Arrivederci, Neo Venezia: Amano Kozue’s Cielo (artbook review alert)

Diego briefly escapes from the drudgery of the white-collar salt mines to bring you another review, served piping hot on the Wolf Hurricane blog.

Today, the spotlight falls on Cielo – the last in a three-volume series of hardbound books featuring the manga art of ARIA author and illustrator Amano Kozue.

Read the full text of my review here.

Putting “Japanese” through its paces

The iPod Touch puts Swiss army knives to shame. Never mind that you can’t use it to cut cheese, start a fire or skin a wild mountain goat. With a Touch in hand, you can bop along to the heavenly tunes of Palestrina one minute and study for the JLPT the next. Heck, why not do both at the same time?

(Because Latin and Japanese don’t really mix well, that’s why. But you could if you wanted to.)

Today, Diego turns the spotlight on an app that iPod Touch or iPhone-toting Nihongo students might consider adding to their software arsenal: codefromtokyo’s Japanese.

I don’t think Sony should get my Christmas bonus this year

Thanks for the warning, Adolf.

No KyoAni, you are not forgiven yet

But if I see the following scenes from the novel brought to life . . . then we’ll talk.

What was this reaction… similar to a normal person’s?

Nagato’s eyes were tightly shut, and a blush of red began spreading on her ceramic-like pale cheek. Moans, like faint sighs, escaped from her slightly parted lips, and I finally noticed the quivering of her delicate shoulders under my hands, like a puppy under chilling air. A shivering voice reached my ears.

“Stop it…”

I confirmed that Asakura had left first before I whispered to Nagato.

“See you. Can I visit the club room tomorrow too? I have nowhere else to go to after school.”

Nagato fixed her eyes on me, and…

…Gave a faint but definite smile.

I was literally dazzled.

Show me this, KyoAni, and I will show mercy in return when I pass sentence over you for what I now realise is the longest, most expensive, and by far the most frustrating movie teaser I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through.

I’m thinking of the good old days

Remember when this show used to be good?

Remember when the next episode was something one used to look forward to?

Remember when the adoring masses wanted to heap bouquets on KyoAni’s doorstep, instead of burning tyres and Molotov cocktails?

Yeah, I do too.

So here, for a limited time only, is a reminder of happier times.

And now for a brief update . . .

. . . on my present circumstances.

Not much to say, really. Work is proving a major drain on both my overall enthusiasm and my time at leisure, but that’s all par for the course – and the not-inconsiderable pecuniary fruits thereof are regularly being converted into fresh acquisitions for my manga shelves. If all goes well I may even be able to put away enough for a return journey to the Land of Raw Fish on Rice next autumn, a year ahead of schedule.

This blog will continue to be updated when time (and mood) permits, so no announcement of a hiatus is forthcoming. On the other hand, do expect a slower rate of publication than before, thanks mainly to my full-time commitments as a white-collar slave but also because I don’t see much worth blogging about in this year’s disappointingly bland fall anime lineup. (The good people at Random Curiosity will happily bring you up to date on that.) It’s not a good sign for the upcoming season that the only show with a reasonable chance of going on my viewing queue – for now at least – is about a chap who can understand catspeak.

Cheerio.

Japan 2009 Highlights: Koishikawa Kōrakuen

Let’s go for a stroll through one of Tokyo’s finest traditional gardens.