See this post for information on the defective copies.
As an apology, the DVD also came with some extras: Stratos 4 merchandise.
Uh… hooray…?
Category Archives: anime
Caught up on Bamboo Blade
That is, up to episode 17.
At this point one of my main reasons for watching is to see what’s really, REALLY up with Miya-Miya.
I’ve also seen some people accusing Tama-chan of being too powerful, similar to say, Ryouma from Prince of Tennis. I’ve never really had a problem with those kinds of main characters, as not every main character has to be an underdog.
The Anime Character in 3D Animation
Anime characters come from a 2d world. They are not only part of the world of animation but also for many characters the world of manga. Perspective is relatively fluid, and characters no matter what the angle will often look as good as possible or have the features and parts positioned in such a way that everything comes out okay.
Japanese animation has made many advances in integrating 3dcg backgrounds, vehicles (both humanoid and otherwise), and just environments with characters, but what happens when anime characters become 3d? Many of the various techniques which go into portraying characters in 2d animation simply do not work in 3d. Case in point, the standard money-saving open-close mouth animation used in so may shows looks about 10x worse when done in 3d. As advanced as 3d can become, it will always have its limitations, just like any other medium.
Actually, the more important question I should be asking is, how much of tradition are creators willing to discard in making 3d characters for a 3d environment?
There are certain qualities of character design which will be fairly universal, but when taking the example of Pixar, and comparing them to not just traditional 2d animation but their own design sketches, something changes in the addition of that extra dimension. They maintain it fairly closely, of course, but that’s I think partially due to the sheer power of Pixar. They have the money and talent to do it.
Japanese animation, of course, has never been known for its big budgets. I think various stylistic aspects of Japanese animation were born partially out of economic needs, and have been fostered in such a way that they’ve transcended their very pragmatic origins. However, 2d animation and 3d animation are fairly different beasts as I’ve pointed already, and what may have been traditionally a money saver in 2d may cost more to replicate it in 3d. I have no specific examples in mind, but just the sheer work required in creating character models, let alone everything else, means that even still 1-minute shots may take a hefty toll.
Even if a studio is willing to do all this however, I have to wonder what the fan reaction would be. I imagine it would be on a fairly case by case basis, but then I ask myself, how willing would I be to accept drastically, drastically different character designs into what I call Japanese animation? Even if I am well aware that a true 1:1 conversion from 2d to 3d may not be as simple as expanding across the Z-axis, but that various invisible elements may manifest themselves in strikingly different ways, will I be able to recognize it? Early on in this blog’s life, I talked about the possibility of an anime without characters whatsoever. It was meant to ask, to what extent do character designs and characters in general have an effect on how we define anime? I’m asking a similar question here.
Sadly, I don’t really have the answer. All I know is that the worst thing that could happen is for a studio that wanted to produce a fully 3d work to abandon it for these reasons.
On confidence in being an anime fan
Many times, I see people, particularly on the internet, who are simply afraid to admit that they’re anime fans in real life. They’re afraid that it’ll alienate their friends, or that people will think less of them.
I have issues of confidence as well in certain areas, but being an anime fan isn’t one of them, and I think it’s important for an anime fan to be able to tell others that he or she is a fan. It’s not a deep dark secret. There’s no downside to being an anime fan unless you let there be one. If you truly are an anime fan, if something is a part of your very being, or if it’s even just a simple time waster of a hobby, to be unable to express who you really are to others is a far worse fate than some people thinking that you’re a loser because you watch cartoons.
At the same time, this does not mean that anime fans have a free pass to push their hobby onto others. As with any good relationship among people, there has to be listening and understanding. Barging through your friends’ conversations to talk about something they may not have interest in in order to fulfill your own desires is just plain rude.
In short, don’t be afraid to tell people that you’re an anime fan, but don’t advertise it either like it’s your only defining character trait.
Because it never is.
Bamboo Blade is its name, and Tama-chan is its star
I’ve been told that in any story there is always only one true protagonist as much as it would seem otherwise. It’s not necessarily the character who gets the most screen-time. It’s not the character who acts as narrator. It’s not even the one with the most prominent lines, but the character who moves the story along the most. Even when there seems to be multiple protagonists, in the writer’s mind there is only one.
I know I said otherwise previously, but I’ve come to realize that Isaac Dian is the main protagonist of Baccano! because he has by far the most influence on characters in the story. Even though Morikawa George, creator of Hajime no Ippo, has said that he treats his manga like every character is a main character, the mere fact that it’s titled “Hajime no Ippo” says otherwise. And in Bamboo Blade, of which I’ve watched the first seven episodes, Kawazoe Tamaki is the lead.
Tamaki has a clear purpose in the story, even if it’s the result of watching too much anime: protecting justice from evil. Even though she’s managed to repel evil, i.e. those two older boys in the club, it’s a never-ending battle, at least in her mind. Her actions, more than any other characters’, move the story along, as she is the one primarily responsible for transforming the ragtag Kendo Club into a workable team. As much time and emphasis that Koujirou gets, he acts more as a fairly passive narrator.
So with that in mind, I have to say that Tama-chan makes for a wonderful protagonist. I hope to see her speed-eating and kendo skills even more.
Hopefully it will involve ramen.
There’s plenty of water on Aqua: Watching Aria while having the flu
I finally started the Aria series today while I’m recuperating from the flu. It’s recommended that I get plenty of fluids. Does this count?
Watching them eat those baked potatoes, it’s almost as if I can feel the steam coming off of it.
It feels nice.
Yes! Pretty Cure 5 Go Go! appears to have a higher budget
Seriously, I’m watching this first episode and the animation during the transformation sequence is ridiculously good. It blows last season’s out of the water. Did the producers find a few dozen sacks of money? The youtube video doesn’t quite do it justice.
PS: If anyone can help me figure out how to get higher quality youtube videos, that’d really be great.
Persepolis and Japanese Animation
I saw the french animated film Persepolis today. Based off a comic book of the same name, Persepolis is the tale of a young girl named Marjane living in war-torn Iran and its religious transformation during the 1980s. We as the audience get to see Marjane grow from girl into woman, making mistakes along the way, and constantly re-evaluating what’s important in her life. It’s a really powerful film and I recommend anyone who has the opportunity to watch it to do so.
I came out of Persepolis with one prominent thought in my mind: It’s been a long long time since I’ve seen a Japanese animation like it.
Stylistically, there’s no anime like Persepolis, but that’s not what I’m focusing on (though I might in a later time. It’s really quite powerful visually). What I’m talking about is how Persepolis addresses the small scale issues regarding relationships and emotions, as well the large scale issues with the backdrop of warfare. Recent anime, when it’s good, tends to be very good at one or the other, but not both. On the occasions that it does manage to address both, it tends to add a certain fantastic element to it which pushes the whole animation slightly to the left of reality, as in the case of Gundam 00.
Now this is hardly the case for the history of anime. Japanese animation and manga rose out of World War II, and many people have tackled and re-tackled the setting. Grave of the Fireflies, Barefoot Gen, even more romantic series such as Rose of Versailles all manage to portray the large and small stuff with a great deal of poignancy.
So what’s happened? Has anime become too much of a comfort zone, perhaps?
Now, I realize that I’m comparing a ton of Japanese animation to just one French animation, and that Persepolis may very well be an exception to the rule even in French animation, but this is the feeling I got from seeing this movie as it pertains to the thing I love called anime.
5cm Per Second and Summer Days with Coo showing at the NY International Children’s Film Festival
On March 1st and March 8th respectively. In Japanese. With subtitles. So I don’t want to hear any complaints about them being dubbed.
Check http://www.gkids.com for more information and to order tickets. If you’re going, I recommend you order now because when it came to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time the tickets sold out FAST.
I, of course, will be there.
And bouncing off my previous post about animation in general, they’re showing stuff from Korea, Spain, and other countries.
It is an international film festival, after all.
205 Days Left Until Earth’s Destruction: Space Battleship Yamato Episodes 9-14
“Why it was just different lighting all along!”
Another 6 episodes of Space Battleship Yamato and man, those slow episodes from early on seem like a thing of the past. The biggest step forward by far though is the introduction of Lord Desslar. I mean, he was introduced before in around episode 3 or 4, but at that point he was just Some Guy, and it’s not until episode 11 that I began to see why Desslar is so beloved, and why many consider him to be such a tremendously good villain. His plans to destroy the Yamato amount to more than just “totally shoot it until it blows up.” He has multiple contingencies and works to create situations where you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Also, watching him open up a trap door underneath an uncouth soldier with no respect for the enemy and saying, “We don’t need such barbaric thinking in the Gamilus Empire” defines his character so very well. Highly intelligent and ruthless, but with a sense of honor befitting his title as ruler of Gamilus.
Desslar is just smooth.
But this isn’t the Desslar fan club. This is a Yamato review. And there’s plenty of characters to talk about. Kodai and Okita in particular get some powerful development. The revelation of Okita’s (space) radiation sickness and the quiet loneliness of his existence begins to show the real depth of the Yamato captain. Knowing that Kodai used to hate fighting shows how much the death of his family at the hands of Gamilus has driven him to take revenge. Just seeing every character say good bye to their families before leaving the Solar System, and all of them feeling that the 5 minutes allotted to each person was simply not enough time, that episode was probably the one that affected me the most so far.
Keep at it Yamato. You are deserving your reputation.
PS: Why is Yuki the only girl on board. They did not think this through very well, aside from the possibility that they need to keep the women at home to give birth and raise children for the sake of humanity’s future.
OGIUE MANIAX 