["As I turned around, Misaka Kaori was standing there"] 10/21/06- 13:50:14 EST by: wildarmsheero

Sorry for that two week delay. Stuff happened, as it usually does. In any case, there's a new comic now so it's all good. I guess I'm kind of on the fence about this one. On one hand, the backgrounds are actually fairly decent (trying out a new technique) and the drawings for panels two and three aren't bad. The repeated panel of Rets bothers me because I just didn't draw him that well. He looks as if he's about to fall over. As far as the script goes, it's pretty much as the title says. This comic is taken from my own personal experience, almost word-for-word. It's really quite sad. I don't really see that guy too much though, so that makes me kind of happy. It'd be so hilarious if he happened to stumble upon the site.

There is also a new podcast up. In this episode me, Rah-Rah and Os kick back and talk about some shows airing this lovely fall season. I'm quite happy with it actually, so give it a listen. No BGM this time though. Sorry.

Oh, and it looks like this guy Kurogane linked us. I know already e-mailed him about this, but thanks Kurogane! Glad you like the comic :D

Last time I wrote at length here, I talked about how much I loved Death Note. Well, at least Death Note's first episode. I liked the first episode so much that I went out and blew good $32 on the first four volumes of the manga. I really enjoy the manga, the first three volumes especially, but the anime seems to have just gone down hill after episode one. Episode two had a lot of instances where stills were used, and if I recall correctly, there was a spot of reused animation. Episode three didn't help much either, as the quality in that one was just bad. Well, at least compared to the first episode. People at this point will say, "But Death Note is mostly inner monologues and mind games, you can't expect too much movement out of a story like that!" I would agree with this if the first episode wasn't so well done. The first episode took the source to a new level. It really brought still comic frames to life. Instead of just having Light note down the names in still frames, the director went to town and produced an absolutely beautiful scene where Light shoots his arms out in any given direction whenever he passes judgment, while the camera zooms in on him from many angles. That was very creative way to handle something that could have been simply bland in film format. Now it just seems they're doing a by the book adaptation which isn't taking that many risks. I mean, it's still entertaining, but after all the WOW episode one delivered, I'm not impressed.

I am however consistently impressed by Kanon. KyoAni's really going all out with this title. The first three episodes have all been beautifully produced. Episode three had an especially good scene where they had the camera circle around Yuuichi. It did a good job of mimicking live-action camera work. The gradual thinning out of the snow was just the icing on the cake. I don't have too much to say about this other than that I am WOW'd.

Given that I said most of my opinions in the podcast, I won't repeat them here. I'll just give a short ranking of all the shows I've decided to pick up, now that I've seen most of them. Kanon > Black Lagoon II > Lovedol > Negima!? > Code Geass > Bartender > Death Note > Hataraki Man > Ayakashi Ayashi > Pumpkin Scissors

Before I close this, I'd like to mention one thing. It's kind of really old news by now, but I want to mention it. Mac Hall's ending took me by surprise. I've never actually followed a webcomic (I don't follow many) until the end. I kind of felt a little something given that Mac Hall mostly inspired me to get into webcomics. I hope Ian actually gets around to producing this second stage that he's talking about but... I'm not holding my breath :P

Anyway, that's all for this week. See you all next time.

the never ending maid wars