The Titles That Changed My Life. Part 2

This post is a direct continuation of a previous one I posted about a week ago, So if you want to catch up and know exactly what Im talking about without getting confused or lost in the context please follow the link. https://kiddtic.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/the-titles-that-changed-my-life-part-1/

This show aired very recently and is yet to be picked up by a western distributor, I really hope it does get licenced because its material is not only important as a good source of entertainment but also for moral reasons. The folowing may offend some gung-ho religous folk so tread with caution.

The anime Horou Musuko or Wandering Son is a show about middle school aged “tweenagers” coming to terms with thier maturity. The main character Nitori is a boy that wishes he could be a girl and his love interest Takatsuki is a tomboy that wishes she was a boy. At first glance the premise of this show is rather akward or wierd to put it in the least offensive terms. I was still intrigued though because of the age of the characters, had it been set in high school it would definetly be a fanservice or ecchi show but I just knew they wouldnt go there so i gave it a chance.

I am glad I decided to watch it because it was very entertaining and informative.  Nitoris’ best friend is constantly coming to terms with his sexuality throughout the series and its very interesting to watch a 12 year old boy react to being the only one that doesnt like girls, he is confused about his situation but also deep down knows exactly what is going on. This is probably the best expression of homosexuality I have ever seen in etertainment. it is not stigmatised in any way at all which is very rare for anime.

The relationship between Nitori(left) and Takatsuki (right) is also very interesting. the show starts right after he confesses his love for her but she turns him down for reasons unknown.

they remain friends afterwards because takatsuki is one of the only people that knows about Nitoris secret hobby of crossdressing. This theme in anime is usually used as bait for comedy but it is handled so well in this show. The emotions of first love and confusions of sexuality are expressed so well, I often found myself very emotionally engaged in this story about a feminine boy that is in love. for the first time i realised all the stigma and hate that homosexuals recieve is mostly unfounded and utterly stupid. my favourite quote on the subject is from my twitter friend Kyonkun ” If Horou Musuko (Wandering Son) opens a honest conversation about the subject, then, it’s a win for the world” And i totally agree with that. Watching this show definetly brings up the subject in an honest and friendly manner and as long as that happens enough people will realise just how silly it is to stigmatise homosexuality.

The overall feel of this series is amazing, as you can see the art style is unique and the subject matter is like nothing else out there. Slice of life fans and drama fans will definetly love this and it does not delve too deep into Japanese culture, this means that even people who dont watch anime regularly and dont know the usual tropes and cliches wont get lost. For the sake of art, good anime and morals this anime needs to be seen by everyone.

This next show is one I watched at a time when i really needed to see something light hearted, I wanted a good comedy and I heard Toradora! was supposed to be of quality so I picked it up.

Boy was I lied to, well only partially. It definetlay was a good comedy, it definetly was of quality and it somewhat was light hearted but it got deep and heavy preety quickly. Its basicly a romantic comedy and in my opinion the best romatic comedy you could ever watch. It has gut ripping moments of hilarity and extreme tear jerking moments. the lead character Ryuuji (front/ male) is feared at school as being a delinquent because of the look of his eyes and his build which is far from the truth and the other lead Taiga (front/female) is also feared at school because of her short temper. Taiga has a crush on Ryuujis best friend Kitamura (back/male) and Ryuuji has a crush on Taigas best friend Minori (back/female redhead) so they find this out and decide to help each other hook up with their best freinds.

The best thing about this show is that by the second episode Taiga had already confessed her love to Kitamura, this caught me completely off guard because All of the shows i had seen had taken forever and an eternity to get to this point, and Toradora did it in the second episode? What were they trying to achieve? thay had my attention. This show earned even more of my respect by staying completely away from fanservice, this made it sooo relatable. The situations these characters were finding themselves in were so familiar which made it feel so realistic. Their relationships were not completely over the top in fact most of the time their true feelings were subdued which makes the show that much more interesting. Sure love triangles are complicated but love “quadraheagons” (thats not a real word) maan thats just another dimension. I would need a chart to showcase just what goes on in the show, its done well enough that it doesnt get confusing the viewer at all. In fact it sets it up in such a way that you get to pick your favourite pairs and hope they hook up by the end of the show.

Im sure you are all thinking well how did this change your life Kidd? well simply put it changed my perspective on how females perceive relationships. This may sound a little mysogonistic but im being honest so bear with me. Most of the females I have come across have almost always been superficial and this is potrayed n a lot of movies and books. They always fall for that one dude in class, even if they may not seem interested at first but given the chance they are head over heels. I never understood this “line of thought” Toradora! gives me the point of view of Taiga and I get to understand just why she falls for Kitamura. it puts me in the girls shoes without being the cheesiest thing ever. I got to understand why most females react certain ways to diffrent circumstances especially the “your male friend suddenly confessing to you” which I always thought was obvious to them. I guess for some people these things are obvious but i was completely oblivious and had cemented pre concieved misconceptions of how females work. Im definetly not a guru now or anything but i understand just how difficult of a situation it is for them when their friend suddenly “decides they love them.” Its a tough situation to be in and trying to maintain a normal working relationship from that point can be hard.

This next show is one of my personal favourites simply because of how many bases it covers in 26 episodes. Ive mentioned it quite a few times on my blog so ill get right into it. Welcome to the NHK is about a hikikomori (shut in) or NEET (not in education, employment or training) called Satou. Satou believes the reason he has been reduced to being a shut in is the caused by the mysterious NHK which broadcasts anime and risque material. Its all a conspiracy Satou believes and the fact that the people around him keep doing crazy stuff or somewhat encourage his behaviour doesnt help either.

This show is the best example of what could happen to any nerd that takes his hobby way too seriously. Satou gets addicted to video games, he gets addicted to online porn, he gets tricked into a shady business, he also blows all of his money on figures and games he is even caught up in a life threatening situation e.t.c The scary thing is that all these things are one just one decision away and if we as nerds dont set our priorities straight we just might end up in situations just like Satou. There is a whole lot more to this show the past experiences that each of these characters goes through are quite dramatic and shocking. Misakis’ (front/female) back story is very tragic and explains her behaviour perfectly but delving too much into this would spoil the show and this is one that you just have to see for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this little article, tell me what you think are there any shows that changed the way you percieve life in general?

~ by kiddtic on June 12, 2011.