F-ZeroOne

Wonder how long it'll be before his blue hair grows out? Congratulations to you both!

Are those contacts, "red-eye" from a camera flash, or are vampires into cos-play now?!

Two answers: 1) behind the Monster. 2) behind Milia. Because, ah, you know, er... "rearguard" actions are important... Edit: thanks, mcpaz - nice work!

Very crowded by most accounts - and, er, no, I'm not speaking from experience! Japan can be an expensive country, but it doesn't have to be... Another piece of advice: do your research. Read up on the places you want to go to, try and get familiar with them in your mind. You'll be too distracted once you're there... BTW, SolScud, when you say "the subway" in reference to the Japan Rail Pass, do you mean the above-ground JR services like the Yamanote and Chuo lines, or the underground subway - as far as I'm aware, those are privately operated and a JR Pass doesn't cover them...? One onther point I make: when you buy a Japan Rail Pass, what you get is an exchange order that you swap for the Rail Pass in Japan - most large railways stations should be able to do this, but I think you can also do at the airport rail terminals if you want to use it right away.

I've stayed in the Hotel Crowne Plaza; its nice but pricey. Avoid the main bar and try and get breakfast somewhere else if you can; Ikebukuro station is a very short walk away and should have all manner of cafes and things to get a more reasonably priced breakfast in. The Japanese Inn Group is a good starting point for value accomodation in Japan. Investigate a Japan Rail Pass. A 7 day pass will start out around £150 ($200?) Sounds expensive, but a one way trip from Tokyo - Kyoto by bullet train will be about £60 ($100). Thats one way. You don't have to get one, and if you're prepared to take slower trains, it might not be worth doing so, but if you're going to travel around a bit, its worth it. If you do get a rail pass, buy a plastic protective folder either before you go or when you arrive (Tokyu Hands Shinjuku, the store that sells everything, will have something suitable); it disintegrates easily on its own. Railway station staff generally speak enough English in my experience, but elsewhere in Japan it can be difficult - bear this in mind when going for meals. The Tokyo public transport can be confusing at first but is generally logical once you get used to it. Main piece of advice, if staying in Tokyo: get a good map. A really good map. Kodansha do a bilingual Tokyo A5-size atlas thats very good; its a bit pricey, but believe me, you'll thank me later. GPS can be helpful for direction finding but English-language street map data seem to be unavailable. True story: one time in Tokyo I was with a friend, and we were looking for a place he knows. We had a map, we had the address, and my friend speaks Japanese at the conversational level. We circled around Shinjuku for an hour without finding the place, and eventually resorted to phoning them for more specific directions. The phone turned out to be right next to the building. We'd been walking round it all the time without knowing. GET. A. GOOD. MAP. OF. TOKYO! Don't take much luggage. Japans public transport is awe-inspiring, but luggage space tends to be limited and some places you can stay at have staircases that are 90 degrees to the vertical. Not good for hauling heavy luggage up. Railway stations always tend to be huge. You can do a heck of a lot of walking in Tokyo. Tokyo quick recommendations: Akihabara for electronics and anime; Shibuya and Harajuku for fashion and music, Shinjuku for department stores, Ueno for museums. Try and see Mt. Fuji if the weathers nice! Kyoto is a nice place to visit, but don't delude yourself that you can do it all in a day, especially if travelling in from Tokyo. If you only have a day, pick two or three things you especially want to see, and try and keep them all on the same side of the city. Ideally, to really see what Kyoto is like, you should stay there for a few days. Kyoto quick recommendations: Kiyomizudera temple, the "Golden Pavilion", the old "geisha" area, Nara (not part of Kyoto but short train ride away). I've always wanted to spend more time in Hiroshima; its always struck me as a pleasant place, though its history can make for unsettled feelings for Westerners. Thats just some very quick advice - if you've got any more questions, e-mail me at justin@briareos.demon.co.uk and I'll try to answer them if I can!

Considering that Hayao Miyazaki is considered the Walt Disney of Japan, its no wonder that these will get accepted by the general public more than other anime. I'll accept that, but I've now got a bit more time to develop my thoughts a bit...! Regardless of what the Japanese people as a whole think of anime, I think the best expression I can use is that it is part of their culture, and a reasonably big part at that. The actual number of people who buy merchandise, DVDs, etc might be fairly small in comparision but I doubt theres many Japanese that are unaware of anime, even if they don't like it. I will agree that an impression is often given that anime is everywhere in Japan, which doesn't exactly tie up with my own experiences of visiting Tokyo - its common, yes, but not exactly omnipresent! Perhaps the best comparison I can come up with is football to the English. A visitor (and I think Graham was the one who commented on this) might conclude that the English are football mad, all of us. Its not quite true - I am only reasonably aware of football goings-on because my family are all fans to one degree or another, and the "girlfriend who can't stand it" is a common theme in English humour. Despite this, there are often letters to newpapers etc. bemoaning the coverage football gets on TV etc. In other words, football is very much a part of English culture, but that doesn't mean it gets total approval by everyone. It doesn't neccessairly mean that football is dying (and indeed, money crisises of one kind or another is something the English game has had in common with anime studios lately!) Even for those of us not interested, its difficult to escape the impact that something like the forthcoming Euro 2004 tournament may have.

Thanks for confirming that, David - I've only seen it in one sentence in one book and have always wondered how much truth there was to it. Of course, using three against two might not strike people as a fair fight, but in "real" air combat you try and avoid a fair fight as much as possible! I've always been a bit skeptical of newpaper military coverage ever since I saw one list a A-10 as having a 300mm gun...!

I'd agree that there is a Western perception that anime is a 24-7 thing in Japan; however, I'm not so sure that labelling it as being totally "looked down upon" applies to every anime. For example, Doraemon, and Hayao Miyazaki movies are massive events. These, of course, are probably the exceptions that prove the rule, though...

I think if you go to the source you'll find the Eagles were mission-loaded F-15E's. I.e., not a remarkable result. Had it been F-15C's things might well have been very different. A little checking does seem to back-up that they were -15Es. The article I saw about this did say the details have become a little exaggerated. Still, you could at least let us "line-shoot" a bit - we need the good news! Mind you, even if they were -15Cs the result may have been the same - a couple of Jaguars - yes, Jaguars! - supposedly "shot" down a couple of F-15s once...

The story doing the rounds is that a couple of F-15s jumped a couple of Typhoons on an exercise. One fast counter move later, and the F-15s suddenly found themselves in the unfamiliar position of being chased all round the sky on full 'burner by two very annoyed RAF pilots... Sigh. Still, it was ever thus for the British armed forces. I think theres a rule somewhere that we can't actually go into combat without all sorts of equipment hassles and shortages because otherwise it just wouldn't be, well, cricket...

1 x 1/60 Yamato VF-1A 1 x 1/48 Yamato VF-1S 1 x 1/55 Takatoku VF-1J Milia type 1 x 1/55 Bandai re-issue VF-1J Max type 1 x 1/72 Bandai HCM VF-1J Hikaru. This was a fun purchase. You have to imagine that its Tokyo, tipping it down, and in a small vintage toy shop the staff are not expecting much in the way of sales that afternoon. Then out of the rain, in walks some gaijin, partly soaked, and manages to communicate a desire to buy a not inexpensive vintage Valkyrie toy. I'm convinced they must have woken up the next morning and thought they imagined it all...

"Wild Weasel" is a term applied to aircraft used in the defence surpression role (i.e. attacking AA sites). These are typically modified examples of existing aircraft. Not sure about the F-106, but the F-105 was used for this role, as was the F-4 Phantom II, and I believe a variant of the F-16 now serves the same purpose. I'm also not sure if its a coincidence or tradition but both the F-105 and F-4 Wild Weasels were "G" models, and were modified for the role.

Indeed they did - the "P" in "P-38", "P-39", "P-40" etc, stands for "Pursuit" - i.e., Fighter. As far as I can tell, though, the US Navy always used "F". As far as I can tell from memory, we Brits have never had a unified number-scheme for aircraft, preferring a definite "name" followed by a Mark. No. To take the example I'm most fond of, a certain elliptical-winged fighter from W.W.II started as the manufacturers number Model 300, somehow escaped being named "Shrew" by its otherwise brilliant designer, had various Marks from I through XIX (and later; these dropped the Roman numerals and were known as 22s, 24s, tec), and became known to history as the Spitfire. [1] [1] "Just the sort of bloody silly name they would give it." - Reginald J. Mitchell...

You just had to go and say that, didn't you? Sorry... One can only hope that the new ownership will improve their UK advertising. I've seen their two most recent adverts, and they're shocking - the AD Police one was so effective in getting my attention that I didn't notice it for two days - and the only thing on the opposite page was an article on the Garfield movie! Manga sometimes seems to be the only UK anime company that hasn't woken up and smelt the burning of the old ways yet...!

Whisper it quietly... will they aim for the top...?

I've said it once and I'll say it again: Evangelion is a mecha show, people!!! "Ascending to a higher existence" has been a big part of SF for years; for examples, theres Greg Bears "Blood Music", Arthur C. Clarkes "Childhoods End", Alfred Besters "Tiger, Tiger!" (aka "The Stars My Destination")... what does seem odd about it is that it seems to be an attempt to rationalize a series that seems to want to be mystical and mysterious with a SF explanation...!

Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hunters, Hawker-Siddeley Harriers, Blackburn Buccaneers, English Electric Lightnings and Canberras, BAC TSR-2... ...it seems its only when other countries get involved we have problems...

Better start refurbishing Fairey Swordfish again...

I've got the recent Godzilla X MechaGodzilla movie; its surprisingly good. Computer efefcts are used in perhaps the best way possible - to enhance the traditional methods also employed. Granted, its still men in suits stomping on a model Tokyo, but its impressive men in suits... The story is, needless to say, a bit of an afterthought, but somehow I don't think too many people watch Godzilla films because they're expecting War & Peace! I'm really looking forward to the DVD release of Godzilla X MechaGodzilla X Mothra and this new movie - if only someone like ADV would pick up the Western rights so we could have a proper subtitled version for once... ...and I very much doubt we've seen the last of the Big G, though the comment about it being the last "men in suits" movie suggests they may be looking at going all-CGI in future, which would be a shame to my mind...

Graham, I've just remembered - the EE Lightning used overwing drop tanks. Great aircraft, extremely fast, but also very, very, very thristy...

Oh and the 12 gun Hurricane Mk 2b. Pity they're 30 cal though... But yah, the FW-190 had an option of carrying 2 double 20 mm pods (4 20 mm pods). Some of those planes can shred things to pieces. Can't believe I forgot this one: Bristol Beaufighter. 4 20mm cannon, 6 .303 machine guns, and even one pointing out the back. As someone once said, absolutely the last aeroplane on Earth you'd want to see lining up a strafing run on you...

Best. Anime. Opening. Sequence. EVER! "Konya wa hurricane... "

Something I'd like to ask: What recording process, exactly, do you use when English actors go to Hollywood and then get cast in big budget productions? No offence, but whatever it is, it doesn't work properly... An interesting take on the problem is a recent review I read on Anime Jump, where the reviewer actually preferred a Spanish anime dub track...

One guess would be is that, for very obvious reasons, the Japanese regard nuclear weapons as the Ultimate Evil, and anyone associated with them is going to get what they deserve - in a lot of anime, users of such weapons often have unpleasant fates.

Number of my favourites already mentioned, but here are some others: 1) X-Bomber/Star Fleet: most of the space battles in this are pretty cool, but theres one where the heroes are having to fend off an attack by enemy fighters while protecting the female lead who is flying a kind of space scooter. Remarkably well done considering the shows chosen format. 2) Gunbuster when Gunbuster fights the alien fleet (not the final episode). Different yet a wonderful homage to old mecha shows. 3) The Death Star run. I've seen it dozens of times - we all have - but it still works. 4) Project A-Ko = humans vs alien dreadnaught. An amazing scene for a parody; according to the director, animated by someone with an axe to grind on DYRL! 5) Any of the battles in Peter F. Hamilitons Nights Dawn trilogy; enlivened by dialogue like "We'll have to jettison that hull plate, its got a half-life longer than some geological eras now!" and proper British swearing... 6) Any battle in 8-bit classic Elite. No-one - no-one - has ever been able to better it.