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August 28, 2007

Templar: Annnnd SCENE.

Sleep well, precious angel.

I drew and colored this while (re)watching "Howl's Moving Castle." (You wanna see it? It's here.) I'd seen it subbed, but frankly, I had an easier time making sense of it dubbed. And Billy Crystal makes for a pretty good fire demon.

That swishing sound you hear is the anime diehards in the audience turning their collective backs on me.

In an attempt to redeem myself, I'll admit that this blog update was temporarily delayed by another anime, a series called "Galaxy Express 999," which you can find here. (Not to be confused with "Midnight on the Galactic Railroad," which is also animated, strange, incredible, and required viewing.) And Galaxy Express wins the Golden WHAT Award for the evening. no contest.

An old-school anime that debuted a couple of months before I was born, Galaxy Express is about a flying interplanetary railroad system, populated by mid-century-looking steam engines. (Yeah. I know. Just go with it.) It makes stopovers at all known planets in the galaxy, which means by definition that it is not an express train at all, but whatever.

The series opens with the story of a city where it's common for the wealthy to have cyborg bodies that allow them to live in perfect comfort for up to 2,000 years, but the poor are banished to dilapidated subterranean ghettos. These poor dream and speak of a possibly-real, faraway planet at the end if the Galaxy Express 999 line, where cyborg bodies are free to whoever wants one. Believers congregate in the city, and labor their comparatively brief lives away to earn the outrageous fee required for a ticket on the Galaxy Express.

Tetsuro is one such impoverished dreamer. On his way to the city, his mother is shot for sport by cyborgs on horseback, just because. Fortunately, he was being eavesdropped on by a mysterious, willowy blonde, who rescues him and hands over a free lifetime pass for the space-train. Just because. She demands to come with him, though... Just because. But first, they have to kill a bunch of cyborgs for trying to stuff and mount Tetsuro's mom.

Hoo boy.

This series is a bit elderly, and it shows in the character design, which precedes the stylistic homogenization of most mainstream anime, and the animation, which is pretty choppy by anyone's standards. Still worth a look, though. There are 19 episodes to get through, I've got it bookmarked. Gotta watch this streaming stuff fast, y'never know how long it's gonna be online.

And hey, before I letcha go: there was some confusion about a previous blog post i made about book shipping. NOT ALL THE BOOKS HAVE SHIPPED.

- If you made a $15.00, signature-only order before a week ago, and there was no problem with the order, you SHOULD have your book.

- If you made a $15.00, signature-only order before a week ago, and there was a problem with the order, I have emailed you. If you emailed me back, your book should go out this week.

- If you made a $25.00, sketch order, some of you may have your books by now, but most of you don't. I'm doing those now.

If you made a $50.00, commission order, You should NOT have your book. Those are all only sketches.

If you haven't received your book and should have, email me. I've had a few returned to me.

Posted by Spike at August 28, 2007 04:12 AM

Comments

VIZ's Galaxy Express manga collections are awesome BTW :) If you can still track them down.....

Posted by Andre at August 28, 2007 05:21 AM
142.68.43.38

Just so someone can confirm this for me, he did just drop his trousers and not collapse on the floor, right?

Also, another classic anime worth watching is legend of galactic heroes, every time i try and wade through it my sodding hard drive dies on me

Posted by Neil at August 28, 2007 06:46 AM
81.178.214.223

Nah, he collapsed. He was already holding the belt; Ben handed it to him in the last strip.

Let's see. Guy with doctorate and swanky suburban address moves to inner city apartment with a gazillion boxes and a hair trigger temper. Ends up six months later passed out in the middle of the street with a bad attitude towards life itself.

I'm betting his wife kicked him out.

Posted by stacey at August 28, 2007 08:20 AM
69.213.87.98

Haha. "Go home to /your/ place. not /mine/."

Posted by MissusHow at August 28, 2007 11:03 AM
72.225.13.70

Some dubs aren't too bad. Hell, there are some dubs that I consider superior to the Japanese version (FLCL comes to mind).

Still, in many anime fan circles, what I just said is great and terrible heresy.

Posted by Wark at August 28, 2007 12:19 PM
199.17.239.9

When patrick stewart does a dub, it's fantastic.

When Chris Barrie does a dub, it makes my head hurt, a lot. (simon!=rimmer etc.)

But three cheers to all the quality actors doing dubbing these days!

Posted by Miako at August 28, 2007 12:25 PM
128.147.38.10

hmmm, to be honest i prefered the trousers falling down, it just worked too well with him wanting to be taken home big a large black man, a small asian man, and gene

and Patrick Stewart has been a bit hit and miss with some voice acting he does

He tried to make himself sound older in steamboy and just sounded like he had a sore throat

Posted by Neil at August 28, 2007 02:13 PM
81.178.214.223

Look for Seirei no Moribito. I haven't seen the whole thing but it looks like it's going to be really, really good.

Also, Death Note. Up until the chick shows up, anyway.

Posted by Nina at August 28, 2007 05:06 PM
200.155.192.243

I grew up on Galaxy Express 999 because my dad was so into it, so my view is kind of biased (yes, I never even questioned the mounted head of his mother at the ripe old age of ten). I loved the insane stylization of it. And the weirdness. Anyway, if you are enjoying it, the same guys did the show Captain Harlock, a space pirate who sometimes shows up in GE999. I don't know if you can find it streamed online, but come on! Space pirates! That occasionally escort a non-express express space train! Yes!

Posted by Debbie at August 28, 2007 09:30 PM
24.90.136.136

Hey, I like Studio Ghibli films better dubbed, too! I think Disney does a good job with the voices and it's a lot easier to follow the English versions. Sometimes the subbing is incomplete. I hadn't seen Howl's Moving Castle... so... yeah :) glad I read your blog. Heh. Also, good comic.

Posted by Ellen at August 28, 2007 11:55 PM
65.24.127.91

I agree with the Seirei no Moribitio rec. It's an awesome show. :)

I saw both the sub and the dub of Howl's Moving Castle, and I have to say, that sub was a really poor job. It was confusing and left out the punchline to at least one joke. I was really confused. I like the dub better. (and while I don't think I qualify as a diehard anime geek, I'm pretty darn geeky, and usually dislike dubs.)

Posted by annoyedwabbit at August 29, 2007 01:04 AM
4.246.209.237

Usually I much prefer the subs, but... Studio Ghibli has the clout to get really good dubs. Having seen Totoro in dub form, I don't think I can ever see it in sub form. Mononoke I could still go either way.

Posted by jdalton at August 29, 2007 03:42 AM
216.232.229.226

Ah, OK, he fell over. I honestly didn't quite understandw why we were getting a closeup of him waving his belt around in midair until I saw "Sleep well, precious angel."

Posted by Jala at August 29, 2007 06:07 AM
24.107.229.161

Try reading the book howls moving castle by diana wynne jones. It makes more sence than the movie. Though the movie rocked. The book is pretty awsome too.

Posted by the pale lady at August 29, 2007 03:53 PM
167.1.119.100

I've actually been thinking off adding the book to an order im building up

I just keep getting put off by d w jones being listed as a childrens author

Posted by Neil at August 29, 2007 07:11 PM
81.178.214.223

I really admire what you've done with your comic! Also, I am a huge fan of Howl's Moving Castle, too! Definitely one of my very favorites.

Posted by lostkittenrae at August 30, 2007 08:52 PM
4.176.30.167

Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for posting that link to Howl's Moving Castle. I've never seen it before and I liked it so much that I went out and bought it last night. Woo! Go piracy!

Posted by Andrew B at September 2, 2007 02:05 PM
70.188.140.92

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