I was in back of a new navy blue base Matrix on Punchbowl heading in to work today. It had a “Got Yaoi?” diecut (in brown vinyl, no less) on the rear windscreen. The expected heavy, bespectacled fangirl was not behind the wheel, instead the car was occupied by two spiky-haired Asian dudes! WTF?! Yikes!
(0)Archive for the 'anime' Category
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If you watched Kannagi and liked it enough to want the USDM DVD release, your wait is over. Bandai Entertainment USA has just released the first DVD with the first 7 episodes. The second DVD with the remaining 7 episodes will be released in September with a T-shirt (whee). Right now, you can order it directly from Bandai or TRSI through the Amazon Marketplace portal, or directly through TRSI. It’s about $26 USD and change plus under $3 USD for shipping. If you’re patient and don’t really care about the T-shirt, the complete series set will be out in retail at the beginning of next year.
I was looking for something on the various data discs that Root had passed along to me (many in unimaginable multiplicity), and went and rewatched some old anime, and watched some stuff that I never got around to. Here’s a brief summary:
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou – Root has been a fan of Ashinano Hitoshi’s original manga since it started in the mid nineties. I’ve never actually read any of it, but after seeing the two old and the two older OAV’s, I’ll probably track down the tankoubon at Book Off the next time I’m in Japan. The inevitable comparison is to Amano Kozue’s Aqua/Aria works, both in style and general “feel” and pacing. The only thing that bugs me about the very well-crafted setting is the mysteriously still-functioning infrastructure, like the street lamps that even function in the submerged former Yokosuka and Kamakura alongside traffic signals. I guess somewhere out there, there are still people maintaining these and keeping the powerplants running. I realize these elements are there for sentimental effect, but still… The original OAV’s are great examples of traditional cel animation. Those are definitely worth a watch. The second OAV’s are marginal in animation quality, and seem to be more of a marketing tie-in. The various characters that appear don’t get enough screen time for any kind of development, so it comes across as a series of cameos. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Cleaning out the Closet’
I’ve been a long time fan of Ditama Bou’s manga works, and after seeing the premium sale Kiss x Sis anime episodes that shipped with preorder special editions of the manga tankoubon, I was not surprised that Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!! was picked up for a TV anime. This isn’t my favorite among his works, but I really doubt the world will see an animated version of Super Love Potion (complete with the bloody sheet scene, right Roy?) anytime soon! Root passed along the first episode to me and I watched it with a certain level of anticipation, but also with a palpable level of cynicism, since I’ve seen some wonderful manga stories turned into terrible anime properties. Continue reading ‘Anime Briefs – Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!’
Saw a semi-homeless Taurus wagon today with a SD Inuyasha sticker on the rear windscreen above diecuts that read: “It’s not what man thinks, but what God says that matters”. You realize that the little character you think is so cute/macho/dreamy/etc. IS AN EFFING DEMON, right? You realize that this “annie may” character was created from ideas from a non-Christian culture, and the mere suggestion of his existence is tantamount to blasphemy in your religion, right? How does that sit in your stomach now? From the junk level inside the car, this is not a young person – probably one of the scary, obsessive, older fangirls that creep me out when I go to anime conventions. Probably Costco-sized too… Yeah, I went there.
(0)I thought my separated shoulder was healing nicely, then this week it started hurting again. It survived my last Japan snowboarding trip fine, but this past Saturday’s MTB Deathmarch seems to have done it in – either that it’s from watching too much Clannad…
(0)Hooray! It’s finally out! I picked it up on release day so I could catch up on those episodes I missed on TV and rewatch those where I came away with, “huh? what?”. All 13 episodes of season three are presented in letterbox high-definition (the first two seasons were produced in standard definition, so don’t expect a BRD re-release of those). The extras are limited to deleted scenes (which basically amount to the recorded dialogue with storyboard art), and commentary tracks. It’s all so gloriously wrong! It’s the only US-produced animation that I watch regularly – maybe religiously. The quality hasn’t degraded over the seasons, probably because the creative team has remained intact, and the network hasn’t gone all Nazi on them like Nickelodeon did on Ren and Stimpy. Continue reading ‘The Venture Bros. Season 3 BRD’
Bastage! Bandai USA cancelled the Lucky*Star volume 6 (final) premium edition! WTF!? Their explaination was that the premium editions haven’t been selling well. At least finish what you started then discontinue producing premium editions! Double F!
(0)It is funny how much media attention is being paid to the newer “slightly more grown-up” version of Dora the Explorer by disgruntled parents and children’s advocates. It’s just a fictional character people! They are all up in arms as if it were a real little kid – almost as if it were their own child being exploited. Heck, since they personalize it so much, shouldn’t they be proud that the dumpy, androgynous daughter that they are so emotionally invested in has grown up pretty? All the press releases have been very specific that the children’s television program will remain unchanged, and that particular character merchandising effort will also go unchanged. The new pre-teen character is a parallel toy marketing scheme aimed at older kids who grew up with the preschool-aged Dora and are now in the same “tweens” demographic. I bet the same people who are going nuts over this fictional character would be the first to speak out about how unhealthy or sick it is for otaku to be obsessing over fictional annie-may characters!
On cover of Japanese mini tupperware like container, I didn’t notice until I was eating my lunch the other day. I can’t figure out if this was a mistake and they meant to have “KITCHENWARE” and it got by spell check since its valid words, or if they really meant “KITCHEN WAR”. You can never tell. Sounds like an anime show. Don’t laugh, a few seasons ago there was Library Wars. And yes, it really was about special forces librarians battling an evil purple oppressive nazi looking government faction. The military hardware and action was actually pretty detailed. Almost believable if it weren’t for the pretty silly premise. I don’t have a problem with the information controlling regime, I have a problem with that regime and these library forces are supposed to be both sanctioned government branches of the same country, and that aside from this conflict, the lifestyle of the populace seems quite normal. Anyway, the same country that presented Library Wars made this container, so look out oppresive mass produced prefabed food outlets, the forces of home cooked packed lunches are valiantly battling to uphold the virtues of cooking with freely grown local produce! No preformed chicken blob for me, homemade daikon, carrot, and kuuri amamsu sumono for me! (Yes, that’s what I had in my Kitchen War container)