What are you watching?
I was starting to think they had given up on it, but AnimeYoshi finally released a new episode of Allison and Lillia. Yay! Go get it.
Whoever’s releases I was watching of Moyashimon, the series about the kid who can see microbes, ended and I never did see the ending. I nabbed a batch by the BSS group and have been working my way back through them; I just finished ep 5. Man, this is such a weird, bizarre premise. Slow-paced, but sustaining. I’m digging it.
I’m also somewhat ashamed to admit I’ve been watching Nyan Koi, a harem show where the guy also has the quirk of being cursed to do chores for cats, to which he is deathly allergic. It’s actually slightly better than it sounds, and the releases are regular, but expect things like they introduce a new girl by doing a pan up her body interrupted by quick zooms on her crotch, ass and tits punctuated with percussive soundtrack blasts, and then the guy trips and falls into her cleavage and then she punches him and he goes spinning off into space until he disappears with a twinkle and etcetera and etcetera. And I think they had the obligatory onsen scenes in episode three. Actually, never mind… skip this unless you’re really bored.
Recently, via Netflix, I also saw éX-Driver (according to Wikipedia, that’s the proper capitalization/spelling…), an OAV series from 2000. It takes place in a future of electric cars that drive themselves, but can occasionally go haywire and wreak havoc across the city. When that happens, the éX-Drivers come to the rescue in their old-fashioned gasoline-powered cars (inspired by real-world cars of today). It would be merely a middling series were it not for the awesome traditional animation. Let me say that again; it’s a show that features cars (and motorcycles) racing by, taking curves, spinning out, crashing, etc, and it’s all done by hand; no CG, no sir. It’s glorious, and probably the last of its kind (does Initial D use CG? I want to puke every time I see those character designs, so I have no incentive to see the show for myself). There’s also a movie, which I have at home but didn’t get around to watching this weekend.
The ending of Moyashimon is terrible. The show was so good at first - it has interesting characters and a plot that was different, interesting and well presented - but it was like they were making it up as they went along. After a while they realized that they couldn’t think of any plot to tie the whole thing together that went anywhere they wanted to go, so they just threw in a bunch of weird random events that had nothing to do with anything and then ended it. Don’t miss the three episode Microbe Theatre Deluxe (recently released by BBS subs). They are five minute educational shorts featuring the Moyashimon microbes.
Nyan Koi is another I have been downloading but not watching.
Initial D looks like something drawn by an eight year old and the music is extremely annoying, but the story is quite interesting. I heard that the live-action movie reeks.
Update: Re: Moyashimon. The manga has been doing well and ANN just said that it is getting a live action movie for 2010. This week’s Anime News Nina is about the Moyashimon manga.
GrinfilledCelt:
This week’s Anime News Nina is about the Moyashimon manga.
Ah, you beat me. That Robin Sevakis clearly isn’t the world’s best artist, but God, sometimes her punchlines nearly make me pee. It helps that her subject matter clearly lends itself to parody - check out the Melodic Summer Kuu-tan storyline if you haven’t already. I hope she puts together a book of these eventually.
I’ve been watching [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10949][i]Yumeiro Patissiere[/i][/url]. It appeals to me because it’s cute and involves cooking. I have always liked cooking anime starting with [i]Yakitate Japan[/i]*. For this one, they got an honest to gods pastry chef for their technical consultant.
I recently started watching [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10951][i]Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra[/i][/url]. It’s well done, but the story is bizarre, and difficult to follow at first. I haven’t gotten much past that yet, but it shows potential.
*”Hey, Godzilla! Ya kid ate Japan!” Also, I copy and paste some of my posts to various boards. Today I didn’t feel like re-editing it just for this one.
Agree that the ending of Moyashimon was underwhelming - they kinda ended up reaching for Ye Olde Bag o’ Tropes after the summer festival arc, with the exception of the Yuuki thing - at least that part of it managed to keep the bizarre-o-meter up in entertaining levels.
The ending to Nyan Koi was also weak, but it’s a harem anime - what did I think would happen? The kid would finally ask the One True Love out and the other characters would just give up? But kind of odd how they seem to be hinting at/wishing for a second season, even though they wrapped of the whole gimmick of the series in the last episode.
Finally got around to watching the eX-Driver movie; I’ve had the Netflix envelope for like three weeks now. I was kinda disappointed to start it up and see my lovely wonderful hand-drawn everything go right out the window… now most of the cars and scenery in driving scenes is all in video-gamey 3D. Ah well; still mostly entertaining, despite having significantly less charm.
Bleach Episode #255
HUGE SPOILER!
Crap!
Even though it was just filler, the Zanpaktou arc was a good story. They ended it with this episode and left me thinking, “Oh good! Now they can get back to the Arrancar Battle.”
But noOOOooo!
With the preview at the end of the episode, they dash any such hopes. Without telling much about what they will be doing they come right out and rather humorously tell you that they’re aren’t going back to Las Noches yet.
This new season isn’t turning out to be as dreary as it seemed. There is some watchable stuff after all.
The one I’m really enjoying is Durarara!!.
Ryuugamine Mikado is a boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro. Masaomi has warned him about people he doesn’t want to cross in the city: a champion fighter, an informant, and a mysterious gang called “Darazu.” Nervous from Masaomi’s stories, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Turbans will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will pushed to the breaking point.
It’s well done by the same people who did Bacchno!.
Nodame Cantabile: Finale continues to be as entertaining as ever. Going to hate to see this one end.
Take the girls from K-ON!, put them in the Army and stick them in some backwater post and you have a fair idea of what Sora no Woto is about, but that’s actually a good thing. I like this show a lot it’s well done with a good story and without being too moe.
After a cease-fire during a long war. A second-class Bugler soldier, Kanata Sorami, is reasigned to her new outpost to a stronghold Fortress in the little city of Seize, where other female soldiers reside to serve in a multi purpose task, 1st: maintain the fortress, 2nd: contribute to the traditions of the city since all are young females and the folklore tales that the young maidens keept a demon under control, and 3rd: also to be prepared in case of a non probable attack due to the isolation of the city.
Katanagatari is another good one. It has a simple but striking artistic style, interesting characters who interact amusingly and a captivating story.
This story takes place in the Edo era where Yasuri Shichika is the seventh head of the Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts living in Fushou Island with his sister Nanami. With the order from a female samurai general Togame, he sets out for a trip to collect the twelve treasured swords created by a legendary swordsmith Shikizaki Kiki.
That “Kyotou school of Japanese sword martial arts” is a sword less school of swordsmanship. I can’t believe they left that out. It’s kind of important. Since he doesn’t use a sword, he is immune to the ill effects of wielding these special swords he is supposed to collect. That’s why he was the one picked to do it.
The rest of the stuff I have been watching is pretty mediocre. Anyone know of anything good I’m missing?
I’m skipping fanserbs this season. (Why is the OS X spellchecker not flagging “fanserbs?”) But thanks to Netflix and the interents, I’m not really missing out on animoo when I fell the urge to partake. The latest in my string of Netflixed-old-skool-aminu is Genesis Climber Mospaeda, the story of a human soldier born in space who comes to Earth and builds a gang from the downtrodden Earthlings as they try to reclaim Earth from the alien force who occupy it. He rides a motorcycle which transforms into a mobile suit as he’s riding it. WAEOME. No dub, though - this was one of ADV’s “let’s license everything we possibly can and release it into the American market as quickly as possible and worry about how we’re going to profit from this later” releases.
And via Bandai’s official Your Tubes channel, at the insistence of an IRL friend, I’m watching Code Geass. The plot is kinda complicated, but basically a country called Brittania (northern France?) now occupies much of the world, including Japan. This high school kid named Lelouch, for reasons not yet explained, gains the power to alter peoples’ minds. He’s a Brittanian living in Japan, and he’s also secretly the Brittanian king’s son, and apparently he has pretty severe daddy issues, so he decides to use his power to help organize and rally the Japanese resistance forces in their guerilla warfare against the Brittanian occupiers. The whole thing takes a bit of a suspension of disbelief to follow (how can this pampered high school brat be such a tactical genius, and how come I’m up to ep 15 or so and he hasn’t once used his power to get laid yet?), but the political stuff and the battles between the resistance groups and the Brittanian military are kind of cool (they both have mobile suits, of course… (Quandry: If a mobile suit moves by “driving” on wheels on the bottom of its feet, then what’s the point of it having legs in the first place? Why isn’t it just a tank?))… but the problem is that, as the series goes on, that stuff has become more and more rare in proportion to stupid high school drama stuff (in another step of unbelievability, Lelouch is continuing to go to high school through all of this) involving love polygons and kidnap plots and amnesia (oh God, amnesia) and CHASING A CAT FOR HALF AN EPISODE. This is definitely one of those series which seems to be spreading thirteen episodes of plot across two twenty-six-episode seasons. But I haven’t given up on it yet. (Also, the dub is lousy and the character and costume designs are weird, but the lack of CG on the mobile suits and other mecha is noted and appreciated.)
I got Season 3 of Avatar the other day, which completes my collection. I’ve just finished rewatching Season 2, so it came just in time. I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW. I loaned my copy of Season 1 to aforementioned friend, but I’m getting vibes that, perhaps like me with her choice, she’s not really digging it.
I love you dearly, AB, but it’s so amusing when you start talking about shows everyone else was talking about last year. Adult Swim just finished showing both seasons (52 episodes) of Code Geass for crying out loud. What’s next on your list? Death Note? (It should be if you haven’t seen it yet.) You know, there’s this really cool old show called Cowboy Bebop…
Fansubs are free, AB. That’s what I’m talking about. I was using the fact that it was on AS to illustrate how old news it was. AS is merely a chance to see (often badly) dubbed versions old shows. If you’re concerned about piracy, don’t share them and delete them after you’ve viewed them. I’m in the same financial boat as you. My dvd player is broken and I can’t afford a new one. I have cable because four other housemates are helping me pay for it.
I wasn’t too impressed with the dubs for either of those shows, fil. Try watching the subs. I wonder if the fact that subs force you to pay full, never-looking-away attention has anything to do with why so many people prefer subs? In spite of the prevalence of bad dubs, I’m sure that is part of it.
I think I’m kinda done with fansubs, though, barring something astounding which it looks like will pass into history without ever being licensed (like that vaguely steampunkish series about the airplane pilot girl which, dammit, I can’t remember the name of at the moment). Sure, there’s the legal gray area issues, but more than that, there’s the fact that there’s just so much content available on DVD and streaming services and sites now just waiting to be watched, no time- and CPU-consuming torrenting necessary. Yeah, in the case of the streaming services, the video quality is not as good, but it’s good enough for something I’m probably going to only watch once. And I do generally prefer dubs when they’re available, something I can sometimes get with streams and usually get with DVDs. I’ll still look forward to your and others’ posts to see what fansubs you’re enjoying, but unless it’s something which looks truly awesome, I’m going to be a lot more inclined to skip it than I was in the past.
Okay, so licensed stuff is “old” in the sense that I could have seen it months/years ago if I watched the fanserbs instead. That doesn’t really take that much out of the enjoyment, though. As I started to say in my last post before stopping mid-sentence but then posting it anyway for some reason, Mospeada is twenty-six years old, nearly as old as me, but despite that, or maybe even partially because of that, I think I’m enjoying it just as much, if not more, than a bunch of kids in 1985 watching a non-subbed seventh-generation VHS copy of a staticky broadcast recording of it on a tube TV in a stuffy basement of their college library while the one kid in the group who’s taken Japanese 1B fails miserably at translating the dialogue in real time.
The reaction to some of the domestic aminu industry to the fansubbing/piracy “problem” has been to flood the internets with so free and easy-to-get legit stuff that the pirated stuff looks less appealing in comparison. In my case, it’s working - I just hope they’re ekeing enough of a profit out of the advertisements for bathroom cleaner I have to watch halfway through each episode of Code Geass on YouTube that they can keep it up.
Albright:
I got Season 3 of Avatar the other day, which completes my collection. I’ve just finished rewatching Season 2, so it came just in time. I. LOVE. THIS. SHOW.
Except for the “The Beach” episode, which I’m watching right now. It’s like stupid lame emotastic out-of-character fanfiction that got turned into a canonical episode somehow.
Albright:
(like that vaguely steampunkish series about the airplane pilot girl which, dammit, I can’t remember the name of at the moment).
Oh, duh, it’s in the OP - Allison and Lillia.
Albright:
Albright:
(like that vaguely steampunkish series about the airplane pilot girl which, dammit, I can’t remember the name of at the moment).Oh, duh, it’s in the OP - Allison and Lillia.
Oh, that one. Could have been Last Exile.
Re Your previous post: That makes sense. As long as you don’t mind being behind the curve, but hey, if it’s new to you… Stick with your fancroats, as long as they float your boat. The fanserbs sometimes seem more like work to me too.
Sora no Woto episode #4: After a somewhat weak beginning, I like this show more with each release. There is much wisdom in this episode.
You might like this one, AB. It’s vaguely steampunkish. In addition to what I wrote above, it takes place in a town/society that seems like the turn of the last century or maybe up into the Fourties. There has been a long war and technology seems to have back slid. A sub plot is that they are trying to repair an old battle tank/mecha, which looks very high tech, without any high tech support.
Well… Perhaps the characters were under certain definitions of “moe” - I wouldn’t say so, because they both had both the will and the ability to do more than have tea parties with their BFFs all day - but I wouldn’t say the show itself falls into that genre, inasmuch as moe is a genre for entire shows now.
Is it? I always thought that moe described a particular type of character.
We’re not really not all that far apart on this. Moe for the sake of moe with nothing else behind it is boring as hell. I’ve been meaning to mention that shortly after our conversation a few pages back about Hidamari Sketch. I came around to your viewpoint on it. I was early into it at the time and had assumed that some sort of plot would develop, but it never happened. They just sat around talking girl stuff and being cute. It got to be real work to watch it and I couldn’t begin say why I kept doing so.
I probably gave you the wrong idea when I said, “Take the girls from K-ON!…” Yes, Sora no Woto has some moe characters but that isn’t all there is to them or this show. I really like the music in this; the backgrounds are rich, interesting and detailed (check the trailer I linked); and the story after four episodes is intriguing with a lot of possibilities. I recommended this show to you based on stuff you said you liked in the past.
Three, eh? Okay. After all that, I hope I’m not wrong and you do like it or else you’ll never pay any attention to my recommendations again. I probably wouldn’t bug you about any of this if I had some other adults to talk to about this stuff. … Hmmm…maybe that should tell me something. =0D Anyway, I’ve been watching the YuS & m.3.3.w subs, not that I have any particular preference.
Oddly, Carlo Santos at ANN just did a review of Hanamaru Kindergarten (which I would not recommend to you, AB, although I enjoy it.) wherein he goes off on a mini-rant about the moe garbage of late:
Somewhere along the way, the anime industry’s sense of cute went horribly awry.
Gone are the days of adorable animal mascots and endearing side characters. Cute has been consumed by a virus, a virus consisting of teen and preteen girls who will graft themselves onto any genre that might possibly sell one more special edition DVD, one more figurine, one more body pillow. Little girls with guns. Little girls with magical-spiritual powers. Little girls as military aircraft. Little girls who can alter reality (but without realizing it). A funeral for the Death of Cute was held in Spring 2009, with Yui Hirasawa, Mio Akiyama, Tsumugi Kotobuki and Ritsu Tainaka presiding.
Then he just goes on about how this one does it right.
GFC, you ignorant slut.
Okay, let’s talk about what a moe anime is; the genre as it’s come to be defined, and what makes it so wholly upalatable. The features of a moe anime include;
A main cast consisting entirely of girls, teenaged or younger. Adult females may be permitted if they behave like teenage girls or younger. The girls are probably all BFFs by the time the series begins, or become so as the series progresses; but at no time is their friendship ever tested or become strained.
Any male characters will be either there for pure comic relief, or be incidental characters which perhaps play a more-than-periphery role in a particular episode, but then are rarely or never seen again. Never shall they be main characters, and never shall they be romantic interests.
The primary and immediate goal of all characters is to do cute things. Given the choice between doing something logical and something cute, between something funny and something cute, between something not fatally dangerous to themselves and/or those around them and something cute, they will do the cute thing.
An extraordinary amount of time will be spent showing the characters eating and/or drinking tea, and discussing the things they are eating and/or the tea they are drinking.
There shall be no episodic or overarching danger which cannot be solved by simplistic means, usually involving the power of friendship. By no means shall the characters encounter a problem which must be solved by struggle, practice, or patience.
There shall be no real humor.
Those last two are the real important ones. Azumanga Daioh features an all-girl main cast who don’t really have to struggle against anything and do a lot of cute things, but at least it’s generally funny most of the time. Sailor Moon features a main cast with cutesy girls, but there is at least one male main character to serve as a love interest, and the girls are generally fighting for their lives against the universe’s biggest evil every episode.
But Lucky Star is a moe show. K-ON is a moe show. Hidamari Sketch is a moe show. And this goddamn shit Sora no Woto is a fucking piece of shit moe show.
Do you remember when whatsherface in K-ON wanted that really cool guitar in the guitar shop, but couldn’t afford it? The un-moe thing for her to do would be for her to buy a cheaper guitar instead, and learn to play it wonderfully, and learn a lesson about how sometimes the most expensive things in life aren’t really the best; or maybe she would leave the store empty-handed, and we’d see a montage of her getting a part-time job(s) and working hard for several weeks until she could afford that cool guitar, learning the value of hard work in the meantime. No, instead, her friend whose parents own the store basically tells the clerk to give her the guitar at the price she could afford to pay, even though it was likely at a loss for the store. Problem - and problem immediately solved by her BFF’s position. Likewise with the main character in this series - she sucks at trumpet. But no need to practice hard to get better or anything like that - no, instead we’ll get a brief lecture from a grumpy old man who basically tells her she’s trying too hard, and she goes outside and tries again and she’s fucking Louis Armstrong.
No conflict. No intrigue. No comedy. No mystery. No struggle. NO FUCKING STORY!
GFC, you ass, you and your anime choices are so full of fail, it’s off the scale. How can you watch this shit? Over and over, just cartoon girls being aww, adowabuwww and nothing else? How bored are you? Damn, and people tell me I need to get laid. The next time you want to recommend an anime series to me, go eat a dick instead. And also, tell your mother I’ll get her the check on Tuesday.
If it was so awful, how come you watched the fourth episode? I have not seen moe defined anything like that before. It must be convenient for you to define terms any way you like, if a bit confusing for people you talk to.
You must have also worked very hard at totally missing the story so far. Here’s the way they have been foreshadowing the story: Just about the time they have the tank mostly repaired, the enemy will make a push deep into their territory and these six women will have to defend the town. Using their rare and powerful tank they will hold off the invading army and defend the town until the main army comes to the rescue. The girls will be national and local heroes and will receive many honors - posthumously.
Yawn! A typical moe ending, right? I’m very bad at predicting where stories will go, but if it doesn’t shake down something like that and nothing happens at all as you think, I will be as pissed off as I was at the end of Evangelion. I may even join you in hating all things moe forever.
EDIT: I also wanted to say that I totally agree that after that well presented and solid advice, having her suddenly capable of blowing like Harry James was one of the stupidest things ever.
GrinfilledCelt:
If it was so awful, how come you watched the fourth episode?
I promised to watch three, but there were four available, and you were raving about the fourth previously, so I gave it a chance.
I have not seen moe defined anything like that before. It must be convenient for you to define terms any way you like, if a bit confusing for people you talk to.
I merely listed common themes I have seen amongst shows generally regarded as being in the moe genre.
You must have also worked very hard at totally missing the story so far. Here’s the way they have been foreshadowing the story: Just about the time they have the tank mostly repaired, the enemy will make a push deep into their territory and these six women will have to defend the town. Using their rare and powerful tank they will hold off the invading army and defend the town until the main army comes to the rescue. The girls will be national and local heroes and will receive many honors - posthumously.
You’re… You’re just making that up, right? I haven’t seen that foreshadowing at all. The war is over, and it was stated in one of the eps that the territory they’re guarding isn’t even bordering enemy territory, but a “no-man’s land.” I’ll be surprised if an episode comes along in which they ever have to actually fight a battle. I mean, the episode where Perky and Grumpy go searching in those barracks for the ghost… How adowwabuww that the gunner is completely incapable of handling a firearm in a safe and effective manner. Man, if that platoon of airheads is all that’s protecting that village when the war starts up again, those villagers are fucked.
EDIT: I also wanted to say that I totally agree that after that well presented and solid advice, having her suddenly capable of blowing like Harry James was one of the stupidest things ever.
Perky in K-ON was also able to master the guitar in an unrealistically short amount of time, but at least we saw her friggin’ practicing at it.
Albright:
I have not seen moe defined anything like that before. It must be convenient for you to define terms any way you like, if a bit confusing for people you talk to.
I merely listed common themes I have seen amongst shows generally regarded as being in the moe genre.
I don’t generally regard it as any such thing and as I said before, you are the only one I have heard this from (not that I am in communication with lots of people about anime lately.)
Albright:
You must have also worked very hard at totally missing the story so far. Here’s the way they have been foreshadowing the story: Just about the time they have the tank mostly repaired, the enemy will make a push deep into their territory and these six women will have to defend the town. Using their rare and powerful tank they will hold off the invading army and defend the town until the main army comes to the rescue. The girls will be national and local heroes and will receive many honors - posthumously.
You’re… You’re just making that up, right? I haven’t seen that foreshadowing at all.
Yes, I made it up based on clues you missed because you were too busy scowling about how moe it all is. I admit that lot of that is just how I would finish it up, but it doesn’t come from nowhere.
Albright:
The war is over, and it was stated in one of the eps…
Yes, they mentioned the armistice and ending of the draft in the opening scene of the first episode. An armistice is merely a cession of hostilities, a truce, not a formal end to a war. We have a truce with the Norks but the Korean War has not ended. We’ve only agreed to stop shooting at each other for the time being. So far this has been the case for over fifty years.
Albright:
… that the territory they’re guarding isn’t even bordering enemy territory, but a “no-man’s land.” I’ll be surprised if an episode comes along in which they ever have to actually fight a battle.
Yes. Actually, they are far from the front, deep in friendly territory. I’ll bet that in 1864 Confederate soldiers posted in Atlanta thought that they had nice, safe, cushy jobs, too. The following year Sherman came and burned the place to the ground. That’s why I said that I anticipate an enemy push deep into their territory.
Albright:
I mean, the episode where Perky and Grumpy go searching in those barracks for the ghost… How adowwabuww that the gunner is completely incapable of handling a firearm in a safe and effective manner. Man, if that platoon of airheads is all that’s protecting that village when the war starts up again, those villagers are fucked.
Aside from the fact that I have no idea what you mean by “adowwabuww”, this seems to be the most interesting point that you missed. I’m sure that you noticed that that wasn’t a barracks. It was a modern school. The fact that they mistook it for a barracks at first tells me not only that these girls have never attended such a school, but their civilization is sliding down the technological ladder. This ties in with the fact that poorly trained, teen aged girls are not unusual as soldiers and that they must locally produce tank parts. I believe the tank is a relic from early in the war, and that the country no longer possesses the infrastructure and know-how to produce them. I also believe that this is true of their enemies, else they would have overlords instead of an armistice. Which is why I think that if they can get the tank up and running they just might be able to hold off an enemy attack since the enemy won’t have any such powerful machines.
So, you see, I didn’t just make that up. It’s based on foreshadowing in the show. Will it turn out that I’m right? I doubt it. Who ever said that anime was logical? The good ones are, but even so, I’d probably still be wrong. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see - or at least, I will.
I’m also growing fond of the music in this show. The OP and ED songs are okay, but some of the background music is very good. You could also at least tell me that I was right about the quality background art. SO I will never again recommend an anime to you that is the least bit moe. Just shows like Shigurui: Death Frenzy.
I’m sure that you noticed that that wasn’t a barracks. It was a modern school. The fact that they mistook it for a barracks at first tells me not only that these girls have never attended such a school, but their civilization is sliding down the technological ladder.
You’re right; I forgot about that part. I suppose there’s a post-apocalyptic vibe there which is interesting. Nonetheless, that possibly interesting stage was trounced upon by teenage girls cutely but ineptly chasing after the show’s highly merchandisable mascot character.
So of that phase of watching a whole bunch of fansubbed stuff that I’m now over, the two which I remember most - which have really stuck with me - were Allison and Lillia and Library Wars (sorry, Michiko and Hacchin fans). In Japan, there are two comics based on the series, one shoujo (targeted for girls) and one shounen (targeted for boys). Viz has recently announced they’re going to release the shoujo one stateside. Even though I’m the wrong age and gender, I might check it out anyway; hopefully it will spearhead more Library Wars stuff coming stateside. What I’d really like to see are translations of the original novels, but I’m not holding my breath.
