More about Kino's Journey (and what I've been watching without Madlax)

Not only a Wednesday, but also a Thursday has passed. I had declared first, the latter, then the former, "Madlax Day". Now both have gone by... but no fansub to be seen. I have the raw (see the previous post), but I haven't watched it yet, because I know I won't understand it. I've even posted a bounty; the trinkets that will be arriving from my CD-Japan order are up for grabs. All I need is an accurate-enough English script. I'll take it from there.

I've got more money than brains, I suppose.

Anyway, since I have tomorrow off from work (except, I've actually got to work. But I can do that from home), I'm having a few brewskis and have continued my "not Madlax" watching (which I promised earlier to catch up on). I popped in a .hack//SIGN disc to test my new player's audio configuration (verdict: AWESOME), and then...

I finished Kino's Journey.

I love this series. It is now my #3.

You may have noticed in my various reviews that I mention something about "moments" in films or shows that I like. Kino is all "moment". It's a series of fables, stories, poems, koans... moments. "The beautiful world" indeed.

Now, seeing as my top 2 series also involve 17-year-old young ladies (and my guess is Kino is about the same) probably indicates that I'm emotionally arrested at about 17 myself, but in reality, I think that the treatment of these characters is so striking and compelling compared to the usual fare that, all told, I'm truly captivated by the qualities of the story and the cinematic presence, and not stuck in some sort of retro-adolescent quagmire.

Let's take Evangelion disc #2 as an example. I commented earlier that I thought I liked it. Well, with disc #2, there was a whole lot more of the things that I dislike about the whole anime genre in it. Mainly the way it's aimed at that mid-teenage BS that I outgrew a long time ago. The women are all thinly-characterized stereotypes -- and I mean anime/Japanese stereotypes at that -- with all the annoying characteristics that entails. The cold, emotionless-but-learning-despite-the-gratuitous-nudity one, the adult-but-acts-like-an-oversexed-kid one, and the uptight-overconfident-accusatory-overbearing one. And, of course, the teenage male protaganist is shy-but-principled-and-awkward-yet-heroic. The ingredients for fan-service city.

I thought in the first disc of Evangelion that despite these things, there might have been something beyond that. The opening theme song was very old-skool cheesy; I loved it. The incedental music, and especially the closing theme, were classic cheesy lounge music. The "Fly me to the Moon" as the end theme (sung by different vocalists every time, I noticed) was paticularly entertaining, and I have a lot of cheesy bachelor-pad Mancini, Esquivel, etc. like that in my 50gb MP3 collection.

But damnit, it's pissing me off with this cliche crap. I want to like it, but it's getting annoying. But I'll rent #3 and see where it goes. I'm not finding it purchase-worthy yet, though.

Anyway, back to Kino. I haven't quite figured out how to describe it, but she always does something a little unexpected, and that makes the series all the more charming. How to describe it... With the Bee-Train/Mashimo women I've been idolizing, well, they're very stoic and maybe a bit cold. Kino kind of comes across that way, but then they'll show her laughing. And that makes my heart melt. Her actions and reactions aren't entirely principled, yet they make sense and are totally human. I love it. "Moments".

Philosophically, it's kind of high-school. But it's that deeper high-school that kids like me were prone to ponder than the vapid existence of the pop cliques. And there's nothing wrong with that. I still found plenty to find deep enough to think about for some time afterwards. Particularly the bit about her origin. The town where at a certain age they removed a part of your brain so you'd become a responsible adult and not complain about your job. That one, as intended, struck home.

But I've already mentioned before about a cartoon sparking a premature mid-life crisis. This is only carrying the momentum along, not causing it...

So I'll wrap up for now. I've got some more "watched it" to follow up with, but I really need Madlax closure first. Tomorrow, since I can't finish Madlax yet, I think I may do marathon #11 of Noir. I miss the girls terribly, as it's been weeks since I've watched an entire episode. It's not exactly the most grown-up way to advance another year into my late thirties, but it's something I love and enjoy, so why not?

In future installments, I'll start posting about my impending home remodelling project. Also, I'm volunteering to help out a fansub group with releasing episodes of Koichi Mashimo's next series: "Meine Liebe". More to follow. In the mean time, if you find an English fansub of Madlax 26, TELL ME!!!!!

I am a weak man.

Caving in to the whole thing didn't take very long. Driving home from work. A sunny afternoon along the lakeshore. And what pops up on my MP3 player?

"Yammani Yammani Yammani Ya-na-ni!". Hit me like a sack of bricks.

Unfortunately, now that I've caved, I can't actually find it! Well, the raw at least. The usual source is having issues, and the posted workarounds aren't working, uh, around. And even finding the raw still doesn't help me keep tabs on the "underground" where the eventual sub will show up. Because I won't have the slightest clue with just the raw.

Madlax 26. If you see a direct source for it (raw or subbed), and you wish to take pity on an old guy lacking teh mad searching skilz that you youngsters seem to have grown up with, please drop me a note or leave a comment so any of my readers can share in the generosity.

(and some more Google-bait: ELDA TALUTA! I've got Madlax OST 2 on the way from CD-Japan!)

Still in denial...

So this morning I get up after a late night of watching stuff (which I'll get to later). I fire up a browser and start my daily browsing ritual of going through the usual news and comics sites, then I think, "Gee, I wonder if there's been anybody posting about Madlax on the AnimeSuki forum today?"

I get to the Fansub listing, and there's the Madlax listing, but next to it....

"Moved"

I had read yesterday that Samurai 7 was licensed at a convention in Atlanta. I felt a little nervous when I had read that, but didn't really give it a second thought through the rest of the day. But when I saw that "Moved" this morning, a pit formed in my stomach.

I had mentioned back in July that "one of the worst and best things that could happen is for the series to get licensed in the US before it's over in Japan." Little did I know that I'd be strung along, no -- dragged along by a giant hook embedded in my skull, through twists and turns and hills and valleys and... and...

One... more... episode... *whimper*

So now I'm in a bit of a dilemma. The fansub groups as a rule drop a series when it's licensed (that's why all the hysterics, duh!). The raw unsubbed episode will still be captured and distributed to the internet through the regular channels shortly after it airs.

Someone is bound to sub it. I'm not the only one clinging to the edge of my seat on this one, after all!

Ethically, the deal is that if a company is going to invest in a professional translation and DVD release, you shouldn't support or otherwise encourage "breaking the rules" by groups who have no such compunctions. But psychologically, even if ADV got the masters tommorow and started translations, and started churning out the first DVD in a month...

...it would be seven months before I can finally find out just what the f* was going on with that show!!!

As I've indicated in previous posts, I'm a weak, weak person when it comes to this show. Right now I think I could buck up and deal with it. But ask me again on Wednesday, when the reality of "no more Madlax" sinks in...

I think my readers should take up a pool as to the day I'll actually cave... ;)

*Gasp!*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....
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[breathe...]
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Who was I kidding?

"I'll skip this week and watch the last two at once."

"I'll enjoy the anticipation."

Yeah, right. The second episode 25 hit my harddrive, I fired it up on the big screen. Now for my review:



Whoa.



At any rate, I posted an episode 25 summary over on the AN forum. Watch out for "spoilers". Heh.

The Wednesday Winner!

Ayu at 8pm.

Now I have 1 hour and 41 minutes to decide if I'm going to skip a week or not. Actually, I don't think I'll get to watch it tonight, because, of course, I'm actually working right now. If you can call it work; it's a conference call with the west coast that's going really late -- but I had a conference call with Europe very early this morning, so I'm really wiped out. And I get to do it all over again every day for the next 9 days.

The sun never sets on my little empire.

Weekend update

My order of Kino's Journey discs hasn't shown up yet. DeepDiscountDVD.com, while they have great prices, is kind of slow.

That said, the first "Neon Genesis: Evangelion" disc showed up from GreenCine, so I finally got to sample that one. I liked it! I often whine in these pages about some of the typical cliche annoyances that bug me about anime, and this show had it's share of them -- giant robots and all (not that there's anything wrong with that!) -- but something about the characters and the overall atmosphere seemed more interesting to me. I haven't quite put a finger on it yet, but I definitely sense quality. It's kind of on par with "Cowboy Beebop" in that respect, at least as far as how I feel about it. So I'll bump the second disc higher in my queue, and after that, decide whether it's a "buy" or not.

I double-featured that with "Tokyo Godfathers". That was some nice storytelling. I'm glad to see the medium used in such a way that breaks out of the usual rut. Good solid cinema. Beyond that, I didn't quite take to it any more deeply. It didn't hook me. I'm not sure I'll buy it, but I would recommend it as a rental to most anyone. It's better than most of the drek on Blockbuster's shelves.

For upcoming watching, I'm faced with a dilemma. There are 2 eps of Madlax left. If I wanted to, I could avoid watching the next episode until I can get both of them in another week-and-a-half. Then, since I'm taking Friday the 1st off (for my *mumble*birthday*mumble), I could marathon the whole thing. The anticipation buildup waiting for 21 and 22 was rewarded by quite a payoff. Do I dare set myself up again? I'd have to pretty much avoid the internet in case I run into any spoilers on any of the forums.

And if I do this, you can follow this blog to track my rapid descent into insanity as I post, one after the other:
"There are 134 hours, 15 minutes before I can watch the rest of Madlax."
"There are 112 hours, 43 minutes before I can watch the rest of Madlax."
.
.
.

Ad infinitum.

When I first saw the Ramones...

This seems like an opportune time to chime in with my "me-too" Ramones reminisence, as I'm sure most everyone on the internet has done by now.

It was around 1988 or '89, spring quarter of one of my many sophmore years at RIT. They played in the hockey rink, an absolute chamber of horrors in the acoustics sense.

Before the term "mosh pit" was coined, the group front and center on the floor would engage in what was quaintly called "slam dancing". I discovered that quite to my surprise a year previously when I went to see The Dead Milkmen.

This time I was prepared. And willing. As was the gal I was with at the time.

So the Ramones come on stage, the lights come up, the drummer clacks his sticks the customary 4 times, and then...

...It was just a wall of solid noise. Loud, distorted, screeching noise. Ear-bleedingly tangible sound waves assulting every exposed surface.

And mind you, I'm not speaking metaphorically about the musical qualities or the band's talent -- you literally could not hear anything remotely resembling a rythym, tune, baseline, anything! There were no vocals, guitars, drums. Just noise. You could see them playing instruments, mouthing into microphones, but...

Of course, once that assault started, the individuals in the little crowd in the center began their assaults on their neighbor, as tradition so warmly dictated. Pick a target, body-slam them, pick another target, repeat. All the better if you catch their eye ahead of time so you simultaneously try to knock each other silly.

Good clean fun!

Anyway, after it was all over, we emerged from the concrete cavern with ears ringing about as loud as the wall of sound had been (a ringing I think I still hear to this day), our torsos bruised and aching, drenched with sweat, and hoarse from all the screaming.

So to wrap up, isn't it odd that dinosaurs like Aerosmith or the Stones still wander the earth, but a perpetually underated band that was probably a purer rock act than any of them has dwindled away one by one into extinction. A toast to you and your brothers, Johnny! Rest in peace.

Wednesday is the new Thursday.

Ayu wins this week. 24 down, 2 more to go.

And my heart is breaking

A poster on the AnimeSuki forum said that this latest episode was probably both the funniest and the saddest of all of them. It's a very good observation. There have been a couple of significant deaths in these last few, and they were handled so poetically, so touchingly, well... I haven't seen anything quite like it in an anime series. But it's contrasted with such an insane, surreal mayhem that tries so hard to disguise itself as reality, but it's turned up on it's head and spun around in a dozen directions. With maddening, unfathomable clues as to what actually is real. But you just know, at the end, it'll either be "Oh, that's what that meant!". Or, just one giant WTF moment. I dread the latter.

But at any rate, this show rivals Noir now.

I'm serious!

(Of course, that just may mean that I haven't done a Noir marathon in a while so I need to refresh my memory. Hmmm...)

"Freakazoid On Crack", and other observations of late

I've watched a few more things of late besides Kino's Journey, so it's time to 'fess up.

(GreenCine's down right now, so no links)

Mashimo's "Sorcerer Hunters" -- So in my quest for trying to sample everything I can from this guy, I think I hit one I'm not enthused about. It's got a certain unusualness about it, but overall it's just rife with the standard visual cliches and jokes and annoying love-interest-triangles that pretty much make most anime difficult for me to sit through. I'll give it one more disc's worth of a try, but there's no way I'm buying this one.

"New Dominion Tank Police" -- I mistakenly got this sequel to the older "Tank Police" series that I wanted to rent. Mashimo directed two episodes of the older one, and I'm pretty sure I saw the older one a long time ago. This "New" one sucked! Argh. There was maybe one redeeming episode out of the 4, but that was quite a stretch.

"FLCL" (also known as "Fooly Cooly" or "Furi Kuri") -- Uhh, ooo-kay. It's kind of like a bunch of Japanese animators watched a marathon of all the old WB "Freakazoid" series, drank a lot of coffee, and had at it. There's a lot of worship of this show and a lot of proponents of a deeper meaning behind the silliness. And yeah, there's, well, stuff going on, sure. But maybe because I've got a long history of experimental animation and film under my belt, I'm a little jaded. I do find some of the techniques interesting, and I have an appreciation of what they're trying to do, but I'm not hooked on it. I'll rent the rest of the series (only 6 eps) and see if it grows on me. But it doesn't "click" right off, and I'm probably not going to buy it.

That's about it. I've only rewatched Madlax ep 23 a couple of times (heh), and rewatched a couple of Noir eps, but solely to judge the deinterlacing qualities of my new expensive Denon. (heh, deux!) I've got "Tokyo Godfathers" lined up next from GreenCine, and I really should start dipping into some of my neglected Criteron box sets, now that I've got a player that will make them shine.

An expensive hobby

Just before Noir became the obsessive centerpoint of my compulsive viewing habits, I was searching for a top-notch DVD player to match up with my brand-new DLP HDTV. It would have to upscale to 720p over DVI, pass "pluge" (aka 0-7.5 IRE blacks), and not clip white levels. It would also have to be able to pillarbox 4:3 Academy Ratio movies, because my DLP locks into widescreen when it gets a signal over DVI.

I was willing to spend quite a bit, and was eyeing the Pioneer Elite 59AVI.

Then, when I got hooked on Noir, and started "experimenting" with anime, I discovered the importance of one more thing: deinterlacing. Anime discs are notoriously badly encoded, and most DVD players tend to exhibit combing artifacts when making a progressive picture when it encounters errors or sloppiness that occur in badly-flagged DVDs. Noir was a stellar example -- it looks gorgeous, but motion breaks up into scanlines all the time. And after seeing it in hi-def, I just couldn't stand it!

I never got around to testing the Pioneer. I started concentrating on building an HTPC to perfect DVD playback, but waiting for the new NVidia decoder (which supposedly would do the kind of deinterlacing I needed) was taking forever (it's still not available in a purchaseable package like TheaterTek yet). Other less-expensive DVD players I tried, even though they managed to meet many of my requirments, all failed the de-interlacing test.

But this week, I did it. I bought the brand new Denon 3910. It's got a top-notch decoder, excellent electronics, whiz-bang audiophile features I'm admittedly not using yet (I'll upgrade the rest next year), tweakable picture quality settings, and best of all, it deinterlaces anything you throw at it! It's not perfect; you can still see some occasional jagginess in solid lines, but it's such a drastic improvement over everything else that I'm quite pleased.

And I'd better be, because it cost eleven hundered bucks.

Anyway, being a regular "Captain Justification", I really didn't have to try too hard to come up with why I would spend such a large sum on something most people buy for $75 at Wal Mart. Primarily, even ignoring my growing anime collection (and my desire to deinterlace it), the movies I want to watch just aren't shown on the scant few hi-def channels I have access to. Voom is starting to show Fellini & Kurosawa films on their service, but I have trees in the way and can't get Voom. So I need to get the best DVD playback I can to tide me over for the day that HD-DVD finally arrives and Criterion starts releasing HD-DVD transfers. And seeing as I still have laserdiscs that haven't been adequately rereleased on DVD, I figure it'll be a while before HD-DVD content catches up.

An expensive, expensive hobby.

Kino's Journey

Okay, like this one a lot!

Introspective, contemplative, poetic. Little bits of gory violence in there that seems a little gratuitous, but not in a splatter-flick sort of way. More like punctuation. And it's not so much an exclaimation point, but rather more of a semicolon; it bridges, yet seperates, two related thoughts.*

I've just put in an order for the whole box set (only about 4 discs, but still...).

More about my other recent viewing, and the new piece of gear I'm picking up, later.

*(I should probably put in an order for that recent book about punctuation, because I'm pretty sure I'm abusing it quite, quite horribly in my attempt to be literate)

A new record!

In what appears to be a new turnaround record, ANBU/Lunar has released Madlax episode 23.

On a Tuesday!

I had just finished downloading the un-subbed raw because I really really need to see what happens next. Now I'll probably wait until this one is done.

Of course, it's downloading really really slow...

Anyway, KTKore from the AnimeNation forum recommends that I stick with Hunter X Hunter a little longer. Since he's the one who's recommendation started me riding on this whole crazy train to begin with, I figure I'll take his advice; it should fill the time between downloads and GreenCine deliveries pretty nicely.

Speaking of GreenCine deliveries, I just received the first disc for Kino's Journey, which sounds really interesting. But I looked at my queue just now, and they're shipping two more that were waaay down in the middle of my queue, with a bunch of stuff I've got higher up that was solid green! WTF?! I just bumped up my subscription, too. *sigh*. I guess I'll get the hang of it eventually.

What's with all the rewatching?

When my littlest brother was growing up, we'd be able to keep him quiet by firing up whatever current Disney movie he liked on the VCR, repeatedly. He could watch the same movie over and over again. Most kids who grew up with VCRs, and now DVDs, have pretty much the same experience throughout their childhood.

I never had that. Disney movies were only re-released to the theaters every 7 years. It was a rare event when one of them would get shown on "The Wonderful World of Disney" on prime-time TV. Pretty much any TV show would only get re-run during the summer. Syndicated daily cartoons had enough material to stretch out over months without repeating (or so it seemed).

The first time I ever saw a movie twice in the theaters was with Star Wars. And it was a couple of months in between screenings. It just wasn't done before that.

And more recently, with my Laserdisc & DVD collection, I would maybe only rewatch even my most favorites every 4-6 months or so.

Just now, I finished an entire day of rewatching Madlax from the very beginning up through ep 22. Back on Thursday, to build up the anticipation to eps 21 & 22, I started on ep 14. Friday I watched 19-22 again. Saturday I finished my 10th trip through Noir by rewatching the last 2 discs. Then, because I mustn't have been misting up quite enough, I rewatched Madlax 22 again a couple of times. And earlier in the week, I rewatched .hack to compare the subtitles to the dubs.

I don't really have a good explaination for it. It seems to be focused on these shows. I can't extend it to other anime, so I don't think it's just the medium that's got me obsessed. There's other quality programs out there that just don't provoke this kind of behavior in me. For example, Monster is an extremely well done show and I like it a lot, but I don't find myself anxiously awaiting the latest episode for it (in fact, the Soldats had fallen a bit behind, and I've only just downloaded, but not watched, the last 2 episodes), and I have no real desire to rewatch them yet.

I've been trying to put my finger on it. I think the closest I can come up with is that Mashimo's work resonates with me in a way that has that "magic", that certain something, that consistently "clicks" for me. The only parallel I have is with music: Stereolab. I can instantly recognize a Stereolab song for it's unique qualities. On it's surface, their work seems like either some sort of lounge/pop, or experimental droning, and a lot of people just don't pay a lot of attention to it. But for me, it's like a little bit of "magic". It "clicks".

It feels like I've discovered something unique and special. On the surface, it doesn't seem to be much of anything unique at all. It's very straightforward in most respects. Simple, even. But it's exactly right!

It's like finding some kind of hidden truth...

(Yes, I've been watching too much Madlax... ELDA TALUTA ELDA TALUTA ELDA TALUTA.....)

Madlax eps 21 and 22

I've said this on a couple of the forums, and I'll say it here. I can only muster one comment about these episodes right now:




I am this show's bitch.


That is all.

Wednesday or Thursday? Can't wait any more!!

The anticipation is killing me. Two whole weeks without a Madlax episode (well, except for the Sugarcube catch-ups that are up to ep 14), and at any moment over the next 24 hours, I can expect at least ep 21 (if not 21 and 22 simultaneously) to appear on the AnimeSuki tracker.

It is by the sheer force of will that is keeping me from looking over in the forum for the spoilers by the folks who watch the raws in Japanese.

That said, I actually have been watching a few other things to pass the time. As I've noted below, I finished the Kill Bill duopoly. Tarantino knows a lot about how to mimic the movies he obsesses about (not that there's anything wrong with obsessing), but there's this smugness about it -- an arrogance -- that led me to my slightly briefer reviews. I'm not sure if I'm going to rate it "purchase-worthy" yet. I'll let it set a spell and ferment in my head.

In my newfound anime obsessive realm, I finally started Bebop. I had caught a few eps in that Best Sessions disc, and two of those were on the 1st disc that I rented. I think I like the series well enough, and I will probably rent it all the way through. I won't buy it until the rumoured new box set with 5.1 surround sound comes out though (the Best Sessions disc was remixed in 5.1. Good stuff!)

Also out of my queue came the first Revolutionary Girl Utena disc. I've said quite often that I really dig "ultra-dangerous and/or brooding women", and the promise of that shojou-ai vibe can be irresistable, but I found it a bit too tedious, I didn't really like the character styles, and the characters themselves seemed rather thin and lacking life, as does the overall story. And it's anime-cliche-o-rama, which, while I tolerate, I'm not that fond of when there's not much to make up for it. I'll give disc 2 a go, and maybe try one of the movies, but this one was a bit of a disappointment.

I've got an earlier Mashimo series lined up next: Sorcerer Hunters. Looks a bit over-the-top to me, but being the Mashimo fan-boy that I've become, I can't help but give it a spin.

Which brings me to yet another Mashimo series that never got licensed over here, so I had to download fansubs for it: Popolocrois Story (the older 1998 version). I was surprised that this one didn't show up on any of the database lists for Koiuchi Mashimo until I checked CDJapan. This one is a kiddie story, aimed totally at little kids. I think it's unmistakably Mashimo, though, in the timing, pacing, and character patterns (it helps that I compared the credits with his name in Kanji to verify). So far, though, I could only get through 2 of the 4 available episodes (there are more in the actual series). It really is just too kid-oriented to me. And I can't recommend it to anyone with English-speaking kids, because kids of the age that can stand to read through subtitles will be too old for it. That said, it seemed to be a quality show overall.

Finally, for other fansub samplings, I've tried a few episodes of Uninhabited Planet - Survive! Not bad, but thin, cliche, formulaic, and aimed at a young-teen audience. Still, the characters had a bit more life than most, but I don't think I'll get much further along with it. The other sampling has been Hunter X Hunter, which I've only just started and haven't seen enough to pass judgement. Seems a bit to "young" for me as well, though.

That's kept me busy, I should say. Now to go check AnimeSuki again... Is it there yet? Nope. *sigh*

[EDIT] 7:25 PM!! ANBU/Lunar wins! 85KiB/s! 36 minutes left! Both episodes in a little over an hour! Me happy.