Category: Podcasts

Ongoing Investigations: Case #068

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Last Saturday morning I resurrected an old tradition, completely by accident, I started the day by watching some Pokemon. Though it wasn’t a brand new TV episode but rather the latest movie, Arceus and the Jewel of Life. The movie starts with a mini-montage to help if you aren’t familiar with the concept then it delves straight into legendary dragon Pokemon and the fate of the human race. A new, and very angry, Pokemon named Arceus appears looking for the Jewel of Life that was wrongfully kept from him hundreds of years prior. This sets off a chain of events as Ash and company are sent back in time to see just what had occurred and how to make things right. Thanks to this we get to see a very different and ancient world where Pokemon were more like slaves or servants than partners to humans. While the situation sounds dire, it isn’t always apparent in the film just how powerful Arceus actually is, it isn’t even very clear that he is supposed to be the creator of the universe. There are also little in the way of battles going on. However, there are all the other things one has come to expect, a share of cute moments, kid-friendly (but obvious) plot twists, and a climatic scene where Ash and Pikachu just scrape by. So while it was nothing spectacular it was still an entertaining jaunt!

I went to the Boom Boom Satellites show at the Santos Party House. It was a free show and I was interested in them after they did two different openings for Xam’d. There were two bands before them. The first was ultimately forgettable except for the fact that the bassist had the most inappropriate Tom Selleck mustache. The second guy seemed to be trying to accidentally invent hip hop except for the fact that will all know that Councilman 8 already did that. The show itself was about 4 songs with an encore which was a good sized set for a multi-band show. They did not play any of their anime songs as far as I could tell but it was not that sort of show. They have a heavy aggressive beat with heavy drums and Masayuki Nakano was playing with electron devices for music almost as much as he was playing the base. Their lyrics can be sort of repetitive but overall there songs were high energy, catchy, and enjoyable. Apparently my roommate and several other people were at the show but I never ran into anyone else.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #054

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This week your lovely writers were on the Ani-Gamers podcast! Okay, so we did the podcast a while ago but it is just now up. We discuss Otakon 2009, I know our con report was just not enough for you readers so you should listen to this, too! There is also an appearance by the ever elusive Kohaku and travel buddies Ogiue Maniax and VamptVo (obviously since he runs the podcast). Don’t forget to listen till the very last second for a special treat!

Tanpenshu 1 and 2 are a collection of short stories by Hiroki Endo. Endo also writes Eden: It’s an Endless World! which I very much enjoy so I was curious to see his some of his other projects. All the stories in Tanpenshu have the same component parts that make Eden. On the other hand they are all their own stories with their own feel so it’s not like your reading endless variations on one story. We have everything from modern day stories about yakuza, to sci-fi sex stories, to an autobiographical story. All the tales, even when they are comedies, tend to have an adult feeling mixed with a deep melancholy. When he decides to make his story dark they can be as dark as pitch. Because You’re Definitely a Cute Girl is is clear example of that. Platform was my favorite with a very twisted but powerful story. Hang mostly seemed to be very awkward sex scenes with a sci-fi twist. Maybe I am just dense and did not get why it was trying to say but it just seemed gratuitous to me. No matter what all of his stories will stay with you after you read them. The art has a distinctly seinen feel that often can be quite detailed and breathtaking. These are a great buy if you are already a fan of Hiroki Endo but also a great place to test the waters and see if you like him.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #042

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I eagerly finished the last volume (book 7) of Penguin Revolution. The final scenario in this book is a little over the top, but not out of tune with the rest of the story. Most of the revelations came in the couple of volumes before this so we get a lot of forward motion here. Both Ryo and Aya push themselves to out do the other on the stage and of course their internal battle over Yukari continues. Ryo realizes he has a romantic rival when he finally recognizes his own feelings. I would have liked the ending to be more concrete but it was still a happy one. Highly recommended as is anything by Sakura Tsukaba! I can’t say enough about her ability to meld romance and comedy with a little supernatural. I hope CMX releases whatever she decides to do next, would also love to see a collection of her one shots!

My theme this week is OVAs. I guess I will cheat by starting with the Haruhi ONAs. There are two Haruhi ONA series, Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya and Nyoron Churuya-san. I generally find the Haruhi-chan shorts amusing. The episodes remind me of the type of humor you would see in a comedy doujishi. Nothing in the series has had me on the floor laughing but so far all the episodes have brought a smile to my face. I find it interesting that they made Yuki a total visual novel otaku in this series. While it is funny, it makes me wonder if there is any basis for this in the novels. Speaking of Yuki the mini Ryoko Asakura that is staying at her apartment brings up the odd Japanese fascination with making miniature version of characters for omake. A great trivia question would be who was the first character to be portrayed in this fashion. Nyoron Churuya-san on the other hand is just bizarre. It is best summed up as Everyone Hates Churuya-san. It is  the story of a cheese-loving, super-deformed Tsuruya going around and being ignored or abused by everyone in these extremely non-sequitur sequences. It has very dry humor which I usually like, but not this time. Their ideal release would be as DVD extras on a boxset of the second series of Haruhi.

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