One kind of leads into the other.
I should really buy some of these P5 albums. They were such a good band, and I feel like a dick for stealing their music. Once I get a more disposable income, I’ll get a CD or two~
“Honoo no Tenkousei”
VOCALS: Toshihiko Seki
Burning fire! Fight!
With a trail of red fire behind him,
Expelling heat, here he comes!
When he grits his teeth, sparks fly.
The attack that he created is a Death Blow.
Snarl! Snarl! The kick snarls!
Hit! Hit! The punch hits!
Who’s that!? Who? It’s me!
I’m the transfer student you’ve heard about!!
SNARL! SNARL! TAKIZAWA KICK!!
HIT! HIT! RAILWAY PUNCH!!
A resolution to fight between good and evil,
I am the Blazing Transfer Student!!
Download
Alternate Version
YouTube
——
Translation by Howard Kawai. Just the first verse.
It goes without saying that Doumo’s rendition of Minami-ke was brilliant, and that such brilliance would be difficult to replicate, especially by a completely different studio. Though, surprisingly enough, Asread’s doing pretty alright. Asread is a fairly new studio, with their resume being chock full of a lot of in-betweening credits and various other wishy-washy roles. Their only true work is Shuffle!, which was spectacular, but with newer studios it’s hard to tell if further works will be just as good as the other one or two things they made. I remember being psyched about Doujin Work, given Remic worked on Magical Pokaan, only to find that it was absolute dreck. Asread, however, doesn’t disappoint with their version of the three Minami sisters.
Now, it’s not all candy and sugar and shit. The show kind of got off on the wrong foot. The first episode was very awkward, like it was trying too hard to duplicate the charming scriptwriting of the first series. About four or so episodes in though, I’m starting to dig it. It could be a case of me just getting used to it, or the series just settled into its groove. The approach to the material is different, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. I can’t say I prefer Doumo’s episode structure to Asread’s or vice-versa, but they’re both entertaining, that’s what matters. However, what I do like more about this one are the visuals.
The first thing that struck me about the Shuffle! TV show was how it looked. I loved the character designs, and the use of colour and shading. It all just worked for me. Okawari looks basically the same, so naturally I love it. Everything from the detailed backgrounds, to the colour selections, to the sharp character design– I love it all. This isn’t to say Doumo’s look is inferior. I love the character designs in that one, too (they’re closer to the original, I think?) but as far as the rest goes, it’s good but doesn’t really hit my weak spots.
Anyway, here’s hoping for nine more wonderful episodes.
Ever since I found out what Gegege No Kitarou was, I simply had to partake of it in some form. Everything about it just looked like tons of fun, but it was all in a language that I could just barely understand. What a fucking cocktease. It’s good to know that at least one group of individuals out there cares and have decided to translate what is probably the most faithful Gegege No Kitarou adaptation to date? I dunno, I’m hardly familiar with the franchise at all, but seeing as this is based on the original ORIGINAL Kitarou, I don’t think I’m too wrong in making that claim.
The show doesn’t disappoint. It has a striking visual style, is deliciously dark, and is, as expected, just a lot fun. I can’t write too much about it, since I barely know anything about the characters or the franchise, but what I can say is watch it. If you do maybe Shinsen will sub it faster.
Not really related, but Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episode 4 was more awesome than all of the first season combined. If you can even fathom that.
I like this script. It’s solid. Gets the point across. Art is kind of bland, but let’s just say it’s a joke on Gunslinger Girl 2′s poor quality animation. I was going to give GSG 2 the three episode test, but once episode 3 rolled around and I hadn’t even watched episode 2, I gave up since I could only stand the show one episode at a time. I’m buying the manga now, so it’s not as if I’m missing out on anything.
In other site news, we have some new fanart and a new wallpaper. And yes, if anyone was wondering, I will eventually get around to updating the reference guide.
Caught six episodes of Baccano! at MIT last night. I had planned to watch the show when it first aired, but didn’t really get around to it. I was going to marathon it, but after it was over, all the wrong people where praising it, so I passed. I noticed MIT was showing it, so decided to go since if I can’t be arsed to download it, I’ll just walk 20 minutes watch it with something like 30 other people. It’s quite a good show. As of right now, not as good as some people make it out to be, but it’s good fun. The series is special because it has a lot things you don’t normally find in anime, and instead pulls from older American films with a hint of anime craziness to spice it up. It works well. I like the ensemble cast– each character gets a decent amount of time to show off how fun and wacky they are, so the show is never really boring in that respect. Naturally, my favourites are Isaac and Miria. The story is full of mysteries right now, but the show bogs you down with so much stuff that it’s hard to really wonder about them. But that’s fine, since half the fun is just watching it all play out, and hoping all the stupid commotion makes sense in the end. I should note that the opening is really awesome, and is now one of my favourites. It also gets bonus points for doing the Snatch thing.
Also, MIT anime club, as much as I love you, I find issue with what is considered to be “Essential Anime.” Actually, I only really object to two titles, those being Nodame and Gravitation. Replace those two with an episode of Zeta Gundam and Space Battleship Yamato. Hell, even episodes of Haruhi and Lucky Star would do– they’re far more “essential” than the likes of Nodame and Gravitation.
That’s all for right now. Time to use the free time I have now to get through some backlog. Later.
Dunno if it’s real or not. Found it on Futaba.
Kind of cheating with this one. I couldn’t really think of anything to draw this week, so instead I posted up higher-res art of the comic banner. I meant to get around to it earlier, but didn’t have the time.
I don’t have any kind of musical vocabulary at all, so bear with me. The full version of Kuusou Rumba leaves something to be desired. The first 90 or seconds that they made for TV sound great, but after that it really just falls apart (because, you know, Things Fall Apart.) The song seems very much divided into parts, and while these parts sound mostly ok, they don’t flow together too well. That’s really my main problem with the song– it feels rather disjointed. I’ve listened to it a couple of times, and it’s grown on me a little, but I just can’t like it as much as Hito to shite Jiku ga Burete iru. Though, it took me a while to dig that one, so maybe it’ll be the same here.
As far as the new opening animation goes, I have mixed feelings. SHAFT is known for their unique openings, but they’re also known for revising them over a period of time. I really like the look and feel of this new opening, but it feels really unfinished. The first 45 seconds have no animation at all; just random shots of body parts plus credits. While this is fine, it just feels like filler for real animated stuff that’ll go there. I hope that’s the case, because the animated parts in the last 45 seconds are pretty super. I dig Itoshiki’s outfit (what is he wearing, by the way? An old military uniform?), the dance routine, Itoshiki and stalkergirl embracing while falling, and Itoshiki hanging alone on a tree. It’s all so stupidly emo looking that it’s awesome. Well, aside from the dance, that’s just awesome. Hopefully they’ll add more to it. We didn’t get the real, completed opening to season 1 till about episode 5 anyway, so hopefully by this season’s episode 4/5 we’ll see an improvment.
The show itself is good, though.
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