Latest Obsession: Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu

* Be forewarned: This post is full of SPOILERS for the Steins;Gate movie and series. *

Every now and then something comes along that really resonates with you and simultaneously warms your heart even as it’s breaking it in two. The Steins;Gate series, and now the epilogue film Steins;Gate: Fuka Ryouiki no Déjà vu (translates as Steins;Gate: Burdened Domain of Déjà vu) is one of those powerful stories for me.

The Steins;Gate series was a remarkable achievement in the way it wove together such a complicated story, fabulous characters and yet still managed to provoke such a strong emotional reaction from its audience. In my mind I always refer to it as a masterpiece in storytelling, though I know it is not without its flaws. But flaws or not, it made a lasting impression on me and I’m not sure it’s possible to love it more than I already do.

Which brings us to the movie follow-up that helps tie things together neatly with a bow, and confirmed my love for this series a thousand times over. Is the movie perfect? No, but it makes the series all the more emotionally resonant with such a sweet and heartfelt send-off, and I couldn’t have asked for more.

Latest Obsession: The Irredeemable Ant-Man

Meet Eric O’Grady, a.k.a. The Irredeemable Ant-Man, the world’s most unlikeable super hero. Most super heroes, while flawed, tend to be brave, noble and selfless fighters for justice and the better good. Eric O’Grady is none of those things. He’s self-centered, perverted, cowardly and only acts with his own self-interest in mind. He’s what you might call a dirt bag.

And I absolutely love him for it.

The Eric O’Grady Ant-Man was created in 2006 by Robert Kirkman (of Walking Dead fame) and was featured in his own 12-issue series, The Irredeemable Ant-Man, with the “irredeemable” moniker naturally being a play off of the commonplace superlatives used, usually in a more positive fashion naturally, to describe Marvel’s superheroes, such as The Incredible Hulk or The Invincible Iron-Man or The Amazing Spider-Man. As expected from the name, he was intentionally created to be a change of pace from the rest of the super heroes. While most heroes’ powers come about organically or as a reward for their efforts, Eric O’Grady stole his.

Latest Obsession: Sankarea

Anyone who knows me well knows that I will often become interested in something new to the point of infatuation, often spending hours reading up on it, playing it or browsing the internet for anything related. These obsessions can range from anywhere between temporary, perhaps lasting as little as a day, to a life-long interest, lasting, well, a lifetime (in case you hadn’t figured out what that meant).

That being said, I figured it might be a neat idea to share with the world the occasional “obsession of the moment” in a new segment I will simply call Latest Obsession, which should hopefully be the first of several new segments I hope to start rolling out in the next few weeks. The hope with this particular category is that perhaps I can introduce new things to people or perhaps shed new light on them with my perspective. At the very least, I’m documenting a particular interest of mine at a specific moment in time to see how long-term the interest is.

So without further ado, let me introduce my first obsession of the moment: Sankarea.