Kaiji Second Season

Thanks to Tom, I was alert to the beginning of the much-delayed second season of Kaiji!

I watched the inaugural episode this weekend, and man, I have no words to express this. Something about Kaiji, the minutes-long internal monologues and the endless tears and angst, just tickle me. So I'm in for the next umpty episodes!

Update

Oops! Forgot the endless revelations of what Kaiji is feeling, his plans, his tricks by the omniscient narrator! Hot damn ain't that special?!

Cutting the Final Tie

It's been years since I attended a meeting of NOVA, preferring instead to visit with the friends I made there at Tom's house when he has a gathering. But a sense of nostalgia kept me subscribed to the mailing list. Occasionally someone like Bob would post an interesting tidbit about the anime world, and it was sort of like revisiting the old haunts.

But I haven't really found any anime series that I want to watch over the last year, so tidbits are kinda out of context. And announcements of the next meeting venue and playlist are rather moot. So this evening, I unsubscribed from the mailing list. Goodbye, NOVA! You were a great experience, and I hope the remaining members get much pleasure for years to come.

Kumoricon 2008

The photos Renee (mostly) and I (a few) took are now available on Flickr as a photoset. The general rule is, if Renee is in it, I took the photo. Otherwise, with one or two exceptions, she swiped my camera and had a field day!

Kaiji

Yay! Kaiji will have a second season! This is probably one of my favorite series in a long, long time. I was very pleased that they didn't take the easy way out and just have a happy ending. Instead, it ends with Kaiji realizing that he has been swimming with the sharks and needs to grow some teeth.

Since there were three manga series, and season one of the anime covers the first manga series, maybe I can hope for three whole seasons...

Current Anime

Since Tom wondered if I'd caught any of this season's crop of new anime, here's a list of what I'm watching:

• The Daughter of Twenty-Faces



• RD Sennou Chosashitsu (Real Drive)



• Mnemosyne



• Golgo 13



• Fireball



• Kure-nai



• Soul Eater

I sampled a number of other items, such as Vampire Knight and Monochrome, but rejected them after a couple of episodes. Others I read a synopsis of and just decided "meh".

I'm still occasionally watching an episode of some of last season's shows as well:

• Ghost Hound



• Persona: Trinity Soul



• Kaiji



• Akagi (really just an earlier predecessor of Kaiji)

And one live action romantic comedy:

• Zettai Kareshi

As always, I watch these shows in dribs and drabbles, and reserve the right to lose interest without notice.

Speed Racer

Renee and I went to see Speed Racer, the Wachowski Brothers' live action adaptation of the old anime series, at the local IMAX theater this morning. Even though we went to the first showing of the day on a Sunday, the theater was near 70% full. I've read a couple of reviews, which were not very flattering.

I didn't watch Speed with as much devotion as Astro Boy when I was a wee squirt, but I watched enough to have all the salient plot points down, and to understand the general pattern of the show, it's 'story mechanics', if you will. And from those remote memories, I have to say that the live-action adaptation was pitch-perfect. It was not a slavish imitation. No, that would have worked less well than the current incarnation.

For instance, in the original American adaptation of the Tatsunoko Productions series, American voice actors adopted a frenetic style of delivery to keep up with the rapid Japanese scripts. There is a single scene in the live-action movie where the primary villain delivers a speech to Speed with that headlong machine-gun style, and it works well as a call-out to the original corny series. But the brothers do not attempt to sustain this dialogue style throughout the movie. And that was the right decision.

I won't start enumerating all the little ways in which the series was captured in the movie, or the ways in which the movie struck out on its own, but only observe that they did a great job of fusing the memories of my childhood with the more modern technological and pop culture elements of the world expected by the majority of their audience.

See it. Really.

Maid Cookies

The banner photo this time around is one of a selection of photos of my souvenir from Tom and Alan's trip to Japan. Click through to my Flickr account for the rest of the snaps, it's a really cute -- and yummy -- gift.

Yes, I was at Tom's place last night, where we had okonomiyaki (thanks to Tom for the raw ingredients, and to Lisa for the chef-ly duties). Tom and Alan had pooled their photos, and pared them down to a hundred or two. They could have had many more, I enjoyed them enough. Definitely makes me wish that I could afford to do a trip to Japan myself.

Completed Anime

Renee and I completed Zombie Loan. About what you'd expect, Renee and I had fun with it, and are now feeding on the trickle of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro.

For myself, I have finished Kaze no Stigma. I'm not really sure why I stuck with it, as it was pretty pedestrian, but I did. I continue to watch Akagi and Kaiji, dabble in Denno Coil, and truck on with Dragonaut, Ghost Hound and Moyashimon. New series include Shigofumi and Persona. Latest, still pending a decision on how long I'll watch, is Hatenkou Yugi.

Darker Than Black

Darker Than Black ended like many of these intriguing anime series, with no certain resolution, and lots of unsatisfied questions. There is supposedly going to be an OVA that may answer some of them, but I suspect that it'll just prolong the agony.

I enjoyed the stylish journey, but the ending reminded me once again of The Prisoner, where the series ended in an almost nonsensical fashion, revealing that the story was mostly one long free association stream of consciousness gambol. Had fun watching, but I wish they'd put more thought into wrapping these things up.

Go Go Santa Ranger!

I won't inline link this image (some folks find that akin to stealing), but just click on it for a cute re-imagining of Santa as a Power Ranger Santa.

Speed Graphic

Some meat for the next (hypothetical) time I watch Speed Grapher.

Gurren Lagann

Finally finished the last episode of the silly, fun series. I have to say, for a series that was built on melodrama and excess (a giant robot piloted by a smaller giant robot, piloted by a smaller, but still giant robot...), this last episode was a bit ... turgid.

Still, it fit the pattern, and it was a decent ending for the series, and hit a true note.

Devil May Cry

This is becoming quite the little media log. Well, can't be helped.

So last night I finished Devil May Cry, which was pretty much a B-team series, pretty predictable, cardboard characters and all. Yet, I felt some tenuous connection with it since I'd struggled through a number of missions in the first videogame of this series. Final ending was as expected, and satisfactory.

Uzumaki

Renee bought volume one of Uzumaki at the bookstore today. She's already read it and has now handed it off to me. I first introduced her to the story by showing her clips from the film adaptation, which is suitably creepy. The story recounts events in a village whose residents become gradually obsessed with spirals in all their natural and unnatural occurrences.

I guess this is what comes of letting one's daughter read Stephen King short stories. Since she read Skeleton Crew (and is miffed that she can't go see "The Mist" 'cause it's R-Rated), I got her a copy of Night Shift yesterday and she's reading that in preference to the copy of Siddhartha that Jean bought her recently...

Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji

Just watched episodes 2 and 3 in a row, and now can't wait for the next episode of Ultimate Survivor Kaiji. None of the characters are sympathetic, least of all Kaiji, but the whole concept of life and death boiled down to a tournament of Restricted Rock, Paper, Scissors is pretty damn neat. This could turn out to be my favorite new series of the fall season.

Still thinking about Bamboo Blade, Dragonaut - The Resonance, Ghost Hound, Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro (though Renee is already sold on this one), Night Wizard and Suteki Tantei Labyrinth. I've already culled a lot of other shows (such as Rental Magika, Shakugan no Shana II, Shion no Oh and Shugo Chara), either by watching or just reading a summary that sounded dull.

Update

Got Episode 4. Watched Episode 4.

Want Episode 5.

Damn it.

Update the Second

Kicked Night Wizard to the curb. Just weren't clickin' for me.

Update the Third

It's official. With episode five, I'm naming Kaiji the best new series out of Japanese anime this season. It may get overtaken by Ghost Hound once that picks up steam, considering the creative minds behind that series, but GitS:SAC was a slow builder, so Kaiji may well finish before the verdict is in on Ghost Hound.

The Castle of Cagliostro

Regal Cinemas is showing a handful of dubbed anime movies, one of which, The Castle of Cagliostro, is a classic. I saw it both dubbed and fansubbed many years ago, and when I found it was showing in the theater (albeit dubbed) I asked Renee if she would like to see it. The main draw for her, as I imagined it, is that the movie is written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, responsible for many family anime films that Renee has seen and enjoyed. Once there, I was hoping that the story itself would please her. Of course, the big draw for her was to be able to go out on a school night, so she said yes.

So we went to see it tonight. Two things I'd forgotten about it: one, it was originally released in 1979, and has a definite 'period' feel to it. Pacing is also more deliberate than current Hollywood fare. That is, while there is action, with occasional gun (and sword) battles, and an explosion or two, there are also long stretches of scenery, character development and conversation.

Secondly, this is a very fun story. The plot could very easily be filmed with live actors and released to a general audience. I'd forgotten how enjoyable this movie is. Renee certainly seemed to be enjoying it. There's always some suspicion in the back of my mind that she's exaggerating her display of pleasure to humor poor old Dad, but it felt really natural during the movie.

Afterwards as we were walking back to the car in the cool evening air, we talked about how we were both naturally 'night creatures' and how we preferred the evening for our activities. I guess she takes after me there.

All in all, I enjoyed seeing the film again, very much more so for having shared it with Renee.

Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou - Tou Dai Ni Maku

Simple pleasures. I was just a little bit giggly when the first episode of the second season came out. It's a little bit jumbled, on purpose, but still has that complex overlay of character and off-kilter storyline that makes it more than just a fight-of-the-week show. Looking forward to more.

Day Three (The Last)

Today was the last day of Kumoricon, and the shortest. I asked Renee last night if there was anything in particular she wanted to do on Monday, suggesting the A-Key Kyo concert. She was worn out from the day, and didn't seem interested in much. I asked her again later, and she said that the concert seemed to be the only interesting thing, and that she wanted to go out for coffee with her mom in the morning.

This morning, I told her that while she and Jean were out for coffee, I would be going out for exercise. I really needed it, as I'd done nothing but stand in lines and sit in panels for the last two days. So I went out for my 'jog' and was gone for an hour. When I returned, with plenty of time to get to Vancouver before the concert, Renee was standing there in her full 'Kagura' regalia, and she said "okay, let's go." I asked her for what, and she acted as if I'd somehow flaked on our plans.

Long story short, we had to get there early to let her visit the dealer's room one more time. After that, the concert really was the only thing we did. She didn't want to stay for closing ceremonies, which I can understand. After we got home, it was just a matter of coming down from the three-day break in our routine.

A handful of new pictures have been added to the set. Many of them were taken by Renee. Enjoy.

Day Two

Today was much shorter. We got home in the middle of the afternoon instead of early evening. When I pointed out to Renee that the Cosplay Contest was from 4pm to 7pm, she agreed that that was a bit much. Once that was eliminated, we didn't find a lot we wanted to do in the afternoon/evening.

There are more photos in my Kumoricon Set.

The first few are of the Ouran Host Club Tea Party. I talked with the young man who was in charge. He told me that he and his friend were up at three in the morning one night in February racking their brains trying to come up with an idea for a panel. He said "we both like Ouran High School Host Club, so why not have a tea party with that theme?"

He took the idea to the Con Committee, and they liked it. The Con paid for all the food and tea, and supplied the room at the convention. This kid was in charge of the logistics, and getting enough friends together to host it. As you can see from the pictures, he did a really good job. This was a cute event, probably my favorite so far. It was really popular, not just, I think, due to the free food. He said they were planning on 300 people showing up. It was more like double that!

We sat through the first half of the panel by Kirk Thornton, a voice actor on American dubbed anime. He was a pretty fun guy, but made it clear that voice acting and making money are incompatible. It was almost like attending Scared Straight.

We cut out early from that so that Renee could attend the Fangirl Support Group. This is where fangirls get together to learn how to be better fans, I guess. Anyway, I thought it would cramp her style to have a balding old guy sitting next to her, so I stayed in the hallway while she went in. She stayed for the entire two hour session! There were frequent screams from within, but of the kind you hear near your favorite roller coaster. It turns out they were practicing their squees. Also, their glomps. Go figger, eh?

I in the meantime read up on C++ Standard string streams, and had chats with members of NOVA who showed up occasionally.

Afterwards, we went outside, and Renee got crazy with my camera, accounting for the remaining photos in today's set. Rest assured that these are a mere sampling of her twitchy finger!

Kumoricon

Today was the first day of Kumoricon 2007, and Renee and I were in attendance, as you can see by directing your attention to the banner. In this image she is essaying her first ever attempt at karaoke, singing 'Pray', the opening theme from Gintama. We did a few things today, but I was only interested in taking photos of my daughter, so there is a limited set up on my Flickr account. I'll update it if I take more photos.

Tom! Take special note of the outfit that Renee is wearing. This is her Kagura costume. You will be pleased to note that, yes, we were working on it until bedtime Friday night.

We might have finished earlier except that my mastery of Valeska's old sewing machine was pretty comically lacking. The bobbin kept getting tangled and sucked up into the fabric, so we ended up hand stitching the majority of the costume. Anyway, it looks neat, and Renee seems happy with it. Perhaps next year we'll have a better handle on the time...