AURON570 (Level 15)
Where am I? Where do I go?
Hey guys! I've been busy with school and exams for a while now, but alas today I just finished my last exam! I seriously need some r&r, and after a few hours of having exam withdrawal trying to find something to do now that exams are over. However, eventually after feeling depressed for a while, I realized that I hadn't been exercising. I tested my heart rate, and googled average heart rate, and I was WAY over! So I did some cardio exercise! That really made a big difference. And now I'm feeling a bit better.
Seriously kids (and adults), exercise is important! After exercising for about 20 minutes, I decided on top of what I already plan to do for winter break, I am going to exercise my butt off and eat lots of salad and cereal, and get ~8 hours of sleep everyday! I should probably be sleeping (haha there goes that last part of the plan, but seriously starting tomorrow!)
What the-? Anime?!
Throughout the first semester I've been watching anime on the side. I've stopped worrying about whether I'm "behind" in series, and so I've stopped giving priority to currently airing series. I think now I'm truly watching "what I want to watch", but there's still the nagging feeling that, "you know if I wait too long to watch another episode of this anime, I'm going to lose the story." Oh well. :D As I wrote above, I think I really need to prioritize being healthy. So I don't think I'm going to be very active on the wiki that much anymore. It was fun while it lasted, maybe things will change, but all I can say is that at some point it began to feel like work. And right now I need to "work" on something else. That sounded cheesy... fuck.
Anime I'm watching and comments
Bakuman (1/25 episodes): What the fuck when did I----- Oh right, I started this last week or something because I was in a slump and felt like I needed to start something new, so I watched the first episode. From what I remember it was REALLY AMAZING. Seriously the story is so well presented. The story of a mangaka being inspired by their high school crush.. <3 Oh man, the life on an artist... not even just drawing or painting, but actors, musicians, concert pianists, orchestra members, writers.
Chihayafuru (9/25 episodes): CUTE, LOVABLE, INSPIRING, EMOTIONALLY ENDEARING... I LOVE IT. <33333 If you haven't checked this out, please do, I can't recommend this enough! You can read my previous blog on Chihayafuru for an introduction to the series. -----Watch episodes for free at crunchyroll.com.
FMA Brotherhood (49/64 episodes): It seems like the series is winding down. I remembering thinking, what could they POSSIBLY do for another 15 episodes?? Haha I guess I will see. Really enjoying it, this and Chihayafuru were the two of the three anime (the third is One Piece) that I kept wanting to watch even though I had so much work to do for school. Considering how much work I do (I swear I'm becoming more and more a nerd, but this isn't the blog to talk about that), that really says how much I'm enjoying those three series. -----Watch episodes for free at funimation.com.
Gankutsuou (22/24 episodes): I've been waiting for the right time to finish watching this series (I plan on watching the final two episode in one sitting), but it hasn't come. I really want to give this anime my full attention, it deserves it. Amazing story, amazing art, amazing characters. I might actually WILL read the classic novel that this anime was based. -----Watch episodes for free at funimation.com.
Kimi to Boku (2/13 episodes): Yep... well what can I say? As I mentioned, I've stopped prioritizing currently airing anime, so I don't care if I'm behind in this series. It an easy-to-watch series, but there are other anime that I want to watch more. -----Watch episodes for free at crunchyroll.com.
Mawaru Penguindrum (11/24 episodes): I'm a little sad that I haven't kept up with this series. This series is very very good, but I feel like I need a clear head to watch it properly. I mentioned before that this anime constantly stretches the limits between dramatic and comedic modes, and sometimes it can be bewildering, especially if you watch it while half awake. So as a result I haven't watched much Penguindrum since September.
Persona 4 Animation (9/25 episodes): It's really great, but it's not amazing. I think I've found my groove with this anime. Before I was too caught up about comparing it to the game, and worrying about it being rushed or choppy, but I think I've come to terms with that. A shoutout to Nick and Kristoffer for doing an amazing job each week with the Amateur vs. Expert column. It is shaping up to be one of the greatest columns to ever appear on anime vice, keep it up I really enjoy the style you guys adopted for the column, and it's really great to read after I watch each episode. -----Watch episodes for free at theanimenetwork.com
Invasion?! Squid Girl (7/12 episodes): I had planned on filling out the episode pages for each episode as they aired, but... I KNOW THERE'S NO EXCUSES *cries in corner* I'm enjoying this series, but not as much as I thought I would. It is still a very good series, and I plan on finishing up the episodes at some point, but... as I mentioned at the start of this blog, I need to reorganize my priorities. -----Watch episodes for free at crunchyroll.com
One Piece (72/???? episodes)
And now for the grand finale! HAHAHAHAHAAA *CHOKE COUGH*... Ahem... I think I finally love this series. I think now I really understand why people love this series SO much, and why it really is one of the best. Great story-telling, amazing characters, an amazing sense of adventure.
I just finished watching episode 72 of One Piece (well about an hour ago now, but whatever). And it really is great. You have Ms. Wednesday being truly worried about her kingdom, Alabasta. Then there's Usopp wanting to a brave warrior of the sea and being inspired by the fighting giants. I love those giants. The way they laugh is straight up hilarious! It's sort of like what I imagine Heidegger (from FF7, not the philosopher) would sound like with his "Gya gya hya hya" laugh, except these giants are lovable, honorable warriors!
I guess next episode we're going to get the confrontation between those upper Baroque Works guys (Mr. 3, Ms. Goldenweek, Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine) I think I might be missing someone. Oh well, I'm starting to really like Ms. Valentine, how she's like if Mary Poppins became... you know I'm not going to go there. I wonder when we're going to learn more about Ms. Goldenweek, she seems relatively cute and harmless! =D
Final Thoughts, Looking forward
Best wishes everyone I really mean it. I hope everyone enjoys the holidays, Christmas, New Years and all that! Even if you still have to work, or still have some days left of school/exams.. I don't care. If you've stuck with me and read this whole blog post, you're okay in my books and deserve my thanks and wishes. Later, and goodnight everyone. *waves*
I am currently 5 episodes in to the drama/josei/game anime series Chihayafuru, and I am enjoying ever bit of it! It's only so often that one comes across a story that is simple, inspiring, memorable, fun, energetic and beautiful all the same time. The premise of the story may seem a little strange at first glance. Chihaya Ayase is an energetic young girl whose dream is for her older sister to become an idol. Then she meets a boy named Arata, who tells her that her dream should concern herself. Arata himself is passionate about a two-player language/card-memorization game called Karuta and wants to become a master competitive Karuta player. Chihaya, impressed by Arata's conviction, also becomes passionate about Karuta and plays with Arata.
The first few episodes take place in a flashback that tells this story of how Chihaya met Arata and became interested in the card game Karuta. I probably was not the only one who thought that the card game premise sounded awkward. But after watching the first episode, it is very clear that this series was going to be more than just over-dramatic card games. The card game almost becomes secondary to the main development of Chihaya's character. Chihaya, in a way, starts playing Karuta because she saw how passionate Arata was about Karuta, and it was fun to be caught up in the passion of the game and play with Arata. However, it's not really clear whether this passion for the game is solely Chihaya's, or if she is simply replacing her dream about her older sister, with a new dream about being able to play Karuta to compete just like Arata. I'm just five episodes in, and it looks like these are some things that the series is going to explore in the upcoming 20 episodes.
Now that I've sold you on the plot being more than just an over-dramatized card game ;), I will talk a bit about the music, sound and visuals. The music is very fitting. The opening itself sets exactly the right tone for the show. It's energetic, upbeat, optimistic and gives a sense of longing or hope, which is exactly what characterizes Chihaya. The ending song is also superb, but in a different way. It is able to conclude each episode in a nice way, while also leaving enough hope and suspense for the next episode. Check out the opening yourself to see if what I'm saying makes any sense!
As I am thinking about this, Chihaya is comparable to Ohana in Hanasaku Iroha. I don't want to get into a discussion of that here, but it's something to think about.
The voice acting and sound direction is very much on par with the music. The voice actress for Chihaya, Asami Seto, does an amazing job bringing life to the character. Visuals are well done as well. The first three episodes are noticeably very very happy, optimistic and inspiring, which is supposed to reflected Chihaya's child-like optimism and wide-eyed wonder at Arata and how he plays Karuta. It's only by the fourth episode, after this childhood story has been established, are we brought back to the present. Chihaya is now a teenager, and is still passionate about Karuta. However, the overall tone has changed as Chihaya seems to be confronted again about her own dreams, and is forced, in different ways, to question whether she should continue playing Karuta competitively.
Like how Ohana in Hanasaku Iroha (or rather the English title, Blooming Flowers ABC) slowly found her place at the Kissuiso, it seems that Chihaya is bound to take a similar journey to self-understanding. But the tools and stories that each series tells differ in interesting ways. On the one hand Hanasaku Iroha is primarily a "slice of life" taking place at a hot spring inn, while Chihayafuru uses a card game, of all things, as one of its themes.
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Chihayafuru is available to watch online at crunchyroll.com.
The Plot
I've just finished watching episode 1 of You and Me. You and Me is a slice of life anime about 4 childhood friends, Shun, Kaname, Yuki and Yuta. It's spring and they are entering their second year of high school together. Shun is the happy, cute and optimistic one. Shun wants everyone to get along and have fun together. Kaname is a top student, who wants Yuki too try harder. And Yuki and Yuta are twins, who are both laid back, and enjoy making Kaname angry. The main plot of the first episode is Kaname trying to get Yuki to join some sort of athletic club so that Yuki can open his eyes to the world! But this ends up a almost back where they started. However Shun is optimistic that although "things haven't changed so far, there's room for change in the future. Like cherry blossoms, the unchanging things and changing things all whirl together."
Slice of Life and Cats
I think this is what sets You and Me apart from the recently popular slice of life series K-ON. Throughout the entire first episode of You and Me, there seemed to be a deliberate undertone of laziness, boredom or comedic hopelessness. The main humor in this episode is the fact that even since these 4 boys were children, it doesn't seems like much has changed at all. Kaname's efforts to try and get Yuki to change (by getting him to join a club) end up fruitless by the end of the episode. Nevertheless, Shun is optimistic about things, he tries to reassure Yuki that Kaname cares about him, but has his own way of showing it.
Throughout the episode there were quite a few scenes with cats. And they are shown doing what cats do best, laze around. It's pretty easy to draw a comparison between the 4 boys as lazy cats. There is one specific scene where this comparison is drawn almost directly, Kaname takes away Yuki's manga, it cuts to a scene of a cat trying to catch a "cat tail" toy, then when the cat finally catches the toy, it cuts back to Yuki who has his manga again. I have a guy friend who likes cats, particularly lolcats. He finds them cute. What I found interesting what in this episode, the cats weren't depicted as overly cute. There was even one particularly wet, fat, white cat that looked like it was ready to claw the next person that tried to pet it. In another scene, a girl is tickling a small cat and the cat looks like he doesn't have a care in the world.
Sound, Music, Visuals etc.
I like the opening and ending themes. The visuals are pretty clean and simple. This makes it easy to watch. There was some good use of wind near the start of episode, and when the boys were having lunch on the rooftop. Also, falling sakura blossoms are as pretty as ever. Like I said the overall tone of the show is fairly relaxed and has a slight feeling of irony, because of the talk about how little they have changed, and the fact that it is a slice of life.
I'm interested to see if it maintains this feel throughout the series and what it decides to do with it. At this point it doesn't look like it's going for the K-ON route, where everything is happy-go-lucky, nothing changes and characters all stay the same and do the same things. Though it could easily do that, it seems like You and Me is going to be more laid-back, slower and self-aware as it develops its characters.
By the end of the episode, as Shun is speaking optimistically of the future, you begin to wonder what the point of change is anyway and how these 4 boys will turn out. This is something that I had never bothered to consider about the girls in K-ON when I watched the K-ON series.
Screens and Wiki
If you are interested, you can check out the plot summary I wrote for the wiki here, and also the screenshots I took, for easier access I have below. (however this may not be all the screenshots I took, because this new image uploading system is so weird... just go to the episode page to make sure you're seeing all the screens I took, or here.)
I've just discovered this site memrise.com, which helps people memorize words of different languages. It looks like it mostly thrives off of user based content. I've tried some of the japanese kanji and have so far "planted the seed" for 10 japanese words. The website runs in such a way that really emphasizes repetition, but it does it in a very game-like way.
Notes so far:
-The site does not teach basic hiragana or katakana, which is essential for learning kanji. If you don't know hiragana and katakana, the best place to start is here right on animevice!
-The site does not teach grammar
-The site does not teach you how to write the words you are learning.
Overall it seems like a neat idea and it's fun to use.
Here's what my "Watching" list looks like on myanimelist. As you can see the only Fall anime I've gotten around to checking out are both Persona 4 and Squid Girl 2.
FMA:Brotherhood - 32/64 Episodes:
Gankutsuou - 17/24 Episodes: I feel like both Brotherhood and Gankutsuou demand my full attention when I am watching them. Since they are both so heavily plot driven, I try to watch episodes from either of the series only when I am fully awake and in a relatively good mood. Both are shaping up very very well, and I highly reccomend both series.
Kimi ni Todoke - 21/25 Episodes: Unlike Brotherhood and Gankutsuou, Kimi ni Todoke is very easy to watch. Kimi ni Todoke is just so simple, inspiring and heart-warming story. I'm probably going to jump right into the second season after I finish the first season. After that I'll probably finally get around to watching Clannad: Afterstory, man it feels like forever since I finished watching Clannad...
Heaven's Memo Pad - 10/12 Episodes: I want to finish this anime soon, probably this weekend if I get enough work done on my essays. Honestly though, I'm fine leaving this one unfinished for a little while, the series turned out to be not that great toward the end, and it doesn't seem like they're going to be doing anything interesting for the conclusion.
Mawaru Penguindrum - 8/24 Episodes: Yep, I haven't been keeping up. It's not available online legally, so video quality is sometimes a bit buggy, maybe now better versions have been uploaded, but in the last few episodes I watched there were some obvious visual bugs... which is bad for an anime which has such a vibrant art style.
One Piece - 55/???? Episodes: Yes, I put 4 question marks there. One Piece is pretty easy to watch too, but it strikes a different chord than Kimi ni Todoke. One Piece is an adventure story! The more I watch of One Piece, the easier it gets to be swept up away in the world of One Piece and the adventures of the Straw Hat crew.
Squid Girl 2 - 1/?? Episodes: I'm pretty happy about the first episode. I don't particularly like the ending theme, I think the ending theme for the first season was perfect. Not sure what direction this season will end up taking, but first episode definitely delivered more Squidiness. Sometimes I find myself thinking of squid puns.
Persona 4 - 1/?? Episodes: The best for last I suppose. I checked this one out only two days ago. It's a pretty great start. Having watched the endurance run it is interesting to think about what a person watching this without any exposure to Persona 4 would think of it. The pacing feels very very fast, but is very faithful to the game. It's a pretty hard task to turn a 70+ hour game into roughly 11 hours. I wouldn't really recommend watching this for people who aren't already familiar with Persona 4. Many things are taken directly out of the game and used to good effect, there were many times I went, "OHH SHH-".... I was pretty excited.
Man this took longer than I thought it would to write... Oh well, Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to watch and write a plot summary for episode 2 of Squid Girl 2. Until then, happy thanksgiving, may your anime-watching habits do well.
El... Psy... Congroo...
