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wJun 11, 2010 | |
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Upon watching the first 2 episodes of Hetalia: Axis Powers.... This is what people have been excited about for the last couple of years? Seriously, what the hell? Watch it streaming at Funimation.com! Labels: anime, anime: hetalia axis powers scribbled mystickeeper at 6:49 PM 
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wMay 12, 2010 | |
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About That For those who don't follow anime/manga news as it relates to the U.S., distribution companies have been tanking for the last couple of years. Geneon, Central Park Media, and ADV went out of business. It came to most people as a shock when the powerhouse TokyoPop slashed both its title list and its staff members. In the last couple of days, it's been reported that Go! Comi has let its website lapse and is out of business, and that Viz has had to cut its staff a lot, too. It sucked when Viz stopped putting out issues of Shojo Beat (containing manga written for women) and only ran Shonen Jump ("for boys") monthly. But budgets matter, and it was the first inkling. I didn't read a lot of stuff by Go! Comi, but I enjoyed their releases of Her Majesty's Dog and Cantarella. It's sad to me that these companies are going out of business, as it will ultimately limit the diversity of titles available in English. On the Internet, there seems like a lot of things are he-said, she-said. Many fans and commentators seem to blame the digital distribution of fan-made translations ("scanlations"), but I've never seen proof to support these claims. For example, I would never spend money on anime DVDs unless I had already seen the series first. I might buy a manga volume I've never read before, but only if I've heard a lot about it from other people who have. Etc. I'd like to be able to better support companies like Viz, Funimation, Right Stuf, Del Rey, and Yen Press. Other than making my own purchases (which to me is a very obvious way), maybe the best way to ensure that these companies can continue running and producing great products is to make more of our friends into people who consume in these two forms of media, rather than constantly pointing fingers.scribbled mystickeeper at 11:30 PM
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wApr 4, 2010 | |
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Easter Easter Vigil at any Abbey is pretty sweet. Not only was the homily superb (the abilities of a priest as a homilist will pretty much make/break him, in my esteem of him), BUT THERE WAS A GIANT TORCH TO LIGHT THE EASTER CANDLE. Seriously, that pole had to be 20 feet long, and there were GIANT FLAMES that made me fearful most especially when the dude tried to get the thing through the doorway. Easter Vigil: arguably the most bad-ass mass of the year (except for that one time at Pentecost when we purposely lit the baptismal font on fire). On a more serious note, I really appreciated the homily. Easter is not just about butterflies and cute bunnies and candy. It means a lot because of the suffering that comes before it, because of the seriousness required by Lent. It's kind of the time of year to screw your head on straight, and then Easter comes and floods your heart with light, and you realize that Spring is here. A discussion on whether 'The Hunger Games' was cribbed from the Japanese novel/movie 'Battle Royale.' People have pointed out the similarities in general premise to me before, but the argument made here lays out a series of incredibly specific things that happen in both. An interesting read, even if it doesn't convince you. The Onion's AV Club had a nice article about A Room of One's Own, on its 35th anniversary. I think that fan-made crafts like these are really cool. In addition to creations focused on by the OTW (fanfiction, fanart, fanvids), I think that crafts are really neat, too. I've been collecting lots of paper cut-outs of various fandoms, along with a few extra Buffy comics. I'd like to make my own, even though I'm not totally skilled in the realm of craft-making. With everyone lying about what's actually in the Health Care bill, I found this Washington Post link useful: Answer 4 questions and find out what the Health Care bill means for you. Also, really liked this Buffy Season 8 vid. DO NOT CLICK UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE TWO MOST RECENT ISSUES OF S8. For serious. Help Out Your Fellow Fan! --were_duck seeks recommendations for the WisCon Vid Show. Specifically, she'd like some AMV recs, as she's generally unfamiliar. --meganbmoore seeks old school shoujo anime. Bonus if you can tell her how to get a hold of it, :D --littlebutfierce both recommends and seeks more baseball anime. Labels: a: collins suzanne, anime, catholicism, comics: buffy, easter, fandom, the internet knows all, vids, work scribbled mystickeeper at 11:21 AM
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wMar 28, 2010 | |
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Sunday Points of Interest --Viz editor Pancha Diaz shares thoughts on Ooku, after it won the Tiptree Award. --A site with neat Sailor Moon fanart! [Yes, I am still on my Sailor Moon kick. Expect a post on Season R in the near future.] --Legally Blonde and How It is Awesome --30 Rock Meta! Which explains some of the complicated feelings I also have toward 30 Rock. (The conclusion being....I love Liz Lemon! Most of the time.) --Dear Manga, You are Broken. I'm not sure if I agree with *everything* here (for example, aren't manga prices in the U.S. similar to those in Japan? There is only so much that a publisher can do, although I agree that prices can be expensive. I am very grateful that the place I live has a pretty healthy used-book market that includes manga. At any rate, it is a pretty inclusive summary of issues in the world of manga publishing, whether you are an outsider to the fandom or not. I just made it through the first disc of Spice & Wolf from Netflix, which contains episodes 1-7. I didn't expect to like this series because I was afraid it would be a bit moe. However, it is so not. I love it so much! A merchant and a wolf-god of the harvest travel together in a European-ish world. It is about economics and Autumn and what it means for people to lose faith. Also, apples. I love the ending sequence. The lyrics are pretty non-sensical, but it makes me want to sing along: I want to dance with the peanut butterflies! For a more sensible preview, read Labels: anime, anime: sailor moon, anime: spice and wolf, fandom, manga, manga: ooku, manga: sailor moon, tv: 30 rock scribbled mystickeeper at 11:08 AM
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wFeb 25, 2010 | |
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Sailor Moon, Season 1 I am no stranger to Sailor Moon, although this is the first time I'm attempting to write about the show in any great detail. I collected the manga in volumes as it was released by MIXX/Tokyopop. Sailor Moon was my first anime, although I didn't grow up watching it on TV when I was a little kid. My best friend showed me the R movie when I was a freshman in high school, and at that time, SuperS was airing on TV after school. My Sailor Moon history is pretty extensive, but it's also an extensive fandom. --I have read and reread the entire manga many, many times. --I have seen S and SuperS (seasons 3 and 4) a fair number of times in English dub, S once in sub. --I have seen the entire live-action series. This is the first time I've seen Season 1; my goal is to watch the rest of the series, and then I might try watching fansubbed copies of the Myus (Sailor Moon live-action stage musicals). When dubbed and edited for American broadcast, DiC made a lot of alterations that changed the tone of the show. I feel that this is best shown (concisely) by the different opening sequences. The Japanese OP focuses a lot on duality (Sailor Moon v. Usagi), and is very flowery and twirly. The American OP focuses on action, speeds up a lot of the animation, and adds gaudy frames and electric guitar. [Note that the Japanese Season 1 gets a new OP after Jupiter and Venus join the team.] Japanese opening: American opening: I really like Serena's voice in the first few episodes of the dub, before they change it. She actually sounds like a 14-year-old girl. After about 20 episodes, Serena's best friend Molly (before she met the other Sailor Senshi) accidentally falls in love with one of the enemy! Serena tries to tell her not to love Nephlite, but Molly doesn't listen. She knows that deep down inside, he has a good soul. Too bad that in the English dub, Nephlite sounds like a total pedophile, and her trying to save him just ends up being confusing and WTF. "MOLLY, HE'S EVIL," doesn't hold sway with Molly. After Nephlite bites the dust, Queen Beryl asks Zoisite to attack the Sailor Senshi. Zoisite does so, while fellow Minor Big Bad Malachite watches on. At times, Zoisite can be a little effeminate - crossing his legs and holding his fingertips to his lips when laughing. It is soon apparent that Kunzite and Malachite are totally in love. Kunzite dies in Malachite's arms, and later Malachite angsts over a photograph of himself and Kunzite. So of course, in the DiC dub, Kunzite is made female. (This becomes more disturbing in Season S, when the lesbian pair Sailors Uranus and Neptune are referred to as "cousins" in the English dub.) While I didn't mind Mamoru in the manga, I basically hate Darien in Season 1 of the anime. He's so mean and useless! The dramatic plot is stupid too - he already has amnesia, so then when he's captured, he gets amnesia AGAIN. I won't spend a lot of time on it because so many other people have elsewhere on the Internet, but Sailor Mars is my favorite sailor senshi (although it is really hard to choose....I love everyone except for Mercury). And in the anime, she's boy-crazy and constantly nagging/arguing with Usagi. In the manga, she's arguably the most mature of the Inner Senshi, and ends up taking a chastity vow for Sailor Moon. She has absolutely no interest in men (and Naoko Takeuchi loves to draw her provocatively with Sailor Venus). DiC edited the series pretty heavily throughout. While the write-ups at this site are irritating to me this site comprehensively describes the changes made to every episode of Sailor Moon. None of the editing was as extensive as the editing done to the last two episodes of Season 1 (at least, not yet). The ending is much more dramatic in the Japanese version; Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars all die, in addition to Tuxedo Mask. After Sailor Jupiter dies and Sailor Moon wants to capitulate to Queen Beryl to end the death, Sailor Mercury actually slaps her. All of this was deleted from the dubbed version. The sacrifice of each Senshi is so moving! And I love how Usagi is so naive, and how the other girls are all in silent agreement that this is necessary. After Sailor Mercury volunteers to stay behind, Sailor Mars leads the way forward while Sailor Venus literally pushes Sailor Moon away so that they leave Mercury behind, taking advantage of her sacrifice in getting farther away. Hearing their death screams is also a lot more dramatic than DiC's dub, in which the girls always give quips about the "Negaverse" (apparently "Dark Kingdom" wasn't a badass enough title) being "Negatrash," etc. I take personal satisfaction in that Sailor Mars' death was the most dramatic - her screams were most nightmare-inducing, and I LOVED her grabbing the tail of the second youma after the youma and Sailor Moon both thought she was dead, and yelling, "I'm not done yet!" and then killing the youma with Fire Soul. It's also way more dramatic when she faces the mind-controlled Endymion (/Darien/Tuxedo Mask) - he holds her up by the neck while she screams. It's probably because I just re-watched all of Buffy, but there are a lot of parallels. Buffy as a whole is a better-developed show, and Buffy is not so whiny as Usagi, but it's relatively the same: a blonde chosen one who experiences a lot of growth over the course of the series as she is helped by her friends (oftentimes much more mature than she) to defeat supernatural enemies. When Endymion gets mind-controlled, there are many overtones of Angelus. And I'll probably revisit the parallels when I write about the S Season, specifically between Dawn and Hotaru. Pioneer used to own the license to distribute Sailor Moon in the U.S., but they have gone out of business. Currently, nobody holds the license. Because the DVDs/etc. are out of print, it is possible to watch them online at YouTube. I highly recommend using Wikipedia to keep track of episodes (Japanese and U.S. numbering are different, as the US cut some episodes). Reward for making it to the end: a fan-made version of the OP, in which Japanese fanboys make a live-action version. American fans who are unfamiliar with Japanese fandom: YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HEINOUS IS. [My favorite part is the man in the cat-suit.] Labels: anime, anime: sailor moon, tv: buffy scribbled mystickeeper at 6:24 PM
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wNov 26, 2009 | |
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Thanksgiving Media Consumption Nightschool, vol. 1 and 2 by Svetlana Chmavoka Volume 1 was a reread for me. It held up well, and I look forward to reading more of this series. Her Majesty's Dog, vol. 2 and 3 by Mick Takeuchi Not as good as volume 1, but still good. 20th Century Boys, vol. 3 and 4 by Naoki Urasawa I continue to have so much love for this series. Greenwitch by Susan Cooper (3 of 5 in The Dark is Rising) I like this book the least out of the three I've read so far, but I'm still looking forward to reading the rest of it. Why Buffy Matters by Rhonda Wilcox Great academic analysis of Buffy, I ate this up. I didn't care for the introduction much, but I'm glad I kept reading. Massive spoilers through the end of the series, so I would not read this book unless you've seen it all, or don't care about spoilers. Critiques: For a book that had the goal of explaining why Buffy as a whole is important to society, the author focused mainly on analyzing it in order to prove that the show is "art." A lot of the things she chose to focus on were references in events to episodes that are repeated throughout different essays, to the point that the repetition became annoying. Also, the author focused on the most artistic episodes in the entire series, aside from "Surprise"/"Innocence" (which are good episodes, but not stylistically different from the rest of the series), she wrote about "The Zeppo," "Restless," "The Body," and "Once More, With Feeling." I guess if my goal was to argue that an entire TV show is artistic (and I'm not sure why the argument needs to be made in the first place), I would use "mundane" episodes to prove my point. Despite my critiques, I liked the things that Wilcox analyzed and expanded on. Visual cues/framing devices have to be extremely blatant for me to pick up on them (ie, Revolutionary Girl Utena), so now there will be things for me to look for. I am really eager to continue my re-watch of Buffy (I left off after finishing Season 3 a couple of months ago). Baccano! ep. 1-3 (of 16) This is a re-watch for me, first-time viewing for the Boyfriend. Boyfriend finds the show a little pretentious [We're telling the plot in a non-linear fashion, Audience! We're so clever!], and I'd say I'm inclined to agree with him. It's a fun show, and I still love Isaac/Miria, but I think I've decided it's one that I don't want to own. CLAMP School Detectives, ep. 1-5 (of 26) A ridiculous opening sequence! CLAMP School Detectives is like Burn Notice, except that instead of an ex-spy, they're three fourth graders who try to help women in trouble. I don't think I'll finish this show, as there's not a lot of emotional growth/etc. Still, I liked the manga (my write-up is here), and it was nice to see the anime version. Burn Notice, 3.1-3.2 It seems like these seasons start out a little slow for me? I like this season's antagonist more than I liked season two's, I think. Robotech, ep. 1-4 I'm not really sure how to describe this show. It's so cheesy, and I hate all of the characters thus far. BUT post-apocalyptic futures IN SPACE will carry me far. I'm in it for the long haul, as the DVDs I have are from the middle part of the series. As I said, I dislike all of the characters for far, but the one I dislike the most is Minmei. "High Society" Didn't like this movie much, aside from Louis Armstrong. Lots of awful dialogue, especially the misogyny of Grace Kelly's love interests. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" The subtitles didn't work on the DVD we rented from the library, so thank God this movie had a good English dub. I kind of loved this movie, aside from a couple of needlessly long crying / running/panting scenes. It's about what a high school girl would do if she had the ability to leap through time. I thought that the protagonist was maturing emotionally, but that turned out to not be the case. I was kind of hoping for a Donnie Darko ending, but I loved this anyway. "Freedom Writers" My mom wanted me to watch this movie. I know that it's all "nice white lady blows the minds of kids of color with uplifting and simple phrases," but I did like the fact that the kids told their stories in their own voices throughout the movie, and that it showed the outright racism of teachers/administrators in schools. Better than I expected, but not great. Google Wave I unexpectedly received an invite from my friend What kinds of things might Google Wave be used for? I can only think of fannish-related activities: epic writing of fanfic between multiple parties, collaborative real-time WisCon panel write-ups, etc. Outside of fandom, I really can't come up with any uses for the technology. Let me know, Internet. Wikipedia is vague, and I'm not watching Google's hour-long video. I've got shit to do. I need to figure out a way to have the contacts list not contain everyone I've ever Gmailed in my entire life. :[ It seems like the only way to delete people from the list is to delete them from my Gmail contacts list FOREVER, and that sucks. How come there isn't more control, as there is with Google Chat? Labels: a: chmavoka svetlana, a: clamp, a: cooper susan, a: takeuchi mick, a: urasawa naoki, a: wilcox rhonda, anime, manga: her majesty's dog scribbled mystickeeper at 8:41 AM
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wOct 25, 2009 | |
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One Stormy Night Through a link in a locked post in LJ-land, Antoine and I watched the first 1/3 of a Japanese children's movie called Arashi No Yoru Ni, or "One Stormy Night" in English. In this movie, a goat named Mei and a wolf named Gabu both seek shelter in from a storm inside the same abandoned barn. In the dark, they are unable to see one another's faces, but they spend the night talking and are delighted to discover that they share a lot in common. By light of day, both are shocked to learn that their new-found friend belongs to the enemy species. As time goes on, and they become "friends" who can only meet in secret, Antoine and I looked at each other at the same moment and were like, "Oh man, they are totally gay!" And they really are! I'd love to read some meta on this! Even in the stormy night at the barn, they embrace once, terrified. At the time, I was all, "How could they not notice that one is a goat and the other is a wolf?!" but in retrospect, I'm more, "Holy crap, was that an implied sexual encounter??" There are so many layers! And I'm only on part 4/11! As an added bonus, the animation is sometimes really nice. I love the wolves at night. Unfortunately, I don't foresee this one getting licensed/released in the U.S. Squee! Labels: anime, movies, movies: arashi no yoru ni scribbled mystickeeper at 9:41 PM
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wAug 17, 2009 | |
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Linkspam Jim Doyle will not seek a third term. I think everyone who reads my blog is aware of my political leanings, despite the fact that people who are actually affiliated with my party refused to hire me because at one point, I was an unpaid intern for the other party. I'm pretty much over that (except that I still think those people are stupid), and I still don't regret what I did, because I've never been a fan of Doyle. I basically agree with everything in the RPW's press release. No matter how it relates to me, this gubernatorial race is going to be a shit show. A blogger calls for more manga by Ai Yazawa to be licensed in English, and I can't agree more! For anyone looking for the best Terminator fanvid ever, watch this one, which debuted at VividCon a couple of days ago. An interesting post about an East/West difference in expressing emotions through the face in comics. In manga, the eyes are used to express emotion, whereas in U.S. comics, it's the mouth. The article even points out the difference in emoticons used on the Internet, with American teenagers using :) and :( while Asian teenagers use ^_^ and ;_; In disturbing historical notes, a link via Badgerbag: Rosemary Kennedy's Lobotomy. If you don't believe the blog, check Wikipedia! That shit is for real. OMF, the *Hopefully the dub is good, and hopefully SciFi won't edit it down so they can insert 10 minutes of commercials per 30 minute programming slot, and I'm not 100% sure why the SciFi Channel chose Monster, as it is not actually science fiction, BUT I'LL TAKE IT. Labels: anime, comics, linkspam, manga, politics, wisconsin scribbled mystickeeper at 10:39 PM
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w | |
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Ponyo "Ponyo" is not my favorite film made by Studio Ghibli, but saying that is like saying, "It's not my favorite of this group of BEST MOVIES EVAR." Sosuke is a boy who is sometimes more mature than his mother. He doesn't cry when his father stays out working for a few days, and at the age of five, he already knows how to signal complete sentences on a beacon light to passing ships. Ponyo is a goldfish who wants to be a human. Her presence in each scene gives the audience representations of pure joy, pure love, and pure confidence. I wish I could be like Ponyo! The movie is basically a retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." I really liked Sosuke's mom. Her being voiced by Tina Fey probably helped a lot. But I also like how confident she is, how she is totally capable of functioning like a single mom when she has to, how she doesn't hesitate to tell her husband that she's mad at him, how she takes charge when the power goes out - knowing exactly how to turn on the power generator, set up an antenna, and being able to go help the elderly while putting trust in her capable son. Also....I feel like this is a pretty pro-feminist movie? Miyazaki always have strong female characters, but in this movie especially, Ponyo's dad is a big jerk, literally keeping her inside a bubble! And what was up with humans never being held accountable for their polluting the waters?? It's brought up, but never dealt with in a way that resolves things. I'd like to know more about the past lives of Ponyo's parents. I think one of the things I like the most about the films of Studio Ghibli is watching how other people live and function in the world. Such a complete picture of their lives is created, and characters always seem to know exactly how to do things when confronted with a crisis. I'm impressed that characters always know how the things that they own operate - their houses, their cars, their appliances, whatever. It inspires me to know more about how to take care of my belongings (especially my car, which I know nothing about, :[ ) so that I don't have to freak out every time something breaks. Also, I REALLY would like to own a lamp that plugs into the wall like that! So awesome! I think that my favorite part was at the end, when Sosuke said, "I love all of the Ponyos." I was like, "OMF, my boyfriend loves all of the Jackies! Even the crabby ones!" I guess my main critique of the movie is that the plot moves a bit slowly, but I happen to like watching scenes in Ghibli films that simply show the characters functioning in their houses, or quietly sharing a meal. In conclusion....go support quality anime movies being played in American theaters! Ponyo made a good showing this weekend, but you can help it! I think that this is the most widely-released anime film in the U.S. in terms of how many theaters it's playing in. And if any of you are looking for good entry points for anime, I highly recommend beginning with films made by Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Whisper of the Heart, Porco Rosso, Kiki's Delivery Service, etc.) Labels: anime, anime: studio ghibli, movies scribbled mystickeeper at 9:11 AM
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wJul 13, 2009 | |
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The theme is French Gankutsuou continues to be a fabulous anime. At the moment, I believe my favorite character to be Eugenie. A brooding, vampiric count! A naive character whose best man-friend is totally in love with him even though he's too stupid to notice! Adults in unhappy marriages made for money! Gothic exteriors! People living on the moon, and in France! Horses with computer-chip eyeballs! Music by Tchaichovsky and Debussy and other people I don't recognize with my ears! A REFERENCE TO LUCREZIA BORGIA! Here, have a trailer. Also, for those who are already fans, go look at My "normal" book club read Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. Ever since watching most of the anime Rose of Versailles, I've found myself drawn to the story of Marie Antoinette. I really loved Sofia Coppola's movie. Anyway, the author made an effort to write pretty prose, but I'm not sure that's what I would call it. Our book club did agree that she certainly did a good job capturing her tone, as evidenced by the actual letters that appeared in the pages. I'm not usually a fan of reading books written in the first-person present tense; this is especially true of historical fiction. This book definitely didn't win me over. Anyway, I appreciate that this book actually followed Marie Antoinette to the end of her life. Mostly, though, while reading it, I just wanted to go off and read Antonia Fraser's biography instead. At book club, There is a working-class woman who shows up creepily in Antoinette's bedroom early-ish in the book to give her a prophetic warning about revolution. She was described as having cropped hair, "like Joan of Arc's." That'd be a cool point of view! So far, my favorite "observe the life of Marie Antoinette" point of view is that of Oscar de Jarjayes, protagonist of the manga/anime series Rose of Versailles. Oscar is a woman who dresses like a man, and becomes Marie Antoinette's personal bodyguard. Women and men alike swoon for her, as she kicks ass and sticks to her own moral code! Also, the artwork is heinously shojo!  HOLY SHIT, I did not know that there was an English version of Placebo's "Protege Moi." I guess it was in English first. It's totally better in French! Labels: a: naslund sena jeter, anime, anime: gankutsuou, anime: rose of versailles scribbled mystickeeper at 9:32 PM
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wJul 11, 2009 | |
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I like media All you lucky bastards who have this movie playing in your city had better blog about it!! Watched "The Prestige" last night. It was bad-ass. I preferred Hugh Jackman's character to Christian Bale's, but then Bale's mostly just yelled a lot during the movie. Still, I was unspoiled for all of the turns and surprises, which made things fun. Also, the presence of David Bowie increases the greatness of any movie by 10 points. You can get the first episodes of the animes Honey & Clover and NANA on iTunes for free now through August 31. Both of these series are examples of realistic (they're still dramatic, but there are no transformations to magical school girls) shojo, and they are two of my favorite series of all time. An article with more information on Honey & Clover is here, while there is also one on NANA here. I have been waiting for these to be released in the U.S. for a long time! Today's Kate Beaton comic is about the Bronte sisters, and it is glorious. I bought a used copy of a book claiming to be a metabiography of the Brontes today at a bookstore. OM NOM NOM. Labels: anime, anime: honey and clover, anime: nana, movies, movies: blood the last vampire, movies: the prestige scribbled mystickeeper at 2:08 PM
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wApr 5, 2009 | |
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Media Stuff Now that Funimation has the subbed version of the anime Romeo x Juliet streaming for free on their website, I might finally finish the damn thing. Today I watched episode 15 and 16. This series started off with a lot of promise, but is just....not holding good on it, for me. I want to see it through to the end to see what happens, but I don't have much hope. I mean....come on! It's Shakespeare, it's dripping with so much angst that the pages of the play are practically wet with blood. Everyone has emo, there are swords, and the anime version had added bonuses! An inversion of gender roles, giving Juliet an entirely new identity of the Red Whirlwind, a mix-up of the premise, an impoverished city, etc. Even the addition of characters from other plays (Hermione, Regan, etc.) give the writers practically unlimited ranges of angst and characters, but they just use their names and genders, and that's about it. The show devolves into low-budget animation and storylines I don't give a toss about. This seems to happen in a large number of animes for me, and it's why an interesting premise for a movie/TV show/book/whatever is never enough of a selling point for me. Because no matter how interesting it starts off, it can end in a lackluster way. Scrapped Princess was like that for me. Ditto with Darker Than Black, Witch Hunter Robin, Code Geass, Paranoia Agent. While it's certainly no Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, here are links to people talking about this week's Dollhouse: meganbmoore here and here. Matt Ruff here. The Asian Women Carnival #1 is up. Rachel Manija Brown is hosting The Incomprehensible Awards! Continued here. Funimation is going to be streaming episodes of the new Fullemtal Alchemist just 4 days after it airs in Japan!! For those unfamiliar, this new series will be more heavily based on the manga. [ie, it will be better!] But it starts at the beginning, so you needn't have seen the first series to watch this one. Labels: anime, anime: fullmetal alchemist, anime: romeo x juliet, fandom, race, tv: dollhouse scribbled mystickeeper at 11:02 PM
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wMar 27, 2009 | |
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5 Centimeters Per Second This is the third movie I've seen by director/animator Makoto Shinkai [the first two being Voices of a Distant Star and The Place Promised in Our Early Days]. Shinkai is pretty neat in that when starting out, he worked on creating Voices of a Distant Star by himself every night when he came home from work. He eventually quit his job to focus on animating as his career. He wrote, produced, and directed VofDS on his Mac, and he and his fiancee did the voices. I admire Shinkai's passion so much! 5 centimeters per second is the speed at which cherry blossoms (sakura) fall through the air. Like people, they start out together and then, at that sometimes excruciatingly slow speed, drift apart. The film is split into three heartwrenching vignettes about different periods of time in the life of Takaki Tono. The things he faces are very common to all people: falling in love, developing friendships, struggling to find meaning in life. It's about people, living their lives. But it's the presentation that makes the film so beautiful and emotional. Compared to the other two movies I've seen by Shinkai, I think that his decision to remove sci-fi elements behooves him quite well. Additionally, this movie was only an hour and two minutes, broken into three parts for easy viewing consumption. Here is the trailer, which shows off the superior animation quality as well as the simple, poignant music. Additionally, rilina uploaded a number of pictures in her write-up of the movie, which also prove how beautiful the movie was. And yes, Boyfriend, I will watch it again with you. Labels: anime, movies, movies: 5 centimeters per second scribbled mystickeeper at 12:01 AM
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wJan 8, 2009 | |
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BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad I have finally finished all 26 episodes of the anime series Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad. Beck is an anime about a boy named Yuko Tanaka, known to his friends as Koyuki. Like most anime male protagonists, he's pretty uninteresting and useless in the beginning of the series, having only a pervert for a friend in middle school. He soon finds excitement after saving an odd-looking patched and blue dog from bullies, and finding its owner to be Ryusuke Minami, a long-haired bad-ass who used to live in America, and can speak English. Ryusuke teaches Koyuki how to play the guitar, and eventually invites him to join his band. It turns out Koyuki has a great singing voice, too. In addition to boning up his music skills, Koyuki meets new friends, struggles with his relationships with girls, faces bullies, and tries to balance being a student with being a serious musician. He also swims in his spare time. He is a sweet and easily likable protagonist. What bothered me the most about this series is its low budget. In some episodes, the animation quality took huge nose-dives. Additionally, many scenes occurred in which the audience was looking at a background they had already seen a dozen times, while the characters spoke off-screen. This has been done well, in series like Utena and Evangelion. Here, though, I just felt really uncomfortable by their pacing choices. The characters who were supposed to be fluent in English in fact had atrociously horrible English, even when they were supposedly from America. Even the music annoyed me! Ai Yazawa's NANA had a nice anime adaptation, and it also focuses on rock bands. But their music was nice and not overplayed. In BECK, I hated nearly every song by the end of the series because I was so damn sick of listening to them. For me, the series was exemplified by the last four episodes or so. I finally felt invested in the characters, the music, and the atmosphere. BECK's concert at Greatful (LOL SPELLING) Sound was amazing. And then the characters went backstage. The audience onscreen, and me watching on my TV, both cheered for the characters to come back out for an encore. But instead of taking the momentum and running with it, everything fell apart. Nobody went for an encore. Ryusuke disappeared, the band split up, and everyone went their separate ways. For half an episode. Then, everyone went to America and did a country-wide tour. Of course, the viewers could only see this in a series of "photos" (read, stills that the animators were too lazy to animate) with Koyuki and Maho talking over them, even though we couldn't see them. It just felt like a really disingenuous ending to me, like the writers were trying to set up a fake horrific problem and then reunite everybody, so the viewer could feel emotionally satisfied. Except that I didn't, because the problems that had been set up from the beginning of the series (will Koyuki and Maho be together? How will Koyuki get a job since he left school? When will Ryusuke ever act as bad-ass as everybody thinks he is? Why is Maho always such a jerk and why does Koyuki still like her?) were unresolved (probably because the manga was still on-going, but whatever!). I think this anime would have been great as a 13-episode series. By doing this, they could have both fixed their pacing problems, and not used annoying recycled animation or limited motion in a glaringly obvious way. I liked this story the most when it was a coming-of-age story about Koyuki. Well, that and the story about music. I thought that the backstory of Ryusuke's guitar was unnecessary and distracting, and unbelievable. I would like to try out the manga sometime, which just finished its run in May of last year. I'll probably wait a while, though. Now I will need a new anime series to watch! I keep a to-watch list here. If you have any suggestions, on that list or in general, let me know. I also keep a list of anime I've already seen here, because I am OCD like that. Labels: anime, anime: beck scribbled mystickeeper at 8:08 PM
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wNov 18, 2008 | |
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Paragraphs are different to me than line separators, but you couldn't tell by this post I fucking love eggnog. It's the perfect combination of sweet and creamy and I love the way it coats your throat with goodness.* Whenever I happen to be standing in my kitchen (read: the area between the bar and the wall with fridge/sink/stove that is in my one-room efficiency), I pop the carton open and snag a mouthful. Amazing. Why is this beverage only available during wintertime? I think it would be equally satisfying on a hot summer day. *First person to make a "That's what she said" joke gets stabbed. Are the Japanese just like, ridiculous health conscious? Every time someone gets a cold or a fever in manga, it's like they've been diagnosed with about-to-die-liver-cancer. What's with all of the people passing out all the time? How come every time someone falls down in the hallway, they land in the nurse's office with cotton balls and cleaning stuff. I feel like I should feel guilty about not working on Ghost Hunters in nearly a week. But I was suddenly desperately wanting to devour books, so I'm just going to let it happen. I'm not giving up on the story, though, and would still like to write a bunch more this month. Remind me to kick myhself in the butt and do something. Lately, I have the strong urge to read Moby Dick. Nevermind that I have detested everything I've read by him thus far....I think Herman Melville is different than Charles Dickens, for me. I think he's redeemable. I'm sure he'll find redemption in my mind through Moby Dick. Now I just need to get me a copy of Moby Dick and hope it doesn't suck. I had other things to write about, but alas, they are saved on a Notepad document at home. Oh no, I hope LiveJournal is still up! Rejoice, loyal blog-readers of mine who refuse to go over to LiveJournal! LiveJournal.com is down for the next three hours for some server-transfers, so you get to see this post before any of them! Still, they have more points in my book because they leave way more comments than you guys do, :D Labels: a: melville herman, anime, blogging, food, ghost hunters, japanese culture, livejournal, manga, nanowrimo scribbled mystickeeper at 11:01 AM
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wNov 16, 2008 | |
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Epic Post of Anime Recs for Beginners I know some of you don't like YouTube clips, but I really think it's the best way to showcase animation style, music, and quality, which I feel are essential with any series I spend my time with. It's happened at least twice in the past few months, so I figure it's worthy of its own post. People are interested in anime, but don't really know where to start. "I've seen Spirited Away/Princess Mononoke/all of the Ghibli movies, but I don't know what else to watch." So, here's a list of what I consider to be good places to start. For the most part, these are movies and series that have been around for a while, and are loved by just about everyone who's seen them. For the sake of ease, I chose only things that are available on DVD in the US. While most of the items listed do a pretty good job with humor, but overall this is a list of dramas. I did this because a fair amount of anime humor is based on tropes commonly found in anime storytelling, or is "weird" in that one has to be a bit more comfortable with the medium to fully "get it." Evangelion and Utena probably have some of the more stereotypical humor found in anime out of everything on this list, but I think it's manageable to a newcomer. The possible exception to this is Revolutionary Girl Utena. Its use of recycled animation and rampant presence of implied incest will come off as a bit WTF, especially to newcomers. But since most readers of my blog/LiveJournal are feminists, I think it'll be very easy to find other things to appreciate. Additionally, you guys are probably more willing to deconstruct and ask, "Why is this happening in the story?" as opposed to just freaking out. Utena could be analyzed endlessly, so if you start it and are dubious, I promise that the pay-offs make everything worth it. Of course, I might just be pre-preemptively apologetic and pushy because it's my favorite, :D All of the Studio Ghibli movies Lots of people have seen Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke, but Studio Ghibli has a treasure chest full of achingly beautiful and poignant films. I've seen all but one, and adored all but two (Laputa and Pom Poko). Watch them all! I know that Netflix has all of these except Only Yesterday, and most video stores let you rent "kids' movies" for free. Laputa: Castle in the Sky Grave of the Fireflies My Neighbor Totoro Kiki's Delivery Service Only Yesterday [I LOVED this. Does anyone know how to obtain a copy?] Porco Rosso Pom Poko Whisper of the Heart [This is my absolute favorite Ghibli movie] Princess Mononoke Spirited Away The Cat Returns [I actually haven't seen this one, :( ] Howl's Moving Castle Cowboy Bebop This clip shows the opening sequence as well as a bit of episode footage beforehand. The episode footage is all silent, and does a lot to show you the style points that Bebop is known for. The simple music is clearly nostalgic, as is the black and white noir-style flashbacks. And of course, then there is the opening, with big band jazz music, action, and stylish use of animation. I have yet to meet a person who watched Cowboy Bebop and didn't love it (except for my boyfriend, who is an anomaly I conveniently choose to ignore for the purposes of this post!). The music used in the clip is representative of the fantastic soundtrack used throughout the series; 26 episodes and movie counterpart. Revolutionary Girl Utena Revolutionary Girl Utena is the story about a girl who was saved by a prince when she was still a child. In the present, she resolves to become a prince herself. She finds a mission to follow when she discovers classmate Anthy Himemiya is ensnared in a creepy Student Council tradition of being a "Rose Bride," a partnership earned through sword fights that makes her subject to the whims of whoever happens to win her. Utena finds this custom "stupid" and weird, and resolves to simply win Anthy for herself, and allow her to do whatever she'd like. The series begins seemingly simplistic, with clear-cut villains and friends, but as it progresses, it's clear that everything the viewer and Utena believe to be true is in fact a lie. Fairy tale tropes are rampant, down to two girls who use shadow puppetry to act as a Greek chorus for the storyline of each episode. The rotating roses are iconic symbols for the series. You can also see Utena's adoption of the boys' school uniform and the classic animation style. The opening sequence makes it seem as though Utena and Anthy's relationship is a lesbian one, but I find that debatable in the series as a whole (although definitely not in the movie!). There is a definite subtext, though, and there are other characters who are clearly homosexual. This is one of the few anime series that represents people of color and gay relationships with serious thought. This is my favorite anime series, if you can't tell, :) Samurai Champloo This series was made by the creator of Cowboy Bebop. They are similar in that they blend a music style with a seemingly incompatible plot genre (Bebop blends jazz with space opera noir; Champloo blends hip-hop with samurai action of the Japanese Edo period). Samurais Mugen and Jin are polar opposites: one has standing-on-end hair who seems to breakdance as he fights, while the other is a reserved dojo-trained master of specific moves. They join forces with 15-year-old Fuu, an outspoken girl searching for a samurai who smells like sunflowers. The anime is a story about the people they meet and fight with along the way. The opening sequence of Samurai Champloo is quite solid, but I decided to post an AMV instead. The use of some Beastie Boys music fits in with the music regularly used on the show. You can watch Samurai Champloo because it's hilarious, because each episode is ridiculously tightly plotted, or because of the way it riffs on historical events. But you can also watch it solely because its action sequences are totally bad-ass, and they alone give you reason enough to watch it. Neon Genesis Evangelion Like Cowboy Bebop, this is a classic that most anime fans have seen. Like Utena, it starts out with a seemingly standard premise until it becomes apparent that everyone is lying and a basket case in some form. Shinji Ikari is a teenage boy with no ambition, but he has to go to his father's organization NERV to pilot a giant robot to save the world from attackers. This is a pretty standard premise for anime (mostly from anime that came afterward, but also from series like Macross which came before), but Evangelion subverts tropes and expectations. It's highly recommended, and make sure you check out the movie The End of Evangelion once you make it through the episodes. Some people loathe the ending as seen through the TV series, and the movie certainly does give more closure, even if in a disturbing way (I am a fan of both endings, and they're not mutually exclusive: one is internal, and the other shows you what's going on with everyone else). Movies by Satoshi Kon Kon is like Miyazaki in that everything he touches is golden. He is unlike Miyazaki in that the themes he touches upon are much more adult in nature (especially "Perfect Blue". The theatrical trailers are pretty good, so I'm going to be lazy and just go with those. Labels: anime, anime: cowboy bebop, anime: paprika, anime: revolutionary girl utena, anime: samurai champloo, anime: satoshi kon, anime: studio ghibli, movies scribbled mystickeeper at 11:29 AM
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wOct 23, 2008 | |
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WHAT A GOOD DAY. JUST SO EVERYBODY KNOWS, when I get really excited and post about something amazing (like Veronica Mars) and get no comments, I universally condemn all my readers as bitches. Just sayin'. THAT SAID, I AM SO EXCITED THAT MY RIGHTSTUF BOX CAME TODAY. I was a little sad that only 4 of the volumes of manga I ordered from the Tokyopop sale showed up (Legend of Chun Hyang, Legal Drug 3, Cardcaptor Sakura 6, Tramps Like Us 14)....BUT, I forgot that Rightstuf sends free stuff, too! Free stuff: VICTORIAN ROMANCE EMMA SEASON 2 MINI-POSTER Higurashi no Naku Koroni mini-poster (doesn't look as bad-ass as it could have, :[ ) BAD-ASS marketing for Darker Than Black. In a mini folder stamped "confidential," there is a DTB pin, classified instructions on how to get 30% off on pre-ordering some DVDs, and a glossy mini mini-poster of the protagonist, with a "congratulations on being selected as a special agent" message on the back, telling you how to get exclusive DTB content (episodes, wall papers, avatars, etc.)scribbled mystickeeper at 12:12 PM
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wOct 3, 2008 | |
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Male Anxiety in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni In the beginning, there are only sounds, something beaten hit repeatedly, making a wet sound. Then, images. Blood splattering, and two girls being beaten to death by a boy. Then, a cut to the opening sequence. Bright flowers in kaleidoscope views. Intermixed with the vibrant nature scenes are flashes of people - characters with an extremely cutesy design. But still with disturbing images...a girl walking on broken glass, a candle going out, a butterfly with its wing torn off. Of course, all set to a gorgeous and foreboding song, in my opinion. Anime series often do a fantastic job with their opening sequences, but I really do like Higurashi's a lot. I have blogged about the first episode of the anime series Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (When They Cry) before in this post, but did not fully analyze it. Last Sunday, I watched the first 2.5 episodes at Geek.Kon and found myself taking notes, so I'll try and explain what I thought here. Higurashi is unique in that the series is divided into 4-episode arcs. Each arc opens with a horrifically violent scene. The opening credits play, and then four episodes are spent explaining how the original, violent scene came to be. In the first mini-arc, a boy named Keiichi has recently moved to a small, rural village in Japan, in the year 1983. His school is a small one; in one room, 15 children of varying ages form small "classes." As the teacher is often off helping others, Keiichi teaches the two girls in his grade, even though Mion is both older and the class president. Keiichi receives help from his female classmates, who offer to help him navigate their village. He ends up spending lunch with four other girls. In a normal anime, this set-up would be referred to as a "harem anime," one in which a nondescript and unremarkable male protagonist is surrounded by beautiful women - all of whom are interested him in a potentially romantic way. Of course, this anime seems to be bending that trope until it breaks....literally. In the end of the first episode, Keiichi and one of the girls, Rena, walk past a garbage dump. Rena wanders amongst the garbage while a freelance photographer walks up to Keiichi and reveals to him that a man was mutilated in the village a year ago. After the photographer leaves, Rena tells Keiichi that a dam was being built in the village. Keiichi asks her about the rumored accident, and Rena says, "I don't know." The background music stops and her eyes disappear - an animation technique often used to make it clear that a character is employing a poker face (or revealing a studio's limited budget!). At school, Keiichi is shown having harmless, cutesy fun with the girls at his school. He is invited to their "game club," where he is told that their "complex games will put him at a disadvantage." In their first card game, Keiichi realizes that all of the girls are cheating because they have memorized the scratches and stains on every single one of their deck's old cards. Keiichi is disturbed by the advantage they have over him, and calls them evil. Rena remarks that they are being unfair to Keiichi, but Mion says, "It's okay; he's a man." It's meant as a joke, but I really feel like it does a lot to point out the way the girls are subverting the power that Keiichi would have in a normal harem anime. As the next few episodes progress, Keiichi learns more and more information, eventually learning that the entire town rose up against a proposed dam project that would have literally put them under water. It seems as though Mion and Rena were the ultimate perpetrators in the murder and mutilation of one person each year, who was connected to supporting the dam project. Keiichi is contacted by a local investigator, and Rena starts stalking him, creeping uninvited into his house, listening to his personal conversations, etc. I haven't seen through the end of the fourth episode, but I'm guessing that Keiichi grows so disturbed by Rena's and Mion's increasingly disturbing antics (especially when laid side-by-side with their seemingly innocent high school girl life), and snaps, beating them to bloody pulps like he did in the brief, violent prelude. I know that the entire series isn't necessarily like this. For example, I know that after the first arc resets, and the second 4-episode arc begins with two of the girls fighting, one of them stabs herself in the head with a knife until she kills herself. So what starts off as male anxiety in the first arc might turn into a simple anxiety about power, and who has it. I would have to continue watching to see what happens. Still, the specific "male anxiety" was an interesting lens to use for watching the first mini-arc of the series. I would like to continue watching this series (available in the U.S. on DVD, and on Netflix). It's strange for me in that I grow really, really bored with the cutesy, innocent scenes, and am more in it for unraveling the mysteries and watching the characters go crazy. It'll be really neat to watch everything reset every four episodes as well, and see if any patterns develop. Labels: anime, anime: higurashi no naku koro ni scribbled mystickeeper at 10:42 PM
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wOct 1, 2008 | |
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Multi-Pronged Update I bought another jade plant today, at the Farmer's Market. Now, I have two jade plants, English ivy, and a pink polka dot plant. Oh, and my limp lucky bamboo, which seems to be doing better with increased water quality. They are still alive, although now I need to purchase a couple more plants. Maybe I'll do it this weekend, and bring one of my sister's kids with me. Also, I'm dividing my Geek.Kon posts into lots of mini-posts so that eventually, it will all be up here. The bookmark I bought Sunday was beautiful, and based on this print. Yesterday's Katara bookmark was from this print, and the Sailor Moon was this one. I want to finish the Romeo x Juliet anime (for reals this time!), because the idea of a woman with a sword and a man with flowers is so appealing to me (See: icon). There was an inordinate amount of randomly placed sentimentalism on behalf of Romeo in about episode 13 or something, which was the point where I said, "Yeah, I'm so done with this show." BUT, I keep remembering how much I loved the show's setup, and I'd like to see it through. I WILL DO IT! Labels: anime, anime: romeo x juliet, geek.kon, plants scribbled mystickeeper at 3:07 PM
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wSep 30, 2008 | |
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A Glossary of Anime-Related Terms Because Sandy asked! If there's stuff I missed that you wanted me to address, let me know. Although, I know there are people on my FL who can define these better than I. So, if you have input, please give it, and I'll edit/credit the post when needed. I'll start with the popularity of this stuff. Someone once explained the pervasiveness of anime in Japan to me this way: It's like Star Wars is in the U.S. Some people are really freaky obsessed with it. Some people have sampled and enjoyed it, but don't get crazy about it. It's something that everyone has heard of, even if they haven't tried it themselves. Overall, taking part in the anime/manga subculture is a lot more socially acceptable than reading comic books is here in the U.S. Everyone, from CEOs to waitress to little kids, all read manga. anime - The Japanese word for animation. Outside of Japan, it's used to describe movies and TV series that come from Japan. Avatar: The Last Airbender is not anime, because it comes from the U.S. The images have to move on a screen of some kind. This term does not refer to the comics. Anime can be anything from a 30-second short to a full-length feature film to a 268-episode TV series. In Japan, anime is regularly broadcasted on TV in primetime slots. manga - The Japanese word for comics. Manga (which is both the singular and plural form of the word) refers to the comic book. Manga is different from American comic books in that they're almost always printed in black and white. If it's from Japan, it's manga. If it's from Korea, it's manhwa. If it's from China, it's manhua. I've already posted extensively on the difference between manga and comics in this post. shoujo/shojo - Anime/manga directed at girls. Usually, it focuses on emotions and relationships. Examples: Sand Chronicles, NANA, Cardcaptor Sakura shounen/shonen - Anime/manga directed at boys. Usually, it focuses on action and camaraderie. Examples: Bleach, Naruto, Ranma 1/2 josei - Anime/manga directed at older women (not porn; that's addressed later) Examples: Honey & Clover, Tramps Like Us, Nodame Cantabile seinen - Anime/manga directed at older men (not porn; that's addressed later) Examples: Hellsing, xxxHolic, Elfen Lied kodomo - Anime/manga directed at children. Examples: Hamtaro, Doraemon yaoi - Refers to manga or anime (usually manga) that focuses on a male-male relationship. It need not be sexual in nature to be yaoi, but just a romantic love. A common English phrase to interpret "yaoi" is "boys' love." A relationship doesn't need to be "canon" to be considered "yaoi." You can write yaoi fanfiction, or the original anime/manga series can have a yaoi relationship to begin with. It doesn't describe the relationship's role in canon, but rather the nature of the relationship. Shonen-ai - From what I can tell, this is the same thing as yaoi. If someone has different info, please let me know. shotacon - Like yaoi, but featuring underage boys. Stay away! yuri - Like yaoi, only for female/female relationships. hentai - The Japanese word for "pervert." The term is usually used to refer to animated porn. People at work ask me all the time if I know of any "good hentai," and I really don't. I'm sure there's lots of stuff out there, though. What I do know, from looking at the DVD covers at Four-Star Video (where the hentai is mixed in with the regular anime), is that there is a lot of weird shit. Tentacle rape, boobs bigger than the rest of a woman's body, and God knows what else. I would recommend staying away, unless someone has specifically recommended something to you. Non-hentai anime can be disturbing enough. I don't think I'll ever foray into this realm of sexual exploration. doujinshi - Doujinshi is like fanfiction, only in manga form. Sometimes called "doujin" for short, doujinshi is wildly popular in Japan, sold at conventions and in shops. While the making of doujinshi is considered a fan activity, many successful manga-ka (a person who writes/draws manga) get their start through doujinshi, including CLAMP. Doujinshi can sometimes include ridiculous sex, like hentai. It's often used to pair unlikely canon relationships, just like slash fanfiction is here in the U.S. Doujinshi is basically your equivalent community, I think, except that people buy and sell it, and it has pretty pictures. Doujinshi doesn't necessarily have to use anime or manga as its source material. For example, there is a lot of Harry Potter doujinshi.scribbled mystickeeper at 10:24 PM
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