No, this isn’t one of those, “and it was awesome” post. It is one of those, “I thought I finished it seven years ago” post.

So, I’m sitting in my living room all cozy and whatnot due to the relinquishing of the ambient temperature during the season Winter, henceforth known as coldy-time. It being Sunday; me having completed my usual Sunday jog. I was settling into a nice morning of watching television. It occurred to me that I had plenty of time to finish the Last Exile re-watch project that I had started several days prior.

Sometime during the re-watching of Last Exile, it occurred to me that I was not quite recalling the events of said series. As the episodes progressed, I found that I was recalling less and less about the story. Until the point that I could not foretell anything that was going to occur in the final episodes leading to the climax of the story. This troubled me.

By story’s end, I had come to the complete realization that I had never fully watched the show. My re-watch project was a re-watch not. It was a watch project; yet, I was unaware until the very end.

Who knows how many more years I would have gone without knowing this, if not for the happenstance of wanting to watch it again.

Also, Al’s hair thingies are awesome.

People have the ability to hold contradictory information or ideas in their minds. If the person is unwilling or unable to resolve the conflict, this causes a problem. Our logical minds like things to be logically connected (premise + premise = conclusion, cause = effect, given A and B then C, etc.).  That state of mind that people get from holding ideas that don’t mesh is known as cognitive dissonance.

There are several means of dealing with cognitive dissonance. One could resolve the conflict. Resolution can be difficult because it may entail coming to terms with truths that conflict with other ideas, resulting in more dissonance. Too often, the easier route is to change one’s world view to accept the contradiction, resolving the conflict. It’s easier that it would seem.

Case in point: Kirino. Kirino is a pedo. This doesn’t mean that she is going to go out and attack children. Though, strictly by the book, she skirts the definition a little. Let’s just put it this way, she wants a little sister to do naughty things with.

Or maybe not. It may be that she wants to be the little sister.

The artist captured the “perv” quite nicely in this above image. Notice, even the hairpin cannot cover the abundance of depravity.

We all know by now that, when it comes to anime, the brother-sister relationship can cross a line that is all too solidly defined in modern societies. Of course, most of the time, we have to qualify it with some notion of  disjunct relation (eg not by blood). Yet, a blood relationship hasn’t stopped some anime from taking that path. A couple of notable examples are Koi Kaze and Angel Sanctuary.

Incest, in various forms, is a long running theme in the anime subculture.  Its prominence and necessity for story telling are debatable. For a story such as Angel Sanctuary, it seems to be a superfluous addition. That is in the sense that a plot where lovers are caught up in the dealings of heaven and hell does not need the addition of incest. However, almost everyone who has watched Angel Sanctuary recalls the incest plot over the other parts of the story, mostly because that is what the anime fixated on.

Kio Kaze is the total opposite. Its plot demands the inappropriate relationship because the main character, Koshiro Saeki, is a fool. The plot centers around rejection and grasping at anything that will offer love or affection. The differences between the emotional capabilities of an immature adult and a young women presented as being virtually the same are a core concept of the story. Add to that the want of the main character for affection, to the point of ignoring social programming, makes the use of incest an effective plot device.

Given all that, I’m surprised that the inappropriate feelings scale hasn’t tipped in Ore no Imouto, yet.

On another note, I feel sorry for miss-unrequited-love best friend.  She’s destine to lose out in the end.  I choose to blame that entirely on her shameful lack of hair accessories.

Let us get this out of the way first: MM! is all about a girl that goes Ultimate Fighter on a boy who happens to become sexually aroused by being beaten by girls.

…and it’s pure awesome.

Violent female protagonist are nothing new to anime. For that matter, the basic concept of this show isn’t much different from something along the lines of Zero no Tsukaima,  Toradora!, Hayate no Gotoku!, or any other anime with a short long-haired innocent-looking female lead. It is, in fact, so common that it isn’t even that much of a novelty anymore. It’s almost expected. It isn’t even considered a personality defect.

It’s all great stuff.

I personally think that the form anime takes is a reflection of the collective consciousness of its fans. It is a result of the feedback loop of merchandise and viewership along with fandom on the Internet, resulting in the production of anime that best fits what fans want to watch.  On the one hand, we have shows like Bleach, which prove that a significant block of anime fans are mindless teenagers with no taste. On the other hand, we have the fact that Bleach is a pile of crap. Seriously, why haven’t people realized this yet.  On another hand (we have lots of hands), we have shows like MM! that indicate many anime fans want to be beaten by little girls.

It’s all very straightforward, actually.

Also, I’m diggin’ that bunny-ears hair band.

I know it is a little late to make my Best Show Ever post, but it could not be helped. I wasn’t planning on making a best show ever post for this season. After last season’s Best Show Ever failed to live up to expectations.

As mentioned, in my last BSE post, I usually like to pick the shows early. Due to my last pick, I was feeling a bit disheartened. It wasn’t that B Gata H Kei was a bad show. On the contrary, it was funny and original. The problem was that it finished poorly and wasn’t very re-watchable. Basically, I should have gone with Angle Beats.

This season’s Best Show Ever goes to Seitokai Yakuindomo.

There are many reasons that this show deserves the award. I could point out the generally good animation. I could mention that the show’s warped sense of humor is original for the atmosphere. Bondage Teddy Bear, perhaps? Horny little sisters? Horny student council members? Well, horny everybody.

I could even say it was my favorite character, Hata.

But…I think, it’s Hata’s hairpin that did it.