OWARINAKI TABIBITO – No Make Girl’s Endless Journey

Shoujo Sect (少女セクト)

As I’m waiting for the new episode of Macross Frontier, I thought I might write up another timely topic.

Shoujo Sect, a yuri manga featuring page after page of highly explicit smex with various and varied female characters in highschool, will be adapted to a three-part OVA. The first part is scheduled to be released on 7/25.

*spoilers below for plot* (hey, it wasn’t a total PWP!)

I usually hate LFB prOn yuri – actually make that LFB everything – but I have a soft spot for Shoujo Sect. I love the art, the characters are strong-willed and hence interesting, and most of all I love how the main characters get together and we see that they live happily ever after. To be honest, if not for that last chapter, this would be but a pretty but forgettable foray into +18 manga territory, but goddammit, Shinobu and Momoko are too cute. Maybe I’m just a romantic sucker to think that 12-year long crushes deserve a happy ending…

*end spoilers*

Actually I’m not that interested in seeing the OVA. The manga was good not because of all the highly! explicit! yuri! smex! but because Kurogane Ken is a very good manga artist who can draw a sentimental story in really good panel layout. He can also draw highly! explicit! yuri! smex! scenes in really good panel layout, too, but that’s really not the point. No. Really.

A brief Google revealed a few video’s on YouTube, which have convinced me of the sheer godliness of Japanese otaku. AMV’s were an American anime phenomenon in the 90’s, but some Japanese have elevated this to another art form in and of itself.

So it is with much pleasure that I present, Shoujo Sect MADs.

Click the link below for a much higher quality version on Nico Nico Douga.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm401684
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm401684

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Macross Frontier ep 2

Before I post my comments on ep 2, I’d just like to get this off my chest please.
Sheryl!

Okay, now that that’s outta the way…

I liked this episode quite a bit. It was well done, pacing and story-wise, the characters managed to stay likable, and for the old-timers like me there were plenty of Macross references, maybe too much as I thought the Captain Gloval lookalike was a bit too heavy-handed. But that would be a nitpick because the rest of the tributes were really fun in and of themselves.

The first part where Alto saves Ranka was really nice choreography and direction. Coolness points for leap-into-space bit, where I was literally holding my own breath! I was mildly amused that Alto did the Hikaru accidental-chest-grab, and I thought Michel as a sniper was brilliant. The guy looks so much better in a helmet… I yelled “Prog Knife!” at the screen when Ozma jumped into action. And I thought Ranka was cute when she said she was quarter Zentradi, so help me -_-

Won’t get into the point but suffice to say Sheryl and Ranka together seem to generate some kinda Vajra attraction field. Blood testing might be a Zero tie-up, but I’m not really that interested in speculating.

Ah hell, fine. I admit it! The only reason I’m watching this anime is because of Her! I’m even starting to love her voice, especially when she’s looking for her earring, and when she tells grace she’s gone out. Aishiteiru♪

The parts where she interacts with Ranka are great. Ranka is cute, and Sheryl turns out to be pretty nice after all by complimenting her, and then joining her in the song. Ah, that was my favourite part of the episode! I gotta say, I can’t wait to see more Sheryl in episode 3.

BTW, Ranka’s VA has really improved in this ep. And I like her singing better than Sheryl’s too, a cappella anyway. Or was that part done by Sheryl’s VA and not the actual singer May’n?

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Mnemosyne

I’ve been following, and quite enjoying, AT-X’s anniversary production Mnemosyne. It’s been billed as edgy, violent, gory, with copious amounts of nudity and S&M and sex. Eh, well yes to a certain degree, but not really bad at all I thought.

It’s true that the show is gratuitous – sex, blood, nudity, fetishism, violent death and nekkid women getting it on, more than you’d see on TV anime these days, and with the conspicuous absence of OVAs (*cough* ICE *cough*) it could be considered one of the more adult-oriented anime.

Bah, pish tosh. This is simply entertainment. There might be cause for complaint if it was truly exploitative, but you see, it’s all really rather tastefully done. Reminds me that anime also has its role in this sort of genre, unabashedly. I guess what I’m getting at is, this is quality entertainment, and fun.

I wondered why people might feel that this anime was a bit much. Then I realized that, possibly, these people never grew up with stuff like Akira and Ninja Scroll, which were staple fare when I was in college. Those two, and several other anime, were brutal. I actually felt queasy watching them, but watch them I did because they were considered the best of their genre. But I never enjoyed them, because victims were simply that, victims. They died horrible deaths or suffered terrible violations. And the hero went his merry way to fight the good fight. Mnemosyne is good because the victims are strong people who fought back, and beat the baddies. I love that kind of show.

Hmm, I wonder if this post will start getting a whole bunch of hits from Google… :P

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Macross – Trip down memory lane

So, I’ve seen episode 2 of Macross Frontier. And it was good. But before writing my thoughts, I’d love to take a little trip down memory lane…

After the Deculture Edition, I absolutely had to see the original Ai, Oboeteimasu ka. Luckily YouTube hosts about a gadzillion versions. Although I’ve only seen the movie like twice (though once was on a huge projection with great speakers), it still struck me right in my chest like a glimpse of a long gone precious love. This sequence was so epic I had tears in my eyes at the end. “I love you so…”

Then I decided to look at some Macross Plus. Although it was a huge deal when it first came out, with great animation and awesome songs and stunning creativity, I just never got into it. I found the Guld/Isamu rivalry distasteful; Guld was the most sympathetic character and it was just too pitiful and painful to watch him. So I hardly remember the ending.

But I wanted to see Sharon Apple again, and that’s how I stumbled on this music video. It’s an edit of the entire series with Information High, and it could be the best AMV I’ve seen! I didn’t cry at the end of this one, but it left me in awe, far deeper than the original. Guld!! You were the best man ever.

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WordPress Upgrade pt2

Okay, I’m done with the hack and slashing for the time being. I’m using a slightly modified version of Bob’s Silver Light theme. I think it’s more readable now, but the whole site still feels too bright. Hurts my eyes >_<

Might go in later and do some serious mutilation with the colour scheme. Also need to organize my About page with all my links and shit. But for now I guess I’ll just enjoy my new Sheryl title pic, heheh.

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WordPress Upgrade complete!

After more than 3 years of enduring spam comments (and amassing close to 15,000 spam in my moderation queue despite turning off comments), I have upgraded to 2.5. T’was a lengthy process complicated by the mistake of not reading the “Detailed upgrading instructions” and thereby trying to (fatally) upgrade from 1.2.2 to 2.5. But after some sql surgery and restoration and following the instructions to do a 2-step upgrade, Tabibito is back! Stronger! Faster! Uglier! :D

Changing the theme will have to wait a bit. It took me nearly 4 hours to get everything settled down. The first upgrade and panicked restoration happened after I woke up, without any lunch. I now know a whole lot more about MySql :P But all’s well that ends well, and I am feeling pretty satisfied with myself. Especially since this upgrade solves both my spam problem and the bug of having my posts show up in reverse order.

I’ve just futzed around a little with the new interface, and I have to say WordPress is one sweet piece of work. I did user interfaces for a living, not so long ago, but even in my glory days I would never have dreamt of implementing some of the nifty AJAX stuff they have. Because I would’ve been afraid of getting lynched by the developers, you know.

All in all, a very productive, if somewhat stressful, Sunday.

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Macross Frontier – Sheryl Nome & Deculture Edition

Okay, I’m officially on the obsession train for Sheryl. Got that song in my head, ooh!

I really like the song, and Sheryl is too way cool! I mean, her mike is a whip handle, heheh.

And I love her hair! It’s any colour she wants it to be!

Ka, kawaii O_o

I just watched the Deculture Edition, and while it skimps on Sheryl/Alto, it is IMHO the superior cut of the two. The battle scenes are better, more coherent, and I liked the nice touch at the beginning with the boys as they did a tribute to the opening of Macross Plus.

God those planes are sooooo drool-worthy.

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Macross Frontier ep 1

Hmm, funny with all the good anime I’ve been watching recently, like Shion no Ou and Baccano!, that I would feel the urge to write up on the first episode of something I didn’t really like that much.

Macross… I can’t believe it’s been 25 years. I saw the original on Thai TV when I was a wee kid (that particular ep had Khyron, I think), bought the metal die-cast VF with the green booster pack armour plate stuff, collected illustrations off the Thai comic books, got head over heels again several years later with Robotech… It was soap opera, it was epic struggle, it was death and rebirth and falling in love and out of love. I may never have loved an anime as much as I loved Robotech. I had the entire Macross arc on tape minus two eps which were victim of power failure, and oh how I cried when I missed them. I watched each episode over and over; my only focus in life was speeding time up so the next broadcast would arrive sooner.

Would it be a surprise to say I cared little for Macross Plus? And that I dismissed Macross 7 as soon as I saw the flying guitars in space? And that Macross Zero was but a tiny blip on my subconscious? You see, Macross was great because it was the story of humanity against the worst of odds, everything hinging on efforts of heroes who were flawed but utterly heroic. At the age of 11, it captured my heart like no other story. 6 years later, the story was grown up but the characters sucked. A few years after that, the story was probably epic, but it was too kiddish for the me of that time.

Which brings us to Macross Frontier. I had just heard of it when I was surfing blogs for new Spring anime to watch. I grabbed it because hashihime said it was enjoyable, and I stopped watching after the OP, because it was too happy j-pop and felt like highschool hijinks in space.

Then Cinnamon Ass wrote that the OP was by Kanno/Maaya. And so I decided I had to rewatch, since I musta missed someone special there in some time warp of insanity.

So… the verdict is…

Nope, still don’t like the OP. The rest of the ep was okay. Too much CG in everyday anime scenes, making the whole thing feel like a throwback to the old days of unnatural crappy looking anime-when-they-just-started-using-CG. I did think the CG for the mechs was cool, but unfortunately it was a bit too many fast fast cuts to actually feel like good action direction. Main female character Lanca was ho-hum, not too annoying but not too interesting, and honestly how can it come to the point when you are grateful that the heroine isn’t as irritating as you feared she would be?! Main male character Altoh looks kinda cool but he reminds me of hmmm twenty-odd other slightly dour male leads, eh?

So, this brings me to the personal highlight of this series so far, Sheryl. Oh yes, she’s a first-class bitch. But boy is she a really good looking first-class bitch ^_- Who whips ass with her professional “the show must go on, even when the fuckup fucks up” attitude. And, I really like her songs and costumes. In fact, I give the writers kudos for pretty creative futuristic concert as far as these things go in anime. Sheryl! Sheryl! That hair rocks man.

Oh, and the new VF-25s were sweet. I sooo miss these planes. I only wish we got more decent action, longer shots of the mechs and stuff. And gimme the Zentran! Where are they!!

You know what would make this series like double its value in my book? If they had kept the Ai Oboeteimasu Ka remix from the preview ep for the actual series ED. I checked it out just now on YouTube and it gave me the shivers, it did.

Nothing beats nostalgia.

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Time to mosey on home, people

Watching Mnemosyne now. Just saw the third ep, as a matter of fact. It’s not quality anime, but I like it. Gee, I wonder why :D

Great character design (before moe, as some other blogger put it), guts & glory, and lotsa gratuitous yuri minus moe. Me like. Good mindless brainfood for the anime-starved. Escapism.

Leaving Japan soon. It’s been a good three years, even with the bad. I think I found people with whom I will always be great friends (if not emotionally intimate friends, and therein lies perhaps a great secret to happiness), and I reaffirmed friendships which I had previously. I also met someone who hurt me like no other, and who continues to be a source of unbelievable emotional pain, but I guess it’s all part of life balance, or whatever.

In any case, this chapter of my life is closed. Time to say goodbye, and toss out the bad. There will always be good anime, somewhere. And good friends.

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I hope I will always love anime

I’m sitting in a ryokan in Nagano, which against all odds has wireless internet. I am reading Erica’s post on maximizing anime enjoyment and it got me thinking, because after god knows how many years, I still love anime and I love it in different ways.

Some people burn out on anime because, as discussed in Erica’s post, they fell hard for their first anime and couldn’t find something which brought the same “hit” after that. I suppose I should count myself among the lucky, for while I have anime from childhood which I fell absolutely utterly in love with, I don’t actively search for anime which will blow me away. So while I may be disappointed, I am not upset if I watch 3 eps of something and it just don’t do it for me. But, I still sometimes find something really special… and I guess I am most grateful for that.

I just finished Seirei no Moribito on a total marathon. I didn’t fall in love with it, but I thought it was an amazingly good anime (just like GitS SAC). For once, there was no character I hated, I could find not fault with the logic of the story, the storytelling and pacing itself was wonderful (for a marathoner, at least), and I had tears in my ears at the climax. It was so realistic I felt I was partaking of a great piece of fantasy literature. It’s the way I feel about good TV shows, I guess.

When I younger, much younger, I was obsessed with Robotech (for Lisa and Rick, perhaps), Dragonball (for utter coolness), Lodoss (for the sheer gorgeousness of the chara designs), Sailor Moon (for Rei, oh, Rei and her long black hair and red skirt and high heels). Then there were the anime which I did not obsess over the characters but loved nonetheless for making my heart overflow, like the Miyu OVAs which had the most incredible music and atmosphere and such pathos, and Laputa during which I cried. Lately I find I don’t obsess much anymore, with the exception of Natsuki and Shizuru, but I still meet anime that make me oh so glad I spent 6 or 12 hours of my life staring at pretty moving colours on a screen.

And for that, I am very, very grateful. Because anime will always bring me a sense of wonder that TV shows won’t. I guess I just like anime.

Which bring me to, what’s good lately?
Kurau Phantom Memory – great characters and story, a good “grownup” anime
Seirei no Moribito – wonderfully crafted

…

hmm, guess that’s about it ^^;; I watched a lot of stuff but they didn’t quite make the pick. Most of it was yuri of some kind or another, but I won’t watch something just because it’s yuri if the story or storytelling puts me off. I have a list of stuff I haven’t given much of a chance, so I guess I’ll work on those now.

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Good TV shows

Watching NCIS. This is good. In fact, might be better than Bones. I guess I’m just a Quantum Leap fan and that carries over. I thought TV sucked, but some doesn’t.

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When boredom hits

They say that writing stuff down in a journal before going to bed is a good way to empty your brain of distractions so you can go to sleep easy. Maybe it’s true, but I always feel that I don’t know what to write these days. Most of the stuff I don’t want to bother to think about, much less put down in writing. Plus, I’d rather consume than output.

This frame of mind bothers me. First of all, I feel guilty for not being productive. I also feel guilty for not being more organized. For instance, I have wanted to split this blog into “anime” and “personal” for a long time, so the good stuff (anime ramblings) doesn’t get cluttered with the messy stuff (the inside of my head). But, I never get around to it, so I don’t write anymore. Then I feel bad about not writing.

This is where Tina Su’s blog “ThinkSimpleNow” comes in. Great stuff, very good common sense. In addition to advice, it also makes me feel better because now I know I’m not the only well-adjusted person in this world to be, well, not quite so well-adjusted. Insecurities, guilt, jealousy, self-doubt, lack of self-esteem, lack of motivation… Everyone has them in spades. I was just lucky that I never experienced any of this until I hit like, 24. Weird, man.

Nowadays I wonder if I can ever go back to that carefree self again. I also wonder why I became the way I am now. And I realize that me feeling that my past self was better is not a very positive frame of mind.

Anyway, the real reason I’m making this post is because I’m waiting on ep 20 of El Cazador, and it’s taking it’s good long time. El Cazador is the third in Bee Train’s girls-with-guns trilogy and so I should be eating it up, but in honesty it took me forever to get started. I quit after every ep up until like, 6 or 7, when I decided, screw it, this is one series I have to watch through because two bloggers I respect say it’s great, and so since I’d rather consume than produce, I consumed.

Okay, so I’m up to ep 20 (speed watching since I quit my job last Monday) and while I’m not struck by it, it’s not a chore to watch the next ep. Which is better than, say, Cashmere Mafia (Caitlin, you’re gorgeous and I love you but obviously the writers don’t) or Sarah Conner Chronicles (Summer Glau is especially gorgeous, and Lena Headey was great but then she starts dating geek guys and T-800 starts wearing dead people and suddenly I’m not so thrilled anymore) .

I’ll let you know if this series makes my rave list.

The best thing I’m watching now though is CSI. Up to Disc 6. Eagerly awaiting the last two (love Tsutaya Discas which is a delivery rental service). Will give Bones a try.

Lest I appear to be a total couch potato, I will casually mention that I’ve put in 5 days of boarding in the last 8 days. Nyah. Jyouetsu Kokusai is an awful ski resort, Kawaba is damn nice for a day trip, and Nozawa Onsen is awesome for a couple days if you have plenty of snow and money.

So, now my immediate goals are 1) look up tips on how to get better at boarding 2) figure out if I want to spring for a driving course ($2000 in Japan, what a rip, but I’d probably be a damn good driver at the end of it) or try for a license straight off, or go for just the motorcycle license.

Okay, that about sums up my life at the moment. Feeling very restless, will change environments soon I guess unless a miracle happens.

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Sunday night

Hmm, it’s been two and a half years since I started this blog. I’m not quite sure who reads it… it’s a terrible mishmash of animeshipping and rather pointless angsting. Only the animeshipping is of value :P

Anyway, my last couple of posts have been rather bleak. Rest assured people (the one of two of you who bother to wade through this), I am well and alive, and no I do not intend to kill either myself or someone else. Life isn’t that bad, work isn’t an awful meat grinder, and the gf is fine when she’s not moody, which is pretty much the case for all females, hah.

A post on a friend’s blog about working out the differences in an inter-cultural relationship prompted me to put down my thoughts as well. Yes, with my level of Japanese and based upon the very positive reactions from friends whenever I delivered my quirky gaijin humour, I didn’t think cultural or communication difficulties would arise. Well, I was wrong.

Actually, it’s not just purely cultural or language disparities. Upbringing counts highly too, and of course even people from the same country will fight over trivial differences. In my case, however, not knowing what is cultural and what is personality-based is frustrating as all heck, for the both of us. That’s something the we have to work to overcome, but dang it, I wish there was more tolerance on the other side. Japanese people, even those who profess to gaijin admiration, are surprisingly narrow-minded about acceptable behaviour. Whereas in the US, being different is simply being different (unless it impacts your work), in Japan, being different is either a cute quirk, or it’s a problem that should be fixed.

Hmm, I’m probably guilty of overgeneralization there. I guess the main lesson is, it’s hard living with someone, and it’s even harder when you don’t communicate on the same level. Still can’t find a good way of working it out… Most things still tend to come out as accusations, and that builds helpless confusion and resentment. Gotta just hang in there, and remember that difference is half the fun, and indeed much of the reason for initial attraction.

BTW, Monster Hunter Frontier is surprisingly addictive. If even I, the jaded gamer, find myself going on quest after quest to collect materials and cash for new equipment, you know they have a real hit.

Of course, don’t change the fact that the gf is playing like 70 hours of MHF a week, to my consternation >_< damn gaming addicts

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The good times

are really good, the bad times are really bad. I consider it pretty shitty form to spew discontent on one’s blog, especially if you have postings that have actual information and so may be of interest to people, as opposed to being a personal stress relief outlet.

So, I shall simply write, “Why the hell do I have to be so miserable?”, and go for a run. Because exercise is the ultimate cure for the blues, cancer, Third World poverty and global warming.

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I tell myself

I knew the terms when I signed up.
I knew there was A and B and C. But they weren’t supposed to matter, were they?
Maybe they don’t, and maybe I don’t really care.
But I didn’t know there was another, with the real key. And all I have is this plastic duplicate.
Sometimes it fits.
Sometimes it doesn’t, and I’m left standing outside in the dark.

I tell myself I knew the terms. And I tell myself it shouldn’t matter.
And patience is a virtue. So I will wait here, uncomplaining, smiling.
But when I’m helpless, useless, it hurts so very much.
To be reminded that I’d never be good enough, just a shade of a plastic key.

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