Mystery Contest Winner!

We've got a winner in the mystery contest! ^_^ The mystery character is...

Fakir from Princess Tutu! Kolibri was the first to send in the correct answer, so she's won a $15 Amazon Gift Certificate. (She's also a fellow blogger! You can see her blog here.)

I'll try to write up a profile explaining a little bit more about Fakir and the anime he's from. If you've been reading from the beginning...you've probably noticed I'm a fan of the show. And Fakir's my favorite character...so...yeah, that's why I decided to play him in the RPG. (He's a pretty difficult character to play, though..)

Anyway...congratulations Kolibri! I hope everyone had fun with the contest!

American Anime Awards Finalists (Warning: Angry Fangirl)

Well, the finalists for the AAAs have been announced--basically the nominees that made it in the top five after voting. You can see the full list here.

Now, I'm a bit sick (which is why my posting has slowed once again), so I might be overreacting just a tad to this. And, admittedly, I'm a Princess Tutu fangirl, as well as a huge fan of Chris Patton...so I'm biased.

But, in my opinion, Chris Patton should be in that finalist list. His performance in Princess Tutu was one of the best of last year, for sure. It's not that the others on the list are undeserving. It's just Chris was very good...and I still think that anime that wasn't being released last year shouldn't have been available for nomination. (I loved Hayworth as Kenshin, don't get me wrong...but that's an old dub. It's like nominating Tom Hanks for Forest Gump...this year.)

And if we're going to say "best of all time", why not 'David Lucas' for Cowboy Bebop? Or Spike Spencer in Neon Genisis Evagelion?

At least Luci Christian got in the list for Princess Tutu--which is really a bit of a miracle, considering that it's a shoujo show that hasn't appeared on a major TV network.

Still, it's disappointing that the nominees are (for the most part) more the 'most popular' than what was truely the best.

I guess I'm rooting for Vic Mignogna for Best Actor, now. (Actually, Vic's my favorite anime voice actor--I was just really, really impressed with Chris Patton Good luck to all the finaliests!

Well, anyway...to make up for being behind with the clues, here's *three* clues for the contest! This should help soothe any of you that are Chris Pattons fans like me...maybe.

The town this character lives in was based on a real German town.
This character talks to a tree in one of the episodes of the anime.
The show this character is from was first shown within the past ten years.

Good luck! Remember, e-mail me at HaleySings@yahoo.com with your guesses, and you can also ask questions in the comments!

New Anime in Production, TOS Fangirling

So I feel like I posted something useful today...here's a list from ANN of some new anime that's in production: click here.

The one I'm super-uber-excited for is the Tales of Symphonia OVA series...I'm a HUGE fan of the anime, and I'm really hoping Tales of Phantasia does well enough here that they'll bring over this one as well. Maybe even bring back Cam Clarke as Kratos? (Pretty pleeeeease?) He was really, really great in the video game...although he doesn't work in anime dubs much, so I don't know how likely it really is that he'll do it.

That's the extent of interesting things I have to say on the subject...not really feeling well today.

However, an entry's an entry, so here's a new hint for the Mystery Character Contest:

The series the Mystery Character is from has been licensed by ADV.

The plot thickens! So now you know a bit about this character....enough for you to send in a guess yet? No penalties for guessing, you know!

Right Stuf sales!

Hi everyone! I've just found out about some great sales that Right Stuf is having!

For the first one, until Febuary 7th all items from Mythwear are 30% off! I actually use a Mythwear bag as my bookbag for college (this one, I think). I got it last summer, and it's survived being stuffed full of heavy text books and being held by the top handle, as well as being used as my "purse" at NDK last year, and still looks GREAT and hasn't broken at all. If you know how I abuse my bags sometimes, you'll understand how sturdy these things are. XD (And no, I don't have any endorsement payment or anything from this company. I just love the bag!)

Their second sale is that until February 11th all of Media Blaster's items are on sale--40% off for DVDs, and 33% off manga and other items. I haven't seen a lot of the anime they've licensed, but I've seen Rurouni Kenshin and it's a classic for a reason...plus, they have Invader Zim as part of the sale, which is one of the best cartoons Nick has EVER had on their channel. (I might have to pick up one of the DVDs...)

I've ordered from Right Stuf before during one of their sales and got a great deal from them with good shipping. Never had any problems from them, probably one of the better stores you can order online from.

I'll try to remember to tell you guys from now on when they have other sales ^^;

Oh, and before I forget...it's time for another hint in the Mystery Character Contest!!

Your new hint is....
The anime the Mystery Character is from has 26 episodes on the DVDs

That narrows down the field a bit, doesn't it?

Mystery Character Contest!

First of all, I know, I know, I’m not updating again. I’ll be blunt: I’m lazy. But, I think I have an idea that will keep me posting regularly…and get some of you guys involved, as well!

See, it happened last night while I couldn’t sleep. I slipped on some ice the other day at school and hurt my neck somehow, and I had also stayed up too late the previous night participating in an RP, which meant I took a (too long) nap during the day. Between my neck, and having slept too much during the day, I couldn’t sleep. And then the idea came to me.

Why not a contest?

Yes! That’s right! I’m going to have a contest for you guys to guess which character I’m playing in the RPG I mentioned! Here’s how it will work:

At the end of every entry, there will be a clue about who the character is. I will be posting at least one entry a day, so you’ll be getting at least one hint a day. You can also comment on an entry or send me an e-mail to ask a question—however, if I feel that the answer would give too much away, I won’t answer it. Also, any questions that are e-mailed to me, I’m answering in an entry on my blog so everyone can see it (and no, those entries won’t have hints at the end as well).

If, after a week of no one guessing the right answer, all of the wrong guesses will be listed to help you guys eliminate who it’s not.

When you think you know who the character is, send me a guess at HaleySings@yahoo.com. The first person to correctly guess the answer wins!

Also, my dear readers, this lucky person will not go away empty handed. The winner of this contest will receive…a $15 Amazon.com gift certificate! (Your choice on if you want it in an e-mail, or the snail-mail paper version.)

Of course, there are a few rules:

1. If you’re my friend, and I’ve TOLD you what it is…you can’t guess. That’s just unfair. :-P However, you guys CAN help with answering questions in the comments if you want, just keep it vague.

2. You can use search engines, message boards, friends, Wikipedia, and so on in trying to figure out the hints. However, there is one website you can not use. Do NOT use LiveJournal at all to figure out the character. I’ve mentioned it in my personal LiveJournal, I’ve mentioned it on a community on there, and the RPG is actually located on LiveJournal. This is going on the honor system, but if I catch any of you guys using LJ you’re disqualified. It’s no fun that way! (Some of these hints will be kind of obvious, anyway...)

3. HAVE FUN!!! ^_^

More rules will be added if I see the need, but that should be plenty for now.

Now, to start you off, I’m giving you guys TWO hints. Aren’t I generous?

First hint: The character is from an anime
Second hint: The character is male

Vague? Yes. But don’t worry not all the hints will be this vague. This is just so nobody gets it IMMEDIATELY.

I will also be posting another hint later today with another entry, so...get ready to guess! Good luck everyone!

Excuse me, do you have any Chevalier D'Eon?

...Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Anyway, IGN is streaming the first episode of the anime Le Chevalier D'Eon. I checked it out, and...it's a lot better than the other two anime that got this treatment recently, at least in my opinion. It is a bit violent (although it doesn't appear to be gratuitously so, at least from this first episode), and there's a few moments that are, to be blunt, WEIRD. But for the most part it looks like it's an excellent anime--solid animation (with very nice, atypical character design), a very interesting plot, and a solid dub. Interesting the way it mixes an historical setting with a bit of mystery and horror, too. I'm not quite ready to plunk down the money for it on DVD, but I'm definitely going to rent this one.

More news about Death Note

ICv2 posted up a small explanation explaining some of the questions about Viz's license of Death Note. They also obtained the rights to the DVD and the article says "The Death Note DVDs, which have not yet been scheduled, will be the English dubbed version; the download will be the subtitled version."

Hopefully, what they mean is that "the DVD will include the dubbed version as well as the subbed version", because if they're going to release dub-only DVDs...that's going to cause some problems. For one thing, sub fans will probably want an actual, physical product as well. And dub fans…I don't know about everyone, but I actually like to watch both versions (normally I'll watch the dub first, then wait a bit and watch the sub version afterwards).

Hopefully this is just Viz not being very clear, because...they run the risk of ticking off a lot of fans (and not just the "anime should be free!!" ones).

The Saga of the American Anime Awards continues!

For those of you who haven't read my previous post, the American Anime Awards is the first of what hopes to be an annual event awarding the best in anime. Unfortunately, this first year has had a string of problems, including anime being listed under two different titles in one category and an actor in Akira being nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy.

Well, guess what? There's another problem!

According to Anime News Network, the AAA released a statement that two nominees for Best Manga (Tsubasa and Negima) were accidentally left off the ballot. They also said it was "an error which we deeply regret." I can imagine!

I know in my previous post about their troubles I was a bit snarky, but I can't help but feel bad for them in this situation. To have another mistake like this happen after all of the problems they've been having probably isn't giving the Awards the air of professionalism they obviously want it to have.
To be fair, they did catch it fairly quickly and the ballot has been fixed, so any Tsubasa or Negima fans who want to vote for it will be able to now.

I wonder if the Oscars had this problem when they first started?

Fullmetal Alchemist on [as fix]

I just remembered there was another news event that I should probably shortly mention on here (it seems like today's been a big day for news--I'm not even covering half of the stuff that caught my attention).

Adult Swim's free streaming service, Adult Swim Fix, is streaming the first two episodes of Fullmetal Alchemist. If you haven't checked out this anime yet--or if you're trying to get a friend into the series--this is a great way to do it.

Of course, I think the first two episodes aren't nearly as strong as later episodes in the series--particularly the more dramatic ones, like the episode right after these--and the dub hadn't quite gotten to the high quality that it was further on in the series. They're still worth checking out.

source: Anime News Network

Death Note has been licensed!....Kinda

I wasn't planning on doing another post today, but this news is far too exciting to put off.

Viz Media has announced that they have obtained download-to-rent and download-to-own rights for the Death Note anime--while the anime is still airing on Japanese TV! No mention about any DVDs, or if the releases will be dubbed, subbed, or both, but it's still exciting news.

My guess is this is probably to curb fansubbing of the anime (although some anime companies have no problem with fansubs as long as the show isn't licensed for the US). Regardless, this probably means that most fansubbers will stop subbing and distributing the subs they have.

I'm not a big fan of downloading movies and anime...I'd much rather have a DVD. It's just something more solid. That being said, if the price seems reasonable, I wouldn't mind doing a download-to-rent deal to be able to keep up with Death Note. I've seen some fansubs of the show and it's an excellent, excellent show.

It'll be intersting to see if this takes off. I wonder if this is the future of anime?

source: Ain't it Cool News

Why do anime villians have small eyes?

Sorry folks, the review isn't happening tonight. I'll make sure to get on it tomorrow.
However, to make up for not getting it done, here's a (very casual) explanation on why some anime characters have wide eyes, and why villians are portrayed with small eyes (which we see as being more Japanese).

Today I was browsing the Anime News Network forums when a user named philg asked why anime characters are often portrayed with large eyes and hair color that we typically associate with caucasian people. He also noticed that a lot of the villians are often portrayed with smaller eyes.

There's a lot of really good answers in the original topic, so I encourage you to take a look at it. But by the time I got done with my answer to the topic of the villian's eyes, it was long enough that I thought it might be worth posting here so you guys could see, as well.

I once read an anime drawing book that said that heroes tend to have wider eyes and clothing that looked more 'normal'--they aren't wearing a costume, just wearing clothes.
In contrast, it said, villains in anime tend to have narrower eyes, hair covering the face, and clothing that is more like a costume than actually wearing average, everyday clothes. (Unfortunantely, I can't remember which book this was. I want to say it was one of David Okum's books, but I can't say for sure. If anyone knows the correct reference, please let me know so I can give the author proper credit!)

The reason for the differences is because with wider eyes and hair away from the face, the character appears more 'open'. Your typical innocent, wide-eyed hero has nothing to hide. That being said, a villian (or anti-hero) has quite a bit to hide, so that shows in the narrower eyes and hair covering the face.

You can see this sort of principle at work in a lot of anime. For example, in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji's character design is fairly open--short hair cut away from the face and wide eyes. As seen here:

In comparison, Gendo has comparitively smaller eyes, and they're often covered by a glint in his glasses.

(Although, Gendo could just have smaller eyes since he's an adult. Adults tend to have smaller eyes in proportion to their face than children and teens do, even in real life.)

Another example is in Princess Tutu (this is my favorite anime, so you'll see me refer to this a lot).
Fakir, a very mysterious and often threatening character, has extremely narrow eyes and large (VERY large) black bangs that sweep across his face. (this isn't the best angle--depending on how you see him the bangs might obstruct his right eye completely from view)

Compare Fakir to Duck, the heroine of the story. She has very wide blue eyes, and while she has a large clump of hair to the right of her face like Fakir, it stays almost completely off of her face. Even when she's squinting her eyes slightly in worry, they're rather large.


That being said, they DO have a tendancy to have 'western' features be on more attractive woman. But, like others have said, it's more just because of how atypical it is. We do the same thing, if you think about it--Twi'lek in the Star Wars universe are more often than not portrayed with asian or african looks, particularly when the characters they play are slaves or dancers. Why? Because it's 'exotic', I'd guess.

So, there you have it. A little explanation on why there's often a difference in eyes between heroes and villians in anime. Of course, this isn't always true, as every anime has a different style to it. To paraphrase Barbosa, it's more of a guideline than an actual rule.

So, what do you all think? Can you think of better examples than I gave? Do you know of an anime or manga that goes against this theory? And do you think that some anime characters look too "western?" Click the "comments" link at the bottom of the post and let me know what you think!

Is the American Anime Awards eligible for 'Best Comedy?'

First of all, sorry for this being out a bit late. I’ve already learned two things: (1) either Blogger is going through growing pains, or my computer is doing something odd that's preventing me from signing in at times and (2) don’t promise that you’ll do something over the weekend. I’m far too lazy for that.

But, considering that my future career is at stake here, I am going to get better. If I don’t stick to this, my dear (and hopefully not imaginary) reader, you can feel free to leave me nasty comments in the blog telling me to get my lazy rear in gear. ^_~ (Anime-style emoticons are so professional!)

So, on to my opinion on how the American Anime Awards are going.

For those who don’t know, a few months back there was a press release stating that the New York Comic Con was hosting the first ever “American Anime Awards”, which are being streamed live on IGN in February, and also being shown on ADV’s Anime Network. The nominees were decided by asking all of the major distributors of anime for their nominees, as well as a few independent sources. However, the winners are being decided by a fan vote.

Unfortunately, the voting process hasn’t been exactly smooth. For instance, Johnny Young Bosch was nominated as “Best Actor in a Comedy” for his performance in…Akira. Now, I haven’t seen Akira yet (I know, I should), but…Akira isn’t really known for being side-splittingly funny. To top it off, the dub Bosch was in has been out for half a decade. The movie itself has been available in the US since 1990. That’s right folks—anything readily available in the past year was eligible, even if it’s been out for years.

Also, I really want to know how the awards will handle non-union dubs. Cowboy Bebop, for example, is known as one of the best dubs ever created—but it’d be difficult to nominate it for something like this because, well, most of the actors were listed under pseudonyms. What happens if we get a non-union dub like that again? Ignore it in the awards?

And, of course, there’s the problem of the fans voting. For example, I’m a huge fan of Princess Tutu, one of the anime that’s nominated in several categories for this year’s awards. Of course, while I hope it does well, I wouldn’t be surprised if it loses out to something like Fullmetal Alchemist (which, for the record, is another favorite of mine). It’s not to say that FMA doesn’t deserve an award—I’d be thrilled if it got one—it’s just frustrating that I’ll probably get an award because of it’s popularity, not because of it’s quality.

To be fair, most of these issues were covered in an interview with Milton Griepp, who is one of the people in charge of the awards. For example, whoever nominated Bosch put him on the ballot as an actor in Akira--the Awards themselves didn't do that. Still, Griepp's answers fail to satisfy me. They're obviously working on things, but it's still a mess, no matter how you look at it.

Overall, I’m in favor of supporting the awards. It’d be a great, great thing if these awards did well, and I encourage everyone to vote in it. It’s just disappointing that this year has had so many issues. Here’s hoping that next year the awards will go much more smoothly.

…And that this doesn't become the fiasco that is Spike’s Video Game Awards.

Anime and Manga Reviews

In this entry, I’ll explain how my standard format for anime and manga reviews looks. Like my other review formats, these are subject to change as I see how things work (although I’ll always make sure to make a note of it if I do change my format). For anime and manga, I’ll be looking at the same basic qualities. My style for these reviews is borrowing heavily from Anime News Network’s rating system—partially because I really like their reviews, and partially because I TRIED to deviate from it, but found that their style works really well for expressing why I do (and do not) enjoy a series. However, unlike ANN, I’ll be using a 1-10 rating style, instead of letter grades.

What I’ll be looking for:

Story: This rating will show how I felt about the plot and characters. Does the plot hold your interest? Does it borrow heavily from clichés, or is it unique? If it does uses clichés, how well does it execute them? Are the characters memorable? Do they grow and change? And how about the pacing? That’s the sort of things I’ll be looking for in this category.
I should note that, for anime that focuses heavily on comedy, the ‘story’ rating will rely more on the characters and humor value, rather than the plot (which sometimes doesn’t really matter in a show along the lines of Azumanga Daioh).

Art: This rating will show how I felt about the overall style of the work, and the quality of it. For anime, this will include how smooth the animation is, the character design (can you tell the characters apart? Can you always recognize the characters?), how well the color used works, and how well the overall look is executed. For manga, this will cover the style, the quality of the art, the character design and how well the layout and drawings work together to tell the story. (Nothing bothers me more than being unable to tell what’s going on during an action scene because of how the panels are laid out, or because the art is angled confusingly.)

Overall: My overall opinion of the anime or manga. This won’t be an average of the scores, but both will be taken into account. Generally, I place more importance on the story than the art style, although the greatest plot in the world can be dragged down by horrible art. I’ll also split up my rating for the dub and the sub: good acting can raise a rating, and bad acting can lower a rating.

Also, please note: My reviews will mostly focus on one volume of the series (for example, Princess Tutu: DVD 1, or Fullmetal Alchemist: Manga 5), rather than the entire series. I will sometimes combine a review of two or more volumes if get them at the same time, though, and I also may review boxsets at times.

Now that you know what my general format is, a bit of a warning. While I will try to be objective as possible, I do have my own tastes in terms of anime and manga, and inevitably, these will probably sneak themselves into my reviews. So you know where I’m coming from, here are my…

Personal biases: I’m a big fantasy nerd (as you can probably tell), so stories that do a good job of telling a fantasy story are probably going to catch my attention. I’m also a huge sucker for good character development—if the characters are interesting and deep, and have a great character arc, I may be more willing to forgive a weak plot or setting. I tend to be more of a shoujo fan than a shounen fan as well, but not always.

My favorite anime: Fullmetal Alchemist, Princess Tutu, Paranoia Agent, Laputa: Castle in the Sky (and most of Miyazaki’s films), Azumanga Daioh

Favorite manga: Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist, Megatokyo (Megatokyo isn’t actually a manga, but I’m also planning on reviewing “World Manga” as well)