Every so often an anime makes an unintendedly brilliant scene. It is one so perfectly drawn and executed that it could only be explained as a sheer accident. H2O’s appeared in episode 11.

We were not sure what was going on. It was slowly being revealed that the past may not have been what we thought. Takuma was as confused as we were, but he was quickly coming to the conclusions that we had already drawn within the preceding minutes.

Here, at this very moment, is when Takuma officially “snaps.” Notice, one need not actually be 100% crazy to be technically crazy.

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Yeah, I’m trying out this writing on screen caps thing to see how it goes. meh.

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.

“…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.

Part A: Impression

There are aspects of us that make us human. For that there is no doubt. Upon closer examination we see that our actions are rife with instinctive behavior. How much of what we do is guided by those actions is debatable, and how much that driving force we can consciously willfully deter is also debatable. One can make no argument that human beings are driven by forces other than conscious controllable thought. We have a heart; it beats whether we want it to or not.

We are simply and completely at the will of our memories. They haunt us and teach us about ourselves and those around us. To some the haunting fog of our past is a shadow cast upon it all. All the images and sounds of our history become a hazy dull coating on those irrepressible moments in time. Those key events that shaped the beings that we are today. They are uniquely us. They define us. They literally are us in the sense that we are more than a body. We are more than a beating heart.

We understand others only when we come to understand ourselves. It starts with the child who has no sense of others. It ends with the adult who by virtue of simply being human understands the concept inherent in the word, “other.” We are painfully aware that others don’t understand us. We are comically unaware that they actually do. In a paradox the scope that encompasses the entirety of humanity we see that it is actually easier to understand others than it is to understand ourselves. After all, our eyes can only see outward.

One could make a very good case that our being is simply the total sum of our memories. The lives lived are a combination of thoughts, events, and times intermingled with those of others. We share our memories. I’ll tell you a story. Once upon a time, I lived. (more…)

The following post first appeared on my old blog: Chibi no Nothing

A while back I wrote about how I wasn’t too pleased with the fact that Code Geass was going to be more than one season. Then briefly after Euphie became the Murder Princess I wavered in my opinion.

Then Euphie died. I returned to normal.

After watching episode 24 and 25 where are we? Do we know more about Lelouch? Not really. Lelouch’s motive and actions have not changed much over the course of the first season. Of course, one can always say that he has become a tad bit more evil. Let’s face it, Lelouch is a “bad guy.” It’s just that we have a natural tendency to side with the lesser of two evils, and Britannia just doesn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities aside from cute princesses who like to go on murderous geass infused rampages.

How about Suzaku? Sure he murdered his dad, but he seems to only really feel bad about it in conveniently short periods of crippling emotional turmoil.

To be fair, Lelouch and Suzaku do get some flashbacks of childhood moments.

How about C.C? C.C. is perfect, and I’ll kick anyone who says otherwise. Actually, C.C. seems to get a good dose of development. It’s all character development in the form of her personality. We get very little, if any, historical context. This is unlike the history we are show with Lelouch and Suzaku. We don’t know exactly what she is, where she has been, what she is doing, why she had green hair, what’s with the pizza, what is that thing she wears it looks like a straight-jacket, I used to have some of those trick hand-cuffs that magicians use, and–oh yeah–pepperonis is yummy.

What about everyone else? Not very much, that’s what. Code Geass is full of mostly static characters. That’s not to say that they are uninteresting or uni-dimensional. It’s saying that the story wasn’t a progression. It’s as if the pieces were set in place and the game started while we watched. There was little setup. We were only told what was needed in order for us to understand why the characters were acting a certain way. Also, it provided a means to understand what was guiding their actions. For me this creates a detachment between my feelings towards the characters and the plot they are embroiled in.

Perhaps that is what was intentionally the intention of the ones that intended to deny us an extension of emotional context for the characters. There is a big difference between seeing the emotional reaction of a character and understanding that reaction. It takes time for an audience to develop an intimacy with the characters. This is time the Code Geass has had and still has. That time that was had, has been wasted. Wasted on what? Explosions, that’s what.

I like explosions too, though.

Okay, I’d better stop it here. Let’s just say that I still think they could have wrapped it up in one season. Now, we all have to wait.

This type of waiting is like sitting in a dark room. The night sky, illuminated by the hollow moon. She sits across the expanse waiting for that sound. She is waiting for a message. Waiting for sweet words from that which she holds dear. The hours are upon her, but she dares not sleep. Wait. . .was that a ring.

[ see? What the hell is going on here? Damn cliffhangers!!!!! ]

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“grok” – google it.

edit: 12:21 – made some corrections, nothing special