It Figures (No. 2) Akari Mizunashi

Posted on January 29, 2013 by pantsukudasai56

With my first It Figures column, I talked about one of the more impressive figures in my collection with Godoka. With this installment, I’d like to talk about what I consider the crown jewel of my collection. I’m referring to an Azone BJD, or ball jointed doll, of Aria main character Akari Mizunashi. For those that have followed my posts in the past, you might remember that I listed Aria as an anime you should be watching. Akari and her boundless enthusiasm and endless amounts of joy at discovering aspects of Neo Venetia is a big reason for that.

Here is a full view of Akari. Unlike most standard figures, there are some big differences when you start talking about BJDs. First off, they’ll almost always have actual cloth clothing. Second, they’ll have wigs instead of molded plastic hair. Another thing that makes this figure so special is its size. It’s a 1:3 scale figure, while most other figures are 1:8 or 1:6. Even the 1:4 scale figures are not very common, so a 1:3 scale is very much a treat. The President Aria that she’s holding does not come with the figure, but rather it’s just something I added on separately because it seemed fitting, and for a reason I’ll talk about in a little bit.

Here is a close up of her face. Azone has a reputation for making good representations of various characters when they give them the BJD treatment, and this is no exception. Now, there is a difference between this BJD, and say a Volks BJD. That is this one has painted on eyes, where most Volks dolls have glass eyes inserted into the eye sockets. While I personally prefer the glass eyes, to some people they can give the dolls a sort of creepy look. This style is much less creepy and more likely to be pleasing to fans of the series.

This is the main accessory that she comes with, her oar that she uses to row her gondola. I do not often display her with the oar for a simple reason. It unbalances her terribly. That base you see under her feet is all that supports her. There are a couple weak magnets in her shoes that keep her attached, but with her size, it’s not nearly enough to keep her from tipping over. The oar itself is a full 40″ long and made of wood, so if its weight shifts even a little, she’ll topple right over. Perhaps if I had a big enough display case where I could lean the oar against it, I’d use it in the display more often because it is really nice. As it stands though, it took me 5 minutes of fiddling around just to get her to stand properly while holding that oar for this picture. Much easier just to display her with President Aria.

As I mentioned, she uses a doll wig instead of molded hair. Because of this, it takes a little more care to keep it from getting frizzy, but the benefits speak for themselves. It just cannot be compared to molded plastic hair. I suppose if one were so inclined, they could do her hair however they wanted. But, the way it’s meant to be is the best.

They made sure to take into account the layered look of her hair, as it is in the anime. Of course, her most distinctive feature is, as Akatsuki always puts it, her sideburns. Akari is always quick to point out that they’re not sideburns, but whatever you want to call them, they’re adorable either way.

Just another view of her, this time from the back. Her uniform is quite faithfully recreated, with a bit of wire in the hem so even it can be posed in the manner that you choose. This is a nice touch in case you wanted to pose her in an active type position where it wouldn’t make sense to just have the dress laying flat.

Throughout most of the series, Akari is shown as a Single, which is a level of apprentice gondolier. This is signified by her wearing one glove. This is an indication to the public that she cannot take passengers in her gondola without a full fledged gondolier, or Prima. The glove is able to be removed, so if you so chose, one could display her as a Prima, but I just think the look of a Single suits her more for display purposes.

One slight downside to her, besides the lack of really good stability, is the fact that she doesn’t really have ankle joints like a lot of BJDs do. This is because her boots are not really meant to be removed since that’s how she’s made to stay on her base, and so they felt there was no point in putting on ankle joints. While I can see their point, it does reduce the ability to pose her a little bit, since she can only bend on her knee joints and just slightly forward on the ankles. Her feet will shift forward slightly, but not nearly to the extent that a person can bend on their ankles in real life. Beyond this one little nitpick though, she’s a fantastic figure.

It’s always nice and puts a smile on my face to have Akari welcoming me home with open arms. Now some might be wondering, what’s she wearing under that uniform? And to them, I say, none of your business! Yes, as perverse as I may be most of the time, Aria, and Akari by extension, is serenity. It’s the one and only show where I will not look for perverse elements, I won’t look at h-doujinshi of it, and I certainly will not look up Akari’s dress at her panties. She is wearing them, all BJDs tend to have panties and a slip, but I just have no desire to sully her by doing that. Even I have some semblance of morals now and again!

This figure is certainly not for everyone. For one thing, the joints tend to turn some people off. For others, the sheer size of the figure makes it inconvenient to display. But the main sticking point for people is likely the price. I was lucky enough to find and purchase her in Japan when I visited there back in 2008, and I got her for the bargain price of 80,000 yen. At the time, I was getting slightly more than 100 yen per dollar, so she cost me a little less than $800. That may not seem like a bargain to many, but considering how she now goes at auction for $2500 or more, that is a fantastic price. I’ve personally been offered $2000 for her, but she is definitely one figure that I will never part with under any circumstances. She’s just that kind of good. Some people might look at figures as mere toys, but I think of them as closer to daughters, and I’d never sell my daughters for any price!

It Figures (No. 1): Godoka

Posted on January 14, 2013 by pantsukudasai56

For some time now, Arleigh has been trying to get me to write up a post about figures. We both enjoy collecting them, and my collection of them is rather extensive so there’s certainly no lack of material. Again, it all came down to motivation to just get started, and what motivated me the most was my most recent acquisition, the Good Smile Company version of Ultimate Madoka, or as she’s better known, Godoka.

Yes indeed, the contents are fragile, and very valuable. Many Bothans died bringing this….ahem, wrong story. Anyways, this is one thing I really appreciate about the Japanese. That’s no cheaply made, reused, been sitting in the back with people taking naps on it kind of cardboard box. That’s a sturdy, never before used, highly protective one. Plus they put just the right amount of packing material inside to keep the figure from shifting, but not so much that it crushes it.

And that effort paid off. Here she is, safe and sound in the comfort of my own home, without nary a dent in the box. The boxes themselves are often times practically works of art. On them they usually show the various angles and options one can do with each figure. I know Godoka is yearning to be free from her plastic and cardboard prison, but first I think one needs to appreciate just how big this box is. This picture doesn’t really do it justice, since there’s no basis for comparison.

Now this one gives you an idea. That’s about 14.5″ wide, and the box is pretty much square, so that should show that they didn’t mess around with this figure. The boxes for the other figures in this series were only half this size. But now that we’ve had our fill of boxes, let’s get her out of there and take a better look.

Here we have a look at all the various pieces that comprise her. While this may not be a lot by some figures standards, by a scaled, static figure this is a lot. In case it’s not easily seen, in addition to the main figure, she had two different bows, two sets of wings, an arrow and of course her base. What also probably isn’t easily seen is the fact that the plastic tomb is not only held together by the snaps and tape, but also with twisted wire. This last part is always a pain in the rear, so be sure to keep a pair of wire cutters handy. Trying to untwist those wires by hand is not a fun task, and I do not recommend those without much patience to attempt it.

Now we finally get to see Godoka free from her constraints. And let me tell you, she’s no lightweight figure. A good amount of weight is in the dress of hers, which is good since that’s where she’s going to attach to her base. The pattern of stars on the black interior of the dress is a very nice touch, and GSC did not skimp on the details. One thing to be wary of is her hair. It feels pretty fragile, and the ends are very pointy so if you’re not careful, she could very easily snag a piece of clothing and possibly snap a strand of hair off. I thought it was going to happen to me a couple times as I was getting later parts put on her, but thankfully I managed to avoid any catastrophes. Ah, I can hear you now. “But pantsukudasai, when you say she’s detailed, just HOW detailed, if you know what I mean?” Oh, I do know what you mean, yes indeed.

Homu Homu would be drooling in envy. Yes, in keeping with a fine tradition in figures, they made sure to sculpt a pair of panties on her. Sadly, it’s just a very standard pair. Some figures get very fancy underwear indeed. Still, it’s this attention to detail that makes collecting so worth while. And when you think about it, it certainly makes sense. I mean, if you’re going to have a figure in a dress, it stands to reason that she’s going to be wearing something underneath it, doesn’t it? And since one must appreciate all aspects of their figure, it’s only natural that I’d flip each figure over and check out their pantsu. Nothing perverted about that in the least!

Now here she is with her bow and arrow. As I mentioned earlier, she comes with two different bows. The other bow does not have the pink energy charge around it and it just her regular sprout bow. I assume that’s if you want to display her as if she’s already fired the arrow. I think it looks much better with the arrow and the charged bow. The only downside to this is that the bow doesn’t feel particularly sturdy, and as you move the figure the top wobbles in a way that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me. Still, for the most part the figure is going to be safely behind glass, and other than the vibrations from me walking past, it should be kept stable. It’s not like I live in an earthquake zone. A great deal of care must be taken when getting the arrow into her hand. Her hand is removable, so I’d recommend taking it off and then attaching the arrow. It can only go in one way, so don’t try forcing it! Also, there are many little barbs on the bow and the arrow that could easily snap off if improperly handled. They didn’t do us any favors by wrapping some plastic around the bow either. I had to carefully cut the plastic wrap off, because those barbs I mentioned earlier made it difficult to slide off otherwise.

The next troublesome point were the wings on her feet, but this was more a troublesome aspect simply because it’s not very clear which wing goes on which foot. When you try putting the correct wing on the correct foot, it slides on snugly and securely. While this might seem like the obvious thing, in some cases they don’t get all the slag out of the slots for the holes, so things like this don’t always fit right. Luckily for me, when I tried them the other way, it worked just fine. You can kind of see in the bottom corner of the picture, but it does come with instructions. The reason why they’re sitting there, unused is two reasons. First off, I’m a guy. We don’t need no stinkin’ instructions. Secondly, they’re in Japanese, which I cannot read a single word of. The pictures they show aren’t terribly helpful in deciphering what one is to do. At any rate, you can probably guess, but those wing tips are very fragile too. Take your time, and you should be fine.

The last detail to add to her are the wings on her back. These thankfully were very obvious how they needed to go, and other than having to weave the right wing in between a couple strands of hair, it went on quite painlessly. Again, the details they made with the sculpt of the figure are indeed stunning. The way the dress flows, the ruffles in it, all her accessories, it made the wait for this figure from when I originally ordered it back in June all worthwhile.

This group shows her from various angles. It’s truly a satisfying feeling when you finally get your figure all assembled and ready to properly be displayed. Certainly another run to Ikea is in my future so that I may properly save her from the evils of dust.

Lastly, I felt it fitting to have her shown with the other figures in her line. On the right we have the pairing of Kyoko and Sayaka, and on the left we have the pairing of regular Madoka and Homura. In the middle, with Godoka taking careful aim, we have the hated Mami. No one is romantically interested in Mami.

I’ll end this with saying that while she might be a bit spendy for some people, I feel that Godoka was worth every penny I spent on her. If figure collecting is your thing, don’t delay on grabbing her as fast as you can. She’s still available now, but when a figure looks this good, it’s tough to say how long she’ll be around for. If you wait too long, the only way you’ll get her is by forming a contract with a certain someone….

Anime You Should Be Watching: Sword Art Online

Posted on December 2, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

The title I’m writing about today has been featured in an AMV of the Day post by site founder Arleigh in the past, and it’s one that I’ve been meaning to write about ever since its licensing announcement back in October. But with that month being a horror-centric month, and last month…well, I was just really lazy last month. However, today I’d like to give my personal recommendation to one of the current biggest hits to come out of Japan, Sword Art Online.

The premise of the show is this: In the future gaming is done by immersing your consciousness completely into the game with a headset that’s pretty much the kind of virtual reality that some of us dearly dream was real. All senses are simulated so you can even eat food in the game and it tastes and feels like you’re eating real food. The newest, most sought after game in this time period is an MMO called Sword Art Online (what a coincidence, because there’s this anime with the same name that’s really good too! They should watch it.) and it’s a very exclusive game. Only 10,000 copies are released to the general public so getting the privilege to own a copy is like a status symbol. The main protagonist in the series, Kazuto Kirigaya or Kirito as he names himself in the game, is not only one of the lucky few who got a copy, but he was also a beta tester for the game. When the game goes live, he and the rest of the 10,000 log in and begin playing. I’ll admit it’s kind of amazing that all 10,000 supposedly all logged in at roughly the same time, but this show does require a few suspensions of belief. Anyways, after playing for a few hours and training another person on how to play, Kirito attempts to log out only to find that there is no option to log out of the game. Then all players are force transported to the square of the starting town where they are stripped of their avatars and their true selves are shown to be in the game. Then the creator appears via hologram announcing to them all that they are now trapped in the game until someone manages to clear all 100 levels. The real downside to this? If you die in the game, you die in real life. If your NervGear (the headgear that brings the virtual world to life) is forcibly removed, you will die. The only way to get out of the game alive is to clear it. And thus starts the adventure for Kirito and the people trapped in SAO.

The first thing to say about SAO is that the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous. This was obviously meant to be a big budget hit, and from character designs to backgrounds it sure doesn’t seem as if they went the cheap route. The boss battles are particularly noteworthy. This is one of the later boss battles, and this should give you an idea of the quality of the show, since often times the longer a show runs, the more likely the animators are to start cutting corners since their budget might be running low. This has not happened with SAO. (The subs are in spanish since I couldn’t find what I wanted in English, but you don’t really need to know what’s being said to appreciate the action)

Now I’m not big on playing MMOs myself. That whole teamwork thing isn’t for me, but this does give a good representation on what some of the tougher boss battles in MMOs are like. Now just imagine that your life was actually on the line and you can get a sense of the intensity in the battle.

Now, for the characters, your mileage may vary. Personally, I’ve liked the majority of them, even the “bad guys” so to speak, as they’ve done a good job of keeping them interesting. The main two are Kirito and Asuna, the girl in the picture and in that video, but there are others that make regular appearances, and then we also have one time showings from characters that become fan favorites like Silica Fett. Ok, she’s just called Silica, but she has the Boba Fett syndrome where she makes a lone appearance yet becomes a huge fan favorite. A couple seem like they were pointless additions, but mostly they’re there to show Kirito’s progression from uncaring loner to basically the hero of the game. This has led some detractors to label him as an MMO Jesus, in that he goes around saving people for no real reason other than to perhaps make himself feel better for past failings, but I liked seeing him grow up as it were and actually become a better person through the game.

As I write this, the show is still ongoing, so I’m taking a risk in recommending it. The show has switched gears a bit, and while I’m fine with where it’s going, since I haven’t read the light novels that this is based on, which I think are still ongoing themselves, the ending could very well shit the bed. At the very least it’s likely that the animation staff will have to make up their own ending, and even when that has the approval of the original creator, it tends to have mixed results. The tonal shift from the first season to the second is a bit jarring, and it kind of takes you out of the world that it worked hard to craft, but from what I’ve seen of the second season thus far it should transition well.

The musical score is also quite fantastic. It is largely composed by Yuki Kajiura, whom Arleigh and I had the pleasure to see in concert with Fiction Junction at this year’s Anime Expo. Each piece is well crafted to fit the mood of the scenes, from grand epic pieces to fit major battles, to slow paced, gentler sounds to complement quiet, everyday life. Music is essential in setting the proper mood in shows, and this is done beautifully here.

A major concern I have is from the licensing side. It’s been announced for release in the US & Canadia by Aniplex of America, and their prices tend to run a bit on the high side. I recently purchased Bakemonogatari from them, and that cost $150 for half as many episodes as SAO is going to be. The only comparable release that they’ve done as far as episode count would be their Blue Exorcist release, and that was only released on 4 DVDs which can be had for $100 now. But, at the risk of sounding like a video snob, this is a release that demands a blu-ray version. With Japan constantly crying about reverse importation, either it’s going to be a DVD only release or it will be an incredibly expensive BD release, possibly even along the lines of the infamous $700 Fate Zero release. Only time will tell on this, but fans will just have to cross their fingers that our Japanese overlords will be reasonable. Regardless, if the show can keep up the kind of energy and drama that it presented in its first half, then I’ll be hard pressed to pass by the eventual release.

Anime You Should Be Watching Horror Edition: Hellsing Ultimate

Posted on October 26, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

Two posts in one month? What sort of madness is this? Well, I’ve been drinking a lot, so makes sense that I should attempt to ramble here where I have free reign to do so. But never mind that, what’s important here is that in addition to my aforementioned Another, if you’re going to watch another horror anime this month, you should give serious consideration to Hellsing Ultimate.

Now, let’s be clear on one important fact. I’m talking about the OAV series, as opposed to the TV series which came out 3 years prior to the much better OAV series. The main problem with the TV series was that it came out when the manga was proving to be popular, however, Kouta Hirano was a very slow writer. In fact, the manga was only a 10 volume series, yet it ran from 1997 until 2008. For the math challenged among us, that’s 11 years to release 10 volumes of manga. To give you all a very relevant comparison, another series that I’ve wrote about, One Piece, also started in 1997. To date, One Piece has produced 67 volumes. Even if we say that Eiichiro Oda is a freak of nature, most normal mangaka would produce three times what Kouta Hirano did in the same amount of time. The point being that the original TV series came out early on in the run of the manga, so the ending has absolutely nothing like the manga. Now, the OAV series was able to take its time and wait on the source material. Hence, why I’m insisting that if you watch any Hellsing show, you should make it the OAV series. It’s much more faithful to the manga, and while that doesn’t mean the TV series is bad, when compared against the original it just doesn’t hold up.

So, the long and short of Hellsing is that vampires are real. Very real. So what is your average person to do against such a threat? Don’t expect your average army to save you. Oh no, what you need is what the British government has. You need the Hellsing Organization. What makes the Hellsing Organization able to handle these freaks of nature better than your average army? Well, they have themselves a trump card known as Alucard. Anyone that has ever played a Castlevania game should know that name, but if you don’t, well then beware because I”m about to drop a very obvious spoiler on you. See, Alucard is actually Dracula backwards. GASP! So, now do we understand why the Hellsing Organization is badass? But Alucard is not the sort who cares to do all the work himself. Not that he can’t, just he’s not above recruiting those in whom he sees potential. And doesn’t every master want a pupil? That’s largely why he “recruits” Seras Victoria as his student by turning her into a vampire as well. In the TV series, Seras is shown almost as the main protagonist, while in the OAV series she shares the spotlight with Alucard and their boss, Integra Hellsing.

But it’s no fun if the protagonist is unbeatable and has no rival. Well, enter Father Anderson. Not only is he opposed to Alucard, but his group is entirely opposed to the whole Hellsing Organization. See, the Hellsing Organization basically represent the Anglican Church, while Father Anderson represents the Catholic Church. But this isn’t some regular human that miraculously is able to hang with a vampire. Oh no, Father Anderson has a few tricks up his sleeve. I could go on, but I’d say this video best sums up what kind of man he is.

But all that is just a taste of what’s to come. A huge part of the divergence between the TV series and the OAV is that the overall villain is not really described in the TV series. In the OAV, we find out that who the Hellsing Organization is ultimately fighting is not the Catholic Church as was hinted at this that video, but rather remnants from the Nazi party. Yes, if the Nazis had access to this kind of army, World War II might have turned out vastly different. Make no mistake though, this in no way tries to make the Nazi party out to be cool. Every person involved with the Nazis are batshit insane. It’s hard to say that there’s a “good guy” here, but certainly the Nazis are not them. But isn’t that the worst kind of villain? The ones who are fully aware that what they’re doing is pure evil and they just plain don’t care? That’s exactly how the Nazis here are portrayed. They’re not supposed to be misguided idealists, or innocents brainwashed against their will. No, they know what they’re doing, what they represent, yet they don’t care. They love it and embrace it, and they are shown to be completely nuts. And frankly, that’s the only way this could work, because Alucard and the Hellsing Organization themselves are not, nor are they trying to be, paragons of virtue. I mean, they rely on the power of vampires, and while Seras occasionally has some qualms about what she does, Alucard never cares if so called innocents are killed in the pursuit of his enemies. The entire lack of caring for human life makes it very difficult to label any one group as good or evil.
So, I’ll readily admit that as far as “Oh hell, I just wet myself” type of horror goes, this doesn’t really fit the bill. But really, do most people consider Dracula to be a horror movie? Most would. This is in the same vein as that. It’s horror in that “Look at all these people being slaughtered, isn’t that horrible?” sort of way, and not in the freak you out sort. The fact remains that this is a very well written anime. Also, a fun fact is that this shares a link with another manga/anime, High School of the Dead. It may not be readily apparent, but look at the character names in HSotD and then look at the name of the author of Hellsing. See if there are any similarities.

All in all, Hellsing is a very entertaining show, and it could at times be considered gore porn more than a horror anime. But, there’s little doubt that either way it’s definitely an anime worth watching.

Anime You Should Be Watching Horror Edition: Another

Posted on October 14, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

Being the time of year that it is, I felt I should stay on the horror theme for my rare contribution. Last year I presented to you all my thoughts on the Higurashi series. This year I’m focusing on an anime that came out at the beginning of this year by relative newcomer studio P.A. Works called Another.

Horror anime are rather difficult to do well. That’s because unlike with live action, you are acutely aware that what is happening is not real. Sure, with live action if you sit back and look at most of the horror shows, you can’t necessarily take them seriously, but at least for me there’s a difference in my mind between watching something with real live people in it, and watching 2D drawings moving. So, horror anime either try to pretend they’re still live action and hope you can immerse yourself in them despite it obviously not being real, or they just go for the crazy, over the top exaggerated sequences with lots of blood and gore and just hope the mood feels right. Another takes the second approach. It’s not a constant bloodbath, but it seems to take much delight in coming up with the craziest, most unrealistic deaths it can think of. I think of it almost like an animated version of the Final Destination films. I’ll try and avoid too many spoilers here, but the first death we see should give you an idea of just how crazy and over the top they can get.

So, the basic premise of the show is that many years ago a student in class 3-3 died during the school year. Some classmates, unable to really deal with his death decided to pretend that he was still alive. Soon the rest of the class, including the teachers joined in. This was all well and good, except that when they took their class photos, the student who was supposed to be dead appeared in the photo. Since that time, class 3-3 has been like a portal to the afterlife, allowing the dead to come back and join the class. This has resulted in class 3-3 always having one extra person in it, although during the time which it occurs nobody is aware who the extra person is. They know there is one, but their memories have been altered so that the extra person seems like they’ve always been there. Also, the person who is dead, or the Another, also is unaware that they are dead. Fast forward 20 some years and we come to where the story starts, with transfer student Koichi Sakakibara joining class 3-3. There he meets the girl with the eyepatch, Mei Misaki. However, the rest of the class seems to not acknowledge her existence. The reason for this is revealed later on, but since it’s a mildly important plot point, I’ll leave that up to the readers to watch and see for themselves.

The character designs and the attention to detail in this show are fantastic, as is pretty much par for the course with P.A. Works. The character designs were based on concepts by Noizi Ito, who’s probably best known for her work as the illustrator for the Haruhi Suzumiya novels. What’s also par for the course for a P.A. Works show is that it meanders a bit and almost gets lost in the middle. We’ll set aside the ridiculousness of the deaths because this show isn’t trying to be ultra serious. It’s not going for the camp appeal, but it is using the gore as a sort of fanservice for people who are into that sort of thing. Don’t get too attached to any secondary characters, because there are a ton of deaths in this show. I’ll admit, one or two of the deaths did sadden me a bit, mainly because I liked that particular character and had hoped that they’d survive the curse. This particular class year seems to be extra unlucky, since they showed previous class records and there didn’t seem to be quite as many deaths from the curse as there was in this year.

A complaint that was tossed around when the show finished was that the identity of the Another, which is revealed at the end, was too difficult to figure out. Much like with The Sixth Sense, all the clues are shown once their identity is revealed, and there are quite a few red herrings thrown in there to keep you off the track, but it’s certainly possible to figure out who it is. I’ll say that I was wrong in who I thought it was, but at least my guess wasn’t eliminated until the very end. In fact, I largely suspect that the person whom I thought it was was who the creators wanted us to think was the Another from the get go. In that aspect, I can only tip my hat to them and say they did a good job in getting me to dance to their tune.

All in all, love it or hate it, P.A. Works deserves a lot of credit for not just sticking with a single genre of anime and trying something different to diversify. How true they were to the source material, I’m not entirely certain as I have not read the novel, written by Yukito Ayatsuji however I can say that if I see that P.A. Works is doing another horror anime, I’ll certainly be tuning in. The ride may be a little rocky in the middle, but it’s still a fun ride.

AMV of the Day: Azumanga Daioh 1985

Posted on July 30, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

I believe this is the third Azumanga AMV to be posted here, but what can I say? The series lends itself nicely to being made into AMVs. This is an older AMV, and I really don’t know if it was ever entered into an AMV contest at a convention or if it was just done for fun. Either way, this was created by Suberunker Studeosh and it mixes scenes from Azumanga Daioh with the Bowling for Soup song 1985.

This video in particular has a bit of a checkered past if you will. Perhaps this is a recent development, but for the longest time these videos were either taken down or had their music blocked because Bowling for Soup, or most likely their producers, objected to the use of their song in the video. Mainly this was an issue with it being posted on YouTube, but as you can now see, they don’t seem to have a problem with the music being played these days. Either cooler heads prevailed and they realized that no harm was being done, or they figured the song was old enough to where its monetary value was sufficiently decreased so it didn’t matter anymore. At any rate, it’s good that people can now see and hear this video as the creator intended.

At any rate, this video features the somewhat jaded and a little immature teacher of the series, Yukari Tanizaki, and the majority of the scenes were taken from Azumanga Daioh, but there were a few quick snippets from other anime shows too. It’s a really well put together video, and fans of the series are sure to enjoy it, as well as people who just appreciate a good AMV.

Anime: Azumanga Daioh, Naruto, Fruits Basket, Pokemon, Full Metal Alchemist, Neon Genesis Evangelion

Song: “1985” by Bowling For Soup

Creator: Suberunker Studeoh

Past AMVs of the Day

Anime You Should Be Watching: Sailor Moon

Posted on July 9, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

With the recent announcement, it’s fitting that the anime being recommended today is of the best known magical girl series in the US, and possibly the world, Sailor Moon.

Sailor Moon is one of those rare anime that can be considered legendary. Years from now, people will likely have forgotten the latest fanservice filled fluff show (not that there’s anything wrong with them) but consider that it’s been nearly 10 years since Sailor Moon has had any exposure on television, and it’s still one of the most beloved franchises ever. Sailor Moon, along with Dragon Ball Z, and Gundam Wing, can be credited with really kick starting the anime boom of the late 90′s, early 00′s here in the US. This was all thanks to Cartoon Network putting them on what was then a prime cartoon block, Toonami. Unlike the current version of Toonami, which airs in the wee hours and only on Saturday, this block was shown Monday – Friday and during the after school afternoon hours. Millions would rush home to tune in and watch these crazy “new” cartoons from Japan. But Sailor Moon had already gotten a foothold in the US. It wasn’t nearly as successful, but a full 3 years prior to its appearance on Toonami, it had arrived on syndicated broadcast. Sadly, due in large part to poor time slots, the show didn’t have the success that was hoped. But that all changed when Turner broadcasting picked up the rights and eventually put it on the Toonami block. The rest is history.

The show itself wasn’t particularly unique. The magical girl genre had existed before Sailor Moon, and unfortunately, it didn’t see a major boost after Sailor Moon. One might think that Sailor Moon was just the right show at the right time, but such a thought would be a great disservice to the story that was crafted by Naoko Takeuchi. Her story of a young girl growing up from a crybaby to a strong young lady is one that is still enjoyable to this day. It emphasizes the importance of friendship and teamwork, and the cast of characters is largely so likeable that you can’t help but root for them. Even some of the villains turn out to be sympathetic characters from certain viewpoints. The fact that the show got 5 seasons, 200 episodes plus 3 movies a handful of specials and OAVs, a live action show, and 25 musicals, is a testament to its popularity.

Why you should watch:

This is overall just a thrilling series to watch. Deep down you know that good is going to triumph, that Sailor Moon will come out on top, but when you’re in the moment, sometimes you just don’t know! A prime example is in the first season. Normally I try to avoid spoilers in my posts, but this is a 20 year old franchise. Still, spoilers ahead. Ready? I warned you. Ok, in the climactic battle in the first season, all the Sailor Soldiers except for Sailor Moon herself die. Don’t worry! They get better. Even though the butchered English dub version goes to great lengths to edit their deaths out, somehow you just know that they died. In the original version, you clearly see their heroic deaths, and it leaves such an impact that it’s a shame it was edited out. While character deaths aren’t uncommon in anime being broadcast in Japan, it was almost unheard of for a children’s show to have that kind of content here in the US. That kind of uncertainty leaves you on the edge of your seat. The battles between the Sailor Soldiers and the villains are just that compelling, and neither side comes across as being much more overpowered than the other. The cast of characters is large enough to where you can find someone that you want to root for, and someone you can’t help but hate (I’m looking at you, Chibi Usa!). It runs the whole gamut of emotions, from happiness to sadness and everything in between. When a show can make you feel something for the characters, especially an animated show, then you know it’s been done right.

Why you shouldn’t watch:

Playing Devils Advocate is difficult for me, because if I say you should watch it, then frankly I don’t see why you wouldn’t want to. However, this is first and foremost an anime for girls. And it’s made for younger girls than I’d wager a good amount of our readership is. The show, especially in the early episodes, spends a decent amount of time with some of our heroines having stars in their eyes, dreaming about boys. It’s very pink, and it’s very sparkly, and I certainly wouldn’t judge any guys who just can’t stand that much girly stuff. (wimps) Also, it is 200 episodes long, so this isn’t nearly as tightly written as the manga. There are a lot of episodes featuring a “monster of the week”, basically a one shot monster that is an underling to the main villians which is there just to be dispatched by our heroines. The show could easily have been condensed down to 1/3 or so of the episodes and still told the same story. So the original should only be tackled by those that have a lot of spare time. 200 episodes isn’t something you can tackle in just one sitting.

With the announcement of a new Sailor Moon project, while there’s only speculation at this point, the prevailing thought is a more accurate to the source material version with much of the filler cut out will be in the works. Much like what Dragon Ball Z did with Dragon Ball Z Kai. Along with Kodansha releasing the Sailor Moon manga here, this is looking to be a new golden age for Sailor Moon. Whether or not the new anime will be able to recapture the magic from the first is unknown, but you owe it to yourself to familiarize yourself with the original, and find out just why it was so responsible for a generation of girls and boys becoming anime fans. And I’ll end this now with a word from our main heroine:

Anime You Should Be Watching: Bakemonogatari

Posted on June 2, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

Honestly, I try to keep this column a surprise to Arleigh. I hate when the owner of this site knows exactly what I’m going to post. However, with the recent announcement from Aniplex USA that they will be releasing this title on BluRay, I can’t very well ignore this awesome title any longer.

The problem with this title is, it’s very hard to talk about without spoiling things. Every girl here has a very important story to tell. The overarching story here is how our protagonist, Koyomi Araragi, interacts with the various girls in the series. The thing is, every girl has her own problem that he must solve. Since I hate spoilers as much as the next guy or girl I’ll refrain from going too in depth to what everyone has to overcome. The best parts would have to be Mayoi Hachikuji and Suruga Kanbaru. Luckily for all, the BluRay of this series will be available later on this year from Aniplex America. Really, nothing else could do this series justice than a BluRay release, so I cannot help but be thrilled for this. What I can say about this is that you need to be prepared to do a lot of reading. People say that this is a very wordy title, and while I don’t necessarily agree with them in the fact that they think the dialog comes fast and furious, I do agree that the dialog is the most important aspect of the show. There is a lot of Japanese puns and wordplay involved, and this title is not for the newly initiated to the anime scene. Those that are used to reading subtitles won’t have too much trouble keeping up, but this is certainly not a title one can passively watch and expect to fully understand.

The thing to keep in mind is that if this show seems strange, by anime standards, it probably has a lot to do with the director. It’s directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, who also directed the very unconventional Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and his influence is easily seen in both. There’s not a lot of action in Bakemonogatari but the visual imagery is classic Shinbo. He makes full use of a lot of surreal backgrounds during long conversations, so instead of letting things get stale with long stretches of just the characters standing around talking, which as I said before they do a lot, he’ll at least have the background flashing by and changing often during those times. On one hand, it’s certainly a cost saving measure since they didn’t have to animate the characters, but more importantly it makes it seem like something is actually happening, even when it’s really not. In a visual medium like anime, nothing bores people more than just staring at the same thing for long periods of time, so this helps keep any feelings of boredom from setting in. For a show without a lot of action, to be able to keep it from feeling dull is where you need a talented director, and Shinbo truly shines in this case.

So what worked with this anime? Well, it has attractive and interesting characters. Each story draws you in and makes you want to see what happens next. While you assume that each girl will have her problem solved, this is a Shinbo show, so there are no guarantees that the problem will be solved, or even if it is that it won’t create further problems. And that’s part of the fun of this series, expecting the unexpected.

What didn’t work? Well, if you want lots of action and explosions in your anime, you’ll find little to none of that here. This is a very character driven show, so if you find you dislike or don’t care about some or even all of the characters, then you won’t find much here of value.

All in all this was a pleasant surprise to me when I watched it. The light novels it was based on have been very popular, but since I don’t follow the light novel scene very closely, this was unexpectedly good. If you want an anime that draws you in and keeps you hooked with a compelling story, then look no further than Bakemonogatari.

Anime You Should Be Watching: High School DxD

Posted on April 22, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

So, I’ve noticed that with the few anime recommendations I’ve posted about, I’ve actually kept it quite classy, or at the very least the shows have merit. Aria, classy. Higurashi, well written. Ika Musume, good clean fun. High School DxD is the exact opposite of all those. Hey, I’m a guy with an avatar of a girl flashing her panties. It would be very remiss of me if I didn’t write about a fanservice anime once in awhile!

So, the general premise of High School DxD is that the protagonist, Issei, enters high school with one goal in mind. It’s not to be the top student, or a star athlete, oh no, he has far more loftier goals. His desire is to be the Harem King. And his goal is off to a good start when a beautiful girl asks him to be her boyfriend right away. Then the goal gets sidetracked a bit, because on their first date she reveals that she’s a fallen angel and promptly kills him. Sounds like the shortest anime ever, I know, but that’s where the story really starts. See, he is then revived by the president of the Occult Club, a buxom redhead named Rias Gremory, who also turns out to be the daughter of a prestigious demon clan. How prestigious? Well, her brother is Lucifer. Yup. Anyways, Issei is apparently important because he contains some lost relic or something or another in him. His arm can turn into some kind of device. Whatever, that’s not terribly important. What is important is that Issei was revived, but not as a human, rather he is now a demon too. And while he may have lost his humanity, he’s gained something much more important. His harem! You see, in addition to Rias, there are also the lovely Akeno Himejima, the delicious Koneko Tojo, and the later addition of the kind, but a little dim Asia Argento. Also, there’s another guy, but he’s about as important here as Itsuki Koizumi is in the Haruhi Suzumiya series. Each character represents a piece on a chess board, which also indicates their abilities. Rias is obviously the King, Akeno with her overwhelming magic power is the Queen, Asia with her healing powers is the Bishop, Koneko with her super strength is the Rook, Yuto (unimportant dude) is the Knight, and Issei is the Pawn.

So, what works in this series? Well, there’s the panty shots and the boobs. What more is needed? The budget for this, while not of the Studio Ghibli variety, was certainly consistent at least, since the character models don’t suffer from episode to episode in quality like a lot of series tend to. It seems a lot of care was taken to make the characters look appealing, and it shows. Yes, there is a lot of cheesecake here, but it’s good cheesecake. Sometimes that’s all you need to have a fun series, and in this case it works. Also, I found it very refreshing that the protagonist in a harem anime comes straight out and declares that he wants a harem. I love my harem anime as much as the next guy, but I do tend to get tired of bland, milquetoast males who flounder about and act all scared to death when a member of the opposite sex even talks to him, let alone accidentally flash her breasts. Here, Issei makes no bones about the fact that he’s a pervert and proud of it. And most of the girls are fine with it too! Surprisingly the only one that really isn’t is the kuudere, Koneko. Usually that kind of character is rather indifferent, but she’s very much against Issei’s perverted ways.

So what didn’t work? Well, the story, or rather the fact that it’s like the show had ADD and couldn’t decide what it wanted to do. First off they’re fighting fallen angels. But they kind of stop that midway without really a whole lot of closure and suddenly switch to going after the Church. Then that kind of gets pushed aside for another crack at the angels. Then without really being done with either, they’re fighting another demon clan. This was based off a light novel series that’s still ongoing, so I’m more forgiving towards that, but it still makes it tough to get any continuity going, nor is the ending very satisfying. I don’t pay attention to viewing numbers or DVD/BD sales in Japan, so I’m not sure how well received this show was, but it’s definitely set up for a second season. The light novel series seems to be popular enough, since there are 12 volumes out since it started in 2008, and it’s still ongoing. So, perhaps enough fans will have tuned in to get it the second season I feel it deserves. If this is all we get, well it’s good pervy fun, but I feel it could be a bit more than just that if allowed to continue on.

Finally, this show has probably the best ending sequence I’ve seen in an anime in a very long time. The song is typical upbeat Jpop, but the accompanying video is something that one must watch to fully appreciate.

With that in mind, I’m sure there’s little doubt as to why I felt compelled to post this up and give a recommendation for a show to watch when you just want to see some panties flashed and some boobs jiggle. Because hey, who hasn’t had a day like that?

AMV of the Day: A Little Late

Posted on April 14, 2012 by pantsukudasai56

Usually Arleigh handles this sort of post. And he did just post one yesterday, so I’m glad he’s taking up the slack that I’ve made. I mean, ostensibly I was brought on board to handle all things anime. Anyways, for once I’m actually going to post up something anime related.

Let me say this about this video. I’m as manly as manly gets. I kiss puppies and kick babies. Kill the women and children first! But even this video brings me to tears. Funny story, I was sitting in Burger King today, this song started playing over the speakers, and scene for scene I could recall this AMV. Heck, you don’t even have to be familiar with this anime to get the emotional impact (ef – a tale of melodies. Watch it now!) But you know, it really wouldn’t hurt you to watch both ef- a tale of memories and ef – a tale of melodies (didn’t I just mention that? Yes, yes I did). Both would help you get the full impact of this AMV. But either way, can you really watch this video and not feel anything? If so, then you’re a stronger man than I. And since there is no stronger man than I, then you are a liar. And since you’re a liar, no one cares what you think or say! My logic is flawless. Enjoy the video! Full credit goes to Dragon Roy and the AMV contest at Anime Boston.

Anime: Ef – a tale of melodies

Song: “You Found Me” by The Fray

Creator: Dragon Roy

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