Strike Warlock

by dm00

…except I guess he wears pants.

The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya

by dm00

Hardback cover, paperback sticks with the single-color theme of past paperbacks

Volume five of the Suzumiya Haruhi novels, The rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, has been out for a while now, and I finally read it. It consists of a couple of short stories, and a novella. The paperback appears to be out of print, but the hardback is available for paperback prices.

The stories are Endless eight (which only takes us through the last iteration — which is all it can do, since that’s all our narrator, Kyon, could know about to write down in his memoirs), and Day of Sagittarius, the story of the game contest with the computer club.

The novella is Snowy mountain syndrome, about a ski trip gone terribly wrong. The book has lots for Yuki and Tsuruya fans. In addition, Haruhi has mellowed a great deal and actually shows some consideration for others. It’s an excellent puzzle story, somewhat reminiscent of a Heinlein or Asimov short (you know the sort of story — it reads like the author was inspired by a Scientific American article, and writes a story about a nifty idea). Tanigawa is definitely growing as a writer.

…And it’s a bloody wasted opportunity. It advances the plot and development of the world and the characters. But the “math is hard” Barbies at Kyoto Animation chose to demonstrate their craftsmanship on eight variations of Endless eight instead of rising to the challenge of animating a story in which the resolution requires Koizumi to use a carpet as a blackboard.

Shaft could have done it, and it would have been a miracle of typography. And fanservice — the resolution of the puzzle involves a series of nocturnal visits among the cast members. Oh, it could have been wonderful.

Anyway, this series, after bobbling a bit with The sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, just keeps getting better. I’m looking forward to the next volume.

Anyway, on to The wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya, which includes the story of “The adventures of Mikuru Asahina 00”, and has yet more for Yuki and Tsuruya fans….

Ryushika, Ryushika 3 — Yotsuba’s evil twin studies optics and the onotology of the donut hole

by dm00

"No way!" the chameleon replies

Volume 3 of Yoshitoshi Abe’s Ryushika, Ryushika was released this week: more adventures of Yotsuba’s evil twin.

In this volume, Ryushika tries on her extremely near-sighted father’s glasses, and gets new ideas about the malleability of perception (a later chapter does much the same thing with her sense of smell, prompting the realization that rainclouds are cloths the gods use to wash the world). In the final chapter, her father asks her what happens to the hole as we eat the donut.

Along the way, Ryushika has nightmares about a creeper vine seeking revenge for being uprooted, and names her brother’s chameleon “Hamu” for the hamster she was expecting him to bring home, and more.

Almost all the dialogue is Ryushika musing, and misunderstanding, the world around her in the most energetic ways possible. Ryushika muses in simple sentences written in kana, so even someone with just a semester of Japanese can read it pretty easily (the adults around her do use kanji, some of which are moderately obscure, but clear from context, and with full furigana).

If you’re a fan of Yotsuba&!, especially if you’d like her more if she were a little brattier, and you have just a tiny bit of ability to read Japanese, the Ryushika, Ryushika volumes are certainly worth adding to your collection.

Anime USA 2011: Brimming Ambivalence.

This was the first year that I was actually able to make all three days of the con, which was a little surprising. Though the first thing I think is that I wish I had as much free time to go to all three days of Otakon instead. I do like the convenience of Anime USA, since it’s pretty easy for me to get there from home with little hassle. But substance-wise, there isn’t enough to really keep me interested in terms of all the goings on at the con. I tend to be pretty focused in panels that tend to be more company-based and more about anime rather than anime culture, as well as guest that are more from the anime industry in Japan compared to elsewhere, and from my limited experience with this convention over the years, I’ve rarely been able to have these desires fulfilled. And that’s probably due to the size of the con as well as probably looking for a target fanbase that I don’t exactly fit in the demographics for (Without any evidence though, this is just whining). It’s times like this where I try to convince myself that I should set up a panel and see if it could get accepted in a con, but quickly psyche myself out of doing so by believing that my work schedule will never allow me to do such insanity.

The Dr. Pepper and everything.

Ben-tou in one word

by dm00

“Chewy-ni-byou”

Sakura and the yandere meme

by dm00

Several times in episode 30

Hunting whales from vanscooters

by dm00

The Dread Pirate Silvius

Last Exile: Fam of the Silver wingsepisode four made good use of the first series’ soundtrack as Fam bites off more than she can chew.

Send not to know for whom the pancakes rise, they rise for thee.

Guilty Crown/Kung Fu Love

by dm00

Guilty Crown is definitely turn-off-your-brain eye-candy. Nonsense, but very pretty nonsense.

In a way it’s a pity that so much talent is being used in the service of such nonsense, but Studio 4C has taught me that, if it’s pretty enough, I won’t mind if it’s nonsense:

Update: The youtube snapshot has horrid jaggies, the video is a bit better (and, it’s part of Studio-4C’s Amazing Nuts!, there are ways to find better versions of this short film). When you get to the six-minute mark you’ll see why Inori’s leap into space in Guilty Crown 4 reminded me of this sequence.