Category: Uncategorized

I’m back

Whew.

*****

I had planned to sneer at Koutetsu Sangokushi this evening, but it’s late and I’m tired. I’ll just note that it uses many of the same motifs as Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, from the red star to the mysterious, powerful talisman, and makes them stupid. Imagine BKI as a bad video game adaptation and you’ll be close. (I think it really was deliberately modeled on BKI; there are too many parallels to be coincidental.) Koutetsu Sangokushi‘s only virtue is that it illustrates by contrast just how well-done BKI is.

koutetsu02.jpg

Yes, they’re both guys

Welcome

(I suppose I ought to say “Irrashaimase,” but I speak English.) This weblog is the successor to beware the kawaii, and I’ll continue to write about anime and related subjects here. When I’m more comfortable with WordPress I’ll play around with the formatting, but for now this theme (“Barthelme”) is satisfactory.

I’ve got the Askimet and Bad Behavior 2 plugins activated. Let’s see if I get any spam comments. (Let’s see if I get any comments.) I would appreciate it if someone would try out the comment process. If there are problems, I’d rather find out sooner than later. If you can’t leave a comment, please write me at tancos at tancos dot net. Thank you.

Update: I am informed that the first theme didn’t work on smaller monitors, so I changed to a narrower one.

Showmanship

I see that this video is making the rounds again:

It’s being called one of the “Worst Recruitings Ads Ever”. I’m not so sure of that. To macho American eyes, the dancing sailors look ridiculous. However, these ads are for a Japanese audience, to whom military defense and entertainment apparently are a natural combination, if anime is any evidence. Sakura Wars, for instance, combines steampunk mecha with Takarazuka musicals, and in Idol Defense Force Hummingbird, the air force is a branch of the music industry. In this context, this commercial makes perfect sense.