Profile was nuked. It'll come back, be finished not be shit someday?
I won't talk about me, because I'm boring, you don't care, and MAL is an odd place to put any information about who I am. Cartoon watching aside.
So, about said cartoons. Rather, ratings, because that's the thing to talk about on profile pages, it seems. I don't like rating systems, summing up every bit of thought on and opinion of something into a single digit seems silly. But handy! So, the first thing to do if you look at my list of numbers for whatever reasons (I creep people's lists, I like to think I'm not the only one to do so) is to disregard the numbers, because I throw them around arbitrarily as all hell. No objectivity or what have you, just me tossing numbers at a show because the list looks stupid without them.
Closest thing to structure is anything with six and above I liked/thought-highly-of/other-positive-past-tense-verb, with the opposite going for five and below (there's no choice for '5.5', and goddamnit MAL, five isn't the average of one through ten, so no middle ground here). Of course, I'll be damned if I don't contradict myself, so there's a chunk of shows with low scores that I love (I like to brand them with an appreciative 'lol' tag), as well as others that I gave low scores, but don't hate, and I don't know where I'm going with this.
To sum all that up, I suck at rating things. Now, in place of actually explaining myself/my tastes and what not, here's a bunch of lists and shit. Because what my xth cartoon/comic was will tell you a lot about myself.
Extended Anime Favourites
Pretend Mushishi is in the top right corner. Something broke, and instead of fixing it I'm just going to see how long it takes for the rest of those to fall apart.
Anime/Manga Milestones
001st Anime Completed: Ghost in the Shell
100th Anime Completed: Spice and Wolf II
125th Anime Completed: Bokurano
150th Anime Completed: Nodame Cantabile Finale
175th Anime Completed: Rain Town
200th Anime Completed: Samurai 7
225th Anime Completed: Simoun
250th Anime Completed: My Neighbour Totoro
275th Anime Completed: Fate/Zero
300th Anime Completed: K-ON! Movie
001st Manga Completed: Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
025th Manga Completed: 20th Century Boys
050th Manga Completed: Octave
075th Manga Completed: Aqua Blue Cinema
100th Manga Completed: Fruits Basket
125th Manga Completed: Sayonara Folklore
Hey if you're bored and need something to watch while resting on your journey, please for the love of god take some of my crunchyroll guest passes they're overflowing my inbox oh god help
Oh, you're absolutely right. Toll the Hounds was there to collect all the free-ranging characters and plot lines and set the stage for the two-part finale. My main problem was that it was too obvious in doing so: suddenly, there's too much in the way of focus on individual reasons for gathering in the Awl'dan.
Black Company isn't so much about marines, as it is about the use of fire power, be it magical or otherwise. The first few books are really pretty good, though I have to admit the later instalments are less brilliant - due, as so often, to a slavishly trying to complete a quest that was only a distant and vague outline in the beginning. Also, by the end it has more to do with individual characters than the company as a whole.
I'm still trying to find affordable copies of his Dread Empire series, which seems to up the scale a bit.
Sure, there's a bit of Shadow there, but also way too much Nimander. Way, way too much. Doesn't really help that I personally think the Andii and Liosan are the least interesting element in the series. A shame the new trilogy is all about them... And brace yourself for more Paran at random occurrences, with too much in the way of influence. Meh.
Well, the munitions are of course Moranth make and originally were intended to be used as the name suggests: for sapping. Same goes for the marines. It's mainly the disappearance of the real big guns - the Imass and the mage cadres - with Kellanved's removal that brought the Malazans to start innovating on the field. Notice how in particular the bulk of the armies, the mediums and heavies, are utterly Roman in composition. If anything, the introduction of fire power has more to do with copying Glen Cook than of any example from the real world.
Personally, I loved how the book starting playing things up, preparing for a major showdown - and then ending it all within a few pages. It really went to show the difference in power between the sides. It's also nice to see the Malazans getting back to form, as they're really the most interesting side, even if they're pretty much standard copies of idealised Roman legions.
Personally, I wasn't too fond of Toll the Hounds. Too much of a shift again to smaller groups and individuals and the associated heightening of self-importance.
Am myself currently going through the latest Esslemont. More Moranth, and especially more Seguleh - even going head-to-head with the Malazans. Also, finally a note that provides a sense of scale: Darujhistan was just mentioned as being a city of some half a million people.
Do you know any series with fluid animation similar to the fights in this? Watch the whole thing, it starts off a bit slow. Plus, the editing is fantastic and it has an Infected Mushroom song coincidentally!
Hey! Finally picked up Code Geass R2, and ended up blazing through it in a couple of days. It was fascinating to watch a series that had started out as a semi-serious, actually pretty damn good mecha/political thriller devolve into total abject stupidity. Extremely entertaining, but not for the reasons its creators probably intended.
Definitely recommended, but you'll have to be in the mood to enjoy large parts of it ironically. For what it's worth, the ending is excellent (if totally unearned,) and it was definitely never boring.
Gonna re-watch Escaflowne soon to cleanse the palette. It sets out to accomplish all the same things as Code Geass, only it's smarter and has better visuals (and a Yoko Kanno soundtrack!)
I think you also asked my opinion on Last Exile. I kind of lost interest due to the slow pace (it was starting to remind me of Eureka 7 honestly), but I think I'll pick it up again and see if the story goes anywhere worthwhile by the end. Don't think I'll check out the sequel series unless it REALLY blows me away though.
I'll be sure to check out the critics club when I hit the big One Oh Oh.
