a daily serving of iron

Dance in the Vampire Bund is a fun series. And not just because it has loli vampires. Those are always enjoyable--vampires are, imo, at their most terrifying when they're the young, childlike ones who look like they belong in elementary school but really got turned back in the tenth century. No, it's fun because it has pleasant music, is done by Shaft, and has a rather engaging little plot. Unfortunately, it's also a series I fell behind on, this year, and so I'll have to wait until it shows up on DVD here to properly finish it. Assuming, of course, that I choose to do so; the reports that it would be censored for the US market, which I find quite annoying in this day and age, may chill me somewhat. In any case, this is the only figure for the series, to my knowledge, and it's a doozy.

I don't normally do box pictures, mostly because I tend to throw the boxes away almost on receipt. They take up too much space, and are burdensome besides. I wish I had for this one, though, because the box art is really quite pleasant. Someday I'll figure out how to take pictures like that, but until then you'll have to make do with these.

Mina Tepes, if you're not familiar with the series, is a vampire, of course, though she's stuck in a very young body. As such, this makes it easier to do typical anime things like go to high school, and have a sex interest, and all the like.

The figure is sculpted by Kotobikuya, which is definitely a good company, but not normally held up to the standard of, say, Alter. Still, the detail on this one is stunning for any figure; note the definition of the back. Marvelous.

And here, the wrinkles in her stockings. The whole figure is full of little details like that, and those are how I tend to separate the really good figures from the simply okay ones. And as it is, I was somewhat on the fence about ordering it; I think the fact that it was such a cute pose did it for me.

I love the way she sticks her tongue out. Mina is, at times, a very playful and mischievous character, and those are my favorite. Well, favorite when they're also prone to fits of limb-ripping rage. Which can also be cute.

I also rather like the satiny finish to her gloves, stockings, and choker. I'm not sure how they did it with the paint, but it really is well done, even if it makes trying to use flash photography a total pain. I shall have to work a bit on my lighting, in the future.

Her pose. It's a bit racy, perhaps? Especially in the panty area, though I couldn't manage to take a picture of it that I liked, again because of the lighting. But the drawing of one knee up is both cute and sensual. The panties are a side tie variety, which also adds charm points.

If there is a single thing I would complain the most about? The base. You can't tell, but the base beneath is plastic, contoured more or less to her posture. There are three divots, as well, into which her feet and right elbow would neatly tuck into... if it weren't for the red cloth that she also sits upon. There might be a way, perhaps with double sided tape, to make it stay in place, but as it is, it's childishly easy to knock the figure off the base, which is of course exactly what should happen.
Other than that, though, it's a lovely figure, and one of the surprise gems of my collection. Plus, it has toes. Cute toes. In stockings. Seriously, what more can you ask for?

Biii-DAH!

Barn doors and horses

A useful primer on wikileaks: Everything You Need to Know About Wikileaks - Technology Review. As for whether Wikileaks, in and of itself is a good thing, that's obviously a matter of opinion. I happen to think that while it, in this case, only causes harm to national security (and, more importantly, tells other nations that they can't be trusted to keep anything they say to us in confidence, with the corresponding blow to international diplomacy), I don't think it rises to the level of treason, or for that matter any other crime. After all, it seems to exist outside US borders, the leaked cables were given to newspapers outside the US, and even if they were within the US, the Pentagon Papers proved that once something is leaked, the media can go to town printing such information and not face legal harm. Usually.

That being said, though, just because Sarah Palin et al. are incorrect in wanting Mr. Assange arrested and executed, I'm hardly going to hold him up as some sort of information Robin Hood. I'm not at all sure what benefit there is to airing diplomatic dirty laundry. Especially when much of it isn't something a reasonable person wouldn't have thought of on their own. Thanks, but I already could guess that the US and China hijacked Copenhagen, or that Arab states would be unhappy with Iran (which, you might have noticed, is not an Arab state) . There's nothing really groundbreaking, more than gossipy things. What really bugs me is the damage done to trust. Obviously, sometimes world leaders say things to others that they would prefer not to have others find out. Sometimes, not even their own people. This is how realpolitik works. And so, it's a bit bothersome to think that other nations might be more guarded in their approach to the US, knowing that their secrets could be leaked again. Yes, that's always a risk, but until it really happens, you can at least reasonably think that it won't.

Not to mention that, having a security clearance myself, it pisses me off to think that someone would willfully violate the legal obligations that clearance imposes, for whatever reason. But that's just me. In any event, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. Of course the State Department and others are attempting to stem the tide--how could they not, after all? But this is largely a pro forma attempt, and no-one really expects the papers not to publish.

Of course, the misguided attempts by some to retaliate against those who either give in to government pressures, or simply act on their own, not to continue lending support to wikileaks, I fear will only end up hurting even more. The recent DDOS attacks on Visa, Mastercard, etc., are wonderful ammunition for those who think the internet needs more regulation. And perhaps there is some merit to that sort of argument, but the fact remains that the cyberattacks have accomplished nothing at all to the good, and might in fact do great harm to the idea of a free, open internet. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes, can't it?

Weekly OP: Princess Primp!

I began watching Princess Lover mostly because of the attention its rather H OVA had gotten in some circles. That, and a friend on IRC had grabbed it, as well. And, while it somewhat follows the predictable path any anime adopted from an erogame might take, I've actually found it rather watchable, especially going off the DVDs and not the bowdlerized broadcast version. Not to bother with an anime review too much, but while it took a bit of a turn into the bizarre at times, I would say it exceeded expectations. Especially the two episode OVA. Well, that was actually somewhat standard hentai fare (if quite pleasant), but anyway.

Like many anime, though, I listened to the opening and ending songs long before I watched a second of animation. I tend to download them compulsively, and so I had the singles long ago. In fact, I may occasionally review a song that I've never seen the anime for. Such is life.

Princess Primp! is the opening of Princess Lover, appropriately enough. It's sung by Miyuki Hashimoto, who has a rather impressive CV of anime and game openings, including Girls Bravo, Soul Link, Gunparade Orchestra, Idolmaster: Xenoglossia, and Akaneiro no Somaru Saka. I never said they were good anime, but at least they're good songs, as I shall someday get around to discussing.

This particular song starts out with a riff deliberately evocative of wedding bells. The bell motif is repeated throughout, kind of like a poor man's Yakusoku wa Irenai. Unsurprising, considering that the object of most erogames like this is to pick which of the female lades will be the marriageable prospect. Miyuki has both a distinctive and an undistinctive voice; I sometimes find myself confusing her with Minami Kuribayashi. Minami, though, has a stronger, more strident voice, though, while Miyuki is probably better at being cute.

It continues on with a rather nice beat. Not quite dance hall, but definitely a sort of modern basso continuo. One fault I will find is that it's almost too much on the pop end of things. Guitar is nowhere to be found, other than perhaps a bass, and a brief little solo barely worthy of the name. The whole thing could have been done on a synthesizer, and for all I know, was. The lyrics, for what it's worth (and we know I don't normally care about lyrics) are mostly about being the girl at the dance envying all the other girls at the dance. Which is an unusually frank admission that it's a harem anime tune. Still, it's nice in that rarely do they acknowledge that that's going on.

Unfortunately, while fairly catchy, there's really not too much extraordinary that stands out about this song. Miyuki's voice, in the end, is what carries this, and considering how generically cute she can be at times, that's not necessarily a good thing. In the end, the knock I would give to Miyuki in general is that all her songs begin to blend together. Which is good, in a way, if you want consistency. Fans of anisongs, really, like hearing the same thing again and again. It's like the ultimate in genre music, where everything sounds about the same, so that you'll always be happy no matter what you pick out. Which is also probably why artists like Ali Project stand out so, for being able to step outside the mold.

Three out of five stars, in the end. It's not a bad song, by any means, but nor is it especially good. Like the vast majority of anime openings, it's simply there, and while that's good enough to keep a song in my collection, I'm not going to run out and get a CD of her greatest hits.

Fingerless gloves are the best gloves

Generally, I buy my figures new. This is only somewhat of a crap shoot. Preordering figures is one way to guarantee you get them, but it can sometimes be expensive, especially if it's a figure that ends up not selling out. On the other hand, if it does sell out, you're on the resale market, and used figures can sometimes go for even more than the original ones did brand new. Or, you can find no used figures, and then you're stuck with someone who bought two of them new and sells the second one, with a very high markup. The worst example of this is the 1/8th Ryoko Kaminagi figure I bought for ~$80 new, which one ebay seller has listed for nearly $500. Which is pretty spectacular for a semi-main character in a moderately popular series. And one that isn't really that remarkably sculpted.

That might argue for my keeping all my figures in boxed , pristine condition and selling them off when I need the cash, but to me, figures are like any other collectable: meant to be used, or at least looked at, and you can't get much looking done in a box. Besides, they're art, in a way, and not just an investment good. So I display them. And in displaying, I know full well how many ways there are to break things, even if completely unintentionally. For this reason, I normally cringe at buying used figures, but when it comes to Nanoha figures, this is sometimes unavoidable.

Enter the 1/7th scale Nanoha Takamachi figure from Alter. Specifically, this is the A's style Nanoha, which is to say about the same age she was in the original, but before the late teens/early twenties Nanoha of StrikerS. Both styles have their merits, I think, but this in particular shows her at a slightly more loli style.

This is my first time using my camera's macro photography option. It's not a particularly flashy camera; a Sony Cybershot, standard point and shoot fare, and I don't use it too often. I like how these turned out, though. Though the background (the mantel above my fireplace) might need some work. And for those PVC aficionados tearing their hair out right now, the fireplace was not in use.

Anyway, it's fairly simple, as far as poses go. A two footed one, which I greatly prefer; one foot poses may look nice, but I always seem them as less stable, and more prone to figure lean (though to be fair, no figure I own has succumbed to such). Her feet attached to two risers coming out of an unremarkable blue oval base. I like that, actually; a base should not detract attention from the figure itself, and besides big, clunky bases take up more space in an already crowded Detolf shelf. I will complain, though, at Nanoha's serious expression; the tiny almost-smile doesn't do her justice, I think. Especially if she has Raising Heart aimed and ready to fire; when befriending, she's either smiling widely, or screaming.

Alter are generally held up as the gold standard in PVC figures, and this figure does nothing to disabuse me of that. They're very good at portraying details like the wrinkles in clothing. I will say Nanoha's neck is quite extraordinarily narrow, compared to other figures, but if it's to the point that I have nothing to complain about than a narrow neck, then you must be doing something good.

Note the wing fins emerging from Nanoha's boots. They're present on two other of my figures, and they were a horrible pain getting properly attached there too. I appreciate the nod to keeping things real, but the things really are more trouble than they're worth. In this case I seriously considered leaving the things off, but then I'd have a big hole in Nanoha's boot. Meh.

Raising Heart is quite nicely portrayed in shooter mode. Looking back, you can kind of see the predecessor to the trigger grip she would have in the movie. You also see details that, staring at the thing right in front of me, I wouldn't notice, like all the sparkles in the paint they used. Looking back behind her, I wonder if they might not have exaggerated the thinness of her ponytails? It's hard to compare, because my other Nanoha figures (Ms. Takamachi has no fewer than four other PVC reproductions in my display cabinets) are all of the adult, StrikerS era. Which is nice, if you like boobs, but not so good if you want to harken back to the series' roots.

Well, they did get that part right. Definitely true to the original. Though I suppose that a bit more kneepit definition would have been nice? I assume this is simply a function of being an earlier sculpture, as I can see other Alter figures with a better outlining of the knee tendons. I will note that the shift from pink to white panties for Nanoha seems to be across the board, though. An odd change, and not a completely good one.

Anyway, a very nice figure, though quite honestly as a very old figure, this was more an attempt to teach myself a thing or two about photography and lighting than anything else. Next week I will present the loliriffic Mina Tepes figure, and see if I didn't make a major mistake grabbing it.

show and tell

A great deal has been made lately about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Which is, as far as I can tell, one of the stupidest preoccupations in the current political climate. We've a ballooning, unmanagable deficit, high unemployment, North Korea thumbing its nose at the world, an arms limitation treaty before the Senate, and classified documents pouring out into the world like piss from a horse, so what shall we obsess over? Gays in the military. Please.

I am, as future posts will make clear, a conservative, but only in the arenas of economics and foreign policy. I am fairly hawkish, yes, and in terms of the economy I will much more readily find common ground with Republicans than Democrats, though I find both parties reprehensible in the abstract. However, in the social arena, I'm far more liberal, and so the idea that the military should be in the business of questioning what consenting adults do in the bedroom has long bothered me.

While some prominent Republicans seem against the idea, their concerns seem to be mere excuses. My chief reason for this is that in my six years in the Navy, I served with more than a couple gays. Some, of course, were closeted up, and I only learned of their orientation second- or third-hand. Others were quite open about it, actually, and I never knew them to face any sort of discrimination.

Well. Perhaps I shouldn't say that. If one considers being mocked and joked about as discrimination, then yes, but what of it? There was mockery and joking with respect to sexual orientation, religion, sex, and most especially state of origin. The only really taboo topic, I would say, was race, and even then I was just as happy to poke fun of myself.

The argument goes that military units, as tight-knit families, can't afford such divisive elements as a homosexual or two. I would simply say that, at least where I served, there were plenty of opportunities and lots of time to get to know every single bad and annoying habit my coworkers had. And more often than not, I was more pissed off about someone not pulling their own weight, or getting a better deal than I did, than whether they liked boys and girls.

In the fairness of disclosure, being bisexual myself, it's not as if I had much of a preference in gender myself. And I wasn't going to feel that I was being threatened by unwanted sexual advances. Because, you know, those gay guys in the military have nothing better to do with their time than to smack each other on the ass, make sexual innuendo, and peek in on the shower.

...oh, wait, that was the straight guys in the Navy. Sorry, it's so easy to confuse the two.

Of course, one should be careful not to use one case of anecdotal evidence to prove a universal. But on the whole, it's difficult to argue that somehow a horny gay guy or two (or, to be fair, a horny lesbian girl) will make a unit less "combat ready." Whatever that is. I would hope that the caliber of person we recruit into the armed services is such that they won't care what color or sex or preference the person next to them in the foxhole is. I've never been under actual fire, but that much seems reasonable.

Besides, those making the argument, while decorated and respectable military veterans, are old. Like, really old. And those joining up and doing the actual fighting now? Well, let's say that a twenty year old enlisting today has a slightly different view of homosexuality than a twenty year old did sixty years ago. Even if she hails from the hollers of southern Ohio. It's increasingly hard to be bigoted, really, once you're below a certain age. That I leave to the older set. For younger folk, it simply isn't that big a deal.

Wow, who would have thought reality television would be good for something?

Sadly, the upcoming Congress seems likely to fight the issue still further. I've no doubt that it will be repealed, eventually, but it will probably continue to be a litigious fight, rather than a simple Congressional act. Remember, that one lawsuit that actually won? Filed by evil, homophobic Republicans? Yeah, that one. Keep on trucking, brothers and sisters.

Weekly ED: Passionate Squall

So, yeah. Only two weeks in, and I'm already switching to an ED. Sue me, if you like, but you can't bleed a turnip.

Anyway. This song has been stuck in my head a bit, and no opening songs really stuck out for doing a post on. So I figured I'd handle this one, in particular. Seikon no Qwaser is not a good anime. I wish to get that out of the way right from the beginning. Its chief attractions are almost overwhelming amounts of T&A, along with catering to such deep, nuanced fetishes as lolicon, maid cafes, and hadaka apron. And that's just going off memory. Since these are things I enjoy, I watched the series, or at least some of it; nowadays I find myself waiting for proper BD rips, or maybe even a US appearance, though I can onlyt hink it would be redacted like Dance in the Vampire Bund. I digress, though. This is a music post, not an anime post.

Passionate Squall is the first of two ending songs for the series. It's an impressive little ditty, sung by the five principal seiyuu of the series: Ayumi Fujimora, Minori Chihara, Aki Toyasaki, Aya Hirano, and Yoko Hisaka. An impressive list, to be certain, even if not all have the best voices. Which is fine, as it's the music that mostly carries the song. Mostly, I say, because with all five seiyuu getting a little solo, it becomes hard at times to tell who's singing when. It's a little bit like Moon Revenge in that way, only I don't have years of listening to the voices to pick them apart.

It starts out rather strangely, with school bells and the growling of demons, before it launches into the chorus. The bass line is a lot more interesting than most ending songs, actually, which is why it interested me. Sort of a driving, somewhat sultry beat. It definitely isn't typical fluffy anison either. It doesn't quite tip over into jrock, but it's very close. An engaging little twist to this song is the synthesizer; it adds a sort of a high string-like effect in places.

One of the nicer things about the song, I find, is how it alternates; there are very heavy instrumental passages, almost an industrial rock feel, and then there are passages where the seiyuu's voices carry with just a single guitar accompanying. It's an interesting feel, and I'm not completely sure it works all the time, but it is, as I say, interesting. The guitar solor in the bridge is... a bit pedestrian, I think, but not too bad.

As for the lyrics themselves, the less said about them, the better. I don't speak Japanese, so I don't listen to Japanese music for the deep meaning. The meaning in this particular song is mostly about loving, even when alone and ignored. I mostly like the passion with which they sing. They don't sound like they're pining, they sound like they're angry. Which is good, because none of the characters are particularly pushovers. It's quite spirited.

Five out of five stars, for what is one of the best ending songs of the year.

Weekly OP: irony

The beginning of what will hopefully be a weekly feature on this blog. Which, to be honest, I'm still trying to find a purpose for.

Anyway. This week's chosen opening is from one of my favorite series this year, Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (trans: My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute). Despite the title, it's not an ero anime. At least, I don't think it is. It still might surprise me, but given the episodes I've seen so far I'd be pretty surprised if it turned out that way. But this isn't an anime review blog, so I'll leave a blow by blow account of the series to others, and simply say that it's something rather akin to Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, in that it takes a rather humorous look at the life of an otaku in Japan. And I do mean the true meaning of an otaku, i.e. one whose obsession over anime and manga and (in this case) ero games has reached a possibly unhealthy level.

On to the opening! irony is by ClariS, which according to last.fm is comprised of two high school students who got their start on Nico Nico Douga, of all places. Not sure how much credence I give to that, but at least it explains why I'd never heard of them before. Unfortunately, it also means I have no previous body of work to compare to, but that's fine too. Some of the best anime OPs have come from singers making their debut (Nami Tamaki, Aiko Kayou).

The song is somewhat standard jpop fare. A bit of a heavier beat than normal, and it doesn't depend on super high pitched voices to carry the day; ClariS's vocals remind me a bit of Crystal Kay, actually. Not to say they can't hit the high notes, but they use the full register, which is good to hear. The song weighs in at 4:20, with the usual pattern of verses, refrains, and a bridge.

The bridge is actually what I dislike about this song; there's a kind of synthy-remix thing going on there, and it feels like it's just feeling in space. I think it would sound better without that; again, the vocalists have great voices, and should be allowed to carry the day.

I don't speak Japanese, of course, so I won't attempt a translation of the lyrics. It's not as if I listen to Japanese music for the lyrics, anyway. In any event, the song has something of a feeling of growing up to it. It's odd. I'm not sure how to explain it, only than a slight regret for what's gone by. Whatever it is, it definitely grabs at me. That it's a super catchy tune helps, too.

Four out of five stars, and perhaps a leading contender for anime opening of the year.