A cricket bat!
Twelve years, and four psychiatrists!
Four?
I kept biting them!
Why?
They said you weren't real.

Anime Top 25 Flash

Way back when, I posted my anime top 25 list.  (TV shows and OAVs, no movies.) That was about when I was starting to get into fansubs, and I've watched a whole bunch of stuff since then, so I thought it might be interesting to see how that list holds up.

To quickly recap, the list then consisted of:

1. Slayers
2. Dirty Pair
3. Urusei Yatsura
4. Tenchi Muyo
5. El Hazard
6. Azumanga Daioh
7. Fancy Lala
8. Cowboy Bebop
9. Trigun
10. Oh My Goddess
11. Maison Ikkoku
12. Fushigi Yuugi
13. Escaflowne
14. Love Hina
15. Bubblegum Crisis
16. Irresponsible Captain Tylor
17. Dominion/Tank Police
18. Saber Marionette
19. Hellsing
20. Blue Seed
21. Cutey Honey
22. Ranma ½
23. Revolutionary Girl Utena
24. Jungle Guu
25. 3x3 Eyes

This is my personal list, and it is weighted two ways: On how good a show is - how well it tells its story, essentially - and on how much I enjoyed it - how much that story and its delivery appeal to me. So a show is tightly plotted/has great animation/has a compelling story/all of the above may lose out to a show that is simply fun.  It's Pixy's Recommendations for Anime You'll Probably Like, not The Big Serious Guide to Anime You Must Watch.

Before we look at evicting any of these, let's look at what in the past four years or so (based either on release date, or my belated viewing) is worthy of consideration:

• Galaxy Angel (2001-2004)
• Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar (2001)
• Full Moon wo Sagashite (2002)
• Haibane Renmei (2002)
• Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (2002)
• Tenshi na Konamaiki (2002)
• Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
• Nanaka 6/17 (2003)
• Popotan (2003)
• Aishiteruze Baby (2004)
• Gakuen Alice (2004)
• Midori no Hibi (2004)
• Pretty Cure (2004-2006)
• Kamichu! (2005)
• Shakugan no Shana (2005-2006)
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (2006)

Of those, three are automatic includes, and two nearly so.  Haibane Renmei, Kamichu!, and Haruhi go straight into the list regardless of who they have to bump.  And Full Moon wo Sagashite and Snow Fairy Sugar aren't far behind.

Aishiteruze Baby is charming, but not quite up there with the rest of the field, and Popotan I'm tempted to add just to annoy people, but I don't think it really makes the grade.

Galaxy Angel I like a great deal, particularly seasons two and three, but the early episodes were weak and so was season four. I'm way behind in watching Pretty Cure - I haven't even finished the first season, and they're into season four (though three and four are different continuities), so I'll hold that one back for now.

Gakuen Alice hasn't yet been fully fansubbed yet, so I'll hold that back too, much as I like Mikan-chan and Hotaru. And I haven't finished watching Fullmetal Alchemist either - it was licensed mid-season.

Abenobashi, Nanaka 6/17, Popotan, and Midori no Hibi share two things in common: They are short (13-episode) shows that use absurd plot contrivances to tackle serious issues, and they are surprisingly charming.  I'm a sucker for that, but I don't know that I can justify placing them all on the list.

Okay, now let's see who we can give the flick:

• Slayers - Slayers earned this position thanks to a great ensemble cast, gripping story, humour, action, and Megumi Hayashibara.  Stays.
  
• Dirty Pair - Stays. 'Nuff said.
  
• Urusei Yatsura - A classic.  Stays.
  
• Tenchi Muyo - The first two OAVs and Pretty Sammy TV are wonderful.  Stays.
  
• El Hazard - Only the first OAV series holds up, but it does hold up.  Stays.
  
• Azumanga Daioh - Charm and absurdity and a real story that sort of slips past you when you weren't expecting it.  Stays.
  
• Fancy Lala - It's been a while.  A likeable enough series, but maybe not top 25 material.
  
• Cowboy Bebop - A classic.  (And features Megumi-san.) Stays.
  
• Trigun - A very good show, if a little uneven.  Probably stays.
  
• Oh My Goddess - The original OAV series and the movie are superb.  The new TV series is meh. Probably stays.
  
• Maison Ikkoku - A classic, stays.
  
• Fushigi Yuugi - Needed to be edited down by at least four episodes, and the OAV sequels suck.  Still, a great show.  Probably stays.
  
• Escaflowne - A decent enough story, buoyed up by big bouncy catgirls and a brilliant Yoko Kanno score.  Probably stays.
  
• Love Hina - Kind of fun, but... Goes.
  
• Bubblegum Crisis - An absolute classic.  Stays.
  
• Irresponsible Captain Tylor - A classic.  Stays.
  
• Dominion/Tank Police - Another classic, again with big bouncy catgirls.  Stays.
  
• Saber Marionette - A lot of fun, and another Hayashibara excursion. But... Probably goes.
  
• Hellsing - Caught my attention at the time, but this one is fading fast.  Goes.
  
• Blue Seed - Another Hayashibara show. But... Goes.
  
• Cutey Honey - Classic, though the various incarnations are uneven.  Stays.
  
• Ranma ½ - Great early episodes, but definitely outstayed its welcome.  Maison Ikkoku is the only Takahashi series that ended satisfactorily.  Probably goes.
  
• Revolutionary Girl Utena - Ehn.  Goes.
  
• Jungle Guu - I need to watch this one again, but it is undeniably brilliant. Stays.
  
• 3x3 Eyes - Short classic horror series... with Megumi Hayashibara. Stays.

So, let's start by saying farewell to Lala and putting Sugar in her place.  Fancy Lala is still a fine show, but Sugar is a better one.

Then... Hellsing, Utena, Blue Seed, and Love Hina bite it.  That gives me four slots, which I'll fill with Haibane Renmei, Kamichu!, Haruhi Suzumiya, and... Midori no Hibi.  I love that show.

So, now we have the following showdown:

Old	vs	New
Trigun		Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Fushigi Yuugi		Full Moon wo Sagashite
Escaflowne		Nanaka 6/17
Saber Marionette		Tenshi na Konamaiki
Ranma ½

Honestly, I can't convince myself that any of those new shows are either definitively better than any of the old ones, or that I found them more enjoyable.

Edit: Changed my mind.

So we have a list, which I shall order according to my whim:

1. Slayers
2. Dirty Pair
3. Kamichu!
   
4. Urusei Yatsura
5. Tenchi Muyo
6. Azumanga Daioh
7. Tiny Snow Fairy Sugar
   
8. Cowboy Bebop
9. Bubblegum Crisis
10. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
11. Irresponsible Captain Tylor
12. Haibane Renmei
    
13. Maison Ikkoku
14. El Hazard
15. Fushigi Yuugi
16. Oh My Goddess (original OAV and movie)
    
17. Dominion/Tank Police
18. A Vision of Escaflowne
19. Nanaka 6/17
    
20. Saber Marionette
21. Cutey Honey
22. Ranma ½
23. Jungle wa Itsumo Hale nochi Guu
24. 3x3 Eyes
25. Midori no Hibi

Let the flaming commence.

Afterword: Steven Den Beste has his own top five recommendations, and there's only one item in common with my top twenty-five.  Let's see:

1. Haibane Renmei (age 13+) - A superbly crafted show, but not one that I want to watch again.  Still, it makes my list.
   
2. Card Captor Sakura - Better than most of the shows I ditched from the old list, but not - in my opinion - better than the ones I added.
   
3. Angelic Layer - I do not like it, Sam I am.  Tried, and bounced, violently.
   
4. Kaleido Star - I bought this in the Madman 10th Birthday sale, but I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.
   
5. Someday's Dreamers - I know absolutely nothing about this show.
   

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:12 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Blah

Threw my sleep cycle out, got interrupted by a phone call just as I was trying to get back to sleep, and ended up having a completely unproductive day.

Rewatched: The first 9 episodes of Bleach.  It really was a good show before it hit the Soul Society arc.  And even then, it was at least watchable until it hit the fillers.  Just slow-moving and cliched, and relying too heavily on the emotional attachment to the characters that was built in the early episodes.

The second episode of Haruhi (that is, the first proper episode), which confirmed my opinion of the series (and it's interesting to go back and see the hints they were throwing out in the early episodes).  While I wouldn't claim that Haruhi  is better than Haibane Renmei, I certainly enjoyed it more, and would likely recommend it before Haibane Renmei. Depends on the target audience, of course, but Haibane Renmei for all its fine qualities is emotionally exhausting.

Watched: Episode 1 of the new Kyo-Ani thingy, Lucky Star.  I agree with everyone else on the planet: It's an attempt to recreate the success of Azumanga Daioh by people with no understanding of why Azumanga Daioh was successful.  And crappy animation.  Whatever I might say about the plot and characters of Kanon, it is undeniable that it is visually superb. Lucky Star isn't.

Also some of Pythagoras Switch (Pitagora Suicchi), which is a crackup.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Noooooo...

...ooooooooo!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:12 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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6011 items, 158.6 days, 106.75 GB

Hey, my C drive is full.  How did that happen?

And why the hell doesn't Windows support symbolic links?  Yes, I know that it has symbolic links, I'm saying, why doesn't it support them, instead of doing things like this:

Explorer will delete the contents under your symlink when you delete the symlink. Restoring the symlink from the Recycle Bin does not restore the deleted data. But below the volume threshold, Explorer does not delete the target's data, but flags it invisibly for final deletion! This means you can delete a symlink, and then still use the data formerly under it, until you empty the Recycle Bin. Then the contents of the targeted folder will vanish. There is no warning about this behavior.

Ick.

Does iTunes at least allow me to change my directory?  Yes.  +1 for Apple, -1 for Microsoft.  Now I just have to copy 137 GB of music and podcasts across to my shiny new 500GB drive... And then buy another shiny new 500GB drive, because THIS ONE'S FULL.

At least they're cheap - prices on 500GB drives have plummeted the last few months.  Back in November I specified 320GB drives for some new servers because the 500GB were two-and-a-half times the price; now I can get a 500 for what I paid for those 320's. 

Oh, and part of the reason it's full is that I've been moving stuff off my 3x200GB spanned volume on my Windows box, because I don't trust Windows not to break it, and I don't need to do that now that 500GB drives are so cheap.  I don't accumulate data quite that fast.

Update: And -5 points to Apple for creaing an application that, when you change the directory it uses, still assumes that all your files are in the old directory, and provides no clear way to do anything about it.  There are workarounds, but the workaround provided by Apple only works if you do it before you move the files, which is... unhelpful.  The workaround that worked involved hand-editing the XML file iTunes generates and then deliberately corrupting the binary database, causing a database rebuild - and then manually re-importing the XML file as well.

At least, I think it worked.

Update: And then manually re-importing some lost directories, and then re-subscribing to my podcasts, only two of which tried to download all the old episodes again...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 04:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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RSS Is Back

Teeny-tiny bug in Monday's update kind of wrecked the RSS and Atom templates.

Fixed now.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Expense Claims

Exceptions should be, well, the exception.  They're not a replacement for testing condition flags, they're what you use after you've tested all the flags.

And a subroutine that causes 40,000 of them can slow your code down... significantly.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:40 AM | Comments (13) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Ill-Advised Optimisations

Yes, it's 6% faster.

On the other hand, it doesn't work.

Thought I had a nice speed improvement for my BBCode parser, moving some static code up to the module level. However, the static code was creating a dictionary, which was now shared between parser instances, which caused odd side effects.

Optimisation removed.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Goodness, Badness

The bad thing about working in the city is that you have to go into the city every day.

The good thing about working in the city is that if you need to go into the city, you're already there.

None of my local bookshops have the new Harry Dresden novel, White Night.¹ Galaxy Bookshop had it, of course, but they're in the city and I didn't have two hours to spare for the trip there and back just to buy one book.²

Today I had a meeting in Edgecliff, so afterwards I dropped in at Galaxy. Naturally, they've sold out. They expect to have more in two to three weeks...

¹ $13?! It's $50 here in Oz!³ Goddam it, when is there going to be an amazon.com.au? They'd clean up down here.

² Well, there's a new volume of Battle Vixens out too, but that doesn't improve the balance of the equation all that much.

³ Right now, thats US$42.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 05:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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That's What I Like To See

My second page, without the burden of the Great Comment Thread of Doom:

And the Heresy page in my RSS reader:


Hang on... Hey, caching has stopped working. Hmm. Minx is filing stuff away in memcached, but nothing's coming out. I might just need to poke the daemon with a stick. And set up the rest of the caching network.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Rule-Based Filtering

I don't have Bayesian spam filtering in Minx, but I do have a honeypot system collecting data on spammers, and a set of rules that pick up on common spam characteristics and assign a score to each comment.  Comments scoring 5 or more are held for moderation.

I just got one of those Rolex replica spams.  It scored 109.8.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 03:52 AM | No Comments | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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