Category Archives: Franchises

January 4, 2013

Formatting Your Opinion to Fit the Masses

By omo

Joshirakunzer II

It’s the feeling of being included, of your own preferences being validated by others who share the same ideas and flavors that you choose. It’s why we seek the approval of others and sometimes it’s also why we reject others and their ideas. I think in our annual quest to hit F5 while waiting for that mysterious Momotato Daioh update which never seems to change from its heartwarming 2009-feel, it’s really the thing we’re looking for, that lost time when the our perceived world was just a tad smaller and a tad more homogeneous.

It is also why I keep watching that blasted 2ch saimoe nonsense. It’s also why I enjoy this video. I think we all can agree or disagree with 2ch’s selection to some degree, but if a top 10 (or 50) list can be a story of something, this is one uplifting story personally. It’s got even the signature 2ch “taste” to it–one that I do not personally share, but somehow I think it adds to the charm of the whole thing.

As a matter of personal compatibility, to no one’s surprise, I match pretty well with 2ch’s. The first match (Tsuritama) comes at #30, and all but 2 shows on my top 12 for 2012 are on it (as Fate/Zero and Chihayafuru are disqualified AFAIK because the poll didn’t count shows started in 2011). You can pick out trends–Horizon S2, for example, scored nowhere nearly as well as S1. And I picked that example not only because it is an easy one to spot, but it also reflects my own opinion. On the other hand, you can clearly see a bias for shows that are more recent, although that is no justification for Girls und Panzer. (Frankly, I’m not sure anything can, even if I can understand it well.)

To make it simple, here are the list ranked from bottom to top. Ones with * are in my picks for 2012.

50. Natsume Yuujincho
49. Ixion Saga
48. Tasogare Otome x Amnesia
47. Oniai
46. High School DxD
45. Black Rock Shooter TV
44. Ano Natsu de Matteru
43. BTOOOM!
42. Haiyore! Nyaruko-san!
41. Utakoi
40. Kokoro Connect
39. To-love-ru Darkness
38. Kuroko’s Basketball
37. Dog Days S2
36. Zetsuen no Tempest
35. Tonari no Kaibutsu
34. Busou Shinki
33. Ginga e Kickoff!!
32. Natsuiro Kiseki
31. Uchuu Kyoudai
30. Tsuritama*
29. Smile Precure!
28. Horizon S2
27. InuxKami SS
26. Shinsekai Yori
25. Danshikousei no Nichijou*
24. Sengoku Collection*
23. Senki Zesshou Symphogear
22. Hidamari Sketch S4
21. Accel World
20. Little Busters!
19. Jormungand
18. Oda Nobuna no Yabou
17. Yuru Yuri S2
16. Nisemonogatari*
15. Kill Me Baby
14. Another
13. Nazo no Kanojo X
12. Psycho-Pass
11. Mouretsu Pirates*
10. Sakamichi no Apollon
09. Sword Art Online
08. Joshiraku*
07. Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!
06. Saki Achiga-hen episode of side-A
05. Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita*
04. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
02. Tari Tari*
02. Hyouka*
01. Girls und Panzer*

Homework:

1. You know how people complain about how moe is ruining anime? Here is a pretty good test to see where you stand on that issue. Just how many of these anime are so-called “moe anime”? How do these internet arguments align with facts? How do you appraise the current situation? Why are some shows ranked the way they are?

1a. How many noitaminA shows are on the list? Is it dead yet? Is it drifting from its roots? Does this data support those claims? Are there any other claims one might want to make in regards to noitaminA? (How about: It’s just wasn’t very good in 2012?)

2. How do you align with 2ch’s tastes? Which blogger aligns with 2ch better than others? Does it even mean anything? How does 4chan rank to this?

3. How many of them sell well on home video? How do sales and popularity align? How does 2ch’s popularity rank and match with perceived popularity by other metrics (such as sales but also ratings, when available)?

4. JPMeyer’s theory on ethnic-specific affinity probably plays a role. It seems a straightforward case as applied to Tari Tari. But does this apply to Hyouka too? I think so.

Bonus: Clearly, Jinrui wa Suiitai Shimashita is the best comedy this year, by most metrics, not just this one. But what is the worst? This is a top 50 list so we don’t really know, but surely it cannot be Kill Me Baby?

8 comments | posted in Hyouka, Modern Visual Culture, Tari Tari

January 3, 2013

Robotic;Notes Is Google’s Ingress

By omo

What is Ingress? It’s Google’s first real video game. “Real” because it’s not their first game, just the first one that is actually a game product, not some bonus feature. For the uninitiated, it’s a game you play on your smartphones (Android ones for now)–it loads up this simple map with various landmarks, you go to these landmarks, and you can do the game stuff at these landmarks. The point is to create “fields” by creating lines between various landmarks, and the sides with the most number of people under their fields win? Something like that. The other point is to follow the chain of clues provided by the various Google Ingress social network entities and figure out the larger narrative behind the game. The game is currently in invite-only beta. You can find out more about the game here.

The Ingress world of Manhattan

There’s a pretty interesting interview that came out today related to this, where the game lead discusses his ideas behind Ingress. You can read it here. Basically, John Hanke (a bit like a SF name if I might say) describes how these new mobile games not only lift player out of the couch, but also melt them within the bigger world, outdoors. The game (and the increasingly small, portable and geo-aware devices that run the game) integrates this experience, and not isolate the player from the external environment like a bubble.

Well, you probably get what I’m trying to go with this with Robotic;Notes. IRUO plus Airi is basically what Ingress is. The Kimijima Reports are like the nonsense from Ingress’s in-game “intel” items or what you might find here or here. There isn’t an elaborate unlock mechanism–at least not the kind you expect from Robotic;Notes, just Googlers’ nerd-grade ciphers. I don’t think we’re looking at a doomsday scenario with XM and the enlightened versus the resistance  the way that Robotic;Notes is, playing up with its potential mechanical, time-traveling hijinks with solar flares.

I wonder how Chiyomaru Shikura feels about Ingress. I guess this is sort of an eventual convergence of event–inevitable given the way the existing technology, adaptation trends, user experiences and media has portrayed the new ways people use these portable electronics. People starting and working from different sectors of life and industry might arrive at a similar conclusion when working independently. Well, I think there’s still the KillBallad angle to Robotic;Notes, and that could be pretty interesting as that plot thread resolves in the second half, let alone the giant robot they’re making along with the actual conspiracy being alluded to via the robots club, Frau’s mom and Gunvarrel.

The story to Robotic;Notes is, thankfully, multifaceted enough that it is only in the past few weeks that it resembled the puzzle-gathering RL game that Ingress is. Hopefully it’ll come out of it soon. But on the other hand, Ingress has real-life applications, which you can read about in this other interview from a Google Maps team guy on the future of maps. It’s no coincidence that Google’s Field Trip is made by the same team that did Ingress. Now they just need to figure out a way to integrate Airi/Kugyuu in my phone, telling me that the Greek restaurant near me is the #1 rated place in a 500-mile radius.

 

4 comments | posted in English Language Modern Visual Fandom, Modern Visual Culture, Popular Culture, Robotics;Notes

December 24, 2012

Year in Review 2012: Hurricane Edition

By omo

I thought Tsuritama was the best TV anime this year. It turns out that we have more than fishing in common, that show and I.

It’s probably cliche to have a dramatic seaside story about fishing to conclude with a climatic storm. In real life, it’s not a cliche, especially if it wrecked things Sandy did. Hurricane Sandy itself was not particularly powerful–Japan regularly see hurricane/typhoon/whatevers of this caliber almost every year. People down in Florida see storms like this once every other year or so. What’s special is that the storm took up the eastern seaboard at around October 30th, which is quite late for a hurricane. For a point of reference, there were 2″ of snow on the ground on October 31th, 2011, on my driveway. It’s kind of weird to see a tropical storm hit this late, let alone this far up the coast. It also hit during a new mood high tide. The main thing: the US Northeast gets a storm like this once every … two decades? Certainly none this big in recorded history.

Anyway, basically I went fishing a month after Hurricane Sandy, down by the Jersey shore. Most of the good fishing spots were either closed or destroyed, so party boating was actually the best thing to do. We chatted with the captain of the boat of our choice and got the first-hand details as to how everyone with their boats dodged the storm by going around to the weak side of various islands nearby. On the way to and from the fishing grounds, we also got a very bleak, if oddly scenic, view of the devastation. It’s pretty clear that the shoreline has changed as a result of the storm. The oddly punctuating lawn furniture or marooned sailboat here and there just adds to that sense of dread, despite that most of it has already been cleaned up.

Atlantic Highlands

The weather was relatively nice for fishing; it was not totally freezing for a December day on the seas, and light rain did not fall until later in the day, sparing us from the sun. When it did drizzle, it was manageable. Instead we focused on the catches–blackfish. Or Tautogs if you’re native or a scientist. It’s not a pretty fish, nor a pretty fish to catch–certainly no match to Yuki and Natsuki’s Mahi Mahi runs, but it is complicated in its own way. If you’ve ever done bottom fishing, the blackfish is done similarly as most–using bait on a weighted rig. No need for fancy polarized glasses–I doubt you can see past 10 feet in the darkened water of the North Atlantic anyway (we actually didn’t go that far out). Making itself home among wreckage and rocky terrain, the Tautog feeds on local crustaceans, so small crabs make a good choice for bait. No–these crabs are not big enough to eat for a human, at least. Applying the bait correctly was a major aspect of a successful catch, getting the right size hook and hooking it through the right part of a piece of crab–or an whole one–is not so obvious. Streamlining the rig is also a major part, given the likelihood of losing your rig is pretty high in such environment.

There’s even a special technique to hooking. We were fishing at well-tested spots, so we were getting bites. The tough part is that Tautogs are relatively intelligent and they do not swallow on bite on contact, rather they test it using their specialized lips. Upon actually taking the bait, they chew on it using their molars, so it isn’t that easy to hook versus fish that swallow whole. On first sign of trouble the blackfish swims into the rocks, making the timing challenging. If you pull too early (or even on time) you might not get anything. If you pull too late, you’ll hook up with mother earth, or nothing at all. And you can’t really see any of this. To boil it down to “Enoshima-don” level of technique, I just counted to 3 really quick once I feel the bite. Since we’re fishing with rods, it helps to point the fishing rod down at the water so you can get the maximum pull distance, to quickly get the fish away from the stuff that’ll catch your rig at the bottom.

Winter here is blackfish season; the various fishing grounds we toured that day all had plenty of bites; at some of them we even saw really young ones. The government restricted limit was 6 per person per day, at 15 inches minimum. Unfortunately this means out of the 10 or so I caught in a 6-hour period I had to return 9! I think that might be for the best; one 5-pound blackfish go a long way. It’s a peculiar fish in that on the markets, it sells for anywhere between $8-15 a pound, but it also is a very local fish without a lot of commercial exploitation as it’s not a fish you can readily find at supermarkets. So maybe the supply and demand are both small. Anyways, it tastes pretty good, as you’d expect of a fish that eats mostly crabs and clams, without the more fibrous texture associated with fluke or flounder.

And this is where I kind of raises an eyebrow: where’s all the fish-eating love in Tsuritama? This is Japan we’re talking about, right? Okay, sure, shirasu is fish, but it’s not freshly prepped catch of the day! Okay, yeah, maybe it can be kind of morbid given the whole Haru and Haru-sis’s angle, but that would be the one weird, Nakamura-ism that I would have expected in an anime about the culture of fishing. I respect and enjoy that there’s this polite environmentalism about catching and releasing, about not eating your trade away, what have you. But that is not the reality Japan (and rest of east Asia) faces. Playing it safe is like dropping the nine tautogs I caught back into the sea. I respect that, and I wish those lucky escapees nothing but the best, so they may it end up on the hook of another angler, another day, a few inches larger than I first met them. That’s when humanity’s best intentions coincide with nature’s.

It’s just that, sometimes, nature’s intention yields to no one. I was fortunate to survive Hurricane Sandy with no loss, just power loss for a couple days and lack of internet for about a week. It was an opportunity to snuggle up at night with a handheld game. It was also an opportunity to help each out.

Up next: I also caught a dogfish. These things are vicious and a fun catch.

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Leave a comment | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Tsuritama

December 22, 2012

Year In Review 2012: A Sengoku Collection Episode Collection

By omo

Sengoku Collection is a 26-episode TV anime. Read this review for a good idea what it’s about. Actually, given I have yet to come across a Sencolle review that I disliked, you can read any review out there as long as it’s written by someone who has seen the whole thing.

The pure episodic nature of this series makes it difficult to characterize on a level where the typical anime-viewing, English-speaking public can relate to via another series–most people haven’t seen Seraphim Call or Kita E. Regardless, the nature of the show enables selective viewing where you can jump around and hit the “best” episodes without much of a loss. Here’s my list. The idea is that, yes,  you can just watch any of these episodes at your fancy with total disregard of the previous ones. I would even go farther than other people who enjoy this show and say that you can even ignore episode 1.

I tried to write this post about 3-4 times. It started this summer and it did not finish until winter. I don’t know why it took this long, but I think part of it is that there were some grand ideas in the show that I had a tough time getting a handle on, and at this point someone else would have already written about it at some point. Like this awesome write-up. So I don’t have to. It goes over not only the films Sencolle cops from, but the whole epic structure, the Greek chorus, and all that jazz.

Also, go read the staff interview, generously translated by 8c, here.

Sengoku Collection and the films it copies from

TL;DR – this guy wrote the kind of post I wanted to write, all that lead-in with < 200 words. However, the following are my own take. List, yes, the list. Bolded episodes are the ones I recommend, if you must pick and choose. But really, anything is fine. If you ask me, I’d say just watch everything; skip this list and let the show surprise you. If all else fails, click on the image above and watch the corresponding episode to the film you like.

  1. Sweet Little Devil — This episode would be nice to watch if it wasn’t the first one. As is, it’s a play on first impressions, which hopefully I have completely ruined for you by this post. Skip, but you might appreciate watching it going into the series blind.
  2. Peaceful Empress— I’m not sure why people hate on this episode (or episode 3 for that matter) because I think it’s one of the best, because it gets at the point with subtlety. I think it’s also the sort of bias that people who went into the show blind might have, because nobody knew what the show was about by this point yet. Anyways, one of my favorites.
  3. Pure Angel— This episode is great for people who like yuri, but otherwise it’s kind of dull. I enjoyed it because of the strong seiyuu bias, but also the story is kind of the Sakurasou-esqe thing you find in a lot of eastern lit (eg., Hyouka).
  4. One-eyed Dragon — There’s a follow-up to this episode, but otherwise it’s pretty okay. Definitely the first episode that changes the tone. Watch it if you like sengoku genderswap noir swap-in where a good guy is tied to a criminal gang.
  5. Sword Maiden— This is the episode that clued me in, since it plays on Bowling for Columbine. I’d recommend it just to get a sense of how silly things can get–it gets worse later. And of course, you should watch it because it is an anime about Bowling for Columbine. Com’on.
  6. Knowledge Master — I didn’t get this episode after initially watching it, but it made a nice revelation later on. It’s not a great one by itself but it builds some foundation in terms of the attitude of the generals, and it kind of deviates from the previous few. Also, great for Back to the Future fans.
  7. Refined Bard — This is probably the best overall episode in the show, hands down, because it talks about haiku all throughout the episode. The idea is how poetry transforms the lives of the people who live with it.
  8. Regent Girl — The Alice-in-Wonderland … homage, although it is more about putting imagery into visuals, the practice in making sense out of the absurd is always fun to see.
  9. Ambitious Princess I — The first episode of the first two-parter. It’s kind of so-so because the story doesn’t quite wrap up by the second part. Instead, it wraps up in the very last episode. Watch it if you plan to watch episode 25 and 26.
  10. Ambitious Princess II — See above. Rough school factions fight each other, et cetera.
  11. Brutal Maiden — If you enjoy that slinky noir stuff. Fun episode about fallen people.
  12. Dancing Blossom — This is more of a straight-up homage than most, but it is kind of fun. Nice one-shot about a night rider.
  13. Silver Hornet — Introduces Ageha, which is probably my favorite side character in this series, and the 2nd best side character.
  14. Novel Deciders — If you can handle the inane comedy. And, yes, they’re the Shinsen Gumi.
  15. Annihilate Princess — It’s a follow up to a previous episode in a way, but short of spoiling it is about a haunted house.
  16. Blade Adept — More inane comedy, but easier to follow this time.
  17. Sunshine Ruler — It’s another nice one-shot, a little touching. And yes, that “sengoku general” is Chinese, I think.
  18. Four Leaves — Great visuals (well, low-budget) in this episode, aside from the touching story. Also a quality one-shot.
  19. Vengeful Fang, IS — Second two-parter, sets up the turning point for the main plot with Nobunaga and Mitsuhide. You can skip it, but it’s a pretty good example of the Japanese murder mystery genre.
  20. Vengeful Fang, OS — See above.
  21. Cavalry Queen — Not only it’s the 2001 Space Odyssey homage, it introduces the best side character in the series, if not this year.
  22. The Splendor — Follows up on Masamune’s episode 4, with a nice ending. Only watch if you’ve seen episode 4.
  23. The Dune — Children manipulates children in a sandbox analogy, where the analogy is the reality. It’s the one that stayed with me the best.
  24. Peaceful Empress – EX — Related to Ieyasu from episode 2, but also a stand-alone media-in-media homage to an 80s french film.
  25. Marshal Princess — A warlord goes fishing, but also is related to episodes 9 and 10, as well as the final episode in a way. I’d say watch it for sanity’s sake, since it explains some things.
  26. Sengoku Collection — Helps to wrap things up, definitely worth it if you’ve seen any of the episodes that are not pure stand-alone.

Yep… I’m recommending half of the series to you. Why even bother? Just watch everything. If you just want a synopsis, there’s Wikipedia.

The other note most people left out is the seiyuu ensemble behind this show. It’s nuts. You know how some anime have a huge cast? This one has a huge cast. It’s a bunch of independent people that has little or nothing to do with each other, but there they are. I mean, Aipon had a great role in episode 7; Kugyuu and Mariya Ise were a riot in episode 23. I already mentioned Ageha. Ai Shimizu goes finishing? LOL. Ayumi Tsunematsu is great as usual in those sulky voiced roles. You get the idea.

To end this I’d like to quote my favorite anime shill:

…there were some fantastic episodes in here overall with striking and appealing animation throughout. I really enjoyed this show thoroughly and hope to explore it again some day.

And isn’t it true? And on the subject of endorsement, here is a better one:

…Sengoku Collection is a hidden gem. On the surface, it’s a story of cute girls living their lives in an ordinary fashion. And it is. Upon deeper inspection, it gets its warring states history right, and expresses it in unique ways, like turning the steed Matsukaze into a motorbike. Upon further deeper inspection, it’s a cinephile’s dream, covering every conceivable genre of fiction in the last fifty years. It’s science fiction. It’s fantasy. It’s comedy. It’s drama. It’s allegories and dreams and arthouse and mainstream all in one, and every element reinforces the other.

Perhaps more importantly are these:

You should watch Sengoku Collection! Yes, you!

I decided to include this Sencolle post as a part of my year in review because, well, I could. It also deserves the honor for the singular 2012 title that I keep bring up as an example that fulfills a lot of specific requirements. Which anime had a car chase? Sencolle. Which anime had gambling? Sencolle. Which anime had Russia? Sencolle. Which anime referenced Kafka? Sencolle. Which anime had a strategic map? Sencolle. Which anime had a hot water bottle? Sencolle. Which anime had strong female characters? Sencolle. Which anime had underboobs? Sencolle. Which anime features time travel? Sencolle. Which anime featured after school teatime? Sencolle. It is the Swiss Army Knife of anime.

Up next: Which anime had fishing? Sencolle, of course!

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5 comments | posted in Modern Visual Culture, Sengoku Collection

December 21, 2012

The Cocoon of Chuunibyou

By omo

Kumin was the best

There are a lot of different things one would and could say about “chuunibyou,” or literally translated as the 8th grade disease. In the anime adaptation of Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai, it paints a story about the pain of facing reality. But I think it’s just a story about growing up, where the subject matter of said disease is akin to a cocoon.

In fact, thematically, Haibane Renmei is the one title that comes to my mind as the closest associate to Chuu2koi. Unfortunately there is nothing as elegant and thoughtful as what 00-era masterpiece had, that could be found in Kyoto Animation’s last TV anime. On the flip side, Chuu2koi is not a dreadful inquiry about life and death, but a cheeky remembrance of something more of us can get behind–the things that occupied our playful imagination from our early days.

After all, children play; adults don’t. It’s not so much something we hold true today but it’s a stereotype of considerable heritage. We occupy ourselves without the cares of the world, and instead things that are simply otherworldly. In the case of chuunibyou, the term otherworldly is no longer a figure of speech. The connection between that we know as chuunibyou and the innate flights of fancy all of us take at various points in our lives is a nice hook, but maybe that’s not enough for some of us.

The finale to Chuu2koi felt like an all-too-earnest Japanese indie flick. I don’t think that is problematic per se but it misses the opportunity to explore in profound ways on why we dream. It could’ve gone deeper, I guess. As much as I might like to explore how Rikka’s disease is similar to someone’s imaginary friend, it just wasn’t “koi” enough for the story. Will it be the force of reality or the lifeline of romance that pushes Rikka out of her shell? Will she turn out to be a butterfly? I think some of us was cheering for that monster from Shin Sekai Yori? I am trying to not make a Mardock Scramble joke.

And that is the Achilles’s Heel to Chuu2koi. It’s like multi-classing in D&D; there are some inherent synergies but overall is not where the smart money is. In the end Rikka had some personal difficulties and Yuuta helped her to deal with them. The colorful ways these kids expressed their youthful lives was what got us interested in the show, but I don’t know if I would’ve stayed over for dinner. Or rather, it’s like eating too much candy before dinner and how that kills the appetite. Most of us were left wanting to see more Kumin or Dekomori, these adaptive changes that were not in the source material. Even the final scene upon the “Eternal Horizon,” while evocative and reminded me some of the better confessions under similar, starry circumstances, felt closer to a lovers’ double suicide than the emotional capstone that sates and empowers viewers as they walk away from the show. Like Rikka, I preferred the Dark Flame Master that carried the show, not the full-of-starch Yuta Togashi; and like their delusions, these moments of joy were equally fleeting and leaving us wanting. It was not for lack of drama, it just wasn’t as good as the stories beside it.

Maybe that is some form of satire? Just like how we don’t want to settle for the ordinary in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions? I guess we’ll just have to settle for this pedestrian TV animation.

1 comment | posted in Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!, Modern Visual Culture