| Sora wa mada aoku... |
[16 Apr 2009|02:49am] |
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So, with the Spring season pretty much in full bloom, not only outside but in anime world as well...
As I explained in my previous post, I had picked up a few series and listed my general opinion after one episode... There is only one more specific one to add to this list so far (I have acquired other series, just haven't touched them since I've been happily watching something else (which I shall get into later).
East of the Eden ~ Newest show from Production I.G. Rather interesting intro I suppose... naked guy with a phone and a gun... but hey, it got my attention and now I'm definitely gonna keep watching... I suppose I should also not expect anything like Ghost in the Shell but perhaps that is why I watch...
Now as for what I have been watching recently... Its actually a show I heard about many moons ago (it aired in 2007) and having heard it compared to Aria on many levels, I grabbed the first episode. I never watched it. Mostly because, at least at that time, Aria was steadily becoming one of my favorite series and when something is compared to a series you love, its hard to just watch something else with your favorite in mind. Otherwise you will not enjoy it as much. I've learned this lesson in the past a number of times when people would say, "Oh this series is like Azumanga Daioh and its great!" Of course, what do you expect when you watch it but Azumanga Daioh and it is no where close. The series might be good, but you come away with the wrong impression.
So, on a whim, I re-acquired the entire series... It's called Sketchbook ~ Full Colors ~ and I can easily see where the similarities are drawn with Aria although I know that if I had watched it originally when I first heard about it, I might not have enjoyed it as much as I do now. Sketchbook is very much a slice of life series and takes that fact very seriously... it is humorous most of the time, but the rest of it, it's like eye candy. Gorgeous scenery, "bland" characters (the scenery is there to catch your attention, not the characters), extremely easy going mood... I absolutely adore the opening... Once I heard it, I grabbed it and added it to my favorites on my ipod AND to my wake up playlist (I use my iPod as my alarm clock, since it "sounds" different every day with various songs on the list and therefore my brain can't become used to a sound and ignore it.) It's soft and easy going, yet strong lyrics... I just love the series... I started it about a week ago and I've already jumped through 8 of the 13 episodes... Some of the Seiyuu are familiar, some aren't which is great since it introduces me to a few new voices.
Well, my stomach hurts, it is nearly 3:30 am and I suppose I should get some sleep...
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| Return to Relevance.. |
[07 Apr 2009|10:14pm] |
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Seeing as I updated a mere 7 weeks ago, I suppose it might be an excellent time to say something.
Contrary to the Red River's attempts, and rumors galor, I am not dead (yet). The flood of 2009 (I live in Fargo, North Dakota if that wasn't already known) was pretty spooky for a few days, and judging by the sound of things, it will return again in about a week or two with possibly just as much natural fury as before...
When it comes to my watching schedule, lately it has been hampered by the fact that I acquired MLB 2k9 (xbox 360) AND MLB The Show 09 (PS3). Those tend to take up a great deal of time and when it's always, "Just one more game, then I'll go and watch something. Oh, one more game beyond that... One more... One more..." Then you realize it's 3 am and you probably should be in bed.
Here is what I have managed to settle down and watch recently....
Kannagi.. I was nearly finished with this series and I managed to push my way to the end... The ending was... typical? I suppose that is the best way to state it. It was rather lack-luster and didn't really strike me as ground breaking... it was, all in all, a decent show with a sorta standard harem/slice of life comedy setup.
Toradora.. I picked up this series about a month ago and I'm nearly done with it already... I'm at episode 23 and with just 2 or 3 episodes left, I shouldn't take much longer to finish it.. It's got a slightly different setup than most school comedy/life series... Guy A likes Girl B, Girl A likes Guy B. Girl A and B are friends and Guy A and B are friends. Girl A forms an alliance with Guy A to try and further each other's relationship prospects with their respective crushes.
Minami-ke ~ Okaeri.. I believe I just finished this a few nights ago... If I did, I am sad to see that it is over and just hope for a fourth season to be green lit... I love this series and even though they seem to add a new character or two each season, I think the interaction between every character seems to be stronger each season, which produces even more funny outcomes and events.
Speaking of new seasons, I just read today (I believe on ANN) that Hidamari Sketch will be receiving a third season. Glee!
Also on the topic of new seasons, the "spring" season in Japan just started this month and with it, new series abound... A few that I have picked up so far, without the promise of finishing them..
K-ON!.. Kyoto Animation takes on a 4koma comic. So far it is.. interesting, but hasn't quite struck me as mindbogglingly awesome. I have a feeling the reason KyoAni took this series up would be because it involves a music band, and ever since the episode Live Alive from Suzumiya Haruhi KyoAni has wanted to do more rock band action scenes...
Shangri-la.. Gonzo. Yup, this is definately a Gonzo show since the character designs seem to mirror Last Exile. The plot is hard to explain but I'll be watching this one for now..
Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~.. Ah yes, a Bee Train series. Like almost every other series that they seem to produce (Noir, Madlax, El Cazudor), Phantom deals with underworld assassinations, plots, emotionless assassins... It's like they have a cookie cutter and just use a different flavor for the cookie each time. I'll stick with it for now....
There are a few others on my "list" of what I want to watch, but I won't get into them at the moment... I hope to post again once I've seen more of these series...
See you...
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| Thanks for my teenage life.... |
[13 Feb 2009|12:50am] |
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As I keep attempting to do, I would like to try and update more often, and according to LJ, I only updated two weeks ago... that's a short period of time!
I haven't got much, but I'll mention a few things. Firstly, my xbox 360 is the scourge of my free time. It is primarily why I am not posting on here very often. On tap lately?
Fallout 3 ~ (Yes, I beat it already, but once you play through as a "good" character, you gotta play through on the "evil" side too. As always with these games, the evil path is much more rewarding and enjoyable.
MLB Front Office Manager ~ I have a weakness for baseball games. This hits the spot after having burned myself out slightly by playing through 223 full games on MLB 2k8 (just to give you a general idea, each game on average takes one hour.) And I have full intentions of purchasing MLB 2k9 when that is released next month.
Gears of War 2 ~ Actually, I've beat the game, but I've been playing Horde with friends a great deal.
So, all in all, I've mostly been busy with that. But also, I've kicked myself in the butt and gone back to school. Only taking one class, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.
Now for what I suppose my blog is mostly directed towards, what I'm watching.
I finished Galaxy Angel AA, which means (I think), that I am completely caught up with all things Galaxy Angel except for Galaxy Angel Rune, which is difficult at best to find (even with Netflix).
That just leaves me with my on and off spurts with Kannagi and Minami-Ke ~ Okaeri on my computer (there are other things I have, yet I just never feel like watching them.)
As for physical dvds, I've been keeping up with Urusei Yatsura via netflix. 4 discs down, 46 left to go! I've also been watching Kodomo no Omocha or Kodacha in short. Back during the Twelve Days of Christmas on the Right Stuf, I decided to pick up the first two seasons. I had originally seen just the first 7 or 8 episodes, but it was quite a long time ago (back when I was originally watching Azumanga Daioh). So I've picked up the series again and can easily see why I liked it. It IS good, and Sana is definitely the "Excel" of yester-year. While Excel of Excel's Saga talks fast, and is faster than Sana most often, Sana certainly comes close at times, especially when she does her "singing" bit in each episode.
Overall, Minami-Ke ~ Okaeri is probably my top favorite at the moment. The series is just as hilarious and entertaining as its two previous seasons, if not more so. With the characters so well defined at this point, you almost expect traditional reactions from each and you can almost guess how they will react for each situation. I love how there are two gender-bending characters (Tōma, who is female but dresses & acts male while at the Minami household, and Makoto(male)/Mako-chan(female) who is male but dresses & acts female while at the Minami household) who really give the series a hilarious twist. Not everybody knows their real genders, which provides great situations. My Minami-Ke screenshot of the moment, Haruka, the normally calm, quiet and sweet eldest sister proceeds to use, as Tōma calls it, "Haruka's Killer Technique" against her younger sisters because they decided to fight while everybody was eating dinner. Bad move on their part, they got skull crushed for their troubles. Funny, funny and more funny.
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| The cold eminates from the outside, not from within... |
[24 Jan 2009|02:28am] |
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Despite my consistent attempts to motivate myself to post on here, one thing or another usually steps in the way and prevents me from doing so. Whether it be my own general laziness, sleep, my xbox 360 or work.
One thing that I am getting better at through is watching anime. My complete avoidance of it has been cured and I have a tendency to at least watch something 3 to 4 nights a week. Which is up from maybe once at least.
What's on my watch list lately?
Hyakko
Kannagi
Minami-Ke ~ Okairi
Galaxy Angels AA
Urusei Yatsura
Yes, Urusei Yatsura as in the series that is over 23 years old and is one of Rumiko Takahashi's first tv series. I have it through Netflix and while it isn't as great as Ranma 1/2 it's still definitely good.
Going back to the first title on that list though, Hyakko, I actually just finished a few nights ago. And while at the beginning I was uncertain of watching the series, by the middle of it, I was quite certain it was definitely worth watching. The problem I have though? It ends terribly. I was quite disappointed by the last two episodes. Also, I dislike how the series couldn't seem to make up its mind as to who the primary character is/was. While it had a general setup like Azumanga Daioh in that it follows all the characters around, it seemed to focus more and more on Torako at the end. I won't deny that the series does have its funny points, even up until the end. The best part of episode 13 was when Torako joked to Suzu about how they were so close she might as well give Suzu her first kiss. Which Suzu promptly took without asking. Hilarious.
Also, I just finished (as in like 20 minutes ago) Kannagi episode 10 which was the Karaoke episode. A few notable moments from it.
In a moment of shear laughter that had me laughing so hard I was actually afraid the neighbors downstairs would call the cops on me (thankfully they didn't, and since we weren't playing a board game at the time, I doubt would happen). One of the funniest crossovers/references that I have seen in a looong time.
When Takako took the "stage", while it was expected she would sing a song from an anime series (a series that exists only from within the series) it was not expected for her to take it to the level she did. Since she is a closet Otaku (only in her mind), it was surprising to see she even had the dance memorized.
Tsugumi consistantly tried to get Jin's attention all episode, and he unwittingly spurned her every advance. One attempt was to get him to sing a duet with her. She made her first offer for it before his first song, which he rejected because he knew he would stink and didn't want to embarass her. The second time, he turned and immediately told Daitetsu that they should sing a duet. Tsugumi's face was priceless.
Well, it's 3 am and I've got to work at 11 am, so I shall head to bed. See you another time!
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| Recovery... |
[02 Dec 2008|02:11am] |
Hey there, fancy meeting you in a place like this... One could easily assume that this blog is dead and therefore no longer worth checking upon. And perhaps it is dead, only taking a very, very long time to go through it's finally death throes.... Seeing as, well you know, I only update once every few months....
So, what's been up with me? I suppose I could state that one of the reasons I've been quiet recently is that I've been recovering from surgery. I had an operation on my nose (yes, technically you could state that I had a nose job) which was to remove a portion of bone that had malformed when I was being born (as my body was developing it jutted out within my nose and prevented me from breathing at 100% throughout my life. Has the surgery improved my sense of smell, lung capacity and helped with my allergies? I dunno in all reality. When I can breath clearly (I'm still congested like always because of allergies) I do notice a difference, but that's only on the rare occasion that I can breath clearly. On the other hand, one could easily argue that since the surgery took place at the end of October and seeing as this is December, I can't really STILL be recovering... and technically I'm not (although my nose is still sensitive at times). So is it a lame excuse, yea you could say that. But I'm gonna use it. Don't judge me.
I've slowly begun rebuilding my interest in anime, which had been one of my biggest issues in the most recent months. I just never felt like watching anything, and on top of that, when I did feel like it, I didn't wanna sit in front of my computer and watch something while sitting in my office chair. In my last post, I went in to what I was doing to alleviate that issue. Primarily the fact that I have a tv that I can link my computer to and use it as a second monitor to provide me with a softer and more comfortable location (my bed) to watch things from. This has definitely improved my watching quota and I've actually successfully finished a series recently, which I will get to later.
With my interest in anime slowly being rebooted, I've been trying to actually sit down at least once a week before I go bed and watch anime for about 2 hours to 3 hours. You could argue that since I actually have been watching things, I should have material to place on here. But you see, there are two major flaws with that method of thinking. Firstly, I'm essentially in bed and it's usually 2 am when I finish and therefore I'm too comfy to get up, out of my warm soft bed and sit in front of my computer and blog for an hour (kinda like I'm doing now, except this is unusual.) Secondly, I'm essentially in bed and it's usually 2 am when I finish and therefore I'm too comfy to get up, out of my warm soft bed and sit in front of my computer and blog for an hour (kinda like I'm doing now, except this is unusual.)
You could clearly state that I should have only said one flaw, seeing as I just stated the same thing twice, but I figured it was such a major flaw, that it needed to be mentioned twice.
So anyways, what have I been watching? Well, let me divulge.
Kannagi ~ It's like Aa! Megami-sama, except without Keiichi, Belldandy, Urd, Skuld or any Fujishima influence. Yet even without all of that, it still seems to have its own appeal. It's got some nice character designs, and with some nice VA work, it draws me in.
Hyakko ~ For a show that seems to be a mirror's reflection of Azumanga Diaoh and Hidamari Sketch, it has a way of keeping me watching. The characters are unique enough, except for "Ayumi" who seems to be a carbon copy of "Yuno" from Hidamari Sketch except just not quite the same punch line. Her redeeming factor would happen to be she is voiced by Hirano Aya, which grants her some immunity from obscurity in the series. My favorite character would happen to be "Suzu" as she is known. Her seiyuu is Yurika Ochiai, of whom I have never really heard much of. In fact, Suzu rarely talks. But when she does, it usually involves a rather funny gag. To be honest, I would think that because she talks so rarely, that just the fact that she IS talking is a gag. Her character design is like "Setsuna" from Negima except without the magic, kendo, or for that matter much else. She does apparently have a thing for adult underwear, primarily female panties, because (apparently) she still wears animal imprint panties, and therefore finds "adult" underwear fascinating.
Slayer's Revolution ~ I actually managed to finish this recently. Granted, the second half hasn't been released yet, but I have finished the first half. Made me pretty happy. Typical Slayer's ending battle. Lina kicks butt, Goury helps, Amelia and Zel do some damage and good prevails.
Lucky Star OVA ~ I also finished this, although seeing as it was only one episode, it wasn't really difficult. Also, seeing as I love the series, it wasn't like I was twisting my arm to watch it. Some of it was only decent, although a few of the mini-episodes during the series were hilarious. Primarily the Cinderella parody. What Konata make's Kagami say out loud made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. The fact that Kagami, only after saying it out loud, realized it was a dream was what made it even better. Then, with the cream on the top, Tsukasa just happened to be sitting in the room and heard everything. Her face was hilarious.
That is the extent of what I've been watching. But with Slayers being done, I will probably pick up where I left off with Bamboo Blade or something of that extent.
It's 2:58 am and I have to work in about 11 hours, so I will just go to sleep now and hopefully wake up within 9 hours.
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| I need to stop doing this, don't I? |
[19 Sep 2008|02:32am] |
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I seem to be rather consistently inconsistent. I make a triumphant return to my blog, yelling from the top of my soap box that I'm fine and am just on the verge of returning on a regular basis. Yet what happens? I disappear for a number of weeks (or months in this case). I've stated before that one of the biggest reasons I never seem to blog anymore is the fact that I work late shifts and thus, when I return home, the last thing I feel like doing is watching something and then proceeding to do "work" with it. Another reason recently has been the fact that I am more often than not in the living room, not in my room, and therefore I don't really wanna stop watching or playing what I'm playing just to come into my room and sit in front of my computer. So I changed things up and began to convert the episodes so I could stream them to my xbox 360. That helped, for a little bit. Then I began to discover that most of the shows I wanted to watch, were usually file types that couldn't convert, that and I have lost the last of the people who were willing to watch anime with me. Most of them have gone off to other places or no longer have the same driving interest as I do. There is only one other person that might be interested, but unfortunately when he does come other, we watch other stuff with my roommate (who is very dis-interested in anime.)
I also mentioned in my last blog that I had sort of burned myself out from power watching some various shows. Thankfully, this, being one of my biggest hurdles, seems to be finally passing.
So I kinda sorta, although not directly intentional, ended up clearing one of the other hurdles that seemed to be keeping me back. For the past few months, I've been flip flopping as to whether or not I wanted to acquire a new television for my room. The television I was using is probably about 15 years old, but it still worked relatively great. The only two big problems were that it did not have any cable ports for anything, all you could do was go through the cable port. Not a good thing to do since the last system to use something like that was... um... the N64? That, and in the years past when the tv was the primary tv in my parents basement, the remote was lost to the ages. It still could be controlled easily, since it had a built in remote on the actual television set, but it was rather inconvenient to have to switch out the cable cords (if I had my 360 hooked up to it) and then when I wanted to change a channel, I had to get up and go to the tv and manually do it.
So finally, in August I decided now was the time to pounce and I acquired a very nice Samsung 32" LCD. Despite the fact that my old tv was 28", this new one took up less room, which is also a great thing.
So, why am I talking about this new tv and how exactly does it fix one of my hurdles? Well, seeing as my computer is maybe 10 feet away from this new, high tech High def tv, I realized I could get a cable to link the two and I could use the tv as another desktop. In the end, it didn't quite work out that way, but I can transfer my desktop to the tv and use it like a monitor. This fixes my issue with sitting in front of my computer in my office chair and watching something. I can now lay down more comfortably on my bed, stretch out and relax while I watch something.
Also, I decided to pick up and start trying to catch up with a sequel/continuation to a series from a little bit ago that I had heard was "more of the same". Oddly enough, this series that I enjoy a great deal, has helped rejuvenate me to an extent that I am more open to watching things. Yet the series that it actually is is rather surprising. Who would have thought that Hidamari Sketch x365 would have brought me back from my months long slump. I had forgotten how much I loved the original series, and I do remember that I attempted to watch the first episode about a month ago and immediately shut it off because after the opening sequence, I was afraid that it was a retelling of the story, and not a sequel like I had originally thought. Thankfully I read some place, I think it was at Jeff's Hop Step Jump!, that the series was more of a gap filler and takes place during and after the first series just filling in more gaps and basically saying that the first series was big events, the second is what happened between that, like every day stuff.
Oddly enough though, I am not here because of Hidamari Sketch x365, nor am I going to be posting images. It's 3 am at this point, and I'd rather not spend another hour just fiddling with that. So I'll spend a little more time just talking about why I'm really here.
( /takes deep breath )
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| Another day, another Revolution... |
[14 Jul 2008|12:59am] |
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Well, after yet another hiatus that was not particularly intended, I'm back. My anime drought was much more serious than I expected, and I can say that part of the reason is that I watched the second to last episode of Aria the Origination and I am afraid to watch the last episode. Not due to a possible disappointment or anything of that sort, but primarily because it is the last episode. I don't want it to end and so I'm trying not to let it.
I've just arrived home this very day from a weekend long trip to a wedding that I was participating in, as a groomsman no less, and seeing as I had Sunday off, I caught up a little with my games and decided to go to bed early. By early I really meant, browsing Itunes for a bit, then deciding to watch something. So I thought, "Hey, let's watch the last episode of Aria." Then I thought about it and said, "I don't wanna go to bed depressed tonight, so I'll try something else to try and jump-start my interest in anime and see if I can't revitalize myself." (Random question: Is there a Viagra for anime? I figured I might as well just throw that question out there... maybe they'll come up with it.)
So, I decided that since the first episode of the new Slayers series is out, I might as well give it a go, being that I am a die hard fan of the original series'. After the first episode, I love it and am definitely going to keep up with it. It's got all the flavor of the original, it tastes just as funny and is paced exactly the same (but has far fewer calories!) I can predict the developments about 1/2 of the time, but I LOVE that part of the series. The predictability of Lina and her gang. Of course, the original cast has all come back, although I haven't come across Xelloss, but I would assume he's back as well (seeing as he's in the opening credits and all). Megumi Hayashibara brings her usual energetic voice to the table and excels once again. Oddly enough, the one thing that I was expecting to happen, didn't really "happen" like I thought it would. I was expecting Lina to throw out a Dragon Slave spell, but she never got to, somebody else did. Of course, Lina wasn't pleased about being relegated to a back seat in the biggest and most famous scene from the original series'
Since I'm rather tired from the drive home, and the fact that I sort of, kinda, mostly had to sleep on the floor in the hotel (and deal with 6 drunken friends at said hotel), I'm gonna cut it short and just post the screens and comments.
( The Infamous Lina Inverse! )
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