It’s another group blogging effort where we each write about something given a topic. I know it’s a little soon since the last group blogging thing was only a few days ago; you’ll live. If you haven’t guessed, the topic is “Autumn Season, 2007.”

I thought about comparing this season’s shows to others aired this year. Despite my efforts, it didn’t seem like a worthwhile cause. There are good shows, and there are bad shows. Overall, the survey is made of a common ilk. That is to say, the types of shows are fairly common. The stuff we have grown used to seeing. Myself; Yourself can be seen as a continuation in a long line of high school dramas. Ghost Hound is another sci-fi show that seems destine to fail where it showed the most promise, a captivating story. You’ll find that isn’t exactly my problem with the show. Finally, Shugo Chara is plainly excellent shoujo comedy, something that has been missing from my viewing schedule for a while.

For this post I’m going to talk about three shows I’ve been watching. Then there will be a little discussion about viewing and blogging. Of course, I haven’t seen every episode of every show that has aired this season. I’m simply going off history and those that I have viewed.

Myself; Yourself:

The story of the boy returning to his home town a little older but not the least bit wiser is fairly standard stuff. If not common, it isn’t groundbreaking with regard to building a plot. One of the issues I’ve had with the story is that it hasn’t produced any unique aspects that would set it apart from other high school dramas of recent memory.

We have the inept male lead and a couple of possible romantic options given by two of the female characters that will, or already has, lead to a love triangle. Everyone thinks the heart is the most romantic shape, but I think the triangle is severely underrated. I may not be the first to express this sentiment, as I seem to recall reading it elsewhere. I doubt many would disagree. We all love a good love-triangle.

Beyond all else, this show has what has come to be known as, “Very good ‘nice boat’ possibilities” (actually, I just made that up). Put another way, will we be able to categorize this as a “slice-and-life” show?

If it ends with Sana and Nanaka getting together combined with a lot of crying school girls then I’ll be happy.

Ghost Hound:

I was enjoying this show until episode four. This is the episode that will from this point forward be titled the “Alien out-of-body experience with monkey butt” episode. Seriously, what’s with the monkey-butts? If there were ever a visual distraction large enough to throw the entire equilibrium of a story into total chaos, then monkey-butts are that very device.

Am I the only one this bothers? I was seriously considering moving on and talking about other aspects of the story, but I just can’t avoid the monkey-butt problem. It deserves another paragraph.

To every time there is a season, and to every thought there is a reason. However, I am completely baffled as to what rhyme or treason they have utilized to produce monkey-butt. Chalk me up to irrational bias toward, “Alien out-of-body experience with monkey butt.”

Other than that, Ghost Hound has until this point been a fairly good show. There are some extremely well done scenes having to do with seemingly hypnotic or transitive states. The “Alien out-of-body experience with monkey butt” episode has our lead male characters exploring the abandoned building where Taro and his sister were held during their early childhood kidnapping. During the “Alien out-of-body experience with monkey butt” episode, just before the out-of-body experience, we are given a scene in which the group of boys experiencing a vision. That vision is possibly of the past. They see what appears to be Taro’s sister tied up in the room that they are exploring. They begin to breathe very heavily. The sounds of their breaths drown out all others until a dead quite is reached. Each begins to experience a unique vision of their past. They run, frantic, through the halls. Through the dark into the light they dash to the outside; then like a metaphorical taser to the senses, “Alien out-of-body experience with monkey butt.”

Shugo Chara:

It isn’t unusual for the main character in an anime to express apprehension about their personal character. It is a staple of shoujo anime, in fact. Usually, the journey they make to understanding their selves is the crux on which the plot hinges. Shugo Chara is no different than any other in that it doesn’t deviate too much from this mold.

The difference here is that we see Amu’s indecisiveness and unwillingness to show her “true” side. It isn’t implied, we hear and see it though internal monologue. She evidently wants to conform to others expectations, but at the same time doesn’t know what it is exactly her personality entails. She doesn’t know herself. The funny thing is that neither does anyone else.

Shugo Chara is totally awesome, ‘nough said.

A little bit about viewing and blogging:

I’ve talked about my viewing habits and taste in the past. It seems that amidst a season recap would be another good time to talk about them. I started to think about the type of post I’ve been doing recently while I was considering the topic for this post. I simply wanted to point out a few shows I’d been following, as I saw no real overriding theme to the Fall season. This lead me to think about why I post some of the things seen prior to this writing.

I’m not an expert in any or every aspect of anime. I’m just a fan…atic. Some examine and judge anime based on criteria ranging from aesthetic appeal to its quality in relation to other anime. There are those who go into a very fine gradient with examinations of varying aspects of shows. I tend to not watch anime with that level of detail. A better way of saying this is that I don’t pay as much attention to those aspects of a show as I do to others.

I enjoy shows that take the time to setup a believable atmosphere. Of particular interest are period shows, which consist of a plot in a specific era. Others may put more aspects of the story into the details or art. This ambiance is appreciated but often the specifics are overlooked during my viewing. I believe that I miss some things in these stories by not being more attentive to detail.

A good example of this is the symbolism in ef – a tale of memories. Other bloggers pointed out concrete examples of abstractions in the show. Some of these I noticed and others I did not. The only ones I concerned myself with were those I thought showed the mood of the characters, colors.

The point is that I like to watch anime with an awareness of what the story is provoking in myself. I pay attention to emotions that are stirring and the memories that the shows provoked. This is largely the way I approach many things. It is also the reason much of what I write on this blog is shaded the way it is. Sometimes I simply prefer to write about what the anime incited other than what the anime was strictly about. I consider it writing about being a fan of anime more than writing about anime.

No doubt, others more enlightened take on the Autumn 2007 Season…

• Roxas
• Mike and Ray
• Karura
• CCYoshi
• Martin
• Hige
• Xerox
• Owen

(I’ll update these to exact page links once they become active.)