Featured image: “Happy ThanksgivingDay!” by Heytwo黑兎.
This year, I’m thankful for magical girls.
Also … magical girls.
Maybe I’ll think of something else later.
Art
Featured image: “Magical Girl!Feferi” by AwesomeBlossomPossum
The Crossdresser Who Isn’t: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 3
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 3: “On the Night of the Ball.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
We move on now in the course of our irregular series to the third episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, entitled “On the Night of the Ball.” Whenever mentioning this episode in the extras that come with the luxurious special-edition DVD set, the staff sounds apologetic, and not entirely without reason. It’s by no means an awful episode, but neither is it great. Continue reading “The Crossdresser Who Isn’t: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 3”
Art
Featured image: “magical girl rewrite” by MUSHIboyHANN
‘Sugar Sugar Rune,’ Volumes 1-3
The greatest fantasy comic of the last 5 years has just ended its publication run in America and nobody cares. Oh well, I’ll just give it an A- and cry sad tears over why there aren’t more fans of Sugar Sugar Rune. —Carlos Santos, Anime News Network
Sugar Sugar Rune
Sugar Sugar Rune may be one of the magical girl genre’s best-kept secrets. From time to time, I see this title named as the best of the so-called “cute witch” magical girl stories. Anime News Network, as quoted above, in 2008 even went so far as to call it the best fantasy comic of the last five years, and also said it has “one of the most satisfying, most creative, most epic endings to a fantasy series ever.” There is evidence for this in how the series gets sold: take a look on Amazon, and you will see that the aftermarket prices are reasonable for the first seven volumes, but then shoot up to ridiculous numbers for the final volume, apparently because people are actually willing to pay upwards of forty-five dollars for Sugar Sugar Rune‘s allegedly mind-blowing finale. Continue reading “‘Sugar Sugar Rune,’ Volumes 1-3”
Your Magical Girl Playlist
I didn’t manage to finish the review I’m writing up, but in the process of creating it, I did find yet another magical girl audio mix. Check it out.
Maintenance
Featured image: “Nyo!England Magical Girl” by black-feather1013.
Tonight is maintenance night for me. I’m going to do some rearranging and see about updating some of the other hosting sites, which have been languishing.
I intend to have new content up tomorrow. No, really.
Art
Featured image: “Magical Girl She-Ra” by weremole.
I’m way behind where I want to be on reviews, but I’m struggling to adjust to a new schedule. The little spare time I have, I want to devote mostly to Jake and the Dynamo.
The site’s also due for an overhaul. I might go rearranging things this weekend. Nothing too drastic, but some improvements in organization. I’m still mulling over changing the theme, but the ones I would want cost money I don’t have right now, and the present one is fairly versatile, if unadorned.
Choose Your Girl … and Choose Your Destiny!
Over at the site Royal Road, which also hosts Jake and the Dynamo, we have a poll up where you can select Best Girl from amongst the magical girls in the story (or ship Jake, if you’re so inclined).
See it here. Be sure to leave a comment defending your choice, and your choice’s honor.
JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Chapter 21
JAKE AND THE DYNAMO
CHAPTER 21: PLAYERS
The cluster of twenty girls, like some kind of giant amoeba with T.B. as its nucleus, oozed through the front door of the arcade. Leaning on his counter, Tim blanched. The girls hadn’t bothered him when they had remained out under the awning, but now he apparently didn’t know what to do once they’d invaded the male-dominated space of the arcade’s interior.
There was an unspoken rule at the arcade: girls, if they came in significant numbers, were to remain near the front end where the merchandisers and ice cream were. Girls were not to enter the arcade’s inner sanctum except singularly, and preferably in male company. Cavalierly violating this unspoken rule, T.B.’s band of jabbering females now threatened the purity of this haven for luckless and socially awkward boys. Continue reading “JAKE AND THE DYNAMO Chapter 21”