I was never good at anatomy. I didn’t study for it when I was still in college (I didn’t study much of anything), but I do study for it now. I’m glad to have passed the past two exams on it, especially because the only books I had were a dated reviewer on anatomy, and a 1901 facsimile of Gray’s Anatomy. I also don’t like anatomy much because I feel that it’s so disorganized: it most probably is just a personal stance, but there’s just so many things one has to learn by rote and not analysis, like the where the muscle is under or over, or how it articulates, or what nerves connect to it. There are a lot of things one has to just know, and I don’t like that. Anatomy, especially, is most unlike chemistry and physics that way. There are no simple basic formulas: there are just lots and lots of stuff to identify and then relate. The difficulty of it is quite elevated, and I’m proud of the task of having passed two exams with just those books (and a lot of resourcefulness). I’m pretty elated right now, but I still have three more exams to take care of (comprehensive exams are next week).

As regards anime, I have seen two episodes of Hatsukoi Limited in the previous month, and I must say I was pretty impressed with how J.C. Staff animated the series. There are a few episodes to go, but it’s shaping up to be one of the better series I’ve seen.

Medical school is akin to barely breathing. We had three exams just a week ago, and two more this coming week. Despite knowing that Spice and Wolf II is currently airing, and that there are still some anime that are worth watching (plus, is Lelouch really alive? When will the OVA come out?), I don’t have a consistent Internet connection and I also don’t have much of time to really enjoy myself with anime.

I’m glad that I’ve finally (somewhat) controlled my urges to eBay: I did it by being interested in a relatively expensive (and very rare) video game, which would cost me a lot of saving and a lot of waiting. I’m halfway through that mark, so it’s good. I wish I could comment and read what the blogosphere offers, but medical school takes away most of your time. It really is a schooling, both inside and outside the classroom. Imagine reading a whole book for only a week … with a comprehensive exam upcoming immediately after.

Yeah.

See you~!

In the past week, I’ve only watched a single episode of a certain anime, and I realized something: the best only get better with time. The DVD re-encodes of niizk of Honey and Clover, the anime that still remains to be my favorite among every anime series I have watched, have reminded me of how majestic the series was. I absolutely loved the prognostication of the first episode: life, indeed, is like a wheel (and this wheel symbolism is something that pervades the entirety of the series). It goes up; it goes down; but it keeps on going on. At the end of the first episode Takemoto explicates to us that there are some things we do yet we don’t know the reasons why, just as there are some things and people we like without knowing the reasons why. Despite everything, however, life must go on.

This belief somehow reminded me of a line in Pablo Neruda’s poem, No Hay Olvido (There’s No Forgetting). It’s actually the last line of the poem. The line goes: ‘and so many things that I want to forget.’ All our lives we are beset by the face and the fact of our own humanity and failures, yet we must go on. We keep on, because to keep on is to keep on living.

I love Honey and Clover. You should, too.

I’m only starting to understand the intermittent updates by TheBigN, and that has a lot to do with the rigours of medical school. It’s actually worse than high school, because after you’ve stayed at school for more than a third of the day you also have to study for another third just to probably pass. There are also weekly exams, which don’t make things any easier.

With that said, I haven’t really watched any anime after finishing Shikabane Hime. I was irritated at the ending, primarily because it was classically Gainax, but it was, as a series, pretty good. I wished Makina and Oori became more than friends within the anime’s span, but I guess that wasn’t meant to be.

I have a few questions: which spring anime of 2009 have already ended? What are the good ones to watch, aside from Cross Game and Eden of the East? Has a poster for Summer 2009 come out yet? What are the anime to follow?

It’s actually a reality that I’ve realized a steep decline in my Internet use. From the more or less 35 hours a week in college I’m barely using five this time around.

Thanks!

While other post-graduates were busily preparing for what to bring the next day, I was on the computer looking at a red-and-black screen, dodging a missile at one point and ducking an alien at another. While they were excited to open a new chapter in their life, I was totally focused on vanquishing the ecclesiastico-military palette.

I was playing the Super Cobra (using the Adventure Vision BIOS) on the MESS and I sought to finish the game (by myself) without infinite Cobras to see whether the game would present an alternative ending or not. I was so besotted with the completion of the game because it would give me closure, a closure that I desperately needed to prove to myself that my lust for that failure of a handheld system was juvenile. I vowed to myself to finish it before classes would start primarily to prevent any distraction from my studies. While I had quite a few misgivings regarding medicine, I am a man who sticks by what he has chosen, and as I had chosen medicine I am going to stand by it (despite the fact that I barely slept yesterday and probably wouldn’t later). After about five days of persistence, I was finally able to finish the game with a limited number of Cobras and I also finally discovered that there was no difference in the ending whether one had infinite Cobras or not: the game kept on without end.

Having played as if demon-possessed for a few days, I could not help but notice the different flaws that the Adventure Vision system had. For one, it was very fragile: a short fall and the rotating mirror mechanism that allowed the game to proceed would break. There would be no more game, and no more system. Another flaw to its design was that it was primarily built with red LCDs. The VirtualBoy was merely an upgrade from this console: both have the same red LCDs that cause eye tiredness, headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Finally, the games other than Super Cobra have barely any replay value: the system possessed mediocre graphics at the time, and once one finished with Super Cobra there wasn’t really anything else left to do but to start all over again (or stop playing, which was what I did).

My finishing of the game came at the most opportune time, because after I completed it I could finally disassociate myself with the game and with the obsession that plagued me for a good few weeks. I could also finally focus studying for the medical profession that I have chosen; and while I am still not quite sure of the decision that I have made I am extremely certain on my commitment to my choice. I can only hope that I can surpass the obstacles that I am encountering currently and the even bigger ones that I will face in the future.

Thank you for everyone who has supported me throughout my stint of blogging. While I probably will not stop watching anime, and while I will probably still blog, it will most certainly be not in the same volume or length as before. Right now I have dealt with three-hour night sleeps: I will probably have to deal with worse.

As Samuel Beckett most aptly put it, ‘I can’t go on, I’ll go on.’

I only watched the first Rebuild of Evangelion movie a few days ago. It was on my computer for the better part of a year, and while I had time to spare I simply forgot about it as time passed. When my sister got sick, however, I volunteered to be there with her and the only thing I could do to prevent getting bored was to watch whatever anime was left on my computer (and that was quite a sizable amount). I decided to watch the first movie after recognizing its presence, and I didn’t regret the decision. (more…)

After quite some time of not writing about anime I decided to return to it with a series I’m really fond of, and that is Spice and Wolf. I have watched a lot of anime series (although not as much as some), and I must say the dialogue in this series is one of the most scintillating I have ever seen in any medium. It’s ultimately still a tale of a quasi-forbidden love (a wolf-deity and a mere mortal), but it doesn’t really focus on that aspect and instead centers on the dynamic exchange and the nuances between the two protagonists, Horo and Craft Lawrence. There is none of the puerile, sophomore, and angst-ridden romances characteristic of most high-school anime: there is only the maturity and insight by a wolf-deity captivated by love yet reined in by intelligence and (dare I say it) age, and the aloof, human, yet insightful nature of a considerate merchant.

It is ostensibly a tale of economics: a tale of exchanges, of trades and commerce. However, beneath the veneer of market powers lies a wonderful, character-driven story on two people who love each other yet are unwilling to admit it, one because of pride, and the other because of something more originary. Ensconced and entrenched in the dialogue, however (and of course in the expressions), is the love that these two beings share for one another. The Wolf and Amber Melancholy is no exception: in fact, it is I believe the first time where the true nature of feeling by Horo towards Lawrence is exposed. She loves him, and indeed, she loves him very much. Of course, being a series directed at more cognitive and refined viewers, there is little epiphanic rejoicing and no anxious scene of confession. There is merely the realization and understanding of Horo that she has been taken in by the charms of Lawrence and yet could not express it because of her stature. It is most evident in this statement of hers:

Yes. She loves him.

This could only mean that she is quite besotted with Lawrence: the ‘illness’ is the both damning and redemptive idea of love. The reasons are implied with her dream-sequence: she will live, while Lawrence will die. Somehow, 25 to 50 years appear short and quick to an entity that has lived at least six times that long. Yet she has already chosen. She has chosen to be with Lawrence, and despite her teases and bickering with him she recognizes that he has a stake in her heart, and a very sharp one at that.

I believe the rest of the series will revolve on their continual journey to the place of Horo (and the OP of the first season puts it excellently), where they would have to make their choice: face the fact of Lawrence’s oblivion together, or finally part ways after their most meaningful journey, and that journey is their journey towards themselves.

I have been snooping around the Internet these past few days for older handheld gaming consoles. By older, I don’t mean the DS Lite or the PSP Slim. I don’t even pertain to the Game Boy Advance. What I’m talking about are handheld consoles such as the Atari Lynx and the Sega GameGear, perhaps even the QuickShot Supervision. These are the consoles of many a yesteryear that I could only yearn for when I was a child. (more…)

Even when I was still a child I had always been admiring of pens in all shapes and sizes. I sometimes admired some pens so much, I stole some of them when I was still very young. While I no longer steal pens at this age (I’d like to think I’m a wee bit more mature), I still have the same admiration and quasi-obsession for these objects. I bought three pens at two American dollars primarily because they were aged and comparatively antique (two were probably at least ten years old). As expected, the ink dried out within a week, and I had wasted two dollars on white elephants. They barely even wrote. (more…)

As I’ve said in my previous posts, I have been busy chasing and dealing with the requirements of medical school. That doesn’t mean I have done absolutely nothing as regards anime: on the contrary, I have observed and watched a significant number of movies and series (both anime and live-action).

This is an OK film.