Ichi Niche Blog #2

Welcome back to the Ichi Niche Blog!

So I’ve been dealing with a stye recently and it’s the first time in my life that I’ve ever had one. It hasn’t really affected me much as the only symptom I’ve really had is swelling of my eyelid. I’m curious how I got it though. I wash my face twice a day and I’m very careful not to touch my face especially post-pandemic. Maybe it’s my first step in the next evolutionary process for mankind? Has the secret society chosen me to take that next step...

Reality is not the only thing that I’ve turned a blind eye to, as I’ve been watching Gravion and its sequel Gravion Zwei. It’s a 2002 mecha anime produced by Gonzo and directed by non-other than the legendary Masami Obari. If you recognize that name, you know what his shows are comprised of. Awesome mecha, character designs who anatomy defy logic, and…a lot of titillation. A lot. The plot is fairly straightforward. An alien race known as the Zeravire are invading the Earth and only the mysterious Sandman and the occupants of his Saint-Germain Castle hold the key to defeating them; the gravity powered, Super Robot Gravion! Secondary to the central plot, all the main cast have their own objectives and histories that slowly intertwine as the plot unravels. It’s a decently fun story, and the drama, twists, and character development really ramping up in the second season. Of course, a lot of the seriousness is undercut by the previously mentioned rampant amount of “fanservice”. Moments of tension that are supposed to have gravitas immediately cut to lingering shots of gravity defying fatty and glandular tissue held together by fibrous tissue oscillating in a manner mirroring the mechanics of buoyancy. It’s definitely more comical than provocative and garnered many a laugh from me. Which is good because the show’s intentional moments of comedy can be hit or miss. All that fun aside, one of the main reasons I decided to watch the show was because of the involvement of Jam Project for the series music. Their songs for both OPs (Openings) as well as the insert song for Gravion’s transformation sequence are really great. The way they hit that ? Gravion ? in the second opening? Chefs kiss. Speaking of sound, the dub produced by ADV is serviceable although there are some interesting casting choices. Listening to Greg Ayres as Toga (one of the main pilots in the series) all I can hear is Ganta, the main character from Deadman Wonderland. Toga’s Japanese seiyu (voice actor) is much more baritone and serves the character’s “attractive main pilot of the mecha” archetype. That said, Ayres’ version of the character fits well in conveying the traits of the character related to being a sheltered young man with minimal knowledge of human interaction and the outside world. Overall, Gravion is a pretty decent series. It embodies all the tropes of classic mecha anime with copious amounts of fanservice. Just make sure if you watch the series that you stick around to watch all of Zwei. You won't regret it.

Moving from an otaku’s anime to an anime about otaku, Comic Party was a series I've been interested in for awhile. One of my all-time favorite series is Genshiken¸ which explores the lives, interests, and relationships of a group of otaku in a college club. What makes me love that series so much is how well all the characters and their relationships are developed and expanded throughout the series. Aside from the two main characters, Comic Party unfortunately lacks any real character development for its ensemble cast. What it does do extremely well, however, is showcase the enjoyment, growth, and community that comes with creating and sharing something (in this case doujinshi or fan comics/self-published works) as well as the frustration and sadness that can come with failure; being able to realize that you have more room to grow and processing others criticizing and/or not liking your work. We experience this through Kazuki Sendo, a high school student who is invited by his friend Taishi Kuhonbutsu to go to a doujinshi convention. Through this experience he discovers an interest in doujinshi and begins creating his own, much to the dismay of his childhood friend Mizuki Takase who has a strong disdain for otaku culture and would much rather Kazuki spend more of his time with her. It’s a fairly simple premise, but one that is interspersed with great lessons. Kazuki’s progression and experiences throughout the show are incredibly relatable. If you disregard his pseudo-harem that he kind of forms.. We get to see him extremely excited after creating and selling his first comic, which gives him motivation to make his next comic better and sell even more. He approaches this by incorporating all of the popular tropes and trends into his new book. This backfires on him, with his second comic lacking any cohesion or "soul", thus not selling well at all. This sends him into a deep sadness that extends for a few episodes. Juxtaposed to this is Mizuki’s story, whose desire to spend time with Kazuki is directly affected by his newfound hobby. Through the course of the show, she slowly begins to accept how Kazuki is spending his time. This also slowly changes her perceptions of otaku from negative to somewhat positive, respecting the dedication and hard work that they invest in their passion. The two also encounter many different women (this is a dating sim adaptation...) who compose the secondary cast. Disregarding Yu Inagawa, who plays a significant role in assisting Kazuki recover from his failure, these characters do not add much to the progression of the plot nor have their own developments. What they do offer the story is to guide and assist Kazuki, illuminating him to the joy and excitement that can be found in spending time with others who share your same interests. With so many lessons in place of actual plot, there’s a solid argument of the show being somewhat preachy. Nevertheless, I believe these are great lessons to learn, especially for first-time content creators.



The English dub of this show was produced by Headline Sound Studios, who produced most of the dubs for series Right Stuf had licensed at the time. There are a few changes with the dialogue to make things more familiar to an American audience, but none of the changes are too egregious. There are some fun script changes, such as references to Right Stuf in some scenes and even references to other titles they had licensed such as Boogiepop Phantom and The Irresponsible Captain Tylor. The casting for the show is a mixed bag. I’ll admit I have a bias for Rachael Lillis as a voice actor (Misty and Jessie from Pokémon), but I thought her performance as Mizuki was really good. Similarly, I really loved Liam O’Brien as Taishi. That said…there were some performances that were really miscast. I’m looking at you, Yu Inagawa. Regardless of some inconsistent casting choices in the dub and a relatively simple plot, Comic Party was absolutely a great watch and one I would wholeheartedly recommend. Just don’t ask me about Comic Party Revolution.

So, how about a real life digital convention? Well more like digital presentation, but you get the gist. Discotek recently hosted their A Not So Very Spooktacular Discotek Media Day and as always, they had many great announcements for upcoming titles they’re releasing. I’m not going to go through them all (I’ll provide a link to their archived stream below), but there were quite a few that got me excited. Under their Toku Time label, they’ll be releasing the 2016 live action Hurricane Polymar movie. My interest in the character stemmed from playing him in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom back in the day. It motivated me to watch the series and I really enjoyed the original 1974 anime as well as the short OVA remake New Hurricane Polymar. I’ve seen a few clips from the movie when it was originally released, but definitely looking forward to watching it in its entirety next year! Another one I was interested in was Kurokami, a 2008 Sunrise animated series. This one is particularly interesting as I randomly stumbled upon it for the first time while searching through RACS’ (Robert’s Anime Corner Store) catalogue after the announcement that Right Stuf would be phased fully into Crunchyroll. Researching the title more, I really liked what I saw of the artstyle, character designs and animation. However, the original Blu-rays produced by Bandai were English dubbed only (whereas the DVDs had the original Japanese audio), were split between 6 sets (It’s only a 24 episode show!?!) and is currently OOP (out of print). Needless to say, I had no intention of picking it up. Discotek must’ve sensed this, as with their release the title will only be one set, presumably will have a better video transfer, include both audio tracks, and will be much more reasonably priced. This one will also be released in 2024, so will have good content to watch next year. Now they’ve already released IGPX (Immortal Grand Prix) on DVD a few years back, but they’re releasing it again upscaled on Blu-ray and it looks gorgeous. Anyone that grew up in the early 2000s and watched Cartoon Network / Toonami absolutely has nostalgia for this gem. That was me. I still have fond memories of tuning in every week to catch the latest episode. Not much for me to say here: great story, great characters, great mecha, and great racing and action. Looking forward to experiencing it once again. To rapid fire a bit, some other titles that definitely caught my eye during the presentation were Kamikaze Girls, Chie the Brat!, Rainbow, and Lovely Complex. It was a pretty packed presentation and it’s always enjoyable to hear from the folks making the magic happen behind the scenes over at Discotek. I recommend checking out their live stream to catch other titles that you may be interested in.



As I wrap up this post, my stye has gone down and I haven’t seemed to evolve any. Physically anyways. Also haven’t received any communication from any secret society… Could it be that the parallel version of myself in the other reality received the call and I was just stuck with a painful lump on my eyelid as a side effect of his glory? Is that version of me riding around in a mech going on troubled adventures? And has a harem!?!?

Alright, I’m making an allusion to Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, which Discotek also announced on their latest Discotek Day. You should check that out too if you’re into Tenchi Muyo! and Evangelion. Or if you are just trying to rationalize your painful inflammation.

That’s all I have for this post, thanks for reading and hope to see you on the next one!