MORE OF THE SORT OF THING TO EXPECT

July 31st, 2008 by Brack

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THE GENERAL SORT OF THING TO EXPECT

July 29th, 2008 by Brack

This won’t actually be part of the panel as I can’t find a decent copy (nicovideo keeps loading a Persona ad instead of it…), but parody videos such as the one above are some of the many “delights” I will be inflicting upon playing to the audience.

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Birdy The Mighty Decode - Episode 2

July 28th, 2008 by Brack

Another great episode with strong animation and writing.

The grand conceit of the series is revealed in this episode, that of two people forced to exist in one body. At first glance you could mistake the series for a “help, I’m a woman!” gender switch comedy along the lines of Ranma 1/2 and Futaba-kun Change. But that’s not what the story is going for. It has more in common with the body invasion horror of Parasyte or Guyver. The twist being that for a change it’s a human invading an alien’s body (albeit by the alien’s own actions).

And that body invasion theme is laid on thick this episode as in addition to Birdy’s situation we have the villainous Bacillus acting as a more traditional body horror parasite - the alien who needs to take other other’s bodies to survive - and so a mirror on Birdy’s actions. Birdy lets Tsutomu into her body to save his life. Bacillus forces himself into people to survive, at the cost of that person’s life. And then there’s a third scenario that plays out this episode, not spelt out to the viewer as yet, that appears to be somewhere in between Birdy and Bacillus’ situations.

And then there’s another really strong action scene that highlights the sense of movement the show has (as well as it’s nice line in facial expressions). The only weak spot is some humdrum 3D work that looks like it’s being employed as cheap filler.

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Golgo 13 - Episode 12 - TOUCH DOWN

July 27th, 2008 by Brack

Here is that Golgo 13/CSI crossover you requested.

When quarterback Lionel Blue is assassinated on the field of play, a detective and a CSI team clash over how to investigate the murder.

Another episode involving the authorities who have to pick up the pieces after Golgo has done his job. The CSI team in this episode are trying to prove Golgo 13 was the murderer, but the detective realises that Golgo is only the weapon, the real murderer is whoever hired him.

There’s also a false nostalgia at work here, that only really comes to the fore if you look at Golgo 13 as a whole. The detective wonders if the times have changed so much that the world has created a man like Golgo, when of course Golgo has been with us 40 years and when you take into account his “origin”, even longer. Golgo isn’t a creation of modern times, he’s a timeless entity of amoral stoicism.

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Barely Competent Reviews of Merely Competent Anime

July 26th, 2008 by Brack

So Birdy The Mighty is mightily good, and Slayers Revolution is, well, Slayers More Of The Same, but what of other shows I said I wanted to watch. Well here’s my first impressions of two of them.

Natsume Yuujinchou

Both these shows I’m going to talk about don’t have anything particularly wrong with them, it’s just that there’s been similar and better shows in recent memory.

A show like this is always going to have the shadow of GeGeGe no Kitaro hanging over it, but it also has Mushishi, Hakaba Kitaro, Mononoke and Mokke to name a few in recent memory too. And without the presumably larger budget that WOWOW allowed for Baccano!, moments of impressive animation are sparse (the first time Nyanko transforms for instance).

The main thing it does have going for it is Kazuhiko Inoue. His heroic roles get a lot of focus but the guy has a good range of voices and his role as the grumpy cat spirit Nyanko here brings a lot of life to the show. It helps too that Nyanko in his cat form is the most visually interesting aspect of the show.

Ryoko’s Case File

This show epitomises the main problem with novel to anime adaptation - novels aren’t visual storytelling, and what might work in written word doesn’t necessarily work as a cartoon.

Which is not to say it’s bad, it’s just rather languid. Even someone explosively dehydrates within the first 5 minutes there’s very little urgency to it. My other concern is the storyboarding is mostly either lacklustre or cliched. Lots of scenes gave me a sense of deja vu. It’s entirely possible to make anime that is a lot of talking heads interesting, but I don’t think they achieve that here.

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Golgo 13 - Episode 11 - Dead Angle

July 25th, 2008 by Brack

Two departments of the US government pit Golgo 13 and the young sniper Katz against one another, as Golgo attempts to kill a Jordanian envoy and Katz tries to stop him.

Oh, and we also get the most Osamu-Dezaki-y episode of Golgo 13 TV yet.

By which I mean… POSTCARD MEMORIES~!~!

And in a callback to Dezaki’s cinema outing with Golgo 13, a CGI HELICOPTER~!~!~!

While I’m not expecting this to be Dezaki (I’m assuming he’s busy with Ultraviolet & Cobra), I would be interested in seeing who directed this, as I’m surprised with not seen the Postcard Memory technique used more often in the series. Admittedly the episodes tend to be packed as it is and there may not be time such a pace slowing technique, but it’s almost something you are expecting from the series.

Storywise, it’s another mind game as people try to out-think Golgo, with some modern politics thrown in as background. It is a shame the television isn’t as brave as the manga and refuses to use caricature when real people turn up. This episode’s US Secretary of Defense looks nothing like Robert Gates, and only looks like Rumsfeld if you squint and imagine glasses.

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Golgo 13 - Episode 10 - The Target Who Came Back

July 21st, 2008 by Brack

We now return you to your irregularly scheduled hitman themed content.

If this TV series has had a moral so far, it is “Do not dick around with Golgo 13″. And I’m sure you’d agree that’s a lesson we take with us in our daily lives. We should be thankful we have this series to teach us this, as to actually learn it as a character in Golgo 13 tends to involve a bullet through the temple.

This episode opens with a hit on a mafia boss who had turned himself into the FBI, and the story proceeds to get more complicated from there. In fact, it’s the most complex story we’ve had so far into the series.

And also one of the cheapest. The good news is that this time the budget shortcuts are also visually interesting. We’ve had shots where we’ve seen a Golgo’s eye view through a sniper sight, now we get shots from the same distance, this time without the benefit of magnification. It’s a credit to the animators that the small blobs Golgo shoots at are still recognisable as people, and it’s an different perspective to what the series has shown so far.

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MEME TIME: EXHAUSTO LIST 3000: FILM EDITION

July 20th, 2008 by Brack

Same thing, this time for films. Via Matthew J. Brady

Pick a favourite film from every year you’ve been alive.

1975 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
1976 - Rocky
1977 - Star Wars
1978 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1979 - The Muppet Movie
1980 - Airplane!
1981 - Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
1982 - Blade Runner
1983 - Videodrome
1984 - This Is Spinal Tap *
1985 - Better Off Dead
1986 - True Stories
1987 - A Chinese Ghost Story *
1988 - The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1989 - Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
1990 - Wild at Heart
1991 - Delicatessen
1992 - Porco Rosso
1993 - Fong Sai-yuk
1994 - Drunken Master 2 *
1995 - Get Shorty
1996 - Swingers
1997 - Jackie Brown
1998 - The Big Lebowski
1999 - Election *
2000 - Best In Show *
2001 - The Royal Tenenbaums *
2002 - 24 Hour Party People
2003 - Melvin Goes To Dinner
2004 - Mind Game
2005 - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2006 - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
2007 - No Country For Old Men
2008 - Iron Man

* These years were tough to pick a favourite film from, as they were particularly strong for films.

EDIT: I’d forgotten No Country for Old Men was a 2007 film due to how long it took to show up in my local cinema.

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MEME TIME: EXHAUSTO LIST 3000: MUSIC EDITION

July 20th, 2008 by Brack

This time via A.V. Club

Pick a favourite album from every year you’ve been alive.

1975 - Warrior on the Edge of Time - Hawkwind
1976 - The Ramones - The Ramones
1977 - Talking Heads: 77 - Talking Heads
1978 - Parallel Lines - Blondie
1979 - Rust Never Sleeps - Neil Young and Crazy Horse *
1980 - Remain in Light - Talking Heads
1981 - Scientist Rids The World of the Evil Curse Of The Vampires - Scientist
1982 - Combat Rock – The Clash *
1983 - Speaking in Tongues - Talking Heads
1984 - Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads
1985 - Little Creatures - Talking Heads
1986 - Raising Hell - Run DMC
1987 - Sign o’ The Times - Prince
1988 - Surfer Rosa - Pixies
1989 - Paul’s Boutique - The Beastie Boys
1990 - Leggy Mambo - Cud
1991 - Trompe le Monde - Pixies
1992 - It’s a Shame about Ray - The Lemonheads
1993 - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) - Wu-Tang Clan
1994 - Niggamortis - Gravediggaz
1995 - Wowee Zowee - Pavement
1996 - Endtroducing….. - DJ Shadow
1997 - Sound Verite - The Make Up
1998 - 1965 - Afghan Whigs
1999 - Operation: Doomsday - MF DOOM
2000 - Supreme Clientele - Ghostface Killah
2001 - Discovery - Daft Punk
2002 - Cammell Laird Social Club - Half Man Half Biscuit
2003 - Sumday - Grandaddy
2004 - If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em - Weird War
2005 - Cripple Crow - Devendra Banhart
2006 - Pick a Bigger Weapon - The Coup
2007 - Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
2008 - Saturnalia - The Gutter Twins

* These two are simply based on being the only albums from those years I can recall having heard. I really had a struggle finding albums I’d heard from 1979-1985. 1989 is basically my year zero of being an album purchaser (Hup by The Wonder Stuff being that starting point), and while I’ve filled in a lot of knowledge of 60s and 70’s music, that post-punk/new romantic/hair metal period really is a void for me beyond Talking Heads.

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Bert and Ernie Ante Up

July 18th, 2008 by Brack

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Bert and Ernie Rap - CollegeHumor video.

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