Last Friday's A/M Club at Arlington, New Manga at the BPL, and yet another Train Man manga....

I didn’t quite get the attendance that I was looking for at Arlington’s Anime/Manga Club last Friday, but I was fortunate to get a few hardcore otaku dropping buy to take a look at Law of Ueki and review some of the new Manga titles that the BPL has recently bought – Kekaishi, Case Closed, Skip*Beat, and my two new favorites, Love Roma and Yakitate Japan!.Some folks have suggested that we try having Arlington’s Anime/Manga Club at a later time (4:30pm, for example), multiple times a month, or on a Saturday – all good ideas worth considering.

What else is new? Aside from furiously reading Yakitate Japan! and Love Roma, I just took a look at Michiko Ocha’s Train Man: A Shojo Manga. The title is fitting, because this is a very “shojo” version of the Train Man story we’ve all come to know and love. Far less slapsticky than Wantanabe’s/Nakano’s version but not as realistic as Hoti’s version (see 12/13/07’s review of these 2 titles), it focuses more on the romantic interaction between “Train Man” and “Hermes-san". It’s a good bet for shojo fan or folks that just can’t get enough of the “Train Man” story.

I’ve been busy so time to sit down and write reviews is in short supply, but I’m hoping to get reviews of Yakitate Japan!, Love Roma, and the anime series Dears out before too long.

Arlington Anime/Manga Club this Friday! 1/25 @ 4pm

Hi everyone. Sorry for the last minute notice but.....Arlington is having it’s monthly Anime/Manga Club Meeting this Friday, January 25th, at 4pm. I’ll be talking about two new manga (action-packed Hoshin Engi and horror manga Zombie Loan) as well as showing the very cool new anime, Law of Ueki. Hope to see y’all there!

Dave

Manga Review: Gundam: The Origin, Vol 10 by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Ah, Mobile Suit Gundam…after Robotech/Macross, this is one of my favorite “classic” Anime/Manga series - so coming across this book on the shelves of the Cypress Hills branch was a special treat. I’m a little rusty on my “Universal Century” history, but this appears to be close to the original’s plot – Earth Federation’s White Base starship battles rebellious space colony “Principality of Zeon” (with my main man Char!) across Earth and space to protect it’s cargo: the secret super-weapon, the Mobile Suit Gundam. Will White Base be forced to use the experimental weapon to protect itself from Zeon’s marauding Mobile Suits? (Hint: hell to the yes!)

The ink-heavy, thick-lined art is very “old school”, very “rounded-off” in that classic 70’s style, made all the more surprising due to the fact it came out in 2003; due to the art style and the subject, I had originally though that I was dealing with a modern reprint of a 70’s/80’s comic! There’s heavy use of screentones, and the colored introductions are painted with water color (to good effect, I might add – I wish more artists used watercolors in comics). At times, the art resembles “western comics”, with characters that have less stylized features than many mangas, as well as fight sequences that have little of the ever-popular “action lines”.

So what do we got going on in this volume, eh? As the White Base heads over South America, Amuro and the rest of the crew are confronted by a Zeon detachment. Despite his best efforts, Amuro is soundly defeated by the nefarious and skillful Lt. Ranba Ral, and only the intervention of a fellow crewmember can save him. Racked with shame and angry at the rumors he’s to be replaced as lead Gundam pilot, Amuro flees with the Gundam into the countryside. After hiding the giant Mech, he enters a nearly deserted town in search of food and water only to be confronted by Lt. Ral himself!

Anime Review: Martian Successor Nadesico

A wayward starship, a mysterious and reluctant hero, gruesome aliens, and mechs galore…so what does Martian Successor Nadesico have that other space operas like Robotech or Gundam don’t have? Namely, a sense of humor about itself, an offbeat cast of characters, and whole lotta cheesecake (i.e. pretty girls).

Former mech pilot (and current fry cook) Akito Tenkawa joins the crew of the Nadesico, a privately owned starship created to defeat the “Jovian Lizards”, a cruel race of aliens from Jupiter that are determined to invade Earth. Young Akito is equally as determined to remain a fry cook, watch his favorite anime Gekiganger III, and avoid the danger of piloting a mech…but when another pilot injures himself, Akito himself pressed into service. And to make matters worse, the ditzy captain of the Nadesico is none other than his childhood girlfriend Yurika Misamune….who’s still madly in love with Akito and can’t stop throwing herself at him!

Like Full Metal Panic! FUMOFFU, Martian Successor Nadesico is a blend of killer action and hilarious romantic comedy; the interaction between Akito and Yurika is very funny (and embarrassing), and the members of the supporting cast all have unique personalities that make them memorable as well. The “anime with an anime” Gekiganger III is a great backhanded tribute to Mazinger Z, Voltron, and all those other 1970s “giant robot” series that I (and all the other children of the 70’s, hahaha) grew up watching.

This series is over 11 years old, so the animation can seem a little dated at times; aside from that, this is a great series that can appeal to both younger viewers (who’ll love the action and comedy) and older viewers (who’ll dig all the in-jokes) too.

New Lots Club Meeting!

I'm excited to announce that there will be the first New Lots Anime/Manga Club meeting on Wednesday, Jan 30th at 4pm. I don't have any booktalks written or shows planned for the New Lots (or Arlington) club meeting, but I think that either Martian Sucessor Nadesico or Law of Ueki will be showing up in the anime part of the program.

In other news, School Library Journal has given me the opprotunity to write a couple of Manga reviews for them on a trial basis. Their requirements are pretty rigorous and I'm not really sure how well I'll do, frankly.....

No reviews today...just an update

1) I've been trying to download the "Welcome to the NHK!" anime series via BitTorrent - with no luck. It's been downloading continuously for about the last 4 days but I've only been about to get about 12% of the whole file. Thus, it looks like my dream of comparing the manga to the anime will sadly remain "a dream deferred". wahhhhhh.........

2) In happier news, I've been lucky enough to see 16 out of the 26 episodes of Shinchiro Wantanabe's awesome hip-hop influenced Samurai Champloo series; Wantanabe was also the director of Cowboy Bebop, another great series that mixed Japanese anime with American musical styles - in CB's case, bebop jazz. I had been planning to write a review of Samurai Champloo after watching the first episode, but I've been so drawn into the series that I'm going to hold off until I've completed it. In fact, I'm digging the series so much I'm considering buying Samurai Champloo: Sidetracked PS2 game, despite it's blah reviews. Who knows, perhaps there could be a anime/manga-influenced video game element to OPL?

FYI Geneon, the American distributor for the series, is going out of business so you might want to watch or buy Samurai Champloo while you can.

3) I'm determined to get a Anime/Manga Club going at the New Lots branch! The intial meeting will be on January 30th at 4pm.....keep your fingers crossed.

Azumanga Daioh! Vol 1. by Kiyohiko Azuma

Instead of having the detailed story-line that you typically find in most manga, Azumanga Daioh relies on a simple comic-strip style to caputure the day-to-day life of 5 high-school girls (Chiyo, Tomo, Sakaki, Yomi, and “Osaka”) and their eccentric homeroom teacher Ms. Tanazaki. There’s no complex plot or superpowers, just the usual high-school situations: laboring over homework, falling asleep in class, hanging out after school, and making fun of your teachers behind their back.

For those of you more on the Deathnote or Bizenghast tip, do be aware the art and humor is mighty “kawaii” - so if cutesy characters aren’t your thing, you might want to sidestep this title...

Still, Azumanga Daioh is so funny that you just can’t put it down - The fact it’s a comic strip makes it both unique and fun to read.

So I "accidentally" read the Welcome to the NHK! manga

I had sort of a "happy accident" this morning.....basically, in an attempt to download the entire Welcome to the NHK! anime series via BitTorrent, I mistakenly downloaded the entire W2TNHK! manga series instead. Duh.

Still, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased, because the manga is even funnier and far-out than the anime (although it's sorta weird to "read" a manga on the computer....). And I'm pleased to know I can now download anime AND manga via BitTorrent!

Anybody have any BitTorrent experiences they wanna share?

Anime Review - "Welcome to the NHK!"

Takahashi Sato is a “hikikomori” – the Japanese word for a recluse or shut-it, usually a young man that isolates himself from society rather than deal with the pressures and stress of school or work. A recent college dropout himself, Sato spends almost all his time alone in his tiny apartment, watching TV and eating noodles. Not surprisingly, he’s become a little nuts and has convinced himself that there is a huge conspiracy determined to him alone and isolated.

However, on a rare trip outside, he finds himself confronted by a mysterious young woman called Misaka. Depite the fact that they've never met, she seems to know a lot about him - particularly the fact he's "hikikomori". She then announces that she wants him to sign a legally-binding contract that would permit her to “un-hikikomori” him! Will she succeed or does she have an ulterior motive? Is she part of the “conspiracy” too? And will all of this convince Sato to follow his dream - designing the greatest dating-simulation video game ever?

Welcome to the NHK is little more emotionally complex than some anime, as it’s able to be both funny and disturbing at the same time - almost like a good “indie movie”. Sato is a pretty pathetic guy, but I found him likeable and couldn’t stop rooting for him; Misaka seemed sweet, yet it became slowly apparent that there was something very weird and unbalanced about her. I won’t deny that there’s a little to no “action” (i.e. no kung-fu fights, mech battles, or magic schoolgirls), so if you need something a little more exciting you might need to look elsewhere. Still, it’s a funny series and I would definitely recommend it to folks looking for something “mature” but also offbeat.

One last thing: Although I wouldn’t call this series explicit, it does get mildly suggestive at time, and the opening animation has plenty of (clothed) female body parts on display…so if you’re under 16 and you get yelled at by your folks for watching this, don’t come crying to me (hahaha).

The first 8 episodes are available from ADV Visions. You can watch a trailer here.