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

Original Post

Squeezing in one last comic before the new year. I like this one quite a bit. It didn’t call for much in the way of backgrounds, but I like how that first panel turned out. Sure, it’s all blue, but that’s because it’s cold! Line art isn’t exactly as I want it, but it never is. Overall I’m quite happy with this one. And yes, no matter what you say, 0nT2 is a true MAN’S ROMANCE.

There’s something of a break right now in terms of anime coming out, but I don’t really mind at all since it gives me something of a chance to catch up with all the DVDs I got for Christmas. I decided to start off with the first volume of Air. I haven’t seen the show in about 2 years, so it’s pretty fresh to me. KyoAni’s work rendered in DVD is lovely, but it’s funny how rough the show looks compared to their current works. Not to say it doesn’t look amazing, because it does, it’s just cool to see how much they’ve improved in such a short time. The first epiosde was beautifully directed, and reminded me of how adorable Misuzu was. Let’s see if the rest of the series is as good. I don’t remember my impressions too well, but I think it’s my favourite out of the KyoAni Key adaptations.

Apparently the last episode of Minami-ke came with a preview for the next series, Minami-ke ~Okawari~ by studio asread (of Shuffle! fame.) I have to say that things look quite promising. I’ve heard that people in certain corners of the internet are already hating on it for some stupid reason. As far as I’m concerned, if the direction and scripting stay somewhat consistent, I don’t mind. And before anyone brings up the fanservice aspect, think back on all the fanservice in Doumo’s Minami-ke. There is quite a lot, even if you don’t realize it. A lot of other series have ended, too. Once I catch the last episodes of Sky Girls and Minami-ke, I’ll do a Year in Review post.

That’s it for 2007. See you all next year~

Update

Kind of resolved to update that site once a week, too. Let’s see how long it lasts.

Pictured

• Air volumes 1 and 2 (w/ box)
• Black Lagoon volume 3
• Cymbals- Anthology
• Fresh Pulp
• Hello, Please!
• Japanese School Girl Inferno
• Paprika
• Pani Poni Dash volume 6
• Riding Bean
• Space Battleship Yamato OST 1
• Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu volume 4 LE
• The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus and Cigars of the Pharaoh
• Tokyo Scope

Not Pictured

• Money
• Scarf

Best haul ever, I think. I got everything on my list except for the Evangelion calendar, but only because that was OUT OF PRINT. CD Japan’s current calendar selection doesn’t seem too inspiring, so this year I’ll only have Hayate and a small Gurren Lagann calendar to keep me company (I’ve been meaning to write reviews on those, too.) I actually already had those two Tintin books, but only collected with other stories. I always wanted the individual volumes, so I dropped hints.

Hope everyone else had an awesome holiday, and best wishes for the new year.

Original Post

Because, seriously, horses are better than reindeer.

Original Post

The comic has gone far too long without giving proper exposition to Tina. This was mostly because I just didn’t know what to do with her. I gave my comic a female character for the obvious reasons, but up till now she’s mostly been an accessory to Rets’ rants. I realized a while ago that I was writing her completely wrong. Given she is wish fulfillment I wrote her as a romantic fantasy, which would probably work ok in some romance story. This, however, is clearly not a romance story– it’s a comedy. Thusly, I’ve started to write her as a character in a comedy. She’s supposed to make you laugh as well as Rets, so I’ve began fleshing her wacky fannish habits. Hopefully it’ll be to your liking. I really like the art here, except for panel 2. Rets is all wrong, and Tina is suffering from big head syndrome, but the rest I think is pretty good. In attempt to flesh out Tina some more, the comic takes place in her room rather than Rets’. We’ve seen her place a couple times but up until now it’s not been much but a vast expanse of blue wall. This time we’re treated to a better view of her bed, with its red comforter, pink pillows and, against my better judgment, FMA pillows. There’s also a Kero-chan plush, so it evens out? Also, some horrible 00 poster. She is a girl, after all.

Unfortunately, I’ve not gotten around to watching any anime today. I woke up at around noon and since then all I’ve done is raked leaves, made this comic, and am currently at my grandparents’ house decorating for Christmas. Hopefully when I get back home I’ll be able to catch up on somethings. Watching Cobra has set me back a few episodes on everything, so I’m currently in catch up mode.

I’ll try to get another comic plus some holiday art out by Christmas, and after that I’ll probably go back to one comic a week. As much as I’d love to do two or three a week, I just don’t have the time. I’d also like some time to update my art site, too.

Anyway, I’m out.

Cobra- The Movie: Released in July of ‘82, covers the first story arc. TV series was released later that year.
Cobra US Pilot: Cut together scenes from various episodes plus new animation, dubbed in English.

Cobra- The Movie

I don’t know much about the history of Cobra in Japan, but I can tell it was kind of a big deal. The manga ran for six years in Shounen Jump, spawned a classy theatrical film, a big-budget TV series, and its influence still runs subtly through the anime of today. I’m just guessing here, but it’s clear why things get made into movies: to cash in on a franchise. Cobra must have been big, and this is a pretty big movie. Now, Cobra’s a big guy, but I think this movie was too big for even him.

The Cobra movie is set in a different continuity than the TV series, but contains similar plot elements to the first arc and has the same characters. However, the only characters who actually look the same as they do in the TV show are Cobra and Lady, with the rest of the designs being either slightly similar or wildly different. The characters aren’t the only ones who had their designs changed, a lot of the mechanical designs are also different, and finer details are altered as well (for instance, in the movie, Cobra’s arm just changes into the Psycho-Gun, rather than the gun being covered by a fake arm.) I’m not sure if the movie designs are truer to the manga than the TV seires or vice versa, simply because I’ve not read the manga.

It’s hard to really write out the general plot of this movie, since it’s all revealed in this spot of expositional dialogue near the middle, and at that point it’s a spoiler, so there’s not much I can say. The movie starts with Jane, a bounty hunter, who asks Cobra for his help to do something. Cobra agrees because she’s pretty, and the movie gets under way. Basically the film takes the treasure hunt arc with the three sisters and turns it into something about saving the galaxy. A lot of the same plot points are there, but are all handled totally differently, and the ending isn’t nearly as good as the one in the TV show (which was actually the high point of the entire series for me.)

One thing that really works against this movie is that it tries to be an action movie, a drama, and an art film all at once. Chase scenes and shootouts are sprinkled between dramatic deaths and arty sequences, and as one can imagine, such a combination is not conducive to a film flowing well. The movie opens with fun SF action, but slowly begins to take itself too seriously, and this is really where the movie’s main flaw lies. Now, I’m not familiar with the original manga, but the Cobra TV series’ biggest draw is the balance between action, humour, and how generally unbelievable it is. The movie certainly is unbelievable (it’s SF, after all) but it takes its silliness too seriously, and thusly doesn’t feel fun. This isn’t to say it’s a bad movie by any means, but given what I expect out of Cobra, I’m a little disappointed.

On the technical side of things, about everything is at it should be. This is your typical big-budget ’80s film, so it’s real nice to look at. I’d say the animation quality is slightly above that of the already very nice looking TV series. As far as music goes, it starts off as synth stuff but as the movie gets more and more serious it brings in the proper orchestra for some competent but uninspiring tracks. The opening and ending numbers are pop songs from the time and do their job well.

From what I could tell, the voice cast is completely different from that of the TV series. Instead of TV’s Nachi Nozawa as Cobra, we have big shot singer Shigeuru Matsuzaki as the man in red. I was quite fond of Nozawa’s rendition of Cobra, but Matsuzaki does a good job. He cuts down on the goofy and plays it smooth, which works in the context of this movie, but I have a thing for Nozawa’s dumb laugh.

Despite all the shit I’m giving this movie, it’s really not bad at all. As a normal movie, it’s fine, but as a Cobra movie, it leaves something to be desired.

Cobra US Pilot

I guess TMS tried to sell Cobra to the US at one point in the ’80s. They really play up the “THIS IS LIKE STAR WARS” angle by calling the Pirate’s Guild “The Dark Side Clan”, having Cobra as the leader of some resistance movement and even giving cameos to robots who look too much like a certain duo from the original trilogy.

The pilot episode runs at about 22 minutes, and is really just footage from episodes 1 and 13 cut together with bits of new animation added where needed. It’s clear TMS tried to dumb this down for US audiences, what with the goofy synth BGM, changing Cobra from a lone wanderer to an underground hero of the people, and in general whitewashing the story to make it more kids-show-ish. The funny part is how badly they FAIL. Sure, while aspects of what they had could run alongside Robotech or G-Force, they still left in all the scantily clad women, the gambling and the deaths! At one point, funnily enough, in the new animation made for this pilot, a child gets shot. Sure, it’s robot child, but it’s still child getting shot. He doesn’t only get shot, but his skin burns away to reveal a flaming robot skeleton. Japan had some things down, but they were clearly unfamiliar with the US TV standards of the time.

This being made for English audiences, it’s dubbed into English. The dub sounds like your typical ’80s cartoon, but recorded on some really bad equipment. The episode ends with an instrumental version of Secret Desire, clearly in an attempt to wipe any hint of Japanese influence from the show. But the funny thing is the instrumental version still has the backup singers singing in Japanese. Hah!

Cobra does some filler, fights a dude named Salamander, then ends his TV show.

After the RUG-BALL arc Cobra goes filler for some episodes. I don’t mind, since this is what I was expecting out of the show in the first place– a bunch of standalone stories. I won’t go into detail about each of the episodes (mainly because I don’t remember all of them too well now) but they were all very good with some stinkers here and there that really weren’t that bad.

The show concludes with an epic story arc which pits Cobra against one of the baddest dudes in the universe: SALAMANDER. SALAMANDER, is so bad that he took both Cobra’s girl and Cobra’s robot, and now Cobra’s out for some revenge. However, Salamander is the SUPREME RULER of the Pirate’s Guild, so it’s going to take more than just Cobra to bring this motherfucker down. So, Cobra embarks on an epic quest to bring together some of his old mates– Doug, Pumpkin and Bud. What follows is a series of prison breaks, gun fights and high-speed chases, all of which lead to the final showdown against Salamander, complete with a bunch of crazy plot twists to spice it all up.

This arc is about as entertaining as the RUG-BALL arc, and both are more fun than the first arc. However, both don’t conclude nearly as fantastically. The high point of the series for me was the end of the first arc, so nothing can really surpass that in terms of awesomeness, but this arc ends the show nicely. I can’t help but feel that the last episode was far too rushed, though. I think they could have run it for at least one more episode.

In the end, I really enjoyed Cobra. It’s a great show in that it was just pure and honest fun, and never really tried to be anything more than that. Some of the standalones grew weak near the end, but overall it was an incredibly good series, and one that I think a lot of people should go back and check out. Its influence can be seen in a number of modern classics, such as Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star, so it should probably be top priority to anyone who is a fan of those shows especially. And really, how can you not like a show where the main guy’s fake arm flies back to him on its own, and all the girls wear basically nothing?

Finished the Cobra movie, it was fine. Finished the Cobra pilot episode made for English audiences, it was lulz. Now that I’m done with that I’m going to catch up on some stuff, like these Hayate raws, Hayate subs (!), Minami-ke, Genshiken, ef and KnJ DVD rips. Also making a comic.

Gonna start on either Soultaker or Yamamoto Yohko soon.

Original Post

I had to do something about Minami-ke, even if it is a not very clever penis joke. I kind have something similar written for Ef, but I’m not sure if I want to do it now. Honestly, after reading some entries at The Comics Curmudgeon the writing here just looks even more horrible. I bet if I was a newspaper comic he’d tear me apart. I need to do better. The art here is ok. I used the pencil tool to do most of the shading rather than the pentool. I should keep doing this, since it’s far less restrained than the pentool. Though, sometimes you need control, like with the shadows on the face from the hair, so I still whip out the pentool for that.

Lots of anime related news came in over the past week, mostly in the form of announcements for more seasons of various franchises, those being Haruhi, Zero no Tsukaima and Higurashi. In Haruhi’s case it was just KyoAni being less cryptic (but still rather cryptic), but 0nT and Higurashi being more normal franchises had BS-free announcements. I think Haruhi is a very good show and I am quite excited for a sequel, since the first season really only got totally awesome by the end. I’m also excited for Zero No Tsukaima. I really liked the second series, even if no one else did. It was a fun fanservice romp that never really took itself too seriously, so I look forward to more. I have no opinion on Higurashi, since I’ve never seen it past the opening.

I have one episode left of Cobra. I won’t say much here, since I’ll blog it all once I’m done. What I will say is that it’s a severely underrated show and that everyone should watch it because it’s awesome. Also, to all you people who think old anime is unwatchable, this show looks far better than a lot of the stuff that’s come out over the past 10 years. Gotta love those 80s budgets.

Anyway, I’m out for now.

seiyuu_joke

I suppose every gag anime that utterly destroys the forth wall needs one of these.

This is not subtle at all. They implied that Tama was gay earlier in the episode, too.

I think I even caught a Captain Harlock reference in the dialogue. This could mean that my Japanese is getting better or that I’m even more of a useless nerd. This episode also had some cute Nagi scenes sprinkled here and there but screencaps wouldn’t do them justice so you’ll just have to watch for yourself.

“COBRA”
VOCALS: Yoko Maeno
COMPOSITION: Yuji Ohno

Darkness falls over town (What’s going on?)
Midnight Fog (Midnight Fog)
If the lonely silhouette moves,
It’s definitely him.
COBRA, leaving me blue
COBRA, missing you true
COBRA, only few memories after you
On your back, that burden that follows you is
The name of a man
This burden will never forgive you!
Peace & Love

Download

——

It’s litterally impossible to find the lyrics for this song on the internet, so I copied ILA’s translation. Thusly, it’s only the first verse– the full version has one extra verse. I changed the wording around and changed what ILA thought was French to the original English lyrics.

Today on Cobra: Cobra robs an art museum, coaches a sports team and saves a race of people!

Currently 2/3 of the way through Cobra, and it’s still as entertaining as it was when I first clicked open episode 1. The production values have stayed solid, the writing has been mostly fresh and in general it’s just been a fucking good time.

The 15th episode places Cobra in a very Lupin III-ish role as a museum thief. He’s doing a favour for an old friend who doesn’t much time left. See, his friend’s planet was overrun by The Guild, and they have also stolen a very precious item to the planet and placed it on display in their museum of the planet’s treasures. It’s another exciting one-shot filled with the typical Cobra action and humour, which is as always thoroughly entertaining. One thing I should note about this episode is that Night at the Museum so totally copied off of it. Just watch it and you’ll see why.

Episodes 16 through 19 follow Cobra as he enters to world of RUG-BALL. RUG-BALL is one part baseball, one part American football (the name suggests rugby, the uniforms suggest American football) and it is the most awesome sport EVER. Imagine baseball, except for in this you can fatally wound people if they even DARE to take a base. It’s a bloody and violent sport where the players take pride in how many they have both killed and wounded. Cobra isn’t just there to play, though. He’s been asked by one of the three sisters from the last arc, Dominique, to investigate a drug route that is tied to the RUG-BALL stadium. Dominique is an officer for the Galaxy Patrol, but they can’t infiltrate the stadium without evidence given it’s out of their jurisdiction. The arc doesn’t really focus on that much at all though, and is more about guys killing each other and calling each other bad names. Once again, it’s good fun.

20-21 has Cobra on a desert planet, which is the home of the SWORD people. He has to save these guys from a corrupt king, and lots of wacky sneaking around and shooting at things happens as per normal. This arc is probably one of the strangest, given it features an ocean of sand. Yes, and ocean of sand. By that I mean it acts exactly like a body of water in that it has waves, fish, and you can drown if you’re not careful. Also, don’t even get me started on the SWORD people.

Once again, I come out of this batch of episodes very much satisfied and entertained. A friend of mine described the appeal of Cobra perfectly. It’s just a simple show where a guy shoots stuff and gets a girl each episode, but they keep it fresh with clever and creative writing. I use the word fun a lot when talking about this show, because that’s just what it is– fun. It doesn’t really need to be anything more than that.

• I have a bunch of blog posts planned that I really want to get around to, such as one giant 5000 word YEAR IN REVIEW post (I rather not spread it out like Jeff or Omo), a thing about “mainstream anime”, a review of some anime goods, and hopefully finishing blogging Cobra. I don’t see how those episode review bloggers do it. I can barely handle just doing 7 or 8 episodes all at once.
• I made a comic that’ll go up on Wednesday, and will work on one for Friday/Saturday. I don’t know if I’ll stick to two comics a week, but I’d like to do it when I can. Hopefully I’ll also have time to update this site, too.
• Some Polish girl got mad at me on her Polish LiveJournal in Polish. Apparently she got her knickers in a twist over my awesome Bones post and hates me because I’m a man and she’s a fangirl. I put her paragraph about me through a translator, and while the output makes no sense, there’s enough dirty words in there to convince me that she is mad. “What will explain anybody < somebody > be GREAT MORON SO wildarmsheero? So, it in amount exactly begin following he (its; his; it) bloga – that (in order to) bring up self-estimation reading it all stupidity . But this time lack words me. CRY MOAR, FAGGOT! I did not know, that ” zomg, all love ” BONES lol!!11oneone. > _ >;”

Indeed.

Man, I’ll never understand women. This is why I’m 2D pure, so I don’t gotta deal with them beyond casual friendships. Let’s hear it for running away from reality! I am an A student at the Shinji Ikari school for being a total wimp.

Anime sure has changed over the past 25 years!

Wow, I decided to watch Cobra on the year of its 25th anniversary and totally didn’t realize it. Spooky.

I’m right around the mid-point of Cobra now, and it’s pretty rockin’. I will admit I was slightly disappointed in the first arc, but ended in a more than satisfactory fashion, so all is well.

Episode 12 saw the end of the three sisters’ story, and episodes 13 and 14 are both one-shots. I found the progression of the three sisters’ arc to be kind of uninteresting, with lots of a planet hopping and woman gathering. However, each episode did have good opportunities for action and Cobra being a badass, which is what you’re really watching the show for anyway. Other fun touches are things like Cobra’s special top-of-the-line computer which uses a piano as an interface, his mind-reading device and tanks that can dig underground and traverse through sand. The climax of this arc is really what makes it worth it. It’s a showdown at a pyramid, with lots of fun Indiana Jones traps and James Bond gadgets at work. The story works its way to an awesomely ridiculous climax that I won’t spoil because it’s just too fucking awesome.

The 13th episode is a story about stolen gold and casinos and the 14th episode is about being racist towards Arabs (in the best way possible way, I assure you.) They’re both fun SF adventures that’ll tickle any boy’s desire to run about, shoot stuff and spout manly one-liners.

Half way through the show, and each episode still looks just as good as the first. I’m beginning to see why people call the ’80s the golden age of anime, since you can really see the bubble economy budget behind this. The animation is never jerky and the use of lighting effects is quite amazing. One fun thing about the animation is the use of dramatic stills. I understand this sounds weird considering I just talked about fluid animation, but let me explain. Dezaki has this thing that he does where he highlights dramatic moments with epic stills. For example, Cobra will do something badass and while he’s in the middle of doing so the cut will suddenly fade into an awesomely painted version of same image. For a good example of this, look at the image I used for this post.

One thing I should probably note is that ILA’s subs for the first 10 episodes of this are absolutely terrible. The wording is dodgy, grammar and spelling are often off and the translation misses a lot fine details. By episode 11 things seem to be back on track, but it is kind of bothersome for those first 10 episodes.

I have about 17 episodes left of this thing, so with luck, I should be done in at least a week or two. It’s not a terribly complex show so it’s easy to get through without too much effort. Provided it keeps delivering the wacky SF pulp, I’ll be satisfied.