Otakuism

Usually I buy my manga and anime goods here and there instead of bulk, but recently Rightstuf had some deals I couldn’t ignore and I ended buying some manga and games I’ve been meaning to get for a while. Actually only took a week in shipping, which is pretty surprising to me, seeing as how it took them TWO MONTHS to ship my Giant Robo boxset. I really need to review that soon.

So there’s most of what I got, sans Phantom of Inferno because that wasn’t in stock. Hopefully I won’t have to wait two months for it.

Tsukihime V. 1-3: I’ve been meaning to get these ever since I played Tsukihime, but never quite got around to it. My local Barnes&Noble didn’t have them, so I just ended up pushing the purchase off even more. They’re pretty nice, with only the first volume suffering from some weak binding and printing issues. The stories great so far, following the game almost perfectly. The Nero Chaos vs. Nanaya Shiki fight was one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in manga. Probably will review them this weekend.

Loveless V.3: Because there’s no way in hell I would feel comfortable buying this in a store. Damn homoerotic covers.

Scrapped Princess V.2: Another excellent series my Barnes&Noble won’t carry.

Eternal Alice Rondo V.2: See above.

Ever17: For being a visual novel fanatic I have never played any of Hirameki’s games, so this is a first for me. This is supposed to be the best one out there, so I’ll see out it goes. But look at this:

This game has four discs! How the hell long is this thing? It took me two months to finish Tsukihime, and this one has two main characters. I have a feeling I’ll be playing this for a while. They really could of made the first case’s cover different. So if you don’t hear from me for a week assume Ever17 is so good that I’ve become addicted to it.

P.S. Code Geass OST 2 is all remixs, and not particularly good ones at that. Kind of dissapointing really.

All of this news was gotten at that most godly of animebloggers, Moetron.

Oh man, there’s been so much awesome news today. First, ARIA is going to get an OVA called ~ARIETTA~. I have no idea what it’s about and I don’t care. Something has to be going right in the world if there’s more ARIA. Granted, I haven’t seen the rest of NATURAL yet, but this is still awesome. Can’t wait to see Neo-Venezia in full hi-def OVA quality. Now if only it could be an Alice-centric OVA…

A second bit of news that is awesome to me, mainly as a TM fanboy. Kara no Kyokai, instead of getting one movie, will be split into seven parts to correspond with the seven parts of the book. All I got to say is HELL YEAH! Ever since I heard about the movie adaption I was worried about how they would in all the intricacies of the story into one movie. Now I don’t have to worry about that. With an episode devoted to each chapter, even if it is only a hour long, I don’t think any of it will be rushed for time. I wonder how the release schedule will be, like one every month or just all released at once, and if they’re still going to be in theaters or only on DVD?

Some other random bits: School Days is going to start this July. I greatly look forward to this, because loli’s jealously slashing out the necks of their lover with saws can never be bad. In fact, I would say it’s awesome. As long as they don’t do a reset like Higurashi, because that ruined any amount of blood-letting the show had. Peach-Pit’s Zombie Loan is getting an anime adaption. I wonder if this one will lean to the Rozen Maiden side or DearS side. If Rozen Maiden, awesome; if DearS, then I’m not touching it with a ten-foot stick.

And because Code Geass 22 has aired, I want to say ‘Holy Shit Euphie’s got a gun! And is killing women and children with it!’ Is this awesome? [Y] [N] [Genuflect]

Eh, so now she’s an exhibitionist? Hawt. I can live with that. And Hiro has sexy rolls of fat. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Boin, Boin indeed.

Code Geass takes a break from political intrigue and campy melodrama to bring us some school festival fun! Cause there’s nothing better than seeing your favorite characters running around doing stupid shit. Unless it’s Cecile, who looks incredibly cute knocking guys out with a hammer. All in all it was a pretty fun episode, with the usual ‘ Will they find out his identity? Will they find out her identity? Will they find out my identity? ‘ cliche’s. Not to say this episode failed from a plot standpoint. There was plenty of plot in there, with a pretty nice cliff-hanger too. Time for me to go over it all with a fine-toothed comb and see what wild speculations I can come up with.

Take me to your freshly baked pizza.

Oh god, it’s Orange-kun! Ok, had to get that out of the way. At least we know he’s alive and, well, hibernating in orange juice. It will just be a matter of time before he comes out all mutated to kill everyone. Or die a measly death. C.C. was irresistibly cute the whole episode. She truly is an addict with her drug of choice being that always delicious fresh baked crust. I find it awesome how she’ll just go outside and demand people for pizza. She didn’t even know it was Lelouch when she first talked to him! Diethard continues to work in the background, acting as Zero’s second-in-command while basically using Sayoko to spy on him. He says all he wants to do is watch Zero, but I can’t help but think he has ulterior motives. Or maybe it’s because I rewatched Gankutsuou and keep thinking of Diethard as The Count. A little of both I guess. I can’t wait to see Lelouch’s reaction when he reveals Sayoko as a spy the whole time. More emo face contortions from Lelouch are always fun. On another small note, Shirley seems to want to talk to Lelouch about something very urgently. His real identity perhaps? I doubt she really thinks Lelouch is Zero, but that’s not going to stop her from asking. Hopefully we’ll see that before the end of the season.

Code Geass ~Only Love~

In Sunrise world, sunglasses=best disguise evar. No way will people notice your distinctly colored hair or ultra short and hip-hugging miniskirt. Have some decency Princess.

Ogi and Viletta make a great couple, probably the only believable and healthy couple in all of CG, aside from the whole amnesia thing. Ogi looks to be trying to get Viletta’s memories back, but is that really a great idea? Does he know she’s a britannian? I don’t know if it’s obvious or not or if she told him before she fainted. It’s going to be a sad day when Viletta does get her memory back, and it is going to happen. I only hope there will be some lingering feeling for Ogi, hopefully enough for her not to kill him. Or maybe we’ll have an epic Ogi vs. Orange battle for Viletta’s hand. Who cares about Lelouch vs. Suzaku? Let’s watch some real men fight. Euphiemia continues to show her stupidity in creating a new special administration area. ” As long as we call them Japanese, all the racism and discrimination of a decade disappear, right? ” Well, at least I know that this will go terribly wrong for her, *massive spoilers* not only with a massacre but also her death at Lulu’s hands according to the latest spoiler *massive spoilers*. Suzaku’s reaction to all this will be critical in these later episodes, as the true battle between him and Lulu heats up.

Love is over.

Right now I don’t know if this season is going to end on a cliff-hanger, but I want it to go something like this: Nunnally is somehow killed, either through Lulu’s actions or others, causing Lulu to go insane and order the destruction of everything. Or at least kill Cornelia. Everything going to hell is the only way season 1 can really end I think. Nunnally might live, but I can’t see her living the whole series. Her role as motivation for Lulu is key and she has to die for him really to become a villian and go after the Emporer. I’ll just have to wait and see what these final episodes bring I guess. Still have no idea when 24 and 25 are airing.

Full Size

Now, I’m not a Harutard or anything like that, but even I have to admit that that’s one of the most awesome things I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen many awesome things in my time). It’s all great, from Haruhi’s punk outfit and taut stomach, to Yuki looking ready to rock in that weird space jacket and miniskirt, Mikuru looking all sexy in pink and fishnet stockings, and even Tsuruya just letting her hair blow in the wind. There’s even Ryouko in there. It’s all undeniably sexy and awesome. Except for Itsuki, of course, who looks to be staring up Mikuru’s skirt, but that can’t be right. And I don’t know why Kyon seems to be cosplaying as Iori from King of Fighters. I have no idea what songs are on this, but I’m going to hazard a guess at Hare Hare Yukai and Welcome to the UNKNOWN. This is also apparently a vinyl cover, which while awesome in a retro way, really shows how massive the merchandising of Haruhi is. I’m getting really excited for that second season now…

Recently I was looking over Zero’s posts on tokusatsu (special effects live-action) series, which I admit sounded kind of cool. Since the winter season was disappointing as hell to me I needed something new to watch, and why not try a new medium all together? First I watched some of Kamen Rider Den-O, a pretty fun series btw, and then downloaded a less-known tokusatsu series, Garo. Garo was apparently a tokusatsu series made for adults, airing late at night and filled with more violence, and, hell, even some nudity. After watching the first two episodes of Garo, all I have to say is ‘ why didn’t someone tell me tokusatsu could be so awesomely badass? ‘

In the world of Garo there exists evil demons known as Horrors that possess and eat humans. Ever since the Horrors have existed there have been the Makai Knights who hunt them. Garo is about a particular Makai Knight, Saejima Kouga, your usual stoic badass kind of guy who can transform into a golden armor form to kick Horror ass. Reminds me of Soma Cruz from Dawn of Sorrow, just because he also wears a large, white pimp coat. Mitsuki Kaoru is a young struggling artist just opening her first exhibition. Too bad the gallery owner is possessed by a Horror who wants to rape and eat her. That’s when Kouga comes in to save the day. He uses his badass sword skills and final attack to kill the Horror, whose blood splashes all over Kaoru. Since the blood of the Horror has touched Kaoru, she is now tainted and marked for elimination. Kouga relents however, rationalizing that her tainted blood will draw more Horrors to her, making his job easier. Of course, he actually likes her, but he’s not going to admit it.

I’ve always been wary of tokusatsu series. I’m of the opinion that something that looks good in anime can’t possibly look good in real life. Garo has proved me wrong completely. It manages to have excellent fight scenes fitting a fantasy series, with jumps, charges, and many sword slashes. All the fights are top notch, looking like something Chow Yun Fat or Jet Li would do. There’s a liberal use of CG, of course, but it doesn’t look so out of place to detract from the show. It can look a little weird at times, especially when the Horrors are eating humans by sucking their skin, but there’s a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that has to go with tokusatsu I guess. There’s only a few characters right now, but they’re all pretty interesting. I’m not one to judge acting, but it all seems okay. Definately better than the acting in Kamen Rider Den-O. The show has a wonderful dark atmosphere, a sense of claustrophobia and lurking horror that comes across perfectly in the setting. The show reminds me a lot of Shana for some reason. There’s no loli, of course, but the whole hidden war in the shadows reminds me of it, and Kouga has a talking ring he talks to a lot, just like Alastor. Not that I’m saying there will be any melonpan eating tsundere in the show anytime soon.

Garo has taken all my expectations of what could be done in a live-action television series and completely blown them away. It’s story is interesting, the fight scenes are excellent, and the CG blends almost perfectly. It’s also only 25-episodes, so I don’t think it’s going to be a never-ending villian of the week thing like Kamen Rider. I’ve only watched two episodes so far, but I can’t wait to see the rest. If your at all curious about the tokusatsu genre then check out Garo. It’s a solid action series all around for anime and non-anime fans alike. It’s been subbed completely by TV-Nihon. Oh, and the OP is done by Jam Project, so you know it’s made of HOT BLOOD and AWESOME.

And so the dream ends. A fitting conclusion to an overall perfect series, though, I found it lacking in places. I don’t like how the episode tried to cover almost a two year time span in 24 minutes. While it was nice to see the gang grow-up, I thought it was weird how it would take Yuuichi that long to figure out how to wake Ayu up, or that Mai would withhold her clue for almost a year. Or, hell, why did Akiko wait so long to tell Yuuichi Ayu was still alive? I prefer Toei’s way of doing it, which was quick and to the point. All Ayu needed to wake up was for Yuuichi to be by her side. And why did Ayu need the wheelchair at the end? Realistically speaking maybe she would need it, but this is anime. I don’t want it to be realistic. Toei also did that better, showing a smiling Ayu running at the end.

There were also a little too many miracles this episode for my liking. Oh, Akiko’s all better now! Must be a miracle. Oh, Mai and Sayuri healed faster than normal! Must be a miracle. Oh, Shiori’s not dying anymore! Must be a miracle. That in the end all the miracles were linked back to Ayu’s wish was fitting, showing how much Ayu loved Yuuichi, but it wasn’t necessary. It’s not like Mai and Sayuri’s injuries were that serious, and Mai could of just used her healing powers. In Shiori’s case, I always thought it was implied that all Shiori needed to get better was the love of her sister. Kind of cheapened that. And Akiko could of still been in the hospital recovering. I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, but that’s how toei did it. Having Nayuki take care of her mom in the hospital and discovering Ayu was alive that way. Though, that takes the fun out thinking of Akiko has the mastermind behind everything.

Oh god Mai is moe!

I know it sounds like I hated the final episode, but it wasn’t that bad. Really the highlight was seeing everyone again. Shiori in school clothes, Kaori and Kitagawa, Mai cosplaying as Yuki, etc. I liked how it hinted at where everyone’s lives were going. The animation seemed a touch better too. I loved the scenes of the town and how it changed through the seasons. Could it of been handled better? Sure. I feel it was too ambitious of Kyoani to try and cover such a long length of time realistically. Maybe that was how the game handled it, but I doubt that was the case. At least Kyoani managed to wrap all the important aspects up in the end.

Overall, Kanon was a success, one of the most perfect adaptions possible. It included every bit of story it could, surprising me in some places where I thought I knew what would happen. The animation was gorgeous with truly breath-taking scenes of a snow-covered town. There’s not much snow in winter where I live, so that was a real treat. All the girls were undeniably moe, with their own cute mannerisms and noises. I learned more about each of them, too. I came to appreciate Mai’s story more and the tragedy in it. Makoto’s is still my favorite, both storywise and character-wise. There’s just something about the tsundere foxgirl that gets to me. I hope it’s not her reqressing to a child at the end. That’d be pretty bad on my part. So Kanon fulfilled what is set out to do, adapt a game even better than previous attempts. There are some bumps in there, but I think it succeeded on all counts. A definite watch for any anime fan. I doubt it will be licensed, though, and spread to a larger audience. Not that it matters to me anyways.

Guess now I have Lucky Stars to look forward to from Kyoani, along with a Clannad adaption sometime in October. That will be nice to watch, since I don’t know Clannad’s story at all. Man, Kyoani really needs to animate a shounen fighting series. They do such awesome fight scenes, but they go to waste in all these eroge adaptions. Not that that’s a bad thing.

And so shall life continue Kanon-less…