mDuo13.com - The Amorphously Collected Thoughts and Works of Rome Reginelli

In the course of the last three days, I've watched all of Maria-sama ga Miteru - Two original series (13 episodes each at 24 minutes), the OVA (5 episodes of 50 minutes) and all 11 episodes of season 4 that have aired thus far (24 minutes each). That's a lot of anime. And it's been a very enjoyable series for me, for several reasons. But as always when I finish with something as engrossing as this most recent marathon, the recoil when I finish is harsh. After such a break from thinking about ordinary matters, I end up reexamining everything with new perspective, often harshly. This time, the hard question I find myself asking is whether I'm actually making progress.

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Lately I've been watching a fair amount of anime - the list of things I'm keeping up with this season is long - but the one that's wowing me most at the moment is Kemono no Souja Erin, a 50-episode children's fantasy epic that nobody else seems to be watching. It provides something refreshingly different than the current lot of copycat fanservice anime. And even though it's (apparently) aimed at children, it is actually one of the more intelligent shows currently airing.

Take the most recent episode, for example. Even disregarding the unusually good music, the episode introduces us to several potentially recurring characters as well as the concept of the seizan; the one even undergoes a slight change of heart through his encounter with Erin; it brings our first visit to a larger, bustling town; it hints that a grand plot has actually been developing for some time now with the comments about a man who suggested stealing Touda eggs; it introduces a mysterious antagonist; it provides Erin with what will probably be her signature harp, and this is all on top of an episode plot where Erin stands up for a boy because she recognizes her own situation when he is separated from his mother for breaking the law; all this on the excuse of John needing to go into town. And on top of all that, we get a parallel subplot of a lost kitten told without interference by any of the main characters.

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So the time of Spring Break is finally (or already?) upon me. I ended up making no plans except to stay here and have some quiet time to myself, uninterrupted. I have not yet explained this to my parents (who may not realize my spring break is already underway). I hesitate to tell them, because I have a feeling I know how the conversation would go.

"So honey, what are you doing for spring break? Got an exciting trip planned?"

"Nothing, mom. I'm going to sit in my room and watch anime or something."

"But you do that normally. Spring break is a time to go out and do something fun and unusual!"

"I do that normally because that's what I like to do! And anyway, I might not see another person for several days in a row. Now that's something I don't normally get the chance to do!"

"It sounds so lonely. You should have come up here to visit us. I'm sure your cat would like to see you."

"nyoro~n"

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My recent resolution to make time for productive things in addition to fun things has met with mixed results. I would be lying if I said I hadn't relapsed slightly into time-wasting habits. However, I think it has been a good move overall. For one thing, I've found time to get around to all the remaining improvements I had originally planned for this site - limited HTML tags in comments, improved recognition of off-site URLs in comment link fields, and individual tags/categories for blog posts. (For that last one, check the new blue tag icon on the corner of posts.) I also ended up finding time to read through a screenplay a friend of mine is working on (an adaptation of nigh-unfilmable Philip K. Dick novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said).

So, with that out of the way, I'm about ready to move on to my next target: Blame!

It's strange, the influences small things can have on us. About three weeks ago, I lost my phone. After 9 days without finding it, I finally replaced it. Three days after that - on the same night I recharged my new phone's battery for the first time, when it was certainly too late to go back - I found it, buried under the mattress in our hall. Sometime in between, I started taking pictures of the view from our patio using the new phone's camera.

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I finally, today, finished Okami (for Wii) after almost 37 hours of game-time. Now, compared to some other games like Tales of Vesperia (Current playtime: 74 hours, 27 minutes, and that's not even finished), that may not seem like much, but Okami was deceptively, perhaps even unpleasantly long. On one hand, I can't say that it's a bad game - it has a host of qualities aside from its unique art style that are quite commendable - but nonetheless, I can't unequivocally say that I liked it, either.

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