419845 gwern 1 558 1 409 5 51 92 48 TV 26 27422945 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1901 Movie 1 27422521 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32998 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 50 TV 24 27403358 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 304 Movie 1 27403359 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 306 TV 13 27400175 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 101 TV 12 27401291 13 2011-07-24 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 52193 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 47 Movie 1 27400760 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 16201 TV 13 0 5 2013-10-10 2013-11-02 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Dropped 0 Low MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 1442 TV 13 0 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 1177 OVA 4 27421792 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 32828 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 8676 TV 25 27400730 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 11235 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 6547 TV 13 27399937 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1797 OVA 1 27423002 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1798 OVA 1 27422999 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 3080 OVA 1 27661222 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9989 TV 11 32664995 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 11111 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 1051 OVA 4 27422093 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 54 Movie 1 27401276 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 7647 TV 13 27400580 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9074 TV 13 27400582 13 2014-08-26 2014-09-04 7 Hard Drive 15.70 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 1028 Movie 1 27422130 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 962 TV 26 27400370 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3297 TV 13 27400355 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1079 OVA 4 27422977 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 1 LOW 0 1 default 0 1762 OVA 6 28517999 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 1370 Movie 1 0 1 2015-04-23 2015-04-23 8 Hard Drive 0.20 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 56 TV 13 27400839 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 3 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 586 TV 11 0 11 2014-04-03 2014-04-06 7 Hard Drive 3.70 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 104 TV 24 27421963 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 66 TV 26 27400190 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 2251 TV 13 27399855 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5081 TV 15 27400560 15 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 495 TV 26 27487510 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2986 TV 26 27403421 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 22789 TV 12 0 12 2015-06-10 2015-06-17 8 Hard Drive 9.20 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 67 TV 24 27421797 24 2016-05-20 2016-06-01 8 Hard Drive 14.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1799 TV Special 1 27487616 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10396 TV 12 0 12 2015-04-07 2015-04-16 7 Hard Drive 8.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 889 TV 12 27400558 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4901 OVA 5 0 5 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1519 TV 12 27400550 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 269 TV 366 27400030 60 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 405 Movie 1 27400845 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 2 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 1050 TV 76 27450984 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 47917 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 526 OVA 6 27422813 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1690 TV 24 27403313 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 357 OVA 4 27400186 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 2131 OVA 2 27422869 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 369 TV 12 27487717 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 4177 ONA 26 27401035 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 568 TV 26 27422758 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 On-Hold 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 17677 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1689 Movie 3 27400398 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 232 TV 70 27544935 15 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6280 ONA 1 27619250 1 2014-08-16 2014-08-16 7 Hard Drive 2.10 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 3087 Movie 1 32721864 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 9488 Movie 1 32721868 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 44511 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4975 TV 12 27401158 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 10800 TV 25 0 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 1312 TV 26 27451024 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 On-Hold 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2199 Movie 1 0 1 2016-09-24 2016-09-24 8 Hard Drive 0.44 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 59 TV 26 27403425 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 60 TV 24 27401254 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 14741 TV 12 0 12 2013-05-10 0000-00-00 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed "I wonder if a person over the age of twenty who likes robot anime is really happy? He could find greater happiness elsewhere. Regrettably, I have my doubts about his happiness." Nibutani points out that the acting club's president could be seen as suffering chuunibyou. Yes, if you define chuunibyou as simply a passionate interest, many highschoolers or adults suffer it. But this definition 'has all the advantages of theft over honest toil': people do not see chuunibyou as the same as a passion or interest. Why? Because passions are directed toward a real object, they aim at real ends, one can grow, there is objective subject matter to master, and they give genuine rewards and satisfaction. A chuunibyou like Rikka's offers none of these: the subject matter is made up on whim, is artistically impoverished and repetitive, is not transferrable to others (everyone has their own chuunibyou or variants on another's, even Dekomori differs from Rikka, via her Mabinogion), has no depth that the person has not put in themselves, can mutate on the spur of the moment, and is fundamentally unsatisfactory - even as a psychological defense mechanism, it is no substitute for genuinely dealing with the issues. Yuuta et al say that it's fine to not be too self-conscious and to pursue one's dreams and passions. I agree. Not having a dream or passion is a terrible thing: a sense of meaning can make even the unhappiest life worth living. And so I don't mind Yuuta seeking to give Rikka a dream after destroying her pale chuunibyou dreams. But while the solution to bad dreams is clearly not no dreams at all, it also *is not more bad dreams*! It is *better* dreams. It is a dream like the dream of the acting club's president: a real dream, one that could be attained, that can lead one to more goals and growth, and to surmount additional obstacles. > "Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified." What _Chuunibyou_ *should* have shown us is Rikka developing a new dream: perhaps acting, perhaps fencing, perhaps fiction-writing... Many possibilities. Instead, we got a revival of her old crap, whose only saving grace is that we can choose to interpret it as a mix of romantic and a final resolution of her psychological problems which uses the vocabulary of her chuunibyou. An echo of this false dichotomy, this failure to come up with the genuinely healthy outcome, appears in the final beach scene. Rikka, still dreamless, says that the lights are merely electrical lights. This is apparently supposed to indicate the depths of her despair: mere electrical headlights! A stellar example of failing to take joy in the merely real ( http://lesswrong.com/lw/or/joy_in_the_merely_real/ ). Just some electrical lights? No, they're not 'just' some lights! They're the legacy of a man who night after night in the darkness labored because he knew the world could be better one day; they're the greatest accomplishment of a man who had discovered a thousand ways to not build a light bulb; they're a sign of a new world, a world so busy that it cannot stop simply because the sun has set; they're a technology that has spread everywhere that humans have spread and clustered in their hives of light, so closely tied to En*light*enment that you can mark the extent of suffering and misery by simply at night looking where electrical lights are *not* (by satellite - and are not satellites themselves something far absurder and more extraordinary than anything you have read in a novel? something which *keeps falling yet stays up*; even novels try to avoid self-contradiction); they're a symbol of what Japan was missing out on as it slept away the enturies under the Tokugawa; they're the expression of human cooperation and building, an intricate network of components built across the world, powered by a country's nervous system that at every millisecond, faster than human thought, is being finetuned by distant workers to serve you (and save on men wearily going from gaslight to gaslight, lighting them and dousing them every night and day); they're part of what makes cities work at all, hindering the work of thieves and assisting the police; they're the new reality that reading need no longer be snatched in tiny increments in the daylight in between work in the fields, but absorbed at leisure when necessary, so ordinary people can learn things that our ancestors could never dream of, Horatio; they're why we know so much about so many things, but not how to make a smoky indoors fire so we can see just a little by at night (and poison our lungs, and poison our children). The electric lights are economic wealth, the lights are knowledge, the lights are safety. I am reminded, oddly enough, of a bit from a _Haruhi_ fanfiction I read a while ago ( http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7218037/1/The_Coin ): > "Of late, the teachers are really starting to drill us for entrance exams, and that's fine. That's expected, even, but it feels like it's not enough. I don't want to keep a list of the top ten facts about the Meiji Restoration on the back of my hand. Tell me that it was something big and important — that when Tokugawa stepped down and ended the shogunate for good, it was a sign. Japan would never be the same again. Japan would never be able to keep to itself again. It changed the way we live, and you can see that every day. Whenever you buy a pair of headphones that say _Sony_ on the side or a car with a three-diamond ornament on the front, you see something that goes back to that time, that wouldn't exist without that change in how we live our lives. > I've watched all our classmates scribble down notes furiously. I wonder sometimes if they ever thought to do more than just copy, copy, and copy some more." In comparison to reality, stories about Dark Flame Masters or Tyrant's Eyes come off as exactly what they seem: shallow, childish, ignorant, and unsatisfying. That Rikka or the author cannot see this unseen world all around her is the real tragedy. Downloaded Episodes: 12(Fansub Group:URW)]]> 0 Medium HIGH 0 1 default 0 15687 ONA 6 0 6 2013-05-15 2013-05-15 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 2167 TV 23 27399906 23 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4181 TV 24 27399915 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6351 Special 1 27399919 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4059 Special 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1575 TV 25 27400060 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 2904 TV 25 27400057 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 31147 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32313 TV 11 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10029 Movie 1 0 1 2013-09-26 2013-09-28 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 514 OVA 3 27400748 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1 TV 26 27399978 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 Hard Drive 18.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 5 Movie 1 27399982 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 42310 ONA 10 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 62 TV 26 27400104 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10259 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2724 Special 2 27400211 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 2 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 2025 TV 25 27400510 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 7338 Special 4 28905490 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 6573 TV 12 28905503 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 51358 Movie 2 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 974 Movie 1 27422650 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 14353 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1535 TV 37 27400156 37 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 28223 TV 12 0 12 2016-05-11 2016-05-16 8 Hard Drive 4.80 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 2164 TV 26 27399843 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 930 TV 39 27423051 39 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2761 Movie 1 27423063 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 35120 ONA 10 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 38668 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 223 TV 153 27450940 80 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 813 TV 291 27450931 40 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 870 OVA 2 27421760 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 52701 TV 24 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6746 TV 24 27399867 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 41361 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1045 TV 12 27422980 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 226 TV 13 27400136 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 790 TV 23 27400752 23 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2759 Movie 1 27399652 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 3784 Movie 1 27399657 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 3785 Movie 1 0 1 2013-00-00 2013-00-00 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 1 Low HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 3167 ONA 6 27399784 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 455 TV 26 27403396 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 356 TV 24 27400302 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6922 Movie 1 27400981 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 22297 TV 12 0 12 2015-12-04 2015-12-11 8 Hard Drive 19.00 Completed 0 Low MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 28701 TV 13 0 13 2015-12-11 2015-12-18 8 Hard Drive 19.00 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 10087 TV 13 0 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 11741 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 2782 OVA 2 27487576 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2553 TV 52 27422759 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2623 Movie 1 0 1 2016-08-11 2016-08-11 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 227 OVA 6 27399563 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 32979 TV 13 0 13 2018-01-05 2018-01-09 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9314 TV 11 28242316 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 120 TV 26 27401040 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 71 TV 24 27400592 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 73 TV 13 27400596 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 72 TV 12 27400586 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 121 TV 51 27400808 51 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5114 TV 64 0 64 2017-04-22 2017-05-07 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 41025 TV 20 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 13335 Movie 1 0 1 2014-08-23 2014-08-23 8 Hard Drive 1.40 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 1251 TV 39 27399827 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 126 TV 13 0 13 2015-01-07 2015-01-13 7 Hard Drive 3.80 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 4725 TV 12 27401297 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2890 Movie 1 27400423 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 24765 TV 12 0 12 2017-07-22 2017-08-01 8 External HD 20.00 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 1179 TV 26 27422840 7 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 17679 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 239 TV 24 27400536 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 384 TV 13 27400146 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 504 Movie 1 27487619 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1829 Movie 1 27400425 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 23289 TV 12 0 12 2015-05-13 2015-05-20 8 Hard Drive 7.20 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 1022 TV 12 27487664 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3508 Movie 7 27422287 7 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 240 TV 12 27400242 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 18465 TV 13 0 13 2014-02-17 2014-02-23 7 Hard Drive 11.00 Completed http://gwern.net/docs/2007-wolfe): "The ending of the final volume should leave the reader with the feeling that he has gone through the defining circumstances of Main Character's life. The leading character in a series can wander off into another book and a new adventure better even than this one. Main Character cannot, at the end of your multivolume work. (Or at least, it should seem so.) His life may continue, and in most cases it will. He may or may not live happily ever after. But the problems he will face in the future will not be as important to him or to us, nor the summers as golden." And even more with that, the world of the original _Genshiken_ is gone. Each generation is its own world, and the members begin separating. Saki and Kousaka are inseparable; Ohno & Tanaka are going into cosplay business and marrying; Sasahara & Ogiue are on the first rungs of the manga world; Kuchiki is (as we're told repeatedly) going into finance; Madarame's destiny is not yet fixed but is away from the university; like the original President, they surely still exist and will go on to other things, but the viewer has a definite sense: they may (or may not) live happily ever after, may or may not become famous mangaka or powerful editors or prestigious businessmen or wealthy bankers. But they will keep their memories of the Society for the Study of Visual Culture, and the summer Comikets will never be as golden. For those who like the new cast, this is fine. Out with the old, in with the new. For those who identified much more with the old cast than the new, _Genshiken Nidaime_ may be the end of the road. Downloaded Episodes: 13(Fansub Group:JustSubs)]]> 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 1813 OVA 3 27400250 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 132 TV 49 27403366 10 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 16918 TV 11 0 11 2014-01-31 2014-02-06 8 Hard Drive 4.30 Completed 0 Medium HIGH 0 1 default 0 820 OVA 110 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1301 Movie 1 27399811 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1441 Movie 1 27399818 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 918 TV 201 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4872 OVA 3 27400573 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 268 OVA 6 27400902 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 36028 TV 12 0 12 2020-02-09 2020-02-26 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 37989 TV 12 0 12 2020-02-27 2020-03-26 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 8425 TV 24 33751131 24 2019-06-06 2019-06-28 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3288 OVA 15 30507840 15 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 134 TV 13 27399691 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3231 TV 13 27399695 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10271 TV 26 0 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3002 TV 26 27400766 26 2016-02-01 2016-02-12 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Low HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 10417 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 16 TV 24 27421887 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 1142 TV 12 30470654 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 387 TV 13 27399540 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 106 TV 51 27421834 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 15809 TV 13 0 13 2014-01-22 2014-01-23 7 Hard Drive 4.01 Completed 0 Very Low MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 1030 Movie 1 27400455 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4983 Movie 1 0 1 2018-03-07 2018-03-07 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 270 TV 13 33639467 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 777 OVA 10 27400801 10 2011-00-00 2013-10-26 9 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 1 Very High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 379 TV 26 27400180 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 13639 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1852 TV 12 27400366 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5630 TV 11 27400544 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 8074 TV 12 27401074 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 934 TV 26 27400133 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1889 TV 24 27400805 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 135 TV 75 27400958 40 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1181 OVA 4 27487874 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 36296 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2050 OVA 2 0 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 20431 TV 13 0 13 2014-12-19 2015-01-06 8 Hard Drive 6.20 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 1 default 0 35075 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 37029 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2390 TV 100 27487545 70 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 256 OVA 1 27400402 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 9760 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 578 Movie 1 27400428 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 10408 Movie 1 0 1 2013-10-10 2013-10-10 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 8426 TV 11 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 35557 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 431 Movie 1 27400430 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 12189 TV 22 0 22 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 2891 OVA 1 0 1 2014-02-25 2014-02-25 8 Hard Drive 3.00 Completed 0 Very High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 160 TV 13 27422169 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 2 High LOW 0 1 default 0 185 TV 26 27422201 7 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 468 Movie 1 27401275 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 731 Movie 1 27519707 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 249 TV 167 27422464 30 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 432 OVA 6 27422852 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 570 Movie 1 27400756 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10357 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 12679 TV 13 0 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 253 TV 26 27400688 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 617 Movie 1 27421806 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5680 TV 13 27400932 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9617 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 7791 TV 26 27400931 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1025 TV 13 27421825 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 16664 Movie 1 0 1 2017-04-29 2017-04-29 10 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 2 Very High HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 3701 TV 12 27400990 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 427 TV 51 27400904 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 8525 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 489 TV 12 27403337 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 3220 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3958 TV 13 27400532 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1004 OVA 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32491 TV 4 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1530 TV 24 27399930 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2593 Movie 1 32645534 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3782 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3783 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4280 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4282 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5205 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1658 OVA 1 27487612 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 389 OVA 6 27403390 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 56980 TV 20 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 145 TV 26 27399666 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 1 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 7711 Movie 1 33138968 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 469 TV 24 27422340 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6594 TV 12 27400895 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 572 Movie 1 0 1 2012-01-04 2012-01-04 9 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 16662 Movie 1 0 1 2016-08-19 2016-08-19 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 24439 TV 12 0 12 2017-05-20 2017-05-21 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 33089 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1454 TV 13 27400992 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 516 TV 358 27422243 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1096 Movie 1 27400762 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1095 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 218 TV 26 27401006 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 219 Movie 1 27401011 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 80 TV 43 0 43 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 2581 TV 25 27421861 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 82 OVA 6 27400620 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 93 TV 50 27400684 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 81 OVA 12 27400606 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 87 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 85 TV 50 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 18679 TV 24 0 24 2014-10-05 0000-00-00 8 Hard Drive 11.80 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 1 default 0 1087 TV 48 27401190 48 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 2454 Movie 1 27401197 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 147 TV 14 27400163 14 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 486 TV 13 27400639 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9260 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 33206 TV 13 0 13 2018-07-28 0000-00-00 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1486 TV 102 27400961 102 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1804 OVA 6 27401178 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 55149 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 35241 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 412 TV 12 27400223 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 16782 Movie 1 0 1 2014-01-03 2014-01-03 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2013-05-01/makoto-shinkai-the-garden-of-words-interview and see "when I first showed my original plan of the story to the other workers they mentioned that the main female character Yuki seemed rather selfish, which I didn't really intend." As usual with Shinkai, most of the praise is for the animation and visual design. In GoW, the approach is so realistic, and is about such an ordinary situation devoid of SF, I found myself wondering why bother making it anime at all? All of it could've been done as live-action (I'd guess that a live version would both have a larger audience and have been much cheaper to make). A little further in, it occurred to me that there is an excellent reason to do it as animation: much of the movie is set in the lush green garden while it is raining. I personally enjoy going to gardens and green spaces when it is raining in the summer to, and the reason is that when you go during the day and it's raining and you're in the right place, not only does it smell nice and the rain makes soothing noises and you feel safely isolated, but the greenery simply 'pops' in a hard to describ way and all the grass and branches look unusually vivid and alive. It's impossible to catch with photographs (at least, with my crummy cameras), and I wonder if it's possible for even professionals to film it (timing alone would make it hard), but Shinkai is able to arrange the animation to exaggerate the colors and lighting and in general be hyperrealistic (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_%28visual_arts%29). I have to say, in previous Shinkai works, I found the hyperrealism maybe a bit of a turnoff since it seemed to be there largely to show off and impress and distract from story and characters that maybe couldn't really bear too much scrutiny, but in GoW, the hyperrealism seems perfectly justified, as if Shinkai is saying: "*this* is what these gardens really look like in rain, let me impress it on you with enough vividness to compensate for the screen's weaknesses". Downloaded Episodes: 1]]> 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 43 Movie 1 27400952 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 1 LOW 0 1 default 0 467 TV 26 27400691 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1566 TV Special 1 32314998 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 801 TV 26 27400698 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 237 TV 50 27400702 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 669 OVA 3 27400245 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 3 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1204 Movie 1 27421854 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 433 Movie 1 27400401 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 8129 TV 11 0 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 483 TV 24 27493864 5 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 3358 TV 12 27400825 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 416 Movie 1 27400460 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5079 TV 23 27421895 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5039 TV 12 27421904 12 2018-01-10 2018-01-12 0 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 19703 TV 10 0 10 2014-03-05 2014-03-12 8 Hard Drive 4.20 Completed 0 Medium HIGH 0 1 default 0 97 TV 26 27401039 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10336 TV 21 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1013 TV 24 27400946 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 13655 TV 26 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2286 Movie 1 27403373 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 14349 Movie 1 0 1 2014-01-21 2014-01-21 7 Hard Drive 0.95 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 207 OVA 13 27422332 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 189 TV 24 27421952 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1887 TV 24 27400198 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1430 Movie 1 27400983 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1088 TV 36 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3572 TV 25 27400677 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1089 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 34599 TV 13 0 13 2019-03-19 0000-00-00 9 Hard Drive 8.30 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 435 TV 20 27422387 20 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 276 TV 12 27400231 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 277 TV 14 27400234 14 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 157 TV 26 27421947 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 9756 TV 12 29854940 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 11981 Movie 1 0 1 2014-04-28 2014-04-28 9 Hard Drive 8.10 Completed 0 Very High HIGH 0 1 default 0 35062 TV 24 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 HIGH 0 0 1 default 0 98 TV 26 27403379 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 99 TV 26 27403380 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2985 TV 25 27421997 25 2016-03-13 2016-04-13 7 Hard Drive 5.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 512 Movie 1 27400434 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 14833 TV 12 0 12 2014-06-26 2014-07-09 8 Hard Drive 4.84 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 158 TV 13 27400891 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 334 TV 76 27400964 76 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1483 TV 24 27403328 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1805 OVA 6 27403331 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10721 TV 24 0 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 36563 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1935 OVA 4 0 4 2016-04-14 2016-04-19 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 235 TV 0 27451060 50 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1462 Movie 3 27400816 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 522 Movie 1 27422574 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4087 TV 22 27403349 22 2016-06-04 2016-06-21 6 Hard Drive 7.90 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 585 Movie 1 27400479 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 2963 TV 13 27400193 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3225 TV 13 27422503 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 875 Movie 1 27400733 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10620 TV 26 0 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 302 TV 26 27422162 5 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2235 TV Special 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32182 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 37510 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 50172 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10389 Movie 1 0 1 2015-10-01 2015-10-01 7 Hard Drive 4.90 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 17074 TV 26 0 26 2015-10-30 2015-10-22 8 Hard Drive 12.00 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 1 default 0 2246 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 164 Movie 1 27400388 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 3 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 59408 Movie 0 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 52107 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 19 TV 74 27400384 74 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed http://www.theanimereview.com/index.html?reviews/monster.html nails a lot of my own impressions, and once you grasp the full backstory and the reasons for Johan's choices (a very helpful guide is http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?p=842678 ) as he learns more about himself and his lost memories, the intricacy becomes impressive indeed. There are many characters, who weave in and out of the story unexpectedly, and by the middle I felt I had mental whiplash simply from how many 'good' characters turn out to be evil. No targets were spared in this noir hell, and I give it props for never pulling its punches, not even when aimed at children. Johan has fantastic voice-acting and his plots and casual corruption of everything around him is fantastically written (the scene with the 'Red Hindenburg' and then him walking through the alley is a case in point), and scenes with him or his protege breaking someone's mind are almost at Hannibal levels of awesome. At times I had issues with what felt like lazy writing, examples including Roberto (why won't he just die? how can he be a skilled hitman *and* a top criminal lawyer?!) and Dieter (go away already), and I hated Eva too much for any episode involving her to be a pleasure rather than a chore, but then episodes with Nina or Johan came along and I forgot my complaints. The Munich library arc was fantastic, and then the Prague arc was also memorable, not just for finally giving some real answers. I see some reviewers say the Ruhenheim finale was satisfying but not as epic as they could have hoped for; I say that's balderdash. My main regret is that not all of the side-stories matter to the main plot, episodes can move slowly, and now that I know the full plot, much of the mystery is gone; so I will probably never go back and rewatch _Monster_, though it is an excellent series. 74 episodes is simply too much. (Incidentally, randomly reading on other topics, I think I've discovered the original for _Monster_'s General Wolf! It's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Wolf : he was active 1950s-1980s, was a famous spymaster, left East Germany before the Wall fell, and guess what his nickname was? *"The man without a face"*! His biography doesn't fit the _Monster_ character perfectly, but the resemblances are clearly there.)]]> 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 9693 TV 10 0 10 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 323 TV 13 27400773 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3001 TV 11 27422006 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 569 TV 26 27401021 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 457 TV 26 27400011 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 21939 TV 10 0 10 2015-05-06 2015-05-19 9 Hard Drive 5.80 Completed 0 Very High HIGH 0 1 default 0 24701 TV 10 0 10 2015-05-25 2015-06-03 9 Hard Drive 3.00 Completed 0 Very High HIGH 0 1 default 0 838 TV 13 27403324 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 20 TV 220 27399879 220 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1735 TV 500 27400020 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1209 Movie 1 27422153 1 2014-05-10 2014-05-10 8 Hard Drive 2.10 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 31764 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 597 Movie 1 27400464 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 1 High LOW 0 1 default 0 601 OVA 1 27400746 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 15689 TV Special 4 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1655 TV 12 27422237 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1210 TV 24 27400257 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10165 TV 26 0 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 800 TV 13 27421746 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 621 TV 12 27487642 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 229 TV 12 27422873 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 11597 TV 11 0 11 2013-05-22 2013-05-25 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 1 default 0 1698 TV 23 27422072 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4477 TV 11 27422074 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 272 TV 26 27422518 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 46102 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1029 Movie 1 27400448 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1047 Music 1 27400442 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 21 TV 0 27420821 70 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 30276 TV 12 0 12 2017-01-15 2017-01-16 7 External HD 4.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 195 TV 12 27399943 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 196 TV 12 27399952 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 12355 Movie 1 0 1 2013-09-08 2013-09-08 9 Hard Drive 4.00 Completed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcRa7TRhJgE) for conveying the overarching theme of motherhood very well through its lyrics & sound for anyone who didn't get what the story was about, and "おかあさんの唄" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cstiuUA-7q8) for just being a great instrumental/classical piece. Downloaded Episodes: 1(Fansub Group:AnE)]]> 0 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 2966 TV 13 27400524 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 5341 TV 12 27400515 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 51122 TV 25 0 7 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Watching 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 59928 TV 0 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 8769 TV 12 27400796 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1cqtae/in_honor_of_kuronekos_birthday_my_favorite_scene/c9ja9a5), and the real reason seems to just to be sheer fan-service (not just sexual) and not story or plot or meaning.]]> 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 785 OVA 2 27400238 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 853 TV 26 27400254 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1034 Movie 1 27399609 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 770 OVA 1 27399710 1 2008-06-27 2008-06-27 10 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 2 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 8795 TV 13 27422762 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 1943 Movie 1 27400769 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 1 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 322 TV 12 27401050 5 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 3 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 437 Movie 1 27400775 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 2 High LOW 0 1 default 0 329 TV 26 27422081 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 611 TV 24 27422100 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 35737 ONA 8 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 527 TV 276 32520041 210 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Dropped 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 528 Movie 1 27423011 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 35330 TV 12 0 12 2018-05-11 2018-06-25 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 721 TV 38 27400920 38 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 30240 TV 12 0 12 2017-12-13 2017-12-19 8 Hard Drive 12.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 35848 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1027 OVA 2 27487890 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 44235 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1538 TV 24 27420840 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 564 OVA 2 27400203 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 208 OVA 3 27401262 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 209 TV 26 27401269 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 165 TV 26 27400708 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 758 Movie 1 27400709 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 13391 Movie 1 0 1 2015-07-28 2015-07-28 8 Hard Drive 3.50 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 210 TV 161 27403311 10 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6675 Movie 1 0 1 2019-09-25 2019-09-25 10 0.00 Completed 1 Very High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4618 TV 12 27422182 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 1942 TV 12 32078805 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 45 TV 94 27451007 40 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 On-Hold 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 401 OVA 2 32666802 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 44 OVA 4 32666806 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 34549 TV Special 2 0 2 2020-05-09 2020-05-10 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 44807 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 168 TV 26 27422615 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 529 TV 13 27400095 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32542 TV 12 0 12 2017-01-26 2017-01-17 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 114 TV 26 27401068 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 205 TV 26 27400636 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 7588 TV 12 27473822 12 2012-02-21 0000-00-00 7 Hard Drive 3.50 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 2605 TV 12 27400565 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2476 TV 12 27400125 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 24 TV 26 27400924 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 167 TV 24 27422274 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 400 TV 24 27401071 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6974 TV 13 27422107 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 199 Movie 1 27400376 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 High LOW 0 1 default 0 1033 Movie 1 27400820 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 339 TV 13 27399746 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 2 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 2104 TV 26 27422144 26 2014-06-04 0000-00-00 7 Hard Drive 15.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 4163 OVA 2 0 2 0000-00-00 2014-06-18 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 43439 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 355 TV 24 27400314 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2787 TV 24 27400322 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 3956 Special 3 28936460 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 154 TV 64 0 5 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 23273 TV 22 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3420 TV 12 27400778 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2216 TV 12 27403409 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 1245 OVA 1 27487852 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 3 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3786 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 90 TV 49 27400629 49 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 1 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 2273 Movie 1 27401088 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 538 TV 26 27399990 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 21843 TV 12 0 12 2019-11-07 2020-07-27 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 16498 TV 25 0 25 2014-03-22 2014-03-27 8 Hard Drive 18.40 Completed 0 High HIGH 0 1 default 0 18397 OVA 3 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 On-Hold 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 25777 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 169 TV 12 27400292 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 117 OVA 7 27422517 7 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 116 TV 26 27400726 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2596 TV 22 27421846 22 2014-05-13 2014-05-14 7 Hard Drive 18.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 8557 TV 12 33071368 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 30 TV 26 27399620 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32 Movie 1 27399631 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 3 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 13125 TV 25 0 25 2014-03-16 0000-00-00 9 Hard Drive 9.01 Completed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Conflict_of_Visions or Scott's "survive" vs "thrive" http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/04/a-thrivesurvive-theory-of-the-political-spectrum/ ; apocalypses and dystopias embody morality plays from the tragic/survive paradigm where people forget the crawling chaos that underlies everyday life, where they forget that civilization was forged in blood and that fundamentally _homo homini lupus est_.) Instead, we start to see worrying signs of progress among the rat-slaves: concrete? Brainwashing of their formerly dominant queens? Representative democracy? Yet the villages themselves seem to lack any of these: construction is fragile wood and they don't even know who rules them (the committees work in secrecy). And they are actively decaying: there are repeated mentions of electricity rationing and limits, the education of children seems to ignore any real science and technology, military considerations begin and end with psychic powers, villagers are conditioned to be fearful of the world, new mutations/animals/monsters keep springing up outside the barrier (and predictably so due to Cantus leakage) with little note taken of them inside, they have no military to speak of and indeed all their efforts are effectively bent towards crippling any ability to self-police (the world-building seems seriously flawed, since who would choose to make *every* human unable to kill another human when the whole point was to stop Fiends who apparently have no problem shaking off their conditioning‽), the arrogant eschewing any use of fortification despite the value of them against slave-rats & other mutants & the utility of fortified shelter for even psychers (safe place to attack from), and the population is apparently on the decline given the failure to repopulate the village Shun destroyed. Society had grown complacent, self-satisfied, indolent, and weak by shutting itself off from the world. The message is even less subtle in the first episode of _Attack on Titan_ where characters refer to the king ordering people not to go beyond the walls, and where salvation seems to lie in stealing the power of the outsiders who break through the walls - can there be any doubt that this is in part a criticism of Japan's years closed off from the world under the _sakoku_ policy? (At least, if it isn't, it's a bit eery how well _AoT_ works as a metaphor, and it's difficult to explain the inclusion of a character based on Akiyama Yoshifuru otherwise.) The stage is set for disaster. And disaster there is: a multipronged attack by subterfuge, indirect sabotage, poison, the use of new mutants and rediscovered technologies, and use of the blatant fatal flaw in the system, another human without inhibitions, a Fiend, whose origin makes a complete mockery of an earlier plot event the viewer took as a victory for the protagonists, undermining it and leaving a bitter taste. After this point the plot starts getting weaker. They pursue a Macguffin to defeat the Fiend, some mushy-headedness undermines it, the plot & director hint heavily at their assistant planning to betray them (which would have been a great twist: the whole Macguffin was planned by the villain to obtain an anti-psycher weapon and cement his victory) but ultimately decides against it, a clever loophole is found, they win, and the status quo is restored after most (but not all) of the slave-rats have been genocided. The protagonists then discover the slave-rats were engineered by their ancestors into slaves who could be casually slaughtered, and decide to... do nothing. We close with some further sentimentality about improving society. Somehow. What? When Satoru plays with Tainted Kittens (whose purpose we recall clearly) and Saki spares some slave-rats, it's hard not to wonder what exactly we're supposed to take away here; her apparent act of mercy for Squealer is offset by the nostalgia and suspicion she's doing it for her own sake. I found myself wondering if this was intended to be a _1984_ sort of twist, showing how the protagonists have become completely and totally coopted by the system. The story strives to be hard SF, with good explanations for everything (even offering a little speculation on what runs psychic powers, since clearly the user is spending nowhere near enough energy to accomplish the feats), and is so good I cannot resist taking it seriously and noticing flaws rather than simply suspending belief and turning off my brain. And the plot does has a number of issues: some Chekhov's guns are simply dropped without further comment: the leader who has lived for centuries never teaches Saki her secrets, indeed, that is never mentioned afterwards; the protagonists apparently had *another* member in their group who they've lost memories of, but this is also dropped without any additional memory; how exactly Maria and Mamoru could've had a child in the time before they are killed by the rat-slaves is not explained. Other problems include: the final gambit is mindbendingly risky (what if the Fiend had simply burned Kiroumaru alive *like almost every other victim*?), the overall structure of society makes only partial sense and is fragile to even one Fiend yet apparently everyone is holding an Idiot Ball and focuses purely on prevention and never on dealing with the inevitable Fiend; there are no reforms after the attacks exposed multiple flaws in their security; the ambivalence on Squealer (the most interesting of characters in the entire series) seems as much a product of poor writing as intended thought-provoking moral ambiguity; parts of the claimed world-building are not carried through (so, the scientists based things on bonobo troops and free love... which is why everyone is *monogamous*‽ where are the orgies and one-night stands, where are the polyamorous assortments of lovers?) or are implausible (brain surgery does not work that way, even in slave-rats-human-hybrids). Downloaded Episodes: 25(Fansub Group:UTW)]]> 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 25835 TV 24 0 24 2015-09-15 2015-09-27 8 Hard Drive 14.00 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 37804 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 12815 TV 50 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 28625 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 19573 Special 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 440 TV 39 27400913 39 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 441 Movie 1 27400917 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 35838 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 28735 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 33095 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 53356 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 879 TV 26 27422120 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2942 TV 13 27400360 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6802 TV 12 27422140 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 8726 TV 12 27790581 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 75 TV 25 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 17080 TV 13 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3588 TV 51 27400926 51 2016-08-24 2016-09-07 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 52991 TV 28 0 28 2024-05-17 2024-06-16 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 59978 TV 0 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 20057 TV 13 0 13 2015-02-27 2015-03-06 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 23327 TV 13 0 13 2015-03-06 2015-03-26 8 Hard Drive 4.40 Completed 0 Medium MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 198 TV 24 27400555 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 2419 OVA 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 53888 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 565 Movie 1 27422567 1 2014-09-06 2014-09-10 8 Hard Drive 8.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 9253 TV 24 31112018 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 2418 Movie 1 27400631 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 979 Movie 1 27487835 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 5681 Movie 1 27399834 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 7311 Movie 1 27401166 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 849 TV 14 27399764 14 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 4382 TV 14 27399771 14 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2033 Movie 1 0 1 2014-09-10 0000-00-00 7 Hard Drive 1.30 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 537 OVA 2 27487681 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 2 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 2154 Movie 1 27400986 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 696 TV 26 27400005 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 1006 Movie 1 27399994 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 539 OVA 6 27400000 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 2001 TV 27 27400063 27 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 182 TV 26 27400716 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 513 Movie 1 27400419 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 51 OVA 3 27421976 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 885 OVA 1 27399794 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 26 TV 22 27400792 22 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1303 OVA 9 27422821 9 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 567 TV 26 27422609 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 3089 Movie 1 27422411 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1048 TV 13 0 5 2014-08-04 2014-08-15 6 Hard Drive 6.20 Dropped 0 High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 12321 TV Special 3 0 3 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 2236 Movie 1 27400392 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 759 Movie 1 27400821 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 18139 TV 21 0 21 2016-06-22 2016-06-29 8 Hard Drive 2.10 Completed 0 High LOW 0 0 1 default 0 523 Movie 1 27400437 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 10 0.00 Completed 1 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 415 Movie 1 27400471 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 3 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1002 OVA 6 27399585 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 949 OVA 6 27399579 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 4224 TV 25 27399759 25 2013-12-08 2014-01-08 9 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 1 Very High HIGH 0 1 default 0 11553 Special 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 1 default 0 658 TV 26 27399569 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 0 1 default 0 6 TV 26 27400907 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4106 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 27 TV 24 27422364 24 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 969 TV 26 27400347 6 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 4 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 14853 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 343 TV 25 27422640 25 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 5365 Movie 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 95 TV 50 27421870 50 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1981 OVA 2 27401207 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 4066 TV 26 27422188 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 17909 TV 13 0 13 2014-02-08 0000-00-00 8 Hard Drive 3.62 Completed 0 Medium HIGH 0 1 default 0 32681 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 1650 TV 26 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 743 TV Special 1 27422957 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10798 TV 11 0 11 2014-05-19 2014-05-24 7 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Very Low LOW 0 1 default 0 12317 ONA 10 0 10 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 1921 Movie 1 27401204 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 10162 TV 11 0 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 High LOW 0 1 default 0 842 OVA 10 27423086 10 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 29854 TV 26 0 26 2018-01-30 2019-11-02 8 Hard Drive 0.00 Completed 0 Medium LOW 0 0 1 default 0 856 TV 26 27401066 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 732 Movie 1 27422360 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 2 Medium LOW 0 1 default 0 543 Movie 1 27422371 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 180 TV 13 27422255 4 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 338 TV 40 27400937 40 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 33352 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 46095 TV 13 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 13171 TV Special 1 0 1 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 16742 TV 12 0 12 2014-01-09 2014-01-14 9 Hard Drive 2.30 Completed http://www.gwern.net/Blackmail); it occurred to me partway that they might be mentally ill, but I dismissed it as my usual arrogance, until a vaguely increasing sense of unease and sense of guilt led me to tone things down. In retrospect, I did not handle the incident too well. I began to feel the same way in episode 3: that I was enjoying myself at the expense of someone who I should not be enjoying myself at the expense of, that I was being shown the humiliation and mockery of someone deeply disabled and mentally ill. In fact, look up the DSM-5's criteria for 'social anxiety disorder': A-G match perfectly except *perhaps* C ("The person recognizes that this fear is unreasonable or excessive."). You wouldn't watch a film about mocking the blind, or the deaf, or playing pranks on paraplegics, or about tying cans to a cat's tail; you wouldn't enjoy an anime focused on the wacky doings of a mentally retarded person - *you'd feel bad about yourself*. I feel bad about watching _Watamote_. Kimochi warui, dudes. I felt mental pain watching many episodes. I had to pause scenes, or just stop episodes for that day, or play them on 2x to force my way through the chagrin and embarrassment. Kuroki is, besides a sick character who you want to see get treatment, not a nice person, to put it mildly. She has a serious sadistic streak, massively projects negative traits, is self-centered and entitled, abusive of others, and resents the slightest justified demand on her. It's not pleasant watching her, at all. A character without redeeming aspects is a hard sell as a protagonist, and I'd probably appreciate such a non-moe female character if I could get over everything else. But actually, it's probably better for the viewer's peace of mind to not sympathasize with Kuroki (although it's hard given that we spend the entire series inside her head, and we all remember similar embarrassing experiences as those Kuroki endures, even if ours were much tamer). Worse are the people around her. It seems initially cute when her mother walks in on her doing something extremely awkward and pretends it doesn't exist, or when her father finds her asleep having apparently masturbated and just calmly puts her to bed. It gets a lot less cute when you begin to notice that Kuroki's social anxiety is pathological, longstanding, and notice that almost the only time Kuroki's mother disciplines her is when Kuroki threatens her image when her sister is coming over with Kuroki's cousin, and when she needs some work done. My mental image of the mother as tolerating Kuroki's phase and giving her space to work out her issues without pressuring her suddenly flips into a different concern: Japanese society is, I am told, not very good at dealing with mental illness and puts a stigma and taboo on acknowledging any issues or seeking treatment. _Watamote_ is generally a very realistic show (eg all the references I noticed were to real stuff: a ton of _Haruhi_ references, _Detective Conan_, _Another_, _K-On!_, Nico Nico Douga, _Nadia_, McDonald's, etc), including no fantastical materials, minimal coincidences, an unattractive protagonist who isn't Hollywood Homely (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodHomely)... What ever shows that Kuroki's parents care much about her at all, and aren't just protecting their social image and reputation and doing their best to pretend Kuroki has no problems? For that matter, what about her classmates? The show seems to go out of its way to depict all her classmates as good nice people who even are bothered by killing a cockroach, and certainly are not bullying or mistreating Kuroki... yet, she never speaks to anyone. Isn't that going a little beyond their description "Kuroki-san is quiet"? Quiet, certainly, but never talking to anyone, never eating lunch with anyone, never participating in anything... It's not like they don't have plenty of opportunity to notice. The council president starts to suspect the problem after just 2 or 3 brief encounters with Kuroki, and her cousin strongly suspects after a day or two. The class could know if it wants to. We might initially place our hope in the teachers, since the homeroom teacher interacts a little bit with Kuroki early on, but it never goes beyond that. Why only ever tell her to be careful on the way home? You can try talking about more than that! And her best friend Yuu? Completely oblivious. (Or is she? Given that she seems to be consciously playing a role, one wonders.) So. The parents are apparently trying to cover everything up. The classmates and teacher feel they're doing enough. The brother takes the brunt of Kuroki's abuse and warped cries for help, but it's a little much to expect him to handle it all by himself and he does his fair share. Her only friend doesn't realize there's any problem. Kuroki can't help herself; she tries, but it all fails. She tries repeatedly, and it fails, and even her final effort in the last episode to reach the council president fails (and depressingly, she seems to realize there's a problem but to think Kuroki is working hard, which is true but sounds like an excuse to forget about the matter, and given the whole overall thrust of _Watamote_, it's hopeless to expect anything good to come out of their interactions). Everyone is clueless, disengaged, or covering it up. No one will help, and those who want to, can't. There is no sign that Kuroki will ever get better. That things will ever improve. She will forever be trapped in her room, trapped in her fantasies and a sad little girl outside them, unable to develop into anything or have real friends. The pervading sense is a harsh bitter hopelessness. Being resigned to despair is still a form of despair. Overall, I think the ANN review by Theron Martin (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/watamote/episodes-1) does a good job reviewing the series, but I have to disagree with the summation that the tragedy is sufficiently balanced by comedy and that "occasionally feel like it is just dumping misfortune on Tomoko, but it never goes far enough with this to negate how Tomoko creating her own misfortune makes the series' title incredibly ironic". Or the series tags... 'Comedy'? 'Slice of life'? 'Morbidly funny' This is supposed to be funny? I'm supposed to laugh? You must be shitting me. If this was not intended by the creators to be a pitch-black psychological horror work (at which it succeeds nauseatingly well) almost unrelieved by any humor but that which indicts the viewer for finding it funny - they have much to answer for. > "Somebody remarked: 'I can tell by my own reaction to it that this book is harmful.' But let him only wait and perhaps one day he will admit to himself that this same book has done him a great service by bringing out the hidden sickness of his heart and making it visible." Kimochi warui. Downloaded Episodes: 12(Fansub Group:FTW)]]> 0 Very High MEDIUM 0 1 default 0 7 TV 26 27422540 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 1 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 20053 TV 12 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 202 TV 26 27401077 26 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 156 TV 24 27403429 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 861 TV 24 27423029 20 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 28 TV 69 27422012 9 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 6 0.00 On-Hold 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 7785 TV 11 27401225 11 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 9 0.00 Completed 0 Very High LOW 0 1 default 0 49590 ONA 6 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 975 OVA 2 27401546 2 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed http://chrome.dasaku.net/?p=501 ), but I'm not sure it deserved even a 7. _Aria_ was light-years beyond. My _Yokohama_ download had quality issues (maybe I would've have liked it more if it had a working audio track), and animation issues (a bit *too* washed out & static & Ghibli-esque), but beyond that, I think the plot is simply not very good, having not been impressed by the manga volumes I read either. It can be a fine line between good _iyashikei_ and boredom, and I fear _Yokohama_ crosses it.]]> 0 Low LOW 0 1 default 0 976 OVA 2 27401549 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 34537 Movie 1 0 0 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0 0.00 Plan to Watch 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 32615 TV 12 0 12 2017-08-13 2017-08-22 8 Hard Drive 4.20 Completed 0 High MEDIUM 0 0 1 default 0 26165 TV 12 0 12 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 7 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 392 TV 112 27450954 20 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 5 0.00 Dropped 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0 3228 TV 13 27400570 13 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 8 0.00 Completed 0 LOW 0 0 1 default 0