Review: Mushishi

Finished my review for Mushishi. I was kind of surprised at how quickly I plowed through this series considering it's completely episodic and has no overarching storyline.

It's usually a lot harder for me to get into those kinds of series, and that's actually the reason I'm having such a hard time finishing Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei right now, lol. The first series was great, but I think I may be getting tired of the usual antics. I (finally) finished the original Ghost in the Shell movie and am about halfway through that review now. My brother and I are also plowing through Nodame Cantabile and will probably finish in another day or two. As a huge fan of classical music, a (mediocre) pianist, and a former clarinetist, it's pretty exciting for me to see some classical music in my anime. :P Can't wait to finish this series and see if the sequel's worth pursuing! Read the rest of this entry...

Dir en grey and Cutting in Line

So after an epic, ten-hour wait in line, I saw Dir en grey last night at the House of Blues in Houston (this is the link to my report of the concert on last.FM). The only down point about the entire experience was the whole cutting-in-line issue that has been prevalent both other times I saw them, and I'm forced to wonder, is this common? I suppose it really has nothing to do with being a gigantic weeaboo, but I've only ever attended five concerts, including last night's. Three of those five shows were for Dir en grey, though to be fair, one of the Diru shows was technically a Deftones show. Of the other two, one was to see Muse at Madison Square Garden, and the other was to see Meg&Dia, a very indie band at a very indie venue. Since I didn't have pit tickets for Muse and since Meg&Dia isn't exactly a big deal, the Dir en grey shows are the only shows where I had to deal with lines.


I don't understand people that don't understand line etiquette since it seems like it should be common sense. When a line starts to form at the break of dawn the day of the show (and occasionally, the day or night before the show), it's obvious that people will be coming and going a bit, but the point of getting there so early is to hold your own place, not someone else's. Below are two rules that I think are fairly intuitive... if everyone followed them, I would have absolutely no quarrel with anyone in line.

1. When you arrive, you go to the end of the current line. This means that if there are already people there when you first get there, you will line up behind them. This means if your friend got there before you and there is now space between that friend and the end of the line: TOUGH. If you're close enough to go converse with this friend, then fine, but your friend's spot still isn't your spot. You can have friends all up and down the line, but if you all didn't arrive at the same time, then their spots aren't your spot. If you got there early, and your friends can't come until later, then you can't save their spot. Friends don't let friends be assholes and cut in line. This kind of friend-saving-spot thing is particularly aggravating when the early-arrival friend is saving spots for five or more people. Seriously, what the hell?

2. It's fine to make short trips away from the line, but more than an hour or two is excessive. When you're going to be in line for the entire day, you obviously need to take breaks to go to the restroom and to go eat. If you brought entertainment with you into the line, you'll probably need to go throw it back in the car before the show starts, etc. That's fine. Make nice with the people ahead of and behind you in line; when they know you're there, they generally have no problem with not moving into the empty space you leave behind. But if you're gone for half a day... if you dump your stuff in line and then go take a nap on your nice hotel bed for five hours... that's not cool. It's not enough to just get there at dawn, mark your place in line, and then disappear until showtime. That's kind of not fair to all the people that are actually sitting there in the weather and sleeping on the sidewalk, y'know? Don't be an asshole.


I don't know why these two things seem to be so hard. Ironically, depending on the distance between the doors of the venue and the stage itself and depending on how many people hit the merchandise stand before going for their spot on the floor, a person's place in line really doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. For last night's show, I stood in line for ten hours. I arrived at 9:00am for a 7:00pm door opening and an 8:00pm show. I got the rail at the exact spot I wanted. The guy next to me had been in a separate "skip the line" line because he'd purchased +$30 worth of food from the venue. The girl on the other side of me had arrived in the normal line at 1:00pm and had hit the merchandise stand before going to the stage. Funny how we were all side-by-side, huh?

Originally, I figured these Diru fans were so crazy because hey, it's Dir en grey. They're Japanese! Who knows when they'll be back again? Who knows when we'll see them again? This was what set us apart from the American fans of American bands. Not such a big deal. Those bands are sure to come back. There's always another shot. But since Diru's showcase "tour" in 2006, they've come back to the US more than four times and their last three albums have had US releases. It's more and more likely that they'll come back; hell, I'd say it's almost a sure thing. Most of the fans in line have already seen them at least once by now. So stop being assholes to each other, huh?

I really want to know whether these line-cutting issues are common. Walking by the Garden one morning this summer on the way to work, I saw a bunch of girls lining up by the pit entrance. Further down the street, I saw Justin Timberlake's bus, so presumably, that's who was playing that night. And so I wonder, do those girls get into bitchfights over line order too? Do assholes try to cut in line there too? Common sense says yes. Maybe it's just because most of Dir en grey's fans are female too. Girls are bitches about a lot of things, and fandom is definitely high on the list. Do guys do this? (As often?)

Sometimes I really think I just expect too much out of the human race, even if it's just "common" courtesy. Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Spice and Wolf

I finally finished watching Spice and Wolf last week, so here's the review for it. I can now say that I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel of it. Hurray!

I seem to have this big issue with swapping tenses in my reviews. I'm never sure whether I should be writing them in past or present tense, so I inadvertently end up jumping around a lot, which is really annoying. (I'm sure most people don't notice anyway, but I do when I go back to read them sometimes...) History papers are in past tense because we're talking about the past. English papers are in the present because the book is fictional and we're discussing it in the actual present. As far as I know, you should still use present tense even if its historic fiction. I suppose according to that reasoning, reviews should also be in present tense because we're discussing it in the present and they're fictional works... I just need to remember this next time I write. It's way too much trouble to go back and fix everything I've written now... Bugger. Read the rest of this entry...

Live Action Akira: Good News, Bad News

Earlier this week, Japanator posted about how the Latino Review got a hold of a working script for the upcoming live action Akira movie. Apparently, it comes down to this:

Good news: They appear to be sticking very close to their source material, even taking the initiative in incorporating parts of the manga that never made it into the animated version. This is fantastic because even though I've yet to get around to reading the manga, it's obvious that there's a lot of storytelling and explanation missing from the movie. To make room for all this extra stuff (after all, the manga is kind of long), they're making two movies. I'm a little more skeptical about this if only because I feel like they might shit out on a second movie if the first one doesn't fly far, but if they film them both at the same time, then it might not matter all that much. But in any case, sticking to the script and being faithful to the source material is usually the #1 concern of existing fans, and it seems like things are so good so far.


Bad news: Regardless of how faithful any adaptation is, there are always at least a few changes, minor as they could be. The first change they made I can forgive: The movie will take place in the United States, specifically New York, but it will be in a future, alternate universe where Japan buys the island and dubs it New Tokyo. I'm fine with this because 1) it's still New Tokyo, 2) it doesn't change much of the story, and 3) it's a good justification for people speaking English. It also helps that I love Manhattan, but seriously, I don't see much to complain about with that one. The second change, though similarly insignificant in that it changes little in the story, seriously annoys me.

Our two main characters become a Japanese and an American. Tetsuo becomes Travis. Honestly, I'm still having a hard time believing this one just because I thought we were well past the days of dubbing Japanese names because oh shit, the stupid Americans won't understand those weird foreign names! It's especially surprising because even when we were in that age, most of the dub names appeared in series aimed at a younger audience. I can understand Sailor Moon having dub names -- they're probably right that seven year old girls won't as readily identify with Usagi as they would with Serena. I can understand Hamtaro and Pokemon having dub names. I'm totally cool with that. But Akira? Come on now. We're big enough for this.

I also dislike the potential social commentary that may be presented with having protagonists of two different nationalities -- especially if Japan supposedly buys out America in the movie. That's a lot of racial tension and conflict that we just don't need to deal with. Ironically, it would make the American out to be the "bad" one, but I still find the entire thing utterly unnecessary. What other reason is there to change Tetsuo to Travis? What other possible, logical reason is there? I understand that there are almost never adaptations that are 100% faithful to the source material, but changes made need to make sense, and this doesn't make sense to me.

It especially doesn't make sense because they have to know that such a change would incite just about every longstanding fan of the original movie or manga. There is absolutely no way that I would buy the scriptwriters are sitting at their desk going, "Oh, I think we'll change Tetsuo to Travis! It's such a minor change, no one will mind!" Like it or not, the people that will see Akira in theatres are mostly going to be otaku who already know about it, and if otaku make up the core of your audience, what's there to accomplish by pissing all of them off? Can't they already see the viral rage that's happening for the Dragonball movie?

It's become a rather infamous joke, sure, but it's hard to deny that the dynamic between Kaneda and Tetsuo made up the backbone of the animated movie, and the back and forth screaming of each character's name was a hilarious part of that. The fans agree: it just wouldn't be the same if his name wasn't Tetsuo. Why? ...Honestly? I think it's because Travis only has two syllables in his name. Tetsuo has three. We gotta have three. I can sort of imagine that it might be all right if Kaneda calls him, "TRAVIS-KUN!" or something to that extent (it could happen, Kaneda gets to stay Japanese, after all) because it still fits what the original kind of sounded like. Would that be an acceptable compromise to most? Probably not, and they probably wouldn't do it anyway, but that's probably the real reason "Travis" sounds wrong to us.

(On a slightly different note, I wonder how they'll pronounce "Akira"? Will they preserve the Japanese pronunciation as "Ah-ki-rah" like some dubs have been doing lately (Gurren Lagann) or will they angloize it into "Uh-kee-ruh" like I hear some people pronounce it? I don't think I'd personally mind either way, but it's interesting to see more recent dub projects keep original pronounciations. Case in point: Sakura of Cardcaptor Sakura was "Suh-koura," but Sakura of Naruto is actually "Sah-kura," as it should be.) Read the rest of this entry...

DOGS is Going to be Animated!

OMG FANGASM NOW.


OMG TAKAHIRO SAKURAI IS HAINE. AKIRA ISHIDA IS BADOU. JUST LIKE THE DRAMA CD. OH MY GOD. And Taneguchi of Code Geass will be involved. Holy shit. This makes me so happy.

I swear I don't normally post this kind of fantarding nonsense. But I make the exception for DOGS because I love DOGS. I really need to get off my ass, reread everything that's out and review the sucker because it really deserves more love.

My only concern is obviously the fact that DOGS is not a finished manga. I've said many times before that I hate it when they make anime adaptations of manga that hasn't been finished, and as much as I do love DOGS, deep down, I'm very, very terrified of the prospect that they will somehow ruin it by giving it a lackluster ending of some sort. Miwa Shirow has been infamously slow in his updates, often going months at a time without a new chapter, so I really can't say when DOGS will ever be finished. Ever since the drama CD came out last year, the prospect of an anime seemed very close, but I've always wondered... how are they going to pull that off?

Of course, the DOGS story and universe is very flexible, and as such, I can see it going off in a dozen different directions. This is the kind of universe that invites many interesting interpertations, and I'm interested to see what, if any, changes they'll make to the existing material. I wonder if they'll just take the concept and run with it like Fullmetal Alchemist? Or will they try to faithfully follow what's there and make up some sort of ending like X? Or will they take what's there and leave it open-ended with the intention of coming back later when there's more material to work from, like Loveless? Of those three series, only FMA was any good, but even it didn't make it out of there with a good ending. Has there ever been a 100% wonderful anime adaptation of an unfinished manga? None that I can think of off the top of my head.

That said, I feel as if the first volume of DOGS works well enough on its own. It's basically just character building, but it's very good character building, and each of the four sections works well enough as a standalone one-shot. If they go that route and only adapt the first volume, I could see this working out incredibly well. I think right now, that's the option I'm hoping for. I suppose it's really too soon to say. I'm still excited to see all of these characters in animated format, and I'm utterly in love with the voice cast here.

This is so exciting. Eee. Read the rest of this entry...

I'm Proud of You, Viz

edit, follow-up: Crunchyroll just never stops, does it??

I really don't have time to elaborate right now (lol, class in three hours, what?), but I just wanted to say that:

Viz, I'm so proud of you!

BELIEVE IT!

As Japanator says, this isn't the first time it's happened, but there's never been anything of Naruto proportions, and now we're going to have Naruto himself! I haven't watched Naruto since around episode 114, so this doesn't actually affect anything I do, but it's still great news all around. I was already surprised that they got Code Geass R2 dubbed and ready to air just a month or so after it finished airing in Japan, but now I'm going to be counting the days until we get official subs a week or less aftering airing in Japan for new series. Sure, they're new episodes of Naruto Shippudan, but Shippudan has been airing for a while now and they've got catch-up work to do. I want official subs for new season series' episodes! I just almost feel it happening. I can imagine the press releases!

This is exciting. Read the rest of this entry...

Internet > DVD

First off, though mostly unrelated, I found this article pretty hilarious. And this just made me lol.

But anyway, the news of the day is that in South Korea, Internet video has eclipsed the DVD. This is really far from surprising though; there's been such a rise in the number of companies doing the digital distribution model that I skip out on mentioning most of it here because there's news about it pretty much every day and who likes to be redundant? The fact that Internet models have officially outpaced DVDs is something noteworthy though, and another indication that Korea is ahead of the game. I imagine that Japan will be quick to follow, then Europe, and finally the States because we're kind of slow about everything.


One thing in the article I found particular interesting though, was the fact that it's easier to create illegal copies of DVDs than it is to create illegal copies of digital downloads. I suppose it makes sense that it'd be harder to crack a digital copy-projection mechanism just because it hasn't been around as long, but I wonder if less people are inclined to bother because it's already in a digital format. If HD quality movies only cost two bucks to download, then who really cares? It's almost free already. I wonder how long it'll take for the anime folk to follow suit and stop charging two bucks a normal quality episode?

Hulu.com's been getting a lot of spotlight recently, what with FUNimation, Viz, and a ton of other companies adding tons of free, full episode content to it (omg, they have Firefly!). It's beating out YouTube as the venue of choice for online streaming episodes, and there's definitely a lot more that's legal about it. Seems like this revolution's well on its way to becoming the norm. I wonder if Blu-ray will even be relevant at this point? If DVD is getting beat out by the Internet and the digital model already, I can't see that Blu-ray will fare much better, especially since the HD format is already available for cheaper online. I don't think the new generation will be as attached to the physical item as the previous because they'll always have had the digital option. Soon DVDs and Blu-ray will be 100% obsolete, like VHS... it's an interesting time. Read the rest of this entry...

First Impressions: Dir en grey's UROBOROS

UROBOROS
Dir en grey's 7th album

12th November, 2008

I'm a bit ashamed to say that I hadn't really been keeping up with Diru news for the last few months, and so the fact that they swapped US labels and were releasing the album a day earlier in the States was completely unknown to me. Thus, I wasn't prepared with a preorder of the album. I'm not sure how early the leaks got online, but I know Kaoru was ticked about it. I know that it doesn't alleviate my guilt any, but I downloaded it yesterday and held off on listening to it until today...? I'll be picking the US release when I go see them in Houston on the 25th, so in any case, let it be known that this band is definitely getting my money in more than one way. ♥

I set aside an hour and half to sit down and listen to this album without distractions. The leak's quality is definitely not the best, but it'll do. The album's cover is one of their best in a while, I think, though I do wish they'd take a break from the monochromatic color schemes. I guess Glass Skin's cover had color, but other than that, when was the last time they had a ton of colors on their album art? six Ugly? Anyway, this isn't really a review of the album -- I think it's a lot harder to review music because impressions change much more readily over time compared to other things like series and movies. So these are just first impressions, written as I listened, so the comments are also much more unpolished than they would be in a review. :3

1. Sa Bir: Starts off with some interesting bass buzzing, hushed whispers in the back, and a very haunting melody on some kind of string instrument I'm not familiar with. The feel is very traditional Asian or Indian sounding, which is appropriate considering the title (I have no idea what it means, but it looks Indian or Middle Eastern to me). The voices in the back sound like some kind of story that you only have a vague grasp of -- there's someone threatening sounding and someone defeated sounding. It's very intriguing... the softness of it does remind me a bit of the first track on MARROW, but the strings and the voices really suggest that something different is happening here.

2. Vinushka: This track seems to start rather suddenly considering how short the previous track was. Kyo's voice really surprised me when it first came up -- it's mostly soft, melodic murmurs; the strings are more prominent in the back now, and we ease quickly into drums, bass, and guitar. The melody feels very tension-filled and uneasy; the guitars and the drums sound really fantastic. Kyo's voice shifts smoothly between a normal register, a falsetto, and a very deep grumble... I'm not sure when last I heard him go between the three so quickly, but it works really well. The chorus is really emotional without being forceful... reminds me a bit of the early parts of THE PLEDGE. Chorus eases into hushed, speaking parts; this brings me back to the idea that there's some kind of story in play here -- is this a concept album? Wow, I just noticed the time on this track -- 9:35. I think that makes this Diru's longest song ever. ain't afraid to die was only about seven minutes, and mazohyst of decadence was about eight. Die and Kaoru (presumably) are doing some low roars now. The guitars have sped up and Kyo's finally adding to the roars and tension with that heightened intensity. Man, I'm lovin' the guitars and bass in this. I'm glad Toshiya's finally getting some good bass lines... song tone shifts suddenly and dramatically. The suspense evaporates and we go back to the easy, haunting melody of strings and Kyo's creepy falsetto. Drum solo! Almost, drums and flute? Wow. I think this is the first time I've heard a flute. Flute eases back to the chorus. Kyo is harmonizing with himself; this needs to happen more often! Falsetto, roaring. Roaring with backup roaring. The roaring has been a lot deeper and grumbly thus far on this album -- not so much screaming, which makes me quite happy. :3 The guitar melody and the rumbling lead into the end and then it's gone abruptly again.

3. Red Soil: Starts off sounding more familiar -- guitars, and the voice is there almost immediately. Kyo's voice sounds substantially different though, more upbeat and melodic than he's been in a good while. I can't tell if he's singing in English or not (haven't looked for lyrics yet.) Okay, I'm pretty sure it's English now... Kyo's English seems to have improved somehow, but it's still very muddled. Gunshot-like banging in the background, snare drum? Very interesting. The melody feels a little inconsistent here; there are a lot of different sounds in a very short amount of time. Garbled noises -- sounds like an alien or a drowning cat or something else equally disturbing -- high-pitched whining noises, Kyo's very good at those... I really like the snare drum sound. This track also ends kind of abruptly, hm.

4. 慟哭と去りぬ (Doukoku to Sarinu): Starts off with panting and forced-sounding whispers. Still getting the feeling that Kyo sounds a bit different though we once again ease into more familiar-sounding guitar and drum sounds. Kyo is doing a lot more talking than singing in this song, and in general, it seems like he's doing a lot more quick transitions between his various vocal abilities -- roaring, growling, falsetto, weird noises, talking, and normal(ish) singing. To some extent, I think that sounds pretty neat, but it really loses the melody and that's a little disconcerting. Kyo singing over his own roaring in the background... sounds a bit muddled, but the wave of sound in the back really increases the suspense and tension levels. Not so fond of the drums in this song, but the guitars are pretty nice when they actually hold onto a distinct melody.

5. 蜷局 (Toguro): Somehow, songs that start off with sound on only one side really throws me off, heh. Guitars on one side, then Kyo comes in on the other side. I'm lovin' how his voice sounds in this though -- feels more consistent; there's still a very Indian/Middle Eastern vibe in this. I can't decide if it's his voice or the music or a combination of, it's very pleasing. Lyrics feel more solid here just because his singing is more even and the melody isn't lost in a bunch of transistions. Interesting background noises in the bridge; guitar has quite the awesome melody weaving in and out of the other ambiance in the back. Kyo has some really beautiful sustained notes. The mood feels very urgent; he has an awesome bit singing in the upper register, but not quite falsetto... fades out and dies. I think this might be my favorite song thus far.

6. Glass Skin: I like the Glass Skin single a lot; Kyo's English here feels much improved and reminds me a bit of hyde's -- it's very heavily accented, but you can just barely make out the words. At the very least, I feel like you can tell it's English immediately, even if some words are hard to pick up. I wonder if it'll keep improving if he keeps writing songs in English? This is the first time they've redone a song in English after an initial Japanese release. It's interesting. Love the drumming in this song. Hell, love the guitars and ambient noises too. Melody is very prominent and the song feels much more orderly... English is pretty distracting at parts though; Kyo's "f" and "s" sounds are really weird. Ending doesn't feel as smooth as the Japanese version.

7. Stuck Man: Very different sound, whoa. For some reason, the scene that came to mind immediately was some kind of film noir club or bar... [KR]Cube, anyone? The sound is really different from even that though. Guitars have a good melody -- bass lines! Awesome bass lines! Kyo's all over the place with his vocals here -- mostly very aggressive-sounding speaking/roaring, with some really weird squealing I don't think I've heard before. Background participation comes in with the roaring. Drums feel uneasy, but it really adds to the mood here, I think. Kyo sounds something like a dying alien here, hm. I'm still glad he isn't outright screaming as much though. Whoa.. I can't tell if Kyo is having a roaring/speaking exchange with himself or with Die. It kind of sounds like Die. o_o Very sudden ending!

8. 冷血なりせば (Reiketsu Nariseba): Very abrupt start! High energy and high tension. Guitar has a very bouncing and awesome melody; the drums are really helping with it too. A lot of roaring in this, low and angry... explodes for the chorus into some higher and more substantial roars. Melody cools off after chorus, eases into more of those strings and foreign-sounding instruments. I wish I knew the names of some of these things, but I love hearing Diru experiment with different sounds. Beautiful sustained wail by Kyo... sounds very Indian... then it pitches upwards, sounds more like Kyo, and goes back to roaring. Wow, that was a really well done transition. :O Drums and guitar swap to a different sound, but still carry a really nice melody. More roaring supplemented with a bout of shrieking. And it isn't an abrupt ending for once! We echo and fade out instead. o_o

9. 我、闇とて･･･ (Ware, Yami Tote...): Very mellow introduction; it's another long song. Not sure what's in the background, but it's a nice sound. Vocals are reasonably melodious, but the drumming is all over the place and it doesn't feel like it matches really. Minimal guitar in favor of whatever weird thing's in the background, but there's some nice bass supplementing the weird drumming. Something sounds almost like a piano -- oh, man, sexy bass lines. The drums still sound scattered, but it's starting to feel like it fits better. The bass is really helping. Chorus feels kind of hopeful; it's more upbeat and I'm halfway between feeling inspired and really surprised. (Watch the lyrics be inexpressibly depressing though, lol.) Kyo has some upper register, strained-sounding notes that are really beautiful. Guitars finally take over the other instrument that was in the back; Toshiya continues to play a sexy bass part. More semi-inspiring sounding melodies; Kyo's putting up his powerful voice again, very emotional. Okay, torturous roaring/strained screaming line, but it gives way into more melody, excellent guitars, and it eases beautifully towards the ending.

10. Bugaboo: Creepy sounding from the start. Something sounds like whales in the back; they sound really awesome. Familiar sounding guitars and roaring, but they both sound great. Roaring overlapping with soft cooing sounds from Kyo? More sustained wailing, more roaring (I really can't tell if its super-deep voiced Kyo or one of the others). Some really awesome, low roars intermixed with the occasional squeak/whine. Whoa, distorted deep voice sounds really weird. I really like the secondary guitar line here. Most of this song feels like pretty generic post-Withering Diru, but there are definitely some sounds I haven't heard here before -- the distorted deep voice really throws me off, for one. Fade out ending.

11. 凱歌、沈黙が眠る頃 (Gaika, Chinmoku Ga Nemuru Koro): Very ambient-sounding intro -- reminded me immediately of a futuristic-style Sonic the Hedgehog level... but that might just be me... Eases into more normal-sounding Diru. Heavy drums, energetic and tension-filled guitars, roaring, deep voices... Enjoying the guitar melody here too. Chorus has more of Kyo's helpess/almost hopeful sounding tones, that really moving and tragic kind of voice he likes to use. Faster, steadier lyrics, angrier or more frustrated. Guitars in the chorus sound really awesome. The accumulation of roaring and shrieking sounds in the background suddenly made me think of dinosaurs, and then I had a strange vision of a PV taking place in a jungle. ._. Bridge sounds pretty awesome though. Now I'm thinking about concentration camps and screaming... hm. Fades out to raspy breathing, always fun. I've always preferred fade-out endings to sudden endings though. ♥ Oh, wait, Dozing Green is next. :P

12. Dozing Green: Dozing Green was a pretty awesome single too. It's like a perfect mix of the styles on Withering to death and THE MARROW OF THE BONE -- perfect blend of haunting melody and Kyo's impressive vocal range. English here is also recognizable as English, though specific lyrics are still difficult to pick out. I just heard "ice cream," and I'm sure ice cream has no place in this song, lol. Keep trying, Kyo! You're getting better! Annnd, sudden shrieking and screaming at the end. Actually, it doesn't sound that bad, but it always throws me off because the rest of the song is very melodious... but there is a bit of echo/fading afterwards, so that... probably just confuses me more, lol.

13. Inconvenient Ideal: This track has the most awesome title ever. Starts off with soft with cooing and a mellow voice. Drums and guitars and bass ease it into the main melody. Whoa, some very interesting high-pitched harmonizing here. Sustained wails bring me back to the Indian/Middle Eastern feel, but now there's some weird... I don't even know how to describe that sound in the back, but it's definitely new... eases back into the chorus. This song feels a little disorienting, but I think it might be one of those that I'll like a lot later. I definitely approve with the continued experimentation with sounds though.

14. Glass Skin (Japanese ver.): I think I prefer the Japanese version of this song, but that may just be because Kyo's English is still dancing that line between interesting and absurd. The Japanese just feels more natural and doesn't distract from the actual feeling of the song. Speaking parts are too muddled to make heads or tails or the language, really. Love the chorus in this song; the drum beat in the back really grounds it and I love the steady feeling it has. The way the chorus extends and goes into the ending is really great too -- great demonstration of sustained falsetto. I can't tell if there's much difference between this version and the single version though; might take a few dozen more listen-tos.

15. Dozing Green (Japanese ver.): Did I mention how much I love the guitars at the beginning of this song? I also prefer this song in Japanese, probably for the same reasons. Maybe someday, Kyo will get his English to feel less jarring and out of place? His voice just sounds more melodious in Japanese, so all the sustained notes sound better -- you wouldn't think it'd make that much of a difference, but it does. :o Screaming bit at the end is again extended so it doesn't feel as sudden! And then it goes into an echo-phase that sounds really Indian... really, really appropriate ending for this album!

OVERALL: I'm pretty pleased with UROBOROS for the most part. I'm really glad to see that Dir en grey is continuing to experiment with new sounds and styles, and that they aren't afraid to try different things. UROBOROS had a really concept album feel to it because I felt that a lot of the tracks were connected in some way -- the Indian/Middle Eastern/Asian string instruments really helped with that, and I also think Kyo's learned a few new tricks with his voice. Various noises and sounds he makes here are definitely debut, and I'm interested to see where he takes them. The experimentation in the album feels a bit muddled at times though, and it really bothers me when I'm not able to pick out a distinct melody. I don't like songs that are just a jumbled mess of different noises that may or may not fit together. It's very disorienting. That said, for Diru, it always seems to take me a while to adjust to their stuff -- a lot of their melodies are more subtle, and it'll take me at least a half dozen more listens to pick it out for sure. At the moment, I'm not sure that I like it quite as much as MARROW, but that may well change. The Asian/traditional elements are really helping -- I'm a big fan of mixing traditional with modern. :3

Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Perfect Blue

I met my goals last night as far as homework went, so I rewarded myself with Perfect Blue, which I've just finished reviewing. It was the last of Satoshi Kon's movies that I needed to see, and it was quite excellent. I really can't wait to see his newest project, Dream Machine, when it's finished. :3

I was thinking of re-structuring the format I use to set up my reviews. Right now, the sections I use are a mix between the sections dictated by Kiji Anime, a now-defunct review site I used to write for, and my own breakdown of categories. Most review sites or whatever use a similar break down, but since I use MAL pretty much exclusively now, I was thinking of just conforming to that. Really though, the sections I use are pretty much the same anyway, just I list them in a different order and use slightly different names. Some of the other better reviewers also break down the "Sound" category into "music" and "voice acting," so yeah... Dunno. I'm a fan of cohesiveness and conformity on things that should be uniform, like reviews, but that also means I like cohesiveness and conformity within my own collection of reviews. It'd be troublesome to have to go back and edit old reviews, lol. This is a pretty pointless internal debate, isn't it?

I think I'll probably just keep doing what I'm doing and not worry about MAL's format. Eh. Read the rest of this entry...

Japanese Sound Effects

So I was working on my final for Sequential Art. It wasn't a sudden realization or anything -- I've thought about this a few times before -- but it occurred to me again that the Japanese have the most ridiculous sound effects ever. Seriously, they have sound effects for pretty much everything, including things and actions and events that... don't make any sounds. This is a far, far cry from sound effects in American comics (and perhaps European comics? I really have no idea since I don't read any) where half the sound effects are just the verb they're trying to describe, like "scratch scratch" or "stomp stomp." As such, I've found it to be very, very frustrating trying to incorporate sound effects into my own comics because there just aren't that many to choose from, and it kind of feels stupid using verbs as onomatopoeias when they obviously aren't.

Of course, there are some American artists that will use Japanese katakana sound effects in their pages even though the comic is in English and reads left-to-right. Off the top of my head, I know Christy Lijewski, a SCAD grad, and rem, a Houstonian, both do this (though sometimes rem draws right-to-left). The difference is that both of them legitimately know the language, and I don't (yet?), so I guess I'd feel a little pretentious using katakana in my comics even though I could probably pull it off well enough.

So the question of the day becomes... why aren't there more English sound effects? Why don't we also have sounds for things like "shock," "silence," "rudeness," "flailing," or "a quick glance sideways"? Sure, it is kind of ridiculous to have sound effects for things that inherently have no sound, but it certainly is useful. One of my roommates hypothesized that Japanese theatre might have inspired some of their sound effects since it might not have always been apparent what was going on in nondescript genres like shadow and puppet theatre, so they could have utilized a wide range of informative sound effects to help things along? Honestly though, I know little of Japanese theatre and am really just grasping at straws here.

Either way, I don't really think America has such an extensive, nonverbal theatrical background, so maybe it's a legitimate guess either way. British and American stageplays relied on wide arm gestures and overacting to get things across. Manga had to have made up a lot of stuff on their own though, and American comics have been around just as long, so again, why don't we have sound effects like じ～ (ji~) for "silence" or "staring"? Instead, we will just actually use the word "silence" or "stare" or an elipse ("...") to get the point across, which isn't nearly as visually pleasing in my opinion. Besides, I'm more inclined to believe that じ can be used in a serious scene than "silence," which just looks comical (...haha, pun).

I wonder how those sorts of conventions get started. Is it just something that one mangaka decides to do and others eventually understand and implement it also? Who decided that じ should represent "silence"? Or that いそ (iso) should mean "moving happily"? They aren't real onomatopoeias like ちゅ (chu) or ふふふふ (fufufufu) which actually represent sounds, so they aren't self-evident... unless the Japanese all just have a hard-wired, instinctual knowledge of sound effects that aren't sounds. Does the first person to use the sound effect just throw in an editor's note? How long does it take to integrate in a new sound effect? Does anyone ever sit back and wonder why the hell silence has a sound effect?

Meanwhile, in America, comic book artists are throwing things against walls trying to figure out what kind of sounds they make (seriously, I know people that do this), but once again, those are still real sounds. No one is trying to come up with "sound effects" for actions. I guess logically, it would make sense to just represent actions with the verb for the action, but it's just so... logical, I suppose. Not exciting. Not interesting. I am interested in these strange Japanese sounds for things that don't make sounds. Using "knock knock" for knocking is kind of lame. But even for things that do make sounds, I feel like the American library of sound effects is very limited. Specifically, I have a scene where a woman is crying. I was trying to come up with a sound effect for sobbing, but... all I could come up with was "sob sob" -- decidedly lame. Very lame. But what else do we use to represent that sound? When I visualize someone crying, I guess it kind of sounds like "hua hua" with the occasional "hmf" for sniffing and "hnn" or something, but that's only after a lot of hard thinking and trying to translate those weird noises into words. And when I read those words, I don't immediately think back to "crying." Why is this so hard?

The amazing Japanese sound effect dictionary linked above describes しく (shiku) as "sobbing" or "whimpering," and I guess I could hear that as a crying sound. Is it more apparent to the Japanese? (How the hell did these translators figure all this out anyway?) It's all a mystery to me... but I do still wish that Americans would just make something up for those sounds, even if they don't make a whole lot of sense. At least then I'd have more options. I wonder if people will just think I'm retarded if I start making up weird-ass sound effects in my comics. Maybe years later, they will eventually adopt "ghnnnnn" as the sound for American silence and a cartoon show will make fun of it by having someone actually say "ghnnnnn" when they are trying to represent silence. That would be kind of awesome. Read the rest of this entry...

More Dragonball: Oh, GOD, what is THAT?!

You know. I'm actually surprised about the number of posts I've already made about the upcoming Dragonball movie, but I can't seem to help making posts when stuff like this comes up:

If that's Goku's oozaru form, I think I'm gonna cry.

Okay, okay, so they say that it may not be a final shot, but if Fox requested that it be taken down, then it must be official in some way shape or form, right? Or they might just want the general bad impressions of the movie to slow their rampant circulation. Still... this screenshot makes Goku look more like a creepy lizard than a gorilla. I always wanna say this would have made a better Piccolo, but it wouldn't really. I can live with Nosferatu!Piccolo all right enough.

In any case, I look forward to any follow-up screenshots that come from this and/or seeing the final product if this is indeed a work-in-progress... Read the rest of this entry...

Review: Code Geass R2

Finally. A good month and a half after the series has ended, I've finished writing this review.

Despite the fact that I've said that the nature of reviews is to be opinionated, I have a pressing need to consider all sides of everything and to present as fair an assessment as possible. Naturally, being fair while simultaneously trying to convey your own personal feelings about a series is difficult. Code Geass has been one of those series that remind me why I'm a fan of anime in general, so of course I'm biased, but that doesn't mean I don't understand the fact that there are a lot of things wrong with it. How to get both points across without being more verbose than I already am? It's a huge challenge, and I'm still not sure if I like how the review turned out. I did the best I could though, and I guess that's all I can do for now. I may revisit the review sometime in the future like I did with my review of the first season.

I rewatched the first live action Death Note movie with my roommate last night. Hopefully the second movie and the L movie will soon follow, and I'll be able to write all three reviews. Read the rest of this entry...