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.

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’m now officially a Geass addict. I was skeptical of most of the unresolved plot threads during R2, and I still don’t think that R2 is the best series ever, but after that awesome ending I couldn’t help but place it as one of my favorite series, whether bad or not. Read the rest of this entry »

SPOILERS AHEAD HURR DURR
OKAY GUYS I’M IN TOTAL FANBOY MODE RIGHT NOW SO I’LL USE CAPS ALL THE WAY

- SUZAKU AND KALLEN FIGHT AND SUZAKU BEATS KALLEN BUT SHE’S RESCUED BY GINO.
- LELOUCH GEASSES NUNNALLY AND HE GETS THE KEY BACK BUT NOT BEFORE SAYING SORRY TO HER AND SAYING HE LOVES HER
- NUNNALLY IS BUTTHURT SO SHE CHASES LELOUCH
- LATER ON, SUZAKU AND LELOUCH TALK
- CC PRAYS FOR LELOUCH SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE
- LELOUCH WANTS SUZAKU TO BECOME ZERO AND HE DOES
- SUZAKU AS ZERO STABS LELOUCH
- ALL HAIL ZERO ETC.
- LELOUCH SHOWS THE DEATH TEMPLATE AND ‘DIES’
- NUNNALLY CRIES OVER HIM
- VILLETTA AND OUGI MARRY
- VILLETTA IS NOTICEABLY PREGNANT ALREADY
- ORANGE AND ANYA BECOME ORANGE FARMERS
- NUNNALLY IS THE NEW RULER I THINK, I’M NOT REALLY SURE
- IN THE END A MAN DRIVES A CARRIAGE
- CC IS AT THE BACK, LOOKING HOT AND LOOKING RURAL
- THEN SHE IS ALL SMILES
- THE EPISODE ENDS WITH HER SAYING SOMETHING AND THEN
- ‘NEE, LELOUCH?’

CC X LULU END YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

OKAY R2 IS ONE OF THE BEST SERIES FOR ME RIGHT NOW NOT BECAUSE IT’S GREAT BUT BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME.

Sunrise has expectedly thrown another curveball: Cornelia dies, and it seems Schneizel just became Yagami Light. Nunnally totally acted out of character (to carry all her brother’s sins by killing other people? wat), and the preview is of a smiling C.C. Please don’t die, C.C.

Sayoko survives, by the way, and she escapes to Lelouch’s by means of Jeremiah. Schneizel decided that to cleanse the world of evil, he has to kill its inhabitants.

Villetta is pregnant; Ougi is still alive despite an ingenious plan by Lelouch to terminate most of OotBK’s members.

Nunnally kills people with FLEIJA. Don’t ask me why.

Kallen wants to kill Lelouch now. Stay tuned: I will attempt to flesh out more of the plot.

I may seem hypocritical for some people: I supposedly only bash Code Geass R2, yet I still watch it. For me, however, all is well. I do not lie when I write about the flaws that I see in the series: they are numerous, and in addition, I am not the only person who has noticed them. These flaws are not minor; on the contrary, a lot of people have observed the many unresolved plot threads, the funny non sequiturs, and in general the bullshit that has plagued the series. People as diverse as koda of Code Trainwreck to jp_zero of Japanophile Isle (among others) have perceived of this. I myself complain because it seems as if I’m being played around by Sunrise and its people, and I don’t like that.

‘If you are a witch, I shall be a warlock.’

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.

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.