Author: Don
Today’s trivia question
Who has “an almost Buddhist sense of nothingness”?
At the burger joint
According to Richard the bodhran player, this is a ’64 Corvette.
Advisory
The good news: Not only can I walk (albeit slowly, and with a cane), but as of today I can ride my bike again.
The bad news: Posting here will continue to be spasmodic. I plan to walk and bike as much as possible for the next several weeks to regain strength and flexibility. Other recreations, including anime, are going to be low priority for a while. Of the current series, I will probably keep up only with Kaiba and perhaps Soul Eater. I’ll catch up with Allison and Lillia and the other shows of interest later this summer. I recently ordered the Fantastic Children boxed set, which I’ll probably marathon the weekend after it arrives, and that’s the only older series I will look at this spring.
Speaking of Soul Eater: a commentor wonders how I can find Toshokan Senkou unwatchable because of Kasahara yet enjoy Soul Eater, in which the male characters are “1000% more stupid and irritating than her.” There are three quick responses:
1. There’s only one nitwit in Soul Eater, Black Star. Soul Eater is a competent enough, and Death the Kid is a mental case, not a moron. If Soul Eater were just the Black Star show, one episode would have been plenty, but that’s not the case.
2. Toshokan Sensou and Soul Eater are different kinds of shows. The latter is much more farcical, and what is annoying in one context can be funny in another.
3. Don’t ever accuse me of consistency.
*****
Recent search strings:
tomo takino feet
kawaii stalin
bishie mussolini
britney spears mushi
kawaii religion
If you can explain any of these, please keep it to yourself. I don’t want to know.
Kansas spring weather
First rose
Phlox
At Jim’s
Revoke that library card
I finally watched the first episode of Toshokan Sensou, a.k.a. Library War. It looks like my spring viewing will be Kaiba, Allison and Lillia, Real Drive and maybe Kurenai, ((I had some problems with the first episode of Kurenai, but so many people have declared it to be one of the best this season that I probably will give it a second chance.)) with Soul Eater and perhaps Wagaya no Oinari-sama for essential fluff.
But not Toshokan Sensou. I could tolerate the absurd premise — the brain police (i.e., “committees of Media Improvement Act”) raid bookstores and confiscate such dangerous literature as books of fairy tales, while a branch of the military defends libraries — if the anime has compensating virtues. And it is a Production I.G. series broadcast in the Noitanima timeslot, so I would expect the show to be better than average. However, the protagonist is a hot-headed fool, too thoughtless to be sympathetic. Toward the end of the episode she rashly attempts to halt a bookstore raid by invoking her authority as a “Private First Class Librarian,” unaware that she needs to be at least a lieutenant to do so. At that point I quit watching. Toshokan Sensou may be intended to be part comedy, but Kasahara is too dumb and annoying to be funny.
Grumble
At least five groups are subbing Kanokon. Three episodes have been translated so far. Only one group is subbing Kaiba, and only the first episode is available in English. You couldn’t pay me to watch Kanokon. Kaiba is probably the most interesting show since Denno Coil.
There’s something wrong here.
At the variety show
Let’s see if nested blockquotes work:
I heard Fr. Neuhaus, in the EWTN commentary, try to sneak in something in, in that classic hushed, “golf announcer” tone:
“We have not been given background notes as to who to credit for introducing the Holy Father to aspects of the aesthetic suffering endured by the faithful in America.”
Today’s walk
An unexpected combination
Frëd reviews an episcopal space opera:
One suspects the bad influence of the good, but inexperienced, padre. (Yes, you read the cover right: one of the co-authors is the Catholic archbishop of Newark, N.J.)
Lilac
Getting it together
A very short piece by Satoshi Kon:
From here, where you can also find shorts by Michael Arias and Kazuto Nakazawa.
Strangeness and charm
A few notes on the first episode of Kaiba:
• It’s dystopian science fiction. In this world, minds can be separated from bodies and stored on conical “chips.” There’s a market for memories and bodies, and young bodies fetch good prices. The rich, who live above the electrical clouds, can avoid death by obtaining fresh bodies. It’s a dangerous world for the commoners, who are constantly beset by automatons.
• The first episode was mostly scene-setting and action, and I don’t have much sense of the characters yet. The main ones so far are “Warp,” a boy with no memory who has a locket with a girl’s picture, an emblem of three discs on his abdomen, and a hole through his chest, and Popo (voiced by Romi Paku), who seems to be a streetwise kid, perhaps with radical political connections (though we don’t know that much about him yet).
• The art and animation are more interesting than the story and characters so far. I’ve posted some screen captures below the fold, and there are a couple of excerpts on the video weblog illustrating the quality of the animation and the strangeness. The electronic music soundtrack might be worth tracking down when it’s available.
• Visual novelties and energy can carry the show for a while, but whether Kaiba is ultimately a triumph or a disappointment depends whether it tells a good story. For now, it’s at the top of my watch list.