My apologies, but you’re going to have to wait a bit before the post comes out.  I’ll be writing about Princess Tutu, for those of you wondering. Again, sorry for the delay, and please check out the other blogs participating in this fun project.

-TheBigN

Regardless, this guy will probably always creep me out.

Found this link from a friend. Surprised that more people haven’t linked to this yet:

An independent animation music video by Kousuke Sugimoto, who according to his Youtube channel is a self-taught animator.  This is pretty good stuff in regards to that, as well as this work he posted earlier:

The music for both of these works were done by Takayuki Manabe. I hope to see more things from both him and Sugimoto to come.

By TheBigN

By TheBigN

So, I had another post about the rest of Otakon at least partly written some weeks ago about the rest of my time there (you know, stuff like enjoying MELL’s Q&A and Yamakan’s second Q&A, EPIC KARAOKE throughout [at least on the end of those of us participating], seeing omo give his confession to Zange-chan, the FUNimation panel, bagpipes, seeing the Dealer’s Room after closing time and helping Hen Da Ne take down their wares, etc.). But then my main computer tanked, OSes were reinstalled, and all that good information, as well as 3 months of other stuffs, is gone to the electronic ether where all deleted files go. This also explains some of why I’ll probably be late with my Secret Santa entry for Reverse Thieves. And I always told myself to not write one of these “why I haven’t been writing in a while” filler posts. I’m a little ashamed at this.

But on to the real point of this post. If you’ve read my posts on Katsucon and Otakon for this year, you noticed that I had some pictures of cosplay that I’d taken for both of these. And I was planning on releasing more photos for later posts, like the said Otakon one, that have ended up not being made or have been purged. Instead, I’ve just put those cosplay pictures that I’ve taken con-wise onto a flickr account, and should be planning to add some more pictures of much more other stuff down the road. I’ve had the account up for a while, but it’s been incomplete to about now. Still, it’s kind of interesting to see that very few people have already found the place, and apparently some characters are focused on more than others.

As always, if any person looking at this is one of the people cosplaying and wants me to take down their picture, I will comply quickly. No problems. And there will be something of more substance than this post coming up soon, for those of you still reading.

It says something that this was one of the most seen pics in that short time, but hey. Bridget is awesome

With apologies to the artist who styles themself as “Kondou Mu”, who did the adaptation of Kiyohiko Azuma’s Yotsuba&! image to Bakemonogatari.

By TheBigN

Now I knew about Hidamari Sketch × ☆☆☆ when it came out, and I’m eagerly waiting for it to debut soon, which makes it good that I currently have the x365 specials to tide me over, and the fourth volume of the manga coming out soon. But hearing that the show has been licensed in the US puts a lot more pep into my step. Of course I’ll be buying it when it comes out this January (who do you think I am?), so now I’ll just be waiting with bated breath a little more. Thanks, ADV Fil- errr…  Sentai Filmworks! errr… Section 9 23!

Now I’m  thinking this might be one reason why a certain someone started blogging again(suuuuure…). Maybe I should finish up those x365 posts soon. 

And this is not that bad, though it might leave bad memories for some.

Wasshoi! \o/

By TheBigN

So, following Stripey’s lead, I’ll list my top 5 favorite anime at this moment:

1. Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight
2. Haibane Renmei
3. Kino’s Journey
4. Aria The Origination
5. Hidamari Sketch

I find it’s more fun to find out what others think compared to my own opinion  in cases like these (un”my”ased opinion and all that), so if you care, what do you think this list says about me? What do you think this list doesn’t say about me that would still be true, if this question makes sense?

Miyako's Journey

No, Alexander Nevsky does not return as a magical girl

First Squad: the Moment of Truth is a Russian-written Studio 4C production.

Nazi sorcerors conjure the Teutonic Knights, bringing them back from the dead to reprise “the battle on the ice” in the service of Hitler’s push to the east, and Soviet Intelligence’s Psychic Squad (their most valued remaining agent: 17-year-old Nadya) scrambles to thwart their plan applying the immortal principles of Dialectical Immaterialism.

The film is presented as a quasi-documentary, alternating animated story flashbacks with interviews of live-action talking heads presenting Russian and German veterans, psychologists, and historians all talking about “The moment of truth” portrayed in the film.

No Heroine of the People is complete without her samurai sword nor her Young Pioneer bandana

All the dialogue is in Russian (except for some of the German veterans), all the animated dialogue (including the Germans) is in Russian.

It’s a good deal better-than-B-movie, but not really first quality — it’s not up to Studio 4C’s high standards (though it would do a lesser studio proud). The acting is a bit wooden, the film is exposition heavy (the talking heads are okay, but also the animated actors spend a good deal of time bringing one another up to speed — Nadya is blessed with shell-concussion-induced amnesia). I thought the action scenes were quite good, and there were several individual scenes that were outstanding (Nadya’s vision among the soldiers at the front; the climactic moment).

Newsreel footage

At one point Nadya’s comrades go on an amusement-park-ride through her subconscious.  This must have looked great as the staff conferred over the storyboards, but it comes off a bit cheesy in the actual film. Nadya’s own visit to the theater of the subconscious is much more successful.

There's plenty of room left for a sequel

Update (9 Oct):
Somehow, I missed this review by PSGels, who also liked it.

After years of having the book on my shelf (and having a scanlation on my hard-drive), I finally read Hayao Miyazaki’s Shuna no tabi (Shuna’s Journey).

Shuna is the prototype for many Miyazaki heroes and heroines

It is the tale of a the prince of a small impoverished country. One day a traveller appears, and, dying, tells the story of a rich grain that grows in a land far to the West. In the weeks that follow, Shuna can think of nothing else but finding this grain and returning with it to benefit his people.

...and images from this early story found their way into Miyazaki's later films

...or into Goro Miyazaki's Wizard of Earthsea

As Shuna travels west, he encounters different people in a desperate world — full of slave-traders and cannibals.

Ashitaka, er Shuna, encounters a strange old man who tells him of gods in the West

Shuna encounters a proud slave-girl, and cannot bear to see her enslaved. He frees her and her sister, they flee, parting company at the border to the land of the gods, with a promise to meet again in the North.

Shuna climbs down into the “land of the gods”, and steals the grain, fleeing in desperation, forced to abandon both his gun and his knife. He wanders in the wilderness, until Yakkul catches his scent on the wind, and rushes off with Thea to find him, mute, and mad.

It is a fine, melancholy story, inspired by a Tibetan folk-tale. This picture-book format is a good one for Miyazaki. It’s something of a shame that he hasn’t used it more.

The book was written in the early 80s — around the same time as Miyazaki was starting work on Nausicaa. You can see echoes of Nausicaa in the landscapes and costumes, but you’ll also see echos of Shuna in many of Studio Ghibli’s works — images from this book could have been used to storyboard bits of both Princess Mononoke and Wizard of Earthsea.

With ISBN-10: 4196695108 or ISBN-13: 978-4196695103, it’s available from
from Amazon.co.jp, and is well worth adding to your collection, especially since it costs a mere 470 Yen. The images reproduced here are taken from the “Scum Scans” scanlation. This, and other scanlations are readily found using a search engine.

Watch Aquatic Language now!

Time of Eve comes to an end (at least a temporary one) with a double-length broadcast centering not on Rikuo, Sammy, nor Nagi, but on Rikuo’s robot-averse friend Masaki.

Masaki finds THX in the Time of Eve cafe

There have been hints that something like this was coming — notably in “Nameless” when we caught a brief glimpse of THX (“Tex”) standing in the shadows of Masaki’s home.  (You all know where the initials THX come from, don’t you?)

Many of the episodes of this wonderful series have captured the spirit of Asimov’s original robot stories in wrestling with surprising implications of Asimov’s iconic Three Laws of Robotics.  It’s like math, really, the way so much lovely complexity arises from the interplay of three simple axioms.  This episode is no different.  Indeed, this episode is Asimov’s laws triumphant.

This sweet little series deserves to be placed among the best animated science fiction, with the way it tangles with the implications of androids, and the way it succeeds in packing an emotional punch.  Is there a Hugo for animated shorts?

Best actor of the year

This simple figure conveys a surprising amount of emotion with its gestures

We learn a great deal more about the time of the Time of Eve, with tantalyzing hints dropped about Nagi’s past and why she created the Time of Eve — but not enough.  The episode ends with a plethora of hints that we can look forward to more, and I certainly will — more in the world of Time of Eve or any other endeavor Yasuhiro Yoshiura and his Studio Rikka chooses to pursue.

Come back soon, Nagi.

So, as this current anime season in Japan comes to a close, there have been a large amount of series that I’ve been watching that have been damn enjoyable. The interestingly epic combo (Bakemonogatari with SHAFT x NISIOISIN), the action-packed adventure (CANAAN), the juggernaut from last season ( Saki, hell yeah), the emotional investment (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, despite the writing/pacing problems at the end), the sequel (Spice of Wolf II), one of the typical “TheBigN would watch this, wouldn’t he?” shows (Aoi Hana), the guilty pleasures (Juuden-chan), and so on. And while most of these shows are great, my favorite anime of the season has been Taishou Yakyuu Musume, probably because I just enjoy seeing a group of girls try hard, be earnest and have fun. Or at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

I don't think Koume believes me.

The premise of the show (like “Idolm@ster Baseball” as others would put it) was something that held a little bit of my interest as a show to check out for fun. I’d like to say that the show had me at the great opening musical number by Koume about the magical powers of a school uniform. But what really hooked me into the show was the rational for forming such a team. I’ve seen the defying the “girls should just Fate/Stay in the kitchen” stereotype a lot in anime as a reason for doing things, but seeing the determination in proving status quo-ers wrong coupled with the characters having a general interest in baseball despite not knowing the first thing about it was fun to see. From building their own field to basic training, to constant reminders about how the team is and where it has to go, the team is earnest about what they want to do. And luckily, the show is also earnest about its humor, as the team building leads to some very silly situations which normally wouldn’t be associated with baseball (delinquency, domestic partnerships, theate- oh wait) that some or all of the members get into every so often .

It’s hard to me to find a character that I don’t like in this show, though some stand out to me more than others (of course, your mileage may vary). Koume is an entertaining lead with her hardworking ethic, her adaptability and her responses in tending to get caught up in situations not of her own making. Her partnership with Akiko is fun to watch as the latter can be pretty headstrong and a little selfish drama queen in trying to achieve whatever goals she has in mind (she was the one with the idea of making a baseball club in the first place), though she usually means well. I always enjoy the strategists in anime (though I suck at being one myself), and Noe (yay Kana Ueda) is no exception as she’s constantly tweaking the rest of the team and thinking about how to maximize the team’s potential, though the plans don’t necessarily work out. And my favorite of the group, Tamaki (voiced by the same Ryou Hirohashi who was the more inferior namesake in Bamboo Blade. Yes I went there.), is the no-nonsense enforcer of the team who’s always willing to call someone out when they screw up, or ask the tough questions that need asking (or so I think in my mind).  But others, such as Koume’s parents/co-worker, or the misguided suitor on the rival team, and even the “traditional” principal at the girls high school are fun to watch in their own way.

The better Tamaki.

As to the original premise, I wouldn’t mind if the rest of the show is basically the “girls do random things & baseball” that has been presented. But it will be interesting see if other questions other than the main ones that can come to mind are answered, like what would baseball mean to the girls when all is said and done. Of course if you want to think about it, the underlying idea and setting of the show given the time period could be considered to be more complex and provide better questions, with a Japan starting to really feel out it’s on identity as things become more Westernized, the gender roles that come with the period and even now, and all that jazz. But it’s background info to just seeing an all-girl baseball team trying to learn how to play the game, and play it well enough to prove some other people wrong. I think.

With some wacky hijinks and character building thrown in as well, it leads to one of my favorite shows of the year, even if the concept and execution has been done before better by others. Taishou Yakyuu Musume is a show that’s easy to digest and enjoy, with enough charm, heart and pluck to win its way into my heart. I just hope there’s more to come, if by season’s end, the source light novels haven’t been exhausted just yet.

They'll do what they can. By nomal: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=5858432