Japan Before and After

I ran across these images while looking up news on the disaster in Japan.

The old saying of a picture speaking a thousand words has rarely been truer than here. Take a look and you'll understand the sheer horror of what has happened.

Please remember to give to a legitimate charity seeking to help the people of Japan.

They are going to need it.

I'm sorry to be a downer. I'll try to be more positive tomorrow when I open the contest.

Tragedy in Japan

My Dear Readers,

As an anime fan, as a caring human being and as someone who knows what it feels like to lose a loved one, I want to take a moment to ask that we all try to do something for Japan.

Over on Funimation's Blog, they've posted links to several reliable charities that are working to help the Japanese people in the wake of a devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a horrific tsunami. While I'm certain we will hear about millions and even billions in pledges and spending from governments, I implore all of you to make some small donation of your own. Please visit the American Red Cross or GlobalGiving's websites for details on where you can direct donations.

ANN has a longer list of choices here.

This tragedy in Japan is very serious. There are over 9,000 missing in Miyagi's Minamisanriku, that's more than half the population of an entire city. Please, think about the sheer weight of this disaster on Japan and the collective body of humanity.

There was an explosion at Fukushima nuclear power plant. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has declared a state of emergency there. An attempt to reduce the burden on the nation's power grid by anime fans has begun under the fitting moniker of Operation Yashima. (EVA shout-outs while trying to help in a disaster, anime fans are truly amamzing people.)

The death toll in Japan is rising, with at least 1,700 feared dead. Hundreds of bodies were transfered to Sendai in the Miyagi Prefecture and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said:

This is the largest earthquake since the Meiji Era, and it is believed that more than 1,000 people have lost their lives.

I know this blog is often quite silly and maybe a bit self-absorbed but this is serious business my readers. Please take a moment to do your own small part to aid the people of Japan, who have given us all such joy through anime, to begin the recovery from this tragedy. Donate to a reputable charity. Make a post somewhere about the tragedy and how to help. Even just buying some anime/manga/figures/whatever and informing the retailer that it's part of your effort to help the Japanese because of this disaster can make a small difference.

Every small difference combines to make a great difference and help the people of Japan to cope with this horrific event that has befallen them.

Please keep the Japanese in your hearts right now. As fans, I feel we owe them that much at the very least.

Thank you, God bless you and bye-ni!

Media Blasters and More Dubbing + Computer Woes

I'm popping in again to briefly talk about some more English dub news from MB! Well, news in the sense that it's already been announced at real anime news sites but maybe you missed it. I can't keep 100% up-to-date myself due to class work! (Fortunately I'm entering Spring Break soon! I'm going to spend it with my family, hopefully getting them to watch some more anime!)

Anyway, for Kanokon fans (hey, can't we all appreciate a nice guilty pleasure title?) the OVAs have been not only announced but according to this blurb, they'll be dubbed too. Good news but tempered by perviously observed technical errors. Man, hope they go back and fix some of the glaring ones for the complete collection.

I won't hold my breath though. I'm not into that kind of thing.

Also, a previously released sub-only series, Magical Witch Punie-chan will get a re-release with an English dub too according to them. This makes yet another English dubbed re-release from Media Blasters to be happy about! (My magical girl love gets a new show! Especially something like this one.)

Details on both plus a little something for the hentai fan in all of us here.

Magical Witch Punie-chan was previously released in 2008 sub-only. I'm hopeful that this is a sign that the re-releases they've so far are selling well. (I'm still hopeful that perhaps Simoun will get a worthy English dub. I deserves a really good one.)

As I see it, MB is still not in the best of shape and I question their long-term ability to survive, especially considering that we are about to hit a second economic downturn (brace yourselves for that $5+ gas environmentalists wanted to see!) but at the very least, I'm very grateful to them for remembering to serve the needs of anime fans who prefer English dubs to Japanese with sub-titles!

Also, an update on my computer: it is working, more or less, but really needs help. I can barely even log onto this site to make this post!

Hopefully over this coming week, I can get it fixed. I can't really afford a new computer right now on top of my anime habit. (Geez, why does law school have to be so expensive?)

Post any comments you have! I really do read every one and I feel just a little more like my existence has meaning when I see them.

Bye-ni!

High School of the Dead Dub Cast Revealed!

As I'm sure you've all realized previously, I'm a bit pro-fanservice. Interestingly enough, I've actually been anti-zombie for a while after watching a particular zombie movie and discovering that there was a limit to the amount of gore a man can take in before he loses his taste for it. (The scene in question involved a lawnmower and quite a few zombies. Gooey ewwie.)

When I heard about High School of the Dead, I found myself at first not interested. Then I read a bit about it and started getting interested. Then I heard who the artist was and I just HAD to check it out. I was quite happy when Section23 decided to do an English dub for it. I've wondered for a while who would be cast.

Well, we've got the answer now!



Additional details claimed in this post on Mania.com's AoD section, official status unverified.

I think this is one of best casts I've seen in a while. I especially like seeing Illich Guardiola for Kouichi Shido. His voice was the very first one that came to mind when I started thinking about an English voice for that character. (No offense whatsoever for Mr. Guardiola, I just think his voice will be perfect.)

I'm also extremely pleased by the casting of Taylor Hannah as Saeko Busujima. Having enjoyed her voice work in a number of other series, I think she's going to just kick ass in this role. Listen to a clip here. Check out all the clips and decide for yourself!

My only negative is for Hisashi Igo being voiced by David Matranga. I don't know exactly why but I REALLY thought Chris Patton would be superlative casting for that role. Sadly, I think he's dropping off the anime radar a bit. (Mr. Matranga is very talented though. I'm sure he'll achieve something great with this.)

I hope to see some High School of the Dead DVDs or Blu-Rays before too long.

So what do all of you my dear readers think about the casting? Are you pleased or pissed? Comment before They get you!

Bye-ni!

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. There's been a perfect storm of legal writing and exam studying combined with severe technical difficulties. Hopefully, I should have some of this resolved by week after next.



Maybe.

You see, the problem is I do my blogging on my desktop computer which is, unfortunately, reaching the end of its life. To keep from losing it entirely before I can ready a replacement, I'll be doing almost everything off of my laptop. So please understand that for a while after this post, my blog posts will lack pics (no image editing software on the lap) and may be a bit less complex than some of my previous blog posts.

However, I'll try to blog a bit more to make up for it.

Info on the contest, entry E-mail link and list of titles in the package will be made public March 14th. Since my Top 5 may not be to everyone's liking, there will be a special bonus that I'm sure will make the contest appealing to more folks.

What will that be? Eh, you'll have to wait and see! (Yup, I'm a terrible tease.)

Bye-ni!

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!

Well, once again the time to post has arrived. The pole is or was supposed to close today if I set it up correctly. Hopefully, everyone who had an opinion took the time to make it known. (If you didn't feel free to comment about your choice. I do read all the comments!)

So with that bit of housekeeping behind us:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day has a long and storied tradition going back much farther than the commercialized version many deride in modern times. However, I'll let you my loyal readers discover that on your own. Rather than blog about the past, I'd like to post some adorable Valentine's themed anime pics, comment on a featured couple and generally act like a man who is a hopeless romantic at heart.

Love is a theme in story-telling that transcends almost all others as a timeless element of the human condition, so it comes as no surprise that it pops up in anime. It is also no surprise that countless fans can find evidence of love in the interaction of characters. From casual talk of nothing to fierce arguments, there's no moment in anime or any story-telling that can't be parsed out for subtext and innuendo. Not even brutal fights between characters who appear to hate each other.

Of course, sometimes fans will ship a side character with a main one or even invent their very own character from that pitch dark nightmare known as the mind of the fanfic author. Tremble in horror at the thought.



The cute so adorable it terrifies the world! Fear the Pika love!

Whenever exercising one's imagination, please try to avoid the creation of yet another demonic Sue. Remember, whenever a fanfic author creates a Mary Sue character, God does a face-palm. The Creator is having migraines as a result. Please, think of the Creator.

Fanfic authors and anime writers can sometimes get on the same page though. Some series see the addition of new subtext and even obvious shipping elements to cause a character relationship that started out more ambiguous to become more romantic/emotional. Often this occurs as a result of anime writers either having their own opinion on the ship or simply misunderstanding cues from the source material.



Seriously, they're just friends. The manga already picked Orihime for the OTP. The anime writers may have missed that memo though. (I know I did. Actually, I think a lot of fans did.)

When discussing shipping of any kind on any level, remember that while emotionally investing in the love between two (or more) fictional characters is fine in moderation, it can be taken to extremes. Advocating violence against opposing shippers or equating them to mustachioed Austrians is rarely the best way to debate someone, even if it can be quite amusing.

Now for a brief talk about our featured couple:

Domon Kasshu and Rain Mikamura!

Recently I've been watching G Gundam and frankly I really admire the relationship writing in the series. Sure, as an entry into the deep and often highly complex universe of mobile suit wars, G Gundam isn't exactly the deepest or necessarily the best written anime ever.

However, there is a depth to the love story of Domon and Rain. It is as if the writers decided that since the series wasn't going to involve as many plots and deep thoughts as a typical Gundam franchise entrant, they'd devote themselves instead to portraying the complexities of love. If that was their goal, they succeeded.

At first, the viewer can't be sure that Domon really does care about Rain. He starts out far too driven and angry. Yet every scene between them carries something, even if it is just a small gesture or glance, that shows just how deep their love goes. One scene from the first Bandai box set that struck me is when Rain is trying to repair the Shinning Gundam while feverish. At first, Domon does as she asks and lets her work alone but when he sees how much trouble she's having, he has her direct him to make the repairs. In a short time, they're finished despite earlier scenes and dialogue making it clear that the repairs were going very slowly and Domon isn't very good at fixing the Shinning Gundam alone. Another scene before then had Domon and Rain work together in a fight and as a result unleash a bit of Domon's true power. Together the two are just better.

Later scenes of Domon desperately begging for Rain's life or the two of them spending time together emphasize it but there are no scenes where you can't sense the love they have. For a series that is quite a bit silly at times, G Gundam has perhaps the best written love story of any Gundam series, at least of the one's I've seen.

In closing, Valentine's Day isn't something to cynically write off as a commercial waste of time. It's a day for reflection on the heart, a time to remember love or seek love or declare love and a brief moment when you should be able to ship without feeling embarrassed. Anime fans need moments to ship without embarrassment.

So remember:



Remeber to vote in the poll if it is still working! I'll announce the specific prize anime in a later blog post. I'm not quite sure exactly when I'll be able to buy them. (Remember, I have no sponsors for prizes! It'll all from my pocket right now!)

I'm happy to remain your blog navigator, Richard J. Hopefully, I'll be around for a long time to come even if my posting is a bit sporadic. (I am WAY too lazy.)

Bye-ni!

Update and Poll

Hello everyone! I have returned from a combination of winter break laziness and first week back at law school mental breakdown! Richard J. here to try to get things going again on this blog. (Wow, I have GOT to stop doing this whole disappearing thing!)

Anyway, let me explain myself. At first I was on break. . . .



Oh the joy of sleeping in late, eating home-cooked meals I didn't have to cook myself and just being lazy in general. I played games and watched anime and read manga and relaxed HARD. I spent lots of time with my family, talking about all kinds of things both serious and light-hearted. I helped clean up a building (urgh) and cleaned a little in my room (yah!) and then I just sort of went into hibernation for the last week of break.

Seriously, I basically did nothing for the last week but eat and sleep.

It was bliss. Of course, I meant to do some blog posting too but, well, like I said I got pretty lazy.

Then, my winter break ended.



I figured I was relaxed enough to be ready to deal with the rigors of law school once again. So I drove up, unpacked and got ready for the start of a new term.

Sure, I was a bit nervous because I still didn't have some of my books (slow delivery is slow) but I wasn't too worried. I mean, I've done this sort of thing before. Last term wasn't so bad in the end. I even did pretty darn good on my finals! (High Bs and an A.)

But then classes started.

I wasn't mentally prepared after all.



Yeah, it was kinda like that.

I didn't freak out in class or anything but my stress levels shot through the roof. I started drinking to mellow out. A bottle of wine was gone in less than a week and I usually drink so little and so slowly that a bottle of wine lasts nearly a full month.

Obviously, I was a bit nervous.

Then things started to pull together as the week went on.



My books came in, my family helped me to get one of them from a special "first come, first served" deal after finding out the one I ordered was wrong and they even came up to visit yesterday.

I'm feeling quite a bit more mellow now about this term. Ah, I think I can manage this after all. Hey, if I could make it through the first term and pull off those grades, then this shouldn't be too much worse, right?

So that's how I came to be in a good enough mental state to start blogging again.

To make it up to everyone for being gone for so long, I'm doing another contest! I want your opinions though! So take some time and do this poll for me.

What Prize Should The Next Context Have?

I'm going to be quite busy this term but I hope to be able to post enough to please ya'll!

Until the next post, please vote in this poll and comment if you want! Future polls will be widgets but I wanted to confine this one to this post to make sure it gets attention.

My plan is to give away some anime and I need to know what method to my madness you'd prefer!

Until next time bloggies!

Bye-ni!

*Edit: I just want to clarify: Yes, I meant "contest" and not "context." I'm not sure if changing the title will foul up the polling so I'm leaving it that way. (Thanks to bal-anime for putting me on notice!)