Category Archives: anime
Star Driver
Unfortunately, Star Driver is an anime series that is not worth a full essay. No, the best summary is, “Modestly entertaining, but ultimately disappointing.” I expected more from the writer of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Instead I got a slight retread in terms of high school students dueling in some sacred space with the future of humanity at stake but lacking in the surrealism that made Utena a true standout among other shows of its time. Read the rest of this entry
One Reason to be Glad the Live-Action Akira Movie is Dead
One Reason to be Glad the Live-Action Akira Movie is Dead.
I’m not going to get into the habit of copying and pasting my responses to other sites’ articles, but I thought it would be fun to reiterate something I’ve said previously. Hopefully this is more succinct.
I'm not coming hard on the bike. I used to have a Kaneda figurine that came with said bike. Of course, since I think I donated or dumped it, I guess I don't care that much...
The linked article explains that the live-action Akira adaptation is done and over with. There’s a quoted excerpt from one of the designers on the project who was tasked with remaking the motorcycle that fans of the film love so much. (Never mind the reduced role of said bike in the original manga…) The article’s author says that not seeing the bike remade is a good thing. The comment thread follows with comments celebrating the death of the movie and discussion of not touching the bike. So I chimed in. Read the rest of this entry
The Akira project
It has been nearly two years since the live action Akira project was discussed in this blog. What is amazing about that is that the film has barely managed to develop past pre-production, making this project almost vaporware. But somehow rumors get out and turn into new buzz. No one with any solid word on the film is being quoted in the media, and the blogs have turned into some scary pre-advertisement for it.
George Takei was recently featured in an article on the Advocate with some strong words to Warner Bros. about how they should handle the film. The short of it: don’t whitewash the cast. This is a reasonable plea from a man of Japanese descent about a work of fiction from Japan. I can relate. After all, I said we should stop casting Europeans in the roles of our great American superheroes. My plea fell silently on the ears of Hollywood executives, and I have no doubt that Takei’s more pleasant and famous voice will do the same. Read the rest of this entry
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
[Author's Note: If you're just curious about what I thought of the movie, skip down to where you see the asterisks. Otherwise, this is a very lengthy post. I've noticed that no one tends to read the entries about anime (except for the dozens of people who keep coming here for Tekkaman Blade pics), so I went crazy with it. If you want to read a 2300-word post, knock yourself out. I promise you none of it will be on the exam, though.]
It is difficult to find good, creative, original science fiction. Sure, some people might have that one friend who does nothing but read science fiction anthologies and keep up with all of the latest material on the web, but the rest of us have few sources and even less time. What the popular multimedia world is most often known for are the scifi retreads – either of old works or old ideas. “It’s the delivery that matters!” we say to ourselves. While true, it also opens ourselves up to eating the same cereal so long as the marshmallows are offered in new shapes and/or colors. For example, I loved four and a half seasons of Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica despite the fact that it was a retread of the original BSG that invoked the darker and edgier trope and borrowed heavily from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?/Blade Runner and a little from the rest of the Philip K. Dick library. I recognized the sources clearly but still moved forward. That may very well be the reason why I was able to move forward with it.
There are no more original ideas. It’s all be done before. The movie trailers on TV look like items from either a few years to a few decades ago. It seems like movies are being made just so the studios have a steady flow of product coming out. No one holds off for the great ideas. No one devotes time to meticulously perfect a creation. Having something out there is generally regarded as being much better than having something great.
I’ve always been an anime fan. The general anime fan likes to cite creativity as a reason why s/he prefers Japanese output over American. I’m not that fan. I’m not an otaku, as I’ve said before. I watch what I watch. While the ideas over there are decidedly different in origin, they area also quite plagued by hackneyed ideas. Watch enough Japanese content and you find that it becomes increasingly more difficult to find original ideas. (Even in writing this introduction to a review about The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya I’ve realized that it is not entirely original because it could be considered a lighter and fluffier version of Akira. I’m still moving forward with this idea of original content, though.) No matter where you look, people borrow from ideas that they find interesting. Read the rest of this entry
The Legacy of Voltron lives! Sort of…
Seth Green and his band of maniacs on Robot Chicken haven’t ever hid their love of 1980’s cheesy giant robot non-epic, Voltron/Golion. Probably their most infamous sketch on the first season of the show was their Voltron meets You Got Served bit, which was so striking that Media Blasters requested to have it included on one of the official Voltron releases.
The other day, io9 posted an article about a new project by the Robot Chicken guys slated for release on September 27th, Titan Maximum. This was apparently announced back in July during Anime Expo, but convention coverage is generally crappy in Web 2.0. (Personal opinion.) Titan Maximum is the next step in RC’s evolution starting with the very first Star Wars special – from random parodies on their show to direct parodies in the Star Wars specials to consistent and continual parody in Titan Maximum.
So, what’s the plot? Who knows? The show is the modern equivalent of the super marionette but mashed with an anime plot, and the result will likely be Team America meets Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. That’s not a bad thing, especially in weekly 15 minute doses. Doses, I might add, that have a splash of Billy Dee Williams for flavor.
Bonus video, also ripped from io9:
This isn’t the only sentai team parody airing only in nerd circles this year. New web series MegaBot also promises to rehash our memories for laughs – but this one features Fran Kranz, aka Dollhouse’s Topher.
Videos! Live-action Sailor Moon and Street Fighter comedy
Did you know that some years before Sailor Moon aired on American TV or even had a Japanese live-action adaptation, there were thoughts of porting the series over as a half live and half animated program. Only a promotional video was produced, and it is just as horrible as you would expect.
To wash the terrible, terrible taste of that out of your minds, here’s a video of a comedy troupe displaying the difficulties beginners have performing special moves in Street Fighter II. It wouldn’t be so funny if down, down-forward, forward + punch made more sense to people.
Andrew WK to release a Gundam album
I read on io9 that Andrew WK has another album scheduled for release in the future, and it will contain covers of various themes from Gundam’s Universal Century timeline. The individuals reporting and responding were all lauding him for taking on this effort, but he’s hardly the first. Richie Kotzen, formerly of Poison and Mr. Big, already released an album of Gundam cover songs a few years ago. And you know what? He’s a tough act to follow.
Andrew WK’s cover of “Soldiers of Sorrow”:
And Richie Kotzen’s cover of the same material:
Decide for yourself which one you like better. I kind of think that Mr. WK is kind of a mook, so there’s an obvious bias working against him. I came across a video of Kotzen’s cover of “Go Beyond the Time”/”Sign of Zeta” mashed up with footage of the then-released second Zeta Gundam film a couple years ago, and I immediately downloaded and then bought the album. WK definitely doesn’t stand up to Kotzen in my view.
Here’s an abridged version of my favorite of Kotzen’s songs, "Blue Star”:
Live-action Akira is still a go
Just as a follow-up to previously shared news, it appears that the 
Akira live-action film is still in the works. It may not have any involvement with Leonardo DiCaprio, but I don’t necessarily think that will harm the film. Only time will tell what comes of it. I enjoyed the early reports that it would be a two-part feature that stayed true to the manga. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an Akira film with the actual character Akira present in it?
Midnight News: Gatchaman movie
One thing that bothers me about moving back to Michigan is the fact that there are so many more big conventions in California. I just missed Anime Expo, which I had attended the two previous years and greatly enjoyed. I really wanted to catch the screening of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, but I guess I’ll have to settle for one of the DVD releases (don’t get me started, especially since I already own the series on both VHS and DVD, not to mention the Director’s Cut re-releases of the final two DVDs, and the two original movies). But what really irks me now? The trailer for Gatchaman!
Looks pretty rough right now, but it’s undoubtedly the true G-Force. What’s of interesting note is that the “lone warrior” shown is Joe, and later we see him following the team in a pair of handcuffs. I have a feeling that even if the story is dumb, the movie is definitely going to be worth watching.
Midnight News: Hot blooded to replace racism in Japanese Revenge of the Fallen dub
Great news! The horribly racist characters Skids and Mudflap in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will be voiced by Seki 
Tomokazu and Konishi Katsuyuki respectively in the Japanese dub. For the anime fans out there, those are the actors who played Domon Kasshu in Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Kamina in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, two of the most righteous and hot blooded characters to ever exist in anime. If the dub is done right, expect lots of yelling and the two characters to actually be likeable.
(Thanks to Japanator for the news.)
