Anime in Focus: Dai Guard Episode 2

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Alright, after a slow paced episode, I happened to be in an area where escaping the second episode of Dai-Guard was impossible. Hence putting me in a position whereI should probably discuss it.

After pushing away the Heterodyne that attacked the city our mains were in, it becomes apparent that the fight actually caused quite a bit of damage. The military wants to transport the injured through their means, but the guys at Dai Guard corp just want to skip the paperwork and do it themselves, since they have the means. After a bit of negotiating, they manage to convince mister government official that this is a logical course of action, and they manage to get it done. Also, it should be noted that the guy with a pink bandanna is now wearing a suit, and his pink bandanna has gone missing. This is because he has to appear at press conferences in order to discuss the heterodyne attack.

Anyway, while they are flying away on a rather large military plane thingy, mister government official fails to inform everybody that the big scary heterodyne has been following them, and will probably appear where they land. Fortunately, the corporation has fitted their giant robot with a drill arm, so that everybody in the room is forced to make Gurren Lagan references. The team can’t actually control the arm very well, and winds up screwing up with it a few times. They manage to kill the heterodyne, although slowly.

Overall, this show still has the pacing issues still apparent in episode 1. It might be more interesting if events didn’t flow at the rate a snail crawls. Might or might not be watching more, but it should be noted that this won’t be ranking very high on my list of priorities.

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Artist Profile Tsuranga

Anime in focus: Dai Guard Episode 1

I was introduced to this series back in the days when I was running ye local anime shoppe, and one of my regulars bought it. A couple years later and we’re having a party at his house, and he suggests we watch it.

The first episode starts out with an Angel… no wait, sorry, Heterodyne is attacking something. Anyways, we then flash forward to some defense expo, where we focus on Dai Guard corporation. These guys have built a giant robot just to make themselves look cool apparently, since no giant monsters have appeared since that time. Makes a cool mascot, but nobody wants to pay for it. However, the companies mascot employee, a guy who advertises for the company while sporting a faaabulous pink bandanna, fully believes in their giant hunk of metal.

After a lengthy discussion about funding the giant robot, a giant sea monster attacks. This thing looks like a giant cobra with tentacles. The government official guy tells the guys at Dai Guard to run off, but the guy in the fabulous bandanna manages to rally the three people together to pilot their giant robot. This leads to a relatively boring fight where they wrestle the giant sea monster and throw it into the ocean, forcing it’s retreat Then everybody breathes a sigh of relief because they were starting to run out of fuel for their giant robot that was just a mascot a few minutes ago.

While the first episode manages to set the scene, I find that it moved unhealthily slowly, considering everything that happened. Maybe it’ll get more interesting, but I really wish more would happen in the timeframe.

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Next Episode->

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Artist Profile: Tsuranga

Artist Profile: Tsuranga

This week’s artist is a painter known as Tsuranga.

Previous Artist: The Cure (still looking for votes in contest)

Tsuranga’s specialization appears to be painting and sketching out sci fi concepts, such as robots and spaceships. Along with that, he also does a wide variety of landscapes, which are often influenced by science fiction. The majority of his stuff is meant to look realistic, which it accomplishes, despite being of things that don’t exist… yet.I highly reccomend that you click to zoom in, because smaller shots don't really do these paintings justice.

To start, I’m going to show an image I really liked:

I really like all of the little details that he put into this one. Like the rings off of the planet, and all the stars being put in. I also really like the design on the mecha carrying the yellow sabers, and the slight distortion of space around it.

This one was put up in February, named Flight

Flight was supposed to be more abstract, which is quite noticeable, with only the core of the mecha being made in great detail. This creates a sort of reality distorting effect, that while making the image more abstract, makes it a bit more realistic in certain respects? Why you say? Adding in a blur effect in most of the image helps to demonstrate the speed at which the mech is moving, giving the viewer a better image of exactly how fast the mech is flying. Quite possibly unintentional, but I like it.

One last giant robot picture (well, focused on giant robots)

The design on this one appeals to me a lot. Once again, attention to detail is high, as shown by details on the arms, establishing a bit of how the robot operates. The lighting effects are very nice on this picture, capturing the metallic shininess the robot would have. Also, I really like the color on the mech.

To show off some of his work with scenery, we have the picture “Glacier Citadel”

This was apparently inspired by a dream about playing on bonus planets in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Kind of like that dream I had where I was playing Morrowind I guess. Anyway, it is certainly more abstract than most of his work, aside from the shading concept, which actually suits the artic climate quite well.

Last painting today is “Wasteland Sunset”

Although this one was made relatively quickly (2 hours) I still think it looks really nice. I particularly like the wreckage in the background, and the little bit of sunlight breaking through the clouds. Creates a nice effect

Overall, I would say that Tsuranga’s biggest weakness is his lack of publicity. I have seen much worse artists than him getting a LOT more pageviews. Personally, I think he would be able to make some money if he were to attempt to do a booth at Anime Expo’s artist alley. However, the most important thing is that he consistently puts out quality work, and he shows lots of improvement if you look at the stuff he’s made over the course of time, and shows great potential for improvement.

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Next Project: Shira Oka: Second chances

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