May 172012
May 172012
The week is closing, but May still rolls on for another week. And it’s just not the same without spotlighting some of the work done by the users in the Anime Vice Community Spotlight.
Hands down, the biggest news of the week the return of Toonami to Cartoon Network, but this could be little more than just symbolic. You can read more about it on Tom’s article HERE. There was no AV Comm-Service this week. Since none of the other mods submitted anything, and I had been busy. I took the week off for that one, but it should return next week.
Anime Vice Task Initiative: Image Captioning: HERE
Anime Vice Task Initiative: Wiki Style Guide: HERE
Wonderful Wikis
- Big Boobs
- Panty Shot
- Bloody Monday
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
- Korra
- Legend of Korra Ep. 4
- Fairy Tail Ep. 130
- Sket Dance Ep. 57
- One Piece Ep. 547
WANTED Wikis
- The Familiar of Zero F (150 Bounty)
- Katanagatari (250 Bounty)
- Naruto (100 Bounty)
- Masane Amaha (50 Bounty)
Blog-o-sphere & Formidable Forums
- Manga Debut 4 – Brief Tutorial by UsachanMaN HERE
- Anime blog!: One Piece, Kids on the Slope by AURON570 HERE
- Is it better? Legend of Korra first impressions by Elfenlied1012 HERE
- Weekly Sket Dance: Ep. 57 – You Got Mail! by takashichea HERE
- Weekly Fairy Tail: Ep. 130 – Targeted Lucy by takashichea HERE
- Old Friends and Rivals Confirmed for Pokemon Black & White 2 by Bigheart711 HERE
- Who Are Your Favorite Anime Mothers? by takashichea HERE
- My Journey in to Mysterious Girlfriend X: ep 6 by metalsnakezero HERE
- The Squeaky Wheel Got The Grease by Wales HERE
Anime AMV Showcase
It was a hard selection for this week’s AMV. Sure there are a ton out there, but I’m a pretty strong critic for these. I eventually settled this really well produced AMV for ONE PIECE that’s dedicated to the Straw Hats rather tragic fight against the real Bartholomew Kuma.
Remember, if you would like to submit something for the Spotlight. You can send me a PM, but please be sure to add “Spotlight” to the subject line. I can’t stress how important that is because it might just be lost in my Inbox when I clear it.Even if you have worked on something yourself and are really proud of your work. Get to work, and make more content for the next Spotlight!! Jana!!
-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt
May 172012
It’s a good thing that I wasn’t drinking milk while I
watched this – - there’s a very good chance that it all would’ve shot out my
nose and all over my laptop after the gag where Lee gets himself dizzy enough
to turn into a drunk salaryman. I don’t know if that pop culture whammy was
supposed to be in reference to a specific
Japanese game show I once saw, but it was close enough to get my mind on that
most garish example of TV programming.
See, it’s kind of shame that we haven’t been able to cover
other areas of Japanese television on here – - particularly those game shows. Whatever grievances you might have about the
bad taste of American reality shows look rather silly when these variety shows
of humiliation are brought along into the discussion.
== TEASER ==
The one I’m specifically
thinking of was basically a riff on the “phone a friend” lifeline on WHO WANTS
TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? that revolved around getting businessman piss drunk on
camera and tasking them to call their families on a couple of phone booths on set. Them being “uninhibited”
of course meant that a lot of private and embarrassing subjects would slip into
discussions for all the nation to listen in on.
Now, that’s TV!
ROCK LEE & HIS NINJA PALS has educated me once again,
getting me to think that drunken and buffoonish businessmen may a bigger part
of Japanese entertainment than I ever realized.
Aside from that, this one as much of a howler as other
episodes… and that’s OK. I’ve heard the grievances of you lunatics – - the
assertions that this show is really stupid – - and you won’t ever catch me
arguing with you. It is stupid. Very stupid… but it’s still a plenty of quaint
fun to watch.
Watch this episode, “I’m Going to Teach Konohamaru Kempo/ I Save My Lucky Undies for Physicals” here and decide for yourself, then read my
comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID
BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them
on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
May 162012
Adult Swim is nothing if not direct.
If you needed anything spelt out, Toonami will be officially returning in
just ten days, bringing Adult Swim air time up into its own unique corner of the
cosmos on the night of Saturday, May 26. Seeing as how Toonami’s
been away since ’08, one can only just picture TOM (not, not me – - the robot
dude) coming back after a four-year-long, Goku-style exile wherein he was
training continuously in the vacuum of space.
Some of may be shocked, even flabbergasted, at this news… but it shouldn’t come as any surprise.
Adult Swim’s now-legendary broadcast of
new Toonami content on April 1 now looks obviously less like a prank
and more like a tease to test the proverbial waters. Considering how those
waters rippled and rippled, with our pal Richie Branson’s rap about the subject
igniting a #bringbacktoonami trend, it all looks rather inevitable in
hindsight, now, doesn’t it?
No programming’s been officially announced yet, but we’ll all find out
soon enough. In the meantime, Richie’s provided a couple teases off his own on
Twitter…
Tom Pinchuk’s
the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
May 162012
You’ve got to wonder how scary a show can actually get when it’s
rendered in such a cute style. I imagine ANOTHER might be a demonstration in how
effective music, sound effects, framing and context – - basically everything
except the visuals – - can be at instilling terror in the viewer. I’m also
a little skeptical over how effectively the 26 mega-series model can work for
horror. I’m not necessarily dubious, mind you, just without enough prior
examples to compare this to.
Anyway, concept wise, this show’s already tapping into that very primal
and unsettling notion of something remaining in some greater institution
even though there’s ostensibly no room or purpose for it. You know, like a 13
floor, or a room that wasn’t in a house’s blueprints, or a hallway
that leads to nowhere. To that end, the idea that a school’s going on and pretending
that a dead student is still part of a class is sharply creepy one – - although maybe just
a touch harder than usual to suspend disbelief over. One wonders what happens
when the superintendent stops by to break some balls and he finds the principal
putting on a macabre pantomime that nobody on the administration probably has
any patience for.
== TEASER ==
I want to say that this was a much more effective pilot than the one
for SHIKI. Nothing flashy happens, sure, but plenty of things actually do
happen in a fashion that feels natural and continuous even as the plot jumps around
from one seemingly self-contained scene to another. The whole
off-screen conversation in the teaser sets the tone – - it had a sharp hook that made understatement
actually more exciting.
Maybe I won’t get to continue watching this but, if there were a 25
hour in the day that existed in the same place as our extra classmate here, I’d
certainly go on with it.
Watch this episode, “Rough Sketch” here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s
the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
May 162012
None of the details here are especially shocking, perhaps…
Undoubtedly coinciding with THE WOMAN CALLED FUJIKO MINE, a
new set of life-sized statues are being offered up in the likeness of Lupin
III, Jigen and, of course, the titular Ms. Mine. The lady will be 5’6 tall,
while the dudes will be 5’11 (as relayed by ANN,) and those measurements do sound realistically life-sized.
Like I said, none of that’s shocking. However, what made me
raise my eyebrow a couple times was the small detail about these statues all
retailing for a price somewhere close to six-and-a-half-grand (a
sizable chunk of change.)
There are also a few Fujiko Mine figurines available on
Amazon here and here going for prices that are still formidable, even though they’re just a fraction of the statues’ cost.
Different strokes for different folks, live and let live,
and all that… but I’d like to take this moment to run a little informal survey
of the Anime Vice community. See, I’ve never been into figurines myself. It’s
always seemed like an excess of cash to drop on something that’s liable to break easily, and something that could
be traded in for an endless stack of the anime and manga it’s based on.
However, I realize I can have limited views on things
sometimes, so these questions goes out to you lunatics. Would you ever make the investment to buy a
statue like this? Which you want this sexy thief decorating your living room? Share and discuss below.
May 162012
Here’s
some POKEMON news that, for once, doesn’t involve Republican presidential
candidates. ANN relayed a few details about which characters will be appearing
in the forthcoming Second Season of BLACK & WHITE.
You’re
looking at few Pokemon and trainers like…
Here are some visual aides for those who need some ocular proof…
(The
inclusion of Meloetta is something a big hoodoo, since the psychokinetic
critter’s “extremely rare” and will be headlining a new short, “Meloetta to
Kirakira.”)
Plot-wise,
the series will see Ash and Cynthia taking on the reigning champion, Adeku, at
the World Tournament Junior Cup. You won’t have to speculate for too long about
what that premise entails, since the series will start running next month.
You
know, I’ve made no secret of the fact that Poke-mania infected the nation a
year or two “after my time,” so any excitement conveyed here is purely me playing along. After watching ZETMAN, I’d still contend that this franchise could
benefit a lot from some radical deconstructionist take on the mythos that’d
appeal to the greater number of adults and young adults who have to be in the audience, now.
It’s not
like one misfire poses any threat of derailing this particular gravy train – - Nintendo can afford to be a little experimental.
May 152012
Well, this show sucker-punched me pretty soundly. In a good way, of
course. A good way.
Certainly, this might be a case of apples and oranges, but whenever I
do my random samplings of pilots, I always end finding plenty of points and
counterpoints to compare and contrast the shows with. SPACE BROTHERS isn’t that similar to KIDS ON
THE SLOPE, certainly, but I’d contend that they can be grouped together for how
their plots aren’t about fights, techno-speak and boobies in the way
that the lion’s share of anime I cover on this site is. And, with that accounted for, I’ll say that
the multiple hooks in this pilot were a lot sharper than those in KIDS
ON THE SLOPE.
== TEASER ==
Let’s be honest, “SPACE BROTHERS” isn’t exactly the most intriguing
title, so I wasn’t expecting anything that’d really grab me when I pulled this up
on Crunchyroll. So I’m still pretty surprised that I ended up getting such
good vibes from it – - hell, I’m actually feeling pretty good just typing
about it, now. Maybe it’s mainly because it reminds me so much of crowd-pleasing
flicks of the 80’s that could have fairly large scopes without necessarily having
“high concept” premises. I was half-expecting a Kenny Loggins song to play on the outro.
The notion of the space program even existing into the
2020’s is maybe a little provocative at this point, in of itself, and I’m sure I’ll be getting all
sorts of education on the field from the clear amounts of research that went
into this. However, it’s the titular brothers that make all the technobabble
interesting, and these two are some fully-realized human beings with the sort of careful nuance you rarely see outside of a Mike Judge cartoon.
The hell with it… even if this is just a crafty public relations campaign by NASA, I’m still going to go ahead and watch the rest of this. Stay tuned.
Watch this episode, “Little Brother Hibito and Big Brother Mutta” here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s
the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
May 152012
The Otaku King takes on another
Toonami standard this week with “Leyline Rhymes” – - an ode to OUTLAW STAR. To
be truthful, the Outlaw Star left orbit before I was able to grab a seat on
board it, but I can still appreciate the track even if I don’t know
all the references. If you’re like me, your experience will likely be the same.
Also, Richie composed something of
an open letter with his rap about Toonami last week and, sure enough, that letter got answered. Adult Swim played “Bring Back Toonami” and gave Richie a
shout-out during one its recent bumps. Clearly, they’ve got the message – - but
will they act on it, now?
As was the case last week, we were able
to throw Richie a few Q’s about his latest rap. Listen to it below and see what
he had to say.
== TEASER ==
Suppose that you, Richie Branson
the rapper, found the elusive Galactic Leyline before anybody in the show. What
would you do with it?
Aside
from making the Grammy folks nominate me for 9 or 10 Grammys, I would perform a
Tao Magic Spell on the folks at Cartoon Network to bring back Toonami, complete
with TOM and some new anime mixed in with the classics.
Seeing as how you likely first
saw this on Toonami, you’re probably well aware that it was notoriously edited
for broadcast. Have you ever felt compelled to seek out the sexier, bloodier
uncut version?
Yessir, I’ve seen the series in its
uncut form… complete with the infamous Hot Springs Planet episode.
Playing favorites can be hard
sometimes, but c’mon… in your view, if Outlaw Star and the Bebop ever butted
heads in outer space, who would come out on top?
Sorry
Gene, but I have to go with Spike Speigel on this one. After all, Spike knows
Jeet-Kun-Do, and anyone who fights like Bruce Lee is born to win. Remember,
Bruce Lee beat Chuck Norris.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk/outlaw-star/10-238/
May 142012
Even taking the re-visitation of jazz into account, this show is still
a really unexpected offering from COWBOY BEBOP alums. I just wasn’t seeing anything in that show that screamed, “But, what I really want to do is period coming-of-age stories.” Of course, I know animation isn’t
a genre, but a medium that can incorporate a boundless range of genres… but a
show like this does certainly test a few limits floating around the very basic
question of “Why?”
See, when you’ve got a coming-of-age, period piece manga, you can
justify it as very personalized visual storytelling – - a production that can seem big even while coming from one precise point of view. However, once you
put the same material through the sort of big, team-powered machine that’s
needed to produce a weekly anime show, you can’t help thinking it’d be more
sensible to do it in live-action. KIDS ON THE SLOPE isn’t nearly stylized
enough for anybody to claim it’s employing animation’s unique advantages, so I
can’t help thinking that what I just watched is the result of the Japanese TV
business not having the sort of infrastructure necessary to do this with real
actors and locations dressed up to look accurate to the 60’s.
== TEASER ==
You know, because economics are always on my mind.
I go on such a tangent because there honestly isn’t a ton to discuss. It’s a
fine drama without too much – - aside from the jazz, perhaps – - to make
it stand out. If you’ve ever been looking for a gateway anime you can show to
friends whose “Recommend” que in Netflix is almost entirely comprised of
offerings from IFC and Sony Pictures Classics, then you might’ve just found it here.
Watch this episode, “Moanin” here and decide for yourself.
Tom Pinchuk’s
the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here. Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk