Do you like your Kanon old or new?

This fan artist apparently had fans of either the Toei version or the Kyoani version in mind. Very creative.

Hibikino Watcher vol 2 – Must find the others!

While I was in Japan, I found volume 2 being sold on eBay so I made sure to snag that. Actually while I was in Japan, I probably should have bought them off Japanese Amazon used or Japanese Yahoo Auctions but before I knew it I was too late. Not to mention lack of money. So, I’m really just counting on finding the rest on eBay someday unless I’m ever in Japan again.

So anyway, I don’t know if a lot of you are familiar with Hibikino Watcher. In Tokimeki Memorial 2 it’s the name of the monthly magazine thing that gives you new date spots and seasonal things that are going on in Hibikino (the town) as you play. Later Konami released 3 magazines with the same name. They all included a disc where the girls who were the main subject of each issue could now say your name (or any name you input) if you insert it before you play Tokimeki Memorial 2. Normally, it was just Hikari and Kasumi who could do this.

I’ve been seeking these issues for a long time now and they’re pretty rare from what I can understand. At least going for 100s on the Japanese auctions I’ve seen. This issue I got is volume 2 and has Homura, Yae, and Akane on it. Not my favorite characters at all. Although, they’re all pretty cool.

I must say that Japanese companies know how to pander to fans. The magazine is relatively short, but pack full of awesome stuff like interviews, detailed game information, and design sketches. I’ve only just started to glance over it but not seriously sit down and read it. I’m still in this OMG TONS OF JAPANESE TEXT! I CAN’T READ THIS phase. I think one of the most interesting things I glanced over was from the interview about Yae who is at first a hurt character but opens up much later.

In the game, she just quits going to school if you know her but not on a friendship level or what not. The designers wanted to invoke this feeling from the player like “Was it my fault?”. During planning they actually thought about having it that she commits suicide but decided that might be a little too much so they scraped it. I found that really interesting. For a game like the Tokimeki franchise that probably would have been a little much.

Another section I found amusing was there are questions where it’s Takumi (the main character’s friend who gives him girl’s phone numbers and what not) giving the answers. His image is shadowed out but you know it’s him. Haha. It just has trivial kinda stuff like “Do you know (Maeka’s) nice body’s 3 sizes during high school?” “Why doesn’t Akane wear a winter uniform?” “Why does Jun hate shrimp?” Stuff like that.

Definitely must find the other ones that I don’t have because if the information is any more like the stuff in this volume I would really like to read it. Also, the append discs would be nice to have too.

Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei – STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE

Digital Devil Monogatari Megami Tensei is probably now one of the worst animes I have ever seen. It’s 45 minutes of what the hell did I just watch?

I know this is based on the light novels by the same name which then in turn inspired the Shin Megami Tensei RPG games, but other than that basic knowledge I know from Shin Megami Tensei (demons being summoned with computers) this OVA gives me no real new information on just what is going on and why.

Horrible characterization. Mediocre animation and background music. I normally don’t complain about violence but the violence felt unnecessary. One girl is bitten in the vagina and dies this way. JUST. WHAT. THE. HELL?

Perhaps one of the worst adaptions to anime of something I have ever seen. Really makes me think twice when I watch something nowadays that might be an adaption of something else. Least those turn out remotely entertaining. Seemed more like an attempt at hentai than anything else even if there was really no nudity. It makes M.D Geist look like a masterpiece because as bad as Geist is it is so bad that makes it good in some way of entertainment. Damn it Jack Frost! I want my 45 minutes back.

Can’t believe Megumi Hayashibara was in this. OMG.

25 Things anime style – Yes, this is the stupid Facebook meme

Totally unrelated but sexy.

Um yeah. I had drafted this up months ago when this stupid 25 things was all the rage on Facebook. It was actually pretty damn annoying. I thought it would be fun to do an anime only related one. Basically you have to list 25 things about yourself.

1. I think I know what is what when it comes to anime because I have seen a lot of shit. Literally. Some of the crap I’ve seen, who watches True Tears or FLCL? Complete garbage.

2. I really only like moe shows. Statistics show that 99.9% of the shows I have seen have girls with cute voices and panty shots almost every frame.

3. There was a point in my life when I wished I could marry an anime character. I was in high school. Ronery, depressed, and no self confidence at all. Years later nothing has changed.

4. 2D is better than 3D. After being rejected so many times in the past and recently. I’ve given up on finding “real” love. It doesn’t exist.

5. I want to try and have at least 350 shows watched before next year. Probably won’t happen but it’s something to try and strive for.

6. I have over 50GB of H and H games on my computer. Most of it I don’t even look at or play. I just have a weird compulsive disorder where I collect things I like on the Internet.

7. Hands down, I hate the main female character in a given show. I usually like the side female characters more especially those of the shy and timid nature.

8. Wearing glasses, pantyhose, a shy personality and being moe is the key to becoming my favorite character.

9. The first trap I ever loved was Kei from Moyashimon. From then on I’ve loved traps in anime and manga.

10. Most mainstream anime I have yet to see. I`m looking at you Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

11. I rarely buy anime figures. Not because I don’t have money but because they never produce figures of characters I like!

12. There have been very few shows that I have seen where I thought it was shit and dropped it only to come back to it later and like it fairly much. Rozen Maiden and Minami-ke come to mind.

13. I stopped buying anime DVDs in 2001. Even though I had the Internet I was still very stubborn about this downloading thing. Impatience for the DVD releases got the best of me though. The rest is history.

14. I mostly like Yukari Tamura not because she’s a good voice actor or can sing well but in actuality because she is a woman that dresses like she’s 9 years old.

15. Watching Genshiken made me accept that this is who I am and I shouldn’t feel ashamed just because I like anime.

16. There were a few times during high school where I got into things because of anime with stupid results. For example I played Go because I was watching Hikaru no Go, and I was interested in Alchemy because of Fullmetal Alchemist.

17. There are very few eroge I actually find interest in. I’m very picky and it’s like the stars need to align for me to actually give a game a chance. I don’t play eroge for the sake of playing an eroge. I want some level of interest involved.

18. I’ve learned more about myself studying Japanese than any religion or system of beliefs has ever shown me.

19. If not for Fred Gallagher, MegaTokyo creator, I probably would have never learned about visual novels and date sims or rather would have found out about them much later than 1999.

20. My first anime was Tenchi Muyo in Love and I saw it on the Sci Fi channel back in 1996.

21. I always hated mecha anime until I went to Japan and found out just how cool big robots really are.

22. I really don’t have favorite voice actors but it worries me to hear and read about new voice actors, and they’re getting younger and younger too. It worries me because not only are looks a factor to appeal to otaku but it could mean shitty voice acting as well.

23. I never went into learning Japanese for myself and enjoying anime and games more. I always felt like I wanted to learn it to help others out and bring Japanese culture to non-Japanese people.

24. I believe most new anime is garbage and not worth watching every week thus I only watch shows that have completed their run and have been previously reviewed already.

25. The most horrid anime I have ever seen is Narutaru. Even M.D Geist is better than that.

Showing off of the degrading kind (2009 version)

I did this around the same time last year so I think I’ll do it again. I don’t really have much to show, but things have been moved around and my walls were painted. I wish I had a job so I can start buying stuff. I feel like I just want to buy things right now, but I guess that is the natural tendency when you don’t have a job. Heh heh…

Poll of the Month: Favorite Persona 4 Character

I haven’t updated my poll in a while and I’ve been playing a lot of Persona 4 lately (already at 56 hours and only halfway!) so I figured making a poll about which is everyone’s favorite character is a logical choice.

If it hasn’t been made clear enough in my previous Persona 4 entries, I really like Yukiko. I’m not even really sure why to be honest. She is the most traditionally Japanese out of the character. Being seen wearing a kimono in the opening, and the long black hair. Her personality is less from amazing, but I guess all males as worthless as myself want to feel this kind of reassurance that even the most high class looking of girls can be rather down to earth, some what naive and ditzy.

I guess a problem about Persona 4 is once a character’s plot is done they’re out of the picture and saying maybe one liners all the time, which seems to happen to a lot of the characters, and I guess that’s where the social links come into play in Persona 4. This time you can now have social links with your party members which isn’t too bad.

I guess if anything I have to say that it’s good for Yukiko’s character that she wants to move away from Inaba, which is basically the kinds of things you learn about her if you pursue her social link path. I think it is far too often that in Japanese culture kids are just kinda forced into a life that they don’t want to get into but do anyway because it is viewed as the only way. So, for Yukiko to have a desire to want to do her own thing, and do things that interest her is cool, and is probably what is her selling point. Although this could be a sign of independence which is a no no for a Japanese female anime character IF she were a moeblob character. Thank Mara she isn’t because Yukiko is so sexy. I can’t see the protagonist with any other girl but Yukiko. Plus she wears black pantyhose. :3

All in all I’m REALLY glad that my opinion has changed about the P4 characters because I’ve really come to like them a lot. I’ve come to laugh a lot during certain scenes in the game because of their crazy antics. In part thanks to the great job done by the voice actors, and the localization job done by Atlus.

The new Haruhi OP is ewww

It looks and sounds like shit. It just can’t hold a candle to the original. Also, that isn’t Aya Hirano singing is it? Aya Hirano can’t sing too well either but at least she doesn’t sounds like a screeching old grandmother. …Wait a minute it is Aya Hirano. Oh well, I guess she got remotely worse. Haha…

It’s like in this OP Kyoani is trying to do they stuff they’re known for but seemly trying to do the kind of stuff you’d see in eroge openings. Reminds me a lot of the Shuffle! game OP or whatever with all the arrows and what not for some reason.

Kyoani really needs to stop thinking that whatever they dish out will just instantly become popular just because they released maybe a few decent stuff in the past. This just isn’t living up to the quality that I know they can deliver. I look forward to the day they adapt something that doesn’t catch on. Although personally, I think the only good things they’ve ever done was the hilarious Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, Full Metal Panic the second raid (awesome and well done animation that they just don’t do anymore), Air, and Kanon. That is were I stand. Take it as you wish.

Although, it really isn’t Kyoani’s fault because they’re just adaption already shitty projects into anime. The thing they’re responsible for is they need to take good things and adapt those into good anime. None of this moe garbage. I’m tired of that. But it appears they’re content just making what sells.

A word from our sponsors

Yeah. Yeah. I think I write these kinds of posts far too often these days, but I just wouldn’t be me. Absolutely no motivation to watch anime, but unlike many months and years in the past I’m not going to beat myself over it. Don’t get me wrong I still like it (I think) but I’m not going to force myself to pursue it if the interest isn’t there at this time. Instead I’ve just been filling my time up with doing a lot of things I’ve been neglecting. Namely drawing and reading.

I’ve been trying to make an effort to practice drawing something at least an hour a day. I always thought I had a talent or at least some kind of ability to draw ever since I was a kid. You might think otherwise, but drawing has always been primarily a hobby for me.

I admit it. I am not an avid reader. I never was growing up. I want to get into a lot of things and yet how can I really get into them if I don’t read about them? So, I’ve been trying to fulfill my desires and start reading things. I finished a really horribly written Evangelical Christian self help book and now got into something more relevant to my interests. Japanese history!

Also, practicing Japanese daily since I got back although maybe not very long about and hour or so. I think I’m going to start timeboxing myself when I do study so it has a set start and stop time. Then it would feel like I were getting some where. Definitely need to get into the habit of reading Japanese websites and just Japanese anything in general.

Lastly, playing Persona 4. I have critisism about the whole stop and go feel of the plot, but at least it doesn’t feel as bad as 3. I’m wishing I could play multiple games at once and at the same time. I so want to play Nocturne, Dragon Quest 8, and Dragon Quest 5 at the moment. Nocturne because of the difficulty, the ability to summon demons, and the whole alignment concept. Dragon Quest 8 because when I bought it I liked it a lot, but didn’t stick with it after a while. After playing Dragon Quest 4, I really got interested in the Dragon Quest franchise. Now I believe that in the DQ vs FF debate Dragon Quest is definitely the more stronger and superior franchise. I mostly want to play DQ 5 for reasons I already stated with 8 but also I think the generation thing is interesting.

Well, I tried to get this as short and not journal like as possible. Just some things I’ve been doing in the mean time. I guess if you’re really interested in me on a personal level or want to read about things that I do other than anime I guess you could swing by my personal blog.

What an age we live in – A farewell to fan sites

This entry was mostly inspired by reading what is happening to the guys at Hardcore Gaming 101. To sum it up, IGN is shutting down all their public hosting services basically the fan sites. Now this sucks because either all these sites on this service are going to disappear or they’re going to have to find a new service some most likely being a pay service.

Furthermore, I heartily agree with Discoalucard’s statement here,

“How are fan sites going to flourish without all of these free hosting services? The fact that it didn’t cost any money was the reason most people started these up. I certainly didn’t have any cash to pay for domains or hosting back when I started up The Castlevania Dungeon when I was 15. Those that have been around long enough, or are confident in the investment, can still pay for their own domain or webspace, but for newbies? Nowadays, all there are are Livejournals, Facebooks and Blogspots to waste people’s times.

I hate blogs. They serve their purpose, but their structure is almost offensive. It seems to say that the only relevant information is whatever is happening at that moment, and then it falls into nothing within a few days. Sure, they have search functions and tags, but hey! Good luck with those, especially if you’re looking for information on a specific game. There’s a reason that HG101 lists all of its articles right on the front page – so none of them dwindle into irrelevance as time goes on. It does present some problems, since articles tend to age, as site standards change or new games get released or discovered, but I’d rather that than the alternative. To make a parallel, blogs are like magazines, which are relevant for a month and then discarded. Web sites are like books, better cataloged, more permanent.”

The H doujin I read this week: Glasses Black + and The Reward of President Miyako

Well, this is a segment I’ve been wanting to revive for a while now. I couldn’t just do one or the other by Tonbo Kusanagi so I will just talk about both. So first I have to say I love this guy’s style. The cat like eyes are really neat, his use of expressions are very sexy, and I normally don’t like female characters with large breasts but the characters in these two stories are actually quite sexy but that could just because they’re wearing pantyhose which makes it all kinda just balances out in some kind of strange way in the end.

I find the plot in The Reward of President Miyako to be more humorous. It’s about a guy who can’t get up in the morning, and is late for class so the school president tries to reward him as an incentive to get up in the morning. Glasses Black + has a plot and two characters I would actually want to see more of in something other than a one shot by this guy. The plot is basically explained on the first page of the doujinshi. The guy knew this princess as a kid. He apparently had sex with her and was ashamed but she forces him to treat her like his bride or something. Not much else is said. It’s short but it sounds like it would have an interesting story to work with? Would be neat to see an actual H manga with these characters.

Bottom line is I love this guy’s style and character designs. That’s saying a lot because I am extremely picky with these kinds of things. You can read The Reward of President Miyako and Glasses Black + in English. Lucky you guys!

I read all my H doujinshi online at E Hentai. Support them!

I had e-mailed the mangaka but never got a response, which is a shame because you’d think doujinshi was based on fan made support. Was it because I was a gaijin? I don’t know. I hope not.