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.

The mythology of the world that they introduce to us creates that sense of expectation that something big is about to happen. Maybe this is experience kicking in, but when you have a sleepy, isolated outpost that has a local legend about 5 women who use their powers to rein in a great evil and when the principal cast is composed of 5 girls, it’s hard not to draw a few conclusions about the show’s direction. Because of this foreshadowing, Sora no Woto seemingly has a sense of purpose to it and this alone makes it a good reason to at least dive into the show and see where the director takes us.

Furthermore, the characters also show flashes of promise as well. Kanata could easily be written off as a Yui Hirasawa clone, except her thoughts and feelings seem more genuine somehow. There’s nothing superficial about her motivations to join this bugle squad and the way she approaches her tasks have an earnestness to it that is positively charming.

That’s not to say that I endorse this show wholly. There are still other characters that need to be introduced and I do feel the need to attune myself to this show’s rhythm (1 episode is hardly a good basis for making that call whether to keep up with it or not), but so far, Sora no Woto’s start has me cautiously optimistic. And that’s only a good thing.

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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.

That’s where things took a turn for the worst. Her ice shotgun almost caught me off-guard but that was fairly easy and then we got to her first spellcard, Icicle Fall, which, in retrospect was doable provided that you knew how to maneuver around it, but playing it on Normal mode was more than a match for my shoddy danmaku skills and not surprisingly, I lost a life there. And then came Freeze Sign “Perfect Freeze…” which would be an irritant because that attack has the tendency to keep me mesmerized by the multicolored ice balls that came forth. By the time they began to move, I wasn’t paying attention and lo and behold, I’d lose my focus and run straight into one and into an ignominious end, especially if I died while carrying a full load of bombs. Snow Sign “Diamond Blizzard” was surprisingly easier because the bullet patterns were more to my liking, but playing through Normal and having to endure the two previous spellcards was a pain in the neck.

But I got my revenge in the end though. Filled with a need to practice, I decided to tackle her on Easy Mode and laughed at how trivially easy the two spellcards were. Guess I showed her who was the idiot! After putting more time into the game, she’s become easy to defeat and my association with her is now more or less limited to fan works, especially with IOSYS’s videos that continue to amuse me after all this time.

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OK, not really baseball anime, but remember when Haruhi was actually awesome?

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.

One Outs:

Not your daddy's version of baseball...

I think Baka-Raptor’s post on One Outs has gotten more people to give that show a shot more than this post will be able to, but the one aspect that he only hints at lies in the show’s skillful application of basic game theory. The way baseball is set up as a simultaneous game between pitcher and batter and that the pitcher must decide what pitch to throw and the batter has to decide whether to hit it and if so, what kind of hit. It’s decision-making scenarios like this that makes it interesting as well as Toua’s mastery of “yomi” (the art of getting inside the opponent’s head) that keeps me coming back.

Oh yeah, and the fact that the contracts are all performance based (assuming you didn’t click on the link above) makes it really damn entertaining. For every run given up, Toua pays up 50,000,000 yen. For every person he strikes out, he gets 5,000,000 yen. Agreeing to that setup requires nerves of steel, that’s for sure.

Cross Game:

Somehow, these two really do feel genuine.

It’s a show that I had blogged about way back in the day when I thought I had the stamina to do episodic blogging (turns out, I don’t), and it’s a show that’s stayed under the radar but in spite of that, manages to deliver some very wholesome entertainment, especially in the way the characters are fleshed out. As you can probably guess, this show uses baseball more as a backdrop because even if you substitute in a different sport, the character relations will continue to stay as they are, that is, they’ll shine brilliantly. All of the characters are instantly identifiable and although there are a few whose guts you’ll hate (evil coach being one of them), most of them will redeem themselves before they leave the series. And I think it’s important to be able to have characters that you can empathize with, especially with a show that’ll go on as long as this one will go for. But regardless of what happens, I think I’ll continue to be charmed with what Cross Game will serve up week in, week out as I watch the characters’ personalities bounce off one another.

Oh, and the whole thing about the childhood promise too. Yeah, I tend to be a sucker for those.

Taisho Yakyuu Musume:

It's got moe elements, but that's mostly confined to the first 5 mins.

And speaking of charmed, I can’t help but smile whenever I watch an episode of this show. The first five minutes of this show is so enthralling that you’ll be tempted to watch it over and over, but stay to get a basic understanding for the sort of struggles women of that era faced. I’ll confess to not knowing how historically accurate the picture is since the show does toss in some anachronisms (like with the types of baseball gloves that weren’t available at the time), but watching the underlying sentiments of girl power as well as the hilarious character interactions results in an experience that’s sure to be uplifting. After all, they’re trying to go against societal conventions and that’s really not an easy thing to do, so to watch them go about it with a sense of spunk and determination just makes you want to root for them all the more.

It’s more than just ojo-sama’s failing at baseball (anyone who says this is seriously missing the point). Beneath the surface is a mild sort of protest that somehow manages to make me smile in delight every time I watch it.

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Caring attitude despite being the lone driver. What's not to like?

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.

Really, how many moms would actually risk this journey?

Her earnestness is laudable, given that the jobs that she has lined up aren’t easy. For example, we witness firsthand how much she’s willing to go to make sure that all is well at the home front. On normal days, she’ll make sure that Sousuke’s lunch has been packed and drive him to school. In the evening, she’ll drive him back, prepare the meals, spend some time with him and showering him with affection and support. But when a calamitous storm hits, that’s when she shows her true colors since she thinks nothing of rushing back home to look after her house and contact her husband out at sea. Even more amazingly, her fierce devotion to the seniors at the center shows as she dashes off in her car to restock the senior center. It is the way she goes above and beyond the call of duty that makes her admirable as a person and an awesome character to watch.

These aspects of her are already good insofar as currying the audience’s empathy, but she also manages to bring a few aspects of her personality to the table that make her really human. The biggest example I can think of is when she signals to her husband to bugger off in a show of frustration. That’s something that the audience can identify with because throughout the movie, you see her pouring her heart into making sure that the home front is intact, and it’s not a stretch to infer that doing so is pretty taxing, especially for one person to do all on their own. It’s especially easy for the audience to catch on to this since she’s the sort of person who wears her heart on her sleeve. Her subsequent reaction after the signaling demonstrates the extent to which she misses her husband’s presence as a physical and emotional support to help her get through each day. Nevertheless, with each passing day, she’s able to put on a game face and take care of whatever needs to get done.

Through all her trials and tribulations, she never wavers and even manages to show her fun side by driving like a maniac on the mountain roads (there were times when she drove that I wanted to shout DUUURIFFFTO! in reference to Initial D) as well as her ability to take things in stride, no matter how outrageous or absurd they might be. This, to me, is what makes her so wonderful since she shows us that she is a really caring person who can still connect with children while being able to communicate with adults. Lisa’s devotion and courage in the face of adversity is very inspiring and the number of anime moms who succeed at reaching this level can probably be counted on one hand.

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A female main character? Looks good!

While I can’t call Persona 3 by favorite PS2 RPG of all time since I consider the Digital Devil Saga series to be slightly better (not to mention my eternal love for Unlimited Saga), it has served up its share of memories and I consider it to be a solid game from the storyline standpoint and for all the complaining that goes into it, I actually do like the characters in Persona 3 more so than I did the characters for Persona 4. However, I did have a major gripe with the game, but thankfully, the PSP release looks like it’ll be addressing the main issue while tossing in a few new features.

First off, the inability to control party members was a real sore point in the PS2 version. Call me a control freak, but I’ve preferred it when the player has complete control of the situation so as to be able to execute tacticals with near-perfect precision. Having random elements (or seemingly random elements) enter the picture through computer-controlled characters made it maddeningly annoying, especially when there was a better option that the AI-controlled characters could have taken but instead, screw themselves (and by extension, me) over. Why Atlus had designed the game in that fashion still boggles the mind, so the fact that they got rid of AI-controlled characters was a no-brainer and that alone merits this game a worthy purchase.

Secondly, the concept of having a character walk the hallways was sort of dumb, especially when you had no interest in really exploring the hallways in the first place and only wanted to go into a room for a club meeting or travel to the gym so you can train with the kendo club (not like anyone picked anything else, right?). The addition of being able to select which room you wanted to go to expedites play pretty quickly and removes any silly amount of time walking to and from one room to the next. Of course, that could result in you missing out on a vital social link, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take if it means I don’t have to walk around so much.

Finally, the concept of tossing in a female main character makes for an interesting addition, especially since her character design comes off a bit better than her male counterpart in that she actually looks somewhat sociable (and my character was certainly the social butterfly out of necessity so as to be able to make Personas hardier in combat). The male main character had always struck me as having an aloof demeanor that never quite jibed with what I had him doing, and it never appealed to me quite as much compared to the character design for Persona 4′s main character. Maybe it was the glasses or something. Anyways, I’m interested in seeing how the dating minigames will work out. The big question is whether boys be the one making the approach or will she have to actively go out and do the recruiting herself.

Needless to say, having a Persona game on a portable system with all of these improvements automatically puts this game really high on my must-buy list, especially when they’ve offered a lot of material for veteran players to explore while fixing some of the more annoying issues in the first release. Knowing Atlus, we’ll probably see a port of this in about a year, though I hope it will take a little less than that so I can get my Persona fix once more.

P.S. I still don’t see what’s so great about Junpei /cloudtrolling

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Escaflowne: More than meets the eye...

One of the interesting things about being sick is not having to do much since you’re drugged up most of the time which leaves you delirious at any rate. It just so happens that I get interesting visions when I’m delirious and although the thoughts that emerged are pretty weird, they are also pretty interesting and deserve at least some degree of attention. To be honest, I’m not sure how much stock to put in this line of thought, so I’ll simply present what came to mind and leave you to arrive at your own conclusion.

Escaflowne is known for many things, from its very enjoyable and oftentimes sympathetic cast of characters (moreso if you remove that obnoxious catgirl), glorious soundtrack (that only Yoko Kanno can deliver unto us), and generally excellent fight scenes. The plots within the series are also pretty straightforward: Zaibach has been aggressively expanding at the expense of its neighbors and now, a coalition made up mostly of Fanelian survivors and Asturian Knights has been mustered to launch a counterattack. While all of this is going on, Hitomi, the female protagonist, finds herself torn between Van Fanel and the Asturian Knight Allen Schezar. The story then goes about trying to resolve the war and the romance, both of which end in a manner as to be pretty satisfying.

Except (and you probably saw this coming)… what price victory? That’s the question that really got my attention. Yes, the Coalition forces were eventually able to stop Emperor Dornkirk’s misguided plans to bring about a utopia by harnessing the power of Atlantis, but at the end of the day, one can view it as a conflict between an aristocracy intent on keeping the status quo (the Coalition) and a group of revolutionary upstarts who wish to pursue a permanent peace (Zaibach). The problem that I’m running up against in this scenario is that Zaibach is portrayed as being overly bad when this is not the case. Through Dornkirk’s rule, he was practically able to bootstrap Zaibach from a backwater nation into one that was so sufficiently technologically advanced, it practically surpassed all of the other nations economically and militarily, turning Zaibach into a force to be reckoned with. Or to put it another way, Zaibach found itself in the middle of an Industrial Age while the other countries were still mired in an obsolete feudal society characteristic of the Middle Ages.

Poor guy... he isn't a bad person. Just deluded at worst.

These guys are the ones who oppress peasants.

So Zaibach has definitely been on the road to industrialization and there’s no doubt that people living there should be much better off economically if not politically. Fanelia and Asturia are almost backwards in comparison and while the nobles enjoy a decent amount of freedom, the large majority of the populace are still bound by the feudal (futile?) structure. Because of this, I’m continually puzzled by why so little attention has been given to Zaibach’s story and why they’ve been painted with the ugly mark of the aggressor. This might be me reading far more into things than they need to be, but it’s a point that is worth considering at the bare minimum. If nothing else, I’ll be interested in seeing whether anyone will offer the opinion of Escaflowne as a pro-feudalistic tract.

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You are the goddamn problem!

No, I’m not even trying to suggest that he’s at fault for not moving the story along by doing his homework or anything of that sort. In fact, this time loop could be interesting because of all the possibilities it brings to the reality in which Kyon inhabits. The fact that he fails to take advantage of this is extremely mind-boggling and makes for a dull viewing experience. You all might be screaming at Kyon for not doing his homework, but I’m screaming at Kyon for not having the audacity to work on hard problems.

What would you do when you’re told that a sequence of time has repeated over 9000 times by a being you place a high degree of trust in? I think we’d be treated to a wide variety of responses ranging from living a life filled to the brim by engaging in bacchanalian revelry, learning how to take over the world within a short span of time (my favorite activity by far), or bet on a sporting event while knowing the results beforehand and use money from the winnings to live out the rest of the week in luxury. The great thing is that even if these plans do fail, all one would have to do is simply ask Yuki if anything went wrong with those plans and she’ll be able to tell you, allowing you to make any adjustments necessary to make it right (this works great for world-domination plans by the way). In essence, the world is your playground and there is no shortage of possibilities as each person is unfettered and can do anything they want without having to deal with the long-term. Consequences? Screw that!

She was told to observe, not to interfere! Eeeeeexcellennnnt...

So, what does this say about Kyon exactly? Well, Colony Drop describes him as a self-insertion character, but I’m not even sure that’s accurate. Sure, he does take us through all of the events with his laconic musings, but it’s really hard to identify with him at this stage. I find it difficult to believe that anyone would lack the intellectual curiosity or hedonism to simply experiment around with this time loop and see what happens. After all, failure is no big deal when time is going to reset anyways. All right, that’s not completely accurate since one’s actions might result in the time loop going away altogether, but if say… you decided to bet on the sporting event and use the winnings for whatever you wanted, you’ve basically put yourself far ahead of your peers in life.

Carpe diem, you twit!

If we take the assumption of Kyon as the self-insertion character to be correct, this is quite a depressing turn of events. If we’re supposed to identify with a character who is unwilling to take the initiative in seizing control of his destiny and lacks the intellectual curiosity to tackle hard problems, that would be an utter disaster and by all rights, he should have to suffer due to his ineptitude. I just wish he didn’t drag us all along with him.

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Too hot for Araragi to handle!

The general opinion that people have of Hitagi Senjogahara from Bakemonogatari, at least, based on internet forums, various blogs, and IM chats is that she’s an awesome character who has wormed her way into people’s hearts. Looks are certainly one part of the equation, but the tremendous amount of power that she holds over Araragi through her carefully considered, if inauthentic, words (covered in greater detail by ghostlightning) is really what makes her appealing. She demonstrates mastery of language and nuance as she is able to flip back any comment with a witty zinger that leaves the audience in awe at her abilities.

That in of itself doesn’t cause any issues… if Araragi were capable of actually of holding his own in this verbal contest. The problem is that he isn’t and because of that, the exchange is far less interesting than it could have been. His passivity, while acting as a good receptacle for Senjogahara’s steady stream of abuse, means that he’s going to be outclassed and it’s a matter of time before it gets boring unless he can grab a dose of resolve and work himself to the point where he’s at least capable of deflecting the barbs coming his way.

Herein lies the problem...

After all, more witty repartees from two characters means double the fun and an excellent example of this can be seen in Spice and Wolf. The Gargron/Aizen combo post on Anime² highlights that Spice and Wolf also has a healthy amount of dialogue, but that in general, I find their exchange to be more engaging.

What you see between Lawrence and Horo is a good amount of give and take. Lawrence can pinpoint Horo’s weak points and exploit them when he’s wont to and Horo definitely has a handle on Lawrence’s weaknesses. The cycle of statement, retort, sly insult, verbal parry, feigned hurt to draw out the other person’s emotions, despair at the reaction makes for a riveting watch that makes apparent the very enjoyable sort of chemistry between the main leads that most shows can only hope to achieve.

Granted, part of that comes from the familiarity that both Lawrence and Horo have built up by going through so many experiences. Contrast that with Senjogahara and Araragi, who have spent three episodes talking to each other and that’s hardly enough time to build up any sort of meaningful rapport. They don’t have a handle on each other’s strengths and vulnerabilities (except for maybe Senjogahara, who has a wealth of information regarding Araragi’s background) so perhaps this is a time issue that we’re dealing with. I really do hope this is the case. Having Senjogahara be the aggressive one who doesn’t meet up with any sort of pushback from Araragi will make this pairing far less compelling because in anime, as in life, having two evenly-matched individuals present, whether it’s in a relationship, competition, or a simple dialogue, lends itself to long-term stability rather than the flash in the pan that we’ve seen so far.

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Be careful of what you wish for...

OK, let’s get a few things out of the way. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0′s first episode is something that one sits through with some degree of detachment. It does its job sufficiently to provide the backstory behind what the protagonist, Mirai Onosawa, is going through. She’s not exactly painted in the most sympathetic light since her immaturity gets the better of her in most occasions, but it’s done for a reason and that reason is effectively spelled out in both the title and the first few seconds of the first episode. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that adversity changes people, for better or for worse, but in Mirai’s case, I’m hoping to see a profound, uplifting, set of changes brought about by having gone through the disaster.

Sometimes, she just needs a good dose of perspective...

And then IT happens. A natural disaster that’s so big that buildings, bridges, and sewage mains are unable to cope with the full fury of the quake and break apart. The tension ramps up significantly and is a testimony to the fact that the producers were able to convey the unpredictability of it all. The aftershocks alone were able to bring out that sense of fear, heightened further by the fact that when these aftershocks did occur, they would happen when the characters were in an enclosed, unstable area that could collapse if it were given the slightest nudge. By combining claustrophobic environments while dangling the specter of aftershocks, what results is an atmosphere that’s almost unbearable as your primal instincts tell you that you must… get… OUT!

But like a smithy’s fires, the earthquake helps forge a change in Mirai’s condition. Although she’s still immature and emotionally unstable, she accepts her sisterly role and takes on great risk to her personal well-being to find Yuuki, even if she does so based on her sisterly instincts rather than rationally planning it out. The high point comes in when she’s aided by Mari Kusakabe who really shines in episode 2 by having her pair up and interact with Mirai in such a way that brings forth an upwelling of hope.

A big factor that allowed her to mesh so well with Mirai is based on the concept of shared experiences. It goes without saying that Mari’s close proximity to Mirai when the disaster strikes makes up one part of the shared experience. The other lies in the fact that she shares Mirai’s mother’s situation; that is, she needs to work to support her daughter, Hina, and though this is one way to care for her daughter, she quietly frets that by the time she earns enough so that she and her daughter can live an independent life, she’ll have missed out on her daughter’s formative years and time is not something one can regain. By meeting Mirai and getting a chance to talk to her, Mari is able to articulate this fear to someone who’s in that very same situation even if the point of view is slightly different, resulting in a moment of understanding.

The most powerful line in episode two by far illustrates how far Mirai and Mari have become tied together. Mirai, while still sullen and suspicious asks Mari why Mari is being so nice to her. Mari replies simply that she’s a person, a human being. This declaration, while simple, brings out an uplifting experience highlighted by empathy and the feeling of community. What she suggests through that admission is that we’re all united by the common thread of humanity and that in times of adversity, people will raise each other up to ensure that people, collectively, will come out for the better. It’s not a message that will touch some of the more cynical people out there, but it’s a weighty one that bears consideration. That Mari is able to believe and act upon this belief is extremely heartwarming and she becomes an excellent foil to Mirai’s selfishness.

While it’s easy to look back on disasters and see human foibles rise up, leading to the sort of looting and vandalism that gets reported on the evening news, one must not forget that the potential for people to do good is always present. By imparting this message of hope and goodness, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 succeeds in being wonderfully compelling.

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