Well, we have another entry into the magical school genre, but this one tries to be something more than, say, “Negima!” or “The Irregular”. But things get muddled. Welcome to the world of “Trinity Seven”.

Kasuga Arata (do you need help in finding the guy?) lived a normal life together with his childhood friend and cousin, Hijiri Kasuga, in a small town. However, everything changed on the day of the Black Sun, and a magus (mage) appeared before him. The Black Sun caused the Breakdown Phenomenon which destroyed the town where he lived. Because of this, his normal life was artificially reconstructed by a grimoire that his childhood friend had left. The appearance of the magus led him to a new life in the Royal Biblia Academy and meeting the members of the Trinity Seven. And who are these members? I am glad you asked! From left to right, we have: (more…)

“Shiro Bako” (“White Box”) tells the story of five girls from high school who want to make it in anime. Having personally worked in television, radio, movies and theater, I could really connect with the problems that occurred. It’s just that they have ALL the problems happening. You can get a lot of them, but not both complete pages of the menu. Still, it makes for good stories and the overall idea of seeing if you can overcome adversity to attain your dreams.

In Kaminoyama High School, animation club members and good friends (left to right), Misa Tōdō, Ema Yasuhara, Aoi Miyamori, Midori Imai and Shizuka Sakaki, put together a really stunning anime for the cultural festival. All state they want to get into the anime industry. We flash forward two and a half years later. Ema and Aoi both work for Musashino Animation. Ema is a key animator and Aoi is a production assistant. Misa works in 3D animation for computer graphics studio Super Media Creations. Midori is in college, learning to be a scriptwriter and Shizuka is a voice actress for Akaoni Production, but is still trying to land a position. She works as a waitress otherwise. (more…)

The second season of “Sword Art Online” is out, and they did the same thing on this approach as with the last version, and that is to have two full story arcs. The first 14 episodes, “Phantom Bullet”, have Kirito as a kind of cyber cop. There is a new VRMMMORPG called “Gun Gale Online”, a real shooter game. A character walks about named “Death Gun” who shoots another character and they disappear. It later turns out that the real-life person whose character was shot in the game is dead.

This happens two more times and people are scared that there is a way for your avatar to get shot in the game and that it kills the real you. Kirito is asked by Kikuoka Seijiro of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Virtual Division to investigate this. He dives back in and signs up to be in the Bullet of Bullets competition, where he proves himself to be very competent, despite using a light saber…..I mean, a Photon Sword. There is a real funny incident involving his character, but I’ll let you find that one yourself. Kirito is befriended by Sinon, a sniper person in the game, who has severe psychological problems outside the game (can’t reveal; plot point). (more…)

I once made the comment that one of the most worthless jobs in the world was Rock Concert Reviewer. By the time your review gets into the paper, the show, which the reader potentially did not see, has already moved on to the next venue and, possibly, the one after that. And just because they had a fabulous show in Kankakee is not a guarantee that they will have a fabulous show in Kokomo. Such is the nature of these live events.

And let’s say you and a pal can go see the show at the same time. You thought it was marvelous and you wet your pants. He thought it was too loud and too boring and he will wet YOUR pants. What does this all mean?

Overall, this was a pretty good con and certainly better than the last time I went, despite the rocky start and some on-going glitches. There were a few panels that I would have liked to have gone to and there were some things I missed altogether. They had a Steampunk Convention going on at the same time, but I had my hands full with anime, so I could never take it in. Also, the hotel was way the puddings out there, so it was bypassed. (more…)

Well, I did have plans to take in something on the last day, like an Adventure Time panel or Manga as Literature: Naruto (what?) but I just could not get my keester out of bed in a timely manner and the daughter was even worse than I. Since the viewing options were all shows I had seen or, if I hadn’t seen it, they were doing a 4 am presentation for it, I decided to take in both the Vendor’s Room and Artist Alley. You do need to bring home trinkets or souvenirs of your little sojourn to prove you were actually there and not pretending to be elsewhere and someone did the work for you. Also, I never had a genuine opportunity to really check it out on any other day. Yes, I was hoping for Going-Home Bargains. They had them, but either not what I wanted or not in quantities I could obtain.

I had to check out from my digs, but that was a great advantage. Since our hotel was well beyond beyond, I did not have that mad, chaotic, end-of-the-world crush that usually accompanies conventions and Get Away Day. Mine was reasoned, disciplined and mannered and I had free coffee. Also, with my car outside the room (yeah, I know, hotel vs motel), I could pack it right up and not have to wait for the Bell Captain to bring up the luggage dolly or fight with the elevators going down (as I knew two of the hotels had troubles with that). And I found an all-day lot for a good price to stow the car really close by. Now, with that part of the logistics taken care of, let’s go buy…something! (more…)

Whew! That was a really hard Saturday night/Sunday morning. The daughter really wanted to hit up the gaming room, so she got in at 3 am. Now, our hotel is about a block-plus away from the shuttle point, but I did not want her walking in a relatively safe area at that time, so she wakes me up to come retrieve her. That’s what a father does, even though it rumples my sleep. Well, she got in so late that I went to my early Sunday panels alone, permitting her to sleep….until noon!??!

I ventured out early, as I really wanted to grab that Admiral’s Guide to KanColle (Kantei Collection). Now, I am working on a review for this series, but it’s basically girls as battleships. I thought they would be taking about the series, but they talked about the online game. Well……..This was an odd panel, as the person who knew about the game was trapped in Phoenix AZ, so we communicated by Bluetooth. Too bad that it was a bit of a snoozer, as the person did not really explain how the game really worked. He was more focused on how you get in to play this game, even though it is Japan only, and not what steps you need to defeat your enemy. I ended up bailing on the end of it. (more…)

Saturday is usually the busiest day for an anime convention. Not all of the venues can take advantage of a Monday holiday (like Fanime! can), and since some folks can’t take off the whole run of it, they usually invest it all in one day. And if you have a Sunday to recover before heading back to the grind on Monday, there you have it. It’s just that EVERYONE showed up.

We had protesters. The first ones were the Religionists. They come to these venues to complain long and loud how these people are engaged in idolatry, as they dress up like Luffy or Edward Elric or Sailor Moon and have forsaken the Lord. The problem is they are not going to get a lot of folks on their side when they stand on their soapbox, waggling a sign at me and bray (and I quote) “If you have ever lied, stolen or looked with lust at someone, God sees you as a lying, thieving, adulterer-at-heart and hell is just because God is holy!” So I’m going to hell because I sold my immortal soul to Naruto? Like that idiot would know what to do with it? (more…)

OK, so I got myself ready for Fanime! They had a schedule up and ready at the site! Oh, boy! All I have to do is print it off……all I have to do is print it off…..all I have to do is…what the hell is wrong with this damn thing? They had a pocket schedule, so you knew when was when, but I could not get the flarping thing to print! I needed a special program, at a special website to print it off, but I kept blowing it. Why won’t you damn print? Am I that big of a Luddite? Or am I an anime dad and needing the daughter to do this? Uh…I had to have the daughter do this.

The plan was very simple: we’d leave here at 7 am or so for the 45 minute drive, getting to the venue at 8 am, as that is when the Registration Line opened. Now, since the first events didn’t start until 10 am, in case things took longer, we’d be prepared for that. The first part went well, as the daughter got her badge in about 30 minutes. Perhaps it was a madhouse on Day #0, as I could see the huge set-up for folks, and we avoided all that, even though there was a large amount of people. They fed through tidily; good job. Mine did not go as well. Aside from coming in as Press, I had the devil’s time finding the ProReg (Professional Registration) room. When I did find it, I was rather curtly told that they wouldn’t be open until 10 am. As Press, I do not expect to be treated better than regular people, but I should’t be treated worse. (more…)

As I have mentioned once before, if you are into anime, even just slightly, you should go to at least one convention, just to see what it is like. There is a calendar of events on the internet that you can get to, showcasing all the cons around the nation (and Canada! Yes, they like anime in Canada, eh?) both big and small, although I do recommend trying out the smaller ones first, so you get a better understanding as to what they are like. Don’t want to jump into the deep end too quickly. The lifeguard might not notice and you could sink to the bottom pretty fast.

In my neck of the woods, we have Fanime!, which is a problem when you type it in too fast. It can easily come up as ‘famine’, so instead of getting snaps of people cosplaying as Dragon Ball Z, you see photos of starving people and cracked lands and many degrees of unpleasantness. (Curse you, SpellCheck!) Now, this one is run by fans, for fans, and that is nice, in one sense, as you certainly get a huge amount of zeal and enthusiasm that is sometimes lacking from the larger venues. But that can work against you as well, for no amount of passion can make up for a non-understanding of logistics. (more…)

As a bother-in-arms companion piece to “Denkigai no Hon’ya-san”, we have “Gekkan Shōjo Nozaki-kun” (“Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun”), which tells the tale of a manga artist who is somewhat successful in his endeavor.

High school student Chiyo Sakura (red head up there) has a crush on schoolmate Umetaro Nozaki (the one off her left). When she confesses her love to him, he mistakes her for a fan and gives her an autograph. When she says that she always wants to be with him, he invites her to his house and has her help on some drawings. Chiyo discovers that Nozaki is actually the renowned manga artist Sakiko Yumeno. She then agrees to be his assistant in order to get closer to him. As they work on his manga Let’s Fall in Love, they encounter other schoolmates who assist them or serve as inspirations for characters in the stories. (more…)