It is undeniable that the focus of Toradora has always been on the romantic struggles of Taiga and Ryuuji. Even the title itself has been derived from their physical or actual similarities with their representative animals. I will talk about them, but I will also attempt to shed light on the reasons as to why I believe Toradora is an excellent show.
She looks even better than Ryoko.
I haven’t made much progress with regard to my anime watching. I have been doing my thesis for the past few days, and I also started reviewing for the medical admission test which is three weeks from now.
There weren't any good manga in the convention :c
I need your help.
It’s the first time I am following quite a few series as compared to my regular one or two per season, and I need your help in choosing the best fansubs possible. Because of this vacillation in choosing fansub groups, the only series I have been able to follow for the past few weeks were ToraDora! and Tentai Senshi Sunred (which is the anime I tout, in all seriousness, to be the best of this season).
Because of this I only have one episode of Casshern Sins, three of Kurozuka, two of Mouryou no Hako, two of Yozakura Quartet, one of Kemeko DX, one of Hakushaku to Yousei, four of Gundam 00 S2, two of Ga Rei Zero, one of Michiko to Hatchin, and one of Bihada Ichizoku. All in all those are twelve series I’m paying attention to, and with all the attention on Kannagi I may pick up one more.
The thing is, I am unfamiliar with most of the fansub groups who release subbed episodes of most of these shows. Gundam 00 S2 is practically the only show where I know Menclave is the best. I’m currently sticking with [sudo] for Michiko to Hatchin as I loved their Darker than Black subs, but I wonder if I should pick up other groups.
For the rest of the shows, which subs do you recommend?
I’m sticking with AOne for Yozakura Quartet as their releases have been of consistent quality for these past years; I have doubts as to whether I’d choose Shinsen for Casshern Sins; I’m currently sticking with Ureshii for Kurozuka, unless someone recommends Shinsen-Subs (and I have quite a lot of doubt as regards Shinsen as a group); I don’t know which group to follow for Kemeko, and I also don’t know which group to follow for Ga Rei, but I’m currently with Deculture and sMi respectively.
I also wouldn’t mind being recommended other anime to watch, as long as you guys could hook me into them. 
Thanks.
I never lost respect for J.C. Staff ever since they did Shingetsutan Tsukihime and Honey and Clover. As with most studios, they have had their own failures and missteps with regard to quality anime, but two of their anime belong to my top three, and that must mean something. I almost forgot, however, with their releases of Zero no Tsukaima and Shakugan no Shana. The two are by no means bad anime series, but I don’t think they’re good, or at least in the possession of that lasting quality that series like Honey and Clover will possess in the years to come.
A broken beauty
It’s time for a local (in terms of being about the state of anime here in the Philippines) post.
There's a lot more where that came from. :)
ABC5 is one of the few channels that air on free local television. It’s not the most popular channel in the Philippines (I’m guessing that that belongs to ABS-CBN right now judging from the budget they allot on their shows as compared to GMA), but it is quite pivotal in the dissemination or at least the rethinking of what is anime.
It’s the first time in local television that series like Code Geass, Noein, and Mai Hime are aired on primetime spots: in the bigger channels, or at least in the more popular ones, their primetime shows more often than not local drama series. Anime is barely given a mention, let alone aired.
It has recently changed with the barrage of decent to good anime (that do not cater only to kids) that ABC5 airs. While their dubbing remains to be wanting, the fact that they air anime during primetime slots and anime that do not only cater to children will at least initiate the thinking, even if only among few Filipinos, that anime isn’t merely for kids but for adults as well. I believe it’s a good start.
The dubs are, however, amusing, if anything. Shirley sounds like a man, and the voice actor of Lelouch doesn’t manage to portray Lelouch’s antics well. I’d argue that it’s the limits of the language, however, more than the dub itself: Tagalog is pretty much a language which attempts to waste as many words as possible in the statement of a simple idea. The very first episode was a reminder of Lelouch’s ideals, however: his principle that only those who are prepared to die can be the only ones that should kill appears here.
A friend of mine who watched the dub with me and who also was not quite acquainted with Code Geass remarked that CC was a very beautiful woman. I was reminded of the reason why I abhorred Lelouch dying so much: sooner or later, Lelouch will remain to be just another memory to her. I’m still hoping that something happened between them before he passed away, because otherwise it would be simply too tragic. 
Today is the last day of our semestral break for this year. Because my days of being able to read freely were dwindling, I sought to read as much as I could the previous week (thus the lack of updates). It has become a ritual during the past years; I don’t think anything is bad with attempting to expound the horizons of one’s mind, however.
One wishes there really were a book like that.
Ever since I started visiting /a/, I always thought that the series that one often saw were pretty bad series. Code Geass R2 was pretty bad; I believe there is also a rule in /a/ that states that /a/ only talks about bad series. Perhaps that was why I tried to avoid ToraDora at first: there were a few curmudgeons who spammed ToraDora all over the front page, and as a result I was dissuaded from watching it (although I already had seen the first two episodes unsubbed).
I just wish they won't fuck this up.
That was an error in judgment. ToraDora, at least for me, is a very enjoyable series; and despite its flaws, it really has a good probability of success especially if it will follow the unique developments of its light novels. However, since there’s simply too much material and too much occurrences, I can only hope that the writers of the anime series are people competent enough to not fuck up the series. They have been doing a very good job so far, but there still is a high chance of failure sooner or later.
SPOILERS:
What’s great about ToraDora is that it’s more than just one guy and a harem. I’m sure a lot of romantic comedies have done that, but it’s only with ToraDora that friendship is an ideal that is placed above love (at least with recent romantic comedies). As a representative example of a romantic comedy, yes, the three girls do fall in love with Ryuuji. But Taiga, despite having discovered her true emotions as regards Ryuuji eventually, breaks her heart in trying to pair up Minorin and Ryuuji. On her part, Minorin rejects Ryuuji despite liking him a lot (even confessing to him later, as well) because she also wants Taiga to be happy.
Their friendship just warmed my heart, and reminded me of Ocean Waves (Umi ga Kikoeru) which happens to be my most favorite Ghibli film. To stifle one’s love for the sake of friendship is, while painful, quite admirable: in Ocean Waves the protagonist defers his love for his friend’s (love) because he wanted his friend to be happy despite him practically killing his own.
I just hope J.C. Staff won’t mess ToraDora up.
I wished there was a true kiss between them.
Well, I think this hammers another nail in Lelouch’s coffin:
I just want to point out that the official Geass-net mobile site explains in Nunnally’s profile that her blindness gives her the ability to see through the hearts of people just by touching their hands, and in the final episode she found out everything with said ability. Officially, that flashback scene had nothing to do with Lelouch and Codes.
C.C.’s profile has also been updated, and the final part of it now says: “Knowing that Lelouch does not hate her for giving him the Geass, she is now able to show her true feelings. With the realization of “Zero Requiem”, her time with Lelouch, who was able to forgive and accept her, came to an end, but the memories created with him has, without doubt, saved her from eternal loneliness.”
Having read this, C.C. appears to have been talking about herself when she said this line in the end: “The power of the king will isolate you… I guess it turned out a little different after all… right, Lelouch?”. The power of the king eventually leads to immortality (Code); C.C. had the power of the king and for a long time led a lonely existence, but she is now no longer lonely, thanks to her time with Lelouch.
Unless they update Lelouch’s profile with some kind of “but maybe he didn’t actually die” line, it seems to me that officially, Lelouch is 100% dead. None of the magazines seem to think the ending is at all ambiguous, and none of the staff and cast members seem to think so either. Okouchi, especially, appears to be pretty final about Lelouch’s death in his interview (”His life had not been in vain. That was why he smiled in the end”, along with his explanation as to why the punishment was necessary from the beginning). As for Taniguchi, he said only 2 things: (in the NewType interview itself) it’s up to the viewers whether they want to think of the ending as a Happy End or a Bad End. He thinks of it as a Happy End. As for what the epilogue meant, the viewers ought to work it out for themselves. The meaning behind C.C.’s final line appears to be part of what he wanted viewers to think about, though Geass-net’s already given us the answer to that. Lelouch’s fate, is, IMO, not part of what he wanted viewers to think about, because as far as the staff members are concerned Lelouch’s fate wasn’t at all ambiguous.
By the way, Shimomura Takaharu, one of the staff members involved with advertising, wrote in his “Parting message to Lelouch” (from Animedia):
“Let’s all go to the World of C” (For more details, refer to the R2 drama CDs)
Looks like SE6 will feature a track about everyone going to the World of C.
Tomikawa Kiyoharu (Production Desk) has this to say to Lelouch:
“Rest in peace. I’m begging you, please don’t come back ever again. (The animating process was just too much trouble!)”
Most of the staff members’ parting messages for Lelouch are pretty hilarious, and are in keeping with the Geass sense of humour.
The quote was taken from Celiss Galvea, among the most trusted translators of Code Geass information on the web.
Knowing more and more about the ultimate fate of Lelouch brings me closer to accept that Geass has finally ended. My only misgiving is that CC and Lelouch never really had a true kiss between themselves: I don’t mind if his ultimate fate is death, but I would want something to have happened before he passed away. I simply wish that, if ever there is going to be an OVA, they’d at least clarify Lelouch’s dedication and love for CC and vice versa.
See you space cowboy.
P.S. Taken from Zetsubun (thanks!)
From massive section dedicated to Geass in “Continue” volume 47:
Lelouch’s name is on the ‘deceased’ list. ;/
—–Congratulations on the completion of “Code Geass”!! It was a shocking final episode; did you have a difficult time writing it, Mr. Okouchi?
Okouchi: “No. The last episode wasn’t difficult at all; in fact, it was the middle parts of R2 that turned out to be rough going. For the final episode, [I'd/we'd] already decided on the ending when writing the script for the first episode of the previous series. Episode 1, Episode 25 (Episode 1 and the final episode of the previous series) and episode 25 of R2 — these episodes did not deviate much from our original plans.”
—–”Some unresolved mysteries still remain.”
Okouchi: “From the very beginning, [I/we] never planned on explaining everything. In fact, if you ask me, I think we might have overdone the explanations. While it’s undeniable that Lelouch’s story has ended with a full stop, the other characters’ stories are still on-going, and it’s not like the world [of Code Geass] itself has come to an end either. [I/we] didn’t want to end it by closing it up for good.”
—–”Still, isn’t it possible that defeating the wise ruler Schneizel, the person who was supposed to have brought order to the world, might lead to some [viewers] interpreting it as a Bad End?”
Okouchi: “That’s true. There are probably a lot of people who think of it as a Bad End, a tragedy, considering the protagonist’s, Lelouch’s end as well. However, Lelouch says in the first episode: “Only those prepared to be shot are allowed to pull the trigger themselves.” If you were to think of that as his pride, then I think his getting shot (killed) in the end was a logical end. Of course, I understand that not all of the viewers will accept this ending. There were people who wanted a happier ending, after all.”
—–”Was there a dispute among the staff members regarding the ending?”
Okouchi: “No. It was decided fairly naturally. During the “Code Geass” script meetings, there are many cases in which there were a number of disputes, but there were barely any when it came to the scripts for (the previous series’s) episode 25 and the final episode. I think everyone felt the same when it came to the end of the character that is Lelouch.”
—–”Why were you so bold as to choose this ending when the viewers might see it as a Bad End?”
Okouchi: “Bold… yes, we were so bold as to chose this ending. Perhaps the show that is “Code Geass” ending up this way was decided the moment Director Taniguchi and I teamed up. I suppose you can call it our sense of aesthetics, or perhaps a part of our psychological makeup.”
I think this second season of Gundam 00 will have romance as a focus more.
The second episode practically was an episode of recruitment and commitment: Lyle Dylandy, younger brother of Neil Dylandy (the first season’s Lockon Stratos), has just joined with Celestial Being. Sumeragi vi Noriega was also recruited once more into Celestial Being: it could be noted that she drowned herself in alcohol more due to the ultimate failure of their operations back in the first season. One has to wonder why Setsuna was nonchalant despite the fact that Billy was around when Setsuna approached Sumeragi.
Despite her recriminations and her unwillingness, however, Sumeragi was finally convinced by Setsuna to join them back into the Celestial Being fray. Gundam 00 (I believe) has just made its first appearance with its wonderfully-animated TransAm system activated, and the mechas of the A-Laws were easily defeated.
Other notable occurrences in the episode were Saji’s realization that the Halevy massacre wasn’t Setsuna’s but the fault of Gundam Throne; Shirin making an apperance as well as Nena Trinity (Shirin is so cute!); Ribbons and Regine appearing; and Marina being kidnapped (I believe). Oh, and lest I forget, the look on Feldt’s face when Lyle was introduced into Celestial Being was just so priceless: the utter shock and perplexity of her expression was simply a sight to behold!
