Yep, another loot post.  Been playing too much FFXI lately and haven’t really dug into much.  Certainly hasn’t stopped me from adding to the backlog though.  I’ll have some more real posts soon though, promise!  See the horrifying full contents of my recent orders within.

First off we have books:

Clover Omnibus – read some of this when Tokyopop released it the first time, never got to finishing it, but that’s ok because neither did CLAMP!

Biomega vol 1-2 – I guess this is supposed to be a prequel to Blame or something?  I’ve been told it’s architecture porn, and I do like me some detailed backgrounds.  Also one of the main characters is a hook handed talking bear.  I don’t think it’s possible to be more awesome than a hook handed talking bear.

Gunsmith Cats Burst vol 1-5 -  If you’re reading this you may have noticed I am a fan of Gunsmith Cats, so naturally the sequel was high on my list of stuff to flip through.  I’ve only read the first volume so far, but it seems to have lost a bit of it’s “punch” for lack of a better way to describe it.  Needs more sex.

Pluto vol 7-8 – Finally completed Urasawa’s take on Astro boy.  Absolutely phenomenal read.  I was a little disappointed in the shift in focus and direction towards the end.  I feel it kind of abandoned the original mood and pacing and went for a cheap thrill ending.

The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya – Haven’t actually gotten to the first book yet, but I keep grabbing these hardcover editions as they come out.  I’ll barrel through several at once when the mood hits me.

MW - My first real Tezuka book.  Looked to be one of the more interesting ones Vertical released so I jumped in.  Have not gotten to this yet.

And then DVDs:

Toradora vol 1 premium edition (Pictured above) – One of the more enjoyable cartoons of it’s type I’ve seen in recent years.  It’s a romantic comedy that covers some interesting ground with it’s character motivations.  I’m holding off on the re-watch till set 2 is out and NISA issues replacements.  There are a bunch of interlacing and ghosting issues and they are offering a fix.  Packaging is otherwise phenomenal although unconventional.  The hardcover book that comes with it is really nice, and chock full of art, interviews, and episode summaries and things.

Gurren Lagann (Pictured above) – Been waiting for this ever since Bandai announced it’s acquisition.  Waited long mostly because of space concerns (One case instead of six?  Yes, please.) and for the oddball release pattern to sort itself out.  Looking forward to checking out the dub.

The Big O & The Big O II – Never got to see the end of the second season, very much looking forward to it.  The original opening is bizarrely removed from this edition and replaced with a different song, but left the opening video the same.  Apparently it sounded a little TOO much like a Queen song after all.  Shame, that was part of the charm.

G-Gundam – I don’t really think this needs explaining.

Gundam Wing & Endless Waltz – Haven’t seen this since the original cartoon network airing back in the day.  It get’s a lot of undeserved flack I think.  Gonna check it out in Japanese this time since I never did get to see it all in the original language.

Shingu – I’ve had my eye on this one for a while and found a good price.  I’m attracted to the atypical character designs and some of the production staff (Tatsuo Sato.)

Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex – Replacing the individual dvds with the smaller collection to save shelf space.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Do Over Edition – I never finished the original series, I just didn’t care for the direction it took very much after a certain character was killed off.  I don’t follow the manga at all, so I have no idea what to expect.  I absolutely adore the choreography on the first opening theme.

Blood: The Last Vampire – 45 minutes of good bloody fun.  Decent upscale.

Baccano – Not nearly as exciting as folks would have you believe.  It hits a really high point in the middle of the show and then never really reaches for those heights again.  Really tapers off at the end, but still worth a watch.

Madonna - A young female teacher gets stuck running the delinquent class and the rugby team, great 80′s hilarity ensues.  Features Norio Wakamoto as himself.

Venus Wars – Yas!  Kinda disappointed this is letterboxed.

Simoun – Watched this raw as it aired, though it’d be cool to understand it this time.  Beautiful watercolor backgrounds in every shot.

The Gokusen – Kind of a wannabee GTO with far duller teeth.  It was amusing enough, I don’t really want my time back or anything, but it could have been a lot better.  Also, Norio Wakamoto makes yet another appearance here as himself.

Shamanic Princess – Chalk another one off the “I saw this on VHS ages ago I wonder if it’s still good” list.

I’ve gone a while without posting one of these, but I decided not to go back and add all the stuff I missed and just do this new stuff.  I’ll try and keep up from now on.  Anyway, my TRSI order came in, first of two, and a bunch of Best Buy stickers are all over everything.  I guess that’s where all the dead stock went.  Got another shipment coming in soon too.  Look forward to joining me in my descent into debt.  More pictures after the break.

Full list of loot:

Kurau: Phantom Memory Vol 1-6 + box
Pani Poni Dash Vol 1-6 + box
Wings of Honneamise BD + DVD combo (Kidfenris’ favorite movie ever)
The Daichis: Earth Defense Family vol 1-3
Patlabor The Movie 3: WXIII Limited Edition (with minipato!)

2nd Pic:

Sakura Wars ~So Long My Love~
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time

In non Dark Lord Klechner related purchase news, Sakura Wars V came in!  Can’t wait to give it a whirl.  Also liberated a pristine copy of Star Ocean 3 from a Gamestop, which I will go back to and finish some day when I am feeling masochistic.

The Little Lip Theater pamphlet that comes with Sakura is a smaller replica of the large one that came in the Japanese Sakura Wars V LE.  It’s rather nicely done, and I really appreciate them including that particular extra.

Gonna go open all this crap.  Expect to see some reviews of some of the above pop up here sometime.  Although considering my breakneck posting speed it may be a while.

Update:

The rest of my order arrived!

Le Chevalier D’Eon 1-6 + box
Inuyasha Seasons 2-3
Arjuna Anime Legends Collection

Expect to see something on here about the Daichis very soon, I wound up digging into that over the past few days and it turned out to be way more than I was expecting.

The story goes something like this:  When the earth gets invaded by a race of space lesbians called the Cthulu (seriously,) the only one who can stand up to their invasion force of grotesque body snatchers and giant robots is the mysterious Iczer-One.  However, Iczer-One cannot stand up against them alone, and is searching for a partner to help pilot her robot.  That partner is Nagisa Kano, a normal Japanese high school girl (‘natch.)  Before Iczer can approach Nagisa, all hell breaks loose as the aliens begin a large scale invasion in the middle of Japan.

Toshiki Hirano isn’t what I’d call a household name, but if you’re a fan of Eighties cartoons like myself, he’s probably worked on something you’ve seen.  Hirano was the animation director on the 1984′s legendary Macross: Do You Remember Love, which while not his first project, is the most notable.  Throughout the rest of the late Eighties he went on to adapt Haruhiko Mikimoto’s character designs for the first part of Megazone 23 and direct several robot OVAs with similar staff, aesthetics and pacing, Fight! Iczer-One, Dangaioh, and Hades Project Zeorymer.  Other staff roll highlights include Mode Warp favorite Masami Obari and Michitaka Kikuchi (aka Kia Asamiya) doing mechanical designs and animation.

The robot designs remind me of low budget sci-fi movies and rubber suit monster shows like Ultraman.  There is even an amusing sub plot involving a series of increasingly advanced drill-tipped flying battleships called the “Fuji” (reminiscent of the submarine from the 1963 film Atragon,) which launch against the Cthulu once per episode.  Each time there is an elaborate launch sequence where the latest Fuji unit is sent into battle only to be comically obliterated faster and faster.  Obari was brought in for episode 2 and 3, which is why we don’t get to see any of his usual more angular and monolithic style until Iczer Sigma appears in episode 2, which I can’t help but assume he is partially responsible for.

What totally makes the show for me however, is the soundtrack, composed by Michiaki Watanabe, whose distinct bombast you may recognize from Great Mazinger or Godannar.  Horns and guitars over the top of a funky synthesizer beat is a sure fire way to get my blood boiling.  I’m no music expert though, so if that description didn’t pique your interest it’ll probably be best to take a listen yourself to see what I mean.

As you may have already guessed, the plot is nothing to write home about, but that doesn’t stop it from being good dumb fun.  The show spends most of it’s time with the titular protagonist dragging Nagisa, kicking and screaming, through plot hoops until she finally decides to team up and save the world…  only to get herself almost immediately kidnapped, and then killed.  It’s got robots powered up by emotions, cool poses, grotesque alien body snatchers popping out of people’s heads, and children getting stepped on by giant robots, what more could you ask for?

Iczer-One is a little over an hour and a half of good dumb fun, and it makes no attempt to trick you into thinking otherwise.  If you are a fan of Eighties animation, or any of the other projects Hirano was involved in, you’re sure to find something to entertain here.  It’s pretty easy to pick this up on the cheap, and should you see it around, I suggest you do just that.

Dirty Pair was never a series that clicked with me when it was released on DVD earlier this decade.  I gave a few episodes a shot, but there was something about it that just didn’t do it for me.  Tastes change over the years, and I’ve always heard positive things about the television series, so when it hit the internet in it’s entirety along with some serviceable subtitles a few months ago, I immediately went to check it out.

Much to my delight I found myself having an absolute blast with the TV series.  Very nice looking animation that stays fairly consistent throughout the series, Yasuhiko Yoshikazu character designs, and an engaging soundtrack all came together to put a big stupid grin on my face whenever I popped in an episode or two.  For a show about a pair of girls in skimpy outfits doing odd jobs and blowing things up in the process you really can’t ask for more.

The show is largely episodic, although it has a “memory” if you will, of events from earlier episodes, there is no overarching plot at all.  As of episode 20, there hasn’t even been a 2 part story yet.  Although part of the reason I am drawn to anime in the first place is it’s ability to tell a story serially, I enjoyed the variety of stories presented without feeling rushed for them to “get back to the point” like a filler episode in a more serially plotted cartoon.

Some of the stories can get downright absurd, like a rich businessman firing his son’s post-op transexual girlfriend into space because he doesn’t approve of their relationship, but even in that light, I never expected this particular plot device to rear it’s ugly head.  The “female allergy.”  A character who is literally unable to come into contact with women without having some kind of absurd reaction, in this case, black out and violently throw things.

The story goes something like this:  Kei and Yuri (the titular pair) abandon a flying pod in mid air after it runs out of fuel during a job they were working on.  The unmanned pod crashes into a wealthy man’s estate, killing his girlfriend.  The man decides ironically to hire the pair to find the killer so he can get his revenge by killing THEM.  Here is where it gets weird.  The girlfriend is a doll.  Now obviously Kei and Yuri don’t want to die because they broke a doll, so they come up with the a foolproof plan to convert him to real girls so he forgets the doll by appealing to him themselves.  This is where the aforementioned allergy comes into play.

Now my familiarity with late 70′s / early 80′s cartoons is not as broad as I would like it to be, but this is the earliest occurrence of this particular trope I have seen.  Is this the origin of the “female allergy” trope?  Did something else like Urusei Yatsura come up with it earlier?  And if not, does that mean that Dirty Pair is directly responsible for things like DNA^2 and Girl’s Bravo, not to mention the obvious modern fan culture parallels one can draw from a man who can only love a doll?  Lovely angels what have you done!?

From left to right:

Texhnolyze “Lenticular” box set:  The main difference between this and the other box set is it had lenticulat cards haphazardly hot glued onto the box and individual cases.  I promptly removed the panels from the box and stored the individual volume ones inside the cover are slip.  Much less gaudy.  Rightstuf had a few left for cheap and I always wanted to check this out.  I do like me some Yoshitoshi ABe character designs so I look forward to having time for this.

Brutal Legend:  Very fun game.  Short, but fun.  Need to go back through it again with a fine toothed comb and finish collecting the bafmodads.  Maybe try hard mode.

Infamous:  Just started, has better bafmodads than the above game.  Also has a silly comic book origin story that is quite enjoyable.  I do wish it did more “showing” than “telling” with it’s cut scenes though.  Especially since they feature some boss comic art.  Thank you Best Buy buy 2 get one free sale.

Uncharted 2:  Liked the original, haven’t had time to start this yet.  Hearing good things, and I do enjoy me some Nathan Fillion-ish dialog.

Witchblade:  Not gonna lie, I like the T&A.  ‘Bout halfway through this so far, has shades of Devil Lady, and a fairly atypical protagonist.  Shame the blu ray are absolute shit quality.  Don’t think I’ll be paying anywhere near full price for a Funimation release ever again if they keep this up.  They put TEN episodes on a disc.  Why am I paying a premium for this?  It’s not a blu ray it’s a super dvd.

Escaflowne The Movie:  Now here is a nice looking flick.  Amazing transfer, and it’s a stealth Honneamise (It’s ok BVUSA, I loved you) release.  I believe this is the first time the Honneamise logo has popped up on a normal Bandai Entertainment release.  Also big YELLOW subtitles, hell yes!

Demon’s Souls:  This is probably one of the best games I have ever played, and definitely the first game I’ve played on PS3 that would definitely not have been possible on the last generation of consoles.  The seamless online mode is really a sight to behold.  It’s not without problems but it’s definitely a must buy.

Disgaea 2 – Dark Hero Days:  Nothing beats a light strategy rpg on the go, and these games happen to work wonderfully as a lunch break game.

Odin – Starlight Mutiny:  Very disappointed to find out after picking this up that it is NOT the uncut version.  I will have to spend an four more dollars to rescue an additional copy from amazon marketplace purgatory.

What A Wonderful World:  After reading Solanin and Nijigahara Holograph, Inio Asano has quickly become my favorite comic author.  Had these pre ordered the moment I heard they were coming.  Slowly making my way through them, savoring the subdued yet detailed artwork and wildly imaginative vignettes.  Loving what Viz is doing with their signature books, especially the faux dust jackets and larger form factor.

El Hazard Playing Cards:  Why the fuck not?

I think it’s safe to say that Kenichi Sonoda should be a household name for anyone who got into japtoons and comics in the mid to late 90′s, but nowadays that does not seem to be the case.  Consider this a public service announcement.

Sonoda began his career at Artmic, the studio responsible for some of the most well known (at least in the US) OVAs of the 80′s and 90′s including Sonoda’s own Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force, and Riding Bean, all of which saw US release.  In 1991, Sonada began working on Gunsmith Cats, which ran until 1997 in Japan.  That same year Dark Horse and Toren Smith’s Studio Proteus comics began printing Cats in single chapter comic book format, eventually collecting the single chapters into trade paperbacks in 2000.  Seven years later, Dark Horse revisited the original Gunsmith Cats in conjunction with their release of the sequel series Gunsmith Cats Burst by reprinting the original stories as a series of four omnibus editions (clocking in at over 350 pages each) in unaltered right to left format for the first time, as well as touching up the already stellar translation.

Sonoda, is an admitted gun fanatic, and it really shows.  Not only in this comic, but if you look back at some of the ARTMIC works he was involved in (Gall Force especially,) you can see an almost awkward lingering in any scene involving firearms, such that you can’t help but wonder if it’s reason for being is simply Sonoda’s involvement.  Cats goes so far as to include footnotes in the margins or extraneous dialog to describe the types of ammunition being used.  It doesn’t feel like a Tom Clancy level of obsession, due to the visual nature of the medium Sonoda doesn’t spend entire pages describing the gun, but it’s presence is definitely felt here.

The story of Gunsmith Cats centers on a pair of Chicago barely legals, Rally Vincent, a half Indian gun and car fanatic with daddy issues, and “Minnie” May Hopkins, a diminutive nymphomaniac ex prostitute with a penchant for explosives, who work together running a gun shop and bounty hunting on the side (or possibly the other way around depending on how you look at it.)  The bounty hunting is definitely the focus of the comic, introducing a cavalcade of eccentric villains who eventually drag the duo’s colorful pasts into the spotlight.

The most interesting of these villains is an Italian mafioso named “Iron” Goldie Musou.  Goldie is a ruthless psychopharmacology expert who is pushing a new drug called “kerasine” which has a powerful side effect of making its users susceptible to hypnotic suggestion.  This same drug is used by Goldie to program obedience into her lackeys, a harem of sex slaves which she brainwashed into patricide, and eventually even Rally herself.  Goldie appears in two of the longer arcs throughout the series, and acts as sort of the main antagonist in an otherwise episodic story.  After initially trying to bring Rally under her control using drugs and failing Goldie falls into obsession over “breaking” Rally and making her submit without them.

The Goldie stories are basically a microcosm of what makes Gunsmith Cats so appealing.  It has this perfect balance of humor, sex, and violence, along with an uncanny ability to portray over the top characters like Bean Bandit, a character who is pretty much the definition of completely ridiculous,  without seeming completely ridiculous in context.  The plotting smart and is fast paced, never lingering too long on a particular plot point or character hang up.  All of this is wrapped up in some absolutely wonderful artwork.

Sonoda’s characters have a very distinct look to them.  The designs are firmly rooted in that late eighties / early nineties aesthetic Sonada helped define.  The frequent action sequences are an absolute treat to read.  They are exciting, and they flow well from panel to panel.  The numerous car chases are particularly notable, and come together almost like reading super detailed storyboards for a cartoon.  The artwork is super clean and consistent, and the image quality on the revised edition is top notch.  For a medium where you can wind up paying twelve dollars for what basically amounts to professional scanlations, it’s absolutely refreshing to see these look so nice.

I honestly cannot recommend Gunsmith Cats enough to anyone who likes a good action comic.  It really is the total package, and the deal is sealed by a really high quality release from Dark Horse.  Pick this up as soon as you can.

Once upon a time I, too, was a wide eyed young lad, freshly exposed to the medium we all know and love as Japanimation. Like all budding Japanese cartoon watchers, I had horrible taste, and wouldn’t know a good show if it bit me in the ass. Thankfully, the selection at the local video store made most of my viewing decisions for me, keeping at bay the horror of things like Dancougar simply by not having the first tape. Unfortunately, even a limiting my selection to choice OVAs from CPM, ADV and Animeigo was not enough to keep me from making some bad decisions, decisions which I would only come to regret years after the fact. Not watching Ushio & Tora was one of them.

Ushio & Tora was one of those shows you would see in the trailer reel of every ADV VHS on the market at the time. I don’t think there was a single volume of the thirteen tape Blue Seed run that did not begin with the preview for it. Alas it was too soon, it’s wild character designs and rough lines were too much for my undeveloped palette, and I never did give it a watch. That is, of course, until now.

Ushio is a brash high school student with a self proclaimed knack for art. He lives in an old shrine with Tenchi’s grandfather, who has repeatedly told him fantastic sounding stories of the shrine’s long history involving the subjugation of a particularly dangerous demon. Ushio believes none of this of course, so when he stumbles upon said demon in his storehouse basement it’s quite a shock. Ushio is eventually tricked into freeing the demon by removing the “beast spear” which has kept him from moving from that spot for 500 years, but things don’t go as planned, and the tables turn back around once Ushio learns he can wield the spear and keep the demon, who he names “Tora” in check. The unlikely pair spend the duration of the show bickering and beating up demons that Tora inevitably attracts, although their alliance is a shaky one, as Tora is poised to make a meal out of Ushio the second he has his back turned.

Ushio & Tora is admittedly “standard youth comic” fare, but that isn’t really a knock against it. Youth comics are at their best when they are introducing the scenario, characters, and establishing the “rules of engagement,” if you will. It’s only when they get lost in the mire of their own nonsensical mythology, endless fighting tournaments, and giving each member of the inevitably bloated cast a bit of screen time that they fall apart completely. Brevity is definitely on Ushio & Tora’s side as it is pretty firmly rooted in this introductory period, not lasting long enough to leave it or implode under the weight of its own stupidity.

In addition to taking place in the aforementioned introductory period, Ushio & Tora also has the “buddy movie” angle going for it. Reluctant cooperation eventually turning into an unshakable friendship is the direction the show heads in, and although it isn’t fully realized, it goes far enough so you get the idea.

I have no familiarity with the original comic Ushio & Tora was based on. According to wikipedia it ran for a total of thirty three volumes from the early to mid 90′s, spawning this ten episode OVA in 1992, four years before the comic would see it’s final volume. An ending was obviously impossible that early in the game, but I’m not sure if it really needed one. In fact, I could have done without the last two episodes of the OVA entirely, as they make for a more abrupt ending than ending it earlier would have.

You could fault the show for not having any real conclusion, a common problem of animation based on an ongoing comic, but honestly I just don’t care. Sure it could have gone on forever and spawned hundreds of tv episodes, but I kinda like the “taste test” sized run we got.

All of the flavor, none of the indigestion.

Old: Lain – Haven’t seen this since it was out on VHS.  Can’t wait to revisit it.

New: Pluto Vol 5 – Still on vol 2, trying to pace myself for the next 6 months as the last 3 trickle out.

Borrowed: Heat Guy J – Always wanted to grab this but never got around to it.  Now that Funimation re-released it in a conveniently compact (although likely lower bit rate) package I decided to nab it.

Blue: Irresponsible Captain Tylor OVA – If you don’t like Tylor you are some kind of villain.

Cartoons I will be watching:

Kiddy Girl-and: I really enjoyed the first one despite it’s rather bland first impressions, and with Keiji Gotoh at the helm once again I have high hopes.  Also, no Gonzo this time, what could possibly be more promising than that?

Trapeze: Sounds screwy.  Could be great, could be awful.  I know nothing about it other than the blurb on the chart and I’m going in blind other than that.

Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret 2: The first season was a decent way to kill some boredom one weekend, kinda bland, but the supporting cast made me laugh a bunch.  Will come back for seconds probably after it’s all out.

The Sacred Blacksmith: I actually have high hopes for this as well.  Attractive character designs and nice looking animation from manglobe, who’s work has been hit or miss with me personally, but aside from Ergo Proxy, hard to fault technically.  Might turn out to be just manglobe payin the bills with something a little pandery, but I have a feeling there might be a little more to this one.  All I’ve seen is one trailer but it piqued my interest enough to give it a whirl.

To: Hard science fiction?  Hell yes.  From the people who brought you Appleseed and Vexile?  Meh.  Will check it out for sure though.

Mahoromatic – I’m Home; Welcome Back: Really enjoyed the original series, especially the ending which everyone seems to hate for some reason.  This will probably be nothing but a fluff episode but it will be nice to see something new with these characters again.

Cartoons I will not be watching but still look interesting:

A Certain Scientific Railgun: Sequel / spinoff to last seasons A Certain Magical Index, which I did not watch.  If I ever check out the first one I’ll check out this.  I have a thing for well produced JC staff shows I guess.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms: I would be watching this, but I’m in the middle of the book, which is actually pretty damn boring at points, and I’ll not watch the cartoon till I’m finished with it.

Summer Storm 2: SHAFT production I missed the first season of.  If I ever get around to the first I’ll definitely be checking this out.

Three Musketeers: Need to see a trailer to see how it’s being handled, if it looks like it’s gonna be on the serious side, I’m in.

Curiously missing:

Cobra: What happened to that TV series madhouse was supposed to be doing?  Delayed again?  You cannot come soon enough.

And that’s it for a brief rundown of things I will be checking out this season.  What will YOU be watching?  Check the chart and leave a comment.

Really looking forward to reading these.  Never did get around to it back when it was first coming out.  I really like these omnibus editions that many companies are doing these days.  Keep them coming!