Saturday 24^th September, 2011

The tentative JAFWA program for Saturday 24^th September 2011 is below. To be held in the Collins Street Community Center on Collins Street just off Canning Highway in South Perth.

Things of Note:
1) JAFWA has a separate Event afternoon running in the same hall from 12:30 to 4:30. It is make your own fun, but we know some people will be bringing semi-automatic nerf weaponry, mahjong, video games and even sewing.
2) Movie Night! Come in appropriate Cosplay to get in free.
3) People have asked that I once again order calendars from Japan this year. You can get some ideas from here.

Dale’s Suggestive Remarks, based on suggestion sheets handed in at JAFWA:
The ever reliable Thomson Hau Yan Chow wrote on 10-09-2011 a missive on the topic Comments, Suggestions and ‘words’ about Anime:

1. ‘Last Exile – Fam, the Silver Wing’: I’ve watched the premiere at Manifest 2011 & I think it worths a preview when it starts broadcasting at Japan in October. Note: I contributed a comment in front of camera. You guy may want to check it out if they include it in DVD. (^_^)
2. ‘Break Blade’: The ending looks more like ‘to be continued’. However, I loved the ending song with the scene that Rygart laughed at first but cried later while the camera panned onto the ‘Broken Blade’, Delphine, when the lyric ‘I wonder why they fight’ was being sung. Looking forward to a second season, if there is any.

So finally there is a reason to be jealous of Melbourne – The Melbourne Anime Festival aka Manifest. You are making me envious that I did not go. The original ‘Last Exile’ was very pretty, one hopes this second series is just as pretty with a meatier storyline. I shall assign my minions the task of finding a preview copy.
Just out of curiousity Thompson, were you wearing a JAFWA T-Shirt when you were filmed?

Ah, ‘Break Blade’ the 6 part theatrical anime adaption of the light novel ‘Broken Blade’. Gorgeously animated, but in the end barely a chapter in the life of some people caught up in the conflict of war. So yes, it does have the feel of to be continued on the grounds that few, if anybody, could claim to live happily ever after.
I take it you remember in episode 5 that Rygart returned to his home village to rescue his younger brother and only family, only to discover a boastful General Borcuse and his enemy forces had annihilated the village and its inhabitants. Rygart spent much of episode 6 fighting General Borcuse, both to avenge his brother and save his surviving friends. And at the end of the battle his younger brother shows up, having been en-route to find Rygart all that time. Yes, Rygart’s reaction was appropriate.
Still, I think ‘Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket’ is a better, albeit only slightly, demonstration of the horrors of war and the perpetual regrets caused by misunderstandings and inadequate information. I should resume trying to petition it to be mandatory viewing for just after children get excited by war movies.

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All items in the original Japanese language with English subtitles