It was a bad day. A lot of bad stuff happened. And I'd love to forget it all. But I don't. Not ever. Because this is what I do. Every time, every day, every second, this: On five, we're bringing down the government.
Monday, April 24
Hand Maid May
I just finished watching this series again. I watched it when it first came out back in 2000, and I've been busy since then (seriously) so I just got around to taking another look at it. It's a charming little show, with a great
opening sequence.
It also has a much more complicated plot than ten (or even eleven) episodes can comfortably hold. There are significant time jumps between episodes. This is noticeable not just in the character relationships - a startling development at the end of one episode has become part of the background at the start of the next - but explicitly in that the seasons change over the course of the series; the elapsed time must be six months at a minimum, and possibly more. So there are some things that are simply never explained.
Many spoilers follow.
more...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
01:09 PM
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1
I'm kicking myself for not having spotted the country codes. It just never occurred to me.
Regarding the CBSs eating, I always assumed it was like Data eating: something that was engineered into them for social reasons, but something which doesn't actually matter. As to what does power the full sized units, they charge from the wall just like the miniature does. However, they're big enough to contain their own charging units, and can move to wall outlets and take care of it themselves. The miniature units require an external charger and the human owner has to plug them in.
The problem with the 11th episode is that it includes a lot of things which contradict stuff we're told, or shown, in the rest of the series. Even without the 11th episode the underlying plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but adding the 11th episode makes it even worse. So that's why I deliberately excluded it and decided it wasn't canonical. (In fact, it doesn't even work totally in character terms. Why would Cyber-X and Commando-Z remain in the past after their problem was solved?)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, April 24 2006 04:52 PM (+rSRq)
2
Good work on all points. I still disagree with two of them, though. :-)
I continue to insist that the CBDs in the future were retroactively never infected; they all wake up without showing signs of being reset, and several of them
died onscreen. The implication is that most of them were already "dead".
Also, I disagree that the "it" in the quote from episode nine refers to the virus. I think the next line makes it clear that "it" is her program: "If we can figure out how she's evolving...we'd get a hint on how to design a vaccine program"
. She's the one evolving.
Stepping outside the rules established for this game, here's the Japanese dialog from that scene.
Kazuya: Ja, May ga virus ni kansen-shite nai no wa... (
Then, May wasn't infected because...)
Commando-Z: Sou da! Kanojo ni henkan wo okita kara da! (
That's right! Because inside her a transformation had occurred!)
Ikariya is the original vector for spreading the virus to all CBDs; it got established in the MAID System first, so all of their later anti-virus protection couldn't see it (it hijacked the BIOS calls, so to speak). Admittedly, Ikariya wasn't hooked up when the virus was destroyed, but his infected source code was on the computer Kazuya was using. He'd either be fixed in the next update, or else he's become "aware" enough that Kazuya no longer feels comfortable modifying his mind, and will continue MAID System development on other platforms.
-j
[by the way, this fancy entry form doesn't seem to work with Safari]
Posted by: J Greely at Monday, April 24 2006 07:25 PM (0/vcb)
3
By the way, the angelic figure associated with the CBDs I've always considered to be symbolic, not literal. She's actually a statue out front of the university that Kazuya and Nanbara attend. Those pictures from the future of all the CBDs laying on beds dying, and then later of all them waking up, I also consider to be symbolic, not literal.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, April 24 2006 08:02 PM (+rSRq)
4
I got the first DVD a little while ago on SDB's rec. Sadly, with the fight between time for Victor Hanson's "A War Like No Other," Glenn's book, WoW, Starcraft, various novels by Stross, John Barnes, and S.M. Stirling, blogging, girlfriend, and oh yeah my 4 actual jobs, I've only gotten through two episodes so far.
So many addictions, so little time. When is that Singularity going to get here and allow me to spawn multiple consciousnesses so I can enjoy everything at once?
Posted by: TallDave at Tuesday, April 25 2006 10:19 PM (H8Wgl)
5
This
is the Singularity. Or at least the on-ramp to it. Remember back in the old days when sometimes you actually had time to be bored? Gone. And it's only going to get
worse better.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, April 26 2006 01:47 AM (X4y/B)
6
Regarding the CBDs power needs, why assume that both the full-scale and the 1/6th scale models use the same power sources? I can see the minis using direct-plug power, while the larger models use some kind of chemical-combustion energy conversion process like humans do (with maybe a plug-in backup system).
Posted by: Jason Bontrager at Monday, May 01 2006 04:42 PM (00lzh)
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Wednesday, April 19
From The I Have It And You Don't Dept.
Kei spends about half of episode five in her underwear. Including the scene where she is fighting the evil killbot.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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1
So rip that sucker, already!
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wednesday, April 19 2006 02:58 PM (+rSRq)
2
I still love you, Pixy, but you're very, very evil.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wednesday, April 19 2006 07:02 PM (+FLIL)
3
Steven - it's ripped, but I need to work on the subtitle timing. I'm not sure why, but the timing in the files I have drifts all over the place relative to the video.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, April 19 2006 07:41 PM (eAghb)
4
Well, then, how about a couple of frame grabs?
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wednesday, April 19 2006 11:03 PM (+rSRq)
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Sunday, April 16
One, Two, Five!
Three, sir!
Three!
I'll need to take a break for a bit - other things I have to attend to - but I'll have some more episodes for you next week.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
02:42 AM
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1
Pixy, you're the
ginchiest!!!
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sunday, April 16 2006 04:44 PM (7+BNY)
2
Maybe so, but you still can't borrow my comb.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, April 16 2006 08:49 PM (M3S6k)
3
"Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb..."
Wow, man, I haven't thought of that song in YEARS...
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, April 17 2006 02:15 AM (7+BNY)
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Saturday, April 15
Kei And Yuri, You Don't Know?
You've never heard of the Dirty Pair, the hottest -
Scariest -
Trouble consultants in the history of history itself?
Episode Two.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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From The Ship. Sun. Boom! Wonderful! Dept.
Episode One. No, not that Episode One.
This Episode One.
Forums here. Or comment here. I'll be interested to know what the more polyglot of my readership think of the translation, which is not mine, but one I found several years ago.* I tidied it up, fixed the grammatical errors and some inconsistencies (the spelling wasn't too bad), and retimed everything, because the timing was kind of poopy. A tenth of a second makes a big difference, and some of the titles were off by a second or more. Um, anyway, the translation, from my limited Japanese, seems reasonable except for the opening song, which doesn't sound right to me. I have an alternate translation of the song - actually, two alternate translations - and also the transliterated Japanese lyrics, so I'll post those over at the Language Lab tomorrow.
Ooh, And It Makes Me Wonder...
One thing of interest - I'm not sure quite what to make of it - between 1997 and 1998, fifteen groups set out to fansub the original Dirty Pair TV series. Only one (Fuzzy Productions) completed the job, and they have vanished from the face of the net.** Makes me wonder if there is some kind of curse on Dirty Pair fansubs.
If you suddenly find one day that the whole of mu.nu has disappeared leaving nothing but a smoking crater and a mile-high stack of damage claims, at least you'll know why.
*Here, as it turns out.
** I actually found a copy of the Fuzzy Production version. It's a completely different translation to the one I'm using, which might be useful for cross-checking. Unfortunately, it looks like a sixth-generation tape run through a budget 1998-era video-capture card and then later transcoded from MPEG-1 to DIVX with the quality slider set to "crap". In fact, it probably is a sixth-generation tape etc etc.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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Wednesday, April 12
So, Pixy, Whatcha Up To?
Oh, nothing much.
(I've also started uploading some AMVs.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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1
Ah,
Hayashibara's Lips! Now THERE'S a classic!
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wednesday, April 12 2006 11:27 AM (+rGmJ)
2
I don't know if you've got it, but the Stratos 4 OP is a good one.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wednesday, April 12 2006 04:43 PM (+rSRq)
3
Actually, if you've got it, the OP for the Stratos 4 OVA is even better. It's the same music but much better animation behind it.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wednesday, April 12 2006 11:10 PM (+rSRq)
4
I don't think I have either. It hasn't been released in Australia, and I don't recall downloading any fansubs for it. (Back when I had money, this wasn't a problem. I imported American DVDs all the time. But for now I'm on a budget.)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, April 12 2006 11:36 PM (LUBRF)
5
So, Pixy, what did you think of "Otaku Anthem?"
Posted by: Wonderduck at Thursday, April 13 2006 09:26 PM (+FLIL)
Posted by: TallDave at Thursday, April 13 2006 11:31 PM (H8Wgl)
7
Wonderduck - I didn't think it was that great, but it did make me want to watch
World of Narue.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, April 15 2006 12:53 AM (nimvq)
8
...which is the best compliment you can pay a video, if you ask me. I had the same reaction you did (except I like the AMV better than you, apparantly), in that it made me want to watch the show.
Fluff, but fluff is GOOD. Not every anime has to be
Evangelion. There's room for
G-On Riders or
World of Narue, too (not to say that those two are even remotely similar).
Posted by: Wonderduck at Saturday, April 15 2006 02:40 AM (+FLIL)
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No Surprise
Which Haibane Renmei Character are you?
You are Nemu! Nemu is kind of a big-sister figure, always overseeing things and helping raise the children. She reads a lot, and is always sleepy, but that's because she's always doing more than her fair share of work.
Take this
" href="http://quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=17&url=http://www.quizilla.com/users/divadrummer/quizzes/Which+Haibane+Renmei+Character+are+you%3F">quiz!
;" target="quizilla" href="http://www.quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=18&url=http://www.quizilla.com">Quizilla |
;" target="quizilla" href="http://www.quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=21&url=http://www.quizilla.com/register">Join
|
;" target="quizilla" href="http://www.quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=20&url=http://www.quizilla.com/makeaquiz.php">Make A Quiz | More Quizzes |
;" target="quizilla" href="http://www.quizilla.com/redirect.php?statsid=19&url=http://www.quizilla.com/codepastes/?quizid=133039">Grab Code
(via Haibane.info)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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1
Although when I went back to get the HTML, I changed one of the answers and got Hikari.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, April 12 2006 01:31 AM (LUBRF)
2
I confess that I spent way too long on that quiz. I tried to manipulate it to get every possible character :)
Why do you say it's no surprise that you're Nemu? is it the sleep thing, or the library thing?
As I mentioned in my blog post I am pretty sure I answered the questionns a certain way to get my result. But Nemu definitely is the most similar to me in some ways. I'm pretty much nothing like Reki, though her character fascinates me the most.
Posted by: fledgling otaku at Wednesday, April 12 2006 01:16 PM (BLxXg)
3
is it the sleep thing, or the library thing?Yes. :)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, April 12 2006 06:54 PM (oyvZL)
4
I came back as Kuu. Having never seen the show, does that mean anything?
Posted by: Wonderduck at Wednesday, April 12 2006 07:00 PM (+FLIL)
5
"Having never seen the show, does that mean anything?"
Yes, it does, but we're not allowed to say.
Posted by: Will at Thursday, April 13 2006 05:53 PM (SOx9v)
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Tuesday, April 11
Worst Bonus Episodes Ever?
Everyone seems to agree that the
Sugar Summer Special was extremely well done, and provided needed closure to the series. It's one of the best anime "extras" that I've seen.
But what's the worst? My nomination goes to Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden, which manages to negate every major plot point of the series. Wonderduck suggests the Elfen Lied special (which I haven't seen).
Anyone?
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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I'm tempted to say, "Angelic Layer, because they didn't do one and I really wanted them to!" But that would be cheating.
I haven't actually seen all that many "extra" episodes; they're not all that common. The worst ones I've seen were the two for .Hack/Sign, but only because they were as mediocre as the rest of the series was.
Would you let me nominate the first "Key the Metal Idol" movie? It was 90 minutes which consisted of nothing except backstory exposition.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tuesday, April 11 2006 03:11 AM (+rSRq)
2
OK, I looked it up and
Fushigi Yuugi Eikoden is a 4-episode OVA sequel. Now that I understand the rules of the game, I definitely have a nomination: the second
El Hazard OVA. The story was completely derivative, Princess Fatora was intolerable, and the appearance of the second Ifurita made no sense and ruined the ending of the first OVA, which is the only
El Hazard story that's actually worth watching. (What? Were the ancients turning out doomsday weapons on an assembly line or something?)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Tuesday, April 11 2006 03:25 AM (+rSRq)
3
Yes, that's a bad one. Right in line with
Eikoden, it smushes one of the most important points of the original story.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, April 11 2006 04:28 AM (oyvZL)
4
The third Fushigi Yuugi is pretty hard to top. Heck, the only worthwhile thing about the Fushigi Yuugi OAVs was that series of shorts after each episode of the... second OAV, I think.
I suppose Evangelion: Death & Rebirth deserves a mention too... hmm. I'll have to think harder on this.
Posted by: HC at Tuesday, April 11 2006 09:27 AM (qmTWt)
5
I nominate the entire Invid arc from Robotech.
(yes, I'm reaching here.. I'm a fledgling, remember?)
Posted by: fledgling otaku at Tuesday, April 11 2006 10:58 AM (BLxXg)
6
I think I'd have to nominate the
Rahxephon movie on pure waste-of-money factor. Spend two hours rehashing the plot from the series without all that pesky extended cast and character development.
Posted by: Will at Tuesday, April 11 2006 12:50 PM (SOx9v)
7
Some nominations:
Evangelion: Death. A movie, rather than a bonus episode... but it was a movie that consisted entirely of recaps. It was double-billed with Rebirth... but that itself was included in End of Evangelion. So basically, the whole Death/Rebirth movie was redundant.
Pilot Candiate/Candidate for Goddes - The whole series is told entirely in exposition. So's the movie.
The Onegai Twins OVA tends to mess up the ending of the series, so let's mention that as well. Hopefully, one of these qualifies.
Posted by: PyTom at Tuesday, April 11 2006 12:52 PM (vkkAp)
8
At the risk of offending our host, I'd probably have to go with some of the Tenchi spin-offs / movies / etc. but I can't decide which ones. It's not that they're especially bad compared to some of the anime out there, just they're a significant drop from the original series. It's especially hard to explain given the jumps in continuity between the various series, and trying to determine which are bonus features and which deserve to be treated as seperate works.
The original OAV series is better than the first TV series. The first movie (Tenchi Muyo in love) is one of my all time favorites, but its a derivative of the first TV universe. Anything with Sammy / Pixy Misa is a guilty pleasure and yet another spin-off universe. The other subsequent TV series range from so-so to pretty lousy. The second movie is pretty bad, and the third is merely ok.
My personal favorite bonus episode is the 14th episode of Dual. Although it completely destroys the premises of the final episode of the regular series, it throws a very odd yet amusing spin on the whole affair.
Posted by: Civilis at Tuesday, April 11 2006 10:01 PM (NCCgb)
9
The Tenchi spinoffs range from unncessary (Universe) to outright sucky (Tenchi in Tokyo).
Except for the Pretty Sammy TV series, which
rocks. Because it has Pixy Misa in it. (And because it's a good story, well told.) The Pretty Sammy OVAs aren't that great, though I like the second one, which is an unashamed assault on Microsoft for operating-system bloat.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, April 11 2006 11:35 PM (LUBRF)
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Monday, April 10
High Fructose Corn Syrup Sugar
Just finished watching this one too. (And I found time to unpack some more stuff, do the laundry, and go grocery shopping. Gotta love long weekends.)
I was absolutely entranced when I first saw the opening credits to this show, more than three years ago. Even on a crappy RealPlayer video clip the kawaii genius of the creators came through. But then, though I bought all the DVDs, I foundered on the early episodes. The first episode is wonderful, but then it gets silly for a while. If I'd kept watching just a little longer I would have gotten to the good bit - the last 80% of the show - but, well, too much anime, too little time.
There's not a lot I like in the present anime season (Karin being the prime exception) so I've finally been catching up. And no doubt about it, Sugar is a gem. Highly recommended.
Chizumatic review here.
Some spoilers follow.
more...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at
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I dunno; I haven't seen the one you're talking about, but I have a hard time believing that it could be as completely off-mood as
Elfen Lied's extra episode.
Oy. You go from a dark, horror-filled series to a light sit-com? Oy. What the hell were they THINKING?
Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, April 10 2006 01:17 PM (7+BNY)
2
The early episodes are all necessary to the long term plot, but when you're watching episodes 2-5, they do seem somewhat pointless. Once you get to episode 6, however, then it really starts to get into gear, and they hook you for the rest of the show.
Yes, it's really a gem of a show, and that's why I've been pushing it all this time. It isn't just an incipient diabetes attack waiting to happen.
As to the summer special, unquestionably it's very well done. Lots of good stuff in there, but by far the best scene is Pepper playing the evil witch. She is
spectacularly miscast in that role, and the seiyuu handles it beautifully. (That must have been a fun recording session.)
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Monday, April 10 2006 02:47 PM (+rSRq)
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