Evangelion 3.33 – You Can (Not) Redo – Oh, How I Wish You Could!

This post will contain massive spoilers about this movie. Long story short? Extremely disappointing.

I’ve watched the Neon Genesis Evangelion series many times, I own it as a set of individual DVDs before they released a smaller box for all of them together. As such, I was very excited with the ending of the 2nd Rebuild of Evangelion movie, it was throwing us both off-course in what was happening, and  when it was happening. I expected we’ll get new content, unlike what we’ve seen in the anime – so after we went through 1.9 movies’ worth of old content we’d finally get new content!

Well, there’s an idiom where I live that says that as big your expectations, the disappointment are just as big, and it couldn’t be more true than what I think of this movie. Again, massive spoilers ahead. This won’t be a review, more my thoughts on the movie and thoughts arising after watching the movie. If you look for an actual review, you should look elsewhere – the goal here is to lead to an interesting conversation.

Mecha Anime or Anime With Mecha? China Mieville to the Rescue!

This blog post will discuss, or at least raise the question, of what exactly is a Mecha Anime, and raise the argument that most anime where mecha appear are in fact not fact Mecha Anime.

China Miéville, for those who don’t know him is a British sci-fi/fantasy author whom I am quite fond of, and who is to put it succintly, an “Urban Author”.  China Mieville wrote King Rat, which also deals with London, and the city’s feel, and environs. China Mieville writes in a word called Bas-Lag, the first book deals with the city of New Crobuzon, and the politics of the city, its ethnic (of races) make-up, etc.
His book from 2009 (which I am dearly waiting to acquire) is titled The City & The City, and I assume you can see how cities stand at its core.

The point I am trying to make is, that while in most stories we have cities, in most of them these cities are a backdrop to the action, and don’t figure heavily into the narrative. They are not major characters in the story, and far too often are not even truly supporting characters.
Not so in Mieville’s books, where the city is often as important a character as any of the protagonists and antagonists who make up the story, and while it often doesn’t show itself in any concentrated manner, it appears in small ways interweaved with anything that occurs.

So, this is the point from which I wish to discuss mecha in anime. Just like in many books and series, the city is just a backdrop, or even glossed over completely, in many anime series, including ones that bill themselves as “mecha anime”, the mecha are not a core part of the story, and even if they supposedly are, it’s not often in the “right” way.

Baka to Test – That Little Extra Thing Called Charm

Image via Wikipedia

Well, you know how if you go by a check-list you sometimes end up not knowing where the wonder had come from; how you cannot really put your finger on what separates the great from the mediocre, but you do know that it’s there?

Well, that’s the case with Baka to Test (to Shokanju). If you would try to compose a check list of what “Light-hearted anime comedies” should include in them, you’re probably going to mark most of what appears in this series. Well, it’s likely also going to appear on a list of many lewd jokes…

(This is a “Things I Like” post, and as such covers more my thoughts, and is less focused as an actual bona fide review. There will be next to no spoilers in this post.)

We have the flat-chested tsundere, we have the buxom girl with a soft personality (Did anyone notice how “soft” is often tied to being well-endowed and being “hard” is tied to being not as well endowed in anime?), we have the voyeur who is even addressed as such by everyone (and the accompanying nose-bleeds).
We have the yandere who wants someone who doesn’t want her, we have the guy who is too cool for school, with great black and white line-art scenes where he convinces the eponymous character to trust him, and he always gets burnt, we have the trap boy who everyone addresses as a girl, and the butt of jokes closet yaoi boy.

[TIL] RahXephon; the Oppression of Sound.

RahXephon is an anime from 2002 which has some things going for it, and also some things going against it, mainly the required comparison to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Another aspect of the series that will require mention and discussion is the use of sound and music in the series, which quite overpowers the series in its beginning, but thankfully its part and vehemence grows smaller as it goes on.

This is a “Things I Like” post, and as such, it’s not a review per-se, but my thoughts on the series. Spoilers should come as no surprise, this post will have moderate amount of spoilers. Surprisingly little, if you ask me.

Figure Friday – September 11th-17th.

This is the Figure Friday post for the dates of September 11th till September 17th. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy new year (Rosh HaShana), and may you have a good year (Shana tova!)

This is also the source of the slight delay of this post; family gatherings, including some which got their dates moved. I even tried to post this from my family’s, but it didn’t go well. I managed to insert the first figure’s posts and then it crapped out on me.

As always, click on the first picture to go to a site with more information on the figures (usually Nekomagic), and the pictures after the description for the Flickr page, with bigger photos.

Five Hot:

1.

Toushin Toshi III Moe Collect Plus 15 Hazumi Flame 1/7 PVC figure by Volks M.O.E.

Definitely my figure for the week. Cast-offable, though it might actually require the body to be swapped out as a whole. Love the design of her dress, detailed yet dynamic. She has a pretty face and nice hair.
Also, she fulfills what I want from a cast-offable model: I like her both dressed and undressed. Though her hair might seem to be a tad big with her clothes off, but that’s life.
This also gives me hope in regards to seeing “La campanella della benedizione Chelsea Arcot 1/6 GK by Volks Turn A-brand” as a PVC figure.
Winter 2009, 220mm, 7,500 yen. Volks Web Store exclusive; preorders taken since August 25th. You’ll need to use deputy services.

More pictures after the “More” tag, not all safe for work.

Figure Friday – September 4th-10th.

This is the Figure Friday post for last week. Not much news, and we’ll keep the restocks and new releases to this week’s Figure Friday. Not entirely Safe For Work

As always, click the first photo to get taken to a page with more coverage and pictures, and the photos at the end of the description for larger versions.

Five Hot:

1.

The Devil on G-String Usami Hal 1/8 PVC figure by Toranoana

This is a very attractive figure. Cool socks, sweet face, very nicely sculpted and posed. The ears and tail seem to come on and off, perhaps magnets.
Very sexy figure, in a certain pose she might be too much for some companies. The original art is included in the phone card version for 500 yen more.
Seems to be limited.
November 209, 100mm long, 5,500 yen (tax included) for normal version, or 6,000 for phone card version.
Some NSFW post the ”More” tag.
Toranora online store exclusive (use deputy services). Normal and card (limited) versions.

August Purchases

So, time to speak of what I purchased, pre-ordered and/or received during August, eh?

RPGs:

•  Bloodstained Stars Limited edition pre-order plus patch arrive in mail.

Miniatures:

• Formula P3 Basic painting techniques DVD arrives in mail.
• No Quarter magazine #25 arrives.
• No Quarter magazine #26 ordered at 15% discount.
• Dingy plastic colour-mixing palette purchased.
• Odor-less turpentine for varnish removal purchased.
• Flesh and Armor washes from P3 ordered. Badab Black and Devlun Mud washes from Citadel ordered. 15% discount.

Books:

• Eisenhorn omnibus arrives.
• Wheel of Time book 8: The Path of Daggers, purchased (not like I could finish book 7 and continue onward otherwise, y’know?).
• Dengeki Hime magazine with Komaki Aika figure arrives (not really a book, but..)
• About $80′s worth of Philosophy books and articles (Kant, Hobbes, Rousseau, etc.) purchased.

Figures:

• Neliel tu Oderschvanck figure by Banpresto arrives.
• Evangelion XXnano figures of Sachiel and Lilith (mini-Rei!) , arrive from Bluedrakon.
• Ymir from Queen’s Blade 1/7 by Griffon arrive from Bluedrakon.
• Shuraki Trinity Box 5 - Rize (1/8) by Good Smile Company arrives, along with Drama CD and art booklet. Spectacular (technically I only got it away from the hands of the customs on September 1st).

Others:

• Gave the comic store old comics for $95 in credit.
• Hyuga Hinata enamel key-chain, for the cute factor.

Conclusion: Month ended with me having some money in the bank. Submitted a resume today somewhere.

Figure Friday – August 14th to 20th in Review.

I slightly got the dates on last week’s post messed up. The post covers from last Friday to this week’s Thursday. Anyway, on we go, with a special side dish of Comiket news, Volks Garage Kit, and NSFW figures on our “NOT!” list.

As always, click the “read more” to get to the main body of the post, click on the first picture of each figure to get to a post with more pictures that are larger. Clicking on the following smaller pictures will lead you to the Flickr page. And we’re on!

Five Hot:

1.

CANAAN Canaan 1/8 PVC figure by Good Smile Company