Happy birthday, me!

So it was my birthday yesterday, and it was awesome. To be honest, I've never really been all that big on birthdays, but its a great excuse to ask people for free shit.

Anyway, I figured I'd show y'all a comic of the first present I got for the day;

So yeah. On my 21st birthday, my parents decided to buy me a toy. Admittedly, it was an awesome toy though, cause it was this guy;

I actually have no idea who the hell he is, but we're both named Sebastian, and he looks badass.

And then some of my friends gave me presents too, but their presents sucked, cause they were dirty communists.

Oh, and while we're at it, Taikutsu Remedy has also turned one year old recently! It was on the 12th of October last year where I made my first ever shitty post.

So yeah, I'd like to thank all my readers for pretending to care about the stuff I wrote about for an entire year. Anyways, I'd like to write more, but I'm suffering massive writers block right now, so I'll just leave it at that. Thanks y'all.

Anime and the Violence of Homophobia

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Anime has never been the most progressive of art forms. Of course there are some productions that break societal norms, but as a whole, anime has generally been surprisingly, at times even offensively, regressive.

One particular area that I wish to focus on for this post, is that of th violent reactions of characters in response to homosexual advances that is so common in anime.

With the new season underway, I have heard quite a few good things about A Certain Scientific Railgun, and have recently watched the first two episodes. Overall, it's not bad, I'm probably not its primary target audience, but I can see some of the appeal. That said however, one aspect of the show that I've found strongly objectionable has been Mikoto's oftentimes violent reactions to Kuroko's sexual advances.

For those unfamiliar with A Certain Scientific Railgun, Mikoto is a teenage girl with awesome psychic powers, and Kuroko is totally gayballs for her. And in her gayness, Kuroko oftentimes tries to bed Mikoto in ways that border on the absurd, which generally results in Mikoto pummeling her, either physically or with her bullshit magical lightning powers.

Now this almost always played for comedy, and that is partly what I find so objectionable about it. I feel as if A Certain Scientific Railgun trivialises the very real violence that homosexual men and women are often met with for no reason save their sexuality. Sadly, I can't recall particular titles at this moment, but this is not the first show I've seen that answers all homosexuality with violence; many anime in the past have had straight heroes physically assaulting homosexuals for the 'crime' of being attracted to them.

In Australia, the case of R v Green illustrates the frightening reality of violence against homosexuals. Quickly summarised, the accused, Green, had brutally killed a friend for making homosexual advances to him. In the case, Justice Kirby said;

"In my view, the ‘ordinary person’ in Australian society today is not so homophobic as to respond to a non-violent sexual advance by a homosexual person as to form an intent to kill or to inflict grievous bodily harm. He or she might, depending on the circumstances, be embarrassed; treat it first as a bad joke; be hurt; insulted. He or she might react with the strong language of protest; might use as much physical force as was necessary to effect an escape; and where absolutely necessary assault the persistent perpetrator to secure escape."

Sadly, as is often the case with the law, common sense did not prevail in this case, and the High Court held in favour of Green, with Chief Justice Brennen arguing;

"The provocation was of a very grave kind. It must have been a terrifying experience for the appellant when the deceased persisted. The grabbing and persistence are critical. Some ordinary men would feel great revulsion at the homosexual advances being persisted with in the circumstances and could be induced to so far lose their self control as to form the intention to inflict grievous bodily harm. They would regard it as a serious and gross violation of their body and their person ...

The deceased’s actions had to be stopped...

A reasonable jury might have come to the conclusion that an ordinary person, who was provoked to the degree that the applicant was provoked, could have formed an intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm upon the deceased...

A juryman or jurywoman would not be unreasonable because he or she might accept that the appellant found the deceased’s conduct ‘revolting’ rather than ‘amorous’."

Thankfully, the High Court had not been entirely bereft of reason. Justice Kirby, dissented against the absurdity of this decision;

"In my view, the ‘ordinary person’ in Australian society today is not so homophobic as to respond to a non-violent sexual advance by a homosexual person as to form an intent to kill or to inflict grievous bodily harm."

He then brings illustrates the logical conclusion of the High Courts' decision;

"If every woman who was the subject of a ‘gentle’, ‘non-aggressive’ although persistent sexual advance, in a comparable situation to that described in the evidence in this case could respond with brutal violence...

Any unwanted sexual advance, heterosexual or homosexual, can be offensive. It may intrude on sexual integrity in an objectionable way. But this court should not send the message that, in Australia today, such conduct is objectively capable of being found by a jury to be sufficient to provoke the intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm. Such a message unacceptably condones serious violence."

So why did I share that overly long story about the law? Well, firstly, cause I'm a dick, and I wanted to show off my awesome legal knowledge. But more importantly, I wanted to highlight the kind of homophobia that still exists in society today, even in the minds of such highly educated individuals such as the former Chief Justice of Australia himself.

And with that in mind, I guess my point would be it'd be nice to see a little less homophobia in anime. I know anime really isn't the harbinger of social change, but it'd be nice if everything I watched wasn't a guilty pleasure that nevertheless insulted my more objective sensibilities.

C'mon Japan, I'm the guy who openly enjoys shows about naked women who fight by lactating on each other, it's not a good sign when you can produce shows that offend even me.

Shin Mazinger Z - Greatest Anime Ever Made

Tastes in anime, as in all things, can vary widely from person to person. It is with this universal truth in mind, that I try not to judge others over what shows they like or dislike.

That's right, Zeus is doing a rocket punch by throwing his own severed arm at someone.

Admittedly, I call people who like moe shows pedophiles, and I think that people who like comedic anime have a shitty sense of humour, and people who like romance are pussies, and people who like philisophical anime are pretentious bastards, and people who like horror need to find something better to do with their lives, and people who like samurai or ninja shows are weaboos, and people who like anything I don't like are idiots, but overall, I try not to judge.

This is how real men fly.

There is however, one exception that I must take offense to. And that is how few people have even seen last season's Shin Mazinger Z. As far as I'm concerned, not watching Shin Mazinger should be a capital offense.

STORY

Anyone familiar with 1970's Mazinger Z will have...absolutely no idea what the hell the story is. Shin Mazinger Z is not a remake, but a complete reimagining of the Mazinger saga, under the helm of Yasuhiro Imagawa, director of G Gundam, Giant Robo and Tetsujin 28-go. He also goes by the names of Yahweh, Allah and Jehovah.

It is my goal in life to one day be able to scream out, "Breast Fire!" and be taken seriously.

On a very, very superficial level, Shin Mazinger Z is the story of Kabuto Kouji, who pilots Mazinger Z to defend the world against the evil Dr. Hell, who wants to take over the world for cliched bad guy reasons.

Boob missiles. Just as useless as ever.

The true story of Mazigner however, plays out in its extensive mythos; the blood stained history of the Kabuto family, the mysterious Mycenaens, the God Zeus, Dr. Hell's true plan and Nishikiori Tsubasa's connection to all of them, all form an intricate and complex backstory that gradually unfolds until its ultimate reveal in the final episode.

Move bitch! Outta the way!

Perhaps rather unexpectedly, if I were to compare Shin Mazinger's story with any other recent anime, it would be Death Note. The entire battle between Kouji and Dr. Hell is little more then a grand game of chess between Tsubasa, Dr. Hell and several other characters (who can't be named for spoiler reasons), all of whom are masterminds of the highest order.

Lookit' my foot!

CHARACTERS

Kabuto Kouji
The eldest grandson of the great, if moderately insane scientist, Kabuto Juuzo. The achetype upon which all hot blooded mecha pilots are based. Cool and likable though he may be, he's not so much the main character, as he is the guy who pilots Mazinger Z, and is thus only important by association.

As hotblooded as they come.

Nishikiori Tsubasa
In my opinion, the true main character of the series. Tsubasa is the mysterious owner of a bath house staffed by a group of insane badasses, who has a long history with the Kabuto family, Dr. Hell and the Mycenaens. A shrewd tactician, master manipulator, brilliant biologist and an unstoppable badass with both the knife and the machine gun, Tsubasa is easily the greatest female character anime has ever produced. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

She's a scientist. She does science things.

Kabuto Shiro
Kouji's younger brother. A little bitch.

Shiro learnt the hard way not to walk in on grandpa during his 'adult time'.

Kabuto Juuzo
Kouji and Shiro's grandfather, and the creator of Mazinger Z. A prior associate of Dr. Hell, he was instrumental in finding the mechanical beasts that Dr. Hell would later use to form his army. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

Hey, he's a world reknown scientist. He can wear whatever the hell he wants.

Yumi Sayaka
Kouji's love interest and pilot of the perpetually useless Aphrodite A. Later upgrades to Venus A, which is just as useless (though it does get a cowboy hat, which is pretty cool).

At times, when no one's watching, Sayaka likes to pretend she's actually important.

Yumi Yanosuke
Inexplicably famous and respected robot scientist, and Sayaka's father. Despite his fame, he is obviously irrecoverably incompetent, as he is the creator of the ludicrously useless Aphrodite A. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

Heil, mein Fuhrer!

Boss
Apparently, he is reknown as the leader of all the high school delinquents in Japan. Is Kouji's somewhat rival. Pilots the Boss Borot, which is positively badass when compared to Aphrodite A.

Boss puts on his rape face.

Nuke & Mucha
Boss' most trusted bitches. May or may not have a mancrush on Boss.

Shiro, glad to meet the only two characters who are less important then him.

The Three Professors
A trio of perverted and sometimes pedophilic professors. They build a few upgrades for Mazinger as well as the robots Million α, Baion β and Daion γ, a bunch of borderline useless robots which are still awesome when compared to Aphrodite A.

Truly this was a dark day for science.

The Kurogane Five
Tsubasa's loyal entourage. They are all former gang members whom Tsubasa saved from the brink of death. The five of them comprise some of the most unbelievably badass characters in the series. Yes, even the old woman. Especially the old woman.

This man will beat the shit out of you.


You wish your girlfriend was as hot as this.


Boys fight tigers. Men fight other men on tigers.


Sadly, even the Kurogane Five weren't free of the dreaded pedophile virus.


Words simply cannot express how awesome Django is.

Dr. Hell
The hilariously named main antagonist of the series. Like Tsubasa, is a cunning mastermind who is engaged in a battle of wits against her and her forces of the vaguely good. He commands the mechanical beasts, relics of the now evanescent Mycenaens. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

Seriously, why the hell would any university admit this man!? HIS NAME IS DR. HELL!!

Baron Ashura
Dr. Hell's most loyal servant, Ashura is a bizarre half man, half woman hybrid thing. Simultaneously powerful and pathetic, Ashura is easily one of the most engaging and even relatable villains in recent anime. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

It's ok to touch yourself. I know you want to.

Count Brocken
Another loyal servant of Dr. Hell and a rival to Ashura for Dr. Hell's affections. Neither as important or as interesting as Ashura, but gets brownie points for basically being a headless, Nazi zombie.

I want to give Go Nagai a goddamned medal for coming up with Count Brocken.

Viscount Pygman
Dr. Hell's hilariously politically incorrect African servant. Unlike Ashura and Brocken, Pygman fights through the use of African cliches such as voodoo magic and wild animals. Is the closest thing to an honorable person in Dr. Hell's army.

He's not even actually black.

Detective Ankokuji
A detective investigating the Kabuto family, he eventually gets caught up in the battle between Tsubasa and Dr. Hell. Has a really creepy doll fetish. Hides a mysterious secret, like almost every other character in this show.

I swear! This is all part of the investigation! ...Don't judge me.

Gamia Q
A group of nudist, assassin robots used by Dr. Hell. One of them becomes important later. The rest...not so much.

Seriously guys, she's not that hot.

ANIMATION

The only aspect of Shin Mazinger which isn't excellent. Whilst never bad, the animation is never spectacular. From what I've heard, Shin Mazinger was basically animated on a shoestring budget, and Imagawa has actually done fantastically well given how little money the project was given.

Where's your moe now, bitches!?

Animation aside however, the visuals are still fantastic. The thick lines and strong colours are strongly reminiscent of 1970's anime, which pays a fitting homage to the original Mazinger.

No touching!

Also, I shouldn't have to speak the obvious, but Imagawa is a creative god, and Shin Mazinger bears many of the hallmarks of that. Unique mech designs, creative visuals and attacks that are simply beyond the impossible are all present.

Giant robot rape. You saw it first on Shin Mazinger folks.

OVERALL

Shin Mazinger is one of those rare breeds; a show that combines over the top action, intricate story telling and deep, poignant characters. It is a testament to all the great things we have come to love about anime.

That's right. Mazinger Z, the robot that turns into a giant fist, is riding a giant fist.

Ironically, despite being a retelling of the grand daddy of all super robots, Shin Mazinger Z eschews many of the most established super robot tropes. Gone are the monsters of the week and the simplistic good vs evil storylines. In their places are a complex, multi layered story with characters who often straddle the fine line between good and evil.

Seriously though, how could anyone trust a man who looks like this and is named Dr. Hell??

This I believe, is Shin Mazinger Z's greatest strength; it's ability to appeal to far more then just super robot fans. For fans of the genre, they will find everything they love about super robots, in a form of such concentration not seen since GaoGaiGar. For viewers who don't necessarily like super robots (i.e communists), they will find a poignant, intricate narrative, free of many of the super robot tropes that non-fans often find unpalatable.

Only Gods are allowed to look down on Mazinger Z.

And in regards to characters, special mention must be given to both Nishikiori Tsubasa and Baron Ashura. Like a shining beacon amongst the useless moe filth that pervades anime, Tsubasa shows us what its like to be a real woman; ruthlessly intelligent and unapologetically badass. But the real spotlight must go to Baron Ashura, whose tragic circumstance of having his loyalty torn between Dr. Hell and the Mycenaens is one of the most masterfully penned storylines I've yet seen in anime. Both these characters are some of the most memorable in all of anime, and deserve a place in its annals of history.

Mazinger Z is also a useful vessel for smuggling refugees.

Despite its surprisingly deep storyline and characters, Shin Mazinger is, at its core, a super robot show; its action is unashamedly insane and over the top. Nearly every character is a super human badass. And Mazinger itself, has one of the coolest and craziest attacks in super robot anime; the incomparable Big Bang Punch.

And thus, my life was complete.

This is, in my opinion, the best anime of this year. In style, concept and execution, it is nothing short of a masterpiece. The great tragedy is of course in how few people have seen, or even heard of it. Shin Mazinger Z is 2009's answer to Gurren Lagann, and it deserves just as large an audience.

Sacred Blacksmith - First Impressions

Regular readers of my blog should be well acquainted with my love of strong female characters. So I guess it came as no surprise when I decided to pick up The Sacred Blacksmith, despite how utterly cliche it looked.

It's a lie!

...at least, I thought the main girl looked pretty strong from the pictures. Oh god was I wrong there...

Come sample my many fine rocks!

STORY

Following the sparsely detailed death of her father, young Cecily has become the new head of the House of Cambell, a prestigious family of knights with the world's dumbest coat of arms. Anyway, so Cecily is the latest knight of Cambell. Only problem is, she sucks. Big time. Like, if she was in an RPG, her level would be in the negatives.

A brave Knight of Cambell

So anyway, Cecily sucks. And in her suckiness, she gets her ass kicked by a mook and her precious family sword is broken. Luckily, Luke, a pedophilic blacksmith, saves her life. She then befriends the guy and asks him to make a new sword for her, sadly unaware of the fact that a better sword isn't going to make up for the fact that she fights about as competently as...as...oh god, I can't think of a single comparison to make that wouldn't be insulting to said object of comparison. Look, she sucks.

Yeah, don't expect to see Cecily doing this for a while. A long while.

So that's about it really. There were some generic anime shady guys who hid behind generic bushes and spoke generic cryptic garbage about some generic evilness which will presumably be important later, but little actual detail has been revealed on that.

Generic White Haired Evil Guy vs Generic Lead Male Guy

Oh, and Luke's big gimmick is that he forges katanas rather then European swords. And in keeping with Japan's famous cultural humility, katanas are infinitely stronger then their European counterparts in the world of Sacred Blacksmith.

What? You've never been to England? You see katanas EVERYWHERE over there.

CHARACTERS

Cecily Cambell
The main character. A knight and head of the House of Cambell. Despite being a knight, she's horrible at sword fighting. On the plus side though, she's pretty brave, if monumentally stupid. For reasons unexplained, she dresses in some bizarre knight/maid hybrid outfit. Also has a ludicrously stupid coat of arms.

Ahh, random townsfolk, what would the fantasy genre be without you?

Luke Ainsworth
Presumably, the titular sacred blacksmith. Is technically not a blacksmith given the fact he makes swords through magic rather then actual smithing. Is a huge jackass who's generally rude and dismissive. Unlike other blacksmiths, he forges katanas, which are much, much stronger then their European counterparts. Ahh, Japan, you so humble! Is also the local pedophile who lives with an underage girl.

Luke's power of antisocialness negates all attempts to communicate with him.


Guys, I'm totally not a Gary Stu! Now check out my magical flame katana.

Lisa
Said underage girl that Luke lives with. Has no real personality outside of generic cuteness. Is probably an elf or some shit. Aside from being the object of his lust, she seems to help Luke with his magic (i.e cheating) smithing by providing a magical flame or something.

Oh, I wasn't included sole to appeal to the pedophile audience! Honest!


See? That's a katana. It's better then your silly white man sword, cause it's Japanese!

ANIMATION

Animation was surprisingly fluid and fun to watch. Admittedly, first episodes tend to look better then mid season ones, but if the series can maintain this level of animation, it should prove to be one of the nicer looking shows this season.

In what is quite possibly a first in action anime, Cecily even lost to the very first grunt she fought against.

Colours are bright and vibrant, though backgrounds are pretty boring and uninspired. Similarly, whilst the character designs are distinctive enough, they're fairly standard medieval fantasy fare.

I'm totally forging a sword guys!

OVERALL

Honestly, I'm really not too sure what to think of this. I watched this basically to see a strong female lead kick ass; episode one definitely didn't deliver on that. For now though, that's ok; she still has time to grow. In fact, Gunbuster's Noriko Takaya, one of the most badass female characters ever, was a useless pile of incompetence for the first half of that series. So hopefully Cecily can take a page out of her book.

Cecily's knowledge on weapon maintenance was sadly lacking.

The main problem however, is that not only is Cecily weak as shit, there's really almost nothing redeeming about her character. Admittedly she's brave in that she never backs down from a fight, but she does it to the point of sheer idiocy.

"Guard Save Believe"?? What kind of shitass motto is that!?


Don't worry Cecily! There'll come a time when you won't suck! Believe in me who believes in you!


Actually, the glasses girl is just trying to make you feel better; you're doomed to a life of suckage.

Similarly, it's difficult to take her seriously because of how goddamned fetishized she is. Just look at her outfit! She looks like a bizarre armoured variation of a French maid!

Maid...Knight...same shit really.

And besides, how could a character come off as respectable when the viewer is bombarded with scenes like this;

The other characters really don't fare much better. Luke is the generic rude, angsty guy with a mysterious and likely tragic past, and Lisa is typical genki loli fare. There's another major character who hasn't been introduced yet, but she looks like the standard gentle healer achetype.

Luke wasn't the only one getting annoyed with Cecily.


Mr. Luke, please put your pants back on.

And this is the main problem I have with the Sacred Blacksmith; everything is boring and uninspired. The show admittedly looks pretty, but it's not like it's anything we haven't seen before.

Im'ma show you my K-On face.

The world is cliched, the characters are boring and the plot really doesn't look like it's going to break new ground. Quite frankly, the only saving grace this show really has is it's main character, who so far, has been an utter disappointment.

Curse you overpriced rocks!

If you have nothing better to watch this season, give Sacred Blacksmith a look, maybe you'll find some value in this. If you don't have much time to watch anime though, save it for something else.

Must...find...a way...to get...out of this show!