Mono no aware

The idea of taking on an online persona to escape the pressures of Real Life is hardly a new one. I found the effects of teen angst in the Internet Age in All About Lily Chou-Chou to be both effective and deeply moving, despite cultural barriers between me and foreigners a decade younger than I am. Taking this angle and running with it, Hiroshi Ishizaki’s light novel Chain Mail examines how the isolation and pressure of adolescence draws four total strangers together with fascinating results.

If you’re reading this blog at all you ought to be able to understand where Chain Mail is coming from with this. After finding it tucked away virtually unseen in the manga section of my local Waterstone’s and buying on impulse, I suspect the only people I know who’d appreciate its innovative ‘multiple viewpoint’ storytelling as I did are those I converse with online. The ‘net and the artificial realities it provides attract us all for very personal reasons but the overall promises of diversion and communication are the same.

A while ago I asked my readers for some recommendations and you wonderful people obliged. One of the titles that cropped up more than once was Hataraki Man and since it had been on my to-watch list since forever I tracked down the full series. And marathoned it. Cheers folks.

I can see why it’s one of those sleeper hits because of its realistic setting, live-action feel and they way it appeals to the josei or seinen demographics, without limiting itself to either piegeonhole. As I said in my previous post a healthy slab of realism is a good thing, and Noitamin A has a history of being a good place to find it. This title also goes even further than the pleasant surprises of Clannad ~after story~ and Solanin in breaking through the glass ceiling of portraying life after high school. Win.

I was intrigued by Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 because of the Noitamin A timeslot (which has so far also yielded Higashi no Eden, Hataraki Man and Moyashimon) but also because of the promise to portray the events of an earthquake in as realistic a manner as possible. I’m guessing that animation, rather than live-ation, was the most efficient medium to go about this project for budgetry constraints; in terms of character designs and fluidity of animation I wouldn’t say it goes out of its way to dazzle the viewer though. It’s in Bones’ typical MO however: not necessarily groundbreaking but reassuringly solid and consistent.

The visuals do at least show how the events would look without overdramatising things, which is a particular benefit for those of us who have never actually witnessed a major earthquake for ourselves. I have to say there are some nailbiting moments here, mainly because the order of the day is preventing the drama being at the expense of being true-to-life. In the posts I’ve read so far it’s surprising how so many bloggers have found more to say on the drama side of things rather than the documentary aspect…and I can see why.

White Album was pretty much the first of the new season’s shows to be subbed which is part of the reason why I think it caused such a ruckus: the first over the parapet drawing most of the fire and all that. Admittedly it’s an unusual series that has a style you’ll either love or hate, so I’m not overly surprised that reviews have been mixed. I waited a while before sampling the first three or so episodes for myself though because while one post is an honest opinion, a whole slew of them on a bloated feedreader makes for an offputting wave of negativity. Of course, when something divides opinion at all it has to be doing something right, y’know?

Star-crossed lovers in more ways than one

I’m not going quite as far as 21stDigitalBoy’s wonderful gasp of nonstop Directorgasm but the guy has a point. So too does Michael over at Low on Hit Points in praising its restraint and subtlety. The old argument of “what’s so special about normal people doing normal things?” rears its head again because it’s another slice of life effort; anime bloggers can never seem to agree to disagree on that issue so for this show I’m hoping we’ll be able to fail to understand one another in peace this time. Granted, White Album does take a little while to slip into its groove and there are one or two unfortunate elements resulting from its visual novel origins (cue epic sigh of exasperation at that old chestnut too) but the fact that it has that subtlety, restraint and maturity is why I’m so (cautiously) optimistic for it.