I saw Last Exile (ac, imdb) first, which introduced me to Gonzo and Range Murata (and as everybody knows I instantly became a huge RM fan).

BS6 was way earlier (it’s in imdb under it’s japanese name Ao no roku gô), so as you’d expect the animation, especially the cgi, isn’t as good. The art is very pretty though. And the Human character design is all Murata. Hooray!

The plot doesn’t have too much depth, but it’s only 30min*4episodes; it doesn’t have time for much. The plot it has it pretty much standard post apocalypse anime fare. A bit smarter than average maybe, but certainly not intricate.

It’s fun though. And it’s definitely worth the watch if you’re a Range fan.

what? just because I’m in my 30’s and a guy I can’t enjoy girly young adult books? Whatever. Stop being such a crypto-facist+.

+sorry Brother Frank.

I sometimes forget about Korean pacing. It’s not a problem, one just has to be ready for an action movie that’s really really slow.

Actually, it’s more of an action melodrama. No, really, it’s a melodrama with some action.

I could have been so much better. But it was trying too hard to be blade runner with matrix special effects. The characters just didn’t hold up to the scrutiny that a wanna be blade runner puts them under. The blade runner color pallet devolved, about half way through, in to a series of blue hall ways. The action was boring.

Carey is a bit ageist, seeming to think that anything not directly influenced by traditional Japanese culture and/or the devastations of WWII are not ‘the Real Japan’. This is mildly annoying.

His pretension is more interesting, more or less being the point of the book. He learns first hand that he can’t grok a culture from the outside, no matter how much of it’s output (manga/anime) he consumes. It comes as a relief that by the end he has stopped trying. This strengthens my resolve to live in the places that fascinate me, Japan being only one of them.

I don’t know why, but Holly Vance alternately made me want to hide behind the couch and kill Holly Vance. Overall it made me remember why I hate people. But that’s because the characters do all the stupid embarrassing crap that real people do.

As negative as that may sound, I did mark it as ‘worth consuming’ on purpose.

I always prefer Banks when he has the M. in his name. That’s a personal preference.

This non M. book was a baby boomer coma dream. The steampunky bridge bits appealed to me, but not the over all composition.

and it didn’t make me care. I dunno. Maybe I’m just grumpy.

meh.

Definitely watch Firefly first. If you get in to that, the movie will RAWK. You won’t believe it when—SPOILER DELETED—!%$!

I’ve heard it said that Serenity is basically the next season in movie format. It’s basically true. There’s a little background in the movie, but you need the background of the show to really get it. But that’s ok. It’s a good show. And it’s only 4 disks.

Give it a listen.