Honey Honey, nipah~?
January 30, 2009 at 12:25 am | In Nico Nico Douga | Leave a CommentTags: All, Haku, HD, Honey, Kaito, Meiko, Miku, Nanameue, Neru, Ren, Rin, Star, Teto, Vocaloid
Earlier in the week, as I was supposedly writing my English paper, I ran into this video that just captured what little attention span I have. I kept trying to recall what song what this originally, then I finally found out it was Honey by Cyndi Wang, a Taiwanese popstar. Very cute song (lyrics changed to Japanese, meaning stayed very similar), and with amazing choreography, directing, and artwork. Last but definitely not least, this has got to be the most realistic sounding vocal I’ve ever heard coming from Vocaloid projects… it just blew me away.
I uploaded it myself, you can click on the video then click on watch in HD to see it in amazing detail! You can also watch the original video from Cyndi Wang here.
J&%$ in my Pants
January 9, 2009 at 10:23 pm | In Random Stuff | Leave a CommentTags: In, Jizz, Live, My, Night, Pants, Saturday
Pretty self explanatory, not gonna film my reaction to this video just to put it on youtube, my reaction will probably be similar to yours. Just putting it up here in case by chance someone hasn’t seen it yet… 14 million views in one month… that’s quite something.
Hyakko – Review
January 9, 2009 at 10:19 pm | In Anime Review, Hyakko | Leave a CommentI are back guys! For real? Not sure. Seeing how my last post was almost a year ago, I’m surprise that WordPress didn’t drop -the banhammer- on this blog. Ok ok, lets get going! Reason for starting this again is that a university course – “Introductions to Issues in Literature and Culture” calls for blogging. That’s right, I get marks for blogging. Not on this blog though, but since while I’m doing that one, I might as well do this one also. (Although the blogs have totally different content)
(ヒャッコ)
(How the heck did uploading images get even more confusing? I had to upload this the ghetto HTML way!) /rant
Additional info:
This series is currently completed.
Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
Demographic: Shounen
Animation Studio: Nippon Animation
Director: Michio Fukuda
Synopsis(ANN):
On the first day of high school at Kamizono Academy, four girls meet each other while lost on the huge campus, and form a friendship. This story follows the daily school life of the four girls and their eclectic classmates.
Artwork and Animation: 8.5/10
Although waterpaint backdrops is neither the specialty nor the focal point of this anime, it still stands out from other animes as being a more bold approach by making them look like they’re out of a sketchbook instead of a finished piece of fine artwork, and I can’t say I hate it. This style especially shine during OP’s and ED’s (2nd ED = beautiful) when the audience diverts their concentration to the artwork as the song play. As you can probably tell if you have seen it already, they toned that style down for the OP’s since the song didn’t exactly fit with it. The animation is also quite outstanding, and big elaborate movements means the studio wasn’t being cheap with this anime at all, although as for originality and style, it didn’t strike me anything out of the ordinary.
Sound (Themes, Voice-overs, and Inserts): 8/10
Cheers, its Hirano Aya! To be able to voice Ayumi after surprising us by going from Haruhi to Konata, she is proving herself to be a versatile seiyu indeed. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for her singing, face pace songs seem to be her forte when she has a commanding singing voice. Not to worry, her single for this anime- “Namida, Namida, Namida”- is not a slow place song, which the name misled me to believe that it is before I watched the anime. A powerful song fill with energy, and at the same time, sorrow. Good job Hirano-sama! As for the opening… I cant say it is the best I’ve heard, in fact, it’s no where near, but it fits. And fitting is all I can give it.
Plot (including character development): 8/10
Like with all the other comedies, Hyakko’s strength should come from the scriptwr… the manga artists who created this. It is good, and I had some nice laughs, although if you ask me to pull out a funny moment right out of my head, I’m afraid I can’t do it. It did not just WOW me like Zetsubou Sensei did (Early on, that is). However, it had slice of life elements that filled the space in between the comedy. Was it the lack of material they had to work with? I do not know, didn’t read the manga. There is no plot movement in this anime, so technically there are no fillers, although some parts can be quite slow, even by slice of life standards.
Directing: 8/10
Nothing jawdropping on this aspect either, the director did what needed to be done, it didn’t exactly enhance my enjoyment out of this anime, but it sure didn’t hinder it. Because of it, nothing noteworthy can really be said about it, neither good nor bad. Or maybe it is just me not paying enough attention… nah.
Overall: 7.5/10
It’s good time to spend time on and enjoy yourself once in a while, but there is nothing to hook me into finishing these series in one go if I had a chance. I guess that’s both the strong and weak point of comedies without a plot, you can enjoy it anywhere anytime, but the level of immersion is kept to a minimal level. I myself don’t like that very much, closure is something I prefer, maybe I’m getting old. *sigh cough cough*
Clannad – Review
April 10, 2008 at 8:52 pm | In Anime Review, Clannad | Leave a CommentYes, yes, I didn’t die.
Finals, and games(mostly) on my mind. As always there is a surge of posts when the pendulum swings towards anime side and practically none when it swings towards the game side. And Mabinogi is doing a darn well job at keeping the pendulum on the game side.
Anyways… let’s start.
(クラナド)
(btw, this new system makes posting pictures a pain in the neck, wonder if I can revert back to the original)
Additional info:
This series is currently completed.
Genre: Drama, Romance, Harem, Fantasy
Demographic: Seinen
Animation Studio: Kyoto Animation
Game Developer: Key
Synopsis(ANN):
Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student resentful of his life. His mother passed away from a car accident when he was younger, causing his father to resort to alcohol and gambling. This results in fights between the two until Tomoya’s shoulder is injured in a fight. Since then, Tomoya has had distant relationships with his father, causing him to become a delinquent over time. While on a walk to school, he meets a strange girl named Nagisa Furukawa who is a year older, but is repeating due to illness. Due to this, she is often alone as most of her friends have moved on. The two begin hanging out and slowly, as time goes by, Tomoya finds his life shifting in a new direction.
Review:
Artwork and Animation: 9.5/10
It seems the animation style of Key games keep getting better (from the notorious blunder of Kanon’02 to a passable Air and then on to a nicely done Kanon’06) That paired with decent CG effects gives it a nice feel to the environments it tries to produced, along with some comedic scenes done in flash. Well, since it IS the anime’s strongest point, aside from the story (if you take out the story and the art from Visual Novels, what do you have left?).
Sound (Themes and Inserts): 7/10
Although the opening still has quite an impact, the OST in general seemed by be glossed over by the intesive plot movements. The ending… dango, dango, dango, dango… dango daikazoku? Indeed it draws quite a bit of curiosity in the beginning but quickly becomes an annoyance for me (sorry to anyone who I’ve offended, I can personally think of quite a few). All in all, the main thing it had going for it was Megumeru by eufonius, but when that pales in comparison too Tori no Uta from Air… well… it pales in comparison.
Plot (including character development): 8/10
Although I’d like to give it credit for doing a rare thing and trying combine ALL the arcs together, it too ended up in a general harem (following in the great footsteps of School Days, I see). They, however, do not even attempt to keep it coherent albeit there is the main and often underlying arc with Nagisa which seems to spontaneously appear and disappear, and at the grand finale it all spontaneously combust into a who gives a damn it’s a happy ending let’s all enjoy it kind of ending. Well, I don’t like it, do you?
Directing: 9/10
The directing is quite good with bits of general randomness that is totally avatar/signature/forum worthy. (For example the part where Sunohara gets owned by the Tomoyo/Tomoya 1000(?) hit combo.) I find myself waiting for these moments much more than paying attention to the plotline itself. Still disappointed with how the Kyou arc, or the lack of it, turned out T_T
Overall: 8/10
I know that is hyped up and all. Because we all love to see the anime of a children’s game that turned hentai. But unfortunately, as far as the directing carries it (which isn’t very far), this will fall into green section in my decent animes, but I wouldn’t impose this anime on others unless they’re really into that genre. As much as I whine about fanservice, not having it in a harem… just feels out of place. If they went out of their way to move it out of the slice of life (which it really should be) into more of a romance comedy, it should add some fanservice, don’t you think?
Boku ni Natta Watashi – Manga
March 20, 2008 at 11:17 pm | In Boku ni Natta Watashi, Manga | 1 CommentI haven’t really been up to date with the anime posts, mostly because they’re a pain in the arse to do. But manga posts are easier… i guess.
So I started reading Boku ni Natta Watashi because the synopsis sounded like Hana Kimi. In fact, there are some aspects that are uncanny similar to Hana Kimi. Like the part where a guy touches her chest (taped down) and thinks it’s man boobs. (I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference either.)
Also this part, that’s right, I haven’t read Hana Kimi manga, so they maynot be matchin. But this part is also from the drama, and it’s definitely something to comment upon.
I can’t get over the fact that girls cover their breasts when someone caught them naked. (Is it even true?) Why not one arm for each? Thank goodness for camera angles and convenient patches of steam, right?
Or maybe she doesn’t want to cover it up, sneaky sneaky girl. But unfortunately her attitude towards that was fairly inconsistent. I think it’s bending it to be both humourous and dramatic and the same time, but for someone like me that fusses over the small details, it can be quite a detriment.
The omakes are pretty decent, but not the best I’ve seen.
Isn’t this great? A manga post makes the post looks like it’s longer than it really is.
New Banner – iMiku
March 13, 2008 at 9:14 pm | In General | Leave a CommentYa, so I have time to do a new banner, but no time to write a new post… Besides, screenies are on my laptop, which is upstairs.
Third iProject for me, getting better, and faster… (1hr and 5 minutes)
Shouldn’t have draw those circuits anyways, they don’t turn out that great when the picture is small… oh well.
Enjoy!
Gundam 00 – Episode 22
March 12, 2008 at 3:40 pm | In Gundam 00 | 1 Comment
Synopsis:
This episode’s synopsis is short and sweet since all the explanations are done and all thats left is to fight it out. After the battle, Lockon refuses to be in a “regeneration capsule” because he cannot help if someone attacks them, and UN announces it will now take it’s GN units to war with Gundams. The OverFlag is still being developed while Dynames is out of service. Honestly, decompression should have left Dynames much more damage than just the hull. Anyways, Tieria still feeling bad about Lockon’s injury and his loss of reliance on Veda for battle skills. Feldt gets a little airtime in this episode, but she used it to snoop on Lockon, what a stalker! xD Trinities on the run after their land-base was destroyed by the HRL, and they are once again chase down by the HRL, Drei got damaged in the battle, and they pulled a hasty retreat. Meanwhile, Saji is slowly losing his soul to become Shinn reincarnate. After the battle Celestial Being decides they need to come out rehab and do another armed intervention. Al-Saachez comes along and tells the Trinities that he killed Lagna, and then pulled a quickie on Michael (not that quickie, perv), he should’ve gone with a headshot since Michael had armor on (maybe futuristic pistols are really strong). He jacks Michael’s Gundam and kills Johann, or at least blows up his Gundam (always leave room for some miracle). As expected, Nena lives because a)she’s a girl, b)she’s got comedic value. Setsuna fights Al-Saachez once again, and has another fit, right when he’s about to lose, he conveniently gets a Super-Saiyan power-up from Veda (notice somethings wrong, since his unit is obvious disconnected from Veda now). The SS power-up is called Trans-Am and reveals a bit of Setsuna’s past. Trans-Am, isn’t that a car model? Vroom vroom!
(Wait… this isn’t short at all! -.-)
Thoughts:
Well it looks like it’s nearing the climax/ending (same thing for Gundam, because they find peace when everything’s blown up). Is Saji going to have any role later on? Maybe he’s just gonna curl up and die? Or some protagonist in a sequel? Still kinda disappointed by the lack of airtime Soma Peries has, she’s my favourite of the anime and has such a potential for a good protagonist! Ah well, maybe in a sequel. To add on, I disapprove of the Trans AM system, it succeeded in making Gundam 00 ridiculously unrealistic (like it isn’t before). I dislike the idea of 1 person pwning every single thing he sees. Or even a small group of elites, the pressure for them to revolt into their own powers is unparalleled to their loyalty, such is the case in this series, (although it’s true with Seed also). Maybe that’s why I never really liked Gundam battle scenes.
This is also about Gundam 00… ちょっと…
Notes:
I’ve been neglecting certain series lately, namely Miname-ke, Zetsubou Sensei, Bamboo Blade, and True Tears, of those four, only True Tears has been regularly coming out with subbed episodes, but honestly the story itself is slow already, I have keep following it episode by episode I’ll be very confused since I’ll keep forgetting what happened before. I’ll wait till it’s finished. Good thing Minami-ke and Zetsubou Sensei has no general plotline to follow, and Bamboo Blade’s plot line isn’t exactly coherent either.
Left to post:
Shigofumi 9/10
KimiKiss 21/22
Left to watch:
Clannad 20
Clannad the Movie
NANA – Review
March 12, 2008 at 1:38 pm | In Anime Review, NANA | 5 Comments(ナナ)
Additional info:
This series is currently completed.
Genre: Drama, Romance, Music
Demographic: Shoujo
Animation Studio: MadHouse
Synopsis(ANN):
On board the train to Tokyo to meet her boyfriend Shoji, Nana Komatsu (”Hachi”) happened to sit beside Nana Osaki who was traveling to Tokyo to fulfill her dreams of becoming a musician. The vocalist for her punk band “Blast”, Nana aims for a major debut for “Blast” in Tokyo where her boyfriend, Ren, is the guitarist for a popular band “Trapnest”. Sharing the same name “Nana”, both girls quickly form a bond of friendship. Their paths cross again when they encounter each other while searching for accomodation in Tokyo. Eventually they decide to live together in the same unit and this further strengthens their bond as the two “Nana(s)” go through their love lives and career.
Review:
Artwork and Animation: 10/10
For an anime fan like me who got used to Shounen style of drawing, it takes some getting used to. For me it was easy since I never really liked oversized eyes anyways. That aside, this style still features larger than proportional eyes. The animators tried their hardest to keep it like the style done by Yazawa Ai, which they did a good job in. When I got accustomed to the style I find myself liking this style better, although I still like the sweat-drop on the side of the forehead instead of middle.
Sound (Themes and Inserts): 9/10
Rare usage of themes in this anime, not that it needed it. So that was a good choice, don’t really like the third OP, but I liked all the other ones, especially the ones by OLIVIA. Although it’s about music, its primary focus is on the relationships between the characters, music scenes are rather rare (since it’s not a great idea to put a lot of music scenes in the manga, the anime can’t stress too much on it either). Although they picked the right songs for the OP and ED, again, the third OP seems to be too light to be the OP of the climax section of the anime.
I have most of them uploaded in my box folder, either download them of listen to them on the widget on the right.
Plot (including character development): 11/10
Favourite, hands down. Since I already rated some plot 10/10 and I can’t even place them on the same level, I’ll have to give it a 11/10. This is the first time I’ve seen a manga/anime that is so…real. Throw all your dreams of pure love with a side of fluffy clouds, since this is here to slap reality in your face. Then again, quite a few of anime fans would dislike that since it shatters the idealism and the moe complex of many male audience out there. I say that, but my friend who disliked it was female, but she’s into stuff like fate/stay night. That means this anime is on the extreme side, you’ll find this either very enjoyable or very disappointing. Having rated it 11/10, I can’t say it’s anything less than a masterpiece, and this is a great wake-up call for those otakus (otaki?) out there staying single all their life waiting for the ideal girl that shounen (even some seinen) anime/manga portrays.
My favourite part would be the monologues, it generates suspense and serenity at the same time, because they reminiscing in the monologues you know that something has happened that caused them to be apart, even many years later. But what you don’t know is the event that caused it and if the story will catch up to the present and they get back together. In the sense of reminiscing, they concentrate on every little thing and wondered if it made a difference.
Directing: 10/10
I haven’t read the manga after starting the anime in earnest, but in the beginning I can tell it followed the manga very closely, that includes the directing style. Although some scenes would be too disjointed if done manga style, but a lot of still and pinnacle scenes are done according to the manga. It would be bad if the manga was horrible at those scenes, but that’s not the case, the manga is exceptionally great at those scenes, and it still has a lot of slapstick comedy that’s mixed into the heavy, moody moments that’s characteristic of the NANA series. I especially like how they manage to keep the impact of the monologues from the manga, which in itself should be a hard task since it’s much more time consuming than the manga and can make people impatient.
Overall: 10/10
I was going to stick to the anime-manga-anime-manga-etc… schedule, but as soon as I started the manga I got sucked in and read for quite a bit (to episode 26 equivalent of the anime), and when I started the anime I couldn’t stop until I finished it. It’s that good. But that carries a great deal of guilt if you’re putting behind work to read/watch the series, like I did. Either great planning or discipline is required (I have neither). Definitely buying this series to support it (when I get a credit card). And we have a new #1 on my top anime list! I can’t wait till they come out with Season 2, since they’ll definitely come out with it, since it’s just too good!
Mnemosyne – Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi – First Impression/Episode 2
March 10, 2008 at 12:01 pm | In Mnemosyne - Mnemosyne no Musume-tachi | 1 CommentI haven’t really written my thoughts on it when I saw the first episode, because… actually, no reason.
It doesn’t matter, does it? I’m writing about it now!
Each Mnemosyne episode is twice the length of the standard 24 minutes, but I’ll try to shorten the synopsis. (Probably because I dun wanna type a lot.)
Synopsis:
This episode divides into two routes in the beginning, one following Rin and the other following Maeno. Rin is tracking the elusive Sutherland stamp, the only (whole) one left in the world. While Maeno helps a girl look for an “angel”, although he believes she made it up to replace her lost brother. Time goes by and Rin deviate away from her search as her gut instinct leads her to a series of murders, which leads her to a fight with the mysterious agent sent by Apos once again. No one won because they both blew up, but then again, neither of them died. After that however, Maeno discovers to true nature of Rin… and apparently Mimi also. Maeno decides to stay with them (he’s no better, he’s a clone) and the investigations continues. The turning point of the investigation happens when Maeno finds a clue and finally calls in Rin and Mimi as they, coincidentally, find out the Sutherland stamp and the stamp assassin (say what?). The “angel” turns out to be real and it’s the opposites of the immortals, explanation is short and just plainly leads to, kill the angel. After an encounter with the stamp assassin does the angel shows up, so he decides to eat Rin, then he eats Rin. (Eating means screwing in Japanese, usually one sided.) They always find spots to stick in nudity in… Anyways, she saves herself by walking him into a particularly hard branch, in short, she boned him big time. Then we get to see Apos once again, this time with plenty of explanations and such, and that’s how it ends.
Thoughts:
Well, I wasn’t going to watch it the first place because the artwork I saw from the poster and screenshots wasn’t great at all. But I’m glad I did since the story (mostly because it’s still a mystery) and the directing is great. The music also fits greatly with the mood of the anime, although it’s not the genre I link. This, however, is a relief tothe bunch of failing sequels I have to put up with so far. (Hopefully Code Geass 2 won’t be like that.) The setting of 1991 is odd since it limits the amount of possibilities to resolve mysteries since it leaves little room for both SciFi and supernatural explanations, but we’ll see how it goes, if they pull it off they would have my respect.
NANA – First Impression (Manga)
March 6, 2008 at 12:55 am | In Manga, NANA | Leave a CommentI’m so glad I stopped being lazy and start reading this. (In truth, I had my eyes on it around 2 years ago, never got around to it)
Then I thought.
Wow.
Favourite manga by far, but then here comes the dilemma.
“Since I’ve to figure out manga is better than anime because of speed of plot, what should I do? If I continue reading it’s going to ruin my enjoyment of the anime, and if I stop… I’m going to get withdrawal from the manga!”
That’s what I said on 4chan, and the response, as expected, wasn’t really helpful.
But there are some good advice here and there, since the manga moves faster and apparently the anime follows it closely, I’ll just watch one episode at a time and then catch up on the manga side.
Original plot, original characters (bet many of them will by dynamic too), great artwork, fast plot movement and great sentimentality usage. Good stuff, good stuff. Great read for all types of reader, even if you’re not into shoujo.
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