qui tacet consentire videtur

The long-awaited animated special of my all-time favorite k-drama MiSa (미안하다, 사랑한다 / Mianhada, Saranghanda) has finally been released on DVD. I want it so bad.

So it’s confirmed, I’m going to Tokyo, and they have posted the full text of the essay online if you care to read it. Although they liked my essay, they didn’t like it enough:

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My love of anime, combined with my interest in Japanese business, has finally paid off, and I might have the opportunity to visit Tokyo in January.

We would like to express our gratitude to you for submitting your essay to the JFTC Essay Competition 2007. After a strict screening of all the essays, we have selected your essay, “Gundamnomics: Transforming Corporate Japan for the Challenges of Global Capitalism” as a candidate for an award. The final result is scheduled to be announced on Friday, December 14, and the winners will be notified directly. The Awarding Ceremony and our New Year’s Reception will be held from 16:30 to 19:00 on January 9, 2008 at Hotel New Otani, Tokyo, Japan.

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I wish I were a gundam meister.

The new Sunrise adaptation of Gundam Wing – Gundam 00 (pronounced double-oh) – is my most awaited series each week. It isn’t just the high-definition animation quality or the giant space robots that make it so wonderful, but its presentation of current affairs and contemporary issues through the lens of science fiction. I examine Gundam 00 through the lens of international relations theory.

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War of Money / 쩐의전쟁 (Summer 2007)
From Chosun Ilbo:

The male and female leads of a hit Korean drama about the illegal loan sharking industry were appointed public relations envoys for the Finance Ministry on Wednesday. For one year Park Shin-yang and Park Jin-hee of “War of Money” will promote the ministry’s “micro-credit” system which offers low-interest loans to people with bad credit. The government in February will use dormant deposits to establish a W200 billion fund to finance the micro-credit program.

I absolutely adore the SBS k-drama War of Money and I think it is so awesome that the stars of the drama have been co-opted by the Korean finance ministry to promote their microcredit program, which no doubt needs a lot of help, although I think they should pursue a more commercial approach. Also, given the number of SK dramas imported to the north through China, the stars might well be supporting much-needed microfinance/small-business education in NK and paving the way for economic reform and development efforts in the north.

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I’ve had more time to catch up on my j-dramas and anime since summer began. It’s strange since my mom has started watching k-dramas, but all the imports she’s watching now I’ve already seen before. This season is surprisingly interesting, with a few gems that I hadn’t noticed before.

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This post isn’t really about honey and clover.

In episode 16 in the first season of Honey and Clover (you can watch it here but its with mandarin subtitles), Yamada’s gang of childhood friends decide to propose to her simultaneously, which she runs away from without giving an answer. When Hanamoto-sensei asks why she is avoiding her friends. She cries, saying “do I have to tell them what hurt me to hear?” - that she will never see them as more than close friends no matter how hard they try or how long they wait - realizing that refusing to lower her expectations and accept her suitors, while still holding on for Mayama who sees her the same way, would be hypocritical. She finally realizes how Mayama feels, and cannot reasonable blame him for not changing his mind however dedicated she is to it. Hanamoto-sensei tells her that she should just be honest about how she feels, and let the guys decide between making an effort to change her mind (however futile it may be) or giving up - as that is the same choice she has with chasing Mayama. Later on, Hanamoto-sensei cryptically notes that there is a third option, which he doesn’t state, as if one believes that there are only those two options to chose from (fighting on or giving up), one can ‘open pathways’. That option, as Garten at Memento notes, is to long from afar, contenting oneself with friendship while always holding on for the possibility that it might become something more. By never letting go of a futile love, while never acting on it, we can never move on with our lives. That appears to be Hanamoto-sensei’s own choice with regard to Rika and later, Hagu.

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And there is no one more sorry than I for it

My all-time favorite k-drama is now animated. What was truly wonderful about MiSa was the tragic irony of the protagonist’s misguided but all-consuming desire for vengeance, and not necessarily the purity of the girl’s love for him (that’s like every other drama) - so don’t be fooled by the trailer, it’s actually pretty dark. Also, it looks almost like a scene-by-scene remake.

I feel like having a MiSa marathon session.

Word is that Gainax is remaking Evangelion, which has always interested me in its representation of a world of pure individuality i.e. the ‘human instrumentality project’ singularity of the final episode, where Ikari Shinji ponders his existence. My interpretation of it is that he rejects the singularity even though it means the end of loneliness and insecurity, and rejoins the world, by simply choosing to love himself and be self-sufficient. Contra Rand, individuality is only defined relative to others yet is required (in the form of self-sufficiency) in order to be meaningful. I don’t really get it. If you haven’t seen it before, check out the Youtube link below and also see the other clips from episode 26, and let me know what you think is really going on.

Yet there is no singularity for libertarians to escape to save the one we build for ourselves. How then shall I live? Stop giving a damn and be happy through sheer willpower ala Shinji. Or, to be content with all my achievements and those yet to come.

I can’t wait to see the film adaptation of one of my favorites:

It’s just the trailer but I’m already a little disappointed. Hagu-chan is supposed to be so much cuter, they should’ve got her seiyuu to act. And the scene about seeing for the first time the precise moment that someone falls in love seems a little less poignant than I thought it should be. It’s my favorite part so they had better get it right. I’m also not sure how well it would work as a film when there is so much less time to develop the characters - the slow-paced anime series had absolutely no plot and each episode was just a slice of their lives.