A Look to 2007

First, let me wish everyone a Happy New Year! I hope you all have a good one.

As we head into 2007, I am not really seeing a lot of new titles that just run out and grab me for the winter season. That's fine because I have a large backlog of stuff to watch and there are some reviewers from C.A.R. (Devil Doll, Stretch, Forbin) who can steer me to or away from potential titles to watch.

That said, there is one title that I'm looking forward too and I'm almost ashamed to admit it. What is this shameful title? Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny. The initial Ikki Tousen (see my review here) wasn't really anything special and I certainly didn't care for the fanservice or ecchi content. Still, there was just enough to the story to have me interested enough to keep coming back. Since I found TokyoPop's domestication of the manga (which they've named Battle Vixens) unreadable, I guess the only way to see where the story goes is to watch the sequel to the anime.

Deltora Quest is a title I think I'll check out since it is of the fantasy genre. Of course, I think of how I've struggled getting through the Record of Lodoss War TV all year so just being a fantasy title doesn't mean I'll enjoy it.

I always at least try to take note of titles Gainax puts out. Gurren-Lagann is their latest project but I can't say it is really gripping me from what I'm seeing. But I may still give this a look-see just because it is Gainax.

Some titles I plan of finishing/continuing this year:

• Tsubasa Chronicle -- At least it has the xxxHOLiC references in it (I guess they really couldn't get rid of them since Yuuko-san is an important player). Sadly, the first season was soooo slooooow and after .hack//SIGN, I can't say that I am a fan of this style of story telling. GET ON WITH IT!
  
• Record of Lodoss War TV -- The OAV was pretty good despite its flaws. The TV series, not so much. Still, I have to press through if I want to do a proper review.
• Keroro Gunsou -- I enjoy this a lot, but only in small doses. It is very funny and I like to watch an episode or two to take a break from watching other titles. Since the series is still ongoing in Japan (with over 132 episodes), I'll press into episode 27 soon enough. Clearly I won't be finishing it though.
• Mai Otome Zwei -- The first of four OAV episodes have been released, so I'll be watching this as they come out.
• xxxHOLiC -- I love the manga but the anime has sure disappointed.
• Pumpkin Scissors -- Nothing special about this Gonzo title so far, but it is one of the series airing in Japan that I'm watching.
• Kanon (2006) -- I'm rather enjoying this one, having loved the original Kanon so much. It is another title currently airing in Japan that I'm watching.
• Negima!? -- This is the last of the actively airing titles in Japan that I'm watching. I love the manga and was sorely disappointed in the first anime. However, the new one has been a bit better in some regards since it is not worrying about telling the manga stories.
  

At some point, I really need to rent Uresei Yatsura and finish it. But I got to tell ya, I am not very enthused about it and seriously wonder how this series is so popular in Japan (beyond Lum-chan of course).

I've seen 82 episodes which means only 113 to go. *_* Still, it is an anime classic and its influence is still felt in anime and manga to this day.

Well, Lord willing, here's to another year of anime viewing and manga reading.

"Takeshi's Castle" -- What Have They Done To You?

In 1989, I was fresh out of Tech School and was sent to my first duty station at Yokota AB, Japan. Being 19 at the time, there was clearly much I had yet to experience and Japan was about to give me a ton of experience in just two short years.

One of the early experiences I had was the Japanese game show. The first one I saw had (among many other things) contestants attempt to cross a narrow, swaying bridge (with no hand rails) while carrying a gold-colored ball. While that is a challenge in and of itself, the Japanese upped the ante by firing balls at the contestants via a cannon as they tried to cross. See for yourself with the video below.

(Update: This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Viacom International Inc. Yeah, because we should only watch your HIDEOUS MXC, right? I didn't know Viacom was even involved. *_* Too bad there was no way for me to save the clip for myself. And why hasn't Viacom gone after all the British clips of the show? Or the ones from other countries? Losers!)

I absolutely loved the show and wondered why we didn't have such shows in the U.S. Since I couldn't read the Kanji (風雲!たけし城) and didn't remember the Romaji (Fūun! Takeshi Jō), I had no clue once I returned to the U.S. of how to obtain this show in any form. So for years, I would make mention of this show to friends and co-workers while never knowing the name of the show. It seemed like I was destined to never see this show again, much less finally obtain the name of the show.

That all changed a month (or so) ago. Through the wonder of YouTube, some co-workers and I discovered the whacky humor of the Japanese comedian Razor Ramon HG (レイザーラモン HG), also known as Hard Gay. We were also introduced to the outrageous batsu (punishment) game series Downtown Gaki no Tsukai (ダウンタウンのガキの使い), from which the infamous "Silent Library" and "Fart Game" come from (among many, many others).

It was during this time that I made mention of the old game show I'd seen in Japan. One of my co-workers, upon hearing me tell my tale, immediately piped up, "That sounds like Takeshi's Castle."

Takeshi's Castle, eh? Well that meant a search on YouTube. However, I was stunned at what I discovered. Instead of getting lots of raw clips from the original Japanese show, I got lots of clips from the hideously domesticated MXC: Most Extreme Challenge. The show, seen on Spike TV, took the original Japanese show and turned it into something completely different. Biito (Beat) Takeshi, name in western form, is given the name Vic Romano. Sonomanma Higashi is renamed Kenny Blankenship. General Tani is renamed Captain Tenneal. Ho!Ho!Ho! Isn't it a wonderful and funny pun? And the list goes on.

In addition, rather than show the series as it was seen in Japan, the series is cut up and spliced together to change it from a bunch of contestants going for a prize to "teams" in competition with each other. Various "games" are given names with sexual (or other) innuendo. The dubs are also filled with crude, American humor and as a result, this new show is nothing like the original. I found myself devistated by the treatment this show had received (though my co-workers thought it was one of the greatest things on TV). As a huge opponent of domestication in anime (especially subtitles), I guess this comes as no surprise.

I decided that if I wanted Takeshi's Castle, I'd have to look to Japan. After all, I have a region-free DVD player, so playing R2 DVD's won't be a problem. Sadly, it appears that the series was never released on DVD in Japan and the VHS release has long-since been out of print. Drat.

It appears that the 1st season of MXC has one uncut episode of Takeshi's Castle on it as an extra, but I see nothing to indicate that the licensor of the series has any plans to put out an uncut, unedited version of the show (as Takeshi's Castle).

So, I'm left with absolutely nothing but a pile of domesticated filth if I want to see pieces of a show that meant so much to me when I lived in Japan. Not going to happen! Therefore, I would BEG the licensor of this series (Magnolia Home Entertainment) to give us an undomesticated, unedited version of the series (with honorifics in the subtitles) of the show and make a person happy. Hey, you never know, they might just do it.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Kodai

When Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu (aka: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) came out, my eye was caught by all of the buzz it was generating. For those who don't know, the story is of one Suzumiya Haruhi (or in the superior western style, Haruhi Suzumiya) -- a female high school student who's bored to death and believes that there is much more interesting things in the world like aliens, time travelers, and those with psychic abilities. When transfer student Kyon joins her class, she founds the SOS-dan (club) and manages to get him and three others to join with the purpose of investigating the possibilities of these very interesting things. I watched the "first" TV episode and found it to be just smegging awful.

"Oh, but it is supposed to be awful, ANB," the fans proclaimed. "Keep watching and you will see the brilliance of the show."

Well, I had other things I watch and so I waited for the entire series to makes its run before watching. As I did, I noted that the show was being aired out of order in Japan. That didn't make much sense to me, but fans were eating it like candy! So I decided to investigate.

The anime is based on a series of light novels and short story collections by Tanigawa Nagaru-sensei, with the first and second novels and several short stories used in the anime's creation. The first novel, also named Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu, covered TV episodes 1, 2, 4, 9, 12, & 13. The 2nd novel, Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki (aka: The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya) covered episode 00 (and possibly episode 11 but I can't confirm that yet). The remaining episodes seem to be pulled from the short stories (which collections, I'm unsure of).

As I continued to investigate, I saw that for reasons of having a powerful ending, the anime production team would want to use the ending of the first novel as the ending of the anime. However, rather than construct the story in a fashion to provide this outcome, the production team decided that they would write the story in a proper chronological order, but would then air the episodes out of order. So some "filler" episodes would reference events that had happened but for which the audience had not seen because they were now going to be used at the end of the series. Further, one episode might take place in winter, then the next in the summer before going to spring, then fall (as an example and not necessarily a literal happenstance in the anime). The thing that really caught my attention was the 2-part mystery parody the series (in apparent Detective Conan style). "Remote Island Syndrome Part 1" was aired, then the 2nd part of the series didn't air the following week. Instead the filler episode (which in chronological order is actually the final episode) "Someday in the Rain" was shown and THEN part 2 of "Remote Island Syndrome" was shown. What the...?!

It was then that I began to see that what we had here was a brilliant marketing ploy on the part of the Japanese (though on paper, I would never have believed this would have worked) to boost ratings and create hype for this series. Clearly it worked based on the orgasms being had by fans in the U.S. watching the fansubs of the series. I loathe gimmicks with a passion and at that point, I decided that I would watch the episodes in chronological order.

The series itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't that good either. I liked the concept of the show and am interested in checking out the light novels and short stories at some point. I gave it a "Rent" in my final review at C.A.R. mainly because I didn't really like Haruhi. Her bullying of the timid Mikuru-chan just really annoyed me to no end. I wanted to reach in and slap the crap out of Haruhi, who is basically a spoiled, selfish brat with little redeeming qualities.

Well, because I refused to buy into the gimmick and hype of the series, I am in a minority among those who've seen the show and find it the most brilliant thing to hit anime ever. I received more than one attack for my opinions because "you didn't watch this in the TV order, therefore you didn't get the full experience of the show, which is needed to see the genius of it."

Hmmmm...how is splitting a 2-part summer mystery parody with some filler episode (set in the winter and chronologically at the end of the series) where nothing happens (beyond Haruhi sending Kyon on an errand so she can bully Mikuru-chan without interference) brilliant? If showing anime episodes in a non-chronological way is so awesome, why don't we do it with more shows? If this is so brilliant, why don't we re-publish the novels so that the first novel can be mixed in with events that take place after the first novel's conclusion? And finally, why did the Japanese DVD release put the episodes in chronological order, save for episode 00 (the amateur movie)?

What prompted me to write this blog entry was the fact that the Japanese copyright holder, Kadokawa, has the R1 license for the series through their U.S. branch and has contracted the translation/marketing/distribution/etc. work to Bandai for release in R1. So the fans are excited and I understand that. What I don't understand is the folks who swear they won't buy the title if the R1 DVD release is done like the Japanese DVD release, meaning in chronological order. Again, they cite the brilliance of the TV airing order and basically say that the show sucks if seen in chronological order.

So, that means that what we have here, based on these fans own statements (though to be fair, I don't think realize this is what they are actually saying), is a show that is OK on its own, but needs the gimmick of being seen out of chronological order to make it great. In other words, style trumps substance. Game over.

I'm not telling anime fans who never saw the fansubs to not check out the R1 DVD release from Bandai (regardless of how they decide to release it). You can watch it and make up your own mind. I am telling you to beware of the hype. It is an enjoyable anime, but it isn't the best thing since sliced bread.

And so it begins...

Well, I thought I'd get into the whole blogging thing, targeting anime and manga. I'll save the "blog" I have on my domain for things not geared to anime and manga.

So, what can you expect to see here? Well, I figure I'll have spoiler comments on anime titles I'm watching or manga titles I'm reading. I also figure to comment on different things that are going on within the industry, be it licensing or whatever.

Well, this should be fun. ^_^