Catching Up

Hey guys, how’s it going. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve posted here, which isn’t without good reason, but since I’ve given excuses before, let’s just skip over that and go over some stuff that I’ve missed instead.

First of all, school ended for me. Woo! I flew back home to balmy California (not that balmy) and hung out with people. Well, not much to say here.

Second, spring season has turned out quite nicely (even though it’s almost over already…). This season’s had quite a few solid shows that I’ve been keeping up with. Hm, I guess I’ll give some comments about them. Let’s see, in whatever order I think of them in…

• Hanasaku Iroha – I actually didn’t like this show that much at first, though it still wasn’t bad. It’s grown on me since then, but I’m still not a big fan of Ohana as a character. I wonder why. Maybe I don’t like unrealistically optimistic genki girls?
• Steins;Gate – This show has been pretty solid throughout, but it’s been having some pacing problems – shit is moving too damn slow. Still, all in all good stuff. The latest episode I watched, 9, ended in a big plot twist, so stuff might actually be happening. This show better be (at least) 2-cour, or it will fail hard (cf. Angel Beats!).
• Nichijou – I don’t care if people think this is “the biggest disappointment this season”, the show’s still awesome. KyoAni is still quality in my book, and the show is entertaining as hell. (In retrospect, hell’s not a very entertaining place. Scratch that analogy.) I guess it’s my type of humor, because I’m really enjoying it.
• Ao no Exorcist – Sometimes, I wonder why I’m watching this show. I’m still not entirely sure. It’s not bad, don’t get me wrong, but it’s just not keeping me that interested. Okay, maybe interested enough to keep me watching it every week, but not more than that.
• C – Oh, C. This show is about to hit what hopefully turns out to be an interesting climax, because it’s taken too damn long to get interesting. I did like the premise, but the show didn’t do very much with that premise it set up. It could have been so good!
• AnoHana – Oh man AnoHana. This show is possibly the only show this season I have nothing that bad to say about it. Needless to say, I love this show. It’s a tad predictable, but still turns out to be quite good. The nostalgia factor helps as well. Early on, I was getting all nostalgic about my own childhood just by watching the show.
• Maria+Holic Alive – If I had to choose my own “biggest disappointment this season”, it would be this. I enjoyed the first season quite a bit, but the sequel is not turning out as good. Really. And it doesn’t help that the only subs are shit quality from wherever HorribleSubs rips them from. I’m watching this more out of obligation than anything else at this point.
• KamiNomi 2 – The other sequel show. Though, unlike the other, it’s more enjoyable. While there is still some obligation involved (I read the manga, so there’s really no need for me to watch this), I still like the show.
• Deadman Wonderland – Hm, I guess there’s more obligation this season than I thought. Well, I’ve been keeping up with the manga since the beginning, which was a long time ago, so I guess this is a good refresher. (Also applies to KamiNomi to a certain extent.) Things have been pretty… not bad. It has a bit of a different feel than the manga, or maybe I’m just remembering things wrong.
• Tiger & Bunny – This is not a bad show. But, it’s not a brilliant show. That’s all I really have to say.
• Denpa Onna – This show, on the other hand, is awesome. SHAFT doesn’t usually do two shows a season, and I think it really shows: Denpa Onna is awesome, while Maria+Holic not so much. Plus, the music is better. Os-Uchuujin is so damn good.

Though I may sound like I’m hating on most of the shows, in reality I’m just tsundere actually think that most of them are pretty good, otherwise I would keep up with them. Compared to winter season, this one doesn’t have a god-tier show like Madoka, but it has quite a few solid shows which make up for it. Last season really had nothing much going for it besides Madoka.

Moving on, FanimeCon 2011 was awesome. I mostly spend my time hanging out with people instead of enjoying con events, because, frankly, I think cons are much more about the people than the actual con. Cons are just and excuse to get together with people you know and have fun, or to meet new people. No use staying cooped up in your hotel room when you can stay up until 10am in the gaming room fooling around. (Well, alternatively you could stay up until 10am fooling around with your friends in your hotel room, I guess.) But, don’t expect a Famine post. Lack of sleep means I really don’t remember as much if what happened as I should. Also I’m lazy.

Last point is probably the most important – I’m currently in Taiwan right now. Well, slight correction: at the time of typing most of this, I’m currently in a plane somewhere in the middle on the Pacific Ocean bound for Taiwan. Also, I’m typing it on my smartphone. Go me! Basically, I’ll be staying in Taipei over the summer. And that means I’ll be hitting up all the otaku-y places and events there are while I’m here.
Oh yeah. I also started and finished reading Bokurano while on the flight (also on my cellphone. Damn smartphones are useful). I know nothing about the anime, but the manga at least was amazing. Not that I’m surprised or anything.
—Slight spoilers to follow—
It actually reminds me a bit of Madoka. Got some kids, get ‘em to agree to do something while they have no idea what they hell they’re getting into. Wait, I’m sure this has been done a million times before. Shucks. Anyway, while the story’s structure may seem simple, i.e. going through one character’s fight at a time, it doesn’t get boring. New things are revealed each arc to keep the reader interested the whole way through. Plot twists work, man.
Another thing that was pulled off well was how they took into account the other countries into the plot. Though it still did seem like a “Japan is the center of the world” kinda thing. I guess that’s unavoidable. Also, no points for political correctness or anything like that. :P
One thing I noticed that was debatable was the similarity of the alternate worlds to the home world. Yeah, they have different fighter jets or whatever, but no evidence was given to suggest that they were any different other than that. I guess that’s good and bad. I suppose you can’t have them too different, otherwise it would kill the whole emotional impact.
Oh, talking about the emotional impact, the manga did a really good job going into the pilots’ emotions. They also cover topics like the cause to fight and life and death with much more depth than many other manga. At times like these, I really marvel at the medium that is manga. It can be so meaningful, yet still accessible (yes, emphasis on “can be,” because it often isn’t). And that’s something that other mediums don’t have. (Maybe.) Erm, I should probably give Bokurano a post to itself, but whatever. (also add pictures!) Maybe after I watch the anime, I’ll compare the two.

Of course, more stuff than just that happened, like me finally watching and reading Yumekui Merry (manga’s better), reading through all that’s out of Hourou Musuko, failing at SDMD, trying to contribute to the Touhou Wiki, getting addicted to Mahjong, and lots of other fun stuff. But that can wait.

~fc