Monthly Wrap Up-The Haruhi Franchise

                   So how did my first theme month go? I'd say pretty well. I think I managed to introduce the series well for those unfamiliar to it, and add a spin on it for those already in-the-know. Now I will boil down the franchise into my favorite pro and the only con that actually upsets me.

                  PRO: When other series need techno-babble, or need to make some nerdy reference, it will be some words misheard from other works or just plain pulled out of the dictionary at random. This franchise is written by people who know what they're talking about. They know the latest science theories, can do complex math equations, can argue philosophy for hours without sounding like an idiot, knows which sci-fi ideas are completely insane and which are much more reasonable, and could rave for hours about that new game they love. That much love and effort really impresses me.

                 CON: I love the Brigade, and the people in it. But not counting Kyon and Haruhi, their interactions are rare. We get a couple hints about how they feel about each other, but it's barely touched on and I really think it should be. Interplay between great characters is what helps make them great characters. The only ones we do get are all one-sided as hell. Mikuru is scared by Yuki. Itsuki admires Yuki and is jealous of Mikuru's openness. This great franchise would be 20% cooler if the characters had chances to interact with each other more often.

                Now, because tomorrow is my birthday, I'm giving myself a treat for next month's theme. It'll be February in less then 3 hours, and you know what that means! (Probably not because I haven't told a soul...) It's Avatar: The Last Airbender Book 1 Month! I'll review each individual episode of Book 1 over the course of the month. See you when I'm 19. Laters.

Stop Rolling Your Eyes and Try It-Turnabout Storm

             Despite using the title, this isn't really fan fic. It started out as one, then became a game, then a radio play, now a web series. It's a crossover between My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and Ace Attorney. I can sum up the whole thing so far with one pic. (I've been wanting to use this for a while.)

                     It's fully voice acted, they use music, the mouth flaps fit the words, and the story is great! The mystery feels like one straight out of Ace Attorney, as does a lot of the dialogue. It also takes the great characters and some stylistic dialogue from Friendship is Magic as well. It's funny, sad, charming, and all around awesome. Now, I've heard some people say that the prosecutor here is too good, and doesn't make sense, making her a Villain Sue, but I disagree. The prosecutor here has an advantage the others didn't: a disordered Phoenix. He has no idea what is going on, known nothing about Equestria and how it works, and has had almost no time to investigate. So no, the prosecutor isn't a Villain Sue. They still loses enough for the first day. So far, this is made of epic win. Good work to those making it, and I'm definitely gonna stay with it till the end.

Cracking a Goddamned Book-The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya

                    Live Alive: It's the school's cultural festival. Haruhi is showing off their 'movie', Yuki is a fortune teller (Who is too accurate for her own good), Mikuru is a maid/waitress, and Kyon is bored, walking from room to room, trying to find something to do. Then he goes to the band's concert, where a surprise hits him sqaure in the jaw. This is one of three chapters I would say is far better in the anime than in the books. Here, it is of no fault of the book. It's a fun chapter, but the problem is that it attempts to describe rock music, when the anime has rock music playing. And let me tell you, it is amazing. Another oddity, this is the only episode I always have to watch in Japanese, simply because the lyrics are translated and sung not nearly as good as the original. Fun story.

                   The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00: this is the movie the Brigade made over the course of Sigh, and screened last chapter. Like the preceding chapter, this one is far better in the anime, where you can hear Kyon's exasperated narrating, see the terrible effects, and hear the painfully bad acting.

                   Love at First Sight: Some guy Kyon used to know in middle school calls him up outta the blue. Seems he saw Kyon walking with a girl a while back, and fell in love immediately. When he tries to pry, he discovers the girl was...Yuki Nagato. This chapter is funny, cool, and the ending is a beautiful mixture of sadness and humanity. I always love Yuki-centric chapters, and this one is no exception.

                  Where Did the Cat Go?: After the chapter Snowy Mountain Syndrome, the Brigade arrives back at Tsuruya's resort and Itsuki treats them all to another murder mystery, but this time they'll know it's fake the whole time. This chapter really fails to compare well to it's predecessor, Remote Island Syndrome. The mystery there was cool, the characters had good interactions, and it was a tense ride. The same can not be said for this story. The mystery is pretty simple, and because we know from the start it isn't real, it lacks any real tension. The only saving grace for me is a great conversation between Kyon and Itsuki, that allows them to play off each other well, and get a bit more of Itsuki's character.

                  The Melancholy of Mikuru Asahina: Mikuru takes Kyon on a...date. But she is sad the entire time, and things are not as they seem. Ties with the third for my favorite chapter of the book. It goes more into Mikuru's character then any other chapter, period. It also alludes to something bigger coming up, and I think I know what it is. It definitely ended with me wanting the next book.

                 Which is just me being impatient. The next book, The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya, won't out until June. This really depresses me, as I am now caught up with this great series, waiting like everyone else for the next release. This book is definitely a mixed bag. Some chapters are great, and some of my favorites in a while. Others are much better done is the anime, or just mediocre stories in general. Tomorrow is the big wrap-up, where I lay down what I like, and don't, about this beloved franchise. Until then, laters.

I have to reveal something important

                   An important first note is that this article is, for the most part, not a review or list or anything like that. It's storytime, children.

                   I made a friend last semester at Butte named James. One of the first things that happened when we chatted was he told me of a show he loved dearly. When he told me it's name, I burst out laughing. "He must be kidding, or trying to be ironic or something." I thought. But then he went into more details, and some of he words he threw at me managed to hit a brain synapse. So I looked it up that day. And then the meme's hit.

                  Apparently the internet had fallen in love with this cartoon as well, and had made memes accordingly. I laughed. A lot. They were easily up there in my favorite memes ever, along with 60's Spiderman.

                    After a while of debating, I decided to watch it. I watched the first episode, deciding to take the show as it was, with no preconceptions. I loved it. 100%. I kept watching, and am currently on the 18th episode of the first season.

                   I saw James for the first time since the end of last semester on Wednesday. The first words out of my mouth were accusatory, and I will not reveal them yet, for the sake of dramatic tension. The blame does not lie with him exclusively. It also lies with a large amount of those on the interwebs, a great percentage of which are from the wretched hive of scum and villainy known as 4chan. Why did you make the memes so funny? Why did you spread this great but embarrassing show to us all? And why is it so damn good? My remark towards James was "YOU! YOU TURNED ME INTO A...BRONY!" His response was simple:

                   Yeah, I have been watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And I love it. I love Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Derpy Hooves, Doctor Whooves, DJ PON-3, all of them. For those wondering what the fuck I'm talking about, this newest incarnation of the long-running franchise (that I haven't seen any of) was handed off to the Lauren Faust, the creator of Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. You'll notice that she is made of win, and she loves to make shows that are embarrassing to admit liking, but when you do most people agree wholeheartedly. When she got this project, she decided not to make more cookie-cutter blandness to shove down the eyes of little girls everywhere. She made a show that can be enjoyed by anyone, that has good morals, relatable characters, and funny as hell dialogue. Everyone I've met that hates the show has never seen it, because if they did they probably wouldn't. It's a hard show to hate. So yeah...hope my man-cred survives this article. Wait a second...I love Lucky Star...I haven't had man-cred in 3 years! Oh well. Please, if you haven't please try this show. You'll probably love the hell out of it like the rest of us bronies. Until tomarrow, laters.

Character Study-Itsuki

                    Itsuki is a great character. He seems to all to be a kiss-ass who blindly agrees with everything Suzumiya suggests, and rarely having a thought of his own. He also seems to be a kind, generous guy whose only fault is doing all that is asked of him, and more. This is not true. As the series goes on, it becomes increasingly easy to see that this is a facade, a mask, used to keep Haruhi happy. We can't tell much about his real self, but the little we've seen shows he really does love board games, but suck, and truly enjoy philosophy.

                  Itsuki is voiced by the great and almighty Johnny Yong Bosch. Bosch was the 2nd Black ranger on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Vash in Trigun, Renton in Eureka 7, Lelouch in Code Geass, Rossiu in Gurren Lagann, and Izaya in Durarara!! He is a great voice actor, and his role here is now exception. He sounds like a guy acting in a play, which is really a great way to see Itsuki in his everyday life. There are small moments where you see the man underneath the role, and he does that well too. Overall, Itsuki is a cool character, and one of my favorites of Bosch's portfolio.

Character Study-Mikuru

                        Mikuru is easily my least favorite Brigade member. It's not that I don't like her, it's just that for the most part she's a pretty shallow character. She's incredibly shy yet super hot, and naive as hell. That's the joke. The only depth she had was when early on it's suggested that it is all a ruse. It turns out not to be true, and later we learn that she's actually exactly what you see. In the most recent book she finally got some screentime that wasn't a joke or exposition. there we learn she had serious self-esteem issues, which I find interesting because I do too. All of this only applies to the main Mikuru. I won't explain why because-

                   -yeah those. Let's just say there's another character that is her, and she is very interesting, mostly through the little we see contradicting the one we know.

                   Mikuru is voiced by Stephanie Sheh, known for her great range. She was also Hinata from Naruto, Akira from Lucky Star, Illyasviel in fate/Stay Night, Guu from Hare+Guu, and Yui from K-On. Some people I know have criticized her performance here, saying it's so sweet and innocent it's hard to listen too. I disagree, she's just voicing the character as they were written. Overall, Mikuru isn't a bad character, she's just outshined for me by the rest of the cast.

Character Study-Yuki

                  Yuki Nagato is my second most favorite character in this show, and one of my favorite female characters in anime period. I won't go too much into her backstory, not because it's long (it isn't) but because I don't want to spoil some people. So, what you need to know is this: Yuki is not the typical shy bookworm character. She literally spends mos of her day reading thick hardcover books. When talking, she mostly uses one to two word responses. And she does not seem to show any emotion. There are reasons for this, but as I said no spoilers. She is not, however, emotionless. If you may close attention, you can tell by small signs that she does feel emotions, and as the series goes on it becomes more and more obvious. Why do I love her so? Well, the stuff I just said is cool, but the main reason is very spoilery. All I'll say is it involves coding and fighting.
                  (Note: from now on, I will not talk about the Japanese seiyuu. I haven't watched enough subs to give a good opinion on them, and talking about stuff I don't know isn't a hobby.) Her voice actress is Michelle Ruff, also known as Rukia from Bleach, Yoko from Gurren Lagann, Euphemia from Code Geass, and Tsukasa from Lucky Star. Yeah, lots of great starring roles. At first I thought her job of doing Yuki wasn't hard, but I was wrong. First, it isn't easy too sound that emotionless. From trying to cast my radioplay, I speak from experience. Second, if you may close enough attention, her acting is very subtle. Listen close enough to certain lines and you can hear some emotion buried underneath. Third, her job in the movie was incredible. I won't say how, but her job changed considerably, and she did it perfectly. Overall, Yuki is an awesome character. Laters.