There's this dude that Jams (Animography)
My anime fandom began on some fateful day in 1996, when I was introduced by a friend to my first anime series that I hadn't seen via American television. This series was a VHS fansub of DragonBall Z. It was a random tape filled with 4 episodes from after the show long had gotten underway. I had no idea what was going on, but I didn't give a damn. I was 11 at the time and I was looking at characters in bloody, brutal, epics fights. My little mind was spinning. This was far beyond anything I had seen on American TV for kids. I was hooked after that. About a year or so after that, I discovered that I could purchase more tapes from this series from various places off the internet. It was all over after that, and I've been an undying fan ever since.
Other interests include basketball (watching and playing), professional wrestling of all types (WWE, TNA, ROH, the indy circuit, Japanese, whatever's good, I'll watch it) and I'm now a budding boxing fan as of early 2007. I'm also trying to get into MMA stuff like UFC.
So, in conclusion, that's the end. Thank you, and have a good life.
Currently Watching...
This is how I Jam (top favorites)
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Video of the Week
(Idea BLATANTLY stolen from HisokaHajime)
Route 20 "Pilot Trailer"
Here's something interesting. This is a pilot trailer to a film that was to be produced by GAINAX some time after their first film Wings of Honneamise, but was canceled due to unknown reasons (speculation is that it was because of the box office failure of Honneamise). It's called Route 20. The pilot film has lots of concept art and animated scenes from the movie, set to "The Crystal Ship" by The Doors. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (character designer for Evangelion, Nadia, FLCL, Die Buster, etc.) created a short one-shot manga for R20, which I've read, and I found it pretty interesting. The classic GAINAX fanboy in me REALLY wishes that this film had been made.
Hehe, welcome back. ^^ I've taken a short break from LoGH atm and I'm starting to understand why you had problem marathoning it. I think I suffered a bit of a burnout myself but now I want to watch up to the episodes where you thought Yang is the man. :P Oh, and also to find out if I was right about Reinhard or not but for all I know maybe he'll never suffer a big defeat.
I definitively prefer Yang over Reinhard at this point. Reinhard reminds me of Griffith from berserk and that gives me some seriously bad vibes. Out of the two I feel Reinhard is the more unstable one and more likely to snap should he face defeat. I think the environment he's in plays a part of it though, because I really dislike the whole aristrocratic society, even it's only lingering now.
Stuff like taking responsibility by commiting suicide and the whole honour thing they've got going on doesn't sit all that well with me. That said he hasn't done anything that horrifies me yet and I can't say I'm opposed to the way he has chosen to rule so far.
In a way it's unfair to compare the two at this stage because they don't hold the same positions of power and I think I will always judge the one with more power more harshly.
Damn, LoGH is truly playing the grayscales and I'm both loving it and hating it at the same time. On a purely intellectual level I love it because it's a realistic portrayal of how the events could very well go, and realism is something I find all to often to be lacking in anime and is often a reason why I *facepalm* atleast once or twice each episode no matter the show I'm watching (Except Bounen no Xamdou. Man I love that show.) On an emotional level I hate it though, because it won't let me rage in righteous fury! :P After Wenli's inquiry I wanted nothing more than for him to seize power by force and get rid of all the corrupt politicians but at the same that would be completely counter-productive to the ideals I want him to uphold.
I thought it was great when he said that a dictatorship is not evil and oppressive by definition because it shows how they're not trying to force their views down your throat, instead they make you think for your self and create your own opinion based on the characters actions and the events throughout the show.
Oh btw, I've been meaning to ask. How depressing and miserable is Infinite Ryvius? I've gotten the impression that it really shows the ugly side of people and shows like that tend to put me in a miserable mood but at the same time I've heard it's really good so I've always wanted to watch it.
Yeah it's kinda silly really. You'd think you have more say in what goes through your mind but obviously your brain has other ideas of what you should think. :p As you say the more you're aware of it the harder it gets to ignore. It really is incredible how hard it is to change your way of thinking too. It's not that hard to force yourself into a certain state of mind but as soon as you relax you're back to your old way of thinking. Kind of like trails through a forest; you can make new trails but it takes a lot of time and effort to do so.
I'll stop with my quack philosophies though. ;) You really are right when you say it sounds boring. I mean you could miss out on something you'll like because of some preconceptions you might have which is kind of stupid since giving something a chance usually takes little effort. I have a friend that is like that too, he's super skeptical of everything to the point where I just want to grab him and shake some sense into him. I guess I should be a bit thankful to him though since he's a constant reminder to try and be positive and optimistic about things. :)
It sounds similiar to something I sometimes experience when I need to concentrate under a stressful situation, such as playing a game where a lot of things are going on at the same time or when I'm sparring. It can even happen when watching anime if the dialogue is particulary hard to follow. Basically I get tunnel vision whenever I need to concentrate hard on something. I don't know if it's the same thing as you get but it sounds similiar except you get it when you relax and I get it when I concentrate. :p
What I do when I want it to go away is I put my focus behind the screen, as if I'm trying to look through it. Can't say for certain it'll help you of course. :)
You know, I'm actually kinda jealous of you, because I don't want to be so critical. I just can't help it. :P
Hey, I can take a lot of weird and I have to admit you kind of piqued my interest. If you don't want to talk about it that's all good though, no worries. :) My anime viewing has slowed down considerably compared to my earlier days too though, mostly because I've become so overly critical of every little thing that irks me. I can't sit back and just relax anymore it feels like, cause my mind is always looking for the tinyest things to be irritated at. So unless the show is mega awesome I feel very reluctant to watch anything, even though I usually end up liking the episodes in the end anyway.Then every once in a while a show like LoGH pops up. ^^
I think it comes down to that I have this love for protagonists that are just a bit ruthless and close to invincible and the thing I hate the most is to see their dai shocku! face (you know which one I mean, the one Naruto pulls in all of his fights when the enemy fights back..). I don't like it when one of my rather childish superhero dreams gets destroyed I guess. ;) I don't think it would've been too typical if he had let the nobles nuke the planet though; if he were a villain sure, but since we had seen a lot of his good traits up till that point I felt that the point of him giving it a lot of thought would have gotten through. I don't think I'd prefered him to allow them the nuking though.
As for the Siegfried incident, that's pretty much exactly how I felt as well. I was caught completely by surprise by that moment which was very cool, although it was a bit of a shame at the same time. I liked his character.
If I ever manage to put enough pieces of the puzzle known as Oberstein together to form an opinion on his agenda I'll be sure to tell you, so we can compare it to the end when it's all said and done. I think it's going to take a lot more episodes before I come to that point though. :P
Btw, you said it took you a long time to go through LoGH and your blogging died at the same time. Were you just sick of anime at that point?
Yup, it's been awesomely good so far. I really didn't like when Reinhard was manipulated by Oberstein though. If Reinhard himself had decided to let the nobles nuke the civilians then that would've been fine. I would've thought he was a cold calculating bastard but atleast it would've been by his plan and I would have vastly prefered that charactar flaw over the weakness he showed to Oberstein's manipulations. Although maybe he'll be alot harder to manipulate now after Siegfried's completely unexptected demise.
Speaking of Oberstein I really can't grasp what his objectives are. At times he appears to have ambitions of being a puppetmaster of Reinhard only to appear to be sincere in guiding him in the following episodes. Like how he blatantly told Reinhard not to push his responsibilites and power unto Oberstein just because he was mourning. He's an interesting character, although hard to sympatize with and difficult to wrap your head around.
The greatest thing so far about the show is that I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how it all is going to end up. I mean I have still almost a hundred episodes to go. :D
I'm sitting here watching episode 12 and the Free Planets just had a vote if they'd continue to press on into empire space and it struck me how relevant all the issues still feel. Take the terrorist group for example that is trying to squash any opposition to their affiliated pro-war party with violence and threats, not unlike what is going in Zimbabwe(and lots of other countries).
Then we have the Empire side of the story that feels more like a period drama and not very relevant to todays politics but the court intrigues are just so delicious. I mean, I'm totally disgusted with both the Free Planets so called democracy and the archaic ways of the Empire but at the same time the politics of both is keeping me mesmerized.
I love how no one of them is being portrayed as the good guys too because the concept of good vs evil is just so tired. Ironic how a 30 year old show manages to avoid that particular pitfall. Now I'll leave it to you to try and make sense of this incoherent ramble as I go back to watching the episode. ;p
You know what you're right, it isn't slow paced. There is something about the presentation that makes me feel like things are moving slowly though but I just can't put my finger on it. Not boring slowly but methodically and calm slowly. It could be because the show feels like a chronicle so far to me, and because I can see both sides I see a bigger picture than I'd usually see in say an action show. I don't know, maybe I'll get another impression of it soon, I've only seen seven episodes so far after all. ;)
