I think combining two well known and LOVED Australian icons should put the message across quite clearly.

Dear Owners of Smash Bros. X/Brawl and Nintendo,

I hate you. Unless you send me an NTSC Wii and a copy of the game, in which case I will love you forever and give you much praise and adoration (and/or sexual favours, subject to certain terms and conditions*).

Sincerely,

Some guy from Australia

P.S. Nintendo still hasn’t announced a PAL territories release date. I hate all your Dutch/French/Italian/Spanish speakers (Will probably add Chinese to that list in a few year’s time).

*Only if you’re Jessica Alba or Noriko Sakai^.
^From 10 years ago.

In some unrelated, ‘too long; don’t read’ anime musings, I have been catching up to Bamboo Blade and Minami-ke, and I really regret not watching these when they first became available.

Bamboo Blade is a comedy that makes great use of its characters (who are all 2-dimensional, but that is a great thing in a comedy) and never relies on fanservice or sex jokes, something I don’t remember ever seeing in an anime. Even Doraemon used (or started, I guess) the “Oops I accidentally walked into a girl taking a bath and now I’m beaten up so you should laugh!” gag, which is gladly absent here. Kirino is my favourite out of the Blade Bravers, as she has a very funny and lovable personality. She’s particularly adorable when trying to fulfill her captain duties. Plot is weak here (worst MacGuffin EVER), but when was the last time there was a comedy with an outstanding plot? If someone can recommend one to me I would really like to check it out.

Minami-ke has a great variation on the “boy accidentally walking into girl taking a bath” gag. It is a good comedy too, but in stark contrast to Bamboo Blade, it’s about as twisted as they come. There’s a boy who cross-dresses as a girl to get close to the girl he likes, but ends up really, really enjoying the cross-dressing. There’s also a girl who… wait, do I really need to say anymore to convince you that it’s warped? Yeah, didn’t think so. If you don’t think the whole trap thing is funny, everyone whose last name is Minami are great too. However, like Ichigo Mashimaro, the show can rely a little too heavily on the inconsiderate, crazy one to drive the humour, and for some people that may be a turn-off.

Additionally, both shows have above average production value, so there’s plenty of eye candy here for you to enjoy. Okawari jumped the shark in terms of this, but it’s still not terrible. My only major complaint is the silhouette pedestrians, who help Asread save money and, at the same time, lend the show a nice mystery/horror touch. I have trouble thinking of any other two genres that work as well together as comedy and mystery/horror… oh wait, maybe ANYTHING works better than these two! Frankly, I’m mystified/horrified by this choice. The colourful cardboard cut-outs used in any number of other comedy would work better than these. Oh, and people have anime hair colour now. Not a major complaint, but 100% natural is preferable, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you have been giving these series a pass, seriously reconsider your choice. They’re both great, and anyone can enjoy them, which makes them great entry level anime to watch together with your non-anime-watching loved ones. Beware a certain character named Hosaka though; in the words of Maki, きもちわるい.

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