Play Magazine, my favorite literary game mag, is having an anime giveaway contest in which 5 entrants will win the following 4 anime dvds and sets:

Claymore: The Complete Series

Evangelion 1.0 (You Are Not Alone)

Blassreiter

Dragonaut

Plus a copy of Girls of Gaming 7

http://playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.Contest&conid=39

Podcast manga review of Happy Mania Volume 1 by Moyoco Anno. Translated by Shirley Kubo. Adapted by Leah Ginsberg. Originally published in Japan by Shodensha. Published in US by Tokyopop, $9.99, Rated Mature 18+.

From the back cover:

Watch out, Bridget Jones-- here comes Shigeta, a 24 year old woman-about-town who is obsessed with the right man. The only problem is that the guys she meets are all duds, not studs. Case in point: Takahashi, a geeky co-worker who is head over heels for our heroine. But she'd rather eat nails than be with that loser!

After Shigeta reads her love horoscope in a magazine, she's convinced that the right guy is just around the corner. But the next guy she meets just wants to bonk instead of bond. When Shigeta's doomed romance comes to its inevitable conclusion, she runs to her best friend for solace and a much-needed reality check. But it's not long before another Mr. Wrong enters the picture, and Shigeta is hooked all over again!

They say love happens when you least expect it-- but if you expect it 24/7, then what? Join Shigeta and her gal pals in their hilarious hunt for love, romance, and together-forever commitment.

My Grade: B-

(I am giving away a free copy of Happy Mania Volume 1, still sealed in the original shrinkwrap. Write me at seshos@hotmail.com by 11/24/09 if you want it.)

Anime review of Episodes 10-13 of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Box Set. Published by Geneon. List Price: $59.98, Rated 13+. Box Set contains Episodes 1-13. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo (Moonphase, Negima, Maria Holic). Written by Masaki Tsuzuki.

Fate has once again failed to capture Nanoha's Jewel Seeds, so yes, it's time for  a sadistic whipping from her mom, Precia Testarossa (why are the Japanese obsessed with naming their female characters Testarossa?). But this time, Aruf gets pissed and attacks Precia. For her trouble, she is almost destroyed and has to flee to Earth, where she again encounters Nanoha and her pals and decides to switch sides in order to rescue Fate from her mother. Meanwhile, the TSAB are closing in on Precia's space travelling rock for a final confrontation. Nanoha, Yuno, and Chrono have to go in after Precia wipes out an assault team.

Magical Nanoha comes to a satisfying if uneventful end. Ok, a big battle happens at the end, but what I mean is that while Nanoha has been entertaining and fun, it never really succeeds at seperating itself from the mob. All of the characters were just a tad bit too shallow and one dimensional. The animation, especially on this last dvd, is first rate and rarely reverts to shortcuts, even during the battle sequences. But Nanoha could never cast off its indebtedness to Cardcaptor Sakura, even though it succeeded in its own kinda clone way. Definitely worth watching if you're a magical girl fan but isn't going to ever break into the greatness realm.

My Grade for the Series: B

Watch the first part of episode 10 below:

Podcast Blu-ray review of Ghost in the Shell 2.0, directed by Mamoru Oshii. Screenplay by Kazunori Ito. Based on the manga by Shirow Masamune. Published by Manga, List Price: 29.97, Not Rated (Features nudity and graphic violence).

From the back cover:

A film that has spawned a thousand imitations but never bettered-- Mamoru Oshii's legendary anime film GHOST IN THE SHELL returns in a stunning new edition remastered by Oshii himself. For this definitive edition, all the original animations are re-produced with latest digital film and animation technologies, including 3D-CGI.

Set in a reimagined Hong Kong at a time when cyberspace is expanding into human reality, the story follows top cyberwarrior Major Motoko Kusanagi as she hovers on the border of total immersion in the digital world.

The definitive 2.0 also features new voice recordings from the original cast, a brand new score from Kenji Kawai, and 6.1 channedl sound created with the help of Skywalker Sound.

My Grade: A+

Watch the trailer for the movie below:

Check out this music video by Asobi Seksu, a New York based band, entitled "Walk on the Moon". By the way, "asobi seksu" is a Japanese term meaning "casual sex".

A couple of years ago, Japanese mother Makiko Ogawa's son found kindergarten a traumatic experience. He hated school and every time she took him there he would cry himself silly. In order to comfort him, Makiko started making special "charaben" lunches for him.

"Bento" is a Japanese term for a boxed lunch, which can be homemade or bought in a store. "Charaben" means character bento. In other words, Ogawa shapes and decorates the food to look like anime characters or cute little animals, etc.

Ogawa is so good at making charaben that she has fans all over the world. She has even been approached by corporations that want to commission her work. While she is flattered by the attention she still sees her charaben primarily as a show of love for her children. She has a blog in Japanese:

http://cuteobento.blog43.fc2.com/

If you just want to see pictures of her bento she also has a Flickr site that has English captions:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuteobento/

I will be adding her Flickr page to my website under "Japanese Sights & Sounds". She says she updates it about every two weeks. She encourages you to leave comments in English.

Podcast manga review of Yotsuba volume 6 by Kiyohiko Azuma. Translated by Amy Forsyth. Originally published in Japan by Media Works. Published in the US by Yen Press, $10.99, Rated All Ages.

From the back cover:

Yotsuba's getting a biiike!! Didja know the wheels of a bike go round and round and round and round...oh, Yotsuba's getting dizzy...whoooa...

My Grade: A+

Here's a cool video shot on the streets of Shibuya that Danny Choo turned me on to. Backed by simple instrumental accompaniment, it shows some of the interesting people you might see just walking around the area:

Shibuya Faces from eleven23 on Vimeo.

Tomorrow at a Houston hotel, members of the 1st Battalion, 141st Regiment, 36th Infantry Division (based out of Texas) will reunite with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd was composed almost entirely of 1st generation Japanese American soldiers. The 141st was surrounded by German forces in France in October 1944 and would have either been killed or taken prisoner but the Japanese American 442nd managed to break the lines and rescue them, suffering an almost 50% casualty rate. The 442nd became one of the highest honored units in the war, earning 21 Medals of Honor and 9,486 Purple Hearts. They were even called "The Purple Heart Batallion". Around 50 vets are expected to attend the banquet at the Hyatt Regency Houston. The public can buy tickets to attend at:

www.njamf.com

Ok, I consider myself educated and well versed in history and World War II, but I have to admit I didn't even know the 442nd existed. I don't think I've ever seen an American of Asian descent fighting in a World War II movie. I'm so used to seeing the big white guy shaking his tommy gun like John Wayne. Mainly because the movies back then were made by white guys. This story really intrigued me. I also found out that no Japanese Americans were rounded up in Hawaii like they were in the mainland US, mainly because there were just too many of them. Almost half of the Hawaiians were of Japanese descent. I still can't believe we rounded up people like that. It was a big blot of blatant racism.

The poignant thing of it all is that this might be one of the last times these guys get together, as WWII vets get older and older. I really honor what the 442nd did, fighting for a country that was violating the very rights they were sacrificing their lives for.

I was at Best Buy to buy Scribblenauts for $19.99 and had it in my hand when I started browsing through the Blu-ray section. I saw Ghost in the Shell 2.0 and was surprised to find that it too was only $19.99. After I thought about it for a little bit, I decided to put Scribblenauts back. At checkout, I was pleasantly delighted to find out that GITS was on sale for $13.99. Upon further investigation online, I discovered that Best Buy is having a "Massive Blu-ray Sale". As far as anime, there are 44 Blu-ray titles in the sale (I say 44 but I think that is every anime title currently ou on Blu-ray).  Here is a small sample of the sale:

For $13.99 each: Afro Samurai Season 1, Blood The Last Vampire (movie), Kitaro (live action)

Final Fantasy VII Advent Children: $20.99

One Piece Movie #8: $12.59

Akira: $24.49

Dragonball Z (6 different titles): $17.49 each

Samurai 7 (Complete Series), Tsubasa Season 1: $34.99

Tekkonkinkreet: $19.59

Click on the link below to go to the anime title sale page:

Best Buy Massive Blu-ray Sale