Time’s a changin’

Today, I have come across an epiphany: one of the reasons that I read a lot of VNs is because my computer can’t play HD anime. Now, I have a new computer which allows me to watch 1080p videos on a glorious 55 inch flatscreen, and suddenly I don’t have the urge to even glance at Da capo anymore. This event, coupled with the arrival of winter break and the disappearance of the people that I usually spend time with, has led to not only an onslaught of guilt at my inability to do actual work, but also the first time I’ve marathoned an anime series since… I can’t even remember the last time I marathonged something, that’s very sad.

Turns out, I’ve fallen in love with every series I watched. More so than any of the eroges I’ve played this year. In fact, I was actually about to draw fanart for every series before reminding myself of my massive amounts of guilt at never finishing Sepia tears… guh…

The first series I completed was Revolutionary Girl Utena. It is a fantastic show which has aged fabulously well. And I can’t bring myself to say anything else because it was so symbolically confusing (in a good way!). I’ll definitely write about it one of these days, but only after I watch the entire thing again, this time, avoiding the surfing elephants and boxing kangaroos.

Next, there was Angel Beats.

I had two main problems with Little Busters (note, two MAIN problems, the lesser problems are countless). First, the running gags, repeating scenes, and daily life coupled with the repetitive as hell music seemed to drag on for forever. Second, the vague spiritual/metaphysical/I don’t know what it was events were NOT handled well. Jun Maeda managed to avoid these two problems while writing Angel Beats. The slice of life moments were interesting and fun, and while the running gags were still there, they were less repetitive and therefore more entertaining. While there wasn’t much explanation for some of the events, it felt rather hopeful, like the ending to Air, rather than, say, the Kurugaya route in LB (granted, Maeda didn’t write that, but still…) I found my self laughing more in one episode than I did in the entirety of LB. Really, Maeda’s stuff just seems to work better when it’s animated. Of course, I cried too, and I really love how the title ties into the plot.

The production values were great. Unfortunately, I’m writing this right after Bakemonogatari and the Macross movie, so I’m not as impressed as when I was watching it. I mean, you can’t compare the backgrounds above to, say…

Elfin lied, or say…

the macross frontier movie. I didn’t like the look of the characters too much either.To be fair, Ga-na’s artwork isn’t the best basis for characters, but still… The voice acting and music are still great though. Ichiban no Takaramono makes me cry, and I really appreciate how Maeda experimented with the composing. I always prefer tv soundtracks to VN soundtracks, because with TV, you can let the emotion flow without worrying about if it will sound while looping 50000 times. Some of the composition for the vocal songs were messy though.

Then, there was Bakemonogatari. When it first came out, me being the rabid Nisioisin fangirl that I am, I wanted to marathon it. Then, there was that nine month wait for the final episode, which led to me not watching this until today.

This time, the music wasn’t something that I would buy the soundtrack for, but it worked brilliantly. This time, the art wasn’t there because of budget issues, but it worked fantastically. This time, I didn’t cry, but oh wow I LOVE this show. Really, after being seriously disappointed at the Zaregoto ending, Nisioisin has restored my faith in him again with absolutely fantastic writing, quirky characters. The Shaft supplied atmospheric art helped, of course. It now has gained a special place in my heart. No, I’m not just writing this because I’m scared of Senjougahara becoming real and stapling my eyeballs while I sleep.

I especially love the banter (of course I do, it’s like 90% of the show). Black Tsubasa’s outburst about the pains of love really got to me. I’ve never had much sympathy for such a character until one day I spent a miserable two hours while feeling physically ill, knowing that the person I’m looking isn’t looking at me and what’s worse doesn’t care enough to see if I’m looking at him. And the, there was this recent incident involving a confession. In pretty much literal terms, the best friend of the harem lead wants to confess to the Yamato Nadeshiko because of the encouragement of a normal friend and two unnamed female side characters. Needless to say, it didn’t go well, which made me think about how ironic our relationship with anime is. Really, if I look, some of the people I know can be described in a very strange way. There’s the genki goth loli, the tsundere fushouji loli, the albino hacker, the guy with the caring but continuously missing parents,  and of course, the harem lead and friends as mentioned above. However, no matter how much certain scenes can remind me of real life (such as that ar scene in Bakemonogatari),  the complete inability for me to apply stuff from anime to real life is absolutely amazing. Oh, since I’m on the subject of relationships, I hope that everyone has a fulfilling Christmas which will be spent with someone special. Now, back to Bakemonogatari.

While I don’t particularly love Nadeko, I adore her design. That is one fantastic school uniform. Why are there no fanart for it? I don’t understand. I should do a post on the greatest school uniforms one of these days. Yes, I will.

After that, there was the Macross Frontier movie #1. I watched this with a friend, and let it be fortunately or unfortunately, we spend most of the time lamenting the cheesiness of Alto, the ugliness/stripperness of Sheryl’s outfits, her impossible cleavage, and her bipolar attitude I don’t know much about cleavages, but my friend (who is a d-cup) assured me that it is absolutely impossible to have something like Sheryl’s fish in there, even if Sheryl was braless.

Of course, we also groaned at this and various “problems”. For one, Sheryl’s earring always follows the laws of gravity by staying DOWN. Even if it’s in space. Even if we see the artificial gravity failing below. And then, there was the city, and particularly the bridge, which was mysteriously restored for the final scene. That aside though, this movie was absolutely amazing in terms of production values.The animation was beautiful, and while I STILL don’t like Sheryl’s hair it didn’t look like wet jello like it did on TV.

To say that there was background prOn is a bit of an understatement. Oh, speaking of which, if you ever have the hanckering for something unhealthy, here’s how to make what a friend of mine calls “prOn for the mouth”. Cook onions, add spam, then mashed potatoes. Season as you like. I assure you, it is delicious. Ok, I’ll stop talking about prOn now, back to the movie. The music, as always, was nice, although the Brittany Spears feeling I get from Sheryl isn’t that great. Guh, that’s deviating towards prOn again…

As for the story, well, it’s deviated a lot from the TV series, and it’s also cut a lot of screen time for minor characters. However, I think it’s better for it. The cruelties of war was portrayed much better, and the main characters more fleshed out. I like the new sub plots, and especially love the scene where Sheryl hired Ozuma. All in all, I can’t wait for the next movie, especially if there’s isn’t another Sheryl concert (poor girl, her concerts keep getting interrupted).

I don’t understand why that’s appealing, I really don’t.

Lastly…

Kyoani, I love you. More on this later…

…Guh, I feel guilty that Yuki is getting her own post and Bakemonogatari isn’t… Why do I feel like I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning with stomach pains and after suffering for days due to the Canadian health system will get a surgery which will reveal staples in my kidneys?