Wayback Wednesday! #3

The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is the greatest thing on the internet. I have managed to locate the content of my old school ‘Otakuphotog’ blog on it. Most of the blog posts are crap and prove that politically thinking, not even 10 years ago I was a moron. But occasionally there was an anime post or something of ‘value’ which can be used for a WW! post.

So here is Ewink’s Funkdafied Summer Anime Review from August 2005! Enjoy! Posts are generally unedited unless the grammar checker goes ballistic.

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Summer’s here, and I guess almost over with. Unless of course, you live in the southern hemisphere. If that’s the case, please disregard this and come back in five months. Anyway, what better way to spend it than by staying inside and watching subtitled anime straight from Japan!

This anime, referred to as fansubs, is anime that is currently airing in Japan and is not available in North America yet.

Here are my recommendations for the summer! Be forewarned. This is long. If you don’t want to read this, then why did you come here? Wait, don’t leave. I’ll bake you cookies………

Full Metal Panic:TSR

Full Metal Panic is one of my favorite anime. Personally, I think I would rank it in the top five, if not the top two. (I’m sorry, but IMHO no anime will ever outshine Ranma ½.)

TSR, short for ‘The Second Raid’, is the third series in the Full Metal Panic franchise. In case you’ve never seen FMP, let me give you a short rundown.

Kaname Chidori is a high school girl who is one of ‘The Whispered’. The Whispered are very special people who hold the secrets of black technology. There are very bad people who want black technology, so Sgt. Sousuke Sagara is sent to go undercover in high school and protect her.

Sousuke is a part of MITHRIL, a secret military organization with ties to no government. They are basically a large mercenary force that is well funded and has amazing technology.

Sousuke has been a fighter all his life. Going from place to place, he never had a real childhood. All he knows is the battlefield. Which is why when he was placed in a civilian spot – in high school – the only thing that can happen is hilarity.

Trust me on that one. Freakin’ hilarity.

Anyway, the first FMP was a mix of comedy, action, and somewhere underneath all that, a love story. The second series (Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu) was just damned goofy. Nowhere near the fighting and action of the first one, but it is non-stop laughs.

The second raid takes place not too long after the first series. Only three episodes have been released so far, but basically, there is an evil scientist (we know he’s a scientist because he wears a lab coat) who apparently deals in black technology. This dude is nuts, almost laughably so. Long review short, he ends up going up against MITHRIL.

There are also two twin sisters who are guns for hire. These girls are badass and are hired by the evil insane scientist. There is a huge story with them, but we don’t quite know what it is yet.

FMP:TSR has A LOT of action in it, but it still manages to hold comedic value as well. It’s got mecha in it as well, which always makes for a good time. Then of course, as I mentioned, hot chicks that kick ass.

Don’t just take my word for it. If you are unfamiliar with the FMP series, you can rent it via Greencine – a Netflix with tons of anime. If you are familiar with it or don’t mind starting in the middle of something (there is some background explanation in the anime) you can download TSR from Bakakozou, my sub-group of choice for this fansub. Bakakozou has been quick with the subs and they are very high quality. You need either IRC or BitTorrent!

Shuffle!

Shuffle! is a newer anime that has just recently begun being fansubbed. It’s what us anime nerds (or otaku) call a harem series, as there is several girls pining for one guy – kind of like he has his own harem. Get it?

Shuffle! takes place in an alternate reality where the gates to the land of demons and the land of gods have been opened. Gods and demons walk among humans, go to school with humans, and do other naughty things that we won’t go into here.

Here’s the story. A high school kid named Rin Tsuchimi is staying with his childhood friend Kaeda Fuyo. I forget exactly why, but I think it’s because someone died or is on business. It’s really not relevant. Anyway, The lord of the demons and the lord of the gods (who happen to be best friends – one way you know this anime is funny nuts) both want Rin to marry one of their daughters, Nerine the daughter of the demon lord, or Lisianthus (nicknamed Sia) the daughter of the lord of the gods.

They both have a history with Rin, that he really doesn’t remember. The short version was that the two girls were lost in the human realm and Rin was nice and played with them until their dads found ’em.

As with all these series, all the boys in school (who were already pissed that Rin had the monopoly on Kaeda) are jealous of Rin because now he has these two hotties hanging onto him. Not to mention all three girls have groups of groupies (one unfortunately nicknamed the KKK which I am assuming – and hoping – doesn’t have the same meaning in Japan as it does here) all attacking Rin on a daily basis.

I am in love with this anime. It’s funny and it’s cute, both of which appeal to me. Though too much cuteness makes my ears hurt.

Shuffle! can be downloaded from Froth Bite. They do a great job and have two of my favorite series!

Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~

I feel like I am becoming a girl. I am choosing two anime here in a row that revolves around a love story! I think I need to go outside, have a beer, kill something, and pee standing up. One moment, please.

Much better. My manly self can now recommend Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~, which even though it is partially disguised as a love story, is actually a knee-slapping comedic comedy.

Mahoraba revolves around Ryuji Shiratori who is 18 and is an aspiring picture book writer. In order for him to go to school in Tokyo, he moves into an apartment building owned by his 2nd cousin’s mother. Well, she’s not there (I think she’s dead… A lot of people are dead in Japan…) so the apartment is managed by his second cousin, Kozue Aoba.

Kozue has a very odd multiple personality disorder. When she is shocked, she turns into one of four alternate personalities. A quiet, magician girl; a six-year-old; a kick-you-in-the-ass-and-not-even-tell-you-the-time chick; and a cosplay maniac. This obviously leads to weird and hilarious situations.

Then there are the residents. You have a weird old man, Yukio Haibara, who has a puppet dog on his hand, Johnny, that talks for him. The puppet refers to the man as a prop. He’s like a non-gay, twice as insane, Mr. Garrison. Then we have Megumi Momono, a lush who I don’t really understand yet.

Kotomi Chanohata, a very scary girl also lives there. She is the best friend of Kozue and does everything she can to make her happy. It’s a very non-sexual lesbian-ish. I don’t think that term actually exists, but since I am an idiot I can use words that don’t exist.

Finally, we have Sayoko Kurosaki and her daughter Asami. Sayoko cracks me up. She’s so lazy!!! She hides underneath the house to avoid work! But at the same time, she loves Asami. Asami is also a hoot because she’s proud to be poor! These two have a neat story behind them, but I won’t give it away here.

All and all, Mahoraba is a very well-written and very funny anime. Its cuteness level is high, but not gag me with a spoon and kick me in the jimmy high. You can download these episodes from Froth Bite. Better hurry though! The series has been going on for at least 23 episodes!

Girls Bravo: Second Season

Okay, enough of this sensitive cute crap. On to the perverseness!

Girls Bravo is an anime that’s referred to as ecchi. What that means is that it’s not porn, but there is plenty of nudity without a purpose – or fan service. There is a ton of nudity in this show and I believe (if I remember my readings correctly) that it was the first off-air anime to receive an R-15 rating – which I think would translate into a TV-MA here.

Hey, look at that. Nudity on TV and somehow Japan manages to keep a crime rate that is, per capita, lower than the United States! But I digress, that’s for another day.

The plot (which has mostly been disregarded) is that Miharu comes from the planet Siren where the ratio of women to men is 10:1. She came through a portal in our protagonist, Yukinari Sasaki’s, bathtub.

Did I mention that Yukinari has an affliction where every time he touches a woman he gets hives and eventually passes out? No? Well, he does. But lucky for him somehow Miharu doesn’t bother him! Love ensues, as well as hilarity.

There are, of course, the other women who love him, one of which just happens to be a witch, and his best friend (with DDDDD boobies!), Kirie Kojima. There are also other people who join Miharu from Siren in an attempt to find Miharu’s sister, Maharu, a husband.

Then there is Kazuharu Fukuyama, a rich pervert who tries to land every single female in the series.

Did I mention that Fukuyama has almost the same problem as Yukinari? Except he gets hives when he is touched by a man. Did I mention that? No? Well, he does.

I think one of the reasons I love this anime so much (asides from the full-frontal nudity) is that it is so wild and random. I love shows like that. I love the fact that they have pretty much disregarded the plot (a, ahem, love story between Yukinari and Miharu) and just do what they have to do to make people like me laugh. They have done a hell of a good job at it.

Season One of the show is available on DVD and I would recommend buying it or at least renting it from GreenCine. You can download Season Two from Anime Yuki.

Futakoi Alternative

The final anime I want to tell you about is Futakoi Alternative. This anime is a semi-sequel to the popular anime Futakoi. I say semi-sequel because it has the same characters (albeit a few years older) but seems to take place in an ALTERNATIVE timeline. So you don’t need to see the original, but you can if you want. I downloaded it and got bored with it, so I haven’t seen any more than the first 6 minutes of the first episode. So I declare you really don’t need to see the original.

I guess I already said that. Sorry.

In this Futakoi there are a pair of twins, Sara and Soju Shirogane who somehow and for some reason become the assistants of Rentarou Futaba who is now running the Futaba Detective Agency after his father’s death.

Now I would love to explain to you the whole plot of this story but I can’t. I don’t know what it is. The show is so strange and out there with total randomness to what happens that you can’t follow it. It’s impossible. It’s like Pulp Fiction on meth and crack and a liter of Mt. Dew.

So why am I recommending it?

Because it’s funny, it’s got action, it’s got cute girls, and (god damn it!!!) it’s got a cute love story in it. A very odd and hard to understand love triangle between Sara, Soju, and Rentarou.

As I said, I love random weird things and FutAlt is nothing but. While each episode has a story, it’s important not to get too terribly caught up in it. If you do, you’ll end up missing half the comedy and then wondering why it didn’t make sense. It’s one of those things that you should just sit back and enjoy. Thinking is not required or recommended. I already tried it. Broke my brain it did.

FutAlt can be downloaded from Anime Yuki. They’re a little slow on getting episodes of this and Girls Bravo done, probably because they have picked up a lot of anime, but it’s worth the wait. These guys are really one of the best subgroups out there. Props my Aussie homies.

I’m Done!

Yup. If you have any recommendations, or just want to bitch about me, leave a comment!