Well, a new anime season is upon us, and I got my special headphones fixed so I can watch anime again! This season offers some exciting finds.
So far my favorite is Fantasista Doll, which is pretty much a Yu-Gi-Oh meets Sailor Moon thing. And of course, there's Danganronpa, the high-school mystery-horror AND it has a goth loli character. #TeamYandere is looking at this one with excitement.
Brothers Conflict has been getting poor reviews and the most readily accessible English sub available is done by a less than par subtitler. However, Ichigo is improving, and I personally enjoyed the first episode of the series. If you're a fan of Fruits Basket and Ouran High School Host Club, this series is in the same vain of Shojo comedy. It's difficult to say if it will be as good as those series, but if you enjoyed those series immensely, than you should enjoy Brothers Conflict at least a little.
Blood Lad didn't live up to my expectations, but I'll keep watching anyways, while Servant x Service is what I expected it to be. Never read the Manga, but I'm familiar with Karino Takatsu's work, and Takatsu-Sensei is a brilliant 4-koma artist. It's always difficult to transfer 4-koma to anime, but the series does it quite well. I have other series to watch still, which I will tonight. Hope this helps!
PS My headphones have a microphone in them, so I can also go back to my Japanese lessons! Yay!
Wednesday 10 July 2013
Thursday 9 May 2013
Artist Deathmatch
Last night I had the pleasure of attending my first Art Battle. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept: A bunch of artists congregate stake out their space, and then have two hours to make a piece from scratch. they can work individually, or as a collaboration. After time is up, their pieces are immediately put up for live auction.
I didn't do so well, since I was the last piece of the night up for auction, so most of the more generous bidders had already gone home. But it was a good exercise in doing work under a deadline. Most of my drawings take me at least ten hours, sometimes as much as 15. But I was able to pull off something decent in only two hours. With more time, it could have been better, but I was surprised at what I could accomplish in such a short deadline.
I'm hoping this will be good for me in the long run, as I'd love to do my own art for my Light Novel, but don't always have the time for it, so I need to work under deadlines.
I'll probably go again next week, and hopefully have just as much of a blast and great practice.
The funnest part? My pen exploded while I was inking, and I got two huge globs of ink on my picture. so I slightly changed the picture so my character was holding a kendo stick, let the ink run down the pic, and then turned it into blood stains. Then I changed all the scenery to make it look like there was a window, so the blood was on the window. It challenged me, but I made the pic and had to improvise through some parts.
So, for ten dollars, someone bought some concept art for one of the characters in my light novel. Not bad for a last item, but would have been nice if I had made a bit more. But almost everyone who was bidding had gone home, and for something I threw together in a couple of hours I was just happy to get an opportunity to improve my skills.
I didn't do so well, since I was the last piece of the night up for auction, so most of the more generous bidders had already gone home. But it was a good exercise in doing work under a deadline. Most of my drawings take me at least ten hours, sometimes as much as 15. But I was able to pull off something decent in only two hours. With more time, it could have been better, but I was surprised at what I could accomplish in such a short deadline.
I'm hoping this will be good for me in the long run, as I'd love to do my own art for my Light Novel, but don't always have the time for it, so I need to work under deadlines.
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| The location of the final showdown: Gorilla House LIVE ART |
I'll probably go again next week, and hopefully have just as much of a blast and great practice.
The funnest part? My pen exploded while I was inking, and I got two huge globs of ink on my picture. so I slightly changed the picture so my character was holding a kendo stick, let the ink run down the pic, and then turned it into blood stains. Then I changed all the scenery to make it look like there was a window, so the blood was on the window. It challenged me, but I made the pic and had to improvise through some parts.
So, for ten dollars, someone bought some concept art for one of the characters in my light novel. Not bad for a last item, but would have been nice if I had made a bit more. But almost everyone who was bidding had gone home, and for something I threw together in a couple of hours I was just happy to get an opportunity to improve my skills.
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Also, I finished Sakura-no Pet na Kanojo. I quite liked it. If you get a chance: Watch it.
Currently watching: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Also enjoying it.And squeezing it in just in time so I can watch the just announced second season when it becomes available.
Saturday 27 April 2013
Get Laid or Die Trying
Sorry, it's been a while. I was uh... *blush, mumble* playing School Days. Yes, School Days, the worst video game ever. It's like, the Plan Nine from Outer Space of video games. Yes, it is almost that awful. And the sad part is, if the game were any worse, it would probably actually be better. As it is, it's bad, but not quite "so bad it's good."
Virginity is not an option in this game. Literally. You cannot avoid it. I tried to, just to see if it could be done. Nope. You just delay the inevitable until you get fucked or get butchered.
I know that I normally do my reviews on Hubages but the nature of this game means, you'll have to deal with it here where I can still get some advertising revenue, so bear with me on this.
First, the voice acting is awful. I don't even speak Japanese, and I could tell it was awful. Secondly, I found it hard to empathize with someone as wishy-washy as Motoko, the main character. Because I try deliberately to NOT be wishy-washy, and he does it anyways. And thirdly, it just doesn't play like a visual novel. Not just because it's fully animated, but because the options are really meaningless story-wise until you get to the ending. The episodic formula doesn't work. At all. It's inconsistent. One episode, it becomes official I'm not dating Sekai, and everyone knows who Sekai's boyfriend is, next episode, everyone is fucking pissed at me because they assume I'm with Sekai. I mean, what the hell?
It just.. it fails. It fails so hard. The point of playing a visual novel is that you make moral and ethical decisions to get a desired outcome, and as one friend of mine put it, playing the game in the first place in not the ethical one. I kind of guilty. I feel bad for the girls in the game, I feel awful for the shitty voice actors who attached (what I hope were false) names to the project, I feel awful for the localization team that had to put up with the bullshit of every scenario while translating.
Also, for the record, unlike most visual novels, the fact this is fully animated ACTUALLY hurts the project. Nobody watches the same episode of a show over and over and over again. we may watch an episode frequently, or a movie often, but we don't watch the same episode daily. The fact that School Days is fully animated means there is much less replayability value.
In the end, this game misses the mark. Then again, I can safely assume that there really wasn't a "mark" they were aiming for. I think the creators just blindfolded themselves, spun themselves around and threw darts at the wall, and if they hit the lawn, or another co-creator, or their own foot, they just went with it. and that's exactly what this is: The game that shot itself in the foot.
Virginity is not an option in this game. Literally. You cannot avoid it. I tried to, just to see if it could be done. Nope. You just delay the inevitable until you get fucked or get butchered.
I know that I normally do my reviews on Hubages but the nature of this game means, you'll have to deal with it here where I can still get some advertising revenue, so bear with me on this.
First, the voice acting is awful. I don't even speak Japanese, and I could tell it was awful. Secondly, I found it hard to empathize with someone as wishy-washy as Motoko, the main character. Because I try deliberately to NOT be wishy-washy, and he does it anyways. And thirdly, it just doesn't play like a visual novel. Not just because it's fully animated, but because the options are really meaningless story-wise until you get to the ending. The episodic formula doesn't work. At all. It's inconsistent. One episode, it becomes official I'm not dating Sekai, and everyone knows who Sekai's boyfriend is, next episode, everyone is fucking pissed at me because they assume I'm with Sekai. I mean, what the hell?
It just.. it fails. It fails so hard. The point of playing a visual novel is that you make moral and ethical decisions to get a desired outcome, and as one friend of mine put it, playing the game in the first place in not the ethical one. I kind of guilty. I feel bad for the girls in the game, I feel awful for the shitty voice actors who attached (what I hope were false) names to the project, I feel awful for the localization team that had to put up with the bullshit of every scenario while translating.
Also, for the record, unlike most visual novels, the fact this is fully animated ACTUALLY hurts the project. Nobody watches the same episode of a show over and over and over again. we may watch an episode frequently, or a movie often, but we don't watch the same episode daily. The fact that School Days is fully animated means there is much less replayability value.
In the end, this game misses the mark. Then again, I can safely assume that there really wasn't a "mark" they were aiming for. I think the creators just blindfolded themselves, spun themselves around and threw darts at the wall, and if they hit the lawn, or another co-creator, or their own foot, they just went with it. and that's exactly what this is: The game that shot itself in the foot.
Monday 15 April 2013
Recommendations, Yandere Obsessions, and Random Stuffs
I'm spending my morning trying to find awesome pics of glasses girls. Check for the G+ and Twitter Hashtags #meganemonday. For #WaifuWednesday, my waifu of the day will be Gasai Yuno.
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So, if you haven't had a chance to, check out my latest Hubpages article on The Devil is a Part-Timer! It's a brand new series simulcast with subtitles by FUNimation Fridays 3.30pm EST.
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So, anyways, watched some more of Future Diaries. I love this series. And am going to try to catch a restream of Date a Live. Saving the world by dating a girl? Man, if it were me, the world would be royally screwed.
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My Japanese lessons are coming along. Re-doing the third lesson in Kanji. It's still pretty fun though. It's still just introductory and vocabulary stuff, not enough to actually come up with my own sentences. I don't think I'll ever be able to speak it fluently, but it would nice to be able to watch new anime and not have to wait for subs to come out. Reading it is going to be the most difficult part to learn. But once I do, I plan on ordering a copy of every single light novel series I've been wanting to read. Particularly The Devil is a part-timer, and The Familiar of Zero. I'd also like to read "Another."
***
If you like messed up stuff, I encourage you to read The Enigma of Amigara Fault. It is extremely "twisted" (If you read it, you'll know I mean that literally). It's supplementary material that appeared in Gyo, but has nothing to do with the story. It's just one chapter and it's a story of it's own.
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My mind is full of yandere. Nothing special about that, just saying.
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Speaking of Yandere, I'm learning Adobe Premiere CS6 and After Effects, because I want to make a new and good AMV about Elfen Lied. It'll probably use the music to Andrew WK's Get Ready to Die. Either that, Three Day's Grace's Animal. It'll take a while to finish it, so don't expect anything too soon.
Sunday 14 April 2013
No diary to be found here!
I was lazy today, so I just watched anime and wrote my review of The Devil is a Part-Timer for HubPages. Go ahead check it out instead of here. And click lots of ads so I get money. Don't worryy, they *should* be virus free. Go ahead. Make me rich.
Anyways, if you're looking for a diary entry today, it's in another castle.
Anyways, if you're looking for a diary entry today, it's in another castle.
Saturday 13 April 2013
So... tired... zzz....
MY FLIPPING GOSH! WHY IS MY INTERNET SLOWER THAN A DRAGONBALL Z FIGHT SEQUENCE????
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AND COLD! 30 MORE cm EXPECTED? WHAT THE HADES?
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Okay, so right now I'm watching the second episode of The Devil is a Part-Timer! And I'm quite enjoying it. If you live in the states, you should head over to FUNimation and check it out. Basically, the title says it all. Lord Satan travels through a dimensional gate, ends up in modern day Japan, loses his powers and in order to survive long enough to get home, takes up a part-time job at a local fast food restaurant (not McDonald's *wink wink*)
In this episode, the devil finds out that the Hero who defeated him in his homeworld followed him through the gate, also losing her powers. Still intent on killing Satan, she also finds herself a job at a customer service center. Rarely we do find yanderes in a comedy, but it's refreshing to see. This makes for a nice little sitcom style anime to watch when you get a chance. I'll do a much more fuller review on HubPages later on.
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Also, slowly working on MyAnimeList. Hopefully, it will be up to date within a week. I hadn't used it in a while, so I have quite a bit to update on it. Just, check it out every now and then and see my otaku history.
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UPDATE ON MY RANTS EARLIER: My internets are now faster, hopefully they'll keep that way, and no more snow yet, but the did say another 30 cm was supposed to hit us this afternoon or tomorrow.
And just in case your wondering, no. I don't write these all at once, the asterisks mark where I take a break and come back to it.
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Okay. The snow is here. I'm currently writing my review of The Devil is a Part-Timer. It should be up by Monday (Well, it should be up tomorrow, but I wait until 24 hours to promote it so It can pass the review process of HubPages.)
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One last thing: on G+ I have thrown my support behind #teamneko in #bunnyvsneko. Also, check out the hashtags (on both G+ and Twitter) #waifuwednesday and #fanartfriday. And my internet is really slow again. So I'm going to leave you for now. Wanted to write more, but oh wells.
Friday 12 April 2013
I Needz a New Job, Plus Drawing.
So, I spent the first half of my day looking for work. I'm writing on HubPages more frequently (and you should check it out), but blogging about anime is not really much of a moneymaker. Hey, click on an ad or two while you stop by, it really helps. But the writing is fun and gives me an excuse to watch anime and read manga, which is always good.
Still, I have bills and rent to pay, and anime to buy, and my current job is not doing that, so time to look for more work. Trying for either administration for maybe a non-profit (I am a bit of an activist) or if I have to, retail.
Still, I have bills and rent to pay, and anime to buy, and my current job is not doing that, so time to look for more work. Trying for either administration for maybe a non-profit (I am a bit of an activist) or if I have to, retail.
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Also, today I tried drawing again. I'm just experimenting with different characters until I settle on what I want the character in my light novel to look like. It should be good, I hope. Today, I drew her in sort of a fighting pose, wearing a yukata and pigtails. when the pic is finished, I'll see if I can scan it and upload it.
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I'm also working on catching up on MyAnimeList. I have an account but I don't update it as often as I should. If you want to see some of the stuff I've watched and read, check it out.
Thursday 11 April 2013
Can I learn Japanese? Also, Yuno Gasai, Demons, and more!
Well, guess what? I'm learning Japanese. I think. I mean, I'm using Rosetta Stone and trying to learn Japanese. In kanji (well, sometimes romanji, if I can't quite get the pronunciation down). It's actually pretty fun. Gives me something to do when I'm not at work/looking for better work/working on an article.
Anyways, I'm also watching Future Diaries. If you know me fairly well, you'll know that I love yanderes. After reading the manga, it's still up for debate as to whether Yuno is truly a yandere. I sometimes wonder if she would be less lethal without the survival game. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the manga and am looking forward to watching the series.
FUNimation released the first episode of The Devil is a Part-Timer! and I must say, it's interesting. Not being able to read Japanese (yet... see first paragraph) means I've never read the light novels, and I have been wanting to for some time. But at least I can get a subtitled episode and still enjoy it. It's hard to make any comparisons for this series since I've never had the fortune to read it. It's supposed to be a comedy, and while the episode had it's moments, for the most part, it seemed a tad serious. Excellent action sequences in the opening. Of course, this episode just lays down the foundation for the series, which holds the premise that the devil himself had been banished to Japan and is having to work in a fast food restaurant to support himself and blend in with the culture.
***
Anyways, I'm also watching Future Diaries. If you know me fairly well, you'll know that I love yanderes. After reading the manga, it's still up for debate as to whether Yuno is truly a yandere. I sometimes wonder if she would be less lethal without the survival game. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the manga and am looking forward to watching the series.
***
FUNimation released the first episode of The Devil is a Part-Timer! and I must say, it's interesting. Not being able to read Japanese (yet... see first paragraph) means I've never read the light novels, and I have been wanting to for some time. But at least I can get a subtitled episode and still enjoy it. It's hard to make any comparisons for this series since I've never had the fortune to read it. It's supposed to be a comedy, and while the episode had it's moments, for the most part, it seemed a tad serious. Excellent action sequences in the opening. Of course, this episode just lays down the foundation for the series, which holds the premise that the devil himself had been banished to Japan and is having to work in a fast food restaurant to support himself and blend in with the culture.
***
Also, thanks to how long Fujishima-sensei has been dragging the current story arc, I suppose Ah! My Goddess will be wrapping up in the next few years. I'm a bit disappointed, because I really love the series, and the current arc has involved Keichi Morisato and his first-class Goddess Belldandy going through the Gate of Judgement to determine if they actually can be in a relationship (they pulled this one off much more impressively than they did in the movie). However, it looks like - and I don't consider this a spoiler because
- Everyone knew they would eventually make it official anyways and...
- This is just what I think will happen, I'm not going to reveal plot details that haven't occurred yet in the story. This is guesswork, but it should be obvious.
It would be good to end the series on a high note, and the blessing of Belldandy and Keichi's union would be a very good note to end on. Fujishima has been doing this series - including four TV series, and several OVA's for 25 years. It's an amazing story, and I think it deserves it's more amazing conclusion, which judging by the current arc, could be soon.
