I am Black Lagoon(y)...

Well, with this being Thanksgiving and all, you tend to pause to think about the things that you are most thankful for. With this being a blog about my otakudom, I would like to pause to think about the things that I am thankful for as far as my otaku tendencies are concerned.

Hmmm...Lemme think...I know, I'm very thankful for the anime/manga Black Lagoon.

A long time ago (2006, actually) when we used to have two legitimate anime shops in our town, I came upon an ad while perusing some Japanese magazines. The ad that I saw had a hottie totting two guns while wearing some hotpants. Being a fanservice fanatic, I needed to find out more about this show. After doing some minor investigation, I found that the show was called “Black Lagoon”. I was inspired so I asked my fellow OtaKrew member, Cyphr, to find some fansubs of this series for me. After finding the show, Cyphr decided that it was something that the whole Krew needed to see. Needless to say, the show became a Monday Night Forum hit.

Basically, the show is about a salaryman named Okajima Rokuro who was kidnapped by some mercenaries while trying to deliver a disc for his company somewhere in the southeast Asian seas. He becomes a liability for his company so he is (for the most part) considered dead. Long story short, Rokuro is dubbed "Rock" by his captors whom he ends up saving then joining. The team consists of Dutch the Boss, Benny the Mechanic, Rock and Revy the Two Hand. (It was Revy who drew my attention in the aforementioned ad)

In the story, Rock and the crew deal with all sorts of crazy things including gun-toting maids, neo-nazis, Asian gangsters and other mercenaries.

Thankfully, we got a domestic release of the anime from the good folks at Geneon. The problem is that Geneon went through some...restructuring...over the past year. Thankfully, Funimation picked up the series and is currently releasing it in Geneon's place. Coolness...

Recently, Viz has begun releasing the Black Lagoon manga which is a total blast (just like the anime). While doing some research at Anime News Network (ANN), I found that the manga lasted 7 volumes and began in 2002. Currently, we are on volume 002 which I have just picked up. If any of you are into adventure stories with lots of gunfire, car chases, things blowing up, people being punched and a little fanservice (Revy IS fanservice), then you will LOVE both incarnations of this series.

Now, knowing me, you know that I LOVE toys...One toy that I am coveting right now is the Revoltech version of Revy.

Finding this toy is like finding gold as I haven't seen it in any of the stores that I frequent regularly. Sure, I have seen them on ebay for pretty reasonable prices but I like to check out my local stores first. One of the Krew, Card, found one early on and snatched it up with the quickness. Whenever I go over to his house, I salivate over his Revy-ness and am tempted to..borrow her.

As for real-life toys, here are a few pics of one of the best cosplayed Revys that I have seen...

Another thing that I look for are doujinshi...The Black Lagoon spoof "Pink Lagoon" from the Motchie Empire circle is something that I am currently looking for. When it comes to doujinshi being posted here, I will only post covers that don't have any nudity in them.

...I'm also thankful for vampire anime...

So, I decided to pull out some older anime the other day. As I am a big time fan of anything vampire-ish, I decided to break out NightWalker. This anime is quite the treat as it is very similar to one of my favorite TV shows, Forever Knight.

The story is about a vampire named Shido who, as a private detective, works with a female police officer named Matsunaga Yayoi. There is also the orphaned teen-ager, Yamazaki Riho, who works in his office and his imp, Guni. Together, they solve paranormal mysteries while keeping the streets safe at night. Initially, NightWalker was intended to be just a 4-part OVA but it got taken to TV for an additional 8 episodes. Right around episode 6 is where the store got darker but it led to a very satisfying end.

If you like supernatural stories with vampires and other monsters, I HIGHLY recommend "NightWalker" as a show to watch.

I'm also thankful for cosplayers.

taken at NDK2008 while kickin' it at the bar...

When I go to cons, I'm very excited about hitting the dealer's room, sitting in on panels, watching Anime Music Videos (AMV) and people watching. When people watching, what I am really looking for are what costumes people are wearing as I LOVE cosplay.

Since my birthday is right around Halloween, I would have costume parties for my birthday so I grew to love Halloween the most out of all of the holidays. So, it stands to reason that I would love cosplaying is well. I am an Ota-razzi as I take my camera with me to all cons so that I can get lots and lots of pictures of all of the cosplayers. I also look for Cosplay idols on the internet via cosplay.com or American Cosplay Paradise. Through these two websites, I have come upon several cosplayers who I look forward to seeing what they do next...

This is one of my favorite cosplayed Cutie Honeys ever. This is the cosplay idol TristenCitrine and this pic is from a 2008 photo shoot. I'm not sure if she has broken this outfit out at any cons yet but, as it is, this particular picture is currently the wallpaper on my cellphone.

More cosplayed Cutie Honey-ness from one of my myspace friends...pamelaNeko

This Hyper Cutie Honey was shown at Anime Expo 2008. Along with the Honey from TristenCitrine, this particular outfit is one of the best Honey's that I have ever seen.

As a fan of the X-Men, I was very impressed by this Dazzler from Dragon Con 2008. In my opinion, the classic, disco-balled Dazzler is the best version of all.

To finish off my Thanksgiving theme, I'm thankful for having pamelaNeko as a myspace friend and I look forward to seeing what she does next.

DECULTURE!!!

Buffalostyle...reads...

That's right. There are quite a few manga that I have in my hold slot at the 'ol Gimme Anime (buffalostyle's "Official" anime shop). Roger hooks me up with something new pretty much every week. What's on tap for me this week???
Shonen Junai Gumi (aka: GTO: The Early Years)Ah, what fun this manga is. It follows the main character of Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO), Eikichi Onizuka, in his adventures as a high school student. There is quite a bit of action, drama and comedy. In fact, I find myself laughing out loud quite often when reading this story. Basically, Onizuka is something of a leader of a gang who is constantly getting into fights to protect his territory and his friends. Former foes become good friends and several near misses with "getting" a girlfriend ensue. Anywho, I just finished reading volume 8 of this series and it had me rolling on lunch at work today.
Cliff Notes: Eikichi finishes off a fight with a tough guy who wants to resurrect a former gang that controlled the town that they all live in. Ryuji (the second half of the famous Oni-Baku duo) gets a girlfriend and moves in with her. Some toughs from Yokohama begin beating up people from Shonan saying that they are looking for some competition. Mistaken identity leads to a knockdown-dragout brawl between Onizuka and another party from Yokohama. Meanwhile Onizuka has a nice (FUNNY) exchange with Hank the pr0n dealer. Classic!!!

Next up is Grenadier..Basically, Grenadier is about a buxom blonde gunfighter (grenadier) named Rushuna who has an "interesting" way to reload her gun and is on an adventure to find her homeland. She meets up with a young swordsman named Yajiro and a young girl named Mikan. Now, that's all I'm going to give you except for my "buffalostyle's seal of approval" rating. This story is a heck of a lot more impressive than you might think. I mean, the manga has it fair share of fanservice (oh yeah, I LOVE fanservice) and it starts out slowly but the action really begins to pick up around volume 3. What I just read was the final volume, number 7.
Cliff Notes: Basically, Rushuna beats the main villain early on in the volume. Or so we think. The villain is resurrected after we get the long-anticipated origin of Rushuna and how she came to be. Great story, really.

Then there was...Case ClosedCase Closed is actually Detective Conan in Japan. Copyright issues keep us from getting it by it's real name. Well, this is the story of a teen-aged super sleuth named, Jimmy Kudo. BTW, Jimmy is my hero. Anywho, Jimmy was on a case when he is knocked out and slipped some secret formula that turned him into a little kid. So, Jimmy comes up with an alter ego (Conan Edogawa) with the help of his friend, Dr. Agasa, so that no one else gets hurt and he continues to solve crimes to boot.
Cliff Notes: So I read the 25th volume of the series. Basically, this volume has a haunted house, giant spiders (I HATE spiders) and an appearance from Harley Hartwell. As true to form, volume 25 ends in one heck of a cliffhanger...This manga is also a "buffalostyle's seal of approval" recipient.

Finally, there was Blood +Blood + is right up my alley as it has my personal favorite, vampires, in it. Of course, they aren't called vampires in Blood +, though. Basically, the story is about a girl (Saya) who lives a normal everyday life as a high school kid. Then one day it all changes. Saya learns that she is a chiropteran (vampire) who hunts down other vampires.
Cliff Notes: Basically, if you want to know who Saya and Diva (for that matter) are, you must read volume 3. Period...

So, along with reading manga, watching anime and buying toys, I also collect doujinshi. Now, when it comes to my doujinshi collecting, I usually do it for the art.
That said, since I am a fan of Macross Frontier and the doujinshi circle Gold Rush, this new doujin is something I will be on the lookout for.
This doujinshi is named TSUNDERE Frontier. It is Gold Rush's 62nd volume that was released at the Summer Comiket in August 2008. It features Sheryl Nome and Alto Saotome. I can already tell that finding this one is going to be like finding gold as Gold Rush is pretty popular. As it is, I have a scanned copy of it for now and I will be looking for a hard copy for my collection.

DECULTURE!!!