WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME TEA?

Chihayafuru

It's from a josei manga series of the same name centered around - and I kid you only very slightly - full-contact snap.

It's actually not bad, a ray of light in a pretty dull season.

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A Channel - Fin

Got the chance to finish watching this series this evening, and it really is an underappreciated little gem.  While it treads ground covered by shows like Azumanga Daioh, K-On!, and Hidamari Sketch, and while it's a bit uneven in places, its charm holds up throughout.

And the sixth omake is brilliant.

There's an OVA on the way, so that's something to look forward to.  With only two volumes to the manga I don't know if there's enough material for another full season, much as I'd like to see it.

Recommended.

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Hidamari Sketch!!!!

Season 4 announced.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 01:08 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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This Site Is Now One Of Just Three Hits On Google For

"She really is a crazy busy bee."

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Wait, What? (Insect Edition)

Maya the Bee was anime?

I always thought it was a European series.  But then, I was watching towards the end of my don't-care-so-long-as-it's-animated period, so I wouldn't have noticed either way.



The American dub had a different - and lame - theme song.  The version we got in Australia had the original tune* with translated lyrics, which is apparently the case for most of the rest of the world:

France


Germany


Poland


Russia


Hungary


Czechoslovakia, as was


German remix, apparently broadcast in Spain (the Spanish theme is less lame than the American version, but still not the real thing)


Polish polka version, sung by an unreasonably talented 11-year-old


Finland


Slovenia


A live Czech version (Karel Gott sang the original German, Czech, and Slovak versions)


Israel


Greece


A German / Czech co-production


Portugal


Wait, Spain had the real thing too, as well as their German remix and their Latin alternate-universe version


Another German version on Spanish TV or...  something - this one actually changes languages midstream


Netherlands


Croatia


Honestly, you could hum the tune of this show to anyone in the world between the ages of about thirty and fifty and form an instant friendship...  Except for America.  Oh, and Italy.  They messed it up too.

The odd thing, though, is that English version is not the song from my childhood.  That version went:

There is a land that you can't see,
Although it sometimes isn't there;
And that is where you'll find a bee,
With so much happiness to share.
And if you ask her for her name she'll say it's Maya,
The one and only little bee called Maya,
Maya has so many friends you see;
She really is a crazy busy bee.
She's always going to exciting places, Maya,
Meeting friends with different faces, Maya,
Maya, everyone loves Maya.
Maya (Maya), Maya (Maya),
Maya tell us about your day.

I got most of that from memory, and then found this page which had all but the opening verse, and in the right order.  (As soon as I saw it I realised I had some lines the wrong way round.)  I found the opening verse on some random page on Facebook.

Now, let's see if I can find that one as well.

...

Mmmmmno.

Oh well, here's another version in...  Don't know any more.  I think that's Croatian.  (Looks up.)  Yes, Croatian, which I speak fluently...  To the extent that I can recognise Pcelica Maja when I see it twice just a few minutes apart.



* And by "original", I mean the version composed by Czech songwriter Karel Svoboda.  The Japanese theme song is nearly as bad as the American version.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Usagi Drop

So I had a free half hour when things weren't actually on fire, and I watched the first episode of this.  I still have the latter half of last season's shows to watch, but I wanted to pick up one episode of something, and Usagi Drop was something that sounded like it might be good.

And it is.  It is very good indeed.

Oh.  What's it about?  It's about a thirty-year-old guy who moves in with his aunt, who scolds him all the time.  Yes.  Yes, that's what it's about.  Heh.

Four plummeting bunnies out of four.*



* Just as a reminder, the scale is out of four, and the scores range from -1 to 5.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 12:36 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Mashimarium

An exotic atom with a nucleus comprising three cutinos and a chaon, orbited by a solitary oneeon.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 02:15 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Still Short But Not Quite As Short Take

Yes, I really watched the whole of the new series of My Little Pony.

The thing is, while there is no question but that the show was created solely as a cynical exercise in manipulating little girls into getting their parents to exchange their hard-earned dollars for mass-produced plastic toy horses, it is actually pretty good.

I was persuaded of this first by the existence of Weird Al PMVs* and then by the Ponycast put out by the combined forces of the Anime World Order and Greatest Movie Ever podcasts.**

And, despite its origins, target audience, and current status as an internet meme plague, I really enjoyed it.



* Pony Music Videos.
** I've listened to every single episode of both.  Twice.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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Wakfu: Short Take

I'll post more on My Little Pony and Wakfu when I have a bit of free time, but here's a very quick rundown of the latter:

Wakfu the animated series feels at first like an attempt to either capitalise on or promote (or both) Wakfu the mumorpuger.  And despite a strong opening and some interesting world building, the first half of the series* devolves into an only moderately entertaing travelogue-with-monsters.



Fortunately, once you reach the midpoint, it starts to pick up.  Then it picks up some more.  Then it picks up some more.  Then it picks up a whole lot more, one by one the characters take a well-earned level in badass** and the ending is pretty damn awesome.

It doesn't hurt that much of the second half is spent in the Sadida Kingdom, and the Sadida*** women are gorgeous.



I like the character designs and artwork a lot, the voice acting is pretty solid, and the story does deliver if you stick with it.  Certainly better than you'd expect from a game tie-in.

Recommended.
 
* Actually, the first season from 2008; there's a second season airing right now.
** Or in Evangelyne's case, a level in A-10 Warthog.  Which is the same thing, only more so.
*** Yes.  And the chronomancers are called Xelor, and the healers are Eniripsa.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 09:18 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Short Take

Ponies rule.

Also, Pinkie Pie is clearly a time lord.

Quote: Aaaah!  Bats!  Bats on my face!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:19 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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