Sunday, May 5, 2013

Blurring the Lines between Reality and Fiction: General Election 2013 / Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke

In case the image above doesn't load for whatever reason (copyright infringement, sour grapes, etc), 'losing sucks', doesn't it? I wasn't planning on typing out this piece, but I suppose I should since the state government inadvertently gave me (and many others) a weekday off by declaring Monday to be a state holiday for people to relax after the general elections.

Technically I don't qualify for today, since I didn't vote- and didn't even register, in the first place. Some people would rage against me for not registering in time (to my credit I did try to, but got fed up with the process), especially since the 'opposition' (PR) didn't manage to get the majority needed to rule, and the ruling party (BN) allegedly pulled off some sneaky tricks, with timely assistance from the police and Election Comission (EC):

1. The first layer of security against voted fraud, 'indelible ink' turned out to be very delible indeed, as it needed to comply with 'halal' (kosher) status, apparently. The EC made it sound as if the original ink is made with concentrated pig blood (Question: pork only applies to the meat, right? Or after the pig is dead? So should it be pork blood? Does pig blood insinuate that the blood was drained from the pig while it was alive?). If they're so worried about a drop of ink on the index finger being halal, they should probably worry more about Made in China products. Rain too, since it's not certified by the relevant authority, and you never know what's in it...

2. Extra ballot boxes materialized under cover of darkness (sudden blackouts). This is said to have led to recounts, where BN losses changed to wins. How come the perpetrators were able to see in the dark? Were they equipped with night vision goggles, hiding in the deep grass? I didn't know that we had such capable spies. It's a wonder that we haven't been able to drain Singapore's state secrets yet. Oh wait, this operation may only have been possible because they had control over the power company (TNB). Hey you Southern Islanders, here's a tip: If some smiling chap comes along and offers to sell you cheap electricity from the mainland, give him the boot. It's not worth the trade-off.

3. Most amusingly, it appears that BN ferried in foreign workers (mostly Bangladeshis), and awarded them cash payouts, identification cards (IC) and voting rights (with the condition that they vote for BN, though I'm not sure how they can verify how they voted). Citizens tried to stop them from voting, and in some cases scuffled with the police who were said to be escorting the newly minted citizens to the voting area. On an utterly unrelated note (well, maybe slightly related), I had a post-midnight revelation: "The sudden influx of foreigners with ICs and voting rights is rather similar to a virgin birth. Only en masse and all grown up."

...I wonder if this qualifies as a heretical statement.

In any case, the country is still in the hands of the BN, for the next five years, at least. Politics has never interested me- most of the time it just irritates me. Still, this may have just been enough to push me over the brink. I'm too cynical to believe that PR would be able to do a better job at running the country (sadly real leaders can never live up to fictional ones). Count me in for GE14 (perhaps), if I still remember my irritation then (show me this blog post).

On the other hand, I could always go on hoping for an overnight revolution and Stalinist purge. I don't have the stamina, will (being too lazy), nor the inspirational charisma (I'd probably cause a bout of mass depression) to pull it off, but ideas are like germs, and hopefully there's a Che in the making who's reading this right now who will be inspired by these words to liven things up a bit- though s/he should have the decency to expire and be forgotten once the job is done.
Moving on, a brief review of Zettai Karen Children: The Unlimited - Hyoubu Kyousuke. I didn't plan on doing this, but since the opening image I used was from this series, I figured that I might as well add it in, even if it messes up the narrative. Yes, I'm like that. Get used to it.

The Unlimited is a prequel of sorts to Zettai Karen Children, with the titular star of the show being the main series primary antagonist, Hyoubu Kyousuke, leader of the terrorist organisation Pandora, a group comprised of Espers (ESP users). You could call it a typical anti-hero story, in that you can't help but feel sympathy for his cause, which has a glimmer of nobility to it- albeit being slightly over the top and bonkers.

That being said, the main character is someone else- Andy Hinomiya, a new recruit to the group, whose odd powers led to him being ostracized by regular humans and Espers both. Much of the story revolves around his mission and his looking for a place to belong to, and impressively enough, the writers managed to drill him into the story well enough- he doesn't appear to be a new character randomly generated for the sake of a side-story.

The Unlimited made full use of its run of 12 episodes- each episode was refreshing and felt like it had a point to be made- which reminds me of Code Geass, a show which made full use of each episode, even the fan-service episodes. My only complaint: the momonga must die.

Five paragraphs is perhaps a little short for a review, but let's keep it at that. I finished this show about a month ago, and while it was entertaining enough while it lasted, and perhaps would serve as an incentive to get newcomers interested enough in the original series, I don't think it's fantastic enough to last on in my memory in the years to come.

...beyond the fact that Hyoubu would come in handy for our own revolution, that is.

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. So you found it. Haha.
      Now how do I decipher that smiley in the context of this article? :p

      Delete