Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anime, madness, magic, reviews, satire, surreal
Anime >> Abenobashi Magical Shopping Arcade (Vol. 1)
Ni hao and bonjour, you smelly old man…
–French Ninja in Hong Kong (also, Abenobashi)
When I first heard the twangy Texan drawl of the voice actors who played our two protagonists of Sasshi and Arumi, I thought I was in for a tremendous beating and looked frantically for the subtitles. Apparently, though, the actors were chosen due to the Osakan accent of the main characters (I hope?). In any case, it soon pleased me quite deeply to hear my native Tejas being spoken once more like the cactus-thumping, horny-toad-chasing varmints we are (or so I’ve heard). So that turned out alright, but the second hurdle for me was the standard elitist attitude of “I’m sorry, my friend, you just aren’t otaku1 enough to get it, y’see.”2 Well, I for one am here to tell you that yes, you too can understand this just as long as you have some grounding in pop culture at all in any of the genres satirized (Episode 2 tackled sword and sorcery, Episode 3 did science fiction… you get the idea). After seeing Sasshi thrown out into space, sucked through a wormhole, then reincarnated as a Star Child à la Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, I knew I must buy this.3 There was no other way around it, man.
Essentially, the plot of the series seems to be that the son et lumière freakshow that is the Abenobashi Shopping District has been torn down, and been replaced with… uh, that’s a real good question. Apparently, it’s one that the writers (and presumably the original manga’s author) endeavor to find out. Sasshi (boy) and Arumi (girl) have grown up in the area, and are quite remiss to see the enterprise shut down. To make matters worse, Arumi will be moving away soon to the isle of Hokkaido, leaving Sasshi waiting in lurch to pick up the pieces of his life. Episode 1 gives the audience some serious exposition, then by Episode 2… well, all hell breaks loose.
Snappy dialogue and odd sight gags pervade this series, but thankfully not enough to be distracting or to grate on the ears and eyes (for the most part). The lush and almost painfully beautiful animation comes to us courtesy of Satoshi Kon’s Madhouse Studios, and come on–the simple fact that Sasshi has to endure a brutal panda training session is almost Ferrell-esque in its Western-style ridiculousness. Good grief, and they even squish in a Rocky reference (“Adrian!”) and a Dana Carvey tribute (“Could it be, oh I don’t know… SATAN?!“). Many new fans should be pleasantly surprised by the fact that neither Sasshi nor Arumi nor anyone else’s eyeballs are bulging freakishly out of their heads, and that their hair is actually brown like many humans’ would be.
So that’s Abenobashi: it’s a thrillride, it’s a LOLlercoaster, go buy it.
NOT recommended for kids, though, unless your kids are disturbingly worldly. There’s rarely any overtly obscene sexual humor and certainly no bloody gore, but plenty of explosions, blunt and earthy humor, and a rather overendowed villain to “round things off,” so to speak.4
Final Grade: A-. ***EDIT: I heard ragtime piano at the episode’s close. +1/2 letter.***
Final Grade: A.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: failure, free speech, satire, sexuality, technical difficulties, the internet
I was a-pondering as I so often do, and I thought I’d share my observations with you all. You see, I’m at a rather conservative university, and much of the Internet’s terrible bounty is unavailable to us. Unfortunately, this often includes some relatively innocuous material like LastFM (user-built radio stations) or Gaia Online (roleplaying game bulletin boards, I think?). Here’s a handy-dandy chart–charts are always funny, right?
| SITE BLOCKED | THE BLOCKER SAYS… | THE REAL REASON | WHAT ISN’T BLOCKED, STRANGELY |
| Xanga | Social/Dating Site | Socialize somewhere else, socialist. | Facebook (It’s what the kids are into these days.) |
| Anthro subsection of deviantART | Nudity; Gay/Lesbian | Yiff in hell, furfag. | Disney |
| Russian musician OMFO | Pornography | OMFO (“Our Man from Odessa”) could be an anagram for mofo, which is a sexual term I believe. | Actual pornography, or so I’ve heard… through the grapevine… |
| YTMND [unblocked] | Tasteless | You, sir, have appallingly bad taste. Shame on you! | Fox News |
| Some manga site | Sexual Materials | At least it’s human… but it’s still not American. You lose. | The Fox News Sexologist (She’s not board-certified, fellas…) |
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: anime, art, film, hubris, madness, reviews, surreal
Film >> Satoshi Kon’s Paprika [Original Novel by Yatsutaka Tsutsui]
“He was invaded by a collective dream.”
–Dr. Atsuko Chiba
You should own this film as soon as possible.
After seeing it in theaters, I forgot how incredible this film is. Granted, I’m a sucker for surrealist humor, so my review will be biased… and biased heavily in its favor.
First off… look at this:
If this poster frightens you, perhaps you should look elsewhere for entertainment this evening (and no, not that kind of entertainment). The gist of the story is this: a group of psychotherapists-errant (my own neologism for… uh, therapists that go a-dreamtrotting through other people’s minds) have invented an ominous device with a rather unintimidating name–the DC Mini. One of the scientists, a Ms. Ats… Atsuko… Atsuko Chiba or Chiba Atsuko, whichever way the aficionados prefer.
In any case, the DC Mini has been purloined by a nefarious fiend that the majority of the cast is content to call a “dream terrorist.” Once a hardened policeman is drawn into this web of doppelgängers and deceit, you know it’s only a matter of time until all hell breaks loose and the worlds of the real and surreal collide (i.e., a parade of anthropomorphized flotsam and jetsam marching in time through what appears to be the Gobi Desert). Violent and sexual imagery crop up in this epic of the unconscious, but with nary a whiff of pandering fanservice to be found… Also, watch out for Himuro–he’ll getcha!
My one major quibble with this film was the denoument, at which point much of the action onscreen goes from being subversively brilliant to downright incomprehensible. Trust me on this one–I have quite a tolerance for the incomprehensible. For those of you who saw the preview, this is where the exploding heads filled with butterflies, short-circuiting robots and gigantic little girls over a partially demolished Tokyo comes in. Also, an unexpected romance blossoms for an effect which to me came off as almost absurdly forced…
The director and author of the original novel both have cameos as two placid bartenders… Susumu Hirasawa, the film’s insanely gifted composer, is no where to be seen–only heard. [The theme's available here!]
***UPDATE***
Apparently the final line of the infamous “parade theme” of cast-off garbage translates to this:
The parade of lunacy is coming, and it is in your name!
Final Grade: A.
The Canon page of works that have influenced me in a positive way is complete (at someone’s request).
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: failure, manga, reviews, sexuality, surreal, the trap
Manga >> Ken Akamatsu’s Love Hina and Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
“What? Keitarou, you want to see my panties?!”
–A Caricature of a Thirteen-Year-Old in Love Hina
To be honest, I’m really only reviewing the first volumes of Hina and Negi, with a nervous peek at Volume II of the former. This was a powerful lesson to me: the first ten pages do NOT necessarily set the tone for the rest of the work… also, always order online if you can. That way, you can get Love Hina in a paper box tied with string to cover your shame. Seriously, everything I had heard heretofore about this series had been nothing but how life-affirming, yet raunchy, yet precious it was. It entranced female readers, and caused male ones to clap their hands with joy at the glory of it all!
Boy, was that ever crock of s**t.
Here’s the plot–no doubt you’ve heard it before if you are familiar at all with the ignoble harem plot. There’s this kid, Keitarou, who’s basically an unbelievably sad sack of a man. He’s not very bright, not very athletic, not incredibly cute2, nor is he assertive… and guess what, he’s not good with women either. When his parents kick him out of the house, he discovers his grandmother has decided to bequeath ownership of the bizarrely secluded Hinata Inn to… him. So he’s the landlord of an all-girls dorm!3 And you know what… that girl who promised him in kindergarten that they’d go to college together and get married and live happily ever after? She’s living there too! How can hijinks not ensue?!
Unfortunately, the much-lauded formula of Keitarou continually barging in on the girls in various stages of undress, falling on top of them, or having them fall on top of him gets repetitive to say the least. After a beat or so, the girls would punch him in the face or otherwise beat the snot out of him so he wouldn’t do it again. But, try as he might, he just can’t shake his bad luck… and thus it continues for fourteen volumes or twenty-four episodes, depending on which medium you prefer. Everyone has notoriously short memories (and tempers), so this cycle of love and loathing occurs quite often. Also, when he gets within a few feet of junior high students, he makes them weep with his propensity for sexually suggestive accidents.
But there is a modicum of sweetness, in a dystheistic sort of way: they’re just a bunch of people thrown into this crazy world, watched over by that malevolent Demiurge, Akamatsu Ken.
…You know, that actually makes me kind of sad now to remember that.
As for Negima!, for the last time: it’s not Harry Potter. Nor is it even a pervy Harry Potter. Nope, it’s about a ten-year-old boy who teaches English to fourteen-year-olds. But there’s only one problem… whenever he sneezes, it causes their clothing to fly off! And it only works on girls, apparently!4 Hobotaku gives a pithy value judgment on this less-talented sibling of the Love Hina franchise:
…Be forewarned, do not read this in a store. The last thing most people want is to stumble over someone in a Dragonball Z shirt that’s looking at middle school girls’ underwear. Trust me, it’s creepy, and you’ll end up dying alone.
Final Grade: D-. Revised: C-.
3Many of whom are underage! Are you giddy with joy yet?!
4If it worked both ways, that would just be gay (and sexually egalitarian).
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: blogcraft, cute, manga, moe, technical difficulties
I thought I had all the kinks worked out of this thing, but apparently my expectations were too high. Due to technical difficulties in WordPress (and maybe my version of Firefox?) this page will either look beautiful, like this:
Or bewildering, like this:
Her name is Afghanisu-tan, in case you’re wondering.
So if this site looks like a turd wrapped in gold leaf, it’s not my fault. Just pop it open in another tab, or, if nothing else, soothe the savage beast within with a refreshing Baby Rickroll.
***UPDATE***
Yipe! WiFi access to this site makes it look just peachy. It must be my recalcitrant wall hookup back in the dorm.
