31.5.08

CHAAARRRGGEEEE

Just because I need a place to quotespam.

Thomas says:
ITS MIND GAMES
Thomas says:
AM I GOING TO CHARGE AT YOU
Thomas says:
OR AM I GOING TO SPEAR YOU
Akuun says:
uh
Akuun says:
you *always* charge
Thomas says:
... :(


This is referring to Alice in SWR btw.

Rental Magica

An excellent series that is fitting for a variety of genre, whether you're interested in fantasy, magic, or action. Indeed, this not-well-renowned series is given less credit than what it deserves, similar to other series I've mentioned before, like Yume Tsukai. The series has an extraordinary amount of depth and detail in it, so much that it may get confusing at first, trying to read all the subtitles and translator notes during the first few episodes of the series. But the series is not all detail, and there are some pretty heated battle scenes for those who just don't care and want to see fighting and action going on. I probably can't say it's one of the best in fantasy/action/romance/comedy/whatever genre, but it certainly has a little of all and best of all, it makes sense. The series combines a whole plethora of different forms of magic, ranging from the western traditional magics to the eastern shrine type rituals. I could almost say that it's just a very well constructed anime combining Harry Potter, Touhou, Code Geass, Pokemon, a random ghost and a random Ofuda (paper magic) user together... but that sounds rather terrible, the series is actually much better than a collection of those things put all together.
The artwork is quite nice and comfortable. It's not rediculously moe as some of the series I've watched but its also cute enough to be attracted to the characters and not deem the fanservice as "unneeded" (not that fanservice is needed, but it's not annoying at the very least). There is also a good amount of male characters so that the series won't be completely directed as a harem type series, a good method to introduce female watchers since many girls automatically reject harem anime no matter how good it may be (for a reasonable excuse, its not deemed "harem" for no reason). Regardless of the character content, the story is very nice and in depth therefore anyone who's always criticized shows for their plot and detail would like this series quite a bit, I think.

The ending song is very catchy, and the chorus part of the opening song is pretty cool too.
In terms of the negatives, well, for the first portions of the series the series goes out of order, which is always a nuisance to me. After watch Touka Gettan where the ENTIRE SERIES was backwards I was no longer appreciative of WHATEVER reason a series would go out of order, whether it's symbolic or just because the creators thought it would be funny. However the latter half had the series finally going in chronological order and that was much more enjoyable. Also, there is one scene that they continously flash back to, which is understandable since its part of the story but after flashing back to the scene 4 times it gets old and annoying and makes it feel like a waste of time. :( Come on we want to watching fighting magicians in action, not the same childhood memory 4 times!!

But yes despite that Rental Magica is a good series, would highly recommend watching it.

26.5.08

Indiana Jones, Kimikiss, Scarlet Weather Rhapsody

Two quick short writeups on my opinions on these two visual works.

Indiana Jones was fun to watch, as I had expected. Unfortunately its plot was quite weak and the romance portion was lame, but the point of the show was to have Indy be awesome and have some comedic moments once in a while (the romance helps with that, admittedly). So, it doesn't really matter that the plotline sucked. Still, it would have been nice if they were more coherent with these things. Additionally, sometimes the characters like Indy mumbled and I couldn't figure out what they were saying; that's a bit annoying too.
I would also like to comment on the feasibility of surviving an atomic bomb while staying in a refrigerator, but when consulting a physics major he said it was narrowly possible. And since narrowly possible always means Indiana Jones can do it, I accept it as feasible and not impossible, like some things that are shown in anime. Everything Indiana Jones does is almost impossible but because there's a low chance of success he succeeds. (That's what heroes do, they turn 0.01% success into 100% success!) It was cool though, surviving an atomic blast in a refrigerator. :V

Kimikiss Pure Rouge was a random typical high school romance anime I happened to pick up. Nothing in it stands out in a particular, in fact it could be said as the most normal high school romance anime I've ever found. The art design isn't even that great. But I was quite attracted to the character personalities in the anime, which I found much more realistic (and less emo) than many other characters in romance and high school anime. For the most part most of the characters did not have me crying in agony and for those that did, it was only for a short while before they shaped up and I was like "huh, pretty smart". Unlike some anime where the protagonist never learns throughout the entire series (or takes the entire series to learn). So, I thought the characters were pretty good.
I really liked the ending to the first season of the anime, for whatever reason.

NOW I SHALL BREAK FROM MY CONTINUOUS ANIME WATCHING TO DO A WEEKS WORTH OF PRACTICE IN SWR. This game is IMMENSELY confusing, even more so than IaMP was. The graze system is slightly different in that you can graze in more directions, and you have to let go of the graze key each time in order to change direction. Grazing and using projectiles is ranked by these little orb things, and if you forget to let go of the key you'll use up all your orbs and be powerless, which proves to be a huge inconvenience.
There is only ONE melee button (therefore ONE close range button) and two projectile buttons. This wouldn't have been a problem except that the former character I used in IaMP, Alice, always had A as her long range and B as her short range SO I GET SO CONFUSED and keep on using the wrong button when I want to use melee. D:
THERE IS AN AWESOME CARD SYSTEM but it's going to take a hell of a long time to get used to. It's almost as if the game is a card game + fighting game in one, in that you can build your own "deck" of spellcards that you draw and depending on your deck you can affect the outcome of your power moves.
There's also some weather system but I haven't seen too much about that yet. So far it doesn't affect me too much, but I'm sure it will eventually... I just have to figure out what button does what first, then I'll work on more of the specific nifty details of this game...

18.5.08

Hayate no Gotoku

40 EPISODES IN ABOUT TWO DAYS. EXCELLENT SERIES TO WASTE TIME ON. YES.


In terms of the quality of the series, it certainly qualifies as a comedy series. Similar to Lucky Star, it provides a whole plethora of anime and just general cultural references, so much that many people will probably miss most of them. (I myself am sure I've missed a ton of them) A lot of the time I figure they're pretty specific references, but there are even some references so common that people who haven't seen anything related to the reference would notice them (For example, I never saw the Matrix but the oh-so-cliche freezing gunfight was there for one scene or so). But nevertheless its amazing how much references they manage to put in, and that's part of what cracks me up. How can you not be amused at trap-Hayate dressed up as Belldandy claiming his name is Hermoine, then some other character making a crack joke asking if he can do magic afterwards? :V
It IS different from Lucky Star, however, in that you can't easily say "OH I CAN RELATE TO THAT" with this series. Obviously, since many people are not combat butlers that don't die even after many profuse injuries and does amazing superhuman stuff, its bound to be more of a nonsensical "haha funny but it will never happen in real life" type of anime. Nevertheless, very amusing. I'm sure my experience with the anime is only augmented because I recognize so much references that are noted throughout the anime, but I'm guessing it'll be a fairly adequate show to watch even if its just casual. If no one has anything else to do for an entire day but to watch anime. It's certainly good to have days like this, I tell you.
The character designs were not exactly KyoAni style, but were still pretty good. In many cases, the character personalities made the characters cute, especially since many of them were so intensely exaggerated. After watching the entire series, I'd have to say that honestly (as with most otakus I bet) Isumi the directionally impaired girl is of course the cutest, but certainly Nishisawa the food girl comes pretty close with her school outfit being more attractive than the one used at the school the main characters go to. Hinagaku also looks surprisingly moe in a Utena outfit, though her usual style sucks in terms of clothes. I am sort of wondering why Nishisawa knew Hinagaku and Wataru but then again asking the story for plot is probably a bit too much. (Although with both being commoners I think its not that out of the ordinary, and amazingly enough it leaves MORE chances for plot development for a second season. It's like Hayate can't end...):V
THE MUSIC: I'VE DOES THEIR MUSIC. KOTOKO DOES THE OP SONGS. ENOUGH SAID.

Lun Lun Lun~

16.5.08

H20: Footprints in the Sand

MY SUMMER ANIME SPLURGE HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!!!

(I realize I should be writing about Clannad first since it was a great series and deserves to have a review written about it but I am lazy atm so JUST WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T and suffice to say that it was so good it made me like a tsundere as my favorite character.)

SO what is H2O: Footprints in the Sand? It is, in a more rash term, another one of those visual novel-themed animes. However, despite some mediocrity and cliche themes and characters, it has its merits. While I personally think the character personalities are a bit too overused and, at times, unrealistic, the character designs and seemingly unique plot makes up for it. I like the plot so far in that it's fairly non-predictable by my standards, which is a big plus considering many of the characters display very cliche personalities and actions. I always enjoy a scene that I wasn't expecting more than one where I can literally say what the character is going to say next.
In terms of character, I mention that they are cliche but for this particular anime I like the main boy protagonist quite a bit. He starts off being blind and is suddenly able to see again, which is not a character trait you see very often; in addition, he's a soft-spoken, typical nice guy except he still has his cheekiness in him so he's not a sucker when stupid and funny events come to him. But most importantly, he doesn't seem to emo (at least not yet) and devote himself to too many characters at once. He's a nice guy to all girls, like every other male protagonist in this type of genre, but he really emits a "I'm just a friend" type feel, not a player that tries to go after every girl while somehow not realizing it.
While many of the characters are somewhat cliche in personality, the major reason I kept up with the series is I find it to have beautiful character designs. Not as good as KyoAni works, but attractive enough to make me want to continue the series even when characters say cheesey lines. The two blond hair girls in particular are so very cute, and the one with longer wavey hair is so cute it makes me feel sorry for all she has to go through even though she brought it on her self. :(

Oh and the music for this series is very nice. :D

H2O makes the series sound so scientific, when it obviously isn't. In fact, it has more religious themes than science. :V

9.5.08

Anime Downloads...?

http://zepy.momotato.com/2008/05/09/police-arrest-3-people-that-shared-anime-on-share/


Similar to what the guy said in the beginning, at first I thought this wouldn't matter much but after reading the article I'd have to say, "Interesting. Let's see what happens."

8.5.08

Magical Cell Plasma B-chan!

WARNING

THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST IS FOR SELF-STUDY PURPOSES ONLY. ANYONE ELSE READING THIS POST MAY SUFFER BOUTS OF "OMG WTF HAVE I JUST READ" AND "I FEEL LIKE SUCH A GEEK NOW".

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

After much contemplation on how the immune system and all its complexity can be "moefied" I finally figured out a perfect representation of the immune system, placed into a simple magical girl scenario. After all, you have the bad guys and you have the heroes, what better situation can they be in? Sure we can have mech and sentai (I think that's what it was? transforming superheroes) but you know those two aren't very moe. :( Therefore Magical Girl seems to fit the theme quite well.

The Introduction

A young middle school girl named Bee. Her full name is Rinpakyuu Bee (From what I could get, Rinpakyuu is japanese for "lymphocyte") and lives in a fairly normal and peaceful world that is seemingly without danger. She has orange, semi-long hair that is only slightly wavey at the beginning but curls inwards it gets lengthier. She has small white ribbons which tie around the left side of her bangs. Her schhol outfit is generally a bright cheerful yellow with a white skirt and a red bow in the center. Her eyes are large, deep brown, and give off a sort of shy, silent-girl type appearance. In fact, she IS mostly a shy, silent girl that doesn't talk a lot even amongst friends and is frequently a victim of blushing to the slightest thing embarassing. Nevertheless she is very friendly and always is willing to help out any way she can.
MAIN CHARACTER DESCRIPTION ASIDE (which has NOTHING to do with immunology but EVERYTHING to do with moeness) one day Bee-chan, while walking home from school, had to make a detour due to construction. She didn't think too much of it, since it seems like it would only lengthen her trip home by a short amount, but what she encountered drastically changed the rest of her life...
It was then she had seen, for the first time, an "Infection". There were small, sphericallike objects everywhere that emitted a field of negative energy around the area. The spherical objects attached themselves to other beings and began sucking the life force out of those within proximity. Then, after they had obtained enough energy, they divided, and multiplied... each new division latching onto a host, whether it be the same host as before or a new one, to absorb more life energy and continue dividing. Naturally, Bee-chan was terrified and didn't know what to do. Slowly, she backed away and tried to run, but saw that they had multiplied so much in the short time she was staring that they had surrounded her. They slowly began to enclose her when...
There was a glow of energy within her. Three colors glowed from the center of her chest. She didn't know what was going on, but slowly, she began to feel less terrified and more calm, letting the new, mysterious energy take over her. One of the spherical objects lunged but Bee-chan merely caught it within her hands and, through some process she did not know, absorbed and disintegrated the creature. At that point all the spherical objects stopped advancing towards her, as if they had sensed a powerful force being released...
"Kitaaaaaaa!!" From the air emerged a new figure, her loud voice snapping Bee-chan back into consciousness. Frantically she moved aside from the new arriving individual, who crashed straight into the floor beside her. Slowly, she got up; she was a person about the same height and age as she was, only with an unusual outfit that had what appeared to be dragonfly wings on the back of her, as if she were some sort of faerie. The girl looked at her.
"So, you're the one huh?"
"???" Bee-chan looked at her with confusion and anxiety. The girl sighed.
"An immature one, you must be. Sigh, those are always hard to deal with at first, lack of exposure and all." She turned, brushed herself, then smiled. "Hiya, just call me T-chan! I'm going to be your Helper from now on!"
Bee-chan looked on, still confused. "Helper?"
Before T-chan could explain, there negative energy force suddenly felt stronger and more powerful than before. They looked around and found that they were now completely engulfed within the spherical monsters...
"Ah, these cocci are multiplying like mad... Here I'll explain later, let's first clean this place up! Here, hold out your MHC."
"...my what?" But before she can understand what was going on, she involuntarily held out her hand, which began emitting a bright yellow glow. In the center of her hand appeared to be a piece of the cocci that had previously attacked her.
"Excellent. TCR to MHC response--" T-chan held out her hand and clasped it with Bee-chan's hand-- "Cytokine Release--" Many bright and sparkly starlike objects bursted out of T-chan and began swirling around the two girls "--ACTIVATION!!"
Transformation Scene. First the obligatory nakedness where here clothes and ribbon disappear. Her hair lengthens until it reaches her hips, then splits into two and braids themselves automatically, until she has two very long braids hanging down the back of her head. The hair then changes its color from orange to light blue. She is given a purple outfit that looks something like a dress with accessories like ribbons and Y shaped clips, five of the clips being aligned perfectly at the rim of her dress (which extends just below her knee) in a ring shaped manner. then gloves and shoes appear and finally she opens her eyes, which have now changed color to a more firey type orange and... she makes some pose. Which is not too cheesey but not just standing there either. Use your imagination.
A second after realize she has transformed, she panicks frantically not knowing what in the world had just happened to her. T-chan, however, knows exactly what to do.
"Oi, just listen to me, here! Just repeat everything I say and you'll do fine!"
"Huh??? Oh... uh okay!" Bee-chan stammered.
"So you're in your M-mode, perfect! First off, Antibody Dispersion!!"
"Antibody Dispersion!!" Immediately a wide array of rings flew out of Bee-chan and began sticking to the cocci surrounding them. The cocci seemed to make some moaning noise as if they were in pain.
"Agglutinate!!" T-chan shouted.
"AGGLUTINAAATEEE!!" Bee-chan repeated. The cocci were then pulled together, away from the many hosts they were sucking from, into one very large sphere of cocci, held together tightly by the objects Bee-chan had dispersed earlier.
"Now, finally... Complement System..."
"Complement System..."
"INITIATE!!!"
"INITIATE!!!"
Suddenly as if they were appearing out of nowhere, objects of varying sizes and sorts began clumping onto the cocci. When a number of them had accumulated on top of one, the cocci would burst and disintegrate.
"There, the Membrane Attack Complex should finish them off..."
Indeed within a short while, the explosions accumulated exponentially until the whole large sphere of cocci seemed to explode at once, emitting a bright light and... after the light faded, everything returned to normal.

Except for the rest of Bee-chan's life, of course.


THE CAST

Bee-Chan and T-chan were pretty much introduced in the introduction. Consequently Bee-chan in her magical girl phase is a plasma cell, while in her dormant phase she is (now) a memory cell.

T-chan has a twin brother called T-kun. T-kun (representing a cytotoxic T cell) is not a helper and actually goes and kills hosts which have been infected. Bee-chan was not very happy when she first found out about T-kun's job, but realizes soon afterwards that it was a necessary thing he has to do.
T-chan and T-kun's actual names (and the names they use when they are in "human" form) is Tomoyo and Tomoya.

There is another "lead handsome guy" character that comes in that represents all forms of phagocytes in general. He helps Bee-chan fight off the evil microbes that come and invade their planet. He initially starts out with one form, the "Neutrophil" form, which is a general form for killing microbes. He gains more forms later ("Eosinophil", "Basophil", "Natural Killer"), each suited differently depending on who he is fighting. For example, "Natural Killer" form helps out T-kun in tough times where there are many infected hosts, while "Basophil" form helps close off an area in the city (to prevent further people from accidentally coming in) and creates a generally more "heated" environment which slows down the microbe invasion.

Bee-chan has several forms as well. The forms are known as "Class M", "Class A", "Class E", "Class D", and "Class G". Similar to the previous character mentioned, each class varies in power and effectiveness depending on who Bee-chan is fighting and where she is. For example Class A would be more effective in sea-type battles since Class A allows her to be more movable in water, while Class E helps against very large opponents (ones that would, in this world, rank at about the size of a skyscraper). Her most powerful form is Class G.
Oh, and each time she is in a new class, she has a different outfit as well.

OTHER MISC

Many of her adventures start off simple enough, just to introduce the characters and letting Bee-chan adapt to her new lifestyle. However, things get tricky fast when she has to combat various organisms with basis off of viruses and parasitic eukaryotes. Her opponents get tougher and tougher when she encounters those who can become resistant to some of her antibodies, those who can "cloak", and those who incapacitate T-chan using toxic shock and HIV infections. However ultimately in the end she finds that she must combat what seems like herself, after suffering through a molecular mimicry battle and inducing an autoimmune disorder (ie. possibly emo phase)... will she make it through?

EXTRA

There would probably be doujin of Bee-chan and Monoclonal Antibodies. Those damn tumor cells. :V

1.5.08

OH MY GRANDMA

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-05-01/right-stuf-licenses-all-three-aria-tv-seasons-and-video

DEKAI SUGOI!!!