All posts by draggle

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 07 — Sick Little Sisters and Kissing Your Future

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control,

This episode took a step in the right direction by focusing on Mashu, who has so far not had much of an opportunity for development. The time spent in this episode helped, but she still feels rather bland as a character. She was born only recently, and assets are usually treated as only property, so I suppose that her underdeveloped personality makes sense. She is much more likable than a certain other newborn, at least. But honestly, she and Kimimaro both just sort of bore me. The budding romance between them definitely isn’t helping matters. Falling in love with your own future is rather narcissistic.

The earlier half of the episode focused on Souichiro’s past, who abandoned his musical ambitions to learn business from his father. His little sister was sick in the hospital, and went into a coma after Souichiro’s father went bankrupt, partially because his father wouldn’t spend the money to bring her to a better hospital.

Souichiro at least has an interesting backstory, and does something besides walking around being indecisive. Maybe he should be the main character instead of Kimimaro. But there’s one thing that bothers me about Souichiro: his voice. I’m not sure why. I usually don’t have any problems with character’s voices (unless they’re squeay little girls like Aria). But somehow Souichiro’s voice just doesn’t seem to fit his character. He always sounds so relaxed and smooth, which doesn’t really fit my image of him (or wouldn’t if it weren’t for his voice).

There are only four episodes left, and I can’t really see how this is going to resolve in that time frame. Mainly because there isn’t any conflict. I gather that there’s supposed to be some kind of abstract philosophical decision between the present and the future, but this all just seems kind of silly to me. Obviously you would want to have both a present and a future. Maybe the final boss will be the past, who feels left out. This could explain why he’s stealing all the skyscrapers from the present.

Ano Hana 07 — Sensitivity Issues

Ano Hana,

Jinta, you jerk! Way to rub it in for poor little ghost girls!

As Menma points out, though, Jinta actually is pretty cool. He still hasn’t been able to return to school, sure, but that doesn’t mean he stays cooped up in his room all day. He isn’t as ridiculously hopeless as Welcome to the NHK’s Satou or Chaos; Head’s Takumi, which I feel makes him more believable as a character. He actually is working hard to grant Menma’s wish.

Still, I kind of doubt that launching the rocket is Menma’s wish. It’s probably related to the meeting which she was keeping a secret from Jinta. If that’s the case, then Jinta may be the one person who is uniquely unqualified to grant Menma’s wish.

Anaru continues to make progress with Jinta, reaching a first name basis with him once again. Unfortunately her attempted rape is interrupted by Poppo. She doesn’t seem to have the best of luck.

Americans Eat Things Besides Hamburgers

Discussion,

And by “things besides hamburgers”, I don’t mean “hot dogs and french fries”.  This came to mind while watching the  latest episode of Hidan no Aria, where this billboard appeared:

As someone who has lived in Texas, I facepalmed. For readers not from the US, burgers are definitely not Tex-Mex (and certainly not this especially generic looking burger).

Not having a good grasp on American food certainly isn’t specific to anime. In real life, I work with a substantial number of people from other countries. These people will invariably complain to me that they hate American food. I ask them what foods they hate. They tell me they hate hamburgers and French fries. Occasionally they add sandwiches to the list. I don’t bother explaining that sandwiches aren’t actually from America.

On further interrogation, it turns out that they haven’t eaten anywhere except cheap restaurants, which where I live are all either sandwich shops or Chinese restaurants. I try to explain that Americans do cook things beside sandwiches and Chinese food at home, which are only found in sit-down restaurants, if at all. My friends from Asia are shocked to hear that many Americans think everyone cooks rice in a pot on the stove, in the rare case that they cook rice at all, and have never even heard of a rice cooker. Visitors from overseas then ask: well, then, what is American food?

And then I’m stumped. I list a few things off the top of my head: barbecue, Tex-Mex, southern food, potatoes, corn… They walk away pretending to be convinced. But no one buys it. American food is hamburgers and french fries.

The problem is that even Americans don’t know what American food is. For the sake of experiment, I’ve asked Americans to name some American foods.  Their answer is the same as mine. “Hamburgers, hot dogs… um… French fries? No wait, are those French?”

To risk sounding like an elementary school history textbook, America is a melting pot. Not the type you make Fondue in, although there are certainly American variations on that particular dish. But the type where it is a nation of immigrants, and we incorporate the foods of those immigrants into our own cuisine. Basically, a large part of American food is what we’ve stolen from everywhere else variations, changes and combinations of dishes brought to America by immigrants. Take Chinese food:  my friends from China complain that the food in Chinese restaurants here isn’t “authentic”. To which I reply that it’s authentically American. At what point do these foods cease being Italian, German, Chinese or Japanese and become American?

Of course, this thievery culinary exchange isn’t one sided. I visited Singapore last year, and at a food court my friend ordered a “Hamburger” from a “Western food” restaurant. What he got back was no hamburger that we would have conceived of. There was no bun, and it more closely resembled the dreaded salisbury steak cafeteria meal than the type of hamburger we were familiar with. It also came with a runny egg on top. Was the hamburger American or was it Singaporean? I don’t know, but my friend ate it all.

One of the aspects I find most interesting about anime is seeing how my own culture is portrayed. By experiencing a small slice of Japanese culture, I feel like I’ve been able to better understand my own culture.  What is American food? I never would have asked that question before I began watching anime: it would be like asking “what is food?”. It’s what I eat.

Hidan no Aria 07 — *yawn*

Hidan no Aria,

Another typical episode of Hidan no Aria. A third of Aria screaming at Kinji and calling him stupid (because we certainly haven’t hard Rie Kugimiya do that enough!), a third of Shirayuki acting tragic in a kimono, and a third of Kinji running around like an idiot and clutching his cellphone.

For the first third of the episode involving Aria, I think I’ve already exhausted the same complaints for every other episode, so I’ll skip that. For Shirayuki they have unfortunately decided to neglect her crazy side, and turned her into another cute innocent unfortunate girl needing a manly man to protect her. I would feel much more sympathetic for her if she spent less time trying to steal a kiss and more time cutting her rivals to pieces.

But I can’t wait for the next episode! Who is the person who’s taken Shirayukii hostage? I can’t tell because of the crazy synthed voice and the fact that his presence is cloaked in shadow! Is it Durandal and will Aria finally get her revenge? Kyaah! </sarcasm>

Steins; Gate 08 — Genderswap

Steins; Gate,

This episode consisted of Kyouma trying random things to change the past. The things he did seemed innocuous enough, but I think they’re going to end up having larger consequences than it initially seems. This is especially the case with Moeka’s message. I don’t think anyone actually saw what she typed, and I’m very curious as to whether she actually sent the message she said she was going to. Kyouma didn’t check very thoroughly to figure out what changed from the past, and I’m wondering if the IBN is still lying around his lab.

My suspicions about John Titor’s identity have shifted from Moeka to part-time girl with this episode. She seems awfully familiar with John Titor’s message and curious about Kyouma’s reaction. Plus she does seem to know something about Christina from the future. Perhaps she even had something to do with Christina getting killed in the alternate timeline.

Somehow Ruka’s gender has managed to become even more ambiguous with this episode. I doubt that he’s a girl now, if only because eating habits don’t actually influence gender. Still, if the message was sent not while Ruka’s mother was pregnant but before, it’s possible that Ruka has become a male.