Author: eternal

Analysis

Toradora: A Story of Contradictions

toradora
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

episodics-1
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

clannad-after-story-analysis-3

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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Ramblings

What’s in a Name? Ramblings on the Mystery of Internet Handles


Chaos;Head is relevant, sorta.

Internet communication (as previously covered by a few of us) is something that is both very old and very new to me, ranging from miscellaneous tweets to the massive essays we get on some editorial blogs. However, whether you’re in the ‘sphere or you’re talking about mainstream shounen on a mediocre anime forum (or even not talking about anime at all), there’s one thing that follows you wherever you go, like a signature denoting your identity. That thing, which we so often take for granted, is called an internet handle, and it results in followers of the blogosphere tossing around names like DarkMirage and Impz in real life without thinking twice.

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Analysis

5 Centimeters Per Second Re-Watch: A Bittersweet Analysis of a Bittersweet Tale

Makoto Shinkai’s latest masterpiece was a short film that provoked lengthy discussions – discussions about childhood romance, the definition of love, and the use of melodramatic backdrops and sunlight to heighten the impact of a story. However, more important than the discourse it encouraged are the questions that it forced all of us to ask ourselves. Introspection with no particular cause nor goal, introspection sparked by a subtle story with a lifetime’s worth of meaning…introspection that differs between each and every viewer. This is what I believe 5cm/s achieved, and through this post, I would like to discuss and attempt to deconstruct this masterpiece of anime that affected me more than anything else.

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Ramblings

A New Year’s Introspection…of sorts

I say “of sorts” because, from the reading I’ve been doing around the ‘sphere, my introspection has already been done. No, it’s not like I wrote the post in advance – I have a bad habit of leaving blog posts until I actually need to write them – it’s just that someone else already transcribed my story as an anime fan for me. That person is usagijen of Scrumptious, and after reading her post on her growth as an anime fan through the medium of blogging, I realized that I had experienced quite the same thing. And with a new year beginning in less than twelve hours, I think I’m ready to take my next step forward.

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