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 #9: Weird Japanese Games

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I may not be the biggest fan of the recent crop of games from Japan, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any awesome ones that came out this year. In fact, I can think of at least three off the top of my head: Bayonetta, Vanquish and Nier. Now, there are two things I realized when I came up with those three games. First, thank God for Platinum Games. And second, all three of them are unashamedly bizarre.

Seriously, they are. Bayonetta brainstorms the craziest action scenes ever, and then finds ways to make them crazier. Vanquish gives you a gun that transforms into all your guns and lets you press one button that makes your character do a rocket-leg power slide. And Nier? Nier is a secret sequel to Drakengard—one of the most insane games ever made–that manages to be almost as crazy as its predecessor. That is the level of weird we’re dealing with here, and I love all three of them for it. I’ll break down exactly why after the jump.

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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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Minako Kotobuki’s Sharp Galapagos Ad

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With “Irony,” the opening theme from OreImo, playing in the background. Minako Kotobuki, (Tsumugi Kotobuki in K-ON!) introduces us to the new Sharp Galapagos, a media tablet, that according to the video can be used anywhere to do just about anything. The tablet went on sale in Japan on Friday.

In this video she gives us her feedback on the device. It looks like she’s having a great time too. Now a lot of us don’t understand Japanese, but with Minako as the sales representative, I do believe the Galapagos will be a smashing hit. I wonder if there’s an English version?

Bakacast – My Little Panty

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On this belated episode of Bakacast, Jon, Larry and I take a quick diversion to share our thoughts on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. For those of you hoping to avoid diabetes, don’t worry; we’ll balance out the sugary sweetness next week when we tackle giant, transforming robots with a penchant for violence.

With our equestrian evaluation complete, we gallop on to our normal stuff (except for Zakuro, which was skipped because Glen was absent). Then we hit the Twitter questions, which, as usual, takes a turn for the bizarre. Will our listeners ever get sick of asking us about hentai and eroge?

Probably not.

We cover:

  • My Little Pony #1 & 2
  • OreImo #10
  • Panty & Stocking #10
  • Samurai Girls #9
  • Iron Man #10
  • Squid Girl #9
  • Star Driver #10

While you wait for the podcast to download, why not check out My Little Pony for yourself? You can find the pilot on YouTube in four parts.

Or check out Jon’s gender-swapped image of me, which actually gets mentioned on the podcast. See? I told you Twitter questions get weird.