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Great review on Mnemosyne. I couldn't agree more with the stuff you said

:3

I've been following you on Twitter for a while, actually. My @ is JordanD1910. I always had the intention of DMing you, but was never quite sure how to open discussions after two years without speaking with you. I use Twitter mostly for keeping up with soccer, but would happily use it to talk about some Chinese cartoons with you.

Not going to lie, I'm probably a little too obsessed with updating my list, myself. My scores and views are constantly changing, but that is also what excites me - seeing how my tastes evolve with experience. The two of us couldn't be further apart in that sense. I don't see it as a burden, but something to look forward to.

Good luck with your Master's. Engineering is a very impressive degree and once qualified the world is practically your oyster. Good write-up re: STEM and media, I can see why the skills in engineering would help with analysing media by breaking things down.

Come back, my sweet prince.

Haha, feel absolutely free to go all out on Death Note AND School Days. But please, be gentle, they are my babies :D But always happy to discuss those shows, it's always nice to hear different perspectives on them. I can talk about both for hours though, so be warned.

Thanks for explaining your views on Madoka so well :) I think the reason I wasn't enthralled by the first episode was due to the fact that I was expecting something else straight out of the gate (less archetypal characters perhaps?) when I watched it. But, after you have spoken about it a bit more, my interest in it has perked up again. I read some more reviews and even spoiled episode 3 for myself (oops - not) and I think it could be something I end up loving. I'm indulging in a bit of fluff at the moment but I'll likely end up watching Madoka afterwards.

I hear what you are saying about the characters in Madoka, and I'm aware that a single episode is not enough time to "humanize" any character - whether by your definition or mine ;) - so I can't really pass comment yet on that. In any kind of fiction our connection with characters takes a little time to grow, and I'd expect that to be the case with Madoka too, so when I say stereotypical or archetypal, that's just my initial impression, which I'm sure will change with time.

In regards to Wixoss, that's absolutely fine that you weren't hooked by it and have low expectations of it, no offence taken on my end :D In fact, it was the first anime that I wanted to watch (as opposed to being forced to sit through DBZ against my will) and the first to capture my attention and make me think differently about anime. As such, I'm very fond of it, although I can see why it lacks appeal to others who have watched a ton of great anime beforehand. The story was not fantastic and there were many plotholes, and you're probably very correct in saying that it was strongly influenced by Madoka, but it was the first time I actually felt like I was seeing real people in anime rather than 'characters', if that makes sense. You know that comment Miyazaki made about anime suffering because writers don't 'watch real people' enough? Well, I agree with that in the sense that characters in any fiction engage me when they 'feel' and act like real people. Wixoss had quite a few incredibly warm and real moments like this that completely enchanted me, which is my main reason for liking it so much. Lots of flaws though and likely not much new or exciting there for seasoned viewers such as yourself. Apart from that, I'm not familiar with the writer so I can't really pass comment on his/her writing in general.

Thanks for your recommendations, I will also have a look through your list and pick a few out of there. I enjoy "wonderful trash" shows too - as well as hatewatching and "so bad its good" shows - so feel free to throw a few suggestions out there too! Would I be right in thinking that you consider Angel Beats! one of those wonderful trash shows...?

Anyway... Death Note and School Days... the floor is yours :D

Hi! Thanks for the comment :) Yep, always happy to discuss anime with other people who enjoy it, so feel free to start up a discussion about anything you like!

Haha, don't worry, I'm not ready to give up on Madoka Magica just yet, it's just hanging around in my 'Watching' list until I'm in the mood to start watching it again. I think my issue with the first episode was that the characters felt a little unrealistic and rather like the stereotypical set of anime magical girls, and I was unable to connect with them at all. I suppose that is the point though, as it's a decon of the magical girls genre. I will continue it at some point, but I'm waiting until I'm in the right frame of mind to enjoy it for what it is. It was recommended to me as I really enjoyed Selector Infected Wixoss, which is a dark magical girls series. To compare the two so far though, Wixoss has somewhat more believeable characters, although I feel that the actual plot of Madoka Magica might be more compelling. We'll see!

Seen as I'm pretty new to anime, do you have any suggestions of anime series/movies that you think are well worth watching? All recommendations are welcome :)

Aye, Outlaw Star was good fun and offered something a little lighter to what I'm used to watching. For now, I plan on working through as much of Gundam as possible. Based on what I've seen so far, Zeta is certainly an improvement on its prequel. I'm always open to recommendations and if you've seen something which you think I may enjoy then I'm all ears.

ill be sure to check it out.

To put it simply, it heavily rely on character psyche thus making it more of a character driven story. It rely on characters' past to bring more impact on the second half? Metaphor on the visual might be a bit hard to see but I guess I could look forward on trying it. Thanks.

Great stuff, I'll keep my eye on it. You already know what I think about the RahXephon review from my PM before, but just to reiterate, it was fantastic.

Saw your review for Raxephon. I've been interested on watching it and I notice that you give it something worth to see as a stand alone and not as Evangelion rip-off. Had to skip some part about the character development to avoid being spoiled but is their anything I should look out while watching it beside from what you mentioned that is related to a novel or musical stuff you mentioned?

Outlaw Star is a lot of fun. Outlaws, aliens, cat women, androids, samurais, Chinese magic users, space pirates, space races, space battles, treasure... what's not to like? It may not have a deeper, underlying message or multi-layered characters, but it's so much fun that I really don't care.

While I think Millennium Actress was Kon's most refined work, Paranoia Agent is my favourite. I thought the idea of Shounen Bat/Lil' Slugger and Maromi and how both were used as forms of escapism was brilliant. It was also good to see the series coming full circle with the contrast in attitudes of the people of Tokyo being completely different in the first episode compared to the last. You can see where the criticism that Paranoia Agent is a collection if Kon's leftover ideas comes from, but as you pointed out that is part of its charm. It's not the most complicated anime I've ever seen, but there was still enough symbolism (Ichi's friend's Palm Tree) and other scenes (such as Maniwa taking over the old man with the chalk) that I couldn't piece together. As is expected of Kon, the directing was top notch and the production values were excellent for the most part. Oh, and that creepy OP is so addicting. Great anime overall and it's right up there with my favourites.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I would've loved to see Kon put out at least one other TV series. The man had a lot to say and he said it with style.

Yeah, I heard great things about the English dub. Shame my version only has the original audio ;_;