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Human Giant’s 24 hour marathon

Published May 19th, 2007 in Television. 7 Comments

That marathon was incredible. I’m going to kick myself forever that I didn’t find out about the event until hour 11 (alternatively, the eleventh hour) and missed so much. Tragically, I missed almost everyone I really cared about, even Ted Leo. (Thank god for Youtube and clip repeats at 4 am.) I woke up a lot during the night and watched it, and that led to crazy, crazy dreams. Uh.. I didn’t dream that Will Arnett, John Krasinski, and Michael Cera all held eachother in a headlock at gunpoint at the same time, right? (That actually sounds like I dream I would have, now that I think about it.) I wish a show like that would be on every weekend: a couple hours of recorded sketch comedy interspersed with live interviews with random drop-in celebrities and silly shenanigans (the Guitar Hero faceoff in Times Square was epic!) with the occasional live performance. It’s the perfect combination, and that element of “what the hell is going to happen next?” kept me enthralled. Can we kick SNL off the air and replace it with something like this instead? It’s so much more worthy, and the actors are so, so much more talented. Seeing so many of my comedy idols horsing around together was fantastic.

I’m pretty embarrassed I never heard of Human Giant until yesterday. I have loved Paul Scheer for years, and I know I saw Aziz Ansari in something and thought he was great, but because I ignore MTV entirely, I never knew the show existed. Aside from the obvious excellence of the live bits, the recorded sketches are really surprisingly good. Sketch comedy is great in theory, but nearly all modern televised sketch comedy is the lowest of the low because of the time constraints and the pressure to appeal. Saturday Night Live is a joke. The live element can work well sometimes, but I think it’s drained all life out of SNL. Look at what you can accomplish when you don’t have to base everything around crappy sets and nervous actors. Watching Keenan Thompson giggle and grin his way in every single part ever isn’t funny, it’s annoying and painful. Stella/The State and The Lonely Island have a crazed fanbase, but I can’t really get into either group, even if I do like the actors themselves. They feel too forced, and even though Human Giant feels a few short steps away from that, it’s an important difference. They’re not groundbreaking, but at least I was giggling at every sketch!

Even though it ended this morning, I already have that “Oh wow, remember that? Wasn’t that so crazy? I wish that would happen again! But it probably never will happen again…” feeling. Nostalgic and sad and excited and very happy. Without a doubt the most entertaining thing I’ve seen MTV broadcast in my lifetime — and I’m almost 19!

Red River (Anatolia Story) #1-3

Published April 26th, 2007 in Manga and General. 8 Comments

Review:
I’m very biased. In general, I don’t like any manga or anime that was made before 1998 or so, and even that is difficult. Artwork is very important to me, and I really like the current trends in modern anime and manga, while I hate the older, fluffy-haired characters with fuzzy saucer-eyes that was so prevalent before the late ’90s. There’s a few exceptions, such as Sailormoon (which I will love forever) and the like, but it’s a pretty solid rule. Even with CLAMP, I absolutely hate everything that isn’t xxxHOLiC, Chobits, or Tsubasa. It’s ugly!

But I had Red River on my list of things to check out of the library for ever, and I’d always heard such great things about it, so I decided to be open-minded and read it. Amazingly, I didn’t have to ‘try’ at all (like when I checked out Basara earlier in the week — still gonna give that a try, but I’m not too excited). Shinohara Chie is a talented artist that knows how to draw consistently, even if you may not like the art style. The pages are clean and clear without the cliched shoujo trappings (flower blossoms, stars, heart bursts) or page layouts. And the story.. well, it’s definitely not for everyone. If you like women who aren’t tearful spineless babydolls with oh-so-perfect racks, then you’ll probably like Yuuri, the heroine. She does get groped and thrown over a man’s shoulders like a damsel in distress, but she earnestly tries to stop it and fight for herself at every opportunity. Even though she may not be the ass-kicking badass that some may crave, I think the way Yuuri acts is more realistic and genuine. If you were a small, fifteen year old girl transported to medieval times, would you always be able to fend off whoever wanted to kill or rape you?

Ah, sorry. Tangent. Like I said before, it’s not for everyone. But for me, it’s fantastic. Kail’s interactions with Yuuri make me laugh endlessly — some of his scenes in the first volume were so hilarious. XD Some things remind me very much of Silver Diamond at times, but that may have more to do with the fact I read two volumes of it before I read volumes 2-3 of Red River in the same sitting, but I do think there are similarities. Shiho Sugiura may have been inspired by Shinohara’s story of a transplanted, fierce girl in a very different sort of world. Rakan’s definitely daintier, but Chigusa’s about as brazen as Prince Kail. (cough)

Something that really surprised me was the fanservice. There.. isn’t really much targeted to females, at least explicitly. There’s not a lot for males either, but I’m really not sure who the target is for this if it isn’t straight men (click for large):

The speech in the bubbles really make the scene. That said, I laughed hysterically because it’s so damn absurd. Thank you for that moment, Shinohara.

This is definitely something fans of Immortal Rain would enjoy, I think. It may not be the most excellent thing out there, but for pure action-packed shoujo entertainment, it’s brilliant. Don’t dismiss it just on looks!

Rating: 9/10 - Cup of Lifenoodles

I have devoured each tasty cake of spring, and here’s what I think.

Published April 25th, 2007 in Anime/manga and General. 4 Comments

Not all the new spring shows I want to watch have been subbed, but I’ve already watched the majority of what I’ll watch, so here’s the rundown.

Romeo x Juliet #1-2:
Wonderful animation and some pretty addictive storytelling, even if it’s hilariously cracktastic. If you’re willing to see nobles on pegasi and Juliet as a crossdressing Zorro-style crusader, you’ll love it. I was skeptical as you are now, but trust me, it’s good.

Gigantic Formula #1:
The hokey premise, sun-eclipsing eyes, and sloppy animation (truly a sight to behold) made me turn this off after fast-forwarding through most of it. Not the most fair treatment, but honestly, can anyone blame me? It’s awful.

Darker than Black #1-3:
I was not very impressed with the first episode, but hooked by the second and clawing for more by the third. The mini-arc method is nice, and I won’t be disappointed if Bones follows it for the rest of the show. The protagonist, Li, is fantastic and 90% of why I keep watching — he’s a bewitching two-faced sort of character. Great ED song, too.

Lucky Star #1-2:
Everyone sure loves to hate this, but I liked the first episode all right. Nothing particularly funny happened, but it was like a cross between Seinfeld + Hidamari Sketch, both shows I like (particularly the former) but without the charm and humour. The second episode was definitely better, but I’m still not feeling it. I’ll watch it out of faith, but in a time where almost everything I’m watching is a dumb brainmelting comedy, I’d prefer something that stood above the rest.

Hayate no Gotoku! #1-2:
I was like “oh boy, another crappy tsundere show!” but it’s actually really funny. Everyone is so aware of how stupid the plot is, and pokes fun at itself at every opportunity. I’m already watching several comedies from last season, but I’ll have to add this to my watch list too.

sola #1-3:
God help me, people.

I was always the hardass who criticized all the game adaptations, being utterly merciless and disgusted by the crappy characters and writing. The first blow came when I liked Kanon, but I figured KyoAni was to blame (they’re so talented, blah blah, you’ve heard it before). And now I like sola! What the hell? It’s quiet and calm and the animation is pretty and it’s got Noto Mamiko and aaaah, I like it. Such a relaxing show. And hey, it’s got Keiji Fujiwara (♥) so I was pretty much sold. Still, I’m nervous that it’ll go to game cliche hell at any moment, so it’s on my watch list.. for now.

Emma Second Act #00:
Even though this was just a recap of the first series with a teaser at the upcoming ‘real’ second series, I was in a great mood just watching it. Emma and everything related just makes me smile, and seeing Hakim with his harem girls just made me smile even more. (They’re my favourites, if you couldn’t guess.) If you haven’t watched or read Emma already, what the hell are you waiting for? More now! Oh, and thanks to the fabulous iichan for supporting this series so much. You’re all fantastic.

Lovely Complex #1:
Finally, it’s been subbed! The animation reminds me vaguely of Peach Girl, but it’s actually by Toei. And it’s not as crappy looking as Peach Girl. Or as crappy, period. I read the first chapter of the manga and got pretty bored, but the anime made me laugh and entertained me far more. If it can get consistent subbing, this will probably turn out to be a fun romantic comedy with some fast-paced slapstick. Definitely going to follow it if I can.

—

Looks to be a good season, huh? I’m still watching a few from the winter season due to slow subbing, so my watch list is overflowing. On one hand, I hope everything is amazing, but on the other, I hope some of them fail so I can cut down my list!

Loveless chapter #56 (May issue)

Published April 12th, 2007 in Zero-Sum, Loveless and General. 14 Comments

Yessss, it’s finally back! I wasn’t neglecting it, in case you were wondering. Kouga took a long, agonizingly cruel break so this is the first new chapter since the February issue. A summary and scans after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Loveless chapter #56 (May issue)’

Six String Samurai

Published April 2nd, 2007 in Off-Topic. 2 Comments

Courtesy of this thread, I put a ton of movies in my “to watch” file. The one that I ran out right away to watch was Six String Samurai. Just read IMDB’s plot description and you’ll see why:

In a post-apocalyptic world where the Russians have taken over a nuked USA and Elvis is king of Lost Vegas, “Six-String Samurai” chronicles the tale of Buddy (Jeffrey Falcon), a hero who’s a ’50s rocker and wandering warrior rolled into one, too-cool package. Armed with his six-string in one hand and his sword in the other, Buddy is on his way to Vegas to succeed Elvis as King. Along the way, he saves an orphan (Justin McGuire) who decides to play tag-along to his rescuer. What follows is the road trip from hell.

Listen to that! I read it out loud several times to myself and just loved saying every word. But I think I’m easily impressed sometimes.

It lives up to its super cool, tongue-in-cheek, retro description. I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything that managed to be so cool yet so hilariously self-parodying at the same time. Many of Buddy’s lines are cliched, but so ’50s rockabilly cool that you can’t help but fall for ‘em. 90% of the movie is shot amongst the sand dunes on the way to Lost Vegas, which makes for a beautiful backdrop when you’ve got a hardcore Elvis-style tattered nerd-in-glasses rocker cutting up people left in right.

As it happens with good movies sometimes, it didn’t get noticed at all. It was made in 1998, but feels more like a movie written in the ’80s. Occasionally really campy, but intentionally, but without being Scary Movie-style intentional. It’s too bad it got so little attention because it’s a damn fun way to kill an hour and a half. Even worse, Jeffrey Falcon (the guy who co-wrote the movie and plays Buddy) hasn’t done anything since.

Oh, and by the way, the ’samurai’ part of the title doesn’t really have anything to do with the movie. Buddy does carry a katana, but that’s about as far as the samurai thing goes. Please give this movie a shot — it deserves recognition!

Rating: 8/10 - Cup of Lifenoodles

Eureka Seven #1-50 [END]

Published March 27th, 2007 in Anime/manga. 22 Comments

I am so happy I finally finished this series. I started it in December ‘05, and watched it so sporadically that I had only watched up to ep. 23 last month. Because of that, I decided to make March ‘07 the month I finished it, no matter what. I marathoned a lot, but I finished it! I can finally remove it from my backlog FOREVER!

Aside from my silly happiness over just completing it, I’m really happy I watched it. Period. I almost gave up on it so many times, but I never felt satisfied with that. I liked it too much to get put off permanently by the filler. (Which, by the way, was never that bad. I did skip 97% of the soccer episode though. That was lame. Sorry, E7!) Watching the show in a marathon is definitely a good way to watch it, I think. The story blends together more cohesively, and you’re stuck with less of a “what the hell I didn’t wait a week to get stuck with such a slow episode” feeling. There’s definitely episodes where it’s slow, not much happens, and the plot is dragged out, but overall I can’t really say I blame them for it. All the episodes were good in their own way, and built character backstory, relationships, and fleshed out plots without ever rushing it. If I had to shorten it, I think the shortest time in which it could accurately tell the story would be 40 episodes. It’s too epic to cram it into fewer episodes.

It’s not without story flaws. I giggled at a few moments in the last episode, and frankly the mecha never stopped looking a little hilarious to me, but if you’re willing to look past those things, it’s a wonderful anime. Funny, dramatic, sad, and magnificently told. I sincerely love all the characters, except those goddamn kids. The only good thing about them was their names. (By the way, I didn’t realize until ep. 45 or so that Maurice was voiced by Michiko Neya — the same VA as Talho! Now I can’t unhear it, and I feel like an idiot for not noticing it before.) Besides those brats, I’m really crazy about the cast. I wish they had spent more time developing Anemone and Dominic, but it’s no big deal. They wrapped things up satisfactorily for everyone. The family/marriage thing towards the end of the show was really well done, I think, and finally utilized the kids in a good way.

BONES is known for their high-quality, beautiful animation, but I think this show in particular is the best of their output. The character design sheets printed in Newtype USA is what introduced me to the show, and even though I had no idea what it was about, I loved the look. So striking, and at times very similar to Osamu Tezuka’s style. Any show that has amazing visuals, great voice cast, and fantastic story sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? But this is a rare example where it’s real.

It’s undoubtedly one of the best anime released in the ’00s, but I think it will go on beyond that. No one is going to forget such a wonderful show.

Rating: 10/10 - Magic Truffle

Immortal Rain (Meteor Methuselah) volumes 1-7

Published March 11th, 2007 in Manga. 13 Comments

Summary
After her grandfather is killed, 14 year old Machika sets out to kill the one bounty he couldn’t kill: the immortal man, Methuselah. He’s a man of legend, being 624 years old and all, but in reality he’s clumsy and fiercely kind, and gradually losing emotional contact with the world due to the horrors he has seen in his unnatural lifetime. Methuselah — or rather, Rain — escapes, but Machika vows to end his life one day. As these things often go, she accidentally falls for the guy, and ends up following him on his quest to again meet the man who made him immortal.

Review
You know I love something when I read all 7 volumes in one sitting. And then cry nonexistent tears when I can’t read the eighth.

The manga itself is hard to describe. Let me put it this way first: it’s like Loveless if it followed up on its plot teasers and was heterosexual and less squicky and with more angels and reincarnation. For those who don’t like/don’t read Loveless, let me put it this way: it’s a fantastic fantasy shounen-style adventure, but for girls. It’s pretty sap-free, too! The world needs a lot more of that, you know.

I first started trying to read Immortal Rain about a year ago, but it wasn’t until just today that I finally got to. (It’s impossible to find in bookstores, at least around here. Just save yourself the time and order it.) My initial feeling of “I will LOVE this” wasn’t wrong. It’s flawed, but damn it, I love it. Every cliched, over-the-top part of it. Love it. The moment I saw the cover of volume 7 (the image above) I was sold, and the manga itself didn’t disappoint me in the least. I was a little put off by the art inside at first, but after the first volume, Kaori Ozaki really transforms. She drops nearly all the remnants of the older, dated style and adopts a much more modern look which I personally prefer. But even if the art was ugly, I’d still absolutely love this series.

The first two volumes are good, maybe even great, but where it really gets wonderful is the third volume. It explains Rain’s past and introduces the reader to Yuca, a horribly fucked up fantastic character that reminds me of Lelouch from Code Geass, except cooler. I won’t spoil his character, but I’ll say he manages to take a worn theme and make it sufficiently creepy all over again.

Being able to read all seven volumes at once makes me feel so spoiled, but I think it was better this way. It’s been running since 1999, and I know very well by now how painful it can be to wait for monthly series. For me, I think it was easier to read so much of it at once without forgetting any of the plot or getting distracted. It’s hard to imagine reading it chapter-by-chapter only. ^^; I think volume eight comes out in English this fall.. so we have a bit of a wait. A horribly painful, dreadful wait. And what about that prequel? I really hope Tokyopop considers licensing it too, but I have a feeling Immortal Rain isn’t a big seller. Which is really too bad — it has tons of appeal, and definitely worth re-reading. Do yourself a favour and try it.

Rating: 10/10 - Magic Truffle

brain food lunch

Human Giant’s 24 hour marathon

Red River (Anatolia Story) #1-3

I have devoured each tasty cake of spring, and here’s what I think.

Loveless chapter #56 (May issue)

Six String Samurai

Eureka Seven #1-50 [END]

Immortal Rain (Meteor Methuselah) volumes 1-7

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