The Dynast-King's Legacy

Dear Followers, Phew. Thankfully I have last minute memory skills and remembered to return my PSEO textbook before I was charged. So clutch. As I walked out of Coffman, snow flakes slowly dancing to the ground, I couldn't shake an overwhelming feeling of emptiness. Usually the U is bustling with activity, with college kids flooding the walkways and chatter filling the air. This is one of the few holidays I have spent at home, so I guess I'm not really used to such a vacancy. I can't help but wonder if everybody went back home or if they were just tucked away in the Stadium Village restaurants. I could really go for some Cane's fried chicken right now. Back home my PS2 waits for me, Final Fantasy XII loaded in the disk tray, ready for...

A-Music Week 7

Dear Followers, ~NUJABES Week~ With college applications out of the way I can finally update my blog. I nearly forgot my password in the time between posts, unsuccessfully slinging eight different combinations at the password box before finally gaining access. But, now that I've found my way in, I'm ready to start posting once more. This week I wanted to share with you one of my favorite artists, Japanese hip-hop producer, mixer, and DJ Jun Seba, more commonly known as Nujabes. I first came across Nujabes, not surprisingly, while watching an anime: Samurai Champloo. With Nujabes responsible for nearly all of the background and OP/ED music, it is no wonder that Samurai Champloo is an incredibly unique animated experience, blending...

A-Music Week 6

Dear Followers, ~Fall 2011 OP/ED Week~ Yeah. This blog post is way overdue. I know. My past few weekends have been spent finding every excuse I can to push off my college application essays, usually culminating in long hours spent playing 4 vs. 4 Halo or marathoning unwatched anime. I've meant to put up another A-Music for nearly four weeks now, so what you will find below may be somewhat dated. But whatever. After scouring YouTube for new OP/ED songs for shows which recently began airing, I decided on a collection of my favorites. The full versions of many of the songs below have been released which you can downl... purchase with a bit of effort. Google is your friend. Just a reminder, I don't necessarily advocate watching any of the following shows, considering I have neither finished...

Clannad (A, 97.75%)

Dear Followers, Shows like Clannad ~After Story~ serve as reminders as to why I watch anime in the first place. Anime is an artistic medium which, when masterfully crafted, can invoke unique emotional reactions and provide unforgettable experiences for viewers. Good anime is neither defined by flashy 1080p visuals nor unnecessarily complex narratives which cater to a dominant, while unrepresentative demographic. For me, while inherently escapist, good anime serves as an interpretation of reality, with the actions of individual characters serving as a model by which we may act on such an interpretation. Good anime should leave a developmental mark on viewers, for better or worse, as a product of a collective and involved experience....

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (A, 98.75%)

Dear Followers, After a long, a fulfilling Thanksgiving Break, I am not looking forward to facing all of the assignments I let pile up over the past few days. As I explained to Ishmam Ahmed yesterday, right now I feel as if I have come back home after a prolonged vacation in a foreign land and now I am consolidating the experience in order to relish every last moment. This Thanksgiving Break, I didn't finish any college applications or finish the work I missed last week like I told myself I would. No, instead, I sat down and played one of the best Wii games ever created: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I remember when I first saw SS in action at E3 2010 I was disappointed. The colorful, exaggerated character designs and minimalist...

Casablanca: A Microcosm Of A War-Torn World

Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca, which originally was never expected to be any more than an ordinary film, is now heralded as one of the greatest films in history. The film focuses on Rick Blaine, the cynical owner of “Rick’s Café Américain.” However, Rick soon ends up in a quagmire when he acquires two valuable exit-visas and runs into Ilsa Lund, the woman who broke his heart in Paris, and her husband Victor Lazlo who are seeking passage to America. The Moroccan city of Casablanca provides an appropriate backdrop for the film, helping flesh out each of the characters in the film and establishing a ripe atmosphere for the film’s conflict and eventual resolution. The backdrop in Casablanca, created and shot almost entirely on studio sets, effectively portrays an exotic vision of Casablanca while...

A-Music Week 6

Dear Followers, Today. I uploaded my new anime schedule for Fall/Winter 2011. Fall 2011 was kind of a let down for anime, but Winter 2011/2012 looks to be providing some really interesting shows such as Kyousogiga which looks to be a FLCL/Studio Ghibli/Summer Wars/Natsume Yuujinchou hybrid and of course a new season of Bakemonogatari, now labeled Nisemonogatari, and serving as what I understand to be a prequel to the main series. The PV for Kyousogiga rocks by the way and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In4YoCWTKiM. This weekend I marathoned Kanagatari, a 12-episode show, hard. Each episode is 50 minutes long, and I felt like a real hikikomori as I spent my Saturday in my room with the lights off, covered in blankets,...

Unforgiven: Debunking The American Western

The American Western continues to be a Hollywood mainstay because of its connections to America’s cultural identity. However, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, released in 1992, has served to disturb the formulaic American Western by challenging the validity of its classic legendary narrative. Various elements in Unforigven, including its memorable characters and cinematography, seamlessly combine in order to achieve such an aim. Unforgiven critically examines the issue of violence in modern society. By showcasing the destructive power of violence, Eastwood successfully captures the horror of killing a man in Unforgiven. When Davey Bunting is shot in the side, his death is not swift and painless, but protracted and miserable. Davey is completely helpless, only able to drag his dusty body behind...

Alien: Analyzing What Makes Us Jump

Alien, released in 1979, is an unprecedented synthesis of science fiction and horror whose product is one of film’s finest creations. Directed by Ripley Scott, Alien is a rather straightforward narrative describing a commercial spaceship which picks up an uninvited visitor in the form of an extraterrestrial life form which seeks to murder the crew in its entirety. Ever since it was first shown, Alien has elicited fright from various audiences with its combination of visually repulsive imagery and heart-thumping suspense scenes. However, while both elements are integral to the film as a whole, Alien’s use of psychological horror is the driving force of fear within the film. By successfully exploiting a human fear of the unknown, Alien elicits a unique and personal feeling of horror from each...

A-Music Week 5

Dear Followers, Screw the introduction. 1. Buddy - Maaya Sakamoto Last Exile ~Fam, The Silver Wing~ OP Version 2. Stay Beautiful - Diggy-Mo 3. Days - Flow Eureka seveN OP Version 4. Day By Day - SNSD 5. Sayonara Memories - SUPERCELL 6. ผู้ชาย (Gent) - Slur 7. Hito To No Kyori No Hakari Kata- Plenty 8. Song Of The Seasons - Mimi 9. Thousand Enemies - Girls Dead Monster 10. O2 - Orange Range Code Geass R2 OP Version Brings Back Memories, N...

Care Packages A La Mode

Dear Followers, I couldn't handle having warning signs all over my blog anymore, so I decided to install a new template. As always, the instructions provided by the internet were insufficient in effectively guiding me through the reconstruction process, and much of what you see is the result of a schizophrenic guess-and-check process with HTML. After playing around for around an hour or so, I finally have created a blog design that I am comfortable with. I really shouldn't be blogging today, but once I start something I have a really hard time stopping. So, here's an onslaught of posts for anybody who's interested. The substance of the post you are reading right now is basically a conglomeration of individual posts I mean to write...

A-Music Week 4

Dear Followers, Yesterday I prematurely submitted my Common Application, assuming I was supposed to hand in everything pertaining to the application 10 school days before the deadline. Facepalm. While I am somewhat relieved to not have to worry about it anymore, I can’t help but shake feeling like I have done myself a disservice in denying myself the ability to go back and edit some of my information. Oh well. As far as anime news goes, I have recently finished two shows which were both much more satisfying than I initially anticipated. First, which I believe I mentioned a few weeks ago, is “Mawaru Penguindrum.” I was genuinely surprised at how complex and philosophical the dialogue became in the last few episodes. Even after scanning a few fan forums for an explanation of the first season’s...

A-Music Week 3

Dear Followers, Yeah... I know I missed a few weeks in between. I was busy whittling down my human character into a standardized test score. Between my last blog post I had come across a few new items of otaku interest. First, when scanning around on Star Crossed Anime Blog, which by the way writes some handy reviews, when I came across Mawaru Penguindrum. While I wasn't a fan of the character design, a combination of high ratings and supposed plot complexity drew me in. Before I knew it, I was marathoning. The plot is simple. A terminally ill girl named Himari is saved by an otherworldly being who decides to extend her life on the condition that her two brothers must acquire an item known as the Penguin Drum. So far, I have yet to be wowed, but I sense a great deal of potential for...

A-Music Week 2

Dear Follower, After a crazy week I am back with your weekly dose of Asian music. Today, with some extra free time, I had a chance to explore the interwebs. During the Northwestern Debate Institute, I came across a blog run by Danny Choo. I don't remember what I was looking for when I found it. Anyways, his article, How Discovering Japan Changed My Life, really struck a chord with me for obvious reasons. Reading about how Danny, a young boy from London, came to love Japanese culture, learned the language, moved to Japan, and started his own business has become a source of inspiration for me. If you ever have some spare time, I highly recommend watching his show, Culture Japan. That is, if you are interested in Japanese culture like myself. Anyways, here we go! 1. Change - Yoshida Brothers...