Category: Projects

Contest + Happy 2nd Birthday, Reverse Thieves!

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Year number two. I am impressed that we made it this far. It is hardly the most momentous anniversary. I am certainly going to save the major theatrics for atleast the 5 year anniversary.  Still I’m majorly overjoyed that we have made it this far. We have had a lot of major changes over 2008 and 2009. We started the Ongoing Investigations, which I like a lot. We shook up the current look of the site well. I know Narutaki wants to change to look of the site again but I don’t think he is in a major rush. We started participating on Twitter. This has not only grown interest in the blog but I have met a good deal of cool people thought it, too. We are steadily gaining more of a readership but I don’t think we will ever be cool enough to be in the top 10 anime blogs. On the other hand, as long as we continue we will always have a steady readership who likes what we bring to the table. We are also just getting better at doing the blog all the time. Back in the day it was many times a rush to get articles up on time. Now we have a good stockpile in advance. The fact that Narutaki can take a vacation and nothing appears to change is a major success. We also have a clearer voice and a better vision of what we want to do. The blog is a piece of art that is in constant revision. I am curious what we will add this year. I am personally hoping for more Saber and Galaxy Angel.

Happy birthday, us! Maybe two years is still a baby in blog years but it sure feels like an accomplishment to me. I have no intentions of stopping here. I have worked through anime burn out, writer’s block, sleep deprivation, and sickness. I am committed to this and the best part is I enjoy it! There have certainly been big changes over the year. I think the biggest has been our consistency of putting out blog posts, the schedule is really strict these days! Also we have stepped up to the plate and pursed events as press. We have even conducted some interviews! We conducted our first giveaway contest on the blog (and this is the second one!) We’ve also added guest writers, who appear infrequently, but always have something fun to add to the mix. Gosh, thinking on it now so much has happened, so many words have been written, and so much has been watched/read that it’s almost dizzying looking back! And by the way, I’m not planning on the changing the blog look anytime soon. As a designer I think I always play with the idea but I am pretty happy with the format at the moment even if I do have fits of creativity. I have no idea what is in store for the coming year, perhaps I just haven’t thought it over too much. Hopefully there are more toys!

CONTEST

The best part of any birthday party is presents! So we are giving you, our awesome readers, a chance to get some excellent gifts. We are giving away 3 prize packages all you have to do is e-mail us (reversethieves@gmail.com) your answer to this simple scenario:

You are a world famous thief, what was the caper that made you famous? Who is the rival that is always trying to foil your plans?

Entries are due by Sunday, July 5th. The winners will be announced on Friday, July 10th.

This contest has ended.

Ongoing Investigations: Case #047

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At first it seemed like Cross Game was more of the same from Mitsuru Adachi. Its initial similarities to Touch are quite easy to notice. They are both about boys who start with little interest in baseball and have a change of heart after the death of a loved one. After reading seeing a good deal of Cross Game they are very different shows. Tatsuya and Minami from Touch have a very different dynamic than Ko and Aoba on top of being very different characters overall. Cross Game shows that Adachi has not lost any magic as a manga-ka who blends dramatic romance with sports manga action. His characters are fun and play off each other well and he knows how to stage a scene for dramatic impact. So far we have not really seen anyone play a full game of baseball. Adachi is setting up the characters so that we care about Ko and his team winning before they play their first game. I like how Ko has become the secondary teams secret weapon. It leads to a good mixture of comedy and suspense as they try to keep his amazing pitching skill a secret. So far Cross Game is still on track as a good show to keep your eye on especially if you like shonen romance.

Vertical had mentioned the Shinjuku Shark books a couple of times at conventions and piqued my interest. After all, a detective story is what we have an affinity for around here! So the self-titled first book finally got a look see by both of us. The Shinjuku Shark strikes fear in all that know him and in many that don’t. He is somewhat of a rogue cop who the brass can’t stand. He has no partner to speak of as he prowls the streets of Shinjuku with little fear of the Yakuza and other gang types. While Samejima (The Shark) certainly has a hard-boiled feel, he is humanized through his relationships and by him actually having moments of fear when going up against the villains in these stories. Also after learning a little of his past in the force as well as the reason he has been permanently relegated to the Shinjuku streets he quickly becomes a character you want to follow. Some other notable people are Yabu the weapons expert on staff and Samejima’s boss Momoi who is nicknamed The Cadaver because of his stellar personality. Both of these guys help Samejima out once and a while, so you know not everyone is against him. They make a great team and certainly made me want to see them appear more. One of the things that struck me was some of the coincidences in this book. We aren’t looking at a small pool of suspects, we are talking about an entire city, but it is relatively obvious who is behind things about half way through. Also the final intended victim was rather convenient. However, if I accept these things the story has some well-paced and suspenseful moments.

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Experiment: Building Master Grade, IKU!

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Narutaki and I are currently on a Gundam kick. We recently watch original Mobile Suit Gundam, the original Gundam movies, the Seed Gundam movies, and Gundam 00. I watched Turn A Gundam and Gundam X. We both plan to watch the original Gundam OAVs, Zeta Gundam, and Char’s Counter Attack as well. So with all this Gundam in our systems it is only logical that we also indulge in the other great pastime of Gundam fans.

No, not arguing about the finer details of the Gundam time line, discussing mobile suit specs, or trying to be Char.

We decided to build Gundam models. Narutaki has built about a dozen or so High Grade models and I had only done one high grade kit before our current experiment. After watching Turn A Gundam I decided to throw caution and purchase a Master Grade Turn A Gundam. At the same time I picked up a Master Grade version of Char’s Zaku II for Narutaki. Neither of us had decided to take the plunge for master grade kits but our Gundam mania could only be satisfied with a true challenge.

This venture was made even more memorable by it being interrupted by a mighty flood. We started our kits one evening and left everything as it was for the next day of building. Then it happened. I awoke at 7AM to find the boiler room with a couple of inches of water in it. This of course seeped into my apartment. At that point I don’t remember the details just frantic moving of things all over the place. There was then a large gap of time between the beginning of this project and the end. Amazingly no parts were lost. Though some of my work was ripped apart and had to be redone. Still we prevailed!

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