Paper Moon

Sailor Avengers by nna. (Click through for full size!)

Hat-tip to shanejayell for that one. Now we just need somebody to make an Avengers/Pretty Cure mashup and my life will be complete. Er, not like I've actually put any thought or planning or detail into an Avengers/Pretty Cure mashup fic that will never be written or anything.

Other Links of Interest:

David Brothers on why DRM is beneficial to exactly nobody.

Al Jean (producer of The Simpsons) and fifty other animation producers protest Community's eligibility in the Emmy animation categories. I'm sorry, I love Community, I really do, but it does not belong in any of the Emmy animation categories. It just. does. not. And Al Jean is absolutely correct to point out that if Community can be considered in the animated Emmy categories, then why can't shows like The Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, and other animated sitcoms be considered in any of the Emmy comedy categories? Because animation ghetto, that's why.

David Brothers (yes, again!) on why Anno Moyoco's Sakuran reveals how sexism in the past still influences how we regard "willful" women today. (Do not read the comments.) Sexist expectations of how women should behave is a common theme in Anno's work - just look at Sugar Sugar Rune, which used magical girls to deconstruct those sexist tropes in really interesting ways - but Sakuran is a decidedly more adult take on the same themes for a decidedly more adult audience.

Meanwhile, Naruto is coming to an end. I don't think that anybody has yet expressed any reaction to this other than "Finally!" And that includes those of us who are actually fans of the series. It's about time we got a decent climax and conclusion! For the record, I felt the same way when Inu-Yasha finally ended. No matter how much fun your manga is, you just can't keep dragging out the same basic conflict without any meaningful conclusion for years and years and years without people getting tired of it.

1. Girl-Wonder art auction!!! Girl-Wonder art auction!!! Girl-Wonder art auction!!! This year we've got a good mix of both "awesome but totally affordable" and "serious collectors, start your drooling."

2. Liquid Comics bought out Virgin Comics some time ago, and recently they've partially restored the old comics website. Which basically means that they've restored the widescreen digital versions of the first issues of *most* (meaning nearly but not all) of Virgin's series. Other than the digital issues, however, nothing else has been added to the Liquid Comics website. Nothing. Still no word on which, if any, series are going to continue in comic book form. Ramayan 3392 has been optioned for movie rights, though. I imagine lots and lots of bluescreen in its future. Apparently John Collee is writing the screenplay. He's the guy who wrote Master and Commander and Happy Feet. Hmmmm. Interesting resume. So... Y'all are going to cast actual Indian actors in this movie, right? Right?! Assuming that said movie ever actually happens, that is.

3. Oh, this brings back terrible, terrible memories. On the other hand, I would love to watch a reality TV show in which millionaire/billionaire CEOs are forced to be servers at Applebee's for weeks at a time. It would be like The Simple Life but with the added bonus of watching the Powerful Men Who Fucked Over America curling up in fetal positions on the kitchen floor and bawling like babies. Quality entertainment.

4. This is so true, and so deeply scary, because I feel like I'm running into those sorts of conversations on a daily basis now. Among people that I've known for many, many years. Ugh.

5. Here, have some awesome. The original source is Pockybox.de, but her fanart gallery is currently offline.

Edited to add: This is absolutely beautiful. And yeah, I'll admit it. I cried, too.

Okay, so, the Tsubasa ch.201 spoiler has been leaked all over the internet, thanks to a sneaky Kodansha employee. The actual chapter does not come out until Wednesday morning, but for those of you dying to know....

( I cannot be the only person who predicted this. I mean, DUH. )

Rrrright. End of spoiler. Moving on. So, speaking of spoilers! Spoiler Space #2 is looking for submissions! Here is the shameless promotional copy-n-paste:

In case you haven't yet seen it, SPOILER SPACE, Girl-Wonder.org's brand spankin' new bi-monthly 'zine is now up at http://www.girl-wonder.org/webzine. Wish you were among the ranks of the enviable and famous people who got to be published? Guess what...

We're looking for even more submissions for SPOILER SPACE'S second issue, due out December 1st.

Written submissions can cover a range of topics discussing the intersection between race, gender, religion, ableism and sexuality with comic books and comic book characters. We will also accept for consideration short fanfiction, reviews, and other commentary on comics and comic books. ALL written submissions must be 1500 words or less.

Graphical submissions can include cover or interior artwork, comic book pages, and fanart.

Please include with all submissions the name you would like to be published under (real name or Internet handle), an email address that can be used to contact you in the event of acceptance, and a brief 1-2 sentence biography written in the third-person. ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE NOVEMBER 15TH, MIDNIGHT at jenn@reappropriate.com, or through the SPOILER SPACE website (http://www.girl-wonder.org/webzine).

Caption Contest
Also, take part in our regular caption contest feature. Send me your caption to this panel (http://www.reappropriate.com/comic/2008-10-caption.jpg) before November 15th, midnight, and be entered into the contest to win a fabulous basket of Girl-Wonder.org goodies. All caption contest entries will be put to a vote on the Girl-Wonder.org Forum, and the entry that earns the most votes is the winner!

Subbbbbmmmmmmmmiiiiiiiittttttttt! You know you want to.

One more thing.

This is the most amazing thing I've seen in a long while.

I was looking back at my anime year in review post, and I realized that most of the shows that I recced (and ALL of the shows that I uber-recced) were from the spring 2007 season. There was almost nothing that really pushed my buttons in a good way from the fall 2006 season. I mean, I enjoyed Hataraki Man, Red Garden, and Kanon (the latter despite the I-knew-it-was-coming-but-still-hated-it ending), and I enjoyed Code Geass for all the wrong reasons, but... The fall season definitely didn't IMHO produce any truly great series like Seirei no Moribito, To Terra, or Romeo x Juliet. Looking back, I definitely felt like the fall 2006 season was a mushy pile of generic harem shows stacked on top of generic harem shows, but the spring 2007 season felt like a breath of fresh air to me. I mean: Juliet, Seto San, Balsa, Swena, Clare, Nadie, Nia, and Yoko were all on TV at the same time, and how awesome was that?! I felt like anime was finally moving beyond the moe moe moe moe moe moe endless trend of generic moe moe moe moe generic shows. Which isn't to say that moe shows stopped altogether - there was plenty of moe in the spring 2007 season - but that we finally got a variety of shows other than just endless episodes of moe moe and more moe.

And now, what does the fall 2007 anime schedule look like?

Yup. We're back to square one. It's almost nothing but generic harem comedies, and endless amounts of moe moe moe moe.

In case you haven't guessed, I'm annoyed that other than Shakugan no Shana (which YES contains moe but at least it has a PLOT and awesome female characters) and You're Under Arrest, there's almost nothing good on TV for me to veg in front of this season. Or at least, nothing "good" for me, as I have very little interest in harem comedies or moe.

On the other hand, American television is currently exploding with awesome (Avatar, The Boondocks, American Dad, South Park, The Simpsons, and Robot Chicken), so that at least makes up for the dearth of good animated television on this side of the Pacific.

Here's hoping that the spring 2008 anime season will bring back the bucketloads of win and awesome that the spring 2007 season provided. Isn't Haruhi Season 2 supposed to air in spring 2008?