This Weekend: "To the Beginning" of a fairy tale and the premier of Fate/Zero 2

Anime of the Week: Bakemonogatari

Post Content:

• This Weekend
  
• Officer Positions (URGENT!! ELECTIONS ON SATURDAY APRIL 28 AT 7PM)
  
• Blog Updates
• Anime of the Week

This Weekend:
Time: Friday and Saturday 7pm
Location: Maryland 110

Friday April 20 2012
ef ~A Tale of Memories/Melodies~
Episodes 1-8
Now for something that's a little different from what we've shown all year. Based off minori's December 2006 and May 2008 visual novel: ef ~A Fairy Tale of the Two~. In addition, animation director Makoto Shinkai (5 Centimeters per Second, Beyond the Clouds: The Place Promised in Our Early Days), music composer TENMON (Voices of a Distant Star, Wind ~A Breath of Heart~), and character designer Naru Nanao (Da Capo, Sola) are affiliated with both the original visual novel as well as the anime adaptation. ef's first game was ranked as the fifth highest selling game of 2006 despite only releasing a few days before the new year. By late 2007, it ranked 23rd for best game overall, tying with the popular Muv-Luv Alternative and Snow. ef's second game was later ranked number one in sales in 2008.
A Tale of Memories features the first 3 major stories of ef revolving around 6 characters: Hiro Hirono, Kyousuke Tsutsumi, Renji Asou, Miyako Miyamura, Kei Shindou, and Chihiro Shindou. Furthermore, Yuuko Amamiya and Yuu Himura are a mysterious pair who constantly appear and disappear yet providing advice for the heroes and heroines of the story to go about their daily lives. The magical set of fairy tales are about to unfold, each one gradually unfolding the truth that lies behind all these stories. Shin Oonuma (PaniPoni Dash!, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu) will provide direction, Katsuhiko Takayama (Ga-Rei -Zero-, Mirai Nikki) will compose the script, and SHAFT (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Bakemonogatari) will provide the animation.

Saturday April 21, 2012
Fate/Zero
Episodes 8-15 (most recent episode)
To coincide and chime in the premier of Fate/Zero Season 2, welcome to JHAC's second major showing of the semester! Fate/Zero season 1 is acclaimed to be one the best titles of 2011 and the most anticipated title among the anime community for the Spring 2012 anime season. Together, brace yourself for what may be the best series in anime history, possibly surpassing that of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (by general community standards).
Fate/Zero is based on a novel by Gen Urobuchi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~) and Kinoko Nasu/Type-Moon (Shingetsutan Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~). The setting is the 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, 10 years before the events of the 5th Holy Grail War in Fate/Stay Night. It is a death-match between 7 magi (masters) and 7 heroic spirits (servants) where the prize is the legendary Holy Grail, an omnipotent wish-granting device. The three preceding wars had ended without a clear victor, but now all the magi will resort to any means to obtain the Grail regardless of rationale. Ei Aoki (Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~, Ga-Rei -Zero-) will direct, Yuki Kajiura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica, .Hack//Sign) will provide music composition, and ufotable (Tales of Symphonia The Animation, Kara no Kyoukai ~The Garden of Sinners~) will provide animation.


Officer Positions
ELECTIONS/CONFIDENCE VOTES WILL TAKE PLACE ON SATURDAY APRIL 28 AT 7PM
As May approaches closer and closer, JHAC is looking for at least 2 undergraduates who will be willing to take on the President and Treasurer positions of the JHAC board for next year. While elections will not be held until the end of the semester, if you are interested or would like to learn more please email waw2@jhu.edu or come to one of our regular meetings to inquire. Do note, that if no one takes on these two positions, JHAC will lose its ability to fund our regular convention trips and other activities in the future and it will be difficult to regain status that has been lost.


Blog Updates
Spring preview is coming (hopefully by Wednesday next week)! Preview Night will be held on Saturday April 28.
For those who are unaware, our website can be found at: http://jhu-anime.blogspot.com/
Comments are open to all for suggestions, recommendations and the like. We encourage members to share their thoughts on topics regarding the posts as well as anything anime, manga, visual novel, light novel, and video game related. Thoughts on current titles or past titles are also welcome. As usual, any suggestions for the blog itself or how meetings are run are greatly appreciated.

Anime of the Week
To make this section more useful, Image of the Week has been changed to Anime of the Week where a different anime title will be featured in each week's email. The point of this is to discover what may be lost gems, obscure titles, underrated titles, or buried treasure in the anime world. These titles may or may not necessarily be shown at future meetings. Each title will come with a brief background.

Given all the SHAFT shows that the club has shown and the emphasis on Puella Magi Madoka Magica, we now take a look at a show that is/was known for its massive production delays, was recently acquired by Aniplex USA, and a show that adapted the presentation style of ef as well as later became the basis for Puella Magi Madoka Magica's animation. In 2009, a show known as Bakemonogatari was produced. Unless you lived in Japan, you probably had never heard of its source title prior to its airing and if your knowledge of anime is thin, this show likely never showed up on your radar. Nishio Ishin (aka NisiOsin) is the author behind the popular Monogatari light novel works, including Kizumonogatari, Katanagatari, and Nisemonogatari, of which the latter two have already received anime adaptations. Furthermore, NisiOsin is the mastermind author behind the popular manga, Medaka Box, which its anime adaptation had just began running in Spring 2012. Until Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Bakemonogatari had held the title for most sold blu-ray volumes in Japan by a land slide. Many Japanese viewers continue to consider this title as one of best series in the past decade. JHAC showed Bakemonogatari in Fall 2009 and re-showed it during Intersession 2012 for the arrival of Nisemonogatari in Winter 2012.

Bakemonogatari (or Ghost Story) is a title that tells the tale of 5 stories regarding various spiritual curses, beings, and the like in a compact 15 episodes. The story revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire (details unraveled in Kizumonogatari, the prequel novel that was released 2 years after Bakemonogatari). To start his mysterious adventure, Hitagi Senjougahara, is Koyomi's classmate and never talks to anyone. Yet one day she falls down a staircase into Koyomi's arms, resulting the revelation that she is effectively weightless. To hide her secret, Hitagi threatens Koyomi. However, Koyomi to help Hitagi by introducing her to Meme Oshino, a homeless who reverted Koyomi back to human.