Reviewed: Suntory Gokuri Peach Drink
September 2, 2010
Just as a can of Sapporo Cola Float tasted exactly like you expect an ice cream float to taste, so to does Suntory Gokuri Peach Drink, well, taste like…what, nectarines? Nononono, peaches. Like biting into a ripe peach. If you don’t like peaches, steer clear of this drink. It also comes in an elegant but striking can; impish in its size and proportion, and sporting a subtle, raised matte decorative pattern on a glossy black can with a simple photo of a peach on it. Simple, but tasteful, and it delivers what it promises – natural peach flavor, with a little fruit fiber mixed in for texture. Some may find it a little too sweet, but that’s why one should always buy the small can first. If you don’t like it, at least there isn’t much to drink.
Reviewed: High School of the Dead (After 8).
September 1, 2010
Yeah, High School has gotten increasingly hard to watch since the whole group of surviving characters formed one big team. Adding a whiny kid really was not the best move, quite frankly. At least half of the last few episodes’ running time is completely pointless service that’s frankly just silly due to the extreme exaggeration of the character design.
Maybe that’s the point, and it’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek ridiculous, but it’s trying my patience; these characters shouldn’t have time to be lounging around naked when most of the earth’s human population is now zombies. Part of the time, sure, but not half the time. It also doesn’t make sense that nearly all of them have ridiculously excellent combat skills. And a Hummer as a post-apocalyptic mobile base may seem enticing, but what happens when the 8,000-lb behemoth inevitably (and quickly) runs out of gas?
Finally, after eight episodes and not a single character taken by the undead, the zombies don’t seem so much an implacable foe as a bumbling annoyance. This show started good when there was the actual promise of danger, but the cast has had it way too easy so far. Don’t get me wrong, H.O.T.D. has its pros: great atmospheric scenery, above-average music, and a couple likable characters…but I want the last five episodes to be less boobs, more peril, please.
Retro Review: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984).
August 30, 2010
What’s one of my favorite films – animated or not – in existence? Why, the twenty-six year old Pre-Ghibli Miyazaki masterpiece known as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, natch. I’ve seen it at least a dozen times, but I never tire of it. Why? I could waste a lot of words and end up with nothing but paragraphs of inane babbling which I’ll spare you. Lots of reasons.
It’s a spectacularly gorgeous movie. Just about every still frame could be framed and put on the wall of a gallery as far as I’m concerned. The music sends up all the hairs in the back of my neck, it’s so good. The characters are rich and varied, and the cast is full of powerful women. I honestly don’t even mind the Disney sub, though it can be distracting hearing Captain Picard and Admiral Adama doing voice work.
Anyway, as I said I could go on ad nauseum, but do yourself a favor and watch this film. If you have anything bad to say about it, just keep it to yourself, because I don’t want to hear it, ok? That may sound immature, but understand this film and I were born in the same year. If, as a newborn, I was able to go see this film, I would have. And there’s nothing less mature than an infant.
Reviewed: Asahi Iced Milk Cocoa.
August 26, 2010
I’ll be brief: you know how when it’s winter, you drink hot cocoa, right? And it’s really good and chocolatey, correct? So..what does one drink in the summer? Hot cocoa? Hell no; too hot. Asahi, purveyors of beer, among many other beverages, have the answer: Iced cocoa. Mind you, they didn’t come up with it; there’s literally dozens of different brands out there, and you can have one made for you fresh at a Caffe Veloce, which is like Starbucks. Anyway, I’m not being brief here; Iced Cocoa as awesome. It tastes just like cocoa, only ice cold and refreshing. It’s an ocean of chocolate. A cold ocean. Marshmellow flavor? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Reviewed: Nurarihyon no Mago (after 7).
August 25, 2010
This show has been consistently okay and sometimes good, but never great. I’m enjoying the character design and atmosphere, but the plot is lagging just a bit and lacks urgency. Though I’m not as annoyed than I am with Ookami-san’s dillydallying, in that this is a 24-episode series that can afford to take its time and develop characters and simmer the plot, while Ookami is just 13, and can’t afford to.
After seven episodes, we’ve established that the weak-looking kid becomes a badass, but only at night, but he can still hold his own with a sword. His classmates have had numerous experiences with youkai and their memories haven’t been wiped. One classmate is a youkai-hunter, which should prove interesting as the series moves on, while another is just a bland girl who likes him but believes his snow-girl guardian is putting the moves on him.
Despite its flaws, this may be the first Studio Deen series I’ll see through to the end, though it’s still too early to tell. Fall 2010 is packed with shows with potential, and if this series doesn’t start offering a more compelling story by the time the new stuff comes around, it may have to be bumped.
Reviewed: Amagami SS (Kaoru Tanamachi arc).
August 23, 2010
I’m now two arcs through Amagami SS. While Arc 1 involved the ‘initially unattainable hottie’, Arc 2 involved the ‘old friend’. I preferred Arc 2 due to what I considered better chemistry between the guy and girl, and the fact Kaoru is voiced by Rina Satou, seiyu of the Railgun, Mikoto Misaka. I’ll admit to having a soft spot for her earnest and tomboyish yet vulnerable delivery. Also, this arc lacks a flash-forward to the future in the ending. The one in the previous arc didn’t grate with me, but I still didn’t really deem it necessary.
Many have used the word “rushed” to describe this series thus far, but I’m not among them. I maintain that while so many romances drag on too long as the would-be lovers circle each other. There’s something to be said for quick, compact, efficient stories that throw you right into the middle of a romance that is essentially fated, but despite basically knowing the outcome of each arc, the journeys to that conclusion are nonetheless enjoyable.
Sometimes you just want things resolved, and with Amagami SS, you can rest assured they will be, within a four-episode period, without fail. I also like the variety and the alternate-universe quality of the resets after each arc. Why spend 26 episodes on a guy courting one girl when he can court six? Amagami SS – Romantic tapas.
Seitokai Yakuindomo (after 6).
August 18, 2010
Just about halfway through now, this has been fairly solid. Sometimes the humor is a bit childish or lewd for the sake of lewd, but the deadpan delivery by the characters followed by the reaction of the straight-man is usually pretty funny.
This is a slice-of-life anime that hasn’t gone down the “high school harem” road (and thankfully, likely never will), and has only shown the slightest hints of any romance between the many female characters and the outnumbered male lead.
So while there isn’t much of a story here, the characters and their ridiculous conversations are the focus. I’ll watch the final seven episodes, but like “Working!!”, I’m not expecting a finite ending.
Reviewed: Shiki (After 6).
August 16, 2010
Mild spoilers below.
I’m not a fan of the character designs (some are outright nutty and random), but that isn’t nearly enough to detract from what’s hopefully shaping up to be a decent vampire yarn.
The medical professionals in the show spew a lot of medical jargon, which adds credibility to the show (regardless of whether its 100% accurate or not; I wouldn’t know) and paint them in a corner where conventional medical consultation and care is having little or no effect on helping the patients. The village is already quite small and mostly elderly people (mirroring a coming crisis in real-world Japan), so the fact that so many people are dying so quickly creates a great urgency to solve the mystery.
But it’s hardly spoiling to connect the dots (anemia and bite marks) and conclude that this village’s problem is vampires. A monk has already met and befriended one (as much as you can befriend a creepy tweener vampire), while the main character’s dreams are haunted by a vamped-out version of the village’s first victim, a cosplay girl who had a crush on him. After six episodes, these three – the monk, the teenager, and the doctor – are starting to come together and realize what’s going on (and what we already know.)
What we don’t know is if this can be resolved before the entire village is killed, and how. At 22 episodes, Shiki is only four shy of a full-length anime, and I’m confident it can make use of the remaining 16 to spin an entertaining resolution. But seriously, wtf is up with some of these characters’ hairstyles?
Beviewed: Oronamin C and Dekavita C drinks
August 12, 2010
Long before Red Bull or Monster, tiny bottles of Oronamin C Drink were lining vending machines all over Japan. Launched in 1965, it’s still one of the dominante energy drinks, once marketed as a ‘medical health drink’. It’s made by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.
One of its major competitors is Dekavita C, made by beverage giant Suntory. Both come in fairly small but substantial brown glass bottles with a classy diamond lattice pattern running around the circumference. They’re both chock full of nutrients, including Vitamin C, of course. Other notable ingridients include B1, B2, B6, B12, Vitamin P, something called ‘royal jelly acidulant’ (in the Oronamin) and threonine (in the Dekavita).
Both are a perfect compact portion and lack that Taurine taste that keeps people away from Red Bull or Monster. Oronamin has been advertised as being readily mixable with juice, gin, or even a raw egg yolk, for extra protein. I simply drank both without embellishment. I liken these to ‘potions’ used in RPGs, since they’re small, handy, and promote good health.
So which is better? I cannot say; it’s a straight draw. But if you ever find yourself listless or low on energy, with a whole day (or night) of work or activity ahead of you, a quick shot of either could do you good.
Reviewed: Katanagatari (thru month 7)
August 11, 2010
This is a series that airs only one hour-long episode a month. These episodes chronicle the journeys and adventures of Togame, a spunky young military strategist “strategian” working for the Shogunate, and Shichika, a young swordsman who wields no sword, but whose body is the sword itself. Shichika is Togame’s muscle, as her mission is to collect twelve extremely powerful ‘deviant blades’, all in the possession of equally challenging adversaries. As they progress, so does their relationship.
This series features a huge amount of dialogue; mostly Togame and Shichika chatting about strategy or philosophy or flirting. The banter is quick-paced an witty in a similar fashion to that of the similarly-titled Bakemonogatari. There are some who are put off by shows that are too talky and without enough action, but I’m not among them.
The duels Shichika has with the sword bearers are usually preceded by long conversations, and the battles usually decided rather quickly. Sometimes the pre- and inter-battle discussions are so long-winded, this feels like a parody of typical shonen-style anime, but the talk is almost always intelligent, and the enemies are never transparently evil. In fact, more than one of Shichika and Togame’s foes are actually sympathetic, even pitiable.
Togame and Shichika have good chemistry, and they provide good comedy courtesy of Shichika’s hopeless ignorance of the world (when they first set out, he can’t even distinguish Togame from other people) and Togame always trying to stay one step ahead in their various debates.
I also like the simple but vivid character design, the equally vivid animation and editing, and realy enjoy the high-quality, original score, which in many instances lends gravitas to scenes of exposition or dialogue that would have far less impact otherwise. The month-long wait between episodes, while long, is welcome, almost mirroring the long distances the characters must travel around Japan in search of the swords. The first seven episodes have been very entertaining, and I eagerly await the eighth, out sometime this month. Watch!