Haibane.info

Author: fledgling otaku

  • reading material

    Two new blogs to watch –

    Ogiue Maniax – there’s no paucity of intelligent analysis on anime, but for some reason this stands out from the crowded field.

    Schoolgirl Milky Crisis – insider commentary on the anime industry, with the most hilarious title ever. I must take serious issue though with his utterly ludicrous insinuation that Whisper of the Heart was superior to The Cat Returns.

    I also enjoyed this old (1978) essay from Philip K. Dick, now available online, entitled “How to Build a Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart Two Days Later.” PKD was always fascinated by teh nature of reality and the question of what is authentically human (He would have been a fan of Galactica, for sure). In this essay he wanders around the question of what is reality for real, rather than just what is reality in fiction. It is a strange read, and an intimate one.

  • another Garfield masterpiece

    This is one of the best Garfield Minus Garfield strips I have ever seen. The whole concept works best when Garfield is not just removed, but actually obsoleted from having to exist at all. The strip is almost a summary of the entire point of G-G – Jon’s literal descent into madness. Brilliantly done.

  • disliking Avatar

    I think that part of the reason some otaku get so fervent about shoving their favorite series on other otaku is because at some level, we want to share our experience of joy and discovery. This is a simple human impulse but it gets somewhat twisted by the enthusiasm (an overabundance of which is a defining characteristic of otaku). It can also be a validation of sorts when others acknowledge the greatness of a given series that you have been evangelizing – ego is also a defining characteristic, it seems 🙂 However, we must simply accept that not all of us like the same things. This is why Steven’s decision to drop Avatar is not particularly bothersome to me; I am disappointed I wont see any TMW essays on it, because those are invariably enlightening and stimulating, but it would be pretty foolish to argue that Steven is missing out on something or is somehow making a mistake in not choosing to push forward. He didn’t like it. That’s fine by me.

    One of Steven’s commenters makes a good point about Avatar’s overall season dynamic:

    If season one feels like filler, its probably because, on a certain level, it is. As near as I can tell, the writers were mainly aiming to produce a reasonably fun, but not great, story for season one. . . with plot threads to be developed later, if the show didn’t get cancelled. Their goals, and targets, thus rose at that point.

    Honestly, if you had asked prior to checking the show out, and bearing in mind what I know of your tastes? I would have suggested something along the lines of “Watch the two part intro, watch the Northern Water Tribe sub-arc, then skip to Season 2.” As otherwise? Its a series that’s not going to sell itself to you, because the first part you’ll watch is the part that’s selling it to someone else. Given that, honestly, *I* wouldn’t have have given it more than a passing glance based on season 1 either, not shocking this outcome.

    I heartily agree (and subsequent dissenters who argue that every single thing that happens in season 1 was utterly critical to the overall story are both missing the point, as well as simply factually wrong). The bulk of what Steven casts as filler is really character development that really rewards the second viewing of Avatar, rather than driving the plot forwards on the first. In fact this is why I think that I am cautiously optimistic about the live action movie, because they won’t be under the same constraints as the series was (on Nickolodeon, etc).

    On another level, though, I think a meta critique of Steven’s argument for dropping Avatar is warranted. Given how much otakusphere complaining exists about how little good material there is to watch nowadays, dropping series too easily seems counter-productive. I’m not arguing that we should force feed ourselves but rather than we do need to recognize the creative environment and real-world constraints that operate on the anime industry – especially the american animation variant (which I called Amerime). It is no coincidence that Samurai Jack – the best Amerime series ever produced – is unfinished. Had Jack been produced for Nick instead of Cartoon Network, there might have been an annoying sidekick character or a lot of filler episodes too – but it also might have actually been seen through to completion. Artistic purity is great but doesn’t always suffice for simple survival. Whether such a scenario would have been worse or better depends on implementation, as well as viewer preferences, so its at best an open question. Arguing that all series must meet specific standards of plot advancement and being too stringent about filler sets a certain bar which may be impossible to meet.

    UPDATE – J makes a related point (though not in response to Steven’s post) about the patience of the Japanese consumer:

    Anime is often like this as well. It’s not unusual for a series to spend most of a season meandering towards the plot, with a sudden burst of (usually rushed, over-compressed) activity towards the end. In many cases, there’s an obvious production or financial reason, but my point is that the target audience doesn’t seem to mind.

  • back from Mombasa

    I intended to mention that I was going on a trip to Mombasa, Kenya but seem to have neglected to do so here (though I did mention it here). At any rate, I am back. Whether this translates into more blogging or not is an orthogonal question 🙂

    I will say though that this was my first visit to Africa (aside from a childhood visit to Egypt), and certainly my first visit to the Other Hemisphere. The toilets flushed the same direction, as far as I could tell.

  • Northern Exposure – Light

    This, in a nutshell, is why i loved that show.

    Merry Christmas, everyone!

  • the very, VERY large Hadron collider

    This Onion story about the Very Large Earth Collider is hilarious for all the right reasons:

    “There will always be Chicken Little types,” theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku said. “When the first nuclear reaction was achieved, there were those who said its very existence made it a weapon of unspeakable power, and there is evidence they may have been right. It’s probably worth asking if the Very Large Earth Collider may in fact pose some minute danger to the Earth.”

    While the project remains controversial, physicists agreed in late November to reconvene and evaluate the risk factor of the project after a small-scale field test, during which the Very Large Earth Collider will be turned on at 10 percent capacity, catapulting Earth into the moon at only half the speed of light.

    Of course, since a hadron is just a bound state of quarks, then protons and neutrons are also hadrons (specifically, baryons which are a subset of hadrons). Which means that in a sense the Earth is a big hadron itself… hmm. Has anyone checked the website of the LHC to see just exactly what they have in mind?

  • Felix Gaeta – the Face of the Enemy?

    There’s a new 10-part series of weekly webisodes at scifi.com featuring Lt. Felix Gaeta at scifi.com beginning today. The title of the series is “The Face of the Enemy” and given my earlier speculation on the identity of the final cylon, I am going to have fun mining these webeps for more data to support my theory 🙂

    There’s a brief summary of the overall plot of the webeps at io9. Some minor commentary of my own below the fold… (more…)

  • Anime bending

    Steven has ordered the first season of Avatar, largely based on my recommendation, which both gratifies me and also makes me squirm, because my reputation is on the line now 🙂

    The first season is in many ways a very straightforward one. It aims to set the scene, introduce the characters, and give them a nice clean goal and a clear-cut villain. At least, that is what you’re supposed to do in a first season of a multi-season arc; the genius of Avatar is how they subvert every one of those aims, both subtly during season 1 itself and then in a major way in the later seasons. For season 1, though, the viewers’ job is simple; to fall in love with the characters alone. There are plenty of things going on right before your eyes that have massive significance later on, but on the first viewing that stuff is just not as important as understanding who Aang, Kitara, Sokka, Iroh, and Zuko are. The storytelling is simply effortless in this regard – the season ended far too quickly for me, but then I realized looking back just how much actually happened (quite a bit, plotwise, though you are barely aware of the larger arc at this stage).

    very mild spoilers follow, so I am putting them below the fold… (more…)

  • The Simpsons meet the muslims

    Earlier I mentioned the Arabic-ized The Simpsons starring Omar Shamsoon. Now the Simpsons have introduced a token muslim family, as well as engaged in some Apple bashing. Yet despite this high convergence with my blog topic pastimes, I was less than impressed. I was particularly disappointed that they didn’t make more of the fact that Dan Castalleneta, the voice of Homer, also voiced the Genie in Aladdin, for Homer’s magic carpet ride dream sequence.

    There’s sldo some discussion of the episode over at Talk Islam worth checking out.

  • Animeme

    Mark has an anime meme that I think I’ll give a go:

    • What anime are you watching now?

    I am watching Samurai Champloo and Fate: Stay Night. The latter I’ve had on my hard disk for almost a year but only got motivated to start watching it when I saw that other otaku had started giving it a shot. I’ve only finished disc 1 of Champloo but I am already on episode 20 of FSN.

    • What is your favourite time to watch?

    In the evening, when I am waiting for Baby Otaku to finally stop fighting sleep, and sometimes during the day when I’m feeding her a naptime bottle.

    • And your favourite place?

    On the floor in front of my sofa (it’s comfy to lean against) watching on my television. I am either watching a DVD from Netflix or using AVI files on a USB stick attached to my DVD player.

    • Who is your favourite auteur?

    Easily Makoto Shinkai. Easily. I have my eye set on this but can’t really afford it right now. Patience is a virtue…

    • Your favourite OST?

    If we are limiting this to anime, then the only one I’ve been moved to buy so far is the Haibane Renmei soundtrack. It’s amazingly moving and ethereal.

    • What is the most difficult anime you’ve ever watched?

    Grave of the Fireflies. It almost killed my interest in anime forever (not to mention turning my wife away from anime completely, until Sugar came along).

    • What was the first anime you remember watching?

    Does Robotech count? if not, then Akira, like everyone else.

    • Do you have a comfort show that you re-watch?

    If I owned Samurai Jack, that would be my preferred one. I like rewatching Sugar: Snow Fairy with my daughter.

    • What is the most erotic anime you’ve watched?

    My answer will probably make some of you laugh, but I’d have to say Ranma 1/2. I’m just not into the fan-service titles and largely avoid them. I described earlier what types of anime interest me.

    • Which classic should you have watched?

    Probably Evangelion. I also should have finished Noir.

    • Which series did you never want to end?

    Ranma! which is good, because it never did 🙂 Seriously, though, I pretty much always want a series I am enjoying to never end. Though the two series I think I wanted most to continue indefinitely were Samurai Jack and Kino’s Journey.

    • What is your most overrated anime?

    I tried very hard to like a tale of ef, but I just couldn’t get into it. I have yet to find a single person who’s seen it who hasn’t loved it, so I am clearly in the extreme minority here.

    • Which character could you have an affair with?
    • Who is your favourite character?
    • Which character do you most dislike?

    In one sense, the answer to all three of these questions could be Reki from Haibane Renmei. However, in the interest of being more accurate, I’d say tsunderes in general for the first question, mahou shoujos in general for the second, and heroes who fail themselves for the third. This also means that I could just as easily answer Nayuta from Shingu instead of Reki for all three, actually…

    • Which character do you identify with most?

    That’s a better question than the previous three. I think in some sense, absent the physical prowess or skill, I identify with Samurai Jack and Ranma, which is why those series resonated so well with me. It’s the (male) hero who strives to do the right thing, and in so doing characterizes what it means to be a man, who appeals to me.

    • Which anime changed your life?

    Probably Robotech came closest, by almost making me fail out of my first semester of exams in college (finals week is a bad time to get addicted to anything, let alone a 50+ episode epic series). Haibane Renmei was the impetus for me starting this blog, which has also been a great thing for me.

    Well, that was fun, and gave me an excuse to link some old posts for fun, too. I am unsure of the usual protocol for internet memes, but I am going to risk a faux pas and “tag” Nick, Astro, and Pete for the animeme next.