Month: January 2009

Editorial

Key and the Art of Tragedy

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Allusions to manly shooting games aside, I have noticed in my travels through anime and visual novels – particularly the romance-centric ones – that the device of tragedy is very common. Whether in male-targetted visual novels like AIR or more gender-neutral (or even female-targetted) stories like Saikano and Fruits Basket, tragic love stories are a common theme. However, this bleak setting has also received its fair share of criticism, particularly due to the predictable nature of the “genre”, if you will.

Consequently, it seems to me that tragedy is a sort of art. It is also personal preference, of course, but I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that some tragedies are more equal than others. So, with Toki wo Kizamu Uta still melancholically echoing in my ears, I’d like to take a closer look at these Sad Nouns in Season that I so adore and possibly figure out just why I adore them.

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Analysis

Maria†Holic OP – Of Yuri, Sadistic Traps, and a whole lot of paint

mariaholic-op-21I’d hit it.

After watching two seasons of ef and a Hidamari Sketch or two, I can honestly say that SHAFT has completely corrupted me. And by corrupted, I mean that they’ve taught me to appreciate the abstract and to look between the lines – even if there’s nothing there to begin with. Maria+Holic is a lighthearted show compared to the likes of ef, and while the kind of deconstruction that went on during the early days of memories is more suited to a story of ef’s intensity, there’s something oddly alluring about a sadistic trap painting walls with dolls fashioned after his lesbian roomate.

In other words, this show is about as insane as it’s OP, and I’m about to try to make sense out of all of this. I wonder what that says about my sanity?

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Review

A Beautiful Melody: May Sky Review

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With the conclusion of al|together 2008, eager English-speaking visual novel fans from around the world clamored to play the latest batch of doujin VNs, hand picked by the translation community and brought to us legally for free. While I haven’t played anything close to all of the translated VNs out there (although I have played quite a few things that no one ever mentions…and I can see why no one mentions them), there was one game this year that stood out in my eyes. It was nothing particularly special – nothing intriguing like Ballad of an Evening Butterfly, nothing dramatic like True Remembrance, nothing tear-jerking like Narcissu – but it was a fun experience nonetheless. It served as an excellent reminder to me that stories don’t have to be revolutionary to be good, and though May Sky was far from revolutionary, it was certainly good.

Read on for my spoiler-free review of the game, and a final statement on why you shouldn’t overlook it.

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Analysis

Toradora: A Story of Contradictions

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It’s pictures like this that can hold the viewer back from seeing what the series really is.

In case you haven’t caught wind of the hype yet, I’ll start with this: Toradora is definitely among the more unique romantic comedies that’s aired in recent time, and it does an excellent job at playing with stereotypes. Like with everything else, there are probably a few naysayers in the audience, but by and large the show has gained its fair share of respect. With charaters that look shallow on the outside but contain much depth on the inside, skillful writing that’s both believable and entertaining, and an all-around solid presentation that accomplishes everything that one would expect from the genre and then some, it’s a show that I would recommend to most anyone.

However, something dawned on me while watching the fifteenth episode the other day. It’s a little something that’s been in front of me all along, yet took me this long to notice: a little something involving Vanilla Salt and a neatly-woven tale of preconceptions.

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Meta

Episodics, and my qualm with them

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Picture is vaguely relevant because I always figured Konata could make a decent aniblogger.

Before you say it, this isn’t another editorial vs episodic debate: those have been done countless times before I entered the ‘sphere, and they’ll probably be done many more times in the future. Instead, this is both a bit of a site update and a short ramble from yours truly about the topic mentioned in the title.Why bother bringing this up, you ask? Shouldn’t you just make these decisions on your own, and focus on writing something good instead?

Well, the answer to that is actually quite simple: I have an episode of Clannad sitting on my desktop, and the thought of screencapping and reviewing it sounds considerably less pleasant than writing another post like my last one.

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Commentary

Clannad – Why I Love It, and why it’s probably more than you think

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Clannad: the viusal novel about family. We’ve all at least heard of it, many of us are watching it, and a few of us had the pleasure of playing the original 50+ hours VN. By this point, it’s hard for one to call Clannad cliche, or to accuse it of being a stereotypical Key story – the community, from the forums of AnimeSuki to the blogosphere, has already proven otherwise, with countless debates and predictions about the development of the plot and the constant themes throughout the story. More importantly, however, the show has spoken for itself, declaring subtly yet proudly that it’s only a male-targeted fantasy on the outside, and that in reality it holds a much deeper story about the relationships we have with the people around us and the way those relationships make us stronger.

However, even knowing this, it took me this long to come to a conclusion that I should have come to long ago. Clannad is not truly a visual novel, nor was it written by Key; and it’s about as far from generic harem as a show can ever get. Clannad is closer to being a shoujo than anything else, presenting a heartwarming slice-of-life/romance story more than worthy of the best in the genre, and if you’ll give me a moment, I’m prepared to defend that statement.

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