country road

Oh god, I just had a brilliant, revolutionary thought. Sometimes when an author adds something to [their work] that might be read as homoerotic, they might be thinking that it's...

wait for it...

just as relevant to the story as all the other elements they have added. Like, even in a world where "yaoi fangirls" and "yuri fanboys"* don't exist as recognizable groups to "pander"...? The gay might still be there! Besides, I have the strangest feeling that sometimes even the fan-pandering type of gay can grow into something more serious. Just a... is it a "hunch" if it's based on direct evidence?

Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Not that there aren't two sides to every argument. Shows that use gay for titillation far outnumber the ones that don't. But despite what people seem to think, instead of being happy about those meaningless moments, some of us find that annoying.

Point is, the next time someone dismisses something perfectly logical and in-character as a "nod to the fangirls", I will punch them through the internet.

*because these are the only two groups in existence, as you know that gay is only a heterosexual fantasy

Cuts mean spoilers!

( Toward the Terra )


( Simoun )


( Baccano! )


Toki wo kakeru shoujo, OR, Time Waits For No One

Watch it, if you haven't already.

This is how time travel works if the author's infatuation with ~the foreordained~ doesn't stand in the way of how causality really works. And the completely convincing feel of lazy summer afternoons with your best friends from high school. And the bewilderingly detailed art. Oh god, the background art.

Too bad about the ending. A little more compact and this movie would have been perfect.


Kino's Journey, OR, Socrates And Her Talking Motorcycle

What a shame about the poor art/animation quality. And the different countries' inhabitants should have been a variety of races instead of just the same old westerners. Same thing about the architecture.

Fix those two things and the outcome would have been excellent. This makes me feel superficial to admit, but they really dampened my enjoyment of the series.


Vandread, OR, Fuck You Too, MediaFactory

The worst waste of a series I've recently witnessed. Made worse by the first two episodes, which were hilarious! And tricked me into thinking it would continue the same! Then suddenly they start taking the gender stereotyping and the worldbuilding seriously, at which point everything falls flat on its face. It would have worked as overblown comedy. It didn't work realistically.

The least original main characters since I DON'T EVEN KNOW SINCE WHAT, NOW AND THEN, HERE AND THERE MAYBE, constantly rubbed in your face by how the supporting cast (or majority thereof) is actually entertaining! And manages to have the same depth with tenth the screentime!

It was painfully obvious that most of the story was build episode by episode. (And if it wasn't, the producers need to learn how to actually pace plot developments. The viewers aren't going anywhere! You're allowed to play with the story a little!) There were several storylines which would have worked a thousand times better had they lasted just a little longer, but no - the build-up for the main character's life-altering view-changing experience lasts exactly one episode. And it's hardly referenced to after that at all.

...On a plus side, the music was at least fun, if not exactly good.


Minami-ke; see: Series itself

Mako-chan and Touma: hilarious

Hosaka-senpai: I want one of my own

Series itself: just a plain depiction of the lives of the three sisters of the Minami household. Please do not get your expectations up.