Do you ever conduct a little research?

I’ve spent the past week eagerly awaiting the arrival of an Amazon package. Was it manga? Nope. Anime? Not quite? Ooh, a figure? Now you’re way off! Just like any kid, I’ve been DYING for my . . . Shakespeare . . . to get here? Welcome to “Cafe Talk.”

If it puts you at ease, I ordered from the “No Fear Shakespeare” line because, goodness me, there’s no way I could read the fully saturated original plays. Nope, I’ve adapted to the “side-by-side PLAIN ENGLISH” narrative that Sparknotes publishes, and might I add that they make the experience plenty more fun for a weak reader like myself.

But god, save for The Tempest, these covers are shit tho. Like seriously, who designed these? I’m not even going to show you what they did to Midsummer Night’s Dream.

But I’m sure you’re also just bubbling with curiosity as to what stories I’ve decided to pick up. First, that requires a little background (because heaven forbid someone just “start feeling like reading classic lit”).

Years ago I started a little anime called Blast of Tempest out of pure love for the stained-glass graphic they put on their promotional poster.

^^Yeah, this one!

Anyway, I never got past the first or second episode. Try as I might, no matter how many times I restarted I never progressed. Eventually I gave up. Guess I just didn’t understand it, which, looking back, doesn’t surprise me at all because within the first FIVE MINUTES of the show the characters start rattling off nonsensical quotes from Hamlet and The Tempest!

So being the “smarter” person that I am now, guess what I did? I FREAKING bought Hamlet and The Tempest. (The concept of checking out books doesn’t sit so hot with me.) While I have vague ideas as to how both end, I decided that I’m NOT progressing with the anime until I’ve at least read one of them, starting with Hamlet.

Guys, I have TWO episodes left and the suspense is killing me.

I suppose what I’m asking you is this: “Are you ever inspired to do a little research before further adventuring into manga, anime, games, and the like?” You know, “get familiar with the original source for more background” or “understand allusions and make connections to classic lit, historical events, or even real people?” Recalling times where I had to google existing events, places, and people for reference, I came up with this sample list of past searches:

Type Moon myths, legends, and epics

Madoka Magica Walpurgisnacht, entropy

Joan of Arc anything

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood tree of life

Evangelion dead sea scrolls, new testament, EVERYTHING

Seraph of the End Abbadon, trumpets of the apocolypse

Rose of Versailles French Revolution

Eden of the East selacao

Cross referencing Tales games and anime

A Certain Scientific Railgun esper resonance, concepts

Sword Art Online Fairy Dance novels, Midsummer Night’s Dream

Yuri!!! On ICE real GPF skaters

and now,

Blast of Tempest Hamlet, The Tempest

The list goes on forever, but you get the gist. All of this research is done, of course, so that I can apply real world knowledge to better myself as a fan of entertainment. Take no shame in searching up something that confuzzles you–Odds are that you’ll learn something cool, or find yourself lost in the digital library of wonder. And THAT feeling is incredible. Many of my most cherished memories about certain anime spawned from browsing the archives of “such-and-such Wikia” because IF you can google it, odds are there’s a Wiki for it.

So there are my thoughts regarding the pursuit of knowledge. In other words, DO IT if it feels right. I hope you learned a bit about me, and I’d really like to know more about you anime “research” habits (if I can even call my Wiki pastimes research)! “Cafe Talk” welcomes open-ended discussions, however brief or lengthy you wish to be! In the meantime, I’ll be resuming Act 1 Scene 2 from Hamlet–wish me luch, haha! Until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host

I feel you, Hakaze.