Arata: The Legend (manga)--First Impressions

Arata The Legend (Manga) First Impressions

Writer and Illustrator: Yuu Watase

Translator: JN Productions

Publisher. Shogakukan, Inc. 2009

Rating: Teen, and found in the middle school section of my local library...SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARIES!

Get ready for an time-travelling, inter-planatary,
body-switching, demon sword wielding,
gender -ending, high-school dramady!

I’m about to ruin this book for you. Fair warning. 

Arata is the last descendant of the Hime clan, and every 30 years a female of the Hime clan must be enthroned as princess of the realm through a “sacred ritual." These princesses are possessed by something called Amatsuriki Power, which controls the Haygami (gods of their world who embody demonic swords).  Arata’s grandmother claimed Arata as a girl because all male Hime children are put to death by royal decree, and I guess no one notices that he's a boy (because clearly he IS a boy, and everyone knows it).  Due to this intentional switcharoo, Arata is forced to act as a girl, and is called to become princess. Arata attends the ritual and his disguise is paying off until the former princess is assassinated by a group bent on revolution. They blame the murder on Arata, whose gender is exposed during the melee (his shirt is cut away to reveal a lack of girl parts).

Meanwhile in futuretimes (like now here on earth times), a Japanese high school student who is also named Arata is finding it hard to cope with his new school. He switched schools because he was so relentlessly bullied at the last school (oddly, he is bullied because he is handsome, smart and good at sports), and suddenly his chief tormentor arrives out of the blue to make him miserable. Luckily (?) he gets sucked into Arata #1’s world and is mistaken for him (although they look nothing alike). And it turns out that the spirits of the Haygami choose Arata #2 as their warrior.

Do they look alike? Of course! They're identical!
Who wouldn't confuse Arata #1 with Arata #2?

Meanwhile in futuretimes again, Arata #1 winds up in Arata #2’s world. They communicate through a portal powered by some necklace thingie and Arata #1 refuses to switch back because he believes that Arata #2 can defeat the baddies and save the world.

Meanwhile in backtimes, Arata #2 fights a lot of people and the half-dead princess asks him to rule in her place and find her. Arata #1 doesn’t pop back up again for the rest of the issue, so who knows what kind of crap he's made out of Arata #2's life?

You get it, Dear Readers, this is a silly manga that does not seem to accept its own silliness. I'd like to tell this manga to just be itself, and stop with the serious scenes, because really...a time-travelling, inter-planatary, body-switching, demon sword wielding, gender -ending, high-school story should be a comedy (let's leave the drama to the dramas, okay?). 

One thing I did appreciate about this manga, is the discussion of belief in oneself and others. Neither Arata wants to let anyone down; both are powered by trying to live up to the beliefs others place in them. This is a rather noble little series, and provides some nice messages to its intended young adult audience about confidence, persistence, honor, friendship and kindness.  

Because I am not the intended audience here I might not continue the series, but do want to point out some of the good things. It is well written and well translated. The illustrations are very nice, but a little busy at times. The story itself is unique enough and compelling enough to have kept me reading to the end of the issue (which is a step in the right direction). The bad things have more to do with a lack of development of the side-characters…they seem to be less characters than standard types of characters. That isn’t always a bad thing, and it may be more symptomatic of a simplification of character based on audience, but the series is going to have to complicate them just a bit even for teens, I think. Otherwise, people may have a difficult time relating to them. I know I did.

I would classify this as a sort of beginner’s manga. If this were the first manga I had ever picked up I would be interested, but being an old salty lady who reads a ton, it seems a little flat and a little predictable (oh, when  a time-travelling, inter-planatary, body-switching, demon sword wielding, gender -bending, high-school  dramadies become predictable there is a problem).  It isn’t stellar, but it is readable, and the teen girls will think Arata #2 is super-cute. So, there’s that. 

Questions this manga inspired:

1. Why do all hot bad guys with swords lick the edges of their swords? Is that like a sexual thing? Oh, I’m dangerous and sexy, watch me seduce this hunk of metal!

2. Who knew melee was spelled like that? Not me.

3. Did I just pick up this manga because of the title? My housemate’s middle name is Arata.  

4. Why did I keep thinking that Justin Bieber should play Arata#2 in a live-action version of this?

Winchester Wednesday: Post Season 1 Anime Wrapup

First, hello Dear Readers, long-time no Squee.

I've been gone forever, and have no better excuse than "life got in the way." I hate when that happens. Why can't people leave me alone and let me do my thing? Ah, such is life (imagine I'm French when you read that). Apparently I've been gone long enough for Mr. Empty to accuse me of killing one of his children...which is okay, because one of his children is a super-annoying, self-referential anime series named Excel Saga. Your kid is annoying--shut that brat up! I'll post a rebuttal to his rebuttal soon. In the meantime I'm offering up this sad and depressing review of the first season of Supernatural: The Anime.

Again, I'll remind you that way back in the way back machine, when rumors had begun to stir about the Supernatural  anime, I was thrilled. How could I not be? All I could think of was possibility. But possibility, Dear Readers, filled me with hopes that did not pan out. My dreams of what might have been were dashed.
By what?

By this:
:

This little clip posted on Youtube is of, as the title says, "the first brotherly love moment," in the anime. Watch it.  This is supposed to be a emotional moment, right? So why does it feel like Padalecki is just reading off a page, and the person reading Ackles' part hasn't ever seen the show? Where's the emotion?

There are a few problems with this anime.  The whole thing makes me sad and angry. I've been duped! Hornswaggled! It was a bait and switch!

Problem one: 
Jared Padalecki, who plays Sam Winchester. He's not the most emotive actor in the world. If I'm being honest, that last sentence is me trying very hard to be nice. He's...not a very good actor. He has like five facial expressions, and each of them is a little unconvincing. I felt this way about him when he was in Gilmore Girls as well. (Yes, I watched Gilmore Girls, but in my defense, I did not enjoy it and I do not like the show...it turns out my husband really, really does. Why? I have no idea. Like none. It's awful.)  Padalecki is very athletic, so that's good. And he's cute. I'll admit he's cute. But, he reads lines like he's reciting them for a school play, and relies on Ackles to carry the emotional weight of the scene. Ackles makes Padalecki a better actor. So, now, with the anime, Padalecki has an even tougher job...to be convincing and realistic ONLY using his voice. He does not pull it off. It's weird and wooden and offputting. Sam's not always the most likable character anyway, which is what makes him and the series interesting, but he is redeemed because he is emotional (well, we're told he is) despite his selfishness (Sam you are so selfish!) and questionable morals at times. His performance is, I'll say it, a mess. An unconvincing mess.

Problem two: 
No Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester. Ackles was busy doing voice work for another project and could ONLY devote enough time to do the voices in the last two episodes, which were...SURPRISE!...better than all the previous episodes combined. Finally, there was some real emotion being voiced. Even Padalecki seemed more relaxed somehow, or at least he didn't suck as much.  Now lest you think that I'm just so Ackles infatuated that "no one else can play Dean"...well, maybe, but there's more than that. He's a good actor. Dean is a difficult role. Really. His emotions are wild and uncontrolled. He's a mix of arrogance and vulnerability. He's a lot of contradictions. And no one should be able to pull off a performance of a character that complex and have it feel genuine. When Dean's heart breaks, my heart breaks...and that's Ackles fault.

Problem three: 
I had high expectations, and I'll admit that may have swayed my response to the series. It just had so much potential, and yet...bleh. The reason my review of season one took so long to complete is that I got bored with it, and kept putting off watching the remaining episodes. That's bad. If there is a target audience for a Supernatural  anime...well, I'm it. I AM THE AUDIENCE! I couldn't have been tailor made for such a role. If your ideal audience is bored enough to step away and not return, then you have a problem. I'l admit to having watched the whole series of Supernatural more than once. I'll also admit to watching some of my favorite episodes multiple (as in more than 5) times. And I don't get bored. I notice new things--it's always interesting. But this? This was NOT interesting. And it should have been. If it can't keep my attention it is doing something wrong. Part of me knows the voice acting is to blame. Part of it is the animation style itself...it was okay, not beautiful, not chilling, not unique, just...there. Part of it was the lack of innovation. The writers and animators had carte blanche to do whatever they wanted here. They could start with the characters and reinvent parts of the story-line, throw them new curve balls, dig deeper into the situation. Instead, most of it wasn't much different than what was in the live-action series, minus a few original episodes that didn't do much for me. The pacing was slow and it didn't move forward with the same emotional impetus as the original. All in all, it did the same things as the live-action series, only it didn't do them as well.

Problem four: 
Sometimes when a story crosses mediums, say from book to movie, or in this case live-action series to anime...bad choices are made. I can remember feeling this way with quite a few book to movie scenarios.
Let's use an example of Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. I'm a geeky creepster, so I loved this book. And it's exciting, it could have made an excellent film, but two bad things happened. If you had read the book you walked away from the movie angry because so much was left out. Oh, what do you mean Armand is an important character? He was just some guy who never talked and was in two scenes of the film, just hanging out in the background. So, book fans...are mad. But what if you aren't a book fan? Well, for some reason Queen of the Damned relied on some knowledge of the book, because it made a lot of assumptions about what viewers knew about the plot and characters. So, people who didn't read the book are just lost...and therefore mad. EVERYONE LOSES! I feel the same way about Supernatural: The Anime. Fans like me are annoyed that it isn't as good as it could be, and new viewers...I don't know how they'd follow along. I'm tempted to force someone (but I won't because it could be misconstrued as torture) who knows nothing about Supernatural  to watch the anime, just so I can ask them if they understand what's going on. Right now, I'm not sure that they couldn't follow the plot, or figure out the characters, but my gut reaction is that anyone not already knowing something about the series would just be confused. And I don't mean confused in a, ooh Davinci Code kind of way, more in a...what's going on here? Who is that again? Why do I care at all?...kind of way.

The whole viewing experience makes me sad. I don't want to have to give this series a negative review, but I have no choice.

And that is sad.

Don't cry, Dean. I still love you.
We'll just pretend the anime never happened. 

Waiting in the Summer/Ano Natsu De Matteru (Anime Series)--First Impressions

I have a brand, spanking new one for you today, Dear Readers, Ano Natsu De Matteru, or Waiting in the Summer, first aired just a few weeks ago in Japan (on January 10th). Already sites like Crunchyroll are airing the first episodes.




Waiting in the Summer begins with the protagonist, Kaito, filming at night. As he records the night landscape around him, he has an internal monologue in which he discusses his theory of life after death, and its relationship to memory. He believes that the dead live on by entering our hearts, essentially making homes there, and only fading when they are forgotten. At this point, Dear Readers, I am hooked. In those opening scenes as Kai stands on an empty bridge at night looking down into the darkness (an old Super 8 clicking and whirring in his hands) he thinks of not only the mother and father he lost so tragically, but the end of the school year and the life-lessons and changes it implies, and as a result I sort of fall in love with this introspective and odd character.

Then BLAMMO--Alien ships, explosions, a shock wave that tosses Kai's shattered and bloody body from the bridge into the abyss below.

Good thing it was a dream...or was it? (DUN-dun-dunnnn! That's a dramatic bit of old timey music and I wish you could hear it, but you cannot...DUN!)

Kai is starting up his Junior year, and heading into summer break*--he's at a crossroads of sorts, not yet an adult, and certainly no longer a child.  He is a filmmaker, and as such records the dramas he claims to "already see in motion" around him.

This is drama I am familiar with.
My friends cockblock me all the time.
Shakespeare may be cockblocking me as you read this.

Many of these "dramas" take place between his group of friends and Ichika, the new Senior in school, who volunteers on her first day (and out of the blue) to star in Kai's recent film. Her inclusion into the group puts a strange spin on the group's dynamics as they begin their Summer film project.

One of my strongest first impressions of this series is that it is beautiful. I've never heard the illustrator's name, Pepako Dokuta, before in anime or manga, but wow, just WOW! And the writer, who goes only by Ichika (incidentally the same name as our female protagonist), seems unfamiliar as well, but WOW! So far, so good, Waiting on the Summer. Now, just keep it up.

Kai and Kanna (one of the group) walk home at night.
Look at that scenery? 

I like Kai, he seems like a lonely, artistic boy whose imagination and emotions often get the best of him. As viewers we often get ringside seats to his neurotic fantasies. His parents are deceased, and his sister is going abroad over the summer so, on an impulse, he invites the homeless, awkward and buxom Ichika to move in with him for the duration of the break.  

Ichika being filmed on the train platform.
SPOILER ALERT: She's an alien! 

In a wholly predictable plot twist (I'm not spoiling anything you couldn't figure out in like two seconds on your own, Dear Readers) it turns out Ichika is an alien. 

Agreed, friend of Kai's whose name I cannot remember at the moment!
Aliens ARE usually a huge plot twist.
Very M. Night Shalyman (except not at all)!

Takasuki Ichika accidentally crashed to earth with her friend/pilot named Rinon who looks like a peach/hamster hybrid thingamahoozit. Man, it just got silly, didn't it?

Magical Space Thingamahoozit, Rinon
is perhaps the unlikely product of an illicit hamster/peach love affair.

Ichika is hiding her identity and searching for someplace she's dreamed about, an imagined landscape she believes exists on earth. Kai wants to help her find it as they complete their film.

Despite the somewhat silliness of aliens and peachy/hamsters, this is a complex story about love, although it doesn't seem like a romance.  This story is instead about the sometimes fuzzy borders between love and affection and friendship and attraction.  As young adults at a crossroads of sort, these characters must navigate through these new and troublesome, and sometimes non-distinct, emotions. So, yes, on the surface the premise seems predictably silly, but the silliness should not dissuade you, Dear Readers. I'm looking forward to learning more about each of the group members as I watch their dramas unfold. And I'm hoping the silliness is kept to a minimum. I like silly too, but it seems unnecessary in such a beautifully illustrated and emotionally complex series.

*The traditional Japanese school system graduates students between grades in the Spring, before Summer break.

GUEST BLOGGER: James Parker Lombard for Winchester Wednesday

Dear Readers, Ms. Shakespeare and I are rather busy ladies, but we do try to post regularly amid our complex and demanding lives. For instance, I am deeply embroiled in some international espionage at the moment and as a result could find no time to present anime/manga ta-tas for this past Ta-Ta Tuesday. I regret this, because there are so many ta-tas and so little time.

I have invited, after some rather existential discussions with Ms. Shakespeare (who in the last post called herself a mister...either way, sister), my good-twin James Parker to submit his thoughts for Winchester Wednesday.

Now, you might be asking, why have a Winchester Wednesday at all? I mean, it isn't anime (well, there IS an anime), it isn't manga (although there are plenty of doujinshi), and it isn't Japanese. Well, the answer is simple: Supernatural is about as anime-esque as a live-action anything can possibly be (except for maybe Torchwood).  So, James Parker will provide the occasional guest blog post. The first of which, can be found, Dear Readers, below. Remember, you don't have to be nice to him...I'm not.

---

My name is James Parker Lombard, and I am a fanboy. Or, a fanman, although that sounds, as I say it, like an altogether ridiculous term. But, it is not as ridiculous as the fact that your two fine, upstanding babblingly-girly hostesses, Dr. M and Ms. Shakespeare, have called on me to submit to this anime/manga review site. To be honest, I don’t think I can pronounce either of those words. Is it Anne-may, or Ah-Nee-may? Is it Man-Guh or Mon-guh or Mah-n-gah? Dr. M has tried to correct me on several occasions, although I keep telling her, quite clearly and in no uncertain terms, that I don’t care. I am not here for manga or anime, no matter how one wants to pronounce it. I am here by squiggly, wiggly, “squee”ing request, to participate in Winchester Wednesday.

There are some things you should know about me. I am academic to a fault. I am not keen on emotions of any sort, mine or others. Actually, I’m not super-keen on people in general, so I try to keep to myself. I drink a lot of coffee. I have been known to be a “scowly mofo” (thank you, Dr. M). I put my foot in my mouth, but it doesn’t seem to bite me in the ass very often. I watch a lot of Supernatural. I may or may not write fanfiction of a dubious nature. I have a “thing” for Dean Winchester, and I tolerate Sam because Dean loves him.

My participation in Win-Weds is purely analytical, although it is driven by perhaps a sick-ish obsession with the nuances of the show, and that “thing” for Dean Winchester I mentioned. I don’t plan on being a moon-eyed, swooning sycophant about things. I plan on keeping this old-school analytical—I would be talking footnotes and works cited whenever possible, but I know my audience, so I’ll keep it to a minimum. I’m thinking Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Joseph Campbell, Homer, Dante, T.S. Elliot, Blake and some Plato paired with some hard-core critical theory, psychology, lit crit, and sociology. See, real old-school academic shit, because that’s how I roll.

Like the ladies here, I don’t warn about spoilers and I don’t pull punches. I dig complexities and condemn stupidities. I also encourage responses. Let’s get in a conversation about the over-watched and under-analyzed brilliance that is SPN. Post some responses, argue with me (I know Dr. M and Ms. Shakespeare will…I think they only invited me here because they think they’ll get to bitch and moan about things); I like an argument. Offer up theories of your own so I can shoot them down with wild abandon. I’d like that.

Next Wednesday’s post:
Supernatural and The Hero's Journey
A little Joseph Campbell checklist and a look into who the hero of the story might be. It isn’t as clear as one might think.

Strait Jacket--Anime (film)

When I grow up I want to be a few things:
1. Dean Winchester! (Or Sam, if I have to. I'd be a little disappointed though...so close to perfect, yet so far away.)
2. Part of an evil travelling circus akin to the one Bradbury writes about in "Something Wicked this Way Comes."
3. A priest who is called upon to advise church leaders in instances of supernatural phenomena as a result of my occult research.
4. One of a small group of intrepid folk who fight for survival during the coming zombie wars.
5. A secret rock star like Hannah Montana (well, maybe not that one).
6. A tactical sorcerer like the characters in Strait Jacket (as long as I don't turn into a gross blobby monster thing).

The film is set in a steampunky alternate future/past (I can't tell which) where scientists from the Potter-esquely named Magic Administration Bureau have successfully brought magic (in the form of a sort of laser alchemy?) "from myth into reality." After this "scientific" discovery the government and private sectors began utilizing magic in everyday life to aid public welfare, medicine, agriculture and, most inauspiciously, in connection with the military. Surprise--things go wrong!

People using magic are occasionally transformed by something referred to as "The Curse," turning into gross blobular demons who do things like cut people in half with their demonic appendages before eating them. And a terrorist group known as The Ottomans starts using magic to run amok in the city. But I guess it's not like they could, let's say, STOP USING MAGIC IF IT MAKES PEOPLE INTO MONSTERS! Jeesh! It turns out it isn't that easy. People are addicted to magic and the power it brings...it's like crack. There are even children being born with "hereditary magic poisioning" which the MAB calls Child Sorcery Addiction like a sort of otherworldly supernatural Fetal Alcohol Syndrom. These kids are magic crack babies. Something must be done!

The MAB creates Tactical Sorcerers to combat the growing numbers of demons and counter the terrorist magic attacks. Tactical Sorcerers are protected fro their own tranformations by sigil body paint and charmed armor called "The Mold" which keeps them from turning into the demons they battle. It is this "mold" that earned these warriors the nick-name, Strait Jackets.  Unfortunately, "The Mold" isn't infallable the Strait Jackets are always risking their own lives in more than one fashion when the battle these demons.

The film begins as Junior Agent Mary Simmons is called to a hospital under siege from a doctor who transformed mid-surgery into a blood thirsty monster (and a gross blobular one at that). The city itself is in dire straights, so many people are transforming as a result of sabatogued molds (by terrorists) or irresponsible magic use that there aren't quite enough Tactical Soldiers to go around. Without options and with the death count rising inside the hospitals wards, Mary finds herself suddenly calling on the assistance of unlicensed (and illegal) Tactical Sorcerer Reiotto Steinberg. Rey is hot as hell and kind of a grumpy bad-ass who spends his time atoning for past sins. He seems callous on the surface, but has a weakness for kids coupled with an admirable sacrificial/suicidal streak. These are all of the things I like in my reluctant heroes.

A sinner looking for redemption. Oh, tortured Rey...mmm...

The animation is a little graphic, but quite beautiful. The spell-casting battles against demons are dramatic with a whole lot of interesting shouting. "I defy all laws and transcend reason!" I think that's a great battle cry.  I kind of wish that were my battle cry.

The story of Rey's attempt at redemption is touching and unnerving at points. He is a sympathetic character who pushes himself closer and closer to the breaking point in every battle. Mary proves herself to be more than the annoying petty beaurocrat she seems at first. One of the side-characters, a very heroic Tactical Sorcerer named Hammond, serves as a foil to Rey, and his life, like the lives of others before him, ends badly. In fact, everything ends badly. But, like the Winchesters say, "it all ends bloody or sad," Dear Readers, sorry. Strait Jacket ends  bloody AND sad,  but it's still worth a watch.

Day 25 - Best Anime Villian: Dr. Muraki Kazutaka from Yami No Matsui (Descendants of Darkness)

”Best?” Yes. He is vicious. He’s also creepily calm and intense. I don’t like it. He is so creepy that Ms. Shakespeare and I have been known to quote him just to skeeve the other one out. Ms. Shakespeare, "do you remember our sensuous night beneath the cherry trees?" Mwahahah! Dr. Muraki is the best anime villain in that he is irredeemably evil, overtly predatory and still somehow charismatic and beautiful. So evil! SO EVIL!! Is he human? Is he demon? No one knows. He seems to have no motivation beyond just being evil (and attracted to our hero Asato Tsuzuki)...EVIL! Like a pretty, pretty snake who will tie you up and make sexually suggestive remarks before biting you.



A close second is Light Yagumi of Death Note (yet another Shigigami or Soul Reaper drama) he is irredeemably awful, and the lead character. I like the way Death Note sets up Light as the protagonist only to allow viewers to watch him fall further and further from his first purpose into a narcissistic villain who destroys pretty much everything he once believed in. He’s truly horrible, but he doesn't quite have the creep factor of Dr. Muraki. So despite playing God, betraying everyone he knows, and stacking up one hell of a body count, he gets bumped to number two.



I need to do a Death Note post soon. It is a pretty messed-up series.

Day 16 - Favorite Mahou Shoujo Anime: Ai Enma?

Mahou Shoujo Anime is, from what I researched, not a thing I watch. It's about magical girls? Like Sailor Moon, or something. The closest I get is maybe Ai Enma, Hellgirl, from the Hellgirl series. I am sort of confused by the definition of Mahou Shoujo, so I'm just gonna assume that this counts.

Here is my defense:
1. She's a girl.
2. She has magical hell powers.
3. She wears a school uniform that looks kinda like sailor moon's.

Let's compare:

They are like Yin and Yang.

Sailor Moon is all: "Whoop! There I is!"

And Hellgirl is all:

"Pitiful shadow cloaked in darkness.
Thy action cause men pain and suffering.
Thy hollow soul drowns in thy sins.
How would you like to see what death is like?"

So, because I haven't written about Hellgirl before I'll say a few things now.

The plot of the series revolves around a reporter who is doing a story on a website called "Hell Corrospondence." The "Hell Corrospondence" site is set up for vengence. Wronged persons can send a name to the site and Ai and her assistants will carry them and their soul to hell to fullfil the grudge. The price for this service is that when the summoner dies they too will be carried into hell.  It's a lighthearted musical  romp...okay, that's just a lie. It's pretty dark and heavy stuff. The reporter, Shibata Hajime, has a lot of his own problems, and it turns out his daughter has a strange psychic link to Ai. And the psychological torture some of the cursed go through is pretty fantasticaly intense. Ai too has her backstory, which is tragic and heartbreaking. It's not a happy series, but it is beautifully animated and complex. I like complex! I like tragic! I like schoolgirls who take jerks to hell!

Whether this is actually a Mahou Shoujo? I don't know.

Here's what I got from the wikipedia: "Magical girl stories feature young girls with superhuman abilities, forced to fight evil and to protect the Earth." Well, maybe I'm waaay off base here. But this is as close as I get...so. Hmmm.

Day 13 - Underrated Anime: Inuyasha

Can something be both underrated and overrated? I mean, Inuyasha is pretty universally loved, but it gets a lot of flack from "real" anime fans who see us Inuyasha lovers as some sort of less-than fan just because we happen to think it's cool. (Incidentally I have also gotten flack for just liking the English Dubs...apparenty I am "missing out" on the original which is "so much better." Bleh.)

I have heard the following phrases, or some variations of them, several times in my anime-lovin life (a few times from Ms. Shakespeare perhaps...ahem, ahem..?):

"Yeah, but it's so mainstream."
So? It's mainstream because it's good. I get a little defensive of Inuyasha at times. Just because something is popular doesn't automatically make it bad. This feels like the whole "sell-out" theory of rock. BTW world, if Someone you like gets famous and other people like them now, they do not automatically become sell-outs. You should be happy that someone you like finally hit the big time, instead of throwing out scornful and nostalgic crap about how they were "so much better" before everyone started watching/listening to them.

"It's all very monster of the week."
So? There are a LOT of monsters in the feudal era (this is non-fiction, right? I mean Feudal Japan was like crawling with oni? Inuyasha is practicaly a documentary, right?). There is still an overarching plot (or five) that ties all the pieces together.

"It's for kids."
No. It is not for kids.

Inuyasha has been around for a long time, sure. And it's really popular, sure. It's also weirdly underrated as an interesting, complex and well-written (most of the time) show. Plus, they'll keep you going for a while with 167 episodes and 4 feature films. Ah, I can remember waiting for the new seasons on [AS].

I do hate the way it ended though...boooooo! BOOOO!

The manga spans 56 volumes. 56!!! I don't have the time or energy to read all of that, although I hear it is a little more violent and risque than the anime series. Plus I think it has an ending.

So, Inuyasha haters of the world. Quit underrating and under-appreciating one of my favorite series of all times.

Psychic Wars (anime)

To be honest, I watched it twice, and not because it was good; rather, because it is short (50 minutes with commercial breaks) and because it has nothing to do with psychics. Really, nothing. There isn't a single psychic in the whole thing. It's like being handed a Sour Patch Kid with all the sour licked off...I mean I'll eat it, because it's my favorite candy, but I'll miss the sour part and I'll wonder why people are licking things before they give them to me (don't do that). Although,I suppose this unfortunate analogy is even more inaccurate because this isn't a Sour Patch kid (pre-licked or otherwise); it's a bad anime.

So, it has nothing to do with psychics...or wars really. Here's what it does have to do with: demons, nurses, curses (rhymes!), tiny headed men in very large suits with wide shoulderpads, really awkward English dialog and a plot that was both predictable and confusing at the same time.

Now, at times when I am confused by anime, for instance FLCL (I'll talk about it later...I'm so confused!!), I suspect that there is something lost in the translation, or some cultural theme that a native Japanese viewer might have which I, sadly, do not. This is about demons though, and (nerd-confession) I am pretty well informed for a gai-gin, because I have read some traditional mythology (in translation) and I tend to be a research junky. I did recognize some of the Oni (demons) in the story as being traditional to Japanese culture. And I was still confused by all of it. ALL OF IT!

Now, it could be that I am missing something, OR it could be that the thin plot was just a vehicle for demon fighting, intense wind storms, exploding shirts (you know what I mean) and exorcism rituals. I suspect that the latter is more probable. Not that I'm so clever, but that this plot was extremely undeveloped and stilted. 50 minutes of mostly fight scenes, windy forest scenes, and a unlikable main character who doesn't seem to care that his "quest" makes no logical sense. It's also one of those anime that you see coming from a mile away...I predicted the conclusion after the first ten minutes and then hoped for something surprising which failed to arrive. I give this a BLARGH! Although, if you'd like to buy it Amazon (click link above) has it for $22 dollars. That's the bargin price of 44 cents per minute...and that is the most surprising thing I can say about Psychic Wars.

Vampire Wars (CRAPPY anime)

Absofuckinglutely horrid. Some of the worst crap I have ever seen...and I'm not saying that lightly. Really. You know how some really, really bad things are so bad they're good? Well this isn't. This is just bad, so I will provide a list of reasons for you potential viewers who may stray across this atrocity on Syfy's "Animonday" or it's bastard love-child, "Chiller"

Reasons not to watch Vampire Wars"
1. What IS that animation style? Vampire wars is 1991, and yet if feels like 1984...Voltron-Style.
2. Ultra-violence, and not in a "wow, hahahah, look at that" way. Just bloody randomness...and a lot of GIANT caucasians.
3. If you like your vampires mixed with non-badassedness, and international espionage (sort-of) and a lame sub-plot about a famous actress (Am I remembering that right? Because I think I zoned out there in the middle.) then this is all for you.
4. Someone on Amazon.com said this was "sexy," and I have to wonder what they consider sexy...really. Vampires haven't been this neutered since they sparkled in a meadow and lectured high-school girls on the virtues of "saving it for marriage."
5. Even Anime News Network is confused about the plot. I thought it took place in Paris, and they claim it takes place in the Rural American West (is that a place?). And yet it begins with a French secret service agent found face-down (and appropriately drained of blood) in the Seine. I'm confused.
6. This OVA is based on a series of ELEVEN (that's right) novels of the same name written by Kiyoshi Kasai (according to Wikipedia...which is (ahem) always entirely accurate). I hope this isn't true. Or, I hope that the anime is the travesty I feel it might be.
7. I don't even remember how it ended. Go read some Anne Rice (I recommend

Memnoch the Devil) then bask in the warm glow of how terrible/lovely vampires used to be.

What manga would you most like to see turned into an anime?

I was originally going to go with Hana Kimi a sweet, gender-bender manga about a Japanese-American girl, Mizuki Ashiya, who secretly attends an all boy's school in Japan in order to be near her idol, track and field star and high-jump champion, Izumi Sano. So, she, as fate would have it, is assigned dorms with Sano, and falls in love with him. Sano, early in the series, realizes Mizuki's true gender and falls for her as well. Neither wants to reveal the truth about the situation, for fear of losing the other person or hurting their close friendship. There are a lot of super cutey moments, a lot of close-calls and a lot of comedic situations. I would LOVE to see this manga made into an anime, but unfortunately/fortunately it has already been televised in two (YES, TWO) different live-action versions. The first version, the one I've seen, is Korean...it isn't bad at all, and Ms. Shakespeare, is quite fond of it. I have not yet seen the second version, the Japanese live-action drama...but, just from the photos of the cast, I have to say: "GOOD LORD!" The super-hot bishonen cast makes me feel a little wrong...because I'm old and lame. Despite the two live action versions of this manga, I'd like to see an anime, but I won't get one...boo. So, I have to redirect my answer to this question in a more likely way.

To be honest, the mangas I'd most like to see turned into animes will not be turned into animes...ever. They're pervy, or too graphic. It's the kind of girl I am. No one is going to make Desire(Too young) or Fake (there was the one episode, mind you)or La Esperanca(too young, and too catholic) into animes...although they should.

So, I feel I must be realistic; the manga I'd most like to see turned into an anime is going to surprise at least one person...I'd like to see the American manga Bizenghast turned into an anime.

Bizenghast is one of those rare American mangas that has been embraced by Japanese readers, it is published by Tokyopop, written and illustrated by M. Alice LeGrow. It's a strange little story about a "sick" girl, Dinah, orphaned (as many manga/anime/disney characters are) and being raised in seclusion by her aunt (and an especially creepy caretaker) in the abandoned town of Bizenghast, MA. She is troubled by delusions and/or sees ghosts depending on who's interpreting her "fits." Her only friend is the adorably prince-like Vincent. The two come across a mysterious cemetery and mausoleum in the middle of the night after escaping from Dinah's locked room and become accidentally bound into a contract to appease the souls locked in the mausoleum...the price of breaking the contract is Dinah's death. The story itself isn't written very well, but the artwork (something I do appreciate in manga...I won't read a badly drawn manga, it drives me crazy!) is amazing. The style is a very opulent Gothic Lolita style, with a bit of steam punk and Victorian thrown in for good measure. LeGrow's costuming and architecture is gorgeous, and I think it would make a stunning anime. Tokyopop has already created a stop motion, picture-book sort of anime short of this manga.

Is it great? No. But it would be pretty.

But, I feel bad about picking this manga in a lot of ways...why not pick something I'm absolutely in love with? Well, because the things I am absolutely in love with are a bit too much for the general public, and I don't want to back something that would be nc-17.

Other possiblities I considered:

Because it's sooooo cute and sweet. No sex, no violence, just a girl alone in the world.

Two boys working for a drug store/psychic investigation firm. This is an unfinished series by Clamp...oh, I wish they would finish it; the stories are really very interesting and the series ended abruptly after the third volume.
and

Why not? Who doesn't like a good gay-romance, ghost hunt, comedy/drama? I do like this series, and I think it would be cute as an anime...it's not sexually explicit and it is full of funny misunderstandings and sweet moments.

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My suggestion for the next discussion:
Ouran High School Host Club--Manga v. Anime