A new feature that will undoubtedly die past its second post or so, Rapidfire is basically an evolution of the Track Two theory in being a bunch of short posts that wouldn’t make it on their own, collected into one post. All we need now is those crazy Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei segment titles.

By the way, I had to change the title a bit after I realized it looked like it said “KyoAni remakes Bamboo Blade,” except with commas hidden in there.

Inside, it’s pretty much what’s on the box. What shows KyoAni, our king of redundancy (and pretty animation), should remake, “first impressions” of Bamboo Blade, and a little convention talk about Fanime and the strangeness of life. Forge onward.

Eight Shows Kyoto Animation Should Remake
You know, assuming that Kyoto decides to be Kyoto and push back any actual new series or second seasons which may or may not be better than redone content. So if there’s a gun to KyoAni’s head and they’re being told “no new shows!” …

Kanon 20XX: This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s read my writing. There actually are a few things they could do with this show, like do what KimiNozo has done with an alternate path Next Season (although none of the girls quite have the same case as the 2006 winner … no … not even that one), or have some OVAs much like Toei’s Kanon Kazahana. OTL’s excellent subs of the drama CDs are helping the Kanon obsession along, I must say. …How come no one has thought of a Key crossover anime yet? (Super … Smash … Brothers … MOE-LEEEEEEEEEE! Who do I have to pay?)

Cardcaptor Sakura: Brought up in the April Fool’s post, I really see no reason in my imaginary dream world why this shouldn’t happen if KyoAni wanted to remake something. A magical girl show would be a change of pace (and after Magical Girl Kyou and Fuuko, I’m sure they want to do one), Cardcaptor Sakura is the anime world’s darling, and it’s a formula hard to go wrong with outside of melting the internet with sheer hanyaa~n adorability. I suppose the fact that it is so idolized will make it tough to live up to the high standards, but are you going to argue with more Sakura? … I thought so.

Kaiji: I just want to see either 1) Kaiji, moe-style or 2) KyoAni do something without moe (I started with AIR, I’m unsure if Full Metal Panic was different) … actually, I just want to see more Kaiji, since there’s only two episodes left.

School Days: Aside from the fact that 0verflow is going to whore this show out until the end of time – the LxH OVA was funny, Magical Kokoro fell quite flat at points – a really, really dark show like this would be more stretching of KyoAni’s bounds. So far all the works they’ve done so far have been Brighty McBrightBright in regards to mood – the Key trio have had tear-jerking moments but not really the kind of melodrama that School Days brought. Is KyoAni a bad enough dude to rescue the president animate an almost comedically soap-opera-like show like School Days, or would they cop out and end in an Everyone’s Makoto?

Aria: Still on the fence whether I really like Aria as a show or not – I think I need the right atmosphere, the lazy days of summer that worked wonderfully for Azumanga Daioh – but the chibi animations were cute, and KyoAni would give this show the best water animations, something that would make this show unbelievably good looking.

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: This is in case SHAFT decides not to do a third season (Makes you wonderchalkboard gag from episode 1 about selling 30,000 DVDs for a third season was true … if so, I’ll buy one.), than I’d like to see if this show still works without the rampant insanity and art style shifts SHAFT gave it. Then again, KyoAni dabbled with that with Lucky Star … here’s their chance at making a real comedic comedy rather than a slice-of-life comedy. Also, moe-style Kiri. Yes, yes, yes.

Kare Kano: This is just because I read the first volume of the manga and was really touched (and the next few were decent as well), and became very annoyed when I found the anime is out of print (and partially sold out at RightStuf). Heard it’s a good ‘plain’ romance.

Tsukihime: The one really serious entry in this list, and one I’ve seen brought up before. I think the Tsukihime anime (you know, the one that existed) was rather good, so long as you have never played the visual novel. Ciel eating spaghetti, Akiha’s unexplained red hair, Nero going down in three minutes? It bugs me. I think KyoAni could help get rid of that latter qualification about not knowing the visual novel; the Catch-22 here is that Tsukihime’s arcs aren’t very blendable without taking creative liberties. Some saw problems with that in Clannad (read: wanted more Kyou / Tomoyo), and probably someone would have to take a hit in Tsukihime 2008/9/etc, but it would still be an improvement, if only we can get more backstory with Sacchin (ultimate BAWWWW episode, Fuuko can eat her heart out) and the maids.

Oh, and the Yellow-Haired Genki Girl Is Nice Too
I began watching Tama-chan over the weekend, after the reccomendation of scattered bloggers. Despite not ever watching a sports anime before (outside of racing anime), I found a lot to like in Tama-chan, even in the first episode.

I find Tama-chan to be funny, cute, and an intriguing watch as well, and I think I could see myself watching Tama-chan for the next 24 episodes. I’m not sure if I like the actual kendo action of Tama-chan, but the comedy and characters supporting the rest of Tama-chan so far makes it look like Tama-chan will be worth it.

Some might say that certain aspects of Tama-chan might be too pandering to the fanbase, but I don’t mind too much as I don’t mind being catered to every now and then, as I have plenty of other places to head for more stark realism in between bouts of Tama-chan.

Although, I worry that I might be obsessing a bit about some parts of Tama-chan.

Konata, Eat Your Heart Out
Fanime 2008 is May 23rd to May 26th at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
My high school’s prom is May 24th at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.
I’m sure this is one of those real life examples of I Am Not Making This Up.

I fully expect now at least one of the following:
A) An anime junkie like me to cosplay as someone they can go to prom as (i.e. a formal outfit).
B) “Hey, who are you two cosplaying as?” “Oh, we’re just heading to prom down the hall.”
C) Clash between Naruto / Bleach / Other Mainstream Show That Can Get Made Fun Of cosplayers and rest of humanity.

On another note, any other fellow bloggers heading to Fanime? It’s my second convention (first was Anime Overdose / Animation on Display earlier this year) and I might as well have some fun with it aside from emptying my wallet for random impulse purchases.

-CCY

(I never did get to report about the AOD convention, but let me just say this: The “How To Talk To Girls” panel, which I was dragged int, is actually quite entertaining and amusing, if only because half of the questions were posed by, yup, girls asking “Well, I know this guy, and … “. It is a little pandering with the whole “You’re here because you’re better than those jerks who you think always get the girl” message they kept drilling, but it’s not one giant sob-fest between lonely guys like you would expect.)