I'm socializing! Check out my Dutch animeblog, which you can find ^ there, if you scroll up.
Ohio, konnichiwa or konbanwa, depends on what time it is at your side. Now you've found my profile, I'll give you a Q&A about and with myself!]
Q: How young are you?
A: Nicely asked. I'm 27 years. Oh, and female.
Q: When did you start watching anime?
A: It was well, some years ago, somewhere early 2006, I guess. I watched anime before on the Dutch television, dubbed in Dutch. The dub isn't horrible, but the episode numbering differs from the original, for example
Ahiru no Quack and another anime that I used to watch on Dutch tv is
Pokémon. I didn't really know that Pokémon was an anime at first and I started watching it somewhere around 1998~2000, just like
Digimon. I still like them somewhat, especially Digimon.
Q: What was your first real anime?
A: When I finally started watching anime, something like 2005~2006, I started with
Love Hina. Someone was looking for that anime, but he couldn't find it, so I asked around at MSN and I finally gave him the link to it. Before I knew it, I also started watching it and that's how I started to watch anime.
Q: What does your apartment look like?
A: Pretty normal. If you are used to geeky stuff.
Q: Would you please give some more information?
A: Just a normal apartment plus some bigger figures of Himari Princess from Mawaru Penguindrum, Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier and the loveliest box ever of Natsume Yuujinchou. He will never get out of that box, the Alter box itself is too awesome. Also got my hands on a good second-hand edition of Fate T. Harlaown StrikerS 1/7 Shin Sonic Form... And of course there are my gunpla builds, randomly spread through the apartment.
Q: What anime DVDs do you own?
A: Just some. I'll buy my real favourites, or those series that I've heard of and they were cheap enough to buy till I get a (good-paying) job after graduating. I am mostly watching anime through Crunchyroll nowadays. Their European-available library is good nowadays.
Q: What about manga then?
A: I need a new bookcase. Really. Everything that's under the header of
on-hold is what I own.
Q: What kind of anime do you like?
A: Those with a good story or are very wonderfully animated. ef - a tale of is such an example. It's a dark romance series with masterful execution. I prefer anime that are made with passion, or are just that bit different from your regular predictable series.
Q: What, you don't like moe?
A: Well, moe is fine, but not too many. Wish they'd spend more money on more awesome anime. I love series like Dragonmaid though: Tohru is definitely one of my favourite waifus. But series like Frame Arms Girls are also fine, because they are just what they are: ridiculous and over the top. As long as the series' creators know what their intentions are and it's clear, I am fine with moe. I don't like series that appears to be not knowing what it's actually doing.
Q: Do you attend school, university, work?
A: Graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and found a really nice job for the next few years after a while.
Q: So, about your gunpla collection...
A: Yes, I love gunpla! Started it in Summer 2016. I have a huge craving to keep buying and building them since then. Mostly HGs. You can check my builds on Instagram @leeuwenhartnl . My currently to-build list: Fenice Renascita MG, Epyon MG, Tallgeese MG. Wing MG is finished.
Random trivia
- Kemono no Souja Erin is #250 of my completed anime.
- Gundam Wing has the most ridiculous 180-degrees turns ever in anime personalities and plot. Dialogues are terribly written, but the Gundams are amazing.
- Dungeon World is fun.
All Comments (671) Comments
While you should not have even considered taking Soulelle's interpretation seriously as a viable and useful perspective on Glasslip at all, the below breakdown should offer a set of unequivocal and well-motivated reasons for not agreeing with Soulelle.
Why should readers listen to Soulelle, who is talking down to us as though we are five? This opening remark is condescending and implies that Soulelle knows better than everyone else. Some have suggested that this rudeness is an indication that Soulelle lacks the evidence to properly defend her interpretation; constantly talking down to everyone distracts viewers and forces them to think that maybe Soulelle has a point, even if what Soulelle presents is in reality, incomplete and incorrect.
Touko and Kakeru might be the lead characters, but if it were the case that Glasslip was really about their experiences alone, then why would Yanagi, Yukinari, Hiro and Sachi be present? Evidently, since there are other characters, their experiences must also be factored into discussion. Soulelle has made the fallacy of incomplete evidence here, ignoring the others to present an incorrect theme about "feeling oneself at home". This only vaguely applies to Kakeru, who is new in town, but Touko is already at home with her family, friends and even career choice.
More patronization is seen here; why should the readers be made to do more research on their own to validate Soulelle's assertions? A good analysis presents everything to the reader in one place to support the arguments being made, and Soulelle does not do that here. Evidently, Soulelle's time is more important than the reader's; it falls on us to go do some background reading on Nishimura Junji and then rewatch the whole of True Tears. Not that this matters, since Junji's directed a large number of works, and chickens only appear in True Tears. Soulelle's claims here are outright wrong: chickens most certainly are not a signature style unique to Junji. For now, looking past Soulelle's more-correct-than-thou attitude, let's suppose that the chickens do represent Kakeru's internal conflicts.
Why the heck do you think Kakeru lives in the tent? Have you ever even tried to think about it? It’s so freaking simple – because he changes houses all the time, because his family always moves from one city to another! So the only CONSTANT place for him where he can sleep and feel himself home is his freaking tent! This IS his cell that always stay the same, regardless where he is located geographically.
Is Soulelle a professor lecturing a class of first years or insinuating that we are lacking? Readers will doubtlessly remember the first scene, as Glasslip isn't that long of a series. Yes, Kakeru mentions this briefly to Touko, but he means that he wants to connect emotionally with someone and put down roots somewhere secure. Touko and her responsibility in looking after the chickens would therefore appeal to him, since she appears to be someone who would appreciate his situation. While Soulelle looks to go somewhere interesting with this train of thought, her ad hominem attacks and passive-aggressive attempts to let us know that we're missing something "simple", do much to diminish the value of her connections. At this point, after being told over and over again that I'm not as smart as her, my inclination to take Soulelle seriously has waned.
So, I'm made to wonder, what gives Soulelle the authority to talk down on us like this? While waterfowl represent an interesting symbol of sorts for Kakeru's loneliness, Soulelle inadverdently contradicts herself using these birds as a metaphor: migratory seabirds usually do not travel longitudinally and as Soulelle mentions, have a destination for the summer and winter seasons. They are familiar with their routes and destinations. Moreover, they travel in flocks and therefore do not feel the same loneliness that Kakeru might experience. This is a particularly weak example that, while looking impressive for its symbolic value, decomposes upon scrutiny.
Kakeru's constantly moving about means that he is actually desensitized towards making connections with people. The reason why he feels strongly about Touko is because she shares his ability to view the so-called "fragments of the future". Similarly, Kouko longs to know more about Kakeru precisely because of this shared ability. If we suppose that Soulelle was right, then Glasslip would not have gone to the lengths of introducing these "fragments of the future": feelings of loneliness and wanting to become closer to people are thematic elements that can exist in the absence of the supernatural. The inclusion of supernatural elements in Glasslip means that they are, for better or worse, integral to the story; Soulelle's deliberate choice to exclude them from her interpretation is another fallacy of incomplete evidence. Arguments with fallacies sound better than they are, and here, besides perhaps giving readers that Soulelle looks knowledgeable about Glasslip, Soulelle's claims actually do not answer what Glasslip was intended to be about.
While it is true that Touko treasures her friends above all else, and this is vividly shown during the penultimate episode where she sees a vision where she's the outsider. Her connection to Kakeru, however, seems more transient and motivated initially by her curiosity about the "fragments of the future". She does not fear losing Kakeru as much as she does losing all of her friends, and her treasured time with them. While birds might be symbols, Soulelle does not tie their presence to the situation that Touko or Kakeru experience; the reason behind why Kakeru and Touko fall in love are never explained in Soullele's interpretation.
Fiction or not, it is immensely unsatisfying if everything did turn out to be in their imagination. This is where Soulelle's interpretation falls apart entirely, even in light of the generous allowances made earlier. From Soulelle's train of reasoning, Kakeru is attached to Touko because she represents stability, while Touko wants Kakeru to stick around because she wants to be connected to everyone around her, as evidenced by the chickens and sea birds. Their commonality causes them to fall in love, and this is why their imaginations are shared. This simply does not follow, but for discussion, say that I am tolerant (to the point of foolishness) and suppose that Soulelle does make sense. Chalking all of this build up, all of the symbols and evidence, to imagination is still a massive let-down. There is no pay-off in Soulelle's interpretation, and is similar to application of "it was all a dream" in storytelling. These are immensely disappointing, and in the context of what Soulelle has provided for Glasslip, means that readers end up with nothing. It diminishes and trivializes everything Touko and Kakeru experience, as well as suggesting that ordinary people are susceptible to shared flights of fancy when they fall in love. If this were indeed true, that Kakeru and Touko's "fragments of the future" were figments of their imagination, Glasslip would not have ever gotten the green-light for production.
It is frankly an insult to Glasslip's writers to suggest that "it was all in their imagination" is what the series was about; Glasslip ultimately was a disappointment because it had all of the build-up to suggest an interesting connection between the glass beads and the "fragments of the future" phenomenon. Numerous other posts out there have presented much more insightful and useful discussion on what Glasslip could be about: one writer argues that Glasslip is about transience of things and its associated beauty, while another has stated that magic is applied to show that relationships can be difficult to understand and work out even if one is equipped with the foresight afforded by the "fragments of the future". These other perspectives can be considered proper analysis of Glasslip because they have a coherent and clear argument, encompass all aspects of Glasslip (including Yanagi, Yukinari, Hiro and Sachi, plus the glass beads and fragments of the future), but only lose out to Soulelle on the virtue that she was first to post something. I would posit that it was Soulelle who had trouble comprehending Glasslip, and that readers certainly could have done without the rudeness and ad hominem attacks in the interpretation she presented. Then again, if Soulelle did have conviction with her arguments, she might have not needed to resort to talking down to readers to begin with. Her arguments are bullshit, and should never have been shared anywhere else.
Ohhh I love Ensei as well. I was really slow when I was watching that series, so when Tan Tan finally pointed out about Ensei while they were on the ship, I was like "WHAAAAAAATTTT??!!! But oh! It makes perfect sense! It makes perfect sense but I didn't realize it!" ><
I hate to tell you, but third season might never come out. The series doesn't sell out well (DVD) :(
Now that I stalked your profile,, I like it even more that you have Kou Shuurei as your favourite character.
Mhm, ben het wel met je eens, de manga is toch beter.
Waar heb je hem gekeken? Ik kan hem niet vinden ;___;