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:

Hisui’s picks:

• Type Moon News Roundup
  • Comic Market 81 Roundup: All the loveliness you can buy at the Type-Moon table at Comic Market 81.
  • And the secret movie with the limited edition 3rd Season of Carnival Phantasm is Fate/Prototype. There is also the latest version of Melty Blood in there as well.
  • And if you are chilly you can get a Fate/Zero Assassin Hoodie.
  • Mahou Tsukai no Yoru gets some delicious screenshots as well.
• The Toys of Comic Market
  • Wonderful Nendoroids: Sakura Shinguji from Sakura Taisen and the Princess of the Crystal from Penguindrum are getting little plastic versions of themselves soon. The article implied there might be more Sakura Taisen figures on the way. I hope we can get a Gemini Sunrise Nendoroid as well.
  • Figmas as well: Irisviel von Einzbern from Fate/Zero and Princess of the Crystal get some bigger figures as well.
• Speaking of Comic Market
  Crunchyroll News has an interesting article with scans from a Comic Market catalog from 1986. At the same time that was going on I suppose the Ushiromiya family was having a bit of a hard time at the annual family conference.
• Enter the Chaos of the King of the Cave
  Chaos Theater looks at the Gonzo classic (yes that Studio Gonzo) Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. They also look at the sacred cows of adapting materials from one medium to another. And so it is not a total sausage fest they also have Kristina Pino from Tomopop. Oh and for Patz I will also mention their review of the Uncharted series.
• Out With the Old and in With the New
  The mecha men of Gundam celebrate the old year and look forward to the new year when it comes to animated robots from Japan.
• Welcome to Rock and Roll Night! Welcome to Rock and Fight!
  Why has no one licensed Penguindrum? Until that fateful day you can get the Triple H CD. Also for all the fans of classic rock I have the original Rock Over Japan By ARB.

Narutaki’s picks:

• Read an Excerpt from The Winds of Winter (Next Book in A Song of Ice and Fire)
  I think it goes without saying that this chapter is certainly a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t finished A Dance With Dragons. That being the case, I’m not going to say anything beyond I’m excited for the next book. Another excerpt is supposed to be released with the paperback version of A Dance With Dragons.  This also makes me feel good about the schedule of the book.
• New Project from Time of Eve Creator
  As a big fan of Time of Eve this was a great Christmas present. The new work, that doesn’t have many details yet, will be called Sakasama no Patema and see release sometime in 2012. We do know it is a boy-meets-girl story but creator Yoshiura also describes it as very strange. The promo art looks very nice!
• Codename: Kids Next Door One Piece Tribute
  A fun, little unexpected surprise comes with the new digital U.S. version of Weekly Shonen Jump.
• Tintin Technology and the Future of Cinema
  This is a really fascniating article, mainly for learning about how this movie was filmed. Beyond motion capture they created a “virtual studio” which allowed Spielberg to pick and choose props/etc. while also decided on filming angles without the usual restrictions of animation.
• NIS Licenses All Four Seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou
  I’m really starting to love this company.

The red string of fate connects us all:

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

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

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

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

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

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

If there are two current Shonen Jump properties that would easily integrate into one another, they are One Piece and Toriko. What with Luffy and crew’s constant island hoping, and penchant for eating large quantities of food, meeting Toriko is right in line with things. So just when the Strawhats find their cupboards bare they spot an island. Luffy, Chopper, Nami, and Sanji head out to find food and run into giant pigs that while still alive already have that yummy barbecued smell and flavor. This is also where they meet Toriko who mistakes Chopper for another piece of rare cuisine. Let the fighting and eating commence! This was actually my introduction to Toriko and it was a lot of rambunctious fun! And that’s all it is, though I don’t know if there is any over arching plot beyond discovering these foods to worry about later on, it just doesn’t need it.

Before we kicked off watching Toriko for the season preview we decided to watch the one hour One Piece/Toriko cross over special. The purpose of the cross over is simple. Toriko is new and they want to build an audience for the show and One Piece is insanely popular so it will draw viewers by default. Despite that cynical reasoning the two shows cross over easily in a very organic fashion. It begins with the One Piece pirates and the Toriko gang landing on the same fantastical island of food. Since both groups are gluttonous little gourmands the fact that they would team up to get delicious but dangerous dishes the logical conclusion of their meeting more than a forced plot device. They have to do the prerequisite fight that is quickly broken up to turn into a team up rather quickly. After the initial misunderstanding is cleared up Toriko and Luffy band together to take down some tasty monsters and rescue their weaker party members when they are kidnapped. I did notice that the Strawhats got a bit of the short end of the stick. Half the pirate crew was on the boat most of the special and Luffy seems to be underpowered in order to let Toriko shine. But this was really made to hook people on what a manly man Toriko therefore if Luffy is destroying everything he meets than people will forget Toriko before they even get a chance to know him. But that does not diminish this fun little side quest. It is recommended for fans of either series or anyone who likes humorous shonen fighting shows.

Finally picked up Solanin manga-ka Inio Asano’s What a Wonderful World vol. 1 which is a series of mildly connected short manga stories. Each one has the theme of living, what it is to really live, at its core. That sounds rather sobering but the series has a buoyancy to it perhaps because it recognizes that in real life not every moment is dramatic. There is also bits of musicians in here too making me aware of Asano’s favor of them.

I decided to check out Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes for the DS. Might and Magic has been one of the stalwart franchises in the fantasy role-playing game pantheon so I was curious to see what the modern entry into the series was like. Clash of Heroes is a mixture of your bare-bones  strategy RPG and a puzzle game. The plot revolves five children who are at a meeting attended by their parents that is scattered when demon attack. The story revolves around recovering a MacGuffin called the Blade of Binding that can send the demons back to their own world. Every chapter has you playing as one the 5 children as they try to find the Blade while foiling any plans the demons and their allies have. The battle system is unusual in the fact that you control small armies that randomly line up on the bottom of your screen in 6 by 8 grids. You get units to attack by connecting them together in rows on three in a bejeweled manner. You then try to get your troops to smash through his troops. You can also buy bigger units that will be randomly added to your normal troops. They take more to activate but they do more damage and have special abilities. This means that there is a small amount of strategy involved in which units you take into battle and which units you activate on the field. Each of the heroes also has their own set of units and special powers that lets them play slightly differently. It is a fun little game. Nothing amazing as the plot is pretty standard and the game play is simple. On the other hand an excellent portable game because you can finish anything but boss battles in a few minutes. As I understand they recently improved the graphics and released it as a downloadable game on the Xbox 360  and PS3 as well.

Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi: Onodera Ritsu no Baai is an OVA that came out just a little while before the TV series began. In this we actually get the back story hinted at in the TV version; the beginning of Ritsu’s and Masamune’s relationship in high school. There is a refreshing quality here as both of these guys fall rather easily into their coupling neither needing to be “shown that he is gay” which is a frequent starter. As might be imagined this OVA is more sweet rather than the humorously warm feeling of the TV series. Nevertheless a very satisfying piece to the story.

I stopped by the Borders near where I work to see what manga deals they had and I picked up Maria Holic 4 and 5. Maria Holic continues to be a guilty pleasure of mine no matter how trashy it gets at points. Kanako is still the punching bag of the plot but when the humor is on it can be extremely funny. The part where everyone is playing the Japanese history CCG is hysterical and they have a good number of cards with scarily realistic abilities as if it were a real CCG. I also love the joke where Kanako mentions that no matter what the card they play things turn out like they did in history which is an extremely clever little joke. The 4th book has a bit of reflection on Mariya and touches a bit on the serious side of the story as well. Now that Tokyopop is gone I have a feeling that this will not be license recused any time soon which is a real shame because I know it has it detectors but it also has its fans of which I am one.

As can be imagined Toriko fan-art is spilling out like crazy!

I really enjoy doing this post. Yeah, everyone does one, but that is because they are fun! For good or ill I know what kind of year I’ve had when I do this post.

Best Anime of 2010 or the Junmai Daiginjo-shu of Anime

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn by Sunrise I know it seems impossible but Gundam Unicorn might actually be the one modern series that a majority of Gundam fans can get behind without their normal bickering. It incorporates the newest and flashiest technology while keeping true to the strength and spirit of the original Universal Century series. If you did not know better you would assume that Yoshiyuki Tomino played a part in the creation of this series for who seamlessly it works itself into the universe. The characters for the series harken back to the former archetypes set by its predecessors while not seeming like clones. Obviously a good deal of money and love was poured into this series because it consistently looks amazing. I look forward to learning the secrets of the Laplace Box and the RX-0.

Runner up: House of Five Leaves by Manglobe An absorbing and atmospheric character based historical drama. Based on seinen manga it is an adult work for both sexes that continues the tradition of great noitaminA anime.

Giant Killing by Studio DEEN When thinking this over, I had to ask myself what was I most anxious to watch each week? What did I want another season of (and thought it could sustain it)? I arrived at my answer pretty quickly. It was Giant Killing’s approach to characters that impressed me throughout the season. Never did the show bang you over the head with who these people were, instead we were shown through small actions, bits of conversations, and of course their approach to soccer. And best of all we got to see everyone involved when it comes to sports from the players to the fans, from the press to the managing staff. Everyone had a role but our main character was not a star or up and coming player, but rather the coach. Tatsumi makes this show and gives a new perspective for a sports anime. Perhaps Giant Killing isn’t the most thought-provoking showing of the year, but it did things just a little bit differently and it never faltered.

Runner up: Kuragehime by Brain’s Base (second mostly because I haven’t seen how it ends yet) This is a very absorbing comedy about a house full of girl geeks whose lives get turned upside down when cross-dressing Kurnosuke takes an interest in them. This is the most genuine depiction of geeky girls I’ve seen to date without being pandering. And it is also turning into a tender romance as well.

Anime Man of the Year or Manlier than Isaiah Mustafa

Toma Kamijo from Toaru Majutsu no Index Yeah. I picked Toma Kamijo. I know everyone just considers A Certain Magical Index the world’s most inefficient Railgun delivery system but I actually like the stories involving Toma and Index as well. Toma has the very unusual power of a totally defensive ability of power negation. From what I have seen characters with  defensive abilities are almost always less popular than characters with offensive powers. I think it makes him stand out from the normal shonen protagonist while keeping the fights more interesting and creative in the process. I also find the fact that he is an amnesic interesting in the fact that we knew the character before he gained amnesia so his memory loss is not a back story delaying device. Also they bring up his amnesia just enough that it is a problem for him but never letting it define him. Finally he delivers a running uppercut and flying right hook to a petite nun voiced by Rie Kugimiya. That alone should have earned him an eternal fan following.

Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara!! This was a pretty easy choice. Durarara!! had its up’s and down’s, but Shizuo was consistently the highlight of the show. A bartender in Ikebukuro, complete with garb, but also the strongest fighter and one of the most feared in the city as well. When he first appears he is hurling a vending machine, and this wouldn’t be the first or last time for that, then we quickly learn he knows a bit about the nefarious Izaya and is a good friend of the headless, motorcycle riding Celty. Yeah, Ikebukuro has a lot of crazy supernatural goings on and Shizuo super-strength just might be related as well. But Shizuo doesn’t want to be violent, it has led him to heartbreak, his control is always on the verge of breaking but we get to see him finally embrace who he is and even see a bit of his journey of redemption.

Anime Woman of the Year or A Good Woman is Hard to Find

Erika Kurumi from Heartcatch PreCure! Narutaki and I certainly had a hard time picking a woman of the year for 2010. I myself had to go to a show for little girls to find someone but within that show there were a great selection of characters to choose from. I picked Erika most because she deviates a bit from my standard choices (I would normally pick Itsuki). She is certainly the most standard girly girl of the 4 Cures with dreams of becoming a world-famous designer. She is energetic, optimistic, and filled with seemingly limitless self-confidence. She is genuinely friendly and loves meeting, helping, and encouraging others. But she is not just a prefect Mary Sue. While she is totally gung-ho about things she is passionate about she tends to be a slacker in all other fields putting off anything she does not care about. While she is super personable she also tends to forget about personal boundaries and tact. She can also be petty and jealous especially when it comes to her sister who has done more than her. But like the rest of the Cures one of the main themes of the show is each of them overcoming their flaws as they grow as people as well as magical girls. She is an utterly charming character who is a great role model for any of the girls watching the show.

Nino from Arakawa Under the Bridge Nino’s weird-status, though perhaps not so weird as her neighbors, puts her on top for me. Yes, she is a woman who believes she is an alien from Venus and has decided to live in an odd commune under a bridge, but that just shows her independence! Her straight-forward and simple approach to the world makes hee way she sees things actually quite perceptive; she clears away the clutter and is even poignant at times. This is shown mostly through he relationship with Kou a guy who at first is completely bogged down by the expectations of society. One of my favorite lines to him was, “We want to know who you are not what you have.” Brilliant.

Best Long Running Manga Arc or Why You Keep Reading 20 Books into the Series

The Marineford Arc – One Piece by Eiichiro Oda (Ch. 549-580) The Marineford Arc is the conclusion of the series if arc with a solo Luffy trying to save his brother from being executed. The final leg of the rescue ends with an all at war between the marines and the Whitebeard pirates and their allies. It is a nonstop series of fights between old favorites like Sir Crocodile and Smoker, some characters who had only been hinted at like Jimbei and Admiral Akainu, or new characters like Vista and Vice-Admiral Dalmatian. It ends with some unexpected deaths and a dramatic and series altering conclusion. An unforgettable arc in an unforgettable series.

The God Killer Arc – Kekkaishi by Yellow Tanabe (Ch. 170-current; English release) The current goings on of Kekkaishi are pretty heavy and involve a lot of players, both old and new, creating a wide scope. When a powerful spirit landed in Karasumori, Yoshi and Tokine were on it, but things quickly spiraled out of control and Tokine ends up destroying the God because she didn’t have a choice. However, this incident set in motion a major investigation and we soon learned that Gods were being taken out all across the land, now making Tokine the prime suspect. Everyone is affected by this and even Yoshimori’s mother may know something. It’s a family affair and much, much more as this engrossing mystery continues to build. 

Worst Thing I Watched or Just Because Twitter Likes it Doesn’t Make it Good

Angel Beats! by P.A. Works I am not one to stick to the theory that a leopard cannot change his spots. I wish to believe that it is hard for  people to change but they can surprise you if you let them. That said I also do not ignore everything I have seen in the past being irrelevant as well. So when everyone insisted that despite its origin from Jun Maeda that Angel Beats! was totally different from any of their past works and that by not watching it I was doing myself a disservice I was skeptical. But Angel Beats! show itself to be a Key show as its very heart that just had a clever new coat of paint on it. It still had the same emotionally manipulative maudlin story as its core and any action or social commentary was just window dressing to the standard Jun Maeda story I despise. Also throwing on an all girl band to cash in on the popularity K-ON! did not win it any points in my mind as well. Yes I am a monster for not liking this show and I do not care.

Yosuga no Sora by feel. It seems there is always one show a year that I watch for some unknown reason and then want to claw my eyes out afterward. Yosuga no Sora is based on an incest, harem game. Yeah, this show was not something that was in any way, shape, or form going to appeal to me. Still besides the fact that there is a lot of sexual situations and nudity, this show is utterly boring with lifeless characters. It is also the show that has reminded me they really need to get a handle on TV shows, this should have been direct to video porn.

Most Desirable Piece of Merchandise or The Best Readers Would Buy This For Us

Crocodile EX Model Portrait of Pirates Figure Sir Crocodile has been one of the best villains in One Piece so who would not want to own a figure of him? I have always found his mixture of classical pirate and mafia don and very unique stylization. Plus that big gold hook is very catchy. If anything I would love to get all the Portrait of Pirates figures I don’t have but for now that is just a dream.

King Kazuma Figma Seeing Summer Wars on the big screen was one of the highlights of the year. The moment I saw King Kazuma on screen, I knew I must have a figure of him! Luckily this year they decided to oblige.

Best Convention Guest or Best Person No One at the Convention Went to See

Yuji Mitsuya All you have to do is look back at my Otakon 2010 report to see why he was an amazing guest. Although he was mostly ignored by the attendees because he was an older voice actor it turned out he was a spectacular speaker. The amount of insight he had into the anime industry was amazing. He was willing to talk at length about anything and everything he was asked in a friendly and candid manner. If he ever comes to another anime convention you owe it to yourself to attend any panels he is at.

Kenji Kamiyama The reason why I always attend AnimeNEXT is because when they get a guest, it is usually a very good one. And since the con is medium-sized, there is much more access to them! For 2010 they had the incredible Kenji Kamiyama who directed Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex among other things. Best of all he was very talkative to both the fans in his panels and to the press during the round robin interview with him. 

Thing I Wish People Would Stop Talking About or We Should Just Rename it the K-ON! Award

K-ON! by Kyoto Animation Just when you thought that all the talk about K-ON!! would let K-ON! fade a bit from memory Bandai USA decided to throw money right out the window and pick up the first season. Now people are arguing about the dub, the songs, the packaging, and the release schedule. They are also people saying that they will only buy a Blu-ray release. But quite frankly I could care less. It is a niche show that a majority of the fans are going to find some petty insignificant reasons not to buy. So I would rather they just stop talking about K-ON! and the fans can silently push Bandai one step closer to death as opposed to doing it in the noisy fashion they are doing now.

K-ON!! by Kyoto Animation Hot on the heels of the hit first season, this year we got more of this show. As far as I could tell K-ON!! was the most moving anime ever created in the history of the medium, it changed people’s lives forever. Please, spare me. It was inescapable, and just when I thought I would be free, because this audience moves on to the next thing so fast it makes my head spin, they announced a movie. So this show will probably land in this same category next year!

Series I Unexpectedly Liked or Gravy and Biscuits with Grape Jelly

Zettai Karen Children by Takashi Shiina As much as a might be loath to admit it I actually have really enjoyed Zettai Karen Children. It has a distinctly loli vibe in the first part and anyone who drops the series or even hate it is fully justified in their feelings. But if you can tolerate such distasteful elements then there is actually a solid story and some great humor involving some very enjoyable characters. The action scene can be quite well done and some of the psychic powers are inventive. I would never pretend that the series is deep but it is enjoyable and has a brisk pace. It also helps that the time skip has removed some but not all of the creepy factor in the manga but you have to read quite a bit to get up to it.

SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors by Sunrise All of the spin-off SD Gundam series have a pretty terrible reputation, but if they are anything like this Three Kingdoms version I would welcome them! It is totally ridiculous and played pretty straight. Very funny and very entertaining. I especially enjoy seeing Zakus as civilians.

Best Short Manga or Short Manga Have Plenty of Reasons to Smile

Tenken by Yumiko Shirai Tenken is a smart and mature story that uses the classic Japanese legend of Yamata no Orochi to tell its own story with its own message. It is a tale of urban fantasy for adults which in an unexplored segment of the US manga market. The characters are somewhat simple but compelling and there is a strong love story at the center of everything. It tells a complete story in one book making the ideal manga to pick up if you want a change of pace in your normal reading habits but don’t want to take a big risk with your pocketbook.

Magic Knight Rayearth by CLAMP (Dark Horse English Re-Release) This was one of the first manga I read back when TokyoPop was Mixx, it was a special time indeed. But having a new translations and new release for this beautiful fantasy series is most welcome.

Worst Character of the Year or Please Die in a Fire

Fumiaki Uchida from Occult Academy If anyone person sabotaged Occult Academy from living up to its potential in the episode it is undoubtedly “Uchida Bunmei.” Maya Kumashiro was cool main character that really hooked you into the series. But then you after the second episode you quickly realize that Bunmei and Maya share the position of main character with Bunmei getting several episodes almost entirely devoted to his escapades. His whiny and self-absorbed nature does little to endear you to his cowardly and banal antics. His courtship with Mikaze Nakagawa is creepy and awkward and leads to an ultra icky porn kiss. Also his selfish actions in the last episode do little to make up for his heroics.

Shinra Kishitani from Durarara!! Since this is a character that I had such a bad feeling about that I had to write an article about it, I figure he belongs here. I felt suspicious of him from the beginning but as things are revealed about Celty’s past, I began to loath him. The way he interacts with Celty disturbs me and I don’t feel he has her best interests at heart. Get away from this creepy, controlling jerk Celty! FREE CELTY!!

Funniest Series the Sakuya Aizawa Award

Shinryaku! Ika Musume by TV Tokyo This is Keroro Gunso with a cute girl instead of a frog and that is not a horrible thing. The show follows a simple fish out of water ineffective invader formula that works well. Every plot line is either Ika Musume learning about the surface world or enacting some silly scheme. The show is cute and sweet for the most part although Sanae Nagatsuki can be a bit questionable. The anime had an earnest heart and a pleasant if somewhat laid back approach to humor. It is a simple show that bring a smile to my face and makes me chuckle.

Arakawa Under the Bridge by SHAFT From the mind of Hikaru Nakamura the manga-ka of Saint Young Men, I could expect nothing less than oddity. A commune of weirdos who live under a bridge creates mountains of hilarious situations and the word absurd can’t be used enough when watching this show.

Favorite Mecha Anime or The Terminus typeR909 Prize

Broken Blade by Production I.G A surprisingly overlooked mecha series especially considering how much mecha fandom is hungry for new titles. An unexpected bend real robot and fantasy with good characters and signs of some real political meat to the story. Rygart Arrow is a strong protagonists who is both conflicted yet cable of making decisions and progresses when the story dictates he does so. A real treat for any mecha fan who needs a combination of story and action with a bit of love triangle for all the Macross fans.

Star Driver by Bones I had to pick this show for two reasons. One, I have no idea where it is headed, it is intriguing. Since we’re only about half way through I could end up regretting this call but we shall see. And two, I love the unique mecha designs especially that of Takuto’s which resembles a fencer. 

Kinokuniya in New York usually has one event for anime and manga fans every month. I have stopped in from time to time but December 12th was Anime and Manga day and it was a little bigger than their normal events. I got an invitation from Vertical and Mari Morimoto to attend the event because they were having a launch event for Osamu Tezuka’s Ayako with a dinner afterward. That alone sold me on a trip to Manhattan but there were few other panels that drew my interest as well. I will skip the embarrassing story that is a prelude to this event but anyone who follows my twitter might have noticed my blunder.

The day started off fairly strongly with an Intro to One Piece panel from the guys at the Unofficial One Piece Podcast. It was basically an hour-long pitch for why you need to see One Piece and it went fairly well. I did not learn anything new but that was not the point. The idea was to hook new fans into watching a series that might be a bit too daunting to start randomly. In that regard I think they did a good job selling the series as mixture of humor and whimsy with powerful and well planned storytelling.

Next up was probably the most blogged about event of the day. It was the first panel where Kodansha USA actually gave out information on what they were doing. Dallas Middaugh, formerly of  Del Rey Manga, started his talk with a bit of introduction to Kodansha USA and what they were about. He mentioned what titles they got from Del Rey manga and what new titles they either license rescued or picked up for their debut. Bloody Monday and the Phoenix Wright manga were the two manga that piqued my interest. He also announced what they were continuing to publish from the mostly defunct Del Rey Manga. Obviously the titles that were saved were mostly things like Negima that sold well unlike say a prestige pieces like Nodame. Other titles apparently were still in negotiations but I would not hold my breath for more Moyashimon. Also I said mostly defunct Del Rey manga because they are still publishing Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic which did not make the move along with everything else.

During the panel Dallas also took questions. The continued manga will try to remain as close to resembling the old Dey Rey covers as possible with the exception of changing the company logos. They are trying to avoid clashes with the books already in print. The new manga they publish will have a distinctively Kodansha USA style but that design has not been finalized. I also asked if they are looking into online content but I was told that the company could not say anything about Internet initiatives at the time. I got the impression that while they were finally able to discuss some concrete plans about the company and give releases dates they were still a bit unsettled.

The last panel I attended was Mari Morimoto’s panel of translating Ayako, translating Tezuka, and translation in general. Apparently Ayako was a nightmare to translate between all the historical events, unusual accents, and obscure regional references that would not normally come up in your average manga. Also some of the characters are actual people, some are slightly modified takes on actual people, some were made up for the story, and it is not always clear which is which. Amusingly enough the American military characters were the hardest to verify. The outrageous amount of work Mari put into translating just one lullaby in Ayako clearly shows her dedication to the craft.

After the panel there was a delightful dinner at the Heavenly Bamboo Restaurant. I had a long conversation with Scott VonSchilling, James Leung,  Melissa Tanaka, her charming friend Mia Lewis, and several other interesting people. We talked about anime and manga scholarship, Leiji Matsumoto, incest, the digital revolution, and a good deal more. At the end I talked a bit to the always amazing Ed Chavez. We of course briefly discussed Type-Moon which is the way of my people. We also discussed the bizarre power of the Touhou Project and Japanese fandom in general. Proof once again you cannot have a conversation with Ed Chavez and not come away a better person.

Overall I had a wonderful time. The dumplings were quite delicious and the conversation was even more stimulating. If nothing else I wish I could go to more of these meet ups considering I live in New York City. They are always extremely rewarding.

A special repost for the Manga Moveable Feast on One Piece. Finally, it is getting the love it deserves!

Drink #003: Coconut Monkey, Can you feel the One Piece love?

I will mercifully refrain from singing modified lyrics to one of Elton John’s contributions to the Lion King soundtrack and merely ask in written form why is there not as much love for One Piece in the U.S. (and most of the English-speaking fandom) as there is in Japan. How does the number one shonen franchise in Japan become a third tier property here? We will be looking at One Piece’s popularity in Japan, why it is so good, and what we think is holding it back. Let go on a voyage to find the answers to . . . One Piece!

(Listen) (Show Notes)

One Piece is undeniably a kids manga with the standard Shonen Jump editorial themes of  friendship, effort, and victory. Every arc has the righteous Straw Hat pirates defeating clearly wicked villains through a combination of never say die spirit and teamwork. But to simply view it as a flat children’s story would be doing the manga a disservice as well. There are some deeper undercurrents of gray morality and the examination of righteousness. I’m not going to argue that One Piece is a deep philosophically gray masterwork that is a seinen manga masquerading as a shonen manga but I will argue there are deeper themes than one might at first realize.

In a world of pirates and a corrupt world government, knowing what is right can be a bit tricky. So when Luffy emerges as a character who is wanted the world over and is fighting everyone from other pirates to marines, we know there is more to the story than merely following the law. Many a tale has taken on the moral ambiguity of law and lawlessness and history has taught us much about price of revolution; fighting an oppressive regime is a testament to the human condition, that is why we like to see it and believe in it. The piece of wisdom that One Piece excels at teaching us is to decide for ourselves what is right, to feel it deep down. The moral code is personal. Perhaps it can be seen as a bit anarchistic, after all the law is in the hands of the individual and not a system, however most of us know that the judgment has to be interpreted not merely handed down. When you think about, these are some pretty heavy concepts woven in this oft wacky adventure.

On the back of the uniforms of all the commissioned officers in the Marines are two kanji, 正義. They are the kanji for Seigi or justice.  There can be no clearer message that the marines are an organization that enforces the laws of the World Government while handing out their brand of justice to anyone who would break that law. Any time marines play a major part in a storyline the topic of justice is invoked and often key marines will give their own personal philosophy of what justice is. On the flip side we have the pirates who by their very existence are law breakers. Most of the pirate bands we see are selfish anarchists who exists by living either a purely hedonistic lifestyle or by the precepts of social Darwinism. There very existence is in opposition to justice and righteousness. But the mere fact that the heroes of One Piece are pirates merits closer examination of the situation.

The Going Merry crew, and the friends they make a long the way, show a spectrum of personal morals that enhance the diversity of viewing right and wrong. When Luffy rescues Zorro early on you learn something vital about both of them, they believe in their instincts. Beyond the fact that this personally resonates with me, it showed me where their moral code is coming from. Luffy isn’t an every man for himself kind of guy, and this is probably his most endearing characteristic. It is the most vital point of his character and what makes him a leader. Each member of the crew has their own story, their own motivations, but they are willing to bend to the man they call captain. Sage wisdom says sometimes what is just depends on whose side you’re on. This is no less true in One Piece where who your captain is can be a great determining factor. But with an organization like the World Government, there is manipulation there that isn’t merely a different side to the the argument, they are well and truly corrupted and know it.

On closer examination we see that the World Government is corrupt. They are protecting some secret in the Void Century that is so damning that they have silence a whole island of peaceful scholars to keep it locked away. They routinely sacrifice people to cover up their mistakes and protect the status quo. The Celestial Dragons that support them are horrible human beings that exemplify everything that is decadent and corrupt about nobility. The marines that enforce the laws of the sickly government are often just as tainted.  The top brass of the marines is often seen colluding with the government to cover up their indiscretions and  often killing or oppressing innocent civilians and sacrificing their own soldiers to further their machinations.  Rob Lucci and CP9 act as a black ops organization that says it follows a code of dark justice in which any sin is  permissible as long as it authorized by the government. Conversely we see a good deal of honest people in the pirates. Beyond the Straw Hat crew we see  Whitebeard Pirates and Red-Haired Pirates are often seen as good-natured and even as protectors of the oppressed. Both crews have both been shown to protect the innocent from both marauding criminals and corrupt government official. Whitebeard stopped the rampant slave trade surrounding Fishman Island and Shanks saved Luffy in the very first chapter. No side is seen as angelic. Individuals on both sides of the law make their own moral choice for the better and for the worse.

One Piece is able to paint a both simple and complex story depending on how much you want to look at it. That is part of what makes One Piece such a rich tale and one that never preches its ideas or sometimes ideals from on high. But make to mistake, Oda is most certainly saying something with his series, it isn’t the over analyzing of fans. 

In the end the Straw Hat pirates are the primary messengers of Oda’s message on the themes of the manga. Straw Hat pirates routinely break the law and smash through taboos and customs. They are never bound to justice but in fact to do what they find as morally correct. Luffy and his companions have taken on a wide variety of pirates and marines in order to protect anyone who is being oppressed. Their internal morality is the most important thing but unlike the selfish pirates or the hypocritical marines they go out of their way to not harm others in the purist of their dreams. The theme of One Piece is to move forward while figuring out what is correct for yourself and not what others tell you is the truth. True justice comes from and mixture of compassion and understanding.

Since it seems that no one is interested in licensing Michiko to Hatchin I decided to finally check it out especially after Sean Ryan mentioned it would have made a great addition to the fallen fans guide. It is a road trip movie in which the journey is far more important than the destination. In fact if anything my major complaint about the series is that the destination seems extremely anti-climatic after everything than comes before it. I feel in many ways this was hinted that it was going to be like this but it did not make it any less disappointing. That said they journey before then is filled with some grim parables, touching vignettes, and great action scenes. We see Michiko and Hatchin grow from interacting with each other and fundamentally shift how they look at the world. It is a touching and compelling journey that should be watched for the experiences you get along the way more than the prize at the end. The audience in a way experience exactly what the characters in the show do for better and for worse. But overall I think you will be glad you went on the trip.

There was no down time for Ichigo as Yumeiro Patissiere Professional started just a week or so after the original Yumeiro Patissiere finished its TV run. This is a couple of years in the future as Ichigo returns to Japan from studying abroad in France. We know very little about her time there beyond her learning more skills, but not losing her charming naiveté, and that something happened between her and Kashino. Things at the end of the first season were a little over the top in Henri’s plans but things just get crazier with this new series. Henri now seems to be some sort of eccentric, semi-diabolical pastry chef that pits the students in a competition of opening their own pastry shop in this playland of sweets he has created. After 4 episodes I can firmly say it is still plenty amusing and cute. So far we have seen the dispersion of Team Ichigo with the exception of Kashino, and the return of Lemon plus the new addition of incredible caricature, American Johnny. The competition is also a lot different from what was seen in the original as this goes into business and customers as well as creating that perfect dessert. As this series is slated to be much shorter than the original I’m curious where it will end up.

Did you ever play Jump Ultimate Stars and wish there were only One Piece characters so you did not have to play missions to get characters you don’t care about? If that was you wish then One Piece: Gigant Battle! was made for you. It is a fun little mission based 2D fighting game. The game is heavily biased towards the story past Thriller Bark. While there are characters and maps from before the Sabaody Archipelago they are distinctly inferior in representation. For instance Alabasta and Drum Island are combined into one map. The greatest draw back is some of the mission are incredibly FRUSTRATING. Making a mission channeling is one thing. Making it want to throw your DS is another. Some of the game like missions can be utterly frustrating especially when the deck is horrifically stacked against you. Despite this it is a fun little game perfectly suiting for a commute or killing some time as the missions are very short. This does make me wonder how long it will be before we see games with the time skip character designs (because you know they are coming.)

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated is taking another month-long break now. Luckily episodes 12 and 13, while not difficult to solve, were very entertaining and added a major clue to the over arching mystery. We are introduced to rival authors H.P. Hatecraft and Harlan Ellison after Hatecraft’s latest creature Char Gar Gothakon starts terrorizing Crystal Cove. You can imagine all the references afoot in this episode, probably more than any episode yet. Harlan Ellison even voices himself. And in the final moments the kids are presented with a box containing the missing history of Crystal Cove, a really satisfying episode. I have to say that 13 really freaked me out as a giant cicada who wields many smaller cicada starts taking out guys who work for Destrodio a corporation that is polluting the environment. I also became even more suspicious of Fred’s dad the Mayor in this episode, though I can’t fully say why.

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works starts off in a way that utterly rejects anyone who has no familiarity with the series. The first 7 minutes revolve around getting to where Fate and Unlimited Blade Works diverge in the plot as quickly as possibly with the sake of coherence utterly thrown out the window. They might have well held up a sign that said “Watch Fate/Stay Night episodes one and 2 and come back. We will wait for you.” The rest of the movie takes it’s cues from the infamous X the movie playbook. Visually stunning at points but also utterly incomprehensible to anyone who has not played Unlimited Blade Works. It is nothing more than fanservice for Fate/Stay Night fans that highlights all the important scenes like the fights and the dramatic points but assumes the viewer can fill in all the rest from their memory. While my roommate and I enjoyed the movie thoroughly (although in my roomate’s case the constant Zettai Ryouiki shots of Rin surely helped) I am sure mostly people watching may have enjoyed the eye candy but been bewildered as to what exactly was going on.

The more I watch of Bakuman the more I fall in love with it. In fact the second episode moved me on a surprising level and it has continued to be very endearing since. There has been less of the love connection going on, which I don’t mind too much, and there is enough to keep it in your mind. But I’m glad to see them so determined to create their comic. So far it has really been about denying dreams but finally letting yourself attempt them. It was great to see them going through his uncle’s studio and then taking it over for summer vacation to push through and truly create their first work. I also love that they have a rival, who they have never met or seen, but is who they want to catch up to. I’m really pleased with this show so far.

This week I will spotlight the Queen of Zettai Ryouiki and the female focus of Unlimited Blade Works:

I finally saw the much-anticipated One Piece: Strong World movie. It was the first movie with a large amount of input from Eiichiro Oda so most people have been going in with very high expectations. There was even an official One Piece chapter zero comic made just to give back story to the movie and make everything canonical. Overall I found that I was hyping up Strong World in my mind better that it could ever have been. But it was still the most entertaining One Piece movie I have seen yet. The movie is a lavish affair even more so than the standard theatrical affair.  I noticed that they spend a good deal of attention to making Nami’s hair lavishly animated (as well as throwing her in the shortest of short shorts). In fact almost everyone goes through several changes of clothing which is surely done to sell tons of merchandise but I find it a welcome addition. Their best costumes  are when everyone is in suits as seen by the Portrait of Pirates figures. The plot is solid. While it never reaches the greatest highs on a normal One Piece storyline it never feels like a filler episode as well. Shiki is a decently memorable villain with a strong and unique power.  His subordinates were far less interesting. If you are a One Piece fan many of the movies are usually fun but utterly disposable but this is the one must see movie so far. I assume that Funimation is waiting for the DVDs to catch up to the point where Strong World takes place before licensing the movie which makes sense to me. I can’t wait to buy it whenever they pick it up.

Giant Killing is something I look forward to every week. And each episode pumps me up so much that it is kind of a crime they are only 22 or so minutes long. In the most recent installments the team is starting to take on bigger and bigger challengers, which is only natural. At this point, they are struggling again to regain their confidence but at the same time you can really see that the team is following Tatsumi, though doesn’t always blindly see his point of view. The Osaka Gunners are really out doing themselves rivaling ETU, especially because of the personality clashes on both sides. And I can see each side has some of the same types of people. Though I have to say, I find fake-Tsubaki utterly annoying and for the life of my I’m not sure why exactly. The coming episode maybe be the final part against Osaka and I truly don’t know which way the wind will blow. It is kind of amazing that Giant Killing is able to so readily keep you guessing about the outcome of games.

I finished another arc of Candy Candy (74-99). With Candy being sent to Chicago to study surgical nursing she begins to run into all the old familiar faces which happily means her old friends as well as Eliza and Neil. The major plot elements are Candy trying to meet back up with Terry and rekindle their romance while also taking care of Mr. Albert who recently lost his memory due to a train bombing in Europe. Franny gets sent off to the European front to serve as a battlefield nurse. I did find it a bit off that while she is occasionally mentioned one or twice after that point she essentially disappears from the anime  soon after that despite being rather important until then. At the same time Eliza goes out of her way to make trouble seemingly in an effort to make us for lost time. Despite Eliza machinations and various trials Candy meets up with Terry again but soon fate tares them apart at the end of this arc. I was never the biggest Terry fan but they sort of shuffle him off stage in about the most brutal manner they could without directly harming him. I am pretty sure we are supposed to be sympathetic to Susanna Marlowe but I mostly found her clingy and manipulative. While this new arc is different from the last one it is nowhere the radical change in story that the last 3 arcs have been. But the story has still been dynamic and entertaining in a way that was kept me entertained for 100 episodes.

Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode 8 is fairly straightforward and average. Though the hatred for pirates at the Renaissance Fair was pretty amusing throughout. And our Gnome villain wasn’t too easy to peg. As this series goes on we see a lot of up’s and down’s in the relationships Daphne and Velma are trying to take to the next level with Fred and Shaggy, but this time around we get to see the girls bond a little over their guy woes. I have also begun to realize that the show has a lot less Scooby antics than one would imagine and I kind of miss it.

A perfect storm occurred in getting me to purchase the first 5 books Cannon God Exaxxion. It started with me going back and listening to an old review on Anime World Order with a review of Cannon God Exaxxion the same week there was an 80% off sale at Barnes and Noble.com. I had been meaning to pick up the series as a fan of Gunsmith Cats so this was a golden opportunity. Now that I have read it I think it easily say it reads like Kenichi Sonoda’s self insert fan fiction of his own mecha anime. It is extremely entertaining but goodness Hosuke Kano come off as a Mary Sue character but maybe that is just me. That aside Cannon God Exaxxion has all the trademarks of a Kenichi Sonoda manga that people have come to know and love. It has beautiful and smart ladies, a fetishistic attitude towards guns and military equipment, and crazy over the top action. Sonoda tries to deal with deeper issues of information war and of the complexities of military conquest. At times he succeeds and at times he merely comes of as ham-fisted. Given the release schedule I am pretty sure that we will not be seeing the last 2 books of  Exaxxion any time soon but I am curious to see what happens. As much as a might have complained about the book Hoichi Kano is a sympathetic lead and a proper hot-blooded and manly robot pilot. The Exaxxion robot is rather functional looking for a super robot but many of its fights and abilities are insanely cool. It is a great popcorn flick manga that has some substance to it as well.

I read the first chapter of Afterschool Charisma a story about a school full of clones of some of the most influential figures in history. But it is obvious from the first moments of the chapter that there are suspicious goings on at the school. Also the somewhat main character, Shiro, doesn’t seem to be a clone so one has to wonder what his story is. A great opening chapter that gets you curious. Also, I think it is the uniforms, but it kept reminding me of Utena. I plan to pick up this series soon.

The full power of the Straw Hat Crew:

Eiichiro Oda just recently announced that One Piece is going on a month-long hiatus after chapter 597. So as the manga moves on to the next stage I thought I would be the perfect time for me to reflect  how I think One Piece  will end. As I have expressed on the blog before I enjoy trying to figure out what the mangaka has planned and see how many of suspicions are correct. Oda plans out his manga enough that I feel this is viable thought exercise because he is not just making up the story as he goes along. Everything below is my speculation but I feel my theories have a good deal of contextual proof and hints  backing them up as well. So let us sail to the end of the Grand Line and see what is there.

After the time skip the Strawhats will meet back in Sabaody, go to the Fishman Island, get in trouble, get a fishman or mermaid crew member, and continue to the New World. The will have 3 or 4 major arcs as they go through the New World including one big adventure the island of Giants, Elbaf. They will fight the marines, the Shichibukai, the Yonkou, Supernovas, and various as of yet unknown threats. Eventually they will get to Raftel the last island on the Grand Line. There we will learn the secrets of Void Century, the Ancient Kingdom, the Will of the D, and many more secrets.

Raftel is what is left of the capital of the Ancient Kingdom, a super technologically advanced nation that was wiped out by the organization that would go on the be the current World Government. There have been several hints throughout the series that the Ancient Kingdom had hyper advanced technology. We know they created the unbelievably powerful Pluton and Poseidon weapons and were involved with the cities on the moon. The World Government does not want anyone learning about the Ancient Kingdom for a wide variety of reasons including their hand in its destruction. Everyone who has the Will of D is connected in some way with the Ancient Kingdom and the D in their names is a remembrance of their fallen homeland.

The reason that no one other than Gold Roger has made it to Raftel is that the island’s hyper advanced security system is still active and destroys  ships that come too close. Therefore the major arc before getting to Raftel will be the Straw Hats find away around or through the security system. When they finally get to Raftel any parts of the history of the Ancient Kingdom not revealed will be brought to light. I also suspect that many of the dreams of the Straw Hat crew are somehow tied to Raftel. Maybe the All Blue is actually a super advanced aquarium on Raftel or there is a device that has a map of the world for Nami.

When the World Government finds out that someone has finally breached the defenses of Raftel is when the series will start wrapping up. The World Government will want to eliminate Luffy and his crew for discovering the truth and Luffy will probably have good reason to want to take down the World Government as well. Eventually by various means it will be the Straw Hat crew and their allies vs the world. Expect epic battles and the return of pretty much anyone who was anyone on one side or another.

I except that somewhere along the way we will find the true final boss of One Piece is none other than Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard. I expect him to swoop in when both sides are exhausted from fighting each other. Oda has been slowly building Blackbeard up as the dark counterpoint to Luffy. We will learn that Blackbeard is a descendant of someone who helped sell out the Ancient Kingdom to Twenty Kingdoms thus fully solidifying him as a Judas type character. He will get one of the ultimate weapons and my money is on the Pluton just because it seems to fit his theme. Every member of the Strawhats last battle will probably be against their counterpart in the Blackbeard pirates.

I expect Shanks and/or Dragon to die before the end. Anyone else could die but I think Oda will stick to a few key deaths more than a Tomino style murder spree. The World Government will be overthrown and Blackbeard will be defeated. Maybe being the hero of the day Luffy will be offered a place in what ever government forms to replace the fallen world government. I assume he will wisely turn down such an offer and continue to explore the world with the rest of the crew continuing on with him. It has a nice mixture of resolution and yet a sense that the journeys are still continuing. (Plus it leaves them room to make movies and bonus adventures which I am sure Shueisha and Toei Animation would love.) The story may be over but the adventure never ends.

We talked at length about One Piece previously, but actually besides some random episodes and a few clips here and there, this movie is my first true foray into watching One Piece rather than reading it. My personal preference is to reading shonen manga, random fact, but with things like franchise movies it can be a good time to make an exception. However, greater than just the fun of films with favorite characters was the pull of director Mamoru Hosada whose work I wanted to explore further after enjoying The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Summer Wars so. Starting with the sixth of the One Piece movies isn’t odd, especially because it is really unlike any One Piece you’ve seen before.

Back in the age of chaos between the start of the infamous 4kids adaptation and the blessed license rescue by Funimation I would watch One Piece via fan subs as it was the only way to see a decent version of the series.  As I was working my way through the series I eventually caught up to the latest TV broadcast episodes so I decided to move onto the movies. Overall I was rarely impressed with any of the One Piece movies. Like every other long running shonen fighting series the theatrical films are almost all the same. They are very high budget filler episodes. They make a decent profit at the box office and spawn a bunch of lucrative merchandise but they are ultimately utterly forgettable in all respects. But every once and a while there is a shonen fighting movie that stand out. The 6th One Piece movie most certainly does not fit into the category of the standard formula.

This movie is of course an original one off but its unique qualities for this franchise making it anything but your standard silly adventure. The gradual build of the strange happenings feels like it is pulling you along and you’re compelled to see what is around the next corner. As the crew starts to realize something is very wrong, the entire show starts to take on a surreal quality. The movie, and the viewing of said movie, is like a dream or rather a dream you slowly come to realize is a nightmare. Even at the end of the film it is hard to say what all has taken place, what the crew will take away from the experience, or if they even remember it all.

We start with what seems to be a normal One Piece filler plot. The Strawhat Crew get an invitation to stay on a pirate resort island with all the amenities. When they arrive it is less than the spectacular vacation getaway they were promised and they are soon forced to play in a series of strange pirate games that are supposedly a test of the crew’s teamwork. Of course there is something more sinister going on in the background. But this is where things begin to really go off in their own direction. The story of Baron Omatsuri and the island go straight to horror without even stopping to pass go or collect 200 berries.

It has become quite the classic setup, the paradise that is really a hell, but each time it is done the director has the ability to make it compelling. Hosoda gets an extra boost by starting with a known cast of characters and then being able to shock you with the wild departure of tone. From the beginning the moments feel off, from the designs to the humor to the music, it is communicated that something is not-quite-right, and each subsequent scene fills you with foreboding. The moments where this really starts to culminate is at the party being given once night falls on the island. And as you start to learn more about the mysterious Baron some parts become chilling.

Everything about this movie shouts that it is a One Piece movie that is not a One Piece movie. The most obvious difference is that it looks utterly unlike any other One Piece film. The character designs are radically different. Luffy is obviously Luffy and Nami is obviously Nami but they look more like superflat fan art interpretations than anything else. Many of the backgrounds are either photo-realistic or elaborate it ways that are very different that the elaborate backgrounds of the manga. It imminently clues you into the fact that the movie will have a very different feel. The tone especially near the end is utterly unlike anything in One Piece. There are pod people zombies and a creepy vibe that takes over the second half of the movie. Baron Omatsuri is dark in a way we have not seen anyone be in One Piece. Oda has done something with a horror theme in Thriller Bark but it is nothing like this. The vibe in the visuals and storytelling is unprecedented in the series and I know it throws many people off.

The difference in character stylization are obvious even from the movie poster. Oda’s already quirky approach to his cast is exaggerated further adding, or perhaps just enhancing, the surreal feeling surrounding the movie. While the character style is part of the film that creates makes this unconventional story come to life, the animation quality of those designs is less than impressive. However, intentional or not, that lack of smooth movement adds to the uneven footing the movie causes you to be standing on throughout its running time.

The real question is “Should I watch this movie?” My answer is yes if for nothing else how much it stands out. Unlike Strong World which goes out of its way to feel like lost arc of the manga this goes out of its way to be its own beast. You have to realize that you cannot watch this film wanting to see the new One Piece movie. You have to go in wanting to see an experimental Mamoru Hosoda film that happens to have One Piece characters. It almost is like a One Piece fan fiction got animated. Everything in the movie has a Mamoru Hosoda feeling. It is a intriguing and personal piece of in his body of work.

Hosoda’s rendition of a One Piece adventure is much more sinister in tone. Where the original series can swing from wildly silly with strange lands inhabited by people with even stranger powers but also punctuate itself with serious drama, the sixth movie is downright ghoulish in its departure. It certainly adds variety but I am not sure how I feel about it in the context of the One Piece universe. Is it sort of the One Piece equivalent to Oshii’s Beautiful Dreamer? The unexpected nature of this movie makes it a worthy see, but I am at a loss to say whether I actually liked it or not.

I will finish up with an intriguing bit of apocrypha. While I cannot find any interviews that verify this I have heard this story several times. Before Mamoru Hosoda caught most people’s attention with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time he was famous for being the original director of Howl’s Moving Castle before he had to leave Studio Ghibli. Apparently this movie is rumored to be based on Hosoda’s time at Ghibli. How much of that is true I cannot say but it is an interesting thought experiment. Is Baron Omatsuri based in part on Hayao Miyazaki especially considering how the man is infamous for being difficult to work with? How much of Baron Omatsuri villainy a commentary on the environment at Studio Ghibli. Are other people in Baron Omatsuri’s crew based on Studio Ghibli employees? Are Brief and the Tea Cup pirates based on people in the industry as well? How much of goes on within the  movie Hosoda’s way of working through his experiences work on Howl? It is interesting to watch the movie one time through and just drink it in and then go back and reinterpreting the film in a new light.

Anime 3000 presents: The Speakeasy

The Speakeasy is an ongoing conversation between the two of us about themes, trends, and concepts present in anime and manga and along side that sometimes there will be a critical analysis of fandom. If you were ever curious about our conversations that are the genesis of our posts then this will be utterly enlightening. If you never wondered about that, hopefully you will still enjoy the show!

Drink #003: Coconut Monkey, Can you feel the One Piece love?

I will mercifully refrain from singing modified lyrics to one of Elton John’s contributions to the Lion King soundtrack and merely ask in written form why is there not as much love for One Piece in the U.S. (and most of the English speaking fandom) as there is in Japan. How does the number one shonen franchise in Japan become a third tier property here? We will be looking at One Piece’s popularity in Japan, why it is so good, and what we think is holding it back. Let go on a voyage to find the answers to . . . One Piece!

(Listen) (Show Notes)

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

Coconut Monkey
*1 oz. white rum
*1 oz. apricot brandy
*3/4 oz. coconut cream
*1 1/2 oz. pineapple juice

We got a copy of Foiled from First Second Books last week, I was rather excited because it was penned by Jane Yolen! Her imagination and description would surely lend itself to being made into a comic. Just as I hoped, Mike Cavallaro achieved it wonderfully. The art style is this wonderful hybrid between comics and American cartoons. Aleria isn’t a typical teen-aged girl with her kind of rye look at the world, but she is quite relateable in her semi-awkwardness, slightly odd parents, and geeky slant but no real place to fit in. In fact, all of these make her more alive than some exaggerated contemporaries, nothing is totally normal but nothing is too off the wall in her life. But what sets her apart (even more?), besides her attitude, is that she is a fencer and a very good one at that. And of course that is where the story really begins and ends as her latest fencing sword (or as she would yell WEAPON!) was a thrift store find with a weird jewel on the hilt. Throw in a new boy at school, some table top role-playing, and the appearance of a world that rests on top of NYC chockful of mystical creatures and you have a wonderful, fun, and magically little book. The magical world is such a strong element, but it doesn’t really come to the forefront till more than half way through. This was really my only complaint, yes it is important to establish Aleria’s (what she would call) mundane, every day life but with only one book you really want to have the fun of the other world sooner. So this should be remedied by making a sequel!

The first thing that popped into my mind when I read Foiled was Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (and I loved Neverwhere). Not that the average but slightly extraordinary person who learns that there is magical world underneath the mundane world is a utterly unused storyline but the allure is one that makes it an evergreen concept. Jane Yolen takes this old framework and writes an excellent story for young girls as well as a good fantasy story in general. Aliera is a great protagonist who is a strong female character but vulnerable and awkward enough to be easily identifiable. Her passion for fencing and the way it integrates into the story on both a storyline level and a symbolic level give it a smart feeling while also giving it a cool energy. I especially liked how each of the chapter titles used a fencing term with accompanying art that set the tone for the chapter. I will agree with Narutaki that for a single book story they could have picked up the pace in introducing us to the magical world. It’s not that the beginning should be cut short but I too would have liked to see the fantasy elements pop-up earlier. If nothing else it proves that the story is begging to be turned into something longer.

I received the first book of My Darling! Miss Bancho from CMX this week. The story revolves around the ridiculous (which the manga-ka freely admits) reverse harem that occurs when Souka transfers into a tech school filled with nothing but male delinquents. On one of her first days she accidentally takes down the bancho (boss/gang leader) of the school and by their rules that now makes her the new bancho. Cue wacky antics. The story so far is a fairly amusing series of sillyness mixed with some shojo cliches. I felt he pacing was a little off, especially getting the whole ball rolling, maybe it’s just personal taste but it would probably serve the story, and the humor better, to have her take out the school’s bancho right in the first few pages. Just about every guy in her class is enamored with her (and the entire school is pretty much bowing down to her and hoping for her favor) so she gains a couple of minions who act equal parts crazy and devoted. The main love interest is the leader of the sophomores, Katou, who is sort of a mother hen to the rest of the guys and vows to protect Souka. Souka is kind of a middle-ground heroine so she isn’t too engaging unfortunately. Despite the fact that she takes out the previous bancho, she isn’t particularly tough or feisty, if she were this story might be pushed to more funny heights. So really, while amusing and having its good moments, My Darling! Miss Bancho doesn’t really push its silly premise far enough to make it a rip-roaring good time.

One Piece chapter 574 really is a powerful blow to anyone reading the series but in a great fashion. So far I have been able to really predict the story of the current arc, the details have been surprising but overall I was not thrown off by anything that happened. Nothing that is until this chapter. Most people would consider some characters untouchable but this chapter proved that was not the case. Oda has repeatedly promised us that the events contained within this arc would change the world and I don’t think anyone could accuse him of making a mountain out of a mole hill. My only concern is if for any reason there is a take back on what transpired here it will sabotage everything that has built up to this moment. It would take the amazing storytelling here that was possibly much needed and squander any emotional impact that this chapter had. I would go as far as to say it might diminish any later emotional impact similar scenes might have as well. Hopefully that is not the case because this chapter really solidified why One Piece is an amazing manga.

After watching the Gurren Lagann movies and adding them to MAL, I noticed a short called Viral’s Sweet Dream. It was presented at a Japanese event where they also premiered that last two Parallel Works films and that is the recording I saw of it. It’s a funny little gag short that is shown through manga in a slide format, so there is no actual animation. But there are voices which is what really makes it hilarious. The story centers around a bunch of alternate universes involving Viral. He keeps thinking he has woken from a dream only to find out it is another dream. Since it’s short and it’s all about gag, I won’t reveal more than that but it has some great laugh out loud moments. It was also fun hearing the audience enjoying it as well.

I just finished Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and it was SO good. If anyone was turned off by Apollo Justice then Miles Edgeworth should welcome them back into the franchise. Definitely on the same level as Trials and Tribulations which is pretty much the highest praise I can give it. Everything in the game comes together nicely; all the cases are good and tie together into one huge storyline. We don’t get the filler cases and having all plot related cases really gives the game a great cohesive feeling. They have learned that the first case can be a real case and does not need to be a hand holding tutorial which should be mandatory from now on. Kay Faraday is the obligatory Maya Fey style sidekick but making her a phantom thief pretty much makes her a automatic winner in the Reverse Thieves case files. Also we get more Franziska because only a foolish fool would foolishly leave her out of a game. I liked the new gameplay even if it is mostly just a updating of the standard Phoenix Wright formula. The investigation sections definitely seem less frustrating. The main plot is nicely wrapped up giving everything the game a satisfying flavor but they leave some good plot threads unexplained for sorely anticipated sequels. I think someone watched Lethal Weapon 2 before they wrote this game. When you finished the game you will know what I mean.

If there is one thing the internet has enough of, it is hate. Hate for shows, hate for people, and plenty of hate for characters. Unfortunately, we will be spreading such ire today. What would our former post be without its companion piece? However, I would like to point out this post isn’t about bad characters or poorly written development, it is about characters we dislike for inherent flaws in their personalities. I would even argue, if I can passionately oppose a character that means they are actually written rather fully. Once again we are trying to explore what, if anything, it means to dislike a character with such fervor. This, much differently from the previous post, can get a bit hairy and quite intense at times. But we will do our best to be respectful. Maybe.

I really hate fake strong female characters. They are female characters that the writers try to pass off as strong but are really just weak. Cecily Cambell from The Sacred Blacksmith is a prime example. We are supposed to believe that she is a strong swordswoman that can defend her self. But she mostly goes around being useless. This annoys me more that the standard token chick because at least you don’t have high expectations out of them. Another great example is Clarice from Claymore. Also belligerent women than are actually weak but the writers mistake being confrontational with strong. The fact that they kept portraying Sheryl Nome as a strong woman when she is clearly just fronting to hide her deep insecurities. The fact that people rally behind her as some sort of symbol of feminine strength really ticks me off. Also the fact that show never acknowledges any of Sheryl’s behaviors as anything but a virtue. This is in contrast to Ami Kawashima from Toradora whose same actions are seen as the weakness and defense mechanisms that they are. The other character that stood out to me as being horrible was Takumi Nishijo from Chaos;Head. He had to be one of the most unlikable protagonists I have ever seen. People usually complain about harem leads being generic and unsympathetic. Takumi has all the traits that make harem leads so hated and then either exaggerates those traits or has even worse traits on top of that. He is selfish, petty, lecherous, misanthropic, and just a disgusting human being. At least I felt some amount of sympathy for Tatsuhiro Sato from Welcome to the NHK. I have not one iota of good will towards Takumi and could not drag myself through a show with him as the lead.

I can be a harsh critic when it comes to character flaws, so where to draw the line was a little more difficult because once again this isn’t just about annoying characters, it is about characters that sort of epitomize traits that I dislike above all else. First up is a woman whose death I called for as each episode she further gathered my dislike, oh Flay Allster (from Gundam SEED), how I will always recall your attempts (and successes) at being a racist solipsist who uses her femininity in the worst ways with hatred. One must draw the line at trying to get nice guys killed. Squarely in the middle is Sakujun (from The Story of Saiunkoku) who has something not quite right about him from the moment you lay eyes on him. Sakujun acts in such a roundabout way that he takes advantage of good people so much so he borders, no, he is mentally abusive. He portrays the ultimate ends of using guilt and obligation to get what you want. And to round things out is Misa (from Death Note) whose ridiculous obsession with Kira makes her a gothic doormat. Her inability to see the things right in front of her is phenomenal and intensely frustrating as is her attempt to see anything Light does as love.

The oddity for me is Hinagiku Katsura from Hayate the Combat Butler. I normally adore characters like her. She has pink hair, she uses a sword, she is proud and confidante but kind and supportive and she loves someone from afar. But for some reason I really don’t like her as much as the rest of the cast. Unlike say Narutaki who actively hates Sanji I just don’t really like Hinagiku. I can’t put my finger on what exactly I dislike about her that stops me from liking her the way everyone else worships her. I do on the other hand get all worked up about her fandom that insists that the manga should be about her and that she is the best character ever. It is like everyone would rather be reading Hinagiku the Combat Student Council President. I myself like the lead characters as they are.

A character I have trouble understanding my dislike (this may be too tame of a word) for is Sanji (from One Piece). By all normal circumstances, he should rank rather high for me but it never happened. Sanji’s got a laid back style, he cooks, and he is a good fighter but something about his love sickness really doesn’t jive with me. And I also think this particular case has also boggled the minds of many of my close friends.

The challenge is the same as before. Take what we have given you and try and make an analysis of our character from the characters we hate. Also feel free to write in the characters you hate and what you think it means about you. I did find it a little harder to choose characters I hated than Narutaki. I think we both have affection for charters as deep as the other one. I think we also both like a wide variety of characters. The biggest challenge was for use to narrow out lists down to 3 characters. But for some reason I have a harder time hating characters.

I feel like just writing this helped me learn a bit about myself!

I picked up this One Piece pin set which is all the emblems that the crew came up with for the flag design. I had seen this set of pins before but when they presented themselves to me on the cheap and in person, I couldn’t resist. Colorful, fun, and unique.

Flower, Sun, and Rain is best described as, what if Goichi Suda made his own version of the Professor Layton games. So instead of being a cheery cartoon puzzle game it is a more realistic looking bizarre and moody puzzle game. This game has somewhat of a retro feel due to being a PlayStation 1 game imported to the DS. Sumio Mondo is a professional detective that find lost objects know as a Searcher. He has been called to a resort island to find a bomb before it can explode. Every time Sumio tries to solve the case he is interrupted by some strange event that makes him take another case instead. He is then so delayed that the bomb blows up. But soon the bomb explodes he finds that time has reset to the morning of the incident so he can try again. So Sumio must not only find out why he is stuck in a time loop but also who keeps setting off the bomb and stop them. You go through the game using you laptop named Catherine to interface with various objects to solve puzzles and progress the plot. There are also bonus lost and found puzzles you can solve as well. Where as Professor Layton has a universal appeal Flower, Sun, and Rain has a distinctly more niche appeal. It has strange characters like a girl with a pink alligator as a pet, a fraudulent psychic, and an insane soccer obsessed system’s engineer. Unlike Professor Layton all the puzzles are number puzzles. While there is a good deal of variety to the types of puzzles they can turn into puzzles that have numerical answers they are still all number puzzles. It’s a bizarre game but one worth checking you if you like puzzles games or Goichi Suda’s odd sense of style.

After hearing so much about it, it finally came time to watch the Giant Robo OVA. So far I have watched up through episode 4 and find myself fully enjoying what I see on my screen. Since I have no experience with this series or any of the past ones, I can’t play the game of picking out characters but its quite obvious that many of the are from different stories or completely different genres! What is especially fun in this OVA is the very serious tone of the series but its mixture of over-the-top and sometimes hokey characters and fights, it is done pitch perfect. As I’ve heard, the show looks amazing and some of the Giant Robo scenes are just spectacular! I can’t say I am as enamored with the series as so many others, but I’ll reserve that verdict till I’ve seen the whole thing.

Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Burned is a manga re-imagining of Imagawa’s Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. The spirit and concept are the same but the plot is complete different. We still have a story that revolves around Daisaku Kusama and Giant Robo being the stars in a manga made up with side characters from various Mitsuteru Yokoyama manga. You still have way cool physic powers, mystical mayhem, and steam punk technology all participating in awesome fights. Once again there is a plot so horrible it just might destroy the world and only Daisaku can stop it. But now we start with Dazzling Cervantes having to protect Daisaku from the Experts of Justice that are trying to kill him. Heck that fact alone that the series starts with Dazzling Cervantes should tell you that everything is completely different. The art and character designs are  not really my style but it’s still well done and they definitely tell the story well. And that is the most important thing. If you watched the original Giant Robo OAV and wanted more then this is the manga to start reading. It has everything you could want with new story to draw you in.

Finished up volumes 6 to 8 of Swan. The melodrama seems to be a on consistent incline as Masumi returns to Japan for ballet school and the 2nd Annual International Ballet Competition. We see the reappearance of friends and rivals in these three volumes as well as the appearance of new challengers. Masumi’s new roommate helps us and Masumi learn a little more about her mother’s past. And while attending to her mother’s grave, we see a man who could only be the mysterious Russian dancer from her mother’s career in ballet. Of course I am under the impression that he is also her real father, soap opera style! The school holds a competition in which the 1st and 2nd years face off. As the pressures builds there is an explosion of romantic feelings revealed. Once again I am impressed at the pace of this series, while these relationships aren’t resolved, rather they have just gotten that much more complicated, there is continued progression. The excitement continues!

Since we are both talking about different iterations of Giant Robo I decided to go with a powerful picture of Alberto the Impact:

Since I was not doing anything this Labor Day Sunday and Scott kept talking about it, I decided to go see one of Reni’s Japanese “Maid” Shows at Top Tunes. When I got there there was a line to get in and Scott mentionedit was one of the better turn outs. I think being a lazy Sunday before Labor day helped a lot. There was a one drink minimum as a charge which was reasonable, plus Scott and his friend finished off enough drinks that I was covered. Top Tunes itself was distinctly a bar with karaoke as opposed to a karaoke bar so there was a bit of crowding to get up front but nothing unmanageable. Reni sang a mixture of her own songs and anime songs. I got to hear Let Me Be With You from Chobits, Tonari no Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro, and Interstellar Flight from Macross Frontier. Of course she did the Ranka dance because otherwise it would not count. She also did three of her own songs one of which Scott helped write. She also had backup maid dancers for some of her songs which was amusingly odd. Overall it was a pleasant experience, the songs were cute and I got to hear Interstellar Flight which is always great. I definitely would not travel too far to see such a show but anyone in the NYC are might want to give it a look if for nothing else curiosity. I have never been to Akihabara so I don’t know how authentic the experience was but I assume if you went to a similar event in Japan it would be quite the same.

In the fourth installment of Two Flowers for the Dragon we see Kuwan make a much awaited move closer to Shakuya while Lucien finally regains his memories. Though the last volume contained a lot of shocking revelations, this one still keeps things flowing with suspicion without revealing exactly who and what we are dealing with it yet. It was also great to see the handmaid Lupina get a bit of a story here and show her strengths. This is laced with the background humor found in the other books which is just delightful. Also the tiger cubs consistently entertain in side panels or in their random thoughts while in scenes. Another great piece in the series that is quickly climbing the charts as something I wait impatiently for another book of.

I have been keeping up with the One Piece manga and decided I would throw in my current feeling on the plot. I have mixed feelings but overall it is still my favorite shonen manga around. The humor is still very funny and the action is always epic when it needs to be. My main problem is Luffy had been separated from the crew for too long. I really enjoyed the Amazon arc, it was hysterical and well executed but I assumed right after it Luffy would reunite with everyone. However, we went into the Impel Down arc and the Execution arc. So far the story has not slowed down, the action is still great, the fights are awesome, and we are even learning important world building back story. But the rest of the straw hats only appear in the slash pages stories. If the rest of the crew were minor characters it would be fine but they are just as important as Luffy so I am anxious to have them back. So part of me wants to see this wrapped up ASAP but part of me is really enjoying watching the top pirates and the top marines duke it out in grandiose fashion. I mean as much as might complain I not going to stop reading One Piece as long as it stays this strong and fun. I just want to see the crest of the crew soon in the story proper.

Watched Akagi episodes 8 to 13 and there is just more to love. Akagi is now an adult but don’t worry folks, he is still beating up street punks. They try to fool us with a fake Akagi, and I will admit for a moment I was appalled, but then thought of better of it. And when he comes face-to-face with the real thing of course he is blown out of the water. Akagi also takes out some jerks from his crummy job who like to hustle people in Mahjong. Then if that wasn’t enough, Akagi continues to battle the worst looking people the Yakuza can find, hello teeth-sticking-straight-out guy, in high-stakes Mahjong. And then when Akagi does overcome him (this is not a spoiler because if you didn’t know Akagi would win . . .) it takes an entire episode to explain just HOW he did such a thing. As one would hope the reactions to the plays Akagi pulls is the highlight of the show along with the narrator who is increasingly in awe of Akagi’s skills. And don’t forget folks, to win at Mahjong you need amazing intuition and to not play fair. 

Having been a long time fan of Lucasarts adventure games, in particular Monkey Island, I decided to download Tales of Monkey Island for the Wii. Having played through all the previous games I was curious to see what Telltale Games would bring to the mix. I was a little hesitant to buy an episodic content game but it was Monkey Island so I decided to splurge. It starts with a familiar scenario: Elaine has been kidnapped by the ghost pirate LeChuck and Gubrush must construct yet another root beer powered voodoo device to stop him. Of course they invoke adventure game legal statute: Nothing simple is ever easy. Therefore something goes wrong and you are forced to improvise which ends up with LeChuck being brought back to life and you stranded on a island with an evil ghost hand. Your first order of business is to find a way off the island. I found the puzzles decently challenging without being the neigh-impossible-to-figure-out-so-buy-the-hint-book headbangers that killed off the genre in years past. I did find myself doing the old pixel hunt to find items or areas to interact with and just throwing my inventory at it once or twice but nothing was unfair. I liked the callbacks to the old games and the general preserving of the humor style of the previous games. There is even a reference to Stan. My only criticism is that I basically beat the game over the course of three nights. There are still four more chapters with one up for download as I write this so I will see how much the series keeps my interest.

Because even Luffy’s angry face makes me laugh, this is the pic of the week:

Picked up Spiral’s seventh volume. There are some bigger points that start to uncover themselves here, just hints but it is expected to come slowly. Ayumu taking on brute force verse his logic is great. It also randomly reminded me of the L movie where they sort of imply that violence can beat brains as well. I don’t think I would normally notice that but since I watched that and read this so close to each other it stuck out. I also like that Ayumu is admitting his brother is manipulating everyone like a puppet though he just plain doesn’t want to think so. I also found a couple of moments with Hiyono possibly revealing there is more going on under the surface. Has me curious. Looking forward to more as usual.

Next up is the always sexy Rider from Fate/Stay Night. I have always wanted the original Good Smile Rider figure but it is somewhat of a collector item making it a little too expensive for my tastes. Contrastly, Maid Rider and Swimsuit Rider are little too cheesecake for my tastes. Not that Rider’s actual outfit is not cheesecake but I am willing to accept that because it’s her standard uniform. Yes, that is a bizarre set of somewhat contradictory semantics but a set of semantics I can live with. When I saw the eb Craft version of the classic Rider I went out and pre-ordered it. While I like the pose on the Good Smile figure a little bit more, this one is in a more dynamic pose. She has removable mask and her iron nails as well.

I had been curious about the series Dogs for quite awhile and was rather excited to see it get licensed. So I pre-ordered the first book, Dogs Prelude 0. It has four stories each highlighting a character who is somehow connected to the others in the subsequent stories. They are also connected through a cafe where they all show up at at one time or another. Since this is a lead up to the actual series, I assume they all team up later on. I liked each character for various reasons, but it was nice to see the manga-ka making them very different in personality but have the common terrible pasts to equalize them. Mihai is an ex-hitman so he has skill. Naoto learns the sword from an early age and has equally good skill. Badou seems to have the luck of the devil more than anything else. And Heine just doesn’t care about getting hurt which is kind of a skill? My favorite story was probably the last one involving Heine and a prostitute that he saves during a skirmish on the streets. The relationships between all the characters will be a major factor in this story holding together so far they are doing well. The art is pretty good and there are some nicely designed moments. Also the action scenes, of which there are many, are well done though not as graphic as I was expecting. Seems I will be picking up the next book.

And last but certainly not least is a figure that will not leave you in despair. The Nendoroid line decided to make a Nozomu Itoshiki figure which, while an unusual choice, is delightfully appreciated. My kinship to the despair teacher made me rush out to buy this. He has three difference faces, two different sets of arms, a scarf, art-book, and his suicide travel suitcase. There is also a alternate piece of hair so you can but the little noose that comes with him around his neck. You can have him in his “I am in despair” look which is really all you really need. Everything else is merely icing on the cake.

Finished up the short manhwa series Hissing by reading books 5 and 6. It was a long time coming, never thought I’d get to read the end after Ice Kunion stopped releasing books! As for the ending, it was nice to see it go a little beyond people admitting their feelings. Though the resolution of the family situation starts off rather contrived in book 5, the direction the book took did surprise me a little in the last volume. What originally attracted me to the series was Da-Eh’s passion for drawing comics, which gets thrown to the wayside in the middle books, and only somewhat makes a comeback in the last few chapters. I wish that part of the story was more developed. Overall, one of the better manhwa released in English so far.

As a tribute to the spring and Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei I present to you the pic of the week:

Read Monkey High! volumes 2 and 3 and it continues to be a sweet romantic comedy that doesn’t dwell on minor miscommunications. The second book has an epically long chapter that the manga-ka talks about at the end, apparently it was for a special issue. The kids participate in a quiz show to much laughter and antics but we also saw a little more of Haruna’s home life and her strained relationship with her father. Also in the second volume there is some hilarious commentary at the end by the manga-ka depicting her reactions to the many postcards she receives. She also goes on to say that she can’t believe girls think Masaru (the main love interest) is cute. Volume 3 deals with the ever popular Valentine’s Day and as usual with this series it results in minor drama and much laughter. Both these volumes have Haruna attempting to communicate that she likes Masaru as much as he likes her amidst their ever meddling classmates. I am looking forward to the next volume, it always puts me in a good mood!

Cobra The Animation: The Psychogun is over the top, pulp, science fiction fun. Cobra is one of those so-silly-it-is-good shows that thankfully never takes itself seriously. Cobra is part bounty hunter, part space Lupin, and part Inspector Gadget. After Cobra wastes three space pirates in the intro he decides to dress as a priest to steal some diamonds. During his flawless heist, pirates attack the museum he is robbing and that means it’s Psychogun time. He eventually saves the sexy archaeologist the pirates are after. He follows her to Mars partially to hit on her and partially to kill more space pirates. Seems fine enough but it’s all the details that are crazy. The archaeologist Dr. Utopia More I like to call Dr. Space Thong. Every woman in the series is dressed in either a bikini or skin tight spandex. That is height of women’s fashion in the future. There is also the pirate commander who is a sarcophagus with arms and legs, flying skeleton robots, and a super stereotypical Mexican space pirate with mustache, sombrero, and bandoleer. Cobra himself has a sexy female android, about a dozen gimmick cigars, and his uberhax Psychogun that puts Megaman’s blaster to shame. Oh and Cobra not only tosses women around he uses Newton’s law of universal gravitation as a pick up line. Good times. I can’t wait for the next one.

I always wait anxiously for the next book of Kekkaishi, so I was very happy to finally get volume 15. At the end of the last volume we saw a small girl and were unsure of her powers. In this book she proves to have a totally cool ability to make friends with inanimate objects and specifically rope in the story. She is then able to have it do things for her and even use it as a weapon. She totally needs to take the place of lame Sen. Along with her, enter some cool villains with the power to paint boxes and make them into walls, portals, etc. We also meet the librarian for the Urukai, lots of interesting characters showing up recently. We also see characters fight that we hadn’t had a chance to yet. In addition to all of that, Yoshimori starts to pull more power into his zekkai and Tokine starts developing more of her ability to manipulate space. They are growing and the questions about Karasumori are coming to surface as well.

The Bleach: SOULs Character Book is a very pretty book. The first part is some very nice colored art and stickers. The second part is detailed character write-ups of just about everyone, locations, items, and concepts in Bleach up to the end of the Soul Society arc with a preview of the Hecto Mundo Arc. There is also an interview with Tite Kubo and Masakazu Morita who plays Ichigo. We then have an original prelude comic and the prototype comic for Bleach. I was amused that Ichigo and Orhime had crushes on each other in the original draft of Bleach. It also has palm sized Rukia for most of the story which is either super silly or super awesome depending on who you ask.

My recent obsession with the Vocaloid phenomenon has sent me to many a great fan artist. I like this person’s overall style and they happened to do a few pictures of the series as well. So this is the pic of the week:

Got around to books 2 and 3 of Here is Greenwood. The guys of Greenwood never fail to crack me up with their antics from helping out pop idols to the fierce competition (and betting pool) at the sports festival. It remains a delightful, funny series about friendship and dorm life with the constant addition of over the top situations.

Armored Trooper Votoms ends like so many other anime with the main character killing God. This of course makes everyone think of Nietzsche so you can insert your own The Gay Science joke here. The plot quickly becomes all about Chirico as we entered part 4. God Planet Quent throws some major plot revelations that diminish poor Fyana’s significance which was sad because I liked her. They avoided the trap of making Fyana a useless girl character in a robot show but her importance to the plot rises and falls depending on the episode. Sometimes she has to be protected; others she does the protecting. She never fades away but I would have liked to see her be Chirico’s partner like she was in Part 3. I liked the ending but the the epilogue seemed sort of bizarre in Chirico and Fyana’s decision. Votoms was a good take on the real robot genre. The mecha in Votoms had many different variations but was utterly utilitarian and there was no uber mecha that rule over all other mecha. It was all about the pilots. I think I would like to see more series like that but I wonder if that effects the all important model kits sales.

I read the 07-Ghost preview courtesy of Go-Comi which I can’t ever recall buying any manga from as of yet (though I have been interested in Bogle which is about a theif). It has nice artwork and pretty boys running around in military school. So far there has been some supernatural abilities slightly displayed and there is an obvious secret agenda by the school. Since it was just a preview I didn’t get a sense of the world yet, however it has a nice fantasy or possibly alternate history feel to it. I also like the friendship between the two main guys. I may just pick up my first Go-Comi title with this one. Also has an anime on the way in Japan.

I finally picked up my two One Piece figures from my parents house. I love the Portrait of Pirates figures. They are nicely made and have been getting significantly more intricate as the series goes on. We start with the only figure that is two different figures in one because of course Usopp is a completely different person than his good friend Sogeking. Usopp comes with two different Sogeking masks, his toolbag, cape, and the Kabuto slingshot.

I like the Bon Clay figure but have to say it’s rather odd for them to make a figure of him. I know he distinctly has a following in Japan. Surpassing characters like Buggy, Sir Crocodile, Mihawk and the such. That is the way that Japan decides to make it’s crazy choices. Still there are very few one piece characters I would not buy a figure of so who am I to complain. Bon Clay comes with two different faces and you can attach his swans to his feet from maximum Okama Kenpo power.

Finally got to see the first episode of Tentai Senshi Sunred which is a limited animation production parodying tokusatsu shows. Would very much fit in the vein of Adult Swim productions and the animation is similar to it as well. Oh and it is just 15 minutes long. A pretty funny show that you really don’t have to know much about sentai shows to get. And it has a totally awesome opening song (keep an eye on those subtitles!) which is reason enough to see it.

Pic of the week:

Posted in Anime, Manga, Merchandise, Ongoing Investigations, Toys/Figures Tagged: 07-Ghost, Armored Trooper Votoms, Chaos;Head, Here is Greenwood, One Piece, Tentai Senshi Sunred ]]> http://reversethieves.com/2008/11/28/ongoing-investigations-021/feed/ 2 reversethieves http://reversethieves.com/2008/10/31/ongoing-investigations-case-017/ http://reversethieves.com/2008/10/31/ongoing-investigations-case-017/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:20:25 +0000 reversethieves http://www.reversethieves.com/?p=260 ]]> Ai Morinaga saw a clearly untapped niche in the manga market and capitalized on it. Japan did not have (and needed) a manga about abusive homosexual human/frog relationships. The Gorgeous Life of Strawberry Chan fills this void as only it can. It has the standard Ai Morinaga fascination with mean-spirited comedy told with jerk-faced characters. For some reason she does it in a way that I enjoy. I think a good litmus test of your enjoyment of Strawberry Chan is the fact that Strawberry Chan’s owner sticks a straw up his butt and inflates him like a balloon to blow off stress. If you find this funny then try Strawberry Chan. If that makes you feel anything else you might want to go elsewhere.

I mentioned last week that I have been reading a lot of anthologies and a stand out one was X2. This series of shorts is done by the manga-ka of Monkey High! which I recently gave a glowing review of the first book. It captures the sweet and funny moments of new love. It was fun and hopeful and it gave the characters enough of a life that I could understand their feelings in a such a short amount of time. I also ready SOS which had a good range within its pages. We move from happy but dark underneath, to sweet and sad, to hopeful. But one deals with first love in its own way. I particularly enjoyed the last story involving a shooting star, but I am just a sucker for such things.

Maria-sama ga Miteru shows that your lesbian Catholic school fantasy is most probably not as interesting as you would think. I bought the first boxset due to Nozomi Entertainment getting some oddball shows which I encourage with my wallet. Also I have seen that it’s one of those super love it or totally hate it shows. I did periodically crack up with the thought of a roving band of bad girls that go through the school and jump girls to improperly tie their ties and get them in serious trouble. They would never physically hurt them. Heavens no! The disgrace of an off center tie would be worse than any physical pain. Other than that it always seems like it wants to be an over the top drama fest but never dares break the carefully constructed placid world. Slow and subtle are the watchwords for this show.

Man, this show. I grant it that the second episode was mildly better than the first but still it struck me as rather boring. Everyone is proper and quite and it made me crazy! I just wanted to leap through the TV and cause a ruckus! Even the most outspoken and wild girl is still whispering her wildness. It doesn’t move into comedy and it isn’t outlandish enough to be a over the top drama. I am kinda of curious to watch a little more just to see if they can actual get me to feel any sexual tension in this show which there wasn’t in the first two episodes.

Pani Poni Dash! is the exact opposite of Maria-sama ga Miteru. The show has no time to smell the roses because it has the next joke to get to. Pani Poni Dash can be subtle at times. In fact, it’s easy to miss the subtle humor because of the in your face kind going on. There is constant blackboard comedy in the background which is often non-sequitur but sometimes sets up jokes. All the various characters are rather amusing but I can’t say that I really have a strong love for anyone. The ADV pop up liner notes are really well done but are best watched after you have seen the episode once through without them on.

Kaichou wa Maid-sama is everything it should be. A ridiculous, over the top, shojo romance comedy. Misaki is the first female student body president of a recently made co-ed high school. She is an insane hard-ass who is trying to reform the guys. At the same time she is desperate for cash because of her family situation so she has a job at a Maid Cafe. Obviously she wants to keep this a secret but one day her biggest rival Usui happens to see her in uniform. Let the games begin! In only 8 chapters this is what I have learned about Usui, our male lead, he is of course really hot; he is the best student in school; he is also the most bad-ass fighter in the school and probably elsewhere; he is a master chess player; he can cook like an Iron Chef; he can jump off the roof of the school and only have scratches; and he can show up anywhere at anytime (they actual reference and make fun of this fact). I love that it doesn’t just go half way to insane, it is full-throttle!

One Piece came out with it’s newest popularity poll. Nami is back to were she belongs. She will never overtake the popularity monster that is Chopper or the immovable three but at least she is not the least popular of the Straw-Hat crew. I guess they had to remind everyone that she has nice tits and they all come back. Traitors! Your Nami love should be about more than that! I found it interesting that Brook has become popular so quickly but when you are a talking skeleton with an Afro then the only surprise involved was that I was surprised. I was also amused that Vivi was so high on the list because as far as I can tell many American fans still hate Vivi with an unfounded passion.

I wrote up a little blurb on 4chan for the Chunnel. I tried to stay about as neutral on 4chan as possible. I tried to mention both the good and the bad. I know there was so much more I could say but 4chan is big enough and strange enough that you could write a series on scholarly papers on it.

Read One Piece volume 18 and as usual always fun, always funny, sometimes even laugh out loud funny which becomes a problem when riding the train. This book is mostly lead-up to the big showdown. They finally get the land of Alabasta so they don new desert outfits, we see Baroque works together, and we learn a little about Vivi’s childhood. Finally get to see Ace in action which was great! Certainly has the potential to be a favorite of mine, but I’ll wait till he shows up again to make my final judgment call. Smoker makes another appearance and will be in the next one according to the preview. Otherwise not a lot of action in this book.

I’m curious how much Narutaki will enjoy Alabasta. I know that it’s most people’s favorite part of One Piece so far. And since book 19 is next I am curious about Narutaki’s reaction to it. Those in the know know his love of Zoro and general dislike of Sanji. If one is ever going to tolerate Sanji it’s after the events of book 19. I myself have been enjoying the current arc of One Piece although I have to wonder what Eiichiro Oda has against Zoro because he sure has been beating him up recently. We were discussing it and I wonder if he is trying to give the newer crew members some more screen time by taking Zoro out of the picture for awhile.

Happy to find Chocolate Underground 5 and 6 up! Huntley and Smudger have now found the secret store of chocolate so the real story begins. This show remains fun and keeps me wanting to see the next one. Really anxious to finish this short series. And not really sure how it is going to play out or if it will even have an ending. I am wondering this because the involvement of changing the political climate, maybe there will be a rebellion? I am planning to pick up the novel it is based on as soon as possible.

I watched the first disk of Shakugan no Shana. It’s enjoyable but I think Kohaku is crazy when she tells me she thinks Shana is not tsundere. She has reasons for being tsundere but she is very clearly tsundere. Your enjoyment of Shakugan no Shana mainly comes down to how much you like Shana. I suppose you could be a Yuji Sakai fan but most people are not watching the show for him. They are watching to see Shana fight, watch Shana be bad ass, watch Shana be odd, and watch Shana be cute. I have to admit I was amused when she casually takes over the existence of a dead girl in Yuji’s class. This show also made me realize I’m becoming an old fogey who blogs too much. I keep deconstructing characters into archetypes whenever I watch shows now. I am not so jaded as to dismiss shows for using archetypes yet but is it only a matter of time before I am one of the bitter old farts of the Internet. Only time will tell.

Watched Macross Frontier 20. You win this round Sheryl fans.

Oh, you forgot to mention that apparently we were the only two monsters with unfeeling hearts that were not crying at the end of this episode. I think we were both a little disappointed with how they wrote Ranka. I know why they did it this way but it does not mean I have to like it. I hope this is not a trend because it might make me stop being a Ranka fan. I will never be a Sheryl fan but I might have to give up my Ranka love.

I was truly disappointed, I didn’t believe it would ever go down like that. And what is so funny is that it was probably the only thing they could do to make me dislike Ranka. I will give Ranka a couple of episodes to convince me that I shouldn’t turn my back. Everyone has their moments, it is about recovering from them for me.

//

Macross Frontier 13 was exactly what I wanted to see. It actually started with 12 and continued on into this one. Ranka singing and saving the world with it, Alto fighting like hell to keep her safe, secrets revealed, explosions, awesome robot fights, and a good cliffhanger! YES YES YES! Throw in some cute moments between Ranka and Alto (which they did) and I’m basically set for life. I felt as if I have been waiting for this and now my love for the series has really burst forth. I also found it funny that in original Macross I really started to love it about the same number of episodes in.

I am also pretty sure one character who “died” in this episode can’t be dead because they were just getting interesting. They went from seemingly unimportant minor side character with intriguing questions hanging around them, to major conspirator, to dead. I don’t think so. I’m usually not one to complain about the ability to kill off characters but this character was just coming into their own.

I watched a few more episodes of GaoGaiGar. It is distinctly formulaic but it is still fun. I am curious how it supposedly it goes from a by the numbers kids giant robot show to something beyond that but I’m still in the formula section. This show has made me come to the realization that giant robot shows are nothing more than magical girl shows for boys. They have many of the same tropes just in different guises. They both have similarly organized bad guy organizations; they usually have the same recycled transformation sequences; they both have recycled finishing moves; also the finishing moves is usually upgraded at the exact same rate in both types of shows.

I was really worried about not getting my Nosatsu Junkie volume 6. However, TokyoPop did not fail me. I was really pleased with this volume, there is a huge turning point and then a cliffhanger so we don’t know the results of said turning point till the next volume. We are also seeing Naka moving into the spotlight with her modeling career. This effects Umi is some interesting ways including making him jealous and making him worry about losing his top spot, but inevitably he loves Naka more. Their relationship continues to amuse me and I love watching their hilarious and sweet encounters. Can’t wait for the next volume!

I just read One Piece chapter 506 and wow did we get some major revelations. We finally learn a good deal about the capture and execution of Gold Roger. There was something that was never quite right about the whole deal and it is finally explained. One Piece has been making a good effort to get to explaining some of the mysteries of the series as of late. I know that Daryl Surat had complained that he stopped reading One Piece because he could not get over that they kept bringing up plot threads but never resolving them. I never really was too distressed at any unresolved plot threads. I never got the feeling that they would not be resolved but I can’t say I’m unhappy that they are starting to be tied up.

Read the latest chapter of NANA. I love Ai Yazawa with all my heart but I am a bit put off by the things going on in this story recently. It seems like the longer it goes on the less she knows where she is going with it. What with the forward flashes not seeming to connect with the current arc. And funnily enough that character I have been loving and care the most about currently is Reira. She is driving things to happen and she also seems to care about the people around her. I find myself wishing for a conclusion and soon. Oh and as usual I hate Yuri, FREE NOBU!

For some reason I see Narutaki flying to Japan and starting a sit in protest outside Ai Yazawa in the way one would start a free Tibet protest. That’s it for this week’s investigations! Look for a new case file every Friday!

//

The Harold and Maude Award or Favorite Classic Manga Release:
To Terra
It is so rare to get older, 70′s titles. But I feel it is even rarer to find old shojo titles,
hopefully this will be changing in the next few years. It was nice find a serious, sci-fi story that had a solid story and characters. While looking at real world issues, it doesn’t losing any of its charm coming from the fantastical elements.

Ode To Kirihito
“Ode to Kirihito is moving, tender and engrossing. Also very, very odd.”
—Neil Gaiman, author of The Sandman and Anansi Boys
If Neil Gaiman likes it, it has to be good. At 832 pages for $25 you definitely get your money’s worth with this classic Tezuka work. One of Tezuka’s more mature works, it follows the story of a doctor who contracts a disease that makes him more bestial than human. It then becomes his quest to restore his humanity and at the same time is a examination of what makes someone human.

Burn this Book or Worst Thing I Read:
Rurouni Kenshin: Voyage to the Moon
I think I was a bit spoiled because the first translated light novel I read was Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow, and it was well done. This one was either translated horribly or just not good to begin with, unfortunately I will never know. The characters seem odd in prose form; the movements were very stilted and awkward; the fight scenes were boring and matter-of-fact. There seemed to be zero that reminded me of the greatness of the manga series.

Pretty Face
“Rando struggles to be a good “big sister” to Rina as fate conspires to put him in one disastrous situation after another. When pants start coming off, and half-naked women start crawling all over him for the thinnest of reasons, Rando must use all his karate wiles to avoid being exposed as a complete weirdo. Meanwhile, will the mad Dr. Manabe succeed in his plan to remove the last remnants of Rando’s manhood…or will Rando remove Dr. Manabe’s brains with his fist? It’s 7.5 inches of manga heaven!”
-Ad copy for Pretty Face Book 2

I admit I have not read this per-say but all the ad copy for it makes it seem so very bad. It’s like the most messed up shonen romance show premise I have heard in a while. Even Boku to Kanojo no XXX and Midori Days seem sort of cute compared to Pretty Face. Maybe it’s really good but everything about it makes me not want to give it a chance.

Hot, Wet Nobu or Best News of the Year:
Death Note Movies
Death Note movies have been licensed and the third movie (all about L) is coming out in Japan! They may even get a big screen release here in the states. Really loved these two films and am anxious to watch them again and own them for myself! Also can’t wait for the new movie, surely only made because they realized too late that everyone really loved L in the series and not Light. Yay for L fan service!

ImaginAsia getting into Anime
ImaginAsia really seems to understand how to pick up and distribute older and/or niche series and actually make a profit. If anime companies are going to continue to license older series and distribute them on DVD, they just might have to do it how ImaginAsia has been doing it.

DearS Season 2 or Worst News of the Year:
Geneon closes down
Bye, bye Geneon. I for one am very sad to see you go. Especially in mid-release of some good shows! They did a quality job and picked up some beautiful, but not super marketable shows.

Okiku Furikabutte made into anime
I guess it would be too easy for me to pick Geneon’s death as well; so I’m going with Okiku Furikabutte being made into an anime. What I have seen of this show makes it seem like moe for girls. It is nothing but shota yaoi doujinshi fodder and a side order of actual baseball manga. The main character is a useless crybaby and everything seems to be designed to be eaten up by horrible Fujoshi.

Just Shut You Mouth Already or Things I Wish People Would Stop Talking About:
Nymphet Controversy
Kodomo no Jikan! It is a horrible thing but seriously what else is there to say about it that hasn’t been said yet? Could there be a week gone by where this topic isn’t broach yet again.

Why fan-subbers are saints and heroes
I know that part of the industry’s problems come from their inability and refusal to adapt to the fact that the internet changes everything; but that does not make every fan-subbing group a bunch of faultless white hats and untouchable heroes. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Fan-subbers can be cool and do a service to the American anime community but that does not forgive the bad groups that don’t follow the rules of proper fan-sub etiquette. It also does not mean that fan-subs are only good and that they don’t sometimes hurt American fans on certain levels.

Peanutbutter and Relish Sandwich or Show I Unexpectedly Liked:
Hayate the Combat Butler
Hayate no Gotoku! It just sounded kind of “eh.” But after a friend of mine described the first episode to me, I was laughing out loud, and I had to see it for myself. It’s so wacky and ridiculous that it infectiously makes you laugh. So, while it isn’t some earth scattering series that will change your life, you can bet you will have a lot of fun watching it.

Kekkaishi
I expected Kekkaishi to be a generic shonen fighting show. But I think it takes the tried and true shonen formula, then tweaks it enough to make it something that stands out from the pack. Kekkaishi’s focus on the romance while not making it overbearing is refreshing. Also every episode seems to add to the world and plot without seeming like a stall for time. Then the fact that the female character is not just a damsel in distress or eye candy. Added to them not pulling punches and killing characters. All this and more makes it a very unusual and refreshing show. Too bad no one cares.

Can You Stop Playing That Please or Favorite Opening:
“Sha la la -Ayakashi NIGHT” by Saeka Uura
This is a tough one. I really love the song in the Gundam 00opening (it is L’arc-en-Ciel afterall) and also loved the catchy tunes from Lovely Complex. But overall awesome? Guess that would have to the Kekkaishi opening. It was one of the first things that got me curious about the show, so it was good enough to draw me in. The song is really fun and since I have sought out the artist to hear more of her stuff.

“Brand New World” by D-51 (One Piece opening 6)
The opening to kick off the Ennis Lobby section of the Water 7 Arc is an upbeat and fun opening for One Piece. I think the opening really gets you pumped while really encompassing the spirit and flavor of the series. I’m just warning you that the opening is sort of filled with spoilers so if you have not finished Water 7 you might want to hold off on watching the opening.

Wowza! or Hottest Character:
The Men of Saiunkoku
The majority of the male cast from Saiunkoku. Unless they are an old guy, there isn’t a bad face to be seen in the court! And even the old guys were good looking when they were younger. Not only is this series full of historical type drama and romance it also boasts lots of eye candy!

Revy from Black Lagoon
Damn! Revy would probably kill you as soon as you look at her, but who cares? She is HOT. She is a very competent mercenary and the way she handles herself just makes me think that she is a goddess drenched in a gown of blood. She is also built like a brickhouse and that never hurts. In a time of moe, she is the antithesis of helpless and under-aged; she is a breath of fresh air. Or more like a breath of smoky spent shells and cigarettes.

All Those Sacrificed Goats Were Worth Something or Best License Announcement:
NANA TV
NANA TV series. PERIOD. Awesome story, awesome characters, awesome music. My only really complaint about the series is it doesn’t finish the story since it is an ongoing manga. But it was a delight seeing my favorite characters moving and to hear the music. Any music series is obviously made better by having an anime counterpart.

Honey and Clover
Even though I have mixed feelings about the ending of Honey and Clover, it is an excellent josei manga and a well done anime. We get so little josei in the U.S. that any of it is welcome. Very well done josei is even better. I really want this show to have a vocal fan-base because the more diversity there is in the U.S. market the better it is for fans in general. Hagu is love.

The Micky Rooney of Manga or Best Short Manga:
Penguin Revolution
I actually wish more series were in the 5 to 7 book range. I am always anxious for a storyteller to tell their story, in a complete fashion, but then to move on to the next great story! I want to say Penguin Revolution, but it hasn’t finished in the U.S. yet and I haven’t read the last 3 books (out of its 7). But I really like the story thus far, combining hilarious capers with a bit of mysticism and romance. Her other series Land of the Blindfolded, also released in the U.S., was along these lines but the mysticism was more prominent.

Wanted!
Wanted! is a collection of short stories by Eiichiro Oda. These were written before he started One Piece. There are 5 different stories including the second version of Romance Dawn that was the prototype for One Piece. It’s an interesting look into how his style and storytelling has developed. You can also see that Oda takes certain aspects and characters from his earlier works that later incorporates them into One Piece.

Sometimes Shipping From Japan is Worth It or Favorite Piece of Merchandise:
Bandai’s Athrun Zala 1/8 figure
My brand-new Athrun Zala 1/8 figure. It is all mine! MINE! The loveliness of his face made only better by his perfect pose. Okay, maybe I’m bias.

Max Factories’ Fate/Zero 1/8 Saber
It’s Saber. She is wearing a Suit. She has an awesome sword. If you don’t like that then I’m not sure we can be friends.

Here is My Room Key or Favorite Convention Guest:
Tomokazu Seki
Tomokazu Seki who was at Otakon was so great! He did so many voices and gladly did special parts from the series for the audience. He was super kind and gracious. I almost injured myself getting his autograph and after I go it he even said something that I requested! He was all around an awesome dude who also happens to always be voicing characters I love.

Katsushi Ota
If nothing else, it’s a sure sign that we are one step closer to getting Kinoko Nasu as a guest at a U.S. anime convention. He seemed a likable guy and to be an interesting, well articulated guest. The fact that he gave me two book of DDD just because I was was a big fan was really gracious. And that he took my picture and promised to pass it on to Nasu made my day. I really hope Faust does well here in the U.S.

Mr. John Holmes Award or Best Packaging:
Beck Box Set
It would have to be BECK. The box for the DVDs looks like a mini-amp! It has some weight to it and the top of the amp opens to put the DVDs in. I just love it. It also came with stickers and all the DVDs come with guitar picks. How fun and appropriate. I don’t buy boxes much anymore unless they have some unique feature and this definitely has that.

Saiunkoku’s box set case
It’s a classy little box for a very classy show. It is shaped like a jewelry box and it has a ornate red ribbon on the front. I like how it folds open and has the fan-like disk sleeves. It also just looks very nice on a self or a desk. I’m not sure I would buy a box like this for every series I pick up, but it seems very right for this series. It’s a shame that Saiunkoku is in limbo right now. If anyone else picks up the series, I would probably still put them in this box.

Spewing Milk Out of my Nose or Funniest Manga:
Nosatsu Junkie
Nosatsu Junkie is definitely a shojo romance but it is surpassed by its hilarity. Between the dual personalities of Umi, our male lead, and the serial killer expression that our main character makes whenever she tries to smile and look cute, it is a laugh a minute.

Nodame Cantabile
Nodame is such a fun character that she could be in any manga and just make it funnier. Combine her with Chiaki and it makes comedy gold. They play off each other very well. The best part of Nodame is the characters are real enough that you feel that they could be actual people you could meet. I guess in part that comes from Nodame actually being based on a real person. I’m sure that Narutaki will agree with this assessment almost as if it seemed that parts of Nodame were based on parts of his life.

I know there haven’t been many articles this month. But with the end of the semester, holidays, and whatnot it just wasn’t possible. Next year will be a whole other story! Look forward to it.