At Long Last, New Series!

I have discovered a few new anime series after being long hesitant about anything new. This hesitation is for several reaons, all of them at least adaquate and most of them good.

Reason number one: I don't have a lot of time anymore. Classes, preparation for classes, and work dominate most of my life, and since I am taking a Latin elective (technically "Latin Study Group"), my free time during the weekends is threatened as well.

Reason number two: what free time I have is mostly available to extra curricular reading. I am tackling Aristotle's Physics, Metaphysics, and On the Soul this semester and they eat up a lot of time as I try to parse Aristotle's arguments. This means the time I have available to actually watch anime is severely terribly limited. I cannot attend the Anime Club on campus for it meets at a most inconvenient time - 9:30 on a Tuesday night. Tuesday! That's right before my hell day! Last year was 8:00PM Sunday, most excellent. Thus I am limited to get up early on the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) when user bandwidth consumption is virtually nil. I I could do this during the week (I've tried this) but my academics suffer. 0500 Saturday is it then.

Reason number three: I have watched a number of very good TV series and films at the recommendation of experienced Johnnies like Sterling Pratt. Once such wise counsel is gone I am alone in the dark. Proof: I am still trying to scrub my eyes after watching Vampire Hunter D. (this is not to be confused with the sequel, Bloodlust, which I found to be marvelous) I thus fear terrible films and series.

Regardless, I have now watched Ghost in the Shell and will soon watch the entire franchise. I thought the first film was spectacularly well done, if a bit awkward. What I remember from last year's TV series (SAC season I) was better. Additionally, I found a gem and you won't believe what it is. Ah! My Goddess! See? How can a fiercely single philosopher find such a lovesick, simple anime enthralling? Because it is charming, warm, lighthearted, and full of goodness. In an age where licentiousness, hookups, and love are all synomymous, we have Ah! My Goddess!, where they most certainly are not. Indeed, the series' playboy character is repeatedly punished by a vengeful deity for his sexual advances. In the series, love and sex are certainly not the same; the latter is for the sake of the former. More people need to hear that, especially me.

Thus I am excited for the New Year. I will exercise my discernment and if something is bad, I will simply turn it off. (this is not nearly so easy as it sounds - I am the person who always finishes a movie and a book, regardless of quality) I have been burned in both genre, resolve to do better, and am excited about doing so. Welcome, 2009!