August 31, 2008

Otakus... *facepalm*

As most of you know, I am generally proud to call myself an otaku, in the English sense of the word (and, possibly, the Japanese sense, too... YMMV).  But there are moments where the antics of other otakus (otaki?) make me just want to crawl under a rock and hide.

To whit, THIS:

Okay, it's Chuck Yeager's myspace page, cool!  Real American Hero, no question about it... now, is it really him?  I dunno, but I could believe it easily enough, so let's just assume it is.  Now, if you scroll down a little bit to the comment section, the first bunch all seem like the usual hero stuff: "Thank you for being an inspiration to me," and things like that.

And then? 


Thank you, Mr Otaku With The Communist Manifesto In Front Of Your Face.  I'm now going to go find a rock, and after I beat you over the head with said rock, I'm going to hide under it.


Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:32 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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August 25, 2008

Durn Whippersnappers Think They've Invented Everything...

So this evening, one of the new ducklings attending Duck U. stopped into the Bookstore to buy his books.  Never mind that classes started last Wednesday, that's not important... what's important is that he was wearing an Evangelion t-shirt, featuring the NERV logo, similar to this one at Robert's place.

I complemented him on the shirt, and I kid you not, he sneered at me and asked me if I had seen the show on Cartoon Network. 

(crowd gasps, goes "Ooooooohhhhhhhh".)

Now, I don't know what crawled up his arse and died, but if you act like "a joik or woise", you can expect that there will eventually be some sort of return fire... and I was pretty much in a bad mood anyway.  So I decided to have some fun.

I admitted that I only saw an episode or two of the show on Cartoon Network (which is true; I borrowed the box set from a friend, then bought my own set a few weeks later), and started to scan his books into the register. "It's one of those 'Japanime' shows about giant robots, right?"

He said "It's called anime, and it's more about the end of the world, and what it means to..."

I assume he was going to say "...what it means to be human," but I cut him off. 

"I prefer more slice of life shows, m'self.  Azumanga Daioh is probably my favorite, but there's a bunch of others, too.  Shows like Kanon, Clannad, y'know... though Hidamari Sketch is awfully good, and I would have loved another season of Sketchbook, though I can't imagine it'll ever make it over here.  I'm very happy that ARIA was licensed by Nozomi, though I haven't pre-ordered it yet.  Someday's Dreamers is pretty decent, too;  I'm working through that one now.  It's no CardCaptor Sakura, though.  But then, what is?  But y'know, shows like Soul Eater and Toshokan Sensou are a treat, and NOIR is one of the best shows I've ever seen, and those aren't really slice-of-life.  And then you have the classics like Bubblegum Crisis and it's remake, Oh My Goddess and it's remake, Ranma 1/2... you have heard of Ranma 1/2, right?  Came out in the early '90s, maybe a little before your time?  Oh, yeah, and don't forget the legendary Dirty Pair or the Gunsmith Cats OVA... can't go wrong with girls with guns, right?"

At that point, I paused for a moment.  And smiled.  "But I'm not much of a fan of giant robots.  That'll be $258.50."


...and get off my damn lawn.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 08:54 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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August 03, 2008

Playing The Anime: Clannad (Tomoyo's Route End)

Wow.  That was... intense.  Usually in this sort of game, the climax comes when you get the girl to kiss you (or something along those lines), but in Tomoyo's route, that comes when you're about a third of the way through.

In the end, it boils down to "Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy regains girl", which is pretty much the Original Trope for all fiction, more or less.  Turns out that the protagonist is actually a pretty good joe when all is said and done, and despite the emotional wringer the plot puts him (and us) through, all turns out okay in the end.

Jason over at DbD has been playing the game as well, and has a great recap of Tomoyo's route (which I've been avoiding reading for some time).  Like him, I want KyoAni to animate this whole thing instead of just the OVA (which I've been avoiding watching for some time)... the 56 Hit Combo would be impressive as all get-out, considering it's done by a bear.


But even this scene isn't the end, as there's a short epilogue which wraps up the loose ends quite nicely.  As a piece of fiction (game or no), it's really quite good... and, like Jason, I too lost track of time during the run to the end.

Bravo, Key!

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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