Month: June 2012

Manga of the Month: The Story of Saiunkoku

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The Story of Saiunkoku (彩雲国物語) by Kairi Yura

Saiunkoku is about a kingdom and a romance, sounds simple enough, but it is anything but. The story while focusing on Shuurei is really about telling us the tale of an entire country’s nobles, peasants, conspiracies, politics, triumphs, woes, romances and even some supernatural forces.

Shuurei is a smart, hard-working, but poor noble princess who is brought to court in the hopes of helping the new emperor. She not only forms a close relationship with Ryuki the emperor, but also many others in his circle. Shuurei at first glance seems to be a too-perfect-nice-girl type but that quickly dissolves as you get into the meat of the story. She is extremely intelligent, on par with her male peers, and shows little intimidation in the many political situations.

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The Secret Origin of Reverse Thieves: Aniblog Tourney

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Bribery! It is more than just the lubricant that makes bureaucracy function.

As it was eloquently stated in Freakonomics the study of incentives and how to influence people’s decisions is a fascinating science. Everything we do is determined by which decision will give us the greatest overall payoff. And in that spirit, I pledge that every round we win will present our readers with a more fabulous Aniblog Tourney post. By making it to round three you have unlocked the previously untold story of the formation of the Reverse Thieves Detective Agency complete with original artwork. Just imagine what wonders await you if we can make it even farther.

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Reverse Thieves: Case File #000
A Woman named Hisui. A Detective named Narutaki. A Dance named Danger.

It is a mater of public record that the Reverse Thieves anime blog began in July of 2007 with a post about MangaPods (an idea that thankfully never really went anywhere). But if you had told anyone a year before the first post that the world’s cleverest detective and the underworld’s sliest thief would work together they would have laughed in your face. But in 2012 you could not imagine a world where that was not the case. The question is how did these two seemingly incompatible forces of nature come together. Today we learn the secret history of one of the greatest duos in the anime blogosphere since Kamina and Simon teamed up to write that blog together. (I hear something happened to Kamina so that he had to stop writing.)

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All Points Bulletin: I Wag My Finger at Deadpool

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If you have any suggestions for what to highlight on an APB drop us a line via email or Twitter.

Hisui’s picks:

  • There are no limits on MST3K
    Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett add a little commentary to some choice video game cut scenes and a clip from Mega Man cartoon. It works pretty well all in all. Worth mentioning they look at THE Sonic 06 scene. You know the one. There can only be one I am talking about.
    Also a little MST3K extra for anyone.
  • Food Glorious Food
    Manga Out Loud is a triple threat with a look at what the hosts are reading, a banquet of food manga, and a look at doing Americans doing manga. Actually it is more of an examination of what the heck does it even mean when anyone says they are Americans doing manga and the economic realities of the such.
  • The Figure that Index Fan Really Want
    That is not just more Railgun.
  • Hunger is the Best Sauce
    Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch’s American release has been pushed back to January 22, 2013. But it is worth waiting for a Level-5 game with animation done by Studio Ghibli,
  • Type-Moon News Roundup

Narutaki’s picks:

  • New York Comic-Con Changes
    So they finally decided to do what they should have all along, fold NYAF fully into NYCC and remove the dual names. Starting this year NYAF no longer exists. This seems in line with their hopes to become the SDCC of the East coast. There were also talks about the Javits being demolished in favor of a new convention complex in Queens, but those plans have been put to rest! Personally, I’m much more in favor of continuing construction on Javits and expanding it upwards. 
  • I Think I’ll Start Watching Phineas and Furb Now
    If you are seeking from sci-fi check out . . . Disney Channel? This is a pretty convincing article, not that I really had anything against the series in the first place.
  • Toy Story 2 VS. RM*
    This tale is unbelievable! Told in simple animation is the true story of how Toy Story 2’s final cut was almost deleted.
  • Girls Like Avengers For Story and Hot Guys
    This article is dead on. A lot of women feel like in order to be taken seriously you have to eliminate the idea that attraction is any part of your enjoyment for a comic or movie.
  • Mr. Brothers Goes To Fanime
    I always enjoy hearing about first time con experiences, in this case David is plenty familiar with comic conventions but Fanime is new territory. It is really interesting to hear his take on things that most of us don’t bat our eyes at anymore like fan-subs being shown or people wearing Nazi uniforms.
  • If X-Men Was on Disney XD
    I love these designs, they really look like they’d fit in next to Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. And besides, the X-Men cartoon of the 90’s was a huge influence on a new generation of fans, I’d like to see a new show do that again.

I ship this: