Today, we’re going to talk about music for a bit.  No, this has nothing to do with K-ON!, which is a show that is pretty much entirely about music.  This is about a band that is very near and dear to my heart, and part of the reason that I am even here writing today, Do As Infinity.

I got introduced to DAI in probably the most backwards way imaginable.  While the rest of the world was eating them up for their work on Inuyasha, I found them a few years later through the ending theme to Viewtiful Joe.  That theme wasn’t even composed by the whole band, it was written by their third man, Dai Nagao.  I searched for a few more tracks by them, and I liked what I heard, so I proceeded to download their entire discography.  Keep in mind I was still on 28K at that point, so it took quite a bit of dedication.

Sadly, in 2005, the band decided to split up and pursue their own projects.  Tomiko Van went on to try out a solo career, while Ryo Owatari devoted his time to his band Missile Innovation.  Both of these projects were good, but neither of them really lived up to the level they had together, for me anyway.  I continued following them both, and kept my ear to the ground for new releases.  One day, someone on Facebook dropped a link that caught my eye.  The band had played a reunion show at A-nation 2008.

This concert was a new beginning for DAI, and they announced they would officially reform in late September of that year.  This kicked off a nationwide reintroduction tour for the band.  They came back with their 21^st single, Infinity1, in June, their 7^th album, Eternal Flame, in September, and capped off the year by providing the opening theme “Kimi ga Inai Mirai” for the new season of Inuyasha.  DAI had come back in force for their 10^th anniversary, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled.

Throughout their career, DAI has always performed successfully.  Three of their albums reached platinum status, and two reached the top spot on the sales charts.  Of their twenty-one singles, their highest-ranking track has peaked at 2^nd position, with many others in the top ten.  Their music covers a whole range of feeling, from Summer Days’ upbeat cynicism, to Rakuen’s down tempo realness, and all the space in between.  Almost everyone can probably pick one song out of their catalog that they like or they can identify with strongly.

At a personal level, DAI reintroduced me to anime, and really the Japanese culture in general.  I started watching Inuyasha solely because they provided a few of the theme songs.  I didn’t particularly like it, mind, but that along with the rest of the Adult Swim lineup was a spark.  They instilled in me a greater love of music, of which I have probably acquired more than I will ever really listen to.  When I decided to come up with a new Internet handle in 2006, I searched through my music list, and I settled on Rakuen, which I’ve stuck with for over three years now.  It’s safe to say the trio has left an indelible mark on my life.

Happy 10^th anniversary, Do As Infinity!  Welcome back!

While writing the Fall 2009 Season Preview, I wrote off Kampfer as “crap.” (Understandably so, some would argue, but that’s not the point…) Despite having bunches of well-known seiyuu in its cast, the series didn’t seem worth watching for a girl like me. But after having an undue number of Kampfer-related posts from a variety of blogs show up in my Google Reader, I finally began poking around the blogosphere to see what everyone was so excited about.

“Poking around” turned out to be a bad idea. Sorta, anyway.

The first coverage of Kampfer I really noticed was the furor surrounding episode 5,  which had inane amounts of fanservice and comedy and…. French kissing. No, the Frenching wasn’t what caught my attention, what are you talking about? I knew nothing about the plot, at that point, other that it was a harem series with fighting and stuff. Eventually, I started stalking the blogs that were covering the series, but I was hesitant to start watching it myself for obvious reasons. It took me a while to figure out various plot points like the gender-bending (yeah, had an epic lightbbulb moment for that) but the series truly began to seem more and more appealing to me, especially with Shizuku and the utter BALLS she has. By the end of the series’ 12-episode run, I pretty much knew the plot and characters as well as the bloggers who wrote about them.

And yeah, that was without even watching it.

Now I have the first 3 episodes sitting on my hard drive, and I will watch them (and possibly more) as a little Christmas present to myself. I’m honestly a little scared to, but really, what’s the worst that could come of it? A nosebleed or two? Or maybe I’ll just waste ~75 minutes of my precious time, but I somehow doubt that.

The real issue is whether or not I’ll have time to finish the series after December 25th…

~CJ

You might remember that last year, I made a post in this series about how much things have changed over time.  This year, I’m going to talk about how things have stayed the same.  Read on as I reminisce for a few minutes.

Those of you that have managed to keep up with the Pokemon anime series might have remembered a little throwback in one of last year’s episodes.  Diamond and Pearl’s episode 74 has Ash and Pikachu contending with a trainer and his Raichu.  Naturally, Ash loses, it’s what he does best.  That’s not the point though.  At the Pokemon Center, Ash pulls out a Thunderstone.  The same stone that he was given 10 years ago in Vermillion City.

That seems like a minor point of continuity coming up, a small nod and thank you to the fans that have stuck with the series since its conception.  Let the thought really sink in for a moment, though.  Pokemon’s been around for eleven years now folks.  I still remember watching the very first episode on its premiere date here in the United States.  I still have a copy of Pokemon Red that I got on its release date.  I’m 21, and already that makes me feel old.  Time has really slipped by for us all.

In the last decade, I survived Jr. High, graduated from High School, and am currently studying Computer Science.  I’ve changed quite a bit from the insular person I was just a few years ago.  I’ve made friends with people all over the world.  Not everything has been rainbows and butterflies though.  My family has been wracked by cancer.  I’ve had to contend with watching the people I love suffer through unimaginable hardships.  I can’t even turn on the news without feeling depressed at the sorry state of world affairs.  I’m sure many of you can relate similar experiences.

At the same time, my “Pokemon Realization” is a little comforting.  Sure, the fervor that has surrounded the franchise has died down substantially over the course of the last decade.  Yet at the cusp of 2010, Ash and his friends are still wandering around on their camp adventures through the Pokemon world.  The manga series that follows the game continuity is still trucking along, now in its Platinum arc.  Japan’s already revisiting the Johto region with the 2^nd Generation remakes, which will be seeing release over here in a few months.  Further, I’m almost positive that Generation 5 is in the works for a late 2011 release.

Really, this whole year has been a stroll down memory lane.  I’m sure people have similar feelings with the release of Dragonball Kai, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Inuyasha: Final Act.  Pokemon is just my guilty drug of choice.  My DS is in a Pokemon Platinum carrying case, with Pokemon Diamond and Ruby loaded in.  I cosplay Giovanni at anime conventions and I plan to be at the midnight launch for Soul Silver.  I’m even watching a bunch of people play through the series for charity right now.  I have grown up alongside this series.  So much has changed in the last decade, but Pokemon is still here, just as I am still here.  You might think it strange, but it gives me a feeling of contentment.

The world keeps turning.  Some things never change, and I am so glad for that.

In this holiday season, it’s important for us to take a look back on the previous year and reflect on what’s passed, what we’re thankful for. Some people are thankful for their family, others for their success. Me? I’m thankful for moe.

For a lot of people, K-ON! is nothing short of a secret shame, a guilty pleasure. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no problem admitting I like it. The arguments that are brought up for and against moe series are plausible in and of themselves; that it devalues anime, that there’s no plot, that the characters are nothing but cute blobs of no personality, and these ideas are evident in K-ON! in spades.

Now, here’s the thing. In this day and age, people have expectations of anime. Yui and company may not be so linear and psychologically engaging as to compare to the likes of Eva and Mononoke, but that in and of itself raises the point that there’s nothing wrong with simply sitting back and watching a fluffy slice-of-life anime with no expectations other than to be bombarded with cute characters pondering on life’s foibles. I never once in my life thought I’d hear Japanese schoolgirls carrying on a conversation about Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, but of course, I also never thought I’d be writing a retrospective about an anime about music-playing schoolgirls.

Oddly enough, for a show about a music club, the music takes something of a backseat, which is a valid complaint. Yet, at the same time, it goes back to the idea of shows like these (and to a lesser extent, shows like Haruhi) being simple by design and execution. Depending on who you are, this is good or bad; there is often a need for people to find some sort of substance in their shows, and while “blob” might be the sort of substance one thinks of when watching K-ON!, it may not be the one people are searching for.

I grew up as one of those viewers who thought that I had to be able to expound on the themes and profoundities of every show I ever watched. Though, as I watched more and more shows, I came to the realization that such does not always have to be the case. And sitting back and watching the high-school adventures of these four young girls, I remembered that all over again.

Thanks, Yui. Happy Holidays to you and yours, folks.

-Dave

*tap tap* Is this thing on?  Oh good.  Rakuen here, delivering the fourth post in the annual series of the team’s memorable anime moments.  My pick for today is the first episode of Seitokai no Ichizon.  Why the first episode in particular?  Well read on to find out.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am not a fan of the harem or ecchi genres, or their respective comedy subgenres.  You might have even picked that up from the preview posts as well.  I watched Love Hina simply because I had it fully available to me, and by the end of it I was bored and disgruntled.  At some point the only reason I was still watching it was because I felt I had dumped enough time and energy into it that I simply had to finish.  The most recent attempt to try picking up one of these series was Seto no Hanayome last year.  I watched six episodes and promptly pulled the plug.

So, what about Seitokai no Ichizon is different?  Perhaps it’s because in the opening minute of the series, the poor fourth wall is irrevocably shattered.  Personally, I am a huge fan of self-referential and meta-humor, so that is a large appeal to me.  There’s also the series’ overwhelming honesty about what it is.  This show knows it’s both an ecchi and harem series, and as a result all the characters are amazingly genre savvy.  The male lead even states right off the bat that he wants a harem, and views life as a massive dating simulation.  The writing staff also deserves a bit of credit.  The jokes hit hard, the situations transition smoothly, and the characters personalities are written to the full extent of their respective archetypes.

At the bottom line, it doesn’t break tremendously new ground, but it takes many of the components and puts them together just right.  Don’t come here for an amazing love story or moving screenplay.  That’s not what the show is about at all.  Accept it for what it is:  Fun.  I have to give Seitokai no Ichizon credit, not only for being enjoyable, but also for  single-handedly pulling me into a genre I have historically avoided.  Well done.

See, I’m one of those Macross fans who’s really only in it for the music; I could care less about the mecha and the love triangles. (I love Klan Klan, though. Poor Klan Klan. ;_;) The latest slew of tracks released to go with Macross Frontier: The Movie ~Itsuwari no Utahime~ are compiled in albums by May’n (Sheryl Nome) and Megumi Nakajima (Ranka Lee) with songs composed by Yoko Kanno. You really can’t get much better than that.

I didn’t even like the song in the above video, “Sou Da Yo” by Nakajima, that much; it’s as slow as “Aimo” but without all the mystique and beauty. Ranka’s movie mini-album, CM Ranka, was just released today, and as such I have yet to give it a thorough listen… but thank goodness for Youtube, right? The album has a couple of cute songs, like “Koi no Dogfight” and the classic “Ninjin Loves You Yeah!“, but they’re very short, for the most part; only “Sou Da Yo” can be considered full-length. Even more unfortunately, most of the tracks, especially “Family Mart Cosmos” and “Starlight Nattou,” are annoying after the first few listens and really don’t make the most of Nakajima’s abilities.

On the other hand, May’n’s Universal Bunny mini-album is far more worthwhile, though the quality of the tracks varies widely. The titular “Universal Bunny” is annoying, and “Izolado” sounds oddly forced, despite its intriguing shift from hard-rock to power ballad (or something) halfway through the track. But the gorgeous “Eien” alone makes the album worthwhile; it’s the third Macross song to bring me to the brink of tears, ever. Other solid tracks like “Pink Monsoon,” “Aenai Toki” and “Obelisk” are worth a listen, and make the album another example of why May’n + Yoko Kanno = <333333.

It was also amusing to notice how some of the songs are clearly similar to some of Kanno’s previous compositions: “Eien” gives off major vibes from Cowboy Bebop’s “Call Me Call Me” and “No Reply,” and “Pink Monsoon” is somewhat comparable to Macross Plus’ “Idol Talk.” I giggled hard when I noticed that, but that’s not the point; the point is that the day Kanno retires will be a sad day in anime fandom indeed. She’s a legend for a reason.

Though I can’t wait for a sub of the movie to appear, I’m more than satisfied with the new tracks and shiny artworks. It’s gonna be even more exciting when the second movie comes out, since it’ll be an all-new movie and not just a recap. Hopefully Kanno, Nakajima and May’n will continue spoiling us fans with epic music, even if some of it’s sixty-second-long cuteness spam.

~CJ

I rented The Sky Crawlers on a whim, but with high expectations due to the hype about it. I wasn’t let down in any way, and now it’s so high on my Christmas list that I’ll likely cry if I don’t get it. (Of course, then I’d just turn around and buy it with whatever giftcards I get, but that’s not the point.)

Mamoru Oshii’s latest work is a dark yet realistic look into the world of a young pilot, Yuuichi Kannami, who shows up at a new base where nothing is as it seems.

… A synopsis like that pretty much shows that the movie had tons of potential to be really, really lame. It could’ve been like Kurogane no Linebarrels mixed with Jinki Extend and… oh, who knows what. And it’s only through a bit of magic that Oshii and the movie’s writer, Chihiro Ito, make it work. Of course, some credit has to go to the original novel’s writer, Hiroshi Mori; if it was successfull enough to spawn four sequel novels, then that says something about its adaptation potential, right?

The pacing, atmosphere and attention to visual detail are the movie’s strongest points,and what push the film above and beyond almost everything else that’s been brought to North America this year. That’s not to say the plot is mediocre, though; it’s a blend of geopolitical and psychological drama that layers mysteries to create an incredible amount of suspense. It’s not the most character-driven plot ever, but it becomes more than the sum of its parts through some epic plot twists, some of which are never explained fully.

It’s because they’re never explained fully that the character development suffers a bit, and the main character is less interesting than his commander, Suito Kusanagi (who is ridiculously awesome and complex and tsundere… or yandere… or both, really.) Still, the lack of explanation makes the plot more believable, in a roundabout way; and who wants to listen to the 10+ minutes of dialogue it would’ve taken to explain it all, anyway?

The film’s only real flaw is the lack of character design eye candy, though that’s open to debate. The absolutely ridiculous aerial dogfights more than make up for that, though; fans of WWII-style planes will probably pee themselves during the opening scene. Trust me, it’s that awesome. I’m just left wondering what poor nerds were stuck behind computers for hours on end rendering all that stuff.

Some would argue that the ending is flawed, too, but its ambiguity doesn’t seem all that out-of-place. Its solemn tone sets the viewers’ mood in stone as the credits roll, and it leaves little to really be desired. Though The Sky Crawlers isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s definitely a movie for those wanting something deeper and more intense than their average action anime. It’s easily one of the best things to be released on this side of the Pacific this year, and absolutely not to be missed by airplane otaku, period.

~CJ

Because the manga is tastier than the anime. I mean, that ending. That. Ending. Failed. So let’s move on to a topic that actually matters.

Action, drama, comedy, betrayal, angst, romance shipping potential… Soul Eater is like Naruto, only without the manga-ka pulling stuff out of his butt. For the most part, anyway. Soul Eater had a full 12 chapters released this year, with no serialization drama or magazine-switching antics; I’m eternally grateful for that.

All of the major characters get some twists and development, especially Justin (zomg *spoilerremoved*) and Crona. And Black Star, to an extent; but he’s Black Star, letting him have too much character development would be a crime, wouldn’t it?

And we got some shippin’, as well. First of all:

Second of all, Stein/Marie, asfhadskgjhasdfjkgds:

And when Kid gets *spoilerspoilerspoilered* we get some implications of him maybe kinda sorta having feelings for Maka…? I don’t really ship it, but it’s still cute. <3

Additionally, there’s a bunch of new villains, including this crazy punk named Noah. (No D.Gray-man jokes, please.) He’s kind of a ridiculous character, but the whole subplot with him and the surviving villains is interesting.

In the latest release, chapter 68, Crona fully returns, and… let’s just say the series shows its slightly pervy shounen side with the jab at his/her androgyny. But that’s not what’s important; LOOK AT THIS:

AND LOL @ THE END OF THE CHAPTER:

WHAT IS THIS I DON’T EVEN.

As confusing and cliched (Sailor fuku Maka, heh-llooooo) as the series occasionally became over the last year, it’s still epic, partly because of the twists it manages to pull off. I have to wonder what’s next; it’s hard to advance the plot of a series that’s been running for nearly 5 years. And let’s just hope it doesn’t end anytime soon… but with how popular it is, I can’t imagine that happening anytime soon, can you?

tl;dr: This series has fangirls for a reason, dangit!

~CJ