There are no antagonists within the main cast, only protagonists with different motivations, taking different paths to become legends in their own right. There are no stock worlds, only Star Systems carefully molded to the Author’s needs. Yet just when you think you know what is going to happen next thanks to the detailed foreshadowing, the plot tosses a wench at you to spin it in a somewhat different yet completely logical direction that you should have seen coming episodes ago. Character, setting, and story, this is when you know the series succeeded.

But that’s not where Yoshiki Tanaka, author of the original novels, truly shines. No, it’s the themes of the show, the unbiased side-by-side comparisons of ideals and morals between the Democratic Alliance and the Autocratic Empire, that allows LOGH is shine brightly even from amongst the best. This is where the series’ originality and profound depth comes from: the conflict of ideals that is not only given balance in presentation but also expanded to epic proportions by exemplifying almost every kind of mistake made by man to date.

If any anime truly deserves a permanent spot on the MAL top 10 list, LOGH is it, even if it has a few critical flaws (which I might get to later in another post). I think anyone who has a taste for exploration of the intellectual, philosophical, and especially in tickling morality, would greatly appreciate this epic story and pile lavish praises upon it, as many have done so like here, here, and here. It may have been my biggest undertaking as an anime fan with its 110 OVA episodes of 28 minutes each (as opposed to the normal 21 minute TV episodes), but many of its 3–6 episode subarcs had given me more to thoroughly savor and enjoy than entire full-season series. Don’t be fooled by the length either, cause this show has virtually no filler, and even a single episode skipped can leave one bewildered on a later event.

As one review has noted, it’s very similar to say, Romance of the Three Kingdoms in space: politics, diplomacy, strategy, governance, tactics, morals, we have it all. Mind, LOGH still isn’t quite as good as ROTK due to its lacking in details, but for a Chinese person to compare any warring-states opera to ROTK is of the highest praise.

The central theme of LOGH is a political one and the author doesn’t hide it for a moment: Is Democratic (Republican!) truly better than Autocratic? But instead of debating this like a couple of propaganda-hailing politicians or Gundam pilots in the midst of a climatic battle, LOGH lets the audience be the judge as it portrays both the Empire and the Republic’s point of view from the rulers’ and commanders’ standpoint. This is a part that I really loved, that while LOGH can be very dramatic at times, it sought to portray intellectually rather than emotionally, handing the information to the audience and letting them decide on whom to attach their beliefs to. As a result, it’s one of the few morality-tickling series where ideals dont’t come across as being forced upon the viewer, and the various characters were given its fair assessment from the beginning, rather than given the protagonist portrayal and then redeeming the antagonist which is the common trend of stories today. Of course the cost of this was that the characters were mostly pre-developed with relatively little room for change; they’ll interact, grow, and develop bonds, but their worldly views have more or less settled.

Some might point out that LOGH screentime veers towards the Empire’s side more. I think this is a fair handicap that they gave to the Imperials, the side that’s always ostracized by popular culture. After all, when we speak of autocracy the figures that come to mind are people like Hitler, Stalin, and Caesar, not Charlemagne and Tang Taizong. So LOGH does have to level the playing field first before giving a fair presentation.

In the meantime, LOGH scatters both a huge cast and a chosen group of main characters throughout its philosophical spectrum, and bring them together slowly into the spotlight while entire worlds are conquered and retaken again as schemes unfold and bravery foils, while soldiers are killed in the millions onboard thousands of starships to the backdrop of classical orchestral music, and while empires that spanned centuries are toppled and rebuilt again… all of this within the span of under six years in the series timeline. The Legend of the Galactic Heroes may seem a really cheesy name, but it describes the show with absolute perfection, for these legendary characters truly live in the most interesting times. The epic scale of the story, spanning across not just star systems but entire constellations, only made it all the more obvious just how profoundly significant their period of time really is, and how important they are to make it so.

Humans don’t fight for principles or philosophy. They fight for the person who embodies their principles and philosophy. They don’t fight for revolutions, they fight for the revolutionary.

But in the end, as Hilda mentioned, it’s Annerose von Grünewald who is the true hero of the age. If she didn’t bear ten years of suffering for her little brother, none of this would have been possible.

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My personal favoritism however, still goes to the Empire. This is partially because I’m inherently against the whole ‘Democracy is superior’ viewpoint, as I firmly believe that Republics are a “low risk, low gain” form of government and is far inferior to Enlightened Dictatorship, which is pretty much what Reinhard’s reign is. Everyone knows that even a bad/corrupt Democracy is far better than a bad Dictatorship, but what about a good Democracy versus a good Dictatorship? One look at how drastically and quickly Reinhard can turn society around speaks dozens. Republican governments can never get things done that quickly, if at all. They would take years, if not decades…

The other reason is that despite the fact Reinhard is the more ‘romantic fairytale’ character, with his loyal best-friend and the single-minded goal of rescuing his dear older sister, he also has a far grayer perspective regarding the world and is more open-minded than his opponent — the idealistic and lazy Yang Wen-li. Although he’s laid back, Yang can be a real square in his ideals. However he does make a great deal of sense on one thing:

Only the people have the rights to bring harm upon themselves…When tyrants are elected, the people are responsible for their choices. The problem with an autocracy is that the people can blame others for their own failure. Compared to this mistake, the proper management of 100 benevolent Emperors is insignificant.

But is that really so? Even in modern Republics, don’t the people still blame their elected leaders rather than themselves? Even if they lied, it was the people who trusted them. Nevertheless, Yang Wen-li also said:

People may need societies, but they don’t necessarily need ‘nations’

In essence, while Reinhard’s ideals are of the greatest boon to society, Yang’s beliefs are more important to the individual. So it all comes down to what’s more important — the chicken or the egg?

We may never know.

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I vote for society though, being the Imperialist that I am. Actually not really, I’m just fascinated by the romanticized concept of Enlightened Monarchs. Julian’s proposal of a Constitutional Monarchy is still my favorite way to go.

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Whatever, my favorite character is still Neidhardt Müller, as that guy ought to be casting Storm of Loyalty from his super-star destroyer Percival . Mittermeyer come second by just an inch.

And I want to see the Legends of the Galactic Heroes VII game translated at some point:

And despite how quotable this series is (in a good, none meme-spam way), this is still my most memorable screenshot.

Kaiser Reinhard von Lohengramm, not only are you the most GAR ruler since Gustavus Adolphus, you also broke my MOE goggles during this scene.

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Next on my backlog is Shugo Chara, talk about change of atmosphere.

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Hey look it’s chartfag’s poster for the 437th time!

As usual, every episodic blogger in the world already rushed out to take their stab at rating each and every show. I’m not going to waste my time over that, but I do have some thoughts of my own on some of the series. My overall thoughts on the season are: looks awesome, but in need of yuri (especially since Railgun is finishing). Also, there are sure a lot of exclamation marks.

Here’s the short version. Entries within each subcategory is ordered from most anticipated to least. I think I have like… the strangest list.

Definites: Angel Beats!, Hetalia Axis Powers, K-ON!, Da Capo Ext.
Probables: Working!, Kaichou wa Maid-sama!, Senko no Night Raid
Taking Peeks: Arakawa Under the Bridge, Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru,  Hakuouki, Mayoi Neko Overrun, B Gata H Kei
Movie: Unlimited Blade Works, Nanoha the Movie 1st
OVAs: Nodame Cantabile OAD, Gundam Unicorn, Black Rock Shooter

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Definite Follows

Angel Beats! [Trailer]
Production: Na-Ga (Key char-design) + Maeda Jun (Key storyboarding) + P.A.Works (True Tears) + Aniplex (Honey & Clover) = Awesome
Synopsis: In a world after death, angels fight for their fate and their future. Yuri, the leader of the Shinda Sekai Sensen, rebels against the god who des­tined her to have an unrea­son­able life. On the oth­er­hand, Ten­shi, the chair­per­son of the stu­dent coun­cil for the world after death, bat­tles against the SSS mem­bers. SSS mem­bers uti­lize armed weaponry to bat­tle it out against the angels har­ness­ing super­nat­ural powers.
Thoughts: Combine KEY’s top-tier drama with the philosophical surrealism of discussing life after death, then add in some gangwars action that’ll come out like some moeified version of Baccano!: this is definitely my most anticipated show of the season. Besides, since Kyoani won’t make my Little Busters! anime, this’ll be the next best thing, as both are KEY works with the same art style and many similar concepts. Lastly, that trailer is godly, and I want the BGMs (which has the Shinji Orito/Maeda Jun team written all over it) already.

Hetalia Axis Powers Third Season
Production: Studio DEEN
Synopsis: The continuation of the long-running series of shorts about world countries as personified characters, living through strange moments in world history.
Thoughts: This parody of international culture, politics, and history is absolutely golden comedy. What surprises me even more is the fact that it managed to stay funny for so long, unlike so many other pure parody/comedy series we’ve even. I look forward to more of my favorite characters: Belarus x Russia, England, Germany, Switzerland x Lichtenstein, and hopefully more Holy Roman Empire x Ita-chan.

K-ON! 2
Production: Kyoto Animation speaks for itself.
Synopsis: The continuation of the high school comedy about four (five) girls who revive the school’s abandoned light music club.
Thoughts: Not much to it — I enjoy another dosage of Fuwa Fuwa Time.

Da Capo Ext.
Production: Feel, directed by Hideki Okamoto, same as the first two seasons.
Synopsis: The continuation of the Da Capo series, as Yoshiyuki, the ‘grandson’ of Sakura, is caught in the center of the changes brought to Hatsunejima island by the magical sakura tree.
Thoughts: I watched all the DCs. DC2 first season was disastrous, but DC2SS had one of the best drama I’ve ever seen, with three climatic episodes back-to-back which completely wrecked me. But DC2SS was mostly drama and not much romance, so I’m quite interested in where this goes. Picking up from DC2SS, I expect some resolution to the love triangle that formed between Yoshiyuki and the Asakura sisters.

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Probable Keepers

Working! [Trailer]
Production: A-1 Pictures, directed by Yoshimasa Hiraike
Synopsis: At a family restaurant named “Wagnaria” in Hokkaido, Sota works part-time there among the restaurant’s high-spirited and strange staff.
Thoughts: It’s impossible to predict how well a 4koma adaptation will go, especially when the director has no experience in it. But apparently we have family restaurant shenanigans with a dysfunctional staff, a strange set of house rules, and a waitress with a violent case of Androphobia (fear of men)? I expect Kiminozo’s Ayumayu style lulz.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama! [Trailer]
Production: J.C.Staff
Synopsis: A romantic comedy centered on the student council head Misaki Ayuzawa, who despises the slovenly male dominated population of her previously all-boys school. However, Misaki’s most handsome schoolmate discovers her secret, that she works after school at a maid cafe.
Thoughts: I’ve already filed my complaint that Kaichou is a case of ‘smut without the smut’ given how slow it approached character and relationship development. Thus, this is probably going to come out like Special A version 2, except Usui x Ayuzawa is so much cuter together. My biggest problem with the anime right now is the choice of art style J.C. Staff picked. The manga uses intense but cool colors, with high saturation but low lightness to emphasize the color contrast between its sharp lineart. The anime however both rounded the lineart for more Moe appearance and switched to a much brighter color pallette, which gives it an almost garish look.

Senko no Night Raid [Trailer]
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Synopsis: In 1931, the Imperial Japanese Army is dispatched to mainland China, due to the recent Japanese wars. In shanghai, a cosmopolitan city of intrigue, there exists a special military spy organization, “Sakurai Kikan”, that has been buried in history.
Thoughts: The last show like this was Zipang, which did properly reflect the Imperialistic mistakes Japan made during the war but greatly downplayed the civil oppression within occupied territory: very symbolic of how Japan admits their war of aggression but dispute the war crimes carried out by their military. The nature of this show means it’s going to trigger some historical/political landmines. I’m likely to rage at this show, but I have to watch it first before I rage, otherwise I’d just be a hypocrite. It’s sort of like a cultural research project: how does the Japanese society view WWII today?

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Checking Out

Arakawa under the Bridge
Production: SHAFT
Synopsis: Kou “Riku” Ichinomiya, a young upper-class man, meets a beautiful homeless girl named Nino on the banks of the Arakawa River, where many of Tokyo’s most unusual residents live, after she saves him from drowning. For saving his life, Kou fulfills Nino’s desire to have a boyfriend. Thus, Kou becomes her boyfriend, but has to live with her under the bridge…
Thoughts: That is one strange premise and has the potential for both lulz and a Bakemonogatari-style pairing, but SHAFT’s promotion picture looks like they’re on shrooms again so I’m not certain.

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru
Production: J.C.Staff, wait what they make series like this now?
Synopsis: Sakurai Yuki was found in the bushes as a baby and adopted by his current family. He strives for independence because of this, and the last thing he wants is to be a burden to anybody. Unable to control his special ability to feel the emotions of those he touches, he often made many mistakes in the past. With death threats and his abilities growing uncontrollably, what will happen when a man claiming to be his older brother appears?
Thoughts: For whatever odd reason, this series give me X-TV-vibes, even if there isn’t any fight-for-the-world premise. I don’t know if I can like the BL here, but this definitely has the potential for some great drama, so I’ll look into it.

Hakuouki: Shinsengumi Kitan [OP from the original Game]
Production: Studio DEEN
Synopsis: Chizuru Yukimura is the daughter of a Dutch-trained docter who vanished on a trip to Kyoto. During her search for her father, she sees a Shinsengumi member transform into an ogre. After it’s revealed that this change was caused by her father — she joins the Shinsengumi in search of her father and the cure.
Thoughts: I can’t explain why I’m slightly intrigued by this, especially since I hear it has a ‘so useless I want to choke her to death’ heroine…

Mayoi Neko Overrun [Trailer]
Production: AIC
Synopsis: Takumi Tsuzuki is a boy who lives with his older non-blood-related sister Otome at a decrepit confectionary store called Stray Cats. One day, Otome picks up a mysterious beautiful girl off the streets.
Thoughts: I wasn’t interested at all, then I saw the trailer and wowed at the artwork. Assuming they don’t meow as much as the trailer does, I might just end up enjoying the show for its atmosphere.

B Gata H Kei
Production: HAL Film Maker
Synopsis: Yamada is a high school student and a virgin who aspires to have 100 casual sex partner. Despite this, she soon finds herself targeting and pursuing only one boy.
Thoughts: This sounds like another season of To-Love-ru rubbish and a fantasy for guys; I mean a girl who is very casual about sex and then fall in love with one generical male romance-comedy lead? That being said, the premise is lolwat ridiculous enough to grab my curiosity for one episode, although I might regret it afterwards.

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Movies/OVAs

Unlimited Blade Works [Trailer]: As far as the goodness of Fate/stay night goes, its Heaven’s Feel » Unlimited Blade Works > Fate. Time to see Shirou not die even when he’s killed… like 13 times.
Nanoha the Movie 1st [Trailer]: If there’s one problem with the original befriending, it’s the early series pacing. The movie should do well to solve that and allow Nanoha to be introduced to even the more skeptical folks.
Nodame Cantabile OAD: I’m watching everything from this.
Black Rock Shooter: Glorified music video!

Gundam Unicorn: It already aired and the next episode won’t come out until Autumn!!! That being said, this was mostly eye candy: great mechs and fight choreography packed alongside almost every Sunrise cliche imaginable.

Or as the zombie puts it: “The World has ended. You all are just remnants… the last remaining bubbles in a ladle of water.”

Some might remember the problems I had with Sora no Woto, about how it’s not taking itself seriously enough given the heavy themes presented by the show and how there are simply too many gaps in its world design. Yet despite all the pride I have as a worldforger in setting analysis, I missed one crucial possibility about this show:

What if this world doesn’t want to take itself seriously?

Human curiosity always gravitate itself towards the truth. When it comes to history, civilizations have always strived to dig up the facts no matter how painful and bloody it may be. After all, history serves as both the textbook and the crystal ball for the future, and the most traumatic past events also serve as the finest lessons for future generations. But what if there is simply absolutely no advantage for the truth, when ignorance is 100% bliss and 0% beneficial? Well — this seems to be the case with Sora no Woto. What purpose is there to reflect the past or invest in the present when there is no future to speak of?

It’s not just the 1121st platoon. Everyone in their entire Sora no Woto world probably understood this deep within their hearts. When you look at it this way, the attitudes taken by dear 1121st platoon is probably the best one possible in this post-apocalyptic scenario.

Oh sure, it’s easy to dismiss what the zombie soldier said as pure post-apocalyptic pessimism, especially since the young and green Felicia was probably hallucinating from either post-traumatic stress or some shrooms she consumed as emergency food. But the truth is pretty simple: Dear Kanata, there’s no easy way around this but… your world is a goner; it will never return to the days of music classes and beautiful cityscapes. Don’t think too much about it and have a happy life. Love, God.

A fact that can be learned from any basic biology course: the marine ecosystem is the basis of supporting an Earth-like planet’s biological life. The circle of life, not to mention various chemical cycles, both begins and ends there. I’m not even going to try giving a rundown of all the worldly facts that would be violated if life within the oceans were to vanish — it’s far too many to list. For once, I’m not sure I want to know how they messed up the world so badly, as the damage is beyond even that of widespread radiological warfare. A nuclear apocalyptic Judgment Day shouldn’t be able to do anything like this. Although, I have the nagging feeling the the author doesn’t know the ‘how’ to this either.

Just what were the zombie soldier protecting the World from? If I were to take a stab, it’s that the robots used some kind of biochemical weapon to ruin the ecosystem in their total war against mankind. It’s kind of like scorching the skies in The Matrix. The cliched Artificial Intelligence revolution? Well — the movements of those spidertanks were definitely defying the capabilities of human pilots, although that doesn’t rule out the possibility of abstract stick-control combined with smart pathfinding navigation algorithms or drone weapons controlled by human supervisors playing Starcraft V. Yeah, the destruction may simply be the sore loser of a global war carrying out their revenge by implementing the strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction. Like so many other things in Sora no Woto, we may never know the answer to this. But as Dr. Strangelove once discussed, the doomsday machine is only meant to be a theoretical chess piece, a conceptual premise that needs no explanations. By dropping such an absurd premise like wiping out the entire marine ecosystem, Sora no Woto properly highlighted the use of a doomsday machine and thus allows all those logical apocalyptic scenarios, like a nuclear holocaust, to be thrown out the door. I don’t even need to mention the surrealism of zombie storytelling.

So the world is heading to ruin either way. They don’t need to know the how or the why. It’s amazing how many pictures were completed once this piece of the puzzle was put into place. Of course there are massive discrepancies in technology when there’s little purpose in researching for a future that doesn’t exist. Of course the economy is in shambles when there’s little reason of putting it back together. Of course they would keep waging war despite not having the resources to in order to gain what few pieces of land that can still sustain life. When the ‘future you’ is too dead to be a jerk, plans tend to take a turn for the unexpected. I think this applies to societies even more than individuals.

It’s funny how my opinion of this show took took a one-eighty turn from just two lines of dialogue. Hey Sora no Woto, I’m sorry about what I said, you’re actually projecting the right balance of mood here, and I think I finally understood your elusive goal:

(Slice of) Life is about living and enjoying the present, and nothing portrays this better than a post-apocalyptic world heading for the second impact.

Of course, someone who simply sat back and enjoyed the show rather than scratching their head out over analytics probably could have told me that ages ago.

That being said, I wish it didn’t take the show seven episodes to explain this premise. I mean, it’s not like this is a plot-driven show that needs to build up to its climax. A slice of life can cause serious misunderstandings if the first few episodes didn’t prop it up accordingly. In this case, it might need to hit the button labelled ‘logical analysis off’ that’s shaped like a doomsday device, whatever that’s suppose to look like. Then I can return to simply basking in the symbolic impressionist scenery and Kanata’s kind incompetence.

I’m not cut out for this type of jigsaw puzzles…

And Asuka-chan is SOOOOOOOOOO MOE~!!!! >.<

Otomen is about a funny yet somewhat serious story of gender role-reversal in the modern world still filled with gender-based stereotypes. It features an original premise, an excellent male lead (main character) with all the quirks of a real human being, and a triangle of bestest friends that fits together so perfectly. Although, the storyline is rather light and predictable though, great for pure enjoyment but not enough to be considered dramatic.

On that note, Viz Media released Otomen volumn 5 this month, and volumn 6 and 7 are due in May and August. I’m so late on this already!!!

A short premise paragraph for those who haven’t touched it:

Meet Asuka Masamune, a stoic guy who extrudes manliness, with the reputation of a reigning kendo and karate champion that strikes fear into the worst of delinquents. Yet, this most popular guy in school who is admired by everyone hates his own life. Asuka isn’t merely putting on a mask and living a lie, his lifestyle is a completely 180 from his actual persona and is utterly torturous to the real him: someone who likes girly things so much that it makes him more feminine than most girls. But despite him carrying around a sewing kit at all times, or making loving bentos, or fawning over the latest shoujo manga development, Asuka is also weighed down by the repulsive memory of a father abandoning his mother and him to become a transgendered — and hence the origin of his conflicts. No, he has no intentions to become a girl now, but he’s absolutely terrified of some possible ‘coming out of the closet’ episode. So, when he falls in love with a girl with a background in martial arts whose feminine traits revives those his own, does it lead to boon or disaster? What about a friendship with that playboy guy who is secretly a shoujo mangaka and uses a genderbent version of Asuka as the heroine of his topseller manga?

This is so backwards yet amazingly refreshing

Asuka-chan is definitely the cutest male character (but not a trap) character I’ve ever seen. He’s very much MOE, but obviously he has his moments of GAR. His blushing uncertainty, his sewing obsession, his romantic beliefs, his prodigious ability in the arts and crafts that reflects a sensitive soul, all of that combined with his cool manliness… this dose of Moe is approaching dangerously undiluted levels.

Really, if you liked Kazehaya (Kimi ni Todoke), you’ll absolutely love Asuka. One really has to appreciate how brilliantly well-portrayed both sides of his character are, which are contrasted to their best without conflicting one another.

My favorite part of this manga is the bestest-friends triangle between Asuka, Ryou, and Juta, which is extremely similar to my beloved Kare Kano Yukinon-Arima-Asaba triangle. Asuka is the Otomen whose highly capable but relies on a degree of emotional support from the others (Arima); Ryou is the strong, independent, but not stubborn girl who speaks out actively to resolve issues (Yukinon); and Juta is the artistic and sensitive best-friend who is extremely nice to all girls and patches up any hole that the main pairing fails to recognize (Asaba). Really, they complement and support each other almost perfectly, especially when it’s not easy to build a triangle like this without romantic-drama or leaving one of them an obviously dangling third wheel.

And once again, a manga makes a conceptual parallel to a fictional piece of literature within itself. The link between the Ryou-Asuka pairing and the romance within Juta’s topseller manga does a great job of accentuating how unique their relationship is. The manga really just wouldn’t be the same without this little parallel here to both reflect the character and in some instances, guide them. Although I’m not sure if this is as effective as the one used in Watashi ni xx Shinasai or Bungaku Shoujo.

The two from the manga “lovetic” within Otomen

Aya Kanno-sensei’s art style is very shoujo: the clean, high-quality, and beautiful to look at kind. It doesn’t stand out in any particular way, but it is very consistent. The one thing that should be noted though is that her style does a great job of depicting both the masculan and feminine aspects of Asuka without changing form, which is quite an accomplishment in and of itself.

All in all, this is fast becoming one of my favorites — which is rather difficult given its genre since I am extremely biased towards drama when reading manga.

By the way, this manga apparently has its own live-action adaptation (need gets):

So… where’s my anime for this one?

I wish I had an onee-san like Yuki-chan

Most people classify yuri as a primary genre, like romance or action (as opposed to secondary/tertiary genres, like psychological, school, etc, which are more like descriptor tags). This implies it’s amongst the main reasons to watch a show, and that if you don’t love yuri then you can’t enjoy the show. To date I’m still not completely sure of this view. Yes, I’ve picked up yuri for the sake of it being yuri, but is yuri the target that I’m looking for? Or, is yuri merely a medium of delivering what I really sought? I’m reminded of what ETERNAL said:

Yuri, like all settings and devices and what have you, is simply a premise.

Maybe when I sought yuri, I’m simply looking for a really cute romance with an elegantly refined atmosphere.

*nodnod*

So after looking back into all the yuri series I really enjoyed (and those I passed), I came up with the my three reasons for watching yuri:

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The Atmosphere

When yuri is mentioned, one of the first thoughts that usually pops to head is Marimite. Most people seems to find its elegant and tranquil mood, this speak softly and walk slowly approach, to be the defining attribute of ‘shoujo-style yuri’ (except that’s a misnomer in itself, as the yuri fandom targets males). Although this concept is often used as a backdrop to make the yuri premise more refined, thus giving it a more innocent image, I don’t really think it stays consistent with the developing mood for most yuri series. Things change, by and most, either from the relationship drama or the energetic frolicking; but that doesn’t stop us from enjoying a cup of afternoon tea or a Gokigenyo greeting.

My personal top reason for watching yuri attributes to a different mood: the cute light-hearted slice of life. The ‘this is so cute I melted’ factor is comparatively the same as the ‘this is so moe I died’ experience. So in a sense, yuri slice of life elements are on about the same wavelength as moeblob series, or ultra-fluffy shoujo series (e.g. Yumeiro Pattissere). I would definitely consider the early series fluff of Strawberry Panic similar to that of Kanon, and Saki was a perfect example of just how well yuri blends into the Moe arena.

lol wut

Candy Boy stands as my favorite in this perspective, since it’s pure yuri slice of life and generate a mood which reminds me of watching K-ON. I’d love another season of this— if only yuri had been as popular as moe.

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The Romance

The yuri ghetto may really exist, and that yuri is still always told through yuri elements, but in the end girls love is still romance, pure and simple, and not some strange variation of. Just because the series is about a group of “girls who love each other too much” (Strawberry Panic will always be remembered by that line), doesn’t make it much different from your normal, straight version. Really, the characters just happened to be girls, and they just happened to fall in love with fellow girls— don’t judge them; claiming that the only appeal of shoujo-ai series is the yuri make one not much better than those who claim “anime is only for kids”.

This is the best philosophy ever!

Of course, just as seinen romance-comedy is often plagued by harems and generic males, yuri has its own problems with unrealistic love, especially how dear heterosexual social perceptions rarely make it into the minds of these characters. It’s probably the reason why I’ve rarely thought seriously about yuri, and simply laid back to enjoy the mood. It’s also why my favorite yuri series is Girl Friends, because it does go the extra mile to describe each step of how friendship gradually evolved into true love.

That being said, girls love does have a specialty atmosphere to its romance, as I’ve mentioned above. But I sure wouldn’t consider this unique to yuri: Kimi no Todoke certainly presents the exact same thing with Sawako’s innocence and Kazehaya’s moe. At the same time, neither is all yuri like that: Aoi Hana sure rolled fast into a personal drama series with all the emotional sting of one, far more about the characters rediscovering themselves through that life-changing first love experience than simply two girls fawning over each other (although plenty of that did happen).

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The Drama

In these days, just about everything have some elements of drama to spicy up the story; yuri is certainly no exception with its personal and relationship drama . But when you get down to it, how is the triangle drama of yuri (say, Aoi Hana) that different from the love polygons of heteromance/drama shows (e.g. Toradora)? I mean, you still have your close friends who pine away with their unrequited love, not wanting to reveal the truth and hurt the existing closeness between friends.

I guess if there’s one distinction, it’s that in yuri the best friends pair tends to fall in love with each other, rather than best friends falling for the same person, which is a staple in heteromance-drama. But this is more of a reliance on the tried-and-true recipes more than anything else.

Just like regular romance, sometimes it’s about discovering whom that truest important person is.

[Also, if you’re looking for a good yuri drama with a dose of social realism: GirlxGirlxBoy is a really good 1 volume short read featuring a strange but very well developed triangle. You can grab it at the Wings of Yuri site here]

Although, reminding myself of how alike yuri is to normal romance doesn’t seem to fix this sadness that the Spring 2010 season is surprisingly short of yuri. I need my seasonal yuri shipping—!!! (and normal and BL…)

Of all the character archtypes lying about out there, Yanderes seem to be the most misunderstood and hated, far more than even the most sadistic variation of tsunderes. Obviously, I can’t judge other people’s preferences on the matter, but I always felt like people are taking Yanderes the wrong way. When most people think of yandere they instantly think of “they will murder you! Nice boat style!” Uuuuuu— I feel bad for them already. After all, they just wanted to be your bestest friend for ever and ever and ever. That boxcutter business? It’s not going to happen unless you cheat on or betray them, and in some cases you might be just a bit deserving of what’s coming… I mean, Makoto (School Days) sure does.

But even then, it’s not quite that simple. I knew that Yanderes (and Yangires for that matter, see their MAL club for word breakdown) were on the extreme ends, but even I didn’t quite understand the issue involved until I read this TIME magazine article on Borderline Personality Disorder. Yeah, psychologists once thought of this as a fatal disease, how’s that for you sick-girl Moe lovers, not to mention all the Damaged Goods and Katawa Shoujo fans.

I’m sure people are going to be too lazy to read an article so heavy on real-world psychology, so I’ll take some exerpts from it.

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What is Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline patients seem to have no internal governor; they are capable of deep love and profound rage almost simultaneously.

It’s also called the Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder. Their tendencies for depression and self-harms sounds a bit like the popular perception of emo, but there’s a big difference: BPD people can be tremendously joyous also. The articles gives another good one line metaphor of BPD:

Borderline individuals are the psychological equivalent of third-degree-burn patients. They simply have, so to speak, no emotional skin. Even the slightest touch or movement can create immense suffering.

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What does it have to do with Yandere

They are powerfully connected to the people close to them and terrified by the possibility of losing them — yet attack those people so unexpectedly that they often ensure the very abandonment they fear.

That’s really the signature trait of a Yandere isn’t it? The complete attachment and devotion they have towards their beloved and best friends, followed by outrageous reactions to any drama in the relationship. Kind of like Kaede’s slave-like total dedication to Tsuchimi Rin, as well as her breakdown moments which scared both him and Asa.

A typical example from last year was the lurid tale of an Ontario man labeled borderline who used a screwdriver to gouge out his wife’s right eye.

Yep, that sure sounds like something that came straight out of Higurashi to me, just swap the roles and give Sonozaki Mion a screwdriver.

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What causes it

Some borderline individuals come from homes where they were abused, some from stifling families in which children were told to go to their room if they had to cry, and some from normal families that buckled under the stress of an economic or health-care crisis and failed to provide kids with adequate validation and emotional coaching. “The child does not learn how to understand, label, regulate or tolerate emotional responses, and instead learns to oscillate between emotional inhibition and extreme emotional lability,”

Bad parenting, it sounds like. Basically a case of ‘this child never learned how to handle emotions’. Sadly, with the social pressure of today’s families, the oftentime lacking of parents, and all this economic recession business, it’s not surprising that BPD patients are on the rise. Yes, that means you’re more likely to meet a Yandere than ever before—

There is a good end, so why do people only think of the bad ones? Huh Rin-kun?

My point in all this? I’m not necessarily trying to get people to like Yanderes, but I do think that Yandere characters are those that needs support (and pity, except that’s not always wanted), not animosity and blame from others.

There also seem to be some kind of confusion that Yanderes hurt their beloved because they enjoy doing so: that’s not Yandere, that’s Sadism, and a Yandere may exhibit sadistic traits but it’s not usually part of their archetype. Yanderes don’t hurt their close companions because it gives them pleasure, it’s just that they physically express emotions — which can be either a really good thing, or a really bad thing.

And frankly, if you were a good partner who took a Yandere’s insecurities to mind, there are actually quite a few joys in the trait. Without the stabby stabby anger, what remains is dedicated love and transparent display of exhilarating joy… now there’s something I actually kind of admire. Don’t get me wrong— only kind of, a bit…

and you are the center of their universe

Well, I guess it depends on the amount of attention you want.

Trolling her with the cake was probably a bad idea…

]]> http://www.major-arcana.net/zanaikin/2010/02/the-yandere-origin-in-psychology/feed/ 15 http://www.major-arcana.net/zanaikin/2010/02/the-yandere-origin-in-psychology/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/marcana/~3/24545xY-Zp0/ http://www.major-arcana.net/zanaikin/2010/02/spotlight-for-strong-shoujo-manga-leads/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:49:12 +0000 Aorii http://www.major-arcana.net/?p=1681

Okay, fair reminder. But Japan, you just love to remind us… (Uwasa no Midori-kun by Ikeyamada Go)

When was the last time a shoujo manga lead character was strong and capable, in more than just an emotional/supportive sense? Okay plenty of times, scratch that. When was the last time they were strong and awe-inspiring without being foiled by something else, such as comedic ridicule or consistent overshadowing and sheltering by an even more GAR male? I’m pretty sure I can count my encounters using just my fingers here. The key words here aren’t the ‘GAR male’, as I’m quite fine with the presence of awesome guys who are even better than the heroine; the key terms are ‘overshadowed and sheltered’. I understand that being protected and saved by the classic knight-in-shining-armor is quite romantic, but sometimes, they really do overuse it.

Doesn’t look like it’s a rare feeling of annoyance either, as I loled when Hyper Parfait yelled out:

A CHAPTER WITHOUT KAZUMA PROTECTING FUMIKO!!!! *CELEBRATES*… I’m so sick of her being protected. So Sick. SICK.

Well yeah, I agree, especially given that Fumiko from Faster than a Kiss was suppose to be one of those strong delinquent type characters in the first place.

You know the stereotypical shoujo protagonist. They tend to be cute, innocent, and hardworking, but naive and softhearted to a fault. They’re usually either clumsy or stupid or both, and oftentimes prince charming must guide and protect them every step along the way. There are even those series where the female lead is so useless that it makes the reader rage. At the same time, this is often contrasted with either multiple over-capable bishies of various types that form a reverse harem, or some figure of outright perfection that’s probably the most readily compared to Edward Cullen of Twilight. Half the times, your shoujo male main character is just created by slapping together a strong bishie + either prodigious intelligence or remarkably sensibility or both + rich background or prestigious family or both + maybe some extra trait like tsundere or megane or flirt. The purpose of the plot and character development is then about having them look cute together— this pretty much falls under smut without actual smut and becomes analogous to Moe (not that I ever believed Moe is limited for guys), which effectively made Otome games end up mirroring the most banal eroges. But I’m not a feminist, so if I started a series for its smut I’ll be satisfied with just that. It’s the series that set their characters up differently, with the potential for so much more, and then falls short that annoys me.

Really, I see a lot of similarities between Moe-Haters and Twilight-Bashers.

In the quest for originality and interesting storyboarding, it didn’t take long for strong, relentless shoujo heroines to earn their spot. Soon you started seeing this trait in quite a few shoujo leads. However, while the strong-willed attributes are always seen as a virtue (except maybe stubornness), physical prowess is always dropped in along a heavy dose of comedy. Actually, the physical strength of female characters are often so heavily overexploited as comic relief that it’s hard to take it seriously when the time calls. Choux, during her vent on otome games, drops me the perfect example here: Haine of Shinshi Doumei Cross, whose strength is ‘the butt of a continuous line of jokes’. It’s even worse when this strength fails to kick in properly, like in Kaichou wa Maid-sama when Ayuzawa Misaki, for all her skills, has to rely on Usui every time a serious challenger beckons from that other rich-boys school. Although, Kaichou does make up for it a bit when Ayuzawa ask that she tackle an issue herself, without interference, every so while. On other hand, I don’t need to mention how Takishima Kei seizes the spotlight from Hikari in Special A almost every time from the beginning to the end of the series (I wish she could have beaten him proper at least once to make things more interesting).

On the note of Arina-sensei, it’s so much easily to take Sakura’s fighting skills from Sakura-hime Kaden seriously in comparison to Haine’s, although Sakura does fall under the magical girl divider, which I’ll touch further down.

Yuuki’s uselessness in how badly they butchered the fight required a whole new magnitude of facepalming.

The worst case of this probably happens in Vampire Knight anime, where Yuuki, despite having the skills of a guardian and her newly awakened powers, comes off as absolutely useless in the anime version’s war against Rido and pretty much relies on Zero bailing her out. This is hugely contrasted with the manga version where she actually held off a while on her own (including rescuing Aidou) and assisted Zero to win the battle. Our dear pure-blood princess is sheltered, especially by her overprotective Onii-sama, but that doesn’t keep her from having her moments to shine (one of the reasons I love the manga).

Two series popped into my head where the shoujo leads were awesome and kickass without having their glory seized by another guy: Angel Diary and Half Prince. In Angel Diary (MAL likes to call it Destination Heaven Chronicles for some reason), the bratty Heavenly Princess Dong Young serves as the last defense for her guardians, which is ironic since they’re her bodyguards. She wasn’t pampered by the male lead Bi-wal, instead they covered each others’ backs and pushed forward one-another’s goals with a sense of almost perfect synchronization. Personally I think that makes a far better shipping than the constant one-sided protection we have a tendency to see. It’s like how Suzaku x Lelouch was so well taken because of how complimentary they were. In the other hand, Half Prince, ever enthusiastic to violate gender perceptions, features its shoujo lead taking the front lines as the meatshield fighter and forthright spokesperson for her .hack party. In both cases the girls show off their strength when it counts without being dropped into foolishness. It’s part of the reason why I immensely enjoy these series. But then something caught on later: both girls spend their time masquerading as guys (surprisingly enough, they’re also both headstrong idiots, a stereotypical trait imported from shounen manga mains). The identity mask theme is also on par with Mahou Shoujo series where the girls must transform, to become something other than a girl, an ordinary human, in order to gain their power.

Although ironically, Dong Young’s powers in Angel Diary lies within her abhorred ‘Princess form’

This is also a trend in other animanga demographics. Take the popular Fate/stay night as an example. No one can deny Saber’s strength in battle, but FSN also spent a lot of early series focus on emphasizing the fact that Saber isn’t human, but a heroic spirit, an otherworldly being that no human can hope to match. For Saber, throwing away her woman self was the only way to achieve power, both as a King and as a Heroic Spirit, which seemed to claim coexistence of the two identities impossible (despite the fact that half of the Arthurian Knights in the Nasuverse are female). Another, more recent example would be E Minor delving into the symbolism behind Dance in the Vampire Bund to explore how modern society seems to reject the notion of powerful women by categorizing them as alienated beings.

Okay whatever, maybe I’m being too picky now. Besides, every character in Fate/stay night is pretty godmode anyhow—

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I’m not trying to claim that every female character should try to wrestle the spotlight from the male characters; but it would certainly be nice to have more series that does involve a heroine who can hold the line by herself rather than rely on others all the time (and without supernatural plot devices that doesn’t even border with common sense). The whole damsel-in-distress routine can be quite romantic when used sparingly, but quite annoying when it happens consistently, especially when the heroine is given that ‘strong and independent’ trait but then doesn’t apply it. Besides, we already have heroines capable in this from the family and social perspectives, not to mention relationship wakeup calls (e.g. Nodame jumpkicking Chiaki in Paris Chapter) — would it be that hard to mirror this in other challenges?

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All this reminds me of promoting Akagami no Shirayuki-hime again, whose lead Shirayuki really isn’t strong from a physical sense; but one sure forgets that easily when she can fend for herself fine through sheer resolve, while Prince Zen watches from a distance and steps in to help only when he needs to — a particular trait that allowed me to respect both the heroine and the hero a lot more.

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Sometimes great drama doesn’t need initial comedy while your audience gets in touch with the characters, or a long and complex buildup to raise the tensions, or fantastic elements and miracles. Sometime all you need is to blend together two characters with unfortunate circumstances and breath life into them. After all, the pie of life is always half sweet and half bitter, and by directly confronting its saddest elements we arrive at something bittersweet, beautiful, and absolutely touching.

Maybe illustrating the manga edition of Voices of a Distant Star instilled her with the same essence that Shinkai Makoto used to author his work; maybe she always had the gift. But either way, Sahara Mizu’s works manage to portray character and relationship development with a depth that few others could reach.

Her most notable work  yet is probably Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan (Our Happy Time). Despite its slice-of-life drama genre and its shortness, completing its story with only 8 chapters in a single volume, this manga is currently ranked at the #5 most highly rated manga on MAL. A well-deserved achievement, but its still limited to a MAL readership of 1200ish— which is what inspired this post.

It’s hard to describe Sahara Mizu’s style. To start with, they’re melancholic and intensely emotional, and they’re always filled with real-life problems, posing difficult questions that plague the human consciousness at every turn.

In Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan, a pianist who has thrice attempted suicide meets a indiscriminately-killing murderer on death row. One has life but no desire to live it, one has taken the lives of others and couldn’t wait to end his own. We’ve seen plenty of suicidal characters in drama, but Mizu-sensei’s portrayal of both their tragic pasts and unstable present really brings the reader’s heart and soul to understand and even sympathize for the two leads’ suicidal tendencies. Yet at the same time, she elegantly spins the story about, showing how two people stuck in the darkest pits of life melt the frozen hearts of one another and help each other realize the value of being alive; not to mention the birth of a romance doomed to fail from the start but nevertheless provides everlasting hope to the two. The manga also presents several moral challenges: does a person who killed in cold blood deserve forgiveness? does one have a right to run away from their problems via suicide? It’s astonishing how Mizu-sensei manages to bring a deep sense of character attachment to the audience despite how despicable their lives seem at first glance.

Another work of hers I had just caught up to is My Girl. This series presents a far more common scenario: a single young man discovered that his high-school ex-sweetheart has died, leaving behind a young daughter (around 7~8?) who is supposedly his, even though he’s never even heard about her. Amidst the disapproval of his parents and the claims of coworkers that he’s being taken advantage of, the father bonds with the daughter, uncovering the truth behind why the love of his life failed and exploring a brand new pleasure in life — the responsibilities of a father, the joy of a family. Through the story, Mizu-sensei also contrasts his situation with that of other troubled families, helping to solve problems on both sides. My Girl describes how many of life’s greatest enjoyments lies in the most tragic of surprises. Must a good life follow the proper procedures? Is teenage pregnancy necessarily a bad thing? How painful can a parent’s love become? Mizu-sensei uses the common events we see all around us to bring yet another touching series.

This manga resonated with me in a very personal way because of the fact I was brought up by a single parent, and I certainly recommend it to anyone who had similar circumstances. Masamune (the dad) may not be the most capable, but he is such a loving father that I felt surprisingly envious. Of course, Koharu herself is also one of the cutest kids ever—

If a simple moment like this touches your heart, then the series has succeeded.

That’s about it for her two seinen serializations. Sahara Mizu, a pen name itself, is also known as Sahara Keita in her shoujo works, Chikyuya/Sasshi for her doujinshi, and most notably, Yumeka Sumomo for her BL works (I rarely read BL since I’ve seen very few good ones, but I think this is the next thing on my manga backlog to try out). Now that’s a lot of pen names… sadly, most of her other stuff are very short single volumes or outright one-shots, which is probably where her zero-filler no-nonsense style comes from.

Mizu-sensei’s art style doesn’t exactly stand out that much from the norm. Her three finest aspects are the cleanness of the artwork, the consistent proportionality of the characters, and smoothly rounded lineart. Not surprisingly, the artwork does a great job conveying the appropriate emotions across. Her weak spots would probably be the shading and texturing, which is oftentimes completely absent and leaves the lineart rather bland looking.

Thanks goes to Psycho Pandas for translating Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan, and to Storm in Heaven for doing both (and several other of her shorts).

I can’t help but think that every time I watch an episode of Sora no Woto, not hetalia as in that Hetalia, but as in the useless Italian Army of WW2. It seems like a portion of the aniblogosphere is bent on heaving praises to the subtle hints of this post-apocalyptic world being dropped left and right, but I keep scratching my head over the parts that just feels lacking or is outright missing about the whole series premise. I mean, the first episode was great on dropping both physical and mythological intrigue on the audience, but it’s been plummeting to the basics since then. If I had to give an one-liner of my thoughts on this series thus far, it be the following:

Sora no Woto aims to be a military slice-of-life with serious themes; it comes out to be a lackluster moé series with a confused goal.

Each episode begins with an OP that sets the theme of redemption, followed by military anti-war and treasure-life motifs scattered throughout the background scenery: be it the inspiration of music to an orphan; the lost joy of the destroyed music classroom; the soft, soothing music played from a tank; or the contrast of desolation and natural beauty in dusk over No Man’s Land. But each theme stay on screen for only a minute or two, while the rest of the time is spent by dumping in several loads of moé comedy that wrecks havoc with its tone and mood pacing. I’m sorry, but these are some heavy concepts and simply not meant to be portrayed in such a light-hearted attitude. To exaggerate things some, doing so would be like placing Auschwitz in the middle of an amusement park. It’s why award winning movies like Saving Private Ryan or my favorite Assembly (Call) drops down to complete seriousness when undertaking the burden of such substantial themes; same goes to anime like Saikano and Zipang. Even The Third, with its post-apocalyptic adventurism, buttons itself down whenever it tackles a war-related issue…

And Sora no Woto just— I’m not asking this series to reflect beauty from the darkest depth like in The Pianist, since it doesn’t take place during an actual war; but it could at least attempt to portray some realism and seriousness. Right now, the presentation style which simply makes short, passing references is almost insulting to the military genre (not that it’ll be a first in anime). As E_Minor of Moe Sucks puts it:

Oh yeah, war makes orphans out of kids, but moving right along to more stupid Kanata

I understsand those things are like 40kgs but… are you sure you’ve had basic training?

The Keion-bu Squad

Sora no Woto chooses to focus on a single armored-reserve garrison squad stationed out in some strategically insignificant position. It seems like the army simply formed this squad out of useless personnel that they don’t know what to do with. Lead by Captain Sawa-chan-sensei Felicia, the all-girls squad is so laid back that it’s virtually impossible to consider them ‘soldiers’. As I watched episode five my mind pretty much screamed ‘did these girls even go through boot camp or any form of basic training?’. I mean how can you take them seriously with this composition:

• Captain Felicia is so soft and easygoing that there isn’t the slightest sense of authority around her. How she can possibly keep her girls in order during the midst of any real combat is beyond me. Her Tsumugish personality would make a good mother; but superiors, especially in the military, are not maternal figures — they’re paternal, with all respect, guidance, and tough love that should come with one. Under her softness, it’s not surprising that the squad became what it is.
• Noël and her dedication might make a decent mechanic in the REMF logistical corps. But to double up as a squad driver? I’m sorry but the military doesn’t wait for proper daylight hours before engaging in operations, and anyone with low blood sugar should have gotten used to it during boot camp’s dawn training. It’s cute, but I wouldn’t trust her ability to stay awake behind the barhandles of a tricycle, let alone an Armored Combat Vehicle.
• Kureha has slightly too much of a panic problem. This isn’t that surprising for green cadets, but for a gunner it’s about the worst case possible. Imagine her shaking hands in episode 2 controlling the deadly gun barrel of a Main Battle Tank; forget accuracy, there’s an unacceptable chance of friendly fire here. Of course in this show, she’ll be sorry for killing her comrades for two seconds, the world will right itself back again, and we’ll move on with tsuntsun deredere—
• Kanata is the new recruit. She has that hardworking demeanor, but the show fails to make use of any part of it. That suddenly learning to play well in episode 4 makes no sense. If good music only requires one’s musical senses to move with the flow and ‘play itself’, then all the hard work by musicians everywhere just went up in flames: so much for training since 5 years old on that piano.
• Rio, the watchful mentor, is the only one who really seem to fit in with the entire military theme.
• Takemikazuchi, the primary weapon of this armored squad, is a quadruped tank without a chassis. Effectively, it’s a turret stocked away in a garage, which is useful only as spare parts. Sadly, that’s probably still more useful than its operator squad.

So what exactly is military about Sora no Woto? It sure feels like the writer simply decided ‘Hey I got a cool idea, let’s put the keion-bu in a military squad! Wouldn’t that be original?’

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*Headwall* The symbolism is nice and all, but aren’t you trying a little TOO hard to fit in this music theme?

The Surreal Post-Apocalyptic World

The culture is a mashup of mediterranean styles, including Greek, Italian, French, and apparently Japanese; this I find interesting and representational of a melting pot world banding together to survive a harsh apocalypse. But that brings it back to what I do have a problem with: this inconsistent post-apocalyptic premise.

Somehow, only specific military technologies survived; yet hundreds of years later, the insatiably curious human race still haven’t even partially reverse-engineered that fusion-age tank to enhance their industrial-age infantry firearms. Yet somehow they understand enough of it to repair the thing… huh?

Somehow, despite the fact this shining artifact of the old world is the one of the only ancient-technology items we can see in the entire world, Kanata seems to make no big deal from it. The squad’s reaction towards it makes it seem rather commonplace, despite how out-of-sync Takemikazuchi is with the rest of the tech base in the Sora no Woto world.

Somehow, although they all know about the lost World, no one contemplates or even acknowledges the apocalypse. It’s not just a matter of avoiding it in the dialogue and dropping only hints. There isn’t even one of the expected moods: no sorrow or grief over the lost world, no pain or guilt over what could have been, no reflection or impression over the past mistakes committed by society. It isn’t just a matter of avoiding the past or forgetting the history — it’s as if nothing earthshaking had actually happened, that the shift from the music classrooms of old to the Time-Keeping Fortress of present were the perfectly logical outcome in the gradual passage of time. This is like Germany treating the era of Nazism as a perfectly normal step in their history…

This is no setting. The characters of Sora no Woto seems to interact only with the environment when it’s convenient, and even then they do it only on a superficial level before heading back to goofing off — talk about wasted potential.

Well-placed painting… though no reflections after seeing something like this is—

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Please, give me my K-ON moé in the K-ON style we love and enjoy; don’t pretend this is the some deep-ended anime with moé injected into it.

I hope the show will eventually either get serious, or drop all pretense of it.

I take it back. I once thought Kimi no Todoke was just a commonly-used shoujo manga story setup with a remarkably good presentation. Oh, it’s still stereotypical, and we can still see the incoming events from a mile away. But to take such plain story/character concepts and — forget touching my soul, try hugging and deeply embracing it — Kimi no Todoke has gone beyond just an exceptional storytelling style. It doesn’t need the screaming drama and convenient revelations of shows like Toradora. It doesn’t need the surreal premises of KEY works, nor the contrasting darkness that main characters must challenge in most Nakige visual novels. It doesn’t even need to focus on the main pairing relationship like one would expect out of a romance drama, especially shoujo. It manages to warm the soul and draw tears from our heart without any of those exceptional elements, without even the need to make us feel depressed. That, is precisely why Kimi no Todoke is so profound in its own right: its presentation isn’t just exceptional, it’s godly.

The setup of this story is so common it feels like it could happen in your neighborhood; the delivery of the story feels like it did happen in your neighborhood, to your best friends and right before your very eyes.

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It’s ironic in a way. Kimi no Todoke adheres to stay within the box of normal shoujo manga, but in doing so it exceeded the limits of not just the shoujo genre, but traditional romance-drama in general…

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‘Friends’ fighting against one another for their love. ‘Friends’ plotting against the other. Friends standing up for each other. Friends forgiving one another. Like Toradora of last year, Kimi no Todoke relies on human goodness and the beauty of friendships to carry the show and its mood forward. But unlike expectations, Todoke’s romance between Kazehaya and Sawako feels like merely a premise, one to bring out something far warmer, far better. Of course, I may be speaking too soon, and another arc may present something that would indeed prove the Kazehaya x Sawako love to be hard-earned, rather than just lovebirds-at-first-sight that just happens to work themselves out.

What has most impressed me thus far in Todoke is, against all my expectations: Kurumi. At first, her schemes were evil enough to draw considerable ire from me — enough anger and annoyance for me to temporarily stop watching. It took me three weeks before I continued, and in a single episode, I somehow managed to forgive all her faults and wrongdoings. Kurumi’s actions were sinister and vile, but her story also spoke of her genuine heart. When combined with Sawako’s virtuous nature, the story really brought out the better parts of Kurumi. After all, Sawako is someone who has such an angelic personality that it made one feel incomparably selfish and lacking just standing next to her. Making real friends with her and declaring rivalry in a contest of love is… no small feat, and certain not an achievement manageable by most people.

I think I’ve become a fan of hers.

I have never seen a more beautiful declaration.

After two months of development, I could finally claim Kimi no Todoke is worth every bit the hype it has been getting this season. It doesn’t meet the usual expectations, but that’s because it exceeds something entirely different.

No wonder why its manga sales have been skyrocketing in early January…