Recently, Kyoto Animation announced their upcoming Summer anime project, a little series called Free! about a group of high school boys who compete on a swim team. This was an extension of a Kyoto Animation commercial/animation demo/whatever you’d like to label it, in which a group of hot guys essentially got into their kickin’ swim gear and showed their abs near the pool. The concept was based on that of an honorable mention is KyoAni’s annual writing contest. The CM was an instant sensation with the Tumblr crowd; my Tumblr dashboard lit up with gifsets, fan-art and tributes to the unnamed characters (I even made one of my own for the Anime Detour WTF Contest). Crunchyroll eventually posted a petition asking KyoAni to actually produce a TV series based on the short, and it gained over 10,000 signatures (as of right now, it’s sitting at nearly 20,000, quite a feat if you ask me). It was clear that something about the imagery had set the fandom aflame (and not just in the groin area).

Whether the results of the petition were a factor in KyoAni’s decision or not will probably never be common knowledge (I suspect that this show was in production prior to the first CM), but the fact that it was featured as their upcoming Summer project was both a complete surprise to me, and not really that surprising at all. I think to completely ignore the fandom response would have been impossible; while the reactions I’ve talked about so far here have been limited to the Western parts of the anime fandom, I’m guessing that female fans from Japan probably reacted in a favorable, impassioned way as well. And yet, as an anime fan and as a woman, being an ignored member of the anime fandom is nothing new to me. I’m not even talking about fanservice specifically; entertainment in general so often portrays people like me as objects rather than subjects, side characters seen through the eyes of men, and as audience members not worth targeting.

If you're wondering where I've been for the past several weeks, wonder no more. I was very busy preparing for Anime Detour, my favorite local anime convention run by some very cool people (I'm a bit biased: they're my friends... and me, hehe). This year my habit of procrastinating hit me extra hard, so I ended up having to spend a lot of time all at once getting my act together. In addition to some yearly panels I run, I also run the AMV Contest(s) and that requires some amount of organization, pre-planning, work... Anyway, I'll have a convention reaction post up in a little bit, but for those of you who are interested in getting a look at my panel materials, I've uploaded them. They include handouts and clips/presentations from the panels. Feel free to use them if you like, just credit me/link back here if you use them for your own presentations and what-not. I put a lot of work into making these materials, so it's nice to get some credit.

FYI, the video files should be playable to pretty much anyone who watches any amount of downloaded video. During the year I started to make the transition between using avi and mp4 files for the clips, so there are some of each. They should all play on most computers, even less powerful ones.

Shiny New Anime

This is my yearly panel devoted to anime that's been released between last year's convention and this year's. My husband and I (and occasionally some other guests) talk about our favorites and show clips from them.

Handout

Clips

Anime for Grown-Ups

During this panel, we devote some time to discussing anime either aimed at an older audience, or general-audience shows that might have appeal towards fans who feel like their more "mature" tastes are underrepresented in the selection of series. It's not necessarily anime that contains copious sex and violence (though sometimes those things can be a component). I sometimes get some flak from people wondering why some shows are "for grown-ups;" my answer really is that these choices are subjective to what I consider appealing to older people, and that I watch and enjoy plenty of anime that's "not for grown-ups" also.

Handout

Clips

Manga for Grown-Ups

Likewise, this is a panel devoted to more mature-themed manga. This panel is often easier to put together because there's simply more manga aimed at older readers than there is anime aimed at older viewers.

Handout

Power Point Presentation

All of the links should be available for 30 days. If you'd like to download these after that window, send a comment and I'll update the links.

Also! If you have any suggestions for Manga or Anime for Grown-Ups, let me know. I've watched a lot of anime and held these panels for multiple years, but that doesn't mean I'm aware of everything that might be interesting or relevant.

The weekend of St. Patrick’s Day, I attended a local convention. It was awesome, I got my relaxation on, and I was really looking forward to coming back to this website with some newfound energy and pep. Of course, all my best-laid plans seem to go awry, and the following Monday I ended up on my back with a terrible fever. Since then, the mystery flu has torn its way through the Silver-Frederiksen household like a tornado, and my husband is currently suffering its ill-effects. Awesome. With less than a month to go before an upcoming convention (where I’m saddled with several important responsibilities), it’s not really how I wanted to be wasting away my time.

The upside, though, is that we’ve finally gotten to my favorite episode in this anime series. It might seem kind of depressing to be peaking in the middle of the show, but I don’t necessarily look at it like that. The show overall has much more story to tell, but this is the episode that hits me the hardest in the feels box. I think that those of you who have been watching along will really enjoy the new perspective that you’ll gain on Filicia after you get done with this episode.

Watch episode 7 HERE.

Episode 7: Chirping Crickets – Spirits Down the River

The people of Seize are preparing for a festival particular to Southern Helvetia. Kanata calls it Obon, and it involves the creation of paper lanterns which help guide the spirits of visiting ancestors back to the land of the dead. As the festival approaches, Filicia recalls her days as a young soldier. Her experience in direct combat with the enemy, as well as her unlikely survival and rescue, weigh heavily on her as the other girls talk about the spirits of the dead and prepare their lanterns. Filicia elects not to reveal her true preoccupation to Rio, but instead decides to find meaning in what some might claim is now a hopeless, meaningless life during the decline of human civilization.

Well, it's been an interesting last couple of weeks, that's for sure. Without going into too much detail about my personal life, my job has been extra-stressful. I took a class, which was rewarding but required a lot of work and really tested my social anxiety to its limits (I had to do some public speaking in front of a group). That, plus a presentation, plus some out-of-the-ordinary circumstances all added up to a really crappy time. My mind would race at work, and while I'd be concentrating on my job, I'd also be thinking about all the things I wanted to write here when I got home. Then I'd get home and end up being too exhausted to think clearly. It's been really frustrating and depressing. Also not the best of circumstances considering that I have to put together several hours of material on last year's anime and manga for a con coming up, and I'm so behind on watching it that the amount of work I have to do is incredibly intimidating.

But that's enough about me.

I've convinced my Sunday evening anime group to check this series out, and I'm glad; it's really a much better show than it might seem at first glance and I'm excited for more people to watch it.

Watch Episode 6 HERE.

Episode 6: Kanata's Day Off - Hairdressing

With her first paycheck, Kanata goes out for the day to buy gifts for her family (and perhaps also a treat for herself). She doesn't bother asking herself where a small platoon out in the middle of nowhere would get cash enough to pay her, which is just fine; as it turns out, her comrades run a bit of a side business bootlegging alcohol. They get into some hot water with a group of mobsters, but some clever play acting throws them off for the time being. In the meantime, Kanata spends some time in town, and gets involved in some drama involving a local orphan named Mishio and her guardian at the church, Yumina. Mishio's sadness is due to a lost box which belonged to her mother and her hopes of finding it at the local market. When MIshio ends up in a dangerous situation, it's Yumina's name she calls. Soon, Kanata and Yumina discover Mishio's true feelings, and both Mishio and Kanata learn about the value of found families.

So in case it wasn’t apparent from the fact that I haven’t updated yet this week, I’ve been very busy lately. I’m taking a class at work, and they’ve actually given me homework and reading to do. The last class session is tomorrow, so it shouldn’t be hindering my writing any more after that. The newest book club update should take place this weekend. I’ve also been plugging away at reviewing crappy anime from this and last season, as requested (HOORAY), so expect that, too.

I thought I'd get this out of the way now rather than waiting until the last minute. Hopefully this should give people enough time to decide whether they'd like to participate and to obtain the series in whatever way they are able.

The next selection I've chosen as the focus for the Anime Book Club is Armed Librarians: The Book of Bantorra, an action/mystery/fantasy series from 2009 that's recently been released on DVD in Region 1.

The series is 27 episodes, which includes a re-cap episode about half-way through. This is one case where I feel like the re-cap is actually worth one's time to watch, because there is so much going on in the series up to that point that a refresher is extremely welcome. I'll probably put the re-cap on its own week just for purposes of clarifying the story. Otherwise, I want to try and tackle the series two episodes per week, like we normally do for longer series like this.

The show is, by many accounts, pretty odd. Its main feature is its extremely creative world-building. In this story, when people die their souls become stone tablets known as books, which can then be "read" by anyone who feels the need to do so. They can then see the events of that person's life almost as if they were living them. The primary characters are "Librarians" who work at the Library of Bantorra, an archive of all the people who ever lived. The story also involves the conflict between the Librarians and adherents to a religion that tries to classify people into certain social strata. The characters are less-developed than I would normally like, but without spoiling anything about the plot, there's actually a valid story-related reason why that's the case.

The story is relayed in several shorter story arcs that focus on one or two specific characters at a time, and culminate in an arc that brings everything back together.

Unfortunately, this series is somewhat less-available than I would normally like for a series in the Book Club; as I mentioned, it's available on DVD (gotta love how Sentai over-emphasized the breasts on both of those DVD covers, as if to try and trick people into buying it for the sex appeal, of which there is little), as well as on The Anime Network's website; because it received a dub, though, it's only available in its entirety to subscribers of the service. There are, of course, other ways to obtain the series... but I don't generally encourage those except in a last-resort situation.

I will admit that this is a bit of a controversial choice on my part. I really enjoyed the show and was fascinated by its storytelling, but for everyone who agrees with me there are probably two or three more that label it "convoluted" (check out any comment thread on the series if you don't believe me). My hope is that, by watching it again and doing some analysis at the same time, I'll be better able to argue my case for the show, and maybe a few others will also enjoy it.

I'll update later on regarding the date we'll start this series. It will depend both on when we finish Sora no Woto and my personal schedule at that time (I might have some convention stuff going on so I might take a break before diving right into another series).

Woohoo, I'm actually on time this week! I think I'm slowly crawling out of my Winter depressive slump and I'm feeling much more productive than I have in several weeks. I actually got some sunlight yesterday while out with some friends and I think that really helped quite a bit with my mood an energy level. Now I'm cloistering myself inside my office once again to go full-otaku and watch some anime... in reasonable amounts with ample breaks in-between sessions.

This week the characters also take a trip outside their comfort zone to explore the mysterious wilderness surrounding the city. We get a closer look at the beauty and desolation of their world while also glimpsing some more clues as to the type of technology that existed prior to the time period in the series. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean "doom and gloom" as far as the show's tone is concerned - the characters also manage to have some fun in the process.

Watch Episode 5 HERE.

Episode 5: Mountain Hiking - The Ends of the Earth

One very hot day, Claus, a dispatch rider and Major in the army, brings the soldiers mail from their loved-ones. That's not all, however - he also brings them a maintenance mission that Felicia attempts to spin into a "field trip" for the younger troops. Kanata, Noel and Kureha are to travel along the border of "No Man's Land" and check on some surveillance units, while also lugging around huge backpacks. They find the first unit without problems, but after a detour during which they cool off in a river, they find their packs ransacked and have to go it without their full resources. The going gets tougher as the sun begins to set, but they eventually make their way to their destination, where they're met by Filicia, who explains the significance of the field trip and rewards them with an evening in a hot spring that's been hosting many generations of soldiers.

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine posted an opinion online regarding a television series with a large cult following. The series is a critical darling (if not a ratings superstar), and many people in my social circle are big fans of it, so this particular friend of mine started watching it. When she did, she picked out many aspects of it that, based on her experience, came across as hurtful and insensitive. They're things that I think most fans either gloss over, things that don't register as "negative" with them, or which they just tend to interpret differently. In any case, she expressed this to her friends via the internet, explaining how, in some sense, she almost felt betrayed by the intense, repeated recommendations of the show from many of her friends.

Situations like this one are part of the reason why I don't generally take anime recommendations from outside sources.

I consider myself a pretty sensitive person, and a lot of how I approach situations is based around the goal of guarding and protecting my mental well-being. I don't consider this to be inherently negative; I don't think that intentionally being a hard-ass or acting stoic in the face of intense emotional stimuli is necessarily something to be proud of. But it does mean that I have to be in a certain state of mind to watch things that I know are going to upset me (which is part of the reason why I've been loathe to touch a lot of recent anime series at this blog, har har), and it's difficult to express to people the nature of the specific things that trigger the sort of intense negative response that can come with being caught emotionally off-guard.

Things are beginning to calm down here at home, though rather than be timely with this entry I've for some reason decided that it's more important to start clearing out some of my personal blog backlog. I have a problem with beginning entries on subjects that I believe will be interesting to people, and then struggling partway through trying to write competently and reflect the really profound thoughts I think I'm having. I get frustrated, put it aside, and then consider it a lost cause. I'm guessing that it's more than just me who struggles with this; the common wisdom is just to plop-dump whatever you can onto the page and worry about profundity later on, but it's hard for me not to self-edit as I go. And that, folks, is how you develop crippling writer's block.

Anyway, I hope people are enjoying the show so far. Four episodes in and I'm recalling all the reasons why I liked the series the first time around, although I have to mention that there's at least one pretty lackluster episode coming up that I'm not looking forward to having to watch again.

Episode 4 is HERE.

Episode 4: Rainy Season Sky - Quartz Rainbow

Kanata and Noel travel together into town to buy supplies for the fort. They stop at a local shop, and Kanata admires a glass figurine of a dolphin. An encounter in town emphasizes the distance between some of the townspeople and the soldiers who represent war and conflict. As part of their errands, they travel to the glass factory outside of town. Noel needs a second lens to repair the targeting system of their tank, and the Meister at the factory is attempting to duplicate the original lens, with limited success. They discuss the nature of technology and the people who use it. Kanata learns that sometimes the most effective way to accomplish something is to let it flow naturally rather than trying to force it.

Humanity Has Declined (Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita)

Number of Episodes: 12

Production Company: AIC A.S.T.A.

ANN Encyclopedia Wikipedia Crunchyroll

This series is licensed for R1 DVD distribution by Sentai Filmworks

Brief Overview: Human civilization has declined, only to be replaced by that of a new species of human being - fairies. The fairies live on sugar and reproduce on joy and laughter, and their culture is virtually incomprehensible, which is why it falls on the protagonist of this series, a UN mediator, to interact with the fairies and help them to live alongside the diminishing number of humans.