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It's supposed to be Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro ni (When the Seagulls Cry).

I thought the second Kara no Kyoukai film was far superior to the first in terms of story and character development, albeit a bit slow in a few places. I liked seeing Kokutou as an actual character in this movie rather than just a plot device like in the last one. I also thought that Shiki made her character more intriguing, which she should be, since the movie series is about her. I need to give Maaya Sakamoto props for playing two "different" characters well enough for me to tell them apart.

I should also mention that I enjoyed the music in the second film much more than the first. The majority of the first movie's soundtrack was made up of the same recurring theme no matter how many times Kajiura tried to rearrange it. The second movie's soundtrack had a little more variety to it. I'm currently listening to the soundtrack over on YouTube because I enjoyed the music in the movie so much.

One aspect of Kon's films that I prefer over Miyazaki's is the character designs. Miyazaki's characters have a very appealing style, but a handful of them look alike to me. Kon's characters not only have distinct qualities to them, but they are also visually appealing while maintaining a sense of realism. I also prefer Kon's realistic storylines over Miyazaki's fantastical ones. While I do enjoy films like Howl's Moving Castle and Laputa, they aren't as relatable as Tokyo Godfathers or Paprika. Although Paprika has some elements of fantasy in it, it's supposed to support the movie's message that fantasy and reality can't mix. I find that ironic since it's told through an anime, which is an otaku's means of escaping the real world. So the bottom line is that it's all about realism.

I did read somewhere that Pluto had something to do with Tezuka, but I didn't really know what it was until you told me.

I guess you can say that the videos gave me a sense on how to actually ink in drawings, since my drawings tend to look better before I ink them in.

Mori mentioned at the end of vol. 1 of Emma that she's very fond of British culture, and I think that's very apparent in the artwork of the manga. If I remember correctly, there was a scene at the beginning of the volume that had no dialogue in it, which allowed me to really take in the detail of the artwork. Although I love Gothic Lolita fashion, it's nice to read a Victorian Era manga that doesn't rely heavily on that fashion or art style to make it appealing.

By the way, if you're interested, the site for Satoshi Kon's newest project, Yume Miru Kikai (The Dreaming Machine), just opened up. If you want to see some stills from the film, click on the Gallery button: http://yume-robo.com/.

Thanks for the link! I'll take a look at the videos when I get home tomorrow. That sketch on the top of the page looks beautiful.

Ah, I've heard of Despera. I'm really looking forward to that one.

I'm liking Gankutsuou more now than when I started watching it with that mediocre dub back in October. The Count is an intriguing character and I can't wait to learn more about him in the coming episodes.

The same with Death Note as well. Aside from Ryuk the Shinigami's wisecracks and some minor details in the manga, everything is pretty much the same. I just enjoyed the anime so much that I didn't mind "retreading old ground" in the form of the original manga. It's also faster than sitting through 25-minute episode versions of each chapter again.

Not exactly. I feel the same way when I read a manga after I read its anime adaptation. For example, before I read the manga of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, I watched its anime adaptation. I read the first volume of the manga with certain scenes from the anime in mind. I knew what would happen in certain chapters, which didn't make them as funny (it's a comedy manga/anime). If I didn't watch the anime beforehand, I would have been able consider Zetsubou a "new manga". It wasn't exactly new to me since I was very familiar with its anime counterpart (I finished the first 2 seasons before I read the first volume). Fortunately, for me, I stopped watching the third season of the anime, so I can continue reading the manga where I left off at the anime. I just need to wait for the right volume to come out.