even more scanning

This last weekend I did some more scanning.

I actually completely scanned two whole issues of megami, which I was fairly pleased with. Now the reality is that this isn't a rate that means I'm really catching up - the latest Newtype, Animedia and Animage turned up on Friday, giving a net increase of 1 magazine, but it does mean I've not given up, and that really id the most important thing.

From memory, I've 4 more issues of megami currently unscanned and it's my sincere hope that I'll be able to do some more of them this next weekend. I'm not going to promise myself or anything, because you never know what might happen, but the main point is that last weekend there were additional distractions.

For example, it was one of my cleaning weekends and of course I had to pick up my glasses and buy some petrol, but mainly it was the Bahrain Grand Prix. Any Grand Prix weekend adds a minimum of 3 hours to my viewing schedule - the race is normal about 1.5 hours and qualifying about 1, but spread over about 1.5 hours. Normally, however I also like to watch a good chunk of the punditry, although not all of it.

Anyway, the point is, next weekend is free of most of those types of things, so in theory I should be able to at least get a couple more megamis done like last weekend. Who knows I may even do more, but again, no promises.

Anyway, while I scanned I did watch a bit more anime, although I also had the F1 punditry on for a good chunk of it. I've therefore not watched as much as I might have done, but here's the mini reviews:


Sweet Blue Flowers (Aoi Hana)

I really liked what I watched of this, although it's a bit odd that it appears to be another Yuri (lesbian) themed show. I guess Yuri must be the flavour of the month or something, because there have been a lot of shows featuring it recently.

The take here is quite a gentle one, and it works very well. It's also basically a slice of life show set in high school, so I guess it doesn't win any marks for originality, but it seems well executed and intelligent, so you can't really ask for more.


GA: Geijutsuka Art Design Class

I enjoyed this, overall, but it felt a bit like I'd seen it before. I don't actually know, as I've never read the manga, but it had a strong feeling of being an adaptation of a four-panel comic. By that, I mean that the episode was almost divided up into a series of vignettes.

I was also unsure what the target audience was - the art design bit in the title isn't just a framing thing, it kinda teaches you about art techniques and stuff. I was therefore puzzled if that meant it was mean to be aimed at a younger audience, or if that was just the style the manga-ka liked.

I can't say it didn't work, but also it felt too similar to the likes of Sunshine Sketch and Azumanga Daioh, but it looses out to them a bit for me because there wasn't really much in the way of character development.


I also watched a bit more of Dragonaut (6 whole eps at the weekend and then 4 more last night in fact) and I continue to find it reasonably entertaining. Unless it takes a real nosedive towards the end I'm really not sure why so many reviews have crapped all over it. I mean, it's not the greatest thing ever and there are a few clunking episodes (one I dubbed "the power of love" was particularly heavy-handed in terms of spelling out 'the message', but then hey - at least there is a message) but it doesn't seem to match up with the pannings its gotten.

On the manga front I've mainly been catching up with my re-reading. I've discussed it before I'm sure, but I like to read stuff twice, but I also like to read things in chunks. What that means is that I don't immediately re-read a volume, but instead wait until I've a small stack of the same series to re-read and then I tackle them all together.

It means that while I might not get to update my MAL with stuff, I am still consistently plugging away at reading manga.

The only new manga I have read is the first volume of the adaptation of Gurren Lagann and a little bit of the first volume of Gantz. It's too early to really be sure if I like them, but the signs are pretty good.