METAL OBAMAAAAAAAAA KING GAINAAAAAAAAAAA

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(The alternate title for this post would have been “McCainder, McCainder, McCainder Robo.”)

A very important piece of advice

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No matter the situation, be very careful of demonizing the other. No matter the topic, the person on the other side of the fence isn’t a faceless enemy but a fellow human being.

Kagami Claims Saimoe Supremacy

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Hiiragi Kagami, alias HIIRAGIIIII, has emerged as the winner of 2008’s Anime Saimoe tournament. All the more impressive was that her victory was over her own sister Tsukasa, in what is sure to remembered as a fierce battle where blood was not thicker than moe.

Kagami’s status as the Moest means a few things. Remember that neither Kagami nor anyone else from Lucky Star took the title last year. Generally after the first year if your show is truly just a flash in the pan you don’t get much further, but here we see the Lucky Star cast drive down harder than ever. So Lucky Star may not be the most enduring show ever, but it’s not as ethereal as some might hope.

Also of note are the high placements of Kawazoe Tamaki (Bamboo Blade), who made Top 8, and Hinamori Amu (Shugo Chara!) who was a force so powerful she had to be stopped by the tournament winner Kagami.

I know a lot of people who might have liked to vote couldn’t due to some of the intentional barriers put in place, but I hear there’s an (arguably!) more important vote coming up in the near future…

I-it’s not like I want to be tsundere, okay?!

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Yes, this is another post about Aisaka Taiga. Let’s call this a Taiga Weekend Carnival.

Previously, I’ve established my belief that moe is tied to empathy, it is the connection of viewer to character in regards to some type of weakness, though the character may not necessarily be weak, physically, mentally, or emotionally. Think of it as a character having relatable character traits-which-may-be-interpreted as flaws. In this regard, Aisaka Taiga, the tora in Toradora, is one of the most effectively moe tsundere characters I have ever seen, a tsundere moe on the level of Ogiue. Tsundere has become a very common trope in otaku-oriented media, so to describe what makes Taiga a very moe character is to explain why she stands out from her peers. And to explain that is to explain why Taiga is tsundere.

Taiga is a girl who has difficulty expressing her own emotions. When Taiga speaks, her words are the culmination of 1001 battles fought inside of her mind. It’s a violent battle, and the victor emerges not without a few scars. The result is that Taiga comes across as rude, blunt, perhaps even shy. Unlike many of her contemporaries at Tsundere Academy, who use their brash attitudes to actively hide how they feel, or Ogiue, whose tsundere is caused by years of deep-seated self-loathing, Taiga’s outward attitude is the consequence of falling short of a greater goal, that of being able to accurately express one’s feelings through words. Taiga is tsundere, but only because she can’t help it.

Clumsy, socially awkward, unable to convey the proper meaning in words when talking to others, this describes more than just Taiga, this describes a feeling that hits close to home for me and I’m sure many others. Even if we’ve gotten better over time, we can still remember the days when talking was one of the most difficult things we’ve ever had to do, and are reminded constantly that for us introverted folk, being social is not a natural talent but one that has to be learned and built upon. It is from the people watching that Taiga truly generates her moe.

Tsundere characters, be they the traditional type which slowly turn from tsun to dere, or the modern type which switch back and forth constantly, are generally girls to be sought, to be pursued. They are the goal. Taiga is not the goal. Taiga is us.

Handheld Tiger

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Have a Mega Chain Combo Halloween

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Analyzing the Hokuto Zankai Ken

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I was thinking about one of Kenshiro’s most famous moves, the Hokuto Zankai Ken, i.e. The One Where He Sticks his Fingers in Your Head and a Counter Appears And You Die When it Gets to Zero, and the scene in which he used it on Souther to no effect. Souther’s secret is that his heart is on the right side of his body so all of his pressure points are reversed, and this is why he is, under normal circumstances, immune to Hokuto Shinken. But if that’s the case, that must mean one of a few things.

1) The two pressure points Kenshiro hits are not the same ones on each side.

2) Kenshiro IS pressing the same left and right points on the side of the head, but uses a different amount of pressure on each side.

3) The human head’s pressure points aren’t symmetrical.

4) Souther simply can’t be affected by Hokuto Zankai Ken even if Kenshiro knows his secret.

Yes, I thought too much about this

It’s Halloween, but it’s not Cosplay

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Tomorrow I’m going to a one-day-early Halloween party where costumes are mandatory, and so I’ve decided to go as an anime character. I won’t say which one, but don’t worry, I’m not going dressed as Ogiue. While I’m going to a Halloween party as an anime character, in my mind I don’t consider it cosplay. There’s a distinction I’ve created in my mind, and I don’t know how valid it is, but I think it has to do with the amount of effort exerted in making the costume.

Aside from a few minor purchases, the costume I’ve assembled is base primarily on clothing I own already, and none of it required any sort of modifications. I am not sacrificing my existing clothing and transforming any of it into permanent costume status, nor have I done any handiwork to make it more than it already is. This is why I believe myself to be “dressing up” for Halloween and not “cosplaying” for Halloween.

Nothing wrong with cosplay, though I try not to get involved with the cosplay community to any great extent. It’s more of a personal mental thing, this situation of mine.

This is a Hokuto no Ken Joke

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1.

2.

Girls, are you having trouble coming up with a Halloween costume?

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Might I recommend the “Ogiue” costume.

Ogiue wears plenty of outfits throughout the series, so clothing-wise there shouldn’t be too much trouble. You can go with the classic hoodie from her first appearance, but make sure to wrap your arm in bandages to go with it. Alternately you can go for Ogiue incognito at Comic Festival. Wearing men-sized shirts is also Ogiue-appropriate. And there’s always the Renko cosplay option.

The hair of course is the difficult part and seeing as my hair is not long I can’t give any real tips. Perhaps you could construct a fude out of a spare large paint brush, or create some sort of fude clip to add to your existing hair. If this is too much trouble, don’t forget that Ogiue has other hairstyles, such as the high school hairstyle (perfect in conjunction with incognito Ogi), the junior high style, or even the heavy side bangs from volume 9.

And to top it off, secretly carry some yaoi.