Not a deity, not a god, but similar otherwise: The Machinations of Irabu Ichiro…?

When I was trying to write my first post for Suspended Animation Dreams, I was stumped, since most of the ideas for the posts are those that I want to post here in Rainbowsphere instead of in SAD. So I asked SAD co-writer Digitalboy for a good idea, which he answered with this. However, the notions for heavy self-evaluation and the general interest on the idea stuck onto me so bad, I told him I’d still post it in here rather than on SAD, hence this post.

Long ago, I have come into terms with myself on what to believe. Man has the inclination for curiosity, and that includes his curiosity on how he came to be, who created him, why he was created, and what will become of him. I found myself with this curiosity, and because of it, I don’t believe in a single point of view, nor do I believe in all of them. It’s not atheism. It never was. It’s just that, if I were to come to terms on who or what my God or Supreme Being is, I want the entity or entities in question say it to me clearly. It’s not being indecisive, it’s being open-minded, and being proven wrong by God himself WILL be a big disgrace, if not a graceful way to attain absolute enlightenment.

Goddess of Death, Goddess of the Moon. Goddess of Humanity, Goddess of Inhumanity. How they ironically share the insanity amidst their individual powers…

“Science and Religion Agree to Disagree”. That’s a similar case on the relationship between God and Everything Else, it seems to be an iron rule that passively implements itself. Like other material in general, trying to mix Anime and God is like the paradox of achieving the impossible, wherein the person who achieved the impossible cannot say he actually achieved the impossible because it is impossible. It’s like the debate on the division of zero, where people try to solve it, achieve something from it, and be mighty proud of it, even though everyone else dunks it in the waste bin and calls mathematical bullshit on it. This, and they’re still trying.

So what, then? Give it up on the idea of discovering who God really is? Of course not. We need not compare our MAL lists for that (simply because I don’t have one). We’ve seen various depictions of Norse gods and their envoys (Belldandy, Skuld, and Urd of Aa! Megami-sama!), Japanese deities and their governance over the world that spawned them (the entities Gaia and Alaya of Rakkyo, Nagi of Kannagi), gods of Science and Technology spawned using man’s tendency to play god (Gundams of the Gundam franchise, the Aluminum and Steel Cans of Akikan!), reverse-gods formed by the Universe using man’s own image (Suzumiya Haruhi of Haruhi), man playing as the Messiah (Kyon of Haruhi, Irabu Ichiro of Kuchu Buranko), otherworldly existences possessing unimaginable power (the Crimson Moon/BRUNESTUD of Tsukihime), anti-gods spawned from the unending void of man’s paradoxical insanity and folly (Alucard of Hellsing, Ryogi Shiki of Rakkyo), and all the other iterations of the classic relationships between the entities of good, evil, and everything in between. The characters have captured and lost my heart, then lost and recaptured it along the way with their stories, and continuing to believe the entire thing still seemed in order.

A Goddess by Personal Preference, aside from the fact that she can be a goddess by her own right.

And so I humbly state: God is not one, nor is God legion. God is not me, not you, not anybody else, but God can be you, me or anybody else. God is not everything, nor is God nothing.  Man is but a creation from God, therefore its relationship with God is not of utter importance, including man’s regards on how he sees God. Therefore, I will continue trying to believe, thinking I can achieve the impossible even though it is impossible, because it’s impossible.

God, where are you anyway?

Jin and Nagi take different stands when Nagi finds a pair of kittens near their home. Nagi insists on taking them in while Jin refuses. Nagi was forced to just leave it alone and let nature handle by itself, thanks to a little persuasion from Jin. Unfortunately Tsugumi came in to burst their bubble. I was worried about Nagi getting too erratic due to various chibi moe portrayal.

PETTANKOGASM!

It’s still under canonical circumstances, though. I mean, even the standing gohei trick was there! Of course that Nagi laugh was kinda like, what, but I like the antics made for it. Jin is slowly starting to surface his Ikuto voice too, which is something I was waiting for. Okay, right, I’m ranting about the voicings again. But it’s good, really! Jin strangling Nagi and Nagi doing those grunting noises? I seriously cracked a vile, insane smile a la Warcueid on that. SERIOUSLY!

Word of advice, JIn: DON’T WEAR IT.

I won’t delve much on the animal stuff since I love cats (diss cats and you’ll die by a certain loli succubus’ nightmare, trust me), and seeing them in any dire situation will cause me to literally come out of your computer screens to kill you (which I prevented thus far). Or maybe someone fapped again. Rumors say God kills a kitten everytime a male human faps. True or not, whatever.

ナイス・スナップショット！

Nagi doing solo work on the impurities now, after the feud about the kitties (which again, I won’t discuss), Nagi leaves and tries to do the purifying work alone. Then suddenly, the “frog bug” A.K.A. Crazy Frog (oh no, don’t crack that music now, I don’t wanna dance myself to death) became too much for her to handle. But thanks to JIn’s timely intervention, the day was saved. I was expecting skirt-flipping or cloth-ripping, but considering this show’s kinda conservative on the fanservice, I guess I was naive on that aspect.

I’m with you guys!

This show is certainly is a gem on its own. The locations are good enough, the plot is nice, and it’s kinda got that mild tinge of legendary harem building in it, which was sported by either Aa! Megami-sama! or Love Hina (though both portrayed this in different styles). I think I might stick to this show all the compared to some shows demanding attention by pure randomness.

Ooookay. So I watched the first episode. Not surprising, but hey, it’s good. It’s not like this genre comes once in a while anyway. And it’s got a plot like that of A!MG! too. Goddess meets boy, goddess lives with boy, then more goddesses come in, while a human contender also enters the scene. Quite the norm, I say. But seriously, I was bought by the OP, which was FUKKEN WIN. It’s been a while since I’ve had a fill of good OPs in my anime.

Win OP is win.

Mikuriya Jin just finished carving a wooden statue out of a trunk of a tree. Proud and happy of his work, he plans to show it to school. Just when he was about to get the work after fetching his bicycle, he noticed the statue rooted on the ground. After a few moments, this happens…

Aa! Kannagi-sama!

Oooookay. Reality check 1.0, take 1. A girl came out of a carved wooden statue that I made. She’s soft, mushy, even though I think she needs to work on her proportions. But seriously, what the fuck is happening? I lost my school project, got a part of my house swarming with earth and roots and whateverstuff, and now there’s this girl… standing… on… where… the statue… was…

Poke poke…

That was so totally expected… or something…

So, she says she’s given some sort of incarnation from the statue, and that she has manifested from it. Turns out she was a deity of the shrine that was rooted to that tree to guard the land of Kannagi. She asked why she was manifested, and Jin told her that the tree she was talking about.

Gone, kaput, kapish, done for, over with, etc. Tree was cut down and the shrine was moved to another location. Okay, that’s bad news. Goddesss seems to be out of her place in the circle and her divinity and position as a goddesss may be in question. But even more, WHY WAS SHE SLEEPING ALL THIS TIME?! I mean, okay, I get the picture of her being the deity and all, but why, out of all times, was she sleeping when this happened? It actually sounded that she has some fault for this! Poor Jin, he’ll probably have a broken spine and be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

B-B-B-B-B-BACK BREAKER!!! (Jin looks like a masochist here too)

Jin was actually a straight guy. Not on par with Keiichi Morisato (K-1 was perverted in way, but this guy’s still a bit “underdeveloped” in that aspect), but at least nearly. He’s got a long way to go if he’s to try touching a goddess. But man, the angles for the boobpeep and buttpeep scenes were quite good. Though this does not bade well in terms of fanservice, it aims on something short of a standard, which A!MG! uses. This aspect would have to be interesting to monitor for progress.

You don’t get bugs crawling on smexy smooth bare legs very often.

The icky “impurities”. People get ideas about them FAST! They tend to taint the deity and corrupt the land with bad luck and misfortune. I’m sure you get the idea already when I said “taint” and corrupt”. And to think bugsex was icky enough. Some people have no mercy. But no fear! Magical Stick Lover (yes, she loves that stick) Goddess is here! With the help of calligraphy paper, a magical girl toy stick, and a “non-believer”, she will defeat the bad bugs of the day! After the deed was done, she then introduces herself as Nagi, the guardian deity of Kannagi.

JTFISH! DAMMIT! YOUR TAIYAKI BEAM JUST MADE NAGI TAIYAKIGASM!

As for seiyuus, nothing much to say. Shimono Hiro is certainly good at voicing Jin, but I still haven’t gotten a tinge of his Ikuto Touhouin voice from Nagasarete Airantou. I haven’t followed To LOVE-Ru, but Tomatsu Haruka seems to be doing a good job on voicing Nagi as well. I just have difficulties on the ancient Japanese though. Nagi’s way of speaking seems to date back to my grandma’s era. Explainable, since she’s living for more than a few hundred years.

In your box, packing your pr0nz.

The anime may have a few twists that are different from its manga counterpart, but it works in a way. More ecchiness than plotlines, if you would permit me to spoil a bit on perspective. But I’ve got no qualms about it. The staff seems to be taking its time, so I presume the series would take longer, which isn’t bad. We just have to see how the story progresses and see if it goes with my taste.

Also, unexpected cameo of Censorship-san. Commendable leaf censor, lulzor.