Shounen to Mahou no Robotto
Sep. 30th, 2013 12:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foxinthestarsOkay, so while I'm by no means fluent yet, not only can I read Japanese children's novels well enough to follow the story, I can also understand Japanese well enough that the heartwarming adorability of this moves me to tears (and maybe a new appreciation for Vocaloids):
(Cliff's notes: Once upon a time there was a boy who loved to write songs, but he was too self-conscious about his voice to sing in front of anyone, so the friendly scientist made him a Vocaloid robot.)
NHK-E has been showing a shorter version on "Minna no Uta" is how I found it.
Actually, the last couple of months I've wanted Japanese music to listen to and found that I could use Audacity to record from my Japanese-TV-streaming gadgets, so I've had fun "taping" a bunch of the kid songs I like off NHK-E. There are still a few I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they play again... (Yes, I got a version of "Ringontou", but...!)
And the anime season is ending. I never did catch up on Sunday Without God, and I still need to watch the last few eps of Free!, so I've only managed to finish two shows so far.
Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist was never more than fluff, and the ending, while not offensive, was IMO poorly played. Things just start to heat up, then we get a humorous interlude ep followed by a climax arc that was so desperately tacked on, impecuniously animated, and even more desperately resolved (perhaps never has the phrase "Diabolus ex Machina" been more appropriate) that I actually lost my suspension of disbelief; it doesn't even feel like that really happened in the story. Like I said, tho, nothing actively offensive about it as an ending. This show also clarified either how twisted my sensibilities were when I was a kid or how twisted they are now; we have basically a male-male harem show based on "The Lesser Key of Solomon," in which the angels are the Big Bad (plenty of moral range and ambiguity on all sides, but the archangel Michael is played as a more hissable sociopath than any of the demons) --- and these days I just watch this and consider it harmless fluff. ::shrug:: Other reviewers I've seen do express impatience with the flat-earth atheism "joke," but I actually thought as it went on it made at least a half-hearted effort to transcend joke status, that it was the crux of some real negotiation of power and acknowledgement that I could feel some depth to in fleeting moments, but I won't claim they were able to sustain it.
And Uchouten Kazoku. The ending was perhaps not everything it could have been (I thought Hotei's development in particular was underplayed), but it delivered enough wonderful craziness to satisfy. I'm frustrated by my inability to describe what makes this show so great, but it's my favorite thing I've seen in some time.
In ickier news, later today we're *finally* taking the cat that randomly appeared on our porch this summer to a vet. Mom is probably annoyed with me for not waiting until Wednesday when the schedule would be less tight, but the cat has gotten what we think is a cuterebra type of thing (Google only if you have a strong stomach) and I'm like "goddammit there's a hole in our cat and I'm the only one who feels any sense of urgency," and she let me have the phone so to hell with it, cat's going in this afternoon...
Just to end with something happier than the TMI, I'm starting to feel it with Yuletide now --- enough that I regret not jumping in and nominating Kemono no Souja Erin. But hey, noms caught me at a bad time, it happens; I can still find plenty to request and offer.
(Hm, you know, you could write some really cute fanfic about the boy and the singing robot, come to think of it...)
(Cliff's notes: Once upon a time there was a boy who loved to write songs, but he was too self-conscious about his voice to sing in front of anyone, so the friendly scientist made him a Vocaloid robot.)
NHK-E has been showing a shorter version on "Minna no Uta" is how I found it.
Actually, the last couple of months I've wanted Japanese music to listen to and found that I could use Audacity to record from my Japanese-TV-streaming gadgets, so I've had fun "taping" a bunch of the kid songs I like off NHK-E. There are still a few I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they play again... (Yes, I got a version of "Ringontou", but...!)
And the anime season is ending. I never did catch up on Sunday Without God, and I still need to watch the last few eps of Free!, so I've only managed to finish two shows so far.
Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist was never more than fluff, and the ending, while not offensive, was IMO poorly played. Things just start to heat up, then we get a humorous interlude ep followed by a climax arc that was so desperately tacked on, impecuniously animated, and even more desperately resolved (perhaps never has the phrase "Diabolus ex Machina" been more appropriate) that I actually lost my suspension of disbelief; it doesn't even feel like that really happened in the story. Like I said, tho, nothing actively offensive about it as an ending. This show also clarified either how twisted my sensibilities were when I was a kid or how twisted they are now; we have basically a male-male harem show based on "The Lesser Key of Solomon," in which the angels are the Big Bad (plenty of moral range and ambiguity on all sides, but the archangel Michael is played as a more hissable sociopath than any of the demons) --- and these days I just watch this and consider it harmless fluff. ::shrug:: Other reviewers I've seen do express impatience with the flat-earth atheism "joke," but I actually thought as it went on it made at least a half-hearted effort to transcend joke status, that it was the crux of some real negotiation of power and acknowledgement that I could feel some depth to in fleeting moments, but I won't claim they were able to sustain it.
And Uchouten Kazoku. The ending was perhaps not everything it could have been (I thought Hotei's development in particular was underplayed), but it delivered enough wonderful craziness to satisfy. I'm frustrated by my inability to describe what makes this show so great, but it's my favorite thing I've seen in some time.
In ickier news, later today we're *finally* taking the cat that randomly appeared on our porch this summer to a vet. Mom is probably annoyed with me for not waiting until Wednesday when the schedule would be less tight, but the cat has gotten what we think is a cuterebra type of thing (Google only if you have a strong stomach) and I'm like "goddammit there's a hole in our cat and I'm the only one who feels any sense of urgency," and she let me have the phone so to hell with it, cat's going in this afternoon...
Just to end with something happier than the TMI, I'm starting to feel it with Yuletide now --- enough that I regret not jumping in and nominating Kemono no Souja Erin. But hey, noms caught me at a bad time, it happens; I can still find plenty to request and offer.
(Hm, you know, you could write some really cute fanfic about the boy and the singing robot, come to think of it...)
