Here is the start of my project to pull in the archived My Duck On Stuff entries I’ve made elsewhere… along with a few that never made it to social media.
This one went up on Twitter on the 12th of June, 2014.
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3WA 2017 #33: Bottle Fairy
Sometimes you need something short and sweet. Or perhaps four really short things. Who live in bottles.
One questions the wisdom of adding magic to a firework as tall as you are. What is it?
Bottle Fairy is a 13-episode anime series made up of half-length (12 minute) episodes.
What kind of story is it?
Such as it is, here we go: Four very small fairies (who live in… jars, really) adore their keeper, who they refer to as “Sensei-san,” and they regularly visit the not-actually-helpful next-door neighbor girl, Tama-chan.
The first thing the fairies should’ve learned is “don’t listen to Tama-chan,” but… Each of the first twelve episodes is themed on a month of the year, with the 13th bonus episode being a special kind of thing all its own. The fairies try to learn about the world, and through their thorough misinterpretations we gain entertainment and the occasional bit of knowledge. But mostly entertainment.
Why do you like it?
This is a pure comedy series, but not in a sitcom vein. It’s like a short-form anime sketch comedy show. The Monty Python troupe, only in cartoon-girl form, as it were. It’s imaginative and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, though a lot of jokes rely on just enough knowledge of Japanese language and culture to help them land.
That “Sensei-san” stand-in is a real dummy… Mind you, part of my fondness for the show derives from the time my daughter and I spent watching it when it came out. Hey, it’s a valid source of nostalgia value, right? Right.
What might one not like about it?
The humor is definitely culturally derived, there’s very little in the way of an overall plot, and the episodes are short. (I actually count that in Bottle Fairy‘s favor, but there you go.)
Other thoughts about it?
To this day, I still get a chuckle out of “o-bento-sensei-san.”
And “Narita divorce.” (Really, the entire “June bride-oh” episode.)
We’re never told why “Sensei-san” here is in possession of these fairies. Baffling, really. Perhaps I’ve revealed too much.
Where can I watch it?
Given the impending demise of the “daisuke.net” experiment you’re pretty much stuck with picking up the DVDs, I’m afraid…
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How I Spent My Summer (2017) Vacation
I didn’t think much of it at the time. “Hey, the Pacific Science Center has an exhibit about the Terracotta Warriors.” “Oh, that sounds neat.”
Some days later: “You need to put in for three days off in early August.” “Why’s that?” “Remember that exhibit I told you about?” “Ah. Neat!”
So last Wednesday morning, we departed by train for Seattle.
Looking north from the railroad bridge over the Willamette toward the lovely St Johns Bridge -
3WA 2017 #32: Grenadier
On the one hand, this week’s pick is utterly and patently ridiculous.
On the other hand, it is gloriously ridiculous.
What is it?
Grenadier is a 12-episode anime series based (with strong plot divergence, mind you) on a manga series.
What kind of story is it?
A ridiculously skilled gunslinger who aims to bring peace to the land meets up with a samurai who hates guns and those who use them. Adventures and hi-jinks ensue along the way to a final showdown against an evil mastermind.
They’re an odd couple, it’s true. Oh, and the gunslinger reloads her revolver by bouncing bullets out of her cleavage. I’m not making this up.
Why do you like it?
I know what you’re thinking: “Boobs, hurr hurr.” No, that’s not it. Grenadier is a show with one good big idea and a lot of silly little ideas, and it’s fun to watch. Rushuna, our lead, has a big heart and is dedicated to bettering herself, with a goal of no longer needing to shoot people to make the world nicer and safer.
In the meantime, Rushuna will definitely shoot lots of people. But no killing! The rest of the cast is entertaining and the action (while ridiculous) is fun as well.
What might one not like about it?
Yes, the show is centered on a nearly textbook instance of a “ditzy blonde.” Yes, the show portrays the laws of physics almost as rigorously as a classic Looney Tunes short. I can deny neither of these facts.
I also cannot deny the volume and quantity of boobs. This might be off-putting to you. Other thoughts about it?
One particular fight between two pistol-wielders in this show owes its existence to the movie Equilibrium. And I mean that as a point in the show’s favor.
Maybe I’m biased but I think Setsuna is easier on the eyes than Christian Bale. Where can I watch it?
Unfortunately, you’re stuck hunting down a DVD copy if you really want to take in this little slice of wackiness. Sorry about that!
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3WA 2017 #31: How To Train Your Dragon
Of the tropes which feature heavily in the entertainment I enjoy most, such as “magical girls” and “superheroes” and “giant robots,” one particular important element has yet to appear during this project: Dragons.
Until now.
Now THAT is a heckuva dragon. (No, Yona doesn’t really count: Her dragons are humans with magical blood in them. No, GATE doesn’t really count either: Only the one dragon and it’s purely an antagonist.)
What is it?
How To Train Your Dragon is, for our purposes, an animated feature film ever-so-loosely based upon a children’s book. It spawned sequels and specials and TV series. We’re sticking to the first movie (mostly) in this entry, however.
What kind of story is it?
It’s a lot of “the hero’s journey” blended with fantastical elements with a strong undercurrent of “can’t we all just get along.” Young Hiccup wants to prove his worth to his father and to the village of Berk in general. Because one particular attempt to do so goes spectacularly awry, he’s set on the path to greatness by way of solving Berk’s ongoing dragon problem.
Stoick is a Viking’s Viking. Hiccup… somewhat less so. Why do you like it?
The writing is snappy, the story is engaging… but let’s be honest, mostly it’s the dragons. Everything else is just a bonus.
You know what they say: The way to a dragon’s heart is through its stomach. Also, this movie features one of my favorite lines of sardonic dialog in all of cinema: “Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile.”
What might one not like about it?
Being structured as a hero’s journey plot, let alone a modern animated movie aimed at children, HTTYD is fairly predictable in trajectory. The surprises you’re in for aren’t of the “what happens next” variety.
These people seem quite surprised though. Other thoughts about it?
At the risk of spoiling a wholly unsurprising plot point of barely-medium-level importance, the boy gets the girl in the end. But here’s something I like: In the second movie, they don’t reset the relationship and force the boy to re-get the girl. They’re a pair, the relationship is portrayed as “here are two people who like each other and have learned each other’s quirks,” and that is amazing. So many sequels want to reset the relationship from the last movie so they can recycle the relationship drama. That HTTYD2 doesn’t is just so damned refreshing. (Oh yeah, I recommend the second movie. It’s still a sequel, but it’s a fairly good one.)
Where can I watch it?
As of this writing, it’s available as a streaming rental from most of the usual suspects. You should just buy it on Blu-Ray though, really. Would I steer you wrong?
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3WA 2017 #30: Interviews With Monster Girls
Every now and then a show comes along which looks like it’s going to be a heartwarming delight and turns out to be a salacious festival of naughtiness.
This one’s the other way ’round.
What is it?
Interviews With Monster Girls is a 13-episode anime based on an ongoing manga series.
What kind of story is it?
The stories about strange humanoid monsters are real! Well. Kind of. Some of them. A bit. Maybe not the way you expect. And one man wants more than anything else to know everything that he can learn about “demi-humans.” Lucky guy: Several of these “demis” show up at the school where he teaches! Hilarity ensues.
Pardon me miss, are you related to Ichabod Crane perchance? Why do you like it?
The characters are each fun in their own way, and each achieves some kind of emotional growth over the course of the series. Interviews also plays with viewer expectations in some interesting ways. It being anime, there being cute girls, you assume naughty hi-jinks of some sort will take place. And yet, every time it looks like they’re going to take something in that direction, they find a way to “nope!” back away from it, usually in tongue-in-cheek fashion.
Trust me, it works better than I’m making it sound like it should.
The succubus is a teacher, thankfully, not a student. Another fun aspect is that our demi-obsessed teacher tries to apply logic and reasoning to the myths and legends surrounding the “monsters,” such as what effect sunlight and garlic really have on the vampire girl, how much of the snow fairy’s scary reputation is based on confirmation bias, and so on. You can’t really take this as a serious exploration of the subject, of course. It’s just that this approach helps sell the teacher/student relationships as staying within the bounds of professionalism more than one would originally have expected from this kind of setup.
Creating ice… FOR SCIENCE! What might one not like about it?
The jokes and dialog sometimes verge on the squicky. They usually avoid going too far, as noted above, but in order to achieve the “nope!” they have to veer toward the naughty enough to sell it. It’s an odd technique and your mileage, of course, may vary.
Other thoughts about it?
Om nom nom nom nom.
I’m not actually giving away what all makes this scene so laugh-out-loud funny. Trust me. There’s an interesting little plot beat late in the show where someone in the school’s administration starts to ask, much as a viewer might, “Is this actually appropriate behavior for a teacher?” And it’s handled… remarkably well actually. It doesn’t turn the show dark, nor is it overly saccharine.
Where can I watch it?
Crunchyroll, here you go: Interviews With Monster Girls
