Anime Secret Santa 2013: Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth

By TheBigN

“It takes a while to get used to.” – Clarisse, on many things the characters face in this show.

The first thing I thought about the show after the first episode was that Yune was a pretty brave person. The main character of Croisée in a Foreign Labyrinth, her story begins in Paris, France in the 19th century after what seems to be tagging along with a French traveller, Oscar Claudel, in his journey from Japan in order to help out at his grandson’s ironwork shop. Why this happens, how it happens, and what Yune aimed to do weren’t being listed, and barely glossed over during the course of the show (other than Yune’s helping out seemed to be more like being a maid than anything else), because that apparently is not the point. Rather, our goal is to see Yune, and Oscar’s grandson Claude, try to start to make sense of different cultures (Yune’s Nagasaki heritage vs Claude’s middle-class upbringing in a turn of the century France) as she does what apparently amounts to a homestay at that point in time.  One of the things that was endearing to me about her was her willingness to go full throttle with trying to understand a new culture and a new country. Things noticed include initially finding out how much she prepared for this trip in the first episode language-wise, or her struggles later on in trying to become tolerant of some idiosyncratic food (lol cheese) to help prepare meals for her housemates better.  As someone who’s fairly hesitant to abruptly change things, as well as someone only having been outside of his country once years before with family in tow, Yune’s courage was impressive.

And adorable. Her courage was adorable.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Semifinal “Analysis”

By TheBigN

Well… we made it. By “making it”, meaning me jumping off the ship to avoid sounding like a old man telling young people to get off my musical lawn. I’ve been… displeased to say the least with how the bracket has gone (not taken into consideration my torched bracket in the omochallenge, but that has been spilled milk for a while now). Partly because it makes me feel like I don’t know what music is nowadays. When you have people saying things like “instrumentals/English songs shouldn’t be involved in this competition”, it makes me shake my head. I guess my definition of “anime music” is a lot looser than most people; if someone said this was an “Anison” contest, than maybe I’d understand.

So I’ve been refraining to comment on the past couple of rounds because of this feeling, but since we’re running into the final four, I feel like I need to at least provide a sense of closure to myself (or at least not feeling like I just quit on this project). In going from 256 songs to 4, there’s been a lot of ruminating on what songs mean for people. I still don’t feel like I’ve got that yet, but I’ll try somewhat.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Alpha &Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Round 2 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

We move into the second round, where some of the competitors have been weeded out, the rounds and time between them are shorter, and we start to get a little tired of some of the songs already presented. The five polls have already been set up, and I’ll try to get to them as fast as I can, starting with the first two brackets here.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Pedro – Round 1 – Polls 1-8 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

We get a nice “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!” here compared to the bracket namesake’s trademark “NOOOOOOOOOO!” as we come to the last bracket of the first round, with the second set of polls close to finishing, the first set already completed. Sixteen more songs to randomly and shoddily pontificate about, in what’s been an intriguing, and sometimes confusing, tournament so far. Many takeaways to come later.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Osaka – Round 1 – Polls 1-8 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

Like the post from the Naota bracket, I post here with one half of brackets completed, and the other half close to finishing. As were nearing the end of the first round, hopefully things will become a little easier to work on. As for now, here’s some more interesting pieces to listen to.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Naota – Round 1 – Polls 1-8 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

A little late to the party, as the first set of polls is already completed, and the second one is about ready to finish. But I’ll still keep pushing on.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Maria – Round 1 – Polls 1-8 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

Another set of polls, another bit of toeing the line on madness. Let’s begin.

The Anime Music Tournament 2013 Bracket Lina – Round 1 – Polls 1-8 “Analysis”

By TheBigN

I’d try to make an “Inverse” joke here, but I don’t really feel up to it today. Instead, here is another set of two polls of interesting songs in the tournament, that starts of with an interesting bang, I think.