RE: The Bygone Greatness of Zelda

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I read a very well written article about the first Zelda game and how the subsequent games in the franchise measured up (spoilers: they don’t, at least according to the article). The article ebbs and flows as far as my agreement with it. At times I felt myself nodding along but then he would push the idea too far and I was taken aback. Tevis has many solid points, but stripping everything back down to the model of the first game doesn’t strike me as a good idea even if it were possible.

I’m not going to lie, I think the best of Zelda games is pretty much when others do: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, plus Wind Waker. I thought the Oracle games were a good throwback (except the Goron dancing which may have been made by the devil himself). So I guess I’d agree the best Zelda games are in the past, just not so far back as he goes. I think all of these games had great ideas but perhaps at times they have been pushed too far in one direction. I’m playing Spirit Tracks now and haven’t played Skyward Sword yet besides a demo so I can’t weigh in on his assertion that Skyward is the lowest point yet. But it is easy to sit down and see they’ve changed but that somehow it has all been for the worst, I can’t get on board.

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Keeping Abreast of Chihayafuru

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Chihayafuru is an unusual little sports anime. Competitive Karuta is a very Japanese game steeped in Japanese culture. Unlike Go it is not a game that has no language barriers. Even Shogi or Mahjong can be learned without learning Japanese despite their pieces having Japanese characters on them. Karuta not only requires being able to read and speak Japanese but being able to do so at a level that you can react instantly that make it unplayable by anyone who is not fluent in the language. But this is not the only thing that makes Chihayafuru so exotic. The fact that it is sport manga from a josei manga makes it even more unusual. As a manga written for adult women it treats certain subjects differently than your stereotypical boys sports show. Chihaya Ayase as a female protagonist is treated very differently just because she is from a josei manga. Almost all the reviews of the series has mentioned this fact. But there is one aspect of Chihayafuru being from a josei source that I have not seen anyone talk about and that is how Chihayafuru deals with breasts.

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The Speakeasy #026: Pucker Up, Love in the Most Unexpected Places

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Drink #026: Pucker Up,
Love in the Most Unexpected Places

For our after Valentine’s Day podcast we decided to go with a twist on the normal February topic. While we look at relationships in anime, we examine couples in series where they are not the key focus. There is often romance in all genres of anime and we look at some of our favorites. A bit of warning in the fact that to speak about most of these relationships we have to spoil some of the series we talk about. Therefore be warned that we discuss BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad, Spirited Away, Cardcaptor Sakura, Planetes, Hayate the Combat Butler, Here is Greenwood, Crest of the Stars, and Princess Tutu in part 1. And in Part 2 we discuss Gundam SEED, Eureka Seven, Gundam X, Turn A Gundam, The Vision of Escaflowne, RahXephon, and Macross series. We ask the audience many questions so feel free to answer them in the comments.

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

Drink

  • 1 oz lemon vodka
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1 candy lemonhead
  • 1 tsp sugar

Preparation:

Wet the rim of the 2-oz shot glass with lemon juice and put sugar around the rim. Pour lemon juice in the glass with the vodka. Next drop a Lemonhead candy in and wait a few seconds. Lick the sugar around the rim, shoot the shot down fast. Don`t swallow the Lemonhead, but instead suck on it after swallowing the shot.