Star Wars and anime

Well, my Tomoe costume is now three-quarters done. All that's left is getting the shoes, the wig, the perfume, and painting the parasol ^_^

And there's a very good reason I won't go as Kaoru, Misao, or Megumi, because if I did Sarah, Andrietta, or Lindsey would kill me ^^; My Kenshin group character has been Tomoe since I started watching Kenshin, and luckily, she's the group Kenshin's preferred lady, so I get my costume done for pretty much free. Although, our Kenshin bought a dog collar and four leashes: one for each girl in the group. She said we could tie her to a pole if we all wanted to go in different directions

 

Oh my, you had best watch out. You may have just given milady ideas for next year's J.A.F.A.X. convention. (Having Rurouni blood in my veins, I do sometimes tend to wander, and disappear to those looking for me. ) Well, I see the costume situation clearly now. Still, I am hoping to see photos of this eventually. As for myself, thanks to some Anime I watched over the weekend, I have an idea of what I might attempt for this coming All Hallow's Eve. Heheheheheh!

BUT, that is in the future. This is now, and it is time to talk about what Anime experiences I've had over the weekend. It all began as early as Friday, when I managed to finish my script rough draft. I had Artemis read the rest of it Saturday, and she liked it. There were a few suggestions she made, and this week I'll be working on a few scenes before typing it out. On Saturday, I also managed to take in a ton of new Anime, courtesy of milady again. New episodes of "DiGi Charat", "X", and "Inu-Yasha" were viewed. All were throughly enjoyable, although "X" became REAL creepy in the 14th. episode. For those who know of the series, let's just say that Fuma does something to Kamui that will have just about anyone cringing.

Also on Saturday, I received part of my order from Joy's Japanimation. For others, I received an "Evangelion" Kubrik set for a friend in Wisconsin, and a "Black Jack" keychain for Artemis. The items they DID have in stock for myself were the second tape of "Berserk", and the third issue of the new "Transformers" series. Items that have yet to arrive are the third soundtrack to "Utena", a "DiGi Charat" soundtrack, and a "Rurouni Kenshin" t-shirt.

This note actually leads into my notes for Anime activities yesterday. I did watch the second volume of "Berserk". For anyone who's seen this series, PLEASE tell me Zodd the Immortal returns! I already know that sooner or later Griffith starts turning towards the "Dark Side", but it's still interesting to see how court life has started to affect his way of thinking. And I did read the first volume of "Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind". WOW! I liked it a lot! It's surprisingly similar to "Princess Mononoke", especially with the emphasis on ecological collapse. But it's also different, with focus on war, and possible evil forces. Of course, it's highly recommended so far.

 

Well, I had a busy week. On Sunday I met my on-line boyfriend of 10 months, and am now very happily his real-life girlfriend. He stayed until Thursday in which time I introduced him to subbed Escaflowne, and showed him the first Ranma 1/2 he's ever seen. I also bought my first sword: a red kodachi. He got a black and red katana to match ^_^ (He also bought me the Star Wars game of life )
After he went home(to Minnesota) I started mooching around on-line, downloading anime music videos. I seem to have gotten my sister (who's not particularly fond of anime) hooked on them.

In other news: I got a raise!

 

Hurray, hurray, Allya-chan! I congratulate you on earning a raise, along with making full girlfriend status. Just remember; one good way to keep the fellow in line is tell him you could make Kaori from "City Hunter" look kind in comparison if he misbehaves. LOL! Kidding, kidding!

There isn't a whole lot new with me this past weekend with Anime. About the only major updates I have was I finished reading "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind". Now I am convinced: anyone who has a remote interest in Anime HAS to read this series! I was greatly impressed by many elements in the series; the fact that while there are elements of evil in the series, not one character is ABSOLUTELY evil. It's also has a great sense of drama, and it is also very exciting. Also, I have been taking in some of "Rurouni Kenshin" on a daily basis. Today I reached the episode where Kenshin is just about to fight Aoshi for the first time. I've discovered something unusual, watching these early appearances by Aoshi. His appearance changes drastically during the "Kyoto" arc. I'm not talking about his costume, but just his general design.

Alas, progress on the script is going much slower than I originally thought it would. I am HOPING I'll have them finished by this weekend, so I can show them to Artemis. (That is, if you're interested, milady. )

 

what about Ranma 1/2?

 

the last few times i tried to get here the page wouldn't load :-\

allya, yay congrats on your real life boyfriend (i had it worded differently but it sounded funny

started school again so i don't have much time for anime. :-( or money ;-) but i am getting a few things in the mail soon (hopefully) sailor moon art books vol 3 and 4 and a saturn and pluto ufo catcher. and a few misc items

i've finally seen master of mosquiton. i love it! very funny. quite enjoyable. i can definately watch it multiple times.

and i should be getting the second volume of excel saga in the mail anytime now.

i have finally seen all of oav miyu. it's good. slower, but that's okay by me. i like tv miyu more though

 

i have all the first season of Ranma 1/2 and part of the second season. i also have all of the Evangelion series somewhere.

 

the only ranma 1/2 i've seen is the first two movies. which i liked. but the series is so long, and i don't exactly have unlimited funds or a friend who owns it sooo ;-D

yay. i got the second volume of excel saga today. watched the first two eps. saving the other two for later.

i also got my sailor moon ufo catchers. they're cute :-D and not as small as i thought they'd be

 

Me, oh my. I have been slacking a bit, haven't I? (Hey, I made a rather rough sounding rhyme! ) I missed out last week, for reasons I have yet to figure out, but this week I have a rather nice report on recent Anime activities. First off, it all began on Saturday. Before heading off in the afternoon with my lovely goddess, Artemis, I took in two new volumes of "Oh My Goddess" I received from the library. They were "Adventures of Mini-Goddess", and "Wrong Number". The former was just... wrong! Very funny, yes, but in a most silly fashion. I did like the alternate take on the meeting with Keiichi and Belldandy from "W.N.". I highly recommend that volume, for anyone who was displeased with the continuity gaps in the first collection, "1-555-Goddess".

Later on yesterday evening, after we visited a historical military encampment with her brothers, Artemis and I watched the second volume of "Utena". It's nothing we haven't seen before, but it's a perfect set-up for viewing of the third and fourth volumes. (We'll be able to rent them from a local video place, but the only minus point to the deal is that they're dubbed. Oh well, beggers cannot be choosers.) But it was still very amusing and funny the second time around.

Oh, and like yourself, Allya, I received a few orders on Thursday. I found in the mail my copies of a "DiGi Charat" soundtrack, and the third "Utena" soundtrack. I was pleased with both, especially the former, because it has the version of "Party Night" I've been looking for.

You'll have to post a review of what you've seen of "Excel Saga". I've been interested in viewing the series. It'll be a while before I see it, though, because Artemis and I agreed we might want to take in a semi-serious Anime series after we're through with "Utena". Oh, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed "Master of Mosquiton". I still look forward to stepping into the shoes, or fangs, of Mo-chan next year for my Sunday J.A.F.A.X. costume.

 

excel saga. i like it. it took a bit to get used to at first. but i think it's enjoyable and funny. though i must admit the constant dying joke is...annoying and old, but so far i'm the only one who has that opinion ;-) i love the opening song and closing one. the art is lovely. it's pretty good. you should catch it if you can.

oh, i just the 3rd utena soundtrack today!

and i also got some weiss kreuz items. the animeda (or wahtever. i'm not looking) artbook and the two volumes of an assasin and white shaman (or whatever). i like them all. great artwork.

should be getting a few (2) sailor moon cds sometime in the next week or two. one is neptune, uranus, chibimoon plus (i lvoe one of the songs on it so i had to have it. i think it's neptune's song). and i also got the supers movie soundtrack with the amichan in love movie music on it. ^-^ but i'm just waiting for them to arrive.

that's about it.

 

I will say this about the third "Utena" soundtrack, if you haven't listened to it just yet: it certainly has a different sound from the previous two soundtracks. The best way I could describe it is it loses the "Classical" style, and moves towards a "New Wave" sound. (However, having two additional editions of the Student Council theme is an advantage in my book. ) So, I hope you enjoy, Allya!

Oh yes, and on a soundtrack, but not Anime, related note, I received my soundtracks for "Zombie" and "Dawn of the Dead" yesterday. I am pleased that I FINALLY have them, after being yanked around for a month and a half from Shocking Images. I'm sure Artemis heard my cries of joy upon receiving my package yesterday.

 

Well, I'm here with a rather interesting question:

Anyone ever read Dragon Knights? If so, what color is Cessia's hair? I'm cosplaying her to Nekocon, and I need to find out her hair color ^^; So far it's narrowed down to pink and lavendaer, orange and red, or red and yellow... I'm ordering her wig at the same time I order to the one for Tomoe, to reduce shipping costs.

 

I haven't read the manga, Allya, but I did a brief search on the Internet a bit ago. (I WISH the sites I have been able to find would have a listing of characters. But if you were able to give me a general description of the character's appearance, I may be able to help more.

 

Well, we figured out her hair is lavendar and red, and since her dress is red, I know someone's going to ask me if I'm the Rose Bride.

Well, for my anime news, today I watched Trigun! All of it! I started at 9:45 and finished at 8:16. I absolutely loved it! The second half was kind of confusing... working on five hours sleep after 10 hours of work will do that to you ^^; My favorite characters are Knives and Legato (I love bad guys!) but all the others were cool too. ^_^ Can't wait until I can get my own copies... And next time I go into town, I'm renting 'Bastard!!' out of sheer, morbid curiosity (And the fact i think Dark Schneider is hot ^^; )

 

i want to see trigun! and bastard. you'll have to tell us if you like it or not after you view it. ^-^

nothing new to add. been really busy lately

 

Gee, and to think the only reason I watched "Bastard" was to see an interesting story. Seriously, Allya and Tic-Tac, it's one of my favorite series. It may be more so a favorite for me, because I'm a Heavy Metal music fan, and there are a lot of puns in the series that relate to the music genre. Also, Dark Schneider is a mas groovy anti-hero. (Alucard could still kick his butt, though! )

 

Well, I'm a fan of Classic Rock and techno, so I have no idea if I'll get any of the jokes ^^;
My main interest was sparked by a wonderfully done video of the Killer Rabbit and the Holy Handgrenade skits from Monty Python dubbed over Bastard!!. ^_^ They're two of my favorites from my huge collection of anime music videos... Which has now reached about 55, which isn't half bad, considering I've only been collecting for a month ^^;;;;

 

Now comes the time where I drown all readers of this thread with information about my Anime activities recently. It all began this past Saturday, not surprisingly, with some time spent with my dear lady watching Anime off of her computer. We took in the first two episodes of a series called "Condor Hero". OH MY GODDESS, this is a cool series! To sum it up, if you really like traditional Chinese martial arts movies, you're going to love this series. I would explain the fineries of the storyline, but it's kind of hard to explain with only having seen two episodes. I just received a mere taste of what the series is going to be like. (And the bummer is she was only able to save three episodes of the series. We have a bad feeling there's a LOT more than three episodes to the story. ) But later in the evening, we took in something a bit more familiar. We saw the third volume of "Utena". First off, we were rather scandelized by some of the dubbing work. (Yes... we were only able to rent the dubbed copy.) For one thing, the cast kept mispronouncing Nanami's name, along with Utena's last name. Another thing, the cast members sounded a bit... older than your average high school student. Yet another thing is Nanami's actress could NOT delivery the Anime woman snob laugh properly. (Which, I am proud to say, my girlfriend is a master of. ) But in general, I really enjoyed this volume. The first episode was just hilarious, and the latter two episodes were... interesting. They did have the honor of making Nanami and Saionji into slightly sympathetic characters. Now, we're just itching to get into the fourth, and final, volume of the first "Utena" story arc.

On Sunday, my Anime activities continued. I made time to watch the rental I chose to even out the two-for-one deal for "Utena". I decided to give the first volume of "Legend of Black Heaven" a try. This has to be one of the coolest Anime series I have ever seen. This one is for anyone who loves a truly unique series, and for anyone who loves good hard rock. (Trust me, it's a major part of the series.)

As for my activities this week, I plan on retooling my Anime-ish film script again, and hopefully I'll be able to make all the adjustments soon, so on our next date, I can show Artemis what I have. Then MAYBE I'll begin typing it all out. Have you all fallen asleep yet?

 

Everyone congratulate me! In the past week and a half, I converted two people to the way of Otakudom! My friend Mandi said the clincher for her was when I lent her Escaflowne and she saw Dilandau (Like me she has a thing for bad guys with winter coloration) So now both the Amanda's I know love Dilly, and all because I lent them the series ^_^

Second, my sister. I've been working on her for two years and her friends have been working even longer. My best friend and I showed her a fan dub of 'This is Otakudom' and she saw her first AMV's. She's now a vid-addict, and in becoming one, she now loves several different anime: right now her favorites are Trigun, Ah! My Goddess, Escaflowne, and Princess Mononoke. She loves vids so much that we're getting AMV equipment, so I can finally start my studio, tentatively named 'Dillicious Productions'. The name stems from a long-standing joke of what Vicious and Dilandau would be if they did the Fusion Dance. That and my buddy Steph's infamous quote: Vicious is Delicious!
Each time we saw a Vicious at Otakon we shouted that at him ^^;; There were only two, and I think they were getting annoyed by us.

In other news: My cosplay wigs are in. My Tomoe costume is 90% done, so I should be able to get pictures up in the not-too-distant future. My Cesia costume currently consists of a long red wig. But I get paid next week, so maybe I can get some good material. Pretty soon my sister is going to start working on some costumes: she's agreed to be our chaperone and driver for Otakon, and far in the future as that is, you can never be too prepared. Day one she's going as Belldandy... hasn't decided what dress. To the raves and the second day she's going to find some J-rock star with a really cool costume and go as them. Third day is a toss-up between Allen and Gourry in drag. She might postpone the Allen costume until I'm done with my Dilandau and Sarah is done with her Dryden though. We're going to get a big Escaflowne group together ^_^

 

allya, cool! i wish i had some music videos. but it's really hard to find any and when i do chances are i can't download them (being as i'm on a slow mac). i'm doubly cursed!
yay on converting some of your friends :-D and yay on finally getting your wigs in

moltar, looks like i'm gonna have to try to rent legend of black heaven...

not much new here. been busy with school and stuff. (i'm sick now wah). plus i just got into invader zim (i can't believe nick got rid of it grr)

anyway, i got a few cds. vision of escaflowne vol 3, sailor moon orgel, the sailor moon memorial music box (i splurged. it hasn't arrived yet though). all of them are bootlegs. heh, i don't feel so bad about the sailor moon ones though cause i have quite a few of the legit releases as well...

i finally saw fake...it was pretty funny. ^-^ i was pleasantly surprised. i didn't know what to expect.

 

Ah... the conversion of those towards the Otaku side of the Force is always a joyous occasion. I also throw in my congratulations on your recent educational efforts, Allya.

I have to say, I do love the sound of your Cosplay plans, as well. I have yet to talk to Artemis about when we'll start preparing our costumes for next year's J.A.F.A.X. convention. As far as I know, we're still settled on going Saturday as Alucard and Integral from "Hellsing". Sunday, it still may be Mosquiton and Inaho from "Master of Mosquiton". But that is still a while away. My Halloween costume is shaping up rather nicely already. I'll be going as Rik Heisenberg of the Black Gema Gema Group from "DiGi Charat". (I know I virtually spat out what may be an alien language to some people, but trust me, give this series a chance if you can download it from an FTP.) All I need is a doctor's lab coat, some light purple hair coloring, a dark purple tie along with a new white dress shirt, to make my own armband, dog tail and massive dog collar, and finally track down a squirrel doll. Sounds about as easy as finding the Holy Grail, eh?

On the music video issue, I would love to try my hand at it eventually, but that won't be until I have the proper equipment and software to do so.

As for you, TicTac, nice choice with the third volume of "Escaflowne"! I personally love the first and third volumes of the soundtrack. The second volume is a bit too mellow for my tastes, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I don't think I've actually heard any actual Japanese "Sailor Moon" soundtracks. Care to describe them for me?

Now back to the usual update. Well... I've been tearing through the Manga lately. My library system is SO awesome: they've started receiving tons of Manga. For example, the latest reads I've had were volumes 4-7 of "Inu-Yasha", volume one of "Clover", and "Short Program". Of course, it's a give-in that I would love "Inu-Yasha", because I've already been exposed to a great deal of the Anime series, thanks to milady. And I think I mentioned "Clover" on this thread already, so I probably don't need to add much more to that. That leaves "Short Program". I found it to be a very charming collection of short stories. Most of them tend to have a romantic tone, but since I am a Romantic at heart, I found it quite pleasing. I guess the best way to describe "Short Program" as a whole is... it's kind of like how life is in general. You have some laughs, some romance, and some drama, but the experience as a whole is most entertaining.

Script work has been going slowly, but surely. Currently Artemis is borrowing my script, since she wasn't able to finish reading what I had done of the revisions yesterday during our date. But I should have it back by tomorrow, or if not then, certainly later this week. HOPEFULLY my revisions will be complete by our next date.

Recent Anime viewings proceed as followed. Yesterday evening the lovely lady and I finished watching the first arc of "Utena". Most interesting, indeed! I am hoping that we see the "Black Rose" arc arrive in the States A.S.A.P., because I just HAVE to see what happens next in the series. I'll say this much about the last volume: the wait for Touga to take part in the duels was totally worth it. He certainly has skills, I'll say that for sure. Today, I managed to put in a viewing of the "A.D. Police" collection. I nearly forgot just how unusual that series really was. Understand that it's a collection of 3 OVAs, and I have previously seen the first two, but that was a while ago, so my memory grew rusty after that time. For those that are not in the "know", it's essentially a side-series to "Bubblegum Crisis", dealing with the special police unit that is assigned to handle Boomer cases. In this series, you'll meet some seriously twisted Boomers, and the last episode, which I have never seen until today, offered up what would be best described as a semi-disturbing take on "Robocop".

Also, I have a major announcement. My world of viewing h

 

lordmoltar, japanese sailor moon music rocks! there's some lovely slow/mysterious songs (senshi no omoi-a sailor neptune song) and of course there's the cute bouncy ones (like the opening theme or any number of other songs-usually sailor moon songs but some of the other senshi have bouncy songs dedicated to them as well). there's fast paced rocking songs (like ai no senshi or moon revenge). i'm bad at discribing music...but i'm definately a fan of sialor moon. both the songs and the background music (esp from the s and supers series).
do you have a fast connection? cause there's a webpage that offers sm music from various soundtracks (the soundtracks rotate). the only downside is it can take a long time to d/l the song (partially cause of it being a very popular site)

i got the music box. listened to the first two discs. i love it so far. :-D

recently i got into .hack/sign. the music absolutely rocks! the series is pretty decent. a tad slow, but i still dig it.

 

Well, right now I'm trying to get everyone I can obsessed with Escaflowne, sharing the wonder that is Dilandau. I've got lots of anime to last me over the weekend, which will hopefully not be as busy as the last two. As of right now, I have Jin-Roh, Carried by the Wind, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust, Rurouni Kenshin: the Kyoto Arc, and my copies of Cowboy Bebop and the Slayers movie which I haven't seen since June. I also recently befriended a girl who has all of Utena (fan-sub for the rest of the series) My friends who have seen Utena tell me the same thing as they do about Rocky Horror Picture Show: It's okay for us to watch it, but you'd better not. But she also has DDR, and she's offering to invite me over some weekend when I don't have work. Then I can see if Utena is as weird as I've heard. As for Rocky Horror, my best friend's never seen it either, so we're going to sneak a copy into my room in the dead of night, watch it, and never tell anyone who told us not to.

 

Erlack! I can't believe it's now been more than two weeks since I've written back! Forgiveness, please! Anyway, far be it for me to wait for such a long time, and have nothing to offer in return.

I have a few Anime music websites saved on my Favorites list, Tictac, so I'll try looking through those in the near future for any "Sailor Moon" music. HOWEVER, I do have a fast connection, and if you do have a link you'd like to offer to me, I'd more than welcome it.

Oooohhhh, I'm SO jealious of you right now, Allya! LOL All I can hope for is that My Video Shoppe manages to pick up the first volume of the "Utena: Black Rose" arc around the time of it's release. And it's great to hear you're also an experienced "Rocky Horror" fan.

Recent Anime news... Well, in a bit, I'll be watching some of the first volume of "Samurai X" on the computer DVD player. My dearest Artemis let me borrow her two volumes. Let me see, what else is there... Oh yes! Last week, on our last date, after freezing our keysters off in the Michigan weather, we watched some new Anime on her computer. First off we took in three more episodes of "X: The Series". Wow! Now the series is getting really good, now that the Dragons of Heaven and Earth are beginning to collide. Then, we watched three episodes of "Rurouni Kenshin". She was actually able to find a FTP with the episodes that aired after the "Kyoto" arc. Thus far, we've been pleased with what we've seen. It's hard to call them filler episodes, since essentially after the "Kyoto" arc, the Anime and the Manga go their seperate ways, but they were entertaining nonetheless, and most hilarious.

Oh yes, and there is the Halloween cosplay report! I think my costume turned out excellently, and I looked VERY close to Rik. I even brought a few animal friends to work to pose for photos. (Those being a bluebird doll, and my Meowth doll.) Once I have them developed, I may post some of my costume pictures on here. Sound exciting, eh? Anyhoo, that's about it for right now. I PROMISE to post here much sooner in the near future.

 

It makes perfect sense to be an anime fan and a fan of Star Wars, especially since back in '77 Lucas said himself that one of the influences for Star Wars (now known as ANH) was the works of Kurwasawa and some unknown anime he had seen a brief bit of. This was probably Space Cruiser Yamato, known in America as Star Blazers, but theres no way to know for sure.