When Darker than Black was announced, I was among those who jumped into the bandwagon. I just knew it was going to be a good show even if I didn’t know what it was about yet. When it aired, I was awed and amazed by the smoothness of the protagonist, and I vowed to finish watching it. Circumstances, however, prevented me from doing so: at the time, my laptop was technologically antediluvian, and I wasn’t able to properly view the releases by [sudo], which were, sadly, only in high quality.
I waited for a while and tried a second time to watch the show. I was able to reach a little further (I was able to watch fifteen episodes this time, but to my dismay I had a lack of disk space and I couldn’t delete anything). Yet again I had to postpone my enjoyment of it. Finally, a few months ago my aunt bought me a laptop that remains to be cutting edge. It possesses a decent processor, and it has a lot of RAM and HD space: finally, it was something enough for me to be able to watch and enjoy anime properly. Having recollected about Darker than Black I sought to watch it, and I finished doing so the previous week. I thought the ending was great, and while there were some middling moments in the series, the action was finely crafted and I was sympathetic to the protagonist Hei. The ending was quite bittersweet and made me recall the ending of Evangelion (as they were very similar): Hei was given a choice to either be with his loved ones (contractors) but sacrifice a significant part of humanity in the process, or to choose both humans and contractors but to lose the only things in his life that he ever valued, namely Pai, Amber, and the real stars he had always wanted to see. He chose the latter, and while it was a painful choice (not only emotionally scarring, but also physically enervating, as he now has to run from both contractors and humans), it was a most noble choice.
I was thus both happy and wary of the current season airing: I had already read the manga (which serves as the bridge between the first and the second season), and a most remarkable loss was that of Yin. She was no longer in the second season, and Hei was far from the Chinese Electric Dark Knight he was in the first season: on the contrary, his physical qualities reflected a broken man. I did not want to watch the show because I did not want to entertain the possibility of Yin having died, but my curiosity and affection for Hei got the better of me. So I watched.
A lot of new characters were introduced and the most notable among them (perhaps because she is the heroine of the second season) is Suou. Contrary to the kind and meek Li and the highly efficient (and clean-cut) Hei of the first season was a desperate, alcoholic, and nomadic Hei. His demeanor was also as rough as his looks, and I could only assume that it was because there was also none of Yin to be seen: he has slapped and beaten Suou up, although I would argue that these were merited. He never hit her just because he wanted to: there was always reason behind his violence, just like the first season.
I was glad that Mao eventually resurfaced. I was even more glad when Yin was finally confirmed to be alive, and that she had transcended even her past self. From what could be seen in the sixth episode, she exhibits contractor-like powers in addition to the seemingly unlimited range of her observer spirit. It was also clearly evident that Suou has developed feelings a lot more than mere hatred for Hei: I would even argue that it was a jealousy not quite yet because of love, but nearing there. A lot was revealed in the sixth episoode: I just wish that, at the end of it all, Hei will get his happy ending with Yin, because I firmly believe he deserves it.
The original TV series of Evangelion was one of the few anime series I rewatched (I actually watched it three times). I personally don’t think it’s the best anime ever, but I do believe it ranks up there. Despite the complications and the complexities of the plot, especially elevated during the final two episodes, I was able to appreciate it as a moving character drama within an intense and eminent science-fiction series.
I did not like how it ended; End of Evangelion placated me a little bit more with regard to the TV ending, but there was still something missing. I still wanted more, despite everything.
Of course I was extremely delighted when it was announced, back in 2006, that a re-imagining of Evangelion was in the works. It was to be called Rebuild of Evangelion (very apt title), and it was to be shown in four movies. I did not expect anything much from the film series: I knew that it was much easier to fail than it was to succeed, and even more so with a series hailed to be among the best ever made. I was pleasantly mistaken: the first movie was a most impressive beginning, and it closed with a very positive note, clearly delineating the difference between the TV series and the film: this time, Rei was human.
I was eagerly anticipating for the second movie to come out, and often checked certain indexers for it. I am glad someone told me to check another indexer, because despite being a cam-rip, the sound was good and the subs were relatively OK: I finally was able to find a copy of the movie, which, despite being shabby, was good enough for me.
I love how Rei and Asuka react in this picture.
I won’t do a piecemeal summary of the film, seeing that a lot of you can watch the film more clearly and with more quality in certain theaters in your place, but I will give general statements about the film in general. First, the film’s animation and art are top-notch in every sense of the word. Even with just the cam-rip I was amazed at how the film was constructed; I believe the feeling will even be more intensified when one is in the theater, enjoying it at the quality it was meant to be shown. Second, the film, in my personal opinion, has a lot more soul and humanity in it, and this is because Asuka and Rei are no longer philosophical representations, but were designed to be thinking and feeling people. Asuka remains to be her hot-headed, headstrong self, while Rei remains to be reticent and reserved, but a lot of difference as regards their characters can be seen: Rei actually treasures Shinji, and evidences this in a most kind way; Asuka is no longer the young angry girl, but the girl who tries to deal with her circumstances. Third, I think Mari, despite despite her short stint in the film, is a good character who actually represents, in my own opinion, the normalcy among the pilots. Whereas Shinji deals with unwillingness, Asuka with anger and Rei with silence, she tries in her simple ways to fight the EVA and enjoys doing it without any emotional snags to her. She attempts to cope with her lemons, and tries to make lemonade.
Finally, and I believe this to be the reason why the film is so much better compared to the original, Shinji grows balls, a heart, and humanity that is extremely visible throughout the film. He still deals with the demons of his father’s abandonment, and his willingness to be loved, but the climax itself revolves around the transubstantiation of his humanity into something transcendent: he decides to no longer wait and be appreciated by his father, but to live his life in his own shadow and with his own decisions. He shows his appreciation and kindness to his co-pilots, they reciprocate in their own ways to him, and this gives the movie a gentility and a humanity I was hard-pressed to find in the original series.
The film was excellently made. I still have yet to see Summer Wars, but I would unequivocally say that Evangelion 2.0is one of the best anime of the year, and probably the best film, if not second-best.
The past week has actually just been one long joyride for me: after I realized that anime, after all, is not as harmful an addiction, I have enjoyed the free time that would be absent until perhaps Christmas. A day after I watched Bakemonogatari, I started watching a series I vowed to finish when it aired, and it was the second season of Spice and Wolf. As a show fuelled by character development, the show was solid and quite well-done. However, I did not like it as much as the first season because it seemed as if the second season revealed a cornucopia of Lawrence’s character: despite being a merchant, he has grown to be kinder and more caring as well as knowing what his real priority in life is. On the other hand, I felt Horo remained relatively staid: nothing really developed from her, and from what I observed she has changed little from her actuations during the first season. This has been most obvious especially during the final arc of the second season, where while Lawrence pours his entire heart and soul just to have Horo as a companion, and finally realizes his own feelings towards her, Horo nonchalantly remains the same knowledgeable, kind, but flirtatious character.
I thought this scene was especially sweet.
It is undeniable that Horo has feelings for Lawrence. Even when he felt she was going away from him, she was actually trying to assure his victory over Amati. Her loyalty lies with Lawrence, and it reflects in her actions that she treasures Lawrence beyond just a friend, or even a best friend. However, she keeps on dragging Lawrence, playing with him, and never telling him what she truly feels for him. While this unwillingness to open herself up is extremely understandable (she has loved before, and it has ultimately ended up with the death of her love), I was just thinking that she should stop toying Lawrence around. If she could perhaps curb her tongue when she speaks, and perhaps just cherish their moments together it would probably be better.
It is no longer Lawrence’s turn to act. He has willingly sacrificed everything he had valued before because he loves Horo, and he has put that into words. He lost a significant amount of money, could no longer be a town merchant, but he was willing to give all of his previous apices just to be with her. Even with that, Horo barely reciprocates his emotions. I just don’t really find it funny, sweet, or heartening.
Has anyone watched the second season and observed this? Perhaps actions speak louder than words, but words are still important to convey one’s truth in one’s emotions. One cannot live with actions alone, and it is with this reason that people get mad when they have no one to talk to. Madness arises from the inability of people to reach out to others and to ask for help through their own words. Horo may have been hurt in the past, but I don’t think that’s an excuse to skirt the truth of the matter regarding Lawrence.
The second season remained to be an eminent show. But for all its beauty, a unidirectional development will eventually be tiring. My own ranking of the season would be an 8/10.
I have been highly productive with regard to anime. After waiting about a day reflecting on the second season of Gundam 00, I decided to start viewing (on just a whim) Bakemonogatari. I could not stop watching it, and I realized that it was among the best anime this year has offer. I loved it not because it was trailblazing or totally original like Mononoke; I loved it because aside from its story (which was entertaining enough) it was also stylistically both unique and pleasant. While it borrowed concepts from Mononoke (I thought this was evident enough as I went through the series), xxxHolic and Requiem from the Darkness, it still was original and witty enough to be an excellent watch for this year.
I also loved how the subplots (the different oddities encountered and the person suffering them) contributed to the development of the characters. One can see how Hitagi grows from a callous and totally cold woman to someone who has learned to care for another, but it is a testament to the greatness of the series that Hitagi does not become perfect: she is still verbally abusive and offensive at times, but she usually more than makes up for it with her kind words. There is a similar development among the others featured in the series, with Mayoi, Kanbaru, and Nadeko, who have changed directly or tangentially because of Koyomi’s involvement with them.
Unlike Mononoke, however, the series is of a lighter tone. It still got bloody quite a few times, but the presence of the amusing wordplay, the allusions to memes and other series (the one I found most notable were allusions to Doraemon and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) contributed to a more jocular series.
I laughed out loud when I saw this. This is quintessential 4chan.
Finally, the TV ending of the series (of course one knows that there are still three episodes left) was a great culmination of the series. It could be seen that Hitagi has finally opened herself up not merely because she was rid of the oddity that befell her, but because she has truly fallen in love for the first time with our lovable and heroic protagonist. Even if one ended with the 12th episode, one could see that the series has come full circle: it started with Hitagi, and it ended with her as well. From an ice queen she has become transformed into a human, and she has become (despite all her quirks and idiosyncrasies) a woman who loved with all her heart. The emotional aspect of Bakemonogatari (aside from its interesting stories) gives it humanity. It does not dwell on man’s evil but cherishes life, love, and forgiveness, and this gives it an advantage other horror series don’t really possess.
It hasn’t been the best anime I have ever seen, but I can say that it ranks among the best. In my own, personal ranking it’s probably a 9.25/10.
What did you guys think of Bakemonogatari? Is it utter pretension, or a work of art?
I recently finished my first anime marathon ever since I started medical school. To sum everything up: feels good man. With that said, I was able to do it because I resolved to wean myself off bidding on eBay. I am extremely grateful for those who commented on my previous post and the grains of wisdom within their comments. I was wavering with symptoms of withdrawal beforehand, but I am glad to say that it has been a week since I have bid on anything on eBay. It may be a minutiae to many, but it is something significant to me. As I believe this will become a relatively lengthy post, I will divide the post between its central part [the anime part] and the personal part [my continuing battle against addiction], as I feel writing about my problems will help solve it.
I am a person who possesses a lot of discipline with regard to the things I deem important: for example, I am rarely late at meetings, and it has come to my attention that I am usually the first to arrive at the rendezvous point. I also exercise when I deem myself needing it, and I also have discipline to submit pertinent requirements on time. However, I still lack discipline with certain things, and most important among those are my wanton purchases on eBay. Despite the helpful comments that people have suggested in my previous elaboration of this quasi-addiction of mine, I have not been able to successfully conquest this demon of spending on unnecessary things. I have purchased some more video games the past month, in addition to purchasing a vintage set of headphones (which, to my dismay, are uncomfortable despite having good sound).
I knew that the transition to medical school was going to be anything but smooth, and I was correct. I had a lot of misgivings before the start of classes and a lot of imagined problems with my soon-to-be classmates. Somehow, however, I was able to persist and flourish: perhaps this is the reason that they call man to be the superior being, as his capacity to adapt is nearly limitless. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
Enjoy watching.
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.’
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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).
