Or so it appears. Having recently caught up to Viz’ release of the manga (both available in print and on vizmanga.com at five bucks a volume), I’m not here to try and sell you on Toriko. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great, but right now I’d like to record some of the more unexpected moments I’ve encountered so far. Toriko is peculiar, and maybe even a bit subversive.

It encourages alcoholism.

Japanese culture can be less strict than American, and the subject of alcohol is no exception. For example, the children’s cartoon Dragonball Z once featured an older character drinking beer, and the beer had to be chroma keyed into looking like water before it aired on television over here.

Toriko takes it a step further than that. Characters don’t simply drink beer (constantly). They invite the reader to do so as well, as in this celebratory splash page:

The target demographic for this manga is ten year-old boys. The drinking age in Japan is 20.

But we’re not just talking about beer. Hard liquor is glorified! And unlike the crazy made-up food in this comic, the spirits are very real. Watch how the artist seductively introduces us to a glass of Blanton’s bourbon whiskey.

This makes me thirsty, and I don't even like bourbon.

It mocks Japan’s political allies.

One of the international organizations in Toriko runs an underground arena which pits the most ferocious creatures against one another. Yes, blood sport. If that isn’t bad enough, the clientele for these exhibitions are the world’s most wealthy and politically influential.

(They all have Western facial features.)

When an exhibition gets out of hand, people begin panicking and fleeing the arena, causing one of the manga’s heroes to exclaim:

In other words, “fuck you, nuclear-weapon states.” Things get interesting to me at this point, even though I’m really not a political guy.

I find it refreshing when the Japanese express a more individualistic and competitive worldview than the more genteel sentiments you’re used to hearing. I’m not saying they should go full-out nationalist, but some fire in the belly can make a people more interesting.

You see shades of this in Buronson’s seinen manga, for example. In particular I’m thinking of Sanctuary, Strain, and Japan, all of which have been published in English and I recommend reading.

It villainizes vegetarianism.

Japanese fiction is often preoccupied with the concept of apocalypse, as well as the precocious balance of nature. In Toriko, life on Earth was threatened with ecological disaster in the distant past.

What caused this? Ever-expanding human development? War? A meteor?

No! Enormously fat and ugly plant-eating monsters wouldn’t stop devouring the world’s vegetation.

Pictured above: someone sampling organic vegetables at Whole Foods Market

Seriously, it wasn’t until a giant wolf killed them all that harmony was restored and the Earth saved.

It’s saying something that in a manga about the unapologetic murdering of animals for the sake of one’s taste buds, the greatest threat the Earth has known comes in the form of herbivores. Think about it. Do you really think it’s a coincidence?

In conclusion…

Am I reading too deeply into these story elements? Perhaps. I do think there’s a devilish side to Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, author of Toriko, that most have failed to articulate. At the very least, it may be an expression of core Blog of the North Star principles with which the author agrees: to eat, drink and be merry.

The Toriko anime adaptation whitewashes the majority of these amusing little moments out, which is why I’ve decided to only follow the manga for now. At first I tried to follow the anime exclusively and lost interest in the whole thing, but thanks to some prodding from @gokuffy, I’m back on the manga horse and loving it.

Wrong! It boils down to this: people unwittingly watch anime they don’t really like, and the activity of watching anime loses its overall value as a result. It’s the opposite of the Aesop’s Fable where the Fox can’t get the grapes, so he lies to himself and says they’d taste bad. In this case, people force themselves to eat sour grapes, and respond to their displeasure by thinking they must be burnt out on grapes.

The question is: why do people eat sour grapes in the first place? I’m no psychology expert, but I’ve had plenty of conversations with anime fans. Here are some possible explanations, peppered with images from a great anime about self-rationalization: Paranoia Agent!

“Anime backlogs.”

Holy shit. Is there a faster way to suck the joy out of anything than thinking of it as a backlog?

“I’m backlogged on hiking trips. I’d better have one this weekend for fun!”

“I need to tackle this backlog of sexual maneuvers I’ve been meaning to get around to. Want to do the blind pirate tonight when we have sex?”

People think about anime in this way, and it’s sad. Leave backlogs to people who are paid to deal with them. It’s not a word that should pertain to a hobby. Treat anime like a second job and it will inevitably begin to seem like one.

Anime as a social experience supersedes anime as something enjoyable in its own right.

There’s always going to be something social about entertainment. But sometimes the enjoyment of an anime is outpaced by its function as a social adjunct, with bitterness being the inevitable result. I made a conscious effort not to pick on Gundam fans this entire post, but they’re a prime example here.*

Some people have seen every Gundam series ever aired. Is it because Gundam is a franchise made up of nothing but awesome shows? Hell no. It’s because Gundam fans seek an encyclopedic common ground from which they can derive a never-ending stream of arguments and debates. Look up the “Gundam tier lists” people have compiled, where they rank the shows that make up the Gundam universe into different levels, and then argue about it. Or the endlessly unproductive discussions of what someone new to Gundam should watch and in what order.

Some people are “burnt out” on anime because they forced themselves to watch stuff they didn’t enjoy for social reasons. Perhaps they watched it with friends. Or so that they could blog about it. Or because they felt obligated in order to converse about anime at a certain level.

* I’m not talking about all Gundam fans so please don’t beam spam me

“I like anime, I’m supposed to watch it!”

Maybe you don’t like anime, homie. Maybe you outgrew it. Maybe you’re only going to enjoy the same fifteen shows and seven movies for the rest of your life.

It can be hard, especially for geeks, to admit these sorts of things to themselves. Geeks tend to self-identify by their hobbies more than normal people. If you have an enormous amount of information about anime stored in your head, admitting you don’t have much use for it and would rather play Roller Coaster Tycoon for eight hours straight can be hard, even if it’s true.

(It’s often true. If you like anime, you don’t have tell people you’re also a gamer. We can do the “99% of anime fans like video games more” math.)

In conclusion:

If you’re not having fun watching anime, there could be a million reasons relating to the anime itself, the aesthetics of your viewing experience, or personal life issues that are getting in the way. Or you just don’t like anime anymore for whatever reason. In this light, “anime burnout” quickly becomes a dumb, vague descriptor for the complex relationship between your self-image (I am a person who is supposed to watch anime) and your behavior (I am not watching anime).

Follow the world of manga long enough and you’ll start to hear about titles purely on the basis of how outlandish their premises are. For example, Saint Young Men, a story about Jesus and Buddha vacationing together in Tokyo. Or Blaster Knuckle (reviewed here), where a black cowboy hunts the monstrous vampire beasts that run the Ku Klux Klan.

Thermae Romae is one of those kinds of manga. Ongoing since 2008, it’s about an ancient Roman named Lucius who’s inconveniently transported back and forth from modern-day Japan, where he learns about Japan’s rich culture of bathhouses and bathing, and seeks to incorporate some of that culture back home.

A few weeks ago, Thermae Romae was finally turned into an anime, albeit in an unconventional format. Thermae Romae is a no-frills production running only three episodes long. It’s about as barebones as animation can get, having the appearance of a Flash cartoon, and a rapidly put together one at that.

But I dig it!

In Thermae Romae, Richard Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries plays as Lucius realizes he has diarrhea and can’t find a toilet. Shortly after, you witness the ecstasy he feels at experiencing a bidet for the very first time. A supporting character is the spitting image of Steve Buscemi for no clear reason. It’s an anime both restrained and indulgent in its execution. Never graphic, but frequently juvenile. People will say it has a limited bag of tricks, and they get tired quickly. I say there’s not enough time in these episodes for that to happen, and if you want to talk about exhausted bags of tricks, look no further than the rest of the anime airing in Japan right now.

Also, that’s definitely NOT Golgo 13.

Thermae Romae is only made up of six twelve-minute segments, so there isn’t much more I can tell you without spoiling the entire thing. Entertaining as it may be, it feels less like an adaptation and more like a preview of the manga version, similar to the Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku anime. But we’ll save that discussion for another day.

Toei released a press statement on their website explaining the search for a director is underway, but the eponymous role of amoral womanizer and assassin Duke Togo, aka Golgo 13, has been given to child actor Seishiro Kato, pictured right.

The announcement, hot on the heels of reports Jun Matsumoto will star in a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure movie, is believed to be a  case of strategic one-upmanship, with Toei competitively trying to outdo the horrible casting decisions of other Japanese movie studios.

Blog of the North Star could not reach Kato for comment. As his agent explained, he was put to bed early by his parents for not finishing his dinner.

A few months ago I read the first few issues of The New 52 Deathstroke purely on the basis of Simon Bisley’s amazing cover art. Eventually my enthusiasm for the covers was outpaced by my disappointment in the book’s writing, and I had to tap out.

It happens in every genre, including fantasy comics. Some of those covers look stunning, going so far as to incorporate Frank Frazetta paintings, but you’d be hard pressed to say anything nice about the art or stories contained within.

These sorts of infractions are why I neglected Orc Stain for so long. The seemingly universal abundance of terrible fantasy comics caused me to ignore what looked like something potentially interesting. I’m glad to have dug deeper, because this book turned out to be great.

The excellent coloring of Orc Stain is what initially caught my attention. It posesses a masterful palette of purple, green and red gradients, which makes everything blend together cohesively, while also adding depth to the detailed and frenetic linework. Since comics began to be colored digitally, gradients this conspicuous have defiled what are often serviceable pencils and inks, a tell-tale sign of heavy handed colorists rushing to make their deadlines. Here, the coloring is nothing short of breathtaking, adding balance and actually elevating the already impressive line drawing. I wouldn’t be surprised if coloring is the most time-consuming part of creating Orc Stain.

Luckily, Orc Stain isn’t an exercise in style over substance. Its plot, which follows a thoughtful one-eyed orc trying to keep a low profile as an explosive paradigm shift overtakes society, is grounded in an unpredictable world filled with unusual beasts, weapons, and magic. Orcs are a race of obstinate, single-minded brutes, constantly engaged in fickle tribal warfare which accomplishes little. Most humorously, orc economics is based entirely around the gronch, the orc penis. It’s both amusing and disgusting to read about orc currency and how it’s generated. This is a book where you’re just as likely to turn the page to see what happens to the protagonist as you are to learn one of the weird quirks of the world he inhabits.

Great-looking book. Unique and compelling milieu. What’s the catch?

The closest thing to a catch is that it takes James Stokoe a long time to release each issue, because he writes, draws, inks and colors them himself. I don’t have a problem with this. In fact, I would embrace an alternative model of American comics closer to what you see in Europe, where 45-60 page chapters are released annually in high-quality hardcovers. There are talented comic book artists suited to the monthly format, but a lot aren’t. Put shortly, this book is worth the wait.

Okay, there’s one more catch, and I’m surprised I’d ever say it: this comic looks better digitally than in print. I have the Orc Stain trade paperback (which collects issues one through five), and Orc Stain #6, the most recent issue. Both are printed on an uncoated paper that greedily absorbs the rich tapestry of ink that makes up an issue of Orc Stain, reducing its contrast and vividity. Would it raise the price-point too high to print the comic on glossy paper? I can’t say.

I can tell you with confidence, however, that when you compare two-page spreads that run across both a comic book page and the inside back cover, it’s the half on the coated cover that looks best. The other side appears limp and demure by comparison. When you read the comic digitally, you don’t have this problem. It’s bright and beautiful, exploding off the screen. Good thing it’s available on comiXology for 2 bucks an issue.

Orc Stain is an artist’s compelling vision of brazen weirdness, a genuine labor of love carefully crafted. In North America, people deserve more credit for creating comics in this fashion.

I don’t know what your favorite Rutger Hauer movie is. He’s made a few good ones. There’s always his iconic performance in Blade Runner. There’s also Split Second, a solid 1992 sci-fi flick that’s difficult to find on DVD. Not to mention his more recent starring role in Hobo with a Shotgun. But I’m here to talk about Redline, a 1997 sf thriller curiously available on Amazon Instant Video.

I think Rutger Hauer starred in a string of low-budget action movies in the nineties because he was having a midlife crisis. There is one major aspect of this movie that would appeal to an actor struggling with his own virility: breasts. Pert, young, natural, communist breasts. The kind you don’t see in movies anymore. The kind that make life worth living. In Redline, Rutger Hauer gets to make out with naked Russian chicks a lot, and even gets into a fight with one.

This movie is so low rent that Mark freaking Dacascos is the costar. If you don’t know who Mark is, I have four words for you: Kickboxer 5: The Redemption. That didn’t work? Okay, he played the titular Crying Freeman in a live action adaptation of Kazuo Koike’s manga. In Redline, he plays a man who never wears a t-shirt.

Redline is a science fiction thriller about John Anderson Wade (Hauer), an American who smuggles futuristic tech into Russia, until he and his girlfriend are betrayed and shot dead by his partner, Merrick (Dacascos). Wade is reanimated using a weird kind of experimental technology that leaves him grappling with immense physical pain, and is quickly embroiled in a I-can’t-remember plot that involves the entire power structure of Russia.

I don’t know if it was Rutger Hauer’s presence or the desperation of my own mind trying to justify a terrible course of action, but I left this movie satisfied despite a laundry list of complications. I watched it via Amazon Instant Video, where it was in a 4:3 aspect ratio and the audio was maddeningly out of sync with the video. The biggest complication of all, however, is that this movie kind of blows.

Next Tuesday North Americans will finally be able to buy the pulse-pounding anime masterpiece REDLINE. If you have no money or like free things, you should know multiple websites are giving away free copies of it. Here’s a rundown of all the contests of which I’m aware:

• Beyond Hollywood
• Rama’s Screen
• Ain’t It Cool News (Closed)
• Blu-ray.com (Closed)
• Nerd Reactor (Closed)
• We Got This Covered (Closed)

I’ll add any new ones I run across to the list.

HOLLYWOOD, C.A.—Insiders are reporting human waste found near a portable toilet bears a striking resemblance to the hit 1988 science fiction anime film Akira.

An anonymous source shared with Blog of the North Star that the ongoing police investigation currently attributes the mystery stinkpickle to Leonardo DiCaprio, a movie star long attached to the live action remake of Akira. Other named suspects include Stephen Norrington, Albert Hughes and Jaume Collet-Serra.

Moments ago metropolitan police released a statement explaining the incident to be a crime of soulless corporate passion. There’s no immediate danger, but the public should make efforts to avoid contact with the booty cake if at all possible.

MMA Manga Top Contenders: a series of posts examining the world of Japanese mixed martial arts comics.

It’s no coincidence that familial pathos is a key element in MMA fiction. When you’re comfortable getting into a ring and punching someone who can expertly punch you back, it may be because you’re used to life being as much of an unforgiving exchange.

Shamo adheres to this narrative tendency, albeit in a dramatically heightened way.

Japan has a reputation for its academics being a rigorous pressure boiler that robs kids of their childhoods. Ryo Narushima knows it well. In this story he’s a bookish teenager serving time at a delinquent prison, because he went insane one day and murdered his parents. The details of his crime are left intentionally vague, as if the blind spot Ryo forever struggles with in his own head is shared by the readers, and by Japanese society at large.

In order to defend himself in juvenile hall, Ryo takes his martial arts classes very seriously. Thankfully his prison sentence isn’t long, and he enters back into civilization with fighting skills and a survivor instinct he didn’t have before.

You might imagine Ryo bleakly setting forth to reclaim a meager resemblance of his former life. That isn’t the case. Ryo starts out a lanky geek who made one big mistake, and over the course of this manga turns into a monster that doesn’t think twice about rape, murder, or selling his own body.

This one is for the ages, people. It’s an engrossing, repulsive tale about survival, which then becomes a story about a Machiavellian antagonist who is somehow the protagonist, all for the purpose of skewering our modern perceptions of success and achievement.

You may notice I’ve mentioned little about MMA in my review of this manga. Let me assure you, there’s no shortage of fights and brawls and tournaments. One of the first arcs in the series involves Ryo encountering a doppelganger version of himself, a champion boxer who seems to have it all. An obsessive fascination with this character leads Ryo down a disturbing series of events until he stars in a televised exhibition match with him. In preparation for this event Ryo becomes so engorged on steroids his heart almost explodes. But Ryo and the boxer’s rivalry doesn’t end with a simple boxing match.

Their final solemn encounter encompasses an entire volume of this manga and it’s so fucking brilliant, reading it bordered on a holy experience.

Shamo will probably never get licensed. The book would need to either be censored or sealed in order to be sold in bookstores, and the writer/artist team have no established place in the consciousness of American manga fans. I can’t imagine any North American publisher that would take the risk. Shamo has been published in countries more hospitable to a diverse perception of comics, like France, Spain, Germany and Italy, so I suppose it’s possible, I’m just not betting on it. Ironically, I bet it’s the nudity in this manga that would discourage a North American license the most, not the odious violence and rape.

Reading scanlations is an ethical quandary, and respect to wherever you stand on the topic, but I would have given up on this hobby a long time ago if the only avenue at my disposal was the domestic market. Stuff just gets so much better than that. And I’ve proven to be too dumb to learn Japanese, so I’m left telling you a manga I read by way of scanlations is not only a top MMA manga, but one of the best comics I’ve ever encountered.

PS: There was a live-action Chinese movie based on this manga made in 2008. It wasn’t very good.

MMA Manga Top Contenders: a series of posts examining the world of Japanese mixed martial arts comics.

Holyland is a peculiar manga. It’s about a character named Yuu, a shy social outcast who finally finds a place where he might actually belong: the streets. Life on the streets inevitably leads to fighting, and Yuu is terrible at it. So, terrified, he resolves to get better in order to stake a place in his new-found home, his own personal “holy land.”

I call Holyland peculiar for two reasons. One: it features a perpetually nervous protagonist. Yuu is almost always sweating or wincing or blushing. This sort of character isn’t rare in the world of manga, but in the world of martial arts comics he certainly is. Secondly, the artwork is inconsistent and wonky, featuring lanky characters with inexpressive doe-eyed faces. The first volume is downright ugly, and the reason I avoided this manga like the plague until only a couple of years ago. Overall it’s a very weird-looking series, and not in a good way.

Nevertheless, Holyland won over its fair share of fans due to its dramatic streetfighting storyline, both in Japan, where it ran for 18 volumes until 2008, and abroad, where it’s being actively scanlated. What can I say? Real men appreciate drama.

I can’t say I ever expect it to get published over here, and I’m not lamenting this fact, but Holyland remains a unique oddity. Because Yuu knows next to nothing about fighting in the beginning of the series, Holyland is the approachable kind of manga someone with absolutely no knowledge of martial arts can read and actually learn from. But as we’ll see, there are better manga titles that also accomplish this.

Thanks to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)’s new partnership with FOX, mixed martial arts may see its biggest North American popularity boom ever in 2012. Up until now, the best UFC fights have been showcased on pay-per-view events, but now many will be shown for free on the Fox Network.

Manga is the only reason I ever became interested in the UFC, so I’d love to see its popularity lead to a MMA manga getting licensed.

It’s been tried before. Gutsoon! Entertainment, which began in 2002 but completely folded by 2004, published chapters of Baki the Grappler in its Raijin Comics anthology. In 2005, Viz licensed a manga called Tough, but had to cancel it after six volumes due to low sales.

Over the next few weeks I hope to go over the best mixed martial arts manga, and ultimately present the title I think would do best if published in North America.

This year, instead of cramming anime and manga down reluctant friends’ and family’s throats, consider reducing your superfluous gift giving and donate extra cash to a needy nonprofit organization. The world may not be a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but for disadvantaged and unadopted children, it probably feels like one. Here are three worthwhile but less publicized charities you may be interested in:

ZERO TO THREE
http://www.zerotothree.org/

“ZERO TO THREE is a national, multidisciplinary organization that supports the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families. We carry out that mission through a range of activities that inform, educate and support the adults who influence very young children’s lives. ZERO TO THREE informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. Additionally, we offer comprehensive resources about early childhood development and child and family well-being. We build, prepare and inspire professionals; advance policies and build systems; and raise awareness and inform parents.”

Pajama Program
http://www.pajamaprogram.org/

“Founded in 2001, Pajama Program’s mission is to provide a loving environment for children who have lived through a great deal of hurt in their young lives to give them hope for a better tomorrow. The program identifies key institutions in major cities in the U.S. and other countries where children are living temporarily as they wait and hope for adoption. It is to the children in these circumstances and temporary living quarters that the pajamas are delivered with love an affection. Since 2001, we have given away over 537,842 pajamas and 248,168 books.”

Nurses for Newborns Foundation
http://www.nfnf.org/

“Nurses for Newborns Foundation (NFNF) exists to provide a safety net for families most at-risk through home visiting by experienced, registered nurses who provide healthcare and resources and teach positive parenting skills. The overall goal is to prevent child abuse and neglect and infant mortality. NFNF provides services to babies who are born with medical problems, born to teen moms or born to mothers with disabilities/mental health concerns, or who are born into families who do not have money for even basic necessities. In addition to medical care, we assist families whenever possible with donated materials needed for safe care, such as diapers, formula, baby food, clothing, bedding, and cribs. We welcome hundreds of volunteers each year who help us manage the logistics of this work.”

But that’s not the whole story. Say what you want about the blog itself, working on it improved my communication skills and it’s taught me things which I’ve applied to my day job, with profitable results.

Everything is connected. And it’s with that fact in mind that I put together these three reasons why you should never read my blog. I’m doing this because I care about you.

3. I’m kind of a dick.

I began this site wanting to cultivate a friendly, welcoming tone that might ultimately persuade skeptics to watch Fist of the North Star. Many of those posts now give me douche chills so I’ve deleted them.

Blogging became more fun when I stopped trying to be a calm expert and started trying to give voice to the emotional enthusiasm I get when I really like something. A side effect of this existential probing is increased impulsiveness and abrasiveness in my writing.

Let’s not mischaracterize it: being a dick keeps me blogging without getting bored. I called the Head of Marketing & Acquisitions at MangaUK a cunt, for chrissakes. AND HE APOLOGIZED TO ME FOR IT.

2. I like comics that aren’t about superheros or transgendered robotic muffin princesses from the future.

Alright, I haven’t written about comics often. But I endeavor to do it more going into 2012. It’s intimidating as hell. Joseph “Jog” McCulloch sets the bar too damn high.

I’m doomed to failure, as there’s not much of an audience for comics discussion that goes beyond the gender politics of Power Girl’s tit cleavage or glorified ad copy about what a consummate master Tezuka is for deconstructing his reconstructions.

I’m stunned my review of a Franco-Belgian horror comic gets daily hits, often from search engines. It’s not a testament to my writing skill, but to how little has been written on the subject in English. That comic kicks ass and it’s actively in print in North America! I guess there isn’t a requisite movie tie-in to generate mainstream interest. And no underage nudity for the otaku.

1. I do everything wrong.

To write respectably, you’re supposed to nuance and weaken every point you make, and disguise your preferences with academic language to seem more objective.

To be a good blogger you need a modicum of civility. For example, don’t shit on your audience.

If you blog about anime, you’re supposed to hang out with pre-teens at anime conventions, even though you’re 25, everything is cheaper when you buy it online, and otaku smell bad.

If you like comics, everything at the end of the day is supposed to go back to your nostalgic love of superhero comics, and how that childhood fire only dims with time as your hobby inevitably slides into the pathetic matter of simply collecting comics for the hell of it.

You’re not supposed to like anime without liking video games more.

And if you blog about manga, by god you’re supposed to hail every Vertical title as a must-own product for manga connoisseurs such as yourself.

I do none of these things. I don’t take this blog seriously, and I’m a hack.

You probably shouldn’t visit in 2012.

Takeshi Kitano, writer, director and star of the 2010 Yakuza movie Outrage, is a complex entity unto himself. I’ll resolve, then, to talk about this film without bringing in the complicating factors of his iconic past work and this being hailed as his return to proper form. Look Kitano up if you’d like, there’s a reason his reputation precedes him.

When I first heard about this movie and saw the promotional photographs of Takeshi grimly staring on, pistol in hand, I had it all wrong. I imagined Outrage as some kind of “old pissed off Yakuza versus the world” movie. Not the case. Kitano isn’t even the proper star of the film, considering how many plot points rarely involve him. His performance is often disarmingly charming, bordering on jovial. I blame the marketing team for misrepresenting this movie.

Outrage is a crime film about dishonor and nihilistic futility. In it we see boss after boss manipulate their underlings to suit their selfish purposes at each other’s expense. The plot gets so complicated you may begin lose track of who is betraying who, and for what grievance in particular. But that’s part of its maddening intrigue.

It’s not an unpleasant experience, watching this movie. I thank Kitano for keeping the runtime under two hours, as there’s a limit to how long something like this can amble before it grows tedious. Outrage flirts with that limit. There may even be some heavy petting.

One subplot in particular, involving a Ghanaian ambassador, is so rushed and punctuated with fades to black you can’t help but marvel at the creative desperation to detail a series of events which add little to the movie itself. The actor playing the ambassador is terrible, and while his portrayal isn’t at all racist, it’s uncomfortable in that patented Japanese way you’re probably used to. Maybe the actor shouldn’t have bugged his eyes out quite so many times, for starters.

There’s a plodding quality to Outrage which makes it stand out and enriches the performances within. It puts me in an odd place in that I’m not left feeling impressed, but I look forward to seeing the 2012 sequel, which is already in development.

Quick addendum: I know next to nothing about fashion and I’m barely competent at getting dressed in the morning, however: this movie taught me if you’re long in the tooth and not terribly in shape, a good Caesar haircut alone can make you seem more badass. Not sure why that works, but it does.

Adam Chaplin is a blood soaked independent horror/action movie fresh out of Italy. It uses a technology the creators call Hyperrealistic Anime Blood Simulation, or H.A.B.S. for short. I picked it up because of the clear Fist of the North Star influence, made even clearer by the concept art included in the DVD extras.

The violence and gore in this movie is most reminiscent of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, a Hong Kong film adaptation of the Riki-Oh manga by Tetsuya Saruwatari. While The Story of Ricky is a cult hit, its tacky special effects fail to live up to Saruwatari’s drawing style.

Adam Chaplin doesn’t suffer from that complication. It’s an original property created by Necrostorm, a company which proudly boasts “80-90’s are BACK” on every page of their website. This nostalgic sentiment is matched by nearly all aspects of the movie’s production, including the melodic guitar soundtrack, impressive practical effects, and spartan plot.

Adam Chaplin is a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for immense physical strength. He walks an ugly world filled with crooked cops and mutated freaks, seeking revenge on the deformed psychopath that burned his girlfriend alive. As Adam murders his way to his goal he punches people in half, kicks their faces off, and lets loose buckets and buckets of blood.

I don’t keep up with all the latest horror films, but I’m pleased to have seen this one. It’s gratifying to support a bunch of crazy guys creating crazy stuff halfway across the world. Necrostorm has loads of projects in the pipeline, including Death Cargo, a fighting game offering the gory violence found in Mortal Kombat, except in photographic detail.

Related videos: Trailer, 5 Minute Excerpt
Click here to purchase.

First Japan released an Ashita no Joe live action movie in February, then they started working on a Tiger Mask one. Does this officially count as a trend?

These are two archetypal sports manga that debuted in 1968, with anime adaptations that followed soon after. Neither has been licensed in the United States in any form (save for an Ashita no Joe compilation DVD Tai Seng released in 2009, which is definitely worth buying).

Casting pretty boy actors to play these roles makes good marketing sense, since it opens up the demographic outside of the fifty year old men who watched the cartoons growing up. But Eiji Wentz playing Tiger Mask is going too far. He’s supposed to be a professional wrestler, for chrissakes. It seems like an unintentional joke at this point. How are they going to top themselves next?

Uh, forget I said anything.

Here are links to the specific posts to save you time:

Fry’s (B&M)/Frys.com
DeepDiscount.com / DVDPlanet.com Black Friday Sale
Bandai Ent. Anime Sale @ Buy.com (up to 70% off plus free budget shipping)

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to be introducing someone to G Gundam/War in the Pocket for not much more than $50 total, and that’s pretty boss. New Fist of the North Star is also going for really low prices at a couple of places.

I’ll admit it: when I started this blog I did a lot of things because everyone else was doing them. Big example is reviewing the first episodes from a new season of anime. Sure, it’s a great way to generate content, but it’s content that’s ultimately disposable and worthless.

Nowhere else is the tendency to generate content at the expense of value more apparent than in the practice of writing gift guides. I know a lot of the people reading this aren’t plugged into a million anime and manga blogs the way I am, but this is a thing that happens on a stupefying level.

Milo, you rude asshole, I can hear the objectors say, people have found these guides useful. They’ve said so on numerous occasions. They’re more than just Internet noise!

Yeah, but they shouldn’t be. That’s my whole point.

There was a stamp guy I used to know. He was really into stamps. Whenever it came time to get someone a gift, he would get them the stamp version of what they liked. Liked baseball? He got you baseball stamps. Liked cars? He got you car stamps. Liked Indigenous Australian sandpainting from the 19th century? He got you baseball stamps.

You know where I’m going with this, right?

Don’t be that guy. No one likes that guy. Even if they’re super polite to him with frozen smiles on their faces.

Milo, you impolite idiot, I can hear other objectors say, what about people who use these guides to buy gifts for their friends who already like anime and manga? Not everyone has time to know about the new releases in a given year.

Really? People have time to read blogs but not time to find an appropriate gift on their own?

The whole idea of gift-giving is busting your ass to show appreciation for someone. If you’re only giving on a superficial non-committed level, then get something generic that won’t go to waste, like a gift card. Or don’t waste your money on superficial bullshit at all, and donate to a needy charity.

That’s what this whole thing is supposed to be about, you know?