I thought Kamisama no Memochou was about NEET detectives. But it was actually about gangster drama. Oh wait, it was, in fact, about Narumi…who constantly got himself into troubles.

Kamisama no Memochou initially promised to be a collection of detective stories lead by Alice, a young NEET girl who was a hikikomori and genius hacker. Her team consisted of Tetsu who was a high school drop-out with lots of illegal connections, Shosa who was a military otaku and spying device expert and Hiro who was a gigolo and talented information gatherer. Narumi, the anime’s male protagonist, was a normal high school boy with apparently no talent except having good heart. Most of the show was presented through Narumi’s point of view. The series was divided into smaller arcs covering different mystery case. Interestingly, every case would involve at least one of the main characters. I believed that the anime tried to be character-driven in addition to being mystery show.

It was not easy to review this anime. Kamisama no Memochou was a generally strong anime series with no obvious weakness. The mysteries that the NEET detectives needed to solve were moderately interesting with the exception of the final case. But the show wasn’t that great either. My opinions towards the show swung back and forth between positive and negative all the way through its twelve episodes. I thought the anime tried to be too many things at once. Kamisam no Memochou contains bits and pieces of action, drama, slice-of-life, mystery, cyberpunk and even fan service. But somehow it could not deliver any remarkable thing to the viewers. The anime could not make itself be special in any specific way. I could not find any moment in the show that made me happy I started watching it.

In my opinion, I thought that the anime paid too little attention to Alice who was the most intriguing characters of the show. Seriously, she was a frail young girl who literally lived on her bed. She was a genius hacker and hikikomori. I wanted to know more about her! I wanted to know where she came from, how she ended up at the ramen shop, why she was so reclusive and why did she become the NEET detective. So little was explored about Alice and only small part of her real ability as a detective had been shown on screen. It was sad when the anime fail to recognize its own valuable assets. In Kamisama no Memochou, the most boring and conventional characters (especially Narumi the typical good guy) got the most screen time and exploration.

I was quite curious where these people got enough money to sustain the NEET detective agency and its team who apparently had no constant income. I doubt the ramen shop would make so much money. Maybe they got some support from the Fourth’s yakuza group. The answer might be in the light novel. Kamisama no Memochou boasted high production value with fluid animation and detailed artworks. Despite its unremarkable run, I was happy that the show was able to manage a relatively poignant ending between Narumi and Ayaka.

In conclusion, Kamisama no Memochou was a generally solid anime and it had no fatal shortcomings. But the main problem of the show was that it lacked focus on what it wanted to be or deliver. It was a pity. This was one of those decent anime that made me asked myself ‘so what?’ after the show ended. Kamisama no Memochou was not a bad anime but I could not recommend it to you without hesitation either.

Rating: C+

Facts

Title: Kamisama no Memochou (aka Heaven’s Memo Pad)
Genre: mystery, drama
Released date: July 2, 2011 – September 24, 2011
Episodes: 12
Animated by: J.C. Staff

Psycho-Pass was such a fascinating show. It was dark, complex, emotional and, most importantly, thought-provoking. Here, I will give my thoughts and criticism towards this anime. Be warned that I will be discussing in depth about many major plot points of Psycho-Pass so there will be spoilers of massive scale!

The primer

Psycho-Pass set in the future where people lived in peace under the watchful eyes of Sibyl System. Everyone’s mental status and ability was quantified by psycho-pass and represented as crime coefficient. People who were at risk of committing crime were labeled latent criminal and were captured by agents from Public Safety Bureau. The story was told through the eyes of Akane Tsunemori who was newly appointed as an inspector. Other main players included Shinya Kogami who worked as Akane’s subordinate, Shogo Makishima who terrorized the peaceful city with the crime he orchestrated and Ginoza who was the senior inspector.

Shogo Makishima: the idealist, the psychopath or just a lonesome outcast?

Akane was the one showing most prominent development from a naive young woman to a full-fledged detective. And Kogami was probably the most ‘bad-ass’ character of the show. But Makishima was arguably the most fascinating. Of course, he’s the main villain and he was trying to bring the system down. I must admit that I agreed with him to a certain point especially when it came to the Sibyl System’s defects. And though I could not fully grasp all the philosophical references Makishima made, some of them did sound convincing. Nevertheless, the way he did things was quite sickening and would have cause great damage that it might not be worth doing. Makishima was probably a mixture of idealist, revolutionist, terrorist and a straight-forward psychopath. Not much was revealed about him except from Kogami’s speculation and from his ‘work’.  But Kogami gave some interesting insights about Makishima. He speculated that Makishima felt like he was an outcast from society when he learned that Sibyl could not evaluate his crime coefficient. In the end, all that could be said about him was that he was a complex character. His origin, motivation and believes were up for the viewers’ interpretation.

Do you agree with inspector Akane Tsunemori?

On the opposite side from Makishima, we had Akane. There was a reason behind her ability to maintain low level of crime coefficient in any situation or pressure. She naturally accepted the system she was in and always found the positive sides of it to hold on to. Akane was visibly disturbed by the true nature of Sibyl System but she decided against destroying it because she prioritized the peace that the system provided to the society over its moral ambiguities and imperfections. Her choice in preserving the system left bitter taste in my mouth but I could see her logic. If Sibyl were to be shut down immediately, the society would collapse and many people would be dead (we saw glimpses of this in the ‘helmet incident’). I agreed with her that change was needed but change should come gradually to minimize the casualty.

What do I think about the Sybil System?

It was revealed that the Sibyl System which monitored every people in the city and their individual stress level was actually made up of a bunch of human brains. These brains were mostly harvested from people who had some abilities that the Sibyl System could not control, some of which were criminals who could not be detected using crime coefficient. The fact that this almost perfect system was the product of human brains rather than artificial intelligence was a testament to human’s unimaginable potential. It meant that humans had potentials to do great things. Akane also believed in this judging by her saying that one day someone would ‘pull the plug’ of Sibyl and human would no longer need it to maintain peaceful society.

For me, I could not imagine living a life governed by Sibyl System. Not only did the Sibyl determine who were at high risk of committing crime, it also determined what kind of job you are fitted to do. There was no room for any kind of risk taking or trials and error action. There was no surprise in life and there was no reason to dream. Freewill became obsolete. Having you life planned by the system could reduce stress and thus, your crime coefficient remained low. But seriously, without those stressful things like freewill, dream, luck and surprises, there was no reason to live. Absolutely stress-free life is not living. Quite impressively, the anime tackled this topic by showing people who suffered from debilitating disease that was caused by prolonged stress-free living or intensive stress-reducing therapy.

The two competing themes of Psycho-Pass

It was not wrong for a show to try to deliver multiple themes or challenge the viewers in several ideas at once. In fact, many anime series had successfully done so. In Psycho-Pass, there were two principal themes that went hand in hand with each other. First, the anime provided multiple aspects of the Sibyl System and exploration of its strength and flaws. Makishima played major role in this as he constantly tried to exploit the system’s loopholes through the crimes he orchestrated. This theme came to the spotlight when the true nature of Sibyl System was revealed but it was almost entirely dropped during the last few episodes. The second theme was the crime drama part which was mostly seen in the first half of the series. Every murder case was cleverly written and staged. Addition of sci-fi elements also helped set the show aside from other crime dramas. The game of cat and mouse between Kogami and Makishima through the eyes of Akane was nothing short of mesmerizing. Plus, the show sporadically inserted interesting questions regarding justice and law enforcement to the viewers.

Both themes were very captivating and were well executed. But unfortunately, the two themes competed with each other as the anime was wrapping up. Somehow a balance was lost in the commotion. The final few episodes were focused on the showdown between Kogami and Makishima in an isolated case related to super-oats. The introduction of super-oats case interrupted the pacing of the show. The theme about Sibyl System was instantly pushed to the background. Despite the glitch in the pacing, the final few episodes did not go to waste. In terms of bringing the character arcs to a close, the anime actually ended on a high note, in my opinion. Akane found her true potential as a detective and made her own stand in the Sibyl System. Kogami ultimately followed his own instinct and his own fashion of justice despite Akane’s protest. Ginoza found his own place in the system and come to terms with his own past ordeals. And Makishima…well, he died. If you asked me whether I was satisfied with the ending of Psycho-Pass, I would say that I was. Even though the anime did not give clear conclusion on the large scale, it wrapped up the smaller parts, the character arcs in particular, really nicely.

Miscellaneous

I absolutely loved the second opening credits of this show and the song ‘Out of Control’. The animation was great and the hand-to-hand combat sequence was well choreographed and thrilling. Though I was a bit annoyed by the occasional use of electronic music, the original score was fair overall.

Conclusion: I guess I did not criticize the actual anime as much as I usually do in my reviews. I always have soft spot for sci-fi or fantasy mixed with heavy drama. Psycho-Pass was everything I could have hoped for in a sci-fi, drama and action anime. And I was fascinated by the multiple layers of social commentary and thought-provoking questions that were put into the anime. Of course, there were glitches or the time when the series threatened to fall due to its own weight. But the ultimate result was still impressive. The anime was a good brain exercise and great emotional experience. Do not let anything stop you from watching this show!

Rating: A

Facts

Title: Psycho-Pass
Genre: sci-fi, mystery, crime-drama, cyberpunk
Released date: October 11, 2012 – March 22, 2013
Episodes: 22
Animated by: Production I.G

This post has been sitting around my desktop for months. I intended to post this after I had seen the last batch of movies from 2012. I strongly expected that the movies released around the end of 2012 would make me add several more titles into my rather short list of favorite live-action movies. But alas, none actually made the cut, even those award-winning ones. So my list of favorite live-action movies remained as short as it had been 4 months ago.

Be reminded that these are the movies I like best, not the list of best movies of the year. I also did similar post for 2011, so be sure to check that out if you have not. Since this is none-anime post, I’ll keep it short. Here are my favorite movies from 2012, in no particular order.

The Cabin in the Woods

This movie had all the ominous signs usually found in bad movies before the release. But it ended up, arguably, as one of the biggest surprises of the year and definitely one of the best horror films in recent memory. Did you notice the ‘Alien’ in one of monitor screen? I did! I loved this movie for its creativity.

The Dark Knight Rises

I was happy, not simply because it was a good movie but because it miraculously met my sky-high expectation going into the cinema. The Dark Knight Rises was hardly perfect but it hit me in all the right places. It was perfect on its own term. I loved this movie for its grandeur.

Le Miserables

Let’s be honest. The movie was not that good and would not have been in this list if not for the quality of the musical numbers. Yes, I loved this movie because the music was great and part of the main theme kind of coincided with the political atmosphere around my country. Russel Crowe was a terrible singer and I was glad when he fell to his death.

Sinister

Sinister was one of those few scary movies that were actually scary. I was impressed! I loved this movie for its ability to frighten me.

The Raid: Redemption

The last thing I expected to see in my list was action movie, not to mention an Indonesian action movie. This movie kept all other elements at minimal level and put everything into action. The Raid: Redemption was a good martial art movie and a great action movie. I loved this movie for its honesty.

Cloud Atlas

It was bold enough to try to weave six stories into one movie. But it took completely different level of boldness to incorporate period drama, sci-fi elements, and eastern superstition into those stories. I loved this movie for its boldness and the fact that it reminded me of many great, classic anime.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Despite the impressively colorful list of movies above, the one movie that I chose to leave you with was very down to earth. The Perks of Being a Wallflower was just another coming of age story but this one contained three brilliantly portrayed, relatable, characters with immense charm. I loved this movie for its heart and chemistry.

That’s my list of favorite live-action movie of 2012. If you consider the list carefully, you’d probably understand why I love anime so much. Until next time!

***

‘At this moment, I know that my life is not a sad story. I’m alive!’

I am late to Kai’s party, like I usually do. But her project is interesting and I believe that timing is not a factor in this case. Discussion about why we watch anime may sound obsolete but it is always strangely relevant. I have read several opinions on this matter over the years. There are many reasons we watch anime. Some reasons are so generic that they can be applied to any form of media and thus, these reasons carry little weight. So you see, ‘Why do we watch anime?’ is never an easy question to answer. Still, I am going to try. (Warning: heavy sarcasms ahead!)

Generic (boring) reasons why anyone watches anime

‘Anime is my escape.’

Ah, yes. How familiar this answer sounds. I watch anime because it helps me escape from my chaotic real life and commitment into other worlds. But seriously, there are countless other places to escape into. Movies, TV shows, novels and games, for example, provide equal, if not more, opportunities to escape from the real world. So, this cannot be the reason why I watch anime.

‘Anime is entertaining.’

We hear this answer a lot. Is there an answer more boring than this? Of course anime is fun to watch, like millions of other things we see on the screens and outside of them. So I think this reason is ultimately meaningless without additional context.

‘Anime is full of diversity in genre and style.’

Note to anyone who thinks anime is more diverse than other media; immediately come out of that cave you are living in and start looking around. Whenever one thinks that something lacks diversity, it means that the person has stopped learning about that thing. Anime is full of diversity but it is certainly not more than other, bigger, media. So, this cannot be the reason why anyone watches anime.

‘Anime is my way of exploring foreign cultures.’

Last time I checked, Japan is just one country in East Asia and it hardly represents ‘foreign culture’ in any sense of the word. Plus, there are surely other, more reliable, ways to experience foreign culture than watching anime. This answer sounds fancy enough but completely impractical.

So you see. Giving answers from the top of your head is easy but means so little. As an anime blogger, I try to figure out exactly why I have been watching anime since before I know what anime was. Certainly, I watch anime because it’s fun and it helps me escape. But there’s much more than that. Why haven’t I fully turned to TV dramas or movies since they are much easier to find? When I think about it, I realize that the reason why I still watch anime lies within myself rather than in the anime that I watch.

Specific reasons why I watch anime

 ‘Anime is my way of retaining part of my childhood.’

Exposure to anime at certain age and conditions clearly played an important role in forming my anime watching habit. Anime made up the large part of my daily activity as a child. As I grew up and evolved, I had continually left old bits and parts of myself along the way to make room for newer, more mature, things. Nevertheless, I chose to keep anime with me. Of course, the types of anime I watched had evolved like I did. We grew up together and we changed over the years together. In this manner, anime will never be obsolete and it can also be representative of my childhood and evolution.

Anime is my ‘cloak of mystery’

I am not sure if this will make me look bad but I do need something to distinguish myself from the pack. Or more precisely, I need to retain a bit of mystery to myself. I work and live among those who are similar to me in terms of knowledge, talents and, in some cases, characters. Me and my coworkers are all nerdy; we talk in technical terms normal people would never understand and we spend hours after hours working and struggling through assignments. Anime is something completely alien to my colleagues and anime makes me look like ‘the geek’ among geeks. Anime is my magical cloak that whenever I wear it, people think they knew me less than they actually do. I like that. I like leaving part of my life in the dark. I hate being predictable and I hate being similar to people around me. Anime is not the only mysterious aspect of me but it surely is the one I use more often than others.

Final words

So, I guess those are my answers for now. Is it unique or exciting enough? I don’t know. But they are true and personal. This is not the first time someone ask me why I watch anime, nor will this be the last. The fact is that anime is not the best thing since sliced bread and it is certainly not the best subgenre of media. So there must be some special reason why we watch anime weeks after weeks. I think that my answer in this post is still far from perfect and I am sure that your answers are probably more interesting than mine.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Kai for inviting me to join this project. :)

Despite having so many youkai appearing on screen, Natsume Yuujinchou was essentially a human story. I have already talked about my thoughts on ghosts and monsters. Now I am diving into the heart of this anime; Natsume and his friends.

Everyone (and everything) has a back story

This seems to be the key message of Natsume Yuujinchou. It wasn’t just ‘don’t judge the book by its cover’. In Natsume Yuujinchou, not only that you can’t judge things on their looks, you can’t judge them on their actions, too.  Moreover, the anime occasional implied that we judge other being too much based on our own perspective without truly understanding them. With each new episode, Natsume encountered at least one new youkai. Most of the new youkai would act suspiciously while some of them were outright hostile to Natsume. But not all the hostile youkai were bad. They had back stories that lead them to do what they did. Some were desperate for help. Some were scared and abused. And most interestingly, certain youkai were simply acting according to their nature.

I think this is the problem with us humans. We like judging others but we are not even nearly qualified to do so. We can barely see pass the most superficial cover of things and are unlikely to spend time learning the ‘background’ of others. Worse, even when we learn about others’ backgrounds, we will still judge them based on our standard and norms. If there was one thing the anime kept repeating, it’s to listen with your mind opened. Natsume always listens and tried to understand. As a result, despite continuously losing names from Reiko’s book, his personal list of friends grows longer while his list of enemies grows shorter every day. But that does not mean that all youkai can be reasoned with. Understanding is not equivalent to being overly trusting. Being open-minded is not the same as letting your guard down. This is where a powerful but skeptical friend like Nyanko-sensei comes in handy.

The true power of Natsume did not come from his gifts but from his friends.

It is true that Natsume possesses great mystical power. Aside from being able to see youkai, he can also overpower them if he cares to do so. That’s why many exorcist clans always keep an eye on Natsume. But with or without his innate power, he would never have survived without his friends. As of the third season, Natsume has amassed quite impressive number of powerful supernatural friends like Nyangko-sensei, Hinoe and Misuzu. Having these ‘magical friends’ behind him, Natsume can deal with the most dangerous threats from both evil spirits and evil human sorcerers. Hinoe said it best in the final episode of the third season. She said that Natsume was weak and helpless but if he ever asked for help, she and her friends would have no choice but to answer.

And let’s not forget about Natsume’s real life friends who were equally, if not more, important to Natsume’s life. Tanuma, Taki and Natori were humans who understood Natsume’s obligation to the unseen world and his suffering. They were the ones who kept Natsume anchored to the human’s world and gave him a place in high school. But no real life friends were more important than Touko and Shigeru Fujiwara who provided Natsume the most valuable thing in anyone’s life; the place to go back to…home and family. These friends made Natsume strong, motivated and magically powerful, despite being mere human and weak.

Final words: Have you ever thought about how you came to where you are right now? Have you ever asked yourself how you achieved all you that you have achieved? Did you do it all alone? For me, writing this post made me think of the people who have been silently helping me, who have always stood in the shadows behind the curtain, whose help were gravely underappreciated. Despite my weaknesses and imperfection, I endure and each day, I move a little closer to my goal…

ps. Career update: I have secured a position as a rheumatology fellow for the next two years, starting this June. So my training continues…yay?!

Watching Natsume Yuujinchou was a pleasant experience. We all know that for a fact. But here I will talk to you about the lessons and thoughts I have picked up from my journey through several seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou. This post is only the first of the planned ‘thoughts from the Book of Friends’ post series.

Treat everything with respect because they are all around us!

Natsume Yuujinchou has confirmed what we have always been curious about. Yes, whenever we feel like we are being watched, we are really being watched! I suspect that this is one of those old tricks (in Asian countries, at least) to teach children that they should always behave wherever they visit and even when no one is visibly around. At every rock and tree, every doorway and signpost, there’s always some entity hanging about. We are merely humans, passing by, asking for shelter, comfort and peace. We should be humble and to things and places we encounter because we do not own those things and places, they don’t need us but we need them. So we should show some respect. Of course, the anime sometimes portrays youkai in such extreme ways that it is hard to believe they are real. But the core concept remains and we are living in the world full of spirits who subtly interact with us. You may think I am crazy but I believe that if we try our best to pay them respect by always minding our thoughts and actions, our lives and possibly the world would become a much better place.

How come that all youkai can see us but only few of us can see them?

Since we all agree that youkai are real, I have another question that needs answer; is it fair that most humans cannot see youkai but they can see us? Of course, it’s not fair. But let’s not jump to the conclusion so quickly. How do we know that Natsume Yuujinchou gets all the fact right? Can all youkai really see us? And even if they can, to what degree and in what manner can they see us? Is it possible that they are as blind as we are when it comes to cross-dimensional perception?

There are several possibilities but here are some that I think are more plausible. The first possibility is that they are entities with greater power than us and they subtly influence humans’ lives through phenomenon we usually describe as coincidence, natural occurring, dreams or simply the whispers in our ears. The second possibility is that they are like us, stuck in their own side of the world. What we do here also affect their world in similarly subtle way. So the strange happenings are mostly unintentional. The third possibility is the combination of the first two and the most likely. I think there are diverse groups of youkai/spirits all around us just like there are all kinds of people. Some of them can see and communicate with us and some cannot (again, very similar to human). Some are great and helpful while some maybe too dangerous to mess with. I like this last possibility the most because it is the fairest of the three. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, I can’t confirm anything except what I believe.

Conclusion: My thoughts on ghosts and monsters may seem quite over-the-top or childish for many of you. But then again, if you are anime fans, I am sure you can understand me at least partially. And of course, if you have different thoughts on this topic, feel free to share them here. My next post will probably discuss other aspect of Natsume Yuujinchou. Please stay tuned.

Ps. also read ‘Living among the spirits: do you believe in Nyanko-sensei?’ for similar stories!

Ps.(2): I have just learned that I passed the mid-term board exam that took me away from blogging last December. So…Yay!

Life can always start anew. The same goes for anime blogging…right?

2012 is coming to an end. Unfortunately, I cannot end this year of anime blogging on a high note. I have been missing in action for a while due to professional obligations. Now I am back and I feel like I should at least wrap things up before starting fresh next year. So here they are; what I want to say and share with you.

What have I been doing?

I figure I should clear this point quickly since I feel that I own my readers explanation for my brief absence. I have been studying hard for my mid-term board examination. The worst part of it all was that there’s no telling which clinical problem I was going to get in the exam. At first I tried to review all there were to study but that was impossible. I then tried to make sure that I studied all the essentials so that I wouldn’t make glaring mistakes and got myself flunk. After the exam, it was clear to me that all of my month-long struggles did not do much help. Instead, it was my own experience during work that saved me. Anyway, the most important thing is that it’s now over and I will be relatively free until the final exam arrives in June, 2013.

My favorite anime of the year

I did not watch enough titles to compile a list of favorite anime like I used to do last year. Plus, there were several anime that I haven’t posted my review yet and I’d rather not discuss them prematurely here. So I decided to just reveal my favorite title of the year. That anime was Hyouka. I knew that it was not perfect, or even properly concluded. But Hyouka touched me in the ways no other anime did this year. I almost felt that the anime ‘get’ me on so many levels. My position on this may change after I start watching more anime from my backlog. But for now, Hyouka remains my pick of the year.

Which was my most controversial and favorite post of 2012?

Without any doubt, ‘Canne’s Criteria for Identification of True Anime Fan’ was my most controversial post of 2012 and probably of all my posts to date. It was like playing with fire! Some of the best comments I have ever received were in that post and I was really happy about it. As for my favorite post of the year, it was a toss-up between ‘Life lessons from a seven-year-old girl’ and ‘Five things I learned from re-watching Princess Mononoke’. In the end, I chose ‘Life lessons’ because I thought I did satisfactory job both in providing criticism and emphasizing on the show’s overlooked merits. Writing that post was a very enjoyable experience.

Canne’s anime blog turned 5 years old…on November 4!

Yes, you heard it right. I should have done something on November 4 like I did every year. This year, I missed it completely! I was simply too distracted. So yay! Let’s celebrate! Seriously speaking, it’s been more and more difficult to keep things fresh after years of blogging. I felt that being editorial-oriented blogger started to pay off as this particular style went along nicely with the current rhythm of my life. And of course, thanks to you, this blog will continue to participate in our little anime blogging community. Oh, I also forgot to mention my 300,000 visitor milestone but that was hardly any accomplishment compared to other blogs, I supposed.

New Year resolution

Do people still talk about this? My New Year resolution can be divided into 2 categories; anime-related and non-anime related. Anime-related resolutions include clearing my anime backlog (I wanted to watch them all but the more realistic goal was probably about 50% of my backlog). I plan to post at least every 2 weeks or earlier except in May which I will have to get back to my study for final examination. I really need to participate more on other anime blogs. I have not commented anywhere for a while now. As for my non-anime resolutions, I need to finish writing my research paper soon. I have to get pass the exam in June, of course. I will try to eat more healthy food and less coffee. And lastly, I will try (emphasize on ‘try’) to be more sociable and out-going…participate in society, that kind of stuff.

Since the world was supposed to end on December 21, let’s treat every day after this like a gift! Thank you so much for sticking around. My next post will be published after New Year’s holiday. Until then!

Thank you and Happy New Year!

It’s been twenty years but love remains as fresh and sweet as I could ever hope for.

The primer: Porco was a talented pilot and was considered by most to be war hero, at least before he left the air force and became the infamous freelance bounty hunter. The film, interestingly, did not depict Porco’s most daring adventure or achievement. Instead, it focus on the aging Porco in his most difficult time as his plane was falling to pieces and he got beaten by an arrogant American pilot, Curtis. He dragged his broken plane to Milan for repair and that’s where the real story began. Basically, the movie was about Porco’s rise back to his old glorious self by coming to terms with his painful past, reinvigorating his passion as a pilot, realizing his dormant love to Gina and possibly returning to human form. Oh right, I forgot to mention that he was turned to a pig by some sort of curse.

Why it is still relevant.

To be honest, when I first watched Porco Rosso back in my school days (read: I was a total nerd), the film was immediately categorized as ‘one of those lesser, forgettable Ghibli films’, right next to Pom Poko and Only Yesterday. World War I theme did not deliver much impact to me, as well as aviation and fist fights, though I would have to admit that having a pig as the leading man was quite interesting. Even after a decade has passed, those things did not change. But watching it today, the personal stories of Porco, Gina and Fio stood out to me. And it struck me; this was a great film! This film was no Laputa or Nausicaa. It’s much smaller in scale and much more personal in nature. It’s about a wounded man looking for redemption, a wounded woman waiting for her long lost love and a girl trying to prove her own worth. At its core, Porco Rosso tackled the most basic storyline and the most universally accessible, for adults.

Who put the curse on him?

It was never clearly revealed how Porco was turned into a pig. Did someone curse him? Or was it God, or was it himself? But that wasn’t the point, of course. Porco’s piggy curse represented his past, his pain and guilt. He was living under the shadows of his dead comrades during the war. The story he told Fio was the testament to that. Despite his love, he could not get close to Gina because she was his dead friend’s husband. He was waiting for redemption and forgiveness only himself could provide. Plus, when I tried to imagine Porco in his human form as the protagonist of the movie, he didn’t look very appealing at all. Not only did the pig persona added more depth to the movie, it also made the movie more fascinating.

The familiar elements.

Two elements were usually found in Miyazaki’s films; strong-willed women and flying. Porco Rosso was no exception. In fact, this film had lots of strong-willed women and was literally filled with flying scenes. Young Fio was very talented and thanks to her devotion, Porco’s plane was repaired. In my opinion, Fio did not really have to be female. It could have been the elder Piccolo himself or some young male apprentice and that would not have affected the overall plot line. Looking from the view of someone who has watched all Ghibli films, Fio’s character seemed a bit unoriginal. I almost felt like her character also served as a signature of Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli.

Less is more.

Wise-looking people usually said that ‘less is more’. Well, it’s true! Porco Rosso ended with only vague hints of what the viewers wanted to know the most; was Porco’s curse lifted and did he confess his love to Gina? The epilogue seemed to suggest that the answer was yes and yes, respectively. Did I want to see Porco and Gina standing together, holding hands on the hotel porch? Of course yes. But I had to admit that the way this movie ended was far classier and left longer lasting impression on my mind. The vague ending also helped separate this rather down-to-earth story from other high fantasy, fairy tale-style conclusion. It meant that Porco and Gina’s lives went on even after the movie ended. This was not the film in which everyone lived happily ever after. Lives continue and everyday is a new adventure.

My impression: It’s been years since the last time I watched Porco Rosso. Watching it now, I was blown away by how romantic this anime was. Porco and Gina’s unrequited love was not new but it was brilliantly told. The music, art works and, believe it or not, the dated-looking animation only made the film even sweeter. Porco Rosso also made good use of both loud and quiet moments. The action and comedic scenes were as noisy and chaotic as you could imagine but the quiet, tranquil moments with great landscape shots and lovely melodies by Joe Hisaishi were the ones that really got to me. In conclusion, Porco Rosso might not be as significant as or regarded as highly as other Ghibli icons like the cuddly Totoro or the flying castle of Laputa. But Porco Rosso remained a great piece of anime and one of those that stood the test of time.

Rating: A

Facts

Title: Porco Rosso
Genre: action, fantasy
Released date: July 18, 1992
Running time: 94 minutes
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Animated by: Studio Ghibli

Important announcement: I am having board exam on December 21. And it is a matter of life and death for my future career. So my next update will be after the examination. I actually have many things to write about and it’s killing me not being able to release them right away.

How often did you mistake male bloggers for a female bloggers and vice versa? Without looking at their MAL profiles, how can you tell if the bloggers are female or male just by looking at their blogs? Here’s the solution!

Due to recent event in the blogsphere which I would not go into details, I became curious about how readers and fellow bloggers pictured me. More specifically, how many took me for a male blogger and how many thought I was a female blogger?

When I thought about it, every blog I read would automatically leave certain impression of the blogger’s gender on my mind. Of course, I never consciously wonder which gender the blog author was. But when I had to write comments or talked to that blogger, I just assumed that the blogger was either male or female based on my own impression. I believe we all made our own assumptions on the bloggers who do not clearly display his/her gender.

How did we get that impression of gender from each anime blog we read? This is the question I’ll try to answer in this post. The information posted here was based on my own observation and from online documents about computer-mediated communication which focus on blogs or similar platforms. To make things simple, I’ve summarized the features that might help distinguish blogs written by male and female authors into one table below.

You may have noticed by now. Most of the features listed above were similar to features that were characteristic to each gender in general modes of communication. Men often utilize resolute, confident and direct conversations including criticism. Women were more compromising and friendly. Men might have tendency to break rules while women cared more about politeness. Stuffs like that. Blog appearance also played a big role to the impression of gender as darker-colored blogs gave more masculine impression.

To support this observation, I now give you some example of anime blog post that showed typical features of male and female authors. Important note: the blogs I mention here are all brilliantly written works which I absolutely admired. I have no intension to create negative impression to these blogs.

Typical examples of anime blogs written by male authors

• Eye Sedso (example post); notice the blog appearance, post title, language and criticism
• Baka-raptor (example post); notice blog appearance and…everything
• We Remember Love (example post); notice appearance and confidence
• Ambivalence (example post); notice appearance, language, image and confidence
• Draggle’s Anime Blog (example post); notice language and screencaps used

Typical examples of anime blogs written by female authors

• Listless ink (example post); notice everything in her post and the way she responded to comments
• Anime B&B (example post); notice the language
• Oishii anime (example post); notice everything in this post
• Black Strawberry (example post); notice appearance, language and image used
• Simpleek (example post); notice appearance, self-disclosure and replies to comments

These examples are the ones that we knew instantly the gender of the bloggers. But of course, these features could be very far from accurate when used on anime blogs in general which often displayed a mixture of features from both genders. Some blogs could show extremely contrasting features to the actual gender of bloggers. Some example in this case included kluxorious or Chikorita157’s blog. Even my blog is very ambiguous for that matter.

Now for the most important part, everything written in this post was mostly for fun. I hope this post may help us get clearer picture about how we look at anime blogs. But I tell you now. Gender of anime bloggers does not and should not matter at all. The really important thing is the quality of that blog which is the work of our fellow bloggers.

I am no expert in linguistics or social science. So the content of this post maybe academically sloppy. If you have suggestions, additions or corrections, you are most welcomed to share it here. Thank you.

ps. I have been held up by the up-coming board examination and work-related stress which resulted in my slowed activity. This may last for a while but you can be assured that my passion for this blog remains strong.

Hyouka is truly an amazing show, not perfect but amazing. It utilized familiar setting but filled in that setting with interesting characters and unconventional high school-based mystery. This post is not a direct anime review but rather my reflection on Hyouka. Read on to learn how you can make your life better (like I did) using lessons from this anime.

Don’t do anything you don’t have to. What you have to do, you do quickly.

I am proud to say that this is not the case where Hyouka inspires me to live the energy-conserving life. Watching Hyouka made me realized that I had always been living that way without knowing it! Oreki Hotaro was my hero, or rather, he was me except that I wasn’t as good-looking as he was. Energy-conserving lifestyle worked extremely well when I had too many tasks at hand. If I tried to do everything, I would be totally exhausted and would probably collapse. So every time I got new assignment, I asked myself ‘Do I have to do this?’. If I didn’t really have to do it, I pushed the task down my priority list and invested my limited energy on what I really had to do instead. After I decided that I had to do something, the next question would be ‘Do I have to do this NOW?’. When the answer to those two questions were ‘yes’, I started doing it as quickly and effectively as possible.

That’s what I usually did and as a result, I often managed to get myself some free time. But of course, living like that did not come without some backlash. Often, other people had different opinion on what I had to do. And I ended up doing things that no one appreciated and skipped on things that others thought were important. But then again, if I were afraid of how others thought of me, I would end up having all my energy drained. So I guess that in the end, I am like Oreki but without Chitanda to drag me around.

Sometimes it only takes change in perspective to solve a problem.

I took this one from Chitanda. Her super energetic personality could be tiring for me but I absolutely admired her insight and ability to perceive other people’s emotions. Let me give you some example. When the Classic Club members were trying to figure out how the Furuoka Village Murder Mystery film should end, Chitanda was the one who ‘felt’ that Oreki’s ending was not compatible with the original writer’s intention. Chitanda could somehow sense others’ feelings and intentions which sometimes played vital role in solving mysteries.

In real life, changing perspective may help me understand the problem better especially the problems that involve human relations. To be more specific, changing perspective helps me understand the people involved in the problem. There were times that I tried to see things from others’ point of views and based on their contexts. When I did that, the problem I was facing was simply my own fabrication or misinterpretation.

Stop being obsessed about winning everything.

Can a person with type A personality change to type B personality as he gets older? I have no idea but it can’t be that easy. Fukube appeared easy-going but the viewers later learned that he used to be covertly competitive towards Oreki. So far, Fukube still could not best Oreki and secretly harbored jealousy. I could not be sure that he was sincere when he said that he felt much better after he gave up trying to be the best in everything he did. Well, he did keep repeating that ‘a database cannot draw any conclusion’ and always made way for Oreki. Despite my doubt for Fukube’s true position, I agree with him in that once we can stop being obsessed with being the best, we become happier…we are free.

Masterpiece is born masterpiece.

It had a lot to do with the Kanya Festival mystery and what happened in the Manga Club which I would rather not go in to details. The point was that there were several times when extremely talented people dismissed their achievements as just matters of luck. Some showed no interest or gave no special regards to their talents. These kinds of action cut like knives to the ones who tried so hard to do the same but could not. Just like what Ibara said, ‘a masterpiece is born a masterpiece’. I believed her. Some people were just born with certain gifts to achieve great things.

Nevertheless, most of the great accomplishments were not purely the result of innate gifts. What I am saying is that even if you have no gift, you can still make it, albeit with more effort. Being jealous of other people only leads to dead end.

So that’s it for now. Hyouka clearly contained other interesting things than those I mentioned above. How about you? Did you pick up something else worth talking about from Hyouka? Do not hesitate to share them here. I will post my full review of Hyouka after the show ends.

Did you notice? The four topics I wrote were related to the four members of the Classic Club; Oreki, Chitanda, Fukube and Ibara.

Warning: Feel free to adopt some of these tips for your daily life. But please do not hold me responsible if you later find your career or social life in ruin.