Keith Palmer's Multi-Purpose Journal

With an almost month-long vacation booked right in the middle of a more familiar “anime season,” I did some thinking in advance about how two of the things I was getting away from were Blu-Ray players and broadband connections. I have to admit I was also sometimes dwelling on previous long vacations (and even Christmas holidays, too) where, stuck brooding how far a good many other opinions run into had already soured on series then streaming, I would end up “dropping” those shows and be left dispirited. Since then I may not run into quite as many other opinions, but I still decided to get through some short series in full during the month before I left, try the same thing in the month after, and not pick up anything new streaming. It all seemed to work pretty well, even as I noticed complaints about how thin on well-done shows the season I was sitting out seemed.
( An augmented experience: Gunbuster )
( Wrapping back around: Love Live! )
( Continuations: City Hunter 3 and Mix 2 )
( Well into the past: Cyborg 009 )
( Catching up: Volicia of Pluto and Summer Time Rendering )
( Moving along: Love Live! 2 and Soaring Sky Pretty Cure )

In keeping up with news of the Chinese lunar sample return probe (which didn’t waste any time collecting samples and rocketing them off the Moon’s surface to transfer them into another part of the probe that’ll return to Earth, a more elaborate mission plan than the direct return of the Soviet lunar sample return probes but of course pretty much what Apollo’s Lunar Orbit Rendezvous involved), I did notice reports of a Japanese probe returning a small sample of an asteroid to the Australian outback. I didn’t quite seem able to expand that into even a short post here, though.

Operating in a completely different mode, I took a look just today at the news section of Crunchyroll, which I visit much less often than Anime News Network. Today, though, I was in time to spot a piece about an engineer on the Hayabusa2 mission declaring the Gunbuster anime OVA had helped direct his attention to the field he’s in. Thoughts of people “inspired by Star Trek” came to mind (I’m certain Star Wars did something to get me interested in “real space” at an early age), although I did wonder a little whether Gunbuster’s own take on outer space is quite as inviting (regardless of it referencing earlier science fiction works, and leaving the specific appeal of its characters aside, of course).

Midway through this year, my grand-to-grandiose project of returning to the original Macross and then taking in a string of other series had got through everything connected by time slot and official localization; I still had a number of shows left linked up by whims sparked by once-noticed comments and standard brand names, though. I also had no intention of this getting in the way of another careful selection of up-to-the-minute or nearly so anime, but as these three months wore on I did find my thoughts turning still further back. It did add up to another busy viewing schedule, and during it I managed to see at least a bit of anime from each of six successive decades.
( Continuing to start with: Zillion and Gall Force )
( Streaming part 1: To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts and Astra Lost in Space )
( Streaming part 2: Granbelm and Symphogear XV )
( Streaming continued: Fruits Basket and Mix )
( Two differing steps back: Mach Go Go Go and Zombie Land Saga )
( Manga preparation, perhaps: Urusei Yatsura and Gunnm )
( Moving along: Gunbuster, Orguss 02, and Gunbuster 2 )
( Moving back: Flying Phantom Ship and Attack No. 1 )
( Wrapping up: Carole & Tuesday and the Macross Frontier movies )