The Little Vagabond (William Blake meets Sakura Kyouko)

by dm00

Image source

Madoka Magica and the Weight(lessness?) of Expectations

By TheBigN

Given the amount of coverage this blog has had with this show, this won’t be the last you’ll hear from us for sure. Spoilers obviously abound here.

The second coming (no spoilers)

by dm00

Poem by W. B. Yeats, images gleaned from the net, with apologies to the artists.

(image source)

(image source)

Dr. Whomura gets ready for Apr. 21

by dm00

Dr. Whomura vs the Dalekyuubeys

The Megatokyo Anime Forum’s annual Anime Grand Prix is winding down with a surprisingly lopsided match between Kyuubey and Homura (paralleling a much more competitive match between Saber and Durarara!!’s Celty).

The Anime forum at Megatokyo is a hot-bed of SHAFT fanboys — half the eight quarter-finalists are from SHAFT shows, and SHAFT (particularly Madoka Magica) was well represented in the earlier rounds (even Madoka’s made it into the contest).

I should probably have mentioned the AGP earlier so people could participate in more than the endgame (especially since newcomers can’t vote until after they’ve posted a few times in the forums as an anti-sockpuppet measure). While the clubby atmosphere might be a bit intimidating, campaigning in it is more fun than most anime character competitions — creativity is rewarded. While most campaigns consist of images gleaned from the net (sometimes with added commentary) some contributions can be pretty stunning (people have written video-games in support of their characters (this is made easier with the advent of HTML5)).

And some of us just do Photoshop collages with bad puns.

The Trump Cards Nichijou Holds For Me

By TheBigN

I was planning on watching Nichijou anyway, since the premise of the show with their comedic focus tends to be stuff that pique my interest. After watching the first episode, the humor is more or less hit or miss (more hit than miss so far), but the pacing of those jokes are quick enough that if one joke doesn’t work, it’s alright because it’s over quickly and chances the are that the next joke will be funny. The jokes and the characters themselves if you take them as they are so far won’t make this a memorable work for me, since as others have said, the concept has been done over and over again. That being said, what’s more important is less the fact that they reuse ideas, but how it’s done. In that sense, presentation plays a big part in our reception to this apparent variation of a “standard”, and Nichijou has those for me in the show’s animation and background music.

Kingyo Used Books, v2: mono *and* aware

by dm00

Not the Ginko of used books (that would be Natsuki’s grandfather)

When last we visited this series, I thought the idea was interesting, but the execution uninspiring. Seimu Yoshizaki seems to have been saving up the inspiration for volume two.

This series is part of what seems like a mini-genre of redemption through the perfect example of X. A character with a problem is introduced. Then fate puts just exactly the X they need before them, and their life is renewed. In Bartender, X is the perfect cocktail. Sometimes in Aria it is the perfect encounter with Venice.

Here, X is the perfect manga series for the moment.

Sometimes the manga series is something fondly remembered from childhood, sometimes it’s a new series with a story that makes the character see their own situation in a new way, sometimes it’s just … manga and their relationship to it.

The stories in the first volume missed the mark with me, but the stories in this volume work. Partly, the formula is broken up with a bit of the fantastic and a bit of slapstick, partly, the stage moves outside the bookshop into the world. The first story is pretty much true-to-form, but the second is a parody origin-story of one of the recurring characters. The third story is a touching tale about a bar hostess who finds herself caring for a little girl — a girl who insists upon being read to from “books with windows”. In yet another story a local tough learns to celebrate his love of a shoujo manga series he encountered as a child.

We get a bit more character development of the main characters Natsuki and Naoaki and their non-romance. Natsuki gets reconciled to life as assistant manager of the bookshop by seeing the support of the community of odd-balls that’s grown up among the customers.

The first volume left me cold. This volume makes me eager for more.

Yuno What It Is

By TheBigN

I wasn’t planning on posting anything today, but this Wiz Khalifa x Hidamari Sketch mashup linked on an IRC channel by an awesome soul is hilarious and clever in concept, decent in execution. “Black and Yellow” indeed.

Happy April Fools’ Day.