Ballads of the Earth and the Moon: After War Gundam X, Newtype Dolphin . . . ’nuff said.
October 21, 2009
All the various Gundam shows come together to make a strange animal. They are all part of the same franchise but are radically different from each other. One of the odd things I have noticed is the two types of Gundam fans in the U.S. There are Universal Century purists that are usually older Gundam fans. They either hate Alternate Universe Gundam series or are extremely harsh judges of them. New Gundam fans tend to judge all the Gundam series on their own merits and flaws which I prefer. I remember hearing nothing but bad things about After War Gundam X back in the day. It was supposedly a horrific show that was the lowest point in the Gundam series. After I watched Turn A Gundam which also had a bad reputation but found it to be my favorite Gundam series I decide that maybe I would give Gundam X a chance. This was reinforced by various friends on Twitter assuring me that it was worth a shot I plunged into the unknown.
Gundam X begins after the apocalyptic end of a war between the Earth and the colonies. During the climax of the war the colonies dropped themselves on the earth killing 99% of the population. Fifteen years later the environment is somewhat stable again and people are just starting to making decent headway in the rebuilding of Earth. Garrod Ran is hired to save a kidnapped young girl named Tiffa Adill with mysterious powers who was taken by mercenaries. But the people asking Garrod to rescue her might not have her best interests at heart. While rescuing Tiffa Garrod also finds an amazing pre-war mobile suit called the Gundam X. This suit is just as mysterious and powerful as Tiffa.
Garrod Ran is a likable chap. I like describing him as if you took all five Gundam Wing pilots and made them one guy with Duo being the main and strongest template. He is a loner but usually easy going, energetic, and resourceful. He goes through periods where he is depressed and angry but he’s fifteen. It would be highly unrealistic for him to be any other way. Garrod has an aptitude for piloting but does not start out as an ace and it is implied that he has done some piloting before the show begins. Tifa Adill is sort of a stock mysterious girl with powers but she is a well done version of that archetype. It turns out she is a Newtype but unlike in the original Gundam series she never uses her power for combat. She is a quiet and odd girl who cuts herself off from everyone else. Although it is never stated, you know that Tifa has been unable to live a normal life ever since she discovered her powers. Still she is a good and kind person who wants to help others but is not always sure how to interact with people in order to do so.
Eventually Garrod and Tifa wind up on a ship called the Freeden. The captain, Jamil Neate, was a war hero who now goes around saving Newtypes while earning a living as a mercenary and scavenger. He is a quiet father figure for the crew who is trying to atone for several major sins committed during the war. The rest of the crew is a tightly knit group that slowly integrate Garrod and Tifa into their family. They are a varied bunch from the ditzy blond helmswomen to the the 12 year genius mechanic. In the first episode we are introduced to Witz Sou and Roybea Loy who start out as independent mercenaries but they quickly become full members of the crew. They usually fight along side Garrod in lesser Gundams while providing him the advice of a pair of older brothers. I would be remiss in not mentioning Paula Cis, the spunky tomboy that saves Garrod at one point and later allies herself with the crew of the Freeden. She was obviously supposed to get a deeper back story and more screen time but Paula is a victim of the show getting the number of episodes cut. Which is upsetting because Paula Cis reminded me of a mixture of Sayla Mass and Allenby Beardsley. In other words, pure awesome.
Nagi Sanzenin: In Praise of the Ota-Queen
October 14, 2009
My favorite character in Hayate the Combat Butler is without a doubt, Nagi Sanzenin. Not that I don’t love Maria with all my heart. Maria is exactly my type of character: strong, smart, independent, and willing to speak her mind while still being supportive and kind. But for a wide variety of reasons I actually like Nagi more. I am more romantically attracted to Maria but Nagi speaks to me as both a changing character and someone to root for. But despite being an excellent and thoroughly enjoyable character there is a good deal of hate out there for Nagi and I just can’t understand why.
Nagi Sanzenin is a 13-year-old orphaned heiress to a multi-billion dollar estate. This has made her the target of frequent kidnapping plots and assassination attempts. Because she is so often the target of ne’er-do-wells she has grownup strangely and has become reclusive to the point of being a hikikomori also making her a major cynic. She has also grown into quite the otaku. In fact, she has several rooms in her mansion filled with nothing but doujinshi and several others devoted to every video game system. She is scholar and aficionado of anime and manga of all stripes and she even draws/writes her own bizarre “ultra high level” manga called End of the Century Legend: Magical Destroy. Nagi can be stubborn, spoiled, lazy, and quite naive about how the actual world works outside her own bubble. However, she is also strikingly sharp, fiercely loyal, and adamantly determined.
I will admit that one of the main reasons I like Nagi is I feel a very strong kinship to her. I see many of my strengths in Nagi as well as many of my weaknesses. We are both hardcore otaku. We are both types who want to be friendly outgoing people but find our inherent mistrust of others always keeping us back. We can both be very sullen and withdrawn; sarcastic and cynical; and selfish and self-absorbed. And we both can be very lazy when it comes to things we are not a fans of, skipping chores and drudgery but throwing ourselves completely into the things we loves. Is that not the hallmark of the otaku? On the positive side we are both quite intelligent people. Both of us go above and beyond for the people we love. I see much of myself in Nagi and it makes me sympathize with her.
Ballads of the Earth and the Moon: Turn A Gundam, UNIVERSE!
September 28, 2009
I will go on the record, so far I consider Turn A Gundam my favorite Gundam series which is no small accomplishment. Much like Gundam X, I had really only ever heard people bad-mouthing Turn A Gundam the few times they would talk about it. Then I saw someone jump to its defense claiming it was only a bad Gundam series if you hated character development. My original plan was to watch all of UC Gundam and then watch Turn A, but Turn A kept tugging at me. Since I knew one or two oddities of the plot I thought I would be better severed by watching all of UC first but I quickly found that was unimportant. It lets you catch one or two little things but Turn A is completely stand alone from any other Gundam.
Loran Cehack is a man from the moon sent on early reconnaissance to see if the Earth is fit for recolonization. The problem is they have to displace the people who stayed on the Earth since the Moonraces’ exodus long ago. The Moonrace is equipped high technology that includes space travel and mobile suits while Earth still has the far inferior science of the early 1900′s. Once on Earth, Loran quickly falls in love with the Earth and is conflicted when the Moonrace starts a forceful colonization of the planet. When the fighting breaks out, Loran uncovers the Turn A Gundam which he uses to turn the tide for the otherwise outclassed Earth forces. Soon the people of Earth discover other deposits of mobile suits and begin to fight back turning what should have been a quick battle into a prolonged war.
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens: Sakura Matsuri 2009
May 13, 2009
The rain, cherry blossoms, and tears can all fall with infectious joy or breathtaking sadness. The Sakura Matsuri was held at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens on Saturday and Sunday. Every year around this time they have a collection of Japanese performances and lectures on a wide range of Japanese arts in the background of the falling cherry blossoms. You get a wide variety including: dance, music, poetry, and artistic botany. The crowd is also very diverse. I saw families, couples, friends, young people, old people, otaku, and hipsters. There were many people in cosplay but they hardly overwhelmed the normal patrons nor were they ever disruptive on the day that I went. I am curious if it was any better or worse on Saturday.
Most everyone I know went on Saturday and I went Sunday. This meant that Sunday was a solitary journey which lends a different feel to the proceedings. For some reason the whole day brought to my mind the 71st episode of Urusei Yatsura, Shinobu’s Cinderella Story because of the constant rain. I half expected to get drawn into an adventure of romance and danger. But that just goes to show what an odd person I am in the end. Plus I always like to picture myself as Shinobu. Maybe because we have similar personalities. Maybe I just want the ability to hurl tanks when upset. Still all the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom and you often saw blossoms littering the air and walkways. Although a popular activity was people shaking the trees to get the rain of petals effect. It was definitely a good weekend to capture the proper ambiance of Sakura Matsuri.
