Chopping The Log #3 Aria the Origination complete set

Posted on February 2, 2014 by pantsukudasai56

I meant to write this up some days ago when I actually finished this set, however I couldn’t figure out how to insert a link in here (and still can’t) so as is typical for me, I got pissed off and just gave up. However, with a show this good, it would be very remiss of me to not share it. I have already written up on the series in general with an Anime You Should Be Watching post (which is what I meant to link in here, but alas, the Add Link button remains greyed out) so this is just about the third and final season of Aria.

As I mentioned in that previous review, this show is the very definition of Slice of Life shows. In the previous seasons of Aria, it’s largely about the wonders that Akari sees on her new homeworld of Aqua (Mars), and the people she meets and befriends. Throughout those times, she and her friends are striving towards becoming Prima Undines, basically gondoliers like we have in Venice. This season the focus is much more on Akari and her friends realizing their dreams and the passing of the torch from the Three Great Water Fairies. But, like with all slice of life series, the destination isn’t what’s important. No one who watches this would think that Akari is going to fail her exam. We know she’ll become a Prima. The important thing is the journey, and seeing Akari and her friends come to terms with the fact that when they do reach their goals, that things aren’t going to be able to stay the same as they were before. Needless to say, there’s going to be a need for a lot of tissues. It’s not tragic sad like a Clannad is, but rather just so packed full of emotion that even thinking about certain scenes, such as Alice’s promotion, is enough to choke a person up. This is that episode, for anyone curious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whwhK9JcWlo

This set, released by Nozomi Entertainment which is the licensing arm of anime retailer The Right Stuf, is very beautiful. The artbox that was used is a nice, sturdy chipboard box with lovely artwork on it. The set contains all 13 episodes of Aria the Origination, the 7 episode picture drama (just think of a regular anime with little to no actual animation), and the OAV Aria the Arietta. It also comes with an episode guide booklet, and a disc with 2 hours of extras containing cast and staff interviews. There is no dub on it, so everything is in Japanese with English subtitles.

A few random thoughts I had about this set. First off, I really like how the opening theme song is played as part of the show. The vast majority of anime just have a set opener with the same animation every time. Aria has always made it so the opening just starts playing as we’re eased into the show, so in effect the OP animation is different every time. Secondly, just how freaking old is President Aria? On Aqua, apparently they have cats that are much more intelligent than Earth cats in that they seem to understand human speech. Of course, maybe our cats understand us perfectly and just don’t deem us worthy of responding, I don’t know. Anyways, President Aria is one such cat, but it’s shown that the founder of Aria Company, whom everyone calls Grandma, first came across and befriended President Aria back when she was an undine with another company. At that time she was probably at most 25, and now appears to be in her 70’s. So President Aria is at least 50, and still as active and pudgy as he was back then. I guess Martian cats live a very long time.

All in all, this was a treat to see. It’s definitely not a show that you’ll want to marathon, since it’s so slow paced. It’s best to be enjoyed an episode or two at a time, so you have time to properly digest each episode. Whether you need a pick me up, or just want to relax after a long day, there’s an episode of Aria that can fit the bill at any time. The great thing about Aria is that other than the last 3 episodes or so, you can really watch it in any order that you wish, and the story being told will make perfect sense.

Current backlog: 842 discs

Scenes I Love: Nichijou

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Arleigh

Have I mentioned just how much I love the anime series Nichijou? If I haven’t then this latest “Scenes I Love” should provide a fine example why this anime series has pretty much captured my otaku-heart and has now made it into my top 10 best things I’ve ever enjoyed watching.

It’s well-known amongst fans of anime that Nichijou is just so random an anime series. While it might confuse the uninitiated for the most part everyone who watches anime just rolls with it. I love this particular scene involving two of the show’s leads in Mio and Yuuko because of just how it escalates so quickly from a misunderstanding into a full-blown mutual assured destructions conflict in so very little time.

This scene illustrates how the series takes very normal and common situations that happens in every high school kids life and just ramps it up past 11. I know that I’ve had arguments and fights about something so innocuous as getting the wrong lunch. Yet, despite the over-the-top nature of the scene and how hilarious each lead takes their argument to the nth-degree it ends in a way that makes one feel good about things.

Amazing, indeed.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Nichijō

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Arleigh

Anime comes in many varying degrees of flavor, so to speak. On one extreme are some of the more dramatic and serious offerings such as Grave of the Fireflies and original films from Miyazaki and others from Studio Ghibli. On the other side of the equation would be what some would call disposable entertainment which could range from fantasy, horror, mecha to the ever-popular mahou shoujo (aka Magical Girl) anime.

Somewhere in-between these two extremes is where some surprising anime series and films tend to pop out of nowhere to become fan-favorites in the industry. One such series is the underrated “slice-of-life” anime simply called Nichijō. The title has a literal translation of “Regular Life” and the show takes that concept of the regular lives of high school girls and adds a dose of the irreverent and the ridiculous to help highlight some of the life lessons that actually resonate beneath the show’s more over-the-top trappings.

That reason alone should be why this is one anime that people should really be watching.

Yet, the show brings more to the table than just funny and entertaining little stories. The main characters of the show are also well-written and go beyond the usual one-dimensional stereotypes of most anime. We have Aioi Yuko who one would consider as the lead girl of the show. One would think that she would be the so-called “straight man” in a show full of eccentric characters, but she herself brings her own quirks to the proceedings. These character quirks comes out more clearly when she deals with her friend Mio who, at first, comes off as the otaku of the show, but actually seems more like your typical high school girl with a talent for art. Though her obsession at drawing yaoi and trying to keep it secret makes for some of the more hilarious scenes on the show.

Even the more over-the-top characters on the show come off as more fully developed than some of the live-action “high school” shows in the west. There’s Hakase, the 8-year old genius girl who happens to have Nano, a life-life android she herself created, taking care of her and acting more like her mother than as an automaton. This pairing makes for my favorite on the show which also includes their back cat Mr. Sakamoto who also happens to talk due to the red scarf that acts like a translator that Hakase invented.

The series ended after 26-episodes and no more were ordered afterwards due to some very low sales of the subsequent video. It’s a shame since the series has since gained quite the following. Nichijō is a series that’s been able to combine the more serious and well-meaning life-lesson storytelling of your typical high school shows with the manic and ridiculous nature that some anime tend to have to help visualize particular reactions and emotions (in reality this show makes over-the-top seem like a tame description). The show has so many classic scenes that watching it becomes almost an exercise in abstract comedy.

So, if you ever come across an anime called Nichijō I recommend you check it out. You won’t be disappointed. Below is just one such scene where a normal, everyday event turns into the surreal.

AMV of the Day: Affective Schoolgirls (Nichijou)

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Arleigh

Latest “AMV of the Day” is one that dodges any way to describe it.

“Affective Schoolgirls” is an amalgam of two very different styles of entertainment. Two styles that I’ve learned to enjoy and appreciate through the years. What this video has done is combine something akin to peanut butter and jelly. The slapstick comedy and slice of life anime series Nichijou provides the peanut butter while the song “Snüffel” by Equilibrium provides the jelly.

If one who watches this video thinks they have no idea what’s going on then they’ve come to an understanding of what Nichijou as an anime is all about. It is an anime series about chaos distilled. What better way to point this out than to pair it up with some German symphonic black metal.

Anime: Nichijou

Song: “Snüffel” by Equilibrium

Creator: seriy

Past AMVs of the Day

Anime You Should Be Watching: Azumanga Daioh

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Arleigh

The latest choice for “anime of the day” is the one and only Azumanga Daioh.

Azumanga Daioh is the extremely popular and critically-acclaimed series that was adapted from the manga of the same by. The manga ran for over three years and has been collected into three massive volume called tankobon. It’s creator is mangaka Azuma Kiyohiko and just looking at the name one sees the etymology of the series’ name.

The anime adaptation was done by anime studio J.C. Staff and shown by the Japanese tv network TV Tokyo over 26 episodes. The North American license used to be under ADV Films before it’s inevitable collapse wherein the North American licensing rights was bought by a Houston-based company called Aesir Holdings. One could still find the anime series on DVD which is great news since Azumanga Daioh is one of the best slice-of-life genre series with characters fully realized and storylines which range from comedic to drama with the two overlapping at times.

The series is about the lives of six Japanese high school girls and how their friendships evolve through their times together at school and out of it. There’s fan favorite Chiyo Mihama, the child prodigy, who struggles to fit in with her classmates who happen to be five years older. Then there’s the athletic Kagura whose friendly rivalry with the reserved Sakaki forms one subplot in the series. There’s Osaka the transfer student who fills in the role of the spacey and eccentric character in the series with Yomi and Tomo rounding out the cast of friends.

While most of the series focuses on the six friends other characters come in and out of their lives such as their homeroom teacher Yukari Tanizaki and their phys.ed instructor, Minamo Kurosawa. Then there’s Kimura-sensei. It’s this character that may have some viewers watching the series with a bit of discomfort as this character becomes a borderline obsessive with the teenage high school girls he teaches, especially the six girls who the series focuses on. While the series never goes over the line with Kimura-sensei’s behavior some people may still get turned off by it and dismiss the series. Here’s to hoping that doesn’t happen because Azumanga Daioh does a great job of exploring the lives of these six high school girls as their friendships with each other grows.

The anime doesn’t go overboard with surreal and way-out-there scenes. Most of the series really just shows routine, day-to-day activities that the girls go through in high school, but the writing is so spot-on that watching the series will definitely bring back fond, nostalgic memories of one’s own time in high school. There are some surreal moments, but they’re usually reserved for times when Osaka’s spaciness gets the better of her. This usually involves her imagining weird things about Chiyo-chan’s pigtails.

Azumanga Daioh does fall under the moe label due to the cuteness of the animations with special regard to the youngest in the group, Chiyo-chan. This moe aspect plus the fun and heartwarming stories involving the girls make this anime a fine choice to be the latest “anime of the day”.

Anime You Should Be Watching: Aria

Posted on January 3, 2011 by pantsukudasai56

I realize that entertainment is very subjective. One person’s masterpiece is another person’s trash. Still, there are some anime that are just so good that no matter who you are, no matter what your interests, as long as you’re a fan of anime, you should be watching it. The first example that comes to mind for me is a well received, yet fairly unknown title called Aria.

Now, I know what some people are thinking. “Is there a lot of action? Explosions? Naked girls? Blood and guts? It’s at least fast paced, right?” There is none of those, but you know what? You’re still going to enjoy it anyways. Thus is the power of slice-of-life shows. There is no action at all, yet you’re left with a big smile on your face after each episode.

The story of Aria revolves around a young girl named Akari who leaves Manhome (Earth) and comes to the Martian city of Neo Venetia to become an Undine, or gondola pilot. This is obviously modeled after the Italian city Venice, and in fact it is stated that in the realm of this anime, Venice has already sunk, which was the main motivation for the Martian terraformers in creating the town of Neo Venetia. Much like the real life city of Venice, Neo Venetia’s streets are all waterways. Of course they have normal walkways, but if you don’t feel like walking, or if you need to move goods around the town, traveling by gondola is the way to go. When the anime starts, it begins with Akari already being a Single, but they later on show flashbacks to when she first arrived and started out as a Pair.

The terms Pair and Single refer to the gloves they wear. The gloves are both practical and aesthetic. When an Undine is wearing two gloves, it both signifies that she is an apprentice, and it’s also because when they’re just starting out, their hands require more protection from constantly rowing. As a Pair, they are not allowed to carry passengers at all. As they gain more experience, and as their hands get more used to the abuse that the oar gives, they can go down to one glove, hence the term Single. Also, as a Single, they are allowed to carry passengers as long as a fully licensed Undine, or Prima, is in the gondola with them. And obviously, once they reach the rank of Prima, they are fully qualified Undines and can carry passengers on their own.

Life on Mars is a little bit different than life on Earth. The main difference is that cats are sentient beings on Mars. They can’t speak English, but they appear to understand it. Plus, all gondola companies on Mars must be owned by a blue eyed cat. Akari’s company is owned by one President Aria, who fits in perfectly with Aria Company’s easy going attitude.

And that is a typical scene from the anime. I know that shouldn’t be entertaining, but it just plain is. Episodes revolve around such action packed events like delivering the mail, or going to a festival. In other words, there’s no action at all. It’s an incredibly serene show and is the perfect complement to watching other anime that ARE action packed. It’s like a palate cleanser. As such, I also don’t recommend marathoning the show, or else some of the luster and wonderment of it is lost.

The strong points of the anime are the high production values, which can be seen when viewing some of the lush backgrounds of the places that Akari visits. It’s obvious that the show was given the proper budget, and that’s probably in no small part to the fact that it was helmed by director Junichi Sato who directed such popular and respected anime as Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star, and Sgt. Frog, among others. Plus, unlike with a lot of anime these days, the decision to animate it didn’t come until after the manga had been running for awhile and thus had already gotten a good following. Another factor in its high budget could possible come from just good timing. The first Aria season came out when companies were still willing to take a chance on a show that’s a little different from the usual otaku bait. Luckily it proved to be successful and it was allowed to tell its full story.

And that’s another strength, is the finely told story that Kozue Amano came up with. When you don’t have flashy explosions and super powers and naked breasts bouncing around to keep people interested, you had better be able to tell a good story, and Kozue Amano did not disappoint. When watching the anime or reading the manga, you get the feeling that you’re right there with Akari, and that you’re both exploring and experiencing things together. It’s that kind of emotional attachment that’s crafted that makes for a good story.

Ultimately, I can’t promise that you’re going to be blown away by this. Slice-of-life isn’t for everyone, but you certainly would be making a mistake if you didn’t at least give Aria a chance to wow you. And who knows? If you go into this with an open mind, you might just find, that for some inexplicable reason, that you have a huge smile on your face at the end and can’t wait for your next adventure in Neo Venetia.

Junichi Sato

Anime You Should Be Watching: Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight

Posted on June 29, 2010 by Arleigh

GAKUEN UTOPIA MANABI STRAIGHT!

Anime has been a particular form of entertainment that I have been watching and enjoying for over twenty years, but my exposure to them were kept at older series and OVA’s (Original Video Animation) that were licensed by American companies for U.S. public consumption. I’m talking about series like Voltron and Robotech plus even older ones like Starblazers, Captain Harlock and G-Force. It wasn’t until four-five years ago that I really got into anime that wasn’t made age-appropriate for U.S. public viewing.

I was literally hoarding as much anime series both new and old on dvd and adding them to my collection. It didn’t matter if the series or OVAs were mecha, horror, action, romance, comedy and-or slice-of-life, if someone recommended it to me then I would go out, find it, buy it and then watch it. With my past experiences on mecha, space opera and action anime I thought I would pick up where I left off and gravitate towards similar kinds of anime. To my surprise I actually didn’t like them as much as I thought I would. The sort of anime that I began to really enjoy and want more of were the slice-of-life dramas and comedies like Azumanga Daioh, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star and Kanon. While they didn’t have the non-stop kinetic action of series like Code Geass and the umpteenth version of Gundam and Macross, they more than made up for it with some witty and hilarious writing.

My favorite anime falls in the slice-of-life genre. I am talking about Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! from animation studio Ufotable. The series takes place in a future Tokyo where the birth-rate has slowed and there’s less and less children attending schools. Within this basic premise we have the character of Manami Amamiya who transfers into the all-girl Seioh Private High School where her vibrant and infectious personality quickly makes her one of the popular girls. She gains a small close-knit of friends from the shy and clumsy Mika Inamori, the athletic tomboy in Mutsuki Uehara, the smart, but emotionally withdrawn Mei Etoh and the eccentric Momoha Odori. Manami (or Manabi as she likes to be called) becomes the impetus for all the adventures these girls go through together as they forge a lasting friendship through good times and bad times.

One doesn’t have to be a girl to enjoy this series. Guys who like it do so because of how it reminds them of their own time in high school with their own buddies and how those bonds of friendships seems to last forever. While some have not the memories of those times will always be fond ones for both men and women who reminisce about them while watching this series. It also has some of the cutest animation with a catchy intro song. The girls’ school anthem is one that just has to be listened to.