Not exactly Anime/Manga related, but the video made me think in some sub groups out there (or the translation of Dynasty Warriors ….Cow Pee.)
Archive for February, 2007
Time for another wallpaper: Pleinair (the blue haired petite girl) and Usagi-san (the stuffed rabbit) from the guys at FRAGMENTS.
Pleinair is a character who appears in several of Nippon Ichi’s tactical role-playing games ( Disgaea, Disgaea 2, Phantom Brave) and acts as the mascot of the character design creator, Takehito Harada.
She is often paired with her stuffed bunny (Usagi-san, who has disturbing similarities with the gun-loving violent bunny Max from Sam&Max) or her stuffed shark (Sama-chan).
The character atracted me because of 2 reasons: 1st one is being part of Disgaea series of games, which I devoured like Hunny-san after his cakes; the 2nd reason is being a petite, blue haired and shy girl, which matches my perverted loli tastes like a glove.
You can really find some pearls in the middle of the junk that composes Internet. This discovery started with a comment of Hikago on AB.net IRC saying he had pressed a NSFW link. Curious as I am, asked Hikago for the link. It wasn’t really much NSFW (Flat chested loli, and everyone knows I got only eyes for Nodoka-chan.) but it was the cover for a music artist called DJ Sharpnel.
DJ Sharpnel is actualy Jea and Lemmy,a pair of Japanese electronic artists with their own independent label called Sharpnel Sound. Their style consist of hardcore, breakcore, happyhardcore, j-core, speedcore, terror, rave, techno, hardstyle, hardtrance and several other electronic variants. But what distinguishes them for other artists is their samples: they often use voices of several Anime and japanese pop music, but they also use samples from other sources such as Eminen, Pulp Fiction, Powerpuff Girls and Tatu.
This duo is extremely prolific, having already over 50 albums where they contributed or made by themselves.
DJ Sharpel is a great addition to anyone’s track collection, specially if you are a fan of speedcore and anime. Just make sure you got no neighbours around when you hear it or they will think you are molesting a entire rooms of japanese lolitas…
To hear them check SharpnelSound Myspace and this fan Myspace (has AMV videos as bonus.)
Sometimes you see a game, read a book or see any story in particular and think : “Damn, this would be sweet if it was an Anime!”
This is a personal list of the things that would make great Anime.
1. Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
I know that Jojo has already several OVA’s made based on part 3 and a new OVA from part 1 is coming, bu i would really like to see it in a TV series format. The GARness of the whole Joestar lineage would be able to cause a mass blood loss from nosebleed all over the world.
2. Shin Megami Tensei (Persona 2).
Megami Tensei is a series of games based on the occult and paranormal with great sucess in Japan . Recently it has expanded to european and american markets with games like Shin Megami Tense: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga. One of the spin offs of the series, Persona, would give a great Anime. The main plot revolves arond people who perfomed a school ritual called “Persona” and somehow they gained the power to summon their “other self”.
From the Persona games, the better candidate would be Persona 2 where “The main focus of the game is the subjective nature of reality, with rumors holding the power to literally alter the face of reality and change the world itself.” But I’m not sure if someone has the guts (or any other word you want to use for testicles) to adapt a game where Hitler and his zombie friends are the enemies (for some reason the 1st part of the game never saw a English adaptation…I wonder what..)
3. Majin Devil.
Majin Devil was one of the 1st works of Oh! Great (Tenjou Tenge, Air Gear) with only 2 volumes, but it has the potential to be expanded and turned into a good Anime.
The main characters are Decoppa, a boy who has an IQ of 200 and a omnious scar on his forehead, Tetsu, a mysterious demon and Cat-Ear Girl (Yes it’s really a Neko girl), with the plot revolving around the spread of demon incidents around the world.
A good point of the Anime would be the fights: Decoppa fights with his brain instead with muscles alone,and he overpower the enemy with his incredible knowledge and cold blood.
4. Phoenix Wright.
Another game in the list, Phoenix Wright is a series of attorney simulator games, where you need to defend your client and find the guilty. Has versions of the games for GBA and NDS with upcoming releases for Wii and a serialized manga. the whole method of investigation and resolving of the cases gives a different style on the Detectives genre.
5. Castlevania.
The last item on the list is a classical series of games from Konami about the Vampire Hunter family , Belmont. Several rumors were already made about a possible adaptation to animated format but every one of them were rejected by Konami itself. But if someday they decide to make the anime, I’m sure the gothic theme, the whole bunch of classical movie monsters and the presence of the character of Dracula will be it’s greatest assets.
This time we have a work from Sargent Rose (a.k.a Srose), a fellow Ab.net blogger. Our illustrator and concept designer made this wallpaper based on a female priest. (from Ragnarok Online? Correct me later, Srose. )
With priests like that, it would be alot harder not to have sinful thoughts…
Yesterday, while goofing around in AB.net IRC Channnel (and at the same time auto-leveling in Granado Espada…) one question arise in the place where 90% of the time we are whining about Kanon: “What Anime to see next?”
So, what to expect from the upcoming releases? This is just a small guide to the shows I think they will be worth watching.
1. Idol Master Xenoglossia
Let’s start with the anime version of The Idolm@ster, the Xbox 360 pop idol management simulator. Sunrise (who is making this anime) is know for their Mecha shows, so they did what they do best: they picked up the 10 idols and turned them into Mecha pilots and students of the same school. Now we hove we will get enough fanservice to please all the Idolm@ster fans.
2. Bokura No
If you know Mohiro Kitoh’s previous work Narutaru (Shadow Star in English) you know what to expect: a dark story filled with trauma and psychological agression. 15 children are selected to play a deadly game. They will have to control a giant robot, Zearth, and defeat the invaders who are trying to destroy their planet. However, each time someone uses the robot, they will have to pay the ultimate price. My worst fear is GONZO screwing up on the adaptation and not be able to bring the same emotional shock as the manga.
3. Seto no Hanayome
Mermaids, Mob bosses, drowning hero and a marriage? And even worse, why the girl carries a sword? Being made by IAc and Gonzo, this will be a comedy romance nice to see.
4. Claymore
This will be the next big hit show. Two words can describe this: Female Berserk. In this series the main focus are “Claymore”, humans who fused themselves with monsters so they could defeat those same monsters. Having expanded strenght and speed, they use the 2 handed swords who give their nickname. One woman in special, Clare has a special reason for fighing against the beasts…
5. Darker than Black - Kuro no Keiyakusha
From BONES studio comes their new pet project.
“Suddenly anomalous field impossible to analyze appears in Tokyo. As if they responded to the field named “Hell’s Gate”, people that have new powers and completely different from the current human begins appear. They have lost their minds and sometimes kill people cruelly. People call them “Contractor” with fear”
and this following quote will make my point:
“Techno spy action anime from BONES! From the director of Wolf’s Rain!! A talking cat with a wireless network!!! SOLD.”
Well, for now these are the I’m interrested. tomorrow I’ll add another 4 shows I’m looking for to watch.
Gungrave is a Anime based on a Ps2 game with the same name who had character design made by Yasuhiro Nightow (same guy behind Trigun).
The Anime is split in two parts; The first one tells the story of Brandon Heat and Harry MacDowel, 2 small time crooks and childhood friends, and how the joined the criminal organization , Millennion ( the mafia that controls the entire city). Brandon joins so he could be near his beloved, Maria , who had moved up to live with Millennion’s founder and commander, Big Daddy; Harry joins so he could raise up in life and become an important man. during the anime, we see the bond between this 2 men and how they raise up inside the Organization: Brandon as a elite hitman and Harry as a top member. After a series of events, where Harry gets more and more power hungry, and Brandon gives up on Maria to Big Daddy, Harry asks Brandon to betray Big Daddy and get control of Millennion together. Having refused it, Harry kills Brandon.
The second part happens 13 yeas later: For the sake of protecting Maria, Big Daddy and their daugther Mika, Brandon was brought back to life by Dr. Tokioka, a scientist who was working for Millenion. Now renamed as Beyond The Grave and with vague memories of his past, the only thing he cares now is protect Mika and destroy both Millenium and the man who betrayed him, “Bloody” Harry.
This anime has a very slow pace: with the jazz soundtrack and the ganster enviroment, we are taken through the animated adaptation of “Godfather” at a pace most viewers aren’t used to. Another thing to be taken in account is the various similar trends between Gungrave and Trigun: from the guns Grave uses , some character similarities (like Bunji reminding Nicholas Wolfwood.) and even the existance of tomases (which lead to several rumors that Gungrave happens in the same planet of Trigun, several centuries after.)
The really strong points is the character developments. The creators have focused on explain the motives of every characters and their way of seeing life even if it lead tho less action scenes than normal. It’s a very drama filled plot, where the characters (specially Brandon) suffer until the end, giving a unique tone to the whole Anime. In terms of animation itself, the show lacks quality, often giving the impression the studios were short on budget. Not even the fairly made CG’s help much to improve the overall look.
Gungrave had all to be a excellent Anime, but the flaws crippled it , giving it the status of underdog. If you like mafia movies and drama filled stories, it’s a great show if you ignore the defects. But if you are more into action-filled flicks, this ain’t for you.
Another fantastic work dug up from Animepaper. This time it’s based on a manga drawing of the 1st volume of Gunnm. (Battle Angel Alita).
This particular drawing has a special meaning to me: it was one of my first inspirations for my manga sketches. Was reading the manga and when I found the picture:I just felt I needed to learn to draw like that. Still got my sketch attempt at home, mabye later I’ll post it on the blog. (But first I need to find someone with a decent quality scanner…)
Warning: besides this being a Echii video with mild nudity and the characters look like Loli’s even if they are high-schoolers, the damm song will stick into your head for 2 weeks or until you go listen to Justin Timberlake’s last “album”.
So be careful , this ain’t appropriate to all ages and it is NSFW.
The song comes from a old Ero-game trailer called Da-Pantsu, and the Anime scenes are from Love Love (which impressively isn’t a hentai, just a very echii anime…)
One of the things I like to do is net searching: browsing around through several sites, trying to find interesting thingies and pictures. When i found this wallpaper, i just add to set it up on my PC….even if it looks too girly.
This wallpaper comes from AnimePaper. Check it out for some wallpaper goodness.
