Twelve Tweets in Anime

Merry Christmas

CCY’s Twelve Moments in Anime event have always been on my mind through out the Christmas vacation. Yet, because I knew that I was too busy this Christmas (as I went back to Hong Kong for various reasons), I wouldn’t have time to have the time to write a post everyday. So I decided to not join.

Yet, by coincidence, I was sitting in front of the family computer 30 minutes before the arrival of the new year in Hong Kong (FYI, it is 13 hours faster than Toronto). With nothing but to spam twitter before the new years, I decided to do what other bloggers did in days in 30 minutes before the new years, to talk about 12 things related to anime in 2009. In order to do that, I didn’t make posts, but just thought of topics right on site and just tweeted about them.

I have to say, it was a bit messy:

1: ARIA: an anime that I rewatched in 2009, gave me endless miracles and calmness. A good departure from the endless moeblob in recent anime

If I went with kevo style of trying to put everything into the 12 days of Christmas song, I would have placed ARIA in the third day, as the main focus of ARIA is Akari, Aika and Alice. ┐(‘～`；)┌  [Well, you can say that ARIA gave me one cute Akari-chan :3]

2: Saki: When MJ meets moe and over the top action. The results are exciting. Despite the yuri overtone, the anime was still excellent

Knowing how to play Hong Kong MJ even before Saki, it was actually the fact that Saki was a MJ related anime that got me interested in the first place (and also the fact that people on irc started playing MJ after watching Saki). While I did post (read: rant) about how that there is a huge yuri overtone in the anime (of how there are several almost official yuri couples just from the anime itself) and how it provides huge amount of fanservice (I say, Nodoka’s oppai is too annoying). It still doesn’t take away the fact that Saki is fun to watch, mostly is because how stylish they play MJ. It is also good such that more people are exposed to Mahjong [it is a fun and exciting game].

3. Kimi no Todoke: Haven’t even finished the anime, I found myself loving every part of the story. Good character development + Sawako 10/10

Just finished watching ep7, and is still liking this anime very much. The reason is that Sawako is someone that so touchable, not like the mass moeblob famous with K-ON and Lucky Star, but someone so realistic. Throughout the few episodes I watched it already touches on themes like friendship and love, and also hints of themes of jealousy. In the end, it is a 10/10 anime that is not all sweet and moe but really shows character development and character relationships, something that I view more importantly.

4. Umineko: From Maria to the decision to take away important parts made most of the characters forgettable: making the anime disappointing

Even before the anime Umineko started airing, I had already posted saying that Higurashi and Umineko would be vastly different and that lots of people looking for Higurashi in Umineko would be quite disappointed. Heck, I have a feeling that I was correct on that one. So it wasn’t as much of a surprise of how Umineko would end up if they took the Higurashi way to do Umineko: not fitting, yet, thats why Studio Deen did.

Studio Deen knew that the crazy face was useful in Higurashi because it would greatly contrast the characters from their normal state to their…”Spirited” state? So having that in mind, they used that face to Maria everytime Maria started blabbing out witch related issues.

The results was less than satisfactory.  While other character might have that face from time to time, Maria was the main victim to this ugly rendering.

Added with the fact that even in the Sound Novels, each game was packed with information. Adapting it into an anime means that the games must be squeezed into a limited time, so parts of the game must be cut. This is but a sad side effect of the adaptation, that some of the information, and with a big chunk of the them relating to character background, it ended up making a lot of the cast without a solid background, rendering them plain and forgettable.

5. Toradora: The sudden speedup of plot after the snow trip and the absurd ending placed a dent on the once excellent anime. Taiga still moe

I checked Toradora, the series ended in 2009, so it is still considered to be part of 2009 anime. While no where near my top anime, I still found Toradora to be a solid anime. Most of the times, I would be annoyed of any loli-like tsundere voiced by Rie Kugimiya (yes, including Shana). Yet, with Toradora, not only it gave me a reason for Taiga to act like a tsundere, it also gave me a quite rounded character for someone with such stereotype. So by the middle of the series, I found myself supporting Taiga quite a bit.

So, even if the middle part of the series dragged on a bit, it wasn’t too much of a problem. Then the snow trip came up and passed, then like a blizzard, everything came rushing down, with a huge bang in the end.

For some people this came in shocking because….as you logically see it, it was just too out there, as it was in no way consistence with the theme of the series.

Well, while it is quite shocking to see how it ended, it still doesn’t cover the fact that the anime was solid. At least this absurd end did not stop Taiga from winning 2009 Japanese Saimoe. Despite facing against 4 Saki contestents, she was able to defeat them and ironically, landing the first Japanese saimoe victory for character voiced by Rie Kugimiya.

6. Clannad AS: [Actually AS ep18] http://kevo.dasaku.net/?p=746 @kevo31415 Nuff said

Clannad After Story focused on the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa, yet ironically I found the relationship between Tomoya and his dad even more pure and more tear jerking then any other ones. Kevo has a better coverage of it than me [aka, I'm stealing ideas].

7. OEG: Are you correct in your usage of the word otaku? Appeared and stirred up discussions throughout the anime blogosphere

No matter if you support the Otaku Elimination Game or not, the effect that they have on the anime blogosphere is something that cannot be overlooked. Even blogs that they have not included in their list (me included) have taken interest in the topic of ‘otaku’ and have started discussions about the semantics of it. For the good or worse, they did come and shook the anime blogosphere

8. Kyo-Ani trolls almost everyone with Endless Eight: No only are the fans annoyed by it, apparently the VA are also angry over them

A quite search about Aya Hirano and Endless Eight will show that even Aya Hirano didn’t liked how KyoAni executed Endless Eight

After knowing how Endless Eight repeated itself for 8 episodes, I avoided second season of Haruhi for all I can this year so I couldn’t comment much on the episodes itself, only relying of outer sources on how annoying it is.

Maybe Endless Eight have affected me also, as I would have happily watched Haruhi Second Season if it wasn’t for Endless Eight.

9. Evangelion: 2.0: While 1.0 stayed loyal to the TV series mostly, from what I heard, 2.0 is a whole different thing from the TV series

You see the trend? I didn’t watch Evangelion 2.0 yet, but it hearing interesting things about it. On how different it is from the TV anime. Which not really a big issue here, but with Evangelion 2.0 virtually different from TV anime, it has set the stage for an entirely different conclusion to Evangelion, maybe one that will put a end to the confusion of the TV ending and movie ending (And the “I feel sick” translation in the movie end ┐(‘～`；)┌ )

10. Kimi ga Shiranai Monogatari is quite famous. I’m not a fan of it yet, but having to buy 2 copies of the single for fd means something

You know that I’m running out of time when I start posting random stuff like this. This, added with the huge amounts of posts about Bakemonogatari, I’m VERY interested in the anime, will watch once Blue-Ray subs are fully released.

11. Marathon of Gundam: lesson learned: I shouldn’t marathon months long of anime, all on the same genre and all about GUNDAM

So, while Gundam is good stuff, I doubt watching only Gundam for 2-3 months was a good idea. In my opinion, it wasn’t. While marathoning several Gundam series (Z, ZZ, F91, Victory), I found a hidden gem, F91 [actually it is so hidden, that the creators decided to hide it even more by fitting the TV series plot into a movie, only showing some of the goodness], along with one of the most beautiful Gundam songs I ever heard: Eternal Wind.

Despite F91, which was a movie, I wasn’t too fond of the fact that rest of what I watched was over 40 episodes long, and watching them together made it seem that I was watching a long long series, making myself less able to enjoy each individual series as much.

12. I ran out of time

Ya, by the time I got to the twelve event, they started countdown already, so I was only able to write that before saying HAPPY NEW YEARS….

So to fill up, let just put: Nyoro~n Churuya-san: While for others, this is nothing special, as it is just short episodes of Churuya-san saying nyoro~n here and there, wanting to eat smoked cheese and Kyon-kun not letting her get some. Yet, what is interesting is that this series is aired through Youtube, and not any other medium (or even NicoNicoDouga). While I am not certain if this is the first time that anime studio have used online media as a major medium for transferring shows to its audience, but it is interesting to see KyoAni embracing Youtube and even it if just using it for simple and short anime like Churuya-san and Haruhi-chan.

For all that is still in 2009:

Happy Advance New Years

Some other bloggers that joined in the Twelve Moments in Anime:

kevo

CCY

_eternal

Eater-of-All

Nazarielle

Moritheil - Twelve Dramatists that defined 2009

[Via http://mybalance.wordpress.com]

Spice and Wolf-狼と香辛料

Tribute to our Goddess with fur- Horo.(or Holo)

Set in Medieval where trading and merchants are the primary source for moving goods and passing on stories. Some people calls this show Economics 101 but I don’t think the business part  is highly complicated. An unusual piece that script around traveling and trading which is a breath of fresh air from the usual mainstream anime.

Horo is a pagan Wolf god that watches over fields for crop and *supposedly* very old. Pasroe was the town Horo promised to watch over and have good harvest year after year, However as time goes by people start to forsake this once might God that guards the town. She refer herself as the “”Wise Wolf of Yoitsu” and gained the notion of wanting to go back to her homeland, but she longed for some company and loneliness has made her fragile.

Lawrence the protagonist of the story come across Horo and made a promise to take her back to her homeland-Yoitsi. In return for his company Horo lend Lawrence her wisdom to benefit his trade and helps him when he is in big trouble. As story progress plus many hardship they overcome, they start to grow affection towards each other.(very slowly…) The story consist conflicts with churches due to Horo being a pagan existence, trading issues and sightseeing in fictional setting.  It does have action as well as some dark sides about humanity.

The story itself is rather interesting because it is not something you see everyday in mainstream genre. But it does progress slowly in a way, however the interaction between the two main character makes up for the story, you will find the conversations between the two somewhat addictive and begging for more. Horo is nonetheless quite a fitting description of “tsundere” and Lawrence is your clichéd “kind” guy who goes out of his way to “care” for Horo.

Overall it’s a lovely anime with very little competition of it’s kind. Good for mature audience who is tired of bouncing tits, panties shots or never-ending Shonen crap.  Spice and Wolf have great art and high animation quality plus decent music in OP and ED set this show apart from other “nekomimi” or “goddess” type of anime. Personally I love the ED of both season and season, it has a children picture book feel to it.

Art: 4/5

Animation Quality: 5/5

Voice Action: 5/5

Plot: 5/5

Music: 4/5

[Via http://lolisan.wordpress.com]

Assault Girls

Visto Assault Girls, il nuovo lavoro di Oshii Mamoru,butto giu` qualche sensazione a caldo (sgrammaticata e caotica, chi vuol esser lieto sia):

Oshii riesce ancora una volta a sorprendere, in un film ibrido, a meta` strada fra un lungometraggio ed un corto (70 minuti la durata) e un misto di riprese dal “vero” e CG…..

Il film e` monotono (Patlabor II), dove questo aggettivo e` ovviamente un complimento, qualcuno ha parlato di lentezza tarkowskiana ed ha fatto bene, in qualche modo circolare (Sky Crawlers) con fortissimi legami con Avalon , da cui prende  spunto ed avvio. Si colloca a perfezione nell`immaginario oshiiano , degna continuazione di quel piccolo capolavoro che e` il corto incluso in Kiru ~ KILL.

Cieli grigi, attesa, quasi un documentario con la fotografia curata magistralmente da Yuasa Hiroaki e la splendida musica di Kawai Kenji il film e` quindi una sperimentazione sul tempo, sul paesaggio e sul tempo che si estingue nel paesaggio…..

i primi dieci minuti sono girati alla Ogawa, parole e riflessioni politiche alla Patlabor su immagini fisse o semifisse…..

il film cede nei punti in cui prova a inserire l`elemento comico, mentre risalta bene il personaggio di Lucifero sbarazzino e scherzosamente futile. Altre parti potevano essere forse evitate (Game) e il personaggio del`uomo poteva essere un po` piu` austero.

Personalmente ho gradito il tocco di Yuasa nei primissimi piani da documentario della lumaca e degli insetti, la loro vividezza e` il simbolo di come la vita, se liberata dai suoi lacci, si puo` manifestare anche nel simulacro…il colore e` davvero a tratti immaginale, quasi il novo Tamra…

a presto una vera e propria recensione

[Via http://artaud.wordpress.com]

And a baseball bat.

I’ve fallen in love with something called Big Windup.

Or Ookiku Furikabutte. Or even Oofuri, I don’t care what you call it. Big Windup is easier to pronounce. It’s about sports. I hate sports, but I love this show.

When I say I love this show, I mean it. I LOVE THIS SHOW. (The line where Abe says, “Don’t get me wrong, I think you’re a bit of a douche” had me sold. I’m sorry, I watched the dub, and I’ll explain why in my next post.) I haven’t raved about any anime this much since Ouran, probably. I also haven’t written about one since Kodocha, and that was a while ago. Usually, I never watch an anime again, unless it’s really good. This one has a lot of rewatch value.

This is a baseball anime that centers around Ren Mihashi. He is the most annoying, spineless, whiny little crybaby you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. And yet…he’s one of my favorite characters. There’s just something about him that’s really endearing and absolutely adorable. It’s hard to believe that he’s the pitcher, because Abe (his catcher) calls the shots.

Anyway, before I get in too deep into the plot, here is what I think about the show. If you’re into action and explosions every second, then Oofuri may not be the show for you. It’s actually a nice, slow-paced, “cool-down” kind of anime. And even though it’s slow (one of the games spans for 10 episodes!) it has a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat. The suspense keeps you in the moment, and it’s nice to hear the players’ thoughts (from both sides) and their plans of attack. I watched this entire series in two days just because I had to know what happens next.

Not only that, but what I love most about this anime is the psychology behind it. I tell you, once I heard that kid say, “Like Pavlov’s dog?” I squealed with delight, because I knew exactly what that was. The players also employed classical conditioning (“Runner on third!”) to help them play better, and I think that’s ingenious. I guess that was the selling point for me, only because I’m taking a psychology class right now. That may not be the reason why YOU would watch it, but it made me feel connected.

Besides allowing me to identify what I already learned at school, this show also taught me a lot of things. I didn’t know much about baseball, but once I started watching, I began to learn signs, terms, and even strategies for gameplay. I didn’t know that there were so many mechanics behind all the players’ movements, from pitching to throwing and batting. It’s admirable. I almost like baseball now…to a certain extent, of course.

Something worth commenting on is the sound. I love both the openings (Dramatic by Base Ball Bear and Seishun Line by Ikimono-gakari), and that doesn’t happen often. The English dub is not that bad, really (it was what was available on YouTube) and the Japanese seiyuus were also pretty top-notch.

People keep saying Oofuri has yaoi undertones in it (yes, yes, I know. THAT infamous scene). But, I think it isn’t trying to become a shounen-ai sort of anime, it’s just trying to demonstrate the camaraderie and bonds needed to form a strong, winning team. Eh, you always find what you’re trying to look for, and if you find any sort of shounen-ai sort of relationships in this show, that’s your business. However, not everything has to have a sexual connotation to it. I don’t really mind, because all of that has nothing to do with me, but it’s just one of those times where I just want to sit back and enjoy a show the way it is, and not try to sort out love triangles, squares, and even hexagons.

So, all in all, despite the speed of the anime, the suspense always kills me. It gets intense at times, and you feel like you’re watching a real game. There is something to love about all the characters (Tajima the most, though. TAJIMA! NUMBER ONE!) and there are those moments where you’re in stitches because of one of the jokes or Mihashi’s faces. I absolutely recommend this for baseball fans and non-fans alike.

[Via http://tofuninja.wordpress.com]

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest Anime-All Nighter 2009

Back at the tail-end of October I attended the Sci-Fi London festival’s Oktoberfest special for, what else, their anime all-nighter. Five movies (well, four movies and one OAV series), nine hours, Red Bull and sweaty otaku

On the face of it, the line-up was exceptional. All movies I’ve wanted to see for a very long time and one which I’m a huge fan of, so I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, many turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, though I discovered one gem.

Sky Crawlers: The new Mamoru Oshii film was a ponderous affair, set in an alternate reality stuck in 1940s Americana. Teens that never grow old fight in a mysterious neverending war that seem designed to provide a permanent conflict that keeps the rest of the world peaceful. Or something. As with most Production IG/Oshii affairs it was beautifully animated with some wonderfully nostalgic character and mecha designs reminiscent of steampunk anime like Last Exile. It didn’t particularly grab me though, and I’m quite glad this was the first film shown. While it did pose some interesting existential questions, I think they would have been lost on me had this been on at 4am

Eve no Jikan: Hands down the best thing on the night and possibly the best anime I have seen all year. This was a superbly crafted, insightful and moving exploration of robotics and artificial intelligence, along the lines of Asimov. And it was very funny. Made up of six 15 minute episodes, the OAV series follows a high school boy who discovers his family’s house android has been spending time at a mysterious cafe, Eve no Jikan (Time of Eve). I cannot recommend this highly enough. Every episode is so beautifully animated, with wonderful characters and some fantastic details, both in the jokes and its references. But its the subtlety of how it makes its points and explores what are really quite complex issues in a light-hearted otaku way.

King of Thorn: Started off with an intriguing concept — a select few are chosen for cryogenic preservation in the face of a devastating world epidemic only to wake up in a nightmarish future — but 2/3 of the way through revealed a ‘magical’ explanation that just had me screaming “WTF??”. Seriously, what was wrong with sticking to just the sci-fi??? Ruined.

Eureka 7: Pocketful of Rainbows: Just bloody awful. This was the movie I was looking forward to most, as I have a soft spot for the flawed but enjoyable Eureka 7 series. This retelling of the story, however, got on my tits to the n-th degree. I don’t know where to start. Was it the recasting of Gekkostate as a bunch of misguided terrorists, the poor characterisation or the sidelining of Dominic/Anemone that irritated me the most? No, it was probably the RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF ROMANTIC CHEESE accompanied by overplaying of what I’d always thought of as a wonderfully touching score. Just don’t.

Evangelion 1.0: You are [Not] Alone: I’d already seen this, but on the big screen it really rocks. The Renewal of Evangelion movies are just awesome and a real visual treat. Even second time round (and for a movie that essentially retells exactly the same story I’ve seen a dozen times in the TV anime) it feels exhilarating. Made me excited to see Eva 2.0 again.

[Via http://cannedmemory.wordpress.com]

Let’s watch and laugh at Code Geass (episode #2)

[WARNING: LOTS OF IMAGES]

I kind of didn’t want to make this my first post back from my hiatus because…it’s just looks weird to me. OCD is such a strange mistress. “But!” I said to myself. “I haven’t posted in a while and that one article is taking longer than I thought, considering the research I have to do and all that. Oh, that and I’m being a lazy prick.” Being that I’m a bit of a Scrooge as I despise the holiday season and being that I’m sure I’ll come down with the seasonal flu in the next few days (Oh yea, wait until after Christmas to get sick. Way to screw up there, immune system.) I decided to just get this thing posted. I cut quite a few screencaps out as I felt it was getting ridiculously image heavy, but I think a fair warning and a nice cut will be good enough. Anyway, enjoy my summarizing of episode 2 of Code Geass.

ONE MORE THING, is it just me, or do a lot of girls watch this show for no other reason that “OMG LELOUCH”?

The White Knight Awakens

When we last left our hero he was knee deep in corpses. Let’s see how he’s faring now.

We're off to a good start

One of the nightmare frames wrecks the party.

Lelouch seems to be unphased at the giant robot freaking bursting through a wall in front of him

The nightmare threatens to kill Lelouch if he doesn’t comply and shoots around him as proof. Lelouch remains unphased.

He convinces the pilot to come check his ID and puts the Geass to good use by trying to get her number. Suddenly realizing he doesn’t like girls, he decides to take her mech instead.

k, here...please don't get dents in it.

Meanwhile, the creepy doctor decides to traumatize a soldier with the typical mad scientist greeting.

This is the face you see in your nightmares

The soon to be traumatized soldier is none other than the should-be-dead, Suzaku Kururugi, who’s seriously channeling some Goku up in this bitch.

How the fuck are you still alive?

Apparently a pistol at point blank range is no match for Japanese watches.

They should just make bullet proof vests out of these

Meanwhile, Lelouch is contemplating how he’ll get out of this mess, but decides that it wouldn’t be “Lelouch-y” enough without a forced metaphor/visual aide. Considering that mecha don’t come readily equipped with a full chess set, he conveniently finds one on the ground.

I spy, with my little eye...

A chess board with a complete set of pieces that somehow survived the explosions.

Meanwhile, the mecha battles continue as each side employs what I will dub “the stupidest weapon ever”. How the hell is something subject the sudden gusts of wind, perfect aiming and anything randomly jutting out on the battle field a good weapon?

Lelouch is continuing to be unphased by all of this

And here’s my favorite character, Mr. Expendable!

NO, MISTER EXPENDABLE! He was going to be a father!

So basically, Lelouch is giving the Japanese rebels orders and controlling the battlefield, using his logic and chess metaphors to save the day.

He manages to get the rebels to stop a train and hijack the cargo, i.e. fancy Brittanian robots, and the battlefield becomes a little more even. Every time Lelouch makes a successful move, he literally moves a piece on a chess board. No, I’m not joking. They must have fallen asleep during the ‘please don’t use heavy handed symbolism, it’s stupid’ part of their writing course.

Meanwhile, Lelouch’s brother Clovis (was his name Clovis? I can’t be assed to remember), who somehow manages to act and look gayer than Lelouch and Fai put together, is getting pissed at the fact that he’s about to lose everything to the rebels.

He tries to pull a dues ex machina, but is defeated by another dues ex machina from sir Lelouch.

Desperate, Clovis seeks advice from that creepy doctor.

JESUS CHRIST MAN, don’t sneak up on me like that!

Lelouch is still loving the shit out the destruction on the battlefield

You can't spell slaughter without laughter!

Clovis goes through with the doctor’s plan, which involves giving a SUPER SPESHUL mecha to Suzaku.

I'm swelling with confidence

Suzaku gives some fanservice for the ladies…

This is the yaoi version of the panty shot

Enter the DUN DUN DUN DUN….Lancelot. Yes, they named it Lancelot.

Be prepared to hear a lot about knights and round tables for the remainder of the series.

Suzaku admires his pretty mecha for a while, stopping just short of saying “ooooooooh” before hopping in and skating away as a camera pans in an upskirt move of the mecha. No I’m not kidding. There is an upskirt of a skating mecha in this show. He gets onto the battlefield and proceeds to kill fucking everything.

I almost made...

a falcon punch joke...

Did I mention he spinkicks IN THE MECHA? No? Well, he does, one handed.

"His readings are off the charts!"

"That's becuase he's a Mary Sue my dear!"

Eventually he has a confrontation with Lelouch who is confused as to how anyone could possibly challenge him. They fight again until Suzaku catches a woman falling and protects her, thus leading to Lelouch conceding the temporary victory and running off.
Lelouch decides to finish the episode off by revealing that he is Clovis’ brother and that HE IS PISSED.

what a tweest!

The episode ends before he can cause another ritual suicide.

—

Okay, impressions. Not getting much better, to be perfectly honest. Already there are plot devices and holes and places where the direction of the battle is just laughable. Now, before you get me by saying anything about giant mecha battles and realism, might I remind you that Code Geass wants, nay DEMANDS to be taken seriously, and thus I am judging it under that microscope. The show wants so hard to be deep and srs bznz and to change people man, which is why I’m being extra harsh. This episode kinda bored me as it kept changing perspectives so fast that I couldn’t get in to any one of the plot threads they were laying out. By the time I started to get invested…BAM camera change. On a positive note, some of the things Lelouch did battle wise were interesting to watch, even if they were a bit hard to believe, and Suzaku doing his damned spinkick in a mecha made me choke on my soda.

Still ranking the show as average, at the moment. Maybe subsequent episodes will change my mind.

One more thing, I’ve decided to judge this show purely on its own merits. I am not taking into account any possible controversy involving racism, blatant ignorance of history, etc. I am looking at it purely as an AU. If I wanted to label what I’m doing, I would call it an intrinsic analysis, though what I’m doing is hardly academic.

See you next time.

[Via http://sniffits.wordpress.com]

Artist's Alley

I’ve been playing with the idea of renting a table at an anime convention to sell my art work at for some time now. I’m just now finally getting around to working on it. I decided that I’m going to make several (like 25) mini painting (around 5 by 7 inches) and sell them and most likely prints of them at an up coming convention. My goal is to debut at the Castle Point Anime Con in April but I’m not sure if I’ll have enough work done in time to do it this year. I’m really excited about this and have been working really hard lately to create these paintings. So far i have 6 completed (Mikako and Tsutomu from Gokinjo Monogatari; L, Light and Misa from Death Note; and Death the Kid from Soul Eater. I’m currently working on Soul from Soul Eater and I’m a little over half way done. I’m really fired up for this right now and I’ve been getting a lot done recently. If i keep this up i should be done in no time. Hopefully they will actually sell. XD I think I’m going to be selling each painting for around $15-$20 each and each print at around $7-$10. Hopefully I’ll post examples up soon. Wish me luck everyone. =D

[Via http://b10ndevamp.wordpress.com]

Yunibaru! Paranormal Girls Strike!!

Production: Apricot
Release Date: 2010/01/29
Artist: Minako
Song: Unmei
Resolution: 800×600
File Size: 70MB —> 38MB
Official Site | Getchu | VNDB

[Via http://redinf3rno.wordpress.com]

Mai Otome

This morning I unfortunately fell asleep at 1 am and woke at 5 am.  This would probably explain the slight fuzziness in my eyes.  Dexter just flat-out refused to let me sleep so I turned on my own personal Saturday morning cartoons (though I really wanted Sat. morning Sci-fi T_T).  I finished Mai Otome which I had started just a couple days ago.

Mai Otome took me a little while to get into as, in the beginning, I was not a huge fan of Arika.  As the story progressed and more bad-ass characters were introduced it became harder to peel myself away from it.  Oddly enough it also contained its share of Yuri moments which happens to tie into my recent unintentional theme.

I suppose there wasn’t a ton of yuri, one main girl/girl relationship.  The show also featured a taboo love triangle involving a man almost in his 30’s and two 15 year-old girls.

[Via http://rielleromdo.wordpress.com]

Think teens are crafty? We do.

The Teen Anime Club finished its fall session with a nod to the ever popular manga series Naruto. Thursday nights’ Anime club featured the theme “Naruto Night” in which the club members made Naruto themed bracelets, to the tune of a discussion of the merits of DBZ (Dragon Ball Z) vs. Naruto.

Club members got a chance to pose in front of our green screen. The photos, once they are edited will feature a graphic image from the Naruto series with the club members’ photo in front.

The prize drawings for the evening were two volumes of Naruto volume 1, which two lucky club members won, and a few packs Japanese Ramen noodles went home with a few other lucky winners. Why ramen noodles? Well, the character Naruto has a tendency to inhale mass quantities of said noodles whenever he gets the chance.

[Via http://friscolibrarian.wordpress.com]

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 1st season review

Well the first season of Railgun is finally over, there is going to be a week break from airing due to new year’s.

Time for some Railgun,
So what was all railgun about?
Its the anime of the manga, which is also a side story of the original manga
To Aru Majutsu no Index, where instead talks about the adventures of Touma

So railgun obviously revoles around our favourite
Misaka Mikoto, esper, level 5 “Railgun”  if you want to know more about her, just watch the first episode of railgun and you will understand why she is called “railgun”.  But you should also watch Adventure’s of Touma as well if you want to get all the details, i mean To Aru Majutsu no Index.  It is also good if you have a decent science knowledge background, but you can look up whatever you dont understand anyway… Opening Theme: “only my railgun” by fripSide (eps 2-) Ending Theme: “Dear My Friend -Mada Minu Mirai he- (Dear My Friend －まだ見ぬ未来へ－)” by ELISA “only my railgun” by fripSide (ep 1)

Oh fripSide again, this band is going to be very interesting in the future, since they changed their vocalist.
Cant forget ELISA as well, sung Hayate OP as well.

Did i mention that they are both produced by J.C.Staff?

J.C. Staff is a animation production company which i have come to love  absolutely watching EVERYTHING they produce because it is just SOOO good I.M.O.

Back to railgun,
So its a side story?  Thats what everyone thinks and knows, and also thinks that side story = crap story and not bother watching it as the storyline is going to be “meh, i really did not need to watch that”
WELL i believe that its going to be awesome and i say shun thee.

Ok enough of that…

Railgun has it’s own storyline and the focus is quite strong on Misaka as well.

BUT what is a main character without her friends?

Shirai Kuroko – An esper with teleporting abilities, level 4,  also apart of “Judgement”

Ah that’s a familar face from Index as well,
Due to her Railgun has become quite a Yuri type anime, but its also become extremly hilarious all the same.

New Characters!
Uiharu Kazari – Esper, level 1 ability not 100% known…Also apart of judgement, has the ability of a super computer so can micromanage with computers.  Not sure what the flowers on her head are for, no they are not growing from her head.

She is using a ds .  Quite a squishy character.

Saten Ruiko – Level 0, more friendly with Uiharu, picks on her a lot and flips her skirt up a lot as a greeting.  Wants to be a level 5 someday. Strong determination.

So after watching the first season ESPECIALLY AFTER EP 12 I feel so awesome that i watched it.

Yeah thats what i thought Thanks, dawg!

I haven’t seen a battle that intense and insane in a long time, i was on the edge of my seat the whole time while watching.  And then it ended with such a sweet note and a nice song, Smile -You & Me- by Elisa as well, its on the same cd.

DEN DEN YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON MY FACE, it was like

Exactly like kagami, All in a good way   as i saw the preview for the next season,YEAH railgun going to have 24 eps

Well thats about all i have for now, oh wait Merry Christmas from Railgun and Teleporter,

Hey don’t forget about me, Merry Christmas,
Andrew Chin – Hates reality, so delves in Fantasy,

[Via http://fatesofashe.wordpress.com]