Posts Tagged ‘comedy’
Spring Preview: Rotte no Omocha
Posted on: January 27, 2011
The winter TV season is just starting to heat up, which of course means that the announcements for the spring season are also coming in like gangbusters. Rotte no Omocha (Rotte’s Toy) was announced 3 months ago, but the first promo video hit the ether today.
Boy meets girl, where the boy is a normal human and the girl is a boy-hating succubus.
Fall Anime Second Impressions
Posted on: October 14, 2010
- In: Reviews
- 4 Comments
woooooooooooooo
A week has gone by since the last time I updated my thoughts on the fall anime series, and while my general opinion is still unchanged – “This is the best season in years” – there’s a lot to be said about what’s going on. With most series having two episodes under their belts, let’s jump into it.
I’m Hooked
To Aru Majutsu no Index II – This is mostly based on my love of the books, which admittedly have their flaws, but have kept me reading for months. The new opening song gets special props for making me giggle whenever I think Kawada Mami is singing “No paaaaants!”
The World God Only Knows – Captures the feel of the manga quite well, with the addition of some excellent production quality on the part of Manglobe and the staff. Elcea is like 20 times cuter in the anime than she is in the manga, though I’m still not fully convinced by Shimono Hiro’s portrayal of Keima.
Star Driver – I wish I had maids who sparkled at me when I took my shirt off. It’s from the “Don’t think about it too hard” school of fun, and I’m still in.
MM! – Still a guilty pleasure.
OreImo – It’s a very well-researched look at the social dynamics of otaku, and I appreciate that. Saori “Bajeena” also amuses me, since I know some people like that.
Gave it a chance, and…
Squid Girl – This show made me laugh a few times, but I don’t see myself sticking with it for very long because I’ll get tired of the humor fairly quickly.
Iron Man – Dropped until it airs on G4. I want to see it in English.
Super Robot Wars: The Inspector – Worth sticking to. I may be biased though, since I started playing Alpha 3 recently and have become weak to cheesy robot fun (see: Star Driver).
Otome Youkai Zakuro – Better than I expected, but still not really up my alley. Some old Sakura Taisen fans are clinging to it, though, so maybe after a few more episodes I’ll pick it back up.
No Sir
Soredemo Machi ha Mawatteiru – This one’s actually pretty funny, but I absolutely can’t stand Omigawa Chiaki’s acting. She belches and whines her way through scenes, and it’s just not fun to listen to. Sakurai Takahiro as the old woman deserves props, but I want to take a chopstick to my eardrums every time Omigawa’s character opens her mouth.
Bakuman – Slow. Dull. No.
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt – Some people took a look at this image of Panty and went “God, that’s hawt.” I went “Holy crap, what happened to her left eye?” I will not mock you for liking it, since it’s massive parody in action, but I don’t like it myself.
Motto ToLoveRu + Samurai Girls – Lumped into the same category of “My quality meter is not controlled by my hormonal urges.” I didn’t watch Seikon no Qwaser, I didn’t watch High School of the Dead all the way through, and I won’t watch these for more than a few minutes.
How’re you guys doing with the new season?
- In: Previews
- 2 Comments
With the Fall season only days away, we have a couple of new trailers to build anticipation. First, the Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 trailer offers another look at the crazy lives of the outcasts who live under the bridge, while actually showing animated footage unlike the other freaky-ass trailers.
Meanwhile, the semi-autobiographical and industry-savvy comedy Bakuman trailer doesn’t really tell you much of anything, other than that Bakuman and Arakawa Under the Bridge 2 won’t have very good animation. Then again, they’re comedies – who needs those to be well-animated, right?
I’m going to watch Arakawa myself, but Bakuman doesn’t quite appeal to me as a story. What are you guys going to watch?
Arakawa Under the Bridge*2 Continues Tradition of Weird Live Action Previews
Posted on: September 9, 2010
Ore no T-shirt!
You have to be in a certain state of mind to enjoy Arakawa Under the Bridge, and watching a man in a star mask playing the guitar certainly sets the mood well. The official site has posted a brief trailer for the upcoming second season, which as usual tells you nothing about what will actually happen in the new season. Based on past history, though, expect it to be strange, wacky, and very much out of the cutesy mainstream.
I’m lookin’ forward to it so much… well… check after the jump for how much I’m lookin’ forward to it.
Cute, but not annoyingly cute. I like it.
The Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai anime will be upon us soon, and AIC has been gracious enough to release a minute-long trailer. The trailer introduces the main characters in 60 seconds, set to whimsically fast-paced music.
As a reminder, the story of OreImo starts when a high school boy named Kyousuke finds out that his younger sister Kirino is a closeted otaku. Their already-complicated relationship gets weirder as Kyousuke struggles between his protective instincts, his natural sibling rivalry, and his distaste for disgust for his little sister’s porn being mostly about little sisters. Meanwhile, Kirino is forced to rely on the person she “hates” most in the world to keep her secret and provide brotherly advice, which leads the two of them into all sorts of strange, awkward, and amusing situations.
The animation looks good, the source material is good, the cast looks good… we’ll see if it all comes together in October.
Go to DMC! Go to DMC!
Well, it’s about time. Viz Pictures has announced that a release plan for the 2008 Detroit Metal City movie. DMC is the live action adaptation of Wakasugi Kiminori’s comedy manga about a simple country boy named Negishi Soichi, who fronts a death metal band as the demonic Johannes Krauser II (pictured above). Their current schedule is not yet solid, but a DVD release is coming this fall, which will most likely be accompanied by a limited theater release, a la 20th Century Boys and Death Note.
I saw the movie while I was in Japan back in August 2008, and it was hilarious. I’ve fallen out of love with the manga in recent years because it got too crazy and aggressive over time, turning the main character into an unlikeable font of schizophrenic rage; as a 100-minute movie, it felt just right as a cheesy, funny look at a man struggling between what he likes and what he’s good at. Matsuyama Ken’ichi’s (L from Death Note) portrayal of Negishi mixes comedic buffoonery with just enough tragedy to keep you sympathetic. Plus, you can’t hate a movie that gives you the pleasure of hearing Gene Simmons say “Kill him, Metal Buffalo!” It’s just not possible.
Hit the jump for the official movie trailer and a bonus music video from the original promotional campaign.
- In: Previews
- 2 Comments
In news that surprises no one in particular, Shaft’s screwball comedy Arakawa Under the Bridge is heading for another 13-episode run in the near future. There are two reasons that this isn’t much of a surprise: one, Arakawa was one of the few truly watchable shows of this forgettable anime season. Two, the current 13 episodes of the anime have only covered about half of the manga material that’s been released.
So, in the spirit of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Shaft has made sure that there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that they’ll be animating more Arakawa soon. Heck, the last episode of the current season ended by introducing new characters, which is as sure a sign as any that they’re ready and raring to go for more <s>free money</s> screwball comedy goodness.
I’m totally okay with this announcement, as I’ve been reading the manga lately and really, REALLY like the anime character designs better than the original work. I’m all for a decent comedy that doesn’t look like a punch in the face.
- In: News
- 5 Comments
Not shown: Gaggles of girls
Shonen Sunday’s website has been updated with some preliminary news about the Kaminomi anime, which is coming later this year. Of note, it reveals the names of the animation studio, director, character designer, and head writer for the anime based on Wakaki Tamiki’s popular manga.
The animation will be handled by Manglobe, whose credits include the unique-looking samurai sagas Sarai-ya Goyou and Samurai Champloo, as well as the eye candy anime Seiken no Blacksmith. Famed writer Kurata Hideyuki will pen the scripts, which is pretty good news – he has such hits as Kannagi and R.O.D. under his belt. Watanabe Akio, an illustrator best known for the Nurse Witch Komugi-chan and Popotan series, will adapt Wakaki’s designs to the screen. The wild card in this announcement is director Takayanagi Shigehito, whose main credit is the third Galaxy Angel series.
With the talent assembled, we can rest easy knowing that this project didn’t just go to the lowest bidder. I’m still hoping that they assemble an all-star cast for this one, because I’m a huge fan of Kaminomi and want the anime to be at least as good as Hayate no Gotoku!
- In: News
- 2 Comments
This could really well or really badly.
Konno Azure, the author of risque manga Koe de Oshigoto! (“Voice Work,” roughly), announced on his blog today that his strangely popular story is getting an anime adaptation. The official announcement comes in today’s Comic Gum manga anthology, and full details about the in-progress anime are promised for next month. For now, all we know is that it’s coming this fall season.
So… if you didn’t know what Koe de Oshigoto! is, let me explain why this is either going to be surprisingly good, or epically bad. The manga is about Aoyagi Kanna, an innocent young girl who’s conscripted by her older sister Yayoi to be a voice actress in an adult game. Yayoi runs an adult game company, and since most of the voice actors who work in the adult industry live in Tokyo, she needs Kanna to do the dirty work. The manga covers Kanna learning the ins and outs of the industry – learning how to moan properly, learning just how dirty her sister’s business is, and so on.
“Colorful” is the best word to describe it, with all of the euphemism available in that word. From scenes about teaching poor Kanna to talk with her mouth full to her co-star, who believes that his catch phrase “My dick’s hard!” is a compliment of the highest order, the manga’s just full of wrongness and occasional hilarity. It turning into a manga really only has two options, and forgettability is not one of them.
With all this information, it shouldn’t surprise you when I tell you that Koe de Oshigoto! is Konno Azure’s first manga that isn’t 18+ in nature – it rides the edge pretty hard with its dialogue and subject matter, though. It’ll be fascinating to see how they handle this one, but color me skeptical that this can sustain itself for very long.
Bandai Announces Haruhi-chan and Churuya-san Anime, Translator Quietly Weeps
Posted on: May 19, 2010
- In: News
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Delicious, nutricious comedy in bite-size form.
It’s not exactly a surprise with Bandai owning everything else Haruhi, but Bandai has officially announced the licensing of the popular comedy shorts The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan and Nyoro~n Churuya-san. The anime shorts, which were based on 4-panel gag comics that have nearly eclipsed the original novels in popularity, started out on YouTube and even offered some rudimentary subtitles for English-speaking fans for a short time. Now you can also find them streaming on Crunchyroll, and Bandai says that the two series will come on DVD soon.
This is great news for those of us who loved the crazy and hilarious little shorts. However, it’s bad news for exactly one person, and that’s the poor guy who has to keep up with the breakneck pace of the hilarious dialogue in the series. Old friend and veteran translator Richard Kim happens to be handling the series for Bandai, and this is a good time to relate a conversation we had on Monday. It went like this:
Richard Kim: “KILL ME”
Me: “Hahahahahaha :D”
I am a sympathetic person.
On the plus side, you guys will be getting a great translation when the series comes out later this year, along with the usual Bang! Zoom dub. I’m already trying to pre-order my copy…
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