Apples to Apples

The trend in anime has been to transfer stories from lite novels, manga, and video games to TV. There are usually three versions: original, manga, and TV series. While the characters and plot remain similar, the different interpretations lend themselves readily to comparison and contrast. There is also a secondary effect when the director takes the fan's exposure to the original story into account.

George Morikawa's Hajime no Ippo, the epic boxing story, cleaves closely with the original. On the plus side, Tomokazu Seiki, who played Van Fanel, lends his scrappy voice to the light-footed prodigy Miyata Ichiro. Another plus is the spirited Engrish opening by Shocking Lemon. Otherwise, every punch, weave, and ring of the bell is almost straight from the manga. This is mediocre adaptation.

On the otherhand Shakugan no Shana the TV series takes a more considered second look at its source material. As usual, this is heavy on the spoilers. The first episode takes a diced up look at Sakai Yuji's final day of innocence, before he is exposed to the Crimson World. The first major divergence is the role of Hirai Yukari.

In the original lite novel, she had already been devoured and was a Torch. The script writer includes her in Yuji's first day, fleshing out Yukari as a normal girl with normal teenage energy and love life. This heightens the horror when she is devoured by Friagne's servants and then fades away. The writers go for a triple, since it also shows Yuji's strong sense of humanity when he tries to help the Torch and cements his disbelief at the situation. Shana's coldness is similarly cemented.

Also, the second Crimson Denizen and Flame Haze show up while Friagne and Shana are still playing cat and mouse. In exchange, Friagne is nerfed, and Yuji is less proactive in the destruction of Friagne. Since Friagne is the first of several opponents, this makes sense and lets the writers keep Alastor's true form (the Deus ex machina at the end of the first series) hidden.

While this keeps the story moving, I liked the original where the heroes go on the offensive. However, since his role in finding the Corpse Collector follows soon afterwards, this is not a big omission, and it is still in the original novel.

Another nice touch is the initial antipathy between Yuji & his buddy Ike and Satou & Tanaka. This adds some subtley to the story and natuarally keeps Shana's team separate from Margery Daw's. All in all, these additions, makes the first two DVDs interesting even to fans of the first two Shana novels.

Quick Manga Recommendations

"Watachi no Tamara-kun" (Our Tamara) scanlated by SCX Scans
"Yankee-kun to Megane-chan" currently scanlated by rycolaa
"C-Blossom Case 729" scanlated by Condensation
"Holy Land" currently scanlated by Illuminati-Manga

Vampires and Anime

The only two vampire anime that I have watched are Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Princess Miyu. Unlike the noir atmosphere that I saw in the Big O, the 'vampire' in most anime seems to be either flavoring or to be missing the Gothic atmosphere. Van Hellsing and Blood probably have their defenders, but compared to

• LeFanu's "Carmilla"
• Bram Stoker's "Dracula"
• Stephen King's "Salem's Lot"
• Rachel Klein's "Moth Diaries"
• White Wolf's "Vampire: the Masquerade"

I think that I'll pass on other vampire anime. In general, if the words 'anime', 'vampire', 'guys' & 'hot' are combined in any phrase, clause, sentence, or paragraph, then it's probably safe to skip it. But if the dear reader has not seen D's Bloodlust, it's time to get your undead on.