Kick Out Logic and Do the Impossible!

Every once in a while, I like to try something different from different from my typical fare of bishounens, drama, and romantic storylines by venturing into the realm of battle themed anime. I mean, I love having fighting factor into the plot, but I prefer the lion's share of my conflict to be handled with swords or magic, such as in Bleach, Rurouni Kenshin, or Tsubasa, and to have plenty of plot and back story to go along with each of the battles. As soon as battles cease to be one-on-one, personal affairs, I tend to lose interest and get overwhelmed in the explosion of guns, mechas, or fists and only zone back in when the plot comes back into focus.

Because of this, I knew when I started watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann that I was probably going to have attention span issues. I'd already seen the first few episodes during a get together of my Anime Club, and I knew much of the action was on a large scale basis between several team members as they engaged in complex battles that took up quite a bit of each episode. However, Simon, Kamina, and Yoko seemed like promising characters worth investing time in, so I decided to give the series a shot to see how things turned out.

I ended up fairly enjoying the show, although it wasn't one of my usual love, love, love reactions. My initial guess that the strength of the characters would be what carried the series was correct, since the fighting left me lukewarm compared to how much I enjoyed the relationships of the main cast as well as the greater commentary at work. The battles are by no means bad; in fact, for action fans, they’re about as good as they get. My only gripe with them was that they took up a large part of a show where I happened to be more interested in the other dynamics.

Kamina, Simon, Yoko, and Gurren Lagann, the young heroes of our show

Gurren Lagann starts off in an underground system of tunnels where hero Simon (pronounced as Shee-moan in the Japanese version) uses his hand drill to open additional tunnels for his community to use. The land above ground is considered uninhabitable, so most of the known world lives in tunnel communities such as Simon’s, though these have their own dangers as well, such as earthquakes which cause the tunnels to collapse on the people within them. It is within this setting that Simon finds a mysterious, glowing spiral shaped artifact, as well a mechanism with a mask-like face buried within rubble.

Simon at the start of the series. He still has quite a bit of growing up to do.

Keeping him comfort in his life underground is the fervent and gung-ho Kamina, the leader of a small gang of young men, Team Gurren. Kamina believes, due to a distant memory of being on the surface with his father, that a better life awaits them above ground, and uses a bevy of inspirational statements to encourage Simon to use his drill to “pierce the heavens”. Of course, the leaders of the community are content to remain where they are and leave the potential dangers of the outside world alone, but bold Kamina doesn't care what anyone else thinks and wants to “kick out logic and do the impossible” with the help of the timid Simon. When I mentioned inspirational statements, by the way, there is way, way more where that came from.

The unforgettable Kamina, well of wisdom and manly power

As fate would have it (as fate so often does in Animeland), shortly after the discovery of the mysterious looking mech and artifact in the tunnels, a similar looking mech crash lands in Simon and Kamina’s village, followed by a bikini and short shorts wearing, gun packing young woman named Yoko. While Yoko tries to fight the mech, referred to by her as a Gunman, Kamina and Simon go back to look for the Gunman Simon found earlier, only to discover that the spiral artifact Simon found earlier reacts like a key to a similar spiral-like ignition. With encouragement from Kamina, Simon begins to pilot the Gunman, renamed by Kamina as ‘Lagann,’ and helps Yoko defeat the Gunman invading their community.

Yoko. I could comment on what she's wearing, but I'd rather not

Kamina and Simon follow Yoko back up to the surface where she lives in the village of Littner and discover that the outside world is rather dangerous after all, since Gunmen piloted by creepy looking humanoids called Beastmen attack the surface dwellers on a daily basis (resulting in the earthquakes the people below ground suffer from). Kamina decides to team up with the surfacers and encourages Simon to join him, even though Simon is a tentative fighter, and relies solely on the confidence of Kamina to be strong (“Don’t believe in yourself! Believe in me! Believe in the me that believes in you!”) Luckily, Kamina hijacks a Gunman of his own, names it Gurren, and creates a move where he combines with Simon’s Lagann to increase their fighting power together (thus, Gurren Lagann).

The adventure continues as Kamina inspires the people of Littner to hijack their own Gunmen and form a fighting force to challenge the Beastmen, named Team Dai-Gurren. Along the way, Simon and Kamina fall into an underground village similar their own in which Gunmen are worshiped as deities. The leader of the community rules the village under this religion, and under the guise of having spiritual power and authority, has the town participate in a lottery whenever the population gets too large which results in whoever wins (or loses, as the case truly is) having to move to the surface. Simon and Kamina are well aware that exile to the surface is essentially a death sentence, so they fight on behalf of the two children picked to leave the community, Gimmy and and Darry, and prove to the village that the deities they are worshiping are in actuality tools of war used by Beastmen. This particular community isn't looking for a revolutionary like Littner was, but the boys are able to leave with Gimmy and Darry under their protection, and are joined by the village chief's adopted son Rossiu who is interested in witnessing the truths that his father and his faux religion masked (social commentary, anyone?).

The attractive Arc One villain, Lordgenome

The boys and Yoko continue to plow forward, learning more about the state of the system they are fighting. The surface is ruled by a the Spiral King, a man named Lordgenome, who is determined to keep the citizens of earth underground through the use of Beastmen, although his intentions are initially unknown. This does not sit well with Kamina who believes the surface is a paradise where everyone should live, and he fights to overtake the Beastman and their mobile fortress, Dai-Ganzan. Simon is less enthusiastic towards the cause, but has endless faith in Kamina. Endless faith, that is, until hormones kick in.

As I said earlier, the characters are the strength behind the show, and Kamina is among the most compelling of them. While it is easy to see him as an over-the-top, cheesy line spouting, over idealistic doofus, Kamina actually has a strong measure of vision and realization that the surest way to fail is assume that failure is inevitable. He also is acutely aware of Simon's self-doubt and fear of not being good enough, and he does his best to be the person Simon can rely on to become strong. He is through and through a truly kind and special man, and no one is more aware of it than Yoko, our fan service action girl. Unfortunately, Simon becomes aware of the growing attraction between Yoko and Kamina and witnesses a kiss between them, and is overcome with jealousy since he, too, has been developing a precocious crush on Yoko. His jealousy convinces him that he will never be able to compare to Kamina, and he loses much of his will to fight as a consequence. Bad news, considering that spiral drill which runs Simon's Lagann is dependent on the strength of his spirit.

SPOILERS BE COMING! With Simon struggling more than ever with his self-confidence, Kamina presses forward to take over the Dai-Ganzan fortress. The battle is ferocious, and with Simon not performing to the best abilities, Dai-Gurren nears defeat. When things look bleak, Kamina steps up to protect Simon and the others, taking a serious wound while delivering the fatal blow to the Beastman force. Team Dai-Gurren have faith that Kamina can survive anything, but even Kamina is mortal, as great as he is. As he bleeds out in Simon's arms, he gives Simon the message the depressed boy needs the most: “Believe in you! Not in the you who believes in me. Not in the me who believes in you. Believe in the you that believes in you!”

And yes, Kamina really does die. This is not Bleach. He isn't coming back. As much as his death broke my heart and as much as I love him as a character, his death was necessary to fuel the events which lead to Simon being able to grow into a man on his own merit. Kamina was a visionary and freedom fighter, and he died for the cause he believed in; there really is no better end for a warrior than that. His actions were what led Team Dai-Gurren to fight for their right to the surface, and without him, nothing would have grown nor changed in the world.

Of course, this is a difficult thing for the mourning Simon to understand. As Dai-Gurren continues with their mission, he spends his time obsessing over the memory of Kamina and thus being unable to run Lagann. Rossiu takes over several of the fighting duties, piloting Kamina's Gurren to make up for the losses in their fighting force. During this time, Simon witnesses a gunman throwing a strange capsule off a cliff, and goes to investigate. What he discovers is a coffin-like container which opens with his spiral drill. Inside is a cotton-candy haired girl who identifies herself as Nia.

Nia, in a clueless moment. We already have our action girl in Yoko, so she's the gentle yet wise non-combatant.

Nia is the product of an unknown and sheltered lifestyle, and is thus completely ignorant of the human vs. Beastman conflict and overall life in the outside world. This leads her to be a bit more upfront than the rest of Dai-Gurren, and it is her chastisement which leads Simon to realize he is going against the memory and final words of Kamina by refusing to move forward. When Dai-Gurren faces trouble at the hands of their enemies, he finally reawakens and takes control of Lagann to protect the things he and Kamina valued.

The group eventually learns that Nia is the cast aside daughter of the Spiral King, their number one enemy. She attempts to reason with her father on Dai-Gurren's behalf, but the Spiral King has his own agenda, which he doesn't relinquish until he is defeated at the hands of Simon and company. His dying words warn the invaders that when the surface exceeds one million people, a great calamity will befall them. This sets off alarms in Dai-Gurren, especially Rossiu, but the pleasure of victory is the more immediate joy for everyone concerned, and the ominous warning is pushed aside for the time being.

An older Simon

Seven years later, and the world is once again thriving. People have moved to the surface, a badass older Simon is put in charge with a grown up and rigid Rossiu as second-in-command, and Nia and Simon are gradually becoming a lovey-lovey couple. However, all is not well. Rossiu has kept a careful eye on the population, which is on the verge of exceeding one million. He has a special reason to be worried, too; outside of Simon's knowledge, he has preserved the Spiral King's mind and his knowledge of the impending crisis, and is prepared to do anything to keep the world he has helped create from facing another tragedy.

But fate will not be avoided. A millionth child is born into the world, and calamity comes in the form of a possessed Nia declaring that she is a part of an alien race called the Anti-Spiral whose mission is to destroy the human occupants of the world, the Spirals. To make a long story short, Anti-Spirals have ceased to use the “spiral energy” which allows humans to evolve and change through the generations, meaning that their own evolution has ceased. Anti-Spirals are aware that limitless evolution will lead to the eventual destruction of spacetime through a supermassive black hole (ah, the power of humankind!), so their goal is to keep humans from evolving to this point. This is why the Spiral King once kept humans below the surface, since the Anti-Spirals were bound to attack the Spirals as soon as their populace on the surface rose too high.

The Anti-Spirals, communicating through Nia, respond by announcing the moon will collide with the earth, wiping out all human civilization. This naturally sends everyone into a panic, and governmental the-ends-justify-the-means extremist Rossiu arrests and promises to execute leader Simon to sate the people's lust for punishment to the person who brought them to the surface. Rossiu secretly feels horrible about this, but he does what he must in order to prevent ultimate destruction, even though it hurts himself and the people around him.

Alas, Rossiu isn't exactly a Kamina or Simon-like figure, and his plan launch the citizens of the world into protective shelters isn't going to really solve anything along with the fact that there will be people left behind to face the moon collision since there wasn't enough room to take them along. SOL, guys!

Rossiu isn't a bad guy... just severely misguided. 

During this time, Yoko has been working as a secretly kick ass teacher on the surface, and after witnessing the inspiring spirit of her students and learnings the fate of Simon, she gets back into her fan service clothes and busts him out of prison with the help of Dai-Gurren. With the gang reunited, they launch into space to fight the threat butt-kicking stlye. Simon has his own reservations since Nia is an Anti-Spiral, but lives are at stake, so he can't exactly sit around while the moon threatens to become one with the earth.

This is where the fighting gets a little much for me. There are some pretty good plot points sprinkled throughout here and there. For one, Rossiu, realizing what an ass he's made himself while trying to be a good leader, returns to his original colony and plans on killing himself, only to be stopped by Simon who remembers his own times of despair and how he found strength enough to fight again. We also lose a few more beloved team members, including Yoko's second love interest (poor girl can't catch a break), but since this is Gurren Lagann no one has a meek exit; the cast is deeply inspired by both Simon and Kamina, and realize they are content to die for what they consider important enough to fight for. Also, the fighting style of the Anti-Spirals is quite interesting. Since spiral energy is dependent on spirit and the will to live, the Anti-Spirals use desires and memories against Team Dai-Gurren, and force them to fight through their demons to defeat them. Here we get a reappearance of the memory of Kamina, who encourages Simon to have strength and remember what he is fighting for.

Simon and Kamina: Row, row, fight the powa!

The final fight was epic enough to reengage my attention. Team Dai-Gurren forms their largest mecha yet, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, through the combination of their mechas and spiral energy. Simon's spiral energy is also strong enough to revive Nia's memories and retain her long enough to join Dai-Gurren. The power of love at work! With the strength of will and belief in themselves on their side, Dai-Gurren and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann are able to defeat the Anti-Spirals and fight for their right to live and evolve, to grow and change and work towards their continued survival.

In the aftermath of the battle, we see Simon at his wedding to Nia, but he knows better than anyone that the Spirals' victory has a price. After they are wed, Nia dissolves in Simon's arms, unable to survive due to her link to the Anti-Spirals. Simon was aware that this would happen, but was strong enough to make the choice, proving just how much he has grown from the indecisive boy in episode one. In fact, that is one of things I truly enjoyed about Gurren Lagann. When you realize what an extensive journey was taken to get from Point A (Simon in episode one) to Point B (Simon at the conclusion), it really proves human potential for growth and development.

The series ends with Simon roaming the world and not settling down while his comrades work throughout the galaxy to find ways to keep spiral energy from collapsing the world. Like other heroes of the genre (Ike from Fire Emblem comes to mind), he has already done his fair share of day saving and fighting for and losing the people most important to him, and realizes when its time to pass the mantle of leadership onto the next generation. SPOILER END.

Gurren Lagann definitely has plenty of value as a series. I was deeply moved by Simon's continuing development as a character, and saw a lot of real-life themes of feeling second best and ineffectual within him. Placed beside the influence of Kamina, he proves just how important it is to not only receive guidance from others, but first and foremost to look within and find the value which exists there based on personal merit rather than association with anything or anyone else. The character of Rossiu also provided a powerful examination of the sometimes clouding influence of religion and of government when it comes to on how we act, which choices we see as just or right, and how we choose to wield whatever power we've been granted.

The amazing cast as what made the journey well worth it.

The fighting, as I said earlier, was the only thing that wore on me. I didn't mind it in moderation, but it was such a huge factor in Gurren Lagann that it was hard to avoid. Action fans most likely won't mind, but viewers like me who tend to prefer dialogue, relationships, and character interaction should be aware of the fact that battle and strategy reign supreme in this series. You're going to have to wade through all the skirmishes to get to a lot of the touchy-feely stuff I apparently really enjoy.

Also, there were two somewhat fan service based episodes that, while being amusing, veered a bit close to my dislike of “here are girls with boobs, now let's fixate on the fact that they have boobs” centered shows. Episode 6 was the obligatory hot spring episode where Kamina and Simon were determined to see some naked girls while hanging around naked themselves (male privates censored by conveniently placed animals, etc), and Episode 12 featured a detour to a beach. Yoko herself is somewhat of a fan service queen. Her get up covers up her nipples, but that's about it. I was quite confused as to why she was so against being seen naked in the hot spring episode, since only a few inches of her chest is covered on any given day.

In any case, Gurren Lagann is worthy of a watch, especially for action fans. For those who are a little less enthused about fighting, watching the first few episodes will clue you in on how much battling to expect, and you can make a judgment call on whether it is too much or just right for your tastes. I would of course encourage anime fans to at least familiarize themselves with Kamina: his quotes are iconic, and will inevitably creep up in conversation and convention banter on a regular basis.

Next up will be a romp in time travel and mad science: Steins;gate!

Song Spotlight: Don't Hate Me

To celebrate their recent album "99" and Halloween, Korean hip-hop and alternative group Epik High has released a music video featuring little costumed spooks bringing some fun to a supermarket (which needs all the help it can get, truthfully. My experiences working at my local grocery store still scar me to this day). For more info, you can check out my small feature on this video at Goboiano.com.

Tablo is lying, by the way. Everybody LOVES Epik High!

Song Spotlight: The Next Door (Indestructible)

Today I would like to give a shout out to my long suffering Street Fighter fan brother. Whenever we get together, we love to duke it out street style... or should I say that he likes to duke it out, while I spend the whole time whining that I'm still losing every other round with a huge handicap in my favor. But before all of this happens, it's inevitable that my brother will spend the first thirty minutes of our skirmish trying to figure out how to get the game controllers to work on his computer while I sit around singing the game's theme song over and over again for the full thirty minutes. I'll be the first to say that EXILE's 'The Next Door (Indestructible)' is a big ball of falsetto inspirational cheesiness, but I will also say that's the exact sort of thing I LOVE. I mean, this is Street Fighter! This is about being the last man standing! The weak lose and the strong win! And besides, just look at how many MEN contributed to this confidence booster. So get out there and don't let anyone bring you down!

Well hellloooo there, EXILE. You could shoryuken me anyday!

Song Spotlight: Candypop

Here's a belated Sweetest Day gift for fans of Japanese music: the classic 2003 single from female urban duo Heartsdales with a little help from the three hip-hoppin boys of Soul'd Out. Although Heartsdales disbanded in 2006 so singer Yumi Sugiyama could pursue fashion, their music lives on as pop/rap staples and proof that Japanese singers can sing in English almost as well as native speakers can.'Candypop' is perhaps the toughest adorable song out there, and the music video is about as fun as they come. So if you're looking for a tune to serenade your otaku/culturally savvy lover, why not drop a beat with Yumi, Emi, Diggy-MO', Bro.Hi, and Shinnosuke and shout out to emotion that's just mysterious?

You wanna ride? TONIGHT? Kaesanaize all night! ALL RIGHT!

Saving the World Magic Knight Style!

 In grade school and high school, we took a fair number of field trips. Some of them were awesome (a day in Toronto sight seeing), and some were lame (spiritual “retreats”), but all of them were disappointing for one simple reason: I never met two beautiful girls from rival schools and ended up transported to another world to become magic knights with them to sort-of save the world, just as I had seen once in a cute and magical anime series in the 90s.

This is what happens to Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuzaki, and Fuu Hououji in CLAMP's breakout hit Magic Knight Rayearth, where the three lovely school girls are transported from the Tokyo Tower to the magical land of Cephiro where the strength of one's heart is able to determine one's fate. But of course, saving the world is no easy thing for everyday Japanese school girls (at least in this case), so the journey of finding their powers and inner strength is half the battle for the magic knights, and the lessons they are left with in the end reach far beyond matters of saving the day and becoming heroes.

Believe it or not, heroine Hikaru Shidou is truly a school girl and not a Hindu goddess. She just had a wardrobe change with the cast of RG Veda.

Magic Knight Rayearth was initially rather low on my CLAMP to-read list, most likely due to the lack of gorgeous guys until Lantis, Eagle Vision, Geo Metro, and older Ascot show up in the second arc. My shallowness aside, the character Hikaru kept popping up in all of the CLAMP crossover series I was reading, so I decided it was high time for me to check out her native series and enjoy a good, long Magic Knight Rayearth anime viewing. The result was very much what I'm used to for CLAMP series: I liked both the anime and the manga, but as soon as the anime started veering too much from the manga canon, I started to get salty. CLAMP's word is law to me, and I hate having it changed, even for the sake of making an anime series possible. But we'll get to that later.

As I mentioned before, the premise of Magic Knight Rayearth centers on Japanese teens Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu being brought to alternate world Cephiro to save the day. Apparently, a legend exists in Cephiro that when the country's 'Pillar' (their spiritual leader, in a sense) is in trouble, she will summon magic knights from another world to lend a hand. No one really questions why they have to be from another world, but the legend makes it so the three girls have to save Cephiro, a country they have only just discovered, from certain doom, or else they will be unable to return to Japan. Fun.

Our trio of day savers in magic knight form. Color coordinated for your convenience.

Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu arrive to discover that alleged baddie Zagato is holding Cephiro's Pillar, Princess Emeraude, hostage, and Cephiro cannot survive without her acting in her role as leader. Since strength of will is what keeps Cephiro safe, the fear generated by the people are creating monsters and making the land steadily more uninhabitable. The girls assume that Zagato wants to take control of Cephiro for himself, but other than the fact that he wants the Magic Knights' paws away from his mysterious plans, nothing much is known about Zagato's intentions.

The kind of sexy bad guy Fei Wang "Ass Chin" Reed wishes he could be

Alas, the girls do not start out as ready made magic knights, and they have to journey to gain a few necessary things including evolving weaponry and awakened rune gods (which later serve as badass living mechas to the girls) before they can even hope to face Zagato. While the girls are out growing stronger, he sends his league of minions including magician Alcyone, summoner Ascot, illusionist Caldina, and tank-general Lafarga out to thwart them, although the magic knights use the power of friendship to convert all of their former enemies except for Alcyone to their side due to the fact that they have something genuine to fight for, and have a strong measure of faith in the justice of what they do. During this time, they also meet spunky ally Ferio (SPOILER: the brother of Cephiro's Pillar) who falls for Fuu and lends the magic knights a hand in their questing.

Still everyone's idol!

Magic Knight Rayearth also marks the first occasion where Mokona is a character, although he/she does not have a speaking role in the plot. He/She mostly serves as a guide and storage unit to the girls, although in the second arc the role greatly increases, much to the shock of our heroines. But we'll save that surprise for later.

Eventually the girls muster up enough equipment and strength to take Zagato down, but unfortunately for them, the situation in Cephiro is not exactly as it appears. SPOILER. It turns out that the Pillar is the person with the strongest heart and strength of will in the Cephirans' world, and their entire life consists of praying solely for the well-being of the country, disallowing thoughts and feelings toward anything else. Emeraude successfully served as the Pillar for a time, but could not help but eventually fall in love with her high priest Zagato (his extreme tall, dark, and handsome bishie-ness probably didn't help matters). Because she could not fully devote herself to Cephiro, the land began to slowly fall apart in reparation, and Emeraude began to hate herself for being unable to guide her country properly. Zagato, who returned her affections, kidnapped her to pull her away from her duties because he could not see the sense in her being punished for simply falling in love with someone (reasonably so) and decided he would let her live her life for herself, even if the cost of his actions was the destruction of Cephiro.

However, the magic knights are completely unaware of this tragic backstory, and kill Zagato when he tries to prevent the group from reaching Princess Emeraude. Thinking they have saved Cephiro and made everyone happy, the girls are stunned when Emeraude goes berserk and starts attacking them for the murder of her lover. As Emeraude goes back and forth between sanity and insanity, she confesses that she brought the magic knights to Cephiro so they could KILL HER. What the hell, Emeraude? You're dragging Japanese teenage girls away from their home world to a strange land with monsters and people trying to kill them so they can KILL YOU? I know she has her reasons, but does she really, truly comprehend what kind of emotional scar that could leave on someone?

In any case, the Pillar can't kill herself due to the sucky way-of-the-world in Cephiro, and Emeraude can't stand to live without being able to love Zagato AND take care of her country, so she gets the magic knights to do it for her. Poor Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are already crushed over killing Zagato before knowing what he was truly fighting for, and it gets even worse for them when they have to destroy Emeraude while fully aware of the fact that her greatest crime is falling in love with someone who loved her in return. However, if they don't kill her, her dark side will kill them and Cephiro, so there really isn't much they can do. They do the deed against their wishes and return to the Tokyo Tower in tears, wishing they could go back and do things in Cephiro the right way. SPOILER END.

Don't let the innocent eyes fool you. Princess Emeraude is the leading cause of angst in this series.

And that finishes up the first arc of the manga and the first season of the anime. Luckily, the anime stays fairly true to the manga, only adding generic filler that doesn't alter the plot too much, and mainly focuses on the girls building their powers, additional battles against Zagato's minions, and the relationship between Ferio and Fuu. The one major blot (and to me, this is major) is the death of Presea, which does not happen in the manga. It adds dramatic tension and makes it clear how much is at stake, however Presea remains a character in the second arc of Magic Knight Rayearth, which I don't believe was released at that time so the producers may not have known this. So for season two, Guru Clef claims Emeraude resurrects Presea and anyone who died during Cephiro's period of trouble, and the girls are thrilled. I know this ends up being a lie, but the fact that they used that particular lie and convinced the vast majority of characters to believe in it really grinded my gears. In CLAMP, the dead cannot come back to life; it is one of the major rules of ALL of their universes. The most that can happen is the dead can have their time frozen, but even then they must eventually die and have anything they did after the moment of their natural death erased from the universe. So you're not even supposed to joke about raising the dead in CLAMP, considering the gravity of what happens in Tsubasa and xxxHolic thanks to people who even think for a mere second about raising the dead. So don't go there, Clef. Don't even lie to people about it.

Season/arc two picks off where the story left off, so things are going to get spoilerific again. Also, since the anime and manga diverge greatly at this point, I'll be following the manga until I indicate otherwise.

SPOILER. Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu are still heartbroken over the quite insensitive mission the people of Cephiro put them through, and want to go back and do the right thing for individuals who may be suffering like Emeraude. Also, poor Fuu's hot new boyfriend lives in another world, which I'm sure is quite hard on her since it is very unlikely that she'll find someone as gallant and charming as him on Earth. The girls meet up again at Tokyo Tower for a somber pity party and to shed some tears together, culminating with Hikaru declaring that she really, really wants to go back to Cephiro to try again. And lo and behold, the flash of light appears just like in the first arc, and they're back to the magical realm!

There have been a few changes since they left. For one, Cephiro is completely falling apart due to the lack of a Pillar (as I said, the Pillar is the person in their world with the strongest heart), and three nearby countries-- Chizeta, Autozam, and Fahren-- are invading in hopes of becoming Pillar and taking control of Cephiro. Also, Zagato's hot younger brother Lantis is back in Cephiro and is brooding up a storm over the fact that the Pillar system is even still in existence, considering what happened to Zagato and Emeraude. Lastly, following the events of arc one, Ascot uses his strength of will to grow even taller and hotter for his beloved Umi's sake. D'awww.

Lantis: beauty runs in the family.

The girls retake the mantle of their powers, and begin fighting off the invading countries in their rune gods/mechas. They discover that Chizeta (reflecting Indian culture) wants Cephiro so they have more land to rule over than their own dinky country, and Fahren (reflecting Chinese culture) wants to make Cephiro a happy place filled with imagination and candy. Because of these somewhat shallow reasons, the girls are able to convince the invading countries that being the Pillar sucks and will deny them the right to feel any emotion other than single-minded devotion to Cephiro. However, Autozam (reflecting American culture) will not be dissuaded due to the fact that their own country is an environmental death trap, and their bishie prince, Eagle Vision, is secretly on his death bed and wants to have an eternal sleep as the Pillar of Cephiro so no one else has to suffer the position. Honorable, but depressing when you consider that both Lantis and Hikaru really like/love him.

CLAMP sure loves their beautiful men and death seekers.

In the end, 'the Creator' of both the Cephiro/Chizeta/Autozam/Fahren dimension and the Japan/rest of the known world dimension selects both Eagle Vision and Hikaru to duke it out for the title of Pillar. And, believe it or not, the Creator is Mokona! Which is really funny when you imagine the Mokonas of xxxHolic and Tsubasa creating the world, especially our own universe! In any case, Mokona was heart broken that the Earth turned into a place with so much hatred, killing, and environmental destruction, that he created an alternate dimension with each country founded on different rules (such as Cephiro's rule that strength of will determines fate). Hikaru defeats Eagle for the title, but insists that Mokona spare his life (because the person who lost was fated to die) and make the world a place where everyone's heart can make Cephiro beautiful, not just the Pillar's. Mokona is resistant at first (the possibility that the universe will turn into another failure like Earth is likely), but the strong wills of Umi, Fuu, Ferio, Lantis, etc. change his mind. And he lets Eagle Vision out alive to be treated by Cephiro's healers, thank god!

After the heart break of the first arc, this section ends on a happy note. Cephiro is back in business, Eagle Vision's life is saved, and the girls have the ability to visit Cephiro whenever they want. Ferio and Fuu can now date each other properly, Ascot can start wooing Umi, and everybody can party together at their leisure. In a very cute conclusion, Lantis asks Hikaru how earthlings show affection, and she tells him they do so by getting married. When he asks her if she has anyone she wants to marry, she suggests that she would love to marry both him and Eagle Vision, and then goes on to express her devotion to the entire cast. Yup, Lantis/Hikaru/Eagle Vision is pretty much a semi-canon threesome, although I guess Hikaru's proclamation can be considered invalid since she did say she loved everyone, not just them. However, I like it better this way. All three of them love each other the most, and someone's heart would get broken if one of them was left out of the equation. Besides, this wouldn't be the first time CLAMP has done something like this with a pairing (with Kotori/Kamui/Fuuma being the other prime example).

Hikaru shows us the best way to solve a love triangle.

That aside, there are A LOT of differences between the manga and anime's second season, at least in my opinion. The Presea incident I already mentioned was one, and the other most noticeable alteration was the addition of Nova and Debonair, two villains born of the despair of Hikaru and the Cephirans after the deaths of Emeraude and Zagato. This change didn't bother me all that much (it's that damn dramatic tension needed to make the manga into a longer series, and Debonair went on to inspire Kishiim in Tsubasa, whom I thoroughly enjoyed), although I think it took too much emphasis away from the original plot and turned the normally strong Hikaru into a continually distressed damsel. Also, like in Angelic Layer, the couples were slightly messed around with. Hikaru/Lantis was strongly enforced without bringing Eagle Vision as much into the picture, and their feelings were much greater than the light flirting in the manga. Umi is also strongly implied to be in love with Clef (poor Ascot!), who also once had the attentions of dead!Presea as well as her replacement twin, Sierra, in the present day. Personally, I feel this is a little too much love geared towards a person with the body of a six year-old, and I love Ascot too much to enjoy seeing him passed over in this way, so these changes just ended up annoying me. Also (and this is perhaps the worst), they kill off Eagle Vision. Yeah, I know he was technically on his deathbed, but why????? What about that cute scene with Hikaru wanting to marry him, as well as Lantis? What was so wrong with that? And what's up with not letting the girls go back to Cephiro? Fuu's freaking boyfriend lives there, as do the potential love interests of Hikaru and Umi. Even though Cephiro is safe, they're still probably going to end up crying over their lost loves and the still lingering emotional scar of Emeraude, who could have made the exact same wish Hikaru did for the changed system of Cephiro without killing herself and Zagato off using innocent teenage girls. Ugh. SPOILER END.

Ascot for the win!

In the end, I enjoyed the manga, though not so much as the more convoluted CLAMP offerings such as Tsubasa and X. However, I really, really appreciated the fact that the magic knights didn't have a sunshine and rainbows time in Cephiro, especially after they found out the truth about the Pillar system. The twisted nature of the ruling system gave the story much needed darkness, and also worked effectively as social commentary regarding the imperfections and flaws of our own political systems around the world. The Creator's feelings about the worlds he has formed are especially meaningful, even more so when we consider a higher power's possible feelings over the current state of the world. The only really sore point with me was the changes made in the second season of the anime, which is undoubtedly rooted in my absolute loyalty to CLAMP canon, so if you don't care about those sort of things when making the leap back and forth between anime and manga, it won't be too big of a deal.

As I also mentioned in my Angelic Layer posting, Magic Knight Rayearth makes several additional appearances in the CLAMP multiverse, the big three being Hikaru's reappearance as Misaki's angel in Angelic Layer, Emeraude's major appearance in the Jade Arc of Tsubasa, and Hikaru's similar cameos in Tsubasa, the first being with Geo Metro, Eagle Vision and Lantis in Infinity as her Angelic Layer reincarnation, the second with Umi and Fuu in the past of one of the alternate Sakuras. Alternate versions of Caldina, Debonair, Primera, Sang Yang, and of course Mokona also make notable appearances in Tsubasa.

Next up will be Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Row, row fight the powa!

Fun Stuff: Cosplay!!!

Now that Halloween season is coming up, this girl is going cosplay crazy! Last night marked my first party excursion, and I rocked the night as Euphemia li Britannia of Code Geass fame.

In Princess Euphemia bosom clasping mode. Since the cosplay is new, I'm still working on getting in character.

Close up Euphemia's gorgeous hair

Single White Euphemia desperately seeking Single White Suzaku.

Fun Stuff: More Memes

As I said in my previous posting on art memes, my lack of ability as an artist has kept me from being able to fill them out with my own skill, and that I mainly use ones where I can use other images and use my creativity elsewhere. I have several sprinkled throughout my dorm room, and for anyone interested in trying some of their own, here's where you can find them:

1.   The A to Z Hot Anime Guys (for lovers of bishies and fans of a whole spectrum of lovely boys)

Template here.

My sample:

2.   The Kiss Me Meme (for smooches that much be shared, whether canon or fanon) 
Template here.
My sample (my version seems to have been edited):

3.   The Top 10 Gorgeous Animated Girls (for those who love or want to be like our fave bishoujos)
Template here.
My sample (I made mine CLAMP edition, as I do with many things in life):

4.   The Top 10 Sexy Animated Guys (because the A to Z meme wasn't enough)
Template here.
My sample (I made mine CLAMP again):

5.   The Top 10 Hetalia Nations (for lovers of country to country relations and PASTAA)
Template here.
My sample:

6.   The Top 10 Favorite Couples (for shippers!)
Template here.
My sample (I stacked the meme to get 20 couples):

6.   The Grey Warden Collection (for Dragon Age fans)
Template here.
My sample (what I used for notes for my fanfic Sketches of the Wardens of Ferelden):

Theme Spotlight: Innocent Sorrow

Hot J-Rock boys in school uniforms? Check. A kick ass anime about exorcists featuring lovable hero Allen "Bean Sprout" Walker? Check. Who could ask for anything more? First D. Gray Man opening theme 'Innocent Sorrow' has it all and then some.  Performed by Abingdon boys school, a group known for their trademark uniforms as well as the vocals of Takanori Nishikawa of T.M.Revolution fame, the track serves as an excellent beginning to an excellent series, rocks hard, and serves up its own share of eye candy whether it be in the music video (hellloooo Nishikawa-san!) or in the anime itself (where there is no shortage of bishie leads). And that breakdown? RAWR!

It's not easy being this tough and cute at the same time, you know

The World's Best BL Lovin

Finding out that the mangaka behind Junjou Romantica had developed a new BL series centered on first love in the publishing industry was a magical moment. I've always been intrigued by the publishing business, and have planned on being a part of it ever since I was a precocious, book loving little kid. Like protagonist Ritsu Onodera, my interest is in literature, but I was excited at the prospect of learning more about the crazy world of manga in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi while also watching bishies making face with each other. What can I say? In my world, the more bishies, the better!

Like Junjou Romantica, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi follows three (or technically four, since the manga recently added a pairing featuring volatile sales manager Yokozawa) different pairings that are in some ways interconnected. In this case, at least one part of each pairing works at Marukawa Publishing. At the moment, the uploaded scanlation is a bit scattered in regards to the Yokozawa/Kirishima and Yoshino/Hatori sections, so I will for the most part be focusing on the anime, which is fairly true to the original manga (minus the explicit sex).

Our main lovey-lovey couple, Takano and Onodera

The main pairing features dogged nice guy in denial Ritsu Onodera (uke) and dry, sarcastic shoujo manga editor Masamune Takano (seme). Onodera and Takano were first loves in high school, but a misunderstanding led Onodera to think Takano didn't take their relationship seriously, and instead of clarifying Takano's feelings for himself, poor Onodera runs off and goes to study abroad while nursing a broken heart. Takano, who was going through a major family crisis at this time, spiraled out of control for awhile, but eventually got his act together and became a top manga editor at Marukawa Publishing.

As fate would have it, Onodera's father is a big-wig in the editing world, and Onodera starts working at Marukawa Publishing after being accused of nepotism at his father's company. A mistake (or hitsuzen) places Onodera in the shoujo manga department rather than in literature, and he and Takano are reunited. When they finally recognize one another, chaos and attempted seductions naturally ensue. Takano wants to get back with the lover he's never forgotten, but the jaded Onodera questions the logic of falling in love with someone who has already broken his heart in the past, even though he soon discovers that it was all a misunderstanding. Add that to the fact that he's gained a lot more pride and stubbornness since his high school days, and you've got yourself one very resistant uke.

Case in point

Manga writer Chiaki Yoshino (uke) and fellow editor Yoshiyuki Hatori (seme) make up the next pairing. Each couple in the series follows the idea of 'first love,' and for Hatori, Yoshino's been his number one since their high school days. However, the story is told from Yoshino's side, and Yoshino is a bit of a male ingenue when it comes to love, even though he is a writer of romance manga. Hatori is clearly in love with him, and so is his best friend Yuu Yanase (an artist's assistant), but Yoshino gets terribly confused and thinks they are in love with each other because he thinks he saw the two of them kissing (they were arguing, but he was looking at it from a bad angle). Hatori quickly clears this up and shows Yoshino with his body who he really loves, but Yoshino continues to stumble through love like a space case, constantly injuring both Hatori and Yanase in the process. Although if we're going to bring the manga into this, Hatori does his own share of injuring, and most likely deserves having such a doof for a life partner.

A relatively calm moment in the lives of Hatori and Yoshino

The last pairing follows thirty-year old insecure manga editor Shouta Kisa (uke) and stunning pretty-boy bookseller/artist Kou Yukina (seme). Kisa is not shy about being homosexual, but he tends to be shallow and sleeps around with people based on how attractive he finds them. Because of this, he's never been in love, at least up until he falls for Yukina's undeniably gorgeous face. At first he thinks he's sunk into another case of shallow love, but as he gets to know the buoyant and affectionate Yukina, he realizes he's genuinely falling in love for the very first time. However, Kisa's lack of self-confidence frequently gets in the way, even though Yukina is pretty over the moon about him. There is also a nine year age gap between them, and the fact that Yukina was originally straight (and very popular with the ladies) causes Kisa no small amount of concern.

I like elements of each of the pairings, and of course in the BL genre there are tropes that are inescapable, including ones we've already seen in Junjou Romantica. The publishing industry setting is what makes it all work for me, but there are few things worth discussing about our group of bishies. A few mild spoilers are ahead (but really, there's nothing all that shocking that happens. This a girly BL romantic comedy, not a quest to save the world).

It truly is tough being so smexy

1. Onodera and Takano: Like Misaki Takahashi before him, Onodera is the uke who is resistant to love, even though he secretly wants it just as much as his seme. However, unlike Misaki, Onodera has a better reason to be this way. Even though it was ended due to a misunderstanding, Onodera was seriously hurt by his failed relationship with Takano, and had already decided to focus whole-heartedly on his career before reuniting with his former lover. In his drunken celebration scene with Takano (the first occasion where they get it on after they reunite, although Onodera attempts to deny it in spite of his hickeys and hurting hips), our hero finally tells the complete and honest truth under the influence of alcohol, revealing that he doesn't know how to balance his work life with his reluctant relationship with Takano, and that his resistance is deeply rooted in his fear of putting his stable life and happiness on the line again rather than that he is uninterested in Takano romantically. The fact that his parents are trying to force him into an arranged marriage is the smaller issue; he's actually quite up front about not wanting to marry An, although An may very well team up with Onodera's mom to continue the engagement, especially if she lets slip that Onodera is getting a little too cozy with his male boss.

As for Takano, he is a more difficult fish to fry since only one chapter so far has been told from his POV, and that was only a flashback to their relationship in high school. He is clearly still in love with Onodera-- the present Onodera, rather than just the one in the past-- but in order to get to know the boy in front of him (who he didn't even know all that well to begin with, since their relationship was more about an intense emotional connection rather than an evolved friendship) he needs to break down Onordera's careful defenses, as well as put the more physical part of their relationship to the side in order to focus on communication (a difficult task for a seme in a BL manga). However, Takano also suffers from an inability to balance work and love. He is constantly aware of his feelings for Onodera, even at work, and since Onodera doesn't want him flirting in front of the editors, Takano tends to compensate by picking on Onodera's position as the rookie editor (of course, he also does this because Onodera's reactions are quite adorable when he's teased). This act breaks down whenever he feels Onodera's hard work is being insulted (Yokozawa, I'm talking about you), and the discrepancies in his behavior tend to confuse Onodera even more, because he can never quite tell when Takano is teasing or being serious.

Takano's gruff attitude to Onodera at work is a major roadblock to Onodera admitting his love.

I don't know that there will be a season 3 of the anime, but there are a few things I would like to be addressed in the manga. For one, will An continue to pursue the engagement, or will she give up? Will Onodera's parents interfere with his love life if they ever find out that he's not going to be popping out heirs anytime soon? What steps will Takano and Onodera take to better reacquaint themselves after all this time? And most of all, what will happen on that fateful day Onodera finally falls completely in love with Takano for the second time? Of course, we were already teased with a confession scene, but since it was still fairly early in the plotline, Takano failed to hear Onodera's words, which is probably a good thing since Onodera still lacks confidence in their relationship. Their romance moves at a slower pace than Misaki and Usagai's (M/U had sex in the second episode of Junjou Romantica, while it took Onodera and Takano until the first episode of the second season to seal the deal, although they were technically sexually active back in their high school days) which suits their situation well, and makes the series more tantalizing.

2. Yoshino and Hatori: These two are the troublesome pairing, even though they have their share of romantic moments. As I said earlier, Yoshino is an ingenue; he understands love well enough to be a bestselling shoujo manga author, but when it comes to his own love life, he's as dumb as they come. After his confusion over Hatori and Yanase's non-relationship is cleared up, he's pretty upfront with himself about the fact that he has feelings for Hatori. However, he completely fails to realize that his BFF Yanase is in love with him. And let me add that Yanase is not at all subtle with his feelings. He flirts, he asks Yoshino to pose for him naked, he tries to steer Yoshino away from Hatori, and during their spa trip he is only like two seconds away from kissing Yoshino while asking “Do you want to know who it is I love?” But Yoshino doesn't get it, even after Yanase comes out and confesses, up until he is physically pushed down and almost raped by Yanase, who is at this point extremely frustrated over not being properly rejected by Yoshino over and over again. To make matters worse, Yoshino is constantly and unknowingly rubbing his friendship with Yanase in Hatori's face, which gives Hatori the false impression that Yoshino would be happier with Yanase rather than him.

The inevitable love triangle

It's not a pretty thing to watch. Hatori spends half his time acting cold towards Yoshino, mostly because he's half convinced that Yoshino doesn't want to be in the relationship to begin with, and Yoshino spends half his time being stupid and alienating both his best friend and lover. Whenever they are able to communicate properly with one another, they get pretty cute, but these instances are few and far between. Also, like Takano and Onodera, they spend so much time talking about work that they forget to have a friendship side of their relationship, even though they've been buds since they were little kids.

What I would like to see from them is pretty obvious. Yoshino needs some brains and sensitivity, and Hatori needs to wrap his head around the fact that if he wants to be together with Yoshino, he's going to have to put up with his lover acting like a clueless idiot. And both of them need to stop picking on Yanase and do what normal people do and treat unrequited lovers without stupidity or fist fights. As for Yanase, he should just get the heck out of their friendship-triangle. Clearly it isn't working out for him, and Yoshino doesn't seem to be any closer to treating his feelings with tact. If he's looking for some lovin, there are plenty of jilted men leftover from both Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi including Haruhiko, Sumi, potentially Ijuuin, Shinobu's Australian friend with the lispy accent, and all of Kisa's ex-lovers. Not to mention that there's still one single man left on the Marukawa manga editing team!

3. Kisa and Yukina: Kisa and Yukina are the Miyagi and Shinobu of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi in the sense that they have the fewest episodes, so their relationship is on a faster track. Kisa has many concerns about his relationship with Yukina including the age separation, their differences in appearance (Yukina is a hottie, Kisa looks young for his age and is more of a cute type), Kisa's busy work schedule, the fact that Yukina used to be fairly straight, their lack of overall personal knowledge of each other, and Kisa's past history of sleeping around and being shallow. Yukina is pretty much willing to work through anything, but Kisa has very little faith in himself, both personally and professionally, which makes him all too willing to give up when things get rough, even though he knows he is love with Yukina for more than just his face.

Yukina is also a bit too obliging for his own good. Kisa works ridiculous hours, comes home from work dead and half asleep, and more often than not cancels their dates due to scheduling conflicts. Because he is the younger man, Yukina doesn't want to be a burden to Kisa, and never complains unless Kisa does something stupid like try to break up with him. However, since Kisa already lacks self-worth, Yukina would be better off getting mad, especially since his cheerful indifference tends to make Kisa feel unloved.

Both Kisa and Yukina could use some further development in upcoming chapters. Kisa, for one, could use a personal success or achievement to give him confidence in his work, aside from the fact that his manga projects sell well in Yukina's store. It also wouldn't hurt for the two of them to move in together, especially since Kisa's job gets in the way of their together time (the manga makes it clear that they are moving in this direction, since Yukina has sleepover weeks to stay bonded with Kisa). I would also love, love, love to see Yukina become a part of Kisa's work life. Since everyone involved with Marukawa is already for the most part gay/bi (Onodera, Takano, Hatori, Yoshino, Kisa, Isaka, Asahina, Misaki, Usagi, and Ijuuin), I think it would be cute if Kisa had the opportunity to bring a date along to a company event. Especially since Onodera and Takano are dating each other, and Onodera would rather die than have everyone else know about it.

While they have their issues, this couple can't help but be cute together.

For BL fans, Sekaiichi Hatsukoi is a definite must. The characters are enjoyable, the romantic moments are swoon worthy, and the information about what goes into being a manga editor/writer is intriguing. And if you're into the manga, the romance scenes are nosebleed material (my favorite was Takano and Onodera's after the non-confession moment. “Why are you talking about stupid shit when you should be stripping?”), although it does take a bit of time for the main couple to go all the way, due to the nature of their relationship. I'm looking forward to reading/watching more, and for anyone reading this who is not interested in hearing about bishies making out with other bishies (which begs the question, “Why not?”), I am finally shutting up now.

Next up will be Magic Knight Rayearth!