Practically a Mid-Season Review for Anime Fall 2016

Here we are five weeks into the new season of anime, and I have yet to write a post about what I’m watching!  Keshikaran!  Mattaku keshikaran!  Procrastination counts as one of my worst vices.  It seems to have gotten worse of late, and one wonders how I shall manage to bear with NaBloPoMo.

Limiting myself to six anime was surprisingly easy this season.  I’ve yet to watch Luger Code 1951, but I’ve kept up with the other five.  And so, I’d like to invite my dear readers to suggest a couple more for me to add to my watch list.  Without further ado, the following are the shows I’ve been watching:

1) BBK/ BRNK II

The CG animation in this show is some of the best I’ve seen.  The second season started with its best foot forward: action packed mecha battles.  All the characters are as likable as they were in the first season.

The greatest problem with the show thus far is how the characters all strike me as rather confused.  Epizo works for the villain, Guy, because he loves Laeticia–even though the villain intends to eliminate all Bubuki users in the end.  Despite being one of Guy’s most devoted allies, Kaoruko, Azuma’s sister, has betrayed the villain…and been simultaneously abandoned by our heroes.  Reoko looks like she’ll be a good girl this time.  And so, I find myself just going along for the ride as I hope for the plot to make more sense.

Life and Times Of Croatia’s Blessed Alojzije Stepinac – A Robin Harris Book

This sounds like a fascinating book on Bl. Alojzije Stepanic. He’s one of the more controversial candidates for canonization because of accusations of cooperating with fascists during WWII. In that regard, he’s very much like the much maligned Pope Pius XII. In either case, one will find that the accusations are part of the communist plot during the Cold War to discredit the Church. I’m happy to see that a scholarly work has come out on Bl. Stepanic’s life which addresses this issue.

Croatia, the War, and the Future

From left: Robin Harris (historian and author),
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (Croatian president)
and Zeljko Tanjic (Rector, Croatian Catholic University)
PHOTO: predsjednica.hr

It was Friday 21 October 2016 when in Zagreb Croatia, accompanied by the Croatian Catholic University rector Zeljko Tanjic, the well-known British historian, publicist, writer and an important adviser to the former United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – Robin Harris, presented a copy of his new book “Stepinac – His Life and Times” to the president of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.

“Stepinac – His Life and Times” is the first all-encompassing biography of Alojzije (Aloysius) Stepinac, Cardinal Archbishop of Zagreb during WWII whose deeds and persona have been subject to controversies ever since WWII, mounted and perpetuated by the communists of Yugoslavia and their friends.
“For the last seventy years—ever since his show-trial in 1946—Alojzije Stepinac, Cardinal Archbishop of Zagreb, has been the subject of controversy. In this…

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Examining Light Novels: A Bored God

Here is the most recent installment of “Examining Light Novels,” a column I write on Beneath the Tangles.  I must say that I was not too impressed with volume 12 of Spice and Wolf and did not even read half of the novel before penning the post.  Writing from hindsight, one can safely skip volumes six and seven.  After completing volume twelve, I’ll make a judgment on that one too.

Anyway, below is one remark which caught my attention in volume twelve.  God is great, and having even the slightest understanding of God makes one a great theologian, as one of the saints mentioned in the Greek Orthodox Philokalia wrote.  One of the most important things to understand about God is that He is fascinated by His creatures, not bored of them, which is fortunate for us: we exist because of God’s creative word.  If He really became bored of us, He might stop thinking of us and speaking that word, which would cause us to cease to exist.

I suppose we have difficulty imagining God as interested in us, because we have difficulty imagining a humble God.  That God is humble boggles the human mind.  Part of the reason Christmas is so popular is because the omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient God comes to us as a small, helpless, and speechless infant.  This great miracle of humility so astonishes the mind that even non-Christian cultures feel compelled to celebrate it in some way.

May you enjoy the article linked to below!

 

Lovely Blog Award from LynLynSays

Almost a year ago, LynLynSays honored me with a Lovely Blog Award, for which I am very grateful.  (It’s about time I write this post!)  LynLyn has a very entertaining and cogent style of writing, and I can’t encourage you enough to read her posts.

Here are the rules:

• You must thank person who nominated you and include a link to their blog
• You must list the rules and display the award
• You must add 7 facts about yourself
• You must nominate 15 other bloggers

A Brief Criticism of Drifters and Defense of St. Joan of Arc

Drifters stood at the top of my list among the present season’s anime, and I wrote as much in the chat of an entertaining conversation hosted by LitaKino.  Then, one of my best commentators, David A, pointed out that St. Joan of Arc was portrayed as a crazied pyromaniac in the show and as one of the villains.  This counts as the most wholly inaccurate and unflattering representations of a saint I have heard of since Wolf Hall, a show which portrays St. Thomas More as a corrupt fanatic.  I cannot get behind a show which calumniates a saint.  At least Joan of Arc’s portrayal in Shingeki no Bahamut—even though it presents a Joan of Arc who falls from grace for a time–still presents a character bearing her name as noble, courageous, and just.

Calumniating the memory of the saints and great men counts as one of the blackest crimes a writer can commit.  Not only does the calumniator blacken someone’s reputation, but he damages the heritage of new generations.  Each generation has a right to have heroes to look up to and emulate.  One can claim that Drifters‘ portrayal is mere fiction, but most people get their information about the past from media, especially because schools don’t properly educate the youth on the subject of history.  Many people do believe that St. Joan of Arc was insane and delusional.