Posted by Rio S.
Caveat: I tried to write this article with restraint (and coherence), and failed miserably. I’d advise you to run while you still can.
Amidst the tolling of deadline bells, I managed to watch the final episode of Toradora! and felt compelled to write another article about it since honestly, the first one just didn’t do it enough justice. Plus, if I don’t release all this pent up schoolgirl gush, I’m afraid I might implode.
First things first. I like slice of life anime shows, simply because they are light, don’t require me to know the basics of quantum physics, mostly feel-good, and summons the repressed high school girl in me. Yes, that squealing, giggling, lovesick girl exists in me, even when I never did outwardly show her during my teens (or ever) in an attempt to look cool.
In all my years of watching anime (more or less, 17 years), I still can’t honestly say that I’ve seen everything – but I did fervently hope that the power of love would fail in some shows. Shows these days, especially those that cater to the teen bracket, follow a tried and tested formula to pull at the audience’ heartstrings. It might be fun for a while, but most of the time, I like to be surprised.
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Kure-nai's Murasaki and Shinkurou
POSTED by Rica
The anime Kure-nai, written and directed by Kou Matsuo (and based on the light novels by Katayama Kentarou) starts off with an interesting incident: a “dispute mediator” named Kurenai Shinkurou is taking care of a guy who turns out to be a client’s stalker. During the confrontation, something pops out of Shinkurou’s right elbow which obviously pains him and distracts him from finishing his job.
Sixteen-year old Kurenai Shinkurou seems like a normal high school student at first, but as mentioned, he’s hired to settle disputes or squabbles. Only two people from his school – Murakami Ginko and Houzuki Yuuno – know that he’s a dispute mediator hired by Juuzawa Benika to take care of trivial job requests from clients.
The real story of the anime starts when Benika drops by Shinkurou’s apartment to offer him his next job. He’s being asked to protect a seven-year old girl named Kuhouin Murasaki, the girl that Benika and her subordinate Inuzuka Yayoi snatched from the Kuhouin compound early in the first episode. Shinkurou accepts the job, and during the short conversation between him and Benika, we see snatches of the boy’s past as well as his possible reason/s for accepting the job of protecting Murasaki from the Kuhouins and from the Inner Sanctuary. more…
Posted by Rio S.
Nico, an ex-colleague who shares my love for anime, recommended Toradora about a few months back. I was otherwise immersed in all things D Grayman back then and so the recommendation was buried under tons of other things. I came across Toradora (officially Toradora!) again while trolling for Japanese light novels and BAM! I’m hopelessly hooked.
Toradora is a series set in a high school and naturally, the characters are high school students. Ah, high school.
If you’re anything like me, most of your high school memories have been properly repressed in the deepest darkest pit of your mind. Come to think of it, maybe this repression is the reason behind the fact that I love high school anime: I want to replace my own memories with somebody else’s. Who wants to remember real life zits and angst brought about by hormonal imbalance anyway? Some parts were good though, maybe good enough for you to remember what you were wearing at the time. In my case, I remember the most horrible. JS Prom, anyone? Anyway, I digress. more…
La Corda D'oro
Posted by RICA
Sadly, I am still waiting for Kure Yuki’s Kiniro no Corda scanlations to be posted… somewhere. Anywhere. god, why aren’t the English volumes available here? I’m sure Amazon has some of the volumes, but sometimes it’s futile to search for it, order it online, and have it delivered to your country. I am just not that patient.
Really, it kills me that I can’t have as much La Corda as I would want.
In case some people are wondering (really, I think it’s just me), nope, there’s no La Corda D’oro anime season 3 – there isn’t even a season 2 yet (it was reported that a special called Kin’iro no Corda ~secondo passo~ will start airing March 2009. YAY!). As with the manga, I’ve seen up to chapter 56 only, and they’re just raws. more…
Posted by Rio S.
Face it, you’re screwed. Your presentation (for the company’s biggest client, no less) was torn to smithereens; your report-slash-plan (that was supposed to be your company’s panacea to survive the recession) was a Hindenburg. Everything was peachy for a while and a split second later, everything’s ablaze and everybody’s running for the exits. You’ve kissed your raise – which was due three months ago – goodbye. Or if you’re a freelance writer like myself, your article was flamed to hell and back. Get my drift?
After failure of epic proportions, what’s the next step?
Take it with grace. Do not go into the light – at least, not just yet. You still have a job, unless of course the plodding creature that is your boss fired your ass on the spot. And no, keep that pointer finger down, looking for a scapegoat is not only cowardly; it’s also a vile, vile practice done by people with no backbones (i.e. single celled organisms like amoeba and your ex-boyfriend). more…
Posted by Rica
La Corda D’oro by Kure Yuki is probably the best music-themed anime I’ve watched so far, and I’m not saying this because I’m so fangirl-ing (is that even a word?) over the bishies here, but because it really is good. The music is what got me, honestly. The animation is nothing new – we’ve seen better-looking bishies and more sensible hair colors in other anime shows – but this one really gets you hooked. Again, it’s the music.
Comments on the Manga
Before I prattle on and on about how good La Corda D’oro is, let me just say this: the I-really-like-this-because-of-the-music sentiment doesn’t apply to the manga version. Why? Because I don’t think anyone – however good their imaginations are – can possibly hear the music the characters are supposedly playing through the pages of the manga. Even I, the know-it-all when it comes to classical music, can’t enjoy parts of the manga showing the bishies playing their respective instruments. [Deep sigh] But I will have to admit that the art is consistent in the manga. I just can’t tell apart their hair colors, haha.
If the manga’s not all about the music, what’s it about then? more…
(Subtitle: Willing suspension of disbelief)
Posted by Rica
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Posted by Rica
Posts on anime/manga fangirlism won’t be random; they’ll be selective and most probably be subject to my whims. I’ve come up with a plan to let you all in on what keeps a yuppie (our own definition of the word) like me from going overboard/over bored with obsessing about characters or plots of anime shows or mangas I’ve already watched/read, am watching/reading, or will watch/read.
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