Let The Fights Return!
Well over a year ago, I sadly decided to do something I'd never done before: end an episodic writeup before I had completed the series. That series was about a group of people who fought over half-priced pre-packaged dinners. That series was Ben-To!
With the recent announcement that Funimation is going to be releasing the series in July, I went back and looked at the writeups I'd done, and watched the series again... and I've made the decision to pick it back up. Look for the Episode 05 writeup soon!
The writeups for Ep01, Ep02, Ep03 and Ep04 are at those links. Read up, won't you? They're pretty darn clever, if you ask me...
Figma #2: Wait, Is That...?
You know what this is, right?
Yep, it's a kickass scarf. Or, more correctly, it's THE kickass scarf. Some of you have sat up in your chair, eyes wide, knowing what's about to come. The rest of you are probably a little confused, and I don't blame you. Fret not, dear reader, all will be revealed in mere moments. Just click "more", and let the emotions wash over you. G'wan, do it. You know you want to. Everybody else is doin' it... you don't want to be the only weirdo, do ya?
On the one hand, I never trust Japanese release dates.
On the other hand, I had completely overlooked that little smidgen of information.
On the third hand, I have not seen Rensouhou-chan sold seperately, so I logically concluded, as Sherlock Holmes would have, that you must have traveled through time and space to acquire this figure.
5
While I do have some limited time-travel ability, I generally use it for the super-important things that will occur. Figma releases don't really count... though if they did, I'd go for the Akagi release in August.
Oh, and avoid the state of Maine in August of 2027.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 19, 2014 01:59 AM (Kv7m+)
Turret-kun Has A Friend
You may remember that a few weeks ago, I hired Turret-kun to defend Nori, my computer against the sort of things that threaten computers in my fevered little brain. Just what might require the strengths of a semi-anthropomorphized kawaii 5" gun turret floating on a life preserver to protect a computer is beyond me, but you never know. It wasn't until recently, however, that I discovered that Turret-kun was lonely. Oh, sure, he had that great smile, but it felt painted on. Inside, I was sure, Turret-kun needed someone to serve. So I arranged for Nori to join him.
Nori is, as some of you may have guessed, a Figma. #201, as a matter of fact: Sae from Hidamari Sketch. Wait, what? The nice thing about Figmas is that they often come with simply amazing amounts of modification options. This one, for example, came with two faces for Sae, an extra pair of glasses, ten extra hands in various positions... and the ability to turn her into Nori! Compared to some, that's actually a fairly sparse amount of options. It actually took a few days for me to decide to get it... Figmas aren't exactly cheap... but in the end I broke down. They're not cheap, but they aren't all that expensive, either. Which is why I picked up three other Figmas, which will appear here at The Pond soon enough. Just for the record, though? They haven't made a Rio Figma yet. I think I'm a little sad about that.
A bigger pic of Nori and Turret-kun is just a simple click away!
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In 2001 I went to AnimeIowa. The con was literally just down the street from work--walking distance. (It was at Collins Plaza Hotel, the place featured in the movie Cedar Rapids.) I had to get some work done on Friday, but I took a little time out from working to hit the dealer room. When I got back, I showed a friend of mine the Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne figure I'd bought, and the first thing he did was look up her skirt to see her panties. Since I know I am not the only one out there, I feel comfortable asking:
What color are her panties?
Posted by: Ed Hering at April 10, 2014 08:14 AM (RhX1I)
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This kind of posable figure has two big joints at the tops of the thighs, so what's up there doesn't really look like panties.
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Steven, that's generally true, and certainly descriptive of early figmas; but the latest models are surprisingly effective not only at hiding the actual joints, but at accurately depicting certain....parts of the body that normally deform significantly when moved. Or that normally would have to be sacrificed in order to make a functional plastic joint.
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Since this is a full-service blog, and I'm willing to go the extra mile for my readers, I asked Nori just exactly what color they were.
There was a lot of yelling of "hentai", and throwing of things. The Turret-kun took a few shots at me. I'm pretty sure I've lost the security deposit on Pond Central now because of them... no amount of toothpaste will adequately spackle the hole from a 5" round.
White.
Posted by: Wonderduck at April 10, 2014 09:16 PM (jGQR+)
Fools, Fools All...
Good to see that Steven's readers are paying attention to the calendar! Personally, I would never ever stoop to such a low tactic.
Never ever.
Defender Of Nori
Ladies and Gentlemen, we all know how dangerous everyday life can be. One can be outside taking the blobfish for a drag when suddenly, BAM!, one explosive garbage can and your entire life is ruined forever. And it's not just randomly detonating containers, no no. Upon occasion, even things as innocuous as trees, concrete, pebbles, clouds, and sugar gliders are known to combust spontaneously like a trespasser at a Rammstein concert. So what's a justifiably concerned biped with a relatively new and innocent desktop computer named "Nori" to do for local defense? In this particular case, I decided to go right to the top... I hired Rensouhou-chan.
Or, as I prefer to call him, "Turret-kun." If you're reading this blog, and I beg your forgiveness if you are, you've likely at least heard of a Japanese online game called "Kantai Collection," or "KanColle" for short. KanColle is, if I've got this right, a game where you are a Fleet Commander, and your fleet is made up of anthropomorphic ships from the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II... that are all young women. If that isn't awesome enough for you, damage taken in the game is reflected by torn clothing. Yeah, I know. Did I mention that there's an anime coming out this Summer for the game?
Anyway, in the game, Turret-kun up there is the pal of Shimakaze, which in the Pacific War was a one-off "super destroyer". 41 knots top speed, a stunning 15 torpedo tubes, and six 5" dual-purpose guns in twin turrets... just like Turret-kun up there! And he's perfect to protect Nori from wayward dangers like suicidal 'splody stoats.
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I'd not heard of KanColle before, and now I'm both amused and slightly disturbed... though if there's an anime I may have to watch it just for the chance to compare it to Arpeggio of Blue Steel, I suppose.
Posted by: GreyDuck at March 27, 2014 07:29 AM (CUkqs)
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Did you get just Turret-kun, or did he come with Shimakaze?
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I have trouble with the logical dissonance involved - too many of them ended up, historically, with "ate a big fat American torpedo and sank" for comfort. Or rather, it's GOOD that they did, but anthropomorphizing them and then saying that...
It's not on quite the same level as depicting Adolf Hitler as a magical girl, thank goodness.
Didn't have this problem with Arpeggio because, nominally, it's a future SF story. Didn't have the problem with Sakura Wars because, well, in the second game it's revealed that all the military fascist stuff in the '20s and on was the fault of demons which you then kill. (Hey, I don't demand that they confront it head on...)
Posted by: Avatar at March 27, 2014 11:35 AM (IopVv)
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Hard to imagine anyone having not heard about KanColle yet. My coworkers were playing it, even. And that fanart everywhere.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at March 27, 2014 12:52 PM (RqRa5)
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The mecha-musume aren't just Japanese ships. I've seen fanart of Bismarck-chan, for instance.
The mecha-musume aren't just Japanese ships. I've seen fanart of Bismarck-chan, for instance.
The Kriegsmarine ship cards are a recent development for Kantai Collection. I would be interested to see where this might lead.
I do want to see how they would anthropomorphize USS ENTERPRISE (CV-6), if they ever get that far.
It's not on quite the same level as depicting Adolf Hitler as a magical girl, thank goodness.
Well...There is a mecha musume card game entitled Barbarossa that avoids the mahou shoujo but keeps the rest of the moe factor. They also moe-fy various other Germans, some of whom were convicted for war crimes (You can see one of them on the page there.). There is a Kickstarter going on for an English translation of it, and the project page can make for uncomfortable reading (So fair warnings there.).
Posted by: cxt217 at March 27, 2014 05:19 PM (RXzit)
7I have trouble with the logical dissonance involved...
According to the light novel... or one or more of the manga storylines (none of them entirely overlap with each other)... KanColle takes place in a world where WWII didn't happen. Combat is against AngelsNeuroiAloneFleet of Fog Abyss, "monster ships."
Posted by: Wonderduck at March 27, 2014 06:11 PM (GPEgF)
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I was actually thinking of Daiteitoku there. Guess I shouldn't be shocked that it's not only been done, but more than once!
Maybe I'll try the game out. It's supposed to be pretty fun, say my friends who are fans of both moe and mil.
Posted by: Avatar at March 27, 2014 06:53 PM (zJsIy)
Wonderduck, they seem to have borrowed that idea from Strike Witches, which also takes place in a timeline where WWII never happened. (In the first series there's a scene with Wilcke and Sakamoto where Sakamoto muses that if the Neuroi hadn't attacked, the nations of earth probably would have been at each other's throats by then.)
Horrible News!
I have it on good authority that the legendary Rio Rainbow Gate! has been released and has already been shipped to customers with standing pre-orders at Bob's place.
To make matters worse, I've been informed that mine was the first copy processed and out the door. I've been blogging for what, eight-almost-nine years now. I've written about a hundred different topics, from Formula 1 to WW2, and yet I have this terrible feeling that RRG! is going to be my legacy.
There are, I suppose, worse things to be known for. I didn't collectivize the Soviet agriculture industry, nor did I enforce the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, for example. No, I only blogged about an anime series. Is that so bad? Is it? IS IT???
Oh. Right. Holographic Space Sharks. You're right, it is that bad. I weep for what I have inflicted upon humanity.
I did not know it was the 3rd generation of that automobile.
I did know about this other Ghibli, which made me wonder when I saw the Superbowl commercial. Why sell a car in the USA when it's named after an Axis-powers airplane from WWII? Guess it's obscure enough that it doesn't matter. Probably worse that gee-blee sounds more like an infant being tickled than a studly sports car...
Posted by: Mikeski at February 05, 2014 07:02 PM (Zlc1W)
The Evangelion Movies: 2.22 You Can (not) Advance, pt 1
Some months ago, I decided that I was going to do writeups for each of the new Evangelion movies, collectively called "The Rebuild of Evangelion". This had the horrible timing of being at a time when my life suddenly got ridiculously busy, to the point where it took over seven months to complete the first movie's writeups. At the end of the last writeup, I even expressed some doubt over whether or not I'd even attempt the second movie.
I have only abandoned one writeup series. This will not become the second. It's too ripe for my kind of writeup, I just can't let it pass unhindered. So I promise to do this movie, and faster than seven months. Deal? Deal. So let's get right to it! The first movie was pretty much a shot-for-shot retelling of the first six or so episodes from the original TV show, though with a graphics upgrade and slightly less whiny Shinji... will the second film follow the same pattern?
That would be a big "nope." Right off the bat, we're dropped into a scene that didn't exist in the show, with a new, unnamed pilot. Stranger, much of it is in English, though stiff and stilted. Eh, must be British. Weird to see Japanese subtitles in an anime... anyway, this is the "troublemaker" pilot of Eva-05, which appears to be some sort of test unit. There's an Angel attack under way, and this is, apparently, the first run of the unit. Clearly, this will go nothing but well.
Oh, him we've seen before, though. His name is Kaji, and he's some sort of double-triple agent spy for one faction or other... SEELE, NERV, S.H.I.E.L.D., ASPCA, whatever. He showed up in the TV series to give Misato someone to sleep with, and who was then promptly shot. Here, though, he appears to be present in some sort of advisory position to the... Russian?... Eva base. As it turns out, the attacking Angel isn't a real Angel, it's the animated bones of the dead Third Angel, the one that caused the Second Impact fifteen years ago, and we're in Antarctica, where the Second Impact occurred. None of this is explained, nor even inferred by the movie... I had to look it up. Good storytelling, Evangelion!. Kaji bugs out, and we return to...
It appears the Third Angel was a duck. Well, yeah. We still haven't had a clear look at the new Eva unit, though it appears to have wheels instead of legs. A short fight ensues, the Duck Angel nearly defeats Eva-05, but at the last moment the Angel is defeated as the Eva self-destructs.
So that's it for the new Eva, the new pilot, and it all goes boom in a pink cloud. Seems like something of a waste, don'tcha think? All that excitement over a new character, and she's gone *boop* just like that!
Or, y'know, not. Here she is, glasses and everything. It's not like Gainax isn't trying to hit all the fetishes the TV show missed or anything. Still don't know her name, though... or even that we'll see her again. She IS floating in an ejected entry plug in a sea of Angel blood near what was Antarctica, after all. Oh, and the nearest base was just wiped out, too. Yup, gonna be a long time until she sees rescue.
Time to pause and refresh before we get into the real film! Go ahead, I'll still be here. I don't mind.
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Misato's face in that screenshot with the two brats is pretty much my expression at the prospect of ever actually watching anything "Evangelion"-related ever again.
Thanks for doing this so nobody else has to, man.
Posted by: GreyDuck at January 23, 2014 10:52 AM (3m7pZ)
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Well done, sir, well done. A nice selection of screen shots, good story telling, and the snark is at just about the right level. Glad to see you back on form.
Posted by: David at January 24, 2014 12:17 PM (dr1tX)
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I was thinking this was the reboot of Ghost in the Shell, I'm now thinking this might be worth watching. I do wish I could find more like GitS & Appleseed, you know noirish SF near future.
Posted by: von Krag at January 19, 2014 12:18 PM (KTzaE)
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I think that's a frame grab from one of the Evangelion movies.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 19, 2014 12:20 PM (+rSRq)
The Evangelion Movies: 1.11 You Are (not) Alone, pt 5
I can do this. I can finish this movie writeup by the end of the year. I will. It's been nearly four months since the last installment, and in all that time Shinji's face has been unpunched. This can not be allowed to stand! But then again, at the end of the last installment, he was being boiled alive inside Unit-01, so he may not be around much longer. On the one hand, that means our last best chance for survival has just been killed, but on the other hand, it's Shinji. The world might be a better place without his whiny arse. Well, we won't know what's going on until we get into it, so let's just do this thing!
Okay, sure, he needed cardiac massage in the Entry Plug. Okay, sure, everybody is running around frantically rattling off medical terms, none of which sound good at all. Okay, sure, they put him in something that looks like a carbon fiber coffin and lock the lid. Actually, I'm pretty sure they just did that because they wanted to. I mean, wouldn't you??? Back up at the surface...
The latest Angel is apparently part duck. If you don't understand the reference, count yourself very, very lucky. If you do understand the reference... *brofist*. Except, ew, what's wrong with you? Anyway, it's digging its way down to NERV HQ, and ain't nothin' they've got 'bout to stop it, knowwhatI'msayin'? They've got about 10 hours before it reaches HQ, Unit-01 needs serious repairs, Unit-00 (with Teh Rei) needs to be "recalibrated" before it can be activated. Looks pretty grim, until Misato mentions something about the Japanese Self-Defense Force's "secret weapon" and activates Operation Yashima.
Within ONE HOUR, heavy equipment from around the country has been gathered around Tokyo-III and is beginning to do... heavy equipment-type things. Huge cranes. Giant earth-movers. Triangular helicopters carrying stuff. Men putting things on top of other things. Industry! Science and technology! Something is mentioned about a "Positronic Cannon", which sounds cool. After a couple more hours, things are coming together: Unit-01 is being fitted with a "sniping system," power cables are being run to Tokyo-III from all across Japan, and everything is a "go" at Midnight. All that's needed is a pilot for Unit-01, but he's dead, right?
Dammit!
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 30, 2013 08:25 AM (CUkqs)
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It's been so long since I watched the TV series that I can't compare point to point, but it's always seemed to me that the rebuild movies were more coherent, with a tighter plot and some explanation for the behavior of the characters. And oh, the visual effects and music! I've rewatched that climax scene of 1.1 I don't know how many times, with the volume cranked to 11 from the first klaxon to the end of the credits.
Posted by: David at December 30, 2013 11:13 AM (vtKcn)
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BTW, I may have found a girlfriend for Gendo Plushyferret.
Posted by: Mauser at December 31, 2013 01:41 AM (TJ7ih)
On One Hand, Yay...
...but on the other, boo. A couple of days ago, one of those things that managed to cause me both excitement and trepidation hit the torrents. See, on the good side, two new Hidamari Sketch OVAs were released. Hurray!
Unlike most entries in the HidaSketch franchise, though, this one came with a seriously dark, gloomy thing that's dark and gloomy. Y'see, the title of this one is "The Sae & Hiro Graduation Arc", and when it ended, so did HidaSketch. So as you can guess, I'm of seriously mixed feelings about this.
I mean, really, it's a great way to wrap up this wonderful series that's given me so much joy over the past six years, four series, 11 special episodes, and soon to be seven manga volumes. But then, it's also wrapping up this wonderful series that's given me so much joy over the past blah blah blah yammer yammer yammer natter natter natter. There's no surprises in these episodes; Sae & Hiro make it into their respective schools, tears are shed, smiles are had, heartstrings are tugged, and it all ends with a duck.
Well, not really. But it should have!
It's a fractionally darker existence now, knowing that there won't be any new HidaSketch in the future.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at December 04, 2013 09:21 PM (DnAJl)
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Perhaps I should be less oblique:
I thought there was at least one H-Sketch volume/chapter/series that took place after Sae & Hiro graduated and Yuna and company were the 'den mothers' as it were.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at December 04, 2013 09:24 PM (DnAJl)
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Well, that'd be nice. We'll find out in less than two weeks, I s'pose, when the next manga volume is released.
Posted by: Wonderduck at December 04, 2013 10:28 PM (Izt1u)
In this picture from Ep09 of Hidamari Sketch X Honeycomb, the namesake of my new computer, Nori, has just hit Nazuna (aka "The Cabbage") with a sick burn. I very much wish to make this picture my wallpaper, except for one thing: I dislike The Cabbage. Either in the manga or the TV series, she's just a horrible, horrible character, all wimpy and pathetic.
So here's my request to you, the assembled Pond Scum. Photoshoop The Cabbage out of the picture for me! I really want to do it myself, but considering my rudimentary skills in Adobe's wonderful program, the universe will suffer Heat Death before I finish the task. So I ask you, the computer wizards, the artists, the photoshoopers, to do me a favor and remove The Cabbage.
I can make it worth your while... a complex post, a Duck U t-shirt, something like that. Or just effusive praise and a lot of ego-boo!
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 24, 2013 11:24 PM (GE6XS)
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I'll see what I can do. Fixing the background might be tricky.
Posted by: Mauser at October 25, 2013 05:47 AM (TJ7ih)
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Yeah, she's easy to erase with the magnetic lasso, the hard part is drawing the plant and the speaker! If you have some other screencaps from the same room, they could be pasted in.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at October 25, 2013 05:15 PM (+cEg2)
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Unfortunately, everything from that angle has The Cabbage in the way for the most part.
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 25, 2013 08:55 PM (GE6XS)
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Sadly, I can't draw plants or speakers, so I've stopped here for the night.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at October 25, 2013 10:51 PM (+cEg2)
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That's a trifle further than I got. I was considering nuking the plant and just extending the curtains and wallpaper.
But frankly, I'm on major mandatory overtime this week and weekend. so I don't know how far I'll get.
I mean, I still need to make five more blog entries to push all the comments off my front page. :-)
Posted by: Mauser at October 26, 2013 01:19 AM (TJ7ih)
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J, it's very good, but is it just me or are you working on the small version?
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 26, 2013 06:24 AM (GE6XS)
How attached are you to the entire image? I assume you're just after Reclining Nori.
Could you find another apartment-room background shot elsewhere in the show (either a no-character shot, or one with a moving character so you can piece together the whole thing), and 'shop Nori+futon over the top of it? Or, to be pedantic, over the bottom of it?
(Shirley, that's easier than copying the art style and drawing your own rest-of-speaker & rest-of-plant.)
Posted by: mikeski at October 26, 2013 06:11 PM (Zlc1W)
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I am not, in fact, attached to the rest of the image other than Relaxing-Nori-On-A-Bed... if someone wanted to make an interesting background, that'd be cool.
As far as I'm aware, this was the only episode where we see this particular angle of shot... from the way the room is laid out, the camera is imbedded in the wall. Also it's Nazuna's room, but that's beside the point.
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 26, 2013 06:57 PM (GE6XS)
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I was working on the full-sized image, but just posted a small one since it wasn't done. I've been too busy to go back to it, but if no one else beats me to it, I think I'll just nuke the speaker and the plant; much easier to match the wall and cabinet.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at October 27, 2013 11:55 PM (+cEg2)
I Had SUCH Plans... But Instead, Here's Cheesecake.
Not only was I intending to do another music post today, but I was also going to work on the final entry for Evangelion 1.11, too. I had also planned to go grocery shopping early, have a nice lunch, and generally act the way real people do on Saturdays, instead of working like I have every weekend since mid-August. All of that was my plan. Instead, I didn't do a music post, I haven't worked on Eva 1.11, grocery shopping wasn't done until nearly 4pm, and I didn't have "lunch" until after that. About the only thing I DID manage to accomplish is to take a nap... go me! In lieu of anything approximating content, here's the closest thing to cheesecake in the show Hanasaku Iroha: a waterlogged Naku!
She just saved a self-loathing pr0n author from drowning; he's busy throwing up sea water just off screen, with all the attendant sounds you would expect from such activity. That's why she's got that "duhhhhh" look on her face. Quite an enjoyable show, by the way, I quite recommend it.
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It's a lovely show, though a bit slow paced. I never did finish it.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 29, 2013 08:34 AM (PiXy!)
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Yeah, I lovedHanasaku Iroha. When I thought it was only 13 eps long, and learned that there were 26, I felt like Christmas had come early.
Posted by: Ed Hering at September 29, 2013 12:23 PM (aEOAA)
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Closest thing to cheesecake? Did you forget about the third episode? They even made a bondage version of the nendroid...
Posted by: Avatar at September 29, 2013 01:48 PM (GJQTS)
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Avatar:
1) This picture is from the third episode.
2) It's only cheesecake when it's, y'know, exciting. Which that scene definitely is not... at least, not to me.
Posted by: Wonderduck at September 29, 2013 06:12 PM (dM817)
Posted by: Mauser at September 30, 2013 12:29 AM (TJ7ih)
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Fair enough. Honestly I don't remember the actual episode myself, but it will be a long time (and some brain bleach) before I forget the Nendroid...
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at September 30, 2013 09:07 PM (pWQz4)
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Nendroid? I actually DLed episode 3 just to see what you were talking about, but I don't get that part. (The bondage was obvious. It surprises me sometimes just how overt S/M practices are shown and referred to in Anime....)
Posted by: Mauser at October 01, 2013 05:47 AM (TJ7ih)
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Oh, never mind, I just remembered what a nendroid was.
Posted by: Mauser at October 01, 2013 06:13 AM (TJ7ih)
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I'd post a link to a picture, but I'm at work, and while it's not strictly NSFW I'd rather not push my luck...
The Japanese outlook on sex in general is weird, and each individual little bit is also weird. Stephenson's "fractally weird", y'know? Part of that's just the different religious background - none of the religions practiced in Japan to any extent really had much to say about sex as taboo. This is healthy in a few ways but at the same time the creepy parts tend to flourish too.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at October 02, 2013 06:51 PM (pWQz4)
Where's My Rio?
Today was supposed to be the day that Media Blasters officially released Rio Rainbow Gate! on an unsuspecting populace. I've had it on pre-order at Robert's Place for a week or so, and via e-mail, he was fairly confident that it was going to show up on time... not that MB is well-known for that sort of thing. Anyway, I sat contented, knowing that RRG! is such a seminal work of anime greatness that they'd HAVE to release on time. Any minute now, I'd see a confirmation from Bob that it had shipped. Any... minute... now...
I finally shot Bob an e-mail asking what had happened to my Rio? I figured it had to be one of three things:
1) The folks over at RACS just hadn't shipped it to me yet. This was the least likely of the three options... they're just too good to let that sort of thing happen.
2) Media Blasters had peed the release down their leg. This was the most likely reason.
3) I was the only person in America to pre-order RRG!, and Media Blasters had shut down out of embarrassment. If you think about it, both of these are possible.
As it turns out, the answer is #2, though Bob was much nicer about it than "peed it down their leg." That's me, all the way. He explained that it could show up any day, and he'd let me know the moment he has any more information. And THAT'S why I only buy anime from Robert's Anime Corner Store... the freakin' owner of the company has promised to contact me once he hears something. I don't spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year over there; indeed, I never did. Doesn't matter to him.
Of course, I'm still waiting for Rio...
C'mon, Media Blasters... don't keep this duck a-waitin'!
Posted by: Brickmuppet at September 25, 2013 04:54 AM (F7DdT)
2
From what I've heard, MediaBlasters had to scale back operations earlier this year (and they were operating on a shoestring already). They don't have any full-time production staff any more, and hire freelancers for each release as it happens. Which would make it a lot harder to keep to schedules.
This was on the ANN podcast recently, but I was only half-listening so I don't have more details than that.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at September 25, 2013 06:50 AM (PiXy!)
Media Blasters has actually been doing a bit better in the last six months or so. They have a couple new licenses announced, and while I would say they are healthy, they are in better condition than they have been in a while.
Having said that...It appears that Rio is in the QC process. They announced as much as on Facebook, though ANN has the work on Rio as being finished (In fairness, the ANN article was talking about other projects underway at Media Blasters.).
Because Why Not?
The whole "AMV Hell" concept, where multiple creators make short AMVs (sometimes less than five seconds long!) and they're put together in one long video, seems to have maxed out somewhere between AH3 and AH4. AMV Hell 5 was, despite some laffs, pretty much a disappointment.
However, there was one clip that was so sublime, so perfect, so right, that even now, two years later, it makes me laugh out loud just thinking of it. I am proud to share it with you now.
Bravo, Person Who Came Up With This Idea, bravo.
The music, if you're unfamiliar with it, is the theme to the movie Koyaanisqatsi, which I loved the first time I saw it, despite the crippling handicap of being neither high nor stoned. Said theme was composed by Philip Glass, the master of taking a handful of musical nothing and making repetitive musical nothing out of it. When I was a student at Duck U., lo these many years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a speech-cum-music theory class-cum-concert featuring Mr Glass.
After the first fifteen minutes or so, I had never wanted to sneak out of something so badly in my life. Unfortunately, I was attending with my Music Appreciation (aka "Clapping For Credit") class, the event was in Madison, WI, and we all rode together in a van. I was trapped. All I remember was the incessant "tweedlytweedlytweedly" sounds coming from The Maestro's keyboard.
Despite this, the clip above is still hilarious to me. And, I hope, to you as well. Enjoy, won't you?
1
Aw come on, the movie was amazing, I mean, all those people going through the banks of escalators justaposed with the images of hot dogs squirting out of parallel sausage makers.... Brilliant stuff. Really.
You'll never make it with the Artsy girl if you don't get with the program. :-)
(I was laughing just reading the title before I even ran the video. Could have been worse though. There's always Terry Reilly's "In C".)
Posted by: Mauser at September 19, 2013 03:47 AM (TJ7ih)
2
Oh, the AMV Hells, a concept that truly did run its course. I think 4 was the last one I watched, though I may have 5 downloaded somewhere and just never got 'round to it.
That clip, though. Utter brilliance, and I had to stifle laughter or risk alarming the roommates. (Yes, I watched "Koyaanisqatsi." In the theater.) (Also "Chronos," an IMAX presentation in a similar but much shorter vein.) (I really wish "Chronos" was available on BluRay.)
(Wait, it's available on BluRay?!? HOT DAMN.)
(Got parentheses?)
Posted by: GreyDuck at September 19, 2013 07:27 AM (CUkqs)
3
From a riffing session between sets at a cello Masterclass Recital I went to:
Posted by: Mycroft W at September 19, 2013 10:46 AM (Z484j)
4
I must be missing something, because I don't get it. (I did see Koyaanisqatsi years ago.)
Posted by: RickC at September 19, 2013 12:28 PM (A9FNw)
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I didn't want to be the first person to say that, but I agree with Rick.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at September 19, 2013 12:29 PM (+rSRq)
6
Many years ago, during an epic battle with insomnia, I tuned in the local college station in the middle of the night. I didn't recognize the music playing. The instrumentation was eccentric, with a tweedly keyboard, if I remember correctly, but the band was tight and they kept a good beat as they played the same phrase over and over. I waited for the lead guitar to come in. And waited. And waited. The chords slowly changed and eventually the piece ended without anything much ever happening. That was my introduction to Philip Glass. I've heard several of his other works since then. Since I'm usually the opposite of stoned, I've never been able to listen to any of them all the way through.
Posted by: Don at September 19, 2013 02:43 PM (NwobM)
Philip Glass is the charlatan who inflicted a piece called IIRC "4:34" on the world. It's a piano piece in which the performer sits silently, doing nothing, for four and a half minutes. Then everyone applauds.
I thought his music worked well in Koyaanisqatsi, but that's because it fitted the visuals, which were also about repetitive and apparently pointless motion. But I've never even tried to listen to anything else he's done. "Minimalism" is the most stupid thing to happen to classical music. In 50 years it will be a forgotten footnote.
Glass is the musical equivalent of those modern "artists" whose art is a plea for attention with no apparent artistry involved. The message, to the extent that there is one, is "Stop ignoring me!"
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at September 19, 2013 09:50 PM (+rSRq)
Maybe because they got to me early with Geometry of Circles on Sesame Street, but I've rather enjoyed Glass' work over the years.
Posted by: JP Gibb at September 20, 2013 06:40 AM (VSD03)
9
I once had the pleasure of witnessing a performance of one of Cage's works, "Inlets." Several musicians made gurgling sounds for 25 minutes by pouring water in and out of conch shells, while a tape recording of burning pine cones played. After 20 minutes, one of the instrumentalists stood up and blew on a conch until his face was purple.
Posted by: Don at September 20, 2013 07:50 AM (NwobM)
There's a bit in the movie where part of an exploded Atlas rocket (no, not a Space Shuttle as is commonly assumed) is tumbling to the ground in slow motion with that bit of music in the Haruhi video you see in the post, droning on as the flaming debris tumbles.
For...
ev...
er.
Or it feels that way, anyway.
Posted by: GreyDuck at September 21, 2013 04:17 PM (CUkqs)
15
GreyDuck, ok. It's been about 20 years since I saw the movie and I've never seen the sequels, so I would never have remembered that.
Posted by: RickC at September 21, 2013 09:16 PM (swpgw)
The Evangelion Movies: 1.11 You Are (not) Alone, pt 4In Part 3 of the epic writeup for the first of the epic new Evangelion movies, Our Hero Shinji got punched in the face by friends, then epically defeated Rio from Rio: Rainbow Gate! in an epic battle of epic proportions. There was all that stuff about him epically not crushing his friends, too... and by friends, I mean "people who punch Shinji in the face." But now, now we begin with the post-battle debriefing. And by debriefing, I mean...
...punching Shinji in the face. Misato's kinda upset that Our Hero disobeyed orders ("recover your friends and retreat") to kill Rio, and as she berates him, he just sits there going "yes." Until, in his Shinji-like way, he quietly points out that he won. At which point, she yanks him to his feet and prepares to jam his teeth down his throat... in friendship!
In anticipation of making a new friend, Our Hero smiles. Y'know what? Our boy Shinji here, he's a little tetched in the haid, he is. Maybe all that being punched in the face has permanently rattled his marbles, maybe he's just a masochist, or maybe he craves attention... any attention... and this movie is deeper than we all could have possibly thought. When Misato doesn't hit him, he walks away, boards a train, rides it until it doesn't go any farther, walks around for a while...
...then gets shanked in a dark alley and wrapped in a cardboard box. The Angels will now win, the Earth is doomed, and we'll all die screaming. Dammit, Misato, next time just hit the kid! The next day, he wanders around some more until he comes across some of his handiwork... a destroyed highway, probably caused when he tripped over it or something. He complains loudly that he wants to go back to NERV, and...
...the people who had been following him immediately spring into action. It's pretty clear he knew they were there. Maybe he wanted them to punch him in the face?
Back at NERV HQ, Our Hero complains that he doesn't have any freedom, but he'll pilot Unit-01 anyway because everybody wants him to. Misato says "pshaa, whatever, it's your thang, do whatchawannado," and leaves him sitting in the dark. 'Bout time someone stood up to his whining.
Meanwhile, Gendo Plushyferret sits in his office and chuckles conspiritorially. It's all going according to plan, a plan "written 14 years ago." The next step is to get Our Hero closer to Teh (hot blue-haired) Rei. OVER MY DEAD B... did I say that out loud? I did?
1
I think I've figured out why I didn't get very far into the Eva remake movies: Shinji is still a complete blithering idiot, and I still can't stand him. I made it through the original series on pure stubborn determination to see how it all ends (yeah, more fool me, eh?) but going through all of that again, in high-def? Feh.
You're a brave and dedicated man, Mr. Duck.
Posted by: GreyDuck at September 05, 2013 07:33 AM (CUkqs)
The Evangelion Movies: 1.11 You Are (not) Alone, pt 3
A couple of weeks back, we discovered that the giant robot designed to save the world, Unit-01, didn't actually need Our Hero, Shinji, to be able to defeat the attacking bad things, The Angels. In fact, considering his performance up until that point, he probably just hindered matters. Oh, and we also met Pen-Pen, the rare Hot Springs Penguin who is also God. That last sentence isn't written very well, is it? What I meant to say is that Pen-Pen is a rare Hot Springs Penguin. Pen-Pen is also God. As opposed to being the very uncommon Hot Springs Penguin that is God, which makes it sound more like a reoccurring thing, or that with enough Hot Springs Penguins you could have two that are God. Wouldn't that be a hoot?
Uh... right, no, sorry, not a hoot. Before He gets all pissy, let's move onto the real story... Shinji gets beaten up again!
I do find it somewhat amusing that the writers of Eva seem to hate Our Hero as much as we do. Let's get him beaten up whenever possible, by whomever possible. I'm surprised Pen-Pen didn't take a swing at him. In this case, it's a classmate who's little sister was injured in the fight we saw last time. Presumably when Unit-01 bled on her or something.
Pow, right in the kisser. Shinji goes down like the sack of tomatoes he is, and his two new friends leave him there, bleeding into the dust. That's often how I realized I had made a new friend. I still remember when I first met Vaucaunson's Duck, how he ran me over with his bicycle, taking extra-special care to grind my young face into the brick street outside his house. Nowadays we look back at it and laugh, but even then it was a special moment in my life.
Yard Hopping
So Don is playing in Steven's yard, and for whatever reason that's driven Steven to play in my yard, so now it's time for me to play in Steven's yard, except it's not quite what he usually has in his yard, so it's more like I'm playing in the creepy shed in the corner of his yard. Or some other yard-based metaphor that hasn't come to mind yet, your choice. Anyway... behold!
Okay, they aren't red, but this is from Hatsukoi Limited, a series that aired in 2009, long before the current fad became a thing. These... these are practically ur-red-half-frame-glasses! Revel in this discovery, Steven, you seeker of special spectacles, for they may have been the harbinger of greater things!
Not that this isn't pretty great.
The Evangelion Movies: 1.11 You Are (not) Alone, pt 2
A little over a month ago, I released the first part of the writeup for the first of the new Evangelion movies.
For a while there, I wasn't altogether sure there'd be a second part...
this may come as a surprise to many of my readers, but these writeups
often aren't the most fun things in the world to work on! I'm sure
you're shocked by this revelation, but it's really honestly true! I
mean, let's face it... it's not like the series I do writeups for are
the best ever. Then you get nominally good shows, like this one, that
are sometimes unjustly lionized for their depth and subtle character
analysis, when in fact they're just giant robot shows. I exaggerate for
effect in the case of Evangelion,
but nobody who has seen the actual TV series can legitimately argue
that, at its core, Gainax was just throwing crap at a wall to make
pretty pictures. Sometimes it stuck, sometimes it didn't, sometimes it
hit walls in other rooms altogether. In some ways, the movies improved
on this technique so at least they're consistently hitting the wall.
That's a plus.
So if you remember correctly, at the end of the first writeup, Shinji
Ikari, Our Hero, had just agreed to pilot the giant Eva Unit 01 after
having Teh (hot, blue-haired) Rei literally dumped in his lap. Well, yeah. We pick up the action from that very point...
...or from the pr0n version of Tron,
one of the two. No, nothing phallic about the "Entry Plug" the pilot
rides in, or that there's a graphic for "Plug Depth Status." Nope... it
gets worse when you realize (in the show at least) that the Evas are
inhabited by the souls of the pilot's mothers. Here, let me just stick two large pins into my eyeballs now.
I'm also not going to say anything about how, once the Entry Plug has
reached maximum Depth Status and is fully seated, it begins to fill up
with a sticky liquid called LCL. I'm not going to say anything about it
because I'm not as perverted as I seem to be... I'm fond of not
plucking my eyes out of their sockets. Though if I did, I could stop
watching crappy anime and occasionally blogging about it for your
enjoyment.
Libbets and Bunnymen, I present to you Unit-01 in all of its purple and
green glory. Looks kinda like a walking bruise, actually. Well, standing bruise,
as it hasn't actually moved on its own yet. Like the Space Shuttle
being taken to the launch tower, Unit-01 is loaded onto a platform under
a tube that leads to the surface. The command is given, and vwoosh!
Up the tube it goes, propelled by the power of ELECTRICITY! HUZZAH!!!
This may not be the most subtle sallyport ever, seeing how the act of
opening is accompanied by blaring klaxons, flashing lights and a massive
rumbling sound as Unit-01 is propelled by the power of ELECTRICITY!
HUZZAH!!! to face the Alone Angel. Stealth is, apparently, not an issue. Which makes sense; we are talking about giant robots here... to them, stealth is hiding behind a skyscraper going "oh god, did he see me?"
We'll discover the answer to that question when you click...
Lilith, Angel #2, is being kept beneath Tokyo 3. The angels are drawn to her for some reason, possibly trying to rescue her. There doesn't seem to be any strategy involved; they just show up and attack, trying to get down to where she is. The final angel, the very last one, is much more intelligent than any of the previous ones, though, and he actually does get into the area where Lilith is stored.
8
Steven,
that's in the TV series. Things can be (and are!) substantially different in the movies. Just because this one follows the first six episodes fairly closely doesn't mean the rest do... and in fact, they don't.
Posted by: Wonderduck at July 14, 2013 09:21 PM (gmfFz)
9
When working on RahXephon, we were at one point confronted with the use of the word "sousha", meaning "the player of an instrument" (but with a different connotation than "musician", apparently). The word was going to turn up often and so we needed something short to pop in there, but having the main character called a "player" during all sorts of serious/ominous scenes tripped my Don't Make Them Laugh When It's Not Funny alarm.
After a few days of "hmmm", and with malice definitely aforethought, I suggested "instrumentalist". We went with it...
Posted by: AvatarADV at July 15, 2013 02:43 AM (GJQTS)
The Evangelion Movies: 1.11 You Are (not) Alone, pt 1
Before I get into the meat 'n' taters of this here writeup, I'm going to
cover a little bit of history for those readers who may be not be of an
age to understand what Neon Genesis Evangelion really meant to anime. To call it a game-changer would not be
overstating matters in the least. When the series came out in 1995, it
brought with it a number of things that have become commonplace in
anime... psychology, deeper themes, mind-blowing imagery, flawed
(sometimes deeply flawed) characters, on and on. When it was first
broadcast, it made fans of the show out of people who had never watched
anime before, or not since they were very young. What's happening right
now with the Game of Thrones
TV series, with people who'd never think of opening a sword-and-sorcery
novel hanging on every second of the new episodes, that's what happened
with NGE.
In short, it was very, very ambitious, and that's where the problems
began. It went so far afield from the norm that there was some
confusion over how to take the show. Then Gainax, the production house,
ran out of money and the final episodes were full of long, long still
shots, reused footage, and in the final two episodes, a distinct art
shift. In fact, it never really gave the viewers an ending... or at
least an ending people could understand. Despite this, NGE was
a ridiculously big hit... so big, in fact, that Gainax has made a
bulletproof cash cow out of the merchandise for the show. It also
spawned a multitude of movies presenting the "true" endings of the
series... none of which are to be the subject of these writeups.
Instead, what I'll be doing are the three newest films, collectively
called "The Rebuild of Evangelion." They are... similar... to the
original series in many ways, but very different in others. Which
doesn't matter a hill of beans to those who have seen the original
series. There is no doubt in my mind, and those of others, that it is
one of the few "must see" shows for a fan of anime. That doesn't mean
that the watcher will actually like the
show, but it will almost certainly create strong feelings in the
viewer. Some will be turned off by the dysfunctional emotional cripples
that make up the cast, some by the rather graphic violence, some by the
weird mindf*cks that occur, whether by plan or by happenstance. Me, I
liked the show, but I've no interest in rewatching it. Having said
that, I'm on record as saying that I think the movies are great improvements over the original series, and I'm actually looking forward to doing
these reviews! So enough of my blathering, let's get to it!
1
N2, actually, stood for "non-nuclear". Uh huh...
Posted by: AvatarADV at May 22, 2013 01:38 AM (GJQTS)
2
Hah! Improved greatly by the fact that this follows the ViviDred write-ups, with bonus points for the reference to that great Powerpuff Girls / Evangelion parody opening AMV.
I've not been able to bring myself to watch these movies yet; the original series I watched once solely because That's What You're Supposed To Do, and I haven't gone back since.
Posted by: GreyDuck at May 22, 2013 08:42 AM (3m7pZ)
3
Evangelion didn't do anything for character development that Space Battleship Yamato or Miyazaki or scores of other shows hadn't done first. If you were paying attention. Which apparently a lot of viewers weren't doing. (To be fair, a lot of the dubs and subs were really bad back then.)
Shrug. I found Evangelion really boring and unsubtle when it came out, frankly. I literally couldn't see what was so exciting. But obviously it was a gamechanger for some, because lots of unsubtle characterization and angst and flawed characters followed. (In retrospect, I think what really excited people is that it caught that don't-trust-the-narrative thing that made X-Files popular.)
Oh, well. It's worth watching, but it never was as important as people's (inexplicably strong) response to it was. (Also barely got through the first boring book of Game of Thrones, despite or because of being a big fan of long fantasy and of the Wars of the Roses. You couldn't pay me to watch the show.)
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 23, 2013 12:23 PM (cvXSV)
4
Sorry, went off on my own inexplicably ranty rant.
Maybe the upside-down city is a sign that Ikari went to Ohmori Academy with Utena's predecessors.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 23, 2013 07:01 PM (cvXSV)
5
Except Evangelion finished airing over a year before Utena began airing.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 23, 2013 10:54 PM (lpH3d)
6
But the show's events occurred twenty years after Utena finished airing in Japan. So presumably Ikari was a fan of the show.
Posted by: Mitch H. at May 24, 2013 06:49 AM (jwKxK)
I suppose the real artistic source for the upside-down cities and castles is Escher and such, or maybe just the persistent idea that you ought to be able to reach into the reflection of a castle that's in water below it.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at May 24, 2013 05:36 PM (cvXSV)