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Ongoing Investigations: Case #026

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Seduce Me After the Show is an earlier BL anthology by est em. You may remember me reviewing her collection Red Blinds the Foolish a couple of week ago. While I think her style and storytelling has matured since Seduce Me After the Show was published, there are still some gems in it. Largest of which is the title piece about an unexpected romance between a dancer on hiatus and a famous actor while both working in Hollywood. It is a memorable piece with strokes of humor and friendship enhanced by passion. It is also worth mentioning that it is the only story with sex in it. There is a two part story that comes off as odd till you get the gimmick at the end but they add little to the overall feel of the collection. The other stories involve all number of creative talents like panting and music. All of these things tie in with the characters just as much as their romances which gives them a fuller feel. They do not begin and end in these stories. Her artwork and storytelling continue to impress me as well as stretch what I expect to read in a BL anthology. A preview of the book is also available.

I decided to catch up on Berserk for Christmas so I read 21 through 26. I finished the conviction arc and I assume mostly finished what I shall call the Witch’s Forest Arc. We see Guts reunited with Casca. We learn that, scarily enough, Farnese aka fire-toucher-girl is even more messed up.  We see Guts’ little party slowly coming together with the addition of Schierke the little witch girl. We see the dark rebirth of Griffith and the new Band of the Hawk. Guts also obtains the Berserk armor which I assume gives the manga its name. Berserk is never quick to get anywhere but it never seems slow when you read it. They really need to get Casca out of the regressed state and fast but I know that is not going to happen. Schierke is a fine addition to the cast although I don’t like her as much as Pixiv does but that is because I’m not a pedo. And in surprising news she is attracted to Guts. Oh and according to The Anime Roundtable Podcast Berserk has gone on hiatus for a very important reason: Kentaro Miura has to beat THE iDOLM@STER. Really? ARRRG!

I watched the first disc of Steam Detectives. I felt the pacing in some episodes could use work but overall fun to see the characters and stories animated. They did a good job of blending humor and mystery, some episodes have more than others. Like anything involving Machine Baron who is a machine otaku. In one of the episodes he infiltrates the Detective Agency under the guise of a reporter but really he just wants to spend time with Goriki, the giant robot. There is also a lot of music in the series, I like all of it but I wouldn’t say it is always used appropriately.

I watched all of Kannagi just to see what all the hullabaloo was about. I did not think much about it when it first came out but then people started talking about it in a lot of major blogs. It seemed like a funny harem show which means I would not object to watching it but I was in no rush to watch it either. Then there was the whole fuss over the main heroine possibly not being a virgin. That set me off something fierce. This is some really sad stuff otaku. You can’t accept a girl that has known the touch of man other than yourself. Most otaku should be glad women would talk to them let alone sleep with the no matter how many men, women, animals, and/or inanimate objects they might have slept with before them. Otaku are taking this moe purity bullshit way to far. Then the woman who writes Kannagi fell ill and went to the hospital. I’m not sure if she was really sick or it was the standard manga cover story for when a manga-ka needs time off but they can’t say the actual reason. Either way I blame the damn otaku. When I learned that the author, Eri Takenashi used to work for Type-Moon well that sent me over the edge. I will hunt you down moe fanatics and watch you burn like a California King. But enough about me hating people, what did I think of the show? Kannagi is an enjoyable little magical girlfriend show. It is nothing remarkable but it is entertaining and amusing. It is trying to appeal to an otaku audience with a good amount of references and use of anime troupes. Jin is at least a semi-interesting shonen romance lead character with a likable personality and artistic skill you could understand why women would be attracted to him. Nagi is amusing when bizarre, adorable when she is enthusiastic, but annoying when she is in princess mode. I actually like the long suffering Tsugumi quite a bit more but Nagi overall comes up enjoyable, too. I  consider myself a Jin x Tsugumi fan despite the fact that pair is pretty much 100:1. Zange is annoying but she never shows up enough for me to really hate her. The Art club members are all amusing and usually show up as much as Zange so I am happy. Daitetsu should get more episodes devoted just to him. I was amused that the school considers Jin a bi-sexual man whore after certain events. If you enjoy shonen romance I would watch Kannagi just to piss off moe purity people.

I started reading the Brave Story novel, have you ever seen that thing? I read fantasy novels but its girth is pretty impressive. So far so good, just had some setting up of the characters. I like the main little boy Wataru, he is a bit odd but generally smart. The translation seems solid without any clunkyness so that always helps. Looking forward to reading more and giving a better description of what is going on. A mysterious transfer student has shown up!

The Manzai Comics starts with tall, dark-haired Takashi Akimoto asking the short, light-haired Ayumu Seta to go out with him hand in hand. What seems like a confession of love turns out to be a request to form a Manzai comedy duo. Or is it really both? Seta is obsessed with being normal after a fight with his father over being weird inadvertently leads to the death of his father and sister. Takashi on the other hand is 100% sure that the only partner for his Manzai comedy duo is Seta and does not seem to be able to take no for an answer. Soon Takashi volunteers himself and Seta to turn the class project of Romeo and Juliet for the school festival into a Manzai version of the play. This entails Seta crossdressing as Juliet. Seta being so cute has all the girls in the class supporting this plan immediately. The Manzai Comics was entertaining and the Manzai twist is unusual. It’s not enough to win over anyone who wouldn’t read such a comic or for fans of just Manzai. The art is good but not spectacular. I did find it interesting that the author gives most of the main characters hair cuts I am not used to see on manga characters. The main characters were likable but Seta whines a bit much but never enough to make me dislike him. I liked the Class officer Kotomi the best out of the cast. She was cute and had some distinct spunk to her. People also have a habit of pouring intimate details of their lives but I would much rather have that than endless circles of people withholding details and not asking questions that should have been asked long ago. The Manzai Comics is cute little buddy story with a shonen-ai layer. Aurora publishing has a preview up, too!

Ringing in the new year and these are the pics of the week:

Ongoing Investigations: Case #025

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Hitohira is an really enjoyable ongoing manga series by Izumi Kirihara. I read book one and two and third comes out in February. Mugi is an ultra-shy, high school freshman who gets roped into joining the drama club which is in desperate need of new members to remain active. The drama club president sees hidden potential in Mugi and her powerful, beautiful voice despite her having no interest in acting. She is technically joining the drama research club because there is already an active rival drama club at the school. Mugi has to struggle with her self-doubt which makes her want to leave the club against verses her want to be friends with the members. There is also a blossoming romance between Mugi and Kai, the other freshman club member. The comedy, the drama, and the romance are all low-key which makes the series quite realistic. Even the wacky characters are mostly within the bounds of realistically wacky. I might have liked the series a little more simply due to the fact that I can see a good deal of myself in Mugi. I have found myself saying many of the things she says. Word for word. Either I am a flat human being or Mugi is a well-written character. This manga is proof that something good can come out of Comic High!. Luckily there are previews for the first and second books online. Oh, there is also a 12 episode anime by Xebec M2 which I have yet to see.

I finished I Shall Never Return, a short 5 book BL series. Ken is, among other things, selling his body to anyone who’ll take him at the beginning of the story which stems from his desperate longing for childhood friend Ritsuro. Ritsuro is a good student, a considerate son and brother, and a good-looking guy. Their relationship as more than friends starts off rather oddly as we find out Ken is continually stealing Ritsuro’s girlfriends just to get his attention. However, the story quickly moves to them fully exploring their feelings for each other and the many bumps in road of Ken’s bad past, Ritsuro’s insecurities, and deciding on their futures. The amount of sex is frequent, though less so in later volumes, and semi-graphic but no full-monty to be seen. The art is well done, however people will note the early 90’s style of it. It isn’t a distraction and at most gives you a chuckle from time to time about certain characters’ clothing choices. I Shall Never Return plants itself firmly in the melodramatic romance sector early on with the classic bad boy/good girl (or in this case, guy) scenario. And while we know the idea is that a good guy can change a bad boy, it isn’t left up to interpretation as Risturo boldly declares aloud he will change Ken! The first two volumes are more shallow drama to lead to sex but it becomes increasingly more engaging after that. We get to really see the hardships of growing up, letting go, and attempting to understand another person. This all does lead us to happy and hopeful for the future ending. Take a look for  yourself as Aurora publishing puts of previews of each volume (1,2,3,4,5).

I had seen the Shikabane Hime anime and had found it very plain but Ask John kept saying how much more he liked the manga it was based on. I felt that the concept had potential and so I started to read the manga to see if it was different enough for me to get into it. I read the first 5 chapters and I have to say that John was quite correct. The anime and the manga are two very different animals that are only the same in premise and starting points of the characters. Makina is sort of the stereotypical action girl but an enjoyable one so far. She is obviously the protagonist in the manga with her taking down corpses with duel machine guns frequently. Keisei, the priest, shows up fairly often. Keisei’s younger brother, Ougi, so far has been nothing more than a minor character but it has been hinted he will be more important as the series goes on. The anime seems to try to make Ougi a more main character from the beginning which diminished Makina awesomeness in what I saw of the anime.

I watched Strait Jacket which reminded me greatly of 90’s OVAs. This was just fine by me since I was basically going in wanting some violence and explosions and not much else. Though it actually didn’t have enough action as I would have thought it would. They give us a brief rundown at the beginning of how tactical sorcerers came to be and the state of the current world with demons and terrorism. Leiot is a rogue tactical sorcerer on the wrong side of the law and completely infamous for it. When a dangerous situation threatens the city Tristan asks him to intervene despite his status. She then proceeds to become a thorn in his side for the rest of the show. He also has a weird side kick and a rival tactical sorcerer who of course he has to team up with at some point. The show is nothing spectacular but certainly not anything to moan over.

They have finally gotten back to putting Kara no Kyoukai on DVD. Movie number four is Void Shrine and mostly acts as a transitory piece between the past and the present of Kara no Kyoukai. It begins just a few minutes after the end of the second movie. We see how Shiki deals with the loss of her other personality and how she comes into the employ of Toko Aozaki. The movie is as well-animated and directed as the other three so far. Being a transitory piece it feels a little lighter than the others but it was still enjoyable. It continues the slow building up to the major fight scene at the end while having little action before hand. If this were not seven movies long I was be 100% sure some one would license it in the U.S. Anime companies usually like flashy theatrical movies with a philosophical bent while still containing supernatural action. Will the Type Moon price tag keep this from getting licensed in this harsh economic time?

Finished The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I liked it. It was good.

Tis the season so that is why this is the pic of the week:

Ongoing Investigations: Case #023

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Has anyone played the original Higurashi sound novel? I am curious what the fan-service levels are in the games. I ask this because I don’t remember the Higurashi anime being the fan service bonanza that the manga or the art books are. They really like the semi to fully lesbian fan-service shots in the artbooks. It’s like they were drawn by male fujoshi. Despite the abundance of fan-service in the Higurashi manga it is a pretty faithful adaptation. Yen Press went all out with color pages in the front and middle. The manga has yet to even give me close to the chill that anime did but it is still enjoyable. However, I don’t think it’s going to win any new fans to the franchise.

So I sort of did the Gurren Lagann suggestion made by our friends in their review, which was to watch the last 7 episodes and not worry about the rest. Well, I had already watched the first 9 but I did skip the next 12 and watched the end. I was entertained by its ridiculousness and was also able to grow fond of a couple of characters in that short span at the end. It goes full-throttle giant robot as robots start hurling entire universes. As for why I decided to skip so much, that would be a major spoiler. However, I can say that there is a missing piece of the puzzle and the show for me was incomplete without it. My overall feeling was the show was good, whereas the first 8 episodes were great. It was hilarity to the max.

I enjoyed Gurren Lagann for what is was, an over the top giant robot show about believing in courage and guts. I enjoyed it more than Boxingoctopus and Lothos because that is all the expectations I went into the show with. Therefore I never felt let down. I for one enjoyed the middle part of the series although not as much as the beginning or the end. Certain parts of Gurren Lagann seem like Gainax’s response to Evangelion. Simon is like Shinji Ikari in both of them spiral into the abyss but Simon is able to rise out of it where as one of the major points of Evangelion is Shinji’s inability to connect to others and find a way out. I can’t say for sure if it’s partially reactionary to their older work or it is less intentional and more the natural comparison by viewers despite any active agenda. I also really liked the very Japanese concept of circular belief. Circular belief being the idea that there is someone who you believe in that believes in you when you can’t do that yourself. I suppose I have always wanted someone like that myself. I also think the fact that Simon and Nia grew on me helped a considerable bit. They would never ever be as cool as Kamina or Yoko but then again who could be that cool.

Read Nightmare Inspector volumes 2 and 3, I am glad to see this series establishing little bit of a running narrative along with giving Hiruko and Mizuki some backstory. Though I just makes me want to know more since we’ve only gotten crumbs. They have also introduced a humorous tenant who moves into one of the rooms on the upper floor of the tea house. He isn’t in it too much so the somber and melancholic feel of the series stays in tact but he does throw a little spice in the mix now and then. This manga-ka always puts in some funny bonus stuff including a song written by Hiruko about how much he loves soda.

I have been playing Chrono Trigger for the DS. It stands up well in retrospect. The game play is solid, the story is still fresh, the amount of little changes you can make on the plot are still well done. Playing this reminded me of a conversation with my brother about Final Fantasy 7. We were discussing how flat characters in RPGs are today but they were even flatter back in the day. You were more willing to fill in the blanks in your mind back then. I remember the characters of Chrono Trigger being much deeper than they actually are. They aren’t bad characters if they were I would have never remembered them so well. It’s just the amount I had to fill in from what was implied had become actual fact. Still it’s great to be able to go back and play this again now only it’s portable. If I had a PSP I would be sorely tempted to play an emulated Chrono Cross on it like David Riley is going to do. Even though the prevailing logic is Chrono Cross is the devil’s spawn by most fans.

Finished the xxxHOLiC novel AnotherHOLiC. I have to say putting the first story in FAUST was a good move, not only did it make me interested in the novel but it was also the better story of the three and it doesn’t require me to know about the manga. The second story seemed too similar to the first, but also easier to figure out. And since those stories were back to back it made me wonder where Watanuki’s brain was. As for the third and final story, since I haven’t read the manga it didn’t help establish anything about Watanuki for me. I didn’t really understand his reasoning. Oh and the other guy in the story was super annoying.

I assumed this story happens early in the xxxHOLiC storyline but I can’t say for sure. Although it is never outright stated, one of the reasons Watanuki works at the store is Yuko is training him either as a her student or her outright successor. So it seems like the part of the story where she is no longer by his side on jobs but he has still not learned enough that she has taken of his training wheels. I thought that the first two stories bookend each other well enough so that they made a point when the third story came along. I just hated hated hated the eye theory guy in the last story. NISIOISIN is talented at making original characters that are annoying jackasses. This is not a compliment. He a good writer but he has to start cutting back on shrill, nasty characters in his work.

I made an entry for the Anime News Network 2008 Holiday Logo Contest. This is my first year entering. I had some extra time before my vacation so I thought, why not?

The best way to cap off Reverse Thieves completion of Gurren Lagann is with a piece of Gurren Lagann fan art: