Time for my whenever-I-feel-like-it-ly review of random shit
I just finished watching most of Clannad (gave up on it once I got to episode 19-ish). And holy crap, why does Japan have such terrible taste in women? Their ideal woman is some weak, spineless little passive twit. Even China does better by making the heroine strong in the beginning (before, you know, she falls in love and realizes that dependency is the new black), and we are so friggin' sexist it's not enough funny. We also happen to be really racist too. My Chinese teacher was teaching us about renting houses and newspaper ads and such, and she brought in some actual ads in for us. One of them said in bold: "ELMHURST SOUTH (WHITE PEOPLE NEIGHBORHOOD)".
Anyways, Clannad. I was rooting for Kyou the entire time, with Tomoyo being a close second. Character-wise, I actually do like Tomoyo more because Kyou is too much of a stereotypical tsundere which makes her character extremely flat. However... She has the most adorable baby pet boar. =DDDD (<-- queen of shallowness)
I also really wanted to see more of Kyou's story. It's not that I'm playing favorites; it's that of all the harem members, she's the only one who doesn't get some crazy cheesy backstory, and we never see things from her perspectives like we have from all the other characters. From her actions, we can easily guess what she's thinking, but it'd be nice if she had a BAAAW arc too. Slowly increasing the obviousness of the hints that she loves Tomoya, but is actively trying to let her sister have him is touch, but not BAAAW. We totally need a sisterly moment where Kyou tells Ryou that she loves her more than she will any man. (Why do I suddenly feel like some creepy middle aged otaku pervert?)
Tomoyo also didn't get a BAAAW arc. The thing with her brother is sad, but didn't have me crying for no reason like Fuuko and Kotomi's arcs did. I liked the alternate timeline OVA where she ends up with Tomoya, though. It was definitely rushed and the ending didn't have much impact because they just couldn't develop their relationship in the given time frame. Part of it, too, I think is that the viewers have seen Tomoya and Nagisa's slowly budding romance throughout the entire series, so no matter how much time was given, it would've been hard to really feel something for a relationship between Tomoyo and Tomoya (and yeah; I hate how their names are so similar too). I personally think it would've been much nicer if the producers simply turned it into a stand-alone movie. They could flesh out the characters and their relationship in the first half, and then go al BAAAW in the second half. Would've worked out much better, in my opinion, since the story of the OVA is, at its core, a story about the choice between an uncertain spiritual happiness and a certain materialistic happiness -- something that is pretty much irrelevant to the themes and story of Clannad.
Another thing I hate about Clannad is how everything is pretty much its own separate story. Each arc can be told almost independent of each other, and once a character's arc is done, they don't play much of a role later on. And each of the girls aside from Nagisa seem to have so little influence on Tomoya's character development. The most glaring example is Fuuko. Once her arc is done, she disappears from everyone's memories and never returns except for dumb cameo comic relief. Holy fuck man; why would you ever do that in a story? I mean, her arc was sad and all, but if Tomoya forgets about her, what was the whole point of the arc? If the series was Fuuko's story, then being forgotten has a meaning. But it's Tomoya's story and it's so pointless for something to happen which doesn't affect him or influence his character, especially since Clannad (and Key anime in general) is so very character driven.
However, I did like this a lot more than Kanon. I tried watching Kanon and the pacing drove me nuts. It takes two episodes for every plot point. The other thing is that all the humor felt so forced in this fake moe way and it was so hard to feel pity for the characters because they pissed you off like nothing else. Clannad, on the other hand, was genuinely witty and sad. I definitely had to pause a few times to laugh and to cry.
I also picked up obtained in a manner of questionable legality a copy of Spore. I was so hyped about it when the trailers were out. But now that i"ve played it, it fails pretty hard. Each stage is just a rehash of its own formulic gameplay and some other game.
1. Cell stage -- you start out as a microbe swimming around in water. Eat food, avoid bigger microbes that will eat you. So basically... Pacman.
2. Animal stage -- the best part of the game since creature creation is so fascinating. But when you're outisde the creature creator, the gameplay is insanely formulic. You explore. You unlock body parts by examining skeletons. You befriend other animals by imitating their very slow actions. You fight other animals by choosing one of four attacks.
3. Tribe stage. You have a little village. You build buildings that will help you. You either befriend or fight other tribes. Basically: a really crappy Age of Empires meets the ole formula.
4. Civilization stage. Same as before. Except a FAIL rehash of the Civilization series.
5. Space stage. A huge clusterfuck of repetitive missions.
Oh, and Chaos;Head and Tytania now fail. Chaos;Head is all rushed and the girls' stories are getting wrapped up too easily. Also, Takumi's I AM ME revelation wasn't epic enough. Perhaps I'm still too used to Lelouch's drama?
And Tytania is too slow and draggy. THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE; WE GET IT. <3 Lydia though. She gave up her snack when she heard her people starving and told her servant to give it to the people. Let them each cake, indeed. =DDD
Anyways, Clannad. I was rooting for Kyou the entire time, with Tomoyo being a close second. Character-wise, I actually do like Tomoyo more because Kyou is too much of a stereotypical tsundere which makes her character extremely flat. However... She has the most adorable baby pet boar. =DDDD (<-- queen of shallowness)
I also really wanted to see more of Kyou's story. It's not that I'm playing favorites; it's that of all the harem members, she's the only one who doesn't get some crazy cheesy backstory, and we never see things from her perspectives like we have from all the other characters. From her actions, we can easily guess what she's thinking, but it'd be nice if she had a BAAAW arc too. Slowly increasing the obviousness of the hints that she loves Tomoya, but is actively trying to let her sister have him is touch, but not BAAAW. We totally need a sisterly moment where Kyou tells Ryou that she loves her more than she will any man. (Why do I suddenly feel like some creepy middle aged otaku pervert?)
Tomoyo also didn't get a BAAAW arc. The thing with her brother is sad, but didn't have me crying for no reason like Fuuko and Kotomi's arcs did. I liked the alternate timeline OVA where she ends up with Tomoya, though. It was definitely rushed and the ending didn't have much impact because they just couldn't develop their relationship in the given time frame. Part of it, too, I think is that the viewers have seen Tomoya and Nagisa's slowly budding romance throughout the entire series, so no matter how much time was given, it would've been hard to really feel something for a relationship between Tomoyo and Tomoya (and yeah; I hate how their names are so similar too). I personally think it would've been much nicer if the producers simply turned it into a stand-alone movie. They could flesh out the characters and their relationship in the first half, and then go al BAAAW in the second half. Would've worked out much better, in my opinion, since the story of the OVA is, at its core, a story about the choice between an uncertain spiritual happiness and a certain materialistic happiness -- something that is pretty much irrelevant to the themes and story of Clannad.
Another thing I hate about Clannad is how everything is pretty much its own separate story. Each arc can be told almost independent of each other, and once a character's arc is done, they don't play much of a role later on. And each of the girls aside from Nagisa seem to have so little influence on Tomoya's character development. The most glaring example is Fuuko. Once her arc is done, she disappears from everyone's memories and never returns except for dumb cameo comic relief. Holy fuck man; why would you ever do that in a story? I mean, her arc was sad and all, but if Tomoya forgets about her, what was the whole point of the arc? If the series was Fuuko's story, then being forgotten has a meaning. But it's Tomoya's story and it's so pointless for something to happen which doesn't affect him or influence his character, especially since Clannad (and Key anime in general) is so very character driven.
However, I did like this a lot more than Kanon. I tried watching Kanon and the pacing drove me nuts. It takes two episodes for every plot point. The other thing is that all the humor felt so forced in this fake moe way and it was so hard to feel pity for the characters because they pissed you off like nothing else. Clannad, on the other hand, was genuinely witty and sad. I definitely had to pause a few times to laugh and to cry.
I also picked up obtained in a manner of questionable legality a copy of Spore. I was so hyped about it when the trailers were out. But now that i"ve played it, it fails pretty hard. Each stage is just a rehash of its own formulic gameplay and some other game.
1. Cell stage -- you start out as a microbe swimming around in water. Eat food, avoid bigger microbes that will eat you. So basically... Pacman.
2. Animal stage -- the best part of the game since creature creation is so fascinating. But when you're outisde the creature creator, the gameplay is insanely formulic. You explore. You unlock body parts by examining skeletons. You befriend other animals by imitating their very slow actions. You fight other animals by choosing one of four attacks.
3. Tribe stage. You have a little village. You build buildings that will help you. You either befriend or fight other tribes. Basically: a really crappy Age of Empires meets the ole formula.
4. Civilization stage. Same as before. Except a FAIL rehash of the Civilization series.
5. Space stage. A huge clusterfuck of repetitive missions.
Oh, and Chaos;Head and Tytania now fail. Chaos;Head is all rushed and the girls' stories are getting wrapped up too easily. Also, Takumi's I AM ME revelation wasn't epic enough. Perhaps I'm still too used to Lelouch's drama?
And Tytania is too slow and draggy. THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE; WE GET IT. <3 Lydia though. She gave up her snack when she heard her people starving and told her servant to give it to the people. Let them each cake, indeed. =DDD