I have about nine entries in my feedreader’s Byousoku news bin that I’ve skimmed through briefly for fear of them influencing my review (yeah, you people sure can write). They’re all related to 5cm, but I’ve noticed two things they’ve neglected to point out, and this will therefore constitute most of what I’m going to say, if not all.

Do we take our ability to interpret symbolism and less coherent storylines in anime for granted? How much life experience do you have to have before you can relate to issues like what Byousoku addresses? I say this since I saw 5cm twice; the first time alone, in the middle of the night, and the second time with a group of about eight friends. The contrast between my reactions and theirs were large, to say the least, and I was left wondering if I liked 5cm only due to my exposure to both.

and the collision of your kiss that made it so hard, made it so hard

When I went and asked if anime was deep, or was it just entertainment, dragging my fellow bloggers into the fray, I knew full what I was getting into. The statement, “Is anime deep, or is it just entertainment?” is flawed in that it makes the unstated assumption that it has to be either/or, which means that those reading the statement have to make a stand for one or another.

Of course, this isn’t exactly the case given how we’re rational, thinking human beings. Anime is the term we give to a medium, like cartoon or live-action shows, and therefore there can be no assigning of values to it in the first place. Why then did I go ahead and use such a misleading statement for a topic in the first place? It’s simple — the statement was my little exercise in social engineering and symbolic interactionism.

Blumer, in his coining of the term, basically states that our reaction to objects are based on what understanding we have of them. This understanding is in turn derived from, or comes as a result of the interaction between our fellow men. We take the understanding of an object, and then use or modify them as circumstances see fit.

About this double-feature with Impz over at THAT Anime Blog: For those of you not in the know, there’s all manner of bloggers, about 20 give or take, that can be found over at #animeblogger @ irc.irchighway.net on a fairly regular basis. Now the average age in the channel is anywhere from late teens to early twenties, and naturally, when you put a group of people with that median age together in a space for prolonged periods, fun stuff happen — it’s like a younger, self-absorbed Survivor in action, but with more e/n and angst thrown into the mix.

The topic of elitism came about due to my being bored and wanting to spice things up a little bit. Much like Lelouch and his Order of the Black Knights, I wanted to see how easy it was to bring about revolution discussion, albeit in a very roundabout way, regarding the topic, and what better way to start then by applying the label to myself? Unfortunately, I rubbed all of two people the wrong way in the process, and this is where the fun began.

If rational, level-headed opinions (and sarcasm) offend your conservative, illogical sensibilities, you can still turn back. You don’t have to read beyond this. No one’s forcing you to do anything, no sirree. Exit’s that way.

It’s easy to spin anything. Bet you didn’t know that. The witch-hunting, pitchfork-waving mob gets their kicks from taking things out of context. I blame the rise of a post-modernist society. Because, you know, things should be taken at face value and all that. The importance of looking at something from a structured perspective, or in context, is antiquated fundamentalist bullshit; the new way to go about things is to analyse things on the surface level. Nevermind differing cultural norms, I mean, since it’s being published in my country I must be able to hold it to my own set of personal values, and say things like “I’m fully aware this isn’t part of my culture, but the PERVERTS! How DARE they!”

That’s brilliant reasoning there, if I say so myself.

My first ever Manga post is about lolicon. Awesome.

This is in response to a recent Mr Answerman column (scroll down) where Zac Bertschy, the writer, basically goes off on a tangent about Kodomo no Jikan because of the presumably pseudo-paedophile vibes the manga gives off which his perfectly normal, non-fetishist heterosexual nature can’t endorse. Nevermind how the manga isn’t even released yet.

It so happens I’ve got volumes 1-3 raw, and having read them before I’d seen the column, not to mention how Google actually fails for once at providing proper information in English about it, this would be a great opportunity to explain what KnJ’s really all about. Some spoilers after the cut.

About the title. This is to save some of you the effort of reading through this: there isn’t any, at least not with respects to Code Geass — if you’re one of those who think it is, excuse me while I pause to laugh and make fun of your crap anime that you think is superior to it, like Gravitation or Sister Princess, Loveless or Ichigo 100%. You can press Ctrl+W now.

To those of you who’re reading on, well, I loved it. What can I say? While my eyes were suffering towards the end (like yours would too if you’d watch 23 episodes over three days), my mind was revelling in the sheer quality of it all. As I mentioned previously I loved the unoriginal premise — an unsubtle blend of Gundam SEED and Death Note. Kira (Yamato) + Kira, anyone? It’s more likely than you think!

Note to self: watch the damn thing as soon as it comes out. This would’ve been up way earlier had it not been for the other series I’ve been trying to sit through. See previous post for details. Also, there’s a spoiler after the cut — hell, just assume all Bokurano posts from now on will contain spoilers. It’s that kind of anime, the type where something happens every episode.

Maybe watching this while waiting for Triad to sub StrikerS (yeah, I prefer Hallaoun and Raging Heart, thanks) won’t be such a bad thing after all. Episode 2 of Bokurano was, as TJ Han put it, definitely one of the top 5 WTF moments so far. Yes, that link’s also a spoiler, and no, this goes before the cut. Click at your own risk.

While we’re on the topic, let’s not forget how comparing what was meant to be an hour-long (perhaps one and a half, two?) play to a television series adaptation spanning a likely 26 episodes, is ridiculous. I mean, ridiculous on a scale of comparing all twelve volumes of Death Note to the two 45+ minute movie adaptations and gnashing your teeth while going “THEY TOTALLY SHAFTED THE FANS, I WANT MY MELLO/NEAR/OBSCURE SIDE CHARACTER/ANIME-EXCLUSIVE YAOI FOOT WASHING SCENE”. So let’s not get into that.

Since we’re going for the jugular, why not stop too with the Gonzo bashing for a second to realise that, shock and horror: judging an anime based on its predecessors’ performance, and the animation studio responsible for said predecessors, is pretty dumb. No, maybe exceedingly blind is a better way of putting it. If you thought the KyoAni fans were bad enough, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a victim of shoddy plot, form over function, exceedingly short-sighted expectations, and jaded cynicism — the Gonzo hater.

Props to Impz and his band of merry men for sparking off the discussion. Demian in his response, however, overlooked what I believe is a key angle of how anime wouldn’t make it to mainstream, and that’s what I’m going to address in this post. Will also be commenting closely on drmchsr0’s, uh, “character-driven” response that, while being theoretically valid, has critical flaws in terms of practical implementation.

I agree with Demian that anime will never make it to mainstream, but for different reasons altogether — the medium itself is what makes it an inherent impossiblity. I don’t know how many of you might have experienced this, but I personally have difficulty getting my friends to watch anime, even after I tell them that the DVD of Honey and Clover does not contain porn.

…your latest gift to mankind, and we thank you. The episode’s moment came for me when Hei confronted Rui on the rooftop during the opening sequence — post-rock, in my anime soundtracks? You’ve come so far since your early days, and while Solid State Society was only last year, oh boy. Have we missed you.

I’ve always been a fanboy. Always, and almost all of it — The Vision of Escaflowne’s majestic classical compositions; Cowboy Bebop’s flightly jazz; GITS:SAC’s dystopian electronica; Wolf Rain’s melancholy acoustics. It was like the music drove the series to excellence, not merely supported it. Or maybe she’s been approached by more discerning studios who knows just what it is that their anime needs (definitely not Yuki “My-Compositions-All-Sound-Alike” Kajiura). I’d like to think she has a waiting list and that she can actually pick and choose, because I can’t picture her doing harem or slice of life.

I know this seems like a terribly opportunistic time to start my blog given the topic of the moment, but I guess it’s better than nothing. So everyone’s got an opinion about Lucky Star, with the lovers going “MOAR” and the haters going “NO MOAR”, and while I found the list of reasons for not liking it to be pretty acceptable, lolikitsune’s post left an awful taste in my mouth and I thought a more positive take on the whole thing would be appropriate.

I know coloured hair’s there for character differentiation, but…