FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 33

Ani-Gamers staff writer Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 33 - The Northern Wall of Briggs

Kimblee gets some character development through working with the Armestrian army. No longer FMA1’s explosives-obsessed alchemic liability, Kimblee is a skilled tracker...or at the very least endowed with a balance of intelligence and psychopathic intent well suited towards his officially assigned duty of tracking Scar. FMA1’s Kimblee was more/less an anarchistic bombardier charged with unsettling nations and creating scapegoats for the homunculus-led Armestrian military after being reabsorbed within their ranks via Archer. Later, Kimblee was transformed into a bit of a ridiculous monstrosity via automail, a shell of his former being. FMA2 pulls off a more subtle Kimblee (as subtle as one can be in an all-white suit) tuned for the role and more believable as a psychopathic hunter/assassin by way of attention to his eyes and obsession for his duty.

Speaking of Kimblee, the match-up between alchemic talents of him and Scar and is a rather brilliant one. Both are demolition specialists (a talent of Scar’s to which Kimblee almost admits something akin to admiration for during an earlier scene) and require hand-to-hand combat for the final blow. Of course, Kimblee has a philosopher’s stone, so range isn’t actually an issue, but we also know Scar’s degree of aggression, so we also know it’s going to be a fury-filled, close-range battle despite any ranged attacks. The end to this fight will surprise you, might make you laugh, but take it as it is and you will find a brilliantly executed battle that has almost no action. Not to say that all battles should be thusly matched. A, this is not a Street Fighter tournament, and B, it’s not realistic to have only foils battle each other. However, the foil battle does give greater meaning or at least greater suspense to the endless battles that comprise FMA2.

Though the animation of characters still leaves much to be desired, the direction is as impressive as ever. It’s the little things, like the reality of a train operator looking back because of an odd sound and inconsistent rumbling and not being able to see anything out-of-the-ordinary. Only after a pair of train tracks are shown bending to the right on a gradual curve in the snow does the operator notice half the train has disappeared. It’s a small attention to detail, but that’s what’s always made FMA1 a great series, and FMA2 continues the tradition well.

Maintaining a contrast with FMA1, FMA2’s Marcoh still isn’t dead. Due to his Scar-inflicted makeover and Akehestric healing performed by Shao May, though, he does have a new face. I like that Marcoh’s made to suffer whenever we see him, but he still doesn’t seem as tortured as his FMA1 counterpart. It just seems as though he’s adjusting, comfortable with how he’s helping, which goes against the “it’s the least I can do” mentality of FMA1’s Marcoh.

And the last major difference in this episode is the discovery of Scar’s brother’s research, which was a blend of alkahestry and alchemy and was never really used (or explained) in FMA1. After Scar imparted a tattooed limb to his sibling, his brother became more emotional motive than didactic plot. This will most likely serve as the bridge by which Ed & Al learn alkahestry, as they are searching for Shao May, who is traveling with Marcoh and has just dug it up near the north where Ed and Al are currently.

On the new characters front, we meet Armstrong’s older sister – a general in charge of the North City fort, Briggs – as well as some army special forces officers and grunts. Additionally, the preview revealed what looked to be a new homunculus working for (or being used by) the military.

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Ani-Gamers Podcast #023 - A Melodramatic Podcast Revolt

Hosts: Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto, Hisui (Alain) and Narutaki (Kate)
Topic: Shōjo anime that appeals to guys

This episode is also called "The Answer is ALWAYS Golgo 13!"

Today I am joined by the Reverse Thieves, a blogging duo that has probably been on this show more than recommended by most physicians, to discuss shōjo anime – specifically the kind that can appeal to boys as well as its traditional target audience of girls. The four series up for discussion are Ouran High School Host Club, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Rose of Versailles, and They Were Eleven.

I have no idea what's going on for next episode, but I can say that Mitchy has been playing Assassin's Creed 2 and I plan to do the same very soon, and we are both itching to talk about Sword of the Stranger. We'll see what happens... next time on Dragonball Z the Ani-Gamers Podcast!

Show notes and links can be found after the break.

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(Runtime: 1 hour, 12 minutes)

[0:00:00] Intro: Dave from Colony Drop, recorded at the New York Anime Festival 2009

[0:00:04] Opening Song: "R.O.D Theme" by Taku Iwasaki (R.O.D. OVA opener)

[0:00:18] Evan introduces the Reverse Thieves, laments Mitchy's absence, and promotes his Twitter lists, which include one for FANTASTIC PEOPLE and another for dangers to anime fandom. (Yes that means moé fans.)

[0:02:48] What'cha Been Doing? Al and Kate are watching Kimi ni Todoke and playing Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box. Evan watched Baccano!

[0:16:42] Break: "Sakura Kiss" Chieko Kawabe (Ouran High School Host Club opener)

[0:17:15] Discussion: To begin the conversation about shōjo anime that appeals to male viewers, our hosts go over some basic definitions of shōjo and its related anime and manga demographics. (Short version: It means comics and cartoons for girls.)

[0:20:33] The first anime up for discussion is Ouran High School Host Club. It's got a cross-dressing girl, a team of pretty boys, and a biting self-deprecating wit.

[0:28:37] Next we move backwards in time to the classic Revolutionary Girl Utena, a story about a cross-dressing girl, an academy for princes, and incest.

[0:37:01] Then there's one of the most prominent influences on Utena, the 1979 shōjo epic Rose of Versailles. This anime features a cross-dressing girl (noticing a trend?), the French Revolution, and a sword fight atop a burning church.

[0:46:49] Finally we hit up another anime based on a manga by a member of the "Showa 24 Group," a loose confederacy of female shōjo artists born in or around the Japanese year Showa 24 (1949). This one is the anime film They Were Eleven, with highlights that include a green scaly dude, a super-secret plot twist, and SPAAAACE ACADEMY. (No there is no cross-dressing girl in this one... or is there? We may never know.)

[NOTE] The Reverse Thieves did not have time during the show to mention these other great shōjo series from their list of potential topics: Fruits Basket, Glass Mask, Honey and Clover, Kare Kano, NANA, Princess Nine, The Story of Saiunkoku, and X.

[1:01:27] We're done! It's time for pimping things, like the Reverse Thieves' Otaku Diaries or Secret Santa projects, or Ani-Gamers' Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Diaries column. Also the typical promotional stuff is in there.

[1:11:48] Ending Song: "WORLD END (Instrumental)" by FLOW (Code Geass R2 second opener)

[1:12:07] Back for another go, the Reverse Thieves (or at least half of them) attempt another Beatles cover performance. The attempt is partially successful.

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Impressions: Cowboy Bebop vol.5

I apologize for the lateness of this article. A full month of straight Otakon coverage cut right through the gap between this and the previous article in this series, so that volume 5's entry ended up being postponed over and over again. The next Bebop post should be up relatively soon.

In its penultimate volume, Cowboy Bebop picks up some of the steam that it lost in the previous four episodes. The action is brought back in full swing, as is the great writing that defined the earlier episodes. But most importantly, the stories have more weight to them than the previous volume's episodes.

The first episode, "Wild Horses," is without a doubt the best on the DVD. Its combination of space action, a puzzling enemy, and great side-characters are the things that make people remember Cowboy Bebop long after they watch it. The episode's primary side-character, a young, energetic black mechanic named Miles, is a big fan of the baseball team the Blue Socks, and he religiously listens to their games over the radio. This theme of Miles' love for his radio and his baseball team is strewn throughout the episode, and the way it ties in with the plot that unfolds on the Bebop is pure brilliance. Plus, Bebop surprised me once again with yet another reference to 20th century culture, in the form of a refurbished space shuttle Columbia. It only alluded to until the end, and the revelation is worth quite a gasp.

The two middle episodes, "Pierrot La Fou" and "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui," are fun, but lack in particularly compelling side-characters. The villain of the former is nothing but an insane murderer, though the conclusion of the episode bears Bebop's trademark subtlety – just as Spike kills his enemy, Jet discovers the secret behind him, leading Spike to dismiss Jet's now-meaningless discovery. The latter episode features a weak connection between Jet and a young girl, and does little to progress the characters (though I was very interested in its noir-style narration). Finally, "Cowboy Funk" seems like a simple comedy episode, but in reality it gives us an interesting look at an aggravated Spike who has met someone just a bit too similar to him. As I've come to expect from writer Nobumoto, the hilarious ending ties in a bunch of off-hand comments from earlier in the episode.

I feel the quality ramping up, but where's the story? I haven't seen any sort of central narrative forming yet, so I wonder how the plot will come to a satisfying conclusion in one disc. I've definitely seen it done before, but will Bebop be able to pull it off with such a disjointed story? We'll find out next time!

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Stop by soon for my continuing analysis and opinions of Cowboy Bebop. I will publish one article for each DVD that I watch, followed by a review of the series as a whole, and possibly even a review of the movie. See you next time!

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New Staff Welcome: Sean and Elliot

Changes are afoot here at Ani-Gamers as we welcome two new members to our illustrious staff. The first is Sean Kim, a college student who spends his free time geeking out on PC/Xbox 360 games and watching anime. Sean will be a Copy Editor, though he plans to occasionally submit content of his own as well. Our second new addition is Elliot Page, one of the drinking, gaming, and animal-wrestling hosts of Luke and Elliot's Bearfighting Extravaganza podcast. He will be contributing manga reviews.

On a more somber note, one of our new writers, Josh Christophers (a.k.a. Phreak) will no longer be contributing to Ani-Gamers. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors!

We hope you're looking forward to the new content that Sean and Elliot will be bringing to the site!

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FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 32

Ani-Gamers staff writer Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 32 - The Fuhrer's Son

As the title suggests, we get some back-story into the Fuhrer’s son, Selim, as well as a bit of his family life. Unless Mustang breaks in and torches the Fuhrer in the next episode, I’d say it’s a fair assessment to expect an attempt at building Bradley into a more human figure to set up a conflict for Ed killing him. Of course, this is all conjecture, but the attempt at character development is always a welcome thing.

A note not of comparison or contrast: visual clues in FMA2 are getting gradually more subtle. An example: while attempting to track Scar, Kimblee studies a map, which shows a patch of rail zigzagging through a mountainous region. The last shot of Ed and Al on a train shows them going into a tunnel through a lush forest with snowy mountains in the background. Yeah, we already knew they were headed north, but the attention to visuals is appreciated.

One outstanding difference includes a return to Liore via flashback to examine the chaos stemming from Ed’s actions there. While similar to FMA1, FMA2 emphasizes the government’s role in heightening the violence instead of the delicate balance of an occupied territory. Also important to note is the use of this flashback. In FMA1, Mustang concealed this information from Ed in an effort to bolster his self-confidence/commitment to the military, while FMA2 uses the same instance in a conversation between Mustang and General Grumman to instill a sense of need for revolution against a corrupt government.

A lesser but still notable exception is Ling/Greed, who is a much more subservient homunculus, in a very disappointing way, compared to his FMA1 counterpart or even the FMA2 that preceded him. Of course, it’s too early in his story to tell for sure, but if Greed acts as all the other homunculi, it fits what FMA2 has shown us so far. This, in my opinion, is inferior to FMA1’s Greed, who exemplified his name with utter brilliance. It’s a shame such a shadow is cast, but there is much time left for development.

“Won’t this be the first time we’ve ever been up north?” asks Al after the credits. Ha ha, FMA2...yes, we are all traveling there for the first time. Thanks for the reminder that we’re not watching FMA1 and that you are daring to explore all of Armestris. And I have to say, the scope of this series is refreshing. Already it sets Armestris in relations to a neighbor not in FMA1 (Xing) and also wishes to clue us in on the different territories within itself. FMA1 had no similar ambition, which also may have been its strength. Much like Mustang’s team, FMA2’s focus is spread thin over the vast territories that form Armestris. Hopefully there’s enough going on in each region to keep the episodes interesting.

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Japanese man marries dating sim character. No, really.

The phrase "If you like it so much, why don't you marry it?" has never been more terrifyingly applicable. Recently a Japanese man traveled to a Guam church where he was able to – somehow – marry Nene Anegasaki, who is not a pretty young girl who he met at a bar, but instead a pretty young cartoon character who he met in Nintendo DS dating sim game Love Plus.

The newlyweds held a reception today to show slides of their wedding and (dialogue-tree-filled) courtship, which you can now view on Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga (EDIT: You'll need to log in to watch it – thanks to Yumeka for the link). You can also promptly slam your head into a pillow and cry for the state of humanity.

A few years back, some Japanese guys tried to put together a petition to convince the Japanese government to allow them to marry cartoon characters. Luckily their weak petition fell through, but now it seems like the author of the online message (who claimed that he would marry Mikuru Asahina if given the chance) finally has a ray of hope in the dark void that is his life. He can find consolation in knowing that another otaku has found happiness with his own virtual girlfriend, as he sits in his cramped apartment, crying himself to sleep because he will never have a meaningful interaction with a fellow human being in his entire life. (Some folks in the comments section of the Tiny Cartridge post might strongly disagree as they hug their body pillows and complain about the "tyranny of women")

The best part of the whole thing is that this is a character who thousands of other otaku have probably fallen in love with. Now that one guy has married her, is she off-limits to everybody else? Oooh, brutal! Maybe you guys will have to start widening your horizons a bit. Think outside the box if you know what I mean.

[via Tiny Cartridge]

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Con Report: Zenkaikon 2009 - Cramped But Competent

November 7-8, 2009
Radisson Hotel Valley Forge
King of Prussia, PA, USA

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A merger of two formerly separate and smaller cons (Kosaikon and Zentrankon), Zenkaikon 2009 is the fourth incarnation of a relatively small (but rapidly growing) Pennsylvania anime convention that serves up the standards: guest speakers, industry- and fan-run panels, video game rooms, and live performances.

There were only two very cramped gaming rooms (with an admirable amount of systems squeezed in) and as many video rooms, which were split between live action and anime. While some might consider this a horrible decision given both the size and purpose of the con, I thought it was a ballsy effort to offer something more despite the smaller space and projected number of attendees (they vastly underestimated). The highlight of the viewing I was able to see was the first three subbed episodes of Princess Tutu.

The attending bands, with the exception of J-pop singer Rina Mimura, were only moderately alluring as a taste of J-music. Eyeshine, geist, and Eden Star all had members of Asian descent and were all/mostly influenced by J-Punk/-Pop, but sounded too little like it to evoke an Asian feel. That’s not to say they weren’t good, however. I’ve seen Eden Star before, and the lead singer as well as the drummer exhibit very impressive energy and talent. It just seemed a little too tellingly inauthentic. Hell, even Castle Point Anime Convention got Peelander-Z.

The dealer’s room was about the size of a classroom, and did just about all it could with the space provided, but navigation was frustratingly tight and rewards far too few. Similarly, Artist’s Alley was a joke. Very few artists were actually displaying their work (the room was smaller than the dealer’s room), and what was there seemed lackluster.

Panels were many, but scheduling was, as usual for any con, poorly arranged (at least for my tastes). All the uninteresting panels seemed grouped together to form hours of free time, and all the interesting panels overlapped separate rooms. In addition to a wonderfully informative kendo demonstration, my particular interests were with “Anime in China,” “Moe Anthropomorphism-tan,” “Psychology of Anime,” and “Do Anime Conventions Have a Future?” Luckily, I was able to catch all but the last, and reviews/summations can be found on this site for those who could not attend these enlightening and well-handled panels.

So, if you were looking for a lily pad to serve as a fix between New York and Hoboken or wherever anime pops up next – a place to commune with your fellow lovers of anime, cosplay, and all other aspects of American otaku-dom – then Zenkaikon is a decent enough pit stop. There is vast room for improvement with regards to venue, organization, and space allocation, but that will hopefully come with time.

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Zenkaikon 09: Anime in (Hangzhou) China

Although this Zenkaikon panel was called "Anime in China," let’s start off with a couple of domestic statistics. In 2006, attendance levels for Otakon and San Diego Comic Con were 23,000 and 114,000, respectively. For the third China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, held in Hangzhou, China, attendance levels topped 430,000. Just shy of half a million people come together over their shared love for Japanese and US culture via animation. But despite these massive numbers, average wait time for tickets (at the door) is only 5 minutes max. Why? Because the army does crowd control, and not just because people such as the provincial head of the communist party stop by. No, that’s not a joke.

On the first day, Industry Day, only company people attend, and that number tops 15,000. Turns out that Hangzhou is the animation capital of China. Imagine that, an entire city taking pride in animation as its most beloved factor. What kind of pride? We’re talking 20 ft tall METAL statues of the convention’s mascot at every major intersection, blimps advertising the convention over the entire city, billboards at every turn, and even a grand cartoon parade through public streets and broadcast live over television, all as an advertisement that the animation festival would be open to the public the next day. Add to all of this the fact that the convention and its happenings dominate the news for each day, and you get a sense of the love (and excellent marketing) that goes into this event.

That love, as well as the awe inspired by such a demonstration, was shared by our panel’s presenter, Kevin McKeever. As head of marketing for Robotech, McKeever was not only there on a commercial mission but also garnered observations as a foreigner visiting for love of animation. The conference is attended, on the first day exclusively and then all throughout, by all toy, animation, and studios/production companies. So, in addition to the custom STRUCTURES built specifically for this year’s con, the organization also offers offices in back for conducting industry-related (as opposed to consumer-related) business.

For the rest of the convention, other attractions include bands performing music (often from the animated shows) on the convention floor; an integrated radio broadcast from a soundproof booth; and Artist’s Alley. The latter offers a distinctive twist from the format US audiences know and love. Instead of individual artists hocking their wares, it features submissions from the public solicited by the convention, which judges them and then puts all selected entries for public display in a room relative to the size of an aircraft hangar.

What about cosplay? Oh, dear god, yes, it exists. Though there is no hall cosplay due to the hazards to costumes and people alike jammed in the densely populated convention center, there is a DAILY masquerade that goes on for 8 hours each day. Also, there are professional cosplayers at booths dedicated to specific shows. But booths are not only there to promote the finished product, there are also booths from all the art schools ready to edify and accept applications from those interested in breaking into the industry.

Then it was time to leave. McKeever and entourage packed up and left the convention to get back home, where, evidently, we have a lot to learn from those in Hangzhou about manifesting our love for anime and animation in such an efficient and affluent manner.

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J-pop idol Ai Kago to appear in New Jersey

OK, so this one's a little odd, but the story stuck out to me since it (literally) hits so close to home. Japanese singer Ai Kago (former member of Morning Musume, Hello! Project, and W) recently attended a performance from Japanese rock group ZAMZA at Webster Hall in New York City (EDIT: It turns out that Ai decided instead to attend and perform at the open mic at Lucky Jack's), and she will appear Sunday, November 22 (that's tomorrow) at the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Fort Lee, New Jersey – a mere half-hour from where I live! There the singer and author will give a press conference and "say hello to her fans."

I'm away at college right now (and I'm not big into J-pop), so there's no way I'm getting down there for the press conference on Sunday. Still, let us know if you're planning on going!

[via Jive Ninjas. Thanks, Patrick Macias!]

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Zenkaikon 09: The psychological appeals of anime

I love academia as much as the next guy. (Ok, most likely a lot more than the next guy), but even I have to tip my hat to and scowl at K. Levinson, who led the "Psychology of Anime" panel at Zenkaikon 2009. A published student and teacher of psychology, Levinson decided to base the panel on the cognitive approach and certainly cannot be accused of talking down to the crowd. Having not taken a bit of psychology since I was in college myself, I found my dying brain cells barely an adequate bridge to traverse the topics of why people love anime, what the nature of their attraction to it is, and what the reasons behind the artists’ choices when developing series are.

Almost any time anyone mentions psychology, the first figure to come to mind is Dr. Sigmund Freud. So what would the father of psychoanalysis say about our particular branch of fandom? Given his life drive theory, it would be anime’s aggressiveness and sexuality that keep otaku buying DVDs en masse. Big guns, big...girls. Very simple. Continuing along the timeline of psychological development, theories get a little more complicated.

Social psychology, or how people interact with other people and within groups, was our next area of examination. Basically, this field would theorize that anime viewers watch to observe relationships. I’m not only talking your typical boy/girl doting upon girl/boy (or any combination thereof), but relationships between government and people, individuals to their situations, etc. It is a form of vicarious living. But viewers don’t want to be the characters. Instead, they feel an association or desire for particular exhibited qualities. Keep this in mind when we visit Gestalt psychology.

Between here and there, however, was Abraham Maslow and his theory of the hierarchy of human needs: physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. Answers to what portions of the needs pyramid anime could satisfy included partial or entire levels of safety, love/belonging, and esteem. But how? The innate morality and sense of family in most anime would take care of at least relaying a vision of a comprehensible and achievable level of safety; vicarious themes of friendship, intimacy, and family take viewers into a sense of love/belonging; and contrasts between characters and viewers can instill a sense of confidence or bolster their self-esteem.

In Gestalt psychology, everything is analyzed from top to bottom – as a whole first and then by parts. Followers of this branch of psychology would believe anime viewers just don’t see the components – characters, plot, setting, animation style, music – but experience the whole first before breaking it down into what appeals to them. After viewers identify enjoyable wholes (genres), elements thereof can then be further broken down, and components of those elements micro-analyzed, etc. What makes this theory so plausible is the inherent oversimplification aspect of anime. It is the driving force behind the medium’s accelerated growth, because the simpler the whole, the easier to access, identify, and break down.

Lastly, the (fraternal) twin cities of determinism and relativism respectively state that the way people speak the language is the way they view the world and that the way people perceive things determines their language. Aspects of both arguments are most prevalent in the great sub/dub debate, which would point out missed jokes and incorrect meanings via translation. Symbolic interactions determine how we interpret, so that is why dubs should appeal to US viewers in a different way that subs do: jokes and phraseology are often tweaked for the native language instead of being verbatim translations that go over the proverbial heads of foreign audiences. Also related to this theory is the concept that anyone’s first viewing of anime is relativistic. Viewers start to form templates of new material’s form from their initial viewing, relying upon that experience as a control in an experiment. Continued watching becomes deterministic, because viewers are familiar with the form and can start to use their learned language to compare it against a familiar form.

I hope those views gave you something to chew on. There was a lot more name-dropping and psychological mumbo-jumbo, but I think Wikipedia charges by the link, and, if your head is anything like mine, it’s probably screaming out for some aspirin right about now. Take some, and next time you sit down with a favorite series, think, if only for a moment: what specifically drew you to it, how does it make you feel, and how do you use it? The answers just might surprise you.

Ani-Gamers blogger Ink checked out a whole bunch of the panels and events at Zenkaikon 2009. For more coverage, keep your eyes on our Zenkaikon 09 label!

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Zenkaikon 09: McKeever on marketing anime, then and now

"Introduction to Independent Filmmaking" was a panel not nearly as interesting as its presenter, Kevin McKeever. If you want to know how to get into film, there are basically 2 requirements: luck and determination, and even combined they are no guarantee for success. For McKeever, it was all about working hard in any position that the industry he loved would have him in. From unpaid “go-fer,” to unpaid and then salaried script reader, and later on to head of marketing for Robotech for Harmony Gold, McKeever crawled his way up the ranks and saw the industry change with him as he grabbed each rung. The most interesting points in the panel came not from career advice, but those insights on marketing anime he gained while climbing and how they allow him to view the current market.

When asked how the various forms of Internet distribution – streaming, downloads, fansubs, etc. – are changing the industry, McKeever acknowledged the impact. He said the Internet distribution is definitely affecting industry, but no one knows exactly how yet. It’s somewhat related to the VCR issue from days of old, when such recording devices were thought to purely promote piracy and yet ended up being the building block of the massive cash cow known as the home video market. Why sell per-hit views on websites for five cents, when you can sell a DVD for $30, right? Well, since we are a society of consumers focused on material, in-your-hands possessions, it stands to reason a large percentage of those who stream will buy hard copies. Even those that don’t, those that strictly download, are still contributing. And those that stream and let stream...every penny reaped from advertisers counts, no?

Reflecting on the industry’s adoption of anime, McKeever recalls it as scarce at first. Anything brought to the big screen or little ones was intended for our little ones (children), and the seeming lack of adult content did not substantiate further investment. McKeever credits Transformers (2007) with opening up the anime genre (yes, he includes it in the anime genre) to the adult marketplace. Its unrivaled success – equal amongst males and females alike, surprisingly – spurred a frenzied need within all the major production companies, who had been watching to see what would become of the modernized nostalgia trip. Thus the studios sought out their own “giant robot” franchise, their Cowboy Bebops, their Robotechs, their Speed Racers, their Akiras. Funny thing was, contrary to how easy it was to gain anime property and distribution rights in the past, studios found themselves in limited, strict contracts when courting their desired Japanese properties. The market had grown wise and greedy.

Still, live action adaptations of anime are seen as a blessing through McKeever’s eyes. Much the same way as Internet streaming brings consumers to store shelves, so do these adaptations bring newfound fans of the presented stories/characters back to the original source material: anime.

As for the future of anime’s success in America and elsewhere, McKeever said it all exists on a grassroots level. Fans are what brought this genre over, and fans are what keep spreading the gospel. This is why anime is a strong property. Each intimate word-of-mouth indoctrination between friends, even conventions that build face-to-face connections with and between fans and industry, spur purchasing despite a bad economy. And while otaku may get a little more picky about which titles they buy, they will certainly keep buying, and there’s something out there for everyone.

Ani-Gamers blogger Ink checked out a whole bunch of the panels and events at Zenkaikon 2009. For more coverage, keep your eyes on our Zenkaikon 09 label!

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Zenkaikon 09: Look out! There’s a cute girl hiding in everything!

Emily Compton and Katsunori Matsushita headed Zenkaikon’s "Moé Anthropomorphism-tan" panel, which sought to explain the exploitation of moé figures created either as marketing or metaphor for use in ads, anime, and other amusements in Japan.

Moé characters, for the purpose of the subjects of this panel, are sweet/cute figures defined by a set of characteristics that evokes an inclination to protect/defend them. Anthropomorphism is defined via Wikipedia as “the attribution of human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts.” Japan, which has a long-standing tradition of attributing spiritual sense to everyday objects (what they call gods, but we would see more as “spirit” or “essence”), uses a combination of pop culture and inherited spirituality to create moé mascots with attributes representing the objects they represent.

Examples range from educational comics, manga, Web animations, and anime to fetishistic advertising. An example of the former would be Afuganis-tan, a series which uses moé characters as personifications of Central Asian nations to educate children about history and current events. While this format has made the history “accessible” to youth (and entertaining to adults), it often elicits a critique of trivialization. Its characters are very stereotypical, defined by broad generalizations in appearance as well as their actions, but all the nations are treated equally, avoiding any sense of favoritism.

Mechamusume is another branch of moé anthropomorphism, wherein cute girls represent vehicles/hardware. And aside from military ads/brochures for real-world jets, tanks, and guns, examples of mechamusume’s employment can be found in anime series such as Sky Girls and Strike Witches. This form of moé anthropomorphism isn’t confined to military machinations, however. Commercial planes, trains, and even satellites are represented by cute girls integrated with either aspects of the actual design or wearing uniforms/colors of the company. An anime that touches on this is Miracle Train, which employs beautiful men riding an underground subway line as allegories for stops along said train line; each character’s characteristics are defined by the nature of the stops (business, entertainment, night life, etc.).

With an admitted soft spot for the wide-eyed girls that so often populate anime in general, I found it generally amusing to see the wealth of moé in advertising for everything from education to social commentary. It comes down to the art of representing one thing through another: a visual metaphor. Varying degrees of good and bad were clearly evident even through the various examples of a poorly lit slideshow (bad projector), but, come what may, moé anthropomorphism remains a distinctive Japanese presence and (much to the dismay of many) culturally and artistically relevant.

Ani-Gamers blogger Ink checked out a whole bunch of the panels and events at Zenkaikon 2009. For more coverage, keep your eyes on our Zenkaikon 09 label!

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And so begins the Anime Secret Santa Project!

Clearly I've been more naughty than nice this year. It's the only thing that makes sense, considering the three anime chosen for me by my "Anime Secret Santa." The project, run by the Reverse Thieves, has a wide cross-section of anime bloggers trading review requests Secret Santa-style, with the goal of the choices being things that the reviewer on the receiving end might like despite having never seen before.

Somebody, however, is not out to make my Christmas a happy one. Whoever you are, my undercover friend, you should know right now that I shall never forgive you for what you have done. I shall hunt you to the ends of the earth, though you may hide behind the guise of Internet anonymity. "Why the hatred?" my readers might ask. "Why this open loathing for one whom you have never met?"

The reason, as the more astute among you may have already guessed, is that my Anime Secret Santa has had the courage (and cruelty) to request not one, not two, but THREE anime series straight out of the bowels of the dread spectre of moé (not exactly my favorite genre, to put it lightly). My friends, I am now tasked with choosing between Air, Kannagi, and True Tears.

So let it be known that I accept your challenge, oh mysterious fellow blogger. My poison of choice is Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, the Next Big Thing from Haruhi director Yutaka Yamamoto. I am prepared to stare without fear into the gaping maw of the moé menace. Do your worst.

My review of Kannagi will be posted on or around December 24. The pairings for the Secret Santa Project will be revealed on the 25th.

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FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 31

Ani-Gamers staff writer Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 31 - The 520 Cens Promise

This episode follows the theme of transition, more specifically making the best of a bad situation. Starting with Hawkeye as Fuhrer’s assistant, we learn that position does not determine behavior. Keep your friends close and enemies closer is the credo, but Hawkeye makes it known that proximity does not beget obedience and that the Fuhrer should sleep with his eyes open.

Along the same vein, Mustang, a man without allies (they’ve all been reassigned to other headquarters), portrays himself as a king estranged from his league of loyal chess pieces. Lest the bluntness be lost, remember Wrath currently holds the title of Fuhrer King, the title which Mustang longs to usurp. Facing the loss of all those that lent their support to his ambitions, Mustang does the only thing he can: calls in a favor and starts to build new alliances.

Speaking of Mustang, I’m liking the fact that the director takes every opportunity to showcase the scar on Mustang’s hand (injured in a battle with Lust). It is prominently featured on most close ups, usually the nearest bare hand to camera and serves as a reminder of his fallibility and mortality. This is more than a typical badge of courage; it is a memory and constant reminder of a wound. Unfortunately, this heavy reminder looks like a bit of badly drawn hair. FMA1’s infallible Mustang left it to his soldiers to take the hits that left marks, once even telling Hawkeye, coldly, to clean the blood off of her forehead (grazed by a rock) because it looked undignified. Because FMA2’s Mustang has suffered, it makes him more human than the FMA1 version, more prone to error, and thus creates a good, believable tension for any scene where action is involved.

There is also some more Kimblee back-story, mostly regarding his military-sanctioned use of a real philosopher’s stone, as well as his current release from military prison by the homunculi. In FMA1, Kimblee was part of the military team that destroyed Ishval with the help of fake philosopher’s stones and then ended up in Lab 5 as an ingredient for a stone. But FMA2 grants him the power of a true philosopher’s stone and a special place in the homunculi’s hearts because of his disposition. This is similar to FMA1 only in that both Kimblees worked with homunculi. FMA1’s Kimblee worked with Greed and later the Armestris military (directed by Pride/Wrath), and FMA2’s worked with Envy – as messenger for Father and representative of the whole homunculi lot. But with former FMA2 episodes touting Homunculi Pride, how is their having to rely on a mere human going to play out with egos on both sides? It’s an interesting setup.

There’s also a lot to be said of FMA2’s portrayal of Scar. He’s intelligent and calculating, as opposed to FMA1’s over-zealous, revenge-bent mass murderer (with a heart of gold). Again, FMA2 chooses tactics over emotion while managing to imply the latter. What I’m talking about specifically is Scar’s treatment of Marcoh. Playing the doctor’s guilt to gain any insight possible into the Ishvalan War of Extermination, Scar performs a bit of impromptu (and incomplete) plastic surgery on Marcoh that serves to both exact a bit of cathartic revenge and hide the missing alchemist from the eyes of the military and homunculi alike. The act is shown with great force and an undeniable anger that is never spoken.

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Review: Ristorante Paradiso (Sub)

Medium: TV Anime
Number of Episodes: 12
Genres: Drama, Romance
Director: Mitsuko Kase
Original Creator: Natsume Ono
Studio: David Production
Version Reviewed: Crunchyroll simulcast
Airdate: April 8, 2009 - June, 2009 (JPN/US)
Rated: Unrated (appropriate for 13+)

When Ani-Gamers originally mentioned Ristorante Paradiso, Vampt Vo and I dismissed it as a pointless reverse-harem jōsei with little redeeming value. After accidentally watching the first episode four times, I found myself drawn to this slice-of-life romantic comedy and its dry sense of humor. With its simple plot and quiet, likable characters, this 12-episode manga adaptation became my private sanctuary amidst all the ninjas and melodrama of Crunchyroll's spring 2009 season.

Our protagonist is Nicoletta, a young woman visiting Rome on a mission: to find her mother. While wandering the back streets of choppy, blocky 3D animation, she discovers the restaurant Casetta Dell’Orso (meaning “a little bear’s house”), where her mother dates the owner, Lorenzo. Driven by curiosity and bubbling self-righteousness, Nicoletta finds her mother amid a team of older gentlemen, all wearing glasses. Once mother and daughter are reunited, Nicoletta’s mother, free-spirited and childish Olga, agrees to keep their relationship secret from the gentlemen with glasses so as not to ruin her life with Lorenzo. Their solution: give Nicoletta a job at the restaurant, surrounded by gentlemen wearing glasses.

Ordinarily, the glasses detail would mean nothing; but the fact that the writer injects this fact again and again gives the viewer an overdose of kind, older men. Which means somebody must find this appealing.

This is Japan – they can fetishize anything.

Few folks under the age of eighteen are going to enjoy this series. The appeal of a subtle, slow series like Ristorante Paradiso is watching the characters grow, and indeed they do grow. Nicoletta trains diligently as a chef while battling against her intense feelings for one of the waiters, Claudio, a kind divorcer who refuses to remove his old wedding ring. Along the journey, we delve briefly into the pasts of the other five waiters, though very little is actually flashed back to; the director keeps as much in the present as possible.

As mentioned above, the art is sacrificed in favor of sad CG roads and backgrounds, although some of the painted panoramic shots of Rome are very well done, setting the perfect romanticized scene, as if the sun itself was lit by candlelight. The soft focus and dim lighting are overused. Nevertheless, this series is about Italian hospitality, and that means food. The food of Ristorante Paradiso deserves some kind of award...or a layer of Parmesan cheese. The apartments feel lived-in, the restaurant itself feels warm and welcoming. But the character design throw me off: the eyes are TOO big, even compared to shōjo, and the extra-long mouths make the characters have elongated, twisted smiles, like trolls from a children’s book.

Ristorante deals with issues of love, both unrequited and long-lost. While we center on Nicoletta’s inability to openly confess to Claudio (a task that would be the center for any high school shōjo), the story pulls back to reveal every character’s doubt with love, even for the characters who have lasting relationships. Once the main course is cleared, this is a simple and soft series with a wide palette for hospitality, Rome, and men with glasses. There, I’ve proven my sensitive side. Now let us never speak of it again and go back to panties and giant robots.

average.

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Review: With the Light - Raising an Autistic Child vol.1

Medium: Manga
Number of Volumes: 14+
Genre(s): Drama, Slice-of-Life
Author(s): Keiko Tobe
Serialized in: For Mrs. (Akita Shoten)
Version Reviewed: Yen Press graphic novel
Release Dates: 2000 (JPN), Sept. 2007 (NA)
Rated: Unknown (appropriate for young teens and up)

With the spotlight constantly trained on shōnen action manga like Naruto and Bleach, it can be easy to forget that, in Japan, manga is a medium that spans a wide, diverse range of topics and themes. Fortunately for North American manga fans, publisher Yen Press has not abandoned the oft-sidelined jōsei (adult woman) market, as they have been publishing Keiko Tobe's wonderful slice-of-life With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child.

Tobe's manga, based loosely on true stories told by real parents of autistic children, follows a young mother named Sachiko Azuma and her autistic son Hikaru ("light" in Japanese). Soon after Hikaru is born, Sachiko and her husband Masato realize that he is not speaking or responding to speech. When they ask one doctor, he says that Hikaru is deaf, but a second opinion finds a much more serious problem: autism.

The story is essentially an attempt to educate about and bring attention to autism, a developmental disorder that often makes it difficult for those afflicted with it to understand and recreate expressions of emotion. The symptoms vary wildly from person to person, resulting in things like obsessively counting cars, demanding rigid daily schedules, or throwing fits about illogical concerns. However, despite the clearly educational tone of the series, the storytelling in the first volume is rarely diluted for the sake of relaying information. Any expositional scenes are shown through doctors or professionals explaining things to the Azumas, so the only times when it feels a little forced are when other people seem to not know what autism is. (I would assume that awareness of the disorder is pretty big in Japan, as it is in America, but then again this was originally published in 2000, so who knows?)

Seeing as I am an adult male, I am clearly not the target audience for a jōsei series, but With the Light is actually surprisingly entertaining for people who might not otherwise read manga written for women. The pace is admittedly a little slow, but the moments of emotion are tender glipses of familial togetherness, far from the flowery love scenes of shōjo (though there are quite a few flower effects). Tobe does wonders with these scenes in the context of autism. A simple moment of Hikaru first saying "Mommy" as Sachiko stands in an open, sunlit window is moving not because of the simple action that most all children go through, but because as an autistic child, reaching this point is a tremendous feat for Hikaru.

However, With the Light is Tobe's first manga, and it shows in her unpolished, wispy-looking artwork. With so many lines all over the place, finding my way around the page was harder than it should be for a seasoned manga fan like myself. Clearly this is the kind of manga that can appeal to first-time manga readers, but its confusing visual style makes jumping into it a little too difficult. As the story wears on, Tobe's cluttered pages and attractive character designs remain, but the art is a little cleaner, darker, and more refined.

As an exhibit of manga's wide variety, With the Light is a must-have on any diverse reader's bookshelf. As a manga to be judged solely on its own merits, it is certainly not a groundbreaking series in either art or storytelling. Nevertheless, what Tobe lacks in skill she makes up for tenfold in heart. With the Light's value comes not in reading a totally professional manga series, but in experiencing a heartwarming story that rings with truth, told by a first-time manga-ka with a deep love for all those afflicted with autism.

good.

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FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 30

Ani-Gamers staff writer Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 30 - The Ishvalan War of Extermination

It’s finally here! Nevermind those cursory flashbacks and throwaway one-liners that promised insight into Ishval, because we’re finally privy to a full episode dealing with nothing but Ishval!

For emotional impact, it’s linguistics that matter here. FMA2 refers to this matter as “The Ishvalan War of Extinction,” whereas FMA1 bounced back and forth between the "Ishvalan uprising," the "war in Ishval," and the "Ishval Massacre." The noted difference is one of passivity. “War of Extinction” is a pointed and active phrase that puts emphasis on the act of killing, whereas even the heaviest of FMA1’s names for what happened in Ishval, massacre, emphasizes dying (and unjustly at that). Staying true to both series’ personalities, this difference is fundamental to making viewers feel the appropriate degree and brand of sympathy. Implications of “extermination” let us know this is a bloody and violent ordeal with little room for the emotional upheaval that was FMA1’s mainstay.

Still, one can’t help but be taken aback at the seriousness brought about by Fuhrer’s Order #3066 (aka, The Ishvalan War of Extinction). There are no characters to develop or warm up to during the minute or so battle scene montage, just war. Graphic displays of violence and destruction, some of which we’re seen before and many more we have not, continue to affect long after off screen by some rather brilliantly linked scenarios. FMA1 never had such an episode. The closest it came was a couple of flashbacks from the points of view of Ishvalans and chimeras, but nothing that ever seriously depicted all-out war. FMA1 examined war by exploring the personal afflictions it caused rather than the war itself, shown in particular by the episode devoted to two young Ishvalans’ recollections about their mother during the war. Much more direct, FMA2 is giving us the soldier’s perspective. What else would we expect?

Other differences revisiting the war brings about for FMA2 that FMA1 missed out on include seeing Hughes again; some mental insight into the explosion factory that is Kimblee, The Crimson Alchemist; some back-story on Riza Hawkeye, her alchemist father, and Mustang; as well as (and oddly enough) some earnest psychological distress/emotional trauma stemming from the weight of killing. The latter further parallels Ed and Mustang, especially taking into account Ed’s heart-to-heart with Riza Hawkeye earlier on. The difference? Ed’s yet to cross the line, and that’s what is setting up Ed as a superior foil to Mustang compared to FMA1. Characters are more intricately balanced in both the events that have comprised their lives thus far and how those events have affected the lifestyles they currently lead.

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Ani-Gamers Podcast #022 - There Is a Fly on the Microphone

Hosts: Evan "Vampt Vo" Minto, Erin and Noah
Topic: New York Anime Festival 2009

Recorded live from the 2009 New York Anime Festival, this episode features none other than the fearsome anime podcasting couple, Erin and Noah of the Ninja Consultant Podcast! We talk about what we did at the convention and delve into some totally off-topic conversations that may or may not be completely enthralling. You decide!

Next episode will feature Al and Kate from the Reverse Thieves blog as we tackle shōjo anime that appeal to male viewers. It's already recorded, and I can guarantee that it's going to be a pretty fun show.

Show notes and links can be found after the break.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD - RSS Feed - iTunes - Send us Feedback! - More episodes


(Runtime: 27 minutes)

[0:00:00] Intro: Wildarmshero, also known as "wah," recorded at the New York Anime Festival 2009

[0:00:11] Opening Song: "R.O.D Theme" by Taku Iwasaki (R.O.D. OVA opener)

[0:00:30] Right off the bat we get into the NYAF09 discussion, despite our full mouths due to delicious sandwiches, granola bars, and yogurt. (For more on Erin and Noah, check out their podcast and read Erin on Anime News Network, where she has recently taken over Bamboo Dong's "Shelf Life" column.)

[0:01:22] Noah talks about the yōkai panel he attended, and he and Erin explain what yōkai are.

[0:03:40] Erin ties in the news and announcements from the con with a discussion of the Del Rey manga Yōkaiden.

[0:05:55] More generally, Evan moves us along to the various industry panels and the relative dearth of manga industry representation.

[0:08:56] And OF COURSE, we talk about Tomino-Con as well.

[0:13:40] More license announcements (and definitions of gothic styles of theatre).

[0:15:20] The CPM Retrospective was really fun, especially since they were able to be very candid about the titles that they put out (since the company is now out of business).

[0:19:00] FUNimation announcements (Afro Samurai Emmy, Initial D rerelease, Blassreiter and Dragonaut licenses).

[0:21:26] Evan saw Cencoroll, but Erin and Noah didn't. We do our best to discuss it anyway.

[0:26:12] We get kicked out of the dining area before we're even a half-hour in, forcing us to end the recording! And then there's just some basic podcast information before the end of the show.

[0:27:17] Ending Song: "WORLD END (Instrumental)" by FLOW (Code Geass R2 second opener)

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Impressions: Left 4 Dead - Crash Course DLC (PC)

I have always been addicted to the zombie genre, so it was natural that Left 4 Dead made me feel, as the old proverb states, "like a kid in a candy shop." "Crash Course" is the newest offering served up by Valve via DLC for both Xbox 360 and PC.

You start off with a downed chopper in front of you and your teammates beside you, complaining about a zombie pilot. The city is littered with the usual flipped cars, random burning fires, and lots of great dark places for you to get yanked and made a four course meal of. The gameplay is the same fluid shooter experience you have likely come to expect from L4D, with no real tweaks or changes. The level design, however, is excellent. It's a little on the linear side, but it is cramped and filled with obstacles, which really helps to give players that feeling of claustrophobia and total fear.

"Crash Course" suffers from a few setbacks. Sitting at only two chapters of actual gameplay, it's far too short; it only took me and two other people a total of 30 minutes to complete a pick-up game. Versus is a different story altogether though; a few pick up games took us a total of an hour and a half to finish, so that made up for it. For PC gamers this DLC is totally worth it (since its free), but for Xbox gamers it costs the significantly less-free 560 Microsoft points. I don't know if I can blame Valve for this, but I fully believe that I can blame Microsoft. I have also come to find it a little annoying that they didn't make any changes to how you fight the horde. Its the same "bunker down, get ready, and unload mounds and mounds of ammunition into the undead onslaught" pattern.

In your first stand you get to set off a huge cannon attached to a military vehicle to clear your path, and from there it's just rinse, wash, and repeat. Your last stand before completion is turning on a power generator to get the Dawn of the Dead-esque bus off the auto lift. The only moment that's just a bit different is when the power goes out. If you're not near the generator, you actually have to fight your way through the masses of undead flesh to get back and switch it on. (Do it fast enough and you get an achievement.) Left 4 Dead 2 promises to make us work to stop the horde, and I hope Valve follows through on that promise. Don't get me wrong – I love to empty clips into zombies – but after playing for hundreds of hours it can get a little old.

In closing, "Crash Course" is a solid and fun offering to help you pick up the game if it's starting to feel a little stale. However, it's a short-lived run and takes a cut of your MS points for Xbox owners. If you don't mind paying the points, though, I totally recommend that you download this. For PC gamers... what are you waiting for? GET IT!

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Review: Seirei no Moribito - Guardian of the Sacred Spirit (Dub)

Medium: TV Anime
Number of Episodes: 26
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Studio: Production I.G
Version Reviewed: Adult Swim TV run (also available on DVD from Media Blasters)
Airdate: April 7, 2007 - September 29, 2007 (JPN)
Rated: 13+

There are arguably two kinds of epic story-telling. Code Geass is epic in its cast of nearly forty characters, countless political factions and worldly scope of events. Seirei no Moribito is the polar opposite: its pacing and animation budget dictate a weight overloaded with subtext and self-awareness, like the path of an iceberg.

Production I.G developed this series (based on a book series of the same name and premise) and after it began airing in 2008 on Adult Swim, it was swiftly cancelled. Thankfully, Seirei returned to Adult Swim last summer for the entire series. The big guns were brought out for this one, including Kenji Kawai, whose subtle score could challenge John Williams. Kawai’s credits include the live-action Death Note movies, Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Gundam 00, Ranma 1/2, and The Sky Crawlers – did I mention he’s been around? The number one staff member to keep an eye on, though, is the young and ambitious Kenji Kamiyama. His most recent project, Eden of the East is...I can’t talk about that now without drooling. Let’s stick with feudal-era spear-wielders, shall we?

The panoramic eye-candy, from snow-crested mountains to rural rice paddies to treacherous forests, is rewarding in itself. Even the village episodes hold such detail you almost choke on the dust rising from the streets. Every episode looks like Miyazaki could have inked it himself; that’s how high-budget this project is.

The story is simple enough. Balsa, an experienced spear-wielding bodyguard, is charged to protect the second prince of a feudal empire, Chagum, who holds inside of him the egg of a water spirit that could summon either rain or drought. As Balsa hides the prince from pursuers from the palace, he is instituted in the school of simple peasant life, becoming his own man. On the way we learn the vast details of this world, a mélange of nearly every Asian culture, from ancient Chinese Dynasties to Shinto/Taoism fusion. It’s a pleasing aesthetic, achieving a sort of visual zen in background art. These details flesh out the world, its countries, landscapes and cultures with magnificent detail, giving the World of Warcraft writers a serious run for their money.

Our main character, Balsa, is unlike any protagonist I’ve ever encountered. For starters, she’s in her thirties. I KNOW, RIGHT?! Second of all, she has no sword. IS THIS ANIME?! And the series goes without flashbacks until five episodes from the end. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE! The fight scenes (all five of them) are fluid, kinetic, and framed in real-time, making them visceral, gritty and real. They are so brilliantly choreographed and stunning to watch that it’s almost a letdown when they end, like eating the cherry off the sundae before the ice cream gets to melt.

Seieri’s supporting cast is diverse, though distant and dry. Shaman Torogai is old, vulgar yet wise. Her apprentice Tanda is reserved and...that’s about it. He makes herbs. The palace’s master astrologist, Shuga, spends much of the series in research, as we never quite understand every detail to the egg inside Chagum nor what to do with it. The eight assassins sent after Balsa are the most well-coordinated criminal-investigator ninja ever. (Law & Order meets Ninja Scroll). However, the mood of the series and monotonous voice directing take away a lot of the passion and interest from the characters.

With twenty-six episodes to develop this year-long tale, the show spreads itself pretty thin in order to properly cultivate the world and the handful of essential characters, which can be enough for some, but a turn-off for many viewers.

The pacing of Seirei no Moribito is the most prominent element of this series, and it has to be properly addressed. Sluggish at times, comatose at others, it’s hard to watch this series one episode at a time. Many chapters revolve around a single dialogue that will have little or no consequence, or if it does, the subtlety is so intense that you lose track of what you’re watching. Sometimes the pacing simply embellishes the lavish and meticulously-detailed backgrounds, which is needed in order to show off just how beautiful they are. However, there are several stretches of episodes where NOTHING happens; maybe Shuga researches or Chagum delivers a public lecture on game theory, but these episodes are a battle against your eyelids.

Pacing problems set aside, this is a simple tale beautifully animated, and when it decides to be an action series, it’s on par with the fights of Cowboy Bebop and the boss fight from Grenadier. Solid story-telling with a memorable cast.

good.

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Ubisoft releases Assassin's Creed Lineage Part 1

So... you think video game adaptations suck do you? Well try this on for size. This is "Assassin's Creed Lineage," a series of short films made by Hybride Technologies, the studio (now owned by Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft) behind 300 and Sin City.

[via Ubisoft's YouTube Channel]

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FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 29

Ani-Gamers blogger Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 29 - Struggle of the Fool

Okay, I guessed wrong. No more battle. No more leads into the nature of Hohenheim’s double. Instead, we’re led into the heart of the Homunculi’s operation and something much more dramatically interesting. Ed and Al are brought by Envy directly to Wrath, who’s in conference with Mustang. While FMA1 certainly had its share of sewing the phrase “dog of the military” into its sense of anti-fascist idealism, FMA2 takes it a step further.

Mustang and Ed are put on a level playing field (under Fuhrer Bradley’s thumb), which never happened in FMA1. Wrath is leveraging the safety of loved ones and personal goals – Fuhrer’s status for Mustang, body reclamation for Ed/Al – to keep those deemed important as sacrifices close/available to him. While this touches on the emotional, it’s actually mostly tactical, and very much in line with FMA2’a core philosophy. Mustang has to be a dog to try to overthrow the government, and Ed has to keep his collar because it’s still the most viable way to continue his research. FMA1’s idealism is further diminished in FMA2 by bringing forth the theory that the alchemy exams and certification of state alchemists are solely means with which potential sacrifices may be found.

A nice bit of sentiment shared with FMA1 is shown via FMA2’s Marcoh, when he offers to treat Scar without first seeing him and subsequently suffers an emotional break at the irony. No, FMA1 never offered up this scenario, but its Marcoh was riddled and driven by the guilt that came as a direct result of his Ishvalan involvement. FMA2 rewrites the formula a bit, but brings about a denser and dare I say more effective rendering of guilt. The situation leverages Marcoh’s guilt, healing ability, and fear (through knowledge of Scar’s M.O.) in a singular instance. Sheer poetry I tell ya, although the feeling might only be effective/recognizable if viewers have seen FMA1 previously. After all, the previous series spent several episodes defining/exploring his guilt, while Marcoh’s presence in FMA2 has been negligible.

Speaking of absentee characters, has anyone else been missing a certain bald-headed, pink sparkle-touting, body builder-teddy bear? Armstrong finally returns and gets some character build-up with this episode. Unfortunately, his character is brought low by Ishval-induced shame, striking a huge divide betwixt the nature of his FMA1 counterpart, who managed to keep a solemnity about him that was more mature in execution than FMA2’s weeping and apologetic figure. So far, this brief (and all too straightforward) look into Armstrong’s remorse makes his inner struggle a bit too 2D, but next week is promising (promising I tell you) to explore the whole story of Ishval, and the preview specifically featured Armstrong, so we’ll see what can be done to add some dimension to his guilt and the way in which it is shown.

On a final and much more impressive note, FMA2 further sets up a divide between humans and homunculi by having Mustang reveal to Ed that he only feels human when fighting those “real” monsters (homunculi), an allusion to guilt carried from Ishval and other unsavory military actions. FMA2 is taking its time building Mustang’s 3D nature, but I have to say that it’s a marvelous job so far. It’s much more tongue-in-cheek than FMA1’s Mustang and appropriately so.

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