Kin'youbi Mosaic: 8/2/13 Sols Eater Edition

In this weekly series, I simply talk about whatever random news and thoughts I feel like talking about. Don’t expect a whole lot of serious stuff here. The title is a play on the currently-airing "Kin'iro Mosaic", as "kin'youbi" means "Friday" in Japanese.

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While a number of anime companies are likely preparing all their big announcements for Otakon next weekend, one anime company has news of particular note. Anime Sols is different from other companies in that they specialize in older anime, and more notably, they rely on crowdfunding to raise the money needed to release a series on DVD. Basically, how it works is as such:

1.       They put out a number of old anime titles, and start streaming one episode of each a week for free.

2.       They set a goal for each series (around $20,000) to raise within 2-3 months, in order to release a 13-episode box set and keep streaming the series; a number of pledge packages are offered for people to pledge with. (Note that while this is structured similar to Kickstarter, it is not done through Kickstarter.)

3.       If the goal is met, a 13-episode box set is released, and a new (somewhat lower) goal is set for the next 13-episode set, and the process repeats.

4.       They go back to step 1 and repeat; any shows which failed to meet their goals have their streams taken down at that time.

Anime Sols hasn’t had much success with their first slate of titles, though two of them did meet their goals for their first 13-episode sets: the magical girl series Magical Angel Creamy Mami and Osamu Tezuka’s famous medical drama series Black Jack. Expect the DVDs to be available for pre-order on Rightstuf at some point.

It’s definitely an interesting project, though one with some kinks that I hope get sorted out; their initial slate was perhaps a bit too big and made it somewhat unfeasible to try to support multiple projects (and the titles themselves weren’t that popular), and I wish they could find some way to at least continue streaming series that failed their DVD set goals. Still, on principle, this is a cool endeavor that I’d like to see be successful. If you’re a fan of older anime, why not check it out?

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As for a crowdfunded project that is much more successful, the Kickstarter for Little Witch Academia 2 has met its stretch goal of $500,000 with 5 days to spare. (As of the time this post was written, it is at $516,600, well exceeding the initial goal of $150,000.) For reaching the stretch goal, the Blu-ray release of Little Witch Academia 2 (expected around April 2015) will come with an audio commentary from the staff, and the limited edition of the release will come with a soundtrack.

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Earlier in the week I made a post about Sister Princess and how the show demonstrates how becoming part of a family and learning to care for the sisters caused the male lead to grow up. I also mentioned that my fond feelings for this show and the role it served in my overall anime history is why I am currently watching this season’s Brothers Conflict, regardless of how horrible the show ended up being, simply because the show is essentially the reverse of Sister Princess premise-wise.

On that note, I should mention that by no means does Brothers Conflict (or BroCon for short) display any of the themes that I had noted in Sister Princess. Part of the reason is that the female lead, Ema, is extremely passive and has yet to take any real initiative in caring for her brothers, mostly just responding to whatever they ask her to do. Of course, the fact that many of her brothers are outright flirting with her—one has actually kissed her, and another asked her out—doesn’t help things at all.

So… yeah. Sister Princess might have some gems hidden underneath what looks like trash, but BroCon right now is nothing but trash. It’s trashy in a way that I can enjoy in an ironic, snarking way, but it’s still trash. Who knows, though, maybe it will improve somewhat. I’ll probably do a more detailed comparison of the two series after this season.

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I recently finished Our Home’s Fox Deity, a 24-episode show about a fox spirit that joins a family to protect them from various supernatural forces, and the combination of hijinks and supernatural conflicts that ensue. It’s a show that is definitely enjoyable, as it has a very charming cast that all interact well, and there’s plenty of fun stuff within. It’s not particularly deep, and it has its flaws, most notably in one arc that goes on much longer than others and gets a bit too convoluted with multiple factions involved, but it is overall a good show. It’s not one I’m dying to recommend to others (hence it won’t be in my Hall of Fame), but it should do well if you’re looking for a fairly light-hearted show with Japanese supernatural beings.

If you want to check it out, it is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Next week, "Kin'youbi Mosaic" will become "Topic no Inai Nichiyoubi" ("Sunday Without Topic") as that is Otakon week and I will wait until all the panels are over on Sunday before posting my random thoughts which will inevitably involve announcements from that convention.

2.1 billion brothers and sisters all at once... what would YOU do?

When I saw Brothers Conflict (which has the rather appropriate shorthand title BroCon), the show about a girl who suddenly finds herself with twelve stepbrothers, among the list of Summer 2013 shows, I knew I had to watch it. Even if it turned out to be incredibly stupid (which it certainly did), I knew I’d still enjoy it in its own way. After all, the show was essentially a gender-flipped version of a show that, despite not being particularly well-received among the anime fandom, remains a personal favorite of mine. That anime, in which a hapless young man finds out he has no fewer than twelve younger sisters, is none other than Sister Princess.

The series that started the imouto craze.

(Note that for this post, I will be referring entirely to the first anime series, not the original light novel-esque serialization, any of the video games, or the second "RePure" anime series.

Sister Princess was one of the first anime I watched, around the time I really started to become an anime fan; it was also the first anime DVD I ever bought, mainly because the premise seemed so off-the-wall to me that I had to see just how it’d play out. After a rough start, I ended up enjoying it a lot; the show did flirt with the “forbidden line” but never did cross it, and overall it’s still very much a show about family, and is the show that is responsible for my love of shows about family. (It, along with some other shows, is also responsible for my love of slow-paced slice-of-life shows.)

One thing that is different between this show and BroCon is that in Sister Princess, we never do learn exactly what relation the sisters are to the male lead Wataru. They’re probably not all full sisters, but we don’t know which of them are (if any), which are half-sisters, and which are adopted or step-sisters.

Or, really, if they have any legal sibling relationship to him at all.

That last possibility was one that I had thought of when doing some “wild mass guessing” on this show, which does have a small mystery element to it. That is, what if none of these girls are actually his sisters in blood, adoption, or marriage by parents, but just unrelated girls that have put it on their hearts to view and treat this guy as a brother? (This is, for the record, excluding the thirteenth “sister”, who is established as having no relation to him, that ends up as part of the sisterhood as well.)

It’s a wild theory, but it’s a theory I have for a particular reason: it is most like what happens when one becomes a Christian. Becoming a Christian—which means being adopted as one of God’s children—means gaining approximately 2.1 billion brothers and sisters from all around the world (according to the CIA World Factbook), since all fellow Christians then become our brothers and sisters in Christ. That said, there’s a much smaller subset of these siblings with whom any given Christian will likely be more familiar with than others. Still, looking at it from this perspective, suddenly finding oneself with a baker’s dozen of brothers or sisters actually does sound just a bit familiar, and while these brothers and sisters likely won’t be as affectionate as the ones in anime are, they could be very friendly simply because you are their brother or sister in Christ.

Moreover, the official tagline from ADV Films, “Twelve sisters all at once... what would YOU do?” is no longer just a weird line of advertising; it becomes a reality.

Anime Hall of Fame Induction: Princess Jellyfish

In my Anime Hall of Fame series, I highlight shows that I enjoyed a lot and think are worth trying out. Click the "stardf29's Anime Hall of Fame" tab at the top of the page to see a list of all the inducted anime series so far. More anime series will be inducted over time, and this post will be updated with any new information for this series.

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Princess Jellyfish

Official art. (The girl in front might look familiar if you watched episode 4 of Genshiken Nidaime.)

Kin'youbi Mosaic: 7/26/13 “Little Theory Busters” Edition

In this new weekly series, I simply talk about whatever random news and thoughts I feel like talking about. Don’t expect a whole lot of serious stuff here. The title is a play on the currently-airing "Kin'iro Mosaic", as "kin'youbi" means "Friday" in Japanese.

So, during my Anime Expo post, I noted that Sentai Filmworks announced the first Little Busters! set for release this November, but only on DVD, and theorized that the Blu-ray might come later to account for the delay Japanese licensors usually implement to reduce reverse importation. However, that theory got busted, as they recently announced that the Blu-ray would also be released in November; in fact, both the DVD and Blu-ray are available for pre-order already on Rightstuf.

With only a 3-month turnaround between the last Blu-ray being released in Japan and this first set, that is among the fastest turnarounds for a US Blu-ray release (excluding import releases). Other fast turnarounds include Bodacious Space Pirates (4 months) and Persona 4: The Animation (1 month); the latter suffered for it as the Blu-ray ended up being dub-only. (It is worth keeping in mind, though, that what’s being released in November is only the first 13 episodes, for which the corresponding Japanese Blu-rays finished releasing earlier.)

It is nice to see such a fast turnaround on this series, though I wouldn’t expect such things to be common.

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Discotek Media is quickly becoming one of my favorite North American anime licensors. They recently released the complete collection of Lovely Complex, a show I have wanted licensed for a long time since I first saw it back in 2007. It’s a shoujo romantic comedy about a tall girl and a short guy, and being vertically challenged myself, I could easily relate to the series. I definitely recommend checking it out.

And then, not too long ago, they also announced that they had rescued the license for the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie, and will release it on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014. Now, Cardcaptor Sakura holds the distinction of being the very first anime I watched in Japanese (with English subtitles). I had first been exposed to it thanks to the (rather butchered-up) Cardcaptors dub that aired after Pokemon way back when, and wanting to take another look at it, I stumbled upon the original series and immediately fell in love with it. It’s a show that is in many ways responsible for my interest in anime in the first place, and remains one of my favorite shows to date, so to hear that even a part of it has been licensed again made me ecstatic. I can only hope this will lead to a rescue of the second movie, or even better, the whole TV series…

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This Week's Crossover Fanart: Genshiken x Yotsuba&!

Chika&! Art by Kabaya Kousuke.

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The recent episode of Silver Spoon featured some characters as they went to a horse racetrack. Though main character Hachiken initially doesn’t see the fun in watching horses race, he eventually gets caught up in all the excitement of the race (which is different from thoroughbred racing in that these horses have to pull loaded sleds).

I have gone to the racetrack myself several times, and it is indeed a fun experience. There are two factors that are key to enjoying a horse race. The first is to be invested in a horse; this is why it’s good to bet on horses if possible, even if it’s just the minimum bet ($2 in my case). In Silver Spoon, the characters are too young to make bets (and have no one to make bets on their behalf), but they are still invested in one horse as it is one of the characters’s personal horse. The second key is to go with friends, as a lot of the fun is just in getting caught up in the whole thing with other people (which was definitely the case in Silver Spoon).

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Finally, some sad news as Ryutaro Nakamura, director of shows like Serial Experiments Lain and Kino’s Journey, passed away this Thursday from pancreatic cancer. (He was 58 at the time of his death.) Prayers go out to his family and loved ones.

Summer 2013: What I'm Watching (Part 2)

The second part of my Summer 2013 overview is here. Plenty of sequels are among them, so be sure to check out my Sequel Alert to see what you should watch before diving into these shows.

I must say, I am overall very pleased with this season. Sure, that might be partially because there's a lot of shows that are particularly of my taste, but even discounting all of the "same ol'" that some may complain about, there's plenty to love about this season. And if you really think this season's got nothing for you... well, Attack on Titan is still airing, right? By the way, I'm not following that one, but I do plan on marathoning the second half once all episodes have been aired.

That said, the rest of what I'm following this season is after the jump.

Summer 2013: What I'm Watching (Part 1)

The Summer 2013 season of anime is underway, and what a season it is! I have locked on to no fewer thaneighteen shows that I plan to follow this season—definitely the most I have ever tried to follow at once. (It helps that, because it is summer, certain non-anime shows are taking the summer off to air reruns, giving me more time for anime.) So what are the shows I am following this season? Take a look after the jump for my thoughts on these shows.

Review: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU (Oregairu)

So covering every single episode of this show ended up being too hard for me. Instead, I will use this show as my first official review with a new review format.

For more information on Oregairu, check out the ANN entry for the show.

What it’s about: Hachiman Hikigaya is fed up with his generation’s idea of “youth”, being caught up in every moment as if it could be the next big moment in their lives. Writing an essay saying that such youths should just “drop dead”, he gets sent by his teacher to the Service Club as punishment. There awaits Yukino Yukinoshita, well-known to be the school’s most beautiful girl, who has established the club to help out people with their troubles. Their first client, Yui Yuigahama, who wants help baking cookies, also joins their club as they try to help out more people. Key word: try.

Because asking a group of social misfits to solve social problems isn't exactly a recipe for guaranteed success.

Bottom Line: Oregairu has all the typical ingredients of a high school romantic comedy, except it got cooked in a broken oven, so things do not turn out quite like one would expect. The end result is far from bad, though; instead, we get a show that has refreshing moments of brutal honesty and allows its characters to develop in nice, subtle ways. Grade: A-

Full review is after the jump.