Samurai Champloo in English dubbing

I'd forgotten about the past/future visual joke in the beginning of the episode. That was cute.

Fuu's voice I adapted to instantly. I never had a strong lasting impression of her voice actress in the Japanese anyway, and this actress seemed to capture her attitude pretty well.

Jin I was not sure about with the early lines, but I got used to him before the episode ended. For him I thought the shorter lines came off better. I need more exposure to those before I can accept longer sentences from him.

Mugen... this is going to be a trial. It worked for me when he was saying things Spike would never say. It worked for me when he was swearing. But the rest of the time, I kept hearing Spike. I can't help but associate that voice with Spike's sophisticated-sexy-city-boy-who's-slumming-it voice. Mugen needs to sound younger, and more annoying, and more abrasive. And most importantly, more insane. If Bloom can do that then I could get used to him.

Overall, I probably enjoyed it more on account of it being many months since I watched episode 1. I'd forgotten a lot of details and that made me able to get into it more.

Still kinda bummed about Mugen, though. And I found it profoundly *weird* to hear Jet's voice talking about executing Spike's voice. That just was all kinds of bizarre.

To end this review on a happy note:

Look up at my naked Jin icon. Marvel at his rain-soaked body and super-grown-out hair.

EDIT: This might just be my imagination, but was that little old man in Fuu's tavern the same little old man who is later a... how do I put this... later a Barry Bonds / UN representative? There, that should be obscure enough.



Aah well. What else am I gonna watch on Saturday nights besides my historical fiction OT3 running around Japan on foot and complaining all the time?


EDIT 2: Major series spoilers in comments! MAJOR Spoilers in comments!

L&O: SVU

I love L&O: SVU. I thik SVU doesn't get enough appreciation on my journal, so here you go:

Until this year (1st year at dorm), I never watched Law & Order very often. It held no interest. But since coming to live here, I tend to have procrastination time during the same hours that USA network shows SVU reruns.

I've taken to watching them. Out of order, usually, and with no sense of continuity. I think I've pinned down the reason I like this show: Benson and Stabler. And their chief/boss-person. I like these characters. A lot. And I feel like we know more about them, especially Stabler, than you know about the characters of regular L&O. It has the same sort of appeal that Homicide: Life On The Street had, though with less visually gritty camera work.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, you rock. Nail those evil bastards and look good doing it.

EDIT: Admittedly, I don't watch it every week. It is kind of disturing for that, as far as the crimes go. In fact, I've never even watched a new episode in its first airing.

EDIT2: most of the time, I don't like cop shows. They just don't work for me. I've never like NYPDblue, and L&O and The Shield don't appeal to me, and I don't like hospital/cop shows like Third Watch or ER. I've watched two episodes of Numb3rs for the hot Santa's elf, but even that show I'm not really into. But these are the cop or cop-like shows that have appealed to me:

The X Files
Homicide: LOTS
Rescue Me
L&O: SVU

I know I loved XF for the sci-fi factor, not the cop factor. So that explains that. But what about the other three? Why do I like them, and not other cop/hospital shows? What sets them apart?

And...am I the only person watching VM who looks at Jake Kane and thinks "He couldn't be a killer, cause before he owned a software company and married an evil woman and had kids he was a noble, sweet, decent-hearted detective!" ?