On the weekend all of a sudden took a ride down to local DriveTest and took up the n00b’s driver license test. I’d been putting this off for years and probably shouldn’t have, because the sooner you start the entire process the faster you’ll obtain a usable license (the process of getting one in Canada pretty much assumes that you’re a 16-year old, so this first, G1, license doesn’t allow you to drive on your own for a year — you have to be accompanied by your parents an experienced driver). Yeah, it’s possible to transfer your previous experience but still, it isn’t a very straightforward process, comparing to a simple exchange citizens of, let’s say, UK can do. The procedure of getting a G1 license is pretty simple: you get there, wait in a line outside, wait in a line inside moving like a kindergartener from one circle to another, take a vision test, get a picture of you taken, pay and inside the room with computers you go. The test itself is relatively easy: 2 blocks of questions, 40 total, you’re allowed to make 4 mistakes in every block. I ended up with 4 total because for the love of Aidios I couldn’t remember how much time I’d have to spend in jail if I disobeyed a police officer and such =)

The same day we also went to a cinema and checked out “Free Guy”. The movie is hit and miss — pretty much everything that’s happening inside the game is nice and fun, but the real-world characters, their dialogues and interactions are horrible. Not to mentioned atrocious moments like “We can’t delete her account!” or “Oh no, I don’t know how to stop an AI from functioning!” God damn, it’s an insult to anyone who’s remotely familiar with games and game development. Ryan Reynolds is a watered-down version of Deadpool here again, fine by me but some people might find him annoying. Now probably need to gird up my loins and finally watch Evangelion 3.0+1.0 — doesn’t seem that we’re going to get it in theaters so Amazon Prime it is.

I took a break from “To Your Eternity” after the first arc had finished because… Well, not entirely sure why, just didn’t feel like watching it. A month later returned to this anime and it rewarded me with a bit cheesy but amazing dialogue, that would become a classic of romance anime if “To Your Eternity” was one =)

Oddtaxi

As it often happens, when you expect nothing from an anime it may turn out to be pretty great. My level of expectations regarding Oddtaxi was somewhat between “garbage, will drop after the first episode” and “meh, I need to watch something this season”. I am happy to have been proven wrong =) I was hooked during the first episode and this anime became my personal favorite this spring season.

Oddtaxi, despite having several plot lines, offers a surprisingly coherent story. If I had to compare this anime to something Durarara would be my first choice. Yeah, there’s definitely a lack of headless bikers and supernatural in general, unless you consider Shirakawa-san’s ability to show up in the right place in the right time abnormal, but the urban setting and the way the writing works, with many seemingly chaotic, small and unrelated pieces eventually revealing the big picture, were similar to the famous anime set in Ikeburuko. I love finished stories, I love when they make sense and Oddtaxi is a complete anime, whatever meaning of the word “complete” you’d use (even though there’s a kinda sorta cliffhanger in the end). It even explains why all the characters are depicted as animals, which was an unexpected but very nice touch!

However, the main reason this anime is great is its main character, Odokawa. He’s an unusual protagonist: cynical yet often depressed taxi driver. Thanks to his attitude all his dialogues are pure gold, whether he’s talking to a guy who wants to become a video-blogger (my word, kids these days…) or a criminal at large. For me these conversations were the thing to wait for every week =) The rest of the cast is decent is well, whether we’re talking about a capoeira master Shirokawa, constantly rapping Yano, comedy duo Homosapiens or ridiculous Daimon brothers. I’m going to say a scary thing — I don’t think Oddtaxi has any bad characters.

What else to say — a good plot and good characters make a good anime, who would’ve thought =) I enjoyed Oddtaxi a lot and wouldn’t mind watching it again one day, something that I rarely think about shows.

“Life Lessons with Uramichi Onii-san” is the best anime of the season, hands down. And it’s full of valuable hmm life lessons.

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