Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.
From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
A new Monday. A new year. A new clip show piece will kick off 2010 for us here in the land of ESH.
As the next day effects of ushering in a new year subside and I finalize CES travel preparations Evermore has put together an extra bit for those of you who listened to our farewell to toast episode through iTunes last week. [If you catch the show on AllGames.com then you will get piece two of the podcast this week]
Next week, we will be bringing you our final thoughts before leaving the bouncing bosom of Las Vegas with our CES wrap up episode.
As you might be able to tell from the title of this week's show: "The Crazy One With All the Random Things We Ever Said," it's yet another clip show, but chock full of extra special features that you're going to enjoy. In fact, if you want to get a friend interested in the adventures of the Sistahs, this is the perfect episode for them.
In addition to NinjaSistah and Pandalicious, this episode features lots of appearances by MagicMysticGrl, and even goes into detail about the odd appearances and disappearances by her. In addition, you'll hear a couple of other of the Sistah's favorites: King Baby Duck of the Boston Bastard Brigade and Alphabox of Dead Pixel Live.
Reviving beloved storybook tales seems to be the new fallback for the movie industry. Thank GOD! I think when the Cinderella and Lion King franchises have as many movies as the Rocky series things are getting bad.
As King Baby Duck posted, Maurice Sendack's beloved Where the Wild Things Are is being released October 16th, but if you can't wait quite that long you can go watch another favorite kids book as a movie in September. Ron and Judi Barrett's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs has it's own animated adaption being released September 18th. It looks like a large part of the book has been changed for movie adaption, but the concept of mother nature starting an epic foodfight never gets old.
If kids books aren't your thing maybe you'd prefer to watch what will probably be a terribly written and acted movie, but you'll still love due to sheer awesome/explosive action scenes. GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits theaters August 7th.
And if you never read as a child, or played with action figures, maybe a new dose of an old anime will cheer up your fall. Astro Boy flies into theaters October 23rd. I know it's gonna be a busy weekend for me as I double feature Astro Boy with Where the Wild Things Are.
If you're a long-time listener of the ESH podcasts, you'll find this one has a completely different feel. That's because this episode was recorded absolutely live at the E For All show this past weekend.
Ninjasistah appeared live at the show, along with guests Loserly from Dead Pixel Live, April Carlson and Mandie Bettencourt from Girls Got Game, who discuss the true integration of girls and gaming sites.
Pandalicious represents, as usual, by talking about her fear of upcoming live-action movies made of her favorite anime stories. And MagicMysticGrl shows up after a long absence to talk about everything .hack.
Here are the headlines that were rejected for this one:
Working Part-Time, 43 Hours a Week
In Anime, Girls Will Be Girls, and So Will Boys
When Microphone Positioning Becomes Erotic
Panda Has a Filter, She Just Has to Remember to Put It On
High School Musical? These Guys Are Old Enough to Take the GED
Monday is here again, and so is a new episode of the ESH podcast. The girl team is complete on this one so expect randomness galore this hour and change.
The episode kicks off with Pandalicious and MagicMystic discussing how they came to love and specialize on the topics they, well, are experts on here at camp ESH. [In case you are new to the game, Panda shows anime some love while Magic takes us down the dark and [every once and a while] psychotic path of manga. While the girls chat about their passions and influences toward them, Ninja tries to keep up by hanging back in the corner.
When the dust settles, NinJaSistah jumps into the conversation to talk about the resurgence of the Science Fiction genre in mainstream entertainment and the pros and cons of it's new found popularity. It's another weird and wacky episode guys, check out the titles we didn't use for this one:
Off-Topic's the Best Place to Be
if I Had Known, I Would Have Worn Pants @ M4M Night
if It's Good For Your Heart, It's Crap
Fluff Is Not a Milk Substitute
My Blank Is Different From Her Blank
Tales From The Kids Table
This Tiara makes Me Completely Unrecognizable
Your Mom Should Never Ask What That Tentacle Is Doing
Panda's Guide to the Four Stages of Sex
The Pickle Distracted MagicMystic
This Isn't A Filler Episode - Everything Is Meaningful
That's Very Smexy
I Want to Punt Small Children
What Magic Is Tasting is The Combination Blue dye No.1 and Yellow Dye No. 5
The Flintstones Is Not Completely Historically Accurate Either
It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as the latest episode of the ElectricSistaHood podcast, but we prefer to think of it as just another slice of life.
Magic starts it out by talking about the manga "Pet Shop of Horrors" and Ninja and Panda finish it up by giving their love to the new Soul Caliber IV. In between all that, they present another hour of hilarity for all of you.
Just get a load of the titles that were turned down for this episode:
Just Listen To It and Figure It Out
The Heartbreak of Numb Butt
When Naruto Met a Night Elf Chick
If a Tree Falls In the Woods, Does It Get Turned Into a Manga?
My Favorite Word of the Week Was Circle-Jerk
We Don't Really Have DILLIGAF For Kids
The Day WoW Was Not Played
Let's Not Talk About Boob Brutality
The Soul Caliber Unlockable for Windows? Clippy!
So Many Accessories, They Should Call It Sim Caliber
If Robert E. Lee Had Invisible Naked Chick Army, We'd Be Celebrating His Birthday
Soul Caliber Finally Realized I'm Fat
The T-shirt Has Yoda and Siegfried -- Where's Roy?
I Hate Being Pwned, But I Love the Attention
Maids Prefer To Think Of Their Hats As Tiaras
I Pahked My Cah Then Became a Shirt-Rippah
Mamma Mia, Not Another Musical Episode
Token With the Sistahs (Not, It's Not the New Cheech & Chong Movie)
If you ever sit and ponder on the idea of people of a young-ish age drinking, let this new episode of the ESH podcast be the proof you need to "just say nay!"
This week, MagicMystic returns and brings with her balance to the force while Panda and Ninja enjoy some adult juice before, during, and probably after the episode.
This episode starts with Ninja talking about the new XBLive Arcade title Go! Go! Break Steady that she keep calling "Go! Go! Beat Street" reports on some of the feelings around the industry about E3, and the hopefully triumphant return of the fighting genre on the back of Soul Calibur IV. Magic chimes in with her new found XBox-y goodness and general discovery of "the new" as she shares first impressions of her new XBox 360 Elite as well as latent desires for an XBLive account, and then Panda brings up the rear and talks about the anime and manga series, Full Metal Panic. The gals are back to normal and completely off topic as usual.
Here are some of the random things said during the show that could have been used as titles, but weren't:
Wallmart, Baby Come Back!
The Big "E" Is Big
MagicMystic Is Back, And Out Of The Closet
Jobless Wonder To The Rescue-ish
It's Not The Size of Your GamerScore, But How You Use It
Monday brings with it yet another episode of the ESH podcast, and in this one the sistahs' steal the limelight and hold it hostage for about an hour.
NinJaSistah takes the mic first this go 'round to speak on a topic near and dear to her heart, Ninja Gaiden II. From new visuals, lamest ninja name ever, to best and worst aspects of initial gameplay NinJa brings the sexy black. I mean back.
Then Pandalicious talks about her newly addicted Wii Fit experience. The yoga that is easy, what the game is and is not, and how it affects her daily life. MagicMystic chimes in a time or too before having to head out early. All in all, it's one of our normal, wacky shows. Here are some of the episode titles we rejected:
It Helps If You're Nimble and Omnicient
From The Look Of The Ninja Gaiden Girls You'd Think Goodyear Was The Sponsor
Lamest Name For A NinJa: Joe
AI Can Be A Sneaky Bastard
No, The Dog Didn't Eat Panda's Homework
And Then She Mentioned Richard Simmons' Weiner
If Your Kid Turns Into A Pretzel, Turn The Wii Fit Off Now!
In this episode of the podcast the girls talk a bit about nearly every entertainment medium. We gots a bit of manga, a bit of anime, some feature film stuff all topped off with video game shizzole.
Pandalicious kicks off the show talking about the anime series Hell Girl based off of the manga of the same name. She and Magic go back and forth a bit exploring what works and what doesn't in the series. MagicMystic then shares her impressions of the new Hulk movie and NinJaSistah closes out the show talking about E3.
To give you an idea of the kind of show we had, here are the titles we rejected:
NinJa Can't Fly, But She Can Jump to Conclusions
No..Un..com..piled Da-ta EVER!!!
It's The Season For Creepy Flowers
The Cat In The Hat Was Not In The Prestige
Panda Makes A Fight Club Reference Nobody Else Understands
Hulk Smash! Movie Not!
Panda's Comic Book Cred Just Plummeted
Levitating Trumps Hovering
Attention Game Makers: Panda's Up For Payola
Exclusive: NinJa's Guide To Carnal Solicitation
The Love-Hate Relationship With E3 Has Turned Back To Hate
LAUNCH The podcast kicked off in 2006 with the first episode being released on May 3rd, and we have been cranking them out ever since. Over 100 total released shows [We have done a bunch of My Top Fives people] ESH has really grown into something unexpected, but ultimately an insane amount of fun to do. In this episode of the podcast we talk about how we got to be two years old.
CHANGE I launched the site in April of 06 as SplendidBlunder.com. Originally, the idea was to have a space on the web to create, post, mix, and remix other people’s GarageBand projects. It was going to be a playground for Panda and I, and while we were having all of our conversations about the setup, we kept wasting time talking about Video games and anime.
GROWTH We realized quickly that we wouldn’t be able to do just the site or the podcast alone, and began recruiting our more than geeky friends to join the family. The first recruit was MagicMystic, then came Evermore, MonkeyDoo, Douceswild, GeekWoman, madameRoslin, theAdmiral, colonelPanic, and most recently KingBabyDuck. We started out small, with only 1000 people on average hitting the site, and now, we do quite a bit better. I figure it has to be the crazy that keeps them coming back, because there is definitely nothing out there like us.
We will be making autographed DVD’s featuring all of the podcast episodes over the last two years available on the ESH site shortly.
ESH goes to the movies in this week's podcast and you won't believe how much Magic hates the new Indiana Jones film.
The Sistahs use Magic's bad review as a springboard for their dislike of most of the bad movies based on videogames and how much they wish there were more films like Iron Man and fewer like the last X-Man film.
Here are the titles we rejected for this week's show:
Indiana Jones and the Cake Is a Lie
Fluffy Man Boa? Not Today
Chia Pet Naruto -- Believe It!
FYI: Russia Is a Damn Cold Place
George Lucas Can Still FuX Things Up
They Shoot Russians In Roswell, Don't They?
My Frigidaire Is My Savior
Two Words: Necco Wafers
Don't forget that the live recording of the 100th episode is Friday, June 6. Look for details on the website. But in the meantime, give a listen to Episode 99: Indiana Jones and the Blah-Blah-Blah.
In this episode, Pandalicious discusses the anime Paprika, MagicMysticGrl talks about the manga MeruPuri: Marchen Prince and NinjaSistah brings up the latest videogame news.
The rejected titles for the episode? Right here:
ESH Myths Revealed: Ninja Has Three Boobs
Last Week's New Word Was V'jayhole, This Week It's Omnimpotent
The Sistahs discuss both the unpronounceable and the unspeakable in this week's podcast, and it's a guaranteed hoot and a half.
First up is MagicMystic's telling of an anime called Mnemosyne. While you won't lose your head over this tale, you might lose a hand.
Next, Ninjasistah and Pandalicious discuss their love for the gangsters, ho's and bitches in Grand Theft Auto IV. Sure, the game's violent and profane, but also loveable in its own twisted way.
Along the way, Panda even coins a new word: V'jayhole. You'll have to hear it to believe it.
Anyway, you've seen the title of this week's podcast. Here are the ones the Sistahs rejected:
You've just been Panderized!
We'll Chase Magic Down and Poke Her With a Stick
Kitten Snot Might Make You Laugh -- Might Not
Leaving the Land of Noisy Colors
Cat Girl Chasing Towel Girl? Cool!
Finding Rare Stamps Might Sound Boring, But You Won't Lose a Hand Over It
The Best Anime Ever About a Human Shish-Kebab
Don't Chain My, Uh, Heart
Radio's Dying -- Except On Grand Theft Auto
A Very Special ESH: The Girls Discuss Lap Dances
I Wouldn't Be Surprised to See Myself On World's Stupidest Drunk Drivers
In anticipation of Mother's Day next weekend, we've put together a very special episode of ElectricSistaHood (and we swear that, unlike Blossom, nobody's pregnant). You can listen to it right here.
The episode's a conglomeration of excerpts, both from the regular podcast and stuff that came from outtakes and pre-show antics, that feature conversations about and with the mother of Pandalicious and Ninjasistah, as well as an excerpt with MagicMysticGrl's mom.
Here's a impromptu poem for ESHmom:
M is for the Many times we taped her, O means that this joke is getting Old. T is for the Teasing that we gave her, H means that Hell is getting cold. E is for the Euros Panda's needing, R means you aRen't going to get a break.
Put them all together, they spell MOTHER. And your daughter Panda's on the take.
We've interspersed the comments about ESHmom in this podcast with messages from 2007 to the mothers of a fourth grade class at Hoover Elementary School (probably in Council Bluffs, Iowa). The messages are a great counterpoint to the Sistah's comments. If you want to hear more of these messages, just look for them at archive.org.
The gang will be recording a new episode next week, so look forward to that. In the meantime, please enjoy this behind-the-scenes tribute to ESHmom and all moms everywhere as we present Episode 96: M Is For the Many Times I Taped You.
You say you want a revolution, well, you know... we aren't here to change the world. Monday still equals new podcast episode day, and I don't see that changing anytime too soon.
In this episode of the podcast, the girls cover the popular creative peoples website, "Deviant Art" as well as the anime series "Vampire Knight" and examine the possible effect GTA IV may have on the national release of the "Iron Man" film. We are chock full of something on this episode people, and I think it just may possibly be caffeine. Don't quote me on that one though, just check out the titles we didn't use for this episode and draw your own conclusions:
OC BC Does Not Equal AC/DC
Everyone Is Social On Da InterWebs
He Wasn't Worth Remembering
I Heart Vampiress (And They Heart, Hearts
We Have Angst With A Little More Angst On The Side
A T-Rex Mobster? ow Does He Tie A Windsor Knot?
I'm More Isolated Than Ever ON The InterWebs
Don't Trust Mean People...That's What They WANT You To Do!
and
It's Hay Fever Season, But YOu Shouldn't Sneeze Sparkles
Yeah, we go up and down the spectrum this week, trying our best to remind you that time is running out to try and win that custom GTA IV Xbox 360 Elite and bring you some fun insights on the realms of geek, game, and anime... so sit back and enjoy podcast episode number 95: Batman Doesn't Eat Babies.
Pam grew up on stories her grandmother told, stories of a kind devil she'd fallen in love with. So, one day after school Pam uses a summoning square her grandmother taught her in the hopes of summoning a kind demon of her own. Unfortunately, she's pulled into the square and sent to another world.
Pam has accidentally landed in the land of the spirits. Almost immediately she is attacked by an angel, Linfa, who looks identical to her best friend back home, but is rescued by a mysterious man by the name of Remi. He tells Pam that there are no humans in the Spirit World, including her. Looking in a mirror, Pam sees that she's grown horns and a tail. Chaos ensues and somehow Pam ends up in a school for devils where everyone thinks she's a bit crazy and a lot dense. Pam doesn't know even the basics about the Spirit World, doesn't have a familiar and is willing to help anybody out, all in all she's a very strange stray devil. In this world where karmic consequences are enforced on devils and angels that work together, Pam works to become a full fledged demon, and to build a relationship with the angel that looks so very much like her best friend. Unfortunately for everyone in the spirit world, Pam also seems to have been summoned for a reason and may hold the key to saving them all from destruction.
This series is something I picked up a while ago in a bookstore, but I finally got my hands on all 5 volumes at AB this year. This is in no way a serious manga. Pam is stupid, klutzy and very socially awkward. She regularly helps Linfa out, only to be hospitalized later for the karmic consequences. Pam is one of those stupid nice girls so common to shoujo manga, and true to form she eventually ends up melting everyone's hearts. I personally hate characters like that, and suspect the real reason I like this manga so much is the abuse that she goes through due to her personality. (Also, the guy she eventually gets as a familiar is hawt) She is regularly dropped off cliffs, has giant rocks dropped on her, kicked with soccer-balls, attacked by animals, dropped out of trees, electrocuted etc. She even falls for a banana peel/ankle rope/water bucket combo trick. The not-so-little sadist in me *Squee*s with glee everytime she does something nice for Linfa, because I know the inevitable follow-up is coming.
If you actually like characters like Pam, or if you enjoy seeing them bite the dirt like I do, I recommend you check this one out. It's only 5 volumes and is a very quick read. Stray Little Devil is by Kotaro Mori and is published by DrMaster.
Monday rears it's ugly face area again and so the ESH Crew gives you a new episode of the podcast to hide behind.
In this episode of the podcast, the regular trio is back at it to talk about the anime series Paranoia Agent the manga Dazzle and the disconnect with animes optioned from manga with a smattering of Fushigi Yugi and a few other things.
To give you an idea of the places we go, here are the titles we didn't use for this episode:
Dance Moves To Die For
Then Anime Boston Turned Into The Shining
No One Told Me About the NinJa Rape
It's Like The Lion King, Without The Lions
The Old Lady Pulled a Geraldo
It's Not Like We've Ever Shied Away From Spoilers Before
Twisted, Dark and Perverse - That's Entertainment!
They Don't Sell Kool-Aid At Suicide.com
We Haven't Talk About Incest In a Long Time
They Should Have Called Him HeckBoy
Bitch! Listen To Bruce Willis!
Coming Next Week: Whatever NinJa Wanted to Talk About
Come visit ESH Land. It's now officially a real place. Each click will increase the population of ESH Land and once the population is big enough we can build and improve our city.
As Panda noted, the lines at AB were made of Epic Fail this year. On the plus side, when you get 10,000 people sitting around in a corridor for 7-9 hours they come up with interesting ways to amuse themselves.
Corridor antics included such things as 'The Game'. The rules of TG aren't unfamiliar to me, but I've never seen it played on such a scale before. TG is one part Pink Elephants one part Fight Club. Playing TG is simple, breaking into the game, not so much. When you hear people hollering down the corridors or across the Artists Alley "I lost The Game!" your first instinct is to ask "What game?" In that moment they have you and they have won. The first rule of TG, don't talk about TG. This leads to many, many people asking what it is and very few people willing to explain it. The second rule is don't think about TG. The moment you think about TG you've lost TG and have to shout out your loss. As an element of mind control, once you mention TG everyone in hearing distance will automatically start thinking about it and will also lose and have to shout out that they lost as well. It's quite a bit like giant radioactive brain spam-mail that automatically forwards itself to everyone in your contacts list.
As always there was lots and lots of bad singing in the hallways as well. The common favorites were Still Alive from Portal and I Know a Song (That Gets on Everybody's Nerves) because they were both included in the AMV finalists this year. A confused few forgot the song that gets on everybody's nerves and instead sang the song that never ends. Other serenades included, Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (started by yours truly), various theme songs and the ever popular PIRATE! NINJA! and MARCO! POLO! chants.
Every time a P/N chant would flare up I'd calmly bide my time until everything had settled down a bit and then would holler SHINIGAMI! at the top of my lungs. It's very important to me that I always have the last word. Other random 'hall'erings included SO I HEER U LIEK MUDKIPS! and OVER NINE THOUSAND!
So despite the lines having OVER NINE THOUSAND! people in them, AB2K8 reaffirmed my belief that if you get that many (it was actually over 9 thousand) dorks, geeks, nerds and socially unacceptable misfits together you're gonna have fun. Even if you're just waiting in line.
Pandalicious shares some musings about viral video treasure trove YouTube, FUNimation channel getting itself out of the rerun doldrums, and self buttering popcorn. [you'll just have to listen to find out more about that one] Then NinJaSistah jumps in to add the sprinklings of gaming news including some first impressions on Legendary, and MagicMystic rounds out the show with another review of an edgy manga title. This title is hard to describe so I'll just give you the name...Deadman Wonderland.
If you want some help deciding to watch this episode, just check out the rejected title list:
Air Causes Cancer-Didn't You Know?
Popcorn's Coming! And That's Just Sick
Popcorn: Now It Makes It's Own Gravy
Point Me To The Nearest Ghost
Retards Are Special, Too
Crinklebread Must Make Great Toast
Magic's Not A Stuntwoman, But She Plays One In A Videogame
Take magic To Vegas, I'll Knit A Sweater
Kitty Birds Just Don't Look Menacing Enough
101 Things To Do With Your Yang
Blood As A Weapon? The Red Cross Can't Keep Up Now!
An Eye for A What?!
Deadman Wonderland, Great Entertainment For Bulimics
In this episode of the podcast Pandalicious brings up the demise of the NewType magazine and notes the decline in printed review media focusing on anime or manga here in the US. Then MagicMystic chimes in with her thoughts on the very, very sugary anime series Shugo Chara by TV Tokyo. Not to be left out, NinJaSistah chimes in with some gaming news updates and continues on the sugary sweet anime series Sorcerer Hunters.
It's a fun episode, but don't take my word for it. Let these rejected episode titles tell reveal the fun-ness of it all...
Don't Choke On Microsoft's Wad
This Is A Pimpless Podcast
Twelve F-Words Makes It Extra Explicit
NewType Has Contracted Magazine Cancer
MagicMystic Fives The Ultimate Spoiler
Panda Puts Out For Published Writers
Harry Potter Jumped The Shark At Book Four
Sporty Spice Is A Version of Me? Egg-zactly!
Yeah, But Can She Transform Into A Camaro?
Just Another Manic Chara
A Black Egg With An "X" On It? The EAster Bunny's Not Gonna Like That
When The Keymaster Met The Gatekeeper
You Gotta Be Sick To Watch Sorcerer Hunters
These Suspenders Defy All Laws of Physics
This Series Puts The "Con" in Necronomicon
You'll Be Like That's What Panda Was Talking About
In this episode, the gals get together to talk about, well, a little bit of everything. From Pandalicious sharing some of her thoughts on the anime Paradise Kiss, then on to MagicMystic exposing us to the Persona: Trinity Soul anime, and then NinJaSistah talking about sex in video games, Devil May Cry 4 and the passing of actor Heath Ledger.
It is a rollercoaster ride of an episode this week; lots of highs and lows, lots of tangents. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the titles we rejected:
It's What ESH Mom Wants Everyone To Know
Anime Dude Looks Like A Lady
There's Angst Everywhere
The Writers Laughed In My Face-They Can Stay On Strike
Franz Ferdinand? Didn't He Pay For Columbus' Boat Trip?
Plan B's Not That Shabby
The Jeopardy Answer: You Can Unscrew A Light bulb
It's Never Good To Shoot Yourself In the Head
There's No Racism In Reverse World, Everybody's Pink
That Crack/Mother's Back Thing Just Ain't True
Personas Can Leap Tall Buildings In A Single Bound
In this new episode of the ESH podcast MagicMystic returns to the show [finally] to add a little manwa up in this piece with Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man. Pandalicious pokes her nose into the show and shares her experiences with Scene It: Lights, Camera, Action on the XB360, and NinJaSistah rounds out the hour with the affect Mass Effect has had on her while she's been playing it.
To get an idea of what's going on in this episode, here are the titles we didn't use:
In which a Ruffled vigilante, diabetes immune doll and pacifist berserker run a clothing store and fight demons.
One day, a young girl named Sumire accidentally pricks her finger on a strange broach and is suddenly able to see demons, called Viruses. Of course, she immediately gets attacked by one. Coming to her aid, a young woman dressed in Goth-loli with an eyepatch dispatches the demon. The frilly pirate, Lucia, runs a clothing store/detective agency, Venus Vanguard, and she recruits Sumire to help her rid the world of Viruses. Lucia uses special anti-virus bullets and during a mission she accidentally shoots Sumire who goes berserk and kills the virus with her bare hands. Enter some badguys pulling all the strings from the wings, a soulless doll that won't stop eating chocolate and Lucia's tragic backstory and you've got a glimpse into the world of Venus Versus Virus.
This is a pattern anime through and through. Nothing in it was new or revolutionary, and 99% of it was easy to predict. None of the 'twists' surprised me, but that doesn't mean that I was disappointed. Sometimes it's nice to sit down and watch something that doesn't require you to think. Knowing in advance what's going to happen isn't always a bad thing either, anticipation is half the fun. This anime had me getting all exited when I knew shit was gonna go down and then turning to the empty air beside me to say "See! I TOLD you that was gonna happen." There's something very satisfying about lording it over the void sitting next to you. Like hearing an old familiar fairy tale. I mean, people are never going to stop remaking favorites like Cinderella, and I will always be right there waiting to read/see it again. This anime was like that. It's a story I've seen many times before and it was nice to see it again without actually having to watch the same title.
I love berserkers. For example, I hate both Ichigo and Naruto but squeal like a fangirl on crack laced with helium whenever they go Kyuubi-ish or Vizard. There's just something really awesome about a character that'll rip up their best friends like tissue paper. So, despite her over naivete and sickeningly sweet personality, I have a bit of a soft spot for Sumire. Another reason I really like her is that she has to frikkin shoot herself to use her power. Some of you may not remember, but a few months ago I talked about Persona 3 in the podcast and I raved about the same thing there. The main characters all had to shoot themselves to release their powers. I think that it's an awesome concept and I find it utterly hilarious to watch them shoot themselves.
I'd give Venus Versus Virus a 3.5 since it's the same ol' same old, but still worth a look. It's 12 episodes long and is currently being released in the US by ADV Films. Some pink for being cutsy, some teal for being just a tiny bit cool, some red for violence and an itsy bit of black cuz technically demons are scary.
I'm sure you've noticed by now that we haven't put up a new episode of the podcast. And we won't be putting one up this week, and for good reason.
As you may or may not know, Pandalicious took very ill suddenly and quite unexpectedly. For a while there it was a very precarious situation, but I'm happy to report that she has been released from the hospital into the pampering care of our mother. In recent weeks you may have also noticed MagicMystic missing from the podcast on a regular basis as well. Magic has been dealing with some life issues [you know, accepting the need for a day job, and all that crap] and has been unable to make our recording sessions on a regular basis. Hey, life comes at you fast and sometimes you can't duck that mofo. So with both of the girls down this week, not to do a podcast. I could have recorded a top 5 by myself [I had the topic together and everything] but I felt like, in these circumstances not doing one without the girls would just be wrong.
An ESH podcast so close to the holidays just isn't as fun without the sistahs.
So call me lame, call me old fashioned, hell, you can call me lazy... but one thing I am is missing my girls
We will be back to normal-ish next week on the podcast tip, until then... enjoy the jewels and reviews coming at you this week!
In this episode, we concentrate on the subjects the Sistahs love talking about most: videogame addition, the controversy about violence in games, what it's like to be a girl gamer and the platform wars. And, of course, the sistahs talk about Boonga-Boonga.
First off, it's new podcast episode time again here at Electric Sista Hood, and this one is a doosie. We've always tagged our podcast as "explicit" because it would take more time to edit out crap to make it "clean enough for iTunes" than it's worth. This week's really drives this fact into the ground, so I'm taking this extra opportunity to warn you, that this episode is NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN TO LISTEN TO!
In case you haven't caught on yet, this is episode 69 of the ESH podcast, and we figured it would only be proper to do an all hentai episode of the show. Pandalicious gives you the low down on Please Teacher and admits to a few of her own personal fetishes while MagicMystic talks about the dojinshiAlice in Sexland by Mashumaro Jyuubaori. Closing out the hour, NinJaSistah chimes in with the reasons for her preferences in hentai, and desire for at lease some semblance of plot.
Monday has once again sneaked up on us from behind with intentions of molesting your ears with a new episode of the ESH podcast.
I don't want to ruin it for you by going into too great of detail about this show right now, but Pandalicious leads off the hour with hands on review of Mario Party 8 on the Wii, and MagicMystic steps up to the M1KT to share her thoughts on Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3. Then NinJa closes out the podcast episode talking about the anime series Moon Phase, and the new Ninja Gaiden 2 trailer.
Oh yeah, we have a candy bitch. Congrats Ariel!!
Now, I give you, the rejected podcast episode titles:
It's Monday, so you know what that means... time for a new episode of the ESH podcast! And this time, we have a doosie of an episode for you.
In this episode, Pandalicious rants about the anime series School Rumble which happens to be a "romantic comedy" shonen while MagicMystic shares her thoughts on the manga series Flame of Recca. And no show would be complete without NinJaSistah ending out the show with some game news and or review, and this episode is no different. This week, NinJaSistah explores the popularity of classic games through online services like the Wii virtual console, XBLive, and the Sony Online Store. Don't forget the tangents. We sure didn't.
And don't forget, these unused titles that we threw out like an unwanted fetus.
Cheerleaders for the Pompom of Truth
It's Not Gonna Suck! Believe It!
The Plot Gets In The Way of the Humor
Nothing's More Pathetic Than A Bully In Love
I'm Not a Real Doctor, But I Play One in an Anime
Rock-Paper-Scissors-Hair-Sounds Like Scorpion
After That, Other Stuff Happens
Panda doesn't Squat in Barnes & Noble
She Ain't Evil, She's Just Mom
The Nerd Glasses Make You Lok Crazy
Staring At This Shirt Freaks me Out
Streets of Rage Makes Me Miss My Sister
You Are Now Sterile - Thank You, Halo!
Only Cinderella Can Play Bioshock
Coming Next Year: Resident Transylvania
I Run Away From Smiling Sausages All the Time
and finally
NinJa Likes It Hard and Chewy
Yeah, read that list and not be curious about the whole episode.
Since it's nearly Monday and I am pooped, I decided to go ahead and post this weeks episode early as I may very well sleep the entire day away tomorrow.
Sure, sure, you may think I'm sounding like a lazy ninja, but I'm not. Every ninja worth his shuriken knows that one must heal all wounds and restore his strength before returning to a fight. That sounds so much better than just being "lazy!"
Back to this week's podcast episode. Pandalicious shares her experience with the cyberpunk comic Transmetropolitan, MagicMystic remembers the anime series Saiyuki and NinJaSistah drops the 411 on some upcoming game demos, releases, and general game deliciousness.
Everyone knows Hellsing Ultimate rocks. The music, the voice acting and most of all the visuals. The OVA is closer to the look of the manga than the original series ever was. But looking around, I haven't seen anyone do an in depth side-by-side comparison to the manga.
So, I started watching episode 3 and flipping through the manga keeping a close eye on panel and frame composition. Not 30 seconds into the episode I was finding frame after frame, page after page, scene after scene all lovingly constructed to duplicate the manga as closely as possible.
You can't tell in this screenshot, but the whole image from the manga is duplicated in a slow pan from Anderson's feet up his body. Le sigh, God I love Anderson. BEST MAGIC/HOLY MACHETE WIELDING CHARACTER EVER!
Although this scene was reproduced almost exactly like it was in the manga, it somehow wasn't as funny in the anime. Now, I say not as funny, but it was still funny as hell. I mean massive violence is about to occur and you're all hyped up to see a showdown of epic proportions, property and personal damage galore, and then Seras preempts it all with a herd of coffin dodgers. Whomsoever can come up with shit like that is a comedic genius. (Also, I find it a little sad that I just went and googled "Derogatory terms for the elderly.")
Why, yes. Maxwell IS as big of a priggish asshat in the anime as he was in the manga. The only thing that makes me happy when I see his shit-eating grin after the decimation of Hellsing is flipping ahead in the manga to see his death scene. Good night, good night! Parting is.. FUCKING GREAT.
Wow, Please pardon my French. Hellsing apparently makes me want to cuss like a sailor. It's just THAT gorram awesome.
Another Monday brings with it another new podcast episode from the land of ESH, and this one is all about Dragon Ball.
Pandalicious kicks off the episode with her thoughts on Dragon Ball. MagicMysticGrl steps up to the plate with her take on Dragon Ball Z witch then descends into a Saiyuki/DBZ compare and contrast tangent... mmm, yummy. Then NinJaSistah jumps into the fray relating her experiences with the Blue Dragon XB360 demo, opinions on the drawing style of Akira Toriyama, and the universe of anime to video game cross-over titles.
It's madness as usual on this episode our podcast. If you don't believe me, take a gander at the non-selected episode titles:
Pandalets, Poo, and Pink Shirts Dragonball Made a Monkey Out of Me His Rod Was Extended When He Fought I'm Gonna Kick Your Ass If You Eat My Meatbun Mystical Balls That Summon a Dragon? Riiiight New Testament 1.5 - Jesus: The Teen Years Go! Go! Go! How To Name a Dragonball Character We Save The Earth Then Go Bowling on Thursday Night My Name Is Vegeta! My Father Is Vegeta! I Come From Vegeta! I Eat Steak Vegetas
-- And last, but not least --
That Coiled Brown Thing Isn't A Snake, But It's Close
Finally a clean version of the Dark Knight teaser trailer shown at Comic Con has shown up online.
In the Dark Knight, Bale reprises his role as Batman and teams up with Oldman's Gordon and Eckhart's Dent in an effort to fight the organized crime mobs that rule Gotham's underworld. After the imprisonment of Carmine Falcone, a psychotic mastermind who goes by the name of "The Joker" (Ledger) assumes control of the criminal cartels.
This is a tentative summary based on what I've heard about the movie. Aside from the known facts that Oldman, Eckhart and Ledger will be playing Gordon, Dent and the Joker it could all be rumour and hearsay.
In other news. I haven't been able to find a clean version of the Iron Man Trailer yet, but I figure you're probably all hot to see it, so I'll give you the rough version. You can check it out here.
The Sistahs are in agreement about one thing about this week's podcast -- the topic is Naruto. And it's not just the anime series they talk about, but also the manga and the video games.
Downloads of Naruto art are among the most popular things on the ElectricSistaHood website, so it's natural that they finally devote a whole episode to the series. But the things they say! You'll just have to listen to the thing to get all the ESHland goodness as the Sistahs deliver Episode 60: The Topic is Naruto, But I Digress.
And for those of you who were wondering, here are the rejected titles for this week's podcast:
Our Naruto Episode Goes Into a TaleSpin
Naruto Sucks, But the Headband Is Cool
The Vice President Would Never Accidentally Shoot Naruto
In my opinion consumerism in Japan is much more prolific and ridiculous than here in the US. I've never seen a TV show title in the US come out with figurines, trading cards, posters, games, manga, novels, multiple soundtracks, radio shows, drama CDs, events, movies and a rock musical as well as all the toys, key chains, plushies, messenger bags and other innumerable items of merchandise. Part of me laughs at the silly consumerist Japanese otaku and part of me burns with massive amounts of jealousy and greed for all the cool items that will never traverse the ocean into my hot grasping little hands.
So imagine my shock and delight when I found a way to get my hands on the Bleach Soundtracks and Bleach Beat Collection.
I immediately jumped on the chance like a starving fat kid jumps on cake. The soundtracks were as cool as expected, loaded with all the awesome background music throughout Bleach as well as some of the openings and endings. But what really caught my attention were the Beat Collections.
Now for those of you who've never heard of the Bleach Beat Collections, they aren't the typical soundtracks you'd expect. They are very short, containing at most 5 or 6 songs each and they are each named after a character or group of characters. In order to further complicate things they come in ‘Sessions’ of 5. For example: you have Bleach Beat Collection 1: Ichigo Kurosaki through Bleach Beat Collection 5: Ichimaru Gin and then starts Bleach Beat Collection Second Session 1: Ichigo Kurosaki and Zangetsu. They are coming out with more as new characters appear and the story moves on. Bleach Beat Collection Third Session 3: Sousuke Aizen will be released on August 1st in Japan. Currently I've gotten 12 of them for about 4 hours of listening.
At first I wasn't sure if the collections were concept songs for the characters, music inspired by the characters or music that the characters would likely listen to. After listening for a bit, I realized that the true answer wasn’t any of the above. The songs were actually sung by the Seiyū (voice actors) of the characters. So as I listened to Renji, Zangetsu and Ulquiorra belting out the lyrics I really got into it. Unfortunately with my limited Japanese I would be thrown out of enjoying the music whenever I heard a word I recognized/understood such as shinigami, quincy, nakama, sensei or a character's name. In my experience it's better to listen and either understand all of it or none of it, and whatever you do never ever chase down a translated version. Poor Rammstein has been bastardized beyond recognition every time someone gets the "brilliant" idea to translate it.
Collection 1: Ichigo Kurosaki- Of all the voice actors Masakazu Morita got to sing the most songs, but I don’t know if he should have been allowed to. He picked up a song on the Uryu disk and dominated the Ichigo/Zangetsu disk as well. He wasn’t anywhere near the best singer of the group, but at least he wasn’t the worst. The biggest issue I had with his singing is that he seemed to use only his own voice and rarely sounded at all like Ichigo. Many of the other Seiyu managed to stay at least partially, if not entirely within character. Since poor Mochizuki Hisayo managed to sing without once loosing the Yachiru voice I’d think keeping Ichigo’s voice going wouldn’t be that much of a problem.
Collection 2: Renji Abarai- As much as I love Renji (Kentaro Ito) and his funny eyebrow tatts, the boy can’t sing. His voice is far too rough and throaty which forced him to sing the angriest sounding songs of any in the collection. He couldn’t harmonize at all and ended up chanting or growling most of the words rather than keeping any sort of harmony with the song. Yet somehow, he was also the only one who was nearly drowned out by heavy background vocals.
Collection 3: Uryuu Ishida – Ishida’s (Noriaki Sugiyama) songs were some of my favorites. One had heavy techno beats and was saturated with synthesizer effects; another was slower and backed by guitar. Surprisingly I can easily imagine Ishida having a wild side and regularly appearing as a Techno DJ at raves. He has that slick cool factor that I’d think would be oh so important to DJs. His voice is just the same as his image. It was smooth and flowed nicely. Noriaki was able to keep nicely within Uryu’s range and made him seem more awesome and appealing than I ever found him in the series.
Collection 4: Hanataro Yamada and Kon – A selection of ridiculously upbeat and potentially silly songs with titles like Shimpainai Oneesan (Worry-free Big Sis) and Lions Never Surrender. I didn’t think it was possible but Hanataro (Kouki Miyata) sounds even younger and Kon (Mitsuaki Madono) sounds like he’s whining even more than usual. It was very difficult to listen to them singing together and not smile, imagining them fighting over the microphone. Well, more like Hanataro holding the mike and getting beaten by Kon for possession of it. Lions Never Surrender was sung by Mitsuaki Madono without using his Kon voice and it sounded alright, but I couldn’t take it seriously imagining the wussy little stuffed lion acting all serious to sing it.
Collection 5: Gin Ichimaru – Although Koji Yusa doesn’t have one of the more recognizable voices in the series, he is an impressive singer. Not much of Gin’s personality comes through the songs but if you think about it not much of his personality has been shown in the story. These songs are less like a cool Bleach special and more like stand alone songs that are cool in their own right. Several of the other songs I like, I may only have feelings for because they are sung by Bleach characters. I don’t feel that these songs have any of those connotations. If I didn’t know that it was sung by the voice actor of Ichimaru Gin, I would never recognize his voice.
Second Session 1: Ichigo Kurosaki and Zangetsu – Zangetsu (Takayuki Sugo) was the dark horse of the group. I was tempted to not even listen to his songs because I couldn’t imagine them being anything spectacular. The rock/techno styles I’d heard so far wouldn’t fit with his voice and I wasn’t about to submit myself to something that was painful to listen to. In his solo song Rain, I was pleasantly surprised to hear his deep voice crooning in my ear like a sensual lover. I actually got the shivers at one point, apparently I have a thing for guys with low voices. The other songs Sky High and Zan returned to a fast moving style and didn’t really utilize Zangetsu/Takayuki’s voice as anything other than the occasional backup.
Second Session 2: Toshiro Hitsugaya, Rangiku Matsumoto and Momo Hinamori – The moment Toshiro started singing it was really obvious that he was a she. Regardless of how great a voice actress Romi Paku is, she couldn’t make her voice sound like a boy while she sang, which was a bit of a shame, but there’s only so much human voices can do. Another bit of a let down was the lack of compilation songs. Each character/voice actor had a song, but there wasn’t a single song done together. Hinamori’s (Kumi Sakuma) song was cute and innocent and Matsumoto’s (Kaya Matsutani) was breathy and sensual as could be predicted, neither was anything super amazing.
Second Session 3: Zaraki Kenpachi, Yachiru Kusajishi, Ikkaku Madarame and Yamichika Ayasegawa – When ‘We’ started playing I had a very strong vision hit me. I had intruded upon a clandestine meeting of the 11th Squad. I had walked in on them having a sleepover, Yumichika was giving Kenpachi a make-over (he had a mud mask on and curlers in) and Yachiru had put a long blonde wig on Ikkaku and was braiding his hair. This scene hit me so vividly that I started laughing hard enough that I had trouble breathing and ended up missing most of the song. I had to restart it to listen to it. ‘We’ had a tune that no Squad 11 member would be caught dead listening to and they definitely would never have sung along so cheerfully together. Visions of them skipping along arm in arm or sitting together singing Kum Ba Yah pervaded my thoughts every time I tried to listen to it. I mean where else will you hear Kenpachi say things like “Come on, Come on Yeah Yeah Yeah Baby.” Luckily for my aching gut Yachiru was the only one singing ‘Funny Days’ and ‘COME to LIKE it. This FIGHT Now.’ was much more in the spirit of 11.
Second Session 4: Jin Kariya, Ririn, Claude, Nova – I wouldn’t know Nova’s talking or singing voice even if Tomokazu Sugita walked up to me and gave a full introduction of himself before he started singing. Mostly they didn’t try to adjust his character to make him sing, he just added a few words here and there as backup, while Claude (Nobuo Tobita) more energetically backed Ririn (Yumi Kakazu) up. However he did have to sing a few verses of ‘Faiteingusouru.’ It made me wish he talked more. He’s got a great voice. Another thing I was a bit wary of was that they’d try to trade on the hokey and stereotypical ‘vampire’ music for Kariya’s (Toru Ohkawa) songs. I didn’t need to be concerned. The songs were all upbeat, which was almost worse to hear Kariya sing than some Japanese version of Thriller.
Second Session 5: Rukia Kuchiki and Orihime Inoue – Seeing as most of the other songs are sung by men I thought I’d enjoy this collection more. It’s not that I don’t like the songs Rukia (Fumiko Orikasa) and Orihime (Yuki Matsuoka) sing, but I don’t particularly love them either. Rukia has a surprisingly mature singing voice. She sounds much older when she sings. ‘Wind’, ‘La La La’ and ‘Holy Fight’ are some of the most melodic songs from any of the collections and they were pretty enough, but I had some problems with each song. ‘Holy Fight’ should be renamed ‘Holly Fight’ because you can hear what sounds like Christmas bells constantly ringing in the background. ‘La La La’, I mean the title tells you everything. The lyrics and even the title of the song were repetitive and unimaginative; I don’t need to know Japanese to know La La La is a pathetic attempt at filling dead air.
Third Session 1: Ulquiorra Schiffer – Unfortunately it seems that every Session that comes out has fewer and fewer songs. Ulquiorra (Namikawa Daisuke) only had 2 songs and a Voice Message. Not understanding more than a few words of Japanese hindered my understanding of the voice message, but it seemed to be a general shout out to fans and a bit of discussion about the character. It was really interesting to hear him switching between his normal voice and his Ulquiorra voice
Third Session 2: Grimmjow Jaegerjaques – Just like Ulquirra, Grimmjow only got 2 songs and a shout out. I was expecting angsty angry teenager type music from Suwabe Junichi but was a little disappointed to get something considerably more upbeat. I will readily admit that I love emo teenager music. Despite my initial misgivings I ended up really enjoying both of Grimmjow’s songs.
Now I’ve said again and again that I have no idea what the lyrics are and I haven’t a clue what everybody was singing about. So, when I say a song is upbeat I’m generally guessing about the song from the tone of voice and the sound of the music. So, if someone is really singing about kicking puppies and stealing candy from children please don’t assume that I think that is an upbeat and happy image.
There are 56 songs in total and I think that there is probably something for everyone, or at least all Bleach fans. Interestingly enough I’ve noticed that most Bleach fans are into ‘The Rocks’ just like me. They seem to enjoy Alternative Rock, Pop Rock, Hard Rock, Soft Rock, Classic Rock, Emo Rock.. etc. Most of the songs can be classified as rock of one sort or another and there is enough of a variety that you’ll be sure to find at least one song you like or even love.
My Favorite Songs- Aesthetics and Identity - Collection 3: Uryu Ishida BrEaK - Third Session 2: Grimmjow JaegerJaques GAME!GAME!GAME! - Second Session 4: Jin Kariya, Ririn, Claude, Nova Hyo-ri [Two Sides] - Collection 5: Gin Ichimaru My Blade, As My Pride - Collection 1: Ichigo Kurosaki Quincy no Hokori ni Kakete - Collection 3: Uryu Ishida RAIN - Second Session 1: Ichigo Kurosaki and Zangetsu Sekai wa Sude ni Azamuki no Ue no [The World Has Already Been Decieved] - Collection 5: Gin Ichimaru Shimpainai Oneesan [Worry-free Big Sis] - Collection 4: Hanataro Yamada and Kon Suigintou no Yoru - Collection 3: Uryu Ishida We - Second Session 3: Zaraki Kenpachi, Yachiru Kusajishi, Ikkaku Madarame and Yamichika Ayasegawa
So all in all I highly suggest you pick up at least a few of these collections.
Monday rears it's ugly head once again, so you know what that means... it's new podcast day in the land of ESH!
This Monday, Pandalicious starts the conversation with the anime series Elfen Lied and MagicMysticGrl and NinJaSistah weigh in with their take on the series. You asked for it Vichus, and the sistah's try to deliver. The girls talk about the ability of Elfen Lied to be marketed here in the West, and whether or not strong sexual content or violent anime in general can stand a chance of making the mainstream here in the West.
Then NinJaSistah bats 3rd in order to share some of the thoughts and impressions that E3 07' left on her. It's a fun start to the week, so jump in and enjoy Episode 59: I Flash in Your General Direction.
When the Ninja's away, the Sistahs will play. That's pretty much what's happening in this week's new podcast as Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl take the mic while NinjaSistah returns from the E3 convention.
Pandalicious, who's finally begun her search for a job, researches the anime series Desert Punk by watching its trailers. Magic, on the other hand, checks out a magic, red walnut and falls in love with the movie The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
It's an episode that's certainly worth your time. And if you don't agree, you can take your magic, red walnut and return back in time to where you were before you listened. We've got the answer to everything! So please enjoy this week's Episode 58: Living in the Slums of ESHland.
Ok, so I got a little distracted by my purdy new gadget [iPhone BITCH!] and sorta kinda forgot to post this weeks podcast episode. My bad homies, my bad.
That damn phone seduced me people. It lured me away from my most treasured responsibilities, and I'm sorry. I am weak in its presence... but here's the new episode of our podcast.
All three regular hosts hop on the cast this week to bring you some info about some cool and not so cool goings on in the worlds of anime and video games. First up at bat is Panda "Stop Saying I Have Herpes" licious who shares with us her experiences with the anime Hare+Guu, which [like many anime series] is very weird.
Magic "I Forgot About the Giant Ball Monster" MysticGrl chimes in at the number two slot to share with us EVEN MORE.Hack// goodness with us by imparting her sort of found wisdom from .Hack//roots.
And bringing up the rear [as usual in this weekly menage] is NinJa "Get a Twinkie, Cuz Yer Gonna Need Brain Food" Sistah dropping her 2cents on the whole Manhunt 2 debacle.
Yeap! Grab yourself a Twinkie and something to drink, Episode 55: Welcome to the Eyefor Towel is up and running!
I'll keep this one short. It's new podcast episode day here at ESH, and this one is special.
Join robot74107 in exploring some of the reasons why and how our podcast earned its "Explicit" tag. Plug in your headphones, you don't want your boss or anyone passing by your cube/desk/room to overhear this one.
Mmmm, Monday morning new podcast episode freshness coming right at ya folks!
The girls are back after a quick mini vacation with a new podcast episode that covers [among other things] the anime series Peach Girl, the works of Mayu Shinjo [including Akuma Na Eros and Love Celeb, and the XB360 title Bullet Witch.
Tune into this weeks episode to find learn more about all of that stuff plus get the answers to other questions. Questions like, are worms kosher? Does Pandalicious watch hentai with her mom? Can we go an episode without mentioning Bleach
So give Episode 52: The Darkness Tells Me To Hurt Puppies a listen, you'll enjoy it.
This episode is another gem in the ESH podcast cap people. We change up the order this week and kick the episode off with MagicMysticGrl's review of the anime series Kamichu!, a series that focuses on the main character learning one day that she's a god while Pandalicious and NinJaSistah compare and contrast their respective rocking experiences with Guitar Hero II on the PS2 and XB360. It's fun and full of tangets... it's Episode 50: Anything Stiff Can Be Broken!
My favorite event all weekend, and the one I look forward to most is the Anime Cosplay Chess Game. The only thing I get more excited about is the AMV Contest, but that's not really a single event as there are multiple times to view and vote on the videos.
This years Cosplay Chess game didn't disappoint. The theme was Angst vs. Sugar, but the choices for pieces was a little off. Many of the characters chosen for each team didn't really fit my image of Angsty or Sugary, but I wasn't in charge so there was nothing I could do. I also didn't really like the way that each royal court (the King and Queen with their pawns) were all from the same anime. Instead of Angst vs. Sugar this game was more FMA vs Ouran.
*Team Sugar*'s captain and chess player was Sailor Moon, and #Team Angst# was headed by Sephiroth himself. I decided that rather than reporting a list of every move anyone made, I simplified my blow by blow and will only be telling you about the interesting parts.. and it got interesting before it even started.
So here are our teams:
Due to the ban on Pirate hunting at AB Cap'n Jack was not eligible to play in the Anime Cosplay Chess Game, that and the fact that he isn't an anime character. So, Sasuke volunteered to take his place. This is an especially eyebrow raising thing, because it would make Sasuke one of the members of Sugar rather than Angst. Just last year he also volunteered to switch from Team Shounen to Team Shoujo. Methinks perhaps Sasuke has something to tell the rest of the class, 'course first he has to admit it to himself. Remember kids "It's OK to be gay", in all meanings of the term. It seems that Sasuke is both a happy little fucker under that emo guise and apparently also just one of the girls. "YAY! WAY TO BE GAY, SASUKE!" I love rhyming. (^__^)
Poor Aerith didn't have a chance and Kadaj killed her off first thing. Apparently those Jenova boys really have a problem with her flower growing sugary ways. A newly depressed Cloud came and took her body off the board. ::SIGH:: and he'd just gotten over her first death.
Yuna promptly gets sugary revenge by teaming up with Rikku and Paine to take out Winry.
Now the chess game got a little sidetracked here as Renji, Urihara and Ichigo started running up and down the aisles fighting hollows that only those of us with spiritual powers could see.. Yeah, I totally saw the hollows, they weren't swinging wildly at thin air or anything.
The game progressed as Sano killed Chii and Count D killed Sango. Sango's death was particularly poignant as Kohaku came running out and dealt the death blow by decapitation before D got to it. That's sibling love right there folks, but don't worry he'll regret it later when he regains his memory.. again.
Greed and Envy burst onto the scene disrupting the game once again. Angst King Mustang and his Pawn Ed were ready to take them on, but the Chimera waved them aside declaring that they had come only for Angst Queen Hawkeye. Pain ensued and Hawkeye thoroughly whipped the Chimera boys. Pistol whipped.. OUCH!
Meanwhile Tifa poisoned Count D's tea with sweet and low. The poor sugar addict hit the ground writhing in pain, and probably withdrawal. Sugar Bishop Hughes took out Neji with one whack of the photo album upside the head, his Byakugan didn't see that one coming, and Mugen took down Hughes and ripped up his pictures of Alicia. Angst King Mustang faced off with Yuna. Unfortunately for him , Mustang was under strict orders not to use his fire powers as they violated the Hynes Convention Center's fire code. So instead he summoned Scar to blow up Yuna's head. Paine and Rikku had to drag Yuna back to the ship as they'd forgotten to stock up on phoenix downs before the game. Rather than leaving the stage, Scar decided to stick around and play Emcee for a while.
Having apparently learned some of Orochimaru's darker skills, Sasuke summoned Al's dead body to attack Ed, and the alchemist went down without much fight, unable to fight back against his brother. A deeply saddened Hohenheim of Light came and brought the boys back home to rest with their mother.
Pawn Kadaj created a commotion as he reached the far side of the board and tried to evolve himself into Sephiroth. Cloud supplied the other players with ammunition of Pocky with which they pelted Sephiroth off the stage. Instead Kadaj had to settle for being Queened. All Hail Angst Queen Kadaj! (still not as funny as Rose Bride Sasuke.)At this point Aizen-taicho had gotten sick of listening to Scar emcee and he took over the mic. Just at the perfect time too, because who could better narrate a fight between Rukia and Yoruichi. Rukia, unable to defeat former captain Yoruichi on her own called for backup from Ichigo. Without even drawing Zangetsu, Ichigo decked Yoruichi and took her down.
In an immediate turn of fate, Angst Queen Hawkeye summoned her newly whipped chimera Greed and Envy to take Rukia down. However, as Rukia so elequently states "You can't kill me, nobody dies in Bleach." So, instead, she is escorted off of the board.
Kauru calls upon Kenshin to kill Presea, K (the official chess emcee) manages to bribe Aizen-taicho to give up the mic in exchange for a brand new Wii and Sano kills Sora. Misa Misa calls upon Light to kill Kadaj with his Deathnote, but it causes a bit of trouble when Watari and L show up to investigate.
When Kyouya attacks Tifa, Reno shows up to rescue her, but they are both taken down by the elite Ootori private army. Beware the rich kids and their personal armies. The Ouran action hour continues as Nekozawa kills Haruhi. Sugar King Tamaki desperately tries to save her, but he is restrained by his own teammates and the rules, so he sits and cries forlornly on his square instead. Tamaki is further distressed when Riku kills Hunny and Hawkeye kills Kyouya. With the whole Host Club consecutively defeated Tamaki calls out Sephiroth to duel, but can do nothing but cry on his square when he is ignored.
Misa Misa defeats Ni Jianyi and is then taken down by Angst Queen Hawkeye. Misa Misa desperately calls for Light's help, but he just shrugs and leaves her to her fate. Hawkeye then goes on to kill Sakura, despite the summoning of the "Clow Card Meowth"... don't ask. There's something cruel about a military sharp shooter taking down a teen idol and a 4th grader.
Riku, Mustang, Renji and Hawkeye all have a part in checkmating Tamaki, and the game proceeds to the Quick Fire Elimination Round.. or excuse me the Quick WATER Elimination Round, forgot about the fire code thing.
Everything goes quickly as Riku beats Nekozawa, Lacus beats Riku with her singing.. Sasuke beats Lacus, Mugen gets Sasuke, Renji defeats Mugen, Sano defeats Renji, Kenshin beats Sano for Kauru and Mustang and Hawkeye defeat Kenshin. ##ANGST WINS##
But wait... King Tamaki comes back and seduces Hawkeye, causing Mustang to take off the skirt part of his uniform and wield it like a whip, Sephiroth kills Usagi and then Tamaki invites Mustang to be a Host and tempts him with all the women on the Sugar team. Mustang immediately surrenders and in a surprise turn around **SUGAR WINS**
Pandalicious kicks off the proceeding by explaining her fascination with Kodocha, an anime series that started out as a manga and then an OVA. MagicMysticGrl follows up with an examination of the manga Millennium Snow from author Bisco (or is it Crisco? Cisco?) Hatori. Finally, NinJaSistah sees just a little too much in the new video "game" Dead or Alive Xtreme 2, the follow-up to DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball.
It's got all the Sistah goodness you expect, so enjoy!
Do I even need to tell you it's new podcast episode day? I didn't think so, but I did it anyways, because that's the way I roll here at the sistahood. This weeks episode just happens to be titled, "Episode 48: I French Fried When I Should Have Pizza'd" and is ready for a listen.
In this episode of the podcast Pandalicious tackles the tricky subject of Jesus in anime as discussed by a panel she went to at AB2k7 while MagicMysticGrl shares some cosplay "Do's & Don'ts" with you lovely folks in hopes of making your con experiences [and ours] better. And bringing up the rear as always is NinjaSistah with her take on the Wii game SSX Blur by EA Big. The conversation is deep at times, and for the other sixty minutes it's the usual laugh riot that you're used to.
All in all it's just another funMONday here in the hood, so grab your morning cup o' joe and enjoy the show.
This week, the whole gang gets together to chat about [among other things] Yaoi vs. Yuri [wikipedia that stuff if you don't know what it means] MagicMysticGrl shares with us one more example of where the manga version of a title is better than the anime version with her take on Air Gear. Then NinJaSistah brings the show home with her 40 second review of Virtua Fighter 5 for the PS3 and then dives head first into her latest anime obsession, Phantom Memory Kurau.
It's a fun episode. We yell at each other as usual, and maybe have a profund-ish thought or two. But let me assure you, it's not about a chicken.
So grab a fresh cup of joe, and enjoy Episode 47: The Physiology of Donuts.
Since it's Monday an all we figured we better keep to script and give you guys a new episode of our podcast. It's with great pleasure I give you Episode 46: Care Bears Are Racist Bastards.
In this episode of the ESH podcast Pandalicious shares the first of her "A Thought, by Pandalicious" series. You might be asking yourself, "...what could that girl be thinking about now?" Well, she wonders about what the western world would be like if it was more anime in nature. Yeah, wrap your mind around that. Deep, man. Just deep.
MagicMysticGrl jumps into the mix with her take on Saiunkoku Monogatari a.k.a. Tale of the Land of Many-Colored Clouds. Saiunkoku is the tale of a girl pursuing a path of enlightenment that is not afforded women in her country and the trouble and hijinks that unfailingly follow on such a journey.
Then NinJaSistah brings home the show with her take on the new PSP push by Sony to save a sinking mobile gaming device ship. Will the new price point, ad campaign, and re-focusing of the target demographic help or hurt the so called killer app?
All you can do is take a listen and share your thoughts. So grab a cup of joe and a bagel, it's time for Electric Sista Hood podcast episode #46, Care Bears Are Racist Bastards!.
This video honestly scares me. It makes chills run up and down my spine. It's a horrific bastardization of my childhood that makes me feel like I was lucky to survive growing up. It's like when I watched IT for the first time and realized how damn scary those homicidal clowns are and how many close calls I'd blithely experienced as a child at birthday parties and faires.
Our friend, Tim Beedle over at Tokyopop heard the podcast where I raved about how much I loved Priest, and suggested this title to me.
Shinjyurou is an embalmer in Japan where his profession is viewed as taboo and unacceptable but most of all it is seen as unclean. He has accepted this life as an outcast in order to help those who've lost loved ones in the only way he knows. Because of this division from society as well as the nature of his job, Shin understands death, it's result and the psychological impact it has on those who were close to the recently departed. The series is episodic and in each of the highly personal stories he must deal with public prejudice as well as grieving families.
When I first picked up The Embalmer I had this vision in my head that this was going to be a Crypt Keeper type story. Horrifying tales to frighted children, stories of gruesome deaths and lives cut short, but I had it all wrong, or partially wrong anyways. Although the death and pain are still there, the lesson of the manga is that embalming isn't about the dead it's about the living. Making a loved one look beautiful for one final goodbye can set the heart at ease. Before I knew it I was totally charmed. Mitsukazu Mihara provides some amazing insights into grieving and healing emotional wounds without getting all textbook with the Stages of Grief.
The really interesting thing about this series is the division of Shinjyurou's world from everyone else. He intimately understands death and the emotions that stem from it, but he seems to have difficulty with the living. He craves the touch of warm flesh and is an incorrigible womanizer, always bringing home different women, but the person he most wants to be with, he never approaches.
I've read the first three volumes, which encompass Shinjyurou's path to becoming an embalmer, highlight the emotional difficulties of people dealing with death and touch on the funny ways people live their lives. I'm really excited about the next volume because if the 'Next Volume' preview is any indication there will be some light shed on Shinjyurou's relationship with Azuki, the girl next store who could be more.
This is not a series for kids, there is gore, bloody violence, nudity and bad language, but more than that it's very adult subtext is what makes the series so poignant. I give this series a 4.5/5. I can't think of anything that could possibly make The Embalmer any better.
Well, not literally nature as is grass and trees and earth, but I'm sure you get the meaning. MagicMysticGrl shares some insights on the manwa title Can't Lose You by Wann which has the making of a great movie or at least daytime soap opera. Can't Lose You starts off like the Prince and the Pauper, but adds a layer of "say what?" and "you're related to who?" to keep the reader flipping through each volumes pages ferociously.
NinjaSistah kicks off the newly sponsored PC game title reviews thanks to Velocity Micro with, amazingly enough, World of Warcraft! Shame it had to be on a week where Pandalicious couldn't join the crew. If you want to know if WoW has a new addict fan or not, you're just going to have to give this episode a listen.
Douce isn't the only one who finds the occasional gem when tooling around on ye ol' interweb. For those of you who have seen Advent Children this Korean music video may seem a bit familiar. If you ever wondered what Tifa and Loz might look like in real life, here's your chance to see them...
In this very special episode of ESH podcastopia MagicMysticGrl goes over the anime series Bleach with a fine tooth comb, and you're going to love it. And if you don't, Bob will kill a starving kitten in France.
Seriously, you don't want that on your conscience... so take a listen to this weeks podcast episode.
Ever since podcast episode 32: “It’s in the Blood” people have been asking me to make a written hard copy of my bloodtype analysis notes. In my notes I had a much more comprehensive look at the traits and lists of characters that I never got around to talking about. So, I figure this is the perfect time to show off all the research I did for the podcast. Course, I wrote way too much, so it's coming at you in two parts.
Persons having Rh- blood types are extremely rare in the Japanese population estimated at less than 1% of the total population, due to it’s rarity the type never developed any special signifigance. So, sorry but some of you are shite outta luck for this bloodtype interpretation thing.
Type A blood is the most common in Japan and Germany while type O is most prevalent in the United States.
A “The Farmer” – A is most compatible with A and AB.
The honor student type. A’s are very responsible. They take charge when there are things to be done, often preferring to take care of things themselves. A’s have an innate inner strength that allows them to stay calm in extreme situations when everyone else is panicking. However, they try to avoid confrontation and can feel very uncomfortable around other people. They generally seek balance and are very polite and socially aware, but at the same time feel that they never really fit in with others. A’s can be shy and sometimes withdrawn. A’s usually respect customs, rules and common sense but contrarily, some A’s repel interaction and social norms.
A people crave success and are perfectionists. This perfectionism and their stubborn nature is easily combined to form argumentative personality. A’s seldom apologize. A’s have a double nature formed from their gentleness and stubbornness. They are also very creative, and the most artistic of all the blood types, most likely because of their sensitivity.
People with blood type A are also likely to be considered classic "type A's": stressed and conscientious. A’s are generally considered to be less expressive than O’s and B’s.
Positive Traits: Calm, obeys rules, values relationships with others, very sensitive, cautious and careful, obedient, sympathetic, empathetic, self-sacrificing, polite, studious, disciplined, outwardly serious, willing to compromise, honest, loyal, perfectionist, aware of morality (knows what’s right and wrong), considerate, tries to be optimistic about past, thinks conventionally
Negative Traits: Worries a lot, hesitant to express emotion, internally emotional, weak-willed, taciturn, stoic, indecisive, introverted, anti-social, slow to trust people, wishy-washy, nervous, detached, stressed, conciencious, perfectionist, slow to recover from emotional wounds, pessimistic about future, anxious
B “The Hunter” – B is most compatible with B and AB.
The well meaning eccentric type. B’s are the most practical of the blood groups. They are specialists in what they do. When they start a project, they spend extra time understanding and trying to follow directions than others might. When they are doing something, all of their attention is focused on it. They tend to stick to a goal and follow it through to the end, even if it seems impossible. B’s are never still even in times of physical rest they use their brains continuously. As interest is directed to the external world, thought becomes scientific and practical with respecting facts.
B’s are stubborn and hate red tape and minor rules, they live by their own moral compass. They tend to be less than cooperative, as they tend to follow their own rules and their own ideas. It’s hard for B’s to learn and remember manners and greetings that suit their surroundings and society. They are well-meaning individualists but are ruled by their impulses. B’s pay attention to their thoughts a little more than their feelings, and therefore can sometimes seem cold and serious. Bs aren’t influenced by common sense or customs, so are often considered more relaxed, freewheeling, and unconventional than other types, although not necessarily to an unacceptable degree.
Type Bs are familiar with everyone despite societal standards and do not discriminate, they automatically trust in people. B’s aren’t strongly emotional, it just seems that way because they express everything and don’t restrain their feelings at all. B’s are very empathetic and able to comprehend other people's situation. B’s are compassionate and sometimes take action instantly.
Type B's personality is unconcerned with the society and surroundings in contrast with Type A. Gets straight to the point, not as much as O but more than A and AB. Not very ambitious, less than O and A, but more than AB. A Type-B person does not considers profit and loss like O nor do they calculate worldly value like Type A.
Positive Traits: Does things at his or her own pace, strong personality, optimistic about the future, easy to get along with, adventurous. Cheerful, outgoing, exuberant, optimistic, adventurous, active, sensitive, kind. Continuous, intensive and wide-ranging interests. Emotional wounds heal quickly and completely. Pragmatic and objective thinking. Negative Traits: Forgetful, undecided, disorganized, noisy, spontaneous, prone to exaggeration, inclined toward dabbling in many areas and not focusing on anything, dislike restrictions, oblivious, rude, tactless, not domestically inclined, acts without thinking, self-concious
Who shares your bloodtype… A- Juri Arisugawa, Touga Kiryuu, Keiko Sonoda (Utena); Michael Bison [Balrog/Vega], Edmund Honda, Sakura Kasugano, Sodom, Chun-Li Xiang, Zangief (Street Fighter); Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop); Mamoru Chiba [Tuxedo Mask], Setsuna Meioh [Pluto], Ami Mizuno [Mercury] (Sailor Moon); Chiriko, Hotohori, Tatara (Fushigi Yuugi); Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura Kinomoto, Rika Sasaki (Card Captor Sakura); Cyan Garamonde, Irvine Kinneas, Yuffie Kisagari, Quistis Trepe, Vincent Valentine, Ward Zabac (Final Fantasy); Jim Hawking, Twilight Suzuka (Outlaw Star); Fuu Hououji, Umi Ryuuzaki (Rayearth); Gendo Ikari. Shinji Ikari, Misato Katsuragi, Asuka Sohryu Langley, Kaji Ryoji (Evangelion); Ayeka Jurai, Kiyone Makibi (Tenchi Muyo); Relena Peacecraft, Heero Yui (Gundam); Aoshi Shinomori (Kenshin); Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Sado, Tatsuki Arisawa (Bleach); Hinata Hyuga, Rock Lee, Baki, Third Hokage, Zabuza Momochi, Kidomaru, Tayuya, Kimimaro Kaguya, Dosu Kinuta, Moegi, Shizune, Ebisu, Anko Mitarashi, Ibiki Morino (Naruto) Real People: George H. W. Bush, Ayumi Hamasaki, O.J. Simpson, Britney Spears, Alan Alda, Adolf Hitler, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jet Li, Maki Nomiya, Rick James
If you've noticed that NinjaSistah and Pandalicious haven't contributed to ElectricSistaHood for the past week, there is a good reason. Their father died a week ago and they've been dealing with family issues.
Their father, Elijah Britton of Mass., died suddenly Saturday, Feb. 17, of cardiac arrest. The funeral was held Saturday, Feb. 24. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for contributions toward the college fund of Pandalicious. If you would like to contribute, please click the "Hit Us Up" link and ask for more information.
The Sistahs will take a couple of weeks off from their regular podcasts to deal with their loss. In the meantime, we will feature a special musical "clip show" Monday that we think you'll really like. The next Monday, MagicMysticGrl will present a Top 5 special on Bleach. Hopefully, the sistahs will resume regular podcasts by Monday, March 12.
Anyone familiar with the ElectricSistaHood podcasts knows the influence their father -- known by his friends as "E.J." -- had on their lives. He influenced me as well in the eight years since I first met him.
One story is particularly telling. In the summer of 2004, I was between jobs and was working very hard to get a new gig. I got a couple of job interviews in the Boston area, so I asked if I could crash a few nights at the Britton home while I interviewed in town.
I traveled to Boston on Amtrak, but couldn't go into the city because the Democratic National Convention was being held there the same week. Amtrak trains to Boston ended at the Route 128 station outside of town, so I asked E.J. to pick me up there.
Rather than waiting for me at the station, he told me to go outside and look for a building next to the station. He would be waiting in the parking lot under a big GM sign. But when I arrived at the station, it had just been remodeled. The station exited to a giant parking garage. There was no building or GM sign in sight.
After walking around a little, I finally wandered out of the parking garage and saw him waiting patiently in his car in a big driveway.
"Where's the building?" I asked him as I got close to the car.
"I guess they tore it down," he said.
"Where's the GM sign?" I asked.
"It's over there," he said as he pointed. The sign was completely hidden by a giant tree.
He was exactly where he said he would be. Everything else had changed around him.
Tomorrow when we look for E.J., we know exactly where his body will be -- on the side of a hill in a quiet little cemetary where his daughters learned how to drive.
But that's just his body. Finding E.J. will be a lot harder. I know I'll be spending a long time looking for E.J. The only thing I know is that he'll be waiting in a driveway next to a GM sign hidden by a big tree and a building that's no longer there.
We got a comment the other day from Paul "Willoughby Jackson" asking which we here at ESH preferred, Subbing or Dubbing. I went back through our podcasts and posts and realized that none of us had ever really talked about it.
Back when I first watched anime, I was just a lil tyke with ADD and when I was watching TV I had to also be doing a million other things or I'd be bored outta my skull. If you look at the arms of my favorite chair from back then you can still see the marker stains, bits of glue and glitter and a few exacto-knife gouges. Because of this art-in-front-of-the-TV habit o' mine I would usually just listen to the TV while concentrating on other things so subbing was out of the question. I watched everything dubbed, so that I didn't have to ever actually look at the screen. At that time I also wasn't a huge anime fan so I'd only watch whatever aired on TV.. DB, DBZ, Sailor Moon, Tenchi, Outlaw Star etc.
After quite few years of doing things like that I got used to dubbing and would be totally distracted if I tried to watch anything in sub. I can still remember the first time I watched Hellsing. I was over a friends house and she only watched things subbed. We bickered for a bit about it, but she eventually won since it was her house, her TV and her anime. It was one of the first times I'd watched something subbed and I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be looking at on the screen. I'd watch the animation and forget to read the sub or I'd read the sub and ignore the animation. Yeah, I know Hellsing came out in 2001, that's how long I'd been watching things dubbed. This was also about the same time everything was coming out on DVD, so we had a choice which way to watch it. Previously you had to either buy the subbed or dubbed VHS.
In high school I was Prez of an anime club and in order to keep the majority of people happy we usually watched things subbed, so I got used to watching it that way. I even went back and watched some of my oldest favorites subbed instead of the dub I remembered. That was a terrible experience. Although I now preferred subtitles in the series I hadn't watched yet, the only way I could watch those older series was with the English voice cast.
These days whichever way I first watch a series is locked as the only way I can enjoy it. If I try to watch something subbed that I'd already seen dubbed (or vice versa) it messes with my head. The voices sound wrong and my perception of the characters change dramatically. Any new series I get today I try to get it subbed so that the original character that the creators designed comes through. The dubbing process throws the anime into the grinder and it usually comes out a half assed parody of itself. Due to the lip syncing required, dub is almost never a direct translation of the Japanese. Although the English cast and producers may try their damnedest to be loyal to the original there's no way that it's ever going to be an exact replica. Luckily the market is improving for anime and it's becoming more and more important that minimal changes be made to the product. For instance, if Sailor Moon was brought over today they probably wouldn't westernize the names. "Serena who? Oh, you mean Usagi." Or at very least they'd call her Bunny, like in the manga.
So all in all my vote is for Subbing. What does everyone else think?
I heard some interesting news about Kaiju Big Battel on the radio, and when I checked their site it turns out that it was true.
Kaiju Big Battel is filming a TV pilot at their upcoming fight this Wednesday. That's right, all the mini-giant monsters you know and love will be fighting for honor and glory over the airwaves, assuming they can get their pilot picked up.
For those of you who don't know of Boston's native Kaiju Big Battel here's the short and stupid. Kaiju battles are the epic fights for survival that take place between such famous characters as Godzilla, Mothra and King Kong. Kaiju Big Battel is a motley collection of over 30 heroes, rogues, space bugs and the forces of Dr. Cube all fighting for distinction and glory and a shiny champions belt.
So, for all of you that have seen them at Anime Boston the last few years, you now have the right to say I knew them before they caught their break.
In this episode Panda shares some thoughts and insight into what gamers want [and don't want] to see in the coming [we hope] Kingdom Hearts 3 game, MagicMysticGrl makes it back to the group session to share some Legend of Black Heaven info with you, and NinJaSistah brings a Gears of War/Crackdown demo compare and contrast to the show to end it.
We can't forget our new candybitch: Arrot! You rock man!
Oh yeah, the girls also chat about the march of the skanks, selling teapots into slavery, buying Keyblades at Wal-Mart, Pandalicious' shrub versus NinJaSistah's goomba, and a few other tangents. Made for you with love, [or something like it] Episode 38: This Isn't Marriage Counselling.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Adult Swim and the Cartoon Network have now been added to the terrorist watch list..
Today Boston was veritibly shut down as police and bomb squads investigated some badly planned advertising for the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Packages with wires and LED lights sticking out of them emblazoned with pictures of the Mooninites caused a panic as people freaked out, thinking that they were bombs.
This was so big even the Department of Homland Security got in on it. Whoever thought this was a good idea should henceforth forfeit the right to think. But at the same time how high do you have to be to mistake some wires in a box for a WMD?
We’re almost one full month into 2007 or “20-O-Savage” as some have been calling it. You know what that means, don’t you? New game reviews from gaming-guru Ninjasistah, new anime and manga reviews courtesy of our very own animanga-mamas MagicMysticGrl and Pandalicious, ever-so-much-more news from Evermore, and internet jewels that are so wild that not even the wild one himself, Douceswild (yours truly), can keep them tamed and well-groomed.
There’s no doubt about it that gaming has been taken to the next level. It’s interactive and addictive but it doesn’t help with the decision that gamers have had to make ever since Frogger tried crossing the road, “Replay or Relationship?”. Do you try to complete Act 1 of Gears of War for the tenth time or do you spend time with your significant other who has been clearly giving you signs of frustration with your constant gaming?
Let’s look at things from the opposite point of view. How do you get him or her to put that controller down and spend a little “quality time” with you? You’ve tried skimpy outfits and even no outfits at all, but it doesn’t seem to work. No matter how strong your advances are they’d rather zerg a ZG instance than zerg the bedroom. I’ll be the first to admit that when I’m surrounded by elite half dragon/half man creatures and I start swinging my axe and dropping bodies left and right, the last thing on my mind is hours (or minutes, depending on when my next raid starts) of mind-numbing hanky panky.
It’s been said that one of the keys to a successful relationship is compromise. For my first jewel of 20-O-Savage, I bring to you proof of that being true. Share this one with a loved one. You won’t regret it.
As of late I have been getting into watching cancelled tv shows. Some of them are great and I can't imagine why they were cancelled, but some of them, as could be expected, are terrible.
In my opinion, the jury is still out on how good, or bad, Cleopatra 2525 is. I can tell why it was cancelled, but a few changes to a bumpy first season is commonplace. The first season of most every sci-fi show I've watched (and that's more than I care to admit) is awful and needs a whole lotta fine tuning. Maybe I'm just too softhearted to give up on any series, no matter how terrble it is, but I think Cleopatra 2525 could have been great, given time. How much time.. Well, that we'll never know.
Cleopatra 2525 ran for a short 2 seasons back in 2000 and 2001 for a total of 28 episodes. I think one of the major downfalls of the show was the runtime of only a half hour for each episode. They didn't even get past episode 5 without needing to add "To Be Continued..." to get the whole story told. The episodes all felt rushed and character development was minimal. Just expanding the episodes to an hour would have done wonders for the show.
Cleopatra 2525 has a host of recycled cast and crew from other sci-fi shows. Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert created this series right after Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ended, and it has the same low budget tongue in cheek feel to it that the Hercules, Xena and Young Hercules shows all shared. Some actors that the avid sci-fi watcher would recognize are Gina Torres from Firefly (she guest starred on Hercules), Victoria Pratt from Mutant X (a similarly short lived show, guest starred on Xena), Jennifer Sky and Danielle Cormack (both had recurring roles on Xena) and even Kevin Sorbo's body double Patrick Kake and Strife AKA Joel Tobek. Now, I know everyone remembers Strife. He was the irritating one that always hung out with Aries and Discord looking like a bad Edward Scissorhands impersonator, until of course he was killed by Callisto. So Joel's career has gone from Johnny Depp wannabe to a Gacy/ICP/Circus World kickback. Magicmysticgrl = Huge Hercules and Xena nerd. I'm still sad that the actor who played Aries died. ::Moment of silence for Kevin Smith.. No the OTHER Kevin Smith::
The short and stupid of the story is that Cleopatra (her stage name) an exotic dancer went in for a standard boob job in 2001. They put her under with anestetics but couldn't wake her back up, so they cryogenically froze her. She slept for the next 524 years until woken up by Sarge and Hel, two freedom fighters native to the year 2525. Predictably, much has changed in the last 5 centuries, aliens called Baileys attacked the Earth and humanity was driven underground to a huge network of levels and corridors. The Baileys rule the surface and mutants rule the lowest levels. Betrayer robots sent by the Baileys have infiltrated the underground. Hel and Sarge are trying to take back the surface with the help of a mysterious Voice that Hel can hear through a transmitter implanted in her ear.
All of the amateur Let's-Make-A-Show-About-The-Future mistakes were made in this series, but I'm fairly sure it was deliberate. Just like the bastardization of Greek and Roman history was deliberate in Hercules. (I'm a fan of the actual history of Greece and Rome, so I'm allowed to disparage the show.) The costumes are visually pleasing, if not realistic, made out of metal bits and glowy things and pleather in all sorts of bright colors. The sets are cheap and shake when actors brush by them, but do their job well enough. The acting is hammy and very rarely syncs up with the effects properly. But.. It's got a catchy theme song, what else does a show need. ::Starts Singing:: "In the year 2525, there are women with the will to survive.." It's a remix of an old Zager and Evans hit "In the year 2525."
All in all the quality of this show is fairly awful, but the enjoyment factor is great. For myself I enjoy Cleopatra 2525 as a 4/5 but as for recommending it to others, I'd give it a 3 and consider myself generous. It's just not a show that a great many people will appreciate. You can't be critical and watch shows like this, you just have to sit back and pretend you can't see the guy behind the curtain, just concentrate on the Wizard. It's all a test of your imagination, of how well you can or can't fill in the gaps. If you can still enjoy a movie/tv show without it having a billion dollar budget I think you'll enjoy this show. So, we've got a shiny metal MM, a red pleather MM and a glowy yellow MM.
Now you can. Although Verizon has nothing to do with this post, it's appropriate to use the Can You Hear Me Now guy. You see, we have gotten a new tool to help our podcasts sound better. You can hear it in action in our newest podcast (Episode 33) and in a podcast from mid-November (Episode 26).
The technical stuff: Since our podcasters (usually NinJaSistah, Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl) are in different locations, they use Skype to connect with one another. This results in a problem with volume that can't easily be solved. Typically, Pandalicious is too hot and NinJaSistah is too light. Now hotness and lightness wouldn't normally be a problem with beautiful, young girls, but it's a real problem in audio production.
Since we don't have the voices on separate feeds, there's been no easy way to adjust the volume -- until now. A great little free, open source program called Levelator fixes the audio problems, bringing Pandlicious down and NinJaSistah up. We appreciate the hard work of GigaVox Media, who created this great program.
If you haven't listened to Episode 26 because of NinJaSistah's light sound levels, we urge you to try it again. We think you'll like what you hear.
There's no time like the Holiday season to be talking about dying and death. I carefully selected an anime that reflects such Holiday cheer.
Shinigami no Ballad is a short 6 episode series about a shinigami named Momo. She takes the appearance of a young girl clad in white, with long flowing white hair, red shoes and an ebony scythe. She is accompanied by a black cat with red wings. How could I not be drawn to this anime, the characters are wearing my three favorite colors.
Each of the 6 episodes stands alone as a story, although there are some repeat characters and deals with one case where Momo intervened in the lives and deaths of souls in need. Momo is a crybaby shinigami and she spends her time teaching humans to appreciate their lives, as well as easing the regrets of the dead.
This is a cute series and I wish it were longer with more insight into Momo's character. Each episode is bittersweet, but somehow even when the characters die it seems to come out alright in the end. Overall, Shinigami no Ballad is a bitsized series that's good for a brief moment of emotional involvement.
I give Shinigami no Ballad a 4/5. It's cute and made me cry and laugh, but I wish it were longer and the story evolved more. I'll give the series a red, black, white and pink MM, for each of Momo's colors and becuase it's a cute series.
Alright folks, last week didn't work out very well, only Tooky and Amberjack answered my question. So, we're upping the stakes and giving you something special for the holiday. Let's see if we can get you guys excited.
Once again, here are the rules: - Winners will be announced during the podcast, so it will run Friday to Friday - I will put up a post each Friday explaining which manga I will be giving away as well as the rules of the game - The following Friday, right before the podcast I will put up a comment to cap the thread and I will start up a new week's post - Each week I will ask a question and my favorite/the best answer will win - No one can win twice in a row - If there are fewer than 3 eligible responses to the question I will hold off on the Giveaway for another week - ESH members aren't eligible for the Giveaway - Just posting a comment for the Magic Manga Mania Givaway will also qualify you to be a Candy Bitch - I will post my answer to the question at the end of the week, my post will signify the end of the thread and no posts after mine will be eligible to win
The Manga: This week I'm giving away volumes 1-4 of Ken Akamatsu's AI Love You. This series was created before Love Hina and it established Ken as a manga-ka. If you know Ken's work at all you will see many similar characters that were precursors to the characters you know from Love Hina. His style has changed a bit since those days, but it is still great work.
Hitoshi is a bad student, a worse athlete and isn't the most popular of people either. It doesn't help any that his closest friend is an AI program on his computer. Number 30 is Hitoshi's crowning achievement and is the only girl he can talk to. Luckily for him a power surge somehow brings her out of the computer and into his life. Hitoshi has to learn quickly what to do when his girlfriend gets a bug or gets herself hacked, and he needs to figure out how to teach an AI all there is to being a real girl. Add in the devious Hacker Billy G, Program 20 (the overly sexual older sister) and Program 40 (the bipolar younger brother/sister) and Hitoshi's life will never be the same.
This Weeks Question: Out of the podcast episodes we've done [with #32 being released Monday], which is your favorite any why?
As promised, I present to you the Magic Manga Mania givaway.
So, here's the deal.
- Winners will be announced during the podcast, so it will run Friday to Friday - I will put up a post each Friday explaining which manga I will be giving away as well as the rules of the game - The following Friday, right before the podcast I will put up a comment to cap the thread and I will start up a new week's post - Each week I will ask a question and my favorite/the best answer will win - No one can win twice in a row - If there are fewer than 3 responses to the question I will hold off on the Giveaway for another week - ESH members aren't eligible for the Giveaway - Just posting a comment for the Magic Manga Mania Givaway will also qualify you to be a Candy Bitch - I will post my answer to the question at the end of the week, my post will signify the end of the thread and no posts after mine will be eligible to win
This Weeks Manga:
Peach Girl (Vol. 1) by Miwa Ueda Momo is a typical teenage girl, except for her looks. Momo tans easily and her hair is bleached out, so anyone who sees her assumes that she is a beach bunny and a slut. Old men hit on her when she walks down the street, and no one takes her seriously. He one true friend Sae, is a little backstabbing bitch behind the scenes and is responsible for many of the nastier roumors circulating the school. Momo has a crush on a boy named Toji, but Sae also likes him, leading to an all out war. Add in the wise-cracking Kiley who likes Momo and you have a genuine love quadrangle.
This Weeks Question:
Kids in high school love labeling each other and dividing themselves into groups. Everyone is a member of at least one exclusive group that looks down on the others. Even if a kid is in the "Outsiders", the "I'm-not-in-a-clique" clique, they take pride in that fact and look down upon those who conform. When you were in high school, what group of people did you hang out with? Which clique were you a part of?
The basic plot of Ouran High School Host Club is that Haruhi a studious girl from a middle class family has received a scholarship to Ouran Academy, a high school playground for the rich and bored. One day she wanders into the 3rd music room looking for a quiet place to study, accidentally breaks an expensive vase and becomes a member of the Ouran Host Club by way of indentured servitude. That's not what I want to talk about. Host Club is a harem anime and the gaggle of men make my heart go Doki-Doki.(Japanese sound effect for heartbeats) This post is all about them!
The Host Club consists of disgustingly rich and influential rich-boys with too much time on their hands. Meet the Boys:
Tamaki Suou: The President of the Host Club, he drives all of the ideas to try commoner's food, commoner's games and commoner's lifestyle. He is an airheaded drama queen who overreacts to everything and is completely gullible, falling for any sob story he hears. Tamaki is one of the last remaining true romantics, he possesses an unnatural ability to always remain positive and upbeat, even if it means disregarding reality. He does however have a bit of a bipolar disorder that throws him deep into a depression if he is emotionally hurt, fortunately he always bounces back quickly.
I am a calm, collected pacifist and Tamaki fills me with the intense and totally irrational desire to kill a puppy. I HATE people like this, I just want them to curl up and die. I am the type of person who doesn't like dealing with morons and the overly emotional. I have no problem consoling a friend, acquaintance or random person off the street, so long as they have a good reason to be bawling their eyes out or for looking like someone shot their best friend. If I can't understand why they're sad I get all freaked out and I don't know what to do. If I ever met someone who had Tamaki's personality to the same extreme degree I would probably transform into the worlds biggest bitch and beat the crap out of them verbally and maybe even physically. The only time I have ever been violent with anyone was because a girl just like Tamaki decided she was my best friend and she started following me around EVERYWHERE. Everyone has at least one thing they cannot under any circumstances deal with, well this one's mine.
Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka: Honey is the loli-shota character. He is short, cute, addicted to sweets and carries around his stuffed bunny, Bun-Bun. He talks in a high pitched voice and acts like a child, despite the fact that he is the oldest one in the club. Takashi is a permanent fixture at Hunny's side and Hunny can always be found climbing on Takashi as if he were a personal jungle-gym, hugging Takashi or riding on Takashi's shoulders.
Hunny has almost the same effect on me that Tamaki does. When I see cute, childish little Hunny, I revert to "preschool bully" Magic and I want so badly to torture him and make him cry. I want to pinch him, I want to steal his sweets, I want to hide Bun-Bun... Writing this I feel like a very evil person, but luckily I put these in order from the characters I hate most to the characters I like most, so I'm less evil as I go on.
Kyouya Ohtori: Now that the loudest and most obnoxious characters are out of the way you'll please notice the guy lurking in the background, scribbling in his notebook. Kyouya is the shadow king of the host club, he manipulates the airheaded Tamaki into decisions, and turns a profit on the club by selling pictures and merchandise of the hosts. Nothing happens without Kyouya knowing and he never does anything that doesn't benefit him in at least some small way. Kyouya is the one who threatened Haruhi into staying with the club to pay her debt. Although his skill at masking his true personality is top notch, he is occasionally revealed as the machinating, slimy and emotionless bastard he is. If you look carefully there are occasional hints in the anime that there is another layer under "Scum-bag" Kyouya that reveals that he is actually a fairly nice guy, but you have to dig really really hard to find it.
Even just thinking about him to write this, I can feel my hair becoming limp and oily, my skin crawls and itches and I'm shifting uncomfortably in my chair. I wish I could peel my skin off and husk into a new body. I really really wouldn't like Kyouya if I met him. He scares me, creeps me out and pisses me off all at the same time, I think if I ever met him I would mostly feel the intense need to be elsewhere. All the guys have impressive connections but Kyouya is the only one who threatens to use his. He mentions a private army at one point and he is somehow able to keep up to date and extensive bios on everyone, complete to the last detail. No secret is safe with this guy, and he won't hesitate to use your secrets against you. I don't care how nice he is underneath, you can't wear a mask of pure evil all day without it seeping into your true personality.
Hikaru/Kaoru Hitachiin: The twins are the tricksters of the host club. They are never serious about anything and they view anyone they encounter as their toy. Watching them with Haruhi is like watching two cats with a mouse. Before the host club they had no friends but each other and they tend to define the world as "Us" and "Those who are not us." Under the trickery and fun they feel some measure of disdain for "Those who are not us" and thus they play the Which one is Hikaru? game where they ask people to distinguish between them. The twins feel that as a unit they are better than anyone else and they ridicule those who cannot guess correctly, but they desperately want someone to come along and see them as individuals.
If they were together, these two would make me cry. I have a scathing sarcastic wit that I picked up from my friends and I can take it as much as I can dish it out, but these two take it to extremes. Having them ganging up together against me would be awfully intimidating, and that's the way they like it. Being outside that frigid, icy wall wouldn't be any fun, but if they let me in and let me get to know them individually it would be a different story. Hikaru is a bit meaner, and much more childish but in his good moment's he can be caring and warm. Kaoru is infinitely more sensitive than his brother and he resorts to childish behaviours only when teamed up with Hikaru against someone. I could easily see myself falling for Kaoru if Hikaru wasn't around.
Takashi "Mori" Morinozuka: The most taciturn and stoic member of the Host Club. Watching the series, I sometimes wondered what Mori was thinking, standing there in the background watching over the antics of the club. I've got myself convinced it was some Freudian analysis of the rampaging personalities of the club members. Mori is the tallest and strongest of the Hosts, and his age is only exceeded by Hunny (They're both seniors.) Mori always acts on his instincts, coming to the rescue of his friends, specifically Hunny. For generations Mori's family has acted as bodyguards for Hunny's family, and despite the tradition being defunct, Mori still looks out for Hunny with great dedication.
Out of all the hosts, I love Mori the most. I really don't know how the animators managed it, but even with his monosyllabic conversations I can see that he is a deeply sentimental and emotional person. Who doesn't dream of a big strong man sweeping them off their feet. By big I mean 6'4", other than Kyouya and Tamaki he is the only club member taller than me, the twins are my height and Hunny is only 4'10". I couldn't tell you what about Mori draws me, I've always said that I like guys who can keep up with me in a conversation, but whenever I watch the anime and he shows up I get a huge smile plastered on my face and I ::SIGH:: lovingly. Eh, who said love was rational.
So, it seems no matter who I choose I have an obstacle in my way (Hikaru/Hunny.) I would love to hear what other people think of the guys even if they like TA-MA-KI ::Said through gritted teeth:: or Kyouya ::ICK::
If you haven't seen it I give Ouran High School Host Club a 5/5. Normally I dislike harem anime, but this series is funny and touching and all around Fab-Tab-ulous. Within the series there is a theme of roses and each character has their own color, so I'll use those colors for the MMs. Dark Blue for Mori, Light Blue for Kaoru, Orange for Hikaru, Purple for Kyouya, Pink for Hunny and White for Tamaki. Because the twins like being a single unit they each get half an MM. If you're wondering why no one gets the red MM/rose it's because Haruhi gets it, being the main character and all. The pictures in this post are all the characters with their rose colors, except for Tamaki. Let me explain: Tamaki is always manhandling Haruhi, whose rose color is red, so it's appropriate that Tamaki is also always manhandling the roses that symbolize Haruhi.
This episode teaches us many things, one of which is the following equation:
Caffeine+NinJaSistah=Bad Idea
But we also learn that the Motorola Razr is a bomb phone saddled with pitiful and schizophrenic ringtones that suck, Pandalicious gives us the low down on the anime series "Death Note" while MagicMysticGrl explores all things "Fate/Stay Night"... including making the suggestion that the series' opening and closing songs by Sachi Tainaka are required listening. [Those songs are: "Disillusion" "Kirameku Namida Wo Hoshi ni" and "Kimi to no Asu"] And not to be out done, NinJaSistah brings it home as usual with her review of "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" for the Nintendo Wii.
This episode is full of so many tangents, double and even triple entendres that we can't keep track of them all for this synopsis. You'll just have to listen to the episode and catch em' all!
Tenchi was one of the first anime I watched on American television, along with Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop. These series helped me learn to love anime all over again. Thank you Toonami. And now I share Tenchi with you. There are three Tenchi movies, and I will eventually be writing posts on them all.
It's Christmas in the Misaki house but there is a demon watching the festivities, and she doesn't like what she sees. For Yuzuha, watching the celebration reminds her of bad memories from a summer Startica festival she shared with Tenchi's grandfather, back when he was a Jurain prince. Hating them all for their happiness, Yuzuha starts plotting her revenge. The next summer a girl named Mayuka suddenly shows up at the Misaki household and she's calling Tenchi daddy! Ryoko, Ayeka and the others don't take it too well, but when Washu tests Mayuka's genetic structure it matches Tenchi. Washu detected a temporal shift right before Mayuka appeared, so they suspect she's from the future, one of them may even be her mother.
Mayuka doesn't remember much more than Tenchi's face, so girls all take turns teaching her things about the world. Like any other typical anime summer montage they light firecrackers, eat melon and laze around in the heat. Although Mayuka's intentions are pure, Yuzuha has power over her and can control her actions. Unfortunately, she's not content to let Mayuka make friends, she wants to cause as much drama and destruction as possible. Eventually they have to go to confront Yuzuha, or she'll never leave Mayuka and Tenchi alone.
Yuzuha lives in her own dimension that looks like a little kids room. It's full of toys and the walls are covered in inset TV screens where she can watch the world. When Tenchi and Ryoko enter this world everything is bedecked and beribboned. They are attacked by killer toys, living ribbons and even a giant teddy bear. It's like a Christmas flavored Tenchi in wonderland as Yuzuha changes the landscape to suit her whim.
I rate Daughter of Darkness a 3/5, it'd be a 4 but since its Christmas themed it really isn't a year round movie. I'll give a Red MM for rage and love (of all types), a Green MM to round out the Christmas colors and for jealousy, and a Black MM for creatures of darkness. Daughter of Darkness is a typical Tenchi storyline full of catfights and amorous situations. Luckily, Mayuka is a refreshing change from the regular patterns, after so many series with the same characters it is wonderful to see a new face. She provides that and is a wild card in the way arguements play out.
This week the ESH gals focus in on a theme of angst... in anime, manga, and video games. Angst in anime, manga, and video games... imagine that? From the bad depiction of angst in the anime series Marmalade Boy to MagicMysticGrl's recount of angst in .Hack//G.U. and then finally NinJaSistah's take on the PS3 & Wii ebay shenanigans, the girls really cover the spread on this topic.
Tenchi is a great title for anyone who likes roommate drama, space stories or harem anime. But with so many different storylines it begs the question, "Where should I start?" In case you don’t have the time or money to watch all of the Tenchi series, or maybe you just want an intro to the series, I suggest you check out the Tenchi movies. All the same drama and excitement in 3 compact cheap little single DVD packages.
The bare bones basic Tenchi story is that there are two Jurain princesses (Ayeka and Sasami), a space pirate and her living ship (Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki), the galaxy’s most intelligent mad scientist (Washu) and two Galaxy Police officers (Kiyone and Mihoshi) who all crash land on earth, fall in love with a boy named Tenchi and move in with him. Depending on which series you watch, they meet in slightly different ways and the girls have different relationships amongst themselves. In one of the series Washu is Ryoko’s mother and she scientifically created Ryo-Ohki while in another they are perfect strangers. So basically there is a whole house full of girls who love Tenchi… commence with hilarity and drama.
Tenchi the Movie: Tenchi Muyo! in Love (1996) The gang is watching old home movies when the whole world suddenly changes. In this new world the Misaki family has died out and Tenchi doesn’t exist. Luckily, Washu notices a problem and gets a temporal net up just in time and protects Tenchi and the gang from the changes in this new world. Washu investigates and learns that something happened to Tenchi’s mother 26 years ago, that caused her to disappear. The whole gang travels back to 1970 to stop her disappearance.
However, what they don’t know is that the ‘event’ is caused by a demonic creature with unimaginable power. Kain, the galaxy’s most dangerous villain has gotten loose from his maximum security prison cell. One hundred years ago the Jurain emperor joined forces with the Science Police to stop Kain’s rampage through space. Throughout his captivity Kain’s hatred of the Jurain royal family grew. After escaping, Kain used his power to bend space and time to travel to an era when Jurai’s power was weakest. He plans to wipe out those few members of Jurai who exist in 1970 and he’s starting with Achika, a young Jurain woman who would one day become Tenchi’s mother. If the girls let him succeed then Tenchi will disappear forever and their memories will be rewritten.
This movie would be cool for the sole reason that everyone gets to wear sleek Jurain battle suits. But you also get to see Tenchi’s parents when they’re young and you get to see Tenchi actually using his Jurain powers. He doesn’t use them enough in the series. Plus there’s a dragon! Kain turns himself into a dragon, and everyone knows that dragons rock. On top of all that, it’s a story about time travel. Who doesn’t like time travel? All those lovely paradoxes and such... good times. Despite all this, the movie manages to stays true to Tenchi form, meaning there’s lots of bickering and cool space technology.
I give Tenchi the Movie a 3.5/5 because it’s a decent movie, but lacks anything that really makes it stand out as a great movie. I’ll use a Black M&M for a timewarp and a villain with more power than a black hole, Dark Pink M&M for the cute budding love between Tenchi’s high school aged parents and Teal M&M for space aged weapons, technology and battle suits.
Well, it's not the final "buy me stuff" edition as we will undoubtedly have a few more of these types of shows between now and New Years Day, but it's a good way to start off the holiday shopping season.
Pandalicious pimps Angel Sanctuary and Final Fantasy XII while MagicMysticGrl shines the "perfect gift" light on the works of Sang Sun Park with special emphasis on texture in manga. [Or Manwha if you are a purist] Le Oro gets in the mix as well, then NinJaSistah rounds out the show with a spotlight on the movie Boiler Room, the PS2 video game God of War, and the XB360 title Viva Piñata. Grab a cup of egg nog and enjoy Episode 27: Gift Guide-O-Rama!
I decided early that I wasn't going to wait in line for a Playstation 3. It just isn't my style to camp out at a Best Buy or Walmart. Once again I am glad I decided against it.
Imagine standing around in the cold rain, sleeping on the concrete walkway in your tent, frostbitten hands tightly gripping your 600$ plus change, now imagine some asshole walking up to you with a gun and demanding your hard earned Playstation 3 money. No money, no Playstation or you could keep the money and you get a free shiny new bullet along with your shiny new PS3. What to do? I think the choice is easy, I'm gonna get myself shot dammit.
Poor Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl had to deal with NinJaSistah after she had downed an Amp tall boy and a can of Coke... pray for them y'all!
Seriously though, this week the ladies cover everything [and I do mean everything] from the latest Candy Bitch, to an introduction to American manga in the form of Death At Deaths Door, first findings on Final Fantasy XII and the evolution of gaming through console input devices. I won't even mention the Care Bear references, the WoWalicious sweepstakes winner, or why caffeine is good for you.
Just try and figure out where you stand on the punny vs. birate debate.
This is one of our longer podcast episodes folks, but it's funny as hell. Just listen to it already.
Oh yeah, before I forget, congrats to our latest Candy Bitch TimboSteve!
When most people think of American comicbooks they think of individual issues that are only 20 or so pages long and superheroes dressed up in tights with their underwear on the outside. That's like thinking manga only comes in the monthly magazines and characters only dress in sailor uniforms. Comics are also released in graphic novel form and depending on the story can be hundreds of pages long on any and all topics. Comics are where I got into sequential art, they were my gateway drug to the addiction that is manga. It's high time I got back to my roots.
Comics are completely different from manga, and not just in the art style. Manga tends to be a minimalized art form, often with little or no background, colored only with screentone; comics have more detail in the characters and background and are usually published in full color. The way the story flows is also different. Manga have a story that contains a beginning, middle and end, the series are often fully planned out and have a specific number of volumes. Comics don't.
A comic is created around a basic concept and it is designed to continue perpetually until something happens to end it; readers loose interest, the writer decides to end it, the publisher goes bankrupt or an apocalypse destroys the world. Even then it is usually dusted off a few years later and revamped for a new generation's entertainment. Over the course of it's life a comic will usually have many writers and artists associated with it. Comics are arranged around story arcs that are often entirly self contained stories with only the characters linking them together. New villians or problems arise in each arc. A reader can jump in at the beginning of any arc and get most of the information they need to understand what is going on. You can start to see these same traits in some of the longer running manga, such as Inuyasha and Naruto.
for instance. He's one of the oldest and most famous superheroes out there. He was created in 1932 and has had a littany of writers and artists working on his story since then. The character has been reinvented again and again, and placed in every concievable situation. He has had tv shows, movies, radio serials, video games and all manner of memorabilia designed and based on him. Comics trade on the fact that people want to read stories about familiar characters, not accustom themselves to new characters every time they want to read something. A comic called Witchblade had an anime based on it. Imagine if you could continue to read new stories about your favorite manga character for the next 74 years, rather than having to come to terms with the fact that their story is over and you will never see them again.
So, starting on Monday, in the podcast, I will be reviewing American graphic novels. I'll be bridging the gap between manga and comics with Death: At Death's Door a manga based on the Sandman comic series.
In this episode of the podcast MagicMysticGrl talks about Kaku ren Bo, Pandalicious rants about the lack of cultural diversity in the SquEnix Final Fantasy franchise, and NinJaSistah brings it all home with a "Do you need a next-gen console" reality check question. Give this episode a good listen, share it with your friends... and don't forget to hit up www.electricsistahood.com/freshit.html to pimp us to your buddies.
I was rereading one of my favorite manga for the hundred and second time today, and I decided that you all should enjoy it as much as I have.
The manga is RE:Play by Christy Lijewski, the creator of the runner-up story 'Doors' from Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga Vol 3. If you are looking for something great to read, this is it. RE:Play has bands, vampires, homeless guys, cross-dressers, amnesiacs, angry exes, more 'haute couture' than Rail can shake his fork at and it's funny too.
Izsak is your regular everyday homeless amnesiac, which is to say that he's a bit on the strange side. He plays guitar in subway stations for chump change, until one day Cree shows up and drags him home with her. Cree wants Izsak to join her band, Faust, and promises him a home and a bed to sleep in if he agrees. Having nothing better to do Izsak joins up. Char the cross-dressing fashonista drummer takes to Izsak immediately, but not all the band members are quite so accepting. Rail, Cree's adoptive older brother is distrustful of this random bum Cree has brought in off the streets, and he vows to stay close so that Izsak doesn't do anything creepy. Unfortunately, Izsak may not be able to help the fact that he's creepy, considering the fact that he's a vampire. (Maybe, there are strong hints) Add Cree's ex, Ed, the former guitarist and Char's twin brother, some mysterious people following Izsak and some fairly normal band drama and you have an awesome book.
I really love Christy's work, of the Rising Stars of Manga stories I have read 'Doors' is by far my favorite. She has the ability to make all of her characters lifelike and cool beyond belief, as I read RE:Play I find myself wishing that I was friends with the band. The storyline is tight, with even amounts fun, drama, character development and flashbacks of sordid pasts. The art is amazing as well. Each character has a distinct style and a variety of outfits are seen for each of them. Christy designs her own clothing and her personal style and design sense comes through loud and clear with the outfits she has put together for the book. There are no school uniform cop-outs or characters that have closets full of one single outfit. Cree, Izsak and company are living breathing Laundromat visiting people.
I give RE:Play a 5/5. It's awesome every time you read it, even the hundred and second time. 2 silver MMs for a band full of piercings and clothed in some cool ass shit, black for dark undertones and vampires, aqua green for some great one liners and jokes, and a dark pink for drama.
It was three whole months ago now that I got my fall issue of Takuhai from Tokyopop. It detailed a whole list of releases for each month. After this November list there will only be one more left, December.
November Releases: 12 Days Blame! 6 Boys Be... 11 Dears 8 Devil May Cry, Novel 2 !The Dreaming 2 *Elemental Gelade 2 Gatcha Gatcha 3 !GetBackers 16 Gundam Seed X Astray Happy Feet Cine-manga !ID_ENTITY 8 !*Immortal Rain 7 Initial D 24 Kat & Mouse 2 The Kindachi Case Files 14 King of Hell 14 Last Fantasy 3 Le Portrait De Petite Cossette 2 !Mark of the Succubus 2 My-Hime Neck and Neck 6 !Never Give Up 3 Off*Beat 2 One 10 !Otogi Zoshi 2 Peppermint 2 Queens Recast Redrum 237 2 (of 3) Remote 10 (of 10) Rose Hip Rose Samurai Deeper Kyo 20 (of 31) !*Shutterbox 4 (of 6) *Strawberry Marshmallow 2 (of 4) Telpathic Wanderers 4 (of 4) !Satisfaction Garanteed 2 (of 9) Trinity Blood The manga I plan to check out in November are Queens and Recast.
Queens is the story about Pil-Hyun Jun, a feminine bishonen trying to learn to be a manly man in order to win over the heart of his crush, Song-Ah Che. Pil-Hyun finds a comicbook "Escape from Being a Pretty-Boy" that reads as an account of his life. He seeks out the author, hoping to learn a thing or two, but the author turns out to be a SHE with sexually over-zealous roommates. Somehow he ends up moving in with the girls in order to learn the art of comicbooks and being a man. Meanwhile his crush is falling in love with a manly jerk.
Recast is about JD, a young boy raised an groomed by his grandfather to become the last hope for the world. He's a terrible student and is far more interested in the newest and most popular magical items than in conflict between good and evil. So when bounty hunters from the Fourth World come after JD and his grandfather will he grow into his powers or die trying?
I seem to have a Demon Diary Dilemma, AKA The Case of the Mysterious Bunny Girl. In August of 2000 writer Lee Chi Hyong and artist(s) Kara, an art duo, teamed up and started publishing a manwha series called "Mawang Ilgi," released in the US as Demon Diary. Several years later in March of 2002 Kara finished the 7th book with another writer, Lee Yun Hee. The question is did Lee Yun Hee finish the same story Lee Chi Hyong started?
Chi Hyong only completed the first of the 7 volumes, the rest were written by Yun Hee. Kara has a brief artists' note at the beginning of the second volume that explains the transition. In short, the note said Chi Hyong left the book to study for his high school exams and the rest of the story was in Yun Hee's capable hands.
There isn't much to indicate where Chi Hyong wanted the book to go. Most manga and manwha graphic novels are 200 pages or more, Volume 1 was only 144 pages of actual Demon Diary content with two additional stories, Crystal Heart and Terra. Three of the main characters, Raenef, Erutis and Eclipse are introduced and that's about it. I wasn't there for the transition so I don't know how much guidance Yun Hee got from Chi Hyong. He may have had an outline of the story for her, or he may have left it entirely up to her to decide the future of the characters.
The story itself transitions beautifully. If it weren't for the artists' note from Kara and the change of the writers name on the cover of the book I never would have guessed that the series was any different. I was initially going to write a simple review of the Demon Diary series and talk about how cool it was, but when I picked up the first volume to start re-reading it, I realized that there was one last loose end that Yun Hee missed. At the very beginning of the first chapter there is a scene that is never explained.
It looks like it is supposed to take place far in the future of the events in the series. The chapter title is My Time Remaining, a mature and older Raenef is leaning up against a busted concrete wall, his chest is bandaged and he's wearing what looks like space age clothing. The only text is Raenef speaking and he says, "I wonder what he's doing right now? It's been almost a year... You know, I can't wait any longer... I'm going to go find him. Hey... are you listening? Don't worry... you're coming too." It's only a 4 page scene and it's mostly shots of Raenef or the wreckage of the building he's sitting in/near, but the last image shows who he's talking to and it's this cute little girl with bunny ears and wires sticking out all over her body. She's got those Chobits eyes, the ones with the information streaking across them, so I think she's a robot. But that's it. There is no further information and when you get into the story there are no electronics and it's the usual fantasy story set in 'medieval' times.
So here's the question, what the heck did Lee Chi Hyong have in mind when he wrote that first scene, and do you think the Demon Diary Yun Hee finished and Tokyopop published is the Demon Diary Chi Hyong imagined?
Oh, by the way, Demon Diary is an awesome manwha and you should all read it. I'll give you the whole plotline in one sentence...
Demon lords are powerful, evil beings of chaos and destruction, so what happens when the newest of the Demon lords is a fluffy airheaded pacifist.
Pure fun, that's what. Kara is a great artist, and the Lees are great writers.
A WARNING: This episode contains an abundance of swearing, cursing, and screaming. It is SERIOUSLY NSFW, NSFK, hell... it's NSFA really, but we had a ball doing it.
In this episode the girls get you ready for Halloween by sharing with you some of the scariest games they've played, and why they scared them so badly. For Pandalicious it was Silent Hill 2, for NinJaSistah, it was Eternal Darkness... but MagicMysticGrl saves the day by sharing her take on the movie Labyrinth and the new Return to the Labyrinth manga. Oh yeah, they also briefly touch on being scared fuckless, proper zombies in your room protocol, Bowser in real life, and Jim Henson.
Congrats to our latest candy bitch, WonkeyDonkey. Hit Us Up with your mailing addy so we can send you your prize.
One of the most interesting things about anime is the characters with gravity defying hair. I have known quite a few cosplayers who won't dress as their favorite characters because they can't even begin to get the hair right. Well the Alternative Hair Show in London has proved that it is possible to beat gravity... assuming you have massive amounts of hairspray.
The 24th annual Alternative Hair Show was put on in London this Sunday. Each year the Alternative Hair Show raises hundreds of 'dollars' (pounds sounded wrong) for Leukemia Research. 3 Shows were run over the course of the day to maximize the fundraising. This year 18 hairstylists from all over the world came together to raise over 300 thousand dollars.
Am I the only person who gets really upset whenever they see the novels in the manga section? I get all excited that I found something new and then I pick it up and it's a book not a graphic novel/manga. I don't care if the storyline is based on a manga, the novel itself is not manga and should not be put in the manga section. More and more I see these novels on the shelves of my local bookstores taking up space that could be used for real manga. I have never and will never read these books, if I want to read a book I'll look in the sci-fi or fantasy section, where these books should be. What do you guys think?
Told you we were working on it, and now here it is displayed to you!
Starting with MagicMysticGrls' article called, "I Can't Believe It's Not Sex" we are launching our review rating system. YAY! We figured since we are using candy to get you all to comment and be interactive with us, it was only fitting to use candy as part of our rating system. We will be rating video game and anime titles/products out of a 5pt scale: .5 or "half" being the equivalent of "sucks more ass than that movie Gigli and 5 being "the most awesome-est thing since time existed!"
We hope that you like our new rating system because we've been working hard to make it as descriptive as possible. We use, numbers, colors [each candy color has some meaning that describes the reason for it's rating] and candy to make sure that our ratings are easy to find, understand, and most importantly, grab your attention.
So be on the lookout for a ratings box like this one here on the left and a descriptive paragraph that follows it to explain why we give a certain product the rating we do. Don't agree? Open up your mouth via your fingers and comment. ;)
Oh, in case you couldn't figure out, M&M® Mars is no way affiliated with ESH, nor do they endorse any of the products that we review. Duh! If we were getting money from them, I soooooo wouldn't still have a day job.
I was tooling around on of my favorite anime sites the other day and I came across a Top 100 list. Immediately I started checking out all the anime on the list that I didn't know, and here is the hidden gem I discovered. For the record, I would just like to say that this is the most blatantly erotic anime I have ever seen and it still manages to not be porn. ::Claps Hands:: Bravo, Sousei no Aquarion, Bravo!
A legend has been passed down from the ancient Alisia Kingdom, the Holy Genesis book records the tale of the legendary hero Apollonius who, 12,000 years ago, together with princess Serian and the Element Users, operated Aquarion and fought against the Shadow Angels.
Holy Genesis Era, Year 0011, the earth was destroyed in the Great Catastrophe and the remaining humans are under attack by the Shadow Angel race of Atlantis, resurrected from a sleep of 12,000 years. Civilization is nothing but wreckage, but the remaining humans are still being hunted by the Cherubim Soldiers. Captured humans are turned into decorative flowers for the Tree of Life. Through uniting their hearts, bodies and spirits as one, pilots are able to combine their individual Vector mecha into one giant Aquarion mecha. Although there are a dozen or so 'elements'(pilots) for the vector ships there are only three of them, so only three people can fly at one time.
Here's where the sexual element enters in. When the mechas combine the characters are shown naked bathed in a bright light and they always say things like, "So Powerful" or "I'm Burning" and at one point Silvia even yells "I'm coming!" when they join. The pilots talk about their first union as if they were virgins talking about what it's like to have sex. "How was it?" In the first few episodes Apollo forces his unions and by the other characters' reactions it hurts when it's forced, even though it is still very pleasurable. Although the show isn't particularly sexual in nature otherwise, any scene in a simulator or in the mechas themselves is highly sexual and involves blushing, high excitement, heavy breathing and the occasional climax.
Now the best part is that it's always a threesome. Aquarion has three parts, Vector Luna, Vector Mars and Vector Sol, when they are combined one of the craft is the head. There are three different Aquarions depending on which Vector is the head, and apparently, considering Silvia's reaction being the head is a whole nother sexual high. She's all oh, wow so THIS is what it's like to be the head.
I totally recommend this series for anyone who is amused or entranced by 'sexual' situations. After just the first few episodes even my normally unruffle-able self is flushed/blushing. Also of note, the ending song for episodes 2-13 "Omna Magni" by Yui Makino is now officially my favorite anime theme song.
I rate this anime a 5/5 1 Silver for Mecha, 1 White for Wing-ed Angels Out to Destroy the World and 3 Dark Pink for that "tingly feeling" you get right after a good mecha melding. Honestly though, I've been totally distracted by the sexuality, maybe I'm just frustrated(>.<), but this is a very solid anime with a good basis and believable characters. So even if you aren't a sex fiend there is still plenty this anime can offer you, cuz I mean technically they aren't having sex, they're just enjoying themselves a bit too much. People are allowed to have fun aren't they? Even if they're supposed to be concentrating on saving the world... Right?
There's a new .hack game coming out, aren't you excited? I can hear you sighing and shaking your head as I write this. Now I know, just as well as the next person that .hack is getting a little old, what with 4 PS games, 3 novels (and a novel series), 2 anime, 3 OVAs, 2 manga, an online roleplaying game and a collectible card game, but I'm confident that .hack//G.U. will be different from .hack//SIGN, .hack//INFECTION, .hack//MUTATION, .hack//OUTBREAK, .hack//QUARANTINE, .hack//Liminality, .hack//Legend of the Twilight, .hack//DUSK, .hack//AI buster, .hack//AI buster 2, .hack//Another Birth, .hack//GIFT, .hack//ZERO, .hack//ENEMY, .hack//fragment and .hack//XXXX.
I'll start with a little introduction for those of you who are reclusive, blind, deaf hermits who live under rocks in a remote area of the moon and have managed to avoid encountering any of the .hack franchise. The basic plot is that due to a worldwide computer virus epidemic, there is only one OS that anyone uses, Altima OS. Altima has created the largest MMORPG in history, creatively called 'The World.' The game is hugely popular, with over 4 million users signing up at its launch. Each of the .Hack titles focuses on a series of bizarre events known as the Twilight Incident, in which players actually sustained RL (real life) damage when their characters were hurt. Multiple users are put into comas while playing the game. Most of the .hack storylines focus on a group of anomalous AI including Aura, Morganna and Aura's daughter Zefie as well as the system errors and bizarre occurrences in "The World".
In the original 4 title game series, you play Kite and Black Rose, two typical snot-nosed school kids as they investigate the net. Kite accidentally dies when a data error causes a high level monster to spawn in a low level area. Aura appears, revives him and when he wakes up he is wearing a bracelet that allows him to 'Data Drain' enemies (basically hacking the program to reset the level of the enemy.) Kite and Black Rose run around trying to find Aura, figure out what has happened to the unconscious players and defeat what I call 'glitch monsters' or monsters that have infinite HP and can only be defeated with the data drain. That is also what most of the other .hack titles involve, little kids trying to save 'the world.' Urg, Retch! Uh, that is... I mean, yay!
The game .hack//G.U. is much darker, and from what I've read, it sounds awesome. Basically it's 2017, 7 years have passed since the end of the original .hack games. ALTIMIT OS has been replaced by ALTIMIT MINE OS and The World is now The World R:2 (WHOO, now those are some Big Changes.) After a group of players set off a Cataclysm (oops) the game lost most of its data and was shut down, until R:2 came along. Because the original "The World" accounts couldn't be recovered the RPG lost many of its origional players, and a new population took over. Ok, in order to understand R:2 here's a reference: Take WoW (which was recently recorded as having 6.6 million paying subscribers) and double it, make all the servers PVP without the aid of alliance and horde groupings, and you've got The World R:2.
It is a bit post apocalyptic, think Mad Max. Instead of players helping each other explore the endless litany of dungeons, the players are busy killing each other and competing to survive. PK (player killers) abound and it's damn hard for an honest gamer to survive. The worst of all is Tri-Edge, a notorious PK who will unhesitatingly and wordlessly destroy any player that crosses his path. However, one day one of his victims falls into a RL coma just after getting PKed, and Tri-Edge draws the attention of Haseo, a famous PKK (Player killer killer.) Unfortunately, not even Haseo can't defeat Tri-Edge and his level 133 character is data drained to level 1 and stripped of all equipment. You heard me right, the bad guy, who looks like an evil twin of Kite, is the one who wields the all powerful Data Drain. Bit of a turn around from the original. So what does it mean to The World that Kite, Shugo and Tri-Edge all have the same character design and all three are chosen to wield the data draining bracelet?
What G.U. stands for is never officially and definitively declared, but supposedly there are 12 or more refrences to things that could be G.U. within the game. True to .hack form //G.U. will not be a single game, but is a trilogy that will be completed over the course of 2007. Also true to form there will be an accompanying anime. According to Newtype
"...the entire experience is more online RPG-like with more action-focused battles, a more robust skills set, and group attacks that get your entire party involved... just pop into a town area or designated battle area out in the field and you'll find scads of PKs for Haseo to hunt down... not to mention an almost startling graphical upgrade."
The first volume is being released this October from Namco Bandai Games for the PS2. If you are too lazy to play the game you can still get to know the characters by watching .hack//Roots an anime currently airing in Japan that covers Haseo's exploits prior to being downgraded.
Here's October, the second month of Tokyopop's fall release schedule.
Note: ! - Means that I have read a previous volume in this series and I liked it (the more "!" the more I liked it) * - Means that there is a review somewhere in the archives.
October Releases: .Hack//Another Birth 2 Ai Yori Aoishi 14 !Angel Cup 2 Avatar: The Last Airbender Cine-manga Beyond the Beyond 2 Blood Sucker 2 Boys of Summer 2 !Broken Angels 3 Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Dragon Head 4 Dragon Voice 7 !!!!DramaCon 2 Earthlight Et Cetera 8 Good Witch of the West GTO: The Early Years - Shonen Junai-Gumi 2 I Luv Halloween 3 Judas !Kamichama Karin 5 Kami-Kaze 3 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Lights Out 5 !Liling-Po 5 Loveless 3 Mitsuki Mihara's: Haunted House !!!!PHD: Phantasy Degree 7 Planet Blood 5 !Platinum Garden 2 !!The Queen's Knight 7 RA-I !RG Veda 7 Snow !Sorcerer Hunters 7 Steady Beat 2 !Threads of Time 8 Tramps Like Us 10 !Ultra Cute 4 Welcome to the NHK
The manga I'm going to check out in October are Snow, DramaCon, PhD: Phantasy Degree, The Good Witch of the West, Earthlight, Queen's Knight and RA-I.
I have already read previous volumes of DramaCon, PhD and Queen's Knight. I am super really excited that they are all being released this month. I will be checking the shelves of the nearest bookstores at least once a week for these mangas.
From what I can tell, Snow is a tounge and cheek sci-fi comedy about planetary domination and decimation. The Good Witch of the West seems to be a manga style fairy tale, Earthlight is a school drama on the moon and RA-I is about a detective who finds a boy with paranormal powers. I'll have to get back to you later in October with reviews of each of these manga and what I thought.
As I said in the "God Save this Podcast" episode there are quite a few Naruto filler story arcs. Some of them are decent, some are downright terrible. I've decided to make a story arc catalogue for Naruto.
I'll list the episodes for each arc, the basic storyline and whether I think it's worth watching.
Introduction (1-5): The introduction to Konoha, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi and the formation of Team 7. This is the painfully typical, but required introductory segment. There just doesn't seem to be any good way to jam all the information about the characters in the first few episodes.
Country of the Wave (6-19): Team 7's first large mission is the protection and escort of a bridge architect to the Land of Waves. This arc has the first big fights and cool techniques as well as the first powerful enemy ninja, Zabuza and Haku. I like this segment because Team 7 is finally starting to gel and work together.
Chuunin Exam (20-67): Naruto and friends are all genins, in order to advance to the next ninja level they must pass an exam. The exam has three parts the written exam, a survival test and a ninja vs. ninja competition. There are introductions to Orochimaru, Kabuto, Gaara, and the Rookie Nine (Naruto's classmates.) I love the mental torture the genins have to go through during the written exam, and I am crazy about Orochimaru and Gaara.
Invasion of Konoha (68-80): This arc covers Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha. Because of the lack of a pause after the last arc, this arc is often considered the second half to the Chuunin Exam arc. This storyline was alright, but there was much more running around and dialogue than there was actual fighting. The stalemate between the Hokage and Orochimaru took way too long.
Itachi's Return (81-85): This arc covers the short visit Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, makes to Konoha in search of Naruto. This arc has an introduction to Akatsuki, the group Itachi is working with, and indicates their interest in Naruto as one of the tailed beasts. This arc also has insight into Sasuke's past and his relationship with Itachi. I loved this arc because it showed why Sasuke was so surly and antisocial.
Tsunade's Decision (86-100): After the attack on Konoha it is deemed a first priority mission to find Tsunade, the woman who was elected as the 5th Hokage so that Konoha won't be left leaderless. Orochimaru also searches for Tsunade in order to heal the wounds he received in his attack. Naruto learns a cool new move, Rasengan. It was cool to see the fight between the giant frog, slug and snake in this segment. "Old Lady" Tsunade rocks!
Kakashi's Lips (101) For some reason this episode is considered a 'special' and not a filler. It is an entire episode devoted to imagining what Kakashi is hiding under his face mask and several attempts to make him remove it. This was almost painful to watch, and has no bearing on the rest of the series. I recommend you skip this one.
Race in the Land of Tea (102-106) Filler 1: The first official filler arc. Team 7 is sent on a mission to protect a runner from the machinations of a cut throat competition. Racers often hire ninja in order to hurt the other runners and remove them from the race. Although this arc is considered a filler I think it feeds directly into "Sasuke Retrieval" in that it helps Sasuke make up his mind to leave.
Sasuke Retrieval (107-135): Sasuke leaves the village searching for the power to defeat his brother. Naruto, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba and Neji go after him, but are detained by Oroshimaru's minions. Each of the characters has a chance to show off their repertoire of techniques. The arc ends with a huge showdown between Sasuke and Naruto with each using all of his abilities. This is officially my favorite arc so far. It's just a shame that the art during the big fight was so sketchy.
Infiltrating Orochimaru's Lair (136-141) Filler 2: In search of Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and Jiraiya track down Orochimaru's lair in the Country of Sand. I liked this arc. It really solidifies the feeling that Sasuke may never return.
Mizuki Strikes Back (142-147) Filler 3: A minor villain from the first episode Mizuki is back and is determined to get his revenge on Naruto. This isn't a very good arc, it's not terrible, but I didn't enjoy it overly much either.
Bikochu (148-151) Filler 4: Naruto, Hinata, Kiba and Shino go on a mission to search for the rare scent bug. This arc shows Hinata's kick ass new techniques. I love this arc just for Hinata.
Curry of Life (152-157) Filler 5: Naruto and Team Guy (Neji, Tenten, Lee) travel to a small town to defeat Raiga, a ninja that has been terrorizing the town. This was a very goofy arc, painfully so at times.
Survival Training (158) Filler 6: Each of the Rookie Nine takes a group of three younger ninja out in order to train them to survive while on missions. I like this episode, Naruto in charge of a mission, how could that not be funny.
Bounty Hunter (159-160) Filler 7: Naruto, Kiba and Hinata are sent out after a thief, only to discover that he is a hardened killer. They are put at odds against a bounty hunter by the name Sazanami, who is also seeking the thief. This arc is pretty good, but there aren't any cool fights, which I had expected.
Green Beasts (161) Filler 8: Two unknown men try to infiltrate Konoha by disguising themselves as Lee and Guy. This episode is hilarious. Everyone teams up to torture these poor guys. It's a must see.
Land of Birds (162-167) Filler 9: A vengeful samurai ghost has been seen lurking around in the Country of Bird. Naruto, Tenten and Neji are sent in as ghostbusters. I really liked this arc. The art and storyline were well done, and the parallels between Sagi and Sasuke's missions of revenge were tastefully done.
As I finish this post up I am watching the episode 166/167 hour long special. I haven't seen any more of the fillers, but they continue on to 199, so far. There are rumors that 200 starts the storyline up again, but there is also information stating that there will be a storyline focusing on Kakashi's history before the second section starts. The Wikipedia article on Naruto says that the Kakashi segment will run from 239-244 and then at 245 a reintroduction will start. According to rumors Naruto II, whenever it starts, will take place 3 years after Sasuke left, so the first few episodes will explain what has happened in the interim.
According to Wikipedia the storyline goes like this: Naruto I (1-135) Filler Segment (136-238) Kakashi Gaiden (239-244) Naruto II (245-???)
However, this may all be speculation because only 199 episodes have been released.
“I got my hair highlighted, because I felt some strands were more important than others.” ~Unknown
"Long, beautiful, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen... I adore hair!" ~James Rado and Gerome Ragni, Hair
"When red headed people are above a certain social grade their hair is auburn." ~Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Alright, here is the post you have all been waiting for... Part Two of the Anime Hair Analysis Task (AHAT)
We have finally gotten to the bright unnatural colors that anime is famous for. The colors I have here are the most common and basic staples of anime: Blue, Green, Pink, Purple and Red. There are all manner of shades and hues other than the ones I have here, but I have found that these are the most common and predictable colors. Unfortunately, because people are getting comfortable with the archetypes as they are written here, anime creators are mixing them up and deliberately going against the norm. Personalities and hair colors don't always match anymore, so there are plenty of characters that will not fit into these categories.
Green: Occasionally green is also used as a traditional Japanese hair color, don’t ask me why. Green haired characters are usually the steady down to earth characters with nurturing personalities. Many have healing powers or talents; they are usually secondary characters who support their friends. Characters with green hair are good at heart, if occasionally a little misguided for one reason or another. If a villain has green hair it often indicates that at some point the villain will defect to the side of good. Male characters with green hair often have rouguish personalities. (Midori Midori Days, Lumier Kiddy Grade, Kusanagi Blue Seed)
Red: The redhead in a group is usually the leader as well as being the strongest physically or spiritually. They definitely have the strongest personality and most powerful emotions. Redheads are unsubtle and straightforward, usually incapable of deception. Redheads can fall into several categories, cheerful, brash and rude, or destructive. The typical redhead is feisty and hotheaded; there is nothing anyone can do if they make a descision, because they are so stubborn. In a male character red hair is usually coupled with a delicate, feminine body. Spiritual possession is also occasionally indicated by red hair. (Kenshin Rurouni Kenshin, Tasuke Fushigi Yugi, Ranma's Female Form Ranma 1/2, Gaara Naruto)
Pink: Although just a light shade of red, pink actually means something very different. The pink haired character is always painfully and obnoxiously cute, young and is a hopeless romantic or spoiled brat. They are rarely a character of any importance and are usually younger siblings or kids. (Utena Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sumomo Chobits, Yachiru Bleach) Note: Utena is a deliberate reversal of the traditional character with pink hair.
Purple: Characters with purple hair are usually older or more mature. Purple is associated with the upper class, elegance and refinement. Despite this purple haired characters are usually spoiled and selfish. (Shampoo Ranma ½, Nuriko Fushigi Yugi, Faye Cowboy Bebop, Ayeka Tenchi)
Blue: Characters with blue hair have the most variation in shade, everything from blue so dark it looks black to very light grey blue that borders on silver. As a rule the darker the shade of blue, the greater a characters power, strength and agressivity, the lighter shades are usually found in females or delicate males and indicate a greater sensitivity. Many characters with blue hair are shy, introverted bookworms. They often have incredible intelligence and view the world in a logical and analytical fashion. Blue haired characters are usually solemn and self-conscious, but are very devoted to their friends. (Amy Sailor Moon, Sasami Tenchi, Aoi Ai Yori Aoshi)
I’d like to apologize to Ninja, she loves the purple haired characters, but I really couldn’t find any information on them, or really remember anything specific about anyone with purple hair. Red haired characters on the other hand are legion and I could hardly think of an anime that didn’t have at least one. This is yet another reason why redheads are better than purpleheads.
Violet will be a good color for hair at just about the same time that brunette becomes a good color for flowers. ~Fran Lebowitz (Hey I didn't say it. I just found it and posted it.)
Although none of you know this, because the ‘cast hasn’t been posted yet, Ninja and I had a conversation yesterday about anime hair colors and the personalities typically associated with each color. We also argued about which color, purple or red, is better. Ninja loves purple haired anime men, and I go for the redheads.
So I started taking Quizilla “What Color is Your Anime Hair?” online quizzes like crazy to see the descriptions for each hair color. Did you know that there are literally hundreds of versions of that test? It was not easy, and I got a whole lot of totally wrong or made up personality descriptions. I’ve edited it down to the basic colors and the personality traits I’ve seen them display. I’ll start with the typical “normal” colors and then get into the more bizarre shades. I’ve had to divide the post into two parts because it ended up being a two page word document. I don’t know about all of you guys, but my eyes glaze over if I try to read a page with that much text. I’ll post the second part tomorrow, so stay tuned.
Black/Brunette: The basic colors. These colors are the default setting for Japanese characters, indicating traditional everyday characters. Usually, if the main character has black or brown hair they are an everyman, someone the typical Japanese person can relate to. These colors indicate a proper and polite character, someone who is honest and straightforward. These characters usually show great physical or moral strength and intense dedication to loved ones. (Tomoyo Cardcaptor Sakura, Yuri Kyo Kara Maoh, Ryu Argentosoma) Note: Ryu was in a horrible accident and now half of his hair is silver, he is also no longer mentally stable and some of his actions could be considered villainous. His personality is literally half black and half silver.
Blonde: As I mentioned black and brown are the default settings for Japanese characters, but as anime becomes more of a global phenomenon blonde has been showing up more and more as well. Unsurprisingly blondes are usually of foreign descent, or if they are Japanese they are a delinquent kogal. There are several blonde archetypes, what’s important to remember is that blondes ALWAYS mean trouble. In general blonde characters are elegant, beautiful and are associated with nobility or aristocratic manners, but have flawed personalities. The two typical blonde types are the airhead and the conniving bitch. The air-headed blonde is playful and ditzy, but clumsy to the extreme. The conniving bitch is vain, scheming and manipulative. Either way they mean trouble. Blonde also means that the character is the focus of chaos and trouble follows him/her. It is possible for a character’s hair to transform to blonde with a great influx of power, usually this is accompanied by a change of eye color. In these cases their personalities are still the same as before. (Vash Trigun, Rosette Chrono Crusade, Chi Chobits, Serena Sailor Moon, All the Sayans DB/DBZ/DBGT)
White/Silver: Ok, here’s a shocker occasionally white hair indicates that the character is old. Yeah, that one surprised me too. On younger characters white or silver hair indicates dignity and skill, usually with hidden spiritual power of immense strength. Spiritual power is traditionally purported to prematurely bleach hair. These characters are very self-controlled and because of emotional difficulties can come off as distant and cold. Although they are incredibly strong these characters avoid fighting. If a character is a white or silver haired bishounen he is typically a villain. White is a stereotypical color for evil in anime and manga. It makes sense to me, blood shows up so much better on white clothing. (Muraki Descendents of Darkness, Sephiroth FF7, Rosiel Angel Sanctuary, Nataku X, Sesshoumaru Inuyasha)
Sorry, I know you're all excited to read about the exotic colors. You're gonna have to wait until tomorrow for that.
Having recently reread my entire manga collection, which is huge, I have decided what my favorite theme is for manga. Unfortunately for me it isn't a very common one.
Alright here it is. I love "demon love" manga. Not "Oh, woe is me. I'm a misunderstood demon who would never actually hurt anyone." but "I AM SATAN, LORD OF DARKNESS PHEAR ME!" I love seeing men who squish souls for a living get all lovvey-dovvey and syrupy.
The typical demon man just doesn't get it. "I love you. I want you. I would do anything for you, but I'm still gonna destroy your town and kill all your friends and anyone else you ever loved." Then he doesn't understand when the girl of his dreams is horrified, terrified and now hates him. "But I did it for you..?" just doesn't seem to cut it.
I have two such series in my collection, three if you count "The Forbidden Game" a trilogy of young adult books by LJ Smith that I've sworn to keep forever. "Seimaden" by Higuri You and "Bride of Deimos" by Etsuko Ikeda and Yuuho Ashibe.
"Seimaden" features Laures and Hilda. In a past life Laures sacrificed himself to the demons to save his love Elis, but the only way to save her from evil was for her to die. Now years later he has found Elis reborn in Hilda, and he loves her as much as he ever did, but he is now a monster that has spent the last few hundred years at war with other demons in order to claim the throne of hell. Unfortunately, by the time Laures found her, Hilda had fallen in love with Rodderick, the last of the Azeilles. So Laures seals Hilda's memories and takes advantage of her amnesia to earn her love.
"Bride of Deimos" is an older manga originally published in 1975, so the art is of an older style. It is about Deimos a young god who fell in love with his twin sister Venus. In punishment for their sins the king of all gods, Jupiter, turns Deimos into a demon and gives him the title God of Fear while Venus is consigned to rot in the land of the dead. The only chance has Venus is for Deimos to find her reincarnation. Enter Minako. Only problem is Deimos starts to fall in love with Minako and refuses to forcefully take her to hell. Instead he sets out to make her accept that she is his destined bride.
I highly recommend both manga, but out of the two I prefer "Seimaden". It is more modern and less of a horror manga. "Seimaden" is a lot less gory than "Bride of Deimos." It has genuinely cute parts, whereas "Bride of Deimos" is most definitely a horror manga and by no means cute. Laures spends his time showing his softer side, but Deimos chooses to convince Minako by threatening her and showing her all the horrors of the world. "Bride of Deimos" reads like a graphic novel of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" crossed with "The Twilight Zone." It is much more of an episodic manga where "Seimaden" has story flow from one chapter to the next.
"Bride of Deimos" is published by ComicsONE and has 17 volumes. I don't believe it has been entirely published in English yet, although the series has been completed.
"Seimaden" is published by CMX Manga, the manga section of DC Comics. Seven volumes have been published as of right now, but the series isn't finished yet.
Alright I just finished watching Naruto the Movie 2 and I have a question for you all.
Now everyone knows that Naruto is about a ninja kid and his ninja friends and ninja enemies, right? If you didn't already know that, now you do. Well, in the Naruto Movie all these ninja people are fighting knights, so I just had to post this.
NINJA vs. PIRATE vs. KNIGHT vs. COWBOY
I added cowboy to round out the village people.
Who do you think would win in a battle royal and what weapon/technique would give them the advantage? (Because they are cool is not a good reason for them to win.)
It is time for me to come clean and spill my dirty little secret.
Ok, here it is. Although I have owned Final Fantasy XII for years and have started it several times I haven't ever completed the game. So, when I watched Advent Children I didn't really understand what was going on. Whenever anyone asks if I've seen the movie or played the game I totally rave about how cool they were and how much I liked them. I've been living a lie and it's nice to finally get that off my chest.
So what have you been lying about to look cooler to those geeks in the anime/gaming worlds. Do you not actually know what EVA means? Have you never played one of the multitudes of Mario games out there? Do you exaggerate how long you have been into anime/gaming? Do you have difficulty telling Anime from American animation styles?
Whatever your little secret, admitting it is the first step to getting some help. Maybe we can clear up some misconceptions.
The other day I was watching one of those crime shows, I dunno which one I've forgotten, and one of the characters said "You can tell a lot about a person by their car." I think everyone here at ESH should get to know each other better. So here's the deal go out to the garage or driveway and see what's in or on your car that says something about you. Give us a brief list of the items and describe how they give a peek into your life and personality.
I'll start:
In my '95 Toyota Camry: - Handful of Manga (Can't Lose You 1,2 - Magical Miracle 2) What can I say I need my fix, whenever and wherever I can even goin' 60 MPH in traffic. I have manga stashed everywhere.
- July Issue of Imagine FX(awesome graphic design mag. from the UK)I don't have the software/hardware or skill to do this stuff but I can dream.
- Mercedes Lackey's Burning Brightly (Book) My current favorite author. Check her oouuwwt!
- Twix/York/Beef Jerky/TicTac Packages I have very unhealthy eating habits and I'm fixated on certain foods. (I am eating a York peppermint patty as I type this.)
- Various School Stuff I am currently a student at North Shore Community College, other parking stickers indicate former studentship at UMass Amherst and Salem State College. A plethora of folders strewn around the back seat indicates that I enjoy organizing and appearing organized, but am in fact a slob.
- Bookstore Bags I spend more money than is healthy on books, and my parents don't like it. I have learned that if I don't come home with a shopping bag my parents assume I had the stuff with me when I left the house. ::Sneakedy Sneak goes Magic::
What does your car, moped or tricked out bicycle say about you?
It's time to talk about yet another aspect of anime I love.
These days many of the most popular animes take place in other worlds, in space, or in the far future/past. Characters wear bizarre armors, outlandish clothes, space suits, or modified traditional clothing. I have always loved it when a character who wears something cosplayable is shown in modern day street clothes. Anything that drastically changes the appearance of the character is awesome. This effect is very much lessened in modern day animes where the characters always wear 'normal' clothes; but even the switch from constantly wearing their school uniforms to a different outfit looks good.
Most often this effect can be seen in openings and closings. Saiyuki and Bleach both have opening/closing animations that feature the characters in everyday clothes. Saiyuki is a strange anime, it's got a whole anachronistic thing going on where they are in ancient China but they have guns, a dragon that can change into a jeep, and eyeglasses. So every once in a while the characters wear sweatshirts and t-shirts within the show itself. The characters also all smoke like chimneys and down beer like crazy.
In case you're wondering, Bleach and Saiyuki are both awesome animes that I highly recommend. Just a warning though, Bleach is a really long anime with about a hundred episodes released so far and Saiyuki is a bit rough with a lot of womanizing and swearing.
Yeah, I need more friends on myspace...and since Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl went ahead and attempted to whore themselves out a little while ago, I figured I would take this chance and do something similar.
So here is my attempt to gain some more people to kick around ideas and whatnot with. Why should you add me as a friend? I don't want to say that it will increase your chances of winning candy or a t-shirt [because it won't] and nor do I want to say because it will cure you of cancer [because again, it won't] but it will get you a new friend and fill your heart with happiness. Plus I'm trying to crush the other girls in the "who can get more myspace friends" bet we have going on.
I'm a winner because I refuse to lose. [Yes I did see "Little Miss Sunshine" this weekend]
ADD NinJaSistah To Your Myspace Groupie List Seriously! Go ahead, look at my profile! Because only YOU can help prevent forest fires!
Ok, this has nothing to do with anime, manga or video games, but I wanted to share it anyways because I have a rant to go along with it and you are the only people willing to listen to me rant...
Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray barb to the heart. To see the full story click here.
Everyone's all oh, my what a tragedy, that poor man, what a horrible way to die etc. I just want to say WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU THINK WAS GONNA HAPPEN?!?!?!?! The guy made money by habitually pissing off dangerous wild animals. That's not a career where you can retire at the ripe old age of 65, it's a career that kills you. I will honestly admit that I watched a few of his shows and sat there rooting for the irked animals, cheering them on and hoping that they'd take off a finger or hand. Steve was making a documentary of the Worlds Most Dangerous Animals. If he had been making a living filming the worlds fluffiest domesticated animals this wouldn't have happened. I highly doubt you could possibly get into a profession this dangerous without knowing that it was going to kill you. The only people who do this kind of stuff are masochistic, suicidal, or incredibly stupid. I suspect Steve Irwin was a person who wanted to die young and be famous for his death.
This is my first and last XBox 360 post. I don't have the system and I don't particularly want the system, but apparently I can't avoid mention of it. I listen to a radio station called WFNX 101.7. And one night the DJ started talking about a GTA type game called Saints Row. It has the same gang affiliations and pedestrian killing that GTA does. So when you steal a car and are evading the swat teams and cops you can change the radio station. If you happen to change it to the indie/punk rock station you will hear the voice of Paul Driscoll a regular disk jockey at WFNX. I thought this was cool and I had to share with everyone that my real life was colliding with video games. Whether driving to work or driving to complete a hit I can listen to Paul Driscoll spinning my favorite tunes.
I was just surfing around and I found this site and I want each and every one of you browncoats to do your duty and check it out. (Browncoats refers to the army Malcolm Reynolds fought side by side with during the battle of Serenity.)
The movie Serenity started as a tv show named Firefly, which was unfortunately cancelled far before it's time. While surfing I found a site that seems to have found a ray of hope to a revival of the show. They are pushing for more than a single season of Firefly. If you love this show, or have yet to watch it and realize how much you love it, just click here to check this site out.
It's the story about a MagicMystik who wasn't listening, a Ninja making profane T-shirts for children and a Panda who just couldn't wait. You might think of it as 
The Sistahs discuss both the unpronounceable and the unspeakable 
In which a Ruffled vigilante, diabetes immune doll and pacifist berserker run a clothing store and fight demons.
First off, it's 
Our friend, Tim Beedle over at Tokyopop heard the podcast where I raved about how much I loved Priest, and suggested this title to me.
The really interesting thing about this series is the division of Shinjyurou's world from everyone else. He intimately understands death and the emotions that stem from it, but he seems to have difficulty with the living. He craves the touch of warm flesh and is an incorrigible womanizer, always bringing home different women, but the person he most wants to be with, he never approaches.
In high school I was Prez of an anime club and in order to keep the majority of people happy we usually watched things subbed, so I got used to watching it that way. I even went back and watched some of my oldest favorites subbed instead of the dub I remembered. That was a terrible experience. Although I now preferred subtitles in the series I hadn't watched yet, the only way I could watch those older series was with the English voice cast.
As of late I have been getting into watching cancelled tv shows. Some of them are great and I can't imagine why they were cancelled, but some of them, as could be expected, are terrible. 
Cleopatra 2525 has a host of recycled cast and crew from other sci-fi shows. Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert created this series right after Hercules: The Legendary Journeys ended, and it has the same low budget tongue in cheek feel to it that the Hercules, Xena and Young Hercules shows all shared. Some actors that the avid sci-fi watcher would recognize are Gina Torres from Firefly (she guest starred on Hercules), Victoria Pratt from Mutant X (a similarly short lived show, guest starred on Xena), Jennifer Sky and Danielle Cormack (both had recurring roles on Xena) and even Kevin Sorbo's body double Patrick Kake and Strife AKA Joel Tobek. Now, I know everyone remembers Strife. He was the irritating one that always hung out with Aries and Discord looking like a bad Edward Scissorhands impersonator, until of course he was killed by Callisto. So Joel's career has gone from Johnny Depp wannabe to a 
Now you can. Although Verizon has nothing to do with this post, it's appropriate to use the Can You Hear Me Now guy. You see, we have gotten a new tool to help our podcasts sound better. You can hear it in action in our newest podcast (
There's no time like the Holiday season to be talking about dying and death. I carefully selected an anime that reflects such Holiday cheer. 
The basic plot of Ouran High School Host Club is that Haruhi a studious girl from a middle class family has received a scholarship to Ouran Academy, a high school playground for the rich and bored. One day she wanders into the 3rd music room looking for a quiet place to study, accidentally breaks an expensive vase and becomes a member of the Ouran Host Club by way of indentured servitude. That's not what I want to talk about. Host Club is a harem anime and the gaggle of men make my heart go Doki-Doki.(Japanese sound effect for heartbeats) This post is all about them!
I am a calm, collected pacifist and Tamaki fills me with the intense and totally irrational desire to kill a puppy. I HATE people like this, I just want them to curl up and die. I am the type of person who doesn't like dealing with morons and the overly emotional. I have no problem consoling a friend, acquaintance or random person off the street, so long as they have a good reason to be bawling their eyes out or for looking like someone shot their best friend. If I can't understand why they're sad I get all freaked out and I don't know what to do. If I ever met someone who had Tamaki's personality to the same extreme degree I would probably transform into the worlds biggest bitch and beat the crap out of them verbally and maybe even physically. The only time I have ever been violent with anyone was because a girl just like Tamaki decided she was my best friend and she started following me around EVERYWHERE. Everyone has at least one thing they cannot under any circumstances deal with, well this one's mine.
Mayuka doesn't remember much more than Tenchi's face, so girls all take turns teaching her things about the world. Like any other typical anime summer montage they light firecrackers, eat melon and laze around in the heat. Although Mayuka's intentions are pure, Yuzuha has power over her and can control her actions. Unfortunately, she's not content to let Mayuka make friends, she wants to cause as much drama and destruction as possible. Eventually they have to go to confront Yuzuha, or she'll never leave Mayuka and Tenchi alone. 
However, what they don’t know is that the ‘event’ is caused by a demonic creature with unimaginable power. Kain, the galaxy’s most dangerous villain has gotten loose from his maximum security prison cell. One hundred years ago the Jurain emperor joined forces with the Science Police to stop Kain’s rampage through space. Throughout his captivity Kain’s hatred of the Jurain royal family grew. After escaping, Kain used his power to bend space and time to travel to an era when Jurai’s power was weakest. He plans to wipe out those few members of Jurai who exist in 1970 and he’s starting with Achika, a young Jurain woman who would one day become Tenchi’s mother. If the girls let him succeed then Tenchi will disappear forever and their memories will be rewritten. 
This movie would be cool for the sole reason that everyone gets to wear sleek Jurain battle suits. But you also get to see Tenchi’s parents when they’re young and you get to see Tenchi actually using his Jurain powers. He doesn’t use them enough in the series. Plus there’s a dragon! Kain turns himself into a dragon, and everyone knows that dragons rock. On top of all that, it’s a story about time travel. Who doesn’t like time travel? All those lovely paradoxes and such... good times. Despite all this, the movie manages to stays true to Tenchi form, meaning there’s lots of bickering and cool space technology. 
Poor Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl had to deal with NinJaSistah after she had downed an 
When most people think of American comicbooks they think of individual issues that are only 20 or so pages long and superheroes dressed up in tights with their underwear on the outside. That's like thinking manga only comes in the monthly magazines and characters only dress in sailor uniforms. Comics are also released in graphic novel form and depending on the story can be hundreds of pages long on any and all topics. Comics are where I got into sequential art, they were my gateway drug to the addiction that is manga. It's high time I got back to my roots. 
for instance. He's one of the oldest and most famous superheroes out there. He was created in 1932 and has had a littany of writers and artists working on his story since then. The character has been reinvented again and again, and placed in every concievable situation. He has had tv shows, movies, radio serials, video games and all manner of memorabilia designed and based on him. Comics trade on the fact that people want to read stories about familiar characters, not accustom themselves to new characters every time they want to read something. A comic called Witchblade had an anime based on it. Imagine if you could continue to read new stories about your favorite manga character for the next 74 years, rather than having to come to terms with the fact that their story is over and you will never see them again.
So, starting on Monday, in the podcast, I will be reviewing American graphic novels. I'll be bridging the gap between manga and comics with Death: At Death's Door a manga based on the Sandman comic series.
The manga is RE:Play by Christy Lijewski, the creator of the runner-up story 'Doors' from Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga Vol 3. If you are looking for something great to read, this is it. RE:Play has bands, vampires, homeless guys, cross-dressers, amnesiacs, angry exes, more 'haute couture' than Rail can shake his fork at and it's funny too. 
I really love Christy's work, of the Rising Stars of Manga stories I have read 'Doors' is by far my favorite. She has the ability to make all of her characters lifelike and cool beyond belief, as I read RE:Play I find myself wishing that I was friends with the band. The storyline is tight, with even amounts fun, drama, character development and flashbacks of sordid pasts. The art is amazing as well. Each character has a distinct style and a variety of outfits are seen for each of them. Christy designs her own clothing and her personal style and design sense comes through loud and clear with the outfits she has put together for the book. There are no school uniform cop-outs or characters that have closets full of one single outfit. Cree, Izsak and company are living breathing Laundromat visiting people.
The story itself transitions beautifully. If it weren't for the artists' note from Kara and the change of the writers name on the cover of the book I never would have guessed that the series was any different. I was initially going to write a simple review of the Demon Diary series and talk about how cool it was, but when I picked up the first volume to start re-reading it, I realized that there was one last loose end that Yun Hee missed. At the very beginning of the first chapter there is a scene that is never explained. 
One of the most interesting things about anime is the characters with gravity defying hair. I have known quite a few cosplayers who won't dress as their favorite characters because they can't even begin to get the hair right. Well the Alternative Hair Show in London has proved that it is possible to beat gravity... assuming you have massive amounts of hairspray. 
The manga I'm going to check out in October are Snow, DramaCon, PhD: Phantasy Degree, The Good Witch of the West, Earthlight, Queen's Knight and RA-I.
As I said in the "God Save this Podcast" episode there are quite a few Naruto filler story arcs. Some of them are decent, some are downright terrible. I've decided to make a story arc catalogue for Naruto. 
Chuunin Exam (20-67): Naruto and friends are all genins, in order to advance to the next ninja level they must pass an exam. The exam has three parts the written exam, a survival test and a ninja vs. ninja competition. There are introductions to Orochimaru, Kabuto, Gaara, and the Rookie Nine (Naruto's classmates.) I love the mental torture the genins have to go through during the written exam, and I am crazy about Orochimaru and Gaara. 
Itachi's Return (81-85): This arc covers the short visit Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, makes to Konoha in search of Naruto. This arc has an introduction to Akatsuki, the group Itachi is working with, and indicates their interest in Naruto as one of the tailed beasts. This arc also has insight into Sasuke's past and his relationship with Itachi. I loved this arc because it showed why Sasuke was so surly and antisocial. 
Kakashi's Lips (101) For some reason this episode is considered a 'special' and not a filler. It is an entire episode devoted to imagining what Kakashi is hiding under his face mask and several attempts to make him remove it. This was almost painful to watch, and has no bearing on the rest of the series. I recommend you skip this one.
Infiltrating Orochimaru's Lair (136-141) Filler 2: In search of Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura and Jiraiya track down Orochimaru's lair in the Country of Sand. I liked this arc. It really solidifies the feeling that Sasuke may never return. 
Bounty Hunter (159-160) Filler 7: Naruto, Kiba and Hinata are sent out after a thief, only to discover that he is a hardened killer. They are put at odds against a bounty hunter by the name Sazanami, who is also seeking the thief. This arc is pretty good, but there aren't any cool fights, which I had expected. 
"Seimaden" features Laures and Hilda. In a past life Laures sacrificed himself to the demons to save his love Elis, but the only way to save her from evil was for her to die. Now years later he has found Elis reborn in Hilda, and he loves her as much as he ever did, but he is now a monster that has spent the last few hundred years at war with other demons in order to claim the throne of hell. Unfortunately, by the time Laures found her, Hilda had fallen in love with Rodderick, the last of the Azeilles. So Laures seals Hilda's memories and takes advantage of her amnesia to earn her love. 
I highly recommend both manga, but out of the two I prefer "Seimaden". It is more modern and less of a horror manga. "Seimaden" is a lot less gory than "Bride of Deimos." It has genuinely cute parts, whereas "Bride of Deimos" is most definitely a horror manga and by no means cute. Laures spends his time showing his softer side, but Deimos chooses to convince Minako by threatening her and showing her all the horrors of the world. "Bride of Deimos" reads like a graphic novel of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" crossed with "The Twilight Zone." It is much more of an episodic manga where "Seimaden" has story flow from one chapter to the next. 
Yeah, I need more friends on myspace...and since Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl went ahead and attempted to whore themselves out a little while ago, I figured I would take this chance and do something similar.
I was just surfing around and I found this site and I want each and every one of you browncoats to do your duty and check it out. (Browncoats refers to the army Malcolm Reynolds fought side by side with during the battle of Serenity.)