I’ve a confession. I never really finished Outlaw Star. I watched the first half until the midpoint of what I remember is the Space Race, and then lost interest after that, except for the then-taboo “Hot Springs Planet Tenrei”. However, thanks to FUNimation and an evolved animu home media market which does not sell 25 to 26 episode series in three-volume two-disc sets with an MSRP of $44.99 each, I have decided to take the plunge once more. It’ll not only be great finishing this, but it’ll also be great having a full opinion on the complete product instead of one where I’m “Oh, what I saw was good but I didn’t finish it.”
reviews
Otaku Evolution Season 3 – Coming This Week!
A new season of my chintzy, unwatched anime review video series, Otaku Evolution, is upon us, with new episodes starting this week! If you haven’t seen the show, please check it out in one or all the links below to my three(!) different hosts for the series. It’s essentially just me reviewing anime, but as a pixelated representation of myself living, roughly, in the world of my old OR: Side Story and Penguin Chronicles strips. Don’t worry if you don’t "get" the stuff with the pixels, it’s just for presentation purposes (though I do put a lot of effort in). Don’t forget to feed me hits, thumbs up, likes, shares, etc.
Cross Ange Episode 16 – Interspecies Intramurals
Well finally the show is getting somewhere. After two episodes of world building and exposition, Salamandinay gets a chance to shine as a character instead of be this enlightened figure of wonder. So what does that mean for the audience? It means it is time for a bonding episode! A DRAGON Princess dedicated to the fall of Embryo! A disenchanted former Princess cum Paramail pilot! Now unencumbered by the necessity of explaining what the shit is going on, they can now move forward to an ever greater union through competitive sports battles spanning from tennis to Twister!
Cross Ange Episode 15 – How to Drain your DRAGON
Note: Well unfortunately my other venue is no longer available to me so if you haven’t found out yet, this is where you can capture my Cross Ange stuff until the end (plus anything else I feel like talking about in terms of anime or animation)!
Ange and Not-Kira make a DRAGON Porno
Well after the lull that was last week’s episode we kinda pick things back up with the full-on formal introduction to the DRAGON Princess. Salamandinay, the strangely awesome mouthful of name they call said DRAGON Princess then proceeds to info dump for most of the episode about the world of DRAGONs. Turns out a prediction I made to myself a few eps back came true, as DRAGONs are used in Ange’s world to power the Light of Mana, and that all those DRAGON attacks throughout the first half actually had some rhyme and reason behind them. Neat I guess.
Three Episodes In – Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
Yes, Sasami-san!
(Note: Contains spoilers, but they are confined to a clearly marked section)
The Winter 2013 anime season did not exactly bring with it a plethora of content that I would consider appealing to me, so instead I opted for something a bit different – I picked a couple of shows that I normally wouldn’t have watched, but that caught my eye for various reasons. The first of those shows was Studio Shaft’s new project, Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, based on the light novel series by Akira. The only thing I knew about this show going in was that it was in the romantic comedy genre (according to the tags on Myanimelist) and what I read in the official synopsis, which described Sasami-san as a show about a hikikomori (compulsive shut-in) who experiences the world vicariously through her brother by using a special surveillance system. The synopsis has since been expanded, but that was the gist of it before the show aired, and that was the general idea I had about the plot. However, something about the previews for the show seemed a bit… off. There were little flashes of scenes that seemed to involve science fiction, action, and fantasy elements. Now, I am well aware that plenty of "regular" romantic comedies and school shows that have those elements incorporated as day dreams and the like (such as I am told is the case for Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! or, to a lesser extent, in Hyouka), but my Spidey sense was tingling, so I figured I would give it a shot.
The Anime I Watched Before I Watched Anime – Akira
In some form or another, I’ve been around anime my entire life. A bunch of the cartoons I watched as a kid were anime, and I also had a chance to watch various anime movies that crossed over into the mainstream throughout the 90’s and early 2000’s. In the early 2000’s I dipped my feet a bit deeper into that world (including watching my first proper show as an adult – Cowboy Bebop), but I quickly lost interest due mainly to lack of availability, and spent the next ten years or so watching the occasional big time movie that came to my attention as I did in the 90’s.
Under the Cel Shading gets thrashed by Busy Street!
A week ago I sent my series to one site that is very critical of TGWTG in the hopes of getting something other than outright positive criticism, and well… Here’s what they did and I love them for it:
http://thebusystreet.com/2010/12/21/tgwtg-rejects-under-the-cel-shading/
Tis good or bad? Also, new episode should be up within the week.