Note on the poster. What Revy said, way back in Ep 3, about her childhood was: “ãŠã‚‚ã—ã‚ãã‚‚ã話ã 。” In a literal sense, “it’s not an interesting thing to talk about” but, in this context, she’s indicating she doesn’t want to talk about it. The Shinsen subtitle is just sooo brilliant though - official fansubs simply can’t cut to the chase like that.
And a meta note before the episode summary. I’ve tended to believe that one should learn Japanese to watch anime rather than the other way round. Learning Japanese from anime can ingrain bad habits, such as use of informal speech in formal contexts e.g. addressing your teacher as "kisama" or "omae". Much unnecessary social embarrassment can also result from, sometimes unconscious, emulation of favourite characters’ speech patterns e.g. speaking about yourself in the third person with “-chan” honorific.
Nonetheless, I’ve found watching raws to be a good test of listening comprehension. Besides trying to understand the gist of the conversation, I also try to remember how some of the kanji is written for those words that I already know the meaning of. For words I don’t understand, I try to tease out their phonetics correctly and then deduce their dictionary form. When the subs come out, I then can check my translation notes in the blog post. Most importantly, the raws are the proverbial kick up the arse every week - they remind me how poor my grasp of the language actually is and that I need to study the language harder. orz
Continue reading ‘Black Lagoon 15′
Congratulations to Alafista for winning the RIUVA Anime (de)Motivational Poster contest as well as to DarkMirage and Tsubaki for coming in second and third respectively. My vote went to mt-i’s entry. I hasten to add, before he posted his comment indicating that he had voted for my entry; simply loved the incongruity between the words and headline image.
Kudoes to tjhan for organizing this community-building event - I enjoyed so many of the other entries. In line with positive warmth, the headline image for this post is motivational rather than my usual sardonic / demotivational ones. Aside from the Belinda Carlisle reference, non-watchers of 2005’s best harem series SHUFFLE! might fairly ask what is the Shinkai? Literally the "world of gods" or less literally as "Heaven" and where a male to have more than one wife - the Shin King Eustoma himself has three. Though sometimes I wonder to myself if Kareha is just going after Rin so that she can be with Asa. :P
Becky’s Six get infected by the Peach Moon virus and are quarantined. The intrepid Miyamoto-sensei investigates possible infection from the neighbouring Class 1-D. Hilarity is supposed to ensue but what happens simply confirms, for me, how 1-C > 1-D.
Continue reading ‘Pani Poni Dash! 19′
Finally my last post in the Yuki-centric reblog of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I’ve done retro-blogging of anime series before but this is my first time blogging a series episode by episode not once but twice. X_X The previous post for this episode concentrated on Haruhi’s jealousy - actually upon reflection, this episode is about how Haruhi’s jealousy no longer endangers the fabric of reality. Although she’s still visibly annoyed by Mikuru’s sweetness towards Kyon and Kyon’s protectiveness towards Mikuru, she’s more or less learnt to take it in her stride and continue doing things her way. Anyhows, back to praising Yuki:
Continue reading ‘Someday in the Rain (Ep XIV)’
Hansel and Gretel switch Big Bro and Big Sis costumes and roles. OMGWTFLOLITRAP!? The first body count for the episode are some stray dogs (someone call the SPCA! LOL). I’m not familiar with the manga so I am glad that this series is being animated. There has been criticism that the girls are not drawn as beautifully as in the manga (but surely not as bad as in the Suzuka anime?) and that criticism probably valid.
Yet I do enjoy the anime very much due to the atmosphere it conveys through imagery and metaphor backed by great music. In the first season, I had expected merely a brainless babes and guns anime but it dwells, without pompousness or pretentiousness, on some serious themes - the grimness of a dog eat dog world, the fetid corruption of the human soul, how easy and casual violence becomes in the state of nature. The mix of children’s snacks and ammunition is both incongruously grotesque yet chillingly appropriate given the vampire twins’ modus operandi.
Continue reading ‘Black Lagoon 14′
