At Xmas Party
Town Hall Station
50s Female Canvasser - What's wrong? We're not telemarketers. We're not telemarketers! It's free!
In Hospital Waiting Room
Wife [touches husband's arm while waiting to go into surgery] - Look at you, my big, strong, dependable man.
Husband [smiles]
On Darlinghurst Rd
Policeman - We're gonna place you under arrest orright?!
The most involving thing about this anime, which I think the creators knew when they made it, is the setting and characters. It was my first glimpse into regional Japan and one I didn't fully understand, but which still colours my opinion of anime. I don't really know much about Hokkaido apart from that it's cold and you eat seafood there, and this insular story, while expanding across the world with Chise's (the ultimate weapon of the title) continued battles, shows a region similar to the rest of Japan, but isolated, somewhat how I imagine Okinawa to be.
Similarly, it is in the tiny moments of pain that the supporting cast feel that the beauty of the story can really be seen. I recall one episode in which an army attacks the town Chise is from and as she defends against it in the sky, destruction rains down on the city, resulting in the death of one of her friends, Atsushi, and the devastation of her other friend who was in love with him. This humanity offset against Chise's doggedness to destroy the enemy illustrate the horror of her situation more than any rendering of her mechanical insides could ever do.
Chise's weaponry is possibly the most jarring aspect of the piece. It's hard to reconcile its destructive power and size with Chise's tiny frame and seeming consideration of herself as insignificant. In the live-action film, her weaponry is much more realized than in the anime, which grounds it a little more, however, in terms of the anime, it actually is more effective that it is this oddly ephemeral presence in their lives.
Heartbreaking. The subtitle to the series being 'the last love song on this little planet' sets it up for angst, but it delivers so much more than that, with a poignant, quietly horrific end that, upon reflection is utterly unavoidable.
So my dogma failed for the first time today, when every photo was basically the same photo for Chobits. I have decided to expand it to include any variations on the name of the anime, as long as the images are on the first page still.
Underpants. Underpants. Underpants. When I first watched Chobits, I had painstakingly downloaded each episode individually over Limewire and subsequently watched some episodes in Japanese and some in *shudder* English. One of those was a marvelous one in which Chi goes out to buy underpants and learns the word underpants, and ONLY the word underpants. I suspect this, coupled with the fact that her 'on' button was her vag-wah-wah, was my first glimpse into the somewhat seamier side of Japanese animation (something recently hammered home in Kiddy girl-and with an adult male character named 'Peddy' interested in a six year old girl). I can still hear Chi's dubbed voice singing out 'underpants, underpants' and 'take care of yourself' and other misguided translations of distinctly Japanese things.
First of all, I have no idea who Ivan is, or when his birthday is, but I loved this about Chobits. The ancient televisions and computer systems that they used were completely at odds with the sophisticated cyborgs that everyone seemed to have. I was disappointed with the 'dead-eye' animation, particularly when they log on or recharge, but in hindsight, it was somewhat comforting. I found the whole series quite homely and safe, even with the introduction of spies and evil 'dark' versions of Chi, it retained a very innocent core which I suppose was the point of the whole thing, it could be seen from an individual basis regarding Chi, or as an allegory for Japan or even (far-fetched) the world.
I finally purchased the damn thing on pirated DVDs from Chinatown or eBay, I can't recall which, when Limewire crashed completely. And this was the cover. All frills and hair (which was never as beautiful in the actual anime) and sitting on a telegraph pole. When I look out my window now, all I can see are the tops of trees and rooftops, but in Japan, there are telegraph poles and more wires than you can imagine, so retrospectively, as I watched this prior to moving to Japan, this reminds me very strongly of Japan.
I wanted to use this picture because I crushed heavily on En-Ou but I thought it might be inappropriate and all I can really say about that picture is that while I appreciate (very much) the sentiment, it really looks nothing like Shouryuu.
So here goes.
I'm nervous writing this.
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At St Andrews Cathedral Square
40ish Businessman On Phone* - I was like, fine, sell it, give her half and she can fuckin' put it in trust. See what the fuckin' little bitch has to fuckin' say about that.
40ish Businessman On Phone* - I'm fuckin' strong man, like 80 kay gees, or 120 kay gees. Man, that guy can deadlift 190 kay gees, bends the bar. He's built like me but I reckon he's on the juice.
40ish Businessman On Phone* - She's 20 man, she's madly in love with me, I mean, she wants to have kids you know. She's been like 'cum in me, cum in me' all the time.
*same man, same conversation
I ‘publish’ work in various places on this Internet. I have my secrets, which arguably are no longer secrets. I have a shared blog with the lovely Kyrani in which we voice our frustration at the world. I have also split this blog into a number of sub-blogs if you will, about my life and how ‘fantastic’ it is, about eavesdropping on my fellow human beings, and about travel.
It’s confusing and messy, but with a vague order that I, at least, understand. And I’ve decided to add another facet to it. You see, I watch anime. A lot of anime. And no-one else I know watches the same amount as me, nor is as passionate (read:otaku) about it as me. Therefore I will be reviewing it retrospectively at first, and then as I watch, in order that my views will be somewhere (though arguably the Internet is ‘nowhere’) and anyone who feels the same burning desperation to discuss them can do so with me.
And yes, that's a Glee reference.
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