Fourth wall? What fourth wall?

Part 3 of this 40 part series takes a trip back a little over 3 years from yesterday’s post. The best way I can think of summarizing it is the season of sequels. There were a number of shows in their second season, or would go on to have multiple seasons made…eventually. Again, I could have chosen better over the years and that will come up in my unseen section at the end.

Perhaps the most best known series to begin in this season was Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. It also happens to be the first and only series in the franchise I have managed to watch as it aired. Yet, the problem lies in the 3 thoughts that immediately came to mind when I looked at when this series aired. Those being Kira’s seemingly out of place with scene Flay before a battle (or did I imagine that?), Tolle’s severed head emerging from an explosion and the island episode which was so shamelessly ripped off by Code Geass. I can hardly remember the plot!

Perhaps more memorably for me at least was the second season of Mahoromatic. To be fair, I probably wouldn’t have cared so much if the series was only 11 episodes of thinly-veiled fanservice shifting into an increasingly desperate piece of drama. The final episode had to have the traditional GAINAX ending though. Turning a generally light-hearted comedy anime into dystopian action is one thing. Changing the protagonist from an innocent boy dealing tragic circumstances into a cynical bounty hunter who believes in nothing is another thing all together. Though it probably went down badly with it audience, I at least admire the audacity to try something like that.

Getbackers would be a show I would be unlikely to finish now, but I best remember it as a show of 2 halfs. Episodic episodes at the start of each concluding with a series of battles in the same location. Maybe it was the fact that I think there was 1 female character worth anything, and there was also someone who would probably be called a “trap” (I hate that word with a passion by the way). But mostly there’s not much to remember for me there.

The third season of Galaxy Angel introduced some new characters in an attempt to spice up the classic episodic plots driven entirely by the plot crutch of lost technology. Needless to say, it is my least favorite of the 4 seasons. It was all the more disappointing coming after the short, but brilliant 2nd season.

Gravion, was one of many attempts throughout the years to try to bring back nostalgia-infused mecha back to popularity. Relying on one-dimensional stereotypes of characters in the mecha is a staple and while it earned a second season, I couldn’t be bothered to watch that.

Finally, I wrap things up by remembering Onegai Teacher OVA. Sure, it’s mostly a throwaway episode devoted to getting the two main characters together in the end by mainly involuntary means. However, the constant breaking of the 4th wall was really enjoyable for me.

Plot Highlights from Shows Unseen

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is one of those series I shockingly haven’t seen to this point. Now it’s more about availability of time more than anything. The music is good at least. Piano probably has no appeal with me at all, so the slice-of-life/music genre is probably all the better for me having not watched it. And I wrap up with a show nearly everyone knows about and could be the first series that is brought to mind when I say it is shounen loaded with tons of filler (nothing wrong with that by the way) in Naruto.

Riddle.

A.D.Vision inleder virvlande streamingströmmar med Getbackers, Parasite Dolls och Pet Shop of Horrors, tillsammans med BASTof Syndrome och Conduct Zero. Samtidigt avslöjar man att youtube skrivit avtal med The Anime Network, som infinner sig i ett led av samarbetspartners med Sony, Starz och BBC. Andra titlar som kommer vara tillgängliga på Youtube närmsta månaderna tack vare A.D. Visions generöst tilltagna intiativ är beprövade klassikerna Appleseed, El Hazard: The Wanderers, Izumo: Flash of a Brave Sword, Koi Koi Seven, SuperGALS, Alice Academy, Cosmo Warrior Zero, Gun Frontier, Soul Hunter och Revolutionary Girl Utena.

J-List is a peaceful island of Japanese pop culture for you

As fired up as I got about the GetBackers origin story last volume, the eventual conclusion to that flashback was a little less satisfying.  The story finishes up in this volume with how the pair meets Natsumi, which is when she asks them to retrieve her super-smart dog.  The dog is so smart, in fact, that it answers Fermat’s Last Theorem on live television.  Now there is an intelligent animal.  Anyway, some sort of missing link virus is afoot, monsters attack Ban and Ginji, Fudou shows up, it’s a pretty typical GetBackers-type story.  There’s not much remarkable about it, but it’s fun to read since all the stories lately have been very, very long.

Now, the next story gets into the Voodoo Child label for Himiko, involves a retrieval for Akabane, and Maria Noches shows up at the end to assist with knowledge of curses.  This shows every sign of being just as good as the Divine Design story arc that has been my favorite so far.  Other good signs include the fact that, if I’m lucky, only Akabane, Himiko, and Kazuki will be along for the ride this time.  Well, that’s a lie, because… some female character reappears with Akabane, I don’t remember where she was from.  But maybe she’ll be the only one.

I hope Tokyopop gets this series back on schedule soon.  It’s hard to be left hanging on a story that’s really quite good.  I’m glad the series has taken a turn for the better plot-wise since the Infinity Fortress relaunch.

I started GetBackers a long ass time ago. I NEED TO FINISH IT. I think this show is so sick, but the thing is I’ve only watched like 5 eps. So OBALLER if it’s so good why have you finished it? SHUTTUP. I watched all 5 eps in one day, then my friend told me about a show, so i watched that show, then i watched another and another and before you know it I completely forgot about GetBackers. Well, I’ll give you my first impressions and this will probably make me want to finish the series like today.

So what is this show about? I’ll tell you I guess.

Two super powered guys named Ban and Ginji. Ban’s powers are called “The Snakebite” (his hands get a grip of over 200 kilograms of force) and the “Evil Eye” (can make people hallucinate for up to a minute). Ginji’s power allows him to control electricity, and he was known as the “Lighting Emperor” because he can generate a ridiculous amount of electrical energy.

Basically, they call themselves the GetBackers because people pay them to get back any lost of stolen item. They also claim to have a “100% success rate.” The things they have to get back are like anything too. One ep its like a girls little bunny ornament that she keeps on her phone, and in others its like an atomic bomb. But every time they go to get something back its a dangerous adventure.

Apparently there is a major plot with both of their pasts, but I didn’t get that far yet, I’ve only found out suttle things. But when i read up on the show before I started it, it seems there is a good plot.

Now so far I think this show is really sick, the fighting is cool, the characters are badass, and the animation is good. I won’t get into pros and cons or anything like that because I haven’t finished but I am def going to.

Anyways if you haven’t seen it I would recommend it because its really cool. I’m actually going to go watch an episode right now! Until Next Time, OBALLER

Holy crap!  This volume was amazing!  If anyone was thinking about picking up GetBackers, this is actually a really good place to start.  This does away with all the stuff that has happened so far in the series and starts things over with Ban and Ginji’s first couple missions.  At the time, the two still don’t really like each other, but even in these few stories, you can see their friendship developing fast.  By the end, they’ve (or at least Ginji) have nicknames already.

This is the stuff I’ve been waiting for.  Instead of delving into a story that introduces a bunch of new characters and incorporates 10 other characters that I don’t care about, this is just Ban and Ginji solving their cases rather quickly.  Some of the series early jokes come back (the two not having any money, Ban’s fondness for breasts), but the jokes are used infrequently, and I don’t mind them so much.  There’s one long case that I feel went unresolved since they had to cheat a little to finish it, but was good anyway.  I was surprised by how touching it was since it was only a few chapters long.  Later, the two turn down a case from what appears to be a really important client, and instead take the same case from a little girl that walks in right after them.  That leads into the next volume, and I desperately need to know what it is that makes the little dachsund so important.

I can’t stress enough how much of a new beginning this is.  It just feels like all the crap that’s accumulated for the length of the series has been swept away, and we’re just left with Ban and Ginji.  The two are discovering what it is each other can do as far as their powers go, they get to know each other… it’s just a nice thing.

I loved this volume.  I haven’t loved the series like this in a long time, but I really, REALLY liked this volume.  It’s a good place to jump back in if you haven’t been reading the series, or gave up on it awhile ago.

This was a review copy provided by Tokyopop.

With the majority of the fighting taken care of last time, I was expecting this volume to be mostly side stories, especially since it was fairly clear the next story line didn’t start until next volume.  I’m all about side stories, especially after an arc as epic as the Maruido/Kiriudo, as long as it doesn’t have anything to do with hot springs.  It didn’t.

There were a few things to wrap up in the forest, like Kabuto’s true form, the matter of Shido being… inert, and leaving things a little less grim than the last volume finished up.  I didn’t mind the happy ending too much, especially since Ban and Ginji came out okay in the end.

Let’s see, what were the side stories?  There was a really weird/awesome one that involved everyone playing a game in Infinity Fortress where the prize was one million yen.  Emishi was the target, and really, the game was more a gift to him.  This story took up two chapters and was really more about showing the characters goofing off after the seriousness of the last story.  No fanservice other than the characters bickering/joking with one another, and even I have to admit I was won over by Akabane’s lines, so it wound up being a pretty fun side story.

Another one of the side stories dealt with Ban and Ginji helping one of the Honky Tonk girls get back some money she was cheated out of.  I liked this one too, and like I said, it’s nice to see Ban and Ginji hanging out together in non life threatening situations.  This story had the added bonus of leading into what I assume is the next major plot arc, which is about the GetBackers… er, organization in general and, if I’m lucky, how Ban and Ginji got together in particular.  I’ve only been waiting, like, 25 volumes for this, so I’m all about rushing forward now.

This was a review copy provided by Tokyopop.  I’ve also got the next volume, so here’s to starting on the GetBackers origins right away!

I’m beginning to think I have the attention span of a goldfish. O_o

I was beginning to get into the mood of writing Blood of the Snake chapter 26 yesterday, and decided to recap by reading Chapters 24-25 first to get into the gist of the story. Instead, I got distracted by badly written fan-fictions on AFF.net, and of HIZAKI grace project live videos on youtube. When I got back to checking back what I’ve done so far, I realised I’ve only written 600+ words, and it isn’t substantial enough for a chapter in my terms.

I’m bloody knackered. I can’t wait for them two-day holidays, when I can sleep late and wake up late, and be an absolute sloth. Also, even though its already 8.47 am in my class, only three people (including me) are present. It’s only when the 8.50 time passes that people begin to trickle in.

I’ve only just read the last Harry Potter book, and my Original Character, Cadmus Baptiste – his name appears in the book. In the story, Cadmus is the second of three brothers, the Peverell brothers. The three brothers cross a forbidden lake which brings death or something like that, and ‘Death’ comes to them and asks them for whatever they want because they were the only people to not die at the lake. Cadmus requests a stone which brings back the dead back to life, but in the end he dies of longing because the person he summons is his long-lost dead girlfriend. He unites with the girl in death, and I laugh after reading this.

Cadmus wouldn’t ask for a stone that brings back the dead back to life, because he is an orphan. The only people he was close to was his adopted father, called Briareos, and the vampire who turned him and killed himself after turning him into one of his kind. He is a detached person who cares about nothing about others, except surviving through the centuries, until he met Ban and Ginji. If he ever met ‘Death’ I believe he would resist with all of his strength unless Death threatens to take his loves away in exchange for his life. He’s strong, but he’s the passive, silent type, having no lust to show his emotions unless the circumstances demand for it.

When I saw the above art lurking on DeviantART, I was stunned, because this is how I initially imagined Cadmus, but because of my limited artistic abilities, I was unable to portray him like this. Instead of those red eyes, he has a piercing violet, and his body is like an eternally youthful and beautiful Greek God. Everything in this picture embodies Cadmus of my dreams.

This is a quote from Chapter 20:

“So, Cadmus-sama ,” Raitei said, spitting out his name as though it were something poisonous, “You’ve managed to seduce my weaker half and made him fall in love with you, haven’t you? I can see why.” Raitei’s crackling hand moved forward to caress Cadmus’s smooth marble-like cheek. “You look cute and delicate, like a rose. You have a beautiful face and you look as though lovely words will spill out of your mouth once you open it. And this body that you possess can make fools fall in love. I can see why.”

“Fine compliments, thank you,” Cadmus replied blithely, and with it Raitei’s calm disposition totally changed.

My CE status is nearly complete: 4 more points to complete.

I’m way, WAY behind on stuff that I need to talk about.  I’ve been trying to do 2 reviews a day, 5 days a week… I’ve kind of been bad about it, though.  There’s really no excuse for me not to have done anything this weekend, but I went back through and read all 14 volumes I have of Skip Beat, which kind of took all my time.

But on to something much less interesting.  I’m glad this series is popular enough to continue, and I’m also kind of glad to see it’s getting a relaunch as “Infinity Fortress,” though that doesn’t bode very well for the setting of the rest of the volumes in the series.  I don’t particularly care for the Infinity Fortress plots.

The beast/bug feud is winding down nicely, though.  The last few spats are worked out, we find out the phenomonal cosmic powers at work in the masters of the beast clans, Ban and Ginji are reunited, Kabuto is confronted, lots of awesoem things happen.  I’m actually kind of surprised by how much I enjoyed this volume, because usually GetBackers is a lot harder to read than this.

The close of the volume was especially great.  It’s hinted that the characters have a traitor in their midst, and it’s almost immediately obvious who it is… until it’s not that person, because that person is dead.  The second candidate is also obvious, because their name is mentioned outright, but when it happens, it’s still pretty shocking.  And what’s even more shocking is what Kabuto winds up doing when… he does what he does to that person.  There’s one volume left of this story, but this is really the climax.  One volume for the aftermath sounds about right.

All the characters are back, though people like Lady Poison and Akabane don’t really play much of a role here.  Actually, almost everyone is left behind except for the beastmasters, Ginji, and Ban, which is sort of nice because then you know you don’t have to sit through a matchup for each of the side characters.  Ginji and Ban’s reunion is pretty awesome, as always.  Their relationship, take it as you will, is pretty interesting, and one of the stronger parts of this series.  To know that Ban and Ginji will always be together is an interesting thing to keep in mind through a lot of these parts, and I would still love to know what it is that draws the two of them together.

I’m a bit behind.  I know volume 25 is out now (but out of stock where I want to get it), and the first volume of Infinity Fortress may be out, too.  Like I said, I’m not really looking forward to anything that takes place at Infinity Fortress, but I’ve been with it this long, what’s 17 or so more volumes?

It seems like writing yearly rankings (Top 10 of 2008) and series reviews is a big part of a lot of anime blogs, so expect those to start coming out as I continue working on the site. But if you the reader and I have extremely different tastes, then how much would my reviews really help you? So I thought it’d be good to write up an initial series of my own personal overall and then by-genre rankings for people to gauge how much our views have in common.

Here are my Top 10 Favorite Anime series:

10. Naruto / Bleach / Flame of Recca.
Let me start by prefacing that the Recca anime ended awfully – they skipped/changed a bunch of things during the last round of the tournament (so many tournaments in fighting anime) and then ended the series there, which was like only the halfway point of the manga. But hey, Naruto and Bleach anime aren’t perfect either – I still can’t forgive the Naruto series for that year or so of awful fillers, while Bleach fillers were at least relatively watchable. Anyway, I finished the Recca series as manga and currently only read the manga forms of Naruto and Bleach, and of the three, I couldn’t decide which deserved to be by itself in the 10 spot. I thought the Sasuke Retrieval arc of Naruto was alot better than the Soul Society arc of Bleach until Aizen dropped the hugest plot twist of the series, and even though the Hueco Mundo arc in Bleach as been good, Shippuuden has definitely had its moments, albeit in between some really slow and useless chapters (Tobi’s convo with Sasuke about Itachi was interesting until they drew it out for like a month and a half). And Recca is just a really solid fighting series with what turns into a very awesome overall plot to tie everything together.

9. Gungrave
Gungrave is kinda like two series put into one. The first half is a huge flashback about how Brandon Heat and his friend rise up through the yakuza/crime syndicate that they join, and then the second half is about how he’s resurrected as Beyond the Grave (not a really a spoiler, you’ll understand after the first episode) to get revenge on the people that betrayed and killed him. The second half was action packed, but not nearly as good as the first half, and I really feel there should be more like this in the yakuza/mafia genre. Think something like all the backstory behind Spike Speigel from Cowboy Bebop, and you’ll get an idea of what the first half of Gungrave is like. (Speaking of which, Cowboy Bebop prolly deserved a place on this Top 10, but I first watched the series in English dub, which I generally don’t care for)

8. Getbackers

One of the few instances where I started by reading the series at a Barnes & Noble one day and continued to buy and read the US distributed volumes. I really believe that the success of a action/fighting series is based on how interesting its characters are and how novel their fighting techniques are, then on how good the story is. Even though Ginji is basically a lightning element user, some of the ways he uses it during the series is more unique than simply blasting the opponent with electricity or charging limbs for melee fighting. And while Ban’s Evil Eye is basically genjitsu, the ways he tricks his opponents is interesting, and the one minute and three times daily limitations keep it from being too cheap of a hallucination technique. The series has finished publication in Japan, but I’m currently only up to Tokyopop’s most recent release of volume 25 (of 39). Its also important to note that the series is illustrated by Rando Ayamine, so it wasn’t surprising why I really liked the animation style because…

7. The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi
Probably one of the most notable titles of 2006, I’m happy to have watched it while it was still coming out before it reached the near epidemic popularity its enjoyed more recently. The show is hilarious with even its eccentricities in good taste, and Haruhi is definitely one of my favorite characters all-time (and I’m typically not a big fan of tsundere characters). “Hare Hare Yukai” is one of the most iconic anime ED themes in recent pop culture, and “God knows…” is one of the best insert songs I can think of. I’ll be a little honest though – I only liked “Hare Hare Yukai” the first 100 times I’ve seen it. That said, I’m trying to temper expectations while I wait as anxiously as anyone else for the second season. BTW, Aya Hirano, the seiyu for Haruhi and the main vocalist for a lot of the show’s songs, followed up this breakout role with roles as Misa Amane in Deathnote and as Konata Izumi in Lucky Star.

6. Ichigo 100%
My friend introduced me to this manga and I was really surprised at how quickly I went through it. For romance series, especially ecchi harem types, I typically wade through it, enjoy it if its funny, then forget about it when its done, but somehow for Ichigo 100%, which seriously only has a small harem of three contenders, I really took the story and characters to heart. Even before I finished it, my friend and I were already arguing over who the main character should/would end up with (I was in favor of Nishino, but later kicked myself when I found out Noto Mamiko, my favorite seiyu, did the voice for Toujou in the anime). I should also note that the anime and OAVs don’t come close to finishing the story like the manga does, and the series is a Shonen Jump comic, if anyone cares in terms of series popularity or intended target audience. Ichigo 100% also features one of the most ridiculous confession scenes in all the anime/manga I’ve ever seen near the beginning of the series. I’d be impressed if it ever worked in real life.

5. Detective Conan

Into the top 5, this series has been around for forever (Wiki says 1994), and even though I heard rumors that it was getting ready to end about a year ago, it just keeps on rolling. I haven’t been keeping up with the most recent releases, but I am pretty proud to have gone through 627 of the 664 chapters. Every 50 chapters or so, a major story arc with the Black Organization occurs to progress the overall plot, but the large majority of the series deals with individual cases usually lasting between 3-5 chapters. And despite some repetitiveness, especially in the same formula of intro chapter -> investigation chapters -> deduction chapter, a lot of the murders and how Conan solves them are pretty ingenius. I think I like being impressed by how clever a lot of the things are (while others can be just really far-fetched) and thats what keeps me reading even after the hundreds of chapters. The rotation of recurring side-characters also gives the series a sense of continuity, even when its mired in a long span of episodic cases without much overall plot movement. And as Conan says, “There is only one truth”, and that truth is that if I didn’t really like this series, I wouldn’t have devoted some much effort into reading it all these years. It is pretty ridiculous though how they manage to run into so many murder cases (even when theyre on vacation). And also that people like Ran still haven’t figured out that Conan is Shinichi.

4. Slam Dunk
Another old school series (started 1990! and ended 1996) that I ended up watching during college after seeing it on TV during a vacation in Hong Kong a while ago. The anime ends before the Nationals tournament though, replacing it with a not very good “all star” pickup game with players from other schools that they beat in the series. I reread the manga version with the continuation to the series end, and it did not disappoint. Sakuragi is one of my favorite all time characters with the same goofy but zealous “otoko spirit” (I just made up that phrase, otoko means ‘man’ or ‘manly’) as some of my other favorite characters (maybe you can guess the some of the next few series with that). As hilarious as the series is, I found it to be also very motivational. Sakuragi initially joins the basketball team to impress a girl and practices to beat his rival, but he later realizes that he’s come to love basketball, and his determination makes his triumphs motivational and his failures heartbreaking. I remember watching this series freshmen year, and because the matches last around 6-8 episodes, I ended up being late to or missing a lot of classes that week (you shouldn’t skip class) because I just couldn’t leave until I saw how they ended. I was really satisfied with the series ending too, and that’s really important to me (Recca and Ichigo 100% both also had really great endings).

3. Code Geass
Let me just say that I know there are people out there who don’t really like this show and think its overrated. If there were an equivalent for ‘narutard’ or ‘harutard’ for geass fans, they’d probably be flaming people with it. But I also know that a lot of people really like this show, and I’m of the mind that this is one of the best shows I’ve seen in my anime experience. Yea, people say “its gundam seed 2″ and there were a lot of similarities, but I’ve been impressed with a lot of the other mechs in the show after lancelot (the guren in season 2 is awesome). And yea, other people make comparisons to Deathnote, but I personally hated Light after a while (I feel like there’s a point when he becomes less “I’m going to outsmart and trap you” and more “I’ve become so twisted with power that I don’t really care what other important things I lose.”) Lelouch remains a tragic hero for me even after the last few episodes, and that makes a huge difference in my opinion. The show also manages a fine mix of comedy, fan service, and drama that separates it from shows with similar genres like Gundam and Deathnote. Heck, go ahead and even call it a harem, as there used to be no clearcut frontrunner between C.C., Kallen, and Shirley for Lelouch’s affections, assuming he doesn’t have the same kind of ending as Light. Overall, there haven’t been many series around that make me shiver with anticipation before and after every episode quite like geass does (I honestly couldnt fall asleep a couple months ago after watching a certain episode at around 2am just after the fansub had been released). And if Code Geass can end well in the next few episodes, it easily deserves its spot in the top 3 of my list after I enjoyed watching it so much.

2. School Rumble

I’ve based the #2 ranking going to School Rumble because its one of the few shows that I regularly rewatch/reread and find its just as entertaining the sixth time through as it was the first time. Its also great when you can just randomly pick an episode to watch, think ‘oh, its this episode, sweet’, then laugh and smile during the next twenty minutes. Aside from the trainwreck that was the last 2-3 chapters of the manga (and I know Kobayahi prolly just wrapped it up as fast as possible so he could switch to publication to something non-weekly with School Rumble Z) I’ve generally loved this series. Harima Kenji and some of the misunderstandings he gets into is just hilarious, and the series easily transitions between scenes of simple slapstick/comedy to more dramatic/meaningful scenes without losing the overall lightness that defines the series. I wish I understood Japanese better to fully comprehend some of the puns the series uses. A lot of criticisms with the first season was that there was no plot development, but I disagree – you can definitely see the relationships between Harima and Tenma/Yakumo/Eri and between Tenma and Karasuma change throughout the series, and SR is a completely different beast than other true ‘no overall plot’ comedies like Lucky Star or Minami-ke (or Azumanga, so I’ve heard). A lot of the issue is that SR doesn’t really hit full stride until some of the relations outside of the Harima-Tenma-Karasuma connection is established a couple of episodes into the series. The second season, admittedly, isn’t quite as good as the first, but its still has plenty of great moments – it only got a little stale for me towards the late middle/end (I forget) when they throw in one or two anime-only episodes. The second of the two episode third season OAV was just released the other day, and I can’t wait to watch it, but its a shame they didn’t give san-gakki the full 26 episode treatment – I’d suggest turning to the manga after season two. I could go on and on about the various, well defined side characters and all my favorite SR moments, but I’ll just finish up with saying that Yakumo is prolly my all-time favorite female character.

1. GTO
I mentioned before that Getbackers was illustrated by Rando Ayamine. That was huge because Ayamine started by working as an assistant under Tohru Fujisawa, the creator of GTO and my favorite mangaka. In addition to GTO, I’ve seen Tokko, read Rose Hip Rose and Bad Company, and am still working on Rose Hip Zero and Shonai Junai Gumi, the prequel to GTO that Fujisawa first wrote. Onizuka is awesome, period. While Sakuragi of Slam Dunk is a ‘goofy’ hilarious and SR’s Harima is a ‘baka/misunderstandings’ hilarious, Onizuka’s is more of a ‘lewd and outrageous’ hilarious. He passionately stands for his ideals, and as the Great Teacher, uses his own unorthodox methods of fixing his troubled class of students, which is the premise behind the series and is almost always motivational/inspiring. The series does have its ecchi moments, but its not the mind-numbing fan service you get in some harem-romance anime. Again, the anime version has its problems of ending in the middle of the manga, and I personally read the manga before the anime, but in rewatching it recently, you do get a lot of laughs from watching Onizuka in action, even if the animation looks pretty old (1999 old). I’m a really big fan of Fujisawa’s drawing style, and everyone out there should do themselves a favor by checking out the first volume of Rose Hip Zero at their local bookstore. Its a recent work that really exemplifies his style of character models and action cinematography in a more modern sense. And as a side note, I wanted to point out that Atsushi Okubo, the mangaka behind Soul Eater, a 2008 anime possibly worth checking out, used to be an assistant to Rando Ayamine, making him Fujisawa’s disciple’s disciple, but Okubo’s animation style is significantly different from Ayamine and Fujisawa.

Thinking of going as Ban. Whaddyou guys think? Problem though: I dunno where to find the glasses he’s wearing right now and the I don’t have ear piercings… <_< How about Zorro from One Piece instead?

Yep. He's the guy.

BECAUSE I RE-FELL IN LOVE WITH GETBACKERS TODAY. I have no idea why. I just had this great urge to reexamine and rethink about my cosplay of Makubex (that’s only going to occur in December) and went around the anime hunting for fullfrontal screenshots of him.

Four men, and a Kadzuki. Do note the the semes (aka Ban and Shido) have their shirts open, and ukes have their shirts closed. Akabane is the sort of person I would not expect to think about sex at all, so let’s leave him. Ban’s pissy face is so cute, cuddly, squishy and HOT. <3

Whaddya know! This has no relation to Makubex.

I’m hardly a Juubei fan but ZOMG HE LOOKS SO HOT HERE. And (as Ban calls him, in literal translations), Host Club Bastard Kagami Kyoji.

This picture is pretty. Ban looks so cute C: GETTO BAKUZU DAKKANYA <3

And the sexy shota guy that spawned this post in the first place, MAKUBEX <3 He has a really sexy voice, thanks to Saiga Mitsuki whom I’m in love with. I think he’s the first shota guy I went semi head over heels in love with. O MY GREAT MAKUBEX, HOW WILL I EVER BE ABLE TO MATCH UP TO YOUR GREATNESS BY COSPLAYING YOU?

THIS POST IS POINTLESS.

Scans are not mine. They’re from Tsuya, Nakajima Atsuko’s (animation director for a few eps, Character Designer of GB) Amazing with a capital A Artbook. I love her so much, when I saw a picture of Kenshin in an illustration collection I didn’t go ‘OMG KENSHIN <3′ even though I love him, I went ‘OMG NAKAJIMA ATSUKO’ even before I realised it was Kenshin. If someone has a spare copy of Tsuya to sell me, PLEASE TELL ME I desperately want to get my hands on a copy and drool. Her artbook is different from Kouga Yun’s though because Kouga Yun’s is really an ART book, where everything is done in a billion different styles and everything is experimented with, but Nakajima Atsuko’s is just a whole lot of wonderful hot drawings of wonderful characters on wonderful series she has worked on. Can’t complain, really. (: She’s worked on Samurai X aka Rurouni Kenshin, Princess Princess, Secret Agent Undercover (something like that) and GetBackers, among her more notable series. THEY SHOULD CHUCK HER AS AN ANIMATOR FOR EVERYTHING SHE’S TOO AWESOME.

My shelf of GetBackers. That’s nearly the whole collection, except 1-5 which I don’t really want to bother getting. I got 13-39 all in Japan, rest in Singapore from Kinokuniya. I also don’t have GetBackers: Ura, but I do have GetBackers: The Last Piece. I also have a Ban-chan mug. I’m quite the GB fan. |D

Some of them are still in their plastic wrap because I’ve been too busy watching anime and things like that to read the tiny tiny GOSHWHYARETHEYSOTINY Japanese characters of GetBackers. But fret not, I will read you. Someday.

GetBackers happen to have the second greatest love of my life, Midou Ban. It also has a whole cast of lovable characters, an interesting style of plot of very distinct arcs with interconnecting points, good and well researched storylines, great art (getting SO MUCH better as the manga progresses) both male and female fanservice (although male fanservice a lot more, sad to say.)

…Man.  I almost quit when I got to the part where Ginji defeated his enemy by convincing him not to fight.  That part was so goddamn lame I don’t even have the words.  The rest of the volume isn’t too fantastic either.

Mostly this is just fight after fight after fight after fight between different characters in different places.  We do get an explanation as to what’s up with Amon Natsuki and why the two clans are fighting, but other than that it feels like the plot doesn’t advance AT ALL.  I mean, obviously several opponents are defeated, so everyone’s that much closer to… whatever the hell it is they’re going to do here, but other than completing several battles, nothing happens and nobody meets up with one another.  In fact, several characters split up, thus ensuring things will take even longer since they have to meet back again.

So Himeko fights alone versus a butterfly woman who uses poison powders like she does.  Akabane fights against one of the bosses he knew from when he was the real Dr. Jackal, saving lives and everything.  Ginji fights… okay, Ginji doesn’t even fight, he just gets scared, then somehow “finds his power” and easily convinces his opponent that killing is bad.  Except he doesn’t really find any power, or not anything terribly obvious.  Ban fights one of the other bosses, and his battle is actually the only one that was remotely cool.  Well, Akabane’s was kind of cool since we got the barest hints of his background, but a lot of the time I couldn’t really tell what was going on because the art isn’t very clear during these action scenes for some reason.  Also, there’s a battle at the very beginning between a couple of the Insect bosses that involves Himeko, Ban, and the Observer.  Amon and the whip guy are shown still mired in battle, but that’s just more to let you know they’re still around since they don’t really get their own chapter this time around.

Mmm.  I don’t think I’m missing anything.  If you’re reading this series, feel free to skip right over this volume.  I’m sure the only important bit of information (what’s up with Amon Natsuki) will be immediately apparent when events start moving forward again.

Cosfest in Singapore is around 5th or 6th of July this year, the midyear one that is.

I was planning to cosplay Makubex from GetBackers, but it looks like I won’t be in time for midyear, because half my June holiday is spent in Japan immersion and the other half is chewed up by SMP, this terrible terrible tough project that is mandatory for entering a class of mine. So I guess I shall have to cosplay at the End of Year cosfest, as well as any random small fests that pop up, if I finished my costume by then. I hope it ownz |D seeing as I’m going to be more or less making it up from scratch. No wig either, because I can’t stand the fakeness of wigs. I’m going to cut/style my hair and spray white.

My friend has also suggested Tieria Erde from G00. I was thinking about cosplaying him long before she said anything, actually. I’m just rather too tanned and too smiley to be him, I think. But I’ll definitely try |D I’d definitely need a wig for this one though, because I refuse to grow my hair just to cosplay Tieria, and I refuse to cut the straight cut thingo because I know I’ll look fugly in it.

It’d be nice to have someone to complement either of these two characters though, seeing as I’m cosplaying alone for both. For Makubex a Ginji or Shido or Kadzuki or Sakura would be fine, for Tieria any one of the other Meisters or Sumeragi would be lovely. SOMEONE COSPLAY WITH MEEEE~ If you’re in Singapore, do say so.

Seeing as I am very anal about details and strive for near perfection in cosplaying, to the extent of striking off all my favourite characters from my possible-cosplay list because my face wouldn’t fit them at all, I hope I can actually get my costume done. D:

Makubex’s bandana looks very impractical and physically impossible. I hope I can tie it.

I’m feeling in a very dark mood right now. So I’m going to rant for several moments: Bear with me, people and bananas and Carolyn over there with Cadmus in her lap~

1. I’m so sick of people underestimating me. I may not be the thinnest, the brightest, the tallest but I’m only human and every person had their faults. I hate it when he’s so sarcastic towards me. It’s like he’s belittling everything I do, I mean, come on, you can’t mould people to whatever you want them to be, according to your stupid FUCKING NAZI type of rules. I can’t accept ALL of your incessant demands. You nitpick every tiny thing I do and it gets on my nerves, no matter how patient everyone says I am. I never was the conformist and you’ve never acted like this because of it before now.You’ve always, or rather – used to – accepted me for what I am, and mother always said that when I was little, I was the closest to you. But now when I grow up, I grow closer to her and not you because of the way you act sometimes. Okay so things at your work are not all sunshine and flowers and your day was shitty but it doesn’t mean you have to bring your shittiness home and shove it at other people. You bring other people down because you’re down, and it is idiotic. I can’t ever say I hate anyone because it’s not in me, I’m not the overly emotional type and I’m not a hater but I really really dislike you right now.
2. I have a dreaded feeling in my stomach right now. I just received an SMS from Republic Poly saying that I’ll get the results of my DAE posting on 27 March, and that I’m supposed to go there to confirm it. But what if there’s an odd chance that I might not be accepted? My results aren’t that bad, but what if those Republic Poly people go, “Oh, let’s play a game of tikam-tikam, give this place to this girl who got a really shitty mark and not this girl who got an average-like mark (me)” and then I don’t get into any course. I’d be really devastated.I really, really hope that I get into any of the 5 choice courses. Sometimes when I’m alone and left to my thoughts I can’t help but to think of negative things like not being accepted into the poly. And if I don’t get accepted – what do I do? I don’t know what I can do. I might go and find a job, but that’s the last thing on my mind right now. Can you imagine being the only person off your group of friends to not have a school, while the rest of them are having fun in their respective institutions and you being stuck in a boring, shitty day job? I can’t ever imagine that. I NEED TO GET INTO REPUBLIC POLY.
3. I don’t know if I should put Shido and Ban yaoi into Blood of the Snake. One of my readers say that it may make the already heavy plot heavier. Maybe I could make a series of spinoffs instead off the story when it’s completed, and add the things I couldn’t add into it. But on the other hand I could add several hints of the sexual tension between the ‘two alpha males’ (quotation according to lksugui lol). One of my favourite pairings off Get Backers fandom would be them, beside Ban and Ginji (who totally are in love).

I’ve always liked and have entertained the idea that the reason why these two hate each other so much is that they can’t have what they want (like Shido can’t have Ginji because of Ban, etc) so they can’t express that suppressed feelings in the right way, so they do it under a facade that they hate each other. Thus the tension, ooh.

I also know what I didn’t put the hints of sexual tension between the two in the previous chapters because it hasn’t boiled up to them actually facing it yet. So I have to include the hints of the tension between the two, make it more obvious that they have the hots for each other, thus leading to the ‘one night stand’ before Ban becomes a vampire. Ban needs to resolve things between Shido and himself to make himself become sure that everything is fine before he makes the choice to become immortal.

And I like this person’s review of my story (Nick: Ice_Dragon3 off FF.net) :

“I like how much detail you lavish upon the characters. Your story really does remind me of Anne Rice’s (I’ve read quite a few of her vampire books, and Louis has always been my favorite character–but he plays such a minor role after Interview with a Vampire!) I like how you added in a bit of witchcraft through Ban. Speaking of which, it seems to me that Ban and Ginji’s powers are increasing–is it because of Cadmus’s blood? You’ve done a nice job of discreetly feeding the reader little hints of how they’re becoming more vampiric (like Ginji’s throwing up).

You asked what readers thought of adding a little Shido/Ban in here, and well…for me, I think it would make the story a little too chaotic. It’s a nice pairing, but there’s already so much going on. Plus, while your reasoning behind such a ‘get together’ makes sense, you haven’t really done any sort of foreshadowing to lead up to such an event; the reader might not arrive so smoothly at such a conclusion. However, if you’ve already written it and whatnot, I’m sure you’ll do a lovely job of writing it into the story. I figured, since you asked, I’d give you my honest opinion.

Love the story, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!”

Aww, doesn’t that make you smile? Such nice and kind words… ^_^

This is what the two characters look like:

Ban the Evil Eye user (such a bishie lol)

Shido the Beast Master

Damn that feels good after ranting everything out on my blog. And the third rant about Ban and Shido has also been solved as I type and think it out, that’s good.

P.S: Carolyn, if you’re still reading this, it means you’re abandoning Cadmus, and Ban and Ginji are starting to notice he’s goone~~~ *_*