A Milestone Amount of Time Has Passed and Therefore I Must Write About It #4

Speaking of train wrecks…

These posts are never easy, in fact, I believe the previous 3 iterations of these have been absolute train wrecks. So instead of worry about that, I thought I would do something a bit differently. After all, I can’t do top X lists of my favorites of all-time, properly reflect on changes in my life or even retire from this blog because I haven’t found a reason to do so yet.

Back in the first week of this experiment when there was no set topic for what I would even write on, I described myself as a failure of a fan, but that’s beside the point. It was the popular thing to talk about series that influenced one as a fan. So in grand style, I’ve decided to retread that particular story and talk about the shows that have influenced me most since then. Nothing special or depressing here I hope. I’d have to really be trying to wedge that in. So without any further delay here they are.

Lacking Context in the Middle of Nowhere

While fighting off the temptation to express my opinion on Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (short version: A good first episode without 20 seconds that makes it troubling if not ruining it entirely), I remembered that I was invited in to write something on Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon II. There’s actually a little bit of back story before I get into this post for real.

Introduction

Back in July, as a result of a stupid wager on the Aniblog Tourney I ended up at Otakon. I went to a panel on sexism in anime, actually this one to be exact. Uncomfortably, I had made some purchases prior to this that made me feel like a terrible person for having attended this panel. Actually that’s the same feeling I’ve been having for most of the time since Kaibutsu-kun aired, but I digress slightly. The title character of Horizon came up as an example of an archetype of a character that is empty and can only be satisfied by the male protagonist who is there to allow the viewer to self-insert to gain a level of control over that character. Of course, that may be reading it entirely wrong, but that’s just going from memory.

Surprisingly, the chat on Horizon continued later that night at the local Hard Rock Cafe between repeated rounds of very large alcoholic beverages. The_Patches continued to talk about the show after having watched the 2nd episode and written on it. He made a very compelling case that there was something inherently interesting about Horizon’s concept. That trying to recover history by trying to re-enact it could be a fun experience stuck with me.

As I further delve off topic from the episode, I have to think that this is an interesting time that humanity is living through. Most of my adult life has been taken up with a terrorist attack, global military action in response that continues to this day, a couple Presidential elections here in America and financial dealings that have resulted in my general feeling that this current era is probably what the 1970s felt like.

In a better world, would people want to relive the current era? I think the prospect of going back to the 17th century seems a lot more appealing than going back to the Great Depression for instance. I generally have an opinion that the earlier period seems more appealing because of advances in the study of history and technology in general. There just isn’t as much source material from 16th century, so it’s easier for certain narratives to dominate. The English beating Spain’s Great Armada makes a great story. The underdog wins because conditions allowed it to happen. It’s an enlightening story out of a time filled with religious persecution.

I think children in the 1970s probably dreamed of designing stuff like this, now not so much.

Modern history, on the other hand, captures all that is terrible with the world. You can’t help but think that Humanity Has Declined as technology has allowed history to be measure in minutes. New documentation of an event is released in the morning, and by the time dinner comes around it’s already been packaged and re-packaged again for consumption for certain constituencies; some more fervent than others. From where I’m sitting, it can feel like I’m experiencing a different version of modern history than the one that’s been created for me by the media. It all just feels like a work of fiction.

So to go revisit earlier in this post, those events of global terrorism and the recession haven’t had a direct measurable impact on me (the latter more than the former obviously), but I have to keep those ideas in mind constantly. My very nature and the fact I studied history makes two minor opinions, but the only impact I can have is by marking a sheet of paper in a certain spot to elect someone to represent me at various levels of government. That somehow my 1/3 millionth of an electorate to determine 5/269ths of the voting pool for this nation’s highest office is important. The reality is that I matter as much to the history of the present day as a random subsistence farmer did in the mid-17th century.

So to wrap up the introduction to this post succinctly. The 17th century sound fun because of all of the stories that have been filtered through time. Modern history sucks because we know everything about what’s happening, but it allows me to watch Horizon. So on to the episode.

Pointless Debate #27: Multi Fandom

The inspiration for this post, the intersections of fandom.

I’ll start by saying that I was inspired by the first episode of Space Bros into writing this post. Actually, it was more a case of the opening few minutes in how milestones were marked. The older brother Mutta was born in the aftermath of the Agony of Doha, when the Japan conceded an equalizer to Iraq in the final 1994 World Cup qualifier. Hibito was born as Hideo Nomo was putting the finishing touches on his first no hitter in Major League Baseball. The day their lives changed was on the same date as the 2006 World Cup final.

I was just impressed that milestones in their lives were marked by sporting events. It’s just something people who are really into something do. There was an episode of This American Life in which one of the interviewees uses Penn State football to remember dates and more. In my own experience, those same dates in order I was an annoying 10 year old who was vaguely excited about the World Cup coming to my country the next summer, I was watching a cut-in on the no-hitter and I was in a cramped room live blogging the World Cup final while IMing one of my former college roommates. The temperature in that room was near 40 C, but I shall spare any additional details. Even in that, you can tell that there’s more detail as I was more emotionally involved in what was happening and where I was.

The attention to detail that went into this opening segment was impressive. They even nailed the facial hair Ellis Burks was sporting that season.

I’ll just continue on with sports fandom a bit. I like to think of the time between games as a non-fiction narrative. Fans talk to each other about their teams, creating a level of expectation for the next game or for an entire season. For generations this has gone on, and it has only been enhanced by the emergence of newer and more interactive sources of media.

I was such a big fan of Madoka that I didn't even realize that there was stuff after the end credits in the final episode until 2 weeks ago.

I always wonder if people feel the same while watching their favorite shows. As an example, do people remember what they were doing right before the final 2 episodes of Madoka aired? I can’t seem to think of any sort of marker in watching anime, apart from maybe January 3, 2009, though that was more relevant to writing now.

And finally I can use this in a relevant post.

That has had me thinking that perhaps I’m just not enough of a fan. I may have seen many series over the years, but maybe I don’t know enough about what I’m watching. I sometimes feel this blog lacks enthusiasm because I’m not solely dedicated to the media I write about. Then again, I was enough of a fan to actually put my thoughts out in long form so that must count for something.

Actually what I’m really interested in is finding out what other interests people out there have apart from anime and manga. Do you feel as passionate about that and contribute to that community as often as you do in this part of the internet? Am I being too serious about this topic as well?

Day 1096 and Somehow Counting

Three years ago, I watched Touma lose his mind

So I seem to have hit some mark for continuing to blog for a length of time, but I can’t seem to put myself in a position to celebrate it at all. Hence the use of a day count rather than a number of months or even years. I haven’t really felt good about the last year as far as my writing. Last year I said I had 2 paths to go toward, thoughtful analysis or writing on something popular. It seems I’m pretty well incapable of the former without being incredibly boring, and the latter seems to have been a complete miss with Haganai.

Duration isn’t exactly something I find worth celebrating in the middle of. At the end of it all, that’s fine if what came before it was great. However, it sort of feels like hitting Scamp’s famed 3 year mark is like awarding the winner of a 24-hour endurance race after 3 hours. Further more, I’m fairly certain that Scamp’s observation has skewed the survival of blogs as it has set a target that no one would have thought about before he wrote on it.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai 01 – Adventures in Storytelling

A perfectly normal situation in a normal Catholic school

I made the decision to blog this series about a month ago, but it was the culmination of months of dithering about the direction to take this blog. Going throught the Gaiden and movies for Legend of the Galactic Heroes may seem like a worthy task, but there really isn’t all that much interest. Neither was there in talking about Giant Killing or Kaiba or Steins;Gate or Sora no Woto, or even that ill-fated Yosuga no Sora post I needed a real change. With a year of rust on my active episodic blogging, I will attempt to blog a series with a title that is fitting if only in perception.

The first episode could be arguably seen as a story of self-delusion and the intricate stories individuals tell themselves to warrant their actions or it could be the mutual recognition of all involved that they had reached rock bottom and needed help. These stories and more below.

Pointless Debate #23: Most Memorable

I spent a bunch of time trying to make 500 something good, but the shortest way to get it out of the way was the Oniikoto DVD special

I recently completed my 500th anime according the database over at MAL, so I thought it would be time to put together some sort of tribute to reaching that milestone. So rather than trotting out a top 25 or some other list based on a rankings list I had, I decided to go with a list of the most memorable. These are in no particular order with simple reasons for why I personally found them memorable. Feel free to disagree because you probably will, but that’s what debate is all about isn’t it?