Pete has been quiet for a few days, and I was wondering why. Just now he explained it: he's been forcing himself to watch Marimite, and finally it got so bad that he needed a 16-ep dose of Shingu as a cure.

Marimite is one of those shows that I'm not even faintly tempted by, and I don't feel much sympathy for anyone who voluntarily submits themselves to that horror. It's one of the first series for which I wrote a "never watch" entry.

Meanwhile, Ubu has capsule summaries of several shows that he has watched first eps for. He agrees with me that Macademi Wasshoi was pretty good, and indeed better than it at first appeared it might be, but it's not his favorite of the season so far.

UPDATE: In his post, Pete says:

When Shipon was angsty in Stellvia, she had a good reason: the fate of the whole world depended on her performance. Yumi’s tears were completely self-induced and hollow.

I haven't seen Stellvia so I can't comment on Shipon. But I can comment on Harumi and Kyoichi in Shingu who have a relationship which involves a lot of pain for them both. At various times we see them both cry because of it. (Not to mention seeing Kyoichi running down a road at night in the rain screaming Chikushou! Chikushou! "Damn it! Damn it!") Aside from Nayuta's occasional bouts of self-pity, that's about as emotional as Shingu gets.

I don't consider that to be angst, though. To me, angst is wildly disproportionate emotional response to relatively unimportant things -- and the issues involved between Harumi and Kyoichi are large and important enough so that their emotional reactions are not disproportionate. Indeed, Harumi's handling of the situation is extremely mature.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 06:06 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I once saw the difference between angst and tragedy defined thusly:

"Tragedy is when you suffer because of your virtues."

"Angst is when you suffer because of your vices."

Posted by: metaphysician at October 10, 2008 06:36 AM (h4nEy)

2 I disagree.  Angst in when the character suffers because they're incapable of crapping or getting off the pot and moving on.   Been there, done that, don't want to watch it for entertainment, because it ain't.

And I've added Kemeko DX to the rankings, right behind Macademy Wasshoi.

Posted by: ubu at October 10, 2008 07:52 AM (soX+S)

3 Ubu- I would argue 'inability to make a decision' is itself a vice. 

( unless its not so much "I don't want to make a decision" as "I can't figure out which decision is the right one", perhaps. . . )

Posted by: metaphysician at October 10, 2008 08:53 AM (h4nEy)

4 No, it's more the "I'm afraid to make a decision to go after what I want" variety that I define as angst.  Technically, I suppose the others meet a generalized definition; but when it comes to animé, angst seems to center around someone who can't confess that they like a certain character, but instead pine and mope, and let others get in front of them. 

It's one of the reasons I really liked Sakura from F/SN; when she found out another girl had moved in Shirou, she didn't fold and get all angsty. "Idon'tknowhatsgoingonhere, but I AM FIXING SHIROU'S BREAKFAST!!!"

Posted by: ubu at October 10, 2008 10:23 AM (soX+S)

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