Saturday, December 18, 2010

Katanagatari

Last year I was looking around for some decent anime to watch, and I stumbled across a new series called Katanagatari. It's description was simple enough: a martial artist joins a tactical expert in her quest to recover 12 exceptional swords with unique qualities. A simple, straightforward action series, I thought. Those can be fun every now and again, and the artwork seemed decent, so I checked it out. And it was pretty much what I expected. At first.

The series has recently ended, and what a strange journey it became. Not only was there action and a little light comedy, but there was real depth to it too. It was challenging, at times heartbreaking, and on several occasions I was stunned by complete reversals of what I thought I was in for.

I'll write up a review of this series eventually. For the time being: find Katanagatari and watch it. It has been one of the most wonderfully surprising series in anime of the last couple of years, as far as my opinion goes. I'll be back later to finish my Scott Pilgrim review. Until then, everybody.

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Return of the Karl

Last month, I took the month off from blogging in order to participate in National Novel Writing month. And, after nearly 30 days of intense effort in between working and seeking a more permanent job, I earned this incredible prize:
The novel I wrote was pure crap, but it was the word count that mattered and I had that. At the least, I did get to work in references to Existentialist philosophers and pogs. And I at one point described a hypothetical t-shirt bearing the words "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance", and I mention this because I know this shirt must really exist, and I fucking want it. Anyone who knows where to find it, leave me a comment.

Anyhow, I'll have a new review up shortly, hopefully. I'm going to take a close look at perhaps my favorite film of the past year: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Be prepared for epic, folks.