Animation-wise this looks very much like a lot of shorts that came out of the National Film Board of Canada during the '70s. It's a beautiful story though. It seems to me that Jizo is a legendary figure who protects Japan's most vulnerable people. And certainly, in times of natural disaster, everyone is vulnerable.

You just love that Dutch angle, don't you?

Really avant garde canted angle there, Patrick.

I would say that would be about Marukai price for that whole haul. $20 US? Yeah, give or take a couple of Tanuki Soba bowls and a box of Pocky. Although the cute Shinji lighter would, alas, not be included. Maybe a questionably-licensed Hello Kitty change purse or something would stand in for that. Moral: Marukai owns. Now that my friend Lizz is living in the Midwest we're figuring out what and how frequently I should buy nihon no groceries for her and send them out via Priority Mail. In Missouri it's a bit hard to get stuff like curry roux and UFO instant Yakisoba. Or senbei, for that matter. We must remedy this, lest she have to rely on overpriced vendors like JList and JapaneseSnacks.Com.

Ravens and crows have come back big time in Los Angeles. DDT once pushed them to near extinction here...they have the same eggshell problems as raptors like falcons, hawks and eagles. Ravens are magnificent...huge, huge birds with massive wingspans and deep voices. And ravens and crows are, indeed, social creatures. And incredibly bright. The term "bird brain" does not apply. A friend of mine had a pet crow which came to him with a broken wing. The crow recovered, and lived with him for a while until it decided it was time to go back to the wild. One day the crow just took off and flew away. Nice knowing you, Cedros.

I would not be surprised if eventually the artists behind Gorillaz uses this technology to actually have their characters perform in front of the audience, with the actual band behind the screen. There is also a goth-metal band in the Philippines called Mistula. They are much like Gorillaz in that there are real humans playing their music, but the characters are quasi-virtual. Only quasi-virtual, in this case, because the physical representations of the Mistula characters are Asian Ball Joint Dolls. One would have to enlist the aid of 3D scanning systems and CGI software to take Mistula to this next level, but it could be done. /me looks at her vinyl pals (two Volks, one Obitsu) and thinks...hmm...3D scans plus Blender might have interesting artistic possibilities...hmmm...

If you want to see shows like this done right, and are tired of wearing out your Azumanga Daioh DVDs, get thee to a purveyor of DVDs and get the just recently released Daria complete series set. No, it is NOT JAPANESE. It is, however, witty, intelligent, with genuine character development and a really good sense of style that made up for the bargain-basement animation. You know what's ironic about K-On! It would have played very well on MTV back in the '90s. A bunch of high school chicks trying to get -- and keep -- a band together? It would have been awesome. At least as a premise. Turn real writers loose on it, like what Abby Terkuhle did at MTV Animation, and you'd probably get something like...er...well... Daria. Mashed up with the Mystik Spiral series that was going to spin off from Daria before Viacom pulled the plug on MTVA. Oh yeah, another fun fact about Daria? It was a spinoff...from Beavis and Butt-Head. One of the most gloriously STOOPID animated series gave birth to one of the smartest ones. Yet another level of irony to savor.

You sure this isn't from a Mel Brooks movie? Outtakes from Spaceballs?

Lady PLEASE. It's only robots. He could be into figures. ECCHI figures. ANATOMICALLY CORRECT ECHHI figures. ANATOMICALLY CORRECT BUT DEVELOPMENTALLY INCORRECT ECCHI FIGURES of cute little girls with decidedly adult features who should be pre-pubescent but definitely don't look like it when the clothes come off. Srsly...if I was the guy in question, I'd be headed over to the family court and suing for divorce on grounds of intolerable cruelty.

It's SUPER PRESIDENT!!! No really, actually that 1/6 action figure is a thing of beauty. Lovely sculpt. I'm going to be looking for that. Even though what I'll prolly do is kitbash a Samuel L. Jackson head on it.