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

I don’t think that SHAFT produces pure gold 100% of the time, but one thing that characterizes all of their works is a habit of injecting large amounts of visual flare on a limited budget. This is one of the things that is polarizing about them, even though it really shouldn’t be. Over the years they have developed a number of signature techniques, which are updates and additions to Shinbo’s visual quirks that defined his early  body of work from the early 90s to mid-2000s. A mark of a good SHAFT show is when they bring some new tricks to the table.

This is what I like about SHAFT. There’s always an attempt to reach out and do something new in the face of limited resources. But since this is what most people say about them, allow me to qualify it. A lot of early anime is marked by experimentation, be it experimentation as far as animation techniques go (usually in an attempt to make use of a limited budget) or experimentation in the realm of storytelling. While these experiments may not always be successful, some of them morphed into techniques used across the industry, or have helped to define some of the industry’s most momentous works. One of the main reasons the third Gundam movie and End of Evangelion stick out in my mind so much is due to them having very visually arresting and experimental scenes.

SHAFT is constantly in the position of Japanese animation studios way back when–understaffed and underfunded. Well, it’s not like all anime studios aren’t in that position, but SHAFT is doubly so.  However, rather than just halfassing it, they make the most of it, and try to make something really cool. It doesn’t always work, but this approach is preferred to the way most studios would usually go about it.

Original Post

I am not terribly happy with how this comic turned out art wise, so I won’t even talk about it! An exchange like this did happen between me and a friend though, and I thought it’d make an alright comic.

I think this has a part two. I say “I think” because I’m not sure if I like the part two I have for this. Anyway, you won’t be seeing it next week since I’m going to be somewhat busy relocating myself back to my home in DC. And with that, I will fully transform into a NEET.

Yay!

Every now and again I am sadly reminded of what seems to be a distinct lack of mature action-oriented anime. Before I go any further with this, let me qualify what I regard as “mature action-oriented anime”–I mean shows that involve adult characters, in which well choreographed action in the form of exchanging fists, bullets, or sword edges happens very often throughout the series. The phrase “action-oriented” suggests that the series’ primary focus is action, but that certainly doesn’t have to be the case. So long as the action works its way into the (hopefully well written) plot, things are good.

The reminder of this sad fact comes in the form of animation MADs. You know, those compilations of really impressive cuts of animation by notable animators in the industry? Without fail, these videos are filled with really impressive bits of animation. And more often than not, I can’t even recognize any of the shows in question. After some application of brain power, and maybe a Google search, I come to the realization that these are mostly shounen fight properties.

The shounen properties I’m talking about are usually the ones with a set length, like NEEDLESS or Soul Eater, as opposed to the endless epics like Naruto or Bleach. But they’re shounen fight shows nonetheless, so they’re outside of my field of interest. I don’t feel these shows are undeserving of the kind of talent lavished upon them, I’m just wondering why we don’t see more Cowboy Bebops or Samurai Champloos with talent like this out there. I mean, know why–there’s hardly any market for it, but I’m wondering why there’s no market.

I guess “adults”–as in, not otaku adults–don’t care to watch cartoons, so that’s one issue. The other one is that while otaku do get into action oriented things (I mean, Nanoha’s popularity speaks for itself) I guess they don’t particularly care if it’s centered around adults. I suppose Darker Than Black scratches this itch somewhat, and while it has really sweet action scenes, the plot is absolutely incomprehensible, and at times kind of boring.

While watching these MADs, I also wonder why the talent present in them can’t be brought on for more niche productions. Again, I know why, but it still bothers me. While SHAFT’s thing is manipulating direction creatively to turn out something really neat looking on a low budget, I’m beginning to think their issue is more with personnel and less with money. Why can’t some of these guys work on Bakemonogatari? Even better, Dance in the Vampire Bund? That really needed some hot action, and just didn’t deliver. But I’m a SHAFT dork, so I’ll shut up.

While this whole post is framed like a moan–and it is somewhat–I’m less disappointed and more surprised at what is actually a shocking turn of events. I am shocked because I got into anime through very well done action shows, yet all I watch these days are shows that are very dialogue centric, and often times devoid of much animation. I mean Keion! is pretty animated, but it’s not like those girls are duking it out with their best kung-fu moves.

I guess I can watch Sword of the Stranger, or something.

A long while back, the FYEs in the DC area were all closing down, and as a result their full-retail-price DVDs were knocked to near Amazon Marketplace prices after a 90% discount. I picked up a few things, and among them was something I had been meaning to see since my formidable years as an anime fan–El Hazard.

The first anime to really fascinate me with their inherent Japaneseness were the early incarnations of Tenchi Muyou. Scouring sites about Tenchi and related anime brought about mentions of El Hazard every now and again, and as a result I took something of a passing interest in the show.  It looked somewhat similar to Tenchi (not surprising, considering AIC was behind both,) and it had a lot of those unique Japanese elements I found fascinating about anime at the time. Of course, by unique Japanese elements I mean school kids in uniforms and said school kids having Japanese names. Sadly, my local Blockbuster did not stock El Hazard, and beyond that my resources were pretty limited as a kid, so I gave up.

So here we are, nearly 10 years later, and I just finished up the first El Hazard series. Upon watching it, I was overcome by a strong feeling of nostalgia. I get this every time I watch ’90s anime, but along with that, another thought struck me: “This would be way cooler if I was 13.”

But before I launch into bad mouthing the show, let me tell you about the parts I liked.

I’m something of a fantasy virgin. This is entirely because I’ve been turned off to the genre over the years, as I honestly don’t give a shit about wizards, dragons, dwarfs and stuff like that. I find I can only really enjoy such settings if they’re excuses for tits and ass, like Zero no Tsukaima. But El Hazard impresses me. I think it’s because the word draws less on the typical fantasy look of a Medieval England that never was, and instead draws from the east for inspiration. The architecture is very reminiscent of the middle east, with palaces topped with the sorts of domes you see on buildings like the Taj Mahal. Fleshing out the world even further, characters’ attire and hairstyles also draw from the same eastern aesthetic, but are at the same time infused with ’90s anime design elements, resulting in rather unique outfits. The various tribes at war with each other are all visually interesting as well, especially the goofy Bugrom.

Like a lot of OVAs of the period, the animation is extremely well done. It’s true to that mid-90s style seen in higher budget productions, with really exaggerated and cartoonish movement, and character designs adorned with all the visual quirks unique to the era. The animation actually gets better as the series progresses, with the first episode being a little un-even, and the last episodes being very smooth and crisp.

The first three episodes are tons of fun, delivering chuckle-worthy humour while also moving the story along at a good pace. Not all of the characters struck me as totally memorable, but I did take a liking to the hilariously irresponsible teacher Fujisawa,  clingy loli-lesbian Alielle, and neurotic genius Jinnai. Makoto, the main man, is a bit too much of a spineless harem lead for me, and his really girly-sounding Kansai accent doesn’t really do him many favours. Nanami, Jinnai’s sister, is a pretty funny gag character with her near super human ability to make money quickly, but sadly her character’s screentime gets reduced to just her arguing over who loves Makoto more with another one of the female characters in the show.

Pumped after those first three fairly well done episodes, I was excited for the plot to take a turn for the serious. Between all the joking around, the writers plant some intriguing seeds for future developments. And while these seeds all blossom, they don’t do so very beautifully. Half-way through episode four, I was actually feeling a little bored. I thought that this might change with the last two episodes, but it didn’t. The issue is that these final episodes seem to lack real urgency. Maybe it’s just due to my hilariously poor attention span, but I feel those last four episodes could have benefited from being an episode shorter. The events themselves aren’t too bad, if fairly standard. There were some good scenes as well, but I feel they could have been woven together in a more brisk and punchy manner.

As I alluded to earlier, there’s also a really half-hearted harem element that’s shoehorned in around half-way through the show. They try to create tension between Nanami and another female character, Shayla Shayla, but it doesn’t really have the same fire as the Ryoko and Ayeka confrontation. Ryoko and Ayeka’s rivalry is established early on in Tenchi, and has actual history. The rivalry between Nanami and Shayla seems thrown in as an afterthought.

In the end, like I said earlier, I probably would have been more impressed with this as an impressionable 13 year old anime virgin. It’s not bad, really. It’s fun, short, and not a bad way to spend some time. But presentation means a lot to me, so those last couple of episodes do bother me a fair bit. I hear there are other El Hazard series beyond this, including a sequel to this OVA and some TV series. I also hear the further series are bad, but I don’t know if people are referring to the other OVA, or the two TV series. Either way, I probably won’t be watching them. At least, not any time soon.

Allow me to explain my situation: I know an alright amount of Japanese. Enough that I can watch fairly straight forward shows without the need for a translation. Beyond that, in shows where the assistance of subtitles is needed, I can generally grasp anywhere between 50 and 75 percent of what’s going on without the need for a translation, and this is where the problem starts.

Maybe I’m just weird, but I have a Japanese “switch” and an English “switch” that never really turn off, but get set at different priority levels depending on what’s going on. At least, that’s how I make sense of it.  When I’m watching anime, these two switches sometimes come into conflict. For instance, I can understand most of what’s happening Keion! raw. However, I found that while watching it raw, I miss a lot of the punchlines. So watching it subbed, a lot of the dialogue seems redundant, because I’m taking it in on one level in Japanese, then taking in the translation again in English. In the end, I’m only really doing it to catch those few jokes that I missed, since that’s the main selling point of the show. It is a comedy, after all. So, going back and doing this almost seems like a chore when I understand most of the dialogue.

That said, this only really happens to me if I’ve seen the episode raw beforehand. As such, I have opted to only watch Keion! translated.

And even then, it’s rare. If my first outing with the show is the translated version, the chances of that sort of interference happening is even lower. However, if I’m particularly tired and don’t feel like squinting at words on a screen, I’ll just ignore the subtitles at times. But that in turn doesn’t work terribly well when the script suddenly throws unknown vocabulary at me, because then I have to quickly switch back to English-mode, which in some ways takes me out of the experience.

I can only describe this feeling as “almost” knowing a language. It’s generally not too bad, but I suppose if you’re a weirdo like me, it does sometimes get in the way.

Click for biggar.

I actually like how this came out. Kind of simple, though.

As some of you may remember, I was in Japan almost exactly one year ago! And you know what? I bought a ton of books over there! I’ve been meaning to review them for a good long while, but I never actually found the time or drive to sit down and write some real reviews. However, that all changes today with a Mistakes of Youth Exclusive review of the realer than real Gundam artbook, MS Era 0099– Mobile Suit Gundam 0001-0080.

Ever since the original Gundam aired back in 1979, its realistic approach to the horrors and nature of war caught the eyes of viewers who were far more mature than the show’s intended target audience. While the original Gundam TV series, and to some extent the subsequent compilation films, are candy-coloured cartoons meant to sell toys to little kids, fans were fascinated by their realism despite these outward appearances. Before Gundam came out, there was nothing in the way of “real” robot shows, so the idea of a robot being used as a military weapon was a completely new one, even if the robot was hilariously toyetic.

Over the years, a bunch of UC-centric Gundam media has pushed the real world angle hard where the original TV show did not. One such bit of media, which drives this idea home 110%, is MS Era 0099.

Considering this book came out in the 1990s, I can only assume that it was an idea thought up by guys who were taken in by Gundam during their high school years. This isn’t an easy-to-compile collection of artwork by hands who worked the original show. This is a book filled with images drawn especially for it. It is a love letter to UC Gundam if ever there was one.

0099 is a mock photo album, covering the supposed events of the One Year War. It’s a hardbound number, and it’s meant to evoke complete and total seriousness. As if it was a real book you could pick up if you lived in the Universal Century. Contained within are roughly 100 “photos” taken during the One Year War, matched with English captions and a running timeline–also in English–of the events between the first year of the Universal Century and the end of the One Year War, 0080. There is also an introduction to the book, which contextualizes it within the Gundam universe, along with brief biographies of the “photographers” at the back.

These illustrations aren’t meant to be flashy DVD cover material. Their compositions are very subdued, and at times mundane, with the intention of feeling like a real photo album. Drawings oftentimes err on the side of complete realism, while colours are deep, dark, and at times quite de-saturated. The illustrations are done on cels, giving them some honest texture in addition to a noise filter that seems to grace most–if not all–of the images in this book. In fact, a lot of filtering is used to add a degree of realism to these drawings, and strangely enough it doesn’t look contrived at all. Motion blurs, lens flares, monitor scan lines, along with sepia and monochrome toning give these illustrations lots of character, lending themselves more to this idea of realism.

The subject matter ranges between very powerful depictions of war-time acts, and quieter subjects that flesh out the UC world. Images of foot-soldiers attacking Zakus, GMs sniping in the forest, and mobile suits launching are amongst the more exciting images in the book. Depictions of astronauts working on the first space colonies, tests of prototype mobile suits, Zakus as they come off the assembly line, and a portrait of Dr. Minovsky make up a portion of the book that attempts to bring some degree of believability to the science and technology in Gundam.

The book is also filled with portraits of random people, adding the human element needed in any realistic depiction of war. Friends and relatives mourning over the death of a soldier, people left homeless after an attack on their city, and kids playing on the wreckage of mobile suits paint a rich image of civilian life, which is barely touched upon in any anime adaptation of Gundam. On the military side, we’re treated to soldiers playing cards, taking sips of coffee in the snow, and lighting up smokes.

Certain other illustrations in this book look like they could have been taken from newspapers, like a black and while photo of Gihren Zabi in a Hitler-esque pose during his famous speech after Garma’s death, or another black and white shot of General Revil returning to the Federation after being held captive.

Yes, there are some cameos of actual Gundam characters throughout this book, but since its focus is more around what the series never showed you, their presence is tastefully restrained. There are about two pictures of Char in this book, and in each one his face is only partly visible. Another illustration depicts a harbor in Ireland, where one can only just make out the top of the White Base poking out from behind a wall.

Every single illustration in this book is well done. There is no instance of anything looking strange or off model. One can thank the talented group of illustrators behind these drawings, of which one is Cowboy Bebop character designer and professed Gundam otaku Kawamoto Toshihiro.

I can’t say the same for the written portion of the book, however. Honestly, reading this book is a chore. Yes, it is bilingual, with the English at the forefront (English is the language of the future, after all.) and the Japanese relegated to odd corners throughout the book. Considering this book is made for a Japanese audience, the English is purely cosmetic. However, as an English speaker, this translation is hard to get through. It’s done by a westerner, but clearly someone who obviously had no interest in Gundam, and was paid the absolute minimum to translate this. It doesn’t read like a machine translation, but it is very stilted and has a few newbie translation errors. If the translation was better, it’d be easier to get immersed into the book, but as it is, it just takes you out of the experience. I can’t say much about the Japanese, but a quick glance brings to light random mojibake on one page. In short, it’s a lot more fun to look at this book than to read it, and maybe glance at the captions every now and again. That said, it should probably be read through at least once.

MS Era 0099 is one of the quirkier things I’ve seen come out of the Gundam merchandise machine. Despite some stupid technical issues, it truly is a lavish love letter to the UC universe, and I recommend it to any serious Gundam fan. As far as buying it goes, Google brings up a couple of sites that sell it. Don’t go for Amazon–it’s way too overpriced. Getting it second-hand at BeNippon is probably you best bet. This book originally retailed for 3500 yen, and I probably got it for around 1800 at Mandarake. It was a little beat up, but if anything that just adds more character to a book that’s already brimming with it.

Further Images

There’s honestly no point in someone like me writing a season preview post, since I really don’t have anything worthwhile to say. If you want something written by someone who actually has some decent kung-fu, I recommend that you read Ani no Miyako’s season preview. If you want something written by some lame webcomic artist with crippling self-esteem issues, continue on!

You know, the last time I did a post like this–which was most likely back in 2008–I probably linked some Something Awful forum thread with a list of shows, because those tended to be alright. However, since ADTRW has devolved into a congregation of hilariously paranoid people who are completely afraid of any type of sexuality, my source this time comes by way of a faggot who likes to make charts.

I JUST CAN’T WAIT!! I SIMPLY CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF DUE TO ALL THE EXCITEMENT

Strike Witches 2: I made a grievous error in not blogging enough about the first Strike Witches series as it was airing back in 2008 (considering I have the DVDs now, that may well change) but even so, it should come as no surprise that I really enjoyed the first season of Strike Witches. Moe-centric cash-in series are a dime a dozen, and it wasn’t looking too good for Strike Witches between that pilot episode released in 2007 and Gonzo’s spotty track record. However, it turned out to be a wonderfully charming series with a lot of heart, and a lot of girls who neglect to wear pants.

It’s been two years since, and Gonzo is now six feet under. Taking over for them is AIC, who have a few more years under their belts than Gonzo, and have also worked with Gonzo in the past. However, history has shown that popular franchises moving between production houses is generally not a Good Thing. But with that said, a lot of the core staff is on board for this sequel, and there is only one seiyuu change for a character I don’t particularly care for. Who knows? We may get something even better out of the same creative staff working with a slightly more experienced studio. It’s not as if AIC is a stranger to the mecha musume genre.

MORE SHOWS ABOUT GIRLS THAT PROBABLY WON’T BE AS GOOD AS THAT LAST SHOW ABOUT GIRLS

High School of the Dead: As someone who doesn’t read manga very often, I can’t say I’m familiar with the original work that this anime is being adapted from. However, I am familiar with DIGITAL ACCEL WORKS, the talented artist behind High School of the Dead, who has penned some of the finest women I have ever spanked monkey to. These sexy designs–matched against what seems to be a tongue-in-cheek parody on zombie films–brought to life by the talented folks at Madhouse should make for a rather entertaining set of episodes that I may just watch more than once. The preview looks good, at any rate.

Mitsudomoe: Once again, I can’t say I’m familiar with the manga this is being adapted from. However, this time it’s more a case of no used bookstores in Japan having any copies of it than me not being particularly interested in reading it. A little birdy has told me that this series is more or less Ichigo Mashimaro, except for way more honest about itself, which is totally something I can get behind. So long as the show manages to have sharp direction and entertaining humour, I’m all game. Considering that this is from the same director and studio that made the first (read: good) Minami-ke, I don’t think it’s unfair to expect a well-done comedy.

I also have a doujin for it, which is pretty sweet.

Sekirei–Pure Engagement: Alright, I watch some pretty trashy shit. I mean, I’ve mostly gotten over it, but every now and again I need something that is more than happy to just shove tits all up in my face. I watched the first Sekirei back when it dropped, and found it rather entertaining, despite ending on a cliffhanger. Hopefully this series will wrap things up nicely. If not, well, there’s tits. And they’re nice.

I just realized that I completely forgot the plot of the first series, but I don’t think that really matters. There’s a good chance they’ll open this series up with a recap anyways.

I CAN’T SAY I’M TERRIBLY EXCITED FOR THESE SHOWS, BUT WE’LL SEE

Asobi ni Iku Yo: This really just looks generic as fuck, and not even in an entertaining way. However, it is set in Okinawa, which could make for an interesting setting. I’ll probably bail after one episode.

Occult Academy: I can’t say that Japan has really been impressing me with its anime’s chikara. However, this offering looks slightly less pretentious, so maybe it’ll be alright? Apparently it has some okay people working on it. But I don’t have high hopes. At all.

No SHAFT show this season! What am I going to do?!

Original Post

Yeah, I don’t expect anyone to get this comic, and even if you do, it’s not terribly funny. I was stuck between Rets mentioning all of the porno movie theaters in Ikebukuro and him mentioning the Shakey’s there. As you can see, I chose Shakey’s because it, well, owns. I guess this comic doesn’t actually say anything about Durarara!!, which is an issue I’ve been struggling with. It’s kind of difficult to turn your opinions on a show into a comic, so instead I of doing that, do dumb things like this.

I thought the art in this was going to turn out better, but in the end it’s rather crappy. I do like the folds on Tina’s shirt, though!

But yeah, that’s it. I’m probably going to go through all of the summer anime offerings, pick out the ones I want, and write a post about it. So look out for that… in a few hours I guess? Later!

Between that review I wrote a year ago and those podcasts I just put out, I should hope that this is the last I have to say about Eva 2.0. For now.

This isn’t going to be long, either. I simply want to say one thing that I’ve neglected to mention thus far, and that is: What happened to movies like these? Like, anime movies. Upon multiple viewings, I can say with some certainty now that Eva 2.0 isn’t the perfect, polished gem that I thought it was walking out of that theater in Ikebukuro on opening day, but it’s still an excellent film. It’s excellent because it is exactly what got me into anime in the first place. Yeah, I was one of those 10-year-olds in the late-90s/early 2000s who got into anime via Pokemon and Dragonball, but it was the big spectacles secured my interest in the medium. You know, them big crazy anime movies they used to make. While my tastes have matured to the point where I enjoy works that may be a touch more laid back, a movie like Evangelion 2.0 really does well to ignite a fire in my soul.

I mean, it doesn’t really take much. When I break it down, the things that blow me away in this movie are purely on a directorial and technical level. Take the final scene for example, which is really what drove it all home for me. It’s a wonderful mix of extreme, creative and beautiful imagery, along with a really acute attention to establishing tone through acting and music. Shinji hacking his way through various planes of existence while his skin gets torn off, NERV personnel spouting off exposition dramatically while looking on in horror, and the Eva doing her best Devilman impression, all matched to a rousing rendition of Tsubasa wo Kudasai. The way everything just culminates in that final scene is really mind blowing, especially the first time around.

But while I say it doesn’t really take much, I seem to remember seeing a number of other works trying their hardest to nail scenes like this, but they all fall flat. Maybe it’s just my imagination. But what I’m trying to say here–in hopefully under 500 words–is that this movie owns hard, and why don’t other anime movies own this hard? I mean, Tokikake owns really hard, but not in the same way. Is there just no market for crazy movies like these? Does the next masterpiece on the level of End of Evangelion just have to be Evangelion again? I mean, I guess there’s Gundam Unicorn… but wait, that’s Gundam.

Maybe the strengths of those franchises enables these works to occupy the godly realm that they do. I don’t know. But what do know is that I want crazy, big-budget action movies again. Actually, not even action. What I want is more super natural.

I mean, I guess I can just watch End of Evangelion again. I do finally have this lovely R2 rip, after all.