October 21, 2003

Last weekend has knocked me for a loop; I kept away from small group last night and rested. Which meant watching a lot of good anime.

Particularly, His and Hers Cirumstances, which remains one of my favorite anime series of all time. It’s a beautiful portrait of two high-schoolers dealing with life and love. Which sounds trite, but this is perhaps the least trite series I’ve ever seen. This is real, without settling for that fake “real” which means “as dysfunctional as possible.” These two have a strong, close relationship, complete with moments of awful insecurities and bliss. Which strikes me as being very like real relationships.

I’m nearing the end of the series, which is rather heartbreaking. I feel strongly for these characters. I don’t want our time together to end.

Perhaps you’re rolling your eyes at this. C’mon, Brent; it’s just a cartoon. But this is what animation can be. We all want these moving pictures to touch us on some deep level, don’t we? His and Hers has succeeded. And, as in life, parting is painful.

I’ve also watched the first four episodes of Angelic Layer, which is a classic CLAMP show: innocent without naivete, exciting without being extreme, cute without being saccharine, and heartwarming without being (too) trite.

Full update later today. Meanwhile, check out the pictures of the pretty horses I took a week and a half ago.