bad luck party

Kimi ni Todoke - I’m Not Watching You So last night I...

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:33:43 -0700

Kimi ni Todoke - I’m Not Watching You

So last night I watched the REAL Pedro Martinez pitch in Game 2 of the World Series instead of watching this cute puppy Pedro Maru-chan. I know what a yucky cliffhanger episode 4 of Kimi ni Todoke ends on so I refuse to watch it until I have episode 5 handy.

Sometimes I think I prefer marathoning really good shows to watching them weekly. It allows for a depth of immersion that you can’t experience watching a show in half hour increments over a period of months. But there’s also something to be said for seeing something as soon as it’s aired and experiencing it in that contextual space and time with the rest of the community. I’d be curious to hear what your anime viewing preferences are… I haven’t fully unpacked the reasons why I watch certain shows the way I watch them, and others differently.

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan - One True Pairing?!? I’ve been...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:28:00 -0700

Yankee-kun to Megane-chan - One True Pairing?!?

I’ve been reading this manga for a few months and it is fucking sweet. The premise revolves around a student council made up primarily of delinquents and gang members. It’s actually pretty well done - most of the delinquents have weird and interesting reasons for ending up on the student council - and it’s hilarious enough to see these bad kids trying to organize school events and solve people’s problems that the story really carries itself. This isn’t the genre of manga I usually read, and I can’t remember what exactly made me pick it up - probably my weird obsession with Japanese gangs or some shit - but I haven’t been disappointed. It helps that the sense of humour and the yankii and bosozoku character designs are right up my alley.

But it’s definitely a fun read, and always unconventional, covering topics from forced prostitution to hikkikomorism and MMO addiction. And as of the last few chapters, there’s actually some fucking ROMANCE occurring!?!? That’s the last thing I expected from this manga when I started reading it, man. I’m so excited about the scene above from chapter 60. It’ll probably all blow over in some funny misunderstanding next chapter, but in the meantime it’s only been making me even more excited about this series. This needs an anime adaptation for real.

Shakugan no Shana S OVA - OMG Body Swap! That’s a new one!...

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:01:00 -0700

Shakugan no Shana S OVA - OMG Body Swap!

That’s a new one! Man, they sure are scraping the bucket for plot devices but it provided for a lot of Shana X Yuuji fluff - really that describes the entire episode - so I’m not complaining. It was quite cute to see Yuuji in Shana’s body noticing how fast she always runs despite being so small, and Wilhemina buying Shana a mountain of melonpan at the end because she (well, Yuuji) yelled “I love you Wilhemina!”.

I also got a kick out of Shana going hard as usual on the ice cream while in Yuuji’s body, resulting in him spending the ED credits locked in the bathroom. The seiyuus did a decent job of acting as one another - Rie Kugimiya’s half-hearted “urusai urusai urusai” was adorable as was Satoshi Hino’s rendition of her famous line. And I’m not gonna lie, I may have fist-pumped when Shana (as Yuuji) grabs Yuuji-Shana’s hand in front of that cow Kazumi. I kind of forgot that I’d missed these characters. I am looking forward to a third season a bit more now - c’mon don’t fuck this up!

Kimi ni Todoke - Squirmy Squirmy episode as usual. Especially...

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:34:52 -0700

Kimi ni Todoke - Squirmy

Squirmy episode as usual. Especially the last 5 minutes, going from squirmy-good to squirmy-bad back-to-back. The good: Kazehaya acting mecha mecha otoko-rashii (above) and guiltily but compulsively hiding Sawako’s brilliant smile from his classmates, out of a desire to keep her to himself. I’ll never be able to figure out why possessive boys are such a moe turn-on in shoujo manga, while remaining such a turn-off in real life. It’s one of those idealized teenage fantasies I guess, stemming from the desire of normal girls to be treated like princesses, put on pedestals and held precious in some way. It works in the land of high school love and shoujo bubbles. Pretty sure I was blushing during this scene.

And squriming obviously. Until we switched over to the bad: the beginning of my least favourite arc in this series, with the rumours spreading about Yano and Chizu at the end of the episode. I won’t spoil, but I will say that I hate any and all story arcs that deal with misunderstandings between friends. It just makes me so uncomfortable and upset until everything is out in the light and resolved. Next episode is called “Rumours” and I’m gonna hate every minute of it. But I also probably should admit that this rumours arc is the point in the manga where I first realized Kimi ni Todoke was a pretty special series. Up until this point things have primarily centred on the relationship between Sawako and Kazehaya like most romance manga. Getting into a plot that focuses in great depth on the growing relationship between the main character and her female friends this early is a pretty unconventional move for a shoujo title. Regrettably, most of the time “friends” aren’t too much more than plot devices or comic relief in romance manga (of the non-magical girl variety at least). Yet another reason I love Kimi ni Todoke.

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou - WHAT. THE. FUCK. New OP/ED...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:58:00 -0700

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou - WHAT. THE. FUCK.

New OP/ED credits for episode 28. I fucking lost my shit over this. You think the theme of the credits is going to be “MM3 at home” because it starts with a casual shot of Nishizaki looking cool reading a science book (Hanazawa Rui style) (P.S. the book actually says SCIENCE on the front), then cuts to Nami at home on the couch hugging a stuffed animal with a cake on the table in front of him. So I’m waiting for the final shot wondering “what are they going to show Toujou-kun doing in HIS spare time?” and the answer is THIS. Nishizaki reads books, Nami eats cake, Toujou runs around half-naked in fucking caves on fire.

Awesome. This show never fails to completely blow my mind.

(P.S. What’s the deal with all the live-action business in the credits? They actually have real dudes playing the MM3 guys now? Are they doing anything with that? I would totally watch a Gokujou dorama, lulz.)

Taishou Yakyuu Musume - Marathon Baseball Girls Well I said I...

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Taishou Yakyuu Musume - Marathon Baseball Girls

Well I said I wanted to watch it. I didn’t plan on watching all 12 episodes in a row but heck, this was a great show! I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to judging from the blogposts I read while it was airing last season, maybe as a result of seeing it all in one go so it never lost momentum. Even the “filler” episodes (street batters, the movie shoot, training camp) contributed to plot and character development. This might actually be the first baseball anime I’ve watched (still haven’t gotten around to Oofuri yet though) where you get a glimpse of the unique personalities of ALL NINE PLAYERS. No funny-nosed or squinty-eyed extras at the bottom of the batting order! Ouka-kai is pure killer no filler!

Set in mid-1920s Japan, Taishou Yakyuu Musume is about a group of 14 year old girls forming a baseball team in an attempt to prove to one girl’s fiancee that he’s a chauvinist dumbass. (He tells her women belong at home, and since he plays baseball she decides to take up the sport and challenge his school’s team to learn him good.) It’s your standard scrappy-little-team-with-a-lot-of-heart story, all about friendship and hard work. That kind of thing gets me EVERY time. But the period setting fills it with loads of character in the little details - from arranged marriages to old-fashioned names, the juxtaposition of Japanese and Westernized clothing, the American exchange teacher Anna Curtland (kind of anachronistic or was she supposed to be a missionary?) and the flagrantly ubiquitous “girl crushes” between team members. This all sounded a bit gimmicky to me when I was reading about it on other blogs but seeing it fit together it definitely creates a sense of era and charm.

From style to substance, there’s even some decent baseball strategy courtesy of resident meganekko right fielder Kawashima, and later from newspaper club president and stats scout Noriko. It’s hardly Tom Tango but combined with all the time-outs between pitcher Akiko and catcher Koume it keeps the games from getting stale. And of course, I loved it for the occasional touch of romance too - Koume and Saburou (her fiancee/the apprentice at her family’s restaurant) were so, so cute. Even Iwasaki, the original chauvinist, turned into quite the dashing, upright young man by the end. Ain’t nothing like a sports romance anime to make me forget about schoolwork for an afternoon! Ughhhhh

Kimi ni Todoke - Best Show This Year Okay, so we’ve only...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:42:00 -0700

Kimi ni Todoke - Best Show This Year

Okay, so we’ve only seen the first episode so far and maybe I’m biased since, as I’ve mentioned, I am an absolutely MASSIVE fan of the manga this is based on. But how stoked are you for Kimi ni Todoke?

It’s got a sparingly simple shoujo art style - adapted faithfully from the manga - complimented by beautiful watercolour backgrounds, so it looks very different from your standard fall season fare (think Bokura ga Ita for comparison). Lots of super-deformed caricature faces too so get used to that. Especially where our fantastically unique female protagonist Sawako is concerned - since her naivete and straight-forward nature make her the source of most of the series’ comic relief.

The scene above is a favourite of mine for a couple of reasons. Kazehaya stumbling upon Sawako earnestly chewing on her hair trying to look scary as a ghost for her classmates’ test of courage was a hilarious moment. I think I even wiped away a tear again (I know I did during the manga) at the point where Chizu and Yano toss Sawako a drink to thank her for her hard work - such a simple gesture of acceptance but so meaningful for a girl who had no friends until that point. And of course, the part where the always-confident Kazehaya gets flustered about the way Sawako is looking at him in the dark and the conversation they have about it (“Don’t make me say it”) made every girl in the world’s heart beat a little faster. Thankyou shoujo manga, for giving me the dokidoki I need in my life.

Cross Game - New OP/ED!? Well, new ED at least, with a couple of...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 23:22:00 -0700

Cross Game - New OP/ED!?

Well, new ED at least, with a couple of new shots in the OP. Like the one above. Pretty exciting to see Akane and Azuma taking a bigger part in the credits! The new ED especially is full of angsty shots of the love triangles between Kou/Akane/Akaishi and Azuma/Aoba/Kou. This show is heating up like a Koshien summer. It’s almost scary how fast they’re burning through the manga material.

And speaking of Koshien summers, goddamn was I envious of Risa watching the game on her cellphone in this episode! I wish I could watch baseball (or live tv in general) on my cellphone! I also wish I could watch Japanese koukou yakyuu games instead of scouring gaijin blogs for information on high school teams! Ugh, I guess if I want either of those things I’d better just up and move to Japan eh?

Cross Game - Yes I Still Watch Anime Not going to lie, when Kou...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:27:00 -0700

Cross Game - Yes I Still Watch Anime

Not going to lie, when Kou came out and offered to catch for Aoba (who isn’t allowed to play in official games since she’s a girl) I started to tear up. Here she is, feeling utterly marginalized from her team while the guys bond over winning the first game and staying in the dorms as a team without her. So she’s standing out on the field by herself on her way home at sunset and there’s piano music and you’re thinking “Fuck. That sucks. Is she going to quit baseball?” When out of the dorm walks Kou with a catcher’s mitt, and all he says to her is “Wanna pitch, right?” Holy. Now THAT’S romance.

Heads up Tumblr-ers - if I’m following you because we...

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:21:00 -0700

Heads up Tumblr-ers - if I’m following you because we kinda-sorta know each other in real life and/or you’ve got no interest in nerdy Japanese stuff, you probably should add my personal tumblr/photo-diary at http://feliciparty.tumblr.com instead of this blog. My “likes” on your posts will only show up from this here Tumblr account - but I’m the same person I swear!

Fall 2009 Season Anime

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It’s about time I get down to business and write a State of the Tumblr post, and a Fall 2009 anime preview seems as good a time as any to do it. Noogz got the jumpstart on me and did a great breakdown of a dozen shows yesterday so I think I’m just going to link you guys over to him for synopses.

As you can tell from the heinous lack of posting here over the past few months, I totally missed the Summer anime season. I’ve been watching Gokujou Mecha Mote Iinchou and Cross Game all summer and absolutely nothing else. Haruhi burned me with Endless Eight and I haven’t been able to gather motivation to pick it up again just to see the damn Mikuru beam. I still have a tremendous backlog of half-watched classic shows on my hard-drive, and while I’d meant to pick up Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 and Taishou Yakyuu Musume this round I unfortunately didn’t get around to them. I’ve been outside making precious summer memories, ok?!? Leave me alone!

Autumn looks better though. And while I’m not making promises, there are at least three shows that I will be watching FOR DEFS. Two of them are sequels to series that I’ve watched and liked, and the third is an adaptation of my favourite manga. It’s all familiar stuff so I’m much more motivated to watch than I was this summer, which sort of depresses me regarding my capacity to take risks and discover new intellectual property but whatevs. ~shrugs~

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu II

She’s the hottest girl in school and she also happens to be a huge otaku. Did you just cream your jeans? I know a few thousand Akiba-nerds did. I watched the first season of Nogizaka Haruka when it aired last year and found it pretty cute - although the two leads have the tamest OTP relationship I have ever witnessed. It’s just nice to see a reliable non-ecchi male character in a moe title for once. Here’s hoping Season 2 doesn’t fuck that up.

Shakugan no Shana III

Speaking of fucking things up, the majority of the blogosphere seems to agree that Season 2 of Shana was utter garbage. It was almost unwatchable. Which was extra disappointing coming from a show with a first season as incredible as Shakugan no Shana’s. This franchise had it all - gorgeous character designs, a complicated supernatural back story, ultra-violent fight scenes, school life romance, MILFs and drunk gaijin women, massive swords, baked goods, you name it.

I’ll admit it - I’m a huge Rie Kugimiya supporter. I always root for the tsundere. I own a Shana cosplay uniform. I have Mami Kawada songs all over my iPod. I LOVED this show. And I couldn’t even get through Season 2. So here’s hoping they get it together with Season 3 and dig into some much darker material from the adapted light novels. Screw the harem stuff. I wanna see my tsundere idol with her hair on fire slaying some Tomogara back to back with her boy Yuuji and his big sword.

Kimi ni Todoke

Oh, you don’t even know how excited I am about this one. Kimi ni Todoke is my favourite manga series (along with the majority of Japanese women 15 and older, apparently?) The synopsis sounds a bit weak at first - Sawako is a gloomy looking girl who always gets mistaken for the main character from the Ring despite her sweet personality - but the manga is incredibly well done. The blossoming romance between Sawako the class reject and Kazehaya the most popular boy in school is shoujo manga at its absolute finest. Every chapter of this manga fills me with dokidoki shimasu kyaa. It’s super heartfelt, and unlike a lot of other shoujo titles the cast of characters are all extremely interesting. Even the love rivals are believable and twisted. I especially can’t wait to see Sawako’s best friends - the slutty but razor-sharp Yano and the tough-ass tomboy Chizu-chan - animated. This is a must-watch.

FYI, this may be a year late but I’ve totally memorized...

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:35:26 -0700

FYI, this may be a year late but I’ve totally memorized all of May’n’s dance moves and I’m ready to bust ‘em out next time I do this song at karaoke. Can’t hardly wait.

Gokujou: Mecha Mote Iinchou - Road Rash Moteko Oh Mimi, you are...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:00:13 -0700

Gokujou: Mecha Mote Iinchou - Road Rash Moteko

Oh Mimi, you are my absolute hero and role model. I am writing this blogpost in tribute to your awesomeness. I wish I could be a moteko like you, but I doubt you would ever end up with road rash all over your face from drunkenly horsing around with boys behind a Wendy’s at 4am. Then again, part of the reason I love you is because you are able to give the best ultra-positive fashion and love advice to all of your girlfriends while somehow not having your own shit together whatsoever (re: Toujou-kun). Which sounds eerily like somebody else I know. Props respect to Kitagami Mimi, kyou mo perfect desu wa.

Cross Game - Ouch, Burn So many good burns this episode....

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 22:43:00 -0700

Cross Game - Ouch, Burn

So many good burns this episode. Aoba’s last-second high five burn on Kou was pretty awesome, and poignant in the context of their love-hate relationship. Check out her blushing face above, as she realizes that she was totally about to high five her childhood arch-enemy. Azuma also got some sweet burns in on Coach Daimon while sitting injured in the dugout - “Do you know what teams they played their practice games against?” and “Bet you wish you had a better batter right about now” were my personal favourites. ~sigh~ And of course the biggest burn of all comes courtesy of the old drunk jiisan - Oops, sorry guyz, forgot to tell you I was the chairman. You’re going to resign if you lose this game right? Cool, glad that’s settled. Bai bai, sunglasses.

Boys Este (2007) Ridiculous. I was shopping for dramas with...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:53:29 -0700

Boys Este (2007)

Ridiculous. I was shopping for dramas with Linda at our favourite DVD stand a few weeks ago, and she picked out Boys Este (because OMG HOT GUYZ ON THE COVER). Little did we know what she was getting us into - we were totally unprepared for how shockingly retarded and addictive it would be.

The goofy love story revolves around Shizuka, a girl who is self-conscious about having a “sandanbara” (literally “three layer flesh”, meaning rolls of fat around her midsection) and Hibiki, a boy from a poor family who is suffering from a “cock illness” (foreskin problem also known as phimosis). In addition to his, uh, problem, Hibiki has a magical gift for massage that causes his hands to glow cheesily and women he massages to lose weight - a miracle known to everyone in the show as GOD HAND, I shit you not.

Hibiki-kun the God Hand boy goes to work in an all-male staffed spa called Boys Este to make money for a foreskin operation. It is here at the spa that he meets Shizuka and tries to help her lose weight and overcome her lazy and gluttonous sandanbara complex. Obvz, they fall in love, and obvz, there are many trials along the way before a surprisingly satisfying romantic resolution. If it sounds like the worst idea for a drama ever, that’s because it IS. But the antics of the Boys Este staff (above, with Hibiki played by cutie Nakamura Aoi - BORN IN 1991 - on the right) are hilarious and the romance is legit. Also, Ikeuchi Hiroyuki (Murai from GTO, wha???) is in it and that guy’s a babe! Good times.

Shangri-La - Chat Monchy (Hataraki Man ED Theme) Hataraki Man...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:24:00 -0700

Shangri-La - Chat Monchy (Hataraki Man ED Theme)

Hataraki Man is a bit of an older show (2006) that I’ve wanted to mention for a while if only for the fact that it aired in noitaminA (marker of quality?) and that its protagonist Hiroko Matsukata is pretty much my HERO. Honestly, fuck the definition that designates comedy high school shows about nothing (K-ON!, Minami-ke, Lucky Star) as “slice-of-life” anime - Hataraki Man is much more reflective of a slice of MY life, that’s for sure.

Hiroko is tough and works hard in a man’s world, but can be a totally abrasive bitch, a lazy self-indulgent cow and a ditzy flake in good measure as well. Every episode focuses on a different, equally weak and unlikeable but human character dealing with some sort of mundane problem that just drags me by the heartstrings with that whole pain/beauty of everyday life thing. Especially while currently living a life as sexless and overworked as Hiroko, to the point that I’ve been spending my free time at the spa and craving nattomaki, I just want to sing along with “Shangri-La” at the top of my lungs - “boku no koto dame na hito tte shikarinagara aishitekure!” Call me a worthless person, but love me just the same~

Cross Game - Gratuitous...

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:23:00 -0700

Cross Game - Gratuitous II

………………*drool*

Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger - To Be Continued! Wow. That was...

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:20:00 -0700

Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger - To Be Continued!

Wow. That was awesome. There’s really not much else I can say about the show that essentially introduced me to the shounen sports genre that I am now so passionately devoted to. This season ended on a note of what I love best about the series, with Ippo training to get faster and stronger than ever before. I’m going to miss seeing the Kamogawa Gym guys every week (yes, even Takamura and his dick-grabbing, see below). Motto hayaku, motto tsuyoku, and hurry up with season 3 okay?

Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger - Punny Holy crap. I’ve...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:39:00 -0700

Hajime no Ippo: New Challenger - Punny

Holy crap. I’ve been lazy about going to training this week so I didn’t want to watch Ippo, thinking it would make me feel guilty for not hitting the bags. Luckily there is absolutely NO BOXING whatsoever in this episode, only the freaking world middleweight champion being a total lech, dick grabbing and some of the most horrible puns of all time. I bet the fansubbers are having a rough time with this one, hahaha.

Cross Game - Summer Nights and Black Undershirts Geez, you know,...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:44:39 -0700

Cross Game - Summer Nights and Black Undershirts

Geez, you know, I really wanted to post a screenshot of the scene where Azuma approaches Aoba because I have a strong shipping compulsion for those two (even though it will never happen because Kou X Aoba is sooo destined (Unless Adachi-sensei pulls another awesome fakeout like he did with H2 SPOILER STOP READING NOW where osana najimi Hiro and Hikari don’t end up together cuz Hikari stays with the amazing Hideo Tachibana (nested parentheses!))). But, I could not post said Azuma/Aoba screenshot. For the primary reason that Azuma looks so goddamn fine in his evil elite team black undershirt.

This summer camp episode was pretty good, besides the weird culture shock I get to this day regarding Japanese summer-is-the-scariest-season-blah-blah-Obon episodes. I don’t find bright sunny days or short nights all that creepy myself. We got some interesting plot development on the main team roster as the best players start to become disillusioned with their coach, some Kou and Aoba “ki ni naru” stuff which is always great, and the heavy implication that the farm team is all fired up and going to come back hard. Love training arcs.

You don’t even know how excited I am that Junpei shows up in the next episode preview.