With this week’s license announcements for Ichigo Mashimaro and Kamichu, 2006 is shaping up to be a good DVD year. Why? Because short, 13 episode series (or thereabouts) are my favorite to purchase on DVD, owing to their low cost and high rewatch value. With Boys Be, Ichigo Mashimaro, Kamichu, and Kiminozo already set for release, and To Heart likely by the end of the year, I’m a happy camper.
In the case of Kamichu, I’m in for a bit of a surprise. While I managed to catch the first few episodes, the show failed to grab me in such a way that I felt compelled to continue. I realized the show was something special, but with a busy schedule at the time (I left for Japan shortly thereafter), the show got lost in the shuffle. The fact it languished in fansub limbo for awhile didn’t help matters at all.
Still, for me personally, Kamichu has some inherent appeal (no, not for the reason you’re thinking!), so I’m certainly interested in finishing. I suspect Geneon will give the show the royal treatment, and considering how gorgeous the animation is to begin with, I can’t wait to pop the first disc in the DVD player and gorge myself on the eye candy.
As for Ichigo Mashimaro? Oh, that’s a definite buy. With a cherry (strawberry?) on top.
Nobue forever!!
All that’s left is for some company to license Petopeto san and this year would thus be perfect.
Petoko used to be my 5 year old son’s favorite anime character until the arrival of Curious George and mouse form of Soma Yuki.
I’ve actually enjoyed watching Petopeto san more than Ichigo Mashimaro because Petopeto san has a real plot and an interesting one at that. Every episode just filled me with a warm feeling. As for Petoko, mere words cannot do her justice. She is noble, caring, smart and cheerful and on top of that extremely adorable. Even her accent is a joy to listen to.
If Kiminozo’s licensed, Is Akane Maniax included with it?
But, hey.. It’s gonna be a loli-tastic summer!
Oh, I love you even more Geneon. Kamichu has been my most awaited license in years, so this is not only a surprise, but has made my day.
Now all that needs be licensed is Nanoha.
I believe petopeto could have been better. They have subtly touched on some of the most pressing yet often ignored social problems, racism, corruption, and poverty, in Japan and tried to present how ideal Japan could be in a roundabout way. If the problems and conflicts the character faces in the series has been heightened and embellished, petopeto could have become a powerful drama as well as feel-good anime series, but since my son liked the series, I guess it is good enough.
I don’t think the manga author intended Petopeto san to be a serious drama. The show is actually aimed at children so it won’t be that attractive to its target audience if it was a serious drama. I enjoy serious drama and prefer it over any other anime genre but I believe everything has its proper place and time. To be honest, when I first heard of Petopeto san before it started airing; I decided to visit the official website to get a taste of the artwork. My first impression of the show based on what I saw in the website was that it was an educational boring show. After watching the first episode, my misconceptions about the show disappeared and I realised that there is more to this show than what you see on the surface of it. The mere fact that it managed to tackle the sensitive issues of poverty, racism and corruption and present these issues in a manner suitable for children is a great success in my opinion. I’m an adult and yet I enjoyed Petopeto san immensely because it proved that children shows can tackle sensitive issues if the story writers are smart enough. It’s a socialist show but with a cheerful tone and a twist.
Petopeto… children’s show? O_o
Am I the only one put off by the inherent ‘dirty-feel’ super-Moeness of the thing? And given that it’s based on a manga that was serialized in one of the many Moe-pandering otaku magazines, I’m pretty sure it aired in one of those “godless hour when everything’s dead and no one except otaku are awake” -timeslots - Hardly something you’d do if kids were your prime audience. No, Petopeto is pure 100% otaku stuff.
Which is kind of funny, in a way. I couldn’t stand the blatant Moe-pandering in Pedopeto, yet Kamichu, which, when all is said and done, is about on the same level in that regard, makes me squeel with glee like a little schoolgirl.
…Well, I guess there’s a difference between beating around the bush and being blatantly in-your face. I guess It also doesn’t hurt either that Moe is but one aspect of Kamichu…
It’s true that Petopeto san has a lot of cute characters but I never considered the cuteness level exaggerated and over the top. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks that way. The same thing applies to Ichigo Mashimaro. I think the cuteness level was just what you would expect from characters of that age. In the end, it’s up to the person watching the show and his preconceptions about moe shows. I don’t even consider Petopeto san moe for that matter. If I had felt that Petopeto san was just a poor excuse for showing off cheap moe then I wouldn’t have watched beyond the first episode.
Even Kamichu was serilaised in Dengeki Daioh which is one of those so called “Moe-pandering otaku magazines”. The mangaka, Hanaharu Naruko, is even an established hentai artist. Like I said before, it all comes down to how you look at it.
I wonder if ‘Lament of the Lamb ( Hitsuji no Uta )’ has come out. I hear that the movie version is actually better than the anime version.
I am readily aware of Kamichu’s origins, sorry if I was a bit unclear about that.
I just wanted to stress the fact that while they both have relatively similar origins, they end up being notably different in terms of atmosphere and mood for me - one makes me roughly feel like a dirty old man hiding in a bush oogling at kindergardners that walk past, while the other makes my inner child squeel with delight while reminding you about all the simple but wonderful things in life.
It’s not that I have anything against the characters per se in Petopeto (they’re fine mostly), but something else that’s not as tanglible. There’s a much…. stronger undercurrent of sexualization or lust in the show that just keeps rubbing me very much the wrong way, doubly so because of the “innocenceness” of what appears on the surface. It’s hard to say what exactly it is that does it (I’d have to go and rewatch the episodes I saw, which I’m not about to do), but it’s there all right.
Of course Kamichu is very much moe, but it doesn’t come across halfway as forced, and for me that makes a _huge_ difference. It’s not “Moe just for the sake of being Moe”, it’s “Moe but doesn’t dabble or make an overt point of it”, which has the effect of my brain classyfying Kamichu as just “cute”, while Petopeto gets the “WARNING WARNING SHOW FOR PEDOPHILES IN OPEN TREATMENT” -label.
Well, in the end I guess it’s a question of how jaded and how much leeway and benefit of doubt a person is willing to go for. Those of us who have seen darker sides of anime fandom might be a bit more wary and paranoid ;-P
Surely you already know that Japanese Anime is an insidious tool for global domination by Japanese Right Wing Extremists.
I just watched episode 8 of Petopeto san. While there was a bit of innuendo in one particular scene, they never actually went with it to the very end and idea was terminated abruptly. Why? Because that wasn’t the point of the episode. The episode actually focused on the main characters’ feelings towards each other and the episode turned out to be a rather touching one. This show once again managed to fill me with a warm feeling which is remarkable since I’m not easily satisfied. It’s the attention to small details in life that makes this show such a joy to watch. I’m not saying that this show is perfect since that would be extremely unfair towards more serious anime shows which will always rank higher in my opinion. It has many flaws here and there but they are forgivable. It has fanservice, most of which comes from Petoko’s mother who is an adult, but the fanservice is not the main focus of the story. Ichigo Mashimaro has an older girl with blatant interest in cute young girls and a young girl with a crush on the older girl and yet I never considered it to be sexually oriented and sleazy and many fans felt the same way. On the other hand, I know many fans considered Ichigo Mashimaro as a “Lolicon Fest” and a travesty so to speak. It’s a culture issue and a problem of what attracts your attention in an anime and what doesn’t. People watching the same show are actually seeing different things because their attention is attracted by different things.
The dark side of anime fandom is always on my mind and is not something to be proud of. Yes, there are anime fans and anime creators who are basically wolves in sheep clothing. The interesting thing is that a lot of anime shows make fun of them and their habits and usually portrays them in a negative image. Shows like Comic Party, He is My Master, Genshiken and the upcoming NHK ni Yokosou come to mind. It’s an interesting form of self criticism. On the other hand, a hard core otaku managed to be the hero of a real life romantic drama which was later called “Densha Otoko” so not all is as bad as it looks.