Shojo A Go-Go: The Demon Prince of Momochi House

First Impressions are somewhat important,especially with books if you want anyone to give your book the time of day. The first impression I had with The Demon Prince of Momochi House was Kamisama Kiss rip off. I know you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover, literally or metaphorically, but I mean look at the image to your left. It's clearly Tomoe,same smug look and fox ears but a kimono lifted from Miketsukami. However once I started reading I was wrong to judge it as such. I mean I was not really blown away by anything however it did prove the cover was a liar.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House is unsurprisingly a supernatural romance. It's ground well trodden in this column and this one looks to be no different. I'll give it this it is trying to be different from books like Demon Love Spell, and Black Bird with a jerk with a heart of gold male lead. The titular demon prince is Aoi,a human who transforms into the Nue. The guy is bordering on male moe and his kindness knows no bounds. His love interest and our lead is Himari,the 16 year old rightful owner of Momochi House,whose attempt to claim the house kick starts the plot. She's a generic shojo protagonist,i.e thick headed with a sweet side and a weak constitution. She's saved from being the weakest character by Aoi's demon companions who may as well not really be here for all they do. Shoujou is the hot headed one and Amazuchi is the guy destined to be an uke for the inevitable yoai doujins.

The only person I really care about at this point is Aoi and that's just because he seems to have the most going on. How he got here and his status as the Nue are the only things I want to know about about. It helps that he is fairly likable and his child like antics are amusing. The rest of the cast could probably be interesting if they had any character but while we get little for Himari and her loneliness issues the remaining cast is left lacking.

We have three chapters that serve to paint us a picture of the world and it does this competently . There is a house on the border of our world and the spirit world that's protected by a supernatural being and shenanigans between the two realms ensue. It's enjoyable fun that serves to showoff Aoi's powers and a bit of back story on Himori's connection to the house. Nothing wrong with it and it adds an air of mystery with the question of who sent the will that brought Himori to the house and that person's intentions. An interesting twist that is brought up near the end is that Aoi can't leave the house.

This has the possibility to open up two paths. Either this becomes the major focus for now pushing the mystery of will to the back ground or it's an easily solved problem and this opens us up to a school setting like every other supernatural romance. The latter can open us up to probably more bland characters and the school tropes related to that. However the former has the potential to a hopefully more intimate manga that allows the characters to grow as they search for answers.Not that they wouldn't grow regardless of the path but it'd be more of a focus as we're limited to that small cast and the house itself.

There is a interesting undercurrent lurking here that indicate this manga may go places. Aoi's genuine sweetness is nice in a genre clogged with misunderstood jerks even if the everyone else is just sort of there. The plot is not offering much right now but what is here is written well enough that I'd probably continue for at least a few more volumes to see where it goes.

Till Next time: Stay Positive.

Things No One Cares About:Nanana's Buried Treasure

More and more I find myself longing to have an adventure. I would like to travel places and maybe learn about myself. Then I realize I'm a socially awkward recluse who is terrified of people. So I turn to video games and anime that are about having a fun adventure instead.Wanted failed to tickle that adventuring itch so maybe Nanana's Buried Treasure will.

Nanana's Buried Treasure is part of the spring 2014 anime season. It is based on an ongoing manga/light novel series that started in 2013. It was written by Kazuma Ootorino and illustrated by Ringo Aka. Normally I'd mentioned their other works except that this is it, Nanana is their first and so far only work and what a work it is. It's a story full of twists and turns that actually make sense when you go back to look at them.

The set-up is a mismatched group of students team up to acquire ancient artifacts hidden on an island designed for just that. It grows on from that with multiple factions and this is where the show gains it's intrigue. Every character has there motivations set up and fleshed out well enough to get a feel for them. However once the first big twist happens everything other plot twist is easily figured out for those paying even the slightest bit of attention.

The cast of characters is where the show shines. Jugo works well as your lead,having all the right reactions and a very interesting back story that changes your perspective of him once revealed. He plays comic foil to Tensai, the self titled Master Detective and her cross dressing maid Daruku. They along with Nanana form a nice quartet that plays well off each other and leads to some very funny moments. The remaining cast is interesting and flesh out the events that occurred prior to the series. The cast as a whole does have a severe case of chronic backstabbing syndrome which is a given with so many different schemes and ambitions fueling the hunts. It adds an interesting dynamic as each person is trying to outwit everyone else.

The treasures that they search for are hidden in what are called ruins but function like labyrinthine puzzles that lend themselves to some very interesting visuals. The puzzles are incredibly obtuse and serves to highlight that Tensai is not all talk. It also shows just how clever the group that set these up are. This group includes Nanana so we get to see some possible hidden depths in her character. The only problem is that the ending is a clear set up for a second season. It's not a bad thing but there is no guarantee of a second season and the light novel translations are lacking.

Wrapping up, Nanana's Buried Treasure is a fun show that blends adventure with slice of life seamlessly. The characters are likable and the story sets up an interesting premise with room to expand. Those looking for a fun adventure series should definitely check it out .

Till Next Time:Stay Positive

Things No One Cares About:Tampopo

Go ahead and read the last post if you want to know why I'm not reviewing Mistress Fortune this week,I'll wait.

 


Tampopo is a 1985 Japanese comedy that bills it self as the first Ramen Western. It comes to us courtesy of the late Juzo Itami who's films were mostly comedies and satires. It concerns itself with a main plot and a smattering of b-plots with no relation to each other outside of one or two. It flits between the plots with the smoothness of Colt 45 and is all tied together by the concept of food and how it shapes our relationships.

The main plot plays out like a heist movie without a heist as we follow a trucker named Goro and his sidekick Gun,as they help the titular Tampopo build up her dead husband's noodle shop. They start gathering men to help her out including a hobo,a drunk interior designer,and a butler. It's actually pretty fun with a smattering of great jokes and a fun dream sequences that wouldn't feel out of place in West Side Story.

The romance subplot is slightly underplayed and I question why they really brought it up. It's sad because the two leads play very well off each other. The plot comes to a halt bout twice as we go through some subplots:some good,some ok ,one stupid. The ones that work like one about food politics in business is really great,then there is a set of them focused around a white suited man and his girlfriend engaging in literal food porn. Those are really fun and even the mediocre one about two cons is fine. Then there is one that to save myself from ranting(for now, just doesn't work. It's message is heart warming but feels really forced just to make it.

I just have to talk about these transitions as they ultimately make Tampopo work. Every single one of them is marvelous and gives the film a sense of scope that brings home the idea that food connects us all. The only time it does not work is after we've spent a good portion of time on the main plot it abruptly switches to a completely different scene. After that it's back to flowing like something flow-y,but it's jarring compared to everything else and also doesn't help that main plot was ramping up by that point.

Every actor/actress is bringing their A-game and we get some really fun performances from a group of vagabonds. The man in the white suit tends to steal every scene he's in and perfectly sets the tone of the movie with his forth wall shattering opening scene. It's a good thing that he's in his own plot or he would completely overshadow Goro and friends

So yeah it's a great movie that is definitely worth a watch for anyone who loves food or just wants to laugh. It is also really fun to snark at if you're in the right mood. As always, Stay Positive

Sorry for this being a little on the late side,I'll beat myself for it later. See you next week for the beginning of JoJo month.

Things No One Cares About:Ramen Fighter Miki

So as I'm sailing along on the ship from last time and tempting fate by whistling the theme song to Gilligan’s Island when a storm of inconvenience comes rolling along to ruin my day. It's at this time that I regret using the boat from Link's Awaking but hey hindsight is 20/20. Anyway I washed up on an island with my clothes ripped conveniently to show off my belly. As I explored the island, I stumbled upon a group of scientists conducting an experiment called Ramen Fighter Miki.

Or...that's what one of them called it, another called it Noodle Fighter Miki, one of them called it The Unbeatable Delivery Girl, and one man that no one liked called it Invincible Poster Girl Miki. So right of the bat I could tell this experiment was run by some bang up guys. Either way this was a weird experiment .

They had set up a replica of a small town shopping district and made it as mundane as possible to, I suppose, see what happens when you populate it with sociopaths. As I sat there with them and watched this go on for about 24 fifteen minute experiments, it occurred to me that the subjects were all total sadists and the only one who wasn't was the little girl. It was like Tom and Jerry was too unrealistic for them and this was the logical fix. Everything was solved with violence that was so over-the-top it was actually kind of funny. Oddly enough after every experiment one of the men left the set. Turns out he was a scientist too, designated to play the straight man and make references to the experiment. He really sucked at that though as he only made those references about three times Though occasionally they brought in one of the others guys to replace him,who was a little too much into super sentai shows.

As we watched I also noticed that the subjects were kept on a diet of sugar and mood uppers to make everyone hyper as all get out. This had the odd side effect of making them all very violent in different ways. However when the woman who had the role of mother was taken off that mix of sugar and meds, she got weirdly introspective and it was really odd. They quickly decided to never do that again and moved on to getting some of the subjects drunk. I also think they put metal plates in everyone's foreheads because one of the subjects threw how dog skewers into various peoples heads with alarming regularity and they didn't seem phased. I was pleased that despite the fact that this group was made of old men none of them were that dirty and the girls weren't flashing panty shots or anything of the sort.

These experiments went on with little in the way of connection to one another and ended on such weird notes that I had to ask these men what the point of these experiments were. They looked at me as if insane and said “To make people laugh and find the best jokes .”

I rebutted by saying that these were jokes only a ten year old would find funny.

They shot back “But of course that's who were targeting not twenty somethings.”

Oh, I said OK that all well and good but can you help me get of this island I'd really like to get back to Senien to see Waiting For Miura . They again looked at me and said kid your not on a island your in Senien and the play you wanted to see did it's final production last week while you were here. So I left through the door embarrassed and headed back home to cry alone and in pain till next Wednesday.

Next Time:Seriously not this again and also Mistress Fortune

Things No One Cares About: Otona Ni Nuts

About seven days ago, I told you about my fictional train ride through a fictional land. I also mentioned my childhood friend was a manga and I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I am a nutter now. Well this story of said visit with Otona Ni Nuts will do nothing to dispel that notion.

As we talked on the way back from the station to her parent's home,I saw she was still the silly immature girl I'd always known. Loving the attention from boys even though they only wanted her for her body. She wasn't very interesting to begin with so maybe this was for the best .

Her parent's weren't there when we arrived. Though now that I think about it I'd only ever caught glimpses of them and didn't even know their names. As we sat down on the couch to catch up a little more she started telling me about the time she at some nuts that made her into an adult. I vaguely remembered the events because they sounded like wacky hijinks and I was determined to stay out of that . I think I started playing acoustic guitar at that time,it was an odd few years.

Either way just as I thought she was finishing her story, she just keep going. I thought she trying to tell me that she learned a valuable lesson about maturity but she keep going on about other topics. From men trying to marry her to some woman challenging her to beauty contests. I try to forget the early 2000's and their rash of impromptu beauty contests. I think she went of on a couple weird tangents about bears and her summer vacations. Near the end I think she started making parts up to see if I was paying attention(fun fact: I wasn't). I say this because she started talking about helping some kid but I'm pretty sure she was talking about a GTO episode. Also the way she talked about nuts was just disturbing.

She kept bringing up our other friend Asuma who decided to not forgo said hijinks and stick around with her to play straight man. It wasn’t that surprising,as he was the only guy who actually liked her as a person,so they were pretty close. He was always dependable and they grew even closer during those events. Our group had a betting pool on when they would finally start dating,that I lost forty bucks in. Everyone else in her story was either bizarre or lecherous and I decided to call her out on her cock and bull. I used the ancient method of calling a bluff:pics or it didn't happen. Unfortunately she had four whole albums of the events and showed me all of them.

There were the pictures of her and Asuma looking like typical Shojo people(Shojoites?) and everyone looked like normal people. The other people I didn't recognize looked odd and the pictures were a little blurry so I couldn't quite make if they were male or female. It didn't help that many of the pictures were jumbled around on the page. Their were also a alarming number of shots of her teddy bear underwear and some fetishistic outfits that would make Amu blush. I decided not to question those pictures and conceded that her story was true. I would have brought up the fact that you think people would have heard about nuts that could turn you into adults. However she's was always pretty stubborn,so I dropped the subject.

She was disappointed that I had to leave again so soon, failing to notice that she had been talking for about eighteen hours. On our way out we passed her younger sister who spoke a language I couldn't understand,so I payed her no mind. We walked back to the station only to find it shut down due to an accident and being slightly cliché. She offered to let me stay with her for a few more days but I had to get to Seinen to see the new play Waiting for Miura. So I decided to commandeered a boat to get there in time and to have an easier segue into the next review. It was a nice visit but even as I relate this story to you I've already forgotten most of it.

Next time:Probably not this again

As always comments,requests and death threats are welcome.

Things No One Cares About: Tomorrow's King

Sorry for the slight delay,I promise to flog my self and get the next review out on Wednesday.

I was riding a train from the land of Shojo to see my childhood friend,Otona Ni Nuts, Otona for short. Yes my childhood friend is a manga,shut up. As I rode alone through the flower fields, I was approached by a middle aged woman selling Gokult. I politely declined but she slipped me a small package which contained 6 volumes of a manga. Bored, I figured I read it to kill time and to my surprise it was quite enjoyable. So in the spirit of killing time let's talk about Tomorrow's King.

Tomorrow's King is a 1996 Josei manga by Emiko Yachi and the only of her works to see any kind of translation,so no I won't be making a fool of myself like I did with Glass Wings. It concerns the life of Sasaysa Yuu and her journey through the world of acting. If your getting Glass Mask vibes stop that now, the series does have a similar start but quickly comes into its own. So before I end my fictional train ride,we'll determine if Tomorrow's King is worth your time.

The main theme of the work is that dreams can often change and you should pursue this true dream. Yuu herself goes from wanting to be an actor to being a playwright. Her love interest,Touya,goes into TV acting despite earlier protests. This theme really does bring the series to life,grounding it in believability. Most of the characters flit in and out depending on their relationship to Yuu. It's akin to real life with people not related to your endeavors being forgotten for a while because your busy. It's all firmly grounded in reality and makes Yuu's struggles and triumphs all the more fun to read.

The books also deal with the world of acting and the almost symbiotic relationship between the actor and the director. Most of the strife comes from the cut throat nature of the business though it is interspersed among the rivalry between Yuu and fellow director, Rin. To it's credit,the drama takes a backseat to said rivalry and never feels melodramatic. No one is secretly evil nor does a script some how bring about the end times.. Again it's firmly grounded in reality and that's where it's comfortable.

One could argue that this does take many notes from shojo juggernaut,Glass Mask(GM), but that's be unfair to both works. They both have a person in the field of theater,who has a talent for their craft and their struggles in life. However Yuu is not portrayed as a genesis playwright and has different goals and priorities than Maya from GM. The beginning sets you up to believe Yuu will some how be an acting prodigy but then she's terrible at it. When she tries to do Maya's schtick of perfect mimicry,she fails miserably. After that the story just moves on to doing it's own thing and I stopped making the comparisons.

This being a manga with good looking guys and girls who work closely together means love will eventually bloom. The book works love in a beautiful and mature way. It's very subtle till the end where the sexual tension is think enough to cut with a guillotine. In fact all the relationships are done very well and are clearly defined with out shoving it in the readers face. I could say the love triangle is semi useless because you know from the beginning who she'll end up with. However the other guy does serve to make the finale more personal,so he's fine by me.

My only real problem with the story is pacing. The story will gloss over things that seemed like they should have warranted a chapter. This gets really obvious near the end when the big play that's been hyped up seems to be mostly happening in the background. This may have been because the book wasn't doing well, I don't really know.

This being a bit of a character study of  Sasaya Yuu,it's probably be good to talk about her and the cast. She is an earnest and kind person with a fiery passion. Her character is used to play with the main theme about dreams but also the concepts of identity and self worth. She grows from a naive girl fresh from the farm to a confident playwright. She isn't a perfect person,she can be selfish and slightly sadistic when it comes to her scripts. However that just serves to highlight the passion she has for the scripts. As she does grows more confident that passion does intensify. During her first foray into TV writing she uses her determination to overcome her hate at seeing her serious scripts become comedies. It's her passion and kindness that make her interesting and increases the desire to see her do well.

The rest of the cast go through their own little arcs in relation to Sasaya's and this does bring up a minor problem with her love interest Touya. He's not particular interesting as a character,his with his only qualities being that he's good looking and is an exquisite actor. However his interactions with Sasaya are great and it's clear why he eventually falls for her. The rest of the main cast stands on their own and usually gets some nice growth if they need it. All those mini-arcs go towards the main theme of pursing your true dream. Except for Yuu's mentor,Shougo, who serves as the motivator for Sasaya.He is the end result of following your dreams.Even Kina who plays the role of the snooty girl antagonist gets her own arc that makes her more sympathetic. We see what motivates her and therefore understand why she is this way.

I'll ask you dear reader this are you a fan of a more realistic style because that's what your getting when you read this manga. It can be jarring for the first few chapters especially with the author's love of inking in the lips. It's very weird but once things get going you start to see beauty in the designs. The chapter splash pages are delightfully cheesy but are still well drawn.

As the train reached my hometown on the outskirts of the land of Shojo I reflected on Tomorrow's King. I thought that it was a great story that handled it's themes in a mature way and was quite enjoyable despite it's flaws. As I got off the train Otona greeted me in the way she normally did with a big hug and then some events happened. That is a story for next time.

As always comments,requests and death threats are always welcome.

Things No One Cares About: Pretear

Originally published May 1st 2013'

This is the last re posted review for this series,so next time will be something wholly new. I try and put a review out every Wednesday but that is subject to change due to real life.

For all five of you who read the last review no doubt are wondering something(maybe) and that is Pretear is a weird way to spell Gata-Pishi. Don't worry I haven't had a massive brain hemorrhage and forgotten how to spell,yet. No, apparently Glass Wings is the only one of Misuzu Asaoka's works that has any form of translation and I can't read Japanese. So instead we'll continue our journey through the land of Shojo with Pretear.

Pretear comes to us courtesy of Junichi Sato who serves as the manga's writer and Chief Director. He's probably better know for his work on fellow Magical girl shows Sailor Moon and Princess Tutu. Though he had no part in writing those books. He's also responsible for great comedies like Sgt Frog and abysmal ones like Slayers Premium.

The show is loosely based on the legend of Snow White and asks what if the seven dwarfs were good looking men. Hey get back here,I know that does sound a little silly but I swear it's not what you think.The story has some surprising depth dealing with loss of a parent and identity in ways I would not think a show like this would handle it. Sadly it is marred by some shallow ends,which you will see as we go on. So is Pretear worth your time or did I waste twenty bucks at a used bookstore?

As I mentioned about three sentences ago,the story does get some depth but sadly it's mostly on the character side and leaves the story to play out as a typical magical girl show. It follows the monster of the week plot,introduces a dark magical girl and then ramps up for a decent ending. It actually flows well and while it is a bit by the numbers it manages to be interesting. The big hook is the transformations which are done by combining with one of the seven bishonen knights. This gives her a separate costume and power. It's similar to the later(and decidedly more sexual) Uta Kata .The different costumes do lead to a few scenes that scream we wanted to show this costume off this episode.. Love is a big component  in this show and as such it contains a few love triangles. To the shows credit, it is worked seamlessly into the story and adds to some characters.

The Snow White connections are are more thematic and character based than truly story based(with exceptions). There is the obvious seven dwarfs to knights all with a predominant element as opposed to a temperament. Sato himself compared the life force,Leafe,to the poison apple from the original story with one half of the apple giving and the other half  taking life. The other ties to the plot and characters will come up later in the review.   

The plot doesn't pull any real horse hockey outside of the ending. Even then it comes of as more of the didn't say it couldn't happen or makes sense if you remember Snow White. The show does shine in it's more comedic moments with some great running jokes,slapstick and refuge in audacity. A particularly great moment is the chauffeur taking casually to these massive animals while everyone else is panicking. Though maybe only I find that funny. However it does go into the darker elements with little mood whiplash. Overall it's entertaining and serves as a nice backdrop for the much better characters.

Himeno is our leading lady and predictably is one of the more developed characters. She's fairly mature for a sixteen year old but they characterize her as odd any way so that just adds to it. She's also given above average strength and uses it to great comedic effect .Her willingness to take up the Pretear mantle does show how much she wants to be needed. As the series progresses she does cling to this role(detrimentally)and her short depowering gives her perspective on family and her own self worth. By the end she becomes the strong person she was destined to be and fulfills her role as a Pretear..

The secondary female role is played by our dark magic girl,The Princess of Destruction. She plays the evil queen analogue here with a more tragic bent. Right now I'm going to just throw up a spoiler warning for this entire part because to talk about her is massive spoiler territory. I'll mark when they end for the people who don't want the story ruined.
Spoilers





The Princess of Destruction is actually the last Pretear, Takako, and is a frank look at what happens when you entrust the world's safety to a teenage girl. The inherent closeness and sexuality in regards to the transformations really does screw her up and her unrequited love for Hayate,the main knight,does drive her over the edge. That love still never falters and even up till the end she has a hard time killing Hayate,often regulating that to her own knight. It gives her character a sad edge that the original queen lacked.





End Spoilers


Now we come to the Seven Knights who are the protectors of life and help Himeno along the way. They are Hayate,Sasame,Go, Kei, Mannen,Shin and Hajime all with various degrees of characterization. The main two are Hayate and Sasame who are interconnected in terms of powers wind and sound respectively. They are also a big part of the love connections that run through out the show.  They are a shining example of what the anime excels at and that is personal relationships. Without the show saying anything it is easy to tell that these two are close friends. However they are used to show how you can not truly know somebody even if you think you do. They do have the more angsty of the back stories being involved in a love triangle with a former Pretear. However I still liked them as they felt like people and it never felt melodramatic. The remaining 5 knights have base personalities and their interactions are nice if lacking. They all play off of Himeno well enough that this isn't a huge issue. I guess it's the curse of not being a true lead of which only Mawata escapes.

Speaking of Mawata,Himeno's family also plays a mid-sized role in this tale. Her father,step mother, and stepsisters along with a chauffeur and a maid comprise the household. I will say those last two are more comic relief and semi-mentor respectively and leave it at that. The older stepsister,Mayune, gets nothing in personalty besides being a jealous jerk  Her father and mother bring more of the great relationship pie to the table playing the part of love struck newly weds. It is sadly under utilized as we see some hints of bigger issues that are never explored. They are a good example of how broken their family is literally and figuratively. They are never abusive just stupid,failing to realize that their daughters are hurting.  Himeno also has this friend who is a romance novel otaku and her silly theories on love are actually pretty funny,nothing else to say about her.
Moving on...wait I'm forgetting something,eh probably nothing.

Oh yeah Mawata the best supporting character in this show. She gets to deal with the death of her father and what happens when you try and be the emotional rock  for too long. Her struggle with grief and identity are central to the show. Even when she begins to open up to Himeno, a relatively minor incident sends her off the edge. This along with her inability to communicate with her family and never properly grieving her father opens her up to manipulation by the Princess of Destruction. Her attraction to Sasame is lovely as they both have the same problems but fall into the same pitfalls due to their own stoic traits.

There isn't much to say about the art: The girls are cute,the guys are hot and the monsters are terrifying. It's animated well and looks good for a 2001 anime  The various costumes worn by Himeno are great looking and not to ostentatious,Ice and Sound being my personal favorites. They reflect the person she combined with wonderfully and her last dress is fantastic in it's simplicity. Even her regular casual wear is really nice with the colors complimenting each other. The rest of the cast dress like you'd expect them to with the knights getting suitable  fighting clothes based on their role and element. There is also a subtle nod to the original story's dwarf house that I thought was clever despite it being a tad out of place. 

What have we learned today besides useless trivia about a director? That Pretear is actually an enjoyable watch and a great entry into the Magical Girl genre. That aside if you like magical girl then go out and find this sucker and if you hate it then you probably haven't read all the way down here, you losers. Oh and this probably won't endear you to the genre.If you're neutral to this type of show then also check it out.
Till next time: Don't die.

As always comments,requests and death threats are welcome and encouraged
Next time:Something completely different

Things No One Cares About:Glass Wings

Orginally Published: April 24th 2013

For most of the inconsequential things I reviewed up to this point they fall into the major categories of Shonen and Seinen. Genres where I'd be considered the periphery demographic but love none the less. So today we are taking a walk on the girly side with Glass Wings. This is the 2003 debut of Misuzu Asaoka better known for...nothing else really, moving on. This is a short anthology series containing 3 stories: the titular Glass Wings,Firefly and Jion Princess. They are all connected with the theme of love conquers all. For a change of pace we'll dissect art before everything just so my comments don't become redundant when talking about the stories.

The art here is actually pretty nice: the characters look nice and the backgrounds are beautiful. However they are in a constant war to out dazzle each other and as a result everyone loses. Scenery blends together in ways that shouldn't be possible. Speech bubbles pop in like an annoying kid brother trying to see what's going on. It makes the first story an incomprehensible mess and muddles the other two stories. Which is pretty sad because the character design is very pleasing to the eyes with nice if elaborate costumes. That's all I'm going to say about the art for now. Moving on to the stories;first on the chopping block, Glass Wings itself.

Glass wings to put it bluntly is a mess that makes the remaining chapters seem better by comparison. To sum it up in short: A boy(Hagane)with deadly blood is abused by his mother (Tsubaki)and falls in love with his sister(Ruriha). They escape and are assaulted by a kid whose sister Hagane killed. They kill him then are back with Tsubaki and escape again while she sets their home on fire... I think. Everything is so abstract and confusing that it's like an episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena written by an idiot. It doesn't help that the first chapter explains very little and nothing else gets explained much later. The chapters flow with the grace of a dead swan,so good luck getting your head around it before it changes settings again. The main leads are decent in a traditional sort of way,drawn together by their cursed blood. Tsubaki is fairly sympathetic and I did feel a little bad for her at the end. Overall this story feels like it could be so much more but cripples it self at the first hurdle. Moving on to Firefly.

This story fairs somewhat better than its predecessor but only slightly. This one is much less muddled and doesn't feel like I started reading halfway through. The plot concerns a demon(Yuinne) fleeing his clan and living in a village. Sadly it doesn't take clairvoyance to figure out that this plan goes south quick and people try to murder him for being a demon. It works for the mot part however the romance in this one is pretty weak. It wants to focus on our lead brooding rather than giving him a decent romance. Which when your wanting to convey true love,is a bad thing. Yuinne and the girl(Mia) share about 3 panels before she's killed off in the mob scene about 20 pages later. The designs are again nice and the demon tattoos are cool. The climax does drop the ball hard enough to kill though mostly because of the art. The mob tries to kill Yuinne but somehow Mia takes the blow then his old boss shows up. It happens so fast that I'm left with whiplash trying to figure out where the humans went and what Aion  is doing here. The ending is lovely even if Mia sucks. So overall a story about true love redeeming marred by a poor love interest,time for some yuri.

The final story is Jion Princess, the best of the three. It's about a girl (Soyogi)whose a magical net for a princess'(Yura)bad luck and sickness because they look alike. The eventually fall in love and then tragedy strikes. The main girls are actually pretty interesting and their relationship is realistic. It tackles proximity love and self worth in a interesting way. It's also one of the rare times I've seen a lesbian tsundere so that's neat.The art has reached a truce here and flows well.There is a scene with the two in dresses that just looks really nice and emphasizes how alike the girls look.If I have to gripe and I will,it's that somehow Yura gets sick at one point despite Soyogi being a barrier to catch that. It's still mediocre but looks better in comparison to the previous two stories.

Ok,overall we have muddled stories that are trying to say something but the art is too busy having a civil war to let that happen. It has potential and the stories did keep getting better to the point of making sense. The book is bad but the little nuggets of good really do shine. Still if your going through the used bookstore and see this avoid it. Try to find Skip Beat instead, a much better series.

The book did get me interested enough to check out her other work. So next time, we'll keep on with Asaoka's work and look at Gata-Pishi.

As always comments,criticism and death threats are welcome.

Things No one Cares About:Japan

Originally Published:April 10th,2013

It's been a while since I've talked about things no one cares about which has given people plenty of time to not particular care about me coming back . So in a way I'm creating an apathetic cycle that's too lazy to break out of it self. It's like a perpetual motion machine except  it isn't and I seem to have lost what I was trying to say so here's a picture of the cover of the book I'm reviewing today

So I guess you can tell that I'm reviewing Japan,the unholy baby of the authors of Fist of The North Star and Berserk.  I found this in a used bookstore and seeing the names I decided that this seems like a winner. I've since learned to ignore my inner voice,the bastard. So with out further monkeyshines let's look at  Japan.

This is the part here I get to beat up on Buroson because he's taking credit for this heavy handed tripe and it means I get to let Kentaro Miura off the hook for now. The story is fairly simple in it's set up and does a good job of characterizing the main cast...to an extent. The basic plot follows a love struck Yakuza member,his brother, his love interest and a group of wimpy college kids and their journey through the wastelands. They are forcibly sent there to learn about how economic weight throwing and too much national pride is awful and will cause terrible things. That right there is why the story really does fall short it's very unsubtle. Every thing that the characters say is so heavy handed that I'm surprised  they can lift said hands to punch. So while I do admire that it is uncompromising on it's views, many of it's views are just stupid.

That being said, the issues being brought up are fairly relevant and I actually do agree with a few of them: Don't forget the past, being pro active,don't let nationalism over take things,and what is a man.But it's presented in such a stupid way that I feel embarrassed to agree with it.  There's also this undertone of sexism used against the main female leads. Yes they are not really suited for combat being in decidedly less fighting heavy roles in normal life. However neither are the boys who are just college students with no real experience in fighting. Yet they are expected to man up and protect the girls. It just adds to some of the more unsubtleness that the book loves.

Now for a short part on the characters: they are not good,moving on.

Ok I'll say some things about them: they are generic,have very un-inspired  characters arcs,and their relationships are standard. The college boy trio predictably go from wimps to brave like every story that does this. For some reason the collage girl falls in love with the younger Yakuza member and both have no arc to speak of. The rebel leader is a meat head with out any personality beyond bruiser. The TV reporter love interest is a bland damsel for most of it before gaining some guts to try and save her man. Even then all she does is drive the car, the boys who just completed their growth do the leg work.

Oddly enough I do enjoy the main character somewhat. Yeah he's a very simplistic mouth piece for the author but he's a little likable. His single mindedness  is admirable in a stupid way however he still punches anyone who doesn't agree with his way completely. He gets the most characterization but is still playing the thug with a heart of gold archetype. So he's fairly balanced in a weird way.

Now that I've done yapping about themes and characters I do want to mention a minor thing that bugs  me. The very beginning has it seem like this world is some sort of illusion or test  but never really addresses it after it happens. No one talks about trying to get home or wondering what the hell the crypt keeper was. They just sort of go along with it and start a revolution. Which is weird because this was a one shot so having them being sent back after learning what they needed to learn would have wrapped up nicely. Instead it's just a vaguely heroic declaration to reclaim the land. Maybe they meant to go further but weren't able to. 

So the story and characters are heavy handed and weak respectively but that's just one part of this super star tag team. What about Miura's contributions, well good news the art is great. First thing to realize that unlike Buroson who had quite few works under his belt before Japan, Miura did not. This came out in 1992 about 3 years after Berserk had started so the art is very reminiscent of the Golden Age arc. His designs do bleed though here and that works for the most part. The main leads look like Guts and Caska expies ,if Guts decided to ingest a fridge. Every one else looks like his standard  character designs and the landscapes are bleak. The man knows how to make things look like nasty places and it shows.It's typical Miura,which is fine just no real stand out designs or landscapes. 


In summary: poor story,poor characters,great art. Sadly great art can not save this mess and it's defiantly a pass. As always criticisms and death threats are welcome.

Next time: Slayers Premium(maybe)

Things No One Cares About: Berserk II: The Capture of Doldrey

Originally Published: February 10th 2013

Well I'm back and like it or not I'm reviewing things no one cares about and like it or not I'm talking about Berserk again. Luckily we're still in the Golden Age arc,unluckily it's another Berserk movie. However Studio 4° C being made up of people with hopefully functioning ears(if not very capable sign language experts) listened/saw when people told them that the first movie was a travesty. Unfortunately some of the criticisms went in one ear and out the other and then they made this film with what was left.

I guess I should actually say what I'm reviewing, in case your like me and just saw Berserk and said screw reading the rest of the title. This time it's the sequel to The Egg of the King(Egg for short), The Capture of Doldrey. This movie has a longer running time of 90 minutes and covers the battle leading up to Doldrey and ending with Gut's departure from the Hawks and Griffith's capture. As said above this movie is an improvement to Egg but it's still left with a bit of egg on it's face(make sure to tip your waitress). So enough pussy footing around let's do some reviewing.

The plot is actually much tighter this time with that extra twenty or so minutes it has to fill so there is a better sense flow. They spend a little more time building up Guts' and Casca's relationship,which is nice as it is a focal point of the arc. However they still manage to screw that up by having the section where Guts and Casca await rescue be weirdly stilled and shoe horns in Casca's motivation with nary a framing device. Which is somewhat odd considering that the manga handled it in a graceful way. In the end it leaves that part a bit of a jumbled mess before going into the next battle.

As someone who's gone through the Golden Age arc in all in both anime and manga form,the story manages to still be engaging and was actually fun to see unfold. As said a bit earlier that flow makes it easier to watch. However while they learned that skipping around is bad the bug apparently isn't out of the studio's system just yet.

How they cut things is like a crescendo,with my voice following its example. First they forget a minor thing or two like the Adon Coborlwitz's brother,eh not a big deal. The scene he's missing from really doesn't have to have him and he was one off cannon fodder anyway. Then they cut Zodd out of the titular conflict, again not too big a deal as all we're deprived of is a character moment for Zodd. Guts is still bad ass just not with the extra amount of bad ass that Zodd's weapon gave us. Then they decide to cut out the Flaming Tombstone chapters which without spoiling things are fairly important. Seeing as it is a bit of the last straw for Guts and further cements just how terrible Griffith can be. Instead they decide to cut straight to Guts leaving the Hawks, which to me would have been a great way to end the movie. Instead we're treated to Griffith taunting the king with a plot point that doesn't really come into play till a little later and the creepy as hell dungeon master. Again not an awful ending it's just that part feels so sped up that it should have just been saved for the next one.

So the story and characters got a little better, so by that logic the art should be better too right. The answer is actually sort of yes. The CGI is still god awful but it's less noticeable and it never gets as bad as Guts' fight with Bazuso in Egg. Plus those jarring art shifts are smoother, more like a squeaky hinge then a air horn signal. The fact that this still remains fully uncensored is really nice as the scenes where the violence gets ramped up does feel visceral. It's most notable during Guts' slaying of 100 men,it's brutal and the art reflects that. Plus the entire section where Casca and Guts are naked is left in without having to worry about increasingly silly ways to cover Casca's chest. So all in all the art department sobered up and we're all the better for it.

Well on to the all important yes/no section of the review,which really shouldn't be that important but hey some people want it and I feel like indulging so here it it:no. I can't really say you should go
out and buy this movie because it's still bad however I won't say treat it like a social outcast. Its an improvement and hopefully by the time the get to the next Arc they'll have figured this out. Till next time,don't die.

As usual comments, criticism and death threats are welcomes

P.S Manga fans should be on the look out for a nice little early bird cameo from some of Guts' future companions. It sort of makes sense I guess.

Things No One Cares About: Berserk: The Egg of The King

Originally published February 3rd 2013

Hi Ulty here, you may remember me from such classic reviews such as Therme Romae and Baki the Grappler, among other. Well I'm back to review thing people may or may not care about and on the stand today is Berserk: Egg of the High King. Sadly though if this movie was on trial it'd be found guilty on a charge of being awful and a few counts of amateur animation.

First a little background,this is the first of a trilogy of movies meant to tell the story of Berserk's Golden Age arc with hopeful attempts to move on to the arcs after that. It covers our main character,Guts, as he meets with the band of Hawks and ends shortly before the battle of Doldrey (I.e the main focus of the second movie). This is where the movie hits it's first major problem.

See what I just described is not the true beginning of the story, it really starts with Guts kicking some ass/world building then starting the big flashback that is the Golden Age arc. So the movie either skips it(in the case of pre flashback events) or hastily explains it( as in Guts' childhood). This trend carries over into the rest of the movie as well. Many minor events that build up the characters and what not are skipped just to rush to the next battle scene. The movie has no sense of pace and feels rushed. It doesn't help that they only had an hour and ten minutes to cover a massive amount of material.

This ties into the next problem,the characters are bad. Without all of the nice character moments to build things up everything just short of happens. Relationships change with little warning and it's jarring . We have no real understanding of the characters and therefore can't get behind them. With no reason to give a shit about them, we can't really care about the narrative either. So in this two legged race both story and character fall flat on their faces at first hurdle.

Okay so maybe the story/characters lost their event to make this a good movie,maybe the animation can win it's event and help at least take home the silver. Well unfortunately, someone put laxatives in it's sports drink and it is just soiling it self all over the course(and with that I've done to metaphors what Guts does to people). What I'm trying to get at is that the CGI is awful. It's like some one was trying to make a PS2 game and then they decided to say screw it and made a movie. There is some better looking animated scenes that only serve to make the others look even worse. To somehow make it even stupider, the changes between the two are clunky enough to give you whiplash. One moment Casca looks fine then the next she's a monstrosity.

Now this is where I saw some nice things about the movie:umm,hold on. Oh yeah, it's mostly uncensored,which is nice because the source material is extremely violent(for a reason). Also Griffith's eyes are still terrifying. Yeah that's about it.

So if you just skipped to here for a simple yes or no, then shame on you go read it then come back down here. My recommendation is skip this garbage and go read the manga or watch the TV series,rage at the ending, then read the manga and enjoy one of the best stories ever written. Until next time,don't die.
As always comments, criticisms and death threats are always welcome.

Things No One Cares About:Baki the Grappler

Originally published January 9th 2013

Welcome back to Ulty reviews things people don't care about,where I attempt to either make you care about them or hope you stay uncaring. Either way today we're looking at Baki the Grappler's first season. I would comment on the manga which is completed or the second season but I haven't read/watch those so I won't till I do.

Moving on Baki the Grappler is a Shonen fighting show about Baki ,a kid who would creep out Oedipus, and his attempts to become the strongest man in the world by beating the strongest man in the world. Said man happens to be his father,Yujiro, and most of the show is him either fighting things much bigger than him or learning things that never come up again. It has two basic arcs: the first being him training to beat Yujiro and after that fails miserably, a tournament arc. That's enough general details so lets get down to the nitty gritty starting with the characters.

The character design swings between very good and what the hell on one hand there is Baki who pre-timeskip looks like someone put an orange on an up turned love seat but then post time skip Baki grows his hair out,has decent proportions and is fun to look at. The worst offender is Hanayama who looks like this

and is apparently 15...yeah. So  the artist has a love for muscles bordering on the fetishistic, but he usually remember proportions,so it's not too bad.So lets actual start talking about the characters

This is where Baki really falls short,most have very simplistic reasons to fight which all tend to boil down to being strong. A weird thing though is the first half builds up always these side characters as being Baki's timeless friends  then they get dropped in the second half. There not really unlikable but at the same time I never gave a shit about them, The only really decent characters are Baki, his mother,Emi, and Yujiro. They all have very screwed up relationships with each other and the show really does explore them to some extent. It really makes the first half non-fights watchable. They sort of drop it in the second half of the show but by that time the shows turned off the part it's brain that isn't pertaining  to cool fights,so it's not too noticeable. So if the characters are pretty poor then I guess the story will make up for it...well lets talk about it, I guess.


This is where Baki is  mediocre/excellent ,the first half again deals with Baki training to fight Yujiro  by following his father's path interlaced with scenes of others fighting or Yujiro doing some over the top. Like I mentioned above when the show does look into Baki and his parents it does get interesting but other than that it's kind of slow which the show sort of realizes and draws out it's fights(most covering 2-3 episodes).While the 3 big fights are good they just go on for too long. It also has this habit of explaining these fighting concepts(moving unconsciously,endorphin release) which come of as not knowing what they're talking about  and after that fight are never mentioned again. This all culminates in at the halfway point which gives us a massive Wham episode that nicely ends the first half. You can tell the series wants to be serious but every time it tries Yujiro steps in and does something goofy like stopping an earthquake by punching the ground.  So the first half is slow,boring and a bit silly,then what justifies  the word excellent. Well reader let me tell you,it's called tournament arc.

But Allie your saying what's so great about a tournament arc,every fighting show has that. Well it's because this one is where Baki the Grappler gets to just let loose and have fun. The pacing here becomes brisk and exciting. All the fights follow suit,never out staying their welcome and Yujiro isn't in it half the time. The story in here is even more simplistic than the first half: Baki is going to bait his father by winning an underground fighting tournament with really strong people. Then he does just that and it sort of works. Like I just mentioned what makes this part work is that it's just fun fight after fun fight and when there isn't fighting it's talking about fighting. It's so good that it even made the fights with Yujiro fun by giving him an opponent that is more on his level. The fights that Baki has are on his level while still being tense. Plus every fight has a new fighting style which may or may not be based  on an actual style. The downside is that Baki's style or lack there of that is kind of boring as it's never really creative as say Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. It more just has him win through more improbable odds. The only other problem is that it just ends with a little teaser for the second season. It's really abrupt: Baki fights a tough opponent and that's the end , which is okay because it again  teases the next part of the show,but it's sort of a weird way to end things.


So we come down to the final paragraph where I tell you if I think it's worth a look. With Baki it really depends on your opinion of shonen fighting shows, if you dig them then this is the show for you, if your okay with them then you should probably watch this...eventually,and if you aren't a fan of  dudes beating the crap out of each other,then give it a pass.

As usual feedback,comments and death threats are welcome and appreciated.

Things No One Cares About: Thermae Romae

 A small note: This is my main series and what the blog was named for. I try and get one out every Wednesday but no promises. Original release date: January 6th 2013

Welcome to Ulty reviews things no one cares about, where I do just that. Today we talk about Thermae Romae,the anime about bath houses,please hold in your excitement. It aired in January of last year with 3 episodes divided into 5 parts. It chronicles the story of Lucius the hapless roman time traveler and bath house genius. Every part details him some how coming to modern japan via bath and learning about an aspect of their bath houses and implementing back in Rome with bamboo technology.

If it seems like I glossed over the time travel,it's because while this show loves it self some bath houses the time travel takes the MST3K mantra: It's a show so you should really just relax. The show really embraces this, it's silly and fun while being educational. The characters are sparse: there is our main guy Lucius the bath house architect,some Japanese guys that teach Lucian about bath houses,and Lucius's clients and that's about it. That being said Lucius is a likable guy and all the Romans are portrayed as a little over the top while the Japaneses guys are really friendly and don't seem to mind the random hulking blond in their midst. These little forays help Lucius find relevance again in a Rome that wants new and novel. He gives them just that through again weird tech that probably shouldn't exist but at the same time seems fairly plausible. So in a sense Lucius grows but is still a big lovable guy who really digs bath houses. The shows history on Rome is fairly solid and if you wanted to learn about bath houses then this is the place to do so.

The art is 2-D and the characters are almost like paper cut-outs. Very good looking paper cut-outs but still paper cut-outs. It's almost like a good quality version of High Score which came out around the same time. All the Japanese men look like your typical Japanese men. However it doesn't come off as malicious stereotyping(they look normal) but more as a very sharp contrast to your typical idea of the chiseled roman man. It's very fun to look at and the backgrounds are pretty too.

So it has nice art,fun characters and solid history, the question remains is it worth it? To which I'd say yes, because in addition to the above merits, it's very funny .It doesn't have any stand out jokes that I can remember but watching it will give you a chuckle or two. This show is just fun and you can tell those involved had fun making it. Go check it out.