How, freaking long until I get to this part?

So what have I been doing? Nothing. Having to take a break of Eyeshield 21 because I’m only supposed to watch 50 consecutive episodes of Eyeshield 21 until I HATE it. How much of a bitch can Sena be? So I started Slam Dunk. How fucking long until I see some basketball? I’ve looking for some good anime, and I’ll be honest I don’t think it exists. Kare Kano has TWO FUCKING CONSECUTIVE RECAP EPISODES! I buy anime DVD’s so I could recap myself if I wanted to remember something.

 

Another filler. Don’t fear Gao-Gai-Gar and Kare Kano reviews coming up.

 

Hey guys, Art here. If you are one of two people who actually read this halfassed blog, I’d just like to say I’m back. High school football season is over and I have  a boatload of shit to fanboy about, review, and stuff to say that no one cares about. Not that I care though. This is just my self indulgement journal. Starting tomorrow I should be doing a massive slosh of entries.

 

I’d also like to point out that I’m looking for podcasters/writers for here at Lonely Sunset. If you are interested, please send in some information to artrod3000@yahoo.com with reasons why you’re a cool guy/gal and should be chosen. As long as you can make a coherent sentence and aren’t a total fucking lolifag chances are you’re in. I might not be the most exciting guy to work with, but it could be worse.

 

Arrivederci, Yamato!

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 Review

 Back in the old heyday of anime, one of the biggest catchphrases for anime companies was “This is totally not kids’ stuff”. At that time, they were correct. Blood, gore, and a big set of boobs was the reason it was not “kids’ stuff“. Nowadays, we have some more “different” reasons why it’s not kids’ stuff, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is an anime that completely justifies such a statement. In a world where power levels exceed 9000 and three girls with different colored hair all jump on you because you’re the wimpiest kid in school, an anime like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 follows the events after a massive earthquake hits Tokyo and revolves around two siblings, Mirai and Yuuki. Mirai and Yuuki are cared and looked after for by Mari, a woman named Mari, who helps them get to their home in West Tokyo. Mari is not just looking after them. She’s also looking to head home to take see in what condition her child and mother who was caring for her are in. The story starts off quite slow, and takes a nosedive of slowness during the final five episodes. The pacing is a big issue throughout this anime. It seems like it takes forever for them to move on from the spot they’re in. TM8 uses what I like to call “The Grave of the Fireflies effect” where it uses children as a way to tug at your heart. I can’t get into this without spoiling the whole story, but I’ll dive into character, or therefore lack of, later.

What the show is all about.

The thing that really bothered me about this anime is the fact that in the beginning of each episode there is a caption that says something along the lines of, and I’m just paraphrasing “We strived for realism by doing research and interviews”. The problem that I have with this is, what happened to all of that research? When I first saw that, the first thing I imagined was riots, looting, and some of the worst sides of human society being shown. I, as a Californian, am always at fear that an earthquake can hit at any moment. The nice people in this anime are a bit overdone. It seems

Yuuki, the shotacon, I mean little brother of TM8.0. I'm sure there is alot of YuukixMari doujin at Comiket.

like everyone here is overly polite, like the old couple that they encounter at a safe zone that is not what you would expect from old people in a situation as that. It seems like I’m just nitpicking at things I feel should have happened, but I do commend this anime for doing something different beyond the putrid moe shows that plagued this summer anime season. Overall, this story is real, as in the child proof table kind of real. If you are hungry for something not done before, this is something to look into.

I think where this anime stood out for me was the characters. This only applies to the three main characters, Mari, Mirai, and Yuuki. They are throughout the series some of the rawest and most realistic anime characters I have seen. Mirai is pretty much the reflection of a teenage girl. All she wants to do is moan and bitch about everything that is going on around her. Yuuki is the sweetest kid you could imagine. He’s pretty much the exact opposite of an average little boy; he’s selfless, caring, and smart. Mari is your typical mother. I would go more into detail, but to be honest I didn’t care much for her. The biggest issue was the dropping in and out of characters. Suddenly characters are introduced, only to never be seen again. I seriously wanted to know what happened to them. Did they just disappear? They seemed like they could have been sort of cannon to the series with people like Yuuki’s friend from school, or a work friend of Maris. Overall, if you take in just the three main characters, you’ve got a sturdy lineup that would have been great to see how they interact with other people.

From what I understand, a lot of people were turn off by the art style of TM8. I personally have grown used to the noitamina anime block art style. It follows the style of Hataraki Man and Eden of the East. The chubby faces and odd

NO WAI! See, Mirai is meme savvy.

 lip sizes are really not that bad if you have seen those previous series. There are no generic, or stock features in the characters. They all seem like they were designed well by Atsuko Nozaki, who hasn’t had much work beyond a few name series like Samurai Champloo Eureka Seven. The thing people should have been complaining about was sound. Oh, man boy did this series have the shittiest soundtrack ever. The opening and ending do not even remotely capture the tone of the series. I’m sorry abingdon boys school fans, but that group sucks. Not only that, they couldn’t help but have about four songs throughout the whole show. And two of those four are the opening and ending! In an anime where the feeling is sad and true human emotion, you cannot afford to use the same songs over and over again. It’s so strange that Higashi no Eden had possibly one of the best soundtracks ever, but this anime soundtrack was so crappily made. I don’t have much to say about the seiyuu. I personally don’t really pay much attention to Japanese voices since I prefer dubs. DOES NOT HAVE REIKO TAKAGI, ERGO IT IS NOT EXCEPTIONALLY GREAT!

I find it hard to not recommend this anime to people who are looking for something different. I’m just waiting for this to get licensed, if it ever does at all. Whether you’re new fan who just got off of a Naruto binge, or an old school disaster mecha anime fan, I’m sure everyone can find something to like about this anime. This gets my biggest recommendation, and I dare any other anime this season other than Fairy Tail to challenge it for that place in my heart. As badly as I criticized it, I enjoyed it. Even in the “How many times can one kid almost die”? moments. Never will there ever be an anime again where a backpack is as controversial. Fuji 4 Life.

Here’s an image that totally doesn’t represent the show:

 

　

The Underground Subway

This is a new segment that I’d like to introduce here in “How To Write Kanji?” and it’s called the Underground Subway. It’s a section dedicated to introduce people to an unknown manga series that didn’t get as much attention as it should. There will be a counterpart segment for anime called the “Small Densha”.

Today, I will introduce you to Chameleon Jail, a series by Inoue Takehiko of Slam Dunk and Vagabond fame. While this series is not his highpoint when he has manga like Real and Slam Dunk to keep up with, but it is good to note that

The main character, Chameleon Jail.

 this is what his artwork looked like before Slam Dunk and it’s amazing to see how his artwork looked like…just a year before Slam Dunk. I should note that this is from the “Golden Years” of Shonen Jump and fits in with the artstyle from the time.

 

 

 

The series revolves around a series of episodic adventures and a protaganist

A page displaying Inoue's influence in later works.

called Jail, a “risk hunter”. The series doesn’t really make much sense as to what the hell is going on. All we get is Chameleon using an energy called “kara” that causes him to blow up his face and change it into a different face. It really doesn’t make sense but in a world of power levels over 9000 and outerspace mecha clunking each other over oil, this isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. All I have to say it’s like imagining Golgo 13 actually helping people and being a tough guy that doesn’t use fire arms, instead his strength and balls. He’s also not a mysogynistic asshole. It’s 12 chapters so it’s worth the time investment. The art is really good, just not Inoue-sensei great. You can really spot the time difference between his other series and Chameleon Jail. I should mention this series isn’t as shonen-y shonen as you might think.

 

Overall, check this series out if you’re an Inoue Takehiko, or a fan of old Weekly Shonen Jump manga.

 

 

 

Studio: Madhouse Studios

Episodes: 13

Director: Sato Tatsuo

Ah, Inoue Santa you tagger manga-ka you!

This anime’s story starts off about four episodes in, so the first few episodes are passable but it’s still great to watch them. The story begins where the boss of Buppa’s , the big gang boss above all of Tokyo’s Tribes, son dies during a betrayal by Mera. The story originally revolves around Kai, the somewhat-not-really leader of the Saru’s when his friend Tera is decapitated by Mera, another old friend of Kai’s. The story from here sets off into the deepness of Tokyo’s underground. From here on it turns into a somewhat WW2-esque story, I’d tell you the rest but I’d be spoling the story. The story for this anime isn’t exactly novel, since it sounds somewhat like an old school Yakuza flick, but it’s pretty new for the world of anime. The story kept me caputured for quite a long time and is definitely worth marathoning it. The only problem I could find is I couldn’t really get into the characters. The only characters that get a big backstory are Skunk, Kai, and Mera.

The art for this anime is quite great, including great tones and shades. Madhouse did a great job of capturing Santa’s artwork on the pages. The backgrounds seem like an urban wall and tend to stick out quite well. The big problem is they captured Santa’s art TOO well. The lips tend to look awkward and the faces tend to look smashed at times. Still, this is a passable offense and doesn’t interfere with the enjoyment. It’s amazing how well they designed the clothes and how well they kept up with the trends…even if everyone wore the same clothes for the whole series.

The sound is EPIC. The hip hop in this anime is amazing, including songs by the Illmatic Buddha MC’s. I seriously was digging the music and finding an OST for this anime is well worth it. There is a bad part. They recycle the music too much. It seems that I heard some of the songs more than 20 times throughout this anime. Not that recycling is bad, it’s just that variety could have been better.

 

 

The characters are really vibrant and it doesn’t look like there are any stereotypes in this anime. My personal favorites were Haseem and Secretary, but the problem is they didn’t get face time. Hell, hardly anyone but Kai, Mera, Buppa, and Skunk got any face time. Tera is supposed to be very important in this series but he hardly shows up at all. The great part about this anime is that you will love or hate every character. This IS a good thing.

I really enjoyed this anime and marathoned the last 5 episodes today and this has officially gone into “MY Favorites”.  This anime is not for kids since it contains a few sex scenes and alot of violence. Of course that won’t stop you from watching it, so go watch it you little rascal!

Studio: Bee Train

Episodes: 26

When I buy anime, I typically do alot of research. This series caught me by surprise and it looked amazing. I did my research, but I forgot it was done by Bee Train, probably one of the in my opinion, worst studios ever.

The sypnosis in the back of the box was incorrect. It talks about a high school girl, Margret who joins together with an assasin, Madlax to discover an old terrible secret that lurks within them. You don’t get that. This doesn’t happen until

The protaganist of the anime, Madlax.

 about the 20th episode. The series for the first few episodes switches between Margret and Madlax and shows a little of what they do in their day to day lives. Margret is an introverted, sheltered rich girl who is taken care of her maid, Elenore. Apparently Madlaxs’ life revolves killing people and trying to make a boyfriend. This storyline is strangely reminiscent of Noir and seriously lacks any plot or structure until halfways the story. There is no excitement in this anime despite the premise of girls with guns. This anime consists of constant Mexican showdowns (below). The only thing that kept me going and allowed me to finish this anime was the last few episodes. The last episodes begin to develop more into what connects Margret and Madlax together. It’s worth sticking to, despite the terrible ending. If don’t mind an anime that doesn’t have a strong sense of plotline and often distracts from the original storyline, then this is for you. You can literally watch the last 6 episodes and not miss anything.

 

The animation is a laughable. Like I said above, the anime is a series of stills and long scenes of sitting on the couch and talking. During the shooting scenes, it’s really just a bunch of Mexican showdowns and not alot of action. However, when there is actual shooting involved, the anime can be pretty crisp and the outlines look decent and less Bee Train-like. I think that it’s so funny that the anime looks so much better during the night then the day.All the characters look alike, whether it be the bishoujo girls or the bishounen men walking around. There is a very boring pallet in the anime. I fell asleep a few times during the talking scenes and it was the same scene when I woke up.  Whether this was intentional or not is not known. If you like long scenes with the same cells over and over again, then you can moderately enjoy this.

 

The characters are all one sided, besides Madlax. Margret is so damn moe, useless and annoying that she made me want to kill her. She grows some courage during the last few episodes and made her less useless. Madlax is actually a shining diamond in this anime. She shows alot of emotion and sides to her, despite being a 16 year old girl. When you compare both characters they somewhat hold the anime together as opposites. The villains are all one sided. They show no other side than being evil. Plus, their want of evil is stupid. They looking for a book in a language they don’t understand. There are also alot of characters that didn’t make any sense as to why they were around. They all seemed to be Native American or something. Ignore them.

The voice dubbing was terrible. Everyone was so monotone. I rarely prefer Japanese versions, but I couldn’t stay awake listening to their voices. The whole soundtrack was boring and wasn’t even noticeable. Bad OP, Bad ED, bad audio in general. That’s all I can say without being a complete asshole.

I find it hard to recommend this anime or give a fair review without being biased towards it. Simply, if you haven’t seen Noir, then you can watch this and it won’t seem trite. If you’ve seen Noir, don’t see Madlax. Simple as that.

KanjiiZ

KanjiiZ is currently surviving an awesome sci-fi overdose. He currently balances this overdose with his insulin, Ouran High School Host Club. It seems that when he isn’t watching anime or reading manga, he is either at football practice or listening to some new Japanese rap or rock. Currently, his want for Ketsumeishi is irresistable. He is currently looking to review more anime than he can handle and after his disappointment with Madlax is hoping he can review more. The news of a Fairy Tail anime has him on the edge of his seat.

 

KanjiiZ Otaku Top 5

1. The Irresponsible Captain Tylor – Possibly the most funniest anime I have ever seen. The idea that being stupid could make you smart makes this anime fan ponder whether he is a genius or an idiot….or maybe both.

2. Space Captain Harlock -  Because if you claim to know anything about GAR or ’70’s anime you have seen this or are “frontin’”. Not only does it have some of the best emotional moments, but it also has a great storyline.

3. Ketsumeishi -  One of my most favorite Japanese rap groups. Between Tegami and Sakura, I can’t decide which one made them Top 5 material.

4. Galaxy Railways – Tough drama and a great, unique storyline make for a great anime series. Leiji Matsumoto doesn’t hurt either.

5. Fairy Tail - You don’t get more shonen-y that Fairy Tail. Whether you call it a One Piece ripoff, you know it’s great. I’m content with the future anime adaption of FT. I hope Hiro Mashima continues to be attached to his work and picks his own seiyuu and directors. We can only hope.

How do I even begin with the anime industry this year. It’s been a big rollercoaster for most of us. Some companies blossomed, some fall and crashed.

 

Central Park Media’s Downfall

 

Central Park Media filed for chapter on April 28, 2009. The downfall of Central Park Media is something everyone saw coming. They simply weren’t getting series fans found appealing. Series like World of Narue and Project A-Ko don’t stick out to anyone other than die-hard fans or older otaku. They don’t fit in with the now popular shonen demographic. It was also obvious due to their financial problems that arose during 2006.  Recently, ADV Films has licensed series that Central Park Media had to drop. I’m not really sure whether this is a good thing or not. The series picked up are, Now and Then Here and There, World of Narue, Grave of the Fireflies, and MD Geist. The issue with this is most people that wanted it in their collection already have it. I don’t see anyone rebuying this series unless there is a new, exceptional dub.

The question is: “How can companies prevent this from happening to them”? Simple, license more anime and manga that look appealing. Go on forums. go on websites, anywhere where you can be sure you’re getting data on what is hot and what people want. Don’t go around licensing anime that no one really wants. Obscurity isn’t neccesarily a good thing  (I’m looking at you ADV).

Shojo Beat Cancellation

 This one came as a slight shock. I knew Shojo Beat did nothing to appeal to male readers (which do make up alot of the manga readers) like Shonen Jump attempts to do for females. The manga are all great stories, but alot of people are in that “shoujo is 4 gurls” state. This magazine does represent this. With articles about make-up and room decoration it was boy repellant. Not to mention the covers. It really is targeted at them, but a guy can seriously get intro it. Sadly the magazine cancels sometime in June or July. It will be missed.  For my stern thoughts look at my old blog post about the cancellation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funimation Licenses A Boat-Load of Series

FEAR NOT! Not all has been bad. FUNImation acquired several licenses to anime ranging from Dragonaut, to Soul Eater. Not just that, they acquired licenses from Geneon. It seems like they won’t stop now. Not only that they are doing partnerships with other companies like VIZ Media to bring their shows to the FUNImation channel or FUNImation channel On Demand. I am very content with this company and makes it all feel safe.

 

Otaku USA Last American-Based Anime & Manga Magazine

Congrats to Otaku USA. They are officially the last American-based magazine. Despite the sad news of Anime Insider this may look like a good thing for Otaku USA. With less competition comes more readers. Some have called it a Newtype rip-off, but I beg the differ. Despite the similarities, Otaku USA has many nice articles and contributors. There are some downsides to the magazine. The manga excerpts take up alot of the magazine and leaves fewer input for the articles. I really respect the editor, Patrick Macias. He was a cool guy in Tokyo Eye.

 

 

Look forward to the second part sometime next week. I’ll be back when my milk warms up.

Pardon me, bitch did someone say moe?

Well, how do I feel about moe? Fuck it. Why? Because it’s too big of a boom that hits young boys in a hot spot in their pant–er I mean heart. Some say it’s a pure love for a certain character or type of character. We’ve had the OVA boom, shonen boom, but none as terrible as this. A damn plague. A damn plague that labels us anime fans as little bitches.

 

Yup, this is pure.

Someone remind me how girls/boys in provacative positions is pure? If it’s so pure, why is there an abundance of throw pillows based on VERY moe characters? Tell me why the hell I have to have a little girl ina  bunny suit. Yesh, you lolicons I look at you.

Take a shower before and after reading this magazine.

 

The main problem that I have with it is it’s becoming a recurring treand amongst anime. Look at the Summer 2009 line-up of anime. It’s as moe as can be and there is nothing for the natural viewer. I freaking hate you, and your damn moe! Curse you for your incessent “kawaiis” and “subarashis”.

The fuck?

 I also don’t hate all moe. There is no such thing as a moe with a good plot, but there is such a thing as an enjoyable moe. Enjoyable moe is about 10% of all moe. In this lineup is stuff like Kannagi, and some stuff like Familiar of Zero (at times). Otherwise you get sin. Stuff where it has no plot, no enjoyment, no nothing. This can also be called K-On. I admit, the music is nice but otherwise what are you getting? Let’s not fool ourselves. The damn doujin. That’s why you put up with it. You want Yui and Mio going at it. Please tell me I’m wrong.

 

I also want to add in the “anti-moe” stuff that is ACTUALLY moe. Stupid, right? No. Even Revy is supposed to strike a spot in perverts hearts and pants. With her short daisy dukes and “mature” body, she too is a marketing ploy with merchandise . Please, just don’t follow along with it. Watch whatever else, but remember Clannad and Lucky Star want you dead! Follow me my fellow living, breathing, sane comrades. Let’s keep this out of our minds and souls.  ONLY YOU CAN STOP THIS! Buy Berserk, buy the Irresponsible Captain Taylor, watch shit that will make you breathe every other second with adrenaline. Only YOU can prevent AIDS–I mean moe. Prove to me and your mother you don’t waste your money on little girls.

 

 

 

He's talking about moe. Only he can save us now.

Sincerely, KanjiiZ strapped in Rick Diaz. Wish him and his hot-blooded army good luck.

 

The many idoru Yokos!

 

This is a really good PV. No matter how you look at it. Let’s take a look at the animation. Despite it being littered with fan-service and pointless scenes, the artwork is clean, crisp, and looks very great. I admit some angles look pigish and tend to not make sense, they can be ignored. There is some great color in this music video and it really makes it stand out from all the other TTGL gimmicks that keep being put out. Gainax really put in some effort when making this.

The sound sounds great. The song isn’t neccesarily Oricon worthy, but it’s more catchy than herpes. It just tends to stick in your head. I would recommend reading some romaji to the song since some of the lyrics can’t be understood properly the first few times. I’ll admit Yoko makes a very good idol. Her seiyuu has proven before that she could sing, but she brought all her cards this time.

This can easily become the next Hare Hare overnight. I would recommend giving this a shot if you didn’t like the original series, and I don’t have to tell any TTGL fans to go and see it. I’m currently looking to find a copy of the DVD and you should too.