Code Geass: Where everyone loses

One of the things I liked about Code Geass was how there wasn't really a hero.  (I know that's one of the things that turned a lot of people off it.)  I mean, the protagonist was definite anti-hero material, but the guy who looked likely to be the hero was, well, hardly spotless himself.  (I'm trying to avoid being a spoiler monkey here.) 

In fact, it's hard to really pick who's "right" in this situation because there's so darn much necessary evil being thrown around that you'd have to seriously redefine "right" to pick a winner.  You have two people who have the same goal, are going about it through different channels and are 100% committed to doing whatever it takes to reach that goal.  Needless to say, there's a lot of conflict in the show.  (And that's not even including the 60 gojillion other characters who have things at stake.)

Many people have mentioned how over-the-top and melodramatic this series is.  They mention the hilarity of some of the overblown dialogue. (I would probably argue that it's not unintentional, as many claim.)  They mention the swamp it makes of morality.  They also mention how a viewer can notice all these things and still be addicted to the show.  For all the near-camp content, it did win awards for a reason.  It's a glorious, flashy, attractive, sometimes even thought-provoking (if you can spare the time to think) mess.  Everyone loses, and I still watch it.


If you've seen Code Geass, do you dislike Lelouch and Suzaku equally, or do you harbor a soft spot for one of them?  Why?

Animal Academy and the value of American anime/manga review magazines

Or magazine, as the case may be.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, a manga will seem unappealing to me.  I will leave it to fall to the bottom of the list or just forget about it and read something else.  Sometimes, this will be a big mistake I will find out about later when I am reading a magazine.

Animal Academy was one such title.  I passed it over until I read a review in Otaku USA that made me think I'd like it, so I gave it a try, and I really enjoyed it.  It was cute but not saccharine and dodged many shojo manga tropes that make me crazy.

Basically, it's the story of a girl so dumb she only got into one high school she'd never really heard of out in the extreme boondocks.  As it turns out, it's a school where animals able to transform into humans go to learn how to be convincingly human.  She's the expert in that, which is a novelty to someone who's always been at the bottom of the academic stack, but she isn't supposed to tell anyone she's human. 

For some reason, it reminded me of a less-hyper version of Gakuen Alice.  It's genuinely adorable, and I'm looking forward to where it goes from here.


Have you ever read a review somewhere that made you give something you'd overlooked a try that lead to you finding a new favorite or just a good read?  Do share where you found the tip and maybe why it made you reevaluate if you remember.

Guru Guru Pon-chan: Creeptasticly Cute Fantasy Romantic Comedy

Wow, after a two year gap, I finished up the last of Guru Guru Pon-Chan, one of the earlier series Del Ray published. 

 
VAGUELY SPOILERIFIC

As a writer, I wanted not to forgive the story for the cheap ending.  I was actually crying there for a while during the last few chapters, sad at where things were going and wishing for the cheap ending, and when it came, I was irked.  Were my tears for nothing?!  How dare they jerk me around and then cop out?!  But it's Pon-chan, so I got over it.

END OF VAGUELY SPOILERIFIC

If you never ran across it, GGPC is a cute but slightly disturbing series about this baby labrador retriever who falls in love with the boy next door.  (The human boy next door.)  There is a mad scientist involved, so of course something is invented that will allow her to become human.  This is intially hilarious because she's a very young puppy, so her first transformation is into a baby with the mind of a puppy, so there are hilarious poop-related scenes and embarrassing first impressions.  Anyway, puppies grow up fast, and eventually she's a teenager like the boy she loves, and then it gets into definitely unique romantic comedy territory.

The main hurdle for me in GGPC is the slightly creeped-out feeling I get whenever I think of this manga as a true love story between a dog and a human.  (It's not bestiality-related; get your minds out of the gutter.)  There have been other manga with similar creep-out factors, like when people fall in love with children somehow in adult bodies or adults who revert back to childhood mentality.  Then again, there's a lot about Japanese relationships that can creep one out . . . 

I'm hardly a raging feminist, but something in me gets irked at the idea that certain traits openly identified as immature are considered beneficial for women to have in Japan.  Of course, no one should read a goofy manga like this like a social science textbook, but the connection is still clearly being assumed. 

Just think of how annoying it would be if a teen girl acted like a half-grown dog (short attention span, overly excitable, always hungry, happily naked, always getting into trouble and having to be rescued, socially crippled due to a lack of common human sense).  Such behavior in a sixteen-year-old human would not be endearing at all. 

But because she tries so hard, in the end, she wins the affection of everyone and the love of the hero because true love conquers all and stuff.  Including me because I sheepishly admit that I found the story cute and fun even with the creep factor present, and, as I already mentioned, I cried even after two years away from the series. 

Maybe that's why it won the Kodansha Award: it's so charming despite its flaws that you're willing to accept it all with a silly half-grin on your face.

Chibi Vampire gushes its last

I just finished the last volume of Chibi Vampire, one of the most openly tender romantic comedies I've read.  (Check out the cover for volume 12 in a store sometime.)  Sure, there were the usual annoying tropes, but sometimes I just had to look away because of the tenderness.  It's deeper than mere cuteness, far different from sympathy, not even vaguely erotic.  It's the sort of love that sacrifices for and thinks about the beloved. 

It's a special kind of sensitivity far from sentimentality and unexpected in a comedy where the main characters start their relationship because the girl has an epic defective-vampire nosebleed all over the boy.  I don't want to give you the wrong impression: most of the series is slapstick hi-jinks, traditional romantic fumblings, and sometimes copiously embarrassing amounts of blood.  Most tropes can be interesting if enough blood is involved, apparently.

But there's something genuinely endearing about these characters, in all their quirkiness.  Even Elda kind of has her moment there near the end.  And Ren, well, I'm glad our "sexy creature of the night" stayed Ren until the end.  He stole some of the best comic scenes in this volume.  I am still snorting about them . . .

I have mixed feelings about the bittersweet ending.  Part of me is angry, thinking that they should have given Karin the chance to choose for herself.  Part of me is proud of those who made the decision out of deep love for her.  The logical part of me was wondering exactly how things were changed so neatly, but Karin has always been a bit of an airhead, so I could see her really not questioning anything . . .  Yeah, I'm being vague so as not to be a spoiler monkey.

Anyway, I should probably see the anime even though I know it doesn't follow the same course.  If I'd made an anime after the manga run was over, I might have changed the ending, but I'm not sure.  Would everyone have been happier in the end if I did?  I don't really know.  I'm so glad I'm not in charge of the universe.

Your thoughts?  Have you read it all/seen it all?  How does one determine if there has been a happy ending to something?

On The Familiar of Zero

+

• a plot
• hints dropped early that came back around and tied things together in the end in a somewhat natural but still surprising way
• didn't resort to, "It's fantasy; we don't ever have to explain it in a way that makes sense!"
• male lead who isn't a total pushover (mostly because of his special ability), at least, not all the time
• different hair colors and eye colors had regional reasons; black hair, black eyes = significant/meaningful
• implied rather than showed some things related to the ending, so it wasn't as tedious as some shows can get (except for the underwear, mentioned below)
• the female lead's tsundere tendencies make logical, explainable sense and tie in to the whole plot (really)
  

-

• English dub not so great; might be better in Japanese because overacting for comic effect easier to take in a foreign language
  
• cheesecake, gratuitous fanservice
• underwear, related to above
• attempts at character development not always successful

I thought it was a fun, short series.  Also, every word in the title makes sense related to the show!  How often does that happen with anime?!


Have you seen it?  Any thoughts to add?  How was the Japanese dub?

NG Life Makes for Very Good Entertainment

Volumes read: NG Life 1 and 2
TMIA Rating: b

NG Life is the story of this high school kid who remembers his fabulous past life as a gladiator in Pompeii where he had a great friend and a lovely wife and was happy, dang it, until, you know, the whole volcano thing ruined that. 

In the present, he has a few . . . issues to deal with as the only person who remembers his past life.  First, his incredible best buddy, his closest friend in the whole world has been reincarnated as a girl.  They grew up together in this life, and she is really cute and used to his fussy quirkiness.  (She remembers nothing.) 

She pretty obviously has a crush on him, and this creeps him out something fierce, so he pretends not to notice.  When he looks at her, he doesn't see this cute girl he grew up with in this life.  Instead, he sees his rough-and-tumble, prank-playing best friend of yore.  This leads to hilarious and frequent meltdowns enojoyed by the girl and his classmates and parents. 

(His parents are the reincarnation of his younger sister and this jerk he used to know in Pompeii.  This causes him additional stress, as you might imagine.  His dad in particular is kind of a smirky jerk who really shines with snark in the second volume.)

A new wrinkle is added when he finally meets the reincarnation of his beloved wife, and boy, is he cute.  Yeah.  He.  More meltdowns ensue.

This is one of those manga that makes me happy because it strikes that balance between actual reincarnation memory pathos and all those amusing public meltdowns due to internal stupidity that you can't really explain to people.  The main character provides the tears and the comic relief all by himself.  The supporting cast members do good jobs of supporting and moving the plot along by being mostly normal people living normal lives while our poor main character is drowning in drama. 

It's fun to watch the fight within our protagonist because it happens in a somewhat realistic way.  He can't just say to himself, "Yep, she may have been my best bud in the past, but now she's a cute, smart, talented girl who likes me, so let's live happily ever after!"  Well, he can (and sometimes does) say things like that to himself, but he never listens to himself and usually ends up having an imaginary meltdown . . .

So he vacillates between making progress and falling backwards in the way that he relates to the people around him who aren't burdened with the knowledge he has.  It's just a hoot. 

I also give it kudos for setting up a potential BL situation and never quite going there.  Extra points for restraint that makes the unexpected things that happen funnier.  The author could have taken the easy way out but didn't. 

I'm looking forward to volume 3.  :)


P.S. I had to look in the notes to figure out what NG meant.  Do you know?

Why I love Zipang

Who doesn't love a good historical drama disguised as a science fiction piece?  

Zipang is a tense, thrilling, moving action-drama about a Japanese Navy Self-Defense Force ship that suddenly finds itself 60 years in the past the day before the Battle of Midway.   Oh, yeah!  

It's really a bit of a niche piece because it helps to have a decent understanding of the JSDF mentality and the nonfiction sensibilities of the Japanese regarding war.   (That might sound dead-boring, but it's so not.)  It's done well enough that you can pick things up as you go if you're sensitive to context.   It would also help to have some understanding of military history, specifically of Japan's place in WWII, but I think a lot of that is also provided through context.   Anyway, the interactions between the past and the present are intriguing and fascinating, and I really want to hit this one guy . . .  

. . .   But I'll never get the chance because it just stops at the end of the first story arc from the manga which is untranslated and shall remain so forever.   Argggghhh!  

But it's a great ride up until then.   The show really goes into some great territory about how to live in a time when no one else shares your values.   They're committed to saving lives, and they know when and where lives will be lost, but they can't risk changing history, or something bad might happen (such as Japan winning) . . .   Thought-provoking and really well done.

Why do I love Heat Guy J?

Anime watched: Heat Guy J
TMIA rating: b


Well, first there are the bagpipes.  I quite like this soundtrack (I own it) because how often do you hear bagpipes in anime?  It's also a pretty good sountrack, but the bagpipes are such a unique and manly instrument that their presence alone says certain things about the show.

Then there's the dub.  It's a good dub.  I think Steve Cannon is an under-appreciated voice actor.  Edmundo's VA wasn't too shabby.  Johnny Yong Bosch was perfectly insane as Claire Leonelli.  There  were a lot of good performances in this series.  If it hadn't been a few years since I saw the show, I could remember more, but I lent it to someone, and it has disappeared.  That's why I'm glad Funimation snagged the license and is releasing it again!  Some day, when I have money, I hope to be able to get it again.  Or I'll send J after whoever didn't return it to me . . .

I remember that sometimes the unexpected would happen.  Your mileage may very here because I don't anticipate things when I watch a show, so I'm not trying to figure out what will happen next.  I notice if what happens next isn't totally predictable because of genre conventions/tropes.  In this show, the characters had somewhat realistic depths to them, and sometimes the happy endings didn't work out at all.  It takes guts to do that.

And we know I like Nobuteru Yuki.    He can be distinctive (and his noses in those distinctive shows drive people like ST completely crazy), but he can also be almost invisible as a character designer adapting other people's designs, and that takes skill.  (Just so you know, this is one of the distinctive shows but with slightly less crazy noses than Escaflowne.)

So anyway, it looks and sounds good, has good characters and surprising plot twists, and has good production values.  (I remember the extras being nice, too.)  I enjoyed it a lot.  I look forward to re-watching it soon, thanks to Funimation.


Anybody else a fan of J and Daisuke and co.?  Anything you'd like to add?


AnimeNerd quiz


Who said this?

"If you want to be a man, board my ship."

Night Head Genesis, making you want to slap people with psychic powers

 I'm quite proud of the ambiguity of that title.  Read on to see what I meant.  :)

Reviewed: Night Head Genesis Disc 1

TMIA rating: b

I just saw the first disc of Night Head Genesis.  It has an interesting premise, more-than-decent music, and beautiful character designs.  That's why it's so unfortunate that it sort of bogs itself down in lame tropes.

That's not actually a very fair review.  The things that drive me crazy about NHG are mostly things that would not drive me crazy if I were watching this series one episode a time one time a week. 

(NOTE: There is no excuse for the unintentionally hilariously bad in-between art.  It's really brutal, which is a shame because the character designs are really nice.)

Also, I'm not the sort of squeeing fangirl this show has laser-sighted its targets on, so it makes sense that the genre-specific crud irritates me. I just think it could have been an even better show without that stuff weighing it down.

Back to what makes me crazy while watching it.  I may want to kill someone if I hear another, "Help me, big brother!" or, "I'll protect you," but that's mostly because I get to hear them every episode, about every 20 minutes when I'm watching a whole disc at a time. 

(NOTE: these lines don't need to be said; they are implied/shown very clearly.  I'm not just saying that because I would appreciate not having to listen to them all the time.  The show would benefit from a little more restraint here (pay voice actors less!) and a little less restraint in the animation budget . . .)

There are enough interesting pieces to the whole that I am willing to stay with the show, even if it doesn't turn itself around and become a masterpiece (it doesn't).  It's a decent show on its own merits. 

I would like to use my untapped psychic powers to slap that younger main character, though. 

It's okay.  By the end of the first disc, he's found a purpose other than being miserable and making me crazy, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he can take what was his weakness and use it to help others.  (I'm sort of personally invested in seeing this sort of thing work out . . .)


Seen it?  Any opinions?


MangaNerd Quiz!

What graphic novel series does this back cover copy come from?

"What if you could see dead people and a guy in a giant bunny suit trying to get them to the other side?"

Take a trip on the Galactic Railroad

I recommend watching Night on the Galactic Railroad late, late at night when you should have gone to bed a while ago, when you are sleepy and laid back.  I recommend watching it in Japanese with English subtitles.  I recommend watching it at least twice.  I recommend you avoid trying to "get it" too hard (hence the late at night, half-conscious state advice).

Watching this movie is like having a dream: things flow with their own internal logic that you aren't privy to, and you feel submerged in something you can't control.  Don't try to figure it out; you'll only hurt yourself.  Instead, just hold your breath and let the water flow all around you.  You won't want to wake up for numerous reasons, which is why this is a brilliant production.

This 1985 movie is based on a children's book/story by Kenji Miyazawa, who is a thoroughly fascinating individual in his own right.  For those pretty familiar with anime/manga, his work has popped up in the first episode of the X anime (translated kind of appallingly badly and calling out desperately for a translation note, so watchers can appreciate the poignant and sadly appropriate selection) as well as in a volume of Planetes (I'm still bitter that not only did Tokyopop not translate the poem [probably a wise choice] but they also didn't even cite it/say which poem it was).  For those familiar with Japanese conventions of address, the Japanese refer to him as Kenji (just his first name, no suffix at all); that's how well-known and beloved he is.  Look him up!

I want to track down some versions of this book to compare to the film.  (There are a lot of different translations out there; some are probably available through your local library, along with, possibly, this movie.)  It's rated 3+.  Ehhhhhhh . . .  Watch it yourself before you decide if you want to watch it with your kids.

Just watch it some day when you're feeling mellow.  Let me know what you think of it.  (And watch a bit in English for Crispin Freeman's fine performance as Campanella.)  (Thanks D&K!)


Have you already seen it?  What did you think?  What were your initial impressions?  After reflection?

Celebrating the Overlooked Manga Festival

Drat it all.  I spent way too long at another manga review site!  I'm mad at myself, but I had too much fun to stop. 

Shaenon Garrity is a well-known manga editor, and she put together an amusing, informative set of posts she called the Overlooked Manga Festival.  I agreed with pretty much all of her choices (that I'd read).  The thing that made me keep reading is that she is hilarious in her descriptions.  She brings up plot points and summarizes bizarre twists with R-rated and laugh-inducing flare. 

Also on the site are a few worst manga bits, which are also hilarious and definitely not G-rated.  For example:

"Zyword is sort of like if two volumes of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle were stranded on an island and forced to incestuously breed with themselves for generations."  - Jason Thompson

If you're looking for some seriously good manga you may not have heard of, give these a read.  You might be pleasantly surprised by how many of them are available through your local library system; discover the joy of inter-library loan!  It's good to check these suckers out of the library because they'll choose the good stuff in the future if it gets checked out now . . .

Oban Star Racers

TMIA rating: b

The show is just insanely good.   Crossing genres with ease while avoiding annoying tropes, Oban Star Racers was by far one of the best shows I watched last year.  (A quote from it even made its way into my graduate thesis.)

It starts with a girl waiting for a phone call from her father on her 16th birthday. It never comes, and she tells herself it's just because he's a famous race manager, and he must've just been really busy, but she doesn't believe herself. She runs away from her boarding school and heads to a showdown with her father, who doesn't even recognize her. She ends up working for him under an assumed name (Molly), and then things get weird.

Her father (Don Wei) is called on by the President of Earth to put together the best racing team in the history of Earth and take it to an intergalactic race where the winner gets an ultimate prize and maybe gets to not be annihilated by the Krog empire (bad news aliens who really hate everyone).

And it rocks so hard!  

It's actually a French/Japanese hybrid with the best of both worlds.   Complex plot and characters, intense action, beautiful and crazy animation, great music, very few training scenes, and an utterly enthralling English dub.   I have listened to the opening and closing songs, like 60 times, and I still love them.  (Yoko Kanno rules.)   I want to watch it again right now . . .  

And for those who like behind the scenes sneak peeks, the semi-documentaries about the Japanese and French collaboration are outstanding.   The extras are worth more than the price of the DVDs.

(Un)Recognizable (Stupidity): I make my life harder than it needs to be (manga edition)

Don't you hate it when you see a manga, and you totally recognize the art, but you can't for the life of you remember the artist and his/her other works?  It drives me a bit nuts.  It's especially bad when I'm in a stupid mood, and I refuse to look it up on principle. 

I will remember, darn it, and if I can't, then I will punish myself by leaving myself in agonized curiosity.  Ha, ha!  Take that!

Why do we make life so much harder for ourselves?  Sheesh.

We mentioned Ponyo but forgot we hadn't reviewed it here yet . . .

Review summary: b b   (TMIA in blue : ST in green) 


Did you like My Neighbor Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, or Spirited Away?   You should go see Ponyo, which is in a small number of theaters for a very limited time.  In fact, you should go check now if it is and go see it at a cheap, matinee showing.  Go on.

Ponyo is an adorable movie by Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (the above plus Princess Mononoke and Porco Rosso, etc.).   It's loosely based on Andersen's Little Mermaid story, but it's the weird, creepy, adorable, Japanese Miyazaki'd version of it.   A 5-year-old boy rescues a goldfish who falls in love with him and wants to become a human.   Weird and cute things occur gorgeously, and you will smile and laugh and think they are adorable unless you have a heart of charcoal.   And this is not syrupy, fake cute, this is, "sometimes kids are just too cute and magical goldfish-humans are, too" cute.

One great thing about Miyazaki is that he never condescends to the kids, but he doesn't dumb down the adults, either.   The adults act quite realistically (suspension of disbelief included) and are quite endearing in their reality.   Yes, good, non-neurotic parents in a cartoon!   That's entertaining!   It CAN be done!

So drag your happy innocent child-self out of hiding, and go be washed away by Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea.   Bring your friends and be charmed together.  Also, try to get that ending theme song out of your head that day; I dare you.

And the dub didn't do too bad of a job. I still think that Ponyo and Sosuke (the main boy) were better in Japanese because they sounded slightly closer to their real ages, but the dub did a really decent job of directing the kids. And it was a good cute. We all know how much I hated Totoro, but I really enjoyed Ponyo, even if the theme song was overplayed to death by Japanese advertisers.

Just so you know, though, don't go into the movie thinking it's going to make any sense. Because it's not. It's definitely made for kids, and kids don't really care if it makes sense. So don't try to figure out what's going on   - just enjoy it for the silly, cute, adorable nonsense that it is.

I have to say that I was impressed. I didn't think American kids would like Ponyo. But when I went, there were quite a few American kids in the theatre. They only laughed once or twice, so at first I didn't think they liked it. But then I realized that they weren't being annoying (as kids at theatres usually are) by talking loudly and asking their parents stuff and squiggling around during the movie - they were actually just sitting there and watching it. So even if they didn't enjoy it, they at least weren't bored.

And if that's not an endorsement for bringing the kids along, we don't know what is.  

Have you seen it yet?  What did you think?  Did you enjoy it (b)?  Did you hate it (p)?  Did it leave no impression on you one way or another (o)?  What was your reaction?

Some good decompression manga

Sometimes, you just want to read something that will make you happy without requiring much of you.  Examples that come to mind:

• Aqua/Aria
• Gon
• Yotsuba

Gon seems like it should be the exception here.  It's rated T for violence (and recreational mushroom use in volume 4, which nearly had me needing my inhaler, I was laughing so hard) because it's about the natural world, sort of, so things get killed and eaten with appalling regularity.  Gon is kind of offbeat, anyway.  It's a manga with no words where each chapter has a different cast of animals except for the titular main character Gon.  Everything is drawn meticulously, including the chief anachronism: Gon is a baby T-Rex. 

Gon interacts with (often by bullying) other creatures in sometimes natural, sometimes bizarre ways.  He's a simple creature: give him food and a place to sleep, and he is one happy camper.  Some chapters consist of him searching for food, finding it, and eating it with the hugest look of contentment on his scaly little face. 

In others, he self-importantly bullies other bullies or lesser creatures or whatever he feels like bullying that day.  (I protest at his treatment of those dingoes, but the look in his eye as they turned up their noses at the food he offered them at the end almost made up for it.)  How can so much be portrayed using only the facial expressions of animals?  It's sort of genius.

Sometimes the laughs are unintentional because some of the animals are a bit too reminiscent of Tezuka's, but there is something out-and-out hilarious about the looks the artist draws in the eyes of, say, the fish Gon catches and is about to eat (flashbacks to ZatchBell there :), or the animals dying or having bad trips after the great mushroom march in volume 3.  It's priceless. 

Kudos to CMX for publishing this little gem.  It makes me laugh and cry in a much more free way than I usually can while reading manga.  I shouldn't be this relaxed after reading about the law of the jungle in action or subverted, but something about Gon makes it okay to just read, experience, maybe cry a bit, and move on.



Any favorite decompression manga/anime you have?  The thing you go to read/watch when you've had a bad day and just need to unwind?  Is it a specific genre or just a specific title or two?  Why do you think they have that effect on you?

Anime, Manga, Cookies, and Self-Control

Do you ever use anime or manga as a reward?  You tell yourself, "Okay me, let's get going here.  If you can  survive your 20 hour Tuesday and submit some piece of creative writing to a magazine, then the next day, you can watch Y!" 

It's seriously like rewarding kids with cookies (very expensive cookies), only it's yourself you're rewarding.  It's just a way to try to be disciplined.  Unless it's just me . . .

Have you ever held off watching/reading an anime/manga until you were done with some necessary vegetable task?  Which ones?  Do certain kinds work better than others?  (And what ones have you failed at holding off on because you just can't concentrate on anything else until you read/see it?)

Ponyo and Legend of Black Heaven

I hope you were able to see Ponyo in the theater!  I don't know if the big water scenes will be nearly as magical on a small screen.  Anyway, one of the things I loved about Ponyo was the way it somewhat realistically portrayed typical motherhood in Japan (where the wife is mostly home with the kid, and the father shows up rarely, if at all). 

As I was watching the film, I found myself wondering if director Hayao Miyazaki included this dynamic on purpose.  From what I had heard, Miyazaki is a workahaolic.  He met his wife when she was an animator.  They got married, had a kid.  She quit her job; he became monstrously famous and pretty much neglected her and their son to make incredible art that millions of people love.

I read a review after seeing the film that said he did include the dynamic as a tribute to the rough time his own wife and son had.  I had mixed feelings: it's touching that he wants their situation to be recognized and appreciated, but it's no substitute for an absent father.  We could start up that debate about what it takes to make great art and what sacrifices are worth it, but instead, I wanted to randomly mention another show that did a bang-up job showing that quietly crazy family dynamic.

Legend of Black Heaven is a somewhat obscure Pioneer/Geneon title that I got a huge kick out of for a number of reasons.  Best of all, it stars a guy in his thirties.  He works a drab job as a cog in the salaryman wheel, and he has some problems with his wife now that their son has come along and taken up much of her energy and attention (and made intimacy a bit more problematic in their tiny apartment).  He didn't always live a boring life; once he was the lead guitarist of a heavy metal band that almost hit the big time (and his wife is a former groupie). 

Long story short: aliens come to earth to enlist his help because his guitar playing is the only thing that can defeat their enemies.  (I'm not making that up.)  His wife thinks he's having an affair, and things get messy. 

For me, though, the story is really about him reclaiming his passions: for his life, his music, and his family.  Initially, he is awkward with his son, who is basically a stranger to him, and he's a bit rocky with his wife (partly because he's not the man she fell in love with and they never really spend any time together).  I love watching that dynamic change for the better over the course of this half-season series.

The best bonus is that Beau Billingsly (you may remember him as Jett from the English dub of Cowboy Bebop) turns in an incredible performance as the lead character (he is excellent drunk or sober, goofy or serious).  Once you get used to his deep voice, you will probably adore this role.  I wish there were more lead roles for basses, but there aren't many anime series that star guys in their thirties . . . :)

someone's top 20 animated films

So, here's a list of someone's top 20 animated films.  I love lists because they always cause controversy. 

Have you seen all these?  Are there any that surprised you?  Any you would add or subtract?

The Triumphant Return of Yotsuba!

Yotsuba& is back!  My local bookstore has volumes 1 and 6, and the rest in between are on their way! 

Oh, the joy! 

I wish I could just marathon them all.  Maybe I'll do that next summer. 

Yotsuba& is the perfect way to while away an entire summer day, or maybe a rainy day would be better.  You can't help but be happy and content and full of grins after reading Yotsuba& in the right mood.  It makes you look at and see the world differently.  That, in itself is pretty brilliant.

(Thank you, Yen Press, for rescuing this license.  I am definitely closer to forgiving you for Sundome.)

My life as anime/manga

Recently, I have unfortunately been cast in something of a "moe" role in my life.  I used to be organized, athletic, and fairly self-confident. Then I got hurt and kept racking up additional injuries to the point where now I am that klutzy pathetic character everyone feels they have to take care of.  (You can maybe tell I am not thrilled with this.)

"If someone has flaws or defects, but that is exactly what draws you to them, people call it moe.  It's different from 'like,' where you're drawn to their good points, their strengths. 'Like' doesn't care for defects or flaws.  Moe is the opposite of 'like' or 'dislike.'" - Yuko in XXXholic: Anotherholic, page 96-97

Today I was reminded a bit irritatingly of the side of me that overcompensates by being a little bit of a tsundere character. I am especially cold and distant because I don't wish to engage in relationships with people who constantly have to see my weaknesses and think of them as being cute.   Warghhhh.

I met up with an old acquaintance from an anime club I have belonged to for years (he was a member about four years ago). We were both volunteering in the choir of a September 11 memorial event, and we chatted a couple of times during 10 minute breaks at rehearsal.

Back when I knew him, he had no interest in music, so I was surprised to reunite with him unexpectedly in a church basement.  He explained that there was a bad breakup, and he was lonely, and he believed in God and someone asked him to be in a church choir, and he just fell in love with the energy of making something spectacular with a group that couldn't be made alone.

Before the concert tonight, he said something true and hilarious.  "I was thinking back to when I knew you in anime club, and the way I remembered it, you were . . .  Well, the few times I decided to talk to you because, well, because you looked kinda cute, you . . . didn't seem very interested in talking much.  But this time, you don't seem like that at all."  Very diplomatic for such a straightforward person.

I suppose I could've explained that it was a normal reaction to being thrown into a situation where I expected to know no one and unexpectedly finding someone that I knew, mostly from conversations overheard in anime club years ago. 

I could've explained that I knew I shared music with all of the other volunteers, but it was a pleasant surprise to find someone with whom I had another shared interest.

I could have explained that I act standoffish for a lot of reasons, including a desire to prevent any boys from being attracted to me), but am a shameless eavesdropper who likes to know about but not interact with (probably causally related to my being a writer and my ability to sort of naturally tamp down my presence so tight that I'm constantly scaring people who don't realize I am there and accuse me of having ninja powers). 

I could've also explained that my mentor recently suggested that I consider writing some sort of article about why being in choirs was so important to me and starting by asking friends with various levels of commitment to music why they love it, and finding a casual acquaintance who had suddenly developed a love of choral music could lead to some great research and maybe even a nice interview.

I just told him that in larger group contexts where I will be spending a lot of time, I don't have the energy to interact with people (true), and he nodded and said that he knew people like that, but he loved talking to people (obviously).  I'm afraid in my happiness at finding myself not alone among strangers, I have introduced him to that softer, excited side that seems to make men want to date me, and this is unfortunate because I don't have any interest in dating, just in friendship, but that's not enough.  This is why I wouldn't make a good tsundere character if my life were an anime or manga. 

Drat.  It looks like I'm stuck in moeville for the foreseeable future.  Sigh.

Storytelling endings

I just finished reading a manga fantasy series that was firmly grounded in the real world, and at the end, I was crying.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't crying just because it turned into an alternate history series.

Alternate history "What ifs" are difficult to pull off, and I think maybe the twist shouldn't have worked in this particular case because the series was so well-grounded in the time period, and it used foreshadowing and built momentum for the inevitable ending so thoroughly that I should have felt let down when history changed, but I didn't.  Instead, I felt a keen sense of loss because the alternate history the books ended on didn't happen in the real world, and I wish it had.  I look forward to rereading the whole series knowing the ending to see if that changes how I read as I go along.

Some books and series don't have much reread value once you know the end; others do.  Sometimes it's because the writing is so excellent, the ending didn't really matter that much.  Sometimes the characters are so great, you just want to spend time with them again.  Sometimes, though, you read because the momentum of the plot propels you toward the ending, and once you reach it, that's all.  Now you know what happened and can go on with your life.  In most western (genre) fiction, spoiling the ending means saying who dies or who did it in the beginning.  If you know that, why read the book?

I've heard and viewed and read alternate arguments about Japanese storytelling (novels, anime, manga).  Knowing what happens in the next episode or at the end of the book doesn't matter to them as much; it doesn't spoil things, necessarily.  How things lead up to it are equally if not more important.

So, any manga or anime you really liked reading/watching but will never read again because you know the end?  Any that have particularly great reread/rewatch value even if (maybe because) you know the end?

Missing Newtype

I miss Newtype USA.  There, I said it.  They had the best coverage (of current anime in Japan) of any of the English language mags available to me.  It was nice and not nice at the same time.

On the one hand, you got to read about all of these incredible shows and their enthusiastic creators.  Sure, it was more of a marketing magazine than a critical magazine, but if you knew that going in, you could take the articles with the necessary salt.

On the other hand, most of them weren't licensed and were unlikely to be licensed, so if you read about one you adored that had little mass appeal, it was sort of torture, knowing that you'd probably never get to see it.  (Remember that I am a law-abiding fool, so if it's not licensed here, it's no dice for me.)  I loved looking at all the articles anyway. 

When something does get licensed years after the fact (like "Big Windup"), I get to be all nostalgic about how I thought upon reading about it in Newtype, "Oh!  A baseball anime made recently with modern-appealing character designs and good character development!  Maybe it will get licensed!  Oh, wait, it's sports anime, which doesn't do real well here, and the economy isn't great right now, and who on this earth would take a chance on something like this?"  Weeping.

Thank you, Funimation, from the bottom of my baseball-loving, sports-anime-adoring heart.  I may want to kick the main character, but I love the show.  Thank you!

Some manga that make me happy

You know how there are some people you know who make you happy?  For example, you pull into the parking lot at work and see X's car, and you know you'll be working with X, and suddenly the world is a brighter place? 

Certain manga are like that for me, too.  For example:

• Love*Com
• Skip Beat!
• Otomen
• Kekkaishi
  

It's not just the funny ones, though.  Whenever I see that a new volume of a series is coming out, I get sort of giddy, even if I know the contents will be hard, sad, or downright depressing.

Some past series that did this to me:

• Antique Bakery
  
• Banana Fish
• Basara
• Monster
  
• Please Save My Earth
• X

Some "newer" series that make me happy like this:

• Pluto
• Ooku
• One Thousand and One Nights
• Hotel Africa
• Nodame Cantabile
  
• Mushishi
  
• Emma
• 20th Century Boys
• Pluto (yeah, I like it that much)
  

The lists go on and on.  I am so easily entertained that I will never be bored.  :)

So, what manga make you happy like that (or made you happy like that once upon a time)?

How do you decide when to say when?

How do you decide whether you like a series?  I know people who'll only give a show one episode (or just the opening theme song animation) to hook them or one volume of manga. 

For me, it seems like I'll give a manga three volumes to make me care.  If I don't like characters or plot after spending that much time with them, I pretty much don't feel bad about giving up. 

With anime, I don't know if it's because I do enough research ahead of time or because I have very few expectations going into a show or what, but I can't think of any series that I didn't watch through the end of what was available legally once I started it.  If I start it, I will finish it, if only to give it every last chance to redeem itself.  Not all of them do (Give me back those hours of my life, Glass Fleet!), but I'm usually somewhat satisfied and comfortable with them by the end.  I usually invest enough of my own energy into the show to get something back.  And it's true I'm easily entertained.

So again, what is your measurement of choice when deciding what is worth your manga-reading/anime-viewing time?

Fly, Black Bird!

Well, I see why this won the Shogakukan Award: straight out of the gate, this story is well-done and ready to go.  What a great first volume!  A hint of creeping menace, sparks and misunderstandings between main characters, weirdness, blood.  Wow.



From the Slightly Biased Manga review (emphasis mine):

So, the main character, Misao, is a rare girl that demons want to consume for various vitality reasons.  She hasn’t had a boyfriend in all this time because she is haunted by childhood memories of a boy named Kyo, the only other person she met who could see spirits and who promised to come back for her ten years ago.  Well, lo and behold, Kyo shows back up, and is apparently King of the Tengu and wants to wed Misao.  She mistrusts him and assumes it’s for longevity (because wedding Misao affects the whole tribe positively), but Kyo may actually just love her.

Misao can see all kinds of spirits from Japanese folklore (beautifully, lovingly, and weirdly brought to life by the artist), and we can't help but see how awful and distracting her life must have been until now.  When her childhood first love Kyo (who used to protect her from spirit bullies) returns to make her his bride as promised, it should be a really happy birthday.  Only it turns out he's a demon, and she's a sort of special blood donor, and demons who drink her blood or eat her or marry her get a huge power boost for them and/or their clan.  So maybe he doesn't love her and never did, and her perfect little romantic dream is smashed, and you can't really blame her for being bitter against Kyo.  But maybe he does love her; she just can't tell.  Happy sweet sixteenth!

She can't trust that he loves her because he's a demon.  Kind of cliche, but not really. The artist does a good job of showing you that he really isn't quite human.  His emotions are different; he comes from a different world with different rules for marriage and love and everything.  He's possessive and creepy, and he licks her (even if that is just to heal the wounds inflicted on her by others trying to prey on her).  He's doesn't meet her expectations of Prince Charming or match her few precious memories.  In fact, he says he remembers everything, and his memories don't match hers sometimes.

But she's not stupid, so she notices that he's still always protecting her, and that even though he sounds incredibly, unforgivably cold and possessive sometimes, his actions could show that he cares for her.  He puts himself in danger for her, time and again.  But does he love her?  Can he love her, you know, they way she thinks of love?  And how can she be sure he does?

The author makes sure the reader isn't totally certain, either.   He could very well be willing to put his life on the line for the power she could give him.  We don't know exactly how powerful she really is, but we suspect incredible things.  He feels just inhuman enough that we can make a case either way.

I think one of the reasons this series works so well for me is because the tensions are pervasive.  Let's not lie: this can be one erotic story, but what makes it more than simple fodder for prurient interest is what the heroine learns later: that no demon should have the control to be able to simply lick her wounds enough to heal them and not go on to eat her or rape her, but he has, numerous times.  When a rival arrives and points out that he doesn't have to wait until she's ready, we realize that Kyo is the same, strong enough to do whatever he wants but also willing to wait until she's ready.  He is restraining himself to inhuman lengths for some reason.  That restraint and obvious physical attraction pull at each other.

This manga benefits from the restricted point-of-view.  We only know what Misao does, only see what she sees, hear what she hears.  Kyo's character is developed through action, (lack of) facial expression, and dialogue.  Kyo's actions sometimes terrify her when paired with his words. (After he flies with her, knowing she's scared out of her mind of heights, just after she tries to have a human boyfriend and almost gets killed by malicious spirit pranks: "I just wanted to teach you a lesson.  You can't live without me.  I have to teach your body that.")

He scares the meep out of her, but he also makes her feel safe and loved.  She doesn't understand why or how both of these things can be true.  Neither do we, but we suspect a lot of things.  (Why are her memories so ragged?  How could she forget he was a demon?  What's up with the hints of ugly clan politics?) We believe he is scary because we see and hear him being scary, but we can't write him off completely because we know that we as humans are trying to explain the actions in human terms and with human reasons, even knowing the actor isn't human.

It's not like a regular romance where I might just get frustrated and want her to come out and ask the boy, "Do you love me?" because he could say yes but be lying or be telling the truth using love as his culture defines it but not as she means it.  And anyway, how can she love a being she doesn't understand?  How can she love him if she doesn't even know his expectations, ingrained in him by his culture she knows nothing about.  Only time will tell if what he has to give is what she wants and needs and what she has to give him that he wants and needs.

I'm hooked; I'll admit it.  If the story stays this interestingly conflicted (with those brilliant flashes of comedy) and if it follows up on all these hints of promise, I'm, with it for the long run.   This one's a winner, and I hope it does well for Viz.

Monster Anime! Excitement!

The Monster anime will be on the scifi channel, whatever it's calling itself these days.

Are you as excited about this as I am? It's hard to wait, especially since my TV isn't set up to do anything but watch DVDs.  Maybe by the time they come out, I'll have a job that pays better, at least enough that I can pay my rent, bills, and debts, while still leaving a little more for my hobbies.  Here's hoping, for Tenma's sake and my own.

What Happens to Real Nice Boys

There's this anime trope my sister and I were talking about recently: the nice guy who wins.  It may not necessarily seem like he's winning because there are scads of annoying girls around either beating him up or forcing their affections upon him with various degrees of enthusiasm and success, but that in itself is supposed to be winning.  He is desirable, and girls choose him.

In real life, this doesn't usually happen. The nice guys we know (especially Christian guys), the ones who deserve to get the girl because they will love and cherish the girl and will remain faithful in sickness and in health as long as they both shall live usually get dumped by the girl because she is looking for "something else," though she claims to be looking for a (God-fearing) man who will love and cherish her and stay with her as long as they both shall live.

When this kind of thing happens, it makes me a little angry, especially as a woman who is happy being gifted with contented celibacy. At times like those, I wish I weren't celibate because someone needs to love and appreciate these men in the way that they deserve, and I am out of the game forever.  Love is at least partially a choice, an act of the will, and it seems like too many single women seeking mates are too busy wishing to look at and really see the Prince Charmings around them.

I cannot understand why so many bright women desperately looking for mates overlook all of the wonderful men around them because they're "too nice" (i.e., won't make out in public) or are geeks or nerds. Liking video games or anime (a lot) doesn't cancel out a nice guy's other qualities.  Being a fan of dating sims or a little bit socially awkward shouldn't automatically disqualify a really nice person as a potential love interest.  But it does.  All the time.

What do you think about why nice guys seem not only to finish last but to finish lonely or at least wait lonely for longer than they should have to for someone to discover how great they really are?  Ladies (if this applies to you), why is it that you'll pine for a boyfriend or husband but won't really make the effort to look for someone who has the necessary qualities if they don't make you feel all sparkly?  I really am curious.

9/11 Tributes and Gundam

 I just got back from a rehearsal for a 9/11 memorial service, and I wonder if I'm torturing myself on purpose.  I'm not much for rah-rah patriotism right now (what with an ongoing attempt by the government to claim no responsibility for a crippling injury I sustained in their service over 6 years ago), and several of the songs we sing are high rah-rah-tolerance songs.  I got moved to the front row for no reason today (along with all the other Alto II singers), so I definitely can't start crying in frustration when we sing those songs.  Maniacal, hysterical laughter would also be a bad choice.

I'm sure this has something to do with me watching too much Gundam lately.  Nothing makes it more obvious to you how stupid and hellish war is than lots of Gundam.  I read an interesting sort-of-criticism of the most recent series to make its way over here (Gundam00).  Over at Anime News Network, Carl Kimlinger reviewed the first boxed set and concluded that it's "a worthwhile watch for anyone who doesn't mind their entertainment with more brain than heart."  It's true that describes me.

It's also true that I think too hard about a great many things, including the anime I watch, so in my own way, I get more invested in the characters than I should, and this is true of the drama-fests that are Gundam.  (I'll admit it: there were times when I even cried during G-Gundam.  Yeah, I said it.)  The questions the pilots ask and don't ask are important questions even if we don't have answers and even if they ooze with excess cheese.  :)  I get a lot of laughs from clunky lines that can't be delivered in any way that doesn't sound ridiculous; sometimes it's easier to watch in Japanese with subtitles because I'm used to reading such arguments more than hearing them dramatized.

The situations that seem plausible in reality make my skin crawl.  To hear people baldly debating philosophies of war and the proper use of violence and then having to live out/with the consequences: this is what made me love Gundam in the first place (Gundam Wing as well as "First" Gundam and each one I've seen since).  Sometimes I think the world might be a better place if things could be as simple as the theory of a tournament like G Gundam, the damage (mostly) kept away from the civilians.

Have you ever read Terry Pratchett's Guards, Guards!?  It's a fun book that grew partly out of his pity for the poor extras who get called in and promptly dispatched by the hero or villain.  What if they didn't die?  What if they were the main characters?  What if they (sometimes) even won?  Sort of.   

I find myself really pitying average enlisted people.  Don't get me wrong: I have a lot of respect for soldiers because they do a job most of us agree needs to be done to protect our country but most of us are highly unwilling to do.  People like that need to be honored, especially when the cost can be as high as death or permanent impairment.  Some of them are patriotic people who want to serve their countries; some need an education and have few options.  Some want to protect their families or help liberate others.  There are a lot of reasons to become a soldier and fight.

In the end, they have no control over anything, not even whether they are being used to accomplish the goals they want.  One of the songs we sing for this tribute is a medley of songs for different branches of the military.  (After watching a lot of Young Indiana Jones episodes and documentaries about World War I, some of these are even harder to sing.)

The officers, including the highest officers, often have no control.  War isn't something you can really control.  No plan survives first contact with the enemy and all that.  (My Vorkosigan obsession is showing again.)  This chaos is what Gundam is about. 

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but Gundam makes me think they're quite possible.  Armageddon will happen somehow; we will bring it on ourselves.  Maybe that's what gives Gundam the added chill of reality for me.  I weep for all the dead (soldiers and civilians) as we blunder around hurting each other, broken and breaking.

What are your thoughts on Gundam?  Does it leave you cold?  Why?  Are you thrown off by plot-driven action and sometimes downright distasteful characters?  (If you're in it for the pretty boys, I don't want to hear from you. :)

When Bias Is Best

Yesterday I found a great site and blew way too much time reading the funny, smart, honest reviews written by a twenty-something manga fan.  "Slightly Biased Manga: manga only if I like it" kept me entertained in the best way, the way AnimeonDVD's Chris B.'s reviews did back in the day when it was mostly him.

There's something interesting about reading the same person's reviews of a broad range of series.  You can start to see their biases and figure out how your reactions will relate to theirs on the series you haven't seen/read but have been curious about. 

Connie's reviews are usually pretty short and non-technical; they're more opinion columns than anything formal, and that is their strength.  You just need a lot of self-control, or you'll spend too long on the site.  Remember, there's probably always tomorrow.  You can go back and ration the joy to make it last longer. 

So, thank you, Connie, for being great at what you do.  Please keep it up!

Is Toward the Terra Worth Watching if I've Read the Manga?

The site formerly known as AnimeonDVD posted an article about the 10 Most Underrated Anime Series in 2008, and Toward the Terra is on it.  I agree.  I wish more people would see this one.  It's full of action, intrigue, psychological drama, politics, moral conflict, clashing characters, fate/destiny, choice, consequences, and good old' science fiction speculation about humanity and machines.

Should you see it even if you've already read the manga by Keiko Takemiya?  Yes.

Why? 

• Enough similarities: You will recognize most of the characters and situations you enjoyed in the manga.
• Enough differences: There are new characters and expanded conflicts. Some characters you think you recognize turn out to be unrecognizable because they are used for different purposes or because there was finally space to show them more fully. Your mileage may vary on which--if any--of these you like, but they definitely make you pay attention because of how they change the story, which shows that they're not just there to be different.
• Additional development: The original manga has almost relentless pacing. This feature was one of the reasons why it got the recognition it did when it was first released, if I remember correctly. The stripped-down, bare bones action-adventure/sci-fi style meant that readers could breathlessly plunge into the story and not come up for air until the very end.  Not many shojo manga at the time displayed this characteristic.  While that sense of looming fate and impending doom is still present driving the anime, many of the problems that arose from abbreviating the inner life of the characters are absent. Relationships that are more developed mean more. There is a lot more showing when before there was only room for telling. 
• A satisfactory ending: Maybe the body count is the same (I'm not going to say one way or another), but the impact and quality of many deaths were harder and higher.  Ouch.  Kudos.  That stripped-down quality made some of the deaths harder to absorb, and this new version make sure you feel every punch.  Every single one.

I also loved the character designs. I have been a fan of Nobuteru Yuki's work for a long time, and I was quite surprised by his work in Toward the Terra.  (If you hate the noses in Escaflowne, you owe it to yourself to give him a chance to redeem himself in your eyes through Terra or maybe "Captain Herlock.")

Have you seen both versions?  (Or even all three, including the movie, which was even more abbreviated than the manga?)  Do you have a preference?  Why?