Great Librarians of Anime I: Patchouli Knowledge

Well, stricly speaking, Patchouli Knowledge does not hail from an anime, but a PC game series, The Touhou Project. Never published here, the game claims a small, genuinely fanatical following in the US. The game is a shooter, not to be confused with one person shooters a la Halo or Counterstrike. Classic Japanese shooters are generally 2 dimensional, with the shooter (usually a plane or ship of some sort) following a track and, well, shooting things.

Japan has some really odd examples of the genre, such as the unabashedly homoerotic Cho Aniki. Touhou is what's called a bullet hell, or manic shooter, where the entire screen is alight with fire and enemies. Contrary to how this sounds, the game is incredibly aesthetic, a colorful dance of fireworks and flower petals. Incredibly, it's all a one man project, explaining in part the distinctive quirkiness of the game.

A good example of how it looks is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQZsDtmobG4&feature=related

The cast is all-female, or nearly so. The premise is that a succession of exorcists travelled to a remote area to fight monsters. With the monsters under control, the exorcists sealed of their little realm and over the years created their little world. The games have generated an astounding amount of fan support: doujinshi, art work, and even magazines.

Patchouli, our first Great Librarian of Anime, is a reclusive scholar who lives in the Scarlet Devil Mansion. An obvious bibliophile (rarely do you see a picture of her sans book), she serves as a librarian with magical power over the seven elements. Sadly, she suffers from asthma, which hinders her spellcasting somewhat. With her crescent moon ornament and long, purple hair, she is easilly recognised among the large cast.

So here's to you, Patchouli Knowledge! May all your spells explode like rainbows, and may Marissa return all the books she borrowed.

The inexplicible, "You should drink cucumber flavoreed beer!" featuring some of the Touhou girls, by IOSYS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkqJxYdbdg

Dororo

Osamu Tezuka was an insanely prolific manga author. Best known in America for children's series like Astroboy, his work is incredibly diverse. Despite the cute looking characters, a manga like Dororo is strikingly dark and violent.

The story is harrowing enough: a samurai trades 48 body parts from his unborn child to demons in exchange for worldly power. Set adrift like Moses, the new born Hiyaki Maru is little more than a lifeless lump of flesh. Taken in by a kindly old inventor, Hiyaki Maru is given mechanical prosthetics that enable him to survive. More than survive; he trains and becomes a deadly swordsman, determined to hunt down the demons and restore his fragmented body.

Not coincidentally, the story is set in the bloody Warring States period. Like Hiyaki Maru, Japan was a country torn asunder, divided by a succession of warlords, great and petty. The trauma, waste, and horror of war, often a theme for Tezuka, holds sway here as the swordsman and his sidekick, the child thief of the title, Dororo, travel a shattered and broken land.

The art style is strong and dynamic; this is a man at the height of his storytelling power. Reading Tezuka is always like watching a movie, a good movie with a good cinematographer. Swords rip through frames, huge demons twist and distort borders. The manga was influential, and spawned an anime, movie, and excellent video game for the PS2, Blood Will Tell. The third and final volume is due out in August from Vertical Inc, who are to be congratulated for a high quality, oversize presentation.

Angry Fairies

Japanese horror stories are full of angry ghosts. Turns out their fairies are pretty torqued off, too.

Fairy Cube is a new manga by Kaori Yuki, the author of Cain Saga and Angel Sanctuary. Which was full of angry angels, now that I think about it. Anyway, Cube is the story of Ian Hasumi, whose body is stolen by the malevolent changeling fairy, Tokage. Ian wrangles another body, and fights to get his revenge and his girl back. The Japanese often have a very different take on things Western, fairies being no exception. In Cube, even the cute ones, like Ian's companion Ainsel, are pretty scary. She may look like a primped up Tinkerbell, but when she considers eating Ian if he isn't useful to her, you believe it.

The story moves very quickly; you think Ian will have a tough time getting his high school girlfriend Rin to believe he is now "in" the body of an elementary school boy, but that seems to get resolved at the end of volume one. Fairy Cube demonstrates for the umpteenth time that in Japan, stories for girls are rich and varied, and often have quite an edge.

Where were you guys?

Goofing off. This blog is rather, well, intermittent.

So what's up with the anime librarians?

We finally finished Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, the classic released here in the US as Battle of the Planets and G-Force. This is a 105 episode blockbuster that first aired in 1972. It's astounding how cool it still is after 35 years. The characters are interesting, the music and action rock, and for retro anime it looks great. One of the sadder aspects of fandom is a general disregard for older anime. What shows like Gatchman and Astroboy lack in polish, they make up in energy and fun. Too many people are seduced by the siren call of special effects.

***

Kudos to ADV a great release that featured all the violence, drinking, smoking, and cross-dressing from the original, plus a plethora of interviews, extras, and art by Alex Ross. Gatchaman can be had cheap right now (check out Best Buy and Amazon), and would make a great addition to a YA collection. Bird Go!