NUU, MARLY!! T^T

I've been spending a lot of money on cosplay lately. One such investment, was a very cheap pink wig to serve as Marluxia from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Claiming to be the "Zexion" of our group, I have a love-hate relationship with this character, much like Medusa from Soul Eater who I played for WonderCon.

Anyhow - this is my first real cosplay wig, and it's pretty exciting for myself and my friends. However: imagine my DISGUST when I pick my Marly wig off my bed to find a DEAD EARWIG IN IT.

Yep.

Ah, yes - these lovely cosplayers are part of Parle Productions, which is run by the girl responsible for Demyx Time. I found these great pics on "Marly's" DeviantArt page, AKA stripeydani. Dani is this grogeous Marluxia, and plays him in a few episode of the web series as well as the music video "Consign to Oblivion". She's also seen as Xaldin in episode 14 of Demyx Time and is playing Sirius Black in their newest show The Marauders.
The Larxene in the second picture is One-Sky-One-Destiny who has always been there when Demyx time needed her. She's also played Kairi and Sora's mom in The Sora Show, Elena in The Shinra Files, and is now playing Lily Evans in The Marauders.

Check out Dani and the rest of the Parle crew in the links below!!
- Much luvz, Hideki

Parle Productions' YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/JenxtheJinx
Jenn's (director) DeviantArt:
 http://tealpirate.deviantart.com/

Dani's DeviantArt:

http://stripeydani.deviantart.com/ 

The Sora Show's account:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TouchMyKeyblade 

One-Sky-One-Destiny's DeviantArt:

http://one-sky-one-destiny.deviantart.com/ 

Blacker than a Cat

When I hear the name "Gonzo", I think of the super-artistic animation styles found in shows like Samurai 7 and Afro Samurai. When borrowing the first Black Cat DVD from a friend, I was surprised to find the smiling bishi on the front cover from this studio. Further was my surprise when the opening showed off a cartoony style akin to Soul Eater. The shocks didn't stop there, however - as in the typical shonen style, the super-fast superhuman protagonist rips through the pilot at a break-neck speed. However, this grinning sweetie I'd seen on the case was nothing like the near-silent emo boy that broke into the series as a stone-cold killer. Furthermore, there was almost zero exposition on who the boy was, leading the spotlight to an unlikely down-on-his-luck bounty hunter with a do-everything briefcase.
Black Cat was clearly a force to be reckoned with from square one.

This FUNimation show fell into a friend's hands with the excellent bargains from the closing-down Borders. Hanging out last Saturday, we doodled our yaoi OC's and chatted about her finds. She offered to let my take Black Cat home with me without ever touching the disc inside, so I agreed without thinking.
The show begins with our not-really-a-hero hero, Sven Volfield, looking for his would-be gangster target, Tyrant, who's just been elected governor. Sneaking into the guy's ritzy election/engagement party, it's revealed that the eye Sven covers with a patch has the ability to see five minutes into the future. He realizes that Tyrant is about to be assassinated, but epic fails to save him as a mysterious boy with XIII tattooed on his chest shoots the governor through the heart. From his information guy, it's revealed that this boy is KuroNeko, or Black Cat who works for the Chronos company. The intriguing Black Cat's name is revealed to be Train Heartnet who isn't done getting in Sven's way just yet.

The more you watch, the more twists this show has. Supposedly a girl in distress turns out to be thief. Her "baby sister" isn't a hostage at all, but the world's most advanced bio-weapon that Sven as a "gentleman" takes upon himself to teach about the world. Train has friends in high places, but what exactly are his ties to Chronos? And then there's our hero's eye - his so-called vision eye. What powers does it have exactly?

The style of Black Cat is close to indescribable. What appeared to be a "cartoony" anime is constantly throwing dramatic background effects behind its characters with odd, slashed layers of color. The story itself has a realistic way of keeping you in the dark but the anime flavor of giving you just enough a taste of what's to come to keep you interested.

The dub isn't the best I've heard, but it's far above average. Brandon Potter is a name I'm unfamiliar with, but he brings Sven to life. Jason Liebrecht is an actor I usually see in secondary roles, but his sultry Train shows off his talent when compared to characters like adorable Finny from Black Butler or Principal Ench from Shin Chan. Brina Palencia, however, will always steal the stage. She whips out an itty-bitty voice for the cutesy bio-weapon Eve that speaks in a monotone, but still manages to scream with horrific pain during fight scenes.

This show is definitely a mold-breaker for both Gonzo and a stereotypical Shonen Jump series. Only five episodes have left me wanting more. I'll definitely be trying to get a hold of more of this show, and I hope you'll find a [legal] way to enjoy Black Cat as much as I already have.

-Much luvz, Hideki.

Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf caught my attention on the FUNimation website which was advertising the fact that they'd bought the license and released the English-speaking cast. Since that time, I've watched maybe three or four episodes in English, read various chapters of the manga and bought the first three novels from Yen Press.

The story is by Isuna Hasekura in supposedly his debut work. It centers around mid-twenties Kraft Lawrence, the traveling merchant in a Europe-like country. Upon passing through a town the day of its harvest festival, the harvest goddess Holo the wisewolf manifests herself in the wheat Lawrence is carrying. Tired of the neglect she's been through due to advances in farming, Holo is convinced that the town no longer needs their goddess. She talks Lawrence into taking her to her homeland in the north, and thus begin their journeys together.

Spice and Wolf defies all my expectations, simply because I had none. I didn't know what to make of the original description on the FUNimation website, and the pilot episode left me with an entirely different impression than the rest of the show. Upon exploring the three mediums of the series, my conclusion is this: Spice and Wolf was NOT written for manga or television. In each town Lawrence finds some sort of mishap - usually pertainign to other merchants - but his trouble never climaxes until the end of the book. Filling up the spaces are explanations of how the story's society functions and going into detail about the exchanges between merchants. While this helps the reader follow along in the book, it makes for chatty manga crowded with speech bubbles. This is why I stopped reading the manga before Lawrence and Holo reach their first bump in the road - it's the same thing that causes me to shy away from American comics. Taking a page out of a How to Draw book, manga is meant to be read fluidly and quickly - to be a page-turner by definition. American comics tend to expose back story in detail through written narration, whereas a typical manga reveals important information through dialog and the excess is left for later on in the story when it's relevant. The Spice and Wolf manga had the same characters from the book and charming illustrations, but long conversations between Lawrence and Holo about different currencies in the country doesn't make for a good read. The same goes for the show - the animation was beautiful, Brina Palencia played Holo with deadly accuracy, and I can't imagine anyone else rather than J. Michael Tatum as Lawrence, but it still came off as dull. In truth, the novel can't translate into good TV or comics.

Don't get me wrong - Spice and Wolf is a GREAT read. It pulled me in and kept me there with an enticing translation describing Lawrence's strategies and Holo's unpredictable, playful attitude. If you're up for sitting down to read an actual BOOK rather than a comic, I highly recommend Spice and Wolf.

- Much luvz, Hideki.