Otakuism

More of my random thoughts as I watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Beware even more galactic-sized spoilers ahead.

While Norio Wakamoto is best known today for his roles as the booming voice of God (The Emperor in Code Geass and the narrator in Hayate no Gokou) he actually has a staring role in LOGH as the brooding genius Reuental. The guy is pretty messed up to put it lightly. His mother tried to kill him as soon as he was born, because he was an illegitimate child, which has left him with a misogynist attitude towards women ever since. Reuental evolves a lot through this section as he gains more power, while also hinting that if the situation warrants it he may try to sieze the throne himself. I also think you can hear Norio Wakamoto evolve through his performance with Reuental, as he goes from rather subdued in the beginning to a more familiar voice of arrogant authority right now.

Ep.61 is the culmination of a series of events that saw Yang kidnapped by his own government as a scape goat. Of course Yang can’t be done in yet so his loyal followers have to come in and rescue him. Frederica is awesome here as she arrives in the nick of time to shoot Yang’s would-be executioner. Despite being a soldier I never really thought she could kill someone, but it really shows how much she loves Yang. The Rosenritter are also once again badass here, as they basically take on an entire army and win.

LOGH has a weird sense of humor. Pirate Attenborough is an example of that. I guess he’s dressed like that cause he has to steal a few ships, but it’s never even mentioned again. But it does really fit Attenborough’s personality.

When it comes to hand to hand fighting LOGH doesn’t pull any punches in showing the pure brutality of battle. The worse fighting in the show yet comes in ep.63 as the Empire raids the Terraist Cult’s compound. It’s insane as the cult members jump armored men with knives, blow up halls to crush everyone, trap people in rooms with themselves and release poison gas, and eventually blow the whole place up. Even the hardened soldiers remark on how absolutely insane all of this is. It’s another one of those oddly prescient moments in LOGH that makes you think it was hinting at the future even though it’s all based on events in the past, but the theme of LOGH is that history repeats itself.

I like how LOGH doesn’t leave plot threads hanging. If it says a certain element is going to come back you know it’s going to come back, even if it takes thirty episodes for it to happen. When Yang last abandoned Iserlohn he left a special surprise for the Empire, along with an actual surprise of timed bombs that he knew they would discover anyways. Well, when the battle to retake Iserlohn again comes around it turns out that the real surprise was a changed password that lets Yang’s fleet take control of Iserlohn from the outside. I’m glad to see a show with such foresight.

I love old men characters. They’re usually such honorable guys, and if they’re better than the protagonist you can count on them being old badasses too. LOGH also loves old men and one of the best is Alliance Admiral Bucock, who serves his country, despite its failures, to the very end. He goes into battle with Reinhard’s fleet knowing he will lose, but it’s enough to allow Yang some time to win. His final toast is epic as he says that Yang could be Reinhard’s friend but not his subordinate, and that democracy is making good friends on equal terms, not good subordinate relationships. I think that really strikes Reinhard, cause he has been without a friend since Kicheis’s death and you can see how that loneliness sometimes drives him to extreme decisions. Dying while drinking on an exploding ship is also one of the best ways to go in my opinion.

The epic three-part Battle of the Corridor really shows Yang at his best, as his vastly inferior fleet basically owns Reinhard. My only problem with it is Fischer’s death, another old badass. Fischer isn’t as smart as Yang but is acknowledged as the best at fleet maneuvers, and his death is a strong blow to Yang’s morale. But his death isn’t even shown, just mentioned after some harsh fighting. The guy wasn’t that important, but I liked him enough to want to see how he went out. And I had to laugh at the end of the battle, as everyone basically manages to only walk a few step into Iserlohn before collapsing. It’s funny to see all these great soldiers just laying in the middle of hallways fast asleep.

LOGH has the worst previews ever. Don’t watch them as they seriously spoil everything. The preview for ep.82 tells you straight out that Yang dies. I had read some things about ep.82 being really sad and had a vague idea that they might kill Yang off, but it seemed insane for a show defined by the antagonism between two characters to kill one of them off, but they do it. Yang is killed by more of those vile Terraist bastards. Blumehart is pretty badass trying to protect Yang, though, as I think he kills over fifty guys with just a handgun.

Julian also gets a chance to go berseker over everyone’s asses, so that helps somewhat. I have no idea how the show is going to maintain its tension without Yang to act as Reinhard’s foil, but this far in I’m not going to doubt that LOGH has more surprises to pull. Only 25 episodes left to go.

In toy form. For the curious Norio Wakamoto does do the voices for the henshin devices Rey Kivat and Arc Kivat in the Kamen Rider Kiva movie. I guess Code Geass doesn’t get all the bills paid.

Story:

In Tristan City science and magic co-exist. Magic can only be used by special sorcerers through the use of Molds, special armor that keeps magic power in check. If the Molds fail then the user will use too much magic and turn into a Demon. Tactical Sorcerers are special Mold Users who eliminate Demon threats. Both admired and feared for their power, they are called Strait Jackets. Rayott Steinberg is a rogue Strait Jacket shunned by the authorities for his dark past and out of control fighting style. But with Demon attacks on the rise due to the mysterious Ottoman terrorist group Rayott finds himself fighting once again, both against demons and his sins.

The Good:

I love the setting for Strait Jacket. It reminds me of Demonbane a lot with the mixture of science and technology. It’s cool to see that magic is in a way subservient to technology here. The mold armors are very cool, especially with the big guns and heavy firepower they carry around. It’s all very steampunkish, which is good cause there’s a real lack of that subgenre in anime, somewhat surprisingly.

The Demons in the show are designed to be very grotesque monsters, and they definitely succeed there. Some of the most bizarre and frightening monsters designs I’ve seen are featured in this show. Especially got to like the giant mutant flower with two human arms as legs, a face on the front, and a noh mask on the back that sings opera.

Strait Jacket is composed of three episodes. The first two are mostly introduction of characters, the world, etc. with a lot of fighting thrown in. It’s interesting in a way but not the most exciting stuff. Episode three then kicks everything up a notch, killing an important character and sending another one on a merciless personal vendetta that ends in a great duel. I thought the story was trying to go for something epic but the more personal story actually works a lot better for the show. It has a lot of emotional intensity that a larger, more complicated plot would of lacked.

The Bad:

Despite the strong third episode Strait Jacket is still a rather cliche story. On a deep level there’s nothing that hasn’t been done before, whether it be a reluctant hero with a dark past or too much power turning people into monsters. Taken on its own terms the show can be a good bit of divergent fun, but there’s nothing really unique here aside from the aesthetics.

I like that the story manages to wrap almost everything up in three episodes, unlike a lot of other OVA’s, but I really wished there was more. The setting is so good that I would love to see a thirteen episode series to flesh everything out. Strait Jacket is good on its own but it really feels like it should be part of something much larger.

The Cute:

Rayott’s loli assistant Kapel Theta. Yes, that’s her name. She’s some kind of weird demon offspring, which means she has these two glowing orbs on her forehead. This leads to some weird shots, as one minute she’s looking all cute and stuff and the next she’s just a dark shadow with four red glowing eyes where her head should be. The story doesn’t get around to answering everything about her but there’s definitely something weird there.

Overall:

A decent story in a great setting. Not bad for some escapist fun but really could be much more than it is.

I don’t think killing your father is so much a childish action as a sociopathic one. There’s a key difference there.

CG finally caters to the hypnosis fetish sect. In all seriousness, is Marianne possessing Anya’s loli body and wanting to rape C.C. not the weirdest plot twist yet? Were there any crazy theories out there that even saw this coming at all? Not only that, but Marianne also acts like some giddy high school girl about to go out on the town when she’s really probably plotting for some evil aliens. This is the person Lelouch has been trying to avenge? Did he meet her at all? Truly CG is unpredictable now.

The evil Geass Penguins are the true third faction in this battle. Fleeing Jupiter millenia ago, they flew through interstellar space on their wings of light, which rendered them useless in a real atmosphere. They now plot to cover the Earth in ice so they can move to the equator and enjoy tropic beaches FOREVER!

There’s another plot hole covered up. Or maybe they just finally took the time to lampshade it.

“Coup d’etat you say? Capital idea. Lackey, set things in motion. I’m going to go have some Earl Gray while I ruminate on my best evil laugh.”

Suzaku has effectively achieved the most pathetic retreat in anything ever.

I just love Lelouch’s ostentsious display of fabulousness here. Not only did he have to geass all those guys into that formation, but if you also notice there’s no one around to even see it! Lelouch is great this episode as everyone else is running around trying to figure out what’s going on, and he’s just like “Lol I’m gonna fuck your shit up now.” Lelouch with no morals is truly the best Lelouch.

So all the animation budget for this episode went into animating two giant CG pillars of rotating poo? Great, just great.

The live-action Detroit Metal City movie comes out today. I’ve absolutely devoured everything related to DMC in the last couples days, mainly by reading all of the manga that is translated so far. It’s brilliantly hilarious and I can wait to see how it all comes out animated. While it’s hard to see how some of it would come out in live-action, I’ve found that Japanese comedy is really best when dealing with insane subjects like DMC (see Densha Otoko). They even put Gene Simmons in as Jack Il Dark! Too bad it will probably be another half a year before I have a chance to see this movie, hopefully subbed. What’s with the long release times between movies and DVD’s in Japan?

The other reason I’ve been so obsessed with DMC is that there is absolutely nothing interesting going on in anime right now. I’m only following two shows, Code Geass and Macross Frontier, that have regular releases, and with Macross Frontier that’s iffy cause I only follow lunar subs. If my blogging becomes sporadic it’s just because there’s nothing worth talking about. Get here faster fall season; I need you for entertainment!

It’s a shame I can’t find a version with subbed lyrics.

I’m not a fan of black metal, but as a fan of power metal, hair metal, and Spinal Tap I can say that Detroit Metal City is one of the most awesome anime to come out ever. It’s basic premise is just insane. Negishi, a completely innocent, swedish pop loving musician, somehow becomes Krauser II, lead for the over the top black metal band Detroit Metal City. It’s not that Negishi has multiple personalities or anything (he could though) but that he’s too nice to quite DMC. So instead of writing songs about love and sweaters he has to do songs about killing his parents, rape, serial killers, etc. Add in even crazier fans, one bizarre manager, and the many misunderstandings that ensue and you’ve got comedy gold.

DMC is the best music parody since This is Spinal Tap. The whole episode was hilarious because despite all the crazy elements a lot of it is true. Krauser II eating raw bats summons Ozzy Osbourne to mind. The insane fans that love air guitar are everywhere. When Krauser II did the teeth guitar bit I laughed so hard cause it just reminds me of so many musicians who have done similarly crazy stuff. Also reminds me of the scene from Spinal Tap where they try to play the guitar with a violin. Aside from the great comedy DMC’s music isn’t all that bad. Yeah the lyrics are messed up and if they were all in english the songs would make me cringe, but aside from that I like them. I also love how the OP is a pure DMC black metal song while the ED is one of Negishi’s mellow pop creations. Fits the mood swings of the show so perfectly. Really, this says everything about DMC:

Now go watch Detroit Metal City so Krauser II doesn’t have to kill and rape you, and he’ll do it in that order.

Zero should keep his day job as megalomaniacal world conqueror.