29.1.12

透明人間のニヒリズム




FINALLY! ANOTHER SOFT SONG OF THIS TYPE, IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO HEAR A NEW SONG OF THIS KIND BACK ON THE CHARTS!

I think I've noticed (or maybe I've noticed before but just never mentioned), I like songs where Miku sings a bit softly and the song is more mellow and slow (but not too slow), it just has a nice, tranquil feel to it. Also, the xylophones (...is the best way I can describe the instrument played in this song) adds a nice peaceful yet unique touch to the song. SATISFIED :V

Although, the title is kind of annoyingly hard to translate from my head... something about rhythms in the end, that's about it. What would Google say?

"Nihilism of the Invisible Man"

...

Okay, not only would I never have guessed that, I did it completely wrong with my rhythm guess.

25.1.12

334人の敵




lately it seems like Miku sounds like GUMI, and GUMI sounds like Miku... well I guess not completely in this song.

Kind of surprised, was expecting when coming in that I wouldn't like the song. But I guess you can't judge a song by its PV as they say... Well I guess they don't. V:

Would YOU want 334 guys as your enemies? :V

Tell Your World (Again)




GUYS THE COMMENTS ARE GREAT

First time I'd praise a video because of comment effects.

19.1.12

Miku Punch?!?

http://andriasang.com/comzp6/hatsune_miku_punching_bag/

W-Wh-Why? ;o;

18.1.12

Bad End Night




Nicely done video, pretty interesting song (not entirely to my tastes, but nice to listen to), only thing that would have been better is if I understood the lyrics. I bet the story would be nice to listen to that way.

Well, no matter. GUMI-maid! :V

10.1.12

Mawaru Penguin Drum

Here is a show that both arises and crashes beautifully all the way till the end. Since I would like to discuss how amazing the crash of the end (and the series in general) is, its probably safe to say there will be quite a lot of spoilers... well... since I'm kind of talking about the ending itself for a good chunk of the time. Let me also say that this series was great in because of the way it was constructed, despite the FABULOUS wreck of an ending it made.

First lets make a proper analogy. Imagine a plotline of an anime (or novel, or a movie, etc...) As a thread, or a series of threads. If its a series of threads, it would refer to the anime having multiple plotlines. In many cases anime would have either a single thread, of a couple threads lined up alongside each other (in parallel, several stories going on at once) or one after another (in series, more commonly scene). Usually (unless the series is bad) the threads are distinct, there is a beginning and an end, and all is cool.

Mawaru Penguin Drum, as anyone could guess, is a parallel series. But it does more than just be a parallel series... because in many lines, there doesn't seem to be a proper ending (or beginning in some cases). In those cases the threads seem to go on into nowhere heading into different directions, and you really don't know what you're looking at except for a horribly knotted middle part which turns out to be the plotline for the anime itself. This can be the best analogy in my mind about Mawaru Penguin Drum. I can't exactly say this is a great thing, but since the knotted part was so interesting I can't say its a bad thing either.

Now, to take a look at some of the threads.
By far, Yuri and Takako (was that his name? :V) had the most developed stories, therefore they actually had a beginning and an ending. This is ironic because they are the most minor of the main characters. But they are (I think) the only characters where we know where they come from, we know what their conflict is, and we know how it was resolved. Actually, Matsume (?? the rich girl) was fairly complete too, although the truth and her real past got muddled together at the end.

Himari is great. Himari is wonderful. Himari is the main reason to watch this show. However, she is also a character of mystery. Her beginning, at least, isn't quite clear along with a good amount of her past. (Or maybe I just really wanted to see more Double (Triple?) H. WHERE IS MY MOE) However her issue is much less conspicuous than the others, and for the most part, acceptable. It's acceptable that she was orphaned, brought to an orphanage (I swear this is the child broiler and I can't really think of any possible case for it to not be) and then rescued by Sho. And in the end she lived a fairly happy life (Somehow got her parents back... we'll talk about fate transfer later). So what the heck is up with the transformation scene?

The transformation scene is a good chance to transition into Sho and Kan, but first it in itself needs some discussion. First off, I believe the Himari with the hat is still Himari (rather than Momoka). Instead, it just brings out her inner persona, along with some tucked away knowledge that she somehow has. And this means Himari is actually a pretty sadistic person in nature. I say this because of the way she treats foods while preparing them (cabbages and potatoes or something), she seems to be amused at treating them in a rather cruel manner. It could also just be my bias because I think if she was hiding a sadistic personality under her innocence it would be much cuter.
Now, the Penguin Drum. WTF IS THE PENGUIN DRUM. One solution is that its the spell that Momoka/Ringo needs to transfer rate. This is a perfectly logical solution. It could be that, just like Momoka, the spell actually got split in half too and was placed into both Kan and Sho. Bringing them together allows the spell to be cast. This would make sense to see why Momoka told Sho to rush to the train, even though the diary was burned up. But, the spell wasn't cast by Sho and Kan, it was cast by Ringo... who happened to have the lyrics to the song sung by Double H... who got the spell from Himari..........

What the f_ck?

Ahem. Kan and Sho did in the end recite the fate transfer spell. In fact now that I think about it, Kan probably did that so that it was possible for Sho to be born (the two caged scene I think is before they were born, the apple being giving them the opportunity to live, the sharing of the apple showing that they both had only "half-life" to live with, and the spell actually letting them do that). The half-apple might also support the divided spirit of Momoka (or the diary) lies within them rather than the hat(s). I think this is the case because of the lack of Mario's presence. (WTF, WHAT HAPPENED TO MARIO) So then, what exactly are Kan and Sho? Likely from what I just said, they just happened to be born at the same time, but one of them (or both of them, at first) weren't allowed to live. And then some fancy spellcasting happened and voila, they exist. The ending I suppose just emphasized that they weren't really allowed to exist in the first place, and they transfer their existence mostly to Ringo and Himari in order for the fate transfer to work properly.

Fate Transfer I imagine is a lot like in Stein's Gate where people actually hop over to different dimensions. This can be most clearly seen in Yuri's arc, where after the fate transfer, somehow her father disappeared. There are a few discrepencies though, like why Momoka still knew her and what about Takako... but I think this could just be explained as Momoka being some overseeing allmighty being (out of the box amirite) and Takako possibly meeting her after the fate transfer. (BTW Loli Yuri is great.)

Ringo is the reincarnation of Momoka, without any memories. A good enough excuse. That's also probably why she can cast the spell. However, unlike Momoka, she was not "out of the box".

Satoshi or whatever that guy's name is probably just too illogical to make any sense out of. Somehow he and Momoka are opposing entities; whether they were actually human in the first place is debatable. The whole fact is that the two entities are so illogical that we can't even make a good conclusion on their story, if they were even human, or why they were even there.

And, as I stated before, Mario is the most baffling character. He shows up with a hat and then DOESN'T DO ANYTHING?!? WHY?!? WHY IS HERE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE THEN?!? JUST TO GIVE THE GIRL ESMERELDA?!? :V

9.1.12

UN-GO (Unfinished, ep 2)

Well, the vocaloid reference is everywhere and I thank people for spoiling that (not really). However, the SOPA / Protect IP Act (or maybe it was talking about a similar issue in Japan?) was a surprise. Props to them for pulling off a worse-case scenario of a bill like that.

Also, where is the gothloli that is being posted all over pixiv? >:O

6.1.12

Sudoku

http://www.nature.com/news/mathematician-claims-breakthrough-in-sudoku-puzzle-1.9751

What is research?!? Research is SUDOKU!!!

Well, I suppose its okay to give them pardon since its a mathematics problem.

5.1.12

44 versions of 千本桜



Just for my reference.

Tumors and Surgery

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressreleases/radical_surgery_saves_life_of_young_mom_california_first/

It's a good story but... did they say "basketball-sized tumor"? Of the LIVER? Wouldn't that be bigger than the liver itself? ...How does that work?!?

4.1.12

Pigeon Math

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/12/no-joke-pigeons-ace-a-simple-math.html

Wait, did I post something similar before? Anyway, Pigeons are smart.

3.1.12

Baby Maniacs



Lately there doesn't seem to be any real good songs on the charts besides "Tell Your World" (apparently what's #1 is some "Eazy Dance" song which, while I admit Miku's vocals are pretty cool in that song, isn't exactly a style which I favor) but I did come across this one.

The thing about this song is its almost like a carbon copy of "Sweet Devil", from the weird looking robo-Mikus to the basic song structure layout, to how they synthesized Miku's voice (synthesizing a synthetic voice? :V). I'm pretty sure the person behind the video is the same, and I guess the song artist is probably the same too. Still, a fun watch in spite of all the similarities.

Idolm@ster

The anime with a big following rivaling touhou and vocaloid and had ridiculously high production value. Well, that's not the reason I'm making the post, its more like a re-evaluation of the characters that I had in mind from what I've known of Idolm@ster before watching the anime and from when I watched Xenoglossia. (Which was a horrible rendition of Idolm@ster, I admit)

I'll start with the characters that I had little knowledge of, because they weren't in Xenoglossia and were classified as rival characters in some of the last couple games. Heck, I didn't even know who Hibiki was (when the anime first started I was trying to guess that she was Chihaya, which was obviously wrong even when I was thinking about it back then)

Hibiki- Fairly generic, usual run of the mill fang type character. A good amount of spunk and overall a nice average character. I'm not moe-ing over her character, but I don't really see anything about her either. How she looks is how she acts, too.

Takane- Well... she's weird. I guess this can be stated as pretty obvious, but at first her character design looks really nice and could potentially be seen as a (new?) favorite of mine, but I can't really get around her personality. There's nothing wrong with it (as is the case with almost all characters in Idolm@ster) but it just doesn't work, especially the way she speaks... well... I guess some people will go after it, I suppose... :V

Miki- I had a little more experience with this character as this was the character my friend chose when I watched him play a little bit of Idolm@ster. Her character in the game seemed quite a bit different from how the anime portrayed her, which showed her being more selfish and not quite the friendly ideal idol I would have initially made her out to be. To me there's nothing wrong with that, but the selfishness could get a little bit "eh..." sometimes. But hey, everyone (well, lots of people) like Miki anyway so why not. Probably not one in my ideal idol group though.
Oh right. DUCK-SENSEI!!!!!!

Makoto- Uh... it makes me wonder, are there really idols that act like cross-genders and appeal to the opposite gender...? Well, at least I'd be really surprised if there's a trap idol like that DS game... >.> Makoto is still cool, but in a manly way. (Yes, Makoto would be sad...)

Azusa- HER HAIR... WHY... HER HAIR... ;o; *ahem* Uh, basically an Alicia (from ARIA) clone. She's pretty cute and funny, I dare say I have a better opinion of her now than when coming into the show. In fact, I believe the episode themed around her is arguably the best episode in the entire series... it was the episode that made me say "Man, this show is GREAT." She's really popular too, seeing a lot of doujinsh-- eer, fanart of her around... >.>
ALSO her dancing is the best out of Ryuuguu Komachi...okay well crap. I'm liking her more than I expected aren't I.

Ritsu- Good job letting her be the producer, considering she was my least favorite character, appearance wise, out of the idols. The producer role suits her quite nicely. It's about the same image I have of Makoto: a cool person, but I dunno about her being an idol. Her episode though made some points out where she can be cute. Still, I think she works well as a producer, and should stay that way.

Mami/Ami: Coming in, they were my favorite idol(s). But while watching the show, to me, something just didn't click with them... they were great at times and definitely had some funny moments which I enjoyed, but... I think it was their style or something that put me off? I'm not entirely sure. I would still rank them higher than most other characters, and I still think they're pretty cute at times, but I guess their image started to come off more as "cool" or just "silly" at some points that made me lose moe interest in them over time.

Yayoi: On the other hand, they somehow managed to make the one character that has the worst fashion sense one of the most moe characters in the show. My opinion of Yayoi has skyrocketed in this show and now I regard her as one of the most moe characters in Idolm@ster. Her sense of style is HORRENDOUS, though, although this is not surprising given the background story they have of her. But when she is in that idol costume, and her voice that somehow squeaks with moe, man, she is just so cute.

Yukiho: She was my favorite character in Xenoglossia... up until a certain point, which at that point Xenoglossia really just flew down the drain in a lot of areas. I don't know if this is an aftereffect, but just like the twins I didn't see quite as much appeal in her anymore as I did before. But still, she's pretty nice, and I would say has more moe points than the twins.

Iori: Classic Tsundere. Even voiced by KugiRie. (Wow, KugiRie did Idolm@ster? Didn't know that until I watched the anime) Not much opinion on her. :V

Chihiya: First off, the Xenoglossia anime completely ruined her image for me (and probably other people) so unfortunately I can't get a good opinion of her. In spite of that, her story was pretty damn amazing in terms of empathy (and makes Idolm@ster a little more than just a happy-go-lucky show) and I give her props to that. However, her personality is pretty hard to like in my opinion, probably because she just seems so unsociable (which is a lot like me huh...).

Haruka: The main! The main is always the main! She was pretty cute in Xenoglossia (in spite of the way the show destroyed itself near the end) and she stays pretty cute in the anime. The conflicts she has at the end was pretty nice too, I daresay it was pretty nice to watch.

Overall the anime had a good feeling to it. It had the idealistic nature of Aria, for the most part, with more kira-kiraing from the idol part. There was still some random plots to spice the series up a little, but I guess it wasn't overdone so it wasn't too bad (I wouldn't have minded either way if they were taken out or not though).

SO THE PERFECT IDOL GROUP? I guess it would be some combination of Yayoi, Azusa, Haruka, Yukiho, and Ami/Mami...

I also think a couple of the DS idols looked cute but they weren't really emphasized in the anime D: