I was bored yesterday and wrote a little summary of my thoughts for the future. This was partially inspired by the upcoming Singapore General Election taking place tomorrow and a certain online conservation I had with someone. After I finished writing it, I realized that it bears some similarities to the Dune timeline, so perhaps I was just agreeing with Frank Herbert.

In a future when all jobs of lower complexity than astrophysicists have been replaced by robots, conglomerates that own robots and their patents will reap the benefit of virtually all economic activities on the planet, while regular people can offer no value to the system. A tiny number of humans hold the few high-complexity jobs needed and are genetically superior in those roles due to generations of selection.

The masses soon realize that they have been made obsolete. A neo-Marxist revolution sweeps across the planet and great wars are fought, but the many cannot defeat the few. The corporations have centuries of technological advantage in their favour and their self-replicating machines swiftly put an end to the insurrections. The rebels are disarmed and ejected from the system.

With its obsolescence made official, most of humanity slowly regresses to pre-industrial subsistence-level economies. Civilization for most returns to small isolated communities. Even basic technology like fossil fuels and computers disappear with time because the exploitation of the planet’s natural resources is monopolized by the corporations whose robotic armies forcefully defend their subjectless fiefdoms.

The corporations wall themselves off in massive robotized vertical cities and mostly ignore the rest of humanity, occasionally sending expeditions into the wild to harvest feral human specimens for body parts and genetic material or clearing land to make room for industrial expansion.

Eventually, the corporate overlords evolve into a symbiotic relationship with machines and cease to be fully organic, gaining in the process physiological traits suitable for deep space voyages that cannot be duplicated organically. The evolved humanity leaves Earth after its crust has been almost completely emptied of useful compounds and before it is consumed by a dying sun. To the stars!

In the alternate timeline, Earth takes a hit from a giant meteor and humanity goes extinct in 2012.

I suppose the real alternative scenario is some kind of socialist paradise where the combined productivity of machines is more than sufficient to be distributed evenly across a humanity and free it from its eternal struggle to earn a living to either drown in hedonistic pleasures or pursue knowledge and science.

And I suppose this is more likely to happen if advancements and breakthroughs in technology are made accessible to everyone rapidly enough that no single sub-community has enough time to build a giant army of self-replicating killer robots before the rest have at least learnt how to build regular killer robots. Perhaps this is the real reason why patent terms should be as short as possible.

Just think about it. One day, a corporation similar to Isaac Asimov’s U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc. will be making tons of robots and conducting massive research into robotics and A.I. Everyone will think that robots are super awesome, so whenever Robotics Inc. sues some small-time robotics lab for infringing one of its ten trillion patents, people will just go “oh Sony Robots Inc., you so crazy” and return to enjoying their cup of coffee brewed by their robot butler while posting silly crap like this on Facetablet (because the concept of books no longer exist of course).

Eventually Robotics Inc. decides that it is no longer in its economic interest to have customers when they reach the tipping point where they can just make robots to create wealth passively. And before you know it, everyone else has been made obsolete.

Okay, so the real future will probably be somewhat different. But putting aside the details, let’s consider the big picture and the natural of power dynamics in human societies.

Kings and emperors derived their power from the people. People were stupider and more ignorant in the past, so this mandate was easy to get through coercion. Eventually, this transformed into a more democratic and equal relationship and we now have the idea of a “social contract” between the government and its people. But still, the point is that people living at the top of social hierarchies are rich and comfortable only because people below them are economically productive. Smart kings, presidents, CEOs and even dictators all recognize this fact and therefore seek to retain the loyalty and productivity of their subjects, citizens and workers through either incentives or threats.

But technology changes this relationship. Every worker replaced by a robot is one whose opinions and needs no longer matter to the person at the top. Today a person can operate a crane to do what once required dozens of people to perform. With an army of robots, it is not inconceivable for a single person or corporation to someday run an entire economy. Capitalism kind of breaks down in that system, because that corporation will no longer need consumers. Money and wealth are ultimately just means to secure an end in an economy of many productive parties, but this hypothetical corporation is basically omnipotent and needs nothing from others.

Sure, we are far from this scenario as long as artificial intelligence remains as crappy as it is today. But consider the effects of globalization: we have increasing rich-poor divides because people higher up in the economic hierarchy benefit greatly from moving low-skill jobs to the third world while people at the lower end are mostly screwed. Think third-world sweat shops are unfair competition? Just imagine what will happen when we have self-replicating, self-maintaining robot workers.

Everyone needs a college degree to get a job now. When the economy becomes fully automated, every remaining job will require at least a PhD. There certainly won’t be enough of such positions to go around for 10 billion people unless we expand massively into space.

Actually this is sounding more and more like the fundamental ideas behind Marxism, but with robots. Oh shit.

Sometimes I think crazy. I think I’m probably missing some key argument. The future can’t be that bleak.

If anime were a religion, magical girls would be one of its Five Pillars, along with shounen battle, love comedy, mecha and sports. Friendship, courage and cuteness are the fundamentals of the classic mahou shoujo. Implied yuri and teenage angst come optional in contemporary interpretations.

It’s a genre that is really easy to understand and that’s why I’ve never really been a huge fan of it. It’s like watching the latest Hollywood adaptation of yet another Marvel superhero — mildly entertaining with few surprises.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is different. I am not ready to declare it the best show this season after three episodes, but I will say that it definitely stands out.

Story

Madoka Magica has a typical story. Madoka Kaname, a normal and klutzy heroine who is not very confident about herself, finds herself caught in the midst of a supernatural battle between “Puellae Magi” (magical girls) and “Witches”.

Stare into its eyes…

Kyubey, the obligatory magical mascot creature, wants to recruit Madoka to fight the Witches and offers to grant her a single wish of her choice in return.

Homura Akemi, a transfer student with an unfriendly demeanour who turns out to be a Puella Magi herself, cryptically warns Madoka not to get involved.

Mami Tomoe, a Puella Magi fighting for Kyubey, gives Madoka some friendly advice and teaches her what being a Puella Magi entails.

Thoughts

Madoka Magica’s art style instantly stands out. The background illustrations, whether indoors or outdoors, are expansive and untamed, very unlike the claustrophobic Japanesque settings usually found in anime. Every scene in the anime feels surreal and somehow magical for reasons I can’t quite put into words.

Classroom without desks

Such rooftops have never been seen on an anime school building

The railings are straight but the street lights are caught in a fish-eye lens

The fight scenes take place in some kind of alternate dimension created by the Witches. The background animation in this alternate dimension features a cut-out visual style I can only describe as “Monty Python”. There is something mildly disturbing about the little creatures(?) scurrying around this alternate dimension. I would describe these sequences as visual manifestations of nightmares.

What is this I don’t even

The stuff dreams are made of

Maybe this is just a cunning plan to cut animation budget

The start of the first episode is somewhat reminiscent of Black Rock Shooter.

The score composed by Yuki Kajiura and the ending song by Kalafina are amazing as usual and Kajiura’s style is really a perfect match for the animation. The combination sends chills down my spine.

Okay, I realize I am just writing in random disjointed sentences. This show is really messing up my mind. Let me try to collect my thoughts…

*Deep breath*

I think the most enjoyable part of Madoka Magica is the way it manages to capture exactly what I think magical girls should feel like.

Beneath the cutesy surface, there is an unspoken air of uncertainty, paranoia and even fear. There is a subtle hint that something dark and horrible lies just out of sight and things are not as simple as they appear to be. Refuge from the unknown is only temporary and peace can at any moment be replaced by chaos. The music and the otherworldly art style bring that message home perfectly.

You can frame this and hang it on a wall

Imagine, a weird talking creature appears one day to tell you to risk your life fighting unknown monsters. There is nothing magical or happy about that picture. Unlike most titles of the genre, Madoka Magica tells it as it is. I really, really like that.

Penetrating stare…

The fact is that magical girls in anime are never truly in danger. Fear and despair always come across as a transparent performance seeking to accentuate the ultimate triumph of love, hope and all things pure and good. The presentation in these shows never matches the supposed gravity of the situation — little girls fighting for their lives against great evil. The heroine may be torn and tattered, but the audience is never really forced to leave our comfort zone.

Madoka Magica on the other hand makes me feel very uncomfortable. It feels like there are no safe assumptions to be made and everything can and will fall apart at a moment’s notice. I have no idea where the story is going and I am dying to find out. This is a good thing.

Step 1 to fighting Witches

Own, like, a billion guns

For example, Kyubey looks like a stereotypical magical companion, but I find his unchanging expression, adorable as it may be, rather disturbing. When he offers Madoka a wish in return for her becoming a Puella Magi, the first thing that came to my mind was that it sounds like a deal with the devil. The fact that Homura appears to be very bitter about being a Puella Magi and wants to stop Madoka from becoming one further foreshadows the nature of this Faustian bargain.

Kyubey’s eternally frozen :3 expression looks downright unhinging if you pay attention. It cannot be unseen.

Your soul in exchange for anything you wish and powers beyond your imagination

Similarly, there is thus far no real explanation for why Puellae Magi are fighting the Witches. Interestingly, Witches drop a “Seed” when they die, which can then be used by a Puella Magi to recharge her magical powers. This frankly sounds like a predator-prey relationship more than a fight for love or justice. It seems to hint at something darker and more sinister about the unexplained relationship between the two.

Of course, it is possible that I am over-thinking this whole thing. Perhaps it will turn out to be nothing more than a completely generic mahou shoujo story with funkier art.

But the fact that the show makes me wonder at all is probably testament to its uniqueness.

Usually I only spend one post on every show I blog about, either a first impression or a full review. I think this may turn out to be one of the few exceptions. We shall see.

More screencaps

Madoka’s mother is, dare I say, a MILF

This is totally getting banned in Tokyo

This supporting character reminds me of someone but I cannot quite come up with a name

I guess Homura is Fate to Madoka’s Nanoha…

Sayaka is Madoka’s good friend

She’s kind of a main character but seems redundant

Weird structure on top of the school building

Classy

It’s some kind of monster chicken

Someone should introduce Mami to guns that can hold more than one round

Or I guess one huge round would do…

The hidden camera view…

Sweet dreams are made of this

I am suddenly reminded of this.

日本鬼子 (ri ben gui zi) is a common disparaging term in China for Japanese people, dating back to the Sino-Japanese War(s). After the recent Diaoyu/Senkaku geo-political drama, the term has seen a resurgence in popularity in China, where the anti-Japanese movement comes back in fashion every so often.

Some creative Japanese folks noticed that 日本鬼子 can easily be parsed as a female Japanese name “Hinomoto Oniko” and the moé-fication project began.

A Japanese blog (that has since been made private) translated some responses obtained from Chinese netizens. Most of the reactions can be summarized as, “What is this I don’t even-” but one guy calmly said, “Please give her long straight black hair.”

More pics on Itai-News and this Chinese blog. More discussions on Slashdot JP. There’s also a YouTube video compilation of the images. I won’t be surprised if Oniko doujinshi start popping up in the Winter Comiket.

Anime otaku: helping to realize world peace one politically-inappropriate personification at a time. Personally, as a Nanjing-born Chinese, I think this is awesome.

Uh, I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t exactly associate Thailand with bishoujo games. Although Kotaku says that this game is ero, I don’t see anything that supports this claim. (And Kotaku is generally wrong about otaku-related stuff anyway, despite its namesake.) But I can’t say for sure either way since I can’t read Thai to save my life.

Promo and gameplay videos embedded after the break.

Judging from the videos, the quality of the game looks to be on par with most doujin releases. It actually looks not bad on the whole. StudioGU just needs to get the game some voice overs and it will be all set for prime time! (Probably.)

Come on guys, Singapore needs to invest in this emerging market too. It has great growth potential. (I can offer my “professional” service as a story writer.)

[ Source: Angel’s Tale via Kotaku ]

I just caught the first episode of Da Capo II and, as a long-time fan of the game and the franchise in general, I must say, “WTF!?” The whole episode is just one huge blasphemy.

But if you have never heard of the series before or if, heaven forbids, you are a Koko fan, then it’s actually a pretty decent first episode of a series that’s clearly trying its best to differentiate itself from its source material. But I am a fanboy and I find the overall lack of Nanaka to be highly disturbing.

For a quick summary of Da Capo II, I quote myself:

For the uninitiated, Da Capo II is the sequel to the popular bishoujo game Da Capo. Both the Da Capo and Da Capo Second Season anime series are actually based on the first game, leading to much confusion amongst casual fans and the non-hardcore. This time the main character is Yoshiyuki Sakurai who has not one but two sisters unrelated by blood, Otome Asakura and Yume Asakura, the granddaughters of Nemu (heroine of the first game).

So yeah, it’s a pretty generic harem series made for the sole purpose of leeching fanboy money. But it’s reasonably good due to a good mix of character types and a generally strong cast of seiyuu, which I will talk about later. But let me first tell you what I think of episode one…

Point number one, this is the single best scene in the entire episode.

Or shall I say the single best split second. Because it’s part of the opening animation and the only other appearance by Nanaka has her surrounded by a bunch of annoying fanboys (I hate fanboys). WTF!? This makes it considerably difficult for me to enjoy the rest of the episode.

Secondly, Yume, the protagonist’s stepsister, is voiced by Yui Horie! WTF!?

Basically, because D.C. II takes place 50 years after the original, a few of the heroines are related to the characters in the first game. Yume Asakura is the granddaughter of Nemu Asakura, while Nanaka Shirakawa is the granddaughter of Kotori Shirakawa.

In the anime adaptation of the original series, and especially in the Second Season, the producers decided to go with Nemu for the happily-ever-after ending instead of Kotori, the bestest best heroine in the entire Da Capo franchise (tied with her granddaughter). This decision pissed me off a great deal and bought them an express ticket onto my list of people-to-be-killed.

Although Yui Horie had no involvement in the games, she played the role of Kotori for both seasons of the original series, so it’s entirely ill-fitting for her to be taking on the role of Yume, the granddaugter of Nemu. If anything, she should be voicing Nanaka.

This brings me to my third point of discontent: Nanaka is not voiced by Hitomi Nabatame!

Hitomi did an exactly job playing Nanaka in the game. Usually well-funded anime adaptations prefer to drop obscure seiyuu used by the original 18-kin games in favour of more recognizable mainstream names, which is why Yume is not voiced by the same seiyuu as the game. But for Nanaka, this is clearly not true as Hitomi has also appeared in numerous high profile titles such as Shana, Marimite and Sukuran. Whatever the reason is, I hate this decision.

In the anime, Nanaka is voiced by Minori Chihara (Yuki Nagato). WTF!?

Sigh.

Well, these are actually all very personal reasons for my disliking of the first episode. In all fairness, the production value appears to be fairly high and the plot is not copied wholesale from the game, making it somewhat original.

Also, I think that an Otome ending is highly possible, and she is quite high up on my list (not the one of people marked for death, the other list), so I shall continue following this series.

Okay, I’m lazy to describe the episode any further (or at all), so I shall do it the Anime Bloggers Way® and spam a ton of pictures instead. Actually, I’m too lazy to do even that, so I’m going to just insert this table of thumbnails which was auto-generated using Media Player Classic. :)

Click to view the full version

I hate Koko.

I was just scrolling through Moon Phase’s list of autumn anime and I came across Hanoka. The official site doesn’t have much information, but a single line in the promo video on the homepage caught my attention:

日本初！！
本格フラッシュテレビアニメーション
「HANOKA」

Translation:

Japan’s First!!
True Flash TV Animation
“HANOKA”

“Flash TV Animation”. I think the industry has just hit a new low. I can’t find more details anywhere on the site, but the animation in the promo video certainly looks like it was done in Flash. And it’s going to be aired on TV…

Which begs the question: Why the hell would anyone want to make an anime using Flash!? Anime are all made digitally anyway and I don’t see how using Flash can help lower the production cost. Are the creators aimming for the “new radical idea” angle? Or are they high on crack?

I watched Nana the movie finally. In fact I was writing quite a lengthy review on it but I stopped halfway due to my laziness and now it’s saved as an invisible private entry on this page until the time comes when I feel like finishing it. Mika Nakashima <3<3<3<3<3 The story is quite good although the ending is somewhat… short. I’m somewhat tempted to start collecting the manga but I’ll decide after I watch the upcoming anime series.

I also rewatched Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and the first few episodes of Kimagure Orange Road… Nostalgia overflow~ Madoka Ayukawa <3<3<3<3<3

I think I’ll be preordering Da Capo II…

Anyway, I was in Funan DigitalLife Mall today and I noticed this peculiar sight…

Someone tell me what the hell is happening here.

Yes, you see that right. There’s a fricking Xbox 360 booth located inside an official Apple store. And the HD monitor isn’t even made by Apple. (It’s LG) I know that almost every store in Funan is promoting Xbox 360 but this is just too weird. Maybe the Apple staff thought that the white colour case matches the iPod display? And before you know it Microsoft will be bundling iPods with 360 premium packs…

Oh well, more blogging tomorrow… possibly. (At least I hope to finish that Nana review.)

Common sense dictates that submerging your high-end PC in cooking oil is not a good idea. But, of course, engineering feats and science breakthroughs were made possible by those who dared to explore the realms of the non-conventional. Members of the Munich-based THG lab are only too happy to confirm this fact. And not only did we find that our AMD Athlon FX-55 and GeForce 6800 Ultra equipped system didn’t short out when we filled the sealed shut PC case with cooking oil – but the non-conductive properties of the liquid coupled created a totally cool and quiet high-end PC, devoid of the noise pollution of fans. The PC case – or should we say tank – also offered a new and novel way to display and show off your PC components.

「まい　ねいむ　いず　あな」

But more importantly, something has been bothering me since forever. What exactly is the joke with Ana’s last name? The manga didn’t explain it, so I assume that it must be something really obvious to a Japanese. I tried searching dictionaries and googling for “コッポラ”, but I can’t find any possible explanations. The Japanese Wikipedia entry isn’t very helpful either. In the anime, Miu-chan gives Ana the nickname “穴骨洞” (anakoppora) and the English Wikipedia entry took that to be the joke, but it can’t be because it’s not in the manga! Also, “穴骨洞” (formed out of the kanji for “hole”, “bones” and “cave”) is not a real word, so it’s not something that everyone would immediately associate with her name, which means that it makes no sense for the girls (excluding Miu) to react weirdly when they hear it.

Therefore, there must be some other reason why the name “Coppola” is humourous in Japanese. Something that is immediately obvious to any Japanese, such that the manga does not need to explicitly explain the joke. Someone suggested to me that maybe it sounds like koppura, which is short for cup ramen. That’s the most likely explanation I’ve heard so far, but then again, “Coppola” is written as koppora and not koppura.

My other theory is that it’s either a slant for swearing or a sexual reference. This would explain why the anime handled the joke quite differently from the manga (just look at what censorship did to Nobue). In that case, it’s still weird that WWWJDIC doesn’t have the word, since it contains quite a lot of informal entries.

This question is driving me nuts! Just what the hell is so funny about Ana’s last name!?