Ducks In Anime: We Must Repeat
Not all that long ago, I said that I hadn't watched a single episode of Nisemonogatari. That has now changed, and I've watched up to Ep04. And found a better image of the duckie!
SHAFT draws the best duckies. Hands down.
Much like Bakemonogatari, this show's predecessor, there's an awful lot of talking going on and not much of it makes a whole heckuvalotta sense. Stylistically, it's the show of the year. Content-wise? Maybe not so good. Still, it's got a duckie... that's gotta count for something.
Posted by: Siergen at March 27, 2012 05:23 PM (3/gGt)
3
Idolm@ster had a live duck, but I don't remember if it was moving (I mean, animated and not just being dragged across the frame). The one in Bincho-tan was animated.
Posted by: Pete at March 27, 2012 06:47 PM (5OBKC)
4
Do ClayMation ducks count? There was one in "Shaun The Sheep: Back in the Baaath." Which is a lot of silly Aardman Animation fun.
Posted by: Mauser at March 29, 2012 05:04 AM (cZPoz)
5
Yeah. NisioioisiN, or however he spells it, well, it's all about style, and no substance, like a Pontiac Fiero, or Solstice. Remember Pontiac? They once had a racing heritage.
Posted by: skyhack at March 30, 2012 11:36 PM (3ESSA)
Ducks In Anime: Wamphyri
-Nisemonogatari Ep04
I haven't watched one episode of this show yet. I just jumped into the middle of Episode 04, realized the scene I was watching was taking place in a bathroom, and waited. I knew SHAFT, being SHAFT, couldn't resist adding a duck into the scene.
Since Brickmuppet complained about it, I've put this picture behind the NSFW tag.
For a second, I thought that they had slipped Yuno's duckie into the show... both HidaSketch and this one are by SHAFT, after all... but no, it's a different duck altogether. Pity they missed that opportunity, I think.
Ducks In Anime: Yarrrrrrr! -Bodacious Space Pirates, Ep01
I'm... not sure about this show. On the one hand, everything seems to be perfect. The characters are believable, or at least they're as believable as a show like this ever gets, the artwork is quite appealing, the animation is acceptable, there seems to be plenty of room for both humor and drama, and there's a bodacious space pirate rubber duckie. Oh, and "Bodacious Space Pirates" would be a great name for a band. Like I said, perfect.
Bodacious Space Pirate Waitress
On the other hand, everything seems to be perfect, and that scares me. This could go so very very wrong... which would actually be pretty fun. I find that I'm quite looking forward to Ep02.
1
Anything that can pull you out of Skyrim (which has no ducks) must be worth a try...
Posted by: Siergen at January 14, 2012 11:49 AM (vA1YL)
2
Somehow I knew you'd be checking this out once I saw the duck...
(Two episodes in, here, and so far it hasn't really missed a beat. Which worries me. It can't go that well. Can it?)
Posted by: GreyDuck at January 19, 2012 09:10 PM (eHm8o)
3
I'm sure something will go wrong eventually; no show is perfect. Maybe they'll show Ms Bodacious Space Pirate with organized and coiffed hair or something.
Posted by: Wonderduck at January 19, 2012 09:12 PM (f/6aJ)
Canards dans l'animation: Je ne parle pas francais -Wakfu, S02E14
Now that, my friends, is one smug looking duckie. As one would expect from a floating convenient censorship device. Not that he doesn't have reason to be smug...
...after all, rubber duckies get to hang out in bathtubs with teh hawt chix0rs.
Yes, he has a reason to be smug.
Interesting show, this Wakfu. Or, more correctly, interestingly animated show. From what wikipedia says, it's all Flash-based, yet it's much better than any Flash cartoon coming out of the US. To be honest, if I didn't know better I'd say it's animated the same way as any anime, just with a more cartoony look. A look that fits the tone of the series, I might add... though since I've only seen the one episode, I'm hardly an expert on the thing. A fun way to spend 20 minutes, though.
1
You're very Welcome. Personally I love the show.
I first ran into one of the artists on DeviantArt, who had done the character designs for a game called Dofus, then the MMORPG Wakfu that followed. Beautiful stuff. French artists have a rather distinctive style.
Then I found out there was a cartoon based on it. I know it's CGI, but I'm not sure if it's flash based. Probably something more advanced.
The first season is highly recommended. The Big Bad has one of the most unusual and unique motivations I've ever seen. And there's some serious badassery in the fight scenes, as well as humor.
The only downside is that each season (of 24 eps) is marred sometime in the middle with a three-episode Arc about some kind of Soccer/Rugby/Calvinball sport in the world.
But all in all, it's brilliantly and cleverly written, and the TL that I have on hand does a pretty good job in dealing with the numerous French puns. And there are some very sexy secondary characters too. Although this was the first time I saw a Duck.
(Also, if it helps, a Kama is the name of the gold coin that is the currency of the world. And Ruel is from a "race" known for ruthless pursuit of wealth. (But it isn't an ethnic stereotype.) And Triestepan is from a race known for brave and heroic warriors who are also incredibly dense.).
Posted by: Mauser at November 17, 2011 03:30 AM (cZPoz)
2
I couldn't remember that scene from Wakfu, and I would have - hey, new episodes! It's been a while.
Have you been watching it or did you just pick up that episode? The first season of Wakfu started slow but (as Mauser notes) ended up awesome.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 17, 2011 10:28 PM (PiXy!)
3
Oh, and if you haven't been following Wakfu, be glad that you didn't come in on the teh hawt chix0rs a couple of episodes ago. Be very very glad.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 17, 2011 10:30 PM (PiXy!)
4
(Reads to the end of the post, answers own question....)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 17, 2011 11:54 PM (PiXy!)
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 18, 2011 02:31 AM (2YMZG)
6
Hmm. I thought I'd been reading your blog for several years, but since I don't recall either of your posts about Duck Duck Go, maybe I was still only a sporadic reader (just following links to occasional posts).
Glad to hear that you both own and enjoy it! Would you be interested in one of the sequel games? There are a couple already available.
Posted by: Hypozeuxis at November 18, 2011 10:09 AM (KvnlP)
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You know, it suddenly occurred to me that he might be an African duck. More particularly, the Ubangi tribe - the ones who put the plates in their lower lips, er, bills.
Posted by: Mauser at November 19, 2011 01:51 AM (cZPoz)
8
Hypozeuxis' comment that I referred to has been removed because one of the links included gave my computer a virus. It's reproduced below with the links removed:
Only sort of related, but today I ran into a board game that uses
duckies, and in fact has commissioned a lot of custom designs and allows
you to choose the ones in your set:
(refers to Duck Duck Go) Even though it is themed as a kid's game, it has been well received
among serious board gaming groups - as an example, here's a review from
Board Game Geek (which is THE site for board-game related information). (linked to review)
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 19, 2011 10:28 AM (2YMZG)
9
His link about a duck-based board game gave you a virus? You mean you've been infected with...the bird flu?
Posted by: Siergen at November 19, 2011 03:40 PM (xZ196)
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 19, 2011 10:39 PM (2YMZG)
11
I'm really sorry about the bad link... I got the URLs directly from
Google, and talked with the website owners (real nice people) at the
board game convention I was at last week.
I suspect their sysadmin-fu is significantly weaker than their
boardgame-fu (which is mighty) and bad guys deposited crepe on their
site.
Posted by: Hypozeuxis at November 21, 2011 11:22 PM (5eWak)
12
Oh, BTW, did you notice the other duck-thing at 4:45? (I know the Sadida Songstress before that was a little distracting.)
Posted by: Mauser at November 27, 2011 05:24 AM (cZPoz)
13
Coin, coin! (That's "quack, quack" en francais). Hee
Posted by: Colleen at November 28, 2011 11:01 PM (yjcgx)
I'm a firm believer in the magic of rubber duckies. Really, there's nothing a rubber duckie can't improve. I'm glad the folks at SHAFT agree with me, at least as far as HidaSketch goes.
1
I was about to challenge your assertion that "there's nothing a rubber duckie can't improve". However, an unfortunately successfully Google search proved me uncomfortably wrong...
Posted by: Siergen at November 12, 2011 10:20 PM (sOpcO)
2
I'm going to assume that's a Rub My Duckie you've linked to.
*checks*
Yup. NOTHING a rubber duckie can't improve.
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 12, 2011 11:50 PM (2YMZG)
Ducks In Anime: Yuno What It Is -Hidamari Sketch x SP Ep01
It's been a long time since we last got to hang with the gang from the Hidamari Apartments. The arrival of the first of two Specials for the third series has fixed that, however, and with a vengeance!
L to R: Nori, Nazuna, Yuno, Miyako, Hiro, Sae
The first half, where the six girls visit an art museum, is pretty much a perfect HidaSketch episode. There's humor, kindness, fun... just a group of six different personalities doing things together. If this doesn't sound like a great way to spend fifteen minutes, then the HidaSketch franchise is not for you. Those of you who are fans of the show are probably scrambling for the torrent sites right now. The second half, where the girls (minus Hiro and Sae, who are studying for college exams) visit an indoor swimming pool, isn't quite as heartwarming. Point in fact, there's a lot of fanservice.
Yes, that's tame. But in comparison to the rest of HidaSketch, it's flat-out scandalous. Again, I'm not complaining, just stating a fact. Of course, I'm also the duck who stitched that picture together, so who am I to judge? FWIW, I've realized that Nori is far and away my favorite of the girls now... and no, it's not because she looks good in a swimsuit, I came to that decision a while ago. Now if only she had a thing for rubber ducks...
Not that there's anything wrong with that... quite the contrary! It just felt a little... wrong for HidaSketch. As a visual exercise though, it was plenty good. The Special ends with the sleepover from Vol 5 of the manga, where Yuno falls asleep as soon as it starts. It's a little rushed, but still fun.
Then of course, there's Yuno's duckie. How I've missed seeing it every week! Well, there's still one more Special to go, and then the fourth season with air (date still TBA, last I checked). Plenty of duckie still to come, and I for one wouldn't have it any other way.
1
So they've banned the duck?
He is an eX duck?
Yuno has impaled him with her hair thingies?
Posted by: brickmuppet at November 06, 2011 10:26 PM (EJaOX)
2
Well, see, Yuno made a sculpture out of bath products, then decided that it needed something more. So she added duckie, then decided that it needed her "signature." So she added the hair thingies. If you look carefully, they're resting on the cup as opposed to being stuck into the duck.
Posted by: Wonderduck at November 06, 2011 10:36 PM (o45Mg)
3
If you say so. Personally, it looks to me like someone was trying to crucify it between a pair of St. Andrew's crosses...
Posted by: Siergen at November 07, 2011 08:04 PM (sOpcO)
4
I was thinking rubber-band-powered paddlewheels.
Posted by: Mikeski at November 08, 2011 03:50 PM (GbSQF)
A Dark Duck In Anime Has Seven Lives -Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi ep12
To be honest, after having watched ep12 of ITnKU (or "A Dark Rabbit Has Seven Lives"), I have no idea what the show's title means. What I do know is that a) almost everybody in the show can use magic, 2) almost everybody in the show has the hots for the protagonist, and III) the female lead has hair that's longer than she is tall. And of course, the final episode of the season takes place as a bath house.
The duck on the left wears a bow tie. Bow ties are cool.
To say that this show isn't my cup of hairmeat tea would be an understatement. The only worthwhile thing about the last episode were the ducks. To be fair to the show, the ducks are great. They're obviously cousins of Yuno's Duck from HidaSketch, and made an obvious throwaway episode worth watching. Even if it was with the volume down (half the cast has voices that sound like fingernails on a blackboard) and the subtitles off (I'm dumb enough already to have to have braincells killed by the script).
I gather the show is based on a successful series of light novels. Hopefully they're better than the one episode of the anime I just watched. But hey, ducks!
ITnKU (or "A Dark Rabbit Has
Seven Lives"), I have no idea what the show's title means.
I think it means that the rabbit (which is dark) has 7 lives.
Posted by: brickmuppet at October 16, 2011 02:12 AM (EJaOX)
2
But do you have any pictures of a rubber duck wearing a Fez? Because "Fezzes are cool" too!
Posted by: Siergen at October 16, 2011 07:48 PM (sE+wA)
3
Thanks for the lovely site, a great place to get my duck fix. I have a tip for you: there are some non-toy ducks in episode 15 of Mawaru Penguindrum, about halfway through. (If you haven't watched the series up to this point you won't have a clue what's going on, but just focus on the cute!)
Posted by: foozlesprite at October 22, 2011 08:29 AM (WL69J)
Sugar. Spice. And Everything Nice. These Were The Ingreedients Chosen To Create The Perfect Ducks In Anime.
-Powerpuff Girls Z, Ep21
The original Powerpuff Girls was an intelligent, engaging, entertaining and funny romp of a show, one that never failed to make me laugh at its aimed-at-adults humor. The Japanese, seeing it as homage to Super-Sentai style anime, thought it would be a good idea to remake it in their own unique way. Thus was born Powerpuff Girls Z. It was a magical girl show, with three normal little girls becoming "Hyper Blossom," "Rolling Bubbles" and "Powered Buttercup." It was also turned into a kids show. In short, it was everything the original was not... in particular, it was not funny or clever in the least. But it did have a rubber duck in one episode. In fact, the rubber duck was even the main "villain" of Ep21 "Quack Quack Attack". Given life by the "black light" that created monsters, the duck eventually grew to enormous size.
The duckie wound up accidentally terrorizing the city of Townsville as it tried to find its owner, which it loved very much. All it wanted to do is be reunited with the little boy that dropped it one day. Eventually it was, it returned to normal duckie size, and all was right with the world. The End.
But hey: rubber duckie. That's the only worthwhile thing to come out of PPGZ, right there.
1
I only made it through the first episode. Having seen what they did to Mojo Jojo, that was enough.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at September 14, 2011 11:12 PM (+rSRq)
2
I only lasted three episodes, Steven. I guess I had more tolerance for crap shows back then. No, a wikiwander put me on the episode list page, saw the synopsis for Ep21, and immediately d/l'd it.
It did nothing to change my opinion of the show in general.
Posted by: Wonderduck at September 15, 2011 06:08 AM (o45Mg)
3
I find it oddly comforting to know that the Japanese can screw up a good American idea (almost) as much as Hollywood can screw up good anime.
Posted by: Karl at September 15, 2011 11:53 AM (USMrf)
4
Wasn't it PPG that had an episode where every line was a lyric from a Beatles tune?
I remember watching PPG long ago, and loving how they managed to destroy their city in the process of saving it from the bad guys... and how grateful the city mayor was when they did it.
Posted by: dkallen99 at September 20, 2011 10:22 AM (2lHZP)
Ducks In Anime: Don't Call It A Comeback
The bad thing about hunting for rubber ducks in anime is that you can go for months without ever seeing one. Even shows where a rubber duckie would make the most sense, like one taking place in an onsen, will inexplicably skip the duckie... and yes Hanasaku Iroha, I'm very disappointed in you.
And then from out of nowhere, in a show you'd never expect to include anything as light-hearted as a duckie, you get rewarded.
-Blood-C, ep08
I mildly enjoyed the first few episodes of Blood-C, but not really enough to keep up with it. I wasn't a fan of the first two installments (Blood: The Last Vampire, Blood+) and the addition of CLAMP to the team for C did nothing to keep me enthralled. I found myself wondering just exactly why Saya would do her hair like that, which is probably not what the creators intended. Then came the censoring of the fight scenes in later episodes, and I just gave up. But something told me to download this episode today... maybe it was a mystical link I have with duckies, maybe it was fate, maybe it was Doki's preview picture, I don't know. But there, in the middle of an dark, dark anime about a schoolgirl with a sword killing the bad things that go chomp in the night (and in the day, for that matter)... is a duck.
A nice duckie, too. Good sized, big eyes, floats well, an all-around attractive duckie.
1
Do you float-test every duck in your collection? Are there any that don't float at all?
Posted by: Siergen at September 05, 2011 10:28 AM (HfzDP)
2
No, and yes, many. In fact, I'd say the majority of the flock don't float well, led by Rusty II, the cast-iron duck that weighs about two pounds.
Posted by: Wonderduck at September 05, 2011 11:12 AM (o45Mg)
3
Well, if ever get stumped for a blog topic (after you fully recover from your recent travails), perhaps you could do a full float test of your entire flock (with photos, of course). does Duck U have an engineering department? If so, they could help design tests for buoyancy, stability, etc...
Posted by: Siergen at September 05, 2011 08:59 PM (HfzDP)
Ducks In Anime: It's Been Too Long
It's been a while since there was a true Ducks In Anime sighting. The brief view of a duck in Rio Rainbow Gate! doesn't really count, and before that the last one was in an eyecatch for (urgh) KissXsis. You have to go back to the first episode of Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka, in early January, for the last real D.I.A. Sometimes we'll go through this kind of lull where there is nary a rubber duckie to be found, even though there are plenty of scenes where one would be appropriate (yes, Hanasaku Iroha ep04, I'm looking at you...). But then the darkness will turn to light, and lo a duckie will appear to great rejoicing. Like this one:
-Hoshizora e Kakaru Hashi, ep02
It's not even from a series I'm watching (get with the program, Hanasaku Iroha!); it took a pointer from Big Papa Pixy himself to bring it to my attention. But oh, it was worth it...
RRG! Loves Me
I knew it would happen. I could simply feel that it was going to happen. I knew it was only a matter of time. Lord knows I deserve it for watching this show. And the Production Staff rewarded me for my devotion and forbearance. -Rio Rainbow Gate, ep11
Oh heck yes.
This episode falls into the "Epically STUPID!" category, so it might take longer than normal to create the writeup. But there was a duck, so it's a fair trade.
No, I didn't actually watch the show. I was over at Doki Fansubs, one of the really good groups out there, and saw the above. So of course I downloaded the three episode torrent to figure out which one it came from, and voila! A lucky Ducks In Anime post!
I've though several times about commenting on this, but the things I wanted to say were all off-color so I resisted the urge.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 31, 2011 01:22 AM (+rSRq)
2
I was sitting in on a "name that theme song" panel at a local anime con this weekend, and somebody owned up to knowing the theme song to KissXSis in front of a room full of strangers. Admittedly, a room full of strangers in garb and anime costumes, but still... Actually, I think it might have been the same person who successfully guessed the Sister Princess theme about five minutes earlier.
Posted by: Mitch H. at January 31, 2011 02:31 PM (jwKxK)
Ducks In Anime: My Necromancer Can't Be This Cute -Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka, ep01
Okay, let's see if I've gotten this straight... our hero is dead, murdered by a serial killer. He was brought back from the dead by a loli necromancer (necrololi? Lolimancer?), as seen above. The two of them are joined by a magical-girl-in-training who uses not a wand but a magical chainsaw... a pink magical chainsaw. She loses her powers after fighting a giant bear in a school uniform. Later, the magicless girl and the zombie schoolboy face off against a giant crayfish... and the zombie winds up having to crossdress in her magical girl outfit to defeat it. Do I have that right?
I do? I'll admit that I was greatly amused... finally, a show I might actually watch this season.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 12, 2011 01:06 AM (+rSRq)
4
Gotta go with "Lolimancer". "Necrololi" just sounds like a dead loli.
Posted by: Ben at January 12, 2011 01:22 PM (gze3w)
5
Well, technically, a lolimancer would be someone who uses lolis for divination ("I see... 10 will get you 20"), but I'd guess that relatively few people think about divination when they see somethingmancy these days.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 12, 2011 08:25 PM (fpXGN)
Or who creates lolis. A Necromancer creates zombies, right? So a Lolimancer would create lolis.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at January 12, 2011 10:38 PM (+rSRq)
7
Well, that would certainly explain Funky Cat Maybe.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at January 12, 2011 11:11 PM (2XtN5)
8
I tried to send a PM, but some just got some error, thought you might be interested in this duckie... http://www.fredflare.com/customer/product.php?productid=6716&cat=254
Posted by: Kayle at January 13, 2011 11:02 AM (gpi2V)
Well, technically, a lolimancer would be someone who uses lolis
for divination ("I see... 10 will get you 20"), but I'd guess that
relatively few people think about divination when they see somethingmancy these days.
Yeah but these damn millennials and their diceless roleplaying.....they got NO idea how magic really works.
Posted by: Brickmuppet at January 13, 2011 11:17 AM (EJaOX)
Nuppiyo Returns To Ducks In Anime! -Fortune Arterial, ep05 Of course, it isn't really Nuppiyo at all... just a human in a costume. Okay, a vampire in a costume. A vampire with balance issues in a Nuppiyo costume. At the end of a three-legged race. But, hey! Nuppiyo!
Ducks In Anime Can Be Found In The Strangest Places
The world has changed. Tokyo, and by extension all of Japan, has suffered a major ecological disaster. Much of the city is underwater, and anything not submerged has been seriously damaged. Floating above this flooded city a small ship, maybe the size of a fishing vessel or tugboat, is slowly making it's way from one location to another. A young woman, wondering if she could see through the floodwaters and see sunken houses below, leans over the side of the vessel. As she strains for a better view, something unexpected begins to float by. -Witchblade, ep01
Noticing that one of the rubber duckies has gotten separated from the rest of the duckie family, she leans over to guide it in the right direction... by splashing the water nearby. As the small ship heads to its destination, we see it shrink away into the distance. The rubber duckie family, again complete, travels onward. Where the duckies are headed or where they came from, we never discover, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that, even in this ruined city, rubber duckies exist and thrive. There is hope for the world.
To be honest, the story of the rubber duckies would probably have been better than that of the Witchblade anime, a hideously violent and pointless show. Not entirely its fault; it's not like the source material (which has no rubber duckies) was particularly good to begin with.
(hat-tip to gerberette for pointing me in the direction of the duckies!)
1
I haven't seen it, but apparently Witchblade is one of those very mixed shows - some bits of it hideously violent and pointless, and others just about a mother and her daughter.
Those three pictures make me want to see it more than all the usual promotional material ever did.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at November 09, 2010 09:24 AM (PiXy!)
I regret that I will not be able to tell you if the tale of the duckies continues throughout the series as I find the show unwatchable and I have no intention of seeing anymore episodes. I could sit thru pointless violence if I felt any compassion or care for the characters, but I don't.
But those duckies are adorable!
Posted by: Gerberette at November 09, 2010 09:56 PM (FfGmL)
3
I suppose it's a YMMV situation, but I have to offer *some* praise for the Witchblade anime. I like to think of it as a cheesecake-and-violence wrapper around a family-moe core. It combines my fondness for hard-punching heroines and my appreciation for bittersweet family-formation drama.
And hey, the early minor villains are overzealous family protective service bureaucrats, which is always a plus. Even if Mahane *is* kind of a dubious mother figure...
Posted by: Mitch H. at November 11, 2010 10:46 AM (jwKxK)
Yuno's Duckie: An Appreciation Some three years ago, the series Hidamari Sketch debuted on Japanese satellite station BS-i. The show followed the lives of four students, Yuno, Miyako, Sae and Hiro, all of whom are attending Yamabuki Art High School. As a prototypical "slice-of-life" show, there's not much in the way of plot other than that of going through life with your friends. In the third series, Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu, two new characters, Nazuna and Nori, joined the cast and quickly became part of the family.
Ever since the first episode there has been another member of the group. Yuno's rubber duckie has appeared in all but two or three episodes in the series' 44-episode run. HidaDuck has no lines, and doesn't quack even once, but a careful watcher of the show will realize just how important it is to the main character, Yuno. When she moves into the Hidamari Apartments, the first thing that she unpacks is HidaDuck. At one point, she's locked out of her apartment for five days. When she finally gets back in, she immediately apologizes to HidaDuck for leaving it alone in the dark for so long. I've said in the past that Yuno is "one of us," a collector who truly understands the joy of ducks.
But why is HidaDuck so special? To be sure, it's a cute rubber duckie, but no cuter than quite a few of the members of my Flock. It's particularly well-detailed, with distinct feathers on the wingtips and tail, but that's actually becoming more and more the norm amongst full-sized duckies these days. That it floats, and floats well, is a nice feature but again, not one that's particularly different (though sadly, quite a few rubber duckies these days float poorly or not at all). There are some aspects of HidaDuck that are uncommon, however. The eyes are quite large, bigger than those of most of the ducks in my collection. The opened bill isn't as common as one might think, particularly when you realize that the two halves are long and unsupported (almost all of my duckies with an open bill have much shorter halves at a shallower angle, and a "tongue" in-between). That's a good look for a duckie.
But all of that is nothing more than an attempt to quantify something unquantifiable, namely the appeal of Yuno's Duckie. Perhaps it's the fact that SHAFT has put so much care into making it consistent from episode to episode (though there was one time that they failed miserably). It seems pretty clear to me that they must be drawing from a real, physical, rubber duckie as a model. Maybe it's that Yuno obviously gets a lot of enjoyment from HidaDuck; she certainly talks to it as if it's listening, after all. Maybe it's because it's far and away the most visible rubber duckie in anime, and perhaps on all of television, Ernie's not withstanding. Or perhaps it's just that HidaDuck is a cute duckie. Really, what more reason does one need? A cute duckie is enough on it's own. I'll admit that I tried to e-mail SHAFT to inquire about the availability of a HidaDuck, but I can't find an address on their webpage to do so. I refuse to give up, though.
1
....Terrible post. Actually I can't identify any inate terribleness per se, but as a matter of policy I must disagree with comment spammers.
Now that the formalities are past I actually have a minor quibble on one point. If the cute duckie is a yandere duckie then the cuteness itself is insufficient.
Also:
note that this duck was modified for a science project. The actual production rubber duck has no sensor.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at November 05, 2010 11:29 AM (EJaOX)
2
So what makes the hidaduck is its inherent "duckiness" (as opposed to "duckness" - cf. http://dialecticonline.wordpress.com/autumnwinter-issue-no-1/what-makes-a-duck-metaphysical-realism-and-nominalism/ ). The exaggerated eyes and mouth of the hidaduck make it close to a Platonic ideal of duckiness - making the other members of the flock shadows on the cave wall.
Or, like you said, perhaps it's just that Hidaduck is a cute duckie.
Posted by: Vaucanson's Duck at November 05, 2010 11:30 AM (XVJDy)
Ducks In Anime: A Good Day
Despite having a four-day weekend, here at Pond Central it's been something of a meh. I'm dealing with a bad coldflucoughthing that just won't go completely away, and have been tired all the bloody time. Other things are going on as well, leading to just one big "meh" of a weekend.
Until today. Today began with an epic Formula 1 race, segued into an exciting (if exasperating) Bears game, and then... -Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu Special #1
Any day with a new HidaSketch is a good day, particularly when it's a story that isn't in the four manga volumes that have been released here! Or, at least the main story hasn't. The secondary story is the Natsune flashback from the end of Volume 4, the one that Ume Aoki couldn't do in 4koma style.
And of course, there's the duckie. It wouldn't be an episode of HidaSketch without the duckie. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I WANT THIS DUCKIE.
Ducks In Anime Has Returned!
For the first time since March 31st, 2010, we have a Ducks In Anime sighting! -Amagami SS, ep06 I knew I liked Kaoru better than Morishima...
A closer look at the duckie reveals something important... ...I HAVE THIS DUCK! To be sure, it's not an exact match, but the biggest difference can be put down to the anime style of drawing eyes... even the duckies have big ones! For the first time, I can honestly say that I possess a Duck in Anime! It came from Wal-Mart, if you're wondering. Part of a matching set of four, each in a different color (blue, pink and green), only a dollar each. They're from Infantino.