Visualization In Manga (Or, Why Eyeshield 21 Actually Makes Football Interesting)

Posted by calamityensues

I hate football. Hell I hate sports. But, I love sports anime / manga. Why? Let's take a look, using Eyeshield 21 as an example:

Never seen anyone catch a football that was spinning so fast, dust and smoke was spiraling off of it. But Monta's got it under control. Can Brett Favre do that?

Crayon Sad-Chan

Posted by calamityensues

It comes with great sadness that I write this post. The big news story of the weekend was that 51 year old Yoshito Usui, the creator of that raunchy little bastard, Crayon Shin-Chan, was found dead in the wilderness of Gunma Prefecture. It looks like while hiking, he fell to his death.

Naturally, the Crayon Shin-Chan manga will end up coming to an unfinished end in December. As for the anime, which has been running since 1992, will take a hiatus for a bit while the studio discusses with Mr. Usui's estate what to do.

This sucks. I'm not gunna say that Crayon Shin-Chan is a brilliant work of art, but it is a fun, entertaining show. It's tragic that Usui was all ready to take a break, hit the fresh air, and get away from everything for a while, never realizing that life can sometimes just pull a stunt like this.

Ichigo, Bankai, Seireitei: The Movie

Posted by movieguyjon

So. I like Bleach. I admit it. I know it's just a fighting show with a million characters and very little character development. I know that Ichigo is a bland, by the books protagonist. I know no good guys will ever die. But I like it. 

The other night, Adult Swim aired the first Bleach movie, Memories of Nobody. I was pretty excited to see what I thought would be a pretty standard, but fun, anime film. And that's exactly what I got. Kinda.

Apologies: Gundam News Again, Kinda

Posted by calamityensues

Well, what else do you expect on the 30th anniversary of the franchise? This video popped up over the weekend and it's fan-friggin'-tastic. I'm all about getting all the characters, or in this case, the robots, from the different series together.

This just goes to show that Sunrise is really going all out for the anniversary. Two new animations, a new game, this beauty, a LIFE SIZE RX-78! When will it end?!?!?! Hopefully never, but probably after 12/31/09.

An aside: I wanted to mention that I will start including manga news / posts / rants / what have you to Anime Mondays. I avoided doing so because I wanted to stick to the filmic arena, but really, it's silly to exclude manga cuz it doesn't move.

So, to start things on the right foot:

There's also a bunch of Gundam manga.

Zing!

Gundam Updates

Posted by calamityensues

There's been some big announcements in the world of Gundam over the last week or so. First off, we finally got a format announcement for Gundam Unicorn. According to Animenation, Unicorn will consist of 6 50 minute OAVs. The first one will cover the events of books 1 and 2 of the 10 volume Gundam Unicorn novel series. It takes place after Char's Counterattack, but way before Gundam F-91, in the year UC 0096.

Next up, it has been announced that Yoshiyuki Tomino, original creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, will be helming a new production as well, called Ring of Gundam. ANN reports that Ring of Gundam will be a short film taking place long after the One Year War. Whether or not this means it's still in the UC timeline remains to be seen, as Tomino could do something similar to Turn A Gundam, starting a new timeline in the distant future of the UC timeline. Also, Yoko Kanno will be scoring the film, and that is always a good thing.

Needless to say, I am excited about these announcements. Now, let's get a move on for the PS3 Gundam 0081 game!

TCC Spotlight: Urusei Yatsura

Posted by calamityensues

Ever wonder where my name comes from? I mean, in normal life, calamity most certainly does NOT ensue constantly. Well folks, as I found nothing of interest to really talk about re: anime news over the last few days, I want to spotlight my favorite show ever: Urusei Yatsura.  I know, I know, you are shocked to hear that it's not Gundam.

The Exciting Conclusion To My Anime Openings And Endings

Posted by calamityensues

Hey all. Like I promised last week, here's some junk I like. Same drill, these are what I consider good marriages of audio and visual. Except the Dragon Half one. Let's go!

I know I shouldn't, but I love Full Metal Alchemist. This ending is great. Similarly to what I mentioned last week, here we have an upbeat song with a slow pan while the Elric brothers rest. The images work well to show, especially in Ed, the, I guess, suffering they are enduring. Then, we get a sweet turn to a warm color palette. I personally love the shot of Ed in the cemetary.