(Sorry for the delay, folks. We’ve been experiencing a bit of backlog lately. Please do bear with us. Thank you! ^____^)

The finals of the first ever J-Pop Anime Singing Competition Finals were held last Saturday, July 25, at the Market!Market! Activity Center. It was the culmination of a Philippine-Japan friendship event organized by the Japanese Embassy with the help of the Japan Foundation, and the event was further supported by the Nihongo Center Foundation, TOEI Animation Philippines, HERO TV, Ayala Malls, and 103.5 MAX FX. The event is one of many that are meant to celebrate Philippines-Japan Friendship month – evidently, one of the most important cultural events in the country for Japanophiles.

We first heard about the event from the wonderful magnetic_rose and, given we had at one point or another entertained the idea getting up on stage and belting out some of our favorite JPop and/or anime tunes (we most definitely have done that in the shower), it was virtually impossible for us not to attend this particular event. These people, in their own way, were living the dream.

We arrived at the venue just a little before two in the afternoon, and one of the first things we had noted was how well-planned the event seemed to be. The Market!Market! Activity Center allowed as many people as possible to enjoy the event without the risk of overcrowding; people on higher floors can enjoy the shows just as much as the people closest to the stage (which had the most adorable background ever).

There were a few sponsor booths there as well, with TOEI being our favorite, and the Mini-Manga Library being a very close second, but they were situated and decorated in such a way that there would be no doubt whatsoever with regards to the actual focus of the event – which, of course, is the music. And the music in general, by the way, was fantastic. Just a handful of minutes after we arrived, the show started, and then all ten finalists picked out of the eighty-five hopeful groups were each given their turn to perform onstage. It didn’t matter that we couldn’t get too close to the stage; the performers were all talented and remarkable, and everyone – the finalists, hosts, judges, and audience alike, all enjoyed themselves immensely. While we were, in fact very happy with the sets of guest performers Makoto Inoue and SITTI, we still found ourselves waiting impatiently for the results of the competition.

It was no surprise at all that WHAT IS?! (yes, the name of the band includes the punctuation marks) and their rendition of the Gurren Lagann theme “Sora-iro Days” won top honors, followed closely by Hero’s Choice and other crowd favorite BAGE. Third place went to Sakura Beat, who performed the L’Arc en Ciel classic Driver’s High. The winners all won free Japanese Language Lessons care of the Nihongo Centre Foundation (we wail in envy NOW) and gift packages.

The event proper wrapped up around half past four, but that didn’t mean that the fun is over and done with. Following the music show was a film showing of classic anime – the black and white kind. We would have wanted to stay and watch the whole showing, but sadly, we needed to go. Nevertheless, this was one of the most fun events we’ve had the pleasure of attending, and we can’t wait until next year, when they’re planning to have yet another J-Pop Anime Singing Competition.

Maybe we’ll even try out next year. :3

In the meantime, you can view all our photos that we took at the event over at our Multiply album! ^_^

So, we decided to hold a small contest. Up for grabs is 200 pesos worth of Sodexho Meal and Food Passes which is accepted at quite a lot of places (still worth a meal or two, you know, hehehe) AND a Yuu Yuu Hakusho gashapon cellphone strap.

All you have to do is take a shot or shots or the whole bunch of shots below which were originally featured in magnetic-rose.net some time ago, and add your own caption. The lulzier, the better. See? Easy as pie! Or tuna pilaf!

The contest will run for a week, starting on Wednesday, July 22 at 10am, and will end on July 29, at 9:59am. You can send your entry/entries to thelolidudes@gmail.com, and yes, send as many as you want! You’ll never know when that stroke of genius will strike, afterall. We’ll then go through the entries on July 30, and the one that sends us rolling around on the floor in fits of laughter and spurting drinks out of our noses will be declared as the winner on the morning of July 31. The winner will be contacted aftewards so that we can send your prize over to you via 2Go or Air21.

As for rules and reminders, we do have a few:

• do as much photo manip as you want, but remember, kids: nothing explicit or offensive. Same goes for the caption itself. Let’s keep it clean, as nobody likes a rude Loli AND you’ll never know when someone’s mother might be looking over your shoulder. :3 Entries that violate this rule will be disqualified and will make us very sad. Sniff.
• Contest is for locals only since that’s the only shipping fee we can afford. (though if there’s any foreign caption contributions out there, you’re still more than welcome to send it in for lulz!)
• Oh, and the black one is RuRu and the pink one is NaNa. :3

Ready, set, GO! \^o^/ Just click on the image below to get the full-sized one.

EDIT: If you need individual, unlabeled shots, just head on over to our brand new Multiply account for the full gallery!

This series slipped past me when it first came out in 2006. After all, at the time I was obsessively watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (a review of which will be available here eventually), and simply could not spare the time nor attention to watch what I assumed was just a silly reverse-gendered harem series.

Well, at the time, I was sharing an apartment with three women who had a thing for bishie-bishie boys. As a result, I and the other male flatmate found ourselves outvoted when it came time to watch anime in the living room. That’s how I ended up watching Ouran High School Host Club. Those cunning women decided to show one of the funnier episodes in the middle, thus forcing me to backtrack and watch the whole thing from the start.

I enjoyed myself far more than I had any reasonable expectation to, given the preponderance of men on-screen.

The series revolves around Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at the ultra-exclusive and oh-so-terribly expensive Ouran Academy. The school’s students are comprised of the absolute cream of society, the richest, classiest, most elite and best bred that Japan had to offer… which made for some horrific awkwardness for a perfectly normal, middle-class girl who is suddenly plunged into this strange, new world.

Making matters worse for her, she managed to accidentally break an extremely expensive urn owned by the eponymous Host Club. Her short hair and rather ambitiously-gendered attire confused the host club members into believing that she was in fact a guy, and she was forced to become a member of the club in order to pay off her sudden, humongous debt.

The hosts of the club serve much of the as would be expected in a real host club. They engage their female clients in conversation and keep them entertained… partly by simply being very, VERY pretty for them. In fact every member of the club were especially selected to represent cliched stereotypes, specifically designed to appeal to their female clientele. Interestingly, this appeal, which in the course of the story is aimed at their clients, is clearly generated for the benefit of the show’s fans.

The Club’s members run the gamut from the president’s princely persona, the glasses-wearing cool and serious type, a hugely-built strong and silent type, one guy who’s actually the oldest member of the club but caters to those with boy-loli-shota tendencies, and a pair of devilishly mischievous pseudo-incestuous twins. Haruhi, with her androgynous appeal, fit in perfectly. If you had any doubts at all that this series was aimed at women, I’ve probably just stomped on those.

Even given that, there’s a lot here to enjoy for everyone. Each of the characters, although seemingly a stereotyped cardboard cutout at first, is a well-developed and distinct personality. You may not realize it, but you can easily find yourself growing very attached to these boys as they engage in their varied antics and live out their angst and antics.

The comedy is hilarious, ranging from slapstick to clever gags driven by the varied personalities of the boys, and the culture clash that they encounter as a result of having Haruhi (a girl and a “commoner”) among them. These can range from silly, to witty, to cliched with a twist to just plain bizarre, but it’s all a lot of fun.

Keep in mind that it’s not all about pretty boys flirting with pretty girls (and occasionally each other). There are more serious episodes later in the series, giving insight into the boys’ various issues, both familial and personal. These episodes felt well-paced, since by the time they come into play, we’ve come to care about them and all their earlier actions can be put into another light by the new information.

Despite any prejudices you may harbor, this series is definitely worth checking out. (And yes. It involves cross-dressing, so  there’s no need to wonder why we like this series. :3)

The Prince

The Cool guy

The Stoic

The Loli-shota

The Twins

The series is now over five years old, but still does a terrific job of making its viewers feel worried, tense and paranoid. Imagine the anticipation one experiences just before the killer jumps out in a scary movie. Yes, that. Paranoia Agent manages to capture it, bottle it and use it on you almost at will.

Paranoia Agent first aired on Japan’s WOWOW between February 2, 2004 and May 18, 2004. While at first glance, the series seems to be composed of little more than a group of disconnected vignettes all losely tied together by the existence of Lil Slugger (Shonen Bat aka Bat Boy in the original Japanese). Lil Slugger is a grinning kid wearing shorts, gold colored inline skates, a red baseball hat and wielding a slightly-bent, golden baseball bat. His grinning features are almost always kept in shadow, preventing anyone from getting a good look at him. At first, each episode does seem to stand alone, but as you get deeper into the series mythos, one begins to realize that the individual episodes are parts of a grander design, like a puzzle being put together, and the picture becomes clearer and clearer with every episode.

The creator, Satoshi Kon, admitted that the series was primarily created to incorporate the wealth of ideas and stories that he hadn’t ended up using during his previous films. Like those previous films (which includes Millenium Actress and Perfect Blue), this show is by turns deeply psychological, surreal and sweetly funny. There are moments of pure inspired insanity, where the landscape is shaped by the psychosis of the cast… playing against moments of slow, mounting psychological terror as the perfectly innocent and normal gets turned on its head and becomes a source of pure nightmare.

Despite how broad a sweep the stories encompass, it all ties together. Ranging from the tale of a corrupt policeman who has to turn to robbery to keep up with his payments to the Mafia, to the meeting participants in an internet-based suicide pact (who keep failing), gossiping housewives telling stories within the story, to the travails of an animation studio trying to get their anime in on time while being picked off one after the other.

All of this contributes to the greater whole of the world that Lil Slugger exists in. Everyone is broken in one way or another, either to begin with, or over the course of the series. The series opens as it closes. The scenes echoing each other implying that despite how profound the changes the occur during the series the world carries on.

This is a rare sort of series where it would be possible to watch the earlier episodes on their own and still come away with a satisfying experience, but for best results, one should watch Paranoia Agent from beginning to end.

As we all know, here in Manila, getting a haircut for guys was simply a matter of choosing a salon or barber shop, then reading a magazine while waiting for a barber or stylist to get to you. Once in the chair, there’s a short discussion on what you want done with your mane, and then the hair cutting process proper ensues. Afterwards, your head and shoulders get brushed with something that looks like a drafting brush, your nape gets powdered, and you walk out of the shop trying your best to either shake out the wayward clumps of cut hair from your head (and your shirt. And your pants. And your arms…) and/or trying your best not to scratch at your shoulders and nape like a mangy dog. After you’re gone, the shop barbers sweep the freshly-fallen hair into a dust pan in the corner and either get to work on the next customer, or resume reading their tabloids.

In Japan, however, the whole process is apparently a whole lot more refined, and here’s how it goes, step by step, as Teresa has informed us.

STEP 1: Upon entering the store, you are greeted by a ticket machine which looks uncannily like the ticket dispensers at our local LRT stations. You feed it 1000 Yen, and you get a stub which certifies, that YES, you are a paying customer and you are there to have your hair trimmed.

STEP 2: A barber seats you in a chair and starts snipping your hair into the style you indicate. The shop might or might not have a set menu of hairstyles for your to choose from.

STEP 3: As they cut away, they grab a vacuum installed somewhere in the ceiling and run it over your head to minimize the amount of rogue strands of hair making falling onto your shoulders and clothes. We wonder if this also serves as a suitable substitute for the scalp massage that local barbers normally give their patrons while in the middle of a haircut.

STEP 4: After the haircut, clumps of hair that made it onto the floor are then diligently swept away by the staff…

STEP 5: …into a waiting vacuum vent installed in the wall, at floor level.

Oh, yes, and Teresa also informed us that instead of being handed a 6-year-old magazine or a well-thumbed newspaper to entertain yourself with as you get a haircut, each cutting area has a small TV installed under the mirror instead. During the time they were at the barber shop, the news was on.

So there you have it, boys who might be getting a haircut in Japan, and girls who might be accompanying boys in getting a haircut in Japan. Nifty, eh? Just remember to have 1000 Yen on you, and do NOT drop any valuables or large amounts of money ANYWHERE near those floor vacuum things, and you should be fine.

Meanwhile, we like to think that if a BARBER SHOP in Japan is like this, HAIR SALONS must have hot tubs, chocolate cake, bean bags and bishonen instead. We can’t wait to see for ourselves someday.

I’m certain you find the title intriguing, but let me set the stage for you. Imagine this: your parents have disappeared, leaving you and your brother (who’s got a teensy bit of a maid fetish) all alone, but hoping for their eventual, safe return. Now imagine that both of you are also terrible at household chores. So terrible that the house isn’t just a pig sty; it’s practically the city dump. Homeless people look down their noses at the place. Large packs of crows, snakes, rats and roaches call it home. You have to sleep in hammocks because there’s so much garbage, there’s no way to get to your rooms, much less your beds. It’s so bad that the local TV station does a special on it.

Baaaaaaad. Very bad.

Now, imagine further that your grandfather happens to be ridiculously rich. I mean mover and shaker sort of rich. The kind of rich that can dress up like a tubbier version of Colenel Sanders and get away with it cause he’s just that freaking rich. He sees the TV special with your freakishly filthy house and offers to let you stay with him. He has many, many maids who can clean up after you. Perfect, right?

Except in your pride you turn down the chance to live in a huge, palatial mansion with it’s veritable army of cute maids.

Not so good.

Except Grandpa knows something you don’t. You’re poised to inherit EVERYTHING he owns the day you turn eighteen and his heir just simply cannot be left unguarded. So instead of dragging you off to his humble manor in the country, he gives you two maids to see to your needs and also to secretly serve as bodyguards.

Still with me?

Only problem is, one of them isn’t exactly a maid. He’s Kogarashi the maid GUY. A huge, seven foot tall sexually harassing, slasher-smile flashing, overly critical, freakishly super-powered slab of cut muscle. In a maid’s dress. While his compatriot seems much more traditionally demure, the fact that her weapon of choice is a a wooden baseball bat with rusty nails in it should tell you that she’s not entirely there either.

The above pretty much sums up the show’s premise and the rest unfolds itself in a hilarious series of misadventures and bizarre situations exacerbated by the presence of the titular Maid Guy.

A key point about Kamen no Maid Guy: There is a lot of fanservice. Ridiculous, heaping oodles of it. Yeah, that’s what you’re here for aintcha?

The lead character, our Kendo practitioner Naeka, practically bounces through every scene she’s in. This isn’t even counting the gratuitous clothes changing scenes, the frequent harassment by Kogarashi and her own tendency to lose her shirt almost every few minutes, due to any one of a number of reasons. If you like oppai, definitely check this out.

But the humor isn’t entirely limited to a lot of breasts (did I mention there’s a LOT of breasts?). There’s a lot of fun to be had here. Strangely enough, Kogarashi reminds me of a gigantic, maid-uniform wearing Doreamon. He’s got some trick up his sleeve… or skirt… ready to try and help his master out of whatever situation she’s in. Even if his master may not always appreciate it. Consider the fact that he’s practically got X-ray vision and is able to connect to USB devices through his ear… and that’s just in the first two episodes.

Visually, the series is clean and the designs are quite good, but nothing exceptional. Kogarashi actually stands out a great deal in that it looks like they modeled him straight on the characters from Fist of The North Star. Then again, aside from the fanservice, you’re really mostly going to be here for the gags, so the art does not work against it at all. The opening theme does a great job of giving you an idea of what you’re in for.

The show started as a shonen manga back in 2004 by author Maruboro Akai, then got aired in Mid-2008. The series is rather short, but it’s well packed with laughs. The thing I did find slightly odd about the pacing during some episodes was that it occassionally felt like it had been adapted from a four-panel manga (like Azumanga Daiyo, Lucky Star and K-On), even though it wasn’t that way originally. Although this season is over, the last episode sets up a plot for a next season, leaving it open.

Overall this is a fun little series to watch. Great gags, lots of bouncy-bouncy heroine and a terrifyingly huge guy. In a maid uniform. This is one Maid Guy I can really relate to.

Vocaloid is a voice synthesizer software application developed by the Yamaha Corporation. The Vocaloid software is aided by character voice packs released by other companies – the most popular of which are Crypton Future Media (creators of Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, and Megurine Luka) and SSW Internet Co. Ltd. (creators of Gacktpoid and Megpoid).

Vocaloid users have managed to create awe-inspiring pop and rock tunes wtih the software, and have released their works via video-sharing sites Nico Nico Douga and YouTube. These five tracks are my top picks for required viewing for new Vocaloid fans, as well as great classic tracks to sing along with for veteran fans.

Koi wa Sensou (Love is War) – Hatsune Miku

Supercell is a Japanese composer and producer (it is unclear if he is one person or several different persons) who specializes in utilizing Vocaloid 2 software in producing album-quality pop and rock tracks. Supercell has a number of other Vocaloid hits including Melt, World is Mine, and Black Rock Shooter, but for me Love is War is still his more seminal and most influential work.

Love is War is a song about a young girl who is determined to fight for her love, sacrificing all else to attain her one true happiness. There have been many adaptations and versions of this song (even some sung by humans as opposed to software), but my favorite is the reworked track featuring raunchier guitars and a heavier drum track.

Koi wa Sensou (Love is War) – Kagamine Rin

Not to be outdone by big sister Miku, Kagamine Rin also has her own version of Love is War, but instead of going for the power ballad sound, out little Rin looks towards dance and trance as her inspiration. Although this version is no longer by Supercell, Vocaloid fans have agreed that it is one of the best remixes for his groundbreaking track.

Under the Darkness – Gacktpoid

Under The Darkness is immediately recognizable to BL fangirls — it is the opening theme of the steamy Boys Love Visual Novel Kichiku Megane. Gackt, on the other hand, is a popular Japanese pop star and former vocalist of Malice Mizer. When Gackt was asked by SSW to produce a vocal package for Vocaloid 2, fans immediately used his distinctive voice to recreate C.G. mix’s sexy technopop track. Full-blooded males beware – you are stepping into fujoshi territory!

Aku no Meshitsukai (Servant of Evil) – Kagamine Ren

Servant of Evil is actually the middle track in a trilogy of music videos – the first one being “Daughter of Evil” and the last one, “Message of Regret”.

The trilogy features the Kagamine twins as brother and sister who were separated at a young age; Rin was raised as a princess and Ren as her servant. Rin falls in love with Kaito, a prince from a neighboring country, but he is already engaged to Princess Miku. Rin then orders a war fought between the countries in an attempt to exact revenge. Due to her rash actions, she was eventually imprisoned and was slated for execution when Ren switches places with her. His story and the sacrifices he had to make for his beloved sister make up the lyrics of Servant of Evil.

Servant of Evil is easily the best track among the three Evil songs, not just because of the message it conveys, but also the way Ren’s young masculine voice was utilized in the programming. The first song, Daughter of Evil has Miku’s nasal, almost annoying voice singing vaudeville-style – not exactly the best fit. The last track Message of Regret, on the other hand, was nice enough for Rin’s voice, but the composition and arrangement felt contrived and silly.

Anyway, there are several versions of Servant of Evil floating around – including a choir version, but the original is still the best.

World is Mine – Gacktpoid

World is Mine is originally another Supercell track for Hatsune Miku featuring soaring vocals and rapid changes form 1/16 to 1/24 time. This track is not for the faint of heart. Personally I prefer the Gacktpoid version of World is Mine, perhaps due to the song’s similarity to some older Malice Mizer tracks – making it perfect for Gackt’s voice. I would, however, scrub my eyes out with lye if I ever saw Gacktpoid wearing the white summer dress and black tights Miku wore on the cover art of her version of this single.

We arrived at Power Plant at about 3 in the afternoon, since the official schedule stated that the event itself would begin at 4pm. We were pleased to find that upon entering the mall, the first thing that greeted us was a life-sized figure of C-3PO and some character busts from Maxicollector. As we walked on, we spotted costrippers and cosplayers emerging from comfort rooms, grabbing food and drink before the contest proper, and milling around the escalators. The brunt of the activity, however, turned out to be at the top floor, at the area beside Fully Booked.

Besides the cosplayers and photographers in that area, other points of interest were the vintage toy collections on display, as well as… well… a rather confused Iron Man figure, pretending to be both Thor and Captain America at the same time (if this is in reference to some comic book scene that we’re not aware of, please do let us know what it is, exactly). And so, at that point, we pretty much took out the cameras and began our noble duty of diving into a sea of photographers with giant lenses and chasing after cosplayers.

Of course, in hindsight, it HAS occurred to us that had we arrived earlier, we could have gotten a chance to try out Dokissaten Maid and Butler Cafe which has set up shop at Fully Booked’s Press Cafe for the day. Unfortunately, we got swept away by the crowd, and as the cosplay marshalls declared that it was time to move out to the actual event area, we pretty much followed where the photo ops were. Oh well. Looks like we’ll have to wait for another con before we’ll get to try Dokissaten’s famed services.

Anyway, a good number of awesome cosplayers turned up for the event. Of special mention would be Mechagodzilla. We mean, seriously, the sheer WEIGHT and detail of his costume would have scared any mere mortal. Then there’s Combatron who gets points for osm smarts for also being Captain Planet and Mr. Manhattan in previous cons. Then there was also EVA-02, War Machine, Optimus Prime… yeah, there was a pretty good turn out of mechs at the event, and except for EVA-02, they ALL had lights installed in their costumes. EVA-02 doesn’t have to worry, though, since it’s got a cannon which was later used to launch a barrage of confetti at a delighted audience.

Other memorable cosplayers would be a slew of Katekyo Hitman Reborn characters, Shredder, Chun-Li, Solid Snake-in-a-box, the four K-ON! girls, Abarai Renji (rawr…), a Spartan (A-HOO!! A-HOO!! A-HOO!!), C.C., Android 19, Level 1 RO swordsman, uber-leveled swordsman, Dante of Devil May Cry, Alto Saotome with Ranka Lee, and a personal favorite, a human-form Grelle Sutcliffe, just because we love that character so much for being a butler who can wear a dress. Meanwhile, there were also lolitas of various types in attendance, as well as other cosplayers whose characters we were unable to recognize (we’re sorry! Our animu database might need some brushing up…).

By a little past 4pm, as scheduled, the first band performance of the day went up on the stage and did their thing, the Gosiengfiao sisters arrived dressed as a Black Mage and White Mage pair, the photographers and fans went crazy, and the cosplay contest started.

At this point, we can start talking about what we think about the whole event. For one thing, we’re pretty glad to see that thought was put into the planning of the whole thing, as we consider the cosplayers-only lounge within the mall to be a very good idea. The marshalls were also effective, and considering that there were exhibits and displays scattered throughout the mall, it pretty much allowed the cosplayers to have the entire mall to play in without them looking out of place one bit. We worried quite a bit when it was time to gather all the contestants into one place, though, since, well… we figured that trying to herd cosplayers scattered in five floors of the mall must have been like herding cats. They pulled it off somehow, though, and managed to gather everyone at the bridge area beside the tent where the stage was.

On the other hand, while having ample space to roam was very much appreciated, we were rather apprehensive with the decision to hold the event outdoors. For one thing, there was the possibility of rainshowers as a typhoon has just left a mere 24 hours or so before the event. Well it didn’t rain, but the flip side of that is the fact that in this country, 4pm is an hour when it is sweltering hot. Being the worry-wart, mother hens that we are, we worried if Mechagodzilla or War Machine would pass out inside their constricting costumes as they stood in line, under the afternoon sun, waiting for their turn to be called to the stage.

Thankfully, we turned out to be wrong, and the event proceeded without incident and with much lulz. Mechagodzilla apparently came with his own cardboard city to destroy, ninjas performed their stunts, the Spartan soldier rallied the crowd, Aerith sang as did Ranka Lee, and a Level 1 swordsman paid his tribute to Alodia by striking a pose.

All’s well that ends well. In the end, the mechs won the day, though, and walked away with the prize, and the rest of the costripper prizes were also handed out to their respective winners. It was a sweaty, tiring day, but it seemed that everyone went home pretty happy. In the meantime, enough of our yapping. Here’s the cosplayer photos.

And yes, just because we know some of you are probably looking for it, we placed all our Alodia/Ashley photos in a separate slideshow. Yes, we love you all that much. Enjoy.

Today’s series is Kacho Oji aka Legend of Black Heaven. The title is a multi-layered pun that can be variously translated as “Section-chief Oji”, “Old section-chief” or “Section Head Prince”. The American translation renders the title as the Legend of Black Heaven. Regardless of what you call it, though, if you like hard rock music and good anime, this is one series that you shouldn’t miss.

I first watched this series at an odd point in my life. I was in a dead-end job that I hated, stuck in a soul-sucking relationship and living on what was essentially someone else’s couch.

Then I watched this series. The opening, John Sykes’ “Cautionary Warning” was where they first got me.

How could you not see that and not want to find out what the series was about?

Hook.

In the first episode we’re introduced to our eponymous protagonist. A poor schmuck stuck in a dead-end job, in a marriage that had lost all of its passion, and growing more and more distant from his child. But he wasn’t always so ground down. Once upon a time, he was the hard-rocking Gabriel. Lead Guitar for the band Black Heaven, adoring fans at his beck and call. But as the series starts, this is all in his distant past. He’s just another guy rapidly approaching middle age and wondering how it all went wrong.

I found myself going, “Wow. That’s me up there.” Okay… me without the adoring fans in my past, but let’s not dwell on that.

Line.

Despite myself, I found myself fascinated. When the really hot co-worker started to flirt with him… I got REALLY interested.

And Sinker.

I thought this was going to be a series about a man pushing past his prime, desperately trying to recapture his youth with the help of a nubile young lady… which turns out to be EXACTLY what it was about, just not the way I thought. His new co-worker it turns out, is an alien (although not exactly, but we don’t find that out until much later), but it’s okay ’cause she’s one of the good aliens trying to defend the planet. The bad aliens are out to destroy it. She kidnaps Oji because he’s the only one who can make their superweapon work.

Why?

Because some super-genius decided that they needed to create an alien superweapon that works on the power of live rock music.

I only wish I could make stuff like this up.

His specific guitar handling can make their superweapon light up harder, longer and stronger than anything else they’ve ever used. Only the fact that the very human-like aliens sent the really hot chick to pull Oji in shows that they aren’t entirely stupid.While all of this is a key part of the premise of the series, it felt a little like a weak point. This is really not something to analyze too closely, just take it as important that hard rocking will be necessary to save the planet, and move on.

The fact that his awesome and stylish guitar playing is absolutely essential for the survival of the planet revitalizes our hapless hero. This is the part that really got me about this series. It wasn’t just that he was helping keep the alien invaders away, which, please do not get me wrong, was also very cool. The fact that he got to play his music again, to recapture a part of himself that he thought he’d given up, was what really brought it home.

Aided by the aliens (especially some hilariously bumbling underlings), and despite his wife’s growing suspicions about his possibly having an affair, Oji keeps on rocking out, manifesting his groove and growing in confidence. He sheds the broken shell of a man that he was at the start in favor of who he’d always been in his heart. Saving the planet becomes incidental to his managing to turn around his life and save himself.

Keep in mind, the series came out in 1997, and it does show its age a little in the animation quality and CGI. The music though, with both hard rocking riffs and one of the cutest ending themes I’ve run across, definitely stands the test of time.

This is a great, albeit short (only 13 episodes) series that will definitely be worthwhile to watch. In turns, it is funny, touching, hard-rocking, sweet, and true. Sometimes it’s all of that at once.

It is an anime about dreams, and not giving them up, no matter what your circumstances. This is a message that deserves to be told. It’s an anime about most excellently hard rocking with tons of guitar references sprinkled generously throughout. It’s an anime that you really should be watching.

Your school’s website is probably designed with your school colors. It’s probably loaded with pictures of studends reading books, or getting drunk in their dorms, or whatever. Your school’s website sucks. At least, by otaku standards. We say this because The Tokyo Zokei University’s website is called Zokei Quest! Behold:

It channels Dragon Quest and it’s in full 8-bit glory. When we say glory, we mean it. The site is packed with wall-climbing idiots, the K-on girls, a waterfall, a UFO, a clickable 8-bit cat, an 8-bit soundtrack, nekkid female statues that blow you kisses, ninjas that multiply when you click them, and 4 sprites that look a lot like the K-On girls.

Yes. The university is trying to attract students by selling us K-On, and old school J-RPGs. We love them for it.

Can you send us to Japan nao? We’ll try not to get arrested by the police. We promise.