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Watching Tokikake at the cinema was ok. As you can see from the photos, it wasn’t a real big deal cinema but it worked alright. The subs weren’t digisubs (dm puts forward that they were acid-etched) and the print was kind of dirty, so it made the film look older than it actually was, especially in the scenes that lacked wacky lighting effects (which was most of the film.)

Watching it again you pick up on more of the subtleties present in the film, but aside from that it was the same as always. One other thing I did notice on this viewing was just how detailed and well done the backgrounds were. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that before.

Once I get back to my main computer, I’ll work on some fanart of Makoto’s sister :V

While in Best Buy the other day I found a truly quality release by ADV.

TWO GREAT ANIME CLASSICS FOR ONE GREAT LOW PRICE ETC ETC ETC ETC

God.

My brother then found a true American classic.

It’s been a while since I’ve played a video game, and it’s been an even longer while since I’ve actually played one that I own. My younger brother promised me Gundam Musou (or Dynasty Warriors Gundam) for my birthday, and all of two months later, a copy of the game randomly appeared in my room. Not having much time to play it during work, I only just popped it in recently to give it a spin before heading back to Boston.

When it comes to video games, I’m very much “I don’t know art, but I know what I like” and I certainly like Gundam Musou, but more experienced reviewers would probably tear it limb from limb. It’s a fun, easy to play game that pits all of the famous Gundam heroes together in one epic adventure. Kind of like how they took all of Yokoyama Mitsuteru’s characters and threw them together in one story for Giant Robo. Yeah, it’s like that, and it’s awesome.

I’ve never played a Dynasty Warriors game in my life, but given the English title, I can only assume that this game is Dynasty Warriors, just with giant robots. The gameplay is serviceable, but it kind of sucks that projectile weapons are more or less useless. The beam canon is one of the most used weapons in the Gundam TV shows, but in this game it’s difficult to aim, and when it does hit, the damage done is minimal. As such, you mainly have to rely on melee attacks, combos and special attacks. It’s not really true to Gundam style, but it’s still a lot fun. I did my first playthrough with Domon anyways, so it wasn’t that out of character.

The story is, like I mentioned earlier, one that involves all of the main Gundam heroes from I guess… 1979 to 2000? I haven’t seen any Seed guys yet, but maybe they’ll show up later. I’ve only played through original mode on Domon, so I probably don’t have the whole story, but right now it seems pretty thinly defined, and only an excuse to go around chopping things up. And that’s totally fine. There’s only so much story you can cram in through mission briefings and in-mission dialogue, so that fact that they even have some background to go with all this fighting is impressive enough for me.

Besides, the story isn’t the important part– the characters are! The character interaction in this game is a Gundam fan’s wet dream– seeing all the characters from various Gundam shows coming together and exchanging snarky comments during battle is just too funny. I love it! And hey, the inclusion of Puru actually makes me wanna watch ZZ now! She’s too cute~

Anyways, I’m having a blast. Gundam Musou may just be the game to get me back into gaming… provided other people supply me with the games. I’m spending enough money as it is!

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Man I love how Alto makes this face in like every single episode.

And good lawd, what won’t he make a paper airplane out of??

This episode was pretty good, but the twist at the end had me lawlin’. What a soap opera!

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This’ll be another short, bullet point post.

• Otakon Coverage is complete with this comic
• I just finished work and need to start packing up to head back to school soon.
• Going on vacation with the family, too.
• Taking a couple weeks off just to relax, so don’t expect a comic this week, and maybe even the week after. Once school starts I’ll get the ball rolling again.
• Been experimenting with different kinds of styles lately… if comics look more wildly inconsistent than usual, don’t be surprised…
• God, this backlog.

Later!

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We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when– BUT I KNOW WE’LL MEET AGAIN, SOME SUNNY DAY!!

Cast of Characters in order of appearance

• Omo
• Me
• Link
• Hendane guys

Songs

• Opening Song– “Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga” by Nico Nico Douga people
• Ending Song– “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn

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The battle continues!

Cast of Characters in order of appearance

• Me
• Omo
• Link
• MrVacBob
• rabidkimba
• SDS (Project Freedom, Souther impression)
  
• Beefy
• JAM PROJECT (I missed Kageyama, sorry :( )
• Santi
• Sub (Sup guys? Chillin’?)
• TheBigN
• Baka-Raptor
• Os
• Moyism (He says exactly one word)

Songs

• Opening Song– “Kero Maru Kyuu Destiny” by Silver Forest
• Ending Song– “Airman Ga Taosenai” by Team Nekokan

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In the dark recesses of your most horrible nightmares, there lies a place called OTAKON. Fearless warriors make pilgrimage to this far-off land annually, but always come out defeated. This year is no different than the previous ones that came before, what with my fellow compatriots and I taking the challenge on once again, but this time with only VICTORY in mind. Can we do it? Can we survive? WHO WILL SURVIVE?! Listen, and find out…!

Cast of Characters in order of appearance

• Me
• Santi
• Jen
• Beefy
• Tripfriend (guy who followed us from the meetup)
• Aaron Clark
• Random Guy A (YOU EXPECT MADHOUSE STUDIOS)
• Link
• Dreamshade
• rabidkimba
• Random Guy B (THAT’S ALWAYS ON YOUR RECORDING MACHINE NOW)

Songs

• Opening Song– “Uchuu Elevator” by Capsule
• Ending Song– “Jolly Bubbly Lovely (Cubis Tout-jour Mix)” by Pizzicato Five

Otakon 2008 was the best Otakon ever and the worst Otakon ever. It was the best in that I finally managed to pull off the magical balancing act of hanging out with all of my friends from various different communities for equal amounts of time, and it was the worst in that the con programming was, in a word, terrible. But who cares about all that– JAM Project was there!

But, yes, aside from JAM Project, the con’s programming was some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Much like last year, they had stupid people on panel duty, so instead of getting cool and funny panels on Nico Nico Douga, we got “How To Wear 8-Inch Heels” or “Otaku Bellydancing 101.” It’s not like I’m one for panels anyway, but the lack of good panels cut down on the urge to walk into random panel rooms late at night, as I sometimes do. The guests weren’t anything to write home about either, with none of them being female seiyuu, and almost all of them being lame fangirl bait. Or some dumb no-name models.

JAM Project saved the day with the concert, though, and it was quite awesome. I wish they would have brought their instruments along, and I also wish that the person working the sound knew a thing about sound design, but whatever– IT WAS MOTHERFUCKING JAM PROJECT.

The rest of the con (read: The Dealers Room) was pretty good, with my buddies at Hen Da Ne being all too kind to me all of the time, and the rest of of the Otaku-friendly booths offering up some hot stuff (usually too hot for my budget, sadly.) I came out of there completely broke come Saturday.

Socially, I had a blast. Like I mentioned earlier, this was the first time that I really managed to hang out with just about everyone I knew for mostly equal amounts of time. I hung out with internet people slightly more than my IRL friends, but only because I see my IRL friends a lot and my internet friends… not a lot. And really, that’s what made the con great. I even got to meet Daryl Surat!

(more…)

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Quick notes

• Daryl namedrops me in OTAKU USA issue 7. Also, the article I promised for this issue was apparently held back for issue 8.
• New podcast.
• Otakon meet up is today (Friday) at 1:30pm by the coffee shop/Starbucks in the convention center. If for some reason the Starbucks no longer exists just hang out by registration– they’re both in the same general area. Look for the guy with the dumb hat.
• I’ve taken the comments from last rant into consideration and will try to talk about them in my next longer comic post.

Later.

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In this exciting episode of the MISTAKES OF YOUTH PODCAST 2 BEYOND THE TIME, Aaron Clark, Daniel (aka WELCOME TO BONERTOWN) take on the new, strange and unusual BEAST that is the new Evangelion movie! You will be moved to tears by our words, moved!

Guests

• Aaron Clark
  
• Daniel

Songs

• Opening Piece– “L’Attaque des Anges” by Shiro Sagisu
• Ending Song– “Fly Me To The Moon” by various Eva seiyuu

Me being the artsy fartsy douchebag that I am, I always look forward to independent anime productions and try to get my hands on as many as possible (though, I’m kind of lame in this respect– I needs me some more indie anime.) As such, I have been looking forward to Eve no Jikan for a while– probably for something like… two years? Whenever the first poster came out. Right when I saw it, I was hooked. It just looked good.

And about two years later I can say with confidence that, yeah, it looks good.

But before I talk about how it looks, let’s focus on the story. You don’t get much from this first 15-minute part, but I liked how it played out. The concept is kind of been-done SF stuff, but it’s done well and works. The characters are all also been-done archetypes, but once again are all written well and don’t really detract from anything.

Where this thing really shines is in the artwork, animation and direction. Eve no Jikan’s directorial approach is closer to that of a film, rather than that of a cartoon. The crew treats the world as one that exists in three-dimensions, resulting in a number of cool shots. Sure, there is a good helping of anime flatness in the piece, but at times there will be the odd shot taken from the first person view of the main character, or things will go all Akiyuki Shinbo-styled shaky-cam for a bit.

The animation itself is also gorgeous, and compliments the ambitious camera work perfectly. Scenes are always well lit, characters always look good, and the backgrounds look way cooler than Shinkai backgrounds. Character designs subscribe to typical anime rules of design, but at the same time look unique and attractive. Everything is rich, well detailed, and does well in immersing you into this (perhaps) not-so-distant SF future.

I have hope for Eve no Jikan, and feel it is a strong contender for best anime of the year already. While the basic parts are kind of cliché, the show more than makes up for it in its execution. This is style of production is what all anime should strive for.