Anime

[Hachimitsu]

My portable hard drive is just about full. Me sad.

[Hachimitsu]

*crossposted with B77*

Has anyone heard recently that Keanu Reeves has been cast as Spike Speigel :doh1: :uhoh: for a live action version of Cowboy Bebop. Has anyone else heard this? Why him of all people? Why do a live action version anyway? I mean speed racer didn't go so well and the Dragon Ball Z live action movie trailer just doesn't look right.

Why Keanu? :doh1: :uhoh: I mean he can't really act and the characters, although it being a sci-fi series, are styled after characters from movies of the 40's and 50's. Even the English Dub actors got that. I know some actors can still pull of the style after seeing Sin City but he can't !!! Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I will save the other stuff I was gonna say for another post.

[Hachimitsu]

*crossposted onB77*
Saw a Soul Eater Marathon
last Friday, I now know the 1st opening all the way through. Has anyone seen any Soul Eater? I have even attempted to try and read the manga with the little time I have.

If anyone wants to discuss Higurashi, I am all for it!!!! I will be spoiler sensitive.

Pips, I wil try o catch up with Tsubasa manga over reading week since I will have time off then.

Has checked out Akikan? I want Melon's dress!!

I just read that Yen Press has bought the license for Yotsuba&! finally thank God. I knew ADV wasn't going to do anything with it goodness!! They will release volume 6 in September!!

[Hachimitsu]

Alright I will try and bump this thread up again.

I just bought the first volume of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and I love it. I am so happy Del Rey got the license for the manga. They have done an excellent job with the translation. I don't know if it would be possible to translate and or dub the anime though. Especially all the visual sign jokes. But I would recomend people buy the volume.

I have finished season 1 of Higurashi and started season 2. I know Brian at leaast started watching it. I am so impressed I want to buy the DVDs and I just read a review of the manga which I have heard is even a little better then the anime. I would recomend Anyone who is over 16 and into manga to check out Higurashi. It is Japanese Horror so much of the horror is psychological but there is (non-gratuitous) violence and certainly not for kids. I love how they have totally played with the moe/harem cliche.


(I have bought some code geass chara fortunes and although they are tiny and sort of expensive, I totally love them, and want more. )

I am mildly considering cosplaying for anime north but I do not know where to start.

(Oh and Mith, while hunting down some readings for one of my classes,I found an article on LOTR slash fic in a peer reviewed sociology journal!! )

Edit: Oh dear it looks like I am talking to myself

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No, some of us are reading with interest, but just don't have any knowledge of the subject to add to the discussion.

[MithLuin]

Oh, um, wow....slash as a sociological phenomena....

I can kinda see that. It's rather...cliche...that straight men find the idea/image of two women making out to be hot. The converse, however, does not come up nearly as often. Yaoi/slash makes it pretty darn clear that there is a certain interest in guys making out among women. I've never seen either interest as socially acceptable, but perhaps the former is slightly more acceptable than the latter? Or maybe it depends on which social structure you are considering - anything goes on the anonymous internet, as long as no one is underage.

I wonder why LotR slash in particular? It wasn't the start of that phenomena...maybe because the movies made that fandom more mainstream, so women who wouldn't know or care about Kirk/Spock would get involved in it? But if that were the case, then why not study Harry Potter slash? That certainly has to be even more mainstream, more prevalent...but maybe more weird, since it is seen as a children's story? (Despite the fact that the people who are writing Harry/Draco certainly aren't children.)

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

[Hachimitsu]

Alrighy if people are lurking would anyone want me to give fuller explanations of the shows I am watching?

Higurashi in particular is a very good series but I do not think it would be suitable as a first timer anime. You need an idea of the super cute anime genre that they are using and realizing that they are turning it on it's head. They use a lot of anime cliches also and a slightly more seasoned anime fan would be able to realize how they are being used. Especially since these characters do unexpected things.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

if people are lurking would anyone want me to give fuller explanations of the shows I am watching?

Absolutely.

[Hachimitsu]

OK Higurashi is about a boy Keiichi Maebara who's family moves to the small viliage of Hinamizawa and Keiichi makes a whole bunch of new friends in the towns one room chool. He is having a fabulous time. But then after not everything is as it seems. I guess Higurashi is primarily a mystery with horror elements. The English tile for Higurashi is, When They Cry which means as explained in the theme song, when the Cicadas (Higurashi is Japanese for Cicada) cry, bad things happen.

http://www.animepaper.net/gallery/scans ... tem159522/

Kei-chan and his super cute buddies

Trying to think of some shows to try before this and I can' think of any right now.

EDIT: I have watched up to episode 18 of season 2 (extremely good btw) and I noticed something, the end credits start to come on early. Then after the end credits they have another 2 minutes of the actual show come back, then they launch into what is coming up next time. So when watching season 2 don't stop at the end credits, there is more!!

[Hachimitsu]

Since I have not been on this thread a while I guess I will talk about what I am excited about.

First of all I did an anthropology essay on Cosplay and Gothic Lolita. I hope I get a good mark. If anyone wants me to elaborate further, ask.

I am currently watching the second season of Vampire knight. It's about a prestigious boarding school which has a day class and a night class. Most people don't know the night class are vampires. There are 2 people who guard this secret from the day class. Yuuki Cross who is the adopted daughter of the schools chairman, and Zero Kiriyu who is the son of vampire hunters. Yuuki was rescued from an evil vampire at the age of 5 by a pureblood (from the line of royalty basically) vampire Kaname Kuran. Yuuki has no memories before she was rescued. It's about managing the day class and night class, three main characters and their issues (and possible love triangle? Quadrangle? Octogon?) . It is completely and utterly a shoujo (girls manga/anime). I should note that shoujo can cover more mature subject matter then shounen (boys manga/anime) and many have romantic overtones and Bishounen (pretty boys, bishies for short). Vampire Knight is Bishietastic!!!

Although there is a minor thing, here and there I don't like, I somehow love the series. I am usually not a big fan of vampire stuff. (At least it's not Twilight though). A lot of the vampire conventions are different (like vampires can have have kids and they are just noturnal, the sun does not turn them to flames, they just don't like it). But I am hopelessly addicted. Every time an episode ends I can't wait to catch the next ep. *hopeless* I think a newbie can try it out. EDIT: I have seen the end of anime and well, I don't think it's for newbies anymore (storyline reasons).

Chi's Sweet Home has a new season coming up. I would say this is perfect for newbies or anyone really. It's about a kitten who gets taken in by a family. Each episode is 3 minutes long. I met someone who said they hated cats and they love this show. Basically it's a show from the kitten's point of view so there isn't deep plotting or anything, but it's very funny. Basically the episode titles sum it up pretty well. (Like Chi's first bath). I would totally recommend people trying it out. It's so cute!!!!!

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, (Goodbye, Mr. Despair, although sensei means teacher in this context) was approved for a third season. I am ecstatic about this one. Sayonara Zetsbou Zetsubou sensei is black satirical comedy about a depressed suicidal teacher and his odd students (mostly focuses on the female students like Azumanga Daioh, I'll get to that in a later post). I would recommend this for a seasoned anime fan because, just beyond the fact that it is a specific anime style, it has many many Japanese culture specific elements. Most of the characters names are puns on their character types. Also there are tons of in jokes that most people claim can never be all deciphered, and it experiments with different animation from time to time. Even with cultural notes it may be difficult for a newbie to get even half of it. If one does watch it, start from season 1. I was thrown in the deep end and started watching it from season 2. I was so traumatized I nearly left the room, but I lent my anime club my speakers so I couldn't abandon my expensive speakers. Now I absolutely love it.
Warning though they make fun of serious subjects, like suicide, shut ins, immigration, a child finding out her parents didn't want her, suspected child abuse and stalking. You have been warned. It's so funny though.

I gotta study so I will talk about the rest of the stuff I am currently watching in my next post.

[MithLuin]

And...there is now a new anime of Fullmetal Alchemist! This one will be based more closely on the manga. The first three episodes are out, when a new one each Thursday.

You can watch HERE (subtitles, of course, though it will likely be dubbed eventually). It's perfectly legal, too.

So far, it's pretty good, though I'm mostly waiting for it to catch up to the point where the original anime diverged from the manga.

[Hachimitsu]

Yeah I have been currently watching it. Especially as Funimation is working to actually out compete the fansubbers rather then blaming them for all their problems, so I certainly want to support them. Right now it is feeling like a retread though but I guess that will change. I wonder what inspired basically getting the series reanimated? That is hard to accomplish. I don't even think Clamp can pull that off, and at the very least Tsubasa Chronicles really needs to be reanimated (it had horrible animation and pacing ). I know some series would get a continuation if some people would allow it *cough fruits basket cough* but a full on reanimation is rare.

I know Viz is trying to keep up with the scanlators for Rumiko Takahashi's new series but I fear they will censor stuff (they certainly have a censorship policy with their print manga ). I tried reading the site, but I can't really zoom in to see the page like I can on scanlators' sites.

Mith have you tried out any new anime?

Anyone have any questions? I totally prepared to discuss the legal and illegal issues with anime as I hinted with mentioning Funimation. I can also explain what some terms mean.

[MithLuin]

Haha, it is funny, then, that of the anime I've seen, 2 of them have been remade . Hellsing and Hellsing Ultimate (though the latter are technically OVAs), and now Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. My guess is that the reason the latter was remade was because the manga went in a different direction, and someone wanted to tell that story. But, who knows? It seems odd to me to remake something that....quickly.


I did watch Samurai 7, and decided I liked it. Obviously, a lot of it is based on Kirosawa's "Seven Samurai", which I've heard is a good film . But they interpretted the story in their own way, and basically made the samurai into Jedi. So, that was fun! I do not entirely like how they used the water priestess as a love interest, but I suppose that was inevitable, and Ukyo as villain was meh. I particularly like the interplay between Kambei and Kyuzo.


I read all of Hellsing (it was finished shortly after I started reading, so that was convenient!) I like it, overall, though the final chapter seemed a bit...random. The ending was very up in the air. I hope they continue making the Hellsing Ultimate episodes.

Oh, and I also read the first 15 chapters of Gurren Lagann. I, er, don't think it's my style, though I wanted to at least give it a try. There are parts of the idea that are good (a Planet of the Apes/ Time Machine vibe to this future, a band of plucky rebels, a boy learning about his destiny, etc). But...not enough to overlook the emphasis on naked girls, fighting robots and rash bravery over substance. I mean, there is some substance there - Kamina is a good older brother to Simon, and really helps to build his confidence. And the idea that spirit and teamwork, not firepower, makes the difference in a fight. But....yeah, not my cup of tea. Definitely made with a male audience in mind. To be fair, the fighting robots probably works better in the anime, but it just reminded me of Power Rangers/Transformers.

[Hachimitsu]

Yeah it sort of is, like that. I just started watching the anime and yeah, the girls with the skimpy outfits. Although in the bathhouse ep, they had the guys totally naked with just a few props covering some parts so I at least give them that. Some of the character designs seen really odd too. Definitely with boys in mind. But I think I will still give it ago. Some of it is pretty funny. Although the rash bravery stuff, yeah. When everyone says go back, go back. *shakes head* There is a heavy emphasis on fighting robots, but after Code Geass, I have now gotten over the whole fighting robots. Code Geass was good that way. It didn't focus on the robots too much. I have even given Gundam 00 a try. Code Geass, cured me of my mecha avoidance (well sort of).

Have you tried Eden of the East? It's a new series (just 3 episodes) and it is very plot driven. So rather people going X character is so cool, people really concentrate on character interactions and figuring out the plot, and all the mysteries. I really like that aspect of the show. Also the opening scene takes place in Washington, just by the white house and the planning and set up to the National Mall and Pensylvania Avenue is accurate!! They actually got permission from Oasis to use one of their songs as the opening theme. Their ending theme is brilliant, using paper cutouts (although some of it would have be done with computers).

Opening theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8LFPIF53A
Ending theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28XXAjHSu2o

[MithLuin]

Well, I wasn't avoiding mecha, per se. There are mecha in Samurai 7. The best way to defeat them is to slice them up with a sword. So, if you toss suspension of disbelief out the window with the laws of physics, it's fun enough, but there is plenty of story beyond the fights in that one.

I decided that I should probably give the anime a shot, before writing off the series, and surprisingly, it worked better for me than the manga. One, the mecha-on-mecha fights are more intelligible. And two, I can take Yoko more seriously when I can hear her voice (I noticed in the manga that the panels that were just a close up of her face were better than the 'oh wow, I'm half-naked!' panels.) I really dislike physical humor; I prefer witty banter.

I'm only 5 episodes in, so not the bath scene yet. I realize that by having all the characters naked (well, fig-leafed), the artist is being equal opportunity. But I'd rather they all had their clothes on so the story didn't drown and the 4th wall get dropped, etc.

But I think that what I like better about the anime is that it starts with a brief glimpse of Simon's future, so the talk of them not yet knowing their destiny is pinned to something. It's like...a reason to invest in the story and see where it goes, and helps counteract the rash 'we do stuff cause we're guys!' plotline. So, still not a favorite, but I think I am reserving judgement for a little bit longer.

[Hachimitsu]

You know what Mith you are right, I have continued watching Gurren Lagaan and I am at ep11 and well, I actually like it more. I won't spoil it for you but, keep watching. Also although some of the humour is a bit "what the..?" I still like the really stupid jokes. (At least some of them). I guess you can say the "witty banter" has sold me on the show (for now at least).

I used to avoid mecha series like the plague. But after Code Geass, I am willing to give them a try. The only thing I liked about Gundam Seed Destiny was the ending theme song. *shakes head*

I am gearing up for Anime North which is in almost a fortnight. Right now I am signed up for 4 panels and I am trying to get a 5th panel approved. Although I have to tell them, none of my panels can be during the ball since I have tix for that. Right now I am signed up for, Black kids like this too (the black otaku experience), Tsubasa/xxxHolic, Code Geass and Vampire Knight (they needed a 4th person *shrug* ) I am trying really hard to get a Sayanara Zetsubou sensei panel as I find that manga/anime brilliant and it needs more attention. If it doesn't get approved in the next couple of days, I might fill another panel as there are some that are interesting that need a 4th person. (I was notorious for coercing- uh, convincing some people to join some panels so they would get approved.)

Keeping my fingers crossed.

I am sort of trying to check out some of the new shows of this spring season. I am going to give Valkyria a go and keep up with Eden of the East (it's only 11 episodes and a movie will come out).

Right now I am looking at series that are around 2 to 10 years old. I love Azumanga Daioh. It's so cute and funny. (It's an older series). Azumanga Daioh is about I think 5 or 6 school girls and their 2 teachers, growing up. It's a comedic slice of life comedy but it is so cute. Although it's a co-ed school the focus is on these 5 or 6 friends and 2 teachers. If you watch it you will see in what ways Sayanara Zetsubou sensei is modeled after it. (In a black satirical sort of way). Although the pervert teacher in Azumanga Daioh disturbs me greatly. They do kind of put their finger on teachers that students just want o get away from since they are creepy. I don't think I have ever really seen any form of entertainment express that. On top of that they make it funny. I didn't like the manga (it's a 4 koma (or 4 panel) manga), but the anime is just love.

Is it just me or does anime and manga have a pervert archetype? I wonder where that comes from. It's usually combined with the goofball archetype too. Hmmm...

[Hachimitsu]

Right after I made the last post I spent an hour reading TV tropes. Com. I now understand some things a bit more. But TVtropes is full of spoilers. At least I finished my last exam so now I don't have to feel guilty for studying anime, I now I have to study up for anime north. Yay!!!!!

[MithLuin]

Congrats on finishing exams

It's cool you're going to be involved in all those panels at Anime North - have a great time there! I'll be at AnimeNEXT again this year, and hopefully I'll have a chance to make a cosplay outfit between now and then (not from Gurren Lagann! I like wearing...clothes).

Hehe, I've also just watched through episode 11. I guess I have to say that Simon's growth is handled alright. Episode 8 of the anime is chapter 15 of the manga, but it didn't feel like they were moving things along much faster. I really, really disliked the reason Simon wasn't able to focus. It felt very contrived, like, whoops, deal with this before any conflict had a chance to develop. Episode 11 at least helped to clarify Kamina's view of Simon.

So, maybe it's growing on me...a little bit. I don't really like Nia, but I like the dimension she adds to the story. But I'm still much more excited about the new FMA episodes that come out every Thursday .

[MithLuin]

I had a bad day yesterday, so I am now up to episode 23 . [duct tape + anime + candy fixes everything!] I found a few redeeming qualities to make me stick it out. Hope in the face of despair is always good. Everyone puts more clothes on after the time skip (except not really Yoko, but oh well). Viral proves to be a rather interesting character. I still don't like Nia. And the head-in-a-jar is right out of Orson Scott Card's Wyrms.

[Hachimitsu]

I am in the middle of moving so right now I my computer is in a box, so I have not had a chance to watch anything. I am still at ep 11. I did hear there was a time skip though. I only know a little bit about Nia and I liked how she unintentionally turned the interogation around. Also through naievity she really seems to stumble upon some wisdom.

What are you cosplaying as?

Gah, Working on getting the panel titles finalized. The panel I am on called "Black Kids like this too" Is hitting a stumbling block as the panel co-ordinator is an American and wants to use the term "African American" Poor guy probably does not know what a loaded term that can be to non-American black people, and to white Africans (the panel director is a white South African and does not like "African American" either.) Gah!!! It's just a title. (Although the jokingly suggested cheese and kool aid may actually be served and paid for by the cons budget since the panel director wants this panel a success.)

I convinced someone to fill out the panel for Sayanara Zetsubou Sensei so that will get approved. (The panel director even joined it and he has no time). Now I have to think up a description and title for that. Also I might want to use a video intro for it. But I need to figure out how to isolate the opening vid from the downloads I have.

Also although I suggested a code Geass Panel and I want to be the moderator (and other people agreed). Someone else says they want to be the moderator yet they have not justified why. (I am not about cow towing to other peoples egos. It was hard work getting that panel filled.) I think we will reach a working title soon.

Vampire Knight , I don't care too much since I won't mod it. And Tsubasa/Xxxholic I think it will be easy to figure out.

I just bought my first set of earrings since getting my ears pirced a few months ago and I was so excited. I think I need some anime specific ones.

[Random]I just found out Claudia Black of Farscape fame is coming to my local con and I actually started hyperventilating[/random]