Trivia that matter
According to the weatherman, by this time tomorrow, there will be from seven to eleven inches of spring on the ground. It must be that anthropogenic caninogenic global warming.
(Via Irish Elk.)
Update: Gee, what a disappointment: only five inches of heavy wet spring weather. More photos below the fold
I just got off the phone with my nine-year-old nephew. He’s a bright kid, a voracious reader, and he enjoys anime. He likes Bottle Fairy a lot. His favorite, though, is Serial Experiments Lain, which I sent to his father several years ago. Um, parents, keep tabs on what your kids watch. ((If any anime series is a classic, it’s Lain, but I hesitate to recommend it to anyone younger than college-age.))
This is too imbecilic to let pass. “Romance novels” for men — absolute nonsense. A “light novel” is essentially the Japanese equivalent of an occidental “young adult” book. Fuyumi Ono and Nahoko Uehashi are counterparts of such writers as Diana Wynne Jones, ((One of my favorite writers. Her book Howl’s Moving Castle is far better than Miyazaki’s botch of a movie and is strongly recommended.)) not Harlequin romance hacks.
Via Ken the Brickmuppet, who also found this bit of nostalgia:
Here are the ladies nominated in the comments so far:
Rushuna Tendo (Grenadier)
Meia Gisborn (Vandread)
Setsuna (Shingu)
Kan’u Unchou (Ikki Tousen)
Grand Duchess Laetitia (Tytania)
Urd (Ah! My Goddess TV)
Madoka Ayukawa (Kimagure Orange Road)
Yoko (Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann)
Balsa (Seirei no Moribito)
Ryoko Yakushiji (Yakushiji Ryokou no Kaiki Jikenbo)
Falis aka Alita (Murder Princess)
Arai Chie (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Lexshue (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Spoor (Crest/Banner of the Stars)
Mio Sakamoto (Strike Witches)
Horo (Spice & Wolf)
Amuro Ninagawa (Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho)
Lyar Von Ertiana (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Luxandra (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles)
Ryomou Shimei (Ikki Tousen)
Mai Kawasumi (Kanon 2006)
Rin Tosaka (Fate Stay Night)
Naomi Armitage (Armitage the Third: Poly Matrix)
Ryoko (Tenchi Muyo OVA)
Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic)
To these, let’s add the Brickmuppet’s list:
Roberta (Black Lagoon)
Yomiko Readman (Read or Die)
Yuki Mori/Nova Forrester (Space Cruiser Yamato (Starblazers))
Sayaka Yumi (Mazinger Z)
Lady Eboshi (Princess Mononoke)
Nausicaä (Nausicaä)
Kyoko Otanashi (Maison Ikkoku)
And a couple more from Arson55’s:
Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Lina Inverse (Slayers)
Finally, let’s let most of the rest of the previous top ten have another chance: ((Sailor Venus is underage, and kinda flaky, too))
Sharon Apple (Macross Plus)
Priss Asagiri (Bubblegum Crisis OVA)
Grandis Granva (Fushigi no Umi no Nadia)
Pirotess (Record of Lodoss War)
Ifurita (El Hazard)
Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Ginrei Von Vogler (Giant Robo)
Lum (Urusei Yatsura)
And a few of the runners-up:
Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop)
Shampoo (Ranma 1/2)
Kei and Yuri (Dirty Pair)
That gives us 47 candidates, if I counted right. Most of the ladies I had in mind have been nominated, but let me toss out a few more names to consider:
Sora (Oh! Edo Rocket)
Kirika Yumera (Noir)
Eineus (Macademi Wasshoi)
Rue (Princess Tutu)
Alpha (Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou)
Chane Laforet (Baccano!)
Nice Holystone (Baccano!)
Atsuko Chiba (Paprika)
What I think I’ll do is run three rounds of about 17 or 18 candidates each, and then a final round with the top seven from each of the preliminaries. I’ll probably start the polling this weekend after I locate pictures of all the candidates. Until then, nominations are still open. If there is a worthy babe not listed above, please mention her in the comments.
Thank you, everyone who responded, and thanks again, all you who included links to pictures.
Oh, yeah — Rei Ayanami is not eligible for three reasons. 1. She has no “attitude.” 2. She’s underage. 3. She creeps me out.
Update: By all means keep the nominations coming in. And please do point out those who are under sixteen; it’s not always easy to tell. Utena, for instance, seems much more mature than fourteen, and Gurren-Lagann‘s Yoko doesn’t exactly have a fourteen-year-old’s figure.
I uploaded some more pictures from the March 5 rehearsal. The gallery is below the fold.
The classic list of anime babes is a bit outdated. I think the most recent woman mentioned there is Faye Valentine. There’s no mention of such memorable characters as Lyar Von Ertiana from Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles, or Lafiel and Lexshue from Crest/Banner of the Stars, or Yoko from Gurren-Lagann. Therefore, my next poll will be of babes in anime.
I could use a little help here. I’ve watched a lot of anime, but there’s much more that I haven’t seen. I’ve undoubtedly missed some of the more distinctive women. So, who do you think is the outstanding anime babe of all time?
A few rules:
• She must be at least sixteen years old.
• She doesn’t necessarily have to be human, but she must be unequivocally female. I.e., no traps. Sora from Oh! Edo Rocket would be worth considering, but not Genzou. (Reverse traps, e.g., Sailor Uranus out of uniform, are acceptable.)
• She must an anime character. Women who are primarily known as video game characters or appear only in manga are not eligible.
Please leave your nomination in a comment. Be sure to mention what anime the character is from. ((Please be precise;, e.g., do you mean Priss from the original Bubblegum Crisis or from Bubblegum Crisis 2040?)) It would be helpful if you could include a link to a good quality, safe-for-work picture of the lady. You can nominate more than one babe, but please don’t get carried away. Thank you.
Addendum: Steven inquires about the criteria for babe-ness. Cute, sexy, competent and intelligent are all desirable characteristics, so I would say “all around.” But really, do I have to define what a “babe” is? ((“A female from the anime universe who possesses great beauty, a marvelous attitude, and the ability to act upon her desires to acquire that which she wants most (whatever that may be).”)) Here are the original rules, which might might clarify things.
Rule Number One: She must be made out of pencil and paint [or pixels —ed.]. No flesh and blood girls here.
Rule Number Two: She must be attractive and not merely “cute” (meaning the judges decide what is “hot beauty” and what is simply “kawaii”) (so according to the judges all “Noriko Takayas” are out). While this may be open to interpretation by you, the viewers, the judges’ decisions are final.
Rule Number Three: The contestants’ taste in men has no relevance on them being considered an “Anime Babe”. Since all anime girls are doomed to love total geeks or other social outcasts, the subject of boyfriends has no bearing on the judges’ final decisions (especially because most of the judges are social misfits too).
Rule Number Four: There must be more to an “Anime Babe” than just looks. She must have “attitude” and the “ability to achieve and maintain” all that her attitude alludes to (don’t ask). Not one or the other (so no Rei Ayanami’s).
Yes, let’s make it official. Rei Ayanami is no babe.
And, yes, you can nominate Rushuna.
Clarification: the original list is not mine.
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In the current poll, after several weeks of being neck-and-neck, Naruto has pulled ahead of Neon Genesis Evangelion by five points. I’m a little surprised; I had figured that Evangelion would be an easy winner.
(This has nothing to do with anime, but it might be of interest to those who are into ambient sound.) Here is last month at work, condensed to two minutes:
Here is this past February at the office, condensed to about two minutes:
[flv width=”320″ height=”240″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/sdb01.flv[/flv]
I’ve been saving the picture in the banner each time I visit Steven’s place. Here’s what I’ve collected so far. The music is Raymond Scott’s “Celebration on the Planet Mars,” performed by the Metropole Orchestra with the Beau Hunks.
(This is probably not the final version. The software I intended to use decided that it doesn’t like my machine after all, so I had to struggle with a less-capable application with limited output options. I’m not entirely happy with the results.)
The spring dance concert this past weekend at Friends University featured mostly modern ballets, such as an excerpt from Matthew Bourne’s version of Swan Lake, above. The other works were also quite interesting. If they had been any more interesting, I’d have to label this post “NSFW.”
And to make matters worse, the other events were a cheerleading convention and a Christian youth group convention. I mean, not necessarily antagonistic if physically separated… but apparently the Witchblade cosplayers kept walking into the youth group talks, and that’s just not going to end well….
She’s also been posting singable translations of the songs from the Natsume Yujinchou series. If I understand what she’s doing correctly, these are paraphrases of English translations she’s found.
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I’ve been doing everything but watching anime lately. I’ll get back to it — I’ve got Tokyo Godfathers sitting next to the computer, and I want to watch the rest of at least the first season of Natsume Yujinchou — but right now there are other priorities. In the meantime, here’s a curiosity: a piano version of a tune you might recognize.
“February Gold,” which usually doesn’t bloom until March. I think this is the earliest I’ve ever seen it fully open.
Barry has a new t-shirt.
A bit of good news: Kunio Kato’s recent animated short, “Le Maison en Petits Cubes,” will be shown in theaters across the USA this month — amazingly, even in Wichita, albeit at the library. Kato is the artist who created The Diary of Tortov Roddle, which has my highest recommendation.
Update: It’s on iTunes.
Update II: “Le Maison en Petits Cubes” won the Oscar for best animated short film,
Update III: Here’s a short interview with Kato, with a brief excerpt from “La Maison.”
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And now for something completely different: “Peach Pie on the Beach,” with cheerleaders.
See if these play for you:
Click on the icon in the lower-right corner of the players to turn off the on-screen comments.
