Otakuism

So here I am with week 2 of my look at this week’s anime music releases that interested me. Tonight I look at the Coyote Ragtime Show Op/Ed release, the surprisingly boring Black Lagoon OST, and the wacky Muteki Kanban Musume OST. Otakuism’s reviews of music should not be taken seriously, as he is notoriously picky and cynical about music. If you like the show, you’ll like the music.

Since CRS didn’t come with a cover I’ll just use this. Gothloli incest works for everyone.

Even if it’s plot is sometimes lacking, CRS is still a fun show, reveling in it’s own excess of guns and gothloli’s. And the Op itself does a great job of bringing that feeling “This is going to be Epic” before every Ep. The Op itself, COYOTE by Naoki with Power Sound, is not your standard Jpop but instead a kind of pop/jazz track with plenty of trumpets and guitars mixed with synthisizers. Included on the release is the Op track, it’s instrumental, the Op track again, this time a duet between Naoki and a person called Rina, and Ed single release with it’s instrumental. I really don’t go for slow jpop ballads, so the Ed, Usuragu Kiouku by Sana, doesn’t really interest me at all, even if it is a pretty good track.

For being known as a badass, hard rock kind of anime, Black Lagoon’s OST is surprisingly boring. Maybe this shouldn’t of surprised me, because when thinking back I couldn’t recall any moment the music really wowed me while watching the show. The weakness lies with most of the tracks being very ambient mood or scene setting tracks designed to simulate life in southeast asia on a boat instead of rockin action tracks. Don’t Stop Me Know, Foxy Doll, Rock the Carnival, and Mad Club were the only tracks that really got me excited at all (and yes, all track names are english, even on the cover). Also included is the Ed, which I don’t think ever got a single release. Also along are a couple of oddities, like a techno/dance track I don’t remember in the show at all and the song the neo-nazi’s all sung (would of been even more awesome if it was in german). Basically only listen to this CD if you watched BL and found you liked the stuff in it enough to actually remember the music.

Favorite Tracks:
Foxy Doll - aformentioned rockin track. Straight forward guitar track with a nice ballad section towards the end.
El Sol se Recuesta - Spanish sounding track and Roberta’s theme.
Let Me Know Your Name - The techno/dance track I don’t remember at all. Pretty catchy though.
Melting Brain - another action track. I believe the name speaks for itself.
Don’t Look Behind - Haunting Ed track.

Now I did enjoy this soundtrack for the already enjoyable Muteki Kanban Musume. It’s hard to really describe the music if you haven’t seen the anime. Half of it sounds like stuff you would normally hear in a martial arts film or something, while the other half sounds the score to a circus, if that makes any sense at all. The tracks themselves are setup weird, where one track has many unique songs in it and they all sound like their based around a theme for where that music is used. In the end the music is perhaps generic, but many tracks pull off sounding really cool and different. Every soundtrack is made for a certain show, so I guess you have to enjoy MKM before you decide to listen to the soundtrack. On a sidenote, there’s actually included the song opening for Star Rangers, which sounds pretty cool.

Favorite Tracks:
Kannazumi Megumi no Theme - Mainly enjoy the second part of this track that sounds very detectivenish (think Kunkun). I really need to work better at describing music.
Nishiyama Kankuro no Theme - Starts off strong and then get’s wacky, much like Kankuro’s character.
Shukumei no Rival Tachi - Starts off with an awesome piano/violin peice, then it get’s weaker through the middle to another nice piano peice at the end.
Maido Itsumo no Battle - I swear the opening to this is the same as the first Megaman X game. Anyways the whole track is rockin, setting many of the fights in the show. Best track on CD.

Now I’m off to play some Higurashi Daybreak.

As I’ve stated elsewhere in this blog I love camp. I love overly buff men fighting eachother in a post-apocalyptic wasteland for honor and all that stuff. I love exaggerated fighting moves with complicated names and dramatic reactions. This is why G Gundam is my favorite gundam series and why Muteki Kanban Musume is the best thing I’m watching right now.

Heaven or Hell! Let’s Rock!

Muteki Kanban Musume, or Noodle Fighter Miki, is a manga series that has been turned into an anime. It also turns out the manga is actually released in America. By who you say? ADV, so don’t expect to see it in the future. Hopefully tokyopop will take it it like it did ARIA (and I’m still waiting for the rest of Gunslinger Girl!). Our title hero Miki is the poster/delivery girl for her family’s ramen restaurant. She’s also the worst delivery girl in existence, continually getting distracted and losing the ramen. Miki is also the strongest person in the city and is regularly challenged by those around her.

They include Megumi, the poster girl of the bakery across from Miki’s family restaurant and expert at throwing sharpened sticks. Kankurou, the kid who Miki alway’s bullied and has returned after four year’s of Hard Train-I mean college to beat her. Of course compared to Miki he’s very weak and loses all the time. He also has the strange habit of ending all his sentences with Nya. Rounding out the group is Kayahara-sensei, the perpetually gloomy and suicidal teacher who everybody thinks is a ghost because she looks like Sadoko from the Ring. She also reminds me of Sayako from Mahoraba. She doesn’t really fight but tries to help because she’s a teacher. Finally there’s Akihiko, the only normal person and our narrator. Who also happens to be addicted to a power rangers ripoff.

And if all that wasn’t enough ep. 8 introduced the best evil villian EVAR! Hell Bunny, a bunny girl from hell I guess. The best part is that she has that anime haughty Hohoho laugh that Megumi has, leading everyone to think she’s the villian (of course Megumi likes thinking she’s the star). It was also fun seeing the generically weak pink ranger learn to become strong from god fighter Miki. We better see more of Hell Bunny-sama, seeing how she’s in the opening and all (it also seemed she could fight Miki equally, so that would be an awesome finale).

I’m sorry all my pics are blatantly from the op, but I’m just lazy. Inster have some Master Asia, whom I keep thinking about whenever I watch this.

So here I am this evening, my gum irritatingly sore after gum surgery I had this afternoon, listening to Queen while it rains outside and surfing my own personal blogosphere. Fascinating life I live huh?

In reality the main point of this post is not to complain about my boring life but instead to give this link to a fascinating article on Pingmag called ” Game Boys for Play Girls! ” about gaming differences between west and east and how they affect the female gaming community. Great stuff. Look around the rest of the site while your there, as I asure you you’ll find some other nice reads (I highly recommend this article about an illustrator making a living in Japan).

Now I go on to either watch my backlog of NHK ni Youkosou ep’s or play the true tears demo. Like I said hard life. Expect the next installment of Nipponsei Weekly Reviews tomorrow, where I tackle the Black Lagoon OST and the rockingly eighties Coyote Ragtime Show Op.

So 4chan has leaked the cover of this month’s Megami, which has the grown up forces of Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate on the cover. Suffice to say, I think StrikerS is gonna be the grown up Nanoha show. Or this could be like that Haruhi fiasco, but I doubt it. All I can do now is wait for StrikerS and hopefully some Nanoha X Fate. Or if that’s not possible at least give us mad wife stalker Fate instead. And Vita, the eternal Loli. And I want Nanoha to blow up a planet. You know she can.

Yes please.

So here I am starting another column thing, this time to review some of the manga that I bought this month. As you can see I like my Shounen. Beware spoilers.

Neon Genesis Evangelion Angelic Days v.1: The first of three books I’ve already read online, this one courtesy of the scanlations that used to be on evamonkey. However, seeing as how that was awhile ago I forgot everything and was able to read this volume with a clear head. The premise of Angelic Days is writing a story based around the dream world in ep.26 of the series (which made perfect sense to me). It accomplish’s it’s goal perfectly, there not even being an image of a robot through the whole book. Instead we focus on the love triangle of Shinji, Asuka, and Rei, with Asuka and Rei both vying for Shinji’s attention. I’m also happy to say Shinji isn’t a crybaby wuss here, so that’s rather nice. I love the clean artwork and new character designs, all having a wonderfully shoujo feel to it. Definate a pick up for any Eva fan.

Monster v.4 Ayse’s Friend: Monster continues it’s unique brand of criminal thrills in this fourth volume. The bulk of the story is focused on Tenma’s and Nina’s discovery of a neo-nazi group who wishes to make Johan their leader, believing his ‘charisma ‘ makes him greater than Hitler. This is interwoven in a nazi plot to burn down the turkish section of a german town. While this is still a great read I found the whole nazi plot to be a little outlandish and just a ploy to introduce the real meat of the story here, the exposition that Johan might have split personality. I love the philosophical bits that are interwoven into the narrative, particularly the idea that both Tenma and Nina both believe they have to kill Johan while everyone else thinks their to important to kill someone. I’m wondering how all this can continue for fourteen more volumes…

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist v.15: Yes I read yugioh and I enjoy it. The manga has the perfect mix of shounen over-the-topness and nice characters. It’s odd how enjoyable it is hearing people talk about honor and death over a card game. This volume concludes Yugi’s and Kaiba’s double duel and starts Yugi’s duel against the brainwashed Jonouchi. Particularly amusing is Kaiba’s musing on how Yugi’s philosophy of teamwork will stand up when the only way to win is to kill his friend. Great stuff all around.

Death Note v.7 Zero: The second volume I’ve read online before and the volume that marks the end of the first half with the beginning second part. Also famously marks the death of L and Light’s rise to power. Personally I thought the manga went downhill after L’s death, as Near and Mello weren’t nearly as interesting as him. I alway’s had visions of a final face off between Light and L, both armed with a notebook to see who could right eachother’s name faster. Man that would’ve been cool. My only complaint against this volume is that it bogs down in it’s own speculation of character motives too much, especially when we the audience already knows what is going on.

Bleach v.14 White Tower Rocks: And so continues the invariable long Bleach saga. I must be a masochist for keeping up with so many long running series. In this volume Ichigo makes his first rescue attempt on Rukia only to be stopped by the always exotically hot Yoruichi. The volume rounds out with Ishida’s fight against the insanely sadistic Mayuri and his Hawt assistant Nemu. I’ve also already read this volume online but had forgot most of it anyway’s so it’s alright. I realize now that bleach really doesn’t work all that well in volume format as it’s always breaking up in a cliffhanger. Very annoying. Also I must say Mayuri’s a bastard with how he treats Nemu, and then the creepy are regrowth thing. Man I hate the guy. Can’t wait to see him get his ass almost beat next volume (cause you know no one dies in Bleach).

Black Cat v.4 One-Day Darling: I love the Black Cat anime, even if I’ve heard some people say it’s a bastardization of the manga. But seeing how I’ve never read the manga I loved it’s stylish fights and campy shounen action. I like any show where every badguy has a unique weapon or power with some wierd name. This is the volume that ep. 17 was derived from I think, where the gang hunts down a runaway T-rex. Black Cat has to be the most surreal manga I’ve ever seen to be hunting T-rex’s. The manga is a bit different, with Train and Rins sneaking into a fancy party and Train finding the assassin Lugart Won there and Eve fighting the dinosaur. There’s some great Eve character development here, with her trying to become reliable and learning how to grow wings to fly. Train and Rins interaction is priceless, it seems like Train can’t stand women at all. Next volume we begin the meat of the story with the introduction of the apostle’s of the stars. More insane Creed is alway’s a good thing.

God bless the cheese. (warning one liners ahead)

My what small panties you have.

Plug into my USB drive-robo.

Oh shi-! It’s a prime taradox Hadou!

Way to be supportive Mr.Useless Butler Guy.

Lol Magicbabble.

Spell casting. With a 100% more panty flashing.

You know personally if it was me, and I’m just saying, I would be entertaing the girl, if you know what I mean. But maybe you don’t. I don’t know people tell me I’m a weird guy.

Cried here. Seriously.

Episode 7 is possibly the best Honey & Clover episode yet, right up there with the one’s focusing on Takemoto’s journey of self discovery. A lot of people watch H&C for the romance involved but not me. I like the stories about coming of age, growing up, realizing the truths of the world and the characters interactions with their often bizarre families. That’s why Takemoto is my favorite character. Myself having lost my father at a young age I found his journey to discover what his father meant to him and how to relate to his working mother (my mother’s also a nurse so I’m looking more like Takemoto all the time. I should bike up to Maine or something) the thing that made me love H&C as one of the best shows ever made. All those different issues and themes are tidily mixed up in an excellent story of revenge and betrayal in this episode.

First off is Tatsuo, the most sympathetic and complex side character I’ve ever seen. Wrapped up in his feelings of envy and inadequecy next to the always vibrant and Brilliant Tsukasa, along with knowing that he himself is going to die soon without accomplishing anything in his life, causes him to go on a mad journey to discover why some have everything and some have nothing in this world. He betrays his childhood friend Tsukasa just to see how he would react without his company. If he would except the money and stay and be human, or leave and stick by his ideals of working for himself. This all poignantly raps up with Tatsuo realizing Tsukasa was always beyond him and dying, only suceeding at passing his hatred to the next generation. As a side note the scenes of Tatsuo with his mother who can’t remember anything and the realization that he loved the woman who is now Tsukasa’s wife made him all the more human in my eyes and easily let’s one forgive what he did to the Morita family.

Here is where Kaoru comes in. He went against his father’s word to not hold grudges and spent his whole life working to get his revenge and buy his father’s company back, no matter the cost to him or his brother Morita. This is made all the more ironic by Kaoru feeling the exact same feelings that Tatsuo had of inadequacy next to Morita and envy of his father’s attention on Morita. Out of everybody Kaoru understands why Tatsuo did what he did the most, but still hates him the most out of everybody. It all ends ironically when Kaoru buys back the company and tells the owner for his children to come get revenge on him when their ready. Kaoru understands the full gravity of what he’s done and the pain he’s caused but doesn’t care. Here is where Kaoru and Tatsuo are different people, as where Tetsuo had no one Kaoru has Morita who truly cares for his brother and will work to put him back on the right path to salvation for himself.

Quite a half hour of television eh? This is why I love anime. You can wade through all the moe you want but every so often you get a jem like this that reminds why you started this foolish hobby in the first place. Of course the fate of Hagu at the end is just icing on the cake compared to everything else, and not worth me talking about as I’ve already seen the next episode, though I was surprised it was an accident that hurt Hagu, as I thought she was going to kill herself. The only thing I have left to say is that if you needed a reason to watch H&C go watch this right now. You won’t be sorry.