Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Of philosophy and ACG

Somehow, I kinda love some of the philosophies that are explained in some anime...

It's been a while, yes... I know. So Junketsu Kareshi's 6th volume [純血+彼氏<6>] came out in January. As I was in a state of "broke" in a really, really critical monetary sense, I only bought it earlier this month. Haven't had time to properly thumb through it, just skim it. 

Judging from what I've just read in passing... yes, it gets interesting, but I shall put this forth: I'm already losing track of the story. It's kinda like the time when I read Vampire Knight and I went from 'ooh nice!' to 'what the heck is this?' to 'ooh, now I get it' to 'okay, you've lost me'. Speaking of VK, yeah, it's ending in the April issue but I just don't have the energy to follow it again. Hopefully, I don't lose the vigour while reading Junketsu Kareshi.

Now that J+K is out of the way, there are other books I bought this month (and probably burned through my savings, but that's okay):

1. Japanese Grammar Dictionary N5~N1 with annotations in 3 other languages
2. Psycho-Pass Pt.1 Light Novel
3. Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou <4>
4. Super Darling! <1> and <2>
5. Easy Statistics in Psychology

Now you're probably wondering about the other books... so let me just go through them for a little bit.

1. THE grammar dictionary
Quite okay... me and my friend bought it because we were planning to sit for JLPT after we graduate (which isn't too far off). For her, she's finally sitting for N1 so ganbatte ne! She's been my 'tutor' in Japanese, helping me learn some of their culture and is always kind enough to help me understand my books. Thanks!

2. Psycho-Pass Part 1 (Light Novel)
Ever since Psycho-Pass first aired, I was hooked. Not just for the action and the plot, but also for the philosophies mentioned in the series. I have a soft spot for philosophy and sociology (those were some of my favorite classes in university). In fact, this semester, I'm taking media ethics, which also revisits philosophical ideas and theories as well as looking at the masses in that sociological stand point.

The novel's quite thick and probably bit more to handle than Saimono, but I'll find the time. The cover's quite nice too!

3. Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou <4>
Okay, I admit that it's been long overdue. Everytime I visited Kinokuniya in Kuala Lumpur, they seem to be out of stock. Imagine my joy when I saw the copy on that trip! It made my 2 1/2 hours bus-LRT journey worthwhile, I'll say.

It's also nice that they're putting the promo for the drama adaptation where there usually put other promos on the jacket of the novels. If you haven't watched it, go ahead! Although I am disappointed that the girl doesn't have long hair like in the novel, I can still bear with it simply because the premise is good.

4. Super Darling
This. This one! Well, I wasn't expecting much and I personally liked the drawings. Since it's from the same mangaka as Junketsu Kareshi, I wasn't surprised at the artwork. Pretty nice and kind of funny for me. Don't know about you lot! =P

5. Easy Statistics in Psychology
So how on earth did this book become part of this lot? One explanation: Senior Project. Which kind of explains why I'm behind in the books I've bought... but that's okay. I'll go through them during spring break.


And now comes the point of the next post: Anime

Yeah, I did say I was busy with senior project and all... but that can't stop me from enjoying a few anime a week! =P So what I'm following this season?

1. Psycho Pass (22 eps) - and one I'm religiously following this season.
2. AMNESIA (13 eps)
3. Hakkenden Touhou Hakken Ibun (12 eps)
4. Ore Shura (12 eps)
5. GJ-bu (12 eps)

and an outlier here: a drama - Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou.

Hopefully I'll find some free time sometime this week and post up some reviews now that most of the shows I am following are ending soon. With Psycho Pass having 2 eps left, AMNESIA (3 left), Touhou (3 left), Ore Shura (2 left) and GJ-bu (3 left) all nearing the end...

Looking forward to the new season after this!

P.S. A translation of a chapter from a Psycho Pass novel can be found here:
http://xnightrainx.tumblr.com/post/42497434257/translation-psycho-pass-zero-monster-with-no-name

P.P.S. If you love Psycho Pass, might as well have a look here. It's pretty amusing haha:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/PsychoPass

Maybe I'll edit this post later to include the covers of the books... =/



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL.
I kinda agree with the fact that anime and manga has so much philosophy.

Philosophy that I wish other people would see in anime too.

I'm just so tired of non-fans telling me to stop watching this as I'm not five anymore.

Well, this stuff are awesome and I love them.
I wish they could just see that this stuff are good and more than they think.
LOL.

miss.yuuka said...

hahaha. What they fail to realize is that most anime are not geared for young audiences. Mostly teens, young adults and more mature audiences. Take Psycho-Pass as an example. I hardly think gore and explicit depiction of murder would classify as a five-year-old material.

There are many things you learn from anime like culture and it opens up your mind to different ways of thought.

Some ideas that are shown in anime I would connect with the theory of relativism, moral obligation and perhaps utilitarianism. Speaking of which: I need to start on my ethical journalism analysis based on philosophical theories due Thursday. =S