Give Koizumi a chance

I once saw a man eat his own head. Now while that is a morbid thought, if it was possible, I would like to see a man eat his own head. While I have your attention though, I need to advertise Lovely Complex's Koizumi Risa. While my colleague Lonecow will be filling you in on Tsundere Tuesdays, I hopefully will be able to also fill you in on some great characters that seem to fall through the cracks every year. Of course this relates only to the anime I've seen, but I will do my best. The sheer volume of anime at our disposal is maddening, and most of the time all we really have to go by are forum suggestions and pictures. Lovely Complex on a whole is a standard slapstick affair. It's hilarious and sensitive at the right times. There are many ones like it, but this one is mine. The show doesn't have the advantage of a large surplus of characters, so the the show focuses on the two leads. With that type of story telling I was able to really get to know Koizumi, and by the end of the series she became one of my favorite characters ever. At first glance she is as average as they come. Her clothes aren't being ripped off every episode, she's flat, and the show really tries to make note of how big her forehead is. Her personality is so fleshed out though! From the very first episode we find out immediately how personable, cute, and funny she is. I seldom ever watch an anime where the female lead is actually funny. It's always about the situation they are in.

She reminds me of Haruhi. This is going slightly off tangent, but I understand there are a ton of Haruhi fans out there that like her because it's "in". I want to defend her for a moment. Because of their bandwagon nature, it's not unlikely that many of them have a Cloud Strife statue somewhere, and they just finished watching the entire run of Full Metal Alchemist for the fifth time. I get it, Haruhi is insanely popular. But in my opinion, and probably the opinion thousands of other people share with me, we love her because she is actually a really funny well written character. Even at times I forget about how great she is because I'm reminded how this fat sweaty guy danced the night away to Pare Pare Parade at the last convention I went to. Or I'll also get to thinking that at the next convention I go to there is a 60% chance I'll see two girls who are friends and morbidly obese cosplaying as her. Regardless, fans survived the Endless Eight BECAUSE Haruhi she is funny. Alright, that did have a point, and the point is I felt a similar feeling watching Koizumi in Lovely Complex. Instead of having the innate ability to end the world, she is just trying to get a boyfriend, and that journey is hilarious and sweet. I advise every fan of romantic comedy anime to give Koizumi a chance. If you are not laughing your butt off or swept away by her cuteness, I'll try to find a video of a man eating his own head as an apology.

Wes Anderson's Spider-Man

Well I can say it is already better then Spider Man 3, and probably better then the reboot.

First Review of Gundam UC

ANN has posted an "Exclusive" first review of Gundam Unicorn. It's a pretty good overview of what we can expect from the Vol 1, and how this new show ties into the whole universe. I'm even more excited after reading their review. It sounds to me it's everything that can be hoped for by returning to the UC timeline. It will be interesting to see how they fit this in with the existing cannon. On top of the fact that they are returning to familiar territories, where as the last two UC properties; O8th MS Squad and MS IGLOO both were able to tread their own paths because they dealt with conflicts that were never even mentioned in the original shows. Cannot wait until March 12th.

Source: ANN

What If... Timbaland produced the Declaration of Independence

I thought this was too awesome to pass up. A Textbook Publisher made this video to, I suppose, to make the Declaration of Independence more relatable to Teens... Regardless I think it's too good to not share.

Source: Soomo Publishing

Tsundere Tuesday: Hitagi Senjōgahara

I'm starting a new weekly feature called Tsundere Tuesday where I will feature a different tsundere character each and every week.

To the uninformed, a tsundere is a character archetype featured in anime and Japanese games that, as Wikipedia puts it, "has a contradictory personality which is good-willed on the inside, but with a harsh attitude on the outside."

There are of course many debates as to what this all entails, and some people find that term to be insulting as it implied "copy and paste" character design in anime. But I say, as with any character archetype there are good versions and bad versions. Of course the most basic tsundere is a one dimensional character where her entire personality fits into that definition, but if the author of the work is good at their job, then it is entirely conceivable to have a well developed tsundere character as well.

I also don't take offense to the term because I realize that I have a huge soft spot for tsundere characters and there must be something about that type of character that draws my interest, so I might as well proudly use the term that defines them.

So enough with the peramble and on to the tsundere of the week: Hitagi Senjōgahara.

Hitagi is the main female lead in the short novel and now anime series Bakemonogatari.

Honestly I'm only a few episodes into this show and already I am in love with her. In the first episode of the show, she even refers to herself as a tsundere so there is really no room to argue with the fact that this is her category.

She starts off in the show as a girl who weighs literally nothing. No pounds, no ounces. Then the characters of the show try to figure out why she is the way she is, and from there the storyline unfolds.

I don't know if there are different levels of tsundere, but if there are she is definitely on the "Asuka" level of tsundere, as she is pretty damn hostile towards Koyomi (the main character), and threatens to kill him a couple of times.

It's just refreshing to see Tsundere types finally take center stage in anime. It used to be the tsundere was the most interesting character but she was the character the main lead would never end up with. I'm glad to see more and more outgoing females being the main subject of focus and not just window dressing.

Bill Watterson Speaks!

The Reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbs granted a short interview by John Campanelli of the Clevelant Plain Dealer. What struck me is how much he seems to dismiss his success. His comics are as well known and loved by "Gen Y" as Bill Shultz Peanuts are by the Baby Boomers.  So in that vein I think he's wrong about the "Sell by Date" of his comic.  Peanuts prove that something has culturally significant as Calvin and Hobbes can and would have remained popular forever.    That said it was just good to hear from him after all these years. It looks like hope of a Calvin and Hobbs return is very very unlikely after 15 years. Click below to read the whole interview.

Interview: Cleveland.com

HMF! Hatsune Cosplay

These beautiful pics are of angie00 who submitted her cosplay pictures to Dannychoo.com for the Otacool 2 contest.

So cute.

She is 19 by the way even though she may not look it from the photo.

This isn't really news or opinion like we usually like to post but what the hell. It's super cute Hatsune Miku cosplay. What else could you ask for?

I know what you could ask for. Another cosplay pic of angie00:










You're welcome.