Hyperactve

Phatik Chand by Satyajit Ray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



If someone said me, "There are some other stories that started as The Bourne Series (amnesia perspective) and they were written before Bourne came into prominence." one day before, I would not have believed them. But after reading this book, I can say they are right.

That said, it is a thriller story for kids. Nice and wonderful. :)



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Source

I'm trying to keep my head and heart composed while writing this. It's hard. Well, here I'm, trying to write a short description and analysis of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. When I was watching Madoka Magica, it came into my head that I should write something about it. It is truly a new dimension in the magical girl genre, as the previous reviewers have already said. Gen Urobochi! How do such stories come out of your head? Respect for you.

Now as a start, let me do the character analysis. There are five magical girls in this anime. I'll describe as the sequence of their appearance.

First of all, the magical girl we see first is Homura Akemi. She is a cool headed person. At first it appears that she is not the one of the friendlies, and have some ulterior motives. But later we find out that she is in a time loop and reliving same month over and over again with the wish to alter Madoka Kaname's destiny. Although she is seems logical at first, but eventually we also find that her actions were more emotional than logical. She is logically biased toward Madoka and her well being; eventually showing showing that some kind of dual personality has grown on her head. One colder and the other emotional. And she is probably the only source of 'Fan Service' in the anime. And it is not the fan service that pops in your head when the word fan service is uttered. But rather she is seen doing head tilts, and shoving her hair with her hand, even out of context.

And after that, the magical girl we meet is Mami Tomoe. She always keeps her head calm as opposed to going mad over something. She thinks Homura is not a good magical girl and does not take any of her advice into her head. She is the oldest of the five magical girls in the series. And she is supposed to be the trainer of Madoka and Sayaka.

The third Magical Girl introduced is the series is Sayaka Miki. She is the hot headed, honest person. Always wanted to save people and not wanting the price. She would take any witch head on, even though her magic was running out. Eventually she loses her head as she didn't get a boyfriend and well, brought some consequences.

Fourth one, probably the 'side character' magical girl, Kyoko Sakura is head to toe a mischievous person who only lives for herself. She uses magic for her own purpose. At first, she attacks Sayaka to stop her killing familiars that hasn't become a witch yet because killing them does not give any grave seeds, meaning a witch's head has a higher price than a familiar's. But later she shows her kindness as if she got her head together and understood the reasoning of other characters and sacrifices herself to kill Sayaka. Showing the character development in the story; aka. Tsundara(?).

And the last one is Madoka Kaname, the titular character who is shown as a Magical Girl just few episodes before the series ends. Well, that really shows the twisted nature of the show. We were given heads up by the title that the story is about Magical Girl Madoka. But in the end, we found out that the series is more like a different view to the genre and possibly a reconstruction as well. Well, back to the character, she is 'the most kind hearted' person that you will find in every other popular Shounen/shoujo anime protagonist. Who takes the despair out of the despaired. Snap the helpless in the head with her words to make them believe in themselves and motivates them to raise their head. At the same time she doesn't think she has any potential. And with her kind words makes Homura relive the month over and over again to save her. Finally takes all the blame, sufferring of all the magical girls on herself to show how selfless she is!

Lastly, Kyubey, also known as Incubator, gives magical power to the girls. It is hell bent on making contracts with little girls. It uses its head solely for the purpose of making contracts ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1z7sZZZ-Y8 ). A entity that can grant any wish using some kind of mechanism that it (or who ever for that matter) really does not understand. But it does all this with a greater goal in mind that transcends the petty emotions of humans.

In terms of animation quality it is somehow well suited and very well done. At the same time it proves giving the director his head can create truly masterpieces; it's probably the American New Wave revisited and thank you. And massive respect to Akiyuki Shinbo for directing it so well.

The music is top notch. It goes well with every sequence. The ending song is, well, awesone!

It's something that was never before done in the genre (except Dai Mahou Touge perhaps! Or in Sgt. Frogs! Or some other anime out there!!!! but those are comedy. And let's face it. Madoka Magica has a really serious tone!). Really good script from Gen Urobuchi's head. But let's say it, "Madoka's wish does not make sense!" She could stop the girls turned into a witch by her wish for god's sake! Or erase the Incubators! Why these thoughts didn't come into her head! Rather she takes the role of grim reapers of Magical Girsl. That is the most diabolical wish ever. Doesn't make sense... -_-

উষার দুয়ারে by Anisul Hoque

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



The problem with the book is that it takes lots of things word by word from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Autobiography. And adds very little over it.

It is better to read the first book in the planned Trilogy (3rd book yet to come) and then Sheikh Mujib's Autobiography than reading this.

Other things that are written are bland and are not written properly. The first part 'Jara Vor Enechilo' (Those Who Brought Dawn, I made this translation, not official) is ten times better than this book. And that book was written before the autobiography was published.

The extra stuff that comes out looks like text book writing than a novel. The writer should've spent more time while writing this.

I hope the third book will be as good as the first one, if not better than this.



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One Night at the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



(This is not a book review. It is a blog that relates strongly to the book and puts light on it's quality. Spoilers! Duh!)

So, finally read a Chetan Bhagat book. I have wanted to read one since Three Idiots. The reviews say, he is the paperback king of India, youth icon and stuff...

Before going into a short analysis of the book, let's hear a long story of my interactions with things related to Chetan Bhagat.

My Interaction with Things Related to Chetan Bhagat - Part I

Several years before this day
My Place, Dhaka

Let's go back to the Three Idiots era. The first time I heard the name I was like, "Meh!". Then almost all my friends (youth!) have started putting Facebook status' about the movie. Then I decided to watch it. As the most other youths I leached it from a torrent site. I found the 'in movie' dialogues and sequences a compilation of jokes, advices I had already heard previously. It was good, but I wasn't awestruck like the most. Then I saw some guy in somewhereinblog wrote a review of the movie and had almost the same thoughts as me. In which another guy wrote about Five Point Someone (source material of 3 Idiots) and how the book was more realistic and better (as always for the books turned into movies). This was the first time, I heard the name Chetan Bhagat. Then the movie became an all time greatest hits with lots of awards and stuff.

I'll skip part II of the saga because that involves how I spread the story - 'source material of 3 idiots is a book by Chetan Bhagat and it involves IIT' - to my friends. It spans several days, but let's have a lumped assumption that all of them belong to part II.

My Interaction with Things Related to Chetan Bhagat - Part III

Five months before this day
Howrah Railway Station, Kolkata

Now this the time when I find out Indian books are quite cheap. When they come to Bangladesh, crossing borders, the price gets doubled. In general, we buy a 299INR book at around 800TK. So what a semi-book lover student on low income like me does is buy some books because he doesn't find it worth to buy costly books in his own country. That said, I started looking for what to buy. Arvind Adiga, R. K. Narayan, Arundhati Roy is the fewest Indian Writers I knew. Then I found out that the shelves are full of Chetan Bhagat books. Since I heard his name before and I also wanted to read one of his books I decided to buy one. Let me take you through the choosing criteria:

1) Five Points Someone: What Not to Do at IIT - Already seen the movie related to this book.
2) 2 States: The Story of My Marriage - I don't know if I like the guy or not. So not interested in his or someone's marriage.
3) The 3 Mistakes of my Life - Well, my friend who is standing beside and also choosing books has decided to buy it. So I won't.
4) One Night at the Call Center - Sounds good. Probably gives the story of one night. Also will probably be a fast paced story. Let's take this one.

There were some other Chetan Bhagat books, but I really don't remember what was going in my mind about them. The other books I bought at this place includes, "প্রফেসর নাট বল্টু চক্র সমগ্র" by আদ্রীশ বর্মন।

My Interaction with Things Related to Chetan Bhagat - Part IV

Five months before this day
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata

A few hours after I bought the book, we arrived at the airport. It was past 8pm, and the stores were closed. We didn't feel like checking in a hotel for the night, we were feeling what people call homesick. So, at the airport, we are. In some sort of waiting hall, we were waiting for the night to be over and catch the plane. We were sleepy and most of us were trying to sleep. I also tried to do it myself. But found out when I'm closing my eyes there were some sort of heavy cold wind is flowing and it makes me open the eyes. What a drag! Let's read the book. I'll be able to tell a story about how I finished (or almost finished) a book even though my body and soul wanted to sleep. Read the first page of this book. Realized, my tired body and soul is winning. I closed my eyes again.

----*----

The Book Review

Present day
My Grandparent's Place, Comilla

So, finally started reading this two days ago, and finished today.
Now the start of the book is really nice, and neat. We have the first person view of Chetan Bhagat in the prologue. Then when the novel starts, we have the first person view of Mr. Shyam. Mr. Shyam is (or I thought to be a) typical sarcastic protagonist. Such books are best read in Mr. Sato's voice. Those who don't know who Mr. Sato is, here is a short description: He is the protagonist of the book and later anime, "Welcome to the N.H.K". But soon I realized, this protagonist is not Mr. Sato Type. He is different and his interests are also different. This contemporary novel mostly revolves around the love interest of Shyam tangled with his and other minor character's (minor) life problems. The character set includes 'want to be model' girl, 'life is a party girl', 'the housewife (! Chapter #26 !) working in call center' girl, the military uncle, the rich dad's boy and Mr. Shyam.

And the back cover does say they receive a call from God himself, and that does happen. But those who are thinking this an important plot point, they will be heavily disappointed. The call comes and ends in the same chapter and it is toward the end of the novel.

The plot mechanism is heavily inspired from some other book I believe. 'The Life of Pi' by Yann Martel. In that novel, the writer comes to India, he meets someone who tells him a story that has a 'fantasy/religious miracle' and then he tells the same story that is totally believable. The author admits the fantasy part makes the story more astonishing and more colorful and stuff. Now there is a similar mechanism in the 'One Night at the Call Center'. Author meets someone on a train, shes tells author a story. First time with a 'miracle' (God has called. Ding Ding!) in it. Later changes the miracle stuffs to something believable. The author admits the first version is better. Well, that's where the author is wrong.

Now, to be honest, it is not worth to compare it to 'Life of Pi'. Anyway, here goes. The 'realistic' setting in Life of Pi gives you goose bumps and changes your view about the entire novel. You start feeling sad for the protagonist and feel like you should've gone there to help him. But this book makes you think, the miracle part is 'bullshit', the realistic part is 'extra dense bullshit'. And if you are careful, you will find few dialogues from the movie, 'Fight Club' (I haven't seen the Indian one. The one by David Fincher) changing a word here and there.

Now about the cheesy Bollywood part of the story: "It was the most disappointing part of the novel". I don't know why the protagonist had to chase through the traffic to get his love. Why it couldn't be more grounded? Even the Call from God is more believable than this cheap stuff.



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Gundam 0079:

Gundam 0079 দেখছি বেশ কয়েকদিন ধরে।
এত পুরানো আনিমে হওয়ায় আমি ভেবেছিলাম গল্পের গাথুনিতে বেশ ফ্ল থাকবে। কিন্তু আমাকে অবাক করে দিয়ে দেখাল, আসলে বর্তমানের মেকা আনিমেগুলার চেয়ে এটা অনেক বেটার। আমি ৮০স,আরলি ৯০স আনিমে ফ্যানদের দেখতাম মেকা বলতে অজ্ঞান। তখন আমার এটা মোটেও ভালো লাগত না। বরং আমি বলতাম, "সাতোশি কন, ঘোস্ট ইন দ্যা শেল এর যুগে এইসব কি বলতেসে এনারা?"
দেখে যা মনে হল আমার আনিমে ওরিয়েন্টেশন সে যুগে হলে হয়ত আমিও মেকা আনিমে এর বিশাল ফ্যান হয়ে থাকতাম।
এখনকার গান্ডাম এর সাথে সেই প্রথম গান্ডাম এর খুব একটা ডিফারেন্ট নাই। বরং ভিলেনটা বেশ লাইকেবল।
আরেকটা কথা এই আনিমেও শুরু হয় নায়িকা নায়কের দেখভাল করা থেকে শুরু করে। পার্থক্য হল বর্তমানে নায়িকা ঘুম থেকে নায়ককে জাগায়। আর এইখানে মাইক্রোস্কোপ টেবিল থেকে নায়ককে তুলে আনে এলাকা ছেড়ে পালানোর জন্য।

 

 

Attack on Titan - 2nd OVA:

এটাক অন টাইটান এর সেকেন্ড ওভিএটা দেখলাম।তেমন কিছু না।
শুরু থেকেই এই আনিমে এর সাথে ফুলমেটাল আল্কেমিস্ট এর তুলনা করছিলাম আমি। যদিও ফুলমেটাল আল্কেমিস্ট অনেক বেশি পছন্দের।
যেটা বলার জন্য এই পোস্টটা করা। জিন যখন তার মার সাথে খারাপ ব্যাবহার করে তাকে বের করে দিল, তখন মিঃ ইয়াগার বলল, "You could be more modest to your mother."

[Originally Published in Mukh o Mukhos Online Magazine on January 2014 issue. Link: Here ]


হাইস্কুল লাইফটা মনে হয় প্রতিটা মানুষের জন্য সবচেয়ে আনন্দময় সময়।  হাইস্কুলে পড়ার সময় বড়দের কাছ থেকে শুনেছি, “মজা করার এখনই সময়।” আবার যখন কোন কিশোর উপন্যাসের রিভিউ পড়তে যাই তখন পাই, “এই উপন্যাস আপনাকে নিয়ে যাবে আপনার স্কুলজীবনে। সেই সময়টাকে ফেরত পেতে চাইবেন।” উল্লেখ্য, কলেজ জীবনেও ওই বয়োজ্যেষ্ঠ মানুষের কাছ থেকে একই কথা শুনেছি, এমনকি এখন ভার্সিটি লাইফেও তাই শুনছি। আর এখনকার বিখ্যাত কিশোর উপন্যাসগুলো হাই স্কুলে হয় না। হয় কোন জ্বলজ্বল করতে থাকা ভ্যাম্পায়ারকে নিয়ে