Book Review -- The Isolator

Today we have a Japanese light novel by Reki Kawahara entitled The Isolator: Volume II: The Igniter. For the uninitiated, a light novel is longer than a novella, but shorter than a full-length novel. This particular book is 186 pages not including the afterword.

 

For those (like me) who skipped the first volume, the story is fairly easy to follow. It centers around Minoru Utsugi, a student living in Tokyo who gets infected by a mysterious alien parasite called a Third Eye. He's not the only one, though, and others gets infected as well, each gaining a unique ability. Minoru gains the power to create an impenetrable shell around himself.

 

Minoru meets fellow Third Eye user Yumiko Azu who has the power to accelerate her body. She recruits him to join the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare's Industrial Safety and Health Department's Specialized Forces Division, or the SFD. There he meets other Third Eye users and their abilities. Their job is to protect mankind from the Ruby Eyes, Third Eye users with evil intent. Minoru agrees to join, but he isn't interested in saving lives. His real objective is to have all memories of him in everyone around him erased so no one will remember him.

In this volume, the SFD is up against Ayato Suka, a man who has the power to control fire. Suka is obsessed with oxygen and wants to cremate all of Tokyo, and unless he's stopped soon, he just might gain the power to do it. Minoru agrees to aid in the search, but he may not have the resolve to succeed. After all, he's in it for his own selfish reasons. However, as he grows closer to his fellow Third Eye users, he could actually find his conscious and the will to fight. Together, the SFD sets out to stop Suka, but what deadly tricks does he have up his sleeve?

 

A translated story is tricky to review because any problems you find might be due to the translation and not the author's skill. Nevertheless, I'm willing to share my thoughts here. The writing itself is somewhat basic and seems to be written for teenagers rather than adults. The narrative also switches between past and present tense in the middle of a scene, which bugs me. Again, I don't know if that's how the author wrote it or if it's a faulty translation, but this is the finished American product.

 

Regardless of translation, though, The Isolator is an entertaining story with compelling protagonists. Minoru isn't your typical hero since he's trying to make everyone forget he exists, and I find that very interesting. Yumiko is also a heroine who has her own problems but is easy to root for. And Suka, while not entirely devoid of clichés, still has his own angle.

 

Furthermore, the story has a cool comic book-inspired, superhero vibe which is really easy for a guy like me to get into. You can never go wrong with superpowers.

 

The book also includes some nice artwork to accompany the story. It certainly made it easy to visualize the characters.

 

However, I wouldn't get this book from Barnes & Noble. At $20, you're much better off buying a used copy off Amazon for less (hence the link below).

 

With plenty of questions that still need answering, I look forward to reading future entries in this series.

http://www.amazon.com/Isolator-Vol-2-Reki-Kawahara/dp/0316268895/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457842811&sr=1-3&keywords=The+Isolator

Kindle Spotlight -- Death and Doris

Today we  have a novella by Eddie J Green, entitled Death and Doris: Episode 1 (Escape Terminal). Modeled after anime such as .hack and Sword Art Online, is it worth your time?

 

The story centers around Everett Hall, a teenager with a incurable disease. His life consists of bouts of chemotherapy and agonizing nausea. One day, however, he receives an offer from the Escape Terminal Foundation to transfer his consciousness to an MMORPG called New Terminal while they work on a cure.

 

So he finds himself in a fantasy-themed online game. He chooses his name ("Everett Death"), his class (Hexer), his appearance, stats and skills. At first, his time in New Terminal is very liberating since he feels no sickness there. He soon meets a Berserker named Doris Night who asks to team up. Since anyone who dies in this world loses all medical support from Escape Terminal Foundation, Everett agrees to the alliance. They waste no time getting to work fighting monsters and leveling up.

 

But they quickly get in over their heads when they take on a particularly tough enemy and are saved by a mysterious Assassin named Miro Shade. In order to repay him, they agree to take on a seemingly simple quest. The quest turns out to be a lot more complicated than they bargained for, and tough decisions will have to be made in order to complete it.

 

And even if they succeed, they'll discover a sinister network of player-killers threatening the lives of people like Everett and Doris who depend on medical treatments from Escape Terminal Foundation for their survival in the real world. But our heroes will have to decide who they can trust in a world where everyone has secrets.

 

Death and Doris has a good story that's held back by a few things. First, Everett is annoyingly emo and keeps spouting cringe-inducing lines such as "You can't outrun the Reaper. The name's Everett Death, now take it to your grave." This bit gets old really fast.

 

Second, this book was very poorly edited; punctuation errors abound and you'll be spotting them with alarming regularity.

 

But, as I said, it has a good story. Green has included all the trappings of an MMORPG and you'll feel like you're playing one as you read. Also, the players' collective plight of playing the game to receive medical treatments makes them sympathetic and relatable, even though some of them do horrible things to one another. I especially like the fact that the longer they play the game, the more real-world memories they lose, lending a double-edged aspect to their adventures.

 

This is supposed to be the first in a long series of books. I look forward to future entries and hope Green will get them properly edited and ditch Everett's lame dialogue. That's all it will take for this series to become great.

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Doris-Episode-Escape-Terminal-ebook/dp/B01BQYRMCW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456027223&sr=1-1&keywords=Death+and+Doris

Manga Review -- Angel Beats: Heaven's Door

Today we have the manga companion to the stellar Angel Beats anime. This is Angel Beats: Heaven's Door Volume 1.

The story takes place before the anime. Average teenager Hinata wakes up at a mysterious school in an unknown place. His last memory is of being hit by a truck. The first person he meets is the student body president who doesn't give her name (but if you've seen the anime, you know exactly who she is). She tells him to get to class and he does, whereupon he discovers everyone somehow knows his name even though he's never met any of them.

He later has a deadly encounter with a headstrong girl named Yuri who introduces herself after kicking him off the roof of the school. Turns out, she did this to prove a very important truth: Hinata cannot die because they are already dead and this is the afterlife. Moreover, only a handful of the people at the school are actually real and the rest are more like computer programs.

We soon learn that Yuri holds a grudge against God (if you've seen the anime, you know why) and is determined to find Him in this world and punch Him in the face. But standing in their way is the student body president (whom they christen "Angel") and her mysterious powers. Yuri knows she'll need help taking down Angel, so she decides to recruit others to join her cause. Hinata brings on his vanilla roommate Ooyama, but will the three of them be enough to take down Angel and whoever else stands against them? Will they ever find God and beat Him senseless? And just who is the mysterious man holding a gun on them?

I was excited when I discovered this at Barnes & Noble and immediately purchased it. I can tell you I was not disappointed in the slightest. Angel Beats remains one of my all-time favorite anime, and this manga is a worthy companion to it. It retains the wit of the series (it's funny seeing Hinata continually kicked off the roof by Yuri whenever he annoys her), and I like seeing how the characters first met. Even though I know what will eventually happen, it's still fun watching it unfold. Finally, it's a heartfelt story with real emotions.

Angel Beats: Heaven's Door is a good time waiting to be had.

http://www.amazon.com/Angel-Beats-Heavens-Door-Vol/dp/162692189X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1455229452&sr=8-2&keywords=Angel+Beats

Cool Kickstarter Project -- Implosion: ZERO_DAY

I recently discovered a sweet new animation project out of Taiwan. It's called Implosion: ZERO_DAY and it's going to blow your socks off. Here's the info direct from the Kickstarter page:

Implosion – Never Lose Hope, was released in April 2015, and embodied a sci-fi based hack & slash game for the mobile platform. Set on bringing the AAA console gaming experience to mobile, Implosion received a Metacritic score of 93/100 as well as the coveted "editor's choice" on both AppStore and Google Play store. The characters were voiced by lead actors from the Resident Evil, Tekken, and Transformers franchises.

 

Implosion: ZERO_DAY, is a full-length feature animation, set twenty years before the events of the mobile game. By combining techniques from East and West, and sub-genres like High-Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Space Opera, this anime is sure to captivate audiences. From seasoned anime veterans to animation newcomers, ZERO_DAY has something to offer everyone. "A digital odyssey that urges the viewer to reconsider the way we interact as a species, and how we think about our place in the universe."

 

All regular matter, the entire Earth, and everything ever observed by humans, adds up to less than 5% of the “known” universe. Dark matter harbors the face of reality that is invisible to us; but what if the dark universe came out of hiding? In an age when our planet has been pushed beyond the limit of population control, the only viable alternative is to search for a new home. The technology that promised to take us to new stars has brought with it far more than we’ve bargained for. In the year 2179, Earth makes first contact with extra-terrestrial life, as a result of bold, scientific experiments in faster than light travel.

 

I encourage all of you to back this project pronto. For more info and reward levels, visit the official Kickstarter page at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/774031583/implosion-zero-day

 

 

James Review -- Bodacious Space Pirates: Abyss of Hyperspace: Volume 1

This week I decided to try something I haven’t done before: Namely reviewing a manga volume. The manga in question is Bodacious Space Pirates: Abyss of Hyperspace: Volume 1. 

The volume opens showing Captain Marika Kato of the space pirate--actually privateer--ship Bentenmaru raiding a cruise liner. There’s then a short section explaining the history of space piracy in the setting and that most current pirate activities are basically shows to entertain the passengers of cruise liners and such. Then there is a short scene with Marika discussing the job with her crew before returning home. 

And a brief meeting with her mother, a legendary former pirate in her own right, the next morning Marika heads to school for a meeting of the yacht club which she is president of. After a discussion of possible upgrades to the school’s space yacht and ideas for recruiting new members. Marika leaves for another raid  The scene then shifts to a young boy, Kanata Mugen, who receives a package from his father before being forced to flee an unidentified group. 

Back on the Bentenmaru, Marika finds that the job has been canceled, one of many recent cancellations due to a rash disturbances in hyperspace. However, they are given a new job which involves staging the kidnapping of Kanata. The scene then shifts to an interlude where the pirate ship Barbaroosa is attempting to escape a hyperspace whirlpool. 

The story then shifts to the raid on the passenger liner carrying Kanata where Kanata and Marika narrowly evade the agents pursuing him, and Kanata is revealed to be the son of a renowned hyperspace expert. But, shortly after leaving the passenger line,r the Bentenmaru finds itself being pursued by a trio of warships and is forced to make a risky course change while in hyperspace. 

However the troubles of their latest job might not leave Marika alone once she leaves the ship…

I give this volume 8.5 out of 10. It is a good beginning to a story but I wish that the pursuit sequences and raid to retrieve Kanata had more action. Also, while the Barbaroosa’s crew includes my favorite character from the franchise, I still feel that the Barbaroosa scene could have easily been saved for a later volume as I believe that placing it where it occurs doesn’t really benefit what is happening at that point in the story.

Cool Kickstarter Project -- Under the Dog

Recently I was made aware of a very cool Kickstarter project: Under the Dog. This anime comes to us from an uber-talented group of people who brought us such awesomeness as Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and Fire Emblem: Awakening. I immediately became a backer for it, and I urge all of you to do the same.

So what is Under the Dog? The Kickstarter page describes it as "An anime science fiction thriller that will explore what it means to live and die well, testing the limits of all we hold dear."

Here is the synopsis, pretty much copied and pasted from the page:

The year is 2025 in the city of Tokyo Bayside Special District, five years following the devastation wrought by a specially enhanced groups of terrorists at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Out of the ashes of that desolation, the UN formed a special covert branch headquartered in Tokyo Bay solely purposed with searching out and eliminating the forces responsible for the attack along with anyone even bearing a remote resemblance to them.

As a cover, the International School for Boys and Girls was established for the ongoing covert operation of discovering and recruiting gifted high school students, each with their own special abilities, and to coerce them in the service of an elite death squad. These troops are tasked with ferreting out and exterminating all individuals with powers like their own.

There is no choosing sides for these recruits and failure is not an option. Failure on the field assures not only their own, but also their loved ones' deaths. In order to assure compliance, each agent’s dearest loved ones have been secretly outfitted with a micro cranial bomb and all agent's actions and speech are closely monitored and recorded through a battle chip embedded in their brain. In the event the UN commanding officer determines an agent falls out of protocol, their loved ones immediately suffer the consequences. 

So you take a little Ghost in the Shell, a little Gunslinger Girl, some X-Men, some Suicide Squad and toss them in a blender. Out pops Under the Dog. There's a lot more information at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1300298569/under-the-dog. Go check it out.

Anime Fest Pics

I just got back from Anime Fest 2014 and it was a blast. I took a lot of photos and a few brief videos. You can view them at http://s354.photobucket.com/user/Otakuscott/library/Anime%20Fest%202014.

Just got back from Anime Fest in Dallas

It was a blast! Check out my pics: Anime Fest--Photobucket

Revisiting the Classics -- Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do you Remember Love?

Today I'm here to tell you about an anime that never got a proper American release. It is (deep breath) Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do you Remember Love? Based on the Macross anime (which got turned into the first part of Robotech), the 1984 movie is an alternate retelling of that series.

We begin the story five months after the alien battleship-turned-UN Spacy battleship Macross was warped via space fold to the far reaches of the solar system during a battle with the invading Zentradi forces. As Do you Remember Love? starts, expert UN Spacy pilot (and occasional idiot) Hikaru and his wing men are fighting off a Zentradi attack inside the Macross (which doubles as a human city). Hikaru disobeys orders from his commander (and reluctant love interest) Misa Hayase, separating from his comrades to rescue imperiled pop star Lynn Minmay. This leads to a love triangle between Hikaru, Minmay and Misa. Said love triangle might also be the key to defeating the Zentradi who are confused as hell by human culture (AKA Protoculture).

Do you Remember Love? is worth watching because of the differences between it and the TV series. Hikaru doesn't meet Minmay until after she becomes a celebrity; Roy Fokker no longer has the stupidest death in recorded history; the Zentradi men and women are at war with each other instead of simply segregated; Earth is even less fortunate this time around, if you can believe that. There is also considerably more nudity and violence than I remember being in the series.

While this movie was never officially brought to America, you can pick up the region-free DVD with English subtitles on Amazon for cheap. If you enjoyed Macross or Robotech, you should definitely check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Macross-Super-Dimension-Fortress-Remember/dp/B0056KOCDA/ref=pd_rhf_ee_p_t_1_Q5PG

Revisiting the Classics -- Mobile Suit Gundam

Here it is, the one that started it all: the 1979 anime Mobile Suit Gundam.

The story takes place in the year 0079 of the Universal Century. Mankind has spread out across the solar system, taking up residence inside floating cities called Sides. One of them, Side Three, decides they've had enough of the Earth people calling the shots, and proceeds to wage a war of independence against the Earth Federation, even going so far as to drop one of the colonies on the planet. Side Three--now calling themselves the Principality of Zeon--gains an early advantage because of their mobile suits, giant robots with a pilot inside each one.

The first episode introduces us to Amuro Ray, a 14-year-old engineering prodigy who lives happily with his family on Side Seven. His world is changed forever, however, when Zeon attacks the colony and he discovers the Federation has been developing their own mobile suits there in order to turn the tide of war. In order to protect his friends and family, Amuro hops into the most advanced mobile suit ever created: The Gundam. Despite having never piloted anything like this before, Amuro learns quickly and soon becomes a member of the prototype Federation spaceship White Base, fighting alongside a crew of colorful characters. Does he have what it takes to defeat Zeon's greatest pilot, mysterious masked-man Char Aznable, AKA the Red Comet? Is Amuro truly a Newtype? Will he ever see his family again? Just who is Char? To find out the answers to these questions, you'll have to watch.

I've enjoyed the various Mobile Suit Gundam anime since I first started watching this one in high school, and it remains my favorite. Before 1979, giant robot anime were all about unique machines fighting evil. But with Mobile Suit Gundam, things changed. Giant robots were now merely another tool of war, and the distinction between good and evil wasn't so clear (a fact many Gundam characters found out the hard way). The soldiers in this war had to figure out just what they were fighting for, and whether or not they were on the right side. Furthermore, the series challenged us to decide if it's acceptable to force children to fight our battles. We may survive, but their innocence won't.

You can pick up the first part of this show online. Unfortunately, Bandai--the distributor--went out of business and so the second half of Gundam is rare and hard to find. You can get it on Amazon but you'll have to pay an arm and a leg for it. If you can find it for a good price, though, I heartily recommend you get it. It has a strong story, memorable characters, and a powerful message.

http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Gundam-Complete-Collection-Legends/dp/B005F96UNW/ref=pd_cp_mov_0

Revisiting the Classics -- Galaxy Express 999

Today I have dug up another anime gem for you: Galaxy Express 999. It was a TV series followed by several movies based on said TV series in the late 1970's. Since the TV series was recently released in America for the first time, I thought I'd do my part to help bring in new fans.

The protagonist is an adolescent boy named Tetsuro Hoshino who lives on future Earth. He spends his times in the slums living below the more well-off citizens, but dreams of boarding the famous Galaxy Express, an intergalactic train which travels the galaxy. One day he attempts to steal a ticket to board one of the space-faring locomotives but gets caught and subsequently chased by station security. He is saved by a mysterious woman with long blonde hair and a Russian-style fur outfit. She identifies herself as Maetel, and asks Tetsuro why he is so intent on boarding the Galaxy Express. He tells her he wants to travel to the Andromeda galaxy and acquire a machine body so he can kill the robotic Count Mecha who murdered Tetsuro's mother. Maetel offers to get him on board one of the trains, the 999, if he will allow her to accompany him on his journey. Tetsuro readily agrees and together they set out across the Sea of Stars.

I've always loved Galaxy Express 999. It, more than any other science fiction I've experienced, so completely captured the wonder of space travel. This is due in part to the whimsical, exaggerated character designs of creator Leiji Matsumoto. Characters run the gamut from beautiful, sorrowful women (such as Shadow and Claire) to comically deformed men (like Tochiro). The most compelling of 999's cast (namely Maetel, along with space pirates Harlock and Emeraldas) were so popular they got their own prequels and spin-offs. Furthermore, the haunting musical score and somber narrator give emotional and nostalgic weight to one boy's journey to become a man. And along the way, we must ask ourselves if it's truly worth becoming an android to live forever, or if, perhaps, human life has more meaning than we think.

Ultimately, though, words fail to do it justice. You really should check it out for yourself.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_8?url=search-alias%3Dmovies-tv&field-keywords=galaxy+express+999&sprefix=Galaxy+E%2Cmovies-tv%2C235&rh=n%3A2625373011%2Ck%3Agalaxy+express+999

Revisiting the Classics -- Haibane-Renmei

Last week I dug up an anime gem called Serial Experiments Lain. Yoshitoshi ABe, who did the character designs for that series, went on to create the anime I'm telling you about today: Haibane-Renmei. It is a tale of love, loss, mystery and redemption.

The story takes place in a mysterious town that is surrounded by a huge wall. Within the town is Old Home, a residence for people with wings and halos. One day, a cocoon is discovered in an unused room of Old Home, and a young girl emerges from it. She awakes in a bedroom to discover she has no memories of her life before popping out of the cocoon. The residents of Old Home, mostly other young women, explain to her that this is commonplace and she, like them, is a mysterious angelic creature called a Haibane. One of the Haibane, the chain-smoking Reki, names her Raka. Soon, wings burst from Raka's back and she is given a halo (which, in a particularly humorous scene, has to be taped to her head because it has trouble attaching itself to her). From there, she becomes a member of the mysterious Haibane-Renmei [Charcoal Feather Federation]. As you can imagine, she has many questions. Just what are the Haibane and what is their purpose? Why do none of the Haibane have any memories of their pre-cocoon life? What lies beyond the walls? Where is this strange town actually located? What's the deal with the masked Haibane-Renmei overseers? And what happens during the Day of Flight? As Raka becomes closer to the various Haibane, she discovers the answers she seeks are few and do not always bring happiness.

There is so much to like about Haibane-Renmei. The story is heartfelt and thought-provoking (though as with Serial Experiments Lain it doesn't explain everything). The characters are compelling. The soundtrack, composed by Kou Ootani, is a beautiful orchestral score which evokes feelings akin to standing in the breeze of a warm summer day. Those looking for plenty of action should keep looking, however; for all the fantasy trappings, this series remains for the most part a drama. Nonetheless, if you have an open mind and are looking for something different--and high-quality--you'd be hard-pressed to find a better anime than this. It's really the cream of the crop.

                                                                 Available on Amazon

Revisiting the Classics -- Serial Experiments Lain

Looking for something that will change the way you view the world around you? Try the epic anime Serial Experiments Lain.

Lain Iwakura was just a normal, albeit somewhat disconnected teenager until the day her classmate committed suicide. That should be the end of it, but Lain starts receiving messages from her. "I have simply abandoned my body," the email says. How can a dead person be sending computer messages? How are Lain and the computer network called the Wired involved in all this? Why are complete strangers seeing religious visions of Lain? Who are the creepy men in black standing watch outside Lain's house? And why, oh why, does Lain's family act like zombies most of the time?

Serial Experiments Lain is one of the greatest and weirdest animes of all time. It piles on layers (pun intended; it calls each episode a "layer") of hard science and surreal imagery to create a compelling story you'll be thinking about for the rest of your life. It's been close to a decade since I first watched this series and I'm still trying to figure it out. Hell, I've seen entire web pages dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of Lain. Suffice to say, Philip K. Dick would appreciate the warnings this series gives us about technological advancement.

At the center of it all, ultimately, is a sympathetic character who seeks both her identity and love from those around her, though her goals cannot be achieved without great sacrifice. If you're looking for something besides the typical moè anime or giant robot series and don't mind working through bizarre and possibly metaphorical imagery, check out Serial Experiments Lain.

Sci-Fi/Anime Haikus

“Ode to Red Shirts”

Dangerous enemies

Red shirts go to fight them now

They will not be missed

“Ode to Red Shirts, II”

Forget your phaser

It will not help you at all

You are made to die

“Ode to Red Shirts, III”

Where did that guy go?

I’m hearing his awful scream

That monster got him

“Ode to Red Shirts, IV”

I don’t know your name

You are simply the fodder

Please accept your fate

“Evangelion”

The Angels attack

Asuka will defend us all

What are you, stupid?

“Golgo 13”

He is god of death

Duke Togo can’t be beat

Don’t even try it

“Naruto”

Spiky yellow hair

He will be Hokage

You must believe it

“One Piece”

Luffy is rubber

He’ll be king of the pirates

Gum-Gum Gatling Gun!

“Bleach”
Kenpachi is here

His zanpaku-to has no name

Will he get Bankai?

“Attack of the Clones”

Anakin is a wuss

Being afraid of that sand

Padme, are you nuts?

“Lando”

Lando is a stud

He can pull off the blue cape

The man sure knows style

“MST3K”

Making fun of films

Because they are so horrible

Crow is my favorite

“Doctor Who”

The Time Lord cometh

In his awesome police box

And really cool scarf