Rosario Vampire Volumes 16 and 17.

Rosario Vampire, why am I still reading this? I'm not too sure. It's not the best, but it sure ain't the worst. While I try and figure that out, let's talk Season 2.

The anime. The animation was much improved, the writing very much improved. I like how it deviated from the manga with some original stories and characterizations, and when stories were directly lifted from the manga, they were actually just as good as the original. However the constant upskirts and nude transformation sequences distract in a negative way from what was a vastly much better series. I do look forward to Season 3. I know, these things have a tendency to be forgotten about after about 26 or so episodes. There's still a lot of story left to be told.

I expand on a point made in the previous paragraph: deviating from the original source material. I used to be one of those perfectionists that wanted movies and such to be letter perfect to the original book. Well, think about 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie is boring enough, now imagine watching the movie after having read the book. I imagine that there were some howls of protest because Discovery went to Jupiter instead of Saturn. How much more boring, and much longer would the movie had been if the slingshot around Jupiter had been doable in 1968? I hate to imagine that. Now think of the sequel: 2010. It was pretty close to the book, but there was stuff added. The whole conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Once again the strict constructionists probably howled in protest, but I say it helped make for a more complex story and sped things up.

Now I try and judge each book and movie based on its own merits and try and not to compare the derivative story from the original source material. Sailor Moon anime sucked not because it was nothing like the manga, it just sucked period.

Speaking of things that suck: Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 7. I'd swear reading about this particular plane ride from Japan to China took longer than an actual one. Then we're introduced to a rather complex relationship between two of China's top monster crime syndicates. To top it off the main antagonist of this season, Fairy Tale, is somehow involved in the chaos that ensues at the home of one of the crime families. I'm thinking we really don't need the involvement of Fairy Tale again so soon. We just came off of two intricate story lines let's give it a rest for a while.

I did find a couple of things interesting in this volume. The first was the juxtaposition of the two Mokas. In the previous volume Inner Moka was allowed out for the day with the predictable result: we're stuck with the broody, violent, doesn't like anybody Inner Moka permanently. She can't transform back into dear, sweet, innocent, loves everybody Outer Moka. My point to make here is that I think the names are reversed. Keep in mind that the silver haired Moka was what everybody else knew before the creation of the pink haired Moka. So the people who know Moka now call sweet Moka “Outer” and Super Vampire Moka “Inner.” It's really just the opposite. I can't possibly know if this is what the author intends, or is something I'm reading too much into.

One thing I've noted is that of the four vampire sisters, Moka is the only one to get a personality swap when sent to the outside world. I wonder if there is any real particular reason behind that.

The other thing about Rosario Vampire Season 2 Volume 7 I find interesting was the development of the character Fangfang. I was not happy with the introduction of him and his Sister Lingling. I was thinking we really don't need them. We see that in this volume Lingling seems to be slowly written out because now she is being treated like Ruby. You know, when we need a character to fill a certain role: pilot, mechanic, dress shop worker, butcher, baker, liquor store guy, etc, etc, Lingling, like Ruby, will be there. (It's easier to draw a character you know than to draw one from scratch.)

Fangfang on the other hand. I was against him for various reasons. The first one was because I thought he was going to be a gay foil to the girls. I'm not into boy/boy manga, I like chicks, real chicks (chicks who are chicks since birth.) Plus I was afraid that the one gay male character was going to be a negative stereotype and get treated to endless rounds of ass whuppin by the other girls. Then that's completely forgotten and he's turned into a perverted lolicon fetish type, and then just someone to get the crap kicked out of him at inconvenient times.

Anybody remember Gin?

In this volume Fangfang's character came into being: a best guy friend of Tsukune. That is something that this series, and many other harem manga/anime is missing. Sure it's great to be surrounded by chicks, but it's also great to have a bud sitting next to you enjoying the big game. Tsukune and Fangfang become inseparable best friends. Nothing sexual about what-so-ever. Just a couple of dudes out having grand adventures, drinking some beers, beating up the bad guys, beating each other up, and will always have each other's back. There are things men will do and say that they will never do in the presence of a woman. The reverse is true: woman will do and say things with each other, but not with a man in the area. I'm hoping that the buddy/buddy friendship of Tsukune and Fangfang is explored with great detail down the road.

Rosa-Vam Season Two Volume Six I found interesting not for any real great story advancement, but for the the fact that many of the hack premises that are usually done at the beginning of a series are being done this late. We have: bloomers, sports day, fate of the hero, lunch box/bento picnic, body measurements, and Freaky Friday. With some twists. The girls make a big deal out of the gym shorty-shorts. Usually on sports day the good guys are missing the main hero for the most part, and then have a miraculous last minute come from behind victory. In this chapter the heroes are there, but are getting the asses soundly handed to them, until the calvary shows up: moms. (Would have been nice to see them in bloomers.) While the moms are evening the score, Moka and Tsukune are having a picnic. Of course the picnic is ruined when the bad guys trample it and sports day is ended in a Dusty Finish when Moka and Tsukune are disqualified for their revenge tactics and everything degenerates into a Royal Rumble.

I mentioned Freaky Friday. In this movie a mother and daughter switch minds for a day. This plot has been used again and again. Most notably in last year's movie The Change Up. The plot will often center around two people who either envy or hate each other. Somehow their lives are swapped then at the end they realize that things are not always as they seem and gain new found respect for each other. Rosario Vampire did it a little different, you would think that it would be say Moka or Kurumu, Kurumu and Yukari, Tsukune and Mizore getting the switch up. Some mind swap that would cause the most commotion among the gang of friends. Yukari and Fangfang. I was doing what you're probably doing now: “Say what?” Those two? How is that supposed to be provide some insight or even hilarity into these characters. There's no conflict between these two. Well, conflict comes about because now Fangfang decides to peep in on all the girls and even himself in Yukari's body during the whole body measurement sequence.

The real insight comes to Yukari. Normally on mind swaps the person gets a major insight to the person they have taken over. She sees herself from the outside and has the shock of her life. Her view of herself is completely destroyed when she finally realizes that she is a little girl with lots of growing yet to do. Of course, we can always count on Tsukune to tell her what her friends really think of her. So we can have that reset to zero by the next chapter.

I do have to point out something of a retcon that occurred: Mizore saying she hated the way Yukari talks. I can't seem to recall any instance of Mizore even hinting at that. Of course, that whole bit is forgotten by the next chapter.

In closing, I am enjoying the Rosario Vampire series. I like the way the characters are being developed. Each one is clearly defined. The artwork is not overly complicated. I can easily tell what is going on in each panel. The translation is been pretty good and smooth.

When I first picked this series up, I had considered dropping it almost immediately. I'm glad I stuck through and look forward to Rosario Vampire Volume 18.

By the way, is it Rosario Vampire, Rosario Plus Vampire, or Rosario To Vampire?

In Reality, I'm a Bitter Partisan Hack.

I don't arrive at my hackiness too easily. I take the time to study an issue from several angles to come to my own opinion. However, I am not so embittered that I can't change my mind. If new facts, or old facts surface, life experiences, or maybe I just made a mistake to begin with can make me reevaluate my opinion.

One of the things I had to change was tone of the partisanship in the comic. In 2004 I made the decision to go from making comics for just me to publicly displaying them. I had to decide on whether to continue doing current event politically themed stuff like I had been doing back in the 90's, or to try and to get as wide a spectrum of audience as possible.

I made the decision to keep political leanings to myself.  No shouting about how I'm a conservative Republican because that would drive away all the liberal in the audience. No shouting that I'm a progressive Democrat because that would drive away all the...the... hmmm. Okay, seriously doubt there's a whole lot of Republicans reading a comic strip about a guy trying to hook his wife up with another woman. (There's several names I could drop as a joke, but hey, by the time this is posted, who will remember?)

Several things made up my mind to be non-partisan and to avoid commentary on current events with the comic. If you look back through the blog there is a lengthy article about how politically themed comics quickly become irrelevant. People come and go so quick that everybody tends to forget about them. I don't want people reading though the archive to have to click on Google to find out what it is I am talking about. (I do realize that in the Army Comics I used a lot of jargon, and I'm thinking of adding a quick reference dictionary to some pages so people will know the difference between a M9, M16, and a M916. (I also realize that in most cases Google can't even help figure out what it is I'm saying.))

There are two comic strips I occasionally read: Doonesbury and Mallard Fillmore. Both of these are fine comics, though I do like Doonesbury better. Both of these comics are published in the Op/Ed section of my local paper. That right there tells me everything I need to know about them. (Take a wild guess as to which side of the page each is printed on.) There is more you need to know. While both come from opposite ends of the political spectrum, they share several faults.

The first most obvious fault: the almost relying on current events for story fodder. While poignant at the exact moment in time, it can really bite you in the ass in short order. That happened to Doonesbury a couple of years ago. A series of comics were published about how a soldier was chaptered out of the Army for being gay. A short while later Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed. Nice timing.

This next one is mostly Doonesbury and not Mallard, and only because Mallard has one main character. Most, if not all, of the permanent characters tend to share the same opinions as the cartoonist. While Doonesbury has very well thought out and developed characters; and massively well scripted story lines; I just find it odd that soldiers in Iraq watching a Don Rumsfeld press conference are reacting to it the same way Michael Doonesbury would.

My memory is of only one soldier I knew running on and on about Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.The rest of us were rolling our eyes and thinking: "Quit your bitching. It's a 130 degrees, we're in full battle rattle, and the incoming mortar alarm has just gone off. You're not doing anything to help the situation. How about complaining about those two trailers out there? You know, the one that has a couple of flat tires and the other has blown hub seal and no flat tire?"

This one fault is shared by both in boatloads: characters that have a point of view that disagrees with the cartoonist are stereotypical caricatures of the real people and their opinions. It's like, “Instead of going and getting the information from the person first hand, let's just copy/paste what other people say about them.”

I look at this and try and to figure out how to avoid it. Do I succeed? Once in awhile. I try to interweave my personal opinions into my characters without it seeming like I'm making a blatant political statement. I try to instil some complexity by adding some opinions that I may disagree with, but not be stereotypical about it.

An example of this will be coming up in a another month or so. A character of mine will be saying some things that are rather not good about anime. While writing it out I thought about conversations I've with people who didn't like anime. Why didn't they like anime? What was it that turned them off. What was the stuff that I saw that I didn't like? I tried to mix it all into to a character that had only seen an episode or two. (Those episodes had to be Dragon Ball.)

I try my best, I admit that I often don't succeed. I have a lot going on inside my head that I never get a chance to fully explore in the comic. Often as I'm pasting together a comic I'll have a dozen other ideas and I have to decide which ones are worth doing. I often choose the wrong ones. If I don't write it down I'll forget. (I have a voice recorder that I use for my ideas. I can now remember all the good ones, I also now remember all the bad ones.) This will lead to many inconsistencies bordering on in coherent. But hey, life is inconsistent and incoherent.

I have to admit that I desperately need to write up a character bible. I can't rely on what's inside my head. That would solve about 99% of all my problems. I know I really, really need to get to the point much sooner than I do. Jeeze, the time frame of the comic is still the week before the 2009 Daytona 500; and I need to get to the big reveal of the rather odd marriage arrangement between the staunch Irish Catholic David Bell and the rock-ribbed Southern Baptist Penny Bell.

Is it me or did the temperature just go up a degree or twelve?

Zook the Hero Z.

Korea has been in the news a lot lately. With the death of Kim Mentally-Il to the rise in power of Kim Jong-Unstable. I think about the friends I knew over there: Lee, Lee, Lee, Kim, Lee, Lee, Kim, Lee, Oh, No, and Ju (This poor guy got that “Achoo” line from Robin Hood: Men in Tights said to him all day long. I loaned him my tape so he would know what was going on.)

I'm not too worried for them. I worked along side many a KATUSA they do get very good training. I have also been privileged to witness the regular morning PT session with the ROK Army. I'm glad I'm on they're side. I have confidence that when push comes to shove, Korea can handle its own.

Let's slide away from that political stuff there.

I learned many a lesson while on my Korean vacations: One, keep a hand on your drink at all times. A drinky girl will come by and gulp it down causing you to have to buy another one. Never buy a drinky girl a drink unless she is on your lap. They will gulp down their glass of fruit juice real fast and demand another $5 or $10 drink. (I'm so far removed I don't remember how much they were.)

Always, always, test drive that video game before you buy it.

Lot's of games to be had, but did they actually work? I did buy a few PSX coasters. Those 100 in 1 carts? Mostly Bomberman, Mappyland, Pacman, Popeye, Tetris, Dr. Mario, Yoshi's Cookie, etc. That would be the first twenty five games with English titles. The next set of 25 would be the same games with Japanese titles. Then 51-75 would be in Korean and 76-100 was in Chinese. Same boring games. “No Repeats!” As the box would say.

Most stores would let you test drive the games. If they didn't, I would just hand it back. I made sure that bootlegged copy of Rockman Complete Works 4 was good. (By the way, that is the only one in the set I have been unable to buy a legit copy of. Actually, I think I do have it on Gamecube or X-Box. The PSX version is better though.) Wow, that really is Mario in Tiny Toons Adventures; and in Sonic the Hedgehog. I bought that one.

This was a real treat:

Then one day I found this:

“Oh, so they think they can trick us with a badly edited label of Rockman 4 pasted over Rockman World 4?” Not so. I opened the box and was surprised to see an instruction book. I flipped through it and was very shocked to see it was in English. For an English instruction book, it was very detailed and in color to boot! I wasn't going to be fooled. I stuck the cart in my Gameboy that I always carried with me on these trips downrange. I was very, very shocked to see Zook the Hero Z boot up. It had a long drown out prologue, and rather outstanding graphics for a homebrew bootlegged gameboy game.

At this point I would like to give a full on review of the game, but I can't. I have been unable to locate the game in storage. I haven't had any luck locating a rom image on the net. All I have are my memories of this thing from a long time ago. I do recall never completing it because halfway through the six maverick stages you have to fight through a sub fortress. Two thing would always happen: there's a long section with few badguys to kill for power refills, and lots of electric beams that will hit you no matter what. So you run out of life and die. Or. There's spike pit you have to air dash over and grab the ladder. I missed the ladder most of the time. When you die in this stage, you went back to the beginning. I always died about three or four minutes in. Pretty frustrating to have to replay all that again and again and again. I usually had something better to do.

I do remember being pissed at Capcom over Megaman Xtreme. This professional company that has millions in backing made a game crappier than some homebrew bootlegged gameboy game? The only thing that MM Xtreme had on Zook Z is that I was able to complete it. Hell, Zook's sprite set was better than X's.

I can't find the cart, but, I have had the instruction book staring me in the face all this time. I have been meaning to talk about on the Capcom forums for ages, then all the big Megaman sites, and even mine since I first started it back in 2004. However this place called “outside” beckons. Filled with a substance called “fresh air.” Everything is brightly lit by this thing called “The Sun.” What's that over there. Is that a woman?

I gets distracted really easy.

Any-hoo, here's some scans of the instruction book. My little contribution to what little conversation can be found.

 Wake up you misbegotten metal miscreant. Mr. Mean is making mayhem!

 From what I've read elsewhere, the Chinese characters for "Zook" can be translated as "Luke." I've noted how some places will call this Luke the Hero 2. As in the number two. I don't have the foggiest where anybody gets the number two from the letter Z. It is clearly shows up as "Z." 

If this is Luke 2, what about Luke the Hero 1? Is it like Leonard Part 6? Is the first game such a national treasure that it has to be kept a secret?

We've all seen this before. In about every damn game.

 Wait, what's that? Can we get a closer look?

 The Only Mega Man X game I've played since 7 is the PSP version. Can anybody tell me if X has ever been given this ability?

I gots nothing to say about this.

The programmers kinda gave up at this point and spliced in whatever they could find.

What do you do when Golem gets wrinkly?

 What is it with Asians and putting buckets on the heads of snowmen?

The Huh? Files: Megaman 3.

When I first got Megaman 3 I was very disappointed in the game. It wasn't as good as Megaman 2. The graphics were darker. They weren't as bright and cartoony as the second game. The sound effects were bland. The same sound was used over and over for several weapons. Music was just blah. Why couldn't at least the battle music from 2 have been used in the Doc Robot stages? Was that his name? Fighting Doc Robot was harder than the castle bosses. Castle bosses didn't have an invulnerable period after being hit. So if your controller had a turbo button on it... Or you can just use Top Spin. Works really well on the first, third, and final bosses.

No prologue. In Megaman 2 that really helped set up the game. Megaman 3 needed one. To explain that Dr. Wily had turned good. Or what's going on with the excruciatingly long stages with some junk heap robot using the powers from Megaman 2. Just what was the deal behind Breakman/Protoman anyway?

Long term views: It's not a bad game. I still enjoy it to this day. The music has grown on me. Looking back with experience in other games I now see many innovations started in this game. The 8-4-4 game layout got its start here. 8 regular stages, 4 Doc Robot/sub castle, and 4 Wily stages. (I know that there are technically 6 Wily stages, but can you really count those last two?) Introducing Rush and the slide really opened up possibilities in stage design not possible before.

Overall I rate this game as the third best of all the NES Megaman games.

So what have I possibly found out in this game that hasn't already sniffed out in over 20 years? What could all the big Megaman fan sites and some video game oddities sites missed? Plus a couple dedicated to totally ripping apart the code of not only Megaman 3, but Rockman 3, and even the prototypes. (Yes I did my fact checking on this. I have no doubt that somewhere locked up in a forum or blog post is an article detailing this, but has long since been pushed way back to beyond obscurity in a Google search. 
Just a couple clicks above me.)

This is what all of us in North America saw at the end of the first Wily Stage. There's nothing suspicious about this what so ever.

Years later I would finally get my hands on a copy of Megaman: The Wily Wars. This was back in the days before widespread use of the internet. In those days you had to call up every game reseller in a video game magazine to beg and plead for them to order in a game from Japan or Europe. You paid out the nose for it too. Made worse because after cutting the slot edges in my Sega Nomad to get the game to slide in, It wouldn't work! It was a PAL game. I had to wait another week for for a PAL adapter to come in.

The Wily Wars is defiantly worth going out and getting. The overall experience is great and leaves you wondering why Megaman 4, 5, and 6 have yet to get even this treatment. Though I had a feeling throughout that this wasn't the best that could have been done with the Genesis's graphics and sound. It felt like the new graphics and sound were just overlaid onto the original game program. There are many instances of a badguy's weapon passing through the very top of Megaman's head. Right about where the top of the original Megaman graphic would have been. Megaman's weapon shots would do the same.

Playing all the way through Megaman. (No pause function that allows you cheat.) Playing all the way through Megaman 2. (The original NES sound effects were cooler.) Then playing all the way through Megaman 3 I found this:

I thought: "Odd. Why did Capcom change that? They didn't change any this else in any of the other stages." I finished up the game and got distracted playing the bonus Wily Tower stages. (Boy is that Metal Blade useful.) Then I got out of my room and went to a strip club. Got a really invigorating lapdance from a raven haired beauty.

(If you are detecting that I'm about to rabbit trail off into some unrelated topic, you're right.)

Buddy of mine, Heath, was always bragging about how "in" he was at De Ja Vu. That he was always talking the ladies up to his room. John called bullshit, along with the rest of us, and bet a $100 that Heath couldn't get even one of the strippers before he ETSed. A couple of weeks later Heath grabbed up a bunch of us perverts and and showed us this video of a De Ja Vu girl in his room. I said "Hey I know her! She gave me a lapdance." You should have seen the sour look on his face.

Later he admitted that he never did never anything with her (to her he wouldn't say, thank God.) He never collected on the wager. He was a nice guy. Too nice as I would find out a couple of years later in Kentucky.

When you get a group of soldier bullshitting, two topics will always come up: What units were you in and did you know so-and-so. I was talking about all the fun times up in Seattle when Billy asked if I knew a guy named Heath. "Let's see, Specialist type, one each? Loves bragging about going to strip clubs and bagging the ladies?" Yep we knew the same person. Billy had spent a couple of years in Hawaii and it turned out Heath went to Hawaii after I went to Korea. I then told Billy about the whole De Ja Vu thing and Billy told me that Heath had paid through the nose to get that stripper over to Hawaii with him. Just to get dumped. That's Heath.

I was always amazed how it was that on posts of tens of thousands that a couple of guys from differnt sides of the county could meet up and know a third guy.

Heath should have gone to Korea with me. Would have been much more fun. Those Korean and Philippina chicks were sooooo hot. On top of that you could go downtown and buy your very own bootlegged copy of the Rockman 6 in 1 Famicom game cart.

(Wondering how I was going to get back on topic? Hello? Hello? Anybody there?)

About 99.9999% of the game I saw were all bootlegged. Almost all the Famicom, all the PSX, Saturn, Genesis, etc, etc all forgeries. (That .0001% and "almost all?" Super Mario Bros. Ironically all those cartridges were originals.)

Playing all six Rockman games at once you notice a few things. Like, there really is no difference from game to game. Aside from the Japanese script there really is no graphical difference between Rockman and Megaman.

Except here:

So as it turns out the Wily Wars wasn't changed at all, it was the American version. Why?


The Huh? Files: Megaman 6.
Ever play Megaman 6 and Rockman 6 and not warp through the prologue?

Ravy 2011 Pg. 50.

Click

I've lamented about this in the past, I will do so in the future, and I will do so right now. Comics based on current events get to be irrelevant rather than irreverent.

I got to read an issue of Mad Magazine from the early Seventies. (A long time ago I lamented about having to say the 1920's instead of the Twenties. I'm sure that I can still say the Seventies and most people will get that I mean the 1970's. Just so happens I caught that episode of House in which he went to an 80's Party. He dressed up like the 1780's.) In this particular issue was a bit with photos of a Nixon press conference with thought balloons added. It was about if Little Big Horn happen during the Nixon Administration.

I didn't get one bit of it at all. It was all because I'm too far removed from the events of the 70's. All I know about Nixon is what I read in history books and what comedians impersonating his voice say. Though I have to say a joke like this can be recycled for any president.

That's why I've tried to avoid making much hey over current events. They make a comic even more irrelevant than it already is. Years ago I did a number of comics involving gays in the military and people may stumble across them and go “Doesn't he know that Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been repealed? Becky can just go and hug and kiss her girlfriend coming back from Afghanistan.”

The problem is made worse (by me) because I paste together my comics months and years in advance. With the comic on this Monday is one of those that will have people wondering what it is I'm thinking, more than usual. This comic was done six months ago. I did a similar joke a year earlier, which got posted six months later. (You still with me? God I hope so 'cause I'm not.)

This story got all kinds of play in the Massachusetts New York press, and I found blurbs in the Politico and Huffington Post. Why did I jump on this? Because I am so sick of that stereotype of southerners being nothing more than a bunch of inbred hicks. Finally one of those overpriced universities filled with faculty that look down their nose at all of us got hit upside the head with this stupidity. (By the way, I know the old saying, “you don't get to be a stereotype for no reason.”)

By the time I got around to making the first comic about this news story it had long since run its course and I had to type in some pretty descriptive terminology into Google to even find any articles about it. That told me it was time to kill that joke. Dan Quayle's “potatoe,” Al Gore's excessive sighing, and now Massachusetts New York in a “family way” are all jokes that I have officially declared dead.

Behind Wily's back? Full throttle on that one.

Here.


Emergency update: Comes to my attention that I screwed up. I'll explain later. Which Will ppear above this article.