Weekly Highlights (28-12-08)

A week of incredulity and melancholy.

Anime Highlights

Shows mentioned this week:

Clannad ~After Story~ as of episode 12.

Ga-Rei as of episode 11.

Michiko to Hatchin as of episode 7.

Toradora! as of episode 13.

Star Wars Clannad ~After Story~ Episode I 11: The Phantom Baker’s Menace.

God knows that this fight was better than all the Star Wars prequels combined. It amazes me that that KyoAni can actually animate action scenes as well as they do (and by “well”, I’m thinking more along the lines of fluidity rather than detail).

Marriage Proposal? More like EPIC proposal.

A truly poignant moment in the series. Looking on the show with a bit more skeptcism thanks to otou-san (WHY MUST YOU CRUSH MY NAIVE FANTASY?!) I would have to have a heart of cold, hard steel not to be at least a little moved by the portrayal and circumstances of Tomoya’s proposal. It irritates me that people’s reputations are affected by those of their families; that “the apple doesn’t fall far froom the tree” attitude is nonsense. Anyway, the reason this affected me so greatly is that, when I think about it, I’ve never seen a teenage relationship in anime past the boyfriend/girlfriend connection (dropped ItaKiss like a brick at around episode 16, FYI) so it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. That is, it would be interesting, if I hadn’t been vaguely spoiled on the conclusion already. I have my doubts, but my suspicions are probably true, and if that’s the case WHYYYYYYYYYYY ;_;?

Ga-Rei Zero? More like Ga-Rape Zero.

Completely and utterly pointless fanservice which went past hot and steamy and into the realm of just plain weird when the kid started licking Yomi’s arm with the stone. Actually, scratch that, it was always weird.

ROCKET POWERED MACHINE-GUN MANNED SWORD-COMBAT WHEELCHAIR.

Does exactly what it says on the tin.

The Bold and the Beautfiul: Michiko to Hatchin Style.

I love Michiko to Hatchin as it’s always surprising me with each episode. Just when you think the two are heading to the city to find Satoshi and the show’s going to focus on the seedy underbelly of Brazilian crime organisations, the creators pause to create a tangled (well, straightforward, but still emotional) story about the illegitimate affair between Michiko and a dastardly yet sedutctive man. Coburn describes the appeal of this episode more eloquently thatn I ever could.

Toradora! 13: SPRINT OF LOVE.

I dare you to disagree with over 9000 bloggers, including me, and say this episode wasn’t great. Dare you. Except you.

Blogging Highlights

Anime is Culture, Culture is Love: What the Prophet Might Say About Watching Anime

mechafetish – We Remember Love

If anime is indeed love, then perhaps to spoil ourselves is to deny the fullness of the gifts it has to offer.

This post is worth reading first and foremost as it contains the words of a Prophet. Sure, “anime” replaces “love” thoughout the entire monologue, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful :P.

It all depends on the watcher and their relationship with the anime really. There are some who avoid spoilers, yet aren’t too irritated if they stumble across spoilers (such as me), some who HATE spoilers, some who have love-hate relationship with spoilers, some who just don’t give a damn.

2008 in Review: Christmas E-nnui

Owen-S – Cruel Angel Theses

E-nnui”, as per the title of this post, is my little pun of a portmanteau, a cross between the “e-” affix as in “electronic”, and “-nnui” as in “ennui“. It’s a way of describing that disconnect between communication online and communication offline, and I’m curious as to how or why does the former so pervasively affect the latter. For the divide is painful–I struggled to talk about anything, everything, and ended up not talking much as a result, knowing that each new topic with each new person would fizzle out eventually.

It seems that when Owen’s not attempting to crush and troll/insult all his online enemies aquaintances with biting satire, he’s busy struggling through awkward social situations with “real” people. In all seriousness, though, I thought that I had this same problem a few months ago. I’d barely had any social contact with people (and drunken nights half-remembered don’t count) over the summer holidays, for nigh on a period of two months and I was dreading actually having to meet with any relatives for festivities, or even some friends. I’m no good with one-on-one conversations, mostly because my interests stray quite a bit  from those of the people I know, but I get by, mostly because I’m either 1. in a group or 2. able to respond and converse with others if it’s something I even remotely know about.

Beyond the Blogging Crossroad: Parts 1 and 2

usagijen – The Scrumptious Anime Blog

Blogging was, and still is, an epic journey for me. I might have entered the blogging scene with the wrong mindset, but somewhere along the way I found it to be my very own soul-searching journey, in the same way Takemoto sought for enlightenment through an epic life-changing bike adventure, only in this case it’s blogging instead of a bike, but life-changing nonetheless.

Words cannot express how amazed I was by these two posts. Except maybe these ones. An epic journey of intropsection and deep thought (bordering on the philosophical at times) leading to a conclusion filled with affirmation and realisation. Plus some really pretty images ^^.

Best Anime of 2008: Day 1 – Slice-of Life

0rion and Guff – Epic Win Blog

Well, another year has come and gone, and with 2008 at an end is it once again time for us to share with you some of the highlights of the year. Thus, I am very proud to present to you the 13th Annual Epic Win Best of the Year Anime Award Show, where the awards are made up and the points don’t matter!

You know, I think that if Epic Win has a post each week, it’s most likely going to end up here every time. Their tag-team style never gets old (banter near the level of Lawrence and Horo. 0rion is Horo :P) and I find myself hard-pressed not to check out anime they suggest. Due to the words of them, lolikit and about every other anime watcher on the face of the planet, I may be about to finally begin Aria. Maaaaaaaaaybe.

And that’s it for this week. Perhaps if more people comment on this post, I’ll start watching Aria.