Visionary Nexus Network

It’s been awhile since I’ve found anything interesting to say because Fall 2009 was a low point because few shows managed to catch my interest and draw me in. Plus, it served as a good break given my heavy courseload. So, Fall goes by and I can’t really say I feel any sort of urgency to catch up. Time to turn a new page and start fresh.

And what a better target to pick on than K-ON! After all, K-ON! is pretty much the latest poster child for everything that’s wrong with anime, right? Cute characters with irritating one-dimensional personalities, a general sense of pointlessness about the plot, and nonexistent character growth. Basically, compare Hidamari Sketch to K-ON! and you’re looking at a world of difference in terms of quality and I’d argue that both aim towards the same general target audience.

Enter Sora no Woto with its similar general artistic style and its seemingly nonsensical foundation of a plot and you have a product that would be easy to write off. Unless you actually watched the first episode, that is. (continue reading…)

Just this past weekend, I finished the moe mahjong series Saki and if there was one thing that struck me about that show, it was how predictable it was. To illustrate that point, when a friend let me know that an individual tournament was about to begin and asked me to predict the winners, I rattled off the names of all three winners accurately. My reasoning at the time was that two of the characters were instrumental to the story while the third is a major fan-favorite and I suppose that the producer or manga artist felt the same way so to ensure the goal of a cohesive, friendship-bound story as well as attracting eyeballs, they are allowed to move on. If it were up to me, I’d have the trio of Hisa, scrub/noob-chan (mostly for sheer irony), and Stealth Momo advance, but I digress. (continue reading…)

Oh ⑨, how we love thee, let me count the ways…

Well, OK, Cirno and I do have quite a bit of history since she was the first Touhou character I really had difficulty with and to understand why, you’d have to keep in mind that Embodiment of Scarlet Devil was the first game from the Touhou series that I’ve ever touched and it was also my first danmaku game as well, which means that it was going to be a baptism by fire (though it was icy in this instance). Up until that point (even on normal) things weren’t too bad, and I’d gotten pretty far without losing any lives until I came up against the Ice Fairy of the Misty Lake near the Scarlet Devil Mansion. (continue reading…)

This feeling is just weird because as anyone who knows me can attest, I can’t stand watching baseball. To me, baseball is an absolutely boring sport with very little in the way of strategy to make it interesting. Aside from strategic bunting and sacrifice flies, I mostly see bulked up players who have mastered the art of hitting things really really hard and that’s not enthralling to watch.

So the fact that I’ve been tuned to baseball anime as of late is an oddity. Anime (and any other medium for that matter) has the luxury of being able to dramatize anything (see: Hikaru no Go and Yakitate!! Japan) and I suppose that’s what has helped me enjoy it more. Not surprisingly, of the three baseball shows that I have been watching, only one of them actually has to do with baseball. The other two are character-oriented shows that uses baseball as more of a backdrop than a central plotline; you can substitute it with any other sport and you’d still have an enjoyable show. (continue reading…)

After having seen Ponyo in theaters last weekend, I’d have to say that the story, while definitely more oriented towards children, was very sweet, filled with a cast of charming characters and excellent artwork and music that do an excellent job of putting the viewer right into the middle of the action. Although, there were a few holes that the story doesn’t fill up completely (Ponyo’s father’s backstory was noticeably missing and that would have been nice to know), but for the most part, it was an entertaining ride.

Of all the characters in the film though, Sousuke’s mom Lisa (Risa) has impressed me the most. From the start, one can’t help but be taken in by her stage presence. Part of what makes her so appealing is that she lets other facets of her identity seep through beyond just being Sousuke’s mother. We see her at her best when she takes care of Sousuke and when she puts her heart into her day job as a caretaker at the senior center and we also see her frustrated side when her husband informs her that he’s unable to return and she ends up sulking for a bit. But through all the events of the movie, what I admire most is her ability to face life with an upbeat attitude while displaying an uncommon amount of courage and dedication when the situation calls for it. (continue reading…)