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Gunbuster. What can I say about this show? Well, it was the first show to have the all too familiar “bounce” in it. It was created by GAINEX, specfically the guy who went on to do Neon Genesis Evangelion and it shows. It was a great show, with a good strong story which makes use of some really good science. It’s the only show I have EVER seen that deals with time dilation in a realistic way. As a quick review, here is what it’s about.

Two girls a selected from a school to go into space and fight against an alien race of giant insects. While they fly through space at near light speeds (or above at times) time flies by on Earth. Overall the main character ages about a year and a half, while everyone on the planet ages a lot lot lot more. Part of the story is how the characters deal with the time difference. Throw in some mecha, big space fights and some well placed ecchi and you have Gunbuster. It’s full of puns and “hat tips” to other sci-fi shows (the mecha specs show the registration number of the gunbuster as NCC-1701DCBA ).

I liked this show. Anyone who wants to see a bit of anime history really should watch this. While the drawing is a little dated (it’s from the 80s), it’s still really nicely done.

Rating: Excellent

I finished watching this show today and I must say it was pretty good. It’s a good spin on the “gender bender” idea. It’s basically a story about a guy who, after confessing to the girl he likes and getting turned down, runs off into the mountains only to be hit by a space ship and killed. The twist is that the alien on the spaceship brings him back to life, but sticks him inside a the body of a girl (for some reason that’s never really explained). All this happens in the first episode and the rest of the show is how Hazumu (the guy-girl) deals with this change while also dealing with his/her feelings for the two girls that are closest to him.

It’s not really yuri, but it does have a number of girl/girl kisses, so I guess it goes beyond the shoujo-ai genre but doesn’t quite go all the way to real yuri. It’s still a great show though. If you have read any of the manga, the stories really diverge, but the end of the anime does leave space for more episodes. There is a rumour that an extra episode will be made for the DVD release, but who knows.

Overall I really liked it and would recommend it to others.

Rating: Good, worth seeing.

What’s better than yuri? Nothing, that’s what I say  Strawberry Panic is a new shoujo-ai/yuri drama romance show that started this month in Japan. I’ve only seen the first episode so far, but here is the basic premise of the story:

Aoi Nagisa is a first year high school student who has been sent to the Astraea Dormitory after her parents are transfered abroad. The dormitory houses girls from three different girls schools: St. Spica’s Academy, St. Le Rim Girl’s School and St. Miatre Girls Academy. There she meets the representative of the three girls schools, Hanazano Shizuma, also know as the Etoile, she is beloved by all the students at all the schools. The two of them have an interesting first encounter and Hanazano seems to take a instant liking for Aoi.

It looks like it’s going to be a good show. Hopefully the fansubbers won’t drop it in the middle. Oh, and I didn’t pinch this description from AnimeNewsNetwork, I wrote it for there

Rating: Only seen one episode, but looks promising.

P.S.: The other thing I like about this show is that Hanazano is voiced by Nabatame Hitomi. She, if you didn’t know, did the voices for Kikyou Kiri in Canvas 2 and the suteki Itoh Nobue  in Ichigo Mashimaro! (She did a ton of other voices too.) Maybe that’s why I didn’t like the ending for Canvas2….

I’m going to start this post off with a spoiler alert. If you haven’t seen this show, and don’t want the ending ruined, don’t read this post.

I just finished watching this show and the ending really disappointed me. I really hoped it would go the way it appeared to be hinting, but in the last episode it goes off in a complete and utter tangent and totally contradicts everything it was saying up to that point. While the ending wasn’t sad, it was, in my book, rather annoying. I kind of wish that it was a game, so I could go back and choose the other ending, the one I wanted to see. Oh well. I guess anime authors really like to pull this kind of stuff.

I got a copy of the 苺ましまろ OP CD over the weekend. Not only does it have two versions of 苺 Complete on it (plus a karaoke version) it also has a song called ゆらゆらDays which is sung by Nobue, who is probably my favourite character on the show. Included was lyrics in Japanese, but I couldn’t find a romaji to sing along with (It’s easier in romaji). Well I did it myself, and here is the Japanese followed by a romaji version:

あくぶが「ふわ」　もひとつ「ふわ」
なぁーんもしない　半日が過ぎている
ハッピィでも　不幸でもなく
たぶんこんなくらいが　あたしにゃ幸福（シアワセ）

未来のことなど　考える術もない
疲れぬ程度（ほど）に
楽しくやりましょ　ぼちぼち参りましょ

呼んでる　あたしを呼ぶ
うるさい　めんどくさい
曖昧に　片手で合図をして
ゆらゆら　揺られている
退屈　やめられない
晴れた空に　ゆっくりと煙をはきだす

ラスト３本・・・
ちょっと吸い過ぎた・・・
禁煙するか・・・

あっちじゃなく　こっちじゃない
子供じゃなく　大人じゃない　わかんない
ありふれてる幸福（シアワセ）なら　ここにあるぞ
ポツリとつぶやいてみたよ

ポケットの中で　くしゃくしゃにされてる
ラスト２本で
サヨナラしましょ　最後にしときましょ

駈けてく　駈け抜けてく
ばたばた　こっちにくる
難しいことなど　なんにもない
誰にも　とめられない
退屈　飛び越えてく
目を細めて　眩しげに煙をはきだす

楽しくやりましょ　ぼちぼち参りましょ

呼んでる　あたしを呼ぶ
うるさい　めんどくさい
曖昧に　片手で合図をして
ゆらゆら　揺られている
退屈　やめられない
ここから　ずっと見てる
退屈　心地いいね
晴れた空に　ゆらゆらと煙が揺れてる

ラスト１本・・・
すごく悲しいぞ・・・
ラスト１本・・・
ま、いっか　吸っちゃお！

yura Days

akubi ga “fuwa” mo hitotsu “fuwa”
naan mo shi nai hannichi ga sugite iru
happi demo fukou demo nakuta
bun konna kurai ga atashi nya shiawase

mirai no koto nado kangaeru sube o nai
tsukare nu hodo ni
tanoshiku yari masho bochibochi mairi masho

yon deru atashi o yobu
urusai mendokusai
aimai ni katate de aizu o shite
yurayura yurarete iru
taikutsu yamerare nai
hare ta sora ni yukkuri to kemuri o hakidasu

rasuto san hon…
chotto suisugita…
kinen suru ka…

acchi ja naku kocchi ja nai
kodomo ja naku otona ja nai wakan nai
arifure teru shiawase nara koko ni aru zo
potsuri to tsubuyaite mita yo

poketto no naka de kushakusha ni sareteru
rasuto ni hon de
sayonara shimashou saigo ni shitoki masho

kaketeku kakenuketeku
batabata kocchi ni kuru
muzukashii koto nado nanni mo nai
dare ni mo tomerarenai
taikutsu tobikoeteku
me o hosomete mabushigeni kemuri o hakidasu

tanoshiku yari masho bochibochi mairi masho

yonderu atashi o yobu
urusai mendokusai
aimai ni katate de aizu o shite
yurayura yurarete iru
taikutsu yamerare nai
koko kara zutto miteru
taikutsu gokochi ii ne
hare ta sora ni yurayura to kemuri ga yure teru

rasuto ippon…
sugoku kanashii zo…
rasuto ippon…
ma, ikka succha o!