Apr
27
Kaiba
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Kaiba and creature
At last something really different in the new season! In an anime with a style somewhat reminiscent of the late Osamu Tezuka, a young man wakes in a totally strange-looking world. He has a large circular hole through his chest, and is wearing a medallion, and he can’t remember anything. In this world, memories can be separated from human bodies, and stored in pyramidal memory chips. They can also be traded and stolen. After some bewildering adventures in which he is variously helped and attacked, the main character, Kaiba, escapes in an aircraft.
This looks so different from the usual anime style that it’s fascinating to watch. I’ll follow this for a while to see how it turns out.
Apr
27
Dai Mahou Touge
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Punie wrestling with mascot
This parody of magical-girl anime is more like magical-princess anime on crack, as sweet-looking Magical Princess Punie from the Magic Kingdom joins a Japanese school for a year on Earth. She has to do this to prove herself worthy of becoming Queen. Punie, in a flashback to how she acquired her mascot, looks more like a brutal and evil witch.
A schoolgirl gang, a frightening collection of burly and well-armed freaks, take an instant dislike to Punie, but when they try to sort her out, she invokes her magic, with the call of “Magical Tokarev, kill them all”, and unleashes a swarm of fighting vegetables. In a later sequence, Punie, with her magic temporarily blocked, demonstrates wrestling skills which are equally dangerous.
It’s almost a shame to tell you all this, as if you watched it as I did with only the vaguest idea what to expect, you might almost fall out of your chair in surprise.
So, is it worth watching? Certainly the first pair of mini-episodes are a lot of fun, and I’ll probably follow it a bit longer to see how it develops.
Apr
27
Japanese war record
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Slaughter at Sea by Mark Felton
Another book in my reading from the war section of the local library. This book is sub-titled “The Story of Japan’s Naval War Crimes.” The Japanese Imperial Navy (IJN) had poor relations with the Imperial Army. Consequently, the Navy gave all its recruits basic military training and had its own ship-borne soldiers who were frequently deployed onshore. The Navy was often given the task of administering captured islands and territories. As this book explains, this gave the IJN the opportunity to commit many land-based atrocities.
Clearly, the rape of Nanking (mentioned in reviews below) was not an isolated lapse, but symptomatic of a sinister general attitude towards anyone who fell under their power. In the territories over-run by the Japanese during World War 2, it was the norm for both military personnel and civilians, both white and non-white, to be ill-treated, robbed, and frequently murdered. This book details many incidents in which groups of captives were ill-treated and then murdered.
Most chilling is the revelation that it was official IJN policy, expressed in orders, that the crews of ships sunk by the IJN should be killed. In many cases, lifeboats were machine-gunned or rammed after the captain had been taken aboard the attacking vessel. American and British prisoners of war got no better treatment. If not murdered immediately, they would suffer ill-treatment while being interrogated and then transferred to “hell ships” taking them to slave labout elsewhere in the Japanese empire. Many were murdered on the Pacific islands after being held captive for some time. Others perished in several incidents where un-marked prison ships were torpedoed by Allied forces.
Allied naval sailors and airmen were often murdered in revenge for reverses, or even attacks, suffered by Japanese forces.
For the most part, the enlisted men and junior officers appeared to enjoy having the power to maltreat and kill prisoners, and had no problem at all in following orders to kill prisoners. In a very rare case, one Commander Junsuke Mii protested vigorously to several senior officers, including his Vice Admiral, about orders to “dispose” of a group of prisoners from a sunken ship. Mii sent ashore double the number he was ordered to, saving some thirty people. The rest of the captives were murdered and dumped at sea, the actual killing being done by junior officers and enlisted men using swords. Nothing happened to Mii, who was later promoted to Captain.
And why did the Japanese behave like this? Hard to say, but almost to a man they held the lives of non-Japanese to be of no account. And Japanese politicians can still be heard dismissing these war crimes today.
I found this book quite an eye-opener. It comes complete with notes, references, and brief accounts of war crime trials. Japan-ophiles will find this book uncomfortable reading, but it is part of a war record that, in common with the Jewish Holocaust, should not be brushed out of history.
Apr
20
Some New-Season Anime
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Scene from Itazura no Kiss
Itazura na Kiss - traditional sort of school romance comedy where a girl from class “F”, the least able, has been for two years nursing a crush on Irie, a handsome boy from class “A”, and finally attempts to confess her love, only to find that he’s arrogant and hates stupid girls. Her father’s new house falls down, leaving them homeless. They are offered a place to stay by her father’s old buddy Irie who is none other than the father of Genius Boy Irie. She moves in, and finds that the boy isn’t at all friendly and even his rude kid brother is much smarter than her. Perhaps a bit early to say, but this looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Macross Frontier - same old tosh, but at least it’s superbly produced tosh.
Allison and Lillia - The politics look interesting, but it lost me when two of the main characters prang a motorcycle and sidecar combo, wrecking it, and then get up and run off to the next scene, and then “borrow” a light aircraft which just happens to be left in a hangar, unattended, fuelled up and with the keys in it.
xxxHOLiC Kei - a straight continuation of the previous and now licensed season of CLAMP’s comedy supernatural show. Lead character has a battle of obligations with his friend, and involving a vengeful spider. Looks good, worth watching.
Apr
20
Zapped!
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Just had to restore the current theme which had become damaged. I also deleted a pair of files I didn’t recognise. I suspect this was a hacking attack. Wish somebody would introduce this guy to the gangs of organised criminals who keep trying to flood the site with comment spam and see how much they enjoy each other’s company…
Apr
20
Some books
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Some recent reading:
“The Rape of Europa” by Lynn H Nicholas
You are probably aware that during the Second World War the Nazis stole a few paintings. This lengthy but very readable book details the full extent of the Nazi art looting. They started by seizing and suppressing or selling off what they considered “degenerate” (i.e. modern) art. Then when war was declared and they started to invade other countries, they had organisations set up to seize interesting art for the Fuhrer’s personal collection, for the new German state collection, and for the collection of Hermann Goering. Sellers were often forced to sell at unfavourable prices, and the property of Jews was often simply stolen. The quantities involved were astonishing, running into museums full, trainloads, salt mines full, over a million art items in all.
Meanwhile, national collections were being packed up all over the UK and Europe and shifted to safer accommodation.
When the Nazis were being defeated, the Allies put the process into reverse, setting up their own art protection and recovery teams, who followed closely behind the armies, trying to secure and protect what they could.
Many well-known works had an eventful and hazardous time during WW2, and an unquantified number of art items disappeared forever amongst the ruins. A trickle is still appearing today, as the descendants of those who took works into “safekeeping” go public.
A fascinating and eye-opening book, well worth reading.
“Tokyo” by Mo Hayder.
The Good German of Nanking - the dairies of John Rabe, edited by Erwin Wickert
Two books concerned with the notorious “Rape of Nanking” by the Japanese forces in 1937-38.
The first is a fictional thriller, in which the socially dysfunctional heroine, Grey, has been obsessed since childhood with the tale that a movie film record exists of some of the Nanking atrocities. She travels to Tokyo to interview an aged Chinese survivor of the massacre. She becomes convinced that this man has the film. While trying to persuade him to show her the film, she also gets involves with a nasty Yakuza gangster. The Nanking atrocities as depicted in the novel are also very nasty.
Over to the non-fictional diaries of John Rabe, who was a German businessman who worked in Nanking, running the Siemens office there. When the Japanese invaded, he felt obliged to stay on to protect his firm’s interests, and protect the Siemens Chinese staff and their dependants as best he could. He was also involved, with other foreigners, in setting up a “Safety Zone which they hoped would protect the Chinese civilians from the Japanese soldiers, not to mention the disorderly retreating Chinese troops. He also kept a diary.
One should recollect that at the time Germany and Japan were allies, so there is every reason to accept Rabe’s account as accurate. The Japanese troops killed all Chinese soldiers they could find, and also Chinese men whom they suspected of being soldiers, and broke into buildings looking for women to rape, killing any Chinese who resisted. They looted and destroyed throughout the city, and killed all livestock in the surrounding countryside, and embarked on a systematic looting and arson that eventually left much of the city in ashes. The Chinese were killed for resisting the ravages of the disorderly Japanese troops, or for no reason at all. In total, the number who died is thought to run to around a quarter of a million, though at the time nobody was counting the dead. Rabe’s efforts, though continually frustrated by Japanese indifference, are thought to have saved a similar number.
Mar
22
What was that anime, again….?
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Asatte no Houkou (”A Direction of the Day After Tomorrow”)
Karada Iokawa is a young girl who transforms into a young woman. Shōko Nogami, a young woman who has just returned from studying abroad, happens to be the former girlfriend of Karada’s older brother. Shōko transforms into a young girl.
Akahori gedou hour rabuge: package name of pair of 12min-episode shows: Love Pheromone, about a pair of heroines who fight for justice but always cause more chaos than good, and Gedou Otome-Tai, about the five Hokke sisters, who are bent on becoming the world’s greatest Evil.
Otogi Zoshi (spotted in HMV shop, UK) - anime series set in Heian era Japan (1st 13 episodes, search for magical Magatama stones) and the present day (next 13 episodes).
Tenjho Tenge - martial arts/school anime with historic/supernatural overtones (not seen).
Comic Party - anime series inspired by, and satirizing the world of the Comiket dōjinshi or self-penned comic art conventions.
Cosprayers (Cosmopolitan prayers) a fantasy anime closely related to the anime Smash Hit, in that Smash Hit’s lead character Mizuki Ikuta, a diminutive girl, teased for her size, is the producer of Houchiku Corporation’s anime CosPrayers. “Love Love” is the third anime in the trilogy.
Gankutsuou - is an anime series loosely based on Alexandre Dumas’ “Count of Monte Cristo”. The anime is notable for its unusual character designs and the rendering of clothing, etc.
Gedo Senki - “Ged’s World” or, Tales from Earthsea, the controversial anime movie adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin ’s “Wizard of Earthsea” novels. The movie was directed by Goro Miyazaki, son of the famous Hayao Miyazaki.
Hoshi no Koe = Voices of a Distant Star is a OVA by rising directorial star Makoto Shinkai, about two teenage lovers who communicate by text mail as they travel further and further apart.
Justy (Cosmo Police Justy) is an anime , made in 1985, in which the lead character is a police officer who hunts down criminal espers. He too is an esper, but wears a headband to limit his powers.
Mar
15
Otogi Jushi Akazukin
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Akazukin
a.k.a. “Fairy Musketeers“. A lesser-known anime in which a young boy, Souta, has disturbing dreams in which he is rescued from a monster by a small girl in a red hat. His mother has told him bed-time tales of twin worlds, one being ruled by science, the other by magic. All too soon the dream starts turning into reality, as Souta finds himself pursued in his own world as the key to a magical power struggle. A monster attacks him and he is rescued by Akazukin and her wolf-companion, Val.
Souta’s fiercely possessive would-be girlfriend, Ringo, is less than pleased by Akazukin’s arrival, and still less when another magical girl, Shirayuki-hime,appears.
Shirayuki-hime
The character names are ripped off from various European fairy tales, and in general bear little connection to the original characters. Akazukin, (= Red Riding Hood) is a warrior girl accompanied by a blue-furred wolf. Shirayuki-hime, (= Snow-White) here is one of the three fairy Musketeers, a skilled magic user, much more intellectual than Akazukin, if a bit full of herself.
On the side of evil are Cendrillon (= Cinderella) a young sorceress with long dark hair and a husky voice, and a fondness for mirrors, Randagio, (= Puss in Boots), a bad cat, and Hansel, a sinister young wizard.
It’s clearly intended for younger viewers, being both cute and wholesome, but I enjoyed the characterisations of the grumpy wolf, the rather ineffectual bad cat, and the delicious Shirayuki-hime. Ringo (curiously named, it means “apple”) is that anime stereotype, the possessive would-be girlfriend, who keeps calling round to make sure Souta gets up in time for school, and to bring him snacks. Souta himself is rather a nonentity, but the vividness of the other characters make up for it.
If you enjoy light anime in which small girls beat up monsters, you should like this one. And those little girls are really too cute.
This anime exists in two versions, an OVA from 2005, and a TV reworking (2006-2007). Character designs are identical.
Mar
11
Horror Panegyric
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Yes, I had to look it up too… Panegyric, a eulogy, panegyrise, to praise highly.
Horror Panegyric by Keith Seward, published by Savoy Books. 125pp.
This short volume is an introduction to the three “Lord Horror” novels Lord Horror (1989), Motherfuckers, the Auschwitz of Oz (1996) and Baptised in the Blood of Millions (2000), also published by Savoy. An essay by Seward introduces the books, and is followed by lengthy excerpts from “Lord Horror” and “Motherfuckers”
Of the three, Lord Horror is mainly known for its un-availability, the result of a vigorous campaign of persecution by the Manchester police (the few extant copies are worth several hundred pounds each), while Motherfuckers was available via Amazon for a time. As you may surmise from the titles, they are not everybody’s cup of tea. The author, David Britton, chose to savage anti-Semitism by means of a brutal and gory satire that was too much like its object of attack for some to see the difference. Mimicking the homophobic rants of the then Manchester chief of police was not a prudent move either. Britton was sent to Strangeways jail for four months.
In the books “Lord Horror” is a fantastic character inspired by William Joyce, Lord Haw-Haw, of wartime infamy. The principals of the second book are Meng and Ecker, twins subjected to “scientific” experiments by Josef Mengele. They’re not nice - Ecker is rational but violent and Meng is a mutant with a huge cock and tits. There’s also a talking Volkswagen car called Herbie Schopenhauer. Auschwitz meets Oz.
Seward hails Motherfuckers as a masterpiece, and argues his case well. The reader can make up his (or her) own mind on reading the excerpts that follow at the end of “Horror Panegyric”. I used to find the three novels just too nasty to read, but after reading the panegyric and the excerpts I am inclined more to think that Seward has a point. He suggests that, just as it was said that it was impossible to write poetry after Auschwitz, a response to Auschwitz is to write in a deliberately barbaric way. The provocativeness of the books is perhaps a measure of their power and importance. Despite their extreme content, the books clearly have not provoked any rioting in the streets (only among police, judges and censors).
In any case, if you are interested in strong, cutting-edge writing, or radical literature, you owe it to yourself to obtain first the Panegyric and then Motherfuckers, and check it out for yourself.
Keith Seward lives in New York.
Feb
5
Anime Network and ADV Problems
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It occurred to me the other day that the demise of the ADV-backed Anime Network UK TV channel at the end of last year was related to ADV’s recently revealed problems. There was a singular lack of information about why the plug had been pulled on this channel, until the hosting channel company (Propeller) revealed in an answer to a fan’s e-mail that they would have been happy to carry on, but ADV had withdrawn from the deal.
ADV were using Anime Network to broadcast dub editions of some of their recent product, which could *also* be bought on DVD. I don’t think this practice is unique, which makes it look like the argument that fansub downloads = bad, fansubs = lost DVD sales is overly simplistic. As it happens, one of these shows was Kurau Phantom Memory, which was cut off in mid- series. And this is one of the shows to which ADV no longer holds the rights, because of its unfortunate dispute with a major investor.
keep looking »