Uknighted Manganime Life is too short to watch bad anime

Between being an admin and an editor for THEM anime, I’ve been left rather shorthanded with time as far as watching anime and writing about it goes, especially in regard to my position here in Manganime. However, if there’s one tradition I will not shirk, then that would be the annual Christmas updates here.

In that spirit, I would like to introduce — not only yet another non-anime title — but not even an animated one this time around. It stars, amongst other people, the gentleman on the left, who should be well known to most people who are of the age 20 or above, back when the Muppet Show still made the rounds, even on Norwegian TV.

Yes, it’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, maybe one of the best know and certainly one of the oft adapted Christmas tales of all time.

Well over a year ago, I posted some pages from the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou manga that had been colored by a friend of mine. Since it’s been such a long time ago, I’ll just make a new post for the next batch. Come on in and have a look.

Hello, and welcome to another Christmas special from me. The last year, I brought you a review of maybe one of my biggest favorites in animation ever (which just happened to be a Christmas piece) and today, I will follow that tradition.

This year’s Christmas piece, however, doesn’t have great animation and isn’t really here for showcasing interesting animation techniques or being a visually spectacular piece. Instead, it presents a rather traditional view of the celebration of Christmas, and should therefor be familiar for most of you out there.

And it even stars one of the oldest and best known public icons for gluttony and greed; namely Garfield. Merry Christmas everyone.

One of my friends, who are working as a webdesigner, asked me to send him some black and white images he could practice coloring on. So, naturally, I sent him images taken straight from the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou manga. And he seriously did an amazing job on them.

So, within this post is the pictures he’s colored so far. I will, of course, add more as I receive them. I hope the YKK fans out there will like them.

What do you get when you take Japan, put it in the future where something has happened that made nature slowly reclaim the land and introduce a group of robotic humanoids into the mix? The most beautiful, soulful and emotionally challenging manga series ever made, that’s what. Read on and see what I thought of this manga series that, amazingly enough, STILL haven’t gotten an official US release. Sometimes, there is no justice.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything at all, so I hope I’ve made up some for that with this review. ^^;;

So yeah, me and Doink-chan has been synchroing this show for a while now, reacing the 28th episode last Saturday. And we’ve pretty much realized why the creator of Evangelion has this show as an inspiration.

So, it’s back to the glamorous aspects of highschool life with our favorite sixtet of dimwits. By the end of this little review, you would WISH for pirates to come raiding your home and smashing your monitor screen. And possibly just stabbing you where you stand.

I can say with absolute certainty that I will not be able to refrain from using expletives. And, needless to say, the images within this entry is NOT SAFE FOR WORK! So is most of my various screencap comments. (Hover mouse over screencap to read.)

So yeah, what starts out as a promising satire on the life and the self-image of high-school girls quickly turns into a pantsu-fest unlike anything I’ve seen earlier. Well, ok, so I’ve seen Najica Blitz Tactics and Agent Aika before, but at least they had more class than this. Note; I didn’t say they had class, just that they had MORE class than “High school girls” (except in a literal sense of course. Oh, and no pun intended.)

I will supply screenshots to why I think this is a major failure, and I may or may not be able to keep myself from using liberal amounts of expletives. Read with caution.

Edit: I just realized the title might lead you into thinking I’ve been watching shows about highschool girls WITHOUT panties. I assure you, that’s not the case. I was just trying to give you a warning about what to expect in this show, and this review for that matter. ^^;;

As the holidays close in, I would like to take the time to introduce you to one of my favorite animated works ever. Be aware that this isn’t actually anime per se. The Snowman is actually a British piece of animation based on a book by Raymond Briggs. Nominated for an Oscar (back when that actually MEANT something) and winner of the British Academy Award for best children’s entertainment in 1982, this is a true classic in my book.

I have taken a LOT of screencaps for this article, though you should know that the screencaps in no way does any justice to this movie. It’s simply a feature that has to be seen to be believed. And you should.

Note: If you’re feeling particularly brave, you can always hover the mouse over the screenshots to be subjected my rather dry and occationally horribly corrupted sense of humor.

Apparently, the anime gods have decided that I have suffered enough lately, so they provide me with a double helping of healing salve. Aria is quickly shaping up to be my favorite anime of the year, and today’s episode is certainly no exception. Read on and see for yourselves.