A Last-Minute, Visual Review of 2009
I wasn’t able to squeeze in these “year in review” pictures in my earlier posts, but here they are anyways. These are some screen caps w/ captions that somehow I have kpet around this year. Minor spoilers are present. Enjoy at your own risk. I may have an odd sense of humor, but I believe it’s at least backward compatible!
Why I watch Bakemonogatari in a nutshell.
Year In Review: N-Squared List
Just like last year, I guess some things have not changed. This could be a reference.
Mamiko In Canaan
I remember a while ago (3 years?) I thought about the rise of Mamiko Noto as a prominent voice acting personality in the anime circles. This was before I even had the opportunity to see her in person. Concerns about pigeonholes and all were on the way out.
It all seem so long ago. But it isn’t until Canaan that Noto has played a voice role that finally convinced me that she can play just about any character to satisfaction.
If we had poll results about which of her characters are the most popular out of all the Mamiko Noto fans out there, it might still lean heavily towards those yamato nadeshiko types; but as an actor I think she has grown a lot. She’s done male and female roles, sultry and demure ones, good guys and bad guys, and high and low pitched. Well, almost everything by now. She’s written screenplays, performed in live events, and (unfortunately) sang her share of stuff. Maybe she should write more poems.
If I do my math correctly, she’s still just 29 years old. I wonder what achievements and interesting twists life has left for her in the anime/game seiyuu world.
The Land of Canaan Is a Promised Movie
You know, there is something missing in Canaan. Possibly the same thing that kept some away from the classic cinema-influenced anime Cowboy Bebop. And it’s not the non-serialized narrative.
The problem with Canaan, in short, is that it is scripted and paced like a film. When you dice a film into 22-minute segments, you’ll have a tough time to keep the audience hooked without wrangling the pacing out of whack. On the other hand, all the twists and turns are rather spot-on if you were to marathon the series without breaks, kind of like a modern Hollywood, action thriller. If you plot out the plot to Canaan right now, that’s exactly what it is–a modern action thriller.
Perhaps the best comparison to Canaan’s pacing is Eden of the East, just from a couple months ago. However there is a simple, overarching plot climax which builds on successive episodes after about the half-way point for Eden where as the mystery keeping viewers interested also bogs down that hook and line pulling my attention span longer. So it’s not longer.
The drawn out presentation of Canaan also gives more pause to some of the points of distraction–like Rie Tanaka’s over-the-top, silly girl Liang Qi. Or just how many “sugoi” can KokoMaria say if Maria could say “sugoi.” Or delicious Yunyun buns. Or all those taxi driver guy cameos. On the plus side, they could really pass Hakkoo off as a mute!
And I still persist that it’s Shem! Not Siam or Sham or whatever. It’s also a long shot, but Arpachshad would make sense of Alphard. As a side note, Abraham would make an awesome name for a final boss mecha.
It also makes me wonder how much of a role films like Munich played in the scripting for Canaan, as a part of the overall concept. Someone ask her for us?
But at least the Canaan movie series this fall, at least I hope, will do Canaan the justice it deserves. Comparing it to Noir is just plain misinformation that should be corrected.
Someone Has a Thing for Legs
Maaya Sakamoto plays a sekushii onee-chan, sure, we all love that. And if you didn’t already notice, Canaan herself has a killer “Kero-chan Check” point at her pants (scroll half way down). Those pants are awesome! Did Takashi Takeuchi really come up with those? Pretty sweet.
But “hot legs” is not what I anticipated! Well, besides that they’re there to be seen when your international terrorist lady dons a killer evening gown. But they’re so…evenly chiseled, and so to depict strength and not its gruesome details? That’s like, pro. Both in keeping it simple and keeping it cheap. The camera blur is like a lens flare that is actually not overused, lol.
Whoever is behind the two awesome lady’s room fight freeze shots, I salute you.
Or maybe it’s just a PA Works thing.
Honestly, there wasn’t a lot for me to write about in Canaan. But after seeing that scene, something just didn’t sit right with me and I had to point them out, lest I start to do vector diagrams again.
