Review : Tari-Tari Basket

It has never been an easy task to steal a lustrous spot beneath the limelight on the 'dreaded' GST works' presentation day. It has never been.

Yet, this year's the faux gloom of the 'dreaded' day vanished. Gems are sparkling in glitter all over the place, nullifying the 'curse' of the day which has lasted for years. I have to say, it is Tari-Tari Basket - a novel project lead by Viona Damayanti - which acts as the Story Division's most major contribution to the gemstone's shine. (don't worry - I'll try to refrain from dropping too much spoiler here)

To make long story short, the story follows the triumph of Dian - a hopeful first-year college youth - on chasing Teguh's affection, who has encharmed her on their first sight with his magnificent flute harmonies. Upon the hands of fate's grant, these two's frequent meeting turned out into a catalyst which triggers a  breakdown point for Dian's heart - whether she should focus on her true basketball rising potent, or following the pathway of the Balinese traditional dance (which is not Dian's main interest) to encharm Teguh even more.

Before proceeding any further, here's one interesting backstory we'd like to tell : All of the judges on the presentation day (including me) agreed that the concept of the story is not something which stands out from the ordinary. Being a teenlit with a classic (and much overused) love-centered theme, it is an obligation for the project to deliver a plus point from another aspect, and yes - the novel did an exceptional delivery on the writing aspects (Thalia's telepathic ability greatly strengthen the story's magnet a lot).

We have to say, this novel is an interesting example of how a deep, philosophy-influenced writing could greatly spice up a concept which is not uncommon. Back then during the mentoring session this novel (lightly) suffers from a rough transition between the informal language and the mesmerizing self-thoughts, but it's clearly visible that there's an attempt to eliminate this barrier on the novel's final print version.

One of the major criticism on the novel back then is on how the illustrations' style conflict greatly among each other (due to the project having multiple illustrators), but personally we think it's not an issue that critical to be greatly concerned of (we can still enjoy the story's intuitable flow anyway). During the second half we can sense somehow that the conflict within Dian's 'steel heart' begins to feel repetitive (and gradually putting our interest away in a slight amount), but it doesn't retract us from examining this story to minutiae.

This novel also applies footnotes to enlighten readers on the more-technical terms (which is brilliant), but there's one big fault which is overlooked more or less - the story never stated its setting (although it's obvious enough that the story took place in Institut Teknologi Bandung), yet there's the name 'MGG' mentioned without any explanations at all about that organization. This would undoubtedly cause a sheer confusion to external (and even some internal) readers, in which some of us has experienced ourselves.

Despite the (not-so-major) flaws pointed on above paragraph, this literary shard is still an interesting one to read overall. It is imminent that there's *something special* poured directly from the writers' heart hidden within the universe of the story - be it consciously or unconsciously ciphered within, we can feel that most of the time this is not the mind speaking - it's the heart speaking. Most obvious is perhaps Teguh's student number (13313033, which actually exists - use this site to check out whom it is if you're that curious), but far beneath what's written in the surface there's still a lot more to dig and decipher. Really, grab a copy and you'll see what we mean.

We'll leave you all within the unsolved conundrum with this magnificent quote directly delivered from the novel itself. Have a nice day.

JLEB...
JLEB...JLEB...
JLEB...JLEB...JLEB...

- Nivalyx

GST 2014 : Projects Insight

(illustration by Om Tivi)

Dear fellow readers, first and foremost allow us to incept this report with a retrospective question : Remember when we posted an oversee of this consecrated visual novel ages ago? Ah, such a magnificent moment back then. One thing remained unchanged ever since is the time's forward progression, and the march of tick itself has brought us to this very point - the point where the cycle turned into its starting point once more.

Yes, a year has passed, and the time for yet another Genshiken Staff Training (GST) season has arrived. Every GST so far has been a promising momentum to uncover up some precious individuals in the creative industry, and this year's no exception. Had last year's GST unveiled some creative works such as (x²+y²-1)³=x²y³ and Phantasmagoria : A World Genshiken Only Knows*, what would this year's GST projects has to offer, then?

Before proceeding further we'd like to remind you that this sighting report is limited to Story Division-related projects due to length constraints. Outside this post, afraid not to traverse into five other realms - uncut gems ready to be polished are scattering firm among all six Genshiken ITB divisions, really. Have our heartfelt assurance.

• Novel : (title yet to be decided) // A romance novel project led by Luh Putu Viona Damayanti about a female basketball player in tandem with collaborative illustrations. We don't allocate this project first on the list for no reason - the concept to the story (or the story itself, even) has been residing within suspension state somewhere among Viona's hard drive for years. It is imminent that this acts as a major hint to Viona's true literary artistry (which is something we're looking up to) - furthermore, she had admitted that she is in-charge of administering a writing blog somewhere in which she decided to undisclose at this point.
• Visual Novel : Locked Up // The whole horror scene (especially the ones that circles around murder) is notorious for being difficult to simulate on, yet Andri H. and Stephen A. decided to step upon this sorrowful world of infinite enigmas. It's a pleasant surprise for us to find out there's a dynamic duo who aims for succession upon the creation of this life-and-death game scene with the aid of Microsoft Visual Studio, as this project borders tightly with its risks. Their proposal so far is laden with programming-related stuffs, though. 
• Short Stories Anthology : Legenda Sungai Cikapundung // As a late entrant, it's imminent that a distinct innovation is greatly needed to create an encharming writing considering the time disadvantage. With that in mind, M. Fathur and his team attempted to do an unorthodox approach on their project - crafting a fictional world in which the story greatly relates to the real world's issues (be it local or global). All of these branching wonders point into the story's main goal - educating. Yes, as fas as we've concerned no one has attempted to create an educational folktale previously on GST, and it's interesting to see how these creative pioneers execute their masterplan.
• Illustrated Stories 1 : (title yet to be decided) // Being the most enormous group on the Story category (and the second most enormous among the whole GST 2014 universe), this yet-to-be-unveiled superproject tells an epic which revolves around the medieval age. Not much is known at the moment about this group of ten hopefuls except for they're the ones who had achieved the furthest progress upon the time of this writing.
• Illustrated Stories 2 : (title yet to be decided) // Had there been a concept too mysterious for scientists to decipher, it might just be the conundrum of time and space. Yet, a giant question mark lies on how shifting time and space in a fashion may alter realities and dimensions. Within this cosmic baffles, please welcome this daring group-of-seven - led by Deny - who aims to refurbish this parallax based on their own perspective. Interesting 'future sight' concept so far, though we haven't heard a lot on their development side for now.

Ahead of these groups are five different pathways leading to one ultimate finish line. As they're progressing forward in their own journey, it's our task at hand to invigorate their soul and mind as a forefront beacon. Who will yield upon the brightest shine on the presentation day?

*Yes, we haven't got this covered on this very blog (yet) - we fully realize. Maybe someday (:

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PS : It appears that a teaser story for Locked Up has been submitted as an contending entry for our latest Genshiken Writing Challenge, which is a pleasant breeze to the whole GST hemisphere. We haven't delved deep enough to the story due to us lacking proper time, though - but it's a promising one so far, we firmly believe!