Wonderduck's Pond

April 30, 2008

Ikkitousen: Great Guardians!

This might be one of the greatest moments EVER here at The Pond...

^Yes!!!

The third of the Ikkitousen series is scheduled to hit the airwaves this summer, but a preview clip on DVD was recently released in Japan. Thenceforth, it made its way to way to the 'net, and from there, to my computer.

And now, to you!

^{MY Mou-chan? Clumsy? Oh, h*ll no!}

From the looks of it, it'll be picking up pretty much from where Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny ended, though Mou-chan and Hakufu were working in a cosplay cafe at that time.

There's not much else you can tell from the preview, but it's entertaining to watch all the same!

^{Mou-chan commands you to click below!}

NSFW past the click...
more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:31 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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April 21, 2008

Clannad's End, or "Can I Get A Light Cue?"

It took me nearly two weeks to swallow down the trepidation and watch the last two episodes of Clannad. I knew that ep22 would finally show us Nagisa's play, and that filled me with dread... because, underneath everything that I've become over the years, there's still a part of me that wishes I could have followed my dream and become a lighting designer for the theatre.

Like the "Old Man", I had to let that dream go, though not for the same reasons.

In fact, recently Clannad had been punching some very touchy buttons in me, for reasons that will become clear later this week. It took some serious effort for me to finally open up ZoomPlayer and run the final eps.

So imagine my surprise when I found myself doing something I hadn't done in a long time...

more...

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:46 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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April 13, 2008

Bad Ideas for Anime Crossovers: KANONKON

-Kanonkon, ep02

In this scene, Yuuichi meets fox-girl Chizuru for the first time in seven years.

_{I'm going to hell for this, aren't I?}

Posted by: Wonderduck at 06:44 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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April 10, 2008

Random Anime Picture #18 and Trivia Question

^{...or Sloths In Anime, #1.}

-Special A, ep01

Basic plot: Our Heroine is the best and the brightest. Except for one guy who's better at everything. Hijinks ensue.

Sounds fairly lame, but at least episode one was good enough for me to decide to keep watching.

And, hey, it's the second time there's been a sloth in anime. That's gotta count for something, right? (Bonus Trivia Question: what was the FIRST time? Extra Special Bonus Trivia Question: what's the link between the two, other than being sloths?)

UPDATE: Jeff Lawson guessed "the sloth in CardCaptor Sakura", which is the right answer! See the comments below for the link betwixt them!
ANOTHER UPDATE:

From CardCaptor Sakura, ep 13 ("Sakura and the Elephant's Test of Strength")

Posted by: Wonderduck at 01:02 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 131 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I watched that first episode as well. I'm definitely getting Ouran vibes, with the good parts of Kare Kano thrown in for good measure, and that's enough to keep me watching. I just don't know that there's enough plot in the characters for this to go 13 episodes. And what's with the limbs on the character designs?

Posted by: Civilis at April 10, 2008 06:46 AM (42+KW)

2 I had a problem with the arms n' legs to start with, but it slowly went away. Ouran had long limbs too, but this is xxxHolic-level.

No guess on the sloth questions, Civ? I'm disappointed!

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 10, 2008 07:27 AM (AW3EJ)

3 Picked up the first volume of the manga for the plane trip yesterday. (Turned out to be a good thing - four hour delay! Got in at midnight local...) Definitely gave me a Karekano taste, which isn't a bad thing.

One comment I have... in the manga, the author burns two or three pages every chapter re-introducing everything. The stock character descriptions, the "this is Special A", the "they're in the Paradise on Campus" thing, whole nine yards. You'll occasionally see that sort of thing when a manga gets picked up for a teaser run, and then the author re-introduces everything when it gets picked up regularly, but this is the first time I've seen it happen six, seven times in a row!

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at April 10, 2008 10:34 AM (d2LNE)

4 Can't say that I remember any sloths in anime. If I had to guess I'd say Mononoke Hime - I seem to recall a veritable Noah's Ark of animals in that one.

Posted by: astro at April 10, 2008 06:40 PM (DSm6K)

5 I don't think that's it. If I had to make a wager on a series having a sloth in it, my guess would be "Excel Saga". Wasn't there a sloth in the "Jungle guerrilla" episode?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 10, 2008 06:45 PM (+rSRq)

6 There was a sloth featured briefly in an episode of Cardcaptor Sakura. The only link I can think of, really, is that they're both shoujo series... which leads me to believe you're thinking of a different series than CCS.

Posted by: Jeff Lawson at April 11, 2008 06:44 PM (6ti30)

WE HAVE A WINNAH!!!

Jeff, the sloth in CCS is right! The link is that both that sloth and the one in Special A are referred to as "fast sloths."

The CCS sloth is one of those "100kph sloths", or so says the guy who is a habitual stretcher-of-the-truth. The sloth in the picture is "really fast, unlike most sloths."

Okay, so it's a tenuous link, but it's still there!

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 11, 2008 08:39 PM (UdB9M)

8 That's the Zoo episode, isn't it? Where Sakura defeats "Power" in the tug-of-war, with a bit of help from Shaoran?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 11, 2008 09:08 PM (+rSRq)

9 The very one, Steven. I would have had the picture up faster, but PowerDVD was being hinky.

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 11, 2008 10:05 PM (AW3EJ)

Actually I'm pretty sure there was a giant robotic megatherium that was dispatched by the science ninja team GATCHAMAN!!

Posted by: Brickmuppet at April 12, 2008 07:43 PM (DcSb+)

11 And, actually, I'm pretty sure I've told you that I don't believe you, 'Muppet. NOBODY could fight a giant robotic megatherium.

(looks up "megatherium" on wiki...)

NOBODY.

Posted by: Wonderduck at April 12, 2008 08:09 PM (AW3EJ)

12 I'm having a real difficult time believing anyone would build such a thing.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 12, 2008 08:22 PM (+rSRq)

13 Well the evil supervillains of Specter were being given hyper advanced technology by an Alien benefactor.

Complicating matters was the fact that the alien was insane and the villain team was not wrapped too tight either. (They liked to dress up as...well...supervillains). This combination of magic level tech and mental defficiency resulted in a giant 400 foot tall mammoth, a missile firing sea anemone the size of a skyscraper and a flying turtle the size of an aircraft carrier amongst other atrocities against common sense.

All of these engendering blasphemies were taken out by a well, trained if gaudily dressed commando team. Gatachaman is rather more realistic than it gets credit for.

Posted by: Ken Talton at April 12, 2008 10:12 PM (PJ3O0)

One of the things that was nice about that episode of CCS was when the elephant joined Sakura in the tug-of-war. They left it nicely ambiguous whether the elephant was doing it just because it had been taught to do it, or whether it realized that Sakura had saved it and was helping her out of gratitude and friendship.

But I really felt sorry for Power afterwards. Sitting there, she just looked so crestfallen and pitiable. I wanted to give her a big hug and let her cry herself out.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at April 13, 2008 03:40 PM (+rSRq)

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April 09, 2008

Bamboo Blade Ganbatte!

^{I feel the same way, Tama-chan.}

So Bamboo Blade has come to an end. I'll admit to being kinda bummed about that.

Truthfully, and I'm going to have scorn heaped upon me for saying this, the adventures of Tama-chan and the gang have been the ones I've most eagerly awaited each week. More than Kimikiss, more than Rosario+Vampire (easily more!), more than Spicy Wolf... and dare I say, maybe even more than Clannad?

Please don't get me wrong, BB is hardly high art... more like high Fred, Art's younger, less talented, brother. In some ways, in fact, the show is kinda cheesy at times, sappy at others. The character designs, particularly Dan-kun and his egg-shaped cranium, take a little getting used to. The plot is nothing you haven't seen in a gazillion sports movies and anime before; the only difference is that our heroes are swinging kendo blades instead of baseball bats.

But yet...

It's the characters that make any show, of course, and Tama, Kirino, Miya-Miya, Saya and Satori are a fun group to watch. Yuji and Dan are just sorta... eh. But, darn it, by the end of the series, I actually liked all of them.

Sure, the plot is hackneyed and cliche-ridden. Granted. I don't care.
Sure, the art isn't the greatest. Granted. I don't care.
Sure, there are better shows out there. Granted. I don't care.
Bamboo Blade was some of the most fun I've had watching anime in a couple-three years, easy. Here's hoping for a second season!

^{...and more BLADE BRAVER!}

Posted by: Wonderduck at 12:20 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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