Gurren Lagann Finale

I could never watch another anime title ever again, and I think after this, I'd be ok with it.

(Full review coming soon)

Abe leaves the PM office

In a move that many of us can probably claim to have seen coming from several miles away, Japan's current Prime Minister, Abe Shinzo, has announced his plans to resign from office. Copious amounts of scandal in his cabinet, an approval rating that could be described as dismal at best, and let's not forget about Agriculture Minister Matsuoka. It's been far from a successful year for Abe.
I won't try to feign being extremely versed in Japanese politics outside of the activities of the PM's office, but from what I have seen, Abe just has lacked a certain amount of gumption needed for the position.
For a few years now, I've been getting the English version of the weekly e-mail magazine from the PM office, and comparitively, I always felt as if there was a lack of a connection in the topics discussed in Abe's comments when compared to those of his predecessor, Koizumi. Whereas Koizumi tended to discuss matters that seemed closer to the hearts and minds of the populace, Abe's seemed to have much broader strokes, looking at the nation as a solid group, and avoided showing an interest in what different members of the nation were doing in different areas. Still one of the more prominent memories I have of TV advertisements from my semester in Japan was during the September 2005 snap election is of Koizumi coming on and reminding people the importance of going out to vote.
With Abe stepping out, it will be interesting to watch and see who comes in next and what sort of leadership they will bring.

Random Musing(s) #3

Last weekend I took a trip to Porter Square for a bowl of real ramen from Sapporo Ramen in the Porter Exchange mall. It'd been far too long since I'd set foot in there, and my love and understanding of things Japanese was a still in its infancy. (It's still in early adolescence at best) That being said, it was a nice return and to see how my view had changed since my last visit.

Lunch from Sapporo was definitely a treat, and while visiting the small shop just off Newbury St. is a good place to grab a hearty bowl of real ramen, something about the setting made the visit all the better. Porter Exchange feels like a small piece of Japan transplanted into Cambridge. The biggest little discovery during my last visit had to be after taking a step into the small Japanese grocery store, Kotobukiya Market. I've already mentioned my fondness for Suntory Boss coffee, but there was another reunion that was even greater for me.



Anyone who's spoken to me after my return from my semester in Japan knows that I can speak for ages about a love for curry that was discovered during my time there. Among the many forms that I became fond of the flavor in was the Cup Noodles brand instant ramen. While the brand is somewhat readily available in the states, the curry flavor is one of the varieties I've only seen in Japan. I bought myself a cup of the stuff without a moments hesitation and last Monday's lunch was a piece of heaven sent nostalgia. I might not be sure when my next journey to Japan will be, but at least there's a little something that was always a favorite of mine that takes me back a little while. Olfaction is said to be the sense most strongly tied to memory, and having the scent nearby, I can't help but remember some very good times.

Ikki Tousen

It's been awhile since I've had time to sit down and write out another review. Between Otakon and other stuff going on in my life, I just hadn't had a good opportunity. The humidity that's been coming around rather often as of late doesn't make for a good writing environment either, regardless of any excuses I might have; the hiatus is over. It's time to do get back to work here.

It's finally time to talk about an anime title that I haven't liked. I decided to give myself one doozy of a title to tackle; the fanservice riddled fighting anime Ikki Tousen. (Literally To put it briefly, it was thirteen episodes of me asking myself "What am I watching and furthermore, why am I watching it?" I've become something of a curmudgeon with anime titles, and if something is completely available (and isn't drastically long) I will do my best to see the series in its entirety. It feels simply weird to leave something unfinished. Perhaps in the cases where I'm not fully enjoying myself, it's a hope to see if things will get better. Ikki Tousen was not a straight instance of hoping for it to get better, but in some bizarre masochistic sense, I wanted to see just how bad things could get.

When one first hears the premise of Ikki Tousen it sounds like it has a great deal of potential. Taking Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the classic Chinese story, and turning it into a modern-day setting fighting anime with rival schools battling for supremacy and lots of fanservice thrown in. Unfortunately like a Wile E. Coyote plan to catch the Roadrunner, it sounds like a relatively good concept, but fails in its actual execution.

Perhaps the hardest part about picking apart Ikki Tousen is deciding where to begin. This was the problem I had. But as a certain teacher in high school told me, the best and only cure for writer’s block is to start writing. Instead of going into detail with each flaw, I am going to just briefly expand on my notes that I took while watching.

-The Setting and Plot are not well formed or believable. The high school setting might work well for many anime, and indeed, a good deal of the target audience for anime titles are middle and high school aged students, but yet the context here does not work. All the fighters are fiercely loyal to their schools (which are supposed to represent different factions from the Three Kingdoms) but we’re never given much of an explanation as to where this loyalty comes from or why it exists. Attempts to be more dramatic are abrupt and far too forced. Characters are never fully explained, and we’re never sure who we should care about, and who’s important as the majority of them move in and out the spotlight and in and out of different roles way too quickly. Even when the man behind the curtain is finally revealed and defeated, instead of punishment that should be due for all the suffering that has been caused, he is quickly forgiven. Wait….what?

-What’s in a name? An early inclination while watching Ikki Tousen was that the character names were strange, that they said “so-and-so did such-and-such in the three kingdoms era” and never said whose soul they were the reincarnation of. Further research led to a discovery that in fact we were being told the names, just straight Japanese versions of the Chinese names, using no imagination. (It should be noted that for those of you not well versed in Japanese language that Chinese characters, are often used in names and other words.)

-Sex sells, but also nauseates, and even bores Who doesn’t enjoy a good amount of fanservice? The problem with Ikki Tousen is that it loses all meaning. I’m a young, single man, comfortable in his heterosexuality, and I still found myself sick of the levels of fanservice in this series. It got boring because it became the norm. True fanservice is something that comes only every so often, and needs to be kept as the exception, not the rule. In fact sex in Ikki Tousen is taken from being something that is risqué, tempting, or even in the cases of rape, horrifying, and made to be something that is tossed around with no meaning in it, leaving it empty.

-On another “note” For a newer series, you’d think we’d get a score that sounds a bit better than old Super Nintendo RPG. (Not that those aren’t priceless in their proper settings)

-Destined for failure For a final thought, one theme in stories that can be extremely effective when done correctly is wrestling with the idea of destiny. Characters decide whether or not it is something that is only fabricated by legend, struggle to accept its inevitably, or find the path that merely says they will reach a certain point at a certain time and how one gets there is his or her own choice. Yet Ikki Tousen tries to hard to convey all these different possibilities for destiny, and in the process convolutes them. The definition of destiny in this context is never decided upon and it changes several times. If a boundary such as rules for destiny exists for one character, they must be the same boundaries for others as well.

That's all I've got, I'm going back to something I like for my next review. This one was rather painful.

Reprint the Final Volumes of Dunbine Petition

A rather important issue to me. No one should have to pay $100 - $400 dollars for a single DVD. The details can all be found on the petition site. Who knows if it'll work, but it can't hurt to try.

Reprint the Final Volumes of Dunbine Petition

Evangelion Rebuild Trailer

Now that the trailer is out in a form that isn't just someone with a camera in the theater, I have this to say: Holy high quality Batman!



I'll be most curious to see what the fourth of the three movies will be like as it is reported to be an "all new ending"

Random Musing(s) #2

Friend: Didn't you say you were going to talk about more than just anime with that blog of yours?
Nigoki: Indeed I did.
Friend: Well then, why haven't you? Maybe you could show something that you miss from being in Japan or something.
Nigoki: Ok

And that is how I arrived to where I am now. Indeed, there are things that after spending my Fall 2005 semester in Saitama, I can say I miss from Japan.

One thing that comes to mind is Vending Machines. - While their presence makes resisting temptation harder (I'm especially glad that I'm not a smoker, nor had any inclination to become while in Japan) they are particularly helpful on those humid days when you need something cool off with. On a walk that was only about 6-8minutes from the train station to my host parents' place, I would pass no less than 3 pairs of drink machines. (This doesn't include the machines on the train platform mind you) I became especially fond of many of the machines that offered cans of coffee. Available in warmed or cooled cans, and more varieties than one would ever think (Seriously it's insane) it makes getting caffeine fix, or just something to warm up/cool down with oh so much easier. The hardest part is resisting the urge at times. Most vending machines take 10 to 500 yen coins(the largest coin). Many of us Americans find it easy to forget the value in the coins with the largest coins we usually carry being a quarter, so only spending a few out of pocket doesn't feel like it's as much. Harder still is most machines take the smallest bill in Japanese currency too. You figure the American $1 bill is disposable. What about 1000 yen? At current rates that's about $8.18
But sometimes, it's worth giving into temptation. As for my favorite variety of canned coffee I'd have to agree with Suntory Boss's motto. It's the boss of them all.