Big Damned Heroes

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Has Crunchyroll Saved Anime for the US Market?

According to this article, the anime industry in Japan just packed it in and quit.

After the eighth episode of Girls und Panzer aired late Monday, anime studios around Japan have collectively announced the end of the anime industry and discontinued operation. "I would like to thank the fans throughout the years for their continued support,” Shinbou Akiyuki said as he addressed a crowd of reporters at SHAFT headquarters. "But after the last episode of Girls und Panzer, we all know that there is nothing more to accomplish in anime.”

Well, that's all folks I mean there's nothing to top this...

...The episode featured the team of protagonists engaging a Russian tankery school in the snow. Around midway through the episode, to utter disbelief of the television audience, the Russian team burst into a rendition of the traditional Russian war anthem "Katyusha”. Voice actresses Kanemoto Hisako (Squid Girl, Cure Peace) and Uesaka Sumire (Sanae Dekomori) performed the duet. The episode concluded with a dramatic fight scene and ended on a cliffhanger after the Oorai High School team were surrounded by the enemy...

Yeah that musical number was awesome. I mean Everyone is talking abou...
...wait...
I don't remember any musical number.
"rewatch"
Nope.
There must be an explanation for this. If there were only some instrument we could use to determine what the hell is going on here..


Oh, sure enough, Don's figured it out. It's because I watched it on Crunchyroll.

  Girls und Panzer‘s eighth episode is missing about a minute in its Crunchyroll version. Unless you download a fansub, you are going to miss this 1938 song, the highlight of the episode.

He also provides us with this clip for those of us who were foolish enough to watch our anime legally.


Well, thanks to Crunchyroll's legal department, perfection has been averted here in America! Thus there is still a market for the stuff here! Yay!

And sure enough, Crunchyroll's cunning plan to punish us for paying them 7 bucks a month has borne fruit!
Via Chizumatic, we find that the Japanese are producing a whole lineup of shows for the winter season.
Scrolling through it though, I'm beginning to think less that we have Crunchyroll to thank for this and more and more that this is all their fault.


UPDATE: Avatar points out that for the largest corporations getting rights to a song is difficult and to do it in a week or two is nigh impossible even for a major studio. Crunchyroll is a small operation and did the only tenable thing.
It's my understanding that the song is in the public domain in Japan and not the US.
Given the difficulties of securing the Russian rights here, I'd not hold my breath for the sequence to even be included on the R1 DVD release frankly.

UPDATE 2: Lyrics for Katyusha

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Suspension of Disbelief...

There are some things that strain credulity.
I was able to look beyond the premise of SAO and the implausibility of the technology. I could look beyond he occasional writers hand-wave.

But this is too much...
See that thar nebbish, the one who goes by the handle of Recon? In real life Leaf Sugu his Kendo senpai. He pines for her but is shorter than Sugu, physically weak, socially awkward, and has a stammer. In the online world however, he's shorter than Leaf, physically weak, socially awkward and has a stammer, plus he's got a bowl cut and walks with an Egor style hunch. I just don't see him picking that avatar. I just don't.

Wait, where was I?
Oh yeah, Sword Art Online  episode 23:


When last we left Sugu, she was smelling her knees and burbling, having had something of a mental breakdown upon learning that her brother was actually her partner in the game.


Kazuto, is somewhat taken aback as well, and really doesn't know what to say. I lieu of any sage wisdom, Kazuto  informs her that he will wait for her at the south gate of Arun.

Sugu Leaf re-enters the game and is shocked to find that Recon, over the course of the last 4 episodes, (and quite off camera) has managed to escape from his imprisonment, poison his captors and track her down. As one can imagine, he's feeling pretty buff right now...so buff that he actually builds up the courage to confess his love to Leaf.

You may recall that Recon is shorter than Leaf, physically weak, socially awkward and has a stammer, plus he's got a bowl cut and walks with an Egor style hunch. Recall too that Leaf is not in any sort of mood to take this affront to her dignity gracefully, so she punches him and throws him down the stairs.

Leaf then laughs a rather worrisome laugh and announces that Recon has given her a splendid idea! She then flies off to meet Kazuto Kirito, who is, as promised, at the south gate.



...and so they fight....inconclusively, although she does demonstrate that tactics and pure essence of yandere can counter even the highest sword skill.


After the fight Kirito explains that:
A: HE DIDN'T KNOW!
B: He won't be fully returned from Sword Art Online until he rescues his beloved.

For the first time Leaf actually groks the stakes of Kirito's quest. She realizes that his is quite possibly NOT a game and a life may be at stake. She and Recon follow Kirito and Y.U.I. to the entrance to the world tree where both agree to help him (Recon because he's still carrying a torch for Leaf).


Y.U.I. has analyzed the guardians of the gate from the recent battle (last episode) and is perplexed. She thinks that given the guardian's spawn rate, the gate may actually be unclear-able. In other words Y.U.I. thinks it's possible that this entrance is not actually intended to be cleared by players.

Of course, that would be crazy as clearing this entrance and entering the tree is, ostensibly, the whole point of the game, thus, it is decided that their best bet is to try to rush to the gate before  the guardians become too numerous. the plan is to have Leaf and Recon (who have the ability to heal at range) heal Kirito as he rushes the gate.



Well....
That doesn't work.

Yes, it appears that the closer one gets to the gate the more guardians spawn...FRACTAL DIFFICULTY! Worse, the targeting algorithims of the guardians are different from other monsters in the game, in that they begin to focus on the healers, even though they do not advance have no weapons equipped.

Our heroes are being overwhelmed when Recon has an idea. He has a spell that allows him to convert all his character points, inventory and XPs into an explosion with that many points. This clever attack comes with the 8 point limitation "ends character" but Leaf has convinced him that this is a genuinely important task with real world implications.
...or he's just disgusted. In any event, Recon blows a huge hole in the guardians...to no avai it would seem... Kirito is overwhelmed as he tries to fly through it.

..or would be if the cavalry did not choose that moment to arrive.


The Sylph and Cait Sith armies from 3 episodes ago finally arrive (and no doubt are wondering why these loons attacked ALONE...oh well). They have been preparing for this quite comprehensively and come equipped with dragons and magic swords, and hundreds of soldiers...some of whom are spellcasters with frickin' layzerbeams, but while they do inflict a great deal of damage, the guardians are spawning at an exponential rate. Both armies are driven back by the unstoppable Mandelbrot set of mayhem coming at them. However, both queens keep there heads and organize a fighting retreat giving covering fire to Kirito (who is in the temporary gap made by Recon's self detonation and very near his goal). By a miracle, the combination of dragon breath salvos and magic arrows, along with his dual wielding prowess does, just barely, cut a hole in the enemy line through which he slips just as the cloud of guardians closes behind him.

Alas...


Y.U.I. quickly ascertains that this "gate" is locked by system administrators...no player can open it. The World Tree CANNOT be accessed by players. The whole game is a lie!

Oh yeah...the guardians...they are approaching like angry bees.

Kirito remembers the card that Asuna threw them. He asks Y.U.I. about it and she realizes that if used by her it can indeed unlock the gate. She does so just the guardians descend upon them  and the two are teleported (someplace) in the nick of time as  the credits roll.





OK! The episode suffered from an Asuna deficit, but despite that we're cooking with gas! Kirito has crossed a huge hurdle, though it remains to be seen if there is a mat or a bed of spikes awaiting him. The horrible awkwardness with Sughu was actually handled a bit better than I was afraid it would be.

3 episodes to go and it's coming together in such a way that I'm growing increasingly hopeful that the ending will not be a cop out or an exercise in nihilism. Fingers are crossed.

Speculation; My guess is that the whole tree is set up along the lines of what Asuna discovered in episode 21. However, it is a VERY big tree.

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Ouch

It all turns to worms.
Asuna throws away her trump card. Now this does, in fact convince Kirito and Y.U.I. that she's up there, but she's lost her one ace in the hole and Kirito and Y.U.I. are no closer than they were to getting into the World Tree. Arguably they are now rather farther from their goal that they were, because, well...


Sughu figures out who her partner is...and does not react well.

^{"Oh... God...Did you just say Asuna Yuki?"}

No indeed she does not react well at all...

^{"Burbleburbleburble....}"

Interesting in that there are really only 3 scenes in the episode proper.
*A fight sequence as Kirito rashly tries to rush the gate of the world tree...and discovers why no one has succeeded.
*A brief interregnum where Leaf saves his ass, resurrects him and then learns who Kirito is.
*An extended scene in the real world where Sughu confronts her brother cousin and proceeds to have a complete nervous breakdown.  This was actually pretty scary to watch.

 

Gut punches for everyone!
We all knew it was coming out eventually but I was not expecting this. Sword Art Online episode 22 actually turned out to  be quite disturbing towards the end.

I'm pretty sure this show doesn't suck because this wasn't even a cliffhanger and yet I'm chomping at the bit to see the next episode because I'm seriously curious as to how they're going to proceed from here.

They've got some major hurdles to overcome and only 4 episodes to do it in.

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Mengeles in Cyberspace

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Sword Art Online 20: General of the Blazing Flame

 Episode 20 picks ep exactly where 19 left off, being pursued by monsters at exceedingly high speed.

Although Leaf is displeased with Kirito's rather slapstick method of monster evasion, it did save them considerable time on their way to stop the in-game assassination.

Alas, it was not enough to warn the ambassadors, as our heroes arrive moments after the Salamander forces. Fortuitously the Salamander General Eugene is given to speeches. His team outnumbers the diplomats about 6 to one and Eugene is widely regarded as one of the most formidable fighters in the game.

Just as Eugene is about to give the order to strike, Kirito, acting on very little information, makes a dramatic entrance and crafts a clever story that gives the Salamanders pause. He claims to be an Ambassador as well, and that he just signed a mutual aid pact with the other two kingdoms represented. As his race (the Spriggans..none of whom he's actually met) already have an alliance with the Undines, this would mean the Salamanders are risking a war on four fronts. (This of course is, in actuality, utter bollocks.)

 General Eugene is suspicious of Kirito's poor equipment and lack of an escort, but to be on the safe side he decides to have a duel with Kirito to see if he is of sufficient level for this wild tale to be legit.

^{One of the stranger ultimatums I've heard}

Eugene is more than a match for Kirito, but Kirito has a trump card. He still has "dual wielding" skill from Sword Art Online. Using Leafs sword, he catches the General off guard and gains the initiative. Kirito does not yield the initiative and the General Blows up REAL good.

^{"He went all kinds of 'splody!"}

And there is much rejoicing...despite the 67 other soldiers standing by.

^{Oh..yes...The Kait-sith are catgirls}

As a gesture of goodwill, the Cait-Sith and Sylph queens resurrect the General (which prevents a major XP, Level, and Equipment loss). Eugene thanks Kirito for a good fight and as a gesture of reciprocity orders his team to retire. He leaves, still, unaware that the whole tale of a 4 power alliance was a ruse.

After some quick explanations and a bit of housecleaning involving Leaf's former guild leader,  the Leaders of Cait-Sith and the Sylphs both offer to hire Kirito, but he points out that he only cares about getting to the top of the World Tree. He guesses (correctly) that the alliance was for the two races to unite in a push to gain access to the tree, and asks them to take him along. They agree but point out that it will take some time to get the proper equipment. Kirito then drops his last ace in the hole. He still has two years of money from SAO that register with this game as loot. He donates it to the cause and the two powers divide it evenly. Now with enough filthy cheat lucre to outfit their parties with high level magic items they have nothing standing in their way. Both agree to move their top fighters to the world tree as soon as they can get everyone together.

Kirito has played his cards well, he is now part of an army of two nations assaulting the prison of his beloved.

Speaking of whom....
Asuna has been biding her time. She did get the pass-code to her cage successfully and now that the coast is clear she makes good her escape. She has no equipment, is dressed in a nightie and is on the top level of the world tree, but Asuna Yuki has 86 levels in badass and she is determined to free herself from this nightmare and reunite with her husband.

 This was actually a pretty good episode.

Kirito/Kazuto used his wits very nicely and what last week seemed to be a digression or side-story ended up moving the plot along quite a bit. Our party looks to be getting much bigger next week, and next weeks title suggests some additional revelations.

I was initially annoyed by the (kept his SAO stats!) device but it worked quite well in this episode, allowing several things to come together believably. The fact that this bug works is intimately tied into the larger goings on and the dark purpose behind Alfheim Online. With the loss of his treasury and being surrounded by high level players, this is no longer of any great beneffit to Kirito, However, it's quite likely that Asuna benefits from a similar level bonus out of her cage. Given that she is at the TOP of what amounts to the final boss dungeon, and her inventory currently consists of a nighty, a hairband and earrings, being level 86 might give her a fighting chance....

One interesting thing touched on in this episode is that Asuna, Kirito and Yui are the only people for whom this isn't "just a game" and they obviously can't quite convey the gravity of the situation to the other players (Asuna because she is not around anyone right now). Fortunately, those around Kirito and Yui are mostly hard core gamers quite immersed in the second life aspects of the world, so motivation is not as big an issue as it it might be. 

Finally, at no point was it necessary to utilize the emergency continuity consultant.

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So..in Girls und Panzer..

This is what the shopping center in Oorai is called.

I wonder if any of the cakes in the cafe are Mullberry. I imagine that the Overlords of the town are behind the tournaments' Jubilee atmosphere.

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Sword Art Online 19

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Regaining Their Stride

The last two episodes of Sword Art Online seemed a bit muddled and occasionally forced but they did advance the story.

This episode did not actually move the merry band of travelers along very much but it DID regain the shows earlier pace and character oriented feel.

It also established a few things:

*The racial divisions in the Fairy Game; They had mentioned this in passing previously, but it does seem to be a plot element. I'm not sure how much of this is the Japanese cultural "In/Out group" dynamics and how much of this is supposed to feel wrong to the audience, but it certainly seems like an unhealthy dynamic that is hardwired into the game setup. Somewhat related, there is a very strong prejudice against  players not in guilds and teams from different races.

*This is further complicated by the fact that one really needs to be in a town or other designated safe place in order to log out (or ones avatar will get looted/killed and one will take the hit in a loss of XPs and items.)

*The guilds and adventure parties in the game are 'seruius bidness'. "Leaf" tells her guild leader that she won't be gaming with them for a few days and he freaks to the point that the guild are no longer contacts, they are enemies. This dovetails into the unhealthy "culture" of the games world.

*Our party is being stalked.

*Meanwhile, Asuna is in an impossible and demoralizing situation, but while she may be the 'princess trapped in the tower', (of both the game and the plot) she still has kept her wits about her and she manages to remain an impressive and interesting character.

All in all the show seems to be well and truly back on track.

* <sub>I say "probably" because due to poverty and lack of time he's using the nerve gear headset from the original game. It's possible (albeit unlikely) that, while he can log out now, "dying" might still trip the brain-fryer.

UPDATE: That last paragraph was previously an incoherent word salad that has now been fixed.</sub>

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Dude...

more...

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...and then it hit me.

So the other night I was looking at Vocaloid videos, many of which had several less well known members of the Vocaloid pantheon.  In the process, I blundered into this one and was curious which particular Vocaloids these...
...Vocaloi..
...loi..
.....Oh no.
Oh dear God no...

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Sword Art Online Continues (eps 16 & 17)

After the low key but interesting episode that was 15 the show hits the ground running.

more...

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Recursions

I thought that the Gangnam meme was pretty played out, but via Ace  comes this...which is truly a thing of beauty, (unless you are sufficiently deprived and pitiful as to be unaware of Jack Burton)

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There is no point in anime-blogging anymore...

... because with this screencap and caption, Sea Slugs has won.

 Chizumatic has a roundup of reactions to Girls und Panzer and the consensus seems to be "WIN!"

I may have to check this silly show out (as soon as I'm no longer swamped).

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TANSTAFAAFL (Otaku edition)

A few weeks ago (on Drudge I think) there was a story about how Internet service providers were getting astoundingly efficient at tracking people who log into sketchy download sites like Mediafire and the sites that link to them heavily, but that they didn't seem to be doing anything about it and it was unclear what they were up to. I'll be damned if I can find it now, but I thought of it when I read this.

Under the new copyright alert system, Internet service providers (ISPs) will send a series of alerts to subscribers whose accounts may have been used to illegally distribute music, movies or other entertainment content via file-sharing. If the subscriber does not respond to the first set of alerts, which will include educational material on protecting copyrights and the consequences of illegal file-sharing, the Internet service provider may temporarily slow down their Internet speeds, direct them to an online tutorial when they try to access popular websites or implement other penalties--called "mitigation measures."

This is to be implemented over the "next couple of weeks" so those of you who are torrenting be aware that now might be a good time to go straight.

If you're reading this in Japan then there is a little extra incentive...

Internet users in Japan who illegally download copyright content will face new penalties after a change to the law. They will now face up to two years in jail or up fines to two million yen (US$25,700).

 This might explain any slowness in torrents appearing.

Now, it is true that the Japanese AV media model is indeed made of fail and unsustainability. It is also true that these rather non-proportional penalties indicate a desperate attempt to keep that moribund business plan afloat. But something needs to be done, and especially given the  sense of entitlement to free downloads expressed by many fans and the state of the US anime industry (which is due at least in part to piracy) my first instinct is to be OK with this despite the crazy penalties.

However, the lack of proportionality in the penalties would seem to indicate a very heavy handed approach, that might not recognize things like fair use or parody.... or image macros.

UPDATE: Japan has had US style fair use exceptions since 2008 so that final paragraph was inaccurate.

It should also be noted that the penalties for UP-loaders are rather more severe..

...uploaders of copyright infringing music and videos face a maximum penalty of a 10-year prison sentence and a 10 million yen fine (US$128, 318 ), said BBC news.

..so what I meant by " This might explain any slowness in torrents appearing." is those of you who depend upon Anime gods in Japan uploading shows to torrent may find the torrents slow to appear for download as said anime gods ability to do so may be somewhat inhibited in the near future.

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Sword Art Online 15

Following on the footsteps of last episodes  high stakes action and surprises, episode 15 provides a bit of a breather with a very touching, low key episode...

...that is full of surprises.

more...

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Wow. W.O.W. Went "Pow!".

Someone REALLY didn't like episode 14 of Sword Art Online and decided take out a real virtual realm.
Or its just a random hacker.
Or Blizzard screwed up.

Entire cities in the World of Warcraft have been reportedly destroyed with no one spared, not even the NPCs.

Via Instapundit. More here, here and here.

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Even in English

...the damn song makes no sense.

Oh hell with it. Lets just do this then. It was inevitable anyway.



...but not as inevitable as this.

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Game Over

 That was unexpected.

more...

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Yamato 2199 Third Movie Clip

As with the first two films,  a promo clip with the first 10 minutes of the third Yamato 2199 movie has aired on Japanese TV.

As the third movie starts the ship is finally leaving the solar system. However, it seems their FTL communications can't punch through the heliopause, so, for morale purposes the Admiral arranges for everyone to have 1 minute to talk to their families back home one last time.

...and the nurse is in a french maid outfit for some reason.
^{( WTF)}

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