I had borne through the twenty-second episode yesterday with a jolly mood brought about by an inebriation to alcohol. In Code Geass R2, alcohol is always the answer. Of course I was disappointed: I believe most people were. So as not to be simply driven by the democratic feeling, however, I watched the episode once more. My general perception hadn’t changed: the episode remains to be full of bullshit, but at least it was another entertaining distraction.

This was my ‘Don’t tase me bro’ face.

They’re not even trying anymore.

I thought things were going to get better; I guess I was wrong. Excuse me, I’ll be getting a beer for myself.

This is a ’summary’ post of R2 – 21. While I do not usually write summary posts, I have given in to the requests of a friend and promised her to write properly on the occurrences of this episode. While I am in doubt whether the post will come out decently (reasons can be seen later), I shall try my best to write smart and sharp reflections. In the end, it’s not actually a summary post.

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I just have to ask something, since I don’t know whether this is just a personal and esoteric perception of Code Geass R2: do you recognize R2 to be bad in the critical sense but still love it? Or do you recognize R2 to be a well-written and well-executed story that just has to be understood as one of the best series of all time? Reading /a/, other blogs and other reviews, I’ve understood that most people seem to be permutations if not representations of the former position.

I’m more of the first position myself. I don’t want to laugh at R2, but at times it’s just too ostentatious and over-the-top for its own good. I am sincerely entertained from it, and this is why I keep watching. But my entertainment does not, in any way, follow up to reflection or cogitation. I can’t say anything more other than it’s just really, really, really fun to watch. I would like to hear your opinions: what do you sincerely think of R2?

Again, in a nutshell, mine is that I love it, but I simply cannot recognize that it is good (from a critical analysis). Its plot has too many bumps, and while some people (you know who you are) point out that the plot is fluid, I believe it has some plot holes that have not been addressed yet. How about you?

P.S. I actually want to write about something else, but this has been troubling me especially because I really don’t know whether most of the people around are just trolling or are totally serious. I am totally serious in this post; at least, I was not trolling when I wrote this. Do not worry: after my downloads of Legendary Gambler Tetsuya and Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight are finished, I (think I) will proceed with writing posts about them.

I have a new theme, if that isn’t obvious yet. This is primarily because of mellow_bunny’s efforts: he designed my new theme from scratch based on what I wanted. Since I wanted a theme based on the color violet or permutations of it, he dutifully created my theme based on that sole desire, which is what I have currently. I love this theme a lot more than the vanilla Chocolate Candy theme I had for two years. It truly gives some sort of personality to this blog of mine, and I’m happy about that: thank you very much, Michael.

I don’t even have to say anything more. It’s all in the picture.

Click the image for a bigger picture. Check the series located at no. 5. If one is a true anime fan, that should be more than enough to make one RAGE.

No, I didn’t shop that. I … am utterly speechless. The picture simply describes the nadir of anime fandom. Seriously.

I made you click, didn’t I? This post is not a hate-filled invective, however. (more…)

Fyodor Dostoevsky, the great Russian author, has four major novels that are recognized (even until today) to be among the greatest in literature. To date, the most popular novel among these four is Crime and Punishment. One of his other novels, although lesser-known than C&P, is Demons.

Demons was partially inspired by Sergei Nechayev, one of the leaders of the Nihilist movement, who was so single-minded in his goal of revolution that he disregarded morality: he did not mind political violence and murder. He was so single-minded that he alienated even his friends and family. (more…)