Smooth and Flat

I am the ghost of myself.
Tomo is my friend, and Kanade is my rival.
I have haunted Tomo for a thousand days,
Unknown to death, nor known to life.
Withstood pain to allow Kurogane to be summoned,
Yet these hands will never hold anything.
So, as I pray,
Unlimited Asura Works.

So the Spring ’09 season is almost over, and alas, K-ON! is over too.

The last episode was a bit weird, but overall nice. I should also note that I liked the series; I admit, though, that the plot was a bit weak and that the amounts of moe in the series are a bit over the plausible limit – but it was a fun ride anyway.

Overall, I’m not paying much attention to anime series lately; I’m planning to catch up with some series later… but I guess I might drop some of them due to lack of interest. Namely, Hatsukoi Limited or Hanasakeru Seishounen.

I’m also annoyed by the fact that Asura Cryin’ TV adaptation was kind of ruined. The episodes lack interconnection, the animation quality is average, and as a fan of the original novel series I feel ripped off.

Episode 6 delivers some quality lulz. Starting from Shuri’s attempt at cooking by sexually harrassing Kanade and ending with this awesome transfer student introduction scene in the end of the episode.

The introduction went like this:

Camping is fun.

Basically, the adaptations (both manga and anime) of a novel aren’t the same. At all.

However, it’s like this for me as I have a vivid imagination enough to construct a live picture from the words I read – and it doesn’t even matter if the author is talented in descriptive department. I just see the things I read about right in front of me – and in most cases (as with Toradora! or Suzumiya Haruhi series) the results of my imagination’s work are far more advanced and profound compared to the product of an animation studio.

And in most cases, we lose a lot of the source material; the reasons are that in the novels the author has to be descriptive sometimes, telling us, the readers, about how, and where, and when.

Apparently, I’m a bit wrong here in terms of “losing” something – even though stuff does get cut out, it’s not really a big deal, I guess; what I mean is something else. Whenever we encounter a description in the novel, the animation attempts to follow it – according to the vision of the animation staff. And this vision differs quite a lot from the reader’s point of view.

Let’s look at an example; you won’t find this piece in the TV animation series.

If I ever went to discuss this is with a psychiatrist, they’d probably theorise that I have a case of schizophrenia and thus, have a split personality – which in part was caused by a person named Misao. Because of that, I would probably come off as something of a fragile pansy; and, unfortunately, I have no basis to deny that accusation.

Incidentally, I have no real connection with other spirits, and, aside from Misao, I’ve never met another ghost in my life. I might just be overly harsh on myself, thinking this way, but in terms of reality, I really wonder…

“Yeah, I really wonder, too.” Misao said and, in a charming manner, purposely unbuttoned the collar of her shirt as if almost inviting me to peek between them.

That’s really erotic, so please stop.

“If you can understand it that way, then isn’t that good enough?”

Translation courtesy of Chihiro; revised against the original text and edited by me as I’m way too lazy to translate from scratch.

Well, if it isn’t some weird mix of science, magic, mystery, and mecha.

The story starts as a pretty laidback one, and – how unexpected of him – the protagonist moves into a seemingly old house after being away for a bit. Or maybe not really being away. During the first scene he’s accompanied by a friend who’s a fan of everything related to ghosts, spectres and other paranormal stuff, and there’s also his childhood friend, Minakami Misao. However, weird stuff happens, a strange trunk appears along with a not-so-beautiful mysterious girl (a scientist), and from how the things are progressing I’d say that the house he lives in is sort of… doomed.

Also featuring: a miko-class magic user with heterochromia; a secret military-style organisation; yakuza; conjured robots; and whatever tomorrow brings.

The mix is really weird; the series hail from Seven Arcs so I’m a bit unsure as to what to expect from it. After all, you can’t really judge their Nanoha series by the first episode of the first season, so we might have something of epic proportions ahead.