Three exams and three kingdoms

Current status: Relieved... Wait, I said that last time. Okay then: "Excited as hell!"
Currently listening to: "909" by Tribal Chair, the opening to currently airing anime Souten Kouro (which apparently means Beyond the Heavens). Despite the very out-of-place yelling at the end of the TV opening, it's quite good. I absolutely love they animation they use for it.
Random quote of the day: "Lord Oyakata!" - Sanada Yukimura from the Sengoku Basara anime series, as per Tadashi's subs. Oyakata (親方) actually means "master" and is not a name. But yeah, who gives a damn about the names when you have samurais clashing swords so hard that they cause nuclear-sized explosions? Fuck yeah!

I lied. Damned exams made me postpone my scanlations update. I hope I can manage to make the damned update now. I mean, only one page left to translate and two or three to edit (this included). I am announcing that I'll probably work a bit on the Mazinger Bible as well. The only disadvantage is that I can't seem to find any copy of it online, so here's to the scans being any good.


That aside, today's post is about two anime I've recently started watching. One of them is Sengoku Basara, an anime based on a video game series (brought to the US and called Devil Kings, while replacing the Japanese references. I'm not sure whether I should be grateful. At leas they don't screw the names by pronouncing them weirdly. I mean, "Iron Ox" is better than Tadakatsu Honda, no? No.)

You can tell from the opening sequence that it's not meant to be accurate. If you can't, you desperately need to read a history book. That, and you should share the drugs you're on. Anyway, I liked the first episode because it simply tries to feed the series on the Rule of Cool, by having respectable samurais spout random English phrases, ride exhaust pipe and handle-equipped horses with their arms crossed, and duel like crazy, causing explosions. Sure, when you basically turn into coloured energy blasts, you can't expect much else. Also, I loved the dialogue between main character Sanada Yukimura and his lord Oyakata-- errr, I mean Shingen Takeda. Minor plot advancing aside, they simply punch each other through walls. Not because they hate each other. I mean, at some point, Takeda tells Yukimura that he will one day age. Yukimura rushes at him saying that "if there's someone who won't age, it's you, my lord!" and punches him. I like the director's way of thinking? Why sit like any real Japanese samurai and discuss this over tea when you can punch the everliving crap out of your counterpart? Obvious commercial purpose aside, this anime is obviously made to be fun and it certainly delivers. And yes, that lady in the skimpy costume seems to be a ninja. Gotta appreciate her effort to prevent getting her clothes getting sliced in the middle, like any perverted warrior would when faced with losing his life. Anyway, yays for the samurai who holds his SIX swords Wolverine-style.

The other anime is Souten Kouro (the official translation seems to be Beyond the Heaven). It's based on a manga partially based on 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi), itself based on a period of internal crisis from the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. This period is called "of the Three Kingdoms" because of the three warlords who fought for supremacy over the huge chunk of land that is China. The most known ones are Liu Bei, Cao Cao (pronounced Ts'ao Ts'ao, not Cow Cow) and Sun Quan. The novel (which I am currently reading) isn't bad at all, although it's quite long (120 chapters and about 2000 pages, in a total of four volumes. I'm 23 chapters in). While the novel is heavily biased towards Liu Bei and his blood brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the manga focuses on Cao Cao, who was a bit demonised in the novel (not so much up to now, I like his characterisation in the manga: he's a great and intelligent general, who knows how to use the ever-useful "Cao Cao? He went that way!"). I've only watched two episodes, but it's left a pretty good impression.

The opening theme (to which I have linked already) is quite badass if you ask me. Well, until the shrieking kicks in. After that, it loses a bit of its coherence, but it's still good. I am quite interested in seeing how they will portray Guan Yu (the long-bearded one around 0:33) and Zhang Fei (the hairy-chested guy at 0:32). I mean, they're going to be villains (just like Liu Bei), so we'll be seeing some new views. I see that, up to episode 2 at least, we're still around the very beginning of the novel, since the Ten Eunuchs are still alive (they die quite quickly in the book, not before screwing many people over). Cao Cao (0:53) is played by the same voice actor as Kira from Death Note and Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00. Did I mention he falls in love with a dark-skinned girl called Shui Jing (Suishou in Japanese)? Did I also mention that she's most likely Italian? I mean, she tells him a word from her native tongue that expresses her feelings - "Amore". In second century China. Italian. 2nd century. Oh, and she dies by the end of the epside, but now Cao has a reason to hate the main eunuch, Zhang Rang.

Only three exams left and I'll be a free 20-year old man. Yay for freedom!

Signing off, yours truly.