Possibly I will be accused of being Late To The Party, which implies some sort of party in the first place, to which I have not received a formal invitation. Or perhaps the party is open to any and all, free drinks included, as long as one is not Late, which I unfortunately am. No more am I on the cutting edge of anime, and my inability to keep up with the latest trends might saddle me with an attack penalty.

The meido uniform is distinct from an actual Real Life housekeeper’s uniform by connotations, hence the altered spelling. There is some overlap, perhaps reasonably so, between the uniforms for Meido and Waitresses, but the distinction is lost on plebeians such as I. The above screencap is actually taken from episode four, which ramps up the fanservice to a level best described as “borderline”. What it borders shall remain unstated for family-friendliness, but rest assured that the cleavage-emphasizing pose depicted is but the baseline of the dizzying heights explored.

And as Impz implies (with appropriate RAGE), the thought of the famed generals of the Three Kingdoms era being used as vehicles of Fanservice is more than a little mind-numbing. Rest assured, however, that once one gets over the initial breakage of brainmeats, one will be able to accept anything in that vein with either cheerful interest or implacable libido. The difference, in this case, is insubstantial.

And yes, I posted this entirely so I could use that title.

One day I should dig out my books on Romance of the Three Kingdoms and compare it to Koihime Musou, just for kicks.

Apparently the title will be Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - The MOVIE 1st. The implications are fuelling rampant speculations all over the anime blogosphere even as we speak.

Another week, another desperate attempt to come up with something to talk about on this blog of increasingly embarrassing time-wastage. Well, it’s not like the blog hasn’t been thoroughly embarrassing for all concerned anyway, since I’ve never made a secret of the inherent Ogling of Cute Girls which remains, to this day, the blog’s raison d’etre.

Listening to the new Hidamari Sketch x365 opening reminds me once again how much I loved “Sketch Switch”, the first season’s opening. I think I first realized what made it so addictive when I listened to the Lantis Nico Nico Medley: the song is great for just belting out without worrying about the minor details like keeping in tune, like the much-remixed “Koi no Mikuru Densetsu”. Every time I hear the kumikyoku’s robo-voice counting down to the anticipated “ikimasu!“, I can’t help but grin and sing along.

“Hatena de Wasshoi” is no different; I can sing along to “nobi nobi nobi nobi nonbiri to” without fear of censure, at least if I do it quietly enough that the neighbours don’t complain. The song itself even exhorts you “toriaezu WASSHOI de~su“, to shout it loud and proud. Try it out; it’s actually pretty fun.

As for the show itself, it places itself in the unique position of something I’m watching and liking, and yet have nothing to say about it. It’s the further tales of four girls in an art school dormitory. There is nothing more that needs to be detailed, except perhaps a reaffirmation of the proclamation that Oh God, Yoshinoya-sensei Is Hot.

It requires a bit of discipline, or at least a healthy amount of guilt, in order to stick to even the vaguest schedule for blogging. Best-laid plans and all that, however, expecially when one is laid low by Real Life and illness, thus reducing the available time for Deep Thoughts about anime. I could regurgitate yet another Nanoha GamerS comic, or a quick one-liner with regards to some new facet of the Summer Season in the 2008th Year of our Lord and Saviour Sephiroth the Pretty, but that feels a bit like cheating. So I’ll shift one square to something in the general proximity of anime in general, even if it is not exactly blogging about anime as much as blogging about stuff related to anime.

In this case, anime fanfiction. Yes, again.

I’m still working on several pieces of fanfiction at the same time, in an astonishing display of multitasking that probably would be more impressive if it weren’t about sock-puppeting fictional characters owned by other people into some semblance of plot and drama. One of these stories is, as has been mentioned before (and which I am too lazy to link to), something set in the universe, nay, multiverse of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, post-season three. I have a large and unfeasibly detailed timeline of events which spans one thousand and five hundred years, albeit clustered with specific dates in the periods where the stories actually take place. The cast stretches to, if not thousands, then at least Far Too Many to be comfortably introduced without the reader feeling like they’ve stumbled onto a Baby Picture conversation. (You know the type.)

This is considered par for the ficwriting course for me. What struck me hard enough to trigger a seed of blog post inspiration, and this is not very hard at all, was the assertion that since I have so many original characters, this was no longer a work of fanfiction, but original fiction instead.

I can, with some effort, understand the claim: after all, for the most part, fanfic readers wish to read about the canon characters, rather than the diseased creations of an amateur author’s fevered imagination. What they want the canon characters to do is best left for another discussion, especially since I’m trying to keep this blog at least somewhat family-friendly. The gist is that since the canon characters take something of a backseat to the action in the fanfic, it is no longer worthy of that “fanfic” label. What it is to be called now is anyone’s guess.

And yet, I cannot quite tell the story I wish to tell without both using the world of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, as well as relegating the canon characters to the sidelines, at the same time. This is not for lack of trying, but just that the story requires several character types who do not appear in a major capacity in the canon. In fact, the only one who qualifies is Yuuno, who was carefully set aside to the relegation bench from a large part of StrikerS, possibly due to possession of a Y chromosome.

The Nanoha-verse is large, varied, intriguing, and almost criminally unexplored. There is a great deal of background information in the setting that we simply Do Not Know, a limitation which apparently Seven Arcs share as well, considering how bizarre some of their explanations have been. (How many moons are there over Midchilda?) And the large majority of the canon character show absolutely no sign of interest in exploring these mysteries, preferring instead to blow things up. I have created my original characters almost by necessity, for lack of anyone else to act as the Watson to Yuuno’s Sherlock.

If anyone else has any better idea on how to proceed, I’m certainly open to suggestions. Or, to be honest, I will be once I get over this accursed virus.

So I just watched the first episode of the alleged sequel to Code-E.

It seems Lina missed us too. Unfortunately, now she has a chance to aim.

There is nothing else I can say about the much-awaited fourth season of Slayers that has not been said before, whether by myself or by other more worthy luminaries. I don’t think I can give a fair and unbiased view of the matter through the impenetrable haze of sheer, undiluted nostalgia.

It was, as Arudoc mentioned, fitting that Lina made her debut by blowing up bandits, this time of the seagoing kind led by Captain Jack Sparrow. It is an ancient tradition as hallowed as the sun rising in the east, the ubiquity of hydrogen and stupidity, and Amelia giving a Justice Speech.

Things became something of a blur from there. A squee-ful blur, to butcher the language.

I must also admit to surprise at New Character Pokota’s entrance. I wonder what the Dark Lord Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo thinks of his signature spell being cast by a Pokemon muppet.

I have to give massive props to Princess Tutu for doing it right.

We’ve all had our discussions about how anime can be Art, or at least be in the same general vicinity as Art. Princess Tutu falls in at least the latter category, and I believe that it makes a very strong case for the former: the composition of each scene, the musical background, the plot, all of it is suffused with the essence of Art-ness. I would not hesitate to recommend this anime to those who would like an anime that makes them ponder the deconstruction (and, possibly, reconstruction) of fairy tales.

And yet, with all its Art-ness, Princess Tutu never forgets to entertain. I can watch it and analyse the roles of the Prince, the Princess, the Evil Villain, and how they’re just roles rather than characters, an unfortunate fact that said characters are fully aware of. Or I can watch it and enjoy Ahiru being, well, Ahiru, the happy-go-lucky naive-but-charming little girl who isn’t very good at much, but who still tries her best.

Princess Tutu is the best proof I have right now that anime doesn’t have to be Serious and Edgy to be thought-provoking. It can be fun, and it can be art, all at the same time.

Also, I’ve always thought that Saint-Saens’s “Les Carnaval des Animaux: Aquarium” would be perfect for a Creepy Eerie Revelation BGM, and Princess Tutu has done exactly that.