Anime#36--Comic-Con

Comic-Con is not strictly anime, but it's so huge and so many anime industry announcements and events take place there, I thought it'd be worth mentioning. Every year since 1970, Comic Con International has been held in San Diego, California. (hence the nickname, San Diego Comic Con. SDCC is not affiliated with New York Comic Con which has only been running for a few years)

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/

Because so many people come to Comic Con, many anime studios save their announcements for it, instead of Anime Expo or some other large anime convention where people would actually care. I don't see how they benefit from announcing at Comic Con, because when half the attendees are there for the newest superhero flick or whatever Pixar's doing and don't care in the least what titles Viz acquired, it kind of defeats the purpose of it, don't you think? But then again, maybe this is a chance to expose themselves to the other geek-doms that are most likely to be converted to otaku.

ANN always has great coverage of the anime and manga side of Comic Con, like they do for Anime Expo, Otakon, and the various other conventions they cover. Check it out here.

Comic-Con is the biggest convention of its kind, with an expected 126,000 attendees this year--which is capacity! They've sold out all their passes! Their guests, according to wikipedia, which is probably according to the Comic-Con website, include:

Mike Allred, Kevin J. Anderson, Sergio Aragonés, John Barrowman, Ramón Valdiosera Berman, Gerald Brom, Tim Burton, Gerard Butler, James Cameron, Park Chan-Wook, Gene Colan, Nicola Cuti, Russell T Davies, Felicia Day, Johnny Depp, Omar Dogan, Kevin Eastman, Steve Epting, Mark Evanier, June Foray, Ramona Fradon, Hunter Freberg, Stan Freberg, Julie Gardner, Gary Gianni, Jimmy Gownley, Seth Green, Kevin Greutert, Michael C. Hall, Russ Heath, Brian Herbert, James Jean, Geoff Johns, Eric Jones, Kazu Kibuishi, Dennis Kitchen, Hope Larson, Nick Langley, John Lasseter, Taylor Lautner, Jim Lee, Steven Lisberger, Francis Manapul, Dwayne McDuffie, Hayao Miyazaki, Doug Moench, Sheldon Moldoff, Fabio Moon, Olivia Munn, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Patrick Oliphant, Amanda Palmer, Jim Parsons, Stephen Pastis, Robert Pattinson, Kevin Pereira, David Petersen, Danny Rosenblatt, Jerry Robinson, Mike Royer, Stan Sakai, Lew Sayre Schwartz, Seth, Bill Sienkiewicz, Gail Simone, Leonard Starr, Kristen Stewart, Jessica Mae Stover, J. Michael Straczynski, David Tennant, Richard Thompson, Natalie Tran, Lewis Trondheim, Michael Uslan, Jerry Vanderstelt, Charles Vess, Landry Walker, Adam West, Wil Wheaton, Bill Willingham, Gene Yang, Leinil Yu, Robert Zemeckis and more to be announced.

Everyone from RPattz to Hayao Miyazaki! It looks intimidating, but Comic-Con's just like any other convention. Only it's really, really (REALLY) big.

Reviews #11--Eyeshield 21

Eyeshield 21, written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata and formerly serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.


Eyeshield is one of my favorite series, and is also one of the best sports mangas I've ever read--although that doesn't mean a whole lot, as I don't read that many sports mangas. The protagonist, like any good sports manga--or shonen in general, is an underdog with an uncanny natural ability for football. Sena Kobayakawa was picked on his whole life and because of that became a very fast runner--though we find out in much later volumes that he was taught proper running technique early on in life, to make things somewhat plausible. He gets roped into the football team at Deimon High by the demon-like quarterback Hiruma and the gentle giant lineman Kurita. But his friend, Mamori, is very protective of Sena, having shielded him from bullies in elementary and middle school. She would never approve of Sena playing such a dangerous sport, so he poses as manager and hides his identity on the field under a tinted eyeshield. His jersey is #21, and there you have the name, Eyshield 21. This name creates interesting problems later in the series.

I love football. And now I love football that much more because of this manga. There's nothing like a themed team to make you understand a certain play--such as the Posidens and their tidal wave defense--a 3-4 defense set to block passes because of all the defensive backs. Never were tacky fighting names more appropriate in a shonen than in this series, with teams such as the Knights, Wild Gunmen, Scorpions, aforementioned Posidens, Titans, Sphinxes, Chameleons, Wolves, Dinosaurs, Spiders, and of course, our very own Deimon Devil Bats, all with their own unique and recognizable character designs.

There's 37 volumes overall, with 26 or 27 published in the US so far. Over time, the Devil Bats assemble a full team--albeit one that is forced to play both offense and defense. They claw their way to the top, traditional underdog-shonen style. But even though you know they're teammates to the title character, and therefore are going to win, you can't help but read anyway. Whether you know how to play football or not, you'll understand the series. It starts with the basics, touchdowns and running, and gradually eases readers into more complicated rules, passing, field goals, various formations and positions, until you find you know all the rules of football! (except penalties--these seem to not exist in Japanese football, because no one ever gets them. XD) The depictions of Sena's running are some of my favorite illustrations in a sports manga ever. Though, again, I have little sports manga experience. ^^; And it's not that the illustrations are all that impressive, I just like the way it's done. It's a fine example of how graphic novels differ from other mediums.

They even manage to work in girls who don't exist just for fanservice! Mamori and, after the America training arc, Suzuna are pretty much the only girls, but in a series about football, that's not surprising. They provide a little bit of romance, but mostly are just integral parts of the plot. In fact, there is NO fanservice in this series! In general, it's pretty young teen-friendly, with the worst anything being Hiruma saying "damn" in front of everything.

Positives: it's a real fun series with memorable characters, good character design, good execution of the standard underdog-fights-his-way-to-the-top, don't need to know football to read it.
Negatives: Underdog-fights-his-way-to-the-top, so it's predictable. If you don't like football, you're out of luck, because that's everything. Yeah, there's cool character development within every football game, but that's just it, they only develop during games.

Overall, I love the series to death. I re-read it all the time. I like football, too, so I suppose I'm biased. I give it a B+. It's tons of fun, and the best football series you'll ever read, but not all that groundbreaking otherwise. It's definitely worth checking out, though.

Opinion: Anime #35--Addressing the FUNimation Leaks

There's been a big to-do in the anime community recently about FUNimation's One Piece and Phantom streams downloaded and leaked before their Japanese airdates. Also, their FMA: Brotherhood stream which was leaked before its intended airdate but at least after its Japanese airdate. Because I am now done with classes, I now have the time to not only read these articles on ANN, but explore the forums. I need to learn to not do that. Exploring ANN forums only makes me hate the anime community. There are two basic views on this issue, those who think that FUNi's been wronged, and those who think that FUNi got what they deserved.

The majority of people blame FUNi completely and insult people in very condescending terms when they say otherwise. Someone stole these episodes and illegally redistributed them. Shouldn't we blame them? Yeah, FUNi's security was nonexistent, but they actually care about their fans. They get us boxsets and put extras on their DVDs and offer the option of translated and non-translated theme songs and ARE TRYING TO GET US THE SIMLUCASTS WE'VE BEEN WHINING FOR. So this person/persons thank FUNi by bitorrenting the episodes before they come out in Japan?! HECK YES IT'S THEIR FAULT. FUNi needs to improve security, yes, but that's no excuse for stealing their stuff. Just because it's easier to steal doesn't make it less wrong.

The last time I was on the ANN forums was when the Sakuracon commercial aired. The silly commerical that didn't do any real harm, but then I got on the ANN forums. So all you otaku out there, I caution you if you visit the ANN forums. People there tend to think too much of themselves and be very insulting if you don't agree with them. I can't stand it.

You can have your own opinion, and I don't care what it is. But I blame whoever redistributed the episodes. All the people who defy the industry just because they like their fansubs--guess what? Without the industry, THERE IS NO ANIME IN NORTH AMERICA. You have no conventions, no merchandise, no English-dubbed anime. Maybe you don't care, but the majority of us do. Stop being jerks and follow the legal process.

Anime #34--Internet

Two posts ago was my Sociology Project. Part of that project was to compare my chosen subculture to another subculture. One of the subcultures that the anime fandom is closely related to is the internet. We watch anime on the internet. We read manga on the internet. We get news, we talk with each other, we post fanart/fiction/videos on the internet. Since we spend so much time on the internet, parts of internet culture get integrated into our own. What parts of internet culture? I'm glad you asked...

Language! From FTW to ROFL and everything in-between, anime fans are well-versed in internet lingo.

Etiquette: No flaming. No double-posting. Preferably stay on-topic.

Memes: Rickroll, Caramelldansen, Loituma, Star Wars Kid, Angry German Kid, Numa Numa, and so many, many more.

That's basically all I have to say. It's a simple and obvious overlap of cultures, but one that you may not think about. As an anime fan, odds are, you are also part of a subculture of people who use the internet a lot. For more fun internet memes, browse wikipedia's list of internet phenomenon and their definition of an internet meme.

Reviews #10--The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

I haven't seen anything new in ages--mostly I've been catching up on The Office from the EIGHT WEEKS that I missed it--and so will be reviewing a movie I saw a few months ago.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is loosely based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Instead of being a straight adaptation, it's more like a sequel. The author is very happy with the film version, so in that respect, it is a success. It didn't make a whole lot of money, but it wasn't released many places, either, and was overshadowed by more advertised films like Goro Miyazaki's (not to be confused with his father, Hayao) Tales from Earthsea film.

The titular girl, Makoto, discovers her power when she avoids a train accident. She can "leap" through time when she, literally, leaps and wants or needs to time-leap. She uses her powers at first for things like getting a good test grade and reliving karaoke. Her best friend, Chiaki, tries to confess his love, but she time-leaps to avoid it. Her other friend, Kosuke, has his own love troubles with another girl in the class, and Makoto tries to help them. Though all this, she seeks the advice of her aunt, implied to be the protagonist of the original novel.

It's got romance, comedy, high school, and some science-fiction. The animation is very good, and the dub voice acting isn't too bad. I didn't watch it subbed, sad to say, so I can't comment on the original actors. I spent the entire movie wondering where I knew Andrew Francis, who voices Chiaki. He does some other voice-acting work, including Megaman from the old series than ran on KidsWB way back when. Emily Hirst (Makoto) and Alex Zahara (Kosuke), I've never heard before, but all the actors were well-suited for their roles.

I don't usually watch anime movies that aren't based on a series or come out of Studio Ghibli. Watching this movie was a good way to break that habit, and I will probably watch more movies now because of it.

Reasons for: Nice animation, interesting story, cute romance, good direction.
Reasons against: Is slow at times, slightly confusing, romance may not be your thing.
Overall Rating: A

Anime #33--Tekko VII Con Report

Ah, Tekko VII. My fourth Tekko. It was a very nice year, with a wonderful new venue, lots of guests, and fun to be had all around. Just about everything this year was better than last year except for the walk from the hotel to the convention center, but that was so incredibly better than cramming the con into a hotel, that it's not worth complaining about. Here's a much briefer con report than the gigantic thing I put on my LJ.

FRIDAY
Got to the convention center around 4:30, before any of my friends from school. I registered and hung out with my Tekko!friends I met two years ago. For the first time, I went to AMVs! After, I met up with my school!friends, who all went to put their stuff in the room. My stuff was in Tekko!friends room, so I stayed with them and we took fun group pictures. I hung out with them for most of the evening, just taking pictures and talking, as I preferred that to seeing Uncle Yo again. I took pictures of some great costumes, and had some great pictures taken of my and my friends. My favorite costume group on Friday was a WALL-E GROUP. A REALLY DETAILED WALL-E GROUP. :D MO had a mop, EVE had a gun, WALL-E had a cooler, AND they had almost all the props from the scene in the truck! Props!! Plus, I knew them from Tekko 1/2 two years ago when I went by myself and they hung out with me for a bit. Hence why I was so happy. Took lots and lots of pictures of them and fangirled about as much as one can fangirl about a silent robot romance.
The rest of the night was talking with friends and eating pizza. Boring stuff to you all reading this.

SATURDAY
This was the day I debuted the ARMOR. Well. It was a mess. But if I had just painted it a little better, I think I would have been happy with it. I'll fix it up for a future con.
This was also the morning of my first panel. I had a little trouble setting up, and so did not have time to play all my AMVs like I had wanted. Also, my computer wouldn't recognize the projector as a second monitor for some reason, and I had to go without my notes! So I glossed over a lot of stuff because I didn't have the details in front of me. Which was good, since I finished in time. It went pretty well, and people answered most of the questions about the manga and anime. It was things like pairings and voice actors that stumped folks. (Marc Thompson was the other 4-person voice actor! Duke, Jean-Claude Magnum, Rafael, and Valon) Laj and Celinra helped out with that Yami Bakura/Zorc/Thief Bakura triangle that the guy from last year confused me on. Bakura is Thief reincarnated. Yami Bakura is Zorc. That's it. (right?) I had a bigger turnout than last year (bigger room, likely) and it seemed like everyone was entertained. ^^;; I want to keep doing Yuugiou themed panels now that it seems like I'm destined to be Jou every year, so I'm thinking a manga/anime comparison next year.
The panel ended after I briefly covered abridged quotes, which were all correctly identified. A couple of guys came up afterwards, and I spazzed when one introduced himself as Kroze. Kroze, the Yugioh Abridged site creator, at my panel! He told me to spread the news about his Abridged screening in the video room, and his dealers room booth. I, in turn, asked him about episode 38, and told him that I was "the fangirl that kept posting on LK's livejournal". To which he responded "oh, that was YOU!". ^__^;; So now I'm rather hoping he'll tell LK that I'm that particular fangirl, and then LK will know who I am! :D After that, I headed towards the hotel to meet up with Yugi and the rest of the Os.
I went back to my room to change, and my day as a member of the band began! I joined up with the band, now in J-Rock costume, and we got Deathcom pictures. They're amazing. Go check the site. We had to cut it short to go to Masquerade rehearsal, though. We signed up, got info, and set up in the hallway. We had decided beforehand we were going to "perform" a few songs in the afternoon while in costume. We drew quite a crowd, and it was a lot of fun. XD
I got lunch and had just enough time to stop in my hotel room (with school!friends) before having to go to the actual Masquerade. Our skit is up on youtube if interested.
After Maquerade, I finally made it to Artist's Alley, got myself some stuff. Stayed in J-Rock outfit and took some pictures with my aforementioned Tekko!friends. Changed back into my other costume, then took Deathcom pictures with them. Most of the con was changing and taking pictures. Sat in on the last 15 minutes of the industry panel with Greg Ayres, Stephanie Sheh, and others. Got Stephanie's autograph, but Greg had to leave because he's still not feeling well after his heart problems.
Got some dinner, went to the Yugioh Abridged panel. I wound up not going to the rave at all, just staying at Abridged because Kroze was giving out prizes, and I really wanted a t-shirt. It took me until the very last question to finally know an answer! But at last, X GON GIVE IT TO YOU, BY DMX! With that, I won myself a Catapult Turtle shirt! I had Kroze sign in the next day.

SUNDAY

Donned the Armor once again to take Deathcom pictures. The wings were horrible. After, went to the scarce Dealer's Room, found nothing I wanted, and went to Artist's Alley. Then, it was time for my panel! It went well. I covered everything I wanted to, my friends liked it, Kroze came, and I even got some positive feedback on the Tekko forums:

"4Kids Sub vs. Dub panel was pretty well researched. I found out some edits to One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh that I didn't even know happened. Those sneaky 4Kids people. I hope the woman who did this panel does it again next year."

Thanks! I will! (and she knew I was a WOMAN. Even with my raspy I-just-got-over-a-sore-throat voice and Jou costume! XD There was a lot of confusion over that last year.)
Went back to Artists Alley with ALL my friends and Kroze. I think there were 12 of us. XD;; Pikced up the art I had commisioned Saturday night. It's SO CUTE. 8D After, all my school friends left, leaving me, Tekko!friends, and Kroze. We talked, and eventually all left. On my way out, I walked past none other than GREG AYRES. I met Mr. Ayres last year and three years ago at Tekkoshocon, but last year when I took a picture with him, it didn't develop. I deliberated and finally asked him a picture, which he gladly agreed to take. So now I have a picture with Greg Ayres! That officially ended the con for me. So long, Tekko VII. Can't wait for next year.

Anime #32--Sociology Project

I'm doing a report on the anime fan subculture for sociology class, and needed a website with a number of specific hyperlinks. Rather than try to find a website that magically had everything we needed, my partner and I decided to just use my blogger and make a blog entry. I get to use this as an excuse for an update, and you get some anime-related websites.



News:
Anime News Network






Forums:
Anime forums








































Fan Works



DeviantArt









Fanfiction.net









Anime Music Videos









Watch/Read


Youtube








OneManga









onemanga.com



Now, onto the next part of the presentation, CLUBS!

Opinion: Anime #31--Otaku Identity

Being American and being a fan of Japanese animation has always been an interesting position. The animation is from a different culture, and those things from other cultures can appeal to us, who do not live in that culture. I believe every otaku has gone though a "Japanphile" phase. You buy a yukata, you pretend to celebrate a Japanese holiday, you eat sushi, you employ phrases picked up from watching things subbed, etc. When the interest in Japanese culture reaches the "everthing about Japan is amazing and Japan can do no wrong" phase, it has gone too far.
I think that part of it is a sort of rite of passage. If you know more about Japan than someone else, you're a better otaku. Makes sense, right? Until you start objectifying Japanese people's culture as a state in life that can be obtained by eating enough soba, watching enough fansubs, and calling everything you see "kawaii". For most, it's a stage of being a fan, and doesn't get to that nasty objectifying place. I certainly went through the "learn Japanese and spout words picked up from subs" phase. When it persists, that's not so good.
That isn't to say that wanting to know more about Japan is a bad thing. I have a sincere desire to learn Japanese now. I did a 40-minute long presentation on the history of anime and its cultural significance in Japan last year for World Literature. I'm interested in Japanese literature. I like knowing those little cultural things in series that Americans don't usually know. (example: just yesterday in Ouran High School Host Club, there was a scene where a character saw a tea stalk sticking up in his tea. In Japan, that's a sign of good luck.)

This was spawned by a commericial for Sakura-Con.


The commercial has sparked some heated debates between otaku, though most of it was two months ago when the commercial actually AIRED. ^_^;; But I was so sick of the debate, I never wanted to post it. I saw it in my unposted posts today, and felt I needed to address the topic. Rewatching the video, I don't think it's THAT bad. They were going for something like "we all like different aspects of anime culture! sakura-con has ALL those things! isn't that cool?" but came off more like "WE'RE OBSESSED JAPANAPHILES WHOO SAKURA-CON". Anime fans took offense. But it's over now, and not that big a deal anymore.

In summary, liking Japan = good. Japanaphile, Japan can do NO WRONG, Japan is better than everything else, spouting off random Japanese words means you can speak Japanese = BAD.

Anime #30--There She Is!!

No, it's not actually anime. But I've wanted to talk about it since February, only I didn't know if I should continue the blog when Ing moved to Shaler. It'll just be a Shaler AND Bethel Park blog now. ^^;;
"There She Is!!" is a flash video series by the Korean animating group SamBakZa. The first video, titled simply "There She Is!!", featuring the song "There She Is!!" by Witches, was released April 2003. It became popular in English speaking countries the following year when a version with English titles was released. The characters don't actually speak, so the videos can appeal to viewers from all around the world, though the songs that score the videos are in Korean. In a world of cats and rabbits, a female rabbit falls in love with a male cat. There are a few problems, though. The male cat isn't interested, and cat/rabbit relationships are prohibited. It's hilarious, cute, and amazingly animated.

Step 2, "Cake Dance" was released February 2005, and features the song "Happy Birthday to Me" by Bulldog Mansion. This is the only one of the songs from the videos that can be purchased on iTunes, which I have done. ^^;; I believe that more than one video was not originally intended, but because of the large amount of positive feedback, SamBakZa obliged with a second video. It's the rabbit's birthday, and the cat gets her a cake. The video follows his trip back with the cake, and the trouble he goes through to get it to the party safely. The "Jjinta set" or "moron set" is introduced in this step: they are a group of funny gangster rabbits who don't get along with the cat.

There are three more steps, which went into production after SamBakZa received funding from Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency (GDCA). However, because of that, they now have a hard time getting DVD and merchandise rights. I'm okay with that, though, because I love steps 3-5. Step three, "Doki and Nabi", features the song "3차성징" (Sam-cha Seong-jing, translating to "tertiary sex characteristic") by T.A.COPY. The character names are finally revealed! Doki is the rabbit, and Nabi is the cat. They go on their first date, in a world that is still against cat/rabbit relationships.

Step 4 - Paradise, was released August 20, 2008 and features the song "Wolsik" by Tabu. This is the darkest of the five videos. The world's anti cat/rabbit view makes things difficult for the dating Doki and Nabi. Conflict starts to build as groups of animals protest for the right to have inter-species relationships. One of the Jjinta set, Yi-ho (the eyepatch one) is among those protesters. Doki and Nabi's relationship reaches its dark moment, and all fans wait anxiously for step 5.

The final step certainly delivers. Featuring the song "Imagine" by Brunch (which is a direct response to John Lennon's "Imagine"), step 5 is easily my favorite of the series. It debuted just recently in December 2008. The ending is amazing. The song is amazing. I love everything about this video. Heck, I even transcribed the song, as chords/tabs/music/ANYTHING are nowhere to be found on the internet. Nabi finally proves his love, and we get everything from car chases, fights, those animals from steps 2-4, Doki's daydreams from step 1 (see left), and help from all characters seen in the series. (Jjinta set, Grey Rabbit, Hana, Pizza, and all the protesters) I couldn't imagine a better ending. XD (Ha ha... ha... okay, not funny.)

To view the videos, you'll have to go to the SamBakZa website, click "English", click "amalloc" and then pick your episodes. You can go to youtube or the like, but the quality is MUCH better on the actual website. (and you can download the flash to your computer, get a flash-to-video converter, and put it on your portable video player! ...like me... ^^;;)

It's not remotely close to anime, but it's animated in manwha style, which is Korean comic books/graphic novels/manga, which is related to anime by being related to manga. So... it kind of fits. But it's just a great set of videos that I recommend to everyone. (I am NOT going to comment on whatever kind of message the animators intend. I like the love story, I love the music, and I love the animation. I think it's supposed to make a statement about interracial marriage, but just in case it's something else, I am not endorsing anything.)

Reviews #9--Ouran High School Host Club

Ouran High School Host Club, known also as Ouran, is a very amusing take on the shojo genre. Haruhi Fujioka is a student at Ouran Academy, a very elite private school. One day, Haruhi stumbles into an "abandoned" music room and finds the Host Club. While trying to leave, Haruhi destroys a very expensive vase and is eight hundred million yen in the club's debt. The boys of the club force Haruhi to work for them to pay of the debt.
What the host club does is cater to the women of the school--basically, they're male geishas without physical contact. They have tea, they throw parties, they give flowers, flatter, woo, and otherwise entertain the ladies with their different male charms. Tamaki Suoh, the leader, is the "prince". Kyoya Ootori is the cool mastermind, the one actually in charge. Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin are twins, andthe "little devil" type. Mitsukuni Haninozuka is the "lolita-shota" type, appears to be an elementary schooler, loves sweets, and is the national judo champion. O_o; Takashi Morinozuka is his cousin, the "wild" type according to wikipedia, but more like the strong silent type. He's at Huni-senpai's side at all times, and talks very little.

Tamaki discovers that Haruhi is a natural at entertaining ladies, and promotes Haruhi to host. At the end of the day, Tamaki discovers that Haruhi, who he just employed as a male host, is in fact a girl. Haruhi cares little for appearances, and had no money for a girls' uniform, and didn't mind being mistaken for a boy, so she went along with it. The club decides that she's so good at being a host, the "natural" type, they'll hide her gender from the school and continue the masquerade.

This is normally the exact opposite of the type of series I would like. It's shojo to the extreme, actually parodying many common themes in shojo series. But while being extreme, each of the boys are actually very honorable and chivalrous, none more so than Tamaki. So I love it. It's hilarious, and makes fun of all the things I dislike about shojo series. It's got a likable strong heroine, and a chivalrous love interest. What more could I ask for? Well, and I can't believe no one thought of this, there's no "comedian" type. But other than that, it's great!

The dub is very well done, also. Vic Mignogna steals the show as Tamaki. He entertains me to no end, especially when I watch Ouran immediately after watching episodes 47 and 48 of Fullmetal Alchemist. (which, as any FMA fan knows, are late in the series and therefore very sad) Caitlin's no slouch, either, yelling at the twins, and dealing with all-around craziness. Travis Willingham plays Mori-senpai, and Aaron Dismuke rounds out the old FMA cast with a small role as Huni-senapi's younger brother. I love Greg Ayres in general, but the twins are to die for, and Huni is Huni. I haven't heard a character I don't like yet, and I think Caitlin is going an excellent job directing. The only thing I dislike are the theme songs. The English singers just don't sound as good as the original Japanese. The lyrics are awkward at times, and the singing itself isn't as good. However, I DO like FUNi's apparent new policy of translating the theme songs into English. If you don't like it, switch to the Japanese audio track. But if you do like it, you've got it made. It shows that FUNi is actually trying, and as a fan, I appreciate that.

Granted, Ouran IS a shojo. It's silly. There's a wide range of people who don't particularly like it. I've read about 4 volumes of the manga, and I enjoy the anime much more because of the hilarious voices. It's not a great work of literature or anything, but it's entertaining, and it doesn't take itself seriously when it does its gags. On the whole, a very fun series, that I would recommend to anyone looking for something peppy. Also very good when you've got a group of friends over.

Overall: A- for entertainment value.