Review | The Chuuni Corner

February 25, 2016

Review/discussion about: Classroom☆Crisis

Crisis averted

(As supplementary material for this review, please refer to my essay on conflict and resolution, Classroom☆Crisis, Conflict, and Resolution.)

Every year, my family and I go to the cottage we have up north. We ride on the pontoon, we go to the local ice cream store, and we sit around the campfire making s’mores. These separate events are fun, but what makes them so awesome is getting to spend them with my family.

I remember one night when Craig, a cousin of mine, brought a telescope with him. It was a clear night, allowing the stars to brightly shine against the dark backdrop. He had been practicing viewing objects in outer space, and, by that point, he could consistently find Saturn. So he set up the telescope, aiming the device at what looked like to me some arbitrary spot in the sky.

When I peered through the scope, I saw a tiny, beige dot. It was Saturn. I was amazed to see this celestial object thousands of miles away mere inches from my eye. From that night onward, I learned to respect outer space, more so than I had ever previously done before.

Classroom Crisis is an anime that likewise focuses on outer space, and contrary to its name, this anime is certainly not a crisis.

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February 4, 2016

Review/discussion about: Venus Project: Climax

The opposite of a climax

My older sister used to be a dancer, both as a hobby and as a job. And when I was younger, we would always have to go to her recitals. A recital is basically many different dancing performances consisting of a different combination of dancers.

I hated going to them. The recital usually lasted four to five hours. They prohibited food and drink from entering the theater. I was not allowed to use electronics like my Game Boy. My sister was not even in all of the acts: out of the approximately thirty or so different acts, she was in maybe three or four of them. I realize now that I was there to support my sister as her brother, but back then, I could not have cared any less for these boring, time-consuming dances.

Venus Project: Climax is also filled with dancers and dances, although they use robots in conjunction with the idols. Even so, watching this anime was like watching one of those recitals, bringing with it the same boring and time-consuming feelings once more.

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January 25, 2016

Review/discussion about: Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei Herz!

A longer title does not make for a better anime

My favorite card game is called “Texas Hold ‘Em.” In this gambling game, the dealer deals two cards to every player. Then the flop (three community cards), the turn (one community card), and the river (one final community card) are dealt by the dealer. Betting occurs in-between each of these rounds.

The objective of the game is to make the best set of cards possible – three-of-a-kind, a straight, and so on – with the two cards you own and the community cards. The catch is that each player can only see their own cards. What this means is that the winning hand is not always the winner; a player can and often does bluff their way to victory. And so the saying goes: “you gotta’ know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.”

I am talking about cards because I am talking about Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei Herz!, which is somehow even more ridiculous of a title than Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 2wei!. Herz (as it will be called from here on out for sanity purposes) is about finding a final card that Illya and the gang need to acquire. Alongside the secrecy of the plot, the show sort of (read: barely) becomes a game of Texas Hold ‘Em, but this show’s poker face is easily seen through.

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January 16, 2016

Review/discussion about: Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace

Crime clearly does not pay

Crime has been around for as long as humans have roamed the Earth. While it would be awesome if everyone held hands and made peace and sang carols, an idyllic world of that kind simply does not exist. There are “bad apples” everywhere. People who, for whatever reason, resort to crime.

Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace centers on crime like pedophilia, torture, and murder. Grotesque crime, but crime all the same. It shows the lengths people on both sides of the law will go to and what that means for everyone in society.

I have never committed a crime and I have (thankfully; knock on wood) never been the victim of a crime. Someone did steal a USB drive of mine once, but I was not so annoyed that I wanted to call for an investigation. Thinking about it now, I wish I still had that USB from way back when. And thinking about it more, if I had a copy of Ranpo Kitan on that USB, not only would I not care about it getting stolen, I would thank the thief for stealing it.

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January 12, 2016

Review/discussion about: Ninja Slayer From Animation

Not worth bowing to

“Revenge is a dish best served cold.” This is a commonly known phrase. It means that, when seeking revenge and enacting that revenge, you need to be as heartless, evil, and cold as humanly possible. Just the word “revenge” sounds ominous enough, but when combined with the other words in this saying, it becomes a sinister aphorism.

Ninja Slayer From Animation is built on revenge. And repetition. And revenge. And saying “Abbah!” a lot. And repetition. And ninjas. And comedy. And, of course, repetition. For Kenji, it is not “revenge is a dish best served cold,” but rather “revenge is me forcing you to ‘recite your death haiku’ and me chopping off your head.”

I am a gentle person, so I cannot say that I have sought revenge of this magnitude. However, I have taken part in petty revenge. Stuff like ignoring a teammate in a multiplayer video game because he insulted me. And now having seen Ninja Slayer, I have some more petty revenge to take part in.

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January 8, 2016

Review/discussion about: Gate: Jietai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri

Get your war posters ready

The progression of weaponry is pretty astounding. As Neanderthals, we started off with nothing more than blunt sticks and sharp stones. Eventually we learned about the oddity called the “bow and arrow.” From there, we melted iron to make knives, swords, and javelins. Then came the gun. Then the tank. Then the jet, the submarine, and the almighty nuke. In a relatively short amount of time, humanity has proven their penchant for new ways of killing each other.

GATE: Thus the JSDF Fought There!, while not really about the weapons, showcases a wide range of them, from the bow to the gun to the fighter jet. Of course, given the mythical setting, other forms of weaponry exist, such as magic and massive death axes.

And so this makes me wonder something: where will our weaponry be ten years from now? Or in one hundred years? Will we go the Star Wars route, with light-sabers and laser-blasters? Or will we instead come up with a piece of technology that we currently cannot comprehend? At the minimum, I hope there is not an alien species out there looking to invade us with such technology, because as GATE depicts, an assault rifle beats a sword any day of the week.

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January 6, 2016

Review/discussion about: Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

A fairy tale beginning

(As supplementary material for this review, please refer to my writing on the similarities of this anime, Shirayuki and Snow White Similarities)

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who is the fairest of them all?” This iconic phrase is most often credited to the animated, Disney-made film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. That is actually a pretty difficult question to answer, no matter what is being compared.

I would consider myself a big Disney fan. I like Goofy and Donald – mostly thanks to my extensive time playing the Kingdom Hearts series – but I have an affinity for its fairy tales, too. Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin are among my favorite animated, fairy tale films (which, coincidentally enough, are also within the Kingdom Hearts series…). There is just something about the blending of the real and the magical, the budding romance, and the supremely happy endings that fills me with pure joy.

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, otherwise known as Snow White with the Red Hair, is not technically a Disney-made anime, but it is a fairy tale. A tale that instills similar feelings of joy.

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December 30, 2015

Review/discussion about: Durarara!!x2 Ten

Exponentiation works slightly better

I am a suburban-born kid. I had the backyard, the nice house, and the friendly neighbors. I was not surrounded by shops or tons of cars or a plethora of people. Going to the city was an adventure. Usually for a sports game or a get-together with the extended family. Either way, I always felt out of place. I felt as if the city would consume me. That the city would take me in and never let me leave.

Ikebukuro, the setting within Durarara!!x2 Ten, would be another city where I would most certainly not feel at home. The lights and the bustle would contribute to this feeling, but the people – the super-strong butler, the headless rider, and the demonic slasher – would influence me the most. Yet the people in Ten, while fictitious, represent a similar sentiment of misplaced comfortability.

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December 26, 2015

Review/discussion about: Aoharu x Kikanjuu

No surviving here

I have never shot a gun. I have held my uncle’s small pistol, though. He carries it around for self-defense purposes. He let me hold the weapon during a birthday party for one of my relatives, and I, rather stupidly, raised the gun up instead of aiming it downwards. Everyone was quick to yell at me and for good reason. Guns are dangerous. We watch action flicks, we play first-person shooters, and we read jokes about weapons, desensitizing us to their power. It is not until one is wielded that someone truly understands what it is that he or she is holding.

Before real guns, there are the imitations, usually called BB guns. They shoot pellets, not bullets, but they are still dangerous and, for some, as fun as the real thing. Aoharu x Kikanjuu is filled to the brim with guns of this type and the survival games that incorporate their use. Although the guns are not actually the focus. They are the setting for the anime but not what the anime wants to talk about. Instead, the show concerns itself with heavier dilemmas. Deceit, rejection, and perseverance which, coincidentally enough, each occur in the very games the show shows.

My earlier recollection was sort of misleading. I have used a paintball gun before, during a friend’s birthday. I was there with a bunch of other friends. I had on the goggles, the camo gear, and the big boots. Running around the obstacles and pretending as if I was in a real warzone was fun. Then I got hit with a paintball. And it hurt. A lot. I remember the stinging, despite the layers of clothes I had on, and the welt afterwards. Though if I had a choice between getting hit with another paintball and watching Aoharu x Kikanjuu again, I would brace myself for the stinging.

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December 19, 2015

Review/discussion about: Bikini Warriors

No beach in sight

My favorite genre of video game is the RPG. “RPG” stands for “Role-Playing Game”, which is exactly as it sounds. You, the player, take on the role of a specific character to embark on a grand adventure unlike anything you have experienced before. The game might take on a third-person perspective where you control the hero – The Legend of Zelda, while not strictly an RPG, comes to mind – or a first-person perspective where you actually tailor the hero to your liking – Dark Souls is my jam in this category. Regardless, an RPG puts you into the game, making the game less a game and more an experience.

Bikini Warriors is an anime, not a game, but it centers on this RPG concept. The ending of the anime reminded me of Mass Effect, a famous space-oriented RPG series. Doing all of the side missions, exhausting all possible dialogue options, exploring never-before-seen worlds. All wonderful parts to the game, but it was having my own personal character, my own personal story existing across the first, second, and third games, that made the series so special.

I was invested in the series, so much so that when I finally witnessed the absurd ending of the third game I heavily latched onto the “Indoctrination Theory” that eerily, logically, and justifiably explained the insane leap the game had taken (I still contend to this day that that theory is the true solution). I was floored by what Mass Effect had done because it was not just a game to me, but my own, personalized experience that they had tampered with.

While Bikini Warriors’ ending failed to influence me in any capacity, let alone to the level that Mass Effect’s had, the anime at least demonstrated that RPGs are rather peculiar in their construction.

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