I love going to the cinema. If I get the chance to go see a film I love on the big screen, even if I’ve already seen it before at home, I’ll try to do it. It’s a shame that it’s getting particularly money-grabby and pricing it way out of the pockets of some. But anyway, let’s talk.
So first of all, as I said at the start, I love going to the cinema. The number one reason I go, apart from the improved picture and audio quality and size, is the fact that you can share the experience of watching the film with other people who, most notably, are typically there because they want to watch the film too. While there are of course exceptions where people have been dragged along by their mates and end up talking through the film, or spend most of it on their phone because they have nothing better to do, the vast majority are there because they want to see the film in the best possible way. I have witnessed occasions where people have been ejected from the cinema by other audience members for messing on their phone or talking a lot, so there’s definitely some passionate people out there. But the number one moment for me was going to see the Love Live movie in Scotland. People came from all over the UK and beyond to see that film and filled out the cinema. Throughout the film, everyone reacted in a variety of different ways to scenes in the film, but they all meshed together to create an incredible atmosphere that I don’t think will ever be recreated for that film again, especially not at home on a TV.
I also get to concentrate on the film, without getting distracted by Twitter, etc. I can’t begin to explain how often I start watching an episode of a TV series, let alone a film, and it takes me an hour or two to watch one 24 minute episode because I keep pausing it, flicking over to Twitter with a thought or a screenshot, etc.
For both of these, I make the yearly trip to the “Scotland Loves Anime” festival in either Glasgow or Edinburgh to watch a bunch of films with people who are into anime and want to experience films that they’re interested in seeing too. I typically see upwards of 6 films, though I have been for the whole week before now and seen 10 or so across the week.
A complaint I heard about the films at “Scotland Loves Anime” I have heard is that the films all have advert and trailer reels at the start, and that other film festivals they have been to didn’t have them. Well, I don’t know what film festivals they’ve been to, but the tickets at SLA are fairly cheap for cinema tickets, plus discounts for buying multiple in the festival. Then you have the fact that these films probably cost a fair amount to get from Japan for theatrical release at all, and I can’t really blame them for wanting to subsidize the cost somewhat. To be quite honest with you, the adverts at SLA have become somewhat of a running joke with the people I talk to. As we see the same ones so often across multiple films, we make jokes about some of the particularly bad ones, and even got a standing ovation for the final screening of one particular advert one year (looking at you Kevin Bacon) because we were so glad to never see it again.
One complaint I will accept about SLA is the timing of the films. If you are watching almost everything like I usually do, and I know some others do too, you don’t really have much time in-between films in the evening to have a meal. I have known people to bring in a pizza into the film screening before now!
So I mentioned pricing. Let me talk to you about the price structure at major cinemas.
I went to see Deadpool on the weekend of release, on a Saturday, at the Liverpool One Odeon. Here’s the price breakdown:
Base ticket price for an adult at peak time: £10
IMAX: £5
“Premier Seat” (aka not awful seat and good view): £1.80
BLOCKBUSTER PRICE (charged because they feel like it): £1
Total: £17.80
Most important to note here is the fact that there’s an extra charge for wanting to see a film near release. This was applied all week. The seats at Odeon are particularly bad, so paying extra for a good seat, plus wanting a good view, means you have to drop that £1.80 as well to be honest.
When you add on a drink or a snack (unless you manage to sneak in some of your own stuff, which I highly recommend doing by the way) it gets north of £20. So here’s where Odeon’s pricing gets even more complicated:
We paid £25.75 each for our tickets to Deadpool.
So Odeon have a thing called “The Gallery” at some of their cinemas. Base ticket price for this is £20.25 at peak times, plus £5 for IMAX plus 50p because I don’t know (maybe a discounted blockbuster ticket? I have genuinely no idea where that 50p comes from). This gets you access to a lounge with unlimited soft drinks, nachos and popcorn (all self-serve, so grab whatever you want), a bar where you can buy alcoholic drinks and massive seats with a direct view of the screen and a little table on the armrest to put your popcorn/nachos/etc. For the IMAX screen, you were on a balcony above everyone else facing dead-centre of the screen. For an extra £8, it’s only really worth it if all of the above matter to you. If you don’t eat lunch and really like nachos and popcorn, well this will probably work out for you haha! I wouldn’t bother doing this for any films, but if it’s a super long one, then it will probably help to have access to the drinks and comfy seats, plus there’s also a toilet right outside the doors to the screens, so you can be in and out without missing much of the film at all.
Back to the point I originally wanted to make in that it’s really complicated buying tickets for films. It’s like RyanAir, charging for everything they can get away with. If you didn’t go IMAX, for example, there’s D-Box (the chair moves and vibrates, etc for £3.55), 3D film (+£2) and 3D glasses (+£1).
Odeon just launched a pay monthly and watch unlimited 2D films package nationwide. Still have to pay extra for premier seats, IMAX and The Lounge, but it makes things a lot easier. Cineworld have had an unlimited card for years and gets you a discount on food and drink, but Odeon have way more cinemas to choose from. Will have to see how things pan out, as both require a 12 month minimum contract.
This has been a very rambly blog post. Apart from cinema ticket pricing being super complicated, I don't think I really had a point to make haha! See ya.
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Monday, February 15, 2016
Let's talk about the rumoured Aikatsu reboot
So there's rumours and crazy theories flying around about the potential killing off of the current Aikatsu universe and its characters, maybe popping in on occasion in a new series, maybe not, maybe a new art style, maybe not, etc. While I try not to concern myself with rumours until they are confirmed, let me talk about my number one concern: Akari.
Unlike most other characters, we've been following Akari for longer than any other character from this season. From her audition with Ichigo judging, through to going on tour. During that time, the appearances of Ichigo have gradually reduced, allowing a good transition from Ichigo to Akari as the main protagonist. There was no moment where I felt they straight up cut Ichigo out of the picture.
I am scared, nay, /terrified/ that Aikatsu will end suddenly and not transition out Akari like they did with Ichigo. I want her departure to be natural, and not "I'm going away, bye", which I get the impression was the plan for Ichigo's departure for America in episode 50 but only came back 2 weeks later in the real world after a one year timeskip in-universe.
That being said, the second movie is coming, and I suspect this will be used (if the rumours are true) as the true send-off for the characters from the current generation. So here's what I am asking, Namco Bandai, I want two things:
One: Please leave us with happy memories (you've managed this one so far, so don't ruin it in the movie).
Two: Please let Akari and friends be happy in whatever they do next.
Do that, and I think I'll be fine with whatever you do next.
Yours Sincerely,
Peter Shillito
Dirty Foreigner
Monday, January 11, 2016
Peter Shillito’s 2015 Aikatsu Awards
It’s that time once again. I give out completely unnecessary awards to bits of Aikatsu! that really stood out to me (or didn’t, as the case may be). 2015 has come to a close, so it’s time to wrap up the year. We’ve got the return of some previous awards, and a few new ones. Nobody’s probably gonna read this, so let’s get to it!
(Side note: While the first movie came out in 2014, I didn’t see it until it got translated in 2015, so I’m going to include this in my review of the year.)
The 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development
2014 winner: Akari
2015 saw the departure of most of the idols we grew to know from previous series. Most of the Starlight Academy idols pop in occasionally, but it’s a rare cameo if anything. Dream Academy are not as dead as in 2014, they had speaking cameo roles in episode 38 and in 47 where they also perform a song. They also feature as an advertisement on the side of a truck in the opening sequence of season 4, but no in-episode role yet. There has also been the introduction of several new characters, who have all had some sort of development over the year. To be honest with you, nobody has really stood out as getting serious development in quite the same way Akari did last year. Everyone is introduced as being already quite good at what they do, almost to the point of being unrealistic (see: Nono and Risa who were literally farmers then became idols in what seemed like a week or two, I dunno time didn’t make a lot of sense).
You know who got character development who I wasn’t expecting? Johnny Bepp.
The introduction of Rin, who grew up with street dancing, etc, provided the show with a character who would know Johnny Bepp from before his idol training days. From the moment Rin was introduced to Bepp, we got background knowledge on a character who was just some goofy teacher who occasionally had some good advice or helped out with things. There was even an episode or so almost dedicated to finding out about Johnny Bepp’s past while Rin seeks out Dance Fusion’s top designer (an old friend of Bepp). Add on the fact that with the increasing number of male characters in Aikatsu!, Bepp has been seen outside of work with these people, showing himself, not as a teacher, but as a regular person. We also find out about his family in a hilarious marriage confusion episode.
I’m gonna call it right here.
Johnny Bepp wins the 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development
Honourable mention to Naoto Suzukawa who got promoted from groundskeeper to a teacher in the second half of season 3, though this was never really followed up with much information. I feel this is quite appropriate considering how insightful and helpful he was to Ichigo and friends from the very start, and also provides a cool, calm contrast to Johnny Bepp. Further to that, he has experience as lead singer of More Than True (from episode 11 of season 1).
The “Deus Ex Machidol” award for being useful to everyone but themselves
New award for 2015
As with many shows, there’s a lot of “what a coincidence” moments that allow the show to do stuff it wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. Sometimes, someone’s talking about “oh I wish I could do X” and then the head teacher comes in and is all “there’s an audition to do X” and you have to have a certain suspension of disbelief when this happens. It’s a kids show, shut up. However, what’s quite interesting is that there’s a certain character who has been around since episode 77 who seems to have this role permanently. Hattori Yuu.
Yuu was previously Akari’s roommate until her room started leaking and they moved into separate rooms. Further on in the series, Yuu goes on an exchange programme TWICE, each time bringing a different idol from the other school into Starlight. More recently, Yuu shows off jewellery to Akari and friends and prompt them to audition for a jewellery advert. Yuu then hitches a ride to Kyoto and get the others to join her in a halloween TV special.
You never see Yuu perform. Ever.
Yuu wins the Deus Ex Machidol award for being useful to everyone but themselves.
The “Who?” award for character lost in the gap between seasons
2014 winner: Literally everyone from Dream Academy
In the run up to and previews for season 4, it seemed like the Luminas Japan Tour would be the main focus, meaning that you’d have the three girls from Luminas and any new people they meet on the way, losing everyone else in Starlight (most notably Rin and Juri). Fortunately, this was not the case, and they keep returning to Starlight between visits to places around Japan.
So did we lose anyone between 3 and 4? Well, at only 14 episodes into season 4, it’s difficult to say for sure. We’ve only seen the main trio from the original series so far (Ichigo, Aoi and Ran) but everyone appears in the opening credits, so it’s hard to say. However, everyone also had an appearance in the “best giant robot anime ever” episode, so they’re definitely not forgotten.
Hikari is still forgotten though, so that’s good.
I feel like I should mention Shion as someone who has been forgotten, but her involvement with the show has been rather unfortunate in general. Shion first appeared way back in episode 14 of season 1, but it took until episode 148 (episode 47 of season 3) to get a singing debut, as her role as an actor meant she was always too busy to be on stage. When she said “Everyone in the audience, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting” in episode 148, this felt not only as part of the plot for that episode where she was running late in the episode, but also to the fans who have been hoping to see her perform. I suspect we have another pile of episodes to go before we see her again.
Nobody really has been forgotten, so no winner this year.
The 'Kanzaki Mizuki' Award for Worst Character Other than Mizuki
2014 winner: Otome
As Otome’s appearance frequency has dwindled drastically in season 3 and 4, I cannot give her this award. Heck, even Mizuki hasn’t appeared much. I have to actually think this time.
So the people who come to mind as being annoying and within the past year are Madoka, Kokone and Nina. Let’s review these:
Madoka is known for being very honest to the point of being somewhat insulting, which everyone writes off with an “oh you” sorta thing. It’s a bit weird to be honest that people put up with her like that. That being said, it’s not often she does that, so it might be that people put up with her occasional lack of tact for the rest of her, as she’s not an all-round bad person.
Kokone has the catchphrase “The Center of the World is Kokone!”. I’ve never really understood why this was a thing. It’s a really self-centered thing, yet everyone seems to go along with it and humour her. Maybe the catchphrase thing is what bugs me, as Otome’s “love you” was particularly bad, though that wasn’t helped by her voice. Kokone’s intro episode is based around her realising that the world actually isn’t centered around her (because she did actually believe that, because everyone around her back in Kobe knew her and humoured her catchphrase) and, from what I understand, she reverts to thinking that at the end because everyone starts humouring her at Starlight too.
Nina’s just a bit weird tbh, but she’s a comedy idol I guess…
I got angriest writing about Kokone, so…
Kokone wins the “Kanzaki Mizuki” award for worst character other than Mizuki.
The “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! thing I’ll never be able to experience (previously known as the “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! merchandise I’ll never be able to obtain and/or use)
2014 winner: Aikatsu! glasses frames
So a couple of weeks before the Christmas break off work, someone decided to crash into my car on the way to work. They confirmed that it was their fault, accepted all responsibility, etc. You’d think I wouldn’t be out of pocket, right? That their insurance would cover everything right? Well, no. My car has been written off and I have a courtesy car until the other person’s insurance sends me the settlement cheque, but even then I won’t have enough money to get a similar car without putting an amount of my own savings down as well. Plus, cars have gone up in price since I got mine, even the same model, so I can’t get the same again without spending more per month AND a deposit down. Basically, a car accident that wasn’t my fault has fucked up my new year, soon to be eating into the savings I had for going on holiday to Japan again and, as such, probably won’t be able to see the new Aikatsu! movie in the cinemas like I hoped I would. My year is ruined and we’ve only just reached January. Add onto that the plan to move closer to where I work (possibly even close enough to take public transport sometimes *gasp*) and that’s something else I’m gonna have to delay probably until next year.
Fact is, unless I find a way to save up a lot of money quite quickly, watching the new Aikatsu! movie in cinemas is likely to be the winner of this award.
“Watching the new Aikatsu! movie in the cinema in Japan” wins the “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! thing I’ll never be able to experience (may be retracted if I can work something out with money).
The “damn son, where’d you find this?” award for best overall Aikatsu! song in 2015
New award for 2015
2015, and season 3 in general, brought major changes to the Aikatsu! lineup of idols, both in the series and in the real world. As you may or may not be aware, each character in the series has both a speaking voice actor and a corresponding real-world idol for their singing. In the original series, everyone had an idol (or two, looking at you Yurika) from STAR☆ANIS. Akari is voiced by Ruka for singing, for example. With season 3, STAR☆ANIS started taking a back seat role with AIKATSU☆STARS taking the baton instead. Ruka and Mona are in both groups, which makes things complicated tbh. Anyway…the first opening theme to season 3 is "Du-Du-Wa DO IT!!" by Ruka, Mona, and Miki from AIKATSU☆STARS! with Waka from STAR☆ANIS. Waka is the singer for Ichigo, furthering the as mentioned handing over of the baton from Ichigo to Akari, or from Waka to Ruka.
Songs eligible:
Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! (S3 OP1)
Good morning my dream (S3 ED1)
Lovely Party Collection (S3 OP2)
Tutu Ballerina (S3 ED2)
START DASH SENSATION (S4 OP1)
lucky train! (S4 ED1)
Etude of Radiance (movie insert)
Tarte・Tatin
Passion flower
Hello! Winter Love♪
Pretty Pretty
Blooming♡Blooming
MY SHOW TIME!
Lovely☆Bomb
Love Like Caramelize
Poppin' Bubbles
Enchanted Party
Hello New World
Hey! little girl
Chica×Chica
Summer☆Magic
Light Pink Day Tripper
Sweet Heart Restaurant
Emerald Magic
Little beat, Little wing♪
Gosh that’s way more tracks than I realised. I’m slowly narrowing the list down. Lovely Party Collection and Start Dash Sensation are nice, but nothing special. Almost forgettable. lucky train is catchy and fun, but doesn’t really go anywhere. Got an ace dance by everyone’s favourite farmer idols though! hashtag potato katsu. Tarte・Tatin was very different to any other Aikatsu! track out there, but it doesn’t seem to know what sort of track it wants to be. It bounces between genres, etc. It works well in the show as it’s only one section, but the full length song doesn’t flow quite the same. Pretty Pretty is an interesting one for having both the singer AND the voice actor for Akari in the song. The only song to feature *any* of the speaking actors in addition to the singers. MY SHOW TIME! was part of the introduction for a new character (Rin), who I’m particularly fond of, and used to showcase the upgraded CG engine with some incredible lighting effects. This was furthered by Tutu Ballerina, also featuring Rin, which is incredible in both the anime and performed live. Good morning my dream has an incredible introduction and verses, with very cool uses of alarm and clock noises throughout. This track made a lasting impression on me and it’s one I’ll never forget, though the chorus isn’t anything special sadly.
I was very close to giving the award to Tutu Ballerina at this point, but then as I started comparing songs against each other, there was one track I couldn’t remove from the list. One that is superior to even Tutu Ballerina: Chica×Chica. With a Spanish feel for the character of Juri, and the incredible sword dance performance in the anime, this is a stand-out track unlike any other used in Aikatsu! except perhaps Passion flower, but much more “passionate”. Chica×Chica is one song I never skip, along with Signalize right back from season 1.
Chica×Chica wins the “damn son, where’d you find this?” award for best overall Aikatsu! song in 2015
Honourable mention: Tutu Ballerina. You should see AIKATSU☆STARS perform this like, they’re really quite incredible.
———
This is the part where I would start saying who my favourite Aikatsu! character is, the “Mai Waifu” award, to be exact. The easy way out would be to just say Yurika again and call it a day, but is that truly what I think? Let’s take a step back for a moment.
Season 3 of Aikatsu! started in October 2014. Between then and January 2015, the transition between Soleil (Ichigo, Aoi and Ran) and the new trio Luminas (Akari, Sumire and Hinaki) was in full force to the point where the original cast were present in fewer and fewer episodes. As April 2015 arrived, further new characters were introduced to fill in the roles of the side characters such as Yurika, Otome, Sakura, etc, leaving even less room for the original characters to appear.
Yurika will always have a place in my heart, but I feel like it’s time for a change in this award I’ve only ever awarded once. Calling it the “mai waifu” award for best Aikatsu! character doesn’t feel appropriate any more. So, I am proud to announce:
The “Toudou Yurika” award for this year’s most stand-out Aikatsu! idol
That’s better.
So, for this award I am actively discounting idols who weren’t regularly featured prominently in the 2015 episodes of Aikatsu! This means I’m looking at Akari, Sumire, Hinaki, Juri, Rin, Madoka, Nono, Risa, Miyabi, Kokone and Nina. I would be tempted to include Ichigo as well, and maybe Aoi, but then I’m gonna start arguing with myself about where I draw the line.
Following on from last year’s 'My How They've Grown' award, I’d be very temped to go with Akari who, as the main protagonist, is the default choice. I do feel like she deserves a lot of respect, more so than Ichigo to be honest. Ichigo had a lot of flukes as the series got off the ground, while Akari is genuinely a hard working and fantastic idol.
Rin is also high on the list for me at the moment for having a visually attractive style, an incredible dancer and being almost like another Johnny Bepp, but we’ve not really had much fleshing out for her, so I can’t really justify giving her this award.
I feel like giving Sumire the award might be most appropriate. As has been made even more clear in recent episodes, but has been present since the start, Sumire is dead set on prioritising her singing over anything else. Partnering with dance expert Rin to form Dancing Diva was a fantastic idea as while Rin has the dance moves to show off to the song, Sumire can sing to her heart’s content without needing to dance as well. She’s regularly releasing CDs solo and is my favourite to be the next Starlight Queen currently, pending any events between now and then. She’s the most independent of all of the group and typically pushes a lot of the typical idol stuff to the side in order to prioritise singing events and performances. I can respect that.
The 2015 “Toudou Yurika” award for this year’s most stand-out Aikatsu! idol goes to Sumire Hikami.
THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT
(Side note: While the first movie came out in 2014, I didn’t see it until it got translated in 2015, so I’m going to include this in my review of the year.)
The 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development
2014 winner: Akari
2015 saw the departure of most of the idols we grew to know from previous series. Most of the Starlight Academy idols pop in occasionally, but it’s a rare cameo if anything. Dream Academy are not as dead as in 2014, they had speaking cameo roles in episode 38 and in 47 where they also perform a song. They also feature as an advertisement on the side of a truck in the opening sequence of season 4, but no in-episode role yet. There has also been the introduction of several new characters, who have all had some sort of development over the year. To be honest with you, nobody has really stood out as getting serious development in quite the same way Akari did last year. Everyone is introduced as being already quite good at what they do, almost to the point of being unrealistic (see: Nono and Risa who were literally farmers then became idols in what seemed like a week or two, I dunno time didn’t make a lot of sense).
You know who got character development who I wasn’t expecting? Johnny Bepp.
The introduction of Rin, who grew up with street dancing, etc, provided the show with a character who would know Johnny Bepp from before his idol training days. From the moment Rin was introduced to Bepp, we got background knowledge on a character who was just some goofy teacher who occasionally had some good advice or helped out with things. There was even an episode or so almost dedicated to finding out about Johnny Bepp’s past while Rin seeks out Dance Fusion’s top designer (an old friend of Bepp). Add on the fact that with the increasing number of male characters in Aikatsu!, Bepp has been seen outside of work with these people, showing himself, not as a teacher, but as a regular person. We also find out about his family in a hilarious marriage confusion episode.
I’m gonna call it right here.
Johnny Bepp wins the 'My How They've Grown' Award for Best Character Development
Honourable mention to Naoto Suzukawa who got promoted from groundskeeper to a teacher in the second half of season 3, though this was never really followed up with much information. I feel this is quite appropriate considering how insightful and helpful he was to Ichigo and friends from the very start, and also provides a cool, calm contrast to Johnny Bepp. Further to that, he has experience as lead singer of More Than True (from episode 11 of season 1).
The “Deus Ex Machidol” award for being useful to everyone but themselves
New award for 2015
As with many shows, there’s a lot of “what a coincidence” moments that allow the show to do stuff it wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. Sometimes, someone’s talking about “oh I wish I could do X” and then the head teacher comes in and is all “there’s an audition to do X” and you have to have a certain suspension of disbelief when this happens. It’s a kids show, shut up. However, what’s quite interesting is that there’s a certain character who has been around since episode 77 who seems to have this role permanently. Hattori Yuu.
Yuu was previously Akari’s roommate until her room started leaking and they moved into separate rooms. Further on in the series, Yuu goes on an exchange programme TWICE, each time bringing a different idol from the other school into Starlight. More recently, Yuu shows off jewellery to Akari and friends and prompt them to audition for a jewellery advert. Yuu then hitches a ride to Kyoto and get the others to join her in a halloween TV special.
You never see Yuu perform. Ever.
Yuu wins the Deus Ex Machidol award for being useful to everyone but themselves.
The “Who?” award for character lost in the gap between seasons
2014 winner: Literally everyone from Dream Academy
In the run up to and previews for season 4, it seemed like the Luminas Japan Tour would be the main focus, meaning that you’d have the three girls from Luminas and any new people they meet on the way, losing everyone else in Starlight (most notably Rin and Juri). Fortunately, this was not the case, and they keep returning to Starlight between visits to places around Japan.
So did we lose anyone between 3 and 4? Well, at only 14 episodes into season 4, it’s difficult to say for sure. We’ve only seen the main trio from the original series so far (Ichigo, Aoi and Ran) but everyone appears in the opening credits, so it’s hard to say. However, everyone also had an appearance in the “best giant robot anime ever” episode, so they’re definitely not forgotten.
Hikari is still forgotten though, so that’s good.
I feel like I should mention Shion as someone who has been forgotten, but her involvement with the show has been rather unfortunate in general. Shion first appeared way back in episode 14 of season 1, but it took until episode 148 (episode 47 of season 3) to get a singing debut, as her role as an actor meant she was always too busy to be on stage. When she said “Everyone in the audience, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting” in episode 148, this felt not only as part of the plot for that episode where she was running late in the episode, but also to the fans who have been hoping to see her perform. I suspect we have another pile of episodes to go before we see her again.
Nobody really has been forgotten, so no winner this year.
The 'Kanzaki Mizuki' Award for Worst Character Other than Mizuki
2014 winner: Otome
As Otome’s appearance frequency has dwindled drastically in season 3 and 4, I cannot give her this award. Heck, even Mizuki hasn’t appeared much. I have to actually think this time.
So the people who come to mind as being annoying and within the past year are Madoka, Kokone and Nina. Let’s review these:
Madoka is known for being very honest to the point of being somewhat insulting, which everyone writes off with an “oh you” sorta thing. It’s a bit weird to be honest that people put up with her like that. That being said, it’s not often she does that, so it might be that people put up with her occasional lack of tact for the rest of her, as she’s not an all-round bad person.
Kokone has the catchphrase “The Center of the World is Kokone!”. I’ve never really understood why this was a thing. It’s a really self-centered thing, yet everyone seems to go along with it and humour her. Maybe the catchphrase thing is what bugs me, as Otome’s “love you” was particularly bad, though that wasn’t helped by her voice. Kokone’s intro episode is based around her realising that the world actually isn’t centered around her (because she did actually believe that, because everyone around her back in Kobe knew her and humoured her catchphrase) and, from what I understand, she reverts to thinking that at the end because everyone starts humouring her at Starlight too.
Nina’s just a bit weird tbh, but she’s a comedy idol I guess…
I got angriest writing about Kokone, so…
Kokone wins the “Kanzaki Mizuki” award for worst character other than Mizuki.
The “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! thing I’ll never be able to experience (previously known as the “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! merchandise I’ll never be able to obtain and/or use)
2014 winner: Aikatsu! glasses frames
So a couple of weeks before the Christmas break off work, someone decided to crash into my car on the way to work. They confirmed that it was their fault, accepted all responsibility, etc. You’d think I wouldn’t be out of pocket, right? That their insurance would cover everything right? Well, no. My car has been written off and I have a courtesy car until the other person’s insurance sends me the settlement cheque, but even then I won’t have enough money to get a similar car without putting an amount of my own savings down as well. Plus, cars have gone up in price since I got mine, even the same model, so I can’t get the same again without spending more per month AND a deposit down. Basically, a car accident that wasn’t my fault has fucked up my new year, soon to be eating into the savings I had for going on holiday to Japan again and, as such, probably won’t be able to see the new Aikatsu! movie in the cinemas like I hoped I would. My year is ruined and we’ve only just reached January. Add onto that the plan to move closer to where I work (possibly even close enough to take public transport sometimes *gasp*) and that’s something else I’m gonna have to delay probably until next year.
Fact is, unless I find a way to save up a lot of money quite quickly, watching the new Aikatsu! movie in cinemas is likely to be the winner of this award.
“Watching the new Aikatsu! movie in the cinema in Japan” wins the “It sucks to be a fat foreigner in a little Japanese girl world” award for Aikatsu! thing I’ll never be able to experience (may be retracted if I can work something out with money).
The “damn son, where’d you find this?” award for best overall Aikatsu! song in 2015
New award for 2015
2015, and season 3 in general, brought major changes to the Aikatsu! lineup of idols, both in the series and in the real world. As you may or may not be aware, each character in the series has both a speaking voice actor and a corresponding real-world idol for their singing. In the original series, everyone had an idol (or two, looking at you Yurika) from STAR☆ANIS. Akari is voiced by Ruka for singing, for example. With season 3, STAR☆ANIS started taking a back seat role with AIKATSU☆STARS taking the baton instead. Ruka and Mona are in both groups, which makes things complicated tbh. Anyway…the first opening theme to season 3 is "Du-Du-Wa DO IT!!" by Ruka, Mona, and Miki from AIKATSU☆STARS! with Waka from STAR☆ANIS. Waka is the singer for Ichigo, furthering the as mentioned handing over of the baton from Ichigo to Akari, or from Waka to Ruka.
Songs eligible:
Du-Du-Wa DO IT!! (S3 OP1)
Good morning my dream (S3 ED1)
Lovely Party Collection (S3 OP2)
Tutu Ballerina (S3 ED2)
START DASH SENSATION (S4 OP1)
lucky train! (S4 ED1)
Etude of Radiance (movie insert)
Tarte・Tatin
Passion flower
Hello! Winter Love♪
Pretty Pretty
Blooming♡Blooming
MY SHOW TIME!
Lovely☆Bomb
Love Like Caramelize
Poppin' Bubbles
Enchanted Party
Hello New World
Hey! little girl
Chica×Chica
Summer☆Magic
Light Pink Day Tripper
Sweet Heart Restaurant
Emerald Magic
Little beat, Little wing♪
Gosh that’s way more tracks than I realised. I’m slowly narrowing the list down. Lovely Party Collection and Start Dash Sensation are nice, but nothing special. Almost forgettable. lucky train is catchy and fun, but doesn’t really go anywhere. Got an ace dance by everyone’s favourite farmer idols though! hashtag potato katsu. Tarte・Tatin was very different to any other Aikatsu! track out there, but it doesn’t seem to know what sort of track it wants to be. It bounces between genres, etc. It works well in the show as it’s only one section, but the full length song doesn’t flow quite the same. Pretty Pretty is an interesting one for having both the singer AND the voice actor for Akari in the song. The only song to feature *any* of the speaking actors in addition to the singers. MY SHOW TIME! was part of the introduction for a new character (Rin), who I’m particularly fond of, and used to showcase the upgraded CG engine with some incredible lighting effects. This was furthered by Tutu Ballerina, also featuring Rin, which is incredible in both the anime and performed live. Good morning my dream has an incredible introduction and verses, with very cool uses of alarm and clock noises throughout. This track made a lasting impression on me and it’s one I’ll never forget, though the chorus isn’t anything special sadly.
I was very close to giving the award to Tutu Ballerina at this point, but then as I started comparing songs against each other, there was one track I couldn’t remove from the list. One that is superior to even Tutu Ballerina: Chica×Chica. With a Spanish feel for the character of Juri, and the incredible sword dance performance in the anime, this is a stand-out track unlike any other used in Aikatsu! except perhaps Passion flower, but much more “passionate”. Chica×Chica is one song I never skip, along with Signalize right back from season 1.
Chica×Chica wins the “damn son, where’d you find this?” award for best overall Aikatsu! song in 2015
Honourable mention: Tutu Ballerina. You should see AIKATSU☆STARS perform this like, they’re really quite incredible.
———
This is the part where I would start saying who my favourite Aikatsu! character is, the “Mai Waifu” award, to be exact. The easy way out would be to just say Yurika again and call it a day, but is that truly what I think? Let’s take a step back for a moment.
Season 3 of Aikatsu! started in October 2014. Between then and January 2015, the transition between Soleil (Ichigo, Aoi and Ran) and the new trio Luminas (Akari, Sumire and Hinaki) was in full force to the point where the original cast were present in fewer and fewer episodes. As April 2015 arrived, further new characters were introduced to fill in the roles of the side characters such as Yurika, Otome, Sakura, etc, leaving even less room for the original characters to appear.
Yurika will always have a place in my heart, but I feel like it’s time for a change in this award I’ve only ever awarded once. Calling it the “mai waifu” award for best Aikatsu! character doesn’t feel appropriate any more. So, I am proud to announce:
The “Toudou Yurika” award for this year’s most stand-out Aikatsu! idol
That’s better.
So, for this award I am actively discounting idols who weren’t regularly featured prominently in the 2015 episodes of Aikatsu! This means I’m looking at Akari, Sumire, Hinaki, Juri, Rin, Madoka, Nono, Risa, Miyabi, Kokone and Nina. I would be tempted to include Ichigo as well, and maybe Aoi, but then I’m gonna start arguing with myself about where I draw the line.
Following on from last year’s 'My How They've Grown' award, I’d be very temped to go with Akari who, as the main protagonist, is the default choice. I do feel like she deserves a lot of respect, more so than Ichigo to be honest. Ichigo had a lot of flukes as the series got off the ground, while Akari is genuinely a hard working and fantastic idol.
Rin is also high on the list for me at the moment for having a visually attractive style, an incredible dancer and being almost like another Johnny Bepp, but we’ve not really had much fleshing out for her, so I can’t really justify giving her this award.
I feel like giving Sumire the award might be most appropriate. As has been made even more clear in recent episodes, but has been present since the start, Sumire is dead set on prioritising her singing over anything else. Partnering with dance expert Rin to form Dancing Diva was a fantastic idea as while Rin has the dance moves to show off to the song, Sumire can sing to her heart’s content without needing to dance as well. She’s regularly releasing CDs solo and is my favourite to be the next Starlight Queen currently, pending any events between now and then. She’s the most independent of all of the group and typically pushes a lot of the typical idol stuff to the side in order to prioritise singing events and performances. I can respect that.
The 2015 “Toudou Yurika” award for this year’s most stand-out Aikatsu! idol goes to Sumire Hikami.
THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Let's talk about the anime "Magic Kaito 1412" and magic tricks
An anime that I didn't hear many people talking about while it was airing was Magic Kaito 1412. I'm still catching up with the show at the moment, but I want to mention a few things about it.
First off, Magic Kaito is a manga series by Gosho Aoyama, who also wrote Detective Conan and, indeed, Magic Kaito is set in the same universe. Occasionally in both the manga and the anime, characters from Detective Conan appear in Magic Kaito and (I believe) the other way round too. A few years back, there were some animated TV specials that were marketed as "Detective Conan Special" even the ones that didn't have any connection to the Detective Conan characters at all. The new series (with the 1412 suffix) has Conan and co appear every so many episodes, so this is not lost at all.
"Kaito Kid" is a phantom thief and, most importantly, a magician (I'm not going to go into the story, you've got Wikipedia for that). Rather than concentrating on the phantom thief elements like other shows might, Magic Kaito concentrates on the use of magic tricks, illusions, etc. As someone who spent a few years of their childhood learning magic tricks from people such as Dominic Wood along with various books, there's a certain attention to detail Magic Kaito 1412 has that I can really appreciate.
At the start of every episode, there's a stage with panning spotlights as Kaito introduces the episode with an (often cryptic) message about the heist/performance coming up. Not explaining what they're going to do, but a little thing to think about as the episode begins (a clue, perhaps). You're then usually introduced to the characters of the episode who typically have a jewel that Kaito is going to steal.
At some point in the first half of the episode, there's a discussion between Kaito and his uncle regarding how the plan will take place. Feasible entrances/exits, security systems, etc. This part is very carefully directed so that some things are either not mentioned out loud and instead shown on a computer screen directed away from the camera (I know it's anime, it's still a camera shut up) or are whispered so you can't hear it. So you have a vague idea on what they're planning, but not necessarily how they will do it. This is Stage Magic 101: let the audience know roughly what you're going to do, to build hype, interest and intrigue, but not everything about the trick because they will know A) what to expect, and B) where to look to try and figure out the trick. So you'd say "I'm going to make this elephant disappear" not "I'm going to make this elephant disappear behind this curtain with a spotlight behind it so you can see the elephant behind the curtain". There are some magicians/illusionists (there is debate about which word is appropriate) who are completely silent throughout a trick or routine and instead rely on gestures, props and music to create more of a visual spectacle.
Speaking of visual spectacles (other than the ones on my face, ba dum tschh), Magic Kaito continues its episode, usually finding out more about the characters who will have their gem stolen, etc. Eventually, the night of the heist arrives and Kaito makes a point of making a show out of them stealing the precious item, rather than taking it and leaving, because where's the fun in that? This is the natural combination of magicians and phantom thieves (occasionally referred to as "gentleman/lady thieves", e.g. Carmen Sandiego, Arsène Lupin, etc). There's usually something that goes wrong with Kaito's plan for whatever reason, occasionally caused by the interference of the aforementioned Detective Conan or accidentally by the bumbling police officers. It of course seems like Kaito's going to get caught or be forced to give up the heist, but he then surprises everyone, including the audience (us) with a backup plan (either thought of in advance or thought of there and then) that is often very clever and catches you off guard. There's never been a single episode where I've said "I saw that coming" when it comes to the main heist, and especially the backup plans.
The only downside is that Kaito has a tendancy to be quite childish when in school, particularly with the typical anime "girl who is childhood friend sits next to protag in school and blushes 24/7" thing going on (it is still an anime at the end of the day).
Oh, and there's occasional moments when a witch (in protag's class, obviously) uses real magic against Kaito's magic tricks and there's a whole real magic vs stage magic sub-plot going on occasionally, but that's really just cos the witch (Akako) is a fun character anyway and hella tsundere (even voiced by Eri Kitamura).
Perhaps I'm just getting nostalgia from my days of magic tricks as a kid, but this show is good fun and worth checking out.
First off, Magic Kaito is a manga series by Gosho Aoyama, who also wrote Detective Conan and, indeed, Magic Kaito is set in the same universe. Occasionally in both the manga and the anime, characters from Detective Conan appear in Magic Kaito and (I believe) the other way round too. A few years back, there were some animated TV specials that were marketed as "Detective Conan Special" even the ones that didn't have any connection to the Detective Conan characters at all. The new series (with the 1412 suffix) has Conan and co appear every so many episodes, so this is not lost at all.
"Kaito Kid" is a phantom thief and, most importantly, a magician (I'm not going to go into the story, you've got Wikipedia for that). Rather than concentrating on the phantom thief elements like other shows might, Magic Kaito concentrates on the use of magic tricks, illusions, etc. As someone who spent a few years of their childhood learning magic tricks from people such as Dominic Wood along with various books, there's a certain attention to detail Magic Kaito 1412 has that I can really appreciate.
At the start of every episode, there's a stage with panning spotlights as Kaito introduces the episode with an (often cryptic) message about the heist/performance coming up. Not explaining what they're going to do, but a little thing to think about as the episode begins (a clue, perhaps). You're then usually introduced to the characters of the episode who typically have a jewel that Kaito is going to steal.
At some point in the first half of the episode, there's a discussion between Kaito and his uncle regarding how the plan will take place. Feasible entrances/exits, security systems, etc. This part is very carefully directed so that some things are either not mentioned out loud and instead shown on a computer screen directed away from the camera (I know it's anime, it's still a camera shut up) or are whispered so you can't hear it. So you have a vague idea on what they're planning, but not necessarily how they will do it. This is Stage Magic 101: let the audience know roughly what you're going to do, to build hype, interest and intrigue, but not everything about the trick because they will know A) what to expect, and B) where to look to try and figure out the trick. So you'd say "I'm going to make this elephant disappear" not "I'm going to make this elephant disappear behind this curtain with a spotlight behind it so you can see the elephant behind the curtain". There are some magicians/illusionists (there is debate about which word is appropriate) who are completely silent throughout a trick or routine and instead rely on gestures, props and music to create more of a visual spectacle.
Speaking of visual spectacles (other than the ones on my face, ba dum tschh), Magic Kaito continues its episode, usually finding out more about the characters who will have their gem stolen, etc. Eventually, the night of the heist arrives and Kaito makes a point of making a show out of them stealing the precious item, rather than taking it and leaving, because where's the fun in that? This is the natural combination of magicians and phantom thieves (occasionally referred to as "gentleman/lady thieves", e.g. Carmen Sandiego, Arsène Lupin, etc). There's usually something that goes wrong with Kaito's plan for whatever reason, occasionally caused by the interference of the aforementioned Detective Conan or accidentally by the bumbling police officers. It of course seems like Kaito's going to get caught or be forced to give up the heist, but he then surprises everyone, including the audience (us) with a backup plan (either thought of in advance or thought of there and then) that is often very clever and catches you off guard. There's never been a single episode where I've said "I saw that coming" when it comes to the main heist, and especially the backup plans.
The only downside is that Kaito has a tendancy to be quite childish when in school, particularly with the typical anime "girl who is childhood friend sits next to protag in school and blushes 24/7" thing going on (it is still an anime at the end of the day).
Oh, and there's occasional moments when a witch (in protag's class, obviously) uses real magic against Kaito's magic tricks and there's a whole real magic vs stage magic sub-plot going on occasionally, but that's really just cos the witch (Akako) is a fun character anyway and hella tsundere (even voiced by Eri Kitamura).
Perhaps I'm just getting nostalgia from my days of magic tricks as a kid, but this show is good fun and worth checking out.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
I didn't like bits of Undertale
I think it goes without saying that this post will have crazy spoilers for all routes of the game. Only if you are done with the game and ready to embrace all spoilers should you read any further, not that I recommend reading further anyway because you're probably gonna disagree and get angry, but you're still reading so I'm screwed anyway. Welp!
So Undertale happened. A game that has taken the Internet by storm for its take on morality in games, music and overall good story and characters. I agree with many that it's a very good game and one that will be remembered for quite some time, comparable with (if not surpassing) many big name games. I've finished the true pacifist [sic] route twice, with a full reset in the middle, the second play through trying other options and seeing more things I may have missed the first time round. On my other computer, I've been playing the genocide [sic] route to get a bit more context for a few things and out of pure curiosity. After playing the game so much, I could write a lot about what I really like about the game, but that would just be repeating what the rest of the Internet is saying. Instead, I think I will talk about the bits I didn't like, or at least came away from it with a sour taste in my mouth.
First off, there were a few parts of the game where it seems unnecessarily obtuse in imparting information that you need in order to do something, or making it clear that something was even possible in the first place. The most notable example of this was the battle with Toriel. I wonder how many people were convinced that they had no other choice but to kill them to continue? I sure was. I killed them on my first run through. I also personally know of at least one other person who is convinced that there is a way, but they can't find it. I get the message though. "Determination" and all that shit. "You must be determined to hammer an option in the game that isn't the first thing you select in almost any other encounter in order to spare this person". Toriel's name isn't yellow/pink, so the game has taught you that this monster can't be spared yet, so do something else. Maybe to other people it's super obvious and I just need to "get good". Either way, it felt like an oversight in a game where everything is super intentional and, thus, out of place. Honestly, if Toriel's and Asgore's fights were reversed, where Toriel would destroy the "mercy" button until you got their health low, while Asgore kept the "mercy" option, but did what Toriel did, it would be way more obvious because the "mercy" button remained intact, and you would have to survive the attacks until you hit the button enough times. I'm not sure if people would agree with that one (probably not) but that's one thing I didn't like much.
Okay, next up is the ending to the neutral [sic] run, or rather the bit with Flowey. Flowey gives you a hint on how to get the "true" pacifist ending if you spare them. If you don't spare them, you don't get the hint and, thus, no clue on how to progress to the true pacifist, or even that there was one in the first place. Obviously, the Internet exists, but "after leaving the core, backtrack until you get a phone call from Undyne" seems, much like sparing Toriel, completely non-obvious unless you get that hint. I can only assume that someone going through the entire game again, but this time being as pacifist as possible, getting the Flowey message and then going to find Alphys is what is expected, and probably what I would've done if the Internet didn't exist and I found out about it through osmosis.
The big thing that negatively affects the game for me was the ending to true pacifist [sic]. Once you've beat neutral once and probably gone through the entire game again because you killed Toriel and then finished with the Asriel fights, you then find out that the name you typed in at the start was not the name of the character you were playing. Once you trawl through all the game's text and piece it together, it turns out you were actually naming the first human who fell down a long time ago and was adopted by Toriel and Asgore. The character you were playing as is actually called "Frisk".
Now bear with me a second here while I get psychological on you.
Imagine you are playing through a role playing game. You name the character you're playing as after yourself. You style them after yourself. You play as them. That character is you. Then imagine that, in the game, you got killed and replaced by someone else with a different name, only they look like your character did.
They are the ones everyone is happy to see.
They are the ones attributed to saving the world.
They took the happiness that should've been mine.
In Undertale, just as you think you've saved the world, it takes that glory away from you and gives it to "Frisk" instead.
I felt cheated out of my happy ending.
I was no longer a part of this story.
I became a simple bystander as "Frisk" was praised by everyone.
Is this the actual motivation behind doing a genocide run? Putting that ending aside, there's no real motivation behind doing a genocide run because all the characters are lovely. You wouldn't want to harm them after a true pacifist run. But then the Frisk thing happens and I'm left thinking "but I did this. I helped everyone. Frisk isn't me." In the genocide run, everyone refers to you by the name you put in. It's definitely you who is the cold blooded murderer, not Frisk. So the game has you remembered as being a murderer, or someone else entirely. To actually leave your mark in the game world, kill everything.
To try and shoehorn yourself back in, you can assume that the physical human that you are moving about the underworld is called Frisk, but you are possessing the human as a spirit or "soul" as the first fallen human to either make up for what you did when you first fell down or to finish what you started and kill everything. It's not exactly ideal though, as you can't claim credit for something when you're a ghost.
Honestly, the first two things are minor niggles that were a little frustrating at the time, but it's not that big a deal. The final one though is why, despite massively enjoying Undertale, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Regardless of that though, I'll certainly be interested in whatever Toby Fox does next.
So Undertale happened. A game that has taken the Internet by storm for its take on morality in games, music and overall good story and characters. I agree with many that it's a very good game and one that will be remembered for quite some time, comparable with (if not surpassing) many big name games. I've finished the true pacifist [sic] route twice, with a full reset in the middle, the second play through trying other options and seeing more things I may have missed the first time round. On my other computer, I've been playing the genocide [sic] route to get a bit more context for a few things and out of pure curiosity. After playing the game so much, I could write a lot about what I really like about the game, but that would just be repeating what the rest of the Internet is saying. Instead, I think I will talk about the bits I didn't like, or at least came away from it with a sour taste in my mouth.
First off, there were a few parts of the game where it seems unnecessarily obtuse in imparting information that you need in order to do something, or making it clear that something was even possible in the first place. The most notable example of this was the battle with Toriel. I wonder how many people were convinced that they had no other choice but to kill them to continue? I sure was. I killed them on my first run through. I also personally know of at least one other person who is convinced that there is a way, but they can't find it. I get the message though. "Determination" and all that shit. "You must be determined to hammer an option in the game that isn't the first thing you select in almost any other encounter in order to spare this person". Toriel's name isn't yellow/pink, so the game has taught you that this monster can't be spared yet, so do something else. Maybe to other people it's super obvious and I just need to "get good". Either way, it felt like an oversight in a game where everything is super intentional and, thus, out of place. Honestly, if Toriel's and Asgore's fights were reversed, where Toriel would destroy the "mercy" button until you got their health low, while Asgore kept the "mercy" option, but did what Toriel did, it would be way more obvious because the "mercy" button remained intact, and you would have to survive the attacks until you hit the button enough times. I'm not sure if people would agree with that one (probably not) but that's one thing I didn't like much.
Okay, next up is the ending to the neutral [sic] run, or rather the bit with Flowey. Flowey gives you a hint on how to get the "true" pacifist ending if you spare them. If you don't spare them, you don't get the hint and, thus, no clue on how to progress to the true pacifist, or even that there was one in the first place. Obviously, the Internet exists, but "after leaving the core, backtrack until you get a phone call from Undyne" seems, much like sparing Toriel, completely non-obvious unless you get that hint. I can only assume that someone going through the entire game again, but this time being as pacifist as possible, getting the Flowey message and then going to find Alphys is what is expected, and probably what I would've done if the Internet didn't exist and I found out about it through osmosis.
The big thing that negatively affects the game for me was the ending to true pacifist [sic]. Once you've beat neutral once and probably gone through the entire game again because you killed Toriel and then finished with the Asriel fights, you then find out that the name you typed in at the start was not the name of the character you were playing. Once you trawl through all the game's text and piece it together, it turns out you were actually naming the first human who fell down a long time ago and was adopted by Toriel and Asgore. The character you were playing as is actually called "Frisk".
Now bear with me a second here while I get psychological on you.
Imagine you are playing through a role playing game. You name the character you're playing as after yourself. You style them after yourself. You play as them. That character is you. Then imagine that, in the game, you got killed and replaced by someone else with a different name, only they look like your character did.
They are the ones everyone is happy to see.
They are the ones attributed to saving the world.
They took the happiness that should've been mine.
In Undertale, just as you think you've saved the world, it takes that glory away from you and gives it to "Frisk" instead.
I felt cheated out of my happy ending.
I was no longer a part of this story.
I became a simple bystander as "Frisk" was praised by everyone.
Is this the actual motivation behind doing a genocide run? Putting that ending aside, there's no real motivation behind doing a genocide run because all the characters are lovely. You wouldn't want to harm them after a true pacifist run. But then the Frisk thing happens and I'm left thinking "but I did this. I helped everyone. Frisk isn't me." In the genocide run, everyone refers to you by the name you put in. It's definitely you who is the cold blooded murderer, not Frisk. So the game has you remembered as being a murderer, or someone else entirely. To actually leave your mark in the game world, kill everything.
To try and shoehorn yourself back in, you can assume that the physical human that you are moving about the underworld is called Frisk, but you are possessing the human as a spirit or "soul" as the first fallen human to either make up for what you did when you first fell down or to finish what you started and kill everything. It's not exactly ideal though, as you can't claim credit for something when you're a ghost.
Honestly, the first two things are minor niggles that were a little frustrating at the time, but it's not that big a deal. The final one though is why, despite massively enjoying Undertale, it left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Regardless of that though, I'll certainly be interested in whatever Toby Fox does next.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Regarding Aikatsu!, the big slump of 2015 and basically me oversharing
Before the big slump of 2015 (more on that later), I had a routine. For every anime season, I would review the massive JPEGs of doom to see what shows are coming up, shortlist the shows that sound like they could be good and prepare my streaming, torrents, etc accordingly. I had been doing this routinely since roughly 2008-2009 when Toradora was airing (the first anime I watched weekly as it came out with the fansubs).
Fast forward to 2012, specifically the Autumn or "Fall" season. This season was home to a few big names: Chuunibyou season 1, Hidamari Sketch x honeycomb and Girls und Panzer to name a few. Now, generally speaking, each anime had a description, cast, hashtag, etc to give you a rough idea and it was this that I would base whether to watch a series or not. Sometimes I'd pick something up from recommendations too I should add. So generally, you'd get something like this:
-moetron.com, 2012
But there was one show that just plain didn't have anything written about it. One show that stood out as a "who cares". One show that made me think "sounds stupid, like YuGiOh but with idols. I'll watch one episode as a laugh."
-moetron.com, 2012
So, first things first. Yes, I watched the first episode of Aikatsu! completely on a whim and expecting to drop it. As part of writing this blog post, I just this second finished watching episode 1 again to see if I can remind myself what made me continue watching. It has been quite a while since I last watched it, so it might be nostalgia talking, but the characters, the music, the genuine fun the show seems to have is still there, even if the CG was super wonky back then. Truth be told, I often skipped the song in old episodes of Aikatsu! as they often repeated the same songs every week for a while and the CG was super wonky.
Fast forward to today and we're approaching 3 whole years since the first episode. I've watched every single one and I've seen the first movie too. Lately, they've got a much bigger variety of songs to choose from, and the CG looks fantastic! Click here to see a comparison of just how far the CG has come over the first 54 episodes, not to mention the newest ones look even better!
So what is "the big slump"? Well, in 2014 I got a significant other who encouraged me to watch shows I wouldn't normally be interested in because I watch "too many little girl shows" and not enough of what they liked. So I figured I'd try and expand my horizons a bit and watch some other shows. This lead to me trying to watch a bit of everything and not really having the time to do it. This person became particularly toxic towards the anime, music, and basically everything I enjoyed and, eventually, me as a whole. I was watching less and less anime to the point where I hardly watched anything. I finally left that relationship at the start of 2015. That person is long behind me now and I want nothing to do with them ever again. This left me with an issue: I had many series in my backlog that I couldn't bring up the enthusiasm to attempt to catch up on. Despite parting ways with this individual, I was still, what I consider, quite broken. I just couldn't get the enthusiasm to watch most anime. I can't watch something if I'm not in the mood for it, and the mood only happened a couple of times a week at most. The biggest issue for me was starting new series, not knowing what you're in for. I also blame part of this on Madoka Magica, a series which I utterly despise, probably not because it's a bad show, but because I forced myself to watch it all and became completely depressed as a result. It's not a show I enjoyed, but I watched the whole thing because everyone else was and I didn't want to feel left out, but I feel worse off as a result so thanks everyone. Any sequels or continuing shows I was fine with, I'd still be watching these every week. Most notable of these is Aikatsu! of course. This slump continued until mid-2015 where I got myself into another relationship of sorts, but one that basically had an agreement that neither of us were super sure about whether it would work out for various reasons. I was very happy with this relationship and, although it has since ended, I feel like a better person because of it as I'm starting to understand just who I am, what I am and what I enjoy and be way happier with it. It also seems to have reset my anime watching-ness...that's a word, as I'm now marching through my backlog with a few episodes a day, rather than a couple of episodes a week. I basically consider this relationship-like thing I had to have basically rebooted me and I'm on the way to getting to how I want to be.
Let's go back to Aikatsu! again. I'm still watching this show every week and I have been doing for almost 3 years (minus 2.5 weeks at time of writing). I can't explain quite how happy this show makes me. I have so much fun seeing what the characters are up to, hearing the new songs, buying the CDs and, hell, I even managed to meet Ruka, Mona and Miki from Aikatsu Stars while I was in Japan last month (they seemed pretty psyched that someone from the UK came to see them, and I can gloat that I was the only westerner there). I just have so much fun with this whole franchise every week! I'm going to do my best to get to Japan to see the third film (second story-based film) next summer, as that's my new number 1 goal after I completed my "just get to Japan, doesn't matter what happens while you're there, just get there" goal in July.
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