Categories
Anime Music

Nodame Cantabile OP Single: Allegro Cantabile = Awesome Art!

allegro-cantabile.jpg

I haven’t bought this single or anything, but I felt the need to post this simply because the cover art is freaking awesome. It’s got the Suemith guy in a mirror image with Nodame doing the weird Nodame face! I wanna commission someone to draw a picture of me and Nodame too! And maybe throw in Stevie Nicks as well!

I actually wish I played piano so I could make weird faces while I play, like Nodame! It’s not really possible to play trumpet and make weird faces at the same time (not the same kind, at least), though I do play on the side with a weird embouchure, so maybe that counts.

I may end up buying this single just for the album art. I just ordered the second volume of the Nodame Cantabile manga from Amazon, too. But buying domestic stuff sure is easier (and cheaper) than importing…

Categories
Manga Review

The Recipe For Gertrude Vol. 1 – Manga Review

the-recipe-for-gertrude-1-cover.jpg

The Recipe For Gertrude is not a cookbook, but a manga. And here I was thinking I’d be able to cook for Gertrude. Or cook a Gertrude…

Categories
Manga Review

Aoi House Vol. 2 – Manga Review

aoi-house-2-cover.jpg

The Aoi House antics continue in volume 2, with more parodies, otaku references, and drama! What? Drama!?

Categories
Manga

I Figured Out Why The Lucky Star Anime Isn’t Funny…

lucky-star-1.jpg

It’s because the source material isn’t funny. I just read a translation of the few pages of the Lucky Star manga. The 4-koma did not inspire a laugh, chuckle, or even a grin from me.

It’s like the episode of Seinfeld (yeah, I know I already compared Lucky Star to Seinfeld) where Elaine goes to the New Yorker and tries to get them to explain their comics. She eventually finds out that the comics are in fact, not funny. The guy just likes the kitty. The same goes for Lucky Star, except that instead of a kitty, it’s that girl that sorta looks like Pleinair

This makes me especially sad, since those yuri-repurposed 4-koma that we saw in anticipation of the actual Lucky Star anime were comedy gold.

Categories
Manga Review

E’S: B – Berth Vol. 2 – Manga Review

es-2-cover.jpg

I’m going through the ABCs of E’s with volume 2, titled “B – Berth.” Will E’s get all the way to Z? Nope. The Japanese manga has stopped at volume 12… That’s only L!

Categories
Anime

Viz Media Licenses Honey and Clover Anime

hachkuro.jpg

So I got this press release from Viz Media. It looks like they licensed Honey and Clover, unless I’m reading the release incorrectly:

HONEY AND CLOVER – 26 episodes x 30 minutes

HONEY AND CLOVER, is a funny and sad story where unrequited love finds its beginning in two love triangles…

College life is a good time, full of energy, promise and friendship. Sure, students are poor and live in old, small apartments, but they’re in college – a time when happiness is based on all the little things in life. But add love to the equation, and things start getting quite complicated! Roommates Yuta and Shinobu are in love with Hagumi, a cute transfer student, yet none of them have any clue as to the others’ feelings. And Ayumi’s in love with Takumi who’s in love with Rika who’s still in love with her late husband. With so much love to go around, why is everyone still single?

HONEY AND CLOVER began as a manga in 2000, generating a buzz that started with bookstore clerks and expanded to eager online chatter. Attracting an audience of teens, HONEY AND CLOVER expanded into anime, music, laughter and fashion.

This is pretty awesome news since Honey and Clover is one of my favorite anime.

Categories
Manga

“You Got Manga In My Math Book!” “You Got Math Book In My Manga!”

manga-math.jpg

Word from ComiPress is that there’s a new math textbook in Japan that makes use of a whole lotta manga:

The story of manga begins with 5 students picking up a textbook. After the students tear out a page of the book by mistake, the Greece mathematician Archimedes appears and proceeds to take them to various times and places, such as the Great Pyramids and palaces in Europe, where the students are met with math challenges from different types of people, including a man from the European palace a Native American and a samurai. The students are not allowed to return to their own time until they understand the solution of the math problems contained in the book.

This sorta reminds me of that Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land cartoon that I used to watch when I was a kid. I dunno, though, the plot for this math book sounds kind of lame. I can’t believe I just evaluated the “plot” of a math book…

I remember my college Japanese language textbook, Nakama, having a whole lotta manga sections. That made more sense, though, since the actual reading was part of the process of learning.

Categories
Anime First Impressions

Lucky☆Star – Anime First Impressions

Lucky Star 01Lucky Star 02Lucky Star 03Lucky Star 04Lucky Star 05Lucky Star 06Lucky Star 07Lucky Star 08Lucky Star 09

Lucky☆Star is out! This is the new Kyoto Animation anime that’s based on a 4-koma manga, as everyone and their mom probably already knows. The hype levels have been through the roof since it was announced, but can a 4-koma anime really be that awesome?

Categories
Anime

Why I Don’t Want The Lucky Star Anime To Air

animal-yokocho.jpg

Simply put, because during the short periods of time that Kyoto Animation anime aren’t airing, a.f.k. subs Animal Yokocho. And Anime Yokocho is an awesome anime. That’s all.

Categories
Anime First Impressions

Nagasarete Airantou – Anime First Impressions

Nagasarete Airantou 01Nagasarete Airantou 02Nagasarete Airantou 03Nagasarete Airantou 04Nagasarete Airantou 05Nagasarete Airantou 06Nagasarete Airantou 07Nagasarete Airantou 08Nagasarete Airantou 09

Nagasarete Airantou is sort of like Gilligan’s Island, except an anime version. This means less Skippers and Professors, and more Gingers and Mary Anns! Sounds like a good change to me!