Mikakunin de Shinkokei (Engaged to the Unidentified) has ended its run with episode 12. It's kind of a shame, because they should have made this a two episode arc. If they did, the ending could have been both more dramatic and the relationship between Kobeni, the sister who finds herself thrown into a rather strange engagement, and Hakuya, the low energy but very faithful boy she is engaged to could have solidified quite nicely.

Mikakunin de Shinkokei is a fairly low key series as a whole. With no tragedy, combat, Love Hina-type "misunderstandings", or other over the top events that can tend to dull the senses in other shows, the lack of hyperactivity lets the smaller moments work quite well.

The quiet, unassuming Hakuya shows almost no emotion, but when he does, it is always towards Kobeni, and she is the only non family member who notices. This is a recurring theme, but not beaten to death. The surrounding characters wonder why Kobeni is reacting to Hakuya, when his expression does not change. She sees his emotional reaction clear as day. We see it as a background shift in the animation art. Flowers sprout and a multi colored world tends to fill the background. Sadness, meanwhile, shows Hakuya as surrounded in waves of dark mood. When he does smile, his smile leaves a nice impression because of the rarity. It isn't until the last episode where the two of them smile at each other at the same time, and it turns into quite a nice moment.

In return, because Kobeni has few quirks and is clearly the "normal" character, her gradual warming to the engagement and her emerging affection toward Hakuya is comforting for us to discover along with her. Early on, she asks the brother and sister not to reveal anything about the engagement. In a later episode, she finds herself distressed when Hakuya does this very thing. To her credit, this is not lost on her. Later on, while not willing to admit deep affection, she nonetheless makes sure he knows she is not unhappy that they are engaged, merely she wanted to avoid the rumors engulfing them.

That's not to say there aren't high energy characters. Kobeni's older sister, Benio has such a sister complex, that she is having a tough time with Kobeni's maturing, and often whines about it  to her best friend. In steps Hakuya's younger sister, Mashiro, who is about nine. Regrettably for Mashiro, Benio now has someone who she can once again dote on the way she doted on a younger Kobeni. Mashiro is at first frightened, and then angry at this smothering, wondering aloud how Benio could have hypnotized the student body into adoring her so. Mashiro has that kind of whiny voice that can get on one's nerves, but she tends to be as affectionate to Kobeni as she is angry at Benio. She is full of the special ignorance that comes from those who thinks they know all, but is informed enough to help her completely out of his element older brother cope with their new surroundings. She is the most annoying character in the series, but she has her moments.

 mild spoilers below
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Posted by: topmaker at 12:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Witchcraft Works finished its 12 episode run. It was interesting that the manga translation paced the anime releases rather closely. It's an interesting story, if not a little boilerplate.

Somewhat weak guy is protected from a distance by a powerful girl who harbors deep feelings for him. There are secrets from his past that slowly become revealed, and relationships that develope as the series progresses. There is a power within him he is unaware of, but in times of great danger or distress, his powers break forth. Boilerplate. In a season that seems full of shows that are more or less okay, a familiar story well told is not too bad.

Of note, however, the show shares a similar problem with another one I have been following. In this show, the female protagonist shares the same kind of bland personality as the male protagonist in Mikakunin de Shinkokei. Low energy output. Although that type will make for some humor, they also tend to dull the edge off any scene they are in.

You might hope for some kind of breakthrough moment when a strong emotional expression or reaction comes forth, but it never seems to happen. There was one such moment in MdS, when the male character (and he's pretty much the only male character) makes a deadpan joke about his deadpan self, and it was a nice bit of self deprecation, but after the fizzle, there was no pop.

This doesn't mean the series are bad, but it is awfully hard to be great with this. Indeed I have rewatched all of MdS and the series hasn't even wrapped yet.

Witchcraft Works is the first I have been following that has been completed. The arc ended well, if a little rushed, but it was worth it.

Posted by: topmaker at 11:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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... and it occurs to me that I would have liked it much better if Nabiki, the middle sister who made oodles of money from naked pictures of female Ranma, would have been humiliated even remotely in the series. Rumiko Takahashi has created one of the most evil characters I have ever witnessed, especially considering that she gets away with pretty much every rotten thing she does.

It gets to the point that in almost every episode she has an important part in, and many that she barely shows up for she renders it actually unpleasant to watch. Her actions are reprehensible to the point of making these episodes unwatchable. The only other character who can possibly compete with her is Happosai, but at least he gets his butt reamed out every so often.

I have seen many detestable characters in movies, plays books and TV shows, but they usually get what they deserve at the end. Richard the III dies a rather inglorious death on the battle field, Aizen gets buried for many lifetimes underground, the Evil Darkness in the Ephemeral series gets sent to its own world where it finally learns fear and is therefore tormented forever,  but unless Takahashi ever revisits this series and shows her dying a sad, lonely death, she will not have gotten her comeuppance.

I don't know who Rumiko Takahashi was pissed off at when she created this character, but she unleashed a darkness nearly unmatched in entertainment.

Posted by: topmaker at 03:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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While not Irish myself, my ancestors were sheltered by the Irish during the Reformation. Happy St. Patrick's Day. "Go maire tu go deo".

The Saw Doctors:



The Dubliners and the Pogues together:

Posted by: topmaker at 10:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Being a fan of the (pre disco) Bee Gees, I always thought about what a sweet love song To Love Somebody was. I mean "...to love somebody, the way I love you" is a pretty intense line, right?

It only later occured to me the importance of the line before it. "You don't  know what it's like..." isn't just an intensifier to what follows, it's a friggin' indictment.

"You don't know what it's like - to love somebody - to love somebody, the way I love you." It's either depressing, accusing or both, but it's not very endearing.


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Posted by: topmaker at 02:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I run a small business in New England. Six full time employees all of whom are paid at the top of their trade. They are specialists in their craft, and we are known as a quality company who are experts in our field. We charge our customers appropriately. I offer good benefits, vacation time, 70% subsidy of health insurance and I am very understanding of the needs of my staff, including single parent issues, health issues and the different needs of different staff in general.

I believe every customer should have a product that they feel was worth paying our price. I work hard to get the recommendations I do. We help out charitable and church institutions and always donate items to auctions, craft fairs, etc. Compared to other businesses in our industry who care little for customers and staff, we should be the type of business the left regards as ideal.

So why is it that I am always worse off after any new regulations or laws hit my company?

My health insurance renewed in March. That meant I needed to make any changes in late January/early February . The insurance companies had to adjust their plans at least a year ago, so this automatically puts the lie to the flexibility proposed now by the current administration. Keep in mind that I could forego offering health insurance entirely, but that's not the type of company we are.

To keep what was more or less the same policy with the same company, my own rates were going up more than 40%. To be fair, one employee would not have changed much, and he likely would do better by eating a higher deductible and going for the individual mandate and the subsidy. Ultimately we had to abandon that plan. Too many of us were hit too hard.

Because we had more than three policy holders, we were allowed to have two different policies to choose from. I stayed with a standard co-pay type, with a higher deductible (almost double) and some more restrictions. This policy - worse than my policy of last year - cost an additional $170.00 per month. The other policy we settled for was a HSA type policy. Two levels of deductibles are borne by the employee until they reach the first limit, then a 10% deductible kicks in until they reach the second. One employee (married, about 45 years old) will be paying about the same as they did with the better policy they had last year, and the other, a younger single employee is paying about $30.00 more per month with considerably worse coverage.

I am waiting for my $2,500.00 per year savings. Holding my breath. Turning as blue as the state I live in.

Posted by: topmaker at 06:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"The past decade has seen astonishing spikes in the rate of Asians over 65 choosing to end their lives early, particularly in the region's economically successful countries."

The article notes that this trend does not seem to apply to all countries evenly.

"By contrast, the rate remains both stable and far lower in less-developed countries, such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam."

The article holds out several possible reasons for the trend. The shrinking family, the lack of connection to community, SARS and other widespread diseases, etc. I don't see too much that is different from other countries - including the U.S. that would explain the difference between Western countries and East and South eats Asian countries.

I do think there might be a greater effect on the diminished role of families. Our break with the crucial presence a cohesive family unit has likely been going on longer and perhaps more slowly than other parts of the world. whether you blame politics or economics. Distance in miles or in generational attitudes, the family unit is much less important now than it was in our even recent past. Perhaps this is happening more quickly and with greater impact in Asian countries?

Is there a greater reluctance to be a burden on our younger generation? In my youth there were many houses that held multiple generations under one roof. It was understood that you took care of your elders when it was time. Houses were often divided between two and three stories, with different generations of  the same family living on each floor.

Now more families are moving further apart from each other. The technology that keeps us connected electronically makes us feel better being disconnected locally. That doesn't help when you need someone downstairs when they are downtown. Is this separation greater in Asian countries or communities?

It does feel that we are less connected to our loved ones in general. That "family" does not carry the weight (and burden) that it once had. I'm happy to be in the same general area as my kids today, but as I look at the costs associated with retirement in this New England blue state, I will need to contemplate a less expensive area to which I will live out my days.

I hope I never get to the point where I feel ending it all early is the best solution I come up with.

Posted by: topmaker at 07:07 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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