Here are the 22 candidates of the 59 nominated who survived the preliminary rounds. This time, I’m going to make it harder for you all: you may only choose one. Who is the outstanding anime babe of all time?
Author: Don
Mao-chan, Miku, etc.
When the Fnools invaded Earth, they disguised themselves as two-foot-tall real estate salemen, figuring that no one would take them seriously until too late. ((See Philip K. Dick’s “The War with the Fnools.”)) The aliens in Mao-chan adopt a similar strategy: by assuming mercilessly kawaii forms, the invaders make the Japanese defense forces reluctant to engage them in combat, lest the human soldiers be seen as bullies. The Japanese fight cuteness with cuteness: the head of the land forces enlists his eight-year-old granddaughter, Mao, to battle the invaders, arming her with a baton, a full-size model of a tank, and a clover-shaped pin that transforms her into a not-terribly-competent but very cute mahou shoujo. Mao soon is joined by a couple of other eight-year-old girls: Misora, representing the air force, and Sylvie, representing the navy, both recruited by their doting grandfathers. Mao and Misora are ordinary grade-school girls, as kids in anime go, but Sylvie is distinctly Osaka-ish.
Recent arrivals
I don’t watch as much anime as I used to, but I expect that I will always retain some interest in the art form. Now that my financial situation has improved from nightmarish to merely frightening, I can budget some occasional purchases. Noein and the first seasons of Slayers and Ah! My Goddess TV have been on my to-buy list for years. What I’ve read about Kurau and Moon Phase piqued my curiosity, and the discs were cheap. Mao-chan will give me an opportunity to compare the judgements of Steven and Zac Bertschy, and it might be a good show for youngsters. About UFO Princess Valkyrie — well, I suppose I ought to have a token fanservice title in my collection (Divergence Eve/Misaki Chronicles fails as fanservice: the character designs are too exaggerated, and the story and characters are too interesting). Steven says the story is pretty good, and there’s a bus full of catgirls. Finally, I generally prefer reading books to watching dramatizations of books, and Fuyumi Ono is a good writer.
Other items on my to-buy list: Gurren-Lagann, Baccano!, Moribito (books and DVDs), Witch Hunter Robin, Mysterious Cities of Gold (another possibility for youngsters), perhaps Negima!? and Seven of Seven. When they’re available, Oh! Edo Rocket and at least the first few discs of Soul Eater. I would add the rest of Utena, but it’s out of print and the company is bankrupt.
What I’m most looking forward to, however, isn’t anime. It’s been about 30 years since I watched The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin. I would like to see if it’s as good as I remember.
Query
The adult Mikuru Asahina is leading the current poll. You all do realize that in voting for her, you’re voting for a character who appears only in one four-minute scene during the entire 14-episode run of Suzumiya Haruhi, in which all she does is talk to Kyon and display a little cleavage? Is that really sufficient qualification to be one of the outstanding babes in anime?
All that Ramayana jazz
Nina Paley, unable to release her movie Sita Sings the Blues through conventional channels because of insane copyright laws, is giving it away, free. You can download it here in a variety of formats and resolutions.
(Via Maureen.)
Who’s the babe? Round three
Here are the candidates in the third and final preliminary round:
Historical artifact
Note the license plate. It was Richard who loaned me his copy of Princess Mononoke several years ago and thus made The Kawaii Menace inevitable. (Richard’s brother has an astonishingly huge old Cadillac. There’s room for a children’s wading pool between the front and back seats.)
Memo to First Things
Spies like who?
A friend and I are planning to attend Costume-Con 28 next year, and we need to start working on our costumes soon. The theme is “spies.” I’m too tall for Boris and she’s too short for Natasha, and I’m not particulary interested in James Bond, or most other spy movies for that matter. So, I’m wondering what spies there are in anime worth considering. Let’s see: there’s Tenhou and Tenten from Oh! Edo Rocket, and Yomiko Readman and Drake Anderson from Read or Die (I don’t think I should ask my friend to be Nancy). I’m sure that there are others. What other pairs of spies are there?
Update: Are you a fansub team looking for a new project? Consider tracking down and translating the video of the stage play Oh! Edo Rocket. There are some brief excerpts here.
Blossom gazing
Cherry trees bloom in Wichita as well as Japan. The one above is the variety “Kwanzan,” which has large double flowers, not the single blossoms that constantly turn up in anime. It’s not as elegant, perhaps, but it is very eye-catching.
Given the frequency with which cherry blossoms occur in anime, one would assume that the trees are in bloom half the year. I doubt that’s the case.
*****
Astro says, “BTW your top ten is flawed because it doesn’t include AzuManga’s Yukari. Probably because she’s the best anime babe ever, and you were just trying to make it competitive. *astro shakes his tiny fist*”
Nobody mentioned her when nominations were open. I plan to start the third and last of the preliminary rounds of the Who’s the Babe? this weekend. Should I add Yukari to the candidates? And while I’m at it, should I also add Motoko Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell, another possibility whom nobody nominated and I forgot about?
Update: the nays have it.
*****
Bonus nonsense: Subtitles — They’re not just for anime. (Via Dustbury.)
Calling all classicists
Vicipaedia needs otaku who can write decent Latin. The anime and manga pages are pathetic. (I had several years of Latin, but that was a long time ago in a different century, and it would take more time than I can spare to regain competence.)
*****
Another entry for the “ducks in anime” file:
From Negima Ala Alba OAD #2 (not recommended).
*****
I discovered that the software used to animate Hatsune Miku is freeware, available here. It’s surprisingly capable. Here’s Miku dancing Maurice Bejart’s choreography; compare it to the final minutes of this. ((I recommend skpping the first six minutes unless you are a Bejart fanatic.)) Unfortunately, like Miku herself, it’s not for Macs.
*****
More random nonsense:
An animated stereogram. It works, too. There are more here. (Via Cartoon Brew.)
“Not only does it save time, but it’s really stupid, too.” More poem generators here.
Can’t find anything you like on the radio? Set a few parameters and generate your own music.
I did not need to see this:
Spoiler
.
[collapse]
First sound of the future
Here’s a curiosity I recently came across: “Uta ni Katachi ha Nai Keredo,” by Doriko, featuring Hatsune Miku on vocals:
Yes, it’s just another instantly-forgettable ballad featuring one of the many nasal sopranos that infest Japanese popular music, but there is something remarkable about this recording.
(Via Martin.)
Dark silliness
Neil Gaiman and Gahan Wilson:
And Raymond Scott:
Via Cartoon Brew
*****
That other dealer is holding a “bargain bin blowout.” It’s mostly junk, of course, but there are complete sets of some worthy anime available for very reasonable prices, including Bottle Fairy, Divergence Eve and Misaki Chronicles, Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu (including a t-shirt), Someday’s Dreamers and Sugar, a Tiny Snow Fairy. There’s also some Miles Davis.
.*****
So Sailor Moon is girl stuff? Check the results of this poll.
Two years ago today …
… I launched The Kawaii Menace. It’s my second anime weblog, succeeding Beware the Kawaii, which I abandoned when bots found ways of circumventing the anti-spam mechanisms. I’ve been writing about anime to some extent now for about five years, ever since I discovered Serial Experiments Lain.
Today is also the sixth anniversary ((Six years, while not negligible, isn’t all that long in the blogosphere. Charles G. Hill has been around for over thirteen years now and still posts more in a week than most bloggers do in a month.)) of my first weblog, Mixolydian Mode, also defunct for the same reason. ((Coincidentally, Pixy Misa began blogging at almost the same instant I did six years ago. Congratulations, Pixy)). Its successor, Scuffulans hirsutus, devoted largely to photography, music and nonsense, is a good place to escape the virtual crowds; daily traffic there is usually in the single digits.
This is probably as good a time as any to acknowledge the obvious: The Kawaii Menace is essentially retired. I’m not shutting it down. I do have a series of summing-up posts in mind — though I’m in no hurry to write them — and I am as curious as anyone to see who the top ten anime babes are. There likely will be occasional observations, trivia and links about animation, Japan and women with blue hair. But my interest in anime has run its course. Little I’ve seen in the past year has sustained my interest past the second episode. I still enjoy watching old favorites, but I don’t have the patience anymore to plow through all the unremarkable new releases hoping to find another Denno Coil.
Steve, Steve, Steve, Stephen, Steve, …
The Maximum Leader says he doesn’t know who all the Steves are in the current poll. Let’s see if we can do something about that. Here are several of the Steves in action.
Stephen Bennett: “C.E.O. (Comanche Executive Officer)”
Steven King: “Medley: Puttin on the Ritz/42nd Street/It Don’t Mean a Thing” ((The bass you hear is actually the sound of the two lowest strings on King’s guitar run through a separate pickup and electronically transposed an octave down.))
Steve Lukather: “Naima”
Steve Morse: “Cruise Missile” ((Jerry Peek, bass, and Rod Morgenstein, drums))
Steve Stevens:”Melt” ((Tony Levin, bass, and Terry Bozzio, drums))
Steve Vai: “The Attitude Song” ((Stuart Hamm, bass, and Chris Frazier, drums))
For Steves Hackett and Howe, dig out your old Genesis and Yes albums.
I regret that I don’t have any Steve Kaufman handy (what I have is on cassette, but my tape deck died several years ago). He is the only person to place first three times in the National Flatpick Competition at Winfield (Mark O’Connor only did it twice). If flatpicking is what you like, he’s your guy.
If you don’t know who Stevie Ray Vaughn is, you have some remedial listening to do.
Update: In celebration of April 15, here’s Stevie Ray:
Light
Who’s the babe? Round two
Here are the candidates:
First in a series
I visited Botanica this afternoon for the first time this year. Here are a couple of the things I found there.
Bluebells
Lenten rose (for Eve)
There’s more at my photo gallery.
Coming attractions
Kadokawa has posted the trailer for Mamoru Hosada’s Summer Wars that Fellini 8.5 found earlier:
How long will we have to wait for an American release?
Below the fold are Kadokawa’s notes with the Google translation. I would welcome a more intelligible summarization or translation, should any bilingual reader have the time.
480 pictures
[flv width=”440″ height=”330″]http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/480pix.flv[/flv]
As threatened, here is the new, improved slide show featuring pictures from Steven’s header. The music is “Honga,” performed by Itzhak Perlman with the Klezmatics.