What *was* scribbled in Tsukasa’s notebook?

by dm00

 

Best performance since Yukino Miyazawa in Kare Kano

My guesses:

• Immanentize the Santachon
• Find some easily-manipulated doofus to be a boyfriend
• Meet an alien, time-traveller, ESPer, or slider

 

Fall 2010 Quickies

By TheBigN

So I figured that because I haven’t been writing here recently, if I couldn’t think of anything to write substantially about regarding anime at the moment, I might as well write some quick impressions on the shows that I’ve been following during this season. I guess I should also mention some of the things I notice in what others write about these series as well. That’s in terms of ones that I’ve been keeping up with lately (at least only a week behind in episodes), as there’s always a list of shows that I want to see/put off watching for some reason or another.

I don’t think there needs to be yet another link to this, but…

I feel like I should still direct readers to a full translation of Satoshi Kon’s Farewell Letter done by Makiko Itoh if they haven’t seen it yet and they’re interested. It’s hard not to feel something while reading it: the graciousness, the humor, the open honesty, the feeling of facing his next adventure head on, and so on. As I commented in another post that linked to the translation:

Reading his farewell letter, I thought to myself, “this is the same Kon that I’ve seen in his works”, and it made me smile despite the situation. I only wish I was able to meet the man himself in person while he was still alive.

It’s still surreal in a way, even though I only know him from his work in anime and manga. Omo at least is able to explain it in a way better than I could in regards to that.

At any rate, having just received this in the mail today, I’ll at least be able to get just a little bit more into the mind of a very interesting gentleman.

Satoshi Kon and His Legacy To One (Loser) Anime Fan

By TheBigN

In the fall of my Freshman year of college (where I really started developing my love for anime, all things considered), I found out that my college anime club always had some sort of special anime to show during the time of Halloween. Obviously the work had to have some sort of relation to the themes of the holiday, and usually the tone of whatever  is shown is related to horrors and thrillers of some sort, and not being a fan of those genres (heh), I was a little apprehensive about what was planned. For that year, the special work was a movie called Perfect Blue, about an idol who decides to make a career change to become more of a mainstream figure in entertainment. The film introduced me to the idea of idol culture in Japan, the perceptions and expectations that go with it from those that are fans of the culture, and what happens when those perceptions and expectations are not met or worse, completely dashed. While the story itself was probably more exaggerated in terms of what happened to young Mima, recent stories about the troubles of Aya Hirano among others shows how serious those hopes can be, but I’m digressing here.

The namesake character from Paprika. By deliciosa: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=4665812

Almost forgot to mention…

…that I (TheBigN) will be at Otakon 2010 this weekend. At first, I had assumed that there wouldn’t be much running around this con compared to most, since the guest list for the most part doesn’t have anyone that really grabs my interest (save for those people who worked on those things some years ago – which as a side note also I guess really shows where my sad interests lie), and there wouldn’t be wall-to-wall industry panels (but then, are there ever). But based on the schedule, there will be enough panels that sound interesting that I’m a little worried that I won’t have enough time to meet and hang out with people, or join in on helping omo and co. sing the Working!! OP if he can’t find enough people to do it with. And I think that’s a good thing.

I really lucked out this year in terms of timing, since this year’s convention fell in the small bit of break time (thurs-sun this weekend yay) between my third and fourth years of medical school, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy everything to the fullest. I’m not sure if I’ll have many opportunities to visit conventions fully again, so I’m hoping to try and make the most of what I have now. Or at least have fun winging it this year like I did last year. As for the future? We’ll see.

What’s on your wish-list?

by dm00

With the licensing of Xam’d and (previously) Toradora, I thought my wished-for list of anime licenses was growing pretty short.

Then I sat down to enumerate it, and I realized my list still had a ways to go (in no particular order):

• Summer Wars
• Mind Game
• Tatami Galaxy
• Kaiba
• Kemonozume
• Princess Arete
• Starship girl Yamamoto Yohko (TV)
• ef: a tale of me*o*ies
• Bakemonogatari
• Katanagatari
• Angel’s Egg
• Time of Eve (movie)
• Welcome to the Space Show
• Dennou Coil
• Gakuen Utopia Manabi straight
• Futakoi alternative
• Kara no Kyoukai
• Moyashimon
• Yokohama kaidashi kikou (manga too, please — or, I’d be happy with just the manga, actually)
• Durarara
• Minky Momo: the Bridge of Dreams
• Minky Momo: tabidachi no eki
• The rest of Yawara!

(Some of these I’ve gone so far as to get (used, primarily) on R2 DVD, and may do more as years of not-being-licensed go by.)

Also, I’ve heard good things about My Mai Miracle, but I haven’t seen it. I’d spring for inexpensive releases of Shangri-la and Angel Beats, too.

This list would keep me ecstatic for a while, certainly.

What’s on your wish-list?

Reminiscing About The Past From A Present Sorrow-kun Experience

So, for fun, I decided to take a part in something that zzeroparticle set up, the Aniblog Readings, where a few people who blog about anime decides to read one of another blogger’s first ten posts back when they started up. Is it self-referential, and just bloggers having fun with each other? Sure, but it’s not something that I see as important in this case. It’s definitely not stopping a blogger from suggesting that their own audience do the same things either, or maybe bloggers reading some interesting comments they see, or something else that is not “patting themselves on the back”, or comes off as only acknowledging the more visible commenters who tend to be fellow bloggers and so on and so forth.  Or other things like that.  🙂

As shown in the above link, Sorrow-kun, the mastermind from the blog Behind the Nihon Review decided to read the post “On anime endings and things…”, a post from “way back in” February 2007. Done on phone, the quality might not be liked, but it works. The track is below:

Sorrow-kun’s rendition in the tone of a smarmy bastard.

Life in the Tatami Galaxy

by dm00

Imagine a long tracking shot down this hallway (photo from CNNgo)

A college dorm built in 1913, unmaintained for years, because the university wants to tear it down (a similar move in Tokyo in 2001 required over 500 security guards and staff to drag reluctant residents from that dorm).

Maybe thirty years ago it was in good enough shape to be Greenwood.

Check the CNN article’s comments for a note from a past resident of the dorm.