Technology and Science in Gunbusuter

We Have the Technology: Aim for Physics

By Nomad(it’s education time)Otto and W-General

N) Science fiction, as distinct from other genres, is notable for its use and misuse of the language of science and technology, as much as it is for the setting. Of course, works of fiction bend the rules of nature to tell a story, insomuch as the events detailed never actually happened. However, many of works of fiction go much farther, and not only postulate events that are contra-factual, but, also, violate the laws of physics as we know them. In most genres, I, NomadOtto, can accept these violations without (much of) a fuss, but, in science fiction, bad science really gets my goat. This is mostly due to the fact that I dislike handwaving, and, in general, I like to explain stuff.

W) For this reason, we’ve decided to write a set of blogposts about physics in anime, in which I try to get Nomadotto to explain what’s going on, and, comment on the feasibility of such science and technology. The origin of these discussions dates back to Nomad’s ranting about Gunbuster II (Daibuster), after I showed him some clips in which crazy shit was going down, and, so, for historical reasons, we’ll start there.

Code Awesome: Nomad of the Bloggers

By Nomad(Is not a Noodle Person)Otto

So, Code Geass. Code Geass is nowhere near as polarizing a show as Lucky Star way in its heyday (the hate generated by that show was like 5 times funnier than the show itself), but it’s still a show that has two major camps about it. I’ve been in both camps, but, as of watching episode 5 in season 2, I’m pretty far into the pro-Geass camp. It may seem really weird that my attitude towards a show would swing wildly within three episodes, but, there’s a method to my madness. In the case of Geass, the three episode swing happened from the last episode of the first season to the second episode of the new season. Given that there’s a huge (as far as “Nomad Arbitrary Time Units”) time gap between the two seasons, it’s not as weird as it could have been, but, still, going from liking the show to hating it to liking it again was a big swing, something I feel I need to justify. Jolly good, see you below the fold:

A very special SAD point/counterpoint

By Nomadotto and Ottonomad

Nomadotto: A very happy singles’ appriciation/awareness day to all of you folks out there in lesser animeblogistan. You know, singles’ appriciation/awareness day (SAD, for short) is usually an excuse for all kinds for stupid behavior. Generally, SAD is somehow used as an excuse for indulging in all kinds of sentimentalist, emo behavior, something guarenteed to hurt personal growth down the path of GAR. Becuase you really can’t escape from the bombardment of sentimentality, there’s only way way to keep going strong, a massive dose of burning hotblood. To that end, I’d like to look at a couple of example cases, and suggest the proper, manly show to help the poor unfortunates. But wait, what’s this?

Wolf, Spice, and Currency: The Economics of Wolf and Spice

   By Nomad (is not an economist) Otto

    At the suggestion of BigN, and because there hasn’t been much to blog about, anime wise (Zetsubou continues and is frequently funny, Wolf and Spice continues, and doesn’t suck, Mne..something was a pretty good ova, for basically being a story of tits and explosions, nothing else is starting before april) I’m going to talk about what the hell is going on in Spice and Wolf, in terms of the great currency plot. This post doesn’t really have much to do with anime in general, and might tend to sound like a lecture you’d hear from your TA, but is useful if you’re trying to figure out why people are doing what they are. I’ll begin with a discussion of what money is, and, from there, I’ll move on to discuss the three different types of currency, and why the economics of Wolf and Spice are the way they are.

The End of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and GARDS

Written, Directed, Produced, and Starring: Nomad “Whoa man, epic” Otto

Dedicated to: The Gurren brigade’s Demon Leader: Kamina

About eight hours ago, give or take, I watched the end of Tengen Toppa Gureen Lagann. I must say, Gainax has done a very good job with the series, as they’ve kept the service down, the production values up, and GAR in the hearts of every man, woman, and child in the fair land of Greater Animeblogistan (Primary Exports: Angst!! and Pumpkin Pie). Of course, there are some weakness to the show (the awesome from the last group of episodes was almost drowned out by the sounds of physics crying), but I feel that I need to re-watch the whole thing as a chunk before I can get a handle on the deep analysis.

Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of stupid, masturbatory analysis recently, and not, say, reading the stack of books that stare at me from across my desk, or working on my problem sets, or writing an application for NSF-sponsored research trips to fantastic locales. To take a break from that shaz, here’s some quick, cold, clean reviewing/nitpicking/fanboyism for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.