February 07, 2005
good manga, bad manga
foo. It's a good thing I just got Aa! Megami-Sama! 5. I kind of like the "extensions" to the story, but it's moving really slowly as a result. Urd should have shown up by now! But it came along at just the right time.
Read more of "good manga, bad manga" [possible spoiler alert!]
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)
December 26, 2004
naughty but nice Suncoast!:)
I got vol 4 of R.O.D. The TV at Suncoast last week. Turns out it's not supposed to be on shelves till this Tuesday (the 28th) ehehehehe.
I also got the... final.... volume... of Azumanga Daioh. WAAAAHHHHH!!! It's over AGAIN! ;_;
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
December 18, 2004
Giant Robot Man
The Japan Times has reviewed the English translation of the Mobile Suit Gundam trilogy (Amazon link) issued by Stone Bridge Press. According to the review, the novels - Awakening, Escalation, and Confrontation - were originally written by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino as a cynical response to the sprawling franchise he had to watch his creation become. Might be worth checking out.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)
December 14, 2004
proof of intelligence in anime fandom?
I never thought I'd see the day, but Animefringe has published an incisive, intelligent essay examining a central theme (political intrigue) in Gasaraki.
Every time I mention how good Gasaraki is, I'm immediately drowned out by others complaining about how boring they found it. So I'm glad to see someone else appreciate it for what it is (an intelligent, plot-driven political thriller with elements of Shinto mysticism) rather than what it isn't (stereotypical "only this hormone- and angst-driven teenage pilot of a giant robot can save the world" show).
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2004
Macrossxephon
Perhaps this is good a time to finally buy my own set of the original SDF Macross TV series from AnimEgo, seeing as they are planning to discontinue it after Dec 31. Gah. NOW they say. I foresee a mad rush for the last few sets in their inventory and subsequent ridiculous eBay bidding wars.
Anyway, about Macross Zero - yow. I knew it was more serious than the others in the Macross series (Macross 7 - yick), but I wasn't expecting that ending. I also was not expecting it to be so much like RahXephon. Or maybe it's the other way around. ...then again the original SDF Macross didn't have the apocalyptic mysticism theme. Then again maybe it did and I wasn't paying attention.
Read more of "Macrossxephon" [possible spoiler alert!]
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:12 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
now we're cooking
It looks like Dr Hattori from Iron Chef (and of course the Hattori School of Nutirtion) will be making a cameo appearance in ep 7 of Yakitake! Japan. This for an episode arc that's already featured tributes to Ming the Merciless and the token Masked Blonde Gundam Guy.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:46 PM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2004
Howl Makes Waves Across the Pacific
Today's Washington Post has an article (free registration req.) about the incredible success of Howl's Moving Castle and, by extension, the worldwide anime boom yadda yadda yadda.
Considering it hasn't even been released in the US, this is a fairly major accomplishment for an anime movie. It is Ghibli-san after all.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2004
unique song stylings, part deux
Now there's a difference between badly pronounced Engrish and properly-pronounced ungrammatical English.
Engrish with a few extra syllables somehow is more tolerable. Maybe because it's limited to one or two words in an otherwise all-Japanese song. Full sentences of badly pronounced Engrish are fairly rare, probably because the songwriter realizes that it would be cruel to the singer.
The second type is what creeps me out because it's said perfectly - it's just 179 degrees south of making sense. >.< There's the refrain in Obsession, and also there's the chorus in Saiyuki's second OP. "Make Your Treasure"? What the hell?:P Also Chrno Crusade's OP, "Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line." I have no idea what a pleasure line is, but it sounds vaguely naughty.
On occasion both types collide, as in the little coda to Hikaru no Go's 3rd (4th?) OP, Fantasy. "make progress" is the phrase in question, and is both a contextual "huh?" and pronounced "make puRO-GURESS" (I guess I should just be glad that the traditional "su" goes unvoiced).
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)
unique song stylings
Sometimes, in order to withstand the Engrish in some anime theme songs, I pretend that it is actually Japanese. This came to mind when I was listening to .hack//SIGN's OP, "Obsession." (sample lyric: How come I must know, The direction of relieving)
I guess they must have saved their good English for their other songs. "The World" and "In the Land of Twilight" are practically Whitman in comparison. And "Emerald Green", despite 2 extra syllables in Emerald, (it just wouldn't sound the same without them) remains one of my favorites in the whole .hack series. (See Saw's stuff is good. Why aren't they more famous?)
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
November 30, 2004
cautious joy!
Okay, this time it appears that a Tsubasa anime TV series is at last official. Confirmed by Weekly Shounen and everything. However, I will hold off on the Dance of Joy until I see actual model sheets.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2004
A howlin' success
Hayao Miyazaki's Diana Wynn Jones' Howl's Moving Castle opened in Japan on November 20, and promptly broke all known Japanese box office records to the tune of ¥1400m (about US$13.5m - hey, the yen's rising!).
Pete Docter, who produced Monsters Inc, will lead the production of the Anglicized version. John Lasseter (a.k.a.) Ultimate Miyazaki Fanboy, has alas elected to work on Pixar's Cars instead. I'm not sure how to feel about this, as Monsters Inc was probably my least favorite Pixar (it and A Bug's Life are the lowlights of Pixar's portfolio IMHO, demonstrating maximum Disney meddling) but hey, it's Miyazaki. It will take deliberate malice to mess it up. And Pixar staff can be better trusted than anyone who's directly answering to Eisner.
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 06:58 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2004
...but will it have subtitles?
Viz (I seem to be spilling a lot of bits on them recently) is sponsoring an InuYasha cosplay contest with the main prize being an all expenses-paid trip to Japan for the premiere of the 4th IY movie (official translation: Fire on the Mystic Island).
What they haven't mentioned is how they're going to handle translation for the lucky gaijin winners. As I hardly think it will be English-dubbed, and because Japan is not in the habit of putting English subtitles on new films by default, I wonder A UN-style earpiece with simultaneous translation piped in? A row of translators sitting behind the winners whispering translations in their ears as the movie goes on? Or are they just going to explain it all to them after the movie?
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2004
Tsubasa Anime Confirmed!
According to the latest Shounen Weekly (not to be confused with Jump) a Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles anime will debut sometime in 2005.
This deserves a YAAAAYYYY!YAHOOOOOOOO!WHEEEEEE!Happy!Dance!:D I wonder if there will be merchandise by the time I hit Japan?
Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 12:03 PM | 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 | 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 | Comments (0)
September 13, 2004
various awards
Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" took the Osella d'Oro at the Venice Film Festival last weekend. From what I can tell it's one of the top awards for technical achievement. (HMC missed out on the top festival award, the Golden Lion, which went to a live-action film. Cretin judges.) Also appearing at the Venice Film Festival was Steamboy and something from the Final Fantasy franchise.
And at the Creative Arts/Technical Emmys the other night, Cartoon Network took the animation top honors with "Samurai Jack: The Birth of Evil," (For Programming Less Than One Hour), and "Star Wars: Clone Wars," perplexingly in the category of Programming One Hour or More - I guess they must have submitted all 20+ mini-episodes as a single block.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
September 07, 2004
funny what you find
...when you check your e-mail late at night.
More Sakura Wars 5 info has been posted on Sega's site. The most hilarious thing is the logo of the New York Kagekidan, which is apparently Sam the Eagle preparing to peel an apple with his feet.
(Seriously... an apple and a butcher knife?) The other graphics look kinda nice, the CGI kobu especially. They're getting better at making CGI look like 2D animation, which makes one wonder why they even bother. Maybe it saves money or time or something at some point.
In other news, there's a rumor floating around that Tokyopop has commissioned a Star Trek manga. Ummmm.... yup.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2004
Pappara funi funi...
Somehow I never thought of Dragon Half as a particularly Essential Anime, though ADV seems to think it is. Although it might be helpful to the remaining few anime fans who have no idea why people burst out laughing when Beethoven's seventh symphony comes on.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2004
The Amazing Disappearing Anime Movie
So I just saw a graph (AnimeChecklist.net) that illustrates the number of anime productions since 1917. According to the graph, over the years anime OAV and series production have fluctuated constantly while movie production has remained more or less constant. It's only recently that movie production has steadily decreased while series and OAVs are on an upswing.
I believe that this the direct result of audiences turning away from theatrical anime to watching it on the increasing number of television channels (thanks to cable, satellite and so on). Although movies continue to be made, they are more likely to be extensions of TV series than self-contained works. It's probably too early to predict what this means for the future of theatrical anime - but as long as Studio Ghibli's around, we can be assured that there'll be at least one full-length anime movie to enjoy every 3 years.:)
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2004
AAAAAAAAA!!!
After I got discs 1-3, Bandai FINALLY announces a Tsukikage Ran Complete Collection!!!
*sob*
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
gaijin no me
A random observation about anime design memes:
Even in realistically designed anime, Japanese characters always have rounder eyes than non-Japanese characters. Consider Hikaru in Hikaru no Go, whose eyes are bigger and rounder than those of all the foreign players at the amateur championships, including the merkins and Germans. (Interestingly, the Chinese and Korean players are depicted realistically, with narrow eyes. Yun-sensei's eyes are practically slits most of the time.)
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2004
I knew it!
I just knew Layla wasn't inherently evil. Vol 4 is too far away.
I must say, though, that Kaleido Star's mascot characters are duds. Jonathan, aside from having a ridiculous name, is so obviously engineered for merchandising that any charm he has seems cynically calculated. And Fool is a one-trick pony - that ecchi side gets real old. (I get the feeling he's just there to prove that tarot cards are bunk.) (But if he is, what about his assertion that Sora is destined for greatness?) (Hm, maybe he's using tea leaves for that prediction.)
ooh ooh, I nominate Ken for the Kaleido Star mascot. 
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2004
They added a catgirl...
...to Sakura Wars.
Sakura Taisen V characters
And I though Gemini whatserface was wacked out.
I wonder who that narrow-eyed person is below Gemini's picture? The American version of Kayama? (With my luck it's a girl.) And is the horse going to be Gemini's koubu?
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2004
Throwing caution to the wind
I just realized that I'm currently buying DVDs for shows that I've never seen on TV or in fansub. The last time I did this was for... let me see... Gasaraki, I think. (Oh, how well I recall praying that the ending wouldn't suck!) And Excel Saga, but at least that didn't have the potential of emotional scarring. General brain scarring, well, that's another matter.
On the other hand, although I am buying the DVDs of shows I've seen in fansub, I'm not actually watching them as quickly. I have a stack of Last Exile and Saiyuki DVDs that I am waiting to "get in the right mood" to watch. (Also because the Saiyuki dub is so godawful AWFUL, I can't use it as background noise.) Oh well, at least I'm buying the damn things and supporting the anime industry...
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2004
LA-deez and GENtlemen! CHILDren of all AGES!
When I was a kid I loved Enid Blyton's "Come to the Circus!", a novel about a timid little girl who is taken in by her uncle and aunt, who work in a circus. However, despite Blyton's romanticized (and sanitized 
) vision of circus life, I never felt a particular need to run away and join the circus myself.
Just recently, I discovered Kaleido Star, through the Newtype dvd sampler. (I supposed those things are good for SOME things after all...) Naegino Sora, a talented gymnast, has always dreamed of joining Kaleido Stage, a Cirque de Soleil-type circus which captivated her as a child. So she travels all the way to America to audition,gets her suitcase stolen, performs some amazing street acrobatics to get it back, gets taken in by the cops because of her age, convinces them that she's no runaway, is returned to Kaleido Stage by a friendly cop who declares himself her first fan, and... misses the audition. All this happens in the first half of the first episode. Yes, it's frenetic. However, a chance encounter allows her to audition in the middle of a performance, and with that Sora is welcomed into Kaleido Stage (though not with open arms, as we are to see in upcoming episodes...)
The characteristic animation designs by Hajime "Animation Runner Kuromi" Watanabe quickly drew me into this weirdly fascinating technicolor anime. As befitting a circus atmosphere, GONZO Digimation brings a sparkly, otherworldly quality to the production. But as always, it all comes down to character personality, and there's plenty to go around. Sora is your usual genki shoujo heroine with guts and persistence to spare (she reminds me of Tohru). Later on we meet Anna, a serious-looking trainee acrobat who really wants to be a clown, and Mia, who's... er... there to make up the triumvirate. I guess we'll get to see more about her later on. Then there's ice queen Layla, who disapproved of Sora's unorthodox adoption into Kaleido Stage, but oddly enough she does not give off an Evil Bitch vibe as much as a Perfectionist Diva "I won't let this circus be ruined" vibe. She clearly recognizes talent when she sees it, and rather than try to extinguish Sora's spark, she somehow encourages it. In her own, er, special way.
A warning for those who get the DVD - DON'T read the character descriptions, they contain HUGE spoilers. I just can't look at Yuri the way Sora does now.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2004
what do I like?
Lately I've been trying to figure out what draws me to the kind of anime I watch. For others, it seems to be so simple. They just like yaoi, or they like action, or they like big boobies (or conversely, hordes of pretty boys. I like one pretty boy at a time. Hordes of them give me hives).
My likes are hard to categorize. I do know what I don't like. I really don't like fan service of any kind. Once the fan service gets in the way of the plot, it's outta there. I also generally don't like the teenager saves the world plot. I despise soap operas. I don't like the Gundams very much. And I am one of the (very, apparently) few who don't think that Evangelion is the greatest artistic accomplishment of the human race.
The stuff I do like includes Tsukikage Ran, Hikaru no Go, RahXephon, Haibane Renmei, Azumanga Daioh, Gasaraki, Kodocha, PitaTen, Big O, Sakura Wars, Last Exile, Read or Die, Witch Hunter Robin, Cardcaptor Sakura, Inu Yasha, Comic Party, Samurai 7, .hack//SIGN, LIMINALITY and DUSK, the Miyazaki films, Aria, Someday's Dreamers, Cooking Master Boy, Ah! My Goddess, Saiyuki, XXXholic, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kindaichi, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou ...
... I am staring at that list and trying to find the common thread, and I just can't see one. I guess my taste could be said to be very mainstream and esoteric at the same time.
Maybe that just says more about anime than about me.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2004
Miyazaki does it again!
Official Howl's Moving Castle site
I really can't remember if Sophie had a little dog, though... I'll have to go dig it out again. I wonder what Wizard Howl looks like? I'd imagined Sophie a little skinnier - not quite so Yubaba-like - but I like the look on her face and the briskness of her stride.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:49 PM | Comments (0)
July 18, 2004
Time and Chrno
I was thinking of making a music video (just to see if I even can, with the crappy tools I have) and had in mind a song, so I decided to see what raws I had before I start ripping DVDs. My chrnocrusade folder's near the top of my anime folder listing, and I remembered that I had some CC raws, and so I went in to rummage around. Turns out I have a whole LOTTA CC raws... then I noticed the music folder and remembered that I hadn't listened to the OP and ED for a while. So... while listening to Sayonara Solitaire, I decided to go look up the lyric again, and someone's contributed a translation! And suddenly I realized that HEY! It's from Chrno's point of view! And I looked at it again and thought HEY! AGAIN! If you read alternating lines it's BOTH Chrno and Rosette speaking! er, singing! (Well, actually it's Azmaria singing, but feh, that's beside the point.) That made me put on Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line, which I had always thought of as Rosette's song with Chrno singing backup.
But THE POINT! (and I do have one) IS! that after all this time I am still finding new things to discover about Chrno Crusade.
Even though the ending of Chrno Crusade wasn't... well, what I'd hoped it would be (I'm still rather mad at Moriyama) - I still like it. There was a lot going on, and the anime was forced to add some really weird padding because of the manga timing, but what it all really came down to was that it was a sweet little love-sort-of story between a nun and a demon. Before Chrno Crusade came along there hadn't really been anything with a real old-fashioned pair to root for (Last Exile was a bit mixed up, and Haibane Renmei... well, my mind just doesn't work that way.)
So does that make me a sappy romantic? I suppose so... I still watch mainly for good plot and story, but it's OK sometimes just to root for a romance to work out. (Though not to the exclusion of the overall plot. bleh. A romance-only plot would be boring.)
As for the AMV. I now have a vague Idea of what I want to do, but first I have to decompress the avi into a format that my video editing program will deign to recognize. More research needed.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2004
Three down, one to go!
Wheee! My Tsukikage Ran vols 2&3 have arrived from Right Stuf. Now to hunt down vol 4.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
July 15, 2004
Powerpuff Girls ala CLAMP?
Anime News Network reports on Sweet Valerians, a new anime with "concept and characters by CLAMP."
The story according to Babelfish:
Girl mosquito saw pop Kate normal you live in overhead city Ajarasotei in the research institute which goes for field attaching license acquisition, even accidentally the creature of puzzle (?) You can have an eye on ear Sein, is not field attaching license and being able to make Valerian license acquire it finishes.
Hiding, friend of the justice which protects the people from the hand of the demon of group stress group of badness "Relaxation squadron Valerian" was born! ! !
...
Or, as an actual speaker of Japanese put it, two girls go to get their moped licences, get issued Valerian licences instead, and transform into bunny rabbit mahou shoujo to fight the evil forces of stress. Or something like that.
I think I prefer Babelfish's translation...
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2004
making the connection
Finally figured out why Kurau looks so familiar. She looks a lot like Ghost in the Shell's Major Kusanagi (movie Kusanagi not Stand Alone Complex Kusanagi).
...Only Kurau has less boobage and keeps her clothes on.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)
July 13, 2004
Kurau Phantom Memory 1
Sometime in the the future (we know it's the future because there are flying cars and people live on the moon) genki 12-year-old Kurau Amami guilt-trips her scientist father into taking her to his lab when he forgets her birthday. A accident occurs that briefly dematerializes Kurau, and when she re-forms, it's obvious that she's not quite herself anymore. Something called a Rynax has moved in, and it doesn't know how to leave - and claims that Kurau herself summoned it. Kurau's father reluctantly agrees to help Rynax - and its "Tsui", a life partner of some kind - to find a way to separate from Kurau, in exchange for ensuring Kurau's safety.
In addition to a powerful story, boy does this show look gooooood. The meticulously realistic design, reminiscent of BONES' earlier RahXephon, lends an extra emotional depth to the characters that a more stylized scheme could not. The best animation is not in the smoothly rendered fight sequences, but in the quietly intense scenes of Kurau and her father as he struggles to come to terms with what his daughter has become.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:06 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2004
That's 6 hours of my life I'm never getting back
Well, the trains finally collided. I can't believe I watched 12 episodes of Aishiteruze Baby before finally giving up.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2004
Super Doll Licca-Chan 1&2
To simplify things, doll Licca is Doll Licca and little girl Licca is just Licca. There, all clear now.
The plot is pure lil'shoujo candyfloss. Licca lives in an absurdly big (Barbie's Dream) house with her mother and grandmother. However! A mustachioed character named Scarecrow are after Licca so that they can take over a "Kingdom." This being lil'shoujo, of course, the Scarecrow's minions are more funny than evil, and Doll Licca always shows up at the end to save the day. (An unusual but still fairly predictable twist is that Doll Licca's strength is linked somehow to Licca's grandmother - who has the responsibility of "summoning" Doll Licca - and the old lady ain't getting any younger.) Toss in schoolmates with myriad crushes and a bishounen graduate student who just happens to be studying the very Kingdom that Scarecrow is plotting to take over, and voila! A big entertaining mess.
Super Doll Licca-chan gives off a definite 80's vibe. Everything is in pleasant pastels and fluorescents, and the music is bubblegummy pop - there seems to be only one song commissioned for this series, and it serves triple duty as OP, ED, and battle theme. THe most weirdly fascinating thing about this show is that 11-1/2" Doll Licca starts out in a snappy military-style uniform, but when she transforms to full size to save Licca, she turns into, uh, Punky Brewster's big sister with shaggy pink ponytails and a magic yo-yo.
You'd think it would be the other way around, but this is lil'shoujo after all... Also, the show is oddly... American. I could see it being translated to English with absolutely no problems or edits. The only thing would be to licence the Licca-chan, which wouldn't last long against Barbie.
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Posted by Innocent Sidekick of Evil at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)
