When I watched the first episode of Sound of the Sky a while back, I thought it seemed interesting enough to continue a few more episodes in. I don’t know what happened, but re-watching the first episode I couldn’t believe my former self. It was slow and meandering. Perhaps I was mesmerized by the music, which is worth being mesmerized over, but not worth sitting through the rest of the show for. The setting is also interesting, taking place in a post-apocalyptic future with divides and wars, but the town in which everyone is stationed is relatively peaceful. Normally, that would all change when our main character arrives . . . but no, it is still basically peaceful. So it ends up being a show about this somewhat rag-tag team of girls in the military hanging out, meeting townspeople, and occasionally learning music. The main girl is predictably naive and in the last episode I watched pushed that to the limit by overlooking the fact that the military kills people as do guns and tanks. There are traces of underlying story, especially with the extended cast that has been working for a while, but nothing gripping. I am sure this show is doing exactly what it means to do, but that still doesn’t mean I want to watch it.

Sound of the Sky is sort of like dating a shallow supermodel. You meet her and she looks gorgeous and sounds wonderful. Everything about her superficially is impeccable. But after a few deep conversations you realize there is not as much going on inside as you might have first hoped. There is quite a bit to like about this anime. The production values cannot be questioned. The animation is often amazingly fluid, the backgrounds are often breathtaking, and the sound design is outstanding. If you want lesson on how to make an anime that draws you in with the power of animation this is a good example. The problem is the story itself swallowed a bottle of Valium. To say that the show is just post-apocalyptic K-On! is selling it a bit short but it is also sums up all the major problems with the series. It just seems like the slice of life tale of 5 girls not really doing much of anything in a small town while they fix a tank and play instruments. The formula could be good. There is nothing inherently wrong with slowly building this world and getting us involved with the characters before turning on the main plot. The problem is that it is like telling someone to watch 10 episodes of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou to get to the three exciting episodes at the end. The post-apocalyptic setting is unusual and well realized. The cast lives a very provincial lifestyle despite the fact that they are surrounded by the remains of a once great civilization. But the stories they tell are rather sleepy despite the promise of grander tales that could be told in this setting. I am not sure if anyone who is not a fan of slice of life shows could casually make that commitment for the reward at the end. The characters are fine. They are a bit stock and Kureha Suminoya can be grating but they did not annoy me as much as the K-On! cast. There is also a pretty distinct yuri vibe going on. Nothing overt but it is omnipresent and rather unmistakable. I will probably continue to watch just to see the last few episodes. Apparently they start to live up to the promise of the prophecy in the beginning. I will power through the middle episodes to see if the pay off at the end is worth it just in case our readers were curious.

In D.Gray Man vol. 18 something surprising is introduced, a phantom thief story! The gang is visiting a small town for the purpose of getting a few people out of jail, but then they get wrapped up in the story of a thief who controls people’s bodies. Of course it ties into a battle for innocence, but still it was a fun break.

The Holidays threw off my anime viewing schedule as some of the series I watch streaming are on Nico Nico. If you miss a week on Nico Nico you can’t catch up. But then I realized last week that most of the shows I were watching are also on Hulu. So it was time to get back into Last Exile: Fam the Silver Wing. As I watched these episodes I realized one thing. Fam Fan Fan and Giselle Collette are harbingers of doom because whenever they leave a location that place gets obliterated. They leave the Kingdom of Turan and it gets wiped off the map by a super weapon. They steal some airships and everyone involved is executed. They join an air pirate raiding party and they are slaughtered out. They leave the Silvius and it gets sunk. They take off from Glacies and it gets hit by the same super weapon as Turan. They are like the Jessica Fletcher of the Last Exile universe. Wherever they go people die. That little observation aside I have been enjoying the show. I think since I remember liking Last Exile but not thinking the original series was that amazing I lets me judge the show a bit fairer than the hardcore fans. I don’t think it will surpass the first show. The story is still a bit too simplistic and it does not have the innovative feel that the first series does. But Luscinia has grown a bit as a more realistic villain although his bad guy laugh in episode 15 is not helping any development of his motives. Fam and Giselle have grown on me but there very simple world view is sure to turn off some viewers when contrasted with the more complex politics of the rest of the cast. Thankfully Millia has calmed down a bit and is much more tolerable than her first appearance. She is much less Princess Princess and more of a leader as the series has progressed which is a welcome bit of character progress. Also like Sound of the Sky there is an unmistakable yuri vibe to this show. Your mileage may vary on how much that appeals to you. I mostly just ignore it. Overall this remains a fun little show that I stream at lunch once a week now that I have caught up. I will complain that the next episode preview fooled me with scenes of Claus and Lavi but it just turned out to be a recap episode for the first series. That was just mean.

If you want to know how fast the Sailor Moon manga moves, Chibi Usa shows up in volume 3. This volume is really a double whammy of stories because we get the conclusion of the first arc against the Dark Moon Kingdom and also the setup for the next part of the series concerning the Black Moon clan. I really enjoy Rei’s part at the beginning with her premonitions. But the best thing of all is that in the manga, Chibi Usa doesn’t generally make you want to strangle her at all times. Her appearance throws a good wrench into things, but at the same time it is another one of those mysteries that seems a little hard for the audience to really see as difficult to figure out. And consequently makes the cast look a bit like idiots.

Since I was catching up the Last Exile I decided to watch Guilty Crown 8-15 as well. Of all the things you can complain about Guilty Crown doing wrong the biggest problem is that it is as subtle as tank bursting through your front window while blaring Ride of the Valkyries. The show cannot image doing anything with a light touch. When people die it is in the most melodramatic way possible. When they are conflicted they writhe with indecision. When villains are evil they eat up the scenery with their ham-fisted evil. I am enjoying the show on a certain level for the fact that it is unapologetic in its bombastic nature. The reason I cannot recommend the show is that there is always something off in its execution. Every turn just comes off a bit too calculated and a bit too false. Gai’s history with Mana and Shu is telegraphed but still comes off as somewhat out of nowhere even if it is not. It does not help that it keeps the charterers rather repugnant before trying to redeem them. I have an odd feeling they are going to try to have Daryl Yan do a Heel Face Turn. The problem is they have spent so much time portraying him has a psychopath that any redemption is going to come off as hollow. At least Yahiro Samukawa had a reason to be such a bastard before they had him change sides. Also Hiroyuki Yoshino apparently hates childhood friends because he sure loves killing them off when he is in charge of an original script. I will finish up this show and probably have a good time with it but it is really going down as a black mark in the history of Noitamina. This show would get a far kinder reaction if it were not in such a treasured spot for more discriminating anime fans.

Princess Knight was always a series I desperately wanted to read. After all it inspired so many creators and I’d heard its name when discussing things like The Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena. Vertical re-released it in English just this past year and so I was finally able to see for myself the influence. I realize now after reading it, that I had no idea what to expect from it; tt was unlike anything I had conjured up in my mind. The only thing I had consistently heard was it’s the story of a girl with the heart of a boy and through my own assumptions I figured she wanted to be that boy when really she just wants to be the typical princess. Does it take on gender politics, definitely, but does it do so in the ways I thought it would, not as much. It being, what I concluded to be, a satire of the fairytale genre was a surprise.

Princess Knight has gained this almost mystical reputation as this prototypical shojo manga. For a time it was even incorrectly labeled at the first shojo manga by American fans. It did not help that one of the few ways to read the manga was buying the very out of print and insanely expensive Kodansha bilingual manga release. This all led to Princess Knight gaining a legendary status as if was often referenced by other works but was almost impossible for the average fan to get their hands on. So much of the series reputation came on what people thought it was more than what it actually was. In a way I think most fans saw the works that were inspired by Princess Knight and extrapolated what they thought it would be. And so the actual gender politics are far less progressive and the themes far less complex than some of fandom might have imagined.

At first, I had trouble getting on board with Sapphire, it just felt like she wanted to be the stereotype of a woman. She masquerades as the handsome, gallant, brave prince and the beautiful, demure, helpless princess in turns. At one point during a fight in which she is winning, she loses her boy heart then proceeds to say how weak and scared she is and how she has lost the will to fight. But by the end, I realized that her dual hearts were being used to highlight the ridiculous standards of gender. The problem for Sapphire isn’t that she has two hearts but that her identity is in constant limbo, people have been telling her what she should and shouldn’t do and be since the moment she was born. This is certainly a reflection of her royal status, but also a look into how the world tells us who we should be as men and women. The fact that the story does it with humor and a break-neck pacing keeps it from falling too heavily. But still it is there, the search for identity. Sapphire doesn’t know herself and it isn’t until the end of the series that she realizes she can be a combination of traits.

I myself was struggling to figure out what exactly makes Sapphire feel so very different that then women who come after her like Utena or Oscar. Despite the fact that Utena and Oscar seem stronger than Sapphire it is very clear in all three stories that the masculine is the strong and capable and the feminine is weak (although Utena plays and examines with this concept more than the other two.) I think the major divide comes down to an issue of agency. Sapphire rarely if ever feels in control of her position as someone who has insight into both genders. By an accident of her birth she is born with two souls and due to a misfortune is forced to pretend to be a boy. While her boy’s heart often makes her very capable in the first book she often treats it like a burden and hardly seems attached to it. It seems more the necessity of the plot keeps her from simply giving away her boy’s heart. She spends so much of the series wanting to be demure but never truly striving for that path. Even her balance at the end if more through the contrivance of other characters than her own prerogative. Oscar on the other hand is also forced by her father to be raised as a boy but she owns the role and embraces her path. In fact she is given several opportunities to leave the life of a woman living as a man but chooses duty over comfort. Oscar owns her path as opposed to be forced upon it. The character with the greatest agency and balance is Utena. She is the only one of the three that not only chooses her path but strives to live as a prince while identifying as a woman. Her issues in the show are far more complex than Sapphire or Oscars but she also has the greatest control over her decisions.

I actually found Hecate to be a more interesting and inspiring character throughout the series. By making her not a human but a demon she is essentially allowed to act as a the more progressive woman, she is outside the conventional system already. In her fashionable Audrey Hepburn-like tap pants with backbone and independence, she is a reflection of the modern times in which the manga was made and not the medieval fairy-tale setting of the story. She doesn’t know much about the human world and her encounters with people always show her to be quite the mischief-maker. But while making her a demon might sound like a step back, the fact that her mother, who is shown to be an evil twisted witch and major villain of the series, is constantly trying to turn her into the perfect human girl keeps it from (for lack of a better word) demonizing being unconventional. Hecate rejects marrying the prince multiple times over and in the end executes a plan to help him escape. She does none of this because she has the heart of a man or a woman, but because that is simply who she is.

If anyone is a heroine in the mold we first expected from Princess Knight it is Friebe. She may be hot-headed, selfish, and only participating in a tournament to find a husband but she has much of the agency that Sapphire lacks. She is a warrior by choice and is fighting to find a husband as opposed to hoping one comes to her. Her standard attire is that of black plate armor. She also has the arrogant bravado and chivalry associated with male knights. But at the same time she is willing to accept her feminine side and devoted herself to studying domestic chores as much as martial prowess. She more than Sapphire seems to have a very balanced soul between that of a man and a woman and all by her own choice. She seems to contribute to the archetype of the woman proudly living her life as a man to throw away gender roles and be who she wishes to be not who society tells her to be.

There are many other women in the series worth exploring from the organized ladies at the palace that defend Sapphire to the island warriors to the seductress Venus. We decided to focus on these few because they stood out to us for various reasons. Princess Knight presents a lot of different roles for women. And for the women we talked about, each is to really look for who they are and what they want. I didn’t fully grasp this until reading the second volume but I think it was worth it.

The Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena come from a later era that had much of their path laid out by Princess Knight. It is easy to forget that it is often a string of small changes that lay the path for revolutionary turning points in the future. Osamu Tezuka was able to popularize the concept of an adventure manga for girls. He introduced a character whose fluid gender would inspire later authors to take the radical ideas that he set forth and go even farther with them. Princess Knight might not have been the radical text we thought it was but it is still undoubtedly paved the way for so much of the shojo we love today.

Every time I get a new volume of D.Gray Man, I think to myself why don’t more people read this? I realize it is not an unpopular series but it also doesn’t seem to have really stuck around. This may be partially due to it moving from the prominent Weekly Shonen Jump magazine to the monthly Jump Square. There is a lot of shonen fighting manga out there, so it is easy to miss one. And besides that, picking and choosing what is worth settling in the long haul with can be difficult.

D.Gray Man combines supernatural powers and occult lore with the shonen fighting formula. The gothic and macabre designs are well utilized giving life to everything from the obvious horror to less imaginable whimsy and humor. The art overall is a real treat in the series; the details in the European setting to costume and architecture are wonderful. Allen Walker possess a power called Innocence that can be harnessed to defeat demons and the like. The organization known at the Black Order recruits people with these gifts in an ongoing war against the Millennium Earl and his dark minions. Even before Allen joins their ranks, it is clear that there are many secrets to each side and to Allen himself. Allen is a positive lead who has a lot of charm about him; he is very honest and possesses a lot of heart. He isn’t the type of character who you forget about to concentrate on the support personalities. But he does have an electric group of people around him. The series utilizes everyone and the setting well, even pushing the grotesque monsters and violence pretty far at times. And it has a lot of mystery in the undercurrent which slowly reveals itself.

At just 22 volumes so far, D.Gray Man isn’t too much of a commitment compared to its brethren. (And VIZ is almost in line with the Japanese, releasing the 21st volume in November.) Within its pages is a solid journey that doesn’t drag and reveals its twists and turns in good time. Add in a good cast and artwork that begs to be looked at in detail and I find I can’t resist D.Gray Man.

• Learn more!
• Get it!

I have to say this is a brilliant little idea from Narutaki. If you have ever done a year in review article you will find that the while you might remember the last week’s news crystal clear what was licensed and when all tends to blur together after a few months. Hopefully this monthly post will help us, and anyone who needs it, have a clearer picture of what was picked up over the year.

Newly Licensed in the U.S.

• Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer) – Sentai Filmworks
• Another – Sentai Filmworks
• Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo – S’more Entertainment
• Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai – Funimation
• Brave 10 – NISA
• Captain Commando – Udon Entertainment
• Daily Lives of High School Boys – NISA
  Huzzah!
• Familiar of Zero F – Sentai Filmworks
• Flutter – Digital Manga Publishing
• Galaxy Express 999 TV – S’more Entertainment
  I am very curious to see how well this does for the new company. Such a strange title to pick as one of your first out of the gate.
• Growing Up with Hello Kitty – AnimEigo
• Highschool DxD – Funimation
• Inu x Boku SS – Sentai Filmworks
• Listen to Me Girl, I’m Your Father – Sentai Filmworks
• Locke the Superman – Discotek
• Motto To Love-Ru -Trouble-  – Sentai Filmworks
• Polyphonica Crimson S – Maiden Japan
• Poor Poor Lips – ALC Publishing
• Somedays Dreamers – Sentai Filmworks
• Velvet Kiss – Digital Manga Publishing
• Venus Wars – Discotek
• Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal – VIZ
• Zettai Karen Children (Psychic Squad) – Sentai Filmworks
  Interesting name change. If nothing else the retitled name gives you a slightly better idea of what the show is about. Maybe they also just wanted to get away from the children part.

Newly Streaming in the U.S.

• Crunchyroll Streaming Recorder and Randsell, Nisemonogatari, Brave 10, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Poyopoyo, Knight in the Area, Inu X Boku SS, Familiar of Zero F, Another, Bodacious Space Pirates, and Listen to Me Girls I’m Your Father
• VIZ Streaming Rinne no Lagrange
• Crackle Streaming Kurozuka
• JManga Adds Hyakushou Kizoku, Poor Poor Lips, Doll the Hotel Detective, Tenka Ichi!!
  
• NicoNico Streaming High School DxD, Senki Zesshou Symphogear, and Detective Opera Milky Holmes S2
• NicoNico Douga Streaming Black Rock Shooter
  

New Anime/Manga Projects in Japan

• Young Magazine Launches 6 New Manga in 7 Weeks
• Coming-of-age Teen Manga From Houzuki-san Chi no Aneki Creator Begins in March
• Renai Distortion Restarts in New Magazine
• Jormungand Manga-ka Starting New Manga in April
• Seigi Keikan Monju Manga-ka Launching New Title This Spring
• History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi Getting OVAs in March and May
• Anime of Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden Gag Manga Based on the Naruto Character Coming Soon
• Kouji Kumeta and Yasu’s Collaborative Comedy Manga Joshiraku Getting Animated
• Momo Pro Z Wrestling Manga Based on Idol Group Begins in February
• Well-known Creators Contribute to “Manga of the Dead” Website
• Himitsu Kessha Taka no Tsume Gaiden Mukashi no Yoshida-kun Anime Started on Jan. 21
• Rising Star Anime About Cricket Being Made For India
• est em Starting New Series Ippo
  est em was one of the first BL manga-ka I read that really drew me in to the stories. Her short manga collections are quirky, tragic, and all manner of things in between.
• Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion Movie and Nunnally of the Wonderland OVA Announced
  I can’t help but feel like this took a lot longer to come around than it should have, it has been many years now since the original TV series finished. Still I’m looking forward to the new projects even if I’m a little cautious about them.
• Leiji Matsumoto’s Ozuma Gets 6 Episode Anime
• The Devil Does Exist Manga-ka Starts New Elite High School Series Classroom of Peacocks
  The children of celebrities all attending a school, what mischief!
• BL Manga Tight-rope Getting An OVA
• GTO Spin-off Manga Inohead Gargoyle Starts
  An unusual character from GTO to spin-off into his own manga but it just might work.
• Uta no Prince-sama Maji 1000% Love 2nd Season Announced
  Definitely my favorite piece of news this month!
• BakuTech! Bakugan Series Announced
• Eyeshield 21 Artist Murata Reveals Magical Girl Work
  Man everyone want in on magical girls every since Madoka.
• Shonen Sunday Super Adds Gundam AGE Side Story
• Kickoff to the Galaxy!! A New Soccer Anime Based On the Novel Galactic World Cup
  There is so much soccer anime for 2011! This makes the third anime announced for the year.
• Phi Brain Puzzle of God Is Getting a 2nd Season
• Sora no Otoshimono Coming Back For a 3rd Season
• Yankee-kun to Megane-chan‘s Yoshikawa Starting New Manga in February
  I can’t wait to see what she does next!
• Bunny Drop Manga-ka Launching Digital Manga About The Creative Process
• Romance-Horror Manga Yume Yume Utsutsu Begins in February
• Yuri Manga-ka Milk Morinaga Will Start a New Series in June
• Ultra Jump Announces New Manga Tail Star from Cloth Road Artist
• New Manga Utau! Heian-kyou About Heian Period Aristocrats Starting in March
• Animal Comedy Shirokuma Cafe Gets Animated in Spring
• Ouran‘s Manga-ka Released Detarame Mousouryoku Opera One-Shot
  I love that a bunch of performers in need of help fall out of the girl’s closet. It is too bad it is so difficult to get one-shots in the U.S.
• Kuzu!! a Spin-Off Series to Crows Gangster Manga Will Begin in Young Champion
• Patema Anime Film Due Out This Year Getting Manga Adaption
• Star Driver Movie Coming Soon
  I hope it builds on the ending and it is not just a compilation movie.
• Princess Resurrection‘s Manga-ka Starting New Simultaneous Series
• Sakamichi no Apollon Manga Finishes Up While New Spin-Off Is Announced

We received a copy of Nozomi’s re-release of Gasaraki. The story follows a war between the Americans backed by the Japanese and the fictional nation of Belgistan. Both sides have bi-pedal robots with main pilots possessing odd connections and powers. It is worth noting that I have tried to watch Gasaraki before, many moons ago and didn’t make it very far. I wanted to give it another chance but this time around I was only able to get one episode further. Despite people’s assertions that this show is a realistic depiction of mecha, I just can’t find it anything but slow and uninteresting. Also my thoughts on what is realistic must be different because this show has Noh dancing magic. . . . In any case, a good portions of episodes revolve around people talking, typing, or staring at screens. Talking heads and computer screens can be made interesting (just ask Evangelion) but Gasaraki fails to put passion or facial expressions into its scenes. This also makes the dub doubly painful since at least the Japanese put some inflection in their voices. The battles are compelling in moments but they are too short or interrupted by looking at screens. The show didn’t capture me in any way.

If I have nothing else kindly to say about Gasaraki I will say that it tried to do certain things that most mecha shows don’t often attempt. Ryousuke Takahashi tried for a more realistic version of modern mecha combat and politics while mixing in some magical elements to spice things up. The fact that there are only two types of mecha in the whole show and the commentary on the Gulf War make the show stand out. The only problem is the show is so amazingly and mind numbingly boring. It takes the tedious parts of part of war and magical conspiracy and focuses on the most mundane aspects of each to the to the point where only the most hardcore fans of realism will find the show interesting. Ryousuke Takahashi showed that you can do a more realistic mecha show like Armored Trooper Votoms and make it compelling. But this swings so far toward the nitty-gritty details as so suck away any enjoyment. They even focus on the boring aspects of the shadowy magical conspiracy behind the mecha action in excruciating detail. When the plans of the magical cabal feel like a run down of someone’s tax audit you know something has gone horribly wrong. I will say that this show has a reputation for a completely magical ending that comes out of nowhere but as far as I can tell the freeky deeky occult aspect of the show is apparent from the first episode. I admit that the few actions scenes are the only parts of the anime that are easy to stay awake so that makes them the most memorable pieces but there is unmistakable and unnerving mystical element present in the show from the beginning. Like Narutaki I watched this show years ago and I wondered if I could come back to the show as a more mature fan and gain a greater appreciation for a show I had disliked in my early fandom. But this show still deserves the infamous reputation it gained with me and other fans so many years ago.

Against my saner judgement I started the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. This sprawling fantasy has the well-known features of epic fantasy, a wide and far reaching story, multiple character perspectives, a complex world setting, and much more. But in the first volume the quick pacing really stood out to me and I found out the earlier books in the series have a complete story in one volume. So in this story we’re following a few groups of people as the Empire attempts to bring the city of Darujhistan under its control. The Gods of this world also play in the lives of humans which reminded me of Greek mythology in certain ways which I enjoyed. While the character feel familiar at first, they expand in ways that surprised me, and I would say the same of the story.

I will admit that I have been keeping up with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The reason this come up is because Narutaki asked about the show now that it is fairly far into its second season. She was curious now that it had gained such a visible older male fan base and Lauren Faust had left the show how had the series changed. I think the show has changed. Not obviously. Thankfully the show is still primarily a funny little show for girls that is there to teach them the value of friendship, the power of being yourself, and beauty of having big dreams. But the writers are obviously throwing out more and more obvious nudges and winks to their older fans. The simplest example  is merely that they had John de Lancie playing a character that was unmistakably like Q in the first 2 part episode of the new season. It is not as if the show has become completely for the bronies but there has been a shift toward actively catering to them as opposed to inadvertently appealing to them.  Also since Lauren Faust has left it has lost a certain je ne sais quoi. I can’t say exactly what it is but there is a reason the woman has the reputation she does. She adds a certain magic to anything she works on. It is still an enjoyable show with an earnest vibe to it despite the subtle shifts in the storytelling.

Read Demon Knights issues 2-3 which continues perfectly in the vein of the first. There is a lot of action in these episodes building and building to big and crazier deeds. What I’ve liked so far has been a lot of females taking lead roles in what’s going on both on the hero and villain sides.

I was able to get my hands on the first chapter of the Eureka Seven Ao manga. I decided I would read it to give myself a sneak peek at highly anticipated TV series. Overall it reinforces my opinion that I am looking forward to the TV series with a natural bit of healthy cynicism. Nothing about the first chapter stands out to guarantee this will be amazing but everything points to them nicely building on the first series with the potential to be just as good as the original. A few quick comments. There seems to be the modern nations we know today like the US and Japan despite the fact that it is very clearly set in the world after the ending of the Eureka Seven TV series. I don’t need a super detailed explanation of the revival of the modern nation states but I hope they give some reasonable explanation of how this came about. The second it so far it seems that the main boy, Ao is the only pilot and Naru is just going to be mystical side kick girl. I really enjoyed that Renton and Eureka with both pilots of equal measure in the TV series with Eurkea having more military experience. I hope they don’t sideline Naru to a complete support character as the more equitable protagonist dynamics of the first show was a distinctly appealing part of the show’s composition. Speaking of Eureka they try so hard to pretend that Eurkea is not Ao’s mother and that it could be anyone at all. His mom is so clearly the turquoise haired Coralian. In fact I would be amazed and maybe a little pleased if this is all a red herring but I highly doubt that is the case. There seems to be giant monster one of which Ao fights at the end of the chapter in a robot that looks much like the Nirvash. Also the new mecha seems to be more based around conventional surfing on the water than the air but there are flying cars so who knows how much Trapar waves and lifting is still around. Still there is a good deal of potential in the series so I am curious how many of my first impression are correct. This show has just as much potential to grow as it does to fail at this point so I and eager to see where it goes. April should be fun.

I continue my morbid curiosity with the Akiyuki Shinbo and Nisio Isin duo by watching the first two episodes of Nisemonogatari because there is no way Narutaki was going to watch this with me. I know some people have been commenting that for better or for worse Nisemonogatari has a different feel than Bakemonogatari. I think the difference between the two seasons is minor but important. I did not use the word subtle because the difference is the pacing of the fan service in the new arc. Bakemonogatari definitely had fan service in it. Each arc in the original series introduced a girl, her supernatural problem, and the fetish she embodied. And so each arc played up that girl’s brand of fan service to all but the most fan service desensitized.  But this current arc is ostensibly about Koyomi’s two sisters but unlike the previous arcs this one really had the other girls getting a good amount of screen time in another girl’s arc as opposed to their cameos early in the story. This means that they now have to cram in a full cycle of story, reference humor, and fanservice that is particular to that girl in a much shorter amount of time making all three components more obvious. So anyone watching for the titillation will probably not notice the difference or only be delighted to be so nicely catered to. But anyone else will either consciously or unconsciously notice the change in the rhythm of the story. The art is still rather gorgeous and the dialog still has a snappy pace. I am just pointing out the big difference that will determine if you want to continue to delve into Koyomi’s supernatural adventures.

D.Gray Man Volume 17 starts off by throwing us into the middle of a virus outbreak that has occurred while the Black Order is also trying to move to their new location. The first few chapters are really out of control and crazy (and ridiculous overall), especially because everyone has  turned into zombies. As the zombies are infecting everyone, Allen tries to figure out the cause and how to cure it. After that insanity, we then get to actually focus on the Black Order group’s move. Allen and Lenalee go first, allegedly to open portals, but there are ulterior motives. The best part though is the reappearance of Cross Marian, who probably has the most shocking story in the volume. There are some major problems for both Allen and Cross, and so even though it initially seems like a jokey volume, it’s actually quite an important one.

And speaking of shows that Narutaki will never watch I also saw the first episode of Ano Natsu de Matteru because my roommate was curious to see what it was like. Since he was a fan of Yosuke Kuroda’s Please Teacher! back in his early fandom. With both soon agree that this feel like Please Teacher! only this time the main heroine is a upper clansmen rather than a teacher. Both heroines are somewhat quirky and ditzy busty red headed aliens with an unusual bond to the protagonist. Kaito Kirishima has a rag tag bunch of friends with similar romantic entanglements as well. The shows are not carbon copies but the similarities between the shows is strikingly obvious. The show itself is inoffensive shonen romance. While there is some fan service I hardly noticed anything majorly objectionable. Just the normal amount of bounce and occasional shower scene you expect in male focused romance. Nothing like constant crotch shot camera harems of late. If you want a somewhat sweet show you will probably enjoy it but it does have a bit of a cookie cutter feel. So if you want something that pops a little more like Toradora! you might want to avoid burnout by passing this over.

I read the small preview of Little Miss Holmes that came in Otaku USA. It seems fun and she has a GIANT DOG that’s really funny, but the preview wasn’t long enough to get a good impression of it, and it doesn’t showcase her deduction skills or overall abilities as a detective. I’m still looking forward to it, but I don’t think this preview would convince anyone who’s on the fence.

I also decided to check out the first chapter of the new Macross: The First manga. Like Gundam: The Origin it retells the story of the first iteration of a popular mecha franchise with a little twist. This is a retelling of the Super Dimension Fortress Macross by Haruhiko Mikimoto who was the character designer of the original TV series. Right off the bat the biggest change is the immediate focus on Minmay. While is is undeniably prominent in the original TV series they hit the ground running to play her up in this retelling. It is 22 (of 91) pages before we even see the first shot of Hikaru, the main character. After he is introduced the story focuses on him but the covers of later book distinctly have a Minmay focused theme. To be fair we also get a bit more Misa as well but they have undoubtedly realized the popularity of the singer in any Macross iteration and are playing that up. Other than that the story plays out roughly the same with the money shot of a Valkyrie transforming into gerwalk mode being the conclusion of this first chapter. It was a nice way to revisit a classic of anime with a new twist. As I understand they make some major twists to the plot much like Gundam: The Origin that don’t radically alter the story but do give you a new experience. I hope to read more of it if for nothing else we are not getting any more Mobile Suit Gundam École du Ciel anytime soon.

I watched episodes 2 and 3 of Record and Randsell. Episode 2 focuses on the little (actually big) sister and that’s unfortunate because her situations aren’t as funny except when her brother is involved. The scene with the bunny who wouldn’t give him candy was especially good for showing this. Episode 3 has a similar problem (focusing on the sister), but at least her friend has a hilarious daydream about her brother riding on a horse. This show remains funny and good, but I hope they get back to the brother soon

Since I talked a big game about how much I would love someone to license GTO Shonan 14 Days when I made it the manga of the month back in May it is only right that I put my money where my mouth is when it goes on sale at the Right Stuf this week. Vertical not only fulfilled my request to get the newest work by Tohru Fujisawa they also went back and picked up the remaining unpublished volumes of Shonan Junai Gumi (aka GTO: The Early Years) that Tokyopop was never able to release before they went under. Since they are on sale it is everyone’s duty to preorder these wonderful manga if they love comedy, action, drama, and/or yankees. Eikichi Onizuka is an iconic character of anime and manga that is always energetic in any iteration of his story. GTO: The Early Years is a delightful mixture of raunchy comedy and manly action that shows the origin of the greatest teacher in Japan. Shonan 14 Days is Tohru Fujisawa being on the top of his game continuing right back where he left off from GTO. Someone might tell you to pick up Tezuka or the Lychee Light Club. Those are all fine manga worth picking up but they are not the manly bible that is teachings of the Oni-Baku.

And if you need something to offset all that testosterone that you can pick up Twin Spica because that series does not get enough love.

Go to the Head of the Class

I thought it appropriate to make Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (movie 15) my first anime of 2012 and it set the year off right! In this case Conan takes on a bomber looking to destroy a dam but there is a lot more to this mystery in the small snowy town Kitanosawa whose residents have many secrets. The film starts off with a flashback many years in the past of a young boy being chased and falling down the mountain side. We then move to present day where Conan must first stop a threat to the Governor of Tokyo and a train bomb that leads them to Niigata Prefecture. We learn that the town of Kitanosawa was relocated five years prior when the dam building took place and it was not popular with many of the residents. The setting plays a major role in the film as it is small and fairly isolated and we have the added attraction of snow and all the dangers that come with it. We meet a group of childhood friends with a lot of complications between them and that boy on the mountain top, don’t count him out yet. Since there are multiple mysteries going on it keeps you guessing in good form. There isn’t too much romance in this film which is a nice break and I really enjoyed the friendship that The Detective Boys kindred with the injured boy from the mountain. This movie loves to push the limits of Conan’s skateboard from having him go upside down in a tunnel to its transformation into a snowboard which he uses to create an avalanche in the final tense climax. This in a very enjoyable addition to the franchise making me feel as if they are on a roll with the Conan movies!

I finally got to reading Twin Spica six through ten when I borrowed them from Narutaki. As I stated when I made this the manga of the month the story mixes the best of science fictions hopeful dreams of progress with the draw of excellent human drama. And it has not dropped off in the least. Although it is a story about space the main focus is the characters, their interactions, and their growth. We learn that everyone has at least one major secret that they are keeping from everyone. Some are huge, some are bizarre, some are very personal, and one is all three. But no matter how wacky anyone’s secret is Kou Yaginuma makes sure that it has an appropriate emotional gravitas. And so powerful moments are still effective. Marika Ukita’s angry loneliness,  Shu Suzuki’s carefree facade, Kei Oumi’s blitzkrieging energy, and even Asumi Kamogawa’s melancholy earnestness will always carefully play with your heart and mind without ever feeling manipulative. There is at least one story in each book that will make your earnestly well up with emotion while still having a light mood that prevents you from feeling emotionally blogged down. I am glad to see everyone is still growing. Marika Ukita clearly has had the most obvious arc of growth but everyone is moving forward at their own pace. I will say that chapter 10 ended rather unexpectedly for me. I thought something like that might happen but not at that point in the story. With only two books left to go this is a great time to start the series if you have not picked it up.

Seems that since they didn’t throw Heiji into the 15th movie, they decided to have him play prominently in Detective Conan Magic File 5. Sadly this short is rather dull. It concerns a mix-up of souvenirs that Sonoko and the kids brought back from their trip. It pretty much consists of Heiji sitting on the couch and speculating on how it occurred. The end is at least rather amusing as Heiji plays a prank on Conan.

As always I keep reading Zettai Karen Children for while is partially a reprehensible manga it makes up for it by being amazingly entertaining. The latest arc has brought a previously only periphery villain to the forefront and has the death of a major character. While I don’t they are fully dead it explains why they never appear in any flash forwards. Zettai Karen Children has always been moving along but this really feels like a major plot point has occurred even more than the time skip oddly enough. But the worst part is I think I have become a horrible, evil, and somewhat detestable Zettai Karen Children shipper. I have unknowingly begun to ship Shiho Sannomiya and Shuji Sakaki. There is something slightly wrong with the age gap involved but I don’t care. They just work so well together and play off each other in a most entertaining manner. They will probably just end up throwing Shiho together with Tim Toy but I have my dreams as they stand now. (Goodness I feel dirty.)

I happily finished up Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% (eps. 8-13) and truly the second half is spectacular. Since Haruka essential turns the guys into a boy band with her as the song writer things just get more crazy. The headmaster had a few more challenges in store, but don’t worry they literally rock his world with their songs. Haruka has an identity crisis, she works it out in the end, but not before the guys show up on the hillside near her grandmother’s to sing to her. A few things stood out to me after finishing the show. First, there is very little physical intimacy in the series, seriously it ends with everyone giving high-fives to Haruka. On a similar note, despite being filled with pretty boys there isn’t much fan-service/shirts off/etc. even when they going to an island. Finally, it may be one of the only times I’ve seen a cold, stoic guy actually apologize for his behavior and change. This series need a sequel ASAP!

The problem with being caught up with Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is I now have to wait a month for the next chapter of JojoLion. That is far too long. I love Hirohiko Araki’s work. His story and characters are amazing but that man cannot draw a cute girl to save his life. I know that Daiya Higashikata is supposed to be a cutie. Her bear hoodie is very cute. She is a progressive rock fan (specifically Yes) so you know she is super cool. She is blind so she even has moe points but seems very capable to be a bit anti-moe. But when you look at her character design all you can think is, “I know you are trying so hard but just like Yasuho Hirose you just can’t make your heroines physically attractive can you?” Oh well. Shine on your crazy manga-ka. By the way I wrote this while listening to Heart of the Sunrise as was appropriate.

I am making my way through Twilight of the Golden Witch, the final chapter of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. As I am still not done I will save my final review for the chapter and the series as a whole for a later date but I do think there is one major fact about the game worth mentioning. When this game was first released the reaction was divisive to say the least. Going mostly on spoilers it seems that there was a very vocal community of people who felt that Ryukishi07 shot the pooch with the ending. I may or not be related but it has taken quite awhile for the English patch of the game to come out. Purposefully or not this might be for the best. It has given people (including myself) sometime to distance themselves from that initial reaction and judge the ending on its own merits outside of the initial hype for the ending and then the backlash when the ending was finally revealed. So far I am enjoying it with some time to divorce myself from the initial reactions. A prime example is the Professor Layton style puzzle section is nowhere near as horrible as it first sounded. It has some of the most powerful scenes if you get the puzzles right. It gives a little insight into how everyone in the family was still a human despite the many horrible things they had done. That is thematically important given how I think they are building up this ending. It does not shy away from the terrible things they have done but if you think anyone there is a complete monster than it makes the ending somewhat disingenuous. I look forward to reading the ending and weighing on the series as a whole now. I think I would have been far more brutal if I did not have some time away from the series. This really shows the benefit of some time away from the gut reaction of a community.

After talking about Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% in my year in review, I decided I’d better watch some more! I watched up through episode 7 which is a good half way point before everyone goes to idol summer camp (oh yes!) and decides on their partners for their final exams. Each episode has focused on one of the guys who through Haruka’s positive attitude helps each feel more confident/find his voice/etc. Of course she isn’t able to melt the frozen heart of Tokiya upon first try but we do learn quite a bit about him and a few secrets are revealed. He gets a lot more attention for the obvious reason that he is the “true path” more than likely in the original game. It continues to be a far-fetched fantasy that knows it. Also the headmaster may appear infrequent but remains entertaining as Norio Wakamoto lends his voice to the bizarre antics. I’m hoping that perhaps they will focus on Haruka’s roommate in an episode but that may be unlikely in a show like this.

I enough people praising Chihayafuru has gotten me to go back and try to catch up with this series. It seems like one of those shows that has a small but vocal fanbase. I watched the first 8 episodes in which we finally get back to the present and watch Chihaya build a karuta team at her school. I have to wonder how much of the extremely Japanese nature of Karuta is responsible for this show’s reputation. It is so steeped in a Japanese game that all but the most dedicated anime fan will avoid the show but everyone else will eat it up. It also has to be well done to earn that fanbase but if it is competent it will get a highly devoted following. Plus since it is about such an obscure sport it can use many sports show story tropes without raising so many flags that it is using such techniques. But overall the show lives and dies on Chihaya’s manic energy. The show only shines if you are drawn into her vibrant personality but fortunately for the show she is a hard character to hate.

Twin Spica vol. 10 has a very sobering effect on a story that is full of youthful exuberance despite its melancholy reflections. As the kids reach another summer break and return to Yuigahama, we as well as them are starting to wonder, to question, who will really see this dream of space through to the very end. The realization that only a few can actually make it into the space program has long hung over the entire series, but this is more the internal conflict, doubts, and truths that all of them must face.

After a long hiatus Liar Game recently started up again. It seems to me that the current arc (chs. 139-144) that is starting up seems like filler to me. No new elements added. Mostly just a new game to show how Nao has grown but also needs to keep growing. It is early enough that I might be wrong but I do have to wonder if the series has just gotten popular enough that Shinobu Kaitani need to pad out what was initially planned to be a shorter series. I don’t really mind. As long as the game are exciting and logical then I will stay along for the ride. The break was also helpful because you do not want these games to be made up on the fly. The only way this series works is with a good deal of plotting out of the games in advance. This all does make me wonder one thing. Is the fact that VIZ never licensed Liar Game’s a great folly or a brilliant move. Was not releasing it just after Death  Note ended foolish because everyone would have picked this up when they were hungry for more Death Note? Did they let that audience slip away? Or would everyone have just unfairly compared it to Death Note never letting it gain its own legs. At this point Death Note will probably always come up whenever Liar Game is discussed but at least enough time has passed that it is a casual talking point and not the focus of all discussions about the manga. At this point what is done is done but it is an interesting thought experiment.

I watched the first four episodes of High Score which is based on an energetic shojo 4-koma. It centers around a bunch of strange individuals, many in relationships, at a high school. The main characters are two cruel narcissists who are also in love with each other which causes endless hilarity. They are surrounded by bizarre friends, enemies, and total nonsense. The jokes and incidents fly by in the 3-minute length which I realize may be the way to get to me enjoy 4-koma anime.

With Carnival Phantasm just wrapping up I decided I might as well spotlight it’s origin. Take Moon was a little comedy anthology that Eri Takenashi of Kannagi fame wrote while she was still at Type-Moon (not that she fully left as she is doing the character designs for Girl’s Work.) It took the mostly serious characters from Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night and puts them in utterly comedic situations to play out their personalities in as exaggerated manner as possible. So Arcueid goes from eccentric vampire to am undead blonde airhead while Saber is portrayed less as a hungry young swordswoman and more as a bottomless pit. But it is all done in a loving manner. It has the lighthearted feel and spirit of fandom present in an amateur doujinshi with the polish of a professional manga. The first book is all Tsukihime characters where as the second book add in skits from Fate/Stay Night. You can tell that Eri Takenashi has a bit off a soft spot for Arcueid and Ciel but almost everyone gets a turn in the spotlight. Even Hanei Misawa and Bazett Fraga McRemitz get some screen time.

I will warn readers that the manga has two major barriers. The first is it assumes that you know the Nasuverse characters inside and out. No real effort is made to introduce the characters or their worlds. Eri Takenashi not only assumes you have played all the Type-Moon games but that you also know the fandom in-jokes surrounding the games. You don’t just have to know who Kohaku is but know her mad scientist persona that she has gained outside of the main games. The second barrier is the fact there is no official English release and the second volume has never been fan scanned. I think it would be neat if someone picked it Take Moon considering the increased interest due to Carnival Phantasm and its short length but I am not holding my breath.

Speaking of Carnival Phantasm the instant question is, “If I watched Carnival Phantasm is there any reason for me to read Take Moon?” The answer is of course. While some of the stories are pretty much a direct interpretation most of the stories have been modified. The anime adds in characters that were introduced after Take Moon was written like Riesbyfe Stridberg or Red Saber but throws some characters like Arihiko Inui and Zouken Matou from main character roles to minor cameos. Heck the whole Phantasmoon skits from the anime are based on one page of a longer and very different Phantasmoon story in the original manga. Both have stories unique to their iteration as well. I mean if nothing else you don’t want to miss out on the Mystic Eyes of Breast Enlargement. It is a delightful little piece of fun for fans of Type-Moon and Eri Takenashi alike.

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UN-GO is one of the few shows of the season I have finished up. It is a very odd mystery show kind of in the vein of Demon Detective Neuro where the answers come from both deduction and supernatural means making them rather impossible beyond just guessing. It also has a bizarre sense of humor, too. The cases keep getting stranger as the show goes on bringing future technology like AIs into the mix as well further complicating any and all cases. The detective team of Shinjuro and Inga and later Kazamori combine with the tag along Rie make for an eclectic mix of talents and personalities. Shinjuro is a good lead detective that I came to really like, he has the observation skills but does use Inga a bit too much though the reasoning for that is more obvious later on. I like the last two cases a lot but truly they are more about experiencing the atmosphere. In fact, I am incredibly interested in the world surrounding these things like the seemingly militaristic Japan, there is a lot of world to explore but sadly there isn’t much time to do so before the end. Sadly there probably won’t be anymore either with the exception of the 0 episode (which I think will give us Shinjiro’s backstory) since only incredibly popular Noitamina shows get sequels. UN-GO is based on a novel but again sadly I won’t be able to read it either.

I finished UN-GO and I still don’t have a firm grasp on if I liked it or not. I will say that I do not regret watching it. It was unusual enough that it made the experience worthwhile. Sort of like the latest BBC Sherlock the series takes the post WWII mysteries of Ango Sakaguchi and puts them in a future setting. This odd juxtaposition gives the show a unique vibe of old and new. At the same time as I mentioned in my last look at the show it is also a clear example of why Knox wrote his rules of mysteries in the first place. Inga’s powers always make the mysteries feel unusual and sometimes the solutions feel unearned. The episode with the movie set was undoubtedly the most surreal episodes of the series. At times the show felt a bit strange but these episodes take that feeling to an entirely new level. The last three episodes distinctly feel like the end of a season but not the end of a story. There is the movie I have yet to see but that is just a prequel. I have to wonder if they hoped that this would do well enough to get a second season or did they just not want to put a cap on Ango Sakaguchi’s stories even if it is a heavily modified version of those stories. I can’t say everyone will like this show. It can be a very easy show to dislike. But it is worth checking out just to see if you like it as there is little else out there like UN-GO.

I went to see Ocean Waves at the Ghibli Retrospective here in NYC. Seeing these films on the big screen is something special, but this had the added bonus of being one of the lesser seen movies and one of the few I’ve never seen myself. It is more in line with the slow character stories of Whisper of the Heart and Only Yesterday than the adventurous fare we are more used to seeing from Ghibli. We follow the fairly easygoing Taku who gets wrapped up in the life of new transfer student Rikako after lending her some money. Rikako is self-centered and reeling from family from drama pushing Taku to exasperation at her flippant attitude with him and others. Believe me you’ll want to give her a good smack at some point, but luckily even that gets taken care of. What is best about the path of these characters is that it doesn’t really follow a romanticized ideal or go in any set direction realizing the wide possibilities and mistakes of youth. While it does have a neat ending, you still feel like acceptance is the big part as opposed to changing a person.

The fact that I easily finished Shinryaku!? Ika Musume this season is a testament to how easy it is to watch. Due to me marathoning Mass Effect and been busy with work and other projects I fell behind on several shows I had been watching. But I watched Squid Girl every week because it is so light and charming that I could effortlessly watch an episode a week without breaking a sweat. It is much the same as the first season. The jokes don’t change too much. This means that Squid Girl, Eiko, and Chizuru dynamic stays strong but that Sanae sort of remains a one trick pony that can be somewhat bland. I never found her super annoying but I easily could see how you could find her grating after a while. Unlike the last season they don’t really try to go out with a finale. The last episode is more of the same for better or for worse. If they made a third season I would watch it as the episodes as they go down smoothly but if it ends here I would hardly feel cheated. I would like to know the story of the Octopus Girl but I am hardly dying to know what her deal is.

I started back up on watching Ashita no Nadja with episodes 5-6. I am now not so sure that the phantom thief and the noble knight are the same person! We learn quite a bit more about Nadja’s mother in these episodes as she leaves England and heads of France. The diary talks of an artist in Paris so she beings looking for him in hopes of more answers. I was a little annoyed that somehow Nadja hadn’t asked any of the troupe if the could read the entries until this episode, but it is worth overlooking. It continues to be a fun fantasy adventure.

Today I got a horrible bit of news. Apparently starting next year the manga of Hayate the Combat Butler is going on a two month break. I look forward to a new chapter of Hayate every week so this is a depressing bit of news. But considering the life of a weekly manga-ka an occasional rest from time to time is surely a much-needed balm to an otherwise overworked soul. I am sure it is one of the few ways a manga author is able to travel and just relax when they are not in-between series. I look forward to seeing what Kenjiro Hata does when he comes back hopefully a bit rested and renewed.

I had been waiting to watch Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth since it was announced last year. So when it finally come with the latest volume of the manga I was thrilled to watch it. The movie much like the rest of Hayate is a pleasant and warm helping of comfort food. Heaven is a Place on Earth is a nice little story set right after Natsu-comi and the arrival of Kayura Tsurugino but before the beginning of the next semester. It perfectly captures the feeling of being out in the country during summer vacation. The story focuses on the Hayate/Nagi relationship so I am of course totally behind it. But there is a Hinagiku bath scene so all the fans of the pink student council president will be satisfied. The best part of the movie is it feels like a nice minor arc in the manga. While it is a bit surreal at points it feels like it was taken from the source. Too often these little spin-off movies miss any of that spark that make you love the manga but this one captures that je ne sais quoi perfectly. The oddest thing about the movie is it came out BEFORE Kayura was introduced in the manga but the movie makes no real attempt to introduce her. It goes along like she has always been a part of the cast. At this point it is clear who she is but I am sure there were many a Hayate fan trying to figure out who this strange new girl was. Kayura cosplays as Saber in the movie so she is 1000% OK with me though. I will also say that I cannot deny the appeal of Maria with twin tails in a summer dress. This movie is probably not going to win over anyone who is not already a Hayate fan. They don’t make an effort to introduce you to the plot other than showing some newly animated clips from the first episode during the opening song. Oh Ruka does not take part in the main plot but she sings a song and says a few lines of dialog during the movie’s opening. So if she appears in the 3rd season she now officially has a voice actress. I am now just waiting to watch it again when they release the extended cut on the Blu-Ray.

I went to see Arthur Christmas mostly thanks to an article about its production which also alerted me to the fact that Aardman Animations (of Wallace and Gromit fame) made the film with Sony. It really was everything it should have been: a delightful Christmas adventure with plenty of humor and holiday magic plus top-notch animation. It is the story of the one present Santa forgets to deliver on Christmas Eve which causes endless trouble for everyone. Arthur, youngest son of Santa, along with Grand-Santa take up the mission. Arthur isn’t the successor to the Santa mantle. Oh, he has plenty of enthusiasm but he is also absent-minded, clumsy, and afraid of just about everything; still he has a true heart that inspires everyone in true movie fashion. It even gets a little meta at points as Arthur realizes that Santa isn’t a person, it doesn’t matter who delivers the present, Santa is an idea and a feeling. One of the highlights to the animation production is just how Santa does deliveries which is very high-tech nowadays as they attempt to explain the ways in which it is all accomplished using military precision, thousands of highly trained elves, GPS, and a “sleigh” that functions much more as a space ship with the ability to camouflage itself in many ways. But the olden ways must be dusted off and put to use to fix the gift mistake. It has that classic bridging of multiple generations as a key element along with the realization that we each have a place in the world. While the story has some bumps, I didn’t understand how worrying helped Arthur get to the sleigh or why wrapping the burglar alarm did anything at all, it was a holiday film that left me in good spirits!

If it seems I have dropped off the grid recently it was because I have been playing Mass Effect 2. As everyone who has played the game has said Mass Effect 2 is just a clear improvement over the first game. The first game was incredibly awesome but the second game expands and tweaks so much about the first game. It was not that the first game was horribly flawed. It was just that they improved or smartly streamlined on almost every idea from the first game. They improved the combat, skill trees, and inventory system. There were a few less random missions but they went out of their way to give most of the random mission a unique feel via a combination of original maps and/or unusual mission parameters. Too often in the first game the story for the side missions were unique in story but the maps had a very cookie cutter feel. They layout of the hidden bases or spaceships felt the same unless there were main plot related missions. The layout and style of all the missions usually felt every distinct in Mass Effect 2. I never has a serious problem with the inventory in the first game but the upgrade system is just streamlined in such a satisfying way. The powers are also equally tightened to feel like you get to the core of what you wanted without losing anything vital. The story with the suicide mission feels  epic and fun. It is also just so fulfilling to see the choices you made in the first game pay dividends in this game and now that your choices in both games will have both major and minor impacts on the third game.  It is really everything you would want a sequel to be. I can’t pay to see the end of the trilogy in March. I will only be watching my roommate play through it but that will be good enough. (Plus you get all those nifty completion bonuses  when you are the second person playing the game.)

Kekkaishi 29 is the falling action from the major battle in 28 which makes it more of a transitional book in terms of forward motion, but we are flooded with information and characters. There is still much speculation within the pages about what the supreme leader’s final intentions are and how he is carrying them out. Still you get the feeling that Masamori is finally on the right track though I don’t trust everyone that is close to him. And while we do get better explanations about Karasumori the book continues to leave us in a bit of suspense. Yoshimori’s frame of mind swings wildly as he tries to control his new power and feel responsible for something greater. He gets back to cake baking with a lot of faked vigor hoping to negate his fears. The only thing rather unfortunate is that of late Tokine has really taken a major backseat to the proceedings. I don’t think it will stay that way as we make our way into the final arc, but it is a little frustrating.

As I was covering the Haruhi movie so I did not get to see the first Mardock Scramble movie at the NYAF. But for everyone who did not have a chance to watch the movie then you can watch it now on Hulu. I will say for the amount of nudity and violence I was flabbergasted that they did not require me to log in for an age check. I had to log in to watch Spice and Wolf and that ridiculously tame compared to this. On that note this is really a 80s OVA that just happened to come out in 2010. It has all the gritty ultra violence, dark introspection, and nudity that you remember from those old OVAs. They also do the old 80s-tastic by lightly touching on some philosophy but making sure not to go in too deep because there are action scenes to be had.  The Bandersnatch Company alone feels like a group that should have been in Ninja Scroll. Welldone sums it up succinctly. I would explain but his introduction is something you have to see for yourself. Since I saw it on Hulu is was dub only. The dub was decent but some of the Bandersnatch Company comes of as far more silly than creepy because their dub actors were a bit too hammy. Also I know that oeufcoque is just french for a soft-boiled egg but  it really leads to some odd accidental innuendo in the dialog. This is a great little throwback series that really caters to a type of anime fan that does not get as much attention anymore. The movie ends on a big cliffhanger that just dares you not to watch the next one and knows that you won’t be able to refuse.

Batman was one of my favorite relaunches from the New 52 and the second issue only enhances that feeling. We beginning again with Bruce explaining a piece of Gotham, this time the architecture of a tower and it places in the city before he is thrown out of it. There is some good action in these pages, and you get the feeling this version of Batman rather enjoys himself and the theatrics. This book also continues to feel like the detective portion of Bats that balances things as he goes over an autopsy and gets answers that he already knew from Dick. The page layouts sing! The art is spectacular of course, but it also has well placed breaths in the action as well as places with simple text on blank background that sent a little tingle through me. Bruce is cocky in this book but it feels like he is on the edge of having things pulled out from under him.

In the spirit of our giveaway, we though we’d share our own holiday wishes for anime and/or manga!

Narutaki’s Wishes:

• Wider Releases for Animated Films
  Yeah this one goes beyond anime but anime is certainly included! I am lucky enough to have access to many independent theaters as well as GKids and the New York International Children’s Film Festival which bring many foreign animation over for limited viewing. But I know most people aren’t that lucky and even being that lucky there is still a lot we miss out on. Just for anime alone the easiest titles to overlook are the films because of the limited access and let’s face it, by the time a fan-sub group can get their hands on it you may have completely forgotten the movie existed. Anime films that came out this year include the 2nd Mardock Scramble movie, fantasy-based To Aru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku, and a film adaption of Hotarubi no Mori E from manga-ka Yuki Midorikawa of Natsume Yuujinchou fame; titles from elsewhere of interest include music drama Chico and Rita, children’s animal tale Leafie: A Hen Into the Wild, and comedy adventure Un Monstre a Paris. Sure I might not want to see every animated film from across the pond east and west but options are sure nice.
  
• Finishing the Swan Manga in English
  CMX picked up this seminal and beautiful classic 70′s shojo story that has more than a few of the sports tropes we’ve all come to enjoy. It was one of their first releases but still they weren’t able to bring it to completion before closing their doors. Now I beg, plead, and offer money to any company willing to finish the missing five volumes.
• Make More Brave Series Anime
  The Brave series rides high on super robot and combining robot love bringing joy to us all. The last also happens to be the most famous title: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar. This part of the franchise came out way back in 1997 and despite its popularity no new anime iterations in the Brave line have been released.

Hisui’s Wishes

• A Viable Way To License Older Mecha Series
  There are a bunch of really good or at least fun older mecha series that have not been licensed for English-speaking markets. They include but are not limited to Blue Comet SPT Layzner, Invincible Steel Man Daitarn 3, Galaxy Cyclone Braiger, Giant Gorg, several shows in the Brave series. The main problem is mecha never sells particularly well in the US and if you add age into the equation you get sales poison. But Vertical has shown with manga that titles that are classically poor sellers can be profitable if correctly chosen and marketed. I wish there was some small anime publisher with enough skill and savvy to get these older mecha titles and find a way to at least make them marginally profitable. This may be crazy talk but that is what holiday wishes are for.
• Some Neglected Type-Moon Characters Get Some Love
  I love Saber. That is no real secret. Equally obvious is that only a handful of characters like Asuka and Rei get more figures a year made of them than Saber. But for all the Saber and Ryougi Shiki figures that exist they could make one or two more pieces of merchandise for other characters. Caster, Bazett, Miyako, and Riesbyfe could get some nice figures that I think would sell well. Also unless your name is Archer there are almost no male Type-Moon characters with figures. Maybe some nice Shiki, Nrvnqsr Chaos, Lancer, Gilgamesh, and Rider figures would be a good start. I know several people would instantly buy a well made Iskandar figure.
• A Little More Diversity in the Anime Line Up Next Year
  I know that the anime industry is getting slightly conservative and insular with its choices because of the bad economy. They want to go with what they feel is sure to sell just enough to make a profit more than take a risk on a show that might bring in a wider audience. But I would love to see a bit more experimentation and diversification of genres next year. I am not asking for a radically different line up of show next year. Just a move towards a more robust selection. It might also help some people from constantly getting on a soap box whenever they can about the death of the industry. It won’t ever stop. Even Holiday wish has so much power. But a little reprieve might be nice. And maybe just maybe it will not just help stop the decline of the industry but help foster some growth.
  

I’ve started playing Professor Layton and the Last Specter which is the start of the prequel arc featuring the first meeting of Layton and Luke. Since this is the case, the game begins with Layton meeting his new assistant Emmy who quickly became a favorite of mine. She is a new addition with her high energy and physical nature. At times she even acts as the audience to the strange happenings making comments like these villagers are so weird and the like. And it is a good thing I fell in love with her quickly, I just started a new chapter where she has broken off from Layton and Luke to go solo in London. So far the story has been in line with previous games which is a positive; I’ve been able to deduce small mysteries but the Specter remains elusive. The town seems more sprawling complete with canals and boat transportation but like the last two games it tends to box you into a path and only lets you explore at its discretion which I always take issue with. Puzzles are Layton puzzles and nothing has stood out though there does seem to be more real math than before. I’m happy to say the car path mini-game is back, but made way better because it is with trains! I haven’t gotten to London Life yet. If you’ve seen the movie Eternal Diva you know a little more about this game, but I’m looking forward to now go back and watch it with a fuller knowledge.

Mass Effect is a series that has a rich back story and world building aspects that can be totally ignored if you wish to play the game as a straight sci-fi action game. I being a Type-Moon fan of course am the sort of person who will pour over all the in-game encyclopedia entries and journals. So that fact alone won the game major bonus points with me. That aside I think the game lives up to all the praise the fans give to the series. It has a solid plot that you can play through fairly quickly if you skip all the side material. But half the fun is all the side missions you can do. The main plot line maybe be the entrée but the side dishes are equally important to the meal in its entirety although you might not want to do all the silly collect all the tchotchkes missions like I did. But the cool thing is so many of your decisions carry over to the next two games be it huge decisions you make in the main plot line or little choices you make in side quests. It gives you a reason to seek out missions just so you can impact the world as opposed to just collecting more money and experience. Knowing that the people you kill or tasks that you accomplish carry over give every decision you make a satisfying weight and consequence. The dialog and charterers are not War and Peace or Citizen Kane levels but you will get attached to most people and the writing is usually pithy. The morality system is one of the best for a modern video game. There are still some kick the dog ridiculously evil choices but most of the time picking the renegade choice is an acceptably gray moral decision. It makes playing the path other than the white knight choices viable to people who don’t just shoot the scientists in Half-Life because it is cool. As for the two biggest complaints I always hear about the game I agree with one and did not really care about the other. The Mako is sort of annoying as everyone says it is. It’s hardly unbearable but it is clunkier than it needs to be. When you are moving along it is fine but when you spend 10 minutes getting from one location of the map to another when is should have taken 30 seconds because of the terrain you quickly understand why people were glad they removed the tank driving from everything but some optional missions in the second game. The other major complain it’s the inventory system. I thought that about 90% of gear you pick up was just vendor trash but I did not find it that hard to deal with even on the 360. I just wish the shops were not just filled with random inventory as opposed to a fixed stock. I almost always had mediocre to poor armor because of this. Those flaws aside Mass Effect was pretty amazing. I beat it in about a week and missed quite a bit of sleep due to it keeping me up. If you any sort of American RPG fan it is worth trying it out.

The Zelda Skyward Sword comic with just five pages looks gorgeous but is really neither here nor there. It just leaves you wanting it to build upon what was done. Maybe once I play the game I’ll feel like it is a nice little intro.

I may be behind on some of my shows due to playing Mass Effect but I have kept up with Kamen Rider Fourze. It is still the goofy  Jojo’s Part 4 Kamen Rider it has always been. They finally have the team all assembled so they had their first real throw down match with a Boss character. Gentaro Kisaragi is still going along being an entertaining moron with a heart of gold. His character really exemplifies the appeal of the show. This is important because when the show goes into serious drama mode the Japanese acting makes the melodrama feel really odd and amateurishly cheesy. When they concentrate on the action or comedy it is sometimes surreal but always entertaining. I was slightly surprised by the big reveal in episode 13. It was a decently well executed reveal for a show that is normally so goofy. It is a fun little show that always manages to put a smile on my face. Worth checking out even if your are not normally a fan of tokusatsu shows. It has a strong charm that just cannot be denied.

I just discovered the Bad Machinery webcomic (sorry I don’t read many webcomics!) and I’ve fallen in love. I began with the current story Murder She Writes which doesn’t require prior knowledge to make you laugh and try to solve the spoof on the classic setup of a group of people stranded in a snowstorm where murders begin happening. Lottie our young sleuth is wonderfully odd and awkward. The artwork adds quirk to its already humorous trappings. What stands out for me is how well this comic does single pages with a beginning, middle, and end but also connects to the overarching story; it feels very satisfying rather than needing the whole thing at once in order to enjoy it.

And as soon as Carnival Phantasm Ex Season was translated I downloaded and watched it. It is the longest episode of Carnival Phantasm so far. It did make me realize one thing. I don’t really know all that much about Bazett and Caren’s actual personalities. Since Fate/Hollow Ataraxia still has not been translated I actually know them much more for their silly doujinshi personalities than who they actually are in-game. I wonder how odd it will be to play Fate/Hollow and see them how they were actually meant to be portrayed after seeing them as nothing but goofballs for so long. Still every time I see Bazett I have to wonder why she does not have more of a fan following. If it were not for Saber I am fairly certain I would be firmly on team Bazett. I am sort of amazed how much mileage they are getting out of this Phantasmoon joke but I think it needs to end here. Even I who have supported the Phantasmoon joke so far am beginning to wonder if they have any idea of when enough is enough. I wonder if I were a bigger Arcueid fan if I would change my tune or not. But to counter that they have a good deal of Robot Chicken style mini skits which work a bit better. Also the more Aozaki Aoko the better. Miss Blue is always wonderful. Now all that is left is to wait for the third season and the new version of Melty Blood for the PC.

As I stated when I went to the Vertical wine tasting event The Drops of God is one of those unusual manga that has an effect on the world outside of the otaku domain due to its ability to effect the wine market. That fact alone made the series something I had to check out. To put the manga in perspective it is somewhere between Bartender and Yakitate!! Japan. The main storyline distinctly has a tournament set up. To inherit his father’s insanely expensive wine collection Shizuku Kanzaki has to defeat his father’s adopted son Issei Toomine in a contest to identify 13 wines. Also they like to do the super visual descriptions of the wine like the bread tastings in Yakitate!! Japan but far more sedate and refined manner. The characters in The Drops of God will be much more likely to compare a wine to a famous Renaissance portrait than a series of Galaxy Express 999 gags. But overall while there is a healthy amount of humor the series is far more of a drama than a comedy. Also all the characters are adults with careers so no plucky young teenage protagonists. On the other hand while is is not as sedate as Bartender most of the stories do not seemed centered on just the battle on the inheritance. There sare a good amount of other stories outside of the main plot line that still involve wine. It has many of the healing stories that something like Bartender has but at the same time there is more urgency and drama. Also with a set number of wines as part of the competition you always feel that progress in being made. With some manga you can always be left wondering if you will ever see the end of the story. With the drops of God you clearly see a beginning and an end with with clear demarcations of progress. Toomine Issei is quite the turbo douche. He of course has the money, connections and wine knowledge that should instantly make him the winner. The fact that he does things like taste soil from all over France to give him an edge does not hurt. He would make a great slimy 80′s romantic rival. Shizuku starts off the series with almost no knowledge of wine as he rejected the world of his famous wine critic father. But he does have the abilities of a supertaster thanks in part to harsh flavor training as a child. He befriends an attractive young trainee sommelier named Miyabi Shinohara who supplements his knowledge of wine with her own training. Together they have enough knowledge to challenge Issei. If you are interested in manga for an older audience or in alcohol related manga it is definitely worth a look.

Wonder Woman issue 2 cements this story as one of the more awesome in the New 52. We continue to deal with a much more mythology based plotline than anything resembling superheroes (with the exception of Wonder Woman’s outfit). We glimpse Olympus, make it back to the island of the Amazons, and get further entrenched in the soap opera that is the love lives of Greek gods. The art really pushes this new feel a long way being both dark yet highly saturated. This is the first time I’ve ever been real into Wonder Woman, and I like it!

The Carnival Phantasm Ilya’s Castle Special is such an unusual beast. It is a bonus anime based of the Ilya’s Castle minigame from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. In fact it is pretty much a Let’s Play video of the game. Like any entertaining Let’s Play video it all comes down to the commentary that accompanies the video. The draw of this is all the Fate/Stay Night voice actors are here narrating their characters. But their narration is very silly.  Most of the talking is done by Saber and Shiro but everyone gets in some quips in. There are some references to Red Saber, Fate/Zero, and Lancer’s habit of always dying. I will note that I was frankly unaware that Ayako Kawasumi was capable of delivering her lines so fast. You would think she was John Moschitta, Jr. the way she was going on about Mapu tofu. If Carnival Phantasm was already Type-Moon fans only than this bars anyone is not crazy hardcore from even looking at it. It was fun but hardly for everyone.

In the first issue of Supergirl, she spends the majority fighting battle armored dudes; in the second issue, she spends the majority fighting Superman. Again the fight looks awesome, but now it has a little more depth. Still we are left no closer to understanding what is going on. We do come to realize that Supergirl is a woman out of time, somewhere along the way time shifted and Superman is left wi3th the dubious honor of telling her their homeland is gone. The last page hints at further conspiracy so hopefully we get more of that in the next issue.

The Fishman Island Arc is just winding down in One Piece. The main purpose of the last arc was to get the crew back together after the time skip and send them into the New World. This arc was mainly here to show off everyone’s new powers and really demonstrate how they have gown since we last saw them. After the Baroque Works Saga Oda set up the Luffy and Bellamy fight to show how Luffy had grown by taking down this supposedly notorious captain with one punch. In the same way the New Fishman Pirates acts as the same barometer for the whole crew this time.  There are none of the typical life of death struggles we usually see in One Piece. Hody Jones and his crew go down fairly quickly showing that Straw Hat’s training for two years was very effective. I was a little disappointed that while Nico Robin and Nami did some fighting they did not really get the same time in the spotlight that their male crew members got. For same Oda. For shame. Hopefully they will have a bigger role in the next arc. It also seems that Jinbe has turned down his offer to be a member of the Star Hat crew but the arc is not over yet so there is still time for him to have a change of heart. I am curious to see what Robin has to say the Poseidon. The reveal of the true nature of this ancient weapon was undoubtedly the most unexpected revelation in the arc. Still I enjoyed this arc and can’t wait to see what happens when the crew enters the New World proper. I am assuming we will see at least one of the Supernovas because you can’t throw out a bunch like into the story and not have at least one waiting at the opening of this new frontier.

I had the pleasure of watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox which I already knew I’d like. Based on the book by Roald Dahl it already had a great story base. The movie is quite droll and witty so at times it makes you forget it is a children’s tale. The film follows Mr. Fox who after finding out his wife is pregnant gives up his life as a thief. After many years suppressing the urge he decides he wants to go on one was hurrah stealing from the three best (and nastiest) farmers in the area. This of course causes more of stir than intended for him, his family, and his animal neighbors as the farmer’s plot revenge. There are a little of stories going on while Mr. Fox goes through his mid-life crisis including the coming of age of his son (who is a bit of weirdo) and his nephew. It is a family adventure is the true sense but everything works out in an unexpected fashion. The fact that George Cloony lends his voice to Mr. Fox gives him a whole new dimension.

When Rango first came out, I was skeptical, but great reviews poured in. Finally, I got the chance to decide for myself. Rango is the story of a great big fake who becomes a great big hero. Amazingly, when we meet our scaly friend we don’t know his name, and actually still don’t know it, because “Rango” he makes up along with a series of amazing exploits that he sells to the folks in a little desert town called Dirt. This is a town in trouble as their water supply is drying up and the mayor is plotting something. Rango is the stranger who appears and changes everything. All things after the accident that puts Rango into the desert is a riff on the classic Western almost as if he has been thrown back in time (though of course he hasn’t). There is a clear knowledge of the reference material and it gives a little bite to some of the twists that you expect as well as great humor. The animation is all out incredible, there is a particularly flying scene that blew my mind with detail. Great film and certainly one of the best animated features of the year. Oh, and the owl mariachies are the best. I need a shirt with them.

I just read Princess Knight volume 1. When Narutaki and I read volume 2 we will probably do a full length editorial about the manga as a whole but I thought I would throw out a few thoughts before then. The oddest thing about Princess Knight was that Osamu Tezuka almost seems of have ADD with his storyline. I always knew that Osamu Tezuka liked to do episodic series like Black Jack and Astroboy. When I read the somewhat scatter brained plot of Swallowing the Earth I assumed that the fact that the plot was all over the place had to do more with Tezuka being new to Gekiga. But in Princess Knight jumps from plot line to plot line without really ever stopping for a breath. It is very clear to me that he is making up Princess Knight as he goes along while borrowing from Disney every step of the way. The main character goes from trying to hide her gender, to being a prisoner, to fighting a witch, to being on a pirate ship with hardly any transition. I think he clearly Tezuka had a beginning and an end mapped out but everything in between seemed to be decided as he was writing it. You can’t ever say you are bored by the book but it does feel a bit disjointed. Still the story is worth reading for the fact that it is a major milestone in manga history. While it was not the first shojo manga it was highly influential in the foundation of the genre. The book is just best enjoyed if you know going into  it that the book reads very young and has a scatter shot plot. I think I enjoyed the book a bit more than Narutaki because I went in with a more informed view of the book and knew what to expect.

The new special Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown premiered on television Thanksgiving night. This story focuses heavily on Linus and his security blanket which most everyone is trying to relieve him of. Lucy and Snoopy are the biggest antagonists in this. Peanuts is built on a dry humor and mean-spirited undertone but I’m not sure this special hit a sweet spot. It just felt a little too torturous of everyone.

I finally finished Kara no Shojo. I was on a podcast with Greg about the game but I has not finished it at that point. What said Greg was right. No matter what happens you get a pretty depressing ending for a majority of the characters. Fortunately you can save the characters from Cartagra but otherwise everyone else except for one or two people you meet in Kara no Shojo is going to up dead or seriously messed up. Playing through the whole game did make me realize a few things. The first is that video game mysteries have a delicate balancing act even more than most mysteries. There is always the dance between showing the culprit too much and therefore making the mystery too obvious or not showing the culprit enough and making their guilt seem like it came out of nowhere. With any video game where you can run around and investigate it becomes even more insane. It is a hard enough to keep the culprit in focus the right amount when the writer has full control of the audience’s attention in a book or film. When the player has much more control of the camera it becomes insanely difficult to control how much they can see without the grand reveal seeming either cheesy or obvious. In Kara no Shojo there are three main murder mysteries. I felt that the two main mysteries were fairly obvious if you were paying attention. The grand mystery would really takes multiple play thorough to get unless you just happen to suspect one location of being up to no good and repeatedly go there to see a pattern. But actually the best way to play the game as a detective is to play through once and save before any investigation scene and then go EVERYWHERE using saves and loads. Then with all that information in your head play through again with a bigger picture of what is happening. But the game really demands several play throughs as it is. I still stand by my positive review of the game but it is not without reservations. Only after finishing the game did I realize it has an odd misogynistic streak. Most of the time if you pursue one girl in the series her sex scene is just before she gets murdered. That is not the case for everyone but it is still some really messed up sexual politics when you get right down to it. It made me really uncomfortable when I though about it. It is a good series, a solid mystery, and generally a more substantial than your normal eroge but the darkness will understandably turn some people off and that is perfectly understandable.

Sailor Moon vol. 2 reminds me how much faster this story moves than the TV series. That’s a good thing by the way. Our five main guardians have come together and now they are tasked with protecting the princess and finding out about the Moon Kingdom. There are a few parts of extreme expository dialogue thanks to this. This volume also propels the relationship of Usagi and Mamoru ten-fold and the melodrama is concentrated. As the true goal of Queen Beryl comes to light things become tense with less one-off “we are making humans into our minions” plots. There is an interesting balance of pure evil vs. manipulated to evil which gives some depth to the story.

As an old Sierra adventure game player I decided to check out The Silver Lining. It is a fan made game based on the King Quest series that attempts to be a 9th game that ties everything up. It is planned to be five parts long with four parts already being released. It is very much a fan made game for better and for worse. For a game that is entirely made by fans and is free it is quite an accomplishment. The graphics are impressive, there is full voice acting, and clearly a good deal of love and respect for the original series. On the flip side the puzzles in the first two parts are horrifically simple, the voice acting can be wonky and amateurish, and the story sometimes unmistakably reads like fan fiction. That said it clearly an insane amount of man hours went into this and it shows. As I understand the next two parts have much more complex puzzles because the only time I had any difficultly was because I did not notice an out-of-place necklace popping up in location I had previously been. In the end I suppose it is better to err on the side of simpler but understandable rather than challenging but nonsensical seeing is that is often considered one of the things that hurt the adventure game genre back in the day. I also know some people were complaining continuity and retcon issues with the game but I never noticed them. Then again it have been over a decade since I played the last King Quest game so I only remember the broad stokes of the plot and characters. The nit picky details are firmly lost on me. And this is coming from someone who used to own the King Quest Companion. If you are a fan of the adventure game genre it is worth playing if for nothing else a nice taste of nostalgia with a price you can’t beat. I am curious how it will stack up to the upcoming official new King Quest game from Telltale Games.

Any Sailor Moon fan will tell you that it was a long-time wish for Codename Sailor V to get an English translation. It is so special to us because Sailor V is a character that appears in Sailor Moon but has a much larger back story that most of us couldn’t actually read. Sailor V is a legendary warrior already in the Sailor Moon series and her exploits (and video games) are often mentioned. And again alongside Sailor Moon it is a title that helped transform the magical girl genre. Beyond that though, it is a fun adventure for anyone with a young heart. No deep Sailor Moon knowledge needed since it comes before, too.

Codename Sailor V follows 14-year-old Minako who becomes a champion of justice, somewhat against her will, thanks to a talking cat named Artemis. She battles dark forces in the town as they manipulate the masses through various schemes. Mina has great energy as a lead with a peppy and amusingly dramatic attitude. While her studies suffer as she’s more apt to play video games and daydream about idols, she excels in athletics. This makes the action scenes fun as she loves kicking baddies, literally. Sailor V also becomes something of an idol herself as the story goes on getting her own video game, fan club, and best of all police detective rival who vows to catch her. There is a plenty of humor which should be obvious and nothing gets incredibly serious but Mina does start to realize something bigger is going on. While all the incidents are tied to a deeper story, they are mostly quick adventures.

At only two volumes this is a great, quick read! It adds a little something extra for fans of Sailor Moon but can also entertain with its poppy fantasy. Of course if you want to know the bigger story you’ll have to pick up Sailor Moon next (like you weren’t going to anyway).

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Carnival Phantasm Season 2 has an all Saber related episode. Therefore Carnival Phantasm Season 2 is rated A++ with a side order of extra credit. But with all my horrible blatant prejudice aside Carnival Phantasm continues to be a series of in jokes piled on top of each other. There is some good material that does not rely on the mythology but there are few people who would be able to sit through what would otherwise be rather incomprehensible episodes otherwise. This set of episodes really favors the Fate side of things. Episode five is mostly Berserker running around wreaking havoc.  Episode six is sort of dodgy since it mostly revolves around the fact that Shinji often beats and rapes Sakura while Rider does her best to protect her in a faux soap opera. It is really is a dark type of humor that could easily turn people off. Episode seven is the only split episode with the first half being about Arcueid making okonomiyaki and the second half being about Caster’s love life. I wonder if this skit is enough to make people actually like Caster. Unlike Sakura she has never really been hated but mostly just ignored.  The eighth is all about Saber so I naturally enjoyed it immensely. They thankfully end the Phantasmoon story for the most part in episode 6. It was never that long but they were stretching what was originally a one page gag pretty far as it were.  I assume we will get one more Phantasmoon skit in season 3 but I think the break will go do it a world of good. Lancer continue to be the Kenny of the series dying in every episode. I have more to say but maybe I will save it for its own post. Other than that: ALTER! ALTER! ALTER!

 In volumes 27-28 of Kekkaishi we finally get confirmation, at least in part, of what Karasumori’s deal is. 27 is mostly battling the witches spell which threatens not just the sacred site but the surrounding city. But big surprises occur when Yoshimori is able to harness the mind-emptying technique that we’ve been so curious about. Along with this comes the reveal of his new familiar which leans towards creepy. Since all of this involves the head of the Organization and every major player I can only assume we have entered the final arc of the series. I still feel as though Yoshimori’s family has secrets lurking in its depths but we’ll have to wait and see.

I have been keeping up with Guilty Crown up to the seventh episode because I can watch it at work. I have an easier time keeping up with anything I can watch during lunch. Comparisons to Code Geass aside I think the main problem with Guilty Crown is it is a fairly standard show that happens to be misplaced in the noitaminA time slot. It would hardly save it from its harshest critics because there are some distinctly wonky parts about the series and some major flaws in the series. I just think some of the anime fans in the middle would be a bit more lenient on the shows flaws if it were not in such a high profile slot. That said while I think the show is OK I can’t say that that I am loving it. Shu Ouma is growing to be a better character as the show goes on but he hardly sells the show out of the gate and I know his slow growth is hardly going to win him many fans. I can’t say I am too annoyed with the cast but also none of them really stand out as being very compelling either. Oh wait. Daryl Yan is pretty annoying whenever he shows up.  He is just such a cliche psycho villain but without any style or class. Sort of the worst combination. If I were not able to watch this show at lunch I don’t think I would be as up to date with it. The logic of the show can be off a bit and things sometimes happen more for dramatic reasons than logical ones. But there are shows like Maken-ki and C3 I could also watch on Nico but I don’t even bother to waste my lunch time with them.

 Swamp Things’ second issue really starts to show its horror-side with more gruesome scenes and zombies showing up. That didn’t really endear this issue to me, nor did the heavy exposition. But I did get a better understanding of what is happening, the first issue had an intriguing ending. And while originally this didn’t seem like an origin story, that has changed so we are actually still without Swamp Thing after two issues.

After watching the first seven episodes of Un-Go I am still not sure what I think of the show. The show is an excellent primer of why Knox’s rules exists. Un-Go routinely has Shinjuurou Yuuki break Knox’s sixth rule by having Inga use her ability to force anyone to answer any one question. While  Shinjuurou can’t just randomly ask the suspects questions until they break it does often feel like some of his solutions are undeserved. And that is exactly why Knox’s rules exists. Whenever you break the rules you run the risk that your mysteries seem arbitrarily solved or just unfair. I am curious if anyone has read the original Meiji Kaika Ango Torimono-cho novel this series is very loosely based on.  Does the detective in that story have supernatural help as well? Other than that I keep watching mostly to see that ties together Shinjuurou and Inga and what exactly is Rinroku Kaishou’s agenda. How well all those things come together will determine the strength of the series in the end. Episode 6 also introduced what could be a Professor Moriarty to Shinjuurou’s Holmes with a criminal who has his own spirit. That could also add some good spice to the series.

I watched the first two episodes of the rather bizarre magical girl show Kawaii! JenNy which uses Barbie-like dolls along with robot and bear toys in a stop-motion format. The three girls go on missions in a Charlie’s Angels style to protect the sweets of the town from Sister B and her minions, some of which are Teddy bears dressed in military outfits. It is very silly and young as one can imagine with slapstick humor especially from the constantly foiled Sister B. The girls are very fashionable and it is based on a real doll that is the Japanese Barbie.

Gladstone’s School for World Conquerors issue 1 starts with a brief and amusing history of how the school came to be through the bumblings of a not so great villain who was defeated by a totally way better villain who used the name “Gladstone’s” ironically. The rest of the issue introduces us to many of the current students the likes of which cocky Kid Nefarious, awkward Mummy Girl, trouble makers the Skull Brothers, and a bunch of other students and teachers. And it hints that the villains and heroes dynamic isn’t exactly what it seems. While this spend most of its time settling up the story, it still has good looks at characters personalities and stays humorous and fun all the way through knowing just how much to make fun of itself.

There are somethings that you read and you instantly know your opinion on. I hated this or I loved this. You just have a gut reaction that dictates your opinion. Other times you get a more middle of the road reaction and then with a little digestion you can give a thumbs up or down. But then you have a book like Breathe Deeply by Doton Yamaaki. Even after a day of contemplation I can’t tell you if I thought it was good or not. I clearly see the books strengths but I just as clearly see the books weaknesses. They are both equally obvious to me and neither really makes forget about the other. So the best review I can give this book it to put both sides of the coin on the table and let anyone reading decide for themselves which half they consider more important. The main thing is that the book seems to think that subtlety is for losers when it comes to story telling. So when it is doing well its success is as bright as the sun and when it is annoying it is like nails on a chalk board through a sound system and your right next to the speaker that is on MAX. The story is a tale of two boys who fall in love with the same girl who is dying from a heart condition. One is a cold genius the other is a hot-headed punk. When she passes away after declining a transplant for ethical reasons both boys fall into a deep and angry depression in their own way. But they both attempt to find a method of creating an artificial heart that would not require a donor to prevent a similar tragedy. Both men are haunted by the loss of the woman they love but at the same time are irrevocably bound to each other by their loss. There is a lot to like about this book. You have older working adult characters. We have some major flash backs to their childhood but the bulk of the story is about their present day medical research and politics therein. There is also some serious looks at the ethics of research, transplants, organ donors, and medical politics. There are also some solid character study and romantic moments. The problem in Breathe Deeply never attempts to do anything in subdued tones. It throws the medical issues at you with the force of a rail gun round.  It is obvious what the authors stance on the issue of organ donors is except for 1 scene at the end that sort of tempers his view. Also everything is soap opera levels of the theatrics. Everyone has dark secrets that they spring on the rest of cast at the worst possible moment, drunk dads are always drinking and abusive, anytime anyone learns a weakness of another character they immediately intact a fiendish blackmail scene, and every conversation is some sort of game be it political or emotional. There is even beating and interrogation by a group of doctors using sodium thiopental. The problem with that is that Breathe Deeply wants you to take it very seriously. When Team Medical Dragon does the same thing I am OK with it because it mostly want to be a crazy medical drama with action and boobs. If you think about some medical issues as well than all the better. Breath Deeply wants you to take its love story and its ethical concerns with a somber gravity. But it is hard to do so with the theatrics surrounding them. The art is very seinen and the characters are fairly realistic looking which reinforces the feeling the series wishes to give off. I can’t really tell you if you will like this book or not. I am still not sure what my feelings are. But it is only one book long and is not like a good deal of the shonen and shojo in the English market today. Take what I have said and see if it sound interesting to you. There is a lot to enjoy and just as much to turn you off.

Penny Arcade has started a comic of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Nintendo. There is exactly one page long so far, but it looks great! The art is crisp with great color. And the text, while sparse is intriguing. Looking forward to these each week!

To be warned Gundam Unicorn 4 is a fairly talky episode. There is some action in the beginning and a good deal of fighting at the end but most of the middle is people bantering about Laplace’s Box or why they fight. This being a middle episode it is perfectly understandable to me but my tolerance for slow conversation is higher than most of fandom’s. And there is a long fight sequence at the end to reward anyone who needs robots fighting in their episodes. Anyone who thinks that Unicorn is rehashing the tropes of the Universal Century will find many of an example to support their case. We have the protagonist falling into a depression where he refuses to fight, the noble villain who has a chat with the protagonist in the desert, the long discussion over why people fight, the mid-battle speech where the hero tries to convince someone not to fight and several other UC classic scenes. If you are tired of this formula then you are going to run to the Internet to complain a blue streak (and then most probably still continue to watch anyhow.) I also see a lot of people being annoyed with Banagher most of this episode. He is not Shinji this episode but moping around hardly wins you any fans in the mecha community. For everyone else there is still a good deal to enjoy. I will admit I have a soft spot for Audrey Burne but besides that I think she has some strong scenes in this episode. I was amused by Riddhe and Audrey’s super awkward hug. It is worth nothing this is the first role where Ken Narita was Bright Noah instead of Hirotaka Suzuoki, who sadly passed away. Ken Narita instantly does not sound like Hirotaka Suzuoki but he gets the Bright Noah tone rather well which I think is the most important part. I would have to hear a bit more to make final decision on the how well he was recast but so far I definitely can’t complain too much. This episode does end with the strongest hook for the next episode. It really makes to want to see the next episode. As a side note: do we ever discover who was piloting that RX-160S Byalant Custom at the end of the episode?

I started reading Legend by Marie Lui but sadly I had to enact my 100 page rule (i.e. I give a book 100 pages *which is generous!* to capture me, I actually went 130 pages for this one). The story is about two individuals on completely different sides of the law in a dystopian future in which they are on a collision course with each other. The thing that kept me out and prevented me from connecting was the internal monologue of the two protagonists. They were so in love with themselves it was nauseating at times; there is literally a paragraph that starts with “I look pretty awesome tonight.” They also prove how cool they are through actions, but that’s all you really want. The romance is there, you know that’s where it is headed, but from what I read of them it would have been more interesting to see them as rivals/frenemies and leave the romance to happen with the friends (who I incidentally like better than the leads) they each already have. The setting is good, rightly mysterious, and brutal at times which is the best part.

Macross Frontier: The Wings of Goodbye is 100% Macross cheese. If you like the serious business side to the Macross franchise watching this movie is going to be hell. Anyone who thinks that everything in Macross should be Plus should just hope that the 30th anniversary series is more to their liking. Anyone who actually liked Chiba Sound Units will be in heaven. It is all the soap opera drama, plot convenient saves, silly capers, and “music fixes everything” logic that Macross has to offer. If you sit down and really analyze what you like about the franchise you will discover your opinion before you see even one second of the movie. Other than that there are some major changes. Some characters who die in the TV series live and a few new characters bite the bullet in their place. There were some game changers in the first movie but the last movie ends in a totally different place. Different enough that I am surprised I have not heard debates on which is canon: the movie or the TV series. The biggest change is a final and conclusive end to the love triangle. If you were annoyed by the lack of a decision in the TV series the movie gives you exactly what you want but depending on which camp you were in you might not like the answer you get. I will spoil in enough to say that Mike Dent’s wish for a Sheryl/Ranka ending does not come to fruition. Like with the TV series there are some major shout outs to old Macross series including a long Macross 7 homage scene and a little Macross Plus wink. And even some love for Five Star Stories and Eureka Seven. The songs are catchy but it would not be a real Macross series if that were not the case. Although I must say that Sheryl’s first song is so very … weird. It is a fun movie but not really a smart movie. I had a good time. It makes me look forward to whatever they pull out for the 30th anniversary.

It has been awhile since I saw Last Exile but overall I remember liking the series so I was eager to watch Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing. Right off the bat the series reminds you of one thing: Range Murata is definitely a lolicon. Any perusal of one of his Robot art books will remind you of that fact. So when Fam starts the series in her underwear and sleepwalking I am not exactly sure why people were SUPER surprised. It does set an odd precedent as the episodes I have seen since then never have that odd level of fan service again. Perhaps Gonzo thought this was putting their best foot forward but I think most people would disagree. Other than that poor choice it is mostly the Last Exile you remember. Apparently the prediction that moving to an abundant planet would stop the conflicts was optimistic thinking because it seems war had broken out again. But really without giant airship battles I don’t think people would be anywhere near as interested in Last Exile. Since the Guild is no more they don’t have the musket battles but in their place there are air pirates so you can get your Skies of Arcadia grove on. Fans of the original series will notice that Dio is alive and well. Still sort of loopy but definitely calmer. How exactly he survived after Last Exile has yet to be explained (if it will be explained at all.) After three episodes I have yet to make a firm decision on the series. It has a primarily female cast. While there are men the three main characters and primary focus are all young ladies. So that means no wading into harem territory like people accused the series of doing with Claus but it then does lend itself to the yuri subtext being in everything that the world of the pink ghetto casts. Fam and Giselle seem fine with Fam being the spunky one and Giselle being the quiet one. Millia is not only a princess but also a princess character and that means she can be a bit grating. The action has been pretty good so far and the plot has potential. But as far as I can tell the main villain’s problem seems to be that everyone is far too happy and he will not be having that which could lead to a very corny developments. I am interested enough to keep watching but still hesitant to give it a recommendation yet.

As many others did, when I got Sailor Moon vol. 1 I also got Codename Sailor V vol. 1. This was new to me, I knew about it of course and had looked at some of it, but never really got to read it. Having read Sailor Moon first of the two, it put me in the exact mood for the young girl fantasy that is Sailor V. The big difference between these two so far is that Sailor V is decidedly free of any serious romantic entanglements instead focusing on peppy Mina’s daily struggles with classes balanced with sometimes saving the world as a Sailor Guardian thanks to talking cat Artemis. Mina amuses me greatly in her slacker fashion which prefers video games and idols to studying and saving people. Since this is a primer for Sailor Moon you can obviously see a lot of Usagi in Mina but they are still different because Mina is very physically capable. This is also what makes her so fun as she loves kicking baddies once she is roped into caring. Sailor V also becomes something of a legendary icon as the story goes on getting her own video game, fan club, and even a police detective rival among other amusing things. Once she has been in action a while, Mina gets more serious and both her and readers start to wonder who is “the boss” and why Mina was chosen for this role. I am curious to see how this ties in swiftly to Sailor Moon.

 Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira 02 is better. Still not good but better. As a fan of the When They Cry series watching the first episode was actually a bit painful. This time Rika and Satoko get transported to a world where all the villainous characters of Higurashi are actually villains in a magical organization that have unlocked the magical powers of Hinamizawa. Rika is a magical girl who must fight torture related monsters with a magical hoe wand and a transformation sequence. The Hinamizawa School club is her back up. Mostly it is an excuse of have Takano Miyo dress in a skimpy outfit and have Hanyu be a little fairy. Some of the jokes work especially when they are centering around Rika’s contrasting cutesy magical girl persona and old soul Bernkastel mode. The rest of the episode is fine but not really the humorous highs from the previous funny arcs. Since the next episode focuses in Shion and her role as a Mion/Keiichi shipper I just might enjoy that episode but I don’t have much hope beyond that. The main problem seems to that the original Higurashi tied up most things nicely. They got some good material past that end point but now they seem to be trying to get blood from a stone.

I started watching ABC’s much-anticipated Once Upon a Time (eps. 1-2) which brings the fairytale world to the modern-day through an evil curse. Emma Swan is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming but has no idea until her son Henry shows up on her doorstep encouraging her to come to Storybrooke, Maine and see for herself. But everyone in the town (allegedly) doesn’t remember they are really fairytale characters according to Henry. We also get the simultaneous story of how this curse brought everyone to Storybrooke thanks to the jealous Evil Queen (who is also Henry’s adopted mother) and that cunning Rumpelstiltskin (who seems to be the kingpin of Storybrooke). The story is fun and it certainly has its share of mysterious goings on, especially the whole “no one remembers” which I am dubious about. It comes off much like a soap opera, which I like, though I think they could push it a bit further. That being said, I find the acting is sub-par with poorly delivered dialogue and stiff interactions. Also hipster sheriff makes me laugh. I willing to go on a few more episodes to see if it gets better though since the premise is right up my alley.

I totally forgot I saw the last episode of Blood-C after hearing some “amazing” things about it. My best summary of the episode would be my theory how they should have ended the episode for maximum effect. Instead of having the big bad guy shoot Saya Kisaragi in the head so he can escape in a helicopter and set up an ending  movie they should have just had a simple exchange. Saya should run up to the helicopter and ask Fumito the name of this insane project. In return he should go down on one knee, throw out his hands, and just say, “The Aristocrats.” I say that because the whole last episode seem to be  excessively gory and spiteful to the point where it becomes a morbid joke of outrageous proportions. But like many versions of the The Aristocrats it is not funny per say as much as an experiment in how wildly you can tell a joke. The episode goes out of its way to show that all of Saya’s friends are still alive but completely and utterly horrible human beings and then just kills them again in the most gruesome ways possible. It then spends the rest of the episode trying to shock you alternatively with the idea that everything you know is wrong and with a monster rampage through the town as people are murdered in ways that are so over the top they are less horrific and more head scratching. It is like someone saw Elfen Lied and thought to themselves, “I could do better because I won’t hold back like a wuss.” But just like Elfen Lied is comes of like the super gory pictures drawn by an angsty teen in junior high. You know they think they are being profound and shocking but the truth of the matter is very different.

I finished up A Dance with Dragons which I’ve slowly been picking away at since its release, more because I think I was subconsciously loath to finish it and bearing waiting for more than lack of interest. I don’t think I really need to explain the premise of the 5th book in the Song of Ice and Fire so I’ll just get to my overall feelings. This book suffers from too many perspectives, and I thought this was bad in Feast for Crows, too. It is multiplied here since this books contains more voices than ever before. Many characters receive only one chapter with information that could have fit easily in another part of the story. For example the big event (being vague for no spoilers sake) at Meereen and the aftermath, I truly feel having only Daenerys’ perspective would have created mystery and more tension. We’re ending up with too much overlap in information in general which ends up feeling elongated. Then on the other hand, Bran who we’ve literally waited a decade to find out the fate of has very few chapters and information! That being said, this book had a great many surprises and I interpreted it as the climax for the series. All my speculations from early on seem to be completely on the wrong track but it feels like GRRM has a firm grasp on the final direction. I was also happily surprised to see certain characters names show up in this book which means we’ve caught up with book 4 and hopefully 6 will not be a divided cast. I felt mixed with this book but it was still engrossing as always.

Vertical Vednesday may be much less frequent but it is hardly dead and this week was a grand celebration worthy of Dionysus. To promote one of their more high-profile titles Vertical held a wine tasting at the Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit shop in Manhattan. The Drops of God is a moderately famous manga outside of the manga world for its ability to actually influence the international wine market when it talks about a vintage. It single handily created a great demand for wine in several Asian countries that had never been big wine drinkers beforehand. So Vertical decided to go all out with the first volume. They had the first volume on sale along with the new Vertical catalog with a Drops of God cover. Apparently the mixture of wine and manga is a good draw because the shop was quite crowded when I arrived and it only got busier by the time the event started in proper.

I’m not going to lie to you I mostly came for the free food and the conversation and I got both in amble amounts. The night started with a blind tasting of three wines. The challenge was to determine which of them was the Italian wine. I did not sample either of the three nor did I ever find out which was which. I am curious how many people in attendance had enough of a palate  to discern such things. After that Ed Chavez gave a short speech about the manga of honor and the featured wines we could be sampling. Most of the wines we were tasting were from later volumes but they all appeared at one point or another. Since more people attended than expected we were given tickets to try 2 of the selected 6 wines from the manga. As the night went on they dispensed with the need for the tickets at often came around and gave a sample of any of the 6 selections. I mostly stuck to the red wines as I have never liked the taste of white wine. I was also a bit of a barbarian and used the same glass for all the wines I sampled but I can’t say I have ever has the most refined taste for alcohol in the first place.  There was only Swiss cheese to eat but the choice of cracker was quite varied. I had quite a bit of fun seeing how the various crackers went with the various wines.

Overall it was a very enjoyable evening. Bottlerocket was a very accommodating store and the staff was amazingly friendly. I chatted with various people at the event effortlessly for two hours. I do feel a bit guilty we hardly discussed the manga that was the star of the night but much manga discussion was had in general. I hope that the Drops of God does well for Vertical. Like Chi’s Sweet Home it is a manga that has the potential to attract readers outside of the normal manga reading demographics.  I am glad that they decided to do a theme night for the Drops of God. A MW themed party might have also been able to have a have touch of Dionysus but not in such a pleasant way.

UCHUU KITAAAAA (It’s space time)! While that is the catch phrase for Kamen Rider Fourze it could also double as the motto for Twin Spica. In a time when older anime and manga fans longingly pine for the days when every other anime title seemed to be science fiction related it is nice to see a series that deals with space exploration and science. But it is not a dry examination of the politics and mechanics of space travel but those topics come it. It is a very personal story of one girl’s wish to travel among the stars and the trials and tribulations she must go through to realize her dream.

The flight of the Lion was supposed to be a triumph for the Japanese space program as they launched their first manned space flight. But an accident causes the Lion to crash into a city causing countless casualties that creates an unimaginable stigma on space travel.  Years later Asumi Kamogawa wishes to become an astronaut despite the many ways that the Lion disaster has effected her life. She is guided by a mysterious ghost named Mr. Lion who is obviously connected to the crash years ago. But Asumi Kamogawa’s goal is not a simple one. She is not the most ideal candidate physically plus there are many other students who want a place on the next spaceflight but there are only a handful of seats available. On top of that there are many people who just don’t want to see any more time, money, and commitment placed into space travel and will do anything to make sure further flights do not take place. Can Asumi become an astronaut with the deck stacked against her at the same time that all her friends are also her rivals?

The true power of Twin Spica is the fact that it is a soft series that hits as hard as a manly series. The story has a laid back pace that drifts back and forth between the present and the past as the characters must deal with obstacles in both the present and the past to get closer to their dreams at a slow but deliberate pace. But when climaxes come they hit with a powerful punch of majesty and emotional intensity. The series carefully avoids doing into the realm of melodrama that would make it cheesy but retains a sense of optimistic hopefulness balanced with wistful melancholy. All of Asumi friends have their motivations, secrets, and fears that simultaneously bring them closer together and yet keep them apart. It makes for a some complex and mature relationships for the characters. I know some of the supernatural elements of Mr. Lion turn off those who need pure hard sci-fi pumped into their veins but anyone who wants a good story and is not a science fiction purist will see the wonderful story underneath.  Twin Spica is a touching story that embraces the dreams of exploration, the joys of scientific discovery, and beauty of personal triumph over adversity. To me that is what some of the best sci-fi does and this is a wonderful example of that.

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I along with thousands of others rejoiced to hear that Sailor Moon would finally be rereleased in English and thankfully with a new translation to match. And if that wasn’t exciting enough, there are also lovely color pages! Rereading something with such nostalgia for so many of us can be precarious sometimes because there is always the possibility of being let down. Sailor Moon is not that type of title if you are going in with the knowledge that this is a title meant for little girls; a mighty entertaining fantasy adventure that hits all the right notes for little girls. The strength of friendship is central to the series and it really takes hold of that right away. Equal is the intrigue (totally transparent to the audience) of Tuxedo Mask. The pace is happily brisk as Usagi whisks through villains and gains new guardians. The dialogue is rather stiff at times but not sure whether to attribute that problem with translation or not. The art of course shines and doesn’t feel aged though you can see Ms. Takeuchi getting better as the story goes which is only natural. Sailor Moon is a legendary title that changed a genre so that also means that it isn’t a perfect piece. But not being perfect doesn’t prevent it from being point of delight full of naive fantasy. It is great experiencing it all over again.

Well, if Natutaki is talking about the mother of fighting magical girls shows I might as well talk about one of its most modern grandchildren. I have been enjoying Suite Precure even if I have not mentioned it since episode 12. But since episode 35 is the accumulation of a lot of reveals I think it is worth talking about again. In that time the show has had the birth of Cure Beat,  a major power-up, the many reveals around Cure Muse, and of course the unmasking of the true villain of the series. The birth of Cure Beat was in itself pretty cool but as Narutaki mentioned the transformation from Siren to Ellen was sort of lame. It is like after she officially became a Cure some one switched her from evil to good like she was Krusty doll. The reveal of Cure Muse was better of it does require some Superman/Clark Kent and Batman/Bruce Wayne levels of ignorance. Also the reveal of Mephisto not being the big villain was pretty important as he would have made far to weak a foil especially as compared to previous masterminds. Overall I am still enjoying Suite Precure but 35 episodes in it is clear it will never be as strong as Heartcatch. But I am OK with that.

The other sequel I’m watching this season is World’s Greatest First Love (eps. 1-3). I really found the first season funny and sweet and of course unrealistically romantic. Season two is still those things, but the plot is spinning its wheels. I can at least say Takano is not content to stay in place but he can get nowhere when Onodera pretty much refuses to acknowledge his seriousness, even when he is completely straightforward about it. I’m hoping some subsequent episodes feature the bookseller and editor who haven’t had that much time to develop.

So after all the S.W.A.T. reviews I have decided to keep watching Gundam RAGE! … I mean AGE. Once again Gundam fandom turns on a dime whenever it receives the tiniest bit of information. Therefore the was huge backlash when fandom saw the first episode of AGE as they cried it conformed all their worst fears about the series being for kids. Then in episode two they all suddenly loved AGE because the AGE system was rather impressive. I don’t know their reaction after episode 3 and quite frankly I don’t think I care. I don’t understand why veteran mecha fans don’t ever remember that it takes 10 episodes for any 50 episode Sunrise show to even begin to show its true colors. When new fans make that mistake it is understandable.  When old fans to make the same mistake it makes you wonder if they have any sort of ability to learn from the past. This means they won’t have a real opinion on the series for at least 5 years. Until then they will have 30 more changes of heart. AGE is definitely shooting for a bit of a younger crowd but I still think there is a lot to like and I look forward to see where they go with this. I will say that as much as Emily Amonde seems like the AGE version of Sayla Mass it seems that Yurin L’Ciel is the AGE version of Tifa Adill complete with Tifa’s psychic powers. I like Flit Asuno and I am curious to see what legacy his passes on to later generations in the show.

Finally had the chance to watch more Young Justice (eps. 10-12). So whose crap idea was it that they add in everyone suddenly attending Gotham Academy? At least they don’t spend too much time there. The plots of these maintained the complexity of previous episodes and also add a bunch of villainy faces to the cast. There is also some movement on the Ms. Martian / Superboy front but it felt pushed. Still, it is nice to not have everyone is a holding pattern. Episode 12 solidified Artemis as part of the team and also got me to like her a bit.

Wow! It has been seven years since the Hayate no Gotaku! manga has started. I have to say that time sure flies when you’re having fun. I am glad that chapters 337 – 342 have returned to the normal routine of silly adventures. The doujinshi arc was fun but I was glad to get back into the silliness after all the drama of the Nagi’s manga. The fact that 337 had the cover it did not hurt matters at all. I have to say that I am still loving Hayate after seven years. The fact that it still brings a smile to my face is proof enough. I enjoyed the fact that to celebrate the seventh anniversary they had an extra section with Ruka’s Fly Dolphin doujinshi. I must mention that Chiharu has really grown on me lately. She is not knocking Nagi or Maria out of my top spots but she has  won me over even if she is a late addition to the cast. I find her friendship with Nagi very refreshing and sweet. That said we need more Maria. There is never a chapter that cannot be improved with more Maria. Other than that I am really looking forward to the new Hayate movie and season 3 of the anime. Stay out debt Kenjiro Hata and keep making the manga I love.

I got to read Gen Manga volumes 3 & 4 back to back. Reading both volumes in succession makes me realize that the storytelling in Gen is somewhat compressed compared to your normal mainstream manga experience. While the storytelling still has a distinctly manga feel you don’t get the impression that the stories contained within are assuming they are going to run for 20+ books. They seems to be primed to end in a book or two but could run longer. Mainstream manga seems more designed to run for a long time but could be cut short if forced to. The individual chapters still have a more manga styled decompressed flow but chapter to chapter it seems more compressed. But all the compressed vs. decompressed storytelling talk from Ogiue Maniax might be why I am noticing it more. Vs Aliens is still my favorite story in the anthology. It has a very quirky story with some unusual twists every chapter. The only problem is that is quickly coming down to the big reveal of what is actually going on. If the final reveal is lame is going to really hurt the overall story. The boxing story is Wolf is still solid but I am not sure if I really care for the added element of the hyperactive flat chested girl vs the distant chesty girl love story. My feelings on KAMEN are still up in the air as I am interested in the story but not deeply invested. There is a promise of a big fight scene in the next chapter. How well the fight is pulled off I might help me solidify my feelings. I still don’t really like Souls. Volume three ends one arc and volume four starts a new arc. Volume three ended a bit lighter than I assumed it will but this genre has just never been my cup of tea. In volume 4 there is a one shot story called Sorako. This really feels like an American indy comic. It is the story of a small town girl who feels trapped in her small life under the backdrop of looking for her dog that ran away. It is slice of life in a way that really feels like an American comic more than a Japanese style of same formula. Gen is still an interesting experiment in the U.S. It has the feel of a doujinshi anthology but will a more consistent schedule. I am curious how well it will do here.

With great elation, I started the new season of anime by watching Bakuman S2. We start the season with Ashirogi Muto waiting for their editor to come to the studio to go over their contract for serialization. It is an exciting time and they are also invited to the Shonen Jack New Year’s bash. This episode is really about them getting acclimated with their new positions, getting assistants, and meeting some new people as well as getting to know others better. It is mostly a set-up for things to come and I can’t wait for those things!

With the new season here I started watching the first two episodes Squid Girl Season 2. It is pretty much more Squid Girl for better or for worse. I pretty much got right back into the swing of things. It is a simple series so the second you sit down if feels like you never left. That means if you were hungry for more than this will just hit the spot but if you were growing tired for the formula last season you might want to give yourself some distance before jumping back in. Squid Girl is still a lovable goof and terrible at taking over the earth. I was pleased to see that all the supporting cast got a good amount of time during the return. We don’t have any Hinagiku characters hogging the spotlight. The most amusing part so far was probably Squid Girl’s attempt to take over the elementary school but the little bit with Ayumi and the brass knuckles was fairly amusing.

Twin Spica vol. 9 introduces a few characters including a new freshman at the dorm, Asumi’s old friend from Yuigahama, and a reporter who is interested in Marika, plus the reintroduction of Dr. Sano. There are a lot of personal journeys in this volume even for Kei who finally admits to herself that she has feelings for Suzuki. But of course Marika fascinates me most as she starts putting herself out in the world, but things are really looming for her. The reporter has a connection and just when he is ready to give up he finds a clue so I’m not sure how it will playout. We end with the promise of a very intense training exercise coming. I also found Mr. Lion telling Asumi that compromise is the destroyer of dreams rather cynical and sad.

I don’t watch much tokusatsu but any overwhelming number of positive reviews and outright personal recommendations got me to watch the first 5 episodes of  Kamen Rider Fourze. While I have been mislead by such recommendations before I was pleasantly rewarded for my faith this time. With a 40 history the Kamen Rider has at least 23  distinct iterations with some major similarities but that also means a wide variety of differences like any long running series like Gundam or Star Trek. All the Kamen Riders series are about guy who transforms to protect the world from other transforming villains.  It just so happens that is a much goofier and lighthearted iteration of the series while still having plenty of macho action. In many ways it remind me of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part IV: Diamond is Unbreakable. Both have delinquent heroes with pompadours that are really good guys deep down. Both heroes  have special powers and fight people from their school and neighborhood that have similar powers. They also have the same gentler mood as compared to their more serious counterparts. And both series win you over with their bombastic but earnest charm. But the theme this season is  SPACE! to celebrate  the 30th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight into orbit. All of Fourze’s powers and enemies have a space theme and the good guys even have a base on the moon. As a geek the space theme has a unique and powerful pull.  I will admit for a second I was thinking how much this show seemed to borrow from the magical girl formula. Then I remembered. It is the other way around. Fighting magical girls borrow their formula from tokusatsu shows like this. Silly Hisui. It should be noted like most tokusatsu shows while the budget is decent there is a unmistake air of Limburger if you catch my drift. If you can’t handle cheesy acting and special effects than this is not the show for you but it does reenforce the tone of the show to its credit.

Terra Nova is FOX’s new science-fiction series that features . . . DINOSAURS! This understandably had me very excited but that doesn’t mean my expectations were high. The first double episode premiere was kinda lame but entertaining enough. The future is environmentally destroyed and over populated but scientists have come across a wormhole into another time stream. The newest pilgrimage is a family that is hiding a secret daughter and the dad who is an ex-cop, now fugitive but they make it through, just barely. Surprise, surprise the colony is not a utopia. The leader, Taylor, is a military-minded man and you can tell he has some secrets of his own which makes him the most interesting part. There is too much family drama in the show and not enough dinosaurs. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking the death of the teenagers would be a wonderful addition to the story. The mom and dad who are useful and the little girl who makes friends with dinos can stay. This wasn’t going to be a great show, but the second episode was a really bad. They need to make more of the focus the world and less on family blah blah.

Sometimes comedy that has gone completely off the map is the best comedy of all. Saint Young Men follows the misadventures of Jesus and Buddha who have come to Japan and have taken an apartment to get away from their boring lives. If that doesn’t sound like a bizarre one-shot webcomic the internet would make up, then you aren’t well versed enough.

Saint Young Men is absurdist at full-throtle though when looking at manga-ka Hikaru Nakamura’s work on Arakawa Under the Bridge, one knows she’s had a lot of practice. Jesus and Buddha are experiencing the modern world in a new way and they are both kind of spazes for obvious reasons. They also have an odd couple relationship that gets them angry with each other and living together. Exploring the outside world is just as entertaining like when Buddha melodramatically laments that everyone is obsessed with his “fat period” when seeing all the statues about or the fact that when Jesus gets upset his stigmata acts up. This story pushes the limits of comedy combined with religion and the insignificance that worship can play in modern society.

So now I’ve got two wishes, 1) for this to be licensed of course and 2) for it to be turned into a delightful anime.

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I finished the last 4 episodes (9-12) of Sacred Seven today and I feel pretty good about the series. There are some series you watch that make you want to run out and tell everyone how wonderful they are. Then there are series that you enjoy and would recommend but are not that earth shattering. Sacred Seven is distinctly in that second category. But I had a fun time and that is always the most important thing for me. The fights were always vibrant, energetic, and well choreographed. We got a love story, a save my sister in a coma story, and a revenge turned to redemption story. We defeated a bad guy and there were some sad deaths but most everyone made it through. There was even a nice bit of falling action. In refection a bit of the mythology of the Sacred Seven world goes totally unexplained but it is mostly there to set up the story and the fights scenes. It is not like it leaves you with all these unanswered mysteries. It is just that it concentrates more on telling the current story than giving you all the mechanics of how the powers in this world work. With a 12 episode show that is probably for the best. I enjoyed my time with Alma and Ruri and would recommend the show to anyone who wants a bit of light self-contained fun that does not do anything original but does it in an entertaining fashion.

I read one of CMX’s last releases, Stolen Hearts vol. 2, which just made me miss them a lot and lament that this cute series will never be finished. Here we continue the story of Shinobu and Koguma as they further their relationship. Shinobu meets the rest of his family including three handsome brothers with less crazy hair. I really enjoyed her getting to know everyone more and there is a lot of humor thanks to it (the grandmother cracks me up!). I wasn’t crazy about the oldest brother crushing on her and messing with Koguma. But all is made well again when they go on a trip together and experience their first kiss. Stays fun and cute, plus it is nice to see a pair in a relationship.

To fill in some holes in Narutaki’s coverage of the new DC 52 line up I checked out Detective Comics # 1. This is easily recommended as it is pretty hard to mess up a solo Batman adventure especially if you have the Joker in it. The mood is that of  a dark and gritty Batman from the modern comics and not the Batman from Brave and the Bold. It is clearly shown by the fact that the Joker is murdering people and taking parts of their faces to create a flesh mask. So it is darker than Batman: The Animated Series. (Although Batman: The Animated Series was not always happy puppies and kittens. Just watch The Forgotten)  I am not sure if I am just completely desensitized but the end scene was not that shocking to me. I know that there was a bit of buzz on the Internet about the last panel. I am not saying it was boring. I was distinctly interested to see where the story was going with this development but I did not think it was anything that would upset me. Maybe Berserk has just made it so if you are not an evil blood soaked fetus baby born of demon rape I can’t get to crazy about things.  Still a good opening comic that is setting itself up for a macabre Batman story. I look forward to seeing how this version of Batman distinguishes itself from the rest of the Batman comics in the line.

Batman: The Long Halloween is one of those seminal stories featuring a serial killer who strikes on holidays stalking Gotham. And “Holiday” is picking off members of the crime families. It also has a ton of familiar faces including a fistful of iconic villains this sort of overwhelms things when reading it in one go. However, the murder mystery proper is a puzzler with a great ending. The art is by amazing Tim Sale who paints a perfect picture of Gotham. Long Halloween once again makes me think I only like Jeph Loeb when he writes Batman.

I also decided to check out Superboy #1 if for nothing else to contrast him to the character I have seen in the new Young Justice TV show. In both versions he is a clone of Superman made by a shady organization for less than noble reasons. But in Young Justice Superboy seems like an abandoned and angry young man. In this version he seems incredibly intelligent but almost autistic. I will go on the record to say I am not sure how close either of these two are to the comic version of Superboy before the reboot. Most of the comic seemed to be setting up Superboy’s situation and showing his very alien view of the world (as can be expected of a vat grown alien clone). Superboy is being sent out on his first real mission from the Shadowy agency to kill the Teen Titans so it is a good hook for the audience. I was totally unaware that Caitlin Fairchild and Rose Wilson were pre-established characters before the reboot but they come off as having some established relationship. Enough of a history that you are curious how they know each other but not in a way that makes you assume you have been left out of a previous conversation everyone else already had about them. Seems like a solid title if for nothing else how odd this version of Superboy is even if I like the Young Justice version of Superboy more.

Starting to catch up with Twin Spica and read vols. 7 and 8. Training at school is getting tougher, but it isn’t as much of the focus for these volumes with the exception of the prison escape exercise. Instead interpersonal relationships are at the forefront. We learn Marika’s true nature and we see her really start to break her shell in understand herself nicely. Kamogawa has a bittersweet (like the entire series isn’t?) arc in these books with missed opportunity. Most notable though is how much we learn about aloof Suzuki which rounds him out. Their junior year is about to begin by the end of volume 8 and with that comes the realization that each person is being pulled in different directions for their dreams cementing the coming of age feel for the series. This is also where Vertical starts to bundle tankubons happily so double the story!

Anime 3000 presents The Speakeasy Podcast:
Drink #021: Golden Dream, Digital Revolution

In this episode, we talk about the digital revolution! Anime for the last couple of years has started getting on board with the digital age, and this year we’ve seen manga start to do the same thing. The systems aren’t perfect but steps in the right direction. We discuss different methods and what we like best plus give some suggestions about what we’d like to see in the future.

(Listen)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink:

Golden Dream

3/4 oz cream
3/4 oz orange juice
3/4 oz Cointreau
3/4 oz Galliano

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

 After finishing up Burn Notice S4, I jumped to the webcomic before we start the fifth season. Burn Notice: A New Day bridges the two seasons but does not answer the ultimate question about Michael’s facial hair! The 12-parts play out like a typical episode of the series but in this case they are also working with the CIA. They’ve got everyone’s voices down pretty well, too. The real downside is the artwork which isn’t great a lot of the time touting some weird facial expressions and wonky eyes. A fun read, worthwhile, and a second part is planned for the end of the month as the show takes a break until November.

NOOO! I am caught up with the current release of translated Jojo’s by blazing through volumes 7  though 20. But since Steel Ball Run is 24 volumes I am so close to the ending I can taste it but so far away it makes me want to weep. I mean they are in the middle of fighting the evil super powered and seemingly invincible president of the United States. The president killed dinosaur Dio Brando. Who can stop him now? While the story has moved a bit more in the direction of Stand fighting the race is always a tense highlight when they get to a checkpoints. I will say for being the star of the first chapter of the arc Sandman certainly has a smaller role than I expected when he whips out his stand. He sort of goes down like a punk. This arc has been every bit as crazy as I had hoped it would be and twice as awesome. I am surprised it lived up to my expectations as they were fairly high but I was not in the least disappointed. My only regret is now I must wait for more.

Laddertop vol. 1 is not as bad as the 10-page preview I read seemed, but it still ends up in the middle of the road category. This reads like an all ages sci-fi manga with kid-friendly humor. Unfortunately, those attempts at humor suffer from trying too hard which just creates awkward spans. The story itself seems fine enough, even if nothing remarkable about it came to light. Laddertop takes place in a world where a long time ago aliens came and gave technology to power Earth for humans, but the only people who can maintain it are children. The story follows Robbi and her best friend Azure as they train and compete to work in the laddertop in space. As can be imagined there is a lot more to this alien tech, the government, and more mysteries just keep popping up. With Card even though the story is about kids that doesn’t mean things won’t get complicated and intense later on. And surprisingly, I thought it started off okay but then trips over itself trying to be clever and cute for the rest of the book. I did find the Robbi’s ending decision pretty shocking ini a good way though I’m not sure I believe it’ll come to anything. Laddertop was okay, better than I imagined, but not much of a hook.

As much as people often have this set image in their head of what manga looks like there are as many styles of manga art as there are stars in the sky. On the other hand whenever they get a random artist to draw in “manga style” for a popular author it always seems to look like some read 2 or 3 really bad learn to draw manga books and then went to town on some paper. I distinctly that get the feeling that Orson Scott Card wanted to write something with his daughter Emily Janice Card and then they decide to make a comic together. And why not do it in that popular manga style. And this is the result. It is not horrible (although the art is sort of horrible) but it is also not that good as well. It has the feel of a mediocre young adult novel. And young adult literature does not have to be mediocre. This just seems to have all the trappings of a very boilerplate sci-fi kids story. But you can take those seemingly cliché trappings and make them into something wonderful. This book never takes any of the tropes of the genre and does anything but the most rote things with them.  I don’t mind the plot device that makes it so only children can maintain the space ladder but it does not help the book’s case as well. Also they bring up the fact that Robbi’s dad is abusive and make it the main reason she does not want to wanting to go into space in fear of abandoning her  younger sisters. But then they seemingly drop that storyline far too abruptly for my taste. You can’t have something like that rear its head so prominently and then just throw into a plot thread storage locker. She does not have to dwell on it ever other page but it just seems to be almost forgotten once she decides to go to space. Overall I feel like there are some good seeds for a grand story but none of them look to be growing into anything that engages me. I want to like this series but it leaves me with little to enjoy about it.

I finally got a chance to read some Captain America solo. Winter Soldier throws you into the thick of things, this is no origin story. But classic elements such as the Red Skull and the cosmic cube are present. A plot is being hatched that will be triggered in different areas all over the world and S.H.E.I.L.D. enlists Cap for some help. The build up to the reveal is rather obvious even without the title of this book. I like how the present story was told in duality with Cap’s memories. The World War II parts are very well done and really enhanced the bold line and shadowed style. But when thinking on it, this book doesn’t feel like a superhero comic most of the time.

While Narutaki is going to do a whole article on the new DC reboot there are one or two titles that I have read that she has not. I decided to check out the new Action Comics #1. My youngest brother is a huge Superman fan so I had to check out this reinvention of the character. I will say that they have made some major changes to his well-known image. First of all it seems that the media in the DC universe now has a very mixed opinion on Superman and many people wonder if he is a threat. Being that Clark Kent works for a newspaper BUT Superman is hated by some of the press gives him an unmistakable Spiderman vibe. Also they seem to have dropped Superman’s boy scout image and have him threatening crooked industrialists by dropping them off buildings and only saving them at the last second as a warning.  He is not the Punisher now but he is distinctly more Batman than he ever was before. Superman is not totally unrecognizable but they are giving him more of an edge. I am curious how much this new take on the character drives away the die-hard Superman fans and how much it win over people who used to think he was bland.

After reading 100 volumes of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure I have had a divine epiphany on true survival strategy. The world of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a hash one with minor characters and NPCs dying left and right and even major characters being no stranger to the call of the reaper. Despite the story taking place in over a century’s time span and in multiple parallel worlds there are a few universal tips that transcend everything. If for some reason you find yourself trapped in the world of Jojo’s (surely after someone has used their Stand power on you) I have 5 handy rules to keep you alive despite all odds.

Rule #1: Vehicles are death traps

Riding on anything more complicated than a bicycle is riding on a deathtrap. Getting into boats, planes, carriages, automobiles, or any other sort of mechanical conveyance is asking to be attacked by supernatural forces bent of your painful and messy annihilation. The god of the Jojo’s world hates all travelers and wishes them to pay for their sins. If you travel on foot or on an animal you are not guaranteed safety but you are not destined to be attacked as well.

Rule #2: NEVER be the cool guy with an equally cool power who is 2nd in command

No one is safe in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Even the main characters have a nasty habit of dying spectacularly. But if you are the cool sidekick to the protagonist with an awesome power you are marked for death. It should be noted that both of these have to be true to raise the sure death flag. A super awesome sidekick with no powers or a dork with awesome power still has a chance to live but the second you stand out in both categories your goose is cooked. The Zeppeli bloodline somehow continues to survive despite being constantly hit by this rule.

Rule #3: You must be a Trivia Master

Everyone who counts is the master of several different branches of science including medicine, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and engineering as well as being well versed in history, literature, art, and philosophy. You must know the secret of the golden ratio, the effects of different elevations of the human body, how active volcano’s work, religious apocrypha, and know the details of the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. If you are not the undisputed winner of trivia night at your local bar you are going to die the first time your meet anyone with an unusual power. You can only defeat any enemy of your command of esoteric knowledge is greater than your opponents.

Rule #4: Guns don’t kill people (but they do set you up to be neatly murdered)

No one important is ever shot to death. People fire guns all the time and people are seriously injured by guns but it is never the initial volley that kills any named character. Dodging gun fire merely sets you up to be rended into pieces by someones’ more subtle mystical power. While you are dodging the bullets you miss the grander trap you are falling into. Now bullets sometimes DO kill people. But usually what happens is you THINK you dodge the bullet and then someones power makes sure that you would have learned to pay more attention if there was not a slug ripping through you vital organs.

Rule #5: A justice-loving heart is the most powerful weapon of all.

The ability to stop time, jump through dimensions, control gravity and fate, or regenerate any amount of damage in an instant are nothing to the power heart that believes in what is right. That clearly points to one individual being the most powerful person in the Jojo’s multiverse:

Detective Conan movie 9: Strategy Above the Depths takes place on a luxury cruise line, but thanks to today’s technology they aren’t totally cut off from the outside world as the usual police are flown in to investigate. I found this aspect to be slightly disappointing actually, but they want to get in all those favorite faces. There is a lot going on on this ship including conspiracy, murder, and bombs. Since these movies are known for spectacle, these bombs go off creating havoc just as the killer is confronted. While this time around the audience knows the culprit from the beginning, there are still some twists as Conan tries to uncover the clues and motive. Knowing the answer beforehand allows you to follow Conan’s logic, but it takes some of the fun out of trying to deduce the perpetrator. And when most of the people are safely off the ship, an intense show down begins as Conan and Kogoro look for Ran on the fast sinking vessel. This Conan movie lands in the middle for me, not super great fun but certainly not a lame film either.

I got Hayate the Combat Butler volume 15 for my birthday but I never did talk about it. It is nice to go back to a long string of silly stories considering all the drama with Ruka Suirenji and doujin and how serious it has been recently in the manga. We get two really great Nagi chapters with her wandering around the mansion at night and her building RC cars. They are great little stories and the RC storyline has one of my favorite lines of all time, “An Otaku who lacks love and care is just a nerd.” Good Nagi and Hayate moments throughout. This volume also has two Fumi Hibino chapters. I usually think her chapters are funny but she is easily my least favorite Hayate character. It also ends with the beginning of a Hinagiku story which I am sure will make many people happy. But speaking of making people happy there is a Maria story and a little Maria fan service as well. Great volume all in all.

In Kekkaishi vols. 25-26, not only does the conspiracy of the Shadow Organization start to become more clear, it seems to be setting up the final arc of the series. It is obvious now that not only is someone in the group destroying deities, that someone looks to be the head. Of course, with so many people involved as well as recent disappearances and murders, one can’t really take anything at face value. But possibly the most interesting development of all is Yoshimori bonding with Karasumori, as if he can feel and speak to it. Things are just getting more complicated by the volume what with so many conflicting people and information, plus we are seeing more of the elusive Masamori and his plans.

I recently finished the first 6 books of Jojo’s Part 6: Stone Ocean. Hirohiko Araki decides to in yet another unexpected direction by setting part 6 inside a women’s prison. Jolyne Kujo is the first female protagonist of the series and the neglected daughter of part 3′s Jotaro Kujo. She is a punk girl set up for murder in a prison filled with stand users who are being controlled by someone with dastardly plans for the Joestar family. She is an entertaining heroine and a good female character in the Jojo’s tradition. This part is set in Florida so I am surprised the AWO crew has not gotten around to discussing it so can remark on how obviously 100% accurate everything in the series is. I must say that Foo Fighters is one of the strangest characters in a series renowned for strange characters. I won’t ruin it. You just have to meet Foo Fighters for yourself. I am curious to see where this goes as the main antagonist has finally been revealed. A great addition to the series.  If you are not sold then I have a simple pitch: The opening scene of this arc is a discussion of female masturbation. Please at least read the rest of the article before you going search for Stone Ocean.

I finally read Spider-Man: One More Day and, possibly because of all the buzz and craziness it generated when it first came out, I didn’t really find myself on either side of the fence. The dire circumstances of Aunt May slowly dying really unhinges Peter. And in classic fashion, making a deal with the devil has more fine print than anyone imagines. The ending is sad, but kind of fairytale like, at least to me who believes no matter what Mary Jane and Peter will come together again, someday. I don’t really care for Joe Quesada as an artist, he tends to use a lot of line work on people’s faces which makes everyone look very old (even children).

I finished Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with episodes 8-26. I was glad to see the strong start lead into a great middle and a satisfying conclusion. By hook and by crook Captain America, the Black Panther, and Hawkeye join the Avengers. I find it interesting that Iron Man is the leader when Captain America really seems the commander type. But as they said Cap knows how to be a good solider as much as a good leader. Thankfully all the new Avengers add their own little spin to the crew which I enjoy. The best part of the series is that all the individual story lines flow in and out of each other. While every arc is very distinct there are minor pieces that are setting themselves up or winding down from other arcs in the series.  The last arc does well to tie everything together that has come before as we see that everything has been building up to this. My only real complaint is that the Wasp is so clearly the token woman and the weakest member of the team. She has her moments to shine but she still suffers from weak girl syndrome. A shame really but a clear sign of the attitude towards women that is still in American super hero comics. But that is a minor complaint that will not stop me from watching season 2 in October. Despite all the weirdness going on with American comics recently a show like this shows you there is still an amazing core for stories at the heart of the genre.