Da Capo: Kanae Kudou

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It’s… a… TRAP!

Kudou-kun, Da Capo’s resident crossdresser. I have a weird enough penchant for characters of this type (no I’m not going Brokeback on myself), mostly because you can really only do this in fiction. In real life, I have not seen any convincing crossdresser that would fool me into thinking that he/she is actually of the opposite sex.

And with Kudou having given basically NO love in [Da Capo Second Season->] at all, I decided to give his… I mean her scenario a quick run.

Disclaimer: I’ll be addressing Kudou as a guy at first, and then a girl afterwards accordingly when Junichi finds out about it.

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Loli Technology

We now interrupt this anime program for some interesting developments in the tech world.

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It seems that the trend nowadays is to make things “smaller”. Since I have a penchant for ‘small things’ (no pun intended [no rly]), I have been following various tech news and stuff rather closely these past weeks. Actually I’m in the market for new gadgets to fill gaps in my rather already-bloated collection. Before I start delving and salivating on cool and spicy tech gizmos, let me describe what I have right now:
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Naisho no Tsubomi

Naisho no Tsubomi

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Originally a shoujo manga aimed at young girls, this is a small anime about a huge topic… or should I say a topic huge to girls who are growing up. Well basically… it’s about girls growing up.

I know that a lot of people may not like this anime, and indeed in the surface it just looks like some fanservice anime about young Japanese love/sex/physical education. While the original manga was supposed to be for young girls, I think no modern Japanese parent in their right mind would pick up and buy an OVA anime like this for their growing-up child. I saw a lot of pantsu and underage fanservice goodness, which borders on the absolute controversial. This leads me to think that this time, the anime is specifically aimed at lolicon otakus. And as some of you know, I tend to be a lolicon every now and then (or more often than not lately?). Of course I’m going to give it a positive review merely based on that. NO, I am NOT. I don’t like Naisho no Tsubomi just because it completely fulfilled a LOT of my anime preferences… or should I say fetishes. This anime is a surprising and timely reminder of why I am watching anime in the first place.
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Animeme: Hatsune Miku – Konbini

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr66XbJF9AI&hl=en&fs=1&w=425&h=344]

I have a relatively untapped resource of Niconico entertainment which are called VOCALOID original songs. I would guess these are songs composed by random people and they make VOCALOID characters like Hatsune Miku sing their compositions. It is certainly interesting, and Konbini is one of these nice songs I bumped into lately. While the original Hatsune Miku version is good in itself, the better version comes from the semi-R&B mix by halyosy, some singer out there. The song itself is simple but cute premise, a guy who has a crush on that girl working at the convenience store. An added touch is the video, drawn mostly shoujo-manga style, which is awesome. All in all a great showcase for original songs out there, and it actually inspired me to compose my own. I’m a bit of a pianist myself. Don’t count on it anytime soon though.

Moar:
Konbini – Girl POV – From the girl point of view. Not as fun, it assumes that the girl likes the guy too.

Animeme: Paffendorf – Under My Skin

アッーウッウッイネイネ
(A–u-u-i-ne-i-ne)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpq94hcgMrE&hl=en&w=425&h=344]

So, is this the new Caramelldansen? Words escape me, this is absolutely cute! Who the hell thought of this combo? This seems fairly recent, and it needs a medley, I can only stand watching this for a while. I expect this meme to explode like wildfire in the coming days. On the other hand, it could be a flop. Nevertheless, that’s a few minutes of my life wasted on such mindless cuteness. This is animeme monitor signing off for now.

Moar:
Sumomo (the original) – blame her for this mess.
Nanoha
Yotsuba
Osaka

Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone

Rebuild of Evangelion

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Neon Genesis Evangelion, after more than a decade, still remains to be one of the most revolutionary anime series of all time. I am not a fan of mecha, but this anime transcends beyond being mecha, bringing along twisted characters and an intriguing plot at amazing pace and intensity. I guess the anime stood the test of time, in that despite looking rather old by today’s standards, it still entertained me when I rewatched it recently in preparation for this new movie. When I got the news that Evangelion is being ‘rebuilt’ anew, I myself have mixed reactions. How would GAINAX do this? Obviously there will be comparisons, and personally I would have preferred a remake of the anime series instead of rebuilding it into four separate movies. After I had watched this first movie though… well… I still have mixed reactions I guess.
Continue reading Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone

Animeme: Kero ⑨ Destiny

ケロ⑨ destiny

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUBbigtfCWs&hl=en&w=425&h=344]

ケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロケロ
kerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokerokero

Silver Forest has done it again for me, mixing Touhou with other unique references. We have Nice Boats here too. This song is incredibly catchy, and the accompanying video is simple in execution but very cute. And lastly… poor Cirno. They want to eat Cirno.

Moar:
Keroro Gunsou Destiny – Kerokerokerokerokero. Awesome spoof, of course with the only definitive frog character in anime.
Nico Nico Destiny – To the tune of the song, this is a video montage of most animeme you’ll ever see.
ピコ⑧Bitiny – This is mega-cute nostalgia! The song remixed 8-bit video game style!

Akihabara Massacre

My condolences to all the people affected by this incident.

People die everyday, but modern media tends to lean on the more controversial ones rather than focus on the needs of the hungry and war-torn in other parts of the world. I guess they were having a field day when this happened. After all, shock happens when it’s rare and one-in-a-million.

It’s a perfect recipe. Akihabara, massacre, otaku culture. Same thing with the US version. Columbine, massacre, video games. That’s two of my own hobbies there. So, in the “impossible” event that I freak out, get tired of life and start killing people on the streets, pundits will only need to refer to my non-conformities to find out what kind of person I am. Great.

Continue your idiocy you stereotyping, typecasting, racist people.

But by saying that, am I not the same stereotyping, typecasting, racist person? You throw stones at me, I throw stones too. What a fundamental problem in modern society. This kind of behavior can’t be helped, really. A hopeless case for someone who strives for peace in this world.

While other people would say that this story will just die out, I say never. It doesn’t deserve to die. Let the debates continue. Issues like discrimination should always be talked about. I am not a US citizen, but I like that you have a non-conformist guy to potentially be your President (please vote Obama).

I guess the [Tragedy, Hope->] title would have been better applied to this story. Let me connect a bit of the Sakura factor in this one too. Remember, Sakura was different. She was eternally young. Wouldn’t that be an issue of discrimination/envy in their Da Capo world? We don’t see that in the games. I imagine that sometime between those 50 years, there came a time when people had become suspicious of Sakura. People may label her as a witch, deep inside feeling envious that she can never grow old… or not die at all even. But I also imagine at some point, people start seeing her beyond her physical appearance. As a person. As the same human being that they all are, despite the minor difference. Eventually they loved her, elected her as school principal, and possibly be a huge contributor in society. Her sakura magic research may even be more useful someday, and somehow people may trust her in searching for the truth in the magic. This is the hidden story that I wanted to believe. I hope society can learn from this too, accepting differences of other people instead of persecuting them. Maybe the Akihabara tragedy may have been avoided if the world, and all the people in it, were in a more open-minded state of being.

Tragedy, Hope

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Knowing about the true story of Sakura in anime form was unprecedented for me. Even if I had already [skimmed the surface->dc2-da-capo], I guess the tale can still be told effectively in another way. The most important part of the experience though, is that I can relate somewhat to the character. Yes, Yoshino Sakura’s trials, tribulations and tragedies reflect my own set of current real-life problems. As a result, my heart breaks yet again for this fictional character, and in part, this fictional character gave me a source of reference, reflection and inspiration of myself.
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