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…)

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. (continue reading…)

There’s no doubt that Haruhi’s Endless Eight has been a major PR disaster for Kyoto Animation, but while the rage regarding this stunt can be placed because each episode differs very little in terms of content, my annoyance is on Kyon’s passivity which stands as the root of the 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. (continue reading…)

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. (continue reading…)