Anime Apolyton

Wraith · October 30, 2006, 20:15

Zenryaku,

It's been some time, and the recent con thread reminded me that there's been a lot going on, so it'd be a good time for an update, especially since the new season in Japan started recently.

As always, I'll start with the domestic market. In the older news, Kamichu is almost done with its release. I highly recommend this series for anyone who like fantasy or slice of life stories.

Gunbuster finally has a release date, next Februrary. It's a fairly pricy set, and sub-only, but it's got a lot of good extras, including imported artboxes. This is an older title, so it'll probalby only appeal to people who already know about it, which is a pity, because it's a great short series. One of the few sci-fi shows that actually takes good advantage of the time-dialation effect of near-lightspeed travel.

Another oldie-but-a-goodie that's been licensed is, surprisingly, Yawara: A Fashionable Judo Girl. I love the series, but never expected it to be picked up. However, it was, and of course AnimEgo was the only company that would have possibly done so. This series is about Yawara Inokuma, grand-daughter of Jigoro Inokuma, a top Judo master and the only person who's ever won five consecutive national judo competitions. She just wants to be a normal girl, but he's been teaching her judo since she was 3 years old, and she's really quite good at it. His goal is for her to win the gold medal at the 1992 olympics (the series starts in 1989), no matter what she says. He even manages to recruit a rival for her, spoiled rich girl Sayaka Honami, who has conquered sport after sport without ever feeling she met her match. I'm not a fan of sports series in general, but this is one of my favorites of any genre. Highly recommended.

Pani Poni Dash isn't quite a surprise, but it's going to be a challenge. ADV got the license, and they're going to overload the DVDs with VidNotes. This is the system they used on Excel Saga, but hopefully they've worked on it since then. Pani Poni Dash has even more obscure references packed in than Excel Saga does. In any case, this series is about the genius Rebecca Miyamoto, the youngest person to ever graduate from MIT. She decides to go back to Japan to become, of all things, a high school teacher (one of her professors states that he figured she was trying to take down the education system from the inside). The school features it's normal collection of weirdos, including a girl calling herself Behoimi who insists she's a magical girl but can't do magic in front of people because then she'd have to return to the land of magic. Pure off-the-wall crack-comedy.

One title that's a surprise is Honey and Clover. This is a romantic comedy set in an art college, and is exceptionally well done. However, so far it's only been confirmed to have been licensed for Europe. This is a fairly unusual situation, so we'll have to wait and see if it gets a US license as well.

On the manga side:

The manga release of Berserk has finally caught up with the end of the anime. For those who liked the show but got upset with the ending, now's the time to start getting into this.

Yaoi titles have been doing rather well in the US (no surprise to anyone who's seen the fangirls around the yaoi dojinshi in the dealer's room at conventions). This has convinced Seven Seas to launch a yuri line. I'm not familiar with any of the titles on their initial release list (Strawberry Panic, The Last Uniform, and Tetragrammaton Labyrinth), but some of them sound interesting enough to investigate further. With any luck we'll be able to get something like Maria-sama ga Miteru in the near future.

ADV's still mostly sitting on their thumbs. They haven't done much in the way of manga releases, and still are mostly not talking about them. Best news in this area is that Tokyopop has licensed the Aria manga and will be finishing the release. Finally. They've also got Aqua, the two-volume precursor series.

There's the standard, ongoing problems with manga titles suffering edits to dialogue and artwork. A lot of people are getting tired of companies licensing titles without finding out what happens in the later volumes, rating them inappropriately, and then editing them rather than change the rating. Case in point is Tsukiyomi Moon Phase. A recent volume included a scene with some rather nasty torture going on, S&M, and a stake through the heart, and Tokyopop chose to edit the nipples out. Left in all the other stuff, but apparently nipples are a no-no. And they wonder why people send them angry letters.

Which, sadly, leads in to the novel translations. A couple novel lines have started their release under Tokyopop's wing, and they haven't exactly started off on the right foot. Kino's Journeys is one of them, and it's only suffered minor problems. They've dropped a few illustrations (probably couldn't get rights for them) and rearranged chapters. The chapters in Kino's Journey are mostly stand-alone, so this isn't too big a deal. Except that it's hard to cut them slack after what they did to the other major novel license.

That was Crest of the Stars. Sadly their translation efforts here seem to place page-count and changing the novel's target demographic as the main priorities. They've removed lines and even entire paragraphs, they've _added_ lines and paragraphs, and tried to "punch up" their language by having Jinto speak like a Valley Boy. Honestly, comparing the invading alien's hair color to frozen yoghurt is probably not the first thing that would come to my mind, but maybe that's just me. I have to recommend giving these a pass, and hope Tokyopop comes to their senses before the end of the century.

On to the new season in Japan. I haven't sampled as much of this as I had hoped, as I just put together a new computer and have been doing overtime at work for an impending product release. But I'll hit the highlights so far.

First one I'll bring up is Kanon. I'm not really a big harem anime fan, and even less of a anime-from-a-hentai-game fan. However, this is one of the less objectinable plots. Basic outline should be obvios: high school boy returns to a town he used to visit a lot and runs into lots of girls he knew. This one takes things in a different direction than most, at least.
I still probably would have skipped this, since it's a remake of a series that aired a few years ago, but this one is being done by Kyoto Animation. This studio did the excellent series, The Melancholy of Suzumia Haruhi, and their animation work is top-notch, so I couldn't pass it up. Not much to say about this one except the animation certainly is better than the earlier Toei version, but can only recommend this if you're a fan of the genre.

Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is an intersting one. Not highly recommended, by any means. Too much in the way of pointless animation shortcuts and too-obvious set-up. But it's got some good humor in it. The parts where it's spoofing horror movie standards are great. If they could just refrain from going super-deformed or sketchy-and-colorless so much, and maybe drop Kyouhei entirely, then it'd be pretty good.
Anyway, this one is about a group of four pretty boys who are renting rooms in a mansion. The owner, a rather flamboyant and eccentric rich lady, offers them a deal. Turn her niece into a fine lady and she'll give them free rent. They take her up on the deal, and are pretty happy until the niece actually shows up. She looks a lot like Shizuko (from The Ring), keeps her room dark and filled with skeletons, things in jars, and so on. She also has a passionate hatred for beautiful people and the light, and seems to be quite at home wielding a chainsaw. Amusing, but don't expect deep.

Asatte no Houkou is my second favorite so far. This is about a woman named Shoko, who moves to a remote Japanese village to escape her past and start her life over. Unfortunatley, she runs into her former boyfried, along with the reason he left her: Karada, his little sister he decided to take care of after their parents died. Karada absolutly hates being treated like a little kid, and is always trying to get her (significantly older) brother to treat her like a grown-up. After being upset by Shoko, Karada makes a wish at a shrine, wishing to grow up soon. This wish is granted, and she turns, physically, into an adult. At the same time Shoko is turned into a young girl.
So far this is a great drama. As long as you don't need major action sequences, this is worth checking out.

Last, but not least, is Death Note. This is about the rather improbably named Japanese boy, Light. He's a top student and very popular. Then one day he finds a strange notebook. Labeled "Death Note", it includes instructions that claim that the holder can kill someone simplly by writing their name in the book while picturing their target's face. Although he thinks it's a sick joke at first, he can't help but test it out, and causes a criminal in the middle of a hostage sitation to have a heart attack. Convinced of the book's power, he starts a campaign to wipe out major criminals. He also meets Ryuku, the Shinigami (death god) who dropped the book. Ryuku, bored with the Shinigami's world, just thought doing this would be more fun, and is rather pleased with the results.
Of course, prisoners dropping dead of heart attacks manages to catch the police's attention, including the ICPO. They bring in their trump card, a mysterious man called "L" who never lets anyone know his appearance or true name. He starts investigating the deaths, and at the same time sites online pop up to praise the unknown vigilante, who is dubbed "Kira". Definitely the best series I've seen so far for this season.

Anyway, that covers things for now, I think. As always, updates to follow.

Wraith
"That's right, this is how the story moves along. In the direction most undesirable for all concerned."
-- Drosselmeyer ("Princess Tutu")

loinburger · October 31, 2006, 05:45

I recently finished The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (first in Kyon's episode ordering, then in Haruhi's episode ordering), and am hoping that they make a second season out of it (IIRC the studio that worked on the first season is currently releasing Kanon, but I suppose a significant delay between first and second seasons is to be expected given that they pretty much have to hash out the entire script ahead of time rather than hashing out episode N's script after airing episode N-1).

Also watched Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, again am hoping that they release Minagoroshi-hen and Matsuribayashi-hen as a second season or as an OVA.

Also finished Honey & Clover as well as Honey & Clover II. I liked it, but I felt a little bit gayer after watching it.

Tattila the Hun · October 31, 2006, 09:50

Solid State Society was rather pleasant.

Wraith · October 31, 2006, 21:28

--"I recently finished The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (first in Kyon's episode ordering, then in Haruhi's episode ordering)"

Ah, you should have done it the other way around ^_^ Haruhi order makes for a better story. Kyon order doesn't have an effective climax.

In any case, I'd be surprised if they didn't do another season. The show is very popular, and they only covered a bit more than one novel worth of material. I think there's eight out now, so they'll have plenty to work from. Kyoto Animation is doing Kanon now, and I think their next project is lined up as well, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did more Haruhi after that.

--"Also watched Higurashi no Naku Koro ni"

I've heard that title come up a lot. Murder mysteries really aren't my thing, so I haven't watched it yet, but if I keep hearing about it I may have to give it a chance.

--"Also finished Honey & Clover as well as Honey & Clover II. I liked it, but I felt a little bit gayer after watching it."

Does that mean the presidents of Fujiwara Design, Mario and Luigi, were your favorites? ^_^

--"Solid State Society"

Haven't seen that one. I probably should catch up on Ghost in the Shell one of these days.

Wraith
"Information softly strokes my lips. The soft spot below the ear."
-- Serial Experiments: Lain

loinburger · November 3, 2006, 20:26

Originally posted by Wraith
--"Also watched Higurashi no Naku Koro ni"

I've heard that title come up a lot. Murder mysteries really aren't my thing, so I haven't watched it yet, but if I keep hearing about it I may have to give it a chance.

I like murder mysteries, but that being said, I don't think I'd classify this as a murder mystery, at least not in the traditional "sherlock holmes" sense of the term. The spoiler sort-of summarizes the first four episodes, although it really isn't much of a spoiler considering that the prologue to the first episode sort-of summarizes the first four episodes.

Spoiler:

Ah, you should have done it the other way around ^_^ Haruhi order makes for a better story. Kyon order doesn't have an effective climax.

Haruhi's order makes for a more coherent story (at least early on, until you realize that things are not as they ought to be when using the Kyon ordering), but I'd argue that the Haruhi climax is much less effective than the Kyon climax. Regardless, episode 12 (using either ordering) is my favorite.

Does that mean the presidents of Fujiwara Design, Mario and Luigi, were your favorites? ^_^

They were definitely two of the best (non-)characters in the series. I felt a bit gayer because this is one of the few series I've seen where a. there was a love story and b. there wasn't any kind of science-fiction / horror / action / whatever distraction from said love story. F'rinstance, "my girlfriend: the ultimate weapon" was a sort-of love story, but the whole "ultimate weapon" part made me quite secure in my heterosexuality (i.e., "awww, a love story, holy crap a lot of stuff just exploded!"), whereas "honey and clover" was more along the lines of "awww, a love story, oh god I've caught the gay!"

Nostromo · November 26, 2006, 17:19

I saw Gilgamesh last night. Boring and the artwork is mediocre.

I just rented "Ninja scroll", "Gundress" and "Elfen lied" (vol.1) Let the anime orgy begin!

loinburger · November 26, 2006, 18:24

Gilgamesh was crap.

Currently watching Welcome to the NHK. Three episodes into it, enjoying it so far. Also started on Innocent Venus, enjoyed the first episode, haven't watched the second yet. (I'm working on my dissertation proposal at the moment, it's making it a bit difficult for me to concentrate on anything non-dissertation related. I kept finding myself staring off into space during thanksgiving dinner.

)

Unspeakable Horror · November 26, 2006, 20:02

I liked Gilgamesh artwork unfortunately the story was boring and I didn´t finish it, on the other hand I didn´t like Higurashi´s artwork at first, it looked a bit childish... yes, I know with what happens in the first episode that´s clearly not the case

the story was really good

I hope they release the remaining parts

Jon Miller · November 26, 2006, 20:06

My roommate is super into Death Note. He watched all the anime and has read 50+ chapters of the Manga.

It seems a bit of Wish Fullfillment fantasy to me... (With good atmoshere/etc).

I would be interested to see where it goes before picking it up.

JM

Q Classic · November 26, 2006, 20:55

Why are they remaking Kanon, out of curiosity?

loinburger · November 26, 2006, 21:09

I'm guessing because a. they need time to prepare for the second season of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (non-linear plotlines presumably require more time for script/storyboard development) and b. the artwork for the first Kanon series was terrible.

snoopy369 · November 26, 2006, 21:52

So, anime fans, my GF has a question for you. Sadly she's too wimpy to get her own login, but anyway...

She likes japanese anime music, IE the music that plays before/after anime episodes. Where can this be obtained on teh internet? Is there an iTunes equivalent for anime music?? Or in CD form if it's not too expensive (she doesn't want to buy $30+ imports)?

DaShi · November 26, 2006, 22:21

Fan sites can sometimes be a good place to find music. Torrents as well. Popular stuff can be bought as much as regular CDs on sites like Amazon.com.

snoopy369 · November 26, 2006, 22:27

I know she's hoping to find a single site that has a lot of things... Amazon is of course an option, and she's bought some stuff there, but they don't have a lot of what she likes (somewhat more esoteric stuff).

I shall suggest fan sites to her. Torrents aren't really an option, we don't 'share' music and she is extremely safety conscious to the point that a torrent would probably worry her

DaShi · November 26, 2006, 22:33

http://www.bestanime.com/newAniData/list.php

Occasionally, has some songs. But the quality can be a bit dodgy. Remember, you're still dealing with copyrighted material. So many sites are prevented from posting full music for download. Fan sites are probably your best bet. In anyone else knows other places, I'd be interested too.

Nostromo · November 27, 2006, 23:35

Well, I enjoyed "Ninja scroll" a lot. And "Elfen Lied" wasn't bad either. I'll probably rent the second DVD.

:) Smiley · November 28, 2006, 02:13

Best news in this area is that Tokyopop has licensed the Aria manga and will be finishing the release. Finally. They've also got Aqua, the two-volume precursor series.

that was a good series, read the chinese edition, though I've yet to find copies of Aqua.

snoopy - as for looking for anime music, do you have anime conventions where you live?

Tattila the Hun · November 28, 2006, 07:36

Originally posted by snoopy369
I know she's hoping to find a single site that has a lot of things... Amazon is of course an option, and she's bought some stuff there, but they don't have a lot of what she likes (somewhat more esoteric stuff).

I shall suggest fan sites to her. Torrents aren't really an option, we don't 'share' music and she is extremely safety conscious to the point that a torrent would probably worry her

http://otaku.com/

Stay away from ebay. Lot's of bootlegs.

Just incase music from japanese videogames should be appealing too...

http://vgmworld.com/

http://www.chudahs-corner.com/
(Information)

Nostromo · December 5, 2006, 21:49

Just saw the first DVD of "Gankutsuou: the Count of Monte Cristo" Its great so far and the artwork is... unique.

Wraith · December 9, 2006, 21:28

--"I felt a bit gayer because this is one of the few series I've seen where a. there was a love story"

Yeah, the straight-forward romance isn't a genre anime goes after very often. When it goes that way it usually turns into a comedy harem or something. Never been able to figure out why.

--"Currently watching Welcome to the NHK."

I couldn't take even the first episode of that one. Gonzo is pretty good at ruining otherwise interesting concepts for me.

--"I would be interested to see where it goes before picking it up."

Well, if your roomate is collecting it, you've got the chance ^_^ It's not really wish-fulfilment, really. It mostly turns into a psychological thriller/contest between Kira and L, each of them probing and trying to one-up the other without revealing who they are. Light is definitely not a standard hero, and is much closer to an anti-hero, but still not exactly. Fun to watch, though.

The anime has the best potato-chip eating scene ever.

--"Why are they remaking Kanon, out of curiosity?"

More money, of course. It's a fairly popular title as these things go, and they know it'll sell to the fanbase. KyoAni stands head and shoulders above Toei on production values and production, so it gets the new and shiny face to go with a fuller version of the story.

--"I'm guessing because a. they need time to prepare for the second season of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi"

I think the popularity of Haruhi caught people by surprise. KyoAni did move the second season up in their production schedule, so it should be out next year, but there's plenty of material in the novels that hasn't been animated yet. Kanon was probably scheduled before Haruhi started airing, if not before it was even in production.

--"She likes japanese anime music, IE the music that plays before/after anime episodes. Where can this be obtained on teh internet?"

I haven't seen an iTunes equivalent. If she's not willing to buy imports (CD Japan is good for that), she's pretty much limited to the stuff that's been licensed and has come out in the US. You can get that from the usual suspects, any place that'll special order CDs or most internet shops (like Amazon). Bootlegs are a big problem, though. Check out the bootleg FAQ before buying any place that isn't a real big name. Be suspicious of any deal that seems too good to be true.
Otherwise, you can try places like Anime Jungle, which sell used CDs and DVDs.

--"Its great so far and the artwork is... unique."

Yeah, their texturing takes a while to get used to.

Wraith
"Who knows? Maybe Division 2 will turn into an elite unit. Or maybe we'll become a gang of thungs. I can't wait to find out."
-- Captain Goto ("Patlabor")

Jon Miller · December 9, 2006, 23:22

My freind showed me one that looked sci fi ish thriller/mystery whatever.

He said he had concerns that it would be Lainish. I would probably recognise the name.

JM

Wraith · December 10, 2006, 17:58

Not a lot to go on there ^_^

Still, my two most likely guesses based on that would be either Ergo Proxy or Tehxnolyze.

Haven't seen the former yet, but it seems to have that kind of atmosphere. From what I've heard about it, it isn't really like Lain at all, other than both could be considered cyberpunk. Different themes.

The latter might be more likely, if only because more of the Lain staff is involved (particularly Chiaki Konaka as writer, ABe Yoshitoshi as character designer, and Yasuyuki Ueda as producer). Definitely not at all like Lain, though. Cyberpunk influences, yes, but more a ganster/yakuza film than anything else.

Wraith
"Weren't you fed up with that boring world? Just an ordinary world where nothing special ever happened. Didn't you want something more interesting to happen?"
-- Haruhi ("The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya")

loinburger · December 10, 2006, 18:08

I've finished Innocent Venus, was a bit disappointed with the ending -- granted, it wasn't a mindless "everybody dies for no apparent reason" ending as is the case for most disappointing endings, but it was still disappointing insofar as the betrayal was never adequately explained. "So you betrayed us to get your revenge." "Yup." "But how does this help you get your revenge? And who are you trying to get revenge against, and why?" "Welp..." Maybe it was a failure in translation.

Currently watching Monster, am about ten episodes into it and am liking it so far. I'm partial to murder mysteries.

Am also reading the baka-tsuki translations of the Suzumiya Haruhi books. I've finished the first three, but am procrastinating over the next five since the last two haven't yet been translated.

Ninot · December 10, 2006, 18:11

I thought this was going to be anime drawings of Apolytoners.

Zero · December 10, 2006, 18:54

if they just caught up with anime ending in berserk, thats like wat, vol 12ish?

the series is right now on vol32... thats long way ahead of official release....

oh and speaking of anime news, Naruto will begin airing new episodes in japan under name of naruto:typhoon something.... if anyone a naruto lover.

EDIT: oh yea, and i havent seen any anime shows recently, but last one ive finished, blood+, is a TV series version of the anime OVA, Blood. Its more milder, PG-ized version cause its for TV although in japan ur allowed some cartoon violence on tv. if anyone liked blood, its worth looking into it.

Jon Miller · December 10, 2006, 19:17

Ergo Proxy is the one he had.

JM

The Mad Monk · December 11, 2006, 00:45

Any thoughts on the current Cartoon Network lineups?

DaShi · December 11, 2006, 12:25

I was growing bored of Zatch Bell, but last weekend's episode really helped get me back in. It's exactly what the series needed at that point. A reminder of what's at stake.

Wraith · December 11, 2006, 19:01

--"I've finished Innocent Venus,"

Haven't seen any of that one. The descriptions didn't really catch my interest. Doesn't sound like I'm missing a whole lot ^_^

--"Currently watching Monster,"

I tried watching that one, but I'm not really into the horror/murder mystery thing, so I couldn't get in to it. Which is odd, because it did seem quite well written, which is usually all it takes for me.

Just as an aside, the author of Monster is the same guy who wrote Master Keaton and Yawara: A Fashionable Judo Girl. I find that amusing for some reason, but he does good work.

--"I thought this was going to be anime drawings of Apolytoners."

Unfortunately, my drawing skills top out about the level of stick figures in an earthquake. Feel free to chip in if you've got any, though. I hardly know what any of the Apolytoners look like.

--"if they just caught up with anime ending in berserk, thats like wat, vol 12ish?"

Pretty much. 13 is where they start getting to the post Band of the Hawks stuff that was after the anime ending.

The manga has had its delays in Japan, so we're not as far behind as we could be, but yeah.

--"Any thoughts on the current Cartoon Network lineups?"

Haven't had cable for quite a while now, so I have no clue what their lineup is.

Wraith
"Anchor, anchor... We need an anchor... Say Zel how much do you weigh?"
-- Lina Inverse ("Slayers Next")

loinburger · December 11, 2006, 19:12

Originally posted by Wraith
Haven't seen any of that one. The descriptions didn't really catch my interest. Doesn't sound like I'm missing a whole lot ^_^

The first episode led me to believe that it would be like Jin-Roh, but it did not live up to my expectations.

I tried watching that one, but I'm not really into the horror/murder mystery thing, so I couldn't get in to it. Which is odd, because it did seem quite well written, which is usually all it takes for me.

How long did you stick with it? I'm currently on episode 12, and although I'm a big fan of the horror/mystery genre, I'd classify this as a story that develops slowly enough that the horror/mystery aspects don't overpower the character development (Dr. Tenma's character in particular). But I'm putting "uncovering the mysteries behind the monster's past" as being outside of the "horror/mystery" scope ((in)direct encounters with the monster being within the horror/mystery scope), so your definition of "horror/mystery" may differ considerably from mine.