Working on the rights to manufacture Akiko’s Jam
Hello all, anyone still read this thing :D
I’m looking to come back in the fall, maybe, if I can motivate myself to do so that is. In the meantime, I’ve been playing too much albatross18. Their new version is coming soon, so check it out, and look for kimaguresan if you want to play a round with me. Here’s a teaser of the new version
Once again I come out of hibernation to talk about something that is likely left alone and forgotten. The issue with things like this is that they should not be forgotten. For some time I’ve heard about the lolicon debate and the promiscuity of the aforementioned manga. I read the articles, the letters, the ANN forums (not all of the posts), and the controversy behind this title is pretty darn thick. So, as with anything controversial, I made plans to buy the manga when it came out. Those plans were dashed when Jason DeAngelis from Seven Seas killed the title in a hurry. Welcome to the internet age where scanlations suddenly popped back into existence with seeders galore offering up the title for perusal. So I read the first five chapters, plus two extra magazine chapters.
Let’s qualify a few things first:
That said, from my reading of the first bit of this title, here’s what happened:
Jason DeAngelis claimed that he could not read the manga before deciding to license it. His second claim was that events in the the third volume caused him to reverse his defense of the material. What I have to say about that is simple. Jason DeAngelis is a coward and an enemy to this medium. More so than CMX’s censorship of Tenjo Tenghe was harmful and poor precedent to the industry. In my opinion, Seven Seas should close its doors and leave the industry. I know that’s harsh, but I have reasoning for this. As a business, Seven Seas did the right thing. If a soccer mom got hold of this book and read it, which I’m sure she wouldn’t truly get past the first page’s naked panty shot of Rin, she’d go nuts and call [Insert preferred conservative watchdog group here] and they would be run out of business anyway. So Mr. DeAngelis was right from his business’ stand point. The one thing that John DeAngelis is not, is a marketing magnate. Tell me how a title named “Nymphet” is going to attract the right kind of eyes? I mean Kodomo no Jikan, means “A child’s time”. The name Nymphet handily defeats Chibi Vampire in the, “I named the manga stupid” category.
So what does this come down to. One of my statements earlier said that this manga was relevant. Like any satire, this one is full of truths and relevant points. In the first five chapters and the extras that I read, here’s what I found relevant to society (US or Japanese): Self Hate, Self Esteem issues, Sexual Promiscuity, Self Mutilation, Teachers having troubled students, Student blackmail, and what it’s like for a girl to grow up. That’s in 7 chapters. The event that happens in the third book is so trivial in comparison to the above societal issues, it makes me want to puke. It’s a comedy, and yes some joker will get turned on by Rin in her panties, but that’s his/her problem, not the entire manga loving community’s cross to bear.
Shortly after the cancellation of Nymphet, I went to the mall. And gosh darn, the mall made Nymphet look tame. Eight year olds dressed with thongs hanging out, and I don’t even want to talk about the 12-14 year olds. So why is this title so terrible? I can’t see it, and I’m sad that Jason DeAngelis couldn’t see it either. To be honest, it’s our loss, if he would’ve taken the time to get past the pictures and actually read the material, he might have found the same relevance I had, but he didn’t, and instead caved under the pressure. It’s too bad, I think this controversy would’ve sold a lot of books.
At the same time, LiveJournal had its cancellation debacle. Coincidence…Kimagure doesn’t think so.
For the decision making three pages of Kodomo no Jikan, see Matthew’s Anime Blog.
Also please vote in the poll to the right.
…Then it snowed again and I went back. Northern Ohio has the most schizo weather.
No seriously, life comes at you fast, and sometimes the simpler things in life seem easier than writing and keeping up with life. Sorry for not being around, but I’m sure you had plenty to read when I was gone.
I’m still fresh out of blogging ideas, so here’s the short reviews of stuff I’ve been watching. I hope to get back into this more, but right now my energy is spent at work, then avoiding work when I’m not there.
I’m watching about 15 series right now and my brain is officially on overload. Yes, I’m still watching winter shows….Here goes:
Hi all,
I’ve put up a new poll for all of you to vote on. Basically as I was yawning through episode 41 of Eureka 7 on Cartoon Network, I got to thinking about how that show could’ve been so much better if it was less episodes. Personally, I’ve found that I like them shorter. But, that’s not to say that I don’t like sequels. Nanoha is a great example of short series that held its own through its original run and then came back with a really good sequel with an equally short run. That said, many ongoing series just get to be too much after a while. Yakitate! Japan, Keroro Gunso, Bleach, just to name a few. It’s not that I don’t like them, but I go on overload after a while with really long series.
So tell me what you think.
We’re over a month into winter season and I think I’ve watched maybe three new shows. To top that off, I’m not really sure that I want to write so much about any of them. Aside from Nodame Cantabile, nothing is really interesting me. I will say this…how do you get me to watch a loli show like Manabi Straight?
Horie Yui and
Hirano Aya
Add to that animation by ufotable and I’m sold.
Onto part 2 of the FLCL ultimate edition box set review. Here’s the lowdown on the extras. To be honest with the relatively high cost per episode for this box set we really had better get something stuffed in the box that doesn’t suck. Let’s get right into it (for pictures, please refer to part 1):
FLCL guide book
I’ll start with the more obvious extra, the notes book. The book is bound in sturdy glossy paperboard with good semi-gloss stock for the internal content. The content inside consist of these sections:
*Not listed in the table of contents
The book looks great and has color deliniations for different sections. 67 pages of notes and commentary is pretty good. I also don’t know what the original guides from the regular single disc sales were, but they put together a nice booklet to accompany the set.
T-Shirt Post Card
As this suggests, you mail this in and the send you a t-shirt. I do not know what the design will look like, as they don’t seem to clue you in, and your only choices are sizes (S, M, L, and XL). No shipping and handling is required for the shirt.
Sticker Sheet
A sheet of stickers of FLCL and it’s associated kana in different forms of script. I feel a little old to stick these anywhere, or I just can’t think of where to stick them.
Postcard Set
6 post cards with pictures to correspond to each episode on the front, and song titles from popular music as well (thanks for pointing that out Crayotic Rockwell). I’m not sure if I really like the postcards all that much, but the song titles do have some relevance to the episode in question.
Silicone Bracelet
I didn’t take a picture of this before, but the set also includes a silicon bracelet with “Never Knows Best” engraved in it. The text is written in normal Sans Serif block lettering. It would’ve been cooler to have it match the text on Mamimi’s smokes, but you can’t have everything.
4th disc (the FLCL Test Type music video DVD)
I had at least one inquiry into this one. This disc contains six music videos with various scenes of the show with various full songs also featured in the show. It’s a cute extra, but some have said that the whole of FLCL itself is one big music video. Certainly you can look at it that way, or just enjoy some good music with some good animation with the full versions of the songs. This disc like the others contains outtakes and galleries as well.
Stuff spread across the three main discs
The actual episode discs contain director commentary tracks for all of the episodes, English voice actor commentary for three episodes, and storyboard comparisons.
With as minimal as some box sets are getting nowadays it’s nice to see some thing extra come with a full series. I’m not complaining about the other boxes, but like I said earlier, this set is a good chunk of change, and it’s not like it was less expensive if you bought individual discs at full retail price when they came out before. I don’t think any of the things included suck by any means, and I’m not underwhelmed.
The truly wonderful things about this series is the content. I’ll have more to say about that in Part 3. Stay tuned.
Lookie what came in the mail today! I’ve never done a “show you my loot” post, but here’s a good first try. (Pardon the crappy photography)
I’m going to attack this review from a little different perspective. This part will focus on the packaging and won’t go too in depth into the actual content, Part 2 will focus on the extras, and Part 3 the actual content. Without further ado…here’s some box pr0n. Click on the images for a slightly larger version.
The one side of the box itself
Continue reading ‘FLCL Ultimate Edition Box Set review (Part 1)’
Hi all. Vacation is over, reality and work have set back in, and life begins again. I’ve torn myself away from Galaxy Angel for a bit (it’s all Xebek’s fault) to bring you a poll. I won’t say new, since I put it up a week or so ago when playing with the poll plugin.
I’ve long had this theory that some of the best anime has been adapted from the light novels. So I poked through and pulled a list and want your opinions. This year in particular had several book to anime adaptations so I only picked this years releases. Whether they were OVAs or full series. So let me know what you think. Personally my all time favorite that I couldn’t place on the poll is Twelve Kingdoms, but alas that series had nothing this year. At least the novels are getting translated and will be on US shores in March 2007, so that should help some.
No end of year lists here. Just a really good 2006 for anime. Looking forward to 2007, but I have no idea what I’m watching this winter. Apparently I need to be renting a pedobear suit to watch most of winter’s offerings, so we’ll be seeing how that goes.
Happy 2007 everyone. Looking forward to a fun year.
Hi folks,
Just wanted to pop in on my vacation and wish you all a happy holiday to all. No matter what you celebrate during this time, I hope you have a good one.
Kimagure
Last part of the mid season reviews. I’ve got four good ones in here. Originally this was going to be split in two, but I like all of these shows too much to split them up.
Death Note
Without knowing a ton about this show, aside from the obvious hype it had before it aired, I’ve really been surprised with almost every episode. All around, it’s a solid show that I never would have thought jumped off the pages of Shounen Jump. I also now hold my cell phone all goofy, and I sit like a frog, and I bite my nails, and I have the sudden urge to play tennis. Oh shi- I’m not that smart. Oh well.
Sumomomo Momomo
This show is so funny, it makes me smile with delight every episode. Putting aside the chauvinistic nature of the reason that Sumomo is out to bed Koushi, her attempts at love are a riot. Add to that the “I want to be rocked senseless” Iroha, and the “I wish I was normal, and not a dominatrix martial arts master” Sanae, and you’ve got a recipe for harem goodness. I don’t care much for the rest of the characters in the show, but the girls more than make up for it. The plot of the 12 sided war is also not really fleshed out as far as the fansubs have gotten, but I don’t care. Funniest show of the season, at least out of what I’m watching…how many comedies am I watching? I might be a little biased, but it’s alright. The show’s animation is also pretty decent with just the right sprinkling of fanservice. Uma Kamen is a bit higher with the service, but that’s alright.
Now on to my two favorite shows this season:
Asatte no Houko
This is a slice of life show. By default, I will likely rate this show highly. I love it. Really love it. One of my favorite things about slice of life shows is the attention to detail of the whole of the production. Character designs are well detailed, backgrounds usually look like someone loved a canvas thoroughly, and stories are simple and easy to follow. After a long day at work, losing myself in someone else’s life is a grand prospect that I can’t wait to do. Asatte no Houko is no exception. What usually suffers in these types of anime is the animation itself. Movement is a little choppy in places, but it’s not so bothersome when you’re engrossed in the story. With Karada and Shouko switching places as they did, it lends itself to a wonderful story of a little girl that has to grow up in a hurry. From learning how to use a bank to dealing with the crushed feelings of the girl left behind, it’s an experience that’s believable even if she didn’t suddenly become a 20 something. Asatte no Houko is one of the finer examples of this genre. Highly recommended if you enjoy slice of life with a dash of drama.
Kanon (2006)
This show ties with Asatte no Houko with my favorite show of the season. Between Kyoto Animation, Key’s tug-at-my-heartstrings storytelling, and the gorgeous production values, you have a clear front runner on almost any list. I’ve said before, numerous times, that the 2002 TOEI version of this show didn’t do it for me, and like Yuuichi, I forgot almost everything about it. So like him, I remember more and more of the comings and goings of this story every week I watch it. Because of this, I feel connected to Yuuichi more than I thought I would. What has surprised me is that I’m laughing a lot more than I thought I would, and that I’m enjoying this much more than I expected to. As fun as dramas can be, they’re still drama and they can get saddled in a ton of muck. I’m happy to see that the slower pacing of the show, combined with the production design has lended itself well to this remake. With one sad story completed, I look forward to the rest of the resolutions as they come.
