Katanagatari

I've watched a lot of stuff this week. I'm keeping this post separate from the rest because this has nothing to do with the rest and maybe someone wants to talk spoilers in comments.

Katanagatari 1-12 (complete)

I marathoned this one watching one daily episode from late November, so I'd be up to date for the finale this month without angsting over cliffhangers. I really liked it overall, as it clicks several of my fandom kinks. It starts as sort of cliché, but the more the series advances, the main characters get more developed... and the plot gets more ridiculous! But hey, it's samurai fantasy, of course it was going to get more ridiculous. Actually, it is surprising how something can be lighthearted and violent/dark at the same time, but it just is. I don't know, everything is ambiguous and cryptic, so it can be either way.

I have mixed feelings about the ending, but not because of what happens at the beginning of episode 12... actually, it was because of the last part which didn't fit at all with the rest of the episode. It was just weird and out of the blue. I actually wanted more tragedy, which is quite unlike me.

Anyway, watch Katanagatari if you enjoy:
- Colorful and pretty animation/art
- Fantasy during Feudal Japan
- Shiny outfits (the Maniwa corps animal costumes are several kinds of WTF/cool)
- Swashbuckling and martial arts (it's pretty much the point of the series)
- Characters being meta about themselves
- UTTER TRAGEDY
- Dead means dead
- Human weapons (to a literal point)
- UST that remains U for unknown reasons
- Tsundere/idiot pairings (this canon pairing is in the lines Lina/Gourry but more fucked up and lots more stupid)
- Princess/bodyguard (there are even to choose from)
- Strong females (several times in a literal way, even)
- Manipulating women (but not because they're women)
- Character development
- Eclectic soundtrack
- The word "cheerio" being mangled to death
- Did I mention UTTER TRAGEDY?

So yeah, it's an interesting anime. But do not watch if you can't stomach almost every character dying in an episode basis.

And now, quick animated movie reviews

Because after Katanagatari, I wanted to cleanse my pallet with something non-Japanese and non-angsty. I think it was mission accomplished.

α Toy Story 3
Yeah, it took me a while. Pretty awesome and it has it all. I laughed, I cried, I flailed, I bit my nails. Like, three minutes after sobbing my eyes out in the ending, I was smiling, and then I was bursting in giggles. Yeah, that kind of film. And this is probably one of the rare trilogies where it's still amazing as movies pass by.
I had my doubts about the plot because it does sound like a douche move to the toys. But then it wasn't at all. It did remind me of Brave Little Toaster in some parts, but it's more lighthearted and the outcome is quite different. I approved of it, despite it all.
You know, this doesn't really mark the end of my childhood because I was a teenager when the first one came out. And Pixar movies are hit and miss to me. But it still moved me. It's hard not to watch this films and get attached to a lot of characters. I didn't ship toys before, why am I shipping toys now :|

β Megamind
This one was so much fun! A lot of meta jokes and philosophy about heroes and villains, plus the dorkiest main character you can imagine. And the roles kept changing around, which is something I loved about that. It did bother me a little that... ( cut for spoilers )

But regardless of my WTF over the latter, the film is so much fun and witty and full with LOLs.

γ Tangled
Quite adorable. And if you think about it, this is the first time Disney went with an ACTUAL pretty magical healer princess, which is the big princess archetype in RPG/fantasy. Rapunzel was like someone mixed a genki JRPG heroine with Anastasia and Giselle and then gave her Stockholm syndrome. She was also less sassy than she looked like in promos, more on the cutesy side sometimes, but on the other hand she had sympathetic flaws and was a brave girl regardless. So yeah, I liked her. The funny thing about Flynn is that after all the focus in trailers he had (and their respective wank), he was pretty much fail :'D I think I'm amused by this generation of Disney pairs: girl with a goal that is not finding twoo wub is stuck with useless but flirty guy. But he's cute in his dork, like he wants to be Tulio from El Dorado. Also, like mumumugen says, it's interesting how scarily well it portraits manipulating abusing parents and overprotected children.