OWARINAKI TABIBITO – No Make Girl’s Endless Journey

South of Nowhere – Save Spashley!

We take a break from our regular anime programming to bring you a little bit of a real-life TV series called South of Nowhere.

South of Nowhere is a teen series that deals with the usual angsty teen issues. Y’know, pregnancy, drugs, abuse, homosexuality…

It’d be another over-the-top show that I ignore, if not for one thing. Spencer and Ashley. Spashley. Y’know, the two girls who fall in love and out of love and then back in love…

I have to say right now that I hate soaps and dramas. That’s why I don’t usually watch ero-ge anime either; I just hate seeing people fall in love and then suffer by making stupid decisions and being selfish and oblivious and scared and… very human, in many ways. So I’m a romantic fool, so sue me.

But Spencer and Ashley are good, because halfway through the first season you realize both are broken in their own ways, and you can’t help but hope that they can mend each other, even just a little.

Oh, and Ashley (Mandy Musgrave) is like super uber hot. But that’s like, y’know, just a really small reason why.

Seriously though, SoN has been a really really important show, and not just for teens coming to grips with their own sexuality and battling fears of rejection from their own families and community. SoN, together with its fanbase and creator and the two actresses who continue to support it, is a symbol of how America (and hence a large portion of the world) is slowly coming to accept the idea of freedom to choose who you love. God, I almost want to cry. Watching SoN, I do wish I had some show like this in my teen years, or even some girl like Ashley. Ashley, who was messed up and confused and outrageous and outspoken, but also someone who wasn’t afraid to like girls that way.

But, although I would have liked to find Spashley sooner, it’s never too late. I’m glad I found them, and I hope that we will remember what they stood for.

PS, Mandy Musgrave and Gabrielle Christian interview on AfterEllen.com. Ashley and Spencer are cute, but their actresses are way way cooler. Makes me so glad to be alive in this day and age.

http://www.afterellen.com/blog/karman/brunch-with-bridget-video-blog-23

Posted in FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH | 4 Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 10

Wow, this episode gave me a lot to think about. Once again the series does the action/nonaction flip, and yes the art and animation are subpar, but I ended the episode liking and being interested in our main characters a lot more. I felt as if a whole lot more happened in this episode than the last three put together. BTW, all I know about Macross Zero I read in Wiki, so I just took those parts at face value.

First let’s get through the bad parts, of which there were quite a few. Case in point, the fight scene with the monster; I can see what they were trying to achieve with speed lines and angles and stuff, but this was just horribly executed. Note to ye ol’ studio: don’t do action scenes unless they are CG. Next, the monster itself was a really awful cartoony design. I also felt that the setup was very hard to swallow because it takes almost a year to make a movie even if you rush it, and of course that’s not the sense of time you get here.

On the other hand, personally those weren’t fatal problems. The art and animation I can forgive because a badly done action sequence doesn’t detract from all the character exposition that was brought in in this episode. The unrealistic nature of this plotline I just have to waive as a necessary evil.

So taking into account all that, well, I think I really liked this episode. Why? Because the characters are no longer 2-dimensional (it would be cruel to call them 1-dimensional as we did get some back story).

Alto isn’t a total ass or a whipping boy or the butt of jokes… He’s a decent guy who helps Ranka out, with some prodding and a bit of wriggling to save his pride (but, landing himself in even hotter water!).

Ranka’s been rather pathetic as of late, but here she gets a chance to show us that charisma and good nature that made us cheer for her in the first couple eps of the series. Spunky, bright, really cute when embarrassed, and a great singer when no one is looking, this is the heroine we want.

And Sheryl, finally Sheryl gets a chance to shine again. I’ve hated her childish-mixed-with-diva antics in the last few episodes and I was losing a large part of my interest in this show. Luckily we are treated to a fascinatingly complex character in these 24 minutes. Well, other people my see different, but that’s what she was to me. Her teasing of Alto is of course her natural way of showing interest and having fun, but her kiss with Alto reveals that 1) she actually does like Alto a lot, and 2) she is willing to sacrifice herself to push Ranka along.

I love the tug-of-war of desires in Sheryl that we are suddenly shown. Of the three, Sheryl is the one who probably thinks the deepest and widest, and hence is the most conflicted. That kiss was definitely no whimsical snatch of fun – that was absolute calculation to jerk Alto’s strings and also drive Ranka into a more aggressive stance concerning her career. Unfortunately, it had the unwanted, unexpected result of affecting Sheryl herself. Until now Alto’s been a game, a good fun game, easy to tease and get a rise out. This kiss changed that, and Sheryl can’t deceive herself anymore. The question is whether or not she can cope with managing her personal feelings for Alto while trying to keep Ranka’s interests in priority.

I’m not going to speculate on the Vajra or on the mysterious informant or on Brera. All that is just plot details and will be revealed in due time. So no wasting my brain CPU cycles on it ^^ Although I would take a guess and say that Brera is a survivor of a Vajra attack who’s been cyborg’d up. And Mao is now Doctor Mao who’s someone important. And Sheryl’s earrings are some kinda amplifier so she’s related?! Uh… wait, on second thought, scratch speculation :P

I will give kudos though to the creative episode formats. I like how they incorporate the ED here and there, and this time’s was also a very nice. It’s gimmicky but it shows that the studio and creators care about the show and want to do something special to make it memorable.

Posted in ANIME, Macross Frontier | No Comments »

Lucky Star

Okay okay, I know, I keep putting off my comments on Mnemosyne ep 5. I started it, but I couldn’t get far because now Apos stirs such feelings of hate that I have to take a break. God he’s like the ultimate Rape The Dog villain.

Um, so to provide much needed break, I went and finished off the last two eps of Lucky Star. Which, overall, was a series that to my surprise grew on me despite its KyoAni and otaku roots. I’m not a raving fan, I didn’t marathon it, I’m not obsessed with any characters, I don’t think it’s like a super anime… but I really really enjoyed it like you would a nice cup of milk tea. You drink one cup at a time, and not every day, but when you drink it it mellows you out and leaves you with a smile.

My favourite part of Lucky Star is the dialog and writing. I love how they talk about all these really mundane everyday things which, really, I know for sure that I think and wonder about every now and then. Like seriously, the choice of eating a cream cone bun from the top or bottom really is significant to me, disproportionately so. I mean, I consider many different things when making that decision! Such as if you eat from the big end, you save yourself the trouble of having the filling plop out as you go along, but if you eat from the small end, your final bite has the highest filling to bun ratio… and so on. So, Lucky Star is like the ultimate mirror to my non-work-related brain.

The antics between the girls are also admittedly fun. All the otaku stereotypes are here, but it doesn’t feel exploitative or “made up” at all. I don’t know why, but when you put all these stereotypical character types together in this show, it’s totally natural! And funny. In a non-slapstick way. Which is the way I like my comedy. Non-slapstick that is :P

When watching this I wondered if non-anime fans would find it as amusing as I did. I really should run a test with some friends of mine… But the only problem is that the first 4 eps are really not that good (you know I never noticed the change in directors, but I just thought ep 5 and onwards a lot more fun) so it’s kinda hard to conduct the experiment. Ah well.

I guess I should watch Haruhi. So I know what 50% of the world is talking about. Like how I should watch End of Evangelion, or something.

Or, I think I will go watch Wolf’s Rain first. Must support Bones!

Image from anime.com. It was too cute! I had to use it! ToT

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Utena DVD Box Set

Before my comments on Mnemosyne ep 5, I just gotta tell the world…

UTENA DVD BOX SET is finally being released!!

http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/utena/

Man I have soooo been waiting for this. I watched this in real-time. It felt like a bizarre acid trip at times, and the Black Rose arc was pretty messed up, but it was not until those fateful episode near the end that I truly understood the mad, twisted genius of Ikuhara.

Utena was a good show. I started watching because it was Sailor Moon’s Ikuhara and it sounded a bit interesting. I finished this series with a profound respect for his creativity and excellent storytelling. A world utterly divorced from reality where characters act because of their extreme, but definitely real, emotions. I’m a sucker for that kind of story, and I think Utena was the one to show me the enormous potential of the genre.

To be honest, I don’t consider this a yuri or shoujoai anime, even though it does contain elements of such. It’s a fairytale, a dark, grim, confusing, hilarious, tragic, touching, stomach-churning, wondrous, sad and hopeful fairytale.

Posted in ANIME, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | No Comments »

Mnemosyne ep 1

As I was waiting for episode 5, to kill time I broke out the Vol1 DVD and watched the first episode. The Japanese release actually contains English subs, which although not unheard of is a bit of a surprise still. Anyway, I’m glad I rewatched it because I had forgotten a lot of things between Ep 1 and Ep 4 ^^;;

Because of the way this series progresses through time, the sub characters change appearance, and the relationships are different too. Some like Maeno and the assassin are obvious, but then I guess I hadn’t been paying much attention to the others as I had not realized who the old policeman geezer was in ep 4… Doh, it was the young totally shy guy whom Rin was twirling around her little finger. Another interesting tidbit I forgot was how Rin was totally hitting on Mimi after her “bad day at work” :P Kinda weird to see the tables turned, and makes you wonder what Rin is about, aside from her strong sense of justice, habit of picking up stray boys and having one-night stands with policemen, and talking in loving tones on the phone to a mysterious man.

The art in this episode is, of course, stellar. I wish the rest of the series could be like this, but although it is an OVA it seems to be done TV series style, ie where production teams alternate between the “real” studio and the “farm-out” studio. Too bad, since that’s the one place this series could shine. It’s not like I can advocate its intelligent plot or deep philosophical themes…

Rin’s expression when her butt sets off the laser is hilarious. And seriously, although I’m not a seiyuu fan much, Noto Mamiko is really quite dang awesome.

Unfortunately after watching this I felt rather sad because Rin was so kickass here what with the ninja chains and stuff, and as the series goes on she just becomes not-so-kickass cannon-fodder, or jet-engine fodder as the case may be. This episode also had some sophistication that was missing in the later episodes, like the attention to detail with Rin’s glasses. Ah well, time to move on to Ep 5!

Posted in ANIME, Mnemosyne | No Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 9

This was an excellent episode. Is it just me or have the last few eps been coming as bad-good pairs? For every episode with good art and writing, you have a farmed-out-to-foreign-substudio one. Watching this show on a weekly basis with other stuff in between (and being only casually into the show itself in the first place) probably lessens the dichotomy, but I can see this being really annoying if one were to marathon it. I think I can just wait for the US release for this series… not worth plonking down for the R2s. Unless it comes with a massive poster of Sheryl.

I liked this episode being it focused on a sub-character, namely Michel (Mikhail? what’s the real pronunciation? I guess it’s Michel to his “close friends”, and Mikhail to, um, his other friends, like Alto). Michel’s secret is a little undramatic compared to all the other stuff that’s been happening in this show; his sister was a sniper, and she killed herself after a fatal friendly fire incident. Michel’s been living in that shadow since, and I guess we can attribute some of his suave playboy persona to this personal demon.

We also find out a bit more about his relationship with Kulan. To be honest, I really like these two together, and that has nothing to do with Kulan’s loli form. Kulan’s a childhood friend and they have a long history. It shows up in their interactions which aren’t flirtatious but definitely far more familiar than friendship. That’s a real nice change compared to the Sheryl/Ranka/Alto new love triangle dynamic, or the highschool friends dynamic. And heck, Kulan’s interesting because she’s awesome in Zentradi form, and actually passably tolerable in Micron form :P

The best, but slightly weird part, is Michel talking to Kulan in his VF – that thing just moved so much like a human it was bizarre. Even held its head when Kulan (completely justifiably) slapped him. And you control those things with pedals and joysticks, ya know…

On a non-Michel note, Grace is moving up my books too. Anyone with cybernetic implants who can hack into military systems without batting an eye, and is voiced by cool-voice Inoue Kikuko rocks! Heheh.

So, what I want to know, and the episode hasn’t answered, is:-
1) Is Michel Zentradi? He’s got the ears for it, but he was Micron-sized when playing with Kulan. This doesn’t discount the possibility that he is a permanently Micronized Zentradi.
2) Where does the “Michel” pronunciation come from, since “Mi-ha-el” is the official?
3) Why on earth does Kulan still have her hair band on in the Micron chamber?! Geh -_-

I think where this episode succeeded was that it had a good amount of action thrown in with character development. I guess this one was meant to deal with “people’s reasons for fighting”, and offers Michel as the central character while touching upon Alto and Sheryl, emphasizing that everyone “has their own circumstances”. Ideally I would prefer this sort of thing to be covered slowly across a few episodes instead of crammed into one, but Macross F is a highly episodic format so I guess they are constrained to going through their checklist of plot points one at a time.

Posted in ANIME, Macross Frontier | No Comments »

Strawberry Panic – Kaname and Momomi may actually be hot

As I wait for the next episode of Macross Frontier and the next chapter of Windows of the Soul, I settled to reading Lestaki’s previous fic Astraea Lake. It’s a Strawberry Panic fic of massive proportions featuring our favourite evil lesbian duo would-be rapists, Kaname and Momomi.

Now, although I watched this series, and believe I did watch it to the end because I still bear the scars from frantically trying to claw my eyes out during that unintentionally traumatic Amane/Hikari hawt secks scene in the barn, I honestly don’t remember much except that Miyuki was awesome and deserved better, and Chikaru was awesome and probably some IQ 500 alien disguised as an innocent cute girl.

Oh, I also vaguely remember these two evil lesbian schoolgirls plotting to.. um.. plotting something, in between vaguely disturbing scenes of making out and bathing together – vaguely disturbing because the two most irredeemably despicable characters in the show were shown to have the most functional and normal relationship of the lot. That’s Strawberry Panic for you, I guess.

Now, Astraea Lake is just over 410,000 words of getting inside the head of Kaname and Momomi, our favourite evil lesbian duo of the conniving, plotting, dirty no-holds-barred variety. And while it is as dense and slow-moving as treacle, it is actually a highly addictive, fascinating read. One of the few fics in which OCs positioned nigh-perfectly – interesting enough that you would never skip any scenes in which they appear, but not so center-stage that you lose sight of the main plot. The story tells of Kaname and Momomi’s beginnings as friends in their second year and develops both their characters and relationships, plus shedding light on Amane (whom the author seems dislike as much as I do). It was a surprising delight, because in the TV series Kaname and Momomi just kinda struck me as rather creepy, and at the end of this fic I was sorry to part ways with their marvelously atypical lives.

So, if you have time to kill before the next episode of whatever it is you are watching, go and read this fic.

Posted in ANIME, Fanfiction, Strawberry Panic | 2 Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 8

Ok, erm, someone’s stolen my MacF and replaced it with some Jump highschool hijinks anime. It’s like I’m watching a crossover between Ranma and Eva, where Happosai’s small and green and Asuka has pink hair. Excuse me while I go scrub my eyes and ears clean.

Well, I guess it would be hypocritical if I didn’t admit to laughing through a lot of the scenes. I mean, yeah it was kinda whack slapstick. But really, almost one whole episode devoted to Sheryl being a first-class pampered bitch? A little too much, even for a fan as me. BTW, I really didn’t like Sheryl in this episode.

Granted this episode had some important plot points. First and foremost it reveals that the mysterious pilot from ep 7 is now on Frontier, and Mr Sleazeball aide has some slimy connection to him. Next, it tries to set up Ranka as the underdog in both idol- and Alto-dom. It’s this part which I found contrived and clumsy. I mean, geez, can you get anymore obvious about how put down Ranka feels compared to the high flying Sheryl? Beat me on the head with a stick again, will ya?

I don’t mind that Ranka is supposed to be the underdog. I do take issue with badly written teen drama. Of course, compared to oldies such as KOR this isn’t bad at all, but just because something was okay 20 years ago doesn’t mean that I will stop having hopes and expectations for anime to show more mature storytelling.

To top it off, the whole setup where Sheryl comes to school and joins everyone is just so… cliche anime. Would the biggest star in the galaxy suddenly start going to school, just because she feels like it? Well, perhaps, but it still feels like a terrible thing to do to a character that started with quite a bit of potential. She was smart, strong-willed, stubborn but practical. A girl who grew up too fast, but still a kind girl at heart nonetheless. Now she’s just pig-headed and idiotic. I guess it was too good to expect that we’d escape the annoying-idol syndrome this time around.

At least next episode looks to be good. We find out something about Max ^H^H^H Michel, whom I am interested in, and we have some fight sequences to whet our appetite.

Posted in ANIME, Macross Frontier | No Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 7

*SPOILERS!*

Oh my god, Sheryl is… is… a magical girl! AARGH!! *brain explodes*

Thoughts
Okay, this episode was so over the top I had to get this down on (electronic) paper right away. The battle was outrageous, Alto went Newtype all of a sudden, formerly invulnerable Vajra are now rather handily disposed of, Sheryl had recycled footage and absolutely no one to help her change and touch up makeup during her encore, and apparently earrings allow song to travel millions of miles… but it was all right, it was all right.

Normally I would deride the whackness of such an episode. But damn, I just have to give the writers credit for their sheer enthusiasm. No holds barred, this is what the anime genre stood for, and this is what Macross Frontier has once again reminded us of. Damn that Destroid was too freakin’ awesome!

Yeah yeah, I know the Macross finally transformed, and totally kicked ass. Then there was some soul-bonding between Sheryl and Ranka. And we get introduced to some mysterious new character who knows Ranka’s song (*dun dun dun*). But I tell ya, nothing beats that Destroid scene!

Extra points for the new ending.

Oh, and if they sell MacF goods, I so totally want Sheryl’s earrings. Speaking of which, is the one with Alto now floating somewhere in space?! That’s gonna be hell to find, for sure.

Posted in ANIME, Macross Frontier | No Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 6

Okay, in two weeks, I have gone from Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur to Layang Layang (East Malaysia) to Penang (West Malaysia) to Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo to Toronto. Me is tired. And jet lagged. The things I do for friends and family…

To cut a long story short, I loved ep 6 of Macross Frontier. It had all the elements that I look forward to in anime – great art, great direction, and great sense of storytelling with both humour and plot advancement. Lots of little touches here and there that show off the scriptwriter’s experience. A bit old style perhaps, but just the way I liked it. Not that I thought ep 5 was horrible or anything; dating antics are a necessary part of the Macross universe, and it was really fun to see the Zentradi suburb with all the giant cow-hippoes and panties ^^. But that felt like the creators kinda goofing off and inserting fan service (valid of course) under the guise of character and relationship development.

Summary and Thoughts
This episode starts with an explanation of the fold system. I like this gimmick of beginning each episode with new bits of Macross background, which helps both newcomers and old fans by setting common ground. Then, before the opening, the story picks up with Ranka’s storyline. The hippy Zentradi from the previous episode is a small producer convinced Ranka’s voice is the best thing since, well, Minmay. And so he goes to “receive” Ranka from Ozma in a hilarious parallel to asking for a girl’s hand in marriage. And Ozma, with probably on of the funniest constipated expressions, agrees. Then we see a scene of Sheryl rehearsing for her farewell concert. Sheryl! <3

After the opening, we have Alto and co. Alto has found Sheryl’s earring (thank god, I was afraid this plot point would amount to nothing more than a reason for Sheryl to be thrown together with Alto). Alto’s little date with Sheryl is now common knowledge thanks to Michel’s rather public teasing. Alto, in the grand tradition of anime males tying their own nooses, tells Ranka that he was alone in Zentradi town when he saw her singing. Way to go, Alto. Plus, you gave her a ticket to Sheryl’s concert, strike two. BTW, I thought this was a really nicely done scene with nice writing and pacing.

In the meantime, the governor of Frontier has decided to tell the public of the Vajra, due to overwhelming evidence and the fact that Galaxy may have gotten wiped, and Frontier has to help. Sheryl, too, has received word of the attack on Galaxy, and is understandably upset.

The announcement of the Vajra attack is made immediately, and SMS are scrambled. Ranka, watching the news alone in her apartment, realizes that Ozma let her join the agency because he knows he has to go fight and can’t righteously deny Ranka her will while blatantly breaking his own promise to her.

Alto is being his usual moping self, but when he sees Sheryl television interview, in which she expresses her gratitude for Frontier’s decision to help Galaxy (elegantly shooting down a reporter who suggests that it may be detrimental to Frontier to attract the attention of the Vajra by doing so) and then vehemently asserts her conviction to perform and return home to Galaxy, Alto acts.

He runs to her the concert hall and forces his way backstage, where Sheryl is feeling nerves before her concert. He’s rather cute in his embarrassment as he hands Sheryl’s lost earring back. This proceeds to a quiet moment between the two, as Sheryl opens up and explains that the earring is a memory of her mother, a mother whose face she can’t remember. She asks Alto if he likes this ship, and he answers that he hates it, because it has no sky. Their conversation is interrupted by a call from Michel to Alto telling him to get the hell back to base for their coming battle. Alto tries to hand the earring over, but Sheryl tells him to keep it – it is a good luck charm. She then confesses that she hates Galaxy and gets depressed, but then Alto breaks the mood by telling her he can’t deal with her in that mood, then runs off by saying he’ll take her lucky charm. “I’m just lending it! You’d better be back to return it!” shouts Sheryl after him.

While this is happening, the SMS battleship launches, with Cathy aboard. She has been assigned to be the military liaison on this mission. Hmm, shades of Misa, anyone? The scouting team detects multiple defolds – the Galaxy fleet with some rather undesirable hitchhikers…

Thus we enter the final sequence of the episode, which really put the finishing touches on the whole build-up. As the soldiers get ready of war, Sheryl begins her concert, and sings her song of good-bye in a send-off of love. It’s cheezy and cliche and the art and animation were a little wonky with Sheryl, but maybe because I love this song “Diamond Crevasse”, I was soooo into this last part. Especially when it blended right into the ED. This is what makes me love anime, year after year, decade after decade.

More thoughts
I loved Sheryl in this episode. Her strength is moving, and more so now that we have a glimpse of her back story. And I like Alto and everything he does, despite his little faux pas in hiding his date with Sheryl from Ranka. He’s a good guy with good intentions and he’s not an annoying brat, thank god.

After rewatching, I realized I love Sheryl’s voice. This is not the same as her singing, which is done by someone else. I like her voice itself, it’s kinda hard to explain but it’s grown up and very attractive. On the other hand, I’m not much for Ranka’s voice acting, but I think she’s got a great singing voice.

Based upon the previous episode, one could conjecture that a Sheryl-Ranka rivalry is a-brewing. I say, based on the opening, that they will join to form the ultimate song of triumph ^^

Time to put Sheryl single of repeat again. Woo!

Posted in ANIME, Macross Frontier | No Comments »

Mnemosyne ep 4

I watch Mnemosyne just for entertainment’s sake and don’t give it much thought once an episode is over, but to my surprise I really like ep 4. The reason is, pure and simple, Mimi – Mimi and the change in the relationship between her and Rin. For the first three episodes, she’s been a rather one-dimensional character, what with Rin taking center stage and Kouki being the human foil; Mimi’s the sidekick with a taste for vodka and a rather forward way of displaying affection towards Rin. We’ve seen Rin and Mimi as colleagues in a dangerous line of work. They’ve been together a long time, and they care a lot about each other. We know Mimi flirts a lot with Rin and Rin takes it in stride; in episode three, their interactions indicate that they are in a relationship.

In this episode, however, 14 years or so have changed things. Mimi still teases Rin, but she doesn’t flirt with her. More tellingly, when Mimi decides to go to the information dealer, it becomes a point of tension. Rin prods Mimi by saying she thought Mimi didn’t quite like the woman. Mimi responds indignantly that of course she does not, but Rin says, somewhat teasingly, that it seems Mimi has been using her more than Rin herself, lately. Mimi then becomes defensive, telling Rin to make sure to turn off the gas and lock the door. Rin then mentions casually that perhaps she will take Teruki to her home (there is no indication that Rin and Mimi live together), to which Mimi looks shocked and upset. Rin but smiles kindly and says, “It’s all right.”

Now, I may just be reading too much into this, but to me it appears that Rin and Mimi are no longer together, and it’s an issue that’s been eating at them for a while. Perhaps Kouki’s death hit hard, or maybe it was the passing of time… More likely, I think it was Mimi who fell in love with Rin, back then, and Rin reciprocated but was never fully in love with Mimi; rather, she had always loved that mysterious bearded man, or angel as the case may have it. And Mimi’s heart got broken, and the relationship was no more because Rin couldn’t love Mimi like Mimi loved Rin.

And Rin knew this, and so she been trying to let Mimi go for several years now. When she said, “Maybe I’ll take Teruki home with me”, it was her implicit permission for Mimi to go to someone else. When she said, “It’s all right”, she meant that she didn’t want Mimi to continue trying to stay in love with her, that it was all right to start having feelings for that woman.

Some people might argue that Mimi doesn’t enjoy her “payments” with the woman. I’d say that may have been true in 2011, but it’s no longer so in 2025. In 2011, Mimi did it for Rin. In 2025, she did it for a boy in trouble. Admitted, Kouki’s son, but still, obviously she’s been buying information for more than a few cases before then already. Look at their interaction in bed. The woman teases Mimi, and Mimi’s reaction isn’t terribly hateful or resentful. When the talk turns serious, Mimi sounds somewhat melancholic. Would it be too much to read that the woman may hold affection for Mimi, and Mimi, while loathe to admit it, does as well? I see the last scene from the episode, where Mimi walks off with a lone suitcase and Genta, as someone in deep pain when the woman she loves ie Rin has failed to return. But I can imagine Mimi burying the tears inside and stoically showing up on the information dealer’s door, so that she would at least have someone to hold her.

Anyway, that’s my take on this episode. How utterly depressing. But now I am a Mimi fan ;-)

Although, dammit, Rin looks too damn good when she tells Teruki they are going out, and she says, “Ii toko! <3″

Posted in ANIME, Mnemosyne | 2 Comments »

Mai-Hime – Shizuru and Natsuki revisited

When I updated WordPress, I also installed the stats plugin. After a couple weeks it’s interesting to see that my most-read posts are about Mai-Hime, specifically Shizuru and Natsuki. I guess it’s not surprising, since Mai-Hime was in and of itself a highly popular show, and Shizuru and Natsuki garner much attention from the fanbase. That said, I am glad that others find this as fascinating a couple as I did.

When I finished Mai-Hime I was most unhappy with the happy-go-lucky, no-consequences ending portrayed. It was just too pat, because a whole lot of shit happened between Shizuru and Natsuki that doesn’t just go away because you killed each other out of love then came back to defeat the bad guy.

But I left it at that, because well after all is said and done it’s just a Sunrise TV series.

Then the other day, I came across a fanfic. This was a ShizNat fanfic, but it dared to go where no other fanfic writer had gone, and that was to write the aftermath of the Carnival for Shizuru and Natsuki. Shizuru’s guilt and fear and tenuous sanity. Natsuki’s courage and trauma and confusion. And how these two could ever, ever hope to bridge the gap in trust and friendship left by Shizuru’s horrendous betrayal and hideous crime of murder.

This fic is called Windows of the Soul and it is on FanFiction.Net. Read it, please. It is an amazingly good story. It’s still incomplete, but the author updates quickly in and volume, such that in 4 months we have over 310,000 words describing in detail, from Natsuki and Shizuru’s POV, what it could have been like to hold on to your most important person.

After Mai-Hime ended, I wanted, more than anything else, a realistic portrayal of Shizuru and Natsuki. So I am amazed and extremely happy to discover that sometimes we do get what we wish for ;)

Posted in ANIME, Fanfiction, Mai-HiME | 3 Comments »

Macross Frontier ep 4

I type this post up as I’m listening to the Sheryl Nome single. God, Diamond Crevasse is such an amazing song… A great and deep feeling wells up in my heart as I hear the first lines. In comparison, I think the full version of Don’t Be Late suffers, but mainly because it has no visual of Sheryl to accompany the music >8-) No, I am harsh, I like this song too. But it is Diamond Crevasse which makes me sit and close my eyes and let the song wash over.

Okay, enough of Sheryl. Ep 4 focused on Ranka and Alto, which is to be expected as this showcases how they take on the new challenges they set their minds to in the last ep. No summary this time as I’m behind and want to get my thoughts on this ep down pronto so I can proceed with watching ep 5.

Thoughts
I liked this ep well enough. On the minus side, there were some throwbacks to the original Macross, such as the scene of Alto in the VF, rising up and launching just like the OP of Macross, which made me cringe in their blatantness. Also some of the art and animation in the with Ranka and the other contestants getting ready for the pageant were just absolutely horrid. And to be honest, I really didn’t like chibi Kulan Kulan >_<

On the plus side, Alto’s training fight was really cool. I loved the way Kulan Kulan shot the Vajra, and Alto grabbed the gun and shot it again; nice choreography on the sequence. I liked the humour too – I laughed at the boobies joke, at Alto getting razzed by Michel, at the victory pose. I thought how Ranka and Sheryl interacted was great, when Sheryl found Ranka depressed before the competition.

Of course, I was also very glad that Ranka did not win. It would’ve been too much of a deus ex machina if she did. Rather, having Ranka lose gives her more room to grow as a character and allows us to look forward to what sort of role she will play as the Vajra invasion unfolds. Oh, and the fact that her song wasn’t “Ai Oboeteimasu Ka” nor the old Zentradi song was key as well. I was afraid they would waste all the good stuff at the beginning, but really, the writers do show a decent maturity.

And dudes… finally… Zentradi! Too bad she has defective genes ^^;;;;;;

So all in all, not bad. Without Sheryl, I’d have to vote on the good fight sequences in this one :D

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Back home to Malaysia

Last Tuesday I finally moved back home to Malaysia. The week before was absolute chaos as I was packing all my crap and shipping it home, and I had to move to another place because my visa didn’t get extended in time for my initial departure date. Plus I had a sudden business meeting in Manila right before my move date, then I had contracts to review and people to call… etc etc. But I finally made it back, and took off the next morning for a dive trip in Layang Layang.

All of which explains why I haven’t written up on MacF. I’ll get around to it.

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Macross Frontier ep 3

Wow! I never expected to, but I find myself liking Macross Frontier more and more with each episode. I really enjoyed this week’s – it was funny and well-paced and made our main characters even more likable. While it paid homage to several plot points in the original Macross, it didn’t follow them (as I had been dreading). The action remained cool, and the music was great. I laughed through the whole first half, and I grinned a lot through the second, then placed the ED theme on repeat, so I guess that means I’m officially a fan now :)

Summary
The episode opens with a new title sequence explaining that humans had expanded into the galaxy as part of the Human Space Emigration Project, thanks to fold technology. I was glad for this new edit, because it would have been rather painful to see footage of Breetai grabbing Minmei for another 25 eps.

So after the OP (the chorus of which is slowly growing on me), we return to our favourite three musketeers. The Vajra have returned from their little nap under one of the colony ships and a red one, flying through space, has homed in on Ranka. Or Sheryl. Or maybe the two of them together >:) Ozma is there, though, and engages in a little hand to hand. Unfortunately for Ozma, SMS can’t send him backup because they haven’t received launch permission from the running-around-like-a-headless-chicken President. It’s up to Michel and Luca to help out. Luca can’t get a clear shot on the grappling twosome, but Michel, god that he is, launches an anchoring rope to a ship surface, clamps himself on, and fires a perfect blast from his godly pulse rifle right through the head of the baddie woo!!

Alto notices Michel though, and starts getting all childish male pride about how Michel is so good and he’s so useless in his current state. In the meantime, Ozma has relaxed… but in fact the Vajra hasn’t been finished! It whaps him a good one and fires a bunch of rounds. Ozma is hit and his cockpit sparks up, glass flies, and blood flows. In my head, I chant, “Don’t Fokker me now, I’ll kill the writers if they cheese us with a goddamn Fokker!”

The Vajra then bashes the glass canopy of the colony, and to Alto’s shock and Sheryl’s dismay it starts cracking. Alto, smart boy, spots an emergency shelter, grabs Ranka, breaks the hatch and jumps in with Sheryl close behind. I like how Sheryl tugs down her skirt before taking the plunge with a shriek ^^

While Ozma and co. are in pursuit of the Vajra, Alto and co. find themselves sealed in in the shelter. Alto angsts that Michel saved them. Ranka finds that her hands just won’t let go of Alto’s shirt. He gets pissed. But Ranka screws up her willpower, goes “Yosh!” and finally lets go. BTW, this part really made me like Ranka; she’s a strong little one, she is! Sheryl watches all this with a critical eye and tells off Alto’s attitude with a, “Can’t you even tell a couple of terrified girls ‘I’ll take care of you!’”

This off course makes Princess Alto huff and puff more. “Shuddup! If I could I would!” He bangs the wall in frustration, making Ranka jump. (This was a cute touch too! Nice details!) Sheryl’s expression is like, jeez what a loser, and she says they should just get out of the shelter, for everyone’s mental sanity. (heh!)

But it turns out they can’t, because it’s a fully sealed shelter. As the battle rages outside, with the NUNs finally getting into the fray, it starts getting hot in the shelter. Sheryl takes off her coat, but right at that moment a blast jolts the colony and Sheryl falls onto Alto as the lights go out. Sheryl gets off of Alto, but then the lights come on to reveal with a shot of Sheryl’s back… that Sheryl’s top has fallen down and the girl ain’t wearing no bra! ^o^ Ranka gets a brilliant eyeful which she’s decent enough to be embarassed about, but poor Alto with Sheryl’s chest right in front of his face, the dude has sheer terror in his eyes! (This is one guy with a great sense for when he’s about to die a painful death!)

Sheryl grins wickedly, then decks him with a 4 megaton slap! Woo!

“You saw me naked, so count yourself as getting off cheap!”

Alto, in indignant anger, fires back, “Whatever, you show off a whole lot on stage too!”, to which Sheryl looks adorably embarrassed.

“That’s different! Being in private isn’t like in public! Don’t give me that pervy look! Hentai!”

The two start arguing and calling each other names. Ranka tries to interrupt them by asking if they are hungry, and offers her Nyan-nyan delivery of delicious tuna buns. Which, when she pops open her box, just happen to look a lot like a pair of breasts! Poor Ranka! The girl gets no relief and it’s obvious she’s wishing she could just die right there, but then Sheryl and Alto start laughing and the tension is broken. Sheryl smiles at Ranka’s crestfallen face and tells her she’s adorable.

Scene cuts to Grace and Cathy. Sheryl’s gone out alone and in this mess there isn’t any manpower to do a search. Luckily, Grace has way to track Sheryl with (illegal!) implant technology.

Back in to shelter, Alto’s attempts to open the lock aren’t successful. Sheryl remarks that she gets restless if she has to depend on others for her own destiny. Ranka is worried for the safety of the SMS people, which sets Alto off thinking about piloting and his helplessness. (This guy has some serious self-esteem issues.) Back to Sheryl, she notices that the air is getting stuffy, and a wailing siren confirms that air circulation has been cut off. They only have 15 minutes left! Sheryl tells Alto to do something about it, but he says it’s easier said than done – he would have done something by now if he could have!

This only prompts Sheryl to take matters into her own hands. Alto tells her to stop, because it’s a vacuum outside. Sheryl replies, “So you think we should just give up and wait for suffocation? Sorry but I’m not giving up. Everyone says I’m a lucky woman. I think I’ve worked to deserve that luck. That’s the reason why I can be Sheryl Nome.” She starts climbing up the ladder to open the hatch while adding, “That’s how you grab hold of your fate!”

To which a voice outside replies, “That’s correct!” and the hatch opens to reveal Grace and the rescue team. :)

So the trio make it out, and Sheryl prepares to get into her ride to leave, but not before she warns Alto not to broadcast that visual data over the net. “If you do, I’ll socially and physically massacre you myself.”

She stops, then turns around with a little smile. “Well, just for tonight, you can have it as a memory to do with as you like.”

Alto and Ranka blush prolifically at this insinuation, and Sheryl continues with, “Baaka, do you really think I’d let you?”

Alto begins to fire back, but Sheryl cuts him off by talking to Ranka. “Ranka-chan, do you like singing? If you do, you should be more forward with your feelings.” She pulls her closer and whispers in her ear, “Your chance is right in front of you.” Then she bids her farewell by saying, as she did when she sang with Ranka, “I don’t do this for people very often.”

Okay, that’s it for my favourite part. The rest of the episode focuses on the aftermath of Ranka finding out that Ozma has been piloting in secret. Ozma has been hurt but not fatally, and in the hospital hetells Alto that Ranka is an orphan with no memory of her past due to trauma when her family was killed. The end shows our two protagonists making a decision for their own fates – Alto makes up his mind to join SMS when he hears Ranka’s singing, and Ranka decides to make a try for a singing career when Alto, in his rather indirect show of support, tells Ranka she’d never make it as long as she remained negative. Our other protagonist, Sheryl, curses when she realizes she has to see Saotome Alto, again, to get back her earring! :D

Thoughts
I really liked Ranka’s song. Her VA is a good singer and the song itself is haunting and emotional. Sheryl is turning out to be really nice and authentic in her support of Ranka, and I hope their relationship continues. I think I’d stop watching if the writers threw in a twist where Sheryl starts resenting Ranka because they fight over Alto or because their careers clash.

I also looked up the character designer for the series, and it turns out to be (a) a woman, and (b) someone who’s done mostly only ero-game up till now. That’s kinda interesting, because these designs are old-school without being old-fashioned. I think the Sheryl design is one of my favourites in recent years. The hair is great! And I love the blue of her eyes…

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