Manga - A Beginner's Look #2

Do You Like Big Girls? (2014-Present)
Original Title: Ookii Onnanoko wa Suki desu ka?
By: Aizome, Goro (Story & Art)
Chapters: 39 (so far) Total Pages: 14-20 per chapter
Genres: Ecchi, Romance, School, Sports, Harem, Seinen

I guess it's probably not too hard to see why this particular manga caught my eye, but upon further investigation I found that the 'big girls' of the title does not refer to their chest regions but to their statures generally. The main character, Tachibana Souta, is a fairly normal schoolboy except he's a bit on the short side. This is something he finds mighty irksome, especially in light of the fact that his 'big' sister, Kaoru, is a tremendously lofty six-and-a-half foot! Putting this considerable height to her advantage, she is one of six members of her college's volleyball team. Unfortunately, their manager is in hospital long-term, recuperating from an illness, so who do they rope into becoming their stand-in manager? Yes that's right - Souta! Of course, what they call 'manager' ends up meaning 'lackey', but it's not all bad as he also finds himself surrounded by his sister's equally lofty, and not-aethetically-unpleasant teammates, all of whom, in a stunningly unexpected plot-twist, find Souta completely irresistable!

Manga - A Beginner's Look #1

Iinari Princess (2008-09)
By: Yumi Nakata (Story & Art)
Volumes: 1 Chapters: 9 Total Pages: 210
Genres: Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, School, Seinen

Yet another one of the many things I have been wanting to take a look at for years but never got around to is manga. Recently, however, I received a Kindle Fire tablet as a gift from my lovely wife so I figured it was a good opportunity to try some titles out. I found a good stock of digital examples and pretty much just picked a bunch at random based mainly on the name and cover art. A bit shallow perhaps, but with a handful of exceptions I don't really know of too many, and I couldn't really be arsed to spend time looking into them in advance either. One of the chosen few was Iinari Princess. It isn't the first manga I read but it was the first one I had a strong opinion about, and not a positive one I'm afraid. This was disappointing as it sounded quite appealing from its brief synopsis which has to do with the young lady of the title who is indeed a real live princess. As she reminds us often, she is first princess in line to the throne of the Principality of Rivetaria which is 'a small North European country', and she has, for some reason, transferred to a Japanese school.

Adult Games #6

Amorous Professor Cherry (2004)
By: ZyX Genre: Visual Novel Players: 1 Difficulty: N/A
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Nothing

All of the so-called adult games I have covered so far here at Red Parsley could really be categorised in the same way: they're all arcade or arcade-style games and they would all be perfectly playable with the modest adult content removed (which usually consists of a few boobies here and there). Games such as the one featured here are a whole different deal, however. It's a visual novel - a type of game very popular in Japan but which I have limited experience of so far; I've only played one in fact, namely Kanon, which itself has a very small number of pervy scenes, although there is also an 'all ages' version. Amorous Professor Cherry, on the other hand, definitely does not have an all ages version. As I discovered within seconds of starting it, we're in full-on 'erotic' game territory here. In other words, porn (or specifically, hentai). But is there a decent game beneath it all?

Visual Novels #1

Kanon (1999)
By: Key / Visual Art's Genre: Visual Novel Players: 1 Difficulty: N/A
Featured Version: PC
Also Available For: Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, PSP, Android, iOS

Like many of us 'Westerners', the wonder that is anime became known to me upon the arrival of the mighty Akira in the late 80's. I quickly became a fan but my pursuit of this interest has been sporadic over the years, due partly to the unreliability of finding ones that I think I'd like. I've bought and watched a decent number of shows though, as well as most of Studio Ghibli's amazing films, but only in recent years have 'visual novels' come to my attention. As I've been discovering, these are basically a cross between manga and anime - the story is most often played out in the form of a succession of static images or very short, simple animated sequences with accompanying dialogue, sometimes spoken but usually just on-screen text. Every now and then you get a choice of things to say which then affect the direction of the story and your relationships with the other characters.

Top Five Cartoon Cats

Anthropomorphic animals have long been as common as humans in the vast world of cartoons, perhaps even more so, and the most common types must surely be cats and dogs. I've already taken a look at my favourite cartoon dogs here at Red Parsley (and longer ago than I realised too!), however, so it's now time to look at the best feline examples from this dying medium:

5. Stimpy

Lets face it - there are very few occasions when stupidity is not funny, and that's the main reason for Stimpy's appeal. Stimpson J. Cat, as he is more formally known, is best friends with psychotic chihuahua, Ren, but he's also porky and stupid which often sees him on the receiving end of Ren's abuse. He doesn't seem to mind though, and is rarely seen without his stupefying smile and tongue hanging out! As I mentioned before, I was never sure if I was a fan of Ren & Stimpy or not due to its inconsistent quality (in my opinion) but my favourite thing about the show was always Stimpy. He may be an 'eeeediot' but his stupidity is a source of much amusement, and his blissfully ignorant, easy to please nature, and energetic voice also make him endearing.

Top Five Studio Ghibli Films

There's not really much point in me reviewing any Studio Ghibli films other than to be yet another voice extolling their many wonderful virtues; most of them would probably get 10/10 anyway! Something that's much harder to do is settle on a Top Five. I haven't yet seen every single one of them, admittedly, and I may have to amend this list accordingly once I have, but I've seen most of them and only one was anything less than overwhelmingly wonderful. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say Ghibli films should have their own category, so superior are they to all other animated films, anime or otherwise.

Part of the reason for this is their unmistakable style, thanks largely to the amazing dedication of key man, Hayao Miyazaki, who has directed and/or overseen many of their productions, the consistently extraordinary quality of which has seen the studio dubbed the 'Disney of the East'. Their films tend to have noticeably higher production values and audio/visual quality than most other anime - the soundtracks are usually original compositions and Miyazaki-san overwhelmingly favours hand-drawn animation over the use of computers. He personally checks countless thousands of hand-drawn images and he often draws many of them himself as well.

Most of the films share certain basic themes too. Many feature a young but ultimately strong female lead, usually undergoing some sort of right-of-passage or coming-of-age transition. They also rarely fail to feature at least some otherworldly spirits of some sort, and there is usually an element of pacifism as well. However, as much as you might be able to analyse the films, their characters, the themes explored, etc, doing so is far from necessary to gain immense enjoyment from watching them and being drawn into their respective worlds regardless of age.

So, as hard as it was to settle on only five films to include, if you haven't seen any of these, do yourself a favour - don't dismiss them as childish or unrealistic, just watch them. And then thank me! :)

5. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)

A few of Studio Ghibli's films are based on novels but this one is, slightly surprisingly, based on an English one. I feel so proud that Miyazaki-san knows we exist! You'd probably never guess its origins though, as the story seems pure Ghibli from start to finish! Although Howl, a young and enigmatic wizard, may have his name in the title, it's a young hatter called Sophie who takes centre stage when she's cursed after encountering the Witch of the Waste. It's while pursuing a cure for this curse, which has turned her into an old lady, that she happens upon Howl's castle which does indeed move. Sophie's quest through her war-torn land comprises a film that differs considerably from the book on which it's based but that doesn't stop it from ending up as one of the most memorable films I've seen, with some of my favourite Ghibli characters, too, including Calcifer the fire demon, an asthmatic dog called Heen, as well as the eccentric Howl himself. A wonderful film and a great introduction to Ghibli for any newcomers.

Anime #2 - Revolutionary Girl Utena

When I first started watching anime it wasn't particularly popular here in the UK, to my knowledge at least, so rather than reading the non-existent articles and reviews in magazines, I had to more or less choose them randomly and hope for the best, and this is exactly how I discovered Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Part of the appeal of RGU was admittedly the suggestive nature of some of the associated artwork (tee hee!) but it's actually a considerably darker show than it might initially appear and has a rather complicated storyline that requires more than one viewing to even understand, at least for dimwits like me. The star of the show is unsurprisingly the girl of the title, Utena, who is indeed revolutionary, or supposedly so anyway. She is a pupil at Ohtori Academy, a fictional Japanese high-school, where she is an unusual student. She lost her parents at an early age and was consoled by a mysterious price who left such an impression on her that she decided to become a prince herself which resulted in her unique dress sense and mannerisms. While some pupils and teachers at the school find her a bit strange, most of the girls idolise her. As well as wearing what is described in the show as a boys uniform (although no one else in the school dresses like her, boys or girls), she attempts to conduct herself in as honest, gallant, and noble a way as possible, and it is in pursuit of this that she inadvertently lands herself in trouble.

Top Five Cartoon Dogs

Animals have been around in cartoons, both in comic-strip and animated forms, for about as long as the media have existed at all and few creatures have been used as prominently as dogs. I'm sure everyone grew up watching numerous shows featuring them but here are my five faves:

5. Ren

I was never able to decide if I liked The Ren & Stimpy Show or not - sometimes it was filled with moments of ingenious hilarity and other times it was just a bit stupid, and not in a good way (see below), but it was generally pretty good, thanks mainly to the humourous characters of the title. Stimpy was a fat, dopey, put-upon cat, and the source of much of his anguish was his 'friend', a scrawny chihuahua called Ren Höek who, as fans or even casual acquaintances of the show will know, was of a rather 'unbalanced' disposition, mentally speaking! Frequently temperamental, paranoid, delusional, and violent, he would be horrifying to be around in real-life but his unusual antics on screen made him a uniquely entertaining, if slightly disturbing hound.

Top Five Mr Men

I don't know about young whippersnappers these days but there's a good chance that everyone around my age grew up reading the Mr. Men books. After their creation by Roger Hargreaves in 1971 they were an instant success and went on to sell many millions of copies. An initial six books based on the titular characters were created first and the series went on to include forty-seven Mr. Men books, thirty-four Little Miss books, and many other special editions, and the series is still going strong today. I still have all my original Mr. Men books from the 70's (I wonder if they're worth anything now... probably not!) and I have great memories of reading them all. I'm sure we all have our favourites but here are mine:

5 - Mr Dizzy

Poor old Mr Dizzy. Not only was he not blessed with a great deal of intelligence but he also lives in Cleverland! Not a great combination I'm sure you'll agree, and he is regularly teased by a smart pig and elephant. Despair not, however, as he get his own back after drinking from a magical wishing well and becoming clever himself. Hooray!

Anime #1 - Doraemon

Anime, or animation originating from Japan, has been around in one form or another since the early 20th century but it still took until the 1980's to gain any sort of recognition in the West, and even then, in all that time there has still been a very small number of examples that have become successful outside of Japan. Younger fans seemed to be entranced by the likes of Pokemon, Dragonball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh! while shows like Naruto, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist have also proved very popular. Some movies too, such as Akira (which arguably kick-started the West's interest in anime to start with) and more recently the stunning efforts from Studio Ghibli have become well known, with the latter even winning Oscars, but one of the most popular and enduring of all anime stars in Japan is pretty much unknown outside of the Far East.

Doraemon is a robotic cat who has travelled back in time from the 22nd century to help out schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. Who created him isn't clear but he was sent back by Nobita's great-great-grandson, for it seems that for one reason or another, Nobita's life was fraught with misery and misfortune causing his descendants no end of problems. With that in mind, you might think it'd be easier to send back a sports almanac (chortle), or perhaps even some winning lottery numbers, but a robotic cat? It would have to be one ultra-special robotic cat or I'd be a bit peeved, personally! Luckily, Doraemon is not only special but magic too! He is equipped with the kind of common sense and moral values that Nobita apparently lacks and he uses his many and varied abilities to try and teach these qualities to him, although Nobita is not only lacking in those but is also lazy and mischievous too, so it's not always easy for Doraemon! Much of the help he provides comes from the magical 4th dimensional pocket in his chest from which he can pull all manner of objects and gadgets from the 22nd century, including the Bamboo Dragonfly (a head-mounted propeller that allows flight), the Anywhere Door (takes the user anywhere they wish), and the Time Machine itself. I sometimes wonder why Doraemon bothers though as Nobita generally ends up misusing his various gadgets and getting himself in even more trouble!