http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pK1Os14rVg

Just because I’m in the mood for something different today, I returned to my Metal R00ts.
Here’s a shout out for one of the best Metal bands ever. My sorrow for their refusal to continue on their path still lingers but rejoice, The Sham Mirrors remains as part of their beautiful legacy. Check it out, hear it, worship it. One of the best albums ever made, Metal or not, featuring an all star crew of brilliance who despite their separation remain in the Metal world still, shining stars of talent. Much love.

“Yo buddy, still alive?”

Still.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQsWpcwvmI0

Someday, I will return to these fair blue skies of yore. My memory shall remain. See ya then.

The pale penance

Gun in hands, he ran across the expanse. Ten kilometres across, the valley had soon become a field of slaughter. At times his sight wandered to his right and left and each and every time he saw more death. Friends hit by stray shots, miserable crossfires reaping innocent lives. So he ran. Not out of fear, but so that he would not bring death upon others himself. Neither a coward nor butcher, what did this young man think of during his voyage across this field of carnage? He though of escape and freedom and each and every time he was thwarted by the screams of his friends and enemies both. Fearing to kill and to take any live, he ran.
Despair in his blood and adrenalin in his pulsing veins combined to make his determination shatter any obstacule. And yet, as far as the eye could see, there was no escape from the blooshed.
Soon it began to rain. The water washed away the sins being commited from everything but the soldier’s minds. The proof of their struggle was thus not in the land itself but simply inside their heads. And still he ran. From the corner of his eye, he though to see a white steed, ghostly pale and black eyes shining with intent. And yet, there was nothing there. What thus did this mean? He did not know, nor did he care. He thought only of running as far as he could, as fast as he could.
Bleeding from a dozen small wounds, he finally arrived at the boundary of the battlefield. In relief, he laughed and cried both, praying to the Gods in thanks of escaping with both his life and not having to take lives in his stead.
But the battlefields do not give life, they take it. In exchange for his escape, his friends had perished. All had perished amidst the rain. And yet he could not cry. Nor did he try. He knew full well the perils of battle and its spoils. In exhange for his life, all others had been taken.
Amidst the rain stood a lonely rider on a white horse. Golden crown in his head, the rider, equally clad in white robes as ghostly as his steed, looked at him with vacant eyes. For his folly the rider had taken this toll, sacrificed to appease the gods of war.
For his folly, the rider had taken all. A simple exchange with nothing left to be said.
To spare others from his fate he had thus precipitated their fall. Thus the boy who had never wished to take a life had taken all.

Since I have nothing to say or post for now, I thought I’d share this story. I enjoyed writing it.

Amon, signing off as usual.

Of Villains and Monsters or Jesus, these titles get increasingly harder to be witty about

A new post, to beg forgiveness.

A retrospective on villains in Anime and Manga, centered on Gundam

Despite what most people perceive, villain is not the title one automatically applies to the antagonist of a story. This person is the antogonist. The counter to the Protagonist persona.
The villain would be a character who is opposed to the Protagonist and both worthy of being called villain by virtue of his actions. Slaughter, murder, an amoral character who cares nothing for any sort of morals and simply vies for his own goals and wishes, caring nothing for others or having no pity. This is what a typical villain is.
The virtue of being an antagonist thus is to provide a foil to complement the main character and not necessarily to be the villain too. It can be complex to figure out what character incarnates which role despite their actions and even dialogue.

In the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Char Aznable is clearly the antagonist to Amuro Ray, the protagonist and pilot of the Gundam. However, Char himself is a talented and somewhat complex character. His true name is not even Char Aznable. He simply assumed this persona to avoid the consequences of what would happen if he were to be really revealed. Towards the end of MSG, his true goals come into view as he selectively destroys those Zeon officers implied in his family’s demise. Char is later revealed in both Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and much latter the Char’s Counterattack movie to be both a skilled tactician and politician who really does care about the fate of humanity, forcing Amuro to admit that he is partially correct in his ideals but that his methods were wrong. I can’t say that putting a gigantic asteroid on a collision route with Earth is exactty the best method either but Char’s belief that by migrating all of the human race into space and force them to evolve into newtypes as an entire race may not be entirely off base, considering all the racism towards newtypes from the Federation.

But as you can see, he is not a villain despite taking the antagonist role twice and despite his methods being more than questionable. Of course, who or what is a villain also depends on what you consider right and wrong or more broadly, good and evil. I don’t believe in either of these last two and the first are dependant of your own moral codes anyway.

That being said, characters like Zeta Gundam’s Paptimus Scirocco or Yazan Gable are clearly villains but in different ways. Paptimus is a manipulative man who enters a contract with the Titans while seeking to take control of them for himself to achieve ultimate control over an Earth Federation that is becoming increasingly corrupt and inept under the thumb of the Titans. He helps foster conflict and is a direct cause of massive slaughter and conflict and even manages to morally corrupt one character on the side of the AEUG, the rebels. He toys with and uses people for his own goals, caring nothing for their feelings and considering them only tools to achieve his ends.
Yazan is different. A born psycho, Yazan seeks conflict in order to fight because he likes to kill and is talented in it. He lives for war and is not above doing some trickery to achieve new prey. But he’s not politically motivated to do so like Paptimus. He also fights for himself but for vastly different reasons and goals. Both are clearly villains but on opposite ends of the spectrum.

So, what am I getting at? Well, it could be nice to have more complex villains and antagonists in today’s Manga and Anime. Unfortunately the recent decline in quality series also means that chances of this are rare and simply becoming rarer. Clear cut villains have their own niche but need charisma to be effective. Both Yazan and more recently Al Al-Saachez from 00 Gundam have this trait. Their laugher, voices and actions are simply villainous and with little true susbtance behidn them besides the fostering of conflict and war but both are popular with the Gundam fandom simply for being themselves and somewhat unique in stories that revolve not simply around mecha but also on politics and hidden agendas and where the protagonist may not be your typical goody goody hero but someone with with psychological issues and mental scars that surpass those of most.

True villains with complex emotions and character, are they simply too difficult to create or do they not have enough mass appeal? Your homework, ladies and gents, is to think on this and to truly reflect on what does it mean to be a villain in today’s stories.

This is Amon, increasingly tired of typing this in one go and correcting obvious spelling errors that he can spot, signing off.

Ok, let’s erase that last bit or Time and Laziness Strike back

Don’t expect the announced post for the next few weeks. Why? Well, I had planned to replay part of the game I would be reminiscing on to jog up the old memories but time, laziness and other games screwed me over.
It will eventually come. Someday.
For now, I’ll start a weekly review of the current season of 00 Gundam, reviewing and dissecting the bullcrap as it comes and until it ends, hopefully. Expect some shiny pictures, for the first time ever on this blog.
And obviously, my apologies to the two guys who may have been expecting my previous post.

This is Amon, going to have dinner.

Laziness strikes back or This Week In God

Tomorrow. Yes, I am lazy. I warned you. I’m lazy. Because I’m playing Ar Tonelico II. I have an excuse!

You know what, I won’t even bother signing off.

Stupid people or people with below average intelellect and their idiocy

Same thing, different palate. In other news, that has nothing to do with the actual post. Huzzah.
So, what is this post about? Essentially nothing. Figured I’d keep the ball rolling before doing another serious post. Or before my internet connection goes poof again. Same thing, really.
What will my next post be about then? Ah, nostalgia, 2D games, an ocean of stars and a second tale that begins anew. Should I spell it out for you? Well, stay tunned for a trip into the past.
Despite my chagrin in having to wait two months more than Americans gamers by virtue of SE being generally mentally numb, I am generally optismistic. At least it’s not six months as usual.
So, descend with me into this overture of the past as the fourth incarnation of this series arrives to new shores. And by arrives I mean, will arrive. But that sounded cooler.

When will I post this, I do not know. Until this Sunday I should have it done. Unless my ever chronic laziness flares up once more. My eternal bane, my ever present sorrow. Damn you.

Signing off, this is your ever lazy Amon.

The bittersweet pancake of betrayal or How can one internet connection blow so much

As promised, I give you the fabled first post. I have to apologize for providing erroneous information in my first post as I don’t intend to talk about music in the same manner as the other subjects. At all actually. At most you’ll hear that said band is awesome and whatever the hell I’m in the mood for, provided I’m in any sort of mood. That’s it. Quite frankly, I neither want to get into a firestorm of music opinions or to hear how said genre or such blows. I simply don’t care. My time is abundant, my mind is not.
With that said, I give you the fabled first opinion. It’s not much, it’s not pretty and it’s not golden. It just is.

Unfortunately for me, I completely underestimated Death Note. Seriously. At first sight, it’s a Manga/Anime with rabid fanboyism from both sides of the gender spectrum. And it is. Unfortunately more for the aestethics than actual merit. I couldn’t care less if Light’s hair looks shiny. In fact, I frown upon this type of crap. It’s what really tears down Anime as a whole. The bane of Anime are not its rabid opponents but its rabid fanbase of idiots and morons who couldn’t tell their asses from their elbows. It’s a shame, really. Once in a while the rarest type of Manga/Anime surface and are overtaken by the rabid fanboys, leaving the crap for those who’d rather simply enjoy it for what it is. This is the type that Death Note belongs to. It’s a rare thing to see or feel, Anime/Manga that makes you think rather than simply watch while eating dinner. They may not be overly deep but they have substance. Death Note has substance. This is nothing new. What is new, is that Death Note is both enjoyable and presents its moral issues in an easy to digest package.

So, why did I truly underestimate Death Note? Because it’s filled with some of the most brilliant and well thought of dialogue I’ve ever seen in a series. Truly, the best parts of Death Note are the incredible mental battles between Light Yagami, our resident psycophatic and power crazed protagonist who puts Patrick Bateman to shame in terms of complete madness, and our resident sleuth, the enigmatic L, a man whose mental reasoning abillities drop 40% in efficiency if he doesn’t hug his knees while sitting and who comes up with the simplest and yet most daunting methods to catch our resident killer, even if often without success. Brilliant. Bloody brilliant.
The clash of titanic geniuses is basically the appeal of this series for me and despite the inevitable crash that will occur in my brain once that fatal incident happens I will continue to like this series, at leats until that point.
Obviously, everyone likes L. He looks weird, he’s enigmatic, he’s beyond strange but in contrast to Light, his is a genius mind that is nothing but excentric in its occupation. Light is also a genius but his is a mind of conveniency. L aims to catch Kira or Light and Light attempts to evade and kill L. This clash of equal minded brains is very well executed and is the real draw point of Death Note for some of its less rabid fanbase.

That aside, it’s also a good reminder of what could happen to a sane and justice minded mind like Light’s when one gains this type of power. Would you indulge in death and do the job of a vigilante or simply refuse that type of power? Do you refuse death of all types, even when the receiver of such a fate arguably deserves it for his deeds? I couldn’t help but wonder this when Light kills a rapist in front of an FBI agent to prove a point. This rapist would never be convicted and had already raped multiple victims and would likely repeat it. Do you stop this with death or do you deny this reality? ignorance or crime? Can we stand to deny justice to those who suffer? This aside, even after receiving this power, Light always maintains that he wishes only to cleanse the world of scum and to create an Utopia free of crime. What at price victory? Would Light have turned out to simply be on the side of the law had he not received the Death Note? Mayhaps. What then, is the price of power? Your soul? Your morals? Does power corrupt one simply by virtue of being power? In an event in the series, an incident forces Light to abdicate the Death Note along with his memories of being Kira. Free of these memories, Light eventually comes to believe that while such a power could cleanse this world of crime, one would need to be quite mad to go to such extremes to obey and serve this justice, even admitting he himself was unsure if he could do it. Which he does after a while. Madness or good intentions?

As for me, I’ve been drawn in. Screw the Shinigami, screw Kira, screw the fanboys. I simply like the dialogue. It’s the first Manga I’ve read for this purpose alone and it serves it well. Misa Misa and stupid Shinigami aside it’s worth a read if you’re into mental twists and some sharp wit. I cannot comment on the Anime nor will I ever since I will refrain from seeing it. If you’ve got time to watch it, you’ve got time to read it. Chop chop, the King’s word is law! Read it, enjoy it or not, simply admit it. I have. I’ve been sucker punched by a Manga for the first time in my short life and it feels good.

As I said before, I’ll try to post often enough but the bitter truth of my sucky internet conection will surely conspire to stop me. I’m writing this paragraph at 23.55 local time. I should have posted this one day after
my first post. Draw your own conclusions. Also, excuse the more obvious errors in spelling. I seem to be somewhat dyslexic these days and tend to exchange the placement of letters. Go figure.

This is Amon, signing off.

Welcome to this wonderful killing chamber

Henceforth this shall be my dwelling. I say dwelling because this will be where anything I simply wish to say goes. This will be primarily a place for me to post my opinion on Anime, Manga, Games or even Music if I feel like it. Don’t expect anything good for a while. It’s not like I’m proactive enough to post every day or the like but I tend to ramble on quite a bit so my posts will be long.
I even had a first post ready but I decided it wasn’t enough of a first post. In essence, it was a post like any other post. It was plain, long, decent enough for my standards. What was the problem then? It simply wasn’t a first post. It was a post as any other you might find on such types of blog. But not a first post. This is a first post.  Glorious in its simplicity, marvellous in its cruelty.

Unclenching the fist I just made out of anger for writing that, I welcome you to this chamber. I hope some may find it welcome enough. Tyrannical as I am, I appreciate discussion of many types and though my speech is somewhat formal, bring on the immature comments and discussions!

So, I welcome you in this this grand and grim killing chamber!

PS : Expect a real post tomorrow or so. It’s just the prototype post I made before, on Death Note no less, but it’s not horribly bad. Like I said, I tend to ramble on or even become over moralistic in my works but that’s just time speaking. Time does horrible things to your thinking process.