Feb
03
Chi! Chi chi! Chi?
Wait we’re doing these again? Time for the resident weeaboo to return to form then.
Chobits is one of Clamp’s creations, and odds are you’ve heard of something they’ve made. The all-female mangaka group are responsible for Cardcaptor Sakura, Clover, xxxHolic, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and most recently Gate 7 (first volume is out now, its sat in my to read pile), but Chobits is one of their greatest hits, and the one I’m gonna focus on. Intrigued? Then read on…
Feb
03
So Thats What happened after the series
So rather than Caped Crusaders how abut we go all Female on this. So for the first blog post on comics in a while, I’m going all Buffy the vampire slayer on this joint. After the cancelled Buffy and finished Season 7, they weren’t quiet finished with the franchise yet. So Season 8 the comic book series was born, which is a direct continuation of the television series that pretty made up a massive chunk of my teenage years.
The Long Way Home continues the Buffy story a year on from the finale that was season seven. The “one Slayer” has now raised an army, and having exploded Sunnydale and well everything around it the Scoobies and the 100′s of new slayers have massed together in Sunny ol’ Scotland to train in peace and quiet…. Or so they hope.
Oh and Dawn, remember her, she’s a giant now <_< Just saying.
Season 8 originally ran from 2007 – 2011 and contained two stories, one loooooong one and one short. Everybody’s favourite writer Joss Whedon”. The Long story serves mainly to demonstrate that nothing has changed in Buffy’s world. Old Enemeies, old faces. It serves to explain to the reader how things are done in “Buffy-verse”.
I’m not saying that as a bad thing, “The Long Way Home” is very faithful to the television series, the experience is intermittently thrilling and quick witted, it’s fresh, funny and exciting and it isn’t bad looking ether ; ). The Artist Georges Jeanty is one of the main artists, I feel he draws the Scoobies very well, makes them look all grown up and recognisable.
The One main problem with the Buffy comics is this, it relies a little too much on having a good knowledge of the Buffy-verse, it assumes you were a fan of the tv series and know lots of little details. I’m one of those people, and I can see how some of the big bads and events might pass anybody by without s much of a second thought. I probably wouldn’t recommend this to anybody who has not at least watched the old series.
With such incredible new avenues for the series to explore, as it surely should, and Whedon in fine form – and moreover seemingly in control of where Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight goes, now that it needn’t be about the same old Scoobies year in and year out – The Long Way Home makes for a fantastic start to an alarmingly smart comic book based on an alarmingly smart television series.
Welcome home, folks!
Feb
03
More More More Poyo =)
You Remember This Guy Right?
Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki (known as Poyopoyo Observation Diary) Has been suprising anime watchers everywhere with how entertaining and good this show is.
The show is about a “totally round cat” called Poyo (fluffy) and his 3 minute Adventures about him and his owner Sato. The Art style is cute fluffy and the show is consistently funny and amusing.
You can see, from the screen shot of Moe waking up, that the artwork is very nice. The animation seems “real” (not Flash-based). The character designs are mostly chibified that are familiar to all anime watchers. The backgrounds however are fairly distinctive; they show a lot of flair (I love the color scheme in the “Moe wakes up” scene, for example), and are handled in a loose, painterly way.
The humor isn’t bad. It has mostly been situational, that is, instead of jokes about how whacky these characters are, they have really been jokes about the situations someone encounters when living with a cat, think Simons Cat But massive, fat and cuddly cute =).
These very short anime don’t have a strong track record. I have never seen one with production values as good as this. Maybe Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki can hit the sweet spot.
Poyo Poyo is the first anime to get a standing ovation from the Anicom groups and begs for more =) Everyone has 3 minutes a week spare so I fully recommend this anime to you =)
Feb
03
In case you missed it on the forums…
EVERYBODY WHO BOOKED AN ANIMEX TICKET THROUGH US WILL NOW GET THE FESTIVAL PASS THEY PAID FOR!
More information in this thread, where you can ask questions if you still have any.
Take care y’all!
Feb
03
Still waiting for my goddamn coffee Joey
Its midnight, thinking of an original pun is way beyond me. And nothing I say could beat Chris’ ArtJam. Anyway, somebody told me I wasn’t nearly punctual enough with these blogs entries, so for one week, I’ll do this on time!
Anyway, the theme was superheroes, and we offered up a super (oh man how many times can I do this pun) collection of shows in Ironman, Wolverine, Heroman, DC Showcase, Tiger and Bunny and the Muuusic Meeeeeisteeer aka Batman Brave and the Bold. And if Batman singing isn’t enough to please you, then I’m beat.
There were also some announcements and apologies to be made.
- Animex oh crap its all fallen apart. I wasn’t with Tom and Jade when they explained the situation (but I’m still well aware of it), so all I can do is offer my sincere apologies to everyone who got pretty screwed by numerous cock-ups. I wish I could give you something better than just saying sorry, but I regretably can’t, but needless to say stuff will happen as a result of this, to ensure that future stuff we organise will not, does not and can not fall apart like this did.
- Which brings me to MCM Expo. We’re organising a trip to it (and I promise, me and Jade are taking a much more active role this time to ensure It. Doesn’t. Fail.), so if you’re interested and didn’t put your name on the list I passed around, PM me or otherwise talk to me before the end of the weekend, as I’ll be e-mailing out more information then. Basic info is in this thread, but for tl;dr, last weekend of May, £100 approx for the weekend, although you’ll spend at least that at the Expo. We won’t talk about my expenses, go trawling through the archives to see the horror of a first year with lots of money.
- Committee! Interested in becoming the Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer of Teesside’s Universities biggest society (excluding interlink)? Then come chat to us, via the forum, the internet, in person, however, just get chatting and we’ll tell you what you need to know. You don’t have to be a social butterfly like Tom or a weeaboo like myself to take charge, and the experience is really worth it. Well, when things don’t fall apart around you they are.
- ArtJam! Draw a comic book cover! Anything goes, so be as lolsy or as artsy as you want. I might even do one this week, can’t be shown up by Reaf.
I believe that’s all. Anicom will be running next week, same time, same place! Animex and Reading Week won’t affect us in the slightest, so hopefully I’ll see y’all in a week. Or sooner, if you’re going to Animex. Take care!
Jan
30
Poyopoyopoyopoyopoyo
No particular theme this week, just a barrage of great shows with the new Archer, Foster, Dexter’s Lab, Soul Eater, Black Lagoon and… Poyopoyo, the first show this year to get a standing ovation. I would’ve shown more, but there’s only 3 episodes currently released. We’ll make a note to show it again when there’s some more avaliable. In the meantime, announcements!
- Animex tickets. I’m well aware everyone who’s ordered one through us is wondering where the hell they are. I can only assure you we’re all working on it, and that you should, should, get them on Thursday. And if you don’t, steps will be taken to compensate you for certain incompetences.
- Next week we’ll be chatting about MCM Expo (don’t worry, organisation on this one won’t implode, I promise) and about the committee for next year. If you’re interested in either, try and come along, although as always I’ll blog and forum the information, so if you can’t make it don’t worry, you won’t be left out of the loop.
- Talking of next week, the ArtJam is to draw what you would do with a time machine. Grandfather paradoxes ahoy.
And we’re done here. According to the handy dandy list of upcoming stuff, we’re going superhero mad next week, so if you’re a Marvel fan you’re in for a treat. Take care y’all!
Jan
23
One of many Ghibli masterpieces
We’re getting into our stride again now, as we showed the all time classic Studio Ghibli movie Spirited Away (along with blast from the past Medabots). No big announcements per say due to Tom being away on buisness, me busy with ICAs and Jade working on her own projects, so this post should be rather short and to the point (and slightly late, sorry about that).
- Animex tickets will be here soon. Honest. Tom’s chatting to them about where they are today, so if you don’t get them this Thursday I’d be amazed.
- The ArtJam for the week is inspired by the recent SOPA, PIPA, blackout, Megaupload et al events that have struck the Internet in the last week, and asks you what you’d be doing if there was no Internet? Besides that.
And that’s it. See, I told you this post would be short. Here’s some good news though, with my ICAs out of the way for the time being, I should be able to get round to posting and working on this blog more. So expect to see more regular articles sooooooon. Take care y’all!
Jan
15
Never Before, Never Again
Another week passes, and hopefully y’all are getting used to our new home of H0.01. And the remakes we showed in the form of Dragonball Kai, Thundercats, Transformers and My Little Pony: Friendship s magic. And Azumanga Daioh / Batman Beyond which got snuck in there somehow. I don’t know how we fitted it all in either (I literally don’t, I had to go half an hour before we finished), but we did, along with some pretty cool announcements.
- If you bought an Animex ticket through Anicom, great news, it’ll be with you very soon. Like next week / in a fortnight soon. Keep pestering Tom for a more accurate date.
- MCM trip details will be up soon. As in this week (in theory, don’t hold us to that). It’ll be an awesome weekend out, and you don’t need all that money you have left at the end of the year right?
- The ArtJam for this week is to take something moody and grimdark from your modern life and make it sickly cute and cuddly. It’d be nice if we got a few more people doing the ArtJams, as seeing less than half a dozen each week is slightly disheartening.
- Creative Craft won Society of the Month. If you’ve never been along, its worth checking them out, as they cater for pretty much everything you can image, from basic drawing to metalwork to sewing (useful if you’re making cosplays) to… well, pop along and ask. They run from 1pm til 4pm every Saturday up on the top floor of Athena, rooms A3.05/06/07.
Aaaaand that’s all for this week. Next week is move night, and we’re showing one of the all time best animated movies in the form of Spirited Away. If you’ve never seen it before, you have to come along. Take care y’all!
Jan
08
Everybody loves Snarf
We’re baaaaack. In more ways than one. Time to perform necromancy on this blog and get back to updating it. Hopefully you enjoyed the 80s Night fun of Thundercats, Dragonball Z, Transformers, He-Man and… the original My Little Pony. Well, it was funny to laugh at how bad it was, if nothing else. Anyway, to the announcements…
- In case you didn’t notice, we’ve moved to H0.01 permanently now. Same time (Thursdays 6pm – 9pm), same awesome shows, just a new location because its better for all our needs. If you don’t know where it is, the first room on the left as you enter the Centuria building from the main entrance.
- If you bought an Animex ticket through Anicom, we’re currently processing the order and they should be with you veeery soon. If you missed out, you can still get one from their website, although they’re up to £115 now for students.
- The ArtJam for this week asks you to take something nice and cutesy from your childhood and make it as grimdark as possible. Endless possibilities for this one, and I expect some horrifying things to emerge come next week.
And that’s all for now, so make sure you’re back next week for the remakes of the stuff we showed this week, including for the first and probably last time this year… My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. My body is ready.
Nov
21
As voiced by Samuel L freakin' Jackson
Another week passes, another batch of interesting videos and shows… shown. Tom may have accidently made a mild samurai themed night by complete accident (which is a-ok in my book), so hopefully you enjoyed our sword-weilding friends. And now, a few announcements…
- ANIMEX. If you’re interested in coming along (and frankly, y’all should be, its one of the best things this uni does), then give this thread a read. Basically, you need to either forum PM or otherwise tell Tom (or failing that, me or Jade) that you want to go to Animex. Early tickets are normally £80, but through Anicom we’re getting them for £70. You’ve got until a week this Thursday (so, 1st December) to confirm and pay, so don’t delay. Seriously, Animex is worth every penny. Oh, and that discount is for members only, so if you haven’t yet, read this and sign up!
- AGE VI! Just 10 days away as I write this, this is gonna be awesome. If you’re interested in any kind of gaming at all, come along. Its free, its fun and its all for charity. These events are always popular and have many epic memories, so make sure to come along. Oh, and if you wanna help out, this thread’s the place to go.
- The ArtJam for this week is to either draw a cartoon in the style of an anime, or draw an anime in the style of a cartoon. A bit tricky, I’ll agree, but I’m still interested to see what people come up with (I know what I’m doing).
- Oh, and incase you hadn’t spotted, we’ve started using the blog more. Okay, I’ve fallen behind on the second week, admittedly, but this is where you guys can help out. You all have your own favourite comics, cartoons, anime, manga and webcomics. So why not tell us about them? Speak to the committee, or e-mail anicomhivemind@gmail.com with 300 to 500 word article about them, and your work could be up on here, outshining mine by a long shot.
That’s all for now, so I’ll see each of you on Thursday when we show the great movie… Paprika. Remember that animation in the background of the 8-Bit IceCream in Basement? Yeah, this is it. Prepare to have your mind blown. In a good way. Take care y’all!
