Review -- Ah! My Goddess

My tastes in anime series usually have less to do with genre and more to do with what people recommend. I've been a fan of everything from mecha to slice-of-life to magical girl. But one thing I still typically shy away from is romantic comedy. Not that I don't love a good rom-com. But keyword there is good. I cringe at dates-gone-awry, panty shots, and a complete and utter lack of plot beyond "this boy and girl are in middle/high school and like each other. Cue beach episode." Ah! My Goddess doesn't share all of these traits (see: complete lack of anything sexual, including panty shots) but enough of them to make me want to smack my head off a wall more than once. The main character is an average college student who has absolutely nothing to offer the goddess who has fallen into his lap. His love interest is said goddess, who is literally perfect. And she is bound to stay with him forever.  But somehow, something charmed me into watching all 24 episodes. I can't say I regret it, since I'm watching the second season now. But I also can't say it's anywhere near as good (or unique) as Princess Tutu, Trigun, or Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, all of which I spent last Christmas break watching. Ah! My Goddess is less sexual and more charming than it sounds, but at about the exact same quality level you expect it to be.

Keiichi Morisato is a really nice guy. The anime adds nearly an episode of character development for Keiichi before it reaches the opening scene of the manga where Belldandy appears. Said episode is just an ordinary day in the life of Mr. Morisato in which he does his best to help any and all people around him, but without the annoying "MY LIFE IS DEDCIATED TO HELPING PEOPLE RAWR HELPING-PEOPLE-SMASH" of Shiro from Fate/Stay Night, another series I was led to believe is much better than it actually is. (But that's a story for another review.) In the case of AMG, I was misled by the opening theme. I was playing a "guess the anime by opening theme" quiz and "Open Your Mind" was included. If you just clicked on the link and watched, I think you can understand why. The Celtic-inspired strings and woodwinds and the simple yet appealing animation in the opening were quite intriguing, and I was looking for something light and romantic to watch, so I gave it a try.

So Keiichi is a really great decent guy. His luck is terrible and his life kind of sucks, but he continues to help people. His roommates go to a party and stick Keiichi with all the chores--and he does them! He's in a hurry, but runs into a little girl looking for her mom's wallet, so he stops to help her. By the time he accidentally dials the goddess helpline, we're rooting for him. Upon answering the phone, first-class, second category, unlimited liscense goddess Belldandy (based on the Norse god Verdandi but mis-romanized) pops out of Keiichi's mirror and promises to grant him one wish. Any wish. His lack of self-confidence leads him to believe that she can't be serious and that his auto club buddies are just pranking him because she's so hot and he's a short, penniless loser. After sincerely complimenting him and boosting his confidence about tenfold, Keiichi wishes to have a godddess like Belldandy stay by his side... forever.

Belldandy for one brief moment finds herself panic-ridden at the thought of staying on Earth with Keiichi forever, and then recovers and attaches herself to him--figuratively speaking, as the most romantic the first season gets is looking at each and blushing. I don't know if they even really hold hands. Surely the physically closest they get is that episode where some sort of potion goes awry and Belldandy gets turned into a total tramp. The first bunch of episodes involve Keiichi and Belldandy adjusting to their new lifestyle. Since they are bound by contract, Belldandy must stay by Keiichi's side or risk the wrath of the "system force" which brings about misfortune to those trying to separate the two and thus break their contract.

After school adventures and the system force start to wear out their welcome, Urd, Belldandy's older sister joins the pair. She is followed by Skuld, the younger sister, a handful of episodes later, and thankfully the added women do not cause the series to devolve into a harem anime. Urd is by far the better character, partly due to a great voice actor, partly because Skuld is just that annoying, and partly because Urd is loads of fun. All other supporting characters, from the demon Mara, to the other university students, are almost entirely comic relief and severely underdeveloped. They are cardboard cutouts used like backgrounds to make things look more interesting--and the backgrounds do a better job.  Backgrounds are the high point of the animation, which is just good enough to stay consistent throughout, but not good enough to impress anyone. The overall look of the series is pleasant and as brightly colored as it can be without getting unrealistic, but static.

The high point of the series is Belldandy herself. Odds are, if you don't like her, you won't like the series either and this review is a waste of time, but if you like the series, you love Belldandy. She's completely perfect. She's a wonderful person, always positive, helpful, kind, compassionate, attractive, powerful, a good cook, a fantastic singer, need I go on? She ought to be a total Mary-Sue and completley repulsive. But like Tohru Honda of Fruits Basket, she is completely sincere in her efforts and therefore somehow the most likable of all characters. Her complete (and not altogether unwarranted) devotion to Keiichi is more touching and charming than annoying, which is the series' saving grace. Once we clear that awkward "I'm happy to be forced to serve you for the rest of my existence simply because you wished it" phase and get into the "I'm in love with you and I want to be with you of my own free will" stage, her status as BEST CHARACTER is cemented.

All the dub voice actors save Eileen Stevens (Belldandy), Shannon Conley, credited as Vibe Jones (Urd), and Emily Bauer, credited as Emily Blau (Megumi) are annoying, just to varying degrees. (Peorth of the second season isn't too bad, but I'll limit myself to discussing the first) Mara, Den and Dai, Hasegawa, and especially that pervy guy with the long name are all pretty terrible. Keiichi and Sayoko never get worse than "mediocre" and usually are about average, but they're not winning any acting awards. This isn't so bad for Sayoko, but Keiichi's our main character! His actor doesn't have that much material to work with, though, and he does get some points for a hilarious job in the final episode of the series, but Eileen Stevens gets more points for making me actually care about her character. In fact, Eileen Stevens is my very favorite part of the entire anime, save for the brilliant opening theme.

The music is another high point of the series, though like the backgrounds, it isn't enough to completely redeem it. The opener is one of the best in all anime. The vaguely-Celtic-and-hopefully-Norse-but-I-don't-know-anything-about-Norse-music inspirations for the opening theme (and a little in the first ending theme, too) give it just enough mysticism to set it apart from every other bland pop opening. The waltzing, flowing 3-count matches perfectly to the lyrics and visuals of wind and flying.Yoko Ishida does a great job with both the opening and closing, especially since it is her ending used for the final episode. The animation for the opening is simple, but unlike the rest of the series, very expressive. The bit where Belldandy floats down into Keiichi's arms makes watching the rest of the lame episode worth it. Choosing to play down the rom-com in the opening was the right choice, and makes "Open Your Mind" my new favorite opening theme. The soundtrack is similarly heavy on strings and woodwinds, and is fitting, but less memorable than any of the theme music.

Overall, Ah! My Goddess is a charming little series. It's nothing really special when it comes to anime. You might be better off watching the first and last six episodes and just skipping the twelve in between. It's just school adventure after school adventure. The second season is starting to get quite interesting, and focuses much more on Keiichi and Belldandy's romantic relationship instead of all the things around their relationship. If you need a good romantic comedy, give it a try. If you don't like it after six or seven episodes, then I recommend either skipping ahead or dropping it altogether. It doesn't get much better.

The entire first season is available to watch on youtube from Media Blasters. The second season is likewise available, with the same voice actors, from Funimation. This review does not cover the second season.

Overall Rating: C

+ Belldandy is a great character with a great voice actor. Keiichi starts off strong. Urd is hilarious (also great voice actor!) Colorful, detailed backgrounds. Cute, innocent romance. Nice music. Fantastic opening theme, and a very good first ending theme.
- Romance never gets more romantic than looking wistfully at each other and blushing. Uses "date gone awry" plotline three or four too many times. Characters that aren't Keiichi or the goddesses are underdeveloped and/or annoying. Animation is static. Really fantastic plot lines in the final few episodes are destroyed by pacing and some big fat deus ex machinas.

Review -- Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu is the most surprising series I've seen all year--or it would have been if every single person I know who's seen it hadn't told me how awesome it is. Shakugan no Shana appealed because I was in the mood for some typical shonen, Durarara!! was by the folks that made Baccano!, so I had high expectations, 5D's is both the best and worst show I've ever seen, and Trigun's overrated. But how can you help but expect anything but ridiculous, cutesy, over-the-top shojo from a show called Princess Tutu?

There is a fairly accurate fandom nickname of "Guitar Ninjas" for this show. I don't like the name, now that I've seen PT, because it threw off my expections wildly. I expected Code Geass or Evaneglion, and instead, I got the best fairy tale anyone's ever told. It's not Guitar Ninjas. Nothing comes out and punches you in the face. Rather it sneaks up on you, and before you know it, it's got hold of your heart and you're crying right along with Duck, Rue, Fakir, and Mytho.

The basic plot is simple enough. A duck wants to dance with the princely young man. A young teenage girl wants to be a ballerina. A magical girl wants to restore the broken pieces of the prince's heart. They all just happen to be the same person. Duck is literally a duck, but with the help of a mysterious man named Drosselmeyer, she becomes a human girl. The pendant that allows her to be a girl also has the power to transform her into Princess Tutu, legendary minor character in the fictional fairy tale, "The Prince and the Raven". In the story, Princess Tutu does something small, confesses her love to the prince, and turns into a speck of light because of it. That's it. Duck does not realize her character's part in the old story till a few episodes in, nor Tutu's tragic destiny. Because how can she be the very same character? She's herself, not part of the story written a thousand years ago. Stories within stories within stories that crossover with other stories and reference other stories doesn't even cover how complicated Princess Tutu gets. And yet, the most essential parts of the plot are quite straightforward. The audience's confusion typically mirrors the characters' own confusion, and by the end of the series, everything wraps up nicely.

Speaking of characters, they're all quite well-written. I must admit that I don't like all of the designs (see: Fakir's hair) but Tutu and Krahe's costumes make up for any other shortcomings. Mytho is the weakest character, since the plot point is that he has no emotions whatsoever. But even emotionless Mytho develops over time (well, the other plot point is that he is slowly regaining his emotions...) and Duck, Fakir, and Rue develop three times more than your average anime, movie, book, or any fictional story with character development, and that is the series strongest point. With only 4 main characters, it better be a strong character series. Even the rest of the supporting cast only consists of Drosslemeyer, Edel, Mr. Cat, [insert spoiler here] villain of season 2, and Duck's useless friends. There's a couple more, but for the most part, episodes focus on characters that appear for only their episode. Despite this episodic plot, each episode is carefully written to further the story, and no episode is extraneous. Princess Tutu is truly an achievement in storytelling.

The art's not too bad, either. The animation uses all of the usual anime shortcuts--long shots with no more movement than blinking, but besides these occasional static shots, the animation is quite good, especially in regards to expressions and ballet movements. The design is where the art really shines. Gold Crown Town is straight out of a Grimm Brothers story. I really wish there were more town scenes just so we could see it. The magical Princess Tutu dancing backgrounds are interesting and all, but usually not that detailed. The streets or buildings are usually far more interesting than the empty landscapes that magically appear every now and then during a climatic dance. For Princess Tutu doesn't exactly fight, she dances with people and this lets them realize their true feelings. Since the battle is to regain a piece of a heart shard that has latched onto an unsuspecting victim, this method isn't as stupid as it sounds. The fact that the show is steeped in ballet, ballet, and more ballet makes it all the more believable.

The ballet references are most obvious in the score, almost all of which is taken straight from classical ballet. The rest is just classical ballet music in new arrangements. For example, the series uses many variations on the prologue to The Nutcracker, Duck's theme. Tchaikovsky is the dominant composer, and The Nutcracker and Swan Lake are the two most referenced ballets, so even those of us with little ballet knowledge (see: me) can understand and appreciate the series. And boy, do I appreciate it. It is one of my top five favorite series of all time, and probably the best thing I've seen since Cowboy Bebop. I watched Trigun the week after Princess Tutu and I was bored. Vash is great and all, but he can't hold a candle to Duck, Fakir, Rue, or even Mytho. Poor, emotionless Mytho. (pronoucned "Miu-toh", not "myth-o")

The English dub is very good, and I agree with ADV's decision to translate Ahiru's name into English. Duck is Duck, and she wouldn't be Duck without her silly name. Jessica Boone is my favorite, but that's probably because Rue is my favorite. If I attempted to be unbiased, then Luci Christian as Duck is probably the most solid performance, and with a look at her resume, it's no wonder why. She makes Duck likable and sympathetic, and keeps her from devolving into just annoying, which could easily have happened. Oh, and I should cover the opening theme, though there's not much more to say than it exists, it introduces the characters, and it's cute. The quiet waltzing 3-count is quite appropriate for the series, but not all that memorable. Solid, but not special for the opening theme. The ending theme is so average, I probably only ever watched it once all the way through. Don't even bother with that one.

Overall, a fantastic series, and one I recommend to any fans of entertainment, but especially to anime fans and anyone with any knowledge of ballet. The series is currently available on youtube, but when I went to link to the page for the entire series, it told me "show is not available". Here's episode 1, but watch it now--it might go away. Or you could just buy the whole thing for only $25! Believe me, that's a steal, and well worth the money. You will want to rewatch it and share it.

- Pacing can be a little slow at first before you realize it's all necessary. Character designs get to be a little silly. Talking animals?? Mr. Cat is creepy. Pique and Lillie exist only for stupid comic relief and occasional exposition, and in the second season, Lillie is just downright creepy.

+ Character development is phenomenal. Art is appealing, colorful, and great ballet animation. Tutu and Krahe costumes (and anything to do with the Raven) are all very well designed. Plot is interesting and complicated, but resolves. Music is all taken from ballets. Ending is heartwarming and surprising, and a little hit-or-miss, but I love it all the same.

Rating: A

Opinion/Anime #38 - Dub vs. Sub

I have this argument all the time, and an incident just now on MyAnimeList.net incited me to write about it.

The "dub vs. sub" debate stretches far and wide. It's a topic everyone is aware of, and probably one everyone talks about, but I hear very little of it. It's more an unspoken rule in the anime community that the sub is better than the dub. My impression is, if you watch the dub, you're just a fair-weather mainstream/Adult Swim anime fan, not a "true" anime fan. Only real fans go and illegally download fansubs.

While I love my anime community, we can be elitist pricks sometimes. This goes double for myself, for I have no right to judge those who like to watch subs. I do it all the time. But I get defensive about my uncommon love for dubs. I'll try to refrain from lashing out at fans who have every right to prefer the original Japanese to localized languages.

I am a filmmaker. One of the principles of filmmaking is mise-en-scene, which has many definitions, but basically refers to everything that appears before the camera. Other definitions are worked out by academics, and people who want to sound smart. Anyway, everything you see on the screen. While the audio is what was originally intended by the creators, the subtitles are not. Subtitles distract from what else is on the screen. I prefer to see the visuals as the creator intended, as opposed to listing to the audio as the creator intended.

But isn't the audio just as important? Sure, it is! But I don't know Japanese. I prefer to listen to English speakers. Differences in Japanese and English voice acting have very little bearing on most shows that have been dubbed within the past 10 years. I hate to pick on 4kids, but well, just about everything not dubbed by 4kids isn't that bad. There are exceptions, but English does not equal bad voice acting. Nor does it equal bad translation. Another complaint of dubs is that they don't accurately translate shows. One of the reasons for this is because fansubs (and scanlations) love to throw in stronger curse words than are actually being used. Hiruma in Eyeshield 21 isn't really saying "f***ing pipqueaks!" He actually does say "damn". The stronger word makes it look like they're translating more "accurately".

Finally, watching dubs supports the anime industry in America. There are companies out there that are busting their butts so we can watch this stuff, and hopefully so they can turn a profit. Instead of helping them to earn that profit, and in turn, help them acquire more shows, subs thumb their noses at the system and people who watch them just steal what they want.

Now, I watch fansubs. I'm a big fat hypocrite. I also watch dubs illegally online. Who am I to lecture you? No one. I'm awful. I get DVDs from the library, and I watch things on FUNi's youtube channel when I can, but in the end, if I want it, I'll stream it (preferably dubbed) from Animefreak.tv or the like. But I'll lecture anyway. Whether you give me any credit or not is up to you. I guess my real point here is, should you be one of those people who refuses to watch dubs, try to see it from the other point of view. I'm tired of getting so defensive about my dubs. There's merit to both subs and dubs. That's why we have these debates.

Review -- Baccano!

I spent the entire day thinking "I wanted to do some writing on my day off. What was it I wanted to write?" Oh, yeah.

Baccano! is one of the best anime series I have ever seen. It's one of my new favorites, jostling with Fullmetal Alchemist for the coveted title of my favorite anime, and with Eureka/Renton and Ed/Winry for second-favorite anime pairing.

Baccano! is very hard to describe, not only because it is so wild, convoluted, confusing, entertaining, and well-done, but because most descriptions spoil things that are better left unspoiled. The back of the DVD case tells you exactly how things came to be. I was much happier not knowing and waiting until episode 7. I recommend you do just that.

What I can tell you is that it takes place in Prohibition-era New York and Chicago. There's a whopping main cast of almost 20 characters, not counting all the minor players. The main two are Isaac and Miria, eccentric yet kind-hearted thieves. Their antics tie everyone together, "everyone" including at least 4 New York gangs, 2 Chicago gangs, a newspaper reporter, an assassin, a scarily mature child, and a crazy old man and his assistant. In 1930, in New York, under Maiza's tutelage, Firo is trying to join the Martillo gang. Luck, Keith, and Berga Gandor have a conflict with Dallas Geonard, whom Eve Geonard and the Runorata family, want to find. Aboard the Flying Pussyfoot, Jacuzzi, Nice, and their gang just want to go to New York, while Ladd Russo wants to have some fun. Chane LaForet has some unknown purpose with the men in the black suits, and Rachel, who saves half the train, doesn't even get to be in the theme song. Issac and Miria pop up in every timeline and with every character. That only glosses over the many timelines, plots, and characters that Baccano! covers in just 13 short episodes. (plus 3 OVA episodes)

While it jumps between multiple timelines in 3 different years, nothing is ever so confusing that you can't enjoy yourself. The show gives enough answers to keep everything straight, but doesn't explain it all until they very end. The non-linear timeline is masterfully done, unmatched by any other non-linear anime I've ever seen. Something's always going on to keep the audience interested, jumping from comic relief to graphic violence in a matter of seconds.

Boy, is it violent. Rated MA, youtube verifies a user is over 18 before allowing that user to watch. Violence isn't the norm, but you better be able to handle it before you start this show. Someone loses fingers, someone's forearm is no more than a bloody bone. Bullets, beatings, torture, blood, and more are seen in most episodes. The show is about gangsters, after all. If you can stand the violence, it's a heck of a show to see.

Character designs were a little confusing for me at first, but are spot-on for the time period. After time, I was able to distinguish characters without any trouble at all. The designs are all different in noticeable ways, but the shifting timeline and similarly colored suits threw me off. The rest of the artwork is great, too. The Flying Pussyfoot, the train coming into New York, is both the most impressive and weakest part of the animation. The sets are gorgeous, but there's a few instances of obvious, bad CG. These are excusable due to the quality of the rest of the show. The whole feel of the show is not of anime, probably due to the controlled colors, instead of the typical over-the-top anime coloring. Even slice-of-life shows feel brighter than Baccano!, and that's not a bad thing. It's stylish in its own... mostly... realistic way.

The music is yet another high point of Baccano!. "Guns and Roses", which I mentioned in my theme song post, is destined to become a classic anime theme song. The catchiest jazz theme song since Tank!, it also is a handy character guide. The music for the rest of the show keeps the jazz going.

The dub is excellent, and I prefer it to the Japanese if only because my favorite character is Jacuzzi, and the Japanese don't have a sound for "zi". His name comes out "Ja-cu-ji". After watching the whole series in English, I couldn't bear to hear poor Jacuzzi's name mispronounced like that. A few characters have questionable accents, but for the most part, everyone's great, and they add authenticity that Japanese voice actors cannot match. I recommend the dub, even if it means reading the back of the DVD box and spoiling episode 7.

Overall: A+

+ Fun, story, characters and character designs, juggling timelines, animation

- Confusing, lots of violence

Check out 2 dub and all 16 sub episodes on FUNimation's youtube channel!

Review -- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds

The way I've been picking series to review is to put my anime playlist on shuffle and review whatever show's theme song plays. The winner tonight is "Freedom" by Ozone, the 3rd opening theme for Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds.

5Ds is an odd series for me to review. Well, not so odd if you know me. But an odd series to get any serious attention. "Card games on motorcycles", right? Yes and no. The concept of the show is ridiculous. Somehow, they pull it off. I think it has to do a lot with just how much of the world relates to Duel Monsters. It's silly when the world is exactly as we know it, only children's card games are as popular as the World Cup. It's much less silly when the card games have more to do with everyday life--the security guards use the cards, for example, to catch criminals on D-Wheels, (Duel Runners in the dub) which are the motorcycles capable of playing Duel Monsters. (There's an auto-pilot for all of you out there who can't suspend disbelief quite that much)

5Ds is the most serious of all the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Our protagonist, Yusei Fudo, lives in a ghetto called Satellite. The upper class lives on the mainland in Neo Domino City, but the lower class is stuck on the island that processes Domino's trash. Eventually it turns out that Yusei is a city-born, while the King of Duelists, Jack Atlas, is native to Satellite. Yusei and Jack once were good friends, but then Jack betrayed Yusei, stole his D-Wheel and Stardust Dragon, and escaped to the city, where he became the King of Duelists. Now, Yusei has built himself a new D-Wheel and goes to the city to confront Jack. He out-duels familiar-looking Security guards, and faces off against Jack. Their duel causes a gigantic crimson dragon to appear. Security finds them and arrests Yusei.

In jail, Yusei learns that he is one of 5 legendary "Signers"--guardians and servants of the Crimson Dragon, reincarnated from ancient Peruvians. Jack, too, is a Signer. Yusei gets out of jail, and finds two more Signers: Ruka, (Luna in the dub) an adorable 11-year old girl with a hyperactive and equally adorable twin brother Rua (Leo in the dub); and Aki Izayoi, (Akiza Izinski in the dub) known as the "Black Rose Witch". Aki is a psychic duelist, which means the cards she plays become real, and people hate her for the destruction she wreaks. Divine (Sayer in the dub) protects Aki, but feeds her lies about the world hating her so that she will fight for him and the Arcadia Movement, a group of Psychic Duelists. Yusei has a mysterious charming way about him that bonds everyone together. Which is a pun, of course, because his name has something to do with "bonds", and the first opening theme is "Kizuna", literally, "bonds". He will eventually wins Aki over with these bonds, as he wins over everyone in the series.

Rex Goodwin, Director of the Public Security Maintenance Bureau (Sector Security in the dub) organizes the Fortune Cup to gather all the Signers together and gauge their power. The Fortune Cup ties together the 1st season, and takes place in episodes 15-26. No duel in the first season takes more than 2 episodes, not even the long-anticipated showdown between Yusei and Jack. The 2nd season breaks this rule, but only a couple times, so it's forgivable. Because of the length of duels, the Fortune Cup is enjoyable. Not all duels are on motorcycle, as 11-year olds (and girls, until season 3) obviously can't ride D-Wheels. Don't feel too bad for Aki or the twins, though--they're awesome enough without motorcycles.

Season 2 is my favorite, the Dark Signer arc. If you've seen the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, (from hereon referred to as "DM") it's basically a better version of the Doma/Doom/Orichalcos/Waking the Dragons story arc. The Dark Signers are set up to fight all the Signers. Alliances change, awesome new characters--Carly and Crow!!!--emerge, romances bloom, people actually literally die, in both languages! Or at least they almost die in the dub. Everyone gets wonderful lovely character development, the twins get a 4-part duel, someone says "I love you". Though it's "daisuki", which can also be translated as a really strong like (see, original series, episode 78: "Attack Me! The Fatal Last Turn") and not "aishiteru" or another word for love.

Animation on this series is better than DM so far. From what I've seen of GX, it appears to be the best animated. Poor Yu-Gi-Oh always suffers from noticeably different animation directors. Kenichi Hara is the best, and is recognized for the close-up of a pointing finger that originated in Yu-Gi-Oh! His episodes are always shiny and fluid and actually proportional. I could pull up examples of the poorly animated episodes, but I will refrain. You will discover them as the series wears on. DM had disgusting episodes in the late 3rd, 4th, and 5th seasons. They are the worst animated professional things I have ever seen. 5Ds even gets some obvious!CG, which becomes less obvious as time goes on. It is also used only when needed to create really cool angles of Riding Duels, so it's forgivable that it's obvious. Romeo x Juliet used CG just for some waving flags. I thought that was kind of lazy.

Voice acting isn't too bad in the dub. Frank Frankson, who voices Tristan in DM takes the lead role of Yusei, and handles it very well. Everyone is over-the-top, but that's the way they're forced to act. Jack is... very odd, but stuck-up as he should be. I like his deep Japanese voice better, but his British-Australian-foreign mix is less annoying than I thought it could be, because Ted Lewis is one of the better VAs on the 4kids payroll. Bella Hudson, replacement for Megan Hollingshead's wonderful Mai in DM, voices Akiza. I am prejudiced against her for being the second voice of Mai, but Akiza's not too bad. The voice does fit Aki, which is more than I can say for Hudson's Mai. The twins are my biggest complaint. Their voices are grating, especially Leo's. Their scripts are annoying and a little offensive. The twins are basically the target audience of the show. Let's not put the kids down by throwing in "like" every other word. Dan Green, both Yugis in DM, reprises his role as Trudge (Ushio), and has one of the best performances. His is about the only voice anywhere close to its original timbre. Whoops, it's Trudge's love interest Mina that is my biggest complaint. She has a completely different personality than Mikage. The acting isn't bad, but the new character is unlikable. I wish Sayer really would kill her. Sayer! He's a gravelly Marc Thompson, also DM veteran of FOUR roles--Duke, Rafael, Valon, and Jean-Claude Magnum. It's a stretch, but Thompson pulls it off. He also voices Lazar, and nails everything except the laugh. Goodwin, Crow, and the rest of the main cast are pretty well cast. Crow's is actually spot-on with the way his Japanese voice sounded.

The biggest name in the voice acting is Veronica Taylor. I did a double-take the first time I read the credit. She is famously known for the original Ash Ketchum, as well as a host of other, much more respectable roles. (no offense, Ash, but... 4kids) She comes back to 4kids to play Carly, a reporter who winds up housing Jack Atlas after helping him duel and then escape from a hospital. She gets a little too involved with the Dark Signers, despite Jack's best efforts, and things play out from there. Carly is a very emotional character, and Taylor handles the range very well. That's saying something, because Carly's one of my favorite characters on this show, with Aki, the twins, and Crow.

A special mention to the theme songs, all of which I like. Even the ending themes are good, and I hate ending themes. Kizuna is better than LAST TRAIN because it gives more information about the series. The first 30 seconds with the bike, the main characters, Yusei on the junk, and Yusei walking through Satellite, the city, and Tops give you the entire premise of the series. Despite this superior storytelling, LAST TRAIN is my favorite. I don't think too much about Freedom or Believe in Nexus, but they're both good. As I said in my Theme Song post, "Close to You" is just about my favorite ending theme ever. Even better than the Japanese theme songs being good, the English theme song is good. 4kids had a contest to pick a theme song, and being a dork, I participated. To my surprise, my favorite theme, Hyper Drive, won! It's catchy, and doesn't lend itself to jokes as much as stuttering D-d-d-d-d-duel! Linked above is the second version, because the first version doesn't have Aki(za).

So, overall? This is very hard to be to objectively review. As I type this, I wait for subbed episode 115 to show up on youtube. Original Yu-Gi-Oh wins the honor of getting me into anime, and will always hold a special place in my heart. (Fullmetal Alchemist is still my favorite, based on quality, though) 5Ds was a bunch of things I liked about the original series thrown together with motorcycles and more interesting card games. I skipped reviewing season 3 both because it's not out in America, and because it's been mostly pretty awful. (as awful as you probably expect any Yu-Gi-Oh! spinoff to be)

But, to make this easy, let's go by only up to episode 64, the end of the Dark Signer arc. First, watch it in Japanese. The dub is better than it was for late DM, but you still get "don't worry, that boy isn't being tortured, he's actually producing the painful electric field", purple-fog-of-falling-off-a-building-doom, and more awful one-liners than you thought could exist. Voice acting is good, characters are likable, villains are freaking sweet. Divine is the coolest duelist to ever rock a white tie. The writing staff went to much effort to tie Divine and Aki into some sort of alchemical mythos about the Green Dragon and the Lady of Roses. Everyone gets great character development. However, they're playing children's card games. It can get old. Characters get dropped when they're cumbersome to the plot, even if they're cool characters. Animation suffers when the budget doesn't permit a good director or it's not a plot-important episode. Plot is great, however, and effort was put into researching Peruvian mythology for the Dark Signer arc.

Overall: Ah, a C- for the whole thing because season 3 plot really is that bad, but a B up to season 2 because it's pretty unique.

(Dub, however, is a solid D-. It's only good for lolz)

+Great characters, lots of effort put into some of the things characters are based on, sociological commentary, interesting plot, good opening and ending themes, card games on motorcycles are actually kind of cool. You've definitely never watched an anime like this before.

-Too long, focuses on card games, so very hit-or-miss. Drops the characters that aren't great so you don't notice how boring they are. Stretches suspension of disbelief. Animation is inconsistent. Season 3 plots are really awful. Characterizations are worse.

Review -- Soul Eater

People had been telling me to watch this series ever since it came out in Japan. I finally got around to it in February, and I watched the entire 51-episode series in about 3 weeks. That's how much I liked it. Granted, Soul Eater starts off much stronger than it finishes. If you stop after the Kishin arc, you'd be just fine. The end of the series isn't bad, exactly, but it's not the same as the beginning, and it's a rushed ending because the manga is still going.

The first thing you notice when watching Soul Eater is it's absolutely stunning art. Tim Burton is the usual comparison, which shows you that we need to get more filmmakers out there with something remotely Burton-esque, or else he'll dominate the genre forever. I'm not quite sure what that genre is, but there's other people out there with similar visions. Atushi Okubo (author) and Takuya Igarashi (director) appear to be some of them. The first opening theme, which I just included in my list of favorite opening themes, will give you a perfect idea of what the rest of the series looks like. The art is incredibly unique. You'll never confuse Soul Eater for anything else. The cities are all deliciously old-fashioned, with cobblestone streets, candle lanterns, bricks, clock towers, Gothic churches, and more. The first scene of episode one makes for a perfect example. The character designs are my favorite part of this show. Everyone is distinct, without being over-the-top, or having to resort to stupid accessories. Their costumes all are uniquely their personality, and are also clothes that people would actually wear. Series like Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist are praised for character design, and rightly so. They struggle with half of their characters having the exact same costume, however. Everyone from Maka down to Ox Ford, Free, Sid, all get main-character worthy character designs.

The story, for the first 26 episodes, is pretty solid. The manga was originally 3 one-shots that turned into a full story, so the first 3 episodes are stand-alone stories about the 3 main groups of protagonists: Maka and Soul Eater; Black☆Star and Tsubaki; and Death the Kid, Patty, and Liz. Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid are Meisters, while Soul, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty are weapons. The latter transform into, well, weapons, and the meisters use them to fight people with souls that have become "kishin eggs". These eggs have the chance to turn into a full-fledged kishin, a big giant demon thingy. The meisters are also trying to feed their weapons 99 kishin egg souls and 1 witch soul, which will turn the weapon into a Death Scythe. (the name applies no matter what kind of weapon it is) These particular meisters and weapons, by episode 5, are all students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short.

Maka and Soul are the main characters. Maka is a bookworm, a serious student, and level-headed, though known to angry outbusts. Soul, instead of being the hotheaded partner he might sterotypically be, is instead very "cool". He transforms into a red-and-black scythe. Hothead goes instead to Black Star... though hothead is less apt than "complete idiot". Black Star is a ninja, but doesn't understand the ninja art of shutting up. He constantly proclaims his own greatness, even while sneaking up on enemies. Tsubaki, who can change into a number of ninja weapons, is quiet, humble, caring--the complete opposite of Black Star. Death the Kid is the most unique of the whole cast, suffering from OCD. Literally. He is obsessed with symmetry, which is why he has two weapons, twin guns. While they are identical in weapon form, he constantly laments that they are different heights, hair colors, and bra sizes. Kid commenting on the last one usually earns him a punch from Liz, the elder sister. Neither Liz or Patty is very bright, both having grown up on the streets... of New York, I think, though that makes me wonder about the cowboy hats.

After introducing the characters, the main plot appears: the witch Medusa has some sort of dastardly plot involving a young person named Crona, and experiments with black blood. She is joined by a really awesome, handsome werewolf named Free, and a few other witches. A kishin is thrown in the mix, and our heroes are charged with protecting the entirety of their school.

Besides our students, there's also:

Lord Death, headmaster of the school and protector of Death City. He's an even more-groovy Dumbledore. Death Scythe, whose name is Spirit, is Lord Death's weapon of choice, and Maka's father. She despises him, and he is very depressed by this. Vic Mignoga voices him, which surprises no one who knows he played Tamaki in Ouran High School Host Club. Dr. Franken Stein, Spirit's crazy ex-partner, and the greatest meister to graduate the DWMA. He is quite crazy, and constantly wants to experiment on people.

Medusa is one of my favorite anime villains of all-time. She's got an amazing, unique character design, which also carries over to her attacks. She is also crazy-powerful, wreaking unbelievable havoc with just herself, the werewolf Free, and a couple other witches. After Medusa and her small band of cronies, Arachne and her entire evil organization is a let-down, which is why I dislike the second half of the series.

Medusa also controls one of the most interesting characters I've ever seen: Crona. Crona is so unique because no one knows what gender Crona is, and it doesn't affect the plot one bit. Crona's so messed up from Medusa, the audience doesn't need to know Crona's gender. It's just useless information. It amuses me to see people giving Crona a specific gender in fics so they can pair Crona with Maka or Death the Kid. If Crona likes Maka or Kid, does it really matter what gender Crona is? Crona's character development is what kept me watching at the reckless pace I did. I got through 7 episodes in a night (a school night) so that I could end on a good Crona episode. (boy, howdy, did I ever. Episode 45. I can only imagine what my roommate would have thought if she could have seen my expressions)

Since Crona's the most interesting character, though, it's not always fun watching Maka, Soul, Black Star, and the rest. Maka can grate on the nerves with her mood swings and stubborn ways. Soul doesn't get enough backstory. In fact, no one gets enough backstory except Crona. That, and the letdown when Arachne becomes the main villain, are the main faults of the series.

The voice acting is good in both languages. I watched the series on FUNimation's youtube channel, so I watched the first four episodes in English, and the rest in Japanese. Black Star is a little too feminine in the dub, but appropriately over-the-top. The rest are pretty spot-on, though I haven't had the chance to hear Medusa or Crona. I have my doubts about Medusa. Laura Bailey makes an excellent Maka, but I'm not in a position to judge both languages. From what I've heard, I'll take her either way, but the emotional stuff comes much later in the series. Soul is equally good, that I know for sure. Also, his voice actor is Micah Solusod, not Johnny Bosch. I believed it was Bosch for a very long time.

In summary: ARTWORK! Animation, fight scenes, character designs, background designs, everything that is visual is gorgeous and unique. Medusa is a really cool villain. Stein is a really cool anti-hero. Crona is a really cool... whatever archetype Crona is. Other than that, the characters are pretty good, but need more development. The story takes a turn for the worse in the second half. I never really understood the black blood stuff. And the ending is hit-or-miss.

Overall: B+

+ Anything visual: characters, backgrounds, fight scenes, opening and ending themes. Female main character in a shonen series.

-The story is just another shonen fighting series, and lags in the second half. Main characters aren't likable enough.

Once again, watch it free and legally on FUNimation's youtube channel!

Anime #37--Theme Songs

Since I've started writing this blog, I've seen quite a few anime series. I think I've seen enough now to make a list of my favorite themes and have it be somewhat credible.

Let's kick things off with one of my earliest favorite anime series: Digimon Adventure. In the Digimon vs. Pokemon debate, I always sided with Digimon. The story is better. The characters are more interesting. The animation was better. It came

first--or so I thought. (In truth, Pokemon really did come before Digimon, which I discovered about 10 seconds ago) It always held a very special place in my heart. As such, it is fitting that I be so attached to Butterfly, the Japanese opening. The animation isn't spectacular, but it's a cut above other shows that came out at the time. It's the music that really gets me on this one. It's also considered to be a good theme song by the general anime fandom. Not only is it a fun, catchy song, it fits the show perfectly.

Butterfly - Digimon Adventure

Any theme song from Fullmetal Alchemist, really. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite, but they're all quite good. Brotherhood themes actually don't appeal to me that much. They're fine, but I don't especially remember any of them. "Ready Steady Go" is my favorite song, but Rewrite's probably my favorite animation, for the cool camera moves at the beginning.

Ready Steady Go - Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist openings

Now to what is considered one of the best anime theme songs of all time: Cowboy Bebop's "Tank". It's one of the most unique openings ever, both musically and visually. Jazz and anime theme song don't often go together, but I can't imagine Bebop opening with anything else. Yoko Kanno is a famous anime composer, and it shows. Her soundtrack for the entire show, let alone the opening theme, is fabulous. Bebop is a must-see for any good anime fan, though it's a bit adult. I first saw it when I was 15, and waited a year before finishing it. Once you get to it, though, you'll never forget "Tank". 3, 2, 1, let's go.

Tank - Cowboy Bebop

To follow up Bebop, the closest thing you'll ever hear to "Tank" is "Gun's and Roses" from Baccano!. Baccano! is one of my new all-time favorite anime series, and I will review it soon. The jazzy opening theme actually fits the time period, unlike Bebop; Baccano! is set in America in the 1920s. The reason the two are compared is not only the fact that they're both jazz, but because they share the same exact bass line for the first 4 measures. I realized this when I would break into "Tank" every time I tried to hum "Gun's and Roses". Excellent music, great animation, and a handy character guide, all in one theme song!

Gun's and Roses - Baccano!

Eureka Seven is a great series, but the first two openings didn't do much for me. "Taiyou no Mannaka E" and "Sakura", however, make up for them. "Taiyou..." isn't as strong as other themes musically, but it's very unique. Instead of the usual shiny mishmash of characters cut to music, it's a single scene. I'm not sure I'm describing it very well, but when you see it, you'll get it. The animation also fits the music very well. "Sakura" is stunning and a joy to listen to, but there are parts that don't fit the pacing of the music. "Taiyou..." is catchy at first, but tires after a while. "Sakura" was a slow starter for me, but once I heard it a few times, I loved it. I still love it. Both do a beautiful job of depicting Eureka and Renton's relationship, especially when Renton tries to shield Eureka from The End in "Taiyou...". "Sakura" gets the pairing right at the beginning, when they're holding hands and look at Nirvash. But my favorite part of "Sakura" is actually Anemone and Dominic, and the split-second image of Renton reluctantly holding a gun, which captures his feelings so perfectly.

Taiyou no Mannaka E - Eureka Seven

Sakura - Eureka Seven

Speaking of animation matching with music, my favorite example of this is Gurren Lagann's "Sora Iro Days". The link below is to the second version, because I couldn't find a good 1st version. Either of the first 2 is good, because those are the ones with Simon breaking through the surface. That shot alone puts the theme into my favorites.

Also from Gurren Lagann is a rarity, a favorite ending theme. I don't like ending themes. They're usually really boring. "Minna no Peace" is one of my favorite themes of anything, opening or ending. The song is catchy and fun, and the animation is cool to watch. I can't find it on youtube anywhere on its own, though, so you'll have to check out a full episode to see it. Sorry about that.

Sora Iro Days (version 2) - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

Minna no Peace - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Last Episode and Some random other fandom version that at least gives you and idea of it

Soul Eater is known for its unique animation, and no part of the show is more unique than it's opening theme. "Resonance" is, without a doubt, my favorite opening theme animation. The camera moves over the city at night, and then around the street during the day are beautiful. It takes full advantage of what animation can do cinematically. No other opening theme does this so well. Not to mention the music is awesome.
"I Wanna Be" is an interesting ending theme. It's not the standard slow-boring-music ending theme fodder, and the animation isn't the standard spend-as-little-money-and-effort-as-possible. Both are far above the average ending theme, and even better than some opening themes I've seen. In fact, all the Soul Eater ending themes are very good, compared to the average, and are worth a look.
Resonance - Soul Eater (in HD!)

I Wanna Be - Soul Eater (sorry, spanish subs)

Now, I'm going to indulge myself a little. Here's a couple bonus themes that you may or may not want to check out because they come from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds. The current season is pretty awful, but it's got a lovely ending theme that I'm very fond of. "Close to You" is an interesting mix of quiet ending theme and driving rock... well, pop-rock, but still rock-ish. The animation is solid, and gives us some cool stills as well as a really adorable group shot when they walk by the TV store.
"LAST TRAIN - Atarashii Asa" not only is a good theme, but the episodes it's paired with are good, too! Musically, it's currently my favorite opening theme. Animation's not bad, and it pairs up very well with the music. I love the shot of Carly in her car and Red Daemon's flies by. Mostly I just love singing it really loud. The heavy beat really pumps you up before the episode starts, and certainly fits a show about riding motorcycles.

Close to You - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds (in 1080p AND with English subs!)
LAST TRAIN ~ Atarashii Asa - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds


Other songs worth mentioning include: Sakura Kiss - Ouran High School Host Club, Bouken Desho Desho? - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Obsession - .hack//sign. All of them very good themes, I just thought of them too late, and this post was long enough.

Review -- Romeo x Juliet

Hello, everyone! I'm back! To kick things off, I'm going to review a series I just finished this past April, Romeo x Juliet.

Not the usual subject matter for an anime series. The first thing I thought was Gonzo's Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. I'll get around to reviewing that soon, so I can properly compare the two without boring you now. It makes sense that Romeo x Juliet--yes, the "x" is part of the title, much like Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet--also comes from Gonzo.

From the very beginning, the series does a wonderful job of blending old and new, with my new favorite rendition of "You Raise Me Up" by Lena Park. The opening is in Japanese, but the series also uses the English version of the song as background music, most notably during one of the best anime kisses I've ever seen in episode 7. "Inori -You Raise Me Up" has solid animation, though a little less than one might expect from an opening theme. It seems to work well enough for this series, though, and I looked forward to watching it every episode.

The story itself varies greatly from the source material, as it does in The Count of Monte Cristo. Verona becomes "Neo Verona", animated beautifully as a 16th century Italian city, albeit one with flying horses. That, some floating islands in the sky, and a magical tree, are about as far as the sci-fi goes. The focus is squarely on the lovers' star-crossed romance and the fight against Montague. Juliet is the last living member of the Capulet family, and the tyrant Montague rules over Neo Verona with an iron fist. The people are oppressed, poor, and starving, while the nobles live in comfort, erecting a ridiculous golden statue for no reason whatsoever. As those loyal to Capulet are in hiding,Juliet's caretakers force her to dress as a man, which is how she is still alive at the age of 16. She uses this male identity to also become a vigilante, the Red Whirlwind, and win small justices for the citizens of Neo Verona.

While flying around the city on his dragonhorse, or pegasus, depending on your language, Romeo finds and rescues the Red Whirlwind. Juliet is not pleased with the noble boy at first, but then they meet again, when Juliet implausibly-but-we-believe-it-because-it's-anime winds up at the nobles' ball, dressed as a woman. They fall in love, and meet in various other places before the plot really gets going. Episode 7 cements the relationship. (as do episodes 10 and 11)

Meanwhile, Juliet turns 16 and Conrad, the former Capulet captain of the guard and her caretaker, reveals that she is in fact the Capulet heiress. All the living Capulet supporters swear loyalty to her. She becomes their banner, and with little choice, must fight. She does so, but it takes most of the series for her to figure out just how she wants to do it.

The series keeps a nice balance between romance and the fight for Neo Verona, but the two are almost completely separate. Juliet does inspire Romeo to stop being so useless, and Romeo leads Juliet to find a new way to fight, but most of the series' events would take place without the romance. The characters must stop their plot-significant actions to make time for romance. Even the ending would be the same if they were not lovers. Perhaps that is its point, that there is fate, and only a little room to work within that fate. After all, the lovers were starcross'd; fated to never be together. The events of the series would have little meaning to a viewer, or to the title characters, without the romance. But it could be tied together a little more tightly.

More interesting than the romance, is Juliet's struggle with her identity as a Capulet. Conrad and the Capulet supporters do wait for her to take up the mantle herself--Conrad rejoices when Juliet asks him for her father's sword--but when an entire house of wanted soldiers swears their loyalty to her, what choice does she have? All these people she has never met thrust their revenge onto her, and she's supposed to just go ahead and take down Montague. Her final decision is a beautiful one, though the awkward writing at the end of the series nulls it to some degree.

As in Shakespeare's original, Juliet is the most interesting part of this story. Romeo's story is of a rich brat trying to become someone who knows how to do something useful. While he does develop, it takes a while, and rich-brats-trying-to-not-be-brats is a difficult plot to work with because we generally don't like the rich brat. While it's noble of Romeo to save the Red Whirlwind on so many occasions, it's also a little insulting, because he has no idea what his father is doing. The Red Whirlwind could be a real villain for all he knows. It's like he's doing it for fun.

The animation is pretty even quality throughout. Character designs are excellent, especially our title characters. Montagues are in blue, Capulets in red, but the colors never feel like uniforms or shortcuts for the character designers. Each character is distinguishable without relying on their side's colors. As mentioned before, the city is gorgeous, as is the countryside, the church, and just about all the locations. The CG-flags are obviously CG, but anime is still working to integrate that in better. I've seen worse CG. (which I will get to in the next couple of reviews)

Japanese dub is what we watched in anime club and it's my favorite, but only because I happened to stumble across a scene in the dub where Romeo doesn't sound very good. I wasn't inclined to listen to more, though the script is very interesting, and is worth a listen just to hear it. They work in much more Shakespearean dialogue into the English than the Japanese. Here's a couple clips with excellent voice acting and script, courtesy of FUNimation.

I must conclude by mentioning William Shakespeare--not the author, but the character. Willy is a character himself, and a playwright. He hides the Capulets, is generally hilarious, and records the lovers' story. It was a wonderful way to work comedy into an otherwise very serious series.

Overall: B+

+Animation, opening theme, character designs, interesting story

-Balances romance and action, but doesn't tie them together as well as it could. Some characters ineffectual and not likable.

But, hey, don't just take my word for it! Watch the trailer, also courtesy of FUNimation!

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.

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.

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.

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.)