I suppose I should post something this month, if only to give the search engine robots something new to index. So, some short miscellaneous topics for the voracious Mythical Readers to gnaw upon. After the break…

There is supposed to be a new Sailor Moon anime coming out in the winter 2014 television season. And I am afraid.

You see, originally it was supposed to be shown in the fall 2013 season. Then it was pushed back. That is not that unusual.

What is unusual is that no promotional drawings, pictures, or videos for the show have been released. At all. Most shows slotted for the winter 2014 are well into promoting by now. But Sailor Moon… nothing.

Oh, there is a lot of merchandise being released. All using images and graphics from the original version of the show. Nothing from the new one, or at least not identifiable as being from the new one.

Hence, I am afraid. First, I am afraid that the new show will end up not being shown after all. Apparently the original creator has always been a bit difficult when it comes to licensing her creation. So perhaps whatever problems may be will not be ironed out, and the whole thing will fall apart. Or perhaps it already has fallen apart, but they’re not announcing that yet to give those companies who already licensed products to sell in connection with the show, a chance to move the already produced items off the shelves.

But that is not my biggest fear. My biggest fear is that the show will be released… with completely different character designs. Which will ruin the whole thing for me.

I liked Dirty Pair. When Dirty Pair Flash came out, with new character designs, I didn’t watch it. Indeed, We Do Not Speak Of It.

I liked Kiddy Grade. But when half-way through the show the characters changed their look, well, a lot of the enjoyment that I had it in went away. The new designs were good, too, but… I didn’t like it. It made sense in terms of the story, at least, but still.

I liked the first Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. But then for the sequels, Nanoha and Fate grew up… ah well.

So that’s why I view the upcoming Sailor Moon with deep apprehension. But maybe things will be okay. Maybe.

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Speaking of magical girl shows, Puella Magi Madoka Magica has been very popular of late.

I loathe that show.

They took the concepts and ideals of magical girls, and shit all over it. They twisted and defiled everything that I like about magical girls. And they did it with wonderful character designs, a distinct and very well done animation style, and a good storyline. Yes, I can recognize and acknowledge when something is done well, even while hating the fact that it was done at all.

I hate it, hate it, hate it.

And I know why it’s popular — it’s popular with the people who hate all the “normal” magical girls show, because Madoka Magica shits all over magical girl shows.

At least now I understand a little better all the hatred that has always been shown for Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion (the original, at least). Neon Genesis Evangelion shat all over mecha shows, so the fans of mecha shows hated it. Of course by the end of the TV show, Evangelion was shitting all over everyone in the audience.

I guess it was going to happen to magical girl shows eventually. I suppose someone will try to shit all over harem shows, too. Or perhaps someone did and no one noticed.

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I am well into collecting of anime figures now.

It started with K-On!, of course. I had to have them. After all, you can’t build an idolatrous altar of worship without figures and/or images, now can you?

But now I’ve branched out to other shows and characters that I like. I won’t annoy the Mythical Reader with them all. But it’s expensive. At least now you can get prepainted figures, rather than just the garage kits that you had to paint and assemble yourself. Knowing my lack of skill at such things, that’s why I never got into figure collecting in my earlier episodes of anime following. Plus I didn’t have the money then. I do now. Well, ’til western civilization falls, at least.

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I’m buying a lot more things directly from Japan shops and companies. They’ve realized there’s a huge market in the rest of the world for anime items, and several have setup internet sites in English (and other languages) to cater to that market.

of course trying to communicate back and forth with them, as is sometimes needed (depending on how the site handles their orders, or shipping costs, etc.), can be frustrating, because it takes at least a day and a half, because of the time difference.

This time of year, everyone is swamped with orders, as well. Eh, such is a collector’s dire existence. (I am mocking myself, of course.)

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Enough randomness for this entry.