rti9

Wordpress

2009-10-24T07:38:00.003+09:00

After some dissatisfying attempts to change the blog a little, I noticed I would need to change all previous posts. Just out of curiosity I signed up for a Wordpress blog. Fast and easy, I tested it making the same post as the one below. Loved the wide main body available to post. Hm... guess I'll be moving.

http://rti9.wordpress.com/

Favorite TV Series in 2009

2009-10-23T20:08:00.012+09:00

Finally got some time to travel around. Consequently this sedate blog will once again freeze for indefinite time once again. Last time it hibernated for 3 years. Just so that the two or three persons who check to see if I update have something to do, I'm posting the Japanese animations from 2009 I relished.

Years ago, a guy asked a female friend of mine, Jessica, if I was seeing anyone. She confidently told him that I was straight. After telling me about it, I haven't questioned my masculinity ever since. However, when it comes to romance in anime and manga, I prefer stories directed to women. Male-oriented anime of this genre tends to be drenched in "fanservice". From Wikipedia: Fanservice explicitly refers to material that is designed to amuse or excite the audience with sexually-derived content. The tendency of sacrifing plot for the sake of gratuitous content drove me away from romance for men. In contrast, love stories directed towards women usually are more realistic, metaphorical, subtle, and introspective. Thinking about it, maybe existentialism made me gay.

Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers) is an eleven episode TV series directed by Kenichi Kasai and produced by J.C. Staff. Together, Kasai and J.C. Staff can be linked to extremely popular animated TV romances like Honey and Clover, Kare Kano, and Nodame Cantabille.

Plot summary from ANN: Fumi Manjoume, an introverted, bookish teenage girl, is beginning her first year of high school at Matsuoka Girls' High School. She enters the school year with her heart broken by a previous relationship. At about the same time, she reconnects with her best friend from ten years ago, Akira Okudaira, who is now attending Fujigatani Girls' Academy as a first-year high school student. As they reconnect, they both deal with their own respective romantic problems, and help each other get through them.

Both friends attend girls only school, meaning that the affairs occur between girls. Lesbianism is usually used just as bait to attract the audience due to curiousness, but in this case it is done with lots of finesse. The focus isn't on the fact that there are homosexual relationships. This is just the story of people falling in love.

Exceptionally elegant, Aoi Hana has a very gentle pacing. Beautiful water-colorish backgrounds and impressively discreet and clever use of CG. Definitely a good pick if you enjoyed Emma: A Victorian Romance. Although the manga proceeds the story, the TV show gracefully concludes itself.

I'm uncertain if Jessica would assuredly confirm my virility today or if existentialism actually distorted my tastes toward a girlish spectrum, but I'm sure that Aoi Hana will delight anyone seeking for serious romantic drama independent of sexual preferences.

Two other great titles from 2009 that are still being aired are Cross Game and Kimi ni Todoke.

Cross Game is a baseball TV series adapted from the manga of a famous Japanese author called Mitsuru Adachi. He is probably best known for being the author of the manga タッチ (Touch). A recent poll in Japan asked the question: "What manga made you cry?" and Touch attained 3rd place. The 1985 TV series, which I previously made a post about, retains the 7th highest average TV viewership of an animation in the country.

His new show tells the story of Koh Kitamura and Aoba Tsukishima. The death of young Wakaba, Aoba's sister and very close friend of Koh, devastates both. Besides memories, Wakaba leaves the dream of seeing Koh pitching at the legendary Koshien Stadium, site of the national high school championship finals. What is really interesting in this show is that it's not just the campaign of the team as it tries to reach the finals, it's the personal struggle of Aoba, a girl in the boys' realm of baseball. Prodigious at the sport, she can't participate in official games as she begins high school due to national tournament regulations.

The visuals and animation may be very simple, but what impressed me the most in this series is the concern of continually starting and concluding smaller stories within the plot while keeping a continuous narrative. It may sound simple and commonplace, but it's remarkable how natural this particular story flows and how rewarding most episodes are.

While I've seen 30 episodes of Cross Game, I only watched 3 episodes of Kimi ni Todoke. Regardless, it is a safe bet that this show will be one of the best of this year. Like Aoi Hana, this is also an adaptation of a manga directed to the female crowd. The protagonist is straight though. Her name is Kuronuma Sawako. She is nicknamed Sadako due to her resemblance to the girl from the Japanese horror movies The Ring. Shunned by her classmates, her life starts to change as she befriends Shouta Kazehaya, a very popular boy in her class.

Nothing revolutionary plot-wise. It's a romantic drama about teenagers who act as teenagers. Maybe it's the abundance of male oriented anime that makes KnT so refreshing. From what I saw until now, I can safely say that it is as good as Kare Kano and Bokura ga Ita. Besides having a great cast of characters, I must point out the charming colorful visuals. The studio behind this title is the prestigious Production I.G which is probably best known for the Ghost in the Shell movie, the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series, and the animated part in the Kill Bill movie. I'll end this enormous post with the opening just so you can understand what I'm talking about.

Tokyo Marble Chocolate Logo

2009-10-21T20:21:00.004+09:00

Gorgeous logo of the 2007 OVA Tokyo Marble Chocolate. Extremely clever way of using the kanjis and katakanas which normally look like this: 東京マーブルチョコレート. Even horizontally it's still very charming and still very easy to read. The image above comes directly from the video where it continually floats over the rolling background of the cityscape. Below, beautifully applied to the drawing.

Aim for the Ace (1973)

2009-08-27T15:07:00.003+09:00

When I started to watch Ace wo Nerae! I was intrigued by the color of the balls. A little research led me to the International Tennis Federation webpage.

From the link: Historically, balls were either black or white in colour, depending on the background colour of the courts. In 1972 the ITF introduced yellow tennis balls into the rules of tennis, as research had shown these balls to be more visible to television viewers. Meanwhile Wimbledon continued to use the traditional white ball, but eventually adopted yellow balls in 1986.

Harmagedon (1983)

2009-07-16T00:19:00.006+09:00

Bob Dylan poster found inside the main character's room.

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Two posters of Harmagedon spotted in Harmagedon. Nope, I'm not spelling it wrong. It's Harmagedon with just one d.

Eden of the East

2009-06-22T20:38:00.000+09:00

2009's Eden of the East has several references to popular and obscure movies. I'm no cinephile so I probably fail to notice most. The DVDs should definitely have some really interesting director's comment track. Mentioned directly or indirectly by the characters til now: Kate and Leopold (2001) on episode 2 and Quadrophenia (1979) on episode 4. There is a scene in episode 6 where the character Haruo Kasuga talks to his friends while inside a roll-top desk which I suppose is a reference to His Girl Friday (1940). Below are the posters that appear on screen. First one is an altered version of Le Grand Bleu (1988).

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Below are four posters seen on episode 6. I can't identify the ones in the left, but the two to the right are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).

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On episode 7, the hall with the posters is shown from another angle. It shows the Full Metal Jacket once again and another poster I'm not able to recognize.

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Lots of images of altered posters from episode 11. Rear Window on the left and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once again to the right. No idea of the middle one.

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I'm unable to identify any of the posters below.

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This is a reference to Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups.

Izumo Fire Department

2009-06-04T08:34:00.006+09:00

Recently I learned that one of the guys who posts at the forum I frequently drop by is married to a firefighter. How cool is that? While searching for a Japanese animations that feature firefighters to give as present to his wife, he was surprised to only find one: Megumi no Daigo.

This reminded me that back in 2004, the city of Izumo invited foreigners for a volunteer training in case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tsunami, or typhoon. Really fun day. Learned a lot thanks to the super nice firemen from Izumo.

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Below is a demonstration of their special camera to search for victims below debris or any other hard-to-reach location.

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I was impressed by these two buildings they use to train.

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Never forgetting the basics, all volunteers had a chance to experience how to handle a chemical fire extinguisher. First time I actually used one.

Angel Cop: Brand Advertisement

2009-05-28T16:34:00.007+09:00

A long time ago, way back in the 90's, I recall my dear friend Daniel telling me that he had seen a Japanese animation called Angel Cop. Never had heard of it before. I don't know if he was being polite to the owner of the VHS fansub, but his impression was sort of positive. Daniel, WTF? When you're young, many times you enjoy bad stuff for lack of reference. He still hadn't begun his love for trash media while being brainwashed by hours of the most ridiculous infomercials selling stupid Ginsu knives, Vivarina pantyhoses, etc. Fucking Tony Little. Anyway, I also hadn't seen much anime, but I already thought that stuff like Genocyber and M.D.Geist were extremely lame and stupid.

I recently watched Angel Cop for the first time. My impression was that someone was trying to rip-off Ghost in the Shell in the most imbecilic possible way. For an entertaining review, checkout episode 57 of the AWO podcast. Daryl Surat suggested watching it with subtitles once, then with the dub, and then with dub + subs to compare. I really don't have the guts nor the time to try them all, so I watched just the dub with the subs on. OMFG. This anime already has one of the stupidest plots ever made, the dub manages to somehow make it even worse.

Angel Cop has one of the weirdest brand advertisements I've ever seen in my life. Raiden is a special agent turned into a cyborg. During a fight in the fifth episode, he takes this laser shooting device from within his metal hand. There is a quick close-up as seen below. What the hell?

Detroit Metal City

2009-05-11T16:15:00.009+09:00

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie Poulain poster featured on the episode 4A of Studio 4°C's comedy, Detroit Metal City. Link to the original poster.

Touch

2009-05-10T14:10:00.037+09:00

Summer of 42 (1971) poster found on the sixth episode of Touch, a 1985 romance/baseball TV series. Asakura Minami asks if Uesugi Katsuya, her childhood friend, wants to watch the film with her. Unfortunately he already has a date. Below is a quick montage for a better view I did. This is the original poster.

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On episode 44, Tatsuya and Minami are going to a movie theater together. On their way, there is a billboard of Cocoon (1985). Link to the original poster.

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On episode 54, classes end for that year. Tatsuya and Minami agree to watch a movie that just premiered, The Natural (1984). In front of the theater, a poster of Roman Holiday (1953).

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Below is an image from the 1998 movie Touch: Miss Lonely Yesterday. The outdoor on the left named River is a reference to Six Days, Seven Nights (1998).

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Another image from the Miss Lonely Yesterday movie. It's written Summer of Angels, obvious reference to City of Angels (1998). The drawing of Nicolas Cage looks like Thom Yorke.

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On episode 33, the new transfer student, Yoshida Takeshi, lends Uesugi Tatsuya an LP. Released in 1985, Half Time was Yoshimi Iwasaki's 13th album. It contained Touch's first opening (タッチ) and ending (君がいなければ) themes. Jacket of the album.

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On episode 35, Tatsuya goes to Yoshida's house where he spots what I believe is Iwasaki Yoshimi's 20th single, タッチ.

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On episode 45, Yoshida is talking to some girls about a record he is holding. It's Yoshimi's 14th album, タッチ.

Gattai!! AWO x Mazinger

2009-05-06T14:46:00.012+09:00

The image on the left is just a silly thing I did while brainstorming Anime World Order logo options. Usually all models are done on paper first, but at that point I had already conveyed all my ideas into bits. The original idea came from this link. Apparently the AWO crew are enjoying the new TV show, Shin Mazinger Shogeki! Z-Hen.

On their show they once questioned why is anime directly associated with mecha, a genre not so popular nowadays. Giant robots are to anime what western is to American cinema. While American animation has an incredibly strong link to slapstick humor, Japanese animation has a powerful bond to science fiction. Even if moe dominates the market today, over 50 years of mecha won't be forgotten so easily. We hope.

Nothing related, but did anyone ever notice a similarity between the opening of Cyber City Oedo 808, Burning World 〜追憶のコマンド〜, and Flashdance's What a Feeling?

Anime World Order: Character Design

2009-04-26T21:24:00.006+09:00

I drew Daryl, Clarissa, and Gerald to compose the mock business cards for the logo proposal I sent them. They are all big fans of Osamu Tezuka so I used his character design as basis. Well, at least I tried. My biggest problem was that I couldn't find a character that matched Gerald. I ended up not basing him on anyone of Tezuka's Star System.

臀撃おしおき娘ゴータマン

2009-04-16T22:20:00.008+09:00

I wrote a plot summary for ANN of an animation called Dengeki Oshioki Musume Gōtaman which sort of translates to "Butt Attack Punisher Girl Gotaman". Hopefully no one will write an alternative overview to substitute this one:

Mari Amachi is a new student at the Perfect Religion Academy. When her roommate Saori Minami is kidnapped by the Black Buddha gang, Buddha himself appears before Mari. He offers her the opportunity to become Gōtaman in order to save her friend. Mari accepts the proposal and becomes Gōtaman, a sumo-belt-clad hero who fights to protect freedom of religion.

Torrent here. The guys at #anime-classic are awesomely insane.

Amuro Ray and Lalah Sune

2009-04-13T09:19:00.011+09:00

Below are pictures from episode 41 of the original Gundam series. Last year I watched the trilogy that summarizes the entire 43 episodes of the 1979 TV series. My absolute favorite scene was the battle between Amuro Ray and Lalah Sune. I liked it so much that I ended up looking for the particular episode in which the confrontation occurred in the TV show just to compare with the trilogy version. It wasn't as impressive as the movie, but it was still very good. I can't even imagine watching this back in 1980. It must have been mind-blowing.

I prefer the movie version because the dialogue flows better. This type of scene just can't be rushed. You have to let the story breathe. The moments of silence or no one talking need to be more valued. Below are images from the third movie of the trilogy.

It's really silly the idea of rival pilots arguing with each other as they fight inside giant a mechanized armor and a spaceship, but this one is different. Not simply because both are espers, thus making sense that they are able to communicate with each other. Amuro and Lalah are definitely connected in a higher level. Maybe spiritualy is the adequate word. It's so odd that a series that tries to embrace a more realistic portrayal of war in space, displays such a romantic ideal in a glorious and elegant way. The animation in this particular scene becomes much more imaginative and metaphorical. Such tender and melancholic script. Amazing voice acting performance by Tohru Furuya (古谷徹) and Keiko Han (潘恵子). I've seen many couples in anime, but this is - without a shadow of a doubt - an affair that should not to be forgotten.

東のエデン OP

2009-04-12T10:15:00.003+09:00

Whoa. I have never seen an opening for a Japanese animation like this. Done by Reelvision. The song is Falling Down by Oasis. Eden of the East has a jaw-dropping animation quality. Production IG is not joking around.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

2009-04-10T01:40:00.016+09:00

Just finished watching the 50 episodes of the Zeta Gundam TV series, considered the finest Gundam series ever made. It's also extremely popular in Japan. From ANN: "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam currently holds the record for the highest viewership rating among all Gundam TV titles, scoring an average rating of 6.6% during its run." This is a direct sequel to the original Gundam. I watched three movies that compile that TV series not too long ago. I didn't like it all that much, but it's definitely essential to watch it at least once if you intend to understand anime today. The comparisons alone between it's creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, and Hideaki Anno, creator of Evangelion, begin to make a whole lot of sense.

Gundam is a huge franchise that has lots of parallel universes, but the original timeline features one of the most captivating characters in anime history: Char Aznable. In Japan, he is equivalent to Darth Vader in America. He kinda reminded me of Robert Redford because of the sideburns.

Also from ANN: "Due to Bandai Entertainment's inability to secure the rights to the opening and ending theme songs outside of Asia, the U.S. release uses orchestral tracks for the opening and ending sequences." The orchestral track sort of sets a more serious mood which is really what this story is all about. Preference probably boils down to which one did you watch first. Below are both openings. It would probably be interesting to make a poll with people who never saw the show to see which one they'd prefer.

Shugo Tokumaru

2009-04-09T22:31:00.006+09:00

Shugo Tokumaru is an amazing musician I discovered thanks to Zac Bentz. I immediately bought a CD and sent it to a dear friend and musician Lulina. Last time I phisically saw her was the day she performed at a festival called Coquetel Molotov back in 2005. I gave her a stuffed 井上トロ and in exchange I got her CD Bolhas na Pleura. Great day.

The Five Star Stories Logo

2009-04-03T03:57:00.010+09:00

I recently watched this 1989 movie and I was mesmerized by the beautiful logo. I wonder if the author of the manga created it. Do mangakas make the logos for their stories? According to Mike Toole, anime historian, the author of Five Star Stories was trained as a fashion designer.

Anime World Order: Logo

2009-03-25T23:02:00.015+09:00

Two suggestions for logo change of the Anime World Order podcast. From the e-mails I've exchanged with them, I get the feeling they sorta liked but... they grew attached to the one they got. I don't expect them to change anytime soon. It would be crazy if ad agencies kept proposing logo changes for companies. The desire of change must come from the client. That's why it wasn't depressing that they still chose a logo they ripped off from this. Hopefully one day they will yearn for a revamp.

I'm seriously considering removing the circle from within the letter "o". It is distracting more than explaining.

Negative version:

Applied to the website:

Fake Business Cards:

Below is the original version which the guys at mooz like more (designers... pfff). The biggest problem to me is that the name "Anime World Order" doesn't fit anywhere. It is extremely compact... maybe a little too much.

Tenchi Muyo in Love

2009-02-28T06:39:00.005+09:00

Some posters that appear in the 1996 movie that is a sequel to the Tenchi Muyo TV series. What makes these posters a bit more interesting is that the story is set at Japan in 1970. Easy Rider, Beatles, and ウィスキーレッド (Whiskey Red) were what I could spot. IMDB points out that there is a reference to the 1987 OVA Black Magic M-66, but the only connection I could find between both animations is that Chisa Yokoyama (Sasami) acted in both.

げろたん/ゲロタン

2009-02-16T07:44:00.014+09:00

Gerotan is an extremely peculiar fictional character. A talking baby with the katakana ゲ written on his chest who keeps throwing up every now and then. Some might remember him from episode 7 of Cromartie High School (2003).

What is interesting is that he had previously appeared on episode 39 of another animation called Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo! Masaru-san (1998). Only this time his name was written in hiragana, but with the same sound pronounciation. The katakana ゲ on his chest was replaced by the equivalent hiragana げ as seen below.

What is odd is that the production of both shows was done by different companies. Cromartie was produced by Production I.G, Starchild Records, and TV Tokyo. Sexy Commando was produced by Madhouse Studios, Magic Bus, and Studio Gilleta. The ending credits in Sexy Commando don't list Gerotan's voice actress, but I suspect it's the same as the one in Cromartie, Ayaka Saito. The best evidence I could find online that she might have done the voice of Gerotan back then is that she did work in Sexy Commando. She was the narrator of episode 43 on a scene that depicts Masaru's conception seen as the legend of Momotarou.

Toradora! x Last Blade

2009-02-08T08:12:00.012+09:00

Trying not to forget how to draw and how to use Adobe Illustrator, I recently had the urge to materialize an image in my head. It's been so long since I last drew anime characters. The last time was before the website project, which means around 2005. Above are the two main characters from the best anime I watched from 2008, Toradora. Taiga and Ryuji are dressed up as Shigen and Kaede from my favorite console fighting game, SNK's Last Blade. The title Toradora (tora=tiger and dora=dragon) made me wonder if the characters were based on the four symbols of the Chinese constellation known as Shishin. The first time I recall encountering a reference to it was in Yu Yu Hakusho, but the first time I actually realized they were popular symbols was after playing Last Blade. In the game, Kaede possesses the power of the dragon known as Seyriu while Shigen has the power of the tiger known as Byakko. Below is the intro from the game.

S.O.S.

2009-01-26T21:13:00.013+09:00

Episode six of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (1998-10-02 to 1999-03-26) features a very catchy song that only recently I bothered to look up information about. S.O.S. is a hit single from 1976 sung by a duo called Pink Lady. During this spectacularly simple and creative Kare Kano scene, the song starts to play and Miyazawa is aware of that. To illustrate that the music is in her head, her colors are replaced by a fast paced music sheet moving upwards. Then her face covers the entire screen and the letters "S O S" keep quickly shifting from right to left in her mouth. I absolutely love these ideas that only work in animation. When I watched it for the first time (about ten years ago), I didn't know katakana. It's written ピンク・レディー (Pinku Redi) on the text of the last image below.

What's interesting is that an animation called Alice SOS was airing in the same year (1998-04-06 to 1999-01-28). Both shows were produced by J.C. Staff and had the same person as a sound director in Alice SOS and sound producer in Kare Kano; Toru Nakano. What a surprise when not long ago I watched the opening animation of Alice SOS for the first time.

上代さん

2009-01-23T20:58:00.005+09:00

Another coworker of mine. She's probably one of the most sympathetic persons I have ever met in my life. Jyoudai-san went some time ago to Hawaii, so I thought I could draw something about it. In the beginning I thought it should be a poster with text, but changed my mind later. Normally I'd say I was just lazy, however this time the problem is that I don't handle fonts well. Whenever I worked with Daniel, he would manage the fonts and the general structure. To be honest, I think most fonts looks the same. I bet that if he wanted, Daniel could make this poster look good with text. Unfortunately he's too busy. Maybe someday he might want to use this commercially. Who knows?

Top o Nerae! (Gunbuster)

2009-01-22T16:51:00.010+09:00

Lately I've been re-watching Japanese animations from the 80's with abundant female cast members on primary roles. Dirty Pair, Gall Force, Project A-Ko, and Gunbuster. They probably reflect who was the primary demographic target during the 80's. They also demonstrate the contrasting difference of who is today's audience.

The 1988 Top o Nerae! stands to me as one of the landmarks of what anime meant back in the day. Science fiction tales told in the most fun possible way. If you get annoyed in things like "no way a robot could do that" then you better stick to documentaries and the daily news. One of the things I love the most about the medium is how it can bend the rules and still seem... coherent. Knowing how much you can bend the rules is the true talent of a storyteller.

The design of the aliens is incredibly detailed in Top o Nerae! It must have been murderous to animate them. I wonder what was the source of inspiration for their ingenious layout.

Below are some images from episode five of Gunbuster. Really cool posters. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Uchuu Senkan Yamato (1974), and... Van Halem! I knew that Hideaki Anno, director of Gunbuster, had worked in Nausicaa as key animator because Hayao Miyazaki had seen his work in Daicon 4, but I had absolutely no idea that Noriko Hikada, voice of Noriko Takaya (main character of Gunbuster who can be seen in the images below), was the voice of Satsuki Kusakabe, the older sister in My Neighbor Totoro.

Dirty Pair: Project E.D.E.N.

2009-01-15T01:45:00.013+09:00

While searching for Kei and Yuri in the 1987 movie, Mughi has several images displayed on his screen.

Some are of Crusher Joe, a title by the same original creator, Haruka Takachino.

Sci-fi FTW.

Initial design attempts of Kei and Yuri?

I have absolutely no idea to what these images refer to. Maybe the last one could be an initial design concept of Major Tanya from "The Final Weapon: Ash" Crusher Joe OVA. The problem is that the image above looks too young when compared to Tanya as seen below.

Gall Force

2009-01-09T21:52:00.012+09:00

Thanks to Gerald from the Anime World Order podcast for reviewing this animation. I had seen one of the Gall Force flicks a long time ago, but I'm still not sure which. I recently watched Gall Force 1, 2, and 3 and just wanted to create a post to upload the picture below, taken from Gall Force 2: Destruction, which I couldn't find online. It is mentioned on wikipedia along with other curious references from staff members who worked in other titles. Part of the staff who worked on the second Gall Force OVA also worked on Bubblegum Crisis. Both titles produced by AIC.

From Wikipedia:
"In Gall Force 2: Destruction there's a quick promotional shot for Bubblegum Crisis in the form of a poster on a soldier's wall, with Priss in her rock star get-up. The word 'Crisis' can be seen written in Solanoid on the poster."

Below is an image of Priss in Bubblegum Crisis (1987). I stole it from the Anime World Order's post on Bubblegum Crisis.

Of all names that worked on the two OVAs, the one that really caught my eye was the amazing key animator Shinya Ohira.

Tokimeki Tonight

2009-01-08T01:45:00.005+09:00

An "inspired" plot I encountered in the Anime News Network encyclopedia: The main character, Ranze, is a junior high girl with troubles: her father is a vampire and her mother is a werewolf. Ranze has yet to manifest her supernatural powers, and her parents are beginning to get worried she might be normal. So begins the fantasy romantic comedy story.

World of Warcraft

2009-01-02T18:19:00.002+09:00

For one year and a half I was a druid, a hunter, and a mage. It was a lot of fun, but on November 2007 I just had to quit. Is it addicting as everyone says it is? Yes. It is insanely fun and it is a phenomenon that is setting the standards for the future of online gaming. I'm fascinated by the whole culture that spawns around it. The comic strips and the videos are probably the best examples. The second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, has recently been released. I was mildly tempted to play it, but the reminder of why I left kept me at bay. The three main reasons for my retirement from Azeroth: the grind, the farming, and the drama. Enough is enough. WoW feels a bit like soccer to me. I enjoy watching every now and then, but play? Naaah.

WoW is probably the closest thing to drug addiction I've ever experienced. Sometimes I do reminisce about it. Forces me to keep reminding myself why I left. Watching videos of the really good players helps to keep me exiled. I was an average player. Average healer, below the average dps. Watching extremely skilled players humbles me and shows how much dedication you need to really take the most out of each class. Faxmonkey (mage), laintime (warrior), Vurtne (mage), DrakeDog (warlock), and Dysphoria (hunter) pushed the game to the limit. My all time favorite videos are The World of Roguecraft series. Set to show how one class was unequally leveled compared to the others back when the level cap was still at 60, Mute (warlock) proved without a shadow of a doubt the unfair advantage possessed by rogues.

My main character, a female tauren resto druid, seen at Outland.

This was the interface back in 2007 with a few mods I installed.

I had achieved a respectable level with my druid by being able to get the advanced travel form shortly after it was implemented in the game. Made me proud :)

My alt. A female blood elf survival (+800 agility at level 70) hunter and her trusted pet, Wolfie. I also had a mage, but I didn't level her up. Advanced gaming makes it practical to keep at least one character in a big city to do trade and bank functions for the other characters.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:52:00.003+09:00

Just to start the year with a drawing. Twins whom I work with. Miki and Mae are the ones who introduced me to Bump of Chicken, a standard-but-cool Japanese rock band. Both are big fans.

Bubblegum Crisis (1987)

2008-12-29T23:39:00.006+09:00

Thanks to the Anime World Order podcast, I watched the Bubblegum Crisis OAV. Only the three hosts of this podcast to make me watch this anime. I was traumatized by the dreadful Bubblegum Crisis 2040 and I was certain that I would never watch anything remotely related to that title.

I noticed something interesting on episode 5, Moonlight Rambler. Sylia Stingray, leader of the Knight Sabers, meets an informant called Fargo in a pool bar called C'est la Vie. Episode 20 of Cowboy Bebop (1998), Pierrot le Fou, has Spike Spiegel play pool on a place called C'est la Vie. I wonder if that is a direct reference to BGC or if both are referencing a famous noir movie. Could this specific scene from BGC be an inspiration for CB? I also compared staff and cast of both titles and was surprised with the results.

Below are images from Bubblegum Crisis:

Below, images from Cowboy Bebop:

Kouichi Yamadera, voice of Spike Spiegel, below seen inside Cowboy Bebop's C'est la Vie:

He was also the voice of Fargo, below seen inside Bubblegum Crisis' C'est la Vie. Notice the loose necktie.

Megumi Hayashibara, voice of Faye Valentine:

On BGC, she is the voice of Nam, who briefly appears on the beginning of the episode 5, but notice a girl who is seen at the Bubblegum Crisis' C'est la Vie.

Kenyuu Horiuchi, voice of Gren:

On BGC, he is the voice of Daley Wong, member of the AD Police. If you watched both, you know why I'm posting these two.

Playtime (1967)

2008-12-18T17:22:00.010+09:00

Thanks to a list made by Les Cahiers du Cinema, I've recently watched Playtime by Jacques Tati. Only once I recall feeling so impressed by a movie. I saw Fritz Lang's M (1931) a few years ago and just kept questioning: how did he do that? Just one advice: disable the subtitles. You don't need them. Just let your eyes feast at this beautifull movie.

Mobile Suit Gundam - The Movie Trilogy (1981)

2008-12-16T18:18:00.019+09:00

I'm currently watching the three movies that encapsulate the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. I'd only recommend these if you are a die-hard mecha fan or if you, like me, is just interested in anime history. This post is mainly to display something I found amusing. Below are pictures from a scene where Zeon spies enter White Base, the mothership of the protagonist crew. The plot of the original Gundam features the war between the Zeon and the Earth Federation. The Zeon started this war to claim independence. They name this particular Federation spaceship the Trojan Horse.

As the two spies sneak in, I was surprised to find out that one of them is disguised as a Brazilian.

JiT 2

2008-11-07T16:42:00.008+09:00

Some more pictures from my trip to Tokyo.

A fancy restaurant they took me to. Another picture taken by my cousin Natsuhiko. From left to right: Masako, me (in the back), Yuri, Haruhiko, Naomi, and Takio.

I have absolutely no idea of what I ate there.

I don't know if this is fog or pollution. Tokyo Tower seen from Roppongi Hills.

Can you believe that Pokémon is over ten years old?

Subway sign somewhere in Tokyo.

July in Tokyo

2008-10-30T16:10:00.018+09:00

Some pictures from my Tokyo trip in July when I visited my grandmother's tombstone.

Picture above taken by my cousin Natsuhiko while we waited for the priests to finish the ceremony prior to ours. From left to right: Takio, Yuri, Naomi, me, Masako, and Haruhiko.

Washing the tombstone, leaving flowers, and burning some incense is the tradition here.

Presentation of the Website

2008-10-24T19:01:00.004+09:00

Below is the short and extremely crude stop motion video I made to show the creation of the online portfolio step by step.

Fashion Illustration: Color + Medium

2008-10-18T17:19:00.005+09:00

In the end of last year's November I was contacted by an editor at maomao Publications, Macarena San Martin. She asked if I was interested in participating in the last part of a book they were assembling called Essential Color in Fashion Illustration (title changed since then). She had seen my illustrations online and wanted to put four illustrations in the last section of the book reserved for alternative techniques. The process took almost a whole year, but I must emphasize that Macarena was always very attentious and explained everything carefully. Today I picked it up at the local Japan Post central agency since I wasn't home yesterday when the mailman came by.

2005-09-29T09:21:00.037+09:00

This not-so-active blog will stop activity for indefinite time because Saturday I´ll be travelling to Japan. Three different flights to get there is no joke. Experience tells me I´ll be offline for a significant time span. Since this last post will be on top for a while, I chose the postcard (never printed) Mooz made me instead of a sketch.

See ya space cowboys and cowgirls.

To make this post more productive, the movie list below should aware the few readers of my preferences. As you can notice, it is largely based on the American production. Lately I´ve been watching French movies and they are just blowing me away. If you think I´m missing something really important, recommend the title through a comment.

love (most of these titles are also essential but I separated them because it´s hard being objective in these cases):

la dolce vita 1960
apocalypse now 1979
omoide poro poro 1991
what's eating gilbert grape 1993
clerks 1994
ghost in the shell 1995
the end of evangelion 1997
american history x 1998
fight club 1999
sen to chihiro no kamikakushi 2001
bowling for columbine 2002
le fils 2002
lost in translation 2003
mindgame 2004

essentials (some of these titles I may not even like that much, but I know it was important to watch them at least once):

the general 1927
un chien andalou 1929
city lights 1931
m 1931
scarface 1932
la grand illusion 1937
the great dictator 1940
citizen kane 1941
casablanca 1942
it's a wonderful life 1946
la belle et la bête 1946
ladri di biciclette 1948
rope 1948
the third man 1949
sunset boulevard 1950
singin' in the rain 1952
roman holiday 1953
tokyo story 1953
ugetsu monogatari 1953
dial m for murder 1954
rear window 1954
sancho the bailiff 1954
shichinin no samurai 1954
det sjunde inseglet (the seventh seal) 1957
vertigo 1958
hiroshima mon amour 1959
les quatre cents coups 1959
à bout de souffle 1960
spartacus 1960
the apartment 1960
l'année dernière à marienbad 1961
yojimbo 1961
jules et jim 1962
la jetée 1962
dr. strangelove 1964
for a few dollars more 1965
blowup 1966
l´armata brancaleone 1966
un homme et une femme 1966
cool hand luke 1967
playtime 1967
the graduate 1967
week end 1967
2001: a space odissey 1968
once upon a time in the west 1968
butch cassidy and the sundance kid 1969
easy rider 1969
midnight cowboy 1969
mash 1970
the last picture show 1971
a clockwork orange 1972
deliverance 1972
the godfather 1972
american graffiti 1973
enter the dragon 1973
the sting 1973
chinatown 1974
jaws 1975
one flew over the cuckoo's nest 1975
all the president's men 1976
network 1976
taxi driver 1976
annie hall 1977
alien 1979
manhattan 1979
the shining 1980
das boot 1981
blade runner 1982
the wall 1982
amadeus 1984
kaze no tani no nausicaa 1984
paris, texas 1984

idi i smotri 1985
ran 1985
blue velvet 1986
babettes gæstebud 1987
der himmel über berlin (wings of desire) 1987
full metal jacket 1987
akira 1988
out of rosenheim (bagdad cafe) 1988
do the right thing 1989
roger & me 1989
the commitments 1991
c'est arrivé près de chez vous (man bites dog) 1992
reservoir dogs 1992
groundhog day 1993
trois couleurs: bleu 1993
chong qing sen lin (chungking express) 1994
pulp fiction 1994
before sunrise 1995
duo luo tian shi (fallen angels) 1995
welcome to the dollhouse 1995
trainspotting 1996
lost highway 1997
chun gwong cha sit (happy together) 1997
festen 1998
lola rennt 1998
rushmore 1998
american beauty 1999
being john malkovich 1999
eyes wide shut 1999
rosetta 1999
todo sobre mi madre 1999
magnolia 2000
o brother, where art thou? 2000
hedwig 2001
le fabuleux destin d'amélie poulain 2001
mulholland drive 2001
cidade de deus 2002
irréversible 2002
elephant 2003
kill bill (volume 1) 2003
finding nemo 2003
closer 2004
fahrenheit 9/11 2004

brokeback mountain 2005
no country for old men 2007
tropa de elite 2007
waltz with bashir 2008

2005-09-20T04:23:00.002+09:00

Drawing based on the brilliant Rosetta (1999). The Dardenne brothers, who are both directors and writers of their films, are on a level of their own. Thanks to Tatiana who indicated their Le Fils (2002) and from whom I got Rosetta. I´m eager to watch La Promesse (1996) and L´Enfant (2005).

2005-09-17T19:30:00.001+09:00

Professional Brazilian illustrators drawing me.
I´m not a celebrity, just someone who bumped
on a caricaturism convention in Recife.

2005-09-15T23:20:00.002+09:00

I was struggling to make a drawing I actually liked of Lu Lins. The unexpected solution was to return to the character design style of rti9.com. I hope she likes it.

Two profiles I did some time ago. My brother told me Rádio de Outono is going to play at the Curitiba Rock Festival, considered by him one of the best in Brazil. Congratulations. On the right, one of the few Lu Lins drawings I did that was pissing me off. Does it look like her?

2005-09-14T04:47:00.001+09:00

This blog was initially created to help me on my concluding university project. Yesterday was the formal ceremony to recieve the certificate(left) that values as a diploma. To get your official diploma in Brazil, you must wait about nine months after making the request.

Only one usual problem...

2005-09-12T23:27:00.002+09:00

Fotologs are really popular in Brazil, but damn they´re helpless. Slow upload (if it doesn´t get stuck), limited guestbook, limited size/quality of photos, ugly interface, and the photos are surrounded by annoying ads. Alright that content is what matters, but damn... visuals help a lot.

2005-09-02T03:05:00.002+09:00

Ana, Cansei de Ser Sexy´s guitar player and...

...Clara, CSS vocal. Whoever has good quality photos of the rest of the band (Adriano, Luisa, and Mary) please send them to me.

2005-09-01T03:08:00.002+09:00

Ira, Cansei de Ser Sexy´s bass player. Hm... at least is whom I tried to portray. Does this drawing look like her? It´s hard to sketch people you only saw on a few images on fotologs. If anybody knows where I can find lots of photo albums of Cansei de Ser Sexy, please contact me. Leave a comment, send an e-mail, shout it out, whatever. I like to choose from a bunch. I also tend to prefer funny or unusual angle photographs.

2005-08-31T02:33:00.002+09:00

Lovefoxxx, vocalist of what is currently my favorite Brazilian band. My brother downloaded Cansei de Ser Sexy´s mp3s a couple months ago. I was so impressed when I first listened that I stopped cooking just to ask Claudio who was playing.

"Cansei de Ser Sexy."
"Uh?? It´s Brazilian?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure?"
"Check yourself, dumbass."
"Holy shit..."

Incredible? Probably. Italian? Maybe. Japanese? Not to me.

2005-08-28T01:51:00.002+09:00

Olivia is going to Germany with her fiancée in September. Thurday, her dumb brother asked me to draw her, but made no specifications or deadlines. Friday afternoon he writes to me via messenger and says that he´d like to use the illustration Saturday. The drawing above is the best thing I could assemble through various photos on their fotologs. Call him today just to find out he wanted something made on Adobe Illustrator. How can he complain of bad clients if he is one of them? At least my caricature skills are getting better.

Update: Hahaha. I just discovered that only Olivia is going. When she saw the drawing her response was, "Wow! Great... but shouldn´t I be alone?" Lesson learned. Always demand good briefings.

2005-08-27T05:34:00.001+09:00

Funniest post ever on this blog?

2005-08-26T05:07:00.001+09:00

Lately I´ve been thinking why the women I draw don´t look like the originals, while men are instantly recognized. Maybe, since I simplify women too much, they end up too "industrialized". I confess that I always try to make girls cuter so they won´t feel like killing me. Men are uglier and less worried about how they look (usually). Thus, I feel less pressured when drawing them. Also, I´m always worried of how simplify my drawings. Guess that´s the result of drawing women more oftenly.

Maybe this is what happens in my brain:

The original, based on a photo.

The clone, based on the first drawing.

The second clone, based on the drawing above.

The third clone, based on the drawing above.

2005-08-24T13:04:00.002+09:00

Touring throughout Brazil, I hope Mula Manca e a Triste Figura is having a good experience. I miss listening to Tibério. I just hope I never need to get a ride from him again. Words like time and punctuality have a different meaning in his dictionary.

Moved by the sad story about a cat and a girl, I drew this based on two photos I found on Orkut. Finally that website is proving to be useful.

2005-08-23T07:15:00.002+09:00

People from bands I talked to during the Coquetel Molotov 2005.

Fantastic presentation by M. Takara. I don´t know if what he used along a synthetizer was a 12-inch powerbook or ibook, but it was in the small Sala Cine UFPE that Hurtmold´s drum player really impressed me.

Update: According to Daniel, he used a powerbook. "Powerbooks are metallic gray, while i-books are plastic white."

Lu Lins from Lulina. Lucky! I got the "Bolhas na Pleura" CD directly from her hands. Ultra charismatic and very original, it´s no wonder why she will always have guaranteed audience on her shows.

Bárbara Jones from Rádio de Outono. Daniel Edmundson rapidly presented us. I missed the beginning of the show because they were all delayed a bit. The postponement confused me since it was the first day of the festival. It would be nice if five minutes before a band started playing, some kind of siren or sound announcement informed people on the lounge area. Not my style of music, but the crowd seemed to like the band a lot. Good mp3 available on their website though.

The shows I liked most were M. Takara, Lulina, Berg Sans Nipple, and The Kills.

2005-08-17T22:36:00.002+09:00

August 9th I presented the project. Thankfully the professor who was guiding me, Isabel Duarte, suggested me to do something else besides using my horrible oral skills. I made an eight minute animation using more than a thousand photos and screen caps. The grading board really liked it as it compensated for the decrepit text part of the project. And today I´m just waiting for graduation.

It´s been a while since I last drew. Sunday (14/08) I went to a small gathering to commemorate a friend´s birthday. Inspired by it, I drew Fontanella and Nara. As you can notice, I still have a tough time drawing men. Nara was much easier. Oh yeah, for people who can´t associate names and faces after six months, Nara is the one on the bottom.

2005-07-26T02:29:00.001+09:00

The website is ready. Forgot to post it. It´s online since July 21st.

2005-06-17T00:47:00.002+09:00

Computer on repairs. Video board blew up. Four days and a half off line. I realized that I have enough drawings for this project. The next post indicating the address of complete website should be the last.

I tried to use my time wisely. Rented four movies on this order: La Dolce Vita (1960), Ai no Corrida (1976), Hable con Ella (2002), and Jules et JIm (1962).

Watched La Dolce Vita because Daria reccomends it on episode 51, "Fire!". One of the best films I´ve ever seen in my life. I guess MichelangeloAntonioni inspired himself here to the the excellent Blow Up (1966).

Ai no Corrida (Realm of the Senses) may be a reflection of relationships based solely on sex: no content at all.

A friend reccomended Hable con Ella to me. I watched some movies directed by Almodóvar when I was younger and created an aversion to him since then. But I was dumber then. So I gave it a shot. Hm... seemed like a sophisticated chick flick. I honestly couldn´t see anything spectacular.

Jules et Jim is the first Truffaut movie I´ve ever seen. 60s movie that technologically seems from the 40s but with an end of the century character/plot development. Quite impressive.

2005-06-10T21:41:00.002+09:00

Probably the best male figure I drew until now.

Yesterday I watched Red Spectacles (1987). It´s like a college student movie. Mamoru Oshii carries on some of the ideas he started in Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer (1984) but this time on live-action. He is the only director I know that continuously works with both animation and live-action. It´s interesting to watch both because you can see how similar ideas work spectacularly in animation but poorly with actors.

2005-06-09T21:49:00.001+09:00

Maybe this sketch book is getting smaller...

2005-06-08T20:54:00.001+09:00

This is another version of the top part of the drawing two posts ago. It was bothering me.

2005-06-07T07:16:00.001+09:00

I loved this one.

2005-06-06T05:18:00.003+09:00

Hair based on Sheila from Mahou Shoujotai. I wonder if this title is Studio 4C´s necessary evil.

Saturday I watched "Is It College Yet?", TV movie that concludes Daria. I must confess that I expected more since the first movie, "Is It Fall Yet?," was great. I guess that when I think of a movie from a TV series I think big bucks which wasn´t the case in either.

It´s interesting to look at Daria and see the differences between American and Japanese animated series. I guess that while Japanese animation suffers from rigid schedules that need lots of planning, American cartoons suffer from the lack of it due to the necessity of immediate popularity response. I´ve seen lots of American live-action and animated series have their plugs pulled due to poor ratings, something kind of rare in Japan (the only I can remember is Dragon Quest). But on the other hand, once series survive the first seasons and networks enable a proper planning schedule, major improvements can be seen.

2005-06-03T04:23:00.001+09:00

Based on the fourth Wong Kai War movie I watched this week, colors should do the break point of the illustration.

Cowboy Bebop´s (1998) 5th episode, "Ballad of the Fallen Angels", is a reference to this extraordinaire movie. Fallen Angels (1995) is the kind of movie Quentin Tarantino dreams to do. I usually expect more subjectiveness and a more "artsy" style from non-American movies, but thanks to director Kai War Wong this perspective has just gained a wider angle. Working with Hong Kong´s action movie tradition added something to his style that I haven´t seen in neither French, Iranian, Japanese, or whatever other country´s movies. And the best part is that this isn´t his strength. His fluid protagonist/narrator shift may even surpass Robert Altman´s direction style. Due to this, he also shifts genres in a way that I have never seen before.

2005-06-02T21:43:00.001+09:00

I´m guessing this is how I´ll feel once this project is over.

Watched Chungking Express (1994) yesterday. Great movie. I wonder if it inspired some ideas in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001).

2005-06-01T21:19:00.001+09:00

I´m not sure about her outfit. I´m taking suggestions.

Note to self: maybe suspenders.

2005-05-31T21:13:00.002+09:00

2005-05-30T21:20:00.002+09:00

I´m on the middle of Daria´s fifth season and I´m really impressed by the evolution of the show. The sarcastic character-driven animation shifts to a more dynamic plot-driven style. The end of the fourth season and the season finale movie were fantastic because the creators had the guts to break from the typical stand alone episodes and stepping on the land of the cliffhangers.

I recently watched Mean Girls (2004) because it was written by SNL´s Tina Fey (I always ask my brother to call me when the Weekend Update starts). Unfortunately, another blasé teen school movie. The problem with these films and TV shows is that they all seem to be just a mixture of lots of stereotype jokes with a weak plot to link them all. Even Daria pisses me off sometimes with the necessity of always showing the Kevin-Brittany (stupid jock and dumb cheerleader) routine. They work too much on the high school subculture instead of a good story.

The best films that work inside the teenage environment I´ve seen up til now are Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and Rushmore (1998). The best TV shows are Daria (1997) and Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo (1998).

2005-05-27T21:16:00.001+09:00

Damn construction building near my house.

2005-05-26T22:29:00.001+09:00

This one I did for another university project some years ago.

2005-05-25T22:15:00.001+09:00

I guess you can save lives and still be fashionable. Gosh... I sound like Quinn Morgendorfer.

2005-05-24T22:03:00.001+09:00

I´ll make a second version of my Threadless T-Shirt design submission. If someone can provide me a photo of a woman´s back on a similar pose with her hands together I´ll gladly make the back of this drawing.

2005-05-23T22:09:00.001+09:00

Weekend holidays implemented.

2005-05-20T22:58:00.001+09:00

Another request. I´ll have to do changes on their clothes and reajust the wrong proportions.

Watched Battle Royale (2000). It was fun, but should I really be laughing throughout the movie? Although I don´t like this new wave of Japanese cinema, it´s good to see that writers and directors are able to do something Americans can´t.

Games that look like films. Films that look like games. Battle Royale is probably one of the few watchable titles until now. BR is better than the rest because although it inherits a game logic, it fits as a non-interactive media since it is interesting to watch the fate of each one - something that couldn´t be done in the game. You´ve got a problem when you think that playing the game should be more fun. Like in 28 Days Later (2002), Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), Resident Evil (2002), Tomb Raider (2001), Mortal Kombat (1995), and Street Fighter (1994). There should be less crap like these and more games like GTA3.

BR´s necklaces reminded me of Wedlock (1991).

2005-05-19T04:17:00.001+09:00

I´m sick. My body is weak. Give me a break.

Watched Appleseed (2004) yesterday. A cel-shaded Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001). They didn´t even try to change the story much. I don´t get why films like Appleseed, Final Fantasy, and Spriggan (1998) are directed like your typical American Action movies. If Appleseed was a person, it would be somenone with no substance who is trying to impress you by it´s looks.

It makes me scared that this was based on Masamune Shirow manga.

2005-05-18T21:40:00.001+09:00

Based on a photo a saw on the Tokyo Street Style website.

Got a cold. Sore throat. Bad hair day. No work done yesterday.

Used my spare time to watch the Galaxy Express 999 (1979) movie. This is a good example of why it´s important to watch the so called classics. At Japan, I watched The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), Some Like it Hot (1959), Spartacus (1960), and The Apartment (1960). A small and incomplete list but probably huge to many people of the echo boomer or the X and Y generations. They call themselves cinephiles and go to the movie theaters every week to watch industrialized movies that have no idea of the concept of originality. Most are almost the exact copy of the copy of the copy of the copy.

I need a metaphor. I´ll use the Star Wars DVDs that my brother bought as an example. By the way, Star Wars and The Animatrix have the best DVD extras I´ve seen until now. The yellow introduction rolling towards the infinite. I thought it was George Lucas´ idea but the extras show it is actually based on the Buck Rogers (1939) TV series. I read that originality is to know how to hide your sources. It didn´t diminish George Lucas on my perspective, it just made me think how ignorant I am on the science fiction genre. It kinda made me admire him a bit more for having the guts to show his references.

While watching Galaxy Express 999, I could notice that lots of animes use it as a reference. Direct parodies on Daicon 3 & 4 (1981-83), Excel Saga (1999), Furi Kuri (2000), and Abenobashi Mahou Shotengai (2002). It is a landmark of the anime space science fiction genre and I guess I could notice references on Nadesico (1996), Cowboy Bebop (1998) Vandread (2000), and on Samurai Champloo (2004).

On FLCL, Naota asks Haruko who is she after discovering the mechanized version of his father. She answers: "I am the youthful illusion of childhood in your heart." (according to the subtitles). It is a reference to what Maetel tells Tetsuro: "From now on, I will be a woman who lives in your memories only. I will be nothing more than an illusion of your young boy´s heart, a phantom of your youth." (also according to the subtitles). On Nadesico and Samurai Champloo it is the singer in the bar. On Vandread the logic behind the enemy. On Cowboy Bebop, Vicious uses a mixed reference of Lupin III´s Goemon and Captain Harlock (coincidentally they have the same voice actor, Makio Inoue). Tochiro´s bird (phisically it has the same characteristics as Vicious´ bird) ends on Harlock´s shoulder in the end of the movie. It looks very much like Vicious and his bird.

2005-05-17T22:05:00.001+09:00

Shorter hairstyles seem modern to me, that´s why I´m trying them a lot. The key factor on the face is the eye.

2005-05-16T21:51:00.001+09:00

Two guys in less than a week? Maybe this project is affecting my sexuality. Need to increment accessories on him later.

2005-05-15T21:39:00.002+09:00

Based on FLCL´s Haruko. I´m watching Furi Kuri once again after a long time. After reading some interesting texts about it, I started paying more attention to the images. Sometimes I even forget of following the subtitles.

Just to remember, just like the first, the second season finale of Daria is also outstanding. I guess I like "Write Where it Hurts" because it deals with the evolution of the characters.

2005-05-14T23:03:00.001+09:00

Another challenge. I´ll try to do a trimmed top, but I still don´t know how. This should be as troublesome as knitting.

Thursday I watched Rocco e i suoi Fratelli (1960). Interesting to compare the different the levels of "innocence" in Italian and American motion picture stories from similar periods. I was remebering Rebel without a Cause (1955) when viewing Rocco. It was also very long - 177 min - which reminded me of another James Dean movie, Giant (1956) - 201 min.

Friday I watched Irréversible (2002). Jaw dropping. This is the third French movie in a row that impresses me. After watching C´est Arrivé Près de Chez Vous (1992) and Le Fils (2002), I´m beginning to wonder how far French cinema is ahead of American in terms of innovation. On the American side, only David Lynch seems to be trying place the motion picture once again in the art category. Just like Train de Vie (1998) was everything La Vita è Bella (1997) should have been, Irréversible is the movie Memento (2000) dreamed to be. This shocking French movie is world wide known because of Bellucci´s rape scene - and this is bad. Sometimes this can even take the focus from the film itself. Monster´s Ball (2001) is well known because of the sex scene with Billy Bob Thorton and Halle Berry. That scene was completely unnecessary. You could cut that scene off and the film would still work normally. The movie has a good story, but blurred because of that specific scene. The film is then built from that scene on the minds of the audience. Fortunatelly this isn´t the case for Irréversible. It just had to be that way.

2005-05-13T20:38:00.001+09:00

Finally some shoulders.

2005-05-12T20:36:00.002+09:00

This afro hair should be a challenge alone to draw on the computer. I had the urge to draw it because of Jodie Landon, character of MTV´s Daria. I´ve been downloading Daria and I must admit I was afraid of not liking it again. Thankfully she alone is an unique character. Probably the strongest icon of sarcasm of animated programs. I´m on the end of the second season. It is a good show but the scripts are unstable. There are good, average, and weak episodes. Only 3 outstanding out of 23 til now: "Pinch Sitter", "The Misery Chick", and "Gifted". I pray that there is some kind of evolution of the relationships and personalities on the episodes to come. There is nothing worse than to be stuck on a stale loophole. Like the Simpsons.

2005-05-11T22:33:00.001+09:00

It was interesting to watch Wicked City (1989) because of the director´s evolution from this movie to Ninja Scroll (1993) and later to the Animatrix short Program (2003).

2005-05-10T21:43:00.001+09:00

The sketches are becoming rougher... which can be a good sign. The drawings become more like guidelines. From sketches to illustrations big transformations have occurred.

2005-05-09T22:45:00.001+09:00

Last week I watched "Le Fils" (2002) from the Dardenne. One of the best films I´ve ever seen. Thinking back, I never payed much attention to european films. Lately I´ve been really curious about it. The best French movies I´ve seen were the popular "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain" (2001) and "Train de Vie" (1999) plus "Un Chien Andalou" (1929) and "C'est Arrivé Près de Chez Vous" (1992).

2005-05-08T21:45:00.001+09:00

The top should probably look like a persian rug. Some boots should help.

2005-05-07T19:33:00.001+09:00

Great interview.

2005-05-06T00:48:00.001+09:00

Cheating again. But today is for a good cause. Some major development on the computer illustrations. I drew this based on a photograph I saw on Rolling Stone magazine a long time ago. It was something about Jewel.

2005-05-05T20:25:00.001+09:00

Nothing to say.

2005-05-04T20:13:00.001+09:00

It´s very difficult deciding what to draw to guys because the options are very limited compared to women. I keep thinking "how can I mess codes and not confuse sexuality?"

2005-05-03T19:57:00.001+09:00

Watched Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (1984) yesterday. Lately I´ve been trying to watch some japanese animations indicated on 2001´s 100 most important anime ever list from Animage Magazine, the oldest and most respected anime magazine in Japan:

1. Hakujaden (Tale of the White Serpent), movie, 1958
2. Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), TV, 1963
3. Horus, Prince of the Sun, movie, 1968
4. Kumotochuribu, 1943
8. Ashita no Joe, TV, 1970
9. Lupin III, TV, 1971
10. Gatchaman, TV, 1972
11. Mazinger Z, TV, 1972
13. Space Battleship Yamato, TV, 1974
19. Space Battleship Yamato, movie, 1978
20. Future Boy Conan, TV, 1978
22. Aim for the Ace, TV, 1979
23. Akage no Anne, TV, 1979
24. Mobile Suit Gundam, TV, 1979
25. The Ideon: Be Invoked, Movie, 1982
27. Armored Trooper Votoms, TV, 1983
28. Galaxy Express 999, movie, 1979
29. Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, movie, 1979
30. Urusei Yatsura, TV, 1981
31. SDF Macross, TV, 1982
35. Daicon Films, (fan produced anime), 1983
38. Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer, movie, 1984
39. Macross: Do You Remember, Love?, movie, 1984
42. Wings of the Honneamise, movie, 1987
43. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, movie, 1984
44. Laputa: Castle in the Sky, movie, 1986
45. Tonari no Totoro, movie, 1988
46. Grave of the Fireflies, movie, 1988
47. Princess Mononoke, movie, 1997
48. Dr. Slump, TV, 1981
49. Captain Tsubasa, TV, 1983
50. Fist of the North Star, TV, 1984
51. Touch, TV, 1985
52. Dragonball, TV, 1986
53. Saint Seiya, TV, 1986
55. Yu Yu Hakusho, TV, 1992
56. Yoju Toshi (Wicked City), OVA/movie, 1987
57. Akira, movie, 1988
58. Ghost in the Shell, movie, 1995
60. Gunbuster, OAV, 1988
61. Patlabor, OAV, 1988
62. Giant Robo, OAV, 1992
63. Tenchi Muyo, OAV, 1992
64. Ah! Megami-sama, OAV, 1993
65. Patlabor 2 movie, 1993
66. Tokyo Babylon 2, OAV, 1994
67. Macross Plus, OAV, 1994
68. Memories, movie, 1996
69. Mahou Tsukai Tai, OAV, 1996
70. Blue Submarine No. 6, OAV, 1998
71. Sailor Moon, TV, 1992
72. Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, TV, 1990
73. Crayon Shin-chan, TV, 1992
74. Mobile Suit G Gundam, TV, 1994
76. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, TV, 1995
77. Kodomo no Omocha, TV, 1996
78. Escaflowne, TV, 1996
79. Slayers Try, TV, 1997
80. Revolutionary Girl Utena, TV, 1997
82. Pokemon, TV, 1997
83. Cowboy Bebop, TV, 1998
85. Serial Experiments Lain, TV, 1998
88. Digimon: The Movie, 2000
89. Jin-Roh, movie, 2000
90. Blood: The Last Vampire, movie, 2000
91. Card Captor Sakura, TV, 1998
93. Neon Genesis Evangelion, TV, 1995
94. Hunter X Hunter, TV, 1999
95. One Piece, TV, 1999
96. Detective Conan, TV, 1996
97. Love Hina, TV, 2000
98. Sakura Taisen, TV, 2000
99. Martian Successor Nadesico, TV, 1996
100. Doraemon, TV, 1979

I certainly don´t agree with this list because I´d first like to read the reasons for a few specific titles to be included. I watched 46 of the animes mentioned but my notion of what is important before the 90s is blurred since I didn´t watch much from then. This is probably one of the reasons of why the critic is so important. This list functions more like "guidelines". There is a bunch of crap out there and I just don´t want to waste my time. I´d like this list more if they sticked to the oldest to newest arrangement instead of this troublesome criteria of theirs.

Four years should classify this list as outdated since some breakthrough animations have been released since 2001 (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Millennium Actress, Azumanga Daio, Mindgame, Paranoia Agent, etc.). A bit controversial but I also believe that titles such as the Animatrix shorts and the flashback short of Kill Bill should also be considered landmarks.

2005-05-02T20:36:00.001+09:00

To add something to the overall, a hair style from the beginning of the century and classy accessories like a leather bag and leather shoes should be enough.

2005-05-01T20:54:00.001+09:00

Last page of the sketch notebook. The idea I had when I started it was to first fill it to then draw something seriously. To re-learn how to draw after one year of hybernation. Fortunately my perspective shifted on the middle of this project. Posting the sketches on a blog changed things dramatically. Not that anyone comes around here. But just the possibility of someone criticizing you publically made things more serious. At least for me.

2005-04-30T20:11:00.001+09:00

It felt like a million years since I last drew. Started working on Adobe Illustrator. The whole day I kept annoying Daniel asking him "how do you this?" and "how do you do that?". Sorry Edmundson.

The top of this illustration is entirely based on the Patlabor uniform but I must emphasize that I don´t intend to draw cosplays. Cosplay is mimicry. There is no problem in identifying yourself with movie and animation characters. The problem is to want to become them. I admit that I once I even thought of doing cosplay, but thank God I´m a cheap bastard.

2005-04-29T11:56:00.001+09:00

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. I had to draw a guy.

Imagine this one really colorful.

2005-04-28T11:59:00.001+09:00

95% based on this photo. Maybe I should resize the hat after redrawing on the computer.

2005-04-27T10:54:00.001+09:00

Oriental eyes and Margot Tenenbaum hair style.

2005-04-26T12:36:00.001+09:00

I´m getting outdated. Talking to some kids on mIRC (due to some trouble with a torrent file, I had to trace the file back to a very small, obscure mIRC channel) I was impressed by the all the data they knew about animation. They even indicated me some stuff I had never heard of.

2005-04-25T20:47:00.001+09:00

As promised two posts. The top one was a real challenge. I completely changed her look. The old version can be seen here.

It was scary to watch the Patlabor OVAs and first two movies. Not that it has any shallow frightening scenes. Mamoru Oshii´s evolution from the typical format "girl meets robot" series (1989) to the tense political movie (1993) is jawbreaking. It´s hard to believe that they were done by the same person.

2005-04-24T20:58:00.001+09:00

Beginning of the century hairstyle, black suit, round bolo, and Klimt-styled skirt. Tomorrow I´ll post twice.

2005-04-23T20:53:00.001+09:00

This is my second serious drawing ever.

I´m cheating once again because my fan broke. I had to buy a new one and now I´m going to take the other one to be fixed. Next time I´ll post twice.

2005-04-22T12:05:00.001+09:00

The beginning of the twentieth century defines luxury with simplicity. I tried to individualize this elegance by mixing some modern details. Like Samurai Champloo. Couldn´t think of a bag so a Patlabor lunchbox was the solution.

I just watched the Patlabor OVAs. I didn´t like it that much, but I believe it was very important to watch it. Released in 1988, it was probably one of the first animes to try to place the giant robot genre in a real world situation. From the initial six episodes, you can see the first steps of director Mamoru Oshii towards his dense political science-fiction world as seen in his later works like Ghost in the Shell and Jin Roh. Maybe I´m crazy, but I also can see major influences on 1995´s Evangelion.

2005-04-21T04:14:00.001+09:00

Since Jane was more "artistic", I had more liberty to change her outfit.

2005-04-20T11:16:00.001+09:00

Daria´s look updated.

MTV helped create breakthrough cartoons that reshaped American animation. Liquid Television (91), Beavis and Butthead (93), Aeon Flux (95), The Maxx (95), and Daria (97) stand as some of the most original animated TV shows ever made. It also gave a big help to other equally important works such as Nickelodeon´s Ren & Stimpy (91) and Comedy Central´s South Park (97). It was a time when MTV still aired videoclips, remember? Unfortunately this phase is long gone. The plague of reality TV and hundreds of idiot shows infest this completely sold-out network. Don´t turn the TV on. It´s a sick sad world.