A discussion took place at the Great Congregation of Love, which involved people mentioning about preferring over some Gundam shows over other, and hating some because their merits seem pale in comparison to others.

Hopefully, my esteemed colleagues are not talking about there being people who actually dislike certain constituents of the Gundam franchise because they fail to live up to expectations imbued into them by their favourite ones.

As always, I shall be reiterating the obvious type of opinion (for I am ignorantly guilty of not knowing about what other people have already discussed): a Gundam show should not be criticized on the basis of being an imitation of a predecessor, or if its discourse is not coherent with the ones of highly appraised counterparts.

Surely even within franchise certain works can deviate in the themes expressed, right? For instance, SDF Macross speaks of a very different theme to Macross Frontier. The former celebrates the dawn of human spirit and sentiments, triumphing great odds, while the later is a lament of human dissonance and the rediscovery of love. SDF Macross and Macross Frontier talk about really different ideas.

Oh dear. To summarize it, I do believe all Gundam shows ought to be evaluated with an isolated approach; references to other shows (unless they are sequels) are not required. Wait, am I promoting close criticism of some sort?

Ah yes. I am sorry for stating the obvious.

Relevant post

P.S. Kyoani loyalist, Kaioshin Sama, writes about the problem of being trapped in the quagmire of comparing shows with bad ones in a bid to reduce the merit of the former.

Primary Classes

Fighter

The fighter has swift hands. Some used to repetitive actions till the point where the hand seems to quiver. Most are males however though some girls can dual wield. Favourite quote: The penis mightier than the sword.

I have jacked a thousand men.

Archer

The archer is a class of accuracy. No one can underestimate the power of the face shot, that hits but doesn’t kill the target. Favourite skill: Quickie Shot!

The Legendary Face Shot!

Mage

This is a class that knows how to have fun. Shopping for weird toys and anime products, I wonder what they do with these in their locked rooms. Favourite item: Robocop’s friend, Robocock.

Prestige Classes

Rogue

Though their actions seem questionable, the rogues are one of the most favoured class by all cheapskates or poor students who can’t afford to buy their own DVD. Don’t look down on the rogues, for they have an extensive information network, sending data packets in the form of P2P and torrents. Even the anti-rogue ODEX company has failed to successfully shut down their network.

Blue Mage

Weaboos, oops… blue mages are people without cultures of their own. In some ways, they can be cool, depending on what kind of culture they pick up, and adopt it in a way that fits their definition of awesome. Some choose to wear squall necklaces to school, others have little keroro toys hanging on their schoolbags but they all like to go. Nothing has however, been able to defeat the epic hero, Girugamesh!

Golemancer

Paint, plastic, metal and lights. These golemancers are obsessed over their own creations. While many beginners start with Bandai easy to summon models, they start to customize their own golems as they level up. Their army can consist from a few to hundreds. The true power only unleashes when you destroy one of their Zaku models.  The golemancer will enter a fistful rage where you will no longer see the light of day. It is also common to see scantily dressed women and skirted lolis in the top shelf(so they can peek from beneath).

Fight between golems

Politician

Whether its empty chatter or complicated matters, these politicians do not stop at feeding fuel to the flames. They come as many names, such as saltires, trolls, flamers or even stalkers, in the never-ending struggle to seek attention. They even give themselves names like The Sojourner! Cool huh? Nevertheless, they are just simple plain blokes who own a blog.

Runemaster

Master of moonrunes, these masters of translation are able to channel ultimate power into a single episode of anime goodness. They receive a lot of ‘rabu’ from the rogues. Because of their generosity, their good works is distributed throughout all the lands and the internet.

Detective

Many detectives exist, but none are as vigilant as Anon(right of bottom picture) from 4chan. Despite the lack of evidence, these detectives are able to scour ever drop of information they can in order to get justice for a cat. It seems questionable that they treat furballs better than humans though.

Weaponmasters

Weaponmasters are fighters that have reached a level of proficiency with their weapon that they know their weapon like it was part of themselves(or it may already be part of themselves). They can swing it so fast and repeatedly, that a sound is made, describable as ‘fap fap fap fap fap….’.

Artisan

The work of an artist can never be looked down upon. With many masterpieces, the inspiring doujins and fanart can help his friends and allies get through another horrible day of sex deprivation. This gives all people hope, especially those who wish to see haruhi without panties.

——-

Ultimate Class

Meister

Many years before the events of Gundam 00, Meisters already existed. These Meisters pass their abilities from one to another, starting with A, Anime Meister.

The Anime Meister stumbled across the Breast Meister, a guy who just can’t find big breast in the asian population. He showed him anime and taught him the path to enlightenment and so, he found the breast he needed.

The B-Meister then met the Cunt Meister, a gynaecologist who had seen so many cunts that he can’t erect any more. Fortunately, hentai doujins saved his fertility and the C-Meister taught another…

The story carries on until, The P-Meister, the strongest of all meisters, reached enlightenment. Somehow, the Q-meister is busy QQing over stupid Korean dramas and has yet to become ready to the exposure of anime.

Q&A time

Random person: Oh great P-Meister, why isn’t Korean text considered moonrunes?

P-Meister: Isn’t that obvious. It came from mars.

Marina, trying to hard.

New OP; not too shabby. Seravee’s backpack is capable of morphing into a Gundam too! It is the calm before the storm! The preview tells us that something will happen just like how something happened in this episode.

And allow me to offer some alternatives to sum up my feelings in regards to this excellent episode. Done. I conclude the most adequate of reviews for this episode.

Or….

Thank you. You have been a great audience. Good night.

Best Mind Fart Show of 2008

Kimikiss Pure Rouge

A mind fart, according Urban Dictionary, happens when you think something is brewing but nothing comes out. A mind fart show has to be something that was promising initially but turned out to be a letdown. At the beginning, this show had a simple formula that was capable of capturing my attention: good chemistry that effused from the characters. But the magic faded away when Mao decided to have a go with Kooooouichi, rather than choosing saxo-boy. Moral of the story: the osananajimi bond is a powerful force that defies all odds, second only to the power of siscon/wincest.

Best LOL-Invoking  Despite The Fact That It Was Not Really Our Intention To Do So In The First Place Anime of 2008

Code Geass R2

Code Geass was very interesting to me because  it had featured an anti-hero like protagonist whose ideals were those that I could somehow relate to. I was initially excited by the first season because it had so much potential in becoming a compelling story about idealism and deep sh*t stuff but my hopes were dashed by its convoluted plot. Putting my disappointment aside, it was still an interesting watch to follow because of all the laughter it had brought. Do not get me started about how many memes and crazy shopped pictures it had spawned. So what if some people said it was a horrible show? They were just tsundere for it. After the show had ended, most anime fans suffered from withdrawal symptoms because of a lack of Code Geass. Code Geass, a personal disappointment and an unexpected surprise for me.

Also, notto disu shitto agen.

Most Spectacular Anime of 2008

Macross Frontier

I believe a spectacular “thing” is something that just simply succeeds at the task of awing the crowd. I, personally, found the first 15 episodes of Macross Frontier to be an overwhelming experience. Knowing how popular this show is, there is no need for me to reiterate its formula for success. Uh. Nevermind; I shall. Addictive music. Dogfights. POP SINGERS. Space battles that embodify the idea of “AWESOMENESS.” This show was one big romantic opera. I call it a romantic piece because it was brimming with an epic sense as I am constantly reminded that it is a tale of mankind expanding deeper into space.

Best Show That I Might Have Liked If I Had Watched It for 2008

Michiko To Hatchin

Lol. I do not even have a screen cap of it. This is just a hunch since the art is attractive to me.

Best Action Anime of 2008

SOUL EATER

People love to look down upon shounen shows because they are just about fighting. Well, it is an action genre so what can you expect? Hate bad shounen and not good shounen is my policy. This year’s best action anime for the Blue Fox Alley happens to be a shounen. Nothing can go wrong if you have Excalibur.

Best Drama of 2008

Gundam OO Season 1

Gundam OO had an ending that could have been more riveting if it had gone easy on the emo. But after overlooking that issue, which is always an irk as I am allergic to emo, you would fine a decently conducted conclusion. No one had expected the almighty Gundam meisters to suffer any casualties so the deaths of Lockon and other Celestial Being members brought a shock. Suffice to say, you have to watch the ending of the first season in order to understand why it has the best drama for the year 2008 in my opinion.

Best I Really Do Not Know Why Am I Watching Disu Shitto Anime of 2008

Junjou Romantica

I strongly believe that there are some aspects in life that simply cannot be explained. Defying logic and rationality, I found myself exploring the treacherous domain of butsecks and unrealistic homosexual romance. Fine. I was just watching this for the lulz. It was really entertaining. It was either this or Kanokon.

It Is Bad But I Am Just Gonna Keep Watching It Anime of 2008

Akane Iro Ni Somaru Saka

As someone has said, Akasaka might not impress but you are still going to watch it for a few reasons.

1. Tsukasa’s boobs of wonder
2. Tsundere Yuuhi
3. Trite story so trite that you cannot help but watch
4. “WINCEST”

Animeblogging Personality Of The Year 2008

Kaioshin-Sama

I belong to neither the “Kaioshin is nothing but a Sunrise fanboy” faction nor the “WTF IS WITH THE GUNDAM HATE! WE NEED CHANGE ON THE INTERNETS” faction, but the magnitude of the controversy that this one brave man has stirred is worthy of remembering as we are close to the end of this year. Nevertheless, this lovely piece of epic drama has shown the tendency for people to stir up reactions of extreme polarities when it comes to interacting on the Internet. But I believe just like how we view Code Geass, we are all tsundere for Kaioshin-sama. We love you!

Yup. He burned me too. :p

FINALLY

BLOG POST OF THE YEAR 2008

Kuro’s Single Awareness Day Post

Forget all those thought provoking posts. Forget about those troll posts. In fact, forget about everything that was blogged about! You just need to know that Kurogane ruptured the tubes with one single picture.

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/27/the-2008-bfa-award-ceremony/feed/ 20 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/23/gundam-00-criticism-is-permissible-but-redundant/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/12/23/gundam-00-criticism-is-permissible-but-redundant/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2008 04:23:39 +0000 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/?p=2191 Continue reading →]]> Ah yes. If you want to, you are welcome to visualize the words “Code Geass” being added into the title of this post.

There is a place in this world that is always ravaged by furious battles. The neverending clashes have rendered resolution nothing but a faraway dream. It is a place of broken hearts for the innocent, and a revelry of madness for sinister knaves! That is right! We are talking about the Internet! In regards to the anime blogosphere, we have seen our fair share of epic battles in recent times. The most prominent disputes of recent have to be the ones about Sunrise’s juggernaut work Gundam OO. The gist of it is simple. There are those who have been spewing their disappointment at how flat the [Gundam OO] characters are, how uninspiring the story is, and the ABHORRENCE of gunpla promotion. In contrast, resolved defenders of the dignity of Gundam OO show have taken up arms to battle the infidels; their retaliation fights the impertinence by bringing up points that help in pointing out the qualities of the show. Going straight to the point, is there any point in the criticism of the show? The answer, in my humble and insignificant opinion, is no.

This is where I come into the picture! Relatively, I am a complete stranger to the Gundam franchise since I have not seen a lot of Gundam shows (and no my first show was not Gundam SEED lol, you snobbish Gundam veteren/fanboy); so you would expect my opinion of Gundam OO to be considerably neutral and almost absent of any trace of PATRIOTIC bias towards the venerated franchise. With that in mind, allow me to say that Gundam OO is pretty much… meh… not bad. It has an intriguing overall story, which I see as a way to potentially bring out the different shades of complexity in characters by observing how they response in the various situations that they are placed in. If I may point out, the first half of the first season was rather exciting since the resemblance to the real world presented feasible and relevant issues (somehow)  to viewers. Take the issue of the world depleting its oil reserves, that might alter geopolitical stands in the world. So Gundam OO has been engaging for me at times and what I really appreciate is the fact that some of the antagonists are not portrayed as being purely evil, like Cati Mannequin for example. But the show does has its weak points. There are times when I would facepalm when characters are put into really stiff and awkward conservations that can be considered as weak attempts to draw out complexity in them. My biggest and recent LOL from the show came from Saji and Soma’s conversation in the 2nd season’s 10th episode. Also, maybe it is just me, but the conclusion of the first season was not as stimulating as the show’s beginning was. It was probably because a surplus of emo frustration from the characters hindered my ability to enjoy what would have been a satisfying way to conclude the first season. I could go on but let us just conclude with my saying that Gundam OO was decent but not excellent, disappointing at times but not horrible. Such is the neutral opinion of a casual anime fan. What am I trying to convey? Simply, opinions vary and I would like to know why.

I do not think the “hate” towards Gundam OO is rampant since I have yet to stumble across any breeding place for such extreme negativity; but I am sure disapproval towards the show will always be around since it is such a popular show. I like the show, but I also agree with the criticism. Consequently, I would appear to be contradicting myself; it is as if I am saying, “Gundam OO characters are complex but superficial.” The rationality in this paradox lies in the fact that those who have been criticising the show have been judging its merits based on the capacity of their intellectual faculty. Without any doubt, Gundam OO would struggle to cling onto the attention of those who are more demanding than others in their expectations of story and character depth. Au contraire, that would sum up my sentiments towards those who have been unable to appreciate Gundam OO for what it is. Yes, Gundam OO is not the second coming of Jesus *sniggers*, but one does not simply walk into a math class in an elementary school and screams, “OMG! THE MATH IS SO EASY! THIS CLASS IS SO STUPID!” If you may permit my little act of audacity, then I shall say that most of the harsh critics of the show are too fixated on affirming the capacity of their intellect. The capacity of one’s faculty is a significant factor that determines a viewer’s ability to appreciate a show for what it is. If I had been few years younger before watching Evangelion, I would have been overwhelmed by it, resulting in my plunging into a state of delirious fanboyness for the Eva. I had the fortune (or misfortune?) of being exposed to Evangelion at an age that rendered me not as impressionable as younger fans, which allowed me to be able to appreciate the show for what it is in a composed state. Hence, you would not see me running off to some anime website and give it a 10 rating instantly.

Opposing popular belief is the stunning fact that Kira is not as imbal as we have thought him to be.

There is merit in the show, but it is not necessarily for everyone. The franchise has a long history and it is time for it to move on and attract newer fans to engage in it. But before that can be done, there must be a catalyst; however, it must be of a certain depth which new, younger, unchallenged fans are able to receive at first before they can move onto “bigger stuff.” In view of that, I am more than happy to give credit to Gundam OO for what it is; and I do not see the point in criticising it for something that it is not. You would not bring a team of lvl 70 pokemons and lurk around Ceruelean City to pwn lvl 18 Ratatas, would you?

So here I am, humbly ascertaining my circumspection that “critical reviews” of a work vary depending on the faculty of the viewer; and in this case, faculty refers to the intellectual capacity that has been realized hitherto. Anime works are stationary, humans are not. When you realise that Gundam OO is n00b to you, perhaps it is time to move onto something else like Naruto.

I HAVE THE POWER!

ID SOJOURNER: On the other hand, most Gundam loyalists are blinded by what I call patriotic fervence. Do not piss them off because Gundam is the greatest sh*t in the world!

Long Cat Is Long

Long day. The best part of the day were the cosplayers and Aniki’s concert. Some of the booths and displays were interesting too. As for merchandises… its pretty the same old stuffs.

Here is what I got for the day. Picture intensive.

First of all, lets see some cosplay. P.S. I forgot to configure my camera and all the pictures were taken in lowest resolution, my bad.

The cutest cosplayer deserves the be on the first picture.

Tenko Kuugen? Someone enlighten me.

Scroll down for more hawt CC photos.

Lenneth looking awesome as usual. Sorry my camera isint doing justice to your great cosplay! T_T

I thought it was pedobear until someone told me its the stuff animal from Bleach. Hmm, too much intehnetz.

Hawt Gundam action with vicious villains.

Added this on my Hobby Search list once I got home. I din’t expect the real thing to be so good.

A lookie at some of the gorgeous artworks.

This is good.

My ex-WIFU. Just kidding.

Perfect.

Award winning Gundams. Are the wings from Strike Freedom?

Game competitions going on. Good to look at if you want to pass the time.

I got totally high when ‘Ignite’ was being played.

Quis band. It would be wonderful if all the songs they performed were anime songs.

The anime booths.

To the left is CC and Kallen.

Cute shana is cute.

MINORI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This thing worths 9000 ePen0rs.

Another long day tomorrow. I hope I don’t get the jitters when I see May’n.

I know my model looks horrid and nothing like a carrier. I did it in 10 minutes. Dang. and even my poor excuse for a protoss zealot look like terrorists:

Still, there are people who are more creative than me. It’ll be a sin not to share the love right?

STARCRAFT

A mutalisk

A protoss carrier which would have been nice if he put the yellow as gold.

And the award goes to:

The Protoss Collossus with a beautiful video sieging a city

Apparently terrans weren’t too popular though there are some creations on youtube.

GUNDAM

Archangel…

Anyway, we’re done with ships and I’m sure we’re all waiting for the mechas to be out… Sadly, there was a cap (unless you entered a cheat code) on the complexity of a model and sometimes they don’t look so good. Hence imagination must be used to create the best possible model with the least possible parts.

ZGMF-X10A Freedom

Gundam Wing, someone figured out it was retarded to fly while standing up.

Winner due to my biasedness however is:

I’m sure we’ll get plenty of viewers for the next season of 00, and new models on spore too!

Macross

I am not sure if they come from macross but i see the resemblence and no… they don’t transform in the game. Maybe you might be able to when the expansion comes out. WOOTz…

Worthy Mentions

Of course you can insist on making Starcraft, Gundam and Macross models but sometimes a little creativity is appreciated. To all Spore players, good luck in your creations. I hope these might inspire you. Lastly, a message to EA for wasting my bloody 10 hours of my life…

YOU!!!

Sunrise and Gundam SEED DESTINY, all is forgiven.