A cover for G.K. Chesterton’s The Napoleon of Notting Hill, drawn by Hayao Miyazaki.

(From here, via Ben Hatke. Hatke, by the way, is the creator of Zita the Space Girl.)

Bonus: Here’s Daniel Mitsui’s rendition of a Japanese St. George.

Satoshi Kon, 1963-2010

Words versus image. (From episode six of Asobi ni Iku Yo.)

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Courtesy of ANN, it is now possible to watch the unclassifiable anime Oh! Edo Rocket online.

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Attention designers: Note the third special category for Costume-Con 29‘s Future Fashion Folio:

REDESIGN YOUR FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER ($100 in cash prizes sponsored by Karen Dick): You know what your favorite characters wear in that anime you love, but what do YOU think they should wear when they’re out of uniform (or when they get drafted into the military), or on that special date, or going to that themed costume party? Extra points for believably recasting anime characters in Broadway musicals to suit the theme of the convention.

You don’t need to be any kind of an expert costumer or an artist to enter designs, nor do you need to be able to sew. You don’t even need to plan to attend Costume-Con (I won’t be there — New Jersey is a bit out of bicycle range).

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Sushi and spaghetti; or, to be is not to be: a comparison of Asian spirituality and Christianity. (Via First Things.)

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(From Dr. Boli’s Celebrated Magazine.)

This has absolutely nothing to do with the otakusphere, right?

Specifically, GreyDuck and Wonderduck.

1. If you’d like to play along, reply to this post and I’ll assign you a letter.
2. You then list (and upload or link to the video, if you feel like it) 5 songs that start with that letter.
3. Then, as I’m doing here, you’ll post the list to your journal with the instructions.

So here are five tunes in the key of H. I’ll skip the obvious ones — you all know “Highway Star” and “Hardware Store,” right? And “Harold the Barrel” and “Happy Jack”? These you might not have heard before.

Ghost Hound was a major disappointment. I expected so much more from the Lain veterans. But the opening did introduce me to singer Mayumi Kojima.¹
Mayumi Kojima, “Himawari”

The Webb Wilder Credo: “Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big, wear glasses if you need ‘em.”
Webb Wilder, “Human Cannonball”

Here are John Jorgenson, Will Ray and Jerry Donohue, and lots of guitar.
The Hellecasters, “Highlander Boogie”

To clear your ears, here is some finger-picking from a Winfield veteran.
Pete Huttlinger, “Hortensia”

Let’s finish up with a classic anatidean tune.
Raymond Scott, “Huckleberry Duck”

Here’s a more recent recording by David Bagsby and Kurt Rongey, alias “XEN.”

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Bonus H tune: What show does this come from?

Want to play? Leave a note in the comments, and I’ll give you a letter.

1. Some of her recent recordings can be found at amazon.com, but they don’t show her at her best. [↩]

Which anime has the best opening? I ended up with over 30 candidates, so I’m going to do this in two rounds. In the current one, you can vote for up to three openings. The ten with the most votes will advance to the final round.

I found videos for most, but there were a couple that eluded me. If the openings to Dennou Coil and season one of Hare & Guu exist somewhere on the web, please send me the links. It will save me the trouble of extracting them myself. Update: I have Dennou Coil up now, but I still need Hare & Guu.

If there is an opening missing that you feel absolutely must be in the poll, please make a note of it in the comments and include a Youtube link. Maybe — maybe — I can add it.

Please note that not all these openings are “family-friendly.” I put a couple that might be problematic inside spoilers.

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Light Yagami is the best villain in anime, with more than twice the votes of his nearest competition, Johan. Sephiroth came in third and Gendo Ikari fourth. There’s a three-way tie for fifth place between Knives, Lord Genome and Vicious. Ladd Russo and Beatrice tied for eighth, and Lord Shishio and Orochimaru tied for tenth. Other candidates receiving votes were Lust, Diva, Vegeta, Char Asnable, Yomi Isayama, Friagne, Millennium Earl, Leader Desslok, King Hamdo, Joker, Cell, Queen Beryl, Frieza and Piccolo Daimao.

There’s a new poll up.

I had been planning to purchase at the the first few discs of Soul Eater when my budget permits. However, if you force me to endure the preview of the SE dub every time I watch an episode of Baccano!, I might change my mind.¹

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I don’t know which is more depressing: the number I don’t recognize, or the number that I do.

(Via Anime Raku.)

Update: Raiga in the comments links to a spreadsheet with explanations.

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Naming your kids after anime characters is a dumb idea, but it’s no worse than calling them “Jimi Hendrix” and “Janis Joplin,” as did one erstwhile neighbor.

1. Yes, I know ways around this, but it’s still inexcusable. Also, every time I see the unskippable antipiracy notice, I feel a sudden strange urge to make illegal copies of every DVD I own. [↩]

The creative processes at Pixar and Dreamworks

(Via Steven Greydanus.)

If you’re planning to corrupt youthful acquaintances with anime this Christmas, you might want to check out the current weekly specials at RightStuf. Among the drivel and trash are such things as the complete sets of Bottle Fairy and Mao-chan, each for $15, both suitable for all ages (but keep them away from jackass anime critics). For school-age and older, there’s Petite Princess Yucie for $26. The outstanding bargain is the complete collection of Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit for $20. Moribito was the third-best show of the banner year 2007¹ and I can recommend it unreservedly for all grade-school age and older. The protagonist, Balsa, was my choice for the outstanding anime babe of all time.

1. Second-best was Oh! Edo Rocket, due out soon from Funimation. The best was Dennou Coil, which remains unlicensed. [↩]

Steven declared that he couldn’t stop laughing after the second episode of Asobi ni Iku Yo (spoilers), so I checked it out. There’s more fan service than I like, and it’s a bit too off-color to generally recommend, but otherwise it’s been fun. It looks like the story is will be pleasantly convoluted, with nearly every character representing various competing secret organizations, and I’m certainly not going to object if one of the central characters is a sweet, playful and competent catgirl.

If the series gets stupid or devolves into mere fanservice, I’ll drop it. However, this is one of the very few recent shows that have caught my interest, and I have hopes that the crew can maintain a high level of complicated absurdity through the remaining eleven episodes.

How much sense Asobi ni Iku Yo ultimately makes might depend on the translators. Compare these two versions of a moment in the second episode. Eris, the adolescent fantasy alien catgirl, is speaking to her human captor, who has the scent of dog on him.

Ayako & SubDESU:

Ayako & SubDESU

Team Zebraman:

Team Zebraman

Update: Here’s the clip in question. Would someone who understands Japanese please explain what exactly Eris says?

The previews for the third episode suggest that the Ayako/SubDESU version is more accurate. Note the entity in the lower right corner of this screen capture:

A thought: so far, no weapon has presented any real threat to Eris. What would happen if an enemy were to roll a ball of yarn in front of her at a critical moment?

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Steven also enjoyed Battle Programmer SHIRASE. Unfortunately, scarywater.net is defunct, and many older torrents are no longer available. Grr.

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Want a catgirl of your own? Visit the catgirl generator:

This brave catgirl has slitted, red eyes. She has neck-length, luxurious, curly, brown hair worn in an impractacal style. Her skin is pale, and she has brown fur with orange patches on her ears and tail. She has a voluptuous build. Her ears are alert. Her fashion preferences are best described as “as little as possible.” When she talks, she tends to use a lot of big words – and know exactly what they mean. (sic)

You can find many more generators here and here. (Does the world really need a “Bishotron“?)

The first half of Osamu Tezuka’s Legend of the Forest is a history of animation. It begins with static sketches of a forest, with squirrels, birds, trees with faces, and a brute with a chainsaw. After a glimpse of a zoetrope, the detailed drawings are succeeded by very primitive animation. Gradually, the art becomes more sophisticated, wth homages to Winsor McCay and Walt Disney. At about the half-way point the film goes from black-and-white to color, and soon thereafter it completes its evolution to Tezuka-style art and animation.

Unfortunately, the man-versus-nature story is not as interesting as the art history. Tezuka has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. I’m not going to bother summarizing it — you can glean the essentials from the screen captures below. The soundtrack is Tchaikovsky’s fourth symphony. It was not an ideal choice; sometimes it works with the animation, sometimes against it (and I’m not much of a Tchaikovsky fan anyway). Legend of the Forest is from 1987, 25 years after Tales of the Street Corner, but the earlier film was more deft.

Heavy-handed though Legend of the Forest is, it is still worth seeing for the art. However, the pieces on The Astonishing Work of Tezuka Osamu that I am likely to rewatch are the satirical and whimsical cartoons, such as “Memory,” “The Genesis” and “Jumping.” The 6:22 of the last are sufficient reason to recommend the DVD to anyone interested in the history of anime.

More on Tezuka here.

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So those who download fansubs don’t buy DVDs?

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Here are a few of the pictures I shot earlier today at Anime Festival Wichita.

Update: I’ve uploaded 478 pictures from the weekend here.

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Miyazaki meets Groening.

Schrödinger’s Kitty.

“Nothing says ‘My Country, Long May She Wave’ more clearly than wrapping the American flag around the shapely hips and intimate parts of an Amazonian Princess, preferably with the American eagle grasping yet caressing her firm, large, shapely organs of matriarchy.”

“Well, Then, Maybe Now Is the Time“

(Via Art and Adventure.)

… Japanese handbell choir-style.

It would have been nice if they’d worn sailor suits, but you can’t have everything.

(Via Terry Teachout and the Rat.)

It looks like Light Yagami is the best villain in the history of anime, at least for this week, with Gendo Ikari as a distant runner-up. So, let’s get started on the next poll. Which do you think is the best anime opening? Which exhibits the most creative combination of good music and imagery and is appropriate to its series? Here are some possiblities:

Azumanga Daioh
Baccano!
Cowboy Bebop
Haibane Renmei
Lucky Star
Noir
Paranoia Agent
Ramen Fighter Miki
Serial Experiments Lain

What else? Post your nominations in the comments, if possible with YouTube links.