we're finally notdotq anymore

The rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated.

More seriously, though, it’s true that I have not blogged anime in a really long time. My last post on here, in fact, was to the effect that I was totally swamped by that oftentimes elusive, oftentimes painfully-in-your-face thing called “real life.”

But enough of that.

It’s time for a casual and relaxed account of my 2009 anime experience thus far.

Maria+Holic 1-2
I have another five episodes to watch, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. This has nothing to do with the death of subtext; this show is the most blatant thing ever. I think it has more to do with the Shaft style. Bitches need to know when to cut back. I don’t want to watch ef a third time.

Maria-sama ga Miteru Season 4 1-4
Episodes 1 and 2 were awesome; 3 and 4 were terrible. I have 5 and 6 with me but haven’t watched them simply because I don’t have the time. I do want to, and quite badly at that. This show is part of the definition of lolikitsune; it won’t remain unwatched for long.

Aria the Animation 1-3
As one of my New Year’s Resolutions, I restarted Aria. It’s so good.

Toradora 15-18
Slowly, slowly plodding through this. It reached a point where I said “indeed! This IS H&Cesque!” because all the characters seemed to have their own depth and they were all good in very human ways. The only problem is that these characters are like, the pre-H&C good humans, and as such their trials and tribulations all seem painfully immature. I’ll be honest: I’m tired of the mediocrity.

Cowboy Bebop 23
I want to finish this show someday. That’s all I can say.

Aria the Animation 1-3
One of my older brothers (who had seen no Aria previously) decided to try the show out. It’s so fucking good.

Xamd 20-26
The show really petered out in the end. It did the Darker Than Black thing, where there’s lots of unexplained nonsense—and, instead of leaving it unexplained, the creators try to put it all together and come to a conclusion. Like in DTB, this resulted in a lot of stuff not making sense. Shows need to know when to just leave well enough alone.

That said, emotional captain was emotional, cool animation was cool, fun show was fun. I just have no idea why Nazuna got on that bus in the first episode.

Munto TV 1-4
It’s just the OVAs all over again so far, right? Not too big a waste of time, and I’m looking forward to the new material.

Suzumiya-chan 1
I vomited, and couldn’t finish the episode.

Churuya-san 3
I vomited, and couldn’t finish the episode.

Clannad After Story 14-18
Good stuff. Unfortunately, no, this does not redeem 36 episodes of garbage. A couple good moments do not a good show make. No matter what anyone says. I’m not going to argue this at any length right now because I have better things to be doing with my time than engaging in internet debates, but let it be known that that is my opinion. I think the movie did a better job overall. Of course, AS 18 made me want to become a dad, but that’s just because I’m a moron.

Aria the Animation 1-3
Saki, the one-time anime-lover, decided she wanted to give my favorite show a try. I accompanied her. She liked it enough to watch more than one episode. Woot? Incredibly fucking good show.

Aaaaand that’s pretty much what my animescape has been since getting into the UC Berkeley dorms. What, you want more from me? A convention report on AODSF2009? It sucked! Anything else? Satire? Humor? What are those?! I hear the ABAs weren’t happening a second time! I don’t need no fucking awards.

I just want love.

Oh, I watched Coraline, and it scared me shitless more than once. I’m so easily creeped out :(

←[99] SHAFT + School Rumble + Strawberry Panic. That’s the impression I got.

One half of the lead character binary is Kanako: lesbian, tall, tomboy, deretsun for Maria; only becoming insecure (tsun) once her homosexuality is put into question. Her character design and personality remind me of a cross between Yakumo and Tenma. Her external side is amiable, unconfident, pretty darn moe; her internal side is yuri. She contains both the lady-like grace of Yakumo and the horribly klutzy comical antics of Tenma. Her internal/external tendencies can reflect both Maria’s “split” personality and that pleasant Tenma/Yakumo proportion. Maria in fact breaks the fourth wall and calls her out for her lack of verbosity.

The other half of the duo is Maria, the trap. Without drawing needless parallels to Eri Sawachika, it seems established already that Maria is the seme and Kanako the uke. Maria’s façade is humorous enough now that the entire universe has been spoiled of the secret, though it’s the masculinity that is paradoxically accentuated by the feminine appearance, making him much more conniving and serpentine. In some ways he reminds me of Light – not overbearingly GAR but with enough boyishness to possess “best” (or worst?) of both gender.

What’s significant is that the viewer experiences the anime through Kanako – we see her internal monologues. By positioning the viewer “outside” of Maria, [s]he is effectively transformed into the incrementalist, the character that is revealed bit by bit. Reaction porn for some hopeful action porn? I think what this means in the long run is, unless SHAFT starts dealing out paradigm shifts and situating the viewer within Maria’s soliloquies, it will be expected of the viewer to find humor (1) in that incremental revealing of Maria’s secrets and (2) Kanako’s predictable reactions – all the super deformation is reserved for her. The anime, replete with Kanako-colored lenses, establishes a sort of Unlimited Poetic Justice Works: since all of Kanako’s yuri actions are laced with guilt, it’s only natural that we expect Maria to backlash with hypocritical masochism (HUH?).

Anyway, this show is really hilarious! Its comedy does not downplay at all the yuri, and even if you DO NOT WANT trap, you’re basically forced to temporarily forget about it because we’re observing Maria via Kanako. Kanako the flaming lesbian.

Final verdict: if you liked the characterizations in School Rumble, the yuri/catholic(?) themes in Strawberry Panic, and SHAFT’s crazyness, you will definitely enjoy Mariaholic. [note: I did not catch a lot of marimite in here - marimite isn't really even indirectly satired.]

BTW, 100^th post, dedicated to lolikitsune, mai dear waifu.