The Kawaii Menace

Here’s a curiosity: a Japanese dub of a Tex Avery cartoon. You don’t need to understand the dialogue to enjoy it.

(Via the comments at Cartoon Brew.)

*****

I’ve been feeling less than wonderful recently, and after a day on the computer at work, I don’t really want to spend the evening staring at another computer monitor. I’ll be back eventually with comments on Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and PetoPeto-san (the latter features music by Masaki Kurihara of Kuricorder fame) and more pointless lists.

Got a question about Haibane Renmei? Send it to Marc Hairston, and he might be able to ask Yoshitoshi ABe for you next weekend.

(I just got an email from a friend checking to see how I am, and I thought I ought to make an announcement here in case anyone else is wondering.)

The remains of Tropical Storm Lowell (an east Pacific storm that nobody paid much attention to) dropped ten inches of rain in the Wichita area yesterday. Several of the rivers in the region are well above flood stage. Fortunately for me, none of the flooding is near my neighborhood, even though the Little Arkansas River loops around it.

My principal, selfish concern with the flooding is to what extent it will interfere with the Walnut Valley Festival next weekend. The spot where I normally camp is currently under at least ten feet of water. (If I do go this year, I’ll be day-tripping. Even if the Walnut River is back within its banks in time, the mud will be deep and gooey in the campgrounds.)

Carp Camp, September 13, 2008. (Photo from The Winfield Courier.)
Here’s what it looked like a year ago. (Link fixed.)

In other news, the word is that Ubu rode out Ike in good shape. It will probably be some time before he has power again and can resume blogging.
Update: Ubu’s back.

… about baking bread?

Azuma Kazuma, the protagonist of Yakitate!! Japan, is a sixteen-year-old with an immense talent for baking. He’s bumptious, naive and not terribly bright, but he is extremely dedicated to his craft. He has a special gift, “solar hands” that make dough rise unusually fast, and he has a quest, creating the bread that will allow Japan to take its place among the great bread-making countries of the world. The first episode relates Azuma’s introduction to baking; the second concerns his come-from-behind victory in his first competition at the major dojo bakery he hopes to join.

The premise sounds ridiculous, but it works. Kazuma is a typical shounen hero, but not to an obnoxious degree, and the other characters introduced so far have possibilties. The show is energetic and done with a light touch. Whether there is 69 episodes’ worth of story there is another matter, though, and I’m not sure that I want to invest that much time in it.

If what I’ve seen is representative, this is a good show for all ages.

When I watch anime, I see meditations on despair and redemption (Haibane Renmei), speculations about information technology and consciousness (Denno Coil, Serial Experiments Lain), case studies in dealing with grief and the importance of music (Sugar, a Tiny Snow Fairy), and illustrations of the importance of families (Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch and many, many others). When Brian Alexander, author of America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction, watches anime, he sees sex.¹ I guess what you see depends on what wavelengths your eye is sensitive to.

(Via Derailed by Darry.)

1. To be fair, he notes that “Of course, not all anime and manga is overtly sexual — a lot of it is meant for children. Even some adult anime isn’t sexualized any more than, say, Wonder Woman (who was created as a dominatrix bondage fantasy).” [↩]

Cartoon Brew notes that today is the centenary of Raymond Scott’s birth, whose music is “genetically encoded in every earthling.” If you spent your childhood Saturday mornings watching Bugs Bunny, you know this tune.

Here’s a radio show about Raymond Scott, featuring Irwin Chusid and a lot of Scott.

My principal viewing the past few days has been the second season of Rocky and Bullwinkle and George of the Jungle. I wonder: has anime produced any magnificent idiots who stand comparison with Bill Scott’s immortal trio: Bullwinkle, George and Dudley Do-Right? We’ll probably never see the equal of the first, who is one of three great comic characters of the 20th century.¹ But there have been some estimable nitwits in anime, which brings me to my next list.

Outstanding idiots

1. Tamaki Suou (Ouran High School Host Club)
2. Excel Excel (Excel Saga)
3. Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent (Baccano!) (Yeah, that’s two characters, but I think of them as a single unit.)
4. Bantaro Sanbonmatsu (Jubei-chan: Secret of the Lovely Eyepatch)
5. Kankuro Nishiyama (Ramen Fighter Miki)

Notes:

• While I haven’t found a Japanese counterpart to Bill Scott, who was a writer and producer as well as a voice actor,² Kotono Mitsuishi does have two major nitwits in her resumé, Excel and Usagi Tsukino.

• It is not easy to create a stupid character who is nevertheless consistently entertaining, let alone sympathetic. How many people watch Project A-ko for C-ko? How much Tomo Takino can you stand?

• Osaka is not an idiot. She just thinks very different.

• An idiot can be a ditz, but the terms are not synonyms. Yurika Misumaru and the early versions of Mihoshi Kuramitsu are ditzes of the highest order but not idiots.

1. The other two are Groucho Marx and Ignatius Reilly. [↩]
2. Scott wrote all the “moose and squirrel” scripts, which episodes demonstrate that good writing can redeem crummy animation. [↩]

… American style. A curiosity from 70 years ago.

(Via Dirty Harry.)