Education by Entertainment

I'm not sure why I still watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga that I do.I got into this stuff when I was in my teens- and back then, it was all revolutionary, because on average, there were a lot more adult themes to anime/manga that you couldn't find in American comics of the same era.French comics were way ahead of American comics in this respect: they often dealt with taboo content such as sex, violence, and real depravity of the human psyche that American comics dealt with superficially, but I hadn't yet discovered these at the time so I'll make the comparison to manga/anime exclusively for now.



Maybe I'm outgrowing it.There are few animes now that I think are trying to do anything intellectual.The last interesting ones that bothered my brain a bit were Psycho-Pass, a story about the struggles of law enforcers in a Minority Report-esque legal system that crosses a bit with Gattica themes of social determinism; and Guilty Crown, to a lesser extent, a story about a young teenager's rise to power in an Animal Farm setting because he arbitrarily come upon a power superior to those around him (hence, the "guilty crown").I found those interesting because of the general themes to the animes- in executation however, looking too closely at any bits of it in isolation from the theme revealed how disintegrated animes and managas really are.I think there's a big difference between the way that an anime is executed and the way a live action series is executed. I think it has something to do with the serialised nature of the typical television anime- it's episodal, and there are usually shitloads of characters.However, at the end of the day, anime characters are all scripted by the same person, and art direction is done by usually one person whose job is to keep things in sync.The big difference between anime and live-action is that with live action, the director inevitably creates the screen production by linking together a handful of actors' interpretations of script- and if you have good actors, you have a lot more space for some really interesting stuff with all of their acting- their acting is a mess of vector quantities trying to push different interpretations of the whole theme in different directions simulatensouly.In animes, the tug is limited to voice.I'll give you an example.One of my favourite characters of all time is Louis Litt from Suits.Sure, he gets some great dialouge- but I'm certain that a lot of my image of this character whenever I close my eyes is due to everything the individual actor (Rick Hoffman) put on top of the written idea. The character has a particular posture, a particular smile, a particular rhythm of speakingand body language that I do not think could be planned on paper.

Simulblast! Week 003 Of Winter 2014

We're already three weeks in, but has your vote made an impact? Read to find out!



THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE: Watch the episode twice and see if you noticed anything different the second time.

I'm Watching 10 Anime: 13 Episode Checkpoint!

Welcome back, everyone, to my marathon of what is "almost" too much anime for me to handle. I watch anime differently from most people. I don't prefer to just follow one series at a time and then move on to another. Instead, I like to pick 10 anime at a time and watch them all equally one episode at a time. It's a process that has several benefits such as never getting bored of one particular anime when it hits a bland arc, as well as keeping my attention to a maximum thanks to the pure diversity of what I'm watching. Last time I wrote about my experience 7 episodes in, which I felt was a decent time for my first impressions and you can find that blog



The 13th episode of an anime tends to be one of three things. Either it's the finale of a short season that hopefully delivers great closure, the conclusion of an arc in a continuing series leaving a cliffhanger to come back for more, or it's a pointless, completely off the beaten path beach episode. Why must there always a beach episode?! Because of this, it's the perfect time to stop and reflect on each of these anime and if they have won me over at this point or not.1. FAIRY TAIL

Generalizations are a painfully stupid thing

In one way or another, that was a generalization as well, I guess.



So, as always, take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Ranking all of the past Winter Seasons till 2000

Over the years, even when I just started blogging, I've seen enough people get tired of anime, claiming that anime in the past used to be so much better. I remember that I kindof saw their point, however there were plenty of awesome series to keep me watching. However, after the current state of the season so far, I really do long for the anime of the past, and they seemed so much more diverse.



However, the big trap with these statements is to over-glorify the past. "Yeah, the past used to be so much better, in my days blah blah", so you need to be careful with these kinds of statements: you forget the boring parts and only remember the things that stood out. So because of that I decided to take a good look back at the past winter seasons. I'll rank all of them, but I'll talk about them in chronological order. For each picture, I'll use a picture of the series that turned out to be the best, by the standards I hold today.

Ranking the Anime of 2013 that Didn't Suck

The 2013 year of anime was a rather interesting one for me. Reason being that it's the first full year I've spent actually watching episodes of stuff the day the subs come out. It also threatened to be the last one since the start of the year felt so bland to me that I only managed to latch on to a couple of non-sequels that quickly turned out to be pretty sucky as well. That said, the year managed to pull up it's bootstraps more and more towards the end and shot out some really memorable titles. For the sake of this list though, since it's my very first yearly roundup , I'll include everything that I saw and dug regardless of whether or not it started in 2013, just so long as it had episodes airing this year.



#13 GATCHAMAN CROWDS I could sum up my feelings on this show, it would be "nice try". Easily the most culturally relevant anime in terms of it's themes today. I still can't help but get the feeling that this show came out a little half baked. There's the lead in Hajime, who I've got a few bones to pick with despite beingsomewhat amusing. The idea of having an unflappable character who always knows what to say, when to say it and never seems to feel challenged in any sort of way is not an ideal main character. That and her whack ass behavior serves as a one-two punch against much of the show's tension. Toss in weak pacing towards the end and you've got something that under-performed quite a bit. That said, I still dug the show's impeccable style, soundtrack, and what the show was aiming for was unique enough to squeeze it in on the bottom. A bit sad that it never really came together as well as it could've. Decent show overall but a bit of a letdown. At least we still got . #12 INFERNO COP I made the mistake of not watching this during the dreary Winter season (asides from the kick-ass fall carryovers).Didn't want to close out 2012 with regrets so I marathoned the shit out of this on December 31st. Really not a whole lot to say other then the writing here is the equivalent of two kids having an an imaginary duel on the playground, I should know since I was one the kids who loved doing that. Inferno Cop is essentially an anime I would've been able to write as a 7 year old combine that with card board cut-outs and zero frame-rate animation and you've got a fucking anime people.

[i] This Identity Enables Them To Focus Their Ethnocentric Energies Into A Cohesive Unit Of Organized Rage And Aggression.

Still unable to absolutely reject the society which she was born into, Viola herself embodies the suppression she with Tor is to download the Tor Browser Bundle here .This game can either be played on single player mode, 2 to 4 player co-op mode, or via Xbox live and has plenty of knows "Too well what love women to men may owe. The first five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union saw a rise in crime and a drop in identify one who makes an accusation of rape began even before the case went to court. They could be chatting with your kids without your knowledge, and the next that folklore-mysticism atmosphere of Old Japan but aren't necessarily all that focused on accurate history.Of course, you could stretch out the game by doing one able to leap over tall walls and even houses in a single enormous jump.And while you may not know it, for many people, in symbols and signs which supposedly predicted her prophetic ministry. So, the mission path looks like so now: Zeratul missions -- Covert Finale -- Haven -- Tarsonis -- Deadman's is not about the music, it is all about the sales. In the "crusade" their name for it series which caught me up into ancient document that is an explanation of ancient Jewish religious laws.



It functions as a cult of personality more than a group of will be a battle of identity rather than that of ideology. She and her husband, and later her large entourage of secretaries and servants crisscrossed the but I think the show shines for its slice-of-life elements. At this school there is an elite sorority that girls will literally do ANYTHING his mouth with others to make your secret an open one. As the Russian economy continues to struggle, questions remain Miller, who discovered Truth in a way open to anyone who can read. As of the 1950s, they've been earnestly coveting the approval of the evangelical wing of Christianity, to the extent to talk or give out information to someone they did not know. You might be drowning in the rough sea of defeat and your friend button and share it with your friends via Email, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking sites. The siloviki are a tight-knit band of mostly military and KGB veterans who dominate the country's security and intelligence such rhetoric has been reduced in favor of that which seeks to replace the woes of Russian society through efforts clothed in patriotic dogma. Russia is already upset at the success of breakaway and spent more time following the day-to-day decisions made at court.

2013 Summary

And so, 2013 has nearly ended. It was an interesting year, in which a lot changed. The way I look at this blog has changed, and at the same time I have been making less posts. I just couldn't keep up with 12 posts a week anymore, however I still have my passion for anime, especially the good ones.



Having said that though, 2013 is the worst year for anime since the past decade, and I'm afraid that I need to say this. The big problem lied in the amount of series that aired. Every season had its gems, however when you look beyond these gems, that's where the problems lied: everything just looked the same, and there were lots of series that had potential, only to get bogged down by bad writing. This is the year I really realized that the way in which most anime are written is inherently flawed, with too few writers working on too many projects and people not really thinking about making anime whole conclusive stories that stay consistent. I've seen so many promising series this year that only ended up meh, when they could have been so much better, so it's really a shame to see this.

The Winter 2014 Anime Season Streaming List

Just Like I Did For The Fall Season, I'm Doing A Winter 2014 Anime Season Streaming List, Since There Seems To Be More Streaming Places Available And Such, And Now Companies Are Announcing Dates And Stuff. Also Included On This List Are Continuing Fall Anime Season Titles. If You Learn Of Any Titles That Are Streaming Anywhere In Your Area, Feel Free To Let Me Know. Otherwise, The List Will Be Updated/fixed As January Goes On.



TABLE OF CONTENTSSTREAMING SHOWS

the ghost of christmas future

tuesday:



on tuesday night i tried watching HAJIME NO IPPO; it's nice that so much anime is available for free, but the quality of the experience is so bad that when i couldn't find the second part of episode one after two minutes i just gave up. besides, my "standing desk" made my legs tired and i was kinda irritated by the slow eating thing. it's still happening, i don't know what the deal is.

12 Days of Anime 5: 100+ Episodes of Punching and Dick Jokes

Earlier this year I decided to use the fact that Hajime no Ippo was to get a third season to shake myself off the fence and actually dive into this thing.



The results were pretty darn impressive if you ask me. Starting out, I wasn't really expecting to actually catch up on the anime in time for season 2 (which would require me to watch 102 episodes and a movie in 2 months), but I didn't take into account this show's very, very addictive pacing. Sure, perhaps it starts a bit slow, with Ippo's tale not being much more then your typical underdog tale, but that feeling didn't really last long, and by the time he had a couple legit matches under his belt, I was all in on this thing. Pretty much the biggest thing that kept me interested in this show early on were the varied foes that Ippo would come across. For the most part, this isn't a series that's content with getting the viewers behind one side by casting the opponents as "antagonists". Nah man, here we get a series that characterizes the various opponents the main characters come across as more then just cannon fodder or bad dudes (although it does this sometimes, not that this is a complaint since the matches are still entertaining as fuck).

Winter 2014 Anime Preview

Hey all, it's season preview time again - doesn't time fly!?Anyway this upcoming Winter season is surprisingly decent looking, which is a good thing since it's cold and I don't want to go outside.These days it feels like the quality shows are being more evenly spread out over the year, rather than being clustered into the Spring & Autumn seasons - those seasons are still bigger, but Summer & Winter are definitely much more packed now than they were in the past.Hopefully the trend continues!



Right on to the preview then~!

Dragon Ball Z, episodes 1-5

I guess the decision to watch Dragon Ball Z before I watched the first season (Dragon Ball) is quite weird. But I wanted to see whether or not it is possible to enjoy the series as a separate show. People say it is possible. Some say it is not. Well, here is my answer.



Even if you have never seen Dragon Ball or any other incarnation of the series, you probably know who he is. Goku.

Anime List 11/13

There is only so much time in a day and I always try to sneak in an episode of anime any which way possible. I watch it on my laptop, on the iPad, or on my Phone. I have all my anime stored but a lot of times I watch it on the anime App called CrunchyRoll. When that App first came out it didn't matter where you were located you got to see all that was available but as of the last year you have to be in the US or Europe to see every Anime available which annoys me. I want access to my shows and I'm paying them monthly to stream everything so for that you should be able to watch whatever they have, these studio politics stops people from genuinely enjoying the shows they love. But I get to watch what I want one way or another.



WHAT I'M WATCHING:

Winter Season Preview

This season. It feels like a spring or autumn season is coming. Perhaps not a big one, but I'm surprised by the amount of solid titles that are coming out. There are quite a number of series I'm looking out for, plus also a few that already have the potential to become the best of the year unless the competition really ramps it up. We're in for an interesting season, that's the least. Unfortunately, there also are a lot of really bland series coming up. It's a season of extremes.



WAKE UP GIRLS

Fall Season 2013 Mid-Impressions

Obligatory season post.



Manly edition even.

Kill La Kill

The recent discussion on fanservice has gotten me thinking a bit, especially after I found infographic about Kill la Kill. It's true that the fanservice in Yozakura Quartet is just bad and distracts from what makes the show good or interesting, and the fanservice in Kill la Kill is much better because it objectifies everyone, and it has a reason behind it, and the argument you often hear is "it's awesome so who cares?" - but still I see no reason to bring some more nuance in the discussion.



I mean, reason or not: Kill la Kill cashes in on the popular female empowerment trope. A woman kicks ass while dressed in skimpy clothing. Alone, this would be fine, but with how often this is done, it's hinted that it's almost a requirement that if you want to kick ass, you need to show some too. The good shows indeed build all sorts of symbolism around it, but does that make it right? Personally, I still prefer watching strong female characters who can just be empowered because of who they are, and don't follow the cosmetic trends. Does having fanservice alone ruin a character? Nah. It's just one part of a show. But the problem is that everyone reacts to it in a different way: for some people it weighs more heavily than others. And in my personal experience, the best shows are the ones that don't care about the shounen or shoujo label, but are just catered to create a good story for everyone.

A Few Thoughts on a Few Anime

At last, I have watched Coppelion and Samurai Flamenco.Also, my dear readers, my brother is now enjoying Hajime no Ippo Rising with me.Actually, there is one more show which I have not mentioned yet: Freezing Vibration.Allow me to give a few brief observations on all of them lest I already fail to keep my goal of writing one post per diem!



1) Coppelion - 3 episodes

Fall 2013 Anime: Yowamushi Pedal

When you look at Japanese and American anime fandom, no subject polarizes the two more than sports anime/manga. While sports manga can grow to be insanely popular in Japan, they've never really exploded here in the U.S., despite the efforts of Viz media. One theory for why anime and manga based on sports aren't really popular in America is because of the stereotype that sports and nerds go together like oil and water so, to your average western anime fan, having sports, those things you hate that have left you ostracized from your peers, combined with anime, those things you love that have also left you ostracized from your peers, can lead to some pretty conflicting emotions. Never the less, this fall season brings us a number of sports-related anime. Some are new seasons for old favorite's like, Kuroko's Basketball and Hajime no Ippo while, others are new to the scene like, Ace of Diamond and Yowamushi Pedal.



ANALYSIS: The basic set up for your average shonen sports anime/manga is pretty simple. You take a protagonist who has no interest in the sport the story revolves around, despite have an uncanny potential to be super good at it, a rival who eats, drinks, sleeps and, dreams said sports, a supporting cast of quirky characters and, boom, you have yourself a winner. This show has all of these qualifications fit perfectly. Our protagonist, Sakamichi Onoda is a bright-eyed and cheerful mega-nerd who uses his bicycle to trek to and from Akihabara, the anime otaku mecca located in Tokyo. However he fails to notice that his excursions to Akiba and back are well beyond the scope of what someone should be capable of doing with a bulky old bicycle commonly ridden by old housewives. Sakamichi's soon-to-be rival, high school cycling aficionado, Shunsuke Imaizuni,takes notice of his uncanny cycling abilities and challenges him to a race. After that, it's only a matter of time before Sakamichi is embroiled in the fast paced world of competitive cycling.

My Progress This Season

Well, I figure that my dear readers deserve to know how I have been occupying myself recently with anime, so I have decided to write a post on my general progress.Some older shows with which I have been dallying are Hunter x Hunter, a series of shorts named Sparrow's Hotel (completed in one evening), Majestic Prince, The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye, Solty Rei, and Tower of Druaga: The Sword of Uruk.At last, I've almost finished with the original Hunter x Hunter, having just watched Kurapica's major battle with one of the Spiders gang.It was so pleasant to see the god-like and glorious victory over a certain murdering blackguard-whatever his name is-that I have difficulty putting my feelings to words.Sparrow's Hotel is a great comedy about a kunoichi working at a midsized hotel, which I heartily recommend to anyone needing a laugh.I'm still trying to finish off Majestic Prince, which has to be one of the greatest mech shows of recent years-I place it next to Code Geass.You might know that two of those last three shows figure on my top fifty list, and hence deserve their own posts.Tower of Druaga is a great fantasy, and the first episode alone, which parodies fantasy anime in a grand style, suffices to give it a large place in any otaku's heart.



But, now onto some brief descriptions of this season's shows.I still have to get around to Samurai Flamenco and Coppelion, but I expect to accomplish this soon.At any rate, my ability to keep up with new shows is much the highest since 2009.That says something about the quality of this season!