Category: Abstract

Robotics;Notes Over

Robotics;Notes finally ended this weekend. If you saw Steins;Gate as I had in real time in 2011, you might have had expectations of Robotics;Notes being another incredible anime. You might have been disappointed this time around. My friend (let’s call him, Madd Matt) and I have focused on Robotics;Notes this prior season to ascertain if Steins;Gate could be replicated into another series or if it was a lost cause. In our opinions, it was: the characters, while somewhat interesting in their unique ways, stayed too flat despite their own developing arcs and even completely omitted plot line segments, and then, the plot itself which was poorly paced and disjointed at times. I don’t write reviews, so what are you talking about, I’m a caption artist.

On a completely arbitrary scoring system, where Steins;Gate earned a 10, Robotics;Notes earned a 7. (And 10 is the highest, 1 is the lowest.) Chaos;Head, for those that remember that joke, earns a 5 on a good day, maybe a 4 on a bad day. Overall, it was good. If there are future installments of this franchise, I will definitely rewatch it and suggest others do as well, but it’s no masterpiece (as per the ANN scale).

But in other news, hey, Occultic;Nine is kinda the next series in the franchise, but it’s actually not really. Whatever the case is though, the name has the semi-colon and I’ll likely be sold, eventually.

No, excuse me, I have a light novel to read.

Seldomly;Committed.

Moved in so Many Ways – Hanasaku Iroha

Ohana said this in episode 11.

I’ve never been moved in so many ways in one day before.

I’m not quite sure how old Ohana is supposed to be, but she’s just a kid. That’s good. You should experience this ride when you’re young because as you get old, it hurts more and it’s engraved in the portions of your memory that make you bitter. When you’re young, the blemishes fade away and you come out feeling alive, maybe even happy, maybe even lucky that you managed. See, when you’re a kid, love pains, conflicts with your parents and the burdens of responsibility to the things you feel important, well, you can feel anyway you want and you won’t mind after.

Moving commit.

99 Days Later

I am back. Ninety-nine days later, I have risen from the depths of the scholarly sea to return to not actually blogging about anything at all. The clouds have departed and the waters have calmed, the air is moist and the ground is wet. The storm is over.

Enough poetry. The truth is I was bored with the last season and actually being required to write about boring stuff was actually really really boring. Episodic blogging apparently just isn’t for me. My normal writing style isn’t episodic, it’s more editorial, more expository, more to the point and devoid of fluff. I have no intention of blogging again for anime. I’ll merely mention a note here or there. I’m not as interested as I used to be in this kind of stuff. All of that echi-esque anime is really boring. I’m here for the excitement.

Last week I discovered that Netflix actually figured out how to get anime licenses for instant streaming. I was pleased to watch the first season of Spice and Wolf, Eden of the East and Darker than Black. Among other things, I love Spice and Wolf because Holo/Horo is cute and Eden of the East because the idea of saving a country with a few billion dollars sounds like fun. Darker than Black still makes no sense and thank you very much for not explaining the mystery behind anything – in either season. Netflix bought the first seasons of anime that were at least two years or older from their original release date. When can I expect instant streaming of the next season? I’m guessing in another two years.

The spring season has started. A few series have began to air and more will be coming in the next two weeks. Looking at Neregate’s spring list, I might be looking forward to Nichijou, an anime about being extraordinarily ordinary, Steins;Gate, the scifi anime of this season, A Channel, the Lucky Star like series and two series with silly-long titles, Ano Hi mita Hana No Namae wo Boku-tachi Wa Mada Shirani, really now, was that really nessecary and [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control.

Finally, the idea of making Ghost in the Shell: SAC into a 3D movie is silly. A remake is pointless. How about something a little more original?

Anyway, that’s all I have to say concerning anime. It might be a while.

Delayed commit.

New Year’s Look Back

I’m looking back right now. I don’t see a stand out show personally. I loved Squid Girl, Working!! and Angle Beats. Yet, none of those seem like an icon for the entire year. Maybe Amagami? It’s been running for six months – half a year, holding my captivation. However it wandered all over the place for me, hot Haruka, family Kaoru, squishy Sae, Mysterious Ai, Boring Rihiko and Two-faced Tsukasa – I could pick the last as the best but that leaves the rest kind of dead in the water.

Perhaps this kind of indisision is how the literature industry feels about plays. They see them but can’t tell if they’re groundbreaking for thirty years. Epi is doing something like that but with the entire decade. He’s done a great job too in my opinion.

Let me just nominate Railgun as my favorite. It’s not special or groundbreaking. It’s average. It was good. As my favorite character though, let me nominate Kuroneko. I’d love to see more of her. There’s that sense of mystery behind a character that I want to see unraveled. I’m waiting for that good mystery to up.

That’s all from me. Have a fantastic new year.

New Year’s Commit!