As much as I want to dislike and discredit Strike Witches, I must admit… that series a true guilty pleasure.

There really was not much good–longstanding good at least, yet there was a certain fapfapfap charm about it that kept me watching. Classic example of a show with a lot of peripherals, but little substance. I enjoyed the character designs, the music, and the voice cast, but unfortunately nearly everything else was average or lacking. Alien beings/robots/whatever with uber technological know how destroys most of the planet and our only hope are a group of bishoujo oozing moe and wielding heavy artillery. Piss poor storytelling culminating in an overly dramatic and rushed ending. The perfect brain dead anime to watch when you do not have anything worthwhile to watch or the yet another Holy Grail for the moetarded to fapfapfap to get giddy about. But hey, (uncensored DVD) BOOBIES! fapfapfap…

And there is more coming soon.

Gonzo Confirmed to Animate 2nd Strike Witches Season
posted on 2009-04-28 10:59 EDT

Most of staff to return to mecha-girl anime with director Kazuhiro Takamura

The inaugural issue of Kadokawa Shoten’s Nyantype magazine will confirm on Thursday that Gonzo is the anime studio producing the second anime season of Strike Witches. Like the 2007 video anime and the first television anime season (2008), the tentatively titled “Strike Witches 2-ki” is based on Humikane Shimada’s mecha-girl illustrations. Most of the main staff will return from the first season, including director and anime character designer Kazuhiro Takamura, the series script supervisor “Striker Unit,” and Takaaki Suzuki who helps develop the setting of the story’s world view and military matters.

The North American anime distributor Funimation announced this month that it acquired the rights to release the first Strike Witches television anime season. Crunchyroll and BOST TV had been streaming the first anime season since it premiered in Japan last July.

Due to the restructuring that it announced last November, Gonzo said that it would reduce its annual anime output from about eight projects to four. Gonzo had previously announced that it would be working on the recently ended The Tower of DRUAGA -the Sword of URUK- anime, Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-, Shangri-La, Saki, and Alive – Saishū Shinka teki Shōnen in 2009. (Alive – Saishū Shinka teki Shōnen was originally planned as a co-production between Gonzo and another anime studio, AIC.)

Hooray. Not Hooray! Hooray. Like I mentioned, Strike Witches was 100% guilty pleasure, so I am excited for more girls with tails and propellers attached to their legs. In a way I am much more excited about this second season than I was about the first season primarily because we should actually be getting story this time around. I am hoping to get answers to plot points that were not addressed last year. What happened to Yoshika’s father? What was his real role in the story? Who or what are the Neuroi? Why are Lynette and Sanya so delicious? Why does everyone fapfapfap over Lucchini’s lack of a chest when she is the most useless and annoying character? Questions were posed that need answers and I see no reason why season 2 would not address them. We have had the fun and games and we have had the character introductions. It is time to get right to the point.

And more Nazuka Kaori, please. Nazuka Kaori <3 <3 <3

Leo Fender lol’d.

I did not watch the entire episode, but I had to stop and scratch my head. I am a long time supporter of Fender guitars, and I do appreciate the influence, beauty, and tone of Gibsons, but seeing a Fender logo on a Gibson headstock took me by surprise. But hey! If Fender wanted to make Les Paul clones that were not $2000-3000, I am all for it. Unfortunately, Yui paid more for the cherry sunburst paint job. Too Jimmy Page for my tastes.

I am a Gibson SG fanboy. Feel free to send donations to my “I am no longer buying figures, so I can save up for the Gibson SG I have had wet dreams about since I was 14 years old” fund. I take cash, check, and PayPal.

The Fender (correctly) became a Gibson later.

Squeaky feet!

New Hidamari Sketch Special Reportedly Announced

Announcement said to have been made at Sunday’s “Chō Hidematsuri Z” event

The Moon Phase Comments blog reports on Sunday that production on a new Hidamari Sketch Special Edition has been green-lit. The announcement was reportedly made at Sunday’s “Chō Hidematsuri Z” event in Tokyo. There have already been two Hidamari Sketch Special Edition episodes released for the first television series, and an unaired episode was included in the seventh and final DVD of the Hidamari Sketch x 365 television sequel last month. (The announcement of Hidamari Sketch x 365’s production was first made at an earlier “Chō Hidematsuri Z” or “Super Hida Festival” in November of 2007.) The timeframe and other details of the new special edition have not been announced.

Yen Press publishes Ume Aoki’s original manga under the name Sunshine Sketch in North America.

Color me excited! More Yuno, Sae, Hiro, Miyako, and (hopefully) Yoshinaya-sensei on the way!

More remixes!

I was not all that impressed with the new version of Yume no Naka e.  Call me a sap for over-synthesized 80’s pop with too much reverb, but I prefer her 80’s version of the song. Obviously, my favorite version of the song would be the Yukino version of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou’s ED song (sung by ridiculously underrated Enomoto Atsuko), but Saito Yuki’s non-remix version sat with me a lot better. The Funta Remix version was a bit better, although it felt like some blended up version of 311’s Amber, The Police’s Roxanne, and Patrick Swayze’s She’s Like the Wind… except in Japanese. Unfortunately, I doubt either would make my “frequent” playlist.

The new version of Shiroi Hono was quite tame compared to the original. I do like the 21st Century Version more than the original, but like Yume no Naka e, I prefer the energy you get from the original song more.  I will give this new version some credit though. I did really like the classical guitar in there, but I prefer energy over relaxation. People are probably more familiar with Saito Chiwa’s cover of the song on her Rosario + Vampire character song single. I would probably pick that version of the song over any of Saito Yuki’s versions anyday. Saito Chiwa’s slightly deeper singing voice is just more appealing to me.

I really liked Kazoku no Shokutaku a lot. Anytime you can strip a song down to just vocals and a piano, I am on board. No bells and whistles on this track; just Saito Yuki and a piano.

But deftoned, what about Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa? Isn’t Maison Ikkoku like one of your all-time favorites? Isn’t Kyoko in your harem?

Absolutely and abso-freaking-lutely.

A lot can be said about this song, considering that this “new version” is still very similar to the original. Shirai Hono and Yume no Naka e definitely sound different; however, Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa is still Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa. It is a song that has remained good over the last 20 years and still sounds awesome no matter who sings it. It is a song that does not really need anything special to be added to make it aurally appealing. The 21st Century Version is just as simple and straightforward as the original. It retains all the charm and catchiness, while adding a more contemporary tone and feel to it. On the other hand, the L.F.J.B. Version goes in and remixes the song in more traditional remix fashion. Thumping bass, keyboard tracks, and vocal effects. I do not like this version as much, but I will admit that it is catchy. Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa high on amphetamine if you will.

All in all, not a bad release. Not all that surprised that a torrent only popped up for this recently when it was originally released back in 2007. A lot of people nowadays are not as familiar with Maison Ikkoku or Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou, and the live action Sukeban Deka came out when I was only 4 years old.

Nostalgia and Shining on were pretty good songs, but I was a whole lot more interested in Tenshi no Enogu.

Comparing Tenshi no Enogu, Ai Oboete Imasuka, and Watashi no Kare wa Pilot, Tenshi no Enogu is easly my favorite Nakajima Megumi Macross cover. Surprisingly, that song was never one of my favorite Macross songs (Minmay songs, if you will). The newer music style just fits the song a lot better than what was produced in the original version or the 15th Anniversary version of the song. I do like the MARI IIJIMA sings LYNN MINMAY version more (released in 2002), but I do give props to Nakajima Megumi for this one. Her cover of Ai Oboete Imasuka did not stick to me like I thought it would originally. It never sounded as “full” as the original song or as epic as Iijima Mari’s self-cover of it. Her voice is GREAT in it, but the music was a tad lacking for me. Tenshi no Enogu, on the other hand is just filled with goodness. Good music and Nakajima Megumi’s awesome voice… cannot go wrong with it.

I am still waiting on that “MEGUMI NAKAJIMA sings LYNN MINMAY” or “MEGUMI NAKAJIMA sings RANKA LEE” album… I have no doubts that either will get released in the future. I have a whole list of Macross songs I would love to hear her cover…

Brings back memories. I first saw this like 10 years ago. Definitely brings back memories and is still pretty impressive. I wonder if anyone went the other route and spliced together footage from Evangelion to the sounds of YOU GET TO BURNING?

Happy White Day.

I think I speak for every person who has sat through the last 73 1/2 episodes of Shugo Chara:

About damn time Tadase! About damn time!

We can put all the anticipation, speculation, and curiosity behind us. Tadase is for certain all hanyan over Amulet Heart Amu-chi. As he has spent more time with her and got to know her and realized that Amulet Heart just had her body going for her, he jumped on the Hinamori bandwagon. Yada yada yada. I mean, there is so much more to a woman than he body. There is also her hair.

Interestingly enough, I do not think this bodes well for The King in the long run. If 10 years of watching harems and romantic comedies taught me anything, a kokuhaku that does not occur within the last 2-3 episodes of a series never go far. Look at poor Koko.

Crop Top Boy on the other hand can sit pretty on the fact that he is still in the running. Sure there is the whole violin, black aura, and sucking energy like a Sailor Moon monster, but he has not come out and admitted any solid romantic feelings. Sexual tension, yes. Desire to consume Amu-chi, yes.  But no 好きだよ out of him.

Crap… spoke too soon.  And the love triangle grows in intensity. I give the upper hand to Ikuto…

Goodbye Mr. Turnabout needs more Ema Skye.

Because I am a covers slut.

I love covers. I love when bands cover other bands’ songs. I love it when favorite songs get (good) covers. And I must admit, I am a total slut for anisong covers. Momoi Haruko, Shimokawa Mikuni, Nakagawa Shoko, Ishida Yoko, Yonekura Chihiro, Iwao Junko, and others have all released cover albums in recent years, so when I saw there was a Hayate no Gotoku cover album, I was on board immediately. Unfortunately, I am not sure where to go with this album. I will say that for each song that sucked or was purely average, there was a song totally worth sticking into your playlist rotation.

Hayate the combat butler Character COVER CD selected by KENJIRO HATA
01. Kugimiya Rie – Niji iro no Sneaker (Hayashibara Megumi’s 2nd single)
02. Tanaka Rie – Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa (Maison Ikkoku OP1)
03. Itou Shizuka – Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis (Evangelion OP)
04. Matsuki Miyu – Gandhara (Saiyuki theme)
05. Inoue Marina & Nakajima Saki – STEP (Mashin Hero Wataru OP)
06. Nabatame Hitomi – Maharaja na Naritai!! (?)
07. Ueda Kana – Ryoute wo Hirogete (Trapp Family Story ED)
08. Yahagi Sayuri, Nakao Eri, & Asano Masumi – My Heart Iidasenai, Your Heart Tashikametai (Ah! My Goddess OVA OP)
09. Takahashi Mikako – Kokoro wa Tamago (Chojin Sentai Jetman ED)
10. Shiraishi Ryoko – Konome Kaze (Hayate no Gotoku ED4)

Let’s get the meh out on the table the first.

First off, I cannot stand Kugimiya Rie’s singing. Never have. Never will. I do not hide from the fact that I am not a big Kugimin whore fan. Although I do think she is a good seiyuu when she is not typecasted to death, her singing is right down there with Kaneda Tomoko and Tsuji Ayumi. The song is not worth it unless you are one of her many blind followers tsundere addicts fans. Compared to Hayashibara Megumi’s original, this pales in comparison. Skip.

Both Takahashi Mikako’s and Ueda Kana’s songs were completely average in my opinion. I genearlly like Takahashi Mikako’s music, but Kokoro wa Tamago really was not something to get that excited over. It was listenable, but abundantly average. In the case of Ueda Kana, was it just me, or did it sound like she was straining herself on this song? I love Ueda Kana’s singing, but she sounded really forced on Ryoute wo Hirogete. Just a whole lot of average from someone you know can do better. I would rather have heard her cover Do Re Mi no Uta instead, although I cannot imagine Sakuya singing it. As for Matsuki Miyu… See Kugimiya Rie–Generally like her voice work, do not like her singing.

Thankfully the goodness and awesomeness outweighted the suck and meh.

Nabatame Hitomi’s take on Maharaja ni Naritai!! was nowhere as good as the next four tracks I will touch upon, but it is a good one. I have no clue what it is from, but it is quite the catchy tune. I am not a huge fan of Nabatame Hitomi, but this song was pretty listenable. STEP was this album’s biggest surprise. I will not pretend to know the original song (or even the series it is from…), but this might be my favorite track on the album. I have loved Inoue Marina’s singing voice ever since I heard her sing the ED song for Ginban Kaleidoscope and the majority of the songs she has sung are keepers. This one is no exception–it is a keeper. Nakajima Saki is a good compliment to her as well. Unfortunately, more times than not, two seiyuu get paired together for a song who have no business SINGING together. You often get one good singer and one who sucks is not gifted. Not the case here. Inoue Marina and Nakajima Saki  fit like Kadowaki Mai and Sawashiro Miyuki, Saeko Chiba and Nanri Yuuka, or Horie Yui and Tamura Yukari.

Another surprise was hearing … on here. I do not think I have ever heard this song covered. And when you cover three of the most prolific and talented seiyuu off all TIME (Inoue Kikuko, Touma Yumi, Hisakawa Aya), it better be good. Izumi, Maki, and  Risa may not be be the Goddess Family Club, but they do hold their own. Like Inoue Marina and Nakajima Saki, the three here compliment each other quite well, with Asano Masumi anchoring them. She has really taken a backseat to the younger and newer folks out there, but Asano Masumi was always a well-round and solid seiyuu. Her singing is also pretty solid (e.g., her album happyend, Aice5). This song is right up there with STEP and a couple others.

I am sure everyone was looking forward to Itou Shizuka’s cover of Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis, myself included. Oh how the Hinagikuism flows through me. Everyone and their mothers have (ANIMETAL!) covered this song, and most are pretty good, so my expectations were set fairly high. Only recently has Itou Shizuka been getting any recognition as a singer, but this cover and Hinagiku’s “first album” only confirm for me what I have been saying for over a year now. Great cover! I have listened to it more than most of the album, but it was not the defining piece for me that I am sure it was for many others.

Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa was that track for me. Both Shimamoto Sumi (Kyoko’s seiyuu) and Shimokawa Mikuni have covered this awesome song, which was originally sung by Saito Yuki. It is hard to draw a comparison between the 3 different covers and the original because all of them are good. All keep the same general melody and all are performed well. I absolutely love this song… however I will admit that has something to do with Maison Ikkoku being one of my top 3 favorite series and Tanaka Rie being one of my top 3 favorite seiyuus.

The one song that I was on the fence with was the most recent song covered, Konome Kaze. It is listenable, but I would have preferred it if Shiraishi Ryoko sang with her usual singing voice instead doing it as Hayate. Yeah, yeah, it is Hayate singing the song, but it tarnishes what could have been really good cover. It was sort of like when Hirano Aya covered Sore ga, Ai Deshou (the album release, not the ED version). The song is good, but it would have been better had it been sung by the actual singer and not the character. Konome Kaze was my favorite ED song from the first season of Hayate no Gotoku and Shiraishi Ryoko is a seiyuu who’s singing I have really grown to enjoy (thank you DROPS for that), but they did not go together like I had hoped.

The covers that were good, were REALLY good, so this album comes out on top because the tracks that I felt were lacking were not necessarily horrible (save for Kugimiya Rie’s song). It is worth a listen for Hayate no Gotoku fans and fans of the individual seiyuus, and it does act like a nice little primer for season 2, which is a month away. Lastly, I am surprised and glad that both Rinbu Revolution and Ai, Oboete Imasuka were NOT covered. As much as I love those songs, they really have been covered too many times.

I had to return from my blog hiatus for this. Shimizu Kaori covering the Ramones… you’d never think that would go anywhere, would you?

Let’s see… taking some things that I am quite fond of and putting them together should be an equation at equals out to WINNAGE and AWESOME ENGRISH and all that good stuff, right? Punk covers, seiyuus, 90’s rock… I don’t know who came up with the idea of having Momoi Haruko, Ikezawa Haruna, Kadowaki Mai, Shimizu Kaori, Goto Yuko, and Tanaka Rie cover songs by the Ramones, Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Nirvana, but I’d really like to share a conversation and a cup of tea with that individual–pick his or her brain and figure out how this came about (and give that person a request of OTHER songs to do next time). When I saw that a bunch of seiyuus that I am very familiar with and enjoy were covering a number of songs I grew up with and rocked out to when I was in high school, I had to jump on board.

Puncolle -Voice Actresses’ Legendary Punk Songs Collection-

01. Momoi Haruko – Sex and Violence (The Exploited)
02. Ikezawa Haruna – Basket Case (Green Day)
03. Shimizu Kaori – White Riot (The Clash)
04. Kadokawi Mai – Pretty Fly For A White Guy (The Offspring)
05. Tanaka Rie – Anarchy In The U.K. (Sex Pistols)
06. Goto Yuko -   London’s Burning (The Clash)
07. Momoi Haruko – Call Me (Blondie)
08. Ikezawa Haruna – God Save The Queen (Sex Pistols)
09. Shimizu Kaori – Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones)
10. Kadokawi Mai – Search and Destroy (Iggy & The Stooges)
11. Tanaka Rie – Ruby Soho (Rancid)
12. Goto Yuko – Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)

Not surprisingly, the best sounding tracks (not necessarily the best overall) are the ones sung by Kadowai Mai and Momoi Haruko who have released solo albums with punk and pop punk sounds to them.  Momoi Haruko has also released a handful of covers of English songs (The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star and Cyndi Lauper’s Good Enough come to mind). Sex and Violence and Call on Me sounded good (especially Call on Me), but listening to Kadowaki Mai sing “Now cruising in his Pinto, he sees homies as he pass, but if he looks twice, they’re gonna kick his lily ass” was lol inducing. I like Kadowaki Mai’s solo stuff, but practically any other song from The Offspring would have been better.

I’ve never been a fan of Ikezawa Haruna’s singing, but I will give her the nod for not completely sucking on this album. Basket Case is one of my favorite songs of all-time and she did a passable job on it, but it doesn’t do a thing for me. Her voice might appease a moetard, but no thanks. It’s like when Avril Lavigne covered Metallica… you just had to turn away (and puke). God Save the Queen was a lot better, but neither of her tracks were highlights on the disc.

When I saw Tanaka Rie’s name on here, my expectations were raised a bit more than anyone else. She has a couple English covers (I love her cover of Oliva Newton-John’s Have You Never Been Mellow), speaks English fairly well, and is a great singer. Her cover of Anarchy in the U.K. was a really nice take on the Sex Pistol’s song. It’s mellow, melodic, and refined–nothing like Johnny Rotton singing “I am an antichrist!” Unfortunately, her cover of Ruby Soho, another song I played to death in high school, was not as good. It is listenable, but her singing during the chorus was off.  Obviously, Tanaka Rie doesn’t have Tim Armstrong’s gritty vocals, but “Destination unknown, ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby soho” didn’t work for me. The rest did, just not the chorus…

I am on the fence with Goto Yuko’s songs. London’s Burning sounds like a number of her own songs, except in English. I was never a big fan of The Clash, but I was a huge Nirvana fan back in the 90’s and Smells Like Teen Spirit was… well… interesting. The grunge is gone. The watery guitar is gone. Kurt Cobain’s rasp is gone. It was like listening to a cross between Ace of Base and Modest Mouse with Goto Yuko singing. The distinctive intro is replaced with an unrecognizable keyboard that you’d hear at Double-A baseball games, pre-WWII short films, and in Komm, süsser Tod. Perhaps it is because I have listened to the Nirvana version thousands of times, but I have to give a thumbs down to Goto Yuko’s version.

Despite the ups and downs on this album, Shimizu Kaori did pump out solid performances. My old roommate from college used to play the Ramones a lot and Blitzkrieg Bop was a song that woke me up countless times and reminded me that I had to get to Elementary Statistics. The cover is quite good. A bit cleaner, but definitely just as catchy as the original. White Riot was also very good. Like I mentioned earlier, I am not a fan of The Clash, but I do like this cover. Over the years, Shimizu Kaori has been hit or miss with me in terms of her singing AND her seiyuu work. I either really like her work or I do not. Luckily it was the former with this album.

This disc has “guilty pleasure” written all over it. It is far from mind blowing and is hardly a ripple in the music releases over the last month, but it is like getting an extra large milkshake instead of just a soda. It’s worth a listen for Tanaka Rie and Shimizu Kaori at the very least.