Awful Ending of Golden Time

Golden Time is this anime I casually saw on Animax. In the few instances I saw it, the story got more interesting. Skipping episodes did not work for me, so I watched all 24 episodes.

Golden Time is a story of Banri Tada, a college freshman, who enters a university with everything put behind him — because he has amnesia. There, he created a new life, while struggling to keep in terms with his past. It's a story about identity, peppered with a good amount of comedy and drama.

What I liked about the Golden Time is the developing characters. Kuoko ( the female love interest), for example, wasn't very likable in the beginning (she's a bit of a psychopath), but she evolved into an adult, episode after episode after episode. It's not only her, but almost everybody in the anime grew, except Banri.

A core part of the story is Banri's relationship with another female character, Linda, his high school sweetheart to whom he shared secrets and a deep understanding. She was easily likable, which in terms of how stories go makes an exciting love triangle.

I enjoyed every episode until episode 23. I hated the finale. Despite some foreshadowing, I was not prepared of the supernatural. I thought the other version of Banri who knew his past, who spoke to the viewers, was his repressed subconscious. Not a ghost of his former self, rather a part of his psyche. Maybe I wanted it to go my way.

It appeared that when Banri got into an accident, his former self departed his body as a spirit, and the one after the accident was a new soul.

I should have known better. Right in the middle, ghost Banri had powers that poltergeists would be envious of. His power bordered on cosmic abilities: weather control, probability manipulation and jinx enhancement.

You must understand, ghost Banri has god-like abilities, such as creating bad weather, putting people to sleep, and give you bad fortune.

In the end, instead of Banri remembering his past in addition to his present memory, he forgets his post-accident experiences. I thought they would merge together as one personality, then decide who he loves more, Linda or Kuoko. Either way would have been fine. I liked them both. 

It's a cop-out ending for Golden Time where Banri forgot his pre-accident self to be with Kuoko, and Linda says goodbye to Version-1 Banri as a ghost before going into oblivion. 

I read somewhere that the story is ongoing, Maybe the book is better, but I wouldn't bother knowing. An emotional investment and time put to waste.

* * *

When I was in college, back in 2002,  I had a classmate who asked a question about amnesia. She asked about a man found in the beach by a woman who had amnesia. They fell in love. The memories of the man returned and forgot all about the woman, until everything came back again like Banri did. It was a story she read on a cheap Tagalog pocketbook.

I told her it doesn't happen in real life, fairly annoyed by such silly plot.

Hopefully, she will never hear of Golden Time. I have not spoken to this classmate since graduation. But if she's seen Golden Time, hopefully, she does not remember me as the idiot.

No, I still stand by what I said. 

Email Salutations

I received an important email and replied to it. What I forgot was a salutation. You know, "Dear Mr. Doodledoo, " Forgetting that salutations are good manners, I messed up. It's a good thing they contacted me again.

Then I started thinking. How do we make a salutation in the digital age? In school (back when we still used pen and paper), we wrote:

 Dear Mr Doodledoo, 

This salutation has been kind of the standard. This is written neatly above the message body with an empty line before the message body. These days, it feels kinda weird. You don't say dear to just about anybody, and it comes across as too formal.

The True Cost: A Fashion Documentary

Coming from a third-world country, watching the documentary The True Cost is enlightening and traumatic. Imagine that. We all must have noticed that probably most of our clothes or much of what we use — everything — are imported from China or other developing country. We just don't pay attention to it.

The documentary The True Cost, directed by Andrew Morgan and co-produced by Livia Firth, is a look at the outcomes of fast fashion, the trend these days set by giant clothing companies. It is a documentary that is shocking at so many levels.


It tackles the effects of trends to the workers from poor countries, consumer mentality and the environment; and all of them aren't pretty. Like most documentaries where big issues are compacted for viewing purposes, The True Cost is still another simplified presentation of a big issue. The economics involved are complex and cannot be covered by even a two-hour video.

Ethical issues covered included harsh labor conditions, consumer behavior, farmer suicides and environmental hazards. It does not put the blame on a single entity or industry, but looked at the whole system, as it should be.

This made me feel guilty. It made me sad and angry. Toward the end, the video montage of American shoppers and video bloggers talking about their shopping haul, juxtaposed to victims of chromium poisoning in India, violent riots in Cambodia and suffering laborers in Bangladesh, makes an ending for this harrowing film climactic. It makes you feel bad for buying clothes.

*****

Now looking for sustainable clothes will be tough. Like the zippers, buttons and even the very thread used for most clothes comes from developing countries. Even if we try looking for good sources. It is difficult. I guess the only thing we can do is just wear clothes we like, and not treat them as disposables.

American Gods on TV

There has been talks on the Internet for quite some time, years, of an American Gods TV series based on the book of popular fantasy writer Neil Gaiman.

It's an amazing book I read seven years ago or so. I am a fan of Gaiman's writing, especially those  written before the year 2000. American Gods was the most recent story from him that I just loved. Now that it is to be made for television, it's scary that other people's interpretation of the book could wipe out the images created by your mind.

It will be co-produced by Gaiman himself, or so we are told, and produced by American network Starz (Spartacus), so we could expect some adult material, which we're not complaining about. Showrunners and writers would be Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Pushing Daisies) and Michael Green (Gotham).

There are a lot of stories in the book that I hope would be maintained and explored. The difficulty would be finding the right actors to play the part. We are talking about gods here, and screen presence is imperative. There's a lot of gods in here.

The main character, Shadow, is a hard find. Some fans suggested Jason Mamoa or Kit Harrington on comments and forums. Then the character of Shadow's wife Laura is a tough find. [SPOILER ALERT] I envisioned a charismatic actress who can pull off being a walking corpse.

So, I am torn. Am I excited or not?  Anxious, more like it. I just loved American Gods. But I would still watch out for the series. Hopefully, they don't stray too much from the source material. It's a good book about gods from all over the world stuck in the United States, written by a British writer.

One Month After

It has been quite some time since I made my last post, the last of which was about bitterness. Bitterness. I think I am in the process of healing now, and there is definitely progress.

From Pixabay

Letting go

 I felt a resurgence of positive energy. After all the awful things of the past year, it's time to let go of them all and move on. As much as I'd like to, I am held back by anger.

I held this anger for the people I cared for but betrayed me in the end. Now that they're out of my life, I can only move forward if I am not held back by hatred.

They may have disappointed me, but it was a learning experience. I could only wish them good luck and stop caring, for the world will keep on turning and the universe keep on existing.

All of us are insignificant. Me. Them. You.

I say, letting go made me feel good. It felt like I can do anything. I felt the nice positive energy flowing immediately.

The only thing to complain about: As with most things in my life, there is a song for every milestone. And as much as I hate it, the Frozen theme song played, Let it Go. Somebody suggest something!

Then, I had to meet me girlfriend. I stayed outside the building, where the old office was housed.

Then I saw them. A wave of anger and hatred flooded me. I stormed off, the memories of the things they've done flashed backin my memory. The sabotage, the trash talk, the backstabbing.

I ain't over it. I probably ever won't. I came to the realization that I can't forgive easily. So, here's what we're gonna do. I have let go — or at least pretend to let go. Since I can't tell the difference if I really did, let's just say that I did let go and will never be in a situation that could remind me of the vile things those wonderful people have done.

Send me a "letting go" song. It might help.

Alvin and Freaky Lalaloopsy

It was a lazy Friday night. Browsing through channels with boring shows, tired movies and reality shows, I ran across Nickelodeon and saw the made-for-TV ALVINNN and the Chipmunks.

The 3D animation was not very good, compared to how sophisticated some shows are, and the people were leaning a bit at the edge of the uncanny valley; but was still fairly amusing. In the end, I have a soft spot for those anthropomorphic rodents. And I still love the classic cartoon better.

Then the commercial of Lalaloopsy with stretchy hair.It's like a chant that played and lingered in my freaking head.

She is there with that artificial smile, waiting for the silly children to be ready, and when the adults are asleep...

Shit. I really freaked myself out this time.

***

Lalaloopsy is available in all major toy stores everywhere. So, you be prepared with some blowtorch.