Category: Amish Otaku

All the stuff I published when I ran a nerd blog

Amish Otaku, Comics, Vertigo

Pride of Baghdad: Ain’t No Pride When You’re Dead

By Dave Ginolfi

When this book was first given to me to check out i was excited but for some reason it lay stagnant in the back seat of my car for months. There it lived amongst cd’s and empty bags of fast food from late night hunger raids. What a diamond in the rough it truly became.

I was in a position where I desperately needed reading material. I was in the waiting room at a dentist’s office. With nothing but 101.3 The Rose and the smell of old people to occupy my time I decided to get sucked into a colorful world that reminded me of the Lion King with a twist of Steven King.

This book was so vivid if read fast enough it seemed to come to life. That’s also it’s only flaw – its length. Although it’s short, it’s also very fulfilling but getting close to the characters is hard as it comes abruptly to an end. Continue reading “Pride of Baghdad: Ain’t No Pride When You’re Dead”

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Amish Otaku, Comics

Top 5: Best Comics of 2006

By Andrew Goletz

5
Ultimate Spider-Man

This series has been on my “best of” lists since its inception, and this past year proved the book showed no signs of aging. The creative team of Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley broke Marvel Comics’ record for longest duration of a creative team on a superhero book with their 103rd issue last month. Consider that creative teams jump ship every six issues or so. Or how about the fact that this series would be more likely to come out twice a month instead of the all-too-familiar late issues plaguing books today? The same creative team, almost never late, working together for more than 5 years.

Ultimate Spider-Man is a retelling of the story of Spider-Man, updated with current sensibilities. The series doesn’t invalidate Marvel’s other books featuring Spider-Man, but offers a separate take in its own “Ultimate” universe free from decades of historical and continuity constraints and is an ideal book for those who are new to comics. Continue reading “Top 5: Best Comics of 2006”

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Amish Otaku, Music

Hellsing OSTs: Ruins and Raid

The music of the original Hellsing series has been described as everything from masterful to unpleasant, but it never fails to evoke a strong reaction.

Within the context of the show, the music was integral to setting the dark mood and frantic pace of the action sequences, and did so without a hitch.

The OSTs, Raid and Ruins provide yet more of what you heard in the show, with extended-length tracks that fuse jazz, blues, rock, and alternative together into something different from the sum of their parts. Continue reading “Hellsing OSTs: Ruins and Raid”

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Amish Otaku, Anime, FUNimation

Trinity Blood: The Vatican, Virtue, Vice and Vampires

Most of you anime otaku will be familiar with the story of Trinity Blood by now. It centers around a Catholic priest named Abel Nightroad, a crusnik (a vampire that feeds off of other vampires), Tres Equis, a super cyborg controlled by the church and designed for combat, and Sister Esther, a [mostly] innocent young nun caught up in the sweep of world affairs.

In the U.S. the anime has been out since September 26, but the manga was released five weeks later on November 7. Although the stories are similar, there are some key differences between the two that make the manga superior. Continue reading “Trinity Blood: The Vatican, Virtue, Vice and Vampires”

V.E.
Amish Otaku, Anime, Geneon

Hellsing Ultimate: Flashy, but Plenty of Room for Improvement

This month, I got my hands on the first DVD of the much-anticipated Hellsing Ultimate OVA, and I have to say I’m a little disappointed.

The original show ranks high on my list of favorite anime, although I probably wouldn’t put it in the top five. Still, it combines vampires, gunfights, a dark and realistic setting and an exceptional plot into a single series, and to top it all off it was animated by Studio Gonzo – famous for such shows as Last Exile, Full Metal Panic! and Samurai Seven.

It’s a lot to live up to, but fans were salivating at the idea of being able to continue beyond the not-ending that wrapped up the original series. Since Ultimate was created to better follow the manga – and was written after the last of the books was released – it promised to provide both more of the vampiric action that had propelled the original show to fame and a satisfying resolution to the source of the technologically created “freaks” (as the lead characters affectionately call them). Continue reading “Hellsing Ultimate: Flashy, but Plenty of Room for Improvement”

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Amish Otaku, Anime, FUNimation

Hare+Guu: A Trip into the Jungle

Hare + Guu (Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu in Japan) is one of those series that you like for no reason you can put your finger on. Words like “charming” or “fun” would best describe it, but they don’t really explain why they are, just the simple fact. I would probably term the show “crazy,” but affectionately so.

The series follows the life of young Hare, a boy who resides in a jungle with his buxom, single mother, Weda. They’re part of an odd village, with characters that are off-the-wall to say the least. Among them are the Village Elder, well known for his prodigious chest hair; Wiggle, a minor character who rails against his background status; and a psychic hairdresser who believes her deceased husband lives on. Continue reading “Hare+Guu: A Trip into the Jungle”

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ADV, Amish Otaku, Anime

Full Metal Panic: FUMOFFU

By Louis Klapper

Start with boy meets girl, boy has secret, girl has secret, they have an adventure for five episodes, have some feelings for each other that they don’t admit, toss in some filler episodes, add another five-or-six-episode adventure, follow with filler, then a longer plot arc, then more filler, and chase with epic conclusion.

Sound familiar? This recipe accurately describes many anime, including the first “Full Metal Panic!” series. But what if much of that filler was taken and expanded into a second “sequel” series? Perhaps you would entitle it “Full Metal Panic? FUMOFFU”? Continue reading “Full Metal Panic: FUMOFFU”

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Amish Otaku, Manga, Viz

Saikano

By Ed Kidhardt

Imagine if you will, dear reader, you are a high school senior living in a tiny town in Japan. You’ve just started dating a clumsy (yet cute) girl who apologizes for everything she does, like walking slow or reading comics. You truly have feelings for her, but every time you try to tell her you end up yelling at her, eventually making her cry.

After three awkward weeks of this, your town is attacked by an unknown air force. During the strike you run outside and who should appear from the sky but your girlfriend – her arm transformed into an automatic rifle and metal wings sprouting from her back.

You slowly embrace your destroying angel, and she starts to cry. Continue reading “Saikano”

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Amish Otaku, Bargain Reviews, Features, Video Games, Xbox, Xbox 360

Bargain Review: Burger King’s Bargain Games

Get it your way with Burger King’s new value-priced games.

Sneak King

I’m sure this was the game they came up with first, before they made the other two. This is the game where you get to play the King and do the things he does on TV.

Just like in the commercials, it’s your job to sneak up on hungry and unsuspecting members of the populace and give them a hot and tasty Burger King sandwich or coffee. Pretty straight-forward stuff. Continue reading “Bargain Review: Burger King’s Bargain Games”

Daniel Allen