Pretty much the same thing that happened last year, but on overdrive.
It really sucks to say this, but I can't blog Kuroko weekly anymore. This is for a variety of reasons, and the biggest one has to do with school. I'm in my last year of grad school now, and I want to get my teaching credential once I'm done, which means I get to go through yet another round of testing and the application process while also preparing to write my thesis and give a presentation to the school next spring. That is the highest priority in my life right now.
That's not to say that I'm not watching anime, though. I'm still watching a fair bit, I just had to rearrange how I watch it. I'm slowly breaking my habit of only watching anime on the computer just to take tons of screencaps in favor of watching on mobile apps when I have the time. I still have the itch to write about anime as well, but aside from a small handful of shows, I'm a few weeks behind everything at this point. By the time I can write about an episode, the next one is already out. At the moment, my schedule doesn't allow me to compete with other episodic blogs.
I also feel like the content of those posts wasn't up to par. I love Kuroko, but just a few weeks of breaking it down made me realize that I watch it more passively. It's not a "turn off your brain" kind of show, but I'm really just there to enjoy whatever is happening in the present story arc. As I'm sure I've made obvious by this point, I like writing posts that examine character development and motivations while trying to guess the plot trajectory. I can't write those posts with Kuroko, and I don't have the time to force myself to try. It's a great show, and I'm still watching it, but I won't be writing about it aside from a review sometime in the future.
Speaking of which... I have an unfinished review backlog going all the way back to the Spring 2013 season, and I would love to finish that before this year is over. Hopefully not beating myself up over unfinished episodic posts will give me the chance to focus on that. Not to mention that I'm still planning to participate in the 12 Days of Anime and a Top 12 of 2013 post. Aside from those, it's likely that the only posts you'll see from me will be about stuff I'm really obsessed with and need an outlet for, like that Attack on Titan manga post from the other day.
In summary: I'm not dead! School is trying really hard to kill me, though. I'm still around on Twitter and Tumblr, but don't be surprised if I drop out for days at a time. Hopefully the Winter season will go a little bit better.
Sorry to hear about your hiatus. As a recent uni graduate myself, I understand precisely what you mean re. uni priorities, meeting tons of deadlines, and stressouts...Memories.
ReplyDeleteMay you have the best of luck with your thesis and upcoming presentations!! (^_-)
Re Valvrave 18:
1) So our cold, calculating Dorssian strategist was driven by the most human of emotions…Love. (︶_︶)
2)ARUS seems to be becoming even more of a footnote in the proceedings. Their people seem to have no geniune idea of what’s actually happening, plus their President’s more concerned with preserving his greying rear from the Magius’s wrath.
3)Haruto just doesn't get a break, does he? First he gets mutated into an immortal, memory-sucking vampire, then he discovers his father's a mad scientist(emphasis on mad).
4) The Valvrave injection could be the key in unlocking the super genes of the Sakimori students.The vampire powers lie dormant within their DNA until they are injected, which activates their immortality powers(etc) on the cellular level.
That could be why all the pilots were normal until they were injected.
But here’s the puzzle: Dr Tokishima says the students are 2nd generation superhumans, but Cain and the Magius call the students 3rd generation (Magius). There’s a discrepancy in the numbers. Which makes you wonder how Dr Tokishima even got his hands on Pino and Prue in the 1st place.
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteValvrave Stuff:
1) I really should've seen that one coming. But I did not, and it made it that much better.
2) Yeah, ARUS seems to be the outsider in the wider conflict here. They're more concerned with preserving the status quo than with trying to find something to change it for the better.
3) Hey Haruto! Know all that angst you've been having about not being human anymore? Guess what? You weren't even human to begin with! Har har har--*punched*
4) All roads do point to the Valvrave injection, especially after L-Elf figured out that any of the students could pilot the Valvraves. We haven't seen that in action yet, but now it's only a matter of time.
And on the Magius/superhuman thing, it makes me wonder how similar/different they really are. We still don't know too much about the Magius, so it's hard to make a guess. I think that Pino and Prue are the missing links here, and I hope that the show gets to explaining them in more detail soon.