Evangelion World

A 60ft, life-sized Gundam statue, in my opinion, creates a 240ft purple elephant in the room: what about a life-sized Evangelion?

Maybe because of all the giant buildings dispersed in such a way to create gaps in the skyline, it's very easy to picture in Tokyo, amidst those buildings and gaps. Compared to an EVA, the 60ft Gundam is very small, and the size disparity really makes the idea of an Angel attack very frightening, especially from a sheer size standpoint.

A looming, life-sized Evangelion would probably never be made, but amusement park Fuji-Q did the best it could do: a life-sized, 30ft Unit-1 bust in a recreated NERV storage cage, complete with LCL and everything. There was even separate museum pieces, including SEELE monoliths, a life-sized Rei, Asuka and Kaoru, as well as places to take your picture in an entry plug, as Lilith, and seated at a NERV meeting.

Although it was to scale, it wasn't big enough for my tastes. I was hoping for something gigantic, but really, the EVA is more tall than anything else. It's really lanky, especially in the Rebuild movies.

However, it was awesome, and a really cool experience. (ありがとうゆり！） Highly recommended.

Gundam Cafe

The Gundam Cafe in Akihabara... One Japan's many otaku Meccas.

Loaded with Gunpla showcases (and people), the Gundam Cafe offers up Gundam-themed food and drink, as well as a giant LCD flat panel that juxtaposes advertisements for Gunpla with clips from various Gundam series. Trivia segments are also thrown in for good measure.

I ordered up the Char meal, which is very similar to the Amuro meal. The difference is that Char's comes with red sauce; Amuro's comes with white.

Note the use of carrot to create the fin on Char's Zaku head, not to mention the carrot Zeon emblem. Looking at the food, I was fearful of experiencing "Char's Counterattack", however, there were no digestive anomalies.

While I was disappointed that the wait staff did not dress in Federation or Zeon uniforms, and the girl at the counter wasn't very cheerful, it was really cool to go. ありがとう、ひろゆき！

Blackjack

Anime Dads

(I really wanted to post this on Father's Day, but didn't have any time.)

While I’m sure I’m not the first to broach this topic, I have to ask… What is the matter with the fathers in anime/manga?? At this point, it’s probably a cliché by now, but seriously, why are they so horrible? Do Japanese kids hate their dads so much that they better identify with characters that have bad fathers? Is it a story mechanism that makes it easier to put a kid into some kind of fantastic adventure? (I would imagine it’s easier to get a kid into a giant robot when he doesn’t have a normal, sane father figure to question such behavior for a second.)

To support my point, I present to you a handful of bad dads from the annals of Japanese anime, manga, and videogames.

Tem Ray – Mobile Suit Gundam


Tem Ray is one of the first neglectful, over-worked fathers in anime, distancing himself from his wife and son to design the Gundam. While that’s pretty much standard fare for a robot anime, Tem eventually goes crazy, tries to pass of a piece of junk as being a powerful component to the Gundam, and at the very end of the One Year War, falls down the stairs celebrating and probably dies.

Franklin Bidan – Mobile Suit Gundam Zeta


Also a Gundam designer, Franklin Bidan designs the second iteration of the Gundam, the Mk. II. Following in Tem Ray’s footsteps, Fanklin spends all his time involved in his work at the expense of his son and wife. Ol’ Franky here one-ups Tem, though, by taking on a mistress, which his wife and son find out about. Finally, he engages his Gundam-piloting son in a brief space battle, only to die in the cold expanse of space. His last thoughts are of his mistress. A class act!

Gendo Ikari – Neon Genesis Evangelion


Gendo Ikari comes from a proud tradition of giant robot-designing bad dads, BUT he schools them all. Does he neglect his kid? Of course he does!! But he doesn’t just neglect him… he outright hates him! After sending his son away, he calls him back, just to use him to pilot his huge, weird and dangerous robotic monster. Let’s see…he also clones his dead wife into a child and sort of adopts her, but puts her in harms way and gets her killed twice. He’s also quite the pimp, sleeping with his colleague, which results in her suicide. It’s lonely being a terrible dad, isn’t it? That’s why no one can blame Gendo for then moving on to his mistress’ daughter, and eventually killing her. So he’s kind of not just a bad dad, but a bad person overall, I guess. Gendo!

Dr. Tenma – Tetsuwan Atom

Dr. Tenma can barely hang with the gentlemen above because he’s not really a bad natural dad. After his son dies in an accident, Dr. Tenma creates a robot version of his son to take his place (Atom/Astro Boy). After a few years, Dr. Tenma realizes that this robot won’t age and could never be a true replacement for his son. So what does he do? Well, I’ll tell you – he sells him to the robot circus. Bad anime dads don’t have to be just be bad to their flesh-and-blood children; a robot child can suffice.

Jecht – Final Fantasy X


Jecht is our first non-scientist bad dad, and technically not a bad anime dad since he appears in a video game. Since he is a fictional pop culture character from Japan, though, he’s on the list. Jecht is a star athlete who also happens to be a lazy drunk who verbally abuses his son, Tidus. Here’s where it gets tricky… he does indeed love his son, but doesn’t know how to express it or deal with it. It’s a bit of a gray area, but it’s enough to fall under my watch.

Hirukawa Masami– Paranoia Agent


And finally, we have Mr. Hirukawa. He put a spy camera in his daughter’s room to take pictures of her changing and stuff. Yep, he’s the worst.

I realize that 6 characters do not necessarily constitute a social trend (especially since 3 are kind of related in that they are all part of giant robot anime), but what’s up? Any insights? Is this indicative of a larger issue in Japan? I mean, in America, oftentimes dads are depicted as stupid and lazy, but that’s a commentary on working-class Americans in general, I think. And of course, I do not mean to offend anyone with Japanese dads, but I am very curious about this, but I don’t have enough info to really come up with any conclusions.

Please discuss!

Last Supper

A bar in Shinsaibashi that I went to last year had this awesome Last Supper painting on the wall:

Mazinger Z

Help!

Today my father was cleaning the garage, and he found these toys.

I remember playing with them when I was a little kid. They're obviously Japanese robots, but what are they exactly?

Japanese friends, can you help me?

今日、ぼくの父はガレジをそじしました。このおもちゃを見つけりました。ぼくのこども時のおもちゃですけどなんですか。

やっぱり日本のロボトです。日本人の友達、このロボトはなんですか。

Yume Nikki

In my travels across the Internet, I came across something called "Yume Nikki".

"Yume Nikki" is a free, home-made game (同人ソフト) that follows a shut-in (引き籠もり) girl, Madotsuki. The game starts in her apartment, where you can go outside on the terrace, turn on her TV, or play a very simple video game on her Famicom. She refuses to go outside.

The real game starts when Madotsuki when goes to sleep. By going to her bed, Madotsuki falls asleep and begins to dream. Her dream is the game, and it really starts in her dream apartment. Only when dreaming will she leave her apartment, which leads to a room of 12 doors. Each door takes you to a different area to explore.

The game is amazing. Although the graphics are 16-bit, they do a great job displaying this bizarre and sometimes disturbing dream world. The sound effects and music add to the uncomfortable feelings, and actually, the melody when Madotsuki writes in her diary is really good.

The game is basic in that you just explore her dream, getting new abilities that let you explore more of the dream. The game is over when she finds all the abilities, and its quite an ending…

Its hard to really describe the game well enough to do it justice, so why not take a look at this preview?

Shangri-La

どの場所で

どの声で

Good

The characters - The characters were the best part of the series. All well-designed and interesting, they were the most captivating part of the series.

The colors - Shangri-La's colors are bright, well-balanced, and beautiful.

The music - The opening and closing songs (by May'n and Midori, respectively) were particularly good.

The premise - The idea of a Tokyo that cannot fully rebuild due to global carbon restrictions is a cool idea. The "carbon economy" was very interesting, especially since a similar idea is kicking around in real life regarding how corporations operate.

High drama! - The series did a great job balancing a variety of emotions throughout, and ended nearly every episode with some kind of suspenseful scene.

Bad

Too much, too fast - There were tons of story elements, many of which seemed to be included to continue to raise interest throughout the series. Unfortunately, most of these points were resolved or explained in rushed, snippets of convenient dialogue in the final few episodes.

God from the machine - By the end, the series was a huge pageant of deus ex machine, with most things being settled way too conveniently. This was too much, even for a show about a pink-haired, boomerang-wielding girl.

Not only is this the saddest scene in the series, it is the saddest seen ever. Ever!

Lady Ryoko is such a bitch - I love her.

3/9/10

Well, I guess I'm going to have to call out sick from work tomorrow...

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 5)

Finally, the path of Gunpla comes to an end.

Below are pictures of the final, painted and coated RX-78-2.

The top coating really gave the model an awesome matte finish. The white parts of the model have a look and feel similar to a Mac keyboard, actually.

Amuro Ray's workaholic, negligent, and ultimately insane father would be proud...

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 4)

Techniques

Some readers may be interested in Gunpla, and might have some questions.

"What spray paints do you recommend?"

"Is there an advantage to using a top coat?"

"How much time does a model take to build?"

Those are all great questions. What you're going to want to do is get comfortable cursing. When dealing with hundreds of small, fragile plastic pieces, as well as several different cans of spray paint and coating, something will go wrong. That's natural, but you need to be prepared. Therefore, I recommend preparing a good salvo of curses. You'll want to go with the most guttural sounding ones with the least syllables. You should preferably use ones with vowels such as "u" and "o", and ending in either hard "k" or blunt "nt." sounds. When that knee joint snaps, and it will, you're going to need to be able to curse immediately, loudly and properly. Don't force it - just say what comes out naturally. The problem you encounter will help you choose. For example, a string of curses following a slowly building, frustrating issue (such as a stuck part) will differ greatly from a sudden, surprising shattering of a piece. Below are some real life examples that I encountered personally.

Example 1

I put the neck piece under the head, but didn't tuck the connecting pieces properly, so I had to take it off and start over. The neck was stuck on too tight, however, so I took a pair of pliers and tried to pull it off... when suddenly *SNAP*!

"Oh f*ck!!! F*CK!!"

Example 2

The arms have several pieces of armor on them, including a small piece above the elbow. I placed it on the left arm, but it didn't fit right, so I took it on and off a few times and then it just crumbled into a bunch of pieces...

"You've got to be f*cking kidding ME!!!!!"

I hope this helps. The hobby can seem overwhelming at first, but with a little guidance, there's nothing to be afraid of.

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 3)

Assembly

The bulk of the construction is the assembly of the parts. I've probably over-emphasized the amount of parts , but the majority of them aren't even visible as they are covered by the armor plates. Bandai did a good job replicating the actual framework of a "real" Gundam as much as possible, and it shows.

Below is the chest chassis, with tiny pistons that move in and out when the arms move. Nice detail, totally unable to be seen on the completed model.

This is the chest with the armor on. Note the small sumi-ire (inking) on the neck armor.

"Right Arm of the Giant"

Here we have the legs - one without the armor on, revealing the mechanics underneath.

These are all the completed parts, freshly top coated and awaiting final assembly.

There were some mishaps throughout the assembly process. Those will be documented later.

Evangelion Makes You Coffee

The Broken

Coheed and Cambria have a new single out, and as exciting as that may be, after several listens, I'm on the fence.

I absolutely LOVE Coheed and Cambria, but this song is really not speaking to me yet. It's too dense, especially for a single, and it's really hard to remember it after it's over. It has some good use of synth chords to fill out the background, but the guitar parts are a little confusing, especially during the verses. Overall, it's chaotic, but not in a good sense. I am happy, however, to hear Claudio Sanchez singing some new material.

Well, anyway, if you're so inclined, have a listen:

Coheed and Cambria - The Broken

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0 (Part 2)

I originally had the crazy idea to cut out every piece and paint it individually. When I saw that many of the pieces were small enough for me to be able to inhale, that idea went out the window.

I decided to just spray paint the entire runner and worry about any after-cutting touching up later.

Here is a picture before I started. The runner and I were very nervous; it was both our first time.

The spray painting began in the garage. As I was spraying, I noticed bumps appearing on the shield and realized that dust was collecting on the pieces. I looked up at the light, and to my horror, saw all kinds of dust particles floating around. The garage was out - too much dust. I took the paint off with thinner and took it outside to try again.

I set everything up, aimed the spray can and started spraying. The wind promptly blew all the paint in my face, and not on the runner. I had no choice but to do the painting in my apartment. Needless to say, my apartment stunk of spray paint for two days, and I'm certain I suffered brain damage. At what price, this Gundam?

Here we have some runners drying throughout the apartment. You get very creative when paint fumes are eroding your brain cells.

Here is the styrofoam I used to keep the paint from going everywhere.

And that was painting!

RX-78-2 Gundam Ver. 2.0

The massive undertaking - the MG 1/100 Gundam RX-78-2.

For this model, I opted to paint, ink, and top coat. However, those are all things that take place after several long, long steps.

Before you can even worry about painting, etc., you have to deal with the sheer volume of plastic pieces that make up a Master Grade Gunpla kit:

Imagine opening a box to find an insurmountable amount of plastic... as if a plastic god had exploded its majesty into a cardboard box, in five colors...

Tackling such a challenge requires proper tools. The amount of tools I assembled would suggest I was actually building something useful, like an appliance or a piece of furniture, instead of a plastic model kit of a fictional robot.

Armed with these implements, I am the devil, come to do the devil's work.

To be continued.

0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) Part 2

...and here is Part 2.

The contents of the box look something like this:

Since this is 1/144, the pieces are pretty tiny. The red piece below is part of the head. Someone at the plastic Gundam factory must think its easy to put an eye sticker on something smaller than the size of your fingernail...

Here's the torso... Those clipping marks are not beautiful.

This is the work area. I feel the can of Super Dry makes the whole experience authentic. I almost felt like a Japanese salaryman coming home from a hard day of work, relaxing with a beer and a Gundam... and maybe Terry Ito on the TV and a pack of Mild Sevens.

After a few days of on and off work, here are the results:

My apartment smelled like plastic for a few days during the whole process. I wonder if any studies have done on the health concerns of Gunpla...

0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) Part 1

Well, it's time for a little Gunpla action. This will be my first play by play Gunpla post, so if the photos don't look good, or it's not interesting... mea culpa.

This model is the 0 Gundam (Type A.C.D.) 1/144 HG (ありがとう、ゆり!)

Tools

Since I won't be painting or inking this one, I only needed two things:

Results will be posted soon!

Strong Seven

Although I haven't drank it since the summer, I've really been thinking about Kirin's Strong Seven lately.

That extra 2% alcohol makes this a worthwhile beer in my opinion. I try to avoid canned beers, but thats pretty much all that is in vending machines and convenience stores in Japan.

Kirin advertised this beer really strongly when I was there, and so brand recognition took hold when I was in the local FamilyMart and I bought a few. It wasn't bad at all. The 7% alcohol made up for any taste discrepancies, and after a few, I kind of become a fan.

Sunday, I'm heading out to find some Strong Seven back here in the States!

"This hard and clear taste brings you the great feeling." It sure does, Kirin. It sure does.

Comes in 2 convenient sizes!

翔べ! ガンダム

This summer I got to see the life-sized Gundam in Odaiba.

I was so excited, especially because it was for the 30th anniversary and it was supposed to be a limited time thing.

But now I hear it's going to be in Shizuoka from 7/10 to 5/10, and then it will go to other prefectures...

I thought I did something special!!

I love you Gundam, but you made me a cuckold!

寝取られ男になりました。。。