Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

The Good: The concept

The Bad:  The concept

Tetsuko no Tabi really does everything in its power to put off the casual viewer. The narrow concept  and unconventional character designs are enough to put off any moe-moe fanboy or shounen retard. While I am a moe-moe fanboy, I do have thing for some of the more unusual shows that come out, and Tetsuko no Tabi just seemed weird enough for me to give it a try.

This show is hard raw. Everything is in the words, I didn’t understand any of ‘em. However, the show did deliver ample amounts of over acting, which is what I was hoping for at the very least. It carries something of a Genshiken feel (never mind the fact that Nobuyuki Hiyama voices the lead train otaku) what with the combination of an obsessed nerd and a woman who just doesn’t get it. It doesn’t get to the point where they’re constantly exchanging blows like Saki and Madarame near the beginning of Genshiken, but that feeling is there. The animation isn’t anything to write home about, but not horrible. Again, I’m expecting a production similar to Genshiken.

Obviously the main attraction of this show is the concept. A non-fiction story about a man who visited every train station in Japan. Train fans will probably go nuts over this, while normal people probably won’t give it the time of day. I just like it because it’s unique, and it’s pulled off kind of well.

This show will never get subbed, and I’m not sure how long I’d be able to carry on with it raw. I’ll keep watching for now.

The Good: Everything

The Bad: Nothing

That said the show doesn’t really go out of its way to impress. It does what it needs to do without being flashy about it. The animation is good. Not as impressive as REMIC’s previous work, Magipoka, but it doesn’t really need to be. Given the nature of the show, it would actually do better to embrace minimalism than be all out flashy.

I watched it raw, so I didn’t get much of the dialogue except the real easy stuff. If it stays true to the humour of the comic (which it seems it did) we’ll have a funny show on our hands. Not PPD laugh out loud  funny, but more Lucky Star funny I think, with even more of an otaku bend. Momoko does a good Tsuyuri. I was wondering how she’d handle the character given I’m so used to her doing very energetic roles, but she pulled off Tsuyuri’s deadpan demeanor perfectly. Everyone else does a Good Job, but I was mostly concerned for Momoko, given I’m something of a fan of her’s. Not Yuuko Goto level fanaticism though.

The opening seems a little disjointed to me. It kind of seems like an excuse to make a bunch of references I don’t get, but it’s fun. The ending is better because it has the girls shaking their cute little butts in bloomers.

This show has a lot of lolis, which is another plus. If anything watch it for that.

I guess this is the third one.

Ok, so I made a stupid resolution last night: in addition to doing one comic per week, I will attempt to do two pieces of art a week. I’ll never be able to satisfy this, but if I can produce at least one piece of art a week I’ll be happy. I’ve been neglecting wildarmsheero.net for too long.

I tried doing a picture of all the Black Sibling girls from Gurren Lagann in bikinis, but it didn’t really turn out too well. I’m going to try it again later. In the time being, I’ve decided to render the comic’s Tina in a bikini instead.

I was inspired by the latest Megami to start with these cheesecake pics (I’ve also stupidly bought a subscription to the damn mag.) This is as my current desktop doesn’t help matters either.

I recently ordered a copy of the Cardcaptor Sakura artbook, Cheerio! off ebay. While waiting for it arrive at my doorstep, I noticed today that ebay has my address set as the one in Boston!

orz

Apparently Momoi hated AX because the staff were absolute shit to her, or something. According to this, many of the other Japanese guests were treated in a similar fashion. Which means they probably treated Yuuko Goto like this. Which means you guys probably scared her away from the US forever you sons of bitches.

Don’t be scared Yuuko. I hear there’s this con called Wildarmsheero-con (total staff count: 1) and it takes place any time right in my room! Feel free to come anytime. I’ll treat you well  （´・ω・`）

lol wut

She is the only 3D woman I have eyes for!

Some sketch I did of a park because I was bored. Somewhat inspired by a shot from Love & Pop, which I saw again last night. Linked because the image is annoyingly 50 pixels over 450.

As you can see the main problem is the fence. I took a pattern I had made already and skewed it, and it turned out kind of bad. Should fix that in future. The colours were real washed out before, then I hit it with the auto-levels and it was like whoa. Now I know how they restored all of Evangelion

From here.

Fansubs/Raw
Bokura No: I have to force myself to watch it now. Good but perhaps not for me. May drop.
Darker Than Black: Painfully average. Some smart moments here and there though.
Dennou Coil: A lot of good ideas but I don’t care about the characters at all.
First Gundam: Battle in Texas. Sub more.
Hayate no Gotoku: This is in a fist fight with Lucky Star over who gets 2nd and 3rd for my favourites of the season. Still very funny, with a lot of nice fanservice.
iDOLM@STER XENOGLOSSIA: Horrible. I want to drop it but for some reason I feel I need to finish this shitfest.
Lucky Star: The show’s gotten progressively better to the point that it competes with Hayate. Real funny/cute stuff.
Otokojuku: 1980s manly comedy oh yeaaahhhh.
Romeo x Juliet: Kind of boring. Not bad enough to drop just yet.
Seirei no Moribito: Slow and uninteresting. Episodes have been piling up. Will probably drop.
Tenchi Muyo! TV: Ah, the memories! Just as fun and wacky as I remember. They really don’t make ‘em like this anymore. Kiyone~~~
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Arg the raw for 14 is taking forever. Gotten a little weak after episode 11 but still better than all the other dumb shit this season

Considering downloading what’s been subbed of Galaxy Express and Ashita no Joe. Probably going to attempt to watch those Tokimeki Tonight raws, too.

May start on those Planetes DVDs in an attempt to actually complete the series.

Stalling
Hidamari Sketch: …
Manabi Straight: I kind of don’t care anymore
Negima!?:
Nodame Cantabile: See Manabi Straight.

Finished
Death Note: Despite the unevenness of the series, it ended damn well.
Shakugan no Shana: Overall a very sloppily directed production. Would be a lot better Shinbo-ized, or something.
Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-: Just finished this on DVD. Ended somewhat generically but good. The extra DVD only episode is pretty WTF.
Uchuu Senkan Yamato: Old anime is old. Good from an education perspective, lol from an entertainment perspective.

Reading
Genshiken: Haven’t had time to get back on reading this
Kodomo no Jikan: Reading/scanslating it. Still a sexy series
Random chapter of NHK here and there. I guess Trigun Maximum when volumes comes out. Same goes for Evangelion.

Probably forgetting some stuff, and the new season starts soon so I’ll have to update this list.