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Let's Catch Up!
Maybe I owe you all an apology, Sorry I haven't had anything new for you in a while. It's not that I haven't been writing and note-taking, because I have, I've just had no finished product yet. There are a few reasons for this.
First of all, I've moved! I was living in a rural west Texas town, and ~400 miles later, I'm in San Antonio. Obviously, this has changed a lot for me; my living situation is completely different, my financial standing is up in the air, and I'm still trying to figure out a daily routine. This is NOT a bad move however, and I foresee myself being a lot happier here.
As you all probably know, I'm a part of The Fence, a twitch channel with a very connected community. More than just being a part of it, I am a moderator of the expanded community. Here's the secondly: lately, we've had more than our fair share of things to be addressed, and it's been emotionally taxing. Again, not a bad thing -- I want to put a lot into this because of all I get out of it, but this was another element of my daily life that I saw change in.
There's also the issue of my topic for writing. If you follow me on Twitter (which I recommend for those who want to keep up to date and out of the dark), you know that my post for this past month was to be on the anime Katanagatari. If you still haven't seen this series, I recommend it, because this will still be a series that I cover in the near future.
There's the problem, I've questioned this decision. It seems like nobody has seen this series, and since I've done an alienating anime piece recently, I've wondered if it's too soon to do another one. For a brief moment, I had decided to [temporarily] abandon the idea, and to cover "The Laughing Scene" from Final Fantasy X. Long story short, I changed my mind again, and made some headway with the Katanagatari piece. It's not done yet, but I plan to have it be my next piece.
Okay, so there's two more things I want to get out there:
1. What have I been doing?
2. What can you, the readers, expect in the future from XPOJ
What Have I Been Doing?
Let's start with the fun -- I've been having a lot of fun! For starters, I introduced a friend of mine (that I moved away from) to my favorite game, the previously mentioned Final Fantasy X. We sped through that game in my final weeks home, which took a lot of my time.
A Mini Madoka Review!
I also took a few steps toward exposing and re-exposing myself to some of the really popular anime series that have never really resonated with me. I finally broke down and watched Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I watched the entire series in two days (well, three days if you include the day I watched none of it in-between), and... It was okay. I learned after I finished the series that it was a work from Gen Urobuchi who I am generally unimpressed with, which explains a lot. I felt the show was boring for nine episodes, and that the final three episodes were great... but not worth the trek to get to them.
The thing about Gen Urobuchi's works (and similarly, things produced by Shin'ichirō Watanabe) is that the show's primary focus tends to be an emphasis on atmosphere and premise, which is absolutely fine, and it works well enough for most viewers... but I'm not included in that category. I often cite Cowboy Bebop as a show that's more about the premise than the characters, and for that reason, the show never resonated with me. I as a viewer crave characters that I care about -- not just because they're cool or have an interesting backstory, but because we took time to get to know them and their plight. I think what bothers me so much about Cowboy Bebop, and to be back on topic, Madoka Magica, is that I didn't know the characters before I experienced their plight. While watching, I felt as if the story depended on me caring about the characters, and that I was supposed to care about them simply because I was supposed to care about them, and I will never be able to buy into that, much to my own dismay.
To give the opposite side of that spectrum, we could look at Steins;Gate, which is often criticized for it's "slow" opening half. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of this show (it's probably my favorite show, beyond the scope of just anime), and I think it has in large part to do with this opening section (note: I enjoyed the second half more, for the record). Now, of course I understand that not everyone found the first half of this show as entertaining as I did. I was in tears laughing at times while I was getting to know these character. I saw why Okabe was okay with being such a weird guy, because he felt these things connected him with another character. I was allowed to reach the conclusion that Mayuri wasn't just a dunce all on my own, and that Daru was very comfortable in his own skin before that became a plot tool -- and that's the key. I find that if I'm introduced to a character trait in the same moment that it's being utilized, there's no time for me to appreciate that, and I think that's a problem. When I look back at a story that operates like this (referring to Madoka and Bebop), I actually find myself remembering it fondly, but when I'm in the moment experiencing it, I don't connect with the character, and I feel nothing, and that's definitely a problem.
So I didn't think Puella Magi Madoka Magica was all that
great, but I watched the
movie a few days later. Again, I had the same problem: the start
was slow, but not unforgivably so this time. This was probably less to do with
an improvement in the aforementioned areas, and more-so to do with a
shorter run-time, and the fact that it followed the series with the same
cast that I now felt more connected to.
Despite how negative that all may sound, I loved the movie. I thought it was a brilliant end to a pretty good series, and I feel like with the prospect of a really good conclusion movie, the first nine episodes of the series are forgivable. I'm in the process of watching the first two movies to see if they offer a better alternative to the episodic series route, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
End of the Madoka Review
I'm also watching more from genres that I tend to stay away from, specifically the slice of life and action/adventure genres. Of course, my results have been mixed. I've found some really good and really bad shows with plenty of the in-between. With shows like Flying Witch, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress and Space Patrol Luluco though, I have to say it's been a good decision.
Right now I'm playing through I am Setsuna and loving every second of it. It's short though, and I think I'm almost done less than a week later. I really think that fans of Chrono Trigger who have heard the comparisons will find it disappointing, though. The narrative isn't as powerful, and the combat system is maybe not as similar as you've been told. The story is in many aspects a trimmed-down version of the story that FFX tells (comparable to how Little Witch Academia borrows a lot from Harry Potter), which could disappoint a lot. Even past all of this, it completely satisfies my finicky taste.
**The Thank You Scientist link is lyrically NSFW. It's hilarious, but there's a song that auto-plays.
Finally, music. I'm in a bit of a drought (I've played letlive.'s If I'm the Devil into the ground), so I've reached into the bag of Japanese music. Much disappointment has followed, but I found Aimer who I've fallen in love with. The coming month[s] are very promising though! In less than a week, we'll have Periphery's P3, and in just over a week, Thank You Scientist** is releasing their second full-length album. Plini and Aimer are releasing albums in August, and The Dear Hunter is releasing Act V in September. I'm so excited!
What You Can Expect in The Future
For starters, I'm going to do my best to stick to my original schedule, maybe slightly altered: One post every month to be released within the first 10 days of the month! I can't say for sure how well I'll be able to stick to that, we'll just have to ride the wave. As for a content schedule...
I've tried to do this with no success, but I'm going to really pursue this three month pattern: One non-anime review (may still be about elements of anime in general), one anime dissection, and one reader's choice -- in that order. So, with that in mind, here's my tentative schedule (my last post was Set Course for An Album Review):
- August: Katanagatari
- September: Viewers Choice! (We may not vote on this, as I've had multiple viewers request the same piece)
- October: I'm debating a couple of options here.
- November: Possibly Steins;Gate?
So anyway guys, I'm sorry I've been so sparse lately, and Hello to our many new subscribers! If you like our logo, be sure to tell The Great Hootino about it! I'll leave you with fan art, courtesy of Angelica Realy of Floofy Floofers
