Gen X Otaku 1971: the OG blog

First impressions, Dance in the Vampire Bund (some SPOILERS)

The moon is full and eerie over the Houston sky, and I just got back from the screening of Volume 1 (eps 1-4) of Dance in the Vampire Bund.  Oh.  My. God.  It was pretty damn awesome.  Beautiful, boundary-pushing... excellent voice English voice casting...

Playing the lead role of Mina Tepeš, of Romania, was the lovely and talented Ms. Monica Rial.  Oh, dear Lord, I can listen to Monica voice disturbingly sexy vampires all day long...

It's not like Monica is new to this kind of role...lemme see, where do I remember her doing something similar...

Oh yeah, thanks... *grin*  Hi, Hazuki (waves) ...miss you, babe...

Now that I'm home from Vampire Bund, I find I totally want to go watch MoonPhase all over again.

Mina Tepeš is actually a more emotionally complex, darkly tortured soul than Hazuki (well, discounting the whole weird split personality Hazuki/Luna thing, anyway)...Hazuki is initially not a very sympathetic character, while Mina definitely is.  Mina has a confidence bordering on arrogance, but she's not overtly evil, at least, not yet.  She's insanely rich (living for centuries plus the ordinary miracles of compound interest and wise investments), but her motives are something of a mystery.

Her bond with her werewolf...servant? lover? is complicated and interesting.

Collen Clinkenbeard also does a fantastic job as one of Mina's chief lieutenants, again delivering a voice performance so sexy it can probably melt butter.  I also picked out Brina Palencia's voice as the initial TV hostess, and Jamie Marchi as one of the contestants in the show.

I am a total Vampire Anime fanboy...I don't know what it is, but I eat it up...

Trinity Blood, MoonPhase, Hellsing, Hellsing Ultimate....Hell, the best episodes of Negima! are the ones which feature brooding Vampire hottie Evangeline with her snooty Queen's English accent...

I love Evangeline, especially in the shortened Negima!? re-boot...

We get more of Evangeline's rather sad back-story in the rebooted Negima!? and learn she is really more tragic than outright evil.  I love morally complex characters like this, and I get a sense that Mina Tepeš will unfold in a similar manner in Dance in the Vampire Bund.

I've seen only the first four episodes and look forward to catching the next four (5-8) next month at Alamo Drafthouse.  I can hardly wait.  But next week, I will see if I can't catch the screening of the new Sentai Filmworks release High School of the Dead.  We were treated to a brief trailer for it at Alamo this evening and it looks pretty awesome in its own right.  I definitely feel motivated to check it out.

I can only conclude that Vampires in Anime/Manga TOTALLY ROCK! 

Eureka Seven Feature Film

Having seen and loved the original Eureka Seven Anime series, I decided to check out the newly released feature film as well, with the rather wordy full title of:

Psalms of Planets Eureka seveN: good night, sleep tight, young lovers (交響詩篇エウレカセブン ポケットが虹でいっぱい Kōkyōshihen Eureka Sebun: Poketto ga Niji de Ippai^?, subtitle literally "Pocket Full of Rainbows"), which was a limited release in America but is now available for rental via Netflix, which is how I watched it.  It is distributed by Bandai Entertainment and also available for sale.

In some ways, it is a very odd "re-boot" of the franchise, but in other odd ways, it shares continuity with the original series through the revival of the characters Dominic and Anemonie, who are shown in much later life.

The original crew of the Gekkostate returns, but again, they are an odd reboot of their original personas...they seem to be clones of their originals, with a much shorter lifespan...they are far more bitter, cruel, and aggressive.  They have all of their negative qualities amplified and almost none of their redeeming qualities that made them endearing in the original show.

The ending is marginally happier than the original series. 

*SPOILERS* 

Renton and Eureka do survive and are able to stay together, though not without Eureka paying a tragic price to do so....think Tsubasa: Resevoir Chronicles for a hint.  But at least she doesn't die or get obliterated or whatever it was that happened to her in the original show.  It is rather gratifying to see these star crossed lovers able to stay together and stay in love.

It reminds me a little of the Negima reboot, the way time is compressed of necessity for a feature film versus a half or full season Anime.

There is plenty of action, plenty of sci-fi weirdness, etc.  It does help to have watched the original series, because the feature film makes repeated references back to it.  If you aren't already familiar with the Eureka Seven universe, this film may be confusing to a first time viewer new to the series.

Near as I can tell, the two main characters are also clones of their original iterations from the original show, but they are fatebound together.

Also, if you only watch this feature film, you'll have a very warped view of the Gekkostate crew, who were the nominal heroes of the original series, Renton's friends and original crewmates, and Eureka was a key member of the original Gekkostate crew.  It's very jarring to see them act this way in the feature film, but you have to keep reminding yourself these are clones of the originals, not the originals themselves.  Although it's a little less jarring for Holland to be a total jerk.  The only difference is he's never NOT one in this short film, whereas the series gave enough room and time for him to mellow out, show remorse, etc.

Anemonie is voiced yet again by Kari Walhgren, though she is a much older woman by the end of this movie, borderline elderly.  She loses Dominic early on in the film.  Dominic, we are shown, has been the guardian of Renton 2.0 and Eureka 2.0, their teacher and mentor, all still voiced by the original voice talents from the series.

Eureka is drawn slightly differently, as show above.  In the original series she always wore her hair fairly closely cropped for a girl.  In this feature film, she lets it grow out more.  She looks goregous either way.  By the end of the film, her hair is shoulder length and full. 

I'm afraid the confusing/silly technobabble from the series is still just as confusing and silly in the feature film as well.

The feature film is very good and it is nice to be able to re-visit these characters again after finishing the original series, and to give them a happier ending together than they originally had.

If you haven't watched the original series, do that first before renting or buying this title.  You can thank me later for this advice.

 

 

Anime at Alamo Drafthouse -- upcoming!

This is the cover art to volume 1 of the Manga series Dance in the Vampire Bund.

I managed to buy this particular volume for 30% off during the store-closing sale at my local Borders Books (which is now out of business and empty--so sad).

I bring up this series because the Anime that has been spun off this Manga will be screening very soon at Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks Mall, in High Def no less.  Mark your calendars...

June 7 - T.O (HD)
June 14 - Dance in the Vampire Bund (HD)
June 21 - Hero Tales Eps 9 -12
June 28 - Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts (HD)

Next month, we have volume 2...the Manga of which I also purchased at Borders for 40% off.

I'm assuming that Episodes 5-8 cover the events described in the second volume, more or less.

July 5 - Rideback (HD)
July 12 - Drop (Live-Action / HD)
July 19 - Noir
July 26 - Dance in the Vampire Bund Eps 5 - 8 (HD)

I actually have not yet read either Manga volume yet; I did literally judge a couple of books by their covers.  I hope the animation and voice acting live up to my expectations that these beautiful works of cover-art generate in me.

Also at the Borders Books Stafford closing sale, I managed to get sweet deals on the Azumanga Daioh paperback omnibus edition.  Our library has a copy but it's often checked out.  Osaka has a Brooklyn accent in the Manga, which differs from the Anime, where it's more of a Texas drawl.

I also picked up a three-in-one Manga of Eureka Seven.  I've seen the series and the feature film sequel, which I may do a review of soon.  Never read the Manga, though, so looking forward to it.

I also picked up a 3-in-one Manga omnibus for Gunslinger Girl; again, I've seen the first and second series of the Anime, but never read the Manga. 

I typically only buy Manga for shows I've already seen the Anime for.  Once you fall in love with the characters, it feels good to go out and buy the Manga so you can have them in Still Art form.  Then you can let your eyes take them in for as long as you like.  With Vampire Bund, I'm sort of doing the reverse.  I hope I am not disappointed.

Manga Minute: Dramacon, Ultimate Edition

OK, I mentioned this on Facebook but once again, neglected to blog about it here, even though it's totally on-topic for the focus of this blog...

Anyway, continuing the theme of OEM, or Original English Manga, let me now sing the praises of DRAMACON by Svetlana Chmakova, a Russian-born Canadian writer...the artwork is beautiful, the character development is great, I LOVE these characters, especially main protagonist Christie...and her star-crossed love, the dark and mysterious Matt...

The writer character Lydia is an obvious semi-autobiographical representation of Chmakova herself.

I tried to snag the above image from Amazon, but it wasn't cooperating, so I just scanned the cover of my own omnibus edition.  I initially scanned the resolution too high  and it was taking forever to upload so I reduced that to a more managable file size and bingo.

Chmakova definitely understands comedic timing, etc...the experience of reading this OEM is more like watching a really good anime than reading a regular Manga.  She keeps the pace lively and funny and interesting...and there is a lot of deep, profound emotion at work in the characters...you will feel Christie's pain, feel her joy...laugh at her and with her, and especially laugh at the antics of her fellow Otaku friends.

Rather like the appeal of Comic Party and Comic Party Revolution! and also Genshiken, it helps that this OEM is a self-referential story about Manga/Anime culture and the Otaku who are part of that culture.  The main action follows our characters at the same Anime/Manga convention their first year and the next.  Matt and Christie are an embodiment, perhaps, of the old saw that "opposites attract".  Their relationship is difficult and does not come easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile ever does.  By then end you will be cheering for them in their quest to find love and happiness together.

DRAMACON is also about finding one's voice as a creative artist; It's about believing in yourself when nobody else does.  It's about hanging in there and chasing your dreams.  It's about taking risks, the value of friendship, etc.  It's about passion and enjoying the things you love without shame or regret.  DRAMACON was such a joy to read, it would be really cool if it was someday transformed into an actual short-run Anime OVA in English.  People love the characters so much, there have been Cosplayers spotted at Cons dressed as the characters from this OEM.

I originally checked out Vol.3 from my local library, just to browse through it...I loved the story so much, I went out and bought the omnibus edition (called "The Ultimate Edition") from my local B&N store.  It's a beautiful hardbound volume that contains all three editions in one.

The artwork is nicely done, in the usual Manga style, but also with judicious use of exaggerated "chibi" style where dramatically appropriate...Chmakova definitely understands Anime conventions & tropes and deploys them very effectively in her Manga.  The effect is, as I said, that you feel more like you're watching a well-done Anime than reading a Manga.

I absolutely LOVE this book and look forward to reading more of Chmakova's works.

Manga Minute: Courageous Princess

Since finishing Megatokyo, I've been enjoying exploring the world of OEM, "Original English Manga", i.e. comic books drawn in the Manga/Anime style, but written in the USA in English originally (and sometimes translated into Japanese for export to Japan, as was done with Megatokyo).

I need to give quick kudos to Filipino artist/writer Rod Espinosa for his thorougly enjoyable work Courageous Princess which takes the traditional "damsel in distress" story and turns it on its head, making it a nice feminist story about believing in yourself, saving yourself, and not waiting around for some fabled Prince Charming to come save your sorry butt....

The artwork is beautiful, the dialogue is witty & funny, and it has a very positive message that your little princess can read and enjoy and cherish.  I haven't finished the book yet, but I have definitely enjoyed what I've read so far.  I originally read the library's copy but have subsequently gone and purchased my own paperback edition.  The full color cells are very nice indeed.  Some Japanese manga are beginning to adopt limited color cells...see the new series K-ON!, for example.

I will discuss other OEM in other posts to come.

Manga Minute: Megatokyo 6

Don't know why I neglected to blog about this but yeah, I bought and finished Megatokyo 6, which is currently the final published volume of the series (the rest of the story is all still Webcomic only for the forseeable future)...

Featured on the cover art are Ibara Junko, rebellious teen who dates older men for money, and Sonoda Yuki (園田 由紀) is a 15-year-old student at Shiritsu Daitou Attached Middle School, and currently discovering her hidden abilities as an Anime "magical girl" in the weirdly otherworldly world that is greater Megatokyo, when she's not busy looking after her pet zombie Zilla "Zom Zom", that is.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Also, in this volume, Tohya Miho (凍耶 美穂 Tōya Miho^?) re-surfaces at last, though evidently her story is stranger and more complicated that anyone in Megatokyo ever thought possible.

I really enjoyed this volume as well; it's the only one of the series I actually bought.  All the others were library copies I either checked out from my own library system or borrowed through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Also I discovered this on YouTube quite some time ago and posted it (and later reposted it) to my Facebook but forgot to blog it here.  My bad.  So forgive my lateness, but let me share with you this rare student film that is a live-action portrayal from the opening scenes of Volume Zero of Megatokyo...hope you enjoy it as much as I did...

 

 

 

 

Now, before you complain that Piro here is portrayed by a girl, do remember that Piro's own alter-ego in the MMORPG world is also female, i.e. Piroko-san...

Gantz...an Epic.

Gantz. This is probably one of my favorite Anime series of all time and certainly a classic, almost on par with Akira.  I have not read the Manga but feel I should now, having watched all the episodes of the original Anime series in English dub from ADV Films.

*SPOILER ALERT* (discussion of plot elements to follow)

(above are Kishimoto, Kurono, and Kato, the three central characters of Gantz)

Gantz is probably one of the most ultra-violent Anime shows I have ever borne witness to, it completely oozes with over-the-top sexuality (and taut sexual tension)...and is cynical and darkly nihilistic.  If you wanted to make an Anime series based on the mind and thoughts of Friedrich Nietzsche, it would probably come out looking something like Gantz.

This is Gantz:

...some weird alien sphere thing that serves as a weapons cache and also a preservation capsule for some weird alien that lives inside it.  It occupies an empty apartment room in downtown Tokyo but is only ever accessed by the living dead, so to speak.

Gantz keeps a close eye on the lives of the citizens of Tokyo, and it chooses individuals who are on the brink of death and makes a kind of transporter "photocopy" of their entire chemical/physical make-up and transports them, fully conscious, to this strangely empty apartment room.  It then taunts the new arrivals and explains their former lives are over and their new lives belong to it.  It forces them to hunt down and kill other alien creatures living among the human population.  It observes the battles like a Roman emperor enjoying watching gladitorial combat.  It awards points to the combat survivors....and many do not survive.  Those that die on Gantz's missions die for good and do not come back.  Those that defy Gantz and try to leave the game before it is done also die horribly.  Those that talk about Gantz outside the games also die horribly.  Just like Fight Club, apparently you don't talk about Gantz either if you know what's good for you.

Gantz is sloppy, though, and sometimes produces copies of humans who end up not dying after all, like what happens to Kei Kishimoto, a young teen girl suicide who slit her wrists in the bathtub, but who was actually saved in the ER of a local hospital, but not before Gantz made a "copy" of her to play with in its sick games.  The Gantz-generated Kishimoto has no place to stay and ends up staying for a time with Kei Kurono, the nominal protagonist of the story.

Kei Kurono, voiced by veteran ADV Films actor Chris Ayres (brother of Greg Ayers), is, admittedly, kind of a whiny, self-centered douche-bag at first, while his erstwhile childhood friend Kato is a more caring and generous soul.  As they got older, the two grew apart and moved in different circles.  When they first meet in Gantz's apartment, Kishimoto comes very close to being violently raped by a Yakuza thug, but Kato intervenes and saves her.  Kurono is very attracted to Kishimoto himself but is a little dense when it comes to understanding and accepting why Kishimoto feels more affection towards Kato--who, oh yeah, saved her from being violently raped. 

Kurono eventually finds his balls and becomes something of a bad-ass in Gantz's increasingly difficult missions.  Kishimoto does notice and begins to feel respect and even some attraction for Kurono, but her heart still longs to be with Kato.

Every mission Gantz sends its "recruits" out on are deceptively "simple" and ALWAYS end up being more bloody and vastly more difficult that the characters are initially led to believe.

Kurono might have been able to win Kishimoto away from Kato had he played his cards more carefully and not been such a ginormous prick so much of the time, but alas, no.  He does fantasize about her, though, and we do get to watch hentai-level explicitness for a brief interlude.

Still, one shouldn't feel too bad for Kurono, since he does eventually bang a super-hot late entry into the combat later on, and later tries to protect Monical Rial's sweet & fragile character who is a stalker victim murdered by her stalker in "real" life.  By this stage of the story, Kurono is delusional and although we (the audience) see Monica's character as she is, Kurono sees Kishimoto in her place.

The ending is ambiguous, bleak, and nihilistic...bit of a letdown, I'll admit...but the series itself is so intense and so good, I really didn't mind the ending.  It was adequate and it works.  I'll have to look into how the Manga spins it later on.

Gantz was picked up and digitally remastered by FUNimation, who presented the first four episodes at a special screening at Alamo Drafthouse in Houston, Texas.  I regret very much not going, having subsequently watched all the episodes on Netflix DVD, which owns the original ADV Films releases.  I would seriously consider  buying the box set from FUNimation, this Anime is that good.  It is brutal, violent, with heavy sexual content and is not for the faint of heart, but it is also a brilliant work of Anime art and a true Anime classic.

 

Blue Drop: Pretty but Dumb.

I just finished the Anime series BLUE DROP from Sentai Filmworks.  I missed the opportunity to watch the first four episodes on the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse Houston awhile back; a decision I now regret.  Say whatever else you may like about this series, the visuals are undeniably gorgeous.  Let me issue my standard spoiler alert now, as I will be going into plot details below.  If you've not seen this series or haven't finished it, STOP READING THIS POST NOW.  If you have or don't care, let's continue.

This is a Sci-Fi anime featuring USOs or Unidentified Submerged Objects.  The space aliens' ships are literally shaped like futuristic surface warships, but also travel like submarines most of the time, complete with funky conning towers...yet they can also fly through the air and also trans-dimensionally through space.

The two lead roles are voiced by two veteran actresses harkening back to ADV Films, which Sentai came from.  First we have Monica Rial, who makes another appearance portraying a lesbian from outer-space (see also Kurau: Phantom Memory for another example), the alluringly beautiful and brilliant Hagino Senkōji (千光寺 萩乃 Senkōji Hagino^?); and it's also great to hear Hilary Haag in a leading role in an anime again, this time as the moody, passionate and short-tempered (and short statured) Mari Wakatake (若竹 マリ Wakatake Mari^?), orphan and sole survivor of a terrible and strange incident in her childhood.  Mari Wakatake (若竹 マリ Wakatake Mari^?) was raised into adolescence by her grandmother, who wants her to attend boarding school at the High School level, so she can be properly socialized and make friends among her peer group.

Hagino and Mari don't get along well at first.  Mari thinks she recognizes Hagino from seeing her from her chauffer's car, at the sea shore.  Hagino extends her hand in friendship but then seems possessed and tries to strangle Mari, who breaks free.  Mari is understandably freaked out and keeps her distance from Hagino and lets her displeasure be known to any and all.  Unfortunately for Mari, she's decided to pick on probably THE most popular girl in the whole school; she can't tell anyone what really happened, because noone would believe her, and Hagino herself seems to almost have amnesia about the event.

Hagino leads a double life.  To everyone at school, she's a straight A student, utterly beautiful, gracious, etc., with a huge, almost cult-like fan following among the student body.  They are very catty with anyone who doesn't agree with their cult that Hagino is the best girl to ever wear the academy's uniform, etc.

In reality Hagino is the Captain of Ship #5 of an invasion fleet of hostile all-female aliens.  Ship#5 was severely damaged in a freak accident several years earlier and now operates on a skeleton crew with just its captain (Hagino) and its first mate (voiced by Brittany Karbowski, doing a mock British accent, like many of the other aliens).  Hagino's original mission was advanced reconnaisance, to gather intelligence on human society.  But over time, she has fallen in love with Earth and with human society, especially Japanese society and culture, and has misgivings about her race's impending invasion of Earth.

This is the central conflict of the series, and also the fact that the accident on Hagino's ship was what caused the terrible incident on the island where Mari's parents both died, leaving Mari as the sole human survivor of the incident.  Mari survived because she is somehow special, different from other human beings, but exactly how is never adequately explained.  Indeed, there is a lot of elements to the story which get introduced and are given surface treatment but never explored or explained in depth, a source of frustration for this viewer in particular.

Also, you need to resign yourself to the fact that what drives this story are the relationships between the characters, especially Mari and Hagino, who are slowly falling in love...and forget about the whole military/sci-fi angle, or at least not think too hard about it.

Because if you DO think about it for very long, you come to realize rather quickly that Hagino is a fairly incompetent Captain.  She makes decisions that are stupid and make no sense (like letting an enraged fellow alien officer who blames Hagino for the death of her lover have free run of the ship, after detaining her only briefly in the brig--what's the worst that could happen?  OOPS!  Sabotage?  Who didn't see THAT coming?  ANYONE?)

Also, if Hagino and her first mate are able to run Ship#5 so incredibly well without a full crew compliment, why in heaven do the other ships in the alien fleet have crews at all?  If Ship#5 can be automated so well, then the crew are essentially mere ballast.  They suffer next to no deficits for lacking a full crew compliment the way they SHOULD, if they wanted to be more realistic.

I won't reveal the ending, but just note that the casting of Hagino as Joan of Arc in the School Festival play is no mere coincidence but foreshadowing.   Hagino, like Joan, rises up to save her people (the Humans she has grown to know and love) but at a very high personal cost.

The only reason Hagino seems to excell as a captain is by virtue of the fact that her compatriots in the invasion fleet are even MORE incompetent than her.

The best scenes in this show are the human relationships + Hagino.  Although the sci-fi space/sea battles are visually appealing, the appaling stupidity of the military operations on all sides does detract from this viewer's enjoyment of these sequences.

It seems the anime is quite a departure from the original Manga, which I have not yet read but now feel as though I should.

Mari survives into adulthood, and we realize her aged identity at the show's opening only at the end.

To conclude, Visuals are an A+, Story/Relationships: B+, Sci-Fi/Military Apects: D-

Currently available on Netflix streaming.  Worth watching, but the story is very slow paced, so have patience as it unfolds.