I’ll say it again: this movie is the best thing that has ever came of Studio Ghibli.

I say this for several reasons, but for a film that I’ve watched like a dozen times, it’s pretty amazing that I am still getting more out of it today, perhaps as much as I did years ago when I first laid eyes on it.

I mean, it captures so well a certain sort of Asian upbringing. Complete with idealized rebellion against the machine and exaggerated flirtation with future aspiration and kickstarting your dreams. It’s like what every Tiger Mom wishes for once they’ve leveled up to a certain level. How do you become an artisan? Or more importantly, how do you convince your parents about it?

That joke aside, another thing  that got me was during the entire time I was like “this girl is just like some kids on Twitter!” and the way they checkout-card stalk each other is like a low-tech cyberstalking. And Concrete Road–us being privy to an in-joke like that is miraculous script-writing. And then there was the sweet flirting and the usual nonsense. Then it came the low-tech version of NaNoRiMo. In a way I appreciate Shizuku’s no-nonsense approach. No fancy websites tweeting wordcounts, and she’s writing to test herself. Which is reason as any to burn a couple months away. Armed with a pencil and a pile of paper, she does something so many older, more resourceful people have failed.

Now that joke aside, I think all that is just to attest to the strange timelessness of a teenager’s malaise, and how things may be not so different in 2011 attests to Whisper’s gimmick-free look and its powerful narrative. It’s the best Ghibli film.

The fourth challenge is a part of an end-of-year festivity among some anime bloggers.  You can find out more about the Ghibli theatrical road show from GKIDS.

How many 2011 anime do you still remember 6 months later? I probably won’t be remembering Mashiro Iro Symphony at all, until the next time we have a show that seems remarkably similar to, say, Hoshizora e Kakeru Hashi? It happens like every half a year. There’s a rhythm in which prior shows gets pitched against newer shows, serving to a similar audience but with its own creative twist. I mean I still don’t get why people think Mashiro Iro is better, to me it’s marginally better as an iterative production but nothing drastic.

[Must fight urge to make fun of Mashiro Ero Symphony]

But at the same time, there are shows that disrupt that rhythm. Madoka anyone? I think that show will stand against the test of time. Much better than, say, Shana Final, at least. Ugh. Would this franchise just kill itself already?

The way our collective memory works is tricky. After all somebody out there still likes Shana. I assume this is why they keep on making that. But can I say the same thing about, say, OreTsuba? That show definitely disrupted something fierce but I don’t think people liked it. It isn’t a product that hinged on creatively disrupting known qualities like genre conventions or expectations. OreTsuba is serious business. In fact it is probably my most favorite non-linear narrative in the TV anime format this year.

In light of that, to take a slightly different approach, maybe the test of time is like, whichever show that you can think about fondly after 6 months later. The collective memory is not forgetful enough to totally forget about things, let alone things the collective memory doesn’t want to remember. I mean there was this anime about a Moon Princess that I sorta liked. And speaking of Moon Princesses, there’s one on air now that has a tie-in to yet another anime that the collective memory doesn’t quite want to remember either, let alone the one not-on-the-air. But I suppose remembering one by seeing it now is how this game works.

Unfortunately for me I think about a lot of shows fondly; partly why I have seen them in the first place, you know?

But I do know I don’t think of Nichijou fondly; it’s more interesting as a meme factory. I think that is probably how a lot of people approach the anime version of Dantalian and Gosick–not as petri dishes for jokes but as character factory. I mean I think those two anime are pretty blatant example of loli pandering. I guess some people just get off on it. It’s the sort of anime that when you think back, they are pretty unremarkable besides their protagonists, and not for what they did but more for who they are even before you get through the first episode.

Which is kind of funny thing to consider for a year with Ro-kyu-Bu anime. By the way, that anime is totally just a normal sports drama. I like to watch one once in a while, and 69Bu scratched that itch–nothing more. And it’s already a lot–development-driven anime with a fairly tight focus on what actually happens. I suppose you can use it as a joke too. Well, okay, there’s some major seiyuu pandering going on there too. I totally bought their vocal album on that ground alone. It’s horrible.

Oh, right, Nichijou–I actually think it’s a pretty good anime. It just doesn’t pander to otaku at all, and while it can be funny it is kind of lame. By the way all 2011 anime that had sharks in it were great. I LOL’d. It is Shark Week all year long here. It helps when My Meat Chunk Can’t Be This Cute. Oh,  yeah, those OreImo True End episodes are 2011 too, right?

Aside: I could have swore that Lotte no Omocha reminds me of Nene. I think the reason is obvious but I don’t know if there are enough people watching and looking forward to Astarotte’s Toy in this fashion. I don’t think it is a good thing when the Gundam 00 movie reminded me of Indiana Jones #4. I guess it’s kind of a 2010 sort of thing too.

Lastly: Is this why when Guilty Crown relates to Code Geass, people react accordingly? Are we just puppets of our last season’s impression for this season’s new offering? Is Shu a tool? (Yes.) Are there any sharks? (No.)

Sharks would have drastically improved the show and Gai’s chances at winning.

2011 is a major year for me personally, some life-changing turning points… To you, it just means I have less free time than ever to do this stuff. Instead of writing 12 blog posts about the year in retrospect, I will blow my holiday vacation, buzz and tireless patience for large amount of moving traffic (vehicular or otherwise) in the cold for a personal challenge:

Twelve Ghibli theatrical screenings. 35 millimeter. 12/16 to 1/12.

I mean I don’t even know this “Twelve days of Christmas” thing. It is suppose to count up from 12/25 and not count down from 12/13, right? This way I kinda combine both. Sorry Shawn, but that $100 ROD Blu-ray box set is not worth as much as $100 in movie tickets for this fantastic opportunity, courtesy of the IFC Center and GKIDS.

I said 12 theatrical screenings because I’m not sure I’ll hit 12 different films. For sure I will try for Totoro, Kiki, Porco, Whisper, Ocean Waves, Nausicaa, Pompoko, and Only Yesterday. Maybe I will try for My Neighbor Yamada. I don’t know, I’ll play it by ear.

I remember someone said that the otaku is ultimately about exploiting nostalgia. I think I can see that in the case of the ideal otaku–not the western version of the term, but the Japanese salaryman who actually can afford owing a collection of anime on Blu-ray–where there is some childish fascination in which has grown into a consuming flame, tempered by the wall of paper-mache made up of not fiber, but societal expectations, pride, wishes of others, fear, and a sense of self. I think you can’t get more memory-trip than Ghibli; it’s the ultimate core of modern otakuism. I mean you can trace moe all the way to Nausicaa (and further back), amirite?

In light of that, I think I’ll write a few posts after all.

Summer is on its last legs. I find all this all too depressing; where did my August/September go? Where are my summertime memories for 2011? Looking back I think I kind of want to redo this year. There were a lot of opportunities that I could have capitalized on better, but all in all it wasn’t so bad that it leaves me with a sour taste in the mouth.

The strange cloud in my mind this morning is punctuated by this picture showing up on my feed.

I mean, it’s only meaningful because I miss watching the, er, bodacious little kid and her rag-tag gang of think-alikes. There’s a lot of stuff going on in my life right now but when that brisk weather hits the northeast it feels like some biological switch gets flipped a certain way, I go automatic into nostalgia mode regardless of what’s happening. So seeing that loli-face banner was almost timely.

I think this is why I envy not the gorgeous west coast weather at all. I want my four seasons.

It’s times like this that I thank the heavens and what’s on earth that enable my anime habit. I always kind of pride myself on at least being able to watch a good chunk of what is out there every season. To do that takes a lot of time, which basically means giving up my reading and gaming time, in the past 3 seasons. There were a glut of anime that just appealed to me. And when that spare time decreases (for whatever reason), there’s just not much left to give but to watch less. I have always resigned to the fact that the circumstances change, like the seasons, and invariably there would be bumps and mismatches in the rotating schedules of “how many shows I can follow at every given week” versus “how many shows I want to watch at every given week.” And so when I “drop” a show, it is often no fault of the show; it’s all on me.

Looking back at my old blog posts, I too find that often times it is because I really don’t want to write about something that doesn’t leave me with stuff to think about–I literally have nothing to write home about for the majority of anime that I end up watching. Plus a couple shows that are just challenging to write about, so I dare not. And that is not a fair litmus test of these shows and more of my inability and lack of will to write about them. It’s pretty clear that I prize anime first, blogging and analysis second. Or rather, they’re just natural extension of someone who is thinking about them and is extroverted enough to publish his soiled laundry.

It’s in tough or uncertain times that, like Manabi, you hold on to some precious concept that found a home and developed roots within your soul, that you rely on to get through those times. Manabi Straight’s story, to me, is still the standing example, in its gradient-hair glory, of the best stuff on earth. I just want to get that off my chest.