beyond the edge

Even if it's just one step at a time
Don't let go of this hand
Those days we passed together
If only it could go on forever

Til that moment we fall apart
Even if torn to pieces
At that time, at that place
Exists a bond that cannot be erased

Gokusen.

Probably still his coolest role to date (made awesomer by the fact that he snarked at Yankumi all the time without liking her romantically).

Those were the golden days. I suppose we would never know what happened, if anything happened. Or perhaps it's so deeply confined in my memory I can't remember if there were any solid evidence. Unlike another certain persons in a certain band who certainly split-but-did-not-split =_=

But the Kizuna you wrote of, I wonder if you think of it now with intense irony.

I wonder if you think of it at all.

I wonder why you never sang that song again, when you sing Seishun Amigo yearly with sardonic resignation.

Quietly thinking back on the days I spent with you
You were the one who taught me that I was not alone
When you come upon hard times I will be the first to stand by you
Don't forget, I love you

Even if, tonight
Even if I were to lose you
Don't forget
I love you

I hope these words were for someone who deserves them.

生日快樂，倔強好勝的小烏龜


PS: I can't believe KT's new song is Lock On.

I mean, LOCK ON.

LOCKON



GAAAH I might accidentally buy it just because of the name ||||||||||Orz

I finally watched the final episode of Gundam 00. I suspect I'm missing some giant joke or some hidden meaning, because I don't get it. In the end Celestial Beings haven't changed an ounce in their self-belief as the governing force of mankind. I mean, okay, left up to these individuals it's really not too much of a threat since at the moment they've got their head screwed on the right way, but humans don't take much to become twisted and what happens if they lose their way? As Vimes says - who watches the Watchman?

This whole thing feels like a chronicle of their heroic journey to prove themselves right, which feels somehow even worse than Gundam Seed Destiny being the chronicle of Kira proving he's a more scene-snatching hero than Shinn, which clearly shouldn't be the point.

I don't get it. I don't get how this thing can be so...incomprehensibly terrible. And terribly incomprehensible.

If we talk about politics, it started off nicely and derailed approximately in episode 7 in both seasons. It's all very fine setting up such a complex political climate, but it's crazy to think that everything was solved by A-LAWS clashing against Kataron in the end, especially since the vast majority of people on Earth weren't even informed about A-LAWS' activities.

I don't understand what the series is trying to say. I don't understand what changed over course of 50 episodes. The conflicts and prejudices and misunderstandings that drive war are still there. Just having an international police is only going to drive it underground, not eliminate it. I've forgotten most of GS and GSD but at least the conflict is better delineated as mutual dislike between Naturals and Coordinators, which was finally pacified by them being forced to cooperate for the sake of self-preservation.

Characters changed and learned things about why they wanted to fight. Or perhaps they lost their conviction, but nevertheless they learned what they wanted to fight for. We learned about their personal conflicts and we were allowed to sympathise with them. There are way too many characters in G00 and none of them are allowed time to fully develop, and someone needs to tell the scriptwriter that character develepment isn't giving a 3-minute monologue backstory. None of the major characters had a distinctive message, and none of the minor characters had a distinguishing personality. Learning their own reasons to fight doesn't equate to reiterating the line, "I am going to fight because I am a Gundam Meister" or "I am going to fight for the sake of peace".

Even the fights were boring ==; The characters in GS and GSD all improved in piloting skills over the course of the series. None of the four Meisters had any real growth in the series. What changed was only their mobile suits, which kept getting a convenient power-up whenever they needed one =___= The final battles all ended up being two streaks of light smashing against each other. I didn't realise I was watching Dragonball.

There should be a central message to the story. GS was about the need to accept the responsibility to go to war if one wants to protect anything. GSD was about the value of freedom of choice and freedom of dissent, even if it is at the price of longlasting peace.

I don't know what G00 is trying to say - that we would all understand each other if we could communicate our thoughts? - Then why wasn't that mind-reading Trans-Am shown to promote understanding in those people on Earth? Why didn't it move beyond the petty misunderstandings between quarrelling lovers?

That humans can make their own peace without the need for an overruling "Innovator" entity? - Then why hadn't they done so already at the start of the series? What exactly is different now from the start?

That there needs to be an ulterior "police force" to prevent war? - Then how is that different from A-LAWS? Certainly, one is objective and the other subjective, but what's the difference if you're merely using tyranny to wipe out dissent?

That understanding was the key to peace? - Then where is the promotion of understanding at the end of the series? How will someone living in a highrise in Tokyo come to even sympathise with the plight of an orphaned child living on the wastefields of Kurdistan?

All in all, this series FAILED. It failed to deliver a central message, it failed to provide well-developed characters, it failed to deliver well-planned and interesting battles, it failed to show any of the problems at the start of the series were resolved rather than destroyed.

And they're making a movie out of this, to be released next year ==;;;

哇哈哈哈哈哈哈！！！！*叉腰* 终于有人死了！！！都45集了还不快点跟冥王老爷打招呼去。那几个不男不女的怎么现在还剩三个 ==;;

Even though by comparison I actually didn't dislike Lyle and Anew (as much as I dislike, oh, I don't know, 90% of the other characters), am so glad that Anew is finally gone, as we half-expected from 19 episodes ago.

Even Yuna's beautiful a cappella "I love you, I trust you, hikari demo yami demo, futari dakara, shinjiaeru...no, hanasanaide" couldn't garner up a shred of sympathy for these two, even though the lyrics were perfect for the moment. The fight is best summed up as:
Lyle: Blah blah blah
Anew: Blah blah blah
Lyle: BLAH BLAH BLAH
Anew: Lyle... ;__;
Lyle: Anew! =D =D
Anew: Stupid human. BLAH BLAH BLAH
Lyle: NOOOOOOO (*For the record, this was the point I cracked up)
Setsuna: URUSAI *kills Anew with the finest precision he has ever displayed in his piloting career*
Then cue the obligatory "hero's love interest is dying" nekkid scene.

All I can say is, wow Lyle, 你不但性格、人缘、狙击都比不上你老哥……连看女人的眼光也比不上 Orz Shoulda gone for Feldt when a chick as hot as that was still going for you!

I got a little excited when Lyle said he was going to defect, but NOOO, the anime couldn't do anything mildly exciting and interesting, could it! I also got excited when Lyle threatened to pull the trigger on Anew, twice, and I am resigned to the fact that I'm an idiot for having such high expectations for this series.

Seriously, I think this is the first anime that I'm deriving pleasure from watching characters die off =__= Man, I miss Seed. I miss it so very very much. I think I can even love Shinn now. Okay, maybe like. Okay...maybe just a little bit more fond.

I think someone needs rewrite Neil's last lines, "Lyle, I'm sorry I left this mess to you. Have fun with the rest of this series, suckers, I'm so glad I ain't in it."

PS: Dear producers, I'm starting to suspect that the number of times you're playing Marina's stupid song is inversely proportional to the number of CD sales you expect on its release next week.

Anime
I think Gundam 00 must be blamed for singlehandedly turning me off all anime. I mean, the second season started off with so much potential...with potentially even more potential than the first season. But ever since it derailed in that WTF episode it hasn't gotten back onto the rails, with each new episode either being more boring or WTF than the last.

Today
Went K with a bunch of high school friends, and then dinner, and then dessert. I think I've had my sugar intake for the month. I'm on such a sugar high I can't sleep, even though I've only had about five hours sleep this morning. I think I've also spent my budget for the year ||||||||Orz Am a poor barely-employed student, must note to self I can't afford to spend $50 per outing =__=;;;;;;;; The highlight of the day was finding KT's "Bokura no machi de" (do you know how HARD it is to get contemp Jap songs in K here?) and also finding it actually HAD THE PV ♥♥♥ Although I spent too much time trying not to read the crappy incorrect romaji to look at Kame's kireina kao. Sad. On the other hand, a certain person was "studying in America *coughcough*" when this song was released so I didn't need to avoid looking at his face either. Man, they must update the Arashi songs!!! I want "One Love"!!!!

Jdrama
Came home to watch Love Shuffle, which is currently on my list of "sit down and turn off brain" dramas. And then totally flipped at this scene:

Are..............nande kore? Orz

This was totally out of nowhere, and I'm glad the other characters agree with me. In fact, the entire plot of Love Shuffle at times feels like it's all coming out of nowhere. What's with the recent obsession with random onscreen kisses between the same sex anyway (I say so because they're not between homosexual characters), what with Shun going on a mad kissing spree in HanaKimi. But uwahh...Tamaki and Shota. Somehow that makes me want to go scrub my eyes out with soap. I think I'll stick to seeing Eita and Toma walk arm in arm in companionship.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Thank you CLAMP for finally pulling through with an epic far enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. If you go into permanent hiatus at this point like you did with the Fuuma stabbing Kamui 5 years ago, you will observe a global spike in voodoo doll sales, in spite of the economic depression. Let us hang our heads and spare one minute of silence for Mr Clonie. I'm expecting more people than this to die though! Don't tell me you're getting soft too, CLAMP (especially after all the eye-gouging and gut-stabbing and arm-amputating).

The scream of a fujoshi

你們……乾脆上演一部同父異母雙胞胎兄弟愛青春校園劇啦！*被群毆*
For people who don't read Chinese, this is two different people =P

Decided to take some caps while watching Kame no Shizukun Kami no Shizuku and the episodes I missed of Bloody Monday. The other Kame pic is from Gokusen.

They're also about the same height too, I think ==;;;; Take-chan (LOL at how Miura calls him that...and then he "accidentally" points at Miura and calls him "Micchan" XDDD)...umm, as I was saying, Take-chan only looks like Kame in certain angles but the likeness in those angles are pretty freaky =0=;;;; I don't know if it's because of their personalities or because of the cultures in their different agencies (most likely both). Kame never seems comfortable in the loud excitable role types that Takeru is just adorable in, whereas Takeru doesn't quite have the Johnny's posturing air for the "cool" quieter roles. Ｊ家培養出來的孩子是形象第一嘛~~ XD

Gundam nothingness
Newtype is such a treasure trove ^^v The TV guide predicts lots of fighting and a "coup d'etat". Bloody katakana (bloody French)...had to look that up. Setsuna also takes forever (2 episodes) to rendez-vous with the ship, and apparently that's a huge handicap. Like, since when was Setsuna so indispensable =__=;;;; The other guys need to upgrade man. Mr Bushido will also make an appearance in Masurao, the kanji of which means "husband" in Chinese, so it's all manners of ewwwww.

But the treasure is this:
( The Gundam Meister Rock Band )
LOL...what the? I'm sick of seeing Saji being shoved in with the Meisters. Just drop dead already zomg. Then Louise can go on an awesome killing spree. I know this is belated and I probably mentioned it before...but I can't believe how quickly Memento Mori got wasted. I thought it was a boss weapon Orz

So in lieu of anything constructive to post for the New Year (yes capitals), I bring to you 10 of my favourite Japanese songs released in 2008~

I should probably say in advance that I'm extremely biased about these songs, in that if I didn't like the band/drama/anime/movie/person, I probably wouldn't haven't liked the song as much. I naturally gravitate towards ballads, normally XD

Watch on YouTube

1. Arashi - Truth (Maou theme)
I think I'm at least in agreement with the Oricon charts for the first two songs, since these two are the highest selling singles for the year (and the first time since the 1970s or something ridiculous like that when the same group managed to snag the top two selling singles in one year). The song is different to Arashi's usual happy pop-rock style, and really grows on you...especially after watching 10 episodes of people successfully trying to kill each other.
2. Arashi - One Love (Hana Yori Dango Final movie theme)
This is the first Japanese song I've listened to and been moved to sniffles by the lyrics (without having actually read the translations first). It's so sweet and ridiculously romantic and yet so appropriately Doumyouji. The song itself is bleh, but at the chorus "Hyakunen saki mo ai wo chikau yo..." I bet every girl in the audience got teary. LOL.
3. KAT-TUN - Don't U Ever Stop
If they were an American pop group, this would be a fairly standard boppy song. But this was the style that KT did so well before they debuted and went with weird things like "Signal" and "Lips". I really miss their old songs like "Never Again" and "Gold" =( There's an extended version of this PV, which probably makes more sense out of the whole smashing crystal ball thing.
4. Utada Hikaru - Prisoner of Love (Last Friends theme)
I really like the erratic rhythm of this song...it's kind of hypnotic, which makes it rather fitting for the title? Utada Hikaru has gotten...fat...ter......
5. the Brilliant Green - Ash Like Snow (Gundam 00 2nd opening)
I don't like the PV ==; But at least it's better than the one she did for "Pray" where she looked like a soulless zombie. I like this song better than "Friends" (even though that one has a nicer tune) because it seems more fitting for the characters at that stage, who aren't friends or comrades, but are fighting for things they had lost when "the world changed". ♥ the orange Haro =D
6. KAT-TUN - White X'mas
OK 我承認我偏心 =P I like this song purely because of the kirakira PV. The hue is so pretty XD Kame is so pretty XD 老大 is so pretty XD And I'm still automatically blurring Akanishi out of the picture.
7. Exile - The Birthday ~ Ti Amo ~
This is the only song I liked without liking a) the band or b) this song being connected to a drama/anime that I like. I have a soft spot for Latino music XD It also sounds Korean, but I swear they're singing Japanese. There's an extended version of this PV that contained quite a bit of Mandarin and also...rolling around in bed naked. So uh, yes, if that's your persuasion.
8. Hey! Say! JUMP - Mayonaka no Shadow Boy (Scrap Teacher theme)
For some reason I think this sounds vaguely Latino as well O_o; And I like the PV...or specifically, Yama-chan's little smirk at the end XD
9. Nakashima Mika - Orion (Ryusei no Kizuna insert song)
Good thing I didn't like "Beautiful Days" or Arashi would have three songs here! I like Nakashima's singing...sometimes. And the PV stars my favourite Jap actress~ though not quite looking her prettiest, but hey XD
10. Becca - I'm Alive (Kuroshitsuji 1st ending)
I know this entire song is in English, but it IS released in Japan. She's like Avril Lavigne but with more spirit and less attitude. It's so infectious XD

Other songs that would have made the list if it had a PV: "Eternally" by Utada Hikaru and "Hikari" by Elisa. See...all the slow songs I liked didn't have a PV...

Other songs that nearly made it to the list..."Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi" by On/Off, "Promise" by Michi (it's really catchy, I just didn't like the middle "rap" part), "Friends" by Stephanie, and "Hakanaku mo Towa no Kanashi" by UVERworld. I need to give it time to grow on me.

Also, I have nothing to say about this week's G00 except that it's like an extended commercial for the Gundams' Trans-Am. But at least we see Lockon finally use Trans-Am in battle. Why didn't they just use Gundam 00's invincible Trans-Am to power Ptolemis, and it probably goes faster than Allelujah's Trans-Am and can also ATOMISE. Saves the whole trouble of using shields. Am not particularly happy about Gundam 00's ridiculous Trans-Am mode.

So this week, after a whopping 36 episodes, we finally learn what the heck's up with Double O.


Yes. Observe the O rings

Nostradamus that he might be, Aeolia has weird taste in human DNA templates. He's also a lazy ass:










( Summary starts here )

It ended the episode of me screaming "WTF JUST HAPPENED?!?!" at the screen, although obviously not out loud since it was nearly 3am in the morning =0=;

There are a few ways Aeolia's Twin Drive system could work - maybe by heightening the pilot's perception it acts like a mechanical "Newtype" system, allowing the pilot to predict the moves of other people.

But the other way it could work in realising Aeolia's ultimate goal is that it does what it did here - connects the consciousness of everyone within its vicinity. War is based on misunderstanding and incomprehension, isn't it? So theoretically if you built a system whereby everyone could communicate in unbridled ways, it would boost understanding and solve conflicts. It would be idealistic and romantic way to end wars - as opposed to the Innovators interpretation, which is to establish a global dictatorship.

I doubt it'll go this way because the Gundam franchise is not given to metaphysical musings and cleverness like this. This is the sort of creepy consciousness network that you'll find in cult hits like Serial Experiment Lain.

I'm probably reading too much into this, but where "Aeolia's plan" is concerned, there seems to be references to organised religion in this, with the different interpretations leading to different sorts of ideals and violence, and the Innovators' unquestioning loyalty to the plan itself. Sure, they don't agree on the ways to do it, but none of them question their own existence as beings to realise his plan.

The scene with Anew is typically ambiguous. Either Revive communicated with her to find CB's nest, or Anew sensed Revive like Soma/Marie did. Soma/Marie did remark that "the brainwave was not directed at me...who was it?" Ribonze seems to be able to use his brainwave just to observe people, so it might not mean there was any communication.

Okay, I admit, I want Anew to be a "good" Innovator. Otherwise our Tieria-kun is going to be so lonely LOL!!!

I wonder if Lockon being especially nice to Anew might suggest Anew is the person behind the curtain the ending sequence holding Lockon's hand.

At any rate, Saji and Marina are so going down as the most annoying characters in this series =__=+

- Wow...Ali is like, totally, superhuman. What is wrong with that guy. Secchan and Tieria went 2 against 1 with Ali and still lost half their equipment. Tieria is so cute these days XD
- Ali leaves when Sumeragi sends Lockon and Allelujah to help. Tieria wants to chase after him, but gets stopped by Allelujah, and Tieria snaps "that's Lockon's enemy!"
- Back on ship, Setsuna tells Saji that Louise asked after him and asks whether Saji wants to contact her. Wow, Setsuna actually thinks about others once in a while.
- They get interrupted by Lockon and Tieria stamping through the door, with Lockon demanding to know about this "enemy" thing. After a typical anime time skip, Lockon find out everything.
- He laughs - with a hapless expression - and says that it was so like Neil to hold on to the past. He comes out with some philosophies that's surprisingly more mature than Neil's in thsi convo.
- Setsuna interrupts with "what if your enemy is right in front of you?" He then reveals he personally knew the kid who suicide-bombed the site that killed Lockon's parents/sister. WE ONLY SEE ONE LOCKON. Hm. Maybe that's why it mattered so much to Neil because he was just a few paces away from getting his parents out of there alive. Setsuna insists it's because he didn't stop the kid.
- Instead of threatening to pump bullets into Setsuna's head like Neil did, Lyle merely says that even if he stopped the kid, terrorism would have gone ahead anyway...which is so surprisingly insightful. I mean, terrorism is a movement, not a single person...even if you chip off a few fingers (in the form of actual bombers), the head is still there. He then says that they're fighting for the future, not the past...which presses a sore button on Tieria.
- While Sumeragi makes plans to return to space, Tieria mopes about what he should be doing. He's torn between his own sense of justice and the goal that supposedly comes with his existence as Innovator, and the "future" he's supposed to realise. Elsewhere, Regene asks Ribonze whether the Twin Drive system was part of Aeolia's plans or developed by CB alone - essentially he's questioning their interpretation of Aeolia's plan, I guess.
- Graham goes and meets Billy, who calls him Mr Bushido...at which Graham snorts that people are just calling him that and he finds it stupid. GOOD. YOU HAVEN'T LOST ALL YOUR BRAIN. He asks Billy for a new MS, to which Billy agrees but says he must make it his task to wipe out CB. Wow...fury of a scorned woman much?
- Mannequin believes Ptolemy will aim for space while Mushroom Head says they'll be too chicken to stay in the water. Revive puts up a hand for Mannequin and Mushroom Head is defeated by majority. For some reason they're aware of the Trans-Am system and it being able to be used to power Ptolemy. I mean WE didn't know that until this episode!!! Bloody spies, better informants than the scriptwriter.
- Things go as Mannequin predicted, of course, but Ptolemy rises too fast for their air troops to deal with anyway. Revive is waiting up near space with a giant rail gun, which he shoots Ptolemy with and redirects its course towards where an ambush is waiting.
- But Sumeragi is one step ahead and already had Setsuna deployed (since his Trans-Am was unstable and couldn't help Ptolemy anyway), and he dismantles the command ship before we even got to see the guy's face properly. Soma Marie doesn't look too happy about it.
- Mannequin forwards a message to Ptolemy, in English: I express my respect for the tactics of Leesa Kujo of Cestial[sic] Being. Colonel Kati Mannequin. Autonomous Peace-Keeping Force. Sumeragi starts having static-charged flashbacks at this, of her student days with Billy and Mannequin.
- She says she can't escape her past - and this cuts across Setsuna, Lockon and Tieria, so presumably she's speaking for them as well. I guess Allelujah having met his one twu luv strikes him off the list.

It's surprising how a screaming psychotic role can make you forget the voice actor XD I almost forgot that Ali's seiyuu is Black Cat's down-on-luck Sven XD Conversely...Lockon's VA was screaming his way through Black Cat as Creed.

I wonder if Marie/Soma would leave CB? Or do something, at any rate. She had like one line this episode - "Daijoubu".

Lyle is so mature. I mean people say "oh he's immature because we saw him lose it at the Katalon base". But come next episode he's gotten himself under control again. At least he's not Neil, who nearly went to blows with Setsuna, and recklessly threw himself onto the battleground with his dominant eye useless.

Then again...he's had an extra four years to grow up. And I think him not being personally there at the scene of destruction really did make a difference to how much the revenge mattered.

.....And then again, he could be just putting it on. He's really good at keeping his thoughts under wraps.