Toad The Wet Sprocket - PS. A Toad Retrospective [1999]

Let me just say, I love Toad the Wet Sprocket. I'm actually not quite sure why I haven't made this yet.

Alright, now that THAT is squared away...Toad the Wet Sprocket was (essentially) a one hit band from the 90s that did that "Walk on the Ocean" song that was plastered all over MTV when they actually showed music videos on it regularly. But, for the many that discovered this band and revealed in all it's goodness, the great music that they put out on various albums. Their tendencies are that of adult progressive alternative and easy listening rock. Many of their songs are depressing, saddening, hopeful, and inspirational.

This particular album includes the "best of" of their discography. But really, I'd just say, download their whole discography somewhere, it really has some great music. Here is a clip from the album, particularly one of my more favored songs also. Mediafire

Fuck Yeah Flamenco Friday - Strunz & Farah - Heat of the Sun [1995]

In this weeks installment of Fuck Yeah Flamenco Friday, we will be looking into a much more deeper and traditional version of flamenco. Strunz & Farah form a different sound than the previous installment's Jesse Cook. They bring the inherently distinct traditional spanish guitar with the sex-bass and equally dangerous percussion. The difference from Jesse is quite obvious at first listen. The new age style is not as prevalent here as it is before. So what does that mean? This means you won't hear similar non-new-age styles playing at a lesbian massage parlor. I didn't find a mediafire link, but here is a sample of one of their songs.

Fuck Yeah Flamenco Friday - Jesse Cook - The Ultimate Jesse Cook 2 CD Collection

The first installment of "Fuck Yeah Flamenco Friday", I'll be shoveling Spanish sex beats and nasty guitar arpeggios down your throat like there's no tomorrow.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, you may be asking yourself, what the hell is flamenco anyways? Well, go look it up. This album here is a more new-age style of flamenco, and is a very calming and relaxing genre to listen to. Even now, when winter is approaching faster, and the leaves on the trees are falling, a few songs after this, and you might as well be walking down the streets of Barcelona with 5-8 chicas as your entourage. Or chicos, if you prefer. Here's the megaupload, and heres a link to a song. Jesus christ, just look at the guy's hair.

Guster - Easy Wonderful [2010]

Have you ever picked up an album and looked at the track list on the back (if the artist even provides such a luxury on the backs of CDs nowadays) and seen some names of the songs and just thought to yourself, "no"? This album might have that effect on you if you aren't a huge fan of jesus-themed songs, as there are 3 or so that indicate this could be the next Switchfoot EP. But never-the-less, about the music. Guster's new Easy Wonderful is a pretty decent album, same tempo beats, upbeat pop songs, and just a great background listener. But that's the problem. There aren't many songs that stick out and become hit singles so to speak. The "jesus" themed songs aren't really for their own religious purposes, as I've heard on an interview - rather because religion "plays a big part in music".

Don't get me wrong, I like the album, I just can't put it in the same category as their previous albums that released so many great hits. Supposily, this new album puts their age into question and asks, "are these songs to mature for the younger audiance?" their audience being, college kids, of course. "Easy Wonderful" deserves a good listen - easy beats, catchy choruses, and just all around "can't go wrong-ness" to the album.

Jukebox The Ghost - Everything Under The Sun [2010]

Oh indie pop...Many bands today especially most "indie" artists stick to a mood or emotion throughout the course of the band. Some can be happy, fun, depressive, or maybe even neutral, i guess. Whatever, I don't know what the point i'm trying to make is quite yet, but this album is most certainly a happy cheery SUMMER album to listen to in the car. Here's a sample. It's actually quite catchy to be honest. I'm not going to provide a mediafire link directly, seeing how I purchased this album for a whopping 5 dollars, but you can search for it.

Interpol - Interpol (Self Titled) [2010]

I'm not going to lie, I'm not a veteran to Interpol. I listened to and appreciated Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics. Particularly TOTBL more so. The general consensus including my own opinion lean more towards calling TOTBL one of their "catchier" and more rounded albums they have produced. With that being said, it's hard to beat an already great album with an even greater one. I wouldn't say that their new self titled album is any better, however it shares the same qualities as some of the more popular songs on previous albums that really "get back to where they should be" in terms of choral compositions and so on so forth. I actually purchased this album a few days ago, and as of yet its still like 5 bucks. It's really cheap. Really, Really, just go out and buy it, cheap.

Here's the new song, "Memory Serves" off the album.

"Panty & Stocking"+"Index S2"+"Arakawa S2" trailers revealed

Panty & Stocking

The trailer doesn't do much except showing off the incredibly stylized animation and general feel of the show, but at least it shows Gainax is actually going through with their claims of a well animated, Americanized, highly sexual, and seemingly insane original series.

Even though I'd have to see actual clips of the show to make a firm judgment, I'm very excited about this premiering this fall.



Toaru Majutsu no Index II

I gotta say, it's good to see these characters back in action again. Especially when they're reuinted with the excellent animation and catchy techno soundtrack which made the first season so great. One thing that concerns me is the amount of fan service in the trailer. I'm hoping that in the actual show, the focus will remain on the magical atmosphere and interesting battles.

Also, even though I don't know what the hell he's saying, it's awesome to see Accelerator again at the end of the trailer. Not too many characters can get crippled and still remain badass.

Arakawa Under the Bridge x2


Well, I can't assume much with a live action teaser. If it shows one thing, it's that animation studio Shaft surely knows how to step outside the box for their shows.

Shaft; please keep taking whichever drugs you're consuming.

Recettear Demo

As soon as I heard the concept for this game, I knew I had to give it a try. Combining economics, visual novel elements, and a zelda-esque dungeon combat system, Recettear is a breath of fresh air, and will hopefully open the floodgates for Japanese indie localizations.
You play as Recette, a girl who inherits a huge debt from her missing father. Thus, she's given two choices: Sell her house and get kicked into the streets, or turn their house into an item selling shop. She obviously picks the latter, and is accompanied by the fairy Tear who coaches her on how to manage a store. Every week a payment must be made to the collection agency, or it's game over.


The economic aspect is basically summed up like this: Buy low, sell high. However, this is when things get interesting: Deciding how much to haggle the price. A lot of factors play into this: How rare the item is, how expensive the item is, who the customer is, and how badly they need the item. If a player keeps setting their price too high, customers will quickly get insulted and leave, while also harming the store's reputation. As you make money, you also gain experience points, which in turn give you levels. Each level opens up a new aspect of trading, such as people selling their goods to you, being able to recommend specific items to customers, and crafting your own goods. Needless to say, the new additions keep things feeling fresh.

Players can buy items to stock their store at various points around the city, or they can take the risky skill based route: Hiring an adventurer to go into dungeons, and receive goods that way. This is when the 2D zelda-esque combat comes in, letting the player control their adventurer. Combat is pretty simplistic with only two basic attack buttons, but it still manages to be fun with it's varying enemies and high risk stakes. If an adventurer clears a dungeon, Recette recieves all the loot. However, if you fail, all your goods you plundered are lost, and you lose a day that you could have used maintaining the store.


As for the writing, I didn't expect much, but I was very impressed with the wit and humor, especially between Recette and Tear. They both are incredibly likable, and contrast each other surprisingly well. Witty commentary is packed everywhere, with plenty of satire that most anime fans will appreciate. I can't remember a time where a visual-novel actually made me laugh, let alone smile. Now that, my friends, is a job well done.

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a fun and (surprisingly) addicting anime-styled indie game. The "company" who localized this game are two dudes who couldn't find a place in the game industry after college, so they decided to make their own niche. Needless to say, please buy this game when it comes out on the 10th. Not only will you be buying a great game, but you'll also be protecting the indie industry from greed-ridden cancer like Kotick. And who knows, if the game does well, maybe these guys will bring us even better indie games from Japan.

Capitalism, Ho!

If you want to try the demo or preorder Recettear, you can check out the steam page here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/70400/

Final Fantasy XIV open beta

That's right, now anyone can try and taste what this upcoming MMO has to offer. I have only played around with the beta for about 30 minutes or so, but I can tell it is worlds apart from my involved World of Warcraft experience.

One can tell Final Fantasy XIV is putting a hell of a lot of detail in it's atmosphere. The game features cinematics involving your character, and the three I have seen included involved animation, well done voice acting, and very decent writing. Even the quest text conversations are animated, although these are not voice acted.

It also needs to be said the game has a very Japanese feel to it, with out of place humor, outlandish monster designs, and generic anime-style characterizations (catgirl race, anyone?). This may turn some people off, although the attention to detail and impressive graphics will surely help people overlook these.

However, the wonderful graphics and detailed environments could in fact be Final Fantasy XIV's downfall. The game is incredibly demanding on the users hardware. My rig runs most current games on high settings and resolutions quite well, but with this beta, I had to turn my resolution and all other settings to it's lowest amounts to have it become even playable (and the interface still feels sluggish). The developers better learn to streamline their code a bit more, or wait a good amount of time for hardware to grow into their demanding standards. Those of you with rigs made out of unobtanium and fueled by the blood of virgin maidens; let me know how well it runs on your machine. I'm quite interested.

Anyhow, for anyone who wants to dive in and try this beta, they can do so at the link below:
Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta Test Application Site

toe - For Long Tomorrow [2009]

Youtube

I'm a sucker when it comes to instrumental music. This is no different. And, they are Japanese! The drums are great, the guitar work is awesome, and the beats are also pretty nifty and sometimes irregular. Last.fm describes them as sharing a "math rock" sort of feel, and I can totally get that while listening to them.

I was particularly a big fan of the song "Our Next Movement", which pairs cool, intricate percussion sounds with the bass drum beat on top of it in sort of a "hip, jungle" sort of fashion for a good while at the start. It's defiantly cool, by no means groundbreaking, or new, but still a sweet listen.

mediafire

Young Galaxy - Self Titled [2007]

I was contemplating writing the first sentence of this to say "Some of the most wonderful music comes out of Canada". While this statement still holds some validity in my opinion, Canada also produces some low tier rock-pop bands also (Yes, I know it's inevitable) some you might even know.

Young Galaxy seemed like at first another garage attempt at lo-fi with sub-par recording equipment. But that wasn't the case entirely. Apparently they had one of their songs in a commercial somewhere, not sure which one, but some of you might have heard it before. This band actually reminds me of a more psychedelic experience that is associated with most of the music in this genre. (A little bit of Tame Impala sort of..) If you are a veteran listener of this particular genre of music, it might seem to sound like many other bands before, and that's probably because it's true.
Still, a good listen if you like the youtube link, heres the mediafire.

Fall Season

Click for fullsize

Thanks to the gentleman Chartfag, there's now a chart of all anime airing in Fall. It all looks like a pretty normal season, although there are some shows i'm really excited to see:

Panty and Stocking: Produced by Gainax and the same makers of FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and Evangelion. That alone should make any self respecting anime fan VERY excited. Add to this a show filled with over the top violence, profanity spouting heroines, and a plot almost as crazy as FLCL, this could very well be the series to take anime out of the moe dark ages.

Arakawa Under the Bridge Season 2: From the drug induced studio Shaft (the same makers as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei), the story of a business mans misadventure's of living under a bridge continue. I can only hope that the insane characters, silly humor, and subtle social insights continue in this season.
(Download Season 1 here or watch a preview here)

A Certain Magical Index Season 2: Continuing the story of Touma (an ESPer with the ability to negate all paranormal abilities with his right hand) and Index (a human library of magical grimoires) living in the city of science. Sure, this might all sound like an overly generic powerlevel anime. However, with it's incredibly lovable characters, spectacular battles, well built atmosphere, catchy techno soundtrack, and smart twists and turns, this show is a must see for anyone looking for a good battle anime.
(Download Season 1 here or watch a preview here)

I'll certainly be watching more than this, but these (in my opinion) are the shows to look out for (so start catching up with Arakawa and Index now!)

A special thanks to Chartfag for this helpful list. Please check out his website here.

Zelda Reorchestrated

Everybody remembers the water temple. Everybody also remembers reseting their games because of the logistical key planning errors that occurred in that wretched temple. Everyone remembers the Owl that would swoop down and bombard your visual senses with a wall of blue semi transparent text filled stories and then after you were done testing your already fresh and novice knowledge of the grammatical arts from grade school (assuming you were also of that age when the game came out)the seemingly harmless pixelated version of the tootsie pop owl would taunt you and mock you with your needing to drive the plastic round green cap that was the "A" button into the underlying circuit board with restarting the whole sequence over again until you could better your almost OCD mannerisms.

Well, alright, sorry about that. But one thing I remembered was the music, and I still get nostalgic when listening to the original soundtrack. However this gem called Zreo; or Zelda Re-orchestrated is a collaboration of musicians that are remaking the ever loved songs once heard years ago. Here's the website where you can acess not only Ocarina of Time, but the other games that they have worked on also. It's not complete, but they have most of the songs and i'm sure there's a torrent floating around somewhere where they have the whole compilation.

Jim Noir - Tower of Love [2005]

Jim Noir aka Alan Roberts, is well, a indie-pop songwriter I assume. Whatever it is, it's good, it's catchy (and repetitive too, not like it's a bad thing) and of course for those of you that have played Little Big Planet (fuck I love the music from that game) it features Noir's "My Patch". A sample of Jim will determine if you want to listen to the rest of this album. Most of his songs are fun and as well they are repetitive and sound alike in some parts it provides a good listen for those into a pop-happy sort of deal.

mediafire

Fallen Joy - Order to Die [2010]

France has done it again (sort of.) This time we have a band who has gained quite a following in Paris. Fallen Joy is a five man melodic death metal project from.....you guessed it, France. They formed in 2009, and are currently playing local shows in Paris....No word on another album.

Now for the debut EP. First things first, this IS melodic death metal. Like that shit you listened to when you were the angst ridden teenager that you were in high school. However, even upon the first track, it's all the good from that angsty teenage music. They sound alot like Amon Amarth, Dark Tranquility, and (insert melodic/pagan metal that everyone listened to here.) They are definitely familiar with their sound.

That being said, It's not the same that you've heard before. Vocals and guitar both sound like they are from completely different genres, but flow together seamlessly.

The music itself is good. I'm not going to tell you that it's incredible, because the truth is that Melodic Death metal is no longer really my cup of tea. However, this is one of the best debut EP's I've heard in a while. The band sounds like they have been playing for years already.

So, If you only listen to "mature" music, and feel that you've moved past this sort of thing, this is definitely not for you. However, if you are willing to stay unbiased, this hits home: It's the plain old brutality you knew and loved, and it still is alive and kicking.

Download is here.

But the Ep is only 5 euros, so I would definitely suggest picking it up off of their Myspace.

DogFighter (PC)

Another game I purchased from Steam yesterday, DogFighter is a arcade like airplane combat shooter. It's by no means a simulator, and feels almost odd controlling it via keyboard ( many keys flip and roll the plane as it becomes confusing at parts if you are new to the game ). The multiplayer was fun, for the 5 minutes that I played it. You can choose between a couple planes that specialize in agility, armor, damage, or speed. From what I got from that session, there are a lot of maps, and not too many game modes.

On sale on steam for 8 bucks, it's not to bad of a purchase, but I probably would have spent it on a different game of similar cost if there was a demo feature.

Lead and Gold - Gangs of the Wild West (PC)

For those of you who have played Rockstar's hit game, Read Dead Redemption this year, this game will be strikingly familiar. Lead and Gold is a arcade like western 3rd person shooter. There are 4 classes, 3 of which I have played so far, and 2 of which I'd say are fairly easy to control. There is a sniper class that can use traps and utilizes the same principal as the sniper in TF2 ( delayed fire mechanism ), a Rifleman ( mid ranged infantry ), a Pistol-guy who can fire off rounds as fast as you can click with his special alternate fire, and a shotgun-dynamite throwing commando class. The combat motions are almost the same in RDR, being that you can dive, and run and gun with a familiar crosshair.




Unfortunately, the fucking multiplayer base is terrible. I played last night on a friday night and there was a grand total of 38 people on. Lack of dedicated servers and player count makes it a iffy buy. But, of course, the more people that buy it and play it will increase the experience. The game sells for about $15.00 on steam, and was released at some point i have no idea when this year.


All in all, a great arcade shootan game for under 20 dollars. Hopefully steam will continue the advertising for this game and it will become more popular seeing as how the player base currently is very low. I'd give it about a B+.

What the hell is Deli watching?

There have been a great deal of shows premiering this summer. I have (more or less) been watching most of them, so with most of the series being almost halfway through, I figured I should write my impressions thus far. Click any of the titles for a preview of the series. If you're really interested, I also added direct download links.

Shiki
In a small forest village, people are being killed off by an unknown force. As the body count piles up and the dead are spotted walking in the dead of night, some of the villagers decide to look towards the occult for an answer. For a horror anime, it has a nice organic feel to it. The characters are well written, all the drama seems somewhat realistic, and the horror aspect relies more on eerie ambiance rather than cheap scares. Recommended for anyone who likes horror or investigation shows.
Download Shiki

K-On!!
I'm utterly ashamed by this guilty pleasure, but I just can't escape it. With summer came K-On season 2, continuing the story of five girls and their high school music club. While unquestionably being a pure moe show, it's lighthearted charm cannot be denied. It's also the best animated show of the season, which is plain sad considering the content. Recommended for anyone who remotely likes any moe or slice of life shows.
Download K-on!!

Highschool of the Dead
I did an impression about this series before, but felt I needed to go over it again. The last few episodes have been less than impressive, by ratcheting up the fanservice to near hentai levels, and having he action sequences turn plain ridiculous. For a perfect example, feel free to click the link above. I also can't help but notice the majority of the production funds are being poured into the girls...assets, which is unfortunate. That being said, it's still quite a good series recommended for anyone who likes action and zombies.
EDIT: GOD FUCKING DAMMIT MADHOUSE CUT THIS SHIT OUT
Download Highschool of the Dead

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi
This series basically plays with various American and Japanese fairy tails, and twists them to be relevant in a modern setting. It all feels pretty generic, with most of the humor missing its mark and using plenty of standard archetypes. However, there are plenty of cameos and voiceovers of characters from other series (one of the characters even looks and acts like the child of a certain "Toradora" couple), which is entertaining enough. Recommended to anyone...well...who has nothing better to do.
Download Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

Amagami SS
An anime adaptation of a popular romance visual novel. The series basically spends four episodes on each of the heroines routes before switching to the next one. It's pretty standard romance fare, although each of the characters is quite likable and unique. Reccomended to anyone who's a fan of visual novels.
Download Amagami SS

DROPPED:

Asobi ni Iku Yo!
Okay. Here's the plot in a nutshell: A catgirl from space decides to visit earth, and ultimately live with a nerdy teenage boy. She invites her other catgirl friends to come visit, and various antics ensue. Basically, it's going down the otaku fantasy fan service route. However, the problem is that the fan service is almost nonexistent, and the protagonist is unbearably unlikable. That means all that's left is the "plot", filled with mass catgirl cults, alien cults, and an evil race of doggirls. FUCKING RETARDED.
Download Asobi ni Iku Yo!

Mitsudomoe
This one is a comedy series, based on the antics of three daughters in elementary school. The humor is basic potty humor and overly predictable punchlines. Basically, the humor is targeted towards creepy manchildren who like lolis and crude elementary level jokes, or for the most immature children imaginable. Since I fit in neither of these demographics, I quickly dropped this series.
Download Mitsudomoe

Occult Academy
An apocalyptic events occurs in 2012, placing humanity close to extinction. In order to change this, a time traveler goes back in time to the place where the event occurred: the Occult Academy. For a series named the occult academy, it unfortunately lacks anything remotely creepy. The characters aren't that likable (with the exception of Saya), the attempts at humor usually miss, and as a whole this series just could not keep me interested to keep watching.
Download Occult Academy


So, that's that. There's seems to be some interesting anime premiering this fall, so I will surely let you all know what to look out for when it comes around. Feel free to tell me your opinions on this summer's anime!

FLCL Analysis

After doing that FLCL review, I restarted my analysis centered quest to see if there was anything else I missed. Upon doing so, I found this impressive 24 page analysis which basically covers all the characters and symbolism. If anyone decided to watch FLCL, I highly reccomend reading this after viewing the series:

Link

Nero's Day at Disneyland - From Rotting Fantasylands [2009]

For many people (particularly ones that do not listen to weird music) Nero's Day at Disneyland may seem a bit odd. It is IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), and more specifically, breakcore. It is a fun twist to different electronic samples, beats, and rhythms that make a carnival-like feel that directly relates to the name of the band. Similar to it's cousin, speedcore, it is defiantly "active" listening music, minus the feeling of ripping the hair off your eyebrows with a wrench.

youtube
mediafire

Motoro Faam - ...And Water Cycles [2007]

I need no explaination for this. It's an album about the fucking water cycles of water, man. I will say this though, listening through this album you can definatly personify and characterize the different musical techniques they used into the patterns of water (ie. rain, snow, splashing) just awesome, beautiful music.

youtube
mediafire

Arkells - Jackson Square [2008]

Arkells is a rock band from our favorite northern sibling, Canada. Their sound is familiar, which provides a easy listening experience. Today, it is hard to classify something as "rock" without any strings or underlying genres attached. Arkells does a good job as just a "rock" band. It kind of reminds me of The Hold Steady with a little more upbeat riffs. sample

Jackson Square

Armik - Besos [2010]

I've been listening to all things and everything flamenco for the past week. This is one of my favorites. The artist is Armik, and a new album this year by the name of Besos. Rather then rattling off jargon and history behind the genre, artist, or dear I say, culture, of all things Spanish, I will just leave with a youtube link for you to see yourself.

I apologize for the rapidshare, rather than a straight-forward mediafire.

"FLCL" review

It's actually quite difficult for me to write a review about FLCL. It's impossible to place it in a genre, as it is completely unrecognizable compared to any other show. The plot is hidden in a shell of insanity, with a core full of intuitive symbolism and surprising underlying messages. The characters are all incredibly likable while still containing a true human nature. The grunge rock soundtrack fits perfectly, with most songs feeling as if they were made for the series. Conventional language and analysis cannot convey the impression of brilliance brought on by this six episode series, but I'm going to try anyway.

In the first episode, the audience is introduced to the town of small town of Mabase. There's Noata, an apathetic and windrawn junior-high student. There's Mamimi, his older brother's girlfriend, who nonetheless just can't seem to keep her hands off Noata. There's his dad, who runs the town convenience store and secretly prints the towns gossip zine. Sure, this all sounds quite normal, but I haven't got to the robotic television which does dishes and serves curry. Ah, there's also the space alien Haruhara who makes Naota's life a bit more interesting, usually through bashing a Rickenbacker bass guitar to his face. If this all sounds a bit strange, FLCL has not even begun to leap off the deep end. To some viewers FLCL will look like a nonsensical cartoon, just for the sake of being random. However, I can assure confused viewers that there is indeed a point to the madness.

FLCL is surprisingly chock full of symbolism and deep moments, especially when contrasted between destruction and clashy guitar chords. Under the surface there's a very intuitive coming-of-age story, mainly dealing with the many adolescent struggles of becoming an adult. The show only begins to hint upon the various undertones 2/3 into the series, so most viewers don't even notice the messages until then. I won't spoil the various symbolism and subplots here, as I had a blast doing research and re-watching the series again and again to be able to catch them all. FLCL would've been entertaining enough even if these underlying messages weren't included, but the fact that such thought was injected in spite of the madness makes this series almost masterful.

This is all aided by the inventive animation, which gushes with life and personality. Gainax packed alot of TLC into all six episodes, and it shows. Art styles are played around with constantly, detail is packed into every frame, and it all works incredibly well. There's alot of flash to the imagery, but whats nice is that beautifully crazy artwork adds alot while not becoming a staple of the show.

Backing all of this up is an absolutely stellar soundtrack headlined by a Japanese rock band called The Pillows. If I had to compare it to an American band, I suppose the Pixies would be a familiar comparison: jangling guitars, distortion, heavy bass, bizarre lyrics fit perfectly with the show's direction. Every scene where music is included works in complete harmony with the visuals, and adds alot to the experience.

At first glance, FLCL looks like a undiciplined mess, being random for the sake of being random, but in the midst of the insanity the creators create a very functional, deep, and entertaining experience. It just works. It will make you laugh, get misty eyed, then perhaps make you light things on fire and assault people with a bass guitar (right after you buy that bitchin' yellow vespa). If that's not a successful series, I don't know what is.

Writing: A
Animation/Art: A+
Music/Sound: A+
Overall: A+

"Highschool of the Dead" impressions

Do you have a hankering for a good ol' fashioned mix of zombies, gore, and boobs? If you said "yes" to all three of these things, Highschool of the Dead (from the same makers of Black Lagoon) is certainly your must watch for this summer season.

The zombie infested madness starts off the bat in the first episode; a teacher gets bitten by a businessman at the school gate, and shit hits the proverbial fan almost instantly. High school student Takanashi knows something serious is about to go wrong, joins a crew, and they work together to survive and get out of the city. Sure, the plot may be cliche as far as zombie flicks go, but it remains to be a wonderfully violent and overly-sexualised production.

When I say overly-sexualised, I mean it. The creators have certainly made fanservice a main staple of the show, with ridiculous boob physics and panty shots abound. Normally I'd be turned off by such blatant sex pandering, but it does well in creating a certain message: "We're making this anime for dudes who love zombies, blood, and tits. Do not expect anything more."

That's not to say there aren't thought provoking moments, however. When society and order is crumbled away, combined with the aura of death a zombie apocalypse creates; some people will use this as an opportunity to completely indulge their dark nature. The show does well to show the audience this, which includes people murdering others for sport, rapists stalking the streets, and naive teenagers extorting the elderly (with one particular mention to a narcissistic teacher who uses his title to create a cult/student harem for himself). I also have to stress that as generic as the show can feel, there are some very genuinely eerie and disturbing moments which will undoubtedly get to most people.

Thankfully the main crew of students that the show focuses on is more or less likable, although I haven't developed any sort of emotional connection to them thus far. You have the generic apathetic teenager, annoying damsel in distress, pushy tsundere, coolheaded sempai, darksided nerdy kid, and ditsy school nurse (whom the creators decided to insert a "boing" sound effect whenever her enormous boobs bounce. Wasn't kidding about the fanservice). I'm hoping as the series goes on, more character development will be made.

If you want to check Highschool of the Dead out, it's currently being simulcast on the "Anime Network" in the US, with the dub coming out late this year or early 2011.

"Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei" review

Take one terminally depressed, suicidal adult. Make him the teacher of a class full of psychologically disturbed students, each one of them embodying a mental disorder or extreme character archetype. Add to the mix a great helping of dark humour and social insights, and it can easily be said that Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a must see for anyone itching for a comedy series with a side of philosophy and satire.

There is no plot to follow, characters don’t develop beyond their stereotypes, and often time’s logic is completely thrown out the window. However, it still manages to be the smartest comedy-anime I’ve ever seen. The ideas being given are interesting, and deal with basic truths about society and human behavior. It’s not afraid to delve in taboo subjects either, ranging from jokes about shut-ins, stalkers, drug users, and suicide. Not even the audience is off limits, with some of the jokes taking pot-shots on anime fans and the overly moe-fanatical anime industry. After a while, the basic formula of the show becomes apparent, and it usually it goes like this: One concept is brought forth, built upon, played with by the various wacked out students, and becomes more and more ridiculous. However, with the myriad of unique topics being presented, the comedy remains to feel fresh. Most of the humor is quite universal, although there are jokes that will go over most American viewer’s heads, with jokes and about Japanese celebrities, kanji puns, or Japanese politics. Thankfully these Japan-centric jokes are never the focus of the punchlines, so viewers shouldn’t feel out of place.

As for the characters, although their personalities are paper-thin archetypes, all of them are incredibly enjoyable. Each character adds a lot to the parodies and jokes because of their own different, messed up perspectives. Needless to say, there’s barely any character development (with the exception of one particular student who’s hinted at being quite darker than what she seems…), however most viewers will find their favorite instantly based upon their own individual tendencies. Itoshiki Nozomu (or Mr. Despair) is by far the star of the show, whose suicidal antics and cynical views remain the focus of most of the episodes. One would think that so much negativety would become grating, but the show manages to pull it off quite well. There aren’t many series where the lead character extends an offer to another to commit suicide with him, and have it come off as being endearing rather than evil.

As for the animation, for the most part it’s pretty simplistic, although there are some scenes that are incredibly well animated. What really makes this series feel different are the rapidly varying art styles and angles, which keeps the viewer very much visually stimulated. There’s also a hell of a lot of comedic detail packed into the backgrounds, with the numerous random quips written on the blackboards, or lists of despairs which Nozomu is currently fretting about.

All in all, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a very funny comedy series which shouldn’t be missed by anyone who likes dark humor, as well as people who want a smart comedy packed with both philosophy and satire. With most anime comedies either being redundant “slice of life” shows or moe-centric “watching cute girls do cute things”, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is a welcome reprieve.

Writing: A+

Animation: B+

Music/Sound: B

Overall: B+

Steve Burns - Songs For Dustmites [2003]

Nothing is more compelling to do what you want to truly do in life than this man's story. From 1996 to 2002, Steve captivated children as the host on Blue's Clues, following his predecessor, Donovan Patton, until 2006 when the show was canceled. After his leave from the T.V. show, Steve worked on material for his debut musical career which he then later called, "Songs For Dustmites" in 2003 with the help from member of The Flaming Lips. His songs are a mix of feelings and harmonies that he incorporates into the album, possibly from his own life, or just the cultivated genius of the harbored emotions kept from his previous career.

It's a great listen for any mood. I would defiantly check this album out; once you do, you won't believe this is the same man from Nickelodeon's hit children's show.

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Unfortunately, Youtube has their head up their ass and removed audio from most of the videos. Here's the song, "A Reason".

"Spice and Wolf" review

Spice and Wolf. This title combined with the seemingly furry cover art might make this series look like pure generic weeaboo bait. Well, looks like the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is still alive and kickin’. There aren’t a lot of series like Spice and Wolf that can pull off fantasy, economics, and, let’s face it, a goddamn furry wolf girl and be able to do it tastefully and realistically. Ah, and did I mention it somehow makes Medieval Economics 101 somehow entertaining?

Centuries ago, the pagan wolf deity “Holo” traveled south from her homeland and became a goddess of the small farming village of Pasloe. In return for their company, Holo would ensure that their crops would ripen well. As time passed, and farming technologies became more advanced, the villagers slowly backed away from their commitment. In her “human” form she comes upon Lawrence, a traveling merchant. From this, another commitment is made. Holo will try to help with Lawrence’s business endeavors, and in return he will return her to the north. Various antics ensure, involving currency devaluation schemes, price fluctuations, and shepherdess hiring… Just try to trust me when I say that the series does a good job on making these topics both entertaining and interesting.

Imagining an anime series built around economics, especially in a medieval atmosphere, does not seem too appealing. However, the smooth flow of the plot and the tension it creates makes this feat all the more impressive. I will admit that some of the intricacies of economics that the show introduces may go over some viewer’s heads, but the show does its best to tell the general idea as well. There is some mortal danger thrown into the mix at some points, which does well with ramping up the tension, as well as giving Holo an excuse to use her wolf form. As a whole, the plot smoothly transitions between leisurely banter and some of the more tense parts.

That’s not to say it’s all about economics, however. A lot of it has to do with the chemistry and banter between Lawrence and Holo, and their different perspectives and lifestyles. Holo is a pagan goddess who lives life for pleasure and interaction, while Lawrence has a very practical mind, and always thinks like a merchant where everything can be related to economics or bartering. Because of these two perspectives, conversations are quite dynamic, even though an entire episode can pass without much else going on except the two leads talking with each other. Still, the sharp and witty byplay between Holo and Lawrence never seems to get old. Character development is done very well in this regard, and feels quite organic compared to most series where drama seems forced or changes unrealistically. If you’re looking for pure fan service and wolf goddess yiffing, you’re going to be sadly disappointed. Sure, we are talking about a girl with wolf ears and a tail, and there is nudity in some scenes, but it comes off as tasteful with it being more as an expression of character rather than purely pandering to the fans. Her playful and clever attitude, under toned with the loneliness of centuries of isolation, is a welcome reprieve from the generic tsundere heroines which are becoming all too popular these days.

As a whole, the animation is either hit or miss. The backgrounds look very organic and are very detailed, but there are some points where they seemed to have made shortcuts on drawing the characters. Thankfully the facial expressiveness with both Lawrence and Holo remains to be better than most throughout the series. Also, I’m just going to come out and say it: with the parts with nudity, Holo doesn’t have nipples. Yeah. I understand that they need to do so if they want to be TV-broadcasted, but this remains on the DVD version.

The soundtrack, however, is done excellently. Many of the pieces are primarily fiddle or accordion, which creates a folksy vibe that works well with the series. If I have any gripe, it’s the Engrish-laden ending song, but that’s what skipping is for. As for the English voice actors, they do an impressive job as well. Holo’s voice fits perfectly with her personality with the quick and subtle shifts in demeanor, and the general haughtiness in which she speaks doesn’t get old.

All in all, Spice and Wolf’s wonderful character dynamics and unique plots is a breath of fresh air which cannot be compared to any series so far, so long as you don’t mistake it as a furry-pandering fanservice fest. Season 1 is already released in the US (some of which you can see online here), with season 2 coming out in early 2011.

Story: A-

Animation/Art: B

Music/Sound: A

Overall: B+