Ambient Irony

What happened?
Twelve years!
You hit me with a cricket bat!
Ha! Twelve years!

Saturday, August 26

Galaxy Angel

Short Not-a-review:

This is - for the most part - a very silly show. There is - for the most part - no overall plot to the series. It is episodic to the point of regularly having to reset reality merely to keep the cast intact. It is at least chronological, in that things that occur in one episode that are not obviously reset do affect later episodes - except when they don't - and things that clearly could not have taken place do not get retrofitted into later episodes - except when they do.

It's not for everyone, but at least watch episodes two and three, in which they introduce Mint, Vanilla, and Normad. It's also in episode three that they really start shredding science fictional tropes. You'll see what I mean.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:11 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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It didn't take long for me to figure out that it was basically an extended Coyote-and-RoadRunner show, except with tits. One episode was enough.

Is Vanilla a robot? Or just the requisite Emotionless Girl?

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:13 PM (+rSRq)

2 Is Vanilla a robot? Or just the requisite Emotionless Girl?

I can't say for sure, but I think she's just the emotionless girl. Except when she isn't, of course. (In fact, she's listed on that page. ;))

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:17 PM (9OTrh)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 10:21 PM (9OTrh)

4 It seems to me that the creators could not figure what to do with the show for a while. Is it tits? Is it slapstick/slap-stick/slap-with-stick? Conspiracy? Is there a main girl (e.g. Mint)? I have no idea when they settled into the episodic grove. Since Steven is likely to abandon this, I think I'll spoil a little and say that the best episode I saw was the one where Vanilla lost her religious artifact and decided to die. For all I know, it could be #20, if not #50 :-)

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sunday, August 27 2006 12:29 AM (9imyF)

5 I know the one you mean.

The show doesn't really get into gear until season two, and season three is even better.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 27 2006 01:17 AM (9OTrh)

6 I worship at the altar of Mint. It's definitely a series you have to be in the right frame of mind for, though. I often can't remember the contents of an entire DVD of the stuff, but I know I had fun. Fluffy fluff, with a side order of fluff. Oddly enough, the manga has a very strong plotline, extracted from the dating-sim structure of the game. -j

Posted by: J Greely at Sunday, August 27 2006 02:03 AM (0/vcb)

7 I worship at the altar of Mint.

Heh.

All the girls have more to them than appears at first glance, except maybe Milfeuille, who remains the supernaturally lucky ditz throughout.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 27 2006 02:07 AM (9OTrh)

8 Wait, Coyote and Road Runner, but with tits? What's wrong with that concept? I loved Road Runner as a kid. :-)

Posted by: ubu roi at Sunday, August 27 2006 03:57 PM (81mnL)

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Galaxy Angel

Okay, having seen all four seasons of this one, there are some general points I can discuss without real spoilers. Though there are still (unavoidably) some spoilers, so details in the individual entry. (I think I have extended entries working here; we'll soon find out anyway.) more...

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Thursday, August 24

Kamichu!

Claims another victim.

Since the series was licensed before the fansub was completed (before it even finished airing in Japan, I think), the situation he finds himself in now is where I was this time last year.

(Also, four of the episodes were released straight to DVD and never aired. I assume they will be included in the R1 release.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 10:04 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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1 I seem to recall almost exactly the same wording in a posting about Azumanga not too long ago. And it's still listed with 1 star. I am quite raw.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Thursday, August 24 2006 11:50 PM (9imyF)

2 Oh, crap! I forgot to change the cref to point to the replacement review!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 01:52 AM (+rSRq)

3 Actually, it's because I never got around to writing a replacement review... (oops)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 01:55 AM (+rSRq)

It's nice that Yurie's hair doesn't grow in every episode. It's not like the early episodes of Maburaho where Kazuto fires off a superpowered spell every single time. In Kamichu you don't know if she will in any given episode. But every time her hair starts growing, I get really excited. "Oh, boy, here it comes!"

Geneon's web page lists a third DVD coming in October, with eps 9-12, but doesn't list anything beyond that. It seems the primary series was 12, right? (Looks like yet another half-season treasure.) I wonder if Geneon has any intention of releasing the other 4; maybe I'll hit some of the news sites and see what they have to say about it.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 03:49 AM (+rSRq)

5 12 episodes went to air, but there are another 4 episodes that were released straight to DVD that interleave with the TV episodes. Episodes 8, 11, 13 and 16 were DVD-only.

Geneon would have to be crazy not to release the whole thing, but who knows.

But every time her hair starts growing, I get really excited. "Oh, boy, here it comes!"

Heh. Like Lina Inverse winding up for a Dragon Slave. ;)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 25 2006 03:55 AM (FRalS)

6 Steven could answer that easily, by looking at his v.2. The R1 release is twice as dense as R2 release. Where I have 2 episodes per disc, he has 4. So, if my calculations are correct, he has 8. If the Ep#8 is the one with cats, it's a DVD release. If it's the River of [censored], then it's a TV release. Simple, ne?

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Friday, August 25 2006 11:22 AM (9imyF)

According to the package, ep 8 is titled "Wild Times". The teaser picture is a black-and-white cat with a fiendish look on its face.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 01:45 PM (+rSRq)

8 ANN has a listing of the titles. It says "Wild Times" is one of the DVD release titles which was never broadcast.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 01:53 PM (+rSRq)

9 So ... will Japn Otaku have to go to the US to get the whole series?

Will they be doing japanese fansubs of the US dubbed versions?

Posted by: Kristopher at Friday, August 25 2006 05:04 PM (O5Ju8)

10 All 16 episodes were released in Japan on DVD. They were release on 8 DVDs, with 2 episodes each. (Pete has the first four of the eight Japanese DVDs.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 25 2006 07:20 PM (+rSRq)

11 I finally got around to watching the rest of the series and... I'm disappointed. Kamichu! doesn't really go anywhere. I'll look into the manga sometime and see if the lack of story is due to the manga or the anime producers. I actually suspect the anime producers invented a lot of story, as only about half a dozen chapters of the manga were published by the time the anime started airing--only 13 chapters have been published to date. On the other hand, as an episodic and atmospheric anime, it has its charms.

Fan service side note: Kamichu's mangaka primarily does hentai manga, Kamichu! is one of the few things he (or she? not clear) has done which did not have lots of sex.

Posted by: Kayle at Saturday, August 26 2006 04:02 AM (Qsm1J)

12 :(

I've only seen the first six episodes, so I was judging it based on those. A shame that it didn't fulfil its early promise.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 04:51 AM (9OTrh)

13 Oh, and the series was licensed well after the broadcast finished; it broadcast June-Sep 2005, the license was hinted at in February 2006 and formally announced in March, if I recall correctly. iichan got a late start because we decided to work off the DVD sources and then was slow at releasing primarily due to me being lazy.

Posted by: Kayle at Saturday, August 26 2006 05:00 AM (Qsm1J)

14 .....

:)

I hadn't put two and two together there. Thanks!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, August 26 2006 06:50 AM (9OTrh)

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Friday, August 18

Pipirupirupirupipirupi

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 07:20 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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1 Oh my .... hurt me, beat me ... make me write bad checks!

Posted by: Kristopher at Friday, August 18 2006 10:32 AM (O5Ju8)

2 I gotta admit, the first episode is pretty funny. The premise is of an angel, Dokuro-chan, visiting Earth, which she "knows everything about" because she's read and memorized every harem comedy manga in existence. She essentially moves into a male high school student's home, because that's what she's supposed to do, and starts insisting that he act like the male leads of the mangas she's read (whom he considers "irresponsible losers"). Unfortunately for him, she's invincible as long as she carries Excaliborg, and she casually eviscerates and resurrects him as many times as it takes to convince him to play along. I've only seen the first half of a fansub of the first episode, though. It sounds like a great premise, but from what I've heard, it quickly becomes even more moronic than Girls Bravo.

Posted by: Tatterdemalian at Friday, August 18 2006 11:18 AM (IOFN3)

3 It looks like something is broken with the feed of ai.mu.nu: all article links point to "http://ai.mu.nu/archives/". Coming through minx.cc is fine though (via denbeste.nu)

Dokuro-chan is simply the vilest anime I ever watched, period. It probbaly not the "worst overall". That title belongs to X the Movie.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Friday, August 18 2006 02:33 PM (9imyF)

4 X - the movie is essentially a high-budget highlight clip for X - the series. If you already know the characters and plot, it's nice to see them done prettily.

If you don't, you won't after seeing the movie. I'm not sure it's enough of an independent entity to call a movie... but if it is, it's not good.

Posted by: HC at Friday, August 18 2006 03:49 PM (2pG6K)

Actually, some of the minx.cc links don't work either. The problem is that they're set to try to use port 81. If the ":81" is taken out of the URL, they work fine. With that in there the requests time out.

(When I post a comment successfully, the repaint afterward also times out because it's trying to use port 81.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 18 2006 04:24 PM (+rSRq)

6 I should've added that the first 3 minutes of the 1st episode are funny. The contrast and surprise of hapless Sakura returning from school, and the topical humor were nicely done. By the time I watched the ep.1, nobody in the U.S. remembered how desperate donkeys were to push for his hopeless candidate, how they grasped at every straw, with MSM doing their bidding and making fools of themselves. But now the whole sad story of their unraveling was immortalized in 5 seconds of anime film.

If the show kept it up, it would be great. Unfortunately, it settled into the ruts of sexual innuendo instead of actual jokes. I saw it falling apart after the first episode, and I cried for mercy after the first doublet. But someone else made me watch it all, so I witnessed how the show flopped around and attempted to create a story, with Sakura pondering his relationship to Dokuro. It was so pathetically weak, I just pitied the salaried staff.

It's not impossible to make humor-based shows. Excel Saga was the prime example, and heck, they did have the sex themed parts (although they had to make it weird: just how exactly would you have sex with Mrs. Will?). Even lesbians - vigorously denied by Excel for the camera! I can even enjoy Galaxy Angel. But this is just too stupid.

I thought Dokuro-chan made me apprehensive about Girl's High. Before, I did not know how bad it can be. I didn't watch anything on Steven's "5 worst anime" list. But now I'm afraid to try new, hyped things.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Friday, August 18 2006 04:43 PM (9imyF)

7 About the brokenness - I'm developing a new blogging system and testing it live here. It's also being used by a couple of other munu blogs. The :81 is a test version, and the regular (:80) is the live version, and sometimes I need to switch this blog to use the test version.

So yeah, things may get a bit dodgy at times.

And the RSS feed is just broken.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 18 2006 06:53 PM (vP+3j)

8 And I stopped watching Dokuro-chan afer episode 2. So I was spared the worst of the horrors. ;)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 18 2006 06:58 PM (vP+3j)

9 As to using this as a test for your software, that's completely reasonable. Now that I know (and know what to do to bypass it) I won't have a problem.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Friday, August 18 2006 08:04 PM (+rSRq)

10 Just testing something...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 18 2006 10:30 PM (FRalS)

11 Pipiru piru piru pipiru pi!

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 18 2006 10:31 PM (FRalS)

12 Yep, just needed to bash on it with Excalibolg for a bit.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Friday, August 18 2006 10:32 PM (FRalS)

Oooooh, lookie! Comment spam!

Excaliborg? Excaliiiiiiiiiiborg? Here, boy!

Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, August 21 2006 09:26 AM (6YRS5)

14 Ayup. Works every time. ;)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, August 21 2006 10:05 AM (vP+3j)

15 That OP makes it look so bad, I need to watch at least the first episode so I can hate it properly. Anything else wouldn't be doing it justice.

Posted by: ubu roi at Monday, August 21 2006 04:38 PM (fUz8B)

Oh... oh my... Obviously the product of men abused horribly by so many women that they have well and fully gone over the edge.

Unless we're seeing some sort of strange Japanese mating call...

Posted by: Will at Tuesday, August 22 2006 04:12 PM (SOx9v)

17 The sound you just heard was every brain cell in my head exploding after I watched all 8 episodes.

The first two were ok, even inspired at moments. If the rest of it had maintained that quality.....

Posted by: ubu roi at Friday, August 25 2006 10:17 PM (Ib3Ll)

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Monday, July 24

Another Victim

Of the demon that is Azumanga Daioh.

~~P.S. Pictures are borked.~~

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1 I told him, "Steven, you'll love this show," and he was all like "Kimura blah blah blah," and I'm like "believe me, you'll love this show despite him." For months. So I'm getting a real kick out of the fact that he does, in fact, seem to be loving Azumanga Daioh. Color me proud.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, July 24 2006 12:14 PM (zBXYv)

2 Well, I was hopeful too, but apparently Steven wasn't enlightened yet. Osaka grates? Please. But I remember seeing a review once for some manga.ru place or such, where the reviewer yawned on the job until episode 23 where he saw the light. So it may yet click. Or not. I was going to wait a few more days for the summary, and then a few more days for history_xxx.html file to appear.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Monday, July 24 2006 09:03 PM (9imyF)

3 I don't disagree with Steven at all about Osaka and Tomo. They're easily my least favorite of the bunch. "Oh, but Osaka's so spacy and funny and..." She's not funny. She's dumb. "Oh, but Osaka's..." She's dull. There are two or three bits of her that I like: the soap gag, the 'magic talisman' gag, and the ponytail gag. Everything else, I can take a miss on. And Tomo is just annoying.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Monday, July 24 2006 09:19 PM (7+BNY)

4 I suppose I have to explain the Zen here, as much as it can be explained.

Tomo is my least favourte character, because she is obnoxious, good for nothing, loud, tactless, stupid, selfish jerk. I can't stand people like that and the type is sadly far from rare.

However, in the anime, she is a part of the carefuly crafted ensemble and has to be taken as such. Ditto Osaka, who may be more sympathetic to some or many viewers. It is not a question of her being dull (in your deeply personal opinion, anyway).

The cast is designed with many considerations. In particular, I noticed that every viewer picks a favourite for their special reasons, the one who speaks to them in an intimate way. Steven zoomed onto Sakaki very quickly, and why? Because she's the only character who transforms (or "develops"). A reason not worse any other. My favourite is Yomi, because she's sane (and a host of other secret reasons which I'm not going to commit to blog comments).

But conversely, someone has to fall out the bottom. It's just the way it is.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Monday, July 24 2006 11:16 PM (9imyF)

5 I agree, it's an ensemble show that should be taken as a whole. Please note, Azumanga Daioh is my favorite anime of recent vintage, and might be my favorite of all-time. But I could still do with much less Osaka and Tomo, ensemble or no. And, for what it's worth, Yomi is #2 on my favorites list, just behind Kagura.

Posted by: Wonderduck at Tuesday, July 25 2006 12:46 AM (7+BNY)

6 Needs more Kaorin.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, July 25 2006 12:52 AM (FRalS)

7 Osaka forever! Her attempt to wake up Yukari on the last trip - perfect!

Sakaki, Osaka, Chiyo, and Yomi for me.

But rather than conduct the intra-factional squabbles here about what is best in AD (A:to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women... wait. No.) let us celebrate the convert of another to our (sometimes) ecumenical cult. There is room for Osakites, Yomites, and even Tomites here.

And Wonderduck, boy howdy do I know how you feel.

Months.

Posted by: HC at Thursday, July 27 2006 11:22 PM (HmhM4)

8 I think we ought to be cautious with the triumphalism, for several reasons.
#1. It seems to me that Steven is not ready to accept the gospel, or whatever is the appropriate religious metaphor is. Even if he does, it's going to be victory of Messiers Azuma, Wada, and Nishikiori and not ours.
#2. He visits these pages as well and his contrarian spirit may be reawaken. I certainly start biting on the bridle when I see every blogger praising Haruhi Suzumiya - and their posts aren't even directed at me personally.
#3. People gloating now are going to look very silly when things do not turn out as they expect and the 4.5 stars aren't assigned.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Friday, July 28 2006 05:19 PM (9imyF)

9 I quite liked Haruhi Suzumiya. But if someone doesn't like it, I can understand that; it's quite possible for two intelligent, decent people to have differing opinions on the subject.

But if they don't like Kamichu!, it's war.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Saturday, July 29 2006 12:44 AM (FRalS)

10 My Kamichu! credentials are impeccable. I watch it on R2 DVDs.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Saturday, July 29 2006 01:08 AM (9imyF)

11 http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/reviews/Kamichu.shtml

So, the review is up. Is this war?

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tuesday, September 12 2006 02:02 AM (9imyF)

12 WAR!!!

Well, he didn't say he didn't like it. In fact, he said the first three episodes are "superb" and "amazingly good". Episode four is weird. And I've only seen up to episode six, so I can't really address whether the rest of it is disappointing.

One thing - Steven was expecting (or at least hoping for) a strong overall plot; I wasn't. I assumed it was a slice-of-life story, so I might not be disappointed the way he was.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Tuesday, September 12 2006 04:15 AM (FRalS)

13 The bad news is, Fuujin Monogatari pulls exactly the same stunt. They start with a story and then just switch tracks into the slice thing completely. However, they left no hooks, the show actually ends.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tuesday, September 12 2006 05:33 PM (9imyF)

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Monday, July 03

Episode What?!

I just kicked off the download for Keroro Gunso episode 27. I'd thought it was a standard 26-episode series.

Apparently not.

52 then? Um...

Would you believe 114 and counting?

Don't know how good it is beyond the first few episodes, though. (I did quite enjoy the first few episodes, but then the fansubs stopped. They've started up again - from a different group, and at a rapid pace - but I haven't gotten back to it yet.)

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Tuesday, June 13

Galaxy Express 754

MagiPoka episode 16. (That is, the second half of episode 8.)

Both funny and moving. This is turning out to be quite a good series.

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Sunday, June 11

Duck And Cover

Theme harems? Okie dokie:

1. Urd, from Oh My Goddess
2. Lum, from Urusei Yatsura
3. Yuri, from Dirty Pair (original version only!)
4. Faye Valentine, from Cowboy Bebop
5. Lina Inverse, from Slayers
6. Tira Misu, from Sorceror Hunters
Maid: Honey Kisaragi, from Cutey Honey (She has a maid outfit, so she qualifies!)

Life will never be dull. Brief, possibly, but never dull. more...

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Subtitled For The Thinking Impaired

Can anyone point me to a subtitling program that doesn't screw up my files? Subtitle Workshop and DivXLand need not apply. Something that actually works without deleting text or formatting or both would be nice.

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Wednesday, May 31

Bulletin Bulletin Bulletin

Future files - and eventually, past files as well - will appear here.

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