Karakuri Babble is a daily column by the editors of i360.com, usually on topics tangentially related to anime and cosplay.

In the past we have endorsed many things; in the future we shall support many others.

Rewatched the HoiHoi-san OVA today, just because it's short and I like it. (In full, that's 一撃殺虫!!ホイホイさん -- One Hit Insect-Kill HoiHoi-san).

Anyway. It, like so many other things that I watch and endorse here, isn't really great. It's a ten-minute OVA pack-in with an average game, memorable mostly for the merchandising opportunities generated by its premise. (Premise: In the future, gun-packing tiny dolls with squeaky boots will be the only possible form of pest control.)



The dolls are cute, though. Actually, though, the thing I really like about the OVA is the main character, TEIWA Kimiko, a doll enthusiast who just can't deal with the carnage of the HoiHoi lineup. She's got this super-expressive character design, and a really cute Kansai accent. (I could just listen to her all day. Ditto Ogiue's Tohoku moments in Genshiken.) NASU Megumi does the voice, and pulls off a surprising range over the course of the show's ten minutes.

Sometimes, though, I wonder just how realistic the various Kansai accents in anime are. You'd think they'd be pretty good, considering that a hell of a lot of people really do talk that way, but I've heard people complain, off and on. It's another of those puzzles that delineate the experience of the American otaku -- that curiosity -- to what degree am I experiencing this as it was meant to be seen?

words from chris, 2009-05-03 00:25:20, los angeles