I will no longer be posting to “I am Otaku” but please, no tears, because the reason is quite spectacular.

My wife and I are welcoming a baby into our home and as such, if I can find any otaku time, even though I’ll be spending it building model kits and watching anime, I just won’t be able to blog about it.

I may return one day – when he’s 18? – but for now, I hope the stuff I’ve blogged about for the past couple of years will be useful to someone.

Thank you to everyone who’s posted and commented and inspired me to continue. We have a wonderful community and I’m gonna miss y’all. Just keep  your eyes open at the next anime convention for two dudes cosplaying as Lone Wolf and Cub.

After years of dreaming, it has finally been built – a room of my own.

I can now display all my toys at once, including my town diorama, and I even have a huge work table to build models and repair robots (my new spray booth is in the closet, but trust me, it’s awesome and means I should have the use of my lungs for a long time to come).

What’s ironic about this great achievement, however, is another massive event in my life that means I won’t be spending much time in my new otaku den for a little while. But more on that later…

A few years ago, while working on a story for CBC Radio, I had the great honour of interviewing Shinichiro Watanabe about his hip hop-anime Samurai Champloo. Until recently, this interview was archived elsewhere, but it disappeared, so I’ve uploaded it myself.

Keep in mind that the interview may sound a bit odd: I had not intended to use my own voice on the air, so I’m asking the questions to the translator who then answers them in first person.

Still, you’ll get some great insights into Champloo.

The full name of this toy is way, way too long for that title: “Soul of Chogokin Spec XS-01R EVA-01 Renewal Version.” Let me break that down a bit for the non-toy nerds out there. “Chogokin” means something like “super alloy”, which just means it’s diecast metal. The “soul” bit refers to the fact that in the 90s, Bandai returned to their metal alloy toys of the 70s with a brand new line. All that other stuff means it’s a new version of Bandai’s movie version of the Eva-01, which was released a few years ago. This update makes it perhaps the greatest of all Eva toys ever made.

Yeah, that’s a pretty grand statement and yeah, this little baby lives up to it.

First off, he comes out of the box like no other Evagelion toy I’ve seen, in Eva’s true form – the super-skinny, super-creepy organic life form that lives under the shell/constraints. Here’s the part that blows me away – the shell is composed of about a dozen heavy metal parts that you put on. You actually turn him into an Eva. When you get this toy, and you will, here’s what you gotta do: take him out of the box and cue up the Eva soundtrack – you know what I’m talking about, the big symphonic battle theme – and hit play. Putting this guy together transcends playing with a toy – you are close to the soul of Eva itself.

Once he was put together, the fun just didn’t stop. Incredible articulation that is strong yet pliable. A flawless paint job. So many hands and weapons that I will never run out of poses. Dude, it even comes with an entry plug and the Eva’s glowing red core!

My only complaint is that at this price – over $70 – I won’t be getting the full set any time soon. Then again, how many full sets do I really need?

Yes, I know – all of them.

Overall look: the metal alloy gives this dude an incredible look of weight and realism
Design: flawless paint job and remarkable articulation
Playability: the poses are endless – this guy gets the highest recommendation I can offer!

Rating

Synopsis
Set between the movies Batman Begins and Dark Knight, this is a collection of 6 vaguely connected short stories about the caped crusader, written by American comic book guys and animated by some of Japan’s mightiest anime studios. As such, it is hard to summarize the entire thing. Safe to say The Bat spends his time tracking down bad guys and handing out a fair share of whoopass. Some of the stories are predictable and completely forgettable, but a couple rise above expectations and manage to inject some new flavours into this very old character.

Reactions
When I first heard about Gotham Knight, I had some pretty strong reservations. And in many ways this is the cynical jump-on-the-bandwagon that I expected. However, on the whole, the DVD impresses more than it disappoints.

I’ll start by admitting that I’m a fan of The Batman. However, I also feel that he, and all costumed superheroes, have outlived their relevance to our culture. Still, of all the American icons they could have anime-ized, Batman works remarkably well. He’s all dark and moody and mysterious. As much as these are stereotypes of anime, they’re also kinda true stereotypes.

The standout short for me is the first, Have I Got a Story For You (top picture) done by Studio 4°C, the folks behind the fabulous Tekkon Kinkreet. Have I Got shares Tekkon‘s fluid and surreal look, as well as a storytelling style that flows from a kid’s imagination. It also briefly features a mecha-Batman. Oh yeah.

The rest of the DVD goes up and down and even though I was not disappointed at the end of this ride, I still maintain that anime is more than just a “style” – using it to simply create a new take on old ideas greatly underestimates its storytelling value.

Rating

Synopsis
So Kaiji once co-signed for a buddy who took $300 dollars from a loan shark. Eventually, his buddy ducked out, leaving Kaiji on the hook for the dough plus interest. Interest of almost $40,000. Kaiji is small time and just doesn’t have that kind of cash. His way out? Get on a boat with loads of other losers like him and risk it all on a game of chance. He can come away with the debt paid and a lot of extra money for himself. Or, he can become the indentured slave of the shadowy organization behind this whole racket. But when you’ve got nothing to lose, those seem like pretty good stakes.

Reactions
I started playing Texas Holdem a few months ago and I love the game. The strategy. The bluffing. The feel of the chips in my hand. And of course, the winning. The most intense moments I have during the game are when I’m betting high, even “all in”, without knowing if my cards are enough to beat my opponent. But you get this sense of purpose, of destiny, that you must win, that you will win. That doesn’t keep my heart from beating hard, and on more than one occasion, making my hands shake as I moved the chips into the center of the table.

That feeling is what propels Kaiji. This poor son of a bitch lives in this world constantly, and watching this show, you can’t help but feel that sense of fate.

There are so many wonderfully unique things about this show. First, the fact that it went from a manga, to a pachinko game, to an anime. Yeah, a story about a problem gambler who gets roped into a do or die gamble was turned into a… gambling game. Welcome to Planet Japan.

Then there’s the very simple plot with an even simpler game at it’s core. I’m only 3 episodes in and really wonder how this stretches out to a full series.

But the aspect that people probably notice right away is the unusual animation style – extremely heavy lines around the characters’ faces. I’ve never really seen anything like it and it looks both retro and kinda grotesque, but I’ve gotten used to it and it seems to fit the crude and intense style of the story.

Highly recommended for gamblers and anyone else looking for anime that’s just a little bit of the beaten track.

Day One
After picking up a 40″ x 20″ sheet of chipboard earlier in the day, I began the hard work of planning out my first proper diorama. As you’ll see from reading on, this was the fun and relaxing part of this process, but it still offered a fair amount of challenges. I’ve collected all my buildings haphazardly with no plan for this diorama. That means I have to make everything fit.

For inspiration, I spent a while looking at Google Earth images of Japanese towns. First thing I noticed: almost no grids. Streets flow in every direction, like someone threw spaghetti at Japan. So I abandoned my original plan and instead put a train track angling right through the diorama, forcing streets to change course. To make the layout assembly easier, I marked all the building and track locations in pencil.

I think what I have envisioned, although not a replica of any exact place in Japan, will serve my giant monsters and robots well as I’ve tried to leave lots of empty space. But trying to plan for how all the street markings and signs will line up, that has me a little nervous…

Day Two
Today was pretty straightforward – painting the asphalt. I had practiced on the backside of the board and discovered that if I first did a coat of grey acrylic paint, it would help to seal the chipboard and create a more even surface.

For the asphalt, I used Woodland Scenics Top Coat. Lovely stuff that goes on smoothly and evenly. And since the grass and buildings should cover the edges, I didn’t have to be too careful. Hopefully…

Day Three
Today was all about grass and tracks. Fun but very, very nerve wracking. Again, I had practiced a little on the underside of the board, but large areas are another matter.

The grass, more Woodland Scenics stuff, goes in layers, each separated by a mist spray of Scenic Cement. It’s tricky, trying to add just the right amounts of “burnt undergrowth”, “weeds” and “grass” but also kinda fun playing God.

The tracks presented their own challenge. I had originally planned to attach them to the board with putty, so I could reuse them later. Unfortunately, the putty doesn’t hold that strongly, and the ballast didn’t fully cover it, leaving nasty white blobs every track length. So I’ve gone with Super Glue. At least nothing should shift. Ballasting the tracks was fun, spilling piles onto the tracks and then dry brushing it all just how I like it…

Day Four
Placing the buildings is the beginning of the hard work of figuring out the details, like which ways will the streets run and do those make sense – ok, I know no one will actually drive through this town, but I just like knowing that if I was shrunk to 150th my size, I could actually live here.

I’ve decided to only putty a few of the buildings down to the asphalt so that I can move the other ones around as I sticker on the road markings and start erecting sign posts and such…

Day Five and Six and Seven and…
I have new-found respect for city planners. Even though my town’s layout is tiny and contained, it has taken me hours and hours to figure out not only how traffic will flow, but how to sign it. I’ve even had to re-arrange some of my buildings so that traffic moves in a logical way. Plus, there’s the fact that they drive on the left in Japan, giving my brain an extra workout flipping everything “backwards”.

I’ve also spent countless hours so carefully studying Japanese road markings on Google Maps that I am convinced I could pass a driver’s test in Tokyo.

But there is still so much work to do that I will have to blog about it all later, when I have time to actually finish this town properly. I still have to put up more road signs, telephone polls, traffic lights, lamp posts, commercial signs, catenary polls, electrical towers, trees and so on and so on.

It’s going to take far more time than I had planned, but my god, it’s going to be beautiful…

We can now walk the streets of Tokyo from anywhere in the world thanks to Google Street View Tokyo.

I am never leaving my computer again.

Rating

Synopsis
Many stories were lost with the Titanic, including that of Arsène Lupin who – according to Dragon of Doom – died trying to steal a mysterious and powerful golden statuette. Now his grandson has been hired by a Hong Kong crime boss to complete the mission by diving down to the recently discovered ship. Little does Lupin III know that capturing the dragon is only the beginning of an adventure that will eventually pit him against his oldest and most loyal friends.

Reactions
I’m not a big Lupin head – even though I’ve cosplayed as him a couple of times. I’ve only seen Castle of Cagliostro and a handful of episodes of the show, so I didn’t have many expectations for Dragon of Doom. My only concern, actually, was that since this movie is so recent – 1994 – they were going to do one of those “re-inventions” of the character, where they try to find deeper emotional motivations and backstory explanations. I’m looking at you, Dr. Who.

Thankfully, Dragon keeps it simple. It’s a thrilling heist movie with twists and turns you don’t always expect. The characters are true to themselves, fitting into their traditional roles with aplomb. The only disappointment is Zenigata, the bumbling Interpol inspector on a life-long mission to capture Lupin, who is used solely as comic relief. If he was a real threat to stop Lupin, he could have added another layer of tension to the film. Thankfully, there are enough challenges for Lupin to deal with that the movie moves along briskly and is tonnes of fun.

Another reason to watch Dragon is because it holds a special place in the Lupin universe – it is the last performance of Lupin’s classic voice actor Yasuo Yamada, who died less than a year after the film’s release. In my limited experience of his work, this is a fitting testament to his legacy.

Highly recommended for fans and newbies.

Rating:

Synopsis
Tadayasu Sawaki can see microbes. And not just under a microscope, but floating around in the air all the time. Plus, he can hear their conversations and even – occasionally – get them to do his bidding. But when it comes to superpowers, there’s not much you can do with this one, unless your archenemy is really prone to athlete’s foot. So, Tadayasu enrolls in an agricultural university in hopes of using his powers for good – well, actually, his family forces him to go so he can look after the family business – The Sawaki Yeast Shop.

Reations
Sometimes I look at all the new anime releases of the season and think “do we really need more moe/harem/magical girl/recycled mecha shows?” And then something like Moyashimon comes along.

This show is very, very odd on a number of levels. The obvious one is a main character who can interact with microbes. I’m also going to guess this is the first anime ever set in an agricultural university. Then, there’s the obsession, that runs through all the episodes, with fermentation. Before this show, I really never put much thought into it, but I am now fascinated by the thought of millions of unseen – and incredibly cute – little bastards flying around helping to perfect everything from soy sauce to cigars. There’s also an occasional scene right out of a high school biology class, which I found a little tedious. And then there’s the “slice of school life” with all the relationship problems and usual challenges, like fighting a huge ninja-wrestler hell bent on keeping you locked into the campus.

All of this, packed into 11 episodes. This show is remarkably efficient – ideas and concepts aren’t dragged out – with so few episodes, there’s no time for wistful looks and tiresome montages. And by choosing a small cast, only about 7 main characters, you really get to know them and, like Genshiken, wish you could all drink sake together.

One more odd thing I will point out is the flag of the university which looks almost identical to the flag of Portugal. Turns out the similarity is not a coincidence. According to Wikipedia, the Department of Agriculture building is a replica of the University of Coimbra (which I’ve visited!). Is it a stretch to assume that one of the manga/show’s writers studied biology in Portugal? This show just gets more and more interesting…