So the phenomenon that was Magical Girl Madoka Magica is finally over. From the start, many had compared it to Neon Genesis Evangelion with its genre subversion and psychological themes, and the ending provided plenty more fodder for this comparison. The final 2 episodes tried very hard to emulate great endings that had come before it, but, lacking the focus and cohesiveness of such works, it ended up merely stumbling its way across the finish line.
I was somewhat disappointed that Shaft didn’t take this opportunity to retool the 2 episode finale into a singular unit, as had been the case with the finale of Code Geass‘s first season. Episode 11 stood on its own with its own story arc, featuring some good action as Homura went all out against Walpurgis Night. And with the cliffhanger end, it was clear that these episodes were meant to be released a week apart.
But that’s not a knock against it. There’s nothing wrong with having the episodes structured like they were originally intended. It was just a missed chance for greatness. And so was the ending. Shaft was obviously swinging for the fences with this one, and though I wouldn’t say they struck out, at best, they managed a weak single.
A wholly unnecessary scene. This was about the point when Shaft's intentions became too transparent.
I have the belief that, for the most part, people are pretty good at telling when they’re being manipulated, and when one senses this, the compulsion is to push back. This is why people have a problem with melodrama – they don’t like it when they’re tricked into feeling things, instead of having the feelings come to them naturally. I know I don’t like it.
Instead of providing an ending that was simple and tightly held together, Shaft provided one that was a hodge podge of scenes clumsily thrown together, trying as best as it could to force its way to greatness. This is exactly what I meant when I wrote that Madoka Magica ran the risk of being crushed by the weight of its own narrative. Greatness comes effortlessly and naturally; it’s only after the fact that the viewer should be aware of how his emotions were toyed with.
A beautiful scene with which to close out the series. Homura's epilogue, I have absolutely no complaints about.
It was so obvious that Shaft was trying to make us feel a certain way, that, ironically, it achieved the exact opposite. This, despite that I liked most of what happened in the ending. Madoka’s wish of breaking the rules and going beyond the impossible (row row fight the power) was pretty cool. Was it a deus ex machina? Even though it literally introduced a god in order to tie things up, I don’t think it was, because it fit in well with the rest of the show. And the end result, with Madoka disappearing from existence, Homura the only one to remember her, still being a magical girl but fighting… things that aren’t witches, with the red ribbon in her hair and a bow as a weapon in remembrance of Madoka? Corny, yes, but also poignant and moving. Corny things became corny for a reason. The fact that the ending was not a perfect one, that magical girls still had to fight in order to save the universe from heat death, was much appreciated. It gave a happy but cynical end, by showing that Madoka couldn’t create a perfect world despite her godly power. She could only take away one specific source of despair in it. Yet destroying that one specific thing was something impossibly noble and beautiful.
But when it’s obvious that the events were there just to enable the Evangelion-esque conversation sequences, to bring back Kyoko and Mami for a final farewell, to bring back Sayaka to converse with Madoka, forgive Kamijou and Hitomi and to give her story closure, to have Madoka and Homura say goodbye half naked in the stars, there was an undeniable feeling of being manipulated. These scenes were supposed to be touching, but the smell of artificiality overwhelmed whatever goodness they had.
What a wonderfully moving scene... it would have been if it didn't seem completely forced. Again, unnecessary.
It certainly stole from the best, like Evangelion, Diebuster, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann had done so before it. But those works managed to take what they stole and seamlessly integrate with their own identities. Madoka Magica‘s ending threw together all the great things it stole, with little in the way of order or sense, forming a messy jumble of would-be great scenes. It was completely transparent in what it was doing, resulting in something that so clearly was meant to be great but wasn’t.
In fact, “thrown together” is an appropriate phrase to describe the entire last 3rd of the show. Whereas everything up to episode 8 had been carefully and lovingly constructed, forming a slow but exciting magical mystery thriller, the rest of the show was messy and cluttered, a collection of nicely done scenes and story elements in search for a common thread to tie them all together.
The ending could have achieved greatness by tying everything together, a pretty standard way for endings to do so. But many things were dropped and introduced at the convenience of the story. Madoka’s mother’s earlier advice about messing up was one of them, with the conversation they had in episode 11 serving no useful purpose (other than to show that’s Madoka’s mother is a really bad mother! You don’t let your kid run out into a supercell!). Same goes for shoehorning famous figures as being Magical Girls, as well as the 2001-esque aliens-made-humans-evolve plot element.
It was messy, it was all over the place, it was manipulative. I don’t want to go as far as to say that it was outright bad; I’ve seen plenty of bad endings, and this wasn’t one of them. Neither was it good, though. It was passable. And that’s alright. But certainly not up to the standard set by the show.
Now that it’s over, what exactly was Magical Girl Madoka Magica? At its best, it was a mystery/thriller that kept us hooked, pulling us along for an unforgettable, intense ride where every move mattered. At its worst, it was a jumble of great elements that didn’t tie together in a meaningful way. It was a show that peaked at the 2/3 way point and then stumbled the rest of the way, through the climax.
The common criticism that it suffered from underdeveloped characters was very true, and that was the issue that came to define the show’s success and failure. When it really delved into a character, her feelings, and her motivations, as in the case of Sayaka, it was a success, a sublime combination of writing, directing, and pacing into which you simply couldn’t help get sucked. But when it tried to force drama with characters with whom the show had not allowed you to form a connection, as in the case of Homura or the eponymous Madoka, it faltered.
At least the art was great throughout, even though even that weakened a bit in the last third, with the craziness of the witches’ realms not being as prominent or as crazy. The cinematography, though, I have no complaints with. Same goes for the music which, even though it took me a bit to warm up to, was perfect for setting the mood of this dark and somber show. Too bad Claris’s opening theme Connect and Kalafina’s ending theme Magia, along with their respective animation sequences, were just passable.
Now this was a good scene, both emotionally affecting and visually stunning.
Perhaps it’s a shame that the end is so much more important than the middle or the start, but that’s simply the nature of the beast when it comes to fiction. And Madoka had a start and middle that was about as good as it comes in the world of TV anime. But it could only do so much in the face of the weight of the disappointing final third.
It will rightfully be remembered as the incredible phenomenon it was, and for the absolutely thrilling ride it provided. But, years from now, will it sit at the same table as the rest of the greats? Well, that sort of greatness must come naturally; it can’t be manufactured.
Though the show ended on a low note, it's hard not to feel emotional seeing this, knowing that it's all over. It certainly did many things very well.
Let us imagine an imaginary organization that gives actual awards for anime, and this organization gave awards to individual episodes from the aforementioned anime, and one category of awards was for the best info dump episode, then this episode of C would most assuredly, in all likelihood not win the aforementioned award. That said, it didn’t do a bad job of info dumping either, for the four following reasons, which I hereby refer to as the Rules of Info Dumping (feel free to add more).
Rule of Info Dumping Number 1: Put some effort into masking the info dump nature of the episode
Let’s face it, any info dumping episode you realize is an info dumping episode is a bad episode. Could we all realize that having Jennifer monologue for half this episode was a ploy to flesh out the plot? You betcha. Still, I appreciated that we as an audience were given enough respect, so that creators wouldn’t think about throwing out some bad guy explains his motives for no apparent reason speech. I’m looking at you, Fractale.
JUDGEMENT: B-
Rule of Info Dumping Number 2: Earlier Info Dumps are better than later Info Dumps
Once again, let’s face it, all info dumps are bad. In a perfect world we wouldn’t even realize we were getting info dumped on until that aha moment, as a lot of people reading this likely had with Madoka. Sadly this isn’t a perfect world. So, when it comes to info dumps its best to have them at the beginning of a series rather than in the middle or end. In short, its good to get them out of the way so the viewer doesn’t have as many questions later on. FMA and FMA:B both did a good job of this. Explaining Alchemy could have been a long a drawn out process, but both of these series, especially the first, did a good job of getting their key setting info dump episode out of the way early.
C did this to some extent. At this point, we more or less understand the battling system and how the entres are able to attack. Sure, there are some questions left unanswered, but everything that needed to be revealed was. To put another way, a good info dump is like a woman worth your time. She teases you, giving up information about herself over time. We wouldn’t want C to put out so early, would we?
JUDGEMENT: B+
Rule of Info Dumping Number 3: Introduce characters and/or issues prior to when they become useful, so that their introduction doesn’t seem too out of place.
While I mentioned in my episode 1 post that the father may eventual play some role in the show, the way this was too clunky, at best. I mean, find your dad’s old journal; that is something that should only be used at the beginning of a series. The episode tried to have the Mikuni/Yoga conversation lead into this, which built character, but it didn’t work as a transition. However, the introduction of the information broker in the last episode meant that his sudden appearance in this episode went down a bit better than other plot devices, but it was still noticeable.
JUDGEMENT: C+
Rule of Info Dumping Number 4: Make the Info Dump Matter
Too many shows utilize info dumps that about events that have already happened (cough, BLEACH, cough), or they explain things that will never actually be useful. What I loved about this episode of C was that the info dump, while not always interesting did do some character building, with the Mikuni/Yoga interaction and the interacting Assets. However, the lynchpin that made this episode work as a whole was that we now have a rather clear idea of some of the players within this series, mainly the IMF vs. Mikuni. What role Yoga plays in this fight is unclear, and I suppose the story still has a few twist and turns, but at the moment the next eight episodes look like they might feature more than one showdown I’d like to watch.
JUDGEMENT: A-
When you watch anime there are always little moments that stick out to you. Maybe the actors delivered a particularly funny line, the animators drew up an amazing action sequence, or the writers tug hard at your heartstrings. In the interest of getting out of my writing rut, I’m going to share a few of my highlights from the last week. Who knows, this might become “a thing”. Over the past week, I particularly enjoyed some moments from Gosick, Nichijou, Steins;Gate, and AnoHana.
Some of you who went to school might have had those desks with the seat connected to the table. If you ever tried to pick one of those up, you’d discover they’re a pretty hefty piece of furniture. When they replaced the wooden desks at my school with new ones, they actually got heavier. You would also find these desks to be a rather awkward lift. None of this seems to matter to Victorique though…
My, how strong you are!
See, this is what happens when you make the cute one angry. She lifts a desk above her head that probably weighs as much as she does. Then she throws it at you. So what if Victorique could never really lift a desk? That Avril also got hurt in the process is a nice bonus. Geez, she’s annoying…
I tend to wear pants all the time, and I prefer ones with really deep pockets. I don’t carry a lot of stuff most of the time, but when I do, I like the convenience. In particular, the pants I wear to conventions have large enough pockets to hold my camcorder. Nichijou seems particularly proud of the hyperspace arsenal, which puts my pants to shame. But none of them can hold a candle to this…
Bet you can't pull a rabbit out of there!
I firmly believe that afros are inherently funny, so this short scene was already off to a good start. Not many people think about other uses for the ‘fro, though. Just think of the convenience. You can carry things in your hair! On the other hand, try not to think about where that pancake has been…
Most of the time, sexual innuendo doesn’t give me much amusement. It always seems like the lazy way out of a joke. The situation or the story isn’t inherently funny, but if you plug sex into the equation, suddenly it’s hilarious! Yeah, not really. However, when a writer puts some effort into setting the joke up, even requiring past events to make it work, you can end up with this little gem…
This really speaks for itself.
If you don’t understand that line, then congratulations! You’re innocent. Of course, I might have just totally boned your innocence, and if so, I apologize.
I’m grown up now. I’m 22 years old, I’m about to graduate from college, and I’m gearing up for my first long-term professional job. It’s time to enter “the real world.” Life and its stresses can easily bog you down, especially under pressures to succeed and make ends meet every month. Occasionally, you just need to relax…
We did it, we did it, we did it, YEAH!
Several of us in the aniblogosphere have written posts about Pokemon in the past. Personally, it reminds me of carefree days when I’d sit there with Gameboy in hand, tracking down Pokemon with my Venusaur while waiting for the next episode to air. It’s a silly little game, pointless even, but it’s comforting. And sometimes, like in AnoHana, it’s the silly little victories with your friends that can mean the most to you.
With that, I’ve wrapped up my thoughts for the past week. If you’ve got any highlights of your own, feel free to share them. Hopefully, I’ll be back with more next week!
That was one hell of a battle, right? First, I have to say I’ve seen some chatter online the past few days about how this show reminds people a lot about Yugioh, and quite frankly I’m appalled at the rush with which people assume all shows with cards are alike. Most will likely quietly move away from these idiotic assertions over the next few days, but many might say what is up with that whack battle system. You’ll deride the show for its lack of explanation, or the fact that Mashu didn’t sustain any real damage during the battle. But, with a quick lesson, you’ll be up to speed. (Partially talking out of my ass, but I do almost have two degrees in this general area, so, you know, not really.)
Not that this necessarily applies, but this post in no way constitutes financial advice.
First, the facts:
1. The monsters, some of which are really cute, devilish, and moe, are called assets.
2. The characters seem to using their futures as collateral
3. The assets can still fight after they take damage.
4. If you don’t protect yourself, you will go bankrupt. Episode 1 suggests you die if you go bankrupt.
Now for the fun part. Let’s assume for a minute that we are talking about the real world, and you have a real financial asset. It could be a house, a currency position, or a general stock. For the purposes of explaining the issue, I’ll use a currency position. Now, you don’t really need to understand the ins and outs of how you make money in these transactions, but the key point is this: If your position has lost money, you do not need to pay until you close your position, thus the concept of an open deal. However there is one caveat to this rule in most instances. If you are losing too much money on your position you are going to have to pay at least some of it back. This is called a margin call. But what if you don’t have the money? Well, then you are presumed to be out of assets. Then, long story short, you are bankrupt.
Mashu so cute
Getting back to the show, Mashu, the asset, taking damage during the battle compares to the value of an asset dropping. Using a house asset as an analogy; the value of your home can fall, but the house is still your house. Same thing applies here. Mashu took damage, but not anything happened. However, that doesn’t mean she or Yoga are impervious. This requires a little more understanding of what a margin and a margin call are, as it was mentioned pretty prominently within the episode. Think of it like a line of credit at a casino. Richer people can bet more money without actually giving the casino any cash until they lose a predetermined set of money, when compared to normal people who need to put their cash on the table as soon as the play. Surprisingly, it doesn’t appear that Yoga or Mashu reached the point where they had to pay a margin, but I am looking forward to what might happen if it does. Further, I would like to know the differences between Yoga and some of the other more veteran players when it comes to the amount of their margin.
And all that still doesn’t explain why the hell Mashu was so powerful with her awesome fire attack thing. The show did give a theory about how Yoga caring about Mashu as the reason for her power, which is plausible. However to explain it requires trying to explain why most people who enter the Financial District lose right away, and another use of my house/property analogy.
So cute
While C could stand for a lot of things, I’d like to believe that it stands for credit. A lot of people borrow to improve their standard of living with every intention of paying back, as a way to increase the quality of their life. The thing is, a lot of people extend themselves a bit too much. Thus far, Yoga seems content with the simpler things in life, and protecting Mashu. However, many fall victim to the problem of spending too much and forgetting about the value of their assets/homes, which ultimately is their undoing. I hope that Yoga doesn’t fall victim to this problem, but it seems like he has ample possible “distractions” around him, so I doubt it.
For an opening episode, C did an excellent of setting up its world, detailing its characters, and opening the door for many potential avenues the show could take in the future. All that said, the most interesting part of the episode was its opening 5 minutes or so in which some poor sap who loses a battle in the Financial District, for one reason only: The concepts of chance and collateral.
First, the concept of collateral, though I view it as more of a legal term. Generally, collateral is something you promise to give up should you fail to perform on a stated obligation. In the context of this show the thing that you might have to give up is your soul should you not repay the loan granted to you. Now this seems like a generally straight forward concept. However, if you combine some contract law to this show you can up with a whole bunch of different possibilities. The one I am hoping that the show utilizes in some way is the concept of a surety. Simply put, someone else, the surety, could promise to pay the debt of the debtor should they not have the money to pay back the loan to the lender, in this case the Financial District.
However, the Financial District doesn’t necessarily seem interested in money, but in souls, as the references to hell are plentiful in this opener. With that in mind, I am hoping that someone somewhere down the line will take the place of someone else’s obligation to the Financial District, if for nothing else, it would be a great storyline. Who this could eventually be, I don’t know. However, the show gave us many possibilities, most notably the missing parents who were never actually shown in this episode.
As for the second term, “chance”, it was mentioned a few times by the poor sap who lost the fight in the beginning of the episode (though he also referred to it as a gamble). First off, in finance, there is some element of being in the right place at the right time, but it is not something that people succeed at by being lucky as one might be with playing and winning at roulette. A good investor can put the odds in their favor, and beat the market should they put in the time. Alas, there are also circumstances in which the markets do not behave perfectly, and some people have insider information.
Given the nature of the relationship that was shown between Masakaki and Mikuni, it appears that Mikuni may have a unique edge over his opponents. While there is something to be said for experience, as the show stated, we have to consider the possibility that Mikuni has some sort of special advantage. This possibility is even more likely, I believe, as we are coming of the worst financial crisis in the world’s history in some eighty years, so the concept of fraud is fresh in our minds. Also, talk about some resentment for the world’s recent troubles directed at America in the opener, when compared to the industrious Europeans and Japanese.
While I doubt that the things I brought up in this post will actually play any role in the story, it is something to keep in mind given the financial nature of the show.
When I look back at Star Driver a few months from now, I’ll probably think about how the show straddled the line between seemingly gratuitous, entertaining action and actually telling a story. A show that can actually pull both of these things off is a pretty rare thing. While Star Driver was at points able to do both of these things quite well, it never seemed able to do them at the same time. This ultimately keeps it from being great, and instead relegates it to the land of pretty good.
First off, the show always knew where it wanted to go and it always had a plot. From the first episode’s in the series, it is fairly clear that Takuto would be a rival in love with Sugata for Wako’s affections, and later on in the series, that he would have to take Head/his father down a few notches. Unfortunately, or I guess fortunately depending on your point of view, the plot seemed to be constantly placed on the back burner for the purpose of giving the show’s lot of colorful side characters their chance to shine. While these characters were often enjoyable to watch, see Kanako and Professor Green, and some even had symbolic meanings and/or purposes, the show really could have gotten along just fine without them.
But as I said, every time the show hinted at something bigger, it let something go untouched for episodes at a time, or not at all. When it became obvious that Marino wasn’t actually real, the show dropped that plot line for two or three episodes. So what (though it was addressed eventually)? When it was revealed the Simone was out to get revenge against Kanako. Forget about it. When we found out that the VP/Sarina were aliens. Not important. I touched on the question of whether we really needed to find out about these things in my episode 25 review, and came to the conclusion that we really didn’t need to, as in the grand scheme of things they aren’t really that important.
Still, I could have done with a few less Zero Time action scenes if it would have meant that a few of these things could have been resolved. I hate to use Utena as a reference, but god, I hated those sword fighting sequences. ALL OF THEM. EVERY PART OF THEM. But damn it, Utena was a great series because the characters had closure, plus everything else. That isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy a lot about what Zero Time or the Glittering Crux had to offer. I mean the costumes, the Kiraboshi, the it’s a pinch, the poses, and the list could go on. The animation and action in most of these fights was generally good and really enjoyable, even if some of it was reused a bit too often. Still, the show definitely fell into a mid season rut, and I think the length of these fights were to blame.
But like riding a bicycle, the plot could always almost pick up on the drop of a dime. Sure, some of it was a bit forced. It will be hard for me to forgive (not that I’ll lose any sleep over it) the laziness the show employed for giving Head his second mark. But most of what happened in the show’s main story had ample build up, even if it was a bit of overkill. The eight or nine times we were shown Head painting with an R as his signature. It was there. All the times Wako swooned over Takuto’s performance in Zero Time with Sugata there noticing. It was there. And then the show occasionally used this build up. And when it did, it was great. And the great thing about it all was that we knew when these events were. The end speaks for itself.
The play only really focused on three people. So did the show.
It’s hard to imagine that the show’s creators didn’t realize that all of the essential content in this show could have easily fit into 16 or 17 episodes, and that a lot of the main character’s were being extremely indecisive most of the time (I.e. Sugata in joining the Glittering Crux or Wako during the entire series). Everything and everyone else was really just context. I mean Ruri was never that interesting of a character, but she was important to Wako. Other characters were interesting, but in the end all they were was just interesting plot devices used to influence the character’s emotional state in the grand scheme of the main plot. It is what it is. It’s certainly interesting, and definitely worth a rewatch down the road, but the show itself isn’t really that complex.
As for my rating, I really want to give this show a 9 out of 10 for so many things it did well. A lot of things I didn’t mention about Star Driver were really top notch. The soundtrack was amazing, and so was the animation. Also, as much as I explained away the show’s side characters, they really are a major tilt factor in this show’s favor. I’ll admit I’ve even done a Kiraboshi here and there when no one else was around. Still, just based on the plot of the show, which is how I rate my shows, Star Driver is around an 8.5 out of 10, at best.
KIRABOSHI!
Hanasaku Iroha is an original production that serves as the tenth anniversary project of P.A. Works. It’s also one of new spring animes that I had the most interest in watching; in both a positive and negative sense. To this point P.A. Works has put out several visually outstanding anime – true tears, Canaan, Angel Beats – but I’ve yet to be impressed by the writing, storytelling, and characters from these works. I think it’s just a matter of time before they do get it right and when that happens, it’s going to be scary what P.A. Works can do (in a good way). Has it happened with Hanasaku Iroha or did they miss again?
Rating for episode 1 – 9/12 A-
Anticipation Level: 3.5/5 – Medium
Sixteen year old Ohana Matsumae lives a fairly comfortable life with her flighty, immature mother until one day when the mother decides to skip town with her boyfriend after he runs up a serious debt. Ohana is surprised when her mom doesn’t want to take her along and even more surprised to learn that she will be shipped to a grandma that she’s never seen because grandma and mom are on bad terms. Ohana is excited to go after learning grandma runs a hot springs inn but quickly sours on the idea after she makes a poor first impression through a combination of naivety and a desire to stick her nose into things before thinking.
The problem that P.A. Works has had to this point was most apparent when I realized that I got through Angel Beats without shedding a single tear. This should have been an impossibility when the story came from the pen of the guy that wrote Air, Kanon, and Clannad. So, I wasn’t excited to see that the director and writer had worked on the previous efforts by P.A. Works doing this; but, having watched the first episode, I’m cautiously optimistic at this point that Hanasaku Iroha might finally be the series that P.A. Works gets right.
I’m not sure how they plan to fill the 26 episode run Hanasaku Iroha is getting but the characters, at least, are already the most interesting and best cast of a P.A. Works anime. Of the introduced characters, the grandma is already my favorite for being just completely awesome as a tough-as-nails authority figure and for being exactly what Ohana needs. That’s not to say that I think Ohana is particularly bad; she has a good heart but her lethargic, aimless outlook on life needs to be fixed and there’s nothing like hard work to accomplish that. As Calvin’s father would say, “It’s character building.” The other characters appear to signal that P.A. Works plans to develop them into well-rounded characters. (Which I’m guessing will take up the lion share of the show since Hanasaku Iroha doesn’t seem to involve fighting terrorists or god.)
There’s no surprises with the technical aspects of Hanasaku Iroha – it has the high quality animation that one has come to expect from P.A. Works. The animation style fits the story and is pretty to look at. The vocal work is great. Kanae Itou as Ohana was a perfect pick since Ohana shares several similarities to another Itou role – Saten from Railgun. Chiaki Omigawa was decidedly un-Chiaki Omigawa-like with the character she voices (I’m a fan of Omigawa but it’s great to see her trying something new). The head-waitress is daftly voiced by Mamiko Noto who will always be Ana Coppola to me. There’s also Aki Toyosaki aka Yui from K-On! and the grandma’s voice is so crisply and precisely perfect. The background music didn’t really leave an impression on me but I’m actually pretty bad at listening for the music when it’s not completely horrible or completely amazing.
All-in-all, I’m very pleased how the first episode turned out; there was actually a lot of ground covered and introductionary points that needed covered and P.A. Works was able to keep it interesting. (As opposed to the first X-Men episode.) I hope they can keep the quality story-telling up and if they can, Hanasaku Iroha might just become one of the top shows of the season.
It’s been nearly a month since the Touhoku Earthquake sucker-punched Japan and in this intervening time I’ve been struggling to write a post about it that didn’t seem hollow or crass. I felt doing so was important because what I really wanted to do to help – flying to Japan and helping with the relief efforts – was the last thing that Japan needed.
I suspect part of my problem in writing this is that I’ve never really experienced anything similar; the closest I’ve gotten happened when I was a young boy and a F5 tornado tore through a town about 4 miles from my house but even a F5 is small potatoes compared to a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami. So, I tried many different angles and nothing seemed to work; the draft that I almost went with involved studying how anime (in this case Kamichu) had the power to affect a person when reacting to real-life events like this earthquake.
Finally, I realized the simplest response was really the best one. Namely, I hope everyone reading this keeps Japan in their prayers and, if possible, donate to a reputable charity of their choice. They’re going to need both for many more months.
Something I didn’t see really explained in the news coverage but came across by accident is that Japan’s electrical grid is split into two parts; the western half of the country runs on 60 Hz and the eastern half (which includes Tokyo) runs on 50 Hz. The two are, essentially, mutually exclusive so the extra electrical capacity that the western half has cannot be sent to the eastern half where the earthquake/tsunami has ravaged many of the power plants. That’s why there’s rolling blackouts now; TEPCO currently has nowhere near the power capacity to keep up with demand and nowhere to get it from. Which is very bad because if TEPCO can’t get a great deal of their lost capacity back before summer then there’s going to be millions of sick and elderly people having to get through a humid, hot summer with no air conditioning. Never a good thing.
