1. Some spoilers for PotC3 in the first two links!
   
   Pam Noles and Angry Asian Man perfectly articulate why I will not be watching Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, particularly after the welcoming and inclusive comments from fandom the last time around.
   
   (Dude, I so just broke Vee's Law! 'Elp, 'elp, I'm being oppressed!)



2. For anyone interested, I've been updating my Wiscon reports with additional links to other write ups and transcripts when I can find them. I think I am also done writing up panels; there are one or two more that I went to, but I didn't take notes and don't have much to say about them.



3. Also, here's more on Brian Dennehy as Kublai Khan. My bad; I had it down as Genghis Khan. Note also how there is an Asian actor in the film, but only as a sidekick.



4. In more fannish news, kate_nepveu has started watching Princess Tutu! Well, that and some others, but I am most excited about my dancing duck. Spoil her and die!



5. And! sophia_helix has started to watch Honey & Clover!!!! I think my squeeing last night may have woken some people up! Some day I may be less excited when people watch H&C, but apparently today is not the day.

I watched A LOT of anime this year. I largely blame credit rilina and umadoshi for this, although octopedingenue and rachelmanija also deserve incriminating glares praise for their enthusiasm.

It seems a little lopsided to have 5 out of the 10 series I watched in the "favorite series" section, but I watched a lot of good anime this year. Also, it helped that I was getting the cream of the crop; rilina was doing a lot of the screening for me by watching a whole lot of series and then pimping her favorites to me. I also finally watched some oft-praised series which I've had on the to-watch list for a few years (namely, Princess Tutu and FMA).

This was actually a great way to watch anime, since I got the fun experience of the FMA and Princess Tutu pile up, and I got to squee to other people most of the time.

Unsurprisingly, I watched a whole lot of shoujo. Again, unsurprisingly, most of my favorite series were shoujo.

No spoilers below for any of the series. I'm also including pimping information for my favorite series, since I naturally want people to watch them. If you want more information on the other series, I'd suggest checking out rilina's giant 2006: the Year in Anime post, since she includes helpful links and info for all the series she watched, which overlap all of my series, with the exception of Gunslinger Girl. Or you can check out the series-specific tags below, or my Memories in the sidebar.

Series that I am not really fond of but don't actually dislike

( Bleach )

( Last Exile )

( Yami no Matsuei )

Series I am fond of

( Gunslinger Girl )

( Saiunkoku Monogatari )

Favorite series of the year

( Honey and Clover )

( Ouran High School Host Club )

( Princess Tutu )

( Samurai Champloo )

And my very favorite series of the year was easy to pick this time:

( Fullmetal Alchemist )

( Spoilers! )

I am using my on crack icon because I feel it is entirely called for.

( Spoilers )

( Ep. 14-18 )

( Spoilers for all four eps. )

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it does! I know, it's only six episodes in, but the first five were so awesome just because of the premise and how they followed through on the premise that I would have been perfectly happy if they had gone on like that forever. But it gets better!

Favorite lines so far (paraphrased): "This jewel is hope. This is courage. This is strength. Oh, this? This one is called 'the author's convenience.'" (You see? You see why this show is SO COOL?!)

And: "I won't be fooled just because his bread was tasty!"

When I heard this, I started howling with laughter, having seen it on someone's icon (octopedingenue?) so many times.

( Spoilers for all four eps. )

On a side note, I am really glad I started watching the extras on the disc. The ballet lessons I already know a bit of, just from having several friends who used to learn ballet, and English Cat's voice is sort of annoying, but it's nice to get the refresher. The Etudes, on the other hand, are great for someone like me, who can recognize a lot of the music the episodes are using but can't outright identify them. Although having Rue and Ahiru's English voice actors narrate in character is again somewhat annoying, it's totally worth it for the extra knowledge.

(I need to make myself a Princess Tutu icon, but for now, I feel the Utena one is quite on-topic)

I write this up for octopedingenue, who I think has been attempting to get the entire world to watch Princess Tutu (and quite rightly so, by the way).

I have been meaning to watch this for at least a year now, and possibly for two. It's gotten many comparisons to Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of my favorite brain-breaking anime series (the other being Neon Genesis Evangelion), along with the fact that it's about a duck who becomes a girl who becomes a magical ballerina and saves the world through ballet!

I mean, I knew this!

And yet, when I watched, and saw the duck become a girl become a magical ballerina, I laughed and laughed and laughed in delight because it was SO AWESOME. I do not mock. It is honestly that awesome!

The story begins with sepia-toned illustrations and an old woman's voice intoning, "Mukashi mukashi..." (the Japanese version of "Once upon a time..."). It goes on to talk about a prince who was fighting an evil raven and ended up shattering his heart to imprison the raven. But! The author of the book (Herr Drosselmeyer -- yes! Can you start to see why this is SO AWESOME?!) died before the book was finished, and the characters managed to escape. The old woman's voice says, "The most tragic thing is a story that never ends," or something to that effect.

So already, in the first two minutes, there are layers of narrative. Then we're introduced to Ahiru (literally "duck" in Japanese, and I love that the subtitles just call her Duck), who is sitting in a pond, watching a prince dance on the lake (yes, on the lake). She wants to dance with the prince, and the very creepy figure of Drosselmeyer steps in, essentially pauses the show, and gives her a mysterious red amulet.

Next thing you know, a slightly goofy-looking pink-haired girl wakes up, wondering if she was dreaming about being a duck (or was she a duck dreaming about being a girl?).

Ahiru's been entranced with Mytho, an unemotional ballet dancer somehow held in check by his best friend/keeper Fakir and pursued by the prima ballerina Rue. Of course, Mytho is the prince from the story, and Ahiru begins turning into Princess Tutu to collect shards of his heart.

I love this so much! First of all, there's the whole fairy tale thing. Ahiru's the ugly duckling who turns into a swan/ballerina, as referenced in the opening titles, and it's no surprise that Princess Tutu is dressed like Odette from Swan Lake. Then there's a strange green-haired lady who wanders around giving Ahiru advice like the old women/fairies/etc. in the stories. Like Cinderella and the little mermaid, there are conditions to Ahiru's human condition -- once she behaves like a duck, she turns back into one. Only in her case, jumping back in water will turn her back into a girl again (like Ranma 1/2!). She actually uses her duck form to do things, btw, which is just more kinds of wonderful. And, of course, there is the prince without a heart. The best part is, in every episode, the opening sepia-toned illustrations and narration change to give the viewer more and more of the fairy tale.

Then there's the fact that it's a story within a story, as referenced by Drosselmeyer, who every so often pops in to comment on the plot. He's almost always shown in a blank space surrounded by gears, referencing both the Drosselmeyer character from The Nutcracker, who is an inventor and toy-maker, and the fact that he's essentially turning the gears of the story. So far, there's been a crisis point three-quarters of the way through each episode, in which we'll see Ahiru framed in a clock gear with Drosselmeyer standing over her, asking, "What will Princess Tutu do now?" And she'll transform.

Also, Ahiru's world so incredibly surreal! I love that her being a duck isn't just one of those hand-wavy anime things; when she shows up to class, she comments, "The teacher is a cat?" And then she stops and says, "Well, I guess I'm a duck." And then! The best part is, everyone else is confused by the teacher being a cat, but then they think, "Wait, I think the teacher was always a cat!" because Ahiru has changed the story just by becoming a girl, and you can see the entire narrative changing around her! The cat also acts just like a cat and cleans himself when he gets flustered. Also, a dancing anteater shows up, and there is the same confusion for a second, until everyone thinks that the anteater was somehow always there. I love that Ahiru's existence totally breaks down the wall between human and animal. Also... dancing anteater!

And then! As if that weren't enough, there is the fact that it's such a great take on the magical girl thing. Everytime Ahiru undergoes the transformation, there's the henshin sequence with floating feathers and an egg and the red pendant turning into the Sooper Speshul Princess Tutu Power Pendant, ala Sailor Moon. Except, she conquers the world through the power of ballet! So far, there hasn't been quite as much done with the Magical Girl thing, but I expect there to be, given that it's already taking on fairy tales and ballet. Oh, extra special bonus points for referencing Utena with the pink hair and Ribon no Kishi with the fifties-style animation. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the style at first, because the characters all have giant heads and willowy bodies, huge sparkly eyes framed with thick lashes, and perfect crescent curls of hair. But it totally works because it is referencing the very old-school shoujo style, and I only wish I'd seen/read more of fifties shoujo to know what it's taking off of.

And! There's the whole ballet thing! I love that Princess Tutu moves in ballet steps and seems to always be posed as a ballerina, though I can't say for sure because I don't know that much about ballet. But the music constantly references ballet or directly comes from ballet (usually Nutcracker and Swan Lake), and I'm sure there are a lot more that I can't reference because I'm not familiar with them. But I love hearing those familiar strains of music. And, of course, there's an episode that's basically Giselle, but slightly different.

I cannot wait to watch the rest. I'm halfway through disc 2 already, and it's going even better places, but I will write it up when I am done.