When I first watched Stellvia back in the day, I was so hooked on the show that the wait between episodes was always excruciating, even if it was only a week. So, when the show was eventually licensed and released on DVD, I was somewhat reluctant to watch each disc as I bought it. I figured watching the show in tiny batches every couple of months would prove unbearable. But I did it anyway. And, sure enough, I was disappointed. Very disappointed. It was such a bad experience, in fact, that I questioned my love for the show all together. Perhaps Stellvia wasn’t all that great an anime series in the first place?

Stellvia has its flaws, of course. Shima is annoying in the later episodes, that’s for sure. The writing could be a lot tighter. The character designs are weird. The animation is occasionally sloppy. At the same time, Stellvia has many strengths. A colorful cast of interesting characters. Loads of drama. Some nifty action sequences. Stylish mechanical designs. A satisfying conclusion. These are just some of the many reasons why I consider Stellvia a personal favorite.

So, obviously, my sudden disappointment in the show following my second viewing came as a great shock. What happened? Clearly, to find the answer, another rewatch was in order…

Well, it took a year, but I finally got around to doing just that these past few days. And I’m happy to report that, indeed, it’s all in the pacing. Stellvia is a show best marathoned. And I’m also happy to report that I enjoyed the show even more this time around compared to my first viewing. Many of the flaws I mentioned above were of little issue, in fact. Does that mean Stellvia gets better with age? It would seem so.

For example…

Like most sci-fi anime, Stellvia plays fast and loose with science and technology. People walk around mumbling about energy wave patterns and atomic substructures and the like, often just to fill empty spots in the script. It’s all a bunch of technobabble mumbo jumbo, some of which makes sense, some of which doesn’t. Except, this time… it made sense? Actually, it did (to a point). Not in an academic, “Ah, we should discuss this at next week’s club meeting,” manner, mind you, but more in an, “Ah, that incomprehensible conversation back in Episode 16 actually had a point,” sort of way. This was a pleasant discovery, to be honest, as the time wasted discussing things that never seemed to matter was always one of my chief complaints about the show. All this time, I thought it was nothing more than filler. Turns out, it’s one of the show’s more fascinating components.

But, let’s face it, as much as Stellvia is a sci-fi show, it’s even more of a school drama. And, like most school dramas, it has a strong romantic element. Kouta and Shima’s budding relationship is an important facet of the show, obviously. You could argue that it drives the plot throughout the show’s entire second half. The thing is, Kouta and Shima’s relationship has some “interesting” dynamics (they’ve got more issues than National Geographic, basically), and this is often reflected in the plot. In other words, it can be a real head-scratcher at times. And, given Kouta and Shima’s stubborn nature and general inability to get their shit together, the head-scratchers, they just keep a-comin’. It’s frustrating, yeah. I can emphatically empathize with those who come to detest Shima by the end of the show.

Yet, while the two teenage lovers were just as frustrating to watch this time around as they were the first, I think I now understand them a little better. It’s amazing what one can learn from simply paying closer attention to what people are actually saying in the most melodramatic of scenes, you know. Sometimes, you get so swept up in the mood that you miss the point of the scene entirely. Competent translation helps, too… I can’t help but think the fansub translation I watched way back when made an awful mess of a few important scenes (although, as an aside, I should say that the subtitles on Geneon’s DVD release have some of the sloppiest editing and proofreading I’ve ever seen). Either way, I found Kouta and Shima at least a little less annoying than before. They could still use some relationship counseling, though.

But, thankfully, Stellvia has a large cast of interesting characters - a true ensemble cast - and the presence of this cast does a lot to make up for all of the show’s many shortcomings combined. If I were to recommend Stellvia, I would say this: watch not for the drama or suspense, but for the supporting characters, who, by the end of the story, shine as bright, if not brighter, as the two leads themselves. Those supporting characters are the reason I love Stellvia. They make the show memorable.

Of course, you should also watch it for the positive and uplifting ending (consider that this is coming from someone who covets bittersweet endings). I’ll admit, the epilogue is cheesy - as thanks for saving the Solar System, everyone got a coupon for a free haircut, it seems - but, hey, the ending left me wishing for a sequel something terrible. It’s not that a sequel was necessary, mind you. I just really, really wanted one. Like a pony. You can imagine my disappointment when a sequel was announced, only to later be cancelled. What’s Tatsuo Sato up to nowadays, anyway?

Oh, and one final thought…

With the human race facing extinction twice over the course of the show, there must have been a staggering amount of meaningless sex going on behind the scenes. I’ll never look at the Big Four the same way again.

The design for New Tokyo Tower has been finalized, with construction expected to finish by 2011.

That gives CLAMP five years to figure out a way to destroy it.

Seriously, though, at 2,000 feet tall, this thing is going to look ridiculous (ridiculously cool, that is). After all, Sumida Ward isn’t exactly known for tall buildings. It does have the Golden Turd, though.

It’s not yet clear if the tower will be tall enough for San Francisco residents to catch Pretty Cure reruns. Jason’s gonna have to buy a new set of rabbit ears…

… NO, not that kind.

With Someday’s Dreamers, it was love at first sight. For a slice of life fan, could it have been any other way? In all honesty, the narrative left me underwhelmed. But for an atmosphere piece, Someday’s Dreamers is something special. It’s Shimoda Masami at his best.

It’s also a love letter to Tokyo. Very few anime series that take place in Tokyo truly capture the feel of the city. See, Tokyo is disorienting not in its uniformity, but in its diversity. Bustling commercial strips give way to quiet residential neighborhoods with the turn of a corner. Skyscrapers in clean rows tower over a chaotic patchwork of rooftops and narrow streets. The rumbling of the Chuo Line does battle with the sizzle of a yakitori vendor’s grill. The sizzle of the yakitori vendor’s grill does battle with the never-ending sound of footsteps. People walking to work. People walking home. People walking to school. People walking just for the sake of walking. This is the Tokyo of my memories. It’s the Tokyo of Someday’s Dreamers.

And it’s the Tokyo of my fifth music video…

Perfect Day (50 MB XviD AVI)

Of course, just as Someday’s Dreamers impresses as an atmosphere piece, it also impresses as a character study. Such is the purpose of this music video. At heart, it’s two character profiles in vignette form; Tokyo is merely the glue that holds it all together. There might be a narrative there, or there might not. My intention, really, was to allow the original material the opportunity to speak for itself. I wanted to capture and share the feel of Someday’s Dreamers. Nothing more.

But, you know, just as atmosphere pieces don’t make for popular anime series, they don’t make for popular music videos. In many ways, this video was a response to my previous video, Forever and Before, which had performed surprisingly well at the previous year’s AMV contest at AnimeCentral in Chicago. For the first time, I pushed myself to finish a video within a certain timespan, hoping to make the submission deadline for that year’s contest. And I did. But when the convention and contest came and went, and the list of featured videos was released, Perfect Day was nowhere to be found. Much to my dismay, it had been cut from the contest pool entirely.

I was annoyed, no doubt. But, in retrospect, it’s not worth being annoyed about. AMV is LOVE, and all that jazz.

And, besides… here I am, almost three years later, sharing this video and a little slice of a show that’s especially dear to me with each and every one of my readers. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Except, of course, that you stick around for the next and final installment of this series…

What? You actually wanted to hear me sing? Again?

Be careful what you ask for…

Just last night, I stumbled upon the old teaser for Makoto Shinkai’s 5 Centimeters Per Second and thought to myself, “Isn’t it about time for a new trailer?”

Yup.

Just like last time, a high definition version is available. You can download it here. Note that the trailer will only be available for a week, so grab it while you can.

I would advise having a towel on hand, by the way… you’ll probably have to clean some drool from your keyboard.

At some point last week, I sat down and started rewatching Maison Ikkoku, which, in case you didn’t already know, is my favorite anime series of all time, hands down, no competition, forever and ever, until death do us part. In years past, I made a habit of rewatching the show annually, but at a lengthy 96 episodes, finding the time was always difficult. Even if I made a point of watching a few episodes each day, it would take a month to finish the show… and since I’m the sort of person who likes to put everything else on hold when rewatching old favorites, that meant abstaining from all other anime for a full month. Long ago, such was possible. But not today.

So, I’ve resorted to marathoning. One week down, one week to go. I suppose I’ll take a break tonight and watch the latest episode of Kanon (it should be a testament to how much I adore Maison Ikkoku that I have to make time for freakin’ Kanon), but everything else will have to wait.

Anyway, you would think that, as many times as I’ve seen Maison Ikkoku, I’d have grown tired of it by now. In fact, every time I set out to rewatch the show, I ask myself, “Will it bore me this time around?” Hasn’t happened yet, thankfully, and I suspect the show’s length is the reason why. Regardless of how well I know the story and the characters, I can’t recall every little detail of every single episode, nor can I remember where certain story arcs take place in the grand scheme of things. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, “Oh, THAT scene is coming up,” only to find said scene doesn’t actually occur for another 62 episodes. I suppose I could question my credentials as a die-hard Maison Ikkoku fan as a result, but if that’s what it takes to keep the show fresh year after year, so be it.

Ignorance is bliss.

I do need to do something about my habit of watching a bunch of Patlabor in the intervening periods, however. Every time I hear Godai open his mouth for the first time in the first episode of Maison Ikkoku, I think, “What the hell is Shinshi doing here?”

A quick administrative note…

I’m fed up with Akismet crashing the database every couple of weeks, so I’ve ditched it in favor of Spam Karma as the solution for all of my comment spam fighting needs. I’m still tweaking things, however, so if you post a comment and it’s not immediately approved, don’t be alarmed. It’s just the filter being overzealous (I wonder what would happen if I increased the severity level?).

Also, I disabled the nifty AJAX dynamic commenting feature, as it didn’t play nice with the change.

Guess I’m not Web 2.0 anymore.