Love meets anime

I am a person who loves stories about love. Yes, I am what some would call a hopeless romantic. Which also means that, when choosing which anime to watch, there is a tendency for me to select those with themes of romance, or at least some form of love in the story.

So here, I bring you my list of love-themed anime. This is not a complete list of all anime with some form of love story; that would be an endless list since love is part of human emotion and anime is an expression of human emotion. It is simply a list that I, as a hopeless romantic, loves.

I chose to watch Your Life in April 四月は君の嘘 because I wanted to cry. And cry I did. Love is selfless, as shown by the extent that Kaori went to in order to bring Kousei out of his shell and back into the world of music. Love can change us in good ways, and love stays in the heart even when a person is no longer around. That final letter from Kaori to Kousei is just so........... 😭 Every time I want to cry, I will just rewatch that final letter scene. A similar story is I Want to Eat Your Pancreas 君の膵臓をたべたい although the female protagonist did not die from her illness.

It took me a while to get down to watching Violet Evergarden ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン and I really regretted now watching it sooner. Major Gilbert's love for Violet is so great, he is willing to stay away from her life and give her the space and opportunity to grow. The central theme across the whole series is to understand what "I love you" means, but the series also explores different kinds of love (not just the romantic kind) which makes it all the more endearing to me.

At first, I didn't really have an idea of what the story of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid 小林さんちのメイドラゴン was. I just watched it as part of my "try to finish watching all KyoAni works" ambition. But I immediately took a liking to it. This story is an interesting take on love. Yes, we know that love transcends gender, and a woman can love another woman. But this story takes it to the next level, transcending species (love between human and dragon...) Not only is the story about same-sex, interspecies love, but it also portrays the bond between parent and child. It reminds me that love knows no boundaries. Romantic love is not limited by gender (or species, for that matter...) and family love is not limited by blood.

I was looking for something short on love to watch to satisfy my craving for love-related stuff and came across Tsurezure Children 徒然チルドレン. Ah... first love. The teenage years as one is growing up and learning what it feels like to fall in love for the first time. I am sure we all remember our first love, our childhood/teenage crushes, and this series helps to jog those (bittersweet) memories.

I only decided to watch After the Rain 恋は雨上がりのように because it was set in Yokohama. But the story soon caught my attention. Love is not limited by age, but a high school girl being involved romantically with a man in his 40s can be... problematic. Social norms have a strange way of shaping our views and how we are viewed. But it can also help to provide that opportunity for rethinking (and reaffirming) one's feelings, like in this story where it forces Tachibana to face her feelings and reconsider her options ahead in life.

After watching all those "recommended" love anime series, I eventually stumbled into yuri anime. Kase-san and Morning Glories あさがおと加瀬さん。 was a great one to start, but a bit short as it is an OVA instead of an adaptation of the entire story. But I moved on to bravely take on Bloom Into You やがて君になる. A person falls in love with another person. X is there for Y, to support her as she learns to be herself instead of being an image of someone else. This series really made me think. We all imagine what love is like, but love can take different shapes and forms. Will we recognize it when it comes? Can we learn to accept love even if it seems to be different from what we imagine it to be? The anime series only adapted part of the manga series, so I am seriously considering getting the manga just to find what how the entire story ends.

Shinkai Makoto's works like 5 Centimeters per Second 秒速5センチメートル, The Garden of Words 言の葉の庭, Your Name. 君の名は。 and Weathering with You 天気の子 also revolve around love, but I see them more as "growing up" stories where love is part of that process. I still want to mention them in this post since they have their own touching love stories too. But as mentioned, it simply won't be practical to include every anime with a love story here... there would be no end to such a list.

However, this list is sure to grow as the years go by and I come across more works. So stay tuned!

Update 29 August 2020: I am adding Tsuki ga Kirei 月がきれい to this list because it is a very very heartwarming series.

That feeling of falling in love, being shy, and the happy ending really gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling which makes this my favorite anime about love as of today. Some of the setting in the anime (like the male protagonist being involved in ohayashi at the local shrine) is also something that I can relate to.

Tsurezure Children and growing up

Tsurezure Children (徒然チルドレン) is a heartwarming anime series of short episodes (each about 12 minutes long) about teenagers (high school students) dealing with that feeling of love. There are many characters and each episode jumps from couple to couple so it can be a bit confusing at times, especially since the focus is only on a particular event/occasion in the lives of each couple.

Still, it is a gem, because I think it is able to capture that warm and fuzzy feeling we have when we first fall in love. About wanting to let someone know our feelings, yet afraid of rejection, yet wanting to move forward, yet fearful of what the future holds. That internal struggle with emotions as we try to deal with our feelings for that special someone while being sensitive to what others may think about us.

It is all part of the growing up process, and while this series may seem to jump from place to place, couple to couple, I guess it only shows that myriad feelings and situations that growing up can bring. Which makes it all the more heartwarming as it is sure to resonate with all of us. We were all young once, and it is nice to remember those feelings we once had.

14 years on

Just realized that it has been 14 years since this blog was created. I started this blog more as a diary of my thoughts and things I want to write about, which is why I never actively promoted the blog except when there is relevant information that may be useful to a larger community. So I am grateful to all visitors who somehow found their way here and to those who left their comments. Thank you for reading the ramblings of a geek.

Sword Art Online Alicization and the humanity of AI

The final season of Sword Art Online is currently showing on TV. This season is especially appealing to me because of the concept it explores: the humanity of AI.

SAO 3 is an adaptation of the Alicization arc of the light novels and is split into Alicization and War of Underworld; the current season is the second half of War of Underworld. The entire setting is an AI world, where seeds of human conscious are brought into an artificial world, raised by avatars that are controlled by real humans, and allowed to subsequently reproduce to form generations of their own AI societies.

The Alicization arc in the light novels covers events in this artificial world, but also ends with one of the AI characters, Alice Zuberg, gaining entry into the real world via an artificial (robot? android?) body. It is this part of the story that I am hoping to see adapted, to see how the anime series expresses the issue of AI humanity.

The core idea is: if an AI was raised in the same way as a human being, the only difference being that the AI exists in an artificial (computer/digital) environment, with the same concept of emotions as human because of that upbringing, can that AI be considered human? Should the AI be considered human? And with that consideration as human, being conferred with all the rights that human beings have.

In Alicization part of SAO 3, another related concept was already explored: what if something happened to push sentient AI to overcome its programming to take an action that its programming prohibits. When we create AI, we humans are afraid of creating something that will become better than us and harm us. So there is this debate about programming something into AI to safeguard against an AI "rebellion". SAO Alicization basically asks if such safeguards can be broken by the AI. Because when that happens, what can we do?

In the ending part of SAO Alicization: War of Underworld, Alice is supposed to enter the real world. This triggers debate about her rights: is she a computer program, or should she be considered human. Today, AI research is increasingly taking the training/learning approach, of trying to teach machines to learn on their own given some initial parameters. But if the methods we use to train machines to learn is based on how we humans learn... will we end up creating AI as digital copies of humans? Digital copies that, through a learning process similar to how we learn, eventually come to duplicate us not only in knowledge and skills but also emotions and ethics. And if so, what rights will they have? If we deny them their rights, being of similar emotional and ethical level, will AI become discontent and rebel against humans?

While this is an anime series, the concept it explores may not be as far fetched as it seems. With the speed of AI research, we will soon need to confront this ethical question. Hopefully, we are ready with an answer before our AI creations pose this question to us.

China and moving up the value ladder

In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took control and the People's Republic of China was born. Since then, PRC (aka China) has been under Communist control and if we brand communism as being authoritarian, then China has also been under authoritarian rule.

In the 1970s, the United States decided to recognize China instead of Taiwan, even though China was still a communist state under authoritarian rule. This was because the United States saw the geopolitical advantage of having China on the U.S. side during the Cold War against the USSR. Realism trumped idealism.

In the 1980s, as China gradually opened its economy to the rest of the world, the United States supported China's economic development. China was able to provide a cheap source of labour, allowing U.S. companies to produce cheaper and maximise profits. Nothing changed in China's domestic system, though; it was still a communist state under authoritarian rule. But once again, pragmatism (who can deny money) trumped idealism.

Personally, I think the United States had been friendly to China in the past because it did not see China as being strong enough to threaten the United States economically or politically. China was too far down the value chain back then to be a threat. The United States could happily exploit cheap Chinese labour while staying much further up the value chain to reap in the benefits. It is like the colonial days, when cotton was grown in colonies while clothes were made in England.

But enter the 2000s, and China started to climb up the value chain. In the 2010s, China has gone even further up the value chain to be able to provide its own alternatives in lower-end markets. The best smart phones costing US$1,000 are still products of U.S. companies, but Chinese companies are able to cover the lower-end markets of cheap smart phones costing US$100 or so. Chinese companies are making cheap cars too. These might not be top-of-the-line luxury vehicles, but they serve their purpose for the average Joe.

As we enter the 2020s, China continues to climb the value ladder, and is now a leader in 5G technology. Chinese companies are producing products that can seriously rival some of the leading U.S. companies.

And as China climbs the value ladder, we also see a change in U.S. attitude toward China. China has remained under communist and authoritarian rule for the past 50 years (actually, more than that, since 1949), but the United States has chosen to avoid this issue when China was further down the value ladder. When China was not an economic or political threat, being communist or authoritarian was not an issue for business. People were happy to exploit China's cheap labour if it helped maximise their profits.

But when the rise of Chinese companies up the value ladder started to threaten their profits, suddenly, being communist and authoritarian is a "thing". We start to hear people say things like "Can we trust China?" Remember, trust in China has not been an issue in the 1980s and 1990s when U.S., European, and Japanese companies were happily exploiting cheap Chinese labour. Even the Tiananmen Square incident did not stop the United States from giving China most-favored nation status.

I think people need to be aware that, when viewed objectively, mistrust in China stems not from its communist government and authoritarian actions. Casting China in an unfavourable, shady light using communism and authoritarian rule is the means; the underlying reason is more because the rise of China threatens U.S. economic well-being.

To me, this is very short-sighted and petty on the side of the United States. Rather than see competition as something that needs to be put down (which is basically how the United States does things, whether government or private sector), competition should be viewed as something to spur innovation and progress. Competition should make us want to do better than the other side, not get rid of it.

Let's not stoke mistrust just because the other side is different from us. That is discrimination. Instead, we should look within ourselves to see how we can do even better than the other side. That is friendly competition, and that is how we can all move forward toward progress as a human race. Whether we like it or not, we are a single human race living on our single planet Earth. A bigger and more accepting view of human progress will help us more in the long-term than short-term narrow views of national dominance.

My anime series list

This is a list of anime series that I like. Anime movies (like those by Miyazaki Hayao and Shinkai Makoto) will not be in this list though movies related to anime series may be mentioned if they form part of the overall series. My favorite anime series of all time will be in the top spot; everything after that will not be in any particular order.

Violet Evergarden ヴァイオレット・エヴァーガーデン

A story about a person learning about one's own emotions through the emotions of others. Violet is the protagonist yet she is also the observer. It is a series of touching stories about the relationships between people. It is also a story about self-discovery and emotional development.

This anime series is in the top spot because it made me cry. Again and again. Most anime series spend like 10 episodes to work up the story before drawing a tear. Violet Evergarden sets the stage in about 3 episodes, after which subsequent episodes are able to build on that foundation to make a person cry within an episode. It tells a lot about how well the entire series is composed, from the writing (story) to the animation and sound. 😭😭😭😭

Your Life in April 四月は君の嘘

A heartwarming story with a nice sound track and a story of growth. The final letter from Kaori to Kousei... 😭

Tsuki ga Kirei 月がきれい

A heartwarming story where the heroine does not die; in fact, this is a story with a happy ending. I really love that warm and fuzzy feeling it conveys about love conquering all. 😍

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない。

A story by Okada Mari that I find very touching. The final scene brings a lot of tears.

K-On! けいおん!

This refers to the whole series (seasons 1 and 2 plus the movie) that portrays the light music club's high school years. It is about young people struggling with their everyday issues and that is what really draws me.

Sound! Euphonium 響け! ユーフォニアム

This refers to the whole series (seasons 1 and 2 plus related movies, minus Liz and the Blue Bird) concerning Oumae Kumiko's life in the marching band at high school. "I want to improve" is what really resonates with me.

Liz and the Blue Bird (リズと青い鳥)

The movie is a side story of the Sound! Euphonium series, featuring Yoroizuka Mizore (oboe) and Kasaki Nozomi (flute) as the main characters, using the "fairy tale" of "Liz and the Blue Bird" to portray their relationship.

Tsurune ツルネ -風舞高校弓道部-

I actually like this series for how it teaches things about kyudo, which I found really informative.

Ascendance of a Bookworm 本好きの下剋上 ～司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません～

The first season's portrayal of Myne as she uses her knowledge of our modern world to improve life in this other world drew my attention.

O Maidens in Your Savage Season 荒ぶる季節の乙女どもよ。

Another Okada Mari work that gives a nice slice-of-life portrayal about the struggles of teenagers as they try to cope with mental, emotional, and physical changes.

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War かぐや様は告らせたい ～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～

I find the story to be very witty. A good laugh with small touching moments.

A Place Further than the Universe 宇宙よりも遠い場所

High school girls going to Antarctica. It is precisely this far-fetched goal that draws me. If one can look beyond the moe part, this is a story about doing one's best toward a lofty and seemingly impossible goal.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid 小林さんちのメイドラゴン

It may look like a funny series, but it accurately portrays the challenges people have at work, and finding a family.

Wandering Son 放浪息子

The anime series is just a portion of the original manga, but it still accurately portrays the struggles that transgender people have with fitting in and gaining acceptance. A girl dresses as a boy and people thinks it is cool. A boy dresses as a girl and people laugh.

The Pet Girl of Sakurasou さくら荘のペットな彼女

The struggle of being average can be overwhelming if you have geniuses near you. It was nice to have a story that tells me I need to keep trying.

Fate/Zero フェイト/ゼロ

I like how the story talks about different ways of being kings, which I see as different leadership styles. And the strong female character Saber whose character has been developed quite well.

Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online ソードアート・オンライン オルタナティブ ガンゲイル・オンライン

A tall girl trying to fit in... this really resonated with me. The action scenes were also nicely done.

Tsurezure Children 徒然チルドレン

This is really a heartwarming series to see how people deal with growing up and finding first love. Even though the series can seem a bit disjointed at times jumping from couple to couple, it can bring tears of joy.

After the Rain 恋は雨上がりのように

Based on a high school girl falling in love with a man in his 40s, this adaptation turned a touchy (problematic?) theme into a touching story about finding purpose. Being set in Yokohama adds a nice "homely" feel too.

Barakamon ばらかもん

There is no way I can miss out on an anime series about calligraphy, being someone who practises calligraphy. In fact, this series gave me some thoughts about finding my own calligraphy style.

Girls' Last Tour 少女終末旅行

With the cute character design, this may look like a moe series, but is actually deeply profound at the philosophical level, touching on the meaning of life and what it means to be alive.

Latest update: 4 August 2020

Kyoto Animation fire one-year anniversary video

Today marks one year from the horrible fire at Kyoto Animation's 1st Studio. Due to COVID-19, there will not be an actual memorial event, but Kyoto Animation has released the video above to mark this anniversary along with a press release two days ago.

There were three messages displayed in the video. These messages came not from KyoAni staff but people who works with them. I am guessing one of them could be the sound director Tsuruoka Yota and the other is script writer Yoshida Reiko.

A short 7-minute video, but it brings tears because of all the past works which KyoAni has produced, and you know that we will never see the works which would have been possible had the 36 victims survived the fire.

😭

Update: Just saw the news. An actual event was held for a closed group including families of the victims.

Kyoto Animation studio marks 1st anniversary of deadly arson attack

Note: The video mentioned in this post was made available only on the day of the event.

Installing motionEye on Orange Pi Lite

I found this article in Japanese about how to install motionEye on an Orange Pi Lite. This article is more a "note to self" for use when I get down to actually installing it.

First is to download Armbian for the Orange Pi Lite, either the Ubuntu or Debian version. Then, flash the image to a microSD card. Use this microSD card to boot the Orange Pi Lite.

The initial login credentials should be root for the user and 1234 for the password. After which you will be prompted to change the root password. You should also follow the prompts to create a normal user.

Then, once in the console terminal, use the following commands to update the distro, install the requirements for motionEye, and finally install it via pip.

su

apt-get update

apt-get install -y motion ffmpeg v4l-utils

apt-get install -y python-pip python-dev curl libssl-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libjpeg-dev

apt-get install zlib1g-dev libfreetype6-dev liblcms2-dev libwebp-dev tcl8.5-dev tk8.5-dev python-tk

apt-get install build-essential libffi-dev

pip install --upgrade setuptools

pip install wheel

pip install motioneye

sudo mkdir -p /etc/motioneye

cp /usr/local/share/motioneye/extra/motioneye.conf.sample /etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf   

mkdir -p /var/lib/motioneye

cp /usr/local/share/motioneye/extra/motioneye.systemd-unit-local
/etc/systemd/system/motioneye.service

systemctl daemon-reload

systemctl enable motioneye

systemctl start motioneye

pip install motioneye --upgrade

systemctl restart motioneye

This should start motionEye, which can then be accessed via port 8765. For example, if the Orange Pi Lite's IP address is 192.168.1.123, use a web browser to access the following address.

http://192.168.1.123:8765/

Login as admin (no password) to complete the rest of the setup.

I have been using an ESP32-CAM module as a simple IP camera at home, but the problem I face is stability. I am hoping that I can use the Orange Pi Lite with a USB camera module to create a more stable solution. Well, this "note to self" is for when I eventually get down to doing this. Hopefully, it is helpful to others too. Note that as of the date of this post, I have not actually tried this out yet and the procedure is simply taken from the article mentioned at the top of the post.

In-place upgrade from Linux Mint 19.3 to Linux Mint 20

Linux Mint 20 has been out for a while.

I decided to do an in-place upgrade from Linux Mint 19.3 to Linux Mint 20. The actual instructions are here. I thought it would be quite problematic, but the upgrade finished without any real issues.

One thing I did do. After the command

mintupgrade check

I copied the output to a text file so I knew which are the packages being removed. These packages will need to be manually installed again after the upgrade.

The command

mintupgrade download

can take some time, depending on the number of packages that need to be downloaded. The next command,

mintupgrade upgrade

really depends on your computer. If you have a fast modern PC, it should not take very long; if you are upgrading on an older PC, it may take a while...

Still, while in-place upgrade does work, the best advice is to do a clean installation if you can do the required backups. This is a good guide on what needs to be done.

New (and final?) SAO season starts

Allow me to rant... again.

After being delayed for a season due to COVID-19, the final chapter to the Sword Art Online anime series has finally started. This is likely to be the final season in the series, adapting the final part of the Alicization arc that concludes the War of Underworld plus what happens after that.

Not to give too many spoilers... but I need to rant about the Kirito harem again. The episode starts with Sinon entering Underworld, and she gets to see her beloved (sigh) Kirito again. She introduces herself to Kirito's two juniors who "guard" Kirito. One of the juniors commented that all of Kirito's friends from the real world are girls. And Sinon actually replies, "There are more to come."

🤦‍♀️

How is this even... sigh...

I count 9 in the harem, based on this page. If you add in Yui (Kirito's AI "daughter"), that will be a nice 10. Alice, Selka, Tiese (junior A), Ronie (junior B) are original characters for the Alicization arc, being natives to Underworld. Asuna and Sinon are from the real world (past seasons) and have since entered the Underworld to save their beloved Kirito. Suguha (Kirito's "sister") has also made an entrance, and we are just waiting for Lisbeth and Silica to make theirs. Asuna remains harem leader, though Alice is not happy with that. I vaguely know how the light novels end from reading online posts but let's see how the anime adaptation portrays the part after the war.

An overpowered protagonist with a huge harem. The only reason I am still watching this series is because I am too invested in the series (having spent time watching previous seasons) to not know the ending. Sigh.

Update July 14, 2020: I think there has been some bad reaction to the tentacle scene. Personally, I found it distasteful too, and avoided talking about it. I don't know what is the obsession with tentacle scenes in Japan, but it happens a lot. Still... the one in this first episode of the final season looks really horrible.

Letter by TRUE

This is a song from the Violet Evergarden OVA, which was supposed to be a work which Violet came up with as part of a request for a play, to be performed by an actress. The undelivered letters...

作詞：唐沢美帆  作曲：堀江晶太  編曲：Evan Call

ただ　静かに
おなじ空に　風を聞こう
そこに　あなたは
いないけれど

もう　いくども
書いた文字は　羽根のように
飛んで消えた

愛はいつも
陽だまりの中にある
見えなくても
触れられなくても
そばにあるように

ただ　優しい
森の木々は　雨にうたう
まるで　わたしを
励ますように

まだ　乾かぬ
土のうえを　歩いていく
いつかの道

愛はいつも
透き通る水のよう
受け止めては
また離れていく
あなたに似ている

愛はいつも
陽だまりの中にある
見えなくても
触れられなくても
そばにあるように

Source: https://www.lyrical-nonsense.com/lyrics/true/letter/

Michishirube みちしるべ by Chihara Minori 茅原実里

Just hearing this song brings back images of Violet Evergarden's story into my mind so strongly that tears well up in my eyes. The song's name, Michishirube, means "signpost" in Japanese. It is a fitting way to describe the role that Major Gilbert has on Violet Evergarden, guiding her growth as she learns about human emotions. More on the song at the end of the post.

作詞：茅原実里 作曲・編曲：菊田大介（Elements Garden）

あなたの声がみちしるべ

一羽の鳥が鳴いている
名前のない空に 私を探して

優しさで編み続けた ゆりかごで明日へ行こう
晴れの日も 雨の日にも あなたを守る為に

かけがえのない宝物
名前のない花は 静かに眠るよ

色なき風が呼んでいる
乞い願うふるさと 懐かしい香り

遠く幼い記憶は 陽だまりのような温もり
泡沫(うたかた)の夢から覚め 孤独が一人と知った

授けられた翼を 羽ばたかせて
飛ぶことをやめないと 約束しよう
一人じゃない

願いは一つだけ あなたの幸せ

優しさで編み続けた ゆりかごで明日を行こう
晴れの日も雨の日にも 愛してるを伝えて

この街に生まれたのは あなたと巡り会うため
この街に生まれたから あなたに巡り会えた

一羽の鳥が飛んでゆく
名前のない空に 明日を探して

Source: https://animesongz.com/lyric/4163/20855

-----------------------

"あなたの声がみちしるべ" literally means "your voice is my guiding light". This is really Violet's song about Gilbert. His voice has guided her throughout life. It was his voice that gave her the orders to kill, guiding her actions during the war. His voice that taught her how to speak, read, and write, which eventually formed the basis for her to have her own thoughts.

It was his voice that gave her the order "Live and be free." Which became the source of her determination to continue living after the war, even though she had lost both arms, lost her major, and eventually realized the severe consequences of her actions during the war. It allowed her to live through grief and guilt.

It was his voice that told her "I love you." Which became her motivation to be an Auto Memories Doll so that she could learn what that phrase means, and eventually allowing her to discover the human emotions within her.

 

It was his voice that said he hoped she will one day grow to become a person who matches her name. It guided her after the war to become a person worthy of the name Violet, which is both a beautiful flower and the name of a goddess in her world.

For good and bad, it was his voice that had been guiding her actions all this while. And so, every time I hear this song, I am reminded of their story... a story of love and guilt.

(maybe) Final thoughts on GE2020

It will soon be time to cast the votes for Singapore's General Election 2020.

My previous posts on GE2020:

My thoughts on the upcoming GE2020

Singapore General Elections 2020 underway

My previous posts, though, do not mean that I will not vote at all for the opposition in GE2020. I will cast my vote based on what I think is best for Singapore in the short- and long-term. But I sincerely hope the opposition parties, no matter how GE2020 turns out, will not remain content with contesting less than half the seats. Having "a different voice" in Parliament can get old quickly; while voters recognise that Singapore's short history means the opposition parties do not have the time, talent, and experience to actually form a government and run Singapore, it should not be taken as approval for the opposition parties to remain in this state forever. There are ways to attract talent, there are ways to learn without having actual experience in ministerial posts.

I look forward to the day when political parties can offer true alternatives.

Sincerely by TRUE

This is the opening theme song of the Violet Evergarden anime series, and it never fails to bring the story back to my mind. The lyrics "why am I crying" really makes me wonder why am I crying as I listen to this song.

作詞：唐沢美帆 作曲：堀江晶太 編曲：堀江晶太・Evan Call

知らない言葉を 覚えていくたび
面影のなか 手を伸ばすの

だけど一人では 分からない言葉も
あるのかもしれない

さよならは 苦くて
アイシテルは 遠いにおいがした

例えようのない この想いは
とても怖くて だけどとても愛おしくて

わたし なんで泣いているんだろう
心に なんて答えたらいい？

言葉はいつでも 語るでもなくて
そこにあるばかり 募るばかり
わたしは あなたに 会いたくなる

きれいな言葉を 覚えていくたび
自分のことが 嫌になりそう
だけど背を向けちゃ いけない言葉も
あるのかもしれない

かなしみは 冷たく
ありがとうは ぬくもりに色づく

形のないもの 触れるたびに
あなたの声が 胸の奥で響いているの

書きかけてはやめた
宛先のない手紙は 風に揺れる
届けたい人の街まで
始まりの終わりを 伝えるために

生きることを やめないことを
あなたに 今日誇れるように

わたし なんで泣いているんだろう
心になんて 答えたらいい？

言葉はいつでも 語るでもなくて
そこにあるばかり 募るばかり
わたしは あなたに 会いたくなるよ

Source: https://animesongz.com/lyric/4163/20747

Domestic Girlfriend is epic trashy

I told myself I would not watch Domestic Girlfriend, but ended up being drawn by how trashy it was said to be. I mean, is it really that bad? A super dumpster fire? It can't be that bad, right?

If you think the anime was trashy... the manga is probably epic trash. This YouTube video I found expresses it perfectly.

From the perspective of the protagonist(s)'s daughter... it will be like:

"My dad married my aunt (sister of my mum), who is also my step-aunt since my aunt is the step-sister of my dad. That also means my mum is my step-aunt since she is the step-sister of my dad. But my dad is also my step-uncle since he is the step-brother of my mum. And my aunt who is also my step-aunt is also my step-mum since she is the wife of my dad who is also my step-uncle."

This kid is going to grow up so confused...

But it is this impossible relation that somehow draws people to this series, I guess. People continue to watch/read to see how impossible it can get. I mean, if you start a series with a guy who is infatuated with his teacher who became his elder step-sister and loses his virginity to a girl who became his younger step-sister (which means teacher and girl are sisters by blood)... things can only get more and more impossible from there. It then becomes a contest between viewer/reader and author: amaze me.

Looking forward to something proper from Kyoto Animation soon to rescue me from further trashy stuff.

Violet Evergarden and the story of human emotions

First, to clarify, I have yet to read the light novels, so this is more about the anime adaptation of Violet Evergarden.

To me, while the main protagonist is Violet herself, and the story is centered around her as she learns about human emotions, most of the episodes are also about separate stories of the other characters in each episode. We see their stories as how Violet would see it, absorbing the details.

About the relationship between siblings. The relationship between a father and his daughter. A mother and her daughter. A young adult and his parents. Between two lovers. The anime is as much about their stories as it is about Violet as she grows emotionally.

And that is the appeal, at least for me.

Because it does not limit the focus on the protagonist. Yes, Violet remains the protagonist throughout the entire series, and yet each episode has its own protagonist that we focus on. This "double focus" gives life to the entire series, which is entirely fitting since it is a series about the range of human emotions, and there is a broad range of human emotions.

A series that focuses solely on Violet's growth will soon grow boring. A series that does not have a central figure will end up as a disjointed series of individual stories. This double-focus style allows the series to stay consistent and coherent as a series, yet portray each individual story to its fullest.

The upcoming movie, though, is likely to be more focused on Violet. And rightly so, since it is time we shine the spotlight on her, to see how much she has grown. She has given us insight into the stories of others. And now it is time to look at her story in detail.

Edited July 6, 2020: This following fan video about the making of Violet Evergarden is probably the best I have seen for any "making of" video. It is a loving tribute to a great anime series.

KyoAni is recovering, slowly but surely

Every Kyoto Animation movie ever made gets revival screening, company now hiring new employees

It is great to hear that one of my favorite anime studios is getting back on its feet after the horrendous attack last year.

The new Violet Evergarden movie should be showing in cinemas from September 18, 2020 if nothing else comes along to disrupt the schedule. KyoAni has also announced a new Sound! Euphonium movie too, which we should see in the next couple of years, I guess.

京アニ、頑張ってください！

Remaining distant at work

I had always tried to maintain a working relationship with colleagues that keeps a certain distance in terms of private life. While I do join my colleagues in after-work interactions like dinner and stuff, I have always tried to keep that to a minimum, and separate as much of my private self as my working self.

Obviously, this means I have very few real friends at work. I have friendly working relationships, but only a few of my colleagues become my friends.

It stems from a deeper belief about the military and how it works. At the end of the day, as a military officer, there is a chain of command, there are orders, and one day, I may need to give an order that will put my colleagues into the line of danger. Some may get injured, some may even die. And I believed that I don't want my friendships to cloud my decisions.

So I keep them distant, to minimize the probability of ever having to order a friend into a life-and-death situation.

Today, this has become a habit, and thus, even when no longer in uniform, I keep my working life separate from my private life. This is not easy because humans are social people, and people prefer to work with those whom they are familiar with. Not knowing much about my private life means those who work with me tend to feel a certain distance. Work is still work, but it is a bit... uneasy to work with someone whom you do not know much about outside of work.

The deeper debate is whether close private relationships can enhance military work performance. I believe the ancient Greeks actually have male lovers serve alongside each other believing that their close ties spur them to fight better for each other. That could be true, and in modern terms, friendships within people in the same unit may help improve performance and unit cohesion. But still... it has become a habit of mine.

And so, I remain the efficient worker whom no one really knows much about outside of work.

Singapore General Elections 2020 underway

GE2020: Nominations close with all 93 seats contested; 3-way fights in 2 constituencies

All 93 seats are being contested. But other than the ruling party, no other party has fielded at least 47 candidates. Which means the only party that is out to form the next government is the ruling party; all other parties are not aiming at forming the next government.

To me, this is an open admission of defeat. The other parties are all admitting they are not capable of being the government. None of them are willing to take on the challenge of being responsible for Singapore for the next 5 years. And if that is so, why should voters even vote for them?

If the ruling party wins at least 47 seats, then no number of opposition in Parliament matters. The ruling party will continue to have the majority of seats, and it can pass any law it wants. If the ruling party does not win the majority of seats, we end up with a coalition government. There is nothing wrong with a coalition government, but things may move at a slower pace as it takes more time to reach a consensus in a coalition.

Nomination Day is just over, campaigning has just started, but all the opposition parties have already lost. It now remains to see if the ruling party wins and forms the next government, or loses and we end up with a coalition government.

Anyway, this article shows the candidates who are contesting in the GRCs.

24 solar terms 二十四节气

Nothing much, just that I was interested about the 24 solar terms which is used to divide a year.

This is a poem (found on Wikipedia) to help remember the 24 solar terms in their order, starting from spring.

立春陽氣轉，雨水沿河邊；
驚蟄烏鴉叫，春分瀝皮乾；
清明忙種麥，穀雨種大田。

立夏鵝毛住，小滿雀來全；
芒種五月節，夏至不納棉；
小暑不算熱，大暑三伏天。

立秋忙打靛，處暑幹老虎；
白露煙上架，秋分無生田；
寒露不算冷，霜降變了天。

立冬交十月，小雪地封嚴；
大雪河叉上，冬至不行船；
小寒進臘月，大寒又一年。