The Wheel of Time

Discussion,

You may have noticed I’ve been slacking off on blogging lately. That’s because I’ve been busy reading Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, as the last book came out this month. I read all fourteen books in a period of three weeks, so I was pretty busy.

I first came across these books around twelve(?) years ago. I got to around number ten over a period of a few years, and then they started coming out really slowly / the author died / I forgot about them. Since it had been about ten years since I touched one of these books, I forgot everything that happened except that the main character got the harem end, and I decided to re-read the entire series from the beginning.

What does this have to do with anime, you ask? Well, not much. I guess books and anime are both storytelling mediums, so you can extrapolate lessons from these books to anime. But I figure a lot of anime fans also like fantasy books anyway and I felt like writing something about this. I doubt anyone will actually read it, and it basically amounts to a random sequence of inane observations; hey, whatever.

I’ll start off without spoilers, and put a big warning once I get into spoiler territory. Continue reading The Wheel of Time →

Shin Sekai Yori 17 — Application for Intercolonial War

Shin Sekai Yori,

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Now that Saki is a member of the Department of Queerat Control, we get to see the inner workings of their relationships to the colonies. It’s quite a fascinating peek. Saki is in charge of breeding naked molerats, accepting applications to go to war, and observing the battlefield itself.

It’s a pretty disturbing system. The queerats need to fill out an application to go to war. The department goes to the battlefield to observe. And they do absolutely nothing to prevent the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of queerats. Continue reading Shin Sekai Yori 17 — Application for Intercolonial War →

Robotics; Notes 14 — A Romantic Comedy

Robotics; Notes,

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You know, if Robotics; Notes were a romantic comedy, I think I would like it. Look at that screenshot above: replace the next Onii-chan whatever show with this and everyone would love it. Robotics; Notes has a perfect setup for shipping wars in Akiho vs. Frau, and a non-contentious romance between Subaru and Frau. Add the teacher hitting on Nao and it would be perfect. Continue reading Robotics; Notes 14 — A Romantic Comedy →

Zetsuen no Tempest 15 — Asking his Body Directly

Zetsuen no Tempest,

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Oh man. This episode was amazing.

So many comedy shows start out well, and then decide they have to add some hackneyed serious drama at the end. It seems like Zetsuen no Tempest is taking the opposite approach: do the tedious, serious stuff first to get it out of the way, and then turn the show into a romantic comedy. Continue reading Zetsuen no Tempest 15 — Asking his Body Directly →

PSYCHO PASS 14 — The Lives of Livestock

Psycho Pass,

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PSYCHO PASS’ villain wants people to stop living lives like livestock. This is a good idea: I’ve said the exact same thing in previous posts. What makes him a villain is not his objective, it’s the fact that he uses violence to accomplish it.

Which raises an interesting point: in supporting the PSYCHO PASS system, Akane and friends also rely on violence, willingly and frequently. The punishment for any crime— or for even thinking of any crime in the wrong place— is to get shot with a gun. Continue reading PSYCHO PASS 14 — The Lives of Livestock →