I think I have been a romantic for quite some time. In fact, my top five anime revolves around love stories that have impressed upon me, whether they focus on the romance itself, or are only tangential to the main plot. When I saw the fourth episode of Durarara (I’m grateful gg returned to their normal selves), I liked the episode a lot because I saw the patience of Shinra in waiting for Celty. He cares for her, even if she is a Dullahan, and has done so for the past twenty years. The only character more patient in waiting for their love is probably Florentino Ariza of Love in the Time of Cholera, one of Marquez’s seminal works. Nevertheless, I admire the patience that he has for Celty, especially because one of the features that attract and define a woman to a man, the face, is not with her. He does not even mind even if the head does not come back to her so long as she remains with him. I found it to be one of the better illustrations of unconditional love in anime, and the episode itself continued the ambivalent nature of the show: perhaps humans may be bad, but they are only bad sometimes; other times, they are good people, and most of them, overall, are decent, despite everything.

I wasn’t expecting anything from Durarara. I still don’t, because it’s still in its formative stages. But what I have seen simply oozes with both style and quality. The series is heavy with dialogue and characterization, something I am not averse to. The first episode did not blow me away, however: it just made me feel that the anime series knew what it was and what it was going to be, and it paced itself carefully. Mikado’s epiphany in the first episode simply felt that it was actually just the beginning, but the central focus, or at least what really drives the story is Certy Sturlson, the headless motorbike driver.

The opening credits and the ending credits, however, are other stories altogether. Compared with the sanity and realistic tone of the first episode (everyone seems so real and so seated in Tokyo [except of course for the motorbike driver and Heiwajima, but even it's arguable that people like him can exist in real life]), both the opening and the ending just exudes a coolness and confidence in it that does not rely on catchy tunes sang by cutesy voices. How they introduce the focal characters in the story was very impressive. I liked how they were able to portray Orihara Izaya and Heiwajima Shizuo’s character in just the opening. I suspected Izaya was just like Itsuki Kamiyama of the GOTH manga, and he pretty much was: he was unscrupulous, mordant, and sharp, as we have seen in the second episode. On the other hand, the ending credits were not as visually impressive, but the aural effect of the music was still pleasant. To some extent, I was reminded of the excellent audio from Samurai Champloo, especially because of the jazzy music.

The third episode merely continued the excellence of the first two episodes. Having said that, I wrote of Durarara as a quincunx primarily because the secondary characters center on Mikado’s triad, with all revolving around the presence (or absence) of Certy Sturlson, the headless (horse)woman. The beauty of Durarara is the ambivalent humanity of its characters. In the second episode, Izaya was peggged to be simply quite an asshole; however, in the third episode it can be noted that he appreciates kindness and courage just like any other man but with his own methods. While the show really is transcended by the presence of her, the characters and their relationships are multivariant and colorful as each other.

From this point on I still do not know where the series is going towards. But I find it really entertaining and smart, something I find in only a few anime series. I’m hoping that it keeps its pace up. It’s also very refreshing to see certain references to anime that have aired recently such as Cencoroll, Jigoku Shoujo, and Kuroshitsuji. (Baccano aired some time ago, but it was done by the same studio and the same writer that does Durarara! I thought it was a subtle and well-done easter egg in the show.)

Baccano, Cencoroll, Kuroshitsuji, Jigoku Shoujo, Aria (?), Jigoku Shoujo

I have been eBay free for two weeks now, something I am glad I finally accomplished (after some time). Back in December, however, I thought that purchasing another video game console was a nice Christmas gift to myself: I have been ogling over one of the earliest home video game consoles created, and I decided that it would be a nice addition to my collection. It was Executive Games’ Television Tennis. It was an extremely simple game of tennis, much like Atari’s Pong: all one had to do was to bounce a ball off two paddles and keep it in play as long as possible. Executive Games had a short run of creating electronic games, but it was a fruitful run, and they were able to produce one of the earliest home video games consoles, so kudos to them.

This is the game.

I could not help but wonder, however, how more patient the people were back then than the people of today. I mean, they were able to play a game like that for hours at a time. I guess it was merely the novelty of it all, but it just seems they had more tolerance for a game like that than we do today. Thirty-five years has done a whole lot for technology, and Television Tennis just reminded me of that. I think it was probably the novelty, though. After all, once the Atari 2600 came out similar games like Pong were quickly phased out.

Back then, I guess the people assumed they were at the cutting-edge of technology when they had a Pong game in their homes. But time and technology, just like humanity, are fickle beings. Right now, I enjoy playing on that console, but only for 15 minutes at a time. One can only go so far with volleying an electronic ball. I appreciate the effort, however, and I appreciate its existence as a historical landmark in the evolution of games.

It also reminds me to stop wasting my money on eBay.

Ever since I obtained the Casio Loopy console I became privy to the reality of the possibility of getting the different video game consoles of yesteryear as long as I had the money. It was an epiphany that triggered a shopping spree that was neither merely petty obsession or impulse, but a maelstrom of both.

This is a cool game.

I absolutely refuse to call it an obsession, because obsessions are not sequestered in reality or rationality. They transcend both; in fact, they are irrational peregrinations into certain pleasures that can neither be controlled or placated. On the contrary, while I do purchase certain dubitable items off eBay (vintage video games, and vintage video game consoles), I do not purchase those items that are out of my reach, or unforgivably expensive for my status as a post-graduate student. I purchase items I know I can pay for and save for in addition to my desiring for them.

In the same vein, I refuse to call it an addiction anymore. Research into the psychology of addiction has made me realize that the fact I recognize and control my whims removes it from that definition. Despite my profligate nature with regard to the items that I have purchased, I have reined in a lot of my more stupid desires. Looking into myself, I can probably describe my current state (regarding eBay) as some sort of a chimera: the ability to be able to obtain the things that I wanted as a child dovetailed with my desires of youth does not bode really well. Understood from another lens, I know and recognize that what I spend is not money well-spent, but it is money that I spent and those things are things I own. It is a powerful feeling, one that has been welcome for nearly a year but is welcome no longer. I need to proceed to things that are more relevant and useful to me, or, if I can’t, at least on to things that are a lot cheaper.

The past few weeks, I have attempted to shift, once more, my passion for the video games of the past into the soap of the past. Soap is cheaper, after all, and it has served well as a new year’s resolution. However, when my mother called me, and I saw my Paypal account I realized I spent 30 dollars on soap. Just on soap. While it’s not an addiction, I realized that it was still a pretty stupid resolution and it does not really address the problem of me spending on useless stuff.

I’m looking for alternatives. I think I’ve watched a lot more anime the past month than the whole year combined, and it has helped a little, but not much. I want something unique that I can be passionate about without it harming my wallet in the long run. I know it ultimately boils down to self-discipline and a cathartic self-realization, but things are much easier said than done. I’m glad that I already made the progress of shifting the compulsion to something less harmful; now, however, I want to shift it to something productive.

Any suggestions? (Thanks for reading. )

The new year has come upon us, and another decade of quality and travesty anime has arrived. To me, however, it doesn’t seem to start with a bang. Rather, it has started rather innocuously and weakly, as the anime serving for this current season has been quite weak. Nevertheless, there are some curious and interesting series to watch, such as Seikon no Qwaser and Chu-bra! If anything, they will try to stretch the boundaries of good taste. Perhaps they will even be known to cross limits no ordinary (non-hentai) anime series has succeeded in before. A likelier chance, however, is that they will fall flat and be grouped with the other failed experiments of fanservice.

I’m glad, however, that there are still some studios and some anime that can pull off a decent, fanservice-based show. I particularly thought that Sora no Otoshimono was a good watch, even with the character archetypes we have been familiar with ever since Love Hina came out. It was done by the same studio that did Ga-Rei Zero, AIC. I have much respect for the latter anime, and consequently for the studio as well. This merely added to the respect I already have for them: Ikaros is a lovable (if quirky) angel hiding a dark past that is kindly accepted by her perverted ‘master,’ Tomoki, who is the object of love by quite a number of ladies. It may sound banal (and it is, as it doesn’t try to escape the boundaries of its genre), but it’s a very good example of its genre, having pantyshots as good as its plot (which is quite good).

The soundtrack was also pleasing: Soba ni Irareru Dake was a melody I really appreciated, and the quality of the different EDs (each episode has a different one until the last episode) serve as another testament to the effort put into the show and the show’s quality itself. Sora no Otoshimono will not end up as one of the greatest anime of all time, but it is one of the best examples of its genre and one of the few that actually had a decent plot and made the fanservice work.

Happy new year to all!

It’s that time of the year again, when, after we’ve seen the shows the year had to offer, we adjudge them upon their merits and critique them with their faults. It’s surely going to be different with every person, but here’s my personal top five (I’ve seen enough to write about a top ten, but I don’t really like them enough to put them even in a top ten for this year).

1. Kara no Kyoukai: Mujun Rasen

unlimited blood works

For the people who have read the past few posts, this comes as NO surprise at all. A lot of people may have been turned off by the complicatedly heady storytelling, but since I’m an absolute fan of that stuff (my favorite author is Faulkner) I marveled and attempted to digest the besotting and inebriating anachronism of Kara no Kyoukai. The best movie among the seven was this, the fifth, primarily because it took this kind of storytelling to the limits and pulled it off majestically.

The purpose of the highly fragmented progression of the story was to draw similarities to a spiral, and I thought ufotable did it successfully. There’s also a well-created central villain for this movie (and for this series, I guess), and an obvious pathos admixed with the awesome animation merits it to be the best anime of 2009. (It actually came out theatrically during 2008, but the subs and the DVD came out early January this past year, if I remember correctly.)

2. Kara no Kyoukai: Satsujin Kousatsu (Go)

This was during Garan no Dou, but Shiki looks awesome in this image.

There are some series that start wonderfully, have a very good bridging and explicative middle part, but an ending that’s very disappointing. Toradora and Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini are such examples, at least personally. They had endings that were disappointing, especially when compared to the whole series. This did not made them bad; it only put them down a notch or two from the top.

Kara no Kyoukai did not have such a weakness. While I don’t even think it’s arguable that the best movie was the fifth, if for the sheer balls of experimentation and pulling everything off, the final movie served as a wonderful and eclat-filled conclusion to a majestic and avant-garde series ultimately about the transforming power of love. Saying more about the series will sadly spoil it, but the ending was just as strong as the entirety of the story, and seeing the true pain and suffering of Shiki for the sake of love was simply beautiful.

3. Bakemonogatari

I loved this scene.

I can’t believe I almost forgot this beautiful and wonderful anime slideshow series. This series is quite divisive because of the method of storytelling SHAFT and Shinbo did with this series, focusing on choice shots and close-ups rather than animating everything. It may perhaps been a method to save money, or genuinely a unique way of storytelling, but it grew on me and I really liked it.

I loved how the individual arcs tied together with one another, and I loved the perfect cocktail of drama, humor, and romance. I also really loved how they ended the TV airings of the show, and I think episode 12 is one of the most memorable ending episodes in anime, especially because the ending theme was so apt with the ending itself. It’s certainly a memorable series somewhere in my top ten, but Kara no Kyoukai is simply transcendent.

4. Kara no Kyoukai: Boukyaku Rokuon

Shiki and Azaka as drawn by Kobayashi Jin

This was probably the most tangentially related of the movies among the series. Instead of featuring the tribulations of Shiki, it features Azaka. Simply put, it demoted the series’s protagonist into a side character for this movie. It’s a filler for the most part. Does that make this movie bad?

NO.

I thought the sixth movie was as entertaining as the other six movies, although not as deep or focused. It was not bad by any means, still blowing me away with amazing animation and characterization. Nevertheless, it still had a decent plot. This was how anime movies should be made: whether they are intrinsically or tangentially related to the plot, they should be made properly and with quality.

Besides, it also moved the plot forward. It paved the way to Shiki knowing more about the past she had forgotten, and was an introduction to the moving and conclusive Satsujin Kousatsu (Go).

5. Hatsukoi Limited

The girls of the series

I possess quite a fondness for J.C. Staff, but it’s not because of my fondness that I am rating this series highly. It’s because it was an adaptation of a manga that was better than the manga itself. Ultimately, we’re made to realize that the characters we’re observing are still children, and that they’re still on the way to realizing what life really is. Nevertheless, what they have experienced or are currently experiencing will be an indelible memory that will forever shadow their future decisions. The series possessed a wonderful balance between comedy, drama, and fanservice and ended in such a way that was pleasant, with closure, and yet open enough for the viewer to know that their lives are still beginning. It was a good show.

6. First Squad: The Moment of Truth

This was one of the most misleading images EVER.

I will probably like Summer Wars, but I have not watched it since there hasn’t been a proper RAW yet. Although the subs have been made, and I assume they have been made properly, it’s quite distracting to watch a movie hard-subbed with Korean text. I found it distracting, and I think many others have, as well.

I had expected much from this movie. After all, it was from Studio 4C, creators of such avant-garde masterpieces such as Tekkon Kinkreet. I was expecting more of the same from them, and more of the same quality as well. What I got instead was a quasi-documentary laced with an animated OVA, which were both decent, but not awesome or groundbreaking.

During the Second World War, Russians and Germans have gone into studying the occult and using the supernatural and paranormal to aid them in their conquests. I guess both of them were that desperate. This movie-cum-documentary featured a young girl who joined an army department that trained them mentally and psychically. Her friends died in war, but she was able to contact them to prevent a Soviet catastrophe. It doesn’t sound great, and it isn’t. The trailer, however, was very dissimulative, featuring the girl battling zombies with a katana. I instead got a lot of dialogue with a smattering of action here and there. The movie wasn’t great, but the technical prowess of Studio 4C prevented it from falling into being a bad OVA. It was a decent show, and after I destroyed my expectations when I saw real-life old men being interviewed regarding the occult tactics of the Second World War, I just enjoyed the show for what it was.

There have been some anime with notable first series but with disappointing second seasons, such as Spice and Wolf, and Darker than Black. The first seasons of both series are probably in my top twenty, but their second seasons have been disappointing, at least from a personal perspective.

Spice and Wolf barely had any development for Holo, and developed Lawrence even more, who was already developed a lot during the first season. I disliked the unevenness of the series, because while it showed that Lawrence really loved Holo, it didn’t show her reciprocating that love. There remained much of the same verbal fencing, much of her teasing, and much of her characteristic queenly attitude, but there was little progress of her, from what I saw. It was a letdown, but at least I have the comfort of knowing that it is highly probable that there will be a third season.

...

Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini, on the contrary, was just disappointing. It was awesome at the beginning up to the middle, but simply fell apart with its highly inconclusive end. While some people like pondering about quirky endings (I’m also like that), I also want to be given a few answers. All I currently have, however, is an interpretation of the ending that some people agree with, and some people disagree with. It doesn’t help when the creator and the director of the show blatantly says that the show has ended, and goes as far as explicitly saying that there will be no third season. It was not bad by any means, but I can personally say that I would rather there have been no second season since the first season left things open, but had a lot more closure. The focus of the series was on Hei’s choice, and I liked what he chose by the end of it all. I thought the ending was all right, and the series all right as well, but it wasn’t as good or as riveting as the first season.

This is Darker than Black 2 summarized.

At least there’s the OVA, I guess. I am by no means a fan of Yin as I am a fan of Hei, and I just did not really want Hei to suffer more than he did during the first season. Yet from what I see, Tensai gives me that. He turned his back on the choice that was most comfortable and beneficial for him the first season to give both humans and contractors a chance to exist with one another, and the only one left for him was Yin. During the second season, Tensai just had to take it away from him, and probably left Hei with nothing more than himself. Its level of tragedy is comparable to that of Chrno Crusade with other people’s interpretations, and it is not pleasant. Unless proven otherwise, I will stick with my own interpretation. It makes sense, anyway.

How about you, guys? What are your top five anime of 2009 and your reasons why you listed those series as such?

I hope everyone has a happy and enjoyable new year later (or tomorrow, depending on where you’re from!).

There will probably be no Darker than Black Season 3, and Yin’s most probably dead, as assumed by the director:

The text roughly translates to Okamura Tensai speaking of Yin looking to be very dead.

If this is true I’m going to be very disappointed. I thought the whole series was decent because it was going to be a set-up for season three. If this is the definitive ending to Darker than Black I guess … I’ll just say I’m quite disappointed.

Further updates will come.

EDIT1: Kaoru Chujo of Animesuki (who’s obviously more knowledgeable in Japanese than I am) confirms that Tensai believes it is the end of Darker than Black. How it answers most of the questions is still a big question for me, but he does say that the OVA will tend to add more to our understanding.

At least, I hope so.

This is neither official nor sanctioned, but another interpretation from the arcana of the final episode of Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini. I will not be like others, however, that will execrate BONES for their trolling, or curse them for what they have done to the franchise. I will simply try to explain things the way I understood them.

I personally saw the ending as decent: it wasn’t great or awesome, but it was quite solidly done. The episode affirmed, in a subtle way, that Hei loved Yin and vice versa. The point of contention is really whether Hei killed Yin. I personally don’t think that he did, primarily because in the final scenes there was a bifurcation of personalities: one Yin was black, and another was white. The White Yin was the one who asked Hei to kill him, whereas the black Yin stayed in the background. This made me personally reflect on Izanami as just a personality that branched off from Yin, especially because I just finished watching the particularly moving Kara no Kyoukai. The black Yin may be a male personality of Yin, and the white Yin is the Yin that Hei knew and loved all along. It is said that in the gate one gains something in exchange for something equally precious, and the return of female Yin to her own body and to Hei is paid off by the loss of her Izanami personality to another body, the male doll eerily similar to Yin and armed with her contractor-killing powers, as well. Hei’s gain of Yin is accompanied by his loss of Suou, a person who has grown valuable to him. With Shion’s ‘flawed’ world he lost his life; with Suou’s loss of memories she gained a new life in another world. The same can be said with July, who has once again become human in the world Shion tailored. It’s quite allusive to Fullmetal Alchemist with its idea of equivalent exchange, but it’s not altogether illogical.

All in all, it’s a decent ending.

After about four years, I have finally found something truly worthy to displace one entry in my top five. From what I have read many people will disagree, but at the same time many people will agree as well. The anime I am pertaining to is Kara no Kyoukai, or the Boundary of Emptiness. After having seen the fifth movie I was all but ready to include it in my top five. However, previous experience (for example, with Toradora) made me quite wary of doing so, and made me wait for the final entry of the series before altogether concluding upon its merits.

Awesomeness.

The fifth film is clearly delineated into three arcs. It takes a while to get used to with the anachronism and the montage of images, but a rewatch resolves a lot. The fact that backgrounds blend with one another pertain to the swiftness of time that Tomoe experiences in the first arc: at one point, he is at the cul-de-sac where he fights the bullies with Shiki; just a second later the image segues into Shiki’s apartment. In his arc, time melds into itself, although what is especially made obvious is the passage of time (one should always look at the clocks). Quite important during this arc is Tomoe’s statement that a house without a lock is not a home, one that will gain meaning later on. Time passes quickly, but without much happening.

Yin and yang