Legend of Crystania

There are two of these sequels to the Record of Lodoss War anime series. Legend of Crystania: The Motion Picture, and Legend of Crystania: the Chaos Ring. The first is a film, the second is a three-part OVA presented as a single film. Both films follow the same characters on the island of Crystania (the god-land north of Alecrast, which itself is north of Lodoss Island), centering on the plight of Ashram, who has been taken over by the dark god Barbas, and Pirotess (which is pronounced Pirotessa in this film for whatever reason, though she is usually called Sheru) as she attempts to rescue him.

Some quick history is needed to really explain the plot of these films. It will also slightly spoil the end of Record of Lodoss War, so read this part at your own risk.

At the end of Record of Lodoss War, Ashram and the people of Marmo are left without a home. His ambitions of ruling a united Lodoss crushed, and his island being overtaken by the impending resurrection of Kardis, he gathers his people onto ships and sets sail for a new land.

During the War of the Gods (the same war in which Marfa and Kardis fought and Lodoss was created), many of the gods escaped to Crystania where they took on the form of animals and created a new land. They shut this land away from the rest of the world, allowing no outsiders onto the land. Races of shape shifting beast-men were created to populate the land, each race corresponding to a beast god.

At the beginning of Legend of Crystania, Ashram has traveled to Crystania, having found no other place to go. In order to secure a new home for his people, he makes a pact with the evil god Barbas, who takes control of his body. Ashram goes into a deep sleep inside his own body for 300 years.

After the 300 years, the immortal Pirotess still searches for a way to free her love from Barbas. Although this is a main driving force of both films, neither Pirotess or Ashram are the traditional main characters. The story focuses more on a young man named Redon, who, to save time, is basically this time period's Parn. After a messy (but successful) assassination plot against his father, Redon escapes with his loyal friend (and servant) Kwairde. They escape to Crystania, and are let inside, followed by several others from Lodoss: Obier (his father's would-be assassin), Raifan (a young shaman in training), Nasare (a sorceror), and Aderishia (a priestess). Along the way they meet up with Pirotess and some of the beast-men, and together fight to release Crystania and Ashram from Barbas' power; while conquering their own personal demons, of course.

The Chaos Ring is a direct sequel and picks up right after the first film (well, some time has passed, but nothing significant). There's some more back history in this one; the first film does little to explain the creation or significance of Crystania, but before each episode the history is explained (much like in Lodoss War). All of the animal gods make an appearance this time, not just Barbas. This time Barbas is attempting to regain his power and become the God's King, ruling not only Crystania itself, but all of the other gods (who jointly reign). The group, which had split in the interim, is called back together (or reforms along the way), to save Crystania once again, with plenty of brand new dangers.

For people who are thinking: Why is Ashram suddenly a good guy? He isn't suddenly anything. Ashram was never a bad guy. His intentions have never been evil. Antagonist does not always equal evil. Sometimes characters have the best intentions but use the wrong methods. Ashram was rather cold at times and did on occasion use very deadly force (which is in part due to the orders of his emperor (who had unfortunately been corrupted by the Demon King) , and the demon sword he also eventually carries), but all he ever wanted was a home for his people. And on his own (without the influence from Emperor Beld), he's a fairly honorable guy. He is changed from his character in the Lodoss series to an extent, though most of it is a visual impact (negatively); he also has more open feelings now, notably toward Pirotess, though his love and duty for his people has not changed (it's actually amplified). Regardless, his actual role in the films is quite small.

If you really must have more Lodoss, or you're interested in the mythology as a whole, then it won't hurt to watch these films. But if you're looking for a good anime, then you should stay away (unless you are really into sword and sorcery). Both films are poorly animated, acted, and written. There are plot holes between the two, pronunciation discrepancies between the dubbings of Lodoss War and the Crystania films (Pirotess isn't the only one with a new pronunciation), and the new characters are mostly uninteresting and have little personality. Redon is basically a copy of (young) Parn, but with no one like Kashue around to whip him into shape; there's something about him that several characters keep referencing (like within his soul, or his destiny), but nothing ever comes from this. Nasare isn't even half as interesting as Slayn. Aderishia could be really interesting too, but like Redon, most of her potential as a character goes unused. Pirotess doesn't even feel like the same character most of the time, and her and Ashram's character designs are plain and a little drab.

Both films are available from ADV Films.
Image (top to bottom, left to right): Obier, Raifan, Aderishia; Nasare, Redon, Pirotess/Sheru; Kwairde.

The Twelve Kingdoms

Any fan of fantasy owes it to themselves to watch this series. So if you've enjoyed shows like Record of Lodoss War, Scrapped Princess, the Tales series (Abyss, Symphonia, etc), Inu Yasha, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, or The Vision of Escaflowne, then this will probably be right up your alley.

The anime is based on a series of light novels by Fuyumi Ono. There are around 11 volumes which are currently being painstakingly slowly published in America by Tokyopop. The 45 episode anime series has been released in its entirety by Media Blasters, and can be bought as individual discs, a 2-part box set, and I believe I saw a recent listing for an upcoming new box set to be released this summer. I should mention right away that the anime does not cover all the story lines, and much is left out at its conclusion, including at least one major story line that is begun within the anime and left unfinished. Those who wish to continue the story (I know I do) will have to wait on Tokyopop (good luck to us with that, because it's going to take over a decade since they only put out one a year).

In The Twelve Kingdoms, 16-year-old Youko is attending high school as a normal girl in regular modern day Japan. Her most dominant, and most unfortunate, personality trait is that she feels she must please everyone around her, and rarely thinks for herself. Her out of place naturally red hair has always been bothersome for her. One average day a beautiful man with long white hair calling himself Keiki appears in her classroom and bows at her feet, swearing an oath of loyalty and protection to her. Strange giant bird-like creatures attack the school, where Youko has found herself with Keiki and two of her classmates Yuka (a girl obsessed with fantasy fiction) and Asano (a boy Youko likes early on, though he doesn't exist in the novels). Keiki states that he cannot fight the monsters himself, and gives Youko a sword, expecting her to defeat them. With danger and possible death imminent, Keiki and his youma servants transport Youko and her friends through a whirlpool in the ocean and into the strange land of the Twelve Kingdoms.

Once they arrive, they find themselves separated from Keiki, and must make their own way in this new land. They also become separated from each other, and Youko must search for Keiki on her own. Along the way she meets up with a hanjyu (sort of...beast people who can transform into human form...he's basically a giant bipedal rat) named Rakushun. They manage to find the kingdom of En together, where Youko learns that she is meant to be the new queen of the kingdom of Kei. Keiki is actually a Kirin, a mystical creature born to choose the ruler of a kingdom.

The story centers mostly on Youko as she journeys through the kingdoms, and then as she grows as a leader. She begins as a whiny, overly emotional, selfish, mentally unstable brat. But as she begins to discover herself, and takes on the responsibilities of ruling a people, she grows into a strong young woman (and a totally awesome heroine). There are several other story lines. One follows Yuka, who becomes incredibly jealous that Youko is the "chosen" while she feels that she is far more qualified, and attempts to undermine Youko's every move. Some of the other kingdoms are also explored, notably the kingdoms of En (Youko has multiple encounters with the En king and Kirin), Kou, Hou (the princess of Hou becomes a major character in the second half of the series), and Tai (which is currently missing both its ruler and its Kirin, and it is this story line that remains unfinished at the show's end). Another young girl named Suzu also plays a large roll alongside the princess of Hou in the second half of the series.

The story is fantastic, the show is well animated, well written (except for the slightly sudden ending, which, while it does tie up the story line currently in motion, leaves much unfinished), and is generally well acted (meaning the English dub). I really fell in love with it myself. The mythology is very rich, and it's explained through situational story lines, instead of slammed into you all at once. It's a land governed by a ruler chosen by a mystical creature, that prospers or decays (very literally) based on how well or how badly its ruler performs. The only real issue I had with the show is the rather large amount of terms you have to learn to understand what is going on, especially when some things have multiple titles (Kirin are also known as Saiho), and even multiple names (all the Kirin have their Kirin names which are derived from their kingdom and their sex (-ki for males, -rin for females) and a nickname given by the ruler; and the rulers have their original names, their royal title, and a nickname describing their rule).

It's definitely a good quality show, and I really recommend a watch.
Image (top to bottom, and left to right): Keiki, Shoryu (king of En), Aozaru (the spirit of Youko's sword's scabbard), Kourin (Kirin of Kou), Enki (Kirin of En), Rakushun, Yuka, Youko, and Asano.

Any Dream Will Not Do

I don't like that casting a musical has become some sort of elaborate farce, American Idol knock off, reality show spectacular. American's would probably know what I'm talking of best from You're the One That I Want, a televised casting for a Broadway revival of Grease in early 2007 (I believe). England has been doing this as well, with Andrew Lloyd Webber. They cast the lead role of Maria for Sound of Music (a feature that Canada has since copied for a Toronto production). Today I caught Any Dream Will Do (also from 2007), a reality casting show for the lead role of Joseph for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (there was another of these last year for Oliver).

Webber himself is one of the judges of this thing. The man looks like a colossal joke sitting up there, a spotlight shining on him as the Phantom theme plays as his personal introduction and the lights flash behind him. I have a lot of respect for this man; he's written and produced some truly amazing works. But he's just this sort of commercialized clown.

As for what he's judging.... The way these things work, is they have open casting calls, take oh...50 or so of them to a "training camp," whittle that down a few times, and bring 12 of them onto the actual show when it premiers. Then they take turns performing throughout the weeks, rocks ballads, pop songs, things like that, and occasionally an actual show tune. Very much like American Idol. Where I was watching it today, they were down to 8. Maybe 2-3 of these guys could pull the role off in any satisfactory capacity. The rest can't sing for crap. Though they did keep repeating on the show that they were looking for presence, attitude and character over vocal talent. But you still need a voice that won't grate on the ears of your audience!

I don't know why they're always making these people butcher perfectly fine pop and rocks songs by turning them into show tunes, when they could just be singing SHOW TUNES. There are plenty that are appropriate, I promise. It's Webber. He writes rock operas. It's not hard to find music like that. If you can sing one song from the show, you can sing them all, because all the songs from a single show will all feel the same.

Although...here's one singing a rather lackluster performance of "This is the Moment" from Jekyll and Hyde so...maybe it wouldn't help them.

One of these guys is...I don't know a construction worker or something. His entire shtick, and he really says this in every episode after his performance, is that he's a rough new singer and can be trained, and that he doesn't have any bad habits to get rid of. Let me tell you right now - he's not very good. His voice is far too small. This other fellow, Daniel I think, they keep telling him he needs to sing songs with a different feel to show versatility because he keeps showing the same side of himself over and over again, which is this really sweet, nice boy routine, but Joseph has to be arrogant, etc. I saw a couple of his performances...the judges said it was "totally different." It wasn't. Decent voice, though. Another guy was told he was a good performer. He had zero stage presence. So yeah, I don't know what those judges were smoking.

The highlight of the show (well, one of the episodes I caught) was watching these kids make complete asses of themselves in front of professional West End performers. They sent these 8 guys to the Les Miserables set, where they were charged with performing on the Barricade set, singing the "When Tomorrow Comes" end bit from "Do You Hear the People Sing," and waving the big red flag around at the same time. They failed hysterically and miserably. The main cast (Val Jean, Enjolras, and I think Marius) stood there shaking their heads, clearly disappointed in their abilities and in the way they weren't really taking it seriously. Only 2 of them managed to pull it off in any acceptable capacity, and the rest were a joke (and not a "haha" funny one).

Also Meat Loaf. Meat Loaf performed a song there at the end. I'm not really a fan of his music, but I am a fan of him; I know that seems odd. I don't really enjoy the kind of music he performs, but the man himself is freakin' awesome.

Hell, they even turned getting kicked off the show into a staged production, having the cast sing "Close Every Door" from the actual show as the rejected Joseph takes off his colored jacket and leaves the stage. The three finalists...well...two of them I never would have let make it that far. I do think there is a level of viewer voting participation, but I'm not sure how it works or how much they rely on it. The guy that wins, I think is one of the fellows I thought was alright (he did have the look, too). So that makes me feel a little bit better.

I'm sorry; this has nothing to do with anime or whatever. I just get really frustrated by these ridiculous things. So why watch? Well, there was nothing else on TV while I was eating dinner. Also, it's that whole "train wreck" scenario thing. And I guess I kind of hope that one of them will maybe, MAYBE wow me, impress me, blow me away. It never happens, though. :(

Kino's Journey

I wasn't sure where to start, so I guess I'll just go down the list.

Kino's Journey is a really lovely little show. Subtitled "The Beautiful World," this 13-episode anime lives up to the description. The series is based on a light novel series by Keiichi Sigsawa (he also wrote the light novels that were the basis for the Allison & Lilia anime series). The show follows the young Kino (she's probably in her early-mid teens, though the time frame is a bit ambiguous) and her talking motorcycle named Hermes as they travel from land to land experiencing the different cultures and people of each place they visit.

The series is very episodic. There isn't really a single set plot line. Kino and Hermes are simply traveling from place to place. There are a few things that tie the episodes together. Kino learns of things in some lands that she sees the effects of in other places, but otherwise the episodes are stand alone, with recurring themes. As a traveler, Kino spends no more than three days and two nights in any one place, claiming that it is the perfect amount of time to experience a place without staying too long to become attached. She also prefers to observe and tries to make it a point not to involve herself in the affairs of the lands she visits, though she isn't always successful.

The beauty of the world lies not in conventional beauty, but rather in things that would be considered harsh, brutal, and tragic. The idea being that these things have a beauty as well, or perhaps, that they exemplify what beauty there is. Whether it's a land where people don't have to work but work anyway to measure their worth through stress, a land that collects books from all over the world but locks away anything they deem harmful, or two countries that keep their peace through disturbing methods. Though it's clear that Kino herself doesn't like violence, she is well armed with a revolver, a pistol, and several knives for her protection. She is an unusually excellent shot for one of her size and age, but she discovers she must find a balance between peace and justified violence. Is it worth killing innocent rabbits to save the lives of a few starving men (meaning, are the men worth the sacrifice)? Does an entire land need to be destroyed for the sake of another? Every episode explores a different aspect of humanity, a different philosophy of life.

Everything about this show falls wonderfully into place - the simple and beautiful animation, a lovely score, good writing, and an excellent English dub by ADV. It is well worth a watch. It's a little gloomy, but in a very beautiful sort of way. It's an exploration of life, people, and culture. As is often expressed in the series and the novel, "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is."

More Diversions

Yeah so....
That list of things I wanted to get done?
It just got harder.

Today we went out and picked up the following:
Persona 3 FES (my first foray into the Persona games, and I'm liking it so far, but the whole "shoot yourself in the head to activate your special powers" thing is kind of disturbing)
Tales of the Abyss (also my first Tales game; watching the anime now, so I figured it was a good jumping on title)
Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX (never played one of these before, either)
Magna Carta: Tears of Blood (which is a sequel, but it doesn't seem to be a direct sequel, so I think I'm good)
Fallout 3 (more for the boy, but I have a mild interest)
GTA IV (which I will likely never play, so we're safe there)

So yeah. Whoops. ^_^

Afro Samurai

Alright. I'm gonna say it. I don't get why this is so damn popular. It's interesting, and it looks cool; I'm not saying it's bad at all. But the blood and gore has been done before in things like Blood and Ninja Scroll. And the hip hop samurai stuff has also been done, and done better in my opinion, in Samurai Champloo. So all Afro Samurai really has going for it is Samuel L. Jackson, a so-so plot full of holes, and it's unique animation style.

Afro Samurai follows a samurai called the Afro Samurai (bet you didn't see that one coming) on his journey to avenge the death of his father. In this futuristic (with feudal elements) view of Japan, there exists a person known as Number One, the best fighter in the land. Once Number One claims his title and near god like status, he waits until the day the Number Two comes to take the title away. Only the Number Two has the right to challenge the Number One, so the Number Two's journey is filled with fighters attempting to take the title so they can challenge Number One. These titles are represented by sacred headbands depicting the warrior's number.

In this story, Afro is the Number Two. The Number One is a gunman named Justice who killed the previous Number One, Afro's father, when Afro was a small child. Afro devotes the rest of his life to training with his father's sword in order to find the Number Two headband so that he can go after Number One (Justice). And that's basically the whole story. A good chunk of the 5 episode series is made up of flash backs of Afro as a child training in a dojo. It is in this dojo that he meets the young girl Otsuru, the Sword Master, and the young man Jinno. They all have roles in his future life. The Sword Master trains him, and both Otsuru and Jinno reappear (as opposition) during his journey to defeat Justice. As Justice makes very few appearances, most of Afro's trouble comes from a group of monks called the Empty 7 - six monks who are trying to defeat Afro so they can kill Number One and have the power of both headbands. Keeping Afro company and offering him tactical advice is Ninja Ninja, an enigmatic character who seems to be some sort of spirit, or possibly a figment of Afro's imagination.

It's not a bad show, but I don't really get why it's such a pop culture phenomenom. I'm sure Sammy L. (who does an excellent job voicing both Afro and Ninja Ninja) helps; after all he's a culture phenomenom all on his own. I certainly don't feel like I would be missing out if I hadn't seen it. Which, if you haven't noticed, is my way of saying "It's a decent watch, but nothing to get uppity about." The RZA (Kill Bill) did the music. It IS really well animated, and has a very distinct and unique style. Though it strikes me as odd that casual fans (or people who aren't anime fans at all) enjoy the artsy look of the show. Though I'm sure the rather graphic and completely unnecessary sex scene helps.

FUNimation has released two versions of the show on DVD. A "Spike TV" cut, which I guess is the edited for TV version, though I'm unsure why anyone would want that. And the "director's cut" which is unedited. There's also a recent sequel called Afro Samurai: Ressurection, in which some people who died are ressurected so that they can die again. Hooray.
There's also a video game.

Things to do

Reviews to write:
Kino's Journey
Twelve Kingdoms
Elfen Lied
Afro Samurai
Solty Rei
Kuroshitsuji
Telepathy Ran
Allison and Lilia
The Great Happiness Space
Talk about Manga-ka (Takaya, Hino, Nakamura)
Midori Days
Legend of Crystania

Shows to watch:
Finish Tales of the Abyss
Finish Clannad After Story
Finish Skip Beat
Finish Natsume Yujin-Cho
Watch Vampire Knight Guilty
Finish Nodame Paris
Finish Chrno Crusade (again)
Start Burst Angel
Catch up with Mushi-Shi
Xenosaga the Animation
Finish Battlestar Galactica

Read:
Finish Trigun Maximum
Start re-reading Fruits Basket to get ready for final volume
Finish A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Start A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

Play:
Finish Last Remnant
Finish Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon
Restart Assassin's Creed

Misc:
Drool over End of Eternity screen shots and trailer.
Pretend there's amazing footage for the new Assassin's Creed, even though it's all cryptic nonsense.
Drool over the awesome preview spread in new Game Informer instead.
Be jealous of Japan yet again.
Play Last Remnant and forget to do everything else.