Archive for January, 2010

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Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

January 30th, 2010

To hell with uncreative titles.

Ookamikakushi Episode 03 — Damn glasses fetishists.

Ryukushi07 must have gotten brain cancer or something… this anime is becoming painful to watch. I’m afraid the epic OP song will keep me coming back though… at least until the single comes out. This is like Higurashi lamed down to a 2-year-old scriptwriter’s level.

It’s so obvious that everybody’s drugged up and this is exactly, EXACTLY like Higurashi. I leave it to Ryukushi07 to prove me wrong in a later episode. Please, no homosexuality. Please. And the cicadas chirping in the background. Sigh.

It’s fun that somebody dies at the end of every episode. Less characters = less lost brain cells.

Durarara!! Episode 01 — Finally got to watching this.

The art is low-budget, but I can say this: the storyline has got me going.

This can be Winter 2010’s Bakemonogatari or something. The wordplay isn’t… exactly… Bakemonogatari-style, but it’s still a very fun anime to watch.

Hanamaru Kindergarten Episode 02 — The OP isn’t incredible, but I’ll let that go. I worship this anime.


I worship this anime.


Fairy Tail Episode 15 — Flashbacks and cliffhanger.

Hanamaru Kindergarten Episode 03 — Watching in raw, HD, makes this anime even more godly.

I also like how, like Sora no Otoshimono, each episode has a different, unique ending song and animation.

Durarara!! Episode 02-03 — This is really ranobe. All the characters are enjoyable, and the narration really casts an inquisitive glance upon the meaning of life.

Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Episode 04 — Once again, it’s time for BakaTest!! Waahhhhh so sweet and indulgent.

Durarara!! Episode 04 — A weird “A Day in the Life of” episode, this time featuring the slightly eccentric doctor who lives with our mysterious headless rider.

Railgun Episode 17 — A day in the life of Antiskill. So boring, meaningless, and sucky. Seeing the life of the adults in Index doing… well… not really doing anything… is really boring. And where is my Touma.

“Though some are troublemakers who blow the roof off my house.” <— OMG Index reference. This made wasting 30 minutes on watching this worthwhile. WHAT? It’s Index herself? YAY! And– it’s Aisa. Wahaha.

Dance in the Vampire Bund Episode 04 — This is getting rather stupid.

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Summary of Today

January 26th, 2010

I never knew I was so poetic.

standing in the rain

with violin, binder, bag

writing a haiku

Writing poetry in the rain is so romantic, don’t you think?

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Negima!?

January 25th, 2010

This anime rant was written a while ago; I thought I would get it out of my “To Be Published” queue. Here goes:

A few weeks ago, I was looking for anime to watch. It’s currently the hiatus period between Fall 2009 and Winter 2010, so there’s not much new anime to watch. So I randomly picked up two series (just completely randomly).

The first one was Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo, or SoraKake for short; I instantly fell in love with the randomest first episode ever, and watched the entire anime in one day. That’s 26 episodes, 13 hours of non-stop anime. One of the best days ever in my life.

The other one was the first Negima anime. It was kind of interesting, but not much; the animation was very poor, and the plot was sketchy at best. Wait, what plot? Taking a look at the final episode, you wouldn’t believe this anime was made by a division of Production I.G. The last episode was horrible; it was a disgrace to all of Japanese animation.

However, about halfway through winter break (after I got back from San Francisco, about), I randomly decided to start reading the Negima manga. Boy, was that a monumental decision.

The Negima manga is absolutely epic. The plot is on the level of Full Metal Panic, and the humor is Ranma-level. We do have maybe 50 or so characters, but each character is developed in unique detal. That’s not what got me hooked though… I think it’s the magic system and the clever battles. Gah, I can’t really describe these things well; if you have time, the manga for this is one of the best. It’s by Ken Akamatsu (god; I need to get these random japanese people’s names out of my head), the creator of Love Hina which, surprisingly, I haven’t watched/read.

Anyways, I then started watching the OVAs, Shiroki Tsubasa/Ala Alba (White Wing), and blahh. Actually, I watched one of the OVAs first, which prompted me to read the manga, I think. Either way, I finished those, and there was no more Negima canon material for me to watch/read.

Not that the first anime was canon by any means.

So I started watching Negima!?, which I shall refer to affectionately (not) as Negima2. It’s completely different from the manga and the first anime; it pretty much only reuses the characters and the setting. The plot… sucks. It’s like they took the Negima characters and pasted them straight into an episode of Pani Poni Dash. Of course, it’s SHAFT, so… well.

I actually enjoyed SHAFT’s antics in the Summer and Spring OVAs, but Pani Poni-ified Negima is not all that funny. Pani Poni was awesome because they concentrated entirely on humor, randomness, and gag plots. However, Negima2 tries to have a real plot on top of that, and the plot usually takes over the humor. This plot ruins the entire anime.

I must say, SHAFT’s animation is as epic as usual. The opening… with all the quotes by 3-A, I loved that. Unfortunately, the awesomeness only comprised about 5% of the anime; the other 95% sucked.

Gah, writing long paragraphs is very blah. Time to do something fun.

Best Male Characters

  1. Kotarou (‘cuz he’s so kawaii)
  2. Negi (now also a human atomic bomb)
  3. (oh… wait… there are only two male characters. cough. lawl.)

Best Female Character (god, this is going to be hard)

  1. Nodoka
  2. Tie… between Yue, Chisame, and Anya
  3. Um… tie… Evangeline, Chao, Sakura Mei (the randomest and most irrelevant character ever, yes)

I can’t choose >.<

Even more recently, I read the Negima!? Neo manga (the manga adaptation of the anime that was adapted from an anime that was adapted from a manga in the first place). It’s muuuch better than the Negima!? anime; is manga really generally that much better than anime?

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11eyes

January 24th, 2010

So I finished 11eyes today.

11eyes Episode 10 — hmm. They make every statement Shiori utters seem so utterly important. Suddenly this turns into the problem of 6 high school kids into “omg, the whole world is going to be destroyed!!!”

And Yuuka… is so entertaining. Also, if you think about it now… Kakeru is now the only male character. Meaning… 1 male… 6 girls… hmmmm.

The plot behind the Witch of Babylon and the Eye of Aeon is quite cool, however. Kudos to the scriptwriters for this.

And the love… septagon? Hehe. Yuuka needs to go off into some obscure corner and asphyxiate herself. Kusakabe-senpai with Kakeru is better. Heck, any other girl (minus Yukiko) would be better than Yuuka.

So angsty… and the gore… thank you for censoring it. The epicness and dead character count… it’s painful ><; SS.

11eyes Episode 11 — YUUKA GOT WHAT SHE DESERVED! Woohoo!! She will go down in history as the “stupidest anime character that has ever existed”.

Wait, what? She didn’t die? NOOOO!

You know, for that epic battle with Witch VS Shiori+Onmyou swordswoman+big dragon… enter Nanoha or something, and one Starlight Breaker will take care of everything ^^

“What Kakeru and I can do right now…” I can just hear that voice in her head finishing that sentence. Ahem.

Wait… am I reading this right? “The only way we can save the world is if we… make babies together.”

God save the queen >____>

… THE HELL Yuuka is still alive… and now Misuzu-senpai is going to like suicide or something. Wahh. Oh, nevermind. I totally saw that coming.

……… okay. GREAT. Now everybody’s dead except for Misuzu. That’s awesome.

The ending of this episode made me speechless. SS+. [10.5/10]

11eyes Episode 12 FINAL — THAT. WAS. EPIC. All of the events of the last episode were part of Kakeru’s precognition, granted him by the Eye of Aeon. GOD that’s epic. So the world didn’t end. Well, of course it didn’t, but… ^_^

He kills himself… despite how obvious that was, it was still very surprising.

Kakeru’s past… is sad. Sorry for being Captain Obvious for a moment there, but… yeah.

God this is epic… and… wahhh, the Witch sounds like Yukari Tamura in Bernkastel-mode, ahahaha.

Okay, now suddenly we’re in Cheesy Protagonist Speech mode… and… within 10 seconds of “what the hell”, the Witch is somehow sealed and the anime ends.

… … …

What the hell is with the happy ending? Everybody is alive, and… … blah.

Great approach-to-climax, but very unsatisfying climax. S. [9/10]

The entire anime gets… an S+.

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There is a difference between well-drawn ugly things and bad art.

January 23rd, 2010

It’s been so rainy lately.

Dance in the Vampire Bund Episode 03 — Remember kids: say no to blonde loli vampire queens!

Vampire Bund is SOOO EPIC. SS. [10/10]

Ookamikakushi Episode 02 — Such depressing lyrics. “As soon as I met you, I felt like my life grew shorter.”

The actions of the native characters are almost exactly the same as Higurashi. After all, Satoshi-kun… transferred too. B+. [5.5/10]

Seikon no Qwaser Episode 01 — What, is this a badly-done Japanese horror movie or something?

The song is good; but.. the hell with 60 girls and one guy in the OP animation? That gives me a creepy feeling about what this anime is going to feel like.

Let’s see… so far, one red-haired Haruhi clone, one blue-haired Mikuru clone, and one dog-eared Yuki clone. The most original anime I have ever seen.

Wait… so the storywriters of this must have been fanatical Haruhi fans with a weird yuri Haruhi-Mikuru pairing fetish?

And the class president is a short-haired Reinforce clone! Awesome, so these storywriters are mismatched Nanoha fans too!

It’s interesting how the plot of this anime is centered around Christianity. I wonder how this will turn out. I hope it’ll be somewhat… like Mists of Avalon or Fate/sn I guess.

I wonder if it lowers the voice actor’s intelligence acting like a complete idiot.

…

…

It was just getting cool for a moment here, and then… then… …

Oh, and I don’t think God would really appreciate you blowing up his church, mister. Hm, the villain got pwnt so easily, too. Overpowered protagonist much?

Aaand of course the next day he transfers in… and the ending sequence makes me cry… at how horrible the song is. C. [4/10]

Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Episode 03 — This is the best, funniest anime of Winter 10. Also quite possibly the best op animation. Eh, I don’t know. Not as good as Treasure, but not bad.

I love the art style… the outlines, polkadots, it’s such a fun way of drawing anime. It’s probably fun for the animators, and it makes BakaTest really fun to watch.

The ending lyrics are really funny, too. S+. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about this episode. [9.5/10]

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 16 — Railgun is just no fun without Touma. B+. [5.5/10]

Omamori Himari Episode 03 — What’s really good about this anime: the character designs. Of course, overlooking that most of the characters aren’t very original, they’re still very good character designs, coupled with good character art. It’s not a particularly fun or original art style (like BakaTest), however.

It’s utterly stupid how water-demon-green-haired girl… um, Shizuku… suddenly turns from “I want to kill you” to “I like you *flirt* *blush*”. This is the problem with these kinds of animes. The hell with the sudden Higurashi-style frame?

The blonde maid smells like Mahoro! From Mahoromatic! I like that, except… the f*** with the huge chests x_x

I dunno, maybe this can be the new Koihime. A+. [6.5/10]

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Vampire Bund 02 Disappointing; new rankings

January 18th, 2010

I don’t want to give ratings anymore. The notation takes too long to type.

Best song:

  • “Toki no Mukou, Maboroshi no Sora (時の向こう 幻の空)” by FictionJunction and “月導 -Tsukishirube-” by Yuuka Nanri (Ookamikakushi)
  • “Hikari no Senritsu (光の旋律)” by Kalafina (Yuki Kajiura and co) – a very beautiful song (Sora no Woto)

Best anime:

  • Hanamaru Kindergarten
  • Sora no Woto

Because, obviously, an anime’s theme song is several orders of magnitude more important than anything else. ;)

Fairy Tail Episode 14 — Erza arrives. And hell, is she pissed.

“Please keep me fragging myself a secret, okay?” XD

Hm, it was kind of lame how easily Erza went “fine”. The hell with the random plot bombshell.

Dance in the Vampire Bund Episode 02 — In Full HD! the file is friggin 1.5gb…

The hell with subtitles, I’ll watch it raw in Japanese.

The OP animation is pretty nice. (Although, from the epic first episode, I expected more.)

Still, though, this video quality sucks. It’s in 1080p, and it’s still just unbearable.

Lead male is nice, handsome. A bit of a Touma-clone, but then again, aren’t they all nowadays.

So… like… how is the Queen of All Vampires, the richest and most powerful person in the world… this clumsy, loli blonde little girl again?

Still, the missiles flying around are cool. And everybody trying to kill Mina… yeah. Reminds me of… Eden? Idk.

Her voice 100% equals Rebecca Miyamoto. I’m sorry, I can’t think of anybody else. Rebecca = super genius blonde. Mina is the same. QED.

Blaahhhh naked loli sucking blood…

“I have no memories.” Again, channeling Touma, are we. As well as like every other male protagonist out there…

Shinjuku towers… they just love to use those buildings in anime, eh?

DUN DUN DUN! Hero is on the verge of death… and then Mysterious Superpower awakens! Hero-san pwns everything in sight! Gasp!

Okay, maybe this anime isn’t as good as I thought.

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Best+Worst

January 18th, 2010

Best: Dance in the Vampire Bund

Worst: Chu-Bra

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 15 – What? No Touma in the new OP?

Bleh, it was a good song, but without Touma Railgun just isn’t right. The new ending song is better than ED1, though.

The “… eh? eh? … … … EHHHHH?” moment at the end was kind of fun. Other than that… Railgun has been rather blah lately. B. [5/10]

Y’know, all they have to do is add a half-second cameo of Touma and I’ll be satisfied. Teehee.

Omamori Himari Episode 02 — Himari is so… flirty. Usually these “weird angel/fairy/demon/Flame Haze” girls are dumber than that. Boring intro song.

I could drown a fish.

I could drown a fish

… FANSERVICE *eyes bleeding*. Please, no more lame swimsuit fanservice. The plot actually seemed interesting for a moment, and here they go ruining it with fanservice left, right, above, and below. I think the “romance” and the entire harem thing is annoying. It hurts to watch anime when 90% of the screentime is devoted to showing the females in sexy poses flirting and tripping over each other to get this one guy to like them.

I think the art of Japanese animation is being ruined by oversized breasts. A. [6/10]

God… lame… laame… Green-haired girl had some screenshottable moments though.

Sora no Woto Episode 01 — “Sorami Kanata” — what a cute name, at the very least. She’s cuter than Yui, too.

What the… what a fantastic intro sequence… I’m pleasantly amazed. Lol, she has perfect pitch. The Mio-copy is cuter than Mio, too. Or, at least, more mature.

I love how this anime has such a serious tone. Such a relief after watching Omamori Himari. No bouncing chests, no obnoxious flirting…

Ugh, I really really like the style (animation style AND story-telling style) of this anime. I’m not saying it’s perfect, and there are a lot of things I didn’t like about this ep that I didn’t bother saying, but this anime generally exceeded my expectations. They were pretty low expectations, I’ll admit (exact K-On! carbon copy or worse), but it’s great how this anime feels. It comes out with a rustic, medieval feel, combined with a more Nanoha-like (not K-On! like) character tone. This is mostly because K-On! is a comedy-focused yonkoma adaptation.

I still can’t say from episode 01, but… AAA. [8/10]

Dance in the Vampire Bund Episode 01 — …. godddd. SS+. [10.5/10]

Chu-Bra Episode 02 — SOMEBODY SHOOT ME NOW [0/10]

Lol, I just watched the best anime of the season, followed by the worst anime of the season, and it’s amazing how big the gap is.

Actually on second thought… ugh… … [-5/10], which would be a… um… F=2, G=1, H=0, I=-1, J=-2, K=-3, L=-4, M. Ahaha.

Ookamikakushi Episode 01 — Ryukushi07 goodness, supposedly.

Most of what I thought about this episode was identical to Kurogane’s (better) review of it. The OP, I must say, is probably the best song I’ve heard so far this season. The first 5 minutes of this… amazing. Unfortunately… it devolved into a generic harem galgame anime quickly.

Imouto-chan (her name is Mana) is very cute… but something about the wheelchair screams “Nunnally clone!!” to me. Actually nevermind, she’s better than Nunnally (who I never really liked in the first place).

Lead heroine… is she? Eww. Tomboy freak. Love at first sight.

The animation is above-par, I am glad to say. Something about “wolf legend” screams Horo slash Spice and Wolf. The dad is a cool character. Mana’s personality is great, too.

This anime needs a Sunohara personality.

Oh my god… Rika copy spotted!

Why the hell is he so popular… “Hassaku matsuri”? Is it just me, or does that sound like Watanagashi (“Cotton Drifting Festival”) from Higurashi? In fact… this sounds so much like Higurashi so far, except Higurashi was better…

Hm, did I just hear cicadas? XDD

That ending… was epic. Also gave me a slight reminder of Shana and how people’s existences were erased and all. And wow, what a great ending song. S+. [9.5/10]

According to the preview… I hope nothing happens to imouto-san :<

» Read more: Best+Worst

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Asu no Yoichi (Winter 2009)

January 17th, 2010

Asu no Yoichi Episode 01 — Since Winter 2010 sucks so much, I decided to check out Winter 2009. God… so much treasure in last year’s winter season! Besides things like Minami-ke and Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo… there was KyoAni’s TV production of Munto which I haven’t bothered watching (it had such a long name… Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no something no something ga something… etc… *sigh*)

Anyways, I decided to randomly choose a Winter 2009 anime that looked good and watch it alongside the Winter 2010 animes. I picked Asu no Yoichi (was also considering Kurokami but that sounded like Shana except with seriousness levels off the charts).

First impression:

  • An exciting start to what seems to be a vigorous, high-energy comedic martial-arts plus school-life anime.
  • The male protagonist speaks in samurai, de gozaru.
  • The relationship between Yoichi and the main female protagonist is rather similar to Zero no Tsukaima‘s Louise and Saito. He also looks extremely similar to Saito, and even also is a sword-user.
  • The second sister is nearly identical to Nami from Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo. Both were Winter 2009 animes, too.
    • She has no self-confidence, a flat chest, is shy and tsundere, etc.
    • Physically, she also looks just like Nami — blonde hair, similar types of clothing, etc.
    • However, unlike SoraKake, she doesn’t go insane and start plotting the demise of mankind. Puhi~
  • The third sister is a rather unique character.
    • She has glasses and green hair, but I still find her okay. Maybe the green hair’s appeal offsets the glasses.
    • Her speech patterns are really cool, ssu. Puhi~
  • The youngest sister, Kagome, is like a 10-year-old version of Haruna from ToLOVE-ru.

Asu no Yoichi Episode 02-10

So here is what I think so far:

  • I absolutely love the wacky love polygons.
  • Wa-ssan (Washizu-san) is Ryouga and Kunou from Ranma 1/2 combined. That makes him awesome. Both parts.
  • Oh, now that I think about it, I haven’t compared Asu no Yoichi and Ranma yet.
    • Both Asu no Yoichi and Ranma involve a male martial artist who suddenly settles down and freeloads off of a house of three/four sisters.
    • Both Yoichi and Ranma end up going to school, and both have various villains, rivals, and such coming after them.
    • Both also have numerous, numerous people who like them, but again, both are extremely ignorant about love.
      • Yoichi seems to be more perverted than Ranma, though, and more clueless about the world.
    • The characters in Yoichi and Ranma both have crisscrossing one-sided loves.
      • Kunou / Ryouga = Washizu
      • Nabiki = 2nd sister (forgot her name, puhi~)
      • Akane / Kasumi = Ibuki (1st sister)
      • Akari = umm… pink-haired girl
      • Ranma = Yoichi, of course.
      • Shampoo / Ukyo = 3rd sister? hmm. *writes compare-and-contrast essay*
    • If you look at Asu no Yoichi from the perspective of having watched Ranma, you find that the two are nearly identical (except Yoichi has 12 episodes and Ranma has like 200)
  • Also, pink-haired girl is awesome. Every scene she’s in. Her love for Wa-ssan too… puwaah~

Aand…

  • Sagonomiya Ukyo… the stupidest, least serious main villain ever. XD
    • Especially since he stole the name of the best character in Ranma.
  • Sakon is cute, however.
  • WHAT the heck… forced memory loss is so cliche.
  • I don’t like Ibuki+Yoichi anymore.
  • Ayame and Yoichi 4ever.
  • God, the conclusion of ep 10 was so stupid.

Asu no Yoichi Episode 11-12

The premise was lame, but it all built up to a great “infiltration: Saginomiya mansion” climax episode.

Don’t you just love these dumb bastard villain characters?

Ahh, that was a totally satisfying ending. Wahahaha. S. [9/10]

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Winter 2010, continued

January 14th, 2010

Me says:
How much dirt is there in a 3inx3inx4in hole?
Justin says:
36in3
Me says:
wrong; there is no dirt in a hole

とある科学の超電磁砲 / To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 14 — No Touma.

However, this was a great way to end the Level Upper arc. Which, surprisingly, still hasn’t completely ended apparently.

All this episode really was, though, was characters from To Aru Majutsu no Index making cameo appearances and saying one or two cool lines that are supposed to be inspirational. A+. [6.5/10]

Fairy Tail Episode 13 — Natsu versus badguys was cool. Lucy’s battle was facepalm-inducing. C. [4/5]

Omamori Himari Episode 01 — Not bad. Too much fanservice…

This anime feels like a combination of elements from various animes: the main character looks like Mai (Kanon), the main character’s childhood friend is like Yuuka (11eyes) and Mai doubles as Kusakabe-senpai, the school scenes totally remind me of Da Capo, and actually, the childhood friend reminds me more of Nemu (Da Capo) than Yuuka. The aka–whatever… the spirit/demon/things… they remind me of the Tayutai from Tayutama (except not as cute). Of course, as many have stated, the premise is also similar to Shakugan no Shana, although in my opinion they aren’t that similar.

Geez, this week’s anime have all been failures so far. B. [5/10]

Baka to Test to Shokanjuu Episode 02 — Once again, enjoyable intro animation.

Lawll… “knowledge literally is power” ><; I like the setting, camera positions, and overall animation flow of this anime. It reminds me of a whole lot of things that I don’t feel like blogging about.

Wow… this is TOTALLY the next Seitokai. That conversation with Himeji was more Seitokai than Seitokai.

Hm, the “summoning” thing is still kind of borderline stupid, though. I guess it’s original though; instead of Index-style telekinesis or magic or whatnot.

Of course, this anime doesn’t take its own plot seriously so it barely matters. The ending was so LAWL… Best anime this season. Actually… only good anime this season. SS. [10/10]

Hanamaru Kindergarten Episode 01 — THIS. IS. THE. CUTEST. THING. THAT. HAS. EVER. BEEN. MADE.

They have outdone themselves again… first Evangelion, then FLCL, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and the like… and now they are mowing through the competition with their newest work, Hanamaru Kindergarten. GAINAX can’t get any awesomer than this.

However, not only are the kindergartners cute, with unique, appealing character designs, but the adults also possess a wide variety of personalities, and their relationships tie in with the children’s antics to provide a most entertaining episode.

The adult lead has an entertaining personality… it has a rather Watanuki-kun feel to it, and he even looks 99.9% similar to Watanuki.

Anzu and her mother’s relationship to the lead is especially entertaining. Anzu’s mother was his upperclassman in high school; I think he liked her. Their parting words, or something, was that “My child will grow up to be just like me!” And five years later or something, we realize how true those words are >.<

Anzu’s character is inexplicable. Her two kindergarten friends so far include Hiiragi (who is chibi Ichijou, 100.1%) and… that shy girl. Forgot her name.

Ugh… so overflowingly cute. SS. [10/10]

I have to study for finals now, so I’ll save the rest of my pile of winter 2010 animes for… um… sometime later.

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Depression; Idealism

January 12th, 2010

Once again; I’m depressed.

Last week was very enjoyable — no real work to do, no tests at all (seriously), not much homework, and lots of sleep. Perhaps as a result of having taken the first week so easy, this week is a day at the beach… in hell. (It’s not very fun, because the water will have evaporated before you get there. They also conveniently don’t sell suntan lotion in hell.)

Normally, I would continue with a list of things that ruined my day today, but as per Ben standards, I have come up with a new postulate to live by. Come on, praise me.

Failure is, to be precise, honest, and to-the-point: disappointing. Defeat, not being able to achieve a goal after you’ve tried your hardest, done your best, spent your life’s energy on something… you merely can’t always win. Applying an earlier “Ben Theorem” to this: Anything can be accomplished with sheer willpower. However, even when you spend all your willpower on something, you can’t always succeed.

No, there is a different meaning to “trying your best” — the real amount of “sheer willpower” that humans can expend. This is the ability of humans to continue on. Generally. Of course, jumping off of a skyscraper will result in game over, but even so, just give the machine more coins and start over again.

Now, taking everything from this larger frame of reference — not the viewpoint of “winning or losing” one single battle, but the balance of the entire war — is failure really a setback?

I think the most efficient way of living life is to see every defeat as more knowledge gained. To see every victory as motivation to do even better. This impulse to accomplish more — this is the essence of human nature. There is no “giving it your best”. You can always do better.

A positive standpoint, seeing every situation in your life as self-improvement — this is the truth that can lead to happiness.

Where do human negative emotions come from? That’s right — we ourselves, we see things as they are, and then we form our own opinions on them. Something that happens to us is not necessarily “good” or “bad” — it simply depends on what we want to think of it as.

Having experienced a chain of numerous failures today has led me to this realization. The world really is quite cheerful, if you are cheerful enough. It’s great that I failed so much today — from those failures, I learned so many new things. The mistakes I made — now I will watch out for them, and will not make them again. The pain and shame I felt, that will push me to strive even harder next time. There is no success without failure; there is no event that cannot be interpreted positively.

I leave it at that. ■

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