Magical girls? Yeah, okay, whatever. Even if Sailor Moon was my first and only, I don’t have a problem with magical girls — but my opinion towards the genre probably wasn’t necessary to factor in anyway, considering everyone was liking Madoka because it was “different” from what you’d typically expect from a magical girl series.

But the first two episodes bored the hell out of me. I didn’t see anything different. It wasn’t bubbly and shoujo enough to be typical magical girl, I guess, but it wasn’t groundbreaking in any way or even halfway intriguing. The characters were flat and uninteresting, wholly good and moral. Homura was a question mark, but did not provide a lot of excitement. Kyuubey was creepy though. Clearly he has an ulterior motive! The collage element in some scenes were kind of neat, but not neat enough for me to watch on that basis alone. And boy, was that opening theme fan-pandering or what.

So I thought about dropping because hey, when was the last time I actually ended up liking a series that I almost dropped early on? Oh, right, never. (The only halfway case was when I almost dropped Dennou Coil near the midpoint because it was slow, but I wasn’t bored at the beginning of the series.) But I was goaded into watching episode three because it’s such a short series anyway, and episode three was the first instance of Puella Magi Madoka Magica being different.

(Spoilers for the entire series beyond this point.)

Well, I guess one of the girls dying horribly when a monster witch thing bites her head off is kind of unexpected, yes.

But even still, the series didn’t seem to pick up. There is drama, but the characters continued to be flawlessly moral with every bit of negativity justified with a tragic and uninspired backstory, and I just didn’t care. Here is another series that failed completely at getting me to sympathize with the characters. All of them could have died and it wouldn’t have been interesting because I wasn’t emotionally invested at all. It might have been a little surprising, but it wouldn’t have been interesting. The backdrop for the series is not unimaginative, but without characters that didn’t suck, none of the events mattered to me.

The terrible wishes all of the characters were making also annoyed me. I mean, really, guys. First rule of wishing-making: say it right. It isn’t like you have a time or 140-character limit. The show isn’t even hinged on interpreting your wishes wrong, and it was established that Kyuubey isn’t really trying to trick you. You can be as specific as you want, right? If you’re selling your soul to the creepy white alien bunny, you should at least make sure that you get exactly what you want in return. Who’s to say you can’t have a compound sentence in there too?

We didn’t hear Sayaka’s wish specifically, but really? You wished his hand magically perfectly well again, but not his legs? I get that his hand was more important and that his legs were probably gonna heal anyway, but come on. We’re making miracles here! Kyoko’s wish is forgivable, I guess, since she was depicted as very young at the time. But Madoka’s? Man… Madoka, you could have fixed everything, but you didn’t. (More on this below.)

I was ready to drop it again around episode nine. At that point, I would have been fine if someone had just spoiled the rest of the series for me. It’s always a bad sign when I stop caring about spoilers. I normally hate spoilers, no matter how minor. But man. It’s such a short series. Twelve episodes! Just three more to go. How bad could it possibly be? And maybe I’d get some pay off finally?

So fine, I watched ten. Ten revealed a lot of things. Ten also made me make instant comparisons to Higurashi, which I had (surprise!) dropped for boring the shit out of me. (Umineko, too.)

Episode ten did make me care a little more about the outcome of the series though. With Homura’s motivation finally clear, I could almost kind of care about whether she succeeds or not! And I love time shenanigans. Time shenanigans are cool. But time shenanigans also opened the floor to a bunch of questions and possible plot holes:

1. What was the contractual wish of original!Madoka if current!Madoka is having such a hard figuring one out?
2. Is Homura actually retconning/rewriting all previous timelines by physically traveling back in time?
   1. But that doesn’t make sense since she never meets a younger version of herself.
   2. Kyuubey implies that she’s been traveling into parallel universes, but in this case, she’d still need to deal with duplicate versions of herself??
   3. It’s conceivable that she’s merely transferring her consciousness into a past/alternate version of herself, but in this case, I feel like her physical skills/prowess wouldn’t transfer as smoothly.
3. Other than Homura’s knowledge of previous timelines, is anything else changing between timelines?
   1. Obviously, because Madoka is apparently having her fate twisted by the universe?
   2. And also, if nothing else had changed, Madoka would already be a magical girl in each timeline since she’s already one when she meets Homura and it’s implied that Homura restarts at the same place every time.
   3. Not knowing what Madoka’s contract wish was originally (since they hadn’t met at that point), I’m not sure how Homura could go about preventing Madoka from making that original contract. I guess Madoka could have told her, but
   4. Given all this, why does the mere fact that Homura is messing with time screw up these other things?

I didn’t expect the series to actually answer any/most of these. It’s actually pretty easy to be forgiving with timefuckery plot holes because it’s such a complicated plot device. But seeing as this turning point reveal was the only thing I found interesting in a series full of disappointments and that it took ten damn episodes to get there, well.

My brother had been amongst the people singing praises for the series and had specifically recommended it to me. He was disappointed that my final thoughts were basically “MEHHHHHH.” We usually have similar tastes, but it seems that every time we disagree, it’s me disliking a series that he likes. Rarely does he dislike a series that I like. He went through my MAL to make sure. The following is the conversation I had with him on Facebook about the conclusion of the series, and then the series in general. It’s unedited except to replace our names and his profile picture.

I like to think I won that debate. :3

Originally, I was on the over-ambitious bandwagon and planned on watching and reviewing all three of their possible choices in time for Christmas. Obviously this didn’t happen. I ended up going with Place Promised mostly because it was the shortest. I still kind of intend to watch the rest of Tatami Galaxy eventually, but the longer I wait the more I feel indifferent to it. I’m not sure that I’m ever going to get around to Gunslinger Girl unless someone gives a particularly passionate recommendation.

But here is the review for Place Promised. And here is the MAL mirror.

Merry Christmas!

(this review does not contain spoilers)

Though the film’s opening narration had me skeptical for a few minutes, I warmed up to this re-imagining of Rapunzel very quickly. Disney has had a long history of exceedingly well-done adaptations of classic fairy tales. Short bedtime stories become involved, delightful, and memorable adventures with lively characters and thoughtful execution. Tangled is no exception. What does the average person know of the Grimm brothers’ classic? A girl with long hair is trapped in a tower. But why? I don’t think many would remember. But Disney starts it off right — the “why” comes first; the “girl with long hair” comes later. And I found myself somewhat surprised at the end of Tangled’s dramatic introduction. We have a princess, a villain, and a hero, but their relationships with one another felt fresh and unique, at least in the context of the story of Rapunzel.

In retrospect, the mother-daughter relationship Mother Gothel imposes on Rapunzel should not have been surprising — evil stepmothers is as old a tradition as princesses — but that Rapunzel did not resent her from the very beginning gave it a dimension it might not have otherwise had. Rapunzel believes that Gothel keeps her in the tower for her own benefit and safety and that her desire to escape the tower is selfish. More than anything else, this makes Rapunzel easy to relate to. She has glorious, magical hair, and she is a princess stolen from her kingdom… but she is normal and vulnerable and human because she loves who she knows to be her mother and doesn’t want to break her heart by disobeying.

Gothel’s own selfish intentions are made obvious to the audience from the start, and as the movie progresses, she has some fantastic one-liners to really drive in that point. In songs like “Mother Knows Best” especially (yes, this is a musical), she phrases acceptably protective sentiments in rather devious and sinister ways. That Rapunzel cannot see through the witch’s words sets the stage for an eventual, powerful reveal, but in the meantime, the tension and dramatic irony is great!

Flynn Rider is the humorous antihero and reminded me a little of Aladdin. A manipulative thief, he is nonetheless good-willed and likable… in part due to his blatant willingness to facilitate jabs at the fourth wall. Despite his less-than-heroic origins though, Flynn’s personality does not stray far from the role he needed to fill, and his overwhelming good makes it difficult to doubt his motives, even when they’re called into question. Still, his interaction with the other characters are great and make for some hilarious exchanges. Rapunzel saves him just as many times as he saves her, and the conflicts he has with both Maximus the horse and Pascal the chameleon lead to the best laughs of the movie. Flynn is your typical bad boy gone good, but the archetype is handled well, and Tangled certainly benefits from it.

The supporting cast, especially aforementioned animals, is great. Really, there isn’t much to say beyond that. They are awesome, hilarious, and have very endearing personalities. Perfect for animal mascots! …Or crazy, intimidating, manly thieves hiding out in the forest! They were kind of cute too.

All of the technical aspects of the movie are excellent. The animation was smooth and lively, and it certainly proves that great movies exist in both new and old techniques and technology. The way Rapunzel’s hair was handled in general was a lot of fun to see, considering the huge challenge it must have been. Yes, it came in variable lengths depending on the practicality of the scene, but still! It was a real treat to watch it flow and move and glow. I did not watch the movie in 3D, but I have actually heard good reports about it. I suppose it’s inevitable that the 3D trend work its way up to something worthy of paying a few extra bucks for though.

Disney’s vocal talents are always top notch, and here, Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel), and Zachary Levi (Flynn Rider) do not disappoint. The guy who does all of Maximus’s horse neighs and grunts should also get top honors — they were wonderfully expressive and conveyed the character’s sentiments exactly. The songs are charming, fit with the flow of their scenes, as well as the dialogue they’re bookended with and Alan Menken’s score.

“When Will My Life Begin” is basic introductory fare, but does well to set the stage for the rest of the movie, and Moore does a great job sharing the emotion and hopes of Rapunzel. “Mother Knows Best” is creepy and conniving in the best sort of way. “I’ve Got a Dream” is chorused by some of the most amusing minor characters and set in a really fun scene in general — a little like Mulan’s “A Girl I’m Fighting For.” …And “I See The Light” is beautiful, both musically and visually — it’s one of the most gorgeous scenes in the entire movie, and something Rapunzel has made the audience emotionally invested in wanting to see. (Also, I am a sucker for pretty duets.)

As the story progresses into the late game, Tangled conforms more with fairy tale sensibilities. The characters fall in love (in a day). The villain reveals herself. The hero is tasked with rescuing the maiden. It’s a children’s movie after all, and Rapunzel is a fairy tale. But by then, you have long since become attached to the characters, and it didn’t really matter that things became a little predictable. It helps that the execution doesn’t slack off at all — the emotional tension leading up to the final confrontation is great and wonderfully dramatic. Even knowing that it will turn out all right by virtue of being a Disney movie, there is a moment where you really do worry.

Overall, Tangled is a very fun movie and I highly recommend it to everyone. It’s something both adults and kids can enjoy. The story has all of the great quirks that make Disney fairy tales unique, and the characters are engaging in ways that make you really want them to succeed. I was pleasantly surprised, especially after last year’s Princess and the Frog was only “okay.” It is entertaining and moving in a way I haven’t seen from a Disney movie in a while, and only the outrageous ticket price of movies these days deters me from seeing it again in theatres.

The DVD was licensed for R1 distribution by Geneon and released in 2006. I’m awful about getting around to things on my massive to-watch list, but despite being out of print, the DVD’s price has been steadily declining on Amazon for ages (an indication of suckage?). So finally, at less than five bucks, I figured, oh, why the hell not. (And even then, after it arrived, it sat on my desk for three weeks until I got around to it.)

(this review contains minor spoilers)

Since HYDE’s involvement was the only reason I wanted to see the movie, I didn’t find out until considerably later that this was actually an adaptation of a three-volume Ai Yazawa manga of the same name. I thought this pretty interesting since HYDE and Yazawa later collaborate on the theme song for the first NANA movie, but I guess Japan is a pretty small country.

The story opens with a girl named Mizuki Mochizuki (Chiaki Kuriyama) finding out that her long-time boyfriend, Tomoki Anzai (Hiroki Narimiya), had been cheating on her with her best friend. Pretty typical teenage drama. Wandering home angrily, she is lured into a creepy house by a melody she didn’t think anyone else knew and finds a strangely familiar and mysterious man named Adam (HYDE) playing guitar. Pretty typical teenage drama with supernatural hints! Adam’s introduction provides obligatory intrigue, but I was distracted by lack of realism. I did not find it at all convincing that a girl wandering alone in the dead of night (with one shoe and a bleeding foot) would enter a (creepy) house uninvited just because she hears a familiar song. Even if she’s never met anyone else who’s known the song, shouldn’t she at least knock?

Mizuki’s interactions with Adam the night they meet do not amount to much more than “what’s your name?”, and little can be gleaned about their relationship from their brief interactions. But a day later, it seems she’s decided to move in with him. A week after that, she’s ready to move out of the country with him. Even on the rebound of a nasty break-up, and even with that “unexplained” feeling of familiarity, this feels a bit extreme. After she makes this decision, things get weirder and more interesting; unfortunately, they also get more frustrating.

Having not read the manga, I have nothing to compare to, but I do suspect that the events that unfold did so in a more understandable manner in the source. The storytelling is incredibly choppy and poorly paced. Scenes drag on in silence, only to shift abruptly to something seemingly non-sequitur. This is one of my biggest movie pet peeves and it seemed to happen constantly in Last Quarter. One minute we’re on the streets of Shibuya and the next minute we’re in an ethereal forest. To be fair, this confusion was probably intentional to an extent as many things make more sense in retrospect, after certain facts revel themselves, but I feel like scenes could have been threaded together in a way that flowed much better.

The story itself is a bit convoluted, and once I stopped being confused, I lost interest very quickly. It difficult to sympathize with the characters, as is almost always the case when there are characters “in love,” but there is nothing that really demonstrates this. Mizuki’s attachment to Adam is not really her own; the familiarity that possesses her belongs to someone else, but even that someone else gives me little reason to sympathize with her longing. The same can be said of Mizuki and Tomoki’s romance. Why does she keep forgiving him if this is apparently not the first time he’s cheated on her? Tomoki’s angst at the possibility of losing Mizuki is also unconvincing, considering this promiscuity.

I just can’t take the movie’s word for it that they are “in love.” I need to be convinced! I need to see why they care about each other, miss each other, need each other. But Last Quarter is too busy showing me clips of Mizuki and Adam playing the same melody over and over again on piano and guitar to do this. The schoolchildren that get caught up in the mystery are more vehicles to move the plot forward than characters themselves, but their curiosity is one of the few things that feel genuine in the entire movie.

For the most part, the acting doesn’t really help either. Supposedly, HYDE turned down the role at first saying that he is “a musician, not an actor.” I could not agree more. HYDE is a fantastic singer and guitarist, but his demonstrated acting abilities in this movie are abysmal. He was cast for his fame, nothing more. It’s perhaps lucky that Adam, despite being pivotal to the plot, does not actually appear on screen often and did not have more than a dozen speaking parts in the entire movie. He spends most of his time staring awkwardly back at whoever is talking to him or otherwise hiding out in trees, playing guitar. When he does speak, it’s as if he’s reading cue cards, and there is rarely any emotion behind his voice — shocking from a vocalist who often delivers very emotional lyrics.

Of course, by comparison, Chiaki Kuriyama, who is most known Stateside for her role as Gogo in Kill Bill, does an infinitely better job. But that is mostly by comparison. Unfortunately, Kuriyama’s portrayal of Mizuki is also lacking in the emotional sincerity needed for a convincing performance. This is in spite of the ample opportunity she has to demonstrate — Mizuki yells and throws things and runs away, but her feelings are always expressed more through her actions than her words, her voice, the more subtle things. Her portrayal just feels very typical, I guess. Alongside HYDE, that is more than enough, but in the grand scheme of things, it is decidedly unimpressive.

On the other hand, Hiroki Narimiya did a great job as Tomoki. In fact, I think he did a better job than the character deserved. Despite never seeming remorseful of his betrayal of Mizuki in the first place, Narimiya’s portrayal of Tomoki, especially later in the movie, was distraught and full of suffering. The emotion he expressed made me feel bad for the character, even though logic told me he didn’t deserve sympathy. Deservingly, after Last Quarter, Narimiya goes on to be cast as Nobu in NANA and NANA 2, as well as Morita in the Honey and Clover drama series. The two kids that end up helping out, Hotaru and Masaki, are pretty standard. They are bland in that purely innocent and well-intentioned sort of way, but the acting was solid enough and they do their jobs. The same could be said for the rest of the supporting cast.

“THE CAPE OF STORMS,” a single off HYDE’s first solo album, Roentgen, is Last Quarter’s theme song — it is the familiar melody Mizuki hears the night she wanders into the creepy house. Naturally, the melody is repeated ad nauseum throughout the movie. Adam plays it on his guitar. Mizuki plays it on the piano. Bits of the official music video for the song intercut parts of the movie. It plays in the background of many scenes. I was never a big fan of the song and HYDE’s Engrish is rather unintelligible, but “THE CAPE OF STORMS” is a nice enough tune. All the same, I definitely wish it didn’t make up the entire score. The emotional relevance of the song to the characters isn’t really revealed until the near end of the movie, but the failure of Mizuki and Adam to draw my sympathies means the song doesn’t have nearly the same impact as, say, “glamourous sky” did in NANA.

The special effects in the movie were predictably awful. It obviously wasn’t a big budget film, but I still could have done with out the terrible glowy and transparency effects for ghosts. These weren’t even hilariously bad! They were just bad.

In the end, Last Quarter failed to really engage me in anything. The story had potential, but the lack of sympathetic characters, underscored by poor acting, made it hard for me to care about the outcome of their circumstances. The music was repetitive and its relevance somewhat forced. The original manga was probably much better, but this movie adaptation doesn’t make me curious at all. HYDE’s performance as Adam was extremely disappointing, which is somewhat surprising considering I expected it to be bad. But again, his role in Moon Child the year prior was decent and I suppose that did instill a bit of hope. What happened here? Lack of interest? He didn’t want the role to start with and had to be convinced. Was his friendship and camaraderie with co-star and fellow J-rocker Gackt the only reason he did well in Moon Child? And yet, I don’t regret buying this movie just to watch him fail and if HYDE ever acted in another movie, I would probably buy that too. /fantard

So basically there’s really no reason to watch this movie unless you’re 1) a fan of the manga and want to see how this turned out, 2) a fan of HYDE and want to see how badly he fails when he isn’t singing or playing guitar.

I can’t say I’m terribly fond of the album art, but I guess I’m not really here to review that part…

There are ten tracks included on the disk, and as I don’t know about half of them, I went and listened to the original versions of the unfamiliar songs ahead of time. A majority of the tracks are pretty oldschool and a majority also have female vocalists. I’m not quite sure which subcategory of anime fan Ellison is aiming for with the selection, but I imagine that licensing issues severely limited his choices for this album, and given that, the variety isn’t terrible.

As always, when I review music, they are just “first impressions” and I write what immediately comes to mind my first time listening through the album. Since it’s a remix album, I’ll pause a bit more between tracks to compare to the original, but it’ll be harder for the ones I’m not familiar with, even if I did listen to them beforehand. To be honest, I tend not to like remixes of songs I like, even when they’re official, but sometimes they manage to make the original better, so we’ll see! But whatever, let’s go~:

TRACK 01: “Catch You Catch Me” (Cardcaptor Sakura) — INITIAL P, feat. TOKI

A disembodied female voice announces the first track and reminds me vaguely of SARA, a co-host of Toonami back in the day. Lapse into some very energetic beats before introducing the vocals… TOKI’s voice is cute and handles the lyrics well, but feels a bit monotone against the continued energy of the accompanying music. The beginnings of the verses relay a nice innocent energy, but as each verse progresses, the slight, apathetic monotone returns. This kind of fits with the original song, but considering the source was much more lax in energy, tempo, and tone, I’m a little conflicted with halfway transition.

The remix is much more upbeat! But the vocals do not reflect this, and she sounds a bit too tsundere. Nevertheless, TOKI’s voice is strong, clear, and consistent, and definitely carries the song through to the end, even as the background beats get a bit repetitive as we round the four minute mark. It’s a good song, and I think it stands well on its own, so even if you’re not familiar with original, it’s enjoyable. Hell, it may be more enjoyable that way.

TRACK 02: “Sobakasu” (Rurouni Kenshin) — INITIAL P, feat. DIANA GARNETT

Starts with a lot of stuttered repeating. You’ll forgive me for my total lack of familiarity with DJ terms because I’m sure there’s a specific word for it. Trademark techno beat starts up quickly enough and some really sweet vocals go with it. There isn’t as much going on in the background here as in the previous track, but while the vocals feel a little muted, the energy and emotion is much clearer. Diana Garnett demonstrates some really beautiful high and sustained notes leading into the second chorus and — oh, hey, slight warbles definitely make it more interesting to listen to. More of the stuttered repetition as we move into the bridge, as well as some suspenseful scales for tension. Garnett’s sustained notes near the end are especially nice, even if the higher ones get a bit close to the height at which it starts to hurt my head.

Another good song though. Knowing the original “Sobakasu” a bit better actually made me appreciate it more since I think this remix recaptures a lot of the same energy and sincerity, as well as the slight nostalgia associated with the series. DJ and vocalist compliment each other very well here, and I’m looking forward to this next track…

TRACK 03: “Zankoku na Tenshi no Te-Ze” (Neon Genesis Evangelion) — INITIAL P, feat. DIANA GARNETT

A little unrecognizable here in the beginning… ah, there it goes. Intro is pretty liberal, but it’s still “Cruel Angel’s Thesis.” Garnett’s vocals continue to impress, especially considering how quickly some of these lyrics are going. Her pronunciation is spot-on and her energy again matches very well with the accompanying beats. I’m actually really enjoying the remixy bits here just because they are so different from the original while still retaining what it needs to be the same song. The bridge is lovely and maintains enough variety to keep things interesting while gearing up for the final verses… Aw, it seems that the final verse, chorus, and half-verse are abbreviated considerably. It’s a little disappointing to not have the grand finale of the song, especially since it’s my favorite part.

All the same, this was an excellent track. I am thinking this album would be a great asset to anime cons and clubs hosting raves and dances since a popular complaint is that people want to play popular anime themes, but many of those themes aren’t really meant for dancing to. This solves all those problems!

TRACK 04: “Heart of Madness” (Fist of the North Star) — INITIAL P, feat. YOSUKE

Another song I’m not familiar with, but it starts off as manly and foreboding as I’d expect it to… Vocals are nice! They resonate really well and the music does well to punctuate the Engrish words and phrases, making them more impactful and manly! Laser sounds in the background create the feeling of some kind of epic battle, and a high-pitched half-echo adds to the oddly spacey feel. To be honest, it is kind of easy to lose yourself in this song and just bounce along to the manly beat, haha.

TRACK 05: “Delicate ni Sukishite” (Creamy Mami) — INITIAL P, feat. TOKI

Starts off pretty wacky and tangy. I’ve never even heard of Creamy Mami before this, so this is a pretty blind dive in, but ahhhh, TOKI’s vocals are much more adorable here than in “Catch Me Catch You.” They’re still a little apathetic in parts, but the voice is just so moe. <_< The contrast between very energetic music and slightly off-putting (but still moe!) vocals is less stark as well, and I almost get the impression this is some little girl singing karaoke in front of a crowd in an oddly deadpan way. Like she knows she has incredible talent, but just doesn’t care enough to smile when she sings or dance or anything. She is just up there, singing with a blank expression, and it still sounds amazing. As we ease into the final chorus though, the ends of her notes feel a little more genuine, or at least like she cares.

TRACK 06: “Theme from Lupin the Third 1978″ — INITIAL P

The theme from Lupin the Third is already pretty remixy to begin with, considering its general lack of vocals, but the intro here still manages to take it to the next level. It has the distinct impression of a video game level. Particularly an oldschool Sonic level. Complete with random sound effects that kind of sound like warping or collecting rings or something. Minute and half mark has some minor vocals, but they’re still very overshadowed by the music. In my head, Lupin and the gang are running through a Sonicesque casino level collecting jewels while being chased by Mecha Sonic in a cop uniform. Yup. Bridge introduces some tantalizing sparkle sounds. Perhaps they’ve reached the last safe? Final run through the verse and chorus is the final chase! And at the end they crash through a window and fall to their escape vehicle of choice!

…I’d say this was a pretty fun and successful remix, lol.

TRACK 07: “Grip!” (Inuyasha) — INITIAL P, feat. DIANA GARNETT

Not my favorite of Inuyasha’s extensive and awesome musical collection, but it starts off in an almost unrecognizable manner, just like “Cruel Angel’s Thesis,” before diving into the very familiar intro melody. Garnett’s vocals start off rather muted, but once again her pronunciation is perfect and her voice incredibly steady and strong. Volume and energy increase at the first chorus and I’m getting incredibly nostalgic. “Grip!” might not be my favorite song from the series, but it is still a good song, and both DJ and vocalist are doing a lovely job with it. Vocals in the second verse are less muted and again, Garnett pushes passionately towards the chorus. Bridge adds a secondary, repetitive voice in the back that compliments the variety of sounds and beats thrown in. Final chorus is on par with the rest and the outro carries us nicely to the end. :3

TRACK 08: “Sorairo Days” (Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) — INITIAL P, feat. TOKI

For some reason the first part of the intro made me think of a fairy tale… part following that doesn’t give away the song, and it isn’t distinctly “Sorairo Days” until the vocals… and even then, it is a little awkward. The pitch seems a bit off, a bit flat, and TOKI’s apathy clearly returns as we get into the first chorus. As the first song I’m really familiar with that TOKI has sung, I think I’m pretty unhappy with it. The flat monotone definitely doesn’t fit here… second verse seems to improve somewhat, and there are some differences in volume/mutedness when we get to the second chorus, but the energy just doesn’t seem to be there, and I keep wanting to hear Shoko Nagakawa’s original vocals blare through.

The accompanying music doesn’t really betray many of the original’s melodies either, so the bridge feels like a different song entirely. Slower vocals in the bridge sound strangely innocent and hesitant. Music speeds up as we lead into the final chorus, but her voice then goes back to the way it had been for the previous verses. Overall the song has a pretty subdued feeling about it. While the music remains upbeat throughout the song, TOKI’s vocals really bring it down and the remix doesn’t feel nearly as vibrant and energetic as the original. The first real disappointment of the album.

TRACK 09: “Gekkouka” (Black Jack) — INITIAL P, feat. YOSUKE

Intro begins with an indistinct voice in the back, standard remixy-sounds, a brief female voice, then more music before YOSUKE’s manly vocals start the song and carries the melody beautifully. I wish more of the melody were reflected in the accompanying beats, but the beats are pretty standard and repetitive here. Progressing into the second verse, I have to say that as well as the vocalist manages, he doesn’t quite have the range and variation of Janne Da Arc’s yasu. Still, the slight warbling keeps it different, and the bridge brings back that indistinct intro voice as well as a chipmunk-like secondary. Pretty weird, but not bad. Final chorus and outro are more or less the same.

TRACK 10: “Moonlight Densetsu” (Sailor Moon) — INITIAL P, feat. DIANA GARNETT

Starts off pretty boring. Indistinct male murmuring? And there we go, the incredibly familiar melody striking through the intro. Garnett’s vocals once again start off beautifully and sound particularly delicate and charming here. The clarity of each lyric is again impressive given the speed of the song. Don’t really feel like the music suits the vocals in the chorus, but it isn’t that big a deal. Emphasis on certain notes here and there give more life to the song as well. Bridge is awkward and does nothing to remind me of the song, but everything is better when the vocals come back… music/vocal compatibility rise with the following chorus, though I still feel like the melody is a little forceful when the vocals are absent. Going into the second bridge, the music is thankfully less random, if a bit boring. To be fair though, the original gets pretty repetitive too. Does on for a while though… Oh hey, that wasn’t a second bridge, that was just an insanely long outro! Well, damn.

OVERALL: I’m actually really impressed. I admit I wasn’t expecting a whole lot mostly because I know I tend to dislike heavy remixes, but these tracks felt more like liberal covers than remixes to me, which may be the same as a more conservative remix… I would not consider them “hardcore” by any means. INITIAL P manages to put interesting twists on each track without going overboard into the realm of obscurity. For some tracks, like “Gekkouka” and “Moonlight Densetsu,” I actually think he could have pushed the boundaries a little more, but I would still hesitate to suggest anything too crazy since heavier remixes tend to drown out vocals, which is usually the part of the song I gravitate towards the most. And considering all the vocalists featured on this album are supremely talented, that would be a shame.

I still feel that TOKI was a weird match for most of her songs, and “Sorairo Days” is the only track on the album I don’t really like because of the it, but given a song with a tone more appropriate to the mood and impression her vocals give off, I think she’d do a wonderful job. YOSUKE’s voice was really nice to listen to, though I wonder if he would have been able to demonstrate a wider range given a different selection of songs. I felt like his performance in “Gekkouka” could have been better, but that may just be because I like the original so much. Diana Garnett was my hands down favorite of the lot though, and I think for now, “Grip!” is my favorite track on the album. The energy and sincerity she demonstrates through her voice really serve as the backbone to most of her songs.

I wish this album were longer.

As I said already, Anime Love Hardcore is totally for anime con dances and raves. With this, you get sufficient beats to move your body to, but you still get to hear the melodies and lyrics of a handful of old favorites. It keeps the anime theme going strong at a dance that sometimes feels a little irrelevant at a convention celebrating Japanese media.

The album is available on the Apple iTunes Store and on the official Disko Warp website.

Annnnd Asterios Polyp is easily one of the most amazing comics I’ve read in recent memory. This is also one of the shortest reviews I’ve written in recent memory, mostly because I find that language is failing me in my attempts to tell you just why this book is amazing. Besides, it’s always easier to ramble on about why I dislike something than why I like something. There are more synonyms for negative words than there are for positive words. Asterios Polyp been nominated for four 2010 Eisner Awards, and if it doesn’t win at least one, then by golly, the Eisners must not mean much anymore.

(this review contains no spoilers)

Asterios Polyp starts with the titular character at the end of his luck. His home burns down and he’s left with nothing but the money in his pocket and the clothes on his back. What follows is a journey backwards into the life that led him there and a journey forward towards some kind of enlightenment and some kind of peace. Asterios is a man obsessed with dualities and who sees the world in black and white. Things either are, or they aren’t. He is highly intelligent, self-assured and egocentric. Naturally, most of his conflicts are with other people — of both similar or opposing natures — and most of his problems lie within himself. Asterios is a very specific and three-dimensional character, but there is a universality to him and his problems that makes him easy to relate to and easy to sympathize with.

Hana, Asterios’s wife, is his foil in every way. Where he is rigid, she is soft. Where he is blunt, she is subtle. But there’s more to her than just playing out his opposites. She changes and grows alongside her husband, but most importantly, she is the catalyst and begins changing him from the moment they meet, even if he doesn’t realize it. Their relationship is representational of many marriages, making the characters even more accessible. All the other characters are also delightfully realistic and utterly believable. From Stiff and Ursula Major, with whom Asterios works for and lives with after the fire, to Willy Ilium, who employed Hana’s talents for a time (and makes a ton of inappropriate remarks along the way), all of the people Asterios encounters feel like people I could meet as well.

In addition to dualities and opposites, Asterios Polyp has thematic roots in Greek heritage, clashing cultures, and various philosophies. The story itself is still pretty straightforward, but there are so many surrealist and modernist elements to the storytelling and art that the journey becomes much more involved and personal for the reader. Comics as a medium already offers a beautiful blend of writing and art, but to see the art convey the story’s themes so literally is a rare, metaphysical treat. Story and art in this graphic novel compliment and accentuate one another perfectly.

The core style of the graphic novel has a very retro, cartoonish feel to it. Colors are very limited with most sections conforming to a two- or three-tone palette; a notable dream sequence near the end is monochromatic. Characters are simple and flat, easy to distinguish, and wholly unique. This in itself sets it apart from most other comics on the shelves today, but Mazzucchelli hardly stop there. Panel layouts flow with what is being told, rather than conforming to any specific aesthetic. Some pages are crammed with a dozen panels of the same size, shape, and colors. Others sprawl with an endless assortment of visual styles, all of which collide together poetically. This may sound chaotic, but Asterios Polyp never loses itself. Flip to any page in the book and you will be assured that it’s still the same book, no matter how different the page is from the one you were on previously.

Occasionally, Asterios is portrayed as a figure made of blue geometric shapes while Hana is portrayed as a mass of sketchy red. He is mechanical. She is organic. That they’re opposites is more than evident even without this visual representation, but the depiction never feels over-the-top or jarring, even when it’s a sudden jump from the previous panel.

Mazzucchelli hand-letters all of the text in Asterios Polyp. I’ve always found hand-lettering in general to be very charming. The slight imperfections that make each letter unique make the words more personal and more connected to the art. It’s distracting when lettering doesn’t suit the feel of the artwork, and unfortunately, that isn’t an unusual phenomenon when it comes to digital lettering. Hand-lettering avoids the problem completely because the letters and the art are created by the same hand. And here, Mazzucchelli creates a specific script for each character, setting them apart in their dialogue as well as their physical representation. And the scripts all have personality. Asterios has a traditional, sans serif, all-caps script. Hana prefers a more natural, handwriting script. The narration, offered from the point of view of Asterios’s dead twin brother, is in a strong, bold script similar to Asterios’s, but not quite.

This book really is a piece of work, especially considering it’s David Mazzucchelli’s first original graphic novel. He had previously worked on a brilliant adaptation of Paul Auster’s City of Glass, which is stylistically similar in both art style and storytelling (and which I also highly recommend), though it isn’t nearly as bold in its experimentation. But otherwise, his comics portfolio is grounded in the mainstream with titles like Daredevil and Batman: Year One (not that these are inferior titles by any means). Asterios Polyp isn’t necessarily a title one would expect out of Mazzucchelli, but he does an amazing job, and everyone needs to check out this book. (Right now.)

You know, I really dislike self-entitled albums. They kind of make mentioning them in a [band]‘s [album] format awkward. Moving on, despite being a fan of hyde, I was never really that interested in VAMPS. I mean, I adore hyde’s work with L’Arc~en~Ciel, and his one-time collaboration with Gackt for “orenji no taiyou” was also amazing, but his solo work leaves a lot to be desired (especially in his third solo album, Faith), and that’s what K.A.Z. had previously worked with him on. And as VAMPS’s debut US tour did not visit any city I was remotely close to, I felt even less compelled to familiar myself with the music.

Additionally, the overt-vampire references in all of this — in the band name, the album name, the label name, and pretty much all of the song names and imagery — kind of made me facepalm. I would expect it from Gackt, who only recently came out as a mere mortal and has a long history of vampire and goth sound and imagery. But, well, I guess it really isn’t that big of a surprise coming from hyde either… considering the fact that he’s acted as both a vampire and a ghost, songs like “Midnight Celebration,” various photoshoots, and a lot of his fashion and accessory choices. Well, whatever brings all the fangirls to the yard, right?

And in the end, hyde is hyde, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I eventually decided to pick this up. So here we go:

TRACK 01: BITE
Thirty-second opening track! Starts off with some very classic horror elements — swanky TV noises in the background, creeking door, clock striking, howling, a woman moaning sensually and a scream! Classy.

TRACK 02: LOVE ADDICT
Now some rockin’ guitar with a very catchy beat. hyde’s vocals start rough and excitedly, a welcome throwback to some of his older work. Lyrics are in Engrish and they are hilarious as usual, so I’m not going to try too hard to decipher what he’s saying. Melody is pretty negligent as the song progresses, but the guitars carry a steady beat, so there’s at least that to tie things together. End of the first chorus has a weird break before hyde comes back in slowly, in a lower voice. K.A.Z. (I guess?) providing some backup vocals here and there, but nothing really substantial or interesting. I think the repeated lyrics near the end are “right on time, let’s go,” but it could also be “let go.” It frustrates me sometimes that hyde has spent so long singing in English, but it rarely seems to get more understandable. Guitars fade out to the end. Not a good song, not a bad song.

TRACK 03: COSMOS
Rockin’ guitars again. Another sort of classy opening, takes it’s time getting to the vocals, which start… nostalgically. hyde’s vocal quality here reminds me a lot of SMILE-era L’Arc~en~Ciel though the guitars and melody are very different. I’m so glad he’s singing in Japanese here; I was afraid for a bit that the whole album would be Engrish. Some nice sustained notes in the first chorus, but the longer notes in the verses sound a little strained. Oh, a nice falsetto in the second chorus. Glad he’s not abandoning that talent of his. Some decent guitar and drums in the bridge, accompanied by distant vocal echos. Guitar leading into the final chorus are pretty nice as well. Still haven’t come across anything that’s wowed me, but this second track makes me more optimistic than the first. I really want something memorable and catchy; the first part of “BITE” was catchy, but it get too repetitive too fast. What were the singles leading up to this album?

TRACK 04: SECRET IN MY HEART
Spacey kind of intro; would have been more appropriate for the previous song. Guitars rock in very quickly and hyde’s lyrics are back to Engrish though they’re a little less haphazard. The vocals are rather relaxed despite the breakneck speed of the guitars… but both get lazier come the chorus. Vocals start feeling strained again and the guitars aren’t very impressive until the short break between the chorus and the second verse. The vocals don’t seem to compliment the guitars very well again — it almost seems like they’re fighting for the spotlight rather than working together. Gah, I hate it when that happens. Second chorus feels a little better, but now I’m starting to feel like the melody’s very pretentious. Not sure. Some parts of the melody are very reminiscent of classic vampire-themed music and there are some slight screeching sounds that promote that imagery. I guess I need to stop holding that sort of thing against this album though, since that’s obviously its theme. Outro is a bit too long for my taste. Ends with a whimper, not a bang.

TRACK 05: EVANESCENT (YouTube it)
Boring sort of intro. Opening vocals are rather plain as well. Lyrics are back to Japanese. A guitars in the back sound like they’re from another song I’ve heard whether from this band or another. They just aren’t distinct. I think if I were sampling this album at the store, I would have given up on it by now. Chorus and beginning of the second verse remind me of another song. I feel like I’ve heard most parts of this song before, just not pieced together like this. Just wanna zone out and do something else…

TRACK 06: VAMPIRE DEPRESSION
Back and forth guitars and some interesting synth and distortion work. Finally! Something that actually seems intriguing? Vocals start dark and dramatic; hyde’s voice is low and brooding. Lyrics are in Engrish. Oh, nice, a measure of piano for a really nice creepy effect. Chorus has hyde screaming melodramatically and it’s pretty hilarious, but not terrible. Still diggin’ the mix of guitars and distortion as we go into the second verse. It maintains a nice mood, even if it’s a bit over-the-top. It works. hyde’s screaming is less entertaining the second time around, but the guitars and drums carrying into the bridge make up for it. Dramatic lyrics before the final chorus are pretty nice sounding even if I still can’t make out what he’s saying. Screaming is even less amusing the third time around, but they don’t last long and we go back to the guitars and distortion for an outro that’s just the right length. Best song on the album thus far. Perfect timing too, after the tedious track before it.

TRACK 07: REDRUM
More dramatic guitar. Feels like a really awesome movie action scene should be starting right about now. Another Engrish song and hyde’s vocals feel very American as they start off, even if his pronunciation still leaves a lot to be desired — the style he sings in just feels very familiar. Guitars and drums are really going at it here; they do a good job keeping me interested in what’s going on here. Post-chorus guitars are especially neat. hyde’s doing a lot of sustained yelling in a rough sort of voice in the verses here; more singing in the choruses. After the last song, the yelling is borderline annoying, but once again, K.A.Z.’s guitar and their power chords are keeping things together. Haha, the bits of the lyrics I’m picking up are hilarious melodramatic, but I know I can’t expect anything else. Song ends rather suddenly, but it’s definitely on par with “VAMPIRE DEPRESSION.” If the rest of the songs sound like this, it’ll get a little repetitive, but at least it won’t be boring.

TRACK 08: DEEP RED
A change of mood for the intro — a twangy sort of beat and a more diverse mix of sounds. It’s the music leading into a chase scene. Vocals are dramatic but well-controlled. hyde seems like he’s holding something back though and… it doesn’t really seem to release in the chorus. Voice gets a bit deeper and rougher around the edges though. Lyrics here are a mix of Japanese and Engrish. K.A.Z.’s guitar oscillates between high-pitched lines and a steadier background accompaniment here; it compliments the vocals well though and it’s a good break from the hard rockin’ of the previous two songs. I think I’m finding the chorus kinda catchy actually — “something something in search of blood”? Bridge is pretty interesting as well, and I noticed the weird bass lines for the first time. Last two or three choruses go on for a while, but I don’t really mind. I think the reason I like the “blah blah in search of blood line” is because hyde’s vocals finally don’t sound forced or strained or too deep or too rough. They’re more natural and it’s nice.

TRACK 09: I GOTTA KICK START NOW (YouTube it)
Rockin’ guitar again. Sounds like the opening of another song I’ve heard on this album already? Vocals and the continued start and stop of the guitar remind me of some classic rock song I’m not familiar with because I’m not big on classic rock. Guitars aren’t too interesting, but hyde’s voice still sounds very natural here, more casual and less pretentious. Even with the Engrish lyrics, it doesn’t feel too unnatural — he’s just slurring all the words! That’s all! Some of the short pauses in the guitar feel awkward, but it does keep you interested in the beat because it’s somewhat unpredictable. Oh, guitars in the bridge are nice though. I had a brief vision of BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. I go back and forth from feeling that “I gotta kick start now” sounds weird and feeling that it’s fine. Consequences of listening to too much Engrish. :P

TRACK 10: TIME GOES BY
Soft acoustic intro? Slow intro vocals and it feels like a ballad coming on. …Nope! Guitars come in harder and the melody picks up quickly; vocals somehow retain a “I’m singing to you under your balcony” sort of feel though. Really enjoy the little break between the chorus and the second verse. The mix of Engrish and Japanese lyrics is nice too. Second verse again starts off deceptively slow before picking up. Melody is reasonably catchy and I like the energy and feeling of sincerity in this song. And falsetto! I never know how much I miss it until it comes back all of a sudden! Lovely guitars in the bridge and a rockin’ return to the chorus — more falsetto! Outro makes me feel nostalgic again. This might be my new favorite song on the album!

TRACK 11: SWEET DREAMS (YouTube it)
Piano intro! Very unexpected. Falsetto opening vocals! Also unexpected. Difficult-to-understand Engrish lyrics! Not so unexpected, but hyde sings slow and sweet. A really mixed bag in the background accompaniment — it feels a little scattered, but comes together okay by the time we get to the chorus. Some self-harmony in the vocals sound a bit strange as well… Back to straight up falsetto for the second verse. Engrish sounds mad awkward for a bit, but then he thankfully swaps back to Japanese. Falsetto starts to feel a little strained, but it goes into the second chorus soon after that. Seems as soon as something starts feeling awkward in this song, it changes and goes away. Not bad, I guess, though it’d be better if it never got to the awkwardness in the first place. Random phone dialing and ringing in the bridge? What? Some generic sounding strings with a prominent violin… Tired of the chorus already, but we go back to the nice piano for the outro. Mixed feelings about this song; it’s all over the place.

TRACK 12: HUNTING
Some fun guitar rifts in the opening, but not that exciting… oh, wait, okay, it gets more exciting as it goes on. Punctuated yelling starts off the vocals. hyde sure does do a lot of yelling on this album. :o I think he’s saying “Hi! Ho! Let’s rock!” but I’m probably wrong… haha… What, is that it? Okay. A two-minute song of uninspired guitarring and hyde yelling. I mean, I guess it’d work okay for the intro to a concert to get the crowd riled, but as the second-to-last track of an album? Come on. Maybe it’d be too much to put it at the beginning along with the “generic horror sounds” track, but in that case, just pick one or the other? We don’t need both. :\

TRACK 13: SEX BLOOD ROCK N’ ROLL
Oh, back to the sensual moaning then. Fun-sounding guitars and drumming though. …Ew, distorted vocals. hyde, your Engrish is hard enough to listen to without it being distorted too! Eh, I can see why “HUNTING” would precede this track, but… blah, I’m so conflicted about this song. The guitars and especially the drumming are a lot of fun, but they’re not innovative or particularly original and the vocals are borderline pissing me off. Especially combined with the random noises and cooing and warbling. The chants of “sex blood rock n’ roll” are annoying as well and… then it’s over.

OVERALL: On one hand, I feel that maybe I wasn’t in the right sort of mood walking into this album. I should have known that there would be a lot of cliche and silly vampiric elements, but they bugged me all the same. I didn’t want to listen to unoriginal vampire-themed music. As always, I wanted to listen to everything that made me a fan of hyde’s voice in the first place, and that’s L’Arc~en~Ciel (though to be honest, Laruku’s most recent album also left a lot to be desired). VAMPS is not Laruku. hyde’s singing style and vocal quality is almost completely different from what he uses for his other projects and K.A.Z.’s guitar is certainly different from ken’s or hyde’s.

Listening to VAMPS while wanting L’Arc~en~Ciel is just a bad idea, but regardless of my bias, VAMPS still seems to utilize a lot of tired rifts and generic punches in the vocals. With a name like that and a debut album like this, I’m left wondering whether VAMPS will continue churning out songs with such forced themes and melodramatic ties to a specific subgenre. A few songs like “VAMPIRE DEPRESSION” and “DEEP RED” are energetic and fun in that they don’t seem to be taking themselves too seriously, and “TIME GOES BY” stood out to me for being very different from the rest of the songs on the album, but pretty much everything else is forgettable and disappointing.

The periodic trailers and behind-the-scenes looks released for the Princess and the Frog all looked amazing. The character designs felt like they would have fit in well with the Disney movies of the early 90′s and the animation was similarly nostalgic. In addition to being a throwback to the animated features I grew up with, I was happy to see another film focused on a slice of American history and culture, in this case, the French Quarter of New Orleans before and after World War I. The music and musical style were less of a concern for me since movies like Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch and the Emperor’s New Groove worked perfectly fine without much, if any, bursting into song. Still, the last Disney musical was Mulan, and Mulan was all kinds of amazing, so anticipation remained extremely high for this film. I finally got to see it yesterday.

STORY - Walking into the movie, I knew I was going to be in it more for the technical aspects than anything else. The princess movies had never been amongst my favorites of what Disney had to offer and I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the story in Princess and the Frog. As such, it was no surprise that the movie’s plot was basic, cliche and a bit predictable: girl has dream, girl works hard to achieve dream but it’s just out of reach, girl then gets caught up in some crazy nonsense, falls in love with boy and somehow this results in the dream also getting realized. It’s a typical, romanticized children’s tale storyline. But despite that that was pretty much what I had expected, I was still a little disappointed.

Part of it was because the villian(s) aren’t nearly as prominent and the obstacles the protagonists faced weren’t nearly as dangerous or thrilling as they could have been. Tiana and Prince Naveen spend very little time actually facing the bad guys. The main, immediate problem the protagonists struggle with is the fact that they’ve been cursed into frogs. Sure, there is the Shadow Man that put the curse in place, but neither protagonists spends all that long with him. Instead of fighting him directly, they journey through the Louisiana swamp looking for another voodoo capable person to help them. Almost all the characters they meet along the way are friendly and work to help them along. And there is no build up to an epic final fight because there really isn’t a final fight. Compare this with the various hurdles Jafar sets for Aladdin. And their final fight. Pretty disappointing.

It wasn’t all bad though. I was very impressed at how the classic tale was reworked to fit the setting and characters. 1920′s New Orleans isn’t the first place you’d think to set an adaptation of a princess story, just like 1980′s New York isn’t the first place you’d think to set an adaptation of Oliver Twist, but damn if Disney didn’t make it work. Obviously, there were no real princesses in that time and place, but the Princess and the Frog played around and made it work in an almost tongue-in-cheek fashion; I was especially pleased at how the traditional princess and curse-breaking tropes were toyed with at the end. It made me smile.

CHARACTERS - The movie’s main protagonist, Tiana, is very much the archetypal strong-willed woman. She knows what she wants and is hyperfocused, working single-mindedly towards her goal. She isn’t easily threatened, but can be distracted by the intensity of her own dreams. She is quick-witted and adaptable, as well as sympathetic and a good role-model: the ideal character to lead a movie like this, but really not that interesting to an older viewer like myself, especially since she doesn’t really change during the course of the movie. She just falls in love. (In like, two days.)

Prince Naveen is similarly stale, though he’s also accompanied by some unfortunate logical flaws. Growing up as royalty, he was spoiled and never had to do anything for himself. For some reason though, he desired “freedom” (from what?) and for some other reason, he was disowned by his family (why? Wikipedia has some reasons, but I don’t think the movie ever said anything specific), so he ends up in New Orleans penniless and intending to marry a wealthy girl for money (and thereby grounding his own freedom again? what?). Predictably, Naveen learns a bit of humility and gains a little usefulness during the course of the movie. Predictably.

Dr. Facilier, also known as the Shadow Man, had the potential to be the most interesting character in the movie, but this is hindered by not quite enough screen time or backstory. He has a few lines of complaint here and there, but there doesn’t seem to be a point in his past where he was morally offended by something or someone that spurred him to want domination of New Orleans. His interesting relationship with people “on the other side” is also never fully explained, which was supremely disappointing considering their awesome musical number together. There were so many things that could have spiced up both Dr. Facilier and his collaborators’ roles, such as giving some of the shadows (aside from Dr. Facilier’s own) personalities and giving Lawrence, Naveen’s backstabbing servant, some ulterior goals.

The secondary cast was not particularly notable; they were there, occasionally humorous, but too simple to be called good or bad. I saw the movie with several people though, including a New Orleans native who was apparently upset at some of the stereotypical characters portrayed in the movie. Personally, I don’t think the portrayals were necessarily unfair since all regions have their stereotypes and most of them are grounded in some sort of reality, including the bumbling backwater hicks. I doubt anyone will really come away with a negative impression of the area, in any case. I mean, I wasn’t offended by the hilariously stereotypical gender roles presented in Mulan since you know, they’re kind of true.

ART & ANIMATION – Everything was gorgeous, just like I thought it would be. Seriously, you don’t realize just how different 2D animated characters look until you go a while without seeing them and are suddenly sent back. Disney was amazingly successful at recapturing a number of styles it had left behind, and Princess and the Frog included several short sequences animated in a simpler, blocky color, storybook style, such as for the song “Almost There.” But while all the characters were animated traditionally throughout the movie, most of the backgrounds had been painted digitally and there were some digital special effects. This was really fine though, especially since it allowed for some really visually interesting scenes involving Shadow Man’s shadow and shadowy minions. The digital backgrounds complimented the characters fine and didn’t detract from the film in any way.

The character designs were pretty standard. Tiana is pretty much what anyone might have thought of given the prompts “African-American” and “Disney princess.” Prince Naveen is just the next in a long line of Disney princes, though his frog form reminded me a lot of Warner Brother’s Michigan J. Frog. In contrast, Dr. Facilier actually has a pretty fun design and reminds me vaguely of a cross between Jafar and Jack Skellington. This compliments the uniqueness of his character, but while his personality and backstory aren’t really given the attention they could had have, Facilier’s design is bold and has many clever little elements, such as his skull mask. Like their personalities, the secondary characters didn’t leave a big impression visually either, but despite that, I was very pleased with both the art and animation in this movie.

MUSIC - As with the animation, the Princess and the Frog attempts to capture the musical success of its 90′s predecessors with music by Randy Newman and lyrics by Glenn Slater. Maybe I’m just a little out of touch with musicals, but some of the film’s songs felt a little awkward and forced. As a sort of opening song, “Down in New Orleans” wasn’t too bad, but the beginning of Tiana’s first solo, “Almost There” didn’t seem to mesh very well with the scene it was placed in. Thankfully, as the song progressed, the tune became catchier and more attractive and the end of the song seemed to suit the scene much better. Dr. Facilier’s solo, “Friends on the Other Side” was probably the best song in the movie; it was a lot of fun both lyrically and visually and is one of the main reasons I wish the character had gotten more attention than he received. “When We’re Human” seemed like a pretty typical Disney song. “Gonna Take You There” and “Ma Belle Evangeline” were both fairly decent and more nostalgic feeling in mood and style. “Dig a Little Deeper” reminded me somewhat of the “Morning Report” song Disney inserted into some DVD re-release of the Lion King… which is not a compliment.

I really don’t feel like Princess and the Frog benefited from being a musical, but I guess it really didn’t detract from it that much. Either way, Anika Rose’s “Almost There” won’t be the next Elton John’s “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” or Christina Aguilera’s “Reflection.” Newman’s general score for the movie was pretty okay, but come on, Alan Menken would have been a much better choice of composer.

OVERALL - If an older someone were to watch the Princess and the Frog after all the Disney feature films of the 90′s, they might be dismissive and unimpressed. As a simple movie aimed at children, it’s very solid, but even then, compared to the previous decade’s most popular hits — Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, the Lion King, and Mulan — and Disney’s beloved classics, the Princess and the Frog is really nothing spectacular, especially in terms of story and character. The cultural aspects are fun though, and animation is surely on par. I actually really like that they still included digitally painted backgrounds in their highly anticipated 2D revival. Disney’s demonstrated that traditional animation can still be used, but further suggests that they’re still experimenting with different ways to animate and to cartoon. Their upcoming Rapunzel movie for 2010 is a testament to this as they’re trying to make a CG movie not look like a CG movie. I look forward to it, but I do hope that Rapunzel’s struggles will be a little more interesting storywise than Tiana’s.

I put off watching the last two episodes for a while just because the first two were so… underwhelming. It’s fairly rare for me to discover a manga before a corresponding anime is made since I watch a lot more than I read, but honestly, it’s probably better that way considering how annoyingly purist I tend to be about adaptations. I don’t want to feel this way! This feeling of burning injustice when something turns out much less amazing than you’d like — when something doesn’t seem to do the original justice at all. The strange thing about the DOGS anime is that it doesn’t really seem to be its fault that it sucked (well, aside from the shitty animation). I feel like the format just didn’t suit it. DOGS is just something better read than watched, even if the voice actors all do great jobs and there are lots of action scenes.

Then again, maybe the anime only proves that underneath all of Shirow Miwa’s beautiful artwork, his story and characters aren’t that interesting after all. Maybe that’s what pisses me off the most. Nobody wants to be shown that something they loved isn’t actually that awesome. Is the love that comes from blinding nostalgia enough? The manga marches on, so I guess I’ll keep seeing what Miwa’s really made of. Viz’s release of the first volume of DOGS: BULLETS&CARNAGE came out earlier this month and I’ll be picking it up soon; might do another semi-review, but we’ll see.

Here is the review, and here is the MAL mirror.

Reading it was very hard in the beginning. Sixteen pages in and I could already relate absurdly well with both Meiko and Taneda, and hell, all their friends as well. It was depressing, but it got easier the further I progressed because they became their own people, rather than just ghostly representations of myself and people I knew. The story is how they choose to live their own lives, one path in a forest of many. Theirs aren’t the best choice, nor the worst. It isn’t an answer, but it’s there. Highly recommend.