We Fly Like Paper Get High Like Planes

Dear Followers,


The American educational system has been the topic of debate for many years as cracks in the system have been discovered. The most recent crack comes in the form of global comparison, as hacks from around the globe comment on how the US is failing behind in the race for education. The new leaders in the educational race are India and China as thousands of dazzling statistics from surveys will not cease to support. These surveys in themselves are vastly decontextualized and inconclusive because they are based on distinct measures of intelligence. My problem with these surveys, however, is another problem.


This perception of American educational decline has sparked a plethora of proposals and congressional bills to keep the Americans in the race. One does not have to look far back to remember the No Child Left Behind passed under the Bush Administration. Congressmen and anxious parents have come up with the idea that standardized testing and government subsidies for schools will help a complex problem like education, however these measures only compound the problem. Why? Because they operate within the framework of the educational framework in the first place.

At this point many readers will be dissuaded from continuing onward with this proposal. Any action that works within the established educational framework is acceptable, but any notion of overcoming this framework or even mention of the framework at all are rejected on sport because they are “radical” ideas. Because education has been the framework of learning for hundreds of years, the very way we have come to know the world is through a lens of this educational framework. At the point where education shapes our very epistemology, there is no shock that anything outside of the framework would come as “radical.”


However, I beg the reader to continue. You need not agree with my ideas, and you may in fact have ideas of your own, but you will never get many chances like this one to explore the underlying nature of education and how you and your ideas interact and mesh with the system. In the event that this proposal forces you to evaluate information in a foreign manner then I have succeeded in my ultimate aim. Forcing you to step outside of the system in order to evaluate its assumptions puts you one step closer to overcoming them.


Let me start with an analysis of education. In the US education was developed with the creation of the new republic following the Revolutionary War of 1776. Founded on the Greek ideals of civic duty, the new nation depended on the good will of its citizenry to succeed. Thus, the goal of public education was, and is, to create an educated citizenry for participation in the republic. As the concept of education progressed through the ages, the purpose of the educational system transitioned from this idea of the citizenry to the idea of the individual. Education is now thought of as an “individual” process in which each student has something distinct to take from the educational system for personal use and improvement.


This individualization of education inevitably led to the creation of the grade. In a world where education was no longer for the good of the common people but for the improvement and advancement of the individual, an overarching sense of competition is fostered. The main tool for evaluation is comparison. All measurements are relative, meaning measurements only have relevance when they are juxtaposed. They mean nothing absent this juxtaposition. Thus the new tool for evaluation in education turned outward, forcing teachers to compare every student in order to “measure” achievement.

While this form of measurement may have been inevitable, the institution of the grade was not. The only way to quantify achievement was through the establishment of a uniform measure for all students, allowing teachers to “evaluate” individual progress. Such a tool is only necessary in a world where the primary motive in education is the improvement of the individual. The classic F to A grading system soon became ingrained in American education.


The concept of a grading system is supremely dehumanizing. To reduce the complex entity of the student down into a measurable and subjective single digit is to erase everything that makes up that student. The prioritization of the measure destroys the value of everything that makes us human. Things like character, scholarship, intelligence, actions, and relationships become secondary to what teachers perceive as the only “accurate” measure of achievement. When we reduce complex students, we undermine everything they stand for and are deprived of a real understanding of who they are. This has completely depersonalized education to the point where we believe every student can learn in the same manner.


Modern institutions have only exacerbated this problem. The modern public school, jam packed with thousands of students, has become so unmanageable to a depersonalized approach is the only feasible option. Teachers can no longer give individual focus to students but instead need to group them all together in order to get any learning done at all. Imagine, a teacher at Wayzata High School with four blocks of 30 students each developing an individual study plan for every student!


Secondly, the concept of selective education has served to completely dehumanize the student and to destroy the way every student views themselves. In a world where universities and colleges will only select a limited amount of individuals, the sense of competition is pushed to the extreme. This has led to the introduction of superfluous “measures” of achievement that help colleges quickly understand prospective students. Queue in the standardized test. Regardless of the fact that school curriculums are vastly distinct throughout the nation, policy makers have the notion that bombarding students with an endless amount of random and disjointed factoids will prove that educational systems are working. This will be addressed in a later passage in this proposal.

Moving back, when this sense of competition is pushed to the extreme, students themselves begin to look at the grade as the only measure of their own identity. Students become so stressed out in maintaining the top grade level because to do otherwise would be to underplay who they are as an individual. You have no doubt seen how students will gripe and complain to get every point they can. You have no right to blame students. In a framework where all importance is placed on the grade, the grade takes a metaphysical position of all-importance and thus students have a right to try and protect theirs.


Now you may be asking, what is the alternative to a grade? I will have to agree that while grades are fundamentally wrong, there is no denying that the system is quick and easy. All dehumanizing practices are. The alternative is not a new system to replace the grade but rather a new system to replace the framework of education. Because of the way education is constructed right now, try to change the use of grades would be pointless. Yes, even in education we must first remove the system to bring about real change. Only then can there be space for an alternative that focuses and evaluates each student individually through personalized and contextualized achievement. This way we can measure children by WHAT they do, not HOW they do.


Many will not be sold on this abuse alone. They will reason that the educational advantages of the current educational system would outweigh any risk of dehumanization. This is where they are wrong. As the system continues to advance, we are losing knowledge, not the other way around. Before I go into the reasons for this phenomenon, let me emphasize that when these arguments hold true our only option is to change. In a world of student abuse and a drop in education there is no reason to continue pressing onward with the educational framework.


Many of you may be confused with my claim that the educational system is in fact uneducational. My understanding of this has come through a synthesis of personal experience and research, taking from Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves To Death.” The way that school curriculums are set up in the modern world lend to the accumulation of pointless information. Just as the growth of a television culture has led to the diminishment of relevant information as everything is taken out of context, education is increasingly taking everything out of context to fit the new busy world of information.

Education, as any other institution, is shaped by the media. To the point where the media shapes our understanding of the world, the media shapes our institutions as well. Information in the modern world has taken precedent over understanding. The new emphasis is on the accumulation of information, not the understanding of information. Students and teachers are duped into believing that having more information is the best way to learn.


All in the sake of management, teachers have moved from an interactive and intuitive style of teaching to a redundant and detached style of teaching. This has given birth to the “plug-and-chug” process in which students are loaded with busy work and assignments that allow them to plow through every day with the conception that they are learning. After all, they are doing work.


What these exercises do is build up the arsenal of unrelated facts in the mind of the student. The student does not get an understanding of how these facts work together because this type of detached work rewards those who plow through and not those who step back and analyze information. After all, grades and scores are based on answering the most right, not answering the most best.


The collection of information wouldn’t seem very appealing if the public could easily see through its utility. Thus, we have developed the institution of the test. When information is framed in anticipation of the test, everything is given a “purpose.” This false sense of purpose is enough to assuage the masses into the conception that everything they learn is “useful.” Thus students don’t feel the “chug-and-plug” of the everyday and they continue unaware through school. Relevance and contextual information do not mean anything. They aren’t on the test after all.

We are no longer trained to become ideal citizens, but ideal collections of information. Students, look at your every day classes. With everything that you are learning in school, how much can really be applied to the real world? I am not saying that knowledge is useless, but irrelevant knowledge is useless. Rather, knowledge for the sake of knowledge is useless. School needs to be more focused on application instead of the accumulation of facts.


I will stop there. Everyone needs to rant every now and then.


Come Around Here I Make Them All Day,
Noel

Simple And Clean Is The Way Your Making Me Feel

Dear Followers,

These days, finding spare time has become a daunting task. There is always another test, another thing to focus on, and frankly I am starting to get sick of the everyday routine I have adopted. This weekend I have decided to neglect my work and relax as a therapy of sorts. The results have been profound; not only do I feel rejuvenated, but I had the chance to complete an introspective analysis with my extra time.

I was listening to "Simple And Clean" by Utada Hikaru when I decided to take a moment and reevaluate myself as an individual. This song serves as a link to my childhood years, serving as a tool of remembrance. You could not comprehend the amount of time I have spent listening to this song or its many versions. Recently I have started listening to the "Unison Mix." Details can be found on my Facebook page.

If you were to ask, a majority of people would say that they treasured the time spent as a child. I detest my childhood. My childhood is a collection of insecurity, conformity, and malice. I rejected everything that made me who I am in order to be more like everybody else. I turned away from my love of drawing. I turned away from Japanese animation. I turned away from my religion and the Indian community, an action that haunts me today.

I really started to look back to Middle School. I was a demon in Middle School. I was so overcome with the need to fit in that I did things that I regret. I stole, I cheated, I lied. During my freshman year in high school I decided that I did not like myself and what I had done. One day I decided to do something to change that fact. Since that day I have spent every morning asking myself what I can do to improve myself as an individual.

I soon realized how immutable the character is. You cannot simply change overnight. Everybody will tell you this over and over again, but you really have no idea how true the statement is until you try to do so. You would not believe how frustrating and self-defeating trying to change yourself is. As I fought my inner evils I only came to realize that there were more flaws that I had not seen before. I became so focused on my negatives that I even entered a state of depression and extreme anxiety.

One of the first things I wanted to change is my sociability. I am, and always have been, a reclusive person. Perhaps because I was so used to just listening to my brother I failed to develop social skills. In fact, when my brother left for college I became more reclusive, a fact that my parents can support. Sometimes I crave social interaction, but many times I like to just be alone. Groups are not something I do well; I prefer to interact with one or two individuals at most.

Many of you may not realize that I have trouble talking to others and keeping up conversations. I can never get my thoughts together just right and always say something wrong. Because of this, I rely on slapstick humor and harsh sarcasm to force others to do the talking in the form of reactions; conversation outside of this realm is hard for me to conduct. Because of this mechanism however, I often appear pretentious, and many times others feel as though I do not care about them when I really do.

These thoughts led me to start evaluating my basis of action. If I could sum up the purpose of my life in one sentence, it would be to do what nobody else has. I thrive on distinction. In many ways this is another outgrowth of my relationship with my brother. Because my brother is a remarkable individual (regardless of what I say at times, he is the person I respect the most), he is always leaving a shadow behind for me to stand in. I do not want to be "Shray's brother," I want to be "Naveen."

My drive toward individuality is the basis for all of my action today. I always look to do what nobody else is doing. If everybody is taking notes on paper I will pull out my laptop. If all of my friends are on the ground I will stand up. If everybody is ordering one thing I will order another. These unconscious actions are what make me an individual.

However, I could never get rid of my never-ending need to conform. Although today I have reduced the hold that conformity has on me, I have not broken free completely. I continue to join others in common activities. I continue to adopt tastes and disinclinations based on those of my peers. I continue to culturally conform to the standards of teenage society. To break free completely would be "social-suicide," and I would probably go mad.

In this society of conformity, I have been given the label of "intellectual." I detest this label. Everybody associates the intellectual with somebody who is naturally gifted, somebody who does not need to work to accomplish great deeds. This is not an appropriate label for somebody as myself. I have no "exceptional" intellectual capabilities. I am somebody who relies on stress to perform well, somebody who works long into the night to make sure that I am always performing at the top level.

This is not a sign of a "genius." If I were truly a "genius" I would have no need to work so hard because things would naturally come to me. They don't. What this label has done is to change the very basis of my nature. I have to work harder to maintain my label. Can you imagine, the "intellectual" receiving a B on an APUSH test? I don't want to work to appease my peers, but there is nothing I can do about it.

Not only has the label forced me to DO, it has forced me to NOT DO. I have nearly all but given up drawing. Because people don't view me as "the artistic person," there is no societal label that I need to maintain, no societal motivation for me to succeed. My drawing skill has atrophied as a result and I no longer see myself resuming any time soon. I am not saying that societal pressure is the only reason I want to succeed in anything, but I recognize that it plays a large role.

With that closing thought, I will end this introspection. I feel confident publishing this here because of the very fact that close to nobody reads this blog. If anything this was a good way to put my thoughts into words so that I can use this as a tool of measurement sometime down the road. Who knows, maybe things will never change and I will be unable to change the aspects of my character that I detest. Either way, the future doesn't scare me at all.

Whatever Lies Beyond This Morning,
Noel

Breadcrumb Trail

Dear Followers,


"The Acts Of Hansel and Gretel" - King James Bible:


1. In that time of old, the woodcutter and his wife of Kassal begat the young Hansel and Gretel
2. And then, when the youths were born in Kassal of Germany, behold, there came a great famine upon the village
3. And it came to pass that the wife, overtaketh by devils, resolved to abandon them in the woods to stave an early death
4. The woodcutter, her husband, just a man, and not willing to disagree with the good judgment of his spouse, was minded to agree with her plans
5. When Hansel heard these developments, he was troubled, and Gretel with him
6. And Hansel turned and spake upon Gretel, Thou must collect the pebbles on that far side of the home
7. And when the youths had gathered outside, they set to collect all the white pebbles their pockets would permit
8. Thrown then into the deep forest, they became lost, waiting from daybreak to dusk for the moon’s illumination to light the holy pebbles toward home
9. But the children of the household shall be cast out once more: there shall be weeping and the withholding of pebble and provision
10. And young Hansel, beset with fear and exhaustion, would be brought to loot a loaf of bread from that pantry
11. But behold, the breadcrumbs the young Hansel left behind had been for naught by the vice of the ravenous birds
12. When the youths had then lost the way, hearts which were sad became joyful at the sight of the small abode
13. And when they were come to the other side of the abode, there met them one possessed with devils so that no many might pass by that way
14. Hansel spake unto the witch, Let us enter thy abode lest we perish outside
15. Seeing about her two meals, the witch commandeth to not cast them, but instead to enslave Gretel and encage Hansel
16. And great adversity came onto the youths, having that which is cruel and unjust
17. The witch, beset by devilish glutton, would subject young Hansel to regular feasts to expand his girth
18. And, behold, the bone with which young Hansel overcame his doom through trickery and false pretense onto the witch
19. But now at the twelfth hour, the witch could hold no more, exceedingly wroth in anticipation of a two-fold meal
20. And the witch spake unto Gretel, See, I have need of you to check the stove
21. And Gretel did not as the witch commandeth of her, so did she not
22. And when young Gretel proved incompetent, the witch became positioned in front of the stove in example
23. Young Gretel cast her into the fire, to remain a damned soul in unabsolved sin for evermore
24. The youths then fell upon a vast treasure of every which jewel and coin in her sleeping room, filling each pocket with the scrupulous wealth
25. Having a path home illuminated by God’s grace, they reach that household of the woodcutter of Kassal
26. By delivery of justice, by which the mother had departed to the depths of hell, the youths bathed in harmony with a loving father

“Report: Local Woodcutter Reunited With Kidnapped Children”- The Associated Press


Oct 14, 10:46 PM EDT


KASSAL, Germany (AP) – A local woodcutter was reunited with his children this Monday when they reached home after having been kidnapped for 4 months.


The children, Hansel and Gretel, had planned on finding a way back home when sent into the woods by leaving a trail of breadcrumbs behind them. However, when birds ate the crumbs the two were lost in the forest.


The kidnapper, a blind elderly woman residing in the forest, had lured the lost children into her home before locking Hansel into an iron cage and forcing Gretel to become her slave.


“She would feed me every day, trying to fatten me up,” Hansel told us today in an interview. “If I hadn’t used a bone to convince her that I was too thin to eat, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”


Hansel went on to explain that the woman eventually decided to eat him and his sister, “be he fat or lean.” At this time the children managed to escape from their kidnapper.


The details of the children’s escape are unknown at this point. Authorities have found no trace of the kidnapper, and Hansel and Gretel refused to discuss their escape when we interviewed them.


“Gretel has been quiet through the whole investigation,” said Engelbert Humperdinck, member of the Kassal Police Department. “I almost get the feeling that she is hiding something that she doesn’t want us to know.”


Father Adolf could not be happier.


“I am just glad they are back safe and sound,” said the woodcutter. “I had been lamenting the loss of my children since the day my wife had sent them into the woods.”


This recent story draws attention to the increasing problem of negligent mothers in the region. A recent study released by the Brothers Grimm Institute showed that 67% of mothers in Kassal have abandoned their children in the past 5 years.


“These figures show a correlation with the recent famine in the region,” said Jacob Grimm, the institute co-founder. “This could be more of a case of desperation than negligence on the part of mothers in Kassal.”


Jacob Grimm and the institute plan to continue studying the issue and present their new findings at the German National Symposium on Parenting this fall.


© 2010 The Associated Press


Be He Fat Or Thin,
Noel

When Will America Learn? Trix Are For Kids

Dear Followers,

For the sake of those who are less drawn to Nazi philosophical work, I have provided an alternative response to Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent” that deals with a stance that many more people in the classroom and the world can probably relate to (abstract thought is present however):

These past few days I have had the chance to watch Noam Chomsky’s “Manufacturing Consent.” Chomsky’s criticism of the interplay of media corporations and government institutions is an extension, in my mind, to my groups BLA book, “Amusing Ourselves To Death” by Neil Postman. A link to the book’s overview can be found below.

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3933.html

Postman and Chomsky discuss the power of media in American society. They explain who the mass media and press shape our understanding, opinion, and view of the world. In short, the mass media shapes our epistemology as our top source of information. However, Chomsky and Postman diverge at some point. Whereas Postman is more concerned with the decline of relevant information, Chomsky is more concerned with the manipulation of relevant information.

The Soul Eater gang are horrified by the manipulative nature of the mass media.

Chomsky continues to discuss how governments, even democratic ones, exploit the media to “manufacture” the consent of the citizens through media that portrays the state as just. The government soon becomes an all-powerful entity that is not subject to question. “Criticisms” of the government that come from the mass media are rare and more often than not only propagate the state.

When one says something controversial, people will immediately demand evidence whereas otherwise they simply assume regurgitated information that they hear every day to be the truth because it conforms to media norms. Because the media is based on the concept of “concision,” the media can only express conventional thought. One cannot give evidence when stuck with a system of “concision,” thus dissenters are perceived as “people from Neptune.”

Nagi has decided to turn off the TV to avoid the accumulation of incoherence.

I could continue for hours on this topic, but I will stop myself and save some thoughts for my BLA group discussion. Because all of my fellow classmates have decided to discuss Chomsky’s arguments dealing with Cambodia and East Timor, and because I have already discussed military policy in my previous post, I will focus next instead on the manipulation of information as presented by Chomsky.

Chomsky discusses how information is presented to the American public in such a manner by media corporations that they perceive the information to be pertinent and important. Many citizens take pride in reading the paper every day and keeping up with current events. The example that Chomsky gives is the sporting event. Sporting events are a “training in submission to an authoritative figure” which leads to irrational behavior. Citizens rally behind teams without reason and devote themselves to the accumulation of sporting statistics that really mean nothing.

Haruhi is frustrated that she cannot even escape the mass media on her laptop.

This is comparable to the political system. American politics can be characterized as a system of corruption, swindling, and cheating. Mariah Donnelly is the only person who would not admit to this fact at some level. Don’t get me wrong, the United States has one of the freest societies in the world, but that doesn’t mean we can merely turn a blind eye to internal problems with our society.

The news is full of politics, giving citizens the false illusion that they are involved in the political process and that by keeping up with the “issues” as presented by the media they are well informed citizens. This is false. Politics as presented by the media is a load of junk. The amount of ignorant political commercials aired nearly 24/7 these days prove this fact. I came across the following article when researching updates for debate today:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-10/14/c_13557438.htm

The article describes how Republicans and Democrats have fallen back to a system of “China Bashing” in preparation for the upcoming midterm elections. This article demonstrates the misleading nature of politics by explaining how politicians have chosen to open fire on China to prove their loyalty to their own country. Democrats have accused Republicans of crafting policies that allow American companies to outsource jobs to China whereas Republicans blame Democrats for borrowing from China and supporting a bill that sends wind turbine jobs to China.

The mass media has taken another prisoner. Konata is now part of the system.

My favorite line would be “China becomes the scapegoat. Blaming China is easier than trying to restructure the US economy for long-term sustainable growth.” Politicians have chosen to exploit anxiety in times of economic uncertainty to get votes by blaming China and destroying its reputation. This has to be American politics and the manipulation of information at its worst. Are we really so ignorant that we believe these scams? Yep. Politicians that have adopted these new anti-China positions have seen voter increases in recent polls. Facepalm.

P.S. – Perhaps you noticed how I disjointed this post with random pictures. Thanks for the tip Postman.

I’m Cuckoo For Coco Puffs,

Noel

Party Like The Third Reich

Dear Followers,


"I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few"

-Adolf Hitler

For everyone reading this post let me make some clarifications here. I am not a Nazi. I do not support the mass extermination of the Jewish people. I do not support a totalitarian system of control. Now that everybody knows that, let us proceed.

Today I will be talking about how the work of Carl Schmitt shares parallels with that of Noam Chomsky. I know, he was a Nazi, but that does not make his ideas any less valid. I implore those of you who are reading this to look beyond what is on face and try to evaluate the arguments.

http://www.louizaodysseos.org.uk/resources/LJIL+intro.pdf

Here is a link to a book written by Odysseos, Louiza and Petito, and Fabio named "Introducing the International Theory of Carl Schmitt," the most comprehensive analysis of his work. To sum up his thesis, Schmitt criticizes liberal democracies and how they view the world.

Schmitt and Heidegger in one place. What a dynamic philosophical duo.

How could this relate to the work of Noam Chomsky, a respected linguistic who lives in the world's foremost democratic nation? In trying to find a link between his work in linguistics and politics, Noam Chomsky makes a comment about democracies. Chomsky notes how the foundation of a democracy is the consent of the governed. Today, modern democracies like the United States have adopted a system of "manufacturing consent" in the people through a synthesis of information control and the mass media. In other words, a democracy uses media corporations to change the way people view and come about the world (the epistemology of the masses) in a form of "subtle coercion."


The roots of this argument can be seen from the foundation of this country. The Founding Fathers were men of distinction who recognized that democracy is not appropriate for the ignorant masses, and thus a system of control is necessary for the common good. They noted that man followed not reason but faith. Whereas in totalitarian societies this control is visible and usually through forms of violence, in democratic societies this control is invisible, and that is what makes this control so dangerous.


Que in Schmitt. Schmitt founds his thesis on the idea that the friend-enemy dichotomy, or distinction, is an outgrowth of the political. This dichotomy is inevitable because the formation of dichotomies is key to the formation of the self. In other words, humans can only have an identity when juxtaposed against something else. Because these dichotomies are inevitable, violence is inevitable because in a world of distinction there will always be skirmishes between groups as they contend for power.


What the liberal democracy does is destroy the friend-enemy dichotomy. Democracy seeks to control an inherently violent world in seeking a uniform peace which leads to more violence. How? By destroying the friend-enemy dichotomy we reduce our enemies to ideas. You cannot win a war against an idea. Notice how the US frames our current military involvement in the Middle East. We have sent our troops in under "Operation Freedom" to fight "terrorists" and "radicalism." What the heck is a terrorist?


When we reduce our enemies to moral enemies, they become the representation of everything we stand for. There is not place for an enemy in the world order that is an affront to the ideals and values your country prioritizes. The only option is to completely annihilate the enemy, there is no room for any exception. On the other hand, the friend-enemy distinction reduces conflict in two ways. First, when we know who are friends are we reduce the amount of groups that we are in conflict with. Second, when we recognize a real enemy, we respect the enemy by treating them as an equal, a state. This sense of respect prevents dehumanization and mass atrocity.


To extend on Chomsky's argument, the media shapes the way the sovereign (the collective United States) views the world. When liberal democracies portray our enemies as such, that is all the sovereign comes to know about our enemies. The sovereign has the power to overcome the natural democratic reluctance to go to war. In the US in particular, the sovereign has the power to overcome the War Powers Act and Patriot Act in this manner. Take for example Bush's decision to blame 9/11 on the idea of the "terrorist," invoking the sovereign and leading to the conflict in Afghanistan.


I will end my commentary here to allow you to digest these thoughts and keep this post short.


Never Stop Asking Questions,
Noel

Gekkostate vs. The United Federation of Predgio Towers

Dear Followers,


You all knew this was coming. On the very first day that this blog was created I noted that I would be reviewing anime here. So why not start with one of my favorites? Before we start though let me talk about what this show means to me.


In middle school I had locked up my love for anime, looking down upon my memories of watching Toonami late at night as a childish phase. At the end of 9th grade I went through a "renaissance" in anime, rediscovering my love for the art form. Through a coincidental chain of events I was talked into watching Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion by Evan Chen. (We were having a singing contest that required we sing in Japanese and things developed from there). I was instantly hooked.


From that moment onwards I started downloading and watching any anime I could get my hands on when I found Psalms of Planets: Eurkea Seven. I remember one late night in 5th grade switching through the channels until I eventually landed on Adult Swim's run of what I understood to be "Yu-ri-ka Seven." The blood and robots that appeared before my eyes had me instantly hooked, but after that day I could never find the show on television again. This was my chance to see what I had missed.

Perhaps I am not the person to be writing this review. A year and a half after watching the show, my views are twisted and my reactions to the show have changed with time. In any case, here are my thoughts:


Review - Psalms of Planets: Eureka Seven


Story: 7/10


I am not going to try and fool you, Eureka Seven makes no sense. I could not even try to come up with a coherent way of describing what is going on in this show if I had wanted to. From "compac drives" to "scub coral," there are so many obscure references in this show that you will have to learn to let things slide or keep the Wikipedia page open when you watch.


The beginning of this show is what draws so many people away. The first 10 episodes of this show are BORING. I only found myself hanging on because of my perfectionist need to complete every episode of an anime. However, this long introduction is deceptive. Once you get past this first section the show really picks up. You will be thrown into groupings of abstract scenes that will leave you feeling disturbed and hungry for more. A lot of the scenes dealing with "dreams" were some of the most creative I have ever seen.

Perhaps the greatest problem with Eureka Seven is pacing. At some points this show develops questions that force the view to wonder about what will happen next. How the show goes about actually answering these questions is the problem. Eureka Seven has a habit of going off on tangents, introducing and dismissing pointless new characters until you are forced to wonder what even happened in the previous episode.


The reason why these small details disturb me is because Eureka Seven is a show capable of brilliance. The fighting in this show is beautiful. Robots spin across the scene performing aerobatic maneuvers while smoking missiles hone in from every angle. If there is one thing that Studio Bones does well, it is missile animation. Some of the scenes between Renton and Eureka brought tears to my eyes where others made me want to through my laptop on the ground.

My comments here serve as a forewarning, but they may distort how you perceive my opinion of the show. Eureka Seven is complicated. The story elements require the viewer to go deeper than most animes and sometimes you will be presented with truly controversial material that will leave you feeling offended. Eureka Seven is constantly making statements about topics war, society, our relationship with nature, human action, love, and dehumanization. For these reasons I love Eureka Seven. If you are a lighter anime viewer I would not recommend this show for you.


Characters: 8.5/10


One of Eureka Seven's most redeeming qualities is how it treats characters. The amount of time spent in developing every character's story helps build full fledged personalities that will not disappoint. The character development is simply phenomenal. The way that characters interact with one another and interact with situations is completely believable and the whole ride it was easy for me to identify with the characters.

What Eureka Seven portrays best in my mind is love. While many shows will develop love as a simple entity with the classic boy meets girl algorithm, Eureka Seven takes that one step forward. Relationships like that between Talho and Holland, and Eureka and Renton,are developed in such a way that we get multiple angles. The fact that the show focuses on the hardships caused by love most of the time allow the moments when the beauties of love are shown to stand out that much more. All I could ask for is more information on some of the minor characters. I have no idea why Stoner looks like Che Guevara, and never will.


Animation/Sound: 9.5/10


This show has a top-notch soundtrack. Everything from the OP and ED themes to the background music give you a collection of some of the best music I have ever heard in an anime, second only to Code Geass. The musical timing in Eureka Seven helps establish the mood, easily making up for scenes when the characters and plot cannot deliver.

In terms of animation, let me just say Studio Bones has done it again. Highly imaginative craft and captivating scenes make up Eureka Seven. The amount of detail that goes into every "amita drive" or "Seven Swell Phenomenon" are marvelous to behold. The character design is truly unique. Every character has a distinct feel and shape to them that is hard to find nowadays when many anime characters are cookie-cutter models.


Goodnight, Sleep Tight Young Lovers,
Noel