- Anime

Master of Martial Hearts...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:03:00 +0000

I was getting really pumped until the bit where they hit each other so that just the ass and bust of their clothes tear off. Still, might be pretty good.

And I have no idea how I feel about "I can haz Moe Cheezeburger."

Or what hamburgers have to do with any of this???

Funimation's page for the series is HERE.

Fun with fraps...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 12:47:57 +0000

ONE LAST UPDATE ** and one more. Laura and Toby are a hoot.

UPDATED AGAIN ** one more video

UPDATED *** HD versions of videos

Went back and captured the video using fraps at full size. My native resolution is 1680x1050; I resized to 1840x1080 which meets the top-end HD requirement and makes the frame size compatible with my h264 codec. Came out pretty good. Now I just need to find the embed tag that tells Youtube you're linking to a widescreen video rather than a 4:3.

Playing around with fraps and Virtualdub...finally uploaded some videos to my Youtube account. Either I'm doing the HD upload wrong, or I'm just doing too much to the video before giving it to Youtube. I get a pretty nice 784x480 video about 10Mb in size, which is pretty good. Youtube resizes it again and seems to cut about half of the picture information out. Can't see a difference between standard quality and 480p. I'll work on it. Here are the videos as they are; the quality is good enough.

A subculture legend...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:20:26 +0000

Just read over at J-List side blog that Carl Macek died Saturday. Macek is most famous for creating and producing the animated series Robotech in the mid-eighties. Robotech was an English dub of a slightly-to-moderately (to severely, in some cases) edited mash-up of three Japanese animated series: Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross, and Genesis Climber Mospeada. Carl Macek created a single, epic story out of three disparate sources and was therefore able to get anime on the air in America at a time when most anime series would never be purchased for broadcast. Although anime had been aired in America sporadically for decades, Robotech was the first series that didn't "dumb down" the content, which included several mature themes and relatively graphic violence. This formula demonstrably hooked a large group of children in the '80s on Japanese animation, and was a major part of the foundation for the large amount of anime available in the U.S. now.

Macek took a lot of abuse in later years (and still does), for modifying the stories of the three Japanese series, especially Southern Cross and Mospeada. The English voice cast performance isn't great, but as with almost every other "mediocre" or "poor" aspect of the production, was amazing compared to the other animated programs available at the time. And that's really where a lot of Robotech's charm still resides: At the time Carl Macek produced Robotech for American television, it was light-years beyond whatever was in the timeslot before and after. To a lot of us, seeing Robotech for the first time was a lot like seeing Star Wars for the first time. That's why I take the Star Wars prequel trilogy so personally, and why I never understood the level of dislike many had for what Mr. Macek had done.

And, it's why I mourn now, for the man who created what would become one of, if not the biggest, stepping stone to an acceptance and abundance of anime available in the American media market. Carl Macek truly deserves the title of "Visionary" and will hopefully always be remembered as a founder and father of American anime.

Status and Links...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:33:38 +0000

This is the longest I've gone between posts in quite a while. I've been pretty danged busy, though; and the last few weeks especially have been nothing but constant headaches. My wife and I (btw, Happy Birthday, Love of My Life!) made a quick trip to the nearest Gamestop two weeks ago, but I just now got around to updating the games lists and playing one of the games. Specifically, I picked up Lego Batman and X-Blades for the 360; Wild Arms 4 and and the original Lego Star Wars for PS2. When I bought my 360 I got Lego Indiana Jones in a pack of used games and really enjoyed it, so I went back and played Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy on PS2. I wanted to get the Complete Collection for 360, but it was cheaper to just pick up a used copy of the original game for PS2. I've done a couple of levels in Lego Batman, and so far I'm not really getting much enjoyment out of this Lego installment. My wife, who for some odd reason enjoys watching me play video games, says the game isn't nearly as much fun to watch as LSW and LIJ; so I may not stay with this one.

In the meantime, I play a little Street Fighter 4; and, thanks to Steam and Impulse, I've loaded up on some classic sim and strategy titles for only a few bucks. I'm almost done with Railroad Tycoon 2's Campaign in Normal mode...I've made it this far before but I'm having trouble with the last few scenarios. Still haven't tried Sword of the Stars or Making History, but I've heard a lot of good things about them.

In other news, I'm still not completely caught up on Naruto Shippuden. After the Atomic Bomb Ninja Technique, recurring Deus Ex Machina Sasuke started the biggest dumb-ass subplot I've seen in the series so far...(details under the fold, spoilerific). It's takes a lot for me to work up enthusiasm to keep watching. But I'm sooooo close....

Crunchyroll has also started streaming The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I haven't checked to see what order the episodes are in.

I've made it through episode 11 of Chu-Bra! (with my wife...I was too scared to watch it alone.) If I can ever organize my thoughts on this series, it deserves a short amount of commentary. For those who have avoided...yes, it's squicky. Really, really squicky.

Mark finished Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and has started A's. I'm refraining from any comment until he finishes that series.

The 2010 F1 season has begun, which means Wonderduck has started his wonderful F1 Updates again.

Noah Antwiler, aka Spoony; the man responsible for a hilariously savage review/commentary/let's play of Final Fantasy VIII, is going to try Final Fantasy X.

Linkara is producing and narrating a "History of the Power Rangers", which is actually pretty interesting if you're into absolutely useless information, like I am.

I've completely forgotten by this point if I had any other point to make in this post...so I guess I'll stop here.

EDIT: Oh yeah, details about the Sasuke subplot below the fold.
Continue reading "Status and Links..."

Yes, Japan, we GET IT already...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:42:56 +0000

350 episodes into the Naruto series. I've actually really enjoyed it, as I mentioned previously. After some early problems, the second series has been even better than the first. Shippuden gets into a lot of the history and politics of the setting. The viewer is also finally starting to find out exactly what's going on. I tweeted earlier today that one of the key points is that the country behind all of the funny business is apparently Belgium. I mean that in jest; however, as Dave Barry once said, Belgium is "...the screen door of Europe..." constantly being slammed as surrounding countries go to war with each other.

Of course, Naruto is about Japan, too...and only a few episodes later we get to see one of Japan's favorite plot points. It just seems a bit out of place in a show about ninjas, however magical they happen to be. To wit:

Jutsu = Ninja Technique, more or less. What's the ultimate forbidden Ninja Technique? I'm sure anime fans can guess:

Japan has a...unique...relationship with the atomic bomb, and the concept shows up in Japanese culture quite a bit. But, as Little Kuriboh said, "This is a show about Ninjas! Apparently!"

Will the phone ever stop ringing?...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:39:24 +0000

Another out-of-context funny, this time from Naruto Shippuden...

Click the image for a larger version.

My two recent unexpected reversals...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 10:20:00 +0000

UPDATE 3:

Ok, starting with episode 25 things get quite a bit better. Seems like the studio decided they needed to stretch the story out a bit, and so 15 - 20 move really slowly and are very repetitive. Sakura finally get's her very own crowning moment of awesome. The writers tried, and I think are still trying, to take it away from her (can't have a woman beat the bad guys, can we?); but anything they do at this point is going to seem like complete bullshit if they try to back out.

Actually wanted to finish the storyline last night, but quantserve stopped working around 11:45. Again.

UPDATE 2:

Not sure how long I"m going to be able to stick with Naruto Shippuden. I'm on episode 24 now; there have been TWO good episodes so far in the new series. Each episode is getting slower and more repetitive. The story is pure deus ex machina, with no regard for internal consistency. Looking ahead, this story arch apparently ends around episode 33; it needed to run maybe 13 or so AT MOST. The Chuunin Exams and Sasuke Retrieval archs were faster paced and better timed. Hell, the Zabusa arch was faster and made more sense.

I'm going to try to finish this first story, but if Shippuden doesn't get any better, I won't be able to keep watching. I'm already spending two thirds of each episode saying "What the hell," "that doesn't make sense," and "yes! We know! You've already said that TEN TIMES!!!"

Talk about stumbling out of the starting block...

jeez.

I had to vent to my wife (who thinks I'm nuts for watching Naruto in the first place) for 45 minutes before I could go back to watching.

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UPDATE:

Pete at Ani-Nouto comments on my Naruto viewing. Thanks for your comments! I hadn't dug through the archives and noticed all of his posts on the subject.

To update: I finished the original Naruto series last night and started the second series, Naruto Shippuden. The original series ran for 220 episodes, from October 2002 through February 2007. The second series began airing the same month and is still in production; episode 150 is scheduled to air this week. The Naruto manga storyline runs through episode 135 of the original series, which is where the original manga storyline ends; episodes 136 through 220 are "filler" episodes, and the original storyline for second part of the manga series is followed in Naruto Shippuden.

You see quite a few recommendations to skip episodes 136 - 220, but there are a few good storylines in that section. Unfortunately, the worst storylines are also present in the final 85 episodes.

Pete mentioned Sakura's improvement in Shippuden. The results of her training with Tsunade start showing up in the filler episodes and movies, but the Sakura of Shippuden is a good leap beyond. It's especially nice seeing the confidence and attitude she has...she's finally a character equal to Naruto and the more interesting second-tier personalities.

And regarding Temari's legs; I don't love the Sand Village stories because of Kankuro's winning personality.

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As I mentioned in a previous post, I was pretty close to buying either a PS3 or a 360. I had been leaning towards a PS3 for about a year, but in the end bought a 360 Arcade from Gamestop. Don't have it hooked up yet; needed a component cable and I wasn't about to spring for what they cost retail. Got one off of eBay, and while I was at it picked up a 60GB hard drive, too. Probably should have bought the Elite when Gamestop was offering a $50 Gift Card with purchase; that would have been a better system with more games for only a bit more money than I ended up spending...but I hadn't made up my mind at the time.

The other recent oddity is that, completely out of the blue, I decided to watch Naruto on Crunchyroll. I never, ever thought I would do this. I've never had anything against Naruto, per se...just against the ~~people~~ kids that watched it on Cartoon Network. I had to give it some respect, of course...Naruto brought a whole new generation of Americans to anime; but I watched a couple of episodes and it just seemed; well, silly and more than a little stupid.

That may have something to do with the dub or editing, I don't know for sure. I've heard of many complaints about Naruto's English voice acting, but only marginal gripes concerning editing or censorship. The version available on Crunchyroll appears to be either a Japanese TV or DVD rip; the Japanese sponsorship splash is still present after the OP but there's no text or logos. I'm assuming that means these rips are probably from the DVD. The subtitles are mostly pretty good, but prepositions seems to disappear in waves; usually one or two episodes at a time every ten episodes will have poor sentence structure and obviously missing words. Whoever did the subtitles also selectively used the "Believe it!" catchphrase for dattebayo, which I've always had a problem with. It seems possible that only certain translators used this convention, as the phrase appears heavily in some episodes but is left entirely out of most.

Anyway, I started watching two weeks ago and I'm just about 100 episodes in, now. I was surprised early on, after a few episodes, to discover that I was enjoying myself and wanted to know what happened next. Sixty or seventy episodes in I was completely floored to discover that I hadn't had as much fun watching an anime series in *years*. Yes, this series has it's problems; especially in pacing. Early on there is a story arch that's at least twice as long as it needed to be; almost half of one episode is literally a repeat of the last half of the previous episode. Naruto doesn't really do "filler", at least until, I'm told, the last part of the original series. Instead, the action is slowed down and you get lot's of repetition. The segment I mentioned is the only one that's really bad, but these techniques show up every now and then just to stretch an episode or two out.

Beyond how ridiculous the premise of the show is, the story maintains consistency and characterization. Unlike most recent shonen protagonists, Naruto is actually someone I like and want to root for. He's a bit of a spaz, but he's not a jerk or an asshole. He's not too bright or quick, but he's not stupid, either; and he has pretty good insight. The series does a good job of establishing and maintaining his character and making his actions believable and consistent. The two main supporting characters don't get quite as good treatment; genius student Sasuke is whipped around like a rag doll by the plot...early in the series you get the feeling Sasuke is actually the protagonist; later on he's a massive deus ex machina. The female lead Sakura is present, so far, just for Naruto to have a crush on. She doesn't do anything. Even when she does something, she doesn't do anything. She's likable enough, but she really needs some more depth to her character if we're EVER going to start caring about her. I've read that she get's better later on in the first series...here's hoping.

But, yeah...I really like Naruto, and I never thought I would say that.

Attention getter...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:34:49 +0000

From Sasameki Koto:

Click for full-size image.

The most wonderful and stressful time of year...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 12:53:36 +0000

No, not what you think. With few exceptions, the "holidays" aspect of the Fall and Winter is a stress-reliever for me. What I'm referring to is that my financial year usually starts in March, April or May; and ends in December. I start getting some income in December. So, the period from November to the end of the year is filled with making every dollar count. Plus, you never "really" know how good a job you did during the year until this final huge, expensive effort.

The amount of work that goes into a harvest and all of the stress mentioned above means, as I posted last year, that I don't really have a lot of time for posting...and when I do, I don't feel like it. I don't want to just do more re-posting from other blogs. I like to try to keep blog mentions confined to other bloggers' original work rather than contributing to another round of viral videos. OTOH, Wonderduck comes up with some of the more unique and entertaining examples I've seen, there are currently two good videos on his front page.

So, just to force myself, I'll just run through some randomness.

Recently found the Let's Play Archive. This particular LP got me wanting to play KotOR 2 again...he made the game sound pretty good. As I tweeted recently; though, I actually think the writing is WORSE in 2 than in one. Different, yes. The story certainly has the basis for something MUCH deeper and more complex than KotOR. Unfortunately, the writer(s) didn't know what they were talking about half the time. Obviously, somebody made it through the first chapter of the Pop Guide to Chaos Theory and a Psychology 101 primer, but missed out on War Strategy and Tactics That Anyone Can Understand and Principles of Leadership: A Common Sense Approach. Then there are the "moral choices." Bioware games and western RPG's in general have become well-known for their "black and white" moral choices. KotOR 2 was made by Obsidian rather than Bioware, and a lot of players felt that Obsidian did a better job of making those choices more like "multiple shades of gray." I don't see it, myself. Most of the choices are still "Save/Eat Puppy", they just word them differently. Most of the "gray" choices are actually railroading by the plot...which is to say, rather than "Save/Eat Puppy" you get to choose "Eat Puppy Now/Eat Puppy Later." See, the writer(s) don't really give you a lot of freedom in "defining" your character. Sure, you can level and play your Jedi as Light/Dark Side, Neutral or Insane; but KotOR 2 goes well beyond KotOR's "this is who you are and what you did, now what are you going to do?" KotOR 2 says, "this is who you are, what you did, why you did it, who you did it with and for, and what you thought of them. Now what are you going to do? Oh, and you're still mad about this, so you should probably choose A, and even though we've made it perfectly clear to you repeatedly, and you have high intelligence and wisdom, you don't really understand B, so we'll just fill in "duuuuuuuuuuuh" for that answer.

And so on.

End the end, it still comes down to "side with/kill bad guy". But there's so much arrogance and ignorance in the story, and the frequent Character Development railroading make the game less enjoyable than KotOR...at least to a certain degree. On the other hand, the story IS more complex...not better, just deeper. The game is bigger, the mechanics are a little better, the crafting system is much improved, and the animations and graphics are much better. On the third hand, the rushed development time means that something like 20% of the game got cut before release, and you see a lot of the resultant broken bits still in the game. I don't bear any hard feelings about that, though...13 months is not enough time to develop a game like this.

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I'm just about tired of my iPhone. Getting sick of what I can't do with it. It's a decent multimedia phone, but it just can't compare to a full smartphone with better desktop integration. Add to that the number of ways that Apple WON'T service the phone, and the dreaded iTunes. Think I'll switch to THIS.

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Thought about playing Dwarf Fortress. Got over it.

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Can't think of anything else, right now. Although this is good:

Nanoha Sidenote - Skip original and start with A's?

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:47:49 +0000

This discussion has happened before, and it's happening again. And rather than move the comments in the "Top 5" @ Chizumatic into a subject change without Steven's blessing, and since I've already been posting about Nanoha recently, I'll add my answer here.

The question, posed this time by Mark from Kaedrin:

"...I notice that Nanoha A is actually the second series... does that matter? Or is it easy to jump into the middle like that?"

Of course, the common sense answer is "Start from the beginning, duh..." but there are a couple of issues involved with the Nanoha franchise that makes this a valid question. The first is that, as I mentioned in the previous post, the first five or so episodes of the original series are very stereotypical of Magical Girl anime. If you don't have a tolerance for that kind of show, you will probably get bored. Second, the action kicks in about episode 6, and even then the pacing is irregular; generally you get an action oriented episode followed by a slower, exposition oriented episode. If you haven't taken an interest in the characters or the plot, there really isn't enough "action" to keep you floating.

I was somewhat fortunate in that I hadn't really kept up with Magical Girl anime at all, and my most recent experience prior to Nanoha was Cardcaptor Sakura. Most people agree that Sakura is a pretty good show all around, and it maintains interest while staying very close to the classic MG tropes. The early parts of Nanoha were different enough from Sakura that I didn't get bored the first time through...although I tend to skip through the early episodes now. I also have learned that there were several anime series released in the years prior to Nanoha that used some, or even several of the ideas present in Nanoha. If you have been one of those anime viewers that constantly keeps up with current series in Japan, you may not find Nanoha to be nearly as fresh as I did. Caveat: I'm basing that last bit solely on what I've read on several forums and blogs over the past few years. I have not verified any of those claims myself.

There are a couple of other problems that could discourage someone in the original series. There are, of course, the non-explicit nude loli transformations. Keeping in mind that the Japanese have a different cultural view, and the popularity of lolicon imagery, I gritted my teeth and dealt with it. It's not that much content overall, but some people may not be able to take it. There are also a couple of scenes of violence that some have found difficult to watch. They don't last long, they are not explicit, and in my opinion, the idea of what is going on is more horrible than what is depicted. The first of these two scenes has made at least one blogger I read hit the "stop" button and quit watching the series. On the other hand, my wife and I both accepted the scene for what it was, in our opinion: THE defining scene of characterization of the relationships between the Big Bad, the primary antagonist and the antagonist's lieutenant.

Finally, a couple of minor nitpicks. The animation is a little rough sometimes, especially early in the series. The producers apparently tried some kind of CG animation process in a few scenes and it's fairly obvious. However, most of the animation problems disappear by halfway through the series. And lastly, as hard as the American cast obviously tried, unless you just have to, I strongly recommend watching the series in the original Japanese instead of the English dub. It's not that bad, in my opinion, and I certainly recommend a rewatch with the dub so you can focus on the visuals. The Japanese dub is outstanding...the English dub, especially Nanoha's voice actress...not so much.

Now, for why I STILL recommend watching the first series first.

Actually, this is pretty straightforward. One, this IS the series that establishes a lot of the rules and concepts of the world...there isn't a lot of rehashing done in the second series. Secondly, the action in A's starts right out of the gate, and it's in the nature of of 1) showing how much Nanoha has improved since the first series (so you really need a frame of reference) and 2) The first episode features a "Here comes a New Challenger!" moment...and in my opinion you need to see the first series in order to grasp how significant this first battle is.

Finally, (and once again, IMHO) while A's improves on the original series in almost every way, many of the things that make A's great are what made the original Nanoha worth watching. If you can't at least tolerate Nanoha in the first series...well, she's still there in the second series and she hasn't changed much. If you don't form some kind of sympathy with Fate in the first series, her appearance in the second series will be no big deal to you. That is, in fact, one of the methods that several people use to supply a newcomer with a "gauge" they can use to measure how much they will like the Nanoha series'. If you don't want to finish the series in order to find out what happens to Fate, you probably won't get much out of A's. A's has a similar character "gauge", which I won't mention right now because it would end up being a bit of a spoiler.

So that's basically my argument. I'm probably forgetting a ton of stuff (I usually do), and I'm sure there's a lot of poor grammar and spelling. For what it's worth, based on purely anecdotal evidence, if you like the original series, then A's will probably make your top ten list. If you don't like the first series, but watch A's anyway, it seems that responses are about 50/50. And if you absolutely HATE the original series....well, you probably wont' watch A's anyway, and I don't blame you. A's doesn't really take out any of the stuff that some have found objectionable in the first series. The violence is a little more subtle, but not significantly. And of course, it's still a Magical Girl show at heart...it just loads up on the Shonen-style action sequences.

I'll try to incorporate a lot of this post into my longer article on Nanoha StrikerS sometime soon.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:49:00 +0000

I'm reposting this due to SDB finally deciding to watch StrikerS; maybe I'll finally finish my comments!

.........

There are occasionally things that need to be written, just as there are things that need to be said. A passionate defense of Beethoven's utter brilliance is never remiss. A fond tribute to Nolan Ryan's greatness, despite a lifetime record of mediocre and poor stats surrounding those monumental achievements, always causes me to tear up. A well-reasoned argument about the importance, and dare I say it, quality production of Carl Macek's Robotech will get a cheer from me.

Are those things self-interested observations? Of course they are, and the language is obviously self-important. I begin this commentary in such a manner to make two points:

1) Never read a British adventure before writing a blog...it influences the language.

2) I am thrilled when I find someone I share an opinion with , especially if it's an unpopular or ignored opinion, and I don't see the argument I'm going to make in this article bandied about much.

To the meat of the matter.

FIRST, THE HISTORY

I am delighted that the Region One release of the first two series of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has gained this series some recognition. Nanoha was already a popular series in the west thanks to fansubs available on the internet. My wife and I watched a fansub of the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha about a year after the series was released in Japan. Nanoha came highly recommended to anime fans who wanted to see something else like Cardcaptor Sakura, although after watching the series I don't really know why.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha certainly contains a lot of the traditional Magical Girl tropes, at least at first...and like Sakura, the protagonist is a ten-year-old girl. However, Nanoha is definitely a shounen series; that is to say, an action series designed to appeal to boys. Most accurately, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is an example of SHOUJONEN, a series that appeals to both boys and girls...or men and women, as the case may be. In point of fact, Nanoha features a fast-paced, tightly knit story based on deep feelings and friendship, starring two cute, ten-year-old girls with massive magical powers that can actually cause time and space to rip when they fight each other. No, that's not a convenient plot point or the result of a prophecy; the two mini-mages are just that friggin' powerful. Almost every episode, especially later in the series, features tangible drama. The presentation and voice acting are up to the challenge of telling the story. There are time/spaceships, too; and feeling, thinking "intelligent devices" of all things, that occasionally carry a scene off by themselves. The action is almost over-the-top, the drama is tense, and the story is interesting. My wife and I had a hard time getting ourselves to stop watching every night to go to bed.

Now, after winding you up like that, it's only fair to mention several caveats.

Most importantly, the paragraph above relates how I felt about the series while watching it for the first time. After letting the original series sit for a couple of years, the rewatch didn't impress quite as much. Nanoha is still a great series, but it's not nearly as good as what I wrote above may imply. The first third of the series in particular can stand to be skipped if you're familiar with the setup. In addition, MGLN is primarily a shounen fighting series...if you don't like shounen, you probably won't like it. Also the plot is not infallible, some elements don't bear close inspection, although Nanoha is better than most series I've watched. Last, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is known for loli fanservice. If you don't know what that is, the short answer is that there are several visuals throughout the series that feature panty shots, non-explicit naked transformations, and sexually suggestive attire. Nothing new for anime, except in Nanoha, all but one of the primary characters is a pre-teen. Don't get me wrong, Nanoha isn't pornographic in the least (in the common vernacular), but if you don't want to see even a hint of this kind of thing, you may want to skip this series. The lolicon stuff makes up maybe a few minutes scattered throughout the series; if you can look the other way the series is worth the watch.

SECOND, THE LEGEND

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, the second series, was released about a year after the first series. A's somehow managed to perfect the already excellent first series. A's story is a little deeper and much better developed. The pacing is a non-stop rollercoaster from beginning to end. Nanoha A's is, according to many, an example of shounen anime, if not anime *period*, at it's best. I'll get into specifics later, as the quality of A's is part of the fundamental debate concerning the third series. Even with the same lolicon elements as the first series, I heartily recommend that any anime fan at least give it a try.

A's cemented Nanoha's internet reputation in the west, making both series incredibly popular downloads. When a third series was announced, the anticipation among the fans was incredible. Unfortunately, fan reception to the series when it began appearing on fansub websites was mixed in the end. There are a lot of reasons for this, most of them good. One of the most important reasons to consider is the MGLN A's REALLY IS THAT GOOD. Any follow-up would face a challenge. In addition, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS was an ambitious sequel to a highly-regarded series, and unfortunately many of it's failures were due to intentional choices in the production.

The argument of this commentary; however, is that at it's best, StrikerS is as good as, and sometimes even better than A's. In fact, the things that StrikerS does well makes it the best series of the three in my mind.

.........
WARNING, THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSION WILL DEFINITELY DELVE INTO SPOILERS.
.........

Discussion of StrikerS will take place later, and will be below the fold.

Japan and the "Peace" Sign...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:51:22 +0000

This...actually makes sense, in fact...

...U.S. figure skater Janet Lynn came to skate in the 1972 Sapporo Olympics and fell on her butt, and when she got up, she made a cute "peace" sign to the Japanese cameras. This was supposedly the moment when the gesture entered the Japanese DNA, and why you can't take a picture of a Japanese person today without them making the "V" sign.

Entire post available at J-List side blog.

The Non-Failure of Haruhi Suzumiya...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:14:32 +0000

Posted here only because it was too long for a tweet. The link is to Sankaku Complex, as usual this site is definitely NSFW, although the story itself is fine.

As much as the outcry over the "Endless Eight" arc of the second Haruhi Suzumiya series irked me somewhat, I honestly wasn't expecting the DVD sales to be THIS good (note that they're still much lower than they might have been.) I have maintained that Endless Eight was a gamble on KyoAni's part...a gamble that fans would love the quirkiness of the story more than they would be bothered by "so you're going to show the same episode eight times in a row, only with changes in wardrobe, dialogue, editing and framing?" The angry shouts heard 'round the world clearly demonstrated how many viewers felt.

However, it was equally obvious (using very unscientific methods) that something like 1 in 20, maybe even 1 in 10 viewers actually liked what KyoAni did. That was where the really ugly arguments occurred. Many in the angry group not only didn't like Endless Eight, they couldn't conceive of the possibility that any intelligent, rational human COULD like the story. I know a lot of people that still won't talk to each other because of this argument.

The two reasons I'm posting this now are:

1) Yeah, I'm gloating a bit. However, let me state right now that I'm perfectly aware that the higher-than-expected sales numbers may actually be the result of "buy-anything-Haruhi" otaku.

2) On the off-chance that these numbers are even somewhat accurate, I hope that some people will recognize that some of us really did LIKE Endless Eight.

Madlax - 2nd Episode

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:04:36 +0000

I'm not going to write about every episode, but I wanted to get some basic thoughts down about the other main character of Madlax, introduced in the second episode. Margaret is a junior high or high school student (I would say high school, but you know the Japanese). She is a complete airhead. Her thoughts are on another planet. It's almost like she goes borderline autistic for half the day. She experienced some kind of tragedy in her past that she's repressing, although the memories are obviously about to come bursting out any minute now, one at a time. Margaret has a maid who is aware of her past is has apparently been put in place to watch over her, and a former-and-now-current-again Next Door Neighbor who might be the same. Oh, and she has a bizarre fascination with Red Shoes and a blood-and-rain-soaked picture book that she says was a gift from her father.

Oh, and each episode begins with a little girl and/or little boy (so far the boy hasn't talked) spouting a few unrelated lines in an undisclosed location.

The second episode was thankfully much less silly than the first; but it's obvious at this point that Bee Train is following Noir story model of "there's a deep and terrible mystery here, and anything and everything could be clue to what's going on." That can be done well, or it could make the series very tedious. Like Noir.

Madlax - First Thoughts...

nospam@example.com (Ben) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:59:51 +0000

I've watched the first episode of Madlax, the second of three "Girls With Guns" series produced by Bee Train a few years back. The first series, Noir, is generally considered a modern anime classic by many people; or at least a runner-up in that category. The third series, El Cazador de la Bruja, was mostly ignored; although those who have sought it out have found it to be entertaining, if not spectacular. On the third hand, Madlax, the middle series, is fairly well despised.

Noir is considered by most viewers to be incredibly stylish with good animation and art, good music and a well-written and performed story. Madlax is considered to be exactly the opposite of that, more or less: a cheap mess with an incomprehensible and uninteresting story. A caveat: To be fair, I may be overstating the consensus here a bit...when you get into extremes, they always look so much better or worse compared to each other. On reflection, it's possible many viewers may actually concede that Noir wasn't quite THAT good, nor was Madlax THAT poor...but they are usually compared to each other.

The other caveat that I probably ought to mention now is that I didn't really like Noir very much. I loved the OP, and I thought the first couple of episodes were very good, but I quickly lost interest. I watched the whole series, but found it slow-paced and repetitive. I thought the characters were uninteresting and inconsistent. There was no significant character development, although the story is written as if there should be. What the viewer is supposed to take from the story is made obvious, yet what you actually see and hear just doesn't convey anything. The final story arc and mystery seemed simplistic and trite. I ended several episodes, and the series itself, by saying "You mean that's IT?"

Considering so many anime fans love Noir, and I don't; I figured I would give Madlax a try. You know, because so many anime fans hate Madlax because it's exactly the opposite of Noir. Makes sense, right?

Well, maybe not. The first episode didn't impress me much. Which may be a good sign; the first two episodes of Noir *really* got me hooked, so much so that I watched the whole series even though I didn't enjoy it. We'll see.

We're introduced to an attractive blond woman skydiving into a war zone. The war appears to be of the civil variety, as one side is clearly the army and the other side wears T-shirts and has a group identity. The shirts get attacked at a check point, blown up by a tank, and the leader hands a floppy disk to new recruit junior and tells him to get the secret plans back to the rebel alliance. More or less. The leader is captured, blabs the location of junior, the army goes to retrieve junior, he's saved by the blond who reads lips through mirrors and scopes to learn important information. To give her a bit of a disjointed character, she talks about what she'll eat when she get's home (pasta) and acts a bit ditzy after rescuing junior.

The blond has been hired (by unknown parties) to retrieve that disk junior is carrying, which he gives up to her without a moment's hesitation so that he can return to the army camp and rescue his lieutenant. This is, of course, pointless and stupid. He attacks the army base with his pistol, and almost hits a soldier, before the scene switches. The blond, against her better judgment, decides to go help junior (of course.) She does this, and this is where I really started getting a little uneasy, by changing into a red evening gown and matching heels, climbing into a tree, waiting for the army to come get her (because they realized there must be someone else with junior, him not having the disk and all). She proceeds to one-shot-kill everyone with her pistol while dancing and posing against the fiery backdrop she creates with an APC and a Molotov cocktail. With her eyes closed. Army boss man, the Last Man Standing, fires his assault rifle at her CLEARLY OUTLINED FIGURE 25 FEET AWAY AND NEVER HITS HER ONCE DESPITE THE FACT THAT SHE JUST STANDS THERE AND NOW MY EFFING HEAD IS ABOUT EXPLODE IN PROTEST and then she one-shot-kills him WITH HER EYES STILL CLOSED and he falls to the ground saying "...so...lovely..." OMG THERE GOES MY BRAIN. Then she sits in his jeep cradling his assault rifle, apparently waiting for the attack chopper which she downs with a half-second burst of UNAIMED FIRE STILL WITH HER GD EYES CLOSED AND WEARING A RED EVENING GOWN AND HIGH HEELS.

And the scene shifts to her riding away in the jeep with a wounded junior in the back seat. And she says he must really be stupid and he agrees and she agrees with his agreement and he asks her on a date and she's really excited about that and then remembers she hasn't introduced herself yet and after saying "Ma..." she realizes OOPS HE JUST DIED. And then she's back home in the city and tells her boss or contact that she mailed the disk to him and didn't have any problems except that she missed out on chance to have a date. And she didn't finish her pasta. Oh, and her name is Madlax, just in case no one figured it out already.

So, yeah, that's great. One of the two things I like about Noir, when they weren't screwing with it, was that Mireille was highly competent normal human (usually). Believe it or not, I could even maintain SOD with Madlax up until the point where Army Boss Man fires an assault rifle for 5 seconds or more at close range and Madlax just stands there, apparently because she has the Magic Bullet Deflector. The evening gown was a bit hard to take, but hey, it's fanservice, right? It's silly. And then doing the WHOLE THING WITH HER EYES CLOSED. Ok, if she's that damned good, you can go with the whole movie trope of pulling of a good shots by sound...but this was obviously supposed to look like the whole battle was choreographed and Madlax knew all of the steps already. And that kind of stuff is the worst kind of storytelling. Yuck.

But...as I said, Noir started out great for me, then got bad. If Madlax is truly the opposite of Noir, maybe it'll get better.

Maybe.