Alastor's Reflection

Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas

Ξ December 24th, 2009 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Music is Life, The Anime Annals |

Just a quick (EDIT: Hah!) little schizoid post to wish a Merry Christmas to the ever-welcome Visitor

This Post is best read late at night, and especially so if you love Kate Bush as I and her many KateFancies and LoveHounds do *waves to Kate fans drifting in like snowflakes* And for those  impending winter season anime fans wandering in, a little treat or three for your patience at the end (at least, if you like Kanon and “Canon in D” )…

Since pictures tell a thousand words, and words just… kinda pile up (at least around these here parts LOL),  moving pictures must multiply that another thousand-fold!  Since I’m feeling lazy (yum… eggnog!) I thought that a few videos would do well in conveying my Yuletide wishes to you. So, light a fire (preferably in a fireplace!), nog your eggs with a dash of brandy (or five), and let’s all get comfy in a warm and soothing room… and for an appetizer, listen to Kate singing “Home For Christmas”:

Nice little ditty, eh? (AND… to those aforementioned Kate-fanciers, you have found the hidden and secret Kate Bush Page here, haven’t you? Hint: you won’t have to go to the Unbound website to find it! Now, no more hints! You’ve got to do your homework, haven’t you? )

Let’s get serious and settle down for the main course, and watch her perform the lovely “December Will Be Magic Again”, taken from her 1979 Christmas Special. Turn up the heat, light up the candle lights, and melt like the snow…

If curious about the lyrics, they’re on the video’s YouTube page, as are those of the following set; many thanks to Symphonyofflowers (a fellow KateFancy from the HomeGround Forum) for the wonderful vids :-D 

So, are you feeling warm and soothed yet? How ’bout something to take care of that, hmm? Because Kate is so Warm and Soothing… well, at least when she needs and wants to be! And here, she does indeed…

Man, she even warms up a slideshow! Speaking of, and so as to help keep the cold out from your room and your heart, something to warm your Place up considerably: “In the Warm Room”…

Ah… that was swell!  *sighs contentedly*

I think everyone’s feeling a little sleepy now, so to send you off to dreamland… Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” performed against the anime it inspired, called fittingly enough, Kanon. Both the song and the show are among my Most Favorite Things. Coincidence? I think not…

For the uninitiated Kate fans still hanging around, the following slideshow Anime Music Video introduces the Viewer to each of the girls first: Nayuki, Shiori, Makoto, Mai, and Ayu, and then Nayuki again followed by Yuichi, the male lead (lucky fellow!) (well, he is for the most part in this dramatic, funny, tragic, and heart-wrenching/-warming series)… 

Hmm… my plan to share a clip from the show where the significance of the Pachelbel piece was explained is foiled; it’s gone! Agh! I’ll have to make it up to you: Last year I made a Post about Kanon/Canon entitled “Changes… in ‘D’”, where I transposed the short-but-critical dialogue mentioned above. And yeah, the actual clip was yanked But please do read it if curious about the deeper meanings in that connection, and the illuminating Comments from Max that follow it ;-)

Well then, a bit of a change in plans; care for a little dessert? Since snow seems to be almost everywhere this time of year, how about a tour around “that snowy city” of Kanon‘s, and listen to the extended version of the beautiful opening theme “Last Regrets” while we’re at it? Oh, and glory at the sheer beauty of this acclaimed masterpiece:

...and since you've been so very good this year, the lyrics in both Romaji and English (thanks to animelyrics.com!):

Original / Romaji Lyrics
English Translation



arigatou iwanaiyo
zutto shimatte oku
sayonara ha kagerinai
yume no ato shizuka ni oritatsu


I won't say thank you
I'll always keep it inside
It won't be a sad goodbye
Silently, the aftermath of the dream rises




ryouteni ha furisosogu kakera wo
itsumademo itsumademo daite
saiko made waratteru tsuyosa wo
mou shitteita


Always, always embracing
The fragments that rained into my hands
I already had the strength
To keep smiling to the end




ohayou mezame ha
mabushikute kanashii
sayonara yurusenai
bokutachi no yowasa ga yokatta


Good morning
Waking is dazzlingly sad
I'm glad that our weakness
Wouldn't let us say goodbye




futari ni ha arifureta yasashisa
hana no youni koi no youni utsurou
hikui kumo kaze wo matsu shizukesa
mou kikoenai


Like love, this routine kindness between us
Blooms like a flower
The low clouds, the silence waiting for the wind
I can no longer hear them




ryouteni ha furisosogu kakera wo
itsumademo itsumademo daite
saiko made waratteru tsuyosa wo
mou shitteita


Always, always embracing
The fragments that rained into my hands
I already had the strength
To keep smiling to the end




mou nakanai mou nakanai nakanai...


I won't cry anymore, I won't cry anymore, I won't cry...




 
Finally (oh damn, my formatting's changed and I forgot what the default is -bear with me!!!)... an aperitif!
Here's Ayu's short (no pun intended!)"Seasons" monologue and scene, voiced by her seiyuu (and my favorite) Yui Horie:
WARNING: MAJOR Kanon spoilers ahead; don't view if you plan to watch it!
This is, for those who've seen it, a cherished scene, and so this little Christmas present-o  

 
Thanks for reading, and again I'd like to wish a very Merry Christmas to you and yours,
and forward my best wishes for a prosperous (however you may count it) New Year!
May the many days to come bring you Joy, whatever Season you celebrate  
 
 

		

AMV’d: Serial Experiments Lain

Ξ December 16th, 2009 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Music is Life, The Anime Annals |

I thought I’d start up a new series that features a favorite anime as represented by some of the more readily-available (*cough YouTube cough*) AMVs out there. Today’s initial installment will deal with one of the more unique and incomparable series made, namely 1998′s Serial Experiments Lain. With initial character designs by Yoshitori ABe, who also did those for Haibane Renmei, and at times startling, disturbing and quixotic direction by Ryutaro Nakamura, Lain is a psychedelic cornucopia of visual and aural sensations. The story begins with a classmate committing suicide, and then days later seems to be sending messages via the Internet about now existing in a place called “the Wired” where she claims to have found God. Dealing with (among many other things) reality, identity, and being, it’s probably best not to try to explain what it’s about, as different viewers will come away with their own interpretations. For those unafraid of spoilers, the Wikipedia has an interesting article on it here.

One of Lain‘s elements that is immediately noticeable is the use of sound, both in effects, music, and even silence. Even the ominous and everpresent humming of electrical overhead wires lends much to the atmosphere. While it’s not an AMV, this clip of the initial seven minutes from the first episode will give you a taste of Lain’s apparently-strange world, and introduce you to the theme song, “Duvet” which you’ll hear more of later on (suggestion: watch in Full Screen and High Quality):

It was tough coming up with AMVs of quality in both presentation and especially song choice, as music is so subjective. I wanted to have a sort of progression as well, so that the flow reflects the series movements.  So let’s start out with the intriguing character of Lain herself, shall we? A quiet, introspective, and shy girl, she gets a computer upgrade courtesy of her enthusiast-father, who has no clue as to the “monster” he gives birth to. It’s not long before Lain surpasses his own expertise and is soon connected to The Wired. There she encounters… well, let’s let the AMV show you. This one’s quite pixelicious so you may want to just keep it normal-sized; it’s here mainly for the song, “Mad World” by Gary Jules, and the excellent scene choices by its creator:

The next AMV, accompanied by Natalie Imbruglia’s “Smoke,” deals more with Lain’s immediate circle of family and friends, and the increasingly disorienting world which she inhabits. Her parental units and sister are all seemingly detached from her, but her closest friend Alice stays with her through thick and thin; she’s just about the only reliant one she knows.

This next award-winning AMV is backed by “Cells” by The Servant, and depicts Lain’s place(s) in her environment(s), and her shifting sense of self. Or should that be “selves”?

Finally, we have a spoilerish but excellent AMV that focuses on several key scenes from the series: the “men in black” set up as opposition to Lain’s explorations, the harrowing nightclub shooting scene where a deranged gunman takes aim at Lain, and a confrontation near the end with Alice and …?… It’s hard to describe anything as spoilers with Serial Experiments Lain as it will constantly keep you scratching your head and trying desperately to un-blow your mind! This video is backed by Frou Frou’s “Psychobabble,” some might say quite fittingly

That should be enough to entice you, assuming your genres line up accordingly! Needless to say, “psychological” is at the top with this anime It’s really an incomparable series, and as I mentioned above, the sound alone is pretty amazing. For the first third of episode 11 there is no dialogue, and aside from sound effects a feedback-distorted guitar is the only ground you’ll have to accompany the disorienting imagery.

And speaking of music (kind of), here’s the “live” version of “Duvet” as performed by Boa. This song is one of my favorites, and I just can’t get enough of it! First up, the lyrics, written by (and sung by) Jasmine Rodgers:

And you don’t seem the lying kind
A shame that I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there
Candle lit smile that we both share
And you know I don’t mean to hurt you
But you know that it means so much
And you don’t even feel a thing

I am falling
I am fading
I am drowning, help me to breathe
I am hurting
I have lost it all
I am losing, help me to breathe”

I LOVE watching Jasmine dance Think I’ve got a(nother) crush

Hope you enjoyed this installment; now go out and buy it if you like what you can sample here (and there). It really belongs in your collection, if the type is your thing ;-)

Until next time

What’s the deal with… DOLLS?

Ξ December 4th, 2009 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Creativity, The Anime Annals, The Dolls' House, The Larger-Than-Life-Sized Dolls, The Little(r) Ones, What's the Deal With... |

I’d been wanting to do a Post about Dolls for some time, since it’s been ages since I wrote one. So I thought it fitting to start from the beginning, and see where it takes us…

As usual with a lot of things with me, I started out ass-backwards in both anime and dolls. With anime, even before watching my first episode, I began buying figures of characters which simply looked appealing to me. Since I knew nothing about their shows though, I usually bought figures that had no emotional connection to speak of. They were merely “pretty statuettes”. (Except for this rare Elfen Lied one below, which I was fortunate enough to find later.)

...you don't wanna see her when she's mad...

The more I investigated the figures though, the more interested in their anime-stories I became. Which led me to Elfen Lied (my first anime), and then to two other series that I’d become exposed to through The Doll Forum: Rozen Maiden and Chobits.

In anime, there is such diversity with regard to not only genres but stories and characters as well. There really is something for everyone as long as they have any sort of interest in animation, graphic novels, comic books, stories of depth, fantasy, humor, violence or romance, being moved and/or feeling awestruck, and even… dolls!

Once the first draft of my novel, Unbound, was finished, I decided to both reward myself and take promoting the novel to a higher level; one that would be both cutting edge, daring, provocative, and controversial. Not to mention satisfying, delightful, functional, and significant! Since I had felt throughout the novel’s writing that the essence, the spirit of Lily had accompanied me and that she was always nearby throughout, supporting, inspiring, and comforting me, that a physical embodiment would be very appropriate.

After thoroughly researching the history of dolls and stories and myths about them, most notably that of Pygmalion, I decided to commission Abyss Creations to create a Realdoll that would replicate my Lily in all her up-till-now only imagined beauty and personage. The result, which arrived in April of 2004 after a four-month production queue, was breathtakingly accurate to my vision of her, and as real as real can get, without it being, you know, real!

...posing in front of an Ah! My Goddess wallscroll with a Sandman statuette for company

Then “it” became “she”… and that’s a hint of the transformative nature of dolls and Imagination

When I joined TDF late in 2003 I knew nothing of anime except the assumption that it was “kid stuff”, as most Westerners consider it. But I’d become intrigued with the many “enablements” that dolls could provide humans with; namely as tools for imagination, which allowed for creative uses such as photography and story-telling; toys with which to elicit delight and fancy, which facilitated Play and amusement; and as surrogates for companionship, thus alleviating loneliness and melancholy.

Over the years I kept seeing references in various posts about two “doll-related” anime in particular: Rozen Maiden, which deals more with living, magical, ball-jointed dolls and their “raison d’etre”, while Chobits spoke of a deeper, more overtly human-related story with regard to relationships with life-sized humanoid computers, named “Persocoms.” It also subtly comments on the reliance, dependence, and addiction of modern man to technology. Both of these shows are wonderful introductions into anime, if you’re not inclined to start delving into the medium willy-nilly. (Careful picking and choosing is necessary in order to find a show that is to your liking, since there is so much out there of  various types and genres, story and styles.)

So, in conjunction with the overall arcing of the Dolls topic, I thought that I’d highlight these two series, and then soon to follow will be an update to the modern day to see where these subjects have led: a more recent show called “Time of Eve” (Eve no Jikan). IF I can find the last 2 episodes to download  (And I believe that next year a movie will be released that will blend all 6 episodes!)

Rozen Maiden tells of a group of dolls that were created and imbued with life and given magical powers by their creator, known to them only as “Father.” The world knows him as Rozen, a legendary and gifted dollmaker, long-since disappeared. Their purpose: To play a deadly centuries-old war called “The Alice Game”, so-called because its purpose is to ween out and declare the victor among them a transcendant, becoming “the perfect girl, Alice” and the only doll suitable to be the one to meet “Father.” By snatching each defeated doll’s Rosa Mystica (something akin to a Soul, and source of each doll’s powers), the victor will finally ascend to her Father’s loving embrace…

The exact question of WHY a loving creator would want his beloved creations to fight each other to death solely in order to be reunited with him remains a mystery throughout the series. And in re-reading the previous sentence it might strike the reader that there IS a similarity between humans and THEIR Creator, along with the “God is on our side” mentality that warring nations of humans proclaim. Thought-provoking, a bit? 

Anyway, thats just a brief summary, and a lead-in to this YouTube video that will serve as a sampling of Rozen Maiden’s delights. To be sure, there is a lot of comedy and doll-hijinx that lighten the heaviness (and in Season Two, “Traumend,” it’s needed as it gets pretty serious), but this series has many other moving, provocative, and dreadful moments as well. The video is taken from the “Ouverture” 2-part special, that explained the enmity between Shinku (the blonde red-garbed doll) and Suigintou (the white-haired black-clothed winged doll) that was depicted in the show’s first season. Suigintou was a defective doll, as seen in this opening, rejected to the junk-heap by Father while he dotes upon Shinku. She manages to track Shinku down in the 18th century where the somewhat haughty doll softens and takes her in, teaching her how to walk and act. But things don’t turn out well; when one of the other dolls attacks her assuming that The Alice Game is being played out, it sets into motion the ill feelings to come, where malevolence takes root…

This AMV (Anime Music Video) features Evanescence doing “Even in Death” as its backdrop, and most-suitable, as all AMV song choices should be (Full Screen it and click the High Quality button; it’s better that way):

Chobits is a beast of another color. It asks not only about what humans want, but what the Persocom wants, much as Rozen Maiden asks after the Doll. The following AMV doesn’t focus on the series’ star, Chii, so much as it does the relationship between life-sized Persocom and human. It’s somewhat spoilerish, so bear that in mind if planning to watch the show. It doesn’t reveal the main story’s plot, but rather condenses a couple of side-stories that prove essential to the relationship aspects of this series, one of which (the baker’s story) is among the most moving secondary stories not only in this show but in all of anime.

The beginning of this vid depicts the pitfalls of becoming infatuated with the technological, and the consequence of severence from meaningful human contact, as told by the young woman whose husband has forgotten her due to his shutting himself in their home with his “toys.”  In the second part, the baker, upon glimpsing a girl with whom he fancied (and who liked him but was reluctant to come forward because of his past) “spying” on him, tells of his own story about his falling in love with a worker-Persocom, whom this girl resembles, and its tragic result. This AMV (despite several glaring mispellings) does such a good job of covering the issues of companionship, loneliness, and love that any further words will dampen it, so… here you go.

Another Evanescence song, “My Immortal” accompanies it; HQ and full-screen it for full effect:

And since she’s barely seen at all in the above video, here’s Chii in a fanciful setting:

Chii with her little feathered friends

Eventually, I was introduced through TDF to ball-jointed dolls, as the Rozen Maidens are supposed to be. Unable to resist their charms, I got my own BJD from Korea, a Lutz-Delf doll named Soony. She settled in quickly and also became a lover of anime! One day I found a rare Chobits picture book compilation, and in her spare moments she can be seen reading it, much like Chii did in Chobits. It was called “The Town With No People”, and mirrored Chii’s wonderment at the sensations she was discovering of and on her own…:

Soony likes to read xD

And since we’re on several intertwining subjects, here’s the beautiful Ending Theme from Chobits featuring the characters from that picture-book. It’s called “Ningyo Hime” (Mermaid Princess), and sung by Rie Tanaka, the voice of Chii:

To wrap things up, it’s wise to not assume things about matters that we’re simply unfamiliar with. “Fear of the unknown” is a cliche, and we’re at our best when we’re challenging the unknown, not held in thrall by it. We can even learn to play better with each other! Even The Dolls know that  

Even dolls know how to play well with dolls

 And, a last plug for Rozen Maiden (this Limited Edition felt-covered box set is long out of print, but a newer thinpak version was released recently, so BUY IT IF YOU LIKE IT!):

...and on Lily, who's trying to help out

So, in short: have fun, think for yourself, play as you like, use your imagination, and be boundless! Or, in the alternative, simply become Unbound