Ronin’s Anime Chronicles (Temporary WP Blog)

I downloaded a new video file from Eclipse Fansubs. Stangely, it is titled “Shakugan no Shana-tan”. Why is it titled as such? It is then that I decided to find out for myself.

As I was watching the clip, I suddenly felt a few years of my life wasting away. Damn.

This is another example of capitalizing on the main character’s charisma and turning it topsy-turvy. That is, towards uber-cuteness.

J.C. Staff earned an OK sign from me. Damn it! Making Shana too cute for words.

uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai!

Hahaha! Indeed, I was living a life a minute shorter.

credit due to Basugasubakuhatsu Anime Blog for the pic.

Recently, Wired published a write-up on the emergence of anime as mainstream program. Well, true, it has emerged “from the back corner of your local comic book store”, and being shown almost everyday on TV, but I have to comment on a few points mentioned.

Anime also continues to make inroads on the airwaves, both network and cable. Kids’ programs like One Piece and Shaman King are some of the most popular on Fox’s after-school toon lineup. And more grown-up fare like InuYasha fills out Cartoon Network’s highly rated, late-night Adult Swim programming block.

Grown-up? Kids’s program? I say, “There is no age group in anime.” Everyone’s entitled to watch, unless of course there are some sensitive issues you might disagree with (i.e. same-sex relationships, teacher-student relationships, fanservice).

“Things have never been better for anime fans in America,” said John Ledford, president of Houston-based ADV Films, which published 189 anime DVDs last year. “No matter what channel you look at — retail, broadcast or theatrical — more anime is available in more outlets than ever before.”

Heh. You bet!

Amid all these new releases, the industry is searching for the next Dragon Ball. The over-the-top martial arts action series exploded into a worldwide phenomenon whose television ratings made even mainstream media stand up and take notice. The series has never disappeared off the Lycos 50 list of top internet searches since the feature’s inception six years ago.

One possible successor to the throne caught the eye of Lycos 50 two weeks ago. It’s another martial-arts comedy, called Naruto, that premieres Sept. 10 on Cartoon Network’s Toonami programming block. The site noted that the popularity of the series in web searches has risen dramatically as the release date draws near.

What? How is it no different from, let’s say Dragon Ball?

Action series is more like it, like what you mentioned about Dragon Ball earlier.

“Naruto, the main character, is a ninja who is host to a powerful demon,” said Nick Civitello, a fan of the show who lives in Connecticut. “The people in his village have come to think of him as the demon that he houses. In spite of it all, Naruto wants to prove everyone wrong.

“He represents resolution and hope. Eventually, everyone starts looking to him for strength and guidance. At the time I discovered Naruto, I was deeply depressed. Watching it just made me happy.”

The show promises to attract viewers who grew up with Dragon Ball but now find its kid-oriented content a bit tiresome. “Naruto takes everything that was great about Dragon Ball and cuts out all the crap,” said Civitello.

Kid-oriented? How about mentioning a few of these “kid oriented” themes, huh?

That guy (underline mine) said it better. Being an inspiration for everybody is not kid stuff.

“There’s way too much supply and not enough demand. Publishers overshot their estimates and had way too many returns. Target just started scaling back their anime section, and I don’t blame them. They got burned,” said Tibbey.

Also, if people weren’t so biased about anime in the first place, the demand would increase, right?

Well, that’s all I have to say. I know some of the people might disagree with me, but this is what I have to say.

Opening Theme

“Koikaze” by éf

Ending Theme

“Futari Dakara” by Masumi Ito

…when two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, both are desensitized to later close sexual attraction and bonding. This phenomenon, known as the Westermarck effect, was discovered by anthropologist Edvard Westermarck. The Westermarck effect has since been observed in many places and cultures, including in the Israeli kibbutz system, and the Shim-pua marriage customs of Taiwan, as well as in biological-related families.¹

…When this does not occur, for example where a brother and sister are brought up not knowing about one another, they may find one another highly sexually attractive when they meet as adults: a phenomenon known as genetic sexual attraction. This observation is consistent with the theory that the Westermarck effect evolved to suppress inbreeding.¹

…Finally, there is also the much rarer phenomenon of consensual incestuous relations between adults, such as between an adult brother and sister. This is illegal in most places, but these laws are sometimes questioned on the grounds that such relations do not harm other people (provided the couple have no children) and so should not be criminalized. Artificial insemination and distant adoption have compounded these problems. There are known cases of people having romances, or even marrying, only to later find out they are closely related.²

The paragraphs above are a few snippets I brought from an entry on incest and the Westermarck effect. And this is somehow what the anime series, Koi Kaze, seems to convey. The way the issue is address here is controversial, that is, the theme presents the societal taboo of incest (in most Western countries).

We meet Koushirou Saeki, a 24-year-old marriage consultant who’s out of love, now that his girlfriend confessed that she likes someone else, and leaves him. It is the season of Spring, and he feels morose in his current situation. He finds love, in the most unusual of circumstances. He encounters a female high school student, Nanoka Kohinata, who he later finds out to be his younger sister³ he hasn’t seen in years.

Now that they are living in the same house, they try to adjust themselves to living together. However, they find an unusual attraction between each other, and are struggling to get these feelings from getting in between their brother-sister relationship.

Basically, that’s the premise of the story, but the story itself deals with a very controversial topic. The interaction of Koushirou and Nanoka creates a bond between them that seems inseparable, as brother and sister. As time goes by, they begin to slowly be attracted to each other’s “good qualities”, that the result would be finding comfort in each other’s arms.

I advise everyone that this is a series aimed at the older teens and young adults demograph.

¹Wikipedia Article on Westermarck Effect ²Wikipedia Article on the Modern Views of Incest ³In Japan, when a man and a woman marry, not only is the wife eligible to change her maiden name to her husband’s, but the husband as well, from his family name to his wife’s surname. I think this is why (to the viewers unfamiliar with this custom) Koshiro and Nanoka were assumed to be from different families.

Opening Theme

“Ureshii Namida” by Noriko Sakai

Ending Theme

“Ano Hi Ni” by Maki Kimura

First review up, and it’s one of those 90’s anime I mentioned earlier (it was made in 1992).

For those of you who haven’t seen (or heard about) this show, well here’s your chance to catch a glimpse of this rare gem, courtesy of yours truly.

We have Yota Moteuchi¹, (a play on his name Motenai) the main character and all-around nice guy. So nice, in fact, that he even lets his childhood friend and longtime crush Moemi Hayakawa get along with his fellow classmate and best friend Takashi Niimai.

Dejected that his love was left unrequited, he goes to a video shop and purchase a VHS tape (very popular back then) of “video girls”, one of those novelties of a loveless man where you pop the tape in your VHS player (again, very popular at that time) and watch as a girl pops up on your TV screen and tries to interact with you, to console with you, and to mend your broken heart.

Later on, this concept of girls popping up on TV screen becomes a magical reality, as suddenly, this video girl Yota’s seeing, Video Girl Ai Amano, comes out of his screen and into his room. He was almost gushing for joy at the sight of this goddess coming into his life. And here is where their story begins.

This is a tale of a touching yet endearing romance that almost jerked a tear out of my eye. Watch as Yota and Ai struggle as their love gets tested throughout the show. “For brokenhearted people only”, as the intro screen of the tape shows. Yes, this OVA delivers that magnificently.

The animation shows its date pretty well, as we get to see watercolored backgrounds, shots of static screens, and of real places in real-life Japan.

Even the voices are appropriate for their respective characters. Ai’s feisty voice instantly reminded me of her role as the female Ranma Saotome of Ranma 1/2², with Megumi Hayashibara also voicing her. Yota’s seiyuu, Takeshi Kusao, delivers his heart wrenching role as the dejected, hopeless and too-nice guy Yota Moteuchi. Hearing Yuri Amano voice the cute Moemi Hayakawa lets you draw in and feel as if you want to comfort her for her unsuccessful, yet trying, attempts at catching Takashi’s attention. Ever the uninterested cool guy, Takashi’s seiyuu, Kouji Tsujitani, makes you want to knock some sense into his head and take notice of Moemi.

Based on the original manga of the same name, by Masakazu Katsura, directors Hiroshi Watanabe and Mizuho Nishikubo have certainly outdone themselves to bring together this classic to life.

¹In Japan, a person’s surname is pronounced/written first before the given name. In this case, I’m using the Western format, given name first, then the surname. ²Don’t believe me? Listen to how female Ranma talks and you will clearly hear that distinctive tone here on Video Girl Ai.