Oh My Goodness, They Going Ham

Well, it's official. After spending all summer delaying the inevitable, I've finally moved into my home for the next year. I am now a resident of Room 190 in Park House on the Washington University in St. Louis campus.

Right now, my feels are all over the place.

I am at once incredibly sad about leaving behind my friends in Minnesnowta, especially coming fresh off of the nostalgia-packed last days which follow any significant experience. Who would've thought that I would have the chance to go stargazing with my friends, something I've wanted to do for years especially after witnessing its application in anime, just a few days before I left. Honestly, that was an unforgettable night and Lo really missed out. #hammerwithajetpack

I know in the back of my mind that this isn't the end; I will get to see my friends again in the future. But our relationships as they are now are already a relic of the past. Never again will we be so in tune with another, never so much on the same page as we get ready to turn a new page in each of our respective books. As we head down our individual paths, we will only grow more distant. I can't help but worry if I will ever resonate so much with another group of individuals.

To be honest, I'm worried about making new friends at WashU. Sure I'll always have James around for support, but I feel like academic circumstance won't be as much in my favor this time around. As I sit here in this empty dorm room, looking back on all of the memories I've made in high school, I can't help but worry if I will find people who like me for who I am, people who I feel completely comfortable around, people who are like family to me.

My fingers will be crossed for the next four years.

College, even now, feels like something distant on the horizon. I don't feel like the magnitude of this transition will hit me until October in all honesty. Gawd, I'm not looking forward to studying again for classes. No matter how hard I try to evaluate myself, I can never figure out what I want from life. It's just not in my programming at this point.

As I look back on my childhood and look forward to adulthood, I hope my days of innocence have not vanished. I'm not done being a kid yet.

Welcome To America (Day 2)

And so, we woke up.

I am surprised we managed to wake up so early. After quickly checking out with my boy Marcus, we headed across the street to catch the Emery Go-Round to the nearest BART station to head into San Francisco and meet up with Evan. Suppressing the urge to go and eat from the nearest restaurant, we headed to the extraction point. On the way, we got a taste of San Francisco, taking in all of the beautiful buildings.

There was only one problem. One our way to the extraction point, we were followed by the loudest construction machine on the planet whose driver chose to go 5 mph while pounding into the road. It was somewhat devastating. However, seeing Evan smile and run across the street was well worth it. With everyone in tow, we headed off to Japantown for a day of ADVENTURE.

Let's be honest, I'm never going to finish this. ROFLCOPTER.

P-Heights Crew

Man I suck at blogging. Leave it to me to wait until the very last day of SSBBR before writing a single post. Well, for house keeping purposes, here's a list of what I missed out on blogging about:

1) college decision circle jerk
2) SSBBR @ WashU
3) prom shenanigans
4) anime & sexuality
5) becoming a college student
6) camping @ BWCA
7) graduation party hopping
8) Eureka seveN AO fail
9) Minnesnowta pride
10) Legend of Korra

Well, I guess I'll try to do my best to recall all of the fantastic memories from the past six weeks. At first I was a bit anxious, leaving my high school friends for six weeks to spend my time with a bunch of students who willingly gave up a summer of circle jerking in order to pursue research. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded, and I had the honor of hanging out with one of the kewlest kollections of people I have ever known.

From taking the wrong bus to Princeton Heights to gulfing down a 28" Pointersaurus, SSBBR has been a lot of fun (yes, I recognize the dangling participle). I don't have enough consciousness to write a comprehensive post, and, given how lazy I am, I probably never will get around to writing one. The purpose of this post I guess is to just serve as a marker for when I need a small catalyst for reminiscing with my rose-colored glasses on.

Here are a few key-words: FIFA 12, DUC smoothies, Quiz Bowl, Smash Bros., SCHWEINSTEIGER, LS, P-Heights Crew, expressionless Ron, foolishness, I am functionally a fork, GET BIG, you only had one job, JAMBICA, I don't always tell stories, Naveen is a PI, PS naming game, IT'S A TRAP, lengthy anecdotes, THE CULT, be careful Obina, call in a UAV, it's all about possession, shut up Sokka, STEAM.

Today our lab went out for lunch at Mai Lee about a block away from the Galleria (why does every one of my awesome vacations have an iconic Galleria?). At the beginning of SSBBR I couldn't even stand picking worms, resorting to carrying out mass wormicide in order to prevent myself from going insane. But after getting to know everybody in my lab, after a couple of I Waste So Much Time/YouTube sessions with Gary, lab became much more enjoyable. I'm even seriously considering going back now.

Well, I should probably pack, considering I have to catch a flight at 6 tomorrow. I can only cross my fingers and hope I don't find myself in the position where I venture into STEAM and pull up Civilization V. I refuse to go to bed at 5 AM after America has the audacity to invade my land two days in a row. It's been good SSBBR.

100 POSTS FRESH!

Welcome To America (Day 1)

This post is way overdue.

Nearly a month ago, I had the pleasure of visiting San Francisco with my buddy Oliver. He mentioned visiting UC-Berkeley a couple of times in passing, and one night I just kind of decided to accompany him. Thankfully, my parents are awesome and entertained my request to snag a ticket to San Francisco with my mom's overflowing surplus of miles. Everything was functionally set. All we needed to do was book a room after I came back from New York.

With the help of Hotwire, we could only cross our fingers and gamble on the chances that the 4-star hotel mentioned was the DoubleTree, located right on a marina at the edge of Berkeley. Unfortunately, we only turned up a Sheraton Four Points. However, looking back, the hotel didn't make much of difference considering we only used it to load up on some wireless. Plus, the front desk staff was super professional and got us in and out in a gif (see what I did?).

The first day was a handful. After messing around at school for a few blocks, we headed to the airport only to find out that our flight was delayed two hours. Looking for anything to pass the time, we explored nearly all of the food options inside of MSP. Remember, even if something is labeled as "gourmet," it doesn't mean that it will taste good nor does it mean that the slope of the diminishing marginal returns curve will be small. In addition, attempting to get more than four cookies at Subway is a bad idea.

After arriving late in San Francisco, we busted some ass trying to get to campus so that Oliver could play ping pong with some of the UC-Berkeley kids. However, when all was said and done, the BART just wasn't fast enough. We ended up going to Durant Avenue to check out some of the residential units after skimming past the campus. The small restaurants on one side contrasted heavily with the huge residential units across, and the whole avenue was a really lively place overall.

With Oliver satisfied, we started heading back to the BART to head to our hotel. After a few steps however, I realized that Oliver hadn't even seen the UC-Berkeley campus. Using the excuse of wanting to buy a UC-Berkeley shirt, I prodded him over to the main campus just as the sun was fading behind the horizon. It couldn't have been more perfect. As we stepped onto the campus, the beating of taiko drums sounded off in the distance. We navigated through the huge buildings, stopping in on a cultural expression show and snagging some food before heading back out.

After passing through one of the more prominent libraries on campus, we found ourselves in a very different, tranquil part of campus which was very distinct from the hustle and bustle of Durant Avenue. A game of glow in the dark ultimate Frisbee was being played on one of the nearby quads, and I couldn't help but feel incredibly at home after receiving so many good vibes from the campus. It's a shame that I won't be joining Oliver next year.

We wandered around for a few hours or so, we headed out of the campus gates, and I was happy to see Oliver thoroughly satisfied with the visit. With the help of Google Places, we found ourselves at a place called "Tuk Tuk Thai" in the middle of Downtown Berkeley. The portion sizes were HUGE and the prices were super reasonable. Oliver had to finish my Pad Thai for me later in the hotel room. That is, after the trek to our hotel through a questionable part of town.

Let's just say if you are walking from UC-Berkeley westward, BRING A BUDDY. After a long day, I was glad to finally get a chance to get some sleep. Well, after some hilarious Partha hijinks.

A-Music Week 10

This week I wanted to focus on one of my favorite Japanese bands, Asian Kung-Fu Generation.

The first time I heard AKFG was back in middle school when I first began watching subbed anime online, specifically to watch  Naruto episodes which had yet to be dubbed and released in America. The song in question, "Haruka Kanata" was simply lumped together with a bunch of catchy OP and ED songs which I really enjoyed but never downloaded because I was inept at using LimeWire. Man, Naruto, even for its faults, had some great OPs and EDs.

Anyway, AKFG doesn't have to rely on gimmicks like a lot of Japanese bands and for me represents a lot of what is right with Japanese music. AKFG not only produces fantastic music, but AKFG has some really slick album cover designs. The same artist who works with AKFG was helped produce The Tatami Galaxy in case you were wondering why the album cover designs looked familiar.

Here are some of AKFG's best songs in my opinion. I usually avoid live performances, but AKFG never fails to impress.

1. Rewrite

2. Blue Train

3. Haruka Kanata

4. After Dark

5. Loop & Loop

6. All Right Part 2

7. Old School

8. Maigoinu To Ame No Beat (No Good Full Versions)

9. World Apart

10. Kimi No Machi Made

Ajikan,
Noel

Second Opinion: Higashi no Eden (A, 97.50%)

Original: Johnny Hunt (November 28, 2010)


Since originally posting my review, I have finished the series by watching the two following movies, Paradise Lost and King of Eden which are both fantastic and feature fantastic music by School Food Punishment music as well.


I have anime depression. The journey of the American otaku is an emotional rollercoaster. When you find that a good show you can feel on top of the world, but when the last credit jumps across the top of your computer screen one of several things may happen. You can close your video player window and head over to Facebook to comment on how much you loved or hated the ending, scan the internet on search engines for any thread of information pertaining to a new season, or just slowly realize that there is no more left to watch. What I am experiencing right now is a mix of all three.

This Thanksgiving break left me with so much time that I didn't even know what to do. For some unexplainable reason (probably Jesus), my download speeds were astronomically high this weekend, and I was boosting 2.4 mb/sec downloads day and night. Album after album, show after show, my external hard drive was slowly enjoying a Thanksgiving meal all weekend. As I was searching for more torrents to devour, I came across something very unusual: Higurashi no Eden (Eden of The East). I was fresh out of case of Darker Than Black depression, so anything seemed good and I was soon watching the first episode on my computer.

I loved this show. Seeing as 2010 is one of the worst years for anime in history, I was really glad to pick up this gem on the internet. I would love to talk about a basic premise, but this show is so confusing that I really don't know where to start. Well, here goes nothing. On November 22, 2010, there was ten missile launched at Japan. Because nobody was hurt, the event became known as "Careless Monday." The show picks up some time after, when a mysterious man named Akira Takizawa introduces himself to a Japanese woman named Saki Morimi in Washington DC. The thing is, he is completely naked and appears to have no memory.


SECOND OPINION: Yeah, I remember the first episode of Higashi no Eden very well. Even now, I can't help but smile when I describe it. Higashi no Eden remains one of my favorite shows for its artistic and literary achievements. Yes, the narrative is a bit muddled around, but hey, it is incredibly interesting. The premise of the game was really a good vehicle for uncovering different messages concerning humanity, especially in relation to the use of power.

Akira soon discovers that his is part of a game involving twelve other contestants who are given ¥10 billion to save Japan. Known as the Seleção, they are each equipped with special cell phones and are able to use the phone operator, Juiz, to fulfill any kind of order for a price. This makes for some very creative scenarios throughout the show, including requests that call for two people to shower together and for a French movie to be delivered to a move theater. However if the money is used up completely or for selfish purposes, the individual will be eliminated.

I won't go any farther with the story. This show is well put together, from start to end. Every scene is carefully crafted, and the wordplay and character designs are unique and believable. A combination of slapstick and highbrow humor give this show a unique feel that is hard to find in the age of cookie-cutter anime. The background art is exceptional. The amount of detail put into each scene is remarkable for an anime, and as you follow the characters through Washington DC, New York City, and Toyosu you really get a feel for each individual location. Everything down to the music just feels right, and the soundtrack boasts one of the best debut bands that I have ever heard (School Food Punishment).


SECOND OPINION: Wow, I wrote this review really well. This review perfectly sums up my opinion about the show even now. This show meshes with my personality very well with a good collection of humor, action, and romance. Shows like Eden of The East remind me of why I continue to watch anime as a creative medium. While I wish I could have gotten a bit more closure from the series (I mean some of the Seleção haven't even been revealed), I am incredibly glad that I tagged along for the ride.

What killed me the most about this series is how short it is. Spanning 11 episodes, the ending of Eden of the East leaves you wanting more and while the two feature films help soften the blow, I can't get over this feeling of emptiness after watching such a beautiful masterpiece. This reflection is obviously biased. My personality meshes extremely well with the type of style adopted in Eden of the East, but most people probably won't see the kind of things that I saw when I watched this show. Whatever. I only wish all terrorists were as slick as Akira Takizawa.


Story: 9/10 - Somewhat confusing and not completed resolved; The game is a fantastic vehicle for commenting on humanity; I couldn't wait to watch each episode.


Characters: 10/10 - Akira and Saki are just fun to watch; The Seleção are eccentric; The dialogue and character interactions are fresh and genuine.


Animation: 10/10 - Top-notch animation; This show capitalizes on a beautiful animation style with fantastic character models and background work; Crisp and fluid movement.


Music: 10/10 - Fantastic OP and ED which capture the essence of the show; Background music is always enjoyable to hear and meshes well with the environment.


Noblesse Oblige,
Noel

Second Opinion: Eureka seveN (A, 94.00%)

Original: Gekkostate vs. The United Federation of Predgio Towers (October 7, 2010)

With the first episode of Eureka Seven AO just recently released, a second opinion on the original season is in order. Looking back, I was kind of harsh when I first reviewed Eureka seveN for AP Comp. Thankfully, even now, Eureka seveN remains as one of my favorite series ever.

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. Freshman year was my chance to see what I had missed.

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.

SECOND OPINION: Uh, I don't know why I said a lot of what I did here. Maybe my opinion just changed a LOT over the past few years or maybe I was just mad when I originally wrote it. Eureka seveN definitely does toss you into a very comprehensive world with unfamiliar jargon, but it does a decent job at explaining what is important and ignoring what really isn't. However, it must be said that a comprehensive explanation of for example Eureka's past with Holland would have been appreciated.

The beginning of Eureka seveN is usually what draws viewers 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.

SECOND OPINION: While I do believe the beginning of Eureka seveN is a bit slow, Eureka seveN doesn't have very bad pacing problems at all apart from it. Given the myriad of pacing train wrecks in anime, Eureka seveN does a really good job of filling 50 episodes and giving viewers a lot of time to connect with the characters in a way which few series can match. The beginning of the show, which features the gang going on episodic adventures does feature some wtf filler, but the cliffhangers in the second half are well done.

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.

SECOND OPINION: Ms. Cardona's class really must have improved my writing. Eh... I should rephrase what I mean here. First of all, Eureka seveN is a brilliant show, period. There are, however, a few narrative hiccups along the way which is understandable with a massive 50 episode show. Second, Eureka seveN is very enjoyable for light anime watchers as well. Eureka seveN shines in a subdued manner by showing instead of telling. It doesn't need to hold up huge signs for viewers in order to portray the messages I described above, but rather fleshes them out with fantastic character interactions which makes Eureka seveN feel both more real and genuine.

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.

SECOND OPINION: For the most part, I wholeheartedly agree with this section. The best part of Eureka seveN, without a doubt, is its dynamic cast. This is what makes me so worried for Eureka seven: AO. While I remain somewhat upset that a lot of the gang don't get a lot of screen time, I feel like dedicating that time to more important characters was a wise decision now. The chemistry between the members of Gekkostate makes every scene when everybody is gathered together a treat to watch.

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.

Eureka seveN is a fantastic show which deserves a watch. Hopefully Eureka seveN AO will not damage the good reputation the series has with me.

Story: 8.5/10 - Compelling, but somewhat hard to follow occasionally; The ending made me feel like a lot was relatively unresolved, but was satisfying; Never a dull moment, save for the soccer episode.

Characters: 9.5/10 - The best part of the show hands down; Best character development I have seen in an anime; The romance between Eureka and Renton and Holland and Talho feels real and genuine.

Animation: 9/10 - While not as top notch as recently made shows, Bones delivers with fantastic fights and character models; Very few recycled frames.

Music: 10/10 - Every single OP and ED were fantastic in my opinion; The background music is beautifully orchestrated and the edgy pop thrown in is a nice touch.

Goodnight, Sleep Tight Young Lovers,
Noel

Second Opinion: Final Fantasy XIII (A, 90.00%)

Original: Miracles Are Things We Make For Ourselves (April 10, 2011)

There are a couple of unofficial reviews floating around my blog which I figured could be updated to conform to my recently adopted review format quite easily. In addition, I feel like having the opportunity to provide some second opinions about some of what I have either played or watched after a hype period will be helpful in creating a genuinely accurate review of my experience.

During Spring Break last year, I completed Final Fantasy XIII. I had been following this game since eighth grade as I turned back to Final Fantasy to curb my Kingdom Heats crave. After seeing the first trailer for the game, I was hooked and I would constantly check up on IGN for new updates. When I purchased the game last year with my dad I was overjoyed. Thankfully, at that time, I had practically finished AP European History and only had to look forward to my daily dose of Mrs. Larson and Mrs. Vanhorn, two of the most relaxed teachers I have ever met (Mrs. Larson actually isn't that relaxed).

I spent countless hours gobbling up this massive masterpiece. If you play Final Fantasy games, many of you know that FFXIII was more linear than most of the previous installments in the series, offering almost no towns or NPC's to interact with along the way. In fact, most of the game consists of moving down long hallways toward an exclamation point on your mini-map to watch a cut scene or fight a boss. While many may condemn this aspect of FFXIII, I enjoyed this aspect thoroughly. By focusing more on story development and character interactions, FFXIII allowed me to slowly be drawn into the game before shaking things up.

SECOND OPINION: After playing FFXIII-2 and seeing how NPCs and towns could have been easily integrated into FFXIII, I feel like the linearity was somewhat overbearing in FFXIII. The lack of the ability to really freely travel around the world until the final chapters was actually significantly restricting, and I found myself spending a lot more time just exploring in FFXIII-2 instead of farming like I did in FFXIII as a result. However, if you are a fan of the series or JRPGs like me, linearity shouldn't be much of a problem.

And what a story! FFXIII had, in my opinion, the most emotionally gripping storyline of any other installment. With the other installments I have played, like FFXII, FFX, and FFVII, I wasn't able to become emotionally connected to characters because of awkward interactions. The beautifully crafted backgrounds, character models, and smashing soundtrack didn't hurt either. While there were many scenes with cheesy character dialogue (yes, this is a Japanese RPG), I was surprised most of the time by how dynamic each of the characters were. The only thing that pissed me off was Vanille's accent (are you Russian or British?).

SECOND OPINION: Okay, to be honest, the narrative in FFXIII is not "the most emotionally gripping storyline of any other installment" (I don't feel like this makes grammatical sense anyway). However, I have to say the characters in FFXIII were some of the most memorable and the party had fantastic chemistry fleshed out in some gorgeous cut scenes. While some cut scenes are melodramatic, FFXIII features very human and moving cut scenes as well. Given the narrative clusterfuck that is FFXIII-2, FFXIII does a good job and holds up even now.

As for the actual game play, the fighting system was not the most interactive, but the fights were some of the most stressful I have ever fought. Even if your characters are automatically healed after each fight and they automatically fight with a single click, the enemies in FFXIII are brutal and can tear you to shreds if you make a wrong move. While none of the enemies up until Chapter 11 pose a real threat, when you reach the Archetype Steppe things get spicy quick. I honestly used a Paradigm Shift every 20 seconds on some bosses. The only thing I felt was missing was really powerful finishing moves or summons (Eidolons suck nuts) but I guess that would throw off the fighting system.

SECOND OPINION: The level of complexity in the FFXIII fighting system is often masked by the auto-selection system which allows you to stack commands at the push of a button. You get out of FFXIII's battle system what you put into it. You can complain about the simplicity of battles and just keep pushing auto-select with an overleveled party or you can make your own strategic choices, experimenting with movesets and equipment in order to maximize the role potential of each of your characters to make battles less of a waiting game and more of an accomplishment. The same is true of FFXIII-2.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied as of now. The game was just the right length with a decent pace (except for the massive learning curve at Chapter 11), and I feel like almost all of my questions were answered. One annoyance to note however is that at Chapter 11, the cut scene quality decreases substantially and the characters barely move during forced pieces of dialogue (FFX all over again). Maybe the game developers just didn't care anymore. Oh well. The beautifully crafted CGI cut scenes and fight animations more than make up for this small annoyance.

Story: 8/10 - The overlaying narrative of fulfilling a focus is compelling; The history of Cocoon and Pulse isn't handle superbly; A lot of questions remain concerning the fal'Cie.

Characters: 9/10 - Interesting, while somewhat one-dimensional characters in the party; Melodramatic narrative but fleshes out humanity well at numerous points.

Gameplay: 8/10 - The linearity is somewhat disappointing and restrictive; Battles are fast-paced and fun, but require you to put in the extra effort.

Graphics: 10/10 - The game is beautiful; Square Enix isn't afraid to show off fantastic production value with a great focus on details; Experienced very few frame rate issues.

Music: 10/10 - Masashi Hamauzu delivers with fantastic orchestral pieces; The background music is appropriate and the battle music is a delight to hear.

We Live To Make The Impossible Possible,
Noel

Birdy The Mighty (A, 95.00%)

I have decided to revert back to my more concise review format in order to make my review posts more digestible for readers and to make it easier for me to find motivation to write them. Today, after spending the past four days marathoning, I have decided to review Birdy The Mighty: Decode, seasons one and two, consisting of twenty-five episodes and one OVA. Man do my eyes hurt.

With a strange name like Birdy The Mighty: Decode, many viewers will have no idea what to expect. As far as Wikipedia has told me, Birdy The Mighty: Decode is a remake of an older manga and anime. The narrative revolves around a Federation Inspector known as Birdy Alpha Cephron who is an Ixioran Altan. Basically, she is a space cop who has been genetically engineered to have superhuman characteristics, sexy uniform included. While pursuing a gang of space criminals, she accidentally kills a human named Tsutomu Senkawa whose conscience she stores in her own body until his own body can be repaired.

The narrative revolves around the dynamic between Senkawa and Birdy and constantly switches between the two who lead very different lives. However, when Senkawa's classmate and crush Sayaka Nakasuki becomes infused with an ancient parasitic alien weapon known as the Ryunka which develops by consuming her life force and can be used to carry out interplanetary genocide when matured. Heavy material. While the first season is grand in scope, the second season focuses more on Birdy's history and fills in the holes concerning how the Ryunka ended up on Earth in the first place.

Where the first season falls flat, the second season shines. Senkawa really pissed me off in the first season. Even though Birdy offered to keep him alive in her body, he continued to complain like a punk about all of his first world problems. Well, considering Earth is referred to as the "boonies" of the universe in this series, maybe his problems aren't so first world. However, when he moves into the side character position in the second season, he becomes much more likable. Senkawa practically redefines chivalry at the end of the first season and never fails to demonstrate how he is only useful when he is dead.

The second season is a lot darker than the first season. When Nataru goes on his killing rampage, he doesn't spare any of his enemies and doesn't hesitate to kill them in the most brutal ways possible. But a little blood and dismembered limbs are really just side pieces and in no way define the fights or overall experience of the show. The fights in Birdy The Mighty: Decode are fantastically choreographed and feature some of the best animation I have ever seen. I really love the no nonsense antagonists of the show who act intelligently and will mow people down at a moments notice. Well, except for the M. Night Shyamalan replica.

Nataru has got to be one of the best plot devices I have ever seen. His introduction in the second season was perfectly executed, serving as a springboard for delving into Birdy's past and laying the foundation for Birdy's romantic quest. I was only really pissed at him twice in the series and that was when he killed the Ice Climber knock-offs. DON'T TOUCH NANA AND POPO! Nataru's relationship with Birdy was really well conceived, producing a very genuine feeling of built-up love which lacked the artificiality I find in many anime in which two characters simply fall in love in an instant. Thank you Hayamiya for being one of a select few characters who can be childhood friends with the main male protagonist without having a crush on him.

It is really a shame that a show like this with such high production value isn't very famous. Birdy The Mighty: Decode has one of the best soundtracks I have heard in anime for a while, with fantastic OPs for both seasons which I highly recommend you download immediately. The animation outside of fights is clean and the character models are well drawn while the animation inside of the fights captures dynamic motion fantastically with messy and chaotic character movements. This series was a welcome addition to my collection of anime and I highly recommend you check it out and stick with it until the end. Really, Birdy The Mighty: Decode goes from good to fantastic.

***BEGIN SPOILER***

As far as the ending of the first season goes, I was satisfied even if the generic, everybody is happy route was taken. I mean, the Ryunka was supposed to be some bad-ass ancient weapon, so it was sort of unnerving to see it functionally defeated with a kiss. Oh yeah, and how does Senkawa jump nearly 50 feet off of a bridge onto a cruise with only a twisted ankle which magically heals in the next frame? Honestly A-1, just have him jump into the water first. I feel like having Nakasugi die instead would have packed a greater emotional punch. At the same time, I am glad that the possibility of having more Senkawa/Nakasugi action was left open for the future.

As far as the second season goes, the ending wrapped up a lot of questions, but a few lingering questions remain which I pray will be answered in a new seasons. For instance, is Nataru dead? What is up with the blonde Altan with the sunglasses? Will Revi be brought to justice? When will Senkawa ever get his body back? Did Valic get away? What is  Senkawa's classmate's connection to Irma? WHEN ARE SENKAWA'S PARENTS COMING BACK? These are just a few of the questions which could form the basis for a kick-ass new season. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed.

***END SPOILER***

Birdy The Mighty: Decode is available on YouTube for easy watching if you are interested. However, some punk decided to flag the second season so you will need to use an account which proves you are over the age of 18. Sigh. Some people.

Story: 9/10 - Once again, no filler; Every minute is utilized well; Complex second season makes up for somewhat generic first season, especially with successful implementation of time-travel.

Characters: 9/10 - One-dimensional characters in season one get fleshed out well in season two; Chemistry between Senkawa/Nakasugi and Birdy/Nataru is fantastic.

Animation: 10/10 - The fights pack a mighty artistic punch with amazingly fluid movement; Character expressions are realistic; The colorful environment is a joy to watch.

Music: 10/10 - This may be one of the few series whose OPs I never skipped while watching; The EDs are not as good, but sufficient; The main theme is catchy and blends well with the situation.

De Arimasu,

Noel

Guilty Crown (C, 79.75%)

Dear Followers,

Let’s get something out of the way first. Guilty Crown was not an excellent show. What pulled me back every week was less a desire to watch Guilty Crown and more a preference not to watch anything else. Besides Nisemonogatari, Winter 2012 was somewhat uneventful. When I first began watching Guilty Crown I was blown away by the production value. However, as the show dragged on, I became more and more aware of its insufficiency as a finished product. Before I offend anybody who really enjoyed Guilty Crown, I want to emphasize that what follows is merely my opinion.

The emotion which best sums up my feelings toward Guilty Crown is disappointment. I began watching Guilty Crown at the beginning of Winter 2011/2012. With SUPERCELL handling much of the music, Hiroyuki Yoshino, the writer for Code Geass, and Tetsuro Araki, the director of Death Note, handling the narrative, I had every reason to expect that Guilty Crown would be a phenomenal show. However, Guilty Crown is a classic example of wasted potential in an anime in my opinion.

Guilty Crown revolves around a boy named Shu Ouma in 2039 who functionally finds himself in the middle of a convoluted mess. After injecting himself with the “Void Genome,” Shu gains an ability known as “The Power of the Kings” which allows him to draw out weapons from people known as voids. With his newfound power, Shu joins a resistance group named “Funeral Parlor” which aims to restore Japan’s independence from an international organization known as “GHQ.” Nonsensical as it may seem, I actually found Guilty Crown’s backdrop very interesting. It was the execution that I had a problem with.

I like to divide Guilty Crown into three distinct arcs: Shu is a coward, Shu is a douche bag, and Shu is commendable. The first arc is quite episodic, as Shu uncovers a new void power every week and unleashes his inner shounen on a collection of enemies. While predictable, I found the first arc of Guilty Crown to be decently executed. However, with the beginning of the second arc, the narrative took a turn for the worst. Guilty Crown soon began to suffer from a bad case of taking itself too seriously.

The narrative, seeking to become more complex and dark, suddenly featured an about-face for Shu. Going from cowardly and kind to the point of stupidity, Shu becomes a douche bag dictator in the blink of an eye. Now, I understand why the writers sought to make Shu more pragmatic given what was happening at that point of the narrative, but the mood swings for each character in the second arc when everybody is holed up in the school left me baffled. Arisa actually moved from being one of my favorite characters to being one of my least favorite characters in the span of 10 minutes.

I understand that drastic circumstances can make people act in unpredictable ways, but I began to feel like individual parts of each episode were written by completely different people. The overall focus of the show began to feel very lost indeed, and instead of filling in the lingering questions from the first half of the show, a collection of plot holes only introduced a whole new myriad of questions which made the already convoluted narrative pass the threshold for comprehension.

There remain a bunch of questions which I don’t really understand. Why do you have to be eighteen or under for your void to be used? Really, Mana just became the harbinger of the next generation after she cut herself on a rock from outer space? How can Hare’s void be destroyed with a single bullet when Yahiro’s void can withstand explosions? Who is this random boy from Daath and what is his purpose in the narrative? How can the U.N. fail to eliminate a paramilitary organization in an age of nuclear weapons? Why didn’t Lost Christmas completely exterminate humanity? I could go on and on here.

That’s enough bashing on the narrative for now. While I was frustrated with the ending, I feel like it was a decent attempt at salvaging a narrative that was somewhat out of control. Even with its literary faults, I feel like Guilty Crown does a lot right as an anime. While the character personalities are not always very vibrant (Inori is actually one of the least engaging characters I have seen in anime), the character designs are fantastic. From an artistic standpoint, each character is very well drawn with a satisfying amount of flair to stand out from the mechanical backdrop palette used in Guilty Crown.

The animation ranges from bland to eye-catching, with some of the action scenes featuring vivid movement animations and explosions which allow Production I.G.’s capabilities to really shine through. However, a large collection of episodes feature static animations, and many of the fights are poorly choreographed, consisting of Shu flying across the environment destroying enemies at will without any noticeable finesses or skill. Honestly, when Shu is using Kenji’s void, he has the ability to fly across the room dodging several clips of bullets and surviving several ballistic missile level explosions.

The music is what I found to be the hands down best part of Guilty Crown. With SUPERCELL handling functionally all of the OP and ED pieces, I can confidently say that all of them are fit for download. The background music which plays when Shu is activating his inner shounen is somewhat awkward in my opinion. However, all of the music performed by EGOIST, the fictional band which features Inori as its lead singer, is fantastically sung. Specifically, “Departures ~Anata ni Okuru Ai no Uta~” and “Euterpe” are incredibly beautiful pieces.

Perhaps I was a bit harsh in my review above. Guilty Crown is not a fantastic show, but it is not an awful show. I guess I am particularly frustrated with Guilty Crown because it had everything in place: unrealistically high production value, fantastic music, an engaging backdrop, vibrant characters. However, at the end of the day, Guilty Crown failed to capitalize on its assets and became simply another forgettable shounen show for me. If Nisemonogatari isn’t your style, I would wholeheartedly recommend waiting until Spring 2012 for Eureka seveN: AO. Sigh.

Lost Christmas,
Noel

A-Music Week 9

Dear Followers,

This may as well be bimonthly A-Music. I deeply apologize Raphael Santo Domingo. Because of the lack of consistent A-Music posts during the past two months, what follows is an eclectic collection of newly released songs and OP and ED from Winter 2011/2012. As always Gintama comes in powerful with a fantastic new set of OP and ED songs.

1. Tell Your World - kz/Livetune (ft. Hatsuna Miku)

2. Nakama - Good Coming (Gintama ED)

No ED Video :( (Poor Quality)

3. Message - The Sketchbook (SKET Dance OP)

No OP Video :(

4. HOLOGRAM - NICO Touches The Wall (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood OP)

No Full Video :(

5. Hearts Beat - Himawari

6. CRAWL - Veltpunch (Nabari no Ou OP)

No OP Video :(

7. Kokuhau - SUPERCELL (Guilty Crown ED)

8. Naisho no Hanashi - ClariS (Nisemonogatari ED)

9. HAPPY GIRL - Eri Kitamura (Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai! OP)

10. Vidro Moyou - Nagi Yanagi (Natsume Yuujin-Chou Shi OP)

Zura Ja Nai, Katsura,
Noel

Just A Cog In The System

Dear Followers,

Holy crap I really was lazy for the past two months. Well, in regards to blogging. As expected, college decisions were a frenzy and now I find myself choosing between two schools I would never have expected to be choosing between just a few months ago. Regardless, I am pumped for the college experience on the horizon and recognize that I will be happy wherever I end up going. This year featured an especially devastating collection of college decisions, so don't get down on yourself if you didn't end up at your dream school. It's more of a reflection on the arbitrary nature of college decisions than a reflection of your own capabilities.

As far as Spring Break is concerned, everyday has been a party. Without tennis, Spring Break has opened up like never before. I have eaten out every day for the past five days, and yesterday I even had the pleasure of filling myself at Applebee's and Kobe for a single meal. Buffalo Wild Wings was nearly added to the lineup, but the solidarity of the sustenance party was fragmented. This Spring Break I rediscovered Soulcalibur II which may be one of my favorite fighting games ever for its fluid movements, delayed character dialogue, and hopelessly convoluted narrative. Oh, and for Talim as well.

This Spring Break I finally was able to marathon Final Fantasy XIII-2, an action which was well overdue. I am poised to beat the game in approximately 20 hours after swiftly finishing the main narrative and nabbing a few more fragments to get 100% completion. After delaying it for a few weeks, I finally finished Guilty Crown, the review of which you can expect to be up in the next few days. While it definitely wasn't one of the best shows I've every watched, Production I.G. managed to save some face and pull together at the end for a decent, while not necessarily satisfying ending.

For Raphael's sake, I'm going to go ahead and finish the A-Music Week 9 post which has remained a patient draft for well over two months.

Phonies,
Noel

The Day Makers

Today, in the middle of AP American Government with Mr. Tillotson, I received the following note from the office.

"Naveen. These years of high school absolutely wouldn't have been the same with you and we really value everything you do. You completely deserve to have the best day ever and we hope that this reminds you of how awesome you are You are too smart and really funny! Your clothing style is truly unique and we wanted to let you know that you are what make Wayzata the best!
<3 The Day Makers"

My first reaction: WTF.

Got An Issue? Grab A Tissue,
Noel

Februany At Subway Has Now Ended

Dear Followers,

Wow. This may be my first experience with a snow day as a member of Wayzata High School. Nature played its part beautifully, layering on the ice during the night and deviously directing early morning traffic into mounds of snow. Instead of waking up to the annoying buzz of my alarm on cue at 7:00 AM, I instead was disturbed by the sound of my father searching for a way to disarm my clock. As he informed me that Wayzata High School was closed for the day, I went back to sleep without giving it a second thought. Only when I woke up again at 11:00 AM did it really hit me. Finally, after years of crossing our fingers, our hopes had been answered.

People everywhere are making snow sculptures. Kind of like the Neil  Armstrong Jet Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon.

A snow day is a unique vacation from school because it carries with it the element of surprise. Teachers, without enough lead time to exploit the break, literally have no means of assigning homework. Indeed, the snow day can achieve the status of a functional inserted break in time. Lessons, deadlines, and homework are all pushed back via the creation of the snow day. Thus, after weeks of having a set schedule of what needed to be accomplished every day, I was faced today with the prospect of figuring out for myself what to do. Without a doubt, FFXIII-2 was played. Oh was it played.

However, it must be mentioned that my snow day was rather uneventful. Indeed, PSEO diminished the power of my snow day in restricting my activities via an obligation to put in my weekly two hours for Multivariable Calculus. I should have done what Jeff and Aneesha were smart enough to do and just skipped class. Honestly, Mr. Schwartzbauer's most profound statement during today's lesson concerned the promiscuity of Albert Einstein. While uneventful, my break from school was much needed and greatly appreciated, especially for a student who ended up sleeping prematurely yesterday.

Hopefully, Mrs. Grack will be open to ordering pizza for AP Chemistry tomorrow. My fingers are crossed.

Happy Birthday A. Humphrey,
Noel

All Of The Trees Are The Right Height

Dear Followers,

Yeah... I haven't blogged in a while. I am actually really mad at myself for forgetting to blog over the past couple of months, especially because a collection of memorable events went down and now I've lost my opportunity to immortalize my associated perspectives. Hopefully, with school work becoming more and more unbearable, I will be blogging more as a result of my pursuit of productive procrastination. Who knows.

College decisions will be coming out in the coming months which should be a doozy. Going into high school, I remember working with a singular goal in mind: finding my way into an Ivy League school. After experiencing an extended college application process however, I no longer can say with confidence where I want to eventually go for college. I know less where I want to go in life.

It's hard to believe. In a few months I will be living on my own away from home. In a few months I will probably be saying goodbye to a wide variety of people I have spent my last few years with, some for maybe a few years and some maybe forever. The prospect of moving forward with a new phase of my life carries with it overwhelming feelings of both fear and excitement.

My experiences in high school have no doubt shaped me profoundly as an individual, but I look forward to the wealth of opportunities offered by a college experience in learning more about the real size of the world. To that end, I have decided to go forward with a philosophy of whatever happens, happens. Happiness does not only take the form of an Ivy League degree.

Regardless of where I go, I now understand that the means to succeed are not an external resource but an internal one. While my undergraduate years looming on the horizon will no doubt be a defining experience in my life, wherever I end up going will not restrict me from becoming who I want to be, whether that be a penniless shounen mangaka or a professional rhino handler.

While I have much more to say concerning the subject of utilizing your high school years in preparation for college, my car ride is coming to an end. What I've written above is merely a semi-organized flow, but I look forward to one day organizing my feelings concerning the above subject. A fresh new episode of Gintama awaits me in my room, and I should eventually begin working on my homework.

Rick Santorum Wants In,
Noel

What Is “The Mitochondria”?

Dear Followers,

Boy do I wish I had signed up for Science Bowl earlier in high school. Yesterday was my first and last Science Bowl competition ever.

Held within the Macalester University campus, yesterday’s competition featured many grueling round of head-to-head science trivia action. The topics consisted of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth & Space, and Energy, no doubt an inserted form of implicit propaganda from the Department of Energy to convince the future generation of the importance of alternative energy sources. Sigh. Regardless, each round featured a diverse spread of questions. I only found one or two similar questions across the approximately 10 rounds we participated in.

The reason why I joined Science Bowl is simple: it was fun. The competition was no different. With an added feeling of competitive play, yesterday’s competition was extremely fun, even if we lost quite a few rounds and sometimes the members of my team skirmished amongst each other unnecessarily. Yes, Team 2 is quite an eclectic combination of individuals, featuring Nathan, Jayant, Narupa, Clark, and myself. After a few rounds of figuring out how the game worked and losing rounds less by the skill of our opponents and more by the consequences of our mistakes, we began to click as a team.

In a surprising turn of events, Wayzata’s prestigious Team 1 was knocked out of the elimination rounds prematurely for one reason or another. While Team 2 made it to the next round afterwards, my inability to distinguish between 2πr and πr^2 cost us the match, or at the very least, the ability to send the round into a tie-breaker. Stupid geometry. Either way, I am extremely proud of all of my teammates for a great effort and for making it as far as we did.

Hopefully in college I will be able to get involved with such an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable activity before my senior year.

2πr Does Not Equal πr^2 For All Values Of r,
Noel

Kate Will Never Be A K Debater

Dear Followers,

It’s a weird feeling, walking away from what presumably is my last debate tournament. I had always imagined my last debate would be full of ridiculous shenanigans, with me having the freedom to run arguments as I pleased in one final round. But alas, the 2NR was the Security K. In a way, I guess that qualifies as ridiculous shenanigans. At least I gave a half decent 1AR for once. And hey, we picked up a ballot against a K.

I can remember when I first joined what had been described to me as Mrs. Sarff’s academic cult. I was a sophomore and I didn’t want anything to do with debate. All I wanted to do was put in some work, collect some awards, and apply to some Ivy League school. Thankfully, as a member of the debate team, I never really won any awards. No, instead I gained something much more valuable from debate which has helped me become the eccentric person I am today.

My first debate tournament was a doozie. It was the day after Homecoming, and after cheering my lungs out at the football gang, I spent the rest of my night frantically highlighting files with Cosette Haugen and Evan Chen. It’s no surprise that my habit of saving all of my prep until the day before the tournament never really changed. The next day was a messy affair. Our first round was against Blake HS and we picked up by adding a slew of environmental impacts to the Immigrant Magnet DA. The second round, after I confidently read through the 1AC, our opponents resigned. Finally, we won a round against a Food Stamps AFF for reasons I will probably never remember.

It’s surprising how much everything changed as I continued to debate. During novice year I remember debating Cupcake and Cole Johnson-Jensen and feeling like I had just met the two most annoying kids in the world. Fortunately, after a bit of MDAW love, I found myself hugging the jelly out of each one during the next season. I remember how I hit Jon Yang at Concordia, the round before I mavericked while Cosette was AFK, and just feeling like he was a big scrub. Look at Ian Young now. Too bad he didn’t see Red Spread coming.

I can’t say I don’t have any regrets. For instance, I never really found out if Eric Short had a girlfriend or not. Word on the street is that he is looking to get back together with Sox in the near future. Mere speculation if you ask me. I never even got to run H-Triv either, even after I put a full two hours into making a comprehensive file. I swear, Eden Prairie CL was so close to reading a “Patriarchy Is Worse Than A Nuclear Holocaust” card at Sections. That would have been some first class trifling.

I’m not going to lie; I am going to miss debate a lot. I am going to miss eating Sonic on a daily basis as we zip around the Midwest for national tournaments. I am going to miss my one night debate with Kelsey Maher. I am going to miss coming up with dumb ideas and having them shot down by Talon Powers or Eric Short. I am going to miss speed reading my textbooks for practice. I am going to miss Mrs. Sarff’s suggestions to go all in on inherency. I am going to miss seeing everybody in the debate community on weekends.

But, most of all, I’m going to miss being a debater. It’s been a good few years. Thank you.

Kate, Stop Lying To Yourself,
Noel

Vertigo: Falling As A Symbolic And Thematic Function

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological rollercoaster, Vertigo, is one of many defining works of his career. Featuring James Steward as John “Scottie” Ferguson, a retired detective plagued by acrophobia, Vertigo is masterfully crafted, replete with subtle motifs in every frame. After Galvin Elster asks Scottie to shadow his wife, Madeleine Elster, whom he believes to be possessed, Scottie finds himself smack dab in the middle of an elaborate murder plot. With a bit of cinematographic magic, Hitchcock projects Scottie’s feelings of confusion onto the audience. Through the use of intentional symbolism, Hitchcock drives home messages concerning the instability of identity, reality, and infatuation with a connecting feeling of literal vertigo.

Many of Hitchcock’s films demonstrate an individual swamped with angst when dealing with a disordered world. To that end, Vertigo emphasizes the uncertainty of reality by evoking feelings of the supernatural. With the use of corridors, Hitchcock produces physical passages between the worlds of the living and the dead. For example, when Midge has lost faith in rekindling her romance with Scottie, she leaves down a sanatorium corridor which darkens around her. On the flipside, when Judy arrives back from the beauty salon, she enters the frame from the hallway as a resurrected Madeleine Elster. The color green, archetypically associated with ghostly apparitions, appears frequently in Vertigo, from Judy’s green dress worn when Scottie first notices her to Scottie’s green sweater worn when he is immersed in his dream world. Playing on Scottie’s deception concerning the identity of Judy/Madeleine, Hitchcock reinforces the message of appearance vs. reality elsewhere. Midge forcefully attempts to place herself into Scottie’s fantasy by painting herself into the “Portrait of Carlotta, while Scottie has hallucinations of Madeleine when he revisits her favorite places after his release from the sanatorium. As always, appearances are deceiving.

Spirals are showcased frequently in Vertigo, evoking an overwhelming feeling of dizziness. When Scottie relives the moment where his acrophobia prevented him from saving a fellow officer, his fallen colleague’s limbs are spiraled outward. Madeleine purchases a circular bouquet, sending several individual petals spiraling downward into the water before she jumps into San Francisco Bay. One of the more prevalent spirals, found in the hair bun of Carlotta and Madeleine, is indicative of the dizzying process of falling in love which Scottie will soon undergo. In fact, Scottie’s very relationship is circular: he falls in love with Madeleine, loses her to death, falls in love with Judy, and finally loses her to death as well. As Scottie follows Madeleine up the winding church bell tower stairs, he is left powerless as his lover falls to her death, his nauseating love having brought him to his knees. Hitchcock’s clever camera technique, zooming in on a subject while simultaneously moving away, perfectly emulates the physical feeling for the viewer. Love is a romantic delusion, and Scottie’s madness for Madeleine is what secures her fate at the end of the film.

Were it not for the level of explicit and implicit complexity delivered in each of his films, Hitchcock would not be remembered as the film genius he was. As a genuine “Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock draws his audiences into his films not with heavy-budget explosions but with narratives which demand our full attention. Indeed, an understanding of Vertigo’s central messages requires an understanding of Hitchcock’s subtle symbolism. Hitchcock’s use of thematic motifs helps audiences make headways into several diverse concepts including the delusion of romance and the uncertainty of reality via a central theme of disorder. Just as Scottie, all of us as viewers suffer from our own unique forms of vertigo, regardless of if that nauseating fear is related to acrophobia or not.