Monthly Archive for July, 2006Page 2 of 3

Summer Menu

23 Comments |
July 12, 2006
| Television

I’m just now diving into the Summer season. I’ve been preoccupied with continuing Spring shows, I suppose. Still, I’ve managed to check out a few new shows this past week…

Honey & Clover - More of the same. Of course, when it comes to Honey & Clover, who could complain about more of the same? The only thing I can complain about is the fact there’s only eleven episodes remaining.

Muteki Kanban Musume - It seems every season has a couple of wacky shows that go unnoticed by audiences outside Japan. This strikes me as one of those shows. There’s a reason these shows go unnoticed: they’re weird. And Muteki Kanban Musume is clearly weird. Is it funny? Maybe. I’ll admit to cracking up here and there while watching the first episode, but for every joke that worked, there were ten jokes that fell flat. Unfortunately, I get the feeling the first episode was a microcosm of the entire series - that is, every gag featured in those first 24 minutes will be repeated ad nauseam for the remainder of the series. Eventually, you’re left wondering why you ever laughed at it in the first place. Thanks for a fun night, Miki. There’s a cab waiting downstairs.

Tsuyokiss - I haven’t felt this conflicted about a new show in long time. A few minutes in, I almost stopped watching. That rarely happens unless something is profoundly bad. Were those first few minutes profoundly bad? You bet. Did it get better? You bet. Will I keep watching? I honestly can’t say. H-game conversions have a tendency to get off to rough starts, and I can think of several that had debuts as atrocious (if not more) as Tsuyokiss, yet still managed to recover after a few episodes. I think Tsuyokiss has a lot going for it in that regard, but I have to admit I’m spooked by the giant cast and the heavy pandering to fans of the original material. I’ll give it another episode or two, at least.

NHK ni Youkoso - Like a lot of people, I’m always a little apprehensive about new GONZO shows. It’s not that GONZO produces one stinker after another, necessarily. Rather, I’ve just had some bad experiences. Still, GONZO is a competent studio, and they’re working with some great material this time around, so… even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile? In other words, this is good. Really good. It took until about the commercial break of the first episode before I realized that, but once I did, everything sort of clicked. It kind of makes previous otaku-themed shows look especially silly.

New stuff I still need to check out: Binbou Shimai Monogatari, Zero no Tsukaima, and Chokotto Sister.

UPDATE: Oh, and add Tonagura to that list. It has a military otaku loli character, after all. I nearly forgot, but Momotato reminded me. He stays on top of these things so I don’t have to!

Tadaima!

3 Comments |
July 10, 2006
| Administration

That sucked.

At some point overnight, Akismet went bonkers, got stuck in an infinite loop, and nuked the database. Major kudos to the support team at Dreamhost for diagnosing the problem (after pounding away at it for most of the day). There was little I could do on my end.

Unfortunately, all comments posted yesterday have died and gone to Heaven. May they rest in peace.

5 Centimeters Per Second

18 Comments |
July 10, 2006
| Film, News

The website for Makoto Shinkai’s new film, 5 Centimeters Per Second, is live. Make sure to check out the high definition teaser.

There’s not much more to say at this point. Just watch the teaser. Now.

Anime is LOVE

18 Comments |
July 7, 2006
| Otaku, Television

It’s nice to know that, even on the sixth or seventh rewatch (I’ve lost count, to be honest), Figure 17 still gets me reaching for the tissues. I’m a pretty stoic guy, all things considered, so I’m always a little shocked when anime (or anything, for that matter) moves me to tears. It’s an involuntary response, I think, kind of like those chills you get when listening to an incredible piece of music. One moment, I’m sitting there, and the next, there’s a tear running down my cheek. Where the hell it came from, I don’t know.

There are a lot of those moments in Figure 17. There are a lot in anime in general. Godai and Kyoko’s first kiss in Maison Ikkoku. Ai and Claire on the moon in Planetes. Meiling’s farewell (and return) in Cardcaptor Sakura. Damn near half of Fruits Basket.

Figure 17 is pretty much structured around these moments, though - especially in its final episodes. And it’s near the end that one finds THE SCENE. Those who have seen the show may already have an idea what scene I’m referring to, near the end of Episode 10. That entire episode is awfully heavy to begin with, given the surprising turn the story takes at the end of the previous episode - a turn that absolutely floored me the first time I saw it, foreshadowing aside. THE SCENE is anime at its best, I think. I look forward to it every time I rewatch the show. It’s funny how that one scene - only a few minutes long - defines the entire series for me.

Why does the scene work so well? For a lot of the same reasons Figure 17 as a whole works so well.

Expression.

It’s a tricky thing. How do you breath life into the characters on screen? How do you move past flapping mouths and dub tracks? Why do people go so crazy over Kyoto Animation’s work? What’s so great about Kamichu? Why does Studio Ghibli amaze us?

There are all sorts of reasons, of course, but I’m sure most of you understand what I’m getting at. Expression is about attention to detail. And passionate acting. And thoughtful direction. It’s a lot of things.

It’s about LOVE.

I think about the animators, producers, directors, musicians, and actors who slaved away week after week, pouring their love into Figure 17, pouring their love into THE SCENE, and I wonder: what would they say if they knew how much their work means to me after all this time? How something they created can move a damn stubborn fool to tears again and again?

The Apathy of Suzumiya Haruhi

40 Comments |
July 7, 2006
| Television

That was fun, I suppose.

With the exception of the episode shuffling, there’s not a lot I could point to and say, “Nope… didn’t like it.” Not without getting nitpicky, at least. Still, it’s not often that I finish a show of this quality and say, “Gee… I’m glad that’s over with.”

For all the hype, the show didn’t amount to much. And as for the hype itself, I have to say it got especially annoying at its height. It’s like I had someone standing behind me the whole time, smacking me upside the head, screaming, “LOVE THE SHOW! WOOOOOORSHIP THE SHOOOOWWW!”

That got really old, really fast.

Oh well. I tried. But, in the end, I just don’t get it.