Category: Editorials

The November 2013 Line-Up

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narutaki_icon_4040 A rather mixed bag this month with a little bit of everything celebrate in each category. I was excited to see a little more information come out regarding the next Detective Conan movie.

hisui_icon_4040 I still say Six God Combination God Mars is the oddest title here. But good to see Space Dandy is on track to be HUGE. Hopefully it will live up to expectations.

The Line-Up is a monthly rundown of newly licensed in the U.S., newly streaming in the U.S., crowdfunding projects, and newly announced anime and manga projects.

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The Speakeasy #047: Witches’ Brew, Crunchyroll & Kodansha Manga Project

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Drink #047: Witches’ Brew
Crunchyroll & Kodansha Manga Project

It was a red-letter day when Kodansha USA announced its partnership with Crunchyroll to launch a manga streaming section along side CR’s popular anime site through a subscription model. With a dozen titles available upon launch and a totally of 50 promised by mid-2014, everyone was ready to dive in to the new project including us. We spent the month using and reading manga on CR so we have praise and problems to address as well as our long request list of manga to be added.

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

Witches’ Brew

  • 1 package of lime gelatin
  • 2 cups boiling water
  • 3 cups chilled pineapple juice
  • 2 liter bottle of Sprite or ginger ale
  • 2 cups of vodka

Put gelatin into a large bowl. Stir in the water until the gelatin is dissolved. Once the gelatin is completely dissolved, pour in the other ingredients. Let it cool to room temperature and you’re ready to serve.

 

Ramba Ral: The Man, The Myth, The Mustache

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(This post contains spoilers for
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin)

narutaki_icon_4040 Truly anytime would be good to talk about Captain Ramba Ral, but we felt particularly compelled recently. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin collected vol. 3 retells his story in glorious detail. Gundam Build Fighters features Ral in parody as a Gunpla enthusiast and mentor. And to top it all off it is “Movember,” certainly Ral’s moustache is worth celebrating during this time!

hisui_icon_4040 “This is no Zaku Boy! No Zaku!”

Without a doubt that is Ramba Ral’s most famous catch phrase. But if that meme was all there was to him he would not be the iconic character he is today. While there is always a Char clone in almost every Gundam TV series after the original Ramba Ral has lesser but still rather pervasive legacy. We see characters like Andrew Waltfeld, Suberoa Zinnerman, and Sergei Smirnov in the franchise trying to capture some of that lightening in a bottle that was the original. A likeable enemy commander who forms a bond with the protagonist which makes their later confrontation all the more painful and dramatic. Characters who echo like this through the ages always come from primally powerful personalities that stay with audiences when they go on to make their own projectors.

Ramba Ral is one of those characters who ingrains himself onto your psyche.

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