GTkeoni's Blog

Let's face it... there are some shows and series that grab our attention immediately, drag us into an amazing world, tell us an epic story, and when it's all over we're left with that satisfied exhaustion of having reached a conclusion. Sometimes it's everything we wanted and we're cheering and dancing around the room right along with our heros. Other times things may not end up quite the way we wanted to, but somehow they still seem... right; and so we bid our hero's a tearful farewell. This is truly great storytelling...

That being said, at present I'm more interested in the series that aren't quite on that 9-10 point on the scale. Let's face it, for every truly epic tale in existence there are dozens of slightly more mediocre ones. That's not to say that they are bad, they just don't have quite the same pull as the great ones; we don't mind setting them aside for a while to do other things...

In my case, that leads to quite a few series sitting in my "On-hold" category. Looking back over my list I now have more than a dozen series sitting there waiting, crying out to be finished. So I've decided to start going back through and giving them the chance to finish their stories too. True, I still don't expect them to suddenly jump from middling status to epic tale... but even "decent" stories can have good things to tell; and even if they're cliched, cutesy, simplistic, and predictable... sometimes that can be just as satisfying.

Anime Relations: Gun x Sword

Hello again, my dedicated readers... (all 2 of you, lol). I am back yet again after far too long without posting an update. To update everyone, I have started medical school in the Caribbean and I'm halfway through my first semester. Classes are pretty intense so I've had to scale back my anime watching quite a bit. The extremely slow downloading speed here somewhat cramps my voracious habit as well, lol. That being said, anime continues to be one of the few guilty pleasures that allow me to relax and unwind on a fairly consistent basis. That being said I'll give a brief shout-out to my fellow anime junkie nerds out there (there are far to few of you down here) and offer my two latest recommendations.

First off, if you haven't seen Gun X Sword... watch it. Show = awesomeness in less than 3:00 minutes. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who's a fan of giant mecha, classic westerns, and mysterious pseudo-hero protagonists. On a deeper level, it's a considerate examination of the concepts of equality vs. conformity, doing bad things for the right reasons, and doing good things for the wrong reasons. Check it out.

Secondly, and unusually for me, I'd recommend you check out 1/2 Prince (manga). I tend to prefer anime to manga, but this series definitely has me hooked. If you have any love for RPG games (WoW in particular) this should be right up your alley. Even though most of the plot occurs inside a video game the characters still address issues like how to act with honor and how to treat friends (and enemies) with respect. Then pile on top of that a massive does of MMORPG jokes, drama, and a pet meatbun that is cuter than... than... well darn I think the scale is broken. Anyways, check it out... (One other thing that lends awesomeness... unintentionally or not, fans of the Kenshin series will find one particular character nostalgic...)

Anyways, thanks for checking out the blog once more, and I'll do my best to keep the updates more prompt.

Greetings readers, whoever you may be. I am back after a hiatus from updating my list here. Things began to get busy with finals approaching, christmas holiday, and a two week vacation with my family and wonderful girlfriend. Anyways, I'm back and should resume catching up on my anime series soon.

On a side note, I recently stumbled upon an american internet webcomic/graphic novel that I highly recommend to you my readers. It's called Red String... it's a pretty good high school SOL and romance. Plot synopsis, high school girl is told that her parents are setting her up for an arranged marriage... and procedes from there. Check it out.

Anime Relations: Dragon Half, Rosario to Vampire

So I enjoy the fact that I can torture my roommates... at least I find it funny. My roommates and I have a mutual friend "PB" who is also something of an anime fan. Albeit PB's preferences in anime lead my roommates and I to frequently razz him about anything he ever tries to suggest...

PB: Hey guys, I brought over this cool show you guys to see! [Dragon Half for anyone curious enough to read this blog]
Us: What? More PRON?!?! Geez, PB, how many times do we have to tell you...

And so the jokes go. Anyways, his taste isn't really that bad. I commented to my roommates that compared to the number of panty shots in the last anime I watched [Rosario+Vampire] PB's taste wasn't bad. My roommates had a hard time believing this and so I convinced them to sit down and watch the first episode.

I, of course, am sitting there laughing my head off at the outrageousness of this show, I was laughing even more so at the stunned expressions on my roommates faces. Roommate DM's reaction sums it up best.

DM: "I feel like my brain has been violated... [stunned silence]... and I hate to admit this, but I'm intrigued enough that that was so bad I want to watch more...

So a friend of mine was hanging out yesterday and we were contemplating watching an episode of Firefly (not an anime, but a great show nonetheless), a show which one of my roommates is intensely enamored with. Said roommate was supposedly working on a homework project in his room at the time so I turn to my friend and say, "Whatcha want to bet that if I start the episode [roommate] will be out here within two seconds of hearing the opening song?"

My friend laughs at this...

I pop the DVD in...

[Roommate] barrels out of his room before the DVD menu screen finishes opening to allow me to start the episode.

I enjoy torturing them so. >:D

Anime Relations: Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan

Firstly, allow me to say that I have a truly marvelous girlfriend: beautiful, sexy, into video games, into cars, and into me (haha). Secondly, allow me to say... SHE'S MINE. *cough cough*

Anyway, on to how I convinced her to watch and enjoy anime...

I've found that the trick to seducing people into watching anime is based on 3 things.
First, know the person well. If you have at least a general idea of what a person's interests are then you should be able to come up with an anime recommendation that caters to what they enjoy (i.e. a person who enjoys CSI probably wouldn't be as interested in high-school aged magic girls). Secondly, inform them that not all animes fall into the stereotypical archetypes (magic girls, giant robots, and earth-destroying muscle men). Thirdly, be willing to watch it with them.

In my case, I knew from conversations we'd had that my girlfriend was interested in samurai and romanticism of feudal era and what-not, so I recommended that she sit down with me and check out Rurouni Kenshin. Within two episodes she was loving it. Later, after she finished Kenshin she asked me what show I was watching at the time and I introduced her to Bleach, which has now become her favorite anime and second love (only to me... I hope...)

Anyways, I'm sure plenty of you have more experience at convincing people than I do, but I just thought I'd toss out my two cents.