Bounen no Xamdou Ep. 02 - Quiet People, Quiet Mysteries

The first episode made me really excited about this series, and I'm happy to report that the second episode hasn't lowered my expectations. Like the first, this episode moved slowly with many mysteries and promises of answers and action in the future. Haru somehow recognizes the strange white creature as Akiyami and attacks a solider to stop him from shooting Akiyami. A very large monster lands on the island and begins wreaking havoc, but white monster Akiyami decides to fight it. He manages to win, but as he's pounding away at the downed form, Nakiami, the girl with red hair descents from the sky. She calls him a "Xam'd" and takes him back to the ship, leaving a desperate and tearful Haru behind. On the ship, Nakiami performs what appears to be rather excrutiating surgery on Akiyami to seal his Xam'd form away. Back on the island, Akiyami's mother visits his father. As a doctor, he's busy taking care of patients and she lashes out at him for not even knowing that his son has disappeared.

Wow. I'm really enjoying this show. It gives me a real Eureka 7 vibe, but the technology is a lot more organic and almost mystical in nature. Plus, some of the designs feel like Miyazaki characters. Music is still solid. The OP is terribly catchy, and the ED is very peaceful. None of the expansive tracks like in episode one, but definitely a solid BG. The character interactions are really nice. I found the argument between Akiyami's parents to be subtle and powerful all at once. I really hope the story picks up, since it's still wandering along at something of a walking pace. But if the OP is any indication, we'll be getting a good deal of action soon enough.

--Ou-bento

Hakushaku to Yousei - A Fun Drinking Game!

Let's play a fun drinking game! Get out your scotch and play along. Take a shot every time we have a time-honored shoujo trope. Ready? Go.

Talking animal sidekick. Take a shot.

Sparkly lead bishounen. Take a shot.

Lead female with a special ability (seeing fairies). Take a shot.

Butler sent to watch over lead female. Take a shot.

Threatening situation with a guy putting the lead female in a weak and compromising situation. Take a shot.

He's really quite a gentlman, but he has no concept of personal space. Take a shot.

"Let's run away from the trouble I just got you into." Take a shot.

He's also a hardcore fighter. Take a shot.

"But I, the lead female, get to see him so vulnerable! He can't be a bad guy!" Take a shot.

Hair hair hair hair hair. Take a shot. And a bonus shot for the sparkle sound effects.

Another butler! Take two shots and set aside a bottle for the inevitable BUTLER TOURNAMENT.

Random fancy pretty dress for the lead female. Take a shot.
Female complains "what's with this clothing?" Take a bonus shot.

Fancy ball where lead female is the "pretend" date with the lead male. Take a shot.
The girl on the other side is flirting with the lead male and looking down on the lead female. Take a bonus shot.

Romantic moment alone where they argue. Take a shot.

Lead female almost falls to doom but is caught by lead male. Take a shot.

Lead male might have a DARK SIDE. Take a shot.

Hear that noise? It's the sound of a million guys rolling their eyes as yet another shoujo series dripping in sparkles and pretty boys makes its rounds. And I must confess, I feel like joining them. Not that I have anything against shoujo. I love shoujo, and I'm practically killing myself waiting for Skip Beat! but so far, nothing about this show has stood out to me. Lydia is a girl with the power to see fairies and brownies and stuff. Everyone else thinks she's weird, except for her talking pet cat Nico. On a trip to visit her father, she's kidnapped by a man named Edgar who needs her abilities to help him with something important. I was actually pretty distracted by the fact that Edgar looks so much like Tamaki. -_- And when he started acting all bishounen like Tamaki, I couldn't help but laugh a bit, especially since this time around it's not supposed to be funny. >.> Definitely a good show for any girl who eats up the shoujo love, though.

I'm also a crazy big fan of the lead seiyuu, Nana Mizuki and Hikaru Midorikawa, so getting to hear them was very pleasing. The animation isn't bad, but the OP sequence was quite possibly the most lazy thing I've ever seen. It was almost completely made up of episode footage. The song was decent, but hopefully we'll get a nicely animated OP sometime. The opening scene with Edgar being evil and shooting a guy with a noisy cricket did catch my attention though, so I'll probably keep an eye on this series and a bottle of liquor in my hand.

--Ou-bento

Bounen no Xamdou Ep. 01 - I should have been watching this sooner...

This series is made of so much YAY, I'm not really sure where to start. I missed it when it first came out thanks to being out of the country at the time, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it the other day. From reading the summary, I thought it would be a school life scifi, but it opens up like a Miyazaki flick with beautiful and foreign scenery and goregous music. Switch to a fairly normal school life in a world reminiscent of Eureka 7, and we meet our hero Akiyuki, a highschool boy with a energetic personality and a somewhat reckless side. Although he has worries like separated parents and a school friend who likes him more than he realizes, his life is pretty carefree. Unfortunately, that all changes when he decides to help a girl sneak onto a bus to school. She blows up the bus, throwing everyone into a panic. As she dies, she apologizes to Akiyuki for dragging him into this mess. He suddenly turns into a strange white creature. High above in the sky, a girl on a glider senses him and decides to land on his island, much to the chargrin of her superior officers in a nearby airship.

The opening scenes already drew me into the story with the fluid animation, intriguing designs and beautiful music. But if that weren't enough, the extremely infectious OP (Shut up and Explode) made me decide that I definitely like this series. The rest of the episode didn't let me down, and I really wish my torrents would move faster so I can watch more. I've always liked BONES' clean animation, and this is no exception. The OP, especially has a Eureka 7 vibe (and I verily liked Eureka 7). The characters are interesting, and I'm definitely curious to see how this plays out. The music, especially at the beginning and end really stood out to me as goregous pieces. I'm always a sucker for a good OST. After a great first episode, here's hoping for a great series.

The boy who leapt through time.

I was gonna clean my room, but then I got high...

--Ou-bento

Oh SNET, Gurren Lagann on SciFi (And CLANNAD is licensed)

I can be so slow sometimes. I basically just stumbled upon the fact that SciFi Channel is airing Gurren Lagann on Monday nights. I've never actually seen the dub. Is it worth watching?

Also, some version of other of CLANNAD has been licensed by ADV. This is hardly surprising, seeing as they already picked up AIR and Kanon. Seeing as Greg Ayers confirmed the license, there's a pretty good chance he'll be voicing Sunohara. In fact, I'll be very surprised if he doesn't. As happy as I am that CLANNAD is coming stateside, I'm also kinda depressed. I really wanted to voice Kotomi. Like, really really badly. But as it stands, I don't live in Texas and I don't think they'd let a random new kid just walk in and claim one of the main characters.

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 Ep. 25 - SAD END

Wow. While I'm not wholely satisfied with the ending for personal (Karen-loving) reasons, it was a good end. I don't think there could have been a conclusive ending without Lelouch's plan. Now Zero is an icon and a figurehead for the world.

The rematch we've been waiting for. Although rather unexpected, since I always figured it would be Karen on Lulu's side vs. Suzaku against Lulu. This was one of my favorite battles. No magical new weapons or cheap gimmicks. Just a good, good fight.

Karen, please don't be sad...

That is...such a strange outfit for Nunnally. It doesn't match her at all. I'd like to see Karen in it sometime, though. >.>

Sword of Zero! That is...such a cool sword. I'd probably be way more into it if it were Lulu behind the mask. >.> Anyway, Lelouch's plan was brilliant (as usual) and terribly depressing). For a series like this, there's no good way to end it except to kill off the protagonist. But his self-sacrifice in the end and desire to make the world a better place was so sad. ;_; Lulu came out as my hero in the end (which makes him better than Light).

Karen, please don't be sad...

The guardian five.

;_________________________; SAD END.

Yay~ Karen isn't sad. ^o^ Is that the key to the guren nishiki that she's wearing around her neck?

Is that Alyssa's Child from My HiME?

And then it was Spice and Wolf. : / Lulu is now immortal master of economics. :D

Well, I guess as long as Karen is happy in the end, then I'm happy. I'd call that a good end.

--Ou-bento

Chaos;HEAd Promo

Finally a promo with animated footage. Yay.~ Chaos;HEAd is another one I'm looking forward to. It airs October 9th, and the promo looks pretty decent. All I really know about the plot is that it's about some otaku guy who stumbles on some pretty terrible murders and winds up seeing all sorts of crazy delusions. The promo images make it look more like a harem series, but then again...I thought Higurashi was a harem series too.

Overflowing with pretty girls who don't really have any sticking power with their designs. Some of them also might not really exist.

Kaede? Is that you? Does that mean I'll be getting some delicious yandere goodness?

YES. DELICIOUS YANDERE GOODNESS.

--Ou-bento

Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin Ep. 01

More BS for everyone. Yeah, that joke will probably be done after about...two more uses. Anyway. This clears up most of my confusion from my previous entry. Battle Spirits Genkai Toppa Bashin episode 01 is inexplicably episode two of Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin. I'm not sure why. Or maybe the video files are just poorly labeled. Anyway. Episode opens with J vs. a masked fighter named Suiiren. She appears to be ahead, but with some magic (cards), he suddenly pulls ahead from behind and defeats her soundly. In the meantime, Bashin does normal hero things like sleep in, feed his pet, cluelessly walk past the girl who's totally crushing on him, goof off in class, play Battle Spirits, and make deep and lasting friendships. Oh yeah, and his mouse doesn't talk yet. It's apparently some unfortunate side effect of playing Battle Spirits in THE MAGICAL ZONE (not real name). All through episode two, I really thought he was just referring to his talking mouse as "buddy," or "partner," but apparently its name really is "aibou." Clever. Really.

There's actually a TV program about Battle Spirits. With like, commentators and analyists and stuff. And here I was worried that this card game wouldn't be unnaturally popular in this alternate Japan. The guy on the right is totally my hero.

It's his father. Naturally. Nothing like a good shine on the glass to keep mysterious characters a mystery. Oh yeah, and did I mention that Bashin has some sort of magic pendant that once belonged to his dad? MYSTERIOUS.

His soccer loving friend has large hair, a fact not unnoticed by this clever fellow. He probably attacks other players with it too.

So uh, a good intro to the game and the characters, I guess. Not much happens, and it's overflowing with enough stereotypes and tropes that only someone interested in blatant commercials would probably go for it. Also, the animation is noticeably worse than episode two. Or not worse...but a lot more lazy. More talking heads, still frames and walking in place. I wonder what happened to change the production values so much?

--Ou-bento

Shugo Chara Ep. 51 - END (But not Really)

Season finale, but it launches right into the next season, so it was only kinda epic. Dia visits Amu in a dream and asks what her wish would be if she got the Embryo. Amu isn't sure. When she awakens, she discusses it with her other charas and they tease her about the possibilities (including marrying Tadase and getting a new outfit). Amu runs into Yukari and Nikaidou who are definitely NOT on a date and Nikaidou tells her that the three from Easter claim they're going to finally catch the embryo. She's worried, but none of the other guardians seem particularly bothered by it at the "Embryo Catching Party" that night. They discuss what wish they'd make. Their wishes range from childish (Yaya hoping for more food) to sweet (Rima hoping for her parents to get back together). Amu still doesn't know what she'd wish for, but she's cut short by a text from Ikuto saying he has information about the Embryo for her. She leaves on her own, and it turns out to be a trap (unsurprisingly). With Amu out of the way, the Easter goons put their plan into action, sending a series of X-Egg powered mini-UFOs to search for the Embryo. Things quickly get out of hand and the X-Eggs bind together to attack the guardians. In the meantime, Ikuto discovers Amu has been trapped and releases her. She returns to the Guardians and they make short work of the X-Eggs. As they're being purified, they notice the Embryo among them. Amu and Ikuto both leap for it, but before they can get to it, one of the Easter dudes accidentally fires a missile from the helicopter he's in and Ikuto decides to protect Amu instead. By the time the dust clears, the Embryo is gone. Tadase isn't pleased with Ikuto holding Amu, but Ikuto just smirks and disappears. And so the search continues...

The dude from Easter might be terrified, but I wonder how many girls would pay for this sort of treatment.

I swear these guys totally remind me of Team Rocket. They're completely incompetent, they get blown up every other minute, and they report to a scary angry man behind a desk.

It's the Brady Bunch.

Oh wait, I'm sorry. I meant Guardian 5. My two favorite guardians are conspiculously missing, but it's just as well. I doubt Kairi would do that silly pose anyway.

So, not much of an ending. They were this close to the Embryo, and then suddenly...all gone. It was cool to see everyone all transformed and the fighting actually had some really nice animation. Ikuto's pretty hardcore, leaping from buildings to helicopters and such. A decent lead-in into the second season, but sadly unspectacular. There's even a preview for the next episode, calling it episode 52. It's pretty much not a season finale at all. Not that it was a bad episode. I was just expecting a few more sparks. And I miss Utau. >.>

Next episode/season preview has Dia hatching again. Promo image for Shugo Chara Doki shows upgraded transformations as well including roller blades for Amulet Heart, a treble clef wand for Amulet Spade, and what appears to be (but probably isn't) a ping pong paddle for Amulet Clover. I hope Nadeshiko returns from overseas soon. He's my favorite.

--Ou-bento

Bloody Monday - Manga Review

Secret plots, deadly viruses, a mystery organization, and a genius hacker. It's hard to categorize Bloody Monday in a certain genre, because it crosses quite a few and manages to do so well. In a small town in Russia, a deadly virus is sold to a seductive woman who quickly turns the town into a testing ground, killing everyone in it. Meanwhile in Japan, a group of friends in school live out their happy school life. One of them, Fujimaru is secretly the genius hacker known as Falcon. His father works for a secret government agency and Fujimaru's skills are often called upon to aid the government. When his next job brings him up against the organization that now owns the virus, the lives of his family and friends are suddenly turned around. With his father on the run for a murder he didn't commit, Fujimari suddenly finds that he's on his own. To make things worse, his new teacher seems to have more than a passing interest in him and his skills.

I like stories like Bloody Monday where the stakes are high and the players are smart. In some ways it feels like a bizarre (but somehow effective) cross between Death Note and Black Lagoon. Fujimaru thankfully escapes the "magical genius programmer" stereotype. Although some of this hacking seems a bit farfetched, his plans make sense and his limitations like the power of the machine, getting wireless, etc. are more grounded in the real world. Unfortunately, some of Bloody Monday spills over into "teenage hero" ground as his friends are martial arts and archery champions who somehow are actually going to put up a fight against an evil organization with professional assassins. I honestly expected them to be dead a lot sooner. The organization is pretty faceless save an FBI agent gone bad and the extremely sexy Maya Chihara who has somehow managed to enter into Fujimaru's inner circle. Although Bloody Monday attempts to be more of a "real world" mystery, there's a good deal of suspension of disbelief necessary to swallow some of it. But hey, when you've got secret organizations and deadly viruses, and insane killers, it's practically expected. Anyone who likes mind games, intrigue, and high stakes would enjoy the ride.

Artwork is very nice with clean lines and excellent use of tones. The style leans towards more of a shonen feel, but with more of an emphasis on realistic rather than cartoony. Expressions stand out well and scenes of violence and blood are well drawn and evoke anger and sometimes disgust. The characters stand out well enough from each other, but none of their designs are memorable outside of these pages. Not like it's really necessary. Bloody Monday is a series that gets your adrenaline pumping and requires more thinking than the average shoot-em-up series. It lies somewhere between mind games and guns and I am eager for the next chapter.

Bloody Monday is scanned by Gievmoar, So Sexy Scans, and Bakayarou.
You can read it online here.

--Ou-bento

Lucky Star OVA - More of the Same in a Good Way

Basically like a really long episode of Lucky Star. A collection of cute short stories, some great, some outright boring.

My sister has a dog a lot like this one. Big, fluffy, and mildly violent in a cute way. And kinda perverted. Stay away from Miyuki, you eroinu. A mildly boring short that sorta rambled along at its own pace with no destination. In some ways, I was reminded of Azumanga Daioh. But...less funny.

This was my favorite short out of all of them. I play MMORPGs a lot, and watching them play was a lot of fun. Tsukasa's inability to work the basic controls was adorable, and her "a...a.....a....." part when Konata finally told her to use "ENTER" was really really cute. The best part of this comes from watching the characters in the background, though. Random romantic interactions, guys running around, and even a poor guy getting killed (and never revived). Classic.

Not a huge Konata fan, especially when she panders to the audience. I was a little surprised to see her dressed as Yuki, but her magic was pretty entertaining. And even though I dislike Konata pandering, Kagami pandering is always worth it. Seeing her as a maid, shrine maiden, and Rin was great. Seeing her as Hatsune for an extended period of time was wonderful. Konata, I take back (some of) the mean things I said about you. Tsun tsun Kagami is wonderful.

The volleybal sequence actually held my attention quite a bit. Animation was beautiful (as expected) and the simple plot drew me in. When it came down to the final spike, I held my breath for Tsukasa (and Kagami). The ending was predictable, but well-timed and really cute.

School camping trips are fun. Picking on Tsukasa less so. Wa wa wa wa wasuremono.

Live action Lucky Channel. O: Really cute, but it seems like these folks aren't quite used to being on screen. The actors looked a little bit awkward and in some places almost uncomfortable. Nothing like seeing a seiyuu cosplay their characters, though. Of course, when it starts getting self-referential, then my head starts hurting.

--Ou-bento

Battle Spirits Genkai Toppa Bashin Ep. 01 - Worth it for the ED

For a card game called "BS," there's a lot less lying and swearing than I expected. In the grand tradition of shows about card games that everyone takes too seriously, I present Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin. The good news is exceeded my expectations. Then again, I didn't really have any expectations. This appears to be either a sequel to Battle Spirits Shounen Toppa Bashin or some sort of supplementary thing. Either way, this episode comes into the middle of the story, but it's not hard to catch up. The titular card game "Battle Spirits" (unfortunately abbreviated as BS on the back of all the cards) doesn't seem to stand out as a unique card game. Each player starts with six hexagonal jewels, and random monsters with varying levels of BP (which I can only assume stands for "battle points") bonk against each other until one player loses all of his hexagons. There's also enough English/Engrish in this that I doubt subtitles would even be necessary; "kore atakku wa...chekkumeito desu."

The main character Bashin faces off against rich, talented, pretty boy prince of the arena J. He then loses. Of course. When his teacher and female friend try to cheer him up, he lashes out at them, so his teacher decides to teach him a lesson by battling him in Battle Spirits. Bashin wins, but he apologizes in the end anyway and is once again motivated to continue playing Battle Spirits. And J rides around in a limo and his driver gets lost.

So this appears to be season two...or something. Because everyone already knows what's going on. Unfortunately, Battle Spirits doesn't seem to really know what it wants. At the core, it's another average card game show. But both Bashin and J have talking animal familiars who seem to have some sort of hidden agenda. In the meantime, there's an idol singer who doesn't seem to even play Battle Spirits. I should probably watch the first season to figure out what's going on. But...I kinda thought this was the first season. >.> Additionally, although the art is simplistic, the animation is surprisingly nice. It avoids the plague of talking heads that usually shows up in series like this, and characters move fluidly without losing their cartoonish proportions. It's almost depressing to see this much effort and quality put into what amounts to a throwaway series.

This girl with glasses has the terrible misfortune of being named "Meganeko."

Row! Row! Fight the powaa!

The ending song is a surprisingly well-animated, fluid, and catchy sequence of a cute idol singer.

Battle Spirits managed to impress me with the nice animation quality and a very nice ending sequence that seems to belong in a different show (which I'd totally watch). The flat characters, predictable plot and mindless game don't give me much of a reason to continue watching, though. I'm sure fans of card games and other such shows will really enjoy it, though. I'll probably keep an eye on it just to see the cute idol singer girl, since I have a soft spot for singers. But unless you're into this sort of thing and you're looking for more of the same, just find someone to upload the ED to YouTube or something. In fact, here's a low quality version I found:

I would totally watch the show that this is really the ending to.

--Ou-bento

Moon on the Water (BECK) Cover

I was going to tell you this would be an exciting opportunity to finally hear what I sound like, but I guess anyone who cares already knows. XD So yeah. Here's an "exciting opportunity" to hear my Kotomi (or possibly Ikuto) quality violin playing and my brother's more acceptable guitar playing. Oh yeah, and me singing.

--Ou-bento

S.A. Special A - Character Songs

Because no anime series is complete without a collection of random character songs. Admittedly, I've had mixed feelings about all of the music in S.A. The first OP was too bubblegum pop for my tastes, and the second OP was nice (but somewhat lacking). That being said, this album was actually pretty decent.

Gorgeous 4U (Kei Version) - The second OP sung only by Kei. I like Gorgeous 4U, and having a Kei only version is fine. Personally, it's kinda cool having a group song, but just Kei sounds fine too. I actually really like Jun Fukuyama's singing in this. Usually I'm not a huge fan, and I never really liked the Lelouch Code Geass image song. But this one actually sounds nice.

Hibike! High Touch - Hikari song. Really cute, but not my speed. Kinda seems like a random song she'd sing to herself. Also feels kinda out of character for her.

Midnight Moon - Kei song. Mediocre at best. Almost not worth the listen. Has some Kei-ish lyrics at least.

Ashita he - Akira song. I really like this one. She has a beautiful voice that's rather soothing, and the song is very pleasant to listen to. This would actually be a pretty decent OP song. It's sweet but energetic and just feels really nice.

Umi no Mukou - Tadashi song. A huge departure from Akira's "Ashita he." Very bouncy, and very in character for Tadashi. I'm not too fond of the singing, but it's certainly Tadashi. I can't help bouncing a bit when I listen to this. It's rather silly in nature. Not my favorite, but a good character song nonetheless.

Boku no Basho - Jun song. Pleasant to listen to, but unfortunately forgettable.

Hoshi no Nagareru Yoru ni - Megumi song. Really, really beautiful. Her voice is cute and soothing, and the song is very pleasant to listen to. The lyrics are equally beautiful, and this is just really comforting. I regret that it's not very catchy, but it is so nice.

Te wo Tsunaidara - Ryuu song. Ryuu was a character who sadly received almost no decent character development in the series. Thankfully he has least has a decently nice song. It's a slow-paced one, but the beat is nice. In some ways it reminds me of the stuff I hear in Chinese restaurants (don't ask). A little generic, but still nice.

Nonstop High Tension! - Another Hikari song. While like it more than "Hibike! High Touch" it still doesn't quite resonate with me. There are a couple parts, especially in the chorus, that are really catchy, and I think it's a better representation of her character. It's surprisingly slow paced for such an energetic song, but it's not bad.

Innocent Love (Kei Version) - I liked Innocent Love a lot more than Gorgeous4U when the Gorgeous4U single was released. Still do. Jun sounds good singing this. Much more pleasing to the ear than "Boku no Basho."

Special Gyutto Good Luck! (Hikari Version) - Just as adorably cute and energetic as the original. I always thought the second ED was pretty cute. Sounds nice.

So in summary, the Kei remixes are nice, and Akira and Megumi's songs stand out as especially good. The rest of the songs are decent, but not really worth remembering.

--Ou-bento

Rantings of a Fandubber Vol. I: I hate cheap microphones

So I've been working on another amateur dub project. And as usual, I collected a cast of people that spans the globe. Translation: check. Script revisions: check. And out the email goes. Within a couple weeks, in come the MP3s. And that's when the problems hit. Besides being in charge of translation and scripting, I also have the somewhat tedious job of mixing all the audio. While recreating the track, and sound effects from scratch is a time-consuming process, the largest problem I face is the quality of the actors' mics. And that's not the only defining factor. One person sounds like he's a little too close. No matter how much I lower the volume, he'll sound louder than everyone else. Another girl's lines have a lot of static in them. One girl's mic makes her sound possibly under water while another seems to be under a blanket. And when we get to screaming lines, sometimes all you hear is a bunch of painful sound warping.

It sure would be nice if everyone had a professional quality mic, but there's still no accounting for environment. If one actor lives in an echoey apartment while another is never close enough to the mic, the quality of the microphone won't hide the fact that they're not in the same scene. And mic quality can really, really break a good scene. It's not something you think about until you watch a scene and it sounds like everyone else is in a different place. There are a couple ways to fix things. A good actor knows how far to stand from the mic, what volumes to set things at, and the right kind of environment to be in while recording. And a little bit of audio magic on my part can remove some static and background noises as well as even out levels. But sometimes there's just no way to win, and you wind up with a good cast sounding completely disjointed and a good scene feeling completely off.

For my personal dubbing group, I have a pretty limited set of actors who I work with, all with good quality mics. Unfortunately, that makes me the odd man out since mine is uh...mediocre. But don't tell anyone. >.>

--Ou-bento

The Bento I Made Today

Introducing my secret weapon: lettuce. I'm still an amateur when it comes to making bento, and I spend a lot of time looking at other bento to get an idea of what I can do better. One thing I noticed a lot was that the really nice ones were always laid out on a bed of deep green lettuce. I have recently started doing this, and I honestly think it really does help. It adds more color, depth, and texture, plus it allows you to be a little more lazy with packing everything tightly. My lettuce-ing skills are still in dire need of improvement, but I think it's a good start. Today's bento also includes tamgoyaki, one of the most fun and delicious bento items to make. No cool bento theme today. Next step is to attempt to recreate bento from anime series. Because even my lunches like to cosplay.

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 Ep. 24 - Dude, I told you...

I told you. I told you I told you I TOLD YOU that Nunnally was the final mastermind. You all thought I was crazy! You all laughed at me. But WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!? That's right! Nunnally!

In other news, Karen got so fed up with the way they twisted her character she ran away and joined the cast of Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's. I can only say it's an improvement. I adored Karen in season one, and I was cheering for her all through R2. But her bizarre and sudden hatred of Lelouch and easily manipulation from the laziest man on earth...not to mention she hardly got any decent screen time at all this season. ::mope::

And, as is typical of Sunrise, no one's dead even if you DO see the body. I'm fairly pleased Cornelia didn't get a BAD END, but it's still a little annoying that no one is really dead. Guilford? Really? Charles and Marianne will probably pop up again in the final episode along with Euphemia.

At this point in time, I'm really not sure what to think. In fact, if we wound up with a LuluxMiya end, I probably wouldn't care.

NANI? MAI HANI?

--Ou-bento

Shugo Chara 50 - Useless, but Cute

Not exactly filler, but painfully slow nonetheless. However, the sequence with the characters in fantasy mode was really cute. The search for the Embryo continues. Kairi sends a load of reading to the Guardians while the three stooges back at Easter attempt to build a machine that will create an Embryo. Predictably, everything explodes, and Ikuto stops by to offer no help whatsoever. The charas chat amongst themselves about the Embryo, and Daichi mistakes Kukai's video game rantings as saying that the Embryo is being held in a castle somewhere. This prompts the charas to decide to strike out on their own to rescue the Embryo, leading to a really cute scene of them dressed up as RPG character types. White Mage Su was especially adorable. In the meantime, one of the Easter goons slaps a tracking camera on Ikuto, but rather than do the smart thing and sell the tracking device to rabid fangirls, he shows off his technology to the guy behind the desk. Ikuto finds the tracker quickly but decides to play along and sticks it on Yoru's forehead. The guardians wonder where their charas went and decide to search for them. They meet Su, who got lost from the rest of the group. She takes them to the "castle" which is actually an abandoned factory and coincidentally the place where the Easter idiots are conducting their experiments. The Embryo maker malfunctions, and Amu and Tadase waste no time in purifying the X-Egg. Ikuto and Yoru show up to mock the trio from Easter, and return the tracking device.

Yeah, I agree with Ikuto on this one. This episode was decidedly slow moving with no real threat. Easter is starting to remind me of Team Rocket. One evil bad dude behind a desk, and three idiots running around trying to appease him with their ridiculous schemes and overblown technology, but more often than not getting blown up in the process. Team Rocket never had an Ikuto, though. Shame. The RPG sequence in the middle was really cute, though. Seeing all the charas dressed up as their RPG selves was adorable. Next week looks like more stuff is happening. Preview has everyone in their character transformations including Kukai and Ikuto. Might there also be some rabu rabu with Ikuto and Amu? WE'LL SEE.

--Ou-bento

Skip Beat! Site Updated with Character Designs

TV Tokyo updated its Skip Beat! site with an actual site including character designs. Here we get to see Kyoko in the most fashionable pink jumpsuit of the Love Me section. The characters page only has Kyoko, Sho, and Ren, but it's nice to see more than just the same promo image. Speaking of which, there's a larger version on the main page and I finally noticed a bunch of chibi characters on the film that surround the characters. The chibi images tell a story with Sho mocking a downhearted Kyoko followed by Kyoko demons attacking Sho and finally Kyoko mocking a downhearted Sho. It's pretty cute, and the chibi versions and style are faithful to the manga. It gives me high hopes for the anime. Great scot, I can't wait. Can you tell?

--Ou-bento

Today's Bento

Today's bento has an Avatar: The Last Airbender theme. I'm so cool, aren't I? Okay...probably not. Anyway, I was aiming for something that represented the four kingdoms/elements of bending. I'm only mostly satisfied with the outcome...

Air was by far the easiest. Slap an arrow on a rice ball and call it good. I also made a riceball with a spiral of black sesame seeds. I had to place each seed by hand, and it took longer than it probably should have. But hey. Sesame seed spiral. :D

Earth is represented by the vegetables. The Earth Kingdom uses circles with a square in the middle for like...everything. Specifically earth bending stuff. So all I had to do was slice up a few carrots, poke some square shaped holes in them and tada. Earth.

Fire is represented by all the fruit. The Fire Nation symbol is just a flame. Easy enough. I was worried that by the time I was done with the strawberry it would be indistinguishable, but it came out decently.

I am very not pleased with my representation of water. The Water Tribe doesn't have any symbol, so it was up to me to think of something decent. I wound up using noodles to represent the flow of water, and I put salmon and seaweed on it so it's like the ocean.

And that's what I did today. I'm fairly proud of it, although I wish I could have come up with something better for the Water Tribe.

--Ou-bento

Random Walk - Manga Review

As someone with a computer science background, I was really expecting something different from a manga called "Random Walk." Personally, I think a story about a drunk man stumbling home over a city-sized Pascal's Triangle would have been much more interesting and a whole lot less frustrating. Random Walk follows the romantic adventures of a high school freshman girl named Yuka as she looks for love. And it's a roller coaster ride that any indiscriminate shoujo fan should eat up. As for the rest of us...

Let's start with the plot. It's paper thin. A girl is looking for love. She has an ex-boyfriend, a friend of the family, a non-blood related brother, and a model who goes to her school. Nothing beyond your standard boy buffet. And of course she's got her girlfriends with their own crushes. A lot of shoujo series follow this formula, and it can work out pretty well. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for us), the entire story is crammed into fifteen chapters. Everything is incredibly fast-paced. Yuka falls in and out of love in a heartbeat, kisses flow like water, and boyfriends change faster than clouds. It's a frustrating ride that leaves the reader feeling empty. Yuka is looking for love, but all we really get are shallow tropes and empty relationships. Even the final relationship feels weak and poorly built, with no real guarantee that this is the "right" guy. Even the name of the series, Random Walk only barely has any relation to the story. There's an attempted explaination in the end, but it really falls short and doesn't manage to connect the story at all. In the end, it's really just a series of overly emotional, but terribly shallow relationships all strung together with no satisfaction whatsoever.

The artwork is pretty standard shoujo fare, which basically means that I can't tell any of the characters apart save for hairstyle. Sadly, a lot of characters have really similar hairstyles. One guy with long hair only manages to stand out until he cuts it, then he looks exactly like Yuka's previous boyfriend. Two sets of girls with nearly identical hairstyles confuse me quite a bit, and I keep mistaking one girl with particularly short hair for a guy. Artistically, it's a solid piece of work. However, it does nothing to distinguish itself from the piles of shoujo manga out there with decidedly better plots.

Random Walk isn't terrible, but it's unfortunately very flat, especially in comparison with manga-ka Yoshizumi Wataru's other works. Any shoujo maniac would probably enjoy it, but you'd be much happier reading her better works like Marmalade Boy, Ultra Maniac, or even Mint na Bokura.

Random Walk is scanned by Manga Project, Shoujo Magic, and Clozed Madnezz
You can read Random Walk online here.

--Ou-bento

Cosplay Indecision 2008

If I were rich, I'd cosplay all my favorite characters. But I'm not. So I have to be picky about who I cosplay as. Which means it's one again time to decide who I'm going to start saving up for. And of course, it doesn't hurt to get public opinions, either. I've narrowed it down to three. Thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Contestant #1: Tianzi (Code Geass R2)
Why: I like Code Geass, and I've wanted to cosplay from it for awhile. Karen was my first pick, but I really don't have the shape or the height to pull her off properly. Tianzi is one of my favorites from R2, and I really like her empress outfit. Wedding dress is a no. And I would love to style that wig.
Why Not: My skin doesn't have that lovely milky white beauty of an empress. She also didn't get enough screentime for her to develop a deeper pesonality, which is sad.


Contestant #2: Kairi (Shugo Chara)
Why: Because Shugo Chara needs more love. I've only seen a few cosplayers, and most are Amu. Samurai boys are the best, and I have a weak spot for the megane type. And I love Saiga Mitsuki characters.
Why Not: Since I actually wear hakama on a semi-regular basis, I'm going to be really ticked off if I don't get proper hakama for this. But who makes it in that color? Really. That sort of topknot in the hair is kinda hard to style properly, too.


Contestant #3: Noe (true tears)
Why: Hey guys, remember true tears? That really good show from some seasons back? Yeah. Why don't I see anyone cosplaying from it? It really does need more love. If I cosplay, it's gotta be Noe. I don't think you could pay me to cosplay Hiromi. >(
Why Not: At risk of sounding like I'm in it for the attention, I'd be really sad if no one recognized me. Besides, "normal" looking clothing is a little bit less fun.


--Ou-bento

Lost+Brain 03-04 - Hypnotism Does not Work that Way

Hiyama's latest victim was a suicide bomber who blew up a government building. Unfortunately, his plan isn't quite as flawless as he imagined. Kuonji realizes something's up and guesses that the bomber was hypnotized into his suicide mission. And so he arrives at the school with the intent to use hypnosis to discover the culprit. Even though Hiyama hypnotized everyone into forgetting they were used as his test subjects, he knows that Kuonji has the ability to dig deeper than that. And so he quickly gets to work with the intent to erase him. He starts making moves at Kuonji's niece who already declared her love for Hiyama in the first chapter. Then he has two of the people closest to the suicide bomber commit suicide after leaving a note that declares that Kuonji is the true mastermind behind the bombing.

Lost+Brain is difficult for me really get into. I'm a big fan of twisty mind games and evil geniuses, but there's some sort of spark that I'm still not feeling. Maybe it's because I feel like I've played this game before. Kuonji provides a decent L to Hiyama's Light, but Kuonji's personality has yet to reveal itself. His attire and deep mastery of hypnotism make him intriguing, but his character is still disappointingly flat. I also feel as if Hiyama isn't quite at a status where I actually think he's capable of pulling this stuff off. Admittedly, he surprised me with the double suicide and the incriminating note. That was a nice touch of mad genius. But in general, he himself admits that he's far behind Kuonji, and the fact that he actually has to go out of his way to ask for help with his world domination plan feels a little weak. Still not sure what the second dude is really going to do to help in out anyway.

Even when I don't try to compare Lost+Brain to Death Note or Code Geass, I feel a sense of lacking. I think Hiyama's sudden leap into evil is too abrupt. Even though he began the story feeling superior to everyone else, the fact that he has no problem letting his pawns die from the beginning is odd. I also feel very little attachment to the characters, so I have very little stake in who wins this game. I wouldn't mind a break from the random deaths and mind games to get some time to know these characters a little better.

--Ou-bento

Skip Beat! Music - Sometimes...I am so slow.

So...like a month after everyone else found out, I finally discovered that the OP and ED for Skip Beat were announced. Wow I am SO good at this. Anyway, the OP is called "dream star" and it will be performed by the generous. I've never heard of her before, and thanks to a decidedly common sounding name, it's hard to find anything that she's done short of the sample clip on her website. It's not enough for me to get any feeling towards her at all, so I'd definitely like to hear more. If someone could point me in the direction of more music by her, I'd be happy.

The ED is called "namida" (tears), and it's performed by 2BACKKA. According to their site, it'll be out on November fifth. I haven't even heard it yet, but I'll probably be looking forward to this release. 2BACKKA has a sound similar to some of my favorites HOME MADE Kazoku and Afromania. Even their PVs all look the same. Anyway, here are some PVs from 2BACKAA. Personally, I rather liked them.

--Ou-bento

S.A. Special A Ep. 24 (END) - Feel good endings for everyone!

Well, it's the good end we've all been waiting for. Hikari is angry that Kei left, but she decides to go to London to bring him back. The rest of S.A. decide to come with her. Unfortunately, Hikari can't even figure out how to get to London. Enter Sui, who just wants his dear Onii-sama to return. He supplies a helicopter that will ferry the S.A. directly there. Once there, Akira and Tadashi get a little distracted by the sights and the food. But they eventually find the Takishima residence, which looks something like Buckingham Palace. There's going to be a party at the place, so they decide to sneak in during the party. They're approached by guard dogs, but Ryuu says he'll take care of them. The gang moves on, and Tadashi drops out to deal with some attack lasers. Yahiro appears to help him. Once inside the mansion, the remaining group are surrounded by combat maids, but Sakura appears and activates HAREM MASTER Jun, who easily distracts the maids to that the remaining three members can continue. They're met by a group of black suits, so Megu stays behind to deal with them. However, she realizes that she can't sing without Yahiro with her. He shows up in time and her song quickly immobilizes the guards. Tadashi returns with a motorcycle and picks up Akira and Hikari. Hikari is unceremoniously dropped off in what appears to be Kei's office. When she hears someone coming, she disguises herself as a big pink rabbit. But it turns out to be Kei, so she gives him his birthday present - a set of dolls of everyone in S. A. She then challenges him to a race to Big Ben and he agrees. The two take off in sparkly lovey happiness and Aoi decides to just let them go. Once they're near the top of Big Ben, Hikari wants to confess. But the wind blows away the flowers she brought. She leaps after them and Kei leaps after her. They then share an embrace and a kiss while floating magically in front of the clock tower. No. Really.

NOT Romantic Times
This is a bad way to propose.

Romantic Times
Not to be confused with Times New Roman


More Romantic Times


Romantic Times?

ROMANTIC TIMES

Well, not exactly the most shocking plot twist ending ever. Not like anyone wanted it. Special A has, for the most part, been somewhat of a headache for me. I enjoyed the manga, but the pacing in the anime felt awkward and Hikari's cluelessness really annoyed me a lot more than it did in the manga. But it has a happy ending with good friends coming together and doing good friend things. For all its little bumps, Special A still managed to provide a nice, warm fuzzy ending that was actually decently satisfying. This isn't a show I'd stick on my top ten, but it was worth the ride while it lasted.

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 Ep. 23 - Nunnally is Stupid Y/Y?

All the intelligent comments on this episode have already been taken, so it's time to dive into mindless, snarky comments. Well, I guess I should at least rant a little bit first. These days, it seems like the cool thing to bash Code Geass R2, call it a trainwreck, etc. And I guess in comparison with the first season, I really feel pretty let down. In fact, I'm not even sure what the point in anymore. Lulu has lost his main reason for becoming Zero, and yet he continues. I'm not really sure why. Is it his competetive nature? His drive to create a new world? He says he must continue now, but his changing the world seems to lack decent motivation. And then, of course, how are people picking sides, anyway? C.C. chose Lulu because she suddenly decided to break things off with Charles and Marianne? Then Suzaku just...forgave Lulu and became his knight. And Nina's with him too, even know she knows Lulu killed Euphemia? Lloyd (and Cecile) seem to go with whoever they feel like. In fact, they just seem to work on robots with no motive or moral standing. Li and Todou are making some really strange decisions, too. I can't believe the Order of the Black Knights would turn around so suddenly and start working with a prince of Britannia if they were so angry about being used by a prince of Britannia in the first place. In fact, there's really not much that makes sense to this one anymore. But I will admit that I keep watching it. It's a soap opera, but it has me hooked. No matter how much I complain, I'm still watching. And buying merchandise. And writing about it. And...well, I'll save that for later. >.>

"In seven days, you will die."

I'm still surprised Nunnally couldn't figure it out from the beginning.
I mean, she's blind. She should be able to recognize her brother's voice (as Zero) even if he pitches it a little lower. This is the girl who can tell that a cat is walking with a limp. And she doesn't recognize her brother's voice? Really? And she can't tell that Schniezel is a big lying jerkface? And she wants to detonate the thing herself? There's stupidly idealistic, and then there's just stupid. Just wait; she really is the final mastermind behind the whole thing and she's just playing everyone.

BAD END
I liked her. For her to go out in such a way is really, really sad. Especially since she did nearly nothing this entire season. Sunrise reset, please?

After last week's RivalzxNina, nothing surprises me anymore.
They win the award for most GAR couple ever.

I like the chess piece in the foreground. Very symbolic.
Still not in the C.C. camp, but it was a pretty cool scene.

WHAT THE TWEAK IS THAT!?
GREAT SCOT WOMAN, DON'T EAT IT!!!

My thoughts exactly.
Also, C.C. needs to cut back on the pizza.

--Ou-bento

+Anima Manga Review

+Anima (pronounced "plus anima") is one of my favorite manga series, and it's a breath of fresh air that finds a home somewhere between epic plotlines that take themselves too seriously and rambling adventures that quickly degenerate into mindless silliness. In a medieval-fashioned world, there are people who have the power of certain animals. These people are called +Anima, and they are a stigma upon society. Most spend their lives disguised as normal humans and most humans are content to shun any who reveal themselves. In this world an energetic crow +Anima named Cooro is going on an adventure with no destination. His winning personality quickly earns him warm friends, but also attracts a lot of unwanted attention. Along the way, Cooro is joined by Husky, a money-loving, feminine fish +Anima, Senri, a somewhat spacey and childish bear +Anima, and Nana girly and innocent bat +Anima. The four of them travel through the world having adventures and making friends.

It's really impossible to give +Anima much of a plot short of "four friends go on adventures together." Each of the characters has their own history with especially long arcs devoted to them, but for the most part, it's a collection of mini adventures. There are hints at something larger brewing beneath the surface, especially concerning Cooro, whose past is the only one still left in mystery. But as it stands, this series is merely adventures of friends with no real destination. And it doesn't pretend to be any more than that. They're not heroes out to save the world. They're not a pack of wolves searching for paradise. They just are. Of course, Cooro's infectious energy and overwhelming desire to help people gets the group into a lot of situations. Unlike other travelers (like Kino, of Kino's Journey), they touch and change every place they visit.

And it's the innocence of these children that brings the real charm to the story. The eldest, Senri, is probably the most childish due to an event from his past. And the most serious, Husky, still manages to be roped into helping people in need under the guise of doing it for the money. +Anima is charming and innocent, overflowing with a playful attitude. That's not to say there aren't serious moments. All the main characters carry their own heavy past laden with violence, racism, political games, and slavery. But that's where part of the charm of the story comes from. Instead of being pulled down, the characters manage to overcome their dark pasts and continue to live strong.

Artwork in +Anima is absolutely gorgeous. Expansive landscapes and detailed scenery provide an appropriate home for beautifully drawn characters. Character designs, especially the main characters and distinctive and pleasing to the eye. Chibis are adorable, and even in their normal form, the large-eyed characters have a childish innocence. +Anima is a series that I wish would be animated, but I'm honestly worried that any animation wouldn't be able to capture the beauty and detail of the artwork in the manga.

+Anima is adorable, innocent, and fun. It's a fantasy that doesn't try to be epic, but rather playful. If you want something that will make you smile, I highly recommend reading this story. The artwork is beautiful, the character are endearing, and the story is a lot of fun.

+Anima is licensed by TokyoPop.

--Ou-bento

Shugo Chara 49 - I'll try not to complain too much...

First half of the episode was really sweet. Second half was the usual. ::sigh:: The few goons who are left at Easter Corp. are working on a machine that will detect the Embryo and capture it. Yeah. That'll totally work. In the meantime, Ikuto is lounging around in the park for no apparent reason when he decides to play the violin. Amu is running by and she recognizes the song, so she decides to sing along. Yoru says she's not very good and she gets angry, but Ikuto agrees to play for her anyway. They manage to sound not bad until one of Ikuto's strings breaks. So Ikuto pays a visit to a luthier to get it repaired. Amu, for some reason, comes along. The luthier and his daughter Kotone mistake Amu for Ikuto's girlfriend, a mistake that he doesn't bother to fix. This causes a good deal of friction beteween Amu and Kotone, but Amu quickly assures her that she and Ikuto are not dating.
As Ikuto is leaving, a famous violinist named Saeko comes by to get two of her violins worked on. She says that it's not a lot of work, so Kotone can do it rather than bother her father. Unfortunately, Kotone messes up and spills tea all over one of the violins. She thinks that she has no talent for violin repair, and sudden her X-Egg is hatched. Thus we follow a fairly predictable route of Ikuto doing very little before Amu purifies the egg and we'll all returned to our happy selves with one more child a little more confident in their would-be self. Meanwhile, back at Easter, the machine for finding the Embryo goes terribly awry and winds up sucking up normal eggs from a side stall.

Wow. I was smiling so much for the first part of this episode. IkutoxAmu scenes are great, and it was really nice hearing Amu sing. She's no Utau, but her clear, honest voice is nice as well. Kotone's reaction to hearing that Amu was Ikuto's girlfriend was predictably vitriolic and really quite amusing. Unfortunately, once the episode switched to monster of the week, my interest fell pretty sharply. The other major problem is the inconsistency in animating the violins. I'm not a great violinist by any measure, but I was very distracted by the violins in this episode. For the most part, Ikuto's playing was tolerably awkward, but the violins were constantly changing sizes. They were often drawn much too small, and when Saeko brought hers in, the necks on the cases were really, really short. I'm sure a non-violinist wouldn't care, and I'm certainly not artistic enough to be a good critique of a show that I otherwise consider to be quite lovely. In the meantime, Easter seems to have plummeted in status from evil, mysterious company to one evil guy sitting at a desk with a bunch of idiots showing him PowerPoint presentations. I wish something would happen already.

--Ou-bento

Sexploration? Really?

If you haven't read it yet, check out this darling article on MSNBC. This Lulu facepalm image comes in handy a lot more than I wish it would.

Dear sir,

Please understand that anime is a medium. Not a genre. It would be just as faulty to claim that all American movies are causing Japanese people to become increasingly violent.

There is undoubtedly a huge subclass of anime and anime fans geared towards sexual things. There's no doubt it's becoming a greater part of western thinking. For instance, yaoi fantasies are increasingly popular among some of the female (and male) otaku population. I am not a member of this population, but many are. And lolicon (which is lolita complex, not lolita comic) also has a following. In many harem anime, it's not unusual for the females to be seen in a state of undress, or to ask the male lead to do indecent acts. And of course, there's plenty of hentai anime to go around. But these are only genres of anime, and many of them are frowned upon by a large portion of the otaku population.

In much of the anime I watch, there are scantily clad women. I do not watch anime for these scantily clad women, but such forms of fanservice are difficult to escape, just as any good TV show stateside will have sexy women in skimpy clothing doing sexy things. And while maid cafes may attract a lot of people interested in things on a more sexual side, it's not like that's anything new. Unless you've never heard of Hooters.

I love lolita fashion because I think it's very cute and very pretty. Most people who follow lolita fashion trends will tell you that they're not doing it to attract guys or sex. In fact, most are wonderful girls who are interested in the clothing, not in being objectified or selling themselves. Lolita fashion and cosplaying are hobbies (or in the case of lolita, sometimes a lifestyle). They are generally not intended to act as sex models or bring guys in. Interest in younger females has always been part of western culture as well. Or am I just imagining things when I see "naughty Catholic schoolgirl" costumes pop up every Halloween? Pedophilia is already common enough that we have regular specials with Chris Hansen just to catch them.

There is a subclass of the anime genre that is reshaping a subclass of western thinking. Am I denying that there is blatant sexual material in some anime? No. That's ridiculous. But your article paints an image of anime being nothing but sexual material that is somehow creeping into America and changing everyone. It is a disservice to those of us who enjoy anime that is fun, thoughtful, and (surprisingly) not porn.

--Ou-bento

Area no Kishi - Manga Review

When I first read Area no Kishi, I wrote it off as just another sports series and quickly dropped interest in. Wow. I was so wrong, and I cannot say how glad I am that I was bored enough to pick it up again. I know practically zip about soccer (or, as everyone else in the world calls it, football), but the story is a lot less about soccer and a lot more about growing up. Kakeru and Suguru are brothers. Suguru, the eldest is a star soccer player and considered one of Japan's national treasures. Kakeru adores his older brother and realizes he'll never measure up to him, even though he has a lot of talent for soccer as well. But rather than compete with his brother, Kakeru is happy to be team manager for their school's soccer team and work towards his goal of becoming a personal trainer.

At this point, Area no Kishi plays out like any good school life sports series. A childhood friend, Nana, returns to help Kakeru manage the soccer team. She's grown very beautiful in her years away and Kakeru remembers that he had fallen for her when they were children. Meanwhile, Kakeru likes to practice soccer alone at night, but a mysterious masked player joins him, eventually encouraging him to move forward with his soccer skills. We soon see that although Suguru is skilled, only Kakeru can keep up with him and serve as the proper "kishi," or "knight" to the "king" of soccer, Suguru. Although it's apparent Kakeru's skills are needed, he begins questioning his abilities even more and decides to quit the soccer team altogether.

And that's when everything changes. I won't spoil it for you, because the character development and the choices made after this point are worth reading all on your own. But the way the characters go after this point is powerful. A few pages are left with no dialogue at all, and the images convey a lot more emotion and depth than any conversation could. And with that, I was drawn in. Area Kishi suddenly changed from a normal sports series to a deep, emotional, and somewhat addictive story. I'm waiting in much anticipation for the next chapter.

The artwork in Area no Kishi is very clean, as befits a series about sports. I don't know much about soccer or how it should look, but the soccer scenes are dynamic and well-drawn to my eyes. Character designs aren't outstanding, but the plain designs suit the slice of life feel of the story and make the characters easier to identify with. Emotions are conveyed beautifully. As I mentioned before, the few pages with no dialogue really blew me away in terms of all the thoughts and feelings they managed to draw out. The author and the artist are different people, but it's clear that they both understand the story well.

If you want a good, serious, slice of life story about family, growing up, and dealing with powerful emotions, I highly highly recommend Area no Kishi. I don't care if you don't like sports. Read it anyway.

Note: The translators decided to translate the 4koma comics in the cover flaps of each volume. While I appreciate it, unfortunately there's a huge spoiler on one of them from a 4koma that should be read at the very end of the book (but winds up being in the front of the scans). In other words, skip reading the 4koma panels.

Area no Kishi is scanned by Chibisuke Scans.
You can read Area no Kishi online here.

--Ou-bento

Today, I Packed a Bento (And then I took pictures)

With a name like Ou-bento, you'd think I would talk about bento more often. Actually, I do like bento. A lot. In fact, packing bento is one of my hobbies. I'm not as cool as some of those artists out there who can make Pikachu out of rice or Goku who then goes super saiyan after you eat the seaweed portion. But I've been packing bento for awhile and I think I'm improving. This one isn't exactly a traditional bento since I didn't use one of my bento boxes. But it still looks good (to me, at least).

Satisfying another one of my hobbies. The more expensive one. I like taking cosplay pictures with my bento. Especially if it's a girl who packs bento in the series. You can pretend this is Kotomi or Kyou - whichever you prefer. But it's really Kotomi.


And as a bonus feature, a few more bento that I've packed:

A golden curry bento. This one is packed in one of those lovely Zojirushi lunch sets. I requested it as a birthday present when I was in highschool, and it's still one of my favorite worldly possessions. Yes, I'm a bento nerd.


This is one of my most popular ones, and I'm honestly a little bit embarrassed by it. It was one of my first, and I'm pretty sure I could do a lot better now. But the pirate onigiri is admittedly pretty cute, and so is the skull hard-boiled egg (in a sort of morbid creepy way).


This is one of my personal favorites. I like the simplicity and the rabu rabu motif. Oh, and I really like making tamagoyaki. It's a lot of fun rolling the egg. ^-^ RABU RABU.

--Ou-bento

Oh yeah, I have a dA account with a lot more of my stuff if anyone's interested.

Moe moe moe moe moe!

"MOEMOEMOEMOEMOEMOE."

The latest "Chicks on Anime" at ANN covers the often controversial moe. While they managed to define moe and give a fairly balanced report on the state of moe fans, they didn't touch too much on their own personal feelings about moe or moe type characters. So, I'd like to talk about my love for some heart-meltingly adorable girls in anime. Like an otaku. While I might not meet Renge standards of moe-loving, I really adore certain moe characters for how amazingly adorable they are.

Kotomi. It's no secret that I adore Kotomi. Her adorable shyness and innocence is just so...so...MOE. Ahh...I think I replayed the episode 04 scene where she spun around ten or so times before actually moving on with the episode. And then in episode 11, her "Bonjour," was just so cute. I replayed that a lot too. In fact, I played it three times before actually bothering to cap the above screen today. I gotta hand it to Mamiko Noto for making me fall in love with her voice as well. I was only a passing fan of her voice, but after Kotomi...AAAAHHH. Great scot, I love this girl. Her cute hair, her cute expressions, and her compete inability to play violin (like me :D) just make me melt over her. Haaaaa...

I've been re-watching true tears lately, and I forgot how much I loved Noe. From the PV, I actually thought she'd be really annoying and Hiromi would be my favorite, but after the first episode I switched over to the Noe camp. Her moe factor isn't as much cuteness or innocence as much as her quirky honesty and romantic ideas. And her aburamushi song. So cute. And she can cook. Did I mention that I like girls who can cook? I love girls who can cook. I like packing bento and I love seeing cute bento in anime. So much. D: The end of episode 06 where Noe was cooking for Shinichiro while singing and wearing his belt made me go :D.

I'd be a terrible person to ignore my first moemoe love. Chiyo-chan was moe before moe was moe. The episode where she dressed as a penguin is probably an excellent example of moe. All the other students adored her in a cute cute not sexual way. Even my ex who spent most of our time watching AIR by picking dirt out of his shoes found Chiyo to be so very adorable. And she can cook. Which again gives her moe points.

I'm not a fan of moe itself, as most moe characters actually do very little more me. But when a girl hits my moe spot, it's pretty much impossible for me to shut up about how adorable she is. So far I don't have any guys who've made me go moemoe. Maybe sometime in the future?

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 Ep. 22 - Fashion Disasters and Other Things

I waited nearly two seasons for a decent Karen scene and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. I mean...really? That's it? No buildup? No drama? I'll admit the background music was nice, but...wow. This is disappointing. I've been firmly in the Karen camp since the beginning, and I patiently waited for my turn...and then we get...aaaagh. I DEMAND A RECOUNT. And Lulu's hat looks really funny.

On the bright side, the music was pretty. Not as nice as my personal favorite, Stories, from season one, but at least Karen got that track as well. The whole scene seems like an awkwardly planned farewell with a random kiss thrown in because Sunrise realized that they haven't gotten around to giving the Karen fans the good stuff. Lulu and Karen have some close to kissing twice, but Karen got beat out by Shirley and C.C. before she could finally plant one. Rawrs. And then they just look completely bored and disappointed. Kinda like me while watching this episode. Well, Nunnally's back (to no one's surprise, save Lulu) so we'll see what kinda crazy shenanigans go down in the next episode. Best case scenario, Schneizel takes over the government, Rivalz and Nina run away, C.C. buys Pizza Hut and Lulu finds himself a better hat.

Please explain why Suzaku and Lulu look like Otome and Master. There's something terribly wrong with this. Unless of course Suzaku actually is a girl. Which would explain Code Geass 9.33.

Really? Is Britannian fashion sense really that bad? That looks like a mildly uncomfortable body suit, and what's with the hat/ears/mask thingy? I usually love CLAMP's designs and fashion, but something seems to have gone a little awry here.

--Ou-bento

Double Arts - BAD END

That might be one of the most disappointing endings ever. More than Yamato Gensouki. More than Zombie Powder. Apparently the ratings for Double Arts were so low the series actually got axed. D: And so we get a BAD END. This is pretty disappointing, as I was actually really excited about it and I even tagged it for anime-fication. Was it really not that popular? There's no way the world is already tired of plucky male leads, mysterious organizations, and lots and lots of over-the-top fighting, is there? Either way, Double Arts ends with a future Elle writing a journal about Kiri. She appears to be cured, as she is alive and well and Kiri isn't holding her hand. It also hinted that Kiri fell in love with her at first sight and that she was beginning to crush on him as well. ::sigh:: I really wanted to see where it went. And now poor Sui will never get all the amazing battles that she's looking for.

--Ou-bento

Shugo Chara 48

Back to school and the guardians are once again adored by all. Things are a little different for Yaya, though. New students actually call her "senpai" and she realizes that she actually has to have some sort of responsibility now. Kairi has gone missing, so the Jack chair is currently empty. Kukai comes in as a temp and immediately begins giving Yaya the bootcamp style training he administered to Amu. Some of the younger students approach the guardians saying they lost a parakeet. Tadase promises that the guardians will find the parakeet, and Yaya is shocked to discover that she's required to participate in the search as well. At home she whines about it, but she remembers the faces of her underclassmen who are counting on her. So she puts on a detective's cap (literally) and eventually winds up finding and catching the parakeet all on her own. Meanwhile, Easter seems to have a lead on the embryo.

Yaya episode = Ou-bento is not interested. I've never been a fan of the baby-ish characters and Yaya's selfishness can be painfully annoying at times. Thankfully this is actually an episode about her maturing and learning responsiblity. Sadly, it's not very much. There's a lull in the plot right now, but it looks like the next episode is going to pick up again with the story behind Ikuto's violin. If only he knew how to play it...

--Ou-bento

Confessions of a Fandubber

You're surfing YouTube. You find a clip from your favorite anime and you click without thinking. It looks normal at first, but suddenly the background music comes to a screeching halt and instead of your favorite seiyuu, you hear some thirteen-year-old kid with a retainer and a heavy accent. You can barely make out their flat emotions above the static of their ten dollar microphone, but you're pretty sure you can also hear the TV in the background and someone's younger brother practing trombone. Or maybe it's a dying cat. Hard to tell.

That kid is me. Or at least...it was me about a decade ago. I have the video clips to prove it, but there's no way I'm letting anyone hear that audio poison ever again. I've been acting in fandubs for nearly a decade and producing fandubs for almost as long, and I'm pretty sure I've gotten better. I've done serious dubs. I've done parodies. There's a pretty good chance you've already heard my voice. Hopefully you'll hear it many times more, as I intend to continue fandubbing for a long time.

The question is: Why? Among the hardcore otaku, fandubbing is usually looked down upon. After all, most hardcores don't even approve of official dubs, so a clearly inferior fanmade version seems useless. Even those who actually watch dubs find it hard to stomach a fandub unless it's a parody (and even those are barely humorous). And all the work that goes into a fandub (translation, scripting, casting, remixing the audio, etc...) is certainly a lot for something that is largely considered a waste of time.

Ask most fandubbers and you'll find that they usually do it for fun. Many even aspire to be professional dubbers and consider their current work good practice. And I'll admit that I certainly enjoy it and I am definitely aiming for a professional level. But more than that, I want to turn dubbing around. I watch dubs pretty regularly and find many of them rather subpar. Some dubs are excellent. Some even outclass the original work. But those are few and far in between. I want more good dubs. Just as fansubs are pushing the industry to provide higher quality subtitles, faster releases, and online options, I want my work to push the industry to provide better dubbing. I do it for the love of the medium and the desire to share the anime I love with other people. I run a small group and we don't stand out very much yet, but if our work can inspire other people to put more effort into their dubbing as well, we can actually start something good.

In the end, there will be plenty of people who just prefer to watch anime in Japanese, and I'm down with that. But if dubbing can reach a higher quality, then I'm sure a lot of people will be happy.

For anyone curious, here's some of my group's work:


Like it? Hate it? Want to tear your ears off? If it's the last one, we apologize and we'll give you a free coupon for half off your first therapy session.

--Ou-bento

Akuma to Love Song - Manga Review

Akuma to Love Song is quite possibly the most refreshing, infuriating, addictive, and frustrating series I've ever read. Maria Kawai was expelled from a high class private school for "violence against a teacher." Her reception to the lowly regarded Touzuka High School is decidedly cold. It's hard to blame the students. Maria is beautiful, but aloof. She doesn't seem interested in making friends and the combination of her keen observation and biting words leave a nasty taste in the mouths of students comfortable behind their cheerful masks. In truth, Maria has a good heart, but stunted people skills. She lacks any form of tact, nor does she understand why it's necessary to speak gently. She is quickly branded a demon by her classmates and ostracized just as quickly by her teacher. The only people to show interest in her are Kanda Yuusuke and Meguro Shin. Kanda is a happy-go-lucky, foolishly honest boy who wants to be friends with everyone and hopes that everyone can get along. Meguro is detached and bored, but someone finds himself drawn to the quirky and warm-hearted Maria that hides beneath the cold exterior.

Everyone's had to deal with school bullying, but Japanese schools are infamous for taking school bullying to new (and often teacher-sanctioned) heights. Maria quickly falls prey to catty girls and bitter boys and the homeroom teacher not only turns a blind eye, but aggravates the bullying even further. The neverending stream of lies and cruelty is infuriating and extremely frustrating to the reader who is given a peek into Maria's inner thoughts. All you want is for Maria to be happy, or at least be left alone. But the bullying comes in a steady stream, and she takes it calmly without opposition. She doesn't fight back, nor does she cry herself to sleep. She merely continues. Her strenth is admirable, especially as she helps out another girl who suffers bullying. The relationships she develops with Kanda and Meguro are also interesting, as she is not a girl looking for love. Nor is she the fiesty feminist who hates boys but eventually melts. Rather, she just treats them with the same brutal honesty she dishes out on everyone. She's a refreshing change of pace for a shoujo heroine, but sometimes I wish she'd dish out some revenge Othello-style. But if she did that, she'd fail to be the cool heroine I'm cheering for.

Artwork is beatiful, but inconsistent. Maria is drawn in stunning detail with beautifully shaded hair and gorgeous eyelashes, but the other characters are so much flatter. Their linework lacks as much depth as their personalities. Kanda and Megu get the nice art treatment when it suits them, but it feels as if characters are only drawn with an amount of care and detail proportional to how the reader is supposed to like them. Backgrounds are simple but clear with the usual random splotches, patterns, and sparkles typical of shoujo manga. Chibi version Maria is adorably amusing with her exaggerated lips and eyes. The nicest artwork comes with the chapter covers that feature Maria in richly detailed lolita style clothing.

Akuma to Love Song draws you in quickly and I'm eager to find what happens next. However, the plot is infuriatingly drawn out in that Maria's standing barely advances among her classmates. The main character is unique and interesting, and art is beautiful. But great scot, those girls who bully Maria are frustrating.

You can read it online here.

--Ou-bento

Special A in English

Special A Fandub - How to be a Couple
Uploaded by CobaltKnight

Not for those averse to the English language slapped on Japanese cartoons. O:

--Ou-bento

Shin-chan but not the Crayon kind

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Shin-chan, the superhero Canadian mountie of Shinjuku! And he's here to tell kids what to do when dealing with "bad adults." Yes, I'm blogging an educational anime for little kids. Deal with it. Shin-chan is a series of vaguely related animated shorts involving little kids and what they should do when approached by bad adults. Except instead of being actual bad adults with bad intent, they're all a sentai-like villain and his lackeys. This villain seems to want to kidnap children of Shinjuku, presumable as some sort of revenge against the hero Shin-chan. He disguises himself as various adults to carry out his nefarious schemes.

His schemes are actually decently good. First he tries various mildly shady tactics like asking a kid if he wants to see something interesting or offering to drive a girl to the store. Shin-chan flies in to warn the children that they should never go with someone they don't know, and if that person tries to force you, you should yell for help. Our villain then upgrades to decidedly more sophisticated tactics. First he poses as a talent scout and offers a girl a shot at idol-dom if she'll only come with him. Then he poses as a doctor and calls a young boy in his apartment, saying that the boy's mother has been hurt and that he's going to take the boy to the doctor. Shin-chan again reminds kids that they need to stop and think before going with people, even if they're excited or worried. In the end, Shin-chan scares the bad guy away and two boys go to watch the girl do ballet. Everyone is happy.

Shin-chan does exactly what it sets out to do, although I honestly have a little trouble trusting a mascot with such vacant eyes. The story actually has a vague plot although it's hardly important. The important part is teaching kids not to go with strangers. At one point, kids are taught not to enter an elevator with strangers. While that seems a little paranoid, I suppose it's actually not a bad idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do much for teaching kids to stay away from creepy guys dressed as Shin-chan. These children have no problem hanging out with Shin-chan and letting him into their apartment, even. Maybe dealing with fake Shin-chans will be covered later. Until then, stay safe children. Stay safe. At least until Britannia attacks.

You can stream the episodes free (and legally :D) online here.

--Ou-bento

Code Geass R2 Ep.21 - Too Deep for my Fried Rice Brain

What I Watched

What I Expected

What I Got

All this deep thinking philosophical stuff makes my head hurt, and not in a good way. So Lulu's parents wanted to stop time and create a world without lies? And they had to use a thought elevator to do so before Anya decided to merge with Lilith? Oh well. Either way, turns out Marianne was also a bad guy, Nunnally was blinded by her own parents, Suzaku suddenly switched sides again, C.C. chooses Lulu after all, and I'm probably not going to get that Karen ending I've been wanting since season one. Naming Suzaku a Knight of Zero is terribly ironic, and I'm sure that was on purpose. I'm still not fully sure why he switched over so happily, but hey, we got more spinning. :D Interestingly, Shirley's view of the world where everyone was a liar was directly caused by the actions of Charles and Marianne. In their effort to create a world without lies, they permeated it with lies even more. What happens to poor Anya now?

--Ou-bento