Anime Worth Watching: An Opinion

A comment from Hanny has me thinking about which anime I like and how to go about recommending them. The problem is the style and content varies so much that they are hard to compare to each other. If I were an otaku it would be so much easier because I would like every new piece of trash that comes down the pike. But since I am just an entertainment lover and anime is just a minor subset of what I watch, my likes are very different.

Then there is the problem of trying to rank TV series against theatrical movies, which causes my brain to melt down. But hey, I like tilting at windmills, so here goes. My top three TV series are tied at number uno, so things get messy right off the bat:

1. Fractale, Area 88, Kimi ni Todoke
2. Spirited Away
3. Summer Wars
4. Only Yesterday
5. Squid Girl
6. Princess Mononoke
7. Howl’s Moving Castle
8. Porco Rosso
9. Castle in the Sky
10. C: Control
11. Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth
12. Space Brothers
13. Bleach
14. Kiki’s Delivery Service
15. Tiger and Bunny
16. Whisper of the Heart
17. Bubblegum Crisis Toyko 2040
18. The Cat Returns
19. Denpa Onna
20. FLCL
21. Akira
22. My Neighbor Totoro
23. Nausicaa Valley of the Wind
24. Hellsing

Bleach Ep. 16: Encounter, Renji Abarai!

As the first season draws closer to its end, Ichigo finds himself crossing blades with another Soul Reaper. Why?  Because Rukia’s past has finally caught up with her. While the daft humor is still present in places, the situation is becoming much darker for Ichigo and friends.

For the entire season, there has been a brooding undercurrent of fear radiating from Rukia even as she has tutored Ichigo in the art of Hollow battling. With this episode, we find out why she was afraid and it turns out the diminutive Soul Reaper had good cause to be. Kiss those light hearted school days goodbye as the story descends into darkness.

Summertime

Aside from being a great tune, that is what today is. Summer has officially arrived with the solstice, but the weather has actually moderated compared to the past few days.

The corn is growing and so are the weeds. For the moment, the thistles have the height advantage.

Health 6-19-2012

The pain I have been suffering has been slowly getting less intense. There is an odd rash on my neck that popped up around the time this started and it has gotten larger. Part of the pain at night has been an abnormally stiff neck and coughing. If it does not go away, time to see a doctor.

Something I forgot to report: A couple of weeks ago, I stayed overnight with some friends who had the air conditioner cranked up beyond what I was used to. Despite having covers and a blanket, I began shivering violently. While I have had this happen before when cold, the severity was a new experience – as was actually generating significant heat from it. This is interesting and a positive change, I think.

My suspicion is that the H202 therapy I went through changed quite a few small things in my system. It made me tolerant to rice, it has helped my circulation, helped stave off bronchitis, and I did not have a bout of eczema this winter. I’ve thought of CFS as being a “death by a thousand cuts” kind of illness, so it is strange to experience something positive working along the same lines.

Odds and Ends 6-16-2012

I have spent some time going back through old review posts and have done some minor editing to improve layout and add needed tags. Tagging is still underway, because I had previously thought of it in a master index way instead of how people actually use tags. If a tag is used to look up other posts, it is off of the post, not the side bar and I finally got that through my thick skull. New genre categories of science fiction, fantasy, comedy, and classics have been introduced to help with that.

One consequence of looking over the older reviews is finding the need to rewrite or update seven of them. In one case, that will require a newer and better DVD, but fortunately that will be under ten dollars to do.

Health 6-15-2012

The last few nights have been ones of utter misery as pain has made sleeping very difficult. Swelling in the head, pinched nerves, and muscle pain have combined to make for a nasty mix. Add in a slight cough to make things interesting and I am not pleased.

There is much to do this weekend, even if the weather does not cooperate. Speaking of that, it may be the wildly fluctuating weather fronts that may be causing the pain. Time will tell.

Health 6-13-2012

Rain, rain, go away!

Being a human barometer is annoying, for every time a significant front goes through the pain index shoots up like mercury in a thermometer on an August day. Last night featured quite a drop in temperature, so sleep was fitful at best.

At least I got my Civilization V strategy testing over with yesterday afternoon. That was a pain of a different kind, one of playing a game you do not like to find a way to beat it and yes, it cost me hours of sleep the past week.

Why do I mention it in a post on health? Because the Civilization series is the most dangerously addictive games I have ever played. In fact, I removed Civilization IV from my computer due to becoming addicted to it.

The good news is that I am burned out on gaming other than with friends online, which is sporadic. Other than that, it is time to take a break from it. After all, summer is nearly here.