Monthly Archive for April, 2006Page 3 of 3

Elise, Pour la Victorie!

18 Comments |
April 2, 2006
| Television

Boy, was I wrong.

In all honesty, I can’t take issue with Hiroki’s choice. I liked Elis from the very beginning. The fact that they’re cousins doesn’t trouble me. Nor does the age difference. In fact, I’d argue that, spoiled nature aside, Elis was far more mature than given credit for. And, dependable appearance aside, Hiroki wasn’t all that dependable at all. Perhaps they were made for each other. They had good chemistry, that’s for sure.

But, what of the ending itself? I’m still a bit conflicted. I’m neither happy nor angry. I’m more curious than anything else.

My first thought was, “Where the hell did that come from?” Obviously, Hiroki’s final dilemma was one in which he had to make a choice between what his heart desired and what his brain implored. Those are never easy choices to make, and rarely do they give rise to easy, perfect solutions. Some sort of sacrifice will always be made. And, in matters of love, someone will always be hurt. What makes Hiroki’s ultimate decision so immediately perplexing is the fact that it’s very much out of character. Or is it?

Hand, meet forehead.

“I’m a teacher!” How many times did we hear Hiroki say that over the course of the series? How often did his words sound genuine? How often did his friends, colleagues, and students take him seriously? The fact is, Hiroki was staring down the barrel of one of those “heart vs. brain” choices for the entire series - and it had nothing to do with Kiri or Elis. He was trying to decide his future.

The fact that he went with his heart and chose the life of an artist isn’t all that surprising, really. His false words alone were enough to support such a conclusion. But, if choosing his heart over his brain with regard to his future is no surprise, what of his choosing Elis over Kiri? Should the fact that he went with his heart there be a surprise, either? I don’t think so.

I should’ve seen it coming. But, I didn’t.

Typically, these bishoujo game adaptations get waffly endings. In game form, the protagonist (i.e., the player) has his choice of girls - how the story ends is ultimately up to him and him alone. Obviously, this doesn’t work in a TV series. There can only be one ending. One final episode. Some shows crown one girl alone the winner. Others leave every girl hanging. Some crown a girl AND leave everyone else hanging. It’s ridiculous the lengths some shows will go to in an effort to keep fans happy. So, I suppose Canvas should be commended for its very direct, very final, very “how ’bout them apples?!” ending.

I mean, Hiroki and Elis in a post-coital embrace? “How ’bout them apples?!” indeed! I wouldn’t blame Kiri fans for punching a hole in the TV. Me, I just dropped the remote and stared transfixed at the screen for a few minutes.

And Kiri? Geez. Poor girl. She should become a nun or something.

New Home

11 Comments |
April 2, 2006
| Miscellaneous

With new digs comes a new workspace.

The lack of anime doodads can be attributed to the fact I now have an ANIME ROOM. Unfortunately, the ANIME ROOM currently consists of only my DVD collection, a TV, a Nanoha dakimakura, and a folding chair, so pictures of that will obviously have to wait. Being an ANIME ROOM, however, it’ll soon be full of ANIME STUFF. Kind of like this.

The office decorations, on the other hand, are just meant to impress the ladies.

Happy Thoughts

9 Comments |
April 2, 2006
| Otaku

These seasonal transition periods are always tough on us fansub watchers. Dedicated raw watchers are flooding the internet with discussion of spectacular (or lackluster) finales, while the rest of us (im)patiently await Episode 18 of our favorite show. I have to be ever so diligent when browsing anime blogs and discussion forum, ready at a moment’s notice to cover my eyes and divert my attention elsewhere, lest I unwittingly stumble upon some juicy bit of spoilage I’m not yet mentally prepared for. I find that thinking of naked Mahoro helps, but your mileage may vary.


“Ecchi na no wa ikenai to omoimasu!”

Whatever. Go scrub a toilet or something.

One show that I’m trying desperately to avoid spoilers for is Noein. Of course, seeing as BluWacky is the only anime blogger to cover the show to the very end thus far, avoiding spoilers hasn’t been all that difficult.

Still, Noein is a show that surprises me with each and every episode, so I hope to remain blissfully ignorant to the final second. I can’t help but wonder, however, “Why do I like Noein?” After all, it’s “thinking man’s” anime, and, well… I’m not much of a “thinking man’s” anime kinda guy.

I think my preference for lighter fare has pretty well been established by now. I go for the slice of life, the light romance, the occasional soap opera… the boring stuff, really. But, sometimes, I need something heavier to give my anime diet a little extra kick. What makes Noein such a gem, I think, is the fact that it’s heavy without actually feeling heavy. It makes me think, but I won’t sprain my brain in the process. And, if it does start to get heavy, I can always look at the pretty pictures… or think of naked Mahoro. Studio Satelight knows pretty pictures. Not sure about naked Mahoro.

But, what of “thinking man’s” anime in general? Why do I not care for it? Intellectual laziness?

Yoshitoshi ABe is known for his “thinking man’s” work, that’s for certain. But, of all his works, Haibane Renmei is the only one I care much for, and even then, I don’t hold the show in the same high regard as most others do. So, what happened when I found myself face to face with ABe-sensei at Comiket this past summer? I was left speechless, that’s what - and not because he’s my hero or anything of the sort. Rather, I honestly had no clue what to say. “I enjoy your work?” That’s about it. Obviously, there are fans out there who, offered a similar opportunity, would hound the guy with questions until the doujin peddlers had all packed up and gone home. I didn’t have much to say, though. Some pleasentaries, a quick bow, and that was it. I felt like an idiot, to be honest.

Perhaps an idiot I am. I like my bishoujo shows. I like my sappy melodrama. I like my pretty pictures. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But when I find myself around other anime fans and conversation turns to deconstructing Shinji’s psyche or the politics of Gundam, I tend to tune out. I’d rather think about something else. Like naked Mahoro.

A Time to Blog

5 Comments |
April 1, 2006
| Administration

No April Fool’s for you!

Actually, I didn’t even realize it was April Fool’s Day until I woke up this morning. Hell, I wasn’t even sure it was Saturday. It’s been that sort of week.

Anyway…

Over at Anime Pilgrimage, Alexander ponders time spent anime blogging, and seeing as I’ve been at this longer than most, I thought I’d share my experience. Back in the Nowhere days, I’d average a half hour per post - including screenshot selection, goofy caption writing, and actual post writing. Typically, I’d have already composed the actual post in my head by the time I finished watching an episode, meaning that most of that half hour was devoted to screenshot selection and caption writing. The captions didn’t always come easy. Sometimes, they wouldn’t come at all.

Hop Step Jump! is an entirely different animal, what with its longer posts and varied topics. The most time-consuming part of keeping this place running occurs entirely away from the keyboard. It’s the creative brain-storming process - the “what the hell do I write?” part - that sucks up time. When it comes time to sit down and start typing, however, I’m finished before I know it. Obviously, long posts with extensive formatting take more time to compose, but the average post (like this one, for example) generally takes fifteen minutes, tops.

Image selection can take more time than I’d like, however. Like a lot of fans, I have a giant library of stock anime imagery sitting on my hard drive, but new shows are often underrepresented. Of course, new shows get the most posts, so off to the data mines I go.

Anime blogging can be a time-consuming process, no doubt, but I try my best to balance my blogging time with my viewing time. Nowhere met its demise when the balance started tipping in the wrong direction. I don’t want that to happen with Hop Step Jump! Ever.

So, to better meet the needs of my readers, I’m outsourcing the site to India. Muskeh Bhupathiraju will be handling writing duties for now on, with Hrishikesh Thind taking care of imagery. I’ll check in every so often to respond to comments. Vidyadhar Baalakrishnan will be deleting the nasty ones. Try not to piss him off.