God is dead.
I’m Catholic, in case that wasn’t obvious, and we’re now in the midst of the Easter Triduum. The fifty days of Easter begin tonight with the Vigil.
Last year, in Deus ex Magical Girl fashion, we celebrated Easter with the egg-obsessed Shugo Chara. This year, I intend to keep that tradition alive by celebrating with the pseudo-Christian magical girl story Saint Tail, which I think I’m finally ready to review, just in time for Easter. Stay tuned.
I just cranked out and submitted a short story all in one sitting, which was probably not smart, but it had to be done. I’m kinda proud of the story, so I’ll hunt for another venue if it comes back to me.
Also, happy Good Friday.
I’m sorry there has been little in the way of meaningful content here, but I’m coming toward the end of my final term of a master’s program. On Star Wars Day, May the 4th, I’m free … sort of. Or at least I’m free of school. That might not mean more time for blogging, though, at least until I’m more gainfully employed and settled.
So, anyway, in case you’re wondering if I’m just over here binge-watching The Vision of Escaflowne, the answer is, “I wish.” Actually, I haven’t watched that much of it, eager though I am, because I haven’t had the time.
I’ve promised reviews of Saint Tail and Phantom Thief Jeanne, the two magical girl stories about religiously motivated cat burglars. The latter is readily available thanks to a re-translation and re-release from Viz in 2014, but the former is, alas, quite difficult to acquire: it’s one of those early post-Sailor Moon titles, like Corrector Yui or Wedding Peach or Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, many of which subsequently became obscure. I’ve been defeated in my attempt to get DVDs of the Saint Tail anime, and the manga is coming to me slowly, piecemeal. I just got word of another volume that has arrived for me, so I should have it by the end of tomorrow.
Saint Tail a pleasant little title; reading it is like snuggling into a warm blanket. It’s not exactly deep or demanding, but it’s sweet without being cloying. The apparently sincere religious devotion of its Catholic protagonists is actually quite well handled even though the manga-ka wrote in complete ignorance (you’ll find this title listed under “Nuns are Mikos” on TVTropes).
I’ll probably have to move ahead with the discussion even without getting the whole series. As I understand it, Saint Tail hews closely to its formula and doesn’t offer any big surprises, so I’m probably safe giving it a review of sorts if I don’t go into too much detail.
I’ve already penned a draft of that review, but I was waiting for more material before I hit “publish.” It might be up in the next few days.
What I thought I’d do as an archaeologist:
What I did as an archaeologist:
I just want to announce that my tax returns have been accepted. Thank you.
Tenuous, I say! Tenuous!
But tenuous though it is, I do have an update, and I wish to keep you informed. June 1st is the possible release date for volume 1 of Jake and the Dynamo. Once I have something more definite, you’ll be the first to know.
Pictured above is a detail from one of the interior illustrations by Roffles Lowell. I still do not have word on whether it will be possible to have these illustrations published with the book or not; I’m stumping for them, but I don’t have the final say on the matter.
(Speaking of which: Lowell, call me.)
Holy smokes, it’s so good!
The Vision of Escaflowne, episode 1, “Fateful Confession.” Directed by Kazuki Akane. Written by Shōji Kawamori. TV Tokyo (1996). Distributed by Funimation (2018). Available on Crunchyroll.
Man, they do not make them like this anymore.
I am really excited to be seeing, at last, this classic anime of which I have heard so much, but have never before had the opportunity to see. I did watch the movie adaptation once, many years ago (and reviewed it here), and it sucked. After seeing the first episode of the classic television series, it’s hard to believe that the TV show and the film are even from the same franchise. The difference is like … like … like the difference between Revolutionary Girl Utena and Adolescence of Utena, the latter of which I wish I could bleach from my brain. Continue reading “‘The Vision of Escaflowne,’ Episode 1”
Say what you will about Crunchyroll, there’s no denying that they make a lot anime available to us plebs with modest DVD budgets, and they show a genuine interest in archiving the classics, not just streaming the latest moe junk.
I just noticed that they put The Vision of Escaflowne online about a month ago. This is considered one of the greats. About five years ago, I was hunting for a set of it and couldn’t find it, then I enthused about a year ago when I saw that it was out on Blu-Ray.
Well, now it’s also out on a streaming service.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, my schedule just filled up.
Featured Image: “Phantom Thief Jeanne” by AkiraDBios.
I’m just about finished with the Phantom Thief Jeanne manga, also known as Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne, by Arina Tanemura, which, conveniently, saw a republication from Viz Media in 2014, making it an unusually easy-to-acquire older title. The anime from Toei Animation has, as far as I know, never seen a commercial release in English, so our discussion will be of the manga.
I was hoping to have more of Saint Tail under my belt before I talked about Jeanne, but that one, which I believe was only published in English in a flopped edition from the now-largely-defunct Tokyopop, is hard to acquire, and I have only ever found its anime adaptation being sold at outrageous collectors’ prices bigger than my budget. Nonetheless, I think I’ve seen enough of it that we can make some meaningful comparisons with Jeanne, which clearly draws on it, even if I can’t justifiably give it a full review.
Anyway, we previously had some Saint Tail fan art, so now have some Phantom Thief Jeanne fan art.
I just can’t keep away from fan fiction, I guess.
One of my current jobs puts me in close proximity to a lot of children’s literature, and because I’m busy working two jobs and finishing a degree, I don’t have a lot of time for recreational reading, so it’s a lot easier for me to pick up a chapterbook, which any adult can read in half an hour or less, than to read something more involved. For those of you not in the know, a chapterbook is an illustrated novelette for kids who have graduated from picture books but aren’t quite ready to go full novel.
Never go full novel.
Thus, I have been exploring kid lit. For whatever reason, a lot of books for transitional readers are basically character studies of young girls, some of them surprisingly skillful in execution. Naturally, my first thought on reading these stories is that some of these characters would make great magical girls. Continue reading “Author’s Notes on ‘The League of Extraordinary Grade-Schoolers’”
