Yus!

If the second season of the criminally undersold Arakawa Under the Bridge didn’t wow you, don’t worry – the prequel to Nisio Isin’s famed ghost story series Bakemonogatari is going to be animated by Shaft soon. With Kizumonogatari in the pipes, fans can now rest assured that the hit 2009 anime is going to get much, much more anime. Kizumonogatari takes place before Bakemonogatari, and covers the strange sequence of events that turned Koyomi into a vampire, then cured him. Also of interest, it shows how Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade became the quiet little Lolita she is in the main story. No date or format has been announced for the new series, which is probably for the best.

With this announcement, it becomes very safe to say that every -monogatari story in the series is going to get its turn getting animated by the overworked people at Shaft. Whether or not they’ll be completed in time for release is another question entirely, thanks to the now-infamous missing scenes scattered throughout the Bakemonogatari anime. That’s good, because the hard-working Nisio Isin is scheduled to bring out a new novel every three months until December of next year.

Not content with finishing up Nekomonogatari (“Tsubasa Tiger”) in October, he’s following them up with Keimonogatari (“Mayoi Jiang-Shi”) in December and Hanamonogatari (“Suruga Devil”), Otorimonogatari (“Nadeko Medusa”), Onimonogatari (“Shinobu Time”), and Koimonogatari (“Hitagi End”) in 2011. Shaft’s going to fall behind at this rate – but then again, no one really expects them to be on time anymore.

In other news, this is the most hyphens I have ever used in a single post. I felt like mentioning that.

He’s a fat, sharpshooting otaku with a glasses fetish and a yen for military hardware.

Also presented for your consideration: Hirano Kouta, the author of Hellsing, as of his appearance at Anime Expo in 2005:

Back then, when they announced the Hellsing Ultimate OVA, he went on the record as saying he has a glasses fetish. Does he have a gun fetish, too? You be the judge:

According to the Japanese Wikipedia, Hirano Kouta himself is very much aware of his manga doppelganger. He put a note in one of his Hellsing afterwords that said “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go kill zombies at my high school.”

There are definitely worse ways to be paid homage.

Image from Risarule on pixiv.

Rosario + Vampire is a strange beast – it’s a manga I got into because the anime was so dumb, I had to see what redeeming qualities the manga had. Because, let’s be frank about this, the anime has pretty much nothing going for it, except the opening and ending themes are sung by Mizuki Nana. People kept telling me that the manga was better whenever I watched an execrable episode of the anime, and they were right – it’s definitely an improvement over the plotless blob of merchandising that called itself an anime, though I still have some reservations about it.

Let’s get this out of the way from the outset: the main draw of Rosario + Vampire is the art, especially of the girls wearing costumes or kicking high. RosaVam has no illusions about being great literature, or even mildly above average – it’s a fan service vehicle that has fun characters and an interesting rogue’s gallery of monsters and villains thanks to its “monster school” setting. With that said, it’s still very enjoyable on a basic level. The art is nice to look at (especially with the second series, as Ikeda Akihisa’s art has improved by leaps and bounds since he started), and as much as I complain about shows built around their fan service, I have to admit that the RosaVam manga does its eye candy very, very well.

But if it was just eye candy, I would have lost interest and stopped reading it long ago (see: Ichigo 100%). What interests me about RosaVam is its characters. Strip away the short skirts, the various bondage references, and the rest of the barrage of fan service, and you have a (much shorter) manga about a bunch of outcasts fighting to stick together for as long as they can.

You also have a much more interesting version of main character Aono Tsukune. In the anime, he’s a wishy-washy dweeb with no real personality, who attracts girls to himself with mild kindness. In the manga, he’s a pacifist who has to fight with his inner demons constantly, or else he’ll go berserk and have to be put down like a mad dog, and later, he has to turn that into the strength to protect himself and the little bit of peace he’s found. That’s what separates the manga from the anime: the anime exists to sell CD singles, boob mouse pads, and all sorts of other character-based merchandise, while the manga has a story with real drama, real conflict, and occasional “wow!” moments.

For example, the most recent volume of the manga introduces Otonashi San, a quiet and reserved girl who happens to be an alumni of the main characters’ school. She’s a siren, an ancient creature of the sea, but all she really wants in life is a warm, inviting place to call home. The other monsters in the area have other ideas, and want to turn her into a weapon for their plan of eliminating humans from the world. The main characters, Tsukune and his harem of monsters, not only have to protect her from a veritable army of beasts and monsters, but they have to help her gain acceptance from her human friend, whose husband was eaten by a monster very similar to San. It’s almost heartbreaking when San reveals her true nature to the woman who’s at once her boss, her best friend, and her surrogate mother, with every expectation that the woman will run away screaming. Moments like that are why I keep reading the book.

Of course, on the other side of the ledger, there are scenes like the one where Rubi ties herself up into a bondage fetish position because she “got bored.” And the loli references, and the constant boob-smashing, and the… well, let’s just say there’s a lot on the other side of the ledger. So you have to take the good with the bad with a manga like RosaVam – but at least with the manga, the good parts are good enough to keep you going.

The core members of Princess Resurrection‘s often-rotating cast are Hiyorimi Hiro, an ordinary boy who is strangely both expendable and immortal, and Hime, a princess of monsters who never loses her cool. Every chapter is basically a miniature horror movie: the two of them, plus any of their friends who happen to be around, are attacked by a host of supernatural menaces who have been sent by Hime’s rivals for the throne. They face a who’s who of classic movie monsters, representing every genre and every era of horror: there are pod people and zombies, ghost ships and vampires, masked murderers, and even a fly in a lab coat.

Almost all of the stories are self-contained, and most follow this formula:

1) Strange events start to occur around Hime and Hiro.
2) Hiro and a few others get caught in the monster of the week’s attack (Hiro gets back up later thanks to Hime’s magical bond with him, but any humans who are nearby aren’t so lucky).
3) Everyone has a tough time holding off the attack, except for Hime, who watches calmly and analyzes what has to be done.
4) Full-page or two-page spread of Hime brandishing a makeshift weapon, ready to take care of business.
5) Everyone comes out okay (except the ones who are dead), while Hime explains how she figured everything out.

The formula gets a bit tiresome around volume 6 or 7 even with the many variations on the formula offered by Mitsunaga, but it’s quite enjoyable for what it is. The presentation is excellent – Mitsunaga’s simple, clean art, plus his artistic, old-school sense of black and white, make each chapter a love song to the Nosferatu era of horror. The manga is great at imbuing the shadows and backgrounds with personality and life, and even in the “boring” parts of the manga, there is a lot to appreciate in the layout and use of darkness. Heck, the black and white pages even make the buckets of blood seem more artistic than excessive.

What makes Princess Resurrection repetitive after a while is Hiro’s ability to stand up after taking damage that would kill anyone else. While there is some minor, artificial danger when Hiro is separated from Hime and she’s unable to resurrect him, you always know that he’s going to be just fine in the end. Sure, there are casualties, but often you don’t get to know the character very well at all before they get offed in some kind of noble fashion, making them the equivalent of Star Trek redshirts.

Still, if you have an interest in horror or supernatural action, Princess Resurrection is worth a read. If you don’t like the formula, you can always put it down, and if you can appreciate it for what it is, you’ll enjoy every panel of it.

Image from Insidears via Seiyuu3

It was a busy weekend in anime news, with the new year looming and the winter anime season on the horizon, as well as the New Moon release bringing the New York Times’ attention to the Vampire Knight manga. But the big news for me was Kouhaku Uta Gassen, which finally put out its list of performers and included my favorite singer in the anime business, Mizuki Nana. You can be sure that the Tuesday Tunes will be more from her selection! In the meantime, enjoy the other news.

Mizuki Nana announced for Kouhaku Uta Gassen

Thanks to my friend houkoholic over in Japan, I got the good news this morning – late afternoon Japan time – that Mizuki Nana is going to be a performer for the red team this New Year’s Eve. Included in his post at seiyuu3 was a link to Mizuki Nana singing the Uta no Chikara (“The Power of Song”) theme for this year’s Kouhaku, which was written by famed composer Joe Hisaishi, who is best known for his work on pretty much every Ghibli movie ever, including My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. Check out the highlight reel of her announcement, including a clip of her song for the new White Album season.

FUNimation announces 4 anime licenses at AnimeUSA

Over the weekend, FUNimation announced what should be its last titles of the year, including a license rescued from the ruins of ADV and hopefully bound for a return to glory.

The three licenses announced by FUNimation are: Sekirei, Tetsuwan Birdy Decode, Full Metal Panic!, and my personal favorite off of this list, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. You can find official descriptions of each show over at the official FUNimation blog, but I’d like to make sure you guys have seen Fumoffu, which is my favorite anime comedy of all time. So, you know – pick it up! It’s super-cheap on Amazon…

Meanwhile, Sekirei is a decent harem comedy – you’ll be able to tell if you like it within five minutes of watching the season 1 summary. And as for Tetsuwan Birdy, I think I’ll talk about the manga today.

Vampire Knight makes the New York Times

In the wake of New Moon kicking up a new wave of vampire-mania, the New York Times highlighted the Vampire Knight manga in its best-seller list. It’s a nice little article, which begs the question – if it’s going to be so popular, why isn’t it on TV yet?

Dance in the Vampire Bund stars petite vampire Mina Tepes, the queen of all vampires. She ends centuries of shadow wars by announcing the existence of vampires to an unsuspecting world, then pays off the Japanese government to acquire a small, peaceful land for her “people” who wish to live in peace.

Peace doesn’t come easily, though, as fear and loathing on both sides of the vampire-human divide create heavy tensions and often lead to open violence. Mina’s werewolf bodyguard Akira is often caught in the middle due to his human disguise, and their love for each other is frequently endangered by hate, anger, and blood.

Dance in the Vampire Bund starts airing in January, but if you’re interested in getting a feel for the source material, Seven Seas Entertainment has released five volumes of the manga in English. Check out the trailer for the show below, but be warned: Dance in the Vampire Bund is for mature audiences, and you should expect some graphic violence and mild sexual content.