11.27.09
Posted in Anime, Manga, Novels, Ongoing Investigations Tags: Angel Notes, Detective Conan, Haruhi Suzumiya, Kaidan Restaurant, Liar Game, The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, Type-Moon, Yumeiro Patissiere, タイプムーン, チェイサー, ライアーゲーム, 名探偵 コナン, 夢色パティシエール, 怪談レストラン, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱, 涼宮ハルヒの溜息 at 8:46 am by reversethieves
Having never seen the second season of Haruhi I have yet to be embittered by the franchise. Therefore I have happily gone and picked up the The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya novel. It’s hardly brand spanking new territory for those who watched the TV series but it does go in depth into the creation of the movie that makes up episode 0 of the original TV series. It does shed a good deal of light on events that occur during episode 0 if you were not already aware of them such as why occasionally people are busting out powers during the filming of the movie and why Kyon’s cat talks only in episode 0. Other than that there are no major plot revelations or character development. It tells the story you already mostly know but gives you the behind the scenes details into how that movie was made. It is mostly a fun little romp with Haruhi as the Japanese Ed Wood. I think the novel is a good cure for those who still want to like the Haruhi series but were burnt out by Endless Eight.
The latest Detective Conan Movie, the 13th one to be exact, titled The Raven Chaser was a really enjoyable addition to the Conan library. This one involves a rather clever serial killer who leaves Mahjong tiles at the scenes of his victims and that is only the beginning of the string of clues our boy detective must unravel! This movie did plenty of things right while keeping it just grounded enough. You can follow Conan’s logic even if you can’t figure things out a head of time, which is a plus. Also this story throws in a lot of favorite characters including Heiji and Kazuha, plus the addition of the Black Organization makes the movie a well plotted trip. The final confrontation is a high adrenaline sequence involving Tokyo Tower that isn’t to be missed. Also no surprise but the movie looks great. Highly recommended!
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05.08.09
Posted in Anime, Manga, Music, Novels, Ongoing Investigations Tags: Glass Mask, Haruhi Suzumiya, Hayate the Combat Butler, Key to the Kingdom, Liar Game, The Lapis Lazuli Crown, ガラスの仮面, ハヤテのごとく!, ライアーゲーム, 涼宮ハルヒ, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱, 王国の鍵, 青金石之王冠 at 6:42 am by reversethieves
I finished the Contraband arc of Liar Game. It ended pretty strongly with a equal mixture of success and failure for our main characters. I really liked that it was neither a total victory nor a total loss. Nao and Shinichi are definitely in a tight spot going into the next round but they did much of what they needed to do. Liar Game stays a smart series that challengers the reader but does not pull its plot twists out of thin air. How the game works and how the characters pull off their schemes are set up before the reveals are given. A clever person could probably figure out the answers in advance. Norihiko Yokoya has obviously been set up as a reoccurring villain which is the first in the series. Nao is still oscillating between being girl-who-needs-to-be-saved and Shinichi’s partner but at least her character is growing. I am hoping by the end she will have her own unique perception and tactics. I am a little surprised that Fukunaga is staying on as an important side character.
Picked up Key to the Kingdom a while back but just started reading it. So far books one and two have impressed me, it is a wonderfully put together shojo fantasy. We start with Asta, the youngest prince, who has no desire to rule nor to hold a sword. So when the country’s rule lies in the hands of whoever can find the “key to the kingdom” it seems he will be free of such troubles. However, fate has other things in store as Badd, a retainer, drags him into looking for clues to its whereabouts. When a Dragon Man appears on their path it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. A diverse cast emerges along the road as Asta resists but gets caught up in the complexity of the country’s history. There are many things going in this story including action, politics, mystery, and love. I was surprised that the series is only six years old because the art certainly has a late-80’s or mid-90’s feel to it. A great start to the series, highly recommended!
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12.19.08
Posted in Anime, Fandom, Manga, Ongoing Investigations Tags: Bartender, Basilisk, Maria+Holic, Object of Desire, Red Blinds the Foolish, Revenge of the Space Pirate, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, それだけかい, まりあ†ほりっく, わが青春のアルカディア, バジリスク〜甲賀忍法帖〜, バーテンダー, 愚か者は赤を嫌う, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 at 10:27 am by reversethieves
My first thought upon finishing the first story in Object of Desire by Tomoko Noguchi was this is certainly a series of Redikomi stories. This means that it is josei with graphic sex. We get the Full Monte from both sexes and pretty graphic intercourse. It’s certainly not traditional hentai but it’s not censored in any fashion. There are four one-chapter stories and one two-chapter story. The title of the book sets the tone about girls falling for guys who might not be the easiest or best choices for them. Almost all of the men cheat on the women they are with and are usually jerk-faces to their girlfriends at some point in the story. In fact, the author mentions that in retrospect even she found the guys to be tremendous jerks even if they were lovable jerks. The art is rather pleasant and cute where it needs to be cute and sexy where it needs to be sexy but the author seems to have an odd policy about hands. She either draws them extremely well and detailed or so horribly that even I noticed it. She does the same things with mouths to a lesser degree. I think Oil and Water and With Lemon were may favorite stories in the series because we get a little more insight into the main characters than in the others. I was most interested in Shizuka and Kimura’s weirdly developing relationship and their coming to understand each other and themselves. Maid for Love was my least favorite story because although the main guy was the nicest and coolest guy in the whole book his girlfriend was sort of a ditzy-subservient-maid-girl. Overall they are short little stories about trying to find a little connection with someone else in sexual relationships. I found the stories enjoyable but extremely fluffy as you would expect from what is essentially girl porn. You can see for yourself if this collection is for you because Aurora has a preview of it up.
I watched the first episode of Basilisk. I got it along with three other first episodes from a Funimation deal with iTunes for free. I had heard good things about it, mostly about the crazy warriors and the fighting. I really enjoy the opening fight between a guy who used wire verses a guy who used sticky goo. Oh a side note, guy who uses sticky goo, not the most attractive fellow. There is also this guy that works for the shogunate that has the craziest chin. I think his secret ability must be hidden in it. This short half hour had a good balance of action and political drama. I enjoyed the fierce rivalry of the two clans mixed with unattainable love plot as well. I am curious to see more of it.
Bartender is without a doubt healing manga. While the stories are warm, touching, and fascinating there is also nothing close to action in them. The story revolves around Ryu Sasakura who is, oddly enough, a bartender. Customers come to various bars where he works and he is able to size them up and give them just the cocktail needed to solve their problems. This neigh magical ability has given him the nickname the “glass of God.” Does anyone know if there is some connection between Bartender and Yakitate!! Japan. Did the artists of both series study under the same guy or is it all in my head? They both have similar character designs and personalities to their main characters. Also, while the comedy is over the top in Yakitate!! Japan the comedy in Bartender can be reminicent of it in style. The Bartender manga seems radially different from the anime but conversely the essence is the same. Ryu uses his Sherlockian attention to detail and empathy and dispenses an expertly served bit of alcohol as he solves their problems. The chapters also end with recipes for all the cocktails presented.
Watched three more episodes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I really enjoyed the two part murder mystery on the lonesome island. I liked how it established a limit upon Haruhi’s desires because she always seems so boundless. So I am just a few short episodes away from finishing this show.
In anticipation of the upcoming Maria†Holic anime, I decided to read some of the manga to see how much it lives up to our expectations. Kanako is so repulsed by boys she breaks out into hives whenever one touches her. So she goes to an all girls school to meet the girl of her dreams. On her first day, Kanako runs into a beautiful blonde girl named Maria and falls head over heals for her. The problem is that Maria is actually a boy. So Maria uses his influence to become Kanako’s roommate and watch her 24/7 to make sure she does not reveal his secret. Most of the comedy comes at Kanako’s expense because Maria and his maid are horrible human beings. I find this highly amusing but it might turn some people off. It’s a solid anti-romantic comedy. I eagerly await the first episode of the anime. On a side note the reaction shots remind me on Pani Poni at times.
Read a short BL manga collection called Red Blinds the Foolish by est em. The main story is about a famous bull fighter and his lover, a butcher, we get to see their quiet passion for each other but also a loving resolve to try and understand the other. The focuses in all the stories are some unique, and sometimes a little odd, relationships. The manga-ka gives us just a glimpse into the lives of these characters which starts in the middle and doesn’t end in finality. I found this approach appealing and a little abstract but I never felt hindered by not knowing every detail of these characters history. Most of the stories contain some amount of sex however it is not graphic with just a little nudity and none of it frontal. I liked that they kept alot of the Spanish words in the first story and gave us footnotes, however many of the footnotes were close to the spine making it difficult to read or even notice. The art is well done for the most part and made me think of my many hours in figure drawing classes. An added bonus at the end is the manga-ka talking about a trip to Spain to see real matadors. It is a very amusing couple of pages and she draws herself as R2D2. This manga-ka is great a creating quiet little vignettes and also helps to show the range found in BL manga. A preview of Red Blinds the Foolish is also avaliable!
I bit the bullet and watched Revenge of the Space Pirate aka The Just for Kids version of Arcadia of My Youth. It was bundled at Wal-mart with Defenders of Space and Protectors of the Universe for three dollars. While Arcadia of my Youth is considered a classic, less people feel the same way about Revenge of the Space Pirate. I have seen less wooden acting in a marionette show. Half the time the voice actors seem like they are on qualudes and the other half they are just plain terrible. The dub script looks as if someone who did not know Japanese read a quick summary of what the movie was about and then wrote a script based on their best guess of what was being said. I know that Arcadia of My Youth is not the quickest moving movie, but Revenge of the Space Pirate moved at a glacial pace despite cutting out parts of the original film. I am still interested to see original because if you look under the deck you can see there is a well-made manly Harlock movie. There was also two episodes of Robo Formers (Getter Robo G) and two episodes of the lusciously well-animated Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 40s to fill-out the DVD. Robo Formers makes Revenge of the Space Pirate look like a masterpiece. I’m not how much the “quality” has to do with Getter Robo G being garbage and how much is just a terrible dub but my goodness was Robo Formers painful.
Because there can never be too much Alice in Wonderland fan-art, this is the pic of the week:
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