Random Things 4/28/15

Reading D-Frag the manga.

What’s surprising is that D-frag works far better as a manga than an anime. The constant reaction shots and weirdness was annoying when watched for thirty minutes, yet comes across far better in a brief manga chapter or volume. If you haven’t seen it before, D-Frag is about wanna-be badass Kazama, who gets involved with a nutty game club comprised of four girls and led by weirdo “dark affinity” Roka. It feels a little like Baka and Test in its comedic style, but isn’t quite as good.

The manga however is much better. Puzzling is that the anime failed to adapt some really good scenes, mostly about Sakura the “water affinity” girl. She’s the pink-haired girl on the cover here, and she has much more of a scheming side to her even if for good reasons. Several scenes, including her rivalry with Noe, Kazama’s sister, show up in the manga yet were never adapted for the anime. They add quite a bit to the story in my opinion. The art is also a little better, as it portrays the scruffiness and weirdness of all the characters. Takao at first is more mean than the anime, Sakura is all fake shininess, and Noe is so bedraggled its funny.

If you haven’t seen the series yet, the manga is worth a read. There’s no overt violence or sexuality, although several characters have a masochistic fetish, and there’s theoccasional crossdressing for comedy and jokes about Takao’s huge bust.

Watching  My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too.

Look, go and watch it. Go and watch it right now.

This is one of the best slice of life comedies ever made. This is better than Hollywood movies. Even if you don’t like anime, this tale about a cynical teen named Hachiman and how he deals with the world around him is excellent, and the second season is just as good.

Hachiman is dealing with the fallout of his last venture, in which he made people hate him in order to enable the club to solve a near-impossible request. In a wonderful turn of events, it’s finally opened the eyes of all his friends. They want him to stop hurting himself all the time to save others, and they are starting to resist what seems like the inevitable temptation to let him bear all the hate of others in order to get things nice. But everyone else is broken in their own way, and they’ll have to confront the way they really are if they want to help him.

There was some worries about the art style change in this season, but they prove to be unfounded. Honestly, this should be the best show of this anime season; watch it and enjoy it.

Disliking  God.

Now we get to the reason why I haven’t been posting in a bit.

This didn’t start it, but recently there was a Facebook post in which someone made the very valid point that “We need more men in the Christian Bookseller Association market! Don’t give up or feel victimized, but stand tall and try to work in the system to change things.” There is nothing wrong with this, and it’s a fine point. It just made me wonder why we always seem to have to work in the system against our own brothers and sisters in Christ.

What probably started it was this post. 

Post content: 5% “I draw my inspiration from life”, 95% mommyblogger humblebragging about all the people she knows.

What this made me realize is that no way in heck could I ever write something to the audience of that kind of book. That if that book is in any way representative of Christians want (and apparently its been Christy nominated, so it must be) I have no place in that artistic world. It’s bad enough that approximately 75% of Speculative Faith comments are by female readers, and virtually all books listed on that site are by female authors; but if that kind of book is what the market likes, I’m wasting my time trying.

So I get a little mad at God, too.

There’s no reason why we as Christians need to fight against power structures other Christians have erected. We are in the middle of a geek renaissance, where even mundanes like the above mommyblogger can like fantasy, or it’s somehow cool to watch Daredevil on Netflix. Daredevil. Even Moon Knight was cooler than him, apart from Frank Miller’s defining run. Yet our lol Christian book industry can’t be bothered to make things to minister  to geeks. No, we need romance books and more of them!

I mean, why is God not raising up people to help us?

Look, there’s some great people trying. I know, I’ve met many of them. But it seems that increasingly only the broken or the mediocre are trying to serve God in art. Where are the people who have talent and real callings? Why is it that once you get to the pro level, Christians just disappear?

It feels like a bunch of infantry without any commanders, or worse, commanders actively working against them. The atheistic or secular geeks have no problem doing it; why do we? What are all the Christian colleges doing with the graduates of their art departments, sending them all out to copy the one model they use for their Amish book covers? Why is it that we can’t get a single Christian SF movie even on the level of a crappy Asylum pic?

Guys like me, we’re good at seeing things others can’t. but we aren’t always the best at making things happen, because they need talents and connections beyond with outsiders have. We can only do so much, and the problems we  have now need the stronger, more powerful, and wealthier Christians to step up. Heck, we don’t even produce kitsch anymore. The days of a Bibleman seem long gone.

It’s unfair. And I’m starting to blame God, because I’m simply not strong enough to bring about any real change. It’s starting to get really old to have dreams only to realize the church you belong to doesn’t seem to want them. Here, have a Jesus Calling-branded Bible with a pink leather cover instead. I’m thankful at least that God lets us blame Him and strive with Him; if anything, that’s one of the best legacies of Judeo-Christianity. You cannot rage against karma or atman; there’s nothing there to care.

So I just stopped, for a bit. Played some games. FFXIV in particular. Surprisingly, the world went on. It may have the air of a kid sulking in his room, but here’s the thing about FFXIV:

The game wants you to win it.

Christian geeks? Your own brothers and sisters are resoundingly meh. There’s a small crowd of people who care, but the rest? And God, I know you want us not to glory in ourselves, but make our talents an offering to you. But Lord, you gotta stop with burdening the broken and ignoring the rich. At least the old testament had judges.

Yeah I know. Complaining does no good. Another reason why I haven’t been posting. But this is my blog, and among the many many bots, weird people who click on a new article once, and the few real people who honor me with actual attention, I’ll say what I think.

Now I need to get back to gaming. Not like Black Mage is going to level itself to 50.