Otakuism

P.S. Kuu-chan’s voice is pure sex.

Teh Rei, in all her 1.01 beauty.

It’s amazing how easy it is to slip back into Evangelion. I haven’t watched the series in a couple years, but the sights (Shinji on the fog-shrouded mountain is still iconic to me), the sounds (hello cicadas), everything is as clear as the first time you saw it. Really, Rebuild of Evangelion is a treat for Eva fans. One can enjoy it without being familiar with the series, but for those already familiar it’s just pure, perfect nostalgia, like coming back to an old friend after a long time.

FUCK YEAH RAMIEL!

Rebuild of Eva 1.01 is an almost perfect compilation of the first six episodes, so the overall plot is very familiar, but it’s the little things that make it fun. The movie opens with a view of the blood red sea, conjuring up images of the End of Eva and really setting the apocalyptic tone of the series even more. Tokyo-3 is really a literal fortress here, with every building hiding masses of gun turrets and missiles. Shinji still has that stupid tape player, even after all these years, and the movie goes to a constant effort to show Shinji in his headphones, emphasizing early on his social anxiety. The real joy is the Ramiel battle, with Ramiel’s constant geometric shifting and lasers a real feast for the eyes. Operation Yashima is rendered all the more impressive in its scale, and rightly serves as the climax of the film. The CG was mostly rendered well throughout, and my only complaint with the animation is that the night time scenes appeared exceptionally dark, but that might of been my monitors fault.

No, no naked Kaowru!

So, what would a good eva movie be without throwing some mindfuck at its audience? Rebuild features a couple such occasions, with Misato showing Shinji a nailed Lilith underground with the Sachiel mask instead of the Seele mask. And then, at the very end, Kaowru is woken up on the moon from a coffin in front of a lilith-giant with the Seele mask, who might be Adam. Talk about confusing. I thought a very cool touch was also where, after Eva-01’s hands are burned by Shamiel, they appear perfectly human under all that armor, complete with nails. The trailer for the second movie is even more tantalizing, promising unique versions of Eva-05 and 06. Who cares about the glasses girl. I want to see those other bad boys in action. The wait between these movies is really going to kill me, especially if they start pulling out some epic twists and turns. And, frankly, who else is disappointed in the lack of the original OP and ED? Utada Hikaru is good and all, but I need some “Fly Me to the Moon” to complete my perfect Eva experience, cause, really, what is Evangelion without Frank Sinatra? Just a bunch of emo pilots in out-of-control robots, that’s what.

Voluptuous giantess bombshell…

and fiery tsun-tsun loli? The Zentradi have to be the best species in the universe. They have their priorities straight.

For providing meaningless bits of background information in almost perfect english. Really, hardly a bit of engrish in sight. Of course, this just makes what the hell is Britannia more confusing. Not only is there a House of Lords (IN AMERICA), but places like Tennessee and Virginia still exist. And yay for the brief mention of Charlottesville, which is only about sixty miles from where I live. It’s always interesting to find little parts of your life mentioned in anime. So is Britannia a constitutional monarchy or a fascist dictatorship with the trappings of liberalism? It’s funny how everyone likes to compare Britannia to America, when in reality it really is a fascist government. The strong central government, secret police, glorification of the state and the past, anti-communism, and an ideology that deems other peoples inferior are all there. The Emperor is actually just Hitler, but with a cooler laugh and no wimpy mustache.

Aside from all that, another great episode. Lelouch’s mindfuck was at an all time high, managing to screw all of his enemies, gain a new ally, and still make people believe he’s actually a student. I still wonder where Lelouch got his mad Knightmare skills from. Now, he’s a far cry from any kind of ace - probably the least skilled pilot in any mecha series ever - but it still takes some knowledge to be able to snowboard, especially with how clunky the Burai looks. (Now, Shinji may be even worse than Lelouch. Depends on if its the manga, the movies, or if he’s having a neurotic breakdown at the moment.)

And guns are complicated. This is why sex appeal is the ultimate weapon.

Let me just say this to begin with, that this past week and this coming week are terrible times for me to blog. I’ve been severely swamped by real life, so watching anything really is a luxury at this point. Things should be back to normal once May starts, though. Now onto the anime I’ve actually managed to watch.

The sole reason I decided to search out Penguin Musume Heart is because of its vibrant design and fanservice. Fortunately, Penguin provided me not only with some nice fanservice but also a spastic off-the-wall comedy. At first I thought the main girl Penguin was voiced by Yukari Fukui, as it really sounds like a mixture of her Nono and Nia voices. However, she is actually voiced by relative newcomer Azusa Kataoka, who’s hyper moe voice is also pretty fun to listen to. The show reminds me a lot of Paniponi Dash, with the mile-a-minute action and many random references. I counted Harlock, mahou shoujo in general, Pretty Cure, Manabi, Gundam, and Touhou. Oh, and there’s…

KAMEN RIDER! I have to give any show that references Kamen Rider at least a couple episodes. The only other character we really see is Etorofu, who’s dynamite punch is truly something fearful. There’s a lot of other characters in the OP who we’ll hopefully see soon. Sadly, every episode is just thirteen minutes long. Despite how fast everything goes I would still enjoy it more if it was longer. Still a fun, quirky show overall.

Nabari no Ou is the only show I’ve ever seen to do ninja’s right. They’re stealthy bastards who actually SNEAK around to kill people. This makes all the difference, never mind that Nabari no Ou has like the exact same plot as Naruto. The fighting is very fast and stylish, and that’s probably the best thing about the show. The rest is a mixed bag. The character designs are even more noodly than Code Geass somehow, with ridiculously proportioned limbs. Miharu is funny when he pulls the trap joke, cause he really does seem like a girl, but his quiet act the rest of the time is pretty annoying. Thobari and Raimei are both fun characters, but there’s not really a lot of depth so far. Overall I feel the show is pretty average, but there’s a lot of promise here that drags me in, I just hope it doesn’t get wasted.

Isn’t that where we all want to be?

Finally got my hands on the first boxset for the series and marathoned the first five episodes. It’s a surprisingly addicting series, full of intrigue and action from the start. Zeta Gundam is the sequel to the original Gundam, set in 0087 where the Earth Federation has transformed into the fascist Titans and only the resistance group AEUG stands in their way. The very first episode offers an immediate surprise to gundam fans when the AEUG ace is shown to be Char Aznable - one of the main villains of the original Gundam - here known as Quattro Bajeena and sporting a ridiculous pair of eighties sunglasses. The real main character of the show is the angry youth Kamille Bidan. Like every other gundam protagonist he’s angry, smart, a newtype, and annoying. The guy yells for most of the first episodes, though he does have very good reason to.

The animation is very solid for the mid-eighties. Some of the designs are a little funny, especially the multiple chins on various Titans officers, but the rest is very good. The battles, which really matter, are also great and I love new designs, especially the Rick Dias. The only disappointing thing so far is that somehow Bandai failed to get the song rights for the OP and ED, so they’re replaced by instrumentals. The new songs aren’t exactly bad, though I wonder why the OP sounds like the Gunbuster march, but a far cry from the original OP. Zeta Gundam so far is a true joy for a fan like me to watch, and I can’t wait to see how everything develops.