Since I never finished watching the first series, and the second was coming out, I powered through it this weekend. It was actually pretty good for a Mecha show, with some interesting side stories that come from the setting (A colony seed ship passing through territory infested with the same monsters that destroyed the Earth, and no compunctions by the leadership against a little genetic engineering on the population.) There are of course, those moments where you facepalm over physics (They have artificial gravity, but maneuvering with the main thrusters is not compensated for). But the MC, while a bit confused at first because he was virtually a bubble boy - raised in the catacombs beneath the city with no companionship but the flight simulator and his grandfather, the best fighter in history and the man he was cloned from - is not some ball of angst like most leads in a mecha show. He gets past his cluelessness, except about girls, and the not-quite-a-girl who really likes him (genetic engineering, again).

But the interesting thing I just ran across is this.  Here's an image generated with the character models on Deviant Art. Apparently the producers of the show have released some of the character models, with armatures, compatible with Blender, at sidonia-3dmodel.com. I haven't tried to navigate the site yet, but I will. Because Thigh Boots.

Posted by: Mauser at 11:38 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just saw a trailer for a Live Action Attack on Titan. Annoyingly, Facebook doesn't show YouTube links, so I couldn't find it off the cuff like this comment, but if this sounds like your thing, it's out there.

ETA: Found it:

Posted by: Mauser at 04:24 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Over on my writing blog, I've written a post about the Hugo voting system and a possible improvement. One that isn't quite as politically targeted and mathematically incomprehensible as what they're discussing over at Making Light.

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One of the most irritating things about trying to follow anime (Aside from not having enough time to watch it (Damned mandatory overtime and higher priority household chores)) is that since it's an unpaid fan activity, well, it's not always reliable.

And man, when it comes to unreliable fansub groups, can I pick 'em or what?

I'm especially good at picking groups that start off strong, get the A+ rating, and then fall apart three episodes before the end, when you're entirely invested in their version of things. Given my download speeds, invested is a carefully chosen word. (I have found some tricks, like changing my port to 80, since my ISP would DIE if they blocked web traffic, but since UDP port 80 is reserved for their network management, it kills a lot of trackers, unless I start on a random port then switch over after I've got enough peers. I have graphs that are appalling proof of their practice, just waiting for the FCC.).

It's probably more prevalent on shows that HorribleSubs is also running.  My latest ire is directed at DameDameDesuYo, for their slow releases of Junketsu no Maria. Episode 10 just came out. everyone else is up to 12. But everyone else is HorribleSubs, and all the groups that re-encode HorribleSubs. (I really don't get the point of that).

The shows that I've been downloading, but not watching as loyally, they're finishing up on time.

Before, it's been Commie that drives me up the wall. But whatever it is, I just have this uncanny ability to hitch my wagon to the slowest mule.

Updated to add: DDY came though, and I just got the last couple of episodes. Maria had a happy ending. In fact, everyone had a happy ending, it was almost too pat, how it all got wrapped up. But actually, I was satisfied with it. Definitely not a typical story. I'm not entirely sure how to approach the write-up.

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Still saving things for a full write-up. Although one comment I wanted to throw out there is that while Maria is against the war and killing and death and such, this show is not some anti-war polemic. Save that for 15-year-old Gundam pilots who whine, "War is so horrible! Why do I have to be so good at it?" I saw another review that didn't quite get that, and thought that as an anti-war polemic, it didn't quite make good sense.

Mostly all of the characters have contradictory beliefs to struggle with. Maria is in love with a young man, but thanks to a bit of a curse the Archangel Michael laid on her, if she has sex, she loses her magic. (Said young man is torn between his love for Maria and his duty to his Lord.)

Unfortunately, word of this curse reaches the high priest, and the local lord, and they send a mercenary who has no love for her interference in his battles to, ahem, relieve her of her magic. By a strange turn of fate, he is interrupted before he can complete the deed, but Maria still seems to have lost her magic, and that is when the church and their forces seize her.

Which goes to show, you can keep your virginity and still be totally fucked.

I expected this mostly to be a sex comedy, especially since all the witches send their familiars to go off and molest the generals to influence the tides of battle, and make a bit of money (Although one English witch conducts some of her affairs in person). But Maria's conflict and her willfulness, and principles, all conspire to put her in exactly the wrong place. In the scene above, she is brought before the village she protected and who loved her in order to be rejected and humiliated. (And then in an even WORSE fate, she ends up in a cell with the head priest who has a philosophical revelation, all of which goes over her head as he quotes more and more philosophers.)

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This is fun:

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I just wanted to reiterate my recommendation of Junketsu no Maria. I'll definitely do a full-write-up when the series completes.

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I have actually been sitting at home all day since Tuesday evening, but I haven't been able to watch or do much of anything. I'm in the process of fighting off a Staph infection that has invaded my left shin. I'm running two different antibiotic courses, and changing a lot of gauze (TMI deleted). But in the meantime, I have very little energy. But on the plus side, I am feeling a lot better and can walk without pain again, and some of the swelling has gone down.

This isn't my first time, that was 2008 in the other leg, and that one was worse. WAY worse. I felt like I was gonna die.  But obviously I didn't.

Anyway, thanks for all the comments on the Silver Hair post, I think that was a record!

I won't be posting any related pictures to the topic of THIS post though. You can thank me later.

Posted by: Mauser at 12:42 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Sheesh, what time of the evening do they run this thing? There's a group bathing scene (With lots of Buy the BD glow all over it) that I swear made me wonder if I'd accidentally DLed some Hentai.

Alas, no Rubber Ducks in the bathroom, although the school nurse has red half-rims. I feel safe saying the latter here since I know I'm not spoiling the hunt.

I don't have any hunts, really. Although I'm notorious on DeviantArt for pointing out when artists draw buckles backwards. But that's not really a positive thing to hunt.

Posted by: Mauser at 05:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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