Newtype USA folded.  PIQ Magazine folded.  (A damn shame.)  The latest issue of Play only devoted one page to anime reviews and previews.  Play used to devote an entire section of the magazine to anime.

Where are we supposed to go now for quality reviews and previews of anime?  Anybody going to Anime Expo (or anybody at all), let me know if something interesting is out there.

This post is going to "out" me more so than usual as an old-school anime fan.

I've really been enjoying Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad lately.  What's frustrating is that I can't really share it with anybody who doesn't already have a tolerance for something like that.  And by something like that, I don't just mean anime.  I mean someone has to be able to look past the inconsistent production quality, the minimal art style, and the awkward attempts at rock n' roll in English by Japanese singers.

If you can get past that, there's a tried-and-true story there that I'm always a sucker for.  There's an earnest innocense to it:  An average Joe who can excel when he gives it his all.  The love interest who should be out of his reach, but amazingly seems to be there for him, despite a superficial aloofness.

This story has a few things in common with Kimagure Orange Road, there.

I flatter myself to think the show also reminds me of a time in my youth.  Certainly not junior high school.  That sucked, plain and simple.  But there were a couple of glorious years in high school where I got to spend a couple of hours a day with upper class girls.  (Playing chess during lunch with Cassie and working on the school paper with Denise.)  Nothing ever came of that time but fond memories of our friendships.  But watching Beck's Koyuki's relationship develop with Maho manages to bring some of those memories back.  I'm lucky for what I got.

Hello, there.  Work is keeping me busy.  Also, some self-enforced discipline is keeping me away.  You see, I've installed 8aweek, just to gather metrics for my online habits.  The only domain I restrict?  Livejournal.

When at Disneyland a couple of weeks ago, the family went crazy shopping.  Who didn't buy anything?  My wife.  Nothing.

The only thing I bought?  Out of everything at Disneyland?  A little thing called the Rogue Shadow from the Lego store in Downtown Disney.  It's all I really wanted!

If you didn't see the following titles from Geneon (who are now out of business), you should, before the titles are gone too:

• Samurai Champloo (This could be the third series I've ever bothered to own.)
• Kamichu
• Ergo Proxy
• Haibane Renmei (And read Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World)

I just watched episode 12 of Haruhi.  (The only episode that happens to be at the same index in Chronological order, Air Date order, and DVD order.  Like the whole series revolves around this one episode...)

I didn't know what was coming.  Imagine my delight/confusion when Kyon meanders into the Korean classroom to see Son asleep at her desk.  (There's no Son in Haruhi.  Son is a character from a live action movie, Linda Linda Linda.)  I had a moment of cognitive dissonance there.  In the anime, I think they use Aya Hirano (the voice actress of Haruhi) as the model for Son.

I've usually got a few experimental anime series in the queue. The two that I'm enjoying the most right now are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and Freedom. I'm not done with either yet, but I'm enjoying the experience.

Haruhi

I was pretty much hooked as soon as I saw Haruhi's determined gait in the opening credits. Here is a show about a girl who knows what she wants. Even if she is crazy.

I'm old enough that the fan service is a little embarrasing to watch, but the High School drama makes me nostalgic.

Freedom

Go Nissin! I really couldn't care less that Nissin is using Freedom as a promotional project. I see all the product placement, and it doesn't bother me. Otomo's mecha design and character design are up to snuff, and the story has me interested. I'm watching it on a standard definition TV, but this show would really benefit from an HD viewing.

I'll include the opening credits to Freedom here (because I like Hikaru Utada), but the video is highly compressed and really doesn't reflect the nice clean lines of the real opening, with its transitions from live video (with vector art overlay) to manga page (complete with zip-o-tone) to anime.

Now, do what Namie says.

I may have to buy Haruhi Suzumiya DVDs on principle.

Instead of discouraging theft by forcing me to watch lame "you wouldn't steal a car would you?  Then don't steal this video" clips, they added extras to the DVD.  the ASOS Brigade extras, starring Patricia Ja Lee as a live action Haruhi.

Anyway, they link to some bittorrent files from the DVD.

They're very concerned with their fans watching only fansubs on YouTube and by way of torrents.  So they're making additional material to add to the DVDs, and they're distributing the additional material on torrents too.

Awesome.  They're not punishing honest DVD buyers with video that chastises them.  They're rewarding their fans with extra content, and distributing it as broadly as they can.

I hope it works.

I hate watching DVDs that tell me not to be bad.  I love watching DVDs that reward me.

Back in the day, we could watch real dorama on a local station.  Saturday and Sunday evenings were Japanese Drama heaven.  But the station just kept scaling back further and further until there were no subtitled dramas anymore.

And I've been refusing to rent the tapes from the local Yaohan or Kinokuniya.  (It's not really Yaohan anymore, but I'm being a nostalgic git here.)  Come to think if it, I don't even have a VHS tape player anymore.  I don't know if they even rent them out now, either...

Also, even though NetFlix lists Azumi, you can't get it into your queue.  You never could, even when it was new.  Grr!

I'd pretty much given up.

Yesterday, thanks to TechCrunch, I've discovered CrunchyRoll!  Whee!  Wonder what I should watch first?

First, about the video above: Urusei Yastura and I go a long way back. (That's right. I've got a 20-year-old cassette of Hirano Fumi singing Lum's song's too.) I was investigating Nana Kitade, and was just about to give up when I heard this little gem.

It's good to know that somebody else loves Bonnie Pink probably more than I do. (That's a lot of high grades!) But it's a promising starting point, and I'll have to see what else Lex recommends.

Bonnie Pink played at this year's Live Earth concert. I'm a sucker for a woman who can sing and play guitar (or bass (lest I neglect Aimee Mann)).

Edit: Removed a reference to a bad experience of mine. The internet can be a very dangerous place. Even YouTube can put you in a place you don't want to be. Tread carefully.

Edit: When I bought that UY music cassette in Japan, Nana Kitade hadn't been born yet. And here she's singing the opening theme...

I'm watching Bleach. (I'm not proud.) I know that watching a show affects how much I enjoy its music. What are you gonna do?

I love this tune. It's the first ending song of the series, and it's my favorite so far.

I don't think the video's as good as the song. But that doesn't diminish my enjoyment of the song.

Sometimes, I'm even too obscure for myself.  What I really meant to do in that post was to make a list of anime music (especially OP/ED themes).  Maybe it was too late at night.

I don't know what to do with this information, so I'll jot it down here.  Back in 2006, I really liked the music in:

• RahXephon
• Full Metal Alchemist  (Especially Sowelu and Crystal Kay)
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex  (Origa)  (I love everything by Yoko Kanno.)
  
• Gantz (The ending, mostly.  Was that  Bonnie Pink?)
• Haibane Renmei
• Ikki Tousen
• Samurai Champloo

I searched for "Ice Candy", the ending theme of Kamichu, and came across this article about Mako.

Elsewhere, I've been in threads about Taiko and songs about food.

But once I came across this video, how could I resist posting it? Cute girls, bikinis, drums. A recipe for success!

I'm enjoying Kamichu more with each episode.  It's a show I'll want my children to see.

I just noticed during the opening animation that the anime was based on the work of Besame Mucho.  How appropriate!

And now I've got the tune going through my head!  (But the show's credits will fix that.  They're catchy!)

I generally can't abide by wishy washy protagonists.  I almost had to give up on Kamichu, because the heroine is so introverted and shy.  But, it is almost Miyazaki-esque, and the opening and ending themes kept me in for a few episodes.  Especially that ending theme.  My kids get up and air band with the characters on the screen.  It's fun!

And the episode where the cat Tyler Nyaden* makes his appearance?  Any reference to Fight Club improves a show's rating in my esteem!

--David

*That's how a cutesy talking Japanese cat would pronounce Tyler Durden.

PS.  The first DVD also catalogues the gods and what they do.  There's one god, who... ::shivers::.  You'll have to read it yourself.

PPS.  Finally, something to wash away that Narutaru stain.

One of the video series I subscribe to from NetFlix is My Hime.  Every time we get a notification that the next DVD is shipping, my wife reads the message as,


And she then never fails to let me know about my upcoming shipment of anal sex porn.

(And speaking of My Hime.  It's killing me that it's a 7 Disk series, but NetFlix only shows 6 in the database.  Yes, I know the 7th isn't out yet, but I'd prefer it if I could subscribe to the series, and when the 7th became available, it got magically added to my queue.  As it is, I have to keep re-checking to see if the final DVD is listed yet.)

Is it too late for another new year's resolution?

Herb Sutter points out that Arthur C Clark got it right, the temptation to consume media is now overwhelming.

I loves me my comics, TV, books, movies MP3s, radio and video games.  I'm not giving them up.  Entirely.  But I am cutting back.  Enough that I can continue to make the things I enjoy making.

Personal note:  A big culprit for me is NetFlix.  I feel a compulsion to "work through" the queue I made, and to maximize the value of my subscription.  I won't sacrifice creative time to NetFlix so much anymore.

I was raised on G-Force and Battle of the Planets.  (Never understood 7-Zark-7, and always resented his presence.)  I've since followed Yoshitaka Amano's work (and was pleasantly surprised by his collaboration with Neil Gaiman), while my son watches sentai shows like variants of the Power Rangers.

Anywho, if you liked the Casshern movie and you liked Gatchaman, I'd recommend Karas.  It doesn't have the soul of the original Gatchaman, but it's the most beautiful sentai-ish movie I've seen, by far.  (Beauty without the soul usually puts me to sleep, but the invigorating action in Kara kept me interested.)

I should be going to bed, but what do I do?  Search YouTube for the artists of some of my favorite anime shows opening and endings.  Finally, I can get that Sowelu song out of my head.  So that's what Bonnie Pink looks like. 

Although, I have to admit, what I really love about Crystal Kay's Motherland is the FMA animation which is all about the bond between owner and dog, even an all-keys segment POV from Den (dog) to Winry (owner).

And YouTube needs more Origa.  Gawd, there's almost only fan-edits of video games to her songs.