hontou ni

[Stripey] Legend of the legendary heroes – Light haired bishie Shion Astarl

Stripey — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:20:01 +0000

Has my love for lighted haired lolis finally breached the gender barrier?!?

You know that age of the tanuki is on the wane when instead of devoting his precious weekend to the bishoujo cast of Amagami SS, Stripey was beguiled by the charms of the light haired bishie – Shion Astarl – from the Legend of the Legendary Heroes (LH).

LH is like Rental Magica meets Chromed Shelled Regios (both very excellent productions by ZEXCS save for the lackluster ending) except it is penned with the ruthlessness of SUNRISE writers. While the intriguing plot drives me to devour the episodes with possessed frenzy, it is the characteristic ZEXCS characters that have left a deep impact on my 2D psyche, the chief perpetrator being Shion Astarl.

Watching Shion, a line from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight strikes a chord with me –

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Whenever Wife chan and I encounter a ‘near-perfect’ character in movies, we foresee 2 outcomes

1) If he’s a side character – He probably dies.

2) If he’s a main – He probably becomes the penultimate villain or sometimes the final boss.

We merely approach this from a character development point of view. The character needs to ‘grow’ somehow and if he epitomes ‘light’ (hope or righteousness) then the tale of his death/fall to darkness elicit the greatest dramatic/emotional mileage. Shion Astarl fits the 2^nd profile of such a tragic character.

A very personal (and somewhat naïve/simplistic) take on the ‘light’ and ‘darkness’ of this world is

1) ‘Darkness’ is a lot more efficient than light in achieving its goals.

2) It takes a great deal more of ‘light’ to overwhelm ‘darkness’.

Given that ‘light’ is bound by rigid principles/boundaries and ‘darkness’ embraces lawlessness as its key modus operandi, it is only mortal that agencies of darkness be employed alongside elements of light in any struggle. Think black-ops in RL or Claymores with their semi-demon blood in anime. (IMHO, only The Divine with omnipotence, omniscient and infinite resources can combat darkness without the need to tap upon the strength of darkness.)

Hence I thought it necessary for Shion to draw into his service Milan Froward though many claimed this to be the definitive start of his downfall. After all, there is no doubt that Shion can be capable of much Evil given that he has suffered much from The Cruel Teacher. He just needs a timely trigger. Yet despite the shadowy tendrils that threaten to engulf his kingship in darkness, the tanuki sees hope and strength of character. That the goodness Shion Astarl has clothed himself with thusfar (in the honourable people he has gather about him) would be his strength and guiding light even as he steadies his hands on this newfound weapon of darkness (Milan Froward).

I hope the writers of LH would avoid the clichéd path of corrupting Shion but rise to the challenge of singing the impossible ballad of his treading on the hairline path between light/darkness; flitting occasionally from one to the other but ultimately finishing on the side of the Hero-King, not Demon-King. A tall order no doubt but if this is to be ZEXCS come-back series, I expect no less from the Legend of the Legendary Heroes.

Now onward to episode 7.

[Stripey] Amagami SS starts – The secret character

Stripey — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:26:21 +0000

Apparently she goes "Nii Ni"...

Here’s a oven-fresh excerpt of an update of the current anime scene from fellow bishoujo-comrade, the Ultimate Nanoha Fan in Sg (henceforth known as UNF)…

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UNF: Hmm this season ehh.. did you like KimiKiss?

Stripey: (Save for the annoying frogs and the fact that hawt younger sisters weren’t even ‘considered’) Oh yes, very much.

UNF: Then you have to watch Amagami SS. 6 girls, 24 episodes. They complete the arc for each girl in 4 episodes and restart again.

Stripey: Oooh interesting. Any hawt imoutos?

UNF: Ahh the sister…. she’s the secret character.

Stripey: The what?

UNF: Well, in the game (Amagami), after you complete pursuing all 6 girls, you then unlock the path to ‘your’ sister arc…

Stripey: (What an ENLIGHTENED game!! Forsakes the boring old harem end for a SECRET sister route!?! Taaaaanukisssss SALUTE!!)

UNF: But the anime has only 24 epsiodes….

Stripey: An Amagami OVA is in order then!!! Now how many eps of Amagami SS did you say you already have….?

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For the sake of the Hontouni wars, I hope imouto-chan gets her very own arc. Now to dig into episode one….

Addendum: Apparently, there ARE OVAs planned but NO imouto arc…. ARRGGGHHH!! Also finally managed to put a name to imouto-san – Tachibana Miya... Hmm short haired girls aren't quite tanuki's type but hey jealous younger sisters are always love!!

[Stripey] Angel Beats! tribute – Top 10+1 light-haired lolis

Stripey — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:33:08 +0000

Light haired loli Tachibana Kanade

Much like the BakeMono inspired favourite romance tribute, I just had to bust out a light haired loli (LHL) list for our newest LHL bishoujo - Tachibana Kanade. Though she didn't topple the reigning LHL, her amazing blitzkrieg to top 3 is testimony to her charm.

Just to clarify certain terms before moving onto the list.

A) Light-haired - Used very liberally in this list. It ranges from light blue to white to grey.

B) Lolis -Include the lolicious even though they might be 5000 years old.

And here's my Angel Beats! tribute - A light-haired loli ranking with the fabulous Tachibana Kanade -

10) Hinoto (X TV)

Tanukis have a weakness for tragic lolis and even more when she's light-haired.

09) Gretel (Black Lagoon 2nd barrage)

Tanukis have a weakness for tragic lolis and even more when she's light-haired and gothloli...

08) Mochida Hinako (Myself, Yourself)

A lesser tanuki would have looked.... XD

07) Kirihara Kiraha (Kagihime Monogatari)

It could be the siscon, the imoutolicious charm or the light hair. Probably all of them.

06) Zefiris (Scrapped Princess)

Missed Zefy out in my last list... Never. Again.

05) Kazahana Mashiro (Mai HiME)

I must STRESS again.. Mashiro, tragic loli, from MAI HIME anime... not wannabe from the OTOME manga. XD

04) Primula (SHUFFLE!)

Step aside Kaede and Asa, Primula will ultimately triumph with her ageless body...

03) Tachibana Kanade (Angel Beats!)

The awesome LHL who inspired this post.

02) Emelenzia Beatrix Rudiger (Megadere)

Megadere was worth it because of E-chan...

01) Felli Loss (Chrome Shelled Regios)

You will ALWAYS be Stripey's Numba 1 LHL *face-rubs*

Special mentions to the following LHLs who almost made the list -

Ilya (Fate/Stay Night)

Yukimura Anzu (DCIISS)

Anju Maaka (Karin)

Echo (Pandora Hearts)

Byakki / Shiro (Wagaya oinari sama)

Of course I'm expecting Sora (Yosuga no Sora) to climb rapidly the charts come October. Not forgetting Togi Shiro who will be making an appearance in the Fortune Arterial anime this October too. Note that FA will be animated by ZEXCS/FEEL and it is surely no coincidence that the number 1 and 2 of this list comes from ZEXCS shows. I look forward to adding Shiro chan to this list.

Image credit : Goto-P

Edit - 31 August 2010 : I CANNOT believe I forgot one of the most memorable LHLs in animedom - Nia Teppelin. So I'm going to cheat and insert her to her rightful spot on the chart..

03a) Nia Teppelin (Gurren Lagann)

Sharing the spot with Kanade, Nia is one of the 3 reasons why TTGL is a great show. 1st being Yoko, 3rd being Darry.. I mean Simon XD