Alternative title: “Why I think Kyubey should find a new job.” This post is going to be one huge spoiler, so don’t read on if you haven’t watched up to episode 9 of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

I’m sure the latest episode has blown a few minds here and there. I thought it was an interesting development, but I always feel that trying to stick a half-baked science-y explanation onto what is essentially a standard fantasy setting tends to open the writing to unnecessary critical analysis that distract from the actual storytelling. And as much as that is a bad thing, people like me can’t help but run with it. So here’s my take on the subject.

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Read the rest of The Physics of Puella Magi (1,334 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2011. | Permalink | 51 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: entropy, mahou shoujo, physics, puella magi madoka magica, science

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is set to pass new legislation restricting the sales of manga depicting certain sexual acts to minors under eighteen.

Contrary to what certain easily-excitable individuals may proclaim, this is not a ban and this is not the end of the anime. But it will certainly pose a huge problem to the industry.

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Read the rest of Tokyo Government to pass tough ordinance against mature manga (2,428 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, ecchi, hentai, industry, japan, law, lolicon, shintarou ishihara, tokyo

“I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes”

WikiLeaks may turn out to be the real-life Laughing Man. Whether as a hero or villain, it has already secured a spot in history with the release of US embassy cables.

The release of a quarter of a million confidential to secret diplomatic cables will be remembered as another milestone heralding the rise of non-state actors as a major influence on the development of the global order. But is it still too soon for the digital rebel to triumph over the physical establishment?

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Read the rest of WikiLeaks (1,266 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: anarchism, democracy, free speech, laughing man, politics, wikileaks

Recently, renowned sci-fi writer William Gibson of Neuromancer fame annoyed a bunch of Miku fanboys when he tweeted, “Hatsune Miku doesn’t really rock me. I want higher rez, less anime.” This was immediately parsed by some to mean that he hates all things anime and wishes horrible things to happen to otakukind and hilarity ensued.

Coincidentally, I have been spending some time thinking about the concept of virtual idols recently and just picked up a copy of Gibson’s Idoru novel that touches on this exact issue. Incidentally, it has a pseudo anime-style cover.

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Read the rest of Virtual Idols and Hatsune Miku (1,041 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2010. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: future, hatsune miku, idol, meme, sci-fi, virtual idol

This is one of those rare posts I make about my personal life so that one day I may look back at this blog and realize that I was once a young and naive idealist. It is the cumulation of a train of thought that has been running on and off for the past six months and a snapshot of me at what I consider to be the first major crossroad in my uneventful life.

I was offered the Public Service Commission’s Overseas Merit Scholarship (Open) earlier this year (2009). While it was an honour to be given one of the most prestigious scholarships in Singapore, I ultimately resolved to turn down the offer. It is a decision that few of my peers (and perhaps even myself) fully understood at the time.

Seeing as we are once again approaching the end of the year and a new batch of A-level graduates will soon be going through the same things I did, I thought it’s about time I finally put my thoughts down in words.

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Read the rest of Why I did not accept my PSC Scholarship offer (2,208 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 56 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: life, psc, scholarship, singapore

There’s a pretty good essay on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong‘s call for young Singaporeans to “dare to dream” over at The Online Citizen. The gist of it is that this statement is highly ironic when interpreted against the realities on the ground, much of them the results of government policy. Predictably, the comment section is filled with comments that miss the bigger picture of the issue and see this as another scheduled anti-government ranting session, with the few thoughtful comments voted down.

The government is no doubt a part of the problem, but it is the mentality of Singaporeans at large that has created a hostile environment for socially deviant dreams to take hold, and the same can be said for many Asian societies.

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Read the rest of Dreams are not for Asia (1,463 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 60 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: consumerism, dreams, education, meritocracy, singapore, society

Those of you who played the 4th Ace Attorney (逆転裁判) game would be aware of the new jury system being implemented in Japan, first proposed in cabinet review committee in 2001 and subsequently passed into law in 2004.

After five years of policy fine-tuning and mock trials, Japan held its first post-war jury trial on Monday. The system consists of a hybrid of six layman jury members (裁判員) and three professional judges (裁判官) and is reserved for serious crimes such as murder. A majority opinion has to be supported by at least one of the three judges in order to stand.

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Read the rest of Jury Trial in Japan (546 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gyakuten saiban, japan, jury

I recently started watching Kannagi after reading about the 2ch shitstorm over the main female lead’s alleged past sexual experience. You can read more about this dorama over at Sankaku Complex. The gist of the matter is that Nagi may or may not be Negi in disguise a virgin because she apparently has an ex-boyfriend! Also, she’s not even human so it reminds to be determined if the concepts of virginity and copulation even apply to her. In any case, this revelation in the manga’s plot development led to a firestorm of otaku rage and book tearing.

Oh, the humanity.

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Read the rest of Nagi’s Virginity (735 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2008. | Permalink | 48 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2ch, itai news, kannagi, nagi

JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure, an anime series based on a manga by the same name, is currently under fire from the Middle East for having a villain in the show read the Holy Koran while plotting the death of the protagonist.

Rather stupid if you ask me.

[ Source: JapanProbe | Itai-News ]

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Read the rest of Oversensitive Religion (520 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2008. | Permalink | 135 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: islam, jojo's bizzare adventure, religion

Surprise! I bet you totally didn’t expect me to blog Code Geass, especially considering that awful parody video I made which should best be left to rot in the depths of hell, my MySpace account and the fact that I used to own code-geass.com.

That said, the fact that I’m a huge Kallen fanboy has absolutely nothing to do with why I have decided to blog R2.

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Read the rest of Code Geass R2 — Episode 1 (577 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2008. | Permalink | 49 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: clamp, code geass, episode review, first episode, sunrise