Fixing Things Without Really Fixing Them

Some recent shows I watched gave me the impression that they only pretend of trying to address my concerns, and possibly other fans concerns.

Eminence in Shadow

For example, recent Eminence in Shadow seemed to listen to my criticism of the original and tried to address these issues in sequel.

I criticized Alexia for being hard-ass, I praised scholar-girl from second ark, Diabolos-chan, Gamma, Delta and Eta.

Second season partly feels like they listen to me and even tried to do things I asked for.

So, in second season we have much less Alexia, who now wears glasses, perhaps to get some of that scholar girl charm.

In contrast we have a lot more Delta and Gamma. That seems like an improvement over the original, however if you look deeper then you can notice that it isn't.

In the original, every girl in Shadow Garden was her own distinct type, that would appeal to different people. Alpha was arrogant but busy hard-ass, Beta was shameless in trying to attract men, but girly girl, Gamma was demure, reserved, immaculate manners woman, who is also a clutz, Eta was basically Tomoko from Watamote, but also scientist.

Now they lost many they behavioral differences. Their gimmicks are retained, but more core personality traits are being swapped for something else instead.

The reason for that is the way they started to white these more popular characters. Back in original, Gamma was a demure, reserved and proper mannered woman. She had her distinct role in organization as well.

In sequel she instead works close with Alpha and to some extend take on some of her qualities to her new self. Second season Gamma is much less demure and proper compared to the original. She is much more confident and assertive then she was in the original. 

Delta was fleshed out into a savage, feral woman-beast. In the original she was more of a generic cat-girl who kills people easily, but afraid of Alpha.

Eta was anti-social nerd/scientist, that could not talk properly. Now she is just wicked scientist.

Diabolos-chan lost her vulnerable side as well, she had little chance to showcase her mannerism as well.

What made Alexia so unappealing was her assertive, outspoken, exploitative, hard-ass personality. If you take away Alexia, but spread her qualities across other characters, it only appears, like you trying to address the issue, but you are really not. The qualities and personality traits, that I and other people do not like are still there, just more diffused in the show itself. It does not address the issue, just makes it harder to isolate.

Konosuba

Recently Konosuba decided to address the same issue as well. They took the most likable character from the quartet, Megumin, and made a spin-off show about her.

Original Konosuba had unlikable, arrogant smug Aqua, masochistic, but pushy and assertive Lalatina as well as capable, but flawed wizard Megumin, who can only use one spell and then just falls on the ground helplessly.

Of these four Megumin was the most girly in a traditional sense. That is why fans liked her most, there were plenty of art of Megumin on places like gelbooru.

Now finally plea of fans was addressed, or was it?

As main character of the show, Megumin somehow acquired many of the Aqua's personality traits. Now she is more of Aqua in Megumin's clothes then actual Megumin. (Wolf in Sheep's clothes metaphor)

Show also has feminist family where women make rules.

One that had it right - Girls Bravo

I do wonder how all that begun though. Back in the days for example we had Girls Bravo, it had Miharu and Kojima. They contrasted with each other: Kojima was violent for no reason and hurt Yukinari too often, in contrast Miharu was demure feminine and proper at all times. Muharu was the only guy who did not gave Yukinari girl-allergy.

That girl-allergy was like metaphor to the idea that if girl would behave properly, like Miharu, then guys would not avoid them.

That also was dream and wish fulfilment: even if you are short and weak, there is some nice girl for you somewhere on the moon. Your little angel. One day she will fall down from the moon and make your life happy.

In Miharu character, Girls Bravo showcased what men want women to be. In Kojima, what men do not like in women, why they avoid them.

One that Eventually Ruined it - Sora no Otoshimono

This show took the whole angel idea literally. It straight gave away you an angeloid in the very first episode. Ikaros was not just the ideal woman (other than the fact that she is somewhat fat): quiet, demure, obedient, accommodating and subservient; she also had magical ability to solve all your life problems too.

Then it somehow went wrong way in writing department. Kojima equivalent, Sohara had her violence as gimmick rather than flaw. They also added a truly mean character, Mikako. These two were taking most of the screentime.

Sakurai, unlike Yukinari was more interested in collecting panties, than in finding happiness with Ikaros.

Unlike Miharu, Ikaros was treated more like helpless disabled creature, that needs supervision, rather than ideal girlfriend type. Eventually they added even more angeloids, who were nothing like Ikaros: tsundere Nimph, genki Astraea.

All that only took show further from the original idea. Now show no longer knew what it was or what it even supposed to be. It became chaos and not the ideal relationship show.

Conclusion

Then future shows just removed Ikaros type all together, leaving only violent assertive girls.

Now we have a lot of anime, where girls are anything, but attractive. Especially main girls.

Alas.

School Days Review

Overall Rating 7.8 out of 10 - A very good show with unfortunate ending and few other plots.

I recommend watching.

It turns out that "gambling apocalypse" Itou Kaiji has a little brother, Itou Makoto, who is "dating apocalypse" instead. 

This is a well written show, with interesting plot twists, diverse and well written characters, good story and many other things.

It is also a deep and profound story that illustrates a lot about human nature and such. In that regard it is similar to Revolutionary Girl Utena. However, unlike Utena, School Girls do not use metaphors and allegory (except at the very end), thus making it easier to understand for viewer unfamiliar with literary fiction.

Story begins with slow nice and easy romance. First 3 episodes are pleasant and enjoyable to watch.

Then in the middle part things get complicated.

Finally, a very well written culmination in the few final episodes. The only unfortunate part is that Sekai kills Itou. Itou did nothing wrong and it all was Sekai's fault.

Story has one male protagonist, two main female love interests and many more girls, who all end up sleeping with him.

However, that is not simple harem show, with some light comedy, like Hand Maid May, that I also like.

Instead, it explores darker sides of human psychology. It shows how people can sometimes can-do awful things, when relationships involved. I am not only talking about murder at the end of the show, but also of all the lies misinformation and pressure in the middle part as well.

Kotonoha is a very nice girl, but she has no allies and many enemies who are jealous of her beauty. Thus, they get out of their way to ruin her relationship with Itou.

In contrast community is on Sekai's side. Some like Kyoura help her openly and others are just misled by her constantly hanging around Itou.

I wrote in my previous article how it was Sekai's fault that Itou ended up cheating on Kotonoha. Show does agree with me in the epilogue, where characters in masks do show Sekai the truth of her intentions.

It was also Sekai's fault, that he cheated on her as well. Eventually, Sekai's overbearing nature, lead towards him going for other women out there.

Sekai faked her pregnancy, but that changed nothing. Doing that could not solve a fundamental problem with her own character. Sekai is annoyingly overbearing and fundamentally a liar.

My favorite is of course Kotonoha. She is cute, sweet, demure, woman like. She is an example of how women should be. When it comes to example of femininity, Ryo from Koufuku Graffiti, will do better. As there is nothing bad happening in that show.

However, Kotonoha is more than just set of feminine qualities. She is both sympathetic and even partly relatable to me.

I like how she worked hard to please Itou.

However, I also like how loyal she was. No matter how much Itou was hanging out with other women and how much other characters wanted to take her away from him, she stayed true to him. Her classmates burdened her with work out of jealousy. Sawanaga, who despite being Itou's friend, coveted cute Kotonoha as his own, tried to lie his way into her panties. That is how much any friendship is worth when faced with dating dilemmas.

That loyalty and attachment to Itou made Kotonoha almost insane at the end. However, that also allow her to learn the truth about conspiracies that were happening behind the scenes.

Still dead eyed Kotonoha is cute in her own way, compare to puppy eyed one.

I also liked it that she avenged Itou by killing Sekai. Sekai killed Itou and had to pay for that. Loyalty

Mess like this is why I am cautious with dating and such. I do not want to end up a victim of a crazy girl conspiracy.

Overall, however this is a very insightful show, that allows one to see issues and pitfalls of relationship and human nature. Something I used to talk about with TrueHellDei back in the days. I think she is much like Kotonoha personality wise.

Because of that all, I would recommend this show. So that you at least do not make the same mistakes as Sekai.

Extra: I also watched an original ONA that was basically just a first episode basically pilot with few differences. The show gets much better few episodes later. Also, I watched without subtitles, so there is little I can say on plot differences. ONA by itself is just 6.5 out of 10

Unbreakable Machine Doll Review

Overall Rating 7.2 out of 10 - Good show, despite poor beginning.

I recommend watching.

I am actually glad I did not drop it on first few episodes. It begins rather poorly but then recovers really well. In fact, it is best to simply skip first three episodes and start from episode 4. Final battle of Cannibal Candy Ark is alright, but the rest of the arc is not.

The show is divided into three arcs, 4 episodes each. Each ark has main antagonist and well as another girl for Riashin's 'harem'. You can understand that only by episode 5 something.

First ark has the worst girl, snobbish tsundere Char. Her personality together with Raishin's preference for her over Yaya nearly made me drop the show.

Second arc has calm, demure and likable dandere-clutz Frey(a) as Bond Raishin's girl. Her and Loki story is rather compelling and relatable, their 'dad' reminded me of my own. Loki and Raishin exchanges somewhat reminded me of me and my brother. I do not like dogs, but that was not big deal. Anyhow Frey(a) is cute. Overall, this is best ark.

Final ark revolves around Char and her sister Henri. Henri is confused girl, who thinks everyone is out to rape her or something. However, she can be sweet at times. Char is not as annoying here as in first ark, because she does not get too much screen time.

However, it is Yaya, who is the best girl of the show. She is often shown as going Yandere over Raishin interacting with other girls. However, behind that it is easy to overlook, that she is very devoted to Raishin and will do anything for him. She looks cute too, this short kimono, that this show possibly stole from Gintama is cute. Not to mention black cloth and hair, white skin and frills, add a little red here and there. This color scheme is just perfect. Yaya's attire is like Enma Ai gone sexy.

Overall, the art style of Japanese girls in this show is perfect. Yaya has two other sister dolls whose names I did not catch. While and orange dolls are good in their own way. Their alcoholic creator looks alright, but she is not my thing, unlike Raishin I am not into powerful women. I want all my girls to be subordinated to me. She is not as bad as Char or the red head though.

I do not share the same enthusiasm for Victorian era steampunk of the rest of the show. Somehow it is too grey and dull. In general, this trope is overused in modern anime and possibly Hollywood as well, I did not watch a Hollywood movie since release of Hobbit so I cannot tell.

Also, the show is full of sexual innuendos that by the end of the show, fill almost half of the episode. All girls here always think about all sorts of sexual stuff. That all gets chaotic at times.

My favorite character is Magnus thought. He is rational, calm and collected as I am. Also, I want to have a harem of loyal dolls just like he has.

Overall is it a very good show. Without first three episodes I can even give it 7.7 something.

Also, an extra picture of Yaya, because I feel like it.

Devil May Cry Review

Overall Rating 6.8 out of 10 - Mostly good with a few flaws.

I can recommend watching.

This one is very simple, but fun nonetheless show. 

Dante is an anime version of Chuck Norris. He does look cool and has likable enough personality. While not especially interesting, he makes for much better protagonist compared to many others, like for example his look alike Light from Death Note.

Supporting cast is alright for the most part. They are good fit in the overall theme of the show and do not stand out like a sore thumb. 

The two girls are rather exploitative of Male MC, I am not sure if creators thought this is playful or something, but that does not make a good impression. Their introductory episodes do not showcase them in good light, but they do much better as support cast in other episodes, like Death Poker for example. Their poor personality is somewhat balanced with relatively good looks and not too much dialog lines for me to drop this show because of them.

Some episodes are borderline silly, such as motorcycle one. Others are better thought through and even have an interesting plot to follow. However, none are so bad, you would want to drop.

Overall feel or atmosphere of this show is supported by over the top dark and 'bad ass' aesthetics, for the lack of better word. The feel is consistently applied to everything in this show, mostly to portray Dante as some uncompromising alpha chad.

Overall, it is an interesting show. Much better than some AoT or Demon Slayer.

.hack//Quantum Review

Overall Rating 6.6 out of 10 - An exceptionally strong beginning, but otherwise somewhat flawed experience.

I can still recommend watching.

Quantum begins really well. It takes realistic emulation of the IRL MMOs to the next lever. The Dragon Raid is just like the Onyxia's Lair from original WoW. The coordination between raids members is also very realistic. The show was going to the next high mark.

As a little bonus icing on the cake, Sayaka is the cutest character design in the whole series. She is cute at being clutz as well. So adorable.

Unfortunately, the show goes somewhat downhill from there.

IRL sections are too long. The explanation of the plot is very long, I think it takes nearly full episode just to actually explain what is going on, and there is only 3 episodes in total. Plot is overly stretched: sure, the other .hack// series shows also exploited inability to log out and game irregularities as plot points, but they were more subtle about it. Here however it seems that everyone and their dog hacking the game like no tomorrow.

Hermit is overly simplified Tsukasa mixed with Maha, who actually lost all the traits and development that made Tsuakasa great character to begin with.

The guild leader is overly authoritarian person in general and show takes undue pleasure to showcasing that.

I would still recommend it, the very first episode at the very least. For dragon raid and Sayaka.

One Reason New WoW recieves so much criticism

Fundamentally most gamers are introverted people. Introverts get overloaded from too much of social interaction and need plenty of alone time to recover. 

Old WoW with it heavily exploratory character, worked well for introverted players. In some zones like Desolace, Plaguelands and especially Azshara you can play for hours without encountering any NPC at all. It was a reflective and contemplating experience. However, in general game did a good job of leaving you alone with your thoughts, only occasionally feeding you some new info. That way you had time to see and think for yourself. 

Not to mention, original Azshara was stunningly beautiful: autumn wonderland with white marble ruins and seashore. Something Pushkin wrote is autumn poem about. Possibly the best-looking zone in the game, tied with Ashenvale.

In Cataclysm Azshara was remade into a Goblin theme park with rollercoasters and what not. In general, everything became so jam-packed with stuff, that it easily gets as overwhelming as social interaction.

In general game become a lot more like invasive ad, that constantly throws something at you without giving you a break.

I am not sure if Blizzard decided to adopt game to extroverted people on purpose or just by accident. However, by doing so, they did lose the introverted player base. I am not sure if extroverts now love WoW more than parties, but introverts spew criticism of Blizzard instead.

Tsukasa as Nihilist Character

 

Someone once asked me about Nihilist movie recommendations, I named many but not this one. Not the type that preaches nihilism but rather reflects on it. 

Nihilists are people for whom there is nothing in the world that brings them happiness. .hack//Sign, but especially Tsukasa's character is a good example of a nihilist. He wanders the world looking for something he might enjoy and avoiding anything he does not like. He is very self-protective and escapes the moment he senses some trouble. His story is very relatable to me personally, I think I mentioned that in my review of the show.

Because of that I can recommend .hack//Sign as the ultimate story about Nihilism and Nihilists.

.hack//Legend of The Twilight Review

Overall Rating 6.8 out of 10 - Solid Good Show with only one noticeable flaw.

I recommend watching.

Legend of The Twilight is a much less ambitious show, compared to its bigger predecessor: .hack//Sign. Unlike the latter, Legend of The Twilight does not try to delve into psychology or philosophy of gamers or nihilists. This is just a simple shounen story. However, it is well made one.

It uses the same World, same art style and even some of the characters from the original. A clear spinoff series. It you want more of The World, then this is go-to show.

Shugo and Rena are likable enough, so is most of the support cast. Mirelle, priest girl and Ohka are all cute. Some characters are much shorter than the rest, I am not sure if that was supposed to imply that they are children or simply some chibi size race, like Gnomes from WoW. 

This time story revolves around modified monsters and corrupter AI that wants to make players experience death. Story progresses much in the same way as in original even if there is a different opponent with different motivations.

One bad thing about it are Cerulean Knights and their leader, they are mean and vile version of the Crimsom Knights of the original. However, these knights are not so much following any principles, so much simply enjoy abusing players, using game rules as excuse. Even leader of the Crimsom Knighs actually fought against the Cerulean Knights, condemning their ways. Sure, show needs meaningful protagonists, but they went overboard showcasing Cerulean Knights wanton reign of terror.

Overall, however it is a good show I can recommend watching it. You can skip episode 8 and may be also 7 and 9, to avoid worst of Cerulean Knights.

Analysis of Development of State Organization based on Paradox Games

Society grows and becomes more complex and nuanced. These games do represent that:

In Middle Ages (CK3 era) a handful of dudes was all you need to run a country. Countries themselves were little more than glorified investment real estate. Even parliaments of that era we called Estates General. An assembly of all investment property holders. It was a personalist era and game reflect that.

Society got more complex in Early Modern Period (Renaissance and Enlightenment; EU IV era). Trade became big deal; societies became more complex. Just a handful of dudes, as it was in Middle Ages, will no longer suffice to manage it all. Select social groups became essential to running a state. With that they gain influence and say on matters of the state, and ruler had to manage them. Suddenly you needed a whole new organization just to manage all that, thus states were created to manage countries.

Finally in 19th century these management organizations, became nations that we know them now. People became self-conscious and stated demand more from the government. Suddenly every demographic matter and every person is self-conscious enough to participate in politics. States evolved into democracies; modern politics were born out of this change in society. Hence Victoria has the most complex economic system.

HoI is WWII simulator so politics and other things are simplified.

Senki Zesshou Symphogear Review

Overall Rating 6.1 out of 10 - Starts well, but then falters.

I would still recommend watching at least first half.

This show has an unusual strong beginning. Well-made introduction for the characters mixed with interesting and well thought plot twists make you want to watch more and more. 

Character design is both curiously interesting and sexy at the same time, so are their personalities. Decisions they make do make sense in context of their situation and personality. 

If that would have continued all the way to the end, I might have given this show 8 or at least 7.5.

However, halfway into the show, things started to get downhill. Chris went from antagonist to an ally. Red-haired dude preached to her like Jiraiya or some retiree with millions in super, who concerned with moral of the youth. 

I now get why someone on MAL told me that it is annoying that Bikki just befriends anyone in this show. However, I will defend Bikki, because it was not her but Red-Haired dude who converted. Chris.

Final reveal is that Ryoko is Fine and the whole thing is just some controlled experiment, rather than a real battle with dangerous enemies, cheapens everything characters went through.

Final battle is full of plot armor. Chris and Tsubasa sacrificed their lives to stop Fine's plan but then were revived for some reason. Bikki won for no reason other than being the main character.

If first part of this show might even get 8 from me, then the finale is hardly better than 3 or 4. It is not worse than Demon Slayer so 4, I guess. Middle somewhat like 5- 6. I feel like am unduly generous of giving it 6.1, but there are many other problematic shows nowadays. This is not the worst of them, it is flawed but watchable and entertaining enough.

Literary Fiction is like a Jigsaw Puzzle

Writing about the anime I had hard time watching, I came up with this metaphor, as I tried to explain reasons for following plot very carefully and attentively.

Literary fiction or symbolism anime has a complex story, that is like a jigsaw puzzle, or perhaps and anti-jigsaw puzzle or a Rubic cube. It squeezes a lot of detail into a single complex picture. Every single piece of info is needed to understand the whole picture. Missing a few details here and there will cause you misunderstand the whole story.

That applies not only to the shows I mentioned in that article, but also to many others. To all I ranked 10 and 9, and to many more. Code Geass, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Serial Experiments Lain, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji. Also, Planetes, Infinite Ryvius, Mawaru Penguindrum, Portrait de la Petitte Cosette, Tatami Galaxy and some more.

Black Lagoon, Phantom, Requiem for the Phantom and 5cm per Second might not look like that, but they also have minor details that alter you understanding of the whole, if you pay enough attention to notice them. 

Of course, mother of such shows, Umineko no Naru Koro ni is the most complicated puzzle of them all.

People who do not understand that, miss important details and ended up misunderstanding the show entirely. 

Just noticing these details alone is not enough however, you should also understand what role they play in the whole picture. Where exactly this small piece of the jigsaw puzzle connects to the whole picture and what role it plays.

Such intellectual exercises are what symbolism literary fiction is about. And as a reward for solving the puzzle they give you a story that is on a different level from these other shows. It is like discovering that there is a whole new world out there behind the doors of what looks as nothing more than a wardrobe.

I have seen many, many such huge worlds.

Anime I was having a hard time enjoying, but still wanted to watch it for one reason or another.

A response to this post on reddit.

Sometimes there are shows that I do not like for one reason, but simultaneously like for some other reason. That leads to a conflict between these reasons. Sometimes I drop such shows and other time persevere and keep watching.

In the past there was a number of shows that match just that experience.

Mawaru Penguindrum for example, I did not like characters or the setting, but I liked story and music a lot.

Music can be downloaded separately, but the story was of particular importance to me. I wanted to make sure I do not miss any plot twists so that I will not miss any details, crucial to understanding the plot. Shows like that are like jigsaw puzzle: one missed plot detail might prevent you from getting the whole idea.

However, trying not to miss any details of the plot also meant suffering thorough moments where characters are at their worst.

Infinite Ryvius also had a number of unpleasant moments, but less than Penguindrum and not as consistent at that. Just like with Penguindrum a story was of paramount importance.

Redo of the Healer too had plenty of unpleasant moments, especially in the beginning. But story was not as important here, so I just skipped parts that I did not like.

Phantom, Requiem for the Phantom Review

Overall Rating 7.4 out of 10 - Very good show of a higher caliber, but with some flaws.

I recommend watching.

This one is one of better shows out there. It could have been even better, but it was probably Urobuchi first work, so some imperfections here and there are visible. On the other hand, this show sometimes feels like a sort of personal testimony or autobiography. If that is true, I do wonder what role did Urobuchi himself played: Zwei, Scythe?

The show is divided into three arks. Middle one seems the best written. Both the beginning and the end has too much self-loathing. I understand that a person might feel guilt for killing others, but why it has to be repeated in nearly every episode.

Aside from that, it is rather unclear why Reiji would not just kill Scythe and run away in the very beginning, that is after he completed his training. Escaping training camp could be physically impossible, but once he starts doing missions, nothing would stop him from turning on Scythe and Inferno.

Most annoying part of the first ark is the Scythe and his arrogant attitude. Somehow his simultaneously relaxed, but cold and cruel approach reminds me of my dad. It gives me satisfaction that he is killed in the final episode of the show.

Middle part has the most cohesive plot. Early operations were brazened and bold, but hardly that sophisticated. Scythe ruining the deal between Inferno and Godoh and suspicion it arises on both sides was the best written overall. The intrigue continues till the very end.

The final part is somewhat mixed. On one side it is the epilogue and a reflection on their whole experience. Reiji and Elen want to live normal school life and blend with normality. A decision I would not made in their place, I personally would like to take McGuire's place. However, I can understand them.

Cal's revenge feels the most confusing of them all. Did she wish to duel Reiji fairly or just wished to be killed by him? Considering she is an assassin; she could have just killed both of them quietly. Cal is somewhat hard for me to understand.

As for the characters then, as much as I hate Scythe personally, I do share his taste in women. I like my women like phantoms. I wonder if it is indeed possible to create a band of female assassins just like number-chans in white. Also, I liked to original Ein/Elen somewhat more than her final self.

Overall Ein/Elen is very likable girl, the kind that I like.

Reiji is sympathetic enough and somewhat relatable. His attachments to Ein and desire to save her also makes sense. So, is his desire to kill Scythe.

Cal is somewhat bitter/sweet, at times she is sweet as pie and at others she causes problems. On the other hand, I can understand her anger at Mio for having a better life than she did.

Mio herself is actually nice likable girl, waifu material. I wonder if all mafia daughters are this nice, still the whole mafia retaliation is not worth the risk.

I can understand Clau's ambitions to get to the top, but I am not attracted to ambitions women.

Overall, this is a well written show with complex characters and psychological depth. Plot is also interesting and will keep you engaged for the half of the show, the other half is much slower.

This is not some other One Piece, Boruto or Hairy Fail. This is a real deal.

So, I recommend watching it.

Vlad Love Review

Overall Rating 6.7 out of 10 - Interesting premise, but somewhat poor execution.

I would recommend watching.

That is an interesting and unique show. It was likely made by a literature or cinematography female student who studied symbolism of the literary fiction but did not get much idea. So, she went on to create a visually unique, but storyline flawed story.

Premise is interesting a vampire girl who needs to drink blood, but unable to hunt for prey on her own is found by a blood donation enthusiast, who feeds her own blood and later finds lots of other fans of Mai, who too donate their blood to feed Mai.

You can sympathize with both Mai and Bamba. Bamba is willing to sacrifice her blood and many other things to keep Mai alive. On the other hand, Mai is pitiful for not being able to function as vampire.

In general, I like Mai's manners and overall personality. She is normally polite, well-mannered and sweet. However, she also has weird side to her. Personality wise, she reminds me of Chirstina.

I also can find parallels between Mai and myself. I too had to travel a lot because of my parents, just like her I likely disappointed them with something at some point of my life and these bastards made my life miserable ever since. Unlike her I do want to take revenge on them. My family was somewhat rich but was hiding this and other things from people around us.

Back to the story. After the interesting beginning, the show gradually devolves into filler episodes with dubious looney toons like violence, before recovering closer to the end. Clearly the authors run out of ideas midway to make episodes about making cosplay, movie and theater back-to-back. 

They do occasionally make interesting references to classical movies and actors. Some of these are better than others. I personally watched Casablanca for example. 

Later episodes try to delve deeper into Mai's psychology and past. Because of that I made a very long gap in the middle of the show.

Overall, however unique story and visuals does warrant to at least check this show out. That is an arthouse show, similar to Portrait de la Petitte Cosette in some regards. Except the Cossette had a more cohesive narrative and overall idea. However here we have a cute girl, Mai. Actually, Cossette Auvergne was also not bad, but Mai is better.

Farah of the Sands of Time

Watching Sands of Time walkthrough make me realize I remembered Farah differently. 

Probably because I played The Two Thrones before the Sands of Time. Even though they are technically the same character, they have different voice actors as well as design.

Sands of Time Farah is a confusing character. At times she is nice, sweet and caring, as others she yells and complains for no reason. Then she just steals your shit and runs away. Then she leaves the dagger in your hands and falls for her death. Theoretically this sacrifice should make her nice and memorable, after all she gave her life for you to win. What could possibly be a greater deal. However, her past actions make her less black and white, good character. 

Because of that it is hard to say if I like her or not. They should have just made her nice all the way. That would have made for a nice waifu material.

Sure, compare to her Kaileena and Shahdee do try to kill you in Warrior Within. However, that was because Kaileena saw it in the timeline that Prince kills her and defends herself. It is not like these two are normally like that, when they are on your side. Once all things settled, Kaileena got very cozy and docile with Prince.

Things that Make Me Drop Anime

A lot actually: Bossy women in main cast. Male MC who is into bossy women (Raishin comes to mind, but that is offset by Yaya's devoted personality in that show). Women who hurt or insult male MC. Male MC who suffers too much. Too many people who treat male MC like shit and get away with it (Demon Slayer).

All of that should have significant screen time. Three second incident, that does not repeat itself is one thing. Recurring theme that takes half screen time is another.

With Unbreakable Machine Doll for example, replace Raishin with someone like Cid Kagnou or Lelouch and I will likely binge it. Replace Yaya with some Karen and I will drop it mid first episode. However, combination of Raishin and Yaya makes it a difficult choice.

On Zero Two

Watching Darling in the Franxx, I sometimes wondered why I like Zero Two. She is not the type of girl I am looking for. However, I am still sympathetic to her.

I think the reason is that I can relate to her. She is like a female version of me. 

Both of us are proud and detached. Just like her, I also excel at things, where all others fail. Have poor relationship with authority figures and escape them if needed. I too wander around on my own, doing my own things without interacting with anyone. I too want to get away from it all, from all the burden society wants to place on me.

People probably think I am some sort of monster, because of my radical, coolheaded views.

Just like her, I am very picky about relationship, but very clingy once I have found someone I like. She found this protagonist and after short discussion named him her darling. I talked to TrueHellDei, liked what she said and then just claimed her as my own.

I too do not like it when someone else tells me how to behave and what to like. I will ruin them.

We even have a clear preference to one particular color. Red for her and Black for me.

Of course, if we take it this far, the CC is probably the closest anime female analogue to me. I also like pizza, naps and introspective thinking. 

Issues with Fate/Stay Night

I was watching Fate/Stay Night for 12 episodes and still did not really get into it. I watched all three movies of Fate/Stay Night Heaven Feel because of Sakura.  

At first, I thought that it is the protagonist, who is the main issue of Fate series.

However later I started thinking that it is perhaps "roots available" (Fate/Stay Night issue). They make you choose between saving Sakura from Shinji, becoming Rin's disciple/pet or playing hero with Saber. No matter what you choose, you always become a martyr who sacrifices for others. What if I do not want to be a martyr and sacrifice for anyone?

In general plot makes rather little sense for me. If it is a Battle Royale, then you win if you eliminate all other contestants. Fate/Zero was structured this way for example. Fate/Stay on the other hand, Shirou does not want to fight, he only protects others.

The grail concept that was flashed out in Fate/Zero as wish granting device, is somehow absent from F/Sn.

In F/Z you can see that each protagonist has a wish they want grail to grant them (possibly with exception of Ryosuke) The big chunk of story was given to Kirei's soul searching for a wish he wants to be granted.

In F/Sn on the other hand, they do not talk about it at all. If they are not fighting to get, they wishes granted by a supernatural powerful artifact, then what are they fighting for? Are they nothing but martyrs for someone else's objectives?

That brings me back to Banquet of Kings from Fate/Zero. Iskandar said "no one admires martyr's thorny path" sure Church might canonize you as saint after you die, but that is not what I want from life.

Fate/Sn has no victory in it. 

Each possible path in Fate/Stay night leads to some thorny pain one would want to avoid.

Openings of Code Geass

I wrote a very long article about sandtrack of Code Geass but have not covered any openings or endings. They all are good and definitely deserve to be here. This is an article for openings, I will make one for endings sometime later. However, you can search for them on YouTube yourself.

Openings of Gintama

Gintama is a long running show with lots of good openings and some good endings. They deserve their own separate article.

Donten is my favorite of Gintama's openings.

However, I also like some others.

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

All from the golden age of Gintama. That is very sad that Gintama started to lose its humorous side.

Music of Sora no Woto

Sora no Woto is a very unique anime, with unusual art style and a very unconventional combination of setting. 

Alternative history distant future with combination of primitive and very advanced technologies. That also has mythological stories and eerie festivals. Protagonist is part of a military platoon, composed entirely of women. Their military job consists of scouting, maintaining the fort and trumpeting time. No seriously.

Soundtrack for this show is as unique as it can be. See for yourself.

Opening

Ending

Sevante do Feu

Naruto Openingns

Naruto had a very long run and changed many different opening songs. Some were great, some were meh. Here I gathered only the best of them.

Starting the very best song, called Rocks

They were followed by two more great songs.

Then there was a slide. However occasionally we still got some good songs, such as these:

UFO Robo Grendizer

Grendizer was my very first anime and I still have found memories of that show.

It has absolutely stunning opening and ending. Sure, the songs are old style, but they are great.

Grendizer has good soundtrack overall. Check it out.

Anti-Trivia Game

 Back in Russia I liked to watch this game.

Its literal translation would be simply "What? Where? When?" that hardly explains anything.

However, you can think of it as an anti-trivia game. 

A team of 6 highly erudite individuals take on tough question, sent in by the audience. The envelops with questions are placed on the table and a spinner is used to pick the question. Zero means that host will join the table and ask his own question instead. That is one of the rare options to see the person who narrates everything in this game.

Team gets one minute to discuss the question. If they answer correctly the score and if not the audience scores. Whoever scores 6 first wins.

Questions vary from 'what was the purpose of elbow statue in the Czech city of Brno' to the 'length of Champs Elysee', to the 'what that strange contraption was used for?' (they show the actual thing to the team and viewers).

The game is a late-night show. Perhaps because earlier time slots are taken by shows that appeal to larger audience, pushing this game to late night. Perhaps because players are all owls and not larks. Owl is a symbol of the show. The best player of the year gets the crystal owl statuette.

That said, aesthetics and style of this game is very cool. Mostly black with gold baroque decorations. Some mirrors and glass.

Music is also exceptional and adds to the feel of the game really well. A lot of jazz, but also some modern rearrangement of classical pieces and few modern pop.

The fact that most players have huge glasses further show how much of a nerd one has to be to play something like that. That is like heavy nerd boxing, where only nerdiest of nerd can survive.

Possibly because of this game I like black and gold aesthetics. I am myself very much on intellectual rather than sports side. Erudition is my strong point. 

Music of Gunslinger Girl

Gunslinger girl has very unique soundtrack that is very melancholic and does a great job of reflecting tragic fate of the girls in this show. It also has a hint of hope mixed in.

The Delgados - The Light Before We Land

The opening is both dreamy and sad at the same time. It acknowledges that life if fleeting, but feels aright about it, hopeful to achieve something while it lasts.

Dopo il Sogno ~Yume no Ato ni~

In contrast the ending, done it best traditions of Italian Opera, has true sense of conclusion and reflection on life.

Music of Serial Experiments Lain

Serial Experiments Lain has few songs in its soundtrack, but each of them is special in their own way. Most of them are technogenially dark and eerie, to match the overall feel of the show.

Some others do deviate from that formula, but they serve special purpose of communicating some particular message to the viewer.

The very first song like this is in the very opening.

Boa - Duvet

Opening song for Serial Experiments Lain anime, made by Boa, a famous band in their own right. "And you do not seem to understand..." People do not understand or do not care. They fear change and unknown and instinctively oppose new things. The recurring problem for future minded people. Especially in out backward-looking age.

The video below is for the opening sequence version of this song paired with the opening for this anime. The video above for the full album version of the song.

Tooi Sakebi - The ending song is a lullaby of sorts. However, some acidic technogenic riffs are present here as well.

Lain Theme - this song actually reflects well on overall feel of the anime. It is eerie and mysterious at times, acidic at other times. It has relatively fast pace too. 

Wind of Space and Time - is more complicated. This is like a search for a working melody by trying different things and tuning to different waves.

Full OST is here

One More Time, One More Chance - 5 Centimeters per Second

5 Centimeters per Second is a very special anime to me that probably deserves its own separate article or a review.

However here is an article about its theme song called One More Time, One More Chance.

It is both sad and hopeful at the same time.

The show is about love that was cut short due to circumstances as well as how male protagonist tries to cope with that. Other girls try to get his attention, but he is still drawn towards the Akari from his past. That said Akari is indeed very cute and caring person who clearly deserves that.

The song reflects longing for someone as cute and caring as Akari as well as hope to either meet her or someone like her again. 

Music of .hack//Sign

.hack franchise it not the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to sadness. However, despite its bright pastelle colors and inventive design, there is a feel of underlying sadness. They escape cruel real world in the beautiful fictional world of the game, but still cannot completely forget about that other ugly world out there.

This soundtrack combines within it a dreamy utopian feel with utter sadness. At times it is like a magical faraway land where everyone is happy, and no bad things could possibly happen. At others a realization, that this utopian land but a work of fiction and is not real.

The ending reflects sadness that real world is far from ideal world we desire. As well as vague hope to find that ideal world somehow. The search for the key of twilight is like a search for a way to open some magical door to a better world.

The opening instead reflects insatiable desire for that better, perfect world, that some fiction can satisfy.

There are other good songs in the .hack soundtrack. Lots of good use of violin and overall, very special and magical experience.

Slow, but eerie The World does set the stage for the show really well. It begins slow but the goes very fast.

Key of The Twilight is dreamy and magical. It represents dreams and aspiration.

Slow and calm Fake Wings has very pleasant and relaxed feel.

Interlude is a slow take with the feel of the same as more epic songs.

Foreigners is very special song that has upbeat but calm feel to it. Feels like you explore some festival in a faraway land.

You can find the full OST here.

Music of Black Lagoon

When people mention Black Lagoon, it is often over the over-the-top action or 'powerful women' Action is there indeed, 'powerful women' is stretch. However, what show is really about is life that did not went well, all three songs of the first two seasons reflect that feel perfectly.

Mell - Red Faction

This opening song feels very aggressive. It is a song of rage against cruelty of the world. However, it also has sad self-pity undertone over live gone wrong.

Do not Look Behind

This is a a very quiet song that nevertheless has a sense of suspense to it. It feels like she is about to just fall under pressure and die. However, it ends rather unpredictably.

Mooki Obata - World of Midnight

Final song, that plays at a special ending for the Romanian Twins ark. It is hopeful that hardships and stupid games of fate will finally end, and one will find happiness.

These three songs worth a dozen of pop albums, that is how good they are.

Music of Revolutinary Girl Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena has somewhat subtle, but on point soundtrack that helps to express the story of this anime.

Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku (Absoule Fate Apocalipce) - that plays every time duelists enter the dueling arena; gives you are hint about the ultimate doom of their undertaking. The song that suggests you think outside of the box.

Shi no Aphrodite is instead a very calm and mysterious song, that gives a feeling of respite instead.

Music of El Cazador de la Bruja

 El Cazador de la Bruja has a very unique soundtrack that is both epic but somehow light and upbeat.

The title song (El Cazador) truly represents it all.

Maxwell's Witch - however some songs are much more dark and eerie.

The opening song is both melancholic, but also fast and dynamic.

Ending, on the other hand, combines accordion with guitar for a melancholic evening song suitable for some classical dancing.

Unfortunately, it is hard to link the full OST as playlists available on YouTube do mix these songs with some others.

Music of Nier and Nier Automata

Nier has one of the best soundtracks among all the media out there. They pleasant melodies and touching lyrics are one of the best ever. They were great in the original Nier and got even better in the sequel, Nier Automata.

The masterful use of fictional language allows them to touch hearts of people worldwide.

Most of the soundtrack is great, but I will list only some of the songs. The very best of them.

Song of the Ancients - is so good, they made 4 separate remakes to it.

Cold Rain, Vague Hope - It plays when 2B cries as she kills 9S. It perfectly reflects on the gravity and tragedy of the act she has to perform as well as on the tragedy of their circumstances. 

Bipolar Nightmare - this is a more dynamic song, that plays during the battle. It however has complexity and sophistication.

Shadowlord - has some nice choral singing. Very unusual for video games

That is just tip of the iceberg of music of Nier. Full soundtrack is here.

For original Nier here

Moonlight Densetsu, Sailor Moon Opening

Sailor Moon has a very iconic opening song. It is so iconic; they keep reusing it throughout most of the show run while changing animation of the opening for each season.

The song, Moonlight Densetsu, is indeed a fine piece. I recommend you.

Viktor Tsoi

Victor Tsoi and his band, Kino has some enduring popularity in Russia. I still remember numerous graffities dedicated to him all over the Moscow, where I used to live.

His often depressed and melancholic songs somehow strike the chord with people long after his death. Even if they have simple, plain melodies, their lyrics do work. 

Kino's popularity continues despite government and some critics efforts to erase it from existence. Fact that mural dedicated to him was restored after someone painted it black is a proof of that.

Tsoi offers a vastly different from government sanctioned pop, sound and lyrics. These songs will give one a vastly different picture of what Russia is, if one cares to listen. They a polar opposite of upbeat patriotic fiddle, government likes to promote as official culture.

Kino's songs are concerned with personal feelings and experiences. Sometimes they are surreal. Even if they sound like an amateur effort of a guy next door, they work because this guy and his experiences are very relatable to many people in the country. Which is even more surprising, considering he is half-Korean. 

Here are some examples of his songs. 

Calm Night, a very slow and reflective song.

8th Grader. Tsoi too likes immature schoolgirls, because they are easy. This one is easy on melody.

Last Hero, this one is about person who is fed up with life as it is then (now). The discontent further develops into desire for change in the next song I have listed.

We Want Change - The anthem of tired, fed-up people. It has some self-doubt too but insist on change.

Songs with Meaningless Lyrics.

Widely popular in 2000s, famous Numa Numa song actually has a interesting secret. Its Romanian lyrics are completely meaningless. However, they sound well, and because of that this song managed to become popular globally. It turns out, the meaning of lyrics is completely secondary to the way they sound.

Some go even further and make song with completely fictional words that does not mean anything at all. Like this song O Julissi by Ishtar.

In fact, the entire soundtrack of Nier and Nier Automata is sand in fictional language where words do not mean anytthing at all. However they do feel good.

Ukrainian Folk Songs

I think Ukrainian folk songs are better than Russian ones. Russian ones are all about sacrifice for your country, as if people are nothing more but cannon fodder to be sacrificed for the country. Ukrainian ones are instead more about personal experience and feelings. They have fighting themes in them as well, but this fight is about a country where one can live freely, not a country to worship like an idol.

 Hey Sokoly

There is also a modern song about current Ukrainian war with Russia, that mocks rather than demonizes Russian soldiers and their government.

It is called Bayraktar and has a line about making Russian soldiers eat soup with a shoe.

One Night in Bangkok

I do wonder if it was this one song that get white men interested in Asian women. Probably it actually was a James Bond movie set in Japan instead, I think it was called You Only Live Twice. This movie showcases Japanese women in a way a Western man would want them.

However, One Night in Bangkok does elaborate further on that. Surely on the surface it is about chess, but many of this song's lines are about women instead. To top it all up, it also has awesome melody.

Tomorrow Never Dies

007 James Bond has many good theme songs. Each of its many movies does open with the one and it sets the tone for this chapter of Bond saga.

My favorite of them all however has to be Tomorrow Never Dies

In the world, stuck in sclerotic remembrance of boomers era (1960s) with their stupid ethical leftism, economic torysm and ecological hippy activism it is easy to get disheartened. However, this song does remind me that tomorrow with come, and this idiotic neo-hippy era will eventually come to an end, and we will finally see the future.

Aside from that I like dependent women who yearn for me, just like the girl who sings this song.

Gray Wednesday

While I do have significant issues with Mawaru Penguindrum cast, this show has many redeeming qualities that prevent me from condemning it as just another feminism pandering misandrist show.

One of these qualities is of course its music. The soundtrack is expansive and has many good songs. However, the best of them is Gray Wednesday.

Even if you do not understand Japanese, it somehow manages to communicate to you its message intuitively.

For those who are not as intuitive as I am, here is the link to the full lyrics.

For someone who used to dream big and who later saw his dreams shattered by Financial Crisis of 2008 this song is one last reminder of the one beautiful dream and hopes I entertained in the 2000s. Dreams that was unfairly taken from me by the Federal Reserve executives and other architects of austerity.

This song manages to sing about such a sensitive topic with a sense of care and concern from the bottom of the heart. As if singer is fully sympathetic to me and wish my dreams would come true one day.

This is a good song for remembering anything you ever loved or cared about.

Gimmicky Music

I like comedy because I like to laugh. Similarly, I like satirical or even gimmicky music that makes fun of the industry, society or something else. Most importantly however it should be able to make me laugh.

Good example of such songs is Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex

And of course, famous Gangnam Style by PSY

StarCraft

Unlike Red Alert OST, its immediate rival, StarCraft has a different kind of soundtrack. It is more quiet and lets you focus on giving your units orders without getting too distracted. However it does well to give a distinct fell to each of the Starcraft races and dynamic enough to keep you focused on the game.

Music of Red Alert and Mortal Combat

Music is very imprtant for video games. It helps to set the mood and provide a feel what the game is about. 

Just listen to these couple of tracks from Red Alert RTS. They are perfect in setting the stage for a brutal war between two Cold War Superpowers, this game is about.

Grinder - Red Alert 2

Hell March

For comparison there is a different kind of track for infamous fighting game, Mortal Combat. Here they used lyrics to set the stage for the battles.

Dio

Dio used to be a vocalist for Black Sabbath, before going solo. Many of his songs are deep and insightful. Their thoughts provoking lyrics are spiced with classical metal riffs. 

Don't Talk To Strangers people argue if this song satifises or encourages overly cautious behavior. Id does encourages you to look at things outside of the box.

Holy Diver I think this song is like Dio's self confession that he is not such a scary satanic person, his music image makes him be.

Painkiller

Via Gra (Nu Virgos)

Continuing the topic of good pop bands in this Ukrainian band, called Via Gra (Nu Virgos in English speaking world). Their satirical lyrics and make fun of pop industry are witty. Even their name, that references erective medicine is a witty joke. Unfortunately, English translations of their songs are poor.

Some subtle irony this Kill My Friend song. 

Biology is full of sexual innuendos. Sure, other pop singers often rely more on appearance than quality of songs. This band makes fun of that.