The Anime Blog – We Go Beyond Anime!

Ghost in the Shell SAC: Solid State Society movie will premiere in Japan on SKYPerfecTV! satellite TV network September 1st, 2006 and on DVD November 24th, 2006. It’s expected to be out on DVD in the US sometime in 2007.

“A.D. 2034. It has been two years since Motoko Kusanagi left Section 9. Togusa is now the new leader of the team, that has considerably increased its appointed personnel. The expanded new Section 9 confronts a rash of complicated incidents, and investigations reveal that an ultra-wizard hacker named the Puppeteer is behind the entire series of events.”

View the Ghost in the Shell SAC: Solid State Society trailer!

Fant-Asia in St. Charles will be Saturday, August 19 @:

• The Fantasy Shop St. Charles
• 2426 West Clay
• From 5:00pm – 10:00pm

Showing:

• Dangaio: Part One
• Area 88: Episodes 7-9
• Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo: Episodes 15-16
• THE MYTH: Starring Jackie Chan

Did you know The Anime Blog has its own mascot? Me neither. I just figured the hamster needed a place to stay, and me being the softy that I am, let him crash at my site. Big mistake. Since I let him through the doors on July 4th, the lil’ f’er’s been causing me nothing but grief.

He had no idea what anime was when he got on my site and is discovering all the pleasures and pains of the medium without any help from me. Yeah, I’m not going to help him out there; he’s too nosy and whiny for me to be around him for too long. He’s always got these questions and he never likes the answers, so he’s going on this little journey of discovery by himself.

He’s also a messy bugger (you’d think he was a guinea pig the way he just leaves his shite laying around the site) He’s a good guy though, and he did say he’d represent my blog like nobody else (well, he said my blog and Southside). So I’m guessing he’ll be popping up now and again to fulfill the whole “mascot” role he thinks he’s got going on. Whatever keeps him off the street and outta my fridge is cool with me!

The St. Louis Japanese Festival at MoBot is just around the corner and I was feeling the pressure about a week ago to purchase my zori and tabi for the Bon Odori. To my dismay, I couldn’t find economically priced zori for my fat-American-size-9-feet. The only zori I could find that fit the bill were $25 and they weren’t even my size. I thought I could get away with men’s zori, which are black satin, but I needed red satin zori and they still didn’t have my size.

The head instructor for the Bon Odori, Montgomery Sensei, told me to go to Wal-mart and get red flip-flops…but, those flip-flops needed to have a wooden or wood colored sole and a red satin thong. I looked all over St. Louis and, surprise; the only ones I could find with a wooden-esque sole were blue, black, brown, white, anything but red, with crappy rhinestone flowers or some such.

After looking at one pair of flip flops too many, I grabbed a comfy white pair with the intention of converting them into zori that met my teacher’s standards.

I’ve never made anything cosplay-ey before in my life and although I personally didn’t make these for cosplay purposes, I’m posting instructions so someone who needs to make them can. Maybe you need zori for a cosplay or maybe you’re like me and need zori for a bona fide (Bon Odori) reason. Maybe you have big feet, maybe you’re broke, or maybe you need a special challenge in your life to keep from going crazy, any way I’ve got your back.

First off, you need to buy flip-flops that meet these criteria. Deviate from these and I won’t be held accountable for how your zori turn out:

• The flip-flops should be comfy (duh)
• If you can’t find wood or wood-esque soled flip-flops, get the spongy foam variety of flip-flops. Don’t get any flip-flops that have sheen of any kind, the paint won’t stick. The foamy flip-flops are inexpensive and will readily absorb the acrylic paint and won’t crack once the paint’s dry. I’ve actually experimented with Dave’s zori with some Op ffs and they cracked when they were dry. So don’t even think of it; it’s already been done and it didn’t work. Try and get as light a color as possible; white is preferable.
• The thong must be either a soft fabric or soft material. NO jellies or hard materials like leather. Try and get as thin a thong as possible since sewing the satin around them will bulk it up a bit. You could fold the thong material in half and sew it up to make it thinner, but I didn’t do that since the thong seemed sturdier and more comfortable as is.

It’s the end of the summer season and everything summer is on clearance. I got my flip-flops for $7.00 at Kohl’s and that was two weeks ago – I bet flip-flops are like $2.00 or something now. Next, you’ll need the following:

Materials:

• 1/4 yard red satin or red velvet material for women or ¼ yard black satin for men (you can use any brocade or type of material you like to make custom zori)
• Matching polyester thread and a sewing needle
• Scissors to cut the material
• Measuring tape
• Brown acrylic paint in various shades to create wood grain effects. I used the following three colors of Plaid acrylic paint: white, yellow, and nutmeg.
• Small paint brushes
• A damp rag
• Clear semi-gloss acrylic sealant. MUST be acrylic.
• Sewing machine (optional)

Instructions:

1. First off, clean the flip flops well and let them dry completely.
2. Mix a decent amount of a light blonde wood color to cover both ffs.
3. Paint a light coat of the blonde color in long strokes over tops and sides of ffs. Paint the strokes in one direction, like wood grain. Wood grain isn’t side to side and up and down; it’s going to go the length of the flip-flop, so try and paint them lengthwise. Try and avoid getting paint on the thongs for the express reason that it’ll be a bitch to get the needle through later on.
4. Let dry for about 20 min and mix up a slightly darker version of the base color. You can use a brush for this, but I just applied a thin line of the color with a fingertip going lengthwise down the side of the ff. I dragged the color a bit with a damp rag going the way the wood grain is to soften the line. Don’t rub it off though. Do this a few times all around the sides.
5. Mix a slightly darker version of the darker base color and repeat step #4.
6. Repeat #5 till you achieve a wood grain effect you like. DON’T overwork it; too much detail will be lost at a distance anyway, so keep this effect to a minimum. The wood appearance is going to be carried by the color for the most part.
7. You should have something that looks like this, but of course, your’s will be slightly or vastly different depending on your preferences.
8. If you feel the need, paint the bottoms of the flip-flops, but I’ll tell you now that the paint will come off sooner rather than later since it’s acrylic. When it comes to pavement versus acrylic, pavement wins every time.
9. Let the paint dry completely, about three hours. Apply a thin coat of sealant in a well ventilated area, once again painting in the direction of the grain.
10. Let dry two hours. Repeat step 8.
11. Repeat step 10.
12. Let those bad boys dry for 24 hours before you handle them.
13. Measure the circumference and length of the side straps. Figure the length by measuring from where the thong inserts at the side to the center fork and add ½ inch. Figure the circumference by measuring around the thickest part of the thong and adding ½ inch. These half inches are for turning the material under so you don’t have unfinished edges showing.
14. Do the same for the middle “fork”.
15. Iron the fabric and cut out the properly measured amounts. You should have four side thong and two middle thong pieces.
16. Have the wrong side of the fabric facing you (should be the matte side if it’s satin) and measure out ¼ inch on each edge. Fold those ¼ inches towards you and steam iron them flat.
17. If you have a sewing machine and know how to use it, sew the hems on the pieces. If you don’t have a machine, you can hand sew the edges so they have a hem or you can see if you can tuck the edges under when you sew the material to the thong. Good luck with that.
18. Now comes the fun part…thread your needle and knot the end, set aside. Wrap the appropriate piece of material around one of the side thongs like you’re wrapping a bun around a hot dog. If you measured it right, the material should fit with just a little bit of slack, but not much. Start sewing the material together at the finished edges.
19. After you finish sewing up the thong, tuck the material into the space where the thong inserts to the sole. I used a butter knife for this and even though the word butter would make the utensil seem benign, the word knife means that it’ll screw your paint job and gouge a hole if you’re not super careful.
20. After you’ve done that, sew the bottom of the satin to the thong by passing the needle through the fabric (see why you needed to get soft fabric) thong. Keep the stitches small, small, small so it’s not obvious that it’s sewn on. Do the same for the part that meets the middle. It should look like this when you’re done.
21. Yay! Repeat on the other side!!
22. Do basically the same thing for the middle. I personally had to do a lil’ bit o’ creative sewing when it came down to finishing that piece, but that’s me and my particular flip-flops.
23. Sit back and relish this moment; you’re done and if you’re anything like me, you’re cat’s probably deaf from all the cursing you did when you pricked yourself with the needle.

I hope this experience wasn’t too painful; there’s not too much guess work, just a lot of busy work. You now have a custom pair of zori that can be as authentic or original as you like. Wait another 24 hours before wearing them around.

A word to the wise: only wear these for your cosplay or Bon Odori since they will need touch ups. Mine held up well for practice and passed muster with the group. I got a lotta “Where did you buy those? Those are so nice!” Meaning; where did you find good looking zori for your giant feet.

I’ll be making my next pair using wood stain for the bottom sole part since I really don’t feel like touching up my zori. I recommend and will be using an oil based wood stain on white flip flops for my next pair. I’m thinking of using artists’ oil paints over the stain for the wood grain effect, or maybe those oil based furniture touch up markers. I’ll post when I make the wood stain zori and let you know how it goes.

If any of these instructions confound you or make no sense, e-mail me or post a comment. I’ll do my best to help you out!

Judging by the popularity of Pocky and the way anime fans seem to adore Japanese goodies, I think it‘s safe to say that Japanese sweets are gaining a foothold here in America. Believe it or not the Japanese have an extensive tradition in sweets dating as far back as 300 B.C. Truly Japanese sweets are called wagashi and have their origins in Japanese traditions while Western inspired sweets are called yogashi.

Japanese desserts – like most Japanese main courses – are fairly light. Although sugar is used in Japanese desserts, it’s usually not refined white sugar. A while back I needed a dessert to bring to a Japanese themed potluck. I immediately thought of cheesecake because it just screams summer, but I knew that I wasn‘t going to kill my friends by bringing a chemical laden cheesecake from a box.

So I hopped online and perused traditional Western cheesecake recipes. Dear god, the amount of cream cheese and eggs used in those recipes was enough to clog even the healthiest of arteries. Since I was hoping for something Japanese (I was going to make the cheesecake a lychee cheesecake to give it an “Asian” flavor) I searched for Japanese desserts and looky-looky, I found a Japanese cheesecake recipe!

Most cheesecakes on the market are like bricks of lard and are so rich that you want to hurl after one high caloric piece. This recipe has a fraction of the sugar, cream cheese and eggs than most cheesecake recipes but it has a rich yet light texture. It‘s also more labor intense than most cheesecake recipes but it‘s 100% worth the effort.

INGREDIENTS:

• 7 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar (caster sugar aka baker’s sugar) This should be next to the rest of the sugars in a well stocked super market
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup cornstarch (don’t use flour!!)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 1/2 cups boiling water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9-inch cake tin with cooking oil spray.
3. Beat cream cheese with milk to soften.
4. Add half of the sugar, all the egg yolks, all the cornstarch and all the lemon juice to the beaten cream cheese.
5. Beat until smooth.
6. Beat egg whites separately in a medium sized bowl until foamy. Do NOT let any grease get in the eggs whites or you‘re screwed and by screwed I mean your egg whites will fail to get fluffy and peak!
7. Gradually add the remaining sugar and all of the cream of tartar to the egg whites, beating on high speed until soft peaks form, about 8-10 minutes. This may seem excessive but you must get those peaks!
8. Gradually fold beaten egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, stirring gently. DO NOT BEAT them into the mixture.
9. Pour into cake pan and smooth the surface.
10. Place cake pan into a larger roasting pan and place in lower rack of oven.
11. Pour enough of the boiling water into the roasting pan to come half way up the side of the cake pan.
12. Bake 35-40 minutes or until a pick inserted in the middle of the center comes out clean.
13. If the surface becomes too dark while baking cover with a piece of tin foil, but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes.
14. If you can, let the cheese cake (which is a soufflé in disguise) gradually cool for one hour in the oven with the oven turned off.
15. If you like, you can treat the cheesecake like its Western counterparts and spread some fruit filling on top of it. (I don‘t recommend lychee as it overwhelms the cheesecake).

Japanese cheesecake is a very light, fluffy, not too sweet cheesecake with a very cheesecake-y flavour.

I like this recipe because it‘s:

• Not as fattening as Western versions
• Has a rich, full flavour without being too rich
• Fluffy, and yet it‘s a cheesecake…

I disliked this recipe because it‘s:

• Labor intensive and time consuming
• The original instructions were confusing (hopefully I fixed that)

All in all, this recipe rocked, try it and lemme know how it turned out for you.

Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult Time: Aout one hour Ingredient Availabilty: Very Easy

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, is the latest exciting chapter of the Robotech saga. A heroic cast of returning characters, led by Scott Bernard and Vince Grant, fight to end a decades-long struggle against an enigmatic alien race known as the Invid. However, the mysterious disappearance of the legendary Admiral Hunter will unfold in a treacherous mystery that could tear apart our young heroes and threaten their very survival! From the Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles official website.

Download Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles Trailer (9.54mb .mov)

Tales of gods and goddesses and the epic battles they wage between themselves are easy fodder for storytellers to turn into movies, books and anime series. Countless ancient cultures have given rise to thousands of myths and legends which are still recounted to this day.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient poem that tells of a Sumerian king that lived around 2700 B.C. He was well known throughout Sumer and the surrounding lands as a great and fearless leader; often times ruthless in his kingship. Years after his death, legends and myths sprang up around the man, making him two thirds a god and one third human. His name was Gilgamesh and even today his tale inspires people, specifically ADV Films.

Plot Summary

Gilgamesh the anime is a sci-fi series set in the not too distant (but bleak and desolate) future. In this future the sky is a shimmering mirror without a trace of its trademark blue. Remnants of a once advanced humanity crumble on a daily basis and people are forced to live without the technological amenities they once cherished.

The current state of the world was caused by a single act of terrorism by a leading scientist from the research facility Heaven’s Gate. Heaven’s Gate was a haven for the world’s top scientists located in the ancient ruins of the Sumerian city Uruk. A psychic phenomenon called Dynamis, centered on the tomb of the mighty king Gilgamesh, attracted all manner of scientists to study it. They hoped to discover the key to immortality and conducted unethical experiments towards that end.

At the start of the series, two orphaned siblings are on the run through a decayed city from loan sharks seeking to make them pay for their mother’s debt. Kiyoko and Tatsuya find shelter in an old and seemingly abandoned house from the men and the rain. Inside they meet a trio of black clad youths who want to help them in their predicament. The young men take care of the debt collectors and then disappear to deal with another threat.

This new threat comes in the form of two teenagers and one child. A battle ensues between the two groups which engulfs the house Kiyoko and Tatsuya are hiding in. The siblings pass out under the stress of witnessing a psychic battle and wake up in a limo accompanied by the teenagers and child.

The new group seeks to allay Kiyoko’s fears, but in the end they rile her up even more. They say they wish to protect the two by placing them under the care of a dark benefactor known as the Countess. Kiyoko wants none of it and demands to be let out of the limo. Tatsuya is younger than Kiyoko and doesn’t see the deeper meaning behind the three’s intervention.

After the two become acquainted with the Countess, Kikyo decides to run away while Tatsuya, who is learning to control his new found psychic powers, stays with his new friends. A bitter dispute between the Countess and Kiyoko ends with Kikyo leaving her beloved brother to go and try to make a living to pay off the Countess who bought them both.

The story goes on to revolve around the war being waged between the Countess’ Dynamis wielding children and the anti-matter fiends known as Gilgamesh.

The two siblings are continually fought over as both sides of the conflict wish to lay claim to the duo’s powers for their cause. The Countess wants Tatsuya and Kiyoko’s help in destroying the Gilgamesh who she says wants to destroy world. According to the Gilgamesh they want their help to renew the planet and bring a new order to the Earth. Who to believe?

Review

I’m still putting the pieces together in my head on how this anime matches up to the Epic of Gilgamesh. The original story tells the story of the great king Gilgamesh who was part god part mortal. He aspired to be a god on earth and forced his people to build the giant walls surrounding his city of Uruk. His people suffered at his hands in trying to placate him with their work, but he worked them even harder. Eventually, the gods heard the people’s cries and sent a wild man to plague Uruk’s countryside and distract Gilgamesh from terrorizing his people.

Gilgamesh himself went to inspect this wild man and try to subdue and stop his destruction of the fields and pastures. The wild man’s name was Enkidu and he was a match in strength for Gilgamesh, a feat never before seen. After a time Gilgamesh captured Enkidu with the wiles of a temple prostitute. Enkidu became civilized and fast friends with Gilgamesh. He tempered Gilgamesh’s fire and passion and made him a better ruler. They were the best of friends until Enkidu’s untimely death by the hands of a jealous deity.

Gilgamesh was then obsessed with finding the key to immortality after his friend’s death. He gave up his kingship and wandered Sumer in search of a means to cheat death forever. He came close, but immortality was snatched from his fingers before he could ever partake of it.

Uh, soooo there wasn’t too terribly much besides the names “Gilgamesh” and “Enkidu” to tie the anime in very closely with the myth. There were a few references here and there and the overall theme was loosely akin to the original. Bottom line: Don’t watch this anime if you’re looking for a modern re-telling of an ancient legend.

Character Design

Gilgamesh was a damn stylish anime. It fused high fashion with gothic tones and created a wholly unique flavour. The Gilgamesh were incredibly fashionable creatures, more like super models than hideous freaks of nature. Every time I saw them I was like, “Work it baby! Turn to the left!”

The character designs had this weird fusion of Asian and Caucasian in the face. It was a bit disconcerting for me at first, since in my head I was shortening their eyes and rounding their lips. I got used to it and even enjoyed it a bit, but every time I started the series again after a few days of not watching it, I got that weird “something ain’t right” feeling.

The colors were apt for the high fashion goth feel the anime had. The clothing designs were also well matched.

When the beginning credits played I kept seeing in my head the Gilgamesh and Dynamis kids walking down a fashion runway and tossing their hair. Every single time. Gilgamesh had this OC meets Evangelion meets Hot Topic aura emanating from it. This wasn’t a bad thing, but there were many, many teen soap opera moments liberally sprinkled throughout the series. Someone always wanted to hook up with some one and then the drama resulting from either the success or failure of each endeavor was played out.

Like I said, this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just different. I was actually only annoyed twice during the series. Once was when I thought it was going to go all Evangelion on me. The next was the cop out ending that also reminded me a bit of Evangelion. It really felt like they could’ve wrapped everything up real nice like if they only had one more episode, just one more! Be a rebel, have 27 episodes!

Voice Acting

Dear god, do not listen to this with the dub!! I think the creators were totally going with the teen soap opera thing and cast the series with WB rejects. It was horrible! Why did that adorable little boy sound like Ashton Kutcher? How was that necessary? The fix it button, AKA, subtitles button, made everything all better. Oh, and the lack of actual emotion that matched the action was a real put off as well. Skip straight to Japanese audio and you can thank me later.

Music

Soundtrack-wise, the music was well paced and set. The opening creds song, like I stated earlier, was more suited for Paris’ fashion week than to a sci-fi drama. But if that sci-fi drama is suitably fashionable and teen angsty like Gilgamesh is, well then, it was perfect.

Gilgamesh was a good series that had it in itself to be great. It fell short of greatness due to the limits it placed on itself by the teen drama factor and lack of development towards the end. The character development was also good but not great. Overall, this series was really good, just shy of being great, but it’s still one that’s got great style and ambition.

Rating

Gilgamesh gets 3 out of a possible 4 Hammies!

Rock Star Rags has sold their building and will be holding their final sales August through September, 2006. This potential cosplay/lolita treasure trove sale should not be missed; especially for Halloween costumes and cosplays!

August, 2006:

• August 12th and 13th, Sat and Sun
• August 19th and 20th, Sat and Sun
• August 26th and 27th, Sat and Sun

September, 2006:

• Sept 9th and 10th, Sat and Sun
• Sept 16th and 17th, Sat and Sun
• Sept 23rd and 24th, Sat and Sun (this date may be canceled)

On all these dates they will be open from 10am to 3pm. The price is $1.50 per pound. They accept CASH only. No children under 12 are permitted as per Rock Star Rags insurance carrier.

You can make individual appointments with Deb during the week by calling either 772-5448 or 621-0318 (leave a message and she will get back to you)