Monthly Archives: July 2008

Manga Review - Midori Days: 73%

Sunday, July 20, 2008 – 10:00 am

The Essentials

Name: Midori Days
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Tankoubon: 8
Serialized In: Shonen Sunday
Released: January 28, 2003 - July 21, 2004
Story & Art: Kazurou Inoue
Published By (Japan): Shogakukan
Published By (US): Viz

Scores

Story: 7/10 (x 3 = 21 pts)
Art: 8/10 (x 3 = 24 pts)
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)

Total: 73/100 (73%)

Review

Midori Days is about a high school delinquent, Seiji, who is known for his “devil’s right hand” due to his beating up gangs, who suddenly finds that a girl named Midori has taken residence on his arm in place of his right hand. Midori, meanwhile, has had a crush on Seiji for a long time, but only from a distance, as she doesn’t attend the same school. However, she’s more than happy to take up residence on his arm. In the meantime, the “real” Midori has fallen into a coma, and it seems that she’ll only awaken when the Midori on Seiji’s arm wants to return.

Of course, having a girl literally stuck on your arm immediately means hilarity ensues. How does Seiji hide this from everyone, especially since several games are out to give revenge on him? What happens when someone DOES find out about her?

This certainly creates some comedy at the start, but after a while it just seems to drag on, with the same gags largely being replayed over and over and over again by the end. After about the 2nd or 3rd volume, you’ve already seen most of what you’re going to see out of the series, except for perhaps the final volume. Perhaps the saving grace of the series is that it is relatively short at 8 volumes.

If you like the gags that come in this sort of manga, and don’t mind that they repeat quite often, then you may like this book, but I’m not sure it’s worth reading all the way through.

First Read: December 2005 - October 2007
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Indifferent

By Josh | Posted in Manga Reviews | Tagged | Comments (2)

Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode 81

Saturday, July 19, 2008 – 2:18 pm

Josh’s Anime Blog Podcast Episode #81 is now online! In this podcast, I review the first season of the anime series Genshiken.

This week’s Podcast Stats:
Time: 14:51
Download Size: 10.2 MB

Opening theme:
“Keikenchi Joshochu” by Rina Satou, Marina Inoue & Minori Chihara
Opening theme to Minami-ke

Ending theme:
“Biidama” by Saori Atsumi
Ending theme to Genshiken

You can listen to my podcasts in the following ways:

Flash Player:

Directly: http://www.joshsanimeblog.com/podcast/JABPEpisode81.mp3

You can also download or add my podcast-only RSS feed to your favorite reader or add my podcast using iTunes.

By Josh | Posted in Podcasts | Tagged | Comments (1)

Otakon announces tentative panel list - no ADV panel?

Saturday, July 19, 2008 – 11:58 am

I had been waiting for this, and I’m kind of surprised there wasn’t an announcement on the Otakon home page, but Otakon has now released a tentative list of panels for their 2008 convention:

One notable panel not listed in the list is an ADV industry panel.  At Anime Expo, they said they hoped to be able to announce some things, including their new industry partner and possibly some new licenses at Otakon.  Well, that’s hard to do if you don’t even have a panel.  Of course, as I said, this is a tentative list, so they might be added later, but the lack of a panel listed right off the bat can’t be a great sign.

Other industry panels I’ll try to hit include the Bandai panel, the Bandai Surprise! panel (since, apparently, there will be a surprise there), the Funimation Announcements panel, the Kadokawa USA panel, since they may announce some of the production and distribution details from their Anime Expo announcements, and the Media Blasters Announcements panel.  The Fansubbing and the State of the Industry panels are on my secondary list.

As for fan panels, I didn’t go to many last year, since not many really appealed to me and this year looks even less favorable.  I also see that there is no podcasting panel this year.  That is one I wanted to hit last year, but couldn’t since the light rail stopped running before that panel ended.

As for guest panels, the JAM Project and Kano Sisters panels look interesting at first blush.

And of course, I may not get to all of these because of scheduling conflicts, while I may end up going to some I haven’t listed since they may be the only interesting thing going on at any given time.

By Josh | Posted in Otakon | Tagged | Comments (2)

Anime Review - Shakugan no Shana: The Movie: 84.7%

Saturday, July 19, 2008 – 10:00 am

The Essentials

Name: Shakugan no Shana: The Movie
Genre: Fantasy, Action
Episodes: N/A
Released: April 21, 2007
Based On: Shakugan no Shana light novels by Yashichiro Takahashi
Director: Takashi Watanabe
Produced By: J.C. Staff
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Yuji Sakai: Satoshi Hino
Shana: Rie Kugimiya
Yukari Hirai: Masumi Asano
Margery Daw: Hitomi Nabatame
Alastor: Masashi Ebara
Marchosias: Mitsuo Iwata
Friagne: Junichi Suwabe
Chigusa: Tomo Sakurai

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Story: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)

Total: 144/170 (84.7%)

Review

Shakugan no Shana: The Movie is about a boy, Yuji Sakai, after he “dies” when he has his existence eaten by Crimson Denizens - members of a parallel universe. At the same time, one of his classmates, Yukari, who has a crush on Yuji’s best friend Ike, “dies” as well. However, both of their existences are replaced by Shana, a Flame Haze, and they both become Torches.

After the ordeal, Yukari clearly isn’t herself, and Yuji demands to know what happened. Shana informs him that he has died and has been turned into a Torch so that their disappearance won’t disrupt the world as much. However, since they are only replacements, torches eventually run out and then really will completely disappear.

However, Yuji appears to be different in that he’s realized what’s happened and Shana, and the Crimson Lord to whom she is bound, Alastor, deduce that he must be a Mystes - a special type of torch with a “treasure” in mind. With this in mind, Shana decides to use Yuji as bait to catch the Crimson Denizen who ate his existence, since Crimson Denizens have a penchant for collecting such treasures.

Shakugan no Shana is effectively a retelling of the first story arc of the first season of the TV series, though some things are notably different, such as the climax of the movie. As a result, while the movie does a good job getting one familiar with the franchise if one is going to go ahead and watch the TV series, it doesn’t do as good of a job as a stand-alone movie.

Even so, it still tells a rather interesting story competently. The animation is excellent and the music is also pretty good as well.

If you’re looking for a quick intro to the Shakugan no Shana universe, or just want a fun movie to watch, then you might want to check this one out.

First Watched: October 2007
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes, if you want the quick review of the Shana universe

By Josh | Posted in Anime Reviews, Shakugan no Shana | Comments (0)

First Impression: The Secret of Haruka Nogizaka

Friday, July 18, 2008 – 7:30 pm

The third non-blogged series I’m watching in the summer is Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu a.k.a. The Secret of Haruka Nogizaka.

This one is about, shockingly, Haruka Nogizaka, the quintessential perfect girl in the school - rich, good grades, great looking, good at sports, etc., etc., etc. Meanwhile, there is Yuuto Ayase who is kind of your average nerdy boy, but more in the mold of Ike from Shakugan no Shana in the sense that, yes he’s a nerd, but he isn’t really a loser. Yuuto also has just about 0 interest in girls, largely thanks to two girls who I’m not totally sure what their relation to Yuuto is who live at his house and basically do nothing but drink.

One day Yuuto finds out Haruka’s secret hobby - that she’s an otaku. She’s afraid that he’ll tell everyone but, of course, he’s too nice of a guy to do that (unfortunately she runs away from him for a while, making everyone else think he’s done something horrible to the queen of the school). She is largely afraid of being picked on “again,” which makes me think that she’s become this super-girl person in response to bad teasing, which I’m sure we’ll get into later if that’s the case.

I think this series definitely has potential, since the “queen of the school” type girl is a huge otaku, and I can see a lot of laughs from that, though Haruka seems to be a little too ditzy to be one supposedly so good at everything, but maybe we’ll be shown otherwise later.

I also get strong vibes that this is going to be in part a parody otaku series. First off, the ending theme and the name give out vibes of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I’m sure the OP made fun of several shows, many of which I’m not catching, and I’m sure the same is true of the Clumsy Aki-chan cartoon from the beginning.

And especially since this doesn’t seem like a series which is going to rely on fan service for most of it’s laughs (at least based on the first episode), this series definitely looks like it has some potential.

By Josh | Posted in 2008 Anime | Tagged | Comments (1)

First Impression: Birdy the Mighty: DECODE

Friday, July 18, 2008 – 7:21 pm

This was a “I’ll wait what I hear about it first” show, but enough people recommended it on various websites that I decided to check it out, especially since I ditched Strike Witches.

My main worry was that this looked like it would be a fan service fest show, and things didn’t necessarily start off extremely promising with Birdy’s fairly revealing outfit as well as the photo shoot scene at the start. Luckily the fan service isn’t really bad, and this is the only place it exists in the first episode.

The rest of the episode shows the series to be a rather promising comedy/action show. While Birdy may be a tad on the ditzy side, she looks like she would be a rather competent female lead, while the boy she possesses (due to accidentally killing him in a battle) Tsutomu doesn’t seem to be your normal loser male lead either, which may this series interesting as well.

I loved Tsutomu’s last line of the episode, though: “Is this the next part of my nightmare? I turn into a beautiful girl?” because, of course, a boy turning into a beautiful girl (even one that does modeling as a cover) is typically one of those fantasies that turn out being not so much of a fantasy.

Having seen the first episode, I can see why people recommended it, as this series may be the most promising of all the summer series I’ve seen so far.

By Josh | Posted in 2008 Anime | Tagged | Comments (0)

Maid Guy - Episode 09

Friday, July 18, 2008 – 6:21 pm

It’s Maid Guy episode 9, and Naeka’s two friends come to ask for help regarding the cake shop they work at, which is being run out of business by another cake shop which is pulling in customers by featuring very busty waitresses.

Read More »

By Josh | Posted in Maid Guy | Comments (0)

Nijuu Mensou no Musume - Episode 11

Friday, July 18, 2008 – 6:02 pm

It’s Nijuu Mensou no Musume Episode 11.  Tome, Shunka, and Chiko head to the beach, while an old enemy of Chiko’s returns.

Read More »

By Josh | Posted in Nijuu Mensou no Musume | Comments (0)

Anime Review - MoonPhase: 88%

Friday, July 18, 2008 – 10:00 am

The Essentials

Name: MoonPhase
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Episodes: 26
Released: October 4, 2004 - March 23, 2005
Based On: Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase manga by Keitaro Arima
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Produced By: Victor Entertainment, SHAFT
US Distribution By: Funimation

Major Japanese Cast

Hazuki/Luna: Chiwa Saito
Kohei Morioka: Hiroshi Kamiya
Ryuhei Mido: Mugihito
Seiji Mido: Takahiro Sakurai
Elfriede: Yumi Kakazu
Hiromi Anzai: Michiko Neya
Haiji: Vanilla Yamazaki
Kaoru Mido: Miyu Matsuki
Hikaru Mido: Mai Kadowaki

Major English Cast

Hazuki/Luna: Monica Rial
Kohei Morioka: Jason Liebrecht
Ryuhei Mido: Randy Tallman
Seiji Mido: Sonny Strait
Elfriede: Stephanie Young
Hiromi Anzai: Laura Bailey
Haiji, Hikaru Mido: Luci Christian
Kaoru Mido: Brina Palencia

Scores

Animation: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: 9/10 (x 1 = 9 pts)
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)

Total: 176/200 (88%)

Review

MoonPhase is about a young female vampire, Hazuki, who is being held in a castle in Germany by her father and by his servant Vigo. One day, Kohei, who has an amazing ability to photograph supernatural phenomena despite the fact that he can’t sense them at all himself, spots Hazuki and her alter-ego Luna as he is taking pictures of the castle. Kohei goes back to the castle along with Seiji, who knows how to use ancient magic, to take more pictures when Hazuki. However, when Kohei finally meets Hazuki, she bites him, under the belief that biting him will put him under her control and help her escape the castle. However, supernatural things having absolutely no affect on Kohei, the bite has no such result. In the end, Kohei helps Hazuki escape the castle anyway, and she ends up coming to Japan to live with Kohei and his grandfather Ryuhei.

From there, Hazuki gets help from Kohei to try to find out what happened to her mother, while at the same time forces of Hazuki’s father marshal up in order to try to return Hazuki to the castle. The reason for this being that Hazuki has a secret: she is a true day walker - a vampire who can walk in daylight. If other vampires found out about this ability, they would rush to Hazuki to take that power for themselves. However, minions attempting to recapture Hazuki find another important reason to succeed: Kohei himself is revealed to be the mythical vampire lover - a human whom, if a vampire bites them, will free that vampire from any blood bonds which they may be constrained by (such as by being bitten and turned into a vampire by another vampire).

However, despite the pretty hefty-sounding description, MoonPhase still has a pretty good amount of comedy in it, with the continuing interaction between Kohei and Hazuki, as well as between Kohei and Ryuhei almost always ending in laughs. However, on top of the comedy, this series also contains several drama and action-intensive stints as well, which I have to say are usually very well done as well. Some of the sub-plots may get a little drawn out at times, but the story still moves as a pretty reasonable pace.

As for technical aspects, the animation is probably above average, and the music is pretty good, if not unusual for an anime series. The dubbing is also very good as far as I could tell.

In the end, if you’re looking for a very well made supernatural/vampire series or an otherwise character-driven series, I think you should definitely give MoonPhase a shot.

First Watched: August 2007 - January 2008
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes

By Josh | Posted in Anime Reviews | Tagged | Comments (0)

First Impressions: Natsume Yuujinchou

Thursday, July 17, 2008 – 7:33 pm

I’m finally getting around to watching some of the other series from the summer season which I wanted to watch, and the first one is Natsume Yuujinchou.

The premise of this show sounds interesting: basically some person who can see supernatural things finds a book which several spirits are bound to via a contract, and he tries to go around freeing them all.

The first episode was largely all about the main character, Natsume, trying to run away from these Ayakashi things (that, naturally, only he can see) because they think that he’s his grandmother and they want the so-called Book of Friends, since anyone in possession of it has control of all the spirits bound by the book.

However, three things in this episode happened which made me wonder:

1. Why does Natsume decide to release all the spirits, even though Nyanko (a spritit he accidentally releases) warns that many of them are evil?

2. Why does he feel so strongly about it to the point that he’s willing to die in the process?

3. Why on the friggen’ earth would he promise to Nyanko (a spirit that Natsume accidentally released) that he can have the book if he dies in the process, when Nyanko has basically already said he wants the book for himself?  Isn’t that basically asking to be stabbed in the back?

I’ll have to see how I like the rest of this series.  The part where he actually freed a spirit from the book took all of about two minutes, so I’m not sure how that will work, but I guess we’ll see eventually.

By Josh | Posted in 2008 Anime | Tagged | Comments (1)