Category Archives: Manabi Straight

February 22, 2007

Kingdom Come

By omo

Reality may not be what we know it to be.

Look into my eyes...

In my own experience, life is history and things yet to come. We have childhood dreams as it is a function of the mode of existence that all human beings take: a linear progression of causes and effects.

The problem is in how we perceive our immediate reality. This blog entry details my revelation watching Manabi Straight episode seven from this perspective.

Ever wonder how God sees you? For an all-loving being who loves you all that he could, does he sees you for who you are, or does he sees you for how you see yourself? The super-objective observer, by some notion of Heisenberg uncertainty principle, is one that does not change the course of things by mere observation, unlike how we see things. Of course, God is not a super-objective observer; but neither is ourselves.

No, this is not about Noein; but that anime, too, share the same theme as Manabi Straight: your destiny is preordained by how you perceive your destiny. In fact, what makes Manabi, as a plot point, “stick,” is her ability to draw people into her world. It is awfully reminicent to me as to how Christians are called to bring people into God’s kingdom–to not see the world like how we see it, but how God sees it. Manabi (and crew) toiled away to bring her (and theirs) “world” into reality. They do so not with a dragon’s torque or fancy quantum computers, but through pure sweat and tears. It takes a lot of heart to be able to run that race and face the cooler, harsher “reality” that may have plagued Mei’s mind in an earlier episode.

The more down-to-earth(? LOL) description of reality is that it is a circle of mutual reaffirmation. Manabi or Mucchi may start the cycle, but for every soul they have blessed with their kindness and support, it perpetuate this cycle that Mei and Mikan blesses Manabi and Mucchi (and others). But I’m not even talking about that. I’m talking about where Manabi is mentally. She is absent minded, but that’s because the reality she sees is not just optimstic, but heaven-istic. She brings a piece of what’s good about this world to the people around her.

But that’s why UFOTable is so good! Your kingdom come, your will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Can you see the reflection of heaven in her eyes, too?

The distance between them is more than 5cm...

2 comments | posted in Manabi Straight, Modern Visual Culture

February 4, 2007

Manga Blogging Anime

By omo

I guess I should be upfront about it, so here it is: last night I joined Rah-Rah and Wildarmsheero (I’ll term him W for short) in a chat, recorded for your pleasure. I think it’s pretty fun, even if a little too fun for my taste. I listened to it too afterwards, and I think two out of every five words I said was inaudible. Maybe it’s better that way?

But we can go on and on and on about Manabi Straight. I think at this point there’s just so much that you can say, only words alone is economical enough to capture it. I know W’s been doing this comic with his friends for a while, and I know it’s a bit of a blog kind of thing, except it’s done through pictures. (Hint hint for him.)

I think the webcomic-blog format is pretty powerful, because not only images can say a lot more better, but the typical webcomic format elevates blogging into a whole new dimension. You basically invent a new world, and your mouthpieces–the characters–can do stuff that otherwise is not possible or difficult to express with words in a short span of time. Yea, people’s attention span is getting shorter every year, so I believe there’s a lot of promise there as a format for even everyday blogging. Indeed a lot of webcomics are like blogs already.

Still I think in the hands of an artisan, words are just as powerful. Nobody-hacks like myself resorts to memes to get the same across…. Which is why I said MASSUGU GO!

Plus it’s fun to say it. Only if catchy clapping music queues itself automatically when those surrounding you suddenly have no clue what’s going on and cannot find a retort…

4 comments | posted in Blogging, Manabi Straight, Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture

January 22, 2007

Manabi Style, or UFO Table Loves Me

By omo

I call it the intersection of “loli and heart.” And it’s more like this loli than that loli.

But for real, Manabi Straight is by-the-book UFOTable. In a way this is what I was expecting from Coyote Ragtime Show, but that one was “heart and cool” except it’s a lot more “heart” and UFOTable’s “cool” is a little passe and not 80s enough? We may love Mister and Angelica, but it just wasn’t Cowboy Bebop-like?

But yes, it’s signature UFOTable. If you haven’t seen Dokkoida then not only you should be ashamed of yourself, nor you know not what loli (and definitely sisucon) really is. I think the same probably can be said of the Norio piece that is Ninja Nonsense, except that was more Coyote than Manabi.

I’m an UFOTable fan. The point of this rant isn’t so much to explain why already by episode 2 (not even to mention 3) this is already blowing away all the other new shows this season, as much as to explain why I like UFOTable so. I like them mostly because, in as much as you expect something like Suzumiya Haruhi or Kyoani’s Kanon from Kyoani, I expect Manabi from UFOTable.

From an objective perspective, sure, it’s just a decent studio delivering what they promised its audience early on, even after stumbling at a few turns here and there, but it blows away all competition. It’s like a Gainax show, almost.

And like Gainax, not everything is a hit. They’ve came up short three times since Dokkoida, but it seems three times is what it takes to do a good enough job. It’s not to talk smack of Futakoi Alternative, but well, that’s a rant for another time. But I’m all about smack for Coyote!

6 comments | posted in Coyote Ragtime Show, Manabi Straight, Modern Visual Culture

January 11, 2007

Welcoming 2007 with Love, in Pieces

By omo

No, this is not a Hidamari Sketch post, but it’s partly about that.

What’s heartfelt about Hidamari Sketch and its companion & competitor Manabi Straight is the honest appeal to something much more simple. No longer are we so concerned and focused on superficial but simply on what happens. Granted, we’re served up the same stuff, but it’s a zany one-two knockout combo. While still the jury is out on both of them and if these carry long-term sustainability, I feel they’ve gotten to the stage where finally they realize how to push the puni/moe concept.

Confession: I’ve been watching Mushishi lately, trying to catch up. It started in 2005, so I’ve had a long time to do that. It’s a good way to bring in the new year, especially since some of the episodes are very seasonal :)

And no one told me it has one of the best lolitwincest episode ever! It’s very funny and touching at the same time. If it had some irony at the end it’d be almost O Henry-like. Sigh, that would be all that took to get me watching on the get go, once I knew what kind of thing Mushishi is.

PS. Watch Catblue Dynamite if you get a chance!

Leave a comment | posted in Hidamari Sketch, Manabi Straight, Modern Visual Culture, Mushishi