FunBlog

I don’t rent software. Never have and never will. I buy DVDs, and I’ve bought a hell of a lot of them. But I do this. This is like those computer games which won’t run unless they have an internet connection and can phone home every time you invoke them. Your game only works as long as the company that “sold” it to you feels like maintaining the validation server.

And this Crunchyroll deal only works as long as Crunchyroll exists. Not acceptable.

What I wrote back, perhaps more angrily than I should have, was: “I ***BUY*** anime, I don’t rent it. I’ll steal it before I’ll rent it.”

Steven Den Beste

Here I have to disagree. I DO rent anime. If I didn’t there are a lot of things I would never see.

Fushigi Yuugi for example. It was fun to watch, but I’ll probably never want to watch it again. The DVDs are quite expensive. If I had to buy them there’s no way that I could justify the purchase. On the other hand, renting them from Netflix was quite reasonable.

Steven is specifically talking about video streaming sites like Crunchyroll, but I think the same logic applies. If it’s not worth rewatching (and face it, most shows aren’t) then why not watch it as streaming video?

Of course there are some shows that I do want to watch more than once. Some shows seem intended to be watched multiple times, with jokes and hidden meanings that no one would be likely to pick up on a single viewing. (Many series by CLAMP for example.)

And after a series has been out for a few years, you may be able to pick up a thinpak on sale for about the same price that you would pay to rent it. At that point, if it’s any good, why not?

Noir sets the standard for anime thrillers. It is often imitated but rarely equaled. There are many shows that are darker or bloodier, but few that are as exhilarating to watch.

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The latest trend in anime is to offer English-speaking fans legal access to subtitled versions streamed on the Internet starting at approximately the same time that the episode is first shown in Japan. (Example: Crunchyroll.)

Now VIZ Media is doing something similar with Rumiko Takahashi’s new manga Rin-Ne, posting English translations of each chapter every Tuesday, more or less simultaneously with their release in Japan. Fans of Inuyasha will probably want to check it out.

Given that some people were predicting that the season would be a total loss, I think things are looking better than expected.

Likely Winners

Cross Game This seems not so much a conventional sports anime but more of a poignant romantic comedy. Very well done so far.

Eden of the East A summary doesn’t really do it justice. An ordinary girl (naive, idealistic, somewhat spacey, vulnerable, braver than she thinks she is, and generally adorable) meets a handsome, engaging super-spy who has lost his memory. So far this is awesome.

Overlooked Gem?

Mom’s Life (Mainichi Kaa-san) Bloggers have been ignoring this one, maybe because of the deliberately horrifying character designs, or perhaps because any summary makes it sound like a 1960s American sit-com. (Specifically it sounds like Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, though with a manga artist instead of a newspaper columnist.) Nevertheless, it’s hilarious.
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State of Play is a solid, professional thriller, sharply written with some fine performances.

The Washington Globe is a major metropolitan newspaper with a newsroom full of the usual assortment of colorful characters. Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is a crusty, disheveled investigative reporter who has been in the business a long time and knows where the bodies are buried (or failing that, knows someone who does know.)

Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) is an enthusiastic young reporter who writes a blog for the paper’s online edition, covering the Capitol.

Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is an ambitious young Congressman conducting hearings on the activities of a shadowy security firm called Blackwater PointCorp, employed by the Pentagon to perform support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. All hell breaks loose when one of the Congressman’s staffers dies in a subway accident, a suspected suicide.

Della pounces on the story, assuming that the Congressman and the staffer must have been having an affair.

Cal also gets involved. He sees connections with a murder investigation that he has been working on, and suspects that the aide must also have been murdered. But he has personal connections to the story that threaten his objectivity: not only is he an old friend of Congressman Collins, but he once had an affair with Collins’ wife.

Helen Mirren is typically delightful in a secondary role as Cal’s editor.

Technically this wasn’t made by Studio Ghibli but most people think of it as a Studio Ghibli film, since this was the movie that got the studio started.

Hayao Miyazaki had worked on the 1978 anime TV show Future Boy Conan (director, character designs and storyboards.) This was a lightweight series with a rather simple-minded plot, set in a post-apocalyptic world.

In the early 1980s Miyazaki tried to get funding for an animated feature film that would also have a post-apocalyptic setting but with a more sophisticated story. Unfortunately, no one seemed interested in financing an animated film that was not based on a successful manga or light novel series.

Toshio Suzuki, the editor of Animage magazine, encouraged him to develop the story as a manga, which was serialized in Animage. The manga was a big hit, and suddenly financing for an animated movie became available. The success of the film exceeded all expectations, paving the way for Suzuki, Miyazaki and fellow director Isao Takahata to start Studio Ghibli.

This is one of Miyazaki’s earliest films. I wouldn’t say that it’s his greatest work, but it’s still well worth seeing. Many of the standard trademark elements of a Miyazaki film are visible, including ecological and anti-war themes, dramatic flying sequences, fantastic flying machines and a dynamic young heroine.
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This is interesting. Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro (Shibawanko’s Japanese Spirit) is a children’s anime in very short segments, only a couple of minutes each. Shibawanko, a serious-minded hard-working talking dog, teaches children about Japanese traditions and proper behavior, assisted by a mischievous talking cat named Mikenyanko.

For someone interested in Japanese culture this is great stuff. Unfortunately I see zero chance that this will ever be licensed.

You know you’re showing your origins as a video game when…

…the hero jumps on the back of a giant wild boar, stabs it through the heart with his sword, jumps to the ground as it falls…and drops his sword back into the scabbard without taking the time to clean it.

Actually the best part is the end of the episode:

• EVIL HIGH PRIEST: Demon King Arawn, I was the one who summoned you. I summoned you in order to accelerate the end that you desire! Now, Demon King: thank me by making a bargain with me, since I have followed the ancient contract! I want to become the king of the world, so crown me king of the empire that you are going to create! I give you this girl, the descendant of the Elf King, as a sacrifice! Drink her fresh blood, eat her organs, and devour her soul, O Demon King!
• DEMON KING: (Takes the form of a darkly handsome young man, and looks at Riannon as if he has a somewhat different notion of what to do with her.)

via Steven.

Adventureland is being marketed as a a typical teen coming-of-age comedy, and it sort of is that, but it may not be quite what the fans expect. It’s a bit more serious and low-key than the raucous comedies popular today, more like the teen movies that were popular in the 1980s. If this turns into a trend I won’t be disappointed.

The story takes place in the summer of 1987. James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg), a young college graduate who had planned to take a European vacation before graduate school, is forced by his family’s financial reverses to take a summer job in a run-down amusement park. Lots of predictable hijinks ensue with his young coworkers, but there is an edgy undertone, a sense that these kids are taking risks that they don’t really understand.

Bill Hader gives a hilarious performance as the sleazy owner of the park, and Kristen Stewart is charming as the main love interest.