Mono no aware

I’ve not been exactly filled with an overwhelming urge to write anything lately. In all honesty I’ve not been watching much either. There’s something about the time of year that makes evenings slip past and leave me with no time to watch, read or write a thing before I have to get ready for the next day.

Maybe it’s a surprise that Kimi ni Todoke is one of the few shows I’m currently following: there isn’t much that’s compelling about it. It doesn’t scream “Watch me!” It’s shoujo, it’s derivative, it’s uneventful…the flipside being, it’s undemanding and easy to digest on a regular basis when my get-up-and-go has got up and left.

While it was relatively easy to whittle it down to fifty the individual order was a last-minute hurried effort so don’t read too far beyond the general place they have relative to the others. I know certain names are cropping up a lot but that’s more to do with my admiration for certain directors and writers than studios and genre boundaries.

I hope the short descriptions speak for themselves; the awesomeness of the titles themselves certainly ought to. Before the word count becomes too excessive then, here’s the final ‘cut’…

Belated Christmas greetings and all the best for 2010! Things have been quiet of late, but I loved what Gaguri did recently and really ought to reply to that and Sasa’s version. I hate to sound like an episode of Q.I. but the decade actually ends, strictly speaking, at the end of 2010. Not that it matters: I was worried about having actually watched enough to reach the Festive Fifty, but the reality turned into some tricky decision into what I had to leave out.

For the sake of simplicity the likes of Trapeze, Bakemonogatari, K-On!, Ergo Proxy, Mouryou no Hako, Texhnolyze, Shikabane Hime, Gurren Lagann, NieA_7, Detroit Metal City, Code Geass, Planetes and Beck didn’t make the list, as much as I like them. Some titles had to go, and “I haven’t finished it yet,” seemed to be a fair enough reason. On with 50-26.

As my old laptop undergoes a slow and inexorable descent into ruin (image a geriatric getting slower, creakier and clumsier with increasingly serious memory problems before the ever-nearing collapse) I’m finding less and less that’s in standard def and therefore playable. Not to mention playing catch-up on a lot of old shows and recent weeks being busy with Real Life things. My watchlist has grown shorter and things are settling down with plans for putting a new PC together in the next couple of months so I feel ready to watch more again. Recommendations here plz.

For those who are waiting for me to reply to their comments on recent posts I’ll get around to it as soon as I can, which will be…I’m not sure I’m afraid. I’m currently sitting half-drunk and shockingly jet-lagged in a Tokyo hostel’s internet lounge with a to-do list as long as my arm. Until my sleep patterns recover then, expect much quietness here in the meantime. I’ll hopefully be able to hop online and share some pics or give the occasional on-location update though since keeping in contact via e-mail makes more sense than sending poscards (which, after all, often take longer to get home than the sender does)…plus the fact that Tokyo is a mindblowing and extremely photogenic place. I can’t NOT share the weird and wonderful things I’ve seen so far, and no doubt there will be a lot more to come.

Sending the Holy Empire of Britannia’s finest: I feel sorry for those poor Elevens already

I don’t have many definite plans but the itinerary so far includes a bullet train trip to Osaka, the gardens of Kyoto, the temples of Asakusa (the area where we’re staying), the inevitable trips to Akihabara for shiny things and in all probability making an idiot of myself with my limited capabilities in being bilingual. Since this is my first proper trip abroad I’ve had to get things like a passport organised which has meant that after the plane tickets, accomodation and travellers’ cheques for food/drink/spending money, my credit card is maxed, the cash I’d saved up for this is all but wiped out and I’m left with a mixture of trepidation and “Hell yeah!” excitement.

I’ve been distracted lately. It’s great to be back in some sort of posting routine again but between visual novels (there are some books you just can’t put down, even in digital form) and overtime at work (I have to pay for my upcoming trip somehow) I’m not in any hurry to catch the latest slew of new shows. Besides, I’ve given Toradora! a second chance, I’m almost up to speed on Clannad: AS in pretty-shiny widescreen and Tytania is on course to bring itself back from the brink of droppage. It goes without saying that Xam’d: Lost Memories is still the highlight of my viewing week; it occupies the lazy sunday morning episode-over-breakfast slot that Macross Frontier used to occupy but for all its brilliance I can’t bring myself to blog about it. Its greatness just goes without saying right now.

We have all the time in the world…

Diversity is good though. My Jpop adventure continues and I’ll be indulging in some paper-format reading next week after finding a copy of Ryu Murakami’s Audition (yes, THAT Audition) in hardback at my local Waterstones. Will keep you posted but remember that a post happens when it happens. In the meantime I’ve been dying to say a bit more about Detroit Metal City but since the Triad seem to be otherwise preoccupied the latter episodes I’m left dangling a bit. Well, if I can Slow Blog what’s wrong with them Slow Subbing?