by ETERNAL on September 5, 2009
What is a hero? A miserable pile of ideals? Wikipedia defines the word as a person who selflessly and courageously faces danger for the sake of a greater good, while it defines superhero as a person who protects the weak and innocent by fighting evil. Heroes are ubiquitous in fiction, long before the days of Superman; the concept of heroism extends into the days of mythology, when the world was a radically different place.
Thus, it’s only fitting that Emiya Shirou, the main protagonist of Fate/stay night, should share something in common with these summoned heroes that he must fight alongside and against. His wish is to become a superhero, to save everyone and eliminate the need for sacrifice. It’s a naive ideal at first, possibly as frustrating to the reader as it is to Tohsaka Rin, but the moral battle grows ambiguous when the red knight arrives to play Devil’s Advocate.
by ETERNAL on August 3, 2009
I won’t bother praising Saya no Uta outright: a quick glance at its ratings should tell you a thing or two about the quality of the story, without even factoring in its reputation. My Nitro+ experience is currently limited to this game and the Chaos;Head anime, which most people would rather forget, so I’m not sure how Saya compares to their other stories, but suffice to say it does a good job of electrocuting the mind more efficiently than a Satoshi Kon film.
In retrospect, however, the story contains a strange kind of tenderness to it; a sort of delicate interior beneath the harsh, rotting-flesh-coated exterior. Most wouldn’t notice it initially – or at least I couldn’t, considering my sanity was severely compromised at the time of playing – but there’s a bit to be said about the game after one has finished it, and after they learn the startlingly innocent truth behind the game’s namesake.
by ETERNAL on July 28, 2009
When I was still little…one day, riding the green bike I always used to ride, I thought: “how far can I go without turning back?”
by ETERNAL on May 19, 2009
I was an otaku before an anime blogger, I played my first visual novel before reading The Animanachronism. I collect things that have pictures of attractive 2D females printed on to them just because I can. The acronym of my blog’s name spells a familiar word. If I wore glasses, surely they would be rose-tinted.
But that’s not the point. The point is Akiyama Mio. You know, Mio. That Mio, that Mio, that Mio, that Mio…and yes, even that Akiyama Mio. So what does this mean, aside from the fact that Nasu’s pen has infected me? It means that Mio is popular.
…
…And it also means that I’m going to try and figure out why, because that’s what I do!
by ETERNAL on May 6, 2009
Pardon me for going off topic – yes, I have no way of justifying this post and claiming its relevance to anime – but as I shift in and out of the mood to pursue Japanese cartoons with unparalleled amounts of zeal and energy, irrelevant ideas occasionally cross my mind. Having recently mentioned gaming in a post that was intended to have far more to do with anime than it did, I found myself taking a little break from this medium that we know and love, and indulging in a few solid hours of adventure and conquest.
Now, as for how this is relevant to the topic at hand: in taking a good look at the medium of video games from a perspective that has widened dramatically in the last several months, I’ve come to realize a few things that I never noticed before. In short, I think the enjoyment that players derive from games can be divided into three broad categories – entertainment, competition, and art – and that the mystery behind why some games appear to be “good” while others are “bad” is far less of a mystery than it appears.
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Politics, Religion, and Paradise – Speculations on Eden of the East
by ETERNAL on April 22, 2009
I’ll admit: there will always be genres that I like more than others, regardless of objective quality. If it isn’t already obvious, I’m the kind of person that likes to dissolve into 13 episodes of rabu-rabu or moe-moe, and if not, I can only hope that the show will be funny enough to entertain me.
But of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and I think Eden of the East fits that bill for this season. Even aside from the unique premise and above average portrayal of America in terms of realism, it didn’t take long at all for the show to captivate me. It should come as no surprise, seeing as it’s an original story from the director of the Ghost in the Shell TV series, but the first two episodes really have exceeded my expectations.
However, the fact remains that there is precious little to say after only a few weeks, so I decided to try something familiar: taking a closer look at the opening and ending sequences and seeing what little treasures I could find.
And believe me, there’s much more than meets the eye.
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