Mike’s Winter 2008 Birthday Roundup: the Threes
Posted by Mike on 30 Jan 2008 at 12:18 am | Tagged as: Clannad, Persona-Trinity Soul, Rosario + Vampire, Spice and Wolf, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei
Because I don’t have time to write full entries tonight and because as of this posting, it’s also my birthday. Whee! Let’s celebrate with some brief thoughts on Rosario + Vampire, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Persona: Trinity Soul, Clannad 15, and Spice and Wolf thus far.
Clannad 13-14: A Theory of Expectations
Posted by Mike on 18 Jan 2008 at 11:12 pm | Tagged as: 2008 Q1--Winter, Clannad
Is it a bad sign when the end of the Kotomi arc reminds me, more than anything else, of the episode of The Simpsons that ripped off Citizen Kane? Not exactly. But there were certain ways in which this ending was less satisfying than it could have been, especially given the good buildup we got. (Be warned that this entire review is essentially a spoiler.)
Oh, so THAT’S where Key gets their ideas: “The Dandelion Girl”
Posted by Mike on 22 Dec 2007 at 8:24 pm | Tagged as: Clannad
Thanks to Kurogane, I discovered that one of the puzzling lines Kotomi utters (”the day before yesterday, I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you.”) in the past couple of episodes of Clannad actually comes from a short story by Robert F. Young called “The Dandelion Girl.” (Full text of the story here.) It was a science-fiction short story written in 1961, and published in the Saturday Evening Post. The author apparently wrote for both that publication and also for America’s premiere “soft” science fiction and fantasy magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF). I remember longing to have one of my own short stories published in that prestigious journal. I’m impressed some writer at Key knows his literary SF.
I encourage you to read that story. It’s not only well-written, it is also quite moving. In fact, it’s like a Key story in many ways, involving time travel, unrecognized love, and a despondent man who discovers something about life that he’s forgotten. The Japanese, according to the Hayakawa SF poll, seem to have a particular affection for this story, so I suppose it’s no surprise that tales of this kind show up in Key productions and even in RahXephon.
Since we’re now talking about literary science fiction, you know what I’d love to see? An anime adaptation of Flowers for Algernon. They could make Algernon really cute, shoot all of Charlie’s scenes from subjective shot angles like in ef, and make the love story contained in it real tragic. SHAFT should do it. Damn right.
Clannad 10-12: Antisocial is the New Moe
Posted by Mike on 21 Dec 2007 at 10:54 pm | Tagged as: Clannad
This is strange. Why do I already feel, in just three episodes, that when the Plight Turn occurs for Kotomi–it more or less works? Is it because I find Kotomi a lot less annoying than Fuko was at first? Do I just have a moe fetish for antisocial genius girls who can’t play violin?
12 Days, 12 Moments: Day 7–The Starfish of Triumph
Posted by Mike on 20 Dec 2007 at 4:29 pm | Tagged as: Anime Blog Collective, Clannad
I return today to talking from films to TV shows for this installment of 12 Days, 12 Moments–and about the most popular show on the blogosphere, too. The end of the Fuko arc in Clannad marks, in my view, the maturation of Key as storytellers, where they at last succeeded in finding the right balance between sentiment and restraint and earning the emotions of its characters.
Clannad 9–Did I Cry?
Posted by Mike on 30 Nov 2007 at 11:26 pm | Tagged as: Clannad
No. But that doesn’t stop this from being the most heartfelt, genuine, and overall best Key plotline ever. Here’s why.
Clannad 7-8: The End of Memory
Posted by Mike on 24 Nov 2007 at 10:26 am | Tagged as: Clannad
I can’t help it. The Fuko arc really does work after all, in spite of itself. Maybe the reason why the arc is so long is because it needed that time to settle in the viewer’s mind, but there’s something primal and powerful about where this story is headed that I can’t help but be touched by.
Clannad 5-6: Are You My Lucky Star?
Posted by Mike on 15 Nov 2007 at 10:08 pm | Tagged as: Clannad
The Fuko arc kicks into full gear, and the result is something that feels, well, much more like previous Key productions and less like the refreshingly different feel of the earlier ones focusing on Nagisa. Key has always been sentimental, but I think this arc feels a bit excessively so, to the point where I felt a bit emotionally detached the whole time.
The entire review presumes that you know what Fuko’s true condition is. It should thus be considered a spoiler in its entirety.
Clannad 4–Tomoya’s Lucky Star
Posted by Mike on 29 Oct 2007 at 11:31 pm | Tagged as: Clannad
Lucky because he almost got to orchestrate a yuri scene? Well, not really. Plus, I feel like I’ve seen the plot twist that happens at the end before in Kanon. But heck, this one had some good jokes and the best almost-yuri scene of the season.
Clannad 3–A Little Step Back
Posted by Mike on 26 Oct 2007 at 12:28 am | Tagged as: Clannad
I remember I was gushing over episode 2, probably more for personal reasons than for genuine artistic ones (though I do think this is the strongest start to a Key show ever), and so it was just a little disappointing to see it slip back into a more “typical” kind of mode with this episode. Of course, it’s way too early to prejudge anything–dang it, I learned that lesson by now!–but this episode more than the previous ones felt more like a collection of loosely connected vignettes rather than a more cohesive story that was pulling forward in a certain direction.
On the other hand, it was also genuinely funny.
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