Idols in Love: The Blogosphere x The Idolm@ster (Final Part)

At last, it ends here.

Part 1

Part 2

Takatsuki Yayoi

The charm of Yayoi is her perfect sincerity.  She is an open book, which is why she needs someone who won’t take advantage of her naiveté, and who will appreciate her emotional frankness.  Schneider is just the right fit, a gentle person who appreciates the comforts of domestic life.  They would go grocery shopping for a home-cooked meal at the Takatsukis, ending with a family game of karuta – and, after her siblings have gone to bed, a little quality time on the couch.

Shijou Takane

Takane is odd.  If Iori is one end of the rich girl character spectrum, Takane is the other: A lady ever so slightly removed from normalcy.  Mefloraine, a meticulous and thoughtful person in her way, would savvy her eccentricities while keeping the Moon Princess down to earth.  On a chilly winter morning when Mef is artist-blocked, they would go to the beach to collect shells, sharing a thermos of chocolate tea and listening to the waves.

Amami Haruka

There is no formula to Haruka, no special hooks or idiosyncrasies, except an interest in music and a kind of glowing positivity.  Foshizzel is an ideal match; their mutual joie de vivre would reinforce itself.  They would eat at a MOS Burger, then hang out in a music shop, flipping through records and trying out the instruments.  Cynical onlookers will roll their eyes and tweet things like “Dear annoyingly happy couple in the guitar section, please GTFO,” while secretly being very jealous.

Hoshii Miki

Everybody wants Miki, but few are ready for her.  If you’re the kind of person who worries at all, her independence and devil-may-care laziness (and tendency to get hit on) is a sure recipe for meltdown.  Digitalboy, though, might be able to roll with her motion, while being relaxed enough to let her take care of herself.  They would visit a summer festival and go on a gut-busting gastronomic bender through the food stalls, ending with fireworks on the riverbank.

…

All of these ships are people I’ve gotten to know personally.  I’ve met them, heard their voices, worked with them.  I’m able to write about them because they’ve breached the boundary between virtually real and for-really-real.  This series doesn’t even begin to cover everyone.

If you’re looking for a rhyme and reason, here it is: 2011 has been unlike any other year for me, and it’s all thanks to you.  We’ve watched anime together, shared meals, made wonderful music on the blogosphere.  I feel immensely lucky, and I hope I’ve done the same for some of you.

Readers, fellows, friends: You are the light in my life.  Merry Christmas.

 

Idols in Love: The Blogosphere x The Idolm@ster (Part 2)

My mad shipper fantasies, continued.

Otonashi Kotori

Kotori knows how to make a man feel special.  Like static electricity, her femininity is subtle but attractive; it demands not just strength and assertiveness to make a good match, but also a certain sophistication.  Vucub Caquix has the right mix of gentility and masculinity to show her a good time.  They would go to a jazz bar for a drink: whisky soda for her, Scotch on the rocks for him…  and if he’s very, very lucky, she just might sing a little something, too.

Art by yachiwo.

Kikuchi Makoto

Makoto can be surprisingly sensitive.  Beneath enthusiasm and boyish charm, her heart says, “Appreciate me, reassure me, tell me I’m pretty and feminine!”  Yi, who can read mood like a musician reads music, would know just what to do to make Makoto feel like a lady.  They would go to a department store to model outfits, then hit the town for a night of club-hopping.  If that sounds a bit pedestrian, just wait — The morning-after breakfast is going to be fantastic.

Miura Azusa

Azusa craves romance.  Behind the fortune-telling and ditziness is a desire to fall truly, madly, deeply.  It’s girlish and it’s hopeful, and for the right person, utterly irresistible.  8C, the great unsung romantic of the blogosphere, would find his dream in her: An older woman for a younger man, a lover of love to match a lover.  He would take her on a drive to the pier, where they’d share a candlelit dinner, wait for sunset and ride the Ferris wheel, reaching the top just as the city lights go on.

Kisaragi Chihaya

To love Chihaya is to chase an invisible storm.  The trick is drawing down the thunder, getting her to reveal the passion beneath her stoic exterior.  With Akirascuro, she would find much-needed spontaneity, and he would find in her a massive wellspring of inspiration.  They would go to a midnight concert and walk through Tokyo all night, warming their hands with hot drinks from vending machines while talking about life and love, until sunrise or the first train — whichever comes first.

And speaking of Akira…  This next bit’s from him:

Minase Iori

“Iori is a girl of fine tastes. She’s also incredibly high-maintenance. She wants to be loved and pampered, and only the best can adequately address her needs. In return, she’ll shower her gentleman friend with unlimited amounts of love (and perhaps access to her trust fund). Wouldn’t she be a perfect girl for 2DT? He’s classier than everyone else around by miles, and he’s patient and caring enough to give Iori the love that she needs. She’s fun around people she likes, and her cheer and childish energy would further enrich his life.”

The final part of this series will be coming to you on Christmas Eve.  Stay tuned!

 

Idols in Love: The Blogosphere x The Idolm@ster (Part 1)

If you hate Internet community inbreeding posts, prepare for some quality teeth-gnashing.

Akizuki Ritsuko

The grand conflict of Ritsuko’s heart is that she invests so much in a Type A, go-getter professional life, when in love she yearns to be taken by the hand.  Passive would-be romantics need not apply; with Ritsuko, you must lead.  Ghostlightning would be the perfect dinner date, but his wife would have his head on a pike by morning.

Ganaha Hibiki

Hibiki’s love is gravitational.  In many ways the opposite of Ritsuko, she’s the stronger half of a relationship, a pillar of joy with unshakeable loyalty.  With AJtheFourth, Hibiki’s energy and overflowing genki-ness would be balanced with a fine-tuned sensitivity.  They would go to an aquarium to see the otters.

Hagiwara Yukiho

Here’s a needy girl.  Yukiho brings out the best in those who have not just a gentle touch, but also a touch of patience.  TWWK would make her feel safe, read her poetry and talk her out of digging holes.  They would visit a fashionable promenade for lunch and window shopping (Also, again: Wife, head, pike, et cetera).

Futami Ami

Ami is fun.  Ami is energetic.  A romance with this Futami twin demands an appetite for new things, a sense of adventure… or perhaps a sense of responsibility.  KylaranAeldin would be more than her match in both respects.  They would invade a karaoke center at noon and sing themselves hoarse until dark.

Futami Mami

Who loves the shadow?  Being with Futami Mami means not only having an eye for subtlety, but also a supportive personality, to shine light on beauty overlooked.  Bikasuishin/mt-i would make her feel loved and appreciated for who she is.  They would watch movies at his place, sharing a blanket.

 

A Personal Note #11: Wherein I Congratulate Myself and Sing of My Success

“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
- Ecclesiastes 1:2

2-D Teleidoscope reached the 50,000-hit milestone a few days ago.  My numbers got a sudden boost after Digitalboy linked to a bunch of my entries on his new blogroll and lavished me with kind words.  And just the day before that, Stephan (the artist formerly known as Saturnity) mentioned me as one of his favorite anime bloggers.  I was pondering how to go about acknowledging all this, when, as luck would have it, Yumeka made a post asking people how they go about their blogging.

It’s the perfect storm to get me to talk about myself.  Brace yourselves.

Today's guest star is Tanamachi Kaoru from Amagami. Gotta love that hair.

My blogging routine is fairly simple: Every three or four days, I sit down and write a new entry from start to finish.  I write between classes, or sometimes at home before dinner, but either way, it’s only about an hour.  Then it takes half an hour to collect pictures and get everything ready to go live.  Responding to comments takes another hour.  Brainstorming happens in the shower, or while I’m having a cup of tea with some sweets and music, so it’s not really “time spent” as such.

So all told, blogging doesn’t take up a lot of my time.  That’s one advantage of keeping my posts short.  But I find that keeping a blog has noticeably changed my inner life, constantly humming somewhere in the background as I read, or travel, or even when I’m just sitting at home and checking the news.  I keep looking for connections, ways to bring things back to the anime I’m watching.  It could turn me into a real weirdo if I’m not careful.  But for now, I like the mental exercise.

Image by Tamago. Can't track the exact source, sadly, but it's on Danbooru.

I started 2-D Teleidoscope with the intention of being an accessible yet scholarly sort of anime blog. Sadly, I don’t think I’ve done a very good job of that second part.  Aside from a brief love affair with Azuma and Lamarre, my sense of theory has been getting rustier by the day.  But I think this place is still the “revolving cultural observation device” that my description says it is.  I’m still doing my best to treat anime as a teleidoscopic image, pointing to life in prismatic arrangements.  Well, whatever it is, people seem to like what I have to offer.  I’ll be sticking around for some time yet.

So to everyone, once more, with feeling:  Thanks for reading my blog.

Postscript: My weirdest search terms to date have been “medieval anime porn” and “handicap barbie.”  I don’t know what I have to do with either of those, but I hope they found what they were looking for.

 

A Personal Note #4: The Purpose of 2-D Teleidoscope (also, why you will never date Mio from K-ON!)

My blog has reached over 5000 hits as of today.  For an anime blog that’s only been around for about three months, it feels like an achievement.  Of course, it’s a drop in the ocean compared to beasts like Anime Diet or Sankaku Complex.  But I’m quite happy with the attention I have so far:  I’m in blogrolls, I get written about on Ani-Nouto, and I get high praise from established bloggers.

Other people might write for themselves, but I’ll admit it.  I’m so vain.

Image by Rozen Weapon (http://www.geocities.jp/rozenweapon)

So on one hand: Hooray, people LIKE me!  But on the other hand, I almost feel an enhanced sense of responsibility, now that I know I’m not just screaming at the walls.

My philosophy from the start has been to write about anime in a thoughtful and intellectually grounded way, but also to be accessible to everyone.  I see the anime fan world as a spectrum:  Anime-related academia is fascinating, and ultimately it’s more permanent, but it’s also tough to decipher and slow by nature.  On the flip side, there are lightning-fast news, reviews and editorials aplenty on the Internet, but critical observation is rare.

There are a few sites that I feel bridge this gap.  Most of them are on my blogroll.  But there isn’t nearly enough, so here I am trying to bring in my own little piece of change by writing micro-essays about the contemporary anime scene.  Maybe this will catch on, and then things will get a bit bigger than my little po-dunk WordPress page.  Or maybe I’ll run out of steam.

Right now, I just hope I’m doing a decent job of it.

In other news, I met a female bassist on the train today who bore a remarkable resemblance to Mio.  Even down to the classy hime cut, which was refreshing compared to all the feathered orange hair I see usually.  I would have loved to ask for her number, but here’s the sad part: We weren’t able to communicate much beyond “bass, kakkoii, daigaku no keion-bu, ganbatte.”  That and a lot of fruitless gesturing.

To be fair, her English was also abysmal (which, incidentally, really makes me wonder about my job).  But that’s the answer, plain and true:  Even if Mio was real and you met her, chances are she literally wouldn’t be able to talk to you. Better start cracking those books for your waifus, boys.

There ought to be an anime about young adults and their English classes, like a Japanese take on Please Teach Me English.  I guarantee it would be comedy gold.

 

A Personal Note #3: Anime Blogging as the Cure for Loneliness

Yesterday was sports day for the school.  It was good to see the kids having fun, but combined with the after-sports day party with the teachers, I feel exquisitely awful today.  And yet, we continue to fight.

So the crowning irony of living in Japan, in my opinion, is that I’m more isolated as an anime fan than ever before.  Manga is ubiquitous, of course, and everyone knows the long-running children’s shows, but that’s about the extent of things.  The other foreign teachers are a little more hip to my game, but I still feel like I need to tread very carefully around the subject.  I don’t want to be branded a geek with the few people that I could call a support network.

The problem with that is that anime is, or was, a significant part of my social life.  I like to watch it and keep up with the latest news, but most importantly I like to TALK about it.  Face to face, sitting in comfy chairs with a pot of tea or coffee is the way I prefer it, but simply the pleasure of interacting with another anime fan is important.  It’s refreshing.  I don’t have access to that here.

The other day I was visiting a shrine, and it was explained to me (by a white girl from Michigan—go figure) that the torii gates you see in front of every shrine function as holistic gateways.  What this means is that once you step through the torii, not only have you formally entered the world of the kami, but you have also stepped into the shared universe of every shrine ever built.  Each one of Shinto’s sacred spaces is literally the same place, forming a kind of spiritual network that keeps Japan together.

How is that related?  Well, I’m just thinking about blogging, about the Internet in general and what it does for me in this profoundly quiet part of Japan.  If you’re reading this entry, it doesn’t matter if you’re in Japan, America or Singapore.  The ani-blogosphere, too, is a kind of holistic space, a virtual convention ground.  Once we log onto our computer gateways, we can all interact in a shared digital universe over anime, where the only distance is one of words.

And you know, that helps a little bit.  For now, at least, I can get by on that.

The images in this post are from Kamichu!, a truly delightful anime.  If we happen to meet in person, let’s talk about it.  I might even buy you a cup of coffee.  How’s that for generosity?