Kuro's Little Blog.

Moved...

2005-11-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

Well, thanks to Maestro's graciousness, I've moved to AnimeBlogger.net under Kurogane's Anime Blog :).

Seriously speaking, Blogger.com's features were really restrictive to my blogging styles so I made the move. Now with Wordpress 1.5 and my own webspace, I can enhance my blogging styles with more stuff ^_^.

This blog will still remain here for archiving purposes and a backup blog, in case Kurogane's Anime Blog fails :P.

Mai Otome 02

2005-10-15T16:16:00.000+08:00

Summary

Continuing from Ep.01, Arika is impressed by Shizuru. She immediately asks Natsuki to let her become an Otome. Sergey then advises Arika to not show her pendent out, to which Arika says her baa-chan already told her that(hmm..). Mikoto (I still cannot believe that she’s a neko!!) appears and Mashiro’s identity is revealed. Arika then asks Natsuki to let her into Garderobe.

Arika then explains that she wants to be one after seeing Shizuru in action,plus that her mother used to be an Otome, surprising both Natsuki and Tat…Sergey. Natsuki asks what’s her mother’s name but Arika says she doesn’t know as her baa-chan died/disappeared before telling her that(speculated, she didn’t complete the sentence, I’d say disappeared though, more drama potential), silencing them.

Shizuru steps in and says she’s glad that someone looks up to her that much. She then proceeds to kiss Arika but glances at Natsuki(OMG!! Such a tease, Shizuru hasn’t lost her yuri touch yet ^^;) and blows wind in to Arika’s ear instead, causing Arika to overload from overexcitement.

Shizuru then takes the chance to retain Arika in the academy, citing exhaustion XD. Sergey butts in saying that Arika is a witness in this case but Natsuki coolly asks him, where is he now, which shuts him up(nice one, Natsuki :thumbsup:)

The next day, it’s business as usual at the Garderobe Academy. The Coral students are cleaning up the school compound when Akane walks in. The Corals greet her and Akane encourages them to ganbatte.

Over in a corner, a group of Corals are discussing about yesterday’s incident and it seems that Nina has been imprisoned(not accurate! Wait for Mentar, Jpnese failed). One of them then asks another Coral, called Tomoe, now that Nina is gone, she can become number one(apparently, Tomoe is the number 2 student). Their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of one of the teachers.

Nina is being imprisoned meanwhile(!!) and she reminisces about yesterday, when Sergey asks if Arika’s GEM caused the airplane to fly and she answers probably. The teacher, Miss Maria, then reprimands Nina for misusing her Otome powers. Nina monologues, saying that her father will hate her if this goes on.

Switch to Arika, where she seems to be in the research room,sleeping on some kind of MRI lookalike. She wakes up and knocks her head (painfully) on the machine.She also discovers she’s totally naked, except for her sheet ^_^. The person-in-charge (ok, I forgot her name) greets her and brings a drink for her.

Meanwhile, Mashiro is having difficulties waking up. After waking, she complains that the room is small ^_^;;, prompting her maid to wonder( who won’t, see the screencap).She opens the window, to discover that her castle has had a little ‘accident’.

Sergey is inspecting the damage to the castle when he remembers something from his childhood. It seems that he’s seen the previous owner of Arika’s pendent, Souten no Seigyoku(who’s with me that the baby is Arika?).

Back in Garderobe, Mashiro is whining to Natsuki but Natsuki gently ‘reminds’ her of her responsibilities and the true cause of the incident, casuing her to storm off, brat-fashion. After she leaves, Natsuki and Shizuru have tea(who spotted Fumi here? Seems like Sunrise is putting in a lot of Fumi cameos,). Didn’t understand what Natsuki says, but Shizuru comments that the hime is the real one or not hasn’t been known.

Back to Arika, she’s had her meals.Yoko-sensei(thank Arika for mentioning her name) asks Arika to be patient while her clothes are being readied.Arika asks if she’ll be an Otome but Yoko says that it’s up to the decision of a council, which is comprised of representatives of various states that are connected to the Academy.

Mashiro butts in, saying that’s impossible and introduces herself as the Princess of Windbloom. Arika feels that she’s not like what she imagined, pissing off Mashiro who teases Arika back. Arika doesn’t give up and begs Yoko to let her go to the council, who refuses.

Undaunted, Arika makes a makeshift dress from the sheet and runs out, but she’s lost ^^. The council has started in the mean time and Nina is taken to be questioned.

Back outside, we meet Shiho who reprimands some of her kouhai for comments about Nina.But as soon as they’re gone, she changes 180° and takes out a voodoo doll, but her cursing is seen by Arika, who innocently asks her the way to the council. Shiho, being Shiho, goes berserk and chases Arika around the campus, meeting up with Chie and Yukariko and not to forget, Nao.The chase scene is a MUST WATCH for all HiME fans, suffice to say.

Meanwhile, things are heating up at the council, with Sergey complaining about the breaking of a treaty and Mashiro barging in to declare that Nina has no right to become an Otome, when Arika finally arrives, causing a large ruckus.

Nagi appears, apparently he’s a count of some kind now, and says Arika is quite interesting.He asks Arika if she wants to be an Otome at any cost and suggests a competition between her and Nina, when she affirms it. The council ppl are against it but Nina agrees to it, ending the episode.

Opinion

Phew.. that was a long summary. I went a bit overboard , tehe. But is was a really eventful episode, bound to satisfy old-timers and newbies alike. There was multiple plot developments in this one too, complemented with tons of service, making it a remarkable episode.

The return of the other Mai Hime characters was done splendidly. Shiho was hilarious, with her psychotic side in full swing. Chie was soooo damn kakkoii!!! The way she literally ‘swept’ Arika off her feet was soo damn awesome.I’d always wanted to see her ‘manly’ side after listening to the Drama CD XD, since she didn’t get much screentime in Mai HiME. Guess the production team was listening ^^. Yukariko’s chalk throwing skills were really 1337. I’m sure that no one dares to sleep in her class. Nao, being mischievous as usual, I see XD.

Arika gained quite a few points in this episode to me.Her hair is really useful, lol. She was also less irritating (wonder if the production team read our comments?) in this episode. The sheet dress fits her really, in an very elegant sense.

I’ve also formed some theories in Mai-Otome from this episode. Who’s Arika’s obaa-san? Mashiro and Nagi also seem to be connected in some way? Maybe they’re bethrowed? Sergey also seems to have been in Windbloom previously, and seem to know the previous owner of the Souten no Seigyoku. But oh well, lets all leave the speculation to the master, Mentar ^^.

Next episode, Mashiro’s coronation ceremony. I can imagine lots of action.

Blood+ 01

2005-10-13T22:27:00.000+08:00

OP: "青空のナミダ (Aozora no Namida)" by Hitomi Takahashi
ED: "語り継ぐこと (Gatari tsuzugu koto)" by Chitose Hajime
Watch Status: Subbed (Live-Evil)

Summary

Somewhere in (what seems to be) Vietnam, a war is going on and a girl with a sword is going on a rampage, killing everthing in sight.

Fast forward, and we see, Saya, a who’s living a normal high school life. She’s missing all her memories except from a year ago.She leaves her shoes at school and goes back to take them, but instead gets to see her teacher killed by a monster and kissed by a guy with a creepy hand. Then, she gets flashbacks. End.

Opinion

One of the most anticipated new series by a lot of people. It’s supposedly connected to Blood: The Last Vampire, but sadly haven’t seen it, so the hype isn’t on me. It’s slated for a 52-episode run, so we’ll be in for a long run.

Blood+ hasn’t left an outstanding impression on me for this episode, but I’ll wager the good parts are coming soon. The opening massacre wasn’t anything brutal or artistic, just kinda… boring.

The later parts intro’ing Saya and her family are nothing much, still boring.It gets better when the action starts though, had a little shock when the sensei was pulled up by the monster into the tree. A bit too sudden, haha. Not to mention he was doing the classic “shine the torchlight on face”.

Art is done well, considering it’s from Production I.G, seems Gainax also had a hand in it too.OP and ED are OK as well.

Overall, still good, but not on the “must-watch” list yet.

Black Cat 01

2005-10-13T22:05:00.000+08:00

OP: "HIKARI/ダイアの花 (HIKARI / Daia no Hana)" by Yoriko
ED: "ナミダボシ (Namidaboshi)" by PUPPYPET
Watch Status: Subbed(Oyasumi Subs)

Summary

Show starts with some funny flashbacks(typical shounen) and then we get in to real time where some guy has been elected governer. Then a one-eyed guy seems to wanna catch him as he’s a gangleader of some sorts.

One-eye guy is very poor and can’t afford food. After helping a waitress-in-distress, he gets it. Then he’s at a party for the governer and he meets the guy he’s supposed to catch. His other eye(turns out it’s not blind) can see the future and it turns out the target will die in 5 mins by some guy.

He tries to get to him 1st but is beaten by other guy, who has XIII(13)engraved on his chest.He confronts the guy but the target’s underling comes and disturbs. After that, one-eye guy goes to a pawn shop to try and get some money, buy the shopkeeper throws him out after he reveals he met the XIII guy, supposedly a shinigami.End

Opinion

Well, picked it up just because it seems nice. But just standard shounen fare for this season. There’s just tons of similarities with other titles though, with the eye thing and Kurapika. Not really surprising since I’d read an article on a local mag about the tons of similarities of BC and HXH.

I haven’t read the manga yet, so I can judge this somewhat ‘unbiased’ly.Well, comes with experience from tons of bad manga-anime conversions *coughnegimacough*. Luckily, I don’t see the XEBEC word anywhere, so it should be better.

The show seems quite OK, but the pacing needs some changes. The flashing back was quite jarring to me. Art is done quite good, but nothing outstanding(unlike Negima,*stabs XEBEC*).

OP and ED are quite nice to listen too, not outstanding like Shakugan( damn, I just can’t resist mentioning Shakugan, WHEN ARE THE SINGLES COMING OUT!!!!!!!! ) but still nice to listen too.I kinda find the ED sequence a bit creepy, with all of them turned into cats, taking the ‘Cat’ part of ‘Black Cat’ too seriously I guess.

Overall, still interesting. I’ll follow this one on subs. It’s not gonna be on my “Must-watch” list(a.k.a watch raw).

Shakugan no Shana 02

2005-10-13T17:29:00.000+08:00

Summary

Continuing off from the last episode, Shana says that Yuuji is dead already.Yuuji is clearly shocked by it (who won’t?) and keeps tailing Shana. She explains about the Guuzen no Toma and about the Torches to Yuuji when he keeps tailing her.He has a shock when he realizes that he might not be the real Sakai Yuuji.

They stop for some melon-pan(flashes of DearS suddenly come up) and continue on home. Yuuji asks who’s Shana is and she replies that she’s a Flame Haze,(apparently, Japanese failed here) exterminator of the Toma and Rinne, and leaves Yuuji surprised.

Shana discusses with Alastor(her pendent) about the attack and Yuuji, the misutesu. Bad guy also discusses with the doll, Marie about the Flame Haze.

Next day, Yuuji wakes up realizing it’s not a dream.After breakfast, he leaves for school but meets Shana again. Shana explains that he’s a misutesu, a treasure coveted by the Toma(?, again not accurate), and she thinks that it’s easier to get her job done by following Yuuji around, since he’ll be targeted.

Then Hirai-san passes by and her ‘Torch’ is going to be exterminated. Sakai doesn’t want this and spends the day trying to cheer her up, including trying to hook her with his friend Ike,whom Hirai’s interested in.

Unfortunately, all his efforts go to waste and Hirai-san disappears.Shana appears and says that’s what happens to a Torch. Yuuji then asks Shana her name. She says she’s only a Flame Haze and has no name. Yuuji then gives Shana her name and introduces himself as Sakai Yuuji, in an attempt to acknowledge each other’s existence.

Opinions

Shakugan is not letting me down yet. This episode gives some explanation on the Torches and other things in the Shakugan universe.

Torches seem to be the replacements of the human souls that the Toma eats in order to keep the balance of the world in order. Seems that once the fire burns out the person will be forgotten.

Shana, the Flame Haze, is the counter force for the Toma and there seems to be more than one. While Yuuji, the misutesu, possesses some kind of treasure coveted by the Toma and also gives him some power, like not being influenced by the spell in Ep.01 and also remembering Hirai, even though she’s disappeared.

Shana was also kinda cute in this episode. Rie Kugamiya does a fine job voicing here. It was surprising to discover that she was the voice of Al in FMA. My personal high points of Shana:

‘setsume owari!!’ – moé +5

Melon-pan fetish – moé +7

The part when Yuuji names her – moé +5

Yes, ‘melon-pan eating girls that use swords are incredibly moé!!!!!!’. XD XD.

The next episode seems to introduce a second Flame Haze, the big breasted woman(every moé anime needs them I guess) and an attack by the bad guys in the school.Looks interesting. I kinda thought that the woman was one of the bad guys all the while. Well, I can imagine much comedy ahead.

Jigoku Shoujo 02

2005-10-13T16:42:00.000+08:00

OP: 「逆さまの蝶」 by SNoW (Sakasama no Chou)

Summary

Poor girl, Kyoko(voiced by Ai Shimizu! Moé +5), is being harassed by a pervert. She tries the Jigoku Tsuushin out of desperation and the pervert is nicely dealt with by Enma and her associates.

Opinion

Well, I guess I’m lacking a bit in the energy dept. so the summary was short. Anyways, Jigoku Shojo will be following the same formula so, it’s expected.

First off, Kyoko DID NOT DESERVE TO GO TO HELL!!! And Enma didn’t torture that damned perverted stalker bastard enough! He needs more punishment. Well, I guess that Ai Shimizu playing the victim added to the sentiment much.

I guess this shows the seriousness that Enma conducts her ‘business’. No choice left when you really wish ppl to go to hell. Ahh… the darkness of people’s hearts.

In any case, there’s much more involvement of Enma’s associates this time around, as nicely referenced in Random’s post but nothing too specific. Enma also lives with a yet-to-be seen grandma, the previous Jigoku Shoujo maybe?

Also, the animators must really not like Microsoft. The browser of choice seems to be Firefox while Enma uses an old Macintosh PC. But still, it was really funny to see the Mac in Enma’s place.

Sakasama no Chou also sounds really good. Somehow the tune really fits with the series. Even the Engrish was done nicely, haha. Can’t wait for the appearance of the singles. Damn, all the anime this season could’ve sucked but I’d still be darned satisfied with the music only.

Shuffle! 12

2005-10-13T16:09:00.000+08:00

(No screencaps starting for this post onwards. I have a serious problem once I start getting screencaps as evidenced by my latest posts. Well, if there’s intersteing things, I’ll put them up)

Summary

It’s time for the summer vacation homework and Rin, Sia and Nerine are trying to finish it together. Rin-kun gets a bit ‘overexcited’ but manages to finish ahead of Sia and Nerine. He proceeds to finish off his last assignment, which is a landscape sketch, and decides to draw the riverbank. There, he meets up with Asa-sempai who proceeds to ask Rin which girl has he decided on, prompting embarrassment from Rin, especially when Asa-sempai says he’s going for Primula-chan ;). On the way back, Rin and Asa bump into Kareha-sempai, who proceeds to ‘misunderstand’ when Asa says they’ve just came from the river(damn, she’s really funny) and also Itsuki, who adds oil to Kareha’s fire, haha.

But back home, Primula suddenly faints when she tries to help out Kaede water the plants, freezing the whole garden in the process. When, Rin gets back, he discovers that Primula has a 50°C fever. He asks Sia and Nerine if they know what’s happening but both have no idea. Then, Shin-oh and Ma-boh, call him over and they reveal that Primula is an artificially-made life under the Yggdrasil project. It seems that Primula’s soul is the only success but she has no emotions.It seems that being with Rin has awakened Primula’s emotions causing her to lose control of her powers.Primula stubbornly refuses to go back to the Makai for treatment but Rin finally makes her go. They sadly part. Back in the Makai, it seems that Primula will be unable to go back to the human realm anymore.

Opinions

Shuffle! starts to get serious with this episode, especially with the revelation of Primula’s background. I haven’t played the game yet, but I did get spoiled, thanks to Animesuki forums, so this wasn’t much of a shocker here. I expect more drama and angst soon. Wonder who will Rin end up with? Well, me being a KKK and AAA member, I do hope that Kaede or Asa gets him. I like Kaede’s back-story the most, though.

Shuffle! is also abusing the R-15 rating, evidenced by the eye-catch, which has now changed to be more ecchi and serious BGM.. The title screen also had some changes with the black background and red wording.

The preview for the next episode, shows much drama, with glimpses of Kikyou, and Rin talking to Nerine on the swing they met in the 1st episode. Being spoiled, there’s not much surprise to me, but still I want to watch it and see how will they end the anime.

Tadaima~~~...

2005-10-10T22:44:00.000+08:00

Ahh…. damn, it seems that Vampire mode isn’t suited for my body unless I get bitten 1st :(.

On Friday, the overexertion of my body finally took it’s toll and I got a very very painful stomachache.I went to a nearby clinic to no avail and finally, a good Samaritan visiting the clinic sent me to the hospital, where it turns out I have kidney stones. Had to stay in it for 3 days to get tested :P.

Well, finally I’m out and I’m back at my home with my family. I’ll resume blogging as soon as I can, although probably not at the same rate as recently, maybe I’ll take the chance to migrate to other blogging methods.. Hmm, seems I’ve missed quite a lot.

Mai-Otome - 01

2005-10-07T09:46:00.000+08:00

OP: 「Dream☆Wing」 by 栗林みな実
ED: 「乙女はDO　MY　BESTでしょ？」 by 菊地美香 and 小清水亜美(sucks)
Watch Status: Raw
Genre: Fantasy, Mahou shoujo

Warning: Lots of screencaps, 56-kers be warned.

OP Sequence

Summary

In a medieval world, a castle is being attacked. An injured women is running away with something. She reaches a stream and lowers what’s she’s carrying into it. It turns out to be a baby and with a beautiful pendent. She wishes the baby to live and watch as it floats away. Then her pursuers catch up with her, and she starts to fight. Fast forward 14 years later, in the middle of a desert, where a girl is stranded in it. A ship passes by (anyone notice the resemblance to Mai-HiME?) but it doesn’t stop to rescue her. The girl follows the ship to some kind of port where she tries to steal someone’s drink but trips and makes a big mess. Later, she wakes up to be confronted by her ‘victim’, Nina Wong, and her father, Sergey Wong. The girl introduces herself as Yumemiya Arika. She follows Nina on to town where she’s fascinated with the sights and sounds. Suddenly, they see a girl confronted by 3 guys on top of a building and they save her. Then they reach an airport (I think) where the girl they saved reveals her ring and she seems to be someone important. A giant monster attacks them and Nina asks the girl to be her temporary Master where she changes into an Otome and fights off the monster but she’s too weak. Arika’s pendent shines and the aircraft they’re sheltering in lifts off with the monster, called a Slave, on it. Natsuki sends Akane and Shizuru on a rescue mission where they successfully complete it. They land down and Arika proclaims she’s going to be an Otome after seeing Shizuru’s prowess ( who isn’t, lol). End.

ED Sequence

Opinions

One of the most anticipated new shows of this season, Mai-Otome, the spinoff of last year’s dramatic Mai-HiME, doesn’t disappoint on the first episode. You *cannot* argue on the greatness that is Shizuru, period.

In any case, Otome is set in a somewhat Victorian-style fantasy world, most probably to exploit the meido theme for this year. Speaking about that, there’s still Rozen Maiden: tràumènd to come… ahhh, the anticipation.

It is nice to see all our old favorite Mai-Hime characters back in action, especially Natsuki and Shizuru. God, Sunrise made them much much more cooler. ARIGATO GOZAIMASU~!!! I’d actually thought that Nina Wong’s gonna be Natsuki’s version in this story but thankfully I was wrong. And god damn, Shizuru is damn cool,especially with her trademark scythe. Second only to my fetish on girls with swords, is scythe users(especially girls). In Mai-Hime, I’d felt that Shizuru’s capabilities was wasted but it’s good to see Sunrise changing that. More Shizuru plzz~~!!!!!!!!

As for the main characters, Arika is definitely no Mai. Mai had more charisma and undoubtedly Arika loses in that department. She feels really ‘noisy’ and kinda resembles Momono in Gunbuster 2. Well, we’ll see what she’ll be when the drama kicks in.

Nina Wong plays a good job as the coolheaded one of the team, up on par with Natsuki in Mai-Hime. Funny that, Tate’s version in the universe is her father. Wonder is the Sunrise team are hinting something, hmm….

Mashiro is…. bratty, I’ll say. Far cry from her days as the stoic Mashiro in Mai-Hime. Still, it’s only the first episode and it’s kinda funny to see her acting like that, still prefer the old one though. I can see a lot of tsukkomi opportunities with her and Arika to Nina.

On the art and animation side, Sunrise keeps the style of Mai-Hime and the animation work has not much fault. The action scenes are fluidly done, especially the Shizuru parts \(^_^)/

But the OP & ED are big letdowns for me. I didn’t really like the Mai-Hime OP and ED much and the ones for Mai-Otome sound really uninspired especially the ED. OP sequence was done really nicely though, but the ED sequence just plain sucks. BGM is a different matter though, with Yuki-sama doing her best as usual. The BGM used on Shizuru and Akane’s ‘launch’ sequence(well, coming from the studio that created Gundam, no surprise there) is really good and gives me high hopes for the OST.

Overall, Mai-Otome shows much promise on the first episode.Can’t really judge what’ll become, look at Mai-Hime. It’ll be on my blogging list even if the first half is just boring fanservice. Well, we’ll just have to wait and see if it can match up to Mai-Hime.

BTW, who noticed Tate and Fumi?

ARIA - 01

2005-10-07T03:08:00.000+08:00

OP: "ウンディーネ (Undine)" by Yui Makino(I’m starting to like Yui Makino’s voice)
ED: "Rainbow" by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino
Watch Status: Raw
Genre: Slice of life

Note: No OP Sequence in this episode, I think. And no it’s not because I’m lazy.

Summary

The show starts off with the main character, Mizuhashi Akari awoken by a breeze of wind through her open window. She’s living with someone named Alicia and they start of their day pretty normally. They also have a pet named Aria Shachou (Chairman Aria). Alicia and Akari own a Gondola operating business and Akari is Alicia’s apprentice. After Alicia leaves, a guy and a girl calls in asking for Alicia(who seems to be very popular). Akari then leaves for practice but finds a girl in her Gondola. After some “persuasion”, Akari takes the girl, Ai, for a Gondola ride in Neo-Venice(I presume, since the resemblance is obvious). They meet with Akari’s friend, Aika, and go together. They stop for some baked potatoes where Aria Shachou falls in the water and gets swept away. Akari attempts to save Aria but Alicia does it instead. After that, Ai mentions about her sister( not going into detail here) and when they get back to shore, Ai presents Akari with an envelope addressed to Alicia. Alicia later opens it and it turns out to be one of her customers. End.

ED Sequence

Opinion

Well, I had doubts about watching this show since from the summaries I’ve read, it sounds like a shounen feature, I mean, “adventures of a girl trying to become the best Undine” really sounds like a description for a sports/adventure series. But, well, I kinda decided to try it since, well, if the girl is cute, what the heck, hehe.

But it really turns out otherwise. From the beginning, the show already permeates a relaxing mood with the great backgrounds and sounds. The character designs are quite good (although Garten thinks otherwise) and the usage of SD and funny expressions was quite good.

As for the music, the OP done by Yui Makino sounds nice and relaxing, her voice kinda does that to me, dunno why, though I kinda suspect that her role as Sakura in Tsubasa Chronicle plays a part in it. She’s also a rising star nowadays it seems. The ED done by Round Table Nino is also nice, but not on par with their work on Gunbuster 2. I guess it’ll grow on me later on. Besides, I’m having an obsession now with "Yowake Umare Kuru Shoujo" ;). Didn’t notice much about the BGM’s but still, I guess my brain was too relaxed to notice.

I guess I’ll be blogging this series as well, if I have time off from Shakugan. But it’s mostly slice of life so expect short and sweet entries on it.

Shakugan no Shana - 01

2005-10-06T11:23:00.000+08:00

OP: 「緋色の空」 by 川田まみ ("Hishoku no Sora" by Mami Kawada)
ED: 「夜明け生まれ来る少女」 by 高橋洋子 ("Yowake Umare Kuru Shoujo" by Takahashi Yoko)
Watch Status: Raw
Genre: Action/ Supernatural/ Girls with Swords/Fantasy

My most awaited anime title of this season, second to Jigoku Shoujo. Purely because I have predilection for girls with swords. Well, the art is gorgeous as well…. anyways, on to the entry…

(I’m putting in some changes in this entry. All the pics now are reduced thumbnails that link to the original picture, except for the OP, cos of a little mistake)

OP Sequence

Summary

We’re introduced to Yuuji Sakai, normal high school student (hell, any *named* high school student isn’t gonna normal). He has a idyllic, carefree life. The day starts as usual and we see him going on with life as usual. After school, he suddenly decides to do a side trip and ends up being attacked by monsters who can freeze time and suck in human souls (I’m assuming this only, my Japanese failed me for this episode). However he is saved by a girl, Shana, who is an expert at using swords and no doubt very appealing (moé +50). Have I told you all, how big a crush I have on Setsuna-sama from Negima…. Oops, off topic. Ok, anyways, the girl restores everything back to normal and Yuuji, of course has a lot of questions to ask and he starts to whine, irritating Shana who reveals that he’s not human anymore, but he’s dead and he’s a thing (mono). Well, there’s a more detailed explanation but my Japanese failed me again, so wait for subs.

ED Sequence

Opinions

First off, as Random puts it, the OP & ED are fantastically done, especially the OP done by Mami Kawada from I’ve Sound. ED is also quite catchy one you warm up to it. Well, Takahashi Yoko is good at it and I’ve liked her works, especially the infamous Zankoku na Tenshi no TE-ZE, OP for Evangelion.

Next, the art. The art and animation is one of the best I’ve seen for this season, only rivaled by Jigoku Shoujo, understandably, the animation work is done by J.C. Staff, one of the best animation studios around. The action sequences are done fluidly, check out when Shana defeats the “ball of faces” thing in this episode, overdramatic nonetheless but still very very nice. Damn, I can’t wait for the deluge of wallpapers ;).

Of course, the main attraction is Shana, heroine of the series. Her 1337 sword skills (moé + 25) and chibi-ness(moé + 25) is what made me watch anyways. While Yuuji, supposedly ‘hero’ of the show, really comes off to me as too soft. See how much he screams when he was attacked (otoko -5) and how much he whines when Shana cuts him(otoko – 15). Well he didn’t really score too high to me. The bad guys though, show much potential and uniqueness, seen from the OP sequence.

Overall, this series isn’t too be missed. With many talents doing this show, it’s a must watch for this season, if only for the art and nice music. Damn, can’t wait for next week.
So far, this series has been licensed by Geneon, so no info on sub groups doing it. But well, everyone knows what it means…so just wait ;).

Desktop 03 - Sakura x Syaoran.

2005-10-06T02:03:00.000+08:00

Took this gorgeous wallpaper off AnimePaper. Beautifully reconstructed from a 2 page scan and made in to wallpaper thanks to the efforts of WhiteBlaze.Also discovered the usefullness of widgets.

Link to download : 1600

Jigoko Shoujo - 01

2005-10-05T05:17:00.000+08:00

OP: "逆さまの蝶 (Sakasama no Chou)" by SNoW (actually, there’s no OP sequence, but the credits are shown)
ED: "かりぬい (Karinui)" by Mamiko Noto
Watch Status : Raw
Genre : Horror/occult anime

Warning: The author has an illogical bias for Noto Mamiko. Do not expect views to be balanced for the general public.

Summary

The show starts off with some explanations that I don’t get, so wait for the subs. Anyways, we get thrown into a generic high school situation. Some money has been collected and, Hashimoto Mayumi, the class representative is assigned to keep it. But the money suddenly disappears and suddenly one of her classmates appears to help her out.

The classmate(didn’t get her name, but from now on I’ll call her the bitch) uses it as an excuse to bully Mayumi around. She overhears about the Jigoku Tsuushin which apparently appears at 12 midnight. Back home she decides to try it out, but freaks out at the last moment.

Later, after the bullying gets worse, she finally does it and submits the bitch’s name. She receives a message afterwards from the Jigoku Shoujo. But after that, nothing happens.

Then, one day, the bitch forces Mayumi to pick up guys for money but she can’t do it. The bitch then threatens her with a photo, causing Mayumi to commit suicide but she meets the Jigoku Shoujo instead. She introduces herself as Enma Ai and gives Mayumi a doll with a red string tied on it and explains that if she really wants to kill the person, she can remove the red string but her soul will be brought down to Hell once she dies. That done, Mayumi comes back to the real world.

Next day, the bitch sends the photo to the school, causing trouble for Mayumi. She decides to remove the string. Enma springs into action. The bitch is invited to school at night and she is brought around to experience horrible things, and finally, she witnesses a reenactment of her crime. Enma then proceeds to bring her to Hell :).

Finally, Mayumi has returned to her normal self after the death of the bitch. But a mark on her chest appears, signifying that her soul will be brought down to Hell once she dies. End.

ED Sequence

Opinion

A not too bad introduction to the series. It seems that the following episodes will follow the same trend of having some extra character victimized and Enma will bring them to Hell.

There wasn’t any introduction to the other main players, apart from Jigoku Shoujo, herself. She seems to have 3 other subordinates but they aren’t introduced in this episode. Hopefully the next episode will.

Apart from that, the focus of the episode was more on Mayumi. Noto Mamiko didn’t really speak much as Enma, but her voice acting is still top notch. Her voice is, undoubtedly, perfect for such roles.

Overall, might not be interesting to majority, but still, it’s a good change from the current pace of animes out this year.How rare is it to see occult/horror anime nowadays from the h-game and moe anime trends? Besides, the art is nicely done and Noto Mamiko is in it :).

Pani Poni Dash 01-03

2005-10-04T22:40:00.000+08:00

OP:"黄色いバカンス (Kiiroi Vacances)" by Momotsuki Gakuen 1 Nen C Gumi
ED: "ガールッピ (Girlppi) " by Momotsuki Gakuen A ☆B Gumi
Watch Status: Subbed

WARNING: Tons, I mean TONS of screenies in this post. 56k-er’s be forewarned.

OP Sequence

Character Profiles
Rebecca Miyamoto : Main character of this show. Nicknamed Becky. 11 year old genius who graduated from MIT at 10 and now teaching Class 1-C of Momotsuki Gakuen

Mesousa: Becky’s pet. Frequently abused.

Miyako Uehara: Has a large forehead and nicknamed benkyou-mushi(study bug).

Kurumi Momose: Her specialty is being plain.

Rei Tachibana: Acts like the class representative and likes to bully Becky ^_^;;, causing Becky to nickname her as ijimekko(bully girl)

Sayaka Suzuki : Likes to say “of the year”(yes, in English) and nicknamed dekaribon(big ribbon)

Himeko Katagiri : Chou genki(very active) and likes Becky because of her chibikko-ness. Nicknamed ahoge after her hair.

Ichijo-san : The ‘true’ class representative of 1-C. Acts mysteriously and DO NOT EAT ANYTHING SHE GIVES YOU. Remember Watanuki, remember Watanuki.

Jijii : Class teacher of 1-D.

Akira Miyata : Dojikko. Has the ability to fall just about anywhere.

Akane Serizawa : Member of the drama club. Likes to act overdramatically.

Behoimi : Mahou shoujo. Her name is spoof of a healing spell of a popular RPG.

Tsurugi Inugami : The model student guy. Has good tsukkomi abilities.

Misao Nanjo : The rich girl.

Hibiki Watanuki : Part of the student council's information gathering squad. Currently MIA.

Saotome : P.E. teacher. ’nuff said.

Suzune Shiratori : In Saotome’s class. Gives off the impression of being slow.

Otome Akiyama: Short but athletic. Target of bullying by Suzune.

Summary
Episode 1 : We’re introduced to Rebecca Miyamoto, 11-yr old genius and graduate of MIT. She’s come back to Japan to teach in Momotsuki Gakuen. She gets lost on her first day and reaches class late. After a finger and a kawaii attack, she settles down with her class.

Episode 2 : Rebecca hasn’t memorized her student’s names and calls them by nicknames instead, complaining that their names don’t match their personalities. One of her students, Kurumi is depressed because Becky calls her plain, making Rebecca try to cheer her up but the class representative screws it up (^.^);;;. After more things happen, she finally manages to memorize her name, cheering Kurumi up :).

Episode 3 : One of the students from another class, Watanuki, tries to find out more about Becky, thus she hides behind the blackboard in Becky’s class… but she gets stuck. Meanwhile, Becky grows an ahoge , causing Himeko to squeal in joy. Pissed off, she pulls off Becky’s ahoge, causing her to lose all energy. Becky proceeds to lose the ahoge and tries to make an artificial one, with poor Mesousa becoming the guinea pig ^_^;;. After numerous failed attempts, she succeeds and Himeko gains back her energy, albeit a little bit too much than before ;). While, poor Watanuki... gets..oh, well..

ED Sequence

Opinion.

This is what’ll you get if you cross Excel Saga with Azumanga Daioh. I kinda downloaded it for fun and god, I wish I’d downloaded this earlier. The gags are damn funny and seriously makes me go WTF?!!! at times.

Also Rebecca’s seiyuu is damn good. Chiwa Saitou just gained a place in my Top 10 seiyuu list. Her voicing of Becky is soo talented, turning from sarcasm to chou kawaii-ness without missing a beat. Check out episode 1, where she actually shows the ‘Finger’ to her class and shouts at them only to be hit by one her students to cower behind the curtains. Damn, moé + 100.

Another character to mention is Himeko, her antics really cracked me up and with Orikasa Fumiko’s voice, she’s me second favourite character after Becky-chan ^_^.
The rest of Becky’s class is also unique and funny, esp. Ichijou-san, with that permanent spaced-out look and killer foods.

Vanilla Yamazaki does a nice job voicing Mesousa, Becky’s poor pet rabbit. It’s really a nice contrast to her genki Haiji in Tsukoyomi and she pulls off Mesousa’s depressed voice real nice.

The other classes also have their fair share of funnies. Jiji’s class has a mahou shoujo, overdramatic actress, dojikko, rich girl who likes animals(I stress the animal part) and the model student(only guy in the show).

The 3rd episode was also a blast, with Himeko losing her genki power after Becky removes her ahoge. Saotome’s class also was really funny, esp. on the part where Suzune pokes Otome on the head in an attempt to stunt her (already stunted) growth. Was LMAO at that point. Also I pity poor Watanuki, innocently accepting Ichijou’s ‘drink’, resulting in her ‘MIA’-ness. -_-;;;

The tons of anime/manga references are also a nicely done. I have to comment Oyasumi Subs for such a nice job in doing research for the references.

The OP sequence is also to die for, with the 60’s/70’s touch. Really reminds me of James Bond movie OP sequences somewhat, with the catchy OP. The ED is also done nicely. Well, off to watch the remaining 4 episodes. And before I go, a *modest* screencap gallery.

Screencap Gallery

Uncomprehensible Random Stuff

2005-10-04T06:52:00.000+08:00

Turning in to a vampire can be somewhat boring. So here’s some random stuff I typed while surfing the whole night away.

DISCLAIMER: Author does not guarantee any correctness or truthfulness in this post. The Author has been awake for more than 22 hrs at the time of submission of this post and is not thinking straight. The author would like to thank MS Word’s spell-check function for even making this post comprehensible.

Firstly, I’m having some funny obsession with Matt’s blog. I mostly think it’s due to the Shoutbox and the “Recent posts” column. I guess 5 months of no Internet makes you do this.

Secondly, I’ve fallen in love with AnimePaper.net. A lot of talented people making a lot of nice wallies over there. Too bad, I suck at art much. But TBH, I kinda feel that the general forums are a bit too boring and clichéd. I mean, the anime forums consist of “what’s you’re fav. Anime?” , “who’s your favorite character?” kinda threads. Well, I don’t blame them, guess they’re all trying to reach Community Member level. The walls there are to die for… 15 papers is very limiting…..

Thirdly, Microsoft should adopt the OS-tans as mascots for Windows. Heck, find and pay some talented artists like Akamatsu-sensei, to create the designs. Then add them in as default wallpapers and theme packs. I assure you, sales of Windows will suddenly boost up especially among otakus.

Hmm… what else… ah, yes. I have this weird problem with BT nowadays. It seems for some funny reason, I can only connect to *remote* peers. I can’t connect to local ones. Mostly, only reason is because of no port forwarding, that you can connect to local ones. It kinda feels that my problem is the opposite of it (^_^;;). I can still get good speeds but torrents take longer to start. Anyone knows any possible reasons and/or solutions?

Oh, and Friendster is annoying to use nowadays. Ever since they’ve added the “Add CSS, music or video” feature to the site, I’ve seen profiles where it takes quite a while to load and they add in all sorts of stupid streaming video/audio feeds to it. The distastefully done scrolling text in some profiles annoys me. I’ve been keeping away from Friendster mainly becos of that. The default profiles are much better and nicer looking anyways.

Now, back to surfing….. or perhaps sleeping….. maybe….. saaa~~~~…..

Canvas2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~ - 01

2005-10-03T18:06:00.000+08:00

OP: [PLASTIC SMILE] by YURIA(yay!)
ED: 「NA NA IRO」 by YURIA(again, yay!), 小池雅也, and K杉
Genre: H-game anime.

OP Sequence

Summary

H-game protagonist type A wakes up to find his “imouto” (ooo) sleeping next to him. After morning glomps by imouto, he makes breakfast and imouto wants to marry him. They head to school and we discover a nice twist, h-game protagonist isn’t a high school student!!!! .He’s imouto’s guardian (o.0…ooo). School starts off and Chairwoman, Saginomiya Saya, gives her speech. After that, Saya-san has a word with HGP(ok, I got lazy of typing H-game protagonist, what’s his goddamn name?!!) and she hopes that Kamikura-san(so, he’s finally named!) will paint something for her office, but he refuses.

After that, he heads to the library, and we’re introduced to Hagino, Lolita of the series. She has a laptop and asks a lot of questions. Looks like Kamikura is a sensei (ero potential(EP) +2) and imouto-san might not be his imouto after all (EP +2 again). She then asks something about kissing to which at this point, my nihon-go failed me.

Green-hair girl appears, apparently named Takeuchi and asks him to do something. It turns out to be an art appreciation section and Kamikura is the art-club advisor.Imouto-san appears and intro’s herself as Hosen Elise(gaikoku-jin? EP +3) and she’s actually Kamikura’s itoko. A member appears carrying a bunch of red roses, the next theme for painting, and Kamikura asks Elise to paint with them, but she refuses, in a bad way. She gets scolded and runs off.

Back home, they reconcile and Elise asks him to resume painting but he refuses.The next day, Elise is accused of sabotaging. She gets mad and runs off when Kamikura asks her.But it seems that he actually doesn’t think that she did it. He runs in with Lol…Hagino and she questions what’s hidden beneath Elise’s blue rose painting earlier. Some girl named Hikari-chan passes by and they both go greet her. She hides something and Hagino becomes curious. Hikari reveals that she’s the culprit, causing Kamikura to go find Elise at the supermarket.

Apology accepted, they go home but Elise freaks out when the traffic lights go red.It seems she has a traumatic past (moé +5) where her parents died in a car accident, her being the sole survivor.

After reaching home, Kamikura explains about the culprit on the phone with Takeuchi and Elise makes yakisoba, which is apparently bad.Another day comes, and they’re late for school. Rushing, they pass by someone when Kamikura suddenly stops. Looks like he just met an old crush……

ED Sequence

Opinion

In continuing this year’s slew of h-game anime’s, Canvas2 ~Niji-iro no Sketch~, offers nothing much interesting or new(unlike Shuffle!). We get the normal h-game protagonist, imouto,osananajimi, Lolita, meganekko and etc. I don’t really think I’ll be following up this series, unless I have free time from Mai-Otome, Jigoku Shoujo, Rozen Maiden 2 and Shakugan plus my current watchlist. Well, Canvas2 does have the advantage of airing on Sundays, which is relatively free to me. I might use it to practice my ECM powers, though probably won’t be on par with moy’s level, since I’ve been away from blogging for quite awhile. One funny part I found, is the preview for episode 2, of which Elise and Hiroki(the guy’s name,revealed in the end) discuss about osananajimi’s and imouto’s

On art, Canvas2, which considering the side theme is art, is quite OK. Character designs are kinda clićhed to which I find none of the girls really attractive to me. But the animation work is still OK. Seiyuu work is also decent, though none of my favorites are in it, so -5 to

One plus point is the OP and ED, which has YURIA in it. Ever since hearing YOU, Shuffle!’s OP, and Mirage Lullaby, the Shuffle! game OP, I’ve been interested in her. The OP and ED are quite good, but still pales in comparison to YOU, IMHO. I’ll be waiting for the singles to come out, though.

Overall, Canvas2 is just the average,run-of-the-mill, h-game adaptation. I suggest only picking it up for your free time, if only for the okay art and animation. Other than that, I don’t really think it will be a memorable title.

P.S. : I don’t know why, but for some reason, my PC hung 5 times in a row while I was trying to post this up. I’m posting it because of Microsoft’s AutoRecovery and sheer willpower :).

Review (rant) of Gundam SEED Destiny.

2005-10-02T12:05:00.000+08:00

(I apologize for the lack of pictures… too damned lazy to get it, besides other blogs have tons of pics)

Disclaimer: I’m having a lack of sleep and utter disappointment, so what I’ve typed here is not subject to accuracy blabla bla…(other normal disclaimer crap).

First of all, my first brush with Gundams was actually with SEED Destiny, so I don’t have much to refer back to from other Gundam series’ which I haven’t watched yet. I did watch Gundam SEED though :).

Seed Destiny starts off promisingly. I admit, watching Shinn’s family getting blown in to pieces was a much interesting way to start off a show, rather than SEED’s peaceful life in the Heliopolis colony.

The subsequent parts of Armory One’s attack, Minerva’s pursuit of Girty Lue and the Junius 7 drop was quite good in fact… I’d even spawned an unhealthy obsession to Stellar-chan. Too bad she died early ;_;.

IMO, things started to spiral down from Stellar’s death and the subsequent conversion of Shinn to the Dark Side(yes, numerous Star Wars references abound in Seed Destiny). The plot also really suffered as Fuck… Fukuda employed numerous flashback episodes. Besides, the story was getting really imbalanced as due to the power of company executives, Kira and Athrun were re-elevated to main character status after the initial focus on Shinn. That was what really made it sucky.

Also, the traditions of SEED (stock footage and flashbacks) came back with vengeance as I’d like to put it in simple terms … “If they’d cut out the flashbacks and stock footage, GSD would have finished in 24-26 episodes.”

Pacing also sucked as they had 2, I mean 2, goddamn flashback episodes in the span of the last 10 episodes. Running out of budget I guess. Not to mention that they’d dedicated 1 episode to a (mostly) useless character instead of the more major characters.

The ending also didn’t really solve much of the plot successfully although Talia, Gil and Rey got some character development in the end.. to which I scream “Why did Meer get her own episode while Talia, Rey and Gil gets only 5 minutes?” . Totally illogical :p.

Some of my guesses were also shot though, Luna was on my “to-die” list since 45. This means a possibility of Seed 3 or at the least an OVA(which is semi confirmed already). Ahh…I can see it, Seed 3, where Luna and Shinn go open an orphanage or something and Maaya Sakamoto will *finally* get to use her singing voice, lol. Also Shinn really sucked for the ending, I mean, he just cried like a baby, damn… -10 to manliness.

In all, GSD had good potential, but no thanks to the power of commercialization, marketing executives and “no-balls”ness(*coughfukudacough*), GSD is relegated (to me) into the “average anime” category.

Wallpaper : Ren v2.

2005-10-01T20:40:00.000+08:00

I just can't seem to keep walls, hehe. But well, I had a good reason to change. Found this great wall off Minitokyo of Ren-sama, my current idol for worshipping ^_^ . Enjoy :)

Link to download original : 1024

Shuffle 11

2005-10-01T20:27:00.000+08:00

Well, I’m going to restart blogging, and I’ll start off with Shuffle 11. Bear with my sucky layout for now, I’m going to redesign it soon ^_^.

For this episode of Shuffle, the focus is on Mayumi and Big Bre…Nadeshiko-sensei’s. The animators also took a unique approach by having the 1st half to Mayumi and the 2nd to Nadeshiko-sensei, so I’ll summarize both POV’s

Mayumi: After ending her extra summer classes, Mayumi runs off and bumps into Rin, resulting in a potentially embarrassing scene. Rin shows how much stress by having 5 girls on him, pissing off Mayumi royally. She then goes off to Kareha-sempai’s part time café to have a drink but discovers she’s lost her purse. Kareha-sempai, in a bout of kindness, lets her pay it off by working for a while. So Mayumi decides to go along but an unfortunate ‘accident’ results in a verrryyy embarrassing situation. After that she goes back home, only to meet with Rin-kun half way who returns her purse and her “daijin no mono”.

Nadeshiko-sensei: After shouting reminders at Mayumi, she is confronted by a student asking her some stuff (my Japanese failed me at this point, so read the subs when it comes out ^_^, it’s not gonna be much important anyways). After a ordinary teacher-student lecture, she finds Mayumi’s wallet and runs into Rin-kun, where a slight remark made by Primula-chan almost ends up with her laying the smackdown on Rin-kun. Man, you gotta love Rim-chan’s ‘stoicness’. After that, a guy tries to flirt with her with the lamest pick-up lines and she shows off her 1337 powers by slicing the guy’s bottle into half, barehanded. Then, Itsuki, teaming up with Ma-boh, tries to flirt with her, resulting in a big shock for Itsuki….. After a meal with Asa-sempai, Nadeshiko-sensei reaches home to a message(lecture) from mom about her in time to get married. After a nice display of her assets, she does normal boring everyday stuff and finally decides to go to Mayumi’s house, a public bathhouse.

In the end, Mayumi and Nadeshiko-sensei have private bath where they discuss things. Well, it’s basically a fanservice moment, so I won’t go into much detail here, other blogs, like moy’s have screencap’d this to hell :).

The animators for Shuffle! are doing a nice job with it, having episodes dedicated to each character even for the minor ones like Mayumi and Nadeshiko-sensei. Mayumi’s part offers a lot of laughs and I daresay…’too much excitement’, esp the wind blowing part, lol.

Meanwhile, we get a much slower pace with Nadeshiko-sensei’s part showing a normal adult’s life with the nagging and stuff.Also we seem to get some hints concerning Asa-sempai and Nadeshiko-sensei. They seem quite close. Partners-in-crime (for hiding crushes on Rin-kun), I guess.

Well, don’t trust me much on this though, my Japanese has gone down the drain a bit, so it might be quite inaccurate, esp. on parts where lots of talking is involved. I guess it’ll get better, later.

Ren-sama.....

2005-09-28T13:40:00.000+08:00

Well, in an effort to make myself blog more, I'm taking a leaf out of moy's book and posting up my recent wallpapers. Hope you don't mind, eh. I guess a little bit of exhibitism has grown in me :).

Well, TBH, my monitor isn't really a fancy LCD or anything. It's a 2 year old trustworthy 17' CRT by LG. Well, i would want a LCD but.... binbo desu..

Anyways, here's my recent desktop, Ren-sama from Erementar Gerad!!! For those who've been reading me recently would know I'm having a Ren moe thing going on. Well, just snatched this nice wall off animepaper.net, so if you want to get it, go over there(registration requirted though) and support those guys :).

Similarities.

2005-09-27T04:17:00.000+08:00

Well, I was spamming Erementar Gerad until 22 when I found something interesting.....

I was in a state of confusion at that point, because both of them have the same stoicness, hair(well, almost) and looks. Heck, I'd thought that I'd somehow loaded in Shuffle! instead, haha.

In any case, I WANT MORE REN!!!!!!! Dang, now I wish Eval Power would hurry with their manga scanlations, cos the anime Ren isn't as cool as manga Ren... nevertheless, both Ren's are great.

Oh, and I look forward to more of moy's nicely done D.C.S.S entries.

Omedeto Tanjoubi again and some rants.

2005-09-26T01:56:00.000+08:00

First of all, I'd like to wish Inoue Kikuko-sama a very Happy Birthday. A bit late though as I was quite busy recently. She's the seiyuu for countless infamous "onee-sama" type roles which include Belldandy from Aa! Megami-sama(no doubt her most famous role), Kazami Mizuho from the Onegai! series, Chitose Hibiya from Chobits and most recently, Agnes from Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo. I wish her prolonged success and a happy future ahead ;).

That settled, rant time! :).

I've been getting attached to Reverie "Ren" Metherlence. Ren-chan wa chou kawaii desu yo!!!! It's a freaking pity the anime was done by XEBEC, which means it sucks. Even with Yuki Kajiura-sama's music, it doesn't help the show. I really can't believe though I'm watching it purely for 1 character, haha. The seiyuu's are doing a fine job by the way, but it's a freaking waste of talent for Akira Ishida to go around saying, "Kimi ni mamoritai da" or "Ore-wa tsuyoku narerunda". So bloody cliched.

The manga is much more better(obvoiusly) and I've read the 1st volume thanks to Eval Power. Ren-chan gets powered up in the manga, haha, with kawaii +10 and "sharpness" +10, making me go 'Ren moe-power' +100.I WANT MORE REN!!!!! AND WHY THE FUCK ARE PPL STILL TRUSTING XEBEC TO MAKE MANGA-ANIME CONVERSIONS!!!!!!! XEBEC treatment = -1000 coolness. We should all start an anti-XEBEC petition to do manga-anime conversions.

As for the others, there's nothing much noticable with this season's anime except for Hachikuro. I get very depressed everytime I watch it but I still want more of it! My favourite part right now is the relationship of Rika-Mayama-Ayumi. Don't know why, but i really like Rika and I'm rooting for her.

The other ones are Shuffle! and FMP:TSR. The Sia arc now is disappointing me. I'm behind Kaede all the way. Kitto Kitto Kaede-chan!!!!! FMP:TSR subs are also kinda slow, but i guess being spoiled on the novel wasn't good.Already know what happens, haha.

Well, there's always next season to look forward to. Mai Otome, Jigoku Shoujo, Rozen Maiden ~traumend~ , Shakugan no Shana and Blood+. I'll probably revert to watching raws as the fansub community seems to be slow recently. Well, I don't blame them, the season is really disappointing anyways.Just hopefully, they'll finish off all their projects.

Omedeto Tanjoubi.

2005-09-20T17:40:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since i've blogged. IRL, i'm busy with my projects and my Finals are coming. The good news is my Final's last day will coincide with the beginning of the Fall Season. I've also lost my voice now due to overexertion......

Well, anyways, I'm blogging today is to wish Yui Horie-san a very happy birthday. For those who dunno, she's a prolific seiyuu with a lot of famous works under her name, most notably for her roles as Naru Narusegawa in Love Hina, Honda Tohru of Fruits Basket and most recently Tamami of Mahoraba ~Heartful Days~.

She's one of my favourite seiyuu's (Ayako-sama being top now) and I wish her luck and success all the way ^^.

General : Isshashiburi desu ne....

2005-09-06T23:42:00.000+08:00

Ah yes. It's been quite a while since I posted anything. I still really don't have any energy to post up anime entries. Lack of involvement also seems to be a factor. I think I got disconnected a bit too long. Still recovering from the "No Internet" Syndrome.

Truth to be told, I'm catching up on the backlog of 5 months of anime I missed. I can feel my linemates cursing at me though !_!, as to how I abuse the line so splendidly ^_^.

As a reference, this is my current watchlist:
Gundam SEED Destiny (fucking Fukuda)
Shuffle! (KAEDE-CHAN!!!!! [guess which group I'm in])
Trinity Blood (Vampire Vash)
Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo (only cos Inoue Kikuko's in it)
Okusawa wa Joshikousei (only cos Ayako Kawasumi's in it)
Honey and Clover (BEST. ANIME. EVER.)
Speed Grapher (Gonzo's not losing steam, yet)
Saikano OVA (who isn't watching this?)
Full Metal Panic:Second Raid (need to change groups, Bakakozou = turtle)
Ichigo Mashimaro (to satisfy the lolicon in me)

And also Fall's coming in,I'll probably gain back the energy to blog by that time so here's a list of potential shows for me :

Mai Otome (Like "DUH!")
Rozen Maiden 2 (Shinku rulez)
Jigoku Shoujo (occult anime, hmm...)
Blood+ (Gore? Yummy!)

Fall anime also seems to contain more harem anime(I'm starting to get sick...). Bleh, why can't there be more creative types of anime. I'm starting to get anime based on :
1. Art
2. Character Designs
3. Seiyuu Powaaa!!

... instead of storylines already.Ah well, 2005 is a so-so year for anime I guess. If Mai-Hime had a better ending and GSD wasn't Fuk-u-da directed.... well.Shuffle's my only main obsession now. I should go try MAR, ES21 perhaps...

General : Hehehe.....

2005-08-30T13:33:00.000+08:00

Well, to put it short, I've finally left EP for my new place. A few shortcomings here and there, but nevertheless, it's a 100 times better than EP. I'm finally able to use the internet as it's meant to be used :). For the time being, I'm sharing off a line with some housemates while waiting for my line to come, so I won't be downloading too much anime lest I earn the wrath of my housemates,:).

Benefits of my new place:

1. A good night's sleep for the 1st time in 3 months.
2. I finally get to use my blanket.
3. I can listen to music as much as I want.
4. I can use the Internet.
5. No more listening to wannabe Idols, motor gangs and shouting idiots.
6. I get to exercise more... (not sure if you can say this as a benefit, sometimes.)

I'll blog more later. I need to get some sleep....

Oh and head over to DarkMirage for some funny stuff.I especially like his blog.