More Aria: The Animation

More neat Aria character bios and screencaps for y'all today:

Finally, we meet Orange Planet's Athena-san, the third of the Mizu no Sandaiyousei (水の三大妖精 - "The Three Great Faeries of the Waters"). She's a mostly quiet, unassuming gal who happens to be VERY scatterbrained (what the Japanese call a dojikko) but possesses a kind heart and incredible canzone (It. song) skills (marvelling at one of Athena's rangy soprano tunes, Akari calls her "tenshi no utagoe," which literally means "angel's song voice"). Athena is Alice's roommate and senpai, and though Alice views this particular senpai with some condescension and irritation (from always having to take care of her clumsy messes), she comes to realize that Athena has been quietly supporting her from the shadows since the very beginning. Her anime seiyuu is Kawakami Tomoko, with the peerless a capella soprano solos provided by Kawai Eri.

"She often trips over flat ground, spills her drinks, forgets the most important things, and hits the hang-up button on herself while talking on the phone..."









Hime-shacchou: she's the blue-eyed honorary head of Himeya Company, which is the establishment that Aika belongs to (and is, in fact, the heiress of). Her seiyuu is not credited in the anime, but then, she doesn't get that many "lines" (not that many = zero)...





Maa-kun: an abandoned kitten (and what an ugly one, at that) found and secretly nursed by Alice (Orange Planet does not allow its employees to keep pets). It (we are unsure of its gender at this point) was named "Maa-kun" because "maa" is apparently the only sound it can make, and it also seems to have a talent for biting Aria-shacchou where it hurts. People did find out about its existence, but luckily for Alice, Athena discovered that it has aquamarine eyes (how can you tell?!) and persuaded Orange Planet to adopt it as its new honorary president (the previous one had just passed away). So I suppose its name is now actually Maa-shacchou... Its seiyuu is the versatile Watanabe Akeno.

次回も水の惑星(アクア)でご一緒しましょう。

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

A merry, merry Turkey Day to you all.

Wei's Anime Recommendations: Aria - The Animation

So, my loyal readers, have any of you ever watched either of the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (aka Yokohama Shopping Log) OVAs? Aria - The Animation is very similar in pacing and "feel" to that series -- that is to say, it is a story of peaceful people leading tranquil lives in calm, serene surroundings (though not originally so serene -- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou takes place on Earth after an apocalyptic event has wiped out most of the human population, and Aria uses as its setting the water-covered planet Aqua... which turns out to be the terraformed version of the previously inhospitable "red planet" Mars). I'm a big fan of these "slice of life" series -- as long as it presents me with genuinely likable characters and actually cares to develop them (as opposed of letting them become so many pieces of recycled cliché cardboard), as well as look pretty enough to take my mind off whatever ultra-gory and/or ultra-mindrape-happy series I'm attempting to recover from (let me tell you, slicers-of-life are excellent therapy).

Let's just say that Aria succeeds on both counts.

The characters of Aria are diverse and well-developed, and each possess different charms and shortcomings, all of which allow them to mesh beautifully into a remarkable tapestry of hopes and dreams that adorns the gorgeous backdrop of Neo Venezia (an exact replica of old Venezia on Earth/Man-home; id est, Venice, Italy). Since there aren't many things that I like more than cute anime chicks, I'll go ahead and show you a few:

Mizunashi Akari: the protagonist of the series, Aria chronicles her efforts to adapt to her new surroundings in Neo Venezia, make friends, and ultimately become an Undine (ウンディーネ - a gondolier/tour guide). At the beginning of the series, she's still a one-glove/intermediate-level trainee at Alicia's Aria Company outpost. She's not a very good gondolier yet (although she's serviceable ... when rowing backwards, heh), but her easygoing, optimistic personality and sincere smile quickly win her many friends on Aqua. Her anime seiyuu is newcomer Erino Hazuki, while her audio drama seiyuu is Mizuhashi Kaori...

... and her SD faces are very, very funny. :)










Aika Granzchesta: Akari's friend and fellow one-glove Undine-in-training. She's been groomed from a very young age to be the eventually successor of the gondola company Himeya, and she sometimes resents the pressure put on her, especially from Akira, her occasionally overbearing overseer (how's that for assonance?). Aika is generally outspoken and a straight shooter. Alicia once cheered her up when she was younger, and as a result Aika is very fond of Alicia. Her anime seiyuu is Saitou Chiwa, and her manga-based audio drama seiyuu is the famous Hayashibara Megumi.


Her SD face looks like this --------->










Alice Carroll: (yes, the name is an homage to a certain book a guy named Lewis Carroll [actually, Charles Lutwidge] wrote) The youngest of the Undine-in-training sanninmusume ("girl triumvirate"... play your Sakura Taisen!), Alice works for Athena at the Orange Planet company. She's accorded to be a gondolier prodigy, despite the fact that she is still a two-glove (ie lowest rank) trainee by Undine standards. Alice is extremely introverted, and had problems even smiling to people before Akari became her friend. Her anime seiyuu is Hirohashi Ryou, while her audio drama seiyuu is the hatefully loli-rific (no, that's not a real word, but you should be able to figure it out) Saitou Ayaka.

Even freakier...












Alicia Florence: Akari's boss, a Prima (highest-rank) Undine, and (with Akira and Athena) one of the Mizu no Sandaiyousei (水の三大妖精 - "The Three Great Faeries of the Waters"). Alicia is a charming person who dispenses rather generously with her smiles and is kind and affectionate towards everyone. Most of the characters in Aria love her (and most of the fans do, too), although her smiles and her "ara, ara"s tend to annoy Akira (who grew up with Alicia and thus have had to suffer the cheerfulness a long, long time) to no end. Her anime seiyuu is Oohara Sayaka, commonly acknowledged to be the "lite" version of her audio drama seiyuu, Inoue Kikuko.

Akira: "Ara ara kinshi!" ("ara ara"s are forbidden!)
Alicia: *Ufufu* (giggling)
Akira: "Ufufu mo kinshi!" ("ufufu" is also forbidden!)
Alicia: "Ara ara~"
Akira: "DOCHI MO KINSHI!" (they're both forbidden!)




Akira Ferrari: Aika's boss at Himeya, Prima Undine, and one of the Mizu no Sandaiyousei. Akira is the diammetric opposite of her childhood friend Alicia -- she's demanding, proactive, and sometimes bad-tempered. Despite their occasional clashes, Akira's personality has rubbed off quite a bit on Aika. Akira's exasperated tirades at Alicia (see above) provide some of the most comedic moments in Aria. Her anime seiyuu is Minagawa Junko (Sagitta~~~), and her audio drama seiyuu is the accomplished Mitsuishi Kotono (Misato~~~).


I suppose Akira-san isn't too used to being bribed with food...









Ai: a little girl who sort of... blackmails... Akari into giving her a gondola ride. She's tired of the same old, same old in her life back on Man-home (Earth), and an eventful day spent with Akari and Aika restores some of her optimism and hope. She returns to Man-home at the end of Episode 1, but keeps in touch with Akari via video mail. Her anime seiyuu is Mizuhashi Kaori.


"Take me on a gondola ride or I'll scream 'kidnap'!"








This ... thing ... is Aria-shachou(社 長 - company president). He's supposed to be a cat (EDIT: a Martian cat -- hence the eccentric look. --K. 2/26/07). All of the gondolier guilds in Neo Venezia employ cats with blue (specifically, aquamarine blue) eyes as titular presidents in order to bring themselves good luck (as Aquamarine is taken to be the guardian goddess of waterfarers), although other "presidents" look more catlike (EDIT: again, because they're not Martian cats --K. 2/26/07) and are generally smarter than Aria-shachou here... His anime seiyuu is Chinami Nishimura, and his audio drama seiyuu is Hayashibara Megumi.

Naturally, my first exposure to Aria was through manga; namely, the manga series Aqua by Amano Kozue. Quite frankly, the Aqua-Aria manga franchise featured some of the most astonishingly beautiful manga art I have ever seen. Not only are the characters attractive, but the surroundings are done in fine, toned detail that makes for an extremely immersive and visually satisfying reading experience. The same is true for Aria - The Animation. The interplay of the various shades of blue that dominate the planet Aqua are done in rich, colorful detail, and the stylistic architecture of Neo Venezia project beautifully into the water beneath them, which itself is a mirror for the expansive sky above. Accompanied by a superb soundtrack featuring soothing ambience and soft yet richly lyrical theme tracks, Aria presents a setting that can easily compete with the D. C. ~Da Capo~ and Stratos 4 franchises for top honors in artistry and elegance from recent anime series. Combined with the peaceful tone of the story and character-driven vignettes that subtly understate the calmer, gentler nature of life on Aqua (and in Neo Venezia in particular), Aria - The Animation is a cut above the competition as a remedial anime and as an anime that everyone can enjoy. I recommend it.

Today's Densha Otoko Moment: Slow Dance

So yeah, I love Densha Otoko (Shiraishi Miho ROCKS!). But then, I'm an otaku. Just to further demonstrate to y'all the immense power of my otaku-ness (wanna see my license?), I shall now share a Densha Otoko-related discovery that only a hardcore otaku would even notice, much less be amused by:

In the last episode of the 2005 drama Slow Dance (as its name suggests, a very slow-paced, grinding drama about the nature of relationships, social reality, and pursuit of your dreams in the stressful, nerve-wracking world of Japanese adulthood), the fianceé of the minor character Ichisaka-san (a timid, awkward 50-ish man who leads a rather uneventful life) remarks to male lead Serizawa Riichi (who was Ichisaka's driving school instructor in the early episodes and offered enough encouragement -- through both words and action -- that Ichisaka finally managed to get his driving license after having failed to do so 10+ times previously) that her man had been "going on the 'net" a lot lately -- and that he now keeps saying strange things like 'kita----' (watch Densha Otoko!) or 'moe~'." Nukumizu Youichi, who plays Ichisaka, also plays one of the more prominent "Net no Juunin" (ネットの住人 - residents of the 'Net/cyberlurkers; those guys provide some of the funniest and most entertaining moments of that show) on Densha Otoko, so that line was a rather subtle reference to the awesome Densha drama, which is amusing. What's even more amusing, Slow Dance happened to be a direct competitor of Densha Otoko's (i. e. the two dramas aired at the same prime time slot on competing broadcast stations), and it's highly unusual that you'd see a show reference its fierce competitor, even if the two of them share the same minor actor...











Nukumizu-san selling takoraisu (i.e. octopus rice) in Slow Dance











Ruminating shortly before Densha Otoko's "ore, tabidatsu yo" scene

P. S. - Just noticed that Densha Otoko returned the favor in its later episodes as well. Note the "Tako Raisu" katakana in the laptop sticker in the pic above... or just look at this pic, which was ripped straight out of the last ep of Densha TV:



(Apparently the makers of Densha Otoko got to use imagery of Nukumizu's Slow Dance "fianceé" as well; curiouser and curiouser...)




P. P. S. -- Did a little research and found out that Slow Dance actually aired on Thursdays whereas Densha Otoko aired on Mondays, so the two were not direct competitors. Also Densha Otoko credits Nukumizu's character as "Ichisaka Susumu," so we seem to have a simple crossover scenario on our hands. Sore ijou, sore dake. Mystery solved.

And a third post! I'm smokin', baby~

Everyone, meet Girlffith [sic].

Kawaii naa~~~

So yeah, it took the Densha Otoko TV Drama exactly 48 minutes and 50 seconds to really *connect* with me.

If you follow me, Dave, take a look. I WANT IT, MAN.

And for the three of you left in the world who don't know it yet: yeah, I'm as big a Sakura Taisen whore as anything you can find elsewhere.

EDIT: This figure now graces the top shelf of my computer desk. Thanks, Dave! --K. 2/26/07

Daily Pic, Part Deux...?

95-tan and XP-tan are so cute, aren't they?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about... read this. Um... read this, too, while you're at it.

Berserk ~The Prototype~

I don't think I really have to explain what Berserk is. Just about every anime fan out there has heard of it, if not watched/read it. Recently, I found something of a predecessor chapter of the manga called "Berserk ~The Prototype~." It was done back in 1989, when its mercurial mangaka Miura Kentarou was still just a college student, and basically laid the foundation for what became the Berserk manga we know and love. Many of the elements in the Prototype eventually made it into the manga proper: Puck the faerie, Guts' as a one-eyed/one-armed walking typhoon of death, Guts' disproportionately large sword, his crossbow, his arm-cannon, and even the symbol that would become the Brand. However, some things are different, namely Guts' personality (he's more boisterous and irreverent in the Prototype), the eyepatch he wears over his bad eye (which looks rather silly, I must say), the absence of the God Hand (in whose place there's a demon king of sorts called "Vana" that empowers the Apostles), and...

Griffith is a girl.

Man, that was funny. I mean, Griffith as we know him is plenty girlish, but in The Prototype he's a girl, period. In fact, he's the "damsel-in-distress" that Guts has to rescue not once but twice across the 30-some pages that constitute the chapter. Man, I got such a kick of hilarity out of that that I just HAD to share.

Ryan Gosling

I was watching CSI: Miami earlier tonight when I came across a commercial for the upcoming movie "Stay" starring, among others, Ewan McGregor and Ryan Gosling. I was absolutely shocked to see Gosling again after all this time: he featured prominently in the teen show "Breaker High" and pseudo-fantasy extravaganza "Young Hercules" (the afternoon kids' version of Hercules: the Legendary Journeys), both of which I remember vividly from the more bored moments of my middle-teenage years. Wow. Just wow. Even Ryan Gosling's all grown up and playing in action-suspense thrillers. I swear that something seems to happen every day now that makes me feel old.

Funny stuff in Devil Kings

Devil Kings is a new action adventure game (read: beat'em up) by Capcom for the PS2. The game looks incredibly pretty (insofar as the limits of the PS2 hardware goes), but gameplay-wise it's pretty much a Dynasty Warriors clone (although the move-customization part is more like Devil May Cry), right down to your contingents of allied generals and (AI-challenged) allied grunt soldiers that you sometimes have to fight like a madman/woman to save. Unlike Dynasty Warriors, though, this game doesn't seem to try to have a serious plot at all... at least, it certainly is not the case with the plot of the character I'm playing right now.

Her name is Venus. She seems to be a super ninja assassin type (mixed with a healthy dosage of your typical eyecandy game blonde bombshell bakunyuu type). When her story starts, she's sneaking around the ceiling of some castle looking for this guy called Frost so that she could kill him. So she finds him while he's poring over some map (probably just more vanilla plotting to take over the world), drops down from the ceiling, and proceeds to do the usual vainglorious "get ready to face your death" announcement (I thought assassins are supposed to kill swiftly and SILENTLY?). Then he turns around and a maelstrom of rose petals pops out of nowhere to frame his smiling, perfectly bishonen face. And she, um, melts. So when he comes over to sweep her off her feet and spew absolutely idiotic bishonen pickup lines at her ("just like the thorn on a beautiful rose, your eyes have pierced my heart", ugh), she was too smitten to resist him. Not only did she drop her knives, but as he moved in to embrace her (in an absolute fury of petals flying around everywhere... who the hell picked all the flowers in the garden and turned on the electric fan?), she was laughing giddily and making these absolutely ORGASMIC noises. Seriously. Although there's nothing even remotely R-rated in the footage, the noises she were making are absolutely NC-17. Herbal Essences stuff, if you're old enough to remember those commercials. Suffice to say that by the time the first battle started, she was Frost's faithful servant (in more ways than one, I imagine) and sworn to defend him to the death. LOL. Those homages to the glorious bishonen tradition had me rolling on the floor laughing for quite a while. :)

From what I hear, most of the characters have tongue-in-cheek storylines like that. That ought to make the game a little more amusing (though it'll still play like what it is... a Dynasty Warriors ripoff)... well, that and the beautifully done anime FMVs (only seen one so far: Red Minotaur's intro before the second fight in Venus's campaign. But it was truly awesomely animated -- and I swear it's done by either Sunrise Studios or Bandai Visual, because it looks almost entirely like Gasaraki [and somewhat like GiTS: SAC too]).

EDIT: Watch the intro for yourself, courtesy of the incredible convenience of youtube. --K. 2/26/07

Namco x Capcom

This line is from the first 5 minutes of the game... it really cracked me up:

(Right after Shion, M.O.M.O., and KOS-MOS materialize in the middle of Shibuya after the first fight)

Xiaomu: "メガネ(Glasses - Shion)、無表情(Expressionless - KOS-MOS)、 ロリ(Loli - Momo)... We've got the whole fanservice package right here!"

Hehe.

Also, is it just me or did Gainax make the opening animation for that game? It looks almost exactly like the kind of animation that FLCL and Aim for the Top! 2 sport, right down to the ugly (but funny) facial expressions and herky-jerky limb action...

Check it out:

Reviews Upcoming

Yeah, yeah, I know I promised a D. C. review, but that's going to have to sit on the back burner for a while... (EDIT: forever --K. 2/26/07) I've been working on a detailed (and picture-augmented!) review of Japan's #1-rated 2005 drama series -- Densha Otoko. Dave, if you're reading this: go out, rent that show, and watch it now!!! It is IMHO the most entertaining Jdrama since Love Generation (and the most entertaining Jdrama of all time if you're a serious otaku like me); suffice to say I liked it very much. I hope you all will like my review and my homemade screencaps (I made a ton of 'em) as well (EDIT: since things got put off to this crazy extent, there are already reviews out there that are far better than anything I could've written anyway. Try here. --K. 2/26/07).

After that, I figure I'll review a few of these PS2 games that I've been wasting time with... It'll probably start with Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, only because I'm spiteful and I won't stand for Dave bashing the Tale of Genji (admittedly a long-winded and difficult work of literature... but the stories based on which the work was written were splendid and riveting). いい国作ろう、 鎌倉幕府!

This is Fatima... One of the three beauteous (and talented!) harem girls belonging to that beyotch O'den in Koei's Age of Navigation IV Plus.

Greetings horde... all 5 of you.

For the 5 of you who've stumbled upon this blog who don't know what it is already and aren't here to spam... a belated introduction of the three of us that run this nuthouse:

*Minigendo:

• name: David
• aliases: Dave, Kratzenmeyer, Game & Watch, Soul Doctor, Pimpmaster Supreme, Owner of the Invincible Cone of Solitude (hereafter known as ICoS)
  
• base of operations: Cary, NC, USA
• favorite anime: El Hazard
• favorite character: Ikari Gendou. Period.
• favorite manga: Berserk
• goals in life: to dominate the world and be able to take naps while doing it, I think.

*Kamatari:

• name: Wei
• aliases: Kamatari, Kamatari47 (because people register my normal nick without ever intending to use it), Ur-Wei, Evil Mastermind, Instrument of Whupass, Vampire Among Us.
• base of operations: Winterville, NC, USA.
• favorite anime: Serial Experiments Lain. And anything else that rapes the mind half as well.
• favorite character: Ayukawa Madoka (from Kimagure Orange Road).
• favorite manga: GTO. Although I do read a lot of stuff that are similarly promising.
• goals in life: to bring down the nameless cabal of demons in human skinsuits plotting to brainwash us all into slaving, paying automata devoid of any artistic taste or sense of linguistic veracity. Hereafter we shall refer to this nameless cabal under the pseudoacronym "ADV."

*Yerameyahu:

• name: Jeremy
• aliases: Dread Lord, Dr. Slackopolis, Mister T-Shirt, Rhaphis, Mr. Square Smiley, Grim Cyning
• base of operations: Durham, NC, USA
• favorite anime: Eva, Bebop, Champloo
• favorite character: the interrobang
• favorite manga: That's like a comic book, yeah?
• goals in life: Sandwiches, video games, and movies, whilst seated on an aged, riveted-leather wing chair in a large, hardwood-panelled library with a ceiling of at least 14'... and the formation of a benevolent world despotism.

We're big fans of Japanese animation and manga, and we've started up this blog to broadcast our biased opinions on such to the world. Updates may not be frequent, but I hereby promise that when I (Kamatari) write a review for anything, it will be quite detailed and worth your while to read (as long as you don't mind me spoiling all the salient aspects of the plot, if one happened to be present -- no sure thing, y'know). This is also our forum for sharing our views on what's going on in the protoculture, and it is our place to whine and moan when something we don't like is happening (and there are a great deal of such somethings goin' down at any given time, trust me). We'd certainly appreciate it if any fans show up to converse with us, be it to praise or criticize, since we're all for the sharing of opinions in the first place. So don't hesitate to comment on anything you read here... the Masters encourage it!

Cower, mortals! Reviews and discussion to come!

... We'll start posting stuff soon.