C’est un peu pour fêter la sortie du 3ème tome de Robot en France que je me suis décidé à publier un billet sur ce collectif. Robot est un collectif d’illustrateurs regroupant plusieurs auteurs asiatiques sous le même projet initié par Range Murata (村田蓮爾) en 2004. Il y a beaucoup de chose à dire sur ces ouvrages, tout d’abord car ils regroupent un nombre assez important de styles différents, mais aussi car ils présentent à la fois des illustrateurs très connus mais aussi des artistes prometteurs. En effet, le nombre important d’illustrateurs différents permet de donner un ouvrage regroupant allégrement plusieurs genres, que ce soit au niveau visuel qu’au niveau conceptuel.

Il y a d’abord une diversité au niveau visuel et c’est cette diversité et ce mélange de style qui donnent une bonne partie de l’intérêt offert par Robot. Comme tout collectif, on obtient un mélange de style graphique qu’on ne peut retrouver nul part ailleurs et c’est d’ailleurs à travers ce genre d’ouvrage que l’on se rend compte qu’il y a vraiment énormément de possibilités différentes au niveau du travail d’illustrateur : Méthode de réalisation, couleurs employées, etc … Si la majorité des œuvres prennent la forme d’un manga, certaines œuvres s’approchent bien plus du comics que de celui-ci (comme pour Sedouka de Shin Nagasawa) renforçant encore plus le coté diversifié des productions.

Mais il y a aussi une liberté au niveau du type de l’œuvre, en effet les travaux réalisés se partagent entre deux simples (mais très belles) illustrations à un véritable manga grand format. Et si le plus souvent on obtient l’enchaînement dans l’ensemble des tomes d’une même histoire comme pour Pez de Hiroyuki Asada ( 浅田弘幸) ou pour Wasteland de Yoshitoshi Abe (安倍吉俊) (qui je le rappelle, est le créateur de Lain), d’autres auteurs préfèrent enchaîner des histoires sans rapports donnant ainsi des histoires courtes allant jusqu’à une 10ène de pages et qui semblent alors être plus des travaux volontairement originaux, peut-être l’occasion donnée à l’auteur de se donner plus de liberté.

Liberté. Car oui, la diversité des œuvres ne s’arrêtent évidemment pas qu’à la partie graphique, l’une des choses génial dans ce bouquin est la liberté laissée aux auteurs quant au genre de leur production. On passe du Yaoi au kawaï, du fantastique gore à l’histoire douce et délicate. Cette diversité fait à la fois quelque chose de génial dans Robot et quelque chose qui est assez double tranchant, dans le sens où quelques œuvres vont forcément du coup ne pas être à votre goût. Mais je ne pense pas qu’il faut s’arrêter là dans un collectif, on n’achète pas un collectif uniquement pour lire une nouvelle de Yoshitoshi Abe par exemple, mais aussi pour découvrir d’autres styles qui nous sont méconnus. Robot nous laisse ici l’opportunité de nous ouvrir à d’autres styles inhabituels, des styles qui sont d’habitudes réservés à des séries qu’on n’aurait pas souhaité acheter. Et ça c’est aussi une qualité que l’on ne peut pas reprocher à ce collectif, la possibilité de rentre grâce à un tome à une 20ène d’univers différents.

Aussi, à savoir que plusieurs illustrateurs se soient décider à réaliser un même ouvrage en commun ça n’a rien d’habituel et c’est même plutôt surprenant de voir cet initiative. Bien autre chose qu’une opération marketing, on a plus l’impression que c’est une tentative entre les différents artistes de se faire découvrir entre eux. Tout simplement génial comme vision si c’est le cas et encore plus quand on sait la masse de travail qu’ils ont.

Si au Japon il y a actuellement 10 tomes de Robot, 3 tomes sont sortis chez Glénat (que je remercie d’ailleurs au passage, d’avoir voulu reprendre la série après l’abandon de Kami) au prix d’environ 23 euros chacun. Il est vrai  que malheureusement la qualité du papier s’est dégradée dans le passage d’un éditeur à l’autre, cependant l’édition est travaillée différemment pour chaque partie de l’ouvrage et la qualité finale semble tout de même au rendez vous. Peut être devrait-il comme on l’a proposé, augmentez le prix et proposer un beau papier glacé, mais personnellement je suis déjà assez content  de la qualité du livre. Il annonce qu’ils vont publier un tome tous les 6 mois, espérons que vue les délais larges qu’ils s’accordent, ils n’aient pas de retard. J’ai regroupé ici les différents auteurs présents dans les 3 tomes et le nom des différentes contributions dans chaque tome.

On retrouve des auteurs plus ou moins connus dans le monde du manga et de la japanime, notamment et surtout Range Murata qui est le character designer de Last Exil, Blue Submarine N.6 et du récent Shangri-La. Il y a bien sûr Yoshitoshi Abe que j’ai cité plus haut, mais aussi Osamu Kobayashi (小林治), le directeur de la série Beck.

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Il serait trop long de décrire les 3 tomes en large et en travers alors je vais m’attarder qu’un peu au 3ème tome dans ce billet. J’avoue que j’ai dès le début été un peu déçu par ce tome, je m’attendais à avoir plus de trois illustrations et la couverture de la part de Range Murata, mais plutôt à une suite de ce qu’il avait fait lors du 1er tome. Étant donné que Range Murata doit être peut être le seul personne dans le monde de l’animation à laquelle je suis de près les contributions, alors forcément la déception est là. J’espère uniquement que dans les prochains tomes, il ne se contente pas de nous servir que la couverture.

Pez de Hiroyuki Asada doit être la série de Robot que j’apprécie le plus, déjà le style de Hiroyuki est vraiment magique, en avançant le violet en couleur de fond il donne déjà une ambiance très posée et vraiment agréable. Il y a aussi Dragon Fly de Shigeki Maeshima (前嶋重機) qui est très bon, plutôt cadré seinen, le style s’accorde très bien au genre et donne un rendu assez impressionnant, à se demander si il n’a pas été déjà dans le staff d’une grande série. Wasteland de Yoshitoshi Abe est aussi pas mal comme on pourrait s’y attendre mais n’est pas pour autant incroyable, cadré aussi dans le seinen mais bien plus gore, le seul hic est la nette impression que l’histoire n’avance pas assez rapidement. Les quelques illustration de Imperial Boy sont quant à elles vraiment sympas.

Coté pas terrible, on a Suzumo Robo qui ne vaut pas cher, de même pour Batchy Twins, qui n’apporte pas grand chose à part peut-être l’impression que les asiatiques qui dessinent en comics ont une fâcheuse tendance à ne rien dessiner de très sérieux, même si Sedouka sauve la mise derrière sans pour autant être génial (il faut aussi dire que je n’ai personnellement jamais accroché aux comics). Accalmie au crépuscule qui est la suite de la série commencée depuis le 1er tome est assez étrange. Le coup de crayon de Yasuto Miura est plutôt original et apporte quelque chose d’assez à part au niveau graphique comparé aux autres œuvres, personnellement je trouve le rendu pas terrible, surtout au niveau du charachter design de la fillette.

Je vais m’arrêter là pour Robot, mais avant de terminer j’aimerais mettre en avant le blog archive-scan qui vient de fêter sa 1ère année d’existence et ainsi remercier l’auteur de tous les scans qu’il propose (à voir si vous êtes amateurs d’illustration/artbook !).

Edit : J’ai uplaudé des illustrations de shin Nagasawa en passant sur son site. A télécharger ici. Enjoy’ !

Hoy una semana ocupada, pero aqui estan los walls:

Y el ganador de la semana pasada fue:

Encuesta tras el salto:

Disfruten

Pensándolo fríamente lo cierto es que no soy una persona demasiado “fan” de ningún autor en concreto de Manga o Anime. Tengo por supuesto, como supongo que todo el mundo, a un conjunto de autores destacados entre todos los que conforman esta gran industria a los que considero como mis “favoritos”, pero tampoco pasan en total de una docena. Mi “devoción” personal por estos autores en particular tampoco va para nada en la línea del “fanatismo” ciego tan presente en este mundillo, de conocer hasta su fecha de nacimiento y la matrícula de su coche, sino más bien al contrario, siendo por lo general en mi caso bastante crítico y exigente con sus obras. Únicamente de este reducido grupo de autores que más me gustan suelo estar al día de sus más recientes lanzamientos, para ir siguiendo su carrera y leer (o ver, si se trata de Anime) más o menos todo lo que vayan sacando al mercado y que no se me “escape” nada o casi nada. Para todo el resto de autores tan solo prevalece únicamente por mi parte el criterio objetivo de valorar la obra “en sí”, por encima de quien la firme. Y ésto es así ya se apellide Otomo, Katsura, etc., pues para mí lo importante ante todo es la obra y no me deslumbra ningún apellido famoso.

Por este motivo en mi ya amplia colección de Manga, Anime y merchandising relacionado (Art-books, discos de música, figuras, pósters, etc.), si hay algo que brilla por su ausencia son precisamente obras firmadas por autores de renombre, ya que como digo para mí lo crucial y decisivo es la obra ante todo, más que su propio creador o creadora. En este sentido me hace gracia ver en las librerías cómo los autores de cierto éxito, según van sacando nuevas obras al mercado, van viendo ampliado el tamaño de sus apellidos en la portada de cada nueva novela que sacan, a la vez que el título de las obras va empequeñeciendo progresivamente. En algunas ediciones ésto acaba siendo ya casi de risa, ocupando el famoso apellido del autor de turno casi una cuarta parte de la superficie de la portada, y en cambio el título del libro hay que acabar buscándolo con lupa. Mala señal cuando nos quieren vender así una obra literaria.

Pues bien, con estos antecedentes creo que se entenderá mejor el motivo de mi malestar por algo que me sucedió en un Salón del Manga hace un par de años, y mi posterior enfado (creo que perfectamente justificado) por lo que descubrí algún tiempo después en cierta web oficial que luego os mostraré. Como creo que ya he dejado claro en mi exposición inicial, ni me considero fanático, otaku, ni nada remotamente parecido a lo que solemos visualizar cuando pensamos en esas palabras. Ni me visto de “cosas raras”, ni hablo en la lengua de Vulcano ni voy a los estrenos de Star Wars haciendo antes dos días de cola en la calle para ser el más friki entre los frikis y regodearme de ser el fan nº 1 del mundo. Lo único que reconozco tener es como digo una amplia y ya importante colección de obras y material relacionado con el mundo del Manga y el Anime, pero en un plano más de coleccionista tipo “ratón de biblioteca” que de “fan compulsivo”.

Pues resulta que en el Salón del Manga de 2007 uno de los autores invitados fue el gran ilustrador y diseñador de personajes Range Murata, muy conocido por sus particulares diseños futuristas, de lo más originales y encantadores (sobre todo por su delicadísima manera de dibujar a los personajes femeninos). Yo conocía ya el trabajo de Range Murata desde sus diseños para la serie de O.V.A.s de Blue Submarine nº 6 y de algunos de sus Art-books, pero si por algo me fascinaba este gran autor fue por su colosal trabajo para la serie de T.V. Last Exile, la obra maestra del estudio Gonzo. A pesar de ser una obra relativamente reciente (fue lanzada en el año 2003), Last Exile se ha acabado conviertiendo en una de mis obras favoritas en general, y en cuanto al formato concreto de “Serie de T.V.” sin duda es la nº 1 entre los cientos de series que habré visto ya a lo largo de mi vida.

Cuando me enteré que Range Murata estaba invitado al salón de ese año me alegré enormemente y acudí ilusionado el día señalado, llevando conmigo el primer volumen de la edición española en DVD de Last Exile (editada por Selecta Visión) deseando fervientemente ver su firma ahí estampada para la posteridad en mi serie de T.V. favorita. Tras hacer la pertinente cola como todo el mundo, llegó el momento en el que estaba ya casi en frente de Murata, precedido tan solo por aquellos a los que les estaba firmando en ese momento, cuando uno de los encargados del Stand donde estaba firmando el autor (el stand de Glénat), fue diciendo a los que estábamos en la cola que el Sr. Murata tan solo firmaría productos editados por Glénat, pues así estaba establecido “por contrato” al ser Glénat quien había traído a Murata al Salón (así nos lo dijeron a todas las personas que hacíamos cola).

Yo por supuesto me quedé algo chafado, con un DVD de Last Exile en las manos que no podría ser firmado “por contrato”. Para colmo, el día anterior había visitado ya el Salón para hacer el “grueso” principal de las compras que realizo cada año, y precisamente en el Stand de Glénat me había comprando los dos primeros libros de la revista de cómics a todo color “Robot“, coordinada por Murata, y un set de dos láminas del mismo autor editadas con motivo de su visita al Salón (vamos, para que la gente se las presentara para ser firmadas y no tuvieran que comprarse necesariamente los libros de Robot). Como el día de las firmas yo estaba allí en plan “ligero”, sin ir cargado con todo lo que me había comprado el día anterior, y me encontré que el DVD no podría ser firmado “por contrato”, tuve que comprar un nuevo set de láminas para no quedarme al menos sin un autógrafo. En total: dos libros y dos sets de láminas que sumado todo rondaría sobre unos 70 €, que no es desde luego moco de pavo. Yo comprendo perfectamente la postura de Glénat: ellos se han ocupado de traer al artista y eso comporta unos importantes gastos, así que la decisión de que tan solo firmara productos de Glénat es de lo más comprensible.

Con la gran decepción que me produjo ésto, pero en un tono siempre correcto y sereno, hablé con el responsable y le comenté todo lo que había comprado en el Stand de Glénat, y, si a pesar de ello, podían realmente tener alguna pega en que el autor me firmara aquél DVD a pesar que fuera de otra compañía, pues el gasto (y bastante importante por cierto) en productos de Glénat yo ya lo había hecho (que es en el fondo lo que le interesa a una compañía al traer a un autor). Pero la norma era la norma y así estaba estipulado “por contrato”. Resignado, cuando llegó mi turno presenté ante el autor mi (segundo) set de láminas que había comprado en el Stand y Range Murata amablemente estampó su firma acompañada de mi nombre en japonés y  un pequeño dibujo al lado.

Cuando ya me iba, el encargado con el que había hablado antes le pidió a la agente de Murata si el autor tendría a bien firmarme una segunda lámina, comentándole el encargado que yo había comprado muchos productos relacionados con Murata en el Stand de Glénat y que querían tener esa deferencia especial conmigo. El autor de nuevo amablemente estampó su firma en la segunda lámina, pero esta vez lo acompañó de un pequeño dibujo que, según el encargado del Stand, no le había dedicado a nadie de los que habían pasado hasta entonces por allí. Por supuesto me encantó este gran detalle que tuvieron conmigo y se lo agradecí sinceramente al encargado de Glénat, pareciéndome un gesto digno de elogio que desde luego levantó mi ánimo. Pero al final del día, cuando revisaba en mi casa todo lo que había traído conmigo del Salón aquél día, y veía las dos láminas firmadas pero el DVD tal y como me lo había llevado, la sensación sin duda no pudo ser menos que agridulce.

Pero el enfado al que me refería al principio del artículo no surgió en modo alguno por esta circunstancia ocurrida durante el Salón. No, ni mucho menos. Como ya he dicho, comprendo perfectamente la postura de Glénat y, siendo ellos quienes han traído al autor y han hecho la inversión económica necesaria para ello, están perfectamente legitimados para decidir que el autor al que traen tan solo firme los productos de su compañía y no otros. Cada compañía establece sus normas, como por ejemplo cuando Norma Editorial trajo hace unos años a Masakazu Katsura al Salón y no tuvo inconveniente en que éste le firmara a los entusiasmados fans ¡hasta en la propia ropa! (y no digo en qué prendas…)

En este sentido ninguna objeción a Glénat por mi parte. Todo lo contrario, estoy agradecidísimo por el detalle especial que tuvieron conmigo y que no esperaba en absoluto, como así se lo comuniqué al responsable del Stand. Lo que me provocó un monumental asombro y el lógico enfado posterior fue ver ésto algún tiempo después en la web oficial de Glénat, en el reportaje que publicaron dedicado al Salón del Manga de aquél año:

http://www.edicionesglenat.es/asp/reportaje.asp?pid=216

Fragmento del reportaje del Salón del Manga 2007:

(…)

Un aparte se merece la revista Robot y su autor Range Murata, invitado por Glénat y Ficomic a participar del Salón. Resultó que el señor Murata, a pesar de haber estado inédito en España hasta la publicación del número uno de Robot tiene una base de seguidores por aquí más fieles que el mono de Marco. Amable y sereno, el hombre firmó todo lo que le pusieron delante: láminas, revistas, papeles en blanco, muñecas, y hasta blisters de esas mismas muñecas. Un verdadero crack que atendió además a todos los periodistas que quisieron entrevistarlo (y fueron muchos) con la mejor predisposición. ¿Qué se le puede decir? Arigato, Murata-San, vuelva cuando quiera que esta es su casa.

(…)

Un momento, un momento… ¿qué es eso de que “firmó todo lo que le pusieron delante”?, ¿¿¿hasta “papeles en blanco”???, ¿¿¿”muñecas y hasta blisters de esas mismas muñecas”??? Una de dos: o yo no fui a ese mismo Salón del Manga del que se está hablando sino a uno de una “dimensión alternativa” o aquí algo raro pasa. Porque la explicación de aquél encargado de Glénat tanto a mí como a las demás personas que hacíamos cola esperando a que nos firmara Range Murata fue clara: el Sr. Murata tan solo firmará productos de Glénat, no de otras compañías. Vaya, vaya… aquí desde luego hay algo que no cuadra. Tanto mis láminas como las del resto de la gente de la cola no eran desde luego “papeles en blanco” precisamente, sino algo que nos había costado un dinero (tampoco es que fuera “una fortuna”, pero si sumamos todas las láminas firmadas… pero vamos, más que un “papel en blanco” sí que valían desde luego). ¿Muñecas? vaya, desconocía que Glénat hiciera muñecas y menos dedicadas a obras de Murata. Yo tengo dos y no he visto que tuvieran la palabra Glénat impresa por ninguna parte, ni conozco que haya en el mercado otras que sean de esta compañía, pues hasta ahora pensaba que tan solo se dedicaban a editar cómics.

¿Qué ocurre aquí? Pues lo que es fácil de adivinar a simple vista. No es una cuestión que si éste o aquél miente, ya que en el mundo en el que vivimos desgraciadamente las formas cada vez se están perdiendo más, y no te puedes acabar fiando ya casi de la palabra de nadie. La cuestión de fondo es que se hagan las cosas única y exclusivamente siempre pensando en el beneficio económico. Sí, estamos en un mundo que es así, todo se hace por un interés, sea en el ámbito que sea, y la cuestión es ganar el máximo dinero posible. Ésto es así por mucho que nos duela, pero cuando realmente más “duelen” cosas así es cuando no nos estamos refiriendo a un ámbito económico común y elemental como podría ser por ejemplo el de la alimentación, en el que te compras un refresco, te lo bebes, sacias así tu sed en un momento dado y luego ya te olvidas que lo compraste, sino cuando nos encontramos en un ámbito como el del Manga y el Anime, un ámbito en definitiva artístico y cultural además de por supuesto poseer toda su importante vertiente comercial.

Está claro que la vertiente comercial sustenta siempre a la otra vertiente: al ámbito artístico, y sin compañías que produjeran las obras de los autores éstos no podrían sacarlas a la luz, pero hay algo que el dinero jamás podrá comprar como son las ilusiones de los aficionados que adoran esas obras, para los que un tomo de Manga vale mucho más que los 7 u 8 euros que pagan por él, o una película de Anime mucho más que los 15 o 20 euros que puedan pagar por ella (y de algunas ediciones especiales ya mejor ni hablar, pues hacen daño a la vista sus precios). No es solo “un producto más” de consumo, es todo un trabajo artístico, unas historias que nos cuentan, unos personajes con los que llegamos a sentir una especial empatía, una música que llega a lo más profundo de nuestros corazones, que todo en su conjunto no puede ser valorado con unas frías cifras económicas, pues para muchas personas eso no tiene precio.

Como decía, yo no veo en el fondo ningún tipo de malicia en todo este tema de las firmas, aunque la imagen dada por Glénat pueda resultar ciertamente patética para cualquiera de los que estábamos allí en aquella cola y que luego leímos con estupor lo que ponían luego en su web. Para mí está claro que la persona que redactó el reportaje para la web vive desde luego que en “otro mundo” diferente al de aquél encargado del Stand que, “en primera línea de batalla”, dejaba claras las condiciones a la gente a la hora de obtener su preciada firma: únicamente productos de Glénat. Sí, ya sabemos: “por contrato”… pero yo creo que las ilusiones de los aficionados, ya puedan ser éstos más o menos devotos y apasionados de un autor o una obra, estarán siempre por encima de toda clase de contrato. Sé que también hay gente muy espabilada que acude a firmas de autores famosos tan solo para vender después por eBay esos artículos, aprovechando dicha firma como un valor adicional para encarecer luego el producto. Yo lo que tengo claro es que, al menos para mí, ese DVD de Last Exile firmado por Range Murata desde luego que no tendría valor, porque no todo en esta vida se puede traducir a una fría cifra económica.

Shop: Range Murata PSE Collection CHRIS 2009 Santa ver. 1/7 PVC Figure

ETA: December.

1/7 PVC Figure
Ready Painted
Ready to Display

Just posted something about that japanese artist Range Murata…He’s amazing ^__^

During the time I was making the post that night when I have just reformatted my computer, I noticed that I have no image manipulation program on the computer to resize that XP-tan picture with. So while I was digging through my stacks and stacks of severely disorganized DVDs looking for my Photoshop disk, I came across several games that I had wanted to play really badly a looooong time ago but never could because my hard disk was almost always filled. So I installed them the next day, better do so before my hard disk gets filled up again, lol. They are Kimi ga Yobu, Megido no Oka de and Thirua Panic, and the reason why I did not make an entry for the past few days was because I was playing Tirua Panic all the way till 5am. haha… Damn all these eroges are engrossing once you start them… >__> A little break from the hell that is Ninja Gaiden is nice, yes~ I have made no progress at it at all since the last time. From the gist of it, I think I’m about reaching the end of Thirua Panic pretty soon too. Once I’m done with that then I’ll get back to Ninja Gaiden, then I’ll move on to Megido.

And here’s Shangri-La’s opening. Yay for Range Murata~

And ever since Macross Frontier, I can never unassociate May’n from Sheryl Nome… not even in the opening song here.

[LEFT IMAGE: Galaxy Angel Limited DVD, ALTER 1/8 Rina Rindou and ALTER 1/8 Takako Itsukushima; RIGHT IMAGE: Goodsmile Co. Saber Lion Nendoroid and Beagle 1/7 Chris Limited]

This blog post is a vain attempt on my part to try to play catch up with all of the updates or rather lack thereof for this site among other things. So, a forgotten haul is exactly what it is. For lack of a better way of explaining it, there was a period of time where I forgot to take pictures of a haul which inevitably lead to other incoming hauls being postponed, thus amounting to a whole lot of updates that need to be done.

The image on the right has actually been paid since the end of January and these figures were slated for an end of January/early February release. After much time had elapsed and it was well on its way to being past mid-February, I was starting to wonder what had happened to my haul. The last update I received was that the retailer was waiting to receive a shipment because they weren’t sent enough to fill in the preorders. Hmph. Fine. Then, there was silence on their part and it turns out that the response I got after emailing them was that the shipment was actually supposed to arrive some time that week. It makes me wonder if they just didn’t know what they were speaking about and gave me some half-assed answer about a shipment arriving soon. I am fairly forgiving as long as I am informed of these things and the communication between both parties are open and on the same page. What I don’t appreciate is the lack of updates when it should be the retailer’s responsibility to get in touch with and contact the consumer. I think being charged for a product that didn’t arrive until a month later didn’t help the situation any, either. I would have much preferred to be charged for a product that is ready to ship which gives me a better indication as to when my product will be shipped and an estimated time of arrival for the package.

So, this was a two product package as I don’t normally buy from this retailer unless I am, otherwise, forced to do so. Saber Lion nendoroid was about $25 and was a bit more expensive and sold out at other places, so I definitely seized the opportunity to preorder. I am a big fan of Range Murata and Beagle’s treatment of Range Murata’s art style. While I believe his art style can be handled much better, Range Murata does a fairly great job of keeping in line with the art style. There is a regular version of Chris, but I opted for the limited version to avoid a potential headache in the future. Both Chris and Saber Lion were coming out at the same time , so I decided to snatch both of ‘em up.

Now, what I was unhappy about was that the retailer couldn’t even wrap the figure box with tissue paper or peanuts or something and resorted to cheap newspaper for packing material, so there was some ink markings on the box. Yeah, I was not pleased with that at all.

As you can see, Saber Lion is a very cute nendoroid and received a positive reception from collectors. Out of all of the faces, Saber Lion has a very cute teardrop face and comes with a meaty drumstick and bowl with chopsticks. My husband was even half amused with the meaty drumstick that he was tempted in ordering the Limited Colosseum PSP game where you can control Saber in her Lion costume and beat down on other notable Fate/Stay Night
characters. She’s very cute, but for the hassle, I would have much preferred acquiring her from another source.

This is a very cute figure with a holiday theme to it. There aren’t that many holiday themed figures out there and none have interested me except this one. Unlike other figures, Chris has a double-sided window so you are able to see both the front and backside of the figure within the packaging.

In the left picture, the figures in this haul was preordered during a massive sale. If I could, I probably would have ordered more figures during the sale, but I ordered a good handful.For ordering a certain amount, you would get a free Galaxy Angel Limited DVD bonus gift. After waiting, a bunch of figures from my order were canceled due to being unable to fulfill the amount ordered. For the longest time, the status for the remaining figures were held indefinitely as “Processing” until an email was sent with the invoice. Much to my amusement, the package arrived with the bonus gift regardless of not meeting the requirement for it. Guess they really wanted to get rid of Galaxy Angel.

The brunette is Rina Rindou from Pastel Chime and the blonde is Takako Itsukushima from Otome ha Boku ni Koishiteru. The irony with Rina Rindou is that the other figure released by ALTER (Saika Farnese) from the same series is sought after and fairly hard to find for a decent price. I was lucky and bought it off of another seller who frequents a forum that I’m a member of. I have always liked this figure, but could not justify purchasing in lieu of other figures or upcoming limited and non-limited preorders.

Takako Itsukushima is one of three figures from ALTER that I’ve seen pop up on a semi-regular basis. I thought they were nice, but they were simple figures and I wasn’t familiar with the series and could not justify purchasing any of the figures at most of the prices that I had seen.

For $23 apiece, I jumped on the chance to own both of these ladies and am pleased with my purchase. Takako Itsukushima actually still had her tissue paper on her. I don’t want to get my hopes up or set myself up for a fall, but I love ALTER so much that I wouldn’t mind owning a complete harem of ALTER figures. Now, I haven’t made this my official task as to give me some flexibility, but I am heading in that general direction.

So, the limited dvd set comes with 2 shitajiki (see pencil board), a special book for fans (read filler pamphlet) and a set of gashapon. The colors on the shitajiki are very bright and help induce a “tweaking on acid” effect. It’s too bright with the mixing of various colors of the spectrum and lies a bit on the tacky side. I really don’t see myself as having any real use for a pencil board, but if I ever do, I’ll use the Galaxy Angel ones, since I am not as attached to them. I am guessing that the gashapon that was included could be bought as a variant set by Bandai – who is notorious for cranking out gashapon. As expected from Bandai, the quality is not there and even moreso that this set is fairly old and quality was not so high back then. One of the character’s eye paint has been scratched/chipped off. This was a free gift, so the thought is always a nice one even if it’s not my taste.

So, there’s the first part of my Forgotten Haul post. Initially, I was going to include the other hauls that I forgot during this time period, but seeing as I am very loopy right now, I don’t see that happening with this post at least. My Battlestar Galactica afterthoughts has been postponed indefinitely due to writer’s block and my growing fascination with Shivering Isle in Oblivion. I’ve wanted to play this game for some time now, but put it off due to the gigantic scope of the game. I’ll be trying to get the other updates ready when I’m not feeling loopy or bludgeoning creatures of the night.

Edit: Stupid extraneous strings of code.

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Yasakani no Magatama

The most important magatama is the Yasakani no Magatama (八尺瓊曲玉, also 八坂瓊曲玉), which is part of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, added some time around the Heian period. The Yasakani no Magatama stands for benevolence, and is one of the three items used in the ceremony of imperial ascension. In Japanese mythology, the jewels, along with the mirror, were hung on the tree outside of Amaterasu’s cave (where she had hidden) to lure her out. It is believed to be a necklace composed of jade magatama stones instead of a solitary gem as depicted in popular culture. It is believed to be enshrined in Kokyo, the Japanese Imperial Palace.

Imperial Regalia of Japan

The Imperial Regalia of Japan (三種の神器, Sanshu no Jingi?), also known as the Three Sacred Treasures, consist of the sword, Kusanagi (草薙劍), the jewel or necklace of jewels, Yasakani no magatama (八尺瓊曲玉), and the mirror Yata no kagami (八咫鏡). Also known as the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, the regalia represent the three primary virtues: valor (the sword), wisdom (the mirror), and benevolence (the jewel).

Anime News Network reports that realglobe Inc. is now selling digitised versions of doujinshi on the iTunes App Store. The works of seven artists have been released to date, including the doujinshi Throw Line featuring the art of Murata Renji (“Range Murata”). Murata’s character designs have featured in Last Exile and, more recently, Shangri-La.

Prices range from US$0.99 to US$1.99.

Coming after the debut of Abe Yoshitoshi’s doujinshi on the iTunes App Store (as well as the release of several manga titles from other authors), this welcome news should be music to the ears of iPod Touch/iPhone-armed manga enthusiasts everywhere. Even though I won’t add Murata’s doujinshi to my collection anytime soon – the art is too close to ecchi for my tastes – the fact that well-known artists are now releasing their works through this medium raises the prospect of even more manga and doujinshi debuts in the future.

Image credit: Abe Yoshitoshi, from a blog entry announcing the debut of Yakkyoku no Pochiyama-san on the iTunes App Store. A higher-res version (800×800) can be accessed through Abe’s original post.

About Shangri-la:

SHANGRI-LA is the story of a young woman fighting for her survival in a real “urban jungle.” Only 18 years old, Kuniko Hojo finds herself at the heart of the battle for humanity’s future when she discovers that the government which rules Atlas intends to continue marginalising the less-privileged masses outside the tower – by force, if necessary.

With character designs by internationally acclaimed artist Range Murata (Last Exile, Blue Submarine No. 6), series structure by Hiroshi Ohnogi (Kekkaishi, Birdy the Mighty) and directed by Makoto Bessho (animation director of Ah! My Goddess Movie, Brave Story), SHANGRI-LA is set to be another major international hit from legendary anime studio GONZO (Last Exile, Blue Submarine No. 6, Yukikaze, Samurai 7, Witchblade, Afro Samurai).

Follow Kuniko and her rag-tag group of guerrillas, Metal-age, as they fight for survival in the amazing surroundings of a bustling metropolis reclaimed by nature. Even in this superheated future, both bravery and the human spirit can persevere and—hopefully—win.

(c) 2008 Eiichi Ikegami/KADOKAWA SHOTEN/SHANGRI-LA Partners

Episode 2 Synopsis:
The mysterious daggers resonate at Kuniko’s encounter with young army officer Kusanagi. Then suddenly, bomb-like objects shower down from the sky on Duomo. The Metal-age and the government begin their investigations to identify their unknown enemy, which they believe opened fire on them from the forbidden jungle of Ikebukuro.

You can watch episode 2 at Crunchyroll for free and legally streamed.
http://www.crunchyroll.com/media-525392/shangri-la-2/

Filtaku Episode Review
Impressions:
The episode begins where they left off from Episode 1. The daggers stop resonating and then the town suddenly gets bombarded. Everyone assumes that its artillery. The Atlas Security Corps retreat under the suggestion of Kusanagi of which he mentions that the artillery is not friendly and of unknown origin. Kuniko and co. withdraws from the small skirmish between them and Atlas Security and help evacuate and help the bombard town. Kuniko saves a little boy from falling debris but is scolded by the mother of the boy saying that kuniko and Metal-Age are to be blame for the attack. The scene switches to a meeting with the blonde mistress of Atlas Corperation (Though her offical title hasn’t been discussed yet, it is assumed she is a superior figure in Atlas). She scolds the the leader of the security corps that just retreated. Here it is revealed that the servant that she previously abused in last episode is the younger brother of the security corps leader. She gets enraged grabs the boy. Her irratic speech and gestures made it seem that the boy was going to be harmed. The brother speaks out that he will take responsibility and search for the origin of the unknown artillery. The scene switches back to Kuniko and co. at a debriefing. The Metal-Age debriefing. Then talk about the origins of the artillery and make out that it came from the jungle. Kuniko suggests to going and investigating. They also mention that the jungle is highly dense with oxygen and has a poisonous swamland. They gear up in what seems to be enviromental/hazmat suits to protect themselfs and take the old subway to the jungle. The scene switches again to the genius girl Karin who developed medusa. This time she’s having online avatar conversation with 3 other people, two of which are of screen names Zhang, Klaris, and Tarsian. They talk about the emissions market, then proceed to manipulate it more for more gains using Medusa. The scene ends with Karin disconnecting communications after reading a text message from Tarsian (of which is a character unknown yet) that said “Your parents will be proud of you”. The next scene goes to Lady Mikuni and her inquiring about why what she calls a “sigil” chimmed. Her uptight glasses caretaker answers by saying that she didn’t know and that she asked Atlas Corp. and they didn’t know. A what seems to be a female servant of Mikuni interrupts and says that it must be a good omen. Another servant interrupts her and says that she must be new and pitys her. Mikuni smiles and says she hates lies. The servant that told mikuni of the good omenbegins to has a spasm, she falls to the ground and into what seems a canal or something. She then begins to be invisibly crushed. Glasses caretaker lader complains how she is going to replace the killed servant. Mikuni happily responds that there are plenty of people in the “lower world”. The scene switches to Kuniko and co. exploring the subways and jungle for the origin of the artillery. They find the military searching for something, Kuniko and co. assumes that they are searching for the orgins of the artillery as well and deduct that it was not Atlas that bombarded the town. Kuniko and co. are found by Kusanagi who, along with the other Atlas Security soldiers, is also wearing an enviromental/hazmat suit. They exchange attacks with Kusanagi firing a what seems to be an OICW style weapon. Kuniko and Co. escape the confrontation and Atlast Security leave after their investigation. The scene switches to two Atlas lackeys of the blonde mistress. They discuss the discovery of how they found no traces of increased carbon monoxide with the Carbon Observation Satellite Icarus in the jungle where the assumed artillery origin was. Questioning how there could be artillery with no increase in emissions. One of the lackeys jokingly says that it might be the forest itself lashing out at them. The scene goes to Kuniko and Co. where they discuss the findings of their own investigation. They discuss how they found  no artillery shells in the bombarded town. They discuss that maybe it was Atlas testing a new weapon on the town. They are suddenly inturrepted by a person telling them that the results of the Atlas Ballot was about to be released. The group rushes out the room talking about they are finally going to get into atlas. The scene switches to Momoko-san and Tetsuo (the seemingly pale fat girl). They discuss what they are going to do if selected to live in Atlas. A small time of anticipation passes and the result of the lottery is released. Tetsuo  is chosen and everyone gives a loud “Eh!!” while staring at her. The scene switches to the blonde mistress walking down a set of stares, she enters a room. The room’s walls are filled what seems to be eyes. Someone or something is in the middle of the room. She speaks out saying that she wants to speak with Lord of Atlas mentioning that the seals have resonated. With that the episode ends.

Conclusion/Expectations:
Well, with this episode there leaves more questions rather than answers. What was that bombardment really? They mentioned no conventional artillery in terms of using standard projectiles and not even finding any projectiles in whatsoever in the town. Well given that its pretty neo modern, they could use something like a rail gun to launch projectiles, that is using magnetism rather than chemical combustion. But then again there were no projectiles, so im not sure.

A new setting was introduced to the story, that would be the surrounding jungle. They mention in the episode that it is saturated with oxygen and has poisonous swamps. They also mention risk of infection if they take off their protective suits while in the jungle. Infection? What infection? Yeah sure the jungle does seem a little mutated and could be hosts to a bucket load of disease but they didn’t emphasis on the point. Whats more interesting is that when Kuniko and Co. met Kusanagi, he opened fire with his gun. This part intrigues me mainly because if the jungle was densely saturated with oxygen wouldn’t the whole place ignite when he fired his gun? I dunno i could be wrong, a little research could probably resolve this question but im a tad lazy and tired right now to look.

Mikuni. The cute little mystic girl. My opinion of her went from “aw cute” to “Whoa scary”. From what the scene depicted she herself used some sort of psychokinesis to crush and kill a girl to a pulp, well not really pulp but close to it.

The discovery of the maybe leader of the Security Corps and the abused boy servant of the mistress of Atlas of which them being brothers is interesting. I’m pretty sure that point will be used for plot development later on.

Karin-chan, our lolipop loving genius emissions market manipulator, in this episode just emphasis’s more how lonely she seems to be. Though she seems to be greedy and loves money. Makes you just want to hug her and say it’s alright your not alone. Her scene introduced 3 new characters. Two of which seem to be “business” partners in manipulating the markets for profits. Assuming also that they are from different parts of the world. The  third character, that really didn’t get much screen time but had great influence on Karin was Tarsian. Tarsian seems more close to Karin given that his/her statement of “your parents will be proud” cause karin to cut communications as she despairs. Who knows really. I’m looking forward to her character development and the role she plays in the plot.

They have an interesting system in their universe. A lottery that decides who gets to live in Atlas, a seemingly Utopia compared to the outside world, or what they depict it as. The next episode seems to answer or at least explain Atlas itself. Sure is funny how that the members of metal age look forward to the lottery even though they are an anti-government organization.

Now the last piece to talk about what went on at the end. The Atlas mistress and the whole “demonic” type room with a creepy person in the middle. I dunno, but the whole thing yelled out evil and creepy. I’m pretty sure now that there will be a little mysticism going on if you didn’t already thought so by now. Lord of Atlas she calls him. The seals resonating. Makes me think that something other than intense global warming and emissions regulation is going on in this universe.

With that i look foward to the next episode. Hopefully more answers will be given than questions.

The Planet Is Fine – The People Are Fucked

George Carlin – Saving the Planet

I’m a true ecologist.
I believe in Evolution and Extinction.

Ett förfallet Tokyo breder ut sig när den globala uppvärmningen förvandlar Japans huvudstad till en tropisk djungel. Maktapparaturen inser att temperaturen måste reduceras för att området inte ska sluta som obebott och reinkarnerar staden genom att låta den förbli prunkande. Alla är emellertid inte benägna att återskapa stadens forna glans genom flowerpower-knarkig naturalism, vilket så småningom yttrar sig i infinnandet av krigiska gerillor. Deras aktioner är explosiva och liknas vid terrorism, men samtidigt som grunden läggs för en stad dit överhettade invånare bildligen forsar är det många som inte har någonstans att ta vägen.

A Whiff of a Fresh Breeze, som alltså är seriens inledande episod, presenterar oss för rödtottiga huvudrollsinnehavarinnan Kuniko i samband med hennes frigivning. För tittaren oklara orsaker eller omständigheter har placerat henne i ett fängelse exklusivt för individer utan penis. Övriga fångare hyllar Kuniko genom högljudda upprepningar av hennes namn och lokalen ekar av evig uppskattning. “Thanks for everything! She won’t get caught again”, ljuder mellan väggarna i sorl av öronbedövande entusiasm.

Kimi Shinitamo Koto Nakare börjar kännas mer självklar som öppningstema. Jag inser snabbt att andan är en smula optimistisk överlag, vilket får den gladlynta trudelutt som tidigare retat gallfeber på en surögd tittare att framstå som “ganska” optimal. Tonerna skär sig inte längre som sur gammal mjölk, och närvarandet av en anspråklöst lättsam stämningsbyggare upplevs aldrig som malplacerad. Nästan träffsäker. Efter den grådaskiga öppningen möter vi en av karaktärsgalleriets mest färgstarka personligheter: en omsorgsfull modersgestalt som för fysiska former och schitzofrena röstlägen antas vara transsexuell. Resterande karaktärer är, som jag tidigare förutspått, tröttsamt anonyma. Range Murata verkar varit närmast oinspirerad när han klippt och klistrat i sin dystra ensamhet – andra förutsättningar än de mest ångestladdade är nästintill otänkbart.

Det finns ljuspunkter. Kuniko för tankar till osnutna bråkmakaren Naruto i kvinnlig tappning, en infallsvinkel som är lika delar tjuvaktig som intressant. Hennes livöde är förutbestämt, hennes rastlöshet vet inga gränser och samtidigt är oförskämda, snudd på naiva karaktärsdrag distinkt porträtterade. Själva skådeplatsen – ett prunkande Tokyo som gått under av global uppvärmning – är spännande mycket tack vare att idén är politiskt aktuell. Även om tweakandet känns barnsligt insnöat är utförandet så kufiskt att det gränsar till charmigt. Jag är frestad att fördjupa mig i underjordiska motståndsgrupper och följa Kunikos kamratliga framfart. Inte för att Shangri-la verkar fantastisk, jag har fortfarande en del förbehåll.

Karaktärsdesignen är ännu tveksam och bilderna blir – om än vid enskilda ögonblick – detaljfattiga på sätt som får avsnittet att kännas framstressat. Stridsvagnarna, för att nämna något, känns oönskat spartanska och jag tänker snarare på leksaker än livshotande fordon. Samtidigt är manuset bitvis riktigt komiskt, i ordets mest positiva bemärkelse, och klippen lagom snabba för att göra händelserna lättfattliga och fartfyllda på samma gång. Shangri-la verkar på det hela taget varken dålig eller medelmåttig, men inte heller bäst. Den rödfärgade revolten hamnar snarare någonstans mittemellan, vilket inte är helt illa pinkat av en tonårsbrud i sjömanskostym.

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

After years in the wilderness, good Gonzo makes a return…

And its about time!

I enjoyed the first episode of Shangri-la; we have a solid cast here, thus far, anchored by the energetic Kuniko, a young lady who is expected to become the leader of a movement known as the Metal-age, but who seems to feel fairly opposed to that fact. However, unlike some past heroines of anime, she certainly doesn’t seem to be against it because she dislikes fighting, which is a nice change of pace – got to love the ladies who can and are willing to fight.

Shangri-la certainly has set itself up strongly, managing to introduce us to much of the cast while also evoking a strong sense of the world of the show – which is to say that the setting feels legitimate and not simply hastily pasted together. I realize that this is based on some novels, so the depth should be there, but execution is always key. I just hope that some of the less than original elements (vaguely Chinese-ish loli with different colored eyes? evil lady with big boobs who doesn’t seem to be bothered by nudity? another loli who wields a tremendous amount of power and talks to her teddy bear?) won’t end up dragging things down – or, worse, multiplying. However, I am cautiously optimistic.

I have to admit I find it hilarious that Gonzo has thrown its crazy-ass boobs onto Momoko, one of two transvestite characters present – good to know Gonzo thinks massive ta-tas work well with male-to-female characters as well as flat-out female characters (flat-out? perhaps poor word-choice). I was also amused by the blonde loli doing business transactions – she reminded me very much of the blonde girl in Emonaut Dragonaut, and she even had a dragon, too!

The animation here is impressive; it seems like Gonzo’s finally gotten the hang of mixing CG with regular animation, resulting in a surprisingly un-jarring experience visually.

Other than my minor nitpicks (also, Kuniko is supposed to be eighteen? uh, righttt), this was a great start to a series I hope will maintain the momentum seen here. Just hope that Dragonaut girl clone doesn’t bring in some random guy who screams “JINNNN!!!!” every three seconds.

About Shangi-la, derived from Crunchy Roll (who simulcasts and legally streams this series):

SHANGRI-LA is the story of a young woman fighting for her survival in a real “urban jungle.” Only 18 years old, Kuniko Hojo finds herself at the heart of the battle for humanity’s future when she discovers that the government which rules Atlas intends to continue marginalising the less-privileged masses outside the tower – by force, if necessary.

With character designs by internationally acclaimed artist Range Murata (Last Exile, Blue Submarine No. 6), series structure by Hiroshi Ohnogi (Kekkaishi, Birdy the Mighty) and directed by Makoto Bessho (animation director of Ah! My Goddess Movie, Brave Story), SHANGRI-LA is set to be another major international hit from legendary anime studio GONZO (Last Exile, Blue Submarine No. 6, Yukikaze, Samurai 7, Witchblade, Afro Samurai).

Follow Kuniko and her rag-tag group of guerrillas, Metal-age, as they fight for survival in the amazing surroundings of a bustling metropolis reclaimed by nature. Even in this superheated future, both bravery and the human spirit can persevere and—hopefully—win.

(c) 2008 Eiichi Ikegami/KADOKAWA SHOTEN/SHANGRI-LA Partners

Episode 1 Synopsis:

The story is set in a neo-futuristic age, in which aggressive “carbon trading” practices have been introduced in countries around the world to combat accelerating global warming. The Japanese Government promoted a project run by Atlas Corporation to reduce carbon emissions by turning Tokyo into the world’s largest “jungle-polis.” Atlas Corp started constructing an unprecedentedly high tower city called Atlas to relocate only the rich and privileged.
Kuniko Hojo, 18-year-old leader-designate of an anti-government guerrilla group Metal-age, returns to her town after 2 years of imprisonment. In concert with the Metal-age comrades, Kuniko rises in a rebellion against the government for those people left on the once-flourished ground of Tokyo.

Filtaku Episode Review
Impressions:
The opening scene was interesting, it had flashing scenes of a girl undressing (of course no nudity) from a prison uniform and changing in to a sailor uniform type get up. Way to make first time viewers peek interest. The seemingly main character walked out of her prison cell and proceeded to leave the complex, dubbed the “Women’s Detention Center”. Just as she came out a the other prisoners started yelling out her name as if she was such an important and influential person. Before leaving she declares to everyone that “today’s the day that Kuniko Hojo is released” and then later destroys the Atlas flag with an interesting looking boomerang. At this point some new characters are introduced. One of which is a woman/man person that Kuniko calls Momoko-san. Now.. this character apparently from looks has features like a woman such as boobies and wearing a Chinese dress, but the deep voice and manly face makes me question the character’s gender and wonder if the voice actor is a guy. Anyways, Kuniko and Momoko-san seem pretty close. The next character is this fat pony tailed very pale in the face (maybe too much make up?) guy-girl of which Kuniko calls Mi-ko. Seems from dialogue that Mi-ko gains weight from being stressed and serves as a character to be poked at with a stick by the other characters. The last character that picks kuniko up is this burly guy names Takehiko, he’s pretty normal. They all return to a town place called Duomo. Once there Kuniko takes off into town to meet this old lady in a library of some sort talking about the metal-age group, stuff about knowledge in books that you can’t find over the Internet (that’s right kiddos, go to your local library and learn something new!), and how Kuniko should succeed leadership of the group. Mid lecture she slips out the window and begins to prance around the town. A lot of the towns folk know her obviously and greet her return. She jumps over little boys playing some sort of battle tops game similar to beyblades ( remember those things?) but cheaper. Anyways, the scene cracked me up some. The perspective and angle had her jumping on the right of the screen where the kids were on the left of the screen. The flow of her skirt made it seem like the lucky little boys had an awesome view of a certain person’s panties. But they just keenly went “Oh Kuniko!” instead of “Oh my gosh panties!” well, that was only my opinion of that lol. Anyways, she frolicked some more.

The episode switched scenes to this adult blond chick taking a shower. She walks out nude while this young boy servant was following behind her drying her off with a towel. She plops on a chair half dressed with said boy still drying her off. The scene has her sitting on a raised platform with a plethora of young boy servants around. I think this chick has a thing for little boys maybe. They begin talking about  plot important stuff, reporting on status’ of codenamed Digma 2 leaving a detention facility (wonder who that is hmm?). She mentions afterwards that the sun has finally ventured out and asks about the status of the moon. Of which another guy says that she, the moon, is taking a stroll in the underworld. Ok, this person is a rich chick obviously who is into little boys and seems to have some authority. More so that she drop kicks (well not really, but kicks in the face) the boy drying her off because he scratched her, the guy immediately drops down and apologizes to this Lady Ryoko.  Great, we can add Dominatrix to that list. I get the feeling that she’s the evil one.

The episode switches scenes again. This time is on a bridge with this dude driving a car with a female passenger. The female passenger questions if they should be driving on said bridge. The guy calms her down showing off some fancy badge on his suit jacket basically saying its alright cause he’s an important person. Then some religiously dressed up people show up on the bridge in front of the approaching car. Some up tight woman in glasses yells out to assemble a gun in front of her. The said gun turns out to be something looking similar to an M82 (that’s like a huge gun that shoots a huge bullet for those who don’t know guns). She blows up the car, and turns towards what seems to be like a huge temple on wheels. Uptight girl with glasses says she apologizes for the disturbance then a little girl pops out of it. She seems pretty cute the most notable features would be two different eye colors her left being sky blue and her right being amber or golden and some oriental type head ornament. When it comes to a moe character, one can never forget some sort of hair ornament, oh and also a cute voice of which she has. She says that the underworld is an interesting place. Yeah, going around on highway bridges and blowing up cars people are driving with anti-material rifles sure is interesting. Makes good story too when stuff blows up.  Anyways, they mention in dialogue that the little girl’s name is Lady Mikuni and the uptight chick with glasses is Sayako.

The episode briefly switches to Kuniko yelling to the top of her lungs on some sort of very tall structure, a clock tower maybe, that “I’m back! Tokyo!” Makes great relief from the seriousness. But only briefly.

Scene switch yet again. To what seems to be a meeting between a politician and some one claiming to be from Ishida Finance via some sort of high techy online holographics screens. They start emphasising and giving the audience some back ground info on carbon taxes and jazz. The person the politician is talking to proposes doing a series of “carbon credit” trades of which would lower his country’s carbon tax. Fraudulent loop holes obviously.  Politician guy makes a deal after some hesitation with the person. The scene then switches to the actual person behind the display. Turns out to be yet another little girl named Karin. She talks to a teddy bear she names Pudding about the deal and answers back herself. Dialogue suggest that she always alone, poor kid. The scene has emphasis on technology, gives the impression that she’s a genius hacker. Given the scifi neo modern nature of the anime, im not surprised there would be such a hacker type character. Scene briefly switches back to the blonde chick who kicks little boys in the faces talking about the change in the carbon market. It seems like she’s the head of Atlas or something. At least some one important in Atlas. One of her lackey’s suggests that it might be the work of Metal-Age.

It switches back to Kuniko sitting on a ledge on the clock tower with momoko-san. They talk about how Kuniko doesn’t want to inherit leadership of Metal-age. Kuniko complains about how the old lady tries to force it upon her. They have a nice conversation ending with momoko-san saying that kuniko should be whoever she wants to be. They both cease the conversation and are surprised by emissions by some huge chimney pipes. They investigate to find out that it was Takehiko burning coal in celebration of Kuniko’s release. Kuniko complains that it’ll attract the attention to the Carbon police and spike the market. Word then goes out that the military arrives. Kuniko goes into a watch tower and spots a huge military convoy and some helicopters closing in on the town. Some tanks open fire at the town. Takehiko tries to and Kuniko a dagger that he says has been handed down to the leaders of metal-age. Kuniko refuses it.

Scene switches to a boy named major kusanagi in one of the lead cars complaining on how the military shouldn’t shoot on armed civilians without talking first. The kid, with a higher rank, is shunned down by what i guess is the leader of the convoy saying that they don’t handle stuff the way the military does it. Turns out the convoy is Atlas Security Corps. The scene ends with kusanagi submitting and holding some sort of knife in a sheath on his hip.

The two sides meet, Atlas security corp. (being sent mostly on the suspicion of metal-age messing with the carbon market) and metal-age/town peoples defending themselves. Kuniko shows up like a hero of justice with such a flashy dramatic entrance. Major kusanagi and Kuniko engage in conversation. A soldier opens fire on Kuniko. Now get this, Kuniko is able to see the bullets come at her in slow motion and she deflects with her awesome boomerang. Im going to make a wild guess and just say that slow motion jazz was empasis on her high reflexes maybe. Momoko-san then retaliates by whipping out a whip and slicing the guns of the soldiers while also chasing after and kissing them yelling out that she/he/it likes guys. Kuniko also retaliates by slicing tank barrels with her boomerang. Makes me wonder what kind of material those weapons are made of.  Kusanagai tells kuniko to surrender, she sends her boomerang at him and he deflects it with his dagger. His dagger begins to resonate from the impact, so does the dagger that takehiko tries to give kuniko, and apparently a similar dagger that is in possession of that little moe girl with different eye colors. Following that, stuff begins to fall from the sky and bombard the town like an air strike. The episode ends there.

Expectations/Conclusion:
The background history is interesting. Taxes on carbon emissions, a carbon market with credits, and an authority to manage emissions from all over the world to prevent global warming. A Corperation no less. Seems pretty plausible in some sort of alternate reality. But highly unlikely in our world. Makes good setting though. Hey that’s what scifi and fiction is about anyways! Make stuff up with a hint of realism to make good entertainment.

So, there is 4 obvious sides in this series. Metal-age, the group involving Kuniko and co. The Atlas Corperation, the group involving the Dominatrix LadyRyoko and Major Kusanagi with the Atlas Security Corp. Some sort of religious group involving the moe little girl Lady Mikuni and her uptight servant with glasses maybe Sayako. The hacker maybe messing with the Carbon market little girl who’s always maybe alone. Metal-age and Atlas Corporation are classic good vs evil. The religious group and the hacker seems to be right now third party and could influence the sides greatly. Too early to tell the actual roles said third parties could provide to the main story.

Well, so far the series seems interesting and enjoyable. The main character turns out to be an eccentric outgoing character like Manabi from Manabi straight. Kuniko also seems to be highly looked upon and seems to be that kind of natural leader. She also wields a boomerang that can change shape from big to small and  slice through thick metal like it was butter. Her relationship with Momoko-san seems to be that momoko-san raised her, possibly trained kuniko. momoko-san also seems to be a very manly woman. Not the burly type of manly woman, but the tranny type of manly woman. She/He/It does have boobs and cleavage, but how do you know those are really real?  Well My guess is that momoko-san is actually in fact a woman, just a very scary woman that men would run away screaming while she chases them with the intention of sexual harassment. The other characters of kuniko and co. right now seem to be pretty minimal support characters. Who knows what will change as the story goes on. Who knows if she’ll take up leadership of metal-age, given that this is anime, she most likely will just to take down Atlas maybe.

The Atlas Corporation seems to be the authority managing the carbon market. Observing Kuniko and other important subjects. But other than managing said market, it seems that they also have a hidden motive. I say that given of their use of code names to people and the use of a radical security corperation that operates quite differently than a military. With major kusanagi being part of the Atlas security corps. he seems to be just  a person along with the ride. Not really anyone of influence even though he is of higher rank. kusanagi reminds me of that Lt. Dominic Sorel from Eureka Seven. The one who always took care of anemone who was on the antagonist side from the beginning of the series and then switched to the protagonist side towards the end. It seems like kusanagi would do something similar in this series.

Now, the religious group seems to be very interesting. Mainly because not that much background info was placed on them in this episode. But im sure that it will show who they really are later on. In this episode it was emphasised that Lady Mikuni, the little girl, was a very important person. She seems like one of those characters that doesn’t go out much so to speak. I’m going to guess that she is going to act later on in the series like a princess that sneaked out of her castle to run about with the common folk, going “Oooo” and “Ahhh” in amazement. Her servant maybe caretaker, Sayako, seems to be protective of Mikumi. Sayako’s personality and glasses make her seems like a character similar to a class president with an uptight strict attitude who is all about rules and stuff. I hope she warms up later. Maybe she’ll get all embarrassing like when she see’s something cute like a kitty or something. Who knows.

The little girl hacker maybe named karin is an interesting character. Seems pretty lonely when she talks to herself and to her bear named pudding. But maybe that’s a little girl thing. In this episode she made a deal with a politician of a country with a high carbon tax and manipulated the market to make it turn out almost no tax after the politician accepted the deal. Now, im pretty sure that this character is of great importance due to her manipulating the market with i guess a computer system named medusa. A similar computer system names Zues was said to be used by Atlas Corporation in tracking the carbon market. I guess that she’ll be that third party push of influence between the sides of this series. From the dialogue of Karin, she foreshadows a metaphorical storm that will make her more money. In the following scene of the blond chick of atlas, she grins when she hears about the credits and the incident in the carbon market. Maybe the corporation is actually manipulating the market to suit their needs, like gain more money to hire more young boy servants to kick in the face. Who knows, right now its all speculation.

At the end, a series of daggers started to resonate. The dagger in possession of Kusanagi, Lady Mikumi, and the dagger that is said to be the dagger passed down from leaders of Metal-age. Following the resonating, something started bombarding the town like an air strike of some sort. What was  it that was hitting the town? whats up with those daggers? Given that there’s a religious group maybe theres going to be magical jazz? Or maybe the daggers are actually a key to an old military defence satellite that can do orbital bombardments.

In any case, I’m looking forward to the rest of this series. So that answers to questions like if momoko-san is actually a dude or woman can be answered. Cause when it all comes down to it, the only question that we really want answered is gender confirmation. But in all seriousness im expecting an awesome anime simply because of the awesome staff that is involved in this series.

A legújabb GONZO-anime OP-ja is kikerült a netre. Range Murata karakterdizájn, és May’n (Macross F) vokál. Egy jó openinghez reményeim szerint egy jó sztori is dukál, s bár a rózsaszínhajú lányka feje néha totál furán néz ki, és a főgonosz csaj (?) is úgy néz ki, mint a Last Exile-ban, azért reménykedek!

Hello, this is Lavie Rhap and I regret to inform you that we’ve made several errors in recent releases. While not wholly unexpected, it was certainly predicted by our pretty Prophet, and as such, the prophecies have come to pass. Upon further audit and review, Sweet Body, Korean Illustration, One Day, Not Enough Sadness in Love, formcode, and My Street were not up to proper satisfactory release standards. If you’ve downloaded any of those, it is imperative that you acquire the fixed pages here:

On Mediafire
On Rapidshare

Included are also improvements to other minor yet noticeable errors that we’ve come across in other projects. Since we’ve done that much extra work, friend reader, you ought to be thanking us extra hard, yes?

This was all really my idea since the rest of the Rabbits are utterly useless. How true.

Honestly, Funny is obsessing and pleasuring himself over digital idols, nde is writing erotic grotesque and forcing elderly war veterans to read it, Ink is raping innocent sheep hither and tither, Barbarossa blogs nothing but anti-Caucasian tracts, ak corrupts the youth with his blasphemous philosophies, Aerith’s Bitch burns a million quid everyday on worthless paintings (which are then burned in fire), Peking Duck is married to gigantic cock, Princess Tea beheads commoners to satiate her carnal lusts, knein exposes himself to Australian tourists, Crunchy is an American Idol, Prophet is secretly assisting the PRC and plots the Dalai Lama’s death, Patty is dying from a hardened flood of bukkake, and Ed is just too sexy.

Ah, I tire of my mask of chaste kindness! This position of power is not fit for I! It is simply not enough. Shall I be a Lepidus? Nay, there can only be one. Prophet? Is she truly so pretty? Of course not; she is but of the filthy Orient while in me flows the blood of Muscovy. And “Chief Funbuns”? What of his so-called “funniness”? Hmph, to call him “funny”, only that concept is laughable.

I declare, 1000 Rabbits are 999 Rabbits too many. I am Lavie Rhap and the Rabbits are MINE.

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