Idle Master

  You couldn't live with the current season of anime. Where did that bring you -- back to me. Sup, it's ya boy, again. You know back when the anime ended a year ago, I promised myself that I would wait for a second season before I start the novels. I just had to wait, ya know. After all, that's just how much of a masterpiece the anime is. I wanted to simmer in its afterglow, to boil over the announcements, and steam in its eventual airing. But ya know what, I cracked. I did. 86 ruined anime for me, man. Every show I watch nowadays I only do so with grey-tinted glasses. I'll watch a good show like last season's "Tenten Kakumei" and rather than just bask in the yuri, I'll instead sit in my rocking chair and exhale into the drifty skies, asking: "where are the days?" Where are my symbolism? Where are the inner demons, the garterbelts? Anime just hasn't been the same man, it just hasn't... Alright enough of the silly monologue, you guys k...

  Episode 4 of 'Sugar Apple Fairy Tale' is the best episode of this anime season in handling its conflicts. When it comes to conflicts in story-telling, I'm sure many people are familiar with the conflict graph. It begins like this: An incident occurs at the beginning. The characters move to counter that incident, giving rising action. At the most climatic point of conflict, the characters deal the final blow. Tension is absolved and we fall down to our resolution.  This way of dealing with conflict and tension is the oldest trick in the book but is also the most oversimplified version of it. The truth of the matter is, tension and conflict are infinitely complex. If you have been following my recent blog posts, you may note that I've been talking non-stop about different categories of progression; We have circumstantial and internal conflicts; We have implicit and explicit struggles. And when it comes down to the feeling of tension itself, I have discussed in my essay...