I keep waiting for Alice's and Oz's faces to stick that way.

There are four subtitled widescreen episodes of Pandora Hearts now. This gives me another excuse to continue promoting a show all y'all will drop after two episodes anyway, alas.

Pandora Hearts celebrates Alice's thighs as Kannagi did Nagi's.

I started watching Pandora Hearts for three reasons. First, the AYAKO DOCTRINE. Second, Kajiura Yuki composing the musical score. Third, Savage Genius contributing the ED.

Warning: Alice will boot to the head without hesitation.

After seven episodes, I'm still not really sure what to make of the show. The music is great, but it isn't as memorable as Kajiura Yuki's best work. The style and appearance of the show remind me a little of American McGee's Alice—or at least remind me I never finished it. It's probably all the clockwork and Victorian madness. Kawasumi Ayako does play a character named Alice, and there are definite influences from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but Pandora Hearts has less to do with that book than Soukou no Strain has to do with A Little Princess.

Alice is displeased.

Alice is my main reason for liking Pandora Hearts so far. She has great hair and insane grins and so much verve. I get the feeling Ayako is having a lot of fun voicing the character. Alice makes every scene she's in captivating, even if it's just about her eating chicken.

Oz about to get fucked up by some dolls. Good luck, guy.

Curiously, despite the numerous groups fansubbing Pandora Hearts, I am the only person I know actually watching it. Then again, I'm the only one I know watching Cross Game, the fifth season of Major, or Fresh Pretty Cure. Everyone's too busy watching K-On! over and over, I guess. Anyway, if you feel like giving Pandora Hearts a try, the widescreen versions are up to episode three now; you'll need to watch that far to see Abyss. The video quality on the HD upscales are horrible, though.

Princess Tutu.

I'm finally catching up with Nodame Cantabile again. If this doesn't inspire me to start buying classical music records again, maybe re-watching Princess Tutu will. Not that I need another excuse to re-watch Princess Tutu, mind you. You see, I recently bought the Princess Tutu compilation box set, so I have a pretty convenient excuse already. I'm a little peeved at spending seven dollars more for it than I needed to (you can get the ADV box set now for $27), but the series is worth much more than that, so I'll get over it.

Rue displaces Ahiru for the Princess Tutu cover.

Regarding the box set, have you seen the cover art? Holy crap. Lest ye be misled, take note that this cover art is in no way representative of the contents of the show itself. Okay, the artists who developed Kraehe were surely working on a dissertation glorifying anime boobs, but aside from that, this cover art is nothing at all like the show itself.

Princess Kraehe.

Of course, ADV probably chose misleading cover art intentionally, because damned if I know how else they're going to market a show like Princess Tutu. A pretty box with frilly pink ribbons and prancing ballet dancers would be more accurate and appropriate, but accurate and appropriate cover art ain't gonna inspire impulse buys—discounting impulse buys from anime fans that know the fourth act of Swan Lake by heart, naturally.

Princess Tutu.

So how does one sell a show about a little duck that turns into a young girl who turns into a magikal girl who saves people with the power of ballet? (Which is a BRILLIANT premise, by the way, but likely only in the eyes of people like me.) Sure, its soundtrack is almost entirely classical music, with a little boost from the late half of Melocure, but that's not going to sway the kind of customers who like to allege, "Anime is a medium, not a genre." [Spoilers: Those people are full of it.]

Rue.

I guess racy cover art featuring an emo ballerina squeezed into a merry widow is one way to go about it, and Rue does have legs that go up to her neck, but I advise potential buyers to simply sample the first few episodes. Watching the HnK/a.f.k. fansubs convinced me to buy the Princess Tutu Complete Collection DVDs despite being discouraged about ADV's Ahiru/Duck jazz. (Look, I don't care what your reason is; you can't subtitle the lead character's name as "Duck," okay?)

Odile sympathizers, you know who you are.

Be advised that the series changes drastically mid-series by revealing the heretofore unknown nature of multiple characters. Nothing contradicts the first half of the series, but the lack of antecedent leaves me wondering if they concocted those changes at the last minute in order to extend the length of the show. I'm not really complaining, because the show makes the changes work, and I would have bought the complete series on the strength of the first half alone. In fact, the second half of the series is also quite good; it just goes off in a different direction. If I have a complaint at all, I guess it's that the show didn't take its numerous Swan Lake references even further and just turned Princess Tutu into an anime adaptation of the ballet for Odile sympathizers, straight-up.

In related news, clockwork > steampunk.