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God only Knows -- Elisa

This song is about love.

While exploring manga online, one comes across many titles. Most of them I will never read, even though they might be good. 'The World God only Knows" is a title I discovered by chance. I was bothered by the title, 'cos I tended to read it as 'the world only god knows'...

I was curious and decided to find out what kind of manga would have that kind of title.
It's the kind with 1 male protagonist and a whole load of females. Ahem.

This put me off a little... until I saw this opening for the recently just-aired anime. It's only at about episode 4 or 5 while I write this.



It got me interested. A supercool techno-inspired opening and theme. And a protagonist who's so addicted to games that he is known as a GOD.I read the pilot chapter of the manga, and realised I like it a lot. Hooo... never judge a book by its cover.

Keima Katsuragi is a game addict specialising in 'girl games'; games which are like dating sims (a phenomenon mostly unique to Japan). He despises reality, and does not so much as escape into the gaming world as he accepts that the 'Real' is inherently flawed and is beyond hope. He is calm, calculating, exact, has no despair and no disillusionment; this is how things are, and he is content as long as the Real does not intrude upon his life. He is known on the internet as "The Capturing God" for his legendary skills to "capture" any girl in Bishōjo games, yet ironically he does not like girls in real life, where he is known as the Otamegane (オタメガネ), a derogatory portmanteau of the two words otaku (オタク) and megane (メガネ-"glasses").*ref: wikipedia. (His name Keima was based the word 'gamer')

Yet one day, out of pride, he accidentally accepts what he assumes to be a challenge for a Bishōjo game when in reality he has accepted a contract from Hell. Thus, he  is bound to a bumbling demoness name Elsea de Lute Irma, also known as Elsie, who asks for his help in capturing runaway spirits from Hell who are hiding in the hearts of girls. The only way to force the spirits out of the girls hearts is by making the girls fall in love with him (or so he is told), much to his horror. With the threat of death for both of them should he refuse (or fail), Keima has no choice but to help Elsie. Together with his intelligence and knowledge of the dating sim genre and Elsie magical powers, Keima is about to embark his greatest challenge.

Some of the interesting parts of the series is when Keima expounds his teachings of 'Capturing'. I really wonder how much of it can be applied to real life. I haven't dared apply any of it myself. Interesting nonetheless. He also takes his title of 'God' very seriously  (he borders on being an egotistical maniac). When capturing the hearts of his targets, he does so with near mechanical precision; every word, action, flush, breath, etc. is calculated to achieve the best 'ending'. He acts like a suave knight in shining armor while in 'Capturing Mode', but once he's done (and the target's memory erased), he immediately reverts to his anti-social true self. Throughout his escapades, he maintains his rejection of the 3D and his ideals of the 2D. Yet along the way, perhaps he will learn to open his heart to the real world. I dunno... it would be less fun that way...

Nevertheless, at least it doesn't seem to be a mere shallow excuse to see anime girls naked and such (though there are the few obligatory scenes...). Typically, it explores various issues; although one might think the main theme is love, I think it's about Reality vs Ideals. The perfect kind of love we see in fairy tales, movies and video games just doesn't really exist. Love in the Real is flawed, and yet it is beautiful. Human relationships be it love, friendship, or family ties can be very troublesome and complex but still, we have to cope with it, and in the end, I guess it isn't too bad.

Meh. I find this series fun because of the funny stuff, not the deep stuff. That part just rounds out the package.

P.S.: The song is 99% engrish.

Indecision incapacitates; instantly or insidiously.

When is common sense nonsense?

When stated to be common sense by an insensible inane and inept individual.

But surely even someone like that has his own wisdom in certain things? You can't say it's all nonsense, no? It might be true, what he says. Nobody is free from folly nor some kind of wisdom.

Ok then. I'm sorry.
Nonsense becomes common sense when nonsense becomes a common thing. The sad thing is even if it's nonsense and some people realise it, they can't change a thing if a lot more people think it's perfect sense. If the nonsense has been perpetuated for a long enough time, and becomes accepted by a majority, happily or not, it would come to be regarded as common sense. Happy now?

.... Sorry, I lost track. It didn't make any sense to me.

~

I still think it's nonsense that you can't succeed if you don't step on other people.

~

P.S.: I dunno about you guys, but as far as I know, there is no doubt this is a secular country. To say otherwise is really nonsense.

The Big Bang Theory - Soft Kitty

FF13 review short - Saber's Edge - Short and Sharp

I don't really like FFXIII.

Let's start with the nice things. Pretty pretty graphics. Fast battle system. Status effects actually work and are necessary in this FF! Pretty pretty graphics. Sazh is a nice character. Pretty pretty graphics. Lightning walks like an ah beng. Pretty pretty graphics.

Now the not so nice things. Ultra linear. Dumbed down character customisation in both stats/level and weapons/accessories (What happened to FF8 and 10?). A guy who smashes his fists together and yells "I'M A HERO!!!" all the time. In the end, powering up depends on money, and money depends on killing only one type of enemy over and over and over again with a small chance to get what you want each time (assuming you don't want to waste even more time on 1000X less profitable methods).

Worst things now. I don't feel attached to the story at all. I thought FFXII was bad in this respect, but otherwise I liked it. This ...thing... however, ... really didn't draw me in with its story. Non-charismatic/interesting 'villain'. Beautiful but boring locales and 'dungeons', no fun no fun. Loads of overly-dramatic scenes. Some are ok, some I like, but too much low-quality anime nonsense in here. The cutscene I like most is the optional confrontation with a cactuar (who got some fertiliser).

Actually the game can be summed up by one of its parts. We get to visit a very beautifully designed amusement wonderland, running through it as the story progresses, but slowly we sadly realise that we don't get to actually be amused while we're there. This is like bursting a kid's bubble or showing him a big big candy and then saying 'Nah, ya can't have it haha".

Lastly, this is about the only song I really really like (as in remember) from FFXIII. Gah. Being forced to hear multiple versions of the 'main' theme running throughout the mostly uneventful story makes me sick, as good as they are.



I also think it is hilarious how Odin transforms into his own horse.