Sunday, January 10, 2010

Anime vs. Manga vs. COMP GAMES.

A three-way fight between 3 timewasting activities.

Anime. Animated stuff that is great to watch, fun to watch and can be more enjoyable than regular TV programming. Sports anime can own lousy sports TV scheduling (an anime about fishing (yes, I watched one) was infinitely more exciting than an actual fishing competition (yes, there was one.)) Drama anime can own lousy drama (I'm thinking some of those lousy sitcoms. Yes, they may both have excruciatingly slow pacing, but anime is nicer to look at than some wooden actors.) Sci-fi/fantasy anime gives sci-fi/fantasy movies a run for their money (possibly because it is mostly fictional in the first place.)

Downsides? Oh yes, there are a few, but they are painful. Firstly, it's a pain to find, get and then watch the episode, and a huge expenditure of time. Related to this, Windows Media Player (and Classic) can play songs perfectly, but bluescreen perfectly on any kind of video. Unfailingly fail. Next, there's the issue of comprehension. Without subtitles (I reject dubs) it is nearly impossible to catch the plot. Particularly on random anime like Hayate no Gotoku, which watching unsubbed allowed me to completely not get the plot (what little of it) and the jokes (20 minutes of it.)

Manga. Still images, usually black and white. Most of the time, for any given anime, there is a manga (or light novel) for it, either was based upon it or spawned it. Thus, given the same plot, it is usually faster and easier to read manga for it than wait for the anime episode to be released, then go through the hassle of watching it. After all, characters can only speak so fast, but one can speedread/speedlook through manga. Also, images don't require WMP, and do not cause computer meltdown.

Problems with manga? Of course, it is usually released in tortuously small chapters tortuously infrequently, and in Japanese at that. Granted, reading is easier than listening, and I don't mind manga translations as much as anime dubs. In fact, this is a big boon. If there is no English release, find the Japanese raw. If both seem not to exist, look for the Chinese version (both 简体 and 繁体 versions are fine) although Chinese is a last resort - proper nouns usually become quite odd transliterations.

Lastly, and OF COURSE, COMP GAMES. The most interactive of the lot, the most computer-resource-draining of the lot (yet no bluescreens) and in theory, the most addictive of the lot. Open ended gaming, you can change the online world, gain power, level up, become rich, what's not to like?

...Grinding. This form of entertainment requires effort (ironic) and plenty of time, which I'm too lazy to put in. This effectively sums up my attitude towards comp games. Well, I do play a little Freecell, and Crucis F+F, but that's all nowadays.



The winner by a nautical mile, manga. Only because it's the fastest of the three to go through (I AM that lazy.)

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