Otakuism

Now that’s a yell.

Watching Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Two episodes in and I love it. There’s no more dynamic an opening than a giant space battle. I find it rather funny that the opening narration of the very first episode of a show about war basically says how war is meaningless and will ultimately be forgotten. Even Yang Wenli and Reinhard seem to know that, Yang probably more so, but the battle at the moment is more pressing.

LOGH immediately sets itself with two very different sides at war. In one corner it’s the Space Prussians - is there a better kind of prussian? - better known as theGalactic Empire. They have snazzy uniforms, cool german names (cause german is the most badass language ever), and everything from their ships to their houses possesses a unique 18th century austerity.

In the other corner there’s Democracy InAction, or the Free Planets Alliance. They wear french caps (yay revolution), have garish mechanical design (boo capitalism), name their ships after ancient greeks (yay oligarchy), and use fighters called spartanians. Probably trying to evoke the image of Sparta defender of Athenian democracy from the Persians, rather than the Sparta that fought meaningless wars for a century that led to Greece being conquered.

LOGH is one of the fews anime I’ve seen that actually feels like a proper space opera, partly because classical music is the soundtrack. But there’s also the distances involved, the grand movements of people, and the death star-like Iserlohn, covered in a sea of molten metal with its own patented planet smasher, Thor’s Hammer (yay norse mythology). Of course, LOGH is still a 110-episode OVA with multiple movies and side-stories, so this may be quite a long journey.

Upgraded nukes.

Honestly I’d be perfectly happy with 25 episodes of massive space battles, badass gay guys piloting HUEG transforming battle ships, crazy 3D graphics that keep blaring warnings, and lines like “THIS IS THE FINAL DEFENSE LINE! MACROSS GUN MAXIMUM POWER! BY SPECIAL EXEMPTION OF THE NEW U.N. CHARTER WE MUST DECLARE ALL OUT WAR! DIE BUGS DIE!”

Now that’s a show.

In actual events it’s too bad Luca’s one moment of badassness ended with him being owned. Hopefully the little guy can properly declare his lust love for Nanase’s boobs next time.

Lelouch’s plan to use Rolo as a would-be suicide bomber is the best idea he’s had yet. Who cares if Lelouch has fallen off the deep end into ordering mass genocide to cover up his own guilt. As long as he gets rid of Rolo he’s okay in my book. Sadly the plan didn’t work, the one time where I didn’t like the sight of Cornelia on the scene. We’ll just have to wait for Rolo to die in a fiery explosion at some latter date. As for the rest of the episode, well I have no idea what exactly is going on anymore but never before has falling down the slippery moral slope been this much fun to watch.

And you just got to love Britannian corsets. Cheers for straight hair Kallen!

Maid Guy Attack always beats Panda Attack.

I open up my issue of TIME and find a complete article about 4chan and Moot. It’s 4chan, in print no less! There’s also the fact that the Wall Street Journal did its own article on 4chan earlier. My favorite quote from the TIME article:

You may not realize it, but 4chan has probably touched your life. Possibly inappropriately.

Way to be subtle there. I hope to god there’s no actual news going on in the world right now that needs reporting.

Gurren Lagann Parallel Works 4 wins just for crazy evil Kamina and his crazy evil hairdo. Heroic Viral with a horse of steel is also cool.