Coming Down

[six_demon_bag]

Well, I'm returned from ACen and, for the first time since I was a little kid, I'm not happy to be back after being away from home for a day or longer. It was a great time and I'm very much looking forward to ACen 2012. I'll try to share details and pics later and now I've got to get some sleep. Here's a little something that's hitting the spot

Comments

[daylight_broke]

While I was watching this Deftones music vid, I screamed, "NOOOOOOO! Don't get liquid near the books!" As a former library volunteer, it makes me crazy seeing liquid near books. Anyhoo, cool song by the Deftones.

I'm just relaxin' here listenin' to the song "Digging My Potato" from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack that you so kindly shared with me. There's a timeless quality to all these instrumental songs from the soundtrack. These songs could fit neatly on a soundtrack for a 1950s film or a 2050s film.

Question for ya: What are your favorite opening/closing theme songs for anime films/series? I'm guessing "Tank!" from Cowboy Bebop is somewhere on your list (?)

[six_demon_bag]

Haha I can understand that reaction. Glad you liked the song.

I totally agree with you on the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. I'm always surprised how great it still sounds whenever I put it on

[daylight_broke]

Oh, goody! I just found out my library system has a DVD copy of Gunsmith Cats: Bulletproof. Took a listen to the opening/closing theme songs for Gunsmith Cats, and I like it because it's the kind of song I would imagine Bill Cosby would use as a dance track during the opening theme song of his TV show The Cosby Show. Oh YES, I enjoy the opening theme song "Uragiri no Yuuyake" from Durarara!! too! I also like the song from Phantom Quest Corp. too because it seems to have a lot of fun mixing different styles in this one song: jazz, 1980s-style emotional ballad, 1950s-style rock-n-roll. I haven't seen this anime series yet though. I should remedy that problem.

PS. I'm downloading the Phantom Quest Corp. zip file that you sent me in the message. I'm curious to hear it! Thank you so much for being so nice to share it with me! :D

[six_demon_bag]

Yay! I'm glad you like it. Hahaha Yes! I can totally see Bill Cosby getting down to it in the opening to the Cosby Show!

They do SUCH a great job recreating Chicago in Gunsmith Cats. I mean, people who've been to Chicago enough will be like "I know that alley!" and whatnot. I hope you enjoy it. And there are only four episodes of Phantom Quest Corp., unfortunately. It saddens me that the inferior Ghost Sweeper Mikami was the more successful and longer lived of the two.

Anytime! You know I love sharing this stuff with you. : D

[daylight_broke]

I plan on listening to the songs from Phantom Quest Corp. tonight. :)

I wonder if anybody on youtube has ever created a video showing the real images of the landmarks in Chicago vs. the scenes of those landmarks recreated in the animated Gunsmith Cats. I can't visit the youtube site now because I'm busy at work; but I'll have to check out the answer later during my lunch break.

I've never seen Ghost Sweeper Mikami. I guess I should avoid seeing it.

Next question for you: Which anime series/films do you think are overrated or that you dislike?

[six_demon_bag]

Cool! I hope you enjoyed it. : )

Hmmm, that's a good question. I don't know if anybody would have done that, but it would be very cool to see. I'll have to check it out, too.

Yeah, Mikami isn't very impressive. And should clarify: it wasn't that Mikami was more successful than Phantom Quest Corp. It's just that Mikami was first and Phamtom Quest Corp. had enough similarities that legal action was taken to force them to stop making it. On one hand, I guess it's partially their own fault and that's what they get...but it was SO much better. Mikami was weighed down with annoyingly high amounts of lame fan service (panty shots, oversized jiggling breasts, etc) humor and characters that were supposed to be funny, but weren't, etc

[daylight_broke]

I've been listening to the Phantom Quest Corp. music you sent me. The music is so lush and smooth. I like it. I like it very much. My favorite song is "Dancin' with a Demon" because the voice reminds me of those Bonnie Tyler songs ("Holding Out for Hero") from the '80s.

Reading your comment about how one of Mikami's flaws was the fan service made me laugh because I just finished watching the zombie anime series Highschool of the Dead this morning. This zombie show has--to steal your words--"high amounts of fan service (panty shots, oversized jiggling breasts, etc.) humor." I think it's perfectly fine to include panty shots and huge breasts in anime--but DAAAAAAMN, Highschool of the Dead does the fan service to such an extreme that it becomes obnoxious and annoying

[daylight_broke]

Argh, so sorry, I embedded the video at a width of 300 accidentally in my above comment. I meant to embed the full size so you could read the Eng sub.

[six_demon_bag]

Haha no worries. I've seen the show a couple of times. And I forgot to mention in the bigger reply that I also enjoyed the second season, although not as much as the first. ; )

[six_demon_bag]

Haha exactly. I don't mind some panty shots and big, jiggling breasts in anime IF the story is entertaining and the humor doesn't rely on it. There's no arguing that fan service is part of anime in general, but there's still such a thing as too much. Like one film I rented several years ago, Labyrinth of Flames. It looked entertaining, but there was so much fan service, that the anything worthwhile was completely lost. It seemed that every action was made simply to result in more fan service

[daylight_broke]

LOL, I'm laughing at the strange coincidence that my least favorite anime series, Haruhi, is one of your favorites. I've only seen the first 7 episodes of the first season in non-chronological order, so my opinion of the series may change after watching all the first season episodes + the second season which includes the notorious "Endless Eight" episodes.

I forgot to mention in my earlier comment that I did see the movie The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and I did like that movie. Since the movie required knowledge of the events in seasons one and two of the anime series, I went ahead and read a spoiler summary of the anime series before watching the movie. I think one of the reasons I liked that movie was because I wasn't busy yelling, "Dammit! Suzumiya, STOP MOLESTING ASAHINA'S BREASTS!" Yeah, I remember yelling that a lot in annoyance while watching the series which put me in a bad mood.

Now I'm curious to see Labyrinth of Flames because I want to compare the level of fan service in that movie versus the extreme,

[six_demon_bag]

Haha yeah, the "Endless Eight" is something you only need to watch all the way through once. I know what you mean about getting sick of yelling at Haruhi to stop molesting Asahina's breasts. What I think made it tolerable for me in the end was that it was in a very obviously non sexual manner and simply part of Haruhi's utter shamelessness, which I came to find entertaining and respect. She'll do what she has to do and use any dirty trick in the book to get what she wants (dressing herself and Asahina up in sexy bunny outfits to draw attention to their club, blackmail photos with the computer president guy, etc) and I find it amusing how she does so without the slightest weight on her conscience

[daylight_broke]

Hmmm ... anime series to recommend to you. Ah, if you're in the mood to see something experimental and playful, you may possibly enjoy the series The Tatami Galaxy. There's only 11 episodes; I'm currently watching episode 7. And so far, I love it because it amuses me.

This series reminds me of the movie Groundhog Dog (1993) with Bill Murray. Each episode repeats the same pattern of events: A university student joins a campus club and unexpected things happen. At the end of each episode, the events you just saw in the episode rewind backward in time to the beginning to start all over again in the next episode. To keep myself sane while watching The Tatami Galaxy, it's helpful for me to pretend the episodes exist in alternate universes with the same cast of characters and almost-the-same dialogue.

I've been watching the episodes over at Hulu.

But if you're curious about seeing the first episode, here's a youtube link (sorry, embedding's disabled): The Tatami Galaxy - Episode 1 (Duration: 23 mins)PS. Please don't feel like you

[six_demon_bag]

Excellent! I've never heard of that show and I'm very much looking forward to checking it out. And I love Groundhog Day! (speaking of that, the aforementioned "Endless Eight" in Haruhi Season 2 is a bit of a play on that concept as well). : )

[daylight_broke]

I remember reading a random youtube comment about how a Haruhi fan wanted to rip his own dick off in frustration and anger after seeing the "Endless Eight" episodes. I don't know why, but that comment made me laugh so hard. I'm guessing a lot of fans felt the same way about the "Endless Eight" episodes.

[six_demon_bag]

Hahaha I'm not surprised someone would feel that way and I'm sure plenty of fans do. I have to admire the writer/director for having the balls to inflict the "Endless Eight" upon their fans.

Did you ever watch Space Ghost Coast to Coast? It reminds me of an episode of that show in which Space Ghost sees an ant crawling across his studio floor right at the beginning and spends the entire episode quietly following the ant to see where it goes. Again, it was a bit torturous, but I have to admire them for going for it. : )