Thursday, December 28

Real life mecha? Huh?



Can anyone verify this truly first live mecha?





More here.

History of Super Sentai Series



I recognize some of the series shown here but I have no idea it is very prolific and so many I never seen before. A lot of them looked better than Power Rangers.

Just like super robot series, this video brings nostalgic memories for me. Part of me that will never go away.

BF 2142 Mecha



Looks great! I want to play this game like now.

Moe Lolis, rejoice redux..Zero no Tsukaima Season 2


Hahahha,

Second season of Zero no Tsukaima is coming. After such hasty ending of the 1st season which kills off interesting story buildup, I can never imagine how they gonna salvage this wreck.

As usual, I will look at it but with jaundiced opinion. From I gather, the novels is supposed to be quite epic and sweeping which fails to be conveyed in the anime.

Link is here for Japanese speaker.

Malaysian Cosplay stuff


Hmmm,

My country anime fans seem to take cosplay hobby pretty seriously. No doubt, it has serious money for serious cosplayers. RM 2000 is a lot to a typical school going teens or young adults in college or university.

Interesting to see how vibrant this cosplay culture, in my own country.

Full article.

The music video of Black Lagoon OP.



The music video of my fave anime OP of the year, Red Faction from MELL.

Weird Cosplay Video



The cosplays are good but I have no idea in hell's bell it was associated with the song. The song is one of those used in "wuxia" series which is popular in HK media. How it come to grace the cosplay, I have no idea.

Tuesday, December 26

Rozen Maiden Overture OVA



2 ep OVA, looks great. Will do a short review after I watch it.

Miyazaki's Giant Clock


Miyazaki Senior lasting legacy, enshrined as a giant clock structure adorning the headquarters of TV station. Pretty awesome and nice to look at. Has his theme all over it.

Here is the link.

Thursday, December 21

A parody of Tachikoma MasterCard Ad



Hehehe.

The one of the few.


Anime through an American eye
By PATRICK MACIAS

"I was staying with a Japanese friend of mine when I first saw Matsumoto-san's manga. Keep in mind that I'm not someone who is an otaku (obsessive fan) at all. I don't really read manga much, even today. I just had some time on my hands and I was looking for something to check out. My friend, who knows my tastes very well, suggested I might like it. He pulled out this three-book version of "Tekkonkinkreet" and said "nakeru yo," which means something in Japanese like "keep a box of tissues handy." It was probably 1995, right around the time of the sarin gas attacks and the Kobe earthquake. There were these black helicopters buzzing around and you could turn on the TV and see people getting stabbed in real time".

The full article.

This man is responsible for Animatrix and generally considered as big figure on anime fandom in USA. His views are interesting, considering that he is one of the few gaijins in Japanese anime industry.

Tuesday, December 19

Old Super Robot Series.



Man, this brings me back to great old days. My fave is God Mars.

This is part of my heritage, I was raised on this kinda shows. Ahhhhh, good old days.

Saturday, December 16

Art imitates life, or other way round.


'Nodame Cantabile' manga character exists in real life


Megumi Noda, the star character of the manga series "Nodame Cantabile," which was a popular feature in the woman's comic magazine "Kiss," and became a hit as a Fuji TV drama, exists in real life, it has emerged.

"Nodame Cantabile" tells the story of a meeting between Shinichi Chiaki, an elite student of Momogaoka Music Academy whose father was a famous pianist, and Megumi Noda, a hopeless piano student going by the nickname "Nodame," who lives in a messy apartment.

Full link is here.

Another play on old words, "art imitates life".

Such is funny moments in life. Might want to check it out due to this reason. I like classicals, but not the technicality of it. I just like to listen.

Want to be Nausicca?



The Open Sky Project 2.0

This is a machine that allows people to experience flying like Nausicca's mave (or muave) in the seminal work by anime master Miyazaki (Senior). The machine designs is clearly inspired by the anime movie.

I am too heavy for this contraption but it sure looks pretty and cool bananas to the max. On display at NTT ICC exhibition in Japan.

Another site in Japanese.

Tuesday, December 12

Comparision between Matrix and Ghost in the Shell



As the title says. It is very interesting side by side comparision. Watch it.

Tachikoma



Part One



Part Two

Now this is really awesome stuff. I want one for myself. Hahahaha!



This is really nice PS2 Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex video.

Monday, December 11

Gasaraki



One of the my top favourite mecha design, this anime fell short of my hope that it will be pure political thriller with mecha twist when they using some Shinto mumbo jumbo with reborn theme of lovers thru out time.

Why they can't just stick to simplistic mecha story with good political game? This anime is quite old, about 7 years.

The mecha known as Raideen (Lightning Thunder), built by Japanese Self Defense Force as primary combat general purpose mecha system. The control is closest we can get for realistic mecha operations, incorporating voice activation and F-16 like joystick with close ground support supervision.

Someone said on Starship Modeler forum, if IDF have mechas, this how it will look like.

Malaysia Borders Bookstore Manga Club

Love reading manga? Why not curl up in a comfortable chair and discuss it with likeminded people at a bookstore? ELIZABETH TAI finds out about Borders’ Manga Book Club.

IMAGINE being able to discuss a manga and make friends at the same time in the comfort of a bookstore. If you fancy this, you’d be glad to know that Borders bookstores will be launching a Manga Book Club this month where you can do exactly that.

Full article is here.

Man, I have a good reason to go back to Malaysia now. Nothing beats the joy of hearing reading and sit around with like minded people. It is about time anyway, since manga has quite a following in Malaysia with long affinity with comics as one of the genre. I still remember the old days of localized Malay comic books which quite vibrant and Chinese Jade Man comics, selling in some smelly cheap corner store owned by an Indian. Those were nostaligic days.

Good days are surely nice to remember.

Saturday, December 9

History of Dragon Ball.



"Dragon Ball is a Japanese manga by Akira Toriyama serialized in the weekly anthology magazine Weekly Shonen Jump from 1984 to 1995".

Wikipedia entry.

I have to confess one thing here. I used to like the series until it becomes too powerful for my taste. I always remember fondly of adventures of young version of Goku, as he romps around the world with his wild antics and martial arts ability. I was having a good laugh as I flip thru the Chinese translation of the manga.

However when comes to middle part later on as he grew up, this is where my interest wanes. I mean, how many times you can see a fight that can destroy Earth, mountain, galaxy or hell, fighting in heaven after death you can take?

Mainstream public always wanted a fighting story with unlimited destruction but I am in the minority camp where I like to read about comedy of growing up, like for example the story of young Goku.



But like it or not, this franchise is still strong, with almost 22 years worth of run in popular media in most countries which were exposed to anime. In commercial sense, it is a resounding success but as story itself, I am not too sure what to say about it. I can count many of peers who grew up on Dragon Ball and still talks about it in excitement. 20 years from now, this process will be repeated again with old time Naruto fans. History repeats itself, automatically.

Friday, December 8

Kara no Kyokai


Rumors are surfacing about anime adaptation of Kara no Kyokai (Garden of Sinners), old work by TYPE-MOON masters, Takeshi Takuechi and Kinoko Nasu who were responsible for smash hit visual novels Shingeshutan Tsukihime and Fate/Stay Night.

This link shows female Shiki, main character of Kara no Kyokai as part of 2007 calendar. Many fans especially on Beast Lair is speculating on its possibility to be anime soon in 2007.

The link

Needless to say, I am very excited by this prospect of another TYPE-MOON works in anime format. The work is not a multi possiblity ending of material so hopefully an anime adaptation will be good enough if they just stick to the story faithfully.

Tuesday, December 5

Another discussion on Moe


"... If you’ve ever thought about the intersection of labor and capital with big eyes and small mouths, this one’s a must read. My question is: if Karl Marx were alive today, would he be a CCS fan?

“Moe.”

Pronounced “moh-eh”, it is a Japanese word that is written as “萌え.” Its original meaning is “to bud” in reference to plants. In modern Japanese society however, particularly among the Japanese “otaku” subculture, the word has taken on a different meaning".

Full Article.



A very erudite and well written topic on this mostly misunderstood word. Not many anime fans outside Japan really grasp the significance of the word, just like yours truly here. Have fun reading.

Friday, December 1

Singaporean and Japanese colloboration anime effort


SINGAPORE, November 30: The trailer for Justeen, an anime series co-produced by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Japanese animation studio Anime International Company (AIC), premiered at the Asia TV Forum this week.

Full article

My country still floundering producing sub standard animation like Keluang Man and Ujang, whereas Singapore is going in leaps, now having a joint venture with Japanese company in making anime!

Malaysia! Wake up!!!!!!

When are we going to shine in animation? Is not that we don't have any talents! What is going on here?!