Looking at our picks, I realize both of them have pretty sad ends. They aren’t bad endings, but they are melancholy for sure.

Ringo and Shoma (Mawaru Penguindrum)

I won’t say they are the best couple. That is just crazy talk. Everyone in Penguindrum is a crazy messed up person with more baggage than an airport. But Ringo and Shoma are a very fascinating couple and that alone secures their place in my favorite couple spot of 2011. They started off as strangers both obsessed with different goals that happened to be more interconnected then they first assumed. Ringo is an obsessed stalker devoted to seducing the man her sister loved at any cost. Shoma is equally obsessed with trying to find the Penguindrum to save his sister but is amazingly passive in his attempts to accomplish his mission. As the series goes on they both learn from the other as they grow as a couple. Ringo sees the folly in her single-minded devotion and Shoma learns that he must make a stand to get what he wants. Their wildly divergent personalities oddly complement each other. There are several major complications that keep them part when their pasts are revealed but it does not stop them from coming together in the end. Although their time together as an actual couple may be short, it is unforgettable. Their story engaged me and added to the story despite their major dysfunctions.

Jintan & Menma (AnoHana)

From the very beginning we know that the story in AnoHana is going to be a bittersweet one full of the ups and downs of childhood and all the regrets that go along with it. Menma died when everyone was very young and it blew apart the circle of friends, but Menma’s spirit brings them all back together to confront each other and the future. Jintan and Menma’s love is a simple one, afterall it comes from a simpler time, yet because of the tragedy it has distorted everyone’s relationships thereafter. There is a moment between Jintan and Menma that moved me so completely that it is probably why I picked them above all others. They are sitting at the table, like they have so many times before, but now the weight of the past has started to come down and the barrier cracks as Jintan talks about granting Menma’s wish and her disappearing. It was amazingly heartfelt and open. I could literally see Jintan realizing he loved her. Jintan is stuck, but he doesn’t understand why, he has simply put away the past instead of acknowledging it. With Menma’s appearance the wheels start to turn ever so slightly, I find his emotional journey just as compelling as this impossible romance.

Hisui’s picks:

• It Might JUST Cross the Finish Line in Time
  After it began all the way back in December of 1994 it seems that the Evangelion manga is finally on its last volume. That means they MIGHT just finish before the reboot movies are over. But it is Yoshiyuki Sadamoto so we shall see what happens.
• I come to bury Bandai, not to praise it.
  • The Gentleman on Gundamn! give their analysis of Bandai pulling out of the US market.
  • The AWO crew and some special guests do the same. 
• The Horn of Manga Gondor
  The ANNCast had on Carl Horn who is one of the most knowledgeable people working in manga in the US. He has plenty of stories about the growth of the industry as well as some juicy behind the scenes info. Plus he is one of the few old timers that still has a genuinely upbeat attitude. Just a delight to listen to.
• Rage Against the Intelligent Flying Machine
  We got some new designs of mecha and characters from Eureka Seven: AO. The most amusing part to me is all the people complaining that female pilots means this will be a harem show.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • Here Comes the Bride: The only question is when will we get a figure of the alternate costume for Caster.
  • Even More Saber: Everyone can feel free to buy this for me.
  • Fate/Fake Saber
  • The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny
  • The New Fate/Zero Opening (This is not really the New Fate/Zero Opening)

Narutaki’s picks:

• Love Scars
  Special for upcoming Valentines Day, Comics Alliance has a new series “Love Hurts” which features some of the most hilarious (and creepy) romance comics of the past. All brought to you by the very funny Chris Sims. It is a shame this column will not continue after the holiday!
• GO ETU!!!
  At least Adidas understands my love for Giant Killing! They are releasing a slue of apparel from uniforms to scarves (do want!). It is all limited edition so I’m not sure I’ll ever get my hands on it though.
• Monsuno Killed the Dinosaurs
  According to the press release for this new Nickelodeon animated series. Evil alien DNA, end of the world, monsters, sounds like a series worth giving a shot later this month.
• NOT Disney’s Snow Queen Film
  This is a trailer for a new Russian re-telling of their classic story, coming out at the end of 2012. It is the first major CG production for them and looks pretty impressive. Since the trailer is in English, hopefully that means it will see a wider release and not just be available to film festivals throughout next year.
• Let’s Pretend There is an Incredibles 2
  With this concept art it isn’t too hard to let your imagination run wild. We all want a sequel to Pixar’s most sequelable (?) movie, but still any plans for it elude our watchful eyes.
• Is Marvel’s Public Image Spiraling Out of Control?
  There has been a lot of bad press for the company lately and with mounting lawsuits, complaints, and outcry things don’t seem to be getting better. The big two have always had shady dealings marring their past but it isn’t in the past at all. Just this week Marvel demanded $17,000 from the creator of Ghost Rider for profiting from his creation. Then in an interview Marvel’s publisher tried to tell us that they do not do crossovers, nope never, which is just plain strange and not true. It doesn’t seem like a big deal perhaps, but lying to your fanbase makes them question why you did so. The more we learn about the company, the less people are willing to ignore these things and at some point they may be pushed too far.

A most amusing cross over:

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Disney, Eureka Seven, Fate/Extra CCC, Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero, Giant Killing, Marvel, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Pixar, Type-Moon ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/12/all-points-bulletin-neoclassical-romanticism/feed/ 2 reversethieves hisuicon narutaki sep-pic hisuicon http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/11/fateget-licensed/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/11/fateget-licensed/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:30:30 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=18797 ]]>

This is an open letter to any companies that are either currently localizing visual novels or are interested in getting into that market.

Imagine this. Some company like Manga Gamer or JAST USA that already adapts Japanese visual novels into English wants to bring out Fate/Stay Night. It is a highly demanded title with a ravenous and dedicated fan base. The problem is the licensing price on a high-profile game like Fate/Stay Night is equally high to the point where it would need to sell more copies than any other visual novel ever has in the English-speaking market to break a profit. Despite the number of people who say they would pay there is a readily available fan translation of the game from Mirror Moon so the question always is how many of them will actually buy anything. I know there are manga that English publishers won’t pick up because they feel the scanlations make them worthless to license. How many people will buy a game they already played for free?  I am sure many companies have run the numbers and discovered that the risk to reward ratio is far too great to take a chance on the title. As it is it might not even be viable at all. I myself can’t blame them. They just want to keep the lights on.

But now that Kickstarter has created a viable method of getting funding and support to what would otherwise be high risk niche projects. I wonder if a title like Fate/Stay Night could be viable. I am not going to even pretend like I am an insider. I don’t know what the licensing fee on visual novels are nor how much the assorted overhead costs are with releasing a title like Fate/Stay Night. Even with a Kickstarter it might still be ridiculously prohibitive to even attempt such an undertaking. But I feel a well orchestrated and promoted Kickstarter just might be able to make this a feasible idea. It removes a good deal of the risk involved in licensing such a big named title and lets the companies involved get a real sense of how many people would buy such a title before any money exchanges hands. It is a great time to run a kickstarter for such a project and a title like Fate/Stay Night will definitely get people talking. No one is assuming you are every going to raise Double Fine money but you could easily make Barbara money. And that just might be the boost the game needs to actual make it to its English-speaking fans.

I can’t help but be fascinated with this idea. If any one has any idea of how to make this happen let me know. If any company wants to take this idea I am leaving it on the table. If any company was toying with the idea before I wrote this post then I am showing that it has some support. Otherwise if you support this idea just leave a comment below and pass this post around to show this idea has support among the fans.

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPOILERS FOR GUNDAM AGE EPS. 1-15

Now that the next generation of Gundam AGE has started I think Bandai has the ability to really build on what they started in the first third of the series. I know that there are still people complaining about this being baby Gundam and that accusation will never go away. In fact we did a whole article on how much of that statement is true and how much of it is the normal Gundam complaining. But I think they have a golden opportunity to add a little complexity to AGE to bring in otaku who had dismissed the show while not alienating the existing fan base. Here is my list of the top 5 things I would like to see out of the part two of Gundam AGE:

5. A Female Ace:

So far we have not had any notable female pilots in Gundam AGE besides Yurin who basically is a pilot for one episode against her will before getting the “Lalah Sune sendoff.” A good Emma Sheen or Roux Louka styled competent female pilot would probably win some fan to the series by her mere existence. Plus she could make a good romantic rival for Romary Stone.

4. A Broader Scope:

Despite the fact that there was a war going on the first leg of the story it was a fairly personal battle. It all centered around one ship and one crew with some help from some other ships near the end. I think that the second act would benefit from a great number of pieces of the Federation being involved. While that story can revolve around Diva seeing more of the other fleets would give a greater insight into how big this war has become. Gundam has always been about big wars and this series needs to start embracing the entire conflict now that we know the stakes involved.

3. Desil needs to get his comeuppance:

If you make someone as loathsome as Desil and then have them get away in the first part then the karma that hits him in the second part should be equally powerful. If he dies then his death should be grand like a Zabi family member and not something minor like the death of Jerid or Cronicle. If he lives he should have a fitting punishment like Katejina. But he can’t get be ignored, casually forgiven, or given a lazy off handed death. If you keep someone like him around you have to use hims and remove him correctly.

2. The Return of Grodek:

Grodek needs to get out of prison and make an Otcho style reappearance in the series about half way through this arc. The older fans loved Grodeck so seeing the grizzled old captain back in action would get them excited again. Throw him in a grungy old grunt suit and they may finally be happy. Plus Grodek busting heads and taking names would surely be awesome.

1. More Shades of Grey:

One of the constants of the Gundam franchise that any organization named the Federation is always a ponderous and corrupt bureaucracy more concerned with its own preservation than the safety of its people and AGE is no exception.  But the Veigans on the other hand are just bad guys. They were severely wronged by the Earth government but their reaction to this injustice puts them at a level of over the top evil. It does not help that Desil is a psychopath and Yark Dole was a fanatic. They need some Veigans to be a bit more sympathetic and nuanced or this just turns into a battle of white hats vs. black hats. Zeheart Galette is a good start but they need to flesh out the Veigans as a human enemy beyond just him. Also if they muddy up Flit and his obsession with defeating the Veigans while keeping him a likeable character that might add an unexpected depth as well. The attempt to present both sides of the conflict as neither hero or villains has been a hallmark of the series and would certainly help here.

The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the last two of the new season:

RSS Feed     -     iTunes Feed

Listen – Episode 1 of Black Rock Shooter from Ordet with the opening “Black Rock Shooter” by by Supercell sung by Hatsune Miku and is streaming on Nico Nico Douga.

Listen – Episode 1 of Smile Precure! from Toei Animation with the opening ”Let’s go! Smile PreCure!” by Aya Ikeda.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Narutaki’s picks:

• 13 Years After Women in Refrigerators
  A collection of articles reflecting on what has happened in comics since Gail Simone’s now infamous Women in Refrigerators site. Have women characters in comics gotten anywhere since? I found the reflection on Ms. Marvel particularly amazing in just how much has happened to one character. 
  
• Do You Believe in Sherlock?
  Apparently there is a movement going on and I’m just disappointed that I haven’t seen any of this in New York City! This article breaks down what’s been happening since the end of the second season of BBC’s Sherlock, warning for spoilers. Is it a brilliant viral marketing campaign or a grassroots love for the series, we may never know.
• Visit All These Awesome Bookstores
  I know I want to! Every time I go on a trip, I’ll consult this list to see if I’ll be near any of these. Not too many in the United States unfortunately.

Hisui’s picks:

• Now This is What it’s Like When World’s Collide
  Kazuo Koike and Gen Urobuchi chatted with each other and an audience online during Kazuo Koike’s Nico Nico Character Cram School. Ko Ransom provided ANN with a summary of the chat which provided insight into the writing styles of both authors. There were also a good deal of Puella Magi Madoka Magica questions and Kazuo Koike also discussed his upcoming magical girl series. The fact that Madoka is so oddly influential nature in the anime community is still a bit odd to me but so be it.
• Mo Robos Mo Problems
  I finally caught up of episodes of the VEEF show.
  • Booby Trap: This episode says it is about Stratos 4 but its true nature reveals itself after a brief Stratos 4 review. (Because there is no way you can talk for over three hours about Stratos 4.) It is about a war as old as the battle between the Zentradi and the Supervision Army.
  • More Valkyries than Valhalla: An overview of Valkyrie toys through the years. The podcast mostly focuses on the iconic VF-1 Valkyrie but also touches on many of the other toys in the Macross Universe as well.
  • In Memory of Clan Smoke Jaguar: Battletech is the American mecha franchise. It is also an incredibly complex tactical role-playing game that has spawned a slew of multimedia spinoffs. This is Andrew’s second attempt to tackle the beast and this time he has backup.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • Preview of a Holy Night
  • Not Sure HOW These Two Go Together
  • The Grand Reopening
• The Cognitive Dissidence is Tearing My Brain Apart
  Come … to … Hooters … for … Valentine’s … Day … parfaits … and … Hello … Kitty.
• I Found Out This Week That Not Everyone Has Seen This
  A vital piece of your Internet education.
• I am Interested in This
  The newest 07th Expansion game is entitled Rose Guns Days and will be set in 1947. Curious to see what that will be about.

I believe!

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Battletech, Macross, robots, Sherlock, Type-Moon ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/05/all-points-bulletin-parfaits-in-refrigerators/feed/ 5 reversethieves narutaki hisuicon sep-pic narutaki http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/03/ongoing-investigations-case-155/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/02/03/ongoing-investigations-case-155/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:30:22 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=18488 ]]>

All good things must come to an end and so I wrapped up Carnival Phantasm season 3. Last week I wrote about Fate/Prototype but it was just an extra added in with the last disc of Carnival Phantasm. Otherwise the last 4 episode stick to the comedic tone of the rest of the series. We start with the best new episode right out of the gate. The Holy Grail Grand Prix is just amazing. The Lion-Go will win your heart with its cuteness, Gilgamesh pops in during the middle to ruin everyone’s day (like he always does), and it is nice to actually see Assassin get to participate in a sketch. A good deal of joke time bombs in this episode. The Akiha story is straight out of Take Moon with Kohaku up to her normal tricks but the Brainwasher Detective skits that end the episode were the star of the show. The third episode is a Final Destination homage all around Lancer and his Kenny like tendencies. The final episode wraps everything up with the conclusion to the dating plan from the first disc and a round-up of all the pieces of the Type-Moon universe. While they were not voice acted they included characters from Fate/Zero, The Garden of Sinners, the Mobile Site, and even Notes. I am sad to finish Carnival Phantasm but maybe one day down the road we will get another season after a few more games come out. Surely Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, Fate/Apocrypha, and maybe even Girls’ Work will warrant revival of the carnival.

Thermae Romae came to an end just after three episodes. But a delightful three episodes they were. In each subsequent adventure Lucias spent more and more time in Japan soaking up the culture. Because he celebrates each new experience in Japan with such enthusiasm, it spills over to the audience (maybe because so many of us non-Japanese fans long to go as well). And each time he returns to Rome things get weirder from smelly bandits to being courted by the emperor to a village of baths. Perhaps a few more episodes wouldn’t get stale but I definitely think they let the series go out while it was still a quirky surprise and that’s a good thing.

And so I finally put another Pretty Cure show under my belt with the conclusion of Suite Precure. Suite Precure distinctly had its ups and downs. It was an enjoyable little series but it has some distinct flaws. It is hardly the low point in the series but it is never be the pinnacle of the series as well. I did not have any problem with Cure Muse like some people did. I would go as far as to say she was one of the most clever parts of the series. The ending was fairly standard but enjoyable. There was a good bit of back and forth between the Cures and Noise. He did not just pummel them until their last second victory. Both sides got some good shots in during the last few episodes. The sooner they got Noise to be in his true form the better it was because as dorky little bird it was hard to take him seriously as the main villain of the series. Some of these scenes with him manically laughing were very silly when he was still P-chan. No matter what anyone tells you Hibiki’s ultimate attack is not Suite Session Ensemble Crescendo Finale but in fact psychoanalysis. Sh goes all Jungian on Noise in the end to finally defeat him. It also looks like she defeats him with the Brofist of Ultimate Friendship™ when the pull back during the climax. I was surprised the last episode was all falling action. While the Pretty Cure shows always have a little finale they don’t usually spend the whole episode on it. Still with all that time the Kanade, Ellen, and Ouji love triangle goes completely unmentioned let alone resolved. Overall I enjoyed the series despite some missteps. If you want to see Pretty Cure at its best watch Heartcatch but if you just want a solid little magical girl show then watch Suite Precure.

I took a look at the Johnnie Walker Keep Walking Studio 4C promotional video. A surreal dreamlike setting unfolds before us where things change and morph before you. It is a beautiful, vibrant piece of work though I can’t really say what is has to do with Whiskey.

After two separate recommendations I decided to check out some iOS games. Patz recommended Tiny Tower while Chaos Theater named dropped Where’s My Water. Both of them do a great job of being little time killers in their own way. I first heard about Tiny Tower due to the Zynga controversy but I only started playing after Patz suggested I try it out. It is much like SimTower but simplified for the hand-held experience. You construct a little building that has housing and shops using their profits to expand your tower. It is perfect for a hand-held device because you can play it for less than a minute if that is all the time you have but you can also sit down just kill some time if you want as well. You can update your shops and then put it down and not look at it again for hours or you can micromanage things if you just want to kill time. I really enjoy naming the little business even if you don’t have to.  It is free to play bu there is also in-game money that can be purchased. I am not sure why you would ever spend money on the game unless you were impatient but I suppose that is what this whole free to play game model is based around. The other game is the Where’s My Water demo from Disney. It is a clever little puzzle game. You try to dig tunnels so that the water can flow to a cartoon alligator so he can take his shower. The same starts of very simple but slowly adds new obstacles and tools as the game goes on in classic puzzle game tradition. Soon there is acid, poison water, locks, and other various complications. The learning curve is gently sloped so you always feel challenged but never overwhelmed. A great little distraction and like Tiny Tower it has the perfect quick burst of entertainment for its given platform.

The 4-6 Magic Kaito Specials aren’t really all that memorable. Episode 5 has a some good Kaito thievery as well as that sweet magic he is able to surprise you with. But 4 and 6 feature a new witch character prominently and it throws me off a little. Kaito’s magic is the world of illusion and sleight of hand, and both he and Conan employ plenty of super science, but actual mystic abilities just seems weird. These were mostly done as a 15th anniversary project so I’m not sure if there will be more of not. If not they didn’t go out on a particularly high note either.

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

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

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

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Since we ended S1 with the group debuting, they will now try to navigate the waters of the real idol scene. But since the headmaster is also the president of the talent agency, he will still keep up his crazy games because let’s face it, the show wouldn’t be nearly as good without Norio Wakamoto. We can add a new guy to be the agent/manager of ST☆RISH though. The group would get to travel a lot for appearances causing bonding and drama. The guys would be gaining a fan following that would lead to plenty of trouble, too. Some international traveling would be a lot of fun as well as paying a visit to relax at Haruka’s grandmother’s in the country.

At the top of my list though is a scheming rival boy band. They can all be similar to the main cast but done in a darker coloring of our guys, kind of like the alternate costumes in fighting games. These guys would conspire to steal away Haruka to be their songwriter. For good measure the lead in the rival band can also be a childhood friend of her’s. This will make Haruka naturally torn between new and old. This could even build to Haruka being blackmailed to leave ST☆RISH creating a supremely melodramatic climax! As far as the romances between her and our bevy of suitors goes, again I doubt we will get a conclusive pairing at the end of the season.

Anyone who has played the games have a real idea of what we may have in store for S2?

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

Newly Licensed in the U.S.

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

Newly Streaming in the U.S.

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

New Anime/Manga Projects in Japan

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

SPOILERS FOR GUNDAM AGE EPS. 1-15

Gundam AGE takes a lot of steps to try to combine the old image of Gundam with a more appealing aesthetic to children. While trying to bring kids into the Gundam fold isn’t a totally new approach for the franchise, attempting to grab both young and old audiences at the same time in the same main show can be hard to serve up. This is most difficult because of its ardent fans and long history, as opposed to working on something completely new. Gundam AGE makes great efforts of this balancing act in the first arc of its multi-generational story.

I think it is very important to note that Gundam AGE was originally supposed to be a Gundam video game by Level-5 until Bandai decided to green light the story to be a full anime series. Everything was originally written out to be for a younger video game audience with the pacing, characters, and story structure of said players in mind. I think the main disconnect between the traditional Gundam fan base and the anime is that they kept much of that same scenario in mind when they created Gundam AGE. With a younger audience turning more toward video games for their entertainment it makes sense on a certain level to try to court that audience with the same vibe of storytelling they seem to prefer. How well this is going to work has yet to be seen but there is a method to the madness. It all comes down to how well they adapt this game into an anime now that they have chosen that as their medium.

There is still quite a bit about AGE that feels like a video game. The AGE System is clearly how you were supposed to level-up your suit in the original game. The nature of the upgrades and even the method in which they are implemented seem relatively untouched from original blueprint. The enemy suits even have classes they are beaten with certain upgrades Flit unlocks by fighting enough of a certain type of enemy. A very classic video game structure of progression. Also the whole story on Fardain seems more like a video game plot than an anime plot. Flit befriending Iwark Briar and his daughter and how the crew of the Diva gets involved with the conflict between the Zalam and Euba have the pacing and story mechanics more suited for an RPG. Most people I have talked to seem to think that part of the story drags the most. I think if you were fighting while leveling up none of the section would have been as slow and unwieldy. But as a passive observer the your notice the chinks in the armor of the plot a bit more.

Something basic like the design of the characters immediately makes Gundam AGE feel younger. But as the story proceeds, those aesthetics seem to work as a grounding contrast to the story. Almost as if by creating these colorful characters they can present children with a darker story. The tropes of Gundam, like the price of war on civilians is still there but there is a bit more kiddie wish fulfilment in the earlier parts especially in terms or alliances as well. Flit acts as a an intermediary for people with long-standing feuds and inspires all those he meets. Emily even seems to forget she is a young girl or perhaps it is because of her youthful spirit that she confronts Grodek, on her own, about what she believes to be nefarious plot. The enemies that Grodek and soon all our leads are trying to defeat remain faceless, aliens for a long while which gives emotional distance but as a viewer you can read the writing on the wall. Decil is a very single-note villain who is pure evil vs. Flit the savior; black and white. Decil even cuts down his comrade Yurin without a second or remorseful thought (instead of say, having Flit accidentally do it which we be so Gundam of them). This comes off simplistic without the rest of the story being looked at. That anger that Flit has been fighting against since the beginning boils to the surface. Flit’s reaction pushes him to do attempt something he might have regretted, but he’ll never know since Grodek takes on the burden instead.

There are some parts of the first Gundam AGE that are more like the Gundam we are familiar with. It seemed to me that when Don Boyage died it was major turning point in which the story really started to put away a lot of its childish story telling. There has been deaths among both military personnel and civilians including Hendrick Bruzar but Don Boyage’s death seem to raise the stakes. The deaths seem more personal and more constant. Most importantly Grodek gets absolutely nothing for being totally right and not only discovering the truth behind the Unknown Enemy and dealing them a decisive blow that set back their plans for years. Nothing else sealed the corrupt nature of the Earth Federation Forces like sacrificing a hero for the sake of dirty politics while taking credit for his success. Also Grodek executes Yark Dole with no remorse. When we first meet Grodek he merely knocks out the some Federation officers with a stun gun. But at Ambat he murders Yark Dole so that Flit does not become a murderer.

The story grows, the consequences of war become a vital issue, and the grayness of fighting people each with a point of view and grudge is central. Bringing children in and then aging the characters up as the arcs continue might be a brilliant plan to get them interested in mature characters. One will just have to see how things play out. Onward to more Gundam AGE!

It is a hard line to toe in between appealing to old fans while trying to court new fans. Hardcore fans tend to resist change no matter how much they ask for it and nothing says changes will actually increase your audience. Gundam AGE has been an interesting experiment so far. I can’t say that it has fully succeed. The Gundam fan base just seems angry. But that is their default state. The anime fandom outside of Gundam otaku has not seemed to embrace the show as well. But the show so far has matured. I think they are moving in the right direction with slowly upping the ante and the maturity of the story. The story has a good deal of potential to keep this new-found maturity while making sure they don’t alienate their younger viewers. I wonder if this is a show that will have an audience that slowly warms to its methods or will it only be appreciated for what it is doing years from now like many of the other more experimental Gundam iterations?

Hisui’s picks:

• Just Accept that You Will Never be Ed Chavez
  The Eeeper’s choice podcast is back from its recent hiatus. Philip teams up with Ed Sizemore to look at Kingyo Used Books after shooting the breeze about the manga industry in general.
  
• Random Fact: My Brother Keeps a Raise Dead and a Swamp in His Wallet at all Times
  Chaos Theater talk about the most famous collectable card game of them all, Magic: The Gathering. So many memories, so many booster packs. What colors did you play back in the day? Heck, do you still play it today?
• If you Kickstart Me Up I’ll Never Stop
  The Manga Out Loud podcast looks at the use of Kickstarter to fund manga publishing and the community’s reaction to the Barbara project. I don’t agree with a lot that is said in the podcast but it is an interesting discussion. Ed also did an overview of the big events in manga during 2011 just before that.
• We Might not Get a U.S. Release of Turn A But We Can Take Solace in This
  If you were ever curious what Kunio Okawara designed Turn A Gundam would look like you don’t have to wonder anymore.
• This Says so Much about Gundam Fandom
  A diagram of the “winners” and “losers” involved in the romantic relationships of the various Gundam series.
• Type-Moon News Roundup
  • A well made Fate/EXTRA and EF – A Tale of Melodies mash up video
  • Some Fate/Zero Cafe exclusives 
  • Even more cafe news
  • Luna Haruna chosen to sing the ending of the 2nd season of Fate/Zero

Narutaki’s picks:

• Animation’s Annie Awards Streaming on February 4th
  This is considered Oscar night for animation!
• A Reasoned Opinion of Piracy’s Place in Comics
  Illegal downloading has come back around to be a topic again what with SOPA/PIPA on people’s minds it is no surprise. This time its American comic fans talking about the industry. David’s response takes on the accusation that piracy is the main reason comics, particularly superhero comics, have taken a dive in profits.
• ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION Album Coming Out in the U.S.
  Their first ever stateside release will be a greatest hits album. They’ve contributed to plenty of anime series so expect those songs and more.
• Self-Publishing Comics Through Amazon
  Apparently it is working, and working big for one 16-year-old. Her comic was even out-selling major titles at the holidays. I haven’t gotten to read any comics yet, but her website shows of her artwork better than the interview article.
  
• Re-branding Logos for Video Game Characters
  This is actually a double re-branding since he took already established logos but used them in a creative way for a myriad of characters.
• Megaupload Closes, Toonzaki Sees Online Views Rise 20%
  There isn’t a true way to equate these two occurrences but 4kids has made the connection.

Another look at something special from Turn A Gundam:

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

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

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

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

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

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

It has been a long journey so see the conclusion of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. The story started in 2007 and finally concluded with 8 visual novels being released over the course of 4 years with over a dozen extra side stories being release up until the last Comic Market in December. It was a fun journey along the way that allowed me to try and figure out what was real, what was fantasy, and where the truth lied on Rokkenjima in October of 1986. When I finished Requiem of the Golden Witch I was filled with a mixture of hope and dread. The penultimate game was amazingly powerful so that I was hopeful that the end of the series would be just a great but at the same time I was worried that it could not live up to the expectations it had set.

So when Twilight of the Golden Witch came out to some rather negative reviews it was hard to tell if this was part of the normal cycle of Umineko reactions or if it was a horrible ending. The problem was when a new Umineko game came out there was always a flood of spoilers. When everything was sorted out due to fake spoilers and mistranslations there was invariably a negative reaction that the story had gone down the drain. But usually when the translation patch came out most everyone saw the story in whole new light when they actual read the story. But this time that negative feeling did not seem to go away. Many people (including myself) seemed rather frustrated with the ending as provided by the spoilers for a lack of answers. But now that I have finally played the game and seen the ending through I am going to give my spoiler filled thoughts on the ending and the series as a whole. This is a mixture of catharsis and celebration for a pretty wild ride. If you were curious for a simple spoiler free review then it is simply that I do not regret playing this series.

Even if you utterly despise the vagueness of vital parts of the ending you have to admit there are some great moments in Twilight of the Golden Witch. Anything involving Lambdadelta is just a wonderful mixture of thrilling and charming. She earns her 3rd place in the final chapter popularity poll with this chapter. Bernkastel and Erika Furudo prove themselves to be the unrepentant villains of the story and do their job well. There is also a good deal of meta commentary on mysteries and mystery fans. It has always been present in the series (and in Ryukishi07′s writing in general) but it is full display in this chapter. The goats attacking the island is hardly a subtle meta commentary on the fandom. Your mileage will vary on how much you think it is a clever jab at the reader and how much it is a bitter rant. Perhaps it is yet another case of, “Without love, the truth cannot be seen.”

It is also a powerful send off to the Ushiromiya family. They were all a mixture of horrible traits that had a human core at their center. It reminds me of that deleted scene from High Fidelity about the Top 5 Worst things you have done. Taken out of context the top 5 worst things anyone has ever done makes them seem like a monster. And in a way this final chapter reminds us that we have seen everyone involved with Rokkenjima at their worst as well as their best. But in the end while they have some major sins on their hands they were all just human. OK. Some of them came off a bit worse than others. It is hard to really find fault with too much that Hideyoshi or Jessica did in contrast Kinzo commits some unforgivable sins even compared to the rest of the family. Their crimes cannot be excused but perhaps they can be forgiven.

The most controversial part is the ending itself and what few things it does address and what it keeps a mystery. To say we get no answers is clearly a lie. On the other hand there are some major questions that go unanswered. As for the little mysteries we are given all the tools to solve them. To figure out who killed whom in the first 6 chapters we are given five important pieces of information. The most obvious pieces are the red text. While it is often deliberately misleading it is the first place to start looking. The second is that Beatrice, Shannon, and Kanon are all the same person but can be “killed” when their personality is killed. The fact that they are all the same person playing different roles makes many of the mysteries disappear. The third is Willard H. Wright black sword fight with Bernkastel. There are plenty of hints on how all the tricks were done through that. The fourth is Bernkastel’s purple truth puzzle game. It gives clear rules on how to use the fantasy and mystery sections to figure out what is going on. How the things we see in mystery scenes are the truth we need to examine when solving mysteries and how to figure out when characters are lying. The final clue is the Our Confession booklet from Umineko no Naku Koro ni Hane. It is pretty much a walk through of a mystery so you can see how they are done if the other clues were not clear enough.

The problem is there is no answer sheet. At no point does Ryukishi07 give the reader a simple breakdown of how everything was done in case you get stuck. This lets people write countless FAQs that use the rules to figure out how things were done but unless the author gives his definitive word you will always have people arguing the details back and forth. While this replicates some of the experience of the Witch Hunters in the game it will possibly always be a point of contention just the same. As Ryukishi07 himself said in Higurashi When They Cry Kai there is always something vaguely annoying about puzzle books that don’t give you the answers. I am not exactly sure why he broke his own rule in this case.

The biggest point of contention will always be that we never really know what happened on October 5th of 1986. We know that the only survivors were Battler and Eva. But how everyone else exactly died is a mystery. Thematically that is part of the story. It ends with Rokkenjima being a sealed mystery. If we consider Ange the true protagonist of the series than the whole story is about her learning both how to move on and let things go. Therefore sealing the mystery away is a vital step for her. While this makes thematic sense for her it does not make the blow of never truly know what happened to the player any less harsh. I know many a player just feels like there never was an answer and the conclusion and what we got was to cover up to this fact. Ambiguous answers are inherently controversial.

In the end this article was actually therapeutic. It has helped me work through a good deal of my conflicted emotions on the series. I went into Umineko with a good deal of anticipation due to my love of Higurashi. Each episode played only ramped up the expectations. So the bitterness I initially felt with the conclusion was equally harsh. It was almost like a betrayal. But after actually playing the conclusion and sorting out my feelings in this post I feel better about the whole experience. As I stated before my enjoyment of the first seven games could never be taken away by the eighth. They were just too much fun. But Twilight of the Golden Witch determined my overall feelings for the series as a whole. In the end while I did not agree with how Ryukishi07 played everything out I am glad that I experienced this story. In reflection many of the pieces of the ending were telegraphed from the start but part of me did not want to believe them. But perhaps the way things ended were for the best. We were never going to get a super happy Higurashi ending. I could have done with some more conclusive answers but that is the mystery of Rokkenjima. If nothing else the positive feelings outweighed my reservations about the conclusion and the bittersweet ending. If it can do that than it did its job. I close the lid on this cat box for now and hope that one day I may open it again get the same enjoyment and perhaps some new insights in the future.

Carnival Phantasm has come to an end. The grand Type-Moon cross over even ended with some little cameos by the cast of Fate/Zero, Kara no Kyoukai, the Mobile Site, and some rather minor Type Moon characters. The they even gave some love to Notes with V/V. But at the very end after the credit a mysterious woman picks up the phone to introduce the bonus movie. This woman is Sajyou Ayaka who is the original protagonist of an early draft of Fate/Stay Night. To celebrate the end of Carnival Phantasm the extra goes back to the origin of the Type-Moon universe with Fate/Prototype. This video is an animated version of some of the notes to the original unfinished story that would be used to make Fate/Stay Night.

There are some major changes that this prototype story went through before it became the game known as Fate/Stay Night. The most famous change is that originally Saber was a man and the young witch known as Ayaka Sajyou was his master. Takeuchi Takashi felt that visual novel fans would not like to play as a female protagonist to the genders were swapped. Ayaka Sajyou seems like a mix of Rin and Shiro with a bit of Enjou Tomoe thrown in for good measure. She is much more powerful and knowledgeable than Shiro but she has his softhearted nature while having the gloomy edge of Enjou. Also the religious theme around the Holy Grail War are much more pronounced. All the Masters have a different choir of angel they are connected to and the Grail itself has far more of a twisted Christian connotation. In fact the final secret Avenger style Servant is the Beast itself. Rider is certainty a new man and his master is equally different (as much as we might have wanted Shinji to be bed ridden.) Phahn Sancraid is definitely a creepy priest like Kotomine but he looks and feels creepy in his own unique way. Also while Saber was involved in a former Grail War this time his Master was Ayaka’s sister and she was not a very nice person.

On the other hand you also see many of the seeds that would go on to make Fate/Stay Night what it is. The basic framework is unmistakable. The structure and cyclic nature of the war is the same. The hidden tainted nature of the grail is still in the background. Ayaka and Saber’s relationship clearly went on to inspire Rin and Archer’s relationship. Also taking Ayaka and combining her with Misaya Reiroukan gets us the Rin we know in Fate/Stay Night. Saber’s tragic participation in a previous iteration of the war with his new’s Master’s family is also the same. Gilgamesh is still the same Gilgamesh. Also Saber’s battle with Gilgamesh was giving me vibes from the Saber and Rider’s battle from the Fate route.  Gilgamesh looks a bit more primitive but he is still spamming swords and wearing golden armor. He is still an arrogant king of nonconsensual relationships only this time he wants Ayaka instead. Lancer also looks different but he is still Cu Chulainn. I am sure being Lancer is still suffering. He even hunts down Saber’s master impaling them through the heart as the catalyst for summoning her servant. That results in a first meeting of Master and Servant that would be reproduced in Fate/Stay Night. And as the Type Moon wiki points out Manaka Sajyou looks like evil baby Arturia Pendragon.

It is fascinating to see how Fate/Stay Night morphed to become the visual novel we see today. While the basic structure might be the same you can see the initial concept went through many changes when it was adapted to another form of media. In the end I am somewhat divided. Part of me would love to see this expanded into its own series. Seeing how everything would have originally played out if it had stayed as a linear novel would be a great insight into how Nasu has changed as an author. There seem to be some very interesting concepts here that never made it into the final product. At the same time I wonder if these changes were not made for very good reasons. It is easy to forget the value of editing that takes a messy raw concept and refines it into a more complete product when done correctly. Maybe many of the ideas and plot that were changed were changed with good reason. Without the adaption we would not have the sexy sex machine that is Rider. Then again that scene of Ayaka getting out her witches’ broom seemed pretty cool as well. Overall while I would buy a full length Fate/Prototype series it would not break my heart if it were never made. This is a good enough sample for now.

Drink #025: The Flying Penguin,
A Revolutionary Girl Utena & Mawaru Penguindrum Discussion

Kunihiko Ikuhara is undoubtedly one of our favorite directors so it seemed only fitting for us to devote a podcast to two of his most recognizable masterworks. For each show we brought on a guest to talk with us a bit about the selected show. We started with Clarissa from the Anime World Order podcast to chat about Revolutionary Girl Utena. As she recently did a paper for grad school on the show she seemed the only logical choice for a guest to talk about pink-haired crossdressers. After that we talk with Patz from Insert-Disc about Ikuhara’s recently concluded work, Mawaru Penguindrum. With both titles we do an in-depth analysis of characters and themes and don’t hold anything back on the spoiler side of things. If you have not finished either series be warned that we give away pretty much anything that could possibly be. If you want a review just know that both shows are 100% recommended so you can just watch them and then come back and listen to the podcast.

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

The Flying Penguin

• 1 1/2 oz vodka
  
• 1 1/2 oz white rum
  
• 1 1/2 oz gin
  
• 1 splash Angostura® bitters
• 5 oz pink grapefruit juice
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 1/2 oz sugar syrup

Preparation:

Pour 1.5 ounces each of Vodka, White Rum and Gin into a highball glass over two ice cubes. Add a good spash (approx .25 ounces) of angora bitters and swirl with a metal stirring rod. Add 5 ounces of Pink Grapefruit Juice. Add 1.5 ounces of sugar syrup. Slice a fresh lime into a slice approximately 1/2 of an inch wide. Cut in half, squeezing one half directly into the drink (then drop the squeezed lime half in). Make a small nick 2/3rds of the way up the second halfof lime and use to rim the glass then as a garnish. Include a metal stirring rod.

Narutaki’s picks:

• The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki Trailer
  Mamoru Hosoda’s new film due out in July now has a trailer. It looks like another thoughtful exploration of family and people’s hearts. If there is any director’s films I am always excited about, it is Hosoda’s.
• Adult Swim Art Gallery
  Wish I was in the L.A. area to see this exhibit! It takes all of the humor to the a new level, immortalizing it further.
• Where’s the Beef?
  In superhero comics that is. This is a really fascinating Op-Ed on the non-sexualization of male superheroes in comic book form. I haven’t pinned down my own feelings yet, but it is something worth crewing on.
• NO ROBOTS!
  In a world we’ve seen in much science-fiction, robots have become so advanced that they then become the target of hatred. Lovely student film with a sentimental touch.
• Prince-sama Plushies Coming Soon
  I’m really glad this series is turning into a popular franchise. Now hopefully we’ll see some Syo merchandise on the horizon!

Hisui’s picks:

• A Hundred Billion Teas; A Hundred Billion Crêpes
  Since it seems that little theme cafes are the new way of marketing the launch of popular otaku titles it is only fitting that the most powerful Japanese space opera gets its own cafe as well. In order to promote the new stage show in April Legend of the Galactic Heroes gets its own little theme restaurant. The only real question is if Yang’s tea will have the necessary extra kick to really make it Yang’s tea. Thanks to Jrnemanich for this link.
• The Spiritual Successor to Space Thunder Kids
  Space Thunder Kids is yesterday’s news. The dated animation and story telling of Space Thunder Kids is clearly relic of a bygone area of mecha animation. XiYouJi clearly taps into the Gundam Seed and Evangelion fandom in a unique manner never seen before. It is the past, present, and future of giant robot animation. Check it out!
• Adventures in the Alpha Quadrant
  Chaos Theater did a complete overview of all the TV season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Everything from the lows of the first season, to the high of the middle seasons, and the amazing finale that tied it all together. It was a good trip down memory lane to remember some of the best and worst parts of the series. Can’t wait for them to do a similar episode all about Deep Space Nine.
• A Closed Casket Funeral For Someone Who is Still Alive
  The AWO crew, Mike Toole ,and Neil Nadelman discuss the recent news that Bandai Entertainment is not releasing any new titles. They look at the what lead up to this decision, what ramification is will have to US releases, and what it means about the industry in general.
• Kamen Riders Must Sing Just Like They Must Fight For Justice
  There is a Kamen Rider musical. It must be talked about.

Prince-sama comin’ at ya!

Filed under: All Points Bulletin, Editorials Tagged: Kamen Rider, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Star Trek: The Next Generation ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/22/all-points-bulletin-027/feed/ 1 reversethieves narutaki hisuicon sep-pic narutaki http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/20/ongoing-investigations-case-153/ http://reversethieves.com/2012/01/20/ongoing-investigations-case-153/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:30:28 +0000 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/?p=18279 ]]>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go to the Head of the Class

I have finally completed my final play through of Fate/Extra. Having completed it with Caster I feel like I have closed out the game. While I did not go through every scenario possible in the game I think I saw the optimal amount of possibilities. I would be interested in a few tiny details like using Saber with a female protagonist or taking Archer through Rani’s route but those little details are what YouTube is for. In this final post on Fate/Extra I just wanted to give my thoughts on playing as Caster. I mean how could I not play the game as the cute little fox goddess even if that is dangerously close to furry country.

I will admit I tore through this play through whereas I savored the other two. The third time around I had to put in cheat codes because there was no way I was legitimately grinding through the game a third time. I love Type-Moon but I am not crazy. It was sort of fun playing through the game as a level 99 god. You can actually win several battles are supposed to either come to a draw or have you be outright slaughtered. Winning them never changes to plot but it does get you some bonus dialog as a pat on the back for your accomplishments. That said it was still quite obvious that Caster is the hard mode. That is not to say that she is worthless because at times she is a wrecking crew. The problem is she is really slow to power up and definitely a glass cannon. When you start the game she is definitely the weakest character you can pick. She does not deal much physical damage, she has paper-thin defense, and it takes awhile for her to get the spells she needs to rip things apart. When you have her full complement of spells she is a monster but no matter how high level you get her she is always fragile and cannot absorb too much damage. But her basic spells are a nasty one two punch as they do their standard damage and can stun the opponent if you choose wisely. If you set things up correctly she can tear into even the toughest opponents. I took out Saver in 1 round with a level 99 Caster and Ryougi Shiki without breaking a sweat. She is challenging but rewarding to play.

Caster is a cutie-pie little vixen with a deceptive appearance. She seems like an airhead but she is someone who will just as easily deceive, set up, and then assassinate everyone around her in a way that would make the Count of Monte Cristo slightly uneasy. She is definitely designed to have a mixture of Yamato Nadeshiko loyalty, ditzy charm, and vengeful possessiveness. It does give her an amusing appeal if a bit on the moe wish-fulfillment side of feminine appeal. She is definitely the most openly affectionate and playful Servant as well as the most sexually aggressive.  A bonny boom boom body does not hurt with features on the safe side of anthropometric. She was a refreshing sorbet after the sarcastic Archer. The most surprising part of her past was her connection to Twice H. Pieceman. It was set up in advance but like everything involving Pieceman I wish they had investigated it more. I also wish Caster was in other mediums as well. Her careful Machiavellian plotting combined with her harmless demeanor would make her an interesting character in a title outside of a tournament RPG.

That is it for Fate/Extra. I definitely got my money’s worth in the 3 play throughs I did. I admit that I certainly used the skip dialog button quite a bit in my third time through but Caster’s charm made it worth my time. I now have three max affection Servants to import into Fate/Extra CCC if that ever comes out. I hope that the game did well enough that Aksys Games considers picking up the sequel. I can’t wait to see how your characters transfer over and what rewards you get for playing the previous game. I can never get enough of the Fate universe.

That is all the time we have for this week. Send in your questions for either Grail-kun or Love Detective Hisui and they will answer them as soon as possible.

Runaways

Marvel’s attempt to draw in manga readers may have failed, but that didn’t prevent Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona from writing a winner. This story of a group of kids who realize their parents are all part of a criminal ring, has great characters and their relationships to one another resonate. The dynamics of these people who form an unconventional family while making their way in the world as heroes and a safe place for other kids are wonderfully vivid. Also there is a dinosaur. I would want the story to end with the initial arc which Vaughan finished since all the stories there after are quite variable in quality.

The Chronicles of Amber

The Chronicles of Amber is an epic fantasy series by Roger Zelazny. Shifting through dimensions and fantastical monsters can now be done with modern CG but would look fantastic if animated correctly. The plot starts as a simple story of revenge to reclaim a stolen throne and escalates into a multidimensional conflict. But overall there is a good deal of talking between big action scenes which is the narrative style that anime loves the most. Plus all the princes and princes of Amber are amazingly hot, incredibly competent, and scheming against each other. The series consists of two series of 5 book cycles. Most people consider the first pentalogy far superior to the later so you could stop with The Courts of Chaos but you would have room to adapt the Merlin Cycle if there was enough demand.

Yoko Tsuno

This is a well-known Franco-Beligian comic I’ve talked about before. Think of Yoko trained as an engineer but really a jack-of-all-trades fabulous mix between Nancy Drew and Jonny Quest. Her adventures and mysteries take her all over the world as well as into space and SCIENCE often plays a role in the stories. Even though she is on the move, she has a regular cast of characters so construction an overarching storyline could easily fit in.

Isaac Asimov’s Robot Series

A classic of the science fiction genre and far more accessible and personable than Asimov’s Foundation series. The first three books are mystery novels at their core but at the same time are some of the foundations of all robot literature as well. The human Elijah Baley and his robot partner R. Daneel Olivaw have a unique partnership over the course of the series and one of the few times Isaac Asimov makes engaging characters. It has a decent cross cultural to anime fans as Americans love sci-fi anime, the Japanese love mystery anime, and the Robot series is well-respected everywhere. There is also robot sexy time and incest later on so you know it would do OK with otaku.

A Wrinkle in Time

The classic children’s novel involving space and time filled with fantastic worlds, the struggle between good and evil, and saving a universe. It features strong, brainy Meg as the lead as well as her piercingly intelligent little brother Charles who must defeat the disembodied brain with powerful telepathic abilities known as IT. Love, conformity, and truth all playing big roles throughout the story. Science-fiction always finds a good home in anime where the vastness and oddness of the universe can be on full display.

Blake’s 7

While the Robot series is a well-respected classic Blake’s 7 has always been a fervent cult following. Set in a dystopian future which seems to be all the rage now it lends itself to appealing to a western audience. While some of the titles I picked have a slightly dark or cynical feeling this title is downright morose in its worldview.  The original series had an infamously cheap BBC budget so some high quality and imaginative animation could bring the exotic planets and settings of the universe to life. The crew of the Liberator was fairly diverse and had crew members that ranged from the more traditionally heroic Cally, to the grey hero in Blake, to the almost villainous Avon. It is a series that has demanded a remake for some time so a new medium might give it a new life.

Incarceron

This is a British novel about a future, artificially living prison run by Incarceron a brutal AI. The prison is its own world with forests and villages while Incarceron is an all-seeing being which kills the human inmates but also births half-lings from the fiber-optics of its walls. To me, this setting already feels perfect for an anime which could visually bring it to life.

Exalted

Exalted was a table top role-playing game system that was created  around mixing traditional high fantasy with manga to give rise to a hybrid that mixes the two while creating its own mythology and feel. The anime and manga influences on the setting are unmistakable therefore making it easy to adapt. There is an already established set of signature characters that could be used for a story or the animation team could create their own charters if so desired. The Exalted universe is set in a time of chaos with invaders from outside and infernal strife within the world making it a grand setting for epic adventures as well as personal quests. There are leagues of untamed wildness filled with fantastic monsters, ancient and terrible gods, forgotten secrets, stolen destinies, outcast heroes, savage and magical barbarians, majestic cities filled with corrupt nobles, lost technology, and a planet wide empire on the verge of civil war.  You could set a whole TV series in the Ankh-Morpork styled hive of scum and villainy known as Nexus and never leave the city walls.

The Legend of Zelda

Mostly important because there deserves to be an animated version where the most famous line is not “Well, excuuuuse me, Princess!” Though I do agree in order for this series to work the creators must give Link a strong voice, personality, and point of view. I am undecided on whether or not I would want them to take one of the existing games and make it into an anime or whether I want them to create a new story in the continuey, but I’m leaning towards new giving more freedom and less expectation. Plus this also gives them a reason to be creating an anime in the first place. I know most video game adaptions go in the poorly done category, but this list is in a perfect world remember.

Pirates of Dark Water

The Pirates of Dark Water was an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon that had a distinctly anime vibe. It had an ongoing plot with a slightly older feel to its writing. The sort of show that would appeal to the lucrative shonen demographic. Sadly the show was canceled before Ren and his crew could complete their quest. It would be remarkable to see a reboot of the series like they recently did with Thundercats. You could redo the original episodes with a more modern sensibility while finally giving the show the conclusion it deserved. I think the airwaves are big enough for two pirate anime series especially since this would probably be a co-production.

Hisui’s picks:

• Less Than Zero
  Andrew proves himself to be to be a true die hard Macross fan as he defends the often infamous Macross Zero. That is hardly the popular opinion in the Macross fandom. Will we ever see a podcast trying to defend Macross II? Only time will tell. Also on the comedy front.
  
• Hayate Update!
  Kenjirou Hata recently mentioned that his hiatus is not due to illness or exhaustion. I was a bit worried about him so I am glad to see he is doing well. Hata also recently mentioned that Hayate the Combat Butler is about 60% complete. It is always a mixture of happiness and sadness when something you love is over. You are sad to see the title end but you look forward to seeing what they do next.
• Like a Zombie Wizard Who Also Knows Kung-fu They are Back!
  After a long hiatus the Ani-Gamers are back. They have a review of the Lychee Light Club and look at the Floating Ink panel and Anime Next 2011. Glad to see those guys back in the game and producing content.
• I Was Made in England
  Another resurrection comes in the form on a revival of the UK Anime Network podcast. At first they discuss what they have been watching and what is new on the site. Then they discuss the fall of Bandai Entertainment and Beez Entertainment.
• Enter the Rave Master
  The Fast Karate Gentlemen look at the Lensman anime. They of course bring the standard Fast Karate random train of though to the review. But that is always what makes it so wonderful. 
• What People Say They Want, What People Think They Want, and What They Actually Want
  The common cry amount anime fans is that they should make more anime with a mass market appeal. But the question is does anyone really know what that is and would they really want it. Carl tries to warn people that they should be careful what they wish for.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Just How Big IS One Piece?
  This info-graphic puts it in simple terms.
  
• Long-lost Animated Version of The Hobbit
  We all love the animated version of The Hobbit from the 1970′s (and if you don’t, I don’t care about you). But an insane story emerged just recently about the first ever version that was made in 1966 but was never public. It was done in just one month and was pretty much a shady cash grab. If you’ve watched TV cartoons from the 60′s, the style should look immediately familiar to you.
• Kickstarter Campaign Reaches Goal in Just 2 Days for Tezuka’s Barbara
  DMP’s fundraising to re-release Swallowing the Earth worked so well they are trying it again with another Tezuka work, Barbara. In just two days the $6500 goal was reached, that is an incredible turn around! Perhaps this will be the future of niche manga releases in the U.S.
  
• DC Comics Getting a New Logo?
  This logo makes me sad, it is really nothing special or iconic in any way.
  

The one true pairing involving Hinagiku:

The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the next three of the new season:

RSS Feed     -     iTunes Feed

Listen – Episode 1 of Inu x Boku SS from David Production with the opening “Nirvana” by MUCC and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of Thermae Romae from DLE Inc. with the ending ”Thermae Roman” by Chatmonchy.

Listen – Episode 1 of Deka Kurokawa Suzuki from NTV and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have been occasionally playing the little treasure that have come from Comic Market 81 including the two anime fighting games I cared the most about, those being Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code and Ougon Musou Kyoku Cross. Far be it from me to even pretend to be a serious Type-Moon critic but I must complain about Melty Blood. Playing both games back to back makes me realize that Melty Blood SERIOUSLY needs to upgrade their sprites. If you compare the crisp HD sprites of Ougon Musou Kyoku to Melty Blood’s wonderful but outdated character graphics the difference is so noticeable. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy playing the new Melty Blood. Adding the new selectable fighting styles and added characters is very much appreciated. But I would rather the next addition of the game make minimal additions to any game play (which is already quite good) and instead work on the graphics. It would take a great game and modernize it into a spectacular game.

I realize that this is partially a selfish and very complicated request. Upgrading sprites is a major undertaking and fighting games are loathed to change the artwork on sprites that already work unless they have no other choice. The infamous example was the use of the outdated Morrigan spite until Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. I also know that French Bread would probably wish to spend more time and effort on the graphics for the artwork of their own original property game, Under Night In-Birth. It might be a somewhat selfish request but it is one I make anyhow. I know it is a serious investment but it is one that I think would result in an equal amount of returns.

The premise of these reviews is simple: watch the first episode of a series and then immediately sit down to record a review mini-podcast. The reviews are five- to ten-minutes long and entirely off the cuff. As always we only review new shows (so no sequels or continuations) and try to avoid anything that just looks outright awful. These are the next four of the new season:

RSS Feed     -     iTunes Feed

Listen – Episode 1 of Rinne no Lagrange from XEBEC with the opening “TRY UNITE!” by Megumi Nakajima and is streaming on Hulu.

Listen – Episode 1 of Another from P.A. Works with the opening ”Nightmare Contagion” by ALI PROJECT and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

Listen – Episode 1 of The Daily Lives of High School Boys from Sunrise with the ending ”Ohisama” by Amesaki Annainin.

Listen – Episode 1 of Brave 10 from Studio Sakimakura with the opening ”Shōryō Hirai” by Daisuke Ono and Tetsuya Kakihara and is streaming on Crunchyroll.

While this is slightly delayed I have finally got through my second play through of Fate/Extra this time with Archer, a female protagonist, and taking the Rin route. Essentially I changed everything you could change to see how much it actually effected the story and how the game played out. If you are looking for a proper review of the game you just check out my first article about my Saber playthrough. That has more analysis of the game proper. This is just a supplemental look at the viability of a replay and what bits of nuance I got out of using Archer. This review took about a month longer than it should have as I swear the universe did everything up to including making it so my PSP would no longer read UMDs to prevent this review. Le sigh. But here it is.

First of all while it is a nice option to play as a female protagonist in Fate/Extra as far as I can tell it is the one choice that has the smallest effect on the game. I am glad to see that you are going to make the protagonist be so much of an avatar you might as well let both sexes have a chance to be represented. But sadly unlike say Persona 3 Portable changing your gender does not change the way the game plays. You don’t get any different plot choices and most of the dialog goes completely unchanged. It also makes all the servants and a few other characters in the game strongly bisexual as they will develop romantic feelings for you regardless of your gender. I do find that a bit amusing. I am sure that pleases the yuri fans but the yaoi fans can get a little for themselves as well.

I will state this plainly. There is no way you can mistake Archer from Fate/Extra being anyone BUT Archer from Fate/Stay Night. He makes references to fighting in another Holy Grail War in a school setting, he recognizes Shinji and Rin but mentions her knew much different versions of them, makes a an off-handed reference to the traditional Saber we all know and love, and even has the same appearance, powers, and back story as the traditional Archer. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands. I am not sure why some people seem to insist that this Archer is not necessarily the Archer from Fate/Stay Night. While I am not sure the story of how he become a Counter Guardian counts as canon outside if this iteration of the franchise it is clear who he is supposed to be. If nothing else this means that Archer is the servant to play as if you are a fan of the original story. No one else will even come as close to the number of in jokes and references as picking EMIYA as your servant.

Playing as Archer at times feels like a whole new experience and other times feels exactly the same as playing as Saber. The big difference is the dialog. Any time the your servant speaks there is always a very distinct tone in their dialog. If you picked any line as just read it off with no other context you could tell who the line is from. Where as every statement from Saber is grandiose but affectionate all of Archers conversation is filled with sarcasm and ruggedness. Also Saber is without a doubt easy mode. Anything that Saber does with ease takes Archer a good deal more work to do. Archer’s real ace in the hole is Seven Rings of Heaven as it can just ignore one attack. But other than that he is just harder to play.

The same thing thing is true with the alternate servants when you do Rin’s path. While the dialog is different with other opponents the mechanics of what you have to do are exactly the same. How you transverse the levels, gather matrix information, and even get help from your female companion is identical. Lil’ Ronnie and her Lancer are even crazier and far creepier than Monji Gatoh but I miss the True Ancestor. I was a bit more conflicted when fighting Rin in Rani’s path but I enjoyed your little romance/friendship with Rani more. The servants on Rin’s path were far easier as a breezed through those battles despite the fact that Archer was not anywhere as powerful as Saber. But if you pick Archer as your servant you MUST take the Rin path. His reactions to Rin in-person and when you are alone are priceless. The amount he purposefully does NOT say is just as hysterical as what he does say. I am curious what he says in those moments if you take the Rani path but they can’t be as wonderful as his dialog for Rin. Also he has the One-True-Mana-Exchange-Scene™ in this route.

The biggest thing that is added to a second play through is you can fight Shiki Ryougi as a secret boss. As is the tradition with all secret bosses she is far harder than anyone else in the game. After my level 55 Archer died against her the 4th time I just cheesed her by rushing to get out Unlimited Blade Works so I could spam her with Fake Spiral Swords and used a bunch of elixirs so I could do that for 3 rounds. You get a useful little item from beating her= that lets you cancel your opponents next move but it mostly only useful if you are going for a 3rd playthrough. Shiki is a nice Easter egg that explains the presence of Touko in the game but all in all she is mostly just an Easter egg.

So the real question is if it is worth playing the game a second time. My answer is yes and no. There is a good deal of new dialog and story if you play a second time. The game makes sure to reward you for playing  with new elements and things to discover. Even the servants who were the same react differently to the companion you choose to fight at your side. But other than that the game itself plays exactly the same. Everything is mechanically unchanged. Also the grinding is far more annoying the second time around. I enjoyed the fact that you kept the learned patterns from the last game but it did not make the time killing the same monsters again and again any more interesting. They really should have just let you keep your levels from them last playthrough so you could focus on the story. I could tolerate as the hardcore Type-Moon fan but I see most people getting sort of frustrated. But you have to grind like that if you want to take out  Shiki at the end. I would say the second play though is worth it but I would play something else in between play playthroughs as it might help take the edge off doing the same thing twice in a row and let you just enough the changes with a little distance. I will do a hopefully shorter little follow-up article about Caster. I am sure I will have a lot less to say but I feel I should mention how she plays and what I think of her character.