You Are Guilty as Picked!

Ever found yourself hating something distasteful, but you indulge in it over and over? Keep complaining about that movie, but you watch it a few times still? Disgusted at an anime panty shot, and you can't help but smile?

Don't worry, you're not alone.

All of us (I think) get into something that we think we shouldn't enjoy. It could either be against our personal values ("Nono I shouldn't watch... OOOH BOOBIES!") or the possibility of other people's reaction ("Hey everyone, he likes Barney! What a wuss!").

Call it anything you want, but the anime community calls this...

The Guilty Pick.

Whenever a new season comes, someone would list down all the upcoming animes in some forum. A few titles seemed like they were directed by some low-life uneducated pervert.

Still, some of us would not want to think too much about what we watch. We'd want something mindless, fun and, uh, mindless. And so one guy would go "Heh heh my guilty pick this season is...". Others would write "WTF you retard!", but secretly rewinds to that exclusive one-second panty shot!

Guilty picks are not only limited to anime. Here are some of my very own guilty picks:

Guilty Pick: Food = Chicken Rice



Why guilty? Freaking easy to cook! Why pay for something that you can cook yourself, rite? Even so, most of the time the rice is dry and there's little to no sauce for the chicken, except for SS2, Jalan Gasing and the "Wedding Place" (TOA students should know!).

Even worse if you order it off some stall that also sells Tomyam, Daging Merah and all that other Malay/Thai lauk-pauk, yuck! Oh, and the ad in the cinema is not the worst thing The Chicken Rice Shop has to offer!

Why pick? Steamed chicken FTW! Man I love simple food, it's just chicken + rice! That's all! Also, it's simple to tarpau, simple to eat and simple to throw. No fuss. I order it whenever I have the chance, and I don't mind if the chicken rice sucks. After all it's still chicken and rice! By far my 2nd favourite food of all time!

Guilty Pick: Hangout = Berjaya Times Square



Why guilty? Here's a very common sight: A group of teen+preteen delinquents making a lot of noise, dancing like hooligans and dressed up like some cool gothic/punk dude-wannabes. It's a BIG place, but with *little* people (in terms of quantity AND height).

It also features a VERY ORANGE amusement park that no one goes to, and when someone did go there, she fell down from the roller coaster (no joke, i saw the aftermath!). Luckily she just fainted after falling down on a higher elevation (the roller coaster flies above much lower elevations!!!). She was just injured. Her mom at the scene seemed more hurt than her daughter, though.

All in all, Times Square can be summed up in 3 words: AHBENG, AHLIAN and DANGEROUS.

Why pick? The games in the arcade center are the latest in Malaysia, and it's the only one with a Pop'n Music machine. Also inclined towards the anime fan's needs, with Anime Tech, XL shop (friendlier than the one in Mid Valley) and another figure shop on the 7th floor. Nice to hangout in Starbucks too, with all the latest books at your disposal in the biggest bookstore in Malaysia. Yea, just ask the assistant to open the plastic wrapping for you! *evil grin* And apparently Ah Bengs and Ah Lians don't read books XD

Guilty Pick: Anime = Hayate no Gotoku



Why guilty? Parodies, parodies, parodies. That's all it takes to make an episode in Hayate no Gotoku. Without them, it would just be an empty shell with some leftover scrap of lame jokes and slapstick comedy. Sometimes the characters' over-reactions slap a big WHAT THE HECK on your face.

How come Hayate no Gotoku goes into season 2? Easy, it's a secret technique copied from the anime production of Naruto: FILLERS. The episodes sometimes make you wonder if you could have spent the last 20 minutes doing something more productive, you know, like watching Azumanga Daioh episodes over and over. Some of the episodes are really too ridiculous, even by my standards (yes, it's THAT ridiculous!)

Why pick? Because of the parodies, of course! They're fan service in the purest form (as opposed to the "unpure" panty shots, fufufu) Amazingly, I get most of the jokes, so when I laugh I feel like I'm rewarded for knowing my stuff! It's similar to watching Lucky Star, just in a lamer premise. And let's not forget the girls, who span across many anime girl stereotypes! Maria and Hinagiku are the community's favourite (non-guilty) picks, and I couldn't agree more. And we also have a big talking white tiger that walks on two legs, and the narration is done by Wakamoto Norio (voice of Chiyo-chan's feline father). Fillers or not, mindless is as mindless does!

Guilty Pick: Game = Sonic the Hedgehog Series



Why guilty? Here's Sonic Team's brainstorming session: "Hey guys we're having this new Sonic game, so let's start by thinking of new animals to add to the endless list of Sonic's friends". Man, Sonic is SO likeable! The next game might as well be called "Sonic and his new shitty friends" (credit goes to NeoGAF :D)

Alright alright, the gameplay should at least be great, right? WRONG! With exception of the early 2D Sonic games, the guys who did the level design and physics engine should be killed on the spot. As if the extremely bad camera view and platforms being SO far apart aren't punishing enough, they had to put some lovely bugs into the game. Like how Sonic fell down from a tunnel that never had a hole! Or pressing right to grind on the next rail inconsistently results in Sonic MISSING the rail entirely! Sonic just *loves* the chasm of doom.

Hey that's a great idea for the next Sonic sequel right? "Hey look guys, it's my long-time buddy, the chasm of doom!"

And don't get me started on Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Riders......... though I finished the games! =_=;; What the hell was I thinking?!

Why pick? The level design (the positions of the platforms, the auto camera trick crap, etc) might suck, but the art of the world itself is quite interesting. I always want to know what the next world would look like, so I (stupidly) brave all those crazy bugs and chasms. The soundtrack for each level is not bad either (except for those vocal soundtracks, just shut up already!) And there are a few good Sonic games as of late, like Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sonic Rush. There's still a little speck of hope in my little Sega fanboy heart!


So what's YOUR guilty pick? Maybe you enjoy watching little girls singing those CNY karaoke songs? XD