Tag: Twin Spica

Ongoing Investigations: Case #152

2 Comments

I thought it appropriate to make Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence (movie 15) my first anime of 2012 and it set the year off right! In this case Conan takes on a bomber looking to destroy a dam but there is a lot more to this mystery in the small snowy town Kitanosawa whose residents have many secrets. The film starts off with a flashback many years in the past of a young boy being chased and falling down the mountain side. We then move to present day where Conan must first stop a threat to the Governor of Tokyo and a train bomb that leads them to Niigata Prefecture. We learn that the town of Kitanosawa was relocated five years prior when the dam building took place and it was not popular with many of the residents. The setting plays a major role in the film as it is small and fairly isolated and we have the added attraction of snow and all the dangers that come with it. We meet a group of childhood friends with a lot of complications between them and that boy on the mountain top, don’t count him out yet. Since there are multiple mysteries going on it keeps you guessing in good form. There isn’t too much romance in this film which is a nice break and I really enjoyed the friendship that The Detective Boys kindred with the injured boy from the mountain. This movie loves to push the limits of Conan’s skateboard from having him go upside down in a tunnel to its transformation into a snowboard which he uses to create an avalanche in the final tense climax. This in a very enjoyable addition to the franchise making me feel as if they are on a roll with the Conan movies!

I finally got to reading Twin Spica six through ten when I borrowed them from Narutaki. As I stated when I made this the manga of the month the story mixes the best of science fictions hopeful dreams of progress with the draw of excellent human drama. And it has not dropped off in the least. Although it is a story about space the main focus is the characters, their interactions, and their growth. We learn that everyone has at least one major secret that they are keeping from everyone. Some are huge, some are bizarre, some are very personal, and one is all three. But no matter how wacky anyone’s secret is Kou Yaginuma makes sure that it has an appropriate emotional gravitas. And so powerful moments are still effective. Marika Ukita’s angry loneliness,  Shu Suzuki’s carefree facade, Kei Oumi’s blitzkrieging energy, and even Asumi Kamogawa’s melancholy earnestness will always carefully play with your heart and mind without ever feeling manipulative. There is at least one story in each book that will make your earnestly well up with emotion while still having a light mood that prevents you from feeling emotionally blogged down. I am glad to see everyone is still growing. Marika Ukita clearly has had the most obvious arc of growth but everyone is moving forward at their own pace. I will say that chapter 10 ended rather unexpectedly for me. I thought something like that might happen but not at that point in the story. With only two books left to go this is a great time to start the series if you have not picked it up.

Continue reading →

Ongoing Investigations: Case #151

Leave a comment

I am making my way through Twilight of the Golden Witch, the final chapter of Umineko no Naku Koro ni. As I am still not done I will save my final review for the chapter and the series as a whole for a later date but I do think there is one major fact about the game worth mentioning. When this game was first released the reaction was divisive to say the least. Going mostly on spoilers it seems that there was a very vocal community of people who felt that Ryukishi07 shot the pooch with the ending. I may or not be related but it has taken quite awhile for the English patch of the game to come out. Purposefully or not this might be for the best. It has given people (including myself) sometime to distance themselves from that initial reaction and judge the ending on its own merits outside of the initial hype for the ending and then the backlash when the ending was finally revealed. So far I am enjoying it with some time to divorce myself from the initial reactions. A prime example is the Professor Layton style puzzle section is nowhere near as horrible as it first sounded. It has some of the most powerful scenes if you get the puzzles right. It gives a little insight into how everyone in the family was still a human despite the many horrible things they had done. That is thematically important given how I think they are building up this ending. It does not shy away from the terrible things they have done but if you think anyone there is a complete monster than it makes the ending somewhat disingenuous. I look forward to reading the ending and weighing on the series as a whole now. I think I would have been far more brutal if I did not have some time away from the series. This really shows the benefit of some time away from the gut reaction of a community.

After talking about Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 1000% in my year in review, I decided I’d better watch some more! I watched up through episode 7 which is a good half way point before everyone goes to idol summer camp (oh yes!) and decides on their partners for their final exams. Each episode has focused on one of the guys who through Haruka’s positive attitude helps each feel more confident/find his voice/etc. Of course she isn’t able to melt the frozen heart of Tokiya upon first try but we do learn quite a bit about him and a few secrets are revealed. He gets a lot more attention for the obvious reason that he is the “true path” more than likely in the original game. It continues to be a far-fetched fantasy that knows it. Also the headmaster may appear infrequent but remains entertaining as Norio Wakamoto lends his voice to the bizarre antics. I’m hoping that perhaps they will focus on Haruka’s roommate in an episode but that may be unlikely in a show like this.

Continue reading →

Manga of the Month: Twin Spica

3 Comments

Twin Spica (ふたつのスピカ) by Kou Yaginuma

UCHUU KITAAAAA (It’s space time)! While that is the catch phrase for Kamen Rider Fourze it could also double as the motto for Twin Spica. In a time when older anime and manga fans longingly pine for the days when every other anime title seemed to be science fiction related it is nice to see a series that deals with space exploration and science. But it is not a dry examination of the politics and mechanics of space travel but those topics come it. It is a very personal story of one girl’s wish to travel among the stars and the trials and tribulations she must go through to realize her dream.

The flight of the Lion was supposed to be a triumph for the Japanese space program as they launched their first manned space flight. But an accident causes the Lion to crash into a city causing countless casualties that creates an unimaginable stigma on space travel.  Years later Asumi Kamogawa wishes to become an astronaut despite the many ways that the Lion disaster has effected her life. She is guided by a mysterious ghost named Mr. Lion who is obviously connected to the crash years ago. But Asumi Kamogawa’s goal is not a simple one. She is not the most ideal candidate physically plus there are many other students who want a place on the next spaceflight but there are only a handful of seats available. On top of that there are many people who just don’t want to see any more time, money, and commitment placed into space travel and will do anything to make sure further flights do not take place. Can Asumi become an astronaut with the deck stacked against her at the same time that all her friends are also her rivals?

The true power of Twin Spica is the fact that it is a soft series that hits as hard as a manly series. The story has a laid back pace that drifts back and forth between the present and the past as the characters must deal with obstacles in both the present and the past to get closer to their dreams at a slow but deliberate pace. But when climaxes come they hit with a powerful punch of majesty and emotional intensity. The series carefully avoids doing into the realm of melodrama that would make it cheesy but retains a sense of optimistic hopefulness balanced with wistful melancholy. All of Asumi friends have their motivations, secrets, and fears that simultaneously bring them closer together and yet keep them apart. It makes for a some complex and mature relationships for the characters. I know some of the supernatural elements of Mr. Lion turn off those who need pure hard sci-fi pumped into their veins but anyone who wants a good story and is not a science fiction purist will see the wonderful story underneath.  Twin Spica is a touching story that embraces the dreams of exploration, the joys of scientific discovery, and beauty of personal triumph over adversity. To me that is what some of the best sci-fi does and this is a wonderful example of that.