The last episode of the season was the best yet. They went all out with this one. It’s pure Hayate no Gotoku~ishness straight through to the end.

An OCD thing:

Every time I see one of those still image pans in an anime I have an urge to put it back together. At any rate, I put these two images back together after watching the show. Keep in mind that the quality of the image is only as good as the source, which wasn’t too bad.

Click on the images for the larger version.

Episode 37 finds Nagi discovering that Hayate prefers “normal” girls. In a bold move to be more appealing to her combat butler Nagi ventures off to discover how to master being normal.

Hilarity ensues.

Yeah, normal people, why do you always have to flaunt your normalcy? You and your, “Ohh, look at me. I’m so normal. Neh-neh-neh.”

I’ve written about being normal before. Although, overall that post was mostly a commentary on otaku collection habits.

To quote myself:

It is the relativity of the social construct that is normalcy that makes using it as a measure of worth a double-edged sword. These ideas have lead to disputes among social groups, friends, family, neighbors, religions, nations, and pretty much every division humanity has placed unto itself. Our disputes, many times, are grounded in divergent ideals. Your normal is not someone else’s normal.

Everyone has to stop and wonder about their place in the world, if only for a scant few seconds. For many it is a simple thought game, but for others it defines their beings. Some of us may question our goals and the path that we have taken. Where am I going? What will I do when I get there? These are questions raised without answers given most of the time.

I’m not one to say that everyone is the same because there are major differences between peoples. The fact still remains that one cannot deny people are largely more alike than they are different. We may have differing cultural identities, but we are all the same species. That alone makes all of us more similar than different.

That is unless one where to take themselves as some type of evolutionary disparity. This would more likely make you insane that evolved. Oddly, that would make you different or not normal from the perspective of the sane. Yet, you would be complete normal with regard to the insane.

Humans exist within a world of dualities. We are alike and different at the same time. It’s all a matter of perspective. As a matter of worth it seems that most people tend to aim for their idea of normal rather than super-normal or some exceedingly grand ideal.

So, next time some one implies that you are “normal,” just say damn-straight!

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edit: oops, misspelled “introspection” in the title originally. Although, you have to admit that “instrospection” sounds like a pretty cool word.

One of the prevailing elements of the Fuko arc was the thought of being forgotten. The simple thought of other’s memories of one’s self being left behind in the flow of time and events is an issue that everyone deals with. Some people simply do not care of their legacy while others devote their entire lives to its pursuit. I don’t believe that the “message” of the first nine episodes of Clannad were about being forgotten, but I do think it was a major factor in the overall conveyance.

Many recognized the undertones of friendship and family in the story. In particular, the differences between Tomoya and Nagisa’s home lives. The difference was that of a dysfunctional incomplete family versus a complete and happy one. The disconnect between the two polar opposites was not played upon in the story because the story wasn’t about family alone. Obviously, these elements have future roles to play. I point these out here because family and friends are, most often, the only people who care to carry our memories.

Naturally, this being the Fuko arc means we spent most of the time with the opportunity to examine Fuko herself. Going back to my original comment about one’s legacy, we see what Fuko was doing was totally altruistic. She has no idea when or if she will ever awaken; yet, she devotes her time to her sister’s happiness. One could go over the reasoning or her motivation without much enlightenment. The simply fact is that her goal was singularly focused on the wedding and nothing more.

Fuko didn’t seem to care about much else other than the wedding (…and cute things). Although, the final episode of her arc did show that she cared about the futures of the friends she had made. The fact that memories of her existed after she had gone was the key point for me.

I don’t care if I ever appear in a history book. It doesn’t matter to me much if I have a footnote in a paper somewhere or if I get a section in an encyclopedia. What does it matter? One can make a strong argument that we are the summation of our memories. More than that, our existence is only realized when we are the memories of others, living within others.

My name in a book, written as a story, read by no one, doesn’t matter. Whether we are famous or infamous our existence is bound to be forgotten. Forgotten by the masses of people on this world who never knew us or wanted to know us, save for a few people who were put upon this earth with you. Save for that small group who actually knew you because they had to know you. If life’s one saving grace was that at least someone remembered us for a little while, I don’t think that would be so bad.

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I can think of 37.5 naughty things I would do if I were an astral projection. The plot would follow an exponential curve getting progressively naughtier from 1 to 37. The last 0.5 is pretty much an asymptotic naughtiness bound by infinity.

I’ve been watching UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie 3 (ADV release). This show gets a lot of flack for being pretty much the same thing as the other installments with little real substance added. There is a point to be made here. That’s three incarnations of this show and there just isn’t anything new.

This actually comes down to a simple issue of viewer awareness, as in the viewers not being aware that the show isn’t supposed to have substance. It is supposed to be a comedy. The only thing that actually passes for a plot is the relationship between Valkyrie and Kazuto. Let’s face it, that is the least interesting part of this show.

Things more interesting than Valkyrie + Kazuto:

1. Valkyrie’s Hat - That hat is freak’n cool
2. Hydra - because Hydra is freak’n awesome
3. This blog post
4. Spottenheim
5. The image print on the front of the DVD.
6. The back of the DVD.

I can’t say it really bothers me. I like the show. Although, Valkyrie irritates me a bit. If they were trying to make her character seem annoying then they did a really good job.

I’m voting Sanada as best catgirl maid ever. Until I finish the third installment of Valkyrie at which point I will probably forget all about her, but for the time being the title holds.

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I was trying to think of a really good poetic line to start this post. The only thing I could come up with was, “The world is an oyster.” I find this strange because the closest thing to an oyster I’ve ever eaten was clam chowder. It was none too pleasing either. I’m not much of a seafood person to tell you the truth.

Except for fish sticks. I love me some fish sticks.

“…crying school girls…” - check!

It’s rather embarrassing that I would do a mid-season review of some of the shows I’m watching and coincidentally not watch episode eight of Myself; Yourself. This episode turned out to not only be a very good episode but also a turning point in the story.

Many of the other bloggers who did Fall ‘07 reviews mentioned the necessity to not rush one’s judgment based on superficial content. Something I don’t recall being mentioned was the intentional way a story is structured to put all of the really good stuff at the end, near the climax. It seems evident that Myself; Yourself will not have multiple story arcs (or subplots apparently). Those facts initially lead me to expect something “big” towards the end of the series. This is fairly standard stuff. For the most part I still expect a quick climax and conclusion.

I think the key point here is Nanaka. Naturally, with all the buildup around her character, I’m enticed to discover what it is that caused her so much pain. Nanaka’s emotional outburst added the emotional charge that this show needed. It was all about our expectations. We knew that she was suppressing her feeling, and we could tell that those emotions would burst forth eventually.

Watching it finally happen is a release for the audience as much as it is for her character. It should have happened earlier. Although, then we wouldn’t have been treated to a moody evasive Nanaka. Honestly, do we not all like moody evasive Nanaka.

I was expecting a gradual escalation of the story line and was totally unprepared for a transient point in the series where the story would get even “better.” Silly me, it looks like that’s exactly what happened.

On another note, Aoi’s tendency to jump to conclusions makes me think she has a dirty mind.