Even super-smart people think _Clannad_ is pretty good? WTH.
By the way sir I have been appreciating your excellent writing, and you persuaded me that I was over-rating _The Wind Rises_, _Up on Poppy Hill_, and *maybe* _Chihayafuru_ (saw it a long time ago and I may be a sucker for teamwork-oriented shows). And now for some unsolicited advice. Looking at your plan-to-watch list, I'd say you can save time and skip _Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu_, super over-rated (no idea why). Yes, you gotta see the "Tsuioku-hen" OVA of Kenshin, but beware, the opening scene. Wonder how you'll fancy _Land of the Lustrous_ -- has very beautiful music, visuals, and voice-acting. Have you read David Deutsch's books by the way? Anyway, thanks for some great reading material, like on _Death Note_, Ted Chiang's short stories, _The Force Awakens_, and many many other topics!
He's not really omniscient he just knows how to act under pressure and with particular closed systems/ scenarios where he has access to information it's not omniscient as he needs to be provided the information in order to act, by contrast characters like Akagi and the main character from one puts is I think someone that fits into the omniscient category. Kaiji is someone that acts wherever push comes to show and when he is put into a situation that provides him that drive and is lazy and complacent when he lacks that drive due to a lack of initiative and the temptation of an easier way out, and I think that underlying principle has an almost universal truth to it, not saying that anyone can come up with what kaiji does by the rationale behind it is plausible. Is it a bit stretched? I guess I certainly dont think I would be able to come up with that nor would the average person but the author was able to and he was a person who wrote it in there and he provided ample reasoning for the plans to be the way they were. I guess my main leg to stand on is that kaiji character writing is consistent and he is flawed as well, those two i think are enough to make him a believable human.
Sorry if anything in my comment offended you that wasn't my intent, and I also watched years ago so my memory is probably as reliable or less so than yours , and I am willing to debate about it if you are willing to but I understand if you aren't.
Hey i found you through your blogpost and was very interesting but i personally find your reviews a bit lack luster in comparison, apologize if i offend.
I disagree with your kaiji review and i would like to bring up some points to defend the show cause i am a fan but i would prefer to do that in the form of a discussion. Starting with what about kaiji the character did you find implausible?
hi, I friend requested you after finding your essay on Komm Susser Todd and liking your general taste in anime so I could save your profile. if you don't accept randoms, I don't mind. just a heads up. if not, if you dont mind leaving a comment on my profile so I can find you later that would be great.
You read R J Lipton's blog?? This is very strange.
Given what you've said, I'm assuming your background is in statistics, which is no further from theoretical physics than theoretical computer science. How is it you have trouble with Greg Egan and follow GLL, which is even more technical? I'm starting a PhD in theoretical CS this fall and I don't understand their posts sometimes.
I agree with you, karuta is an probably easier sport than tennis, which is why it is not professionally played. But you're drawing the line at an arbitrary place and saying this belongs in the same class as Tic-Tac-Toe.
I seriously doubt anybody's going to come up with an efficiently computable strategy for chess which allows White to always win, given how it's at least PSPACE-complete. (I can be a computer science nerd and say that in the absence of such, chess as it is played is also trivial because it relies only on heuristics and processing power - if a player is actually going to brute force at each stage. Then the only meaningful sports would be ones in which players are expected to come up with algorithms on the spot and the best algorithm wins - that is, programming competitions.)
Anyway, at the end of the day, I suspect several sports anime are popular not because viewers are interested in that sport in particular, but because they can possibly identify with the protagonists in terms of liking *something* and striving towards it. In Chihayafuru's case this is easy to do because the characters have more depth than most shounen sports. Also, the fact that they are into an obscure sport which people constantly don't take seriously, but they decide to do it anyway can be seen as admirable (yes clearly you don't think it should be taken seriously, but there are people who are willing to ignore that).
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By the way sir I have been appreciating your excellent writing, and you persuaded me that I was over-rating _The Wind Rises_, _Up on Poppy Hill_, and *maybe* _Chihayafuru_ (saw it a long time ago and I may be a sucker for teamwork-oriented shows). And now for some unsolicited advice. Looking at your plan-to-watch list, I'd say you can save time and skip _Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu_, super over-rated (no idea why). Yes, you gotta see the "Tsuioku-hen" OVA of Kenshin, but beware, the opening scene. Wonder how you'll fancy _Land of the Lustrous_ -- has very beautiful music, visuals, and voice-acting. Have you read David Deutsch's books by the way? Anyway, thanks for some great reading material, like on _Death Note_, Ted Chiang's short stories, _The Force Awakens_, and many many other topics!
Sorry if anything in my comment offended you that wasn't my intent, and I also watched years ago so my memory is probably as reliable or less so than yours , and I am willing to debate about it if you are willing to but I understand if you aren't.
I disagree with your kaiji review and i would like to bring up some points to defend the show cause i am a fan but i would prefer to do that in the form of a discussion. Starting with what about kaiji the character did you find implausible?
Thank you for your work !
Greetings from Portugal.
Given what you've said, I'm assuming your background is in statistics, which is no further from theoretical physics than theoretical computer science. How is it you have trouble with Greg Egan and follow GLL, which is even more technical? I'm starting a PhD in theoretical CS this fall and I don't understand their posts sometimes.
I seriously doubt anybody's going to come up with an efficiently computable strategy for chess which allows White to always win, given how it's at least PSPACE-complete. (I can be a computer science nerd and say that in the absence of such, chess as it is played is also trivial because it relies only on heuristics and processing power - if a player is actually going to brute force at each stage. Then the only meaningful sports would be ones in which players are expected to come up with algorithms on the spot and the best algorithm wins - that is, programming competitions.)
Anyway, at the end of the day, I suspect several sports anime are popular not because viewers are interested in that sport in particular, but because they can possibly identify with the protagonists in terms of liking *something* and striving towards it. In Chihayafuru's case this is easy to do because the characters have more depth than most shounen sports. Also, the fact that they are into an obscure sport which people constantly don't take seriously, but they decide to do it anyway can be seen as admirable (yes clearly you don't think it should be taken seriously, but there are people who are willing to ignore that).