I’ve downloaded a number of first episodes from the fall and winter seasons, but I have yet to make it more than half-way through any of them. Some might actually be worth watching, e.g., Durarara, but I’m just not in the mood right now. I sent off an order for some older titles yesterday — the Ghost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex, Moonphase and Black Heaven boxed sets (and a set of El Hazard playing cards) — but those are likely to remain in their shrink wrap for a while. I have things other than anime on my mind, and if I do pop a DVD into the drive, it more likely will be an old favorite like Shingu than anything new.

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A couple of silly links:

Another example of silhouette animation, this one recounting the avian terror in Clerkenwell.

If you play Dungeons and Dragons, stay out of prison in Wisconsin.

Maureen Fogle, 1959-2010

My sister passed away this morning after a long battle with cancer. There probably won’t be much activity here for a while.

Coming all too soon: Usagi meets Goku.

Here’s the culprit.

When it involves £10,000’s worth of plastic surgery.

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(Via Dustbury.)

Life is complicated these days, and anime is low priority. I’ve heard good things about Kimi ni Todoke — I gather that the protagonist is Aspie-ish, which could be interesting, handled well — and I plan to download it when I see a batch torrent. Otherwise, though, nothing else recent looks worth the time.

A few random notes:

Via Pete, here’s a look at a deluxe Russian edition of Haibane Renmei.

Many in the otakusphere have been writing about the decade in anime. Uh, guys, you’re jumping the gun. Just as 2000 was the last year of the 20th century, 2010 is the tenth year of the first decade of the no-longer-new century, not the first of the second decade.

Disappointing musical news: Kayo is leaving Polysics. The band apparently will continue to tour and record, but it won’t be the same without her robotic persona and bleepy synths. Who else can possibly shake the pompons in “Peach Pie on the Beach”?

I bought myself a Christmas present, the basic edition of Filter Forge. It’s something like Reaktor for graphic artists: you can download thousands of filters made by other users, or you can roll your own from the tools provided (if you get a fuller version). There are a couple of examples below the fold. Warning: they’re based on a snapshot of myself, and I am not cute. Once you see them, you can’t unsee them.

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The Japanese calendars I ordered last month finally arrived. The “Yotsuba&!” calendar was a major disappointment. Instead of Azuma’s drawings, what I got was a collection of uninteresting snapshots with a small sketch of Yotsuba drawn on each. On several of them she’s barely noticeable at all.

The “fortune cat” calendar, though, I am quite pleased with. I had intended to give it as a gift, but I may hang on to it.

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I just got home a minute ago. As I carried my bike up the stairs, a couple of furries got into a car across the street and drove off. One just had a tail, but the other was in full fox regalia, plus a t-shirt. They were gone before I could fetch my camera, which is probably just as well.

I doubt that anyone will be surprised by the first-place winner in the best anime soundtrack poll. Cowboy Bebop received more votes than the second- and third-place winners combined. I had expected that Noir would take second, but it was eventually overtaken by FLCL and Death Note. Here’s the top ten:

1. Cowboy Bebop (18.0%)
2. FLCL (8.0%)
3. Death Note (7.0%)
4. Noir (7.0%)
5. .hack//SIGN (6.0%)
5. Vision of Escaflowne (6.0%)
7. Lucky Star (5.0%)
8. Haibane Renmei (5.0%)
8. Macross Frontier (5.0%)
10. Mushishi (5.0%)

The other nominees were Ghost in the Shell SAC (4.0%); Princess Mononoke (4.0%); Azumanga Daioh (4.0%); Aria (3.0%); Code Geass/R2 (3.0%); Neon Genesis Evangelion (2.0%); Simoun (2.0%); ef: a tale of memories (2.0%); The Twelve Kingdoms (2.0%); Mai-HiME (1.0%); and, Last Exile (0.0%)

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So, who’s the worst character in anime? I changed the question to “most annoying” in the poll widget to make it clear that I’m looking for the most poorly conceived, pointlessly irritating or useless character, not the most evil. I added a couple more candidates whom I think should have been nominated, and I changed the representative of Sailor Moon to ChibiUsa, whom I had forgotten about.

Since there is a series of Sailor Moon Gundams, it’s inevitable that there would also be a Gundam Sailor Moon. This is one of the entries in the current Sailor Moon Redesign contest. The styles and quality of the entries vary wildly, but some are quite eye-catching. I rather like this Sailor Mercury:

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Recent searches:

japanese duck cosplayers — 11 times.
inhaling the universe
tancos 空军基地 — (Chinese for “Air Force Base”)
3d stereoscopic cross-view babes — I recommend anaglyphs instead, like the ones in this classic Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition.
this is not fun anymore in japanese — It probably isn’t much fun in English, either.
is daffy duck a boy or girl
lain piano sheet music yoshitoshi abe — I don’t think ABe did the music for Lain
raymond scott lain — I don’t think Raymond Scott did, either.
serial experiments lain the three stigmata of palmer eldritch — There’s a term paper there.
adopt a miku hatsune
shoujo anime 2008 they put milk in a saucer
kawaii gif queen of dorks
utena gnosticismo
adults that watch kaiketsu zorori — Hey, it beats these.
hatsune miku christmas album — Probably more listenable than Sailor Moon’s, or Bob Dylan’s.
guu hale feminist
kawaii critical analysis
anthropology kawaii
horror kawaii — Look here.
ouran satire not — Ouran, satire, is too.
priss asagiri armpit

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Toon Zone is publishing a series of posts on animation during the past ten years, including anime. I would have chosen Kaiba over Kemenozume, but I fully agree with the #1 choice on this list of shows that ought to be licensed.

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For any Chestertonians out there, here’s G.K. Totoro:

… or is that Totoro Roosevelt?

(From here.)

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Gaining something in translation.

These are the nominees for the most poorly-conceived, unnecessary, pointlessly irritating and absolute worst character in anime. (I’m letting Sailor Mars and Kazuhara represent the entire casts of Sailor Moon and Girls Bravo.)

Jinnai Katsuhiko (El Hazard, The Wanderers)
Gauron (Full Metal Panic)
Happosai (Ranma 1/2)
Basera Nekki (Macross 7)
NB (Tenchi Muyo GXP)
Dr. Kyogi Ogami (Amazing Nurse Nanako)
Rei Hino/Sailor Mars (Sailor Moon)
Kazuhara (Girls Bravo)
Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Nanami (Revolutionary Girl Utena)
Pain (Naruto)
Tomo Takino (Azumanga Daioh)
Kimura (Azumanga Daioh)

Are there any other anime characters who make you cringe whenever they appear? Nominate them in the comments. I’ll post the poll sometime this weekend.

A friend mentioned that he was curious about The Supergal, or Maris the Chojo, so I found it for him. I made the mistake of watching it myself, and I can authoritatively state that its obscurity is well-deserved, even if it based on a Rumiko Takahashi story. Unless you think that female wrestling is the apogee of civilized entertainment, skip it. Watch Project A-ko again instead. However, it does give me an opportunity to post a picture within a spoiler tag for Ubu.

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私のホバークラフトは鰻でいっぱいです

Naga, left, and the other fashion designer from the third episode.

A friend found that he had two copies of Slayers Excellent, so he gave me one (thank you, Richard). It’s set earlier than the TV series, before Lina meets Gourry, Zelgadis et al. Instead of them, we have Naga the Serpent (approximately .8 Rushunas). How much you enjoy Slayers Excellent depends on how much of Naga you can stand. She’s every bit as stupid as Gourry, but unlike the swordsman, she’s a narcissist with no compensating virtues. It’s a good question whether she’s more dangerous as an enemy or an ally. She sorely tries the patience of Lina and the audience, and she might be a candidate for the next poll.

Naga aside, the three episodes of Slayers Excellent are mostly decent farces¹ in which Lina faces a vampire, escorts a spoiled rich girl on a journey, and gets caught in a fashion feud that escalates faster than a flame war. The last episode is a showcase for Aya Hisakawa as the deranged defender of tradition.

I ran a few tests, and I can report that, contrary to rumor, Naga’s laugh will not peel paint. Possibly, if you play it repeatedly at a high volume on a good sound system, it might soften the surface layer of a painted object, but if you have furniture to refinish, a chemical stripper will work far more efficiently and present fewer health hazards.

1. The ending of the second episode is a bit indecent. [↩]

It’s about time for a new poll. So … who is the worst character in anime? I don’t mean who is the most evil — a good villain can be a pleasure to watch and is essential for some kinds of stories¹ — but, rather, who is the most poorly-conceived, unnecessary or pointlessly irritating? Who provides unfunny comic relief, pathological angst or repulsive fanservice? Who spoils every scene he’s in? List your nominations in the comments. You can nominate more than one, but please don’t get carried away.

Some possibilities:

Rei Hino/Sailor Mars (Sailor Moon) — She may be the best-looking of the Sailor Senshi and a magical miko, but she is also quarrelsome and obnoxious.

Tomo Takino (Azumanga Daioh) — AD should have been a great show. Unfortunately, there are a couple of problems. One is the insufferable Tomo.

NB (Tenchi Muyo GXP) — Never was comic relief so tedious. Or so unnecessary. Without Nabeshin’s self-insertion, TMGXP would be a solid four stars out of five; with him, the most I can give is three.

Barashishou (Rozen Maiden Traümend) — It’s obvious early on that she’s not a proper Rozen Maiden:² there is no personality behind the smirk.

“Ms.” Aki (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi) — I really, really don’t want to see middle-aged transvestites. Uninteresting footnote: Aki is voiced by the same voice actor as

Kimura (Azumanga Daioh) — I’ll just quote Steven from his legendary lost review of AD: “Someone please shoot him.”

1. The loathsome Dolores Umbridge is perhaps the most memorable character in the entire Harry Potter franchise. [↩]
2. Yeah, that’s a spoiler, but I don’t care. The show is a waste of time. [↩]

Ken the Brickmuppet for Congress.

The website for Satoshi Kon’s current project is active. Yume-Miru Kikai looks like a significant departure from Kon’s previous work, at least visually, and unlike Paranoia Agent and Paprika, this “future folklore story” might be suitable for all ages.

An appreciation of the background art of Oh! Edo Rocket.

For anyone who’s ever said “Huh?” at a renaissance faire.

If you’re in the Minneapolis area, you can catch a performance of “A Christmas Carol” in Klingon. (Via Maureen the Suburban Banshee.)

A three-dimensional Mandelbrot set? (also via Maureen.)

Bored with caricaturing Roman Catholicism, manga artists have discovered the Eastern Orthodox.

An old interview with the late John Sladek I came across recently. Sladek, discoverer of the thirteenth sign of the zodiac (Arachne, May 13 to June 9),¹ was one of the last century’s best satirists and is of my favorite writers.

Meep.

Thinking about large numbers.

Keep an eye on those ducks:

Public service announcement: the complete Dirty Pair TV is out there, subtitled, if you know where to look.

1. For the morbidly curious, my own sign is “No parking — violators will be towed at owner expense.” [↩]

Who are the Japanese — “… slightly modified Koreans“? The article is about 10 years old and the research may be outdated, but it’s an interesting read nevertheless.

(Via Darwin.)

Cross your eyes to view this in 3D

Here’s a collection of Japanese stereograms from from the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of them can be viewed by the usual “parallel” method — which is easier to do than to explain — but there is a set of contact prints here that you can see in 3D by crossing your eyes. You can also see if the animated .gifs here work for you; I just find them annoying. Here’s a large collection of the photographer’s work.

(Via Lynn.)