Daily Dose of Kawaii - Friends Forever

Ash and Pikachu. :-)

MYSTERIOUS BOX OF 30 ANIME DVDs REVEALED!!

The Mysterious Box of 30 Anime DVDs has arrived!

As expected, many of the DVDs were volumes of old anime series. But there were a few surprises.

Note: Crunchyroll's Mysterious Box actually ships from Right Stuf, so the mystery boxes are a joint Crunchyroll/Right Stuf endeavor. If you've ever been curious about these boxes, here's the breakdown of this box at least.

Some initial observations:

1. All 30 DVDs were Geneon/Pioneer, with the exception of two ADV DVDs. In other words, they were all from dead distribution companies (lol).

I think it's safe to say that Right Stuf's No. 1 rule for the Mysterious Box is: "IF IT'S GENEON, THROW IT IN."

2. There were 4 DVDs that were feature films, and 26 DVDs that were volumes containing episodes from anime series.

So, here's what was in the box. I'll add some copy from the back covers for each.

Appleseed (movie) - "Earth's last city, Olympus, rose from the ashes of a global war on the backs of Bioroids, artificial clones who make up half the city's population. Under the strict guidance of a supercomputer, humanity's last survivors enjoy an idyllic peace, but only on the surface..."

Armitage (movie) - "Naomi Armitage and Ross Sylibus have changed their names and live with their daughter Yoko as a normal family on Mars - until a robot riot breaks out at an anti-matter plant on Earth."

El Hazard (eps. 5-7) - "The legendary Demon God, "Ifurita," has awakened. Serving her new master Jinnai, she begins a campaign of devastation throughout the land of El-Hazard."

Ex-Driver (movie) - "The squeal of smoking tires, the roar of the engine and the thrill of a hairpin turn in a power drift. Most people in the future have no knowledge of these adrenaline-pumping aspects to driving because they only use cars driven by AI computers... Fortunately, the eX-Drivers still love their gas-powered racing cars and are hired to shut down rogue AI cars using their amazing driving skills."

Getbackers (eps. 36-40) - "You can't outrun the past. Whether it's a bad memory that dogs you, a good one you're trying to hold onto, or an old nemesis you can't quite shake loose, the past is always right over your shoulder. Good thing the Get Backers are here, ready to turn the crud of yesterday into the cold hard cash of today!"

GunXSword (eps. 9-16) - "On their trek to the next town, Van and Wendy locate Michael Garret, Wendy's older brother who had gone missing, but they're stunned to discover that he's aligned himself with the killer known as The Claw!"

Heat Guy J (eps. 1-8, 12-16, 24-26) - "Android J was secretly built by the government to be the partner of special agent Daisuke Aurora and to combat crime in the oceanic city-nation of Judoh. While J initially appears to be human, the illusion quickly disappears in clouds of scorching steam when he fights..."

The Law of Ueki (eps. 1-8) - "Ueki is an average junior high student who has the power to change trash into trees."

Madlax (eps. 9-12) - "From the creative minds behind Noir, a compelling saga of two lives and the dark circumstances surrounding their mysterious connection." (I couldn't find a picture of Vol. 3, so Vol. 1 is shown here.)

New Getter Robo (eps. 1-4) - "Huge monsters stalk the Earth! Resembling the ancient legends of oni, the monsters begin attacking the laboratory where Professor Saotome is developing the Getter Robo, a robot so powerful it overwhelms ordinary pilots!"

Submarine 707 Revolution (movie) - "A high-tech terrorist plagues the ocean... To counter the subversive activities of the USR, a shadowy terrorist group menacing the seas, the leading nations of the world join forces to form the Peace Keeping Navy (PKN)."

Tenchi in Tokyo (eps. 1-4, 8-10) - "Tenchi is moving to Tokyo! A new life for Tenchi means the end of the world to the alien girls!"

Tenjho Tenge (eps. 8-10, 14-16) - "The head of the Executive Council has arrived and the Juken Club is in for some major schooling. During this time Aya begins feeling the true power of the Dragon Eye as it compels her to destroy her enemies."

Texhnolyze (eps. 5-8, 20-22) - "LUKUSS, the city of despair and violence. An experimental metropolis buried deep inside the Earth, ruled by gangs, where mayhem and retribution are a normal part of life..."

Trigun - Project Seeds (eps. 17-19) - "With the seeds of love, came the seeds of death... A glimpse into the past reveals the history of the world, and perhaps its future."

UltraManiac (eps. 24-26) - "The Dark Zone is expanding and threatens the well-being of the entire school during a costume ball. Secrets are finally revealed and Nina's future appears to be a bittersweet one as Maya struggles one last time to gather all the holy stones to herself."

Viewtiful Joe (eps. 4-9) - "Joe is a dude just like you and me. He has two great loves: his girlfriend Silvia and Captain Blue, the action-movie superhero. Now that Joe has totally awesome superpowers, he's ready to battle his way through Movieland to rescue Silvia. But first, he enters hamburger heaven to fight his own hunger."

And finally...

X (eps. 7-15, 22-24) - "Two choices. Two sides. One future. X."

So my first impression is... it's definitely a mixed bag, but getting four feature films is good (four standalone pieces of entertainment), and they did put in different genres which I appreciate. They're all old movies or series, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a low-quality selection.

The ones I'll probably watch first are Getbackers, Madlax, Texhnolyze, Trigun and X. Getbackers is sort of shonen-ai, Madlax is from the team who made Noir, one of my favorite series, Texhnolyze sounds cool and Trigun is a series my friend Yumeka always talks about as being one of her faves.

As for X, that was one of the first anime series I ever watched. In this box I received Vols. 3, 4, 5 and 8, so if I can pick up the other volumes cheaply I'll have all of X, which is great.

I have to think that Right Stuf hopes the buyer will watch episodes 8-10 of whatever anime, and then go to their site to pick up the other volumes if they liked it. This makes sense for The Law of Ueki, for example, as they included the first 8 episodes in this box, but I'm not sure what's supposed to happen if I watch UltraManiac, episodes 24-26. Even if I can make sense of a story where I haven't seen the first 23 episodes, these are probably the final episodes of the series - right?

In any event, I'm glad I bought the Mysterious Box. At $23 and change including shipping and handling, even if some of the DVDs are, well... it's hard to complain when you receive such a generous number of items. And again, four volumes of X, as well as four movies, plus being able to watch some of Madlax and Trigun alone makes it worthwhile. I will try to watch at least one or two episodes of each DVD, and the ones I don't care for I'll donate to a library or sell to Bookoff so others can enjoy them.

A Day at AOD 2013

I spent a day at Animation on Display, an anime convention held in San Francisco, this past weekend.

The con hotel was the Hotel Kabuki, a Japanese-themed hotel next to the Japan Center Mall in the heart of Japantown.

I took some cosplay photos.

The cosplayer above told me what fandom her outfit was from, but I forgot what she said. It wasn't an anime series. Quite a nice costume!

Shizuo and Izaya were there...

As were Light and Misa...

... and Lorenzo from Cuticle Detective Inaba, who seemed startled that someone recognized him.

And a rather savage take on the "Keep Calm, Have a Cupcake" meme (lol).

The Hotel Kabuki has a small lobby and narrow hallways, so most of the cosplayers moved out to the Peace Pagoda courtyard area.

I stopped by Anime Myu's performance for a bit.

And eventually wandered over to the Japan Center, starting with the Kinokuniya Bookstore, which has a small garden downstairs:

And my favorite kind of books.

Here's a Japanese magazine featuring Don Valentino, the villain of Cuticle Detective Inaba, on its cover:

Outside Kinokuniya's lower level entrance is a huge model of Osaka Castle.

For some reason, alpacas are all the craze now in Japan. I found some alpaca dolls at a Japan Center store:

Across the street, at the New People cafe, there was a notice board about an Evangelion app for touring the city:

As you might have guessed from this barrage of photos, I don't have a lot to say about the convention. I was only there for one day and didn't find much in the schedule that stood out to me. I watched some episodes of Space Brothers and Fate/Zero in the video room, went through the dealer's room, chatted with Lily Li in the artists alley and basically hung out. I did attend a panel in the evening on "Female Characters in Anime" which was interesting.

AOD is a small but nice anime convention and worth checking out if you're in San Francisco when it's being held.

Top Ten Hidden Females in Anime

Reading Yumeka’s post on Top 10 Male Anime Characters made me think about whether I could do a similar post on female anime characters. Male characters, no problem. I watch a lot of shonen anime so there are many male characters and male seiyuu that I like.

It would probably take a few more years of anime watching to gather up 10 female characters to write about. But there is one group of females I’ve taken note of and you can guess who they are: female seiyuu who play male roles. ;) Those are the women in anime who have caught my attention.

Before I get to my top ten list, however, there’s a fascinating newcomer:

In Hakuouki, Chizuru Yukimura disguises herself as a boy to go in search of her father. It’s later revealed that she has an older brother named Kaoru.

Kaoru and Chizuru were split up as children and Kaoru was sent to the western oni tribe. Abused as a male demon (as opposed to female demons like Chizuru who were highly prized as breeding stock and treated well), a twisted and unhinged Kaoru now seeks to kill his sister Chizuru.

The role of Kaoru is small, appearing only in a few episodes, but the seiyuu playing her/him is exceptional. Kaoru first disguises himself as a geisha girl, and later appears before Chizuru as himself for the first and last time before being killed by Kazama.

Every word that Kaoru utters, either as a female or as a male, is laced with pain and despair. At one point, Kaoru mockingly transitions from a female voice to a male voice in the same sentence. It’s a chilling performance from beginning to end. MyAnimeList lists only two roles for Hasumi Itou so far, in Hakuouki and Fate/Zero, but she is clearly a seiyuu to watch for in future.

Now, on to the Top Ten!

10. Minami Takayama

Best known for playing Detective Conan, Minami Takayama has one of those low female voices that plays both genders well. She was Envy in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and Kati Mannequin, one of my favorite side characters in Mobile Suit Gundam 00. Kati Mannequin was the authoritative colonel who dated (and eventually married!) the hilariously egotistical Patrick Colasour, the only comic relief character in the series. Takayama had a great sexy voice as Mannequin, and her performance as Envy in FMA: Brotherhood was simply brilliant.

9. Kujira

When I found out Orochimaru in Naruto was played by a woman, I nearly fell over.

To say that Kujira’s voice is unique is an understatement. Her voice is low and growly, like a crotchety old woman’s, and it’s the femaleness that lends her performance that extra sense of Orochimaru being… off somehow. She makes Orochimaru into neither a man nor a woman but a creature almost—which adds to the character’s mysteriousness and power.

8. Yuki Kaida

Shuusuke Fuji is consistently voted as one of the top three favorite characters in the massive Prince of Tennis universe by the fans, and he was my favorite character when I started watching the series.

Yuki Kaida’s Fuji is an oasis of calm in the lively Seigaku tennis team. Kaida also plays China in Hetalia, and I love listening to her sing China’s character songs with that cheery, brassy voice. :)

7. Sanae Kobayashi

When I first started watching Hikaru no Go, I was surprised to find out that both Hikaru Shindou and his rival Akira Touya were played by women seiyuu.

Sanae Kobayashi’s Touya is an intellectual boy with a reserved personality, and her voice for the role is calm and measured with a slight huskiness. Kobayashi plays mostly female roles, but has the main role, Allen Walker, in D.Gray-man, a shonen anime I’ve had on my to-watch list for years and only because Kobayashi stars in it. She’s one of those actors whose intelligence is obvious and that makes her interesting to watch.

6. Junko Takeuchi

It’s easy to take Junko Takeuchi’s excellent performance as Naruto for granted after all these years, but honestly when I watch Naruto Shippuuden these days I don’t even think about Naruto being played by a male or a female. Takeuchi so completely inhabits the role that you just see and hear Naruto Uzumaki. And that’s the greatest tribute there is for an actor. ;)

5. Junko Minagawa

Ryoma Echizen is the protagonist of The Prince of Tennis, a tennis phenom, Japanese but American-raised, not used to being a team player and amazingly anti-social for a shonen anime main character.

Ryoma is a boy of few words, but when he does speak Junko Minagawa’s cute husky voice makes Ryoma about as appealing as he’s able to be. ;)

4. Tomoko Kawakami

Another female seiyuu who did a cute boy’s voice was Tomoko Kawakami, who died of cancer in 2011. I loved her Hikaru Shindou in Hikaru no Go and it’s hard to accept that we’ll never hear her voice again.

3. Rie Kugimiya

Rie Kugimiya is famous for many roles, but the one I’ll always remember her for is Alphonse Elric in the two Fullmetal Alchemist series.

Trapped in a suit of armor, Kugimiya’s Al is brave, kind and thinks of others despite his own precarious situation. Her performance moved me to tears in several scenes and remains deeply memorable to me.

2. Romi Paku

The list wouldn't be complete without Romi Paku, of course. ;) The seiyuu behind Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and Hitsugaya in Bleach is well-known for playing male roles, although she also does female roles like Temari in Naruto.

1. Mitsuki Saiga

And my no. 1 female seiyuu who plays male roles is Mitsuki Saiga. :)

Saiga played Wolfram in Kyo Kara Maoh:

Souji Okita in Peacemaker Kurogane:

And Rossiu in Gurren Lagann.

Even when she plays female roles, like Renji's Zanpakuto Zabimaru, Saiga gives it an interesting twist by giving the character a deep, sultry voice.

Saiga has practically cornered the market in gender-bendering roles. Oddly, her voice isn't particularly low. She doesn't have a foghorn voice like Romi Paku or a froggy one like Junko Takeuchi. There's just something about her voice or perhaps what she puts behind it that carries a certain male quality.

She's also unique among female seiyuu, who universally dress in that feminine pretty way of Japanese women, in that she dresses in mannish clothing. This has led to some speculation about her sexuality, which isn't any business of mine, but her presentation is pretty interesting:

In any event, Saiga is always worth watching in a role - whether male or female. ;)