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It’s been a while since I felt like sitting down and at least putting a few words to paper regarding an anime I watched, but here we are.
Corpse Princess, ne Shikabane Hime is what I would term more or less accurately a ‘shounen horror serial’. It starts off, on the one hand, as routine in some ways but unique in others, and then sheds some of those older tropes while taking on even more to fill the gaps. It’s really quite odd. The format comes out as a high schooler then weird stuff, with a nebulous main character. As the series progresses the shift from high school animu is pretty sharp, and welcome (it seemed pretty clear that things started there and then the author had not a whole lot of clues on why anyone should be there), but the main character is brought into a sharper focus, and become a much more generic shounen hero. It also goes from episodic horror stories (which I rather enjoyed) to a longer arc that doesn’t sustain itself as well and ultimately had no end.
I have to say as far as premises go I have a lot of affection for ‘guy who is partnered with girl’. These shows usually have some combat, some romance, and some fanservice which is more or less all I ask out of an anime aside from not being a snore. Hime does well in this regard. While the sudden increase of top heavy characters suddenly on the backend of the show was surprising, it never went full boat with it. I of course love that sort of thing but in not over shifting it didn’t distract from the tone of the show, which I can appreciate I suppose.
The show is very sharp. It is beautifully animated at time, surprising times, which makes the odd episode where they are conserving budget very jarring when you realize it. Twice in the show the animation seems to shut down in favor of a more intellectual discussion between characters, usually set to flashbacks from earlier in the series. I give it credit from not simply replaying those scene and at least giving us some content to think over but it’s still clear. The first ‘season’ end on one of these episodes, and the second season stops dead on an episode like that and gives us absolutely no resolution.
The individual horror aspects (which, unfortunately, also takes a back seat in S2) are very well done, with some legitimately disturbing / surprising moments. The show really struck the right balance between horrow and action and mystery, until the big arc really took off. This is one of the few shows where I wish we had seen some more episodic encounters.
All in all I want to say this was a very good show but it leaves me with a few very negative feelings. Or at least, some clear disappointments. The plan that is being built up turns out to be not much at all, and is resolved rather easily. I understand sometimes brevity is needed in these manga adaptations but the show tries to consume cake while also gazing at it fondly but actually not even bothering to complete it’s own ending. A lot of the danger sort of peters out, and we get some rather stunning deaths that no one has time to analyze.
I’d give this show a B in how much i enjoyed it, honestly, but as the end approached I really wish it had strike a different tone. It implies that it will go further but the power creep makes it seem like it should end. It has NO end and it doesn’t look like it’ll be extended. The shounen aspects became really prominent in the end and the horror backslides. I have a feeling if it did continue the result would be very much less than what came before.
I would recommend it, but it’s a shame that a lot of potential wasn’t fulfilled (though, to be fair, it wasn’t absolutely squandered like in Star Driver).
They say you shouldn’t even comment on missing updates. This is probably true. I however has the unique benefit of not having to worry about that because I have about ten people at most who visit a day so I’m in danger of losing very very little.
I drew a comic the other day (which has, as of yet, not been posted) in a totally ass backwards way. I do this sometimes, and while occasionally it works out, usually I eff myself. But I liked where this one was going. I got to draw a top heavy girl with a couple of interesting gestures. It looked nice, at least, even if it wasn’t terribly complex.
Ah, but then I couldn’t write a joke to fit it that didn’t blow.
I tried. I rewrote it several times. I came up with jokes I loved and forgot, and wrote down jokes tha tI thought worked and then hated in 15 minutes.
In the mean time, this immobility killed my creative urge.
That is, in short, what happened this week. I had that comic functionally finished, but not to spec, before it was due, and since it was so close but without a good end it basically dragged me down. I did have an admittedly busy weekend (Super Rib Sunday being a stunning success due to lobbying), but I should have at least had a full week last week.
I brought this up to my significant other, and she knew what it was like but had a hard line on how to solve it.
“If I can’t finish a print in 24 hours I trash it.”
I’m not sure if 24 hours is the right time for me, but I definitively should have dumped that comic when it became clear that it was more an art exercise than an actual functioning joke delivery device, and certainly when it hamstringed me from moving on.
There will be comics soon! Maybe even that shitty one so you can point and laugh and go “ahhh… he just wanted to draw dem titties.”
I spent pretty much my whole life, since I was in a position to choose, with long hair. I started growing it out in the 8th grade and just went from there. I had back length hair in highschool and the start of college, and then slowly whittled it down trying to do something new. Chin length, then ear length, then mohawk…
Now I’m buzz cut. I don’t really care for it to be frank. I think there is a few things that would make me like it more though. I think I’m a little too doughy for it to look quite right. It’s sort of a masculine cut, and I think I look too durpy to pull it off. Maybe if I was a little more built (we’ll call this option: not gonna happen).
I’ve noticed that I look a bit less dorky without my glasses. I got these with my previous haircut in mind, so that’s not a huge surprise. I just hate putting in and taking out contacts.
Not really sure where to go from here. First world hair problems, man.
Hey, just thought i would pop in for a quick update.
things have been going well as of late. After a year we are up to 200 comics! To be fair some of that is from the pre launch archive I had but still, not too shabby. Here’s to many more in the comic year.
I’m planning on integrating some of Toot Comic with Random Bored. How far this will go I can’t really say, but if you aren’t a fan of Toot I wouldn’t worry too much. At the moment I only have a few ideas for gags; I don’t think I’ll be going into long story arcs. If I feel like that I imagine I’d simply go back to the Toot Comic site.
Hopefully in the next few weeks I’ll have cleaned up the site a bit. I wanna add proper headers and what not. Long over due!
So, I’m trying a diet.
It sucks. I hate it. I was skinny for so many years that the idea of watching what I eat is infuriating.
But whatever. It’s been nice out so I’ve been taking walks on my lunch break.
I saw a very lovely woman who was, to put it mildly, firmly within my type. it wasn’t just a hot chick. I see them all the time. I crane my head and you know, whatever.
But she was something else. Black, wavy hair, sort of understated sense of fashion. but what really got me; she was alone, and she was reading a book while walking around the corporate park.
Oh, be still my heart.
It’s a strange little feeling. It’s been a long, long time since I felt the tickle of crush like that. I hope I see her again!