-Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu, ep04

It's no shock to readers of The Pond that I'm a big fan of the HidaSketch franchise, what with it being the King of the Ducks In Anime category and all.  But this revelation might come as a surprise:

I didn't like this episode. 

In fact, I'm not overly fond of the two new characters either, since they're taking away from the four girls we've come to know and love.  I suppose that given time I could like Nori, the computer user, but Nazuna is everything I detest in one stupidly-wrapped package.  Timid and an inferiority complex the size of the Grand Canyon... ugh.  I cringe when she's on-screen, and recently I've been cringing when she HASN'T been on screen, for fear that she'll appear soon.

There's still plenty of time for her to come around, but I'm not holding out all that much hope: volume 4 of the manga, which is where the series is right now, has her stay pretty much the same.

Ugh.

Still, Yuno has her ducks.

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-Shugo Chara Dokki Doki, ep14

Nope, I'm not watching the show, but the good folks at Chihiro happened to post a screenshot that showed duckies, so...

I'm pretty sure this particular entry now holds the record for most rubber duckies in a single screenshot.  The previous title holder was Kanokon ep08, with eight visible and 11 in-scene.

Yes, I'm a geek.

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Big news!  Yuno's got a new duckie!

-Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu, ep02
This makes three different duckies we've seen accompany her into the bath.  I think we can actually begin to count her amongst the ranks of the collectors!  And here's the thing: it's a new style of duckie, to boot:

Her previous duckies have a much larger open bill, painted eyes and more detail to the tailfeathers, like so:

-Hidamari Sketch x 365, ep05
...so it's pretty clear that she's gotten a new one.  Or the animators drew it wrong.  But I'm going with the first guess, because it fits my reality better!

And here's the neat part.  If she DID get a new duckie, the other two are somewhere in her apartment, because Yuno's not the type who could throw away a duckie.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:19 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 I just have to wonder how many otaku in the world geek out over rubber duck appearances in anime.  That's awesome.

...and much less creepy than drooling over the sideboob.  Which, y'know, some more conventional otaku would.  Not me though. 

_{Yeah, me.}

Posted by: Ed Hering at January 18, 2010 12:02 PM (i9Ka0)

2 Haha, wow! Nice find on those duckies! =D

(and the sideboob was also awesome, like the previous comment mentioned)

Posted by: Jesus159159159 at January 18, 2010 12:33 PM (NPbwo)

3 Yuno definitely looks bustier in this picture than in previous ones, but she also looks taller.  Did she have a growth spurt?  (Is she young enough to still be having growth spurts? ISTR she's a high school junior, but I could well be wrong on that.

Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at January 18, 2010 06:55 PM (c62wM)

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I've been way too long without my fix of Yuno, Sae, Hiro and Miyako.  And Yuno's ducks.

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-To Heart, ep01

It was on screen for just a few seconds, but my eyes went directly to the lower-left corner...

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-To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, ep10

It's not just a widget!  We still don't know what it is, but it's not just a widget!

My lust for this app is increasing exponentially...

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I can't believe it, but it's true!  The Ducks In Anime show of shows, Hidamari Sketch, has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 and will be available here January 10th, 2010.  Many times I've said that there was no chance in the world that the series would get picked up, what with the state of the industry being what it is and all.  I'm deliriously happy to be wrong, though.

In celebration, it's time for a double-shot of Ducks In Anime!

-Hidamari Sketch x365, Broadcast Special 02

We had what was, in HidaSketch terms, an action sequence for the duckie when it actually turned a full 360 in response to Yuno's moving her arms in the tub... and had the screen entirely to itself in the process!  I swear, SHAFT must be catering to the duck lovers of the world.

The next pic is behind the NSFW tag, not because it is, but because some workplace somewhere would probably look askance at it:



-Hidamari Sketch x365, Broadcast Special 02

I don't think I've been this happy to hear about a license being picked up since Funimation took over Kanon 2006 from the corpse of ADV, when the latter went down before releasing the final DVD of the series!

It only makes sense that Sentai would grab HidaSketch, though... in my mind, it's absolutely an ADV kind-of show.

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-A Certain Scientific Railgun, ep03

I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the rubber duckie icon is on this workspace, but I want one anyway.  We do see in ep04 that it moves, so it's not part of the wallpaper... maybe some widget.  Don't care, want one.

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-Hidamari Sketch x365, Broadcast Special 01

This hasn't been a good day at all.  Ph.Duck and I had to begin trying to decide what our plans for the Holidays are going to be, and without Momzerduck around, it's going to be a very, very bad time.

When I got home, though, I found a new episode of HSx365 waiting on the torrent site, and I knew that, whatever else, there'd be 24 minutes where I'd be able to not think about the bad stuff, and that there'd likely also be a Duck In Anime entry tonight.

And lo, there is.  Good ol' Yuno... I can always count on her to put a smile on my face, even if for a short time.

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-Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, ep01

Sure, it's a white duckie, but it's still a duckie!  The Librarian and I began Higurashi (aka When They Cry) tonight... seemed appropriate, considering Halloween is just a couple of weeks away.  We made it through the first story arc, "Spirited away by the demon", and there's no doubt we'll push onwards... if we don't get sidetracked by Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog next week.

Creepy show.  Higurashi that is, not Dr Horrible.

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-Hidamari Sketch x365, DVD extra

When I saw that there was a new HSx365 episode available, I was positive I'd be doing a Ducks In Anime post tonight.  Sure enough, Yuno came through for me once again!

No doubt about it, HidaSketch takes the Lifetime Achievement Award for the promotion of rubber duckies in modern society.  I'm pretty sure there was at least one rubber duckie sighting in every episode.

Oh, the show?  Yeah, the show is awfully good too.  Practically no chance it'll be licensed in the current state of anime, but I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

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-Haruhi Suzumiya S2, ep02

As an aside, I picked up the light novel of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" last week... it's quite a fun read, to be honest.  The appropriate episdoses in the anime follows it quite closely, to the point where I thought about watching scenes from it while I read.

It wasn't expensive, either, only $7.98 at Bob's place.  Well worth it to encourage Yen Press to release the other books in the series.  If you liked the anime, pick up the book.  It's a light read, a good way to kill a few hours during the summer.

Tell 'em Wonderduck sent ya!  Or not! 

Posted by: Wonderduck at 11:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A special twoferone on ducks in anime!


-Petit Eva/Evangelion @ School

To be honest, this is a seriously weird collection of stuff... Hideki Anno must be proud.

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-from What's New With Phil & Dixie, in The Dragon magazine, June 1983

The source of my duckie obsession becomes crystal clear.  I had a subscription to The Dragon back then, and whenever it arrived I immediately turned to the back cover to see what Leadsmith Leeper was up to at Martian Metals this month (they usually printed their ad upside down).

After that, however, I'd turn to the last page to read the newest installment of "What's New With Phil & Dixie".  It never was the month for Sex and D&D, nor were there ever any Naked Elf Women, but we could always hope.  Now, thanks to the miracle of the Intarwebs, you can relive those days of wonderment by rereading many of the strips at Airship Entertainment.

Tell 'em Wonderduck sent you.  They'll have no idea who you're talking about or why, but it'd be worth it anyway.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 07:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 There eventually was a "Sex and D&D" cartoon, which he did for the eventual collection.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 11, 2009 08:20 PM (+rSRq)

2 Those sneaky rubber ducks. Popping up everywhere

Posted by: Digicolleen at June 13, 2009 01:21 PM (G2gtL)

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-Hatsukoi Limited ep04

That's a nice duckie.  Have you ever noticed that bath water in anime is often green?  I'd be scared to get near a tub filled with green water, let alone put a duckie into it...

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-K-On! ep07

It's a duck-in-a-box!

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I'm going to the Old Home Pond for lunch with Momzerduck, so F1 Update might be delayed.  Because nothing's more important than your mother.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

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- K-On!, ep04

I'm of two minds of this show.  One part of me likes it quite a bit... it's fluffy entertainment that requires no effort whatsoever from the watcher.  The other part, however, is just annoyed by it all.  In a way, it reminds me of the other show Kyoto Animation made in this style, Lucky Star.  The problem is that after the first three episodes, LS took off like a SR-71 kicking in the afterburners and became something special.  K-On! is showing no signs of doing so after four.

Sure, if you like slice-of-life shows, it's worth watching, but it just feels like there could be so much more here.  I'll keep up with it, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for "magic time".

Posted by: Wonderduck at 10:46 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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...so here's one from my wayback file!

-Negima?! Summer OVA

This one has been sitting around unused since sometime in 2007.  Nice duckie, eh?

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-Wallace & Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death

There's nothing better than a Wallace & Gromit adventure, but it takes so long to create one (almost a day per second of film), that they come out only rarely.  Imagine my surprise to discover that A Matter of Loaf and Death, a half-hour show, aired this past Christmas day on the BBC... and drew higher ratings than the Queen's annual address!  14.4 million people were watching, with 53.3% of all households in the UK tuning in (the highest rated Super Bowl, in 1982, was watched by 49.1% of all US households).

And I can understand why... it was very funny, a fine successor to all the other shorts and films Aardman Animation has done. 

Of course, there are ducks.

Posted by: Wonderduck at 09:33 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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