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ARISE FROM YOUR SLUMBER AND USE MAL ONCE AGAIN

Heya, nice to see a fellow Zipang fan. Although I see you haven't been active in a long time, it's good to see there are others giving it the love it deserves. ^^

*waves* Yo, still alive?

Hi there! I thought it was pretty cool how you like BRADIO and how the Irony of Fate is one of your favorite movies! I also love both so I thought that maybe we could talk sometime :)

oh, i see.

Well, I'll get back to you on Wixoss when I actually watch the damn thing, I'm just curious enough that I'll try to finish it.

As for Angel Beats being "wonderful trash", kind of but not really, it's something different. I think there are many valid reasons to be put off by the tone and style of the show, and the writing is definitely a far cry from bulletproof either (especially considering it was supposed to be 26 episodes long so a ton of characters got their backstories truncated or cut altogether), but I think it has a lot of good in it that I may talk about at a later time. Probably a much later time, there are many more important shows I'll have to correct your opinion on first (I jest). For now, let's just say that I don't think melodrama is an inherently bad or "forced" thing, and I don't think being ridiculous is the same as being stupid.

Anyway, part of the reason I wanted to do both Death Note and School Days is because both shows kind of have the same basic failing when it comes to portraying human depth. Let's start by looking at them individually:

Your comment to mahoganycow about how Light was screwed the moment he picked up the Death Note, in my opinion, robs his character of depth rather than adding to it. Ryuk makes it very clear in the first episode that Light is no ordinary human, and that most people who pick up the Death Note, even those who try using it, don't go as far as Light does. Everyone in-series who uses, considers using or even touches a Death Note is either Light's pawn or one of the investigators trying to bring him down. Thus, Light is "special" and has a unique predisposition to using the Death Note to begin with, saying he was "corrupted by it" is giving him far too little credit. In other words, he's just evil. If he hadn't had the Death Note and been empowered as he was, he would've lived a more unassuming life but there's no indication that he would've been a good person. Actually there is, but I'll get back to that in a moment. First, let's compare Light in the first episode to Light in the last episode, by comparing the speeches he gives in each episode.

First Episode Light: "This is exactly what I've been thinking about lately. This world is rotten, and those who are making it rot deserve to die! Someone has to do it, so why not me? Even if it means sacrificing my own mind and soul, it's worth it, because the world can't go on like this. I wonder, what if someone else had picked up this notebook? Is there anyone out there, other than me, who'd be willing to eliminate the vermin from the world? If I don't do it, then who will? That's just it, there's no one! But I can do it. In fact, I'm the only one who can. I'll do it. Using the Death Note, I'll change the world. It'll be a new world, free of injustice and populated by people who I've judged to be honest, kind, and hardworking."

Last Episode Light: "I'm not only Kira, but I am also God of the new world. Kira has become law in the world we now live in. He's the one who's maintaining order. I have become justice, the only hope for mankind. Since Kira's appearance six years ago, wars have stopped, and global crime rates have been reduced by over 70%! But it's not enough, this world is still rotten, with too many rotten people. Somebody has to do this, and when I first got that notebook all those years ago, I knew I had to do it--no, I was the only one who could! I understood that killing people was a crime, but there was no other way! The world had to be fixed! A purpose given to me! Only I could do it. Who else could have done it and come this far?! Would they have kept going? The only one who can create a new world is me..."

Hey wait, the values conveyed in those two speeches are EXACTLY THE SAME! This means that none of the core beliefs that make Light Light have shifted one iota in all those episodes! The only thing that changes is the position he's in. When Light changes his methods, it's never because of a change in his morality, it's always either to avoid detection or because he's running out of inmates to kill (by the way, killing by a daily quota rather than passing case-by-case judgment is another early sign that he just doesn't care about the sanctity of life at all). By episode 2 he's set a trap that could potentially burn his house down and endanger his family rather than let his Death Note be found, and he is fully prepared from early on to kill his own father; in his father's dying moments, the only thing on Light's mind (and we know this because we hear his thought process!) is trying to get his dad to kill Mello in his last moments. What a good son! He cites statistical drops in crime as proof of his goodness, but shows absolutely no concern for any actual people as individuals, only concerned with how useful they are to him (with the possible exception of his little sister, but even that's debatable and she's an underutilized character so... whatever). His reaction to online comments where people give their approval isn't "look, their lives are better", it's "look, they acknowledge me".

These are all consistent traits of his throughout the series, with the exception of the amnesia plot, where he shows a modicum of empathy. But that doesn't really add anything to his character, the moment he gets the Death Note back he becomes his old evil self again completely, absolutely no internal conflict with the him he'd been for all those months. So this leaves us with two possibilities: firstly, that the Light we saw was an inconsistent (or at least optimistic) portrayal of who he would have been without the Death Note because, as explained earlier, the Death Note didn't make him evil, it just empowered him to act on the desire for power he'd had all along. Alternatively, if we suppose that the Death Note did make him evil, that he was a potentially good person with a strong desire for justice that got corrupted into something ugly, then the entirety of that shift happened before he gave his speech in the first episode, in which case THAT story, which we didn't see, would be the real tragedy, and what happened afterward merely the fallout, in the form of an entertaining cat and mouse game (by the way, the creator has gone on record saying he did not want to make a deep or thought-provoking story, he just wanted to make a smartly written piece of entertainment). Other than that, there is no evidence of this being a "fall from grace" story because throughout the whole series Light doesn't doubt himself or struggle at all with the moral implications of what he's doing, he only wonders how best to execute his goals. If there's no struggle, there's no tragedy. Period.

That's not to say that a psychopath can't still be a complex character worthy of the audience's sympathy. I've seen good, well explored characters who are missing that part of your brain that's supposed to keep you from hurting other people, most notably Makishima in Psycho-Pass and to a lesser extent Kirei Kotomine in Fate/Zero (but not Fate/Stay Night) and maaaaaybe Johan Liebert in Monster, but that's not Death Note's angle since the show never explores Light's troubles interacting with other human beings (he's very socially adept and doesn't make a big deal of feeling alienated by society, his god complex is his bubble; L, on the other hand, you could make a case for, since he does doubt himself sometimes) and it's also never an angle any Death Note fans I've met argue, it's always "antihero who becomes corrupted", a position I think I've neatly debunked. If you want to see Light portrayed as a more humanized antihero, try the 2015 live action adaptation. It's not super well-produced (Japanese live action rarely is). but it re-imagines Light as a more soft-spoken, well-meaning guy who starts out actually caring about people, shows him agonizing over whether he's doing the right thing, and only gradually turns him into the cold-blooded serial murderer he is by the end of the series. The downside is that L is a much weaker character in that version, but oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Oh, and the show is also very, very sexist. Not in the blatant "a pair of breasts attached to a woman" way, but in a much more insidious way. Every female character is treated as a tool, and if they act on their own they are, without fail, in the wrong and berated for it, and they are all dependent on/submissive to a man in some way, without exception. The closest thing to an independent female character was Raye Penber's girlfriend, can't remember her name, since she does act competently after her man dies, but she's solely motivated by him and she's punished for pursuing Light by becoming a missing person, not even counted among Kira's statistics or remembered as a martyr. Shoulda just found a new man to tell her what to do, stupid woman. *sigh* The aforementioned live action series was also better on that front.

Okay, time for School Days. Oh hey, Makoto ALSO shows some big "not a good person" red flags from the very first episode! For one thing, he knows basically nothing about what kind of person Kotonoha is, she's just an untouchable flower he enjoys pining for, and he likes staring at her picture on his phone. By the way, it is far too common for anime to romanticize this creepy, obsessive and stalker-ish trope. Also, when Sekai tells him that she knows about his "secret" crush, he threatens her, physically and aggressively. (At that point, Sekai, who also had no reason to be particularly attached to Makoto, should have said "fuck this" and had nothing more to do with him, but because School Days is also incredibly sexist she keeps trying to "help" him because... she's in love with him? Even though she doesn't seem to know him very well?) After he asks Kotonoha out (and wouldn't you know it she's also interested in him even though she doesn't know anything about him) he quickly grows bored with her and debauchery ensues. Before you say "but that's the point", let me add that, like Light, he never seems to ask "am I doing the right thing", it's all just "what/who do I want and can I have it/her". Again, if there's no struggle, there's no tragedy. So of course, he comes back to Kotonoha in the end, because she's devolved into a fucking vegetable after being ignored by her first love who didn't bother to properly break up with her. Hey, that's also really sexist!

Basically, Makoto is proof that the shy kid in the corner is not always a nice guy. Before you say "but that's the point", let me add that he has no personality outside of his romantic entanglements. We don't really know anything about his interests besides Kotonoha, his family situation, how he became so withdrawn, or what his home is like, or where he goes. You could argue that School Days succeeds as a deconstruction because it has an idea about where genre tropes could lead, but it's deconstructing a genre that's basically a male sexual fantasy to begin with, and it doesn't understand any better than a typical harem what leads to a harem situation to begin with. It starts with the harem cliche of "I've been pining for you from afar", and before you say "but that's the point", shallow attractions like those may happen in real life but they should and usually do fizzle when the reality that you don't know each other sets in. There may be deep psychological insecurities at the root of Kotonoha's dependency on Makoto but they're simplified to the tritest, simplest extreme: "he's my first love". We don't really know anything about Kotonoha outside of how she feels about Makoto. True, he's emotionally abusive to her, but a character deciding to go out with a boy who seems nice, getting deeper and deeper into a bad relationship, and becoming emotionally effective? That only works if we know SOMETHING about the girl outside of her relationship. Otherwise, it's a sexist portrayal of a woman as a creature without agency, to be defined entirely by her first relationship with the first boy to approach her. We also don't see her struggling against Makoto's emotional absue, she's putty in his hands.

From there, the "pining from afar" trope becomes less plausible because the illusion of Makoto being a nice guy is gone, so instead it turns to "I want to know what that other girl sees in him", which is an equally shallow form of interest. Before you say "that's the point", it may not be as common for harem characters (though a token alpha bitch haremette isn't unheard of) but it's just as simple and reductive an explanation ("women are such petty and vindictive creatures"), and somehow it gets him in bed with every pair of breasts attached to a woman in the show, which elevates this view of women to "blanket statement" status. All of these characters conveniently decide to leave Makoto at the same time just to push him toward that awful ending, and I get the tiniest bit of satisfaction from seeing them get tired of his shit but a) they're all bit characters, and the show doesn't even do a good job fleshing out its leads to make me care about them, so you can guess how invested I was in the characters themselves, and b) that tiny bit of satisfaction was immediately undermined by Makoto going back to his vegetable waifu. He isn't trying to turn over a new leaf, he's no less selfish, he's just settling for who he knows he can have now that his options are more limited. There are two characters who could be considered "tragic". There's the loli character, whose name I can't remember. She does struggle because she cares about Makoto (why?) and doesn't want to see him destroy himself (what about all the girls he's being terrible to?), and I found her fate upsetting, even if I didn't buy into her as a human being (because like everyone else in the show, her entire character is defined by how she feels about Makoto).

The other arguably tragic character is Sekai, so let's talk about her. Sekai initially gives no hints that she's emotionally vulnerable, dependent, or unhinged, aside from her very bad decision to "help" Makoto. She falls in love with him because... she's with him and he's the protagonist? Uuuuuuuuugh. Anyway, she does have internal conflict over whether to be with Makoto or support him, and she's also troubled by her inability to be honest about her (inexplicable) feelings toward him, so there is some foundation for tragedy, and the stress of getting pregnant would definitely increase that conflict exponentially. I suppose you could argue the "inability to communicate properly" is the foundation for her decision to kill Makoto rather than trying to talk to him? Since apparently she's still in love with him and saw that as the only way to "be with him", and didn't want to JUST FUCKING TALK TO HIM, for fear of being outright rejected? But no, I'm sorry, just... no. Before you say "that's the point", it is a cartoonish extreme to take the character to, also incredibly sexist, arguably as bad a form of emotional dependency as Kotonoha's, and aside from being pregnant, which is admittedly a big deal, her motivation is too muddled (don't say "subtle") to be meaningful to the audience; I didn't buy that she was in love with him before and I especially didn't buy it in the end.

On a whole, I find School Days to be a show that wallows in unearned cynicism and an altogether misanthropic POV. I may know, or know of, people who have done some of the kinds of things these characters do, but I don't know people like these characters, because their motivations are all so tritely arithmetic. "I'm pregnant with Makoto's baby + Makoto is taken = I have to kill Makoto", "Makoto is going out with Kotonoha + Kotonoha is out of his league = I want to go out with Makoto", "Makoto isn't returning my calls + Makoto is my first love = *drooooooool*". School Days has to make some huge leaps to get from any given Point A to Point B. It's a 12-episode slippery slope fallacy. Artificial bitterness is just as offputting to me as artificial sweetness, and School Days paints its characters in such cartoonish extremes that it plays more like a mockumentary made by aliens whose only exposure to humanity is through bad harem anime (I owe mahoganycow for that particular simile, it's pretty great). Even if I were to accept that these events could happen, the show does a really poor job of articulating them. The most it manages to say is that "relationships rooted in shallow attractions don't turn out well", but it doesn't really have anything to add beyond that. Its attempts to address questions like "how do you get into a toxic relationship", "how do you become emotionally dependent on someone", "how do you become dissatisfied with your love life", and "how do you break out of [the three aforementioned situations], and what happens as a result" are all dependent on the audience's ability to project imagined depths onto these puppet-characters. The show itself depends on tropes and contrivances to answer these questions. Frankly, I've seen far too many better-executed "awful and miserable people make each other more awful and miserable" stories for this one to do anything for me, but even if I hadn't I'd still hate it because no matter how much you argue that real people might do what these characters are doing, that does not mean it understands human nature.

That said, I do love the ending, and only the ending. Because I actively hated the show, its worldview, and its characters, seeing them experience such a hilariously horrible fate put a big stupid grin on my face, and I found it thoroughly cathartic. I will not be called "misanthropic" for this, because you can only be misanthropic toward humans and I don't see the cast of School Days as remotely human. It's the sort of satisfaction an elementary schooler gets from throwing a year's worth of notes and homework onto a bonfire at the start of summer. And that is the only good I got out of School Days, which explains why I like it so much less than Death Note, which wasn't deep, but it was well-animated (School Days looks cheap and shoddy), mostly well-written, engagingly directed, and consistently entertaining. I saw School Days as 11 1/2 episodes of pure wallowing with little to no thoughtful commentary to justify it to me, and then a much-appreciated (but still not enough) apology at the end. So there you have it.

You don't like mangas?

You're welcome

Okay then, how about I add my two cents to your discussion about Death Note? Or I could do School Days for good measure. Pick your poison. Or I could do both at once. Actually, please ask me to do both at once!

Two things I'd like to say about Madoka. Firstly, while perceiving the characters as stereotypes is understandable, the show does in fact manage to humanize its cast far beyond the archetypes they initially appear to be. The characters are a little more self-aware than typical girls their age, but they're in a situation that gives them a lot to reflect on so it doesn't bother me. I'm quite fond of how Gen Urobuchi writes dialogue, he can convey a lot of dense ideas without making his characters seem like ventriloquist dummies he's preaching at us through. I also like how, with every new twist, turn and revelation, we see how each character reacts to the new information; it's common in magical girl shows for different characters to get episodes that are focused entirely on them, and that can be neat, but Madoka's economy storytelling approach works great for this little downward spiral into despair. The character interactions are laced with layers upon layers of subtlety, but it's not so obtuse that it becomes alienating.

The other thing I recommend is: don't think of Madoka as a "deconstruction" of magical girl anime. Modern nerddom has conflated that word with "dark and edgy", unfortunately. A case could be made that Madoka is a "subversion", since it takes an established genre (magical girls) and casts aside the expectations associated with it (girl power, optimism, love and friendship are awesome), but it doesn't really actively question the rulebook of the magical girl genre. It has its own rulebook to question; the system in the series is deeply unfair, but not in a way that correlates to problems with the formulaic system in magical girl series like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. It's not a commentary on magical girls, it's a commentary on human nature and the human condition. I honestly believe that had this series been written hundreds of years ago in a stuffy old book, we would study it in school.

Can't speak for your Wixoss comparison, having only seen the first four or five episodes of the show, but would you be offended if I said that based on what I saw of the show and what I know about Mari Okada as a writer, I don't exactly have high expectations for it, your praise notwithstanding? I do still plan to finish it eventually. But I think we may have different ideas of what it means to "humanize" characters, so keep that in mind for future reference so that you can gradually have your worldview corrected put any disagreements we may have into context. Not an insult, just an observation. Also, food for thought, one of my first impressions from watching Wixoss was that the show's character archetypes all noticeably paralleled characters from Madoka (not saying they're ripoffs, just that the show was obviously informed by its famous predecessor), so it's possible that you had the "I've seen this before" reaction to Madoka but not Wixoss simply because you saw Wixoss first. Not saying that the show that came first is inherently better, just throwing that out there.

As for recommendations... far too many to list, especially if you're a newbie. I'd start with the obvious "essentials": Cowboy Bebop, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Fullmetal Alchemist and Madoka Magica are the first anime that come to my mind when I think essential, and I know I'm a little biased since I consider four of those five anime to be all-time favorites and goddamn masterpieces, but I do believe those series have earned and kept their popularity for a reason. I can discuss any of those series for hours on end if you don't stop me. Oh, and also Miyazaki movies. And Satoshi Kon movies. If you want something a little more out of left field, again, the list could go on and on, I scarcely know where to begin. Obviously I generally stand by the things I give high ratings, although at 7 or so I start to include what I like to call "wonderful trash", or shows that aren't exactly conventionally good but make me smile (not the same as so bad it's good, which I enjoy ironically, and hatewatching, which happens with shows I don't care for but enjoy the act of watching and riffing). Others might call them "guilty pleasures" but I don't feel guilty about the things that give me pleasure. But I digress. Some of what I consider to be the best shows that aren't on your PTW list include Wolf's Rain, RahXephon, Fate/Zero, Spice & Wolf, Beck, and Princess Tutu.

Wow your family history is quite complicated. Not to be rude but do most white-Europeans have complicated family history? (since you mentioned about the different tribes).

In response to your question about nationalism vs multiculturalism, I would say that nationalism is much more emphasize than multiculturalism. (I don't know if this happens now but) back then, parents use to teach their children that America is the best country in the world. After exploring via social media, friends, travel experiences, etc. I can say that this idea of America being the best still exist. I don't know how much you know about American politics but as of now, many people are against bringing in refugees and some politicians have suggested to police many refugee community especially Muslim communities. Of course some people are against what's going currently but I would say that the issue of nationalism vs multiculturalism is divided. So overall, I guess the situation is quite bad.

When you say that ethnic minorities and minorities cultures are being privileged, can you go into more detail? In America, recent immigrants (like Hispanics) do many hard working and dangerous jobs that most Americans wouldn't do such as cleaning cow manure all day and usually get paid less (I think). Do minorities in Western Europe do many hard and dangerous jobs as well? When you said privileged, I think of minorities getting high paying jobs.

Also another thing to add into the discussion, do most Europeans believe in science and aren't religious? I feel like the answer would be yes from previous experiences I've had but not sure if completely true. In America, Americans typically (not all) are devoted Christians and I feel that it somewhat prevents them from 'believing' in facts like science. Here in America, people are scared to vaccinate their children, don't believe in climate change, and many more. Some states in the past have tried to delete science from the school's curriculum and tried to add Christianity instead which is quite radical for me. If you ever seen some miracle videos such as a pilot saving the plane, many American Christians would say "God did all of this. Thank you God for saving everyone" never crediting the pilot or when an athletic is superb in his/her sport, people will say "Be grateful that God gave you your talent and humble yourself" although the athletic has some crazy work ethic. Lastly, I've heard even in school that people would say "God gave you that A+ on the test" to a smart person although that smart person most likely studied hard for the test. There are many other things that I hear from devoted-Christians but what about in Europe? Are there any devoted-religious people that tries to implant their ideologies?
Sorry if the question is inappropriate/rude (I don't know if you're religious or not) but this is somewhat a sensitive topic here in America. Would like to see your thoughts on this.

Hey, I've seen your conversations with my friend mahoganycow, and you seem like a decent person, so I thought I'd say hi.

I enjoy discourse, explaining my perspective and learning about other people's perspectives, so I'd love to have some discussions about various anime with you, regardless of whether we agree or disagree about them.

On a small side note, it's quite understandable to be "not sure" about Madoka Magica based on the first episode. I do not consider that episode to be a waste, it lays some important foundations, but it's not a reliable indicator of what the show is like as a whole. That show keeps its cards very close to its chest and reveals its purpose in layers that unfurl gradually over the course of twelve episodes. I can't promise you'll love it (I have a feeling we have very different ideas of what constitutes thematic depth; not a criticism of your taste, just an observation) but I do strongly recommend you persevere, I personally think it's well worth it.

That is a very different way of looking at things, but I can sorta see where you're coming from. I think that's only the tip of the iceberg for that discussion and we could probably argue further from there, but, as you say, we'd be writing our dear little hearts out. I don't think either one of us would be "bored to death," but it would be quite a bit of typing :p so I'm okay with agreeing to disagree for the moment, and I thank you for your analysis.

Zipang soon! We'll see whether it's my cup of tea or not.

I don't think I've even heard of Uta Koi before. I've watched at least one other series that mentions Japanese poetry extensively, albeit in a very different context, and the poetry itself definitely piques my interest. I'll check Uta Koi out sometime. Thanks for the tip; I love looking for little gems among the anime that not many people have seen, it's always interesting regardless of the result. Based on some of the stuff on your list so far, you may well have the same tendency.

Hey, no need to keep your appraisals of anything short on my behalf. Reading lengthy things that smart people wrote about fiction is fun!

Cool analysis--I'm aware of a few works that deal with depictions of Japan at wartime, and it's always interesting to see a creative mind reflecting on the history of its own country's actions and the consequences thereof. Such stories can provide a perspective that we aren't aware of because even if the creator has arrived at the same conclusion about historic events that we foreigners have (which isn't always the case to begin with) they likely arrived at it through a route very different than the one we took. Not only that, but they might have even come to a conclusion that rejects views traditionally held in their own culture. I often wonder how such works are received by Japanese audiences.

Thanks for your input on that one, I'll have to check it out soon. Sounds like something I'd appreciate. Ahahaha, that compatibility thing. I've been wondering how that even works for so long.

Death Note good: The sheer momentum of the story, the sheer entertainment value of the show. It's exceedingly well-plotted in a "point A cleanly leads to points B C D and was foreshadowed X amount of time ago" sense--it's a well thought out, well-paced, and gripping thriller, with enough twists and turns to keep near anyone happy. I was never even close to bored while watching it, which is a claim that not every show can make. Oh, and I love L.

Death Note bad: Substance, or lack thereof. This show is vapid as all get-out. There's little to no actual commentary on the oft-repeated "do bad people deserve death or does administering death make us as bad as the bad people" question posed throughout the show, which is really its only pretense of depth. With the possible exception of L, the characters are underwritten at best and cardboard cutout levels of badly written at worst. Light is a highly motivated psychopath with a twisted world view, which makes him a "good villain" in the sense that he does a lot of things that will cause the viewer to gasp, but he pretty much is that way in episode one and remains that way throughout the show, making him a woefully one-dimensional lead despite his strange thought process and strategic prowess. Not to mention his inexplicable genius level of intelligence, attractiveness, popularity...man, what a Gary Stu. Characters that grow, change, have complex flaws, or in any way resemble actual human beings are conspicuously absent from Death Note, as is any impactful or well-developed thematic comment. It spins its wheels a lot, but never really gets anywhere on that front.

Death Note good or bad: The extremely over-the-top tone and direction. On the one hand, this is a show where much of the conflict is mental, and people are killed by an action as small as writing a name in a notebook. If the direction and editing were too lackluster, that concept could turn into a really boring "talking heads" show, so I appreciate what appears to be a genuine attempt by the creative team to make the show as visually and aurally interesting as possible. On the other hand...sometimes it's way, way too much, such as the now-infamous "epic notebook writing" scene, the "potato chip" monologue, or any of many hilariously overwrought flashbacks and "EVERYTHING IS GOING ACCORDING TO PLAN" moments. This show has all the finesse of a piano falling on the viewer's head, which I guess is just as well, because it doesn't have anything to say anyways. It makes the show watchable, but at the same time, it makes it completely impossible to take seriously.

None of which is a complete condemnation, by the way. Far from it. I'm not one to tow the line that everything must be incredibly meaningful or thought-provoking to be worth watching, and never have been. There's plenty of room for simple popcorn-munching entertainment in the world, and I think that's the category in which I'd place Death Note. That being said, shows of that breed don't usually get 9s or 10s from me unless they're extraordinarily well-crafted (like, say, Baccano).

(side note: Having now seen Death Note, it seems obvious to me that it inspired a whole line of similarly over-the-top thrillers, most of which offer the benefit of making Death Note look good by comparison. I'd rather watch Death Note three more times than watch The Future Diary one more time).

Just my two cents! Thanks for encouraging honesty, that's refreshing. I think the same way, so you can always feel free to go after any of the stuff I like if you happen to disagree. A good friend once told me that hearing criticism of the media that we like and responding to it can often reaffirm our confidence in our own understanding of that media. Too many people want the internet to be an echo chamber when it should be a tool for sharing and understanding differing viewpoints and, well, learning things.

Cheers!