Year: 2009

Ongoing Investigations: Case #044

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On free comic book day I picked up the Viz sample of Ultimo along with a few other things. Even with just half a chapter I can honestly say don’t bother with this series. The writing is really lame and also exceedingly annoying as it likes to tell you what is happening. Dear Hiroyuki Takei, this is a manga. That means there are pictures to tell me what is going on! You do not need to also write what is happening in little boxes all over the place. Also Ultimo is a boy? I swear I see boobs on this character design. This sample made me say “Who cares!” Which is a shame because I only read a bit of Shaman King, but I found it enjoyable enough.

I finally got my hands on Emma volume 8. The story proper of Emma has ended in book 7. The next three books are all side stories of various characters. Since Emma is one of those stories with delightful secondary characters this is a more than welcome prospect. The side stories jump around in time so we will get a little story about Kelly Stowner and her husband years before the original story and then jump ahead to look at how life has been treating characters like Eleanor and Tasha. The stories are just as charming as the main story so I was generally very pleased. I really liked The Times which we get a peek at various characters as we see how they are all connected by something as random and ubiquitous as the newspaper.  I will admit that they don’t really add anything to the main story but that is largely unimportant. One of the strengths of Emma was its wonderful depiction of Victorian England. As long as the stories remain as well written and heartwarming I look froward to the next two books as well.

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Brooklyn Botanic Gardens: Sakura Matsuri 2009

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The rain, cherry blossoms, and tears can all fall with infectious joy or breathtaking sadness. The Sakura Matsuri was held at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens on Saturday and Sunday. Every year around this time they have a collection of Japanese performances and lectures on a wide range of Japanese arts in the background of the falling cherry blossoms. You get a wide variety including: dance, music, poetry, and artistic botany. The crowd is also very diverse. I saw families, couples, friends, young people, old people, otaku, and hipsters. There were many people in cosplay but they hardly overwhelmed the normal patrons nor were they ever disruptive on the day that I went. I am curious if it was any better or worse on Saturday.

Most everyone I know went on Saturday and I went Sunday. This meant that Sunday was a solitary journey which lends a different feel to the proceedings. For some reason the whole day brought to my mind the 71st episode of Urusei Yatsura, Shinobu’s Cinderella Story because of the constant rain. I half expected to get drawn into an adventure of romance and danger. But that just goes to show what an odd person I am in the end. Plus I always like to picture myself as Shinobu. Maybe because we have similar personalities. Maybe I just want the ability to hurl tanks when upset. Still all the cherry blossom trees were in full bloom and you often saw blossoms littering the air and walkways. Although a popular activity was people shaking the trees to get the rain of petals effect. It was definitely a good weekend to capture the proper ambiance of Sakura Matsuri.

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Japan Society: KRAZY! The Delirious World of Anime + Manga + Video Games Exhibit

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An exhibition highlighting parts of Japanese popular culture is not to be overlooked. Though going in I didn’t really know what to expect or how much there would be to see. Just knowing that all these pieces that have influenced not only each other but popular culture in Japan and abroad makes quite an impression. This is going on til mid June so we figured if you haven’t seen it yet maybe you will after this!

I like anime, manga, and video games so this exhibit seemed right up my alley. I usually go into exhibits like these with guarded expectations. You never know when the person who put together the exhibit is an expert on the subject or someone who is catering to demand in the market. I was also a little worried because all three subjects are interconnected but very different. With an exhibit like this I want to get something out of it. I want to either learn something new or gain some greater insight about something I already knew about.

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