EPT
That's okay though because I get to do plenty of cool things too like watching R rated movies and MA rated tv shows. I've started watching a lot of them recently. So many. Too many to count. Shortly before vacation started I began watching the anime Steins;Gate. I'd seen one or two clips of it and have seen it mentioned here and there in the past few years but never paid any real mind to it.
As a side note, I don't really like to mention anything that could remotely be considered a spoiler like saying there's a twist or if something is good. That's why I'm going to spoiler a lot.
+ Show Spoiler +
When I started watching I was completely drawn in. The main character's eccentricity and hilariously witty and outdated over-the-top dialogue, the humor, the originality of the characters, the adorableness of mayuri's lines, and their chemistry caught my full attention. The series had fantastic writing all around.
I watched the English dub and usually people consider them inferior to the subs, but I come across dubs occasionally that have really well suited voices that I can't imagine the characters having otherwise. For steins;gate the voices were perfect and inflection pretty well done. There was also a unique obstacle though. There were a lot of specific Japanese internet culture references that a western audience would never get. The writers worked around the problem by putting in American internet culture references instead. I was completely caught off guard by the really outdated the cake is a lie reference. It was all so amusing.
Then the big twist happened that didn't let me stop watching. I was only stopped by the fact I had already been up nearly 18 hours. When I went to try to sleep that night all I could think about was waking up to finish the rest of the series.
Damn, that series was good, and I am a sucker for romantic sub plots which made it all the more emotionally wrenching. I spent a good two weeks in a post Steins;Gate depression knowing I would never come across an anime as enthralling or evoke as much of an emotional response from me. I even bought the visual novel and I tried following the show's storyline which involved letting Suzuha not go into her time machine, but damn it, I got the ambiguous ending.
Just writing about it brings me back and makes me want to experience it all again. Sigh. So good, a freaking masterpiece, the best! It's so good.
Now that I've finished writing about steins gate I feel swept with sadness and apathy. Nothing to do anymore.
I watched the English dub and usually people consider them inferior to the subs, but I come across dubs occasionally that have really well suited voices that I can't imagine the characters having otherwise. For steins;gate the voices were perfect and inflection pretty well done. There was also a unique obstacle though. There were a lot of specific Japanese internet culture references that a western audience would never get. The writers worked around the problem by putting in American internet culture references instead. I was completely caught off guard by the really outdated the cake is a lie reference. It was all so amusing.
Then the big twist happened that didn't let me stop watching. I was only stopped by the fact I had already been up nearly 18 hours. When I went to try to sleep that night all I could think about was waking up to finish the rest of the series.
Damn, that series was good, and I am a sucker for romantic sub plots which made it all the more emotionally wrenching. I spent a good two weeks in a post Steins;Gate depression knowing I would never come across an anime as enthralling or evoke as much of an emotional response from me. I even bought the visual novel and I tried following the show's storyline which involved letting Suzuha not go into her time machine, but damn it, I got the ambiguous ending.
Just writing about it brings me back and makes me want to experience it all again. Sigh. So good, a freaking masterpiece, the best! It's so good.
Now that I've finished writing about steins gate I feel swept with sadness and apathy. Nothing to do anymore.
I started picking up more anime which I didn't really watch before. A part of the industry I appreciate are the imaginative premises of the stories and genres outside of just adult comedies that you see in the United States.
+ Show Spoiler +
I remember finishing up Serial Experiments Lain. That show was creepy and definitely one you have to watch over a bit and think about to understand what you just saw.
i don't really have the patience to write all of my thoughts on the anime I've watched just because I don't really have the energy and because steins gate is the number one for me. So here's a lazy list and maybe some comments:
My Future Diary (I felt captivated the first 5 episodes but then my interest waned)
Psycho Pass(spooky)
Deadman Wonderland
A Silent Voice ( I watched this recently. Relatable, fantastic, everything I could ever dream of in a romantic teen anime drama)
Bleach ( Just a bit)
Boruto (I never came near to finishing the predecessor, Naruto Shippuden. It seems ok. Lack of ramen.)
Death Note (This anime was definitely the steins gate for me before steins gate. I lost interest 3 years ago when the first antagonist was killed off. So cruel but I watched the second and last arc)
i don't really have the patience to write all of my thoughts on the anime I've watched just because I don't really have the energy and because steins gate is the number one for me. So here's a lazy list and maybe some comments:
My Future Diary (I felt captivated the first 5 episodes but then my interest waned)
Psycho Pass(spooky)
Deadman Wonderland
A Silent Voice ( I watched this recently. Relatable, fantastic, everything I could ever dream of in a romantic teen anime drama)
Bleach ( Just a bit)
Boruto (I never came near to finishing the predecessor, Naruto Shippuden. It seems ok. Lack of ramen.)
Death Note (This anime was definitely the steins gate for me before steins gate. I lost interest 3 years ago when the first antagonist was killed off. So cruel but I watched the second and last arc)
Apart from the list I've probably dipped into watching a few handful of other anime shows that don't come to mind atm.
I've also watched two adult sitcoms, Louie by Louis C.K. And It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. These two shows are really well written, absolute comedy gold. Louie is so incredibly realistic, exaggerated but in like a really mundane, blunt way. It's a great commentary on the passing ridiculousness of everyday life, the inconsiderate people, the staleness of life. The awkward humor is the best and is relatable. IASIP is fantastic. The gang never ceases to amaze on how low they can go. TV-MA shows are great.
The most unusual films I've been watching are Harmony Korine's films where he served as writer and/or director. He's in the independent filmmaking and art scene of films. The first one I watched was Ken Park after seeing a clip of it from someone who showed it to me. + Show Spoiler +
Violence, explicit sex, vulgarity, and much more disturbing things opened up the floodgates. I'd never come across a film that was such an assault on what was left of my innocence. Rough.
Harmony Korine's films have such a luminous, awe-inspiring, and silent beauty. I'm not sure if I really mean that. His films definitely have a polarizing quality to the mainstream.
Other than the usual film watching spree, if you've read any of my past blogs you can guess I have to put something StarCraft related in here.
Playing StarCraft competitively is hard. You have to have a high level of mental acuity, endurance, motivation, and discipline, none of which I have which is why I suck abominably. At some point I participated in almost every opportunity to compete in tournaments and money matches. My total earnings amount to roughly 15 dollars. Yes.
I felt good at some point like I was just so close to breaking into being a top foreigner, but that's kind of laughable because of how small the scene is. I remember getting beat by Bonyth, who's like really really good but not super good, so bad so many times in a row. I had so much to learn.
Unfortunately, at some point my disastrous lifestyle started taking its toll on me. Being sedentary and having a mediocre diet left me feeling perpetually tired. At some point my skill level dropped drastically and my quick wit was falling to the wayside. My mouse felt heavier than usual and I could play less games. Needless to say I was a bit discouraged.
The scene had an upstart of competition again the past two days after a month long drought. I started noting more carefully how I react to competition. In tournaments my mental strength lasts maybe two, maybe 3 bo3 series. There are also times where my heart beats like crazy and I can't stop myself from getting nervous. My arms get all shaky and in the middle of decisive engagements I start remembering all of the traumatic embarrassing moments of my life. Then there are times where I'm in "The Zone" where my nervousness only slightly peeks through but I keep my cool for the most part.
I put some pressure on myself to succeed but overall I've been thinking how kind of pointless it is because if I'm doing it for the money there are a billion better avenues for it that I should at that point be playing just for fun.
What can I say? I don't think I handle competition well that much and it is freaking exhausting to try to outdo an opponent that is actively working against you at every second. Ramp it up with what's at stake ($50?) and I'm a hot mess.
+ Show Spoiler +
Well, that's pretty much it for the blog. Wait. With my last ounce of strength I must talk about my recent experience of playing Katawa Shoujo, which translates to Cripple Girls. It's a visual novel set in Napan where you play some protagonist who has heart problems that cause him to get sent to a school for kids with disabilities. There you develop relationships with the various students as the protagonist deals with his issues of identity and acclimating to his new life. You go down the "path" of one of five girls, each with their own unique disability and personality as you seek to further your relationship with them!
I was really intrigued by the game once I heard of the unique nature of the game's development. A dedicated, international group of people from 4-Chan, a really questionable place, came together to create this fully fleshed out game. This was my second visual novel after steins gate and the game is opposite of what you'd expect from a place like 4-chan - High quality, polished, well written, tasteful, respectful of the disabilities portrayed, and emotionally gut wrenching. And it's all for free. A production nearly 5 years in the making and I was astonished. Well done.
I was really intrigued by the game once I heard of the unique nature of the game's development. A dedicated, international group of people from 4-Chan, a really questionable place, came together to create this fully fleshed out game. This was my second visual novel after steins gate and the game is opposite of what you'd expect from a place like 4-chan - High quality, polished, well written, tasteful, respectful of the disabilities portrayed, and emotionally gut wrenching. And it's all for free. A production nearly 5 years in the making and I was astonished. Well done.
Life is good.
