That’s why my post count dropped off a lot. It’s not that I forgot about the blog. It’s that I came down with a cold, and the first few days of a cold really hurt my energy, so it was hard to get even normal things done. I’ll be blogging more again.
Also, I discover that the more formulaic what I try to do, the less well it gets done. I’ll try to do things more free-form and keep it flowing.. when I’m up to it. Thanks, carry on…
Rather than attempt some kind of play-by-play, I will be doing something more practical and useful: focusing on the underlying currents and where we are and where we are going. Obviously someone who hasn’t been watching this show since the start might have a hard time following details that are too “detailed,” and besides, it’s all about the flow.
So, my impressions below.
First, a not-really-a-spoiler: this was teased before the end of last episode, but we’re basically seeing what I will call Full Armor Heroman. This should be a big hit with the toy buying market. Full Armor concepts are always good, but a) this one is particularly nicely done, b) it is very appropriate, since this episode begins what amounts to heavy, prolonged combat, making the armor crucial to Heroman’s chances of success.
Rating: 10/10. Be it family, friends, or nation, this battle means something, it involves a ton of high quality animation action, the pained heart of a hero unable to ensure everyone’s salvation, and fighting on in spite of long, long odds. The only problem is that it ended and we have to wait a week to see more.
If time truly permitted I’d relate from the beginning but, this is a transition to a new arc so it’s as good a place as any.
Spoilers: show
Rating: 9/10. Great ep. Many horror movies could learn from the competence with which the first half was done, and the second half included a lot of real character building that did not feel cheap at all.
Tamayura is a tale about a girl in what in the West we might call “10th grade,” the first year of “high school,” who loves photography and has moved to a school in the town where her father grew up. The “tamayura” themselves are light balls that appear as an effect in photographs, as shown in some of her father’s photos. Our main character, Fu, is rather shy with self-introductions and is working on making new friends, approaching the ordinary world with a sense of wonder.
So, it’s basically an anime about adorable young girls, photography, and appreciation of life. It comes courtesy of Junichi Sato.
Based on “episode 1,” which is in essence a promotional video for a direct-to-DVD release later this fall, the visuals are top-notch, the opening and ending themes are appropriate to the material, and it is altogether pleasant and charming, and indeed, adorable.
Those who can read Japanese can check out this site for more info. Those who can’t, well, just stare at the nice imagery, I guess?
Original source here. The gist, PSPgo is a new design so it doesn’t benefit from savings for the PSP. Maybe that’s holding it back.
Ah, you think?
Not coincidentally, Sony has been doing great with the PS3 since releasing a less expensive version. Shocking, I tell you. Shocking, like a droid shock arm in Knights of the Old Republic II…
Shocking indeed.
In actual Japanese mythology, Nurarihyon is a “youkai” (妖怪) believed to be an old man with a gourd-shaped head residing in Wakayama Prefecture. We might think of youkai as spirits, though “demons” is not really much of a stretch. However, as youkai can include humans who were reborn after death as youkai, spirit kind of works.
Anyway, in this manga/ anime, Nurarihyon was a much different looking guy in his younger days. Nurarihyon no Mago (Nurarihyon’s Grandchild) is about, well, his grandson, with his son – the second leader of the Nura Gang (Nura-gumi – no seriously, the Yakuza call their gangs -gumi, which is -kumi at the end of a compound) of youkai. Nurarihyon expected his grandson to fill his father’s shoes.
There’s a little problem with that, though.
You see, Nurarihyon himself married a human, and his son married a human, so Rikuo, our hero, is a 13 year old bespectacled (that is, wearing glasses) boy who thinks of himself as a normal human and aspires to that life. He lives with the youkai at his family estate normally, and they are like a big, extended family to him, but on the surface, he doesn’t have a smidgen of power, nor any inclination to lead at all.
On the surface, that is.
In times of peril, his youkai blood will awaken, and Rikuo looks like he does in the image above: a katana-wielding, long-haired complete badass with massive confidence and great calm, a fine leader of youkai, but fully conscious of his human form and his human priorities, like protecting the friends he cares about from high school.
At the beginning of the anime – and my understanding is, this is not the same as in the manga – this is not reciprocal, and human Rikuo doesn’t realize he has that kind of power. This doesn’t last; he becomes aware as he is forced into dangers and must sink or swim or see those he cares for, suffer or perish. Well, we can’t have that, can we?
One of the characters I like in particular is the young Yuki Onna, “Snow Woman” (another famous youkai). She apparently isn’t the first; there was an older and more mature-looking one in a flashback featuring Nurarihyon himself. This Yuki Onna disguises herself so that she can go to school with Rikuo, or “waka” (Young Master), as one of his designated bodyguards/ protectors. Her main power is blowing snow and ice; her powers activate on their own when she is emotionally distressed or not concentrating, such as when Rikuo gets a cold. (You’re not supposed to put an iced-over “hot cloth” on his forehead, Yuki!!)
She’s one of the potential “love interests” in this show. Put simply, it’s very obvious she likes Rikuo, and is overprotective to a fault, and not quite mature enough to pull it off well. But therein lies her essential cuteness.
This show features a lot of characters, many youkai, others not, such as a transfer student on-myouji (yin/ yang practitioner; mystic/ spiritualist) who, besides a childhood friend, round out the “potential love interest” trio.
Production values are high, and most importantly, the show is just a really good ride. It’s not over the top with fan service, it has some actual good action in it, it has a likable hero with an even more likable alter-ego (a guy I can actually get up and cheer for), and it has a lot of rich Japanese feel to it, both modern and older.
I strongly recommend this show to a broad audience.
Retro GamingActually, it’s only in the last, oh, two weeks, that I was able to get a copy of the old Knights of the Old Republic role-playing game for Xbox functioning on my Xbox 360. There were known backwards compatibility issues with it, and the first time I’d tried this, I got nowhere at all. So, I’d been missing out on a classic video game for far too many years.
Most of the studio that created the first of the two games, Bioware, is actually located in my native Canada. I recognized certain Canadian forms of English, particularly in the subtitling but not only there.
The basic idea is rather simple.
So in other words, you can dabble in the Dark Side or play as a goody-two-shoes and it’s all up to the player. You can even straddle the fence a lot, if you choose. In the end, all that matters is that you find a way to win, really.
On the way to that, well, the gameplay is based on Dungeons & Dragons type RPG systems, similar to certain other computer/ console games, with plenty of dialogue and steeped in all matters Jedi, plus a lot of people to interact with in a universe that feels real, divided, at war, and full of people who need blasting, even if you decide to help some deserving souls along the way.
I have come to appreciate why this game is considered a masterpiece. Among other things, it doesn’t try to be what it isn’t. It’s there to be enjoyed, do its thing, and be finished with an epic (at least for length) final boss fight. It has enough creative ideas and just, well, the feel of Star Wars to carry it through.
At any rate, being able to swing around your own lightsaber in a role-playing game is a pleasure that does not get old easily.
One must wonder if a third KoToR game will ever be made and what form it might take. Certainly memories of the first are strong. Even the second, which I had played previously, wasn’t bad except for the fact the ending was largely unfinished; it did have a lot of gameplay enhancements. How much could be done with a third?
Anyway, I do like Star Wars in general, though I will say this, for the record.
There’s no problem with Han firing first in the Cantina. None.
I rest my case.
“Asobi ni Iku Yo” is one of a certain style of recent anime that embraces all manner of cliche “anime content” – in this case, we have an a) alien b) catgirl c) with vivid proportions, and she’s just the start of it – and taking things several steps further to create something zany, but entertaining.
Production values for this show, well… extremely high is the best way to put it. The opening theme’s CG water effects look like they belong in a movie, not on television. They’re flaunted in the show itself a bit but, someone’s being paid some really good money for that.
Oh, the characters are quite amusing too, in most cases. Honestly I don’t go for the catgirl thing nearly as much as the “real girls” in the show, aside from maybe the title character because she has a nice personality to go with it, but fortunately, we get to see a lot of the other girls, particularly in this episode.
It’s a bit tough to just start with the first episode to catch people up, so instead, I want to put behind a spoiler space something that is particularly crazy in this episode: totally silly, laughable, and to this viewer and writer, really entertaining. Also a bit ecchi, frankly. It’s amazing how close to the line they can walk things and still air it on TV.
Spoilers Here: show
Anyway, if you want to know whether to watch this show or not, I think that pretty much sums the pros and cons up both ways.
Ja ne! (Later!) (Japanese: じゃね！)
The upcoming Gundam 00 (Double-Oh, think James Bond) movie will probably be screened in Singapore on Sept. 18, 2010. While no venue has been announced yet, the Gundam Fiesta there is kind of hard to miss, so consider this an educated guess. In addition, the screening will be with English subtitles. Apparently, after years of a wide disconnect between Gundam in Japan and Gundam in the Americas (where nothing has really taken off since Wing), Gundam 00’s backers want this to be a true worldwide phenomenon.
In previously announced news, the Gundam 00 movie will definitely be screened in New York on Oct. 10 at the New York Comic Con and the New York Anime Festival. Again, with English subtitles.
If I can lob a criticism at the two TV seasons, it’s that the plot writing tended to be rigid because they “had to” produce a particular outcome, else this movie would not have been possible. Thus, there was some sense that things were stilted, that certain things were built to fail (in character and out-of-character), and well, let’s not get started on insurgent military tactics. It won’t end well.
But, Gundam 00 is blameless for pure eye candy on parade, which it is. Whatever you think of the rest, the CG animation was top class for television. A movie version can only be expected to be that much more visually impressive.
Any reporting on rumors and such here will be under spoiler tags in the future. Public news will be reported as-is.
At present, we have to wonder where else English screenings will take place.
So now that I have proper spoiler tags, I wanted to test them out on something that, in and of itself, requires no spoilers at all.
Dragonball Z Kai is a remake of the original. “Kai” – Japanese: 改 – is a marker indicating that the original is modified in some way. I have endeavored to understand how this would be translated in a perfect world. I think that there is no one, true way here, but “plus” might work well. At any rate, that’s not how it would be known to people watching the show from overseas, so it is not how I represent it here.
There are mainly two ways in which this version differs from the original.
The first is the limited use of brand-new animation, beyond cleaning up the old. Certain special effects have more vibrant colors used for them, for instance. Also, the opening and ending themes have glossy, HDTV-friendly animation to them.
The second is a massive improvement in time efficiency. This is rather important; the original was truly notorious and infamous for wasting time.
As a result, episode 71 is quite far into a run of 100 episodes that will complete the entire original “Dragonball Z” series.
Time compression, through the use of tasteful and widespread editing, makes watching this show far more enjoyable. There is hardly an episode that does not have meaningful action, and many have a rather considerable amount of it thanks to wiping out a lot of the “suspense-building” and so on.
So, onward to the current episode:
