Review: Two By Furuya

Genkaku Picasso Volume 2

"Hold still and let me draw you!"

Everything I said about the last volume continues to be true in this one. The series could be a lot better, but Usamaru Furuya's natural knack for bizarre imagery (remember, this guy got his start in Garo) continues to shine through in fascinating ways.

The definite highlight from an artistic perspective is probably "Vision 5: Ota's Girlfriend." Suigura's childhood friend Ota has been bragging about his girlfriend, and Suigura is getting jealous. As Hikari's arm is starting to rot again, so once again dives into the psychological world of his sketch book to help out Suigura...'s childhood friend Ota?!? Ota's mental turmoil is a wonder to look at, literally a twisting Rubik's Cube of photos, texts, and blog posts. The other stories in the volume (there are only three, but they're long ones) are less psychedelic, but are well done, gripping entertainment, and cover such topical issues as self-hating nerds, gender identity, and disillusionment.

The artwork is impressive; for example, the otherwise paint-by-numbers "Vision 7: Hishida's Holy War" was given that extra emotional oomph by the expressive foreshadowing and a quirky pop-up book sequence. Also, in "Vision 6: Kotone and Arengurion" and "Vision 8: Borise World and Moe", Furuya shows an amazing skill at aping the artwork of others to create an interesting affect: he can even ape the apers (AKA doujinshi artists)!

However, the big draw for shilling out another ten bucks would likely be Hikari himself and his gloriously wimpish personality. He may be helping others, but all he REALLY wants to do is to sit back, chew his nails, and draw some good-looking muscles. On top of that, Furuya has smartly made it plausible that none of Hikari's adventures happened, and that he's just rationalizing his anti-social behavior that now rampant through his life, which is not an easy task to pull off. I suspect that in the final chapter, the one in need of help will be him.

Short Cuts Volume 1

a highlight.


 For the most part, fanservice-heavy comedy does not work. The underlying problem is that nearly every single one of these seems to think that nudity itself is bloody hilarious, while really, it is completely unrealistic to think shoving boobies in a flat protagonist's face will make anyone really laugh. Short Cuts solves this problem by using the rampant sexuality as an excuse to be absolutely demented.

Reminiscent of modern American cartoons like Family Guy and South Park in tone, Short Cuts is a series of brief gags (or "cuts", as the comic calls them) with minimal continuity, and a focus on superficial "ko-gal" teenage girls, the men who long for them, and the ruin of society in general.

Short Cuts is not great; the globs of FS and occasional cultural in-joke make things very hit-and-miss. But, when things get funny, they get hilarious. This is definitely aided by the rapid-fire nature of the "cuts", which keep the jokes from getting stale. Also, Furuya's formidable skill at graphic narrative shines through at many moments, particularly in one brilliant gag about stalkers. On the other hand, I found the interview with the author more interesting than the book itself. I hope I can find the second and final volume of this out of print series soon, because I can't wait for more.

My Favorite Manga: Love Roma

God, am I a sucker for stories like this. Slice-of-life romance, particularly of the Seinen and Josei kind (not that I have anything against Shoujo, and if a Shonen slice-of-lifer that isn't by Mitsuru Adachi exists, please tell me now) is possibly the very best kind of manga, and this book was my first brush with these. I also happen to be partial to horror and psycho-thriller. The grouping together of these two genres may seem random at first, but take a look at what was popular in american comics (besides super hero) before the Comics Code stunk up the room: ROMANCE AND HORROR. As most manga fans would like to think of manga as the road not taken in American comics, it makes perfect sense that such once omnipresent genres would find a strong place in our Japan-centric communities. But that is not what I am here to discuss. I am here to tell you about my favorite manga, Love Roma, by Minoru Toyoda.

Hoshino, an overly honest teenage boy, is in love with Negishi, a cute girl in class 2. The manga opens with Hoshino bluntly admiting his feelings to Negishi, in a very funny scene that sets the mood for the rest of the five-volume series. After some time (by some, I mean less than a chapter), Negishi and Hoshino are going out, exploring the ups, downs, and inbetweens of being young and in love. Every chapter shows the two making a new discovery about life and sharing it with another, in witty, charming everyday adventures.

As you can imagine, this book really made me swoon. I was dragged along in the character's romance heart skipping along the way. Accompanied by this blushing and swooning is first-rate humor. The combination of believable characters and unlikely-yet-familiar scenarios creates a light, fun mood certain to give any reader a little chuckle. And speaking of believable characters, Toyoda has a very interesting way of setting up his cast. They each have only one trait, but their personalities are fleshed out in a remarkably human way to reflect said traits. Accenting all this is quirky, indie-style artwork that just keeps getting better with each chapter.

However, the series is not perfect. A common shortcoming of slice-of-life storytelling, the plot can get really repetitive. The stories have a very specific structure, and there's not exactly much room for dramatic tension. But Toyoda knew when to stop, and at only 5 volumes, Love Roma is a perfect length.

Recently Del Rey Manga, the company who published Love Roma in english, have (essentially) folded/rebranded itself Kodansha USA, meaning that this title may soon be out of print. Whoever is reading this, go snatch up a copy of this beautiful title while you still can. Everyone should read this.

Winter Streaming Season: Thoughts, part 3

Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka?

Is this a Zombie?


There are two schools of moe. One is to be as perverted as humanly possible, the other is to compensate for the disgustingness of the niche fetish by showing off truly bizarre humor and random J-WTFs. I suspect that the latter will have more longevity, as otaku without moe tendencies (that includes me) have enjoyed these series in the past (need I mention Haruhi Suzumiya?), and the otaku-fetish-of-the-month could easily be swapped out for another. Zombie is of this latter class, and despite not being half as awesome as the title suggests, there is plenty to love here.
This show has a plot, but rather than explain it, I will instead transcribe the the engrish from the opening credits. Aikawa Ayumu. He is... Zombie. She is... Masou Shoujo (untranslated pun on mahou shoujo, "Magical Girl"). She is.... Necromancer. She is... Vampire Ninja. She is... ????. I think you get the picture. However, the first episode was actually hilarious, with lots of great magical-girl parody, chainsaws, and a Mutant Lobster. However, like many zany-moe series (including the fantasic Haruhi), a good number of the jokes fall flat, with the silly potential of a ninja that is also a vampire being criminally unexplored. However, the lobster was more than enough to get me hooked, so this may very well be a fun ride. Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

OH MY GAWD I WILL NEVER TAKE A GUY WITH A CHAIN SAW SERIOUSLY EVER AGAIN IN MY LIFE!!!! XD

Epic. Killer. Lobster.

a sudden hunger for seafood...

Dragon Crisis

Eeeeeeeeeew!!!!!


Okay, for a single moment I thought this could turn out decent. The show's opening credits were great, and the beginning, things looked like it would be a big dumb action show, which is not necessarily a bad thing when it's free. But then the show revealed it's true nature, a class one moe of insidious nature. Okay, so viewer fill-in high school dude Ryuji gets recruted by his busty second cousin (shades of incest?) Eriko to get something-or-other from evil mafia (okay, I know this is a Japanese show so they're yakuza but WHAAAATEVER), which is cool I guess. Then it turns out that the thingie is actually a little girl-oh sorry, a dragon that LOOKS like a little girl, which is even worse- that  spends the entire rest of the episode screaming "RYUUUUUJI!!!" and clinging to him, with and without clothes. Do I even need to say how awful that is? Oh well, I guess it's nice that this is the only show like this this year. Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

um lmao a girl comes out of a case

So her big plan was too rob a bunch of mob like guys with a cane that produced butterflies?

i can't tell the difference between anybody

Freezing

Kill 'em all. No, wait! Don't ACTUALLY kill 'em all!


OK, let me be the first to create an acronym for otaku product featuring sexy women dying. Let's see... how about... kawaii-guro? Or maybe moe-guro? GUMOE! Now then, I know that this is formatted as a formal review of Freezing, but I don't wan't to write that. It's too upsetting. So instead I'm going to intellectualize on a point that this show has made me want to talk about. After moe, what's next? Don't think that moe is a unique thing. The otaku market has romanticized watered-down versions of niche fetishes for a long time now; before moe it was maids, and before maids it was furrys. Freezing, with it's panty-shots of corpses and blood-splattered magical girls, suggests that the future is in darkness, a huge departure from the protective feelings and warm fuzzies of moe. However, a more likely replacement would likely be the pseudo-incest siscon, as the concept has, like moe, already been buzzing around in otaku communities for a while, and many of last season's moe shows (Oreimo, anyone?) had siscon elements as well. Fortunately, as nobody with actual siblings like siscon, if that is the new trend, it will be a lot smaller than moe, and besides, publishers have wised up about the dangerous side effects of such trends. I hope.

OK THAT'S IT NO MORE I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S ONE SHOW I LEFT OUT I'M SICK OF THIS

Winter Streaming Season: Thoughts, part 2

[Note: I forgot to mention this in my last post, but I will not be discussing Fractale or Mitsudomoe 2. The reasons for not discussing Fractale are obvious, seeing as I've already written two reviews of the show, and Mitsudomoe 2 is a sequel to a show I haven't watched, making it not so fun to talk about.]


Level E

Style! Sci-Fi! Buddies.


Level E is one of this year's thankfully plentiful examples of good anime. Based on an obscure manga from the '90s by the author of Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter (that will hopefully be translated), Level E isa buddy comedy with shades of serious science fiction, and vise versa. After moving into a new apartment located near a UFO crash landing, high school student Yukitaka Tsutsui enters his new home to find... a man with long, blonde hair and bishonen looks by the name of Prince sitting in his apartment room wearing Yukitaka's clothes and claiming to be an alien. An incredibly fresh sci-fi romp ensues, with perhaps the most stylish opening credits since Cowboy Bebop's "Tank!". Prince is a remarkably ridiculous character who plays off straight man Yukitaka in a remakable fasion, and yet, as casually hinted several times, there is an elaborate alien plot behind it all. Studio Pierrot's cg animation is also quite remarkable and (mostly) meshes with its 2d surroundings, which should be commended too. And really, how could I hate a show with this promo? Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

now this is more interesting than i thought from reading the text..

i laughed my @$$ off at the puppets ahaaha XD

Not a bad start to this series, love sci fi anime, will continue to watch 

Wandering Son

And now I present to you, the best anime of winter '11

Cross-dressers have been the subject of manga and anime before, but never before has it been handled so tenderly. Based on the manga of the same name being released in english later this year by Fantagraphics, Wandering Son airs on Noitamina (try spelling it backwards) the excellent animation block that gave us last year's Princess Jellyfish and this year's Fractale. Wandering Son is about two first year middle schoolers, Shuichi Nitori and Yoshino Takatsuki. Last year, Nitori confessed his love of Takatsuki, but what keeps them close friends is not romance, but a shared secret that no-one can ever know. Takatsuki likes wearing boy's clothes, while Nitori likes wearing wigs and dresses. This initial description, sadly, would not be enough to inspire confidance in Wandering Son, as many jaded otaku will think, "Great, another forgettable fanservice show with gender confusion," but the content of this show is dead serious. Nitori and Takatsuki must confide in eachother in a world that does not understand them. It is not funny at all when Nitori is caught by his sister while trying her new dress, and runs off wailing still wearing the skirt. This is an upsetting and delicate moment when a side of himself he had never shown to anyone but himself and his most trusted friend is shown to the last person he wanted to know. In short, this show is amazing. Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

Absolutely every moment of this episode took my breath away. If this keeps up, it will be a gorgeous show about a rarely touched-upon subject. I'll be sure to tune in for the rest!

OMG!! this show is PERFECT for me

interesting i love the art work its so... different

GOSICK

Hrm! Very stylish and mysterious.... Hrm!

This looks good. GOSICK is in fact probably Studio Bones' (Fullmetal Alchemist, Rahxephon) most visually satisfying entries to date. In a very gothic looking 1924 in the made-up english country of Sabure, at the prestigious St.Marguerite's Academy, Japanese (of course) student Kujo Kazuya, aka the Dark Reaper because as we all no nobody in Europe has dark hair (??), encounters, as Crunchyroll's description puts it, "a girl who is as beautiful as a doll..." who is a genius and some dude with a ridiculously cool pompadour (I am beginning to doubt this show's historical accuracy) and stylish gothic mysteries ensue! This is very good. However, I ran into the problem I have had with many adaption shows, particularly light novel adaptions, before. This show is WAY to faithful to the original, and it makes the show boring, despite the aforementioned style, and this is one show that really suffers from that due to the fact that the mystery is ludicrously over the top. Oh well, it's still good.Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

I think some foundation or backstory is missing here. Seems there are a number of elements of these characters and why they are doing things not even hinted at yet. Confusion has many friends.

Also, hopefully the cases get more complex. Otherwise I'll just stick to Detective Conan.

run bunnies run!!! O-o

In Our Final Installment: Moe Blobs and Mutilation

Winter Streaming Season: Thoughts, part 1

Moe. Moemoemoemoemoemoemoemoemoe. Momomomoe. Moe! Mo-ay. Moe? Moe.

For a long while, this has been what the otaku discussion has looked like. Mountains of cute little ones with voluptuous proportions to match the eye size have been dangling around this gorgeous medium far too long, and if the new shows on Crunchyroll and Funimation are any proof, it's over. Not to say that moe has gone away for good, as two purely moe shows, Dragon Crisis! and Kore Wa Zombie Deasu Ka?, are present this season, but the two shows are of two completely different schools of moe (Dragon: let's pander! Zombie: Let's be absolutely out of our freaking minds!), and let's face it, only two shows is certainly proof that american otaku are fed up with the identical harems of the past few years, and may want to return to the quality of the good ol' days- and the crap as well.


Rio - Rainbow Gate!

Rainbow Groan

Let's start with exhibit A: Rio- Rainbow Gate! Rio is a pandering fanservice show based on a slot machine mascot about a popular casino dealer named Rio whose very presence makes everyone win, and yet is somehow still employed, and her adventures at the Howard Resort a.k.a. revealing outfit land using her magic gambling powers (her skill at cheating) to beat bad guy gambler dudes who like teddy bears. OK what the heck. However, it should be noted that both the animation and the fanservice are well done; every breast has a certain shimmer to their surface, and they bounce in real time. Also, to see some adults, that is, non-four year olds, getting time in a fanservice show must indicate a positive trend in otaku intrests, if a minor one. Not that this makes the show any good. Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

what the f@#$

wait.......the owner likes a dealer that gives their customers luck? Isnt that a little backwards? LOL

8:52 Oh, no. It's Michael Jackson. 14:16 Hollywood actresses who speak Japanese? 18:04 I have no idea what's going on. In conclusion, I find this boring.

Cardfight!! Vanguard

Rio is not the only returning favorite in this year's set of bad anime types. We also have the commercial tie-in, the show made to sell the newest Yu Gi Oh or Pokemon type card game. Most of these shows are stinkers, but none have been so actively awful and forgettable as Cardfight!! Vanguard. I already had a sinking suspicion this show would be abysmal when I saw the grotesquely bland character designs, and the feeling only grew as I progressed through the first episode. It would be unfair to blame this show for being another card game show, so lets compare it to ones of its kin that came before it. Looking at just about any card show, be it Pokemon, Yu Gi Oh, Beyblade, or even Hikaru no Go (that one's based on an ancient chess-like board game but still) you will notice that whether the series was good, bad, or in between, they had an adventure, or at the very least a story. There was some fantastical element, and the heros could be related to. Not this one. They are just playing cards. Nothing else. THEY ARE JUST PLAYING CARDS. Apparently they "visualize" the game, or somthing, but they barely show (or animate) that at all! And the show is not going for realism like Hikaru no Go ended up doing, seeing as VANGUARD IS TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS ACCORDING TO THIS SHOW! Now, here's what the commenters on Crunchyroll had to say:

Unfortunately, the game this show is centered upon does have monsters whose attacks are really just math problems which is a big turn-off to me. Although, judging from this episode and the first episode of Bakugan, Vanguard is better.

Im sorry..I called it lame on the intro video...its much worse..come on..I couldnt last 4 minutes...a hobbit main charater..they made an alt shorter then yug..I mean the main character..a chic..god so sad..last moment I waste on this

(smacks head against the wall repeatedly)

Next Time: stuff that doesn't suck!

Review FOLLOW UP: Oreimo and Fractale revisited

Okay, I am starting to get sick of writing about anime. This is not because I am sick of anime itself, but I am primarily a manga fan, so it can grow tiresome chatting about a secondary interest, even it is one I could rant about for hours. So, aside from my ongoing review/analysis of Evangelion, this will be my penultimate post on anime for a while, with the final being some thoughts on the winter streaming season later this month.
Oreimo

She sure looks happy about something.

Once upon a time there was a little otaku. This otaku was also a blogger, and was really bored. He was on vacation in New Jersey, of all places, where the gods of destiny had dumped a ton of snow outside, leaving the poor little otaku with nothing to do but fart around Anime News Network, looking for something, no, anything to do. Then he noticed something in the videos section with the little "new" logo on it. And that was how he found Oreimo.

He loved it. It was funny, the characters were cool, and it reminded him of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, a really fun show. Minutes after finishing the twelfth and final (for now) episode, the little otaku rushed to his blog to write a detailed and glowing review of whatever that show's name was again, never looking back in the month's that followed except for one update saying that he may have exaggerated a bit. Then, bored again, the little otaku decided to watch the show again. Oops.

Not only was Oreimo, a horrible, disgusting show, it was also stupid. The main character, after all, is a little sister who plays sister complex ero-games (self-explanatory, I think). EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW! However, it was entertaining, so the little otaku placed it under his mental file of brain-melters. Here is another example of a brain-melter:

The little otaku thinks you get the idea.

Fractale Episodes 2 and 3

Flying machines? In anime? That is soooooo new!


After a brief fansubber scare, Fractale is back, and better than ever. In my previous review, I was mainly positive, but noted the criminal robbery of Castle in the Sky and other classic Miyazaki films. This has yet to change, but it should be noted that it now reminds me of another show, and in this case, it's a good sign.

The show in question would be Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, a show that Hideaki "Evangelion" Anno made before he got depressed and stuff. At the beginning Nadia is a straight forward and fun tribute to Miyazaki (There are aero-planes! AERO-PLANES.), who Anno once worked with, but as the show progresses, Anno begins to flex his creative muscles and show of his unique directorial skills. More on this show another time.

Anyway, the same happens with Fractale. Not only does the show begin to display director Yamakan's unique love of eye-catching bizarre antics, but something deeper, within the Fractale system, a communist technology religion, to put it bluntly. It seems that ripping of The Master made Yamakan feel quite self-important, and through that began to tell a really cool story, and then killed everyone. I mean, the mysterious girl may be the villain! This has a lot of potential, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Zyword of the Week episode 5:The Manganime Conundrum

Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
I'm sure you know this guy up there. I'm not recalling his name at the moment, but he's kinda famous. This boy ninja has had an incredible amount of success over the years, with plenty of well deserved fans, and wouldn't you know it, they made an anime! Oh yes, now I remember his name. Ramen. Anyway, the anime is more popular than the manga OK moving along...WHA?

Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece
I have never understood this, and likely never will. Manga adaptions of anime or video games are often overlooked, and video game adaptions of popular series are often hyped heavily, but are soon forgotten. But an ANIME? Stop the presses! This is big and historic! Who give a sh** about the manga now! This is...

Haruhi Suzumiya, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
I don't want to be a prude, but most anime adaptions are boring if you've already read the manga of played the game or read the novel or whatever. The problem is that with some exceptions (Fullmetal Alchemist, Akira, Ghost in the Shell), nearly every adaption follows the original to the letter, except for when they want to cram in ten episodes of boring filler arcs that are easy to skip.

Son Goku, Dragon Ball
The fact of the matter is, these shows are made for TV. It's fun to tune in once a week with your friends to see Goku come to life in gorgeous animation. But the problem is, that is not what happens here. Nothing is shown on TV. Rather, we are given DVD box sets and simulcasts to watch alone. I don't wish this didn't exist, exactly, but it's kinda too bad.

Conan Edogawa, Case Closed
I think the answer to this issue is more anime movies. This seems to be the general path that the anime industry seems to be going in anyway, but the fact remains that nobody ever takes the risk of changing the original to create something new unless it's a movie. Plus, no filler. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.