Anime You Should Be Watching: Ika Musume

Posted on July 22, 2011 by pantsukudasai56

Today is a rarity for two reasons. First off, I went and watched a highly anticipated movie, Captain America, BEFORE Arleigh went and saw it. Since live action stuff isn’t the sort of thing I care to review, I have no intentions of doing so here (probably obvious by the title) but it is a very good movie and people should go watch. Secondly, I’m actually making a post! Yes, I am still a contributor to this site, I’m just not a very dedicated one. But today, I submit before you all that if you have not yet seen the awesomeness that is Ika Musume, then you have just been missing out on one of the best anime of 2010.

The basic premise goes as such. Ika Musume, or Squid Girl (the name given to her in English adaptations, which is what her name translates to, but I just prefer Ika Musume) comes to land to punish humans for their constant polluting of the oceans. Now, people that know me know how much of an anti-environmentalist I am, so even though this sounds like enviro-hippie bullcrap, needless to say things do not go exactly as planned. First off, she’s far too adorable to be taken seriously as a conqueror. You tell me, would you at all fear this?

Of course you can’t, and of all the people she meets, only one person actually takes her threat seriously. Because no one other than that one girl seems to be at all bothered that there is an anthropomorphic squid in their midst. In fact, Ika Musume surfaces and subsequently tries to invade a beach house run by three siblings, Eiko, her older sister Chizuru, and their younger brother Takeru who instead of being fearful of her immediately put her to work to repair damage that she did to their restaurant. And Ika Musume doesn’t seem capable of staying on track for very long, because she almost immediately agrees and gets to work! Her talents are immediately apparent, as she is able to carry 8 dishes or drinks at a time with her tentacles, and she also can produce plenty of squid ink, which is used to season spaghetti noodles. I don’t know if that’s a Japanese specialty, or if that’s eaten in other cultures, but it’s apparently a hot seller there.

But eventually, Ika Musume does remember that her goal is to subjugate all of humanity. So, what keeps her in check? Ika Musume makes the mistake of threatening Eiko and Takeru, taking them hostage with her tentacles, and the normally mild mannered Chizuru shows a side you rarely see, where she becomes a combat specialist that would be the envy of any Navy SEAL. Needless to say, after being shown that her life could be snuffed out in an instant, whenever Chizuru detects any rebellion out of Ika Musume, a simple glare is enough to set her back on track.

One thing that Ika Musume is very well known for is her distinctive speech pattern. Long time anime veterans are likely familiar with characters having character specific traits. In Kanon it was Ayu and her “uguu”. In Rozen Maiden it was Suiseiseki and her “desu”. Ika Musume brings the very appropriate “de geso” as the ending to almost all her sentences. Geso literally translates to “arms of squid as food”, so you can see how it appropriate it is for her. But me telling you about it just isn’t the same as experiencing it yourself, so without further ado, here is Ika Musume in all her de geso goodness.

I don’t know about all of you, but this is one invader that I’d welcome with open arms. Thankfully, she’ll be back again when the second season begins airing this fall. It can’t come a moment too soon for me de geso.

SDCC 2011: Haywire (dir. by Steven Soderbergh) Exclusive Trailer

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Arleigh

It would seem that Steven Soderbergh was quite busy doing something small and simple leading up to his upcoming world-encompassing viral apocalypse film, Contagion. He managed to film an action-thriller (still feels new to say Soderbergh and action-thriller in the same breath) starring MMA fighter Gina Carano as the lead. The film’s title is Haywire and from the synopsis bouncing around the film looks to be quite a throwback to the late 80’s and early 90’s action-thrillers where the main lead is a super-spy or operative betrayed by those they work for and must now take them out to save their loved ones.

It’s going to be interesting to see how Soderbergh handles action on the level Haywire seems to be promising in the trailer. Even if he punts that side of the film the cast alone should make this film worth a look when it comes out. I mean outside of Carano there’s Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Ewan MacGregor, Bill Paxton and Antonio Banderas (channeling a wicked imitation of Saddam Hussein’s fugitive beard).

Haywire is set for a January 20, 2012 release date.

SDCC 2011: The Walking Dead Season 2 Trailer

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Arleigh

The day before AMC released new production photos from the set of the second season of The Walking Dead series. Another bonus was their reveal of the Comic-Con exclusive poster for the show painted by comic book illustrator and cover artist extraordinaire Tim Bradstreet. Today was the big panel for the show’s season 2 at San Diego Comic-Con. Robert Kirkman was in attendance as was showrunner Frank Darabont and producer Gale Anne Hurd. The cast was also in attendance. Questions about their initial experience on the truncated first season were asked and answered. But the one thing people wanted to see the panel showed quite early and again as the panel concluded.

The Walking Dead season 2 has been given a definitely premiere date of October 16, 2011 just in time for AMC’s Fear Fest leading up to Halloween. It was the unveiling of the new season’s trailer which got the audience cheering loudly and from reactions to the trailer one thing is set to be sure and that’s this season looks to be even more bleak and with more forward momentum than the first season.

The show is less than 3 months away and it cannot come any sooner.

Review: Burzum – Fallen

Posted on July 22, 2011 by necromoonyeti

Varg Vikernes was released from prison on May 24th, 2009, and in less than half a year he was recording a new album. Belus turned out to be everything I could have hoped for and more. It’s hard to describe what makes Varg’s music so enthralling. It has a sort of power to it–a trance-like quality that forces me to never really contemplate what it is he’s playing and just soak in its effects. Whether it’s Han Som Reiste in 1993 or Kaimadalthas’ Nedstigning in 2010, each album reaches a point where I’m completely lost in the music, sucked into his demented little world. Some of the weirdest dreams I ever had have ensued from falling asleep to Det Som Engang Var.

Jeg Faller

Sixteen years in prison didn’t seem to detract from this. Belus felt to me like the perfect continuation to Filosofem, as though his long absence from the metal world did not negatively impact his talents in the slightest. Yet somehow, just a year later, everything has changed.

I want to say straight ahead that Fallen is pretty bad. Not only does it musically lack his long-standing ability to captivate me, it’s pretty obnoxious at times. First of all, the vocals are a train wreck. Maybe in response to criticism that his screaming vocals weren’t as demented on Belus as they used to be, or maybe because he’s just an old man who can’t pull it off anymore, Varg completely abandons screaming on Fallen. Instead he whispers with a mouth full of marbles–the most annoying spoken vocals I have heard since Rhapsody of Fire were visiting the court of king chaos.

And the opening track’s chorus… Well, to quote a friend of mine, “It’s so catchy. I think Varg has an unexplored career in pop music waiting on him. Ahhhhh ahhhhh ah ahhh, jeg faller. Oooo oooo oo ooo, jeg faller.”

Enhver til Sitt

Jeg Faller might be the biggest joke on the album, but a lot of the problems that plague it persist. His new vocal style is completely unconvincing, and that feeling that he’s trying too hard forces me to actually pay attention to the music, not just let it take me like his past works. You’re then left with the realization that he’s really not a very good musician at all. In the absence of any encompassing force, the boring repetitive simplicity of his riffs stand defenseless.

It’s always intrigued me that a guy as batshit insane and colossally egotistical as Varg Vikernes could write such brilliant music. No one but Varg himself honestly expected Belus to be any good, and that made its success all the more startling. Fallen, on the other hand, is pretty much what I expected Belus to be.

Budstikken

That being said, the album has its few sparse moments. Budstikken stands out as my favorite by far, being the only track I actually really like. But its uniqueness is too little, too late. If he’d released Fallen straight out of prison I’d have said “ah well” and not bothered much with it. It’s because he so recently proved himself that Fallen disappoints rather than simply living up to low expectations.

The weird thing is this album seems to have met a generally better reception than Belus. I don’t know if more people actually like it or if the critics aren’t even wasting their breath anymore, but my verdict is that Fallen just isn’t very good. Who knows, maybe his next one will be brilliant. He’s a pretty unpredictable guy. But for now, I’m going to keep listening to Belus and pretend this one never happened. Except for Budstikken. I really like Budstikken.