Post of the Day: 3.2.2009

Best Buy doesn't like anime anymore. I stopped by my local Best Buy after work today and, unfortunately, nothing was on sale. I suppose that's a blessing and a curse - looks like my store will still be carrying quite a bit of anime, although I was hoping to snag cheap copies of Haruhi or Cowboy Bebop.

Post of the Day: 2.11.2009

I haven't played it yet, but its kinda cool that Tales of Vesperia is getting its own anime flick.

Post of the Day: 1.29.2009

Sexy Pokemon Cosplay. Run. Run away now. (Possibly, vaguely, maybe NSFW.)

Xenosaga: The Animation Finished

Its taken me a while, but I finally finished the current series of the Xenosaga anime. I played all three of the games and the far-out story was quite intriguing, albeit hard to follow. So, I thought I'd try out the anime, which currently only covers the events in the first game.

What surprised me was how well they describe the plot throughout the anime so much better than they did in the game. You would think, being a game with a ton of available play-time, the plot would be fleshed out better than in any sort of movie or television series. But, that's not the case here. I actually thought the plot was explained better every step of the way in the anime. In several episodes they did an in-story recap of what had transpired previously, without it seeming forced.

They did so much better capturing the emotions between Shion and KOS-MOS, as well as the sacrifices they all made, in the anime. Conversely, there were some pretty major story segments of the game that were completely changed or left out altogether, perhaps some for the better. It does get off to a slow start in the first four episodes or so, but toward the end, I was on the edge of my seat all over again.

Don't get me wrong, the games were very well done, but I just think the anime did a much better job explaining the story overall, and keeping the audience up to speed with what was going on. Granted, the game has to make allowances for game play segments, which really should make up a good chunk of that experience. However, with as many cut scenes as they had in the first game, I thought the possibility would have been there to explain things as well as they did in the anime.

Its definitely worth checking out if you enjoyed the games, or if you just want a very well done sci-fi anime in which to lose yourself.

First Impressions of Persona 3: FES

Yes, yes, I'm the slacker. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, the "best RPG of 2007" slipped through my fingers. Well, not technically...I knew about it, but I just didn't feel I had the time to play yet another RPG at the time it originally came out, so I skipped it.

Until now.

I played it for roughly three hours yesterday evening and I must say, I'm really enjoying it. This actually isn't the first "high school sim" JRPG I've played, however that aspect of some recent games, including this one, interests me. On one hand, you have this deep, involving story where the fate of the world rests in the balance, yet on the other hand you have "regular" teenagers dealing with the pressures of high school. [Cue Haruhi theme song...aaahhhhhhhh!!!]

The first 30 minutes of the game is absolutely awesome! I don't say that lightly. It has been a very long time since the first half an hour of a game grabbed me and dragged me into the mood and feel of the story so much. I was getting chills.

There are a lot of little things I notice right away that actually fix and/or improve upon pet peeves I have about most other standard JRPGs. I also love the anime art style of the entire game. The look and feel of the game - especially the bright, contrasting colors of the menus and the eclectic soundtrack - reminded me almost immediately of Cowboy Bebop.

When you see the Shadows for the first time, you really, truly feel a sense of dread and hopelessness. I was tense when I saw the characters point guns at their heads and pull the trigger for the first time. I had heard about it, of course, but seeing them go through the motions in the heat of action is almost surreal.

There are a couple things that worry or annoy me. The first, and least worrisome, is the fact that I have to talk to other people or the party members themselves to get their status and change their equipment. It would have been a lot easier to just have access to everything from one main menu. I also kind of wish you could actually control each of your party members in battle instead of them taking actions on their own. Although, I will say, so far they've done a pretty darn good job of adhering to what I tell them to do via the "party commands" menu.

The more potent worry for me so far is that there is a very large timer on the entire game. You have roughly a year of game calendar time to finish (its a little less, but close enough). From what I found out after a little bit of research, the game ends on January 31, 2010, and at that time, you're "forced" into the final dungeon. You begin in early April of 2009. You actually progress through each and every day in game. I'm concerned that at some point you will feel rushed. For me, that would ruin the freedom of being able to manage your social and school life however you see fit. That being said, I read some forum posts where people have put 100+ hours into this game - that doesn't seem "rushed" to me. I hope it really is nothing to be worried about, but I guess time will tell.

So far though, its the absolute best JRPG I've played in quite a while. I'm looking forward to delving more into its complexities. (Wow, that was almost the length of a full review...but not. ;)

Shakugan No Shana

I started watching a new anime last week called Shakugan No Shana. I was watching the first episode and, to be honest, didn't really like it. There was this big baby-like monster with teeth that was attacking the main male character...and it was weird and just a little bit disturbing. However, continuing on watching the next three episodes on the disc, the plot was explained a bit more and I started to really like it. The plot and the two main characters started to intrigue me. My mind started to fill with questions about what was going to happen next.

The anime is kind of on the same level as Haruhi, as far as "hard to wrap your head around" sci-fi goes, but it seems to involve more action and less "everyday life"-type storytelling. So, now I'm looking forward to seeing more of it and watching how the story develops. Maybe I'll get to see the answers to the questions I had after the first few episodes, as well.

Header Graphic Update

Yeah, so I went ahead and updated the header graphic of my site again. There really should be an easy way to create multiple "skins" for Blogger sites and have users select the one they want...that would be kind of nifty. Anyway, this graphic is from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

In the meantime, I might just throw in a script that loads a random header image. We'll see if I'm smart enough to come up with one. ;)

Haruhi-mania

This weekend I watched the second disc of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. This anime all the sudden went from semi-normal to completely far-out sci-fi. But I love it. Once you punch through Haruhi's hard exterior, she actually can get rather sentimental, as she did in one episode on disc two.

What I enjoyed most are the little subtle hints that are given a few episodes before you really find out what they mean and the significance of them. I like being led on in that way, because then there's always something to look forward to - more questions that demand answers. Maybe its also the fascination with the question, "What if the world really did revolve around one person?" that makes me enjoy this show. Even more of an eye opener is the fact that the world revolves around this one person - Haruhi - yet she doesn't even realize it. And that, my friends, is the whole premise of this anime. Because she doesn't realize that she has the power to change the world to her liking, her thoughts and feelings can be very dangerous if given the chance to get that far. She can destroy the universe and create another one in the blink of an eye.

Now you see what I mean when I say it went from a normal high-school, comedy-style anime to a completely far-out sci-fi anime? ;) This is one anime I'd actually like to own. Its a no-brainer that its the hottest anime in Japan right now.

Changing Things Up

If you haven't already noticed, I'm changing things up on my blog a bit - most notably a lighter background and a title image. This title image is from Love Hina. I had quite a bit of fun messing around with Photoshop again, since I usually leave all of that stuff to my brother.

Anyway, since I had fun making that image, you might see other title images pop up on a regular basis, and once I get a decent collection of ones I like, I'll probably continue to rotate them.

Anyway, some more changes might be coming, we'll see. ;)

Goddesses and Eccentric Schoolgirls

I'm worried about what kind of people will find this post by the title alone, but...well...

So...I've been continuing to rent anime series. We all know I finished Love Hina and a couple of the follow-up movies. So, I moved on to watching Ah! My Goddess and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. (I've also watched the first disc of The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye, but the 2nd disc has been on "Short Wait" status for a while now.)

So, anyway, the Goddess anime is very tame, very "cute" and...well...very weird. But its good so far. Its about a normal guy who has some pretty crappy luck. One day he's chosen to be given a wish by the "Goddess Network". So, Belldandy, a goddess, appears to him. After some conversation, Keiichi (the main character) wishes to have a goddess like Belldandy always be by his side. Naturally (or maybe not so much?), it happens and he has to learn to live with a goddess in his life.

By "tame", I mean its very safe with little to no fan service. Its the story and characters that really drive the anime, and it is a fairly easy to follow and emotionally strong story, as Keiichi and Belldandy fall in love.

Haruhi Suzumiya is a bit different. Its more "realistic" (if such a thing really exists in this type of anime), less silly and more risqué. Its full of fan service, although it seems that it serves the purpose of making fun of that particular anime cliché instead of actually being used solely to keep the viewer interested by presenting scantily clad females.

This anime is also very character driven, and revolves around an eccentric girl - Haruhi - who can apparently alter reality simply by thinking about it. Although, she doesn't know it yet. While Haruhi is the main character, the story is told through the eyes of Kyon. His stream of consciousness narration is truthful and often humorous, as it is most likely what the viewer is thinking. Its a bit disconcerting to be thinking "what gives" in the middle of a scene, and then to have his narration kick in and explain exactly what you're thinking about it in your own mind.

I've just seen a disc or two of both of the following, but the stories interest me so far, especially Haruhi Suzumiya, just on plot devices alone.

Upcoming Anime

I've recently finished watching the Love Hina series (now I'm moving on to the movies), and am in the middle of watching The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye.

But, other than those titles, I've added a whole smattering of anime to my Netflix queue.

• Ah! My Goddess
• Air
• Bleach
• Cowboy Bebop
• Full Metal Panic
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
• Xenosaga: The Animation

I'll let you know how these turn out. ;)

Get With the Program, Netflix!

Netflix is a wonderful thing. Its allowed me to see TV shows and movies that I probably would never have seen otherwise. There's just one big thing that annoys me about it - their slow acquisition of "foreign" or re-released DVDs.

I was in the middle of renting the first season of Farscape, and suddenly the studio recalled all the DVDs, because they wanted to release an entire first season set instead of just having the individual DVDs to purchase. That's fine. Netflix had the entire first season, we were in the middle of watching it. The re-released set has been out for over two months now, and Netflix hasn't restocked. The rest of season one has been sitting in the "unreleased" section of my queue for months with an "unknown" release date. What's the deal?

The same thing seems to be happening with some anime that's released in the U.S. A new series I'm renting called The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye is a prime example. The first disc of the first season came out over the summer. The second disc was released last month. Yet, Netflix doesn't have the second disc. I can easily go to Amazon and buy the freaking second disc and have it delivered the next day, yet Netflix doesn't have it in yet.

Some series there's just one disc listed as "unreleased" with an "unknown" release date out of the whole season. Its been sitting in the "unreleased" section for months. What's the deal? Get with the program Netflix. You're known for having hard-to-find movies and TV shows, so start paying attention to what you have and what you still need. If you have the first disc of the series, why on earth aren't you getting in subsequent discs? It makes no sense.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

So I've been watching some anime recently - mostly I've been addicted to the twisted and humorous Love Hina series. But, the other day I got this movie in that just appealed to me when I read about it. Its called The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Kind of a long title, but it describes the move pretty well.

I was kind of skeptical about it, as previous movies (read: Ghost in the Shell) I didn't really care much for because of the convoluted plot that just drags out with a lot of talk about things that its hard to wrap my head around. But, this move was really very good. The art and animation was just awesome. The environments that are in the movie are just out of this world for an animated feature...I'd say it rivals just about anything Disney can throw out.

The plot is easy to follow and understand, even though it contains very strong sci-fi elements such as alternate realities and parallel universes. Yet, even with all that, its very grounded in reality because it focuses on the emotions the characters feel in such a way that you really can relate to them. The music also weaves itself into the entire story very well.

You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of a Final Fantasy type of story, to be honest. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. Its very family friendly, as well, unlike a lot of anime these days. I actually highly recommend it, and its available on Netflix if anyone wanted to rent it.

Recent Anime

Like I mentioned before, I've started watching some anime as of late. So far the three movies I've seen are Ghost in the Shell, Princess Mononoke and Voices of a Distant Star (the latter being more of a mini movie, as its only about 30 minutes in length).

I didn't care much for the incredibly slow pacing of the story in Ghost in the Shell, I nearly fell asleep. Although, I do think the story idea is pretty cool, I didn't think the execution was all that well done.

Princess Mononoke was actually really good, although definitely deserving of its PG-13 rating. The story was interesting and it kept you interested from the first moments of the film to the last.

Voices of a Distant Star is a short film that the creator made on his laptop originally (although its possible its been digitally enhanced for DVD since then). It was pretty good, although very depressing and sad. I didn't really care for the art style used, but the story was good and definitely wasn't a sleeper.

I have a couple series coming soon that I'll be checking out, so I'll let you know what I think of them after I'm done watching. ;)

Anime: Clash of the Cultures

I've been starting to watch a little anime here and there, trying to get my feet wet, if you will. You can see some of the anime I have on my Netflix queue to the right (although for some reason the RSS feeds from Netflix are wonky).

The problem I'm having is that there is a huge culture difference between Japan and the U.S. in that the Japanese - like much of European culture - is more comfortable with sexuality than Americans are (and I use the term "Americans" to refer to residents of the U.S. and not to all North Americans). What's commonplace for Japanese anime wouldn't necessarily sit too well with conservative American audiences.

I've done a lot of research into some of the popular (and maybe not so popular?) anime movies and series in the last week or two and it seems to me that much of it includes at least mild nudity. Its not usually gratuitous nor is it usually strait up sex scenes. Its just the fact that the Japanese culture feels more comfortable with that aspect of humanity than we do. Nudity in anime usually is there for one of three reasons (unless its hentai, but I don't want to get into that...).

1) Fan service
We'll start with the most shallow of the three reasons. :P Simply put, eye candy for the fans. Usually not needed, much like a lot of the nudity in Hollywood films and TV shows, but just there to grab people's attention and make them keep watching.

2) Symbolism of cleanness, purity and/or innocence
Something that actually means something to the writers or to the viewers isn't usually considered gratuitous, at least most of the time. Much of this type of nudity is intended to help the audience see what ideals are important to a character, what their intentions are, what their motives are, without coming right out and using dialog to express those thoughts. Many times this occurs in the shower or in water of some kind. This kind of leads into the last point...

3) Symbolism of loss of identity, loss of self, being lonely and the vulnerability that comes with those feelings.

Probably the deepest meaning of nudity in anime. The culture that produces this anime usually delves deeper into the minds and hearts of the characters - dealing with very serious topics such as loss of identity and the like. One popular anime that focuses heavily on this as a plot point is Ghost in the Shell.

Most of this info I've covered here came from Anime-Myth.com, one of the sites I found in my research of this topic. I just thought some of the ideas and thoughts behind putting nudity into anime were quite interesting. In American film and television productions, nudity is put in almost 100% for "shock value" or fan service, very little (if any) of it is symbolic of a greater idea or thought that the writers want to subtly make you aware of. Its almost exactly the opposite in many Japanese animation productions, where little of it is gratuitous and the majority of it is non-sexual in nature and put in merely to help you understand the character(s) better.