What are you Watching?

[greg]

Sword Art Online. What I find hilarious about this series so far is that when the game "reveals" everyone's "real-life" appearance, we find that half the people playing this MMO are actually stereotypical anime lolis and moe girls. As if! Clearly this show is not aiming to make any truthful commentary on real-life gamers.

Ha! Yeah, it's usually guys playing as loli/moe girl game characters.

[llj]

Finished Sword Art Online 1 and Kimi Ni Todoke.

Despite the completely laughable premise of so many gamers being good looking girls in real life (and decent looking guys as well...not a fat dude anywhere in this show), this was a really fun, action-packed serial with great cliffhangers at the end of nearly every episode--the kind of thing that we used to watch anime for. It's no Great Work of Art, but it's a lot more fun than gaming aspect would have you expect. The idea of MMOs being played through VR helmets has been an intriguing premise in science fiction for many years now, and the show gives you a peek at what life might be like for gamers in the future. I'm not sure I'd ever want to hook my brain up to an online game (essentially that's what it is) but I can DEFINITELY see a future where gamers are very willing to sacrifice their mental health in order to experience a virtual reality environment where you can fly, be an expert swordsman, cast magic, fight monsters, romance elven chicks and dudes, etc,. What makes Sword Art Online different is that it isn't really a cautionary tale, though. Despite the horrible possibility of being stuck in a coma while playing a VR video game, it doesn't really present this kind of future as either bad or good, but more as a matter of fact. It definitely extols the allure of VR MMO gaming and presents it as an agreeable past time for gamers in the future.

Kimi Ni Todoke was actually a pleasant time waster for the first season. I liked its sensitivity and general positive outlook on the innate goodness of most people. But the second season got really, really annoying. 90% of the second season is the characters second guessing themselves and not saying something that would have resolved many of their problems. It was basically about 10 episodes of this: "Did he really say he liked me? Or was he just saying that out of pity? And what does he mean by 'like'? Did he mean LIKE 'like' or just like as a friend? Naw, I'm just being a bother to him. *SOB*"

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! I hate that shit!

Plus, the two leads become hands down the dumbest characters in the show. I hate romances like that. At least this season was only about 12 episodes.

[greg]

MMORPGs have been around for a while. Ever since people began getting addicted to Everquest, they may as well have been in comas. A friend of mine dumped his friend because of that crap. "Hey, you wanna catch a movie tonight?" "Sorry, I promised this guy I'd meet up with him in WoW and exchange swords with him." I knew a guy who lost his wife to Everquest. She'd flown to Texas to have an affair with some guy and he divorced her. My brother-in-law hasn't had a job in close to 10 years while my sister supports him. He wastes every day while she has to wear the pants and carry the burden. Kids? Forget it. She already has one, albeit a 40-year-old kid. At least he quit smoking. "He just doesn't like working for 'the man.'" Well nobody does, but we do it anyway. It's called growing up and getting a job.

Sorry for the rant.

[llj]

No, I agree with you. It's probably done more social harm than good, and I have problems with entertainment that position themselves as being an "alternative" to real life rather than just being a hobby or pasttime. To be honest, I've never actually played an MMORPG because of the fees, which I find a waste of my money (I'd rather buy a game and own it, rather than buying a game AND paying fees on top of that). I know there are "free" ones as well, but they never really interested me, and they're more about grinding for items and experience anyway.

[greg]

In a conversation with my sister years ago, she was surprised that I had zero interest in WoW. "Oh, we play it all the time." She was telling me how her WoW character catches fish and sells them to people. I was like, "Oh my. You can do that. That's... interesting." I couldn't believe how enthusiastic she was about mundane stuff like that, as if that counts as being "immersive." I'd bought her Tales of Phantasia for the GBA, but I bet she never bothered playing it.

[SteveH]

Gundam Build Fighters Try episode 16

AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH OMFG I WANT TO MAKE BABIES WITH THIS SHOW!!!

See, a guy decided to take the Gundam ZZ and make a SUPER COMBINING ROBOT out of it for the contest! I mean 'lion head on the chest bright primary colors and transforming/combining' Super Robot.

It's a thing of beauty, because it's still the Gundam Double Zeta.

If Bandai kits this thing it's mine. I'll build the F**K out of that kit.

And what's even more hilarious to me, the entire stadium of hard core Gunpla fanatics, all the teams, they're just completely mind-f**ked by this. Just flabbergasted speechless. THEN they say "yeah, OK, YEAH, SURE, WHY NOT?" and it's the true Spirit of Gunpla (tm), "making it your own".

Makes me want to just rock back and forth while I hug myself giggling.

[greg]

AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH OMFG I WANT TO MAKE BABIES WITH THIS SHOW!!!

HA! You cracked me up with this. I still have the first season to get through. I actually watched an episode a weekend or so ago. That robot you're describing sounds pretty awesome though. I am pretty sure they will make a kit of it. I'm nearly tempted to get the Powered GM Cardigan because it's so over-the-top like those Thunderbolt designs are. What's interesting about the ZZ is that it goes into the super combining robot genre for the first time with Gundam. Growing up with Voltron, I've always had a soft spot for that sort of thing.

As for myself, I watched another episode of Lodoss War TV before bed last night. I haven't been watching it since my winter break. I haven't been in the mood to watch much anime on my own lately, aside from an occasional GS Mikami episode with my daughter.

[SteveH]

I'll point out the Super Robot roots of Original Gundam, with the Core Fighter, A and B parts, the GunPerry to haul it around, the 'power up' of the G Armor (and it's different combinations) and the 'monster of the week' aspect of the various Jion MS.

The 'Tryon 3' uses the same combo and change as the 'parent' MS, Gundam ZZ. There looks to be a little of the 'magic 'cause you can't really do that in real life' in the transformation but that might turn into a parts swap in a kit version.

No sign of a kit yet, while one of the new rivals suit, based on some Gundam 00 design I guess, has a kit on the way.

I think next years Gunpla World Cup contest is going to go completely wild because of this.

[greg]

I'll point out the Super Robot roots of Original Gundam, with the Core Fighter, A and B parts, the GunPerry to haul it around, the 'power up' of the G Armor (and it's different combinations) and the 'monster of the week' aspect of the various Jion MS.

Oh yeah, duh! I forgot about that. I've seen the whole first show, but I guess the movie versions stick out in my mind more because that's how I first saw MS Gundam.

So this morning before work/school, I put on Keroro Gunsou season 2, episode 6. Holy crap, I was laughing out loud! There's some spoon that made them giant once they touch it. They spoof the Ultraman zoom-in as they grew. A squid accidentally touches the spoon, and it grows big. Then a crab, and it looks suspiciously like a Baltan Seijin when it grows. Then later it's a turtle. They battle it out, kaiju-style. Hee-frickin-larious. Dororo wanted to touch the spoon to get big too, but it had ran out of battery power. There is also a recurring enemy that is a spoof on Space Cobra: he wears a red jumpsuit, has a psycho gun, and has a snake head. Instead of "Cobra," his name is Viper. He also made an appearance in this episode. Great fun.

[greg]

The Meitantei Conan meets Lupin the 3rd movie was on TV Friday night. We DVR'ed it and watched it Saturday during lunch. I couldn't really follow it well and ended up falling asleep for a bit. The ending didn't make sense. Something about a magic ring that affects electrical circuits. I couldn't understand what the motive of the badguys were. It was a bit strange seeing two completely different art styles between the subtle Lupin-style characters and the extremely sylized Conan characters in the same show.

There's a scene where some singer guy somehow manages to sit upon the external precipice of Tokyo Sky Tree to sulk. I kept thinking that I couldn't even crawl to look over the edge of that, I'd be so stricken with fright. I also kept thinking that the slightest gust of wind at that altitude would send him flying off. This actually happens, and Conan and Jigen manage to save him.