the rangiku files

Who is this cat-eared, cat-tailed shinigami sleeping in the back seat of the rangi ninja mobile? People came up to him at Anime Boston 2008 and asked him which Bleach character he was and what squad he belonged to…

More on that, later. You really, really want to see the AMV winners. I know. I’ve posted YouTube files as placeholders (where available) as well as links to the files at animemusicvideo.org. I also have video of the AMVs. They will go up when post-processed if they look any good. I’ll add the finalists later.
Best in Show: Falling Dreams
“See Who I Am” by Within Temptation
Kingdom Hearts
Mysterious Rider
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/156961

Best Comedy: The Anime Network
Various Songs
Various Anime
Dave Warner
no amv.org link

Best Action: The Deth of Anime
“Metalocalpyse Theme & other songs” by Dethklok
Various Anime
Dave Warner
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/154601
No YouTube link.

Best Fun/Upbeat/Other: Unbreakable
“Move Along” by All American Rejects
Various Anime
Songbird21
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/157060

Best Romance wrote: Ouran Day
“Ordinary Day” by Vanessa Carlton
Ouran High School Host Club
Kiarrens
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/155657

Best Drama: Escaping, But Not Far
“The Bird and The Worm” by The Used
Death Note
SharinganBlue
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/146967

Best Editing: Attack of the Otaku
“Game of Love” by Jenny Rom
Haruhi, Ouran High, Lucky Star
Chiikaboom
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/154127

Best Concept: ‘Bustin
“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.
FFVII: Advent Children
Lauren Chicoine
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/156084

Judge’s Choice: Let Them Eat Rei
“Still Alive” by Jonathan Coulton
Neon Genesis Evangelion
thefinalact.net
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/video/155816

So, I got a phone call. “We’re moving to Japan and are having an anime yard sale. Come on over!” Jen got a job transfer: an anime lover’s dream, ne?

Jen and Tom, the great couple who put on the annual Brattle Theater 24-Hour Anime Festival, are now in Tokyo. But back in late October, on a lovely autumn Saturday, I got to spend a few hours with them, sifting through bins of anime, manga, figurines, music, comics, book, stuffed toys and kaiju of all sorts.
There was tons of traffic because of the detours that day since it was the start of the Head of the Charles boat races as well as the Harvard-Princeton football game. I was afraid that I would get there too late and miss all great things. Fortunately, I wasn’t as late as I thought as can be seen in the following photos.

The steps to the upstairs porch became the perfect showcase for figurines of all sorts: from Lupin to Keroro to Escaflowne. I grabbed eight figurines and started a “Rangiku Pile” on a chair. All but one have found good homes. The last one will be sent out to one of the usual suspects at the appropriate time.

There was so much anime! Looking at the photo now, I should have snapped up the Ranma 1/2 and a few others. But, I am very happy with the Jin-Roh and the Nuku-Nuku anime I got for $5 apiece.

Oh, you’re looking for kaiju? Well, there were plenty of monsters waiting for appreciative masters and mistressses.

and more kaijui…

and more kaiju!

Good thing Jen and Tom had all those monsters protecting them!

There were shelves and shelves of manga, volumes of comics and music (Japanese and other genres). Time Chaser had previously recommended Angel Sanctuary, so I picked up the entire series for one-fourth the cover price. Pretty sweet!

In case you thought you didn’t have enough choices for figurines, there were more right over there…

The Totoro scroll found its way onto the “Rangiku Pile.” Nice buy for $3.

Last but not least, there was a bin overflowing with stuffed toys of all sorts.

Blue Totoro somehow found his way out of the bottom of the bin and into one of my flowerboxes. I have no idea how he got there. Really, I don’t!

But, better than all the great things I bought, I got to spend time with Jen and Tom. They work so hard during the Brattle Anime Fest, they really don’t have the time to chat and catch up. I am really going to miss them (I already started when Jen called), but they said they might come back to do the next Brattle Anime Fest. I know everyone in the Boston and Cambridge anime community hope so, too. I’ve offered any help that Anime Pulse can give, so let’s keep our fingers crossed for the 2008 Brattle Theater 24-Hour Anime Festival.

the only 24-hour anime festival in the US. Please check your sanity and normal sleeping patterns at the door. If you are fortunate enough to live in the Boston area (and maybe even if you don’t) and love anime, I hope you’ve blocked out noon, Saturday, June 2nd through noon, Sunday, June 3rd for the Second Annual Brattle Anime Festival, entitled Brattle Royale Battle Royale held at the Brattle Street Theater in Cambridge.

Yet again, festival organizers Jen and Tom have scheduled another fantastic array of TV series, movies, AMVs, cosplay and trivia contests where you can win DVDs and manga. New for this year are Japanese promotional videos featuring animation, as well as guest of honor voice actress Nancy Novotny who is the English voice of Yomi from Azumanga Daioh!, Madlax, and Yuka from Elfen Lied.

If you are an anime newbie, this a perfect opportunity to see a few episodes of many different titles, some classic, some new, on the large screen to kickstart your anime viewing. It goes without saying, this is in addition to listening to the recommendations of the Anime Pulse crew.

So, how do you prepare for this anime lovers dream fest? Some would saying getting a good night’s sleep ahead of time is key. Pft! I’ll sleep when I’m dead. But, before we go over a survival list I’ve compiled after attending the two previous Brattle Anime Fests (think about that for sec), let’s take a short break with the opening animations for the Japanese sci-fi con DAICON, held in Osaka in 1981 and 1983. These shorts were made by the founders of Gainax before they were Gainax. Keep your eyes peeled for cameos by beloved American, British, and Japanese pop culture characters and icons and what is probably the first occurrence of a female anime character sky surfing. Now you know where FLCL got the idea. They’ve shown this twice at the Brattle Anime Fest and it alway brings a smile to my face and gets screaming audience applause. I hope they show it again this year. This version is longer than the festival version, and has great behind-the-scenes info. Just take a look at all the stocking colors they auditioned!

Oh, and here’s a pic of the winning cosplayer, John, who did an awesome Cloud. I looked for him at Anime Boston 2007, but I didn’t see him. V.V

Okay, back to the survival guide.

1. Your ticket. You bought it at Anime Boston 2007 for a cool $20, right? If not, you can buy it ahead of time at the link I posted above and save $5. At the door, students get in for $25, everyone else $35.
2. Proper clothing. True, it’s June, but movie theaters are notoriously cold. So, layer, bring a sweatshirt or sweater, a blanket, and perhaps consider bringing your down jacket. It may look like I’m cosplaying as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but that’s just me encased in down.
3. Food. Unless you are HT or Leviathan or KT-chan (and even then…), you can’t survive eating only pocky for 24 hours. Yes, the theater has lovely popcorn, soda, candy, coffee, etcetera, but you might want to consider bringing a sandwich and some snacks to tide you over for those long, long hours ahead…must keep up strength…You can always step out and grab some food at a local restaurant, but you never know what you might miss.
4. Seating. Think about it. Have you ever sat in one place for 24 hours? Or almost 24 hours? It is a long, long time and that part of your anatomy is going to get very tired very quickly unless you leave your seat a lot. Consider bringing one of those stadium seats you take to football games or some alternate padding of some sort. Hmm, maybe beach chair would work…You could sit on the aisle, so you could easily get up and walk around a lot without bothering your neighbors.
5. Cell Phones. Try to keep your ringer on vibrate, or very low out of respect for your fellow anime viewers. However, if your ringtone is that one from FFAC, you’ll probably be cut some slack and get a laugh.
6. A ride home or lots of cash for parking. This is Cambridge, so expect to shell out at least $40 to park your car overnight. Remember the T stops running at 12:15am, so if you want to leave after that, and you used public transportation to get to the theater, you’ll need to call someone for a ride. Or, find my car. And, my keys. And, no, my license plate is not “ANIME.” That’s someone else’s car.
7. A sitter for your nearly 98-year-old grandmother. Oh, wait, that’s just me.
8. Keep an eye out for the guy at Anime Boston 2007 who said he would bite you. Oh, wait. That’s just me again. I think…
   <.<
   >.>

Jen and Tom always show great AMVs, so here are a few from last year. Ichigo helped me identify two of them. I swear, if they had a game show called “Name that AMV”, where I would give him a vague description of the AMV over the phone (which is what we did), he could do it in two seconds. “Ichigo, it’s an AMV with Osaka and it looks like an RPG…” Why, that’s the Wizard of Osaka, Rangi.” Seriously, he knew what it was immediately. Perhaps, if I had been awake at the beginning of the video…
The Wizard of Osaka - no explanation necessary

Memories Dance - a favorite of Miyazaki lovers and one of Batou’s favorite AMVs

Elvis vs Anime - see how many characters you can identify

Appetite for Lightin’ Dynamite - for all you Bebop fans

These videos are available for download over at our friends at www.animemusicvideos.org, so make sure to vote for your favorites.
Hope to see some Anime Pulse listeners on Saturday and Sunday. I’m talking to you, Doug, Togusa, and Scott.

Hi, everyone. Yes, I know it’s been quite a while since you’ve seen a new post. Is that funny_muffins, Nova, Sakura and Ayame falling over in a dead faint? Please, somebody put pillows under their heads until they wake up. Thanks!

Using the Tim the Enchanter/Weltall-preferred method of showing up 15 minutes late for Closing Ceremonies to get a great seat, ginger_kitty and I were just in time for the showing of the winning AMVs for 2007. These were also shown during the Masquerade the night before, when the winners received their prizes.

The quality of the winning AMVs from last year’s Anime Boston really spoiled me for those we saw at NDK 2006. Perhaps people want to premier their work at the bigger venues like AX, Otakon and AB. Still, smaller cons would be a great way for new artists to show their work, right, Oompa? I heard some buzz that last year’s AB AMVs were better. True, it is hard to top the fantastic Hold Me Now-Princess Tutu AMV (which was shown on an endless loop on a monitor just beyond the escalator on the second level of the Hynes), but this year’s Best of Show, a reimaging of Totoro, was top notch, as were several others, in my opinion. Still, Princess Tutu…

Click on the pink title to watch the AMV in a separate window. One AMV winner has asked me to direct you to his page on animemusicvideos.org instead of Anime-Pulse hosting the file, so I have honored the request. If other winners have the same request, I will be more than happy to change the links. Meanwhile, here is the super search on amv.org for entries to AB 2007.
Winner: Best In Show
Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Song: “Reqiuem for a Tower” by Simone Benyacar/Dan Nielsen/Veigar Mairgersson
Anime: My Neighbor Totoro
Creator: Borihiei (Alberto Gonzalez)

Winner: Best Action
Title: 限界点(すべたは私の卍解を知らない) - Genkaiten (subeta wa watashi no bankai wo shiranai)
Song: “Kirikirimai” by Orange Range
Anime: Bleach
Creator: BasharOfTheAges

Winner: Best Editing
Title: Ganseki No Kobushi (A Rock Lee profile)
Song: “Rawk Fist” by Thousand Foot Krutch
Anime: Naruto
Creator: Songbird21

Winner: Best Romance
Title: All Along
Song: “Far Away” by Nickelback
Anime: Various (16)
Creator: ForeverZeroo

Winner: Best Concept
Title: Alchemic Sin
Song: Sin City Trailer Audio from Sin City Trailer
Anime: Full Metal Alchemist (TV)
Creator: ForeverZeroo

Winner: Best Drama
Title: Unforgiven
Song: “Unforgiven II” by Metallica
Anime: FFVII: Advent Children & Tech Demo
Creator: Shiva/Diamond Dust Productions
Winner: Best Fun/Upbeat/Other
Title: The Distance to Nagasaki
Song: “The Distance” by Cake
Anime: Samurai Champloo
Creator: BlackKyo
Winner: Best Comedy
Title: No Reason
Song: “Festival Overture 1812, Op. 49″ by Tchaikovsky
Anime: Various (18)
Creator: Borihiei (Alberto Gonzalez)

Winner: Judges’ Choice
Title: Roydor the Burninator, Remastered
Song: “Trogdor the Burninator” by Strongbad
Anime: Fullmetal Alchemist (TV)
Creator: kiarrens (Tech Girl Productions)

Good luck getting “Kirikirimai” or “The Distance” out of your head now.

Everyone’s expecting a post on the Brattle 24-hour Anime Festival, however, here’s a quick post about AX. I’ll write about the Brattle next. Promise!

Batou is now safely home from Anime Expo. He had a wildly successful con experience as a reporter, an Anime Pulse representative as well as a cosplayer. Oh, you didn’t know he cosplayed? Cosplayed as Kenpachi in a costume he made himself? Well, fortunately my spies sent me all sorts of intel. Great intel. My minions are the best.
But, before I show you Batou as Kenpachi, I want to congratulate General Funny Muffins for capturing the first shot of Batou without having any visual reference. Stealthly using only information gathered on the target’s behavior and expected routes, he was successful in his campaign to hunt Batou down by the end of the very first panel on the first day. Thankfully, the shooting was done with a camera, not a weapon. My suggestion to everyone: keep FM a friend, do not make him your foe.
Here’s FM’s shot, but it looks like the Laughing Man struck before I could post. I’ll double check with Batou to see if we can find a better pic.

Coll1nam11 took a very different approach to finding Batou. He earned it the old-fashioned way: he bribed Ichigo. And, by bribed Ichigo, I mean Coll donated $10 to Anime Pulse. Using his legendary talents, he created the following:

© 2006, coll1nam11

Coll passed out these wanted flyers, and posted them around the con. Rumor has it that the poster made escalator-riding con-goers laugh. We’ll have to ask Coll if anyone collected the pocky reward.

Now, our very own Oompa was at AX, cosplaying as Misa from Death Note. Upon her arrival, she surveyed the crowd and thought to herself, “How hard is it to find a 6-foot+ Kenpachi?” Since Oompa has wonderful karma, the particular Kenpachi she was looking for immediately materialized right before her very eyes. Her friend snapped this great pic of them together:

© 2006, Misa’s friend

Hmm, that Kenpachi looks so familiar…Oompa also caught him in this great action shot:

Both Oompa and Funny Muffin took lots of great photos at AX, and I know that pro photographer and Anime101 host Vespaholic did as well. FM has already created an AX 2006 album which he is graciously allowing me to link to here. Take a look at the wonderful shots he captured. Although his favorite pic is of the Hamburglar, mine is of the four AP army recruits Coll, FM, Benu and Vespa. They even had their own entourage of pretty girls.

© 2006, Funny Muffins When Oompa and Vespa have their albums up, with their permission, they’ll be linked here as well. And, thanks, Coll, FM, and Oompa. Your hard work made this post fun and easy. Edited to add: Here’s the link to Oompa’s album. Thanks, imoto-o! Link to Vespa’s press only backstage at AX Masquerade. Thanks, Vespa! Link to Knightfourteen’s (friend of Vespa) AX photos. Thanks, k14!

All you AXers, this post is to whet your appetite for what awaits you.

In Anime Pulse Episode 31, I reported on my experiences from my very first anime con, Anime Boston 2006. I realized one very important thing: I needed a clone to see everything I wanted. Ayame, where were you? Despite having a game plan, there were too many great panels and events and it was simply impossible to go to everything circled on my program. So, everyone going to cons this summer and fall, look carefully at the schedule and prioritize. You will have to make some hard decisions, but you aren’t alone. Next year, I will get to the “Make a Plushy” panel!

AMVs
I didn’t have a chance to see all the entries, but I really enjoyed watching the winnings AMVs shown at the con’s closing ceremonies. As I mentioned in Episode 31, I haven’t watched many AMVs, however these were truly impressive, especially the Best of Show (and Best Action) and Best Editing winners. I posted this link to a page with the winners and finalists in the Anime Pulse AMV forum, but who knows how long it will be live, so the winning entries are now in the video gallery here and listed below.

Hold Me Now - Best of Show, Best Action

True Fiction - Best Editing

Lost Ones - Best Drama

Foxman Begins - Best Fun/Upbeat/Other

Conter Les Heures - Best Romance

Fullmetal Hell - Best Comedy

Gattsu’s Promise - Best Concept

One More Beginning - Judges’ Choice

I think I also mentioned my favorites are Hold Me Now and Das Omen. Besides the pure enjoyment of watching all of the wonderfully-crafted videos, I discovered two unexpected but pretty obvious side effects of AMVs. First, they are great advertisements for whatever anime is used. Princess Tutu, Chrono Crusade (I could have sworn that was Mist Finer’s Bridget), Berserk and The Place Promised in Our Early Days have been all added to my long, long list of anime to watch. Second, the AMVs introduced new music to some if not all of us. Swedish music doesn’t get much airplay here in the states, but HÃ¥ll Om Mig Nu as been on continuous rotation on this computer as has Das Omen and a few others.

Cosplay Masquerade
I didn’t get to see the Cosplay Masquerade at Anime Boston (those darned scheduling conflicts!), but Ichigo passed along a great link he found on YouTube.com of a group of Bleach cosplayers. This video shows them prepping, practicing, performing and finally partying after their win. They certainly deserved that award. kitetsuharu graciously allows it to be hosted here as well.

AX
Don’t forget! If you have questions for Clamp, e-mail Batou at batou@anime-pulse.com as soon as possible. Nine days until AX and he goes on the huntdown for Clamp. If you see a big guy with two wriggling sacks over his shoulders, you’ve just spotted Batou.

Radio
For those readers who hang out in the #anime-pulse channel on irc.rizon.net, this will not be news, but several of our listeners/forum/irc members are hosting internet radio. Thanks to internet friend rancho relaxo, who is graciously letting us borrow his server, Funny Muffins, Hagane, Benu, DuoMatrix and Paltir are now on the air from 6pm to 7am Pacific time. Just paste http://yikes.amer.net:8000/listen.pls into your iTunes, winamp, or vlc player and listen to music ranging from anime OPs, EDs and OSTs to techno to classical to heavy metal.

When Ichigo asked if I wanted a blog, I was a bit taken aback. Sure, it would be a great venue for con photos and videos, cool links, and, it is true I can’t seem to say no to Ichigo, but a blog? So, bear with me while I set this up and do my best to inform and entertain you.

Click on the Anime Boston 2006 Photos link to see a few of the photos I took at the con. I will add more to my photo gallery as I cover other events. The Kaiju Big Battel video is still in the editing stage. I’ll post here when it’s online.

Also included are links to podcasts and blogs that I listen to and read. Most of you know me from Anime Pulse, but I participate in other online communities. My friend Totoro aka darth is from another board and he has a great blog called darthworld. He’s been touting Tonari no Totoro for years. If only I listened to him sooner!

As some of you might know, I am the East Coast Correspondent for the Anime Pulse podcast. How did I get into anime and Anime Pulse, you ask? I started watching anime a little over a year ago, although I did watch Speed Racer and Kimba when I was younger. I’d come home late at night from school, turn on [adult swim] and wonder what I was watching as I telephoned friends. Quite quickly, Ghost in the Shell, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, FLCL and Paranoia Agent drew me into their respective storylines, cinematography and artwork and required my undivided attention.

While house-sitting, I asked Darcy at Wizzywig (a Japanese pop culture store in Ann Arbor, Michigan) what the hot must-see show was. She recommended Bleach, which was immediately marathoned — about 50 episodes worth. This whet my appetite to learn more about Bleach and watch other anime, which lead to stumbling upon an anime podcast on a website. The podcast was informative, but the hosts just didn’t hold my attention.

Cue iTunes. “Oh, look, here’s a podcast with a picture of Ichigo and Batou.” Two characters I knew from anime I really liked. One subscription and one episode later, I was hooked on Anime Pulse. The banter, passion, zaniness and pop culture references along with charismatic hosts pulled me right through the looking glass and I’ve never glanced back.

nb: I’d like to thank buffanatic13 for helping me come up with the color scheme for this blog. Thanks, little lion!