12 Days of Anime, Day 5: The Sense of Wonder

By TheBigN

I very much enjoyed the first eight music videos that comprised Gurren Lagann Parallel Works, where members of the cast of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann were thrust into alternate worlds, or at other periods in their lives besides that of the specific timeline the series was based in. At the same time, you don’t need to have any knowledge about the show at all to enjoy them as well. So I was pretty damn ecstatic about hearing that there were seven more episodes to come this year, and checked them out when I heard that they came out. As with the first set, I enjoyed all of the videos, animated by different animators associated with GAINAX, and focusing on different genres as well. But as luck would have it, the first video of Parallel Works 2, “The Sense of Wonder” blew me away, and remained my favorite of them all:

Animated by Akemi Hayashi, the cast is moved into a more fantastical world, where Lagann is relegated to a toy, and Nia acts as an entertainer and is kept by Lord Genome. What remains the same are things like the relationships between Kamina and Simon/Yoko, the burgeoning love between Simon and Nia, and the caste system with Lord Genome at the apparent head of it all (hah hah!).  And the music, with vocals by Ai Ujita (singer for BlueBlue/I’s Cube), is fantastical, solemn but hopeful, and helps narrarate the story as well as spoken word probably could.  “The Sense of Wonder” tells a lot in it’s 5 minutes and leaves a lot unsaid and known, but for me, it was just beautiful.

So… Elections…

I had planned to vote for someone who was a uniter.

Someone with a message that inspired people, whether to keep going on in life, to keep on fighting even when it seems impossible to win, or to strive for a greater happiness for themselves (because things can always get better).

Someone that I could see myself actually taking a leap of faith for (harder than you think).

Someone devoted to a common vision that seemed almost palpable when you looked into their eyes or in their sights, and one that could over come the doubts and reluctance to step out of one’s comfort zone that have defined the current society.

Someone who knows that they can’t do it by themselves, and aims for forging strong relationships first before embarking on a collective goal together.

Someone who never seemed to get down no matter what situation was, and somehow knowing that when people believe in themselves and each other, nothing can stop them.

Someone like…

This makes logical sense. Do not deny this.

But since Kaminabi doesn’t exist in real life, I figured that I might as well vote on whoever I felt was closer to reaching that ideal. 😛

On a side note…

Impressions on a Year 2007: Happy Action Fun Time

Written by TheBigN

This installment contains SPOILERS. I repeat, SPOILERS, so read at your own risk. This is also hella long, so again, read at your own risk. :3

With that being said, these are the episodes or moments in series this year that made an impact on me; the “definable” stuff.  I guess, in a way, you could say that as an extension, these are the memorable series for me for the year. Not all of them are my favorites for the year, and all of my favorites aren’t on this list, but these are the ones that stick in the mind long after the show’s over. 😛  

Impressions on a Year 2007: Awesome Soundtracks I Haven’t Covered Yet

Written by TheBigN

By now, you should know what my standards of “awesome” are, but let’s move on, shall we? 😛

When I’m talking about a soundtrack, I think about all of the music that a show entails, including the OP/ED. So what was the point of having all of those tracks standalone in the first place? Because they usually arestandalone from the rest of the soundtrack; Unless you care about what you listen to while watching anime, you only tend focus on those pieces of music because they’re the intro/outro of the show. So I figured they needed something by themselves, but all of the show’s music needs a chance to shine as well.  Usual criteria for this: Liking more than half of what I listened to overall which is harder than it seems. This is probably why Senrei no Moribito‘s, Byousoku no 5cm‘s,Hayate the Combat Butler‘s (yeah really) and Heroic Age‘s OSTs aren’t on here: They we’re good consistent stuff, but they just didn’t work with me as well as these ones here did. And because ef‘s kickass soundtrack won’t be out till next year apparently (as short as that time is now), I’m not including it here. 😛

Impressions on a Year 2007: “Awesome” Phrases

Written by TheBigN 

For a change of pace, today the focus is on statements I heard over the year that worked for me. A great way to show my limitations and weaknesses here, so feel free to add lines that you think I should have added. 😛

Impressions on a Year 2007: Awesome OPs and EDs

Written by TheBigN 

Self-explanatory really, though my writing might not be. Whether because of the song, the visuals, or both, these intros and outros worked for me this year. Using youtube, I tried to get all raw versions, but some only had a subbed version. But that shouldn’t be too important, should it? 😛

BTW, this probably is a long post, which also explains what happens when you aren’t too selective. :3

Thankful for Anime, 2007

Written by TheBigN

Granted, this will be bit earlier than usual for some, but why not get that head start in anyways? 😀

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.