Category: Anime

Urusei Yatsura Movie 1: Only You

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I did not start out as a hardcore anime fan. For many years I would casually rent some anime at video store or get the occasional fan-sub tape from Chinatown. But it was not until I really got into Ranma 1/2 in college that I invested myself in fandom at the next level. I began to actively research anime and stated to look into Rumiko Takahashi in specific. I found that much of the inspiration for Ranma 1/2 came from her earlier series Urusei Yatsura and the character of Ryuunosuke Fujinami‎. But while there were informative fans sites about the series the anime was hard to find beyond the second movie. But when Animeigo started releasing the series on DVD is became much easier for me to buy and watch. I had watched Beautiful Dreamer several times but I was hungry for the other movies. When Animeigo released the movies in a box set (minus Beautiful Dreamer which was still a Central Park Media release) I preordered them to finally see what I had been missing. The first movie I saw was very different from Beautiful Dreamer but equally special.

In conjunction with Beautiful Dreamer (Urusei Yatsura movie 2), Only You was my introduction to this massive franchise a great many years ago. And while looking at it now I surely didn’t know the details, I still fell in love with the oddball cast and their hilarious antics. And luckily since Urusei Yatsura proper doesn’t exactly have a deep and intricate plot, these movies are just another crazy enjoyable ride.

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Carnival Phantasm #002: Nobody Loves Ciel

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Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

I am continuing my Carnival Phantasm articles with Shance on his Rainbowsphere blog. Shance and I will examine each of the episodes of the first season of the show and maybe give some insight to the references for casual Type-Moon fans who can’t name off each of the characters in the Nasuverse with known reality marbles and what they do. The second episode is fun at the beach with Shiki’s innocence on the line. Actually considering his relationship with Jinan Tokie maybe the contestants are too late.

Carnival Phantasm 2: Gal Undo

Ongoing Investigations: Case #137

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I finished up Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6, with volume 7-17, over the course of this week. When I got into the meat of the story the chapters just flew by. At first I thought that Jolyne and company would break out of prison fairly quickly but in all actuality they spend a good deal of time inside the big house. Of course with any prison story you must have a big break out and as with any Jojo’s story post part 2 it means there will be a stand battle. Oddly enough Jolyne’s escape is more Memento than The Great Escape. The most surprising part of this arc is who lives and who dies in this part of the series. Jojo’s is pretty good at not flinching when it comes to killing characters. Heroes and villains die with equal ease. After Hirohiko Araki kills the protagonist after part 1 you assume all bets are off but Stone Ocean takes it to a new level. You have to give it to Enrico Pucci for being the most credible villains since Dio (not than anyone has come off as a pushover before then). Foo Fighters has easily become my favorite character in the series so far. Jojo’s is a series with some very strange characters but Foo Fighters is near the top of the list. She is great fun and another awesome supporting character in a line of greats for the series. This is a grand and glorious ending the what can be seen as a complete cycle of the series. After this part the universe is literally different and completely new doors have opened up for story possibilities. I did have some revelations about the series after this part and might just do a Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure survival guide article filled with tips on how to survive in the Jojo’s universe by being genre savvy.

I’ve been enjoying Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth (eps. 2-7) probably for its setting more than anything else. But still it has small enjoyable moments as bits of French culture are revealed through Yune’s experience. I wasn’t expecting a wacky princess character like Alice to show up, but probably more intriguing is her sister Camille. Her connection with Claude has yet to be fully realized but I’m very curious. Doubly so because I expected there would be a romance in the works between Claude and Yune but that may prove false.

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