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

Story is, almost a month ago I got the March issue of Megami from J-list. The mag came in one piece, but was kind of bent up due to a poor choice in shipping materials (a thin as fuck paper envelope with DO NOT BEND written on it in black Sharpie.) Once I got back into contact with my Friend in Japan, I complained to him, and he in turn complained to the rest of company. Minutes later I received an email from a J-list employee offering to replace the damaged magazine. However, they were out of issues of March Megami (I took the last one w) so he offered to send me the latest issue. I immediately canceled my order for this new issue on Animenation and took up the good man’s offer.

This is probably the most value I’ve gotten out of an issue of Megami, since I hung up all the posters except for one. Pretty good, especially since I paid absolutely zero for it. It is at this point that I’d like note favourite posters, but all of them are so good that I’d just list them all. A good lead up to issue 100, which is sure to be quite epic.

Also, I tried to put all of these up without taking down in posters. After some slight rearranging of things, I managed to get them all up, and as such I’m nearly out of wallspace. Eventually I’ll take new pictures of my otaku lair, complete with the hug pillows and bedsheets I normally hide when I’m at home– just for the full experience.

Time to review three short series that all ended recently!

Kure-nai: I wanted the Hollywood ending. That said, the show did do well to stick true to its sense of realism right down the end, but they could have at least indulged us a bit, right? I guess they did that with episode six, though.

Kure-nai was a very good show. I can’t say it was perfect, but it certainly lived up to my expectations, and at times surpassed them. The show sold itself on character interaction, but what I really liked was the atmosphere and the underlying plot. Being a fan of Gunslinger Girl, I enjoy it when small children are thrown into situations involving The Underworld and Violence, and Kure-nai delivered that somewhat decently. It’s not like I didn’t enjoy the character interaction, because that was awesome– I just wish that they hit more on The Darkness throughout the show.

Kanokon: Uh, I guess the only notable thing about Kanokon was how it was a fanservice show with a really high budget. I mean seriously, every episode of this was crazy beautiful and looked movie quality. I’m not going to ask why, because I enjoyed it as well done softcore porn. GJ, Xebec.

Toshokan Sensou: This won points simply for being the first Production IG show in something like, what, two years? that I actually really liked. They almost won me over with Blood+, but that went sour near the end. However, Toshokan Sensou was by no means perfect. The story was pretty shoddily developed, and the show only really carried itself on character interaction. That’s fine though, since the characters were pretty decent, and I don’t care much for plot anyways.

For some reason I wrote these all in the past tense!

Just got a bent up March 2008 issue of Megami from J-List…

I got this issue for the poster of Kokonoe covered in chocolate, but me being at home, I couldn’t really put that up. Luckily, on the other side is that hot SZS pic.

Liking where the flash is falling in that last pic.

I’d love to put up the Kure-nai poster, but I’m currently in my parents’ house, and the Kure-nai poster is one of a naked seven-year-old taking a bath. I mean, I’m already pushing it with the Kojika and Yotsunoha posters. I also ordered the March Megami from J-List because it had that poster of Kokonoe Rin covered in nothing but chocolate. Won’t be able to put that one up, either.

Image stolen from here. Please don’t kill me original artist.

Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Cat.
Code Gayass R2: Even more over the top! And they said it couldn’t be done…
Golgo 13: Man this is some trashy stuff.
Kanokon: Man this is some trashy stuff. With heart shaped nipple covers.
Kurenai: IT’S GREEEAAAAT. The end of episode 9 was a bit wonky, but this one is still the best.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Liking it less. The episodes seem kind of thrown together and the direction is poor. Maybe it’ll get better.
Macross F: Ranka is still cute. The CG is still good. Story is moving kind of slow, though.
To-LOVE-Ru: Wow, way behind on this one. Still, good harem fun that’s worth catching up on.
Toshokan Sensou: Getting a bit too serious. Still, it’s a Production IG show that’s actually good! They haven’t done that since IGPX (shutupitsagoodshow)
Zettai Karen Children: As good as Kurenai but for totally different reasons. So cute~. The story stuff is silly, but who cares.

Not so current
Nadesico: Kind of got stuck at episode 18. I’m enjoying it, and I can see why it’s an anime staple, but I’m not totally in love. It seems like its obsessed with fitting in AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE into 25 minutes sometimes. I don’t see the genius that dm sees in it yet.

Dropped
Allison and Whatever: Not like I don’t like it, just I noticed I was behind by 3 episodes and didn’t really feel like catching up.

The last episode of Miina is finally subbed. I dropped off at episode 8, so I’ll marathon the last 3 at some point.

Will finish Baccano after this post.

After Nadesico I may watch Planetes since I realized I own it all and haven’t finished it. Whoops.

Hay hay May

Watching
Allison & Lillia: Bit too much “for the family” polish for my tastes. Not sure if I’ll stick with it.
Chi’s Sweet Home: 3 minutes of joy
Code Goose 2: JUST ASS PLANNED hilarity and general madness. Good times.
Golgo 13: ….
Kanokon: I can’t believe it’s not porn!!
Kure-nai: Best of the season. Great animation, great writing, great acting… just perfect.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Second best of the season. Good mix of craziness and drama. Fuka is too cute. Love abused lolis.
Macross F: Third best, I guess. Not much of a Macross fan, but this is good enough. Nice space battles and nyannyan dances.
To-LOVE-Ru: Guilty pleasure show of the season. I love it.
Toshokan Sensou: A good Production IG show?? And they said it couldn’t be done…
Zettai Karen Children: Decent fluff. Can’t really get past the hay 1990s art style, though.

Finishing Dennou Coil tomorrow. It is a good show.

Reading
Gunslinger Girl: Makes me want to watch the anime again. Great stuff.

Read some Ichinensei ni Nacchattara. It’s good.

Original Post

Little late with this one, but I was kind of in a funk for the last couple of weeks. That coupled with a whole shit ton of anime and homework hitting me like a ton of bricks hindered comic production. But here we are, at Tuesday, with a new comic. I hate liking what I do, but I’m kind of happy with this one. Yes, the art is wonky as usual (make your threads now, 4chan!!) but I generally like how it turned out. The script is something I came up with right around when I started Japanese class last semester, but only got around to making it now. With school about to end for the year, the timing is a bit off, but whatever. For the record, I am myself am shameless with wearing anime shirts to class. I just really don’t care.

God, spring season. Anyone who’s been reading the blog will know that I’ve been documenting my first impressions three at time across various posts. I’m actually working on part IV of that, I just need time to sit down and write it. Overall though, I’m quite satisfied. Some stinkers and wholly mediocre entries, but enough quality to go around. My two favourites off the top of my head have to be Kure-nai and Macross F. Code Geass and Kanokon get mentions for best trash of the season, in two very different ways.

Kure-nai is a bit lighter than I expected it to be, but that dark undercurrent is still there. It could go on being a lighthearted Odd Couple affair, but I want it to act on its darker side a bit more. Macross F is just fucking impressive anime SF. I haven’t seen anything this good in a while. It has 3D work that’s actually good! Code Geass is something I rag on, but watching this second season has made me change my tune. I guess it’s just the fans that are pretentious, because season 2 reminded me that Geass knows it’s silly shit and loves it. Episode 2 was one of the most hilarious episodes of anime I’ve ever seen. Sunrise isn’t really taking this shit seriously at all, and neither should you. I may write a blog post on how Geass is such a great entertainer, but I need to find time. Kanokon is just well animated softcore porn, and I respect that. I like fanservice shows, but they have to be well done. Kanokon has sexy production values, so I’m sticking around for that.

Anyways, I’m playing catchup in the game of life at the moment. I need to catch up on homework, catch up on anime and catch up on making comics. As such, I’ll be taking my leave.

…but don’t take my word for it, to quote the great LeVar Burton.

(more…)

Three’s a good number.

Kure-nai

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I was kind of looking forward to this show, but had no real expectations. The character designs and atmosphere are all very well done, and the voice work seems solid enough. I can’t comment much on the script since it hasn’t been subbed yet, but if it’s as good as the rest of the show is, this should be a real winner. I just hope Brains Base keeps up this Baccano!/Kamichu! quality and doesn’t slip into Innocent Venus territory. Hm, maybe Kure-nai just needs an exclamation point at the end just to be safe…

Even if this does slip into suckage, I enjoy dark serious stories focused around small children, so I’d probably keep watching anyway.

Kanokon

The first thing that came to my mind while I was watching this was, “wow, it’s Rosario + Vampire done right!” It’s not exactly the same as the R+V setup though, but somewhat similar. Rather than a boy going to a school full of monsters, it centers around a fox spirit attending a normal school, and her struggles with keeping her identity secret. But she doesn’t really struggle at all… and that shit isn’t important anyway. This show has pretty good production values, nice character designs, and an appealing brand of raunchiness that I can get behind. So long as it keeps up with the quality fanservice, I’ll keep coming back. Great cast helps.

Blassreiter

You know, after Gonzo’s last two masterpieces I’ve become, erm, quite fucking tired of their goddamn motherfucking shit. But, nonetheless, I decided to give Blassreiter a whirl. The preview looked kind of cool, and I wanted to see how Gonzo’s in-house sub work was. The show really goes all out on the CG (lol gonzo), and I’m not sure if it looks bad just because of the YouTube quality, but this shit is all up in the uncanny valley. That said, it actually looks better than Dragonaut’s 3D work, which is saying, uh, something. The first episode was a clusterfuck of plot elements that’ll probably never make sense, and unlike Dragonaut, these character designs are butt ugly, so I probably won’t stick with this one for very long.

Currently waiting for subs of TO RABU RU, Macross and uh… Maid Guy, I guess.