I Won’t Do It…I Won’t, I Won’t….

Jason hates Sarah Palin because “she’s the MILF version of George W. Bush” who vetoed a $7 Bn plan to provide health care to children while spending $200 Bn in Iraq, blah, blah, blah.

He. Has. No. Fucking. Idea.

I will NOT do a political post on this blog, just because that statement is so stupid as to defy comprehension of why Sarah’s most ardent fans CAN NOT STAND most of GWB’s domestic policies.

No, I won’t do it…. Grrrrrrrrrr.

“This is an anime blog. This is an anime blog. This is an anime blog.” We may very occasionally pick on the occasional Democratic presidential candidate who wouldn’t know what to do with a robot ninja catgirl meido if one landed on him, but this is still an anime blog.

I will NOT do a political post on this blog, just because he has to shill for Obama or ridicule McCain in every other post.

Nope. Anyone who’s interested in hearing the political opinions of a civil servant and anime blogger is welcome to go to Houblog. I intend to have some things to say there over the next few days, but they won’t involve the political rantings of wet-behind-the-ears anime Obamabot. Because when I separated my anime from my politics, it cut both ways. (I notice Brendan Loy, Weathernerd did the same thing. I was surprised to find out he was an Obama supporter, in fact, because he kept his two blogs and their subjects separated also).

Grrrr. Derailed by Darry is one website that’s off my browser until after the election.

Posted in Bitching | 4 Comments

October’s Order In

Well, it was getting to be time.

Ordered Kanon, v. 6 to finish that series off.
Ordered Magical Witch Punie-chan. Because I’m evil and I like the series.
Ordered Saber Marionette J. It’s been hanging around the edge of my consciousness as a harem series I might actually like, and it seems to have a good reputation as a second-tier classic. Not a “great” series, but one good enough to stick around.
Ordered Battle Angel. This one was really, really iffy to me. See, I’ve got great memories of seeing it at a Nan-con in Houston years and years ago, when it was first imported. And I thought it was totally awesome, especially how the last fight was resolved, and the bittersweet ending. The problem is…

Every time I’ve ordered something I remember from back then, I’ve been horribly disappointed. I remembered Devil Hunter Yoko as being funny and cute; instead it was this ecchi-fest of dumb jokes and bad tropes. The Dirty Pair OVA’s had me climbing the walls. These dumb 19 year-bimbos are the top agents of the 3WA? Good lord, what are their bottom agents like? Wait, given the way they dress, that phrasing conjures up bad thoughts…. Ghost in the Shell movie? Damn, it’s slow and boring. Urasei Yatsuri? (whatever….) I couldn’t make it through the first DVD. Barely through one episode.

So here I am, risking perhaps the last of my treasured memories of anime from the 1990’s… (well, other than Lupin III, and I’m not sure those count). Maybe if I set the bar low, it will help…

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Akane-iro #4

The lack of fansubs of the series I want to watch is forcing me to download series that are increasingly “on the bubble.” And Akane-iro’s just popped. AIIIEEEEEEEE!! Can I finish this dreck? Ok, bad enough that the ero-game pedigree is resurfacing at last (with the focus on Minato, Junichi’s little sister), but oh my god, the other rich girl (Karen Ayanokouji) has gone embarrassingly stupid from jealousy. Not of Yuuhi Katagiri (whom no one here realizes is the Katagiri heir, although they know she’s rich), but of Minato, Junichi’s little sister. At the 17:39 mark, she’s carrying a lightsaber to “kill” the “octopus” creature “attacking” her “casual little party.” Of bigwigs in media and politics. She’s been slyly manipulating her classmates to either impress or embarrass them, but when her entire food staff got sick, it was Minato that led Karen’s classmates to the rescue; they whipped on aprons and took over for the head chef.

So the attack is just a big put-on she’s staging to draw attention away from Minato, who, aside from rescuing her dinner, has amazed the guests with her jungle-trained tuna-cutting skills.

“But there’s no tuna in a jungle!” Yeah, and I bet there were no blue and white checkered panties either. NSFW:

Whatever. Gods, I can’t watch Karen make a fool of herself any longer. I’m taking a break to get my composure back and raise shields. In the meantime, enjoy some screenshots below the fold. Some borderline NSFW.

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Dammit.

What the hell is with everybody and his sister fansubbing Kannagi and Toradora, but the only group doing Macademi Wasshoi hasn’t even gotten episode 2 out yet?

Posted in Fansubs, Random Nonsense | 4 Comments

Akane-iro, through Ep. 3

This isn’t exactly an overall review, nor is it an episode review. It’s just some random thoughts that started stringing together as I was typing a response to Owen’s comment

I’ve watched through episode 3 now, and I just can’t make up my mind. The writing and dialog was great– up until Juunichi and Katagiri(technically, I should be calling her Yuuhi) actually met as the betrothed couple — and since then the show has been at its best when the focus is not on the main couple. Compared to the first episode, the 2nd and 3rd have been a bit disappointing for that reason.

Ok, here’s the structure of the series, which includes some serious spoilers, so it’s below the fold.

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ADV Lives!

Holy imports, Batman, ADV is actually still alive! And they got Clannad!

The ICv2 retail news website reports that A.D. Vision, a 16-year veteran of the North American anime industry, will localize and distribute titles for the licensing company Sentai Filmworks. Their new partnership is highlighted by Kyoto Animation’s 2007-2008 television adaptation of the Clannad visual novel franchise. Their other planned releases for 2009 include Indian Summer, Mahoromatic, Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, Tsukihime, Pet Shop of Horrors, and Jewel BEM Hunter Lime. Matt Greenfield, Senior V.P. of Content and acquisitions, and voice actor Chris Ayres had announced that ADV Films will be releasing Clannad at last month’s Sogen Con in South Dakota. The first of six DVD will ship on April 21, 2009.

Yeah, like that’s a place that everyone’s going to notice your announcement. A South Dakotan animé con. (Commence snickering now.)

Hm. One A-list title, one B-list, and a bunch of retreads. Still that’s a hell of a lot more than anyone expected three months ago.

Ok, question about one of the retreads. What exactly is Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful? An attempt to retcon the second worst ending in animé history?

Posted in Anime Industry | 6 Comments

Bah. Humbug.

I had a post last week about the various episode 2’s that I had caught, but violated my cardinal rule: “Save early, save often.” Of course I lost it.

Haven’t been feeling much like blogging; work is being a pain right now, and I’m preparing for a big weekend. So, let’s see, what can I say, briefly.

Akane-iro: A yandere instead of a tsundere is a bit of a change, but I’m not sure if it’s enough to keep this show interesting. Katagiri is a sweet girl, until things have even the slightest chance of turning romantic or serious, then the pain starts. The Mariya-clone that’s obviously spying on the central couple, and the action interludes with the secret-agent parents might though. I figure the student that’s spying on the kids is sent by Katagiri’s father; that’s the only explanation for her acting to isolate Katagiri and the “Geno Killer,” then leading the other students to them.

Index: Seems ok, but I’m not sure it’s living up to the expectations everyone seemed to have for it. Slow pacing, a lot of exposition this episode (3). It had a lot of background, but frustratingly, not enough. The sword-babe we see in the previews has showed up as of the end. Her gig is that she wears blue jeans with only one leg. Cute, but “whatever.”

Macademi Wasshoi: As if. Would someone fansub episode 2 already? Jeez. This is worse than Kamen no Maid Guy (which was finally completed this week).

Kannagi: Forget what I said about spending time with these characters. Nagi has gone insane. For a goddess, she’s a klutz. An emo klutz. A noisy emo klutz. An egotistical, noisy, emo kutz. You get the drift. Edit: but in episode 3, there’s an interesting twist at the end. She’s still an egotistical, noisy, emo klutz though. Except when attacking Jin. Of course.

Toradora! The “Great Thaw” is over. Aisaka has pretty much taken over Ryuuji’s life; he cooks and cleans for her. Supposedly still hung up on the other guy, it’s obvious she’s now considering Ryuuji as hers; every time he looks at Minori, the girl he wants, Aisaka violently assaults him. Worse, it looks like Minori is also hiding serious problems behind her extroverted personality. She’s working like, five jobs, and gets a little freaky when locked in a shed with Ryuuji.

Kemeko DX: If the girl would get the hell out of that ugly robot suit in order to romance the guy, explain what the hell is going on, and why MishimaCorp is the enemy, this might be entertaining in an absurdist way. As it stands, well, I can’t. Stand it, that is. Just another “drag hapless guy through weirdness” schtick.

Ga-Rei Zero: Another week, another dead team. Well, half of one, anyway. Enough already; If you want lessons on how to kill people and make the audience care, go watch Divergence Eve.

Rosario + Vampire Capu2, Kurrogane no Linebarrel, Today in Class 5-2; Casshern: Sins, Black Butler, Shikabanehime. All in the bit-bucket. Trying to decide if I want to watch episode 2 of Chaos;Head.

Edit: So I was just bouncing around on Brickmuppet’s blog, and I ran into something relevant to Kannagi. . You see, Jin’s father is absent, for reasons never mentioned, so Jin lives alone, in what we southerners would call “a tin shack.” It’s actually somewhat better than that on the inside, but there are hints of rust and disrepair about the outside. This is all the stranger, since it’s obviously situated in a nice neighborhood; in episode two, when his classmate arrives, you can see some very nice apartments behind her. Now, I live in Houston, which has no zoning, but even here, that’s a bit remarkable. Turns out, it’s nothing unusual. Brickmuppet had posted pictures from his recent Japanese stay. See the 17th picture in the series.

Where the facades were not traditional, hey were often corrugated. Like many other places I had observed in Japan, (and like most of the US south) there are very wild differences in income level from door to door. Which makes for a more eclectic neighborhood.

Indeed.

Posted in Fansub Review, Snap Reviews | 1 Comment