Shameful Otaku Secret!

What ’bout my peg leg

Well, well. When Ozma and Cathy finally bring Captain Global whatever his name is news of Leon’s assassination of the president, and that same Leon somehow cons Bilrer into folding SMS into NUNS, it’s munity on Macross Quarter, complete with jolly pirate lingo. But our favorite cabin boy won’t be along for the ride, as he’s finally discovered he’s in it for the laydeez. Some truly random thoughts:

Like the noble people of the American plains, the good warriors of Frontier use the whole Vajra.

Alto and Luca talking after testing the warheads was a bit melancholy, somehow the execution of this scene made the absence of Michel very noticeable. Well done, for once, Satelite. In fact, animation was right on for the first time in a while, even as Geass seems to be running out of steam. But the characters don’t necessarily seem on model if you rewind 20 episodes back, especially Ozma’s thin face and Cathy’s overpowering eyes.

Ozma and Cathy wandering through the wrecked Frontier was very reminiscent of Hikaru and Hayase searching the scorched Earth for remains of life. I think that’s the first really big reference I’ve seen in a while to the old school.

Sheryl plus Elmo equals win. Especially in that outfit.

Let’s get this girl back on track with a retro-80s synth pop band: Sheryl and the Fold Waves! Get me Elmo’s number! At any rate, Sheryl and Ranka have reversed places so many times now I’m not sure who’s who.

The new Sheryl song is probably the most Yoko-Kanno-like tune in the Frontier repertoire. Mayhaps she’s wearing through her ability to write idol pop?

I hate to see a bridge bunny look so down.

Klan providing a pep talk is good, but probably the last significant thing she’ll do in the series.

Shut yo mouth!

The call-up (text-up? Mail up?) was very fist-pumping, though by no means quite like the similar TTGL episode. And without Alto on board it’s not quite the same. But despite what Ozma says, Alto does have his own agenda, even if he’s just now figuring out what it is.

In a lovely kimono and pancake makeup.

Ranka’s gone to space, Sheryl’s gonna die… Perfect situation for Alto, he can play the man’s part without ever having to worry about rings, station wagons, kids (Vajra or otherwise), or mortgages.

Klan gives the pirates the traditional Meltran three-part salute

Lots of love for you Sheryl fans this episode.

And it’s nice to see a Macross episode contrast a space battle with some kind of singing concert. Pretty sure I’ve never seen that before. Also fairly certain that I could be more subtle in sarcasm.

You know Sheryl is back on top when her outfits get sluttier.

Grace continues to prove herself a worthy opponent, even if we’re still not truly aware of her ultimate goal — especially now that she’s dropped Leon in favor of her own breasts.

A villain who fondles with each victory. I can get behind that. I think.

And finally Brera and Ranka arrive at the Earthlike Vajra home world, much to the delight of the Vajra there, who are conviently psychic and speak Japanese.

You did it! You finally did it! You blew it up! God damn you all to hell!

Let’s bring this home. Only a few more episodes, hopefully the budget and the story can maintain. These past 4 or 5 episodes of Frontier have really cured the bad case of give-a-shits I previously had, but thanks to #22, I think I might actually be back to caring.

Wait, who am I? Are you my mommy?

I think that can tell you a lot about an anime fan from what they consider to be their influences — at least in the terms that we here on the anime-internets tend to related to one another. Also, I’m waiting on my Chiko to get subbed and I’m short on original ideas at the moment. So I stole one from Riex.

My most influential anime!

1. Neon Genesis Evangelion. What did they call it, the Series that Launched A Million Fanboys? You’re looking at one. The angst, the action, the symbolism, the pretentiousness, and the all-out mindfuck couldn’t be topped. I liked anime before, but all of a sudden this insatiable appetite to consume episode after episode of marginally believable animated nonsense starring underage protagonists took over — to the point where Pokémon briefly became an somewhat-acceptable form of entertainment. Plus, it was only the second time I’d seen such blatant contempt for humanity. The first?

2. Urotsukidoji. Yeah. That one. I’m not kidding. To this day, I don’t watch hentai, but I can still appreciate the horror of this flick. Make no mistake — it’s full of sex, violence, violent sex, and sexualized violence. That makes it appropriate for almost nobody, but it’s also got a well-written story that foreshadows plots like Evangelion and Blassreiter, except with huge demonic cocks. I was taken aback by the shocking nature of Japan’s original tentacle vehicle, but also by just how surprisingly good it was.

3. Akira/Ninja Scroll/Ghost in the Shell. Why put them together? There was a day when you couldn’t mention them separately. If someone had seen one, you forced them to watch the other two because that person was an otaku on the verge. Thanks partially to frequent commenter Jason (specifically for Ninja Scroll), I hit the whole triumverate of violence, story, atmosphere and quality and that’s all she wrote. Like so many American fans, if I hadn’t seen these, I wouldn’t be here yammering on about this shit.

4. Tie: Cardcaptor Sakura/Love Hina. Weird tie, no? But I watched these two series around the same time, and they served similar purposes in my degeneration into otakudom. I had mostly seen full series on VHS and of course VHS tapes were almost all dubs. We started watching CCS to find out only the first part of it was dubbed (the parts they took out back behind the shed and beat until it became the horrific American Cardcaptors). So I saw my first profesionally subtitled anime in a perfect scenario to learn just how much better it was than the dub. Love Hina was about a week after, and it wasn’t even out in the US yet (thanks, crack dealer anime-lender friend from Hong Kong), so no dub there either.

The second reason these are here: my first marathons. You bet your sweet ass I plowed the entirety of Cardcaptor Sakura. Wow. Still my longest record. Thankfully, my (now-)wife was there, and so was booze.

Maybe more important than either of those things, both of these shows proved without a doubt that an anime didn’t need to have a heavy story, or robots, or heaps of violence to entertain the shit out of me. A screwball romantic comedy and a kids’ adventure, if done well enough, can get the job done and then some. To this day, you can’t show me a harem or a childhood friend without it all looking suspiciously like Love Hina. Also, I have a coffee mug with Kero-chan on it. Judge me, go ahead.

5. Macross aka Robotech. OGT probably puts it best: The original reason anyone loves Macross is that damnable transforming airplane, the Valkyrie. When I was a kid I could give two shits about Lynn Minmay or Shao Pai Lon (which I also think is a great song, probably a shit movie though) but I did have a Valkyrie toy. And it was somehow cooler even than the transfomers because it had three forms — I still can’t get my mind around why the Gerwalk form is needed, but watching the show as a kid you knew that even that form had a point. Anyway, regardless of how bastardized it may have been, Robotech made a mecha fan out of me early in life so I have to thank it.

6. Haruhi. Easy, right? For me, yes. After Evangelion I went berserk for a while, then tapered off after a while in favor of things like Takashi Miike and David Lynch. But Haruhi made everything better again. It doesn’t matter that Haruhi is the product of a scientific formula that’s guaranteed to be loved by otaku everywhere, it’s a great show, a time-traveling treat with a pile of laughs. I also came to the mistaken conclusion that television anime had turned a corner quality-wise. Turned out that was just one studio.

So what got you going? Inquiring minds want to know, what made you the fanboy/girl you are today?

About Looooooove

I officially stopped blogging Code Geass R2, but this is a blog and why should anything be official? I called it a train wreck and revolts were led against me, but let me make myself clear: the more railroad cars pile up on this bitch, the more I love it.

And this week, Geass returned the love. “Love Attack,” that is! From Milly’s usual overblown heiress-antics to that old Sousuke Sagara chestnut, “mecha used in inappropriate situation,” Geass brings the lulz.

Quick points:

Zero does photo ops now? My, how the mighty have fallen. Note that neither Zero nor Xing Ke’s wives can see over the podiums.

If Sayako doesn’t watch the amount of dates Lulu goes on, he’ll be traveling to the aquarium via the 12 o’clock Nice Boat.

The 6 Million Dollar Orange has the mother of all Geasses. When “Ask A Ninja” reviewed Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (and later again for 3), the Ninja’s big problem was that “everyone is a pirate now.” It’s the same with R2. Everyone has a Geass. But now, someone has an awesome Geass.

Shin is right. Shirley is toast. Sorry, everyone, she’s cute, but that scene at the bottom of the stairs did look like a flag. I could be wrong of course — any perceived foreshadowing could be a red herring, considering that they make this shit up as they go.

But you have to admit, it’d be a good plot point. It’s been a while since LeDouche really had to grasp the human cost of what he does, and heywaitaminute did everyone just forget about Kallen?

Must be nice to be rich. What’s your name? Eh? You’re hired!

You’re a knight of rounds? Hey! Hey! Lulu! Take me to do the illegal stuff! I won’t be a dork, I promise! Geno will be played by Anthony Michael Hall, circa 1985, in the Hollywood remake of Geass.

I think this is the first time Anya has ever looked worried. Apparently, Ashford High is populated by anime bloggers lolicons. No wonder she went for the Unfair Mech Advantage and saddled up Mordred.

Sayako may have gotten LeDouche’s athletic ability wrong, but she got this part right. I laughed. A lot.

This made me think of something. I may have mentioned that the Geass dub (currently airing in the US on Adult Swim on Saturdays) is pure shit. I see no reason why I shouldn’t own the DVDs (other than it comes out at the same time as Gurren Fucking Lagann) but I need to figure out how to wire their audio tracks permanently to the “not shit” channel.

Save for Crispin Freeman as Orange-kun, all the voice actors are positively vomitous. And Johnny Young Bosh, while he’s ok (I actually did like his dub of Itsuki in Haruhi) is just not right. This scene cemented that.

There is no way that one of these mostly-second-rate American dub actors can match Jun Fukuyama’s delivery, which can only be described as Fruity Menace. Or is it Villainously Poncy? I dunno.

Lulucopter.