What I watched in April: Digest Version, part 1 of 2

b Arakawa Under the Bridge 2: Possibly the funniest moment yet was the "Justin Beaver" conversation.  I love how this story walks the line between these people are just insane and this is a fantasy.  It doesn't really walk it; it stomps decisively on either side of it repeatedly.  Oh, anime that can only be anime, you are entertaining.

b Blassreiter first half:  Holy cow, this CGI is terrible AND poorly integrated.  I didn't think this show was that old . . .  The first disc is terrible.  I hate the main character, and I'm glad he died.  (Yes, I still cried when it happened.)

"I would do it again and again and again if I thought it would make them stop picking on me." "Why aren't the ones who bullied Johann being punished?"  The good stuff is the drama about outsiders and bullying and the poor and the outcasts.  "Power has finally come to the just." Power corrupts.  "Nobody ever came for Johann or I when we needed help."  "I won't let anyone bully the weak anymore."

"Is that justice for the wicked?  All I see is someone suffering in pain."  "So do you really feel satisfied now?"  "There wasn't a single life it was right for you to take."  "I really hated killing them even though they bullied Johan.  At first it felt good, but then I suddenly hated it.  My hands were covered in blood.  And I couldn't help Joseph either.  I guess I am a weakling after all."  We are actually quickly running out of living cast members.  I wonder how that's going to work out for the second half . . .  The first commentary was kind of a hoot.

b Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below: Makoto Shinkai strikes again.  This was a lovely movie.  It wasn't, you know, totally coherent or emotionally complex and brilliant, but it was quite beautiful for a road trip/coming of age movie.

b Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Oh, man.  Bring your silly hats and leave your pretentious, serious Gundam notions far behind you.  This was ridiculous and awesome and did I mention ridiculous?  Men spoke with their fists (and also a lot with their mouths)!  People died so many times.  There was a Gundam with a Windmill!  There was a  huge, cheating-filled martial arts tournament!  There were twists and turns!  There was even a (naked person) romantic conclusion. (?!)  I love self-aware directors who are just having a ball and are fully aware of their own weaknesses.  The G-Giles extra is actually pretty great.  It's a simple text transcription of an interview, but it's amusing and insightful and plainly silly.  And the English voice acting was delightfully overwrought.  It wasn't quite original Knights of the Zodiac dub quality, but by the end, the voice actors had stopped trying to understand it and were just letting fly no matter how leaden or ridiculous the dialogue was.  I laughed, I cried, sometimes at the same time . . .  Good stuff to play in the background while you clean, copy down book quotes, update your budget, or write.  Shining Finger forever, dudes!

Where's my manga: radio edition

I would like someone to write a shonen manga about a boy with a burning passion for being a radio DJ and an unfortunate problem with burning chronic indigestion and acid reflux.  If you've ever worked in radio (or listened to it), you know how mortifying it is to not only have to pause (leaving dead air) but actually flub up by not covering or turning off the microphone quickly enough to smother the belch clawing its way up your throat.

(There is something wrong with me because I laugh so hard I cry every time I think about this.  Even at work, where I'm sure the cube-dweller next to me thinks I have lost my mind.)

So, would you read that gag manga if somebody wrote it?  (Couldn't resist.  Sorry.)

Why Slam Dunk is dunking me

Due to budgeting issues sort of related to the economic downturn, I am only able to purchase about one volume of Slam Dunk a year, and I think it's going to kill me. 


Unlike certain tournament shonen series, you really kind of need to read a whole game of Slam Dunk at once, or you lose all the narrative momentum and totally forget who the characters are.  This last part is not as much of a problem in Slam Dunk as, say, Whistle, but I couldn't remember any of the minor characters from the last volume, so it took me a while to get the adrenaline going.  Which is why it was even more painful when it screeched to a halt a few short chapters later. 


I really want to purchase this series to show my support for all sports manga.  To make sure I purchase, I usually don't read the series in a bookstore or the library.  This way, I can justify purchasing it.  I don't know if I can hold out with Slam Dunk, though. 

I was so happy when it was in Shonen Jump . . .  I may just have to marathon it at the library and hope for better economic times in the near future, so I can purchase it and read it again.  Viva le Sports Manga!

I LOVE KEKKAISHI

I think I've figured out that the main reason why I love this series so much: the sibling rivalry. 

In this series, a mark appears on the body of the person who will succeed as the next head of the household, and a while back it showed up on the apathetic-toward-spiritual-battles middle son who wanted to be a baker of impossibly crazy cakes when he grew up, not a clan leader.  The dedicated, hard-working, ambitious oldest son was baffled (along with the rest of the family) and angry.  He left, joined some slightly shadowy otherworld organization, doesn't really keep in touch.  It's all quite awkward and strained and embarrassed. 

As time in the story passes, the middle son finds his sense of responsibility and starts working harder and comes up with a plan to stop the madness (he's still working on the details).  He misses and looks up to the older brother, but the older brother doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with him.  It creates a unique, gentle, realistic, and sympathetic tension I really haven't found anywhere else.

I do like the action and adventure, the intrigue, the mistrust and backstabbing, the mystery, the unrequited feelings, the actual and stunning deaths, the mysticism, and the character growth, but it's the quiet, domestic drama in the background that really makes me love this series. 

I wonder if this affection stems from my similarly awkward (sans the supernatural shenanigans) relationship with my older sister who really wanted nothing to do with me for years. 

I just feel for the poor main character, and I wish his brother wouldn't hold all this against him, if that's what he's doing.  I wish they could just be friends, but as a person, I understand that they have grown apart.  And as a  reader, I am privy to more about his older brother than he is.  I understand the whole looking-up-to-the-guy thing (he is pretty powerful and awesome), but I don't know if I can trust him. 

I want to believe he's one of the good guys, but he's ambitious and his motives are, at best, murky.  We don't really get inside his head, so we're only able to build our picture of him from his actions and words (which mostly take place in very delicate and highly charged political situations which sort of preclude frankness).  It's maddening and kind of brilliant. 

I want the author to keep pulling Kekkaishi off with this quietly sad internal tension.  I want, somehow, for the two brothers to be reconciled and trust and love each other.  I want their relationship to become strong and beautiful.  Or is that my relationship with my older sister I'm longing for?  I guess it doesn't really matter. 

I want the older brother to be one of the good guys.  I also don't want him to die.  I really don't want the main character to get him killed.  I want an end to jealousy and resentment.  I suspect I am wanting a lot of impossible things here, but I don't mind.  As long as this story is compelling, I will stick with it and love it.  Even if it has an unhappy ending.

I'd also like the anime to be great.