Otakuism

The ending to Kaiji is getting a lot of flack from people, which is understandable. It’s only slightly more conclusive than Akagi’s ending, which is really saying something. However, when looking at the manga for Kaiji this is to be expected. There’s a lot more of Kaiji’s story than the anime could of told, so they had to end it somewhere. At least it wasn’t mid-game like Akagi. The other element of the ending people don’t like is that Kaiji basically ends the show as a loser. He’s lost everything he started the show with, even a few body parts. However, whenever Kaiji gets knocked down he comes back that much stronger. The man at the end of the series is a far cry from the naive youth at the beginning. The earlier Kaiji would have begged for his fingers to be spared, but the new Kaiji took it like a man, receiving the repercussions of his own decision. Physically and financially Kaiji is beaten, but his mind is even stronger, and the show promises us he’ll come back to win.

At the beginning it was easy to compare Akagi to Kaiji: same author, same studio, same production team, etc. But Kaiji is very different from Akagi in once crucial way: that Kaiji is a fallible human being. Akagi is perfect in everything he does, and the thrill from watching him comes from wondering not if he’ll win, but how badly will he beat his opponent. Kaiji, however, is never assured success. By the rules of anime the viewer knows he has to win most of the time, but never all of the time and always at great cost. Kaiji loses his dignity in rock, paper, scissors; his friends in the human derby, and his ear in E-Card, all to attain a victory he is denied at the end. But Kaiji still grows as a character, learns from his mistakes, grows a backbone, and becomes just as much as a badass as Akagi, who never really had to grow because he was one all along.

Aside from the strength of Kaiji’s character, the show did a great job with the supporting cast, from the villainous Andou to the noble friend Ishida. None were very deeply fleshed out, but the show did a good job in explaining who these guys were and how they were different from Kaiji. Hyoudou is just as much of a villainous old bastard as Washizu is, and it’s a shame we don’t get to see his comeuppance here unlike Washizu. However, I do think Kaiji suffered in its very unorthodox gambles. Mahjong is an easy game to scheme over and get excited about. Rock, paper, scissors; human derby, E-card, tissue box raffle, not so much. I’ll give Kaiji credit for making these gambles interesting most of the time, but the middle episodes between human derby and E-card really seemed to drag. There are two more manga series to Kaiji, which unlike Akagi is finished, so hopefully we will see more of Kaiji in the future, and finally see him grasp true victory.

Wait, what? ANN reports that the Haruhi novels are finally coming to the English world - officially, that is - via Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. I’m going to take a shot in the dark here, but I’m guessing they don’t handle translating super popular Japanese novels much. On the other hand, this is a joint acquisition with Yen Press, which is a bit better I guess, though the only thing I really know about Yen Press is that they’re publishing Hidamari Sketch this summer. Frankly I’m shocked someone like Tokyopop, Viz, or even Seven Seas didn’t get them. Though, with a more official publisher with more money behind them, maybe we won’t have to worry about insane wait times and shoddy post-modern covers. Still have to wait a year, though.

Why are there four different sub groups for Kanokon? IT’S FREAKIN’ KAN-O-KON! There’s not really that much plot in between all the fanservice to understand. I know, some people want to watch this show, but only one group should suffice for them. Ideally, all these wasted translators could spend their time subbing things I actually want - Xabungle, Dragonar, Layzner, Kuuga, Agito, Might Gaine, J-Decker - and various other shows that send me into fanboyish glee. Even more ideally, I would actually know Japanese, but reality doesn’t work that way. Curse you, Reality!

They’re like four feet away from each other! How do you miss then? Ok, Suzaku was probably planning to kidnap Lelouch from the beginning, but Lelouch has no excuse. The leader of a prominent terrorist group doesn’t need to learn how to protect himself, right?

SPINNING BASTARD KICK!

Bunny suits: the official uniform of the United States of Japan. Nippon Banzai!

Oh great, now the Lancelot recolor has teleportation powers. Sakuradite must be Trans-am and G-Stone all rolled up into one.

Wow, this guy’s voice is annoying. “He” really does sound like an eunuch.

Man, I love Diethard. That’s one crazy Zero fanboy. Him and Kallen need to have a bitch fight at some point.

Best scene with Kugimiya Rie ever, or BEST SCENE WITH Kugimiya Rie EVER?! This is how you do trashy fanservice right. Forget Kanokon, To Love-ru, and whatever other sub par fanservice show is starting this season. They’ll just put you to sleep. Mnemosyne has you covered with loli rape, strippers, and breasts with the nipples showing. Of course, This episode also continues to feature the other staples of Mnemosyne, like not-so-subtle guro and exaggerated violence. If you loved it before, you’ll love it even more here. If episode one made you just throw up, then it’s fine to continue tuning out.

Plot wise, things still don’t make too much since, aside from a few hints such as how the main sadistic bastard eats the time seeds and that eating a time seed causes one to be stuck in the same state forever. So if one is sick, being immortally sick isn’t very nice, as the piercing lady from episode one found out. One does get a cool power suit, though. I’ll admit Maeno’s death made me sad. It’s not like we’ve known him long, but I find any instance of the straight-laced character with a family getting killed is usually sad. Only three more episodes left, but the next sure looks fun with some crazy costume play. Am I talking about sex or not? Who knows. God, I love this show.

Ok, so many of you probably have no idea what this is. Back when Gurren-Lagann ended there were a few threads on /m/ on how awesome it would be to have Kamina and Kittan as police officers in the afterlife. It was called Garhalla Vice (cause, you know, everyone in GL goes to Garhalla). Eventually people realized it’d be better to just make it all in an alternate universe, and a true /m/an stepped forward to actually draw the thing. That /m/an is captainosaka, and true to his word Double K has become a reality. View the first four pages and other promo art here. I hope this is the awesome beginning to many epic things to come.

This ED is much better, though I find it funny how Kotoko does the OP to every maid anime now.

At least the fanservice comedy here didn’t put me to sleep like Kanokon. That’s really the best thing I can say about this show now, cause everything else is just a bit meh. The set up is interesting and Maid Guy is an awesome character idea, but instead the show focuses on Naeka’s breasts most of the time. The comedy that doesn’t focus on breasts is good and hopefully they’ll focus on that, though the OP does hint at some SERIOUS PLOT later on. The animation switches between “average” and “what’s wrong with their chins?” and this from a guy who finds nothing wrong with Akagi. Some of the off-kilter proportions of Kamen no Maid Guy are truly frightening. I’m going to give this show a couple episodes because I do genially like the premise, but my attempts at actually watching fanservice comedy shows usually don’t work well. We’ll see how this goes. The ED truly is awesome, though.

It’s a fox!

I really like the feel of Wagaya no Oinari-sama. Everything about it just clicks for me. I love this kind of stuff: ancient japanese magic, shintoism, miko’s, gods, etc. Part of the reason I like Touhou so much, too. Kuu-chan is also a great main character, dripping with both sarcasm and infectious enthusiasm. As to be expected from Yukana, who manages to be completely different from C.C. while still throwing in a couple huskily sexy lines. Kou-chan is the more reserved girl, but is fun too in different ways. The hiding on the luggage rack on the train was just hilarious. I can’t wait to see how modern life affects her. Wagaya no Oinari-sama is adapted from a light novel series, and I remember a certain blogger from a while ago raving about them, which is why I watched the show in the first place. Sadly I can’t remember who it was (last time I checked that blog might of disappeared actually), but I can fully understand why they love the series now. It’s a good premise with a couple stand out characters, so it’ll be really interesting to see how things go from here.