January 19th, 2010 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 19: “Sergeant Major Kururu”
Run Time: 47min 39sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Kamen no Maid Guy
Kamen no Maid Guy is a dude I could totally hang out with…if he weren’t so damned intrusive about my underpants. He is a cyclone of might and aptitude–a man (or perhaps a Klingon) that can wear many hats. Though in this show, he wears a maid outfit.
Is this show about his walk across our world, facing the demons that plague the Earth? Or is it a chronicle of his staunch dedication to his mission: To protect his master at all costs?
NO. It’s another show about goddamn boobs and panties. Thanks, Japan. And thanks to you jerks who eat this shit up.
Oh, shit. He's got attack crows!
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January 12th, 2010 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 18: “Loves Fire, Hates Monkeys”
Run Time: 53min 16sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Guin Saga
The Guin Saga took over 30 years and 130 volumes of novels to only now be adopted into anime form. The tragedy of that being its author, Kaoru Kurimoto, passing away before seeing her vision somewhat realized. It’s like Ray Charles dying just before being able to see his own movie. Oh, wait…
Our hero, Guin, can’t remember who he is, where he’s from, or how he has the head of a leopard. But he does remember one thing: How to kick everything’s ass.
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January 6th, 2010 by The Grey Ghost
Dear Funimation,
I don’t know if you actually heard my plea, but thank you for getting on that.
Your pal,
-The Grey Ghost
Posted in anime | 2 Comments »
December 29th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 16: “Inner Child Abuse”
Run Time: 53min 58sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Beast King GoLion
Beast King GoLion has to be one of the most brutal, savage cartoons ever to come out of Japan. And yet, it’s a freakin’ children’s show!
If you grew up watching Voltron, the original GoLion from which it’s derived is much more mature–great to watch now with adult eyes, but don’t you dare show this to your own kids! The show’s heroes and villains alike indulge in the pornography of violence and cruelty.
Those of you who idolize Voltron in your nostalgia, prepare to have the pillars of your childhood shattered from under you.
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December 3rd, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
I was doing some online window shopping with a craving for FLCL. I enjoyed watching the show when it was on Cartoon Network, but never got around to buying the series on DVD. This is mostly due to the series being split into three $30 volumes, with two episodes per volume. Surely by now the box set will be available at a discounted price, as with most other anime.
Alas, no. FLCL’s been out of print for a few years now; its box set (new or used) selling for upward to $150. Maybe I should have bought it when I had the chance… And a few extra copies to profit from later!
After some research, I’ve learned that the company that holds the FLCL distribution license in the USA has pulled out of American distribution. This leaves the possibility of future releases of FLCL in limbo.
So here’s my plea: Could someone please get on that? It’s perfectly obvious that the previous print runs of FLCL were insufficient in meeting demand since there is a large enough market willing to throw down a C-note or more to get a hold of one of the remaining copies. FLCL is a valuable property and would be well worth some other distributor’s effort to acquire its license.
The key, of course, is that once an American distributor possesses its license, they mustn’t sell the complete series set for more than $20. $60-75 for a 6-episode series ain’t gonna fly. But selling a highly acclaimed product for $15-20 a piece and it will sell through the roof.
Square-Enix figured this out with Final Fantasy Tactics and Chrono Trigger. Capcom figured this out with Marvel Vs. Capcom 2.
If this can’t be sorted out, it only encourages anime piracy. Publishers can’t honestly cry foul on piracy for costing them DVD sales when they refuse to produce DVDs to sell.
I make similar arguments for downloading old video games. I’ll illustrate using Red Earth (aka Warzard) as an example:
Me: Hey, Capcom… I want to legitimately play Red Earth. Let me buy an arcade cabinet from you. I could buy a used one, but you might still moan about not making money from that.
Capcom: We can’t. We don’t make them anymore.
Me: Fair enough… Well, how about you produce a port of the game that I can play on a modern console? I would gladly pay the standard retail price for it. Or a cheaper, download-only version will do. I know a large community that would join me.
Capcom: Nah, we’d rather not bother with the expense of producing it. Sorry.
Me: Okay, now who is really keeping you from selling this game? Me or you?
I always discourage piracy of existing products. I like for people to profit from a good product with the hopes they invest that toward more good products in the future. But if a company refuses to sell a product then I call abusing previous releases to be fair game.
Otherwise it would be like your neighbor charging you with theft for pulling an old bicycle out of their dumpster. He wasn’t doing anything with it (in fact he pretty much abandoned it!), so you’d might as well use it. But if he wants to sell the bike and you ride off with it, then it’s stealing and preventing a sale.
Posted in Business, Games, anime, rants | 2 Comments »
November 11th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
I’ve been watching Toradora! for the past few weeks, with great surprise that I actually like it. I didn’t expect as much going in, but the show’s quickly grown on me.
The show’s about a group of high school kids and their touching, yet lighthearted daily drama. The front runner is a girl named Taiga Aisaka; a girl who, despite her unripened stature, is a complete firecracker. There are love triangles, devious schemes, and the usual wacky hijinks.
There’s one thing that’s missing from this show: Stupid moé lolicon bullshit. This may be the reason why I’ve come to enjoy it so much. By not giving in to the ridiculous epidemic of gratuitous fan service, the show has to rely on its substance to stay afloat. The humor is genuinely funny and it does evoke the nostalgia of when I was a teenager; a time when the world was still filled with discovery and aside from petty melodrama, I didn’t have any real problems to stress over. Ah, good times…
The best way I could describe Toradora! is that this is the type of cartoon that I would look forward to watching in the afternoon after just getting home from school (or work). It’s that refreshing first breath of escapism after I walk through my front door, now sheltered from the grueling world outside.
The opening theme song is pretty catchy, too.
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November 7th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Tasha, Ren, Saya, and Marina as the Vocaloid Nurses
Vocaloid is a voice synthesizing software that’s hit it big in Japan, with great thanks to its series of mascots. Naturally, they’re subject to a great amount of cosplay. Here we have four lovely ladies assuming the roles of Miku, Meiko, Rin, and Luka in sexy candy-colored nurse uniforms.
For some reason, I have a sudden craving for Fanta. Grape Fanta…
Posted in Cosplay of the Week, anime | No Comments »
October 13th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 05: “The Shit Hits The Fan Service”
Run Time: 60min 10sec
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Feedback? Send an email!
In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Bashquash!
You know, Bashquash! is almost a good idea. Giant robots playing basketball. But then boobs happened…and it kept on happening.
We only caught the first four episodes of this show, but curiosity has piqued to where we plan to watch the series through to the end in the future. It’s the kind of show that is so right, yet so wrong. God dammit, Japan!
Posted in anime, podcast | 2 Comments »
August 22nd, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Kipi as Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion
Can you believe it’s taken this long to post a pic of Kipi? Let’s face it, Kipi is one of the most popular cosplay models on the scene because of her deep, beautiful eyes and pinch-able apple cheeks. Her photo shoots as Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion are some of my favorites.
It’s probably taken this long for me to post a Kipi pic because I’m more concerned with her fan following than Kipi herself. She looks younger than she actually is and I’m anything but cool with the lolicon crowd.
Posted in Cosplay of the Week, anime, cosplay | No Comments »
August 12th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Last week, the first episode of
Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs were offered up for free on the PlayStation Network. It originally aired in the United States back in 1987, presumably to cash in on the growing popularity of shows like Voltron. It’s not until these 12 years later that I’d even
heard of the show, but that comes as little surprise since it is not any good.
Saber Riders is a localized version of the Japanese Star Musketeer Bismark, another drop in the bucket full of sentai shows. It’s the usual formula: Aliens invade, costumed superheroes go to work, form giant robot, monster-of-the-week explodes…hooray!
What strikes me about this show is how the theme of the characters’ archetypes were changed in the localization process. In the United States version, we identify with the characters by their occupation: The knight, the race car driver, the cowboy, and the girl.
However, in the original Japanese, they’re identified by nationality. In fact, you’ll notice that each character’s costume bears the flag of their nation of origin. So Japanese audiences recognized the characters as the British guy, the Japanese guy, the American, and the girl (oh, she’s French). And of course, the Japanese character was the leader, where the Brit lead the charges for the Western audiences.
Oh, Japan… It’s one thing that we have to water down a cartoon so that it’s less violent for American children to digest. But it’s sours the ordeal just that much more when we have to make the cartoon appear less racist. Luckily that filter has been much more forgiving for more comical cases of racial stereotype, as seen in Punch-Out! and G Gundam.
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