Gen X Otaku 1971: the OG blog

Merii Kurisumasu!!

English: Example canon/common law relationship chart showing the relation between a grandson (blue) and a great-great-great-great grandson (red) is first cousins, removed 4 times (purple diamond). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 Here in our house, we tend to open our Xmas gifts to each other on Xmas eve.  We used to have presents from "Santa" that I would wait until Xmas day to open.  Back when both sets of grandparents were alive in the 1980s, and living only a few hours apart in Missouri, we'd spend Xmas Eve with the maternal grandparents, then drive up to the paternal grandparents to spend Xmas Day with them and meet the extended relatives from that side of the family.  Alas, all of that generation in our family have passed on, and now that it has fallen to the aunts and uncles and cousins, we have adjusted our family rituals and meet the weekend after Thanksgiving for a combination celebration that is part Thanksgiving and part early Xmas.  This year was no different.  In past years, even post 2000, when we started doing this, it got cold enough to snow in Sikeston, MO, yes, 2 days after Thanksgiving even.  Not this year, however.  This year it was a rainy, dreary mess.  It rained the whole time, so we were stuck indoors, unable to take walks around the old neighborhood, etc.  Since I'm an only child, I don't have nieces or nephews to dote on, but what I do have are the children of my first cousins, which are technically known by the cumbersome title of "First Cousin, Once Removed".  They are not "Second Cousins", that describes their relationship to each other among their peer group in the family.  Anyway, I have a grand total of 3 "First Cousins, Once Removed" at this point and being the good FCOR that I am myself, it being the best I can do as a kind of surrogate uncle, I have decided to dote on them the way most uncles and aunts do for their nieces and nephews.  I am also planting seeds, trying to grow the next generation of Anime & Manga fans.  For my FCOR from South Carolina, a bright young 3rd grader named True (it's a Southern thing), I gave him copies on DVD of volume 1 of original NARUTO and FUNimation's volume 1 of One Piece, i.e. starting with Episode 1.  He's only nine, so he might as well get started on One Piece now, if he develops an interest in it.  For my other pair of FCOR's, a pair of sisters, Maddy and Finley, I gave them a joint gift of Season 1, Parts 1 & 2, of the Blu-Ray/DVD BangZoom! re-dub of the original series of Sailor Moon, put out by VIZ and featuring the voice talents of Stephanie Sheh as Usagi/Sailor Moon, Michelle Ruff as wise cat Luna, and Cristina Vee as Sailor Mars, among others.  Since Maddy has a birthday close to Christmas, I also got her a white and pink baseball hat from our local minor league sports team, the Sugar Land Skeeters, and a white and pink baseball with the team logo on it as a keepsake.  I genuinely hope my FCsOR grow to love anime through these gifts.  Maybe they will, maybe they won't, all I can do is plant some seeds.  It's kinda funny, but I did actually watch all their copies of Sailor Moon all the way through for myself before finally gifting it to them.  I liked the series so much, I went ahead and got myself Part 1 of Season Two, a.k.a. "Sailor Moon R", also the Blu-Ray/DVD combo put out by VIZ.  Speaking of VIZ, I also took in and watched Ep.1-6 of Sailor Moon Crystal on their Neon Alley website.  It was interesting, and has a more "modern" look in terms of animation, and is tonally more serious and with tighter storytelling.  The various Sailor Scouts are introduced in very short order, one after the other, and most strikingly different is Sailor Mars, who seemed gruff and independent and took a long time to warm up to Usagi in the original series.  In Crystal, Rei/Sailor Mars has felt like kind of a freak and and outcast her whole life, always knowing she was "different" somehow...so she expresses almost a sense of relief when Usagi and Ami turn up at her grandfather's Shrine.

With NARUTO and One Piece, I did sample both Episode Ones from both shows, just to get a "feel" for them and to see if they would be age appropriate for a 3rd grader.  They passed muster, I felt, and upon actually meeting and interacting with True for the first time, who has an impressive vocabulary for his age, I think he can handle these shows just fine.  He sent me a nice "Thank you" note, even.  I also threw around a football with him in my aunt's basement.  We had to do so very carefully so as to not knock over anything valuable.  Luckily we didn't.  He got to see that I am clueless when it comes to properly throwing a football; He said humbly that he wasn't very good, but I pointed out he was way better than me.  Though I did manage to catch nearly every single throw he sent my way, though it was a Nerf ball so that helped.  We also played pool on the billiards table, or at least his abridged understanding of the game as taught to him by my uncle (his great uncle).  I continued to play the game as it's supposed to be played, but let him play his version on his turn.  I still beat him (I think our Uncle had let him win when they played) but we still had fun, and True needed a check on his cockiness after "beating" my uncle at the game.  We also played a long hand of UNO to pass the rainy afternoon.  It was a 3 person game including True's mom, my first cousin.  He was more fixated on dealing out punishment to his mother in-game in revenge for making him play this stupid card game in the first place such that I managed to win by dealing out my "punishments" in a more even-handed manner and with some deliberate strategy. 

Christmas proper this year was fun, too, I guess.  Though the weather in Texas is crazy warm this year...humid, reaching the 80s for a high, muggy and unpleasant and partly cloudy.  Hardly feels like Christmas at all.  My parents and I exchanged our minor gifts last night.  I got a rad book-themed neck tie that I look forward to wearing to work at the library, and a nice new pair of sensible black dress shoes, to augment and replace the Rockports that I've been using as part of my Star Trek cosplay ensemble, which got severely water-damaged in Galveston this year at Oni-Con XII, where it also rained nearly all the time, too.  All that rainfall takes a psychological toll.  It killed my enthusiasm for Sunday panels at Oni-Con, it put my dad into a depressive funk in Missouri this year, too.  I also got in my latest Megatokyo poster on Christmas Eve in a shipping tube, and I look forward to putting it up in my cubicle at work.  It's the one that features all of the major characters lined up in tall thin panels, back to back to back.

I was considering maybe going to Star Wars today, but since Christmas is a popular day for movies, and since there's still the weekend ahead of us, I think I shall wait until Saturday or Sunday before trying to squeeze in a matinee screening of the new Star Wars movie.  Today I'm just going to read, go for another long walk listening to J-Rock/J-Pop tunes, and maybe go work out at my gym (which re-opens at 3pm today).

My biggest Xmas present to myself was moving the Roku3 back up to my TV finally and staying up really really late watching the hell out of many many shows on The Anime Network, after having neglected The Anime Network for far too long.  It was such a blast, and I'm surprised how many sub-only shows I indulged myself with, too.  Not normally my thing, but I allowed myself to partake....Space Brothers, Reideen, Stella Women's Academy, et. al.  Many many continuations consisting of 5th episodes to shows I'd seen Episodes 1-4 of at Alamo Drafthouse but never followed up on until now.  I spend a large chunk of the evening filling up my to-watch queue that was empty when I started, though I have to admit I find FUNimation's queue system superior, since it saves entries at the show-level rather than all-the-episodes-of-a-show the way The Anime Network seems to do.

Speaking of FUNimation, I'm having issues with their payment system, I'd hoped that switching back from a gift card subscription to regular CC deductions would go smoothly but alas, no.  Owing to complications, the details of which are unimportant, my FUNimation account is currently inactive and I'm in "non-subscriber" status, which I discovered by accident only last night, when my FUNimation players started acting screwy, only giving me access to 2 to 4 episodes per show, etc.  When I logged  on via their website, I saw what the problem was and groaned.  Anyway, I resolved to address it only after the New Year.  It's not like I'm hurting for anime to watch right now....from exploring and deeply indulging in The Anime Network (aka all those Sentai Filmworks shows and old ADV films rescues), to exploring more of ad-supported Crunchyroll's offerings, to Neon Alley on occasion, to all of my Hoopla shows I've yet to finish (I'm a maniac completionist when it comes to that), to all the new Netflix anime I'm working my way through, to holy fuck all the shows I have left unstarted on unfinished on physical media that I still need to get around to, including Book Four of The Legend of Korra (deeply embarrassed I still haven't finished it)....all if which is a long-winded way of saying I'm not exactly in any particular hurry to re-subscribe to FUNimation anytime soon.  I'm super incredibly grateful I was able to power through and finish all of the extant season of The Slayers, having finished Slayers: Evolution-R only recently.  I'd be way more upset if my FUNimation woes had started before I'd finished that final season.  I'm now hoping for Sentai Filmworks to maybe license rescue and release and DUB the rest of the Slayers movies.  Cynthia Martinez replaced Lisa Ortiz as Lina Inverse for the first movie put out by then ADV Films.  I suspect ADV Films would've continued licensing and releasing the subsequent movies had they not gone bankrupt.  I would love it if Sentai Filmworks circled back around to rescue these movies for future release.  Speaking of license rescues, it was interesting to browse The Anime Network's full catalog of shows, and spot those older shows.  Some are really weird, like having the rights to the original ADV Films release of Divergence Eve with English dub but NOT the subtitled version.  Other shows where I know an English dub exists but Sentai Filmworks only bought the rights to the original Japanese sub version.  I actually had managed to watch Season 2 of Divergence Eve: The Misaki Chronicles first, before ever watching Divergence Eve the original series.  I rectified that last night by watching Episode 1 of the original show and found it just as bizarre and confusing as the 2nd season.  Mainly watched it for Kira Vincent Davis's performance as lead character Misaki.  So many anime I've got on my to-watch list, really.  I will only really miss my FUNimation subscription again once the next batch of Fairy Tail dubbed episodes drop, which might be awhile yet.  I was enjoying Free! and also slowly getting into Rolling Girls, but really, those shows can wait.  Since FUNimation has dropped out of regular participation in Anime at the Alamo nights, they've got their work cut out for them in reaching me with new information about upcoming releases, etc.  If I don't see it in Otaku USA online or Anime News Network, or from friends on Facebook, I'm probably not going to be fully aware of it right away.  In this sense, Sentai Filmworks starts 2016 with a distinct advantage competing for my eyeballs over FUNimation.  I still adore FUNimation and especially Fairy Tail, but damn yo.  I can quit you for now and still be okay until those new Fairy Tail episodes come out.  I'm also continuing to test the waters of Crunchyroll for certain specific shows that I know by reputation or by virtue of having read the manga that's out for it so far....Nisekoi, Bakemonogatari, et. al.  On Hoopla, I'm determined to go and finish all the episodes of Super Robot Wars Original Generation: Divine Wars (スーパーロボット大戦OG -ディバイン・ウォーズ- Sūpā Robotto Taisen Ōjī Dibain Wōzu^?) that Hoopla is currently hosting in their anime section.  It's a sub-only sci-fi mecha show; it's not especially good but I'm still enjoying it as popcorn entertainment.  I recently finished Antique Bakery and Ristorante Paradiso, two short sub-only shows featured on Hoopla as well.  More long term on Hoopla's offerings, I'm determined to watch and finish classic shows like The Rose of Versailles, and multi-season shows like Emma: A Victorian Romance, and Aria: The Animation.  Mainly because they're there and because I've finished all the English-dubbed shows that Hoopla has to offer, or if I haven't finished I own on physical media and don't have to burn a library check-out to watch, like Fruits Basket.  I would like to watch all of Level E before Vic Mignogna visits the next Anime Matsuri, which is coming soon, at the end of February 2016.  Goddamn, so many good shows, so little time, am I right?

Quick shout out to Space Brothers episode 5, which has a startlingly accurate portrayal of Houston, Texas, right down to the color schemes of our METRO buses.  They do take a few minor liberties, depicting Hermann Park as "Houston Sun Park", complete with Spaceship mock-ups that are actually at NASA/Space Center Houston down I-45 at Nasa Road 1, not inside the loop downtown.  Also, it's The Houston Chronicle, not The Houston Journal.  But other than those minor quibbles, I was delighted to see my hometown in an anime drawn so lovingly with attention to detail.  Contrasted with the depiction of Houston in the Eyeshield 21 manga, which is so fanciful and wrong I laughed out loud looking at it.  But the older brother does look at a map of downtown and "Houston Sun Park" is laid out exactly as Hermann Park actually is, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS) is depicted in its accurate location, etc.  I was really impressed.

Anyway, enough holiday blogging for now.  I may write another entry soon but right now I feel the need to get in some reading, futz around on Facebook, etc.  Happy Holidays from Texas, Y'all!

 

Update: currently watching

I’m currently making my way through Slayers: Evolution-R, which is basically is the second half of the story started in
Slayers: Revolution. I like the updated, higher quality animation found in the show, and I’m impressed they got most of the original cast back to dub at NYAV Post. I’m furthermore pleased this classic anime has been license rescued by FUNimation
and all its seasons are available on their streaming service as well as having been re-issued on physical media under the FUNimation imprint. My wish going forward is that the spin-off movies of the
Slayers franchise also get license rescued and dubbed where needed. I seem to recall that only the first few got an English dub courtesy of ADV Films. Since both ADV Films and CPM are no more, the
Slayers movies are kind of in limbo, in search of a license rescue from an interested US distributor. In the ADV dub of the original
Slayers movie, Lina Inverse was voiced by Cynthia Martinez (as opposed to Lisa Ortiz, who voices Lina for the television series), and this was her first major role at ADV Films back in the day, according to the commentary track on the original
DVD. Having seen the first movie after watching most of the first three seasons of the television series, I can say that Cynthia Martinez gives a believable, engaging performance as Lina and the ADR director was respectful of the groundwork laid by Lisa Ortiz’s
work on the tv show.
 
Anyway, I’m bearing down on the last six or so episodes of
Slayers: Evolution-R and look forward to concluding this series. In the meantime, I also had a peek at what is up on Neon Alley these days and discovered that VIZ is now hosting the first 5 dubbed episodes of
Sailor Moon Crystal. Having only recently finished Season 1 of the original
Sailor Moon (which I subsequently gifted to my first cousin once removed on my mom’s side for Christmas when I saw her at Thanksgiving…I’m an only child so I lack nieces and nephews, so first cousins once removed are the next best thing for me),
I decided to give the first 2 episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal a try. I appreciate the updated look of the show, especially the revamped transformation sequences, which are even more dramatic and elaborate than in the original. It also seems
the story is proceeding at a more condensed pace, which makes sense as this is basically a reboot of the original. I look forward to episode 3, which will be introducing Sailor Mars, after Sailor Mercury was introduced in the 2nd episode. The
one thing I do miss is the original music. The new music is fine, it just suffers by not being the old theme song, or at least a remix. I was hoping to find some of the dubbed episodes of
Sailor Moon R but I’ll take what I can of Sailor Moon Crystal. Perhaps I missed a window of opportunity, because right now there are a few dubbed episodes of
Sailor Moon S on Neon Alley’s dub lineup. I’m tempted to pick up at least part one of
Sailor Moon R (season 2 of the original series, redubbed) at the local Best Buy if they have it in stock this season. We’ll see. 

 
This past Friday I had two good local friends over and we had dinner at Whataburger then came back to my pad to binge-watch Episodes 1-10 of
Akame Ga Kill! (dubbed) from my DVR’d recordings of the Toonami broadcasts so far. We watched them back to back to back until midnight, when we finally called it a night and bid our farewells for the evening. It was partly a re-watch for me,
and for one of my friends, but completely new to the other friend. We did at least reach some new episodes I hadn’t seen yet, so I feel less far behind than I was. I still need to get caught up on
Parasyte, too.
 
Still have about 2 more discs to go to finish Godannar. At least I figured out where I’d left off and watched a few episodes beyond, to get to the end of that particular disk. I also recently picked up the series
Needless on DVD for my permanent collection, a total guilty pleasure. I also bought the DVDs to the acclaimed series
Nana, also for my permanent collection.
 
I spent a lot of last week listening to episodes of The Anime Nostalgia podcast and old episodes of Anime World Order. I can tell that I’m a more experienced anime fan now because I actually get more of the offhand references made by the
AWO crew, because these are now shows have either seen myself or at least know by reputation. The Anime Nostalgia podcast made me aware of a recently re-released anthology film called
Robot Carnival that I snapped up on DVD. I also grabbed the DVD release of Season 1 of
Slam Dunk! out of pure curiosity. I sampled a few episodes of the dub on Crunchyroll and enjoyed it, though it is terribly goofy. I also found a used copy of
Wolf’s Rain for a reasonable price and snapped it up, also. I only saw a random episode here and there, but considering the high praise that ANNCast’s Zac Bertschy consistently heaps on this show, I’m taking his word for it that it’s worth my
investment of time & money.
 
I’ve also been exploring more of the sub-only side of things; as stated previously, I recently finished
Antique Bakery, and am well on my way to finishing Ristorante Paradiso. I recently sampled episode one of both
Kuroko No Basuke and Bakemonogatari via Crunchyroll. I was sufficiently interested that I may well return to watching these series sporadically on down the line. I’m also working my way through
Aria: The Animation, which is ostensibly sci-fi but really just a slice of life featuring cute girls doing cute things. And there’s 3 honking seasons of it on Hoopla digital. I enjoy it as a palate cleanser, say, but binging on it is like binging
on breath mints…there’s only so many episodes you can stand back to back to back before the sweetness makes you ill. After I conclude
Ristorante Paradiso, I will probably focus next on Emma: A Victorian Romance. Then there’s also
Sound of the Sky on the Manga Entertainment website that I’ve been sampling as well. I still prefer dubs, but I’m more willing than in the past to sample sub-only shows. I even own a few titles that are sub-only, namely
Aku No Hana (“Flowers of Evil”) and Detroit Metal City. So I can’t say that I never buy sub-only shows, only that it’s the exception rather than the rule. That said, I’m a little mystified that the
Slam Dunk! series on DVD is a DUB-ONLY disc. This is perplexing since it can only hurt U.S. sales by not making it a bilingual release. My only guess is that the original licensor back in Japan is terrified of reverse importation and so would
not authorize the release of a bilingual edition. They would rather give up a few sales on the U.S. side than lose out on high end sales in Japan, I guess.
 
I feel blessed to be awash in so many good anime choices and am genuinely perplexed by young people on Facebook feeling starved for new anime to watch. It’s only a problem if you’re unwilling to visit older shows put out before your time,
I guess. Both Robot Carnival and Slam Dunk! are old and “before my time”, i.e. before
Cowboy Bebop on US television, and I very much look forward to watching both shows. I also have a backlog of shows on physical media that I still have on my to-watch list, as well as other shows I dropped mid-season but would like to revisit
eventually.
 
Anyway, that’s all a quick snapshot of what I’ve been up to anime-wise. With the headlines today, I find comfort in listening to anime podcasts at work and watching anime at home. It’s a perfect escape from the soul-crushing headlines
and leading news stories on TV these days.
 
 

Finished Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So I devoted Saturday night to watching in full the Blu-Ray edition (from Bandai Entertainment) of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.  I paid a hefty sum to acquire this Blu-Ray, and I'm happy to report it did NOT disappoint.  The visuals are simply stunning, with jaw-dropping detail, a carefully crafted blend of 2D animation and CGI 3D animation.  Definitely watch the "Special Features" included on this disc, they are well worth your time.

Of course I watched the English dub version, which utilizes the original television cast from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.  That said, this movie, according to Mamoru Oshii, is a direct sequel to the original Ghost in the Shell movie, which I own and have also seen.  Or more precisely I've seen Ghost in the Shell 2.0 which was a re-release by Oshii utilizing more CGI, with mixed results.  I saw this version on Hoopla Digital some time ago, but I also own a copy of the original Bandai release of the original Ghost in the Shell movie without the "2.o" edits.

Having just finished the movie Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, which is set 2 years after the events of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, 2nd Gig, in my own "head canon", although the actual movie of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence was released before Solid State Society, and even though the movies and the television series are supposedly separate fictional universes, to my mind, and given the chronology of all the fictional iterations of the Ghost in the Shell multiverse, the events depicted in Innocence, in particular The Major's ongoing evolution into ever higher states of being, are logically consistent with the directions indicated by the conclusion of Solid State Society, such that Innocence is a perfectly plausible future for Solid State Society as well, besides serving as a sequel for the original movie...at least to my mind it is.  The only plot wrinkle that would need to be hand waved away is that Tohgusa is in a greater position of authority in Solid State Society than he appears to be in Innocence.  But in any case, the real stars of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence are actually Batou, Tohgusa, and Ishkawa, and to a lesser degree Chief Aramaki as well.  The Major serves more in the background as a "guardian angel" type figure, her ghost fully merged with the future internet without corporeal form, guiding the protagonists along but avoiding direct intervention until the very end.  This is a film about a series of murders by malfunctioning gynoid sex robots (a callback to Season 1 of Stand Alone Complex, incidentally) that points to a wider conspiracy.  Batou, Ishkawa, and Tohgusa must join forces yet again to unravel the mystery and stop the conspiracy, which seems to involve foreign threats emerging from the nearby Chinese mainland.  There is plenty of philosophical musings that are on par with the original movie as well as other anime shows like Serial Experiments Lain, which Innocence triggered many memories of, for me at least.  My words can't do justice to just how breathtakingly beautiful and complicated the visuals are in this movie.  I easily see myself watching it again and again for the visuals alone.  There's just so much there to take in that I doubt one sitting is enough to do it justice.  This should be enjoyed at home on a widescreen HD television off the Bandai Blu-Ray.  The music used is a callback to the original movie, with the score partly reused but also expanded for this film.  The special features are well worth watching in their own right, with extended interviews with Mamoru Oshii and his animation staff and also his Japanese voice cast.  The English television cast does a great job with their performances as well.  It sent chills down my spine the first time I heard Mary Elizabeth McGlynn's voice as The Major in Innocence.  It's a very short line and you can miss it if you're not paying attention, but I was and noticed immediately.  I recently watched the next Arise film and enjoyed it, and I understand why Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was not cast to voice the younger version of The Major for those prequels, but it is nice she was recast as a rival character to The Major, as a way to symbolically pass the baton, so to speak, by playing a slightly older and wiser "noble adversary" type character.  The third Arise film's concluding shot is a hat tip to the original opening of the original Ghost in  the Shell movie.  Watching Innocence fills a gaping hole in my knowledge of the Ghost in the Shell fictional multiverse.  I feel I belong to a special class of anime fan now, to have seen all these different iterations.  I have yet to read any of Shirow Masamune's original manga, however.  I hope to remedy that someday.

Finished Antique Bakery

Antique Bakery (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I managed to finish the short 12 episode series Antique Bakery, which is the story of four men; the owner, the patissier, his apprentice, and the owner's lifelong bodyguard/butler.  The owner, Mr. Tachibana, is a scion of a wealthy Japanese family who grows bored of his life as a junior executive and decides to try his hand at managing a small business instead.  His first new hire is a former High School classmate, Mr. Ono, who is now a renowned patissier.  Ono doesn't recognize Tachibana at first, but Tachibana does remember Ono.  Ono is openly gay, but he came out in High School and declared his love for Tachibana, who did not take this very well at all, cursing Ono with hateful, homophobic slurs.  Tachibana reminds Ono of this incident, which Ono of course never forgot.  But Ono is desperate for work and is willing to forgive his former classmate, and even rationalizes that the harsh rejection forced him to dig deep within himself and reinvent himself and fully accept himself as a homosexual.

The next hire is a up and coming young boxing champ, Eiji, who is forced to leave the sport due to a deteriorating eye condition; if he continues boxing he could go blind.  Reluctantly he hangs up his gloves and as fate would have it he walks by the new bakery and applies to become an apprentice patissier.  He's immediately smitten by Ono's charisma and demands to become his apprentice.  Tachibana doesn't like the young man's freshness and disrespect, but he also implicitly trusts Ono's professional judgement and reluctantly agrees to hire Eiji.  

Lastly there is Kobayakawa, the strong silent type who was Tachibana's childhood companion and later became his butler and bodyguard.  Kobayakawa feels duty bound to stay by his young master's side and so begins hanging around outside the shop in one of the family vehicles.  Tachibana finds this ridiculous and decides to employ Kobayakawa as a waiter.

After the first 2 episodes, I assumed this was going to be a farcical BL romantic comedy, but it turns out this series is much more complex, with multiple stories intersecting.  It handles emotional topics sincerely and with great sensitivity.  Kobayakawa is a closeted homosexual and totally Ono's type.  In time and as their friendship deepens, Tachibana asks for Ono's forgiveness for his cruel words in High School.

The episodes cover the day to day running of the Antique Bakery, but also the lives and tribulations of the four men who work there.  Past loves, new customers, and the owner's dark past all interplay in this story.  It seems Tachibana was kidnapped as a child and forced by his captor to only eat cakes and sweets.  He managed to stab his captor in the leg and escape but was so traumatized by the events that much of his memory of it was blanked out.  One motivation for starting the bakery was as a tool to find his original kidnapper and confront him, even though the statute of limitations has long since expired and no prosecution today is possible.  Then suddenly young boys begin to be kidnapped again and worse, some are turning up dead.  Could these be related to Tachibana's cold case?  Tachibana is haunted by nightmares from his childhood kidnapping ordeal, even into his 30s.  He agrees to do his part to aid in the police investigation of the latest string of kidnappings when new evidence comes to light about the last meals of the deceased boys.

I was really impressed with Antique Bakery.  Even though I'm a dub fan typically and this show was sub-only, I was still thoroughly entertained by this series and it even provoked a few tears watching it.  Love is universal, whether straight or gay or anything in between.  I give it a thumbs up!