The Ziggurat of Doom

So, in addition to the 1:1 scale Gundam, Japan has another life-size giant robot. A 1:1 scale model of Tetsujin 28 (18 m high) was completed in Kobe in Falll 2009. Here’s some more info on it. If you don’t know who Tetsujin 28 is, be ashamed of yourself.

Money quote from 2nd article:
“The only thing I would change about the statue itself are the eyes – they’re painted and therefore opaque, when they could have been semi-translucent and lit from within like the street lamps – though that may have sent the statue into dangerously awesome territory causing everyone to pee their pants.”

Thanks to Sabah for the heads-up on this.

You should know that Gurren-Lagann has a Manga. This is hardly surprising. It also has a High School AU Manga. Which is hilarious.

It also has this.

Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion.

Microsoft comes out with official OS-tan for Win7. She’s got a wallpaper and sound set in Win7 Ultimate (though I’d assume only in Japan) and she’s voiced by Nana Mizuki.

I’ve been watching Brotherhood recently, and I’ve noticed that you can get subbed episodes of it–and some other anime, a chunk of which I think is newish–at both the tubes and Hulu. As in, you can legitimately watch it. For reals. I am happy to see that the companies with the rights to these things are starting to make them above-the-table available outside of Japan. Here’s hoping the trend continues.

What, no entries in two weeks? You guys remember how to write blog posts, yah?

Anyway, since I don’t have an Anime blog like the Fool does, I figured I’d bend your ear for a moment to describe some of the shows I’m watching currently.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Possible the best mecha show anyone has ever produced ever, this show is the proprietor of the patent-pending Exponentially Increasing Awesomeness Curve. It starts fairly slow and with a narrow view, following two guys from the underground caverns as they reach for the surface. It ends with both feet firmly planted on the train to crazytown, with such amazing awesomeness as a guy, piloting a mecha, which is piloting another mecha, which itself pilots the moon. Yes, the whole goddamn moon. Obviously not for everyone, but if you have ever enjoyed a series with giant robots in it, you NEED to watch this.

RideBack
A series which mixes, of all things, mecha, motorcycle racing, and ballet. A ballet dancer sustains an injury which renders her unable to dance. She finds a hobby in the RideBack, a half motorcycle, half-robot, which can stand balancing on two wheels. Kind of an interesting show, although I have only seen a few episodes of it so far.

Gundam 00
After forty years of Gundam, including somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 anime productions, several movies, and untold volumes of manga, Sunrise/Bandai may have finally figured out how to make a Gundam series. There’s legitimate character development, interesting political divisions, no horrid pacing problems, and neat mobile suits.

Sengoku Basara
Ok, so I haven’t actually started watching this one yet, but I sure am going to. It features Sengoku-era fighters (~1550-1800) in modern-day Japan, only… with a little bit of ridiculous thrown in. What kind of ridiculous you ask? I have been told that one battle in the anime features two fighters wielding six swords each, and when they clash there is a nuclear explosion. You know what? Just watch the opening.

I was informed by a co-worker today that there exists a shonen-ai doujin called “Billionaires.” As this site says, it’s the story of four silicon valley tech CEOs in boy’s love style.

It has Larry Ellison & Steve Jobs. Everyone needs to read it.

Some people have been… well, a generous word is “unhappy” with the changes George Lucas made to the Star Wars franchise, especially the retroactive insertions/deletions/changes and Jar Jar Binks.

Some fans at a Star Wars con in Japan decided that they needed a fitting monument.

Japanese man finds woman living in his closet. Apparently he was puzzled by mysterious disappearing food.

So, Arcana Heart.

• System: Playstation 2
• Publisher: Atlas
• Genre: 2D Fighter

You will now learn everything you need to know about Arcana Heart: One, all of the characters are female, and moreso, represent various, often extremely specific moe fetish archetypes. Two, it plays a lot like Guilty Gear.
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I’m about 2/3 through the new Spring Anime (started last week mostly). If you’re interested, here’s what I thought so far

Hello and welcome to this edition of Gundam Report.

In the news today, Shinjuku’s Kamiigusa station has begun erecting a large Gundam statue at the entrance to the station.

I find the pose suitably filled with JUSTICE.

Edit: Link with more pictures in crazy moon language for those of you who can read it

Gonzo’s parent company is trying to offer same-day English-subtitled anime simulcasts on free streaming video services (i.e. youtube) and may also be considering a higher-res fee-based service.

For anybody interested in the Mai HiME / Mai Otome franchise, fansubs for the new “Sifr” OAV came out tonight. Good times. Again, they focus on the strengths of the Otome franchise: high velocity action scenes, and lesbian fan service. Also, there is a dude with a cape and a mustache. He sets a cyborg on fire.

Perhaps today you would like to watch a video of a man wearing nothing but a horse mask dancing to the Kefka fight music whilst he cooks some wild mushrooms

So one of the anime blogs I read sometimes is Riuva (nsfw), because the guy who runs it is pretty cool. He used to post a lot of stuff about anime figurines. Now he is studying to become Azuma Kazuma a food scientist. The result? Entries about the science of cooking steak interposed with random anime girl pictures.

Japan has Musicified their roads by altering the distance between rumble strips to produce variations in tone at certain speeds.

While awesome, I would just like to say that my dad thought of this when I was 12 or so. Come on Japan, get it together. Come out with your new taco-dildo-blender already.

Via Slashdot, six bureaucrats at the Japanese Agricultural ministry have been reprimanded for editing wikipedia articles on the job, including over 250 articles about robots in anime.

One minister on the scandal: “The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam.”

I think Christian’s quote about giant robots is fitting here: “The Japanese are just incontinent when it comes to giant robots. They’re doing their best to hold it in and then… oops, robot.”

So, some of you may remember the Witch-Touching Game.

They’re releasing a mousepad for it, with a special stylus that you can use to perfect your witch-touching, with a visual guide for those of you too nerdy or out of it to know where to touch…

Also, the bazongas are apparently the integrated wrist-rest, which is just too weird for words.

It’s about a month in to the new anime season in Japan. I’ve given a brief blurb on the shows I’ve actually bothered to watch. Naturally ymmv, but if you’re looking for things to check out I’ve tried to note the bad / generic-but-good / cool.

Quick Summary of Spring Season « Gnostic Lone Wolf Poetry

So Japan has this one game that’s basically a “Massively Multiplayer J-Pop Teen Idol Career Building Sim” (and now mecha anime spinoff).

Some other crazy Japanese people decided it was an awesome idea to turn it into even crazier shit than it already probably was.

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