We Remember Love Says Goodbye, and Thank You For All The Memories

This was easier than I thought.

I fought the idea hard, but acknowledged the following things:

1. I have, one way or another, made blog posts about every animated work of the Macross franchise (those with available subtitled editions in English).
2. After four years to this day October 13, 2012; I have said everything that I feel personally important as a fan of anime and manga.
3. While I have become a lot more concise and efficient in the craft of blog post writing, particularly in 2012; in conjunction with the above I feel that my best days of making blog posts about anime are behind me.
4. Blogging anime was an incredible opportunity for me to become productive and good at something during a difficult time in my life and career (particularly the years 2009 to about a few months ago). I am in a different place in my life right now where I derive less utility from hobbies compared to the crafts I am compensated for (business development, human resources, operations management, and entrepreneurship in general); and compared to playing with my 2-year old daughter and raising my lovely wife.

I don’t mean to be glib about this at all. The rest of my post is dedicated to the blog I started with Mechafetish; nurtured by so many friends and contributors I met online through this hobby; and invigorated by so much discussion from fans of anime and manga that I feel so lucky to engage through this space.

Thank You

As you can see, today marks a special, but sad day. Today, We Remember Love ends its’ fantastic run. From a humble beginning, it has become the place to discuss the Gundam and Macross universe. The unique writing, and engaging comment section, has made this more than a blog, and more like a community. In the short time I have been a part of it, I have found it to be an engaging place, one where an amalgamation of passion filled ideas come together to make post more than a one-sided conversation.

So I wanted to leave this final word as my way of saying thanks to Ghostlightning. When he offered to let me write at his blog, I was a bit nervous. As many of you know, I am not a quarter the Gundam or Macross fan that Ghost is. My interest, while science fiction in nature for the most part, are in other shows. But Ghost welcome me with open arms. For my early posts, he provided an editorial review, helping to develop a style and format that would not only benefit his blog, but help me improve as well. I found that I enjoyed being a part of WRL. And as I got more rooted into the WRL, I got to know Ghost better as well. As a fellow dad, and of girls at that, we share very similar situations, even half a world a part. I got to know Ghost the person, and over time, considered him a friend.

So, Thank You. Thank you for the opportunity you game me to explore my ability to write. Thank you for the lessons in blogging that you taught me. Thank you for the mentoring you gave.

The anime, and blogging world in general, will miss We Remember Love. But we all are looking forward to what you have in store next.

JA

Getting in Together-Eureka seveN AO Episode 22

[Eureka seveN Episode 21]

As Otou at Sea Slugs laments, the “plot twists” are set up to try to drive you to feel surprised. They want you to go “holy cow, I didn’t expect that”.  But honestly, I don’t think us as the audience are all that surprised any more. It would be more surprising if the show would finish one continuous thought, before randomly dropping something new on top of us. And with that, let’s dig into the last AO episode for the next two months.

New Alliances-Eureka seveN AO Episode 21

[Eureka seveN AO Episode 20]

Loyalty and Allegiance seem to be a very fluid concept in this show. In a short span, we have both Ao and Elena defecting to the other side. We have Big Blue World dropping Generation Bleu and declaring them rogue. And the remaining members of Team Harlequin joining up against Pied Piper. To me, it’s all contradictory to the guiding principles of the original series.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE Finale: The Worst is Over

[Mobile Suit Gundam AGE 48]

Thank you everyone for following my coverage of the show. I didn’t think it was possible for me to complete a year-long episodic coverage in a consistent, timely manner. But I did it, and I’m very thankful for the community of readers who stopped by, left comments, and enriched my experience of watching Gundam for a whole year.