Began watching anime as a kid in the mid/late 90s, primarily on Toonami. Ran an anime club in college. Now watches a depressingly large amount of anime and reads manga to become temporarily distracted from the meaninglessness of life through vicarious experiences of adventure and emotion. Hurray!
Prioritizes the following for judging a work to be "good" (in no particular order): forward motion in storytelling, internal consistency in world-building and (more importantly) characters, rule of cool, rule of funny, visual presentation (or viewer engagement), and how enthusiastic the creators seemed to be about making the show. Has a soft spot for self-aware, intelligent characters and screwballs. Background music is very important, but it's not usually prioritized and can't make a bad show good (see Shattered Angels), though it can totally take a good show up a level (see Ben-To). Does not care about theme songs with respect to a show's quality.* Usually willing to try out English dubs, because when they're done right (not often), they can be so much better than the original, non-native language tracks.
Is uncomfortable not being the most critical person in the room, and therefore doesn't enjoy anything when in a situation where opinions are being compared. Compulsively plays devil's advocate in any argument (ostensibly for the sake of achieving maximum consideration of the topic), which is most likely to manifest in the nigh automatic gainsaying of any positive comments. Looks down upon the "plebs" for their inability to distinguish quality from popularity and/or mass-appeal, and is thus an insufferable hipster who can begin to dislike even former favorites as it becomes increasingly evident that they might be "popular." Stubbornly believes there exists something like objective quality, beyond mere subjective taste. (Haha, what a moron!)
Nice to meet 'cha!
*But for the record, here are the best theme songs:
"Tabi no Tochuu" (Spice and Wolf OP)
"Lilium" (Elfen Lied OP)
"Daytime Moon" (Outlaw Star ED 1)
"Waiting for the Rain" (The Asterisk Wars ED)
Honorable Mentions: anything not already mentioned that's by Akino Arai
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All Comments (41) Comments
That absolutely does not surprise me about Laura Bailey, lol. When she's doing her sweet voice, she's super distinct. I'm bad with picking out voice actors, but even I noticed it was her when I was playing Zero Escape.
IT'S SO GOOD
SO. GOOD.
GLHF with Slayers.
On the topic of forum avatars, I think it's a fun to discuss them and what makes people pick the ones they do. I actually told a dude here he was okay with me JUST because he used a Tylor avatar from Musekinin Kanchou Tylor. I think it's always nice when people acknowledge stuff like that.
And yes, you should watch Slayers. I am telling you to do so and that is reason enough. You can only really appreciate it or not appreciate it if you've seen it all the way through.
Yeah, Ghaleon is probably my favorite game villain. I usually always use him as my forum avatar no matter which forum I'm on for like the last 10 years. Occasionally I'll use these...
or or
Depends on my mood I guess? But Ghaleon is solid. You're the first person to comment on it by the way. Thanks for noticing.
And dude, Mawaru Pendguindrum is a lot of things, but quirky feels a liiiiiiiitle light xD. I'm still enjoying it though! Can't wait to see how they end it.
Yep, that Kamisama Dolls #7 thread was a mess. I loved how ambiguous that episode was, open for interpretation. Too bad everyone there was treating it like their own personal crusade against other points of view. :/
Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate that :) I'm glad at least one person agrees with me. ^^
Kyuubey's usage of entropy was something that needed justifying within the framework of the story as, like you said, it came out of left field. The issue is that everything in Madoka is based on that one central fact, and because of that it needs to be explained in a manner that fits with the narrative.
The thing that annoys me is the fact that the writers introduced the concept but then did nothing with it as they fell back on the "it's magic so it doesn't need explaining" ideaology, and that's borne out by the time travel, the rationale for how powerful Madoka is, and the reason why only girls of a certain age can become Puella Magi (which is actually pretty sexist now that I think about it).
The usage of many worlds actually has some basis in scientific logic, but the implementation of it opens up a huge can of worms as, according to the theory, there are worlds where Madoka never becomes a Puella Magi, worlds where she never exists in the first place, worlds where Kyuubey doesn't exist, etc. It's the omission of these that stands out, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The rationale for Madoka's power doesn't work unless the story relies solely on magical realism as there's no logical explanation given for the transferrence of power from the alternate versions of herself.
The truth is, I would have been far happier if they'd provided some psuedo-scientific reason for that rather than no explanation at all. Using real world science doesn't automatically mean one has to stick to real world rules. That only really applies in the absence of any further expansion on the base concept, and that's the reason why I was far happier with the explanations in Steins;Gate than I was with Madoka. S;G had plenty of hokum mixed in with real world physics, but it applied those concepts in a manner that worked with the story. Madoka could have done the same, and in all honesty all it needs are a few sentences here and there to convince the viewer that real world rules don't apply.
Which brings us to Homura.
While there are alternate version of Madoka, Homura is a singular existence in space-time. She's the pinch in the hourglass, and like Madoka, she only makes her wish once. The thing is, absorbing the power of multiple versions of yourself will never equate to being a nexus in space-time (i.e. there's only one of you in the multiverse), no matter how much power you garner from negative emotions. The irony is that while Madoka experiences some pain and grief, nobody actually knows how many times Homura has tried to save Madoka and failed, and that's a pretty big hole right there. If we ignore all of the "science" and focus only on the power of negative emotions, who then is more powerful?
Anyway, I still gave it an 8 because it was a bold effort at turning the mahou shoujo genre into something more than sugary sweet entertainment for little girls who still like pink.
As for Code Geass, contrary to what you think, Lelouch isn't actually trusting at all. He's cold, calculating, and the only people he actually does trust are his friend and his sister. Idealism isn't his motivation either. It's revenge against Brittania for the murder of his mother and the psychological damage done to his sister.
Yes, he's a little naive when dealing with people on a personal level, but I'm not talking about those occasions. My point is that when he assumes the mantle of Zero he's supposed to be a master strategist and expert general, but what kind of tactician doesn't have multiple back up plans already in place - just in case? There are far too many occasions where he only has one plan that relies on the usage of his geass in order to succeed, and while there's nothing wrong with that, there's never anyything to fall back on in case things don't go the way he wants them to.
Now one could attribute this to his arrogance, but even the most self centred general learns after the first time they get caught by surprise.
As for C.C., he doesn't trust her as far as he could throw her for the majority of the series, yet he never once asks about his geass going out of control.
The problem with shows like CG and Madoka is that people like them so much that they begin to view them through rose tinted lenses. Lelouch isn't really naive and trusting, but for some reason people seem to think that he is when there's no basis for that perception in the story. Yes, he gets betrayed, but if he was any kind of general he would have expected someone to betray him at some point and would have put as many contigencies in place to counter as many of the possible outcomes as he could - and that includes the "unlikely" scenarios of being betrayed by his best friend or his sister.
For a character like Lelouch, not thinking about things like betrayal, back up plans, contingencies, etc, is so far out of character that it kills the suspension of disbelief.
As much as I hate to say it (because I don't like singing his praises), Yagami Light is actually a better strategist and tactician than Lelouch. The writers of CG could have made a much better character if they'd actually read The Art Of War, or any other treatise on being a general or tactician.
Madoka didn't do that.
As for Code Geass, for someone who's supposed to be a chess master, tactician and superior strategist, Lelouch gets surprised by an awful lot of things. That and it's difficult to believe that someone as distrusting as he is didn't ask about the possibility of his power going out of control, or the downsides to using a geass.
There's more, but that's one of the bigger flaws.