Archive for the 'Anime' Category

Anime I Enjoyed at Fanime 2011

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

When I wasn’t busy taking tons of photos of cosplayers at Fanime, I did manage to see quite a few new anime. Here’s my 2011 list, in approximate order from “must see terebi” to “if there’s nothing better on…”

Hanasaku Iroha
A coming of age drama, sort of like Spirited Away, but without the fantasy elements. Ohana, a more-or-less useless young woman, is forced to move in with her grandmother after her mother flees the country to avoid debt collectors. Her very strict grandmother runs a traditional Japanese inn, demands that she start working at the inn, and shows little patience for anything less than perfection from her staff. Currently about 1/2 way through airing in Japan, and streaming at crunchyroll. Wikipedia entry.

Nichijou
Very funny school-life gag comedy; basically, take some girls who look like they’ve escaped from Lucky Star, drop them into Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, then turn the weirdness knob to 11. When I walked in, the girl on screen threw a Frisbee for her dog, then trap-shot it with her handy shotgun just before the dog grabbed it. Then it started getting strange. Currently running in Japan and streaming on crunchyroll. Wikipedia entry.

あの日見た花の名前を僕達はまだ知らない
Otherwise known by some people as “that anime with the title that’s way too long to remember,” and known by me as “that anime with the long title that surprisingly I can understand, yet still has nothing to do with the story.” Kind of a combination drama / mystery. A group of childhood friends drift apart after one of them, Menma, dies in an accident. Years later, her ghost appears to one of them, asking him to fulfill a wish she made years ago but cannot remember. The catch is that the old group has to be reunited to do so. Currently running in Japan; I think the next episode is #9 out of 11. Link to Wikipedia Entry.

Gin Tama
A comedy in which 19th century Japan is conquered by aliens, and a former samurai has to do odd jobs to pay the rent. Currently running in Japan. Here’s the Wikipedia entry. There are 200+ episodes available on crunchyroll; I’d be watching this right now if I wasn’t already 161 episodes into Bleach.

Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru
Surprisingly well executed comedy about a high school student who works in a maid cafe that never seems to get any customers. Completed, 12/12 episodes. Wikipedia entry-poko.

To Love Ru
More or less standard harem anime, except the main female character is an alien from another planet. No wait, that’s still within the standard. Somewhat funny, but nowhere near Gin Tama. Finished in Japan three years ago. Wikipedia entry.

Amagami SS
Yet another anime made out of a dating simulation game. The funny thing is that the game upon which this is based came out during my first trip to Japan, and I saw posters and demos for it everywhere. Watching it on the big screen, it seems so easy – the poor guy makes stupid mistakes, yet the girl still falls in love with him. Conversely, when I’m playing Tokimeki Memorial 3, none of the girls ever agree to go on a second date with me, yet they keep rabbit-punching me in the back of the head because apparently I’m not paying enough attention to them. Wikipedia entry.

There were also several that I saw that didn’t make it above this line…

Fanime

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

I’m back at Fanime again this year. My latest kick is “take less photos and thus spend less time in photoshop, and thus be able to post in a reasonable time.”

Click to go to the gallery on Flickr…

Anime I watched that I want to see the rest of…

  1. Kara no Kyoukai – The Garden of Sinners
  2. Kurokami

I also watched a few episodes of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, which was a show I watched in Elementary school in its bastardized^W westernized version as “Battle of the Planets.” Man, those 70’s haircuts and clothes!

Fanime day 4

Monday, May 26th, 2008

I woke up this morning absolutely exhausted. I had my breakfast, and went so far as to lie back down in bed before I decided “No, I don’t want to go back to sleep – I want to go to day 4 of Fanime.

Today’s viewings from the fansub room:

  • Ghost Hound: A supernatural mystery story. Looks interesting.
  • Ichigo Mashimaro: Cute little girls doing cute things in a cute way. Too cute for me. Note, however, that I somehow never managed to leave the room.
  • Goshuushou-sama Ninomiyakun: Boy helps a succubus overcome her phobias of people. Epic nosebleed comedy.
  • Nagasarete Airantou: Boy gets marooned on island where the only inhabitants are girls. More epic nosebleeds :)

And, of course, more photos. I managed to edit about another 30 and add them to the gallery on flickr – I also changed the order so the newest ones are first.

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Fanime day 3

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

I forgot to mention… Yesterday, seeing as the plaza in front of the convention center was full of people dressed up in costumes, some religious nut decided to bring his “worship Jesus or go to hell” sign and preach. The best part was, though, that we had a guy at the convention dressed up as Jesus, who went over and stood over said kook; the kook failed to fall down on his knees :)

I didn’t manage to get up in time to make it to the Clannad marathon, which was my other must-see of the weekend. But, seeing as it was a marathon that ran from 5:30 AM to 1 PM, I still managed to catch two episodes. In hindsight, it’s probably for the best: Clannad was made by the same studio as Air,, which was the saddest thing I’d ever seen. From what I did see of Clannad, if I’d watched the whole marathon, I would have been curled up in a corner crying for the rest of the day. If Studio Key’s motto isn’t “We’ll rip your heart out and feed it to you – repeatedly,” it probably should be.

If I’m going to be completely incapacitated for a day (or more, if it’s anything like Air was,) I think I’d rather do it at home that at a convention.

The highlight of the day was seeing two episodes of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensi 2, which was completely bizzare and absolutely hilarious. I also enjoyed Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie. And remember how I said I didn’t find Prince of Tennis that interesting? Then why did I end up back in the fansub room watching more of it? :)

At 7:00, they had a Black and White Dance. Of course I brought my tuxedo. I even found a woman who knew how to Lindy Hop. Apparently, this is the second year they’ve had a formal dance, and this year the room was twice as big as last. And it was still too small; when I left at 9:00, there were about 200 people lined up to get in.

Photos: 250 today, but I’m having problems reading them into my computer right now – please please please don’t let the CF card be corrupted!

Update: Managed to get all but three photos off the card. Only took five hard reboots. Into the trash with you, evil CF card of epic failure!

Fanime Day 2

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

I am really tired. Unfortunately for me, it’s only 8 PM. But the second “must see” on my list starts at 5:30 AM tomorrow morning.

I spent most of the day in the fansub rooms, where they were showing two or three episodes of a given series. Really brief notes:

  • Spice and Wolf: Really enjoyed this one. If you ask me, there’s not enough TV shows combining the economic laws of supply and demand with cute fox-girl spirits. They were showing four episodes, but I came in late and only saw two. I went to the dealers’ room looking for it, but it’s apparently only out as fansubs online.
  • El Cazador de la Bruja: Also really enjoyed the two episodes I saw of this. Everyone is a bounty hunter!
  • These are my Noble Masters: Saw two episodes of this and it looks like a lot of fun. Harem comedy for the win!
  • Prince of Tennis: Man, the room was packed. After watching two episodes, I was thinking “I can see why this is popular, but it doesn’t really inspire me to watch more of it. Unless there’s nothing else on.”

Since I was already in the dealer room, I figured I had to do my part to help the economy; that is, other than by donating my tax dollars to bailing out real estate speculators and investment banks. I bought The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I’ve wanted for a while but have never been able to find all four DVDs together at the same store. Now perhaps I can learn that dang dance properly. :)

I started in on working on photos of today’s cosplayers, but didn’t get too far – I need to go to bed. Seven new photos on the Flickr page; many more to come.

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