Some anime stuff.
Look at me! Posting ... posting ... trying to figure out what to post ...
When not caught up in Persona 4 (which is beginning to wear on me, finally, at over 100 hours in @_@ I am too slow, though I'm very close to the end), I've been watching anime and movies. Not anything too recent -- I have a backlog of stuff I've been meaning to see, which includes just about anything available through my library system. So, without further ado ...
Now and Then, Here and There: I watched this series back at the beginning (at the worst) of my cold. It's been something I've been meaning to see for a while, though it has the dubious distinction of being the show I saw the first episode of immediately after being "confessed" to. (I know, I know. I didn't know what to do so I was like, "So, were we going to watch some anime?" And then after an awkward half hour of that, I ran away and decided I wasn't ready to have a boyfriend x.x) Partly because of that associated awkwardness, it took me a while to go back to the series. I finally did now and ... boy am I glad I didn't buy it on impulse. It's a good show, but ... it is so freaking depressing. Rape, torture, a dead cat, a dead favorite character, a ridiculously idealistic shounen protagonist -- Now and Then has everything that puts me in a bad mood. It also had some really good characters and positive themes of rising above suffering and sacrificing oneself for others. It is a good show, really -- both thoughtful and brutal. That said, it's along the same lines as Grave of the Fireflies -- I don't think I would ever want to watch it again.
(I'm also led to question the wisdom of showing this to someone you've just confessed to. Though, I wanted to see it, so ...)
Jin-Roh: Another depressing feature, though I'd be willing to watch this one again in order that I might better follow the strands in the webs of conspiracy in this movie. And I really did appreciate the way Little Red Riding Hood was used as a motif. I guess I have much the same feelings toward it as I do toward Perfect Blue -- it is disturbing but well-done, and it sticks in my brain afterward.
Love*Com: This is not the anime, but the live-action movie. Which is unfortunate, because while I was enjoying the anime (though I never finished it), the movie was ... utterly ridiculous. I mean, a lot of Japanese comedies are this way, and sometimes I really enjoy it (this was so in the case of Kamikaze Girls), but this time ... sorry, no thank you, too KUH-raaaazy for me. It was so focused on getting through a lot of the story and being zany that it just wore out its welcome.
Last Quarter: I actually watched this a while back, but now that I'm on the subject of bad manga adaptations ... yeah. Last Quarter was another one that just tried to do too much and didn't have enough real feeling or (honestly) talent behind it. It just felt bad. Which is unfortunate, since I really like the manga, to the point that I consider it one of my favorites.
School Rumble S2: I made it through both seasons of School Rumble! Alas, the ending was pretty ... nonexistent and thus disappointing. The comedy was good. The romance never went anywhere, to the point that the characters were pretty much in the same place at the end as they were in the beginning. It wasn't as cute or charming as Azumanga Daioh, but it did have males in the cast, so that was a plus. So, basically, a harmless fluff show.
Peach Girl: I just started this one tonight and am 5 episodes in. Oh my goodness, the DRAMA. This series is thick with it. But I do like to watch drama-full shows every now and then (even if Sae is frustrating beyond belief. I just want to ring her scheming neck, URGH.), and I like that the love triangle isn't the usual "princely, cool type vs. angry, misunderstood type." This time we have "flirty type vs. serious type." ... In this case, I actually prefer the flirty one ^^; But the serious guy isn't terrible, just pigheaded. So yeah, I'll probably continue watching.
The Third: Girl with a Blue Eye: This is another one I just started -- I'm four episodes in. Kyaaa, I like it ^^ The setting is a future Earth where most of the land is desert and a group of people called "The Third" (who have a third eye on their foreheads) rule humanity. Honoka is a jack-of-all-trades who takes jobs in the desert and flirts with breaking the "technology taboo" (no advanced tech for humans) set by the Third. One day she rescues a mysterious young man named Iks in the desert, and he decides to come with her ...
I will say that the occasional SD moments bother me (since the show seems too serious for Honoka to go chibi over being called unfeminine or flat-chested), but other than that, this show is a lot of fun. I find Iks, mysterious and gently-smiling type that he is, totally adorable. The music is nice and the backgrounds are lovely. So yeah, I plan on continuing this one as well.
That's about it for now.
When not caught up in Persona 4 (which is beginning to wear on me, finally, at over 100 hours in @_@ I am too slow, though I'm very close to the end), I've been watching anime and movies. Not anything too recent -- I have a backlog of stuff I've been meaning to see, which includes just about anything available through my library system. So, without further ado ...
Now and Then, Here and There: I watched this series back at the beginning (at the worst) of my cold. It's been something I've been meaning to see for a while, though it has the dubious distinction of being the show I saw the first episode of immediately after being "confessed" to. (I know, I know. I didn't know what to do so I was like, "So, were we going to watch some anime?" And then after an awkward half hour of that, I ran away and decided I wasn't ready to have a boyfriend x.x) Partly because of that associated awkwardness, it took me a while to go back to the series. I finally did now and ... boy am I glad I didn't buy it on impulse. It's a good show, but ... it is so freaking depressing. Rape, torture, a dead cat, a dead favorite character, a ridiculously idealistic shounen protagonist -- Now and Then has everything that puts me in a bad mood. It also had some really good characters and positive themes of rising above suffering and sacrificing oneself for others. It is a good show, really -- both thoughtful and brutal. That said, it's along the same lines as Grave of the Fireflies -- I don't think I would ever want to watch it again.
(I'm also led to question the wisdom of showing this to someone you've just confessed to. Though, I wanted to see it, so ...)
Jin-Roh: Another depressing feature, though I'd be willing to watch this one again in order that I might better follow the strands in the webs of conspiracy in this movie. And I really did appreciate the way Little Red Riding Hood was used as a motif. I guess I have much the same feelings toward it as I do toward Perfect Blue -- it is disturbing but well-done, and it sticks in my brain afterward.
Love*Com: This is not the anime, but the live-action movie. Which is unfortunate, because while I was enjoying the anime (though I never finished it), the movie was ... utterly ridiculous. I mean, a lot of Japanese comedies are this way, and sometimes I really enjoy it (this was so in the case of Kamikaze Girls), but this time ... sorry, no thank you, too KUH-raaaazy for me. It was so focused on getting through a lot of the story and being zany that it just wore out its welcome.
Last Quarter: I actually watched this a while back, but now that I'm on the subject of bad manga adaptations ... yeah. Last Quarter was another one that just tried to do too much and didn't have enough real feeling or (honestly) talent behind it. It just felt bad. Which is unfortunate, since I really like the manga, to the point that I consider it one of my favorites.
School Rumble S2: I made it through both seasons of School Rumble! Alas, the ending was pretty ... nonexistent and thus disappointing. The comedy was good. The romance never went anywhere, to the point that the characters were pretty much in the same place at the end as they were in the beginning. It wasn't as cute or charming as Azumanga Daioh, but it did have males in the cast, so that was a plus. So, basically, a harmless fluff show.
Peach Girl: I just started this one tonight and am 5 episodes in. Oh my goodness, the DRAMA. This series is thick with it. But I do like to watch drama-full shows every now and then (even if Sae is frustrating beyond belief. I just want to ring her scheming neck, URGH.), and I like that the love triangle isn't the usual "princely, cool type vs. angry, misunderstood type." This time we have "flirty type vs. serious type." ... In this case, I actually prefer the flirty one ^^; But the serious guy isn't terrible, just pigheaded. So yeah, I'll probably continue watching.
The Third: Girl with a Blue Eye: This is another one I just started -- I'm four episodes in. Kyaaa, I like it ^^ The setting is a future Earth where most of the land is desert and a group of people called "The Third" (who have a third eye on their foreheads) rule humanity. Honoka is a jack-of-all-trades who takes jobs in the desert and flirts with breaking the "technology taboo" (no advanced tech for humans) set by the Third. One day she rescues a mysterious young man named Iks in the desert, and he decides to come with her ...
I will say that the occasional SD moments bother me (since the show seems too serious for Honoka to go chibi over being called unfeminine or flat-chested), but other than that, this show is a lot of fun. I find Iks, mysterious and gently-smiling type that he is, totally adorable. The music is nice and the backgrounds are lovely. So yeah, I plan on continuing this one as well.
That's about it for now.