Japanimation
Yes. Mio, Yui, Mugi-chan, Ritsu! The K-ON! club performing at their school festival. “Light and Fluffy Time” The rest of the episode is good too. I thought episode five was good, but this one is beating it out as my favorite. I like the crackly voice of Yui, and Mio’s shyness melting away. Plus, pantsu!
You must watch.
Thinking of all things baseball. Last night, the O’s survived at the Texas Rangers with Koji “Kojira” Uehara pitching.
It’s funny what you find in anime. Here’s another baseball centric one. It wants to capture the otaku heart as it is about some teenage girls in Japan in the early 20th century. They decide they want to play baseball, but lack the knowledge of the rules or the equipment to play.
Yeah, I didn’t get this from today’s link. I read it on wikipedia.
Right around starting to watch anime and reading manga, I started to like watching baseball. I think it was the fact that the Japanese like the game a lot, and I just naturally gravitated to liking it too. Not to mention the fact that the greatest episode of Haruhi had to be the boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya where the SOS Brigade had to win a baseball game so that the world did not collapse because of Suzumiya-sama. But I hadn’t read or watched a sports manga/anime. I did read some Prince of Tennis, and picked up in the bookstore Slam Dunk, but those aren’t my sports. What I really wanted was a baseball manga. They just don’t bring those to America, because they think that the game is no longer our national pastime.
So I read about this Cross Game anime that is new this year. And I hit the torrent sites for it. The first episode is awesome. I’m amazed by it, because it looks so simple and for a younger set, but the twists and turns of the story are very mature. It also has zero fan service and isn’t any moe.
I’m hoping you read today’s link and too decide to watch it, because I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.
UPDATE: SPOILERS IN THAT LINK! BEWARE!!
This is fun.
It seems that the big hit anime for otaku this spring is K-ON!. I’m in love with it from the first episode. There’s only been one I’ve seen so far, but dang it’s good. Hopefully.
If you don’t believe me, then ask Danny Choo. And if it’s intriguing enough for you, then check out the episode summaries as the folks at Random Curiosity put them out.
It took me three sitting, but I finally finished Millenium Actress. The first time it put me to sleep in twenty minutes. The second time just under ten. This last time was the pure sitting and then I found out how good of a love story it was.
Millennium Actress is an animated film by Satoshi Kon. He’s another celebrated Japanese animation director famous for Paprika and Three Godfathers. I’ve seen Paprika but didn’t think anything of it. I’ve partially seen Three Godfathers but didn’t think anything of it. I almost didn’t finish this film, but glad I did. Satoshi Kon while not as great as Miyazawa is a cut above Makoto Shinkai.
In Millennium Actress, a documentary crew goes to interview the reclusive titular actress, Chiyoko Fukiwara. Her story is told in flashbacks that are filmed like the movies she starred in. It plays around with the settings. What era are we in? Is this one of her movies? Are they saying the script or what she said in real life? And her story is one of finding the love of her life. She helps an left-leaning artist escape for a time from the police and falls in love with him. She doesn’t seem him again until she follows him to Manchuria under the guise of being an actress. But the times are tough for them to meet as war follows and he is imprisoned because of his politics.
The movie plays out in how she yearns to reunite with him. She lives her life always looking for him and a chance to find him once again.
There is a prop that reminds me of Notorious. It is a key that Chiyoko longs to return to her love. And just like the key to the wine cellar in Notorious that was given back to Hitchcock from Ingrid Bergman at a celebration before he died. I liked how Millenium Actress reminded me of that.
One thing I love about animation is that it can tell many stories well. It is a stylistic choice that a strong creative person can use to great effect. I wish it would expand from the children story ghetto we’ve currently got it slotted into in the US.
4 of 5 stars.
BestBuy Anime Sale
Originally uploaded by browsermetrics.
50% Clearance. Why?
I’m not sure how I feel about Taiga x Ryuuji. I’m not sure how I feel about Minori x Ryuuji. I wonder what’ll happen next?
You know of my love of battleships. And you know I’m in my crazy otaku, anime, manga phase. For the last 3 months, because I’ve throttled back my netflix account, I’ve ben watching the anime Zipang. It posits a modern Aegis Guided Missile Destroyer, DDG-182 Mirai, that travels back in time into the middle of World War II. The crew and her ship find themselves in the middle of the Battle of Midway, they find themselves in the middle of the Battle for Guadalcanal, and they find themselves in the middle of changing the future. Will they be able to get back to their time?
Today’s link takes you to the manga for Zipang in the Weekly Morning magazine. It’s all in Japanese, but there’s some cool stuff there like the pictures of the Mirai. They also have some statistics on the ship itself. I like the fact that they are using the MK41 Vertical Launching System. What a cool show!
