters and my forte being in English and all, I think it�d be best to assume the dictionary definition.

However, even Dictionary.com has a plethora of definitions as to what exactly makes up the word �deep�. Without context in place, it could mean �grave or serious�, �heartfelt; sincere�, �absorbing; engrossing�, �great in measure; intense; extreme�, or even �profoundly cunning or artful�, were I to choose to apply �deep� with regards to Darker than Black�s literary and artistic value.

Unfortunately, for the sake of sanity (and discussion, I might add), the only definition available that fits would be �not superficial; profound�. Why do I choose to pick on this series of all things, you ask, when I could be extolling the virtues of anime in general or adopting a macro view? I believe that some, if not all of those doing this joint blogging exercise with me are more than up to the task, so I�ll leave it to them for that.

I read 19 volumes of it yesterday. It’s nice to revisit what I’ve been proclaiming (to anyone who’ll listen) as the “best shounen series ever”, and by “shounen series” I mean of the fighting type. I went off on a tangent on BATESZI’s poll in his blog about it until I realised he was talking about anime specifically, and I’ve only read the manga for that.

Also, some insight into Darker than Black 09 and 10 after the cut. Questions raised include “is sudo better than Shinsen in subbing?” (protip: the answer is No for quality, a half-hearted Yes for speed), and “what is Hei’s obeisance, anyway?” (the answer might be more obvious than previously thought).

hey guys, I think Lucky Star isn’t that great, yet I’m going to make deadpan posts week after week detailing how funny or unfunny this week’s episode was! and I’m cool that way! I’m also constantly sleep-deprived, and WUI- wait, wrong blog.

Been ages since my last StrikerS post, but that’s got nothing to do with how I found the Teana-emo arc immensely entertaining. Yeah, if it isn’t apparent already, I’m not one of those whiners who constantly rag on StrikerS for being “boring”, because it’s been gaining considerable momentum, and what better way to get things going than to remind the viewers of its roots with episodes 07 to 09? I still stick by my prediction of no proper action till the halfway mark.

Of course it isn’t a real arc per se, I’m just sayin’. I mentioned returning to its roots because the past three episodes were marked by a not-too-obvious return to the emotional side of things, which originally was all about Nanoha wanting to befriend the shit out of her enemies. Only that this time the cast has been doing mostly nothing but training and all that administrative crap since StrikerS began, interspersed with two short battles. How’s there a back to basics then?

As some of you might now know (if you didn’t already), I’m a Darker than Black fanboy. It’s all about Hei and the extent of adoration that heterosexual males like myself can profess without veering into dangerous territory, which means that I think that posts like these are lame. I prefer rational discussions rather than brilliant diatribes myself, though (for an example of the latter, check out Randall’s posts here and here regarding the fiasco surrounding Kodomo no Jikan), so here’s my case on why I vehemently disagree.

By the way, TJ Han showed me something he wrote almost a year ago that’s similar in subject and invited me to link to and laugh at it, but the only thing I found hilarious were the mismatched pictures, and I wish he could write like that more often, because it was awesome surreal humour that’s so unlike the more reserved tone he’s been taking on recently, and would also resemble Kyoya acting like Tamaki all of a sudden.

The latest reply to sethjohnson is one of the longest yet.

“I musn’t run away! I musn’t run away!”

Also, if any of you are interested in more debate, expect late replies. Sorry bettynoire, I had quite a bit to say about what you did but sethjohnson’s comment piqued my interest more, and all the words have run away, and I’ve got a sore throat plus mild fever and need sleep. That is all.

I’ve always loved Honey & Clover for being emotionally honest. The concept of the term “emotional honesty”, if it doesn’t exist in some capacity out there already, would be defined as the ability of the viewer to connect with the range of emotions portrayed by the character(s) on-screen — due to how the emotions portrayed are genuine and indeed representative of real life in some capacity.

Choosing to justify a critique of eroge after watching two Key adaptations seems like a reasonable decision to me, and here’s why: Kanon and Air have been held in high regard as the basic of basics, something no self-respecting otaku should go without watching in their lifetime. They are arguably the most well-known and popular of eroges, having met with critical and commercial success; more importantly, the focus isn’t about the sex alone.

and it wasn’t a comfortable thought. Let me clear possible misconceptions and state hard facts first: It wasn’t a h-doujin, just like all my Touhou doujins are. It was Reimu x Marisa, which obviously wasn’t yaoi. The author was Aki Eda — one of my favourites and a damn good artist — and it was the recently translated 5th volume, from the Pestermom archive over at TouhouWiki, called “Yellow Flower that Blooms in Chest”, which I’ll assume is a euphemism for yuri.

Ever had one of those moments hit you and you get a sense of perfect empathy? Your senses are heightened, your feelings are in sync to an extent where you’re now like the proverbial mech pilot with a harmonising rate of over 90%. You are the mech, the mech is you, there is no mech. Well, yesterday’s realization was nothing like that. I kid. But damn, was it close. Too close, in fact.

Since Cruel Angel Theses’ one month anniversary is but two days away, I thought I’d take a quick recap on the posts I do and come up with some insight as to how or why I say the things I do, be it critique, reviews, or opinions — also, studying has been tiring (insert Konata face here) for someone who doesn’t like/isn’t really used to slogging away at books, so to take things off my mind I thought what I’d do was, I’d offer a bit of meta-critique, as it were.

First of all, though, allow me to point you to this well-written post from The Anime Blog. Basically what Rachel proposes, in the article, is the coining of two new terms that might help explain the differences anime fans the world over have with regards to taste.