We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. There's been a perfect storm of legal writing and exam studying combined with severe technical difficulties. Hopefully, I should have some of this resolved by week after next.



Maybe.

You see, the problem is I do my blogging on my desktop computer which is, unfortunately, reaching the end of its life. To keep from losing it entirely before I can ready a replacement, I'll be doing almost everything off of my laptop. So please understand that for a while after this post, my blog posts will lack pics (no image editing software on the lap) and may be a bit less complex than some of my previous blog posts.

However, I'll try to blog a bit more to make up for it.

Info on the contest, entry E-mail link and list of titles in the package will be made public March 14th. Since my Top 5 may not be to everyone's liking, there will be a special bonus that I'm sure will make the contest appealing to more folks.

What will that be? Eh, you'll have to wait and see! (Yup, I'm a terrible tease.)

Bye-ni!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!

Well, once again the time to post has arrived. The pole is or was supposed to close today if I set it up correctly. Hopefully, everyone who had an opinion took the time to make it known. (If you didn't feel free to comment about your choice. I do read all the comments!)

So with that bit of housekeeping behind us:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day has a long and storied tradition going back much farther than the commercialized version many deride in modern times. However, I'll let you my loyal readers discover that on your own. Rather than blog about the past, I'd like to post some adorable Valentine's themed anime pics, comment on a featured couple and generally act like a man who is a hopeless romantic at heart.

Love is a theme in story-telling that transcends almost all others as a timeless element of the human condition, so it comes as no surprise that it pops up in anime. It is also no surprise that countless fans can find evidence of love in the interaction of characters. From casual talk of nothing to fierce arguments, there's no moment in anime or any story-telling that can't be parsed out for subtext and innuendo. Not even brutal fights between characters who appear to hate each other.

Of course, sometimes fans will ship a side character with a main one or even invent their very own character from that pitch dark nightmare known as the mind of the fanfic author. Tremble in horror at the thought.



The cute so adorable it terrifies the world! Fear the Pika love!

Whenever exercising one's imagination, please try to avoid the creation of yet another demonic Sue. Remember, whenever a fanfic author creates a Mary Sue character, God does a face-palm. The Creator is having migraines as a result. Please, think of the Creator.

Fanfic authors and anime writers can sometimes get on the same page though. Some series see the addition of new subtext and even obvious shipping elements to cause a character relationship that started out more ambiguous to become more romantic/emotional. Often this occurs as a result of anime writers either having their own opinion on the ship or simply misunderstanding cues from the source material.



Seriously, they're just friends. The manga already picked Orihime for the OTP. The anime writers may have missed that memo though. (I know I did. Actually, I think a lot of fans did.)

When discussing shipping of any kind on any level, remember that while emotionally investing in the love between two (or more) fictional characters is fine in moderation, it can be taken to extremes. Advocating violence against opposing shippers or equating them to mustachioed Austrians is rarely the best way to debate someone, even if it can be quite amusing.

Now for a brief talk about our featured couple:

Domon Kasshu and Rain Mikamura!

Recently I've been watching G Gundam and frankly I really admire the relationship writing in the series. Sure, as an entry into the deep and often highly complex universe of mobile suit wars, G Gundam isn't exactly the deepest or necessarily the best written anime ever.

However, there is a depth to the love story of Domon and Rain. It is as if the writers decided that since the series wasn't going to involve as many plots and deep thoughts as a typical Gundam franchise entrant, they'd devote themselves instead to portraying the complexities of love. If that was their goal, they succeeded.

At first, the viewer can't be sure that Domon really does care about Rain. He starts out far too driven and angry. Yet every scene between them carries something, even if it is just a small gesture or glance, that shows just how deep their love goes. One scene from the first Bandai box set that struck me is when Rain is trying to repair the Shinning Gundam while feverish. At first, Domon does as she asks and lets her work alone but when he sees how much trouble she's having, he has her direct him to make the repairs. In a short time, they're finished despite earlier scenes and dialogue making it clear that the repairs were going very slowly and Domon isn't very good at fixing the Shinning Gundam alone. Another scene before then had Domon and Rain work together in a fight and as a result unleash a bit of Domon's true power. Together the two are just better.

Later scenes of Domon desperately begging for Rain's life or the two of them spending time together emphasize it but there are no scenes where you can't sense the love they have. For a series that is quite a bit silly at times, G Gundam has perhaps the best written love story of any Gundam series, at least of the one's I've seen.

In closing, Valentine's Day isn't something to cynically write off as a commercial waste of time. It's a day for reflection on the heart, a time to remember love or seek love or declare love and a brief moment when you should be able to ship without feeling embarrassed. Anime fans need moments to ship without embarrassment.

So remember:



Remeber to vote in the poll if it is still working! I'll announce the specific prize anime in a later blog post. I'm not quite sure exactly when I'll be able to buy them. (Remember, I have no sponsors for prizes! It'll all from my pocket right now!)

I'm happy to remain your blog navigator, Richard J. Hopefully, I'll be around for a long time to come even if my posting is a bit sporadic. (I am WAY too lazy.)

Bye-ni!

Update and Poll

Hello everyone! I have returned from a combination of winter break laziness and first week back at law school mental breakdown! Richard J. here to try to get things going again on this blog. (Wow, I have GOT to stop doing this whole disappearing thing!)

Anyway, let me explain myself. At first I was on break. . . .



Oh the joy of sleeping in late, eating home-cooked meals I didn't have to cook myself and just being lazy in general. I played games and watched anime and read manga and relaxed HARD. I spent lots of time with my family, talking about all kinds of things both serious and light-hearted. I helped clean up a building (urgh) and cleaned a little in my room (yah!) and then I just sort of went into hibernation for the last week of break.

Seriously, I basically did nothing for the last week but eat and sleep.

It was bliss. Of course, I meant to do some blog posting too but, well, like I said I got pretty lazy.

Then, my winter break ended.



I figured I was relaxed enough to be ready to deal with the rigors of law school once again. So I drove up, unpacked and got ready for the start of a new term.

Sure, I was a bit nervous because I still didn't have some of my books (slow delivery is slow) but I wasn't too worried. I mean, I've done this sort of thing before. Last term wasn't so bad in the end. I even did pretty darn good on my finals! (High Bs and an A.)

But then classes started.

I wasn't mentally prepared after all.



Yeah, it was kinda like that.

I didn't freak out in class or anything but my stress levels shot through the roof. I started drinking to mellow out. A bottle of wine was gone in less than a week and I usually drink so little and so slowly that a bottle of wine lasts nearly a full month.

Obviously, I was a bit nervous.

Then things started to pull together as the week went on.



My books came in, my family helped me to get one of them from a special "first come, first served" deal after finding out the one I ordered was wrong and they even came up to visit yesterday.

I'm feeling quite a bit more mellow now about this term. Ah, I think I can manage this after all. Hey, if I could make it through the first term and pull off those grades, then this shouldn't be too much worse, right?

So that's how I came to be in a good enough mental state to start blogging again.

To make it up to everyone for being gone for so long, I'm doing another contest! I want your opinions though! So take some time and do this poll for me.

What Prize Should The Next Context Have?

I'm going to be quite busy this term but I hope to be able to post enough to please ya'll!

Until the next post, please vote in this poll and comment if you want! Future polls will be widgets but I wanted to confine this one to this post to make sure it gets attention.

My plan is to give away some anime and I need to know what method to my madness you'd prefer!

Until next time bloggies!

Bye-ni!

*Edit: I just want to clarify: Yes, I meant "contest" and not "context." I'm not sure if changing the title will foul up the polling so I'm leaving it that way. (Thanks to bal-anime for putting me on notice!)

Merry Christmas in 2010!

I know you'll probably read this late but I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

This is an important time of year, where people take a moment to hopefully get past the consumer mania and remember family and loved ones. This is a time for couples, for children and for friends! Take a moment and remind someone you care about that they mean a lot to you and your happy to have them in your life. Far too often, we neglect to tell people how we feel about them because we think they already know.

From someone who struggled with severe depression for years: no, they don't know. They believe sometimes but until you make it clear, they don't know and they doubt. So tell your parents you love them or your spouse how glad you are they said yes or your children how special they are or just a random buddy that they can be pretty cool sometimes.

And remember that Santa isn't just a cute girl with blue hair who bring kids toys, she's also a symbol of humanity's collective ability to suppress the worst parts of ourselves to bring joy to others. Santa is a symbol of our ability to be selfless. Don't focus on the buying or the getting; the season is all about the giving.

Also, forget about that image of a jolly elderly gentleman as Santa. That guy retired a few years back to pursue his mining hobby more seriously (what, you didn't know that was where the coal came from?) His replacement is a lovely and refined young lady.



See?

All last night, Santa went around the world at Mach 100, using her incredible lock picking skills to enter houses and leave gifts. Of course, she's got a lot of helpers too! Her army of elves!

Santa's elves worked for hours that became millenniums last night, just to bring joy the world. It was exhausting work!



Fortunately, good Otaku know to treat Santa's elves with kindness because Santa and her elves are wonderful and sweet!

Also, Santa has been known on occasion to, when sufficiently angered, unleash a horde of living nutcracker soldiers that marsh endlessly and fire armor piercing candy canes.

Some still live today who witnessed the Great North Pole Civil War wherein the previous Santa launched a dashing counter-offensive against an entire squadron of Reindeer equipped with heat-seeking eggnog rockets with just himself, 3 nutcracker soldiers and a ninja. (Needless to say, Santa won that fight but the mysterious Mr. X continues to battle to turn Christmas into X-mas! Fight him wherever you can!)

Santa fights to keep Christmas as more than just a day where the retail stores bask in the glorious profits that make it possible to keep millions employed and feeding their children. Santa fights to make sure everyone remembers Christmas is really about giving and bringing happiness and acceptance to all of humanity, regardless of religion or anything. Only a kind heart is needed to enjoy the special happiness of giving to make other's happy!

Though the getting can be pretty sweet too.



I got the first set of G-Gundam! Did you get anime too? If you did, please post about it!

If not, is there something you'd like to share about Christmas in 2010? A happy moment with someone important to you? A special gift? Please post if you want to.

Remember, the joy is in giving and spending time with those you love but most of all, it's in spreading the happiness inside you to all the good people of this world!



Bye-ni!

MB to Fans: Kashimashi and Loveless Dubs Coming!

I haven't had much time to blog lately due to upcoming Law School finals (pray for me) and spending time with my family over Thanksgiving break (when I should have been studying for finals) but I've got to comment on this news! We'll have to wait until next year but here comes some English dub action for Loveless and Kashimashi!

You may recall I mentioned Sirabella's talk of a Loveless dub way back.



Wow, MB is really making an attempt lately. If only they weren't sucking so badly at actually getting the shows out. Hopefully, they'll start getting their act together soon because I'd like to own these. (Quality issues notwithstanding.)

I've actually been interested in Loveless since I came across the first episode on a Newtype-USA preview disc. The sub-only release annoyed the daylights out of me back then and still does. However, it will be nice to see it finally get a chance to shine in English. (Well, hopefully they don't screw up on the English dub.)

Loveless could do very well with an English dub. It's already sold well to hardcore fans and now it has a chance to draw in new fans. The series may get a second-wind from this.



Kashimashi was a show I actually watched about halfway through via fansubs. I liked it and hoped for a license, fully expecting an English dub to be had because I reasoned that the show was a good mix of successful genres and could easily reach beyond just the "oh, is that lesbian loving?" fanbase. Sadly, MB wasn't as confident about it as I was but I feel a small bit of satisfaction now. Guess sub and dub fans can both have what they want with this series now. We'll need something new to fight over.



Yeah, that should do until the next big battle comes along.

The manga kicks the anime's butt a bit but Kashimashi is pretty damn good in any format. Looking forward to this one!

Regardless of past feelings, this is great news once again for English dub fans!

So when does the other shoe drop?

Seriously, I know bad news is coming from somewhere so where and when?

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED *DUB FAN PARANOIA*

Wow, maybe Fan Love is really winning the battle after all.



Well, after getting good news and staying up past my bed time, I have to go. Again, pray for my success on my Law School exams. (Or if you have no faith in a deity, please just wish me the best of luck. I can use all of that I can get!)

Bye-ni!

November 11 on Veterans' Day

Hello everyone! Due to finals prep and mental fatigue, I've been lax (again) at posting. Still, I think today's an important day so here's a quick post!

Today is November 11th, a very important day for anime fans. Obviously because it is day we honor the prestigious agent of MI6 (or the British Secret Intelligence Service if you prefer the proper terms) from Darker Than Black, November 11!

A remarkable contractor using the ability to freeze in battle, he-



November 11: Hold on there. I think you're missing something important.

Richard J.: Hmm? What are you talking about? Not second-hand smoke again.

November 11: Well it does have 680 to 823 nanograms of carcinogens but let's set that aside for a moment. Today is Veterans' Day, which is at least as important as honoring me.

Richard J.: You have a point. Let me try this again.



Today is November 11th, Veterans' Day! Today is a day used to honor military veterans, those who live and those who have fallen alike who have served this country and so many others as well. Originally, Veterans' Day was called Armistice Day and was meant to celebrate the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I and to honor the service of fallen military members who's efforts made that cessation of war possible.

President Woodrow Wilson first declared the federal holiday in 1919 and the 1926 Congress passed a resolution requesting President Calvin Coolidge issue another proclamation to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies. Congress enjoyed themselves so much, they passed an act in 1938 to make every November 11 a legal holiday "dedicated to the cause of world peace." (It went from clearly honoring soldiers to generically honoring world peace just before the world went crazy again. Perhaps they were being sarcastic?)

Fast forward to the year 1953 and a Kansas show store owner by name of Alfred King began a quest to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans. Well, after WWII it probably seemed unfair to only honor WWI vets. It likely was mostly due to having a son who fought in WWII but it was much more than a personal dream.

Proving that ordinary an citizen working toward a goal can accomplish great things, King sought to expand the day to all veterans both alive and fallen and his efforts in his home of Emporia, Kansas got the attention of the Emporia Chamber of Commerce. They took up his cause (in large part due to 90% of Emporia merchants honoring the day plus the Board of Education) and in 1953 Emporia became the first town in America to celebrate Veterans' Day. With the aid of local congressional Representative Ed Rees, a bill for the holiday made the rounds in Congress. On May 26, 1954, the bill was signed into law, on June 1st it was amended to change "Armistice" to Veterans (only politicians could have forgotten that was a big part of King's effort in the first place) and October 8th, President Dwight Eisenhower officially changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day. (Officially there is no apostrophe but the common grammatical inclination is to add one.)

Incidentally, from 1971 to 1978, Veterans' Day was not necessarily celebrated on November 11th. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved the day to the fourth Monday of October (okay, I think they got a little too removed from the history there) but it was moved back after the obvious retaliation for ignoring the historical relevance of the date. Unfortunately, after the change back businesses, schools and local governments have begun to ignore the holiday and by extension the service and sacrifices of millions of veterans, 24.9 million approximately, in the United States. (I didn't get the day off from class and no one mentioned the holiday. Sad panda.)



So, I hope you'll take a moment after reading this post to be grateful for the service of a veteran. War is a horrible thing and no honorable warrior longs for it but when times of trouble have risen, when the fates of free people have been placed upon the shoulders of a brave few, soldiers have done their duty and those veterans of wars and conflicts past deserve our respect and gratitude. I may have opened with a bit of light-heartedness but I must say that no one can question my belief that the men and women who've given so much for so little long ago earned the right to my respect and thanks. I hope you'll join me in saluting our veterans.

November 11: I may not be American but I can't disagree with your sentiment at all.



Richard J.: Well, that's it for this post at Blog of A Heretical Dub Lover. I know it wasn't very anime-centric but do consider buying and watching Darker Than Black for November 11 while you take a moment to honor our veterans!

November 11: Oh and for information on second-hand smoke, you might want to try government websites. Governments are always trustworthy after all.

Richard J.: Really?

November 11: I'm only kidding.

Richard J.: So long everyone and thanks for all the posts!

Bye-ni!

Sustain the Industry Video! First Vid EVER!

Okay, now that midterms are over (hurrah!) I'm back to hopefully entertain you here at Blog of a Heretical Dub Lover! I'll post several things to make up for the long drought but up first is my first forray into YouTube land!



Yes, I decided to make a Sustain the Industry video like I talked about before and try to get in on Robert's special deal before it was too late. I actually planned to do this a while back but, well, midterms, studying, activities and general malaise kept me from getting to it.

Better late than never, yes?

I'd love to hear your comments about this video. Do you think I did an okay job? What did you like or dislike? Did I go way over the top with Windows Movie Maker?

Well, short post is short. Let me know if you'd like to see more videos on this blog from me.

Bye-ni!