Random Anime Picture #26: THERE'S Something You Don't See Everyday... -Ikkitousen Great Guardians, ep02
Ryoumou, laughing? I don't think that ever happened in the first two series! Even her biggest fans (like yours truly) would say that she was always something of a Gloomy Gus before this...
Okay, yes, Hakufu just did something dumb (again), but still! This is a major breakthrough in Mou-chan's characterization!
Wait... did I just imply that Ikkitousen has character development? The world is surely coming to an end...
Random Anime Picture #23: World Destruction! -World Destruction, ep01
Okay, so lets look at this. We've got a show where the main character is a hawt swordsbabe with the apparent ability to literally destroy the world, and she's not afraid to threaten to use it. The powers that be are trying to stop her, hijinks occur.
All right, not a bad setup, why wouldn't anybody enjoy that?
1
Dude, "otherkin" is a big honking warning sign in five-thousand-point-type, in flashing neon orange and blue: not just furry, but fanatical delusional lunatic furry. "Otherkin" is full-on fur-suit facial-tattoo nutbar-talk.
OK, unless we're talking about the people who think they're elves. I knew a guy who used to say this sort of thing. He insisted we call him "the Elf" instead of his given name. He got banned from Penn State's University Park campus for stalking the football front office people. He supposedly once held a roommate by one foot off of an apartment balcony. There was a story going around that he once held some girls hostage at gun-point. This guy used to visit my <i>apartment</i>.
Otherkin is seriously bad news.
Posted by: Mitch H. at July 14, 2008 11:18 AM (jwKxK)
2
Well, by all appearances, they're mostly the bad guys in World Destruction!, so take that for what it's worth. Humans appear to be the minority race in the show, too.
Of course, that's just what it looks like after one episode. For all I know, the furries are actually nice and friendly folk, and the humans are plotting to drop them into a giant blender and have furry smoothies for breakfast.
But I doubt it.
Posted by: Wonderduck at July 14, 2008 05:14 PM (AW3EJ)
Random (not) Anime Picture #22 -Top Gear, season 10 episode 09
In honor of the British Grand Prix running this weekend, on Silverstone's 60th year of operation, I decided to use a shot from the Top Gear episode where the lads and The Stig participate in the Britcar 24 Hour race at Silverstone.
Yes, those are sponsor logos: Pearse Biscuits and Peniston Oil. Or maybe it's referring to Hamster and Clarkston.
I've become a fan of Top Gear. A big fan. If only it was shown here in the States, on a station I can get (i.e., no BBC America)...
The 'sponsers' were made up names, because the BBC isn't allowed to show real brands (remember they're taxpayer funded and aren't allowed to advertise. I remember kids show Blue Peter used to cover over logos on cereal boxes and washing up liquid bottles whent ehy made stuff)
And the 'arse biscuits' is a reference to Father Ted
The new series has been a mixed bag so far, hopefully it will get better (one epsidoe is supposed to be a race against a bullte train!)
Posted by: Andy Janes at July 05, 2008 04:21 AM (+aSSY)
Yeah, I know they were made up; they even said it in the episode. But I didn't want to spend the time right then to explain it... made it funnier, almost, kinda.
I'm enjoying the new season, but it has been a little slow-starting. Ah well, there's always the the episode with Lewis Hamilton, the Peel P50, and the Bugatti Veyron vs Eurofighter Typhoon race to watch...
Posted by: Wonderduck at July 05, 2008 10:37 AM (DcSb+)
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I know I've had a tendency towards fanservice series lately, but I seem to be alone in dissing this show and Daughter of 20 Faces. I'm getting worried I might have done another Gurren Lagann. What's the show's appeal?
5
Steven, I just found out about the 51-episode length, and it surprised me. However, upon reflection, it really doesn't. For all the action in the show, the first six episodes really didn't tell any story at all, it just introduced characters.
And that realization surprised the heck out of me; the storytellers have done a very good job of masking that fact.
It wasn't until ep07 that they introduced an antagonist, and
she's not even a major one.
If they keep up the storytelling quality of the first six eps, they won't have any problem at all. Yes, the art style is distinctive, and that will turn off a lot of people, but this duck isn't one of them. In fact, I rather like it.
Ubu, you ask about the appeal. The same as for any show: the characters.
Posted by: Wonderduck at May 31, 2008 11:36 PM (AW3EJ)
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I was surprised to find out how much I am enjoying this series so far. Normally, I loathe dark anime, and despite the humor, this gives all indications of being a very dark series. Up to this point I've given any series in which the plot contains the word "Shinigami" an automatic pass.
It doesn't yet seem to have any of the hallmarks of a great series, but it so far has been at least a good one. I don't know if I'd call the characters a selling point; while I enjoy Maka, BlackStar causes me to cringe every time he opens his mouth. The series has been fairly well plotted, at least so far, with the action scenes being exciting and story driven. The setting, while distinctive, is odd enough that I can see why some people would dislike the series because of it.
Posted by: Civilis at June 01, 2008 08:25 AM (qHzoH)
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The dark theme and the art style are still enough to keep me from watching this. Sorry, just not my cuppa. More power to you, though.
Posted by: GreyDuck at June 01, 2008 10:28 AM (o0ypb)
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It's not the art style that throws me, I actually like it. I just felt the first episode was a little too predictable. And her daddy was a major negative.
Now, having watched Kureni and Daughter of Twenty Faces through episodes 4 each, I'm willing to entertain that I might have made errors there. Kureni is dark and gritty, and they've got a backstory that's being rolled out slowly. I can't tell at all where it's going -- could be tragic, could be uplifting. (Could the OP be more mismatched? Yes, I've seen DE:MC.)
Daughter of Twenty Faces is a bit more predictable, especially as the OP and ED give away a major series spoiler. On the other hand, a character I didn't expect is recurring, and I think there's going to be a reckoning somewhere... and I am so looking forward to it.
Random Anime Picture #17: Why I Like Clannad. -Clannad, ep21
It's not my favorite KeyAni production (that's Kanon '06, of course), but Clannad has a LOT more humor than anything "serious" they've done before, excepting FMP: Fumoffu, a straight-up comedy series.
Slice-of-life + KyoAni + Key + humor = win. Lots and lots of win.
1
That, and the whole "we need a big multi-roomed structure to have plot in, and we don't want to use the school ALL the time" thing, since she's the one with the mansion IIRC...
Posted by: GreyDuck at March 30, 2008 11:39 AM (Qx3/r)
Possibly one of the finest anime episodes I've ever seen. I went back and watched it again, as I'm feeling a little glum tonight. The first time I watched it, I had no idea what was coming, so it was as much a surprise to me as it was to Alice. This time, however, I knew what was about to happen... and I still got a goofy grin on my face.
That's good storytelling.
I find that I really don't want ARIA to end. After 49 episodes (to date) and one OVA, you'd think that the show would start to feel like it was dragging on, but it has stayed fresh for me. Even Kanon didn't give me that feeling... when it ended, it was time for it to end.
In fact, only one other series has evoked the "don't be over yet!" feeling from me: Azumanga Daioh, my favorite show of all time.
I believe that, with episode 09, ARIA has joined Azumanga and Kanon as My Favorites. Nobody is more surprised than me.
1
I wouldn't mind if ARIA became the Everlasting Gobstopper of anime. If shows like Doraemon could do it, why not the continuing adventures of Akari and co?
Posted by: TheBigN at March 26, 2008 01:43 PM (CYfIP)
2
I am sure that you appreciated the duck in the hot spring under the ruined mansion episode (Aria the Animation 10). No strategic steam, but alas, too many large towels.
Posted by: conrad at March 26, 2008 08:57 PM (MDfbw)
Posted by: Wonderduck at March 26, 2008 09:53 PM (DcSb+)
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Wow, that's weird. The link above is supposed to take you to the December 11th, 2007 entry ("The Long-Anticipated Return of Ducks in Anime"), but instead you just get the "Ducks In Anime" category.
And I have no idea why...
Posted by: Wonderduck at March 26, 2008 09:59 PM (AW3EJ)
5
Clicking on pretty much anything in the Ducks in Anime category (with the exception of the most recent entry) brings up the full category. I'll hazard a guess that it has something to do with the category being created before the switch to Minx.
Do permalinks work in any of your other categories?
Posted by: Will at March 26, 2008 11:02 PM (ZhN+Z)
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You know what it is? When you use the category list to find the post you're looking for, Minx (rightly or wrongly, I'm not sure) inserts the category path into the middle of the URL for all the permalinks on that page. That causes Minx to bring up the whole category regardless of the post.
I browsed down the mainpage to the post in question, clicked the permalink, and it worked just fine.
Posted by: Will at March 26, 2008 11:10 PM (ZhN+Z)
7
Will, you seem to be right. I checked a few permalinks, and all of 'em in "old" categories (such as Anime and F1 Updates) work fine, but in the newer categories (like F1 Pr0n and 12 Ducks of Xmas) the links go to the category entry.
Of course, I doubled the number of categories a few months ago... *sigh*
Posted by: Wonderduck at March 26, 2008 11:32 PM (AW3EJ)
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There's a bug in the category assignment thingy, that causes items to show up in category lists but not show up when you go the the permalink inside a category. (More specifically, there are two ways to assign categories; both should work, but one doesn't, quite.)
It's fixed in 1.2 (due out mid-April), but I'll also need to run a script to fix the existing errors.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 27, 2008 06:05 AM (PiXy!)
Over at Civilis' place, I said that Alice had become my favorite character sometime in season 2, and that the recent string of episodes about her had cemented that feeling.
So when the events of episode 09 played out, I will admit to doing something much more appropriate for a college hoops game than for the laid-back ARIA...
Cheering.
I know this means that the series is heading into it's last episodes, and that certainly makes me sad, but if that's the cost for seeing (and hearing!) episode 09, it'll be worth it.
It's been a rough couple of weeks here at The Pond, what with the cold, and the tooth extraction (which had a complication that entailed an emergency visit to the oral surgeon... on a Saturday night, too), and End-of-Fiscal-Year at the Duck U. Bookstore, and there's a problem that I'm not at liberty to discuss but is extremely worrisome to me (more than the others combined, actually). In other words, life has blown chunks recently.
This episode didn't make it all go away, but it did allow me to (mostly) forget about the problems for a while.
One of the signs of a great anime is that you are cheering for the characters or yelling the great lines along with the characters. If it's gotten you that emotionally pumped up, the creators have succeeded in getting you emotionally attached to the series.
Posted by: Civilis at March 21, 2008 04:18 AM (Ak2oi)
2
I didn't cheer, but I started grinning at the start, and kept on doing so till the end. It was one of the more powerful episodes of anime that I've seen in a while, and I know that most of that is due to the familiarity and adoration I've built up for the ARIA characters. But still, it was magical.
Posted by: TheBigN at March 21, 2008 08:34 AM (0gYAY)
1
Alice has been on the receiving end of a lot these past couple of episodes. I enjoyed seeing Alice actually happy for once, but then she gets the rug knocked out from under her happy world again (as Athena's feet literally get out from under her). Hopefully, Alice will find her happy place by the end of the next episode...
Posted by: Civilis at March 10, 2008 05:07 AM (ODZ3Q)
"Hey, I've got a great idea for a show." "Okay, tell me." "Medieval economics. We'll follow a guy in a cart around as he goes from town to town trading pepper for apples, and then for wheat. It'll be great!" "..." "Whaddya think?" "ARE YOU INSANE?" "Huh?" "Medieval economics? There's no way people would watch that!" "B-b-b-but... why not?" "Not enough girls!" "Mmm... how about we give him a wolf goddess disguised as a teen girl as a partner?" "NOW you're talking!"
You wouldn't think there'd be any chance that a show like Spice + Wolf would be interesting, but it is. Unfortunately, it's interesting because of Horo (the abovementioned wolf goddess), not because of the main premise (medieval trading) or storyline. Horo's feisty, clever, witty, and her ears and tail are cute (as she'll tell you at any time)... and she's practically the only reason to watch the show. I'm not sure I've ever seen a series that's so dominated by a character. There's one episode where she's not on screen until the final thirty seconds, and it's really bad. I mean, REALLY bad: "two guys sitting in a room, talking" bad.
I can't recommend Spice + Wolf, but there are a lot of worse shows out there... and please note that I'm watching it to the bitter end. Maybe we'll figure out why Horo the wolf goddess looks more like a fox than a wolf...
This cart they drag around - does it have AirBags?
Posted by: Simon at March 04, 2008 10:30 AM (rmH/k)
4
What's all this crazy talk? W&S is the best show currently running. I even really like the economic aspects of it.
One problem I do see is that as Horo picks thing up and becomes more clever, she's starting to expose Lawrence as somewhat of a dim bulb. I thought it would have gone the other way.
The fox thing has been bugging me as well.
Posted by: astro at March 04, 2008 12:26 PM (RXNsB)
5
I suspect the decision has a lot to do with not having an indigenous wolf to base her on. If there are any wolvesleft in the wild in Japan, they're going to be small like a fox. Her coloring is definitely that of a red fox.
Posted by: Will at March 04, 2008 05:01 PM (WnBa/)
6
The wild wolves in the series look more like real wolves. Either her mother lied to her about her dad, or the animators realized that foxes are a lot cuter than wolves.
Posted by: mparker762 at March 06, 2008 06:19 PM (icUaS)
I'm currently working on a post about an aspect of the ARIA world that's bothered me for a while. It's not a problem with the show at all, but one of those things that's like the socket of a recently-pulled tooth... you can't help but poke at it with your tongue. With any luck, it should be up on Sunday.
1
I watched religiously for about the first 12 eps or so, then let it slip for a while. I've finally caught back up and I'm loving it as well.
My only gripe is that it focuses too much on Tama-chan instead of Kirino, who is clearly the best character. Nothing against Tama-chan, though - in fact they've done a good job on all of the characters in this show. I just wanted to see more Kirino channeling Excel Excel...
Posted by: astro at February 26, 2008 12:17 PM (RXNsB)
2
OK, I know this is off topic, but even logged in I can't figure out where to put this (no email, or new post thread).
misty69stuff.blogspot.com pointed to duck balancers unlimited. Follow the links at your own risk.
Conrad
Posted by: conrad at February 26, 2008 07:07 PM (MDfbw)
3
Just watched ep 1 this morning. Couple of LOL moments which is rare for a 1st ep of a new series, for me. Looks good so far tho.
Posted by: Ed at February 27, 2008 11:41 AM (WkhvE)
