Chopping The Log #2 Toradora part 1 premium edition

Posted on January 26, 2014 by pantsukudasai56

After the last set that I reviewed, I was glad to see that next on the list was a title I knew I was going to enjoy. This release of Toradora memorable and special for a couple reasons. First off, this was NIS America’s very first title that they released back in July of 2010 (yes, I’m just now getting to it, so now you know how bad my backlog is!). July of 2010 is also the first time that site founder Arleigh and I attended Anime Expo together (but not the first time we met in person, that would be Anime Boston 2008). It was my third Expo, but I believe it was his first. NISA decided to really go all out and in order to promote this title the brought over two of the stars of the show, Yui Horie (Minori Kushieda) and Eri Kitamura (Ami Kawashima). Getting to meet Yui Horie was a dream come true, so I’ll always remember this particular convention fondly. And of course, they had their booth set up in the dealer’s room where they were selling this set, so when I saw it, the collector in me demanded that I pick it up. These NISA sets are made with the collector in mind. The giant artboxes definitely draw the eye to them, and although they’ll likely need special display space, it’s fully worth it if you are the collector type.

Toradora was a great choice for a newcomer in the market too. From a star studded cast to nice visuals and an engaging story, there was no reason to expect anything but success from this. I’ve seen sites list it as a comedy, and while that’s not wrong, it’s not entirely right either. People that have watched a lot of anime might be familiar with the term “romcom” which is shorthand for romantic comedy. That’s getting closer to the mark, but mixed in with the romance and the comedy is a good helping of drama too, so I dare say the proper term for this show is “draromcom”!

In this first of two sets, we get the first 13 episodes of the show, plus two bonus shorts. This set is largely setting things up with comedy and light drama for the more involved romance and heavier drama to come in later episodes. So, we have our main protagonist, Ryuji, who is always mistaken for a delinquent because of his looks, and our other protagonist, Taiga (played to perfection by the legendary Rie Kugimiya), who looks like an adorable little doll but is actually short tempered and vicious, to the point that her nickname is the Palmtop Tiger, referring to her small stature and vicious nature. Through a series of misunderstandings and other events, they come to find out that Ryuji has a crush on Taiga’s friend Minori, and Taiga has a crush on Ryuji’s friend Yusaku. They decide to team up to help each other confess to their crushes, but while neither of them wants to admit to it, over the course of these 13 episodes it becomes apparent that they are falling for each other. It’s pretty standard fare, but the execution of it is done extrememly well so it doesn’t feel old and tired like it very well could have. Having a character like Ami come along to play an antagonistic role helps get the story moving, and provides a good bit of the comedy in this set. And while this is lighter on the drama than future episodes, the last few start to build it up with Taiga’s deadbeat dad making an appearance.

From a story and character standpoint, I think this show is in the upper tier, but this set does suffer from a few production problems. This was NISA’s very first release as I mentioned before, and they definitely had some growing pains. Once in awhile there are some spots where the video transfer was a little rough, resulting in some jagged images or blurred lines. This seems to be most noticeable when the camera pans across a room where there is a lot going on. I’m not a big technophile, so I don’t go through it frame by frame trying to find any sort of imperfection, but from those that do (seriously, how is that even enjoyable?) it’s said that there are several instances where it seemed like frames were overlapped on each other, hence the blur. For those of us who are just watching on regular HDTVs without big fancy blu ray players beyond a PS3, while you will probably notice a couple janky areas, but nothing that will ruin the enjoyment of the set.

All in all, this is a show that I could easily have written an Anime You Should Be Watching column on, and only didn’t because I’m generally lazy. If you can find this set, and you’re a collector, I say snap it up. NISA has released a standard set, that doesn’t come in the fancy box with the nice hardbound episode guide, and this premium set is sold out at the distribution level, so it may not be possible to find it at a sane price anymore.

Also, I wanted to add, don’t let the fact that I’ve written 2 colums in 3 days fool you. I don’t intend to be nearly as prolific as Lisa Marie is, and it’s completely dependent upon me finishing something from my backlog. I have plenty of material to choose from, but some sets might take me a few days to finish, or I might take a break from watching anything for awhile. But with my beloved New England Patriots out of the playoffs now, and me having very little interest in other sports, I should find myself with a lot more free time so who knows? Maybe I can put a dent in this backlog after all. Current backlog count: 847 discs.

Chopping The Log #1 Sgt. Frog Season 2 Part 1

Posted on January 24, 2014 by pantsukudasai56

As anyone that knows me knows, I have a massive backlog of videos that I bought but have yet to watch. Hence the incredibly uncreative name for this column! Seriously, I sat and thought on it, and that was the best I could do. Deal with it. So anyways, as I have about 850 discs that I have purchased but never watched, I thought it would be best if I sat down and watched them and gave my thoughts on them here. They’ll all be anime, but this is different from the Anime You Should Be Watching column I infrequently wrote before. With that column, I was cherry picking the titles that were the best of their particular genre. Here, there’s going to be a lot of average shows, because there are a lot of average shows produced in Japan. In fact, just because I bought it doesn’t mean it’s any good. It’s entirely possible that I bought a steaming pile of shit. If that’s the case, well, if I sat through it and watched it, then you’ll have to suffer through my review of it. Lucky you! Thankfully, I like to think that for the most part, I have pretty decent taste, so the worst that you’ll have to put up with is a resounding MEH from me.

So, without further ado, let’s start this new column!

I really wish that I had started out with an instant classic, but that’s just not the case. As I said before, they can’t all be winners kid, and this one is certainly not what I’d put in my stable of timeless classics. When Sgt. Frog first was announced for license here in the US, there was a huge swelling of support. The way people were acting, you’d have thought that the second coming of Cowboy Bebop was upon us. Then the company that originally licensed it, ADV Films, went bankrupt, and that was that. Until FUNimation swooped in and picked this up. I hadn’t watched any of the fansubs of this, and I was strictly going off of word of mouth when I bought it. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. In this case it doesn’t. The sad thing is that I bought every release that FUNi made before I ever watched the first one. That’s the drawback to having the backlog that I do. I’m only now watching stuff I bought 3 years ago. C’est la vie.

This particular release follows pretty much all the others. A lot of Gundam humor and veiled references to other similar shows. That’s great if you’re a fan of Gundam. I’m not. Hence my mileage on this particular show is highly limited. I do love the yandere type of girl, so Nishizawa, while not a strict yandere, does amuse me with her going from all dere dere to conniving psychopath. But that’s largely negated because Fuyuki is a clueless idiot. So here we’re mainly going through the winter months. This means the typical things like Christmas parties and New Year celebrations. I really wish I could say that this brought something new to the genre, but it really doesn’t. Everything we see here we’ve seen many a time before, and more importantly, we’ve seen it done better. I don’t care about things being repeated. When you’ve seen as much anime as I have, you’re not going to see a ton of genuinely new content. But a lot of anime can take these well worn tropes and still make them interesting. This one doesn’t. Frankly, I have no idea how this managed to go for 358 episodes. I’ve watched through 51 and frankly that’s enough for me. Unfortunately I still have another collection of this to get through, although I should be happy that FUNimation didn’t pick up any more than that, and since it’s been over a year since they licensed any of it, I think it’s safe to assume that no more will find its way over here.

For something that had so much buzz going in to it, I must say that this has been a massive disappointment. I don’t often let public opinion influence what I buy, and this gives a good reason why I shouldn’t. The public at large doesn’t know good anime, and they certainly don’t know what I’d like. I may not always pick out a winner, but I certainly can do a lot better than Sgt. Frog.

It Figures (No. 3) Misaka Mikoto

Posted on July 21, 2013 by pantsukudasai56

It may have been awhile since I’ve done an It Figures post, but anyone that’s followed the site with any regularity knows that they’re here to read posts by Lisa Marie Bowman, or maybe Arleigh, but if they’re here to read anything from pantsukudasai56, then they’re in for a long wait in between entries. My latest entry was about a little show called Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, and keeping with that theme, I have the latest figure I’ve received who also happens to be the protagonist of that show, Misaka Mikoto.

First off, this box is big enough to hold an entire Spartan. Is that Master Chief in there? Ok, I really only took this pic as a sort of comparison. My TV is a 55″ screen, so you can see just how big that box is. Incidentally, the show that I’m watching is Yozakura Quartet. All in all it’s a pretty average show, so there won’t be a post dedicated to it, but it’s not like it’s a terrible show. Just one of those shows you watch if you have nothing better to do. Anyways, that’s all I’ll ever mention of the show, and no, Master Chief is not in this box, although he would almost fit (not really) The box winds up being 9180 square inches of space. By far the largest box I’ve ever received from Glorious Nippon, but is this the size of the figure I’m reviewing?

No. There’s two figures in here. Still, two figures for a box this size is pretty impressive. The other figure is of the Princess of the Crystal by Good Smile Company, and she in herself is almost worth a post. But today we’re focusing just on the FREEing Misaka Mikoto (FREEing is also a subsidiary of Good Smile Company, so getting the two in one box makes a certain amount of sense)

Even though it’s not as large as you’d think coming from a shipping box that size, this is still a 1/4 scale figure, which is FREEing’s forte. While they also do the normal 1/6 to 1/8 scale figures, they’re mostly known for doing the larger 1/4 scale figures. For those who don’t quite get what I’m saying, it basically means that if you increased this figure’s size 4 times what it currently is, you’d have a life size figure. For the curious, 1/1 size figures do exist, and they also cost several thousands of dollars. Far more than even this reviewer can afford to spend on a figure, regardless of how awesome it would be to own one.

The first thing I’d like to point out about this figure is a big difference between her and most other figures. A lot of other figure collectors would probably spot this right away, but for the uninitiated, here’s something to look at. She doesn’t have a standard base like so many other figures. That stool is what supports her, an unlike a lot of other figures, she’s not attached to it by pegs or screws. She’s just sitting on it, with most of the figure weight being put directly on the stool, and a small amount being put on her foot which is touching the floor. While this is an interesting choice, it also leads to the possibility that she will not be quite as stable as a figure that has a base that it’s pegged in to. Still, from my experimentation, it seems that she will remain quite stable, so the chances of her falling off the base are fairly slim, unless you live in an area that experiences a lot of earthquakes.

The backside of this figure stays faithful to the bunny girl motif that Japan (and I) so dearly love. FREEing is well known for its bunny girl figures, having done them for highly popular series like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and lesser know but still well loved series like Sora no Otoshimono, so naturally they’re not letting their customers down with this series. This is actually their second figure from the series, with “good friend” Kuroko Shirai already having debuted in a similar outfit. So, they’re no strangers to making sure that their figures look good from any angle.

Dear Jeebus, she had no face! Ok, this is a fairly new thing for the 1/4 scale FREEing figures. Usually with this line, you get what you’re given and that’s that. But for these figures, they’ve given us the option of changing out the faces. The face that I showed you earlier had her smiling. That’s all well and good for most people, but for fans of the series and people that feel they know Mikoto well, that just isn’t good enough.

This face is much more suitable to her. Anyone that has watched the series would know that if Mikoto were to find herself forced to wear a bunny girl outfit, that she would be very uncomfortable doing so. So it’s great that FREEing had the foresight to include a second face that makes Mikoto look as though she is highly embarrassed to be seen wearing such an outfit. Now, to each their own of course, so if you liked the previous face then by all means display her as such. However, for people like myself who feel that Mikoto would normally show a lot more restraint in this situation, this secondary face is a great addition to the figure and I’m thrilled that FREEing gave us a choice.

One other aspect that I’d like to focus on is the stockings. This just goes to show the attention to detail that FREEing made to this figure. It would have been so easy for them to just paint the stockings on and call it good, but that’s not what FREEing is all about. You can’t easily tell from this picture, but I’m here to tell you that those stockings are actual net stockings and not just painted on. What I mean by that is, I can grab a portion of the stockings and pull them off from her legs. Now, granted, you can’t actually removed the stockings entirely, but the fact that they are actual fabric stockings and not just molded plastic means a lot to figure fans. These small attention to details makes a figure like this worth putting in ones collection.

All in all, a big part of FREEing’s draw is the sheer size of their figures. Not many companies make figures larger than a 1/6 size. But regardless, if it was a large sized figure with poorly sculpted features, it wouldn’t matter what size it was. With the inclusion of a secondary face, FREEing tackles any problem I might have had with this figure, and makes it one that would be welcome any any serious collector’s home. This kind of attention to detail is exactly what we all expect when we get a figure related to Good Smile Company.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Toaru Kagaku no Railgun

Posted on June 24, 2013 by pantsukudasai56

Hello again all. Technically I’ve been away for awhile. On the other technical hand, anything anime posted here has been because of me since I am Arleigh’s primary anime supply source. So, since I love taking credit without doing any actual work, yay me for bringing all those great AMVs and other anime recommendations. (Also, don’t believe everything I write, especially in these opening bits since they’re usually alcohol influenced) So, even though it’s my birthday today, I’ll be giving you all the gift of a new anime recommendation, Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, or in English, A Certain Scientific Railgun.

I debated recommending this particular title not because it isn’t any good. It’s a very good title that’s quite worthy of being watched. Rather, this is a spinoff from another franchise, Toaru Majutsu no Index, or A Certain Magical Index, and in explores a character from that show, Misaka Mikoto, more in depth. However, while I feel that this show can be easily enjoyed without having seen the main franchise, at some points it does assume that the viewer has seen Index and is familiar with the world that they both share. In both worlds, certain people are born with special esper powers that grant them certain abilities. The protagonist here, Misaka (her first name is actually Mikoto, but I’ve heard it said the Japanese way of family name first so often that it just sounds better to call her by her last name of Misaka) is one of only seven level 5 espers in Academy City, which is where all people who have the potential to become espers are brought. Her particular talent is manipulating electricity and electromagnetic waves, hence she is often referred to as the Railgun. She often uses this power much the same way you’d expect a 14 year old to use a power like that, rather selfishly, such as zapping soda machines to get free drinks. But even though she often does minor things like that, she is a Level 5, and as such is quite capable of doing large scale things, like even controlling every wind turbine in the city!

One of the big draws to this show is definitely the humor, and Misaka’s roommate Kuroko brings a lot of that. Kuroko is a Level 4 esper, so while not quite as powerful as Misaka, she’s still plenty strong in her own right. Her ability is teleportation, not only of her self but of anyone or anything she touches. Kuroko also has a bit of an unhealthy obsession with Misaka. She goes about showing her love in some rather, well, here is a fine example:

And that’s fairly mild, for Kuroko. Yes, she’s that kind of girl, but she is capable of getting serious since this show isn’t all about comedy. In fact, it gets downright dark, especially with the Sisters Arc in the second season. Even events in the first season aren’t all fun and games, but there is certainly a lot more comedy in that one than the second. The first season also see a lot more of two characters who are I believe exclusive to the Railgun series, Uiharu and Saten. They both get a good amount of screen time during the Level Upper Arc, while Misaka takes a bit of a back seat for some of that and their characters are fleshed out more than you’d expect from supporting characters. Saten and Uiharu are also responsible for another of the running gags in the show, where Saten can’t seem to start her day without giving Uiharu a skirt flip.

At its heart though, it definitely gives off more of an action vibe than a pure comedy one, so if juvenile humor isn’t your thing, there’s plenty of other stuff to enjoy, like watching Kuroko use her teleportation abilities to warp spikes at people, or Misaka showing why you shouldn’t piss off a level 5 electromaster. Once you get a feel for the world they’re in, the show is very accessible to anyone, but there are also plenty of little nods to the Index world that fans of both can get a lot of enjoyment out of them too. If you like action, drama, and comedy, then this is the anime for you. If not, then I suppose go watch K-ON. But I’ll tell you this much, K-ON doesn’t have scenes like this!

And I think we can all agree, that that’s just a crying shame.

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