YOU FAIL!

Hey guys, been a while.

First order of business- JL Mann's Show of Plenty was pretty awesome, and anybody who didn't go ought to regret it immensely. Good job, Drama 2- and props to the performers! Not that any of 'em reads this...or anybody else, for that matter...but you know, whatever. It's cool. Props anyway.

School has been fairly preoccupying lately, so meetings (and blog posts) have been kind of scarce, but I think that's going to change; with the meeting tomorrow (Friday, 3:45 to 6!), and the coming weeks, we're hopefully going to be picking up the pace. For those of you interested, we're watching Samurai Champloo- I'm not sure which episodes, we'll decide on the spot- and maybe a little bit of somethin' else too.

With that said, let's move on to bigger and better things- like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, quite possibly the coolest thing since...anything. If you like anime, prepare to be amazed; if you have a favorite anime, it's about to be replaced. I mean, I don't really want to use this blog to review shows that are, in my opinion, the coolest shiz nit to be found...but holy CRAP, I can't help it with Gurren Lagann, because it's just...SO...cool.

You know all of those really solemn shows, that force you to slow down and take it all in? Yeah. So. Gurren Lagann is not one of those. It moves at a constant break-neck pace and almost never lets up on the action and drama, and spread all throughout are great funnies. It's easily categorized as a show that makes fun of everything else, then turns around and uses every cliche imaginable to its advantage. If you've seen any sort of mecha anime, then you'll find something to laugh at very, very quickly. Know what else? Every episode raises the bar; it only gets better and better and better, relentlessly tearing it up each and every time.

Doesn't that sound great? I thought so, and still do; it's completely amazing, it gets me sooo pumped to know that a show can be this consistently awesome and never cease to impress me.

There's something to be said about that consistency- it's a really rare quality in anime these days. "Stagnation" sums up the current trends of the anime industry pretty well, with so many formulaic and supposedly "cash-cow" shows coming out of the factory. What we have is are all those worthless husks...when what we need are these lively epics, like Gurren Lagann and Death Note- shows where things are taken seriously, and to the extremes; daring, exciting, fun, and smart. Sadly, though, there aren't more shows like that. And that's why...

...this week, the ANIME INDUSTRY receives a big fat YOU FAIL! from MannAnime, and from chibi Rei up there.

Comments, suggestions? Maybe you want me to shut up? Keep it clean, folks.

See you tomorrow- in the library!

Keep On Rollin', Rollin'...

Here I am again, folks, for another go around. I think we did pretty well during the last meeting...For those of you who weren't there, you missed a relatively calm, engaging meeting.

I mean, we didn't watch much- just a few previews that ADV sent us. Instead we talked about how things need to be done, some of the anime we might possibly be able to watch (there were quite a few shows on the list that are, to my knowledge, freaking awesome, and then a lot of shows I've never even heard of, which is good...I think), and there was one, very vital suggestion: that the club buy its own anime dvds and manga . We deliberated for a little while: stuff like who would get the DVDs at year's end (ownership or safe keeping or whatever), how that would be decided, etc. Basically, guys, if you want to give money to the club, keep the contributions small-$5 or something. That way it's fair when we divide them up. I'll try and have something set up so we can receive your money, should you bring it, without just taking it up and possibly losing it. =P

Anyway, I haven't had a good chance to look at the list we accumulated because of school work, but I have a pretty fair idea of what we're going to do this next meeting anyway. Speaking of which: the date of the NEXT MEETING is TUES, OCT 16 in the AUDITORIUM, and will run from 3:30 to 4:45 just as always.

I think that's pretty much it.

Few things to think about:

• Clue for Next Meeting: Shinichiro Watanabe, look him up


• Food for Thought: How important is the music to an anime's composition- like, how it's brought together and how you react to it?


• Comment! C'mon, guys, come onnnnn! This thing is here for a reason. -_-

Once More, With Feelin'

For those of you who read this (both of you, now =P), I'd like to tell you what's going down on Tuesday: what we're considering, and how we want everybody to conduct themselves. Nobody commented the last entry to tell me what they think (and I had hoped you would), but that's okay; I'll get it out of you guys eventually.

What happened during the first meeting- or what didn't happen, whatever- doesn't matter to me a whole lot. The most important thing is that you guys keep coming. I just want you to be able to have fun, you know, and learn about anime. Learn and teach: that's our motto from here on out.


On TUESDAY, OCT 2ND, the day of our next meeting, we're going to be setting down some ground rules; I've already drafted those, have to run them by a couple of people still to make sure they're cosher. Most of them were generally understood, I thought, but I guess it's best to be sure. Some things we'll be talking about:

• Coach White suggested that our meetings happen twice a month on either Monday or Tuesday; we'll talk about that.
• I'll officially sanction this blog. Hopefully that garners a bit more attention. Speaking of which, yo, Ashley! =D
• We'll probably watch a few previews ADV sent me last week, but only if we have time.

I know a lot of you won't be able to come--I feel bad about it, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it. There will be more room for compromise once we have as many of us together as we possibly can; this blog and email is how the rest of you can make yourselves heard. Take advantage of that, or don't be heard. Okay? It's your choice.

I think that's about it. I'll see you Tuesday (well, probably sooner- whatever).

Portrayal of Will

When Hideaki Anno announced that he was going to return to his (in)famous '95 anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, by retelling the series in four movies which will eventually lead up to a completely new conclusion to the story, he had this to say (retrieved from the Anime News Network, presumably where it was translated):

"Many different desires are motivating us to create the new 'Evangelion' film.

The desire to portray my sincere feelings on film. The desire to share, with an audience, the embodiment of image, the diversity of expressions, and the detailed portrayal of emotions that animation offers. The desire to connect today's exhausted Japanese animation [industry] to the future. The desire to fight the continuing trend of stagnation in anime. The desire to support the strength of heart that exists in the world."

There are lots of things that go into this, lots of things to discuss, but what it comes down to is, like he said, the portrayal of will- and the revitalization of the anime industry. Anybody who watches anime even somewhat regularly generally can tell you that there's an incredible polarization in the quality; anime ranges from really good to really bad, and it's usually really bad. It takes time and focus to go over the thousands of shows that come out of Japan every year with a fine-tooth comb and find the good stuff...and not everybody is up to the task. Anime has become a gargantuan hub of cliches and even in the really good shows you don't really escape all of them.

Anno is one crazy dude, but what he says is true: the portrayal of will (of human spirit and achievement, and strongly argued ideals) is important, and if you can find something like that in any anime, then you've struck gold. Stick with it, guys, and that's exactly what you'll be doing in our club meetings.

P.S.: These blogs ought to be interactive, shouldn't they? Okay. Tell me what you think the anime club is really about. I'm saying that we should commit ourselves to finding quality anime that makes us think around a few corners or feel around a few corners, anime that give us something in return for watching them...but I'm also curious about what you guys think about the club, and anime in general, so tell me in a comment!