Shikkoku no Sharnoth: What a Beautiful Tomorrow.

Basically, Agatha Christie moe-ified as a teenage girl with heterochromic eyes meeting famous Victorian figures (and August Derleth, an American-turned-British-loli) in Steampunk London and Lovecraftian otherworld.

Sounds good, I’ll try to download it as soon as I finish downloading Seto no Hanayome, Madoka Magica (I still haven’t watched it) and Denpa onna to seishun otoko. I’m downloading everything I find interesting just in case ACTA gets approved

It’s a visual novel. Visual novels are not games. This is serious business, dood.

ACTA is already signed by the country I live in — I don’t recall them being friendly on stuff like this anyway. I’m optimistic though; The EU should have trouble signing it under tremendous pressure from interest groups, so I’m not too worried. If another series of blackouts occur, the EU Parliament will have no choice, but to reject the proposition.

After all, if one of your rapporteur on ACTA resigned and denounced it “in the strongest possible manner”, there is no doubt in everybody’s mind that something bad is in the bill. Politicians, no matter how many whores they banged and drugs they took, should know that; it’s common sense.

About ACTA, I’m sure that it won’t pass, but still I’m downloading some stuff just in case.
I miss Megaupload, I bought a premium account 2 weeks before the SOPA thing.

Visual novels should be considered as a medium by itself: a combination of literature, computer graphics interactivity, and music.

Sometimes, the works may have a mini-game as in Shikkoku no Sharnoth. However, I still consider them visual novels until it is a work like Phoenix Wright, which is essentially both a VN and adventure game. Medium blending has always occurred in the arts so to pinpoint and restrict a work to one medium is pointless and stupid; plays, musical, and dances sometimes incorporate paintings and the filmmaking art.

Interesting… You, sir, are a genious.

I’ve never heard about Medium blending before, I mean, people around me always called it “Combination of X and Y”. I guess people around me doesn’t know very much about this kind of stuff

It’s becoming more prominent in the high art circles. With the advent of Photoshop, photographers have manipulated the pictures to sometimes look exactly like an Old Master painting. You don’t see works like these in Flickr; most of them are terrible photographers anyway. If you go to an art gallery that has a competent inventory of modernist and postmodernist art, then you will see a ton of medium blending.

In a way, medium blending became “in” when postmodernism evolved into something evne more bizarre — post-post-modernist.

In anime, look no further than the geniuses known as Studio Shaft: Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei is one of the most beautiful and insane works out there that wants to do everything; the fishes in Arakawa Under the Bridge OP uses a picture of a tuna — I believe that’s the fish — and used a Photoshop filter over it; Pani Poni Dash OPs, especially its third, is a combination of 3D, 2D, typography, and real-life pictures; everything about Bakemonogatari is a combination of typography, real-life pictures, and sudden jarring shifts into other mediums.

That’s the power of art: self-expression. When you find a way to express yourself, you are free to make a beautiful chaos that is both aesthetically and artistically appealing.

I like every kind of art, but I don’t know how to talk about it (unless it is baroque, I’ve learned a lot about it) and I always wanted to become an artist, when I was a little kid I wanted to become an artist, but since I suck at painting and playing any kind of instruments, I’ll try to become a writer (I’m known as one of the best writers of my school, and the best of my class).
About the people you mentioned, I couldn’t agree more, I know some guys who think they’re artists just because they know some options from photoshop.
I always wanted to watch Sayonara, Zetsubou sensei, but nobody told me if it was good or not.

Writing is one of my favorite things to do, despite the stress associated with it. But then again, I’m a director; that’s worse.

I’m taking a break from writing because I feel the need to read more classics. Call me a person with a Freudian vocabulary, but I’m aroused by sentence construction, vocabulary, and literary devices — especially allusions. You may have noticed I use semi-colons, dashes — interrupting is cool, and other forms of advanced punctuation; I sometimes actually use tropes — literal definition — in basic forum posting. Fascinated by Murakami’s jazz-like musicality of words and pretty much any Gothic, Modernist, and PoMo writer, I’ve always analyzed the sentence construction in my brain. Maybe I’m going into some university linguistic shit and I’m still in high school; but nonetheless, it makes my writing bebop-ish.

Gimme a copy of your writing. I am known to be hypercritical — my psychiatrist is trying to tone that down — and have the ability to make people cry. High school is one of the worst places to learn writing — college professors hate reading freshmen writing.

There are a couple of reasons why:

1. They don’t give a shit about sentence construction. Examples: complex sentences with no end. Periods all over the place. Not one semi-colon, colon, or other advanced punctuation. Had never read out loud. Basically, they can’t write. Lewis Carroll is my go-to guy if you don’t understand how to use sentence fluency; read Alice in Wonderland and be amazed by his advanced punctuation. Remember, AiW is meant for kids.
2. Terrible analogies. This comes from not asking fellow students for their opinions. This came from a magazine article.
3. Whiners.
4. Most people don’t read. This pisses any Creative Writing teacher off; who writes if they don’t read? That’s why students have trouble alluding; I have trouble alluding as well, but that’s because students are idiots for not understanding my political and literary references.

This is not to say I’m a polarizing elitist — I’m only polarizing and I consider myself more of an intellectual rapist (read Umineko chapter 5, femininazis, before using it out of context). My intentions are good; students can’t write. My teachers, too, have little sympathy: my film lit teacher with a PHD on poetry grumbles; my sci-fi teacher — he has a fantastic beard — has a section about grammar and the types of sentences; my satire teacher has a long tirade on sentence construction. I, too, love tirades. I sympathize the senators who filibuster; they are godly. Nevertheless, I’m a writer and I love it so much I get pissed when I read writers who proclaim they are great. Nobody is that great until you get the recognition of a great writer like F. Scott Fitzgerald, for god’s sake!

My favorite breed of photographers are HDR photographers — the bad ones. The good ones do exist; they’re in a dimension that only the Dr. Whos can find. HDR photography is easy — you too can do it.

1. Get a DSLR camera (If it’s too expensive, punch an incompetent photographer and grab his DSLR camera).
2. Get a tripod. Look at parenthetical comment and repeat except to get a tripod.
3. Get a shitty background, preferably some landscape that has nothing. Preferably, get a grass landscape in a cloudy day or a skyline of a city. Being original is terrible, according to Flickr.
4. Take pictures in different exposures: underexposed, exposed correctly, overexposed.
5. Go on Photoshop, click HDR.

You are now a proficient HDR photographer. Google some HDR photography. Your eyes will bleed.

I consider myself a fine art photography, though I don’t stage my art. My suppressed negative thoughts are always on the verge of volcanic eruption when shitty student photos are on the screen. My photographic teacher, monotone and robotic aka the stereotypical grandpa Mac user, always asks for my opinion since I’m vociferous about photography. To me, complimenting a picture of a centered fountain is like complimenting Sarah Jessica Parker’s beautiful mule-like face.

I’m a big fan of Studio Shaft. Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei is one of their best, along with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Bakemonogatari, and Pani Poni Dash. Consider them a pretentious indie hipster studio. They are either a love it or hate it bunch of people; the director is often noted as some pedophile — he is the director of the first Nanoha, which had gratuitous fanservice. That said, I hypothesize you will enjoy their unconventional style of composition. Madoka is the tip of the iceberg and most people already consider it “weird”. Since I’m more for obscure and surreal art - Oh, Angel’s Egg -, I thought, “How normal.” I’m not the go-to guy for finding things weird. When I find a work truly weird, Noah will get a ton of requests; the only work I encountered being weird is Eraserhead by David Lynch.

I write too much. This message has 828 words, including this sentence.

Wow, my eyes almost bled. Even though I like HDR photography, that’s out of the question, my parents wouldn’t get me a DLSR camera, the city I live on is full of muggers and I feel kinda lazy when I have to learn to photoshop.

I’d like to see some photography you made, and I know how you feel when someone makes something shitty and think something like “Wow, I’m the greatest man alive”, same happens to me when someone makes something I do with shitty results and think they’re better than me. I’m glad to read you have a good photographic teacher.

I’ve watched Nanoha a few years ago, I liked it, I guess I’ll like the rest of the anime you mentioned. I’ll watch Madoka as soon as I finish watching Yu Yu Hakusho and Evangelion. I’m more for obscure art too (that’s why I like the baroque paintings the most). Also, I don’t know if you like Hollywood Live-action movies, but I think you might like Fight Club, which I consider a masterpiece.

Don’t worry if you think you write too much, I use to do the same, but it depends on the language. If you want, we could do some art exchange, I’ll pass you some stories I wrote (most of them are sad) and you pass me some of your photos.

I know how you feel, I’ve been reading some classics (Borges, Bradbury, Carroll) to improve my writing skills, but I haven’t improved my english in a few months, so, when I write in spanish I use a lot of vocabulary, but when I write in english, it becomes harder.

I’ll give you a copy of my writing as soon as I find one

I haven’t really uploaded my newer works — I believe they are better compared to my older works. Nevertheless, there are some works meant for school, like crap with filters. Here are my pictures done with only enhancing adjustments to it. I think they’re crap.

I actually like cities with muggers. You know why? I hate cities that look too perfect: Singapore. It is the most uninteresting and blandest city-state in the world. Its literature comprises how great the political leaders are, how evil the political leaders are, how great this businessman is, how great this lawyer is, caning, and biographies of prostitutes.

A perfect country feels too bland. There is nothing to take pictures of. Art is regulated by the Media and Development Authority; regulating plays and TV shows are the most notorious. That’s why I will never ever see a live play of Salome or the Book of Mormon here in Singapore.

I will never understand why William Gibson thinks this is a great cyberpunk setting. Too boring.

I don’t think my photographic teacher is good. Sometimes, my mind wanders how much better I am, in terms of composition; his pictures are pretty mediocre. He is also very monotone. He’s good at the history and terminology, I grant you that, but as an artist, he is just plain mediocre. I guess that’s why he’s a teacher instead of a professional photographer.

I’ve watched Fight Club. Overrated. Good movie, but not Fincher’s best.
To talk to me about movies, or anime or literature for that matter, without knowledge will result in witty deriding.
You want awesome? Mawaru-Penguindrum, Kuuchuu Buranko… ahh f it, just look at MyAnimeList.

I agree with you, but still, I got mugged three times last year, and my parents wouldn’t let me take the camera to some places. I liked your pictures, most of the stories I’ve written were for school too, but some people say they’re my best works.
Here, Art is regulated by the Media and Development Authority, but argentinian art sucks – If you consider music an art, please, don’t look for mainstream argentinian music- and now my country is full of retardeds who think that hitting a woman, getting high, drunk, and banging someone they just found in a place with horrible music and full of people then leaving her in the street is the coolest thing in the world.
After comparing your art and your teacher’s art, I have to say, your art is way better. He might know a lot of history and terminology, but when it comes to doing the actual thing, he isn’t as good as you are

I think my pictures are shit. I think you have honest intentions, but I think my pictures are shit. Period. Full stop. I feel like I could do better outside Singapore. I also have a regular standard lens, which makes it a bit harder for the pictures I really want: honest humans doing honest shit.

I haven’t written a short story in a while. I’ve been rewriting a story in my head and hopefully, will put in paper. It is a metafiction detective series that is both a homage and pastiche to Sherlock Holmes and my fascination over British literature and the mystery genre. Shikkoku no Sharnoth, you are so addictive.

I read too little. That said, I read more than most people apparently. Someday, I’ll be able to read all the famous literature. My favorite shelf does have a good variation, but it might be too hard to get into. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and after dark, my first Murakami book, require a basic understanding of postmodernist literature. after dark, especially, is so experimental and short you need to read a bit of Murakami to appreciate it. It’s a pity I read it as my first book. Now, it’s one of my favorite books.

Along with my favorites — OWEN MEANY WANTS YOUR ATTENTION BECAUSE WHILE HE DID NOT CREATE THE CO PERSONA HE DID HELP INCREASE CO’S OBNOXIOUS LEVELS, I recommend Norwegian Wood (which isn’t Haruki Murakami’s best and that’s saying a lot), the Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1984 (I do not consider anyone an intellectual if they haven’t read this book), Brave New World, the Complete Persepolis (fantastic graphic novel about Iranian Revolution), Neuromancer, Dracula, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Well, you could do better, but still, they’re pretty good.

I’d love reading that short story, most of my stories are shit, but still people like them so I’ll pass one to my computer and then I’ll give it to you. They’re very short because of the word limit, but I could make some of them even longer (I’ve always wanted to do that).

I read too little too, but still more than almost everyone from my school, most of them read a summary and then do the tests, I read the whole books in 2 days if I find it interesting. Getting most of those books here is almost impossible, I couldn’t even find some books written in this country! I’ve read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Dracula, a Sherlock Holmes short story my sister gave it to me. Never heard or read about Owen Meany. I’ve read The Catcher in the Rye, most people think that book is amazing my literature teacher said it made a lot of teenagers start reading more but I found it kinda boring, it’s so overrated. Also I’ve read some The Chronicles of Narnia tomes and I almost started reading The Children of Hurin.

OWEN MEANY IS BECOMING MORE PROMINENT IN THE SCHOOL CIRCLES ALBEIT RATHER SLOWLY. ITS ABOUT A KID, ALMOST LIKE CO, WHO WRITES LIKE THIS AND THINKS HE IS THE SON OF GOD. I THINK ITS ONE OF THE BEST LITERATURE OUT THERE.

I’m not a big fan of Catcher in the Rye too. Always thought of the work as too pretentious — journalists recording this interview should emphasize I think Studio Shaft, Haruki Murakami, and David Lynch are not pretentious. I could see why they like it, but I can’t. Had the opposite experience with Catch-22. That is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read in a long time; it makes Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert cringe in pain.

I’m gonna try reading 100 books this year. Actually, I think I’ll beat the score easily.

I’ll try to get Owen Meany. I used to had a nice bookshelf, but almost all the books got ruined because of the moisture.

Same happened to me, I haven’t found any pleasure after reading the book (that happened to me with almost every book I’ve read), I think it is too boring for me, I’ve read some boring books, but at least they were interesting. I’ll try to get Catch-22, if I can’t, I guess I’ll download the PDF.

I’ll try to read a lot this year too, I’m probably going to get a laptop, so I could get a lot of PDFs and read them there

Not a big fan of reading stuff on the computer except visual novels. They never feel just right. If I was born later in the Kindle years, my family wouldn’t be this infuriated. That means I have to be born 11 years later and I’ll have two generation gaps between my third sister and me.

Oh, at least you spent money on books, most people would have wasted it on drugs and alcohol.
The problem with me is that I don’t have my own money I got a lot for my birthday, though so maybe I’ll spend most of it in books too.

That’s right, I like beer but since I’m just a kid I drink a glass of beer once a year but I still prefer getting books, they might be more expensive, but they could help me for the rest of my life.

For me, it’s because I’m a writer, director, and photographer. Also, I want to be as pretentious as possible. Referencing Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment makes me look smarter.

Always thought I’ll benefit from being homeschooled. I work better without — you know — homework!

Same here, I want to be a writer, but I’m shy and I don’t write when there’s people around me who could read what I’m writing, that’s why I want a laptop.

Some people think I’m a good director. I suck at photography, I’ve never learned how to use a camera, but I’d love to, as long as nobody takes photos of me with it.

I like audiences. That said, I’m targeting a small niche.

Photography is pretty simple. Get a camera, use the principles of design (rules of third, patterns, lines etc.), make sure your exposure is correct, and ta-daa: a nice picture!

Of course, the hard part is to express yourself. Some have trouble finding themselves while I have trouble finding the scenery and objects to express myself. My recent photographic subjects revolve around imperfection as beauty — my thesis is that the world is beautiful because of the imperfections all around us. Everyone else has fascinating photoessays like I LOVE THE COLOR RED. I’m a perfectionist, but I adore incongruity and imperfection. Flaws are a form of unappreciated beauty; the world is not perfect. What people say is beautiful is that they compare imperfection and ugly things. This world needs ugly things. I’m just shedding a new light and took pictures of abandoned furniture, splotches of paint, and cracked walls.

I prefer constructionist schools. There are schools where all you do is projects and more projects. Teachers are there to be advisers. It is as independent as you can get. I like to go to those schools. Hopefully, the college I’m going to — it boasts extraordinary liberal arts and hands-on media education — will appeal to me.

I don’t have any trouble expressing myself, since I have almost everything I need to do it. I know what you mean with your thesis. In the Renaissance, perfection meant beauty – that concept actually came from the GrecoRoman culture -, but in the Baroque, perfection meant expressing your feelings, that’s why I don’t find Renaissance art interesting. I like paying attention to flaws, they make everything more enjoyable.

In my city there’s only one constructionist school, but it’s way too far from home, and the school I’m going to isn’t that bad, I’ve learned a lot about Art and some sciences. We have two labs and an observatory, a drama club, a library, but still, most professors haven’t taught me anything.

Yeah, I figured it’s something to do with the Renaissance. I only liked the revival of Greek philosophy. That’s why — if you read my review criteria — I have no mention of perfection. Nanoha A’s isn’t perfect; it has flaws; nonetheless, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever watched.

My English teachers are very practical: adverbs suck, vary your sentences, make your sentences sound like music. They also taught me how to read; if I had not read To Kill a Mockingbird, then I would not have been a bibliophile as I am today.

I couldn’t agree more. Haven’t watched Nanoha A’s, and I don’t remember anything from Nanoha, I still have the DVD somewhere, though.

My english teachers kinda suck, the only thing I’ve learned these years from them is how to improvise in an oral test. I’d love to learn how to vary my sentences, I guess I’ll learn it this year. I’ve always been a bibliophile, but most of the stuff I’ve read are short stories.

Pfft, Nanoha A’s is the best. If you haven’t watched it, you haven’t watched Nanoha.

Short stories are cool. Some great writers — Haruki Murakami, ahem — prefer writing short stories anyway.

Damn, my “Anime I should watch” is getting longer and longer.

My 2 favorite writers prefered writing short stories. I think they’re cool too. There’s a writer I’ve talked to – That’s actually other thing I like of my school, they invite writers from my country – who writes short stories, but when they get really good, he starts writing a novel.

It’s not that surprising. Sci-fi writers used to write fanfics. There are other ways to begin a writing career: mystery writers post-Conan Doyle imitated and wrote pastiches of Sherlock Holmes novels. Mind I remind you about the gigantic circle of the Cthulhu Mythos?

Cthulu Mythos, I’ve always found that book interesting. My stories are kind of romantic, – I started writing a lot when I got friendzoned – most of them have tragic endings, I wrote some mystery and Sci-fi stories too, but it’s hard to me to focus when I start writing those.

Thanks to you, probably I’ll spend most of my money on books. I guess we would talk a lot in real life.

I’m a big fan of Lovecraft. That’s why my brain is demented and I see the world in a more gothic romanticist way. Helps that I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion when I was at the influential age of 15. Sigmund Freud will be happy to psychoanalyze me.

Oh, I’ve watched Evangelion when I was 15 too! (I still have to finish, and I just turned 16…). I’ve never read any novel of Lovecraft (I’d love too, though), but my parents won’t let me get horror stuff, so I’ll have to download the PDFs. I’ve always seen the world in a gothic romanticist way since I was 12 years old and got introduced to some changes in my life (new styles of music, new people, new home), watching The end of Evangelion when I was 12 without watching the Neon Genesis Evangelion helped too.

Oh, my parents don’t care. In fact, my psychiatrist wants me to be more open-minded. I’m getting into romance with Jane Eyre.

And The End of Evangelion is one of the best movies out there. It’s so dadaist and Derridean deconstructive I love it.

I bought it for four primary reasons:
1. Shikkoku no Sharnoth made me do it
2. It was a compilation of the Bronte sisters so it makes perfect sense to buy since it’s cheaper
3. I want to expand my horizons with literature
4. Shikkoku no Sharnoth made me do it

I still have to download Shikkoku no Sharnoth, the thing is… this is a shared computer.

In a few days I’ll go to a book shop and I’ll try to buy 1984, Adventures and Memories of Sherlock Holmes, Owen Meany and Jane Eyre

Oh god, I think Shikkoku no Sharnoth is godly. I think it’s because I know 90% of the references, allusions, character background, and silliness to appreciate it. I’m planning to finish it by Wednesday; it’s a pretty damn long visual novel. But then again, the Umineko series is 8 visual novels long and so is Higurashi.

1984 should be relatively easy to find. Sherlock Holmes should be easy to find as well. Both Owen Meany and Jane Eyre requires a really good bookstore.

That’s it, I’m going to download Higurashi, Umineko and Shikkoku.

I know a good bookstore, I found almost every book I was looking for there. I’ve found a lot of unknown books in this bookstore, like Vampirates or a Holmes’ ripoff which name I don’t remember

I think you should read some more books and history behind some works before reading Umineko and Shikkoku no Sharnoth (most of these are based on Shikkoku no Sharnoth’s characters): HP Lovecraft, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes novels and short story collections, and Agatha Christie (Umineko is very very very very based on her And Then There Were None).

I also believe the work is very influenced by the influential (redudancy!) William Gibson’s and Bruce Sterling’s The Difference Engine. The setting and themes are similar. I suppose any steampunk novels set in London could work; however, this work is the father and prototype of steampunk works. And you need to know the references behind The Difference Engine.

Basically, you have to be a Victorian Anglophile like me.

A friend of mine just dived into the work — and he did it before me. He really liked the work, despite not knowing most of the references. That happens with a ton of people with Mawaru-Penguindrum. All I’m saying is that the work can be analyzed even better and it may feel ‘deeper’ — I hate that word, but can’t think of anything else — than what appears on the surface.

If it’s August Derleth’s works, that’s a pastiche. Of course, I don’t think any bookstores have cool people like him — he popularized Lovecraft and is a good correspondent… for the wrong reasons — and Michael Moorcock — his name is funny, but he is influential in making sci-fi ridiculously popular.

Maybe it’s one of those shitty ripoffs I’ve seen on bookstores. I love the Twilight pastiches; they still read like crap. Light novel writers write better.

If you can, check out Haruki Murakami. He’s everywhere. Vintage International is the only publisher I truly love; their covers are so awesome and they’re the only one who publish Murakami novels, with the exception of 1Q84.

Most of my classics collection come from Vintage: Brave New World, Crime and Punishment, Dracula, and the mentioned Sherlock Holmes short story collection. Good god, I think whoever designed the covers are freaking geniuses.

The Difference Engine sounds interesting, I’ll try to get a steampunk novel as well. So, I’ll download Shikkoku, but I won’t read it until I read some steampunk novels.
I’ll try to find some Murakami books, but it’s hard to get japanese novels here for two reasons: They’re almost never translated and most people aren’t interested. That sucks, though. The only guys translating Japanese novels never finish their works.
My sister’s going to a library today, she’ll try to get me Sherlock Holmes.

The Difference Engine, while short, has a ridiculous amount of British and Japanese references; blame William Gibson for being a Japanophile. You really need to read up the context the work is placed in; thank goodness a site exists for that particular reason.

However, there’s still a lot of references. I recommend reading Ada Lovelace, Lord Bryon, Sybil, Charles Babbage, and the Difference Engine. Those are primary; everything else — read them when you come upon the term if you don’t understand.

Oh dear. I have the complete opposite reaction to Japanese novels. Japanese novels are becoming more popular as the Murakami craze enters into a new phase with the advent of IQ84. Translations are coming in. I’ve read Soseki’s Kokoro, Sanshiro, and I Am a Cat, and Dazai’s The Setting Sun and No Longer Human.

I wish the Norwegian Wood movie adaptation was at least decent; it’s pretty, but it’s shit. Some people, like me, hoped that it might create more interest in Murakami. Japanese critics are divided whether he is a genius or a nutcase. Recently, the trend for Japanese works is more realism — arguably, a reaction to Neon Genesis Evangelion, the mecha genre, and the kaiju genre (Godzilla films and other variants, basically). I think it’s good, but lambasting “unrealistic” works is frustrating.

That’s pretty much why we have the slice-of-life genre. Blame NGE for being too awesome.

Wow, I really have to read a lot of stuff.

I’ll go to a few bookstores next monday, I’ll see if I can get at least one of the books you recommended to me

You are lucky, most people in my country don’t like Japan, that’s why there aren’t many translated manga or light novels here. It’s because most argentinians are xenophobes

Every continent has their xenophobes. I used to be a racist when I was younger. That’s because I don’t understand people; the smells are disorienting. Today, I’m one of the few hardcore Asian liberals out there.

When I was young, I traveled to some European countries, some Asian countries, South Africa, US (twice), and Canada. This experience made me sensitive to both scenery and culture. I think I got interested in history because I traveled a lot and saw all these monuments and art pieces in the flesh.

My only light novel collection is the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya — actual light novels in hardcover form and the covers replicated for authenticity.

I used to be racist too, then, I found OT and changed a lot.

I never travelled to any other country, but I lived in different parts of my country.

I heard there is a translated version of Haruhi Suzumiya here, but I think the only translated tomes were the 3 first ones, then, because the translators were lazy, they just brought the spain version which has, of course, a lot of words used only in spain. Same happened with a lot of manga (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bleach, Naruto, Saint Seiya).

In that case, just read English. This isn’t me being utterly racist or westernized (while I am indeed an Anglophile); it is a matter of convenience for pretty much everything: manuals, art pieces, literature, art — whatever that needs to be written. There is more interest in translating foreign works into English than the vice versa option. It is sad; however, that’s how westernized all countries are: sickening, distorted, powerless creatures under the arms of what they believe the most correct and successful country: the United States of America.

As my opinion goes, American art is just the tip of the iceberg. The French New Wave, German Expressionism, and the interest in Asian culture (the most extreme being the vile monsters called weeaboos) have influenced the artistic American world. Comparisons can be made; The Graduate is so French New Wave, the Matrix is so Asian (and its source of inspiration, Neuromancer, is so Japanese), and tons of directors are so influenced by a couple of foreign directors.

Anyway, I feel like talking more. I think it’s interesting to see how I think; I suffer from narcissism somewhat, though I’m more neurotic really. Since I just had psychology class, I’m gonna put my thoughts on psychology. I hope you can follow this since this is one part on how I look at works.

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the former German and the latter Swiss, has revolutionized characterization. Today, most people — I’m an exception — believe Freudian and Jungian psychology is mostly wrong — just because the former is all about sex (ah, the repressive thoughts on sex!) and the latter is almost impossible to prove, like the idea which is the true religion — something unprovable (applies to Freud as well). Nevertheless, they do not see that works of art and the surrealism movement have been influenced by their ideas; both psychodynamic schools of thought make us understand characters better.

If you have seen a work with child abuse affecting the characters’ mentality, that’s Freudian.
If you have seen a work with three characters with different personalities (one is genki, one is rational, one is saintly. Aria, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Hourou Musuko — which you should take note of — have the conflicts of id, ego, and superego symbolized through characters), that’s Freudian.

Jung focuses his idea on collective unconscious. No matter where we live, we have a ton of universal symbols and themes: good vs evil, authority, morals, pursuit of knowledge, and more.

The Persona series, especially 2 and 3, are influenced by Jung, if that wasn’t obvious enough. The Persona 3 Portable OP just puts random Jungian concepts Studio Shaft-style. On the other hand, Persona 2 puts you in the room of collective unconscious. Arguably, all the Velvet Rooms are symbols of collective unconscious as well.

My teacher says what makes the original Star Wars — without some shitty additions, of course — is how Jungian it is. You may be surprised by this very fact I tell you: George Lucas went to an anthropologist who writes about the collective unconscious. How does an example of old-school sci-fi have some Jungian aspects?

Simple.
Heard about archetypes?

Literary criticism, and TV Tropes for matter, steals the idea of archetypes from Carl Jung. The reason for character archetypes is simple: we can easily understand the motivation of characters quickly. Again, the theory of collective unconscious comes again; archetypes derive from that.

It’s easy to make a paper on archetype. An Oedipal hero, Luke Skywalker can be compared to Ikari Shinji of NGE, Amuro of Mobile Suit Gundam, and any main protagonist in Steven Spielberg film with abusive parents. All of them involve a Hero’s Journey, another archetype, to beat a father-like authority.

Star Wars is filled with archetypes. Nothing is original; creativity and talent is what makes archetypes and tropes (the literary, not the shitty definition TVTropes gives) different. Star Wars is a masterwork of genius. Anyone, with a good sub/dub, can understand it; they can relate to it.

I’m not Japanese, but I can feel Murakami’s distressing call to end urban alienation, society’s suppression of different people, and enjoy the surreality of life. Universal themes, motifs, and symbols are all part of the collective unconscious. The fact that Murakami seems conscious of this aspect makes it even better; to me, he is one goddamn genius.

There’s a nice quote by Roger Ebert: “If you have to ask what it symbolizes, it didn’t.” I stole this from TV Tropes, but I don’t think the users understand this seminal quote. What it argues is not bizarre symbolism - ahem, NGE -, but whether you can identify the symbolism. NGE has some oddly placed Christian symbolism, but we all can understand what it is. It just takes deeper pondering to know what the hell Hideaki Anno is on about. If you can see Jesus Christ crucified in the mahjong game, it might be funny, but it’s a symbol to take note of. Whether it is effective or not does not rule out that it is a symbol.

What Ebert says is a symbol that is so random that it’s not in the collective unconscious — something we can’t identify at all. The best way to explain is if I type a word like “QIWOHBCNZNNMWE” with no explanation in a work like Azumanga Daioh, that isn’t a symbol. That is nonsense. More nonsensical than the witty Alice in Wonderland, which has a great share of symbolism. That’s what Ebert means.

These psychodynamic schools of thought amaze me. I don’t know about everyone else, but it sure did. I was glad NGE introduced me to Freud, which gradually piques my interest in Jung. I use Freud to psychoanalyze characters and Jung for themes and symbolism.

I agree with you, people think USA is the best country in the world, but it isn’t true. Actually, they make people think like that to be afraid of it (it’s only my opinion), Burger King, McDonald’s, Coca-cola and other corporate shit is all around the world, making people think “Oh god, if America didn’t exist, our lives wouldn’t be as good as now”.

My sister taught me a lot about Freud, but I’ve never heard about Jung (I think I’m learning a lot thanks to you, maybe I should start to investigate more stuff).

I’ve never played Persona, but I always wanted to.

Murakami sounds like a genious to me, I’ve been trying to end society’s suppression of “different” people here. Maybe if I read some books written by him, I might find out a way of ending with it.

I agree with Ebert and you. I know some people who can’t find symbolism in anything, but I can do it in almost everything.

There’s a sci-fi comic written in my country, known as El Eternauta (The Eternaut would be the most accurate translation). It’s full of symbolism, it’s kind of hard to understand since it’s all about a hard period of Argentina (we were going through a hard dictatorship), but it’s there. It’s a masterpiece, and probably one of the best things ever made here, sadly, there isn’t any english translations available, so, if I have enough time, I might translate everything in a word file and send it to you

How Nietzsche of you :P

You could just read some articles on Wikipedia; they do have some good information. Of course, the best raw information for Freud and Jung is to actually read their literature, all available on the web.

What fascinates me about Murakami is his jazz club background. My teacher has introduced me into thinking grammar as musical notation: a comma is a quarter-note; a colon is a half note; a semi-colon is a third-quarter note; a full stop/period is a full note (a beat basically). Murakami does that with his works and Jay Rubin does a pretty good job translating it. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle shows the intricate use of language and syntax (along with awesome storyline) to have nice sounding sentences if you read it out loud. Indeed, Murakami and Rubin are not that insane to write like I do: semicolons and colons everywhere. Fragments like an annoying sidekick appearing from nowhere. That’s something I got from light novels and visual novels. Blame my teacher for encouraging such syntax.

Of course, it can’t beat Alice in Wonderland in language, but nothing could.

Speaking of writing, I started my short story. I finished a first draft of chapter 1, but I can’t edit it until next Friday — will be at Turkey this week. I have a blast writing a chapter that should have been either 3, 4, or even 5; character exposition seems too interesting to me. Hopefully, I’ll finish a first draft of it before leaving to Turkey at Friday night.

I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment… :3

Yeah, wikipedia will help me a little bit, I’ll read about them later, I have a kind of date in 20 minutes.

That’s interesting, I used to use a lot of colons and semicolons too. Thinking grammar as musical notation sounds interesting, maybe it will help when I start writing again.

I think my sister has the original version of Alice in Wonderland, I have to read it ASAP.

I’d like to read that story. About my stories, I have bad news, I haven’t found them yet, so I’ll write a short story similar to the ones I used to write and I’ll send it to you.

lol, I hope you had a good time there.
Btw, I found some of my old short stories, I’ll pass it to my computer as soon as I can, and then, I’ll upload it to mediafire and give you the link.

I probably can finish it. I plowed through Toradora!, a 2 season JC Staff work, like a masochist chopping his knees off. Toradora! is one of the worst works I have ever watched in a long time — and the supporting characters are too cool to drop its score to a 1.

There is nothing I can finish — except Mobile Suit Gundam. Gosh, that was boring.

I liked Toradora!, probably because I felt identified with Ryuuji (some people is afraid of me at school), I still have to admit I’ve seen better stuff. I agree with Mobile Suit Gundam being boring, though, I only watched six episodes, but I found it better than Gundam SEED. I’m still going to watch, just because it’s Gundam.

My favorite characters are Minorin and Ami, if you saw my favorite characters list.
Minorin cried. Ami became enigmatic and clever, but not a true main character. I hated guy’s name I will never remember and Taiga; 20% of my Anime Addicts Anonymous posts is about how much I hate Toradora!

Check out Welcome to the NHK by the way.

Yeah, I liked the part where Minorin cried, not because I enjoy seeing people crying, it was because I didn’t expect that to happen. If you’re talking about the guy with glasses, I agree with you.

I’ve read 3 tomes of the Welcome to the NHK manga, I thought it was good.

Actually, I hated the fact that Minorin cried. I despised the treatment. I hated Ryuuji, not the guy with the glasses — he’s pretty badass when it comes to confessing. Ryuuji on the other hand has no characterization and nothing is developed about his evil appearances; Boku wa Tomodachi was better at using — I mean, stealing — Ryuuji’s archetype and that is a ‘meh’ anime.

Seriously, I’d rather have these three interesting supporting characters be the main characters. I call this the Toradora Syndrome, in which the supporting characters are extremely better than the main characters and the fact that the audience doesn’t really care about the main characters. Toradora, Nichijou, Gosick, and tons more have these problems.

I might write a blog post, writing about how much I hate Toradora! and the Toradora effect in MAL. Of course, no one reads blog posts. However, think of it as a reference which I will use to justify my claim; I’ve been talking and hating — haters gonna hate — about Toradora! for months now on TVTropes. I might as well use a template.

I know what you mean, I hate seeing characters crying, but I wasn’t expecting that, and I was like “whoa, Minorin cries!”. About Kitamura (the guy with the glasses), yeah, he’s badass when it comes to confessing, but I still hated him when he ran away though I almost did the same thing this year. I hated Taiga, I actually saw her like a supporting character and Ryuuji and Kitamura as the main characters.

I love reading blog posts, in fact, I’ve always wanted to make a blog about things I hate.

Actually, Minorin is more of the main character, but I must stop — Toradora! has given me brain hemorrhages and migraines that may come back to haunt me for eternity.

Also, my Hourou Musuko review crashed from the top 2 into fourth place. Gah!

Never heard of Hourou Musuko, I’ll check it out later.

I still kind of like Toradora because it’s one of the first anime series I’ve watched (it’s actually the third one, G Gundam was the first and the second one was K-On.), I was a little kid back then though, so if I watch it again I’d probably start hating it.

My thoughts on Hourou Musuko are already expressed in my review; you might as well just read it since it conveys my genuine feelings.

If you didn’t know, I have no sympathy for nostalgia. Blithering cretins exclaim how fantastic this child’s show is, like Captain Planet, but one look at it in a matured state should view the work and express with this following quote I quipped a few seconds ago while writing this message: “Did I just f—king watch that? I am a f—king idiot!”

If you talked to EndlessSporadic, you would have known my sincere downgrading of K-On!. Used to be championed as one of the best guilty pleasures, I dropped it into an 8. I am an objective, rational person. In the Umineko vocabulary, I am aptly named as an intellectual rapist. Figures that I’m a big fan of Erika Furudo. I have also downgraded Akikan! from an 8 to a 2 and Moetan from a 7 to a 4, showing how much I hate my childhood and early adolescence.

Thus, I have no regards in a show and a game like Pokemon. I see it as some childish game, in which adults profess their gaming skills over a system designed for idiots — they are known as children, I believe. I shall watch Cardcaptor Sakura someday; it is my first anime that I watched when I was younger.

I confess that I hate anything to do with escapism. While I assert Umineko Chiru is one of the best visual novels out there, I do not agree with its theme — mainly, escapism. My favorite works combat escapism; Puella Magi Madoka Magica, no doubt, destroys any trace of escapism with, well, Urobuchi’s professed “tragedy syndrome”. Welcome to the NHK is an undisguised, unequivocal look of psychological disorders affecting today’s Japanese. Gunslinger Girl — which has only one season — is like the novel, Ender’s Game; it features a pessimistic look on children used as weapons and, like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep/Blade Runner, asks whether we can treat and love them like actual human beings.

I do not attack idealism; I classify myself as a cynical idealist — while the world is dominated by selfish motivations, there is hope if we cling on to our ideals. That’s what PMMM taught me. Rather, I am disgusted by anyone who clings on a fantasy world which will never be realized. They are sickening.

I’ll read your review ASAP.

Captain Planet sucks, even when I was a kid I knew that. I hated most superheroes, they’re almost invincible.

K-On! is good when you watch it only once, it has no rewatch value at all. K-On!! bored me to death, I could only watch 3 episodes and say “I have to stop this, it’s going to kill me”. A guy from school told me to watch Akikan!, I watched the first episode, and I thought it sucks. Never heard of Moetan. I kind of hate my childhood and early adolescence too, because I used to be a complete jerk, but I have to say that nostalgia saved me a month ago, giving me the will to live – I’ve heard somewhere that the chances of surviving a surgery also depend on it -

I’ve never watched Pokemon and I’ve only played Pokemon Ruby, which I found boring. Never watched Cardcaptor Sakura either, though a lot of people recommended it to me.

Welcome to the NHK is great, but since someone told me how it ended (the same guy who recommended Akikan! to me started spoiling me everything when I told him I hated spoilers) I’m probably not going to watch it. I hate escapism too, escapists destroy their lives slowly, and they don’t even notice. I still have to watch PMMM, but I’m sure it’s great. After reading a Gunslinger Girl’s review, I’ve always wanted to watch it.

Everyone has his own point of view. I was a complete idealist until 2 years ago, my history teacher changed my life when she told us she was an idealist. After that, I started being a cynical idealist.

I know, it happens to a lot of people, but when I’m watching something for first time and I get spoiled I just don’t want to watch it anymore. But, as I said before, I’ll give it a try.
I’m still going to watch PMMM first, then Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (I just downloaded them)

Oh, I actually don’t like the guy and I never talked to him again, the guy is a 14 years old sex maniac who reads hentai manga the whole time, thinks he’s the king of the world and a clever guy just because he learnt about conspirations in Welcome to the NHK. I always wanted to punch him in the face, but he’s one of the closest friends of my best friend, the guy is always like “oh, I want to F this girl, and this one, etc.” and then, he starts naming anime and videogame characters he’d like to F.

By the way, I just wrote a short story. Here’s the download link, just in case you want to read it
It sucks, I can write better things in spanish, but it’s still one of my best english creations

That’s what happens when you don’t know what to write about. It’s about this guy who is sick because of an accident which had happened 8 months before, then, it’s all about he’s going more and more insane. Yeah, it sucks, I’ll write something better as soon as I can.

I know, but in this country even the most famous novels written here are hard to find.
Since I have to pass by that bookstore everyday (it’s near my school) I’ll ask the shopkeepers if they have it very often.

I’ll try to resolve that as soon as I can, I’m going to start doing some research about psychology, and since I have to write a thesis in 2 years (yeah, I have to start this month) I might write something about psychology. I was thinking about writing something about symbology and the most symbolic works I know (NGE being the most symbolic). The good thing is: I have to write about anything, so it will be kind of easy.

I liked your review, you sound like a wise person I knew some years ago. I’m going to rewrite that short story I wrote to you, it sucked a lot, maybe I’ll write something in spanish and translate it to english.

If you are writing an essay on Neon Genesis Evangelion, you should check out Gunbuster and FLCL. They are similar in themes and worth a look if you want to understand Studio Gainax’s psyche, especially Gunbuster — Hideaki Anno’s first actual Gainax work.

I also hope this wise person is alive. I’d like to be compared to live people more than dead people.

I was about to download Gunbuster a few days ago, but I didn’t know if it was good. I’ll check FLCL out later. The thing is: I haven’t finished watching NGE yet because of some familiar stuff, but I’ll do it this week.

Unfortunatelly, this person is not alive, but remembering what he taught me helps me a lot.

Death is something that we will all face. I am afraid of death as being jailed in an afterlife suck, just decomposing suck, and reincarnating and losing your thoughts suck. It’s like a Game Over screen. Yet, I have to find a way to accept death.

Oh, existentialism.

I started thinking about that a few days ago when I was trying to sleep, it sucks to be afraid of death. I’m not afraid of death, I’ve been close to death so many times that if I was told I have cancer tomorrow I wouldn’t be surprised.

I thought about death ever since I was like five. Existentialist child philosopher right there.

Escapism has become a necessary evil. For me, I use it as minimally as possible; I need to reestablish myself that what is on the page of a book or a screen showing something is not actual reality, but fantastical illusions. Rather, we should look at the themes and appreciate the concepts behind them. That way, art can help us look forward to life.

That said, this style of realism has made me a misanthrope. I read 1984 way before most people and am cynical to the magnification of my red blood cells. Oh humanity, you cease to disappoint me on every instance!

I used to think about the end of the world at that age.

I know what you mean, I use escapism because I have nothing else to do, I also used to be an escapist because I was afraid of everything. Art always helps me, it makes me feel better.

Sometimes, when I hear or talk to nice people, I think humanity can be saved. But after remembering all the s*it that happens in this world – rapes, murders, etc – I start thinking we can’t do anything. There are little kids smoking weed and mugging people at gunpoint, teenagers who get pregnant because the government gives them money and corrupt politicians.

Here, in Argentina, almost every tourist that has come on these last months got killed, raped, or both. If you kill someone because you’re mugging him and he didn’t give you anything, you go to jail for 1-4 years, if you kill a mugger trying to protect someone you love or yourself, you get 10-30 years. Yeah, humanity keeps disappointing me.

Haha. One of the instances is that I can’t trust anyone after a teacher lied to the staff to save her job instead of my life. I was sick, nosebleeds and all, and needed clinical staff. Back at school, they said they asked me if I needed to go to the hospital. I was amazed; they did not. I asked them to send me to a clinic! They are trying to contact me right now, but I refuse.

Damn, I hate that kind of people, I had 2 teachers like that. I know how you feel, you should refuse to contact them until monday. I found some people I can trust, I’m going through some hard period in my life (I found out I had testicular cancer a few days ago) and I consider them my friends, since we’re always supporting each other and we’ve spent a lot of time together since 2009. You will eventually find some people you can trust, I’m not saying it will be easy or that you should start walking in the street asking everyone “Are you trustworthy?”.

By the way, I bought Memories of Sherlock Holmes today, as soon as I finish reading it I’ll try to buy 1984.

I just read your post, and I have to say I couldn’t agree more. A lot of people criticize old videogames without even playing them, I hear things like “Final Fantasy from I to X suck because they had turn based battles”, “Contra is a horrible game”, “Those games are too hard to me”, “Super Robot Wars games suck because they’re turn based” and I could keep listing them. What about the plots of SRW games and the old FF? What could have happened if those old RPG games or shooters hadn’t existed? They know nothing about those games plots, they think they’re bad because of the graphics and they even compare them saying things like “Eternal Sonata’s plot is better than Final Fantasy IX’s” without even playing FF IX . If Contra hadn’t existed, probably FPS gamers wouldn’t be able to play Call of Duty, Halo, etc. I miss those old games. Chrono Cross had a lot of symbolism and a great plot, why can’t we get something like that?

There is a misconception that anything looking artsy or old is not entertaining. I don’t believe graphics make better works; nobody can be a reviewer without seeing older works. It’s just unbelievable how people think they can review without a look at an old work.

I know, I actually like those old anime series and videogames, graphics were not as good as new games’, but now, since they have sell stuff to people who is more interested about graphics than any other thing, they create horrible abominations with horrible plots, not so good soundtracks and in videogames, they are easier and boring. I’m not saying I don’t like any new thing, I actually enjoyed some new works. I don’t feel like a reviewer since I haven’t read/watched/played some classics, but I’m tired of people saying things like “Cowboy Bebop sucks because of its graphics” “NGE is bad because of the symbolism” or “Naruto is better than Dragon Ball” (I don’t like either of those, but I have to admit DB was more epic) without even watching them.

I’m more of the opinion that people should at least watch them. People can have a different say on any work, let it be a classic or a cult hit. I loved Strike Witches the same way I love the smell of the toilet; some disagree with my sentiments. SW is considered one of the definers of “serious” ecchi anime and even getting a bump from the Ministry of Culture. Nevertheless, I have watched and suffered through it.

Same with Mobile Suit Gundam. I’ve never really connected with the show as much as I will have liked to be. One-dimensional characterization for the most part turned me off as a viewer; the cooler characters have lesser screen time to give Amuro time to whine about how much he wants to sleep. Jumps of joy occurs when Lt. Bright slaps him.

I know I can’t force them to like it, but I agree with you, most people complain about things they never read/watched/played. Same happened to me with Haruhi (I don’t know why), I could watch it again to see if I like it now but that’s not likely to happen. It’s not that I found it boring or something like that, I just wasn’t very interested on the show and someone was forcing me to watch it.

I didn’t know that MSG could be that boring, didn’t have enough time to finish watching it. Lt. Bright is my favorite character for now, Amuro’s just a kid and not as badass as Bright and I don’t know much about the other characters,

I’m not a big fan of most shonen works. My reasoning can probably affect most works:

Amuro is whinier than Shinji, whom I thought previously as the king of whiners. What’s different about those two is that Shinji actually has problems — Oedipal complex, sexual tensions, lovable father, horrific eldritch abominations — while Amuro just wants to sleep in a war.

The best characters are Char (later known as Quattro Bajeena in Zeta Gundam, the only reason I watched Gundam in the first place), Sayla (who actually has problems), and Lt. Bright (who has some decent characterization because he is the leader). Everyone else hogs up the scene especially Amuro and his not-really girlfriend, Fraw Bow.

Yeah, I was talking about that with my brother a few minutes ago, Shinji had to go through a lot of real problems (being the eldritch abominations the only example I used).

I’m going to watch the whole series eventually, since I really love Gundam and I’d like to watch the work that initiated the whole thing. I didn’t download Zeta Gundam yet.

About shonen, I actually some classic ones (Saint Seiya and Yu Yu Hakusho, I can’t say anything about Dragon Ball). Most of them aren’t as good as people say, I’ve heard a lot of people saying Naruto and Bleach being the best anime series ever, which I find ridiculous because they’re just regular shonen, with nothing new, plots feel more like excuse plots, while (correct me if I’m wrong) Gundam was the first anime series that wasn’t for children, NGE being notorious because of its symbolism. I could keep listing, but it’s late around here and my brain is a little tired.

Haha, I’ve been doing a research about Easter and Christmas, they should be the same day.

Speaking about magical girls, I know almost nothing about that genre but I’m interested on it.

I started reading Memoires of Sherlock Holmes, it’s great!