I started watching another anime series recently called Cross Ange, a new offering by Sunrise. Quite a “dark” show – my first impression was the Shawshank Redemption meets a “yuri” version of Zeta Gundam – it tells the story of a utopian society in which everyone can use a kind of magic called mana. Everyone, that is, except for certain class of anti-newtypes undesirables who have no magical abilities, who are called norma and viewed as inhuman by society at large. When it’s discovered that the beloved Princess Angelise of the Misurugi Empire is herself a lowly norma, she’s arrested and packed off to serve as cannon fodder in a war with interdimensional dragons. The show is dark and gritty, with a high body count in the first few episodes, and offers more fanservice than I’ve seen from a Sunrise show in a while. Overall the show is entertaining, and since Sunrise is the company behind such outstanding series as Code Geass and Mai-Hime, I’m hopeful the quality of the story will remain good.
I’m often amazed at the extent to which aspects of Japan’s culture have flowed to all corners of the world. I’m sure there are more than a few people in the U.S. and Europe who possess little in the way of detailed knowledge about South Korea or Vietnam or the Kingdom of Bhutan, but who could name at least three weapons used by ninja using the correct terms in Japanese. Japanese food culture has also been carried far and wide, and in most countries you can find such cuisine as as ramen*, tempura, tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet, yum), nabe dishes cooked in a central pot like sukiyaki, all manner of bento boxed lunches, and of one of my personal favorites, sushi. Although J-List’s home prefecture of Gunma is as far from the sea as you can get, we manage to have some decent sushi, and it’s often quite affordable, too. I’m a big fan of wasabi, the spicy root usually translated as Japanese horseradish, and eat it on anything I can. Incidentally, we stock a lot of Japanese cookbooks, in case you want to expand your knowledge of Japanese cooking.
(*Modern Japanese ramen is based on a Chinese pulled noodle dish, though it underwent a good deal of evolution in Japan before reaching its current form.)
Remember our good news, that Girlish Grimoire Littlewitch Romanesque has gone ‘golden master’ and is heading for the duplicators now! A fabulous game illustrated by famed artist Oyari, this is not only one of the most beautiful games to come along in years, it’s also one of the most fun. The goal of Littlewitch is to teach two witches-in-training to use magic, helping them learn spells and sending them on quests. This is the “Editio Perfecta” (perfect edition) of the game, which includes all additional scenarios from the game’s fandiscs plus one all-new game route created for this edition. The game is fully translated to English and 100% uncensored. Preorder the limited Deluxe Edition, which will come in a large box with three laminated illustration boards and a beautiful full color game manual, and you’ll get the download version free, sent to you on shipping day, so you can start playing right away. (You can also preorder the download edition now, if you don’t want the package and printed manual.)
