Dagger

Manabi Straight is fun, but I stopped watching it because the loli innuendo disturbed me. It's not that I can't take loliness, but if you want your characters to look like elementary or middle schoolers, then please don't try to pass them off as high schoolers. That's still a pet peeve of mine. But I'll probably finish it anyway when it's done airing or gets licensed. :p ~Dagger~

Pretty much everyone I know is on Facebook. I think it might be a regional thing (like how some high schools use MSN and some use AIM). I barely ever log in except to post birthday messages, but it's a nice way to stay connected. Ironically, knowing that my old friends are just a click away has kind of discouraged me from keeping in close contact with them. I tell myself that I can talk to them whenever I feel like it, and somehow having that ability keeps me from [i]ever[/i] feeling like it. Secret groups are fun. ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/2007/03/08/681,1173289974,68189,0,0.html][u]This dude[/u][/url] has a mask. Of course, he's from an anime, and it's not even one that's aired yet, so maybe it's not the best example... - Why has no one mentioned Tuxedo Kamen!? For shame! - Papillon in Busou Renkin wears a butterfly mask. - There's a mask-sporting character in Tantei Gakuen Q (he never shows up in the anime version, however). - Lelouch/Zero in Code Geass wears a mask. Okay, I know that from the anime, but it's been made into a couple of manga as well, so bringing him up isn't exactly cheating. That's all I've got, I'm afraid. :animeswea It's safe to say that the majority of masks in anime & manga are the decorative masquerade ball sort of item--even if their wearers try to pretend otherwise. ~Dagger~

The results are conclusive: Reiji Namikawa has the nicest hair in the entire series. Not much more to say about episode 22, except that it had better art than the past few episodes. Quite possibly I'm just saying this because I was blinded by the glory of his hair. It makes Pantene commercials resemble split end fests. I tend to mentally split DN into four parts--[spoiler]L versus Light, Yotsuba, Light versus Mello and Light versus Near.[/spoiler] Of those, I would rank Yotsuba the lowest in either the anime or manga. I don't want to say too much more about the manga, just because it's been a while since I read it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that the second arc (which comprises [spoiler]Light vs. Mello and Near[/spoiler]) could translate to anime form far better than the first. They'll be forced to compress it to its juiciest bits because of the smaller number of episodes left. Additionally, the second arc is in many ways broader in scope and more action-packed. This gives it the potential to translate better to screen, so long as they use whatever remains of their budget judiciously. The number one thing I'm hoping for right now (vague second arc spoilers!) is that [spoiler]Near's[/spoiler] seiyuu, whoever he or she may be, succeeds in [spoiler]distinguishing him from L.[/spoiler] They have a huge opportunity here to do what the manga could not (at least initially) and show us, purely through the power of kick-*** voice acting, [spoiler]why he isn't just L's Mini-Me.[/spoiler] In some ways, I think that casting might matter more than anything else when it comes to affecting people's opinions of the second half. After all, the animation will probably be about the same--ranging between impressive and competent with a few cringe-inducing moments. Same goes for the music, direction style, and so forth. The only element that really has the chance to surprise and impress people is the voice acting for the new characters. Again, [spoiler]Near[/spoiler] is at the top of my anxiety list. I'm worried about [spoiler]Mello[/spoiler] as well, but that's mainly because he's my favorite character (on most days, at any rate). If you look at it more objectively, he'd be pretty hard to get wrong. I'm also anticipating hearing & seeing [spoiler]Mikami and Matt.[/spoiler] Which is a little weird, because I wasn't [i]that[/i] wild about them in the manga, at least not at first. Any fresh blood is a good thing, I guess. ~Dagger~

Based on the [url=http://www.amazon.com/Kekkaishi-1-Yellow-Tanabe/dp/1591169682/ref=sr_1_1/104-6239256-5741537?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173833996&sr=1-1][u]manga[/u][/url] by Yellow Tanabe, Kekkaishi started airing in Japan last fall. It took over the timeslot formerly occupied by Inuyasha, and it's already doing better in the ratings than Naruto and Bleach. So chances are that anyone interested in this series is going to have to settle in for the long haul. At least at first, Kekkaishi is much more low-key than the aforementioned shows. It sneaks in under the guise of shounen action but actually has a lot of slice-of-life elements. And I like it that way. Although a broader and more serious plot toddles in eventually, Kekkaishi fares quite well without any of that. The main characters are Yoshimori Sumimura, a fourteen-year-old middle schooler, and his sixteen-year-old neighbor, Tokine Yukimura. Both of them are kekkaishi--roughly, "barrier users"--but they belong to competing families. Their schools were built over an unusual tract of land that attracts and empowers ayakashi (your basic folklore-influenced anime monsters). Each night, they return there as guardians. One of the things that drew me to Kekkaishi was the nifty powers. Having to work with barriers rather than more obvious offensive skills restricts Yoshimori and Tokine in interesting ways. I also like their demon dogs (the flamboyant Madarao and the Engrish-using Hakubi), who are much cooler, more useful and more amusing than any anime mascot has the right to be. But my favorite part has to be the dynamic between Tokine and Yoshimori. Tokine is not only older but also more disciplined, strategic and skilled. She doesn't sit on the sidelines, and her relationship with Yoshimori isn't that of a typical token shounen romantic interest. In fact, she deals with him as if he were a slightly annoying little brother. He, in turn, looks up to her and tries to please her. There's romantic potential there, especially on Yoshimori's part. He hasn't realized it yet, though, and watching them interact as partners and childhood friends is ridiculously refreshing. In terms of raw power, Yoshimori possesses an edge--he kind of has to, what with being the protagonist. But Tokine's greater precision and experience makes them about equal, and even as they work together, they're constantly striving to one-up each other. Besides, who wouldn't love a shounen hero whose greatest goal in life is to build giant cake and candy castles? ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=GTK] I've always really liked Vagrant Story... if, for nothing else, the fact that some of the male character were more scantily clad than the women ^_~ [/QUOTE] Haha, no kidding. Sydney always seemed to be on the verge of having a serious wardrobe malfunction, and when you see Ashley from behind all the time, you can't help but notice that he left some odd places uncovered... :animeswea [QUOTE=BKstyles][FONT=Tahoma] Personally I think the game was overrated. The combat system was definitly annoying as hell often enough and I never could bring myself to like the main character too much. On the positive side though the game was definitly challenging, coming out in an era of easy to get through RPGs. Also yeah, the magic is pretty useless half the time...but certain spells had their place against certain bosses (like that dragon type boss early on in the game in the dungeons or whereever that place was), tis been a while.[/FONT][/QUOTE] I thought they worked out a great combat system but didn't encourage you to exploit it to its fullest. More variety in the bosses would have helped. The biggest oversight was the lack of a way to quickly change your weapon on the fly. When using a different type of weapon for almost every different type of enemy is a key part of doing well in the game, it's silly to force the player to delve into the items menu to change his equipment whenever the enemy type varies. I used support magic more and more as the game went on (Magic Ward is absolutely vital in some places, and stuff like Prostasia and the weapon/armor element affinity spells can make a surprisingly big difference). I rarely used attack spells, though, because they cost ridiculous amounts of MP, and MP restoration items weren't plentiful. I guess they might come in more handy the second or third time around, as you keep acquiring more and more MP. ~Dagger~

The difference between Setona Mizushiro's older and newer artwork is very pronounced. If you know they're from the same artist, you can see how her style evolved, but it looks so much more refined and modern now. It's not that I dislike her older manga--her rougher style has a charm of its own--but I think that After School Nightmare benefits a lot from its polished visuals. ~Dagger~

[QUOTE=Kenshin DX] If it weren't for Geass Id say this would be the most anticipated anime of the year.[/QUOTE] Which is funny, since Geass owes a fair amount to Death Note. ;) The only winter shows I'm actively watching right now are Kanon, Geass and Death Note. Somehow everything else got dropped by the wayside. I guess the main thing they have in common is that they're all endearingly silly in one way or another. EDIT: For the record, a lot of dialogue has been cut out of the Yotsuba arc in the anime. At least 50% of the manga-dialogue was absent from episode 21. This is a good thing. ~Dagger~

[quote name='Raiyuu][spoiler']How can you say such a thing! Honestly. I might cry.[/spoiler][/quote] Much like the Death Note itself does for Light, the Death Note anime brings out the worst in me. :animesmil On a lighter note, check out [url=http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7788/deathnote19konnadeathnory3.jpg][u]these variations[/u][/url] on [spoiler]the mattress rescue[/spoiler] scene from earlier. Oh, Matsuda... ~Dagger~

I haven't posted in a while--but that doesn't mean I haven't been watching. Actually, one of my good friends got sucked into season 3, so we were busy getting her caught up on the first two seasons and the fall stretch of season 3. Plus the DVD special features. :animeshy: Tonight's episode rocked. I'm so glad Sayid got to be back in the spotlight again; he might be the only character on the whole show who has never gotten under my skin. Maybe there were hints about this earlier, but I was most surprised to learn that [spoiler]the Others were there [i]before[/i] Dharma. I had always gone on assuming that they were Dharma leftovers. The fact that Dharma actually came to the island later and developed an antagonistic relationship with them is very intriguing. Although I shouldn't give much credence to the Others' constant protestations of being the "good guys," I do believe that Dharma must have been equally at fault for whatever happened between them. Moar information plz~~[/spoiler] Favorite line: Sawyer [spoiler]asking Nikki who the hell she was. My sentiments exactly.[/spoiler] Looks like they're falling back on the ridiculous Sawyer subplots for comedy. Oh, well--it [i]is[/i] funny, so whatever. Speaking of which, I was kind of amused by how they hyped up last week's episode as the must-see episode of the season (via commercials and such), when it pretty much consisted of nothing but Sawyer nicknames. I mean, as fun and entertaining as that was, nothing actually happened plot-wise until this week. And in the words of my newly addicted friend... :laugh: [spoiler]Hatches: 0 Locke: 2 [/spoiler] ~Dagger~

Read [url=http://www.moetron.com/2007/03/07/puchi-eva-evangelionschool-new-animated-work/][u]this[/u][/url] moetron post. It looks like Rebuild won't be the only new Eva-related animation coming along. They're also making Puchi Eva EVANGELION@SCHOOL, some kind of SD series. ANS has posted about it as well. Where's an "OH NO THEY DIDN'T!" cat macro when you really need one? ~Dagger~

My enjoyment of Vagrant Story and FFXII inspired me to order Final Fantasy Tactics. It'll have to wait until after I finish Xenogears, though. It's kind of funny how the order in which I buy games has no bearing on the order in which I actually play them... ~Dagger~

Go [url=http://www.romejuli.jp/character.html][u]here[/u][/url]. He's in the third row down, to the right of Montague (the bearded man) and has a rather snarky expression. ~Dagger~

Hahaha! The opening music is going to be a cover of "You Raise Me Up." This is going to be glorious. A lot of Shakespeare characters (or at least names) from other plays are getting thrown into this--Francisco from Hamlet, Curio from Twelfth Night, Cordelia from King Lear, Antonio from The Merchant of Venice and Hermione from A Winter's Tale. Apologies if I mis-identified any of those. Plus a dude named William who, by pure coincidence, works as a playwright. The plot thickens? ~Dagger~

[url=http://www.elcazador.tv/][u]Official Japanese site[/u][/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ2-dMvf9lA][u]First promo spot[/u][/url] El Cazador de la Bruja ("The Witch Hunter" in Spanish) is the third series in [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=372][u]Koichi Mashimo's[/u][/url] trilogy of "girls with guns" anime. The first two were Madlax and Noir. Given that all of the shows feature different characters and take place in different settings, they shouldn't actually qualify as a trilogy, but the themes and so forth are so similar that you can see why he might call it that. Which means that it shouldn't be too hard to figure out where El Cazador is going from the outset. Expert assassin and/or gunslinging girl meets not-so-expert, younger-looking girl. They delve into the buried secrets of each other's pasts while having vaguely yuri-ish relationships with everyone around them (with all of this being done to music by Yuki Kajiura). The one difference I can perceive in El Cazador is that it seems as if it might have a sense of humor. It's been a long time since Mashimo did comedy. This starts airing in Japan in early April, but it's probably going to be licensed sooner rather than later. I'll be on board for the DVDs as long as it ends up being more eventful than .hack//Roots. ~Dagger~

There's also the fact that AS has become a lot more lenient toward violence and sexuality in anime since Bebop first aired... Back to Blood+, though. How do you all think it'll do over here? It didn't exactly burn up the ratings on Japanese TV, although they tried awfully hard to appeal to the audience that helped make Gundam SEED and FMA so successful in the same timeslot. ~Dagger~

Hey, guys, don't decide on a firm opinion of Misa until after you've seen episode 21! :) The most important plot development in this episode is the revelation that [spoiler]Higuchi is the Yotsuba Kira.[/spoiler] Did any of you guess that ahead of time? It took me a bit by surprise when I was reading the manga. I think he definitely qualifies as one of the more pathetic characters in the series, at any rate. There's also a lot of good stuff for [spoiler]us Rem[/spoiler] fans. Anyway, things keep clipping along, and the first arc should be over in a couple more episodes. Look forward to it... :devil: ~Dagger~

For most of you, this probably seems like a blast from the past, but I played Vagrant Story for the first time this year. Having finished, I'm having a hard time sorting out my thoughts on it, so I'm going to go with a pro and con rundown. + The story is great and provides plenty of food for thought. I just wish it were more intelligible (the first time around, anyway). The ending is also fantastic. + The English script is a wonderful example of something that, despite being written with pretty classy diction, doesn't become too clogged with fancy faux-medieval words to convey emotion or urgency. I wish the FFXII script had turned out more like this. + The gameplay is fun and totally addictive. The frustrations of the weapon & armor system are balanced out by the sheer possibility it offers (as well as the availability of training dummies for each type of enemy). + Most of the puzzles--with two or three exceptions toward the end--are integrated well and make you think a little without being absurdly difficult. - Very repetitive bosses. The same few boss types (with different coloring or element affiliations) kept popping up over... and over... and over--which was weird, given the otherwise decent variety of monsters. - It's almost impossible to understand the story unless you do some extra research online. Two special intro sequences, which contain vital information, don't become available until after you start the game. In order to see them, you have to let the Continue (etc.) screen lie fallow for a while, and eventually one or the other will start playing. - On a similar note, the player is often left in the dark about important expository information. This isn't a function of the plot's complexity--it's already complicated, and getting the feeling that the writers are holding back on you doesn't help matters any. For instance, I didn't realize that the woman in the opening FMV was supposed to be Mullenkamp until I watched the ending credits. - It's all too easy to play the game completely out of order (bosses included). I spent a good ten hours wandering around where I wasn't supposed to be, wondering what the hell I was doing. Because of this, I completed over 80% of the map, when I could've finished in far less time and with far less exploring. Granted, I don't mind having the freedom to take things topsy-turvy, as long as it's made clear to me that I'm straying from the main path. - Offensive magic is pretty useless. I could probably cough up many other complaints. But while the story's clarity issues left a bad taste in my mouth because they could have been fixed so easily, on the whole I really liked Vagrant Story. I might go through it a second time over the summer. Anyone else play this back in the day--or, like me, more recently? ~Dagger~

Either the people at Geneon are suckers for punishment, or they've found a way to turn some kind of profit on the likes of Marimite. Not to say that there's anything truly similar to it on the market, but they were also the ones who released Kamichu and Ichigo Mashimaro and Zipang, so who knows. As for Solty, there's [i]more than one[/i] swimsuit episode? The plot thickens! (Lesson learned: never put anything past GONZO.) Well, I'm Netflixing it, so I'll stick with it as long as it keeps me engaged. There's always Jouji Nakata's fabulous voice to listen to, although it's somewhat wasted on Roy. And Solty's ears... those ears are mesmerizing... On the going against current sensibilities front, a thirty year old manga called [B]To Terra (Terra e)[/B] is getting a TV series adaptation this spring. A pretty big-time adaptation at that--it's going into the doroku slot where Gundam SEED and Blood+ aired. It's got anime character designs by Nobuteru Yuuki, mechanical designs by Yutaka Izubuchi, a boatload of script writers (including Izubuchi and Dai Sato) and awesome seiyuu (Mitsuki Saiga, Tomokazu Sugita, Sanae Kobayashi, Takehito "I have a character in every single anime ever made" Koyasu). The important part is that the manga it's based on just started coming out in the US (translated & published by Vertical), and the rather lengthy first volume, at least, is very good. It's epic sci-fi by the woman who wrote Kaze to Ki no Uta, one of the first BL manga. [url=http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/2007/02/28/681,1172673920,67825,0,0.html][u]Screencaps from Famitsu[/u][/url] The sheer number of new spring series has pretty much hit the saturation point for me. I'm about ready to throw up my hands, watch one or two things and let whatever's slipped through the cracks reach me whenever they're licensed. ~Dagger~

Agreed! I was surprised at how much I liked the beginning of Solty Rei. It was actually fun to watch. I try not to nitpick about cliches if I'm enjoying a show, at least not at this early stage. I don't know if this is in the first four episodes, but there's a [spoiler]beach[/spoiler] episode in the first six episodes. On the one hand, that makes it look like they're already running out of ideas--but on the other hand, I think it might have been good that they got it out of the way quickly. Maybe they can get a move on with the story sooner that way. Plus, it was hysterical. :) A couple of other series are likely candidates to get started on DVD in 2007. I can't 100% guarantee that all of these are licensed for sure, but Geneon has registered domain names for them. This pans out far more often with Geneon than with other companies--and there's also the fact that they need some other new shows for 2007. Anyway, at least one of these anime (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni) is a definite release, since it was the result of a license-guessing contest on ANN. [b][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvOWc6QqlT8][u]Higurashi no Naku Koro ni[/u][/url][/b] means When the Cicadas Cry, but if it's released under an English title, it'll probably be When They Cry. It's based on a fan-published PC game set in the summer of 1983. A teenage boy moves to the small town of Hinamizawa and, in a tiny school where all the grades mingle, becomes part of a close-knit group of friends... ...who he brutally murders not much later. That isn't a spoiler; it's given away in the first scene of episode 1. The fascinating part of Higurashi is the how and the why. The game has a number of different chapters, each of which ends pretty definitively, requiring the story to reboot in order to keep going. However, each chapter--even with all of the "bad ends"--contributes to your knowledge of the overall plot. The anime takes this approach as well. As for the three other titles that Geneon has gotten domains for: [b][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv1eDPLvkFo][u]Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha[/u][/url][/b] ([url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwD24M-mEj4][u]OP 2[/u][/url]) starts off as a standard magical girl anime (except for the fact that it's aimed at a male audience) but gradually accelerates into a wild action-fest with just enough characterization and plot to hold together the pyrotechnics. [b][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6TLyv6YTvc][u]Saiunkoku Monogatari[/u][/url][/b] is a dramatic, political story with similarities to Twelve Kingdoms and Fushigi Yuugi. [b][url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOhI363oJ5I][u]Maria-sama ga Miteru[/u][/url][/b] ([url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlx2TIzGvlw][u]OP 2[/u][/url]) is an elegant, old-fashioned story about all-female school life with loads of yuri undertones. Links go to the opening sequence(s) of each show. Interestingly, all of them have second or third seasons either coming up or currently being released in Japan. ~Dagger~

Um... I don't know that Lost or 24 are the best examples for this. FCC restrictions prevented those shows from dropping the f-bomb from the start. ~Dagger~

So far Del Rey has released four volumes of Eternal Sabbath, with more on the way. It's a newer manga by Fuyumi Soryo, the creator of Mars. At first the two series may seem completely different--Mars is a high school romance, whereas ES deals with genetic engineering, mind-reading and other sci-fi concepts--but they share a certain darkness. Soryo seems to love playing around with psychologically twisted characters. The main characters are Mine, a scientist; Shuro, a product of genetic engineering with an unusually long lifespan and the ability to read minds and control people; and Isaac, Shuro's twin/brother with the same abilities. Shuro doesn't particularly care about humans one way or the other, but Isaac wants revenge on those who created him. The scenes in which the two of them delve into human minds, forcing them to forget things, see frightening visions, etc., allow for a lot of surreal and striking imagery. I'd suggest this for anyone hungry for a psychological thriller type of story (as well as for fans of Fuyumi Soryo's other work). ~Dagger~

Viz is just kind of blah. They don't do anything atrocious, but they don't measure up to the standards set by other companies, either. Even if I like the show, I find it hard to get excited about a license from them. ~Dagger~

You think? If it were on Toonami, maybe... but even Evangelion got by unedited on Adult Swim, and I don't remember Blood+ being more violent than that. ~Dagger~

Since all of the "combat" takes place in people's heads--yeah, that does make it pretty psychological. :p Adding even more to that is how your time in the dream is measured. Each student starts off with a necklace with three beads on it. When he or she receives some kind of emotional shock, one bead shatters. When all three are gone, you're forced to wake up. One of the most interesting parts of following the series is speculating who the dream class students might be in real life. As of volume 2, the only characters whose identities we know for sure are [spoiler]Mashiro, Kureha, the girl who graduated (Midori?) and the new giraffe kid (Itsuki).[/spoiler] For now I'm going with the theory that [spoiler]Sou is the grasping hands and his sister is the knight,[/spoiler] since it seems a little too obvious for [spoiler]him to be the knight.[/spoiler] The [spoiler]little gothloli girl[/spoiler] is kind of a wild card, though. However, [spoiler]that still leaves at least one character unaccounted for. If anyone else is already in on the action, I'm guessing it's probably the normal guy (Shinbashi) or the kendou captain.[/spoiler] ~Dagger~