Drastic My Anime Blog

Continue reading ‘A very special SAD point/counterpoint’

Continue reading ‘Wolf, Spice, and Currency: The Economics of Wolf and Spice’

Continue reading ‘Season of Sequels, Black Lagoon and Much, Much more’

By Nomad(Marlin Brando makes the least believable malaria victim ever)Otto

I’m aware that this is an anime blog, rather than a “crap Nomad Likes” blog, if it were, it would have a lot more about politics, historical military shaz, and, of course, endless waves of board and strategy games, along with the occasional fighter. However, because this is an anime blog written (in part) by me, there will be discussion about the intersection between anime, manga, and politics, military crap, board and strategy games, along with the occasional fighter. This post is mostly a reaction to re-watching Apocalypse Now after having just gotten caught up on Hellsing (I’ve had volume 8 in Japanese for a while now, but it’s really hard to get the full impact of it until I read it in English, mostly because Hellsing is a bitch to read). Afterwards there will be a small newspost regarding various Doujin games and other crap.

Continue reading ‘Hellsing and the Horror’

By Nomad “I can’t belive I’m writing this with a headache when I’ve got three problem sets and a research presentation due next week” Otto

Alright, folks, I promised another chapter of the endless manga review cycle that is my life, well, not counting the research, the teaching, the ass-kicking, and the being a murdering kill-bot. Not many volumes of stuff this time, and the only reason why I’m writing now, as opposed to, say, later, is because I just got a whole huge stack of new crap, mostly Black Lagoon and Cloth Road, which will suck up my time and are not really that interesting to review. In the event that fat stacks of cash drop on my lap, and if I suddenly have a bunch more time, I’ll read and/or write more about series I haven’t previously covered. Anyway, on with the show:

Continue reading ‘Nomad’s Super Awesome Manga Review part Two + Genshiken!!!one111′

By Nomad Otto

Alright, the first midterm in the class I’m teaching is over, so I have a break in the grading, moreover, I was a good person, and did a large chunk of my homework over the last couple of days, so I have time to watch things, and, then, now, to write about them. This new season is fairly short on Nomad shows, but heavy on Bign shows, so don’t expect to see lots of positive reviews. Also, though fall is my favorite season, the fact that it’s not flipping cold enough means that I can’t enjoy the main benefit of the colder temperatures, the ability to wear heavier clothes without seeming like a terrorist or thief. Finally, the joys of teaching are somewhat mitigated by the fact that some of my “kids” are lazy sacks of shit, and since my continued funding depends on the mercy of my reviews, both from the prof and from the kids, if they don’t do well, I look bad, and I might have to get a real job.

Continue reading ‘In Pursuit of Awesome (A New Season of Reviews)’

Written, Directed, Produced, and Starring: Nomad “Whoa man, epic” Otto

Dedicated to: The Gurren brigade’s Demon Leader: Kamina

About eight hours ago, give or take, I watched the end of Tengen Toppa Gureen Lagann. I must say, Gainax has done a very good job with the series, as they’ve kept the service down, the production values up, and GAR in the hearts of every man, woman, and child in the fair land of Greater Animeblogistan (Primary Exports: Angst!! and Pumpkin Pie). Of course, there are some weakness to the show (the awesome from the last group of episodes was almost drowned out by the sounds of physics crying), but I feel that I need to re-watch the whole thing as a chunk before I can get a handle on the deep analysis.

Actually, I’ve been doing a lot of stupid, masturbatory analysis recently, and not, say, reading the stack of books that stare at me from across my desk, or working on my problem sets, or writing an application for NSF-sponsored research trips to fantastic locales. To take a break from that shaz, here’s some quick, cold, clean reviewing/nitpicking/fanboyism for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Continue reading ‘The End of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and GARDS’

By: S.P.Q.R (ghostwritten by Nomadotto)

I like horror movies, books, etc. By this, I mean movies, books, etc. that are actually horrifying, rather than gore-drenched slaughter-fests. Take H.P. Lovecraft’s Color Out of Space in contrast to, say, Jason. Death and the shock of surprise can be an effective way of causing fear, but, in my opinion, overuse of the above two tropes has led to a cheapening of the horror movie, anyway, that’s besides the point of this article. Instead, I’m going to talk about a specific trope in zombie films/manga, the zombie, and its use in two different works, Night of the Living Dead, and High School of the Dead, specifically, the intersection of politics and culture in these works, and the use of the zombie trope as a part of the political theme. Phew… afterwards, there will be a plain review of HSoTD and if you are all good, maybe some pretty pictures. Thus ends the preface and begins the analysis.

Continue reading ‘Zombies, Politics, and High School of the Dead’