I Salute You, Brian K. Vaughan

Marvel Comics hasn't been the same since the post-bankruptcy reorganization (a blight on you, Joe Quesada, for that awful Civil War crap!), but it's still capable of putting out a comic now and then that's worth reading (for example: Agents of Atlas). Runaways is one such title: I've read all 42 issues so far (published in two separate volumes), as well as the (immensely crappy) Runaways/Young Avengers: Civil War crossover and even the X-Men/Runaways mini-book they gave away during the Free Comic Book Day 2006 publicity event. I can't really say what fascinates so much about the series, since it doesn't do anything (i.e. plot, art, drama, romance, general suspense) exceptionally well, but if you dig deep down into my subconscious (stay out! It's not pretty down there), you'd probably find that I just appreciate a comic with characters who respond realistically to the problems heaped upon them through the wiles of the comic book gods. Also doesn't hurt that there aren't any, as David would put it, "narrative buzzkills" in sight.

Runaways is the story of six teens who, through mere happenstance, discover that their parents are super-villains plotting the destruction of the world. The original roster consisted of:

* Alex Wilder (16), the son of underworld mafia rulers.
* Nico Minoru (16), the daughter of dark sorcerers.
* Chase Stein (17), the son of mad scientists.
* Gertrude Yorkes (15), the daughter of time travelers.
* Karolina Dean (16), the daughter of space aliens.
* Molly Hayes (11), the daughter of evil mutants.

The teenagers ran away from home, decided to fight against their evil parents, and eventually succeeded. Then they had to deal with a slew of issues including being placed into foster homes by the Avengers, fighting crooks trying to fill the power vacuum left behind by their powerful parents, fending off a support group founded by former teenage superheroes, and combating an online cabal of role-playing geeks thinking they were the super-villains in that struggle against their "'rents." Two of the original members were killed off and replaced by:

* Victor Mancha (17), the cyborg son of Ultron.
* Xavin (???), the child of marauding Skrulls.

I recommend reading the newly released Runaways Saga for a quick "primer" on everything that's happened so far. Anyway, I like the way the series realistically portrays the doubt, confusion, and general insecurity of the Runaways. Hey, I was a teen myself not too long ago, so I can easily understand that how, in a situation like the one the Runaways found them in, the whole world would appear to them to have gone mad. Even though they hail from the same universe as such prolific superhero teams as the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men, the Runaways are not one such team: they're just a bunch of frightened, confused kids who have come to distrust adults and who have no choice but to rely on each other for support. Most of their adventures have been entertaining and provide welcome catharses from the over-dramatic, poorly written (and incredibly poorly edited!) "flagship" titles Marvel produces nowadays.

Sadly, though, an era has just ended for the Runaways. Brian K. Vaughan, who created and wrote all 42 issues of the comic so far, is leaving the franchise for a while. In his stead, Runaways will now be written by...

...

...Joss Whedon. Supposedly the change will only last for one six-issue story arc, but this is Joss Whedon. One can't underestimate the amount of narrative damage Joss can inflict over six issues of a comic.

Please don't kill us all off, Mr. Whedon!

Gainax is cashing in... AGAIN.

Let it be known that I loved Top wo Nerae!/Aim for the Top!/Gunbuster. It was a superb blend of drama, action, and heartache, framed in the first sci-fi adventure I can remember that actually deigned to obey the theory of relativity (which adds to the heartache). Seiyuu Hidaka Noriko's performance as Takaya Noriko is, to this day, one of the three iconic roles of her long, prolific career (the others are Asakura Minami and Erica Fontaine), and Tanaka Kouhei rules.

Let it be known that I sorta liked Top wo Nerae 2!/Aim for the Top 2!/Gunbuster 2/Diebuster. I like it for being a follow-up to Top wo Nerae! (and paying homage in every episode -- especially that last one, heh), for using the same style of animation that made FLCL great, and for doing so many things in an over-the-top manner (feel free to groan now). I am not as impressed with the so-so voice cast, the way the plot twist(s) turned out, and Topless -- probably the ugliest pun I can ever remember being executed to visual fruition in anime (yes, this should be ironic to you, considering what I just did in the last sentence). All in all, it was still enjoyable.

It stands to reason, then, that my curiosity should go on red alert when I heard about this. I was very excited about possibly witnessing the collision of the two installments of this grand space saga, I speculated about a Go Nagai-esque crossover throwdown, and I really wondered how Gainax would resolve the lingering continuity conflicts (and a couple of pretty important plot questions), the slight discrepancy in the timeline, and the dramatic differences in the animation styles between the two OVAs.

They didn't.

Continuing their recent tradition of re-releasing stuff they did decades ago (*cough* Eva *cough*), Top wo Nerae! * Top wo Nerae 2! Gattai Gekijouban (Aim for the Top! * Aim for the Top 2! Combined Theatrical Edition) is a combined re-release of both OVAs -- each joined together into one continuous 90-minute-ish movie. Yeah, there's some new stuff (such as the widescreen letterbox format and a few new scenes with voices from new seiyuu -- a few of which were still playing with hanetsuki and Ultraman action figures back when Top wo Nerae! was made), but the content is largely the same. So now you get to go to a theater, sit down, and watch both installments of the franchise in one three-hour sitting. Whoopee.

Perhaps I wouldn't have been so annoyed if Gainax had simply translated their Japanese title for the "film" the way I did... but no, they had to go with "Gunbuster vs. Diebuster." That title really makes you feel like the two titular mecha would, you know, actually meet each other, doesn't it? Imagine my disappointment when I found this was just another Gainax ploy to get you to spend money on something they've already sold you before.

By the way, the DVD box of "Gunbuster vs. Diebuster" came out on January 26th. Feel the excitement! Dig out your wallets and pay Gainax now!

At the Center of the World, Shouting "Love"

The title of this post should've clue you in on what I'm about to talk about: the Japanese novel/movie/drama Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu (世界の中心で、愛をさけぶ -- for translation, see the title of this post... mmm, circular referencing in blog entries). Unfortunately, you're not going to get a deep, moving review of that fantastic jdrama from me -- since it aired in 2004, plenty of reviews have already been written, many of which are far better than anything I could've put together (you do, however, get a courtesy pic. Because I love pics.).


Instead, I'm going to tell a rambling story about a conversation Dave and I had over IM last week. Everything started when an episode of Gokujou Seitokai (good show... I'll blog more about it later) made a reference to it:

Sunday: Sekai no chuushin de, ai wo sakebe!
Cindy: Aye.











Dave points out that this is based on the title of a Harlan Ellison short story. Being the Eva trivia master that he is (sorry about that Rokubungi swag thing a while back, Dave...), he also points out that the quote made an earlier appearance as the title of episode 26 of that show (Shinseiki Evangelion):

The Japanese reads sekai no chuushin de ai wo sakenda kemono, and the "ai" written in katakana here is wordplay -- the English word "I" is pronounced "ai" in the syllabary. It's interesting to see the same basic phrase pop up in all sorts of places -- Harlan Ellison, Human Instrumentality, and a mother-daughter reunion between two people who have very little grasp of proper Japanese (you'll see what I'm talking about later)...

P. S. -- The English title of the Sekai no Chuushin de, Ai wo Sakebu franchise -- "Socrates in Love" -- is just ...random, isn't 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.

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!

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!