This site has been dormant for so long that even I almost thought it was done for. Luckily for all of us I have been drawn back by my love for colourful screenshots and babbling. You will be pleased to know that although it has been a constant struggle the last four months to get enough sleep, I have found time during my precious non-working weekends and dinner breaks to keep up with some anime.

I finished this series a while ago, which is why my reaction to it is muted by now. I still wanted to write about it because it was a pretty decent anime. For one, it was really exciting right up to the very last scene. Knowing that there’s a sequel kinda kills it by establishing certain expectations (and I probably just killed it for anyone who didn’t know there was a sequel lawl), but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

I was really impressed by the mecha fight scenes. Not that I’ve had a lot of exposure (swords + magic >>> robots!), but these were the first mecha fights that I thought actually looked good and unclunky. Since then I’ve seen a bunch of Eureka 7 and Gundam Seed fights, so I’m not so impressionable now, but credit’s still due, especially since this isn’t primarily a mecha type anime.

I thought the little plot twist was executed fairly well and elicited all the right emotions, but (pardon the crypticism but I’m too lazy to create a spoiler section) you gotta admit it was so convenient it ended up just being kinda cheesy. It was so stupid that I fumed over it for a long time. Granted, that’s probably the intended effect, but it’s still cheap. The one part I really liked was the bit about Shirley. I went back to that one scene last night just to take a screenshot, and I almost cried all over again! (By now you may have surmised that, as I told TJ the other day, there’s more anime I’ve cried at than there is that I haven’t =p)

One problem I have with this series is that the characters aren’t particularly likable. The whole Lelouch-Suzaku relationship is too much like Death Note, except with too many lofty principles involved and a lot less cleverness. Lelouch is too smug and Suzaku is just plain annoying after a while. It is hard to sympathise with a friendship in jeopardy when you care little for the parties involved. And the Zero costume is just retarded. He looks like a ten year old trying to play dress up, kinda like when Peter Parker shows up for his first wrestling match in the Spiderman movie. I don’t know how you’re supposed to take it seriously.

To end on a positive note, the first OP by Flow is great!

The torrent of work is not going to abate for a while, but hopefully it won’t be another four month hiatus before my next entry. Now that I’ve adopted the practice of keeping an eye out for good screenshot opportunities while I’m watching a series, it’ll probably cut my blogging time by 80%! Can’t remember if I’ve ever mentioned this, but taking these screenshots takes a seriously ludicrous amount of time. You have to find the right scenes with purposeful expressions on representative characters, AND WITH NO SUBS. You cannot imagine. If there’s a way to get rid of the subs (short of downloading the raws) please please please let me know.