Provided that you are not jaded as all hell, every year it is not usual to come out with a select few shows you absolutely love, and would most certainly watch again. These are special shows. Shows that you look forward to each week. Shows that touch your heart. Shows that do nothing but fill you with joy. Here’s the shows that did that for me in 2008.
When I first drew this comic, I was not satisfied with it at all. The complete and total lack of satisfaction I had with this comic reached a point where I simply felt there was no choice but to re-draw it. So, re-draw I did, and the result is the comic you see before you. I’m a lot happier with this one, and am so glad I didn’t go through with colouring that old set of drawings. The script builds upon Tina’s yandere personality, but kind of has the same punchline as this one. However this comic portrays Tina’s yandere side as more of a calculated murderer as opposed to just a crazy person. It’s character development! Or something. Oh, and I made fun of Narutards again. It’s been a while since I’ve done that.
Not really site-related, but I feel it’s worth mentioning as it does kind of effect site stuff. For once, the rant title actually means something– I have no internet. Right now I’m sitting in an MIT student lounge, pretending to be a student while leaching their internet for the writing of this rant and these five Bittorrent downloads. The main line in my building is dead, and the AT&T Aircard my father sent me is about to reach its bandwidth limit. So, as you can see, my options are limited. I’d use my school’s connection, but it blocks Bittorrent and IRC so it’s not of much use to me. Hopefully things will be solved by Monday, but for the weekend my internet presence will be a bit scarce. This however won’t stop me from recording two podcasts tomorrow!
Ok, it’s adbot time. In addition to signing up for Project Wonderful, I also got a CDJapan affiliate account on a whim. I’ve already made around 10 dollars in commission, but I need another 40 before they send me Real Money. So, if you’re buying something from CDJapan, do me a favour and order it through one of my links. It’d make you a cool person. There’s a bunch of cool stuff on there that I want, but really can’t buy. I have both Zetsubou Sensei OSTs downloaded, but I’d really like to own them, since they’re absolutely beautiful collections of music. Same with the awesome Kure-nai OST. I did however get a calendar from them out of necessity. There’s a bunch of other awesome calendars on there, anime-related and not, so check them out! They’re also holding a sale on R2 DVDs. I’d so buy me some Chocotto Sister and Mobile Suit Gundam if I had the funds.
The new season starting right when my internet dies isn’t all that great, but I’m getting by (thx MIT lol.) So far, I’ve just seen ToraDora and Hyakko, with Casshern, Clannad 2 and some others coming down the pipes. ToraDora is pretty good, but I’m still not sure about Taiga yet. I’ve read some of the manga already, and after watching the anime I have the same impression of her: she’s murderous and crazy. And cold. Not really my type yet, but I don’t hate her. Kugimiya’s performance isn’t as squeaky as usual, which again doesn’t really make me excited, but doesn’t turn me off. The main character almost reminds me of myself, except in my case I have both a scary face and a horrible personality. Hyakko is just weird, and I have no idea if it’s good or not.
Anyways, that’s it for now. I’m not sure if there’ll be a comic next week, since these last couple of weeks have been a bit too stressful, so I may just take a week off to chill out. Later!
Really, one has to wonder if these two are even friends, considering that they never seem to have a nice conversation with each other. One also has to wonder why Hikki has an Ideon poster. And why him and Rets share the exact same expression. I kind of like this comic. I don’t like it as much as the last one, but I still think it’s ok.
A podcast happened earlier on in the week. I talk with omo and lastarial about 5cm Per Second. It’s a pretty good episode, so you should listen to it.
I’ve signed up for Project Wonderful. It’s working pretty decently right now. Please bid on this ad space if you want it. That’s all I got to say.
Real life’s been making pretty harsh assaults on me as of late. I’m trying my best to find some work for the next two and a half months. I need some money for various personal endeavours. One’s quite big, and other is quite… small, and cute, and probably smells good. Hopefully these three applications I’m filling out at the moment will get me somewhere. I just need money, man!
Lots of summer shows are coming to a close, and the fall season is just about a week away. Zero no Tsukaima season 3 ended in usual 0nT fashion, in that in crammed way too much into one episode and nothing was resolved. But hey, you don’t care, since Louise is hot, Siesta is hot, and Tiffania is hot. That’s what really matters. Nogizaka Haruka ended pretty well, albeit predictably. One thing that kind of bothers me about the series is how, even in the last episode, the animation never got back onto the level that it was in the first episode (and arguably episode 7.) Hopefully they’ll cleanup the show for DVD. It certainly doesn’t look bad, but it could stand to look better. Both Koihime Musou and Macross just ended, but I haven’t gotten around to them. Macross hasn’t been subbed yet, and I haven’t had time to get to Koihime yet. But I will.
Windy Tales is pretty interesting. I thought the first two episodes laid on seriousness a bit too much, but episodes three and four had a good slice-of-life vibe about them. I can appreciate the art style, but I’m not really sure if I like it. I’m going to stick with it, even though I’m not totally sold on it.
That’s all for this week. I don’t know what I’m going to do for next week, but with luck we’ll see an update.
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Yes, it’s true! It’s not a dream! It’s not fantasy! The spectacular, amazing and totally cool Mistakes of Youth podcast is BACK, and this time we’re talking about Kurenai. This is kind of a general discussion of the show, so there will be spoilers. Listen with caution!
This is my first show a in while, so I wasn’t really in top form, but I think overall it turned out pretty well.
Guests
Songs
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!
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.
Man, they’re seriously catering to the lolicon otaku in this one. Other highlighs include Lucky Star, Shugo Chara, Yotsunoha (the anime sucks but I’ll be damned if Nono isn’t a totally cute design), Kyouran Kazoku Nikki and Zero no Tsukaima. I’d love to have it, since my walls are stuck in mid-2007, but I really have no money right now. Also, not like I’d be able to put up this Murasaki one, since I’m living with my parents. My 3 or 4 Kodomo no Jikan posters are bad enough…
Once I start work I should just get that year-long Megami subscription with my first paycheck…
Before I say anything about the comic, I’d like to call the latest issue of OTAKU USA to your attention. Don’t be fooled by the family friendly Dee Bee Zee cover, since this is most dangerous issue yet. Yes, most dangerous. Daryl Surat may find issue with me labeling it as such, but hear me out, ok? See, normal issues of Otaku USA are simply dangerous since they are overseen by the most dangerous man alive, Patrick Macias. What makes this issue the most dangerous are the various forces that have come together to bring it into existence. It starts off with Clarissa giving a Shuffle! review, which is pretty fucking dangerous in itself– but that’s not enough to make it the most dangerous. What makes this the most dangerous is the fact that this guy and I are in the same in the book at the same time, while forces like Daryl Surat rule over the rest of the pages with an Iron Fist. Yes, you can feel the flames as you touch this burning, blazing publication of HOT BLOOD and MOE PASSION. So go out and BUY IT already. Shit, I haven’t even read it, but I can assure you that your mind will be blown into the outer reaches of space. But that’s not all! The Internet tells me that issue 7 will be even more dangerous than this one. I won’t give any details, but chances are I’ll be in that one, too. I should be writing under my real name, though.
Anyway, enough about Otakus and USAs, on to the comic. I think I’ve reached a new level of Comic Writing in this one, since I actually allude to shows without mentioning them by name. Sure, this writing is still clunky compared to the streamlined Penny Arcade, but we can’t all be legends. For those who don’t know, this comic makes reference to Zettai Karen Children and Kure-nai, shows which are both very good in their own ways, so if you haven’t watched them yet– do it now! I really like the art here. Sure, Tina’s stare in panel 2 is frightening, but the rest turned out pretty well. The backgrounds are even good! So yes, really happy with this one.
One thing I’d kind of like to make clear with this one strip and all others is that this webcomic is not the self-insert comic that 4chan and others would like to think it is. I mean, I’m as much Rets as Tatsuhiko Takimoto is Satou. I don’t write this pretending that I’m in there, I just push my experiences and views onto my character, since it’s easy to write what you know. Hence why Rets’ apartment is similar to mine and the fact that some comics take place in real locations around Boston. I mean c’mon, I’m not shameless enough to make a character that’s supposed to be me hang out with a girl who dresses the way Tina does. If this was realistic, it’d be two guys talking to each other, like every other webcomic about geeky things. But, you know, I like drawing girls! They’re a lot more fun to draw than boring guys. Also, if this was true wish fulfillment, the female character would look more similar to Nagi-tan… or Kaede-chan, but she isn’t really an otaku.
In further comic-related news, Patrick Macias and I recently had a discussion, and this discussion was published in the Japanese magazine Ascii Weekly. As a result, I’ve gotten the attention of the Japanese otaku, and it seems at least one of them is impressed by my knowledge, which makes me quite happy. See, I got an email from a senior otaku who really liked the comic and thought I had the Japanese fan scene down pretty good. Also, another guy from the mag can be found commenting here. I don’t have scans yet, but Macias promised some, so I’ll post them if/when he gets them to me.
The spring season is pretty great. I’ve finally waded through all the crap and found a good 10 or so shows I’m happy with. Full impressions can be found here. I’m mostly happy with my picks, though chances are I’ll drop Allison and Lillia. It’s way too corny for me to stomach.
Anyway, I’ve gone on for long enough, so I’ll cut it off here. Finals are finally over, so now I’m going to kick back and relax in a big way until I go back home and start on my summer job. See you all next week!
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.
No, this isn’t about how Kure-nai features a loli who may or may not be entirely too fuckable for her own good. Never ever would I write about things so vile.
Almost exactly a year ago Gurren Lagann was impressing me with just how over the top and epic it was in its most early of installments. Now, a year later, Kure-nai is impressing me in exactly the opposite way. This show is seductive. It’s such a smooth operator that once it’s done doing its thing some people are just left not knowing what to do. Sure, its foreplay is rather unusual, but strangely arousing… to me, anyway. However, even if its slightly freaky tastes aren’t really your thing, once you move on to the main event you’ll be in for the ride of your fucking life.
God, what a horrible extended metaphor. Especially considering I lack the appropriate experience to make such a comparison.
What I’m trying to get at is that this show is almost sensual with just how smoothly it all flows. So far only the smallest hints of what the overarching plot might be have been dropped, and I’m totally fine with that, since this show is so good at being… slice of life? That’s only a guise, though. What’s clever about the show is how it uses this relaxed slice of life vibe to drop various facts about the world, characters and plot. It’s doing that “slow” arc of 13 or so episodes that most anime have right, and I’ve only ever seen in done right in one other anime– that being Neon Genesis Evangelion… and uh, Shuffle!, I guess.
The means by which it performs these amazing feats is through mostly top-notch-animation (episode 3 was a bit stiff), thoughtful script writing and unusual production methods– at least for Japanese animation. See, according to rumours on the internets, the dialogue in Kure-nai is recorded before the animation is done. I can’t exactly confirm this fact, but that’s the word going around forums and blogs. This is the method for traditonal American animation, but it’s quite unusual for Japanese productions. It really helps. The actors can just read off their lines naturally, allowing the characters’ exchanges to sound slightly less artificial. Sure, most talented Japanese actors can do their best while still being constrained to the wills of the voice flaps, but you really can hear a difference in Kure-nai. This, along with the aforementioned brilliant script writing and fluid animation makes for a piece of Japanese cartoon that is slightly more in the realm of traditional film.
Of course, only three episodes have aired so far, and the show could very well go down hill. But this is Brain’s Base, and they have enough winners under their belt for me to trust them.
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.
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.
I am so very disappointed in this comic in every way. The art is lacklustre and the script is pretty… horrible. I just wanted to talk about Kaiji in some way before it finished its sub run, and do a general parody on the art style.
You know, that scenery in panel 1 is actually inspired by Clannad. Strange, right? Well, when I put digital paint to digital canvas, I just start picking out dark/grey colours, so a lot of Clannad’s spring-time happiness doesn’t really carry over. I blame the fact that it was actually raining outside while I was making this. And I just like grey-ish overcast atmospheres. Anyway, next week should be better. I hope. orz
The new season has started, but I’m still kind of in the process of putting a lid on the rather craptastic winter season. That’s mostly a case of the sub groups having to catch up, though. I have however watched one spring season show so far, and that happens to be Kure-nai. You may remember that I was looking forward to Kure-nai a while back, and thankfully episode 1 seemed pretty good. I say “seemed” because I watched it raw and couldn’t really understand what was going on past the basics. It does however have great animation, great atmosphere and an adorable little loli who is thankfully less annoying than she was in the preview. If the script is as good as everything else, then Brainsbase might have another Kamichu or Baccano! quality show on their hands. Let’s just hope they don’t pull another Innocent Venus. Oh, also, the opening is worth noting.
As far as other anime I’ve watched recently goes, I caught a bit more of Dennou Coil at MIT. The show is certainly getting a lot better as it begins to explore its mysteries, and the “filler” has become quite entertaining, too. The show has a lot of character, which I admire. Not sure if it’s rewatchable for me, but I actually do like it now. You know, I have to thank MIT for showing things like Baccano! and Dennou Coil– things I was reluctant to go and watch/finish for myself due to my own stubbornness. So yeah, good on them.
Still trudging through Shinigami no Ballad, almost a week past the set review deadline. Sorry Seven Seas, I just ain’t a fast reader, and it doesn’t help that the story I’m on I saw before in anime form. It’s not a bad book, but it’s not especially amazing either. I think I liked the first story a bit better.
Anyways, that’s it for tonight. I’m out.
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