For those unfamiliar with the story (for shame!), the Earth has come under attack by the Gamilas, a mysterious alien race. They bombard the surface, scorching it with radiation and driving humanity underground. The last hope to save Earth is a mysterious message from Iscandar promising a decontamination device and including plans for a warp engine and wave motion gun. The battleship Yamato and its crew launches for one final, desperate mission. The film does an excellent job of setting this premise up while introducing us to the crew of the Yamato.

Once the formalities of introduction are over, the focus is on the battle to get to Iscandar and back in time. There is little room for significant character development, but there are some decent but predictable moments where the characters can assert a unique personality. The special effects for the space battles were better than expected and felt close to recent US television productions. The interior sets though felt too sparse and lifeless; they reminded me of the early '70s British sci-fi shows rather than a modern production.

Yamato is an entertaining encapsulation of the original story. The space battles are mesmerizing, but there is not much beyond that eye candy that merits a repeat view.

Macross 7 picks up decades after the original war with the Zentradi ended; the two races are now hurtling through space in city ships that make the original Macross cruiser look diminutive. City 7 boasts two heroes from the original story; Max is the commander of the military, while Miria is the mayor. However, the focus is on their daughter Mylene and the members of the band Fire Bomber.

The mysterious threat this time is a group of aliens after "Spiritia". This is extracted from life forms via green lasers and leaves the victim alive but unmoving. Combating this threat is Nekki Basara, lead singer of Fire Bomber. He pilots an unusual Valkyrie that shoots speakers into enemy ships. He is looking to harness the power of song to stop all fighting.

I generally gauge how well a series is engaging me by the questions I have between episodes. A good series has me wondering what is around the next turn. Macross 7 has my wondering two things. Will Veffidas ever speak? (Yes, briefly) And will the flower girl ever give her bouquet to Basara? (Not yet, and I'm not ruling out tha the flowers are for someone else in Fire Bomber). There is currently too much repetition in the episodes to really grab my interest.

The enemy appears; Basara flies out and sings the same three songs over and over. Mylene gets annoyed with Basara and his antics. Veffidas drums over everything. What made the original Macross enjoyable was the human story it told in between the battles. They were people trying to live a normal life under highly abnormal circumstances. Macross 7 lacks that touch; they are people waiting for the latest plot device to fly and sing.

There is one interesting plot point that comes close though. Max and Miria's marriage has come undone. While it is not public yet, they are separated and heading to a divorce. It is intriguing to see this play out, as their jobs require them to work together to protect the people.

There is still plenty of show to watch, and episode twelve did take an interesting turn. We will see if the derides can pick up steam and make me care about something other than a taciturn drummer and a bouquet of flowers.

In Summary:

The first season of Kaleido Star is a captivating story about pursuing one's dream. While predictable, it distinguished itself by avoiding most of the stereotypes and clichés seen in similar titles. It took a great cast of characters and built them into a close knit family of performers that you simply just had to watch and cheer for. The "Legendary Great Maneuver" finalé provides an amazing yet bittersweet ending that will have you transfixed with anticipation. Funimation gives you one more chance to pick up this modern classic; don't miss it. One of my very favorite and highly recommended titles.

In Summary:

The second season of Kaleido Star equals its initial season and continues weaving a captivating story about pursuing one's dream. Where the first season built the cast into a family, the second season builds Sora into a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants to be on stage. Watching her take this journey is worth every minute. Funimation gives you one more chance to pick up this modern classic; don't miss it. One of my very favorite and highly recommended titles.

Spot on Thematically

The one musician I was excited to see was Mari Iijima; most older fans know her as the voice of Lynn Minmay, one of the most iconic figures in anime. Despite a role that rocketed her to stardom, she focused on her music after that and produces her own albums in LA now. Having followed her YouTube channel, I had seen clips of her live performances and was eager to hear her live.

One day only

Friday arrived, and the T gods blessed me with immediate and swift trains allowing me to get into town and pick up my badge with plenty of time before Mari's panel at noon. Wandered the halls a bit checking out the cosplay and seeing what would be the popular trend. Remarkably, there seemed to be no noticeable trend; people were decked out in a wide variety of costumes from shows new and old. There was even someone dressed as Darkwing Duck. Why? I have no earthly idea...

Hello, I'm Mari Iijima

However, she did express that it is frustrating for her at times; she is musician and has been since she began playing piano at three. She feels like she is always introducing herself; "Hello, I'm Mari Iijima... Please listen to my music". The questions were a good mix of what it was like working on Macross and what motivates her music. Charming, funny, and forthright... She was a fantastic guest; my favorite line from the whole panel: "That guy they were chasing [Ichijyo Hikaru] was an asshole."

Despite having a hectic schedule, she, in what would become a pattern for the day, went out of her way after the panel to pose for photos with those that wanted them. Mine is seen below; yes, I know what you are thinking. Why do I look like a complete doofus? I don't know, but this is why I shy away from cameras.

Hello again...

After that, there was time enough to kill until her concert. Wandered the dealer's room, grabbed a bite to eat, and talked to Jm on the phone for an hour or so. Nothing really struck my eye in the dealer's room other than the markup on items common across most booths. Things I could get on the net for $25 were on the order of $40; yikes...

A perfect end to the evening

Her concert was much like her panel; she talked and engaged the audience between songs. The same candidness in her speech comes through in her music; her songs are all personal reflections of her mood, dreams, hopes, and fears. She even belted out a cover of a Kate Bush and Oasis song. The hour was over too quickly, but seeing her live was, even for a brief moment, was worth the wait. A merchandise table was setup after the concert, and I picked up her latest CD Echo and her previous one Uncompromising Innocence. She was planning to have another autograph session after the sales, but once again, she was gracious enough to sign one of the CDs right there. I could have probably gotten her to sign both, but she had already accommodated me far too much, and I did not wish to hold up the line further. And with that, it was back home, another Anime Boston adventure concluded for the year.

Picture, 1000 words... Hopefully, you now understand why this blog has been fairly silent the past few months. Fear not... This will not turn into a "Look at the cute" vanity page. Updates will be worked around my bundle's schedule.

This mission almost failed due to another utter failure of policy and procedure by the AB staff (more on this later). However, fortune smiled upon me, and I managed to get into the autograph room and bask in the glory of this icon. I handed him my box, and the translator, a man who I believe has worked every Anime Boston, asked who had previously signed it. I told him who and when, and we spent a few moments reminiscing about that particular guest. He mentioned this to Uematsu, and Uematsu took a minute to look at the signature. I wondered if he was getting nostalgic about those days and that title. He signed that and my copy of Final Fantasy 6 for the Super Famicom (best FF game ever!); I thanked him and walked out of the room a very happy man.

Uematsu is as impressive in person as he is through his prolific body of music. First, the man is a demon when it comes to autographs. The whole reason I managed to get in was due to the AB staff recognizing the pace he was keeping would manage to get in more people than they thought they could fit in the allotted time. And he just seems like a laid back, cool guy you could hang out and talk about anything with. He had a smile for everyone and seemed genuinely happy to be there.

The bright spot in the dealers room was managing to pick up more volumes of the Gyakuten Saiban manga (that's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney to you US game players) for Jm from Sasuga Books. We didn't know at the time that it would be our last purchase from them; they closed their doors a few months later.

Rounding out the good was having lunch with Chris of AnimeOnDVD.com and others at the California Pizza Kitchen. The iPad had just come out, so there was plenty of discussion around it, the tech industry, anime, and more.

The Bad

That last thought is the core of my Anime Boston 2010 experience; I was just killing time instead of enjoying the convention activities. Most of the showings was material I had seen before or owned; none of the panels piqued my interest. You can see the best cosplay within an hour of wandering the halls. So why was I there outside of meeting Uematsu Nobuo? I was hard pressed to come up with an answer.

My one major regret was missing the Video Game Orchestra concert. Following the forum threads after the Uematsu announcement, the con reps indicated that his contract would prevent him from performing in the concert or solo. I never saw any information that contradicted this and went under the assumption this was true. However, my gut said that he would play regardless, and I should have listened to it. He did indeed perform at the concert, but again, I would have spent hours killing time. Odds were that I could see the concert on YouTube shortly after. True, it is not the same as being there live, but it would suffice.

A minor regret is missing out on Uematsu's panel; Jm and I went for a snack and a walk outside. I thought we would make it back with time enough to get in the back of the line; wrong... we just missed the cut off for the room capacity. It was surprising to see there were no overflow measures in place. The man is an icon, a legend, a rock star of the anime and video game industry. If you couldn't have his panel in the main hall, there could have been overflow rooms with TVs simulcasting the panel. Still, I had his autograph and was able to engage him directly. That more than made up for this.

Flogging the dead horse one last time, there was always one vendor in the dealers room was another sad reminder of the state of the industry here. Every year, they would have a long, sprawling section of merchandise with two or three people were running back and forth helping out customers. This year, their section was two, maybe three tables long and staffed by only one man, and the merchandise was not as diverse. I silently hoped that their on-line business is still flourishing. Then I remembered there were figures I needed to pre-order from Hobby Link Japan. Direct (kind of) purchasing killed the dealers room star.

The Ugly

It took a bit of prodding from those of us in line, but the staff decided on the spot that the best course of action was to give those of us already there a ticket. When the line for the new time started up, we were then arranged in our original order due to the sequential numbers on our tickets. Brilliant customer service there; it defused any potential resentment around the time change and held to the spirit of the rules they had set up.

Sadly, this ticket system never caught on for all the lines for major events over the years, and no policies or procedures for wrangling lines have developed. The convention has been at the Hynes long enough to plan accordingly, but this never seems to happen. Lack of planning and preparation were evident once again for the Uemastu autograph line. It started with the messaging, or rather, the lack thereof.

Apparently, there was supposed to be a sign in front of the autograph room indicating that early lines were prohibited. However, this sign was located behind the closed doors of the room itself; that should be some staff member's checklist item one for the day. Ensure signs are properly setup. The second failure was lack of quality assurance on documents printed in advance of the convention. The unfortunate staffer that had to walk the line of disgruntled (puts it mildly) attendees commented to many that the policy was outlined in the program.

Bollocks; I had read the program and its policies the previous day to ensure that coming early and camping the line was an option. Nothing was outlined in the program with the policy the staffers were citing. When the staffer reached me, I politely pointed this out to her. She asked to see my program, thumbed through it, and let out a long sigh. She had told the writer to include it and was disappointed that it was left out. Yet, why had she not checked the policy text before the program was sent to the printer? This isn't your first time at the rodeo Anime Boston; policy documents should be boilerplate at this point with alterations only coming due to special contractual issues of the guests.

You might be wondering at this point "Luis, if you were there early, how did you end up at position in the line that could have been cut off?" That's an excellent question; thank you for bringing that point up. Many of us had camped early and were brusquely shooed away, told to congregate "over there without forming a line". We did as we were told and patiently waited to try to queue up again. However, another group had formed around the corner and further down the hall. They were not there as early as our group but were closer to the start of the new queue when the staffers opened things up. Many expletives were hurled by those around me when we rounded the corner to see a line already formed.

In a small sense, we were potentially going to be punished for the mistakes of others -- a missing sign, missing policy text. And having our group not be allowed to queue up first just heaped a huge dose of poor customer service on top. Though others raged, all I could do was shrug my shoulders and hope for the best; it certainly wasn't the first line I've been in that Anime Boston has mishandled. And given their track record over the years, it certainly won't be the last. Fortunately, Uematsu's speed allowed me in and salvaged my convention experience for the year.

And finally... Hope for the future?

Synopsis:
A Japanese cultural treasure has recently been discovered in a former Nazi sanatorium. While it is quite valuable, Lupin knows its true worth lies in being part of a key to lead to an even greater treasure. With Zenigata hot on his heels, a mysterious masked man named Morgana and his band of ninjas steal it, also killing Zenigata in the process. The race to the treasure is on; will Morgana and his ninjas reach it before Lupin? And why is this mysterious female ninja and her trusty dog interested in the treasure? Avenge the Old Man, Lupin!

Review:
It is nearly a year since The Last Job aired on Japanese TV; since that time, I have had the original TV broadcast, a fansub of said broadcast, and finally the actual DVD sitting on my desk gathering dust. The Detective Conan cross-over the previous year was a huge disappointment, and both the title for the 2010 special and the revelation that Zenigata was going to "die" left me dreading sitting down to watch another lackluster special. I finally worked up the desire to pop the DVD in, sat back, and let the ninety minutes pass by.

Remarkably, the special was not as big a disappointment as I feared. The plot cribs from The Fuma Clan; a Japanese treasure is the key, this time only one piece of the key, to an even greater treasure. Two ninja clans are battling for the treasure – one to steal its secrets led by the masked man Morgana, and the other to protect its secrets. To add to the fun, the writers toss in a connection to da Vinci, a female ninja and her trusty dog, a deadly yo-yo toting rival from Jigen's past, and a ninja dressed like a bird. Lately, the specials tend to bog down in the middle with exposition on what the treasure is or might lead to. However, this special weaves the explanations in between the action nicely, making the ninety minutes fly by rather than drag on.

I still do not understand why the writers continue to pull the gimmick of having a major character "die". Zenigata's death barely factored into the plot, and I would wager no one in the audience actually believed he was going to stay dead. If you want to take a character off the board for most of the special, just whack them over the head and leave them in a coma. At least, that is going to be more believable. Overall, the action was decent, and there were a few genuine laughs to be had; it may not have been a fantastic special, but it helped wash out a bit of the bad taste of the 2009 entry.

Screenshots coming soon...

In Summary:

Perhaps if more afternoon specials featured such wonderfully choreographed kung fu sequences, the message about the dangers of drug use would have been heeded more. What kid would want their kung fu to suffer as much as Tie Qiao San's did? Some spear wielding ruffian will just march right into your town, humiliate you, and kill off your students. So, kids, drugs are bad, but films like Opium and the Kung Fu Master are good and show off why people still talk about the Shaw Brothers to this day. This is easily a worthy addition to a kung fu fans library.

Shaolin Hand Lock:

Shaolin Hand Lock may not be the most action packed Shaw Brothers title to pick up, but it does serve as a decent introduction to the style and flair of their work along with the genre in general. The presentation is remarkably gorgeous for a film produced over three decades ago; toss in an amusing out-of-sync English dub, and you have a good first entry in the Hong Kong Connection line that makes me wish they were producing them at a rate that would allow me to relive a youth spent watching these films every Sunday.

14 Amazons:

Where Shaolin Hand Lock was a good introduction to the kung fu of the Shaw Brothers, 14 Amazons is a decent companion introduction to how bloody, almost to the point of camp, their films can be. If you can make it through the initial slow pace of the story, you will be rewarded with plenty of large scale bloodshed you will not soon forget.

I am finally starting a project I have been meaning to do for some time. Over time, I've blogged in various places -- LiveJournal, the AnimeOnDVD.com forums, etc. Now that I have my own permanent blogging space, I've wanted to pull all those posts and place them under this one location. I'll post them under their original dates and times, but occasionally, I'll bubble up ones under a "Reflections" post, either as a full repost or just linking to them.

First up is an experimental series of posts I made while reviewing the Evangelion box set. Titled "Reviewing the Sacred Bull", it was an attempt to shed light on how I reviewed titles by putting my thoughts to pixels rather than paper.

Sadly, I didn't manage to save the comment threads that went with these posts as the site migrated and moved over time; however, I will be posting the original comment threads for other migrated entries where available.

So, here you go, a look into the past...

• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Prologue
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Disc 1
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Disc 2
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Disc 3
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Discs 4 & 5
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Disc 6, the Director's Cut
• Reviewing the Sacred Bull - Epilogue, the movies