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October 22, 2004

Yay! I have AQUA!

I finally got Kozue Amano's AQUA, the prequel to Aria, from Sasuga Books. and was delighted to see that Hime-shachou is based on a real cat. shoooo cute.

Now to try to translate it.

It's rare that a manga can fill me with such pure delight as ARIA and, I can already see, AQUA. A steady diet of such would probably drive me nuts, but it's my little bubbly spring of solace in a conflict-driven manga world. (especially when Bleach goes overboard with the fighting. )

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 12:14 PM | Posted to Aria | Aria_All | Comments (0)

NTUSA trying to drum up subscriptions

So I see Newtype's trying to get people to subscribe by offering free ADV cosplay caps through a reply card in the November issue. OK...So I went to check to make sure I'm paid up, and I am. I better get the November issue without a hitch, because there's no way I'm going through that same subscription hell that I went through last year... YOU HEAR ME, NEWTYPE???

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:48 AM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)

awww! Bonding!

*ahem*
Largo and Erika, sittin' in a tree... or more precisely, on a couch playing Dead or Alive. Still very cute. I must say I'm more fond of this pairing than Piro x Kimiko.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:12 AM | Posted to Manga Manga | Comments (0)

October 19, 2004

this week's manga haul

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle #3 and Hikaru no Go #2. Yay!

In the masthead of HnG I noticed a lot of Chinese and Korean names. I think I'm beginning to feel better about being a Chinese otaku.:)

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:08 PM | Posted to Manga Manga | Comments (0)

October 18, 2004

new anime season!

Started watching:
Bleach
Tactics

Still watching:
Samurai 7
FullMetal Alchemist (with severe reservations)
Naruto (I am *so* tired of the Mist Country arc)

Thinking of watching:
Yakitate!! Japan (apparently about the noble art of baking)
Beck (what I've read is just strange enough to be intriguing)

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:28 PM | Posted to Anime/Manga | Comments (0)

Godzilla Stomps Kansas

The University of Kansas has been celebrating Godzilla's 50th Anniversary with a film festival, exhibitions, lectures and so on. Good on them!

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:19 AM | Posted to Miscellaneous | Comments (0)

October 16, 2004

cynically cute

Someone recommended Full Moon wo Sagashite to me on the grounds that I like cute things.

Well, there are some things that are just TOO cute. Bleh bleh bleh. Turns out it's from the same mind that produced Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, which left a bad taste in my mouth. It and FMoS suffer from the same... manufactured quality where everything is calculated for maximum toyeticness and panders to the fragile teenage psyche. The cuteness feels forced and inorganic, and the plots well over with pathos and all the spontaneity of an afternoon soap opera. It's that kind of stuff that gives shoujo a bad name.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:43 AM | Posted to Anime/Manga | Comments (0)

October 11, 2004

anime to make kimono by

One reason I like dubs: I can watch them while making cosplay costumes. So while making my Rukia kimono top, I watched ROD The TV 2 and Ghost in the Shell SAC 1. Both very good dubs. I also turned on the commentary track on ROD, and learned from there that the actress playing Anita really was 12 years old at the time! (probably a little older by now.) She does a really good job, though - as long as she has a script. Other than that, she is 12 years old and all that that implies, and the rest of the commentary (with the 3 Sisters' voice actresses plus dub director Taliesen Jaffe) was pretty banal. The one on the first disc was much better, at least they talked about the danged episode. An odd thing they did was to stick all the episode previews in one block, in the Extras section.

GITS: SAC was also quite well done, though the performances are starting off a bit stiff - to be expected from any first disc. Some are settling into their roles more quickly than others.It's one of the anime that requires me to pay just as much attention visually as aurally, though, so it doesn't really work as kimono-making music.

I also popped in my new Aladdin DVD. As expected it has the PC "Arabian Nights" - with "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" replaced by "where the deserts are hot [and something or other]." I'll always have my original offensive soundtrack. Ahhh, Aladdin - the last of the great "new wave" Disney movies, and the first to be subjected to the massive sequelization that afflicts every Disney movie made since then.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 04:48 PM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)

October 08, 2004

Nippon-Go!

More information on Japan's successful bid for the 2007 Worldcon. It will be in Yokohama, a short train ride from Tokyo, and held from 30 Aug - 3 Sep 07 - Labor Day Weekend WOOOO!!!! GoH so far are Sakyo Komatsu and David Brin (authors), Yoshitaka Amano & Michael Whelan (artists), Takumi Shibano (fan).

Bit pricey though - $160 reg till 31 Dec; presupporters get $60 off, so $100 for them. Unfortunately I don't think I was a presupporter (I wasn't into anime at the time they were campaigning, dangit, and Japan seemed awfully far away). Still, I think it's worth it if I skip at least Otakon and AMA that year.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:21 PM | Posted to Conventions | Comments (0)

October 07, 2004

Color Bleach

Okay, finally got around to watching the first episode of Bleach. Me like. Some things got changed around, but the important stuff didn't. Rukia and Ichigo sound abfab! Kon is, uh... well, he's not even supposed to be there yet, but he's narrating the previews and it sounds like he's having the time of his life (ganbatte KuboTite! Fight-O! Fight-O!)

Things that were surprising: Soul Society and Hollow were originally English terms. There is a lot of English in this series. Even staff titles in the opening are in English (though names are in kana).

The ED sequence was really... sad. Foreboding much?

I really really hope the anime takes the Kodocha approach.

Read more of "Color Bleach" [possible spoiler alert!]

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:37 PM | Posted to Bleach | Comments (0)

more things to read!

This has been a big week for manga. At Barnes and Noble tonight I found Tactics #1 and Chrono Crusade #2. I almost expect to see Hikaru no Go #2 the next time I step into a bookstore.

It's just so NICE to be able to go to any bookstore and purchase manga~!!! *dance*

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:08 PM | Posted to Manga Manga | Comments (0)

A Puchuu for your head!

On the heels of Funimation's massively successful Fruits Basket caps (although they have yet to produce a Shigure hat - what's the delay?!) ADV jumps into the fleece hat fray with their own "Cosplay Caps." On the list: Menchi and Puchuu (I'm SO getting one of those) from Excel Saga, Saizo the enraged pig from Peacemaker Kurogane and... Jonathan from Kaleido Star.

OK, this Jonathan mascot thing has gone far enough. He's not cute - he's annoying. Even Gonzo realized he was a mistake and sidelined him quickly.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 12:30 PM | Posted to Goodies! | Comments (0)

October 06, 2004

a real bloomer

I meant to be good...but dangit, it all came at me at once. I went to Suncoast tonight to get the new Anime Play with the Stan Sakai interview. I swore that I'd be good since AnimeUSA is coming up at the end of the month. But no, I had to look in that damn box beside the counter. Final damage: Negima #3, Wallflower #1, Descendants of Darkness #1 and... XXXHolic #3! Yayyy! Plus Anime Play, and the "special DVD edition" of Aladdin. (I wonder if it has the original lyrics for "Arabian Nights.")

So far Wallflower (nee Yamato Nadeshiko) is a winner. I'd picked it up on a whim, having only heard the bare bones of the plot. Imagine a reluctant Cinderella with four impossibly hot fairy godbrothers who have been tasked with turning her into a lady (not to be confused with making her a woman, you hentai pervs) in exchange for free rent. Yup, it's a shoujo manga all right.

Read more of "a real bloomer" [possible spoiler alert!]

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:39 PM | Posted to Manga Manga | Comments (0)

October 05, 2004

Oh frabjous day!

I got Bleach vol 3 (and Rurouni Kenshin 7 - meh), and am downloading the torrent of the 1st Bleach raw right now. Also I checked in on the YOkohama Kaidashi Kikou translation project, and joy! The translator is back up and running (his laptop got stolen, poor guy) and chapter 120 is out.

This has made my utter and complete despair at Japanese class tonight so completely and totally worth it.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:31 PM | Posted to | Comments (0)

I smell monopoly

Uh oh.
ADV, Funimation and Geneon are forming a joint venture.

According to the press release, "together they reach 70 percent of the Anime home video market in the United States." Maybe it's just the newshound in me, but media mega-consolidation is never a good thing.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 04:13 PM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)

October 04, 2004

next Samurai 7

Episodes 15 and 16 will air on October 9 [this link good till 10/16]

must not get used to this. must not get used to this.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:45 PM | Posted to Samurai 7 | Comments (0)

All Your Bases Belong To Us

Among the cool stuff I saw at SPX on Saturday was a series of 50 cent "Pocket Editors", little pocket-sized (natch) grammar guides. I remember these because one of them in particular fixed the grammar of the infamous Zero Wing video game (of "All your base are belong to us" fame) Although I didn't buy one, I did remember the URL on the back - so here, for all to see and enjoy (and possibly pick up some grammar points from): Pocket Editor #2.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:44 PM | Posted to Miscellaneous | Comments (0)

1 day to Bleach!

Technically it's Oct 5 in Japan, so... less than 24 hours? Whatever. We won't get to see it till Wednesday at the earliest.

However I did get to see the 30-second promo [torrent] and... um... yeah. Weird background song (in eigo, and not nearly as attractive as "Life is Like a Boat."). But the animation looks clean and smooth, more like later Kubotite than earlier Kubotite. Also, no dialogue from the show, just the narrator yapping.

It was also interesting to hear how the Japanese pronounce "Bleach" (i.e. "bleechi"). I've never been able to figure out the logic behind that title myself - always thought that a more suitable title would be "Bridge" - but hey, who am I to argue with a god?

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 07:16 PM | Posted to Bleach | Comments (0)

October 02, 2004

appearances can deceive

Wow. I hadn't actually noticed it before, but that little schoolgirl whom Piro is giving art lessons to in MegaTokyo is turning out to be quite the bitch. And it's not the little schoolgirl I was expecting, either.

I only realized it recently when I saw this. And today when I was reading through some old strips (going to SPX made me want to seek out some good doujin) I came upon this in the MT archives. Whoa. Bitter teenager anyone?

Although it's really not a huge surprise. After all, she practically stole Piro's book bag and was too cowardly to return it, and wrote all over his sketchbook. The latter's a capital crime if ever I saw one.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:05 PM | Posted to Manga Manga | Comments (0)

you can't please everybody...

...but at least use some common sense.

It's not often that I get to see Cartoon Network's broadcast of .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet, but - as usual - I was up late moving this blog to MySQL.

Right off the bat, LOTTB proved to be a slightly schizophrenic dub experience. During the OP the credits were in Japanese - heck, the show's title was in Japanese. Pity the fool who can't read Japanese. (and double whammy - it was in kanji, not kana.) The dedication to authenticity is admirable, but they could have at least turned on the subtitles.

As it happened this was the Tanabata episode, wherein an important part of the festival is to write down a wish on a piece of paper and hang it from a tree. We are shown everyone's wishes. Fine and good, but this being a Japanese production everyone was, naturally, writing in Japanese - and there were no subtitles. Since the wishes were a crucial part to understanding the characters, couldn't they at least have turned on the subtitles for that? Aaaand the ED was again all-Japanese credits.

I would consider LOTTB one of the "gateway" anime - simple enough plot, cute character designs, fairly non-controversial story (aside from occasional weirdness between Shuugo and Rena's online characters), and short. So it's a little frustrating to see things like this, that make anime even less accessible to the average viewer. No one's going to appreciate it, least of all the "purists" who are all off watching fansubs anyway. For the rest of us - channel-surfers, mainstream Middle Americans who are new to this heah furrin enn-ee-may thang, and dub-tolerant people like me - it's just plain weird.

I'm not sure what CN/Bandai were trying to prove; I'm not even sure if they were trying to prove anything. It was just as bizarre - for different reasons - as Funimation's insistence on giving Anglicized names to everyone in Tokyo.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 07:43 PM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)

October 01, 2004

A silent Move

This blog is now running in MySQL. Pardon our dust.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:06 PM | Posted to Miscellaneous | Comments (0)

Sony, Avex turn away from dark side

Happy news from Japan! Music giants Sony and Avex have realized that the CCCD format (copy controlled CDs) is not good for business and are ceasing production in that format. It remains to be seen if this applies only to new releases or if they will re-release previous CCCD releases in regular CD format.

(errata: Avex, not Sony, is the producer of the (previously anticipated and complained about) Samurai 7 Image CD. hence why I care.)

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 05:27 PM | Posted to Samurai 7 | Comments (0)

Ew Ew Puffy Ami Yumi

ICV2 has posted the first released image of Cartoon Network's Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi.

Yuck comes to mind.

Given the screwball-comedic direction of the series, I wasn't expecting Chance Pop Session character designs, but I certainly was not expecting Powerpuff Milk-Chan. The idoru concept is disturbing enough *cough*Morning Musume*cough* without further infantilizing the girls.

Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 02:00 PM | Posted to Anime, American Style | Comments (0)