The information Was on the tip of her tongue: Salty data mine.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Her womanly curves Simply can’t remain hidden: Beam breaking booty.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Introduction: Skull Man is an anime adaptation of Kamen Rider creator Shotarou Ishinomori's 1970 manga of the same name, widely credited as one of manga's earliest anti-heroes (Tezuka's Black Jack didn't begin its serialization until 1973). For fans of tokusatsu, it's also thought of as Ishinomori's personal version of Kamen Rider; a different take on a similar concept.  <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S9LmODeAdCc&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S9LmODeAdCc&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505" wmode="transparent"></embed></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param></object>  Note that the above OP is the one used for the Japanese version of the show. I might not have known specifically that the OP theme music, by TOKIO, and its animation were essentially forbidden for Sentai Filmworks to use if it weren't for this blog-- but I definitely would have noticed how lame the replacement OP is. It's as though they took the trailer and threw in some completely unrelated music to it, and given Sentai's barebones release style, that seems likely. As of this review, I have watched about half of the series (7 of 13 episodes).Skull Man, Complete Collection Release Date: 02/02/10 Studio: Sentai Filmworks Discs: 2 Runtime: 13 episodes (325 minutes) MSRP: $39.98 Plot: From the publisher: "Otomo City: where freedom and justice have atrophied to the bone; where conspiracy rules the day and Death stalks the night - Death in the ofrm of the Skull Man, a literal Grim Reaper whose skeletal grin presages grisly mayhem and murder, even to the monstrous mutants that haunt the city's underworlds! Now, to investigate a bizarre slaying, journalist Minagami Hayato and photographer Kiriko Mamiya must stalk this ultimate predator, through a festering cadaver of a city where the corruption flows in rivers as deep and foul as the sins of the reigning elite, and unearth a secret so shocking that an entire city has been turned into a tomb to contain it! In a nightmarish necropolis where nothing is as it seems, vengeance comes in the form of a living Death's-Head in Skull Man - The Complete Collection!" That is some of the craziest run-on sentencing I've seen.  Our hero, Hayaot (right)  Anyway: the story is a lot more of a noir-ish detective tale than the more grisly description here, I think-- and I don't mean that in the sense that everything's always grey and rainy and a narrator talks over everything like the term "noir" usually evokes, but in the sense that it's a complex, layered, and very dark mystery. I mentioned that the series has a "noir" feel to it, but with the exception of scenes that actually contain the Skull Man himself, which are fewer than you might expect, the palette is decidedly more chipper. That's in part because in Otomo City, a city that apparently seceded from Japan in the alternate history of the series, has a curfew-- you have to have a permit to go out at night. Since most of the story is detective work rather than the Skull Man's jaunts, the story primarily takes place during the day. The mystery here is impressively complicated, and it's not until episode three that you even start to get a hint at how big a mystery it is. But the best part is the series never talks down or tries to make it easy on you. It's not an episode in Law and Order, where you can guess early on who's the red herring and who's really a bad guy and all that stuff. Seven episodes in, I'm still not sure about some of the characters-- but it's that strong, intriguing, calculated "not sure," not the result of a confusing narrative.   Said mystery is also quite layered: you've got the city government, a pharmaceutical company, a religious organization, and the mysterious Skull Man all tangled up in some kind of conspiracy, but who's in league with who and why?  Tone and Soundtrack:  Yeah, it even has one of THOSE scenes. It's probably due to the fact that this series is based on a manga from the late '70s, but by modern standards it's not completely bleak in every way shape and form as one might expect from something like this, as I mentioned before. But in addition, there is an unexpected amount of comedy, generally in the form of the over-the-top lead characters of Hayato and Kiriko...although the domestic mutually-tsundere interactions in the first couple of episodes grate, they thankfully diminish as the story moves on. But they're still very silly people in their normal interactions-- in a particular scene in episode six, they remind me more of the goofy detective and assistant in Darker than Black than like protagonists themselves. Come to think of it, it's impressive that they've got enough comedy to distract from the mild goofiness of the Skull Man's outfit. On music, the soundtrack of Skull Man is fantastic, tragically dull opening sequence aside. It's not the kind of soundtrack I want to buy and play in the car (I have a terrible habit of singing anything that comes on, including music sans lyrics) but definitely the kind that improves the experience of the entire series.Screenshots (Episodes 1-2): Pros and  Cons:Positives:Superb animationStrong soundtrackInteresting, layered mystery Negatives:Crappy opening sequenceProtagonists' relationship doesn't become cool until episode 4 or 5. If, Then, But: If you like these, then you might like Skull Man. But...Darker than BLACK (But with an older-school feel)Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (But less torture porn and lesbian subtext)Kamen Rider (But darker and more adult...and animated)  The End! Now, what do YOU think?
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Gia, John, and AHR take on all the hot topics amongst anime geeks these days, including the fetishes of Japanese women, Stan Lee's anime and manga projects, and Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

This week Geekachu challenged me to do something a little different with Quick Picks. Instead of just picking what I'd say are the outright best buys-- names you've seen me go on about many times, like Pluto and Black Jack --we tried to stick with slightly more off-beat titles.    <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" id="gb_player" align="middle" height="360" width="640"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"> </param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"> </param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"> </param><param name="movie" value="http://www.animevice.com/video/video.swf"> </param><param name="quality" value="high"> </param><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"> <embed wmode="transparent" src="/video/video.swf" quality="high" bgbadvar="#000000" name="gb_player" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="paramsURI=http%3A//www.animevice.com/video/params/2218/" align="middle" height="360" width="640"> </embed></param></object>  But you should definitely still check out the release list, because quite a few really fantastic books came out that Geekachu wouldn't let me talk about! I've italicized some of them, as well as bolding the ones mentioned in the video. The only problem is now almost everything is either bolded or italicized... Manga Title Publisher MSRP Date All My Darling Daughters VIZ Media $12.99 01/19/10 Black Jack v9 Vertical, Inc. $16.95 01/19/10 Case Closed v33 VIZ Media $9.99 01/19/10 Code Geass v7 Bandai Entertainment $10.99 01/19/10 Crayon Shinchan v10 (Reissue) CMX $7.99 01/19/10 Divine Melody v6 (Manhwa) DrMaster $9.95 01/20/10 Fullmetal Alchemist v22 VIZ Media $9.99 01/19/10 Gundam 00F v2 Bandai Entertainment $10.99 01/19/10 I've Moved Next Door To You (Yaoi) 801 Media (DMP) $15.95 01/18/10 King of RPGs Del Rey Manga $10.99 01/19/10 Ninja Baseball Kyuma! v2 Udon Entertainment $7.99 01/20/10 not simple Natsume Ono $14.99 01/19/10 Oishinbo: Izakaya – Pub Food VIZ Media $12.99 01/19/10 Pluto v7 VIZ Media $12.99 01/19/10 Real v7 VIZ Media $12.99 01/19/10 Rinne v2 VIZ Media $9.99 01/19/10 Silent Mobius: Complete Edition v2 Udon Entertainment $12.95 01/20/10 Street Fighter IV v1 Udon Entertainment $12.99 01/20/10 Swans in Space v2 Udon Entertainment $8.99 01/20/10 Tears of a Lamb v7 CMX $9.99 01/19/10 The Big Adventures of Majoko v3 Udon Entertainment $7.99 01/20/10 Vagabond BIG v6 VIZ Media $19.99 01/19/10 Vagabond v31 VIZ Media $9.95 01/19/10 Anime Title Publisher MSRP Date Bamboo Blade Part 2 FUNimation $59.98 01/19/10 Bleach v24 VIZ Media $24.98 01/19/10 Case Closed Movie 5: Countdown to Heaven FUNimation $19.98 01/19/10 Code Geass R2 Part 3 Limited Edition Bandai Entertainment $44.98 01/19/10 Countdown: Akira (Hentai) Kitty Media $24.99 01/19/10 Glass Mask: Collection 1 Section23 $49.98 01/19/10 Linebarrels of Iron Part 1 FUNimation $49.98 01/19/10 One Piece: Season Two, Fifth Voyage FUNimation $49.98 01/19/10 Rin: Daughter of Mnemosyne Complete Series FUNimation $59.98 01/19/10 Sexual Education (Hentai) Adult Source Media $24.99 01/19/10 Special A Collection 2 Section23 $39.98 01/19/10 Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: Collected Memories Box Set FUNimation $99.98 01/19/10 Xenosaga DVD Complete Collection (Viridian) FUNimation $29.98 01/19/10   Miscellaneous: Title Publisher MSRP Date Fevered Kiss (Yaoi Novel) DMP $10.95 01/18/10 The Art of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Udon Entertainment $39.99 01/20/10 The Book of Heroes VIZ Media $21.99 01/19/10 Yukikaze VIZ Media $14.99 01/19/10   So, where will your money go this week? Aside from the obvious (Pluto, Black Jack), I'm really thinking about picking up The Book of Heroes-- it's by Miyuki Miyabe, who also wrote Brave Story. I bet John wants to pick up Special A collection 2, also. And I keep meaning to grab ALL the Oishinbo books...so a trip to the bookstore is definitely in order.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Rin Asogi and her partner, Mimi, run a “consulting firm” in Shinjuku. It is all just a front, of course, as the two girls are actually private investigators who specialize in the dark and paranormal. While pursuing a missing cat, Rin runs into Kouki, a mysterious man with his memory erased. But when she decides [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

 Am I on the camera yet? Remember a while ago when FUNimation held a virtual convention panel online, taking questions and answering them on a live video feed? Well, FUNiCon 2.0 has just been announced for next Thursday, December 17th, and this time they're upping the ante with guests. Mike McFarland , the ADR director for Evangelion 1.11 and FMA: Brotherhood and J. Michael Tatum , who plays Lawrence in Spice and Wolf and is also the ADR Director for Rin ~Daughters of Mnemosyne~ , will both be on hand to answer your questions. Oh, right, you might want to know when, huh? Well, it'll be at 6:30pm CST, but they'll be taking the questions BEFORE the online panel, so you have to submit those questions via e-mail by 5pm CST on Wednesday. So, it won't be QUITE as interactive as last time, but they also won't have those awkward times between questions (and poor Rojas won't be scrambling to read through all of them as much as possible). So, who's interested? Or are some of you guys still in school then? I figure it's late enough, but if it sounds like a lot of you want to know what happens but can't make it, I'll do my best to be there and report on it.
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Gore, blood, sex and violence; Mnemosyne puts them all together into one fabulous show!
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

Ooh! The new dubbed trailer for Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (originally titled Mnemosyne: Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi) is up on Funimation's website! Awesome trailer. :D I've mentioned it on this blog before, but I actually didn't finish the show when I watched it as it was first coming out, even though I liked the protagonists- the graphic content got to me. But with exposure to Queen's Blade, Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gautaman, Higurashi's nail-pulling scene, and an extra score of B-horror movies under my belt since them, I may be more tolerant (or callously amused by the excesses? ...or able to make it an episode further than I did before?) and ready to face Rin's infamous airplane scene. ^^; It also probably helps that I'm not expecting "Rin and Mimi's Great Yuri Rabu-Rabu Story!!" Simply bloody, mature (in more than one sense) action with yuri-service. So I'll at least rent Funi's release- and I'll give the English dub a fair shot. Imo, Mimi's voice sounds better (read: older) in English. I was never much of a fan of Mimi's original seiyuu Kugimiya Rie, Queen of Tsundere Voice Acting, although I like her as Touko in Marimite and Alphonse in FMA. And I've settled on this template as my blog's new look, ^^ along with adding a few new links on the side: Shimura Takako, Kaishaku, Ikeda Takashi, and Hibiki Reine's blogs. (Small aside: I love checking out the bonus character art that mangaka post on their blogs. ^^ Although in Kaishaku's case, it ranges from "aww, cute" to "wtf- more catgirls?" to "she's going to have so many back problems later on in life." And Ikeda has some super-cute Sasameki Koto drawings.) Plus, I'm massively happy because I received my Limited Edition Ameiro Kouchakan Kandan volume 1 in the mail today (technically yesterday now)! ^^ It's been out of stock on Amazon Japan...pretty much since its official release day. (The people who pre-ordered received copies.) I initially waited for several weeks to see if Amazon would restock the LE, since Ichijinsha's shop still had it in stock, but it never happened. And I wasn't able to find any Amazon Marketplace merchants for this product who were willing to ship to the U.S. ;_; Even though I didn't like the idea of using a seller, I began thinking that I would have to (but it would be more expensive, ugh)... Luckily, YesAsia got it in stock (and they still appear to have it in stock), so I picked it up from them. ^^ I'll listen to it tomorrow- err, later today, but not now. Need sleep...
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)

It’s that time again. For this week’s image I wasn’t really sure what to go with but in the end I decided on drawing Asogi Rin and Mimi from Mnemosyne. I really enjoyed the friendship between Rin and Mimi. I especially liked how Rin would always ask Mimi for water and instead would giver her [...]
(Read the rest of this entry) (Entry meta)