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Oh, so you actually LIKE researching? Boy, we’ve got ourselves an anomaly here, a member of a truly endangered species =D jk, that’s so cool!

> to succeed at post-graduate studies, you really ought to be doing it for more than to fulfill some sort of societally-imposed requirement. Otherwise, you're doing it wrong.

I’d say the same for undergraduate, and heck any schooling and any occupation. Yeah, researching just isn’t my thing at all, so I’m glad no one’s making me get a Masters… yet (though some company might force me to if I want to advance). So wait, communications, so I’m sure you’re all hooked up with Clancy now? What kinds of research or whatever are you doing, or are you planning to do with him?

> It's just so chill and cool to see how self-motivated everyone is.

Boy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that scene before. Sounds incredibly uplifting and motivating. Glad you’re enjoying yourself there; you’re 2 for 2 with your internships! I’m one for two, GE’s tight and stuffy corporate bureaucracy didn’t mesh too well with me, but at least now I know what to look out for.


> most of the characters never do anything REMOTELY similar to any human being

Haha, I actually had that problem with Kara no Kyoukai, but with the rest of Bakemono engaging me so much (unlike Kara no Kyoukai’s empty atmosphere), I guess it just didn’t bother me nearly as much here. Especially since I’d already experienced it once in Katana so I knew what I was in for, and I probably cut this problem some slack and tossed it up among this show’s many other unique quirks. As I mentioned, I posted my Bakemono thoughts elsewhere already, so if you don’t mind reading a few copy-pastes, here’s me trying to decipher why I enjoyed Bakemono so much:

After episode 1:

Totally enraptured by its delicious sense of style with all of its camera angles (and how frequently it shifts), the beyond stellar art (love the edgy perspectives they use here, as well as the somehow unclashing and interesting mesh of realism and abstraction), and all of the cryptic flashing text or background typesetting keeping your subconscious ripe. Not to mention the same fresh, playful, and well-written dialogue we found in Katana.

Though there isn’t much that actually happens in an episode’s plot, you’re engaged trying to keep track of all of the aforementioned incessantly hitting you. There’s always something or other piquing my interest every few frames, so the anime actually feels pretty dense to me, even though the plot really isn't. Characters are all rather interesting and cool, all 5-6 of them from this episode. Even Hanekawa, who outwardly looks pretty generic but exudes an I-am-more-than-meets-the-eye vibe at a few points, especially with whatever link I think she has to that badass white-haired chick they foreshadowed.

Because I’m too busy enjoying and keeping track of everything else, I don’t really notice any of the shortcomings of each component (lack of animation, low density, “nothing but dialogue”, etc.) until (useless) post-analysis scrutiny, and I don’t find myself bored in the slightest. Instead, I’m enthralled and thoroughly engaged from beginning to end. I do like it better than Katana so far, but it’s just the first ep – pretty foolish to hedge anything on the hook episode.

tl;dr: I’m loving it thus far. Stylish, original, engaging, unconventionally dense, and just plain refreshing at every single angle. 8/10, an experience like no other.


Then after episode 2:
Man, I effing love this show. 9/10 now. They went full blast fleshing out Senjougahara's character here, especially liking her contrasting kind bit at the very end of ep 2. And the connection between feelings, memories, and weight, or rather the fact that they actually made a meaningful connection to the seemingly arbitrary weight loss aspect, so cool!


Then after episode 3:
So weird, it's like with Bakemonogatari, I don't really find the plot all that important for some reason. More that I just want to watch the characters, and all the other crap I listed before. So enamored by the show's overall atmosphere that the plot's like the cherry on top, the bonus extra credit. This crazy anime's flipping me upside down XD


I was actually watching this with another person, and wrote a short post for almost every episode. The rest can be found from the bottom to about halfway up this page, each Bakemono comment starting with “Ep X:”: http://myanimelist.net/comtocom.php?id1=2092391&id2=61720&show=0


One excerpt:
I'm a big fan of every single character in this show -- quite the rare feat in a story. I mean, you could easily find works where you don't have a problem with any character, but to say that you really really like every character.. that's something special I think.


Oh, and about Senjougahara and Araragi, I certainly don’t have a problem with the way their relationship initiated –- thought Senjougahara confessed and explained herself pretty gracefully there. And while I loved their interactions in the first three eps, I totally agree with you after ep 3. After ep 12, I posted this:

I still have this lingering gripe though. I mean, I realize how intimidating Senjougahara must be to Araragi, but I wish he'd take a bit more initiative in the conversations and the relationship rather than merely responding to her all the time. He proactively gripped her hand this episode, and that was a good start, but I'd like to see more! A bit of a downer to keep watching our cool protagonist be so passive and choked up, keeping himself a doormat for her to walk all over, merely blown about by and forever chasing after this trombe rather than trying to catch up to her as he did in episode 1. With the way Araragi interacts with others, he certainly can do it, I know he can, so I hope he does. It'd make their conversations and interactions far more interesting, I think.


Like, in plenty of other anime you get the weak male strong female relationship, possibly to pander to all the otaku or whatever, and here it’s sort of the same, except I don’t consider Araragi weak at all. Only when it comes relatively to Senjougahara, sure, but his strong interactions with every other character gave me hope that he’d go back to how he was more on her level like back in the first three episodes-ish (though yes, even there she still “tore him to shreds”, but I felt Araragi also gained the upper hand at several points too).


On another note, I’m loving Trigun right now! Another show that doesn’t really seem like the show I’d typically like, with all the comedy and its episodic nature, but I’m really having a blast with every passing episode, and I'm totally addicted for more.

Hey! Thanks for the heads up. Argh, my damn luck: I'm actually not in Virginia anymore, moved back with my parents and my dad, a contractor, landed a job in another state =( But I totally would've gone if I was still around. Enjoy and lemme know how it goes!

Lincoln labs huh, how's that going? What're you specifically doing / researching there? Is this fulfilling some sort of grad school requirement, or something extra on the side? Boy, it's so good to finally be free of school -- you straight-into-grad-school people mystify me. Are you doing the 5-year masters thing?

I see you've kinda been watching/reading some stuff lately. So are you back yet, or still not fully? I'm actually on the flipside, probably won't be watching much for a while now that I finally ordered my new computer's parts and can finally play something from this generation. Been really missing out, so now's my time to catch up.

That said, I am finishing up Bakemonogatari right now, and boy did this show take me by surprise! I see you didn't enjoy it as much as most others, and actually a few people here told me I probably wouldn't like it much either. But I surprisingly did, and enormously so, even moreso than Katanagatari, despite it not being anywhere near the type of show I typically like. Wrote up a whole wall trying to decipher why I liked it so much elsewhere, but since you only gave it a 7, I'll save you the trouble =)

It's about damn time: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-02-26/nikkei/adk-toei-aniplex-sunrise-tms-nas-dentsu-to-stream-anime-overseas

Hopefully we won't have to worry too much about this stupid, languid industry much longer. With this, they seem to be getting smarter. I hope this is just the first step.

So the one I tried is actually the second-highest rated manga on MAL, but yeah, not a fan at all. My thoughts are pretty spoilery, so I'll send you them once (or if) you try it for yourself: Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan.

Help.
Could you recommend me something that's finished, and preferably something that hasn't already been adapted to anime? Pretty please? I'm itching to give manga another try or two asap, but I don't want to start off on the wrong foot.

Mirai Nikki: 5/10. Time to step down Kaiji, a new king is born. It's like getting barraged by ridiculousness. Raped by it. It's like whenever it started to get back on track, someone said, "OH SHIT! WE'RE STARTING TO MAKE TOO MUCH SENSE. INSERT STUPID NOW!!"
The only reason I was able to complete it and not give it a lower score is because so much stuff happened that it simply kept me watching. At the very least it had density, though of course most of that density was just plain retarded. Even though I knew the next episode would get even more absurd, I still wanted to watch just how absurd it got. Just how much more brainless and absolutely fucking ludicrous the characters could get. Just how on earth so many people could like this piece of shit so much for it to have such a high score here, such raving veneration.
*sigh*, At least it didn't bore me.

Ah no, I didn't know that at all. Very cool! I guess that gives the original dialogue a pretty big advantage, but in the end I guess I care more for the end result, not the means. But yeah, this inferior timing and seamlessness is something I've started noticing in almost every dub I try now, and it is (to me) a glaring flaw that really takes away from an anime's overall presentation. Now I know why original audio always felt so much more professional and seamless -- I honestly thought voice was always done post. But yes, this was actually the main reason I shared and wanted to discuss that DN scene, I was really wondering why... so thanks a ton for the insight.

Just thought I'd share one example of why I hate most dubs. To me, this simply kills the Death Note:

Dub: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy23neI1Wno
Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eehdWTyQrjg&feature=youtu.be&t=55s

Yuck. Just makes me nauseous. Note how the original voice actor timed his voice with the scene, pausing his voice at exactly the right points to highlight the background music (flutes) and frame changes. The dub actor didn't even bother, and the way he said "AND EAT IT" is so overblown. Makes the scene downright silly, to me.

Hah, that's cool. Myself, I just got through a weekend of Chihaya-fever. Gosh, I miss it already... so depressing to have to leave that world so soon. At least I know that we're getting a season 2.

Right now, ugh, Dennou Coil is boring me to tears! The premise sounded so good, I mean, I was REALLY looking forward to this one all last semester, the whole futuristic world thing so very attractive, but... I don't know, it's just so boring. And that Haraken dude's really annoying with his closeminded Kanna-ghost obsession. So annoying to watch, especially with Yasako dragging behind him and his stupid obsession. I only have a few episodes left, and I guess it's interesting enough to finish... most likely going to be a 5 though. Striking contrast to your 9! lol

Oh, and not sure if I mentioned it already or not, but I did try the first four episodes of Natsume Yuujinchou this summer. But yeah, kinda boring, and I didn't really find it as heartwarming as I thought I might, like Aria or whatnot. Tell me: does it get better later, or are the sequels better?

Ah! Yeah, that shit was way too good to be actually from MLP. You had me going for a while there!! I wasn't much a fan of the other songs you just linked to though, but Gypsy Bard was very, very good.

Fun fact: I still haven't signed up for any housing!! Wooh, I'm dead, lol. I don't know why I was procrastinating so much. Oh well, hopefully I'll find something in these last two weeks. Are you still on-campus?

Grrr... my wonderful summer's already over... and there're too many variables in my upcoming class schedule. I might have to tinker with it quite a bit in the first week.