Nerima Daikon Brothers meets Phineas and Ferb?

I'm currently rewatching Nerima Daikon Brothers, and because I've been watching so much Phineas and Ferb lately (which is a really good show, btw, and you should all check it out), my brain keeps trying to match up the characters. I mean, in a general sense, Phineas would be Hideki, since they're both the instigators of their groups, Ferb would be Ichiro, the quieter, more laid-back one, and Candace would be Mako, mostly because they're both girls, but they are similar personality-wise. And of course Perry would be Pandaikon, which means that Major Monogram would be The Rental Guy, but since that's a Nabeshin cameo, Carl would be a better fit, just because of the hair similarity.

And part of me wants Doofenshmirtz to be Ichiro because I've been spending too much time in the DxP part of the fandom (but they're the most active part!), and Ichiro has his own song about how he feels about the panda (which, in the dub, includes the lines "They say you're an animal/But I say you're a mammal just like me"). But on the other hand, he could also be Yukika, who also falls for the panda, and since she's a gadget detective, that role probably fits him better anyway, except for the fact that she's a policewoman, which is two strikes for him (that is, since he's a card-carrying villain and a man) but that's really par for the course for him, when you think about it.

But going back to Nerima Daikon Brothers, it's been a favorite of mine for a while. I rented it when it first came out, but I only recently got around to buying it (hence the rewatching). It's only twelve episodes long, so one could possibly watch the entire thing in a day, although I'm not doing that. The series follows Hideki, Ichiro, and their cousin Mako as they fight to right the wrongs occurring in Nerima, with the not-exactly-altruistic motive of claiming the evil-doers' money so they can build a dome in their daikon field and give concerts. But what sets this anime apart from the rest is the fact that it is a musical. That's right, every episode features a number of songs, most of them less than a minute (also, the character designs are done by the same guy who did the character designs for Space Pirate Mito, although under a pseudonym). The whole show also spoofs and satires aspects of Japanese life as well as various celebrities (including a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Michael Jackson), so if you do check it out, make sure to get the DVDs released by ADV, which includes liner notes and on-screen ADVidnotes explaining most of the references. On top of that, unlike for most animes, the dub includes translated versions of the songs, most of which fit the spirit of the song, even if they don't exactly match lyrically. Keep in mind, however, a lot of the humor on the show is of an ecchi (that is, slightly perverted) nature. Nothing explicit, but if that kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, then consider yourself forewarned.

As the name of the series implies, there's a certain amount of inspiration pulled from the movie The Blues Brothers. However, since I've never seen that, here's a mashup of the movie's trailer with footage from the anime:

Gaia - The Lonely Star

Gaia seems to be getting RIG (random item generator) happy as of late, having just released their third one this summer. But I don't mind so much as the ratio of not-store items seems to be higher than usual. Although I'd like to stop getting so many Star and Moon Lanterns. That would be nice.

On a related note, I can't stop playing with my Avatar lately. Seriously, I've been putting together different combinations of the past couple days, and I like to think that the only up there is the best one so far.

In a World...?

Lately I've been watching a lot of movie trailers, older ones in particular. That is, trailers narrated by Don LaFontaine, the undisputed king of voiceovers. He died last year, but during his lifetime, he spent 60 years working as a voiceover artist. Now, the reason that I've been watching so many trailers is because Don LaFontaine is best known for using the phrase "In a world..." in many of them, so much so that it's been parodied time and again, even by LaFontaine himself. And yet, I haven't been able to find a trailer that actually uses that phrase (non-ironically, I mean). Nor have any webpages been able to point me to one. If any of you know of any, please let me know. I'm putting my search on hold for now, but in the mean time, here's a video about Don LaFontaine:

And here's a video of him and four other movie trailer announcers (the only one I recognized was the guy who does the Disney movies):

Late Night Video - My Little Pony AMV

That's right, I'm at it again. After binging on LazyTown AMVs these past couple of days (they're like potato chips, you can't watch just one), I suddenly realized how perfectly one of the Core Seven shorts from Hasbro.com fit with the song "Cooking By the Book" (a song that I always meant to use for a Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime AMV, but never got around to). And it actually came together pretty easily. A lot more easily than my last AMV, anyway. So here it is, the fruits of my evening:

Late Night Video - Space Pirate Mito meets Spaceballs

I first saw this AMV years ago, but considering my recent rewatching of Space Pirate Mito (and my upcoming blogging of the second season), I figured this would be a good one to post:

The Princess and the Frog featurettes

Sometime last week, the Disney Channel ran these featurettes on The Princess and the Frog, and someone was nice enough to put them up on Youtube:

Intro:

The Directors:


The Characters:


The Music:


Spotlight on the Prince:


Full scene from the movie:


I gotta say, the more I see of this film, the better it looks. Seriously, I need a copy of the soundtrack now. No word on when it's going to be released, but since the movie is coming out in November, and the soundtrack usually comes out before the movie, I'm guessing that it'll be released sometime in October.

Sushi Pack - Where No Truth Lies

A lovely Tako/Maguro-shippy episode, slightly marred by a lame villain. Sorry, but it had to be said. I'll get more into detail about that after I write up the episode, though.

Where No Truth Lies - "I'm a Mayor, not a Librarian."

At a ski lodge out somewhere, Mayor Martin loudly laments the loss of his "priceless collection." Chief Flume arrives on the scene with some of her muscle officers, and the Mayor shows her the note left by The Prevaricator, which basically substitutes the opposite word for what is meant at random intervals. Rather strange, but more on that later. Regardless, the Mayor throws himself on Flume's mercy, and she promises to get everyone possible working on the case, although the Mayor points out that she really just needs the Sushi Pack.

Apparently it snows in Wharf City, too, as the scene cuts to a snowcovered Green Donut (so I guess that means it's not in California). Having heard about the Mayor's predicament, the Pack is hurrying to get out the door in B.O.B. (from No Clowning Around, which I'll be blogging soon) to track down the Prevaricator. As the rest of the Pack heads out, Tako grabs Maguro's knapsack, accidentally dumping all its contents on the floor. As he leaps from the table he was standing on, he lands on Maguro's lucky crystal necklace, breaking the crystal in two. Tako hastily cleans up the evidence, stashing the necklace in his pocket (thoroughly confusing me. Isn't that his skin?) in the hopes that Maguro won't notice it's missing. Unfortunately for him, once they're out in the frozen wastelands, she notices pretty quickly. And since Tako brought her knapsack to B.O.B., she figures that he must have something to do with it's disappearance. Tako plays it cool, but Maguro continues to needle him. Kani tells her to get back to working B.O.B.'s foot, but without her crystal, Maguro is not a happy camper.

Ikura suggests she look around for it, so she does, somehow managing to look all the way over to Tako's foot, and notices the chain of her necklace peeking out of his pocket (I still don't get how he has one in his skin...). She pulls it out (without leaving her foot? I'm confused again) and Tako flails to cover his tracks, even going so far as to tell her "it was just a little lie." This incenses Maguro more than the necklace being broken. She tells Tako that she can't trust him anymore and forces Ikura to trade seats with her. Ikura reassures Tako that Maguro will get over it eventually, but Maguro promises to hang onto her anger for ages to come.

Waiting for the Pack in the snow gave Chief Flume a bit of a headcold, so she doesn't recognize the Pack when they show up (granted, they are in B.O.B.). She fills them in on The Prevaricator's plot: turns out he's been after the Mayor's collection for years. She neither knows what "prevaricate" means ("These bad guys keep coming up with weird names.") nor what the Mayor's collection entails, but it's important to get it back, since the Mayor can't stop crying about it. After a brief chat with the Mayor, the Pack is on the move! Kani spots some footprints in the snow, but since Ikura's not used to working a foot, B.O.B. ends up crashing into a tree repeatedly, and Kani calls for Maguro to take her original position. As Maguro returns to the foot, Tako tells her that he knows she's still angry, but they have to work together on the case. Maguro knows that he's right, but in her anger, she can't help but snipe at him. Tako knows he deserves it and that he should be the bigger man, but taunts her right back regardless. Kani tells them both to knock it off and get a move on. As the feet get going, Maguro hears a squeaking sound and asks Tako if he lubed the joints before the trip. Tako says he did, but both Maguro and Kani doubt him, thanks to his lie about the crystal.

Following the trail gets more difficult as a storm blows in, so the Pack takes a pit stop at a nearby cafe. The proprietress pours B.O.B. a cup of tea and fills them in a little on The Prevaricator. Seems he is a master liar (which Maguro uses to snipe at Tako once again). Kani asks how she knows so much about him, but the proprietress refuses to say, just telling them, "it's a long story." She also warns them not to trust anything the Prevaricator says. And with that, the Pack is off again.

Still hearing squeaking from the knee joints, Maguro leaves her position to check them herself. Turns out Tako did oil them, but with her missing in action, B.O.B. takes a tumble, slides across the ice, and lands facefirst in a snowbank. The Pack pops out, only to be faced with some kind of abominable snowman. No, wait, it's really the Prevaricator. Seriously, he is one unattractive dude, and that is saying something on this show. The Pack chases him on foot, listening to him contradict everything they say. Seeing that they're getting nowhere, Tako theorizes that they have to make the Prevaricator lie about lying in order to stop him. After a bit of bantering with him, Tako asks him to tell a lie. The Prevaricator is caught in this logic trap, and forfeits the Mayor's collection just so he won't have to think anymore. With the Mayor's collection in tow, Tako apologizes to Maguro properly, and they patch things up, both so happy that they make B.O.B. skip all the rest of the way back. The Mayor, of course, is overjoyed to have his collection of prized bottle caps back, but the Pack is not impressed, and leave him to geek out alone.

So, yeah, the resolution to this one was really lame. I mean, honestly, there's a difference between lying and just contradicting everything point blank. But, I have a theory about this: the Prevaricator that the Pack went up against was not the actual Prevaricator, but an imposter. When I first saw this episode, (and before the Prevaricator showed up on screen) there was no doubt in my mind that the Prevaricator was actually the proprietress of the cafe the Pack went to. Basically, once she clammed up on how she knew the Prevaricator, I knew it was her. Watching the episode again only confirmed it in my mind. It even fits with the whole "the Prevaricator can only lie" bit. She says "it's a long story" because it's actually a short story: she is the Prevaricator. Thus, if she's telling the truth about the Prevaricator being a liar, it's because she's lying about being the Prevaricator in the first place (plus, she, like everyone else, refers to the Prevaricator as a "he," which is a lie if she is indeed the Prevaricator). So what's up with the male Prevaricator having the Mayor's collection? My theory is that the female Prevaricator hired a random thug to get the Mayor's collection, since she'd been after it for years with no luck, and told him how to be the Prevaricator (that is, lie all the time). But he took her instructions a little too literally, which is how he got trapped in Tako's logic puzzle. After all, the real Prevaricator knows that there's more than one way to tell a lie, and wouldn't have gotten trapped by Tako. Also, is it not true that she told the Pack they'd find the Prevaricator at the top of the hill, yet he was really at the bottom? Obviously, she was throwing them off the trail, since she knew that he would be coming to meet up with her at a location in that bottom-of-the-hill town. Conveniently sending the heroes off in the wrong direction while she makes off with the goods? Now that's what the Prevaricator should be.