Amidst the dust

I've been keeping my home-theater gear covered up to ward off all the dust that's generated by dismantling my house, but I unwrapped it Friday night so I could keep on watching stuff.

"Irresponsible Captain Tylor" OVA disc 1 -- Mashimo's only sequel gets off to a bit of an incongruous start, like the characters aren't exactly the same in their motivations and reactions from where they left off in season 1. I mean, yeah, on the surface they're the same, but something seems a little off, a little forced. At least for the first half hour or so. Then it seems to start getting back into the groove, and by the end of the disc, it feels more like a proper continuation. Well, mostly. There are a couple of spots that don't feel quite right. Like that bishounen captain's over-emotional reactions; I think he held his cool better in the first series. Otherwise it was fine.

And for those of you that have seen ".hack//SIGN", the movie "Roman Holiday" comes up again. Mashimo must be a Billy Wilder fan. Now I'm going to actually have to watch "Roman Holiday". Shame on me for not having sat through it already, but I suppose I'll atone for in soon enough.

"Najica Blitz Tactics" disc 1 -- "Oh no", you're saying. "He's going to complain about how immature it is or something." Heh. Believe it or not, I thought it was a hoot! I mean, yeah, there were panty-shot fanservice bits in just about every scene, but I mean, come on! It was a lot of fun! A bit silly, but fun!

Really, when I complain about immaturity, it's really more about the immature attitudes and reactions in a story -- like the typical wussy teenage boy who gets all extra-flustered to the point of nosebleed -- or the rampant embarrassment the girl has if a little bit of something flashes -- or worse, the oft-overused girl-accuses-boy-of-being-a-total-perv-just-because-he-catches-a-glimpse. Gratuitous panty-shots don't really bother me in and of themselves. After all, Miyazaki himself tends to flap a few skirts a little high. And as for "Najica", in the spirit of "Gunsmith Cats" and "Miami Guns", this is just a lot of good-natured fun.

Well, okay, the frequency and, uh, detail, (*ahem*) of said shots really was kind of excessive. But it was kind of amusing. That said, if the rest of the episodes keep up that pace, well, I think the joke gets old a little quickly. Still, the music, the style, and animation were really good and enjoyable.
I'll keep renting for now.