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

Hey guys, maybe if the Pachinko game is successful they’ll make more Nadesico!!!

…yeah, right.

Now to make a post that’ll get no comments at all. Thank God for that, huh!

There’s a new Nadesico pachinker game that opened up in Akiba, and as such there’s been something of a Nadesico advertising blitz going around. Last time I was there with Nocturnesb there was a giant trunk driving around with Yurika’s and Ruri’s faces plastered on it, and today there was a cute woman outside of the station dressed as a Nerval employee handing out… what I assume is a fan.

Then, while looking for the Saki taco truck (it wasn’t there, guess it only appears on weekends) I ran into a guy handing out Nadesico tissues. A Nadesico DOUBLE DOSE. Man, I am sure getting to burning.

In my attempt to not spend any money at all with Comic Market approaching, I ended up buying things. Cheap things that I wouldn’t find this cheap ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, but still. I need  my doujinshi. I haven’t even paid for a Summer Wars ticket, yet!

These deals were too good to pass up, though.

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Original Post

Yeah yeah, I’m wild, crazy, and free of all morals, but I like to keep the front page of this site fairly work-safe, so as such I’ve censored this comic. Do not fear, though, for an uncensored, and funnier version of the comic does exist. Inspiration for this one came from the room rules present in my new digs. I’m living in kind of a boarding house situation right now, so the rules are stricter than when I was living an apartment, but I can deal. Anyways, I found rule 9 to be funny, so I just drew a comic around it. Oh yeah, I guess I better credit some doujin artists here, considering I’ve stolen some imagery. The books in the panel four are the works of You Nagisawa, Koume Keito, Miki Miyashita and Atsushi Yamasomethingorother. The desktop image in panel five is by this awesome dude.

I was planning on re-watching Nadesico at MIT since they were showing it, but when I went there today I saw they were playing the release with all the horrible overlays. It was fun to see the first four episodes again and pick up on some of the early clues and nods to future events, but I’m far too much of anal purist to watch something from ADV’s darkages. I’ll still pop in for Windy Tales, though. That show’s pretty ok, but by the time they got to it I was nodding off.

Zero no Tsukaima has hit a pretty good balance between plot, character stuff and fanservice. I’m actually getting into this little rescue plot they have going on now, and Louise’s inner struggles are cute. Of course, I still watch it for the skin, and it looks like the next episode will deliver that well.

You really gotta feel sorry for the guy in Detroit Metal City. His life is just fucking terrible, and I don’t know if I should laugh at him or cry with him. That’s not to say that the show isn’t totally hilarious, because it is, it’s just that poor Negeshi doesn’t get a break! Also, I know it’s terrible, but I have both the metal opening and the Flipper’s Guitar-ish ending themes stuck in my head. AT THE SAME TIME, GOD.

That’s all for this week. It’s pretty late, so I’m gonna plop myself in bed and try to sleep in. Try, since waking up at 6:30am all summer has ruined me forever. Now it’s pretty much impossible for me to sleep past nine, but dammit I’ll try!

Original Post

I really like how this comic came together. Everything from the lineart, to the colouring, to the backgrounds looks almost exactly as planned. I’m sure there are rough patches here and there, but I really like this one. I’ve actually kind of been practicing at drawing things I’m not too good at (like girls lol) and I think the fruits of that practice shows here. The lineart for the comic after this one looks pretty good, too. As far as scripting goes, I guess the humour here lies more in the comments than it does in the script. If you haven’t already guessed, this comic is a Nico Nico Douga parody, and like Nico offers, here’s a version of the comic with comments “turned off” for those who want it. But the comic’s only funny with self-depreciating comments like “kore wa hidoi” anyway!

Another week, another Anime Blog Award awarded, it seems. This time it’s the blogger’s choice Gold Award for best blog comic. So yeah, thanks to you guys who voted in that.

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Note: I’m basically talking out of my butt for this one. If there are any big mistakes, let me know.

When I watch 90s anime it’s always kind of a weird experience. Despite growing up with the stuff, each time I start on any given 90s title, I feel a little lost. This is probably because when I’m watching a 90s show, I’m watching it completely out of context.

Let me explain. If I were to watch something made in the 1960s, I’d watch it knowing that a lot of the shows made in the 60s were Astro Boy clones. If I were to watch something made in the 1970s, I’d watch it knowing the climate of fandom in the 70s, and so on. I’ve learned about various decades’ fandom through literature and anime like Genshiken and Otaku no Video, but each time I turn on some 90s show, I come to the realization that I know almost nothing about that decade’s fandom in Japan. Aside from reading the Notenki Memoirs, my knowledge of 90s fandom is very limited. As such, I’m wondering– are there any anime or manga titles that depict fandom in the 1990s?

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Original Post

This comic had two possible outcomes: 1) Rets cursing Kurenai for being a lucky bastard or 2) Rets saluting him. I decided to go with 2), since getting a young girl to kiss you on her own accord is pretty impressive. Kurenai didn’t even have to force himself on her! That’s salute-worthy. The art here is slightly better than what it was at first. After some critiques I changed some things the best I could to make it look slightly better. It still looks average, but not as bad. It’s only one drawing, anyway. The next comic, which I already have sketched out, should look pretty good. It’ll make up for all the stinkers from the past couple of weeks. Not sure how funny it is, though…

Oh, Anime Blog Awards happened, and Mistakes of Youth won something in the “People’s Choice” vote. Blogger’s Choice hasn’t been made public yet, but I guess I won that too since last I checked I was 10 votes above whoever was under me. Not sure how deserving I am of any awards, but thanks to all who voted.

I’m three episodes away from the end of Nadesico, and it’s been a decently fun ride. I kind of expected it to go serious after a while, but to my surprise it’s keeping its relatively light tone till the end. I can appreciate why this series is so well loved, but I can’t totally get into it. It’s good, and at points great, but part of what puts me off is just how fast cut and brisk most of the episodes are. The show does however have a great cast of characters who are all filled with personality, actually handles relationships in a mature manner and, despite being pretty light, drives home the “war is hell” message pretty well. I have the movie downloading right now, and I guess I’ll watch that soon. I would buy it, but apparently a used copy of the DVD costs ~$50 and, uh, fuck that.

I’ve finally accepted that Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is not the crazy comedy that I want it to be, despite it doing everything it its power to force me back into thinking that it is in fact a crazy a comedy each time the opening sequences comes on. The show seems more about imparting kind of cheesy morals and lessons onto the viewer while in the guise of a crazy otaku show. That works decently, but it makes me like the show less. It’s still entertaining, but I kind of hoped it’d be above stuff like that and focus more on being a parody show. Oh well, at least Yuuka is still cute with her little pink striped shirt.

More Haruhi 2 news has trickled in. It seems they’re scrapping the “second season” label and instead just treating it as an all-new series. I honestly don’t see the point in noting that, if it’s still going to be based off of the same material. So long as it tops the first one, I’ll be fine. Also, its ed best be amazing.

That’s it for this week. I have a birthday celebration happening today, so I’ll be off to fit in some anime before the festivities begin.

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.

Picture shamelessly stolen

Not much right now. Waiting for the new stuff to start.

Current
Clannad: Coming off as the weakest amongst the Key/KyoAni trilogy. Fuuko’s arc was fine, but nothing much past that. Kotomi’s story seems to be kind of interesting, though. I just can’t shake the feeling of “been there, done that” after Air and Kanon.
Dragonaut: The “so bad it’s good” thing is wearing off. Not sure if I’ll be able to finish this one just for the lulz alone, but it has nice production values for the most part…
Ghost Hound: Each episode is interesting and mildly entertaining, but it doesn’t go out of its way to make want to love it.
Hayate no Gotoku: Still consistently funny. This needs to run forever.
Kaiji: Shifted from Death Note JUST AS PLANNED episodes to NHK-esque examinations of people who have hit rock-bottom. I still like it.
Moyashimon: Unfortunately, quite boring. The microbe designs and opening are so great, but the show itself is a yawn-fest. I’ll probably finish it since it’s short.
Shana II: Will all the fanboys stop whining about the lack of action now? You get to see your loli engage in badly animated battles again! YAY! Whatever, it’s fine.

Will finish Minami-ke and Sky Girls once the subs hit.

Not So Current
Just watching a bunch of DVDs I got for Christmas. Air is nice a second time around. I haven’t seen it for so long, so it’s mostly all new to me. Will start on Soul Taker when I get a chance, and maybe Nadesico after that.

Will probably update when the new stuff hits.