My Thoughts Exactly: Japanese Anime

This post type is what I call "My Thoughts Exactly". This series of posts focuses on things that I'd like to talk about, and what I think of them. This type still focuses on the thought of Randomness, but this time there is a definite topic that the content will be about.

In case anybody is wondering why I describe what a post-type is before I go on with it, I'm mainly writing this for my benefit. My memory is similar to a goldfish in its ability to retain things like this. Writing what a post-type is in here is help me remember what is what and which is which.

/--

Ahh, anime. Something I rarely talk about. I'm too dyed in the wool to have any debates regarding this thing, my mind in a sort of preset when talking about anime. I used to talk a lot about anime, but events have overtaken my comprehension and thus I found myself out of touch about what otakus are talking about now.

I believe the golden age of Anime was the 80's to the early 90's. There are numerous iconic shows that were made and shown in this time period. This was a period that defined the genre's followers for the next 20 or so years. Almost all of my favorite shows are in this time period.

One notable show is Maison Ikkoku, by Rumiko Takahashi. This show is still, in my opinion, the best romantic comedy anime ever made. It had beautifully drawn characters (for the time, let's not compare it to the CG specials of today), incomparable storyline (it would be imitated by others, but they never had that special Mezon magic), and a completeness that you can never find in series that are the norm today.

Every self-proclaimed otaku say that they have a 10 best ranking of all the shows they've watched. Well this particular show is in my number 1 spot. And so far, I don't think anything will be able to beat it. I remember firing up the home theatre and the big-screen TV just to watch this, and it would take me well into the morning. When I watched the last episode of this,  that was especially memorable. It was once again a all-night viewing session, and I knew I was doing the home stretch of the series. Poured me some brandy, and settles down. But even intoxication could never prepare me for the emotional power that this show can project to a person deeply involved in the experience of watching it. Rather, the alcohol... enhanced the experience.

Note to self. Watch anime wearing beer goggles.

This brings me to the current plight of mine with regards to new anime shows being shown nowadays. There are so many, a product of the industry boom from the 2000s. This wealth in quantity does not necessarily translate into high quality releases; rather it only increases the hit ratio. Problem is, you need to sift through whatever that was ejected by the industry, and thus this (in my opinion an cumbersome and herculean effort) sifting makes anybody schooled in the old school give up and become jaded.

And this is what I've become. Right now, I select my viewing material based on notoriety. And the date it was made. I correlate the notoriety with how long it has been out, and from this I pull inferences of the quality of a particular show. Shallow I know, but this is efficient, compared to reading reviews for a show. They tend to be very inaccurate and frustrating, for my tastes rarely align with that of the reviewer. I remember I was once outed from a famous Fanfiction site as being too harsh. I'm too harsh for my own good. That's why, Beer goggles.

But lately, this year, I've been seeing the surging of those comedy anime. And they are very good. That is better than just having nonsensical moeblobs like K-ON (although the music is quite good, well, some of them) and the two most notorious long-running series (I stopped watching Bleach when it began to resemble Naruto in its wash and repeat stratagem. Two peas in a pod, I guess.) The comedies usully have me laughing, even with those gags; it might be that the translators' skills are improving. It's good to know that we still have the Comedy genre to fall back to when most of the works are blatant rehash of old concepts. That's good, but at least bring something new to the table.

Best example, and worst offender of this 'concept recycling' is the Gundam series. Gundam Seed was notable in that it was the first to have a concentration on the romantic relationship of the characters. Gundam 00 felt like a mashup of G-Wing story/background and a little of Gundam UC tech. Tiring to watch because it all felt too familiar. Wasn't worth the effort.

But not all is bad with the new productions. There are still, a lot of good ones, more than enough to last through this dark period of moeblobs. The Fate series is very promising, and what has Type Moon shown utilizing its elements are nothing short of brilliant. And consistently, I might add. Very high level of quality that I've only seen in productions coming from the 80s-90s. Angel Beats! was a fresh take on the concept of life after death, but alas, it was horribly short. Maybe Key will make a v-game enabling you to find out the backstory of all the characters? That would be a great and engaging game.

Productions like I've stated above give me hope that the dark period of moeblobs are over; maybe we're due to see some really memorable shows that would give the next generation their own icons. I fear that they have no icons for their childhood except those frustratingly inexplicable... things.

Random N.1

With this comes the debut of one of my regular post-types. The Random series. This isn't necessarily all too random as free writing, but it's random in the sense that I have no particular topic to talk about; the rest of the post follows.

I hope to introduce more regular series, talk about things I want to talk about.

Time to hit the ground running!

--/
All I could think right now, is how I've been eclipsed by my peers.

They're off, pursuing their dreams. I hope to be in the same track in the near future, but for now I have to ride it out, this seemingly awkward phase of transitioning from one important thing to another. It's just that my transition is more difficult than what I wanted or was led to belief.

But this period is by no means a reason to slack off. If you view it optimistically, this period can be viewed as a breather, at time to view things from the outside, adopt a bird's eye view of the situation. The period can be used to plan things in a strategic sense, because whenever you are afforded this view you see things that can not normally be seen when you're down, doing the nitty gritty.

Many people would the current position I am in isn't that bad. But, it's become incredibly tedious and boring; I know myself that this is not yet my place in the world. If I try a little harder I might be able to reach something on a better plane.

Whenever you stop reaching for something better, it doesn't really mean you're satisfied or anything; humans are incapable of complete and utter satisfaction. They always want something better. The manifestation is what varies among people. This continual need is echoed in our physiological processes, like hunger. Or growth of your various body parts. The same principle is used by the matter of evolution.

If a lifeform stops evolving, it's essentially reached the end of the line for that lifeform. Adaptability is hinged on evolution.

Humans never stopped evolving, and so we live up to this very day.

Going back to planning, the importance of it can never be stressed enough. The saying "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" can never be true enough.

But even with this planning thing, critical thinking must be exercised. Plans aren't really stiff rules that have to be followed; it would be better if they were more of 'outlines' than indicate the direction you're supposed to go to at a certain point in time. Plans that were made too stiff will inevitably catastrophically fail if it fails to adopt to the prevailing situation.

I suddenly feel like Captain Obvious LOL

I compare life to a pendulum. A pendulum perpetuates motion once it is initiated. But, if it ever stops, that would mean the end of the motion. If I stop moving, or I stop thinking about things big or small, that would be the end of my intellectuality and thus the end of my life.

So never allow yourself to be stifled by others. Freedom, even though in its exercise might reach into the most extreme, most bizaare forms it is the exercise of freedom still; damage control can be performed, but even though a particular action resulting from freedom may be a mistake, mistakes may become the hint to a future problem

/--

Told you this was random.

Car in the picture is a Honda 1300 Coupe 9 S

Start Line

Here I am, wanting to call a space of my own on the blogosphere.

And with all wants, everything begins at something. With this, my starting point, I will begin to open up the possibility of discussing whatever my scatter-brain thinks of.

I guess I'll be posting some random articles, but eventually I'll be posting some things relevant to daily life, and opine on the things that happen in our world.

Hopefully it turns out better than what this first, opening shot post looks like.

Let's go!