Negima!? 14: practicing for ef – a tale of memories

by dm00

Negima!? episode 14 is marching along in its exemplary Shaft way, when all of a sudden there’s a treat for fans of ef – a tale of memories:

The more I watch this show, the more I begin to think it’s exemplary of some of Shaft’s finest work.

Hoshi ni negai wo — another independent studio to watch

by dm00

All you folks kvetching about the on-again/off-again sequel to Black Rock Shooter should just relax.

The second episode of Hoshi ni negai wo, a pair of OVAs that are part Lain, part Matrix, and maybe a little bit of Clannad, showed up a few days ago.

Hunt it down and watch it!

The first episode, Cold body x Warm heart introduces us to Hikari Stellamaris, her mother (a sentient computer that runs her ship, the Armadillo), and their world.  While surfing cyberspace, Hikari encounters a floating blob, which she loads into a bit of spare hardware, to discover that it’s the preserved consciousness of a forgotten video-game programmer.  They have a few adventures, dodging the firewalls and antivirus software of their universe.

In the second film in the Hoshi no negai wo series, Fantastic Cat, Hikari meets the doll-jointed Lily,

The girl was all alone in the world.

encounters a cobbled together plush Cheshire Cat,

Nyaa.

and brings about the end of za Waruldo.

Speaking of Moyasimon….

by dm00

…how aspergillus oryzae and friends really talk (for the longest time during her talk I was convinced that her skirt had an Aspergillus Oryzae pattern):

My Delusions As A Fanboy: If Moe Is A Cancer…

By TheBigN

What type of cancer would it be? Something slow-growing, yet considered incurable like a chronic lymphocytic leukemia? Something that could have been avoided if people didn’t use certain things too much, like smoking with lung cancers? Something that’s silent until it’s too late, like some forms of pancreatic cancer? Course, I have problems with hearing this metaphor in the first place, as it paints moe as something that’s negative, bothersome, and ultimately ruinous for anime, and I wonder why? Whether you agree with that or not (and I feel like I’m simplifying things too much here, in my opinion), I feel like moe is used as a scapegoat too much, where people use it as the answer du jour for whatever ails anime, and I never feel comfortable about that.

Is the answer really cancer?

My Delusions As A Fanboy: Got Your (Scape)Goat Handy?

By TheBigN

Despite me getting annoyed by the end of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (mainly just execution problems, and that might be another story), there are still plenty of moments that made me feel glad that I actually took time to watch the series.  One specific moment came during episode 7, one of the episodes that many I read on the internet regard as one of the show’s best. In that moment Yuuto confronts Haruka’s father for denouncing her hobby without knowing anything about it. Noting that the love and passion that Haruka has for things like anime, manga and their corresponding culture are comparable to the feelings that other people have for their own hobbies, Yuuto points out how strange it is that (in this case) Akiba-kei are shunned by everyone else despite those similarities.  “Isn’t that just too weird?” he asks, and while that question is never answered (part of my annoyance :P), it did raise up something that comes to my mind every once in a while.

She did not have to kill him, did she?

My Delusions as a Fanboy: Down That Slippery Slope to the End of the World

Written by TheBigN

This is sort of a continuation from my last installment in this category from my experience at the D.C. Sakura Matsuri. As you recall, I immediately criticized in my mind the actions of some participants during a cosplay contest for what I thought was no good reason. And I had mentioned that at the time I was thinking that as anime fans, we represent anime culture to the rest of “society” (a fun concept to be sure). So the “logical” conclusion I had was that because these cosplayers weren’t acting “normal” in regards to society, moral scruples, or whatever kinds of standards most of us agree abide by, they were demonstrating to people that anime culture isn’t normal. Therefore anime would not be perceived as normal and “those” fans end up making it harder for the medium to have “mainstream acceptance”, whatever the hell that is. Not the best train of thought there, as you can see, and I’m still a little ashamed at myself for that unfounded rationale.

My Delusions as a Fanboy: I Need To Get Over Myself, or How Watching Cosplay Is a Starting Step in Self-Contemplation

Written by TheBigN

This is what I’d like to say a “philosophical exercise” based on some RL events. But it’s really just me asking a bunch of questions, so take it as you see it, I guess. 😛

My Delusions as a Fanboy: These Goggles Actually Do Something

Written by TheBigN

I’d like to think that it’s common knowledge that as we are all separate individuals, we each have our own way of looking at the world. By extension of that, more often than not, we can see the world in a way that makes sense to us, irrespective of how things actually “are” (and how do we know what that reality is?). The idea of “I take your reality and subjugate it with my own” is a universal human trait in my reality. Because of that, as already stated, bias is inherent in humans, and it’s probably impossible to completely nullify when doing anything in life. So for some fun, I feel like rehashing observations when applying this to watching anime. As always, hopefully it makes sense to you as it (sorta) did to me. 😛