Is anyone here unfamiliar with Doraemon? I hope that isn’t the case. But for those who are, Doraemon is one of the longest-running anime series of all time. The heroes of this series are Nobita, a child struggling with bullying and everyday life, and Doraemon, the eponymous character of the series, who is also robotic cat with a lot of gadgets to aid Nobita’s difficulties. To date, the series has already aired more than a thousand episodes and is still going strong. The plot is episodic: the duo have new digressions and misadventures with each new episode. I can understand children (and even adults) enjoying Doraemon; consequently, I can understand why some people (like Daniel, for example), love Tristram Shandy. (more…)

My birthday was last February 23. I didn’t want to be self-serving and post simply because I was celebrating a birthday, but I did give myself a gift (or rather, a chore). I bought myself a planner (which I didn’t use much anyway); in addition, I promised myself, in the attempt to protract my life, to eat more healthily, to exercise everyday and simply to suck the marrow out of my temporal life. As a result, my decreased viewing time with regard to anime became almost infinitesimal. It didn’t really matter to me much: I had severed connections with some of my closest online buddies for quite a while (a shoutout to people like Ken, meganeshounen and koro), and I did not read other writers’ blogs (except some posts written by IKnight and Cameron).

I will go gay for Mitsuuru

I don’t know if this is quite obvious, but watching anime wastes time quite well. Even with just following two series, one hour a week can be used for a lot of exercises already, or a lot of done homework. I’m not degrading anime, but being more intercalated with reality the realization simply came to me.

One thing, however, made me want to immerse myself immediately in the world of anime once again. This was the gender-reversal, or gender-bending of the characters of Haruhi Suzumiya. I know I’ve been terribly late for the party, but I found the idea to be simply marvelous. Haruki attracts me more as a character than Haruhi does simply because it feels so right: aggressiveness and impulsiveness are traits that are predominantly masculine in nature. In the movies we have John Rambo or Chuck Norris dive in nigh-impossible situations with little regard for their own safety: in anime we have Son Goku and the different Saiyans destroying worlds because of sheer impulse and aggression.

But as much as I would like to peg cynicism and acerbic wit as strengths of men as well, it would be no fun to watch Haruki and Kyon making out, would it? (It would probably be fun for the yaoi fangirls of the world, but for the most part homosexuality is looked upon as an aberration. It can be seen in the reactions of regular people watching the intimate scenes of Brokeback Mountain.)

Kyonko also brings something new to the table. Society has noticed and has transformed itself in such a way that aggression in women as well as impulsiveness is no longer viewed as something abnormal. Women have become more and more empowered over the years; some women even attest that they are better than men. Satire and vitriol, however, remains firmly dominated by men (especially in literature). From the ramblings of Celine to the House of Leaves, it has always been a man’s game. Seeing Kyonko, who is Kyon but embodied in a girl, in action, would be truly a novelty. And this, I wager, would make the alternate universe of Haruki Suzumiya, Kyonko, Asahina Mitsuuru, Nagato Yuuki and Itsuko a lot more colorful than the world of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Persistence really does pay off. After an anal amount of patience despite being constantly and consistently disappointed by Haruhiists and Haruhism, I finally managed to finish The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – and what can I say – it was pretty good. (more…)