...And I found out why adults enjoy little kids anime

As the combination of both work and school starts to eat into whatever free time I had left, it became harder and harder to squeeze in time for anime. It seems like a common problem among the older anime folk; the older you get, the more you get swarmed with the hustle and bustle of real life, and time-consuming hobbies like anime become difficult. Admittedly, it wasn't really about the time; it was the stress and fatigue that makes it hard to get excited about something, even the most hyped title.

I've bitten off more than I can chew this season, trying to catch Arcana Fagmilia, Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, Kokoro Connect, Moyashimon, Muv-Luv, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Rinne no Lagrange, Sword Art Online, Tari Tari, Yuru Yuri, Binbougamiga! and Joshiraku at the same time. That's more than I've ever attempted in one season, but mostly because the season's so good. It didn't go well...

Aside from Binbougami which totally sucked, Natsuyuki Rendevous became the first title I had to let go, followed by Kokoro Connect. Both were really good, and I really enjoyed it... well... actually, not really. I began to realize that story-intensive stuff like these were difficult to follow. Not only it's difficult to grasp the plot when I'm trying to grasp twelve at a time, it's also difficult to work a tired mind to comprehend a "deep" or complex storyline.

On the other hand, I began to look forward to stuff like Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, Arcana Fagmilia and Joshiraku. Stuff like these either doesn't have a story, doesn't have one that matters or at least are non-continuous for each episode. It's really easy to digest such stuff, and I probably enjoyed them more than I would normally do, much like last season's Upotte!!

Which reminds me of two things. First, a concept which was taught to me by Jerry Verschoor, a western animation industry insider, of how people prefer genres that compensate things missing in their lives (like how action movies are all rage now, while romance titles are favorites in the 1940s). Second, an article of how an unexpectedly huge amount of people my age enjoys My Little Pony (I can't remember where, probably Cracked.com or something). Laura Carstensen also revealed at TED on how people in their 20s are statistically the most stressed, and most miserable bunch.

Well I don't need My Little Pony, because I have stuff like Joshiraku and Upotte!! to de-stress my life. Now I know why the moéblob slice-of-life got so popular with the general otaku crowd. Ignoring the people who seeks 2D waifus, it's really about the stress. It's all for the relaxed, mind-blanking and stress-less moment each episode can give.

So from now on, I'll be leaving stuff like Natsuyuki Rendevous on the marathon queue, and only catch the ponies as they air. Thank Haruhi, Madoka and the anime gods for Hidamari Sketch next season. And that tank anime, whatever it's called. It sounds just about stupid and mind-numbing enough for me to enjoy it.

Looking back upon my first anime...

Well, okay. Love Hina wasn't exactly my first anime ever; I have vague memories of Nintama Rantarou as a kid, and at that age I'm pretty sure everyone have some memories of Gundam or Slayers or Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. But the first time where I began to see anime as anime and not just cartoon begins with Love Hina.

I gotta admit, I begin to see the difference between cartoon and anime mainly due to fan-service and moé. And even until now, it's still one of the main reasons I watch anime. It's a kind of appeal you don't find anywhere else, and it'll be hard to let it go after you got hooked to it. And back ten plus years ago when I bought my first ever manga, Love Hina is probably one of the best examples of these two traits. I was taken aback by what Love Hina tried to be, because I've never seen anything like that, nor did I thought anything like that was possible. Granted, Love Hina's fan-service is tame compared to the level they take it to nowadays, but back then it got popular because of it.

But somehow, somewhere around my 100th anime title, I began to see the likes of Love Hina as the culprit for the huge amount of crappy fan-service injection into anime. Whenever I see a customary harem fan-service anime of the season, I dismissed it as a tasteless sell-out that attracts attention based on how much T&A it has, "just like Love Hina". Even until recently, like Highschool DxD, Maken-Ki, Kampfer, Campione!, etc etc.

A few days ago, for no reason at all, I picked up the first manga I ever bought and read it. I'm surprised to realize how much I actually enjoyed it back then, and even more when I realized I still enjoy it as much as I did back then. It wasn't just trying to stuff the pages with as much tits as possible, it actually had a good story, characters, development of their relationships. And although the story went full-retard towards the end, it wasn't a string of poor excuses to bring in fan-service. It had meaning. It had the feel of the characters.

Where did it go wrong? Was it because Love Hina was part of the beginning of the chain of crappy fan-service titles? What was it that still set Love Hina apart from the long list of titles that follows? Was it simply the brilliance of Ken Akamatsu, it's originality, or because it's a pioneer? What was it that has amazed me back then, and surprised me a decade later?

How can I get back that feeling again?

Dropping Titles and Raising Standards

After struggling through 21 episodes of the first season of Hayate no Gotoku, I finally convinced myself that it isn't worth wasting all that time just so that I can fairly review a title. It's just one of the habits I've kept in my first years of reviewing anime for Anime-Source.com, where this is actually a rule (and because I wanted to be fair). But there's also one thing for certain: there are more anime titles out there than I have time for, and Japan is certainly producing anime faster than I can watch them. No matter how much I hate to leave things halfway done, I gotta make room for the bigger fishes in the sea; especially now that my free time are getting lesser and lesser.

Usually at the change of seasons that occurs 4 times a year, the blogosphere is filled with large amounts of reviews of ending titles, previews of upcoming ones, first impressions, etc. And I've noticed that shows that receive a negative remark always outnumbers the shows that receive a positive one. Yet if most of the titles released every season are crap, how does the studios still produce so many? I don't doubt that there's definitely a market for the "crap" shows, but I hardly see members of this market appear on the blogosphere to defend the highlights of those "crap". It's not like that particular market consist entirely of old lonely otaku men with a fetish for such stuff, and couldn't be bothered with the normal standards, right?

Amaenaideyo!!

I remember when I really got into this hobby around 6 years back, every anime I watched seems to be awesome, even stuff like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Amaenaideyo!!. Well, I did scour the net for the best stuff to watch first, like Elfen Lied, Suzumiya Haruhi and Shuffle!, but I still have fond memories of the titles that I know now that are obviously bad now. It feels like I've been opened up into a new world of anime, and any title, as long it's anime, would have entertainment value.

Thing are now completely different from back then, and the ending season is the worst so far. I've previewed 11, completed 5 and find myself only really liking 2 of them. I know that the "me" 6 years back would definitely love stuff like Hayate no Gotoku! and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san, no doubts about that. I'm not sure if I'm tired of stuff like this already, or has just been steadily increasing my standards over the years.

If raising standards is the cause, then I think that might be the reason why the blogosphere is so hard on most of the anime titles that are released every season. Commenters are influenced by bloggers; and bloggers, me included, are usually seasoned anime watchers that has at least a hundred titles in their MAL. And I won't be surprised if half of them would be in the ~350 range like me. Except for a few exceptional titles every now and then, the anime industry isn't very good at reinventing themselves. Once they've picked up on traits and tropes like "tsundere", "clothes that accentuate breasts", "cute girls doing cute things", "blushing for god knows why", "huge eyes", "striped panties", "cat ears", they'll keep it running frigging forever until people got sick of it.

But, unfortunately, these are the same traits that got people, -most people-, like you and me into the world of anime in the first place. And we still cling on to some of these traits, as long as it's given in modest servings, because that's what makes it an anime to us. When a particular "crap" title tries to overload itself with a certain trait or trope, they were just trying too hard to sell "anime" to us. Maybe if we could learn to appreciate their less-than-fruitful efforts, we may be able to go back to where we were at the very beginning; where every anime appears to be awesome.

Just some food for thought. I'm not going to give Hayate no Gotoku a second chance.

Since when did a bittersweet ending make an anime great?

The post contains major spoilers for multiple anime; you have been warned.

My Ideal Anime Cast: Guys vs Girls story

Here's my effort in joining Yerocha's idea of picking characters that would best represent our Ideal Anime. It's a cool idea; won't we all like to imagine what it'll be like for our favourite or most memorable characters match up against each other?

I was all hyped up trying to create my best zombie apocalypse team, but Yerocha's Five-Man Band would be better material. But instead of using a best representation of each role, I thought I'll try something different. I'll draw a story around this premises, putting characters I thought would be interesting (instead of suitable) for the role and create an interesting synergy between them. Now that's my ideal anime.

This is going to be a bit more towards what I'd imagine my ideal story to be like. So I implore you not to see how the character define the role, but how the role would shape the character.

Anime Blog Carnival Roundup: What makes a 10/10 anime?

A 10/10 anime by all standards

At the end of the carnival, each of us is supposed to do a roundup post that summarizes our thoughts and findings in the carnival. While the objective of the roundup post is pretty vague, it gives us the freedom write whatever we wanted on the carnival. It isn't compulsory and sometimes only organizer is required to write one, but since this is a hobby we're writing about, and being the very first Anime Blog Carnival, I thought it'll be a good opportunity to share.

Well, first of all, I didn't realize that Anime Blog Carnival can be abbreviated as ABC. Cool, huh?

New Year (Anime) Resolutions, Site Update, Anniversary, Changes, and gosh, I don't know what I'm talking about

(Sorry for the excessive expletives)

First of all, Akemashite omedetou minna-san! May we all have a good year ahead of us. Well, 2011 is a pretty bad year for anime, to me at least. Except for the best-sellers, I can't even say confidently that I loved all of my top 12 picks. As long as we're not all going to die, 2012 would definitely be better. I hope.

Well, this would be a tl;dr rant. I hate posts like that, truly, and I almost never read tl;dr anyway unless it's MAY, so if you're anything like me you should bounce now, really. The above paragraph is all that is for this post. My head is now full of shit (again, sorry for the excessive expletives in this post) and I just need to get stuff out before I can continue blogging like I want to.

August Roundup

No episodics for this season, because of the lack on continuity due to the hiatus...

Fall 2011 Anime Pre-Season Outlook

Because of the number of series that would turn out to be a surprise hit, and the number of potential series that end up sucking, this preview is really a little more than a quick and very superficial outlook of the upcoming series. I put this statement up front because people tend to take previews a little too seriously, and more than often the conclusion at the end of the season doesn't match.

Phew, this would be my first "preview" that isn't late.

The order of the series follows Neregate's chart, which is what I use for reference. There are many more charts out there you can use, follow the usual sources. The pics are from MAL cuz I'm a lazy bastard.

Anime Source: Summer 2011 Anime Preview Guide

 

Some of my A-S mates and I wrote this article a week ago. It's may be not much of a preview now that we're already in the latter half of the season but well... we've always done it this way. Comments in this post are purely mine, but you can (should) check out the rest of it in the main article.