Last Exile: Fam/ episode 3 Easter egg

by dm00

A familiar friend from the original series reappears

And there’s a promise of more friends from the past: we hear about a mysterious ship, the Silvius, perhaps a refitted Silvana. It looks to me as though they’ve retained the Silvana’s uniform, too.

PS., I love those toys. They’re just right for that time and that place, and a nice touch to give the world of the series a bit of added depth.

PPS., the aerial Obon candles were a nice touch, too.

Cardcaptor Sakura Tuesdays: ep 25: The two Sakuras

by dm00

Sakura confronts her doppelganger

The Megatokyo Forum Cardcaptor Sakura discussion has been down for a while so Cardcaptor Sakura Tuesdays will have to find a new home for a while.

Here’s the first post in this series. I’ve been a bit remiss — I haven’t had a great deal to say about the past dozen episodes, really.

But episode 25, “The Two Sakuras”, takes a darker turn than has been the case for episodes that have come before. Oh, I suppose the fight with Watery had a sense of menace to it, but nothing like the creepiness as a silent Sakura leads Touya deep into a forest and over a cliff. A great series looks like it is getting even better.

A Certain Scientific Railgun GN 1

by dm00

Maybe even for non-fans of the anime

I didn’t like A certain Scientific Railgun anime much — I thought it had too little Mikoto. I don’t think I’ve ever made it through a season of Index (though when I watched, I watched for Mikoto).

But, gosh. I like the Railgun manga. Quite a lot.

Maybe it’s enough to just tell you to go read what Erica Friedman has to say about it (She reviews the Japanese volume here.)

This manga is carried by the charm of its quartet of main characters. Mikoto and Kuroko may be powerful (and they may attend the elite Tokiwadai Academy), but they think nothing of spending time with the level 0 and level 1 Saten and Uihara (initially, to Saten’s surprise). In addition, Saten and Uihara have roles of their own to play in the plot — they’re not just an audience for Mikoto’s displays of power. And neither is the reader: the manga spends a good deal of its time just hanging out with these four — at cafes, shopping for girly pajamas, eating crepes.

It may have helped my appreciation for the manga to be subdued in comparison to the anime (though otherwise the anime is a pretty faithful adaptation of the manga, at least as far as volume one is concerned). Mikoto may growl as much in the manga as she does in the anime, but here it’s kept on the page. Kuroko is not quite the enthusiastically smitten lech as in the anime, but she’s still head-over-heels for Mikoto and happy to show it. (One advantage the anime has over the manga: Arai Satomi’s voice as Kuroko.)

The manga also makes it a little easier to ignore the cliched tsunderism whenever Mikoto is around whats-his-name.

Volume two is about to come out. Much to my surprise, I’ll be picking it up.

Imagine! — while waiting for Penguindrum 15

by dm00

I’m afraid this photomosaic (made up of images from episode 11) really only looks good if you squint:

Click for 25MB version that lets you see the individual frames.

This series is one of the most interesting things to come along in years, yet I find myself inarticulate, unable to say anything intelligent about it, and I value those who can find so many interesting things to say about it.

This series has sent me off to read Haruki Murakami’s Underground, interviews with the victims of the 1995 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system (and I have queued Kenji Miyazawa’s Night on the Galactic Railway right behind it, since allusions to that book are prominent in the series, too. (I should add that Nozomi’s re-release of Revolutionary Girl Utena couldn’t have happened at a better time.)

It’s good to read Murakami as the episodes of Mawaru Penguindrum come out.

Immelman Turn! ep 1 of Fam the Silver Wing in 10,001 pictures

by dm00

Welcome back, Dio. Click for insanely large .png (133 MB)

A more sane 14MB version

Update: checked my math. I blame the symmetry around the comma.

Ringophoria 2.0

by dm00

Click for larger (6 MB)

Manabi Straight: Funimation or Animenation keep teasing us

by dm00

I keep seeing this ad, and wishing it were true.

With all the Manabi Straight chatter that’s been in the air lately I wish they’d stop running this ad. Or better: keep running the ad and put a release behind it.

Ringophoria

by dm00

Click for larger