The other day I read some post on IcyStorm’s blog that mentioned Clannad‘s “themes” being better than those of Key or AIR, Kyoto Animation’s two other Key adaptations. My response to that seemingly reckless statement was to take a moment to really think about what Clannad‘s themes were.

IcyStorm later pointed out to me that he was referring to the value of family and friends, but I think that’s secondary to what I found for myself, which was that hope never dies. “Hope is like a dandelion—it grows back from the same stalk in the spring when it dies.”

And I don’t think that this theme is unique to Clannad; I think we see it in AIR and in Kanon as well. In AIR, after a thousand years, the curse was finally lifted. In Kanon, a new branch grows from the tree whence Ayu fell, and we see a fox—presumably Makoto/related to Makoto—walking around. So on one level, I disagreed with IcyStorm.

But execution still matters, right?

And the Clannad movie portrays this theme better than any of Kyoto Animation’s adaptations, I believe: when Tomoya is finally dragged from his apartment, and made to face the future (“this is why people make lies,” etc.), the future being, in this case, his young daughter. He realizes he doesn’t need to be the man his father was, that he can be a new man of his own and that there’s hope for his family. The moment on the train platform literally moved me to tears. Tears, needless to say, of joy.

You did your best, Tomoya.

Owen and I were having a heated discussion following my reading of and commenting on his latest post—one about the unforgivably terrible TV series “Lucky‚òÜStar.” Eventually, the conversation degenerated into this:

[...]
5:50:54 PM lolikitsune: [...] different strokes for different folks
5:50:54 PM Owen S: yeah
5:50:58 PM lolikitsune: for example you like lucky star
5:50:59 PM lolikitsune: i don’t ;)
5:51:08 PM Owen S: you wrote that you did
5:51:10 PM Owen S: I checked the archives
5:51:11 PM lolikitsune: ?!
5:51:12 PM Owen S: you fucking liar
5:51:16 PM lolikitsune: that was SARCASM
5:51:19 PM lolikitsune: you fucking DIPSHIT
5:51:21 PM Owen S: under your rake-star category
5:51:26 PM Owen S: FUCK YOU YOU TSUNDERE LIAR
5:51:29 PM Owen S: FUCK YOU
5:51:31 PM lolikitsune: are you ever going to pass Reading Comprehension?!
5:51:33 PM Owen S: YOU SAID YOU LIKED EPISODE 11
5:51:35 PM Owen S: SERIOUSLY, TOO
5:51:43 PM Owen S: IT WAS A MAJIME NA LOLIKIT THING TOO
5:51:44 PM Owen S: FUCK YOU
5:51:45 PM Owen S: FUCK
5:51:46 PM Owen S: YOU

I checked my archives like Owen suggested, and lo and behold: there it was!

Lucky Star 11—alright. Alright. I’m sorry. There it is. I’m admitting my mistake, just as predicted by the comment-leavers on my first Lucky Star post. Yes, I enjoy the show. I skip the OP every time and enjoy the jokes, and the dad is awesome. Kona’s dad that is. And yeah, I mean it. He’s awesome. It’s always the dads—Bleach, Shuffle!, Tsubasa Chronicle, Romeo x Juliet… it’s always the dads.

It makes sense that this went unnoticed and that I managed to keep up my Lucky Star hating thing. At the time I made this post, 100% of my fans thought this blog was dead. I was on hiatus on ANO and I wasn’t active in IRC. I had previously declared my intention to leave the aniblogosphere. Except that… wait… is that some Owen in the comments? It is!

Alright. *

I can admit my mistakes.

I can accept that the gig’s up.

Yeah, I liked Lucky Star. No, I won’t concede on the points made in my landmark Lucky Star post. They still stand. Just, Lucky Star turned out to be enjoyable. The comedy was decent and the slice of life aspect—while I won’t agree 100% with Owen on the count—was present and pleasant. Kyoto Animation is still a gaggle of prostitutes, Ayu is still an impossibility, Haruhi is still total shit. And I won’t apologize.

Lucky Star was enjoyable. For Minoru and his Lucky Channel. For Minoru and his ED song and dance routines. For the non-self-referential parodies that were funny. For the little tidbits that made me smile.

* That’s not fucking alright!!!

Owen, you adorable fuck, you played me. You took me like some kind of passive object and stuck your prodding devices into my beproddation sockets. You knew all along… you knew all along that I liked Lucky Star. And yet you refer to arguments of mine—that I probably didn’t make! And yet you refer to the critic me—who probably doesn’t exist! You fooled me, and you fooled me well. Somehow, reinforced by your insistence that I was wrong about Lucky Star, my absent-minded trolling metamorphosed into a conviction that I loathed Lucky Star, that you knew I loathed it, that I loathed it, that you knew that, that I sucked at defending my points, that I hated Lucky Star and that maybe that was because I say the same thing over and over again with decreasing levels of coherences?!

Look.

The point is: don’t do that shit.

Don’t fuck with me. I’ll fuck you back and you’ll learn to fear it. I’m not even legal yet, you know. I’ll make you the perpetrator. I’ll make you suffer. I’ll tarnish your family name for generations. Just. Just remember that. I know I’m kind of slow sometimes… okay, maybe extremely slow… but that does not give you an okay to screw with me! I internalize stuff easily, you know!!

Anyway.

You win. You fucking win, okay? Just. Just leave me alone. T_T

Downing the LJ

CJ Blackwing
Like a cruel beast
Has dug up my deep past again
She just assumes
I’m comfortable with
The shit that I did way back when

I didn’t want to be a troll
The mean folks always choose
‘Cause in my heart, I realize
That I’m the one confused

I don’t know what’s worth storing here
Or why I permalink
I don’t know what a post is for
If its contents are shit
“How do I started aniblog?”
I know it’s just fucked up
So I’m downing the LJ
I’m downing the LJ
Tonight

Playing my tunes
I clutch my headphones close
I try to lose myself again
I’m in despair
Deeper than before
I’m ignoring comments again

I didn’t want to be a troll
The mean folks always choose
But in my heart, I realize
That I’m the one amused

I don’t know what’s worth lurking for
Or why I have to flame
I don’t know why blog posts coax me
They’re forcing me to care
I don’t know how to say the words
I’ll always be a trap
So, I’m downing the LJ
I’m downing the LJ
Tonight

I’ll post it on my blog
‘Cause I am always right
I won’t concede again
And this is how I end…

I don’t know what’s worth cutting for
Or why I have to bleed
But now I have some peace of mind
and this will be my choice
I don’t know why I registered
I won’t sign in again
So, I’m downing the LJ
I’m downing the LJ
I’m downing the LJ
Tonight