Detroit Metal City 02, Strike Witches 08

Detroit Metal City 02

if there's anything that contain deep, profound beauty in postmodern media, that would be satires. to make a good satire, one need to know deeply about the subject matters. furthermore, by satirizing things, you actually avoid being pretentious. why? because satires are made with full knowledge that those who will enjoy the work know what they're doing, and will be very quick to point out when something is amiss-- much quicker than when you're doing "serious" non-satires. the irony is killing me.

Detroit Metal City (from this point on, DMC) is a satire about the culture of metal. it also points out the massive gap between the so-called MTV generation, and the then-counter-culture of metal. now, before you throw arguments, i for one was never part of any "band culture", be it metal, rock, rap, or ska. i hate bands, to be honest. those no-good people who think they're of any importance, and assert it with their loud noise they believe are (yikes!) music. i might as well listen to a primate's flatulence.

ahem, pardon my momentary lack of self-control. let's go over this again. MTV generations are those who overwhelm themselves with passive entertainment. for such an overwhelming amount of passive entertainment, someone gotta mass-produce them. and nothing is sacred in this schema. anything that those kids are willing to buy, someone will turn into entertainment. even if it's about shouting profanities while eating living bat raw (i pity the bats, honestly. poor, poor cute bats...). which is how the band DMC make a living.

now for the presented-as opposite, the "counter-culture". from what i can grasp from looking at this Cosmic Horroranarchy ball, it seems that the youths of that time (who are now the age of my eldest auntie) are dissatisfied by their reality. crass materialism was at its peak, and capitalism was really brutal in its zealous crusade to answer every question with "HAVE MOAR MONEY" (not that that changed much today). some of those oddballs are really disturbed, and disturbed people do shout out their thoughts in ways that are jarring. and thus were born metal (death metal, brutal death metal, satanic brutal death metal-- can't bother to recall all of them), et ceteras.

but then, what? life must continue. capitalism eventually triumphed over communism (and to some extent, socialism-- but socialism are enjoying a lot of revitalization today), and later on, triumphed over democracy as well. people can no longer understand this and that about what constitute a counter-culture, and just think that "it's cool". and if it's "cool", that can be made into an entertainment, that sells. what's "metal"? it's about "vending out your steam mindlessly", without thinking the really, really horrible world order that give way for the birth of this blasphemy known as metal. sure, many people have no time to think (shiver me timbers...), but still, it's a horrid (as in Cthulhu horrid) to see the unholy union that's MTV and metal...

the entire DMC anime is a satire that puts into animation this huge wall of text up to this point (and by an indie(?) studio, at that-- Studio 4*C).


Strike Witches 08

suddenly, a plot out of nowhere! but in the preview, it seems that they're all fine and well. after watching eps 08, i got this gut i feeling i haven't experienced since watching My-HiME. it's the instinctive ability to tell whether a silence is a scion of storm. it's the inevitable plot twist that turn a supposedly sweet and silly animu series into one full of betrayal and flaunt the dark nature of humans.

man, and i'm such a heavy Sakamoto//Wilcke shipper too. i interpret the "dont wanna lose significant others" while pointing gun at Sakamoto as i would rather see you dead by my own hands, not anyone else's. especially seeing how Sakamoto was very close to having a Neuroi shrapnel capped into her head. of course if that's true, logic would have to be thrown out of the window and into the Strait of Dover. let's see... i think only Chikane-chan have "that much schizoid of a personality".

four more episodes to go, dum dee dum...

Go to DMC !!!

so like, yesterday i managed to slip some time for rendezvous with my fellow local otaku circles. they're a relatively cool bunch, that's, when they got something that interest them. other times, they're just too lazy to do anything. of course, i'm one of those persons too.

so, one of those things that currently interest them is making spoof magazine covers. of course it's nothing new, but it's amusing nonetheless. i'm taking a go at it too, because there're things i want to express. the result is the following image:







pardon the:
1. use of my arterial language (Indonesian)
2. bizarre blending of local contents and global otaku niche
3. i can't really do graphic design, after all

anyway, i'm off for a re-read of Detroit Metal City manga.

Strike Witches Selayang Pandang

(pardon the bad Indonesian/Malaysian pun)

1. roll 1d20 on the Random Theme table (Table 1-1)
2. make the loli version of it.
3. make an anime based on the lolified version.
4. ????
5. Profit!

Table 1-1
1: critical failure (thou should not release lolified version of anything)
2: Space Opera
3: Nietzschean Philosophy
4: Mafia
5: World War 2, Aircraft
6: Lesbian Vampire
7: World War 2, Infantry
8. French Revolution
9. Humongous Mecha
10: Apocalypsm
11: Chanbara Movies
12: Cowboy Movies
13: Urban Legend
14: Silence of the Lamb
15: Shakespearean Play
16: Fist of the North Star
17: try recalling a memorable childhood anime, pick up the first title to come to mind.
18: go to the nearest movie shop and randomly pick a title from "discounted B-movie" box
19: roll again on this table once
20: roll again on this table twice, combine the result.

i think this is the winning formula in Japan. as for Strike Witches, i'm pretty sure that they rolled 5. which is good, because i dont really want to see what happen if they rolled 14.

it's not that Strike Witches should be denounced or anything. it shall fulfill its purpose. people who like yuri (i.e. me) will fall in love with the girls. people who like pantsu shot will have memorable fapping sessions. even WW2 aircraft otaku approve, because it's based on real aces, real aircrafts, etc. when people with spending potential are happy, then all is fine in the world.

ah well. in case you dont know what's Strike Witches, here's a short rundown.

the time frame of the world is World War 2, with the exception that instead of fighting each others, nations band together to fight mysterious entity known as Neuroi. Neuroi looks like gigantic version of modern aircraft, except that they're entirely pitch black save for few red crystals and a well-hidden core. Neuroi's nature seems to be completely alien, and it seems that they dont even originate from anywhere in this universe.

for an aircraft, a Neuroi have great maneuverability, outperforming any WW2 fighters. but that's not all. the red crystals that dot their body can shoot lasers-- thousands of them at once, capable of decimating a fleet of aircraft carriers even before a single human fighter can take off.

with this unstoppable air superiority, Neuroi have occupied virtually the entire European mainland. how completely non-human beings are capable of maintaining human populace is beyond me. i'll assume that all the humans were driven off Europe. to keep the Neuroi at bay, a Strike Witches air base is situated at Channel Strait. (that's, between England and the rest of the Europe.) their weapons are the only mean to destroy Neuroi core, which is the only way to take Neuroi down.

Strike Witches are girls with magical power who serve in the airforce. it seems that magic user is rather common in that world. to be able to fly, they put on a pair of engine powered with their magic, so that their respective magical talent can be used for aerial battle. so far this strategy works, although there's always shortage of pilots since not everyone --even those born with magical power-- can become Strike Witch.

the story of Strike Witches anime is about Yoshika Miyafuji, a new recruit in the 501th Joint Fighter Wings. she's from Fuso Empire ("Japan"). her magical power is to heal people, which is somewhat awkward for a will-be ace. of course, the other witches are even quirkier in their own way.

the good thing about this anime:
10. that the 3D aren't used excessively (see #8)
9. the Neuroi looks like boss units from 1945 or similar shmup games.
8. GONZO. judging from the size of their logo in the opening, it seems that they're taking this seriously.
7. for a rori animu, the characters are drawn just right.
6. the purity factor of the main character.HELL NO, apparently she's pretty lecherous herself (which is good).
5. the accurate materials of which the girls are based upon. (i'm not a WW2 otaku, and can't confirm this.)
4. how the girls have interest for each others. it's obvious that Perinne got the hots for Sakamoto. (my favorite ship)
3. the animal ears and tail. it's justified because it's the (aesthetically pleasing) side effect of using magic.
2. the gratuitous panty shot. apparently Neuroi's first tactical maneuver is to wipe out people who know how to make skirts.
1. (reserved for a post-airing review)

it's unfortunate that their flying machine isn't powered with kiss...

Haruka Shimotsuki (NG female human, bard 5/doujin artist 3)

i like fantasy genre, a lot. fantasy itself can mean a lot of things, from those with prankful fairy (faeries?) and slumbering giants to those with deranged cultists and supracosmic horrors. however, i generally tend to the former than the latter. when i think of fantasy, i think of a world so virgin, where fantastic beings lurk the forest just outside the village, ancient dragons make lair in the distant mountain, powerful wizards experiments with arcane secrets in their forbidding tower, and so on. the majority of the world is unknown to the humans, and when you do strike out for the world, you'll find so many things beyond your wildest imaginations-- in many cases, being the first to discover it.

in addition to that, i like fantasy the most when the world is so full of vast expanse of meadow and the sky is almost always blue. when you run or ride or fly through the meadow under the blue sky and feel the breeze on your youthful face, you can scream "freedom!!!" (i'm not talking about Scotland, really) and know that while no one will hear you scream and you're so small compared to the world, *you* matters a lot. it's the "running freely in the wind" feeling that's so vivid about the fantasy world.

and fantasy music is just about that. it's about the story of a traveler, his exploits that makes for his story in the world, the story that's told through songs, the songs that bards will sing for ages after he's no longer in the world. kids who hear a bard singing at the festival will be inspired for life, and probably become traveler themselves. such is the power of fantasy music, it breaks you from the dull and grayscaled reality.

these days we have Google Maps, GPS, coordinated SAR teams, and so on, so the thought of traveling like in fantasy is a passing glamer at best. (what? you want to travel on Mars? AFAIK there's also a Google Mars, too) but, for men who like romance (or never really quite grow up from their childhood phase) always feel the strong resonance of himself and the characters portrayed in those songs.

there's this artist whose music is generally about fantasy world, Haruka Shimotsuki. recently i've taken a liking for her songs (and probably for her person, too). i especially like her performance in the PS2 game Ar Tonelico 2. i dont have PS2 so i dont play those, but the vocal compilations are really really worth it for the music alone. she's also a doujin artist, so expect a lot of albums that's full of "Shimotsuki-ness".

this post is supposed to describe her, but dang it man, i end up talking about my childish dreams. oh well, can't help it. i like it when it's about myself (LOL).

btw, do you like Dungeons and Dragons (DnD)? it's a fantasy roleplaying game in its traditional sense, and it's relatively OK, if you dont mind sitting with a bunch of nerds shouting battlecries, obsessed with rolling dices (dies?). i dont play it myself (DnD isn't a single player game), but i do like reading books that "enhance your dnd experience" (whatever that means), since they're really interesting as far as the fantasy is concerned. i think i'll do a thorough statme session to make a bard NPC out of Haruka Shimotsuki. i'll post it here when it's finished, so you can put it in your campaign.

Nogizaka Haruka Himitsu - 03, Hidamari Sketch x365 - 04

* Nogizaka Haruka Himitsu - 03
another good episode. despite the inevitable increase of fanservice, the character Nogizaka Haruka seems to become more and more realistic for me. or maybe this anime has subliminal messaging, the one that says "everything is going to be alright, enjoy your ride". it must be combination of Nogizaka family's wealth, the good atmosphere of her folks, and that the main character is actually not an asshole or oblivious despite this is a harem. also the awesome ending scene. (what's with the meido aerobics ?!)

as for the anime itself, it still maintain its technical QUALITIES. it's definitely better than Penguin Musume, as far as "rich otaku girl" is the context-- the animators put details and balance of colors in a lot of things. the VA actually did a good job bringing the characters to life, especially (of course) Nogizaka Haruka. or probably that's because Nogizaka Haruka bear striking resemblance to Asahina Mikuru. heck, it's even a totally different class than Hayate no Gotoku. i can ramble on and on about this difference in power. *shounen mode ON*

i shed manly tears for Ayase Yuuto. sasuga omae.

* Hidamari Sketch x365 - 04
another LOL episode. in fact, this is an especially LULCATZ episode, in literal sense. Miyako took a cat home --or rather, a cat suddenly appeared in Miyako's place-- and the Hidamari folks can't left the cat alone. as typical of anime that take place in heavily urbanized area, pets are prohibited. i finally understand why Miyako's sign is a paw trail-- that's what you call "birds of similar feathers flock together".

in the second half of the animu, finally the scene that we have waited for so long finally took place. which scene ? well, a certain scene in the opening of the first season, where Sae is... ahh, i'm so going to heaven to watch that. fuck subtlety, throw yuri at them. ^___^

my only complain about Hidamari Sketch is that its story is tightly integrated. i have to recall which is which and who is who from the first season to be able to figure out what's going on in Hidamari Sketch timeline. BUT THEN, those who do watch animu from SHAFT are intense scrutinizer. combine that with the OMG HARUHI RANDOM way the manga is put into episodes.

btw, am i the only person who use "hidamari sketch three-sixty" (as in XBAX) to refer to this animu ? O_o;;

btw again, i mention "Nogizaka's wealth" first in the likable factors of the anime... crap, does that mean i'm a material person ? O_o;;