Yes, it's another Animania advertisement post. The next screening is on the 10th of March 2006, from 1600h to 2359h. The next screening after this (and the last for the semester) is on April 17th. Admission is, as always, utterly and thoroughly free, and the club supports itself mostly by raffle tickets and sheer bloody-mindedness.

Once again, the views expressed in here are entirely mine, and not associated in any way, shape, or form with the official stance of the club. I'm pretty much doing this because a) every little bit of advertisement helps, and b) I'm out of ideas for blog topics.

Given a choice between this and a screencap of Hidamari Sketch with "moe~ moe~ moe~" as the sole caption, I think this counts as having relatively more substance.

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Volume two of Card Captor Sakura is called "Everlasting Memories", possibly in a reference to episode 6. But for a change, I'll be putting aside the various DVD items for this post, and instead talk about the episode itself.

Episode 5, "Sakura, Panda, and the Cute Shop", apart from sounding rather awkward, shows signs of (dare I say it, what am I saying, of course I do) lower production values than other episodes. This is mostly noticeable in the animation and character designs, where it appears to have been drawn by an outsourced studio (rather than the "in-house" Madhouse Studios) or the B-team of animators or some such. It's not utterly deformed and horrible (like some of the broadcast episodes of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and its sequel, or Utawarerumono, or even the infamous bits of Lost Universe), but when looking at the episode closely for making AMVs or blog posts, it's fairly obvious.

In addition, there were also plenty of strange and unexplained actions and occurences in this episode. It's not the worst offender, but it's up there somewhere. Yes, I know about the whole "it's MAGIC" explanation, and even now, as before, I still don't entirely buy it.

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Yes, I've been quite bad at finding time for this blog. Now, the good news is that as far as I know, and I say this with the full knowledge that this is tempting fate to an unreasonable and extremely dangerous degree, things have settled down some, and I'll be able to turn my attention back to this blog. Even so, the future holds many mysteries for those brave enough to peer into its opaque depths, and as pointed out, fate has been tempted, and may yet rise to the challenge.

In any case, to further cement this blog's as-yet-nascent reputation for being a CCS-centric blog (through no deliberate decision on my part, I assure you), I should probably ramble a bit (albeit a bit unfavourably) about the series many people seem to expect me to like for its featuring of CCS characters, except not really: Tsubasa Chronicle.

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And that's the last "wood" joke you'll hear from me in this entry.

Episode 4 of CCS, "Sakura's Tiring Sunday", shows us the consequences of not following the user manual, or ignoring tech support. Well, actually it's just Sakura forgetting to write her name on a pair of cards, causing them to go wild. Or something.

I have to assume that the writing of the name is more a symbolic ritual than anything, since Sakura writes "SAKURA" in English on the cards (why English, instead of kanji or hiragana, is never really explained), and I'm pretty sure there's more than one Sakura around. Some may even have magical powers as well, unless we're not allowed to crossover with Fate/Stay Night or Da Capo, in which case never mind.

Overall, a fun little episode, but not especially earth-shaking or portentous.

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Episode 3, "Sakura's Heart-Racing First Date", doesn't deal as much with the whole "first date" aspect as much as Sakura's various amusing facial expressions. I'm not even sure it counts as a "first date", since we only know that Sakura considers it to be one, while the other half of the date, Yukito, probably doesn't. (At least, I hope he doesn't.)

In this episode, we also see the start of Touya's five million part-time jobs, and a few hints that Clow Reed may be a lolipedofin.

Or something.

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This is just a test of the AB.net uploading, which may or may not be encountering problems. In the meantime, have a wallpaper.

Yes, it's another greeting for the Year of the Boar. I'm stuck here in snowy Michigan, and it's really snowy and cold. I don't think last year was this bad, but then that could just be my faulty memory at work again.

In celebration, let's have a look at what the fortune cookie from yesterday's dinner says:

You love Chinese food.

Deep.

Episode 2 is one of my favourite episodes in the series, if only because of the Tomoyo screentime. Yes, I'm a Tomoyo fanboy, possibly because I, like Kyon, am kind of attracted to weird girls. Tomoyo's weirdness is only the surface of it, though; if you put aside the rampant Out-Of-Character situations that pop up now and then, she turns out to be the most fascinating and likeable character in the entire show, in my opinion. However, I'm obviously biased, so take that as you will.

I don't have a whole lot of CHECK!Points in this recap, largely because I tried screencapping everything I thought was moe, and ended up with pretty much every scene with Tomoyo in it and nothing to say about them but Tomoyo-chan moe~. So we'll just take it as a given that every time Tomoyo comes on screen, add in a CHECK!Point. It's the Moe Check drinking game, or something.

In this episode, "Sakura's Wonderful Friend", Tomoyo learns of Sakura's brand new title of Cardcaptor, and decides to use stage direction and expert camcorder skillz to replicate a true mahou shoujo series. Especially the henshin sequences, apparently.

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Pioneer (now Geneon), in their infinite generosity and wisdom, had apparently decided to package the Card Captor Sakura DVDs with titles, but no volume numbers. Well, I'm grateful that they released it in the first place, rather than leave it to Nelvana's butchered version. But still.

I'm not sure if the new re-release is better. I don't even want to think about how much I could have saved buying them all now, rather than one DVD at a time.

So volume one is called "The Clow", contains four episodes, and it has the following blurb:

Curiosity is a part of any 10-year old's life, but Sakura just broke the seal on a magical book and released all of the mischievous spirits imprisoned on the cards inside! Kero, the "Guardian of the Clow Cards" is horrified to find all of the cards gone and tells Sakura she must become the "Cardcaptor" and retrieve the spirits before they work their mischief in the world.

Not too inaccurate. The Clow Cards seem to limit their presence mostly around the Tomoeda area, though, which is quite considerate of them. In any case, the extras on this DVD are Sakura's character info blurb, the creditless first opening animation, and the Nelvana Cardcaptors opening. Which, um, is kind of painful to watch. But enough of that.

The first episode of CCS, "Sakura and the Mysterious Magic Book", sets up most of the necessary character introductions, and has Sakura defeat her first monster-of-the-week. You can already tell that the show is pacing itself for the long run.

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I tend to be quite upbeat about occasions like Valentine's Day or such, where the number of the day is two and we're told to pair off with whomever we like the best, in the hopes that this affection is reciprocated. Many Western holidays have become very commercialized to one extent or another, and Valentine's is no exception: we're told that we should be in pairs, and if we're not, then there's the subtle and implicit insinuation that we're somehow deficient, if only because we don't have anyone to spend on.

But, you know, I don't really care that much. Yes, I'm single. Yes, I'm not single by choice, but rather circumstance. No, I've never had a girlfriend. Yes, I'm aware, when I take several steps back, of how pathetic this makes me sound.

Still, if I'm well on the road to being the sort of person who'd rather have a fictional character for a girlfriend, I may as well enjoy the ride there.

It's the same sort of rationale I use to enjoy watching summer beach episodes in the middle of winter, and Christmas episodes in the sweltering heat of July (or a tropical country, for that matter). Yes, it doesn't really affect me now, and the events depicted in the anime will probably never be relevant to my life, but I still watch them, because I can enjoy the occasion vicariously through the characters, as they stumble and stammer their way through the bumpy path of life and love.

It's the aura of anticipation mixed with dread as the guys harbour that tiny spark of hope that this year, maybe this year, will mark the first year that someone they like would turn out to like them too. It's the careful rehearsals as the girls practice what they're going to say, and how they're going to say it, to that guy they've only dared to watch from afar. It's the presentation of the chocolates, left in the shoeboxes, piled on the desk, thrust forward with a blush, casually tossed around, on the roof, behind the school, in the classroom… or dropped into the nearest trash bin as nerves fail and the girl sees something she did not want to see.

It's illogical, irrational, comedic, ironic, dramatic, pathetic, and a million other things besides. It's a convenient occasion to show what a relationship may be like. It's love.

Happy Valentine's Day. No matter what your status, no matter what you think about it, no matter how you celebrate it (if at all)… hope you have a good one.