July 27, 2007

Mononoke - 03

Filed under: Finished Series:/Mononoke


The name “Umibouzu” was rather confusing, especially with my lack of Japanese. After all, the “umi”-part could mean either sea or giving birth, and I could have sworn that “bouzu” meant little kid. Still, I was wrong. After looking up the kanji, it seems that we’re dealing with a seamonk here. Naturally, the episode again was pure awesomeness, and it has a very good chance of beating the first arc.

At sea, we find ourselves a boat, carrying a strange companionship: The girl from Bake Neko, the owner of the ship, a bard, a monk, a priest, a swordsman and a medicine-seller. It’s there where Umibouzu releases its wrath on the poor ship.

Here is what I believe what happened. It first makes the ship stray away from its course by placing a magnet near its compass. Then it calls its comrades, or a collection of fish ghosts to attack the ship. (I know they’re comrades, because otherwise the medicine seller would have figured out the Katachi by now).The medicine seller manages to repel them, but the fact remains that someone on the ship is hiding something. I’m putting my money on the monk.

I wonder, though, do the goldfish on board have anything to do with the story? And what are the roles of the other characters? I’m looking forward to next week to find out. :)

3000 Comments - What Fall-Show do you want me to blog?

Filed under: Other:/Random Posts

I was pretty surprised when I realized that I already reached the benchmark of 3000 comments in such a short while. Especially considering that it took me 16 months to reach the first 1500, and only four to reach the second 1500 comments. Last night, ap was the one who made it, on my post about Bokura no - 11. While the people from Sea Slugs always use some kind of fan-art, I’m a horrible drawer, I decided to have a little contest for these kinds of benchmarks. Basically, just post a comment, leaving the name of an anime that is slated for the fall-season, and I’ll blog the one with the most votes, no matter what.

The last time I did this, Claymore came out, which turned into a really interesting experience. The rules are:
- To validly post, just drop a comment leaving your selection. I selected this system above a poll on purpose, because I really want this to be a choice of my readers, instead of random people who will vote randomly on any poll they run into.
- I accept any shows that are listed on moonphase under the fall-season or just 2007, without any specific date yet announced apart from the year. For an english version of this list, go here.
- Each person can select up to 2 shows. Since ap was the one who made te 3000th comment, his votes count for three.
- The voting stays open until August 31th, after which the show with the most votes will be blogged as soon as it airs. Be careful, though. If I don’t like it, I reserve the right to bash it. If you want to return on a later date, you’ll find this post under the category “Random Posts”.

And finally, let me thank all the people who dropped a comment, and made sure that this benchmark could be reached. You’re all very appreciated. ^_^

EDIT - The current list of votes:
Gundam 00 - 13
Clannad - 12
Ghost Hound - 11
Gunslinger Girl - 9
Kodomo no Jikan - 5
ef - 5
Mokke - 4
Haruhi II - 4
Wellber no Monogatari II - 4
Kimikiss - 2
Hero Tales - 2
Rental Magica - 2
Minami-ke - 2
Censoroll - 1
Prism Ark - 1
Shugo Chara - 1
Aria OVA - 1
Bamboo Blade - 1
Shakugan no Shana II - 1

(Small note: everyone who voted for Gunslinger Girl can recast his or her vote, since it’s been confirmed to air in spring, next year. )

EDIT: The Poll is Closed. Don’t bother voting or revoting, because I won’t count them. Everyone, thanks for participating!