Kannagi – Proving it is wrong to not follow shows while they’re airing

Just got done watching the first episode of Kannagi and I would say I enjoyed it fairly well. It wasn’t a very over the top first episode and neither was it all that boring. It was cute and innocent but also had a little sexual tension mixed in but nothing too bad. I expected Nagi to be more tsundere and it is a relief to find that she really wasn’t. I like Nagi’s accent and I was really surprised to find that her voice actor, Haruka Tomatsu, is younger than I am. She is just at the ripe age of 18. I am getting old…

Jin and Nagi make a great pair in this first episode and they play off each other well as Jin tries to instruct Nagi about things in daily life and Nagi trying to figure out some way to purify things. Both characters usually gave hilarious results, which made me smile. It is too early to tell if I will like Nagi by the end but I think she is a cute character with a kawaii bust.

Currently getting the rest of the series now. I hope it sticks out fairly well all the way to the end. I am sad that I didn’t try this show out sooner but I hardly seem to give these new shows a try anymore until months after they have aired… I guess I will find out eventually but I am interested to see if the opening has any relevance to the show or not. The more and more that time goes on I have no idea what these shows are about so as far as I can guess Nagi gets into acting/singing later.

Top 12 favorite Chrono Trigger moments

Since classes are over and it is the winter break I have a little more time to play games, and portable games seem to be the system of choice at the moment in Japan. I got to the end of Chrono Trigger in about 15 hours and it took me about an extra 10 hours to finish all the new content which were kinda disappointing and all the side quests. Anyway, as my favorite RPG on the SNES and replaying it there are definitely scenes I enjoy and see as memorable. The list is in order of when they appear and not by likeness because I think they are all pretty awesome scenes.

Five figures that I want – Sadly, they don’t exist II

We all know the feeling of loving a certain character but since the character is either a side character, not popular, or just for some odd reason a figure hasn’t been made yet. This is my top five figures I’ve been wanting for a long time but haven’t found yet. If anyone is interested you can view last years five figures here.

5. Nogizaka Haruka from Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu

I know there are some out there of Haruka already but I want one of her not in a maid outfit but in her school uniform wearing her delicious pantyhose. Honestly, the first moe character that gave some good pantyhose fanservice which doesn’t really happen much at least in the shows that I watch. It is always this zettai ryouiki bullshit.

4. Yuuki Kei (Gothic loli ver) from Moyashimon

Kei has a special place in my heart. He unlocked a side of me waiting to just come out. My love for traps really started because of Kei, and has persisted ever since I finished Moyashimon. I would enjoy having a figure of him dressed as a gothic lolita like in the show.

3. Sunohara Mei from Clannad

Come on! A figure of Mei is bound to get made sooner or later. I give it by spring or summer tops? She made such a great impression whenever she was around. One of the most memorable imoutos of recent date. Plus she is very moe~

2. Sumeragi Kaguya from Code Geass

Probably my favorite loli not so loli character of recent date. It was always great to see Kaguya on screen. Her best scene is probably still her introduction which made such a lasting impression. From there she really wasn’t on screen much, and when she was she really didn’t do much of anything sadly. Would have been great if she played a bigger role some how. At this rate, I bet the Chinese loli will even get a figure before Kaguya. Either outfit of Kaguya’s is fine with me, but I would prefer her in her kimono much more though.

1. Shindou Chihiro from Ef a Tale of Memories

I instantly fell in love with Chihiro. I usually like the shy female characters in shows but shyness alone doesn’t usually mean I will end up liking the character. Chihiro really had all the right moe points for me to like her. I really liked her story and I think her and Renji make a great couple. I would love to have a figure of her for my collection, but I doubt that will ever happen. Maybe it could happen? I guess my mini stand up of her will have to do…

Idolm@ster SP PUSHED BACK! DAMN ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!

Iori: Our PSP game has been pushed back!
Ritsuko: …So it has. I wonder why?

Old news I know, but I haven’t commented on it personally since I was traveling. I heard the news when I stopped in Akihabara for the day while on my trip to Hokkaido. Just passing by some stores and reading the release schedule boards. I see Idolm@ster SP with a new release date. I was thinking, “Is this for really? Is this a mistake? Maybe I should ask?” I later consulted the Internet and it is really true. It was originally going to be released on January 22nd, but now it has been pushed back to the 19th of February.

I don’t care if they want to make a better product. I am going to be cliche and claim it is also partly a marketing tactic to just hype the game up more, and sell more CDs and other merchandise before the release of the actual games. Either way they have my money since I am going to buy all three games.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year – On hiatus too

Sup everyone. Thank you for the comments and everything. I will get back to you all when I return to Nagoya. Currently I am traveling to Hokkaido which is the very northern land mass of Japan. As I write this I am right now in Aomori which is very northern Honshu which is the biggest landmass that makes up Japan.

As always, thank you for the comments and support. Seeya all in about a few days. Hahah. So awesome up here with the snow and mountains and everything. Really enjoying myself here. So, yeah have a great Christmas or whatever holiday thing you believe in and a happy New Year!

Sakura Taisen 5 seeing a 2009 release!?

The more superior cast minus Hanabi who I like the most from the 3rd game.

A little birdie told us that someone was finally getting brave enough to localize a game in the Sakura Wars series, mainly the fifth game in the main series for the PS2. Would that be NIS America, and what can you tell us about the game?

NISA: Haha, your birdie knows too much. Let’s just say the game is in the works by an undisclosed company. I’ve heard somewhere that the game should come out in ‘09.

Just randomly reading on RPGamer and I found this in their interview with NIS America. Whoa, this could be awesome even though the fifth game of the Sakura Taisen series is complete shit. I have been waiting years for the series to be localized. I have already played the other games over 9,000 times, but I would still support the franchise in English and buy the games just because it is Sakura Taisen and it could mean more games being localized in America. Awesome!

What I watched drunk this week: 5 Centimeters per Second

So, apparently 5 Centimeters per Second is not something you watch when you’re drunk because I feel like SHIT. This is my second time watching it so it is okay to be drunk and watch it. I love this movie regardless.

I am honestly sad, depressed and lonely. This movie made me cry a whole lot more than the first time I watched it, but it is probably because I am drunk.

Part 2 is definitely the weakest part of the movie but at the same time the strongest because I know the feeling of loving someone but not being able to tell them how I feel at the same time.

The whole story just seemed kinda dumb though I mean if the guy loved her why didn’t he tell her? This wouldn’t happen IN AMERICA.

I love this film.

Millennium Actress – Last anime of 2008

Finished Millennium Actress today. The last Satoshi Kon work I have yet to see and also the last anime I will probably end up finishing for 2008. I enjoyed it much like all of Kon’s works. One of his more earlier works it doesn’t really comment on the societal ills of Japan. Rather, Millennium Actress concerns itself with time, memories, and love. I watched the movie first and then I read some analysis on the Internets to help me see some of the things I wasn’t picking up. I went here and here, but I am sure there are more on the Internet but these suited me fine.

Watching Millennium Actress, like most of Kon’s work, it is really hard sometimes to pick up what is fact and what is fiction. A good chunk of Chiyoko’s, the actress, life is shown through the backdrop of the roles she played in films. I think it is interesting that the more memorable and impacting memories Chiyoko has are more bright and colorful while the less impacting ones aren’t. I had noticed the coloring throughout the film but never really connected it to her memories.

By the end Chiyoko realizes that it wasn’t really the man that she was searching for that she loved but the idea of searching for this man is what she loved. That the idea it is better to long for something than possessing what you long for.This kind of made me go, “Hmmm.” because this is exactly how I feel about my trip to Japan. I worked really hard to get here and studied my ass off but now that I am here it is like, “What do I do now?”

The animation is great and done by Studio Madhouse and it is hard to believe they are doing rather poor animation quality like with this show. I like how the characters actually look more Asian than some weird Caucasian moeblob thing. Young Chiyoko is just very cute and seems to embody the type of figure and appearance of the woman of Japan during the the war and post war periods throughout the film.

The music done by Susumu Hirasawa is great and reminds me that I need to pick up the other soundtracks he did for Kon’s other movies but I never seen to do so since I was never all that big on listening to full soundtracks to anime. This needs to change, honestly!

Now that I have seen all Kon’s works this is how I would rate them. What do you think?

1. Paranoia Agent
2. Perfect Blue
3. Millennium Actress
4. Paprika
5. Tokyo Godfathers

I hope Satoshi Kon releases something new soon!

Yukarin needs to do more rock songs!

So apparently the new Yukari Tamura single titled Tomorrow came out a day earlier when it was supposed to come out tomorrow. No pun intended. Since I was in the area of an anime store today and I saw it on display. I definitely took the time to pick it up.

Whoa. Seriously whoa. I was a little worried about Yukarin trying a rock song but I really like the song Tomorrow. It reminds me of the kinds of stuff Nana Mizuki does and I like it. It is a good change from the usual cutesy songs she does most of the time. She should definitely do it more often. What I am disappointed in is the PV for Tomorrow. It has less Yukarin and more of her background singers/dancers doing shit than she is. What is with that? The making of things are always neat though because they make me, as a fan, feel more closer to her in a creepy fan like way.

So about the other two songs. The second song Love Time Machine is so bland and actually sounds like that sakuranbo song that just repeats over and over with the Fate/Stay Night characters in the background, but I might end up liking it? The last song Don’t wake me Up has some synthesizers and actually has a nice beat which makes it catchy. Lyric wise they’re all nothing special but I really don’t listen to J-Pop for its awesome lyrics. Hahah.

Growing trends in my anime watching

So, lately I have been finding myself watching mainly completed shows. Well, to be honest this is hardly a new trend at all I just never really took notice to it. It really is a lot easier to just be able to have a full series and then being able to watch it when I want to freely then have to wait for each episode to be released. Although, I guess it really doesn’t matter either way if you have a job and don’t watch anime all that often in the first place. I also have started to believe that watching the full series than having to wait can change the overall feeling for the show.

Another thing I just given up on is burning anime. I used to burn EVERY show I managed to watch. I don’t know if anyone even does this anymore but I have been doing it at least for a few years now for some reason. The way I see it is anime is readily available on the Internet so why put it on a CD when if I REALLY want to watch it again I could just download it instead of use the money on blank DVDs. Also it is cheaper to just get an external hard drive and maybe just backup the shows I really like on that instead. The thing that I saw with burning anime to a disk was that I had the series in some tangible form to show that I had seen it but I have given up on that. Also, maybe in some way if the case should arise I could lend out shows to people but hell this has never happened in the 13 years of my anime fandom so I doubt that is ever going to happen.

By the way things are going I can tell that the first half of the new year will definitely be filled with less and less anime watching. It isn’t that I am disinterested. I really want to try out shows like Kannagi, Index, Toradora but it seems like other things are just taking up the time, which really isn’t a bad thing since it probably is better to get out of my room, hang out with people and be more sociable for once.