2007 in 12 day 5: ef -a tale of memories
This post is a bit shorter than I hoped, maily because I’ve been preoccupied with getting my RSS link to redirect to my new Feedburner feed (no luck so far, which hacks me off no end) and trying to work out why Bit Tornado isn’t working any more (the status light is green but no downloading or uploading is taking place…no luck on that either). Apologies for my feed url redirect not working, because I’m all out of ideas on that front; unless something miraculous happens I’ll also exhaust my backlog and run out of new stuff to write about, period. In addition, my server died for several minutes during the writing of this post so the last couple of paragraphs were typed from memory (pun intended). It’s not shaping up to be a good week.
So, ef -a tale of memories. What’s to say that I haven’t said already? It’s possibly the oddest title of the season, in that its subject matter is pretty common in shows these days (hell, it’s even one of those that’s based off one of those bishoujo games, for crying out loud) while its execution is very unusual indeed. Whether or not it would feel as generic as similarly themed fare without SHAFT’s innovative presentation I don’t know, but the fact remains that the striking visual effects convey the story’s themes and ideas in a refreshingly new way. Love it or hate it, ef IS different; I’d respect it’s creators’ efforts purely on that alone. There’s still a lot to say in terms of its progress at this point though.
Overall the style is still really something. The character designs are the main sticking point here though - I’d like to clout Renji’s hair stylist with something blunt and heavy, and as for Miyako…who wears hair ribbons in bed?! Unless you happen to be Billy Corgan or Harry Hill, bed-hair is inevitable - a couple of ribbons ain’t going to do jack. Seriously, I’d know.
Back o/t, things have come to a head at the time of writing (i.e. ep #10), with Kei discovering Hirono with Miyako. Cue plenty of drama with Hirono trying to keep on the right side of both and getting nowhere fast with either. I’m in two minds as to whether he’s an indecisive and insensitive jerk, or whether he got clobbered unfairly purely for deciding on an option that his buddy didn’t approve of. I don’t feel confident enough to say one way or the other really, because I think the whole situation isn’t actually any one’s fault more than any of the others - I can outline at least one thing that Kei, Hirono and Miyako each could have handled differently but at the same time it’s just unfortunate how things have turned out for them so far.
The relationship between Renji and Chihiro doesn’t get represented in the tenth instalment, but TBH it never clicked with me as well as Hirono’s and Miyako’s anyway; the Memorable Moment I’ve chosen for this series comes from here, in which Hirono tries to make amends with both ladies in his life. Now, for a minsanthrope with lousy social skills, I have a pretty uncanny knack of predicting how people I know pair up - I’m the first to figure out when friends of mine are about to start dating each other, but ironically the last to say anything about it (I usually know before they do, which can be embarrasing but satisfying in a “I sooo saw that coming!” kind of way). It’s testament to how true-to-life ef is in that I got that feeling with this show as I so often do in reality - I saw the pairing as obvious and inevitable. Not A Good Thing per se, but at least inevitable.
I’m saying it’s not necessarily A Good Thing because they don’t exactly have a healthy basis for a relationship at first. Hirono’s too indecisive and Miyako’s too possessive and insecure; they don’t understand each other’s needs and feelings and don’t trust each other, or themselves. As the weird nun girl points out, knowing something and understanding are different things. Similarly, Hirono and Miyako don’t understand each other…until another telephone scene in which we see Miyako’s psyche broken down (notice the dango phonecard, anyone?).
Memorable Moment
The first, that featuring Hirono and Kei, effectively brings closure to Kei’s predicament; the pain is tangible but I daresay Kei would have suffered indefinitely had it not happened. Tenmon is, well, Tenmon. The icing on the ef cake for me (not to mention the main reason why I even started watching it) was the soundtrack, and it’s suitably gorgeous here as the synths and strings reach a crescendo. It’s an important scene, and a pleasant surprise: I felt really sorry for Kei during and felt glad for her afterwards. It was a nice turnaround really.
The second appeals to my Inner Anno Fanboy, as the minutiae of Miyako’s deepest fears and insecurities are examined in detail and drawn out literally second by second. This is followed by Hirono’s retort, which felt like an uplifting and positive equivalent to the tearing down of the metaphorical barrier that makes up the core of Pink Floyd’s The Wall: the pain, bad memories and everything else fall away, leaving her vulnerable once more but no longer shut away and alone. With such a dramatic gesture, I just hope it’s for the best…
Because of what happened in this episode, their second kiss actually came across as more meaningful than the first
So, there you go. I started off with a bit of a whinge, gave some crap advice on romance and relationships and managed to mention ef, Hideaki Anno and a late 70s concept album in the same paragraph. Maybe it wasn’t a wasted effort after all.
P.S. My torrent download is still screwed and so is my RSS redirect. Bollocks.
Other ABC bloggers’ posts for the Twelve Days of Christmas
Drop your url into the comments section below if I’ve inadvertantly left you out. ^_^
Posted on December 19th, 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Here’s hoping your technology issues get resolved. Did you ever see The Wall done live? I wasn’t alive at the time, but I’ve been told it was good, in an odd way.
Posted on December 19th, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
[...] | Owen | Usagijean | 0rion | Roxas | Quinn | Martin | Michael | DS | CalAggie | Moogy | IKnight | DeathToZippermouth | Kabitzin | Reverse Vampire | CJ [...]
Posted on December 19th, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
@IKnight: I really need to get The Wall on DVD…sadly I never got to see it live.
In other news, Feedburner works fine (the hit stats are fascinating!) but unfortunately my torrent downloading isn’t fixable as far as I can tell. The problem is the ISP I’m forced to use right now - the connection speed isn’t up to much and there doesn’t seem to be any uploading traffic at all. My best guess is one of two things:
1. It’s Christmas, net traffic is high and things will get back to normal in a couple of weeks (I hope this is the cause) OR
2. Because my connection sucks, seeders are fed up with my one way, slow downloading and are refusing to let me connect to their trackers. It’s understandable really, but since I have no control at all on what rate my ISP allows (I’m guessing it’s VERY assymmetric!) there’s precisely nothing I can do until my house move, which is weeks away.
Advice appreciated, people.