Trivia that matter
How is it that, when [Catwoman] does a backflip, she’s not clubbed to death by her assets?
The question is applicable to many anime characters, of course.
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Professor Mondo proposes the “worst action movie title ever.” I haven’t yet come up with anything better/worse, even when I invoke Hello Kitty. Can you?
Recent searches that brought visitors here:
charles solomon doesn’t like anime — Who’da thunk it?
analisis de cat soup and cat soup analysis — Cat Soup makes more sense if you don’t analyze it.
anime about knitting, anime knitting, knitting anime costume, anime knitting pictures — What exactly is the connection between anime and knitting? Can the Japanese be trusted with balls of yarn?
kawaii german — Yes, it is possible to be both cute and German.
kawaii fujiyama — When I think of examples of “kawaii,” volcanoes don’t immediately come to mind.
critics of kawaii — We’ve had New Criticism, Marxism, Deconstruction, Postcolonialism, Feminism, Postmodernism and worse, so why not Kawaii Theory?
kawaii student organizer — Is this someone who works with cute students, or someone cute who makes a nuisance of herself?
… and inevitably, kawaii knitting.
spike jones your red scarf matches lyrics — I think you mean Guy Marks.
mahou shoujo angst — She needs more ruffles.
divergence eve misaki chronicles nude scene — Divergence Eve is not a good choice for fanservice. The story keeps getting in the way.
Here’s a list:
Animal Yokocho
Binchou-tan
Dennou Coil
Hakaba Kitaro
Kaiba
Mind Game
Mononoke
Here’s another list:
Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan
Eiken
Galaxy Angel Rune
Ikki-Tousen
Otoboku: Maidens Are Falling For Me
Peach Girl
Princess Princess
The anime in the first list are all very good to excellent; those in the second list range from mediocre to vile. Guess which are commercially available in region one? Until the situation is reversed, fansubs will remain necessary.
Ubu is currently following eight shows. My tastes are different than his, and there are only six that have caught my interest this winter. Still, that’s noteworthy. During all of 2010, there were only four series that I watched more than two episodes of. Even in 2007, the best year ever for anime (Dennou Coil, Oh! Edo Rocket, Seirei no Moribito, Mononoke, Baccano!, plus an odd little thing called Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann), I don’t think I ever had more than four series on my watch list at any given time.
Here’s what I’ve seen at least three episodes of, in order of interest:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka?Magica — Beware the kawaii. Seriously.
Fractale — The best show Miyazaki’s done in years.
Kore wa Zombie desu ka — Magical girls, chainsaws, vampire ninjas, dancing chibis….
I expect that I will watch each of these to the end, and they will go on my to-buy list when they are licensed if they end as well as they began.
Level E — Alien bishies are jerks, and baseball is the key to interstellar amity. (Bonus points for an opening theme that rocks hard, sung by a singer who sounds like a grown woman, not a little girl.)
Yumekui Merry — Don’t hide that magical midriff under a waitress uniform, please. Oh, and what happened to the cats?
Gosick — What is in that pipe?
If Level E becomes stupid or obnoxious, I’ll drop it. If Yumekui Merry degenerates into a monster-of-the-week show, I’ll drop it. If Victorique doesn’t learn a modicum of tact (“Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho. Ho,” indeed) , I’ll drop Gosick. But for now, I’ll watch at least one more episode of each.
Noteworthy also is that Funimation and Crunchyroll are streaming four of these. I’d strongly prefer download-to-own, but I am glad nevertheless that I don’t have to break international copyright law to watch them.
I’m currently downloading the restored version of Da nao tian gong, or Havoc in Heaven, a Chinese animated film from the early 1960s. Ordinarily I would mention this on my animation weblog, but the film is worth noting for historical reasons:
The Shanghai animation scene had gotten going in earnest in the early 1950’s, once things had settled down from WWII and the Chinese Civil War, and had gotten bigger, better, and more successful. This film was the last one made there, and it was a critical and commercial success, getting all kinds of awards.
Shortly after this film was released, the entire industry was shut down by the Cultural Revolution. It’s one of the lesser crimes of that terrible event, but a crime nonetheless. The sheer mastery of the animation form in this film offers the promise of much that might have come after, but didn’t… because it didn’t fit within Mao’s idea of how the nation should be.
[flowplayer src=’http://tancos.net/flv/wp-content/uploads/Kirishima.mp4′ width=640 height=480]
The Japanese volcano Kirishima has been making a spectacle of itself. The above is a movie I assembled from frame grabs from one of the webcams there collected by the commentor “Raving” at the Eruptions weblog. You can download the movie here (14 megabytes).
Update:
Kirishima, a volcano not far from Sakurajima on Kyushu, is currently putting on a show, complete with lava fountains. ((Or at least energetic jets of incandescent material.)) Here is a webcam with good view of the eruption. Here’s another (scroll down to the seventh item from the bottom in the list at right, “???”).
I ended up with 31 nominees for the title of “scariest girl in anime.” There will be two preliminary rounds, in which you can vote for three. The top five in each round will advance to the finals.
Here is the list of candidates:
Bernkastel (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
Chloe (Noir)
Diva (Blood+)
Dokuro-chan (Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan)
Eda (Black Lagoon)
Enma Ai (Hell Girl)
Eva-Beatrice (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
Gretel (Black Lagoon)
Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Hitagi Senjougahara (Bakemonogatari)
Kaede Fuyou (Shuffle)
Kirika Yumura (Noir)
Lain Iwakura (Serial Experiments Lain)
LamdaDelta (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied)
Maria Ushiromiya (Umineko no Naku Koro ni)
Miyabi Aizawa (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Miyu (Vampire Princess Miyu)
Mylanndah Arkar Walder (Battle Athletes)
Nanami Yasuri (Katanagatari)
Punie Tanaka (Magical Witch Punie-chan)
Rena Ry?g? (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
Revy (Black Lagoon)
Rico (Gunslinger Girl)
Road Kamelot (D. Grey Man)
Ryoko Asakura (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Satomi Ozawa (Shadow Star Narutaru)
Shion Sonozaki (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni)
Tiriel (Shakugan no Shana)
Urumi Kanzaki (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Yomi Isayama (Ga-Rei Zero)
If there is someone missing whom you think should absolutely be on the list, mention her in a comment. I might be able to squeeze one or two more candidates into the second round.
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To nobody’s surprise, Cowboy Bebop placed first in the “best opening” poll, and Baccano did very well also. What I didn’t expect was Lucky Star‘s strong showing. I doubted that it would even make the finals, but for a while it looked like it would overtake Cowboy Bebop.
Here are the final standings:
Cowboy Bebop (23.0%)
Lucky Star (17.0%)
Baccano! (12.0%)
Haibane Renmei (12.0%)
Paranoia Agent (9.0%)
Higurashi No Naka Koro Ni (9.0%)
Last Exile (9.0%)
Serial Experiments Lain (4.0%)
Noir (3.0%)
Toradora (3.0%)
How do you entice youngsters to visit places of worship? If you are the chief monk of a Japanese Buddhist temple, you embrace anime/manga culture, with anime-style statues of a Japanese deity, cosplaying temple maidens, J-pop tunes and videos, decorated vans and a maid café. Somehow, I don’t think this is likely to catch on in the Catholic Diocese of Wichita.
(Via Beneath the Tangles.)
Addendum: On a related note, Ken the Brickmuppet visited a certain Shinto shrine last summer.
I might follow up to five shows this winter, the most in years. In order of interest, they are:
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Fractale
Kore wa Zombie desu ka
Yumekui Merry
Gosick
Random notes:
• Do lepidoptera frighten the Japanese? When I see flocks of butterflies in anime, it’s usually a prelude to danger or horror, e.g., the blue butterflies in Paprika. Butterfly motifs seem to be one of the signals of a witch’s presense in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.
• Visually, Madoka is the most eccentric show since Trapeze, combining Shaftesque art and animation with architecture from Unhappy Hipsters and monsters from RatherGood.com.
• The first clue for me that Madoka might be darker than most magical girl shows was the announcement that Yuki Kajiura was doing the soundtrack. I recently put together a two-hour program of music by Yoko Kanno and Kajiura. I was impressed once again by the width of Kanno’s range; she can do anything, from intensely dramatic to cute and silly. However, Kajiura’s music, good though her pieces are taken individually, eventually all sounds pretty much the same: cool, minor-key, introverted, a little exotic, a little strange. ((I was surprised that Kajiura placed first in zzeroparticle’s recent anime composer poll. She’s good, but not that good.)) When a show fits her abilities, the results can be very effective, e.g., Noir. Madoka thus far is another good match for her.
• How dark will Madoka be? Possibly very dark, indeed. The silliness in the opening, I suspect, is a deliberate bait-and-switch. Update: Really, really, really dark.
• Discussions of Fractale so far have mentioned such works as Dennou Coil, Ghost in the Shell, The Matrix, The Naked Sun, etc. I’ll add one more: the trio looking for Phryne reminded me of the duo in Brazil who wore the caps with very long bills.
• I can understand the Fractale committee’s frustration with fansubs, but their action means that people outside Japan now have the choice of a) hoping that it will soon be licensed and available for a reasonable price; b) breaking the law; or, c) joining twelve-step programs to overcome their anime addictions. I really do want to play by the rules, but the case of Dennou Coil indicates that I can no longer expect that all first-rate anime will licensed during my lifetime.
• A frightening thought: boys will cosplay as Ayumu as he was garbed at the end of the first episode of Kore wa Zombie desu ka, and pink chainsaws will be the most annoying props since Wolfwood’s cross.
Today’s mail included this pamphlet from an anonymous bible scholar in Texas. It looks like we won’t have to worry about December 21, 2012 after all.
I spotted this near the south door of the Chancery Office a little while ago. The temperatures fell into the low single digits (fahrenheit) last week and didn’t rise above freezing for several days. Even though this bush is in a sheltered spot, it’s still surprising to see a flower in mid-winter.
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There’s a new business at the mall. People “customize” cars, so why not caskets?
Clare Vanderpool used to work in the youth ministry office here in the Wichita diocesan chancery. She got married and left the office, and I eventually lost track of her. I just now discovered that not only has she published a novel, Moon Over Manifest, but it won the 2011 Newberry Award.
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Tim Powers is occasionally compared to Neil Gaiman, but the writer he most reminds me of is that other Inkling, Charles Williams. Novels like The Anubis Gates and Expiration Date are direct descendents of Williams’ “spiritual thrillers.” As of 1/11/11, Declare, possibly Powers’ best book, is available at audible.com.
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If you’re wondering where I found the name for this weblog, it’s from John Bellairs’ little metaphysical farce, The Pedant and the Shuffly. While checking on other matters this morning, I found that all of Bellairs’ non-young adult books have recently been collected into a single volume, Magic Mirrors, including The Pedant and The Face in the Frost. Of note is St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies, which Catholics who remember “aggiornamento” will particularly appreciate.
There’s something vaguely familiar about him…. I spotted him, along with Bat Demon Warrior and others, at Project: Rooftop.
I forget where I found this useful how-to:
… but worth mentioning anyway: Mt. Etna in Sicily is putting on a spectacular show today, which you can watch here. (You’ll need to refresh the page every five minutes or so.) See Eruptions for commentary. (Scroll down to the later comments.)
Update: The show’s over for now. According to Boris Behncke, a vulcanologist in Sicily, “This has been a typical lava fountain from the Southeast Crater (that is, the vent on its east flank which seems to have completely taken over the job from the old vent at its top), with jets rising 300-500 m – maybe a bit more – and lasting for little more than one hour.”
Everything you ever wanted to know about Mt. Etna: here, here and here.
Update II: For those who missed the show, here’s some news and a video.
Mt. Etna in Sicily is putting on a brilliant show today, which you can watch here. (You’ll need to refresh the page every five minutes or so.) See Eruptions for commentary. (Scroll down to the later comments.)
Update: The show’s over for now. According to Boris Behncke, a vulcanologist in Sicily, “This has been a typical lava fountain from the Southeast Crater (that is, the vent on its east flank which seems to have completely taken over the job from the old vent at its top), with jets rising 300-500 m – maybe a bit more – and lasting for little more than one hour.”
Everything you ever wanted to know about Mt. Etna: here, here and here.
Update II: For those who missed the show, here’s a video:
… is to punish the legitimate user.
Please excuse me while I bang my head against the wall some more.
I installed more capacious hard drives in my computer this weekend. To my immense relief, Photoshop didn’t have to be reauthorized (dealing with Adobe is no fun whatsoever). However, most of my Native Instruments synths don’t work now or are back in demo mode, and the NI registration processes are not merely perversely complex, they don’t even work. Idiots.
Here are the nominees so far for the scariest girl in anime:
Aizawa (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Asakura (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
Chloe (Noir)
Diva (Blood Plus)
Dokuro (Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan)
Enma Ai (Hell Girl)
Kaede (Shuffle)
Kansaki (Great Teacher Onizuka)
Kirika (Noir)
Lain (Serial Experiments Lain)
Lucy/Nyu (Elfen Lied)
Marie (Umineko)
Miyu (Vampire Princess Miyu)
Nanami (Katanagatari)
Punie (Magical Witch Punie-chan)
Rena (Higurashi)
Rico (Gunslinger Girls)
Road Kamelot (D. Grey Man)
Satomi (Shadow Star Narutaru)
Shion (Higurashi)
Yomi (Ga-Rei Zero)
Who else? Also, would someone care to nominate a specific Claymore?
Post script: It would be helpful if you name specific characters. I haven’t yet seen Black Lagoon, and I will probably never watch School Days, so I don’t know which characters are which in those. Thank you.
A couple of timely poems by Kobyashi Issa, via another Steven:
New Year’s Day
New Year’s Day–
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.
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New Year’s Morning
New Year’s morning:
the ducks on the pond
quack and quack.
If you need New Year’s resolutions, Dr. Boli has some for you. (Years ago I resolved to make no more New Year’s resolutions. It’s the only one I ever kept.)
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I haven’t watched enough anime this year to warrant a year’s end summary. Instead, I’ll refer you to DiGiKerot’s. (I fully concur with his award for Katanagatari. Learn to use spoiler tags, folks, and don’t describe plot twists in the first few sentences of your posts.)
Grades for the 2010 shows that I watched more than two episodes of:
Asobi ni Iku Yo — C+ (B+ for the story and characters, minus a letter-grade for excessive fanservice.)
Katanagari — A
Kuragehime — Incomplete (A, if the second season that had better be in the works is as good as the first; otherwise, B, for too many dangling threads)
Summer Wars — A
The Tatami Galaxy — A
There’s much else I watched part of an episode of, but I have less and less patience for drivel, no matter how popular.
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It’s about time: Steven reports that all of Master of Epic has finally been subtitled, nearly four years after it first aired. I’ve watched the first ten episodes so far (and just downloaded the eleventh). It’s yet another anime adapted from an RPG, but instead of inventing twelve or twenty-six episodes worth of plot and characaters, the makers instead made a sketch comedy out of it, something like a fantasy Saturday Night Live. The skits often fall flat or run on too long, but enough of it works to have sustained my interest over the years.
Update: I finished Master of Epic. It’s not “terrible,” but aside from the “Waragecha Five” segments, too much of it is too lame to recommend. It’s a pity; with better writing, Master of Epic could have been a effective treatment for overexposure to MMORPGs and fantasy worlds.
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Here’s a quick little number puzzle for the new year. What is the next number in the sequence? It’s not 71. What does this sequence represent?
23
27
31
39
43
47
55
59
63
I posted a similar puzzle on my other website a year ago. When is the next time this sort of puzzle will be timely?
… but sometimes I’m tempted to light up to spite Those Who Know What’s Best For Us. The New York Times‘ brief rave review of Summer Wars ends with this note:
“Summer Wars” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested). It has action violence, some suggestive content, mild thematic material and incidental smoking.
By the way, what the hell is “mild thematic material” ?