Otakuism

I don’t think Demonbane is even pretending to have a plot anymore, making ep. 5 the best episode yet. The whole thing is basically harem hijinks with a cult and some mecha thrown in. On a non-fanservice note does anyone know if a single was ever released for the Op? Because it’s a pretty cool song to listen to.

The Producers must of been thinking something like ” Hey let’s throw all the characters from the last four episodes into swimsuits and put them on a beach! That’s an episode right there! “.

Nice but no Jun.

The Producer’s must be thinking ” Hey lets have them all get drunk and let crazy drunken hijinks ensue. And since traps are so popular we’ll put Kurou in a dress for no reason at all. That’s an episode right there. “

Kurou like zero chest Al Azif. I have no idea why there’s this random almost rape scene in here, the only thing I think of is that this was an h-scene in the game or something. No dragon here. Al Azif really is like Louise now if you think about, being tsundere and with zero chest, but she actually has useful magical powers. Need to give her a magic love potion… Rest of show is lame mecha action where demonbane fights a giant lobster, only good part seeing a new outfit for Al. Is it odd I’m enjoying the fanservice in Demonbane way more than all of Zero no Tsukaima?

God Al Azif is Hawt!

Chances are that most manga fans of today have never heard of Sanctuary. I don’t blame them, it was a fluke that I found out about it in the back of an old volume of Excel Saga. The summary’s claim of this being a unique yakuza story intrigued me and after some searching on the internet I decided to order the first two volumes of it, that just arrived today. Sanctuary is rather unique for me as being the first old manga title I’ve read, originially published in Japan from 1990 to 95, making this a new experience for me. I should also note Sanctuary is written by Yoshiyuki Okamura (Fist of the North Star) and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami (Crying Freeman).

The plot of Sanctuary could probably be described as Japan’s take on the Godfather story, but there’s so much more here than that. The basic premise is two friends, Akira Hojo and Chiaki Asami, who try to reach the top of Japan and make it thier ” Sanctuary “. Sanctuary is both a crime and politicial thriller in that Hojo chooses to become a Yakuza boss and Asami tries to become the youngest Diet member ever. While the yakuza storyline is the most prevalent storyline in the first two volumes, with Hojo dealing with his yakuza mentor and a new women Deputy Chief in love with him, I found the politicial parts more interesting, probably deriving from the fact I know nothing about japanese politics so the whole thing seems new to me. However that doesn’t mean the yakuza parts were boring. I love seeing the dichotomy in crime between murdering people and helping others, like Hojo paying for his subordinate’s son’s operation.

The Drawing style is incredibly realistic. This is no ” moe ” manga for sure. Every pretty Yakuza, ugly old politician, graphic murder, and random sex scene are drawn beautifuly in that oddly familiar realism I somehow expect from older manga. The most surreal part so far was an old politician asking Asami to join him for a threesome with a young women with the quote ” You can’t become a politician if you’re embarrassed to show your ass. “. Yeah I bet that’s politically uncorrect. The whole series is nine volumes so I’ll be picking up some more when I can and reviewing them. If you enjoy mature, more serious, or older manga definately look around to pick this up.

On a unrelated note the best part of the House season premiere was the preview. ” The lab said it couldn’t identify the metal the chip is made of.-Really?-No you idiot it’s titanium. ” Lol your a funny man House.