Category: Manga

Manga of the Month: Take Moon

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Take Moon (テイクムーン) by Eri Takenashi

With Carnival Phantasm just wrapping up I decided I might as well spotlight it’s origin. Take Moon was a little comedy anthology that Eri Takenashi of Kannagi fame wrote while she was still at Type-Moon (not that she fully left as she is doing the character designs for Girl’s Work.) It took the mostly serious characters from Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night and puts them in utterly comedic situations to play out their personalities in as exaggerated manner as possible. So Arcueid goes from eccentric vampire to am undead blonde airhead while Saber is portrayed less as a hungry young swordswoman and more as a bottomless pit. But it is all done in a loving manner. It has the lighthearted feel and spirit of fandom present in an amateur doujinshi with the polish of a professional manga. The first book is all Tsukihime characters where as the second book add in skits from Fate/Stay Night. You can tell that Eri Takenashi has a bit off a soft spot for Arcueid and Ciel but almost everyone gets a turn in the spotlight. Even Hanei Misawa and Bazett Fraga McRemitz get some screen time.

I will warn readers that the manga has two major barriers. The first is it assumes that you know the Nasuverse characters inside and out. No real effort is made to introduce the characters or their worlds. Eri Takenashi not only assumes you have played all the Type-Moon games but that you also know the fandom in-jokes surrounding the games. You don’t just have to know who Kohaku is but know her mad scientist persona that she has gained outside of the main games. The second barrier is the fact there is no official English release and the second volume has never been fan scanned. I think it would be neat if someone picked it Take Moon considering the increased interest due to Carnival Phantasm and its short length but I am not holding my breath.

Speaking of Carnival Phantasm the instant question is, “If I watched Carnival Phantasm is there any reason for me to read Take Moon?” The answer is of course. While some of the stories are pretty much a direct interpretation most of the stories have been modified. The anime adds in characters that were introduced after Take Moon was written like Riesbyfe Stridberg or Red Saber but throws some characters like Arihiko Inui and Zouken Matou from main character roles to minor cameos. Heck the whole Phantasmoon skits from the anime are based on one page of a longer and very different Phantasmoon story in the original manga. Both have stories unique to their iteration as well. I mean if nothing else you don’t want to miss out on the Mystic Eyes of Breast Enlargement. It is a delightful little piece of fun for fans of Type-Moon and Eri Takenashi alike.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #150

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UN-GO is one of the few shows of the season I have finished up. It is a very odd mystery show kind of in the vein of Demon Detective Neuro where the answers come from both deduction and supernatural means making them rather impossible beyond just guessing. It also has a bizarre sense of humor, too. The cases keep getting stranger as the show goes on bringing future technology like AIs into the mix as well further complicating any and all cases. The detective team of Shinjuro and Inga and later Kazamori combine with the tag along Rie make for an eclectic mix of talents and personalities. Shinjuro is a good lead detective that I came to really like, he has the observation skills but does use Inga a bit too much though the reasoning for that is more obvious later on. I like the last two cases a lot but truly they are more about experiencing the atmosphere. In fact, I am incredibly interested in the world surrounding these things like the seemingly militaristic Japan, there is a lot of world to explore but sadly there isn’t much time to do so before the end. Sadly there probably won’t be anymore either with the exception of the 0 episode (which I think will give us Shinjiro’s backstory) since only incredibly popular Noitamina shows get sequels. UN-GO is based on a novel but again sadly I won’t be able to read it either.

I finished UN-GO and I still don’t have a firm grasp on if I liked it or not. I will say that I do not regret watching it. It was unusual enough that it made the experience worthwhile. Sort of like the latest BBC Sherlock the series takes the post WWII mysteries of Ango Sakaguchi and puts them in a future setting. This odd juxtaposition gives the show a unique vibe of old and new. At the same time as I mentioned in my last look at the show it is also a clear example of why Knox wrote his rules of mysteries in the first place. Inga’s powers always make the mysteries feel unusual and sometimes the solutions feel unearned. The episode with the movie set was undoubtedly the most surreal episodes of the series. At times the show felt a bit strange but these episodes take that feeling to an entirely new level. The last three episodes distinctly feel like the end of a season but not the end of a story. There is the movie I have yet to see but that is just a prequel. I have to wonder if they hoped that this would do well enough to get a second season or did they just not want to put a cap on Ango Sakaguchi’s stories even if it is a heavily modified version of those stories. I can’t say everyone will like this show. It can be a very easy show to dislike. But it is worth checking out just to see if you like it as there is little else out there like UN-GO.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #149

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I had been waiting to watch Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven is a Place on Earth since it was announced last year. So when it finally come with the latest volume of the manga I was thrilled to watch it. The movie much like the rest of Hayate is a pleasant and warm helping of comfort food. Heaven is a Place on Earth is a nice little story set right after Natsu-comi and the arrival of Kayura Tsurugino but before the beginning of the next semester. It perfectly captures the feeling of being out in the country during summer vacation. The story focuses on the Hayate/Nagi relationship so I am of course totally behind it. But there is a Hinagiku bath scene so all the fans of the pink student council president will be satisfied. The best part of the movie is it feels like a nice minor arc in the manga. While it is a bit surreal at points it feels like it was taken from the source. Too often these little spin-off movies miss any of that spark that make you love the manga but this one captures that je ne sais quoi perfectly. The oddest thing about the movie is it came out BEFORE Kayura was introduced in the manga but the movie makes no real attempt to introduce her. It goes along like she has always been a part of the cast. At this point it is clear who she is but I am sure there were many a Hayate fan trying to figure out who this strange new girl was. Kayura cosplays as Saber in the movie so she is 1000% OK with me though. I will also say that I cannot deny the appeal of Maria with twin tails in a summer dress. This movie is probably not going to win over anyone who is not already a Hayate fan. They don’t make an effort to introduce you to the plot other than showing some newly animated clips from the first episode during the opening song. Oh Ruka does not take part in the main plot but she sings a song and says a few lines of dialog during the movie’s opening. So if she appears in the 3rd season she now officially has a voice actress. I am now just waiting to watch it again when they release the extended cut on the Blu-Ray.

I went to see Arthur Christmas mostly thanks to an article about its production which also alerted me to the fact that Aardman Animations (of Wallace and Gromit fame) made the film with Sony. It really was everything it should have been: a delightful Christmas adventure with plenty of humor and holiday magic plus top-notch animation. It is the story of the one present Santa forgets to deliver on Christmas Eve which causes endless trouble for everyone. Arthur, youngest son of Santa, along with Grand-Santa take up the mission. Arthur isn’t the successor to the Santa mantle. Oh, he has plenty of enthusiasm but he is also absent-minded, clumsy, and afraid of just about everything; still he has a true heart that inspires everyone in true movie fashion. It even gets a little meta at points as Arthur realizes that Santa isn’t a person, it doesn’t matter who delivers the present, Santa is an idea and a feeling. One of the highlights to the animation production is just how Santa does deliveries which is very high-tech nowadays as they attempt to explain the ways in which it is all accomplished using military precision, thousands of highly trained elves, GPS, and a “sleigh” that functions much more as a space ship with the ability to camouflage itself in many ways. But the olden ways must be dusted off and put to use to fix the gift mistake. It has that classic bridging of multiple generations as a key element along with the realization that we each have a place in the world. While the story has some bumps, I didn’t understand how worrying helped Arthur get to the sleigh or why wrapping the burglar alarm did anything at all, it was a holiday film that left me in good spirits!

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