Hige vs. Otaku

No summary this week because I don’t have the time. I wanted to keep doing summaries in a more abbreviated fashion but it’s too time-consuming, even when I strip them down to the fundamentals. Now that I’ve started university again I’m going to streamline most of my posts, else they just won’t happen at all. This means no more summaries for Naruto. I can’t think of many alternatives for those who rely on them to follow the storyline, but there’s countless scanslations released each week and they’re pretty easy to come by. Plus, reading the actual comic is infinitely more entertaining than reading my convoluted regurgitation. 

Anyhow, to the Thoughts. Initial thought: ~AWESOME~ (valley girl style). Shikamaru works his cognitive magic, puts everything together and scuppers Hidan’s devious plans. Granted, we sussed most of this as it happened, but having some the additional clarification helped. I’m also glad Shikamaru finally got some legitimate spotlight. The prospect of him being merely Asuma’s support felt strange, seeing as he’s always been one of the most prominent supporting cast. There certainly was no way Asuma could’ve done won without Shikamaru’s Superior Brain Techniques.

Well, won this round, anyway. Engage Shonen Jump conventions and we find, apparently, Hidan & Kakuzu plan to get serious next chapter. I wonder how many times they’ll get serious before the fuckers die or we get some kind of conclusion. Either way, it looks like the Niju
Shotai are somewhat screwed now the pair are working together. Utilising those old power rating skills we all developed from reading Dragon Ball Z forums in our youth, it’s fair to say that if either Shikamaru or Asuma get disabled in some respect that the rest are goners.

It’s inevitable that the sense of impending doom lingers over these unbalanced fights (with the good guys always pulling through, sickeningly) but this time it seems fairly certain that unless the tables turn, they stand no chance. It’s kind of refreshing to be so convinced of a negative outcome; though it could work against the storyline if Kishimoto pulls some completely outlandish crap in order for a happy ending. That isn’t his style, though, so I’m betting on a bittersweet conclusion instead.

Suggestive innuendo be damned: Asuma’s weapon ‘extension’ was damn cool. Supplemented by the fact that he used it to decapitate Hidan. Aggravatingly, it didn’t actually kill him (but presented a rather cool two page spread of it happening), so his invulnerability becomes all the more mysterious. Often, taking out the head is usually a dead cert in killing immortal type people completely. Maybe in his transformed state Hidan’s tolerance for lethal attacks is higher? He took those two knife wounds while he was normal, but perhaps a decapitation in that state would’ve killed him entirely.

This was a fun chapter; solid Naruto entertainment. There’s not much emotional involvement in this battle yet, but then the stakes haven’t really been raised to their highest. Once the life and death stuff starts to get underway, in terms of dramatic tension rather than lame costume changes, I’m sure the full potential of this fight will be realised. Hopefully not at the cost of a certain beardy idol, though . . .

Director: Kouchi Chigira
Production: GONZO
Publisher: Geneon
Region 1 NTSC

Packaging

The box set entails seven skinny DVD cases encased in a sturdy cardboard outer-case with everything plastered in beautiful new Range Murata artwork. Really, I think these thinpack releases represent the ideal in DVD packaging for me. They house entire series of shows without occupying half a shelf and look sleek and sophisticated while doing so. It certainly doesn’t hurt when you have fourteen new bits of painted artwork by anime’s hottest character designer, either.

In terms of outer-packaging there’s nothing I can really criticise. There was a spot of damage on the actual box, but I’ve dealt with worse when importing and it’s no bearing on the product itself. It’s quite robust and exceptionally pretty, which makes spending the extra bit of cash all that easier.

Internally there isn’t much cause for annoyance either. The DVD lithography is slightly bland and looks a lot like those CDRs you put your coffee cups on, but they’re uniform and suit the streamline ethos of the package. The artwork on the inside of the DVD sleeves deserves special kudos for providing detailed blueprints of all the aircraft in the show. I swear I wouldn’t have understood what the Exile ship actually was without those supplemental notes. It’s a lovely covert extra and it contributes more to an already winning product from Geneon. Top quality stuff.

(more…)

I agree with deftoned: people need to blog more about their current
gaming exploits. One of the main reasons I never specified HvO as an
anime blog (rather a more generalised ‘Japanese stuff’ blog) was so I
could just do that. There hasn’t been much recently because I bagged a
review job at a legitimate games review site (Gamers Europe), so
everything I’ve written about games has been posted there and about
stuff I probably wouldn’t buy myself (none of which have been Japanese,
either). 

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Summary

Asuma and chums continue to face-off against Hidan, completely perplexed by his invulnerability. The usual good-guy mission statement occurs and Asuma enquires about the whereabouts of Hidan’s partner. Queue Kakuzu’s dramatic entrance, appearing suddenly behind Shikamaru and going in for the kill. Shikamaru evades, but consequently interrupts his Kagenui jutsu and Hidan exclaims excitedly. Asuma, shielding Shikamaru with his knives drawn, quickly orders Kotetsu and Izumo to back away and they do so, leaving the two blades still impaling a volatile Hidan. Drawing his weapon, Hidan demands that Kakuzu doesn’t interfere and proceeds to draw out a religious symbol on the floor with his blood. An anxious Asuma quickly formulates a full-on attack plan and Shikamaru warns that it’s too risky, and very much unlike Asuma. Pulling a face that unnerves Shikamaru all the more, Asuma demands that there’s no other choice. Izumo suggests a retreat in order to formulate a better strategy of attack and Asuma explains that this kind of foe wouldn’t allow such to happen without major upset. Hidan removes the two blades from his sides and, with Shikamaru at the ready, Asuma launches his attack. After some rather nifty acrobatics, avoiding the Kagenui, Hidan throws one of the blades at Asuma and he cuts it in two with his knives. This is rapidly followed by Hidan’s rope weapon, which Asuma mostly deflects except for a small cut on his right cheek. Trying a different approach, Asuma uses an explosive fire jutsu. Landing back in his religious symbol, Hidan licks the blood from his weapon causing his hand (and body) to turn black with white markings reflecting his bone structure. The fire jutsu hits with full effect and it seems only to burn away part of Hidan’s cloak, while causing serious injury to most of Asuma’s right side. Asuma is completely bewildered by how his attack was reflected in such a manner and Hidan is fully revealed with his skin having transformed into some kind of skeletal armour. He explains that his ritual will now begin and they will both share some exquisite pain together.

(more…)

This episode was a good example of a trippy existential story done well. Much in the same way as episode nineteen it remained obtuse without being entirely confusing and hard to follow. The circumstances were strange and not particularly linear, but there was rarely a WTF moment without some kind of explanation. I’m not suggesting it was a bog-standard kill-the-Proxy episode, not at all (has there ever been one?), but it offered an enjoyable mindfuck that did the usual Ergo Proxy procedure of suggesting tiny hints of a broader picture within a more standalone story.

In a lot of ways I respect the route manglobe have taken with these Proxy show-downs. There’s definitely been highs and lows with each, but they’ve avoided the whole monster-a-week scenario so common in anime. Obviously, this would be far more successful if the audience had a blind bit of understanding where and why these take place, but assumption is fun with something so pretentious. Be it a blessing or a curse, it also makes the anticipation/expectation for the conclusion all the more vital.

This episode’s Proxy, guising herself as retcon’d member of Real’s life in Romeadu, a mental health advisor ironically, attempts to persuade Vincent into killing Real by creating an entirely fictional situation where the trio have arrived at Romeadu and Real has betrayed Vince (now purely Ergo Proxy, restrained safely by Dedalus) and Pino (hidden away for her own protection, though viciously bitter about Real’s betrayal) and created a new personality within herself, Normal Vince, out of guilt. Kinda like a dream within a dream, the episode paints a convincing picture of Real suffering from some kind of schizoid psychosis because of what she has done and Vincent, the only real aspect of the whole situation, is led to believe he’s the only unreal aspect and must put a stop to it.

Pretty freaking confusing to explain, but surprisingly easy to grasp as everything is revealed when you watch. The Proxy’s relationship to Vince/Ergo is briefly suggested to be romantic; Swan implying a degree of resentment towards Vince’s genuine love for Real as she’s discovered.

Pino’s part to play is again really curious. She’s not a key figure in the story but her expressions like ‘Real-Real’ immediately alert the viewer to possible deceptions. Pino is usually the pillar of stability when all this puzzling illusion stuff starts to happen, but this time she’s also a victim of Swan’s fabrication with her first appearance (when Real takes Swan to see her) seeming totally out of character. Later in the episode, when Vincent meets her, she seems her old self again, using her clue-giving phrases, but one disturbing thing about the latter encounter is her willingness to kill Real. It’s hard to say if it’s just another Swan deception to cement her will on Vince or Pino being genuine loyalty to Vince and his wishes. When the episode ends and reality is restored (we assume, urgh) Pino isn’t present so it’s difficult to say if she truly ‘existed’ at all in the fantasy. It’s implied that the whole thing took place inside’s Vince’s head, so it’s probably better assume she didn’t at all. It was an entertainingly cheeky double-bluff, though.

Technically speaking things looked and sounded pretty solid. There were a number of occasions where the animation was a bit skewed with the usual awkward expressions and suchlike (especially with Pino), but it didn’t greatly undermine what I thought to be a fairly beautiful episode.

Conclusion
I enjoyed this quite a lot, and I also respect its rewatch value (retrospect makes things much more conventionally enjoyable the second time). It’s becoming more and more difficult to ignore the lack of grander explanations with the ending being so very close, but I’m not ready to dismiss Ergo Proxy as a total write-off just yet. The challenge it offers still holds a lot of value to me and aesthetically I really love its style. I won’t deny the disappointment if it doesn’t offer some tangible conclusions with the final episodes, but again I’ve enjoyed the ride enough to name Ergo Proxy as a fond favourite of the year. I’m also totally relieved the damn episode didn’t live up to its distressing title. That was just mean, manglobe.

Summary
Asuma and Shikamaru continue their detachedly affectionate conversation, but Asuma warns his Niju Shotai comrades that his concerns over Chiriku are more an issue of potential danger rather than sorrow over his death. Kakuzu continues his chat with the disgusting corpse man, explaining that, as much as he hates him, Hidan is the only person Kakuzu can team with. This is because Hidan is ni impossible to kill and Kakuzu is a short-tempered old fucker who tends to murder anyone who annoys him, so they serve as a good match. Naruto continues his nature manipulation training and inadvertently releases part of the Kyūbi, causing Yamato and Kakashi to drop a bollock. Yamato releases his wooden idols, they subdue Naruto and Yamato warns Kakashi of the possible damage this might be doing to Naruto. Kakashi explains their lack of options and Yamato grudgingly accepts. Asuma & co launch a surprise attack on Hidan and initially seem to succeed, but with our previous insight into Hidan’s invincibility the chapter ends on a rather ominous disdain from Hidan as he dismisses the two blades jammed in his sides.

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With all the ruckus in my life at the moment blogging has been pushed into guilty neglect and I apologise for the lack of activity here. I’m still looking for hosting, or rather still haven’t contacted Maestro yet, but I intend to keep posting up to the point I officially move. I made the positive life decision to shut my WoW account after just one month (it serving as just a momentary summer diversion), so I’m reducing all the distractions that occupy my m’internet time. University doesn’t start for a couple of weeks and I intend to get back to my usual grove before I’m buried with numerous literature type objects (books, apparently).

In the mean time, here’s a wee catch up review of the shows/books I’ve done (done good):

Nausicaä (the manga): Fuck me. I finally bought the final two volumes of Miyazaki’s decisive work and . . . fuck me. Wow. I’ll save further insightful thoughts for a forthcoming overview of the whole series. I think I need to read it again and again until the day I go blind.

Ergo Proxy episodes 17, 18 & 19: Conversely: WTF. There’s no disputing that Ergo Proxy relishes in being quite the conundrum, but episode 17 specifically felt poorly made. Poorly told and painfully obtuse even though rather important things happen in it. 18 wasn’t as horrendous (even if Moscow was an epic anticlimax) and I actually enjoyed episode 19 (the intensely creepy ‘Smile Land’ episode – almost matching the Jeopardy episode in bizarreness). Initially I felt ready to throw in the towel with 19 and officially admit Ergo Proxy has totally lost its coconuts, but the whole ‘it was just a dream *oooh~*’ didn’t ruin it. In fact I felt quite redeemed by the outcome – if only because it didn’t further pound on Ergo Proxy’s already tenuous dignity. Plus, Pino is simply uber-ninj in these latter episodes. We also got a few interesting developments on the Cogito virus too, even though I’m unsure how Pino could infect auto-raves by being a spectral-like presence. Perhaps gaining a ’soul’ transcends physical interaction and only requires a ghost of a little girl in a bunny suit with a cute smile. Ergo Proxy logic is awesome, ain’t it?

Naruto: Nothing massively consequential has really happened since I stopped doing the weekly reviews (which restart with 322 in the coming days). That could easily be my bone-idle rationale, but this whole volume has been pretty light on major plot points. We got some sexy beardy Asuma time and Naruto is training up a new move to smack Sasuke around, but otherwise . . . eh. Honestly, I think that horrendous Sakura scene has soured my whole opinion of this arc. I’m naturally loyal to female characters in anime/manga, even when they’re blubbering fools like Yamada in Honey & Clover, but that was just totally misplaced and seemed like a poor attempt at adding a human touch to a fairly rigid story arc. Chapter 321 had some pretty classic Kakashi moments, admittedly, and I approve of there being more light-hearted humour in Naruto. It’s been taking itself so seriously for so long that much of it falls flat, but I still condone its revival. Kakashi is such a freaking pimp.

Honey & Clover II: God damn it, even when I’m fully aware H&C has done so much better in the past I still can’t maintain composure with these Hagu The Cripple episodes. I’m just a tool. There’s no other explanation. Who knew I would actually grow to like Hagu because she didn’t whinge and start crying. She’d shoot up to Favourite Character if she’d get up and just punch that screaming little brat. It’d clearly be worth the extra months of physiotherapy. And it’s hard to deny the endless amounts of pity I have for Takemoto. No one seems to take the poor guy seriously. Even Shuuji doesn’t consider him competition and look what an empty husk of a man he is these days. As much as I feel for him, I’m still undecided who should get to bag Hagu. Not Shuji, obviously, because it’s not the 1600s anymore and not even Japan can get away with messed up shit like that, but both Morita and Takemoto have really likable traits. Only two more episodes to wait and find out, I guess!

Okay, that’s me done for now. More traditional blogging very coming soon!

P.S. Those recent Evangelion announcements fill me with bone-chilling dread. You’d think a film called END OF EVANGELION might suggest a certain sense of finality for the franchise . . .