Archive for the Miscellaneous Category


Lucky Star Anime Guest Review by Sean G.

January 5th, 2008

Once again, I am pleased to present a guest review by Sean Gaffney, who bravely undertakes to watch and review stuff I simply can’t hack. The subject of today’s review is one of those series. The art put me so far off this, that even though I am as much the target audience as any other otaku, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch it for more than mere seconds. So thank you again, Sean, for saving my brain. ^_^

This sort of anime has been a long time coming. There have been various anime over the years that tried to glory in being a fan. Otaku no Video comes to mind. Yet with otaku getting a bad name in Japan for years, it became harder to be a fan without needing to hide it or cover it up.

Thanks to the culture widening, as well as the success of Densha Otoko, it’s OK to be a completely obsessed geek in Japan again.

I mention this because it is the reason for Lucky Star‘s existence. The entire show, as well as its lead character Konata, is made up of references to other media. The show is so tied up in its own self-referencing that it can have Yuko Goto appear, as herself, in Episode 23 and not even call attention to it. (The characters call her ‘Goto-zo-sama’, which is the closest it gets to even identifying the gag of Mikuru’s seiyuu as a yanki.)

Lucky Star also became popular among the fansub culture over here, mostly because we now have the ability to look online and find that obscure 1970s song the girls karaoke in the end credits, and we all know by now what Comiket is like. (The show is aware of us as well, of course, via the character of Patty, herself a parody of Western fans).

Genshiken did this as well, of course, but I think Genshiken was trying to hold up a mirror to the more unpleasant aspects of the culture, while still supporting it. Lucky Star doesn’t bother. Geeks rule.

As for the show itself, it’s a schoolgirl anime with few male characters, a teacher with almost as many bad habits as her kids, a diminutive lead character, the characters tend to get into discussions of tiny minutiae, and it’s based on a 4-koma. You really can’t get away with not mentioning Azumanga Daioh at least a LITTLE bit. The humor has a different feel, though, with the aforementioned anime and game references pervading not just the details but the character’s personalities. Konata will actually treat much of her life as if she is gaming.

The pacing is variable, and probably the show’s weak point. I gave up on it after the first episode, which was frankly awful, and only starting watching again after much nagging. They replaced the director after 4 episodes, so I was apparently not the only one that thought this. The new director sped things up and re-paced it, so that it kept the odd cadences but didn’t make you want to switch it off. Even so, there are times where you desperately wish something would happen.

Oh yes, I should mention the Yuri. Konata’s cousin, Yutaka, is tiny, cute, and adorable. Their friend Minami is tall, ‘cool’, and emotionally stunted. They give off a big Takarazuka vibe (something not lost on the show, which puts them in costumes a la ‘Zuka for the Culture Festival). And they have a good friend, Hiyori, who draws ecchi doujinshi and cannot help but see them in Yuri situations. She’s ashamed of herself, but draws it anyway. It’s sort of Yuri-lite, played for laughs, but is cute, and given the lack of men on the show it wouldn’t be hard to extrapolate something between them when they get older.

Anyway, that’s all the Yuri we get in the show.

Hm? Konata and Kagami? 90% of all Lucky Star fanfics in English are about them? All the Japanese fanart pairs them together? Kagami is tsundere and therefore clearly hiding her love-love feelings?

That’s nice. But there’s none of that in the anime at all. Sometimes a friendship is just a friendship.

Ratings:

Art: 6. It’s loli-moe-Dengeki style, with Konata deliberately looking like an 11-year-old despite being 18. If that’s your thing, bump it up a couple of
numbers.
Story: 6. There really isn’t a story in half these episodes, but the half that do
have one have very amusing ones.
Characters: 8. If you aren’t watching this to play spot-the-reference, you’re watching for the characters. The four lead girls are balanced perfectly, and everyone has a nicely defined role. Plus Konata’s a heroine whose type we’ve rarely seen before (at least not as a lead).
Yuri: 5. It’s there if you want it. Except where it isn’t.
Service: 10. Actually, no, this needs a Spinal Tap dial twist. 11. Without otaku obsession, this show would not exist.

Overall: 7. I do enjoy the show a great deal, to be fair. I just know that I happen to like a lot of stuff that’s not particularly good or original, shamelessly. :) It got bumped up from a 6 because of Lucky Channel, the hysterical parody of voice actors and pressurized Japanese recording industries that ends each episode, with Akira and Minoru stealing every single scene they’re in. Effortlessly.

–SG

Erica here again. Sean, seriously, when you review things, they sound so much better than they actually are….





Open for Business: Okazu

January 5th, 2008

I’m home, I’m jet lagged and I now have *three* piles of things to review, not including the doujinshi. And the toys. What is wrong with us? We have an entire bag just full of “stuff.” Omamori from shrines, character goods, gashapon, you know – stuff. I found all but four things on my “to get” list and of those one was older and more obscure, while the other three just managed to not be released before I left.

Some of the things I managed to get are: Maria’s Wink, the first volume of a Marimite anthology. I already had 2. I managed to find Rising Impact, a golf manga that was the subject of several Jesus Drug Yuri doujinshi. The downside was that I found *17* volumes of it. There was no way I was bringing all that home, so I settled on the first four and if I like it, I’ll look for the rest at Book-Off.

Got Girlfriends, and a pile of new Yuri Hime collections by Chi-Ran, Morishima Akiko, Takahashi Mako (bleah) and Hakamada Mera (bleah.) But I drew the line at Nanami to Misuzu and Apple Day Dream, because those two series are so very unfun. Amazingly, I found Yuri iro Rasen, an h-manga I never expected to see, and some weird-ass thing I’d never heard of before called, I swear, Pariah no Sono, which is yet another Marimite ripoff by a person with some serious problems. :-) I can’t wait to review it, because it is so seriously wrong in every direction. I also picked up a series Magie Paire, by an artist I don’t care for, Takagi Nobuyuki (Kokoro Library, Pure Marionation, Cassiopea Dolce) because like so much of his stuff, it is Yuri. But bleah.

After forgetting to look until like the last day, I managed to remember to get Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora Volume 3 and also found a used copy of Saber Twinkle Nova 3 with Drama CD! yay! And of course, Yuri Hime S Volume 3.

I also found both El Cazador Drama CDs, got Ogata Megumi’s latest CD and seem to have picked up something from Aria I don’t remember buying. lol

I bought as much series goods as I could find, but of them, my favorite is a “mail block” screen for the cell phone. It’s clear plastic that I can see through, red, with the Lillian logo (so, Rosa Chinensis) but from the side, it’s opaque and all you can see is the logo. So no one can read as you text. Not a problem here, but there, where everyone is emailing/texting all the time, it is.

Most fun of all, I got the newest Marimite novel – the 32nd book in the series – Kira Kira Mawaru – and so far, it’s been awesome. Some serious “whoa~!” stuff in there. :-)

Oh, and because in the last round of “Utter Nonsense” someone asked me if I read any non-Japanese stuff, I wrote down my reading list for the trip for you. :-)

Playing for the Ashes by Elizabeth George – this book dragged on for *ever.* I didn’t think it would ever end. Long past caring who killed Kenneth and why, the book just kept on going. And worst, I was supposed to care. I resent that.

Icebreaker by John Gardner – what a hoot. I haven’t read a Bond book in ages and ages. Gardner is a damn good writer and I’ve always liked him. He renders the Bond mythos into its most basic components, changes the color, setting and names and whacks out a perfectly hysterical, well-written parody of itself. I laughed through the entire book. As it’s supposed to be an action thriller, that maybe wasn’t what he wanted, but given Gardner’s penchant for the absurd, maybe it was.

Murder by the Book by Rex Stout – have you guessed that I’m a Stout fan? I admit it. I’m in love with Archie Goodwin. I can’t help it – he’s so charming, and he geniunely *likes* and enjoys women in a way that no other male character ever has. Stout books are easy on the brain and fun. This one was just as good as any other. I’m still reading the last book I brought, also by Stout, Over My Dead Body in which we learn that Nero Wolfe has a daughter. Huh, how ’bout that?

I braved Comiket for things like Fujieda Miyabi’s calendar, which I find I cannot live without – next year I’ll have to pull strings to get one – and UGO’s most awesome bag that depicts Touko face down on the ground, while Yumi holds her tate-rolls and says “Nice Drill” in English. I stood on an amazingly long line for Shoujo Kingdom’s doujinshi, but no line at all for Pen Pen Gusa Club (who said in English “thank you for your support,”) Raku-Gun or Crush, which just goes to show you that there’s no accounting for taste. I bought a really, exceptionally filthy doujinshi from Fancy Free (he of the Marimite characters licking penis-shaped “ice pops”) after I read it in front of him so he knew I knew what it was, just to watch him boggle. LOL I made a bunch of guys laugh, when I pounced from about ten feet away, after seeing that they did Miu x Chika non-hentai doujinshi a series called 15 Mashimaro. They have okay art, but the stories are good and they totally *get* the dynamic between Chika and Miu. I found Studio Canopus to be one very serious-looking woman, who is still putting out gorgeous Haruka x Michiru work. And it was a pleasure to revisit UKOZ and Sakuraike and see what they have this year, all of which was as awesome as ever.

The wife discovered yet *another* series about a tall, thin victorian dressed demon, which makes something like four series or so that she likes of the type. And she bought some Yu-Gi-Oh doujinshi by a circle she adores, and some guinea pig doujinshi for a friend. And post cards with fabulous Goth Loli girls with weapons. We have a frame by the kitchen sink and she rotates the pictures in it with stuff by this circle.

Of everything I got, the thing that stands out in my mind is the last page of a doujinshi by Pen Pen Gusa, in which Shizuma as Etoile of St. Miator, visits Lillian’s Yamayurikai. On the very last page, Yoshino asks Eriko if she met the Etoile, to which Eriko replies, “Oh, we’ve know each other for ages, after all, we share a seiyuu.” :-) That still makes me laugh. (Which makes for a fun fanfic idea that would actually make a bad story about how Eriko, Shizuma, Nobue and Letti all hang out.)

We spent some time with Rica Takashima, as always a blast to be around, and got to see Ivy for a little while. It was absolutely fabulous to see her again. :-)

More Tokyo stories as I get unwound- I took notes and everything. :-) I have a guest review by Sean Gaffney ready to go, so I hope to get that up later today and I’ll be back up and reviewing soon! (I have to – I’ve got huge piles to work on. Maybe I’ll take a picture for you, so you can see what madness looks like….)





Happy New Year

December 31st, 2007

Once again, I am stealth posting, just to wish you all a happy new year. We survived three brutal days of Comiket and today are heading off for a brutal day of making our shrine visits.

I’m reading the latest Marimite novel and so far Sachiko fails to capitalize on a chance for high sexiness. Poor Yumi.

You’ll get you details when I get back, promise. :-)

Have a healthy happy new year!





Tokyo Trip 2008: Day 2, Akiba Picks The Money Right Out of My Pocket

December 28th, 2007

4:42 AM. Time of death, Internet access. I’m typing quickly from an annonymous access point. Posts will be short, inexplicable and mostly full of gloating.

Today, we went back to Akihabara to try and find Bruce a catalog of his own to no avail. But we managed to drop a lot of money on other stuff, including a few Marimite goods and some stuff for Serge (I really wanted to get him a Kyou Kara Maoh thing – and he knows why – but didn’t.)

Tomorrow is Comiket. I’m so not at all ready. :-) I expect to be incommunicado for some days. Just imagine me drowing in doujinshi and you’ll be close to right. :-)





Tokyo Trip 2008: Day 1 Equals "Arrrgh"

December 27th, 2007

Computer access is really crappy this time for some reason, so if I disappear for days at a time, I did not fall into one of the 100 yen doujinshi bins at Toranoana and die. I just can’t get online.

Airplane left on time, arrived on time, the bus came on time, so of course we were stopped in traffic and arrived at the hotel extra late. And so, we learned that this trip will be all about “balance.” That is, for everything that goes well, an equal and opposite thing will not. :-) Like, for instance, internet access being sketchy.

We slept 12 hours straight and rose almost human. Headed right out to the comics stores to find a Comike catalog. In the way of such things, we found a zillion *other* things we wanted, but no catalog. Of course. :-) So we bought some other things. Who am I to say no to fate?

We dropped everything off in the room, wrestled with Internet access, won the first round, and decided to try our luck in Akihabara. Strangely, for all the times I’ve been here, I’ve never made it over there. Never been desperate enough, I guess. :-)

So off to Akiba we go. We stopped at Toranoana first, because that was the store we reached first and never left. I wasn’t kidding about the 100 yen doujinshi bins. But I get ahead of myself. First came the “adult” doujinshi section, which smelled like over-stimulated fanboys. I shouldn’t laugh aloud at the covers as often as I do, but I can’t help myself. Oh – no, wait, first came the bottom floor where we nabbed the last catalog. Phew. Then the funky level, then the other doujinshi levels ending up in me communing with the 100 yen bins. And then we couldn’t lift the bags, our feet hurt, we were hungry and tired. (Fair enough, since our bodies think it’s 2AM or so.) So home we went.

We’re planning on checking out the Catalog and waiting for our retinue to arrive. (Bruce, Our faithful minion, and the wife’s friend and her mother, who have *no* idea at all what they are about to get themselves into.)

See you next time the intertubes work!