Spoiler Rating: This is a General Anime Post, which attempts to analyze certain aspects of anime, often over a wide range of anime. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being very high spoilers, the spoiler level is ten. Major plot spoilers and/or ending events are revealed for Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, Chrono Crusade, and Kanon, although hidden in invisible text. You are welcome to read through the post, unveiling only the spoilers you want to see.

What is symbolism? In literature class, we may have learned that symbolism is the use of symbols to represent things such as ideas and emotions, or something along those lines. However, we may also remember perusing through a chapter of a novel or reading over a poem for the tenth time trying to find that hidden symbolism. Why is that? The definition of symbolism as we learn it refers to something more obscure, an object that indirectly connects different ideas that may not be obvious with a simple glance. But the question that we must ask ourselves is, how useful is this symbolism? If something is truly a symbolism, then why should it be cryptic and require literature analysis?

In anime, I look at symbolism in a completely different. To me, for something to be a symbolism, it has to tell a story behind it in a clear way. It does not have to be obvious at first that it is a symbolism, but it has to be memorable, something that can be used to jolt our memory, letting us recall the images and scenes that are associated with that object. Imagine that while not thinking of the anime, you stumble upon a certain object. Without warning, all of the memories of the anime you thought you have forgotten comes rushing back, and you realizes how powerful that symbolism really is. Because to be true symbolism, it needs to do more than represent ideas and emotions. It has to have the ability to store them, hold them in, and then release them fully and mercilessly.

Even though characters or pretty much anything can symbolize something, I have found that in anime, there are two categories that emcompass the most powerful symbolism: They are photographs and possessions. The first type of symbolism, through photographs, is the easier one to understand and spot prematurely, because even in real life, photographs hold lots of memories. Similarly to opening an album you haven’t touched in a long time, a photograph in anime can suddenly bring back past events, often more effectively than words. The first example will be a photograph from the series Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.

(Highlight the 3 paragraphs below to read Kimi ga Nozomu Eien spoilers.)

This photograph was taken near the end of episode 2, before Haruka’s accident. At that time, it was a reminder of their friendship, how they will come to each other’s side and comfort one another if one has a tough time. It was also significant because it was the first photo that the four friends took together. While supposed to be on a date with Haruka, Takayuki found Mitsuki depressed and decided to try talk to Mitsuki instead. At this time, while Mitsuki was harboring feelings for Takayuki, she had no desire to take him from Haruka. So in a sense, all four of them were truly friends with no bad intentions towards one another. The picture was an important portrayal of their current relationship up to that point. Read the rest of this entry »

I dunno what happen this week but i assume everyone busy. My internet really suck and i missed two days in Saimoe. Anyway sorry for late preview, uis report for group G Saimoe.

Anyway let see my prediction chart. Kevo still busy with his college, anyway i hope my chart will satisfied you all.

Please Click For Full Size

Okay i try to copy Kevo format lol…

Overview

This group have many favourite name that expected doing well in this year Saimoe. Suzumiya Haruhi and Nagato Yuki will show that they still favourite to win this group even some rumour said they weaken with Endless Eight. Yuki have full force with Haruhi-chan so no doubt she will do better in this year Saimoe. We witness the day defended champion lost to Mikuru so i think Haruhi character will doing better. Looking to another block, i will say Mihoko and Ushio will doing well. Anyway this block really hard to predict because many awesome character also involve, i mean Misaka Mikoto and Tainaka Ritsu.

Notable Match

Anyway i didnt see any interesting match in group G but maybe this match will interest you. I mean Mikoto vs Sawako because Index lost 1-0 to K-ON. Maybe Mikoto will revenge Index?. We will see later.

Bracket Buster

Because i love shock so i put many bracket buster. First one is Houjou Satoko. Higurashi doing well with Mion and Rika go to 2nd round. Maybe Satoko will pull surprise and defeat Yuki?. Oh well we will see it later. Second one is Yamanaka Sawako. Azusa and Nodoka match result said that K-ON fanbase still strong. Azunyan defeat Index show it. Anyway can Sawa-chan defeat the biribiri shocker Misaka Mikoto?. Yeah we will see in tomorrow. Third one is Kijima Saki. Saki really doing well in preliminary but she will meet another moe drummer and one of K-ON member Tainaka Ritsu. Can Saki pull upset?. We will see it later. Last one is my number 9 favourite in my moe list Mashiro Rima. If Amu manage to defeat Ui, why Rima can not defeat Ushio. This is tough but i hope Rima can win.

Dark Horse

The only i think Dark Horse for this group is Athena. She really popular in manga but if we see how Harukaze Chiharu perform, i did not see she will doing well.

Prediction

Yeah i will said Nagato Yuki vs Suzumiya Haruhi and Fukuji Mihoko vs Ushio in block final.
Than Yuki vs Mihoko and Yuki win this group.

I hope my prediction wrong. ^^

More like group Ffffffffffffffffffff.

This is Seishi reporting in for Saimoe duty. I’m not going to review the Group E results; bug someone else in LA if you need the analysis. Instead, let’s get straight to looking at tomorrow’s action-filled block. Predicted winners will have their names in bold.

Group F - by uis

F01: Isn’t it sad, Touka-sama? No Hajime here to fight the other meido for you. – Maria

F02: Ana and the other girl both had very similar results in prelims. Ichigo Mashimaro is fading a bit, while CLANNAD remains strong. – Girl etc.

F03: Dueling factions put their side girls against each other. Go with the top dog so far. – Maho

F04: The champ is here. No reason she can’t do well again. – Kagami

F05: The darkest one wins in this blue-haired extravaganza. – Ami

F06: The Palmtop Tiger wouldn’t miss a chance to meet her good pal in the second round. Tiger uppercuts all around. – Taiga

F07: I think uis overestimates Akane-iro a bit much in this match. A yuki-onna might be coming to freeze him now… – Mizore

F08: Block voting from a dim Ichigo Mashimaro faction could help Miu, but she should end up in Shion’s wake, who in turn falls to a loli. – Kuroko

F09: If the Index faction is smart, they’ll know what to do. Actually, I think a hivemind is much more likely than a split in this case, given who they are up against. – Index

F10: Hot mamma. – Nagisa

F11: Magic should prevail in this battle of castaways. – Yue

F12: Ai had better preliminary results, but Shugo Chara is at least a fair-sized faction. – Su

Second Round

Maria vs Girl vs Maho Yumeno: Looks like Maria won’t miss any more cleaning opportunities…

Kagami Hiiragi vs Ami Kawashima vs Taiga Aisaka: Split voting is very cruel to Seishi.

Mizore Shirayuki vs Kuroko Shirai vs Index: …split vote? What split vote?

Nagisa Furukawa vs Yue Ayase vs Su: The magic runs out for the losing contestants here.

Third Round

Maria vs Kagami Hiiragi: TIME TO PARTY LIKE IT’S 2007! This year’s theme: revenge

Index vs Nagisa Furukawa: Index substitutes as Nagisa’s child and gets taken home

Group Final

Maria vs Nagisa Furukawa: And thus finishes Maria’s clean sweep of F block. Everything is in order.

Personal Thoughts

Taiga and Touka are my #1 and #2 respectively; it pains me to make these predictions with that in mind. My only hope is for Touka to bracket-bust the first round and continue Maria’s curse. The other side has nobody I really feel strongly for, but I will support Index.

Oh okay… I will take preview for Group E… Seishi will doing it for Group F…
Anyway lets see kevo prediction first…

Click image for full size

Analysis

D01: Yami, Asuka and Mifuyu is quite strong there but i can see Yami will win this group.

D02: Hina will rape everyone in this group.

D03: Basicly Mikan will win this but because maybe tactical vote from To Love Ru fanbase, Mikan maybe will lose.

D04: Another hard choice. Kevo predict Torako and i will go with Minami.

D05: Obviously Yui will win but K-ON anti-vote really annoying for me. I will go with Yui.

D06: Yeah. Another great battle to watch. Saimoe 2007 winner vs saki fanbase vs clannad fanbase vs strike witches fanbase. This will be hard and tough but believe me Rika will win. *with new Umineko ep 5 VN, Rika have a little boost*

D07: Oh well. Tomoyo will rape and rape and rape everyone.

D08: Another nice battle. Mermaid vs Magician vs Loli Fighter vs Hamster. Hmmm sure SnH fanbase is weaken but Koihime Musou fanbase quite strong and Chouhi is one of top tier Koihime Musou character. Hamster sure have chance and Hajime have quite large fanbase to support her. I will go with Hajime though.

D09: Francessa will win but i want see how strong Melon lol.

D10: Shiki and Miyuki have equal chance. Anyway i will go with Miyuki.

D11: Seriously i dont know how to choose anyone from this group. I want Ayumi to win but i will go with Bachou. Hmmm anyway lets see how Teru will make upset or not.

D12: Oh well Minorin will win.

Using my ability, i predict Hina vs Rika and Tomoyo vs Minori in round 3.

Okay you heard this from me, Hina vs Tomoyo in block final and Hina will win.

This sure interesting i put my prediction to Hina but my most fav here is Yui. Anyway Hina can lose:-

-To Love Ru sacrifice either Yami or Mikan and going full force against Hina.
-Rika have boost with Higurashi Rei and Umineko Chiru. Rika maybe manage to beat Hina.
-Clannad or Saki fanbase(if Hajime win) going full force on Hina in block final.

Oh well that for now. My feeling said Hina will win but i hope Yui can manage and win this block.

After a week layoff, Saimoe is back in business. Serious business. Let’s take a look at group C results.

C1:  Takei Hisa (buchou) @ Saki (as expected)
C4: Sonozaki Mion @ Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei (Dang, my predictions are not doing well)
C7: Nogizaka Mika @ Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu
C10: Kamigaki Megumi @ Saki (Since Megumi is a very minor character, this shows that the Saki faction is very strong. Watch out)

C2: Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière @ Zero no Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~
C5: Tsuruya-san/Churuya-san @ Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu / Nyoro~n☆Churuya-s (Oh shit, I look real dumb now for putting Kotori in the finals)
C8: Fujibayashi Kyou @ Clannad ~After Story~
C11: Ichinose Kotomi @ Clannad ~After Story~

C3:  Sakamoto Mio @ Strike Witches (Strike Witches faction reporting for duty!)
C6: Kyon’s sister @ Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu (Kyon-kun, denwa~)
C9: Konoe Konoka @ Mahou Sensei Negima! ~Shiroki Tsubasa Ala Alba~ (Negima can still win matches? Woah!)
C12: Touyoko Momoko @ Saki (The hate voters are merciless)

I am a terrible 5/10 on my group C round 1 predictions. Oh god. Why am I even writing this column, lol. Hopefully, group D will be more tame. Well, if it’s not more tame, it definitely isn’t easier. Group D is weak as hell, so expect random upsets that aren’t really upsets to happen.

Click image for full size

Overview

Group D is strangely weak yet it doesn’t seem like anything is a pushover. D1 is full of minor characters and is thus very hard to predict. This group has a ton of characters who all have a shot into the singles matches. Overall, I’m penciling in Patricia Martin against Ui Hirasawa in the C1 finals. In D2, Erica, Sakuya and Ranka should advance easily. Mitsuki Shiina and Sanae Furukawa will have a decent battle in round 1.

Notable Pairings

The key is Saki’s Amae Koromo against Segawa Isumi. Miyako also being in that pairing is tricky as she siphons votes from both characters. Regardless, I think Koromo can take this one to the house.

Also notable is the packed house of Komoe, Yuuhi, and Patty. The winner here will probably win D1, so the match is particularly important. Kholdstare says that “Lucky Star is too weak right now and Yuuhi doesn’t seem that strong” and has Komoe. I personally have Patty. Our other predictions in D1 are the same.

Bracket Busters

With what happened to K-ON recently, Hirasawa Ui shouldn’t even be the favorite in her match. Banking on K-ON is risky business now a days, as Amu Hinamori is no slouch. If you can qualify for ISML, you can set off a surprise in Saimoe.

Dark Horse

Erica Hartmann will win her match running away, and is a threat to win the group. Watch out. Ranka could also go farther than just the C2 finals.

Predictions

kevo: Patricia Martin def. Hirasawa Ui // Amae Koromo def Ranka Lee, Koromo Amae wins group.

Kholdstare: Ui Hirasawa def. Misae Sagara // Koromo Amae def. Hanyuu Koromo Amae wins group.

Here are the results for Diamond 2 of International Saimoe League 2009.

Results by Arena:

Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been voting in International Saimoe League (ISML), then you may have noticed that its website is currently down. The staff of ISML said that they have domain renewal difficulties. Apparently, it cannot be done since there are login problems. The staff is hopeful that ISML will eventually be back up, although a delay of one week or more can be expected. The votes of Diamond 2 were able to be saved before this unfortunate events, so ISML will continue with Diamond 3 when its domain is back.

If you want to be updated with ISML, then check out its Twitter page. Most of the staff and some of its voters have a community on IRC, channel #ISML on server irc.rizon.net. You can enter this channel directly via ChatZilla if you have the add-on and is using Firefox. Since Diamond 3 is originally schedule for Friday and will probably be rescheduled to another Friday, it would be safe to check back with the ISML site every Friday to see if the problem is resolved.

The results of Diamond 2 will be posted on at least four blogs this Friday. They are:

1. Lunatic Antics
2. Moe Tournament Ratings
3. Saimoeはたいへんしんこく！
4. Desu ex Machina

Thanks voters for your patience while this problem is being worked on.

Actually i dont have mood to post blog for now because busy playing Gift ~Niji iro Stories~ and Cross Days Trial Version but anyway because Minori launch Eden demo OP last week, i think i should write about it because it soooo awesome.

Oh well lets see the OP first:-

I love how Minori put their work on Eden OP. Seriously amazing. Even the music quite meh for me, the art is too awesome. Minori good job, I hope Eden game also awesome not just OP but storyline, character design and music arrangement. I can not said anything about Eden yet because Minori so gay block all foreigner from their site. Even people always said dont judge book from cover, i see Eden have potential to become a great VN. I want to see how Key make their Rewrite OP. Oh well i can tell they can not defeat Minori but i hope it awesome. Oh well, thats all for now. Before you go enjoy another Minori OP visual novels, ef first tale and latter tale ^^

Anyway wait for my Manabiya review okay. So lazy.

Spoiler Rating: This is a Series Analysis, which attempts to analyze the series and present the author’s likes and dislikes of the series. On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being very high spoilers, the spoiler level is 6. Short episode summaries are presented for episodes 1-4, 5, 12, and 13, as well as thoughts about the ending. However, nothing in this post would be considered a major spoiler that would lower the enjoyment of the reader.

Ah, K-ON!, the show everyone was looking forward to watching. Before it aired, it had already gathered lovers and haters alike, and moreso after. K-ON! is a twelve-episode anime adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation, maybe the least prolific anime to receive such popularity. The title comes from the word けいおん, or keion, meaning light music. In this anime, light music refers to popular music, which resembles the J-pop songs played in anime opening and ending sequences. In other words, K-ON! is an anime that features a band playing J-pop; what could go wrong, right? Read the rest of this entry »

Excuse me while I finish scrubbing the fallout from yesterday’s match.

Okay. Due to some outlandish comments about Mio having no chance of losing unfortunate circumstances beyond our control, kevo has relinquished Saimoe writing duties for at least one day. However, I’m not here to talk about the ridiculous result of the last match; I’ll leave that for the experts out there.

It’s back to risky business for Lunatic Antics as block C kicks off early Sunday morning in the Americas. This group is very much a crapshoot, especially with more than one potential first round bust waiting to happen. I’m currently 17-3 with my predictions, so feel free to take this as a credible source.

Analysis

C01: Charlotte? Are you kidding me? I think the Saki faction wants to solidify themselves early after witnessing the possible unravelling of the K-ON faction. I’m going with Hisa by at least a hundred votes.

C02: This is not a weak group. Louise should win, but Luna is famous for her upset victory over Hinagiku Katsura in 2007′s contest. And any Hidamari Sketch character should at least be given a shot against any other mid-tier character.

(Ed. note:  I love Sae.  Blue hair, meganekko, creative writer?  I’m weak to all three of these traits.  Sadly, when it comes to Saimoe, I think she’s historically performed the worst out of the main cast.)

C03: With a possible Minami-ke split, the door is open for either Mio or Risa to take this one. Given how Risa squeeked in through prelims despite having a bigger faction, I give the edge to Mio, even though kevo does not believe she is a “strong contender.”

C04: This should come down to the wire between Mion and Yukine with Fumika possibly eating some precious votes away. I’ll agree with kevo and say Yukine for this one.

C05: This match will not be a test of how strong Kotori is, but how many votes Tsuruya loses, much like Ryoko did. I’ll take Kotori.

C06: If anyone comes within a hundred votes of Kyon’s sister, I- never mind. It shouldn’t be hard, anyway.

C07: Four newcomers highlight this round, led by…an imouto. Take Mika plus the 100 votes; you can thank me in a few days.

C08: This match is a joke. Kyou will make them eat dictionaries. In their sleep.

C09: I must admit, this is my favourite match of the first round, if only because of how EVERYONE will overlook it. Kevo doesn’t seem to want to give Haruka the credit she deserves, so I’m going to stick with her.

C10: All four contestants had to grind through the second preliminary round, and I honestly have no other gauge to use for any of them. When in doubt, I’ll side with the bigger faction: Megumi it is.

C11: In a battle of blue vs green, blue always prevails. Take blue- err, Kotomi over CC.

C12: Okay, this was originally my favourite match of the entire block, but after BOSS’s victory I can’t feel special for predicting Momoko to stealth bomb Tsumugi out of this tournament. In fact, it won’t be stealthy anymore…dammit. I’m still taking Momo, though.

Round 2

Hisa Takei vs Louise Valliere vs Mio Sakamoto: There is no Zero no Tsukaima faction, and Mio isn’t exactly high up the witch rankings. Hisa will not even have to sit on a bad wait.

Yukine Miyazawa vs Kotori Shirakawa vs Kyon’s Sister: I don’t really know. Honestly. Actually, predicting the degradation of the Haruhi fanbase I can successfully rule out Kyon’s sister. I really want to believe kevo, but I’ll default to Yukine.

Mika Nogizaka vs Kyou Fujibayashi vs Haruka Nogizaka: The sisters Nogizaka face off to win resident bisexual Kyou Fujibayashi’s affection. Too bad Kyou will leave them behind in order to move onto bigger and better targets.

Megumi Kamigaki vs Kotomi Ichinose vs Momoko Touyoko: Momoko will earn the title of this year’s “Giant Killer”. As kevo would say (even if he doesn’t believe any of my BS): you heard it here first.

Round 3

C1 Finals – Hisa Takei vs Yukine Miyazawa: Brains vs books…or is that brains vs brains? Yukine would gladly treat Hisa to some tea after her defeat.

C2 Finals – Kyou Fujibayashi vs Momoko Touyoko: My entire Saimoe future is hanging on Momoko’s performance in C2.

C-Block Finals

Hisa Takei vs Momoko Touyoko: Normally I wouldn’t do this, but what the heck. MOMO WILL WIN C-BLOCK! See kevo, even I can pull off some crazy shiz once in a while.

P.S.

If the skies part and Kotori manages to face off against Tsumugi in the finals and actually win, kevo will take absolute full credit and I will worship him as a deity for the rest of my life the year.