Tis the season for mecha musume. Gonzo and J.C. Staff each have OVAs capitalizing on the popularity of moe girls and mecha. Millions of otaku cry out in helpless subservience as they bow down to their twelve year old masters. Enter Strike Witches and Sky Girls.
As you can see from the pictures on the left, the two are really similar. Lolicon + Mecha = Win is the logic. But which is better? I shall tell you.
Strike Witches
Gonzo makes a strong entry here. Their girls are more moe by far, and there are more of them. Gonzo has a whopping eleven lolis here. Something for everyone. However, they lose points for the creepy mecha legs, but the girls have a regular mode, so I can allow it.
Strike Witches Official Site
Strike Witches Character Page: count the eleven lolis yourself.
Strike Witches Trailer on Youtube
Sky Girls
J.C. Staff's OVA is compelling as well. They have a great trailer but only four lolis. That is less than half of Gonzo's loli count! However, the lolis have real legs so I will count them as eight. I can't rate the sound track for Strike Witches, but Sky Girls has great music so far.
Sky Girls Official Site
Sky Girls Character Page: Four lolis with twice the number of body parts equals eight lolis!
Sky Girls Trailer on Youtube
So which is the winner? It was close, but I think Strike Witches will be the reigning champion. Gonzo will surely pull lots of beautiful animation out for this, and since it's an OVA maybe heavy fanservice as well. But the real deciding factor was a little thing called Francesca Lucchini.
I used a form of the word loli eight nine times in this article.
I've been listening to the Honey and Clover II OP single by Yuki, and it's great even if she is at the top of PETA's shitlist for beating the Cheshire cat mercilessly in the Fugainaiya PV. If you haven't seen it, watch it now.
The album consists of three songs: Fugainaiya, Hadako no Taiyou (The Naked Sun), and Natsu no Hero (Summer's Hero.) Fugainaiya is of course the actual intro to Hachikuro II and is appropriately awesome. If you haven't heard it, feel ashamed. Hadako no Taiyou is so-so; I wish it had a catchier beat. Yuki gets points for not butchering the English for "naked sun" though. Natsu no Hero is a really slow song, and it's not bad at all, though I do prefer Yuki's faster paced songs.
Moving on to the main point (or is it the secondary?), Yuki is completely insane. I'll post these two screencaps from the Fugainaiya PV as evidence.
When Yuki makes her appearance dressed as a chair halfway through the video, all she does is spin drunkenly and beat a cat, and I have to say, I really respect her for that. It takes a special woman to be both popular enough and have that twinge of mental instability to make a music video around an abusive Alice in Wonderland. Besides that, the video is really well done with excellent costumes and even a small maze. Yuki may be my favorite eccentric J-Pop singer.
You might also be interested in more Yuki craziness...
Dramatic PV (Honey and Clover Season I OP)
Joy
Melancholinista
Nagai Yume
Stand Up Sister
Home Sweet Home
Sony Walkman Commercial
Pocari Sweat Commercial (Yuki sings annoyingly for many commercials it seems)
There should be many more to list, but I'm lazy (and youtube won't let me go to the Yuki banned masturbation PV no matter how many times I click accept!)
I was speaking to an uninitiated friend today about anime figures (which will spawn another post sometime I'm sure), and the Haruhi bunny girl concert figure came up. I knew about the figures existence and its rarity, but was unsure of the price and availability. This ebay auction lets us know.
Here's a paraphrased conversation with another friend:
I know this figure is so yesterday's news, but I had divine inspiration. We must fight and die for Haruhi Bunny Girl. That is all.A-Kun: That Haruhi's going for $200 [sure to be more]? Damn.
Me: It's a resin kit too; it's not even constructed or painted. Only making 200 is too cruel.
A-Kun: That's enough to cause a war.
Me: Seriously. Otaku war.
(I am the worst kind of fanboy.)
It's been a while since I last wrote a post, mostly because I lost interest in writing about Genshiken even though I love it so; I'll make this quick. I Have to wake up in five hours and blog at the most inappropriate times
Ogiue draws Sasahara x Madarame doujinshi. She is also sexy.
Included at the end of this volume are several short doujin drawn by other mangaka; they're all pretty good, but I'll leave you with one scene to imagine...
[Ogiue walks in the door behind Sasahara.]
Sasahara: How dare you whack off to my Ogiue!
Ogiue: [ Gulps. Walks out and closes door.]
Sasahara: [Cries.]
