April 18, 2006
POCKYPALOOZA 2006!
Now, 'round The Pond, you can only get Pocky at three places: a Japanese teppan/sushi house (great food, but a little pricy), a Wal-Mart, and a "World Market." But in all three cases, all you can get is the original chocolate Pocky and Strawberry Pocky.
But for this to be POCKYPALOOZA 2006, we had to have more than just those! So I fired up Robert's Anime Corner Store on the ol' computer and placed an order for some different types of the yummy snack!
Purple Sweet Mousse Pocky (amusingly called "Purple Sweet MOUSE" on the receipt)! Mont Blanc Decorer Pocky! Winter Special Pocky! Peach & Strawberry Decorer Pocky! White Chocolate Pocky! Custard Fondu Mousse Pocky! Choco Mousse Pocky! Even some Caplico Cone Sticks, just for the heck of it.
It's POCKYPALOOZA!
(edit: Forgot to mention just how great Robert's Anime Corner Store is! I placed the order late on Wednesday, and it shipped early on Friday. There was a delay in getting it here, but that was on UPS's end, not RACS'. When it arrived, it was VERY well packaged, no damage to any of the pockyboxes, nor to the other stuff I ordered. I've found a new place to get my anime fix from, that's for darn sure... and they do overseas orders, too!)
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April 10, 2006
And I'm blown away. It makes me chuckle, it makes me laugh out loud, it makes me happy! And I've NEVER HEARD of the anime it's based on: "World of Narue." I check it out, and it's CHEAP! I pick it up for something like $25 (for 4 DVDs), and settle in to watch...
...and it's light, fluffy, incessantly cheerful, and an awful lot of fun. It's the usual 'Boy meets Girl, Girl is half-alien but nobody believes her, and she knocks out a Space Ninja in the first episode' type of show.
It's a hoot, at least thru the first six episodes (I got sidetracked by DNA^2 for a while). There's some tiny amounts of drama, but it's mostly comedy... our hero is an anime fan, too.
The best thing about all of this? "Otaku Anthem" has a Direct Download link, so if you're not a member of AMV.org, you can still d/l it. Do it, see what you think, then BUY THE SHOW!
Tell 'em the Duck sent ya!
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March 30, 2006
I'm currently chewing my way through three different series (DNA^2, World of Narue, and G-on Riders), and will write about them when I'm finished.
Initial reactions, though would be favorable for all three shows, with DNA^2 being the biggest surprise of the bunch. It's REALLY good!
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February 12, 2006
Or, at least, that's what Elfen Lied would have us believe.
A mutation has begun to spring up in humanity, one that looks very much like us except for the horns (that look disturbingly like cat-ears) that form on the head. This mutated form of humanity is called a 'diclonius,' and it has abilities beyond those of normal humans... the ability to direct 'mental arms' called vectors.
These vectors are (more-or-less) invisible, immensely strong, and each diclonius has at least four of them.
And the diclonius despise humanity. more...
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February 01, 2006
So why is it that THIS VIDEO makes me smile like a complete goofball?
Is it the obvious Thriller referencing in the dance moves? Is it the fact that the catgirls come from pods (I always thought so)? Is it the ridiculously happy expression on the faces of the possessed?
I dunno. What I DO know is that Funky Cat Maybe is going right into my files under "guilty pleasure."
(there's a 176mb torrent available for download here as well. I can't stress how much better than the GoogleVideo it looks... and yes, I downloaded it using dialup!)
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January 14, 2006
The change from one to the other happened around episode 19. The good folks over at T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews bring up the good point that the director, Hideaki Anno (best known for Neon Genesis Evangelion) had left the project around this time. They also propose that the folks at Gainax got bored with doing "a girly anime."
Whatever the reason, KareKano starts well, gets BETTER, then finishes in a flaming mess that left this Duck disappointed. After episode 19, KareKano loses the plot and begins to drift away from our main characters, Yukino and Arima... so much so that after the 'eyecatch' in the middle of the last episode, we don't see them again, instead concentrating on another possible pairing.
...which would be fine, if either of those two characters were likeable. They aren't.
Truthfully, Arima begins to show himself as something of a jerk in the last 10 episodes as well, so much so that you wonder just what the ultimate ending of our lead couple is going to be. By the time the show grinds to a halt, we are left with the impression of a suicide-in-the-making, despite all the good in his life.
...and what in flaming blue hell was up with episode 25? Fer cryin'outloud, we lose Yukino's two sisters (consistently my favorite characters in the show) for 10 shows, then we get a "secondary-character special" that's more confused than a bowl of spaghetti. If it was used earlier in the series, maybe spread out over four or five episodes, it could have been great. Instead, we get a steaming lump of... whatever that was.
I don't mean to suggest that KareKano isn't good: it is! I'm not at all unhappy that I purchased it, nor unhappy that I watched it. I'm just annoyed that a show that started SO strongly... blew a tire and runs into a tree.
I can't give it one rating. I give the first 19 episodes maybe 4.5 stars, the last seven shows maybe a "2" or a "3".
The folks over at T.H.E.M. finish their review asking "Why couldn't they have made more?" I finish my review asking "Why didn't they make LESS?"
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January 01, 2006
But it was all a facade. She loved, craved, NEEDED the acclaim of her peers, so she worked and WORKED and WORKED at this mask in public, while at home... at home she was a shlub (yes, that's the same person!).
Then HE showed up. Intelligent, handsome, cultured, athletic, he was far and away the most popular boy... in HER school. To make matters worse for her, he scored higher on the entry tests than she did.
HE stole her glory away from her. This was an affront that could not be borne! She MUST beat him immediately! And when the mid-term scores were posted? Success! She scored higher than him!!! Ha-HAH!!! Now to revel in his failure; look, here he comes now!
But he was nice to her and wasn't upset at all that he had lost to her... in fact he didn't even notice that there was a war to the death going on between them!
What?
...in a nutshell, that's the first 7 minutes of the first episode of the anime series His and Her Circumstances, or KareKano as it's more commonly known.
I've gotten through 9 of the 26 episodes so far... but after what you just read above, I was hooked. The main character, Yukino (Her), is a bundle of contradictions; in short, pretty human. The not-quite-main-character, Arima (Him), is a different bundle of puzzles; human in a different way. And while they don't know it after the first 7 minutes, they might be absolutely perfect for each other... if only they can drop the masks they wear (or is he not wearing one at all?)!
KareKano was directed by Hideaki Anno, the same man that led the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion to it's ultimate successes (and storied 'crash-and-burn' failure to tell a legible story), but it's about as far from that show as it's possible to be. The angst is kept to a bare minimum (they ARE teenagers, after all...), and the trademark Gainax weirdness (and boing!)is turned down to very low levels.
In fact, that's the biggest complaint I've seen leveled at this show in reviews. The quality of the animation is probably the weakest of any of the Gainax shows (Evangelion, FLCL, Mahoromatic, Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, amongst others)... while I don't know this for a fact, I suspect that's because it was their first TV series after the disasterous ending that was Evangelion, and it just wasn't given the budget their other shows have had.
Nevertheless, the animation is perfectly acceptable... indeed, the slow pan shots work well with the storyline. It's a romance, for heaven's sake, there doesn't NEED to be all the quick edits you get in the Mecha shows.
The humor level is high; generally when I'm watching a show alone, I don't laugh out loud. I'll smile, I'll chuckle, but that's about all. This one, though, has made me laugh.
It's a good'un. If I didn't have to work on Monday, I'd probably charge through this disc and the next tonight. Alas, the Duck has (ahem) bills to pay, so...
But, wow... so far, whatta ride!
(UPDATE: 105am)
Forgot to mention this, but one thing that's amused me to no end is the character design for one of Yukino's sisters. It's perfectly normal... and got reused in FLCL. Here's Eri from FLCL, and here's Yukino's sister from KareKano.
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November 17, 2005
It's too bad that the Kimura character is in Azumanga Daioh. I'd really like to love the series, but he ruins it for me.
In that Azumanga Daioh is probably my favorite anime of all time and I've been trying to get SDB to give it a chance, I'd like to make an offer to him. To whit:
I, Wonderduck, will go through the entire 26-episode series, note exactly when Mr. Kimura appears, and send him the list of times. That way SDB, armed with the list, can avoid Kimura (almost) entirely. There are very few episodes (only two leap to mind, and one of them is on DVD 1) where Kimura plays a 'major' role in the story, and the rest of the episodes have only short appearances by him.
I've succeeded in turning Kimura-haters into fans of the show in the past (see THIS review of the show for an example), and I believe SDB would become a huge fan if he'd give it a chance.
So what say you, Steven?
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November 12, 2005
Longtime anime fans (and some better-educated n00bs) probably have a smile on their face now. Kei and Yuri are better known as The Dirty Pair, and are LEGENDARY in anime history. As Steven DenBeste puts it, they're THE canonical "Girls With Guns," or rocketlaunchers, or any other implement of destruction that you can think of.
There's a TV series (unreleased in the States; c'mon ADV, you've got the rights... stop sittin' on them!), three movies, and a 10-episode OVA (Original Video Animation, which means that it was made specifically for home release, not broadcast. Unlike "straight to video" here in the States, OVAs usually have bigger budgets and better animation than broadcast shows). There were also multiple books, a 'sequel' series (Dirty Pair Flash, which is a re-imaging of the original characters. Not awful, but not as good as the Classic pair), and a series of comic books here in the states (Adam Warren's Dirty Pair, which are well worth the read).
These days, the Classic Dirty Pair look somewhat dated (hand-drawn and animated, no computer help at all), but still hold up well if you're looking for humorous characters and lots of explosions... they're fun, nothing more or less.
Why "Dirty Pair"? Well, Kei & Yuri are a pair of elite troubleshooters for the WWWA (a galactic government), code named "Lovely Angels." However, where-ever they go, massive destruction follows in their wake... space stations, biospheres, cities, entire planets... but, as they always point out, "It's not our fault!" Indeed, the 3WA Head Computer has always cleared them of wrongdoing (it really ISN'T their fault... um...), and they keep on doing their jobs.
As you might guess, the media has paid attention, and tagged them with the moniker "The Dirty Pair," which name they HATE. The only time they do serious harm is when someone calls them "The Dirty Pair." There's no surer way to piss them off, which you do at your own peril.
I've been informed that The Pond is currently running on Pixy Misa's "Yuri." Which is cool, but I've got a thing for Kei, m'self.
Quack quack!
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October 30, 2005
I really like the anime series "Please Twins."
If you haven't seen it, it's what I'd call a typical Anime Plotline (tm). To whit:
Our hero, Maiku, is an orphan. He has a picture of him and... someone else, perhaps his long-lost sister, and in the background, a house. He moves into the house and begins to work part-time as a computer programmer while going to school.
But then, his quiet life alone is interrupted by the arrival of Miina, an energetic redhead who has her OWN copy of the photograph and announces that she must be Maiku's sister (they even have the same color eyes)! Shock and surprise!
But then... later, there's a knock on the door. They open the door, and we meet Karen, a shy quiet girl... but only for a second, because she passes out when she sees Maiku and Miina (Karen's a sensitive lass, and neither of them have much in the way of clothing on; she's wearing pajamas, he was pulled out of the tub by the knocking)! As you could probably guess, KAREN has a copy of the picture as well, and SHE has the same color eyes to boot. THREE twins???
The two girls are both orphans as well, of course, and there's no way of knowing from the picture which one is Maiku's sister. With no family in his past, he wouldn't even THINK about tossing them out of his house... he feels responsible for them, being somewhat self-sufficient, and ONE of them IS his sister. Over the course of 12 episodes, their relationship coalesces, with both girls slowly falling for Maiku, but not really being able to do anything about it... "We might be related" is something we hear EVERY episode (my biggest annoyance of the show). He cares strongly for both of them in return, with the same problem.
Eventually, we find out which girl is Maiku's twin and which will be able to confess her love, and while it sounds really kinda dumb, when it finally is revealed which is which, it's handled very well, to the point where one could imagine such a resolution actually occurring.
But there's a catch: the girls become like sisters to each other, and while they both want to know who's Maiku's sister, they realize that when that happens, their friendship will change, and perhaps not for the better. Again, handled very well, and pretty believable.
As this is a sequel of sorts to the better-known "Onegai Teacher," some of the characters from that series show up in "Please Twins," including Mizuho-sensei and her 'husband,' as well as Marie, her starship's computer/Pockyholic.
It's not a great series, but I really like it... to the point that I've managed to collect 20 or so of the random figures of two sets of toys for the show, PLUS the whole range of toys from ANOTHER "Please" series that's only coming out in audiobook form... in JAPANESE, so I won't be knowing THAT story anytime soon.
If you're not in the mood for mecha or violence from your anime, and you ARE in the mood to laugh, I'd say give PLEASE TWINS a try. But for god's sake, don't EVER watch the OAV for the series (aka episode 13). It's horrid; everything that was wrong about the regular series is multiplied 10 times over in the OAV.
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September 07, 2005
It stayed that way for the rest of the year, and then the summer came. Nothing then, obviously, as Duck U.'s attendance drops to about 10 people during the summer.
With some anticipation and, I'll admit, some trepidation, we scheduled the first meeting of the new school year for tonight... I burned a DVD of anime music videos (AMVs for short), and crossed my wingtips.
7pm comes around, and... SIX PEOPLE, and two who were detained (one was working a shift she's never worked, filling in for someone else, the other was apparantly sick enough to miss all his classes today)... so EIGHT, on a campus of 500.
I'm floating on air, and I'm not even flappin' my wings! This might just work out, particularly because three of the people are first-year students who'll be around for a while! A stable base to work with!
So The Wonderduck now has a new flock of people to watch anime with, and we're a legit club now.
*snif* I'm so proud.
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August 25, 2005
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Gather 'round, lil' ones, for I'm going to tell you a story... a story about some high school girls. No, not that kind of story... one much more common, really.
Y'see, these girls, named Chiyo, Tomo, Yomi, Sakaki, Kagura and Osaka, are just... well, normal. They don't turn into super-powered beings able to right all the wrongs of the universe. They don't pilot fearsome high-tech battle machines. They don't angst all over the place. They're just six friends going through high school.
...and that's why I love Azumanga Daioh so much. They're real people (or at least as real as people in high school ever get) with real emotions, problems, eccentricities (oh, boy, do some of them have eccentricities) and talents. For example, Chiyo is a genius who seems to be able to do anything she sets her mind to... except she's 10 years old, and was promoted into high school because of her abilities.. She's the smallest person in her class, and any sort of physical activity seems to be beyond her (as one would expect, really).
Actually, she's the sort of kid genius that could easily be annoying... but she makes up for it by wielding the Power of the Cute Side. Nobody resents her for being a genius; she just IS... and she's a child, too.
All of the girls are like that: Sakaki is the tall, athletic, beautiful loner that everybody admires... but she's a loner because nobody will approach her BECAUSE she's the tall, athletic yadda yadda. She really likes cute things, like panda bears and cats, and that's out of place, too. Tomo and Yomi are friends from waaaaay back: Yomi the practical one (who constantly tries to lose weight), Tomo the overly hyper one. How Yomi doesn't kill Tomo is one of life's great mysteries, but they've been friends for so long, they're used to each other. Kagura is the true athlete of the bunch, who believes Sakaki is her rival... but is surprised when she realizes that Sakaki doesn't care about sports (Kagura joins the cast late, having been in a different classroom to start out).
And then there's Osaka. She's a bit... different. She thinks differently than everybody else; if it's a straight line between A and G, she's more likely to wind up getting there via Q. And pi. Not to mention ocelot. But she gets there, eventually... and hilariously.
There's no nudity, there's no violence (well, unless you count Yomi hauling off on Tomo once or twice... call it comedic violence), there's just life. And cats. If you're an anime fan and you haven't seen Azumanga Daioh yet, you owe it to yourself. If you're NOT an anime fan, but you're open to a show that's more fun than Friends could ever hope to be, give it a whirl. Five stars, and I'd give it more if it was possible.
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August 15, 2005
The new school year at Duck U starts next week, and the Duck U Anime Club has a mandatory community project to do. The Club's president, in conjunction with yours truly, came up with a 'student outreach' program, whereby the Club will... um... reach out to local high schools and 'Big Brother' their existing club, or help them start one. Oh, and recruit the dickens out of the kids, too.
It's a great idea, and it'd be a huge success... if we had that one contact in the high schools that'd be willing to help us out. It's SO much easier to work with an enthusiastic supporter of your project. But we didn't have that person installed in the school district...
We thought. That was until I bumped into George. It's been a couple of years, mostly because I've been pretty hermitlike, but George has been a friend of mine since I was a duckling.
Did I mention that he was my theatre teacher way back when?
Did I mention that he's now the Media teacher at one of the local high schools?
Did I mention that George is an otaku himself?
Ever have one of those problems that could be solved with difficulty, but could be made immeasurably easier if someone you knew but haven't seen in a couple of years suddenly popped back into your life?
Ever have that person suddenly pop back into your life?
Do you have ANY idea how cool it is when that happens? Over and above the fact that our friendship just picked up like I hadn't been a hermit, the biggest problem facing the fledgeling Duck U Anime Club just went away.
It's been a good day.
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August 04, 2005
I threw my vote for that rotting carcass known as Dragonball...
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