Spring anime season 2010

SG trailer
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These two anime plus RAINBOW Nisha Rokubo no Shichinin, that hasn't a trailer yet and has no announcement of air date, will be on the must watch list. Stylistically they seem very well-worked and quite refreshing from the usual anime style. But the plots are very promising as well: a student's (bizarre?) life, a samurai gang's life and deliquents' after WWII lives. And all of them are adaptions from novel and manga, meaning good quality of characters and story- dialogues. The two first hosted in Noitama slot that gave us masterpieces like Mononoke. Slice of life at its best- that's my hope.

Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei involves Masaaki Yuasa (Kaiba, Kemonozume, Mind Game- from which I and Neko-kun have watched only Kaiba and it WAS a masterpiece) and Yusuke Nakamura's character design. Plus the main character resembles Ikuhara-sensei! (see Revolutionary Girl Utena)

House of Five Leaves comes from the author of Ristorante Paradiso. I must admit that her character design with the many edges and the big pupils isn't something I like very much, but back in Ristorante's anime adaption these features were slightly decreased thus I watched it with delight. The House seems to preserve her manga style, so I'll see how much I can enjoy it. Plus the opening theme surprised me with the selection of a pop song. I was expecting something more traditional japanese. I believe that the plot structure will be similar to Ristorante's, so at least I'll enjoy the serenity of life stories.

The RAINBOW's title made me think at first that it was an anime with overdose of moe and silly fanservice or an art series with lolis, but when I saw the poster and read the summary, I totally changed my mind. I don't know a lot of facts about this one, but the manga won an award, so I have high hopes for a historical slice of life. The setting is the years after WWII and I am going to read The bread of those early years by Heinrich Boell with my Neko that's also set in this time period, so I'll get two different views on the same historical events and in different places. Let's see how it'll turn out.

Conversations - Beauty, morals and racism

From the previous post about Chinese beauty arose a very interesting conversation. We are both happy that we can discuss about everything and challenge each other to think. Intellectual ‘battles’ are always interesting. So, there certainly will come out more in the future.

First impressions - 'Kimi ni Todoke'

School- life shoujo at its best: lots of laughters, lots of tears, lots of sparkles floating, many chibis and a huge dose of innocence. What makes it so good though is its sweetness. It warms your heart like no other anime. Sawako and Kazehaya are one of a kind, so very kawai and so very shy and gentle. The word 'yasashii' appears already from the opening and it's one of the reappearing words along with the 'thank you' , 'hajimete' (=first/ beginning) and 'I am happy' that come from the lips of Sawako :)

The crazy water

There once was a king and he ruled a kind kingdom,
with happy and willing people.
One night, the king descented into a prophet's dream
and thus he saw the dreadful future:
in just a few days, it'd rain hard
but the water would make the people crazy
doin' things they would never expect.

The king woke up drowned in his sweat and heavy breath
and told his best friend an advisor of what he knew
"What you've witnessed is true my lord" he told the anxious king
"and here is what we must do. We will save all the sane water for a few days
and when all sanity is lost, we'll keep driking only from the good water
to keep this kingdom in justice and happiness".
And so they did.

When the people went insane, justice kept on the kingdom thanks to the king and his advisor
But soon the people were mad and angry against them
for for them madness was reason and reason was madness.
Soon both the king and his friend took the toughest decision
To drink the crazy water, to loose their minds, be one with the nutheads.
And so they did".

Don't you have the feeling that people, each and everyone of them, have actually tried the mad water ever since they were born? And that they keep updating on their dose of it?

Isn't it a pure sign of madness teaching kids at schools to be proud of their grandfather's horrible acts and prejustice, and then wonder why violence is a theme very popular to younglings, especially the male ones?

Isn't it an absolute sign of idiocity and hypocrisy to give one or two (or even 50 or 100) euro for children in Haiti, then buy products of the brands we all know they use children to produce their commodities, so we actually finance the hunger and pain those people feel? Even worse, the same people who make comments like "I may be a racist, but when I see a hungry child my heart is full of love for it" seem to become the very symbols of the majority of people. Am I the only one feeling embarassment to be a human when I listen to such things?

Isn't an act of nutheads to feel insulted of people protesting for their rights and needs?

Isn't it a sign of a madman to use dangerous words, the meaning of which he or she does not know, to show off?

The meaning of this post is not that I am the definition of a smart, rightful person and the rest of you are a pile of wasted crap. It's not a demand to change the world or to wake up people. There's nothing sophisticated behind it. It's only a way to say something I never listen anyone saying : you can be a bastard in every aspect in your life and it'll be ok, but, for goodness sake, just be a little honest to your self on how things are (and most probably have always been). It's the very least that can be done.

The gentleness of 'Natsume Yuujinchou'

One word to describe this series: yasashii...

The title of the series is referring to the Book of Friends that Takashi Natsume inherited from his powerful grandmother, Reiko Natsume. It contains the names of spirits she defeated in different games and pranks in order to kill time since she was not liked by other schoolmates and generally people because she was a 'weirdo', appearing to speak on her own with no one , seemingly, nearby. We watch Natsume giving back to those creatures their names, while he develops as a character, coming closer to both people and the supernatural.

Thus, could it be that the series' title is also referring to the series itself, each episode being a page of the 'book' and a story about Natsume and his new friends, whom he meets along his way?

Chinese beauty- Ehru and chinese illustrator Qianyu

I may not know much about China, but there is one thing I know for sure: they know what beauty is. (If you wanna read more about the many multiple notions of chinese beauty you can go to Iwa ni Hana blog by Wabisabi-she does an awesome job here : Iwa ni Hana). My experience of chinese beauty is relevant with mainly two things: ehru and illustrators.

Kawai ~~~

-Mrs. Fox! Look at this! Look at it! Wow, it's fun! Let's play together!
-...
-Oi! Let's play~~~
-Mr. Cat, can't you see I'm busy now? Are you that desperate to have my attention?
-Mooo~~~Why are you so cold?
-Silly cat!

Someone didn't have a good mood... :P



No words needed >.< It seems like the cat won a bet and the fox was just playing it difficult, hihi. She's enjoying it, isn't she? :)

On the power of names, our blog nicknames and a great series

By giving out your name, you are giving them the ability to take your soul. By giving out your birthday, you have given over the control of your whole life. ~Yuuko Ichihara, xxxholic, ch1 p16