Sequential Thoughts

Geneon USA closing shop

2007-09-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Geneon has basically announced that they're closing up shop. Speculation is rampant that they will become the de-facto equivalent of Kadokawa, US for their Dentsu parent company. Not much to add to any of that really, but this is a very sad day for the anime market. Geneon genuinely cared about creating quality productions. They were also willing to bring over a lot of series that no other licensor would have taken a chance on. While I think that this is true of each of the licensing companies to some extent, Geneon was my favorite because they combined good quality video and audio with a lot of my favorite dub work, faithful subtitles, and they frequently focused on animation that was intended for adults.
While I enjoy Bleach as much as the next man (unless the next man happens to prefer Naruto), and we can all tell that I like generic harem #458,398 more than the next man, my favorite anime shows have always been things like ROD the TV, Gankutsuou, and Paranoia Agent. To all of the employees of Geneon who will be affected by this move, my condolences. I hope you'll find new employment soon.

Fall 2006 Midpoint

2006-11-27T21:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I've checked out at least the first episode of most shows that I was planning on watching (if not more). As usual, the list hops and moves around.

THE A LIST
Asatte no Houkou - The first jumper of the season. Though it does have a lot of trainwreck possibility as literally nothing has happened yet.
Black Lagoon 2 - Started off a little slow (not that that's surprising for BL), but between Greenback Jane and Fujiyama Gangster Paradise, I've fallen in love again. My wife can officially recognize the show from the opening - not the song, the opening animation.
Ghost Hunt - Probably very good news for Del Rey indeed. I've actually enjoyed this a great deal. But then I do have that weak spot for unconventional shoujo/shounen series.
Hataraki Man - Adults, office hijinx (the real kind), and a catchy OP and ED. A great show.
Negima!? - Or Pani Poni Dash Season 2 as I refer to it. The good news is it's almost as good as Pani Poni Dash. The bad news is that it still has absolutely nothing to do with Negima.
Sumomomo Momomo - Yup, Magikano styled craziness. If I were to look at a week where I had received every anime show in this list, Sumomomo Momomo would be one of the first ones I'd watch (after Hataraki Man and Black Lagoon 2).

The B List
Death Note - Could finish even higher. Serious Monster vibe (which is good).
Gift ~eternal rainbow~ - Mild jump (though I usually like a fair number of eroge conversions after the first six to eight weeks). It's an interesting show because the pacing is a little unconventional for an eroge conversion (it's almost paced at a shoujo romance speed).
Kanon - I'm trying to be fair with this ranking. So I'm promoting it a grade, knowing that subconsciously I'm probably detracting a full grade in my mind simply because it's NOT the next season of FMP or MoSH.
Pumpkin Scissors - Well, I look forward to it every week. In a lot of ways that actually puts it ahead of Negima!?

The C List
Ayakashi Ayashi - Unconventional art is occasionally brilliant. Wish I could find the story very interesting.
Happiness! - Yes, I do say "My my my" to the computer whenever Koyuki speaks. I can't help it.
Kujibiki Unbalance - JAH (Just Another Harem). Maybe I'm jaded, but if you're going to have JAH, at least have crazy over-the-top characters. KujiUn has the right idea, but execution seems to have been slightly off.
Tokimeki Memorial - Unfortunately it's full of all the things I don't like about eroge conversions. Stale, flat characters that don't particulaly intrigue me (I can't even keep their names straight).
Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na Crescent Love - Interesting more for the number of people who can't seem to watch a show without trying to shoehorn a love triangle plot into it than for the actual show.

The D List
REBORN! - Yawn. Adventure not memorable, action not interesting, and comedy not funny. I keep waiting because the characters are amusing, but I'm getting dangerously close to cutting bait.
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge - The initial outlook was supposed to be, "Good, if it's funny." Sadly I don't think it is. The character designs are a turn off to me as well (except the chibi versions - I can't understand the chibi hate on this show since the regular character designs look god-awful). So, to sum up, 1) not fond of the character designs (and not just the way they're drawn), 2) not finding it funny, 3) romantic "premise" is trite, overdone and not executed well.

Off the List
Bartender - Hrm. Well, it's not another ARIA.
CODE GEASS - Get back to me later.
D Gray Man - I'll probably go back and watch from 3 on at some point (2 is as far as I've gotten). It did make me laugh at a couple of early points.
Lovedol ~Lovely Idol - Unsurprising, really.
Red Garden - Par for the course. The one I initially looked forward to the most is now the one I've only seen one episode of. It left a strong enough impression that I'm thinking of going back after a few more episodes air.

Incomplete
Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! - First episode was entertaining, but not entertaining enough for me to hunt up all the RAWs.

Fall 2006 Look Ahead

2006-09-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Yes - this means I'm back to blogging. Sorry about the delay.

Looking at summer would have been boring anyway. Summer's usually a lot of hype and only a little substance and this year wasn't much different. Anyway, on to the fall! Remember shows are not sorted in a grade level.

THE A LIST

1) Ghost Hunt - I've actually been wanting to get this manga for awhile. Anything shoujo that falls outside the normal shoujo conventions I consider pretty interesting. Generally I find shoujo is more stereotyped than shonen - at least there's four different kinds of stock shonen shows, there's really only two shoujo ones (unless I get to count BL as a third). This mystery/occult shoujo series sounds right up my alley. Outlook: Favorable - particularly for Del Rey.
2) Black Lagoon 2 - Yeah, like there was any chance I'd be missing this. I'm salivating over the DVDs, my wife missed the first season and didn't want to go back when she found out it was coming to the US. Outlook: Very favorable, for everyone but my wallet.
3) Red Garden - The GONZO series I'm looking forward to the most - from recent experience, I'll probably hate it. Outlook: Initially favorable, but could flip with Pumpkin Scissors with little notice.
4) Negima!? - Could be good, could be bad. It's the team from Pani Poni Dash and Tsukuyomi Moon Phase (good); however, all new adventures is not precisely what I want to hear about my favorite shonen manga of all time. Outlook: Cautiously optimistic.
5) Hataraki Man - Noitamina block mojo, plus (what I consider) interesting subject matter. Look, I like the next high school drama as much as the next guy, but it's hard to be that concerned about what's going on when I know that five years later they're not even going to remember who they were dating. Outlook: Bring on the adults!

THE B LIST

1) Pumpkin Scissors - There's something about GONZO. Rarely do I love a series they do, rarely do I leave them satisfied, but they're almost always an enjoyable watch if nothing else. Per usual the GONZO freaks will probably love it, most people will probably call it overrated, and I'll probably be somewhere in the middle. Outlook: Mild
2) Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge - Another Del Rey series I've been wanting to start reading for a while now (it's also known as the Wallflower). I have semi-high hopes for this one. I at least expect my wife to find it funny. Outlook: Good, if it's funny
3) Asatte no Houkou - The front runner to replace Zero no Tsukaima/Shakugan no Shana/Tsukuyomi Moon Phase. Outlook: Pretty good (it's JC Staff), but not great (it's JC Staff).
4) Sumomomo Momomo - Yeah, I know. Normally I hate high concept, but this high concept I actually think sounds kind of cool. I'm going to give the manga a half-hearted try and see if it interests me. Outlook: Pretty good
5) Kujibiki Unbalance - Unintentional comedy factor figures to be very high. Outlook: Favorable, though I am concerned that it's going to be impossible to live up to what the Genshiken thinks of it.
6) Ayakashi Ayashi - Never a fan of Blood+ (it's the vampires); however, this has a pretty good chance to be one of my favorite series. Since this is such a high leverage time slot I'm expecting pretty good things. Outlook: Give me 70% of FMA and it'll easily justify the B list.
7) Bartender - Either high on the unintentional comedy scale or seriously great. Either way I win. Outlook: Probably watching all of it.

THE C LIST

1) Tokimeki Memorial - My only real interest is that this is (apparently) actually a game. It's been referenced in so many places (most recently Ouran High Host Club) that I had thought it was like one enormous in-joke. Outlook: Favorable - especially if cheesy.
2) D Gray Man - Interesting idea. There's usually a couple of shonen series that I end up liking every year. Gothic is definitely not my thing, but buzz is high on this one, young jedi. Outlook: Mediocre - it's a Jump title. Rarely do they live up to my expectations.
3) Death Note - I actually think this probably has a slightly better chance than D Gray Man, if only because I wish I could find that note. Outlook - Semi favorable, in a Jigoku Shoujo kind of way.
4) Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo! - Mildly looking forward to it. Seems like it could be this season's Tsukuyomi Moon Phase/Shakugan no Shana/Zero no Tsukaima. Outlook: Pretty good - at least if they're doing another one it's a non-loli for once.
5) Kanon - The quintessential sad-girl-in-the-snow anime, from which the meme hath sprung. However, I'm not sure Kyo Ani can elevate this to something I'm dying to see each week. I have no doubt it'll be executed well, but the entire time I'll be fuming about the lack of FMP and MoSH. Outlook: Good that I'll watch it, poorer that I'll actually love it.
6) Gift ~eternal rainbow~ - The sad girl anime I'm expecting to like. I'm getting a serious Da Capo vibe (and not just from the artwork. Hopefully it delivers as well as that series did. Outlook: Pretty favorable, but game-to-animes are pretty much dartboards when guessing.
7) REBORN! - If I were to guess at the Jump title I'm going to like, this would be the one. Comedy always helps. Outlook: Pretty good.

THE D LIST

1) Lovedol ~Lovely Idol - Navel's summer offering this year. Shuffle was fine, Soul link stank, I imagine this will be somewhere in the middle. Outlook: Poor - idol anime does little for me.
2) Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na Crescent Love - Another game-to-anime conversion. I'm not even bothering to guess which one I'm likely to like anymore. Honestly plot details between them aren't that distinct either. Outlook: Better than Lovely Idol, not great.
3) Happiness! - Yeah, I'm not to proud to admit it - this is all about Yura Hinata. Outlook: Good that I'll watch every episode that has Kareha-sempai in it and end every one of her sentences "My My My"
4) CODE GEASS - It's all about the CLAMP character designs. Outlook: At least an episode.

Spring 2006 - post mortem

2006-09-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I was about as far off on that season as you can possibly be.

We'll examine the list in the order I thought I'd like them and then I'll end up giving them a grade. My comments will be in lilac (because I'm secure enough that it doesn't bother me).

The A List

1) Makai Senki Disgaea - If it's half as amusing as the promos have been, I might have to run off and buy the game too. Well, it did have it's moments. I actually had a couple of moments where I thought it was pretty funny, but if I'd never seen it, it wouldn't have affected me much either. C+

2) School Rumble 2nd Semester - Probably the show I'm looking forward to the most. I love the manga, I loved the first season, and it's probably single handedly responsible for turning me back to anime at a period when there really wasn't much of it going on that I thought I would enjoy. Turned out about like I expected, unfortunately this part of the manga has some of the pieces I love the best (the school festival shoot out) and some of the parts that bore me to tears. A-

3) Tsubasa Chronicles 2nd season - Another one, loved the first season, love the manga. Can't imagine I won't love this as well. How does something this promising completely jump the shark? I've actually stopped watching for the most part. Though the episode where Mokona draws a story was pretty funny. That that's the highlight speaks volumes about where this series is at. C-

4) XXXHOLiC - I actually like the XXXholic manga better than the Tsubasa Chronicles one, so I'm cautiously optimistic about the anime version. And I also liked the anime better than the second season of Tsubasa. Weirdly xxxHOLiC ended up being one of those shows that I absolutely adored each week, and yet, never really discussed it much or dealt with it. The music was fabulous, the opening stylish, and I thought the animation was great at representing CLAMP's work. A

The B List

1) Ergo Proxy - As others have noted, this carries a heavy Blade Runner type vibe. And that's a really good thing. Never ended up watching past the first episode. The Japanese was way beyond me, subs seemed somewhat sporadic and I just didn't enjoy it that much. C-

2) NANA - More to see what the fuss is then anything else. It's inordinately popular and the manga has just started up here in the US. The fuss is apparently that this is pretty good drama and comedy. Not quite soap-operatic, but definitely more in the realm of low drama than high. B+

3) Shinigami no Ballad - Bleach with a cute little girl. Love her sickle. Never even watched it. Incomplete

4) Soul Link - If I were to guess this is probably one of the game-to-anime conversions I'll like the best, but then, except for the aborted ending to the Kaede arc, I actually liked the Shuffle! series as well. I would love to tell you there's a good reason why I watched all of this show, but it was pretty awful. F

The C List

1) Ah! My goddess: The second season- I've mentioned before that I didn't particularly enjoy the manga, I haven't even watched the first season, but maybe it's time to give it a chance. I've now seen the first season, and this season, and I may be becoming a convert. Maybe it's leaving behind the problems of youth, but I'm starting to really enjoy slice of life shows. Meaning shows that make zero plot progress. B+

2) Air Gear - I've never really read or watched any of Oh! Great's material, but I'm willing to give this a chance. I missed the boat on TenTen (and now it's licensed by a company that decided it would still be appealing if they edited it), but Del Ray is going to have Air Gear, so I might give this a chance to see if it would be worth buying the manga. Corny as all good shonen action series are, predictable as heck, and animated on a shoestring budget - I've still actually enjoyed this enough to start buying the manga. Weird. B-

3) Finalist - Here's my prediction for the harem series. One of them I'll really like, one of them I'll really hate, and the rest will be amusing enough that I'll watch them when they come out. Interestingly this crop seems more based off of game conversions than manga (which was where the winter season mined gold for me). So I'm expecting less in the way of funny, more in the way of drama. If I'm going to pick ahead of time, I'm looking forward to this less than the others, but I doubt it'll end up being the one I hate. Did this ever even come out? I missed it completely. Incomplete.

4) Utawarerumono - I imagine I'll enjoy this somewhat, but not in a "OMG WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WEEK?" sort of way. Similar to xxxHOLiC this ended up being a show that I loved watching each week, but not something I did much discussion on (beyond the level of "Whoa, Karura is hot.").

The D List

1) Higurashi no Naku koro ni - Not only based off of a game, but a doujin game apparently as well. And a murder mystery one at that. Interesting enough that I will definitely give one episode a try. And wow, the first of the big misses. I figured this would be something like Case Closed on the down side and Spiral on the up side. I wish they made more anime like this, even knowing that it left out a quarter to half the plot, there's still enough there for me to recognize superior source material. Amazing. If only the animation wasn't so bad, and they had actually decided to include the missing material. This is actually the second show that convinced my wife to watch fansubbed anime. A-

2) Himawari! - Before Kage Kara Mamoru! this would have been on the F list, but now I figure if it's half as funny as that show, I can deal with the fact that it's about ninjas. Seemed somewhat yawn-worthy. Then it got dropped. Could be funny, depending on how the rest of it plays out, but didn't overcome my "Oh no, not ninjas" reflex. C

3) RAY The Animation - I know almost nothing about this show, but the description seems kind of neat in a Witch Hunter Robin sort of way. Still haven't actually watched it (though I keep meaning to), maybe that's next week's project. Incomplete

4) Strawberry Panic - I fail to see how this can't be successful. Yeah, it's yuri, but my objection about yuri and yaoi has more to do with the overly angst-ful part then the nature of yaoi and yuri themselves. This seems to take itself less seriously. Only watched the first episode and was unimpressed; however, I hear that this is actually exceptionally angsty (like Mai HiME levels of angst). So I'm waiting for the last episode and what will probably be a shotgun viewing.

The E List

1) Gintama - Samurai and aliens? I'll probably see what other people have to say about it and then decide based off of that. Didn't hear anything, so I passed. Incomplete.

2) Hack//GU - I'm going to have to admit that I've never watched any of the .Hack stuff (or read it either). But it has a pretty avid following, so I'll probably at least give this a try. Of course, the last time I said that I ended up watching Gundam Seed Destiny. Passed on it. Incomplete.

3) Hime-sama Goyoujin - Now I'm going to have to admit that I can't get past the first episode of the first season of Rozen Maiden either. Though I probably could at least try the rest of it (it wouldn't really take long as both seasons together are only 26 episodes I believe). Passed on it. Incomplete.

4) Inukami! - Sounds somewhat like Mai Hime or maybe Shakugan no Shana, either one without the serious parts. Have to admit I'm not really much of a fan of the character designs. Animation was atrocious, show was hysterical. Now I want to read the light novels. B+

5) Joshikousei GIRLS-HIGH - Don't especially care for the overt Yuri overtones, but I said the same thing about Kashimashi and I've ended up liking that. I imagine if it spends a lot of time poking fun at girls (I've been married for ten years and have yet to see much in the way of comedy that pokes fun at gender differences in anything other than stereotypical ways) and snooty people in general it will be funny. If it's just an excuse to have yuri pillow fights, I'll probably pass. Unless they're really funny pillow fights. Wow, how wrong can you be? No yuri, and very hysterical. For those of you who treat women like they come from another planet, this is much more what they're like. Just as crude as boys. For what it's worth, my wife claims this is probably the most accurate anime depiction of high school aged females she's ever seen. B

6) Kishin Houkou Demon Bane - This is the anime-from-game that I'm betting I probably won't care for. Haven't watched yet. Incomplete.

7) Ohran High School Host Club - I'm detecting a high yaoi/yuri probability here, but am holding off judgement until I see how well it's handled. The second in the list of complete misses. This is the show that convinced my wife to watch fansubbed anime. It actually spurred the purchase of a video card with an s-video out so I could pump the video to the DLP TV in the living room. My wife is very upset that it's ending. A+

The F List

1) Aria 2nd Season - Didn't watch the first either. For me, exceptionally slow shows have to either be romances (see, Suzuka), or damn fine examples of anime (see GiTS:SAC). I have it, but I haven't gotten around to watching the first season yet, so I haven't yet gotten around to this one either. Incomplete

2) Fushigiboshi no Futagohime Gyu! - Didn't watch the first season. Magical girls really just don't usually do it for me. Still don't and I still haven't watched it. Incomplete.

3) Ju Oh Sei - Neither the description nor the character design does much for me. Oh if I'd known then what I know now. I missed the fact that this was airing in the Noitamina time slot. For those who don't know Noitamina is a time slot where the channel only shows josei/shoujo shows (i.e. created to appeal to females). Quality level is usually quite high, though I haven't necessarily cared for all the shows. Jyu Oh Sei is in the quite unique spot of being a shoujo science fiction adventure show. While it has romance, the elements are not any greater than in a typical shounen show. I wouldn't call it a great show, but it was significantly better than I was expecting. C+

4) Kamisama Kazoku - Unless it turns out to be another Kamichu, which would be a good thing. I have mixed emotions about this show - it's not really bad, but it's not really good either. I enjoyed pieces (Tenko's baby was a crack up), but the overall story didn't leave much of an impression. My wife thought it was funny though. C

The Unranked

1) Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya - 'Nuff said. It was pretty good. A+

Spring 2006

2006-02-27T10:42:00.000-08:00

Shows I'm looking forward to (again, no particular order within each category):

The A List

1) Makai Senki Disgaea - If it's half as amusing as the promos have been, I might have to run off and buy the game too.

3) Tsubasa Chronicles 2nd season - Another one, loved the first season, love the manga. Can't imagine I won't love this as well.

4) XXXHOLiC - I actually like the XXXholic manga better than the Tsubasa Chronicles one, so I'm cautiously optimistic about the anime version.

The B List

1) Ergo Proxy - As others have noted, this carries a heavy Blade Runner type vibe. And that's a really good thing.

2) NANA - More to see what the fuss is then anything else. It's inordinately popular and the manga has just started up here in the US.

3) Shinigami no Ballad - Bleach with a cute little girl. Love her sickle.

The C List

1) Ah! My goddess: The second season- I've mentioned before that I didn't particularly enjoy the manga, I haven't even watched the first season, but maybe it's time to give it a chance.

4) Utawarerumono - I imagine I'll enjoy this somewhat, but not in a "OMG WHAT HAPPENS NEXT WEEK?" sort of way.

The D List

1) Higurashi no Naku koro ni - Not only based off of a game, but a doujin game apparently as well. And a murder mystery one at that. Interesting enough that I will definitely give one episode a try.

2) Himawari! - Before Kage Kara Mamoru! this would have been on the F list, but now I figure if it's half as funny as that show, I can deal with the fact that it's about ninjas.

3) RAY The Animation - I know almost nothing about this show, but the description seems kind of neat in a Witch Hunter Robin sort of way.

The E List

1) Gintama - Samurai and aliens? I'll probably see what other people have to say about it and then decide based off of that.

4) Inukami! - Sounds somewhat like Mai Hime or maybe Shakugan no Shana, either one without the serious parts. Have to admit I'm not really much of a fan of the character designs.

6) Kishin Houkou Demon Bane - This is the anime-from-game that I'm betting I probably won't care for.

7) Ohran High School Host Club - I'm detecting a high yaoi/yuri probability here, but am holding off judgement until I see how well it's handled.

The F List

1) Aria 2nd Season - Didn't watch the first either. For me, exceptionally slow shows have to either be romances (see, Suzuka), or damn fine examples of anime (see GiTS:SAC).

2) Fushigiboshi no Futagohime Gyu! - Didn't watch the first season. Magical girls really just don't usually do it for me.

3) Ju Oh Sei - Neither the description nor the character design does much for me.

4) Kamisama Kazoku - Unless it turns out to be another Kamichu, which would be a good thing.

Midway anime season rankings

2006-02-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the stuff I'm watching I've already seen half a dozen episodes of. So it's time to start calling out where I think the season is going. I have to admit that this has been a very surprising season, a lot of stuff I thought was going to be pointless and stupid is actually pretty good. Similarly a lot of stuff that I thought would be great has actually become very tedious to watch (Fate Stay Night, I'm looking right at you). Note that these aren't arranged in any particular order within the lists themselves (in other words, the number is there more for reference than indicating where exactly the rank within the list). Also, I've included my current ranking of shows that started in previous seasons for reference. So, here it goes:

The A List

1) Kage Kara Mamoru! - Out of nowhere. I almost didn't even watch the first episode. It's now moved into the pile of episodes that I watch twice, once in raw format and once after being subbed. Mamoru is likeable and amusing, each of his (rather large) harem is personable and funny.
2) Magikano - After my scarring experience with Amaenaideyo, I thought this would be a total miss for me, but surprisingly it seems to mix a lot of Pani Poni Dash type omega random plot points designed for maximum comedy. The interaction between the characters (particularly Maika, Ayumi and Yuri) is also particularly well played.
3) Canvas 2 - I'm hard pressed to point out what exactly about Canvas 2 I like. And, yet, I'm watching it avidly on raws. Frequently I watch it two or three times. I've already planned a marathon replay-all-of-the-episodes for two weekends from now (by which point the now-looking-to-be-pivotal Episode 21 should be subbed).
4) Shakugan no Shana - Yuuji's mom is the best mom ever, she's practically gift wrapping Shana for him. My mother, on the other hand, encouraged me to have lots of sex by simply being absent all the time. And Margery Daw is the best thing in a yukata since Matsumoto Rangiku.

The B List

1) Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora - Okay, this was pretty cute. Even better because it showed a non-standard happy ending. Rika is still dying young, she's just picked up a few years.
2)Kashimashi - The gender switching thing (especially the overt yuri-ness of it all) is not usually my cup of tea, but Kashimashi may be changing my mind about it (I've actually tried a little bit of Tenshi na Konamaiki since as well). Particularly amusing is how everyone EXCEPT Hazumu has a problem dealing with his new gender.
3)MAJOR 2nd season - Of all series on the list, this is the one that is most likely to make the jump to an A list series. I loved loved loved the first season of Major. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up loving the second season as well, but I have to admit that it's started pretty slowly. And I'm not in love with the redesign of the characters either, but that's a pretty small quibble.

The C List

1) Binchou Tan- Cute and no plot usually means the C list for me. Interesting to watch (the charcoal references are too cute), but I'd probably never buy it until it was thinpacked. Since it's not the sort of thing that even gets licensed that often though, I have been keeping my eye out for Binchou-tan plushies.
2) REC - This could move up a notch to the B list. And it has tickled my interest in trying to hunt down the manga, but right now at least I think that's based more on the promise of the concept than the actual execution. For a series that only has a very few episodes, it seems to be moving at a glacial pace.
3) Karin - Karin started off as a B list show and has moved down to the C list with the introduction of Winner. It could still move back up, but frequently it doesn't seem like much is happening and it's not funny enough to overcome that. It is very cute though, and I would be totally onboard with a thinpak of it. It has also stimulated my interest in the manga (coming to the US by thanks of Tokyopop). I wonder if Tokyopop, Viz, Del Ray, et al realize how much fansubbing has cost me in domestic manga releases? I'm sure they much have some idea as the mangas seem suspiciously timed pretty closely to the release of anime series in Japan.
4) Mai Otome - Well, it's no Mai Hime. It was down with the D list, but then moved up in honor of it's train-wreck-ed-ness. I have to watch each week to see exactly how many times I can wish that Mai would come bouncing along and knock out Arika.
5) Bleach - Filler, and not very interesting filler at that. But I could be let down after the greatness of the Soul Society arc. Bleach seems to be progressing very quickly compared to the manga, but that's probably what I like best about it. The so-called "mindless shonen" genre doesn't do much for me if fights last more than about 10 or so minutes of screen time.

The D List

1) Fate Stay Night - There's still time to get off the D list for Fate/Stay (I haven't given up yet). But it needs to have one of two things happen. Either actual servants need to get into battles to hike up my Bleach/R.O.D. the TV interest. Or else Sakura needs to go into all out hair-pulling Kaede mode on Rin. Luckily episode 8 showed that there could be a little bit of the latter coming up.

The E List

1) Kagihime Monogatari Eikyuu Alice Rinbukyoku - Yes, that's a mouthful. This series seems like a stock mahou shojo show. While I have no specific issues with it, it's not as funny as I would like. Nor does it seem possessed of a particularly interesting plot.

The F List

I haven't had an F yet (though I suspect when I finally get around to watching the first series in the below list, it'll rapidly make it's way there).

The Off List

1)Lemon Angel Project - I haven't started watching this yet, but I've been getting the episodes. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would appeal to me.
2) Blood+ - Little about this show excites me, but I've heard that it gets better later on, so I'm dutifully getting ready to watch it.

Ratings

2006-02-26T18:45:00.000-08:00

Wow, work can suck. My boss just got promoted and we've been scrambling to pick up the work while they start interviewing replacements. In a way I'm very sad (I liked my boss a lot), but hopefully this will be a good thing.
Anyway ....
Generally when I watch/read/whatever, I like to divide things up into groups. I don't bother to say "top ten" or whatever because ten is an artificial number and usually there are several items tied for that last spot. So generally I just give them a letter grade. I was going to skip this post and go straight to my mid-rankings on the winter 2005 anime season, but I realized there's no real way for me to do that without explaining how I'm ranking them. It's important to note that I almost never talk about how "good" or "bad" a series is, I only ever talk about them in terms of how much I enjoy them. Cowboy Bebop only has a meandering notion of the term "plot", but that doesn't prevent me from enjoying it.
A LIST: To be an A list item, it has to be an item that I would consider paying full, marked retail price for. For anime, that's generally $30 every 4 episodes.
B LIST: To be a B list item, it has to be an item that I would consider paying what I call "normal" price for. For anime, that's usually $20 every 4 episodes (it's easy enough to get this price at Best Buy or DVDPacific).
C LIST: To be a C list item, it has to be an item that I wouldn't consider paying normal price for. I'm either going to get it from Ebay, or possibly on sale or in a collected edition.
D LIST: D list items I might get if I was getting a complete collection at a steal. For example, Hanaukyo Maid Team La Verite is cute. I would probably buy it if I found someone getting rid of their set for $15-$25 for all of the disks.
E LIST: I wouldn't buy an E list item, but if it was given to me as a gift, I probably wouldn't return it either. I wouldn't buy myself a copy of Burst Angel, but I probably wouldn't get rid of a copy if someone gifted it to me.
F LIST: Not only am I not purchasing F list items, I'm selling, regifting, or liquidating them.

But do they spit fireballs?

2006-01-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060119/sc_nm/environment_japan_jellyfish_dc

In a bizarre twist, actual giant jellyfish have invaded Japan's coastal waters. Where's Rentarou when you need him?

Comics and Books (you know, the kind without pictures)

2006-01-06T22:37:00.000-08:00

Again, I'd like to point out that these are my favorites. Not necessarily what I consider the best, but what I enjoy the most.

Continuing from yesterday:

Top 5

Comic Runs (American)
1) Ostrander and Yale on Suicide Squad and Manhunter- A 90's comic before they were everywhere, Ostrander and Yale dealt with difficult questions about how supervillains should actually pay their debt to society, long before anyone else thought to look at the system. Manhunter took it a step further, showing a villain who had honestly rehabilitated and showing what his life was like.
2) Dark Horse Conan - Busiek does an amazing job of not only putting Howard's works into some semblence of order, but also manages to blend in his original stories with the Howard adaptations so seamlessly that you can't really tell which is which without knowing beforehand.
3) Claremont and Davis on Excalibur - A really fun vibe between the two, which was the X men comic that wasn't really much like an X Men comic, dealing more with Captain Britain and his plot points than the ones that were going on in the other X Men comics. Hilarious and touching with all of the angsty bits that Claremont loved to throw in.
4) DC's Forgotten Realms and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons comics - Weird and punctuated with a number of silly things that can only happen in a comic based on the Dungeons and Dragons game, but I loved the way the two series weaved back and forth between each other, and through the novels TSR was publishing at the time.
5) Bendis' and Bagley's Ultimate Spider Man - Yes, it's a huge run. But it is punctuated with some of the most real dialogue in any comic book, ever. Yes, that means that sometimes they repeat things back and forth to each other. Every time that I think this team is starting to lose a little of their magic, they bring another story that is full of great bits.

Manga series
1) Negima! - It started off as a clone of Love Hina (which, for me, wasn't necessarily a bad thing), and has morphed into a completely different story about a boy's search for his father and what it means to be an adult. Always funny and cute, often touching or sad, if it can just manage to avoid the pitfall of shoe-horning Negi and Asuna into a romantic relationship, I will enjoy it far more than just about anything I've ever read.
2) School Rumble - Funny and absurd all at the same time. You might be noticing that I have kind of a love/love relationship with Kodansha, you would be correct. Other series that I love include Tsubasa Chronicles, XXXholic, and Suzuka. Shonen magazine is where it's at!
3) Love Hina - Already mentioned, but worth repeating, the one piece of entertainment that has transformed my ideas about what I enjoy more than anything else. I walked in fully prepared to hate it with preconceived notions about how bad harem series were, how bad most manga was, and how little I enjoyed comedy and romance. A few short years later and I now find harem series to be the funniest thing on the planet.
4) Kare Kano - A relaxed slow-paced story about the kind of person we all can identify with. Everyone has put on a public face to deal with whomever and dealt with when that public face starts to take over your life. I dread the last english volumes of this series, as it was the series that showed me that just because something is marketed for females, it doesn't mean that I can't enjoy it as well.
5) Ai Yori Aoshi/Tsubasa Chronicles/Fullmetal Alchemist (tie) - It's hard for me to pick one at this spot, but all three of these series manage to reserve fairly high spots in my reading stack whenever a new volume comes out.

Novels
1) The Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan's maxi-series fills up pretty much an entire shelf. And I've still read them all at least three times, some of the earlier ones I've read more than a dozen times.
2) The Amber series - Roger Zelazny's foray into a series of novels comes split into two pieces, one five piece series about Corwin and his attempt to be king of the immortal city of Amber, and one about his son, Merlin, trying to find out about his father. This was the first book series that I read to pieces, literally. I had to replace them with the new omnibus edition because sections would fall out of my original copies.
3) The works of HP Lovecraft - My all time favorite horror writer. He manages the difficult feat of making everything seem connected and together (he wrote short stories) without making it all feel as if he has it written down in notes somewhere. It just seems conversational and behind the scenes you can piece together things that tie into other works.
4) The Bourne trilogy - I can respect that a lot of people enjoy Tom Clancy, but his writing has never done much for me. Generally real world thrillers aren't my thing, but these three stories about a man suffering from memory loss who tries to discover who he really is are definitely my favorites in the genre. Ludlum manages to capture the desparation of not knowing who you are and of being unable to reconcile all the pieces of your past.
5) A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin's fantasy epic is gut wrenching. Every time I think I've established who precisely the hero is, someone betrays them in gut wrenching fashion. I don't think any book has ever made me cry as much as the scene when Robb is betrayed and killed.

So, what do I like?

2006-01-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

It's complicated to look at what types of things I like, sometimes I'll like a show for being realistic, and then pass on another one because it's too realistic. In short, I'll include some top five lists.

Top Five:

American TV shows (live action)
1) Babylon 5 - The granddaddy. Just wish they had passed on season 5.
2) Smallville - Each season has had something good to take away from it. I wish they would incorporate a little more Superman mythos. And I wish that they had cut the Lana character and renamed the Chloe character Lana, but other than that, I'm good.
3) Battlestar Galactica (the new one) - A lot of promise in Season 1, Season 2 was a bit of a letdown. I'm not very fond of shows that hit the reset switch.
4) M*A*S*H - Weird. I know. By this point a lot of you are thinking that I don't like old TV. That's mostly true, but I've always enjoyed M*A*S*H. It's the first show where I felt like things were happening to the characters, people went home, people died, relationships changed. It just felt more real. The only other sitcom that cracks the top 20 would be Friends, for a lot of the same reasons.
5) Firefly - If it hadn't been aborted just as it was getting started, this might have been #1.

American TV Shows (animated)
1) Batman: The Animated Series - Loved it, the actors were great, the scripts were occasionally amusing, often touching, and they managed to play in a pretty big gamut of the Bat-verse without tripping up. This is pretty difficult, as Batman's villains run the gamut of sympathetic to despicable. It even manages to keep it's little sequential bits going, Harvey Dent changes into Two Face, Robin grows up and leaves.
2) Gargoyles - I know. It's Toon Disney fodder, but the story for those first two seasons was incredible. Gargoyles was actually my introduction to the "Previously, on ..." line. I'd never really noticed it before, but it was a must for watching the show. Too bad they went for the Goliath Chronicles episodes.
3) Justice League/Justice League Unlimited - This series is actually more of a successor to the Superman series than the Batman series, but I still love it. I didn't have anything against the Superman series, in fact, I enjoyed the way they set up the Darkseid plot for three years before really bringing it out for the series finale, but there were two few episodes dealing with that, and too many dealing with random Lois getting into trouble. Justice League follows a lot of those plot points that were left dangling, with almost no damsel in distress.
4) The Simpsons - Hard not to love the Simpsons, who manage to come up with funny, culturally relevant gags after so many years.
5) Teen Titans - Seasons 1, 2, and 4 were outstanding. 3 put me a bit into snooze mode, and 5 has yet to show me why I should be caring that it's getting cancelled. But the best moments of 1, 2 and 4, I would stack up against any other series I've seen. Terra turning traitor, Robin joining Slade to save Raven, great stuff.

Top Five Anime series
1) R.O.D. the TV - Helps that it features bibliophiles so prominently, love the characters and the animation. I especially love the attention to detail (people change clothes, but items in locations are always in the same spots). Even the dub isn't so bad.
2) Noir - I freely admit I'm an idiot. I missed the whole yuri thing until it was explicitly pointed out in the letter. Didn't detract from what I feel is a darn fine show about discovering who you really are. Kind of like the Bourne Identity (the real written one, not the one they put on film) in a way.
3) Full Metal Panic (including Fumoffu) - Funny, touching, absurd all at the same time. I like my shows to run the gamut on emotions and to really dig into what makes characters work. Full Metal Panic manages to do all of that while including giant robots (something I normally can't stand).
4) Fullmetal Alchemist - 51 episodes. No filler. Caused me to cry in at least four different spots that I can think of, off the top of my head. Though nothing surpasses the death of Maes.
5) Shuffle! - Interestingly, there was a time when I would have said that there was no harem anime that was worth the time of day (I don't think I'd seen one at the time). Then I read Love Hina and saw the anime. I justified it to myself by saying, "It's not a harem anime, he's only ever interested in the one girl." Then I saw Ai Yori Aoshi and someone pointed me to Da Capo, both shows I enjoyed immensely. I have now realized I'm a fan of this entire genre. Shuffle! manages to transend a genre that I like by breaking some of the conventions that irritate me the most (there are other ones that I can live with). And, finally, someone besides the childhood friend gets the boy. Drama, romance, and comedy, all wrapped up with a pretty character-centric bow. Though it has emotionally scarred me from ever entering the Animesuki forum on it ever again.

Top Five Movies
1) John Carpenter's The Thing - Bizarre out of left field movie, but there's something about it that truly tries to evoke H.P. Lovecraft (one of my favorite authors of all time).
2) Aliens - Amazing how what was a very simple scary movie (very good also, but I didn't want to put both in the top five) can have it's concept tweaked only slightly to produce a great, suspenseful action movie instead. "Game over, man!"
3) The Fellowship of the Ring - I know Return is most people's favorite, but all of the truly great moments, for me, happen in the first one. Gandalf's sacrifice at the bridge, Boromir's defense of Merry and Pippin at the ford, even the Nine are best in the first movie.
4) 2001 - Blade Runner could get this spot, Conan (the Barbarian of course, there was NO other Conan movie) could also, but 2001 is, for me, quite simply one of the best science fiction movies of all time.
5) The Princess Bride - True Love, miracle workers and mostly dead. The first "fantasy" movie that I really got into, though later I would go back and watch some earlier ones that I also greatly enjoyed. Plus the fencing was very nicely handled.

Next time we'll take a look at the written stuff.

ARGH!

2006-01-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

Cannot believe the Reggie Bush lateral.

In fact, I would have killed myself if it hadn't been for the fact that I just don't care that much about college football.

Yay for me!

2006-01-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

Huzzah for my first entry in my new blog!
Sequential Thoughts is intended to be reminiscent of the term "Sequential Art" (for those of you who don't know, that's the fancy way of saying "comic book"). See, I enjoy comic books. And unlike a lot of people, I don't draw much of a distinguishing mark based on where they come from. I enjoy comics from Japan, Europe and the United States. I also enjoy cartoons (including anime), books, video and computer games, sports, and, of course, movies and TV shows. Sometimes I enjoy one more than the other. Two years ago I was big on American comics, video games, and novels. Now I'm enjoying TV, manga and anime more, but these things come in cycles, and I expect that at some point I'll be more interested in talking about the others.

As you might be able to tell, Sequential Thoughts is going to be my rambling discourse on things I like. I noticed last week that all of the media I enjoy has something in common, it builds up elements sequentially. Not necessarily the plot (though that's usually the way it is), but some elements of the story are built up over time.

For example, two years ago I was no longer following anime and/or manga. It seemed like there wasn't really anything in it for me anymore (up until this point, I had enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Gundam and other anime shows). As a matter of fact, pretty much the only animated shows I was watching anymore were the Dini/Timm DC Animated Universe (Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Teen Titans). I went to the library one day and checked out the first five volumes of Love Hina and the first three or four of Oh My Goddess. Now I should point out that I already knew the broad strokes of what each series was about. I had assumed that neither would be my cup of tea. I read the Oh My Goddess volumes, and wasn't especially surprised. It wasn't for me. After the first volume of Love Hina I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be for me either.

However, by the end of the third volume something strange happened, I was laughing out loud while reading. My sense of humor is a little bit dry and ironic, so I usually don't find comedy especially funny. I know when to laugh, and I include (what I like to call) my polite laugh in the appropriate parts of shows I watch, but up until this point I had never really laughed at something before. My wife would look at me strangely because I couldn't stop laughing while reading. The thing about Love Hina is that the gags build up. By the fourth volume you have seen pretty much the punchline to almost every joke Love Hina is going to give you; however, the inventive build ups and elaborate ways the jokes are staged are what make it so funny. And even funnier are the moments where you keep waiting and waiting for the joke but it never comes.

It's important to note how this is different from something like Looney Tunes (not that there's anything wrong with Looney Tunes either). In Looney Tunes they use a lot of the same gags over and over, but the gag is basically repeated (the same for Tom and Jerry or other, non-sequential comedy shows). In Love Hina, the gags are escalating, each one provokes a reaction that builds on the previous reactions. The difference is that one is intended to be watched in a certain order, and the other is designed to be watched in a random piece by itself. Note that I'm not saying there's anything with the Looney Tunes way, I just happen to prefer mine the Love Hina way.

Similarly, one of my favorite TV shows was Babylon 5. In order to watch (and understand) Babylon 5, you have to see the earlier episodes. The plot is layered over seasons. This is different than the way a TV show like (for example) Star Trek works. Though later versions of Star Trek included more layered plot elements than earlier ones, for the most part you can pick out any episode of Star Trek and watch it with someone else without having to explain what happened in the earlier episodes. Again, there's nothing wrong with either approach, I just prefer mine the Babylon 5 way.

For my next entry, I'll probably include an idea of my favorites from each genre. Which will give us an interesting starting point to begin discussions of the things I'm watching/reading now in comparison.