Category Archives: review

My Eyes, I Can’t See

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She can melt her own sword with her hotness

That is my reaction to catching up on over 100 chapters of Bleach.

You see, because when you get that much Bleach in your eyes it

Anyway, I actually started reading Bleach about 2 years ago and kept up with it pretty well, but the day my first external hard drive died was the same day I downloaded a ton of Bleach manga, and it left me with sort of a sour taste. I basically abandoned the series shortly after the Soul Society Arc.

So here I am, all caught up, and the series seems to be gearing up again after a fairly nice, if shaky conclusion. The only problem, I realize, is that much of the comic for the past 100 chapters or so has felt very meandering. When you read in big chunks, time passes pretty quickly, but then I realized just how long it would have been had I been doing this every week. It’s kind of daunting when you step back and think about it.

Maybe it’s the fact that the humor more recently hasn’t been as strong as some of the earlier chapters (BOHAHAHAHA), or that because Ichigo and Rukia weren’t together for most of it that I didn’t get to see the strong interplay between the two that attracted me to the series in the first place. Actually, those two are kind of related, aren’t they?

Speaking of Rukia, she’s one of those unusual characters who always looks hotter in official art than she does in any fanart be it Japanese or American (see above). I don’t know what it is, but a lot of people who draw her don’t seem to “get” what makes her attractive, though they will work fine with Orihime, Yoruichi, Rangiku, Nemu, and practically the entire cast, but not Rukia. Rukia’s appeal lies in her eccentricity combined with her knowledge and naivety. She’s aggressive, but not as if she’s trying to compensate for being small, and there’s always a sense that she follows her own unique internal logic. Not to mention the nice eyes, and you know I’m a fan of nice eyes (see primary character theme of this blog).

Will I keep up with Bleach now that I’m all caught up? I don’t know. It is kind of fun to just wait a bit.

Hokuto Hyakuryuusei Ora Ora Ora Ora: Playing Jump Ultimate Stars

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A friend of mine kindly obtained for me a copy of the game Jump Ultimate Stars. I imagine a lot of you already know what the game is and have probably played it far more than I have. For those of you who don’t, Jump Ultimate Stars is a Shounen Jump crossover fighting game for the Nintendo DS spanning Shounen Jump’s approximately 30-year history. Think of it as Smash Bros, but with Naruto, One Piece, Otokojuku, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Hokuto no Ken, Dragon Ball, and so on.

This review isn’t really a “game review” as I’m not planning on telling anyone to buy it or not. The controls are similar to Smash Bros in many ways, though it doesn’t feel quite as fluid and the lack of the “third jump” can be annoying at times. That’s just nitpicking though.

Jump uses the dual-screen in a rather unique way. On the upper screen is the action, while on the lower screen is what resembles a comic panel. You the player must construct your own “comic page” out of various characters’ famous panels, and these characters are the ones who will be available for you to use in battle. There are Battle Koma (usable characters), Support Koma (Marvel vs Capcom 2-style assists), and Help Koma (stat boosts).

I love seeing the many references, and while a bit tedious I like the logic in many of the unlocks. For example, at one point you get Kenshiro, and through points you can upgrade Kenshiro to more and more powerful versions. It’s only when you unlock the Yuria’s Help Koma that you can bring Kenshiro to full power, giving him access to Musou Tensei, the ultimate technique of Hokuto Shinken. Similarly, you need Yuria to fully power Raoh, but Raoh only has two battle koma types total: six and eight. Or, to put it more simply, strong and VERY strong. Very fitting for Raoh.

The only really sad thing is that while Jump Ultimate Star has some of my favorite Jump characters, such as Kuchiki Rukia (Bleach) and Kobayakawa Sena (Eyeshield 21), it doesn’t have my absolute favorites, particularly Hyuuga Hinata (Naruto) and Souther (Hokuto no Ken). Maybe next game.

PS: The Emperor has no need for PSPs.

PPS: Not really, as Super Robot Wars A Portable looks sweet.

To Be, or Not to Be Cool and Spicy: Shugo Chara, episode 27 and on

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Hinamori Amu is now in the 6th grade (her sister Ami just starting kindergarten), and she has to face the new school year while dealing with the departure of two of her closest friends, Nadeshiko the queen and Kuukai the jack. Hinamori Amu receives her 4th guardian egg, while we find out that Utau has a second Shugo Chara, an angel named Eru.

Get it? A devil named iru and an Angel named Eru. DebIRU, EnjERU.

Ha ha. Ha.

Ha.

Much like Miyazawa in Kare Kano, Amu’s cool and spicy persona has begun to break down, and it turns out that the other kids are noticing. Amu, who was used to thinking of her outer person as her “character” hiding her true self, is now unsure of what part actually is the real her, or hontou no jibun as the 1st Ending theme is called.

I feel for you, cool and spicy one, though the very fact that you question both the coolness and level of spice shows signs of actual maturity.

I’ve spoken at length multiple times about how highly I regard Shugo Chara, and it looks like for this second part of the anime they’ve decided to ramp up the plot immediately. Episode 27 immediately throws down the gauntlet with a few surprising twists, and while it’s probably quickly resolved by episode 28 (as these things tend to go), they’ve made sure that 27 and on won’t be quite the same as the previous episodes.

Oh, and no new opening (yet). We get a new ending theme, though.

No one told me about the other side of Kurenai.

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People have been telling me that Kurenai is an amazing show, and prior to watching the first two episodes I fully intended on checking it out based on the visual style alone.

However, most of the comments I’ve seen in regards to Kurenai have focuses on the young 7-year-old Murasaki and her realistic and charming innocence. I thought it would be a fairly slice of life show.

No one told me that those moments of innocence are there to contrast with the ugliness of the rest of the main character Kurenai’s world. It’s a world of corrupt and emotionally crippled adults who are forced to play a game of life without knowing all of the rules. The show’s mood carries a sense of stark pathos in the same vein as the tales of the rogue surgeon Black Jack.

So yes, people were right, Kurenai is an amazing show. I just wish I had a better sense of what truly makes Kurenai good beforehand.

Or maybe I don’t. It’s fun to be surprised, after all.

Dai Gurren Dango Dai Kazoku: Kyoto Animation’s Clannad

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Oh, Furukawa

More than any other company in the world, Key associated with the concept of moe. It is responsible for revolutionizing the visual novel with its heavy emphasis on tragedy and empathy. The heroines of Key games are deeply flawed (some might say too flawed), and to care for them is to feel the pain of your own existence. Their fantasies come with a price.

Kanon and Air, two of Key’s most famous works, were adapted into animated series by Kyoto Animation with great success. They remained faithful to their original source material while adapting them to fit the needs of the television series format. In 2008 they took on the third of the “Seasons” tetralogy (each major Key game takes place in a different season of the year), Clannad.

Clannad is the story of Okazaki Tomoya, a young man in his senior year of high school, whose aspirations in life have been rapidly fading away ever since he had a falling out with his father a few years ago. A chance meeting with Furukawa Nagisa, a shy, soft-spoken high school girl with a love of anthropomorphic snacks, and her desire to re-establish the defunct Drama Club puts Tomoya on the path to rediscovering what it’s like to have hopes and dreams.

The gentle Furukawa Nagisa, the starfish-obsessed Ibuki Fuuko, the introverted genius Ichinose Kotomi, the athletic and aggressive Fujibayashi Kyou, and the dangerously powerful Sakagami Tomoyo comprise the main heroines of Clannad with significant story time devoted to all of them. Behind them is an even larger cast of secondary and minor characters, chief among them being Sunohara Youhei (Tomoya’s best friend), Fujibayashi Ryou (Kyou’s twin sister), and Nagisa’s parents. However, don’t take my brief descriptors as evidence of the characters being shallow or underdeveloped. They are all given time and room to express the many facets of their characters, even the minor ones.

Delving into the characters’ pasts can at times become overly reliant on exposition, and though I am a fan of exposition in general I’ve found the best moments in the show come from when Clannad does not present you with all of the facts. The most notable example that comes to mind is a moment where Youhei, in an angry outburst, hints at the reasons why he and Tomoya became best friends. No more explanation is necessary to understand Youhei’s character at that point in the story.

Clannad is Key improved through years of experience. It doesn’t break any genre conventions, as it is still, at its heart, an anime based on a relationship-heavy visual novel, and it has its cast of cute, moe female characters, but it and the people at Kyoto Animation did try some new things to set it apart from the other Key adaptations.

Clannad, while still very much a conventional Key-style moe drama, does do a few things different from its predecessors. Aside from a few exceptions, there is less emphasis on the supernatural. Also, Kyoto Animation structured it differently compared to Kanon and Air. While there is a strong focus on each of the main heroines and the series can be divided into chapters, the girls do not suddenly stop mattering when their story arcs finish. Nagisa’s story is the most notable, as it is developed throughout the series, from episode 1 on. It clearly puts her in the position of the Clannad heroine, though based on any remote amount of information or even the events of the first episode this should not be a surprise or a spoiler to anyone.

The character designs in Clannad are much like the ones used in Kanon and Air, and they are the most prominent aspect associated with Key, even more than their penchant for supernatural tragedy. There are no surprises in this regard, though the school uniforms are much better designed compared to the ones worn in the previous two major Key works, and the spring-time setting of Clannad results in a more subtle atmosphere for backgrounds and overall artwork. The series also has a surprising amount of animation for a show so heavily based on words, but at this point it’s par for the course with Kyoto Animation.

Clannad is not entirely based in sorrow and anguish, and in many respects it is lighter on the tragedy than the previous Key series. It has more than its fair share of comedic moments, most notably with Fuuko, and it blends the lighter and heavier sides of its story with a sort of deftness that’s not easy to achieve. More than likely, this is the result of both Key and Kyoto Animation gaining experience working with these types of narratives.

If you’re not a fan of the Key-style moe, then Clannad is probably no exception. Clannad is the flavor of Key distilled and refined, and those who treasure its taste will be pleased.

Introducing the Bratender: La Sommelière Volume 1

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Forgive my misogynistic title. I just couldn’t resist.

Araki Joe is a man who Knows Alcohol. Readers may know Araki from the anime adaptation of his manga Bartender, which tells the story about a man whose mixed drinks brighten the lives of his patrons. He’s also responsible for Sommelier, which tells the story about a man whose wine-serving abilities bri- well you get the idea. Don’t confuse Sommelier with La Sommelière, though, as there’s a world of difference between the two.

And by world of difference I mean the fact that the main character is a woman.

Itsuki Kana is a young woman with a passion for wine. Having studied the art of winery in college, Kana lives on a vineyard with a kind old lady and a group of orphans and spends her days growing grapes and making wine. When a slick city folk kind of hombre (omubure) appears with a message from a mysterious benefactor, “John Smith,” Kana sets off to Tokyo to find Mr. Smith, her only souvenir from home being a bottle of white wine produced by Kana and the orphans, a wine which she proudly labels as the “World’s Best.” Kana begins work at an upscale restaurant as a Sommelière, or Wine Waitress. Her love and comprehensive knowledge concerning wine allows Kana to (say it with me) brighten the lives of her patrons, but also learns a thing or two about wine herself.

The artwork in La Sommelière is incredibly clean, with sophisticated character designs, elegant if traditional panel layouts, and an emphasis on the beauty and versatility of wine. The most detailed drawings are always wine-related, and when it comes to tasting the wine, the characters are drawn with facial expressions that can be summed up as “a very sophisticated and high-class Yakitate Japan.” As for Kana herself, her devotion to wine, enthusiasm, and pleasant demeanor make for an incredibly endearing and attractive heroine.

At the end of every story is a detailed explanation on a wine featured in that chapter. I personally have very little experience with wine (or most alcoholic beverages for that matter), so I cannot verify the accuracy of the information given. It really doesn’t matter, though.

Going into this manga, I was worried that the emphasis on wine would be reliant on certain universal factors dictating which wines are better than others, but I’m glad to say that isn’t the case. There’s one universal truth in the world of La Sommelière, the truth that context is queen. The context in which the wine is made, the context in which the wine is served, the frame of mind of the drinker, everything contributes to the idea that any wine can potentially be the “best ever,” even a white wine produced by an intrepid Sommelière and a group of orphans.

La Sommelière is not out in English, and as a seinen title it’s not the easiest read for people beginning their Japanese studies. Even if you are fluent, French words are being thrown around constantly and it can become daunting to decipher the mysterious world of wine. Still, even though I hardly know the first thing about wine, I can recommend La Sommelière simply for its pleasant atmosphere and strong, elegant art style.

New York Comic Con: An Incomplete Con Report Because I Will Probably Forget Most Things

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I went to my first New York Comic Con this past weekend. I normally prefer less city and commute-based conventions, but it was still a pleasant experience over all.

I’ll avoid the hanging out with friends talk, but I’ll just say I hung out with various friends and it was good times for all.

I saw the Lucky Star dub. Some voices were weaker than others, and Wendy Lee still sounds like Wendy Lee, but they tried very hard with this dub. I think the dialogue sounded a lot more natural than I was expecting, which was a big plus. Kogami Akira felt pretty spot on, Shiraishi Minoru not so much, and the pronunciation of Shiraishi was a little painful. Overall though, not a bad dub at all.

I got to meet the fine folks over at Ninja Consultant Podcast and got to be interviewed, which was a great experience. We talked about various topics, including but not limited to Ogiue. Keep up with their podcast, and you might just get to hear how incomprehensible I am when I speak. By the way, I’m a 35 year old balding man and my name is Gerald Rathkolb.

I saw Freedom. In unrelated news, I sure do want some Nissin Cup Noodles. I also attended Grant Morrison panels, and though I’m not really a huge fan of his work (just because I don’t read much of his work), his scottish talkings about made both panels very entertaining. Oh yeah, Seven Soldiers was awesome so I guess I am a Grant Morrison fan after all. I also attended a Tokyopop panel, and there as I watched the slides come on screen, I realized just how much Tokyopop gears towards shoujo and bl now. I feel like it snuck up on me without me realizing it, and now it’s too late.

I attended the Giant Robot Rumble panel, where I got to explain what an Absolute Terror Field actually is, as well as correcting the people who thought one robot was Aphrodai A when it was actually Dianan X. Thanks to this, I was considered a nerd even among nerds. Yes, I am that pathetic. PS Steve Yun please make me a judge next time. Sadly I had to leave early, so if someone can tell me who won, that’d be great.

By the way, Optimus Prime does not lose to Roy Focker/Fokker, at least not for the reasons given. Saying that Roy’s in a plane and Optimus’s mobility is limited is not an argument when Optimus REGULARLY FIGHTS ROBOTS WHO TRANSFORM INTO FIGHTER JETS.

I actually did not buy all that much, which is okay by me. I bought an autographed copy of David Lloyd (artist of V for Vendetta)’s new book, Kickback. The artwork is really up my alley. I took one look at it, and I was sold. The other thing I bought was a 20 minute backrub. It was actually worth it because it helped me take on the 90 minute TM Revolution concert.

And oh boy what a concert it was. TM Revolution has incredible stage presence, and his singing is solid. The most prominent feature of that concert though was the screaming. The loud, fangirl (and boy) screaming, which I partook in on a number of occasions. He covered all of the SEED songs and Heart of Sword, and a few others. By the way, my ears are still feeling the effects of that concert.

I was sitting behind TM Revolution’s Japanese fan club. Before the concert started, and as fans waved signs and hooped and hollered and asked TMR to marry them, I asked the Japanese fan club girls what they thought of America.

Needless to say, they were impressed.

Harsh Virtual Reality: Ressentiment Volumes 1-2

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I’ve made it a bit of a hobby within a hobby to pursue Otaku-themed anime, manga, and games. There’s the naive fantasy (Comic Party), the painfully cynical (Welcome to the NHK!), the awkwardly humorous (Otaku no Musume) and of course the cautiously optimistic (Genshiken), among others. But now there comes another player, Ressentiment, a story so drenched in ugliness and negativity that it is by far the most pessimistic of all the Otaku-themed works that I’ve seen.

…or is it?

Ressentiment takes place in the not-so-distant future. Takuro, a sad, pathetic, ugly 30 year old man living with his mom and working a dead-end job discovers the h-game. Except in this age of man, the h-game has reached unprecedented levels of realism, to the point that the girls in the games believe they actually exist within the context of their worlds.

Takuro purchases an artifical girl, Tsukiko, and expects what we all expect from these sorts of games: gratification be it instant or otherwise. Tsukiko, however, is an anomaly among virtual heroine-sex objects in that she already has someone she loves and spurns the advances of Takuro. An even bigger surprise is that when Tsukiko bites Takuro’s hand, the pain and effect transfer over to reality. This is Not Normal.

Takuro must deal with the fact that he has now been rejected by women not just in real life but also in what should have been a fantasy world. The truth of Tsukiko’s highly irregular programming is also slowly revealed.

The thing that keeps me from saying that Ressentiment is totally sad and depressing and a completely negative outlook on the otaku is that while much of the focus is on otaku trying to escape from their own sad lives, it’s not just otaku whose lives are ugly. Practically every character, even the attractive ones, have their own crippling issues to deal with. The characters have horrible personalities, horrible habits, and even horrible hygiene, but they all to varying degrees have to butt heads with reality in their own ways. While the otaku’s fantasy world is very plain to see, the other characters have their own ways of escaping their lives. In a sense, it’s easy to say that the otaku are pathetic, but everyone else is equally pathetic. And to be pathetic on some level is to be human. Those who try to deny this fact are given the harshest wake-up call of all.

To steal a quote from Kino’s Journey, “The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.”

It remains to be seen if the characters themselves ever realize this.

The Pre-Prequel: Eureka Seven: Gravity boys & Lifting girl

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While this site isn’t called Eureka Maniax, it would have been a close second. I really, really like Eureka Seven, and I’m always eager to get my hands on anything E7-related.

Eureka Seven: Gravity boys & Lifting girl is sort of an unusual title, in that it is part of the greater Eureka Seven canon, but its place in the timeline is as a prequel to the Eureka Seven PS2 games, New Wave and New Vision.

GB&LG takes place during a time of peace, before the Ref board was even considered for use on LFOs. Sumner Sturgeon, 14 years old and youngest son of the prestigious Sturgeon Family of military officers, has spent his whole life being spoon-fed through privilege, but he wishes to be known for more than just his last name. Ruri, also 14 years old, is a girl with an incredible talent for Ref-ing (or Lifting as it’s called in the English translations), but who has to disguise herself as a boy named “B.B.” as women aren’t allowed in competitions. An abrupt meeting between Sumner and Ruri sets both of them on their respective paths to adulthood as Sumner chases the images of B.B. and the girl and the independence they represent, not knowing both are the same person.

Volume 1 of GB&LG focuses primarily on their daily lives as 14 year olds in a time of relative peace. Volume 2 sees them grow to adulthood and  enter the military, setting up the beginning of New Wave. Renton was also 14 years old when he first met Eureka and joined Gekkostate, and this is a very deliberate move on the manga’s part.

Overall the manga has a very nice slice-of-life feel to it that the original anime is missing simply because of the context of the series and the utter importance Eureka and Renton have to fate of the world in the anime, where even fairly episodic chapters have much greater ramifications. Obviously, that also applies to GB&LG to some extent, especially because its events trigger the PS2 games which in turn influence the anime, but not much of that is seen. The focus is on mainly the characters and not the world around them.

In this respect, I like Volume 1 more than Volume 2, as Volume 2 feels rushed and disjointed, as if it’s racing to position all of the characters in time for New Wave. It gives no time for the events, big and small, to really sink in, as the reader is instantly whisked off to another place and possibly another time within a few pages. It’s something that I think would have been better served being split into two separate volumes.

That said, I do recommend it, and I like it more than the Eureka Seven manga adaptation. However, don’t expect the story to be as epic as either the main anime or manga, because it isn’t. Treat it like a normal story of school kids, who barely know of LFOs, trappar, or their true natures.

First is the Worst, Second is the Best: Tower of Druaga and GONZO’s Digital Distribution

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GONZO has thrown down the gauntlets and has enlisted the help of real live fansubber(s) to distribute its anime to the English-literate world with near-synchronized-with-Japanese-television releases of its new show, Tower of Druaga. As such, there are two important things to talk about: the possible benefits and consequences of this new distribution method, and the content of the show itself.

While GONZO would not exactly be my first choice as the pioneer company (such as Geneon), I applaud GONZO for doing this, though I think they should excise Crunchy Roll like a nasty boil. It’s not the kind of site that I think any animation studio should be associated with, and it may come back to bite them in the ass. As for the actual distribution method of Official Subs on Youtube and Other Places, I feel that even if I personally do not buy the show, I have been exposed to the series enough to begin making a decision, and that is very important to me as a consumer and as a fan. The other thing is that I really have no motivation to pursue higher quality fansubs when I am being provided episodes, translated, straight from the studio much faster than any speedsubber can manage. I don’t know how much of a loss GONZO is taking on this, but if their goal was to beat out the fansubbers, they’ve done so rather effectively. On top of that, the subs are actually quite good, and do not suffer at all from our fears of Engrish.

The actual show is surprisingly entertaining, as nothing in the show seems to quite make sense a la Haruhi Episode 1. While I suspect there’s going to be some shenanigans regarding what’s fantasy and what’s reality, the real highlight of this first episode is how terribly contrived the main character Gil’s idea of an epic tale is. It points out the main flaw in a lot of this sort of entertainment, as well as the fact that D&D games do not translate well to actually compelling stories because everyone will want their limelight in a D&D game, while in a story there should only be one protagonist at a time. It makes me wonder if GONZO is somehow also poking fun at itself and its reputation for plots which fall apart due to contradictions and hasty decisions.