Six years. Hm.

By TheBigN

In 2012 I watched about 30 or so series, OVA and movies related to anime, and while I thought that was a lot, according to this handy page, it barely scratched the surface. Time flies, work calls, and other stuff seemingly keeps coming around the bend in terms of this pastime. How I’ve watch anime  has changed by necessity, with my laptop currently on the road to brickdom and utilizing streaming to the fullest extent on my Kindle Fire. That being said, there’s been plenty of stuff that’s piqued my interest, but it’s been hard to write more substantially about them other than “WOWTHATWASCOOL“. I’ve tried to stay away from that sort of writing style because it felt to me like people wouldn’t get much out of that. And crazily enough, most of the time I try to write, I want whoever reads the finished product to get something out of it other than, “so that’s what TheBigN thinks”. It’s hard to get out of this way of thinking, though I should, especially since there’s fun stuff that happens over the year related to anime, both in the medium, and in the culture surrounding it (like the Otakon Music Festival. Fun times that). So I’ll try at least to shift the quips about anime I drop on Twitter and IRC onto here a little bit more. Whether or not that will be a good thing will be determined, I guess.

As always, I give a big thanks to dm00 for dropping his own bits of experience, excitement, and exposition to this endeavor. Thanks to the readers/glancers/etc. who stick around or follow this blood for our impressions.

It’s interesting to get to a point where the question “what else is there to say?” jumps around. I feel like there’s more to come than what’s been done so far here (although there’s been less and less as the years have gone, I think), so I’m hoping to never find out that answer.

Happy six year anniversary, DMAB.

Though I still like to think of DMAB as a blog of many hats. Picture by 腔子: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=19196614

Kotoura-san and the Power of Emotional Manipulation, Successful or Not

By TheBigN

So far, of the shows  I’ve watched so far this season (a list which slowly grows the more free time I have and the more interesting statements I hear about it from others), Kotoura-san two episodes in has been the one that’s grabbed me. It helped that I didn’t know anything about the show before hand, as a large part of it is the pathos that they try to induce by quickly dropping misery on the namesake character, and whether or not they’ve done too much with depends on the eyes of the beholder, I guess. While I can easily seem some moments in both episodes so far that could give me a feeling of “they’re trying too hard here” (in episode one, DAT CAT. In episode two, the lonely house as examples), I haven’t come out having that feeling as of yet.

The show’s been trying to advance the idea of  ”how someone with psychic powers is ostracized in today’s society” with the heavy dump life takes on Haruka in the first half of the show, as well as how it still affects her (and Yoriko) in episode two, and it’s been effective for me. In fact, I wish they could have been more visceral in some ways, such as actually showing Haruka’s emesis in episode two instead of a discretion shot. If it went that far however, I’d assume many people would be scared off by watching something that intense (might be too serious for something that’s supposed to be a romantic comedy). That being said, it’s hard not to notice that I’m trying to be played like a violin in order to care for Haruka as she comes out of her shell. And it’s pleasant for me that I know this and (so far) I don’t care about that.

So far, it’s hard for me to fault her. Picture by muneyuki: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=32893426

Another Reason Why I Like Anime #4726: Nekomonogatari’s opening

By TheBigN

There is always a hope of being wow’ed by something that comes up while watching anime. Something intriguing enough for me to actually post for the first time in months, I guess. :/

What caught my interest this time was the (I guess 1st, knowing how SHAFT does things) opening to Nekomonogatari covering the “Tsubasa Family” arc, one prequel to the story introduced in Bakemonogatari. By itself, the story of how Araragi gets to know my favorite character in the show, Tsubasa Hanekawa, as well as the anomaly that comes to inhabit her is intriguing enough as is for me. There wasn’t much necessary to pump me up for watching it (can’t wait for Kizumonogatari later on as well), but I was blown away by the opening to this adaptation: To preface though, I still have not watched the full episodes yet, so there will be plenty of randomness and likely BS to follow the video.

The song itself grabs me, reminding me a little bit of the Chobits 2nd ED “Ningyo Hime”, but here, “Perfect Slumbers” goes on its own path, striking a hopeful tone despite Tsubasa’s thoughts of an unrequited love. The cinematography coupled with the motifs used in the video such as the bookmarks (so many forms!) , the guitar/headphones/record, the sun becoming the moon, and the train lend help me further define her character, of which we already know a “fair” bit about. “Isolation” comes to mind here, and it helps that right until the end, she’s the only person in this OP world. And then when the guitar dissolves, and turns into a bed of flowers setting the backdrop of Koyomi prostrating himself in front of Tsubasa, as it looks like he can seemingly do nothing before the anomaly comes out is “the shot” for me. Of course, I’ll see how powerless our main hero really is in the actual work, but the shot of Tsubasa right at the end seems resigned to whatever comes regardless of any attempted interventions.

The marriage of the music and visuals together created a dazzling experience for me, and I too quickly compare it to the live action  and animated  (both links not safe for work) OPs that were done during the “Tsubasa Cat” arc of  Bakemonogatari, which isn’t fair. Since while those do a decent job at showing the Tsubasa’s duality, despite the intensity and shock value (especially of the animated version), I doubt they will have the staying power in my mind that this opening will. 

SHAFT x Shinbo already had me at Hello in animating more Hanekawa, but this is icing on a cake I haven’t even begun to have yet.  It’s not a bad deal.

Otakon 2012 Day 3: Not Much Quantity, Yet So Much Quality

By TheBigN

Sundays at Otakon are always a cool down period for me. Part of it is that usually the panels scheduled on this day tend to be ones that I don’t particularly have much interest in (though I really wish I did check out the Director’s panels when they used to be there. I missed out on something special there).  Part of it is the anticipation for going back to my regular daily grind and wishing that I had more of a respite from it. Part of it is gearing up to say final Hi’s and Goodbyes with friends. And so on. So I don’t really run around during this time and try to get something more out of my leftover time there. I’d like to think this was the case on this Sunday…

Yuki Sanada from Tsuritama. You can find the most interesting cosplays in autograph lines…

Otakon 2012 Day 2: Panels, Podcasts and… Pictures

By TheBigN

To start off, I was remiss in not mentioning the random get-together on Friday that was had over a lack of mahjong sets available. In another example of how some of the best things that occur often come unplanned, the hope that someone had an available set for some riichi outside of the Internet was dashed. But a conversation about life, randomness and Tanto Cuore (loved how the way to explain the game went as “Dominion with maids”, given that I’ve never played that card game either) ensued with people such as 7thWraith, Eternal, and others. In terms of importance, there wasn’t that much, but that moment was worth something in measures of enjoyment, and always a good reminder as to why I’ll probably only really enjoy going to conventions where I can meet up with people I know.

Flandre Scarlet Cosplay. Best Touhou cosplay I saw at the con. She even had fangs!

Otakon 2012 Day 1: Felt Good To Get Back

By TheBigN

Compared to last year, when I essentially had to piecemeal any hours I could get from my work hours (since I couldn’t change my schedule at that point), I tried to set things up so that my weekend would be free enough to at least enjoy a full Saturday and Sunday, with whatever I could get from Friday as a bonus. It worked out, and I was in a light enough rotation that I didn’t have to stay longer than necessary there before I headed out. Stepping into Baltimore Convention Center again felt damn good after quickly getting my badge (not even 5 minutes, really) and left my things at the hotel room I roomed at for the next 2 and a half days. It was around 6PM when I came around, so there were some moments that I missed by then, such as SDS and Dave Cabrera‘s mahjong panel, the Gen Urobuchi Q&A, and the Opening Ceremonies, the latter of which included a mimetic surprise, from what I held. But while I missed those, I was at least glad to be in Baltimore for an uninterrupted amount of time, where I did not have to worry about being called to return to work for any specific reasoning. It was refreshing.

Strength from Black Rock Shooter. Impressed with how much effort it took for those arms.

Random Ramblings V

By TheBigN

Sooooooo… To start, my main (laptop) computer’s fan crapped out, and while I can still use it with the help of a powerful cooling board, it’s functionality has been seriously affected and slowed down to the point of inefficiency to do many things, including watch anime  with it. As such, I’ve been using a Kindle Fire to watch anime for the past couple of weeks. It’s been an interesting experience; partly in that most of the shows that I want to watch this season with outliers (e.g. Smile Precure!, AKB0048, Natsuiro Kiseki) are able to be watched through legal streaming means which greatly helps things IMO, and partly that the Fire has various apps (hulu + and Crunchyroll are what I’ve been using – let me know if there are other good ones) which help “keep me in the loop”, as it were.  As for shows I’m watching this season that make me feel like I can write about them in the small amount of free time I do  have, even though there’s a lot of good stuff this season, typing on a tablet is kinda…

Yayoi in her element. Picture by Haruyama Kazunori. http://diary.fc2.com/user/kazuharoom/img/2012_5/25.jpg

Space Brothers and That Reciprocal Push

By TheBigN

So this first year of medicine residency has been tough in many ways, especially in terms of time available to do other things, such as being faithful to this blog (but for the most part, I’ve been able to watch some anime throughout, so it’s a matter of priorities more than anything else ). But when things have gotten tough in matters such as finding a place to continue my training, or when I’ve felt the need to vent because the work stresses me the hell out, I’ve had the ability to rely on colleagues regardless of experience who’ve been there before. Including my older brother, who’s currently in his second year or residency; no fooling.  But I’ve noticed that when I talk to him, he offers encouragement more so than advice, and often it feels like either he’s waiting for me to ask him for help (which I’m not the best person to do that) or that he wants me to learn how to go through rough patches himself with nary a helping hand. And while that previous sentence can just be pure conjecture on my part, I feel like I’m also in my own way pushing him, though I’m not sure exactly how. It’s a push and pull with uncertainty, yet we’re still relatively close throughout all of that. I can’t say that our relationship mirrors that of Mutta and Hibito in Space Brothers, but I feel like I can see that reciprocity as well between them.