Blogsome ate my original post, so now I’m annoyed as hell, but what can I do?

Episode 1: In which our trusty samurai, Manji, slices and dices himself a human shish-kabob salad, is killed twice but ressurects himself, and decides to embark on a journey to kill 1,000 evil men.

I was expecting a lot from Blade of the Immortal after hearing nothing but good things about the manga, but this first episode made me  think about what other, more important things I could be doing with 28 minutes of my time, like learning how to dance like a Korean pop star or clipping my aunt’s toenails.   The pacing was all over the place, random characters were being thrown into the mix left and right, and the annoying OP theme (although the first 30 seconds of the OP were great until the main verse, after which everything soon felll into an abyss of crappiness)  really grated on my ears. Nor was the ED theme much better. 7 times out of 10, I will watch a show I don’t particularly think is great just because it has a nice OP. Blade of the Immortal does not fall in this category.

The mission to paint Manji as a tragic figure in the first episode? Failure.  I understand that Manji is immortal and wants to repent for his sins so he can finally die, but I don’t understand how embarking on a journey to kill 1000 men is the way to achieve this. The catalyst which drives him to make this journey seems to be the death of his sister Machi.

Most meaningless death ever.

Seriously, was I supposed to feel something when Machi died? Because I didn’t. And the amount of blood? Rather tolerable, considering Shigurui makes Immortal look like a child’s play. And am I supposed to feel thrilled watching people getting slashed against pretty wallpaper backgrounds?

Yawn. This first episode was nowhere near a masterpiece, but I’ll probably watch the next couple episodes anyway. I still believe Blade of the Immortal has a lot of potential, so despite it’s failings i’ll stick with it and see. (-_-;)

    Your hands….they block my view….

So I finally got around to checking out some of the new material this season (instead of tackling my extremely long ‘to-watch’ list), which means I forced myself through episode after episode and was either pleasantly surprised, or rolled my eyes nearly out of their sockets. Here’s what I’ve seen so far.

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~ Natsu no Sora

Fansubbers are getting lazy. Is it so hard to translate translatable titles nowadays? It’s not like it’s a Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, I’d be perfectly happy with a "Someday’s Dreamers~ Natsu no Sora" at the very least.

In any case, I like what I’m seeing so far, although I’m not too sure about the contast between the realistic backgrounds with the flat, 2-D characters. It’s certainly different, that’s for sure. In any case, I’ve always been a fan of slice-of-life series…. for me, a good plot is nothing without good characterization, and so far I’m pretty happy to see the story through the POV of our leading girl, Sora.

Natsume Yuujinchou 

Watching this makes me feel really guilty for not finishing Mushishi or Mokke or Shounen Onmyouji or Kekkaishi or…. 

Maybe I can break the chain of bad luck with Natsume?

Birdy the Mighty -DECODE- (AKA Tetsuwan Birdy -Decode-)

…In which a kick-ass, scantily-clad alien Inspector who strives for justice and establishes her dominance over her male counterparts, finds herself having to get in touch with her own male side.

Birdy is certainly something. I haven’t seen the original, so I’m hoping my experience with Birdy wont lead to confusion. Certainly features the best action scenes this season, hands down.

(Which isn’t saying much, now that I think about it….)

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (AKA Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret)

Nogizawa Haruka seems like the perfect girl, except for one little problem: her love of anime. When one of her classmates finds out, will it be the beginning of the end of her happy school days?

I have a love-HATE affair with ecchi+/harem series, lately with the stress on the HATE. Wishy washy, indecisive leads (who have such amazing luck with girls, you can’t help but wonder how many blind and maimed they had to heal, or how many rear-ends they had to fervently kiss in their past lives) have been the bane of my anime existence for many years now. In fact, the first time I saw the main male lead, I shivered in fear with thoughts of Keitaro from Love Hina. Luckily, my first impression was wrong. I liked the way he called Haruka out in the first episode (like a true pimp) to clear up the misunderstanding between them. I also like how cute and clumsy Haruka, unlike some other female leads who shall remain unnamed, is very gentle and doesn’t seem like the type who’d beat the crap out of the lead just because he accidentally saw her underwear.

SEQUELS

Mission E

Um, so,  is no one going to sub this? 

A lot of people were turned off by the slow pace of the prequel, but I kinda liked Code E, so naturally, I jumped on this.

The sequel to Code E returns, but not in the way I originally expected. Everyone’s all grown up and badass now. Except Chinami. (T_T) I really wanted to see her reak some (controlled) havoc with her powers, but maybe I’ll have to wait longer than I thought. I’m disappointed in fact that even though years have passed 1) her character design is essentially the SAME and 2) her voice sounds incredibly childish now. (I bet 20 Mexican pesos Koutaro hasn’t changed much either…)

Zero no Tsukaima~ Princess no Rondo  

Watched Season 1, Didn’t finish Season 2, and now watching Season 3, aka Princess no Rondo. The only reason I’m watching this show now is for the Saitou x Louise moments—-as long as  Louise come to honest terms with her feelings for Saitou, stops treating him like a dog + stops beating him and blowing him up with her wand, I’ll be happy. Doubt that’ll happen though. 

In the meantime, here’s to hoping that this time around the writers can incorporate the romance/H, comedy, and actual serious plot in a way that doesn’t make me want to self-flagelllate.

So the other day, I was mulling around some beauty shop with my mom, and I noticed the guy behind the register was trying to speak to us, but kinda failing, a mix of barely incoherent English with Korean words thrown in. So I thought, hey, what the heck, let me at least say thank you to the guy in Korean when he gives us our change. Which I did.

I swear, the guy almost choked on his saliva.

All I could think of, when I saw his expression was, please don’t have a heart-attack, please don’t have a heart-attack, please close your mouth, the flies are getting in, please don’t have a heart-attack. I mumbled a goodbye, in English of course, and practically dragged my mom out of the store. Poor guy, may he never receive such a shock again.

Which brings us to things foreigners do that surprise the hell out of the Japanese, courtesy of    世論 What Japan Thinks.

I’m not a big fan of polls per se (politcal polls tend to be a load of poo), but a lot of the ones at What Japan Thinks make me feel as if I’m getting a genuine slice of what the typical Japanese person believes. Plus the results make me laugh. A lot.

Introducing Exhibit A:

Q: What behaviour by foreigners in Japan surprises you? (Sample size=1,072)

#1: Writing Difficult Kanji: Oh, yeah, I definitely see where this one is going. I automatically fail at this, since I can never remember to write even the most basic of basic kanji half the time. Except for 憂鬱 (ゆううつ), which for some reason I remember–a terribly complicated pair of kanji, meaning melancholy, depression. My suggestion? Start impressing your Japanese friends by writing long notes about your own depression bordering on suicide.

#2: Bowing on the Telephone: Nothing to say about this action, except that it’s high level on the Japanese-ness scale makes shivers of pleasure run up my spine.

#3: Eating Natto: 

Mm, yummilicious.

I’ll eat it, but I can’t make any promises that I won’t throw it back up. Violently. In a pool of fizzing hot bile.

#9: Using Japanese Era Dates, Not Western Calendar:

Friend: So, like, in Shouwa 53, there was like a huge boom in the economy and stuff, like…

Me: Wait, wait, wait, 53 what? 

#10: Singing Enka, Folk Songs: Again, very Japanese, but I think Jero already toe this one up. Not "tore", toe. Somehow, it is now acceptable to sing Japanese folk songs while sporting a du-rag. Claiming you have a Japanese grandparent who taught you the joys of enka when you were a child? Lowers the shock effect by 1/3.

#11: Parting crowds with "Sumimasen" and the one-handed chop: If I saw a foreigner doing this, I’d laugh. Whistles are better, and more demanding.

#12: Sitting "seiza": I can SO do this. For about 45 seconds. Then my legs go numb and my bladder gets all "wonky".

#13: After bath, drinking fruity milk with one hand on hip: "What the hell?"

Strawberry milk = added shock value.

AND FINALLY, 

#20: Queueing Properly: Because nothing pisses the Japanese off more than foreigners who can’t understand the common courtesy of the queue system at train stations. Reading the pr0n section of the newspaper or pissing in the middle of the street? Who cares. Standing wherever you damned feel like on the platform? Punishable by death.

Remember now, Red area, waiting for the next train. Green area, waiting for the train after that. Simple, right? 

Feel free to follow these mannerisms on the path to surpassing all other foreigners. Now is the time to become a foreigner with SHOCK VALUE and balls. 

Original Air Date: 12/29/07

 

Short Summary:  

Flashback episode.

In 1995, a string of brutal murders in which victims’ bodies are desecrated and severely mutilated, serves as the backdrop and eventual driving force behind Shiki and Mikiya’s relationship: a first encounter on a snowy night, which Shiki later forgets, and later on, their days together at the same high school.

At school, everyone seems to be aware of Shiki as being different, aloof and cold; in a word: abnormal. Everyone, that is, except the kind, perhaps over-friendly Mikiya. But Shiki is far from flattered by Mikiya’s attentions, and Mikiya, before he knows it, comes face to face with two Shikis, one who wants to kill, and the other who just wants to kill him. Could Shiki be the culprit behind the string of brutal murders? And if so, will Mikiya be her next victim?

 

Impressions:

This episode was practically screenshot heaven…. proving once again that God really does answer the prayers of heathens.
Compared to the first episode, the pacing was certainly slower and the episode itself, somehow bloodier, but once again, the theme of Shiki and her inability to stay away from recurring murders is at the center.  

On a sidenote, do the Japanese have no fear of AIDS? Since when is rolling around in other folks blood as if it’s cherry-flavored body paint cool? But somehow, Shiki escapes HIV free this episode. For that I am thankful, I guess.

So Shiki has two personalities, one of which is a mean, but not necessarily green, killing machine. (How bloody original.) Just as in Tsukihime, there’s even a difference in the way their names are written, with normal aloof Shiki written as 式, and killing machine SHIKI as 織.  Or better yet:

 

Shiki’s two sides in plushie form. 

 

Personally, the only thing that interested me this episode was Shiki/SHIKI and Mikiya’s relationship. Lol, poor Mikiya, I can’t see him
getting some action romantically involved with Shiki at all. Still, it seems she’s warmed up to him a bit, so as long as Mikiya doesn’t screw up… I think things’ll be all right. Maybe.