Nanaka 6/17
I've haven't posted anything about anime for a while. I plan to correct this in a major way soon, but for today I'll talk about what I'm watching right now. Which is Nanaka 6/17 and Stellvia of the Universe.
Nanaka 6/17 is the story of a girl named Nanaka, who falls down a flight of stairs one rainy day and bonks her head. When she wakes up, she has lost all her memories of the past eleven years: she's a six-year-old in a 17-year-old body. To give her the best possible chance for recovery, it's decided to treat her as though everything is perfectly normal... Except that she has magically grown up overnight. Which is pretty silly, but hey, this is a TV show, not Shakespeare. The result is the sort of good-hearted fun that is found so often in anime, without the nasty chemical-treacle gloss that American productions tend to put on such an effort. I've seen three episodes so far (out of 12 available from AnimeSuki), and I'll give more details when I've seen the rest. As for Stellvia - which, as it happens, is not about a girl named Stellvia - I've only seen the first episode. But I like it so far. Anyway, here you can find the opening credits for Nanaka 6/17. I've got it down to 8 meg with a certain amount of fiddling. I might end up buying DrDivX, because at least it does what I tell it to (a feature sadly lacking in so much software today). To play the video, you may need to download a DivX decoder. You can find a handy pack of codecs* here. Or go to Kazaa Lite and download either the basic or full codec pack from their download page. (The link I gave is the basic pack.) *Codec is short for coder/decoder; this codec pack includes both the decoders for playing files and the coders for creating them.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at 12:08 AM
Comments
1
Eh, I found myself wanting to like Nanaka 6/17, but not actually succeeding. The combination of real mental illness and cutesy-poo schoolgirl/magical girl love-comedy gave me motion sickness. The show changes personality with the main character - very disorienting. I think I prefer actual magical girl stuff to this hybrid business. Have you seen Full Moon o Sagashite? Magical girl show about a protagonist dying of throat cancer. It struck a better gloom/goof balance than Nanaka 6/17, IMO.
Sora no Stellvia is five times as good as it ought to be. Sort of an anime version of Enders Game. I can't understand why it wasn't picked up in this summer's licensing orgy. Of course, I don't understand most of what went on in said licensing orgy. Any season where the US companies pick up crap like Narue no Sekai, Gunparade March and Happy Lesson and ignore greatness on the hoof like Princess Tutu is one that's going to leave me fuming and irate.
Sora no Stellvia is five times as good as it ought to be. Sort of an anime version of Enders Game. I can't understand why it wasn't picked up in this summer's licensing orgy. Of course, I don't understand most of what went on in said licensing orgy. Any season where the US companies pick up crap like Narue no Sekai, Gunparade March and Happy Lesson and ignore greatness on the hoof like Princess Tutu is one that's going to leave me fuming and irate.
Posted by: Mitch H. at August 21, 2003 12:40 AM (tVSJJ)
2
I have some episodes of Full Moon o Sagashite waiting to be watched... I have more anime than time at the moment, rather a reversal from the start of the year when I was reduced to watching Sailor Moon
You have a point about the light treatment of what would be a serious problem in the real world, but really, this is a staple element of humour. It doesn't bother me, unless it's taken to extremes or handled ineptly. The changing mood of the show reflecting Nanaka's personality is fine with me also; it's just like the weather in King Lear reflecting Lear's descent into madness.
I've heard that Stellvia picks up after a few epsisodes; since I liked the first episode well enough, this (and your comment) is encouraging.
Like you, I have not the faintest idea what drives the licensing people of the U.S. anime distributors. I mean, Jungle Guu still hasn't been licensed. What's up with that?
Anyway, the fansubbers and BitTorrent are doing a great job in getting the lesser-known titles out to the fans. I just hope that it doesn't come to a point where the distributors feel that it's cutting into their sales (rightly or wrongly). At least I don't have to buy Hong Kong rip-offs to get my fix of neglected shows any more.

You have a point about the light treatment of what would be a serious problem in the real world, but really, this is a staple element of humour. It doesn't bother me, unless it's taken to extremes or handled ineptly. The changing mood of the show reflecting Nanaka's personality is fine with me also; it's just like the weather in King Lear reflecting Lear's descent into madness.
I've heard that Stellvia picks up after a few epsisodes; since I liked the first episode well enough, this (and your comment) is encouraging.
Like you, I have not the faintest idea what drives the licensing people of the U.S. anime distributors. I mean, Jungle Guu still hasn't been licensed. What's up with that?
Anyway, the fansubbers and BitTorrent are doing a great job in getting the lesser-known titles out to the fans. I just hope that it doesn't come to a point where the distributors feel that it's cutting into their sales (rightly or wrongly). At least I don't have to buy Hong Kong rip-offs to get my fix of neglected shows any more.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 21, 2003 12:59 AM (jtW2s)
3
That one guy looks a lot like Junta from DNA^2
Posted by: Wanderer at August 21, 2003 03:26 PM (AKG1f)
4
It's the hair 

Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 21, 2003 03:42 PM (LBXBY)
5
Speaking of which, I've got DVDs 2-4 of DNA2 to watch...
Posted by: Pixy Misa at August 21, 2003 03:43 PM (LBXBY)
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