Review | The Chuuni Corner

March 13, 2016

Review/discussion about: Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

Episode 4 / Gakusen Toshi Asterisk / Ayato and Julis gently drifting

Not worth warring over

When I went to Disney World – that is the one in Florida (the good one) and not the one in California – for the first time, it was around my birthday. If you do not know, at Disney, they pamper you to no end. They make sure that every move you make and every event you experience fills you with nothing but happiness. It is pretty scary how good they are at keeping you smiling.

So there I was, at Disney World, the happiest place on Earth, and it was my birthday. True to Disney form, they made me happy by giving me a special, green badge to wear. Wearing it around the parks meant skipping the long lines, extra signatures from the characters, and the regular restaurant staff giving me kind words and free desserts. Needless to say, I was a supremely happy kid.

I speak of badges because Gakusen Toshi Asterisk gives badges to its characters, too. (Also, finding a tangentially relevant anecdote was pretty difficult for this one.) But Asterisk could learn a thing or two from Disney about how to make its audience happy.

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March 11, 2016

Review/discussion about: Selector Infected WIXOSS

Selector Infected WIXOSS / Episode 1 / Ruuko's first nightmare

Not your kids’ card game

Have you ever played a trading-card game like the one in Selector Infected WIXOSS?

I used to play the Pokemon TCG, and by “play” I mean I liked collecting the cards and putting them in binders. I did not understand the rules (and I never took the time to learn them), so I simply collected. Dark Charizard, Ancient Mew (the one from the first movie), and the various Gym cards were my calling.

I also played Yu-Gi-Oh, but, again, “played” is just another word for “whining to our parents to buy my brother and me cards for collecting.” I remember during one Christmas (and I kid you not that this is a true story) when my brother got an extra, random pack of cards from my parents that they had bought on a whim. Inside was a card called the “Thousand Eyes Restrict,” the rarest card in existence at that time. I was so upset (and immature) that I started crying. I ran downstairs to wail in torment – not the proudest moment of my life.

Selector Infected WIXOSS is certainly about ultra-rare cards that make one cry. But the crying comes about for an entirely different reason.

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March 8, 2016

Review/discussion about: Non Non Biyori Repeat

Life incarnate

Non Non Biyori Repeat almost makes me feel bad about myself.

To Renge and the gang, a cell phone is a sign of luxury, and “dot com” is a mysterious concept. To me, I cannot live without the Internet. I cannot go a day without using a computer or checking out /r/anime or playing a video game. I do not consider smartphones and e-mail anomalies; I consider them necessities.

But Repeat does not make me feel bad for too long, for quickly afterwards it provides a superb experience with a lot of heart and a lot of soul, forcing me to realize that life’s most important parts are the ones that have been nearby all along.

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March 3, 2016

Review/discussion about: Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai

**** *** *********

Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai (Shimoneta from here on out because that title is ridiculously long) reminded me of a tale. It is a tale from my childhood, back when I was a spry young boy with strict parents.

Their strictness should not be underestimated. Growing up, I was disciplined to never swear. This has carried over into my adult life; I very rarely swear while out in public. (In private, however, all bets are off.) One day, we visited the family cottage. That day, I was there with my cousins and my brother.

Probably due to that rebellious stage of our lives, we decided that enough was enough: We were going to swear. But we were not just going to say a bunch of curse words in the living room. Instead, we decided to take our behavior to the trampoline on the side of the house. The second we got onto the trampoline, our mouths and brains started working. The jumps-to-dirty-words ratio quickly became imbalanced; the pine trees turned into scarlet oaks from all the blushing they were doing.

Our swearing escapade eventually ended. We were never caught, but that feeling of freedom has never been matched since. And considering Shimoneta, I know now that Kajou and the rest of SOX felt exactly the same.

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February 28, 2016

Review/discussion about: Jitsu wa Watashi wa

Secretly fun

Jitsu wa Watashi wa loves its secrets. Many people (myself included) like secrets. It does not matter which side, either keeping or having them. Keeping them is all about trust between the parties, because once one person reveals the secret then it is a secret no longer. (This brings into question how many have to know a secret before it is no longer a secret, but that is a conversation for another day.) And having them is all about knowing who, if anyone, to tell.

There is actually a third side: the people not in the know. I found myself on this side once. For one of my birthdays, my parents and siblings told me that we were meeting up with my grandparents for a small dinner. I thought this was perfectly normal given we have done this in the past.

But when we arrived at the restaurant, my entire family – uncles, aunts, and cousins – were waiting for me. Yes, a surprise birthday party. I was baffled that they were able to keep it a secret for so long. I will never forget that feeling when it first dawned on me what had actually happened: a weird, happy feeling of betrayal.

In my case, the secret was ultimately harmless. In Jitsu’s case, the secrets it holds are more important than any birthday party could hope to be.

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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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