Desktop Ramblings

Sousuke looks a lot happier then usual in this shot.

Not much to say on this one. I just thought I'd show off some of my pretty desktop wallpapers. The one up top is my last desktop and showcases Full Metal Panic's Sousuke Sagara and Kaname Chidori, who together form one of anime's most awesome couples, while the lower one shows Skuld, Belldandy and Urd from Ah! My Goddess, which I'm a bit enamoured with at the moment (largely due to Urd -and no, it's not just because of her sex appeal). An interesting tidbit with the second desktop is that I was able to get both widescreen and fullscreen screencaps, since the Japanese TV broadcast was fullscreen and the DVDs were widescreen. This is useful due to the fact that my laptop display is widescreen while the peripheral monitor I tend to use at home (a leftover from my old desktop computer) is fullscreen. With the old Full Metal Panic! desktop the image was always stretched slightly when I used the laptop; with the new Ah! My Goddess desktop I have the option of switching to the widescreen shot when I use my laptop.

This shot makes it pretty obvious which one of the sisters is
half-demon, doesn't it?

Midpoint Impression: Pumpkin Scissors.

This is one of the series I watched a couple of episodes of back in 2006, and at the time I wasn't overly impressed by it. Recently however I went back and watched a sizeable chunk of the show, and I'm glad I did, because like Starship Operators (which is one of my favorite series) it's a lot better then the first episode would have you believe. In fact, I've considered adding it to my 'Top Picks for '06' list.

The events of Pumpkin Scissors take place in an
Empire that has been devastated by war.

A show that began airing last year and which is continuing to air this year, Pumpkin Scissors is set in the aftermath of a huge, World War I like conflict between the Empire (which seems to be loosely based on the Imperial Germany that existed prior to that conflict) and the Republic of Frost. A Peace Treaty between the two powers was signed, but it came too late -the Empire was left devastated and economically depressed. Apparently worried about their funding, the Imperial military created Section III -the War Relief unit that would become known as Pumpkin Scissors- in order to improve their image. Thus, the series focuses on personnel in this tiny laughingstock of a unit as they try to live up to their designation as a War Relief Unit in spite of a real lack of commitment on the part of the Imperial Army as a whole.

It's a little more complicated then just that however. Ambivalence to their mission among the rest of the Army is not the only problem Section III must deal with. Heavily armed bandits (some of them ex soldiers) and powerful Noblemen also show up to stand in their way, and it seems that the unit's newest member -a gentle giant of a man called Orlando who can quite suddenly become a monster when facing enemies- may have been part of a shady military research project that someone wants to keep under wraps. Thus, the members of Pumpkin Scissors can be trying to deal with the nature of humanity one episode and getting shot at the next. Often, both elements will be present in the same episode. The series has so far done a good job of mixing stand alone arcs with a conspiracy ridden main plot, and hopefully it will keep that up.

Lieutenant Alice C. Marvin is a bit too over the top at first,
but her characterisation seems to improve as the series progresses.

As far as characterisation is concerned, Pumpkin Scissors makes a strong showing. While many of the unit members (such as the idealistic Noblewoman Lieutenant Alice and her playboy subordinate Olend) start off as being quite shallow, some of them also gain quite a bit of depth as the series progresses. Not every character is like this, but enough are to make the series quite interesting from a character perspective.

Orlando's ability to win toe to toe fights with tanks the
way he does is sometimes a tad hard to swallow...

So what problems does the show have? Well, the characterisation is sometimes a bit overdone, and not just for minor villains. Alice's 'Prepare for Castle Siege!' spiel in Episode One is a good example of this. I also had issues with the combat scenes. I know expecting complete realism in a series like this is rather unreasonable, but Orlando probably pushes things a bit far. The whole thing about him being a super soldier from some shadowy research project may allow for some suspension of disbelief, but this is sorely tested by the fact that he has a tendency to go toe to toe with tanks and survive -just what sort of effect does that blue lantern of his have that allows him to survive getting hit by the cannon on an armoured vehicle?

The sign outside Section III's office. Note the Engrish.*

Overall however, Pumpkin Scissors is an excellent series, featuring both good characters and good storytelling. I'll have to see how it turns out as a whole (Gonzo isn't exactly known for delivering series that maintain a consistent level of quality through their entire run) but right now my hopes for this series are quite high.

*The term Engrish is used to refer to the badly butchered English one will sometimes encounter in Japan. It is often difficult to determine whether one should use L or R when translating from Japanese to English because of how the languages are phonetically different (don't quote me on that).

The 2006 Anime Awards...

Okay, this isn't quite the same as a top picks post in terms of series (that was what my last post was for). It's more of a series of awards for specific things. In other words, it's another excuse for me to mention bits of series that I like (as if I don't do that enough already...)

The 'Best Portrayal of a Crappy Student Film' Award: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzimaya


Okay, it's not like there's much in the way of competition for an award like this (can anyone think of another show this season that involves making a student film?) but as someone who got dragged into making several crappy student films in high school, I found that the first episode of Haruhi really hits its mark. And it was a creative way to start off the series too...

The 'Dramatic Entrance' Award: Hild, Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore No Tsubasa

The Demon Lord Hild looks kind of scary before she squeals
'Urd-chan!' and embraces her daughter with a flying bear hug...

Dark clouds obscure the sky. Winds howl. Lightning shatters the night, and a shadowy figure appears in the middle of a raging whirlwind. And then it squeals "Urd-chan!" and starts hugging not only Urd, but her younger half sisters and Keiichi as well. Yep, that would be Hild, Demon Lord of Hell, dropping in to visit her daughter. If you ever think any of your relatives have a tendency to be a bit too flashy, consider yourself lucky...

The 'Extreme Makeover' Award: Marller, Ah My Goddess: Sorezore No Tsubasa

Marller had some issues with people mistaking
her gender in Season One...

She doesn't seem likely to have the same problem in
Season Two though...

Not much to say on this one. Maybe the regeneration Marller needed after the events of the 'Lord of Terror' arc near the end of Season One came with free implants or something...

The 'Over the Top Gun Battle' Award: School Rumble Nigakki

School Rumble Nigakki's 'survival game' has plenty of melodrama...

Okay, technically they're using airsoft guns and the muzzle flashes and blood splatters are just Akira adding special effects on a computer later on, but even so... there's something awesome about SR Nigakki's 'survival game' and how seriously the students get into it. It's just a contest to determine whether you do a cafe or a play for the cultural festival, for crying out loud! There's no need for quests of vengeance and melodramatic scenes between lovers trapped on opposite sides of the battle lines!

Not that I'm complaining or anything.

The 'Who Needs English?' Award: Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid (OVA)

The facial expressions say a lot, don't they?
(Click on the images for more detailed views.)

Sometimes, anime doesn't need English to be funny. The opening scenes of the TSR OVA, in which young Captain Testarossa has a dream about her crush (and subordinate) Sousuke, wakes up, and -without realising she's now awake- proceeds to the hangar and starts getting friendly with the socially awkward young soldier before realising her mistake and freaking out- is absolutely hilarious without any sort of translations, or even much background on the characters in question. Although I do have to admit that being able to understand the situationally ironic audio coming from the battle simulation Sousuke is running does add something to the scene...

Top Picks for '06

Okay, this is kind of a spur of the moment thing (I'd intended to do up that 'Spotlight On' article for Full Metal Panic! that I keep not getting around to working on), but I decided to do up a list of my top picks for 2006. Like many such lists, personal preference is going to play a huge part in this, as is the fact that there are a lot of shows this season that I haven't seen (including highly regarded releases like Death Note).

The Top Three (In Alphabetical Order)

Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore No Tsubasa/Ah! My Goddess Season Two

The brief reunion between the half-goddess, half-demon Urd and her mother

Hild (a high ranking demon) is one of the highlights of Sorezore No Tsubasa.

As mentioned in my previous post about this show, the second season of Ah! My Goddess somehow managed to be great despite the first season's mediocrity. I don't know whether this is because of a deliberate effort to fix the pacing issues and other problems that plagued the first season or whether it was more of an accidental thing, but somehow the people who worked on the second season managed to capture what was good about the first season while dispatching with much of what made it lame. There are still some issues with the new series (I think they ought to tone down Belldandy's domesticity a little) but overall it's pretty good. Belldandy's elder half sister Urd (who played a big role in keeping the first season's head above water) continues to be awesome in the second season: the portrayal of her love/hate relationship with her demon mother Hild proved to be one of the season's highlights.

Blood+

Blood+ manages to combine good characterisation
with excellent production values.

Okay, part of this one aired in 2005, but the majority of it aired in 2006, including many of the series' best episodes, and I fell it's okay to include it here. Boasting high production values, excellent characterization, and writing that manages to hold well under the strains of an incredible length despite a bit of a drop after the midpoint of the series, Blood+ is a real masterpiece of a series. Who would have thought a story about a girl who slays monsters could be so bloody good? (Forgive the horrible pun, please.)

School Rumble Nigakki/School Rumble Season Two

The cast of School Rumble returns for more Rumbling
in School Rumble Nigakki (Second Term/Semester).

If there is one flaw that virtually every series on this list has, it's a tendency to take a bit of a fall late in their runs. It's a problem that was quite pronounced in School Rumble Nigakki: for some reason the people behind the series decided to hold off on adapting the Kyoto arc from the manga and came up with original material as filler instead. Thankfully School Rumble Nigakki still has enough of it predecessor's spirit to make things a good ride however, especially during the earlier parts of the season when the show gives the first season a solid run for its money. I'm hoping we'll eventually see a third season of SR, though I hope that when they do it they either stick closer to the source material or come up with better original material. This series was definitely pretty good, but it could have been better.

(Oh, and also, what's with the title? Didn't the second semester start sometime during the first season?)