A "confession"...

though confession is really a bit too strong. Its just something I noticed a long while ago.

I am not meant to be a "scientific" character though I long to portray as one. I am actually more fitted to be an author, a lawyer, or a philosopher. My strength lies more in analysis than in memorization, and I more often enjoy taking a little bit of fact and spinning a lot of ideas and concepts out of them. Consequently, this is evident in my inability to memorize LARGE amounts of data, just flat out (although I will somehow have a few facts randomly pinned into my head for all of eternity despite my lack of any use for it). I am EXTREMELY bad, as Physics, EE, and some math classes have painfully pointed out to me, in applications. While I can, say, think up a variety of chemical syntheses from just a few chemical equations, solve a variety of differential equations and interpret circuits quite well, if I have merge any of them together, I fail to see the linking point for a very very long time.
Consequently, I wonder if some of my problems in physics or whatnot may be due to overanalyzation. Especially in mechanical physics, the concept of a spring or whatnot is so incredibly simple that I may have purposely overcomplicate it myself. If there were no spring or picture associated, and the only thing given to me were equations and numbers, BAM!! Easy material, can be calculated out in a couple a seconds. But add in a picture and suddenly I'm stumped for hours, trying link formula to the picture. Even if it was a graph instead of a picture of a spring, I would understand the math; but somehow that accursed little bouncy thing screws up my mind whenever I see it... (hahaha irony there's my analysis at work :p)
My other problem is dexterity. I can rarely do the same thing twice. This applies to EVERYTHING. Science experiments, Piano performances, solving math equations, writing an essay twice (hasn't happened often), trying to do moves in EFZ. Unfortunately, in the science career this is a very essential part of an experiment, to perform and repeat the experiment and get consistent results. But I'm incredibly clumsy and my skills are rather lacking in this part; I think too fast and before I finish what I'm supposed to be doing I start something else. This leads to messups, forgetting to clean something, and thus contamination/throwing something away.
With such a realization, one would wonder why I haven't changed my career path as of yet. Its not for any monetary issues; if it were, I'd be going to pre-med or, better yet, Law school because it would fit my style. Its not because I'm a social recluse either; many authors and philosophers can do perfectly fine without society, and scientists actually have to interact with society often in order to get their experiments going. The best reasons for my actions is most likely environmental influence, which (contrast to what die-hard gene-controls-everything believers think) lead me in general to think "science is cool". My parents were scientists, and I was proud that they were. In whatever movies I may have watched as a child, I rooted for the nerdy kid; being smart just seemed "cool" to me. Now, even my parents have suggested that if I wanted to, I could go into something like 3D animation (a course I took in high school, I did fairly well in it and found it fun) instead of science, but I chose science anyway. I don't know, I liked the image of the intellectual.
This poses problems at times. I'm fairly confident that my IMAGE (note: image) is that of an intellectual, but I worry if my actual intellect can hold up to that image at times. I worry that if people ask me questions and I am unable to answer them, if my image is ruined. Does this mean I'm being a scientist and acting all smart just because I like to look smart? I at the point don't think so. And don't hope so. I still hold genuine interest in my subject. Admittedly, it wasn't as strong as my curiosity as a child, but I want to go in deeper into the world of science. Because I like Organic Chemistry. I like doing math problems. Electrical Engineering is actually really fun (a helluvalot better than mechanical physics). So I don't think its just the image thing. I'm still asking questions; although I'm quite shy at doing so, its not because I'm afraid to admit my stupidity, but more of a social disability that I've had for a while, unrelated (I think?) to my interests in science.
But, for appearances anyway, I think... I most relate to the "large forehead" character in Pani Poni Dash, the one with orange hair. Though I don't like her disrespectful attitude to her classmates, I am completely emphatic with her... as the appearance to try and be someone smart, determined and hardworking, yet only recieving mediocre scores on her test and not being able to compete with some who are just better than her. Yeah, I dislike the whole concept of other people working not as hard and still getting decent grades... that's another issue altogether, for another post. Over here I just summarized about 2-3 years of thoughts that usually come up (and will continue to come up) during times of stress and wondering about the reasons for my . And Anime is a huge distraction. Also a topic for another blog. I am done, I need to go up and develop some blots in my experiment so I can leave for anime club. (swt) IRONY AGAIN!

NOTE HOW I ANALYZE MYSELF, THIS IS AGAIN PROOF THAT I'M MORE ANALYZING THAN... ok I'll shut up now.

And the days fly by...

Haha, I noticed my last entry was my first ochem test... that was like a month ago!! I had my other ochem test yesterday, it sucked too! :p But I think I can scratch some points up by digging through my ochem book and showing them some stuff...

My EE test sucked. Whoot, that really worries me. Now I have to focus on EE, which is really a bother.

Uh, last is, lab is consuming my life. Well, oh well. I'm in lab right now, coincidentally. 9 PM... waiting for my transfer to finish so I can put my blots in antibody... Not bad for tonight, not like staying up till 1 AM last week... in the lab... But, I do worry that my lab work will affect my academics (refer to EE) and so I realize, I need to either control and seriously organize my lifestyle, make less mistakes, and ( D: D: D: ) sleep less.

My head hurts from eating too much products containing MSG. I feel like beating people up with Makoto in EFZ.

CHAOS!!!

Thomas T. Reusbucks would not approve of this post, it is very unprofessional. -_-;; I speak of more organization when I lack it even in this blog post.

I'm just writing whatever comes to mind. I know last couple of days I've been thinking about philosophical things and the concept of stress and mistakes and everything that's been going wrong with my experiment/life this past week, but I feel braindead right now and can't think it up. DAMMIT!!

Oh that's right, I remember now, the internet makes me stupid. This would have been a more thought out topic to talk about but I can't think right now. But I will discuss this some day. I'm smart without the internet. I plan things, organize things, work hard. With the internet, I sit in my chair wondering what I'm doing half the time when I'm doing nothing. Um, I'll get back to that in another post. More professionally. Hopefully while the internet hasn't dumbed me down yet.

TONY IF YOU READ THIS... lets find time to play EFZ. :( Since I'm pretty sure Tony's the only person who bothers checking my blog. :P

The Ever-so-popular test rant

REMEMBER KIDS!!! PHOSPHORUS BROMIDE LIKES TO BROMINATE ALCOHOLS!!! NOT ALKANES, NOT ALKENES, NOT ALKYNES, YES, BROMO-TAN LIKES ALCOHOL!!!!!!!!!



^&*^*&^&^%$^%$^#$%$^%^*&^*&(*)(*(&*(&(*&%^$^%#$%$^% I hate stupid mistakes. I had the other synthesis method in my head too, I really did, but I completely forgot about how that stupid PBr3 thing works.

Fate -Stay Night-

Contrary to what I've heard, I don't think the ending sucks at all. Very appropriate and though it wasn't exactly "OMG THIS ENDING RULES" I liked how it ended.

Now, the only thing with Fate is that its very complicated; I'm going to actually have to rewatch Fate -Stay Night- To understand probably what was going on. This is probably because I watched half of it for 6 hours straight on the plane back to china, and the other half 6 hours straight just right now on Labor Day. I need to rewatch to check if I'm missing so points, or if Fate -Stay Night- really is as confusing as it was the first time I watched it through. Well, not too confusing, just that all the flashbacks seem to happen so quickly, and whatnot. I probably just don't pay enough attention to detail since I have to read the subtitles while also watch what's going on.

But I don't think I'll rewatch Fate -Stay Night- right now... need to rest my eyes a bit. :p Yes, one thing is for sure, Fate -Stay Night- is very pretty. VERY pretty. @.@

Steve Irwin

Everyone knows by now. OWTF :(

Hmm... His amiable personality and passion for animals was always something I admired. I always enjoyed wildlife shows, and his shows were one of the most popular; every other wildlife documentary host wasn't quite as popular (I distinctly remember a Jack... someone) But his name is all around the world... he even made a movie of himself. Well, he certainly did have fun throughout his life.

His shows were better than some anime I watched, even!!

Addendum to Haruhi

Ok... a friend gave me the order of the series... Damn Haruhi for screwing up the order of the series... but oh well. I'm happy now because I can finally get some order in this chaotic series.

And with that, I'm now completely satisfied with the anime. I'll probably watch only up to 11 episodes since that's where the stories leave off. I am liking where this is going, however.

I have nothing more to say at the time being.

The Meloncholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Anime and Novel)

This will be brief, as I have not finished either. For the anime, I have watched up to episode 4; the novel, up to volume 3.

The novel first, because I have been mainly focusing on the novel. The novel is in short spectacular. Much expected being the origin of the anime series; I am always more appreciative of the novel that a movie is based off of and would refuse to watch the movie, usually without reading the book first. Hence, this means I don't watch a lot of good movies like Lord of the Rings, but then again, I don't watch a lot of movies, period. Nevertheless, the Haruhi novel has the anime "essence" in it which I am happy with; it's not just another "book" to read but actually turns out really well.

Now. The anime.

The anime's random "lets do this story today!" REALLY pisses me off... because anyone who is watching Haruhi casually without reading the novels would get completely lost by the 4th episode. Scratch that, they would have no clue what's going on in the first episode, but at least the first episode was funny. But the forth episode, they suddenly skip to volume three, and not only that, the transfer character appears WITHOUT ANY INTRODUCTION AT ALL. Episode 3 ends on the fact that Yuki is an alien and doesn't expand, leaving many people (that don't read the novel) most likely baffled at the fact that they were expecting more info on the next episode, but suddenly turn to this baseball game, at which the Haruhi characters began spewing random "avatar" and "dimension" talk that anyone who hasn't read the novel would have seriously been lost by now.

Other than the randomness which absolutely sucks, everything else in the anime is awesome. They follow the script pretty well when they're not jumping around in stories, the animation and artwork are cute as usual. Mikuru is just as moe, although, like a friend told me, her screams for help are kind of strange sounding, sort of not realistic... as least she's drawn cutely...Still need to try to imitate haruhi dance.

Kyon's sister making a home run = win.

Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora

A very good series. My opinion is proven by the fact that I actually bothered typing out the entire title of this series.
While themewise it doesn't suit the type of anime I usually watch, every other aspect it was completely superb. The artwork and animation, which is the first aspects that I notice when watching an anime, were smooth and vivid, full of color, more so than usual series that I watch... Upon watching the first series, I realized that the animation and artwork of the series seemed very beautiful.
The characters, though most of their history isn't flushed out because of the shortness of the series, were nevertheless well developed. Their most interesting aspect is the sense of reality they carry with them; their relations with each other are very much similar to relations with other people in the world. The main character, who has fallen for the girl, does not acknowledge the pains others may have been going through and thinks mostly for, if not himself, the girl. Most everyone has that sort of aspect, thinking mostly for themselves and not really for others, but then its part of human nature; in fact, selfishness overall is more benefical in survival. But that's another topic.
I in particular really admired the doctor. I can't say I wasn't biased because of the whole doctor/medical aspect of the series (hey, doctors are good guys! right? >.>) However I really did like how he turned out. Obviously when the anime first presented him, they portrayed him (and most properly, I might add) as a rather detestable type of character, trying to ruin the relationship between the two patients. Its true even I was annoyed by this, but even then I still thought, there's probably history behind him; they COULD make him a shallow jealous pedophile, but that didn't seem appropriate (plus I would have been quite angry at that if they portrayed a character like him... yes, its true there are criminals in high positions as the USC genetics professor Anderson has shown, but it wasn't appropriate for the show). His history was mostly predictable, but well suited.
The anime keenly reminds me of why I didn't want to try and go into medical profession, following a path of research instead: I felt that I may get attached to patients. Its probably one of the reasons why I like observing character traits in anime, but I trust people too easily. The trait conflicts with my knowledge that the world is not fair and proper; the confliction is the reason why I would not want to go into medicine, and not even look at the homeless man down the street... its a type of selfishness that I carry to survive and live on with the world; though I know my lifestyle can break apart any minute. But if I tried to be too nice to everyone, I'm sure that my lifestyle would break down faster...
Eeh, too philosophical. Overall I'll just conclude that digression with "I'm just selfish and will try to live my life with more modesty". Modesty is the only thing I can "make up" for the wonderful life that I've been living, not being sick or poor. Consequently, I don't want to hate or love anyone, hate because everyone has their reasons and I'm not one to judge them, love because its only possible to not hate by not loving as well... Blah more digression. Back to the anime.
The music wasn't that superb, but I thought the ending song was pretty good. Overall story arc/theme... well I think I told my opinions through my digression. I think the plot was predictable, but the point the series was to present it in a dramatic way, and they did so fluidly. So, as emotional as this was, it was still a good series.

Much better than Futakoi Alternative.

On another note, Sky Girls is also a good series, but for completely different reasons. Characters weren't that developed (its only one OVA, can't really do much) but the anime was basically eyecandy. So if they make a series out of this OVA, it will be more eyecandy...!
This contrasts greatly with the anime I just watched. :p

Edited: 50 QA questions for EFZ

Seeing how other people made new posts there, I figured I should edit it since I got a little better. A little. I think. :(

http://enigmatic-cube.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_enigmatic-cube_archive.html

Edits are in bold.

Futakoi Alternative

Overall, I thought the series was worse than the original Futakoi. And I KNOW the original Futakoi wasn't that great in the first place, but it was still at least fun to watch... Futakoi Alternative was... agonizing.

The plot of the story proceeds EVER. SO. SLOWLY. Basically, the entire series is based on an event that happens at the very end of the series, and for 8 episodes they mope around emoing over the coming of that event. It had the reminiscence of Azumanga Daioh where they'd just play a pointless scene for 5 FREAKIN MINUTES without doing anything... The series would have been much better off if they spent maybe 1 or 2 episodes on the whole "emo over our future" scenario and the rest on the supposedly crazy detective adventures they had (which, from the few scenes that had them, seemed highly more interesting than the emoing).
As for characters, although Sara and Souju (sp?) and the main detective character were flushed out pretty well (how could you NOT develop a character that emos for the entire series...) the other characters were very minor, which bothered me. In the introduction they introduce all the futakoi pairs in all their fighting glory, yet they only get one episode for each of them then never appear again. While their appearance was not meaningless (they do reveal some history about the starring twins of the show), it's quite disappointing how none of them make any new appearances after that, save for the loligothika twins which I must admit are a pretty cool pair of twins... but otherwise, the city townspeople seemed more important than the other twins that made appearances. Disappointing.
The two reasons why I continued with the series is because of its artwork and music; if it had lacked that, I wouldn't have even bothered. I actually did almost give up on the show, but I heard from someone that it got faster during the last half, which was a complete lie. It only got faster during the last two episodes, and the last two episodes were done so "recklessly" (for lack of a better word) that it didn't seem very entertaining at all. In any case I digressed; the artwork indeed was appealing. If anything, this entire series was a slow moving CG with voices, though I'm sure it would have been just as pretty without the voices... well, no, Souju's (sp?) voice is cute :p.
Second thing this show had going for it was eufonius. I can now conclude that eufonius is my second favorite J-pop celebrity (or group?), following KOTOKO. Whereas Kotoko's voice is usually a type of cheery, upbeat and energetic sorts, eufonius is quite appealing in the soft-spokenness and comfort of her music; her voice sounds very soothing and the music accompanying is usually one that reminds me of lullabys or melodies. eufonius seems pretty popular in Japan right now, though I don't think they'll be playing in America anytime soon. Then again, I never thought KOTOKO would make an appearance in America...

EUFONIUS FOR AX2007/AX2008/AX2009 :(

Yume Tsukai

Overall, a good anime. It was a bit peculiar at first, but it turns out very nicely even if the themes of the anime aren't always that clear. Mainly, in many cases when the "defeat" the dream, the problem isn't always resolved, making the viewers feel like they really didn't beat anything... but in an overall sense, in that way it seemed to portray human nature very truthfully, that not everyone becomes "good" again after they have been "saved", and some people will just be "evil" by nature (IE the boy that had dreams of dragons).

The plotline is set up much like any other old "defeat the monster with super powers" anime or show, so there really isn't much to express on it other than the ending, which reveals a lot about the characters of the show. But in terms of characters, they were flushed out pretty well. While not as thorough as Gokujo Seitokai's characters, every character has a background history that viewer learns about; this is good enough for me, since lately a lot of characters just show up with a name and that's it. It bothers me when people introduce 12 important-looking characters and never say anything about their origins and whatnot, just give them a couple insignificant scenes in the anime and make them leave. I'm not asking for people to explain the history of every person in a crowd that the main character walks by, but for those that seem to reappear and be of importance to the story, at least tell something about them...

But that's digressing. Besides character, the music is rather... strange, much like the anime. It certainly has a different sort of melody than most other songs I hear these days, whether it be American or Japanese. It doesn't sound too bad.

The animation is also not bad, save for the little girl that seems to have her eyes crossed all the time. Other than that, most of the time the animation is good. Touko looks quite charming, and her younger form is even more charming...

Strawberry Panic Episode 10

AOI NAGISA = GENUINE PROCRASTINATOR

That is all.

Insignificant Rant on Classes

The Arts and Letters class I have to take is the worst class I have to take up to date, and I'm pretty sure it will be the worst class I will be taking for my entire undergraduate years at USC.

I need to state first and foremost, I usually am against "hating" a paticular thing, object, person, or (in this case) class. Everything has its purpose for being, and I will understand that. HOWEVER, I truly find the class almost completely useless for me (it has uses to other people, of course) and I would much rather occupy some of my energy and hard work to something that can enlighten me in either science or (admittedly) anime than take this pathetic course. The course in which I speak of was a class I had chosen PURELY for scheduling reasons and had a variety of TWO DIFFERENT CLASSES: One dealing with Catholicism (I am not religious and do not wish to become involved with religious quarrels), the other dealing with the history of LA (which I am taking). The lack of variety is possibly the most frustrating thing of all. In all the General Education courses, I am not very fond of taking the required classes but at least I am able to find something in the course list that is fairly interesting, and for the most part I enjoyed my otherwise less-appreciable classes for History of the Western and History of the Eastern World.

But this course I have .no. interest whatsoever.

This is the problem. As the professor continued talking I just kept on thinking, "there is nothing I like about this course. Everything this course does is exactly what I don't want to do. This music sucks..." Essentially, this course is the most useless course I have taken since high school. And even the high school classes seem more interesting than this class. And in this class I have to work HARDER than most of my other classes. Possibly with the exception of Writing 140. I believe Writing 140 and this class are tied for the worst class I have to take, though Writing 140 lies more in its excessive workload and this class more on its content. But this class also has a ton of work to do, still.
I will consider making this class pass/fail, though I'm very hesitant as I am sure I will try to do well in the class even if I do realize its pass/fail (for fear that I get "fail" instead of "pass"...). IN that respect, if I get something like a B, I'd regret getting pass/fail... on the other hand, if I get a C, pass/fail would do very good.
As a general rule, I'll list possible positive effects of taking this class, at least ones I can observe of right now. Currently, at best this class will improve my social skills and knowledge of the area around LA, hence finding places to eat, getting around the city, and possibly even being able to talk to other people. However, from a previous job experience, I am feeling very anxious about that prospect. At worst, this class... will teach me to appreciate the tough classes like O-chem and Molecular Biology, and how, even though they may be so hard and so tough, the content is so much more interesting than learning about whatever nonsense this class teaches.
On a lighter note, I am liking my Electrical Engineering class, as it does not seem so strenuously difficult. I have to be extremely cautious, however, as many a time has I thought I got the hang of a class and just when I start to slack, WHAM!!! I'm hit in the face with something I don't get and my next midterm grade goes down the gutter.
My EE class is also extremely rich. Yes, rich. I mean, come on, they could have replaced those comfy chairs and donated something like, I dunno, new blackboards to the THH building? That room is the most "spoiled" aspect in the supposed "University of Spoiled Children".
And now, to conclude this rant appropriately, I give you the best cosplay picture at Comiket 70.
http://eg.nttpub.co.jp/event/comiket06/cm000084.html

They're coming... yes... they're COMING!!

Ok, so after the whole mari-tan issue now I'm stuck thinking about ideas on how ochem-tans would work. So I'm just gonna post a few ideas I have right now about them.

-Based on the properties of their orbitals (in terms of being an electron acceptor or an electron donor), all Alkali metals are male while all nonmetals are female. The analogy of why this is so should be obvious for anyone who understands the basics of biology and chemistry.
-Because this is so, Hydrogen will remain ambiguous as to what its gender is, due to its capability to be both an electron acceptor or an electron donor. Likewise, Nobel gases, being neither acceptors nor donors, will not be part of the element-tan family at this time since they (under normal circumstances) do not go under reactions, ie. they are boring.
-Hydrogen will be considered the "youngest" out of all the elements, being the one with the least atomic weight. As atomic weight progresses, so does physical appearance and maturity of the element-tan. Hence: As Element-tans progess further down the periodic table, the more "mature" they will appear.
-Reactivity reflects personality; hence, for alkali metals the elements furthest to the left of the table are more aggressive, and for the nonmetals the elements furthest to the right. The exception are, of course, noble gasses, which are not included.
-When first going into this project (assuming it will ever initiate), there will only be classifications of the first three rows as element-tans, since dealing with transition metals will make this idea a helluva lot more complicated. Then again, I did originally want them to be useful for organic chemistry (hence the first three rows)...
-Ionic bonds will be indicated by male-female relationships. Covalent bonds are indicated by female-female relationships. Seeing how the otaku world is built (Reference: "Welcome to NHK!!" Ep. 3), I believe no one would ever have a problem with that.

YES THIS IS GREAT Now I just need to learn how to draw :( HAHA IF YOU THINK I'M CRAZY RIGHT NOW WAIT TILL OCHEM AND MIDTERMS ARE IN FULL FLING HAHA HAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D

What I Learned on the First Day Back...

For the first day back in school, this, possibly, has been the most interesting and screwed up thing I have learned the entire day:

http://pixel-maritan.net/

There is a -tan family for the US Marines. No, not just them, US Marines, Navy, Army... I think all of them... >.>

ONWARDS TO PROMOTE OCHEM-TANS!!! SOON HYDRO-TAN WILL BE THE IDOL OF FANS EVERYWHERE!!!!

Da Capo Second Season

An average series. I personally wouldn't reccommend it to anyone unless they're into the moe trend... still, its pretty fun to watch. Sadly, I don't think Kotori is as ferverently, uh, appealing as I did before, but I still like her. I think she's the best character in Da Capo... that would probably never change. :x She doesn't deserve to be beaten by Nemu. And plus, Miharu looks way better in a lab coat than Nemu does (it showed a bit at the ending credits) and not only that, I bet Miharu is in charge of research, not just some nurse's job... should try looking for pictures of Miharu in a lab coat... :( Well, ranking the girls in Da Capo, I think it would probably be something like:

1. Kotori
2. Miharu (for the lab coat)
3. Alice or Aisia (If Aisia wasn't a girl, I would stab her with an ice pick for her stupidity... but somehow because she is one, her stupidity only makes her look cute :( )
4. Nemu
5. Sakura
6. Manga girl (Not a fan of girls with glasses, at least not in anime...)
7. Mako (too spunky)
8. Moe or the shrine lady ("mature" doesn't appeal as much to me)

Wai! And now we wait for Da Capo 2!

EUREKA!!!

I FIGURED OUT WHY JAPANESE ARE SO LENIENT ON THEIR COPYRIGHT POLICIES!!! (though I'm sure many people figured it out before)

After wondering about fansubs and watching NHK, it occurred to me. Presumably, if Japanese Otakus are portrayed accurately in NHK (which, I'm pretty sure, is an accurate portrayal of otakus), people in japan typically "buy what they see" without second thought. If that's the case, there wouldn't be any need for businesses to make their copyright policies so strict; after all, if they're already buying a lot merchandise for the heck of it, what's there to worry about the free stuff? In America, it seems rather different. People are more cautious as to what they want to buy, always thinking "is it worth it right now" or "do I have enough money", etc... (well, I am, anyway) Because of that, you don't see "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Charmed" dolls flying off the shelves in toy stores... most people don't find it that useful. Americans aren't fanboyish enough to make the companies feel secure about their profits, so the companies in turn try to enforce strict copyright laws. Interesting... Interesting indeed. Apparently at the moment I cannot see which method is better, whether squandering all your money for the sake of fandom or being miserly and greedy and finding the cheapest way to get something you want... Well, probably doesn't matter.

Magical Lyrical Nanoha As

HAYATE IS THE BESTEST MAGE IN ALL DIMENSIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


*will possibly add more substance later*

My short opinion of Fate-Stay NIght so far

Superior artwork. SUPERIOR artwork. Its very pretty. :)

Plotline, hmm. I'm not too sure right now. It does seem kind of slow, and I heard the ending sucked. :( Kind of disappointing.

Concept, reminds me of those written message board RPGs that I sometimes do. Probably not so, but it just does, for whatever reason.

Music: The opening is like, eh, not that great sounding to me. The ending ASBOLUTELY ROCKS. Unfortunately my connection is rather lousy right now so I can't get the ending from Nipponsei. :( sob sob.

Characters: My opinions on them in 5 words or less.
Shiho- Freakin Moron.
The other Mage girl- Eh, too spunky.
Archer- Needs a bow...
Lancer- The egotistical type.
Ilya- BEST LOLI OF THE YEAR
Beserker- Ironically paired with loli. Awesome.
Rider- Unusually attractive to me.
Shinji- Stupid like Shiho.
Caster- Needs more screentime.
Assassin- Traditional Bishonen.
Saber- Makes Crusaders look good :P

I'm on episode 13 btw.

Guardian Elements (changed the name from Elementalors) updated a bit:
http://enigmatic-cube.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_enigmatic-cube_archive.html

Update on Story for Thomas T. Reusbucks

http://enigmatic-cube.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_enigmatic-cube_archive.html

Added a new character, and more detail for other characters (age and appearance).

I'll start editting the elementalor and adding Engi's story soon. Engi the pianist, not bard, btw; ie not Ragnarok Online related.

Can a Guild live without its head?

Its time to write a little rant about my guild and its performance in WoE. Mainly, the consequences of how we seem to become utter failures whenever our guild leader is not around, which I find rather embarassing.
Now, I understand that WoE is not super important. There are many things I may be "guilty" of, and WoE is not always my top priority for me if I have something else to do. Whether its going out irl or maybe even just "I set this goal to be at this % for my bard so I won't WoE until I get it", as long as its a goal more important than WoE, its a good exuse. HOWEVER, "because the leader is gone" is NOT a good excuse. I find our guild being rather weak seeing how we seem to utterly depend on one person being online in order for us to do decently well; when he's not on, everyone just uses that excuse to not WoE.

Technically, we can still WoE decently without him. One Sin is definately not going to affect the force of TL, but if everyone else doesn't want to WoE just because of him, it will. And yes, I'm saying Tal is given much more credit than he should be given. If our guild is that great, we should be able to live without Tal (since he's gone most of the time anyway). I am staying in the guild and accepting tax (reluctantly) because I believe in the guild, not that one lazy SinX who just sits there complaining he's bored while putting up a recruit sign. Don't get me wrong. Tal has his merits and his skills, and I respect him for his organization skills.

Because APPRENTLY, without him, NOBODY has ANY sense of organization.

Most hilarious thing I've seen in a while

http://www.trevreport.org/moetrans.shtml

moetan, English for Otakus. This reminds me of the days where I was talking about making chibi chars of elements for ochem... I bet if that were to happen, suddenly many otaku will be skilled in chemistry... XD

It also brings me to a topic I was talking with a guildmate last night, on the influence of lolicon/moe and the habits it brings (ie pedophilia, molestation crimes). I thought about it for a long while, and all in all it presents a dilemma that obviously isn't easily solved. There was a similar topic I think in the animenewsnetwork forum on some person's rant on lolicon... I think this will be a rather major issue in the American anime culture later on. While I still have trouble making a stable argument since I'm opt to listen to everyone and then try to make a reasonable argument for my point of view. Everyone of course makes good points but the whole thing with moralists saying we're all pedophiles and deserved to be punished is a little extreme since I know I have a slight attraction to moe yet I also have a moral conscience.

All in all I think the only thing I can say about now is that I believe in the general population of Moe-otaku, nobody wants to hurt little children for their pleasures... there's probably going to be some guy who wants to go and hunt little children to his own dirty ideas, but generalizing the entire group like that is unnecessary. In terms of "encouraging behavior", it will frequently be regarded in the same way violence in video games encourages violence irl. This is what I have gathered so far.

I hope that this business will not get out of hand. :/

Jigoku Shoujo Finished

Overall, I only give it a average "great" rating.

It could have been better. The artwork and overall plotline was very good. The characters were intriguing, BUT, they didn't emphasize enough on the characters. By characters, I mean the three accomplices that Jigoku Shoujo had: if they had episodes on their history, origins, or whatever, that would be awesome. But instead, they had a lot of fillers with sending people to hell, which, while cool at first, began getting quite redundant and a poor excuse for a filler. The overall plotline was good and something to think about, although there was a sense of "its not done yet" left at the end, possibly making the watcher want more. And I hate that feeling.

Speaking of more, someone mentioned there's a 2nd season of the series. *sigh* Well, at least they might focus on the accomplices this time.

The symbolism in the episodes seems interesting. There's the cherry, the spider (I always thought it represented the grandma), the doll (which is the old man) and its string (the scarf), and other things, I think, I forgot.

Anime Stuff- Jigoku Shoujo

Lately, my RO has been rather laggy so I've been reluctant to play it, even though I should because I'm wasting my monthly payment... Well, Anyway, I've been watching anime, Namely Jigoku Shoujo and Da Capo Second Seasons. Both anime are pretty contrasting.

Both anime have their interesting points, but since I'm watchinkg Jigoku Shoujo right now, I think I'll start with that one. First and foremost, the depth of this anime is very intriguing. It would best be said to be a gothic/horror mahou shoujo series, though that in a way sounds weird. It's not any monster coming to earth and destroying the planet, but instead a girl going around taking vengence requests sending people to hell... obviously, the originality of this concept is spectacular, but it can get old fast if that's what the entire series is about. Luckily, the series is putting in a more overarching story as you get along, though the concept is still there in nearly every episode. I'm a little bit impatient, so to speak, to see what exactly is going to happen, but its all right; the stories are decently good, even if the main concept is the same in each episode. And the slow progression of the series is enough to make me want to watch the entire series to its end... even though I'd want to go through it slowly and fully understand the deepness of the story.
Along with the lines of depth, I noticed that the symbolic meanings in the story are powerful. Its not noticable at first, well, not to me, but slowly it becomes more clear. Obviously when you get the middle of the story, then the series practically blurts some of the symbols to those who haven't got it yet... But there still seems to be some symbols left which I haven't figured out yet... disappointing hum.
I surely hope Jigoku Shoujo will have a nice ending. It would truly disappoint me if the ending doesn't turn out that great.

I'll probably type up more stuff while I"m in China :p

Short summary of AX2006

Alright, I could BS a really cool and lengthy article on AX, but I'll just bullet some important points and that'll be all. :p

- Not as good as last year, but still kind of fun.
- Only plan that went right was that my plans would go wrong... and they did. :/ But its all right, in the end still had fun and the events were cool.
-Yocuza + CooRie Concert: Introduced Da Capo to a Da Capo-clueless AX audience. Also for no apparent reason, since neither the anime nor the game is coming to America anytime soon. So why they placed so much emphasis on Da Capo is still a mystery. But Da Capo is cool, so everything is all right. The concert was good, but it is still trivial compared to the KOTOKO concert last year. Nothing in AX can probably beat the KOTOKO concert in 2005. Except maybe another KOTOKO concert.
-Doujin Game Tournament: My partner for the tournament got us to 3rd place in EFZ, I mostly did nothing but lose to the other team. :p
-Stuff I got: Elfen Lied Anime Volume 4 (complete ripoff, I probably could have gotten it cheaper at Fry's), Fruits Basket 8-12 Manga (for my sister), "Hane" CD by KOTOKO, Ragnarok Battle Offline Vol. 3 (also a ripoff, only one stage and it costed 12 dollars!), Ichigo Marshmellow Vol. 1 (I won it :O!!!), this random "dating sim" thought not really dating game I got for attending a panel
-Cosplayers: First day I found like, 4 RO cosplayers. Second day I found like, 3. Third day, there was this HUGE gathering of RO cosplayers and I was like /omg /omg /omg at the number of RO cosplayers... O.O in other news, I thought there were a lot more loligothika cosplayers this year, but my friend says its probably just because I notice them now in the crowd and that last year I didn't know enough about loligothika to notice that they were all around me... So maybe that's the case. Too much /c/ for me...

That's all I can think of for today. COME TO AX 2007!!!!

Staying up till 4 AM is WRONG!!

IT'S WRONG, I TELL YOU, WRONG!!!! YOU'LL GET HANGOVERS AND REPRIMANDING BY YOUR PARENTS AND....

but man, the biolab exp... was.... sooooooooooooooooooooooo gooooooooooooooooooooood /sob

Man, I sound like a drunken addict. XP

What I need to improve in EFZ

1. Less A jamming. I have a lot of potential combos if I just didn't press that A button one too many times.
2. more precise button pressing. Man, so many potential corner combos missed just because I did the EX version of the wing attack rather than the A version and instant cancel D: suckkkk.... midscreen sucks too, when I do the stupid book instead of the wing attack.
3. More accurate recoil guarding. I probaly need to down-block more while they're on the ground, I always get underhit. Or just recoil guarding the first hit, in general. First hit is a pain, the next couple hits are always easier though.
4. Followup after recoil guarding. It sucks though because 90% of all of Misuzu's moves can't follow up after you recoil guard a person, especially when they A-jam... I think, Wing Attack while in the Air (assuming you're above them) or when they're low hitting on the ground works, and Yukito's punch while I"m on the ground and they're in the air works, but I don't always have yukito and wing after recoil is hard :(
5. Potato combo owns, but I shouldn't make it so obvious that they know what I"m doing, dammit. >:(

You know...

I should post something!...

...

There.

Studying

So, I'm not studying because I'm writing about studying in my blog. How ironic. I'm sure everyone already knows how much I love irony already.

But in any case. Studying is kind a "difficult" task. I'm pretty sure its different for everyone, and everyone has their different ways of studying effectively. But I find it a problem how some people can "study" so easily in the fact that they can just study for 10 hours straight, whereas I can hardly study for longer than 30 minutes before getting back up, musing about random ideas in my head before forcing myself to sit back down again. Funny thing is everyone seems to say I'm the one that loves to study. There's that irony again...

(Hmm... I hope this isn't considered an "emo" rant or post or anything... To think I try my best to avoid those kinds of posts :P)

In any case! The workings of the human mind is a puzzle. You don't need a neuroscientist nor a philosopher to tell you that. Just the capability of a person to stay online doing nothing at all (or rather, doing nothing by hoping something will happen if he refreshes that message board page over and over again in hopes someone posted something) can waste hours and hours of their time, but then try to focus on one study subject for longer than an hour and he loses focus. Well, that's my case anyway. It's really frustrating because I know I want to do well in class, but then I also know I don't always find it the most exciting thing to do. Obviously one of the main questions then arises: "So do you really like what you're doing, then?" Well, first off, I'm not hating it. If I were hating it, I'd be doing something like business. Second, things I REALLY am addicted (use addicted because its more proper than something like "like" or something) to things like anime, I can't see myself with a future in it. Sure, I can get involved with business, international relations, or entertainment, but aside from watching anime, I don't think I can make anything else out of it. Critiquing anime? Well, I can do that but eventually I think I'll run out of things to write. And not that that makes a lot of money, anyway.
In general, I like the subjects I learn about though. I think what really pisses me off is the competition associated with these classes, which is why I seem to "have to" do well. But then, without competition, I probably wouldn't find some subjects as interesting as I do now, like mechanisms in Organic chemistry... again, the irony. Some things you need to know in organic chemistry are just stupid, plain memorization, but the mechanisms for some reactions are actually quite interesting IMO. I think the mechanisms would be cooler though if they were in some 3D animation or something. Or maybe turn all atoms into chibi anime characters. "Oh no!! Bromo-tan attacked Carbo-tan from the back and caused Alcohol-tan to fall off!! :O!!!" Yes, I actually did think of it that way in ochem for a while... >.> If only I could draw... then some day when I teach ochem, I'll make little chibi character versions of atoms... Wow am I a geek or what? :D

Followup the Memoirs of ASB Vets (Ironic, but PMA wanted it in)

pokemasterrj: Noticed your little thing in the blog. You do realize about half of the girls around Ash are family, right?
TheMysteriousBox: LOL :p
TheMysteriousBox: I only wrote what PJBW told me
TheMysteriousBox: and frankly
TheMysteriousBox: having watched many anime with incest, being related to them doesn't really strike me as a barrier for relationships anymore :p
pokemasterrj: Okay, there are the PokéGirls, but he sees them pretty much as good friends. Then there's Sabrina, of course. And his daughters (Sara, Sarina, Joy & Serenity. Would've had a son in there, but he died shortly after birth). And Ashley and her daughters (one adopted, one actually hers). And Dark Sabrina and Kikyo (DA's beloved and daughter, respectively). And actually they live at Prof's so Destiney and Faith are there too
TheMysteriousBox: >.>
pokemasterrj: And then there's Ash-chan, but long story on her
TheMysteriousBox: you've just been waiting to tell this to someone haven't you
pokemasterrj: I wanted to set the record straight on that one
TheMysteriousBox: right then. I'll copy and paste this into my blog to make you happy :p
pokemasterrj: Right now Ash, Ashley, DA, and Ash-chan aren't a factor in the RP. The original's been forced out
TheMysteriousBox: if you have anything else to say, tell me
TheMysteriousBox: then tell me when you're finished
pokemasterrj: Don't get me wrong. The girls do outnumber the guys, but there's still some Y chromosomes around. Prof., Ash, and DA, of course
TheMysteriousBox: PJBW told me he left you guys to join me in mysterious wanderings :p
pokemasterrj: He got his ass kicked by Destiney last time he did that
TheMysteriousBox: Destiney joined him :p
pokemasterrj: .........
pokemasterrj: Well THAT's gonna make her dear son feel welcome, isn't it?
pokemasterrj: Since he's currently around instead of Ash, DA, and Ashley
TheMysteriousBox: well, there's another story going on
TheMysteriousBox: because PJBW's being chased by another girl
TheMysteriousBox: so obviously Destiney wants to keep an eye on him
pokemasterrj: Boy, they're just all over him...
TheMysteriousBox: so you're finished with your part of the story now right :p
pokemasterrj: Not quite
pokemasterrj: If we could actually get the chance to finish this part, Ash and etc. would have returned

FYI: yea, he was done. -_-;;

A Tour Guide to Levelling Spots in RO

This will be a levelling guide to Agi-build bards in Ragnarok Online. In particular, it will be a guide to bards with obviously high DEX, relatively high AGI, therefore decently high flee (200?), moderate amount of INT, capability to DS for a relatively long time and recover the SP from DSing in a relatively short time, a small but enough-to-carry-stuff amount of STR (10 STR = 3000 weight), 2 LUK that you put in by accident, and 1 VIT therefore having incredibly low max HP. Additionally, this is for bards who are obviously not rich but at least have a decent amount of gear for levelling, such as mocking [something], heal clip, and at least size-dependent bows (boned and titan). Additionally, bards can have an infinite supply of the 4 elemental arrows because they are either filthy rich or know where to look for them.

In other words, the only bard in all of RO around the world with details like that are me. So, the only bard that should think this guide is PERFECT is ME and ME only. But, that doesn't mean other AGI bards (or dancers like Pastel and Sherona) can take a few tips from the guide. :P

Before I begin talking about levelling spots, there are a few levelling tips that every AGI bard/dancer should take into account.
1. Organize your arrows so they will be the top of your MISC section in Kafra storage. This may seem trivial and a pain to do if you have a ton of junk, but it is WORTH THE TIME. It saves a LOT of time shifting through whatever crud you collected over your RO career for that one type of arrow. Get your high-weight type char to move all the stuff out except the arrows, so they'll be on top. And when they are on top, NEVER TAKE OUT ALL OF THEM AT ONCE. Otherwise you'll have to start over.
2. Bows are great, but instruments (or whips?) can be awesome too. Get a good instrument and you can level like an AGI knight and not have to worry about arrows (carry more weight!) or SP (use it for steal /gg). In particular, the Electric Guitar is a highly useful and highly underestimated elemental instrument because of its elemental property. And, with the arrival of the new elemental instruments from the Lighthazen patch, I predict that there will be expanded areas of levelling with just your instrument, so you can pick up more loot and level more lazily. :p
3. Levelling through support USUALLY is a bad idea. This is because the party would need to split the EXP 3 way for the bard, and they can usually do fine without Magic Strings anyway (Any other song they CAN do without; it just looks cool to play them on your bard...). But it can work out sometimes. Or if the party is just nice. And if they are nice, its a pretty nifty way of gaining exp. One tip, if levelling with an SG wizard, is to use Unchained Serenade right when all the monsters freeze, switch weapons to cancel your song, then Unchained Serenade again. This is a very good way of killing off frozen monsters really quickly, and usually there is little risk of you getting mobbed because of the Storm Gust's delay.
4. ME priests might be a good idea. Although technically another priest or just another VIT char (or heck, a VIT bard) would be better just because they can mob. Unless you're at Niff2 with Bloody Murderers. Then you can kill them. And be awesome.
5. Mobs suck for Agi bards, period. Agi bards have an awesome move called DS which can allow them to kill off a mob of 30... assuming each monster comes like, at 3 at a time. So, while we can't have as much monsters on us at one time, it IS possible to kill off a mob as fast as a Grimtoothing sin, or a low level (low dex?) wizard/GC sader.

Now for levelling spots. I will grade the levelling spots on five conditions: the EXP, how hard it is, the loot, the time it takes to get there/time it takes to restock, and how much people there are. The first two are obvious criteria; the third is probably more if one relies on the bard/dancer as the main money maker (generally a bad idea) or collecting arrowcrafting items; the last two are things people rarely consider but should, because seriously, if it takes you two hours to get to stings, then upon reaching there, only kill one in 5 stings you see because of how much people are there, you might as well have gone north and killed some goats and probably recieve more EXP from doing that. My ratings are of follows:
*****- This is my new home.
****- this place is awesome!
***- Could be better, but it's not bad.
**- This place sucks.
*- Dude, why are you on this map? (I probably won't even put places like this on here)

I'll start with places that are popular for bards, and go from there.
-----
Loyang Migaos-**
Pros:
-Easy to get to
-(Decently) Safe
-Does not require a lot to level: almost any bow with fire arrows will do
Cons:
-Pesky Mantises
-Pesky KSers and Looters
-Crap EXP at higher levels
Comments: Probably good until about 70, then EXP is slow and it sucks because its wayyyyy too popular. A decent alternative to everything if you don't have ANY good gear (IE, a heal clip or a good bow), but personally, I like Geographers better.

First level of Stings- ***
Pros:
-Good EXP
-Stings are slow and easy to kill
Cons:
-Pesky Gargoyles
-If Sting hits you must fwing or else you're screwed
-Lots of people, Lots of lag, Lots of drama
-Pain as hell to get to
-When out of SP, must run to adjacent map to recover, or risk staying still and getting a Sting spawned on you.
-Those occasional pathways where it blocks your view and the distinct ability for a sting to spawn RIGHT WHEN YOU'RE UNDER THOSE BRIDGES SO IT CAN KILL YOU WITHOUT YOU EVEN KNOWING
Comments: Every non-low-level bard's levelling spot. Personally being AGI there are better, more fun places to level. Still, EXP is not bad.

Stings, Level 2- ****
Pros:
-Good Exp
-Need only fire arrows
Cons:
-Pesky Arclouze
-Still a pain as hell to get to
-Still have to run to adjacent map to recover SP
Comments: A way better place to level than first Stings, IMO. Get yourself a lotta dex, a triple underneath boned comp, and you're set to nuke and destroy. Best place to solo if you have at least 200 flee with only IC; or, a good place for any bard in general if you have a healslave.

Majorous, underneath Stings- ***
Comments: Level at this place with a wizard and priest, only. It gets an extra star because of the incredible funness associated with levelling here. "Hey Hey over here" "HOLY CRAP THERE'S A MOB GOING AFTER THE WIZ" "OMG RUN RUN RUN" "HOLY CRAP EVERYONE'S DEAD" "Kame!! Hame!! Ha!! Oops, Wrong Game" (For those who don't get it the last one is a frost joke move)
Turtle Island, First Level- **
Pros:
-Monsters spawn very fast
-Monsters have decent exp
-Map is very small
Cons:
-Everybody KSes and loots
-Monsters tend to spawn in mobs of 30
-10 k per trip and no Kafra.......
-This map has trees. LOTS of trees.
-Burns through your SP like crazy
Comments: I personally hate this place. That's why I give it a low rating. However, it works for other people, obviously. Get some good bows and you can level here like a hunter.

High Orcs, Geffen Field- ***
Pros:
-Good Exp
Cons:
-Damn Orc Archers and their Hit...
-The place is kind of boring...
Comments: I figure, if you can get a triple Orc Lady Bloody comp, you'll have much fun in this field. Otherwise, I think it's boring.

High Orcs, Clock Tower- ***
Comments: Level with a wizard and priest here. You cannot solo here; you can try levelling with a priest, but chances are you will run out of SP quickly.

Clocks, Clock Tower- **
Comments: Clocks give decent exp, and I hear you can hide from them, raising the possibility for soloing. However, you need 225 flee to completely dodge, and ridewords and mimics are a pain, so I don't think its a great place to level.

Alarms, Clock Tower-*
Comments: Alarms are large type (25% reduction in damage from bows) and neutral (no elemental advantage). ARE YOU FREAKIN CRAZY TRYING TO LEVEL HERE?

Bathories, Clock Tower- N/A
Comments: I heard from some boards that Bathories are a good place to level bards in general. Checking their stats, I notice that you can probably kill off a Bathory in two DS, possibly in one if you have incredibly high DEX and a good bow. Even though Bathory gives not-so-high exp, the fact that you can kill them off in two hits may be advantageous. On the other hand, that map has scary Jokers. I have not tested that map with my bard, so I will not give this place a rating yet.

Niffleheim, level 1- **
Pros:
- Monsters with decent EXP
- Not very crowded, people-wise
Cons:
- Mobby... it's so Mobby ;_;
- Will probably burn through your SP very quickly.
Comments: Good to level with ME Priest here. Otherwise, it sucks.

Niffleheim, level 2- *****
Pros:
-Monsters give very good exp
-Monsters give good loot
-There is a Kafra RIGHT ON THE NEXT MAP SO YOU CAN RESTOCK!!!
Cons:
-Monsters have lots of HP, can be an SP drainer
-Lolis need 225 flee to 95% dodge and deal 1.7 k damage to non-vit chars... wtf...
-GC Saders. End of Story.
Comments: THIS IS THE BEST MAP TO LEVEL WITH A PRIEST. The SP problem can be overcome with the mere fact that it is usually decently crowded in Niffleheim, so while you are walking across the map with a Mag on your head you will be recovering your SP in no time (in fact, running out of SP is a good indicator that Niff is not too crowded that day!). Furthermore, with a priest you have no worries even if that damn Loli DOES hit you for a huge amount of damage, since the loli has low aspd and the priest can usually heal... GC saders can be a problem, though, since they bring large mobs and make large mobs suddenly spawn. And AGI bards + mobs = bad.

Grand Pecos/ Geographer map (Up, left, Up of Alde)- ****
Pros:
-Geographers stand still!!
-Other monsters are nonaggressive!
-EXP is not too bad
Cons:
-EXP is not bad, but not too good either...
-Not a high rate of monster spawns
Comments: I think its an excellent place to level low level archer characters. Grand Pecos are a good way of getting Wind of Vendure for higher level characters.

Goats, w/ aggressive monsters map (Left of geo map)- ***
Comments: A decent map to solo on, Goats give good exp, but they take quite a few DSes to kill. The other monsters on the map will keep you busy, saving you from boredom. Loot absolutely sucks though. S> Goat Card, email/PM/IM me offers.

Goats w/nonaggressive monsters map (Left of Goats w/ aggressive map)- ***
Comments: Good as a resting place. Goat spawn is too low to keep it fun though. Again, all the items suck on this map.

Seals Map (Right, Right, Down of Comodo): ****
Comments: This is actually a superb map to level just with your instrument (Electric Guitar). However, the Seal's water bash attack HURTS. I've been told to get Swordfish armor. However, I don't feel like buying it and would rather hunt for it instead. So, I probably will not get any swordfish armor anytime soon. :p

Byalan, 4th level- ***
Comments: Come here for the loot, not the exp. Only need the instrument (Electric Guitar), once again. Save all that weight for the good loot you pick up and steal: Gills (makes 150 crystal arrows), Sharp Scale (BSes use them?), Mystic Frozen, Detonator, ANY card dropped there.

Byalan, 5th level- *
Comments: Penomenas suck.

Kunlun, in general- **
Comments: Nobody levels on the baby leopards map. The Peach Tree map seems decent enough to level on, but I think the long range monsters kill the flee and make it hard to level on. The Evil Nymph map would be awesome it weren't for two things: 1. Evil Snake Lord coming along and pwning you every 2 minutes, and 2. Taoist Hermit is not only large and neutral, like an Alarm, but has long range attacks too!

Amatsu, Kapha Map- ***
Comments: The EXP here is not that great, but its like the Seals map, where you can just sit back and bash things with your instrument to level on. They drop low-weight healing items so you don't need to waste your SP with your healclip. Plus, I hear they now drop Lonely Guitar. Looks like I'm staying in Amatsu for a while when I get back.

Amatsu Dungeon, in general- *
Comments: You're a bard, not an aco.

Loyang Dungeon, in general- ***
Comments: Loyang is actually pretty fun. EXP isn't great, but you go there to steal stuff and you can find some nifty items. Like Boots!! And I hear the Green Maiden lurks there, so I'm probably going to want to explore it out later.

Ayototha Dungeon, level 2- ****
Comments: This place is actually a good place to level. The EXP is good, the monsters are not hard to kill, and all you need are silver arrows to level there. And if you collect enough tassels you can get a sherlock holmes hat!!! :x Everywhere else in Ayo is not worth mentioning.

Coal Mines- ***
Comments: Hey! Hey! I had good luck with finding cards here, so :P!!!!

GH Prison- **
Pros:
-some monsters are slow, give adequate EXP, and are not hard to kill
Cons:
-Pretty crowded there
-some monsters are pesky fast attackers (Hunterflies)
-some monsters are... large and neutral (DAMMIT)
Comments: Tank your priests here. (WTF what bard tanks priests in prison?!?)

GH Chivalry- **
Comments: Good loot, but monsters are generally difficult to kill (Freakin Abysmal Knight...) Similar to Byalan, you come here for the loot, but obviously you need a priest to help you out (thus split the loot with...)

Minotaurs (and Pasanas too?)- N/A
Comments: I have a hunch that this place might not be so bad if I have a quad vadon bow. I think I would be able to kill of minos easily and pasanas would give good exp. So, I'll have to try that out some time.

Lava Dungeon- N/A
Comments: Same reason as above. Though I doubt I'm going to take on Lave Golems.

Biolab- N/A
Comments: I have mixed feelings about this place. On one hand, I hear about the 3-4 mil exp/hour at level 3... have to get to level 95 just to see that... on the other, Some people say that the first two levels of biolab are also good, but judging from how much arrow switching I would need to do and the damage the monsters there deal to you, I'm not sure how well biolab will work for me.

Geffenia- ***
Comments: Consequently, if you know how to work it it will be a good place. First off, it would probably be best to do the geffenia quest so you don't have to wait for others to open the portal for you... /swt... Then, get a priest, and some bwings. Use the bwings like fwings, in a sense. One person goes in, bwings until they find a safe place. The other goes in, bwings until they find that person. Then, it'll be all easy from there. This isn't a particularly great levelling spot, however, it's probably good for getting some items *coughVIOLINScough* of use.

Guild Dungeon- ****
Comments: Can be particularly rewarding with a priest (High priest) and wizard (High wizard)!!!

There might be other places (of significance, I'm going to write an analysis on poring land) out there that I miss. If I do miss, or I happen to go try out the places that say N/A right now, I'll probably edit. Then again, I'll probably not.

Memoirs of the ASB Vets

Well, me and PJBW were talking about it. What I really want to do is make a sketch of the ASB Vets since no one REALLY knew what they looked like (or what people thought they looked like), at least I could give out the sketched version of what I thought the ASB Vets were... not necessarily how I probably initially imagined them, but whatever. Still, dunno when that will come around; if lucky, I'll do it when finals are over, but I might be so engrossed in RO that I would completely forget about it. :p Well, remind me tuesday nights, anyone, when RO is doing maitenance and I'm on AIM either bored or watching anime, to go and do those sketches... Otherwise, I hereby present the "conclusions" to the ASB Vets, after so many years of flaming and friendship.

We first begin with our favorite egotistical hero...
Pokemaster Ash: After all conflicts apparently PMA had retreated to his own personal adobe which, according to PJBW's words, is now inhabited by an uncountable amount of girls. PJBW had stayed with PMA for a good deal of time, until he figured he couldn't handle the chaos presented by this one-hero-in-a-house-full-of-girls situation and left with Guai on their own personal adventures (to be explained later). Therefore, it is safe to say PMA still resides in his humble harem, living his life as every hero dreamed it to be. Its almost as if it were a complete fantasy and none of it was real. Wait a minute...

Salvester2: The all-time villian himself also has retreated back to his home planet and decided to deal with more domestic issues before getting himself involved with international affairs. He and many others on his planet finally figured that dealing with Earth has been an extreme waste of resources all for the conquest of a dinky little planet that the Charitans finally figured they didn't want. There are rumors circulating the planet, however, that Sal2 actually developed a sort of love-hate friendship with some of the earthlings on the planet; however, mention this in public and Sal2 will have your head cut off.

Mattias: This is all according to PJBW. Mattias apparently has "defeated" his dark side; yet, without any dark side to balance his light side, his powers have become unbalanced and hence, he lives isolated in a corner of a random dimension. PJBW, more recently, comes by and checks on him, giving him company while Mattias steadily attempts to control his power without completely reriving the evil side of him that once plagued him before.

Prof. Jb. Wolfe and Guai He Zi (themysteriousbox): Out of boredom, Guai decides that it might be interesting to look into his personal past, since there is so much that he himself does not even know. Hence, he goes around from dimension to dimension, searching for clues like a detective, occasionally getting into some interesting adventures and fights within the dimensions. Recently, PJBW has begun accompanying him on his travels (probably because PJBW was getting sick of PMA's Love Hina-like environment and wanted more action). Additionally, PJBW, always being picked on by Guai during the ASB War era, felt that this was a good time to get his "payback" by discovering the increasingly more dramatic personal life of his friend Guai.
One of the more interesting adventures these two forever-wandering beings encounter seems to be a new relations with the "Elementalors". While this was mentioned before in the war, there was never really any heavy emphasis on them, but since the war is now over, these mysterious beings have been showing up quite frequently, some friendly, some not-so-friendly, all with the same mysteriousness that connects to Guai and, discovered soonly enough, PJBW's past. What will they find out? That we probably will never know. However, one thing we can say for certain is these two will wander from place to place, never keeping still, until their seemingly unanswerable questions have been resolved.

I think the only person missing from this list that deserves to be mentioned is RiOrius, but I haven't seen him in a while. I think he's probably doing something similar to what Guai and PJBW are doing, but I cannot say for sure.

Presenting...

So, me and a friend of mine were talking about dyed clothes, and somehow, I made my char into a superhero.

Terrafeuille: that npc in prontera would actually be USEFUL
Terrafeuille: that clothes dying npc >.>
TheMysteriousBox: I'd die my bard green
TheMysteriousBox: then wear a sunflower hat
Terrafeuille: although I think what they'll do is you can only dye using the standard RO dies... red, orange, yellow, green, blue, white....black..
TheMysteriousBox: and declare myself CHLOROPHYLL MAN!!
Terrafeuille: lololol
TheMysteriousBox: actually I think my alchemist would be better
TheMysteriousBox: die him green, wear sunflower hat and romantic leaf
Terrafeuille: XDDD yea alchemist
TheMysteriousBox: then summon plants me
TheMysteriousBox: CHLOROPHYLL BOY!!!
Terrafeuille: XDDD
Terrafeuille: sidekick name :P
TheMysteriousBox: D:
Terrafeuille: XD
TheMysteriousBox: uh, then I guess my bard will just be uh
TheMysteriousBox: AGILITY BARD!!!
TheMysteriousBox: which he is already >.>
Terrafeuille: lolol
Terrafeuille: lolol
Terrafeuille: a..ha... Agili... haha...
TheMysteriousBox: what? he is agility :p
Terrafeuille: Agility Bard and Chlorophyll Boy lolol
Terrafeuille: XDD it just... omg... funnn
Terrafeuille: make a comic :D haha
Terrafeuille: RO super hereos
TheMysteriousBox: D: I have a hard enough time making a story D:
Terrafeuille: :-( need villians lol
Terrafeuille: darrrn come on... T_T man...
TheMysteriousBox: I know some villians I can use
TheMysteriousBox: like
TheMysteriousBox: "The SPAMMER!!!"
Terrafeuille: XDDD
Terrafeuille: THe BOTTER? :D
TheMysteriousBox: no, spammer is an actual person in my guild :p
TheMysteriousBox: but we can say he controls an army of bots
TheMysteriousBox: out to take out Rune Midgard
Terrafeuille: oh arrow sp ammer?
Terrafeuille: spammer*
TheMysteriousBox: yes
Terrafeuille: XD haha ok
TheMysteriousBox: BEWARE HIS EVIL BOT MINIONS, with names such as jesicaa and kr0d
Terrafeuille: yay I got the email!!
TheMysteriousBox: :O
TheMysteriousBox: lilith?
Terrafeuille: lolol
Terrafeuille: plzhaelme? :O
Terrafeuille: no no the register one
TheMysteriousBox: gasp the "n00b talk attack" is distressing a female priestess
TheMysteriousBox: AGILITY BARD TO THE RESCUE
Terrafeuille: XDDD
TheMysteriousBox: so you can access the forums now? :O
Terrafeuille: <.<;; his ability?
Terrafeuille: high flee? super flee?
Terrafeuille: umm gonna see.
TheMysteriousBox: his ability is to make up lame jokes that will scare away n00bs!!!
TheMysteriousBox: uh, but it can also scare away ordinary people, but...
TheMysteriousBox: also, the magnificent ability to die right before your eyes!
Terrafeuille: XD lol that too
Terrafeuille: :-( although
Terrafeuille: <.< whewww
TheMysteriousBox: (which would render his sidekick, chlorophyll boy, more useful than the hero itself /swt)
Terrafeuille: I do'nt want to jinx
Terrafeuille: I won't say ahaha
Terrafeuille: lol th at makes it even funnier XD
Terrafeuille: that*
Terrafeuille: Chlorophyll Boy would be like... -.-;; everytime Agility Bard died ahaha.. or something

How to turn taking tests into an Action Adventure Anime!!!!

Yes, if no one has already noticed, I have a serious case of ADHD so I think up really random things like this. For example, The concept of tests can be used in analogy to (kinda like those things in SAT tests) a typical action adventure anime, with the main character being a samurai/ninja/warrior hero fighting off demonic creatures that seem to spawn in his way. I almost view taking tests in the same way, me being that hero that fights off these test-monsters. This sounds really cheesey, but for whatever reason, it works out enough to stimulate excitement in taking tests... if that is ever possible...
The process is a simple one. First, the hero must train through rigorous studies to master different arts, whether it be magic, swordsmanship, dexterity, or understanding test material. Different tests are like different adversaries; not everything works the same on each of your enemies, so you have to "study" different "subjects" (in analogy to different martial arts or magic spells) to ultimately overcome the enemy. In this case, I suppose then it's no longer that an enemy spontaneously appears and challenges you, but more like you getting ready to challenge an enemy.
This analogy seems to falter in that an actual duel would have an actual exchange of blows, whereas on a test, you usually don't expect the test to hit you back if you marked a wrong answer... at least, not until the results come out. It can still somewhat be implied, though-- if you get stumped on a question, the enemy obviously has the upper hand, and as the test is based on a time limit, one struggles more and more to escape the enemy's grip... finishing a test is more like conducting an ultimate blow to the enemy, and for a while time stands still... only when taking a test, it's more like that scene stands still for a week or so until the results come back. It's then you know when your enemy has fallen, or if instead the enemy has dealt a blow to you and it is the hero who has fallen. Obviously, the grade recieved coincides with a player's health points as well; if you get a few marks down, you recieved a few scratches and bruises, whereas if you failed the test, consider yourself fatally wounded...

This all looked a lot better in my mind... >.> For a while I thought I should stop writing this because it sounded too cheesey, but then I thought I needed practice expressing images I have in my mind into words. It would help if I ever consider writing another story, which I want to but just don't have the motivation to rank that high on my to-do list (if you haven't figured out from this short writeup, I rank school and grades as the highest on my list :p).

Introducing... HIGH SCHOOL the MMORPG

OMG LOOK A POST!!! Well, What you'd probably expect me to do is about another test rant right about now, and I could technically do one since I just finished another test and I was... only mildly satisfied with the results. But I won't rant about tests, I'm quite sure that no one in particular would be interested in such rants, and a few might find me hypocritical for getting such high grades yet complaining about them. (OMG if I only had like 3 more minutes on that damn test I could have gotten the HIGHEST GRADE IN THE CLASS O wait I said I wouldn't rant).

On the other hand, I shall put down my latest never-to-be-produced-or-brought-into-real-life idea: THE HIGH SCHOOL MMORPG, using the same game engine as (duh :p) Ragnarok Online!!! For, now, you can enter into this astonishing new world of High School as a mere Freshman, and advance to higher classes!!! But first, you must put points into your stat build, each one having a different effect on your student:

Strength: The basic physical aspect of your character. With this trait, he can push down more people in football, knock that baseball out of the field even further, and bully more kids into getting their lunch money!
Vitality: Alas, the stat that allows you to WITHSTAND bullying from other people! High Vit also seems to correlate with a high sleep rate in class. They also seem to look more charming than others.
Dexterity: Those with high Dex are highly skilled and adept; they can perform instruments and do monologues extremely well, as well as make less careless mistakes on crucial tests!! Those with low dexterity seem to have a clumsiness streak and always get points marked down for "careless errors".
Agility: Speed, both physical and mental! Go through those tests faster, though watch out for those errors! Can get to class faster and avoid more tardies.
Intelligence: Be smart, be strategic, know knowledge and your way around school! Intelligence is not only allocated for stuffing your student's brain with as much useless knowledge as possible, though that IS one of its purposes; you can also use int for your character to think up smarter ways of getting around at school...
Luck: Can be either good or bad for the student; low luck does not constitute bad luck, merely that the student will be boring and have nothing happen to him. High luck seems to let the student be the target of the school journal every month...

Now that you know what stats your character has, lets look at the classes!!

The Athelete: Without a doubt, strength is this class's most powerful attribute. Winning through games, standing high and proud above all other students, this buff class are the melee of the school world.
The Intellectual: Coined "nerds" for a good reason, this class excels in tests of all forms, and have high preference rate among teachers, as well as main targets for bullying characters. The traditional view of this class is that of an outcast of society, contrary to the...
The Rolemodels: These are the students that can manage to get straight As, do every extracurricular activity in high school, look particularly attractive, and STILL manage to hold tutoring sessions for those that "need help"... truly the support group of the school. But these people don't do these gratuities for any sort of gain (or so they claim)... instead, those who want to make a profit become...
The Gossipers: With the Journal Club their main hideout, these people do what they can to spread rumors, manipulate others to doing their work for them, or avoid paying for lunch. However, they're not a particularly "bad" group, and many of them use their powers of speech to rise high into the political area of the school, the student senate. Nevertheless, this group is notorious for attempting to conduct an action only if it is to their gain.
The Artist: In here lies the highly skilled class: the band, the colorguard, the performers, and the mangaka of High School. These people are extremely skilled at what they do, hence their high dexterity. They make most anyone become a total admirer of their art, though their schoolwork, physical fitness, and charm may need some improvement.
The Slackers: Consisting of Goths, bullies, and the guy that never comes to class, they're usually looked down upon at school. However, getting such a student on your side may prove advantageous at times... They are often the target of the school newspaper for anything negative.


Hmm... Maybe I'll ask one of my friends to start a private RO server using these names... :P

Why my bard is Agi-build

People always ask me why I never get vit, and instead die quicker than a fly running into one of those electric frying machines. I think I'll list down a few reasons I'm never getting any Vit for my bard. Even if I turn minstrel...

1. Vit bards are incredibly hard to level, and I don't have the time to level them. It's already been over a year and my bard is still in the 80s. That's quite pathetic, considering some people can get to 99 in weeks. If I went Vit, I'd never level and RO would get boring, and I would probably quit.
2. This doesn't mean I can't get a little vit. But still, I won't go for vit. I like a more "all or none" type stat, where if I get some of something, I'll go all out. So if I wanted to get vit, I would have instead gone all the way to 80 or something, as is my agi. Similarly, I believe having low agi sucks more than having no agi.
3. My character was not meant for PvP / WoE. I don't like killing people. I hate it even more when people kill me. Hatred and spite are evil, we must try avoiding them as much as possible. Same with drama. RO is a game! We should all have fun~~
4. Speaking of fun, I want to have best of both worlds- Soloing on own and partying/supporting other people. By having Agi, I'm able to level and kill decently (against monsters), while at the same time still able to play music for others and help others level (or level with them by supporting). If I went all Vit, I would not have the solo/ fast killing capability I have right now, which would make my character, again, very boring.
5. I also like Agi more than vit because I find it hilarious when people use attacks that miss on me. :p That doesn't happen often though...
6. Vit you get hurt, you recoil. Agi you miss, and walk away.
7. Dying is quite fun!!
8. Pretending you're super buff by taking lots of damage is not as cool as dodging. D:


On the side note, I do think my skills could use a little change. While level 10 Perfect Tablature is pretty fun, giving up to 25 more flee, I really think I should have got level 5 melody strike because then I could REALLY do some damage. Also, Magic strings because apparently wizards would level more with you if you had better magic strings. :(

Finally.... Final grades for Finals

...though finals are over, storms are just beginning...
Can't help but notice how my final marks are. Barely above average, most likely going to drop me down to an overall B+ grade in Molecular Biology (and possibly Calculus) instead of the A- I was hinging on. What's quite depressing is how I actually make an effort to do well in Molecular Biology and fail to do so, while in other classes where I slack off as much as possible (BME 101 and comp sci 101), I seem unable to fail even on the final. A mere 30 minutes give me a better final grade in BME than it does compared to a couple days worth of studying Molecular Biology.

It's grades like these that make me feel stupid and useless. XP

Uh... WTF(reak)?

Today, while checking facebook, I recieved this message:

"hi eric. this is brooke from writ140 last year . anna and i say hello and we just were discussing how cool your cricket ringtone was that one time it went off in class. that's all. hope finals go well."

...

Randomness is people you don't know or remember sending you messages saying your cell phone, which sounds like a cricket, is cool.

Finals Finals!! FUN FUN!!!! YAYAYA!!!!

So, I should be studying, but I decided to take an inappropriate break to post in my blog, surf the internet, and basically waste the rest of my grade which is goign to result in wasting my chance to get an A in Molecular Biology. I also come to the conclusion that studying can cause insanity. So, by not studying I'm saving some of my sanity? /hmm I should get back to studying!!!!

But before that let's have a little unrelated talk about competition and different schools and such. I've been meaning ot talk about this for a while. One day in my lab, my collegues (are the lab-mates, like classmates or something like that?) were talking about how other colleges run labs and graduate programs, and apparently "big" places like Harvard have extremely depressing graduate programs. These are programs where people are all out to kill each other, doing anything (not just studying) to get the best grades (though I have yet to hear of anyone killing a fellow student for the sake of getting top grades). This was particularly curious to me. While I know that it's definately an environment I can not survive in, I also sort of feel that I could relate to something like this. Not intellectually, for I believe that my intelligence is not enough for any of these schools to do even basically well; but I kind of understand the competitiveness, even for a rather "lenient" school like this. It is probablyb ecause of my lack of intelligence that I feel this way. Anyway, while most of my labmates are pretty horrified about how these "advanced" school does things, I just sat there and wondered.
...
I can't for graduate life!!! :p *is so dead, taking BME and Bio major XP*

Hrm...

My class schedule for next semester sucks. :(

50 Q/A for EFZ

1. What's your Name(User Name/Handle/Nickname etc)?
themysteriousbox, Thomas T. Reusbucks, Enigmatic Cube, EngiMatikul, or anything else cube-related and can somehow be turned into a reasonable name

2. Who do you use as a Main or a Sub?
Main: Misuzu
Sub: Mizuka, Minagi

3. Why you use that character?
I started EFZ right after I finished watching Air. I wanted to try out Misuzu because I could NOT imagine her fighting in any way... I just stuck with her after that :p

4. How did you found out about EFZ?
USC Anime Club, while copying over some anime they had it on the CD. Ironically, I never really watched any of the anime on that CD...

5. Which version of EFZ you started at?
v3.10

6. What do you like about EFZ?
Specifically, I was amused with the irony of the situation, having supposedly completely innocent girls develop strange and original powers based on what there character is like. This is particularly why I like Misuzu a lot: her moves are very random, from having a stuffed animal blow fire to splashing juice to summoning Yukito to kick a dog... as of right now I STILL have no idea how Misuzu's juice actually hurts opponents, but I'm trying to find some logic in it...

7. How many people around play EFZ?
3 in Anime Club, one other person that I got hooked outside of Anime Club.
There are now around 5-6 in anime club.

8. Who you would treat as a Rival?
I suck too greatly to have a rival. And still do.

9. What initial you use to call EternalFighterZERO?
EFZ

10. Controls?(pad, keyboard, etc)
Keyboard. Laptop keyboard, specifically. I have USB keyboard now! Like a laptop keyboard...

11. Config Setting? (Damage, Diffculty)
Default Dmg, Very Hard. This does not mean I can beat them.

12. What is your Main Character's record?
Don't keep track.

13. Did you make any orginial color?
Yes

14. If you did make one, what kind of concept you use to make it?
Probably base it of of some color of some character that I made in a story I invented that would never be written out or published.
I based it off of my own playing around, seeing which design suited my tastes, and found that a color scheme similar to how a french-maid outfit would look seems cool. I even have a dove instead of a crow!

15. Your friend that doesn't know about EFZ comes. That guy don't know anything about Fighting Game and the orginial game. He just going to try for the heck of it, which character would use introduce him?
Depends on whether he watched Air, Kanon, both, or none. Probably Misuzu if he watched Air.
IF THEY PLAY RAGNAROK TOO I SUGGEST KANO

16. From 15, Why?
POTATO....KICK!!!!!
For Kano, all her Wizard based moves

17. Which loading picture you like the most?
Any that have nearly CG quality artwork.

18. Which version you like the most for Title Screen/Character Selection etc's background.
v4.01

19. Have you play the orginal game? (Kanon, Air, One, Moon)
No ;_;

20. Which stage you like?
Makoto's Stage, Akiko's Stage

21. Which Character's post is the most Moe when they get burned?
Kanna

22. Which Character's post is most Moe when they get hit by thunder?
Mishio

23. Which post(the post during IC etc) in the game you like the most?
Both of Tohno Minagi's IC poses

24. Which winning quote you like the most?
Misuzu, to Mai: It's Ok, because, in the end, you are not alone... Nihaha...

25. Who would you like to see getting add the most?
Kotori from Da Capo

26. Is there any moves you want to add to that character?
Hmm... I actually never thought of a moveset for her... probably something with psychic powers OR SINGING

27. Have you ever thought of using Kanna?
Not really. Her moves are too strong and not that funny, either D:

28. If there is a new version, which game would you like to be add in?
DA CAPO

29. What would you like to be add if you are able to change the system?
Something that can distinguish between Magic and Tech, then create moves that have respective effects on both.

30. Which character you have hard time playing against?
Anyone that knows how to use their character. :p

31. If you could, please tell us about one of the most common combo you use.
A, B, *whiff*

32. Is there any EFZ related homepage you visit alot?
World of Eternity

33. How many Off gathering and Tournument you joined?
Gathering every thursday at USC Anime Club. Went to AX tournament, did not join for incredibly obvious reasons. I joined AX 2006 tourny, with not so great results

34. How many replays you have now?
0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EDIT: I lied, I have 9 replays right now for 4.01, none of which are mine.
Now I have several pages of replays which I don't really watch, only like 2 are with Misuzu (that's not my Misuzu)

35. How many % of all character's movelist you remember?
Probably around 50%

36. Then how many % of all character move's correct name you remember?
Dude, it took me long enough remembering each of the character's own names...

37. Also, How many % of all the character's move's priority/frame data?
LOL, I just watch replays and copy their timing :p I think I remember like, 10% of move priority...

38. SURPRISE PATCH KITA„ª„ª„ª„ª(?Íß)„ª„ª„ª„ª!!
Can I download? D:

39. Are you good at RG?
No, I suck. I suck at everything.
Ok, so now I can kind of recoil guard... you know, recoil guard repeatedly through Shiori's ice scarf attack thingy 15 times before getting hit and frozen... yes, I know, I still suck... >.>

40. Do you always pay attention to your gague? (Life, super, RC bar)
Too often. D:

41. How about the oppoent's bar?
I should STOP doing that...

42. Would you switch/modify your combo while doing it, considering the stun time and life of oppoent?
I need to learn how to do that, I can't even recognize when they're stunned... however, I can switch from midscreen to corner combos now

43. What do you think is the key of winning? Skill? Luck? The love to your character? or..?
Probably practice. And obsession. I don't have enough of either.

44. When you lose, do you seek revenage? or rest a little?
Nonononono, the question is "what do you do when you win?"

45. Did you found all the hidden Lv3 super by yourself? or some one taught you?
I didn't even know there were hidden level3 supers :p

46. What word would you describe your play style?
n00b

47. Is there anything interesting releated to EFZ?
Mishio uses a Spatula.

48. How many point you would give EFZ?
eer, I never played any other fighting games other than EFZ....
Now I play Melty Blood. I suck at that too.

49. Do a self Q&A please.
Q. Why am I posting here instead of the WoE board that it came from?
A. Because I can be satisfied that no one who actually reads my blog will actually know what I'm talking about.

50. Thank you, please leave a comment.
I never played any other fighting game in my life, except Smash Bros, which doesn't really count anyway.
Desu!

Black Cat- Character of Eve

First off, let me say this has got to be the best concept of a character ever. Bio-weapon (basically, something like a biological robot) with the capability to transform and get wings like an angel... OMG O.O kirei....

Ok, but the purpose of this blog is not to make me sound like a moron way too obsessed over this little character. It's supposed to make me sound like someone who has way too much time analyzing and therefore is obsessing over this little character.

Now, first and foremost I'd like to say that the concept of bioweaponry as a little girl is the best concept of a robotish girl I've seen in anime so far, but still not quite logical. Considering that they wish to alter DNA at the molecular level, they would need to adjust each individual cell on the entire area in order for the biomechanism to work. And the character Eve supposedly has her whole body with this nanotechnology. Do you ahve any idea how much tiny machines they need to change the DNA??? No one vial can do that. Nor last that long. In fact, you might as well have the girl constantly wired up into a machine but of course that would be impractical as a weapon so it would basically be a waste of time and money. However, the thought is very intriguing.

There IS one possibility of making mini DNA changers so that every cell would have it, and that would be this: at conception, or shortly after, perhaps genetically encode for a protein that would have properties that could, say, adjust the DNA and possibly allow for control in mutations. This, however, is an incredibly ludicrous task, but at least it does seem plausible; make a gene that produces a protein that can respond to signals from an outside source (maybe some sort of wavelength) and have it change specific genes depending on what the user asks for. However, chances are the change will be incredibly slow and Eve would not sprout out wings at the spur of the moment. Additionally, a minor mutation in this gene can be quite problematic; while ideally the gene can be cloned from the cells at conception to the final product (human child?), a genetic mutation in at least one cell is likely to happen, and who knows what kind of protein this may result in.

In this sense, I still think my Ruby idea is a lot more plausible, but this theory shows that maybe something like nanotechnology and control of genomic expression can, by chance, be an idea in the far, far future? It's certainly more like a major upgrade of Ruby rather than another version of a robot, because you would still need the mindset mechanism to keep everything else in the body under control. (You know how scary it would be without one? Just think of it: "You're mean! I hate you! WAAAAAHHHHHH" *HUGE EXPLOSION* NOT pretty... ) Something like it would not probably sprout wings, and even if it does, it would be less likely that it would be suddenly capable of flying. Well, scratch that last comment, if the weapon had a program like Ruby's which can figure out the physics to flying and adjust the wings so, it may be possible; but it probably wouldn't look as angelic or pretty as it does in the show, or anywhere else. :p Still, the concept of the angel-robot-girl is so awesome-ness...

Ok, other issues. Plotwise, I actually am finding this very similar to the plot I would have developed for Ruby. Except that Thomas is not an evil businessman trying to monopolize the military, and Eve has less brain implants that would prevent her from doing whatever she wants. But the whole "let's free the damn robot" issue is there, plain and clear. And Eve is decently cute enough to pull this off, though her eyes probably are a bit problematic, imo. Just my pickiness. I would definately like to see how this will go along.

NEED MORE WINGED FEMALE CYBORGS PLZ. XP

(oh crap this is stupifying me down...must...stop...now...)

Honey and Clover

First off, I wanna say that solar did a really cool last-two-minutes-of-the-episode thingy. Wow! That's neat-o! But anyway, to the main anime stuff.

I think what's most intriguing was Honey and Clover's "light angst" sort of scenario. I think it's not traditional from the typical comedy-to-angst story, where the angst level changes in the anime; rather, I think the angst level changes very little from the first episode to the last. This is probably due to the fact that they would insert a random comedic and facial expression moment despite the angsty setting growing around the characters. In a way, this angst is very very dangerous; no longer does the viewer say "oh, here comes the angst *rolls eyes* this is stupid", but the angst actually comes up unexpectedly and goes away just as suddenly, and you never realized that you were pitying the characters until afterwards. Slick they are, slick indeed.
I'm still not an absolute fan of their drawings, but it was dealable. I like how the characters were arranged in Honey and Clover, though. They started out with only a few chars, then added more on over time. The characters that were added on were never truly major or became one of the "group", but they still played a very influential part throughout the story and each had their own depth. The main characters also had their own meanings. While in the first couple of episodes we are given the "surface" views of them, the characters become more and more pronounced as episodes go on. Music... there were some good, some not so interesting. Additionally, its not like "intro was good, ED was bad, OST was good/bad" but rather, some of the insert songs/OP/ED were ok, and some of the OST was ok. Eeh, that just probably confused more people. whaaaaaatever.

Dogs are so whacked up in Honey and Clover... >.> they always have that "I'm so cutely stupid please kill me" look...

My sister is more reliable than anyone else.

Well, my family is more reliable than anyone else. I've learned that throughout life's lessons that You can NEVER rely on other people. Except for my family. Whenever I asked my family for a favor, they would go through with it. Rarely does anyone else go through with as much devotion or thoroughness than what my family does. Consequently, I have been attempting to not rely on anyone else with the exception of my family, but of course even with my family I'm not asking much already since I feel indebted to their generosity and therefore wish to trouble them as little as possible.

This is just a short rant until my sister comes online. I called her a short while ago because I idiotically forgot some important documents at my parent's home in Covina. (Sometimes I think my family is more reliable than I am myself...) So my sister picks up and she immediately agrees to do so. Though I waited only a few minutes, she calls back later telling me that it might take a while because the internet is down.

That's what I like about her. She calls back and tells me something that I would have considered a trifle waiting and regards it as something important.

This is important. You know why? Because I know people who I would ask if they would do something, and they said they would, but they never do it. But that's not what usually pisses me off. It's the fact that I have to wait a while, and then call THEM, and THEN they make up some excuse sayign something came up so they couldn't do it. I HAD TO CALL THEM. And if that wasn't the case, then more or less it's being called up a second or two before, say, going out (assuming we would be going out to get ice cream or do community service or whatever) and then saying that something last minute came up. I don't know. I just learned to hate inreliability.

Lesson for the day: Don't rely on others for anything. Except if you have a family like me, then you can sort of rely on your family. :p

Relying on yourself would be helpful, btw, but if you have problems like me where you can't even rely on yourself to do things, man, you're screwed. Wait, that means I'm screwed. crap.

Tsukoyomi Moon Phase

Hmm... I'm not entirely on "full BS" mode right now, so I'll probably not bs as much on this anime as I should. It's actually a really good anime in all aspects, EXCEPT music. THAT INTRO SONG SUCKS. PERIOD.

But anyway.

Characterwise, the development is pretty nifty and noticable. Of the main characters, anyway. Hazuki's brattiness starts to wane as the show goes on, which is kind of disappointing, but also understandable. Her personality was still pretty charming, Hazuki isn't a bad character. I find Art more amusing though... but she was only introduced like, in the last couple of episodes, kind of disappointing. Interestingly enough, the show seems to be able to go on in future seasons, so maybe there will be more appearances of Art in the future... Turning to the guy characters, we can clearly establish that all male vampires in this show are evil. Except for one, which reminds me of PJBW's characters, but since he was mainly an enemy until he died, we really can't consider him too much. :p Onto the good guys! Seiji is pretty nifty, he reminds me of my Guai character in looks and powers, but more with Thomas's personality, though not quite. The old men were pretty cool. I mean, they could fight right? And as long as they can fight, most people would be happy, right?
In any case, I wasn't lying about the fight scenes. Those were actually pretty nifty. And not only the fighting, but the artwork in general was nice and "smooth". There WERE actually times where Hazuki's pose was very cute. Still, in general, the best of the art design likes mostly in two areas: setting, which was very very dramatic (you can really tell the mood of the episode depending on its background) and the fight scenes. Yes, they were action packed. Whoopee. *rolls eyes* The powers were pretty nice, although eventually all the bad guys had the power of summoning plant vines to attack the bad guys. Then again, most of the good guys just threw around paper ofudas and did fancy magic with that. Oh well, hope they can come up with more original moves next time, assuming there is a next time.
Speaking of theme, it's pretty interesting how they spread out the comedy and angst in the anime. It's like typical anime where it's "happy happy happy ANGST ANGST ANGST and maybe one more happy". This one goes "happy ANGST happy ANGST... etc." And it's not always just because there are multiple bad guys, so there's happy, then there's a bad guy and there's angst, and then there's happy again. No, even when there's no bad guys, there can occasionally be the "thinking back ANGST", and sometimes even when the bad guy is in his deep thought "I'm going to conduct my evil plan" mode, a random plate sometimes just falls onto him, for cheap if not excessively absurd and unnecessary humor relief.

Speaking of those random plates, I hear it has to do with a japanese reference, I think it has to do something with a japanese show. But I don't want to look into it. :p

Hmm... what else... plot. Yea, usually I don't look into plot that much, but I actually think this one is worth noting. Probably because it's not linear, and not "direct" is maybe the word? The enemy appearance is unique. It's not the power rangers setup where there's a new enemy in each episode. But it's also not one major enemy for the whole series either. NOR is it the typical half season enemy taht gets defeated, then another half season enemy arrives to get defeated when the season finally ends. Although I had thought that when the first half the season was over, because one "main" enemy got destroyed. So I thought the next bad guy coming along must be the next main enemy. But no, he got killed off in like 3 episodes. What the heck? :P And also, the ending to this series (maybe only to first season?) is rather ambiguous. Perhaps there will be more episodes? Who is this master guy anyway? Seems like it has good potential to be built on, but also good chance of being screwed up.

Uh... about the music comment. In reality, it wasn't that bad, just the intro... >.< Right, the intro I can definately do without. Some of the insert songs I really want to download and get, but I"m not sure how to get them... maybe I"ll try looking for OSTs or image files and they might have some cool songs on them. :p

AAAAaaaand the nekomimi ears. Yea, I can tell that's supposed to be a theme in the whole story, but gosh darnit, if everything was as blatantly obvious as those nekomimi ears in every damn episode, symbolism in English would be an incredibly easy task. Although that's not to say what the damn nekomimi ears MEANs. Hmm. Actually, that's not a bad thing to ponder about. What is the TRUE meaning of the nekomimi ears? Is it really just a fetish thing, or maybe there's a symbolic meaning to the ears... Perhaps I will post again to think about it.

...

A theme of acceptance, that was definately in the entire series. Cats are also usually solitary, but can show affection towards humans. Theme of "taming" the wild cat into a domestic one? While I would ask "why ears", I think the answer would be it was the most obvious symbolic way of representing a girl as a cat. Or vice versa. yea, that might be it. I'll write more on it after I thought about it more. Right now, I want to play RO Block hitter game thingy. :3