Helianthus

Naruto dub (c'mon, you knew I'd watch part of it)... I'm giving it a meh. The voices of secondary characters are meh, certainly - I saw a fair bit of the scene between Iruka and Mizuki (first-episode villain) and neither impressed me one way or the other. Competent but just that. The third Hokage sounds like the VA thought he was supposed to be a narrator, or something. Name pronunciations are off, especially Konohamaru's (though I think pronunciation of "Konohamaru" should be graded on a curve, really) and the Hokage's nosebleed in response to the Sexy no Jutsu was edited out, though I'm not sure if that was because the joke wouldn't translate or because blood would traumatize the innocent children. Either way, I don't care but the wank should be virulent and already-in-progress.

But props for the VA doing Naruto. It's probably not his or her fault the director didn't check the pronunciation of Konohamaru, and while it's hard in English to pepper your speech with verbal tags to indicate "I SO MEAN THIS OMG" the voice is good and the laughs are spot on. I missed the first part of the first episode, when Naruto's classmates would have had their brief appearances, so I can't comment on their voices, and we won't be hearing a lot of the characters from these first few episodes except for Naruto. I'd cheerfully upgrade it if it turns out Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi are all well-cast.

They appear to have found or commissioned something instead of using the original theme music, but since this means that dreadful first ending theme, the Engrish one with the pretty animation and the insipid lyrics that stick in your brain forever aieeee will not be playing, I'm okay with that. They're also pimping it with shots of character from MUCH later, which is a puzzlement - "See this guy? Isn't he cool? Stick around for three years and you'll hear him speak!" - but maybe they think they can convince otaku to watch. If that's what you want don't edit the nosebleeds, y'all, the hardcore fans really hate that...

I still really like that odd IMDB listing solielle found casting Matt Damon as Orochimaru, which is especially funny if you've seen both Naruto and Team America: World Police.

Edited to look up other casting info: Kakashi is supposed to be played by Dave Wittenburg - Sora in .hack. Oh dear. I really like the guy, but I'm having a hard time picturing him sounding like Kakashi. The woman who plays Sakura is also Zefiris in the Scrapped Princess dub. No roles I recognize for the VAs for Sasuke and Naruto, but Iruka's done by the guy who voiced Isaaru in FFX. Strange, I liked him pretty well there... And they're saying Tony Danza for Orochimaru. Tony Danza? That's... I... Good Lord. Tony Danza. Heeee.

Watching RK for the first time, my friends and I concluded that the hottest guy always wins the fight. That's why Kenshin ran into the most trouble with Aoshi, Saito, and Soujiro. (Yes, Saito's hot. Especially when he loses the jacket. I'm taking Soujiro's bishounen-hood on faith - he seems to have fangirls - because I was actually convinced he was a woman for several episodes. There was spirited debate about his bustline or lack thereof.) Of course, this hypothesis completely starts to break down when you consider Shishio, and it collapses completely if you look at the manga, given Watsuki's hopeless obsession with Marvel comics.

The point of this, though, was that it's lucky for Rock Lee he's in this series, because if they were in the Kenshinverse Sasuke would have whupped his ass. At least in the anime. Poor Sasuke. He needs to grow up and become an actual bishounen instead of the embryonic kind, and maybe then the hotness rule will take effect for him too. Or maybe not, since Lee's teacher (father? Just his teacher? They frighten me) claims to have beaten Kakashi, and he's... um, unique... while Kakashi is... ::cough:: The phrase "sex on a stick" comes to mind. I have this fetish for really tall, spiky hair, apparently.

But I actually like seeing the main characters get tossed around like this - I know they'll win eventually, but it's nice that Naruto's determination and having-the-series-named-after-him haven't fermented into combat power yet. OR a new closing sequence. Though that new closing sequence can get here any day now.

And for a complete change of pace, the Utena entry I said I'd do...

( Utena - generalized nostalgia, then talk about the later volumes, especially the last two. Some general spoilers, nothing that'll make any sense if you haven't seen it yourself. )

Kirin Care for Beginners - eee! And that's Sekai Seifuku, so it's by the same woman who did the RK Archive, lo these many years ago. Yay! The fanart's good (plus there are links to Japanese fanart sites) and the fics are absolutely lovely. The ones I dared to read, anyway. Gyousou/Taiki scares the living crap out of me and a few others seemed like they might be spoilery.

Hey, there's Princess Tutu fic too. Didn't read it, can't comment, but it's got to be about as rare as 12K fic...

I had this great idea for titling a Naruto site "Teenagers, Kick Our Butts" and then I remembered they're all twelve. So, not teenagers. Dammit.

The subject line is from one of the special bootleg subtitles. Other highlights include Sakura's body-image issues - "My body is normal and my forehead is wider than others" - Naruto for some reason yelling "Untie me! End Song" at the end of an episode, and the lyrical beauty of Kakashi's explanation of international politics - "These 5 nations not only big but also strong That's why they are called the 5 big nations of ninjas." The period at the end was added for clarity. They never use them.

And it's getting even more special over time, as when Zabuza's line which contained the word "sharingan" (and which had to have been addressed to Kakashi) got translated as "Are you Momochi Zaibuzan?" No, honey, that's you. I know it's confusing, but try to remember. Plus, they keep turning "chakra" into "Chakula." Ninja breakfast cereal! Sander, this actually isn't a plea for fansubs. I'm enjoying these way too much to want subtitles that make sense.

And then the movie plans didn't pan out, so for further channeling of my inner twelve-year-old boy, I went and bought Shounen Jump manga! EVERYTHING is out right now. RK volume 6, Naruto 4 (FINALLY!!!) Fruits Basket 4, Samurai Deeper Kyo 8, Alice 19th 5 (I already knew about it, though)... I bought those first two, plus the third volume of Paradise Kiss to counteract all the testosterone. Shouldn't have, but hey, I can live off grilled cheese till Friday. I'll post about the manga plus my non-illustrated reading material later.

I want a Twelve Kingdoms icon, but I'm just not cool enough for Youko. Maybe I can find some good shots of Sugimoto where her face isn't contorted in homicidal rage...

Huh. In the past I've seen my cat twitch like he's running in his sleep, but I've never seen him get all bushed out and faintly yowly before. Weird.

And if Winamp does not stop bugging me to upgrade to 5.0 there will be HELL to pay. Or strongly-worded emails, at least.