Roving Thoughts archives

My early impressions of the Spring 2011 anime season

Another season brings another set of snapshots, just like last time, except that this has been extended and slow enough that this a lot more than first episodes by now.

Shows I've seen, more or less in the order seen:

• Dog Days: It's a refreshing change when the summoned hero is both competent and enthusiastic about his new situation. Apart from that, this is lightweight but cheerful and fun. Honestly, there's a lot to be said for that.

• Sengoku Otome Momoiro Paradox: this is bizarre in an almost over the top way, but ultimately it doesn't really sustain my interest (partly because it's too lightweight and too much a single joke).

• Steins;Gate: it's at least trying to be interesting, but it's not really succeeding; it has too much incoherence and not enough coherence.

• Softenni: this is probably decent but I found it insufficiently interesting for me to have much of an opinion on it. This is not really the show's fault, and people who like straight-up comedy will probably find it more attractive.

• Hidan no Aria: At first I thought this was interesting, but now I think that it was kind of generic (in fact, a lot like last season's Dragon Crisis). I have no confidence that it won't be yet another action/harem show.

  (On the other hand, the third episode surprised me. So who knows. I am a perpetual optimist about these kinds of shows.)

• [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control: Beneath the shiny peculiar stuff, this mostly looks like one of those 'person dragged into a fighting genre' shows that we've seen before. However, it has potential to be a well executed one.

  (It also has the potential to be an epic trainwreck of incoherence.)

• Ao no Exorcist: It's an action show, but it's not a bad action show so far. However, the first two episodes were basically the background introduction; things may change now that it's moving on to the main setting.

• Deadman Wonderland: This would be a lot easier to feel very enthused about if the setting wasn't so over the top implausible. Apart from that, it doesn't really stand out (except by promising the standard shonen fighting tournament, which does not exactly thrill me). In fact, the more I think about it the less enthused I am by this. I don't really need to watch two 'trapped protagonist' shows this season, and [C] is much more interesting and better executed (and has a far less offensive setting; Deadman Wonderland is asking me to watch lethal bloodsports).

• Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko: This made me smile. A lot. The narration totally makes it work. Although I did not expect it, this is the show that most made me go 'I want the next episode right now'.

  (I recognize that this charm may wear off fast, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.)

• Dororon Enma-kun Meramera: The retro style and setting of this doesn't lift it out of the 'competent but uninspired' category. In the wake of Panty & Stocking, I find myself not impressed.

• Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (aka AnoHana): This is a well made show in a genre that I generally don't find interesting. It's probably not well made enough to keep me watching it, though, which I sort of regret.

I'm going to skip trying to list the shows that I haven't watched for various reasons.

Looking at the list, I expect to continue following Dog Days because it is plain fun, Ao no Exorcist for decently well executed typical shonen action fare, [C] because it's well made, interesting, and they're at least trying to be unusual, and Denpa Onna for as long as it keeps making me smile happily. Steins;Gate and Hidan no Aria are kind of on the edge. AnoHana I will probably lose interest in soon.

(Disclaimer: predictions are dangerous. I'm probably going to be wrong, and anyways I have low willpower for stopping watching shows that are just on the edge and could be good next episode maybe.)

My bike gloves as of spring 2011

I bike in all weather conditions. As a result, I have a whole lot of bike gloves (and gloves that I use when I bike), and I'm often looking for better gloves. Because I feel like keeping track of this, here's my current list with notes about when I use them.

In order of decreasing temperature ranges:

basic MEC fingerless bike gloves

These are my warm weather gloves, say around 20C and upwards. I used to use the MEC commuter cycling gloves but last year switched to the 'road' gloves, which have less padding, and I think they work better with my very comfortable Ergon grips.

(I have very comfortable grips, so in the summer I wear gloves mostly to keep my hands from slipping with sweat (and partly to keep the grip pattern from printing itself on my palms). Padding is not necessary for this and seems to actually get in the way and make things less comfortable.)

basic MEC full-fingered gloves

Intermediate cool weather gloves for temperatures in the mid and low teens, especially on group bike rides. These are what I'll call 'skin' gloves, with no actual warm materials used in their construction.

(I'd give the MEC brand name, but MEC keeps changing things around.)

'Netti' mid-weight gloves

Cool weather gloves for the low teens and upper single digit temperatures. Unlike the MEC gloves they have some actual warmth and insulation, but not large amounts (and the side of the fingers are vented, which lets the cold air in).

I got these at Urbane Cycle, and they appear to no longer be in production. So it apparently goes with bike gear that I buy.

thin but insulated Castelli gloves

Cold weather gloves for around 0C; I believe they have some fleece lining. These are thin enough to be fully dexterous; I can comfortably use my DSLR while wearing them, for example, with only minimal fumbling.

I bought these at MEC a couple of years ago as the best cold weather gloves they had at the time, and they were okay for that but they are not really warm enough for serious sub-zero temperatures.

I can't remember the Castelli name for them but it probably doesn't matter since it looks like they're out of production anyways. There's a theme here.

Castelli Pioggia gloves

Cold weather gloves for sub-zero weather. These are much more insulated than my thinner Castelli gloves above, but significantly thicker and thus less dexterous (although they are still decent for this). They rapidly get too hot at above-zero temperatures.

In theory they have a waterproof liner layer, but I have never used them in the rain to put this to the test. If it worked it would be great; cold rain is one of the things that I don't have a good set of gear to deal with yet.

I bought these at MEC this fall as an attempt to get better gloves for sub-zero weather, and they have been a resounding success at this; they are actively comfortable in such weather, instead of merely sort of tolerable and survivable.

MEC 'lobster' style cycling gloves

I haven't yet biked in weather conditions cold enough to force me into these, possibly because I stop biking when the roads are covered with snow, ice, and slush. The few times I wore these (before I had the Pioggias), I found them not entirely warm enough without liner gloves.

I have some additional gloves that don't neatly fit into temperature ranges:

basic leather gloves with a light inner layer for warmth

These are currently my 'cold rain' gloves, because they're the only thing I have that is both reasonably waterproof and sort of warm enough. Before I got the Pioggias they were also my really cold weather gloves when worn with liner gloves; they were better than the lighter Castellis but not as comfortable as the Pioggias.

basic MEC polypro liner gloves

I used (and use) these for additional warmth underneath my leather gloves and the MEC lobster gloves. I can't remember if I tried using them with the lighter weight Castelli gloves, but I suspect that there wouldn't have been enough room.

I have read a fair amount of praise for neoprene paddling gloves as cold weather rain gloves, so I intend to get a pair when MEC gets them back into stock and experiment. I believe that MEC also sells waterproof shells, but when I looked at them in the fall none of them looked really attractive.

(The leading paddling glove candidate is the MEC CyclPad 3mm gloves, with the MEC Catch Neoprene gloves as a second option. The MEC Humboldt gloves in 2mm and 3mm are new enough to not have real reviews.)

Sidebar: other cold weather gear I swear by

• a basic MEC fleece cycling headband. This is just the thing to keep my ears warm on cool days, and keeping my ears warm turns out to make me much more comfortable.

• a basic MEC fleece skull cap thing, with ear covers; I wear this under my helmet in subzero temperatures. MEC has cycling specific ones, but I believe mine comes from their general cold weather gear because I didn't like any of their cycling-specific ones at the time that I was looking a few years ago.