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R.I.P

I spent a weekend rereading all of Octave from chapter one to the end at Chapter 36. I have to say, it's even better than I remember it being. A lot of the pacing problems I remember having aren't as big of a bother as they were when I was reading a chapter every month or so. I definitely recommend you to do the same.

Makes me wonder if I should try the same for Girlfriends.

Yo, how is it going! Oh, btw, seeing your snazy tumblr made me upgrade mine. Gave it a whole little facelift. You should go check it out.

http://lilyvess.tumblr.com/

So there has been a rather new Yuri manga scanlated by Yuri Project, called Raubritter. I couldn't even finish the first chapter, and we both know we've sat through a lot of bad Yuri (did you know I still keep up with Sisterism? It hasn't got any better by the way. Still worth burning in a fire).

The main source of my anguish is really easy to point out. It's all centered around one line. See the series is about a maiden who needs to search for her long lost sister. Her late father gave her the names of two women who are obviously lesbians to help her in times of need, so she turns to these two in order to help her find her sister. Here is where I had difficulty. The two women are part of a 'secret club' whose purpose is to help young maidens in need. They go on to further specify, they only help women.

Now here is where I stopped and had to think for a moment before I just stopped reading. They only help women? Why couldn't they just say 'help the helpless'. That's what most typical heroes do? Is it just to further emphasize they are lesbians? Because they like women, so obviously they must only want to help women. Men, ick, ick ick.

Yeah, but I don't buy that. Lesbians can work and deal with men like anyone else. Gay men work with females. Straight men deal with other men. Just because you aren't attracted to that gender doesn't mean you're just going to not help them out.

What makes it worse is the obvious flirtation taking place. Yeah, I know that there is the whole film noir genre that deals with detectives and their relationships with dames. But for almost all of those cases, the romance is just an evolution, it isn't something they sought out. They don't do the job because want to get laid.

This just smears the series. Everything else they do, all the romantic moments, or smutty moments just feel rather... bad. I don't know how to say it. It just didn't sit right with me is all.

Meanwhile, the series Candy has been rocking out. You should seriously be reading this. Loved the latest chapter. Sadly, it's hitting the 7 chapter mark. It could be ending any chapter at this point.

I've started reading X-Men comics. You know I haven't been a big fan of the X-Men. It's got a lot of continuity and hundreds of characters that creates a large barrier for entry. I decided that with Avengers vs X-Men (I'll have to tell you all about that one of these days) I'd have to take the leap and see how I do. It's going pretty well so far. Joss Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men was just as badass as I had been told it was. It's been a long time since I read something with that many fist pump moments. It made me laugh out loud, it made cheer, and it made me cry manly tears at the end.

and I've only begun my trek through the X-Men. I have around a decade worth of X-Men comics I'm going to catch up on

oh, oh, did you check out this recent Okazu article. It made me a very jealous Yuri fan. haha.

http://okazu.blogspot.com/2012/08/event-aoi-hana-meets-enoshima-electric.html

I do seriously love Aoi Hana. I can't wait for it to be able to purchase proper English DvD's of it.Hope they do it justice.

You more fitting for the role of Utena, than I? Blasphemy!I think we shall have to meet atop the dueling arena after school to settle this.

Ahh, yes, Marimite, I forgot about that one. Really good too.

Strawberry Panic I believe also had a dance segment or two within it. Not of Simoun or Utena caliber.

This may not have been in the series exactly, but it did have a very cute dance within the opening them

*groan*, hitting the height button... that hurts...

That is an absolutely beautiful dance segment. I could concede with that.

wait, why do I have to be Anthy? That's racist! You're just saying that because I have dark skin!

Ok, what about this for a dance sequence?

http://youtu.be/Ot---YLvU_g?t=20m39s

It's a little less dance, but bloody hell, every time the song kicks in I just want to break out into dance. Then I start to tear up...

A roll of gauze strapped around my thigh like a garter belt? But, but, but! How did you know?!

I must admit I have been known to work magic with a humble roll of kerlex.

Oh, you're afraid of lightning and thunder? You should be more afraid of what mother will say about muddy footprints on the coffee table! Coming in out of the rain and wind, tracking in all that mud, honestly!

On the other hand, it is your homestead after all. And you were just on fire and crooning bravely. All right, feet on the coffee table then. I'm such a pushover.

Back to it! We have a pact to keep ourselves mutually and, unfortunately, exclusively occupied.

hahaha, I love that movie! Great scene.

Though I hadn't imagined we'd bedoing the Polka. I figured something more like a tango would have been more appropriate.

"Shall we dance?"

I thought you'd never ask!

But first, I would like to briefly talk about the non-Shimura topics.

First off, On Batman, I need to correct you on my opinion. I have complaints on the movie. A sizable amount of complaints. Even some major complaints. I won't go into detail so I won't spoil anything, I just need to go on record saying that the movie isn't perfect. It's worse than the Dark Knight. That said, what it gets right, it does superb at, and that is enough to outweigh the negatives of the film. In another franchise this would be instantly the best film of the set, it's only because Nolan has built the Batman franchise so high that this film feels somewhat disappointing.

You haven't been enjoying Community? I'm sorry, that's actually still been one of my current favorite shows, along with Modern Family and Doctor Who. Remedial Chaos Theory, Regional Holiday Music, Pillows and Blankets, and Digital Estate Planning are some of the best episodes Community has ever had in my opinion. The D&D one is up there too.

Though I can see where your coming from. The characters have all been consumed by a single exaggerated characteristic, turning them into rather 2 dimensional versions of their original selves. This is especially true for Britta and Chang, who are so extreme that they might as well be entirely new characters.

See you can say your kindrid spirits with Proteus but I've seen a lot of evidence to the contrary. You've done a good job of conversing with me. Man, our ff.net days. We were insane! Good times!

The problem with Proteus that I have is that I can't reason with a wall. And that's what he is. What did you think of Tiger and Bunny 'Awesome, loved it'. Why? No response. It's frustrating. I can deal with people who have different opinions. I can put myself in their shoes to understand. If you don't let me do even that, then there is nothing I can do. It really is just as simple as 'you're wrong'.

But, well, I have to admit that I can be harsh. It's gotten to the point where my own friends say that I sweat haterade. I've been working to contain myself. Though, I'll admit, sometimes it's impossible to contain.

Lol I remember Ah-chan vs Yoshino. I probably pushed that a little further than I should have. Combination of wanting to prove a point and being completely drunk on Marimite got to me.

-That Sucks-

So Aoi Hana continues to move closer and closer to an eventual break-up. It's a rather scary possibility. I'll admit that as the evidence slowly begins to pile up, it's begun to make me nervous. I'm really invested into not only these characters happiness but also the relationship. I once said that I could live with a break-up because the series is really about Fumi-chan and doesn't have to rely on their romance. That is still true, but I'm finding cracks in that armor.

I will say this, I'm glad Ah-chan has been honest. In fact, one could say she's honest to a fault. Still, being able to openly admit "hey, I've been wondering, there is a chance that I may totally break your heart" is pretty big.

Fumi-chan's response was also perfect. It does well to contrast Ah-chan from Fumi's previous girlfriends. Chizu-chan didn't have the guts to break things off with Fumi. The end only came when Fumi's family forced her hand. Fumi's relationship with Yasuko ended adruptly amongst what should have been a big step forward (introducing to their family) all because Yasuko couldn't be honest about where her feelings truly lied.

One could say that the previous girlfriends Fumi's had were both cowards. Though their relationships were doomed to fail, neither could honestly look Fumi in the face and instead they both broke her heart. Ah-chan is different though. Ah-chan is being open with her doubts and fears. This should give Fumi a sense of comfort. She doesn't have to look at each day as having the potential to going all to hell.

The end of the chapter really does a great job to highlight the growth Fumi has undergone over the course of the series. This is really the main argument that can be made for breaking them up. Bookending the series with Fumi undergoing a third break up, but this time being able to easily move on instead of moving from rebound to rebound would be really nice. It'd do a great job of showing just how far the character has gone over the course of the series.

Also, I love Ah-chan's comment about effects that breaking up with Fumi-chan would lead to (saying good-bye).

"That Sucks"

Yes it would, indeed.

-Wonder when I was last here?-

What about Hourou Musuko? I've been keeping up with it as the new chapters have been rolling in. Not an easy task when it seems like Shimura is trying to make me disinterested. They had an arc based around another adult man who liked to dress in womens clothing. While she did give him his own characteristics, it just added more to the continuous problem Hourou Musuko has; it's unreasonable cast. The overwhelming cast just continues to drag the series down. Adding in another character for 5 chapters who won't ever appear again isn't exactly going to make it any easier.

On the other hand, there have been some rather controversial developments in the series. I'd say the biggest is how Shimura has been pushing Takatsuki to dressing in more feminine clothing, slowly moving away from her more masculine qualities. It's an interesting idea to toy with. I don't keep in contact with the Hourou Musuko community so I am unsure what their feelings are on it.

While Nitori has been moving more and more to continue his overall transformation, taking up a job where as his girl persona, Takatsuki has begun moving in the opposite direction. Taking up a modeling job with Anna. Doing so she experienced the female side of things. Being called 'cute' and being hit on buy passing guys. Even more interesting, she didn't seem to hate it. Chiba seems to even support this transformation.

I'm a little on Chiba on this. Sometimes a little exploration is worth it. Why set in on one train of thought without exploring the other routes. You may find something you like. Now I hope that's all this is. I'd prefer Takatsuki to continue her transformation from female to male.

I really enjoyed the most recent chapter as it gave us some insight into Anna on her continuing relationship with Nitori. It's really nice to see a more vulnerable side to her. As much as I love her cool demeanor, it's good to broaden her out a little. And to be honest, she's kind of got a good point. While the phrase 'Don't compliment other girls' sounds bad, it isn't really. Hell, I bet if the translators changed things around to 'Don't flirt with other girls' the meaning would be the same and would be agreeable too. It's also nice to note how in the same chapter Shimura uses Maho to show the extreme (not talking to girls at all) which helps make Anna's 'Don't Compliment' seem tame in comparison. Especially when you remember it was a compliment aimed at Takasuki, Nitori's previous crush. Jealousy is understandable in that case.

p.s. I've been thinking about reading Octave from beginning to end again. feels like about the right amount of time to do so.

I would never disagree with you by intent. I will try harder, as I knit my brows in concentration.

Who's deathly afraid of thunder and lightning? Um, this is a trick question, right? You know I can't think straight when you sing to me like that, and garbed in a smoking jacket whilst smoking on your pipe? I'm a goner :)

There was a clap of thunder and lightning just now that actually caused the floor to shake. Yikes.

But getting to the point, Cross Game. I totally love Aoba! because she totally loves her big sister Wakaba! "I guess I'm too lazy to climb back up into the top bunk after I get back from the bathroom at night. Besides you're nice and warm and cozy." Too sweet.

Looking at your profile, what do my eyes espy but that magical combination: "Aoi Hana." Practically an incantation for fangirl enthusiasm, no?

New Aoi Hana is out.

Guess who went to see the Dark Knight Rises midnight showing? I went to go see the complete marathon viewing with the Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. We're talking more than 7 hours of pure movie cinema. It was glorious!

Well I meant that your Tumblr is well designed. You have a very cool yet basic layout. I like how everything is centered so your eyes immediately gravitate towards them, and with nothing in the background except the clean white to focus them.

I've been using the bare basic tumblr design. I don't follow my sister on Tumblr either. Doesn't work out very well. Since she's addicted to it and I'm, well, not, more often than not my dashboard was flooded by Glee and Naruto. Not what I was interested in.

Glee... well I've been sharing your remarks for a long time. If it makes you feel any better, Brittana wasn't killed off. Actually, it's been thriving. Complete canon. They had a nice moment during the valentine's day episode and everything. Not that this fixes anything. The show is still written by hacks who have no understanding of the word 'continuity'. Characters are skins worn by whatever the plot demands of them this week's important less/genre/theme. It's a terribly written show.

Oh, so I've been gaining weight. I saw the Wii-Fit lying in the living room and said, what the hell. I started by doing a simple body test where they check my weight. The last time I checked my weight using the Wii-Fit was a few years ago, so I expected an increase. What I didn't expect was to see my Mii suddenly inflate in representation with the weight I gained. My Mii literally became fat. It was so demoralizing that I quit the game...

Getting my sister to watch anime with me wasn't easy. A lot of it comes down to compromise. I started with a few anime I knew she was interested in, Princess Tutu, Penguindrum and rewatching Madoka. The anime that I knew she didn't care for I had to gather dubbed, because she likes them better that way. I let her pick out the order we watch them in, schedule out which days for which anime, which she loved. It gave her more control and freedom.

Still Curious?

I went a couple episodes further into Hyouka, and yes, it is improving, but a lot of the same complaints still hold. The mysteries are still ridiculous. They created an ongoing mystery to center the whole series around but even that feels more mundane than intriguing

Here is Wikipedia's entry on the second episode of Hyouka:

"Mayaka Ibara is introduced, and Hōtarō solves another mystery regarding a book regularly borrowed from the library for a short amount of time, which is actually used by the Art Club for drawings. As they could not find the past anthologies from the Classic Literature Club in the library, Eru (Chitanda) is disappointed because she wants to make an anthology for the upcoming Culture Festival. Hōtarō is awakened by Eru's phone call the next day, and as he meets up with her in a café, she admits to having a confession to make."

The only conflict that drives this episode is the so called 'mystery' regarding library books. Which surprisingly takes up very little space in the episode synopsis regardless of how much the episode dedicates to it, further emphasizing how entirely pointless the endeavor.

They true plot they seem to be centering the series around involves Chitanda's Uncle who has passed away. She was close to him, and one day when she was young she asked him a question involving the 'Classics Literature Club' when he went to school. The answer he gave made her cry, and while her mother rushed to comfort her, her Uncle did not. He had a smile on his face. So Chitanda calls upon the aid of Hotaro to figure out what happened 45 years ago at the Classics Literature Club.

Ok, this time there is a bit more difficulty involved in the mystery. It's more than just a simple 'ask the person borrowing the book' situation. Yet, once again, it lacks weight. There is nothing at risk here. What's the worst that can happen? Chitanda's curiosity is unfulfilled. That isn't that big of a deal.

Ok, so Ryu tried to explain that they are in high school and the mysteries reflect that. These kids aren't detectives solving mysteries. Hell, they aren't even a Mystery club. They are just a 'Classics Club'. Then why make a mystery series at this setting? They had to know what was going on?

The only way I could see a series like this working was if you had a strong enough cast of characters. If the characters are interesting enough, it could carry the show through such mundane tasks. Sadly, these characters just don't cut it, unlike some other...

Bye Fuwa Fuwa

I finished watching the K-On! Movie. My sister wanted to see the movie so I indulged her. It's strange watching that movie. I want to hate it. I should hate it. K-On! has become a giant symbol of the age of moe that suffocates modern anime. We can't walk three steps without hitting at least one of the numerous K-On! clones. Female characters have taken center stage of anime leaving men to be nothing more than shameless self-inserts for the fans. Yet, it's so very hard to hate K-On!.

Nothing happens in this movie. There is a trip to London. They spend a quarter of the film preparing to go to London before spending another quarter actually at London. Half the movie doesn't even deal with London. There are a lot of little scenes here or there but nothing resembling a 'plot' ever appears. The entire 'conflict' of the film, using the term 'conflict' very loosely, is based around Yui and the rest of the graduating members of Ho-Kago Tea Time trying to come up with a gift for Azu-nyan. There aren't any obstacles tossed at them. It says something that I skipped the entire second season (which was twice as long as the first) and still have no troubles understanding what is going on.

But the girls are just so gosh darn cute!!! Seriously, no matter what they do, they do it with a certain special form of cuteness that is hard to ignore. They are just so moe!!! Even mundane tasks become entrancing when Yui does it.

Which leads me onto a question, what separates K-On! from Yuru Yuri? Both series are centered around a cast of high school girls who form a club that does nothing productive. The entire point is just to watch them do cute activities. Yet I enjoyed the K-On! movie and endure Yuru Yuri (it has it's occasional moment but they aren't frequent enough)

One of the elements that really separates the two is the tone. K-On! is rather simple in its concept. Sure the girls do sometimes unbelievable things (like planning a trip to london in a week off a whim) but for the most part everything is rather simple. Yuru Yuri attempts to bedazzle you with vibrant colors and 4th wall references. While breaking the 4th wall does help to set Yuru Yuri apart from the dozens of similar series, it's something that has to be done sparingly and even then doesn't always hit. It's much more calming and relaxing than the 'in your face' Yuru Yuri. Yuru Yuri you can see it built around a 4kroma script with their punchline delivery. K-On is so much more natural, it almost makes it look easy.

I guess, in the end there is only one K-On!

Strange tastes

So part of my bi-weekly anime night with Ryu (different from my anime mornings with my sister) is someone else, I'll call Proteus. While Ryu's anime night haven't always shared anime that fit my tastes, such as Tiger and Bunny, Fate/Zero and now we'll be starting Another, I've found other details to interest me. I've been using it to gauge and understand the tastes of some of my fellow anime viewers. you'd be surprised what people have tastes, or distastes about.

While watching Fate/Zero, one of my friends revealed a hatred for armor on fighters, like in Saint Seiya. There really isn't a right or wrong here, tastes are tastes. I dislike dimwits and bishounen.

But Proteus I've been having trouble figuring out. For starters, he absolutely loves Tiger and Bunny. Which continues to baffle me because the show was just about one of the dumbest infuriating anime's I've seen. The entire last arc was complete S***. Basically the only redeeming factor of the show (which isn't the adult single father main character because he acts like a 4th grader and doesn't live with his daughter so none of those attributes even count) is a rather silly Pepsi commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sD5ejwPeGA

yeah, that's about it. Real commercial, using one of their characters who in the series was advertising for Pepsi. Just enough to get a smile on your face.

On top of loving Tiger and Bunny, he is so utterly bored with Cowboy Bebop, an absolutely classic anime. he claims it's the trouble with the art style, it's too dark and muddy, yet he claims to be a sci-fi fan? Science fiction is all about the blacks, browns, and grays. Week after week he says that the episode nearly puts him to sleep. It doesn't help that he is a guy of very few works. One of his actual complaints of anime night was that I would always try to talk about the series, similar to how I discuss anime with you. Proteus doesn't like this, he'd much rather we all sit down, watch some anime, then go home. If I wanted to watch anime with no discussion, I'd just watch anime on my computer!! What's the point of watching it in a group if you're not going to discuss anything!!

At the moment I'm probably going to sit back and continue to observe him. Hopefully as we go through more series I'll get a better understanding of what he likes.

sorry, this is like the third message where I've just gone on and on about all the different anime I've been watching. Well, there have been a lot of them.

Going to talk to yourself, then? ;)

You seem to have a pretty awesome tumblr. I still have no clue what the hell I'm doing on that thing. It confuses me. My sister is addicted to it.

I want to like Tumblr. I really do. It's just so difficult for me. I find most of it goes into one of two categories. A) There doesn't exist a thriving community for what I'm looking for. A lot of Yuri goes into this. Simoun has some decent stuff. Same with Utena. But for the most part there isn't enough to get your teeth into. B) There is a community that is thriving, it just is going in a direction I don't enjoy. Great example of this would be Avengers. It's doing great. There is so much Avengers stuff on Tumblr. Sadly most of it doesn't catch my interest.

The Avengers are very sacred to me. Fangirls are... well doing what fangirls do. Lots of Yaoi. Lots of feminine interpretations. Sorry girls, but that stuff doesn't interest me. This goes especially for Thor and Loki. You can go put Yusei in a dress for all I care. Hell, I even tease about Yaoi shippings in Yu-Gi-Oh! but you don't mess with Captain America!!!

'I'm Curious!!'

My sister is watching a bunch of anime with me, so when we finished the first one I promised I'd let her 'fill in that slot'. Her choice was Hyouka.

Honestly, it's still a little early to give real judgment on the series. I've only finished two episodes. In two episodes you can get a feel for the direction the series is heading though. It's a mystery series about the most mundane mysteries I've ever heard. Hell, calling them mysteries is too much. They are more like mild inconveniences. Like why some kids keep borrowing a library book the same time every Friday. Who cares?

It doesn't help that the main character is Kyon, if he were an ass. The whole basis of the lead male is just to be the reverse Haruhi. He lives by a code of conserving energy which basically amounts to taking any action in order to be lazy. I'm talking like walking downstairs feels like too much work for this idiot. He was willing to lie in order to avoid crossing the effing street. It ends up coming off extremely selfish. More than that, I dislike the idea of anime glorifying laziness. My sister has become very slothful as of late. A character like this is not going to make things any easier on me.

In the end the only saving feature the anime has is Chitanda, the lead female who is the Haruhi to the the male lead's Kyon. Chitanda is extremely pushy and full of energy, but manages to come off like less of a bitch than Haruhi. Mostly because her plans are much more down to earth. In some ways, she is the anti-Haruhi. Haruhi was trying to do as much as she could to transform the everyday life of high school students into extraordinary adventures. Chitanda views the mysteries of everyday life as extraordinary.

Chitanda's real charming point though is all in her design. It's especially focused on her eyes. Here is a scene from the first episode that showcases her appeal well. Her enthusiasm is just infectious. It's just extremely hard to say 'no' to those eyes. One could fall in love staring into those eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkoPJMEOJOo

'There can Only Be One!'

Fate/Zero... Is such a mixed bag to me. I enjoyed it. Looking back I have fond feelings towards the series, but if I try to focus on any details the warm feelings quickly turn to rage.

Ok, I just need to state it. Fate/Zero was not made for me. It's really good at what it does. Sadly it's vision doesn't please me at all. I feel the core concept of this is Character vs Plot. Fate/Zero is a heavy, heavy plot based anime. Everything is about movement and action. There are a lot of plot twists and more than enough wrenches thrown in the characters ways to craft an entertaining story. It all came at the sacrifice of giving any of the characters anything resembling development, or a proper arc.

For an anime to have so many characters die, I was appalled to see so few given a proper conclusion. Frequently characters will killed with no regards towards their character and more just because the plot needs them to disappear now. It's just another great example for how Fate/Zero seemed to not really care about who any of these people were.

It also doesn't help that the main character doesn't really show up until 3/4's of the way into the series. In retrospect the entire first half of the series seems like more of a giant filler arc than anything else. And the end. Well, it's made for people who've seen Fate/Stay Night, and I'm not one of them...

I keep coming back to comparing the series to Mai-Hime. Both have large casts that engage in a battle royal. Both series use their first half for lots of introductions and build up for the real battles. But in the end I loved Mai-Hime (warts and all) and am frustrated by Fate/Zero. I feel this is due to Mai-Hime having better spent it's time developing its characters. Almost every character in Mai-Hime has desires, goals, conflicts, and tragedy. In contrast, even having completed the series the vast majority of the characters in Fate/Zero are more of just action figures with vague undeveloped motivations and even less developed attributes.

So, like I did not enjoy most of this anime. Then why am I playing the Fate/Stay Night visual Novel? I don't know!!!

So have you been keeping up with Glee? Last I spoke with you on the subject you were horribly burned. Then I saw on your tumblr you were posting stuff about it. Just curious. I've been watching it with my sister.

Anime Instrumentality did a really thorough post on the Kaijura concert. I am not ashamed to admit to admit my lack of knowledge of music, so sometimes it's fun hearing what the experts hear that us noobs miss.

http://blog.animeinstrumentality.net/2012/07/yuki-kajiura-and-fictionjunction-live-at-anime-expo-concert-report/