Year: 2009

Manga of the Month: August

2 Comments

Maid Sama by Hiro Fujiwara

Don’t let the title deter you, just about anyone can find something to love about Maid Sama. Ayuzawa is the president of her mostly male, and out of control, class which she rules with an iron fist, but after school she makes extra cash working at a maid cafe. Usui the leader of the boys discovers her secret causing mayhem, blackmail, and a bevy of other insane things to occur. What makes this great to read is that the Fujiwara doesn’t take it seriously, it is over the top all the time and pokes fun at itself. Usui is just too awesome for the human race, practically being a mary sue with all of his abilities. He is a super bad-ass fighter, he is a world class chess player, he can cook up a storm, he is incredibly good-looking, he leaps off the school roof and has nary a scratch, and he has the inexplicable ability to show up at just the right moments. By the way you will discover all that and more about him in just two volumes! A major thing that keeps this manga fun is that Ayuzawa is strong, stubborn, and able to take take of business. While Usui definitely catches her off guard in the love department, in the rest of the world she is a force to be reckoned with so there is this constant battle of who has the upper hand. Maid Sama is a delight to read and will have you throwing your hands up at its ridiculous antics. Sometimes you need a shojo manga that is cranked up to 11. This is that manga.

Hitohira by Izumi Kirihara

My favorite joke from the TV show Just Shoot Me was, “I would do my self-confidence exercises but I know they would never work.” That is part of the reason I really like Hitohira so much. It is a very good look at what a person with low self-esteem is like. It is also a positive story of how someone with low self-esteem can get out of the downward spiral of depression and grow into someone stronger.

Mugi Asai is immediately scouted by Nono Ichinose, the president of the Drama Research Club, after she is accepted to Kumataka Art Academy. She and Kai Nishida are essentially shanghaied into joining the club. Nono’s goal is to take the enormous amount of raw potential she sees in Mugi and shape her into the talent that Nono knows she can be. The major obstacle is that Mugi must realize she has the potential to grow before anything can change. Mugi also soon learns that there is a proper drama club also at the school and whose goal seems to be to shut down the Drama Research Club.

Aurora Publishing does not seem to be doing so great so I wanted to bring a little attention to one of their best titles. Hitohira is an excellent blend of intense drama, subtle romance, and light-hearted comedy. The characters are all delightful and easy to empathize with. I really felt a strong connection to Mugi and constantly cheer her on throughout the series. I have said and done so many of the things she has done so her story seems so very real. The story is very good at pushing all my emotional buttons without being manipulative or saccharine. The soft tones of the art add to this overall mood of the manga. This is a wonderfully warm series that I feel everyone should check out. 

Ongoing Investigations: Case #052

Leave a comment

So I finally got around to building my Char Action Base over the weekend. I was quite surprised that it was in any way complex, I expected to just open up the package and be good to go. Not so. This is probably for maximum customability, there were more stickers in this kit than I think there were in the actual Zaku II Master Grade I built! Both stands can be put in many different positions as well as be lengthened and shortened easily. They are very thick so sturdiness seems in tact though trying to put the Zaku II at a 90 degree angle proved too much for it. In any case, the construction was rather quick and then came the ability to make Char’s Zaku look like it is flying through space! Watch out!

I don’t think that The Battle of Genryu: Origin is a bad manga though I am not sure it is a good one either. Our main character Jinnosuke has an unusual condition. Most of the time he is a normal clumsily high school student but every so often he get amazing bursts of athletic skill. We comes to find he has tremendous martial arts skill that lies dormant thanks to his family’s hypnotism. Jinnosuke’s older brother, Soichiro comes back determined to awaken this sleeping powerhouse. The fighting is fine and entertaining but not spectacular. Shoko Fukaki tends to use a lot of speed lines and the rest of the art work is serviceable but not outstanding. Jinnosuke is happy go lucky normally but his personality with the power is utterly ruthless. That dynamic is what will make or break this manga, but it is hard to tell which direction it is leaning here. I was somewhat saddened that even though Fusano, Jinnosuke’s girlfriend, is also a martial artist, she is really the utterly weak sauce love interest girl. The first book mostly set up Jinnosuke’s situation so how exactly the whole series is going to play out has yet to be determined so it’s hard to make a definitive statement. However, it’s not a series that is going to win over non-fighting manga fans but people who like martial arts might want to see how it develops.

Continue reading →

Otakon 2009

6 Comments

otakon, program

If you have never been to Otakon, let me just say that it is like a whirlwind of anime, manga, costumes, music, fans, panels, guests, and friends. You are practically going non-stop from the moment you touch down in Baltimore. Maybe it is just the way my mind works, but it seemed to be ten-fold this year! The amount of things seen and done in just one day sound almost impossible. I distinctly remember some of us talking on Friday night about how things done that morning felt days in the past rather than just hours before. But I’m not complaining, I call Otakon the highlight of the summer for a reason! This year only went on to prove that statement further.

Otakon came and went in an amazing and thrilling blur. I remember the highlights but the details even a few days later are still sort of fuzzy in my head. So in many ways this con report is just as much for me as it is for anyone reading it. This is my chance to sort out what I felt and what I did in my own mind because there was just so much information to process. I was almost always doing something. In fact, I wore myself out so much there was two or three times I just had to stop and nap or get food even if it meant missing out on something awesome. At first I was worried that there were not going to be any Japanese guests worth talking about but in the last few weeks before the con they pulled some great guests out at the last second and turned my perception of how great this was going to be right around.

otakon, badges

Friday
No Means No, Defense against Fanboys and Fangirls panel
Know Your Creators panel
Yutaka Yamamoto panel
Mobile Suit Gundam: Celebrating 30 Years panel
Anime Recruitment
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: History’s Future panel
Mecha Appreciation panel
Opening Ceremonies
Kikuko Inoue panel
I Can’t Believe You Haven’t Seen This!
MELL concert
Guess the Melons 18+ panel

Saturday
Gundam Model Building workshop
Funimation panel
MELL press conference
Maruyama, Ishiguro, Kikukawa, Matsubara press conference
Anime and Manga Studies panel
From Kenshiro to Kenshin: The Neo-Shonen Revolution panel
Fred Schodt panel
Fred Schodt autograph session
Return of the Anime Old Timers? panel
Otaku TV panel
The Problem with Otaku panel
Review Anime the Right Way panel

Sunday
 Without Watching the Anime: Opening & Ending Themes panel
Hidenori Matsubara panel
Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, with Fred Schodt panel
Naomi Tamura concert

otakon crew 2009

Narutak, Kohaku, and I all met up at my apartment. The anticipation was practically visible! Before we left I got an early birthday present of some very choice pencil boards, one of manga art Hayate No Gotoku and a cute Gakuen Kino one. We fortunately got a ride to the MegaBus pick up in front of Penn Station. I must agree with Mike Dent, MegaBus rocks! I will never ride a Greyhound again unless forced to. The free WiFi was awesome and the ride was smooth and clean. We took over the back of the bus where we pretty much had a pre-Otakon party. The Baltimore public transportation was a little slower than we had first anticipate but we arrived at our hotel by about 6:30PM. Here we encountered the first and only real major problem of the convention: the Radisson overbooked the con rooms. They tried to throw us into a super small single when we had booked a double. Thankfully Narutaki is a master of getting what he needs and they eventually gave us a bigger room.

megabus

If you saw the amount of stuff being lugged to Otakon, you would think we were moving there. Heck, at the very least you would have thought everyone was a cosplayer bringing gear, but no. However to be fair, when I say we, I mean 9 people and also a lot of it was free stuff for our panels and food that was quickly eaten up. I wouldn’t say I was nervous about MegaBus, I had done some research, but a new experience is always a little worrisome in these cases. Though really with so many friends along, a misstep can easily turn into an adventure! Luckily we didn’t have to prove that rule as the bus was great, well-organized, and on time. While the bus stop is certainly far out from the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, the price tipped my hand and everyone seemed satisfied. I was a bit miffed at the Radisson because they have served me so well in the past. In the end, things turned out fine once a larger room was acquired, remember: calm persistence! I will just mention that I use quite a bit of the tips in our Con Survival guide and they serve me quite well.

Continue reading →