Hataraku Maou-sama! is the best anime of 2013, as of now.

Whoops, wrong show.

I, like many others, am a fan of Third Rock from the Sun, where aliens come to Earth and experience culture shock due to the strange customs and laws humans observe. Every episode stars our extraterrestrials entering conflict with another facet of humanity; whereby most of us would answer with common sense, they ascertain their status as higher life forms by tackling the issue with logic and generally end up in hilarious unfavorable situations. During the first episode of Hataraku Maou-sama!, I thought this was the direction the anime was headed towards. I was wrong.

Here we have Devil King Satan roleplaying as fast food employee Sadao Maou.

One reason this show stands out from so many others is that the lead character, Sadao Maou (aka Demon Lord Satan),  is a member of the lower working class. He may have been a big wig in the world of magic, but here in ours, he is just another powerless human without a high school diploma. The moments I derive the most delight from this show is when nothing is happening. Imagine, a great and powerful demon lord, donning a MgRonald’s uniform to take our order of burgers and fries! The sheer dichotomy between the parallel worlds is enough to make me laugh.

Here we have the hero Emilia, roleplaying as docodemo support, Yusa Emi.

By this point the show was already adequate, but the real clincher came a few weeks later while I was cleaning my house. I stumbled upon an old D10 die from my pen and paper roleplaying days and then Hataraku Maou-sama! became instant gold. Think about it: Let us suppose the fantasy backdrop that serves as the prop for this series isn’t real. Outside of the main characters, no one in the anime knows about the existence of the other world Ente Isla. The conflict and war from that universe has no influence on our own. For the most part, whenever something supernatural does occur in the show,  the memories are either erased or the event is adapted into something familiar or plausible. Imagine how many natural disasters on the news we take with a grain of salt. This anime could be happening in our own backyard and we would never be the wiser. Since nobody remembers at all, it would be logical to conclude nothing happened. In which case, the fact that these characters are still living out their fantasy roles while continuing their dull daily duties as working-class citizens can only mean one thing: Everyone in this show is a LARPER!

Here we have one of Satan’s demon generals, Alciel roleplaying poverty.

Live Action Role Playing, usually shorthanded to LARPing, has a negative connotation associated with it. Easily because it’s the single most disturbing thing I’ve ever witnessed. I don’t believe it has anything to do with the action itself necessarily, but the fact some choice individuals take the game too far; usually incorporating elements of their fictional character into their real biography. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It doesn’t matter, he’s still an idiot. Essentially, I am watching a show about average every day people acting out fantasies in their free time. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, they actually believe in it. To me, this idealization makes this show a far greater than what the producers intended. For the first time I think I understand why people love to watch crap like Jackass, or America’s Funniest Home Video. It is FUN to laugh at other people make fools of themselves.

Here we have another Demon General, Lucifer, roleplaying a hikikomori.

The show itself is still good, even if you don’t agree with my outlook. Sadao Maou proves himself time and again to be a hard working employee who cares for others and has a full grasp on responsibility. Perhaps leadership isn’t strictly inherited through genetics, but rather earned by gaining the respect of your peers… Oh, who am I kidding? You need to be born a badass to be a badass.

The Chief Inquisitor of the Church’s Reformation, Crestia Bell shows off her flashy new debit card.

It’s hard to tell from these pictures where the fantasy falls in, because there isn’t any. So here’s to high school girls and breasts!

Chiho is so adorable, it hurts when she’s in the episode.

I think this shot better emphasizes her dimensions.

I’m back! Here to bring you the news topics that are relevant!

Sort of…

Within the past month I have endangered the lives of several people including mine, with my precarious driving. Yesterday, I nearly drove two vehicles off the highway by cutting them off abruptly. A week ago, I snuck between two semi’s while traveling more than thirty-five miles over the speed limit. On the local roads which run outside my house, I came within inches of ending the day early for a few kids playing with their tricycles. In the parking lots of supermarkets I have launched my car nearly five feet into the air by leaping off speed bumps like a ramp.

What could have caused my absolute disregard for self-preservation? What momentous event has triggered the reaper to follow in the wake of my excursions through concrete and asphalt?  The only thing that’s changed is that I started listening to Vocaloid again. One song in particular from my past invokes such need for speed, on such an unfathomable level, I can not physically quell it with my silly five-speed Volkswagen. The song in question is of course Little Wings by Caz.

[youtube width=”560″ height=”453″]http://youtu.be/ScWq-3GM8Us[/youtube]

To elaborate, this song was the official theme for the GOODSMILE Racing group and their souped out Miku-Decal Embossed Porsche back in 2010. To win this honor, it had to compete against nearly fifty other entries (Or was that five? I don’t remember.) and was used in one promotional video that I can’t seem to find — and possibly may not actually exist — anywhere on the Interweb.

The important matter is that whenever I hear this song, I am driven to kill myself behind the wheel of my car. The next time I disappear from this blog, that may very well be the reason.

Speaking of recovery, or lack thereof, I proudly admit that I took a year and a half weaning myself off of Hatsune Miku. I have not spent a single dime on that turquoise-haired goblin. I hope to keep it this way. more…

Icon Source: rainraven
It is Sai calling someone bro as he did in G Gundam’s dubs. Dreamwidth is a fork of LiveJournal by former LiveJournal staff. There are many forks, but Dreamwidth is the most popular with their users linking between the two sites. Pixiv source no longer exists.

Icon Source: reccessional
Fire Candy has amazing character art with a very wonderful rough style. Above is “manga coloring” and not official art or from a cover.

Icon Source: ukemilk
Original Source: Nico Nico Douga
The icon originated from a Nico Nico Douga video with the Vocaloid Kagamine twins Rin and Len.

Icon Source: kazimierzi
Aventura was a formally licensed and published manga by Del Rey before Kodansha took over their manga publishing. It sported some of the most dreamy and excessive character (especially hair) detail. Safe to say Del Rey had much more interesting manga choices with Q Ko-chan, Alive: The Final Evolution, and Yozakura Quartet. Kodansha’s US division is far too timid and does not bother much with manga outside big hits.

Icon Source: mensenhater
Original Source: momocan.egoism.jp (a little NSFW)
Most of my favorite avatars or what LiveJournal calls icons have action, posing, or a bit of emotion. Just a character’s face is bland and not very creative. It is Ken cross-dressing in what the blond Aigis android is known to wear in Persona 3.

LiveJournal is a giant from a long ago era where people created communities of posting user avatars. Users had the ability to upload more than one icon (avatar) and choose which they wish to use when commenting or publishing a blog entry. In a way the site is very much like WordPress.com in where it is a network of blogs, but community and networking is much more stressed. Users created communities for anyone to post entries to and used them for massive image heavy posts with often a hundred icons. The community may not be Facebook, but it remains active and worth the membership.

Forums Shaped My Reading and Writing
My earliest memories of being online have been with forums and perhaps much of that time has created preferences when online. It could be the other way around and just coincidence I did much foruming, but I would like to think it lead to some of my writing style. Subtle trolling, casualness, playful wittiness at the expense of others, keeping things to the point, and random off-topic derailing as examples of influence. I am known in some communities for my annoying, amusing, and confrontational one liners. At the very least changing things up with having to write more gave time to reflect.

Images Make a Page of Words Attractive
I love great detail and informative treasures, but at times I can find long blog entries of my interest not interesting enough to read. Images bring color to a wad of black text, tell the topic of a post often before any words, grab attention, and break up text. People like purdy thingies.

Episodic Blogging is Useless
Around starting a blog I took peeks at what other bloggers did in addition to the little knowledge I already had. Real soon I learned that blogging each episode of an anime or chapter of a manga makes for poor reading. Sure an epiphany or emotional response to an episode or story arc can be remarkable, but every episode just because is a waste. One could simply go out to watch the particular episode or manga. If one is already following a series they would either decide to keep going or see what they have as not worth it.

Writing, Grammar, and Speling
I am a product of a dysfunctional schooling system where much of my years in school dealt with golf carts chasing ditchers across campus, stabbings, shootings, and bomb threats. There were days where I’ve spent time playing Gameboy Pokemon in front of a teacher’s desk with the teacher there. Jumping into blogging for me meant having to learn as I go without help or guidance. Finding tools for spelling is easy, but the ability to write something interesting, coherent, and styled is a world of error. Proof reading is a friend.

Timing
A lot like a news outlet a blog can get extra traffic and kudos for being ahead of the rest. Knowing when your audience is active online and being first leads to more retweets on fast sites like Twitter and having the most attention from offering something undiscovered.

Casuals and Fanatics
Many people into anime and manga are just into it to watch and read. It is a segment of fans that include those that gain pleasure in critique, analysis, and writing. Some fans find gathering information and opinions useful in addition to the media, but most are satisfied with what their friends suggest or what they stumble across. Just being a fan is okay and I have learned to accept that.

Better Have Something Worth Saying
In real life I hate surprises yet I prefer to do things on a whim. With blogging I write when I have something interesting or an inspiration gained from an experience. With a schedule I would find myself writing just to write without much to share. I take notes in the form of a list of words until I gather enough for a topic or I inspire myself through watching or reading anime and manga when I’m most easily able to concentrate. If I were to kick up my watching of anime and manga, it would translate to better consistency.

Some thanks to Justin of OASG for inspiring this post.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!