Anime Kind of Week

I'm not really a big anime fan. I loved Cowboy Bebop and enjoy Samurai Champloo but I don't devour the stuff in anywhere near the kinds of numbers that most anime fans do. So I was a bit surprised with myself when I bought the first volume of Serial Experiments: Lain at Wal-Mart the other day for $6.88. I'd heard some good things about the show and it would've cost me $5 to rent it if I wanted to try it out anyway so I threw caution to the wind and took the plunge.

It was a good choice, I think. I'm a few episodes in and I'm enjoying it so far. It's nicely paced and beautifully designed. The use of colour and negative space is just brilliant and when the two are combined it's a stunning effect. The story is slow moving but the atmosphere is thick and I'm curious to see more. Volume 2 was there as well so I think I'm going to go snatch that one up as soon as I can.

Next up, anime-wise, is the discovery of the Cowboy Bebop trading figures. I've seen these for other characters and other shows, but my devotion to all things Bebop required me to try and snag a Spike or Faye figure. I carefully weighed the boxes in my hands to try and get the right character density, put back the one I was sure was Jet and bought the one I was convinced would be a Spike figure.

It wasn't Spike, of course, but it was Faye and that's just fine with me. Aside from the dog Ein, they're my two favourite characters from the show so it's not like I missed out or anything. She's actually pretty cool. She's in a reclining position and looks kind of relaxed and very Faye-like. You can probably see in the picture so I'll stop wasting time and space describing it.

Last on my trek thorugh the world of anime, I managed to stumble across the Planetes DVDs, and reasonably priced, at that. I read the manga based on a reccommend from The Johnny Bacardi Show and really enjoyed it, so when I found out there was an animated version I heartily sought it out. I can't afford to even think about picking them up but I'm going to log those in the 'What to Suggest for Presents' file since the 'Things to Get When I'm Gainfully Employed with Disposable Income' file is getting a bit long.

Anyway, I have to change and get my kid to Irish dance practice so I'll leave you with those thoughts.

mike