I already said a few thoughts about the new Toonami block over at the Organization Anti-Social Geniuses. That said it is always fun to play fantasy programming director. You get to pick shows without having to deal with the real world hassles of corporate politics and licensing nightmares. I am sure if I was actually in charge of the new Toonami block I might not be able to get some (if not all) of these shows for various serious and/or silly reasons. But that is not the point of this exercise. The point it to have fun and pick some shows that just might work if they could only get a TV shot in the U.S.

Tiger & Bunny

Tiger & Bunny seems like a no-brainer to me. It was one of those shows last year that many us said immediately, “this needs to be on TV.”

It has flashy action and I think the riff on reality TV would go over well. The melodrama is paired with a healthy dose of humor without one undermining the other. A colorful cast and the odd couple rapport between Tiger and Bunny rounds it all out. And it is already in the dub process.

With superhero movies being big at the moment, Tiger & Bunny would fit right in.

Astro Fighter Sunred

Back when Astro Fighter Sunred first came out I can’t remember how many people said that it would make a perfect fit on Cartoon Network. It has a very Adult Swim style of humor (and they good kind like Venture Brothers not 12 oz. Mouse) while still retaining a distinctly anime feel that sets it apart. Power Rangers has been an institution long enough that the basic premise is familiar enough to anyone watching but the humor other than that is broad enough to attract a general audience. The animation is hardly the second coming of Akira but it is not the type of show that needs that slick look. As long as the dub Americanized the show enough to be accessible but kept the spirit intact it actually could be a very strong moderate hit if it were lucky.

Jormungand

Arms dealers. Guns blazin’.

Don’t know if I need to say more than that. Jormungand fits in with the idea of what anime “should be.” Plenty of bloody action and a high body count in a corrupt world. The good guys are really just less bad bad guys.

Funimation is known for its dubs and this is streaming with them already so it wouldn’t be a far leap to get it out and on TV soon.

Black Lagoon would also be a good choice.

Future Diary

When choosing a show for something like this you often have to choose things with a “cool” factor. So you not choosing the best show or your favorite show. You choosing what gets eyeballs. I think in that regard Future Dairy works perfectly. It has a intriguing plot that grabs your attention with plot structure that demands you watch every week. There is lots of violence and gore to make it “not for kids” but nothing that can’t be edited so it can still be on TV. It has a Death Note feel which is a good marketing hook for it as well.

Arakawa Under the Bridge

I was trying to think of something a bit more unexpected and thought of Arakawa.

Absurd and bizarre are words that readily come to mind when thinking of the comedy shows of Adult Swim and they are also words that are no stranger to Arakawa Under the Bridge.

I don’t think the humor is too Japanese or too otaku which can be a pitfall. Even things like the Kappa which comes out of folklore, you don’t really need to know that to know that guy is an odd one. With Kou as the straight man to all these crazies it just might work.

Fate/Zero

At first I might have assumed that my blind Type-Moon love made me suggest this but after some reflection (and outside consultation) I think it makes a nice fit. It is solid urban fantasy with a baseline shonen structure that tends to be popular in the U.S. Slick animation at keys points leaves a good impression from each episode. Morally gray characters with cool powers killing each other is a staple of mass market anime. I was a little worried that a prequel might not be the best thing to throw on TV but I have seen a fair number of people who have never touched anything else in the Fate universe go straight into this series with no problems. Plus the more Type-Moon fans the better I always say.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Oscar’s Pachinko Revolution
  Apparently, unbeknownst to me there are multiple Rose of Versailles panchiko machines. These are images from the latest one. The only thing I’d be worried about is what is the ending video when you win? Rose of Versailles, not the happiest ending in the land.
• Bad Machinery in Print
  This quirky webcomic is something I recently started reading, but John Allison was a forerunner in webcomics way back when. He releases limited print-runs of story arcs, of which I have the recent Murder She Writes. But now, finally after many years, Bad Machinery are getting official collections from Oni Press.
• Video Game Prints
  These Ukiyo-inspired pieces featuring classic Nintendo characters are really nice. I think the Samus one is my favorite.
• Red Riding Redux
  This Disney long-lost short recently made its way to the surface again. It isn’t that old, 1997, but it has never been made available on home video despite being nominated for an Oscar. It is a rather unexpected production, it doesn’t feel like Disney all that much. The animation is more stylized and they even use photographs of objects in certain pieces. I can’t say I really liked it, but it was interesting to see.

Hisui’s picks:

• Busting the Myths about Zorg Industries
  The story of the 13+ years crusade of Adam Savage to recreate as perfect as possible  ZF-1 gun from The Fifth Element.
  
• Please Help Me Understand Doctor Who!
  Doctor Who is one of those Byzantine fandoms that is fairly simply to explain the general idea but the details of the lore nigh incomprehensible. This chart goes a long way in helping someone who knows Doctor Who fans at least have some idea of what they are talking about.
  
• How To Be An Awesome Creative Person
  Neil Gaiman is always awesome. But he is even more awesome when he talks about what it takes to succeed as a creative artist.
• This Link is Mostly Here Just Because They Have Gemini Sunrise
  Another Project X Zone preview. I want this game. It is just one of those games that never comes over to the states.
  
• Type-Moon News Round Up
  • Saber Cake That is Not Cheesecake
  • Surprising Fate/Zero Sketches

Oscar will always be a man among men, even though she is a woman.

I promise you this post will be more than just pictures of Saber on a motorcycle with flowery prose about female knights on 2 legged steeds ruling the kingdom of the highway. I’m not exactly sure WHY you would want more than that but you will get it anyway. I have hyped up this road warrior battle since the first season so it is fairly sweet to finally taste the payoff from those expectations. There are also some other politics and betrayals going on in the background but those are only of minor consequence. Hardly even worth mentioning. Oh. Due to personal matters you might notice that I got this post out FAR earlier than I usually do. My normal Saturday engagement fell through so I was actually able to watch the stream BEFORE the raw even came out. I don’t think there is any way else to prove how amazingly fast these simulcasts are.

Saber peruses a Rider doppelgänger who just kidnapped Irisviel through the busy streets of downtown Fuyuki City. Kirei and Kariya have made an alliance which leads to the actual Saber and Rider having deadly race on the mountain roads outside the city. But it is really a good idea to trust an evil priest in any sort of fantasy setting? Kariya learns this lesson the hard way when he gets exactly what the thought he wanted out of this deal with Kirei.

As a side note: Zouken still just being evil.

Saber starts off hot on the heals of the kidnapper but due to traffic she soon loses sight Rider and Irisviel. Conveniently enough reaches out with her mind and is easily able to locate Rider flying in his pimp chariot. While Saber is not as skilled as even a mediocre Servant of the Rider class she certainly has enough skill to keep up with someone from that class and she shows it here. Since Rider was hoping to settle things with Saber he is more than willing to play a game of tag with the King of Knights. So he decides to head to the mountains to engage in a downhill race. Sadly the “Ghost of Fuyuki City” does not appear to challenge them both.  But wait just a second. Rider is now on his chariot and has Waver instead of Irisviel. Me thinks there is something wrong here. But Saber is not in the position to do a detailed analysis of the situation right just yet.

If Initial D wanted to do better in the US it should have had more magical powered face offs during its street racing. It would have done it a world of good. Since this is Fate/Zero we get all the lucrative construction contract generating combat alongside our race. A bit of Twisted Metal on the mountainside. Rider engages in a bit of Ben-Hur styled chariot racing by tearing up the surrounding scenery and having it fly towards Saber. But that is more just a friendly prelude to the actual battle than anything else. I have to say Saber uses Invisible Air more in Fate/Zero than she ever does in Fate/Stay Night. This time she uses it like magical nitro and a bit of vehicle upgrade as well. Her Yamaha V-Max becomes the  magical Motored Cuirassier so she can keep up with Rider when he really puts the petal to the metal. But also kicks in the Knight Rider approved turbo boost to perform some multi-track drifting that even Takumi would be impressed by and catches up with the King of Conquerors so they can finally cross swords. But when Saber finally catches up to Rider she notices a distinct lack of sickly girls in the chariot. But it is too late to back out now.

We don’t see much of Kiritsugu this episode but he is still playing Lieutenant Horatio Caine as he investigates who took Irisviel. He very quickly deduces that it was not in fact Rider behind everything and begins to shake down the remaining suspects. This brings us to a character we always knew existed but have never really seen before: Shinji’s dad. He is dead before Fate/Stay Night starts and only mentioned in passing a few times elsewhere. We don’t get to see much of him here but he does seem the sort that would father a little Joffrey Baratheon like Shinji. Kiritsugu inflicts some Jack Bauer interrogation techniques on Byakuya and while he does not learn where Irisviel is he did learn that Kariya has an unexpected partner from the church. Clearly Kiritsugu knows that his rival is back in action and doing what he does best. And what that priest does in not pretty.

And we have confirmation of the alliance. Apparently one of Berserker’s hidden talents is not only the ability to hide his identity but also to assume the identity of others for the cost of a command seal. But the two command seals Kariya used to pull off this deception are quickly replaced by Kirei as a sign of their new-found partnership. Kirei also says he has set up a confrontation with Tokiomi at the church at midnight. Kriei has promised Tokiomi’s head on a platter. Like an evil genie Kriei gives you exactly what you asked for but not in the way you would ever want it. But Kariya is clearly wrapped up in his own little revenge fantasy and therefore is not really thinking anything through. If he was me might have noticed the uninvited visitor who was listening to their whole conversation.

Rider does not just want to win. He wants to break Saber of all of her illusions, all of her preconceptions, and crush her pride completly. That is a true victory for the King of Conquerors. He does not take an area or defeat armies per say. He crushes the spirit of his enemy so they know they are beat for all time. Sort of like Monkey D. Luffy that way. Plus he has an amazingly fast Nobel Phantasm unlike Saber’s slow Excalibur. What could go wrong with this. Unless …  Excalibur has a powered up version and a fast cast variation.

It seems that the always reprehensible Zouken was the one watching this deal from the shadows. All that is left on the rooftop is two men who live for the suffering of others. Zouken already revels in the pain of those around him but Kirei has still not yet full realized who he is. But Zoken senses someone who is just as twisted as himself.  It appears that for all plotting and manipulation Zouken would just be as happy to see his son fail as an utter heartbreaking travesty the he would see him win the Grail. Plus he knows that he has the much more promising Sakura waiting in the wings so he might as well just have fun with the 4th Holy Grail War. The only major obstacle would be if his pawn developed reasons not to fight. Then he might have to settle for a much less reliable pinch hitter.

Chariot! Or at least that is what gets vaporized by Excalibur’s holy light. Apparently you have to destroy the vehicle before you can start doing direct damage to the driver. Some one should have informed the other Rider of this fact. While Waver wants to break out the Army of the King his Servant knows that it is his only chance in a fight against Archer. But Saber has bigger fish to fry. She has to get back her hetero-lifemate from whoever actually made off with her. So Saber rides of on her bike and Rider and Waver are forced to hoof it back on foot. They might have been able to hitch a ride that they not run roughshod over the countryside.

Kariya gets a valuable lesson about how you should be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. He storms into the church filled with storm and fury to confront his nemesis only to find that he new-found ally has already taken care of it. Worse yet the one person he does not wish to be there comes upon him at the worst possible time. Aoi comes in and makes the logical assumption that Kariya has killed her husband. All of Kariya bravdo instantly drains from him. Clearly in his imagination he always assumed he would come back with Sakura and present her to Aoi after he won the Grail. But when confronted with nothing else but a corpse he realizes the utter stupidity of his dream. In a way he must have always assumed Aoi hated her husband as much as he did. That was clearly not the case. As she screams at him he snaps and inadvertently triggers one of his button. Before he knows it he starts to strangle her. Maybe all of his romantic ideals were nothing more than lust and bitterness. There is an unsettling sexuality top the whole scenes. A more generous fan of Kariya can assume that part of his quick to violence reaction might have been his Berserker’s affinity taking over. A harsh critic might assume that his goals were never pure in the first place. Not matter what the truth is Kariya walks out of the church a directionless mess. This two main goals are now gone in the worst way possible.

Like a demonic Statler and Waldorf it seems this little production has some hecklers in the balcony. Some people go to the opera to revel in schadenfreude, and other people watch Internet videos, but Gilgamesh and Kirei just stage tragedies in real life. While Gilgamesh always enjoyed these moments of suffering Kirei finally has his revelation. He truly knows what it is like to unashamedly bask in the pain of another. The birth of the Kirei we know from Fate/Stay Night is here. He has finally stopping running from himself and embraced the monster inside. It is not as if he was not already well on the way to this point before. But now he has taken the lowest path and has burned away any conscience he might have had before now.

Kariya is not completely out of the fight. While he may have lost two of his goals he can still save Sakura and that is still something worth dying for. The question is how effective can he be this broken? While Saber and Rider did not take each other out they both expended a good deal of energy and resources fighting each other. And Gilgamesh has mostly been sitting back and drinking wine. Things are not looking good for the three of the four remaining Servants unless they are from Babylon.

Random end note. I only just noticed that Irisviel is wearing Arcueid Brunestud’s outfit when she is in Archetype：Earth mode. No real point to anything on this episode. Just thought I would point that out.

Rurouni Kenshin has been getting a strong revival recently. The manga ended in 1999, and other than the slightly infamous Reflection OVA, the series was fairly dormant until last year. Then a PSP fighting game and the Kyoto Arc movies heralded a Renaissance for the series ushering in the upcoming live action film. Even more surprisingly than any of that is the newly re-imagined manga of the original series. Seeing that the Kenshin name still has a good deal of cache with western fans Shonen Jump Alpha announced that Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration (aka Rurouni Kenshin -Cinema-ban-) would be the one of the titles they used to replace the recently finished Bakuman manga.

Like any good reboot Restoration is immediately familiar yet feels new at the same time. Clearly Nobuhiro Watsuki has changed and improved his art style since he last worked on Kenshin. But at the same time it ins unmistakably Kenshin.If you have ever seen the character redesigns for the covers of the Rurouni Kenshin Kanzenban reprints then you have a good idea of what to expect.

The first story combines the original introduction of Kenshin, Karou, and Yahiko with elements of the first Aoshi story. Like the art the story feels familiar but it is still its own beast. It starts during Bakumatsu with flashes of some iconic battles between Kenshin, Jin-e, and Saito. It then moves forward to the relative calm of the Meiji era and Kenshin once again gets mixed up with Kaoru trying keep her dojo from unsavory scoundrels. It is a quick little story that unites the main trio and shows off Kenshin’s skills. The chapter end with some cameos of villains from throughout the original series including Sanosuke, Saito, and Inui Banjin. A good introduction to the cold-hearted assassin of the revolution who becomes a pacifist who carries a revered blade sword so he can defend the weak without killing. But at the same time it reminds you that there is still a bit of the beast still in Kenshin.

It is an interesting trip back to the story of Himura Kenshin. I think it has the distinct ability to draw in new fans while reminding older fans what they liked about the original. I am curious if they are going to make Kaoru anything more that a damsel in distress most of the time. This would be a good chance for her to live up to the initial promise she had in the original series.

I myself am mostly just sitting back and waiting for Misao to be reintroduced.

I wasn’t really all the interested in the online magazine Shonen Jump Alpha. I had nothing against it, I just wasn’t keeping up to date with any of their offerings. But then they announced Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration and I folded. So here I am, reading a comic weekly which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I’m pretty excited!

From first glance I was happy with what I saw. The art is top-notch, very sharp and crisp. The action is swift and bold.

We start with bloody battles featuring Kenshin as Battosai and then jump forward to the period after the war. This set-up works, you don’t know too much about Kenshin and his abilities but you know enough to be aware of his badass status. He makes it pretty freakin’ clear to a lot of people that he is indeed Battosai from the first chapter. It feels more aggressive, instead of trying to live out a humble life, Kenshin is ready to jump in the fray for a purpose. He hasn’t lost the rejection of unnecessary violence, but he also isn’t hiding from who he was. At least, that’s how it seemed in this chapter.

I wasn’t really kidding when not too long ago I joked that if they were redoing Kenshin they should have forgotten about Karou. Blessedly, she is already not nearly as annoying. I believe this can continue!

I feel like Gundam Unicorn 5 is beginning to show a bit of a dip in animation quality. The first few episodes have been gorgeous. You can tell that almost every scene was A Team animation through out. In episode 5 anything with the camera focused on the foreground is still amazing but when you get long shots you start to notice the B Team being brought in. It happened enough that even someone like me who does not normally notice such details of animation was keenly aware of it happening. I wonder how much that has to do with them having to stretch their budget now that Bandai announced an additional 7th episode that is rumored to be over an hour-long.

Unsurprisingly most of this episode has to do with the Black Unicorn, its pilot, and how Banagher deals with them both. There is also a good deal more Audrey Burne in this episode which I always appreciate. Nice bit of double-dealing in the episode as everyone tries to move things forward for their faction with the upcoming prisoner transfer of people who are technically not prisoners.

Riddhe’s job is technically ace pilot for the Federation he seems to be much more a professional cock blocker. And he tries his best to do his job in this episode. But by the end of it he seems to be going towards being cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. I guess that is what happens when you get both the political and romantic “Lets just be friends” speech.

I do find it slightly odd the Bright constantly talks to a picture of Amuro. They were close and even had a bit of a father son relationship but they never seemed THAT close. When Bright gives Banagher the pep talk about those who pilot Gundams that snaps him funk it makes sense. That is the sort of leader Bright is. But I never saw him being that sentimental about Amuro. Maybe I am just thinking of Bright as too much of a hard ass.

Thankfully the centerpiece around Banagher trying to talk down Marida Cruz is better done than the Tomino crazy town speeches he had with Loni Garvey in the last episode. Banagher and Marida have a far more established relationship, Banagher has a bit more heft to his arguments, Marida has been legitimately brainwashed, and she is not killing civilians while they have their conversation. The whole scene with Loni last episode was clearly to set this up but there was clearly some Tomino logic going on in episode 4 that is thankfully not present here.

There are two cameos in this episode. One that everyone talked about that I am sure that Narutaki could care less about. The other was one that surprised me a little. Sadly we probably won’t be getting anymore Sayla Mass so I will make due with what we get.

While the budget has dropped the story is still compelling. I still had a great time with this episode. I hope that the money they saved here is going to be poured into that last episode. Maybe they only spent a little money on this episode because Full Frontal only shows up at the end. Speaking of which even in death General Revil never catches a break.

I finally finished up watching The Earl and the Fairy anime since I was waiting for more of the manga.

Sadly, it ends up being sloppy. They try to cram in so much story in that it feels rushed and disjointed. I assumed that we would be following Edgar and Lydia attempting to get Edgar his earldom for the duration of the story. But that actually resolves itself rather quickly. Most of the series is them dealing with various fairy business and plots. This isn’t inherently bad, but like I said Edgar’s journey to becoming the Earl is too rushed. It doesn’t feel earned.

Some of the other stories are good like the moonstone ring and the final story with Banshee is also strong but everything just needed more time to develop. The idea of the Prince who is after Edgar also remains rather amorphous throughout the series.

Edgar and Lydia’s relationship seems to get nowhere by series end, too. It has a lot of one step forward two steps back moments. Lydia flat-out refusing to believe Edgar is in love with her even a little is a frustration. I’d much rather watch Lydia deal with her own changing feelings.

I really liked the setting, the characters, and the lore but it just doesn’t come together. Now I’m worried how the manga will fare.

When I caught up with Hayate I also got the new Excel Saga 23. It is as quirky a manga as it has ever been. There is a lot more collusion between the Municipal Force Daitenzin and Excel. In fact most of the book is both forces of working together while keeping their superiors in the dark. Of course this being Excel Saga things all go horribly wrong at the worst possible time. In reflection I can’t think of too many other series in which the manga is so utterly different from the anime in anything other than the core premise and charaters.

I think it is nearly impossible not to notice that Excel Saga has gotten much sexier as the series has gone on. It is not devolved to constant panty shots and shower scenes but there a quite a bit more “choice” camera angles and serendipitous costumes then there were at the beginning of the manga. But I am fine with that because it got Elgala out of the bargain. For some reason I find her incredibly alluring. But that the same time she also plays of Excel rather well. You need someone who is just as crazy as Excel but in a different manner to bounce off her at times. I am a but sad this means we don’t see Hyatt as often which is a shame.

With only 4 more volumes to go I am a little surprised Viz has not canceled Excel Saga but I am glad they have had the commitment to the series to finish it. I look forward to owning volume 27 whenever they release it.

I read the romance one-shot collection Sono Kuchibiru, Itadakimasu. Each story features an unlikely couple coming together. Each are sweet and cute sweeping you up in their simple stories.

My favorite was unsurprisingly the second tale about a girl who accidentally invites a delinquent boy to spend the school festival with her. She got the e-mail address of the class president wrong.

They end up working at a class cafe together and she gets to know him so when the truth inevitably comes out she realizes it was a happy accident.

That was my personal fav., but all the stories are good. Close second was definitely the title story about the guy with the mole on his lip. A very nice little collection.

The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.

Two Flowers for the Dragon

Now I know I said I’d focus on individual titles, but Nari Kusakawa is one of my favorite manga-ka. Three of her titles were licensed by CMX (oh lord, how I miss them!) and two made it to completion. Recipe for Gertrude and The Palette of 12 Secret Colors are absolutely worth picking up if you can find them.

Anyway, my favorite is Two Flowers for the Dragon and as luck would have it it was not finished. Perhaps more torturous is that it was so close! One book away from the end CMX closed up shop.

Two Flowers is a fantasy about an oasis kingdom ruled by people descendant from dragons. The current heir is bright and mischievous Shakuya who possesses magical abilities and also transforms into a dragon when under emotional strain. We join her in the story when a few things are occurring 1) her presumed-dead-for-five-years betrothed reappears, 2) a conspiracy against her kingdom arises, 3) and secrets about her family begin to emerge. This all leads to a great journey to uncover the truth.

Romance also plays a big role in the series. Shakuya already has a new fiance since her first was presumed dead. Each of her hands sports a flower tattoo symbolizing her betrothals. Because of her dragon blood they bloom based on her feelings and she has one year to figure out which one of her suitors is to be the one.

I desperately wish another publisher would jump on the Kusakawa bandwagon.

Maid Sama

Honestly of all the titles on this list, this one not being rescued surprises me most. But with the recent partnering of Right Stuf and TokyoPop‘s undead body maybe being in limbo will change soon. They got a good start with the first 8 volumes seeing release.

Maid Sama is over-the-top shojo in fine form. Misaki is the first female student body president of her recently converted-to-co-ed high school. The guys run rampant led by Usui so she has become a thick-skinned dictator to deal with them. At the same time, Misaki is desperate for cash because of her family situation prompting her to work at a Maid Cafe. Obviously, she wants to keep this a secret but one day her rival Usui happens to see her in uniform leading to blackmail.

Both Misaki and Usui are insane characters playing off each other perfectly. They have so many abilities it is hard to keep track. Misaki is stubborn and perfectly capable making her battles with Usui about who has the upper hand at that moment. She is no push over, when she and the other maids get taken hostage by robbers, she busts heads (before Usui busts down a wall). Usui is ridiculous beyond reason, not only he is hot as can be, he is the best student in school; the most bad-ass fighter; a master chess player; a high-class chef; and (my personal favorite) is able show up anywhere at anytime (they actual reference and joke about this). And believe me the list goes on and on.

I love that Maid Sama doesn’t just go half way to insane, it is full-throttle!

Stolen Hearts

This was one of CMX’s last licenses and as such they didn’t get very far with it. Only two of its six volumes saw release. This is a very cute, sweet, and fairly simple series about a new couple.

Tiny Shinobu accidentally spills a drink on scary-looking Koguma’s bag so when he asks her for a favor she doesn’t feel she can refuse. Turns out that his family owns a kimono shop and she is the perfect size to help them sell their wares to a new, younger crowd of customers. Shinobu quickly learns that first impressions are deceiving and there is something gentle and sweet about Koguma.

These two begin dating in the first book which is refreshing. They are still learning about each other, but they are doing it together. Shinobu softens Koguma’s appearance which broadens their friendships and school life. Also you get to see lots of beautiful kimonos as they work at the shop!

One of Miku Sakamoto‘s other works, Nadeshiko Club, was also picked up by CMX but never released.

Nosatsu Junkie

This TokyoPop release is probably at the top of my charts. Not only is it far from finished in English, but the final volume of the U.S. release ends at a major turning point. Though you could read it as an ending in some ways. Any way, I’m not satisfied only knowing half the story!

Nostatsu Junkie follows fledgling model Naka who has the body and moves down right, but when she tenses up she has the face of a criminal. She is part of the same agency as popular, cute, and sweet model Umi. One day Naka discovers Umi’s secret, Umi is really a foul-tempered boy who is also the student council president of Naka’s school. In exchange for her silence, Umi promises to pull Naka to the top of the fashion world along with him.

Naka and Umi make a great team as it happens. Naka starts to further her career along with Umi. Naka falling in love with Umi causes her to both be more calm and more nervous depending. As for Umi, his masculinity starts to show through as he falls further in love with Naka. It is conflict after conflict in the world of fashion.

Despite being a romance, I consider Nostatsu Junkie to be mostly a strange comedy. That’s not to say I’m not invested in Umi and Naka’s bizarre relationship, I am very much, but it is just such a wacky series! It is filled with slap-stick-like humor, mile-a-minute dialogue, and more than its share of weird characters.

It is a guilty pleasure I can’t quite give up.

Venus Capriccio

Again, another CMX series that was canceled with just one book to go! Venus Capriccio is a simple story though pretty melodramatic.

Two childhood best friends, very different from each other, but both with a love of the piano start to realize their feels for each other. Takami is a tomboy who grew up close with her brothers giving her a tough and boyish exterior. Akira is a pretty boy who is a year younger with a lithe build and a (usually) gentle demeanor. They go to piano school together making them sort of rivals but Akira is considered a prodigy. Still they struggle in their relationship as well as their desires to create music.

What I like best about these two is their acceptance of who the other is, neither is trying to change.

Also I’m really curious about other Mai Nishikata works like Hana no Kishi and Cyboy.

In all honesty, I could have probably made an entire list of CMX titles—already three of my five highlighted here are from them—but I wanted to stick with modern shojo (otherwise this post would be a love letter to Swan). In a lot of ways, getting only part of a series is worse than never getting it all. You know you are missing something! Also seems like partially released series are less likely to be picked up by other publishers.

Drink #004: The Pink Lady,
Invasion of the Beautiful Boys

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Various people start watching the latest show for manly men who live and fight for manly things. They notice the men in this show for guys are pretty handsome. Some of them are even gorgeous. Parts of audience cheers with delight,  most of them continue to watch without batting an eye, and the rest run to their computers to rant at the injustice perpetrated against them.

In this episode we begin to examine this phenomenon. Is there anything wrong with throwing some service to the females watching a show theoretically for guys? Also what makes the male fans go nuts over this phenomenon in the first place?

(Listen)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present your drink

The Pink Lady

*1 1/2 oz gin
*1 tsp grenadine syrup
*1 tsp light cream
*1 egg white

Shake ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Not that long ago Narutaki and I were having a discussion about a phenomenon she likes to call side-character-itis.  It is the tendency for fandom to latch on to certain side characters and completely obsesses over them to the point where they almost seem resentful whenever the main characters take the center stage. Hinagiku Katsura from Hayate the Combat Butler is a prime example of this. At times parts of the fans base seem genuinely surprised they are not watching a show called Hinagiku the Combat President. Shonen fighting shows tend to have this phenomenon as well as they often have generic protagonists to keep the story flexible. They offset the bland hero by making the side characters very vibrant.  The problem is while fandom often gets obsessed with these more exciting side characters they are rarely strong enough to carry a show on their own. Often what makes them work as a side character is what keeps they from standing on their own as a main character.

I recently decided to re-watch some episodes of A Certain Magical Index during lunch at work and one of the poster girls for side-character-itis pops up immediately: Misaka Mikoto. Whenever a new episode of the show would come out it seemed the fan base interest was directly tied to the amount of the Railgun in any given episode. In fact she was such a popular character she was spun off into her own series. But interestingly enough she was strong enough to support her own show. So what separates the main characters in waiting from the merely flashy supporting cast? What separates the Fraisers from the Joeys? I won’t say that Misaka Mikoto has all the answers to that question. But she is a good place to start thinking about which characters can cut the mustard.

Firstly she has a dynamic power. The Railgun ability has the standard “I do a tremendous amount of damage” ability that is they keystone of the shonen hero. But like the Gum-Gum Fruit it has abilities beyond simply doing a tremendous amount of direct damage. She can use her power both psychically and mentally defensively. She can make a sword using magnetism or attack indirectly dozens of different ways.  Anything that conducts electricity is an avenue of attack. She can brute force hack any machinery or network. She can even use it to fly in very select circumstances. Her ability set is a strong tool set that lets her work well when solo or with a team. In fact many people have argued her power is far more of a main character’s ability than Touma’s. And he is the main character of the original series.

Secondly she is strong personality on her own. While one of her signature traits is her unrequited love for Touma it is not her only shtick. If her life only revolved around Touma then she would be rather boring when he was not around. While most people know her as a gentle princess like character she is actually a loud and proud lioness when she gets down to the brass tacks. It makes her an easy character to like and sympathize with. It also makes her an interesting character to watch. She can often be in a high energy mode when you need fighting or to participate in some comedy but she can be thoughtful or vulnerable when you need drama. It also lets her play off the rest of the cast in different manners which you need for a centerpiece cast member.

She is also proactive. Too often the problem with side characters in it is hard to rope them into all but a select number of plots. That mean you either have to move heaven and earth to get them to do anything or go back to the well of the few things that will motivate the character. Since Misaka has a strong sense of justice she will just as often insert herself into stories where people need help as often as she is dragged into situations by circumstance.

Despite all these factors there is always the outside matter of writing. A good writer can take an unlikely protagonist and weave compelling tales around them and a poor writer can ruin an otherwise rock solid main character. It is just that if the raw material is strong than it is more likely that the protagonist will have a good story evolve around them. Misaka Mikoto is not a moon who reflects the light of the sun but a brilliant star in her own right.

Drink #029: Red-headed Stepchild,
A Macross II Discussion

Every long-running franchise has its shinning stars; those parts of the larger series that are held up as the pinnacles of what the franchise has to offer. At the same time, every franchise also has its low points that everyone tries to sweep under the rug and forget about the best they can. Macross II is definitely not in the highly regarded category when it comes to Macross in general. It was enough of a shame on the House that Hikaru built that it was barley recognized as anything but “a story from an alternate timeline.” Andrew from the Veef Show on Collection DX joins us to discuss what Macross II did to earn itself the reputation it has and in turn what it did right.

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

Red-headed Stepchild

• 1 oz DeKuyper Watermelon Pucker schnapps
• 1 oz Jagermeister herbal liqueur
• 3 – 4 oz Minute Maid fruit punch

Shake ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Pour into a chilled whiskey sour glass, and serve.

Hisui’s picks:

• Za Warudo on Your Phone
  Be filled with envy that you can get a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure smart phone in Japan. First the Eden of the East phone and now this.
• Rage Against the Machine
  Gundamn! is back with its regular hosts and they are discussing Generation two of Gundam AGE. They do not hold back on the weaknesses of this arc of the story.
• You’ve Gotta Friend in Chaos Theater
  I am sure there is some monsters out who don’t like Pixar movies but they are monsters and we do not talk to them. For everyone else who was born with a soul there is the latest Chaos Theater podcast where they look at some of the best animated films of all time with friend of the podcast, Kristina Pino. As a side note: My favorite Pixar movies is Ratatouille.
• Another Game To Get Excited About Despite the Fact You Will Never Play It
  Project X Zone is another game that looks awesome but will never get released in English because it is a licensing nightmare. Unless someone would like to prove me wrong. I don’t mind that. But for goodness sakes they have Gemini Sunrise.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • The Most Important Cafe Selection: More Saber themed drinks. 
  • Why was it not the Lion-Go: There is also some Railgun action as well. 
  • The Illusive Tsukihime 2: The future plans of Type-Moon
  • “I’m the strongest!” is Not Just for Cirno Anymore: Who do fans think of as the strongest servant from Fate/Zero?

Narutaki’s picks:

• Tiger & Bunny Popples!
  At least that’s all I could think when I saw these “transforming” plushies. And if you don’t know what a Popple is, lame.
• The Unsophisticated Frankenweenie
  An interview with Tim Burton about the production of the new animated version of Frankenweenie. What was most interesting was how he wanted the puppets to be less sleek because the Corpse Bride ended up looking like CG instead of stop-motion. I can totally see what he means, there is a charm to the roughness of his designs and their 3D counterparts.
• Customize Your Droid
  Walt Disney World is opening a Star Wars droid factory in their Hollywood Studios Park. There are a ton of options. I’m looking forward to doing this in the fall.

I usually put fan art here but I could not resists using this:

Filed under: All Points Bulletin Tagged: Fate/Zero, Frankenweenie, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Pixar, Star Wars, Tiger & Bunny, Walt Disney World ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/05/20/all-points-bulletin-up-with-frankenweenie/feed/ 1 reversethieves hisuicon narutaki sep-pic hisuicon http://reversethieves.com/2012/05/19/fatezero-s2-tv-007-survival-tip-1-dont-fall-in-love-with-kiritsugu/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/05/19/fatezero-s2-tv-007-survival-tip-1-dont-fall-in-love-with-kiritsugu/#comments Sat, 19 May 2012 16:30:50 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=21420 ]]>

This is an episode with an inordinate number of dying women resting on floors. And Waver is also resting on the floor. Draw from that what you will. But since Kiritsugu‘s flashbacks are done it means that the normal opening and closing have returned. And so have the deadly battles of the Holy Grail War. You can feel the tension as each Master and Servant is eliminated as the remaining teams know that they are fighting the best of what remains will less and less resources. It is quickly becoming a question of who can survive the long game. As soon as you run out of aces up your sleeve you are done. And it is clear that some teams are running low on everything while others are just getting started.

There is no rest for the wicked and Kiritsugu is trying very hard to prove that. With Irisviel no longer being strong enough to act as Saber’s Master is seems that Kiritsugu is forced to try a two-pronged attacked simultaneous against Rider and Archer. But as Kiritsugu soon finds out the situation in Fuyuki City has changed more than he knew. Tokiomi is dead and the safe house is nowhere as secure as the thought it was. At the same time Rider and Berserker marshal their strength for the final four Servants.

Irisviel has finally deteriorated enough that she can no longer even pretend like she is able to function normally. She calls over Kiritsugu to say her goodbyes. Unlike with Kiritsugu and Natalia Kaminski no one here is pretending that Irisviel will be OK. They both know she is doomed to die to bring forth the grail so Irisviel merely gives her husband her last wishes for their daughter and returns Avalon so that me might make it through this dangerous end game. Like some people with a terminal diseases she has resigned herself to the inevitable. Irisviel is more concerned about tying up loose ends as that is all that she has left. With little he can say to comfort his wife Kiritsugu continues forward. He plans to have Saber attack Rider at home and he plans to kill Tokiomi directly so that the overpowered Archer no longer makes himself a nuisance. Before he goes we see a rare smile from Maiya. As someone who considers herself a part of Kiritsugu she detects a change in him. While it might seem to an outside observer that Kiritsugu is the same she clearly has detected a change in her companion.

As Saber looks for Rider she is just a bit too late. Apparently inspired by the final Harry Potter book Waver decides to go on a little camping trip as he waits for Rider to regain his strength. Waver is now apparently aware that Rider has been holding back in taking mana from him so he is much weaker than he should be. It does not help that Ionioi Hetairoi is an immensely draining technique and that he can only conceivable use one more time given that they cannot just rest out in the woods forever. Someone is eventually going to attack them even in the middle of nowhere. As they rest Rider and Waver have a good heart to heart here. Waver is showing his growth as the Holy Grail war has definitely toughened him up from the whinny prissy boy that he was at the start. At the same time we get the first signs that Rider is beginning to suspect that not all is right with the Holy Grail War. It seems he wonders if there is even a Grail in the first place. As someone who knows about chasing dreams he knows that there are some sacrifices you do not casually make no matter how wondrous the potential prize. At the same time it seems Rider’s first priority is to beat Saber. In a way it is almost a paternal interest in her. He does not want her to lose as much so he can win as that he wants her to see how is unfairly torturing herself with her current way of thinking. Sadly all the Waver/Rider fans do not get the mana transfer scene here they hoped for. I think just as many guys were disappointed as women. Oh well. That is what doujinshi is for.

While Kariya may be alive her is hardly doing all that well. For the first time we get to see Berserker speak in anything other than a guttural scream even if it is just in a dream. But even in a coherent conversation we see that Berserker is just filled with an all-consuming desire to snuff out the light. Kariya is just his path to his true goal of killing Saber. Everything else is just a side mission. But if being strangled by his Ghost Rider like Servant in his dreams were not terrible enough his waking life is actually worse. While Zoken’s magic is patching him up he is clearly at the end of his rope. But to prove that Zoken is still trying to win the worst human being in Fate universe competition he pulls a final putrescence filled rabbit from his hat. He implants a worm that has fed off Sakura to turbo charge Kariya for these final battles. It is doubly torturous because not only is the worm physically painful but Kariya also has to deal with the knowledge that said worm is the first monstrosity to defile Sakura. Zoken is just a monster.

Maiya you silly woman. You are the veteran of countless battlefields. You should know by now that the heart to heart reveal of motivations is the ultimate death flag. But a dying Irisviel is curious about the mysterious woman who is her husband’s shadow so she is able to pry out some secrets. Both of them are slightly perplexed by the other and their loyalty to Kiritsugu. Maiya was utterly dead inside when Kiritsugu found her. Kiritsugu gave her purpose so she hooked her dreams to him. It is not that they share they same dreams. In Maiya’s mind they are so one in the same that there is no way they cannot have the same goal. She is only as conflicted or divided as he is. No more and no less. At the same time we get the shocking revelation. Irisviel is really only pretending to be as devoted as she appears. It’s not that she does not want to believe in Kiritsugu ideals. It is just that she is so sheltered that the full ramifications of Kiritsugu’d ideals will always be beyond her. She was raised as a girl in a box who is doomed to die. Her real wish is just for her husband and daughter to live on in a world untainted by the Grail. If this continues she knows that Ilya’s life will be just as horrible as hers. And it then becomes clear why she so easily tolerates Maiya relationship with her husband. She wants someone to be by his side when she is gone. She knows that Maiya will unquestioningly support Kiritsugu and her daughter without question. But their soul-searching is cut off mid sentence by a deadly intruder.

At the same time Kiritsugu arrives to a Tohsaka mansion that is far too quiet. As soon as he notices the elaborate defenses are down he begins to suspect something is up. Rather than find that Tokiomi has changed his base of operations he discovers that the owner of the house was murdered here. Using some magical Holmesian deduction he learns the murder was clearly someone Tokiomi knew. It is fairly obvious that the only person who could get that close is everyone’s favorite psychopathic priest (who is not Alexander Anderson). But his investigation is cut short by the attack on his base of operations.

Maiya is able to call for help (with her massive 80s cellphone) but it is too little too late. Even Saber’s emergency teleport thanks to Kiritsugu using a command seal only get Saber in time to see the aftermath of Rider’s intrusion. Irisviel has been kidnapped and Maiya is gravely wounded. Saber heads off in pursuit as Maiya waits for Kiritsugu. Maiya hols on just long enough to say her last goodbyes. She knows that this war is tearing up Kiritsugu on a physical and spiritual level. She only wishes to give him the strength to finish the war with her passing. And so she dies happily know her role is done. I think they mention it more in the novel that Kiritsugu is surprised he ends up crying for Maiya. Only at the end does he realize she was nowhere as disposable as he though he has compartmentalized her.

In the end Maiya was just far to squishy to survive much more than this. But sadly her death was not even a speed bump in the course of a Servant’s rampage. But observant people will notice two things wrong with the kidnapping. The first is that Rider was still should resting while the kidnapping took place. The second is that killing the far too human Maiya and then taking Irisviel is not Rider’s style. So the question is who did attack the Emiya compound? We will just have to see as Saber takes off on her motorcycle in hot pursuit.

Next time on CSI: Fuyuki City: The Magical Magus Killing Gumshoe investigates another arcane killing. Someone also probably gets raped with an inanimate object.

After getting lost in the mail the first time, I finally got my copy of Young Miss Holmes (casebook 1-2). I was already aware of this series in Japanese and had looked at a few volumes previously so I was looking forward to actually reading it. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t really get good until the last case in the volume but perhaps that will lead into a better continuation book.

Christie is the niece of Sherlock Holmes a man she admires and therefore is constantly trying to impress with her own stunning intellect. She inserts herself into cases where ever she can leading to some annoyance on the part of her uncle. But Christie is quite capable as are her maids so it isn’t annoying having her rush into danger. Christie notices details and observes people in classic Holmes fashion.

The only problem is, Sherlock Holmes himself is already in the first three mysteries. Christie comes off as rather frivolous to the plot since Holmes also figures everything out. This leads to lots of over explanations about what occurred in the crime. In fact, in the third (and worst) story Holmes gives his assessment of what has happened but Christie is somewhere else completely so we hear it again as she tells it to another person.

Speaking of the third story which is about a vampire, the entire thing felt out of place. In a Holmes mystery, you expect a supernatural phenomenon to be disproved as the culprit in a case and it is. However, vampires are shown to truly exist in the world. Also they give terrible advice. But worst is the final solution to the the conflict of telling the family the truth about what had occurred in their home. The entire thing was just dumb and happened to be the longest story of the bunch.

Despite all that, the last case in the book is good! Holmes is away so it falls to Christie completely. This one involves a cypher, a secret past, and a murder. It has a good twist and allows Christie to shine as an individual.

The main problem with Young Miss Holmes (originally titled Christie High Tension) is it that is comes off more like odd self insert fan fiction that anything else. Each of the five stories in the book are classic Sherlock Holmes mysteries. They don’t even change the names so you know exactly which ones they are. The set up for the cases is even exactly the same. So if you have read the Red-Headed League you know the story in advance. The only real question is how does Christie get involved and what does she do in the background.

So in many ways it just comes off that there is the random niece of Sherlock Holmes that pops up in cases but then does not do THAT much because you know it has to be Sherlock who solves the case. It is like the whole time in the background there was a little girl who was ALMOST as smart as Sherlock Holmes but you just never heard about it. And in the end it never really mattered. So at least in the Adventure of the Dancing Men it might be just a copy and paste of the original story with Christie in the place of Holmes at least Christie gets to shine in that story. In all the other stories she comes off as vestigial.

Which is a shame because she is a delightful character. She has an adorable spunk that makes her very charming balanced with a good amount of competence and panache. The main problem is that she is right next to Sherlock Holmes who is pretty much the pinnacle of the genre. The brightest candle does not seem as impressive next to the full force of the sun. I know that Narutaki wanted to like her so much. I mean she rides an awesome dog as her faithful companion. That is Narutaki catnip.

Her servants are also quite charming. Nora is always delightful whenever she is around. Her relaxed whip-smart sass is just dangerous as her actual whip.  The extremely religious Ann-Marie is the prim and proper maid who also duel wields pistols as an interesting dichotomy to her character. Miss Dunbar becomes her governess during the course of the first book. She quickly realizes that there is nothing can can teach Christie as she is already operating on an intellectual higher than most adults. Her main mission is to teach her student to be socially functional without trying to repress the unique qualities that make Christie exceptional.

The person who is not a delightful character is Mina Tepes who appears in a cameo in the third story. Thankfully she is not the super sexualized character she is in her own manga. I don’t think it would have been fun to read this book after Narutaki had puked all over it had they used the canonical Mina Tepes. But this really makes her a bizarre character to use in a cameo. She is distinctly written as a Young Miss Holmes character so she has none of the appeal to a Dance in the Vampire Bund reader but as an actual vampire she distinctly takes away from normal setting of the story. She distracts the reader far more than anything she might add to the story.

I think Young Miss Holmes would work far better if Christie were solving her own mysteries instead of being in background of classic mysteries. The connection to Holmes is great but she need to get out of her uncle’s shadow to be her own character. It would let her and her companions stand out more and really come into their own. There is a strong framework there. They just have to have the confidence to let it stand on its own.

The Earl and the Fairy vol. 1 basically covers what I’d seen of the anime. Fairy Doctor, Lydia, is an anomaly in the world as people have stopped believing in the wee folk. But her services are an asset when she gets whisked off by beguiling criminal Edgar who claims to be the Earl of the fairy realm in need of help. Oh, he is handsome and charming but incredibly hard to read even when he talks of his past you aren’t sure if you can really trust him. In true romantic fashion, Lydia can’t help but get caught up in his quest.

I enjoyed it a lot. Edgar is pretty irresistible but more than that I’m quite curious about the fairy realm, so far we’ve mostly just heard about it and seen tiny glimpses of fairies. The journey to getting his earldom has captured me.

I don’t have much disposable income but whenever I get a little free cash I make sure that I catch up on volumes of Hayate the Combat Butler. A coupon to Forbidden Planet finally let me catch up with the US release when purchased volumes 18 and 19. I know that Hayate could be doing better in the US so I always see it as my duty to help it out whenever I can.

Getting book 18 means I have to deal with more Athena but thankfully her story ends quickly in this book giving us a bit of a reprieve from her for a while. I think I am learning to tolerate her much more but that might be partially due to her now being connected to Ayako Kawasumi. The story with Hayate and Maria phony date is great if for nothing else we get more Maria and Linn Regiostar. They are both characters who do not get enough time in the spotlight. But as always Maria is an extremely refreshing character. I cannot read a chapter with her and not feel better. This book also marks the point where Hata really starts to promote Chiharu Harukaze from a very minor secondary character to a member of the main cast. She is a great character when Hata starts to delve into her and she makes a great person for Nagi to interact with as simultaneously an equal and someone who is a bit more mature. There is a reason picked her as woman of the year in 2011.

Book 19 is just as fun. The two Nagi stories are classic goofball comedies where Nagi and Hayate’s relationship is always at its strongest. The story of Nagi waking up early is delightfully tender and plays to all of her strengths. The story about breaking out of the “boredom stage” is in contrast wonderfully high energy. This also marks when Hata REALLY starts pushing Wataru and Saki as a couple with their trip to Las Vegas. He had been pushing it since the beginning but it really comes to the forefront here. Then again I have a feeling this was always been the plan. All the way back in the early books he stated that if he ever made a spin-off series it would just be about Wataru and Saki.

The best part of the official releases is the fact that you get the little inside flap stories. It is the only place you get to see Orumuzuto Nadja. The part where Maria asks if Hayate has any boyfriends is amazing. In fact both books are sort of amazing. I never regret buying a Hayate book. They always make my day a little brighter.

We finally completed the Broken Blade movie series with the final film Bastions of Sorrow (movie 6). It is a much better follow up than movie 5 but it doesn’t hold up all that well as an ending.

The bulk of time is taken up by a major battle so we get very little in the way of conversations or character development. That being said, the battle is quite well done.

Though it is strange that Rygart doesn’t feel as much a part of it, there was some disconnect. Still his fight with Borcuse is cool but I was disappointed in the final outcome because it seemed a bit of dumb luck.

It feels wrong that Zess is pretty much completely absent from the final films, too.

I realized early on that they weren’t going to complete the story with these movies but at the same time I felt a bit like, “Then why make SIX of them!” That is quite a lot. They ended at a definitive point in the war but nothing is resolved between characters.

The Broken Blade movies are an odd little project. If this were the 80s this clearly would have been an OVA but today it is a series of movies that they then sell on disk which essentially just makes them OVA’s with a theatrical release. I say this because while the movies have a definitive ending point it feels more like the end of act one of a play more than then end of a story. I know that these are mostly supposed to be a treat for the fans of the manga in Japan but us dirty Americans don’t get the manga anymore. Maybe JManga can pick this title up. Would mecha manga to better with a digital distribution? I’m guessing that is not the case but it might be worth looking into.

This is one big siege battle. In the end if you are going to go out on anything in a mecha series this is not a bad choice. We get the final showdown between Rygart and Borcuse. I’m glad they did not keep Borcuse around too long. Borcuse was a bit too much of a mustachioed villain to keep around past this point. The rubber-band shuriken that Rygart fights with in this movie is somewhere between completely goofy and totally awesome. In that regard it would be very much at home in G-Gundam more than Broken Blade.

As a side note I really like Narvi but she distinctly suffers from the classic “vaginas make you low tier” syndrome you see in far too many mecha anime. She is supposed to be such a great pilot but whenever we see her she is stinking it up on the battlefield. She is not Cleo but overall that is still a pretty backhanded compliment. In contrast while Captain Sakura could not take out Borcuse at least you felt like she was a captain for a reason. She was taking down grunt soldiers like a pro.

I know that Zess comes back later in the manga but that is because I did a little research on my own. As it stand with the movies Zess is this huge part of the first half of the movie series and then he seemingly disappears due to his injuries. It is clear that he is still connected to several very important plot threads but as it stands it feels like they forgot about him. In the manga is much clearer that he is merely on the back burner and that he will be back in the thick of things again. But the movies make it seem more like sloppy writing.

Overall I had a good time with the Broken Blade movies but I feel they could have been so much better. They initial promise is so strong but the final movies have great fight scenes but lack any of the character punch that the first three movies had.

The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.

Tokusatsu and eroge are not necessarily the first two things you might think of combining together but they actually complement each other better than you would think. Dengeki Stryker mixes in tales of hot-blooded courage with transforming cyborgs and combines it with sexy time adventures. I first became aware of this series when Mike Dent mentioned it in his Friday Ace podcast. The opening video with a song by Masaaki Endoh of Jam Project and animation directed by Shinichi Watanabe immediately told me this was something to watch out for. Since MangaGamer does some rather robust demos so I was really looking forward to what they would release for Dengeki Stryker since they were doing the English adaptation. After playing it I learned it was not exactly the game I originally thought it would be. The question was did I enjoy what I discovered it to be.

Yuuki Yamato is your standard superhero obsessed boy. He has a bold heart but he does not have the iron body to back up his love of justice. One day a mysertious man offers Yuuki a bargain. The old man will give him the powers of his cyborg hero, Stryker Zero in return for all his memories. When Yuuki awakes he only remembers being Stryker Zero and cannot understand why he is now trapped in a child’s body in a Japan he does not recognize. Ten years pass as Yuuki awkwardly waits for the forces of the Balbora Empire to attack. When Yuuki moves to Tokyo for High School the day he has been preparing for arrives. But it seems his lost memories are catching up to him when he runs into his forgotten childhood friend Haruna Hongo. What exactly was the price of becoming a hero?

At first I assumed Dengeki Stryker was going to be something like Golden Knight Garo. Since it was a tokusatsu visual novel I assumed it was going to be serious, mature, and sexy with lots of hoot blooded fight scenes. In all actuality Dengeki Stryker is best summed up with Full Metal Panic! + Excel Saga. It is first and foremost a silly comedy. That is not to say that there is not some exciting tussles filled with physic powers, mechanical maneuvers, ninja techniques, and manly courage. Like Full Metal Panic! while the comedy is strong there is also some solid battles to keep things interesting. But they are mostly there to pump you up in between comedy scenes.

It turn out that like Excel Saga the opposing sides actually live right next to each other. Since Yuuki  in living on his own in Tokyo he only has his shoestring allowance from his mother to make it in the big city. This means he lives in a super economy apartment complex next to the invaders from the Balbora Empire. Despite being god like psychics their lack of funds and need to keep a low profile have them living just as impoverished as their crime fighting neighbor. This means the hero and the villains spend more time clipping coupons and hunting down discounts then they do fighting each other.

The main gag is that despite having paper-thin disguise no one seems to be able to recognize each other off of the battle field. Yuuki sees the people next door as the upstanding foreigners who work hard and play even harder. He often mentions how he has to fight hard so he can make Japan safe for everyone including stand up immigrants like his new friends. The Balbora troops on the other hand frequently remark that when they conquer Japan they hope all their new citizens are as kind and virtuous as the wonderful boy next door. But when they only are in their oh-so-very-slightly-different looking costumes they are fighting each other at full power.

At the same time Yuuki is doing his best to fit in at school but much like Sousuke Sagara he is very bad at staying undercover. While he thinks he is blending in perfectly most people at school think he is a grade A psycho. The only people who interact with him are his child hood friend, her exasperated friend Sayaka Ichimonji, and Rin Kazumi a Balbora spy who is just as horrible at blending in. Yuuki instance of calling anything even slightly personal a piece of classified information is the tip of the iceberg with his clumsy attempts to live a double life.

The main trio has a distinctly Full Metal Panic! styled love triangle. Yuuki is the oblivious solider. He only lives for protecting people and therefore all other concerns are secondary. He is a kind-hearted boy but his single-minded worldview can make him good to know when you are in trouble but very difficult to get close to. Haruna is the gentle former girl next door who is desperately trying to get Yuuki to remember her. She is Yuuki constant ally despite their years apart and his constant odd duck behavior. Haruna is the Tessa of the two girls. In turn Sayaka is the Chidori. Sayaka constantly busts Yuuki’s balls when he acts like a moron but obviously has a soft spot for the guy. Her family runs the cafe that becomes a hang out for both sides of this little war.

Along the way Yuuki gets a rather unusual roommate by the way on a ninja named Jack. Jack is from Texas and came to Japan to be a ninja. Jack is also a huge clueless weeaboo who has a very warped view on the homeland of ninjutsu. Jack winds up getting saved from starvation by Yuuki who then finds this little mooch in his service. It is also rather quickly obvious that Jack is actually much more of a kunoichi than a ninja if you catch my drift. With Gemini Sunrise being the samurai cow girl from Texas, Cathy McMahon the cowgirl pilot from RahXephon, and Jack King the cowboy mecha jock from Getter Robo the Japanese sure love their cowboys from America.

The Balbora soldiers are pretty much secondary main characters from how much they appear in the story. Overall they seem like stand up people if they were not using their powers to overthrow the government. They are a motley crew of everything from a dapper gentleman who controls gravity, to a visual kei styled pyrokinetic, to a super intelligent talking dog. When they are not devastating downtown they most seem like a lovable if slightly dysfunctional family. They are very Florsheim in that manner. Their intelligence officer Rin Kazumi has no powers so they sent her undercover to the local school to find out Stryker Zero’s secret identity and try to seduce him. Colonel Mirror is the only member of the crew who lives on his own and he seems to have some secret agenda. He clearly know more than he lets on and is the only one who can see through Yuuki’s flimsy disguise.

Overall being from OVERDRIVE it means that Dengeki Stryker has very strong production values. Crisp and colorful character designs, rousing music, and a surprising amount of animated clips. It is hardly an anime with a lot of text but I was impressed that they had at least one animated scene per chapter of the story. A bit more surprisingly was there were very few choices to make in the demo. All the decisions seemed to revolve around either favoring Haruna or Sayaka. I wonder if there are any actual choices that effect the plot or does it all just come down to who you get in the sex scenes.

I find it amusing that other than the obligatory bath scene with all the beautiful girls (from both sides) there was not that much nudity and absolutely no sex in the demo. In return the teasers at the end of the demo made damn sure to show you that there would be some sexy time scenes if you got the full version. They clearly know how to sell these games. I think the story is strong enough that it does not need the sex but they also know that is a major reason people play these games.

I’m not usually one to complain about it but Haruna and Sayaka have a bit too much of the same face phenomenon. I can always tell everyone in Hayate the Combat Butler and Gundam SEED apart but I find myself confusing Haruna and Sayaka on occasion. Sometimes it a plainly obvious which is which but other times I have to just have to check the text so see who is talking. The thing is that Jack, Rin, Hiruko are all distinct in their character designs from each other and the main two girls. The guys all look nothing like each other. There could be a plot reason for it revealed later on or it just might be a Betty and Veronica thing.

I have to say that MangaGamer is fairly savvy in making their demos. They distinctly give you enough so yo get the overall mood of the story, the cadence of the writing, and a grasp of the characters. At the same time you don’t feel like you the rug was pulled out from underneath you feet too far into the game. A distinctly healthy portion. I think the ultimate decided factor merely comes down to watching the opening to the game. It will easily decide if you are going to like the game or not. If you are not instantly won over then nothing well sell you. But if you like romantic comedies with a manly twist this game will be one to get when in comes out on June 22nd. If the ending is as strong as the opening I am hoping MangaGamer will consider getting Chou Dengeki Stryker as well. We need more hot-blooded visual novels.

Aya Nakahara

Nakanara’s popular series Love*Com (Lovely Complex) was lucky enough to be released by VIZ fully. It is one of the best romances in recent memory by showing two people actually becoming friends, having commonalities in their lives, and then falling in love. Of course it had a healthy dose of humor and a unique and relatable lead, Risa.

Nakahara actually has an extensive catalog of titles. She tends to go with pairs of unlikely people whether it be romances or friendships. Some of the titles I’d like to see: Hanada, too perfect girl meets uncouth boy; Nanaco Robin, imagine Kozuki from Love*Com (with a bad attitude) in a cute romance; and Berry Dynamite, idol duo who are friends on stage and enemies off.

At the very least I hope we get the new Love*Com manga that was recently announced.

Yoko Maki

Yoko Maki is best known on both sides of the Pacific for Aishiteruze Baby the sweet story of a high school boy who becomes the temporary older brother of a little girl. Kippei is quite the player but he matures thanks to his new responsibilities. It is hard not to fall in love with Maki’s leads.

Maki’s stories have graced the pages of Ribon often leading to simple romances like Atashi wa Bambi (a personal favorite) and Taranta Ranta. But we’ve also been treated to something a bit wackier like Shouri no Akuma or more story based like the supernatural Star Blacks.

In recent years, she has been branching out with things like Pika Ichi about two bullied high schoolers dispensing some justice; and Zen Zen following a guy who must take his brother’s place running a cram school. Both are collaborative works w/ Aki Mochida.

With so much to choose from, it should be easy to pick another title for U.S. release.

Julietta Suzuki

I recently discussed Julietta Suzuki’s lovely series Karakuri Odette. We were lucky enough to see it fully released from TokyoPop before they went (mostly) out of business. It is a great little comedy fantasy about a robot learning about humanity by attending high school.

Suzuki created a quiet series that has a charming approach to humor and relationships and that’s what I’d hope to see more of. Her stories always feature an off-kilter bent like Akuma to Dolce which has a demon with a weakness for sweets that our heroine puts to good use; and Kamisama Hajimemashita in which our heroine gets caught up with a fox spirits schemes. (*update: didn’t realize Kamisama Hajimemashita is already licensed under the title Kamisama Kiss*)

I don’t know a whole lot about these other works, but I’d like to very much!

Nana Haruta

I really love the simplistic approach to romance Nana Haruta shows in Cactus’s Secret. Happily released by VIZ, this four volume rom-com explores Miku’s trials of being in love with, to be frank, a clueless moron.

Haruta is another Ribon manga-ka who creates sweet and cute school romance series like Love Berrish! which takes place in dorms where a new transfer finds friends and love; Chocolate Cosmos featuring a misunderstood “scary” girl who is just looking for love; Itoshi no Goshujinsama where a girl is unsure if her boyfriend is as in love with her as she is with him; and Stardust Wink a love triangle between a girl and her two guy friends in the same apartment complex.

With the exception of her latest series Stardust Wink, Haruta’s stories tend to be short which makes them a little bit of an easier sell to be licensed I would think.

Kanae Hazaki

Kanae Hazaki is primarily a josei manga-ka and the only U.S. release for her is a josei compilation book. Voices of Love was put out from the now defunct Aurora Publishing under their Luv Luv Press imprint. Her stories are romances that involve at least a little (usually more) sex. And her characters are varying.

Hazaki is on my shojo list for one reason, Sukitte li Na Yo (try not be charmed by the cover). Sukitte is kind of like Kimi ni Todoke in high gear: girl without friends who the students think is creepy catches the attention of outgoing, popular guy who helps her make friends and open up. The difference being our couple begin dating within the first volume so the story centers around their ups and downs.

But it has its own personality, too. Mei doesn’t talk to people but she isn’t shy about telling you what she thinks, she just doesn’t trust people because of past experiences in childhood. Speaking of, most everyone has some serious problems that are tackled in the story. Also sex is a part of the fabric of the series from the beginning. That’s not to say it is constantly happening, it is just part of the conversation.

As far as I know Sukitte li Na Yo is Hazaki’s only long running (8 volumes ongoing) series, too.

Ayumi Komura

Ayumi Komura’s cooking/romance series Mixed Vegetables seems to have slid under the radar when released by VIZ. It follows the daughter of a patissier that dreams of being a sushi chef; and the son of a sushi chef who wishes to be, you guessed it, a patissier.

Komura is good at combining other story threads thoroughly within the romance of Mixed Vegetables. I hope she continues that with titles like: Hybrid Berry which adds baseball and learning to love the hobbies of someone you love; and Usotsuki Lily primarily a school comedy about a cross-dressing boy and his girlfriend who tries to accept him.

Though Komura doesn’t have a huge catalog of titles yet, I’m looking forward to all her efforts.

That’s it for now! I expect to be doing at least another post about shojo licenses that were not completely released in the U.S. and probably one about shojo manga-ka that haven’t been brought stateside at all yet.

On August 31, 2011 the U.S. shuttle program was officially ended. Due to high-profile shuttle disasters, increased results from unmanned space research, and the overall humongous expense the US decided that the money invested in the shuttle program is not worth the dividends. Now with one of the main pieces of the Space Race being the Cold War is long over the zealotry behind sending people in space is long gone. There are no dirty Commies to beat to the moon. The America that dreamed of sending a man into space, creating lunar and martian colonies, and extending its reach beyond the solar system is no more. Growing concern over domestic issues and a perceived notion that space travel is frivolous and dangerous has transformed modern space travel from a high concept to a farcical joke. Look at the reaction to Newt Gingrich’s proposal for a lunar colony. He might have well suggested throwing money into time travel research and cloning dinosaurs for a gigantic amusement park. In America, the dream of space travel is dead or at least in a fairly permanent coma for the time being.

At the same time Japan still seems oddly optimistic about manned space travel. I remember being slightly shocked that Sumire Kanou from Toradora! legitimately was studying to be an astronaut. I also remember Orihime Inoue off handily mentioning she wished to grow up to be an astronaut. While it is foolish to assume the aspirations of fictional characters are a one to one  correspondence to the desires of a nation the fact that Japan still writes popular stories in which people dream of exploring space in their fiction is remarkable.

You have the anime and manga for Planetes and Moonlight Mile both of which involved characters who wanted to explore deep space. Even the recent Kamen Rider Fourze has a space travel motif with Yuki Jojima being a hardcore space otaku and the rest of the cast having various levels of interest in space. You don’t get three space travel anime every season but they do appear frequently enough. Two series that we have recently beeen enjoying exemplify this infatuation with the hope for cosmic exploration: Twin Spica and Space Brothers. In their own way both of them revolve around a passion for celestial exploration.

Having just finished the Twin Spica manga and starting to watch the Space Brothers anime in the new season, I’ve become very emotionally attached to the dream of space travel again. These two series show so much hope and promise to the idea of becoming an astronaut and taking that first trip to space.

This was once a big dream in the U.S., too, but in the last decade excitement over current space exploration seems to be drying up. I recall one of my elementary school teachers being way into space and she worked it into lessons as much as she could. We built moon colony dioramas and I wished for space camp. I never did but I maintained a fond attachment to the idea of space travel.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but believe in that impossible yet incredible dream of space. Putting a face to the hope that traveling out past our atmosphere is what makes it resonate so strongly. Maybe in the U.S., we need our own Asumi and Mutta.

Twin Spica has pure and innocent temperament in its dream of space travel. I would go as far as to say it has an almost child like passion. The main characters in Twin Spica all have various reasons they wish to go into space. Asumi, Shu, and Marika probably have the purest desire to become astronauts solely for the earnest desire to explore the galaxy. All the students have a major handicap that stands in their way but all of them do their best to overcome that hurdle and make their dream come true. Asumi and Shu even more than the others have a naked passion for space that they cannot hide. It peppers all their conversations and influences many of their decisions. But the whole cast must make sacrifices and hard choices to peruse their goals. While it is never easy they move forward with no regrets. That is how intoxicating the dream of being an astronaut is.

That is not to say that Twin Spica is totally lacking in adult themes or considerations. Several chapters deal with the fact that the revived Japanese space program is being besieged by protestors from the outside and political squabbles from the inside. Many people see the project as a waste of time and money for a potentially dangerous project. They would see the money spent on the program put toward terrestrial projects. At the same time Takahito Sano tries to kick Asumi out of the program merely to punish her for the perceived sin of her father. While the cast’s dreams may have a child like intensity the obstacles they face as very nuanced and adult.

The clear-sighted dedication of Asumi in Twin Spica sweeps you away instantly. Despite her tragedies, wanting something so badly, knowing it for so long is in many ways enviable. Some people never find that passion in life. She isn’t bold in her desires for space, it just inhabits her very being.

Twin Spica presents the final frontier but it feels within in grasp because of characters like Asumi. Even in the face of the real world conversations that space exploration is a waste of money, Twin Spica shows that it isn’t always about the practical but about building the human spirit.

I always felt that Asumi’s small stature exemplified how small a part of the universe we all are. I can only imagine how humbling an experience it must be to be up there looking down on earth.

If the passions for space in Twin Spica have a child like innocence than the desire for stars in Space Brothers is an adult’s dreams. Mutta starts off with an equally intense and pure dream like Asumi but life gets in the way. He soon finds himself making many of the compromises we all make over the years. His dream of being and astronaut soon gives way to the more obtainable goal of a working as an engineer in the auto industry. All but a few lucky adults know the pain of having to let go our your passions and settle for a more sustainable lifestyle.

But Space Brothers is not about the banal death of the soul. It is about reaching for the promise of the final frontier. While Mutta’s ambitions might have been buried for a time when all seems lost he finds his way back onto his true path.  We see him rekindle the Asumi-like passion he had as a child and focus it again in an adult fashion. The lure of the stars proves to be unshakable even if the path toward the heavens is not a straight line.

But Space Brothers is not all broken dreams and a path of thorns. We see Hibito go on a more unclouded path towards space exploration as he steamrollers over anything that would get in his way. Serika Itou also seems to have a fairly uncomplicated path with all the enthusiasms of any character from Twin Spica. Space Brothers is a series that shows us that for some people that path to the stars is a destiny, and for others it is a twisting journey, but it can be a irresistible call for all of them.

Space Brothers presents us with a different side to a goal: the forgotten, given up dream. It strays away from sentimentality, maybe that is why it resonates so acutely. Mutta is so familiar. In a way, it feels like where we are in the real world in relation to space; we’ve forgotten why we wanted to go in the first place.

While I never doubted that Asumi would fulfill her dream, I don’t know what path Mutta will take. I certainly want him to recapture his youthful passion, but I don’t know if he will fully succeed. Yet, I feel as though the pursuit of space itself will still prove to be amazing. Believing in being able to get there is inspiring for Mutta and for me.

Space represents hope, achievement, youth, and the bond between brothers in Space Brothers. It is much greater than a physicality, space itself isn’t so faceless.

While the government might be shelving manned space flight projects but that does not mean they are completely off the table. Private companies are increasingly looking at the potential of space flight. The well publicized X Prize proved that commercially backed space programs were a distinct possibility and the recent interest in asteroid mining has opened a world of possibilities. The dream of space may be different then we thought it would be 20 years ago but it does not mean it is forgotten. As long as shows like Twin Spica and Space Brothers keep the dream alive space will be waiting for us.

The journey of making a dream come true is desperately moving when presented with so much sensitivity and detail as it is in Twin Spica and Space Brothers.

Pursing a dream is an immense undertaking, it is brave. Asumi and Mutta are underdogs and their dreams become your dreams. Big, space-sized dreams.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Decorate Your iPhone with Tezuka
  These are some really sweet designs featuring many characters from the Tezuka library. If I had a fancy phone, I’d definitely seek these out.
  
• Graffiti Artists Assemble!
  The Avengers is every where lately, and that includes in Street Art.
• Gamers Get All the Girls
  This is cleverly constructed chart about dating sites VS. World of Warcraft success rates.

Hisui’s picks:

• Living on Curry Rice and Energy Drinks
  The Ninja Consultants interview Felipe Smith about his unique artistic style and his experiences working as a manga artist in Japan. A rare insight into the industry.
• Can We Make a Rule That Ryukishi07 Can No Longer Draw His Own Characters?
  I am really looking forward to Rose Guns Days so this trailer is very welcome. An alternate universe 1940′s Japan seems like an interesting setting. I’m glad to see a 07th Expansion game were Ryukishi07 does not do all the character designs. I like the man as an author but he can give up doing character designs for his titles. 
• Now That is a Pre Order Bonus
  ‘Nuff said true believers.
• Type-Moon News Round Up
  • A Certain Imaginary Number Affinity: What do you get when you combine A Certain Magical Index and Fate/Zero? Besides something only I would like.
  • Japan Has Some Strange Taste: Some choices are odd. Others are just very SUSPECT.
  • Ads in Akihabara
  • A Choice Bit of Pixiv Art
  • The GIFT of Lily Saber

There are too many Tezuka characters to pick from, this time I’m going with Princess Knight!

And we enter into the second part of Kiritsugu‘s back story. He clearly already started down the road towards being a complete unfeeling killing machine when he killed his father. But a gentle hand could have easily pulled him away from his monstrous path if he were placed in an environment where he was immersed in the positive things in life. But this is a Gen Urobuchi novel. That is not going to happen. By they way, It seems like Gen Urobuchi has a fetish for murdering children. I know that infant immortality is sometimes a strong trend in fiction and people like to play with it for shock value. But this goes a little above and beyond.  With Caster is was a little creepy but made sense for the historical character involved. After this episode I think it might have passed into the minor fetish category.

After surviving the fiery slaughter on Arimago Island a young Kiritsugu finds himself under the apprenticeship of Natalia Kaminski. As Kiritsugu walka further and further along the path of a mercenary so does he abandon a bit more of his humanity with every step. But a routine assassination of a sorcerer involved with some dark research quickly becomes a stage for another tragedy. One that will seal the destiny of the future Magus Killer.

We start with an expanded scene from the first season. In season one we saw the scene were Natalia Kaminski presented Kiritsugu with his origin bullets. She was present there without any explanation to give a quick run down of what the unusual ammo did. But now that we know who she is the scene goes into a bit more detail now that we have more context of what was going on. We learn that Kiritsugu was getting his magic circuits implanted the same time she took one of his ribs to make his bullets.  I do have to say that people are really obsessed with the fact that Natalia and Gilgamesh have similar facial structure. Boy that is going to lead to some really odd doujinshi.

Since we are still in flashback mode we get another episode without an opening. During the initial credit crawl we see a simple assignment where Natalia and Kiritsugu are working together. They have clearly built an effortless working relationship. You see how they very easily slowly entrap their target and then mercilessly move in for the kill. There is a mechanical nature to their assassination. Kiritsugu finishes of his target even though the man is unarmed and pleading for his life. There is no noble hero seemingly left in the young man. This man kills as effortlessly as he would brush his own teeth. Assassination has become a job and a way of life.

We flash back a bit farther. At first Kiritsugu clearly did not having the training to go out with his new mentor. While he had the determination and cold-blooded potential he did not have the technical skills. And so he trains in the artd of murder. We see quite a bit of emotion from Kaminski even if she mostly plays her cards close to her chest. She seems a little put upon to teach this punk kid her trade and at the same time a little happy to be able to pass along her skills. I think there is also a lingering bit of regret as he obviously take so well to such a horrible profession.

And we see how the year strip away any hesitation in Kiritsugu. Like a young Shiro it seems that he had aspirations of being a hero. But the more he guns down people in cold blood for a supposedly greater good the less it seems that any hard choice phases him. When a random boy and his guardian get gunned down so very casually in a war zone  Kiritsugu seems to have a realization that surviving is a noble fight. Or at least a more practical one. We see him develop his moral calculus that allows him to make the sacrifices required so that the good of the one can foster the good of the many.

And his next mission clearly puts his training to the test. It seems like a difficult but mundane mission. Od Volsack was creating bees whose poison turned people into ghouls. So the Mage’s Association wanted him understandably removed from this earth. Kiritsugu will take out Od’s associates that have access to his research while Natalia will kill Od when he has his guard down on the plane. The theory is attacking him anywhere else will give him a chance to unleash his unholy bees. It seems like a simple enough plan. But like anything else with Kiritsugu and vampires it quickly turns sour. (Good things he never interacted with Arcueid. The result would have been devastating.) While Natalia is able to kill Od and destroy his bees in the cargo hold almost effortlessly she makes a fatal oversight. It seems that Od had a hidden cache of the bees inside his body that were released when he died. Soon Natalia is trapped on a plane filled with an undead plague.

Kiritsugu and Natalia’s conversation is slightly heartbreaking. On the surface they talk about how they are going to rescue Natalia. But they both know that there is only one actual solution. The plane has to be destroyed. So they make pleasant small talk and pretend like everything is going to be OK. They are both too stoic to have a teary goodbye but it is also clear that they would not normally talk about their relationship with each other outside of a situation like this.  In a way this is the only way they know how to say goodbye. And so a surface to air missile ends their working relationship. Only at the end were they able to admit they had become a family.

And the normally stoic Kiritsugu snaps as if all the emotions he had been repressing over the years finally bubbled to the surface. We watch as he expels his pain and then hardens his heart. The full on stoic killing machine that is Kiritsugu has been born. With everyone he loves dead he can only move forward with cynical world view. As long as he can convince himself his actions are for a greater good than he can talk himself into any act. If he was willing to kill the people he loved for the greater good than the dead of a few strangers is child’s play.

I was a little surprised we never got so see Maiya Hisau but I suppose her connection to Kiritsugu will come in another episode. For now it is time to catch up to the present. If for no other reason I think the Rider and Waver fans are beginning to try a warp time space to get their favorite duo back on-screen. Also the next episode title strong implies that Kirei will be on the move which is never a good sign. With only a few pieces left on the board things are only going to get uglier and with Kirei‘s dark side fully unleashed it is going to get very horrific very soon.

In a most unexpected turn of events the Master Keaton manga returns to the pages of Big Comic Original in the form of Master Keaton Remaster. I guess at least some of the rights issues around the original manga have been cleared up because I know for awhile the original manga series was quite expensive due to it being out of print. But now Taichi Hiraga-Keaton is back! He is still an amusing mixture of a loveable loser and an amazingly competent superman all in one package.  The series starts not long after the end of the original manga. Keaton is notably more entrenched in his academic career after his recent archeological discovery. But just when he thought he was out of the insurance game for good it draws him back in for what he is told will be one last job.

Of course this being Master Keaton we know that will not be the case. Soon he is investigating ruins, redeeming the honor of a man in a coma, and fighting slaver traders. All for one insurance case. It has all the mature elements that you expect from this manga. The story has a well researched history, a steamy underworld, and characters that show their complexity even if we only know them for a chapter or two. There is rape and sex slave traffic but there is nothing graphic or salacious. It just happens to be a story with the disgusting parts of the sex trade as a piece of it. All the bite of an adult story with none of the guilt.

One of the most interesting parts of any Master Keaton story is the fact that Taichi usually comes is for the climax of a story. He is presented with a case, does a good deal of research to find out what is going on, arrives at the critical moment during the ongoing story to help someone out, and then leaves before the falling action is over. This could be amazingly frustrating if done poorly but Naoki Urasawa does this in a way that merely makes you feel like the stories are and organic part of the world. Taichi does his part, and then leaves, and that is all we see. But we get enough of the story from Taichi’s perspective that it always feels satisfying.

I’m am really glad to see the manga running again. Master Keaton is some of the best bite sized seinen you can find. Hopefully they will work in his daughter soon as she is always a refreshing character. Maybe this renaissance of the series will help get both parts licensed for English. That would be masterful.

I watched the first two episodes of Motorcity, a new Disney DX animated series. It showed a lot of promise and sported some cool animation.

The story revolves around a futuristic Detroit with two levels to the city; the old, underground, and free area known as Motocity; and the modern, controlled, upper Deluxe.

Mike leads a group of car fanatic rebels known as the Burners who are trying to bring down the leader of Deluxe. Mike is pretty interesting as he isn’t a kid, but a 17-year-old who was once being groomed by Deluxe’s leader. Now having defected, he is putting all his skills and some sweet modded cars to use.

Also of interest is Jules a resident of Deluxe who is actually helping them secretly. And she just happens to be the daughter of Deluxe’s dictator. But even the rest of the Burners and Mike don’t know that about her.

Both episodes revolved around some sort of threat being sent down to Motorcity. There was lots of cool machinery and robots and whathaveyou to keep things interesting.

These were great episodes and I can’t wait to continue. Definitely something I’m going to attempt to keep up with. The episodes are streaming on Disney DX’s website so far.

I finally decided to sit down and finish up Guilty Crown. Oh boy. This anime’s bus for crazy town clearly had a bomb planted on it by Dennis Hopper and therefore could not go below 50 miles per hour or everyone on board would have died. It is best summed up by the fact that during the final assault on the massive enemy strong hold the remaining heroes are all in either massive mecha or armored personal carriers. And then the main character is on a segway. That is the logic that constantly propels Guilty Crown forward. And it is all done with complete earnest. None of this is The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra style of being goofy on purpose. It is done straight faced because everyone thinks they are doing Shakespeare. And that gives it a bizarre charm. But never mistake that for honest ability.

Not that all of that crazy means that everyone makes it out of Guilty Crown alive. Near the end we get to some Zeta Gundam levels of character death. Main and secondary character start dropping like flies.  In fact I was somewhat shocked that they ended on such a downer of an ending. It is hardly Space Runaway Ideon but you could not call it a happy ending either. Certain characters who you would assume have plot armor are actually quite vulnerable and most everyone who lives does so at the cost of a great sacrifice. I will say that Segai could not die quickly enough. When he finally was removed from the board it was a blessing. I was surprised another bad guy got off complete scot-free without so much as a slap on the wrist. Still there is no “boy gets girl and lives happily ever after” ending.

I can’t say that I would recommend Guilty Crown. Most of the reason I enjoyed watch it was how silly it was. It is a great show to watch with some sort of I Don’t Even crowd or for a few nights of personal MST3K but beyond that is is pretty lame.

I started watching the second season of the Story of Saiunkoku. The first season was incredibly strong so it is a hard act to follow. And so far this new part of the story (eps. 1-8) isn’t holding up very well.

It may just be the animations obvious quality drop that is stopping it from being as dynamic. Characters expressions are awkward, timing is often slightly off, and there is tons of talking without anything going on.

Despite that, the last few episodes have had some interesting developments including finally getting the story behind Eigetsu’s dual personality. We’re also learning a bit more about Shurei’s father’s past and his split with the Hong family.

For the love of Oyashiro-sama please stop making any more Higurashi anime. The original story was magnificent. The Rei OAVs added some additional clarification of story points while telling a compelling gaiden story. There were even 2 hysterical comedy stories. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira 3 and 4 on the other hand just continue the trend of horrible Kira episodes. When you do a Mion and Keiichi story that I have absolutely no interest in then you are clearly doing something terribly wrong. They are just the same jokes from earlier arcs only done without any spirit. I know the Higurashi characters are popular. I love them too. With all the tragedy and redemption they go through it is hard not to love them. But it is time to let them go. There story is over. There is no more to tell. It ended on a great note. Let us remember the good times we had together and not try and milk anymore from this setting.

Vol. 31 of Kekkaishi is exactly what every training transition should be. Yoshimori is learning new techniques from a really surprising source and the audience is seeing all these new complexities to the story thanks to this additional character. Also Tokine is also training; it is a great relief she will be working towards something in these final volumes and not just showing up at the end. 

The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.

After a satisfying conclusion to the series Karakuri Odette—a quirky comedy manga about a robot who starts going to school and trying to learn about humanity—I began reading the manga-ka’s comments. One stuck out to me in particular: “My favorite guy character was Yukimura [a first year that has a crush on Odette], so I was excited about getting him together with Odette. But he wasn’t very popular with the readers, so I decided to give up on that idea. And ever since I’ve been afraid to give my lead character any kind of male love interest as another main character.” I was a bit thrown off, forget Yukimura, there was a romance in the series that played out great! Did she not write the manga I just finished reading? Did she completely forget about Odette’s interactions with Asao? Maybe it is one of those humble statements, but really she is selling her love piece of the story short.

At its core Karakuri Odette is not about romance, it is about human emotions. And even though this is a comedy fantasy, they still tackle that question about whether AI can learn to feel and grow. Odette is curious about everyone around her but of course possesses none of the usual fears that come along with human contact. Odette develops a range of emotions over the course of the story. Because she can be so honest, so true, she actually humanizes those around her. Few of her school friends know she is a robot by the end of the series, but you get the feeling that it wouldn’t matter.

“Asao . . . when you look at me, what do you see?”

Asao is the first person in Odette’s new life to discover she is a robot. Asao, a guy with a fiery temper, reacts first with shock and then apathy, he feels tricked into caring for a moment. It is classic fear, he wants to believe she is just a machine, but it doesn’t last long; how can he be so cold and be human when Odette is so warm and is a robot?

Odette comes to rely on and trust him as she does with many others, but she is always seeking out Asao whether to tell him something great that happened or to drag him along to help her or to bring him food she made for him.

At the center of much human interaction is love whether it is familial, friendly, or romantic. The idea of love VS. like, or as in Karakuri Odette like VS. LIKEIFYOUKNOWWHATIMEAN, is one of the most difficult for Odette to grasp.

Along with love comes another set of complex ideas like jealousy, insecurity, and rejection that are so foreign to Odette’s character. She may learn concepts from someone else, such as the idea of being “cute” or cooking food for someone special but she applies them often to her relationship with Asao. When she has to stay at a friend’s house, she goes to Asao’s; when she has to bring a guy on a double date, she seeks out Asao; or when her horoscope say she will meet her “destined partner,” she hopes it is Asao.

Asao finds himself at the center of lots of Odette’s adventures, but he doesn’t really mind. He reminds her of the important things like how you see yourself or actions speaking louder than words. He wants to make sure she is okay in this world. He says so himself, this is a girl “who knows how to waltz right into your heart.” At some point, he stops thinking of her as a machine. He doesn’t forget, it just doesn’t change anything. When confronted with the idea that Odette “is just a robot,” he straightforwardly replies that to him, she is a woman.

Is Asao in love with Odette? It is rather ambiguous, I like to think so, but Odette is most certainly in love with Asao. Sure she doesn’t understand it, sure she can’t put it into words fully, but it is obvious early on that she is quite fond of that blond delinquent.

Odette fell in love with Asao without even trying.  Congratulations Odette, that is quite human indeed.

Rainbowsphere recently posted the picture above for Carl who in turn tweeted in to me. But the picture in question sparked my creative engine. If Chika Ogiue is Saber then who would the rest of the cast of Genshiken be in Fate/Stay Night. Here is the result of my pondering. As with any of these casting games there is sure to be alternative choices. Feel free to post you opinion below.

Chika Ogiue is Saber

The one who started it all. Ogiue is the right body type and well as being about as stubborn as the King of Knights.

Kanji Sasahara is Shirou Emiya

If Ogiue is Saber then it only makes sense that Sasahara would be Shirou. They also both possess the attitude of the easy going main character.

Saki Kasukabe is Rin Tohsaka

A nice set of legs is vital for a proper Tohsaka. Also Saki has the right brash no nonsense attitude with a hidden mischievousness to effectively take the Rin spot.

Makoto Kousaka is Gilgamesh

While the personalities are night and day Kousaka is the only person who has the blond pretty boy good looks to properly portray the King of Heroes.

Harunobu Madarame is Archer

You need a bitterly sarcastic tongue if you are going to portray the pessimistic Counter Guardian.

Souichiro Tanaka is Lancer

They are both the most laid back of their groups but they can also be quick to anger if you press the right buttons.

Kanako Ohno is Rider

You need long hair and the proper *ahem* assets to do a good Rider. Plus they are both quiet characters that have a hint of dangerous sexiness. (Although Ohno’s dangerousness is far far less deadly.)

Manabu Kuchiki is Shinji Matou

Shinji is an annoying little troll that everyone wishes would die in a properly painful fire. Kuchiki gives off that same warm feeling.

Mitsunori Kugayama is Assassin

Both of them are firmly in the category of important enough to avoid being thrown in the minor character listing but not important enough to ever be anything other than a secondary character.

Susanna Hopkins is Illyasviel von Einzbern

Small, cute, devious, and perhaps a little bit crazy sums them both up nicely.

Angela Burton is Sakura Matou

If Rin’s charm point is her legs then Sakura’s is her chest. Plus I would feel awful if I has someone for everyone else in the main cast and overlooked Sakura. She gets disrespected enough as it is. Angela also has the right mixture of demure and sexually aggressive.

Original Club President is Kirei Kotomine

There is just a palpable layer of discomfort whenever you are around either them. Rejoice members of the Genshiken.

Keiko Sasahara is Caster

Both of them are little schemers but neither of them are very good at it. I also assume there are about as many Keiko as there are Caster fans.

Haraguchi is Zouken Matou

It was a fierce competition but Zouken wins the ignoble competition to be the most reprehensible character in Fate/Stay Night. Haraguchi does the same with far fewer opponents in Genshiken.

The case in question is episode 50 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic – “MMMystery on the Friendship Express“

Murder on the Orient Express is one of Agatha Christie’s most famous mysteries with countless remakes and homages over the years.  But one of the most unexpected places to see such a tribute is My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. While Twilight Sparkle is not investigating the brutal stabbing of criminal Pegasus who previously was caught up in a tragic kidnapping, the story is fairly faithful to original. Over all it is a clever little episode that manages to take a classic mystery and make it accessible to a younger audience. It even manages to reference several other famous mysteries and spy stories in the process.

Pinkie Pie and several of her friends are escorting a cake for a contest in Canterlot. On the train there are several rival bakers who have equally lavish deserts for the competition as well. Worried that one of the other bakers might try to sabotage the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness the faithful Pinkie Pie pledges to guard the cake all night to prevent foul play. But during the night a mysterious assailant manages to east a good deal of the cake. Pinkie and Twilight must get their little grey cells working to discover the culprit.

The story itself is an obvious homage to Murder on the Orient Express by the title alone. But as it is set on train and recreates the legendary twist of the original novel it makes it a surprisingly faithful redesign. Just like with the source material the culprit turns out to be all the passengers besides the two detectives. Everyone except Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle had covertly stolen a taste of at least one of the deserts to be judged.

But the episode is more than just a tribute to Agatha Christie. When they are investigating the eat and run Pinkie and Twilight are dressed like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. But much like Without a Clue the Sherlock in this investigation is the bumbling assistant and Watson is the true detective. Also when Pinkie Pie is throwing out her preposterous theories they are in the style of a Snidely Whiplash stylized silent movie, a James Bond thriller, and a Japanese chanbara film.  They even make reference to the 1943 MGM musical-comedy I Dood It.

But clever references aside the real question is how well executed is the mystery. Does it follow Knox’s Rules? It does in all but one vital place. Rules one, three, four, five, six, and ten are all followed without a doubt. While Rarity uses a bit of magic to steal her piece of cake it turns out that her spell-casting is a non factor is discovering she was a culprit. While Pinkie’s wild theories may seem to break rule nine when Twilight pushes her for what actually happened she plainly lays out the events of the night. The only rule that is actually broken is eight. Twilight only reveals the incriminating clues she found during her investigation when she is making her final denouncement.

While the episodes breaks Knox’s either rule is actually easier to solve the mystery using Pinkie Pie’s recollection and knowing the personalities of the players involved and how they would commit the crime. It also does not hurt that the episode was made for children and therefore is not that hard to figure out regardless of anything else. In the end the homage is the critical focus of the episode rather than creating a solvable mystery. In that regard it succeeds brilliantly.  Will we see an episode invoking And Then There Were None or The Murder of Roger Ackroyd in season three? Only time will tell.

There was a three comic per person limit so it took a while to decide what to take a chance on. That also means we all strategically plotted out who would get what so as to have the biggest spread of stories to read. And in the spirit of the day I also bought some comic trades.

Free Comic Book Day’s main goal is to help entice new comic readers while at the same time giving current comic fans a sample of titles they might have otherwise ignored. It is also a good way of helping people back into comics if they have been away from the hobby for a while. For me it is usually an interesting, all be it limited, look at what is going on in the American comic industry. It is a regular smorgasbord of mainstream and independent comics. Theoretically everyone is putting their best foot forward in an effort to attract new readers so it is a good time to see what everyone is offering for the year. Sometimes comic publishers will have their B-teams work on the material for Free Comic Book Day but there is nothing I can do about that. I can only judge the comics on what I see. So any over positive or negative receptions might be merely based on the small sample I got here. But like so many other people this is often the most critical impression publishers can give me so I make judgements without reservation.

I went in with a mind for robots first! We were able to pick up Transformers, Voltron Force, and Mega Man. I’ll say up front that I didn’t have high expectations for any of these really. I also just realized that all of these are based on popular series from the 80s.

I’ve read IDW Transformers books in the past and for the most part they are just passable. And that’s basically what we got this time with a focus on giving us a Sunday sermon (complete with “WITNESS!” throughout the text) on universe history. I really don’t keep up with the convoluted structure of Transformers lore so some things were quite familiar like Unicron while others were not. I was pleased with the cover and art of the main story but there really needed to be more fights. More impressive was the art in the very short story in the back. It was very different from what I’m used to seeing, not slick but more gritty and dark.

I have nothing good to say about Voltron Force but I can’t let it pass. It is just sad all around, from the art to the story to the dialogue and heck, Voltron doesn’t even appear. Also maybe I am getting ahead of myself but why are there only three children being trained for the force? I don’t delude myself in thinking that original Voltron was a great masterpiece but it deserves a little better.

While we are a detective themed blog mecha receive a fair bit of love on this blog. Therefore Narutaki made a conscious effort to get any and all robot focused comics for our post. Sadly they did not have the Atomic Robo sample at Bulletproof so we had to make due with what was there. The strongest showing was probably the Mega Man comic. It was an Archie Comic so it was clearly aimed at a younger audience but it did a good job at introducing the Mega Man’s origin via the first game. Nothing surprising but a solid introduction. I was far more interested in seeing what they are doing with their Red Circle Comics line. It has been a dormant super hero line for Archie Comics for years so I was very curious to see how they were going to update the shelved titles while differentiating them from what Marvel and DC is producing. Sadly while there was two ads for the new line they were incredibly sparse with details.

I have to agree with Narutaki about the Transformers comic. It had enough exposition to make Kinoko Nasu blush. It was also an amazing insight into the convoluted world of the Transformers Universe. When you casually throw out an unexplained reference to a comic from 20 years ago as if it were common knowledge that is a picture perfect example of what keeps people out of hard-core Transformers fandom. Also the hysterical “MY GOD! What have I done?” reaction shots on the last page of the first story were even more amusing by the fact that I had no clue why they were being made. The only thing that was more off-putting was the bonus story at the end. The super serious political analogy comes of as comical despite the fact that it is clearly trying to put an edgy spin on the classic Transformers characters.

The final robot comic was the disappointing Voltron Force comic. If you go back and watch old Voltron cartoons you quickly realize that the show was nowhere as good as your remember it. Sadly this updated sequel does little to improve the hokey storytelling. It has the same corny feel as the original with thee annoying kids at the helm that do little to win over new fans. Also I am not sure why they need the Voltron Force in the first place. King Lotor is clearly going to get himself killed due to his own incompetence. He hardly needs the Voltron Force to hasten his demise.

You can’t get away from superhero comics on FCBD and I wouldn’t want to! We picked up the big ones, of course, The Avengers and The New 52 plus a DC Nation comic and an Aspen sampler.

Jim Lee blew away the competition with a double spread fold out, making The New 52 a big highlight. The story was a surprise too, I really wasn’t expecting those two characters to be part of “Trinity of Sin.” I have been keeping up with a few DC books and this comic renewed my interest in a few others.

The Aspen sampler was odd because the first story is really just acts as a recap episode of Homecoming, even though it is a brand new series not yet out. At first this doesn’t seem like a bad plan, but if didn’t allow me to get to know the characters or events in any meaningful way and so I still don’t really know enough to pick it up or not. That being said, I was much more interested in the few pages Idolized got. It had atmosphere enough to make me curious about the overarching story.

Also I had to laugh at Aspen Photoshopping a tank top onto one of the girl on their cover.

The selection of super hero comics was quite strong in comparison. The New 52 story came out of the gate swinging. A nice story introducing the new metaplot involving Pandora. It did a great job on selling this new ongoing story in the greater DC universe. I was quite proud that I was instantly able to tell the first member of the Trinity of Sin was Judas Iscariot. It seems that years of playing pen and paper role-playing games have paid off once again. But I was quickly put back in my place when Narutaki had to inform me that the bigger revelation was that it meant that the Phantom Stranger was actually Judas. They also has some little snippets for their new comics that were filling in gaps that were left after they canceled some of the launch titles in the New 52. The Dial H sold the series as extremely strange but that was the point. Also the new World’s Finest series with Huntress and Power Girl has the distinct ability to offset some of the ill will that titles like Red Hood and the Outlaws got DC due to their sexist content. But it requires a bit more of the delicate touch they have with titles like Batwoman to be successful.

The DC Nation sampler was clearly meant to tap a younger audience DC has garnered with their cartoons on TV. The Green Lantern story was extremely kid friendly but entertaining. The Young Justice story on the other hand was too long to be a sneak peek but too short to feel like a decent sample. They should have stuck to a 2 page spread like they did with sneak speaks in the New 52 book. The Superman Family preview did much more with the same number of pages but that might be because it is more of a gag comic.

The Marvel entry wisely cashes in on the Avengers movie that is currently in theaters. That is just simple synergy. It is a pretty strong start of a new arc for the Avengers that has most of the characters that would be familiar from the movie as well as some additional Avengers like Wolverine and Spider-Man that pretty much sell comics on their own.  A nice hook for people who might be stopping in because they saw the Avengers cartoon and/or movie.

I also picked up the World of Aspen comic mostly because I have never heard of the publisher before. Oddly enough their main preview, Homecoming was their weakest. They basically has the protagonist recite to you the premise of the comic in the least interesting way he could. I will say the story of a nerdy loser who has to live with a sexy alien princess to help fight an extraterrestrial invasion sound more like a harem anime premise than an American comic. The little Idolized preview for a reality TV show in a world of superheroes was a much stronger pitch. It showed more in 7 pages of sparse dialog than Homecoming said in 10 text heavy pages. I noticed almost all the Aspen comic titles has prominent female protagonists. But they were all titles that were clearly for a male demographic as opposed to using female characters to try to garner a unisex audience.

Despite the fact that Dark Horse’s selection featured Firefly and Star Wars on the covers, the best part was really Alabaster Wolves which had a mere 6 pages. This is a story that takes on fairytale myth of trolls under a bridge and it ends before I could find out what was to happen! Apparently the other part of the story was in another offering from Dark Horse. Despite that the art style was engaging with a graphic feel and a palette that captured a stormy night.

Because my roommate was with us he instantly picked up the Serenity comic from Dark Horse. It told a fairly Firefly feeling story in just a few pages. Depending on where you stand in the Joss Whedon nerd war should tell you where you will stand on that story. The biggest complaint I had with that story was while the cover is quite fetching the interior art has some of the most bizarre faces I have ever seen. They are clearly stylized but in quite an unattractive manner. On the flip side they also had a Star Wars comic. The story reminded me of the old Han Solo Adventures books I read oh so many years ago. It was a fun little story if a bit hollow.

Oh dear me, Route des Maisons Rouges is a sexy comic without enough sexy. I came to call it Prostitute Planet because it comes off as just that. I looked this series up to find it described as a “satire.” I guess it is; hot women who are (sort of) action girls taken to the ultimate conclusion that they are prostitutes…? But the story is just not that interesting, like at all. Since this was the second issue without any recap I was sort of floundering on the plot. There seemed to be some spying going on (industrial espionage?) and some complicated relationships. But I can tell you next to nothing of anyone’s personality.

I think both of us could agree that the worst comic we read was Route des Maisons Rouges. It was the tamest story about the political machinations of prostitutes who double as spies that there has ever been. I will admit I picked it up because the cover clearly promised it was going to be a sexy European comic.  But while it is a translated Italian comic is was a PG as you can make a story about brothels in Paris. There is an unending amount of cheesecake but not even a single scene of nudity. That would be fine if the story were strong but the dialog has such a bizarre cadence. Everyone’s dialog flows like molasses in the arctic circle. I want to blame the translation with its awkward lines like, “He played me like a thrift-story PS3″ but I think it is more a reflection of the weak source material. It is just the translation does nothing to help the story. Had there been more nudity or sex I think I could have been far kinder to it as it would have crossed the line into light pornography. But as it stand its chaste treatment of the topic just made it painful to read.

As always Free Comic Book Day was an adventure with bright spots and low moments, and I’ll be back again next year.

This was a bit of a smaller haul than usual. Had we gone into the city I am sure we could have brought back a king’s bounty (and gotten some May 5th Go!Go! Curry.) The stores in Manhattan tend to have a bit more of a selection of swag and a great deal more colorful characters. But we still got a decent number of comics for free. It was definitely interesting to see how the various companies sold themselves. I was an interesting insight into what they felt was what would hook a new reader with only a few pages. Some were obviously more successful than others. But overall I look forward to see what titles are available next year. Excelsior!

Hisui’s picks:

• A Gundamn! Milestone
  Gundamn! has finally made it to the big 100. In celebration they play a slew of best wishes form their fans and review the series they had been avoiding the most, Neon Genesis Evangelion. But they have decided to put a little twist on this special episode. If you have listened to the podcast before you will notice it instantly.
• H. R. Giger and EZ Money
  A Chaos Theater look at Tiger and Bunny.  The whole podcast still begs the question why this is not out on disc yet. But apparently the dub has just wrapped up so hopefully we will be able to buy it on physical media soon enough.  Also hoping to see those Tiger and Bunny movies soon.
• Smaller Survival Strategies
  A Princess of the Crystal Nendoroid. Which reminds me. When is someone going to license Mawaru Penguindrum?
• Type Moon News Roundup
  • Not Exactly the Most Accurate Summaries: An unusual look at Fate/Zero.
  • Bad Type-Moon! Bad! No Biscuit: The only thing worse than the pillow case are the comments about said pillow case.
  • The Only Thing Scarier Than That Pillow in Your Bed: Or at least I hope so.
  • Two Great Tastes That Go Together: The Gundam and Fate/Unlimited Codes mash up you … always … expected?
  • A Bridge Over Troubled Saber

Narutaki’s picks:

• The Successful 1st Year of Middle East Film & Comic-Con
  I have never been to the Dubai myself, but this report has a great overview of the city and the convention. I’m always curious about fandom outside of the U.S.
• Learn a New Language ASAP!
  Looks pretty concise. I’m going to try out this method myself. The estimates of time needed for a harder language like Japanese is longer, but still since I know some basics the 6 month time frame seems doable for a certain amount of understanding. Besides the part about watching Japanese TV shows, I think we’ve all got that down.
• I’d Rather Be in Westeros
  A great essay about the portrayal of women in HBO series Girls VS. Game of Thrones. And I really must agree, “If this is the stereotype offered of today’s modern woman, I’d rather be in Westeros.”
  
• Sherlock is a Rock Star
  This is a recap of the BBC Sherlock event in NYC, it sounds a bit nuts. I can’t really blame them, but apparently PBS had no clue what they were in for.
• Disney’s First Indian Animation
  Arjun is a fantasy story about a great hero, always a plus. The animation is interesting, a seeming hybrid of CG and cell-shading. It opens later this month but of course has no U.S. plans. I’m hoping this will show up at the New York International Children’s Film Fest next year.

Listen up, lowly humans who will never amount to anything!

I said it was a good title for this post last week and I stick by that fact. But it seems the lesson of why Kiritsugu is a ruthless assassin apparently is going to take more than one episode. But I guess you don’t turn into a mechanical murder machine from one incident in your life. It takes a bit of time and wear to fully kill a person’s soul. You have to be involved with the deaths of all the people you have ever loved for one reason or another. We flash back to Kiritsugu’s origins that made him into the Mage Killer of the 4th Holy Grail War. And so the journey of a thousand miles begins with a few significant steps in this episode. Interesting note: They did not use the standard opening in this episode. They just play the credits over a conversation while driving to get the maximum story in this episode.

It seems that life is good for young Kiritsugu Emiya. His father is a genius sorcerer. He lives in a tropical paradise with good friends and a simple life. There is even a possible blossoming romance with an older girl who has become his father’s assistant. But magical research can be dangerous and often the bigger the risk the bigger the reward. But at the same time when you take big risks the fallout of a mistake can be apocalyptic. One such mistake will change Kiritsugu’s life forever.

We start with Kiritsugu surrounded by friends playing by the water. Since this is based on a work by Gen Urobuchi you know those kids will go on to have wonderful productive lives filled with joy and success. Or they will die in flames. You know. One or the other. But those doomed children aside Kiritsugu is picked up by the effervescent Shirley. We learn from Shirley that the Kiritsugu house used to be a shrine which probably means it has an abundance of leylines. We also learn that he was bullied for being a stranger but Shirley helped him integrate with the locals so he is an accepted member of the community. She is even the one responsible for his nickname of Kerry. They have an extremely close relationship but not a romantic one. Kiritsugu clearly has a crush on Shirley but she likes to use the dread phrase “like a younger brother” and not in that Akiha Tohno manner.

But Shirley is more than just a friend to Kiritsugu. She is also Kiritsugu’s father’s apprentice and assistant. Noritaka, who looks like the missing link between Kiritsugu and Tokiomi, has been researching how to stop time as a method of immortality. Like so many mages Noritaka is seeking the Root but is convinced that only an immortal mage would have enough time to reach the ultimate discovery. So  it is the Emiya family’s job is to discover the path to immortality so an immortal can find the answer to the greatest mysteries of magic. So far they can sop the aging of flowers but humans seem still be a long-term goal. But then Shirely whips out a little surprise. She has become skilled enough to create her own timeless flower. She claims it is not as good as her instructors but it is an accomplishment. This prompts Kiritsugu to want to join in on the research but he is quickly shot down by his father. You can see the rejection of his face. It is not one of jealous of Shirley but more of questioning why he is not good enough to help as well.

But is seems that life is not all sunshine and roses for Shirley. While the villagers might be afraid of the Emiya house the town priest realizes there is magic afoot there and seems to be trying to stop Shirley from continuing her apprenticeship. He even goes as far as giving her a minor talisman knife if she gets into trouble. But none of this phases Shirley. She sees an amazing potential in Noritaka’s work that could change humanity. That is why she is willing to stand up to any adversity to help. We also learn two other things. As much as she might seem to be accomplished magus it seems that Shirley is only an assistant. Her flower has already faded unlike Noritaka’s 100 samples. The second is that both Noritaka and Shirley see Kiritsugu as the true heir to his father’ research. It is clear that Shirley wishes to support Kiritsugu in whatever he does leading to a cute little romantic scene by the lake. But if we read between the lines it is also clear that Shirley is a bit desperate for progress. Between being hounded by the local priest and Noritaka’s recent conservative attitude she see seems desperate to prove that this research is actually beneficial. This hunger for acceptance leads to a foolish mistake.

When Kiritsugu awakes the next morning something seems to be very off. His father seems a bit panicked and tells him to stay home. When sunset comes it seems that no one has come home and Kiritsugu begins to worry about Shirley. So Kiritsugu sets out to see what happens and stumbles upon an undead Shirley. She apparently uses the prototype of one of the drugs Noritaka made that have turned her into a vampire known as a Dead Apostle. She has enough of her mind left intact for conversation but she cannot control her hunger for blood. She begs Kiritsugu to kill her before she feeds on more people but then proceeds to kill herself when her friend cannot end her life. Kiritsugu is understandably shaken and goes to get the one author figure that might be able to help, the town priest. But Kiritsugu seems to not be aware of the common horror movie tropes as he quickly get the priest killed and set himself up in a Resident Evil situation.

While I doubt she was Yumizuka Satsuki levels of powerful (No Depletion Garden for her) is seems Shirley feared better than the rest of the islanders who are infected by his curse as they are just shambling ghouls. Just as the ghouls start to overtake the church where Kiritsugu is hiding some executors and Mage’s Association assassins arrive and start laying waste to everything and anyone in their path. While they don’t seem to be racking up any civilian casualties but it also seems neither group is overly worried about helping survivors either. They are just clearing up the mess. And in the Mage’s Association’s mind that also means destroying any evidence of what occurred here with fire. Garden of Sinners fans will notice a familiar face in, Cornelius Alba, although without his trademark piece of haberdashery. He is laying waste to everything and everyone with his trademark fire spells. It is good to see he was always a ruthless jerk.

As neither agency is looking to help anyone Kiritsugu soon finds himself surrounded by the hungry dead. When all look lost it seems that someone who also made a cameo in a flashback is here to save the day. Natalia Kaminski, bursts onto the scene in wonderful Blade like glory. After some glorious gun fu she lays down he situation for the young man she just saved. While she is clearly not the most empathic person (mercenary life does that to you) she is also distinctly the only person willing to help anyone out. It seems that Natalia was hired to find out who was responsible for this travesty and take them down. As it turns out Kiritsugu knows all to well who is behind this all so he agrees to help.

Kiritsugu goes back to his house and confronts his father. He now realizes his dad was not simply researching time and immortality but the distinctly forbidden creation of a dead apostle. The veil over Kiritsugu’s eyes is lifted as he sees exactly how ruthless his father is. Noritaka sees Shirley’s death as a mere stepping stone to his greater research. His father’s inability to see not only what he did wrong but to continue his research somewhere gives Kiritsugu proof of what needs to be done. Kiritsugu stabs his stunned father and then finishes him off with his own gun. Kiritsugu’s path to the man he will become has been set. While the event has clearly traumatized him it has also removed a vital piece of hismorality. Once you kill someone you loved like that you cannot go back to being the same person.

Natalia and Kiritsugu leave the burning island together now that their task is done. With nothing left for him on the island he can only move forward with his new-found guardian. Like the opening sequence we do not get our standard ending. We instead leave the episode with another Kalafina song. But the flashback does not end here. Kiritsugu still has much to learn from Natalia and much to lose before he is the Mage Killer we met at the beginning of Fate/Zero. There is more to come with Kiritsugu is Forced to Murder Everyone He Ever Loved, Part 2.

I picked up The Story of Saiunkoku vols. 1-7 recently and my goodness has this only renewed my passion for the series. I fell in love with the anime a few years ago, so far this manga has followed it quite closely (both being based on a novel series which I have no way of reading, I don’t know if it follows the books closely as well).

Saiunkoku, put simply, is about a kingdom and a romance, but the series is far from simple.

In these volumes, we meet a large cast of nobles and get caught up in assassination schemes, courtly politics, syndicate wars, and various governmental situations. Shurei is a smart, hard-working, but poor, noble who is brought to court in the hopes of helping the new emperor. She not only forms a close relationship with Ryuki the emperor, but also many others in his circle. Shurei not only helps guide the emperor but begins gaining friends and influence in the politics of this large kingdom.

And that is what is so special about Saiunkoku; the political and societal struggles of Shurei and women in this ancient land. A good portion of the series after the first two volumes is Shurei dreaming and applying herself to become a civil servant which no woman has been allowed to do.

While the series also wears the hat of reverse harem, to its credit all the men are fascinating characters with their own places in the court and politics. And by and large they are not in love with our heroine. The story is pretty clear this is about Shurei and Ryuki. But on that note, it is amazing how little time these two actually get to spend together because of their stations and duties.

The story has a clipped pace never lingering too long on any one thing. At times I found myself really yearning for more time for Shurei and Ryuki to no avail. There are moments with a bit too heavy exposition but they seem to lessen as the volumes go on. All in all, it is a great world with a great cast that you want to know more about.

I will say that they wrapped up the first season of Young Justice quite nicely. I did feel that one or two of the slow building plots were quickly resolved in the last 2 episodes but that is more of a stylistic issue than a major complaint. Over all they did a good job of having everyone one in the main cast having some noticeable character progress while at the same time tying all the episodes together into one cohesive plot. I do find it a bit odd that all the new animated DC series seem to be utterly in love with Vandal Savage. While he is decently old character I myself had never heard of him before recently. But he makes for a good foil to teams as opposed to some villains who are better off as either pawns of a bigger villains or as the nemesis for solo heroes. I also have to applaud them for adding more women to the team with the addition of Zatana and Rocket. At the same time while Zatana gets a decent amount of screen time for a late addition Rocket sort of gets thrown in at the last second. So I thought, “Well she can get more screen time and character development when they come back for season 2.”

Then very surprisingly the next week went straight into season 2. And people HATED it. While I can’t say I was in any way as angry as other people I do feel their pain. The season starts after a 5 year time skip. Most of the Young Justice team is new, half the old team is nowhere to be seen, and most of the team that we see is remarkably different with no explanation.  I recognized all the new team additions but is mostly because I have a solid albeit firmly intermediate comics education. Well I recognized everyone except for Lagoon Boy. But all those underwater guys who are not Aquaman are super-duper high level nerd territory anyway. I am sure the average viewer would at least need some explanation for who the Blue Beetle is. The problem is unlike The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes they don’t do the greatest job of introducing people without exposition.

I get that they are going for the risky payoffs of the in medias res plot revelations but the execution is somewhat off.They did such a good job of building up the first team. If they just skipped ahead but kept the team the same it probably would not have felt so jarring. Both changes combined really throw off the flow of the story. I will continue to watch but I feel that the choice was a major misstep and apparently most of the audience agrees. Hopefully they payoff for the reveals of what happened during the time skip will make this all worth it.

The ending to Twin Spica is unsurprisingly a very emotional one. It has been a long road for all the students; they’ve all faced challenge after challenge but now they are facing their futures which is seemingly insurmountable without each other there. A lot of decisions are made in such a way that I simultaneously felt happiness and loss.

I was very pleased though that the manga does not stop where many other might and instead gives us important and thoughtful falling action, albeit in a condescend manner.

I’ll really miss these characters, I’ve carried their hopes in my heart for quite a while.

Twin Spica has been quite a journey and the final volume is no exception. The volume very much proves that it was the journey that was the most important piece and not the destination. That is not to say the destination was overlooked. The book has the natural climax you would expect. But it is merely a sharp punctuation on the story as opposed to the bulk of the last volume. What is more important is what leads up to that ending and what the ramifications are on the cast. The ending has a wonderful mixture of joy and sorrow as the cast exuberantly revels in its victories and tearfully mourns their losses. But you will note even in the biggest successes there is some regret likewise there is still hope even in the darkest tragedy. In a way that can be seen as a solid summation of one of the major themes of the manga as a whole. A spectacular ending to a spectacular series. It is a crying shame that this series is only going to get one printing.

I’ve started watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars CG TV series from the beginning. I’ve previously only seen an episode here and there on television when it was on.

What I noticed and liked best in these first 4 episodes is the changing focus. Yes, a good portion is following Anakin but there are of episodes, in fact the very first one, where he is more of an aside. We’re really getting a big picture story and a better understanding of the complex universe.

And so another season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic comes to an end. Some people celebrate while others curse the heavens. Yet the sun keeps on rising and setting as if the presence or lack of ponies did not dictate the proper flow of the heavens. It has pretty much become a “We’ve always been at war with Eastasia” situation for both sides. The content has long since cease to be important. Both sides both want to win some greater philosophical battle that is no longer tied to the issue at hand. And overall the extremists on both side are incredibly horrible to listen to.

That nonsense aside the season was pretty fun. I still say that the shows is missing a certain a je ne sais quoi now that Lauren Faust left the show. It is still entertaining but there is a different sort of charm to the show now that she has moved on. That said there are now at least 2 stories Narutaki could watch as they bookend the season with fantasy adventures as opposed to having nothing but slice of life stories after the initial adventure. Other than that there has been a shift toward more individual stories as opposed to ensemble pieces. While episodes might focus heavily on one character in the first season it was a rare occurrence for any of the main five characters not to have a role to play in any episode. But many of the episodes in the second season zero in on a single charter or pair of characters and will often leave out the rest of the cast.

The best episode was probably the train mystery episodes but considering the blog I write for I maybe biased. A Murder on the Orient Express homage episode was not the first thing you would expect from this show. I also really enjoyed the Iron Will episode. It was extremely quotable. When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock! But overall most of the episodes usually had at least one or two amusing sequences. Overall it is still a fine show for little girls that just has an unusual but mostly harmless (but sometimes very annoying) older fan following.

The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.

VISIT THE BLOGS AND VOTE!

Anime and Manga are in trouble. Sales are down across the board and no one knows how to change that. Innovation is dead and all we see are copies of copies being sold as new ideas. Your favorite genre is all but forgotten. For some God forsaken reason, they brought back To Love-Ru.

The blogosphere is divided. Old school VS. new school. Moe fans VS. mecha nerds. Otaku VS. Fujoshi. Nichibros VS. Nichijou. There are only roving tribes of angry warriors in the hellish post-apocalyptic blogging landscape.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

-William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming

In this time of troubled partisan politics, you need to vote for an aniblog you can trust. An aniblog that stands up for the titles you hold dear. An aniblog with the integrity and experience to brave the storm and hold the course. The only aniblog that has that leadership ability is Reverse Thieves.

With almost five years of blogging experience the Reverse Thieves have a proven track record that speaks for itself:

Their biography shows them to be simultaneously devoted patriots and free thinking radicals in the community.

They are proven friends to the shonen, seinen, shojo, yaoi, mecha, hentai, and yuri communities.

They are noted scholars on the topics of screen tone, page layout, symbolism, sex, and crime.

They are statesmen that have not only moved crowds with their own podcast but reached out their hand in friendship to others as well.

They are also tireless ambassadors to neighboring nerd communities, having done work with comics, movies, television, toys, and video games as well.

A vote for the Reverse Thieves is a vote for a better blogosphere.

This ad paid for by the Investigating A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow Super Pac.

The unlikely and unconventional friendship between Tsukimi and Kuranosuke was the crux of the series as far as I was concerned. I was invested in their interactions; Kuranosuke’s brash desire to pull her and her friends into some sort of new life; Tsukimi’s slow progress to opening up to and seeing possibilities; and all of these things happened organically without them even realizing it.

These are two characters with a lot of complex issues to work through from their current and former selves. By the end they had both taken a step forward in their lives with the certainty that there were more to come.

Kuranosuke only began to recognize his romantic feelings for Tsukimi by the end of the show. Again, he only just realized that he had started falling in love with this girl. He didn’t fully comprehended or come to terms with it.

As for Tsukimi, she already had one suitor, Kuranosuke’s brother, another complication. But more than, Tsukimi wasn’t in love with Kuranosuke. Yet.

There was no way to conclude these romantic inklings that just started without feeling disingenuous. At least to me.

The problem isn’t the show’s ending, it is that the show ended.

As I don’t read Japanese it is extremely hard for me to be any sort of taste maker when in comes to manga. By the time I usually know about a series it is fairly in the thick of things in its run. The rare exception comes when I know to check out a series because I have enjoyed something by the author in the past so I know to keep an eye on their current work. In a previous Manga of the Month I talked about Miki Yoshikawa’s Yankee-kun to Megane-chan. It is a great comedy series but it can be hard to recommend because you are asking for someone to commit to reading 23 books. But with a new series you can read a handful of chapters and be up to date. Since Yamada and the Seven Witches started in February it is a great time to start a Miki Yoshikawa manga.

Ryu Yamada and Urara Shiraishi are as different as night and day. Ryu is a rough a tumble delinquent while Urara is the class brainiac. One day the accidentally kiss as they fall down the stairs and discover they can exchange bodies by kissing. When the student council vice president get involved with their little secret they learn that they can exchange bodies with other people as well. So the three of them restart the school’s supernatural club to figure out why this is happening. But how long can the three of them keep this under wraps?

Miki Yoshikawa has done a good job of playing to her strengths while making enough changes to make Yamada and the Seven Witches feel like a retread of what has come before this. While it is still a school based romantic comedy the supernatural element changes everything. Ryu is very similar to Daichi where as Urara and Hana are both very strong and unflappable women but their strengths and weakness are very different. Buy the key to her success still seems to be good comic timing with loud but loveable characters. Ryu and Urara have a fun dynamic and bounce off the rest of the cast well. I will note while the series still feels female friendly the manga-ka has upped the fan service levels a little. Since Ryu can jump into female bodies he is not adverse to taking a peak at who he switches into before he has to get down to business. That usually means an underwear shot every few chapters.

Hopefully the series will remember on of the main reasons Yankee-kun to Megane-chan was great. Miki Yoshikawa was always smart enough to change the formula of how things word every few books keeping the humor and drama fresh. It is a little to early to tell if this will be the same case but we have not even met the eponymous Seven Witches yet.  If nothing else you have to admire a school romance series that has the characters kiss in the first book.

• Learn more!
• Get it!

Oh my Good Golly Miss Molly this is a lot of news this month. Have Anime Boston and Sakura Con always been big licensing cons like this or have I just not been paying attention?

The Line-Up is a monthly rundown of newly licensed in the U.S., newly streaming in the U.S., and newly announced anime and manga projects.

Newly Licensed in the U.S.

• Alice in the Country of Hearts: My Fanatic Rabbit – Yen Press
  
• Anything and Something – Yen Press
• Baccano! (Blu-Ray) – Aniplex
• Bakemonogatari - Aniplex USA
• Battle Angel Alita: Last Order – Kodansha Comics
• Berserk (movies) – VIZ
  Drat. Viz is without a doubt the slowest company in releasing anything on DVD. Glad it got picked up. I just wish it was someone else who picked it up.
  
• Blood-C - Dark Horse
• Blood Lad – Yen Press
• Bunny Drop – NISA
• Captain Harlock (TV) – Discotek
  A space pirate that does actual piracy! How quaint.
• A Century of Temptation – Digital Manga
• Cluster Edge – Sentai Filmworks
• Crayon Shin-chan – One Peace Books
• Danza – Kodansha Comics
• Deflowering the Boss – Digital Manga
• Demon Love Spell – VIZ
• Dusk Maiden of Amnesia – Sentai Filmworks
• Emerald and Other Stories – Dark Horse
• Eureka Seven AO – Funimation
• Evangelion: Comic Tribute – Dark Horse
  I am vaguely interested because Mine Yoshizaki is involved.
• Fractale – Funimation
• Future Diary – Funimation
• Galaxy Express 999 (movie 3) – Discotek
• Hakuoki Shinsengumi Kitan – Sentai Filmworks
• Hidamari Sketch x SP – Sentai Filmworks
• The Incredible Kintaro – Digital Manga
• Intrigue in the Bakumatsu ~ Irohanihoheto – Sentai Filmworks
• Kids on the Slope – Sentai Filmworks
  I am impressed they got Blu-Ray right out of the gate. There is no excuse not to pick this up now.
• King of Thorn – Funimation
• Lovely Complex – Discotek
  An unexpected license for them and I couldn’t be happier about it!
• Mahoromatic: I’m Home – Sentai Filmworks
• Medaka Box – Sentai Filmworks
• The Misfortune of Kyon and Koizumi – Yen Press
  I am waiting for The Hairballs of Shamisen manga.
• Missons of Love – Kodansha Comics
• Mysterious Girlfriend X – Sentai Filmworks
• NightS - Animate USA
• Oreimo – Dark Horse
• Paradise Kiss – Vertical, Inc.
  I’m very excited about this rescue and have high hopes for beautiful books.
• President Momoi Kun – Digital Manga Publishing
• Queen’s Blade: Rebellion – Sentai Filmworks
• Saint Seiya (movies) - Discotek
  YIPPIE!!!
• Sakuran - Vertical, Inc.
  I have heard nothing but great things about this title and it is a one book series which is always nice.
• Shangri-La – Funimation
• See Me After Class – Digital Manga Publishing
• Strobe Edge – VIZ
• Thermae Romae – Yen Press
  What an unusual license. I am very curious how this does.
• Triage X - Yen Press
• Tsuritama – Sentai Filmworks
• Umineko When They Cry – Yen Press
  I really want to read these now that I have played all the games. It will be like watching Fight Club a second time.
• Upotte!! – Sentai Filmworks
• Viewfinder: Hard-Working Cameraman Akihito Takaba’s Romantic Life as an Indentured Servant – Animate USA

Newly Streaming in the U.S.

• Crunchyroll added Yurumates 3D, Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals, Sengoku Collection, Polar Bear’s Cafe, Saki – Episode Side A, Upotte!!, Kuroku’s Basketball, Kid’s On the Slope, Mysterious Girlfriend X, Tsuritama, Queen’s Blade: Rebellion, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, Phi Brain Puzzle of God S2, Medaka Box
  
• VIZ added Zetman, Accel World
  
• Funimation added Is This a Zombie? . . . Of the Dead, Lupin III: The Woman Named Fujiko Mine, Jormugand
• Sugoi Books added Peacemaker, Elemental Gelade, Ilegenes
• JManga added Kirara, I am a Cat, Apartments of Calle Feliz, Muyonosuke, The Witch of 2-A, Chitose Get You!!, Observation Diary, Tale of the Crescent Moon Dragon, Working Kentauros, Bono Bono, Black Borders, Harukaze Biyori, Doukyusei, Tactics, Monochrome Factor, The Good Witch of the West, Your & My Secret, Animal Academy: Hakobune Hakusho, Yurumates
  

New Anime/Manga Projects in Japan

• Oreimo Getting a Second Season
• Cyborg 009 Finale Manga to Launch
• Unaired Episode of Yurumates Bundled with Manga
• Kimi to Batsu Gag Comedy is New Series of Excel Saga Manga-ka
  Koushi Rikudou is always an unusual author so I am curious how this will turn out.
• New Magazine Bessatsu Shonen Champion Launching in June
• OVA of Eureka Seven AO to be Bundled with PS3 Game
• Detective Conan/Excalibur Crossover OVA Available Through Mail-Away
• The Rest of NisiOisin’s Monogatari Novels Getting Anime Adaptions
• Accel World DVDs to Include New Actual World Anime
• Light Novels Sakurasou no Pet no Kanojo Anime Green-Lit
• In Addition to an Anime In the New World Also Getting Manga Adaption
• Crayon Shin-chan to Crossover with Kamen Rider Fourze in Special
  Apparently someone thought that Fourze was not crazy enough.
• Comedy Manga Spin-off Attack! Titan Junior High Begins
• New Manga from Final Fantasy Franchise Starts
• NG-Shuu Being Animated as Extra for DVD Release of Kuroko no Basuke
• OVA Coming for Web Manga Hori-san to Miyamura-kun
• Food Manga Series Coming from GTO Creator
• Norwegian Children’s Book Block Makes a Museum Being Made into Anime
• New Manga Series Starting from Yasuko to Kenji Artist and High School Debut Writer
• Spin-off and Parody Manga Uta Hen Begins
• GTO and I no Head Gargoyle Get Crossover 1-Shot
  A nice bit of cross promotion between Tohru Fujisawa manga.
• Production Designers from Puella Magi Madoka Magica Working on Shojo Manga 
• To Love-Ru Darkness to Bundle DVD with Manga
• 3DS Game Senran Kagura Burst Has Anime in the Works
• Natsume Ono Drawing Web Manga 1-Shot
• Short Manga by Stepping on Roses Artist Started
• Shojo Manga Inspired by Idol Group Fairies Announced
• Steins;Gate Game Drama CD to Include Manga
• Crying Freeman Creator Releasing Short Ninja Manga
• Webcomics Starting of Namco Bandai’s Rolling Thunder and Wonder Momo
• Mixed-media Franchise Khronos Gear Getting OVA and Manga
• More Stitch! Anime On the Way as a TV Special
• A Chapter 0 of Rurouni Kenshin Will Be Coming Out
• Hopefully this will be better than the new OVAs.
• Josei Manga Karneval Receiving an Anime Adaption
• Mecha 1-shot from Bokurano Manga-ka Announced
• Count of Monte Cristo 1-shot in Grand Jump Premiere
• A Spin-off of Ikoi no Sodom -Bishōjo Impala- Started
• New Series Landmark Fieldworker -Toaru Machi no Genius Loki- to Being in Super Jump
• Yuri Manga-ka Milk Morinaga Starting New Series
• New Steampunk Manga Kikaijikake no Merudiina Beginning
  Maybe steampunk panels at anime conventions can start being about steampunk titles like this.
• Accel World OVA to be Bundled with Game
• Kamen no Ninja Akakage Remains Manga Based on 60′s Series Getting Revival
  I’m not familiar with the original, but it was by the creator of Giant Robo and Tetsujin so I’m quite curious to check this out!
• Remake Manga Kaen Majin ~Oni Harai~ Starting Up Soon
• The Incredible Zorori Children’s Book Getting Feature Film
• Manga Adaption of Re: Cyborg 009 and Fairy God One-shot in Next Issue of Monthly Big Gangan
• Dusk Maiden of Amnesia BD/DVD Release to Include Unaired Episode

SPOILERS FOR RUROUNI KENSHIN

You know what you’re wanting to see in a Rurouni Kenshin OVA, fights. You know what this is missing, you guessed it, fights. This is a shonen fighting series that the staff completely forgot half of. I’m not saying that the characters and backstory aren’t interesting in Kenshin, but those things aren’t executed with much grace either.

This OVA is like the reverse of a clips reel. Instead of showing all the cool fights and intense moments, it is a collection of people talking to each other in between all the awesome things that go on during the (arguably) best arc of the Kenshin series. Note, most awesome things not included.

I’m going to admit it. I was not so secretly hyped for this OVA. When I heard they were going to remake the Kyoto Arc from Kenshin I thought that was pretty amazing idea. Take what is one of the strongest arcs of the manga and animate it with modern techniques and a decent sized budget. (Note: Debates over the superiority of the Remembrance or Revenge arcs can be saved for another day.) It seems like a recipe for awesome. Then they announced the OVA would be from Makimachi Misao’s perspective. That was a bit puzzling. I love Makimachi Misao. She is my favorite character from the series. A spunky kunoichi who is a wonderful sidekick for Kenshin during the arc as she adds a much-needed dash of comedy and drama to what would have otherwise been a less engaging solo journey for Kenshin. But as much as I love her she is still firmly a side kick character. So I was a bit worried that a story too much from her perspective would be claustrophobic and miss some of the most important parts of the arc due to their choice of perspective.

So I went in hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. In the end I had nothing to worry about in that regard. They did not do any of the things I was worried about. They botched the OVA is so many other more egregious ways that my initial fears seemed laughably quaint. It takes a special talent to do everything incorrectly. A bad anime will usually be broken in several places. The worse it is the more places it tends to have major flaws. But usually there are some bright spots that lift it out of being a complete train wreck. The thing is this Kenshin OVA does absolutely everything wrong with its plot and characterization it can.

  It should be said that this OVA seems made only for fans of the series. It is nay impossible to follow the plot otherwise. I’m not sure if is a good bet or not that everyone is already familiar with the story considering how old it is now though. And unless you are a Kenshin expert you might have forgotten some of the finer details. Even though this is a story seemingly made for fans of the series, that doesn’t mean there needs to be zero set up to events. It throws you in the middle of things so quickly you are never allowed to sink into the pace and emotions of the story.

But as a fan, we certainly remember what stands out in this arc. Things that are important in the first half: Kenshin catching up with Shishio and coming face-to-face for the first time, Kenshin’s sword getting broken and then getting a new one, Saito and Kenshin working together. All of these things happen but without any real emotion coming from the OVA. It’s as if it’s just another day in the neighborhood when Kenshin finds Shishio in the village. Saito questioning Cho in jail originally showed off Saito’s sly skills and made him and Sanosuke work together. Now it was just a throw away scene, which Sanosuke wasn’t even in!

Furthermore there a few new scenes which don’t do anything. There is a sex scene, why? The surprising thing is it is actually all in shadow and there is no nudity. Even then it was still awkward. So they couldn’t even throw in a fan-service scene properly?

And fights? Rather important in Kenshin-land. I was exaggerating when I said there are no fights, but they are over so quickly as to be practically nonexistent.

The Kyoto Arc starts in volume 7 of the manga and does not end until volume 17. That is a good deal of ground to cover. Sacrifices have to be made to condense such a sprawling tale into a short series of OVAs. You have to have a good eye for what to cut, what to shorten, and what to combine to keep the spirit of the original while still telling a coherent story. The problem is, as Narutaki said, the story is a mess. With too much ground to cover Kazuhiro Furuhashi and Mari Okada tried to cut out the extraneous parts of the original Kenshin story and only give the viewer the vital high points. They seem to know what the major beats of the story are but they don’t seem to understand what makes any of those key points work.

The perfect example is Kenshin first meeting with Shishio. They cut the fight with Senkaku which while adding slightly to the story can be cut with almost no consequence. But at the same time there is no build up to anything else that happens. Most of the meeting is Kenshin and Shishio talking at each other. The problem is that half the conversation makes no sense unless you read the source material and the other half has no impact. In the manga it was a struggle to get to Shishio and so there is a weight to the conversation. But since they effortlessly find him the conversation consequently seems cheaper. Also without any build up Kenshin’s fight with Sojiro ends in a flash without giving any menace or depth to Sojiro.

By the same token without all of Cho’s gimmick swords his fight is over before it beings. It takes away from exotic fighting styles that made him a unique character. Also Arai’s son never seems to be in too much danger making the fight toothless. In the original fight Kenshin not only had the handicap of not having his signature sword but he also he also had to constantly keep Arai’s son from harm as Cho would attack him to distract Kenshin. Likewise we only see the last blow in fight between Aoshi and Okina. That is the most important blow but since we practically have no idea who either of them are the scene is more confusing than meaningful.

It might seem like I am nitpicking the fights but they are the biggest weakness in the OVA. This could have been at least partially entertaining in the had only condensed the fights from the manga as opposed to reducing them to a single sword swing or two. The dialog and plotting was already an unrecoverable mess. It would take a major overhaul and a great deal more time to salvage anything from this current adaptation. But fights don’t need that much set up to be understandable. Most of the time the little setup they got was sufficient. Some gorgeously animated fights would have made the bad parts go down a bit better and let you fill in the gaps in story a little easier. If you can’t make a dish taste complex you might as well throw in some strong sugar and spice to make it go down easily.

The characters are rushed through relying too much on the audience’s familiarity. Despite what this studio thinks, characters don’t stop developing (hopefully) after you know who they are. You learn more as time goes on, you learn nothing in this OVA.

Misao is introduced in this arc so we theoretically need more explanation of her yet even she has little in the way of presence and development. Her seeking out Kenshin comes off more as “well, we had to start this story somehow” and it is so unclear about why she joins up with him. Her master Aoshi shows up briefly to tangentially kill someone. This is a pretty good scene, I admit, but doesn’t seem to go in the flow of the show.

Familiar faces like Yahiko, Karou, and Sanosuke come off as random rather than everyone leading to the confrontation in Kyoto.

As I mentioned before Sanosuke is actually cut from a scene. While Karou and Yahiko are actually added to one that seems to waste time. They stumble upon Kenshin’s master Seijuro without Kenshin being there. Seijuro is crazy bad-ass for sure but there is no reason for this scene. Karou and Yahiko look at his pottery, chat, and Seijuro chops some wood.

This OVA just had no idea who or what to spend time on.

If the fights were weak than the only thing that was weaker was the attention paid to the characters. Everything about the plot comes off like someone reciting off a set of cliff notes they glanced over before a test. We see the most of Kenshin and Misaso but we don’t learn much about them. The characters are all too willing to say things like Kenshin is a gentle warrior who refuses to kill or that Misao is a spunk ninja girl but we don’t see that much to back up those claims. Also most of the time you are asked to remember character relationships from previous material more the plot giving you any details involving them. There is no gravity to Misao’s quest to find Aoshi so it makes much of her motivation seem pointless. If they were going to have so much talking they should have at least built up the core characters.

At the same time the side character pop up to equally vapid cameos few of which even properly introduce their characters. Yahiko, Karou, and Sanosuke all appear but you never really learn that much about them. They would be instantly recognizable to fans of the original but to everyone they are mostly enigmas.  Even the one member of Shishio’s henchmen that gets any development (including a scene during an oddly tame OVA sex scene) is killed off earlier than he was in the manga. Why bother to develop Uonuma Usui if you are just going to kill him before he gets to do anything really interesting?

I can at least say that this OVA renders backgrounds, land- and cityscapes, and the sky with loving detail. Light is used well throughout, too. And even in taking stills for this OVA, I realized that it might look better than it truly is.

The few moments of action we were privy too also looked good. That is why it was doubly disappointing that they were so few and short. I feel they could have made a good action OVA. Perhaps they are saving it all for the second half.

If I have one complement to pay this series it is that the production values can be high at times. The original TV series by Studio Gallop was usually adequate with it came to animation but it clearly had the budget of a long running TV show from the 90s so scenes were very often done on the cheap. The new OVA clearly has a bigger budget as befits an OVA. That means crisp modern animation, wonderful backgrounds, and some choice animation at key points. But at the same time pan shots and long-range shots often cheat and use a more sub par animation when they assume you are not looking a closely. Also considering the fact that so much of the series is people walking or talking it is not like they were burning through money in about 90% of the time. The fights are often extremely smooth but they hardly last long enough for you to appreciate the quality. The oddest change is that while most of the cast looks exactly like they did in the TV series they oddly enough radically redesigned Misao. You can tell who he is if you watched the original but she looks more like Misao’s long-lost cousin wearing her outfit more than herself.

The soundtrack is mostly made up of new versions of most of the old soundtrack from the TV series. Most character’s leitmotifs are unchanged or slightly tweaked along side a good deal of the more iconic themes of the series. It more than anything helps fill in the gaps missing from the OVA by invoking memories of the TV series (if you had them at all.)

I don’t understand why they bothered remaking this arc in the first place if not to do it any sort of justice. Trying to imagine a production meeting where it is suggested they take out all the fights is laughable but somehow it occurred.

As for the Misao element, I really wouldn’t have known this was supposed to be Misao-focused if Hisui hadn’t informed me beforehand. If it was, it could have accounted for some of the oversights, but it just didn’t do enough to make me believe we were seeing this through Misao’s point-of-view.

This may be one of the most disappointing things I’ve watched in a while.

This OVA made me physically mad. It is just such a wasted opportunity. The Kyoto Arc still has such a strong reputation with fans. With the new Kenshin manga coming out and the live action movie coming out it seemed like the best time for the franchise to put its best foot forward. But instead they have squandered their opportunity. Had this been successful they could have thought about adapting Revenge Arc or make a rebooted series as they are want to do recently. But with a product like this I doubt that will be the case.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Akira’s Climatic Scene, in LEGO
  If someone makes something I already really like out of LEGO, well then I’m probably just going to like that thing 10X more.
  
• Really Weird New Anime Movie (Which I Never Heard About on Anime Sites)
  Cartoon Brew is generally my source for international animation and every once in a while they’ll have something anime news sites skip over or at least don’t highlight. The After School Midnighters is just such a case. Judging by the borderline lucid dream trailer and premise I can’t say I’m surprised many anime fans aren’t looking forward to it.
• Brucie, You Got Some Splainin’ to Do
  Batman reveals how he learned his detective skills in this terrible issue from the 50′s. Chris recounts all the highlights while also explaining what works and doesn’t in an origin story.
• Pokemon Fine Art Exhibit
  Two things you might not put together, but nevertheless this showing looks pretty interesting.

Hisui’s picks:

• The History of the Monsters on Pluto in the 21st Century
  Manga Out Loud looks at the works of Naoki Urasawa that have been published in the US. Oddly enough there is little discussion of Pineapple Army.
• There is No Joke Here. I’m Just Glad She is Better.
  Eri Takenashi, the author of Kannagi recent talked about what made her go on hiatus. I’m just relieved that she made it through such a dangerous aliment safely. I am overjoyed to see more Kannagi and Girls’ Work from her in the future.
• It is Clear that We Must Get the Cure March Cake for Narutaki
  Special Smile PreCure! birthday cakes are now on sale. They come will a special phone call from your favorite cure. Does everyone over 18 just get a phone call from Cure Peace?
• Next Step: Actual working Valkyries!
  They made a 1:1 sized VF-25F Messiah Valkyrie f0r Macross’ 30th anniversary. I am super curious if and when the new Macross anime announcement will be.
• Type-Moon News Round Up
  • Fate/Zero on Top: The single for the second opening to Fate/Zero was the number one anime CD in Japan.
  • Apparently People Can’t Take a Joke: Kinoko Nasu talks about the delays to Fate/Extra CCC
  • King of Playable Characters: Gligamesh was announced as the new playable Servant in Fate/Extra CCC.
  • The Archer and the Assassin at Dinner

More Kaneda!

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