Spamming- Not Just In My Inbox Anymore
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you would notice that I always end it with the friendly "Feel free to post comments" ending. Unfortunately, at least for the time being, that is no more. You see, I've just been hit with the latest round of what is known as "comment spamming" in the blog world.

If you're wondering what "comment spamming" is, I'll explain it for you. Recently, I've received a number of random comments on random blog updates. The contents don't amount to much, and are actually relatively harmless. I've received comments such as 'very nice blog' or 'thanks for the information', or 'realy [sic] nice site' which seem harmless, but the troubling thing is that they come through random Hotmail or Yahoo Mail accounts with names like "zwlrsa" or "prscwe" that are the hallmark of spam-botters.

My mother's blog has been having the same troubles. Yesterday, she received about fifty different spam comments. She e-mailed some people about it and came across a person who had the same problem. Apparently the only way that he gets by is with the aid of a comment filtering system. His advice was to immediately terminate the commenting option. My mother recommended that I turn off comments, but I was skeptical. That is, until I found the half dozen spam comments that collected in my inbox in the course of about four hours. Apparently, at peak, the spambots can churn out, at full speed, over 1200 comment spams per hour.

So until we find a way to put a stop to these spam comments, we'll just have to make do without comments. If you have advice on the comment spamming situation or if you want to just say hey now that the comments are off, send to willraus at earthlink dot net.

Until next time...
02:03 PM PDT Permalink |

Anime News Network- What Do You Want To Know?
During my travels on the internet, I found a site called Anime News Network. Now I've seen sites like this all the time, and so I was a bit skeptical. I figured that it would be a rather deficient site, having seen my share of ill-crafted and badly-kept sites. I was, luckily, quite wrong. I found, instead, one of the most informative and interesting sites on the internet.

Anime News Network is a general compilation of all the Anime/Manga knowledge that they can assemble. It has various things such as reviews, interviews, and other awesome stuff like that. It has an encyclopedia area, where they have a list of all Anime and Manga-producing companies complete with all of the things that they have produced or been a part of. It also has a directory of people who have been involved in an Anime/Manga for any reason, be it an author, a producer, a voice actor, or other things. They also have reviews of various anime-related events.

However, I'd have to say that my favorite part of ANN is the trivia section. On every Anime page is a page called "Trivia" that contains interesting things about the series that few usually pick up on. This was an amazing resource for Neon Genesis Evangelion, where the trivia is actually very interesting nuances about the show. One of the most interesting pieces of trivia was this:

Many of the characters were named after various WWII-era Japanese naval vessels. Katsuragi, Akagi, and Soryu were all aircraft carriers; the Akagi led the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ayanami and Fuyutsuki were destroyers; Fuyutsuki rescued survivors from the great Yamato when she was sunk near Okinawa in 1945. Kirishima and Hyuga were battleships that were part of the fleet which attacked Pearl Harbor. Ibuki and Aoba are names of heavy cruisers; the Ibuki existed only on paper, it was never built.

I highly suggest that you check out this site, as it will answer ANY questions about Anime that you have.

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
02:55 PM PDT Permalink |

Fan-subbing- Anime on the Net
I recently learned of a way of procuring Anime called fan-subbing. Fan-subbed Anime is available for download at many different sites, and it is an excellent way of getting Anime that normally wouldn't be available in America.

Fan-subbing is a process done most often by people with good video software and either a knowledge of the japanese language or a dictionary and WAY too much free time. Fan-subbing consists of using a video editor to convert the video to .avi format, where it can then be edited and viewed on a cocmputer. The person then uses a video editor to add subtitles to the show, thus showing where the name Fansubs comes from. Fan- people who enjoy anime, and sub- Subtitles. In this way, Anime only released in Japan can be made available to people in America without needing to know how to speak Japanese.

Note that unless you find less reputable sites, you'll never be able to download anything that has been licensed by an American company. Why? Because once it's licensed, the download of the fan-subbed version is illegal to have, since a local company owns the rights to it. Therefore, most fansub hosting sites will remove said licensed series immediately. This isn't to say that the download of the unlicensed is any more legal, it's just that since it isn't available for purchase in the U.S., the companies don't pursue them as often.

How does one get these fan-subbed anime? The most common way of downloading them is called "BitTorrent," a platform for downloading large files over the internet. On the net, there are numerous sites called "trackers" that host torrent files, which allow you to begin the download. In order to use BitTorrent, you must download the BitTorrent client. It is available at the BitTorrent Homepage.

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
04:27 PM PDT Permalink |

Cowboy Bebop- Deep Space Blues
As fortune would have it, I recently started thinking about Cowboy Bebop- one of my personal favorite Anime series of all time. Oddly enough, this was the exact same time that it started airing on [adult swim] (Quote- if the [] makes us seem pretentious, it's because we are.) pretty late at night. Better yet, my father and I recently got Dish Network with DVR, so I can record every instance of Cowboy Bebop and never miss a beat.

Cowboy Bebop, like Lupin the Third, is a series of episodes related by one thing- the same characters show up in almost all the episodes. I say almost because Faye is rather flaky. Cowboy Bebop is centered around a group of four bounty hunters: Spike Spiegel, Jet Black, Faye Valentine, and Edward. Spike is a smooth-talking ex-syndicate (Syndicate: sort of like the mafia) member with a dark past. His story makes up the "storyline" of the show- He is chasing after Julia, a woman he met through the syndicate. He is impeded and haunted by Vicious- a syndicate man and an excellent hired blade. Jet is an Ex-ISSP officer. ISSP is the police of the era, and it is rife with corruption from the Syndicate. Faye is a woman with a cloudy past and an addiction to gambling. She was badly hurt in a car accident fifty years in the past, and was put in cryostasis until technology could heal her. Unfortunately, she was left with memory loss and a bill she couldn't pay in a million years. This leaves her as a woman who runs away at the drop of a hat and is tricky and suspicious in every way. Edward is actually a very young, and very tomboyish girl. She's an interesting character and an incredibly effective hacker. Their fifth unofficial member is a super-smart Welsh Corgi named Ein. The way these characters act and interact and just generally exist, along with an excellent music track, makes Bebop an incredibly entertaining series.

As always, feel free to leave comments. Until next time...
03:20 PM PDT Permalink |

Anime Music- Feel the Beat
Recently, I found an excellent site that allowed me to find some of the excellent soundtracks to my favorite Anime titles. Interestingly enough, the end result of this was that it caused me to think about just what the right music can do for a good Anime. So, on this topic, I'll be talking about how use of music can turn a good or great title into an excellent one.

In an earlier blog, I wrote about .hack//SIGN, my downright favorite Anime of all time. Set in a computer game, the show follows the journeys, both physical and mental, of Tsukasa, a "prisoner" of The World. He is trapped, unable to log out, and feels the effects of the world just as a human would. Whereas the virtual reality can only reproduse sight and sound, he feels all five senses, and can also feel pain as a human being. It is an excellent story, and is augmented greatly by the talents of Yuki Kajiura, an excellent music artist. The soundtrack has a wide spectrum of sounds, from the sweet and simple "Fake Wings," to the earthly "The World," to the gritty and malevolent "Aura- Evil." These tracks match their situations quite nicely. For example, when the episode starts off, it usually begins with a survey of the surroundings in The World, and so uses "The World." In a more active scene, the background changes to the more active "Key of the Twilight" or "In The Land Of Twilight, Under The Moon." The "trickster" character of Sora, who speaks in riddles and stupidity befitting his character, is accompanied with the playful "Useless Chatter." Subaru, the "princess" of the game, is accompanied with the aforementioned "Fake Wings," the track's title coming from her signature miniature angel wings on her character's back. And the character of Aura, whom Tsukasa spends most of his time with, has three different versions of the same melody and song: "Aura," "Aura- Awakening," and "Aura- Evil," depending on the mood of the scene.

This has shown how, just like in a movie, an excellent and well-used soundtrack can make an Anime such as .hack//SIGN extroardinary.

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time.
02:28 PM PDT Permalink |

Steamboy-
I recently had the good fortune to be able to watch Steamboy- a movie from Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira). When I heard about it, I honestly expected something more dark from the maker of Akira. However, I see that this is a look at an almost equally dark future- one where war is constantly going on, and everybody loses, except for the people that make the weapons that nations kill each other with. As an end result, I believe that while it isn't the best thing I've watched, it was a good movie, and not a waste of two hours like some movies are these days.

Steamboy takes place in Industrial Revolution-era Great Britain. The power of steam is the latest great technological advance. The leading scientists discovering steam is (with no coincidence) the Steam family. However, an accident claims the life of Edward Steam- leaving only his father and his son as the leaders of steam technology. Unfortunately, the O'hara Foundation (known for selling guns to both sides in the Civil War) is trying to use this technology to make more weapons of war in order to make huge amounts of money. Can young James Ray Steam keep his grandfather's most prized and most potentially dangerous out of the hands of the Foundation?

I read a few of the reviews on IMDB, and found a number of good descriptions.

"It wasn't a TOTAL waste of time. It at least had ambition. Reaching for the stars and falling on your face is infinitely better than the Hollywood tradition of diving straight for the pavement."- Joe12321

"They are two totally different movies. That is like comparing Evil Dead 2 to The Ring Two. Yes they both are called "horror" but Ring was made for a wide audience with teens in mind, and Evil Dead was made to match gore and humor mainly for the elite horror fan.

Akira and Steamboy are very similar. Akira more like Evil Dead and Ring more like Steamboy. Steamboy was made to be a family film whereas Akira was an adult sci-fi violent action movie. You cannot really compare the two."- willden21

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
03:51 PM PDT Permalink |

Blue Saphire Productions- Photography for the Cosplayer
Last week, I talked about the Sac-Anime Con that I went to. While I was there, the Vash I was traveling with introduced me to a woman she called "Blue Saphire." The second that I met her, I realized what it is that she does. She immediately started taking pictures of us, setting us up in all kinds of interesting and awesome poses. i currently don't have access to my favorite shot of the day, but hopefully, it should be up soon. Throughout the day, I saw her all over the place, each time, organizing another set of people in another set of poses. When the day finally came to an end, she gave me her business card. I was impressed by the pictures I saw her taking, and I learned that she posted all of her pictures on the internet. As soon as the pictures come up, I'll post them here, on my blog.

Blue Saphire Productions consists of BlueSaphire (the woman that I met at Sac-Anime) and all of the people that she has met and hangs out with at the local cons. She travels to all of the cons in the local area (Fanime, Sac-Anime/Comic, YC, AX, Anime Overdose) taking pictures of any and all decent cosplayers she can find. What ends up happening is that she takes TONS of pictures, and pretty much spends the entire day doing just that. It's a good thing that she enjoys what she does...

The following are some of the pictures that were taken- Courtesy of Bsaphire.

The Sango cosplayer in the two last photos is Patricia. Kudos to her and her mother for inviting me and providing transportation.

Check out more photos at Blue Saphire Productions.

I'll be posting more photos as they are uploaded. Until next time...
06:49 PM PDT Permalink |

SAC-Anime 2005- Can I get a picture?
Above all else, the line above is what I heard most at the mini-con held over in Sacramento. Once again, I accompanied Patricia to another 'con, this time in Sacramento. I had great fun there, but first, allow me to give you a taste of what happened in the day before the con.

As you know, I had a costume in reserve. However, I wanted to get started on my upcoming costume. What ended up happening was that I started on the costume the day before the con. The minute I got home on Friday, I started looking for materials- a blue suit coat and dress shirt. To make a long story short, one day and $10 later, I looked like this:

Once there, I soon got separated from my friends, and so I sort of wandered. I was the only Wolfwood there for a while, but there were a number of Vash cosplayers. So, naturally, someone wanted a picture of me and one of the Vash clones. The one I met was actually crossplaying (the term used for people dressing up as a character of an opposite gender), and her name was Elizabeth, though in the moment, she preferred being called Vash. Since neither of us had much to do, we sort of wandered around together for a while. Through her, I met a woman (focus of my next blog) who goes to all the local cons and takes pictures of all the cosplayers. I ended up getting a number of pictures from her (some of which are going to go up next blog), including one of Wolfwood's death pose in the church. I also met one of the most impressive costumes of the day- another Wolfwood. The main difference was the Cross Punisher. Whereas mine was made of cardboard, PVC, a blanket, a sheet, and five belts, his was custom-made out of wood. It even opened out into the gun. I'm amazed he could carry it for long- it weighed somewhere between 15 and 20 lbs!

The highlight of the day was between 2 totally unrelated cosplayers. One person came as Inspector Zenigata from Lupin the 3rd complete with quick-release handcuffs. Another had a different costume, complete with orange afro wig. However, when he took off the wig, he looked almost exactly like Lupin. When the two met, the Zenigata (who I was talking to at the time) looked over and said "Is that... LUPIN!!!" and took off chasing him. In full Zenigata style, he came back 5 minutes later restrained by his own handcuffs.

Once again, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
06:19 PM PDT Permalink |

Noir: Maidens with Black Hands
"Noir- it is the name of an ancient fate. Two maidens with black hands. The peace of the newly born, their dark arms protect."

The show always opens the same way- one of the three main characters speaks this cryptic line that would set the tone for this dark show. Noir is in no way a happy show. I would equate it most to .hack//SIGN, in the way that it isn't really anything. It's not romantic, it could be action, and it's definitely not comedy. It's simply just drama.

Noir follows the story of Mirielle Bouquet, a professional assassin. She is greeted one day wit a hit on a girl named Kirika Yuumura, accompanied with a message: "Make a pilgrimage to the past with me." She dismisses it, until she hears a melody contained in the message that seems to shake her to the very core. She meets Kirika, originally to kill her, when she brings out a pocketwatch with the same melody as the one in the message. When they finally meet up, Kirika tells the story of her past. She found herself in a new home, with a fake identity, a gun, and that pocketwatch. Eventually, the two decide to team up in order to find some answers about Kirika's past and the dubious killing of Mireille's parents.

One of my personal favorite parts of the series was the voices. I personally believed that the voices were excellenly chosen. Noir was produced by ADV- the same company as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Steel Angel Kurumi. As a result, the voices were mostly shared.

Mireille Bouquet- Shelley Calene-Black- Dr. Reiko Amagi (SAK)

Kirika Yuumura- Monica Rial- Saki (SAK)

Chloe- Hillary Haag- Karinka (SAK)

Altena- Tiffany Grant- Asuka Langley Soryu (NGE)

No, I won't tell you who Chloe and Altena are... too many spoilers.

Once again, feel free to post comments. Until next time...

"Noir is at your doorstep, and if you fear the heart of darkness, stand aside or die."
03:17 PM PDT Permalink |

Lupin the Third- a Blast from the Past
[adult swim] plays host to a number of fun, humorous, and action-packed shows. The lineup includes titles such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell- Stand Alone Complex, and Samurai Champloo (I swear, Fuu has a set of fuzzy dice on her katana...). However, behind this star lineup is a show that has passed the test of time: Lupin the Third. It may be one of the cheesiest shows I have ever seen, but in the immortal words of Dominic Nguyen (of Shirt Guy Dom fame for Megatokyo), "The cheese must flow." Besides, some of its charm comes from its cheesiness.

Lupin the Third follows the adventures of Arsene Lupin III, the grandson of a fictional "gentleman thief" from a French novel. Lupin is simply chock full of style and humor. This has allowed him to pick up a few co-conspirators over the time. His posse includes Daisuke Jigen, an accurate gunman, whose eyes are almost never revealed, but hidden under the brim of his trademark hat. His next partner-in-crime is Goemon Ishikawa XIII, a swordsman whose amazing skills aid Lupin in his less-than-righteous quest for loot. Playing the seductress is Fujiko Mine, a woman who always gets what she wants- most of the time at Lupin's expense. And the womanizing Lupin is always happy to oblige. But for every "hero," there has to be a "villain." Enter Inspector Koichi Zenigata, the man who is ALWAYS on Lupin's trail, no matter where he goes. However, he may have chased him a little too much, for no matter what happens, from petty theft to a terrorist threat, in his mind, Lupin HAS to be involved somehow. Ironically, he is both right and wrong. Lupin is there, but he sides with nobody. He screws everyone over equally!

Lupin the Third is a fun show, but one of the charming things about it is that it truly has no sequential order. You can watch any episode at any time no matter which one and they stand alone. No episode links to another. It would seem like the show has no point, and it really sort of doesn't. Other shows may seem random, but they all lead up to a final climax. With this show, it truly is random. The only downside is that it comes on at about 5:30 AM... Lucky for me, I have satellite, so I get the east coast feed of Cartoon Network, and watch it at 2:30.

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
04:12 PM PDT Permalink |

Princess Mononoke- A Feudal-era Tale of Spirits and Demons
Yesterday I had the good fortune of watching Princess Mononoke, a rather well-known Anime title from Hayao Miyazaki and the creators at Studio Ghibli. When I first showed it to my mother, she expressed surprise the I had not viewed it before, as I had not known that it was rather famous. However, my friend Joyce who loaned it to me referred it to me with good reviews, so I was sure it was going to be a good movie. Boy was I right. It was an excellent thing to wake up to...nothing better than waking up to Anime.

Princess Mononoke follows the adventures of a young warrior named Ashitaka. Inflicted with a deadly curse contracted from a battle with a Boar God turned demon, Ashitaka must find a cure for his curse before it destroys him. All he has to go on is a small iron orb that was found lodged in the Boar god's corpse. Along the way, he meets Chigo, a traveling monk who mentions something abut the emperor's quest for immortality. He reaches Iron town, a fortress-like village where the ruler of the town, Lady Eboshi, manufactures primitive rifles, which use, you guessed it, the small iron balls as ammo. Backing up his suspicions is the Eboshi's tale of wounding and chasing off a boar god from a forest with one of her rifles. Caught in the middle is Princess Mononoke, a girl raised by the wolf god of the forest, who lives as one of the beasts of the forests. Ashitaka must now learn how to cleanse himself of the curse and appease the Boar God's spirit before he is consumed by the mark on his arm.

A beautiful movie, Princess Mononoke is a wonderful tale that has some excellent storytelling, a good plot movement rate, and wonderful characters. This story captivated me and kept me interested for all 131 minutes of this amazing piece. I would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys a good fantasy tale.

Once again, feel free to leave comments. Until next time...
03:14 PM PDT Permalink |

Appleseed-- Beauty Without Heart
This month marks the release of Appleseed, a movie adaptation of a Shirow Masamune Magnga. I own part of this series, and so I was looking forward to this release. However, I had my reservations. This release of the story was done using CG animation instead of the traditional sketch style. I was hoping that this wouldn't end up sinking the story. However, this was exactly what happened.

Appleseed takes place in one of those bleak futures where everyone has nuked everyone else, and so there are a few remaining "Utopian" cities untouched by the ravages of war. Deunan Knute is a legendary soldier who simply fights for survival in one of the areas of wreckage surrounding Olympus, the Utopia of the Bioroids. Bioroids are clones that have all the strengths of humans, but their emotions are suppressed, and their reproductive systems have been deactivated. Because of this, their cells do not reproduce normally, and they have to have "Life Extension Treatments" in order to refresh their bodies and keep the threat of instant aging away. If a Bioroid misses a treatment, he or she will age at an alarming rate until his or her death. However, not all like this setup. When a terrorist attack destroys the Bioroid labs, the possibility for Life Extention is eliminated, and the Bioroids are doomed. Only one thing can save them- the Appleseed- a small bit of data that can be used to restore the reproductive system of the Bioroids. Deunan is sent to retrieve this "Appleseed," but she wonders if it's truly the right thing to do.

Appleseed is a beautiful film, no doubt about that, but that beauty seems to have overshadowed the story itself. Shirow Masamune is the creator of Ghost in the Shell, one of the best Anime titles I've ever watched. However, this movie was made into more of an action title instead of the tale it originally was. I believe that when Anime is given the beautiful veneer of a CG animation, it loses its heart, and the graphics sort of drown out the story itself. I would suggest it to anyone who's looking for a good action film, but if you're expecting something like Shirow Masamune's other works, this isn't the film.

Once again, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
12:54 PM PDT Permalink |

Newtype USA- An Anime Lover's Resource
I recently purchased a subscrioption to Newtype, a magazine produced by ADV pertaining to the latest Manga and Anime releases. Due to its ownership by ADV, they end up dedicating a good bit of space to stuff created by ADV itself, but it's not all about ADV. Newtype is an invaluable resource for the Anime fan. Like most magazines, it is released monthly, and each month comes jam-packed with cool information. The layout of the magazine is fairly standard.

They start with the cover. Every cover comes with a picture of two of the main characters in the featured Anime. The first article is an overview of the topic for the front cover. After that, there are about 10-15 reviews of various Anime titles. Each gets two pages for itself and comes with storyline background, character background, and interesting tidbits.

After that, they move on to Newtype Express, a quick ride through the various Newtype countries: Japan, USA, Australia, and the UK, providing information about anime and manga releases in each country. Newtype Press follows that, with various articles about anything and everything by some of the Newtype staff from around the world. Then comes the Manga Insert- one chapter of an ongoing manga series, in B&W. The current title is Lagoon Engine Einsatz. After that come various features about some of the new Anime releases. The Centerfold is a double-sided poster sporting the characters of a release shown the month before.

The Official Art Of... comes next. Each Official Art page gives story, background, and general inside information on an upcoming release through use of sketchbook-style drawings of the characters. This section puts a great deal of emphasis on character development by physical appearance; how sometimes, things are what they seem to be. Submissions follow, where Newtype posts fanart and answers letters from subscribers. Next is Anime Land, a list of releases, statistics, and upcoming events for the month at hand. They then put the spotlight on some relatively famous Japanese voice actors/actresses.

The next section is Everybody Cosplay!, a section dedicated to showing off people's cosplaying skills. (Cosplaying is the hobby of dressing up as an Anime character for a convention.) After that, the reviews start coming. They review anything Anime-related, from Japanese music to video games to Manga to DVDs and live-action Japanese movies. The name of the last page says it all: A Thousand Words- "Since none of us can draw to save our lives, we filled the final page with a heaping helping of text."

As you can see, there's plenty for the Anime Lover to feast his or her eyes on. However, this monthly tome of Anime knowledge doesn't come cheap- a subscription to Newtype USA runs $89.95. However, it has definitely benefitted me. It has saved me from boredom on many an occasion, and based on its information, I purchased both YOTSUBA&! Volume 1 and the Noir Perfect Collection (which I will write about when I finish watching it). It even led me to buy the Steel Angel Kurumi collection when I borrowed an issue from my friend a while back.

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
05:31 PM PDT Permalink |

Trigun- An Anime Marvel
I very recently wrote about Trigun in my weblog. I know that there, I did a pretty fair review of it. However, I have subsequently had the fortune of being able to watch it again, marathon-style no less, and so I have been able to appreciate the series more and realize that my earlier post did not do it justice. Trigun is an amazing show, and I am glad to have the chance to own it, for so little as well. The collection costs about $110 list, and Amazon.com resellers gave it to me for about $20.

Trigun's great power is its juxtaposition of comedy and drama. In certain cases, such as the "Peacemaker" episode, it effortlessly changes gears from the comedic to the dramatic. In other cases, it will dedicate entire episodes to the comedic or the dramatic. For the comedic, the second episode is almost meant to be purely funny, while there are episodes like Diablo that are incredibly dramatic. The dramatic element is where Trigun truly shines.

Neon Genesis Evangelion was much the same way. It fluctuated back and forth between the dramatic and the comedic. It is usually known that series that try to be two different things often screw up either or both, but for Trigun, they pull it off. Sometimes, the humor seems forced and shallow, but that's how it's meant to be. Vash the Stampede is a troubled charater. With his situation, it would seem amazing that he would even be able to crack a joke. This idea is shown in episode 24: "Sin." It shows that while Vash tries to stay with his happy and jovial personality, sometimes even he cannot mask his own sorrow. It all comes together in the end, when he finally confronts the source of his sorrows: Knives.

Once again, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
02:45 PM PDT Permalink |

YOTSUBA&!- A Little Slice of Life
I recently got into the business of buying Manga, and so I came across a series that has just recently come out called YOTSUBA&!. Pronounced Yotsubato, this is a series created by Kiyohiko Azuma. I was familiar with this artist because of another series that he made: Azumanga Daioh- a four-book series (one for each year of high school- Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior) revolving around seven high-school girls and two teachers in their everyday travels. I own copies of the four books, and loved them, so I figured that I would check this out. It's just as cute, just as hilarious, and just as good as the others by him.

YOTSUBA&! follows the everyday adventures of Yotsuba, a curious little girl who happens to find wayss to get into mischief or trouble everywhere. The first story intorduces us to Yotsuba when she moves into a new neighborhood, and learns about swings for the first time. Throughout the day, she meets the three sisters next door- Asagi, the oldest (or "pretty one"); Fuka, the high-schooler (or "un-pretty one"); and Ena, the middle-schooler. As she gets accustomed to her new home and the world in general, we learn more about her a little at a time. In the end, it all comes together to make a wonderful little set of stories.

One of the great advantages of ADV Manga is that in the back, it has its "Translator's Notes" in the back for things that they couldn't really translate, so they explain it in the back of the book. I really appreciated the note they had about the translation of the title:

"While the title of this manga could aso be transcribed as Yotsubato, the official rendering of the title is in fact YOTSUBA&!, which is the spelling used in the original Japanese editions. Yotsuba actually means "Four-leaf," as in a four-leaf clover (note the green hair and four pigtails of the manga's titular character), while to means "with" or "and." Transpose to with an ampersand, add an exclamation point, and voila, YOTSUBA&!"

As always, feel free to post comments. Until next time...
02:00 PM PDT Permalink |