Making Haro worth it

I've been watching some Gundam lately, and I've decided that I would totally be willing to put up with Haro's annoyingness if it ate mosquitoes and wasps.

Gundam Full Frontal Facepalm

Oh, Gundam, honey, you know I love you.  We've been together for 19 years at this point.  This is an eyes-open sort of relationship, meaning that I know that sometimes you go too far, but I must admit I totally forgot about the name of a major antagonist in Gundam UC being Full Frontal.  I nearly fell off the exercise bike when you brought it to my attention again.    I know it's supposed to be sort of ironic because he's a twisty, liar character, the opposite of a full frontal attack, but I have to admit that every time someone mentions him by name, I fill in the non-existent blank with "nudity."  It's not you, it's me, obviously.  But it's also you.

What I Watched in May: Gundam 00

b Gundam 00:  So I spent quite a lot of time listening to Gundam 00 and a significant time watching the second season (Since I'd already seen the first, I just played it through and listened while cleaning, organizing, and writing.)  Watching a lot of Gundam means:

• Thinking about war, peace, reasons to fight, duty, sacrifice
• Hearing too many cheesy lines and soliloquies
•     "Since the dawn of time . . ."
•     "Is this the power of . . ."
• Feeling sad about the brokenness of the world 
• Hoping information won't be controlled and manipulated like this - being glad we have those pesky people who publish truth on the internet somehow and being very glad for journalists willing to risk life and limb to bring back the truth from dangerous places
• Having to meditate on the terrible things one can do when one believes one's cause is just and the terrible things people do to further their own desires and agendas

I remember criticism was leveled at this show because it was less emotionally accessible than some other ones, and I guess I can see that because the characters are so very closed and damaged, but I still cried plenty.  I guess you could say that any show that tries to depict multiple sides of the conflict as sympathetic is going to take more work from the viewer.  (And punish the invested viewer more.)  With Gundam Seed, there were good guys on two sides; same with Gundam Wing.

With 00, well, there are about 7 sides.  And there are evil folks on many of them and good-ish folks and confused folks and ignorant folks and other manner of folks.  Where is the moral center?  Who's in the right?  It's not really obvious, so you as the viewer have to pick who you will root for.  And at some point whoever you picked probably does something you find very difficult to forgive.

Oh, Brad Swaile, what a great job you did in this one.  And oh, Bandai.  I miss all your technical and crew extras.  The episode 25 commentary of ssn 1 is just the guys being hilarious dorks.  Other commentaries are highly informative.

"Whether we fight or not, people will die.  Now you no longer have any place to run away to."
---
"If the time comes, I'll pull the trigger.  I don't mind if you hate me."
---
"You think because you avoid pulling the trigger you can avoid the guilt?"

This Gundam incarnation is not afraid to get theological, but it doesn't take the easy route and simply blame everything on religion.  People talk about a twistedness and crookedness in the world, a brokenness.  But they look for external causes that they can fix with force.  It's a doomed quest from the beginning.

All this because I talked to them?
You're the one who took their lives through your own foolish actions.
---
I'm a weapon, a tool for killing people.  I don't deserve happiness.

It's not like she's using her newly discovered powers for good and not evil; it's more like while using them for evil, she realizes they aren't inherently evil and starts using them for good.  Or like she realizes that she has powers at all and that she can use them for good.

We're fighting for the future, not the past.
---
Why are you crying?
Because you can't.
---
Save as many people as you can.  Then you can die.

I watch and am afraid.  Is this how information is manipulated now?  I think of Syria and how few journalists are there and how little interest the outside world has in the situation.  When my science fiction looks too much like my present instead of my future, it starts to really make me feel nervous and uncomfortable.

Gundam has always been good at making me nervous and uncomfortable.  And that's why I like Gundam.

Quote roundup

Sometimes you just find quotes that tickle you, but they're too short to make a whole post, so you keep collecting until you have enough.  I think I have enough.

Sean Gaffney on Natsume's Book of Friends: "Natsume has gotten much better at this protagonist thing, but he still tends to be emotionally passive, and as an action hero he's fairly miserable. So there's a sense of genuine danger to the proceedings that works very well."

Kate Dacey on Qwan: "I have a bad habit of falling in love with commercially doomed series.. . .  I think narrative complexity was a factor. Though the story is a rich tapestry of political history and myth, Shimizu refuses to spoon feed information to the reader; we’re just as confused and disoriented as Qwan himself is. That kind of reading experience can be quite rewarding, but the absence of an omniscient narrator demands more of the audience, forcing us to pore over the text and make connections on our own. Shimizu’s artwork and characterizations are up to the task, but impatient readers will easily miss crucial details in their haste to get to the fight scenes."

Kate Dacey on Your & My Secret: "Yet for all the black comedy, Morinaga still allows her characters moments of vulnerability and decency, preventing the humor from curdling into pure meanness. She wisely avoids the trap of making her characters too dumb to notice the transformations in Akira and Nanako, allowing her to sustain the body-swapping premise without straining credulity or testing the reader’s patience."

Sean Gaffney on Seiho Boys High School: "Well, that was a bummer. Don't get me wrong, a beautifully told, well-written bummer. I enjoyed every minute of it. But dang. Thank goodness the volume ends with a wacky romantic farce, even though it pales in comparison to what came before.

Kate Dacey on Gun Blaze West: "Like many shonen stories, the hero is the least interesting member of the cast; he’s not much more than a reader surrogate, a collection of attitudes and skills, rather than a fully realized character."

John on Gundam: "Once again, the disabled and headless Gundam continuing to fight represents the Japanese spirit of perseverance and loyalty to one’s goal."

Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith on 1001 Nights: "Maseru, Shahryar’s dark-skinned bodyguard who has the most adorable and sad subplot concerning a sheep that I have ever seen . . ."