Category Archives: Fandom

12 Days of Anime #6: Girls Love Girls’ Love

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I promise this is the only image from this series I'll use, mainly because it's the only one I CAN use

I’ve never been shy about the fact that I enjoy things intended for a female audience. I like the emphasis on emotions and relationships, romantic and otherwise, and the calm atmosphere is a refreshing break from the typical frenetic fare targeted at males. Despite the gender gap, most elements of these types of stories aren’t alienating to me; my closest friends growing up were female, so constant chatter centering on hair, makeup and clothes is almost nostalgic.

However, there was always one point where both my childhood friends and shoujo manga would begin to lose me: boys. Not only did I have trouble relating to many of my male friends, but I was never attracted to them. So, while I enjoy the perspective shoujo stories are told from, I always have trouble sympathizing with the main character’s romantic interest. That’s not to say I can’t enjoy and appreciate it anyway, but if heightened empathetic appeal is one of the primary draws, it certainly does bring the enjoyment down a notch. The solution seems obvious, but for a long time it was notorious for having its own problems.

More cute pictures after the break!

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12 Days of Anime #7: Battle of the Tsunderes

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I have something of a love/hate relationship with A Certain Scientific Railgun. One the one hand, it was my favorite show of the previous fall and winter seasons, easily beating out dreck like Kampfer and Sora no Woto. On the other, it had some rather blatant and annoying flaws, two of which were the huge amount of filler and constant stream of hamfisted friendship speeches. Despite these problems, which have driven many a casual viewer away from Railgun, I still can’t help loving it.

Why? Because Railgun has absolutely fantastic characters.

Kuroko, Saten, Uiharu… I love ’em all. But the highlight is easily Mikoto Misaka, the mildly tsundere electromaster protagonist. Although I didn’t crush on her like I did with Maya, it still felt like Mikoto was a close, personal friend. After the show’s finale, I was sad to see her go; it’s not often I get that emotional about the end of an anime. That’s how vibrant and endearing her character was. She literally made Railgun worth watching.

Compare that with a certain other tsundere who has ruined an otherwise fantastic show, OreImo. Mikoto succeeded everywhere Kirino failed, and proved that the characters really do make or break anime. Story, pacing and art quality are all important, but the characters are the lynchpin that hold everything together.

More after the break.

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12 Days of Anime #10: Discovering Retro Anime

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Ever since my earliest days of otakudom, I had intended to get into retro anime. I kept hearing about the awesome old classics like Tenchi Muyo and Sailor Moon, but I wasn’t really sure where to start. For a long time, the oldest show I had seen was 1999’s Crest of the Stars, not counting the odd Gundam series or Miyazaki film. I was just too absorbed in modern shows to bother with anything classic. Then, this February, I ran across an article on Mania.com called “10 Great Out of Print Anime We Want Back.” Despite being rather mundane in its own right, this article had one passage that particularly intrigued me.

9. Project A-Ko

Another ‘80s title that saw release in the West in the early ‘90s, Project A-Ko is an action comedy that actively parodies other action movies. The premise centers around the rivalry between Eiko (A-Ko) and Biko (B-Ko) who constantly fight over the affections of the bubbly Shiiko (C-Ko). The popularity of Project A-Ko spawned a few followup OAVs, though none were as well received as the original. But its irreverent humor and ridiculous premise are prime examples of the type of insanity anime was able to get away with in the 1980s.

Dusty is a huge fan of cheesy 80s action movies, and I’ll admit I somewhat enjoy their wacky, over-the-top nature. I mean, Schwarzenegger might be a horrid actor, but seeing him casually toss buzzsaws through people’s skulls is pretty epic. Upon hearing that Project A-Ko was a parody of these kinds of films, it jumped straight to the top of my must-watch list.

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12 Days of Anime #11: Starting an Anime Podcast

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When I think back on my favorite anime memories of the year, the most significant one isn’t even an anime: it’s the first episode of Bakacast, which has become a constant fixture of my life for the past few months. Anyone who cares about reading past that first sentence probably heard me talk about the history of Bakacast on the episode where we got that Twitter question about it, but maybe some of you haven’t listened to it yet. And maybe I can present a better explanation now that I can actually plan out my thoughts.

I had wanted to start my own podcast since 2007. In 2006, my parents had given me an iPod as a high school graduation present. After loading it up with all my music, I noticed a “Podcast” option in the iTunes store. One of the first I tried was the Anime World Order, and before long I subscribed to around a dozen podcasts. Unfortunately, none of my friends even listened to to podcasts, much less wanted to start their own. And I certainly wasn’t going to be the only host. I don’t think I’m very interesting unless I have someone to play off of. So I decided to set my idea aside indefinitely.

Then, in 2010, Jon joined the rest of the Japanator crew (he was an intern for them at the time) on their new podcast*. I’ll admit, I was a little jealous.

…

Okay, maybe really jealous.

After he finished recording with them, I asked, “Hey, I had wanted to do an anime podcast and you turned me down. What’s up with this?”

And Jon, being far less moody than me, replied, “Well, do you want to do a podcast right now?”

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12 Days of Anime #12: My Summer Crush

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Now that final exams are over, I’ve decided to participate in the 12 Days of Anime project. It’s kind of a ‘back to basics’ anime blogging challenge, in which we count down the days until Christmas by writing about 12 anime-related moments from the last year that were particularly memorable or influential. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with 12 things to talk about though, so I might let Dusty fill in some of the blanks. Anyway, here goes!

I have an unusual perspective on fanservice. In my opinion, those promiscuous girls with the giant, floppy tits from Highschool of the Dead or Samurai Girls aren’t sexy in the slightest. Perhaps my overexposure to internet porn has made me jaded, but those kinds of blatant attempts at titillation tend to bore me. That’s why I always evaluate fanservice-heavy shows so cynically; I’m always looking beyond the breasts, hoping for some worthwhile character or unique story. Sometimes, my patience is rewarded with hidden gems like Kiddy Grade. Most of the time I just wind up disappointed.

But, this summer, something special happened. My first memory of her is during a school meeting, held in the massive marble hall of Occult Academy. Her father had died, but she wasn’t sad. She just sat there in a metal folding chair, impatiently tapping her fingers as if annoyed by the whole spectacle. This was a girl who carved her own path in life, and everyone else be damned. Even her clothes, sexy as hell itself, asserted a fierce individuality. This wasn’t another feckless fanservice female or mild-mannered moeblob. No, this was a woman with fiery passion and an icy heart.

Her name was Maya Kumashiro. And I had fallen in love with her.

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Panty & Stocking OST Sneak Peek

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There is no doubt that Panty & Stocking has a great soundtrack. In my opinion, we have not been graced with such epic anime music since the halcyon days of Macross Frontier. Fans of the show have been so desperate to get their hands on this music that they’ve resorted to using Audacity to remove the voice tracks from the show’s transformation scenes, just to get their “Fly Away Now” fix.

I guess Gainax likes seeing us suffer, as they’ve decided to tantalize us with this little preview of the upcoming OST release.

Much to the chagrin of everyone, the actual soundtrack does not come out until December 29th. You can preorder it from CDJapan here.

So, any guesses as to who this mysterious Corset character is?

Every Anime Opening Ever Made

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This fascinating AMV illustrates just how often certain tropes and images are used in anime openings. I’ve always been somewhat off-put by generic OPs, which (for me) seemed to indicate a lack of innovation by the studio’s creative team. But watching this video has made me realize that there are quite a few outstanding anime that have bland OPs. Perhaps I should heed my own advice, and not be so quick to judge a book by it’s cover?

Of course, there are shows that buck the trend and have totally unconventional openings. I’ve included a few of my favorite examples below the break, and I would love to hear yours in the comments.

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Top 10 Best Sailor Mars Fanart

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The people have spoken! You, the readers of this site, have chosen Sailor Mars as the best planetary Senshi, a choice I wholeheartedly agree with. After all, who could resist this fiery vixen’s siren call? To celebrate, I’ve put together a small gallery of my top ten favorite Sailor Mars fanart, as found on deviantART. I’ve also included my brief thoughts on each piece. Now, please keep in mind that I am neither an artist nor an art critic. These comments just represent my layman’s perspective as a *ahem* Mars enthusiast.

Check out these fantastic pictures below the break, and be sure to visit the artists’ DA pages and express your appreciation of their hard work. Enjoy!

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Happy Birthday Minori Chihara

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A very happy birthday to my voice.

The staff of Project Haruhi wishes Ms. Minori Chihara a very happy birthday and many more to come.

Although primarily known as Yuki’s voice, Minori has have a very prolific musical career as well. I’ve posted several of her songs, but this is one that I haven’t shared with you yet. This selection is called “Shijin no Tabi” (“Travels of the Poet”). Listen for yourself below the break!

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