In Which Kadokawa USA And Bandai Entertainment Go Nuts, And The Fans Follow
This comic is kind of lazy. I spent a lot of time on the buildings in the first panel, then just kind of rushed the rest of it. I think the comic as a whole looks fairly decent, though. I really don’t like resorting to random blurs as backgrounds, but it looks ok here. As far as the script goes, this was one of those ideas that I got as I was drifting off to sleep. Not sure if I should really used half baked ideas like that, but apparently some people found it funny… and some didn’t. It was funnier at 2am as I was falling asleep, not so much now. In any case, it’s the holiday special and holiday specials are supposed to suck, right? Right? I’ll try better for the new year orz
The blog has been also updated with a special Christmas… thing. Check it. Lots of neat images.
If for some reason you haven’t heard by now, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu has been licensed for North America by Kadokawa Pictures USA, with Bandai Entertainment on distribution. I’m pretty happy about this, as owning the series will be more of a possibility for me. I had played around with the idea of getting the Japanese release, but Haruhi is a show that I appreciate the most for its writing, and I don’t know enough Japanese to follow it without subtitles. It is my guess that the episodes will be released in their chronological order, like the Japanese release. It will be nice to see the series chronologically, but I think I still prefer the original “Kyon” order. I sure hope they include the original previews as extras. I really see no reason why they wouldn’t. Better yet, I hope there’s a an option to view the episodes with their original TV previews.
Black Lagoon is a show I don’t really talk about here, so I figure I’ll talk about it now as the series is coming to a close (at least fansub wise.) Right now the series is at its most polished. Ignoring the English bits (which are “quality” in their own right) this arc is probably the most clever, the most well animated, most well directed and simply most engrossing arc that the show has had thus far. I guess it’s only fitting that they’re using this arc to close the show. I think that it alone (well, this arc and the Vampire Kidz arc) warrants a purchase of the show. One constant beef I have with the show is the soundtrack. Well, not so much the soundtrack as it is the use of music in certain scenes. It’s probably just me, but I feel certain tracks don’t suit the scenes they’re put against. This mostly happened in the Greenback Jane arc, but it’s happened sometimes in this arc as well. For instance, that one string-sounding track (I suck at talking about music) that was used at one point during the exchange between Rock and Yukio has been used so many times that it’s not special anymore, moreover, it didn’t even suit the scene. Other than that, the show as a whole has been more or less golden.
NHK recently concluded in a way that satisfied me. Yes, it wasn’t the traditional Gonzo letdown. They ended things with a bang, just as I hoped. The best scene was the one where Satou just went totally batshit and attempted to end his life by way of jumping off the cliff. The very well animated run to the tip matched against his words to Misaki, his inner-monologue and the instrumental version of Oodoru Aka-chan Ningen perfectly captured Satou’s raw insanity. I was happy with how everything concluded. While it was your normal “life goes on” ending, it shows that both of the characters improved just a little after all that shit they’ve been through. The most depressing part of this episode was probably how good the animation was, given the quality of the rest of the show. If only it all looked that good.
I recently bought all of Cardcaptor Sakura from one of RightStuf’s wacky sales, and I’m liking it so far. It’s kind of turned into monster of the week, which is understandable given it’s a children’s show. Sakura is cute as ever, and that’s all that matters. I do hope that eventually some more interesting developments come to the forefront, but there’s 70 episodes to get through some I’m not expecting anything groundbreaking soon.
Well, that’s all. I hope you all have wet and slippery holiday season. LATER.