Are remakes the new sequel?

I’ve just finished watching the first two episodes of the new Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood anime.

Still produced by Studio Bones, it appears to be a retelling of the story, albeit from the manga’s perspective now.  The original series diverged greatly from its source material about halfway through and for me personally, became weaker for it.  I didn’t like the direction that they’d headed in with the whole World War II crap and alternate realities, which made the movie quite a chore to watch.

This new series is moving along at quite a pace, having caught up with episode 12 or so in series already, where Ed officially becomes a state alchemist.  It also seems to be filling in gaps that were missing from the first series which I’m happy to see, making it feel fresher.  Episode 3 looks like a waste of time sadly, focusing on the very beginning of series 1 where the Elrics go to Lior to take care of the fake priest.  The animation also seems slightly sloppier than series 1, though this may be purely because I’m now watching it on an HD screen.  Many of the voice actors did not return; Romi Paku and Rie Kugimiya have resumed their respective roles as Ed and Al, though only Armstrong’s and the Führer’s voice actors seem to have returned so far from the large extended cast.

Watching Brotherhood has made me feel all nostaligic…

Tokyo – Day 2

Being jet lagged to fuck, I had an awesome night’s sleep at Keiko and James’ place.  I also finally got to have a melon pan, which despite what Yakitate Japan has taught me, it doesn’t actually contain any or taste of melon in the slightest!  The name simply comes from the shape, which resembles a melon (clutching at melons if you ask me, or is that a different game?).

We had a busy day ahead of us and Jim-bob was quickly becoming quite ill with his sore throat.  Keiko was also worried about me (bless her) since I looked like an express train had hit me the night before, so we played it by ear.  I actually outlasted Jim-bob but that’s besides the point.

We headed out towards the station where I noticed that McDonalds serve some breakfast burgers on sesame seed buns, talk about bizarre!  We got on a train line, which I sadly can’t remember.  Anywhere that I went to with either James or Keiko, I can’t for the life of me remember names or directions to.  Our first destination was Yoyogi Park.  Jim-bob likened it to Hyde Park and it was your average central city park.  Visually, it looked a bit downtrodden and gloomy.  I also got to see one of these infamous Japanese crows which are truly huge, no doubt an inspiration for the abundance of zombie crows found in the Resident Evil games.  It was a Sunday morning and there were plenty of people up and about, mostly in yoga sessions and power walking.  There was also a large gathering of dog owners participating in what I can only call dog play groups.  I couldn’t stop laughing at this one massive dog which was constantly trying to hump every other dog in sight; some sort of dominance thing, or so Jim-bob tells me…  The variety of dogs was impressive, and you would struggle to find a wider selection of canines short of going to Crufts or some other dog specialist convention.

Jim-bob and I headed towards Meiji jingu for a moment of spirituality (and plenty of photos).  The day was overcast but warm, and pretty much held out until the early evening; pretty much ideal for a day’s worth of sightseeing.  There were tourists aplenty since it was a Sunday, and I’m not just talking gaijin here; Jim-bob explained that ever since the economy went bust in the early 90s for Japan, in-land tourism has increased significantly which makes sense.  I saw plenty of adverts and posters for such places like Hakone and Hokkaido, and living in a small town but visiting Tokyo would be no different to me visiting London for the weekend.

We did the motions before entering the shrine: washed our left hands first, then right, and take a sip of the water (optional).  It was an impressive sight to behold, and was immaculately well maintained.  What was interesting was that there were plenty of modern refurbishments to the shrine, such as new storm drains and flood lights.  I wonder if Japan has the same sort of protected historic building mantra as the UK does, or whether they sensibly make changes where they’re needed?  I saw a tree where you could write a wish or a prayer on a plaque for 500 Yen; I didn’t bother with it this time but on a repeat visit, I decided it would be worthwhile.  I settled on just a simple prayer and went through the ritual which involved throwing in a coin with a hole (not so sure about this since the free guide says “a few coins”), bowing twice, clapping twice, and making your prayer before you let your hands go from the second clap.  Did I feel any more spiritual or at ease with myself afterwards?  Not really since it was so busy, hence the repeat visit at the end of my trip.

Our next stop was to Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.  At the base of the tower was some sort of girl scouts meet.  There were plenty of stalls and girl scouts about, and even Ampan man made an appearance!

There are two towers at the TMG building and I believe we opted for the North tower. Admission is free, though bags are prone to search before you’re allowed to enter.  Going up to the observation deck, there is a cafe of some sort and a souvenir store which seems to sell everything remotely Japanese. The view from the deck is incredible; all you can see is urban sprawl right into the horizon.  On a clear day, it is apparently possible to see Mount Fuji.

I think we had lunch at this point.  We went to a chain ramen place in Shinjuku near the station and Yodobashi Camera.  Like most chain eateries, you go to the ticket vending machine near the entrance and insert your pennies, and make a selection from the menu.  It’s an efficient way to run a restaurant, and removes some of the problems with taking orders.  We both settled on a basic cha-siu ramen, which were indeed very good, which I found surprising for a chain.  Chikara later explained to me that ramen restaurants are a dime a dozen, and that they have to at least be decent to remain competitive and stay open, so there you go.

We decided to head back to Harajuku bridge to see some goths and rock-a-billies.  It was a bit crazy and there were tourists aplenty.  I enjoyed it but it’s the sort of thing that I’ll only ever need to experience once, Harajuku on a Sunday that is; any other day and it’s your normal shopping district.  Harajuku is one of the many youth fashion camps in Tokyo.  There are plenty of shops and stalls selling the sort of stuff most students rock most of the time.  I actually ended up buying a pair of jeans in Harajuku since my trusty pair of Ralph Lauren’s had given up on me.  The flies had broken and there were several large holes in the crotch area; I semi-flashed Keiko the night before haha…

We headed back to Yoyogi Park to see us some rock-a-billies.  There were only two gangs there, and both wouldn’t have looked a miss in a Grease musical.

Once we were done with Harajuku, we headed over to Akihabara.  I wanted to get a particular lens for my camera and this was the place to get it.  The one I wanted is simply a high-end version of the stock 18-55mm lens I was given, but with a bit more zoom and a bit wider (17-85mm).  We found a Laox discount store, which also offered duty free shopping (why it was discounted, I don’t know), and all in all, along with a protective filter, came to about 68,000 Yen (about £350).  The other bonus is that it’s definitely made in Japan, since there are rumours of some Canon lenses being made in Malaysia depending on the batch you end up with.  The customer service was also exemplary; the sales guy gave me the lens to test out on my camera and he tried his best to communicate with a few English words and phrases.  I’m also certain that he said that my lens was ideal for “gravure” photography…

According to Jimbo, Akihabara is no longer the place it used to be.  Despite only ever having seen Akihabara in pictures, film, and third person accounts, I did get the vibe that Jimbo described was lacking.  The place had become full of tourists and there were very few authentic otaku about; most had moved to the back streets or other locales.  It is still a great place to shop for electronics and other anime related goods, but don’t go expecting it to be as crazy as it once was.  There are still plenty of maids about though near the train station, though I did not visit a maid cafe sadIy.

Next up, we hit a few arcades on the main street.  I finally got to try my hands on Street Fighter 4 which isn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be.  The visuals are a lot nicer once they’re in motion and the jarring Westernised look isn’t quite so obnoxious.  The joystick was something I could not get along with though; it had an odd square gate as opposed to a regular circular one so it was very difficult to do smooth motions.  We also played Taiko no Tatsujin where we both got down with the Evangelion theme.  I got to play Initial D too so I was a happy bunny.  All of the arcades allowed smoking which was like heaven for me.  What is a bit odd is that it’s easier to find somewhere to smoke indoors in Tokyo than it is outdoors, due to various restrictions in place.

At this point, Jimbo’s throat got significantly worse so we headed to a very pretentious cafe at the station.  After a drink, he decided to head on home and we parted ways until the following Wednesday.  Leaving me alone in Akihabara is a dangerous thing to do…

I continued to do some solo exploration and ventured further up the main street.  I popped into a cool electronics department store called Sofmap because I needed a new camera bag since my old one no longer fit with the new lens.  Cutting a long story short, I bought the wrong one and needed to buy another one .

I checked out a few anime stores and found one in particular that was very good, they had their merchandise sorted by anime so it made it very easy to look for stuff.  Sadly, most of the merchandise was for the most recent of shows, leaving me out in the cold.

I was getting quite hungry at this point so I decided to hunt down the Mos Burger which Kiyomi had recommended.  I opted for the seafood rice burger which wasn’t bad, but it was very bland.  I had to douse the thing with so much salt just to give it a kick, which I found myself doing quite often whilst in Japan.  The food is good, but generally very flavour neutral so if you like your spices, I’d pack a travel bottle of Tobasco.  I ended up talking to a random German guy who was in Tokyo on business, who shared my thoughts on the food.

Conveniently, there was a smoking shelter next door to Mos Burger.  I don’t know about the rest of Japan, but in Tokyo, you can be fined for smoking on restricted streets (majority of Shinjuku falls into this category).  As I mentioned earlier, it is actually easier to pop inside somewhere for a smoke than it is to traipse around looking for a smoking shelter or an ashtray outside.  As a result of this, the streets of Tokyo are generally very clean.  I wear jeans which tend to drag on the floor a bit and after a day of walking around London, they would be ready for the wash, but in Tokyo, there was plenty of wear left in them.  One other perculiarity I noticed about smokers in Japan is that few ever smoked the cigarette to even remotely near the butt.  Most would get to about halfway or 2/3 and would then put the cigarette out.  They simply are that cheap out in Japan that it’s possible to do this, hence why I’ve come back to the UK with a fair few more cigarettes than I should have hehe…

At this point, the heavens began to open up so I decided to walk home.  On my way there, I passed a store which had a meaty looking queue outside so there must have been some sort of DVD, or game release at midnight on the Monday.  I’d had a hardcore, but thoroughly enjoyable day and felt enlightened.

Photos of the day can be found here and here.

Tomorrow, I will visit the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Shibuya for some fashion and music goodness, and Omotesando, where I would end up getting lost for the first of many occasions in Tokyo.

Nodame Cantabile – Paris

Absolutely cannot wait for this little old chestnut.

Apologies for lack of updates recently, I’ve both been very busy and a bit lazy too at the same time so rest assured, I’ll do a mass update of some degree soon.

Pirates vs ninjas

Had a bit of a catchup session on One Piece today and I’m now on 353 episodes viewed and counting. I absolutely adore One Piece and stick up for it because of how inaccessible it is due to length; hell, I remember when I first started watching and it had just over 200 episodes at the time back in 2005.

Franky the cyborg is now a firm member of the crew and they’re well into the Thriller Bark arc of the story; I don’t know how much more they can pull off before we enter filler territory again because the anime is seriously right on the heels of the manga now. One Piece filler isn’t as bad as that from Naruto but the themes and story do stick out like a sore thumb because they’re usually rehashes of earlier arcs before.

The Nami fanservice has also gone into overdrive (no complaints here!) with more shower scenes, lots of steam, and cleverly placed objects obscuring our view – oh you do tease us!

I also now know why Sanji refers to the ladies as “mellorine”, which as it turns out is some sort of fat substitute for sweet treats like icecream and cakes. What wonders will never cease!

The ninja part of this entry comes from my recent completion of Ninja Gaiden 2. Fantastic fun, especially when fighting other ninjas or human opponents, with the monsters less so. There is one particular portion where there’s literally hundreds of ninjas charging at you from the top of some steps and the frame rate drops to a crawl, cunningly presented as fashionable slow-motion. The bosses are all of the usual cheap variety, especially the first form of the last boss.

The achievements are pretty fair, with a good majority unlocked on first play through and the rest for people who are serious gamer score whores to rack their skills over.

Ayane fans can rejoice because she does make an appearance, looking more stacked than ever though it’s clear that a different team from the Dead or Alive games worked on her model because she looks nothing like her usual self.

The game gets two thumbs up from me for being simple hack and slash fun, just what the doctor ordered after a stressful day in the office.

And the verdict on whether pirates or ninjas are better?  I couldn’t possibly decide because both have their place but I think pirates have the edge slightly, purely because they argh (did you see what I did there?).

Awesome weekend no.2

Something must be wrong for as the title suggests, I’ve had a second fantastic weekend.

Mike and I went to Aber for the annual AnimeSoc BBQ which was a pleasure to attend as always.  I drove and Mike got to witness the marketing manager-ness at work whilst I received a number of calls from angry punters who had vans in with us for servicing.  Anywho, we got into Aber rather early and stocked up at Morrisons and bumped into Rob, which proved it was still the same place!  We parked up by the Luxemburg flag and made our way to Gérard and Kasia’s house with icecreams in hand.

It was a strange sensation to see so many members who I didn’t recognise but I have a feeling the society is in good hands and should last a while longer.  We joked about how somethings never change and reminisced about stories of AnimeSoc’s most famous characters.

Sunday was spent having a super big lunch at the Kings Hall Carvery.  The drive back to Brum was pleasant enough but my car was absolutely caked in bug splats and seagull shit.

I would go three weekends for three but I need to catch up on sleep…

Evangelion 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone

The one thing I hate about Japanese cinema is that it takes absolutely ages for it to get a DVD release. Take for instance Appleseed Ex Machina; came out last year sometime and we only see a DVD release this Easter. It’s even worse for the first Evangelion movie which came out last summer and only now gets a limited DVD release! Anywho, I decided to check out the raw tonight and will now share a few thoughts with you good people. It will of course contain spoilers though these are only important if you’ve never seen Evangelion before (in which case, you’re missing out)!

The easiest way to describe the first Evangelion movie is to think of it like meeting an ex-girlfriend who’s lost a bit of a weight and has had some minor cosmetic surgery; essentially still the same person as before but arguably prettier. It’s pretty much the same story but has some gorgeous visual eye candy along the way.

At first, it’s quite difficult to distinguish what’s actually new since many of the storyboards are frame for frame identical to the series even though all the cels have been redrawn. There is definitely more consistency in the art now; the scene where Shinji is first submerged in LCL no longer has him looking like a frog, and the scene where he runs away from NERV and stares out on the horizon no longer looks out of place. There are plenty of other little changes once you delve a little deeper

• NERV now has a new insignia alongside their old one
• Seele has a new insignia
• Unit 0 has a slightly new colour scheme
• Rei has nipples
• NERV headquarters has ski lifts!
• Lilith wears a radically different mask (and Shinji is shown Lilith really early on)
• The battle with the 5th angel is completely different apart from the concept of using a big sniper rifle
• Kaoru is clearly shown as being an angel
• All of the angels bleed when they die

All of the changes are very positive and are a joy to behold if you’ve not seen Evangelion in a while. My only real disappointment is that the lip sync seems a little worse than the series. You can also tell that some of the voice actors have aged a bit like Misato’s; she no longer has the youthful chirp she once had when she first voiced our purple haired beauty over 10 years ago…

The musical score has also changed slightly, but the important pieces have remained the same thankfully. They’ve not decided to mess with it too much unlike Disney did with Laputa (the bastards!).

Is it worth waiting for a subtitled version? Possibly, though most of the dialogue has remained unchanged from what I can gather and it is more of a visual feast than anything. There is a sneak peak (like in the series) for the next movie and it seems there are loads more changes to come so I think subtitles will definitely be a pre-requisite for the second movie, which I will probably be blogging about in a year’s time…

EDIT – Some kind soul has decided to release some very high quality subtitles to go with the raw that I watched last night.  Another opportunity to watch it again now!

HEART STATION

I got Utada Hikaru’s latest Japanese album the other day and after a bit of mulling over, I feel I’m ready to review it.

I absolutely love Utada Hikaru’s stuff and became infatuated in her style of music waaaay back in 2001 when I bought her second studio album, Distance. The Japanese R’n'B tunes were unlike anything I’d heard before and she has become one of my must-buy artists.

HEART STATION is an unusual album and to me feels like a cop-out. It’s 13 tracks, 1 of which is a remix, and 6 have already been released as singles. What is the norm is that you release 1 or 2 singles and then release the album and then continue to release a few more singles. Because they’ve released the album so late, nothing really feels new anymore. The sound of the album is distinctly Utada, more so than ULTRA BLUE which feels slightly more experimental in comparison. There is one song on HEART STATION which has left me scratching my head over what it is exactly; Boku wa Kuma (I am a bear) sounds like a nursery rhyme and even has a few lines of French for good measure.

All said and done, it’s a decent album and hits all the Utada buttons. The fantastic Evangelion movie theme, Beautiful World, features on it though due to familiarity, it all feels like a greatest hits of sorts. There is a lesson to be learnt here, don’t bother with singles and just go straight for the album.

Rosario + Vampire

First new show I’ve actively followed for quite a while, this.  It’s about a human lad who accidentally ends up at a school for monsters where he meets a rather cute, pink haired vampire.  He has to keep his humanity a secret from everybody for his own protection but still ends up in scrapes with the school’s various beasties.

Not terribly original but it’s a nice adaption of the harem genre of anime.  I also get a Dark Stalkers vibe from it, what with vampires, witches, and werewolves featuring on the roster.

And for the record, girls suffering from vampirism definitely grow bigger boobs.

Ergo Proxy

I’m on a roll now, following up Gurren-Lagann with another series!

Ergo Proxy is one which I initially picked up two years ago but only got through the first few episodes because none of the fansubs were of a quality I was happy to watch. It had always looked very interesting to me, belonging to that cyber-punk style which Ghost in the Shell so deliciously portrayed. If I’m not mistaken, it’s from the same team who brought us Samurai Champloo which seems like a polar entity in comparison. No idea how this one is going to play out but I’ve got a good number of holidays booked off from work this Christmas so it shouldn’t be too long before I find out.

Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann

I seem to have a habit of picking anime with the longest titles known to man, and I suppose it’s no surprise that this particular one comes from Gainax.

First and foremost, it’s a mecha anime so non-believers of giant robots beating the living daylights out of each other need not apply. Its presentation is somewhere between Gunbuster 2 and Abenobashi, with that new Gainax look first appearing in FLCL but sporting some particularly old-skool character designs. It has a vintage mecha feel to everything, with long attack names, combining, and kicks involving fire; if you’ve ever seen Shinkon Gattai Godannar then you’ll feel right at home with this show.

And I suppose like any good Gainax series, it takes everything you thought you knew about the show and throws it out the window to present you with a twist of some sort and in this case, it’s a mid-season time jump! Airing on a different channel (in HD too), the animation now looks a tad more generic and less new-skool Gainax. The overall tone is also a lot darker compared to the more slapstick antics of the first half, with everybody having aged seven years. It’s a nice twist and kinda provides me with my favourite type of closure in the form of an epilogue, albeit it’s a thirteen episode long one…

I am enjoying it despite its slow and somewhat shallow start, lord knows it’s been too long since I sunk my teeth into some fresh anime.

And for those wondering what’s with the influx of images in my blog, it’s because a) the iPhone makes it easy to add photos and b) I find that images helps to liven up entries because as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words” or something along those lines.

EDIT – I finished the series off this evening and it certainly delivered.  There was combining of gargantuan scale and the animation in the final episode was top notch.  No real surprises which is surprising for Gainax but it goes to show they too can produce an enjoyable and relative run-of-the-mill anime like everybody else.  Highly recommended for mecha fans, and to an extent Gainax fans since there’s plenty of references and in-jokes scattered throughout.