Anime Pumpkins! And Licca-chan!

Cool looking pumpkin carving contest on animenewsnetwork.com: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/contest/2007-10-26/annual-pumpkin-carving

Take a look at the winners from previous years. How do people do things like this?

Halloween in Japan has been growing in popularity lately. I guess we won't be seeing many more episodes like the one from Super Doll Licca-Chan. With a great pumpkin as a backdrop, little girl Licca earnestly explains the true meaning of the holiday to one of her dolls: that Jesus Christ is the King of Halloween.

Licca-chan, btw, is Japan's fashion doll diva from the 60's. With a French cellist for a Papa and a Japanese fashion designer mother, Licca was bicultural long before it was cool.

Hell Girl

Pretend this is still Thursday, OK? That way I'm still posting once a day, and feel better about not missing yesterday.

We'll keep going on our Halloween theme with Hell Girl, which sounds like the punk band that never was, but should have been. The more elegant Japanese title, Jigoku Shoujo, better fits the elegant horror of the series. Well, of the first episode, anyway, which I saw at the anime club Wednesday night. Saw, and wanted more.

Fortunately, Liz has some of this on order, and the big Funimation and AN Entertainment sale (40% off until November 4) means she'll be pre-ordering the rest of it. Here's Right Stuf's site if you want to take a look: http://www.rightstuf.com/

Sarte said, l'enfer, c'est les autres, "Hell is other people." That's a pretty modern take on the nether regions. My son is currently reading Dante, who gives you that ol' time Inferno. Hell is payback, on a grand and glorious scale, with the rich and famous highlighting the hit parade of tortures and torments. Somewhere in-between Dante and Sartre is Hell Girl.

The first episode focuses on a particularly nasty form of bullying, more psychological than physical. Class pretty girl Kuroda Aya teases and eventually blackmails the quiet and passive Mayumi, pushing her into a corner of alienated humiliation. Desperate, the girl finds a rumored Internet site that promises the ultimate in revenge: send your enemies to Hell with the click of the mouse. Sure enough, she soon meets Enma Ai, the Hell Girl of the title pictured above.

Enma assures Mayumi that she can have revenge, but at no little price. Though her enemy will go straight to Hell, Mayumi will too, after she lives out her natural life span. Faustian bargains are always more appealing on the installment plan, and Mayumi eventually accepts. Accompanied by her otherworldly assistants, Enma tracks down Kuroda and in a disorienting, surreal sequence bundles her off to the land of the dead. But Mayumi's satisfaction is tempered by a literal hole in her chest that marks the girl for eventual damnation. And while the Buddhist hell of Japan isn't eternal, that's about the only good thing about it: the pain and suffering there give Dante a run for his money.

The series is beautifully animated, and like much Japanese horror sad and lyrical. The tone is strikingly similar to Vampire Princess Miyu. I can't wait to see more.

Anime Party and Miyu

I'm the long-time faculty advisor for Anything Goes Anime North, the campus club here at FIU. The members are currently having their annual Halloween party, a tradition nearly as old as the club itself. The president baked a very cute ghost cake, someone baked eclairs (!), others brought candy, sodas, and other goodies. I brought plates, cups, and napkins, purchased by Andrea, my wife (credit where credit is due).

Dropping by to bring a couple more sodas, I was surprised and rather pleased to see them watching the OVA version of Vampire Princess Miyu. This is an old series, licensed by AnimEigo way back in 1988. We're talking The Age of Akira here. Miyu is a lovely example of Japanese horror: subtle, quiet, beautiful, and deeply disturbing. The OAV holds up surprisingly well, and the manga remains a classic of impressionistic shoujo style. Liz and I split somewhat on the TV series; I loved it, while she favored the OVA.

*

Anyway, it's nice to see an older series not lost in the shuffle. The original OVA is still available, and makes a nice addition to a Halloween collection.

You can see the full anime librarian review here.

Nothing since August 2nd?

Ye gods.

OK, I was embarrassed when I asked a librarian about release forms for an event Liz and I are doing in January. Wanted to get some pictures for our blog, says I. Oh, says the librarian, I didn't know you had a blog. Ball in my court, thud. How to explain I have a blog that I haven't updated since, well, since August 2nd.

The rationale has been we will publicize the blog when there is more content. But with no audience, neither of us is motivated to write.

"Main Entry: par·a·dox
Pronunciation: 'par-&-"däks
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin paradoxum, from Greek paradoxon, from neuter of paradoxos contrary to expectation, from para- + dokein to think, seem
1 : a tenet contrary to received opinion
2 a : a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true b : a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true c : an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises"
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary & Thesaurus

I think it's 2c, don't you?

At any rate, this has to end. It is ending. I'm writing something, anything in this bloody blog every day.

Let's see how long it lasts.

And stop that sniggering in the back, right now.