I spent 2 hours on Walfas.org’s Create a Touhou Character flash. Hes got some interesting things on his blog (including daily flash!)
[+Cokematic] is panther moe?
[+Cokematic] and i should play Touhou one day…
[Zeroblade-] not sure about the first, but yes, play touhou

First of all, some quick thoughts on some many Fall shows -

Below Expectiations:
Hyakko – The art just bugs me, and the Yuno-ish lead is depressing to watch. And plus if I wanted to watch a show with Yuno as the lead, I should finish Hidamari Sketch x365 first. (score: F for art and humor fail).
Shikabanehime Aka – This ones a toss up. You must remember, just cause a show is blow my expectation doesn’t mean it sucks (except for Kameko DX). Maybe I expected too much, being the Gainax fanboy that I am. I totally forgot my favourite Gainax works were all original works. Either way, I was expecting alot more action, and some actual storyline. I’m not getting alot of either in the first three episodes (score: D for double Uzis)
Kameko DX – I couldn’t even sit through the first episode (score: F for fuck I can’t watch this shit)
Yozakura Quartet – Nothing really interests me except for Hime. It’s still a so-so show but I’d rather watch Soul Eater. (score: E, not for excellent, that’s for sure)
Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka – Kugu Rei in a non-tsundere loli role? The story is started to pick up in episode 2 only to fall flat on its ass in episode 3. Plus you can still hear bits of her tsundere loli voice in ep 3 already. (score: C for could be better, but not bad)
Mouryou no Hako – mindfucked. (score: E for ‘efffffing hell is this shit?)

Just as Keikaku:
Sequels like Clannad ~After Story~, and Gundam 00 Season 2 pretty much left off wherever they stopped last fall (score: A for both).
Michiko to Hatchin – for me, the animation feels like there’s some Disney styled animation mixed in there. Its not a bad thing… actually quite interesting. Plot wise, its ok so far. I do want to stab Hana’s parents in the face though. (score: n/a)
Toradora - TAIGA ROLLLLLLLLLLL! (score: B for BANIRA SORUTO de)
Chaos;Head - Very nice animation, great story, lots of coke and a male lead that could give Shinji a run for his money. Great stuff, just as I expected. (score: A- for.. argh I’m tired of trying to come up with no-so-funny comments)
Kannagi - Imageboards are totally flooded with Nagi drawings, I don’t really understand why. Good solid show. (score: B-)

Beyond expectations/FABULOUS!
Tales of the Abyss – Yeah definitely one of the better rpg to anime adaptations I’ve seen in the past few years. Bump of Chicken’s Karma is also a plus. And while some people (I forgot whos blog I was reading) thinks its cute (wtf) I think Ion’s lisp is annoying as hell. Or maybe I’m just bitter that he’s a trap. (score: B)
Gai-Rei Zero – “WTF” and in a good way. (score: A+)
Toaru Majutsu no Index – Loli nun, and loli alchoholic smoker. Mikoto is fine too (I thought the scene where she brushes her hair with her hand and lightning comes out was absolutely awesome). (score: A)

*****

So I woke up today to the sounds of MSN message spammage at around 9am. Apparently I was supposed to be playing MGS4 online with a friend. By the time I got everything downloaded and set up it was 10 something, and we played for a few hours. Very reminiscent of my days spent playing CS (apparently still a topseller on Steam? wtf) I was expecting my copy of Star Ocean – First Encounter to arrive today, but it didn’t so I’m kinda disappointed about that :/ I did finish FF VII – Crisis Core last week (finally!). I think Ritchan beat it in like less than 2 weeks, while I’ve had mine since… umm May I think. The game is just ok, definitely overhyped. I just spent a few minutes playing with materia fusion to get some spell that also adds 80% HP. After that, its just spam X for the win. I basically knew the whole storyline before I started playing, but the game was still kinda fun. And as usual, SQEENIX fanboyiism for the lovely cg cutscenes.

Recently, I’ve been wanting an Xbox360 more and more, so I can play Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4 next year. I swear, if SO4 is Xbox exclusive, Microsoft will of finally won me over. While, we’re on the topic of consoles, has anyone seen this godly modded PS3 yet? (at the time of writing this post, it is going for $17,000 USD)

I ended up trying out Mcdonald’s new Double Wasabi Fillet o Fish:

And even got some fish sticks too. It tastes better than it sounds (the fillet o fish that is)… I swear

EDIT 2:

[00:50] <+Cokematic> OH MY FUCKING …
[00:50] <+Cokematic> i know why i didnt get my Star Ocean First Enouncter Today
[00:51] <+Cokematic> fuck
[00:51] <+Cokematic> whoever ordered it put the wrong addressssssssssssssssssssssssssss
[00:51] <+Cokematic> FFFFFFFFFFF
[00:51] <@Alkenshel> GJ Coke
[00:51] <@Alkenshel> SOMEONE HAS A FREE STAR OCEAN NAO
[00:52] <@Alkenshel> GJ WHOEVER THAT FAGGOT WAS
[00:52] <+Cokematic> i obviously did not order/pay for it
/RAEG

Well it’s like 1am. Nothing I can do about it till I wake up tomorrow. Not too worried about not getting my game. It seems like noone was home at this wrong address (thus why I got a voicemail about it… unfortunately my cellphone was out of batteries most of the day and I didn’t find out until 15 minutes ago… -_-)

This is not just a graph of AIG’s stock price.

Along with Macross F, Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was a show I did not plan on picking up until a a few weeks after it aired. To be honest, it started with quite a bang, but lost its charm quickly as there was nothing that really stood out in this show (except for maybe Haruka and possibly Mikan). Did Haruka carry the show through its 12 episode run?? Ratings after the jump!

Meido (MDO) shares have outperformed loli (LOL) shares so far in 2008

Overall: (5/10)
Story: 4/10)
Art:  (5/10)
Characters: (6/10)
Enjoyment: (5/10)

Haruka gets very average ratings for a very average show. If it wasn’t for the more impressive first 3 episodes I probably would not of stuck with it. And is it just me, or did anyone else get Happy Lesson / Comic Party vibes from this show?? I’m not even sure WHY orz

Story:
The premise is that Haruka is a super cute, intelligent and rich highschool girl who loves anime, but must do so in secret due to her father and the rest of society being strongly opposed to this kind of hobby. Yuto happens to find out and it becomes a secret that they share. This was somewhat dropped after the first few episodes, while some “suspense” and “conflict” was presented.

The conflicts were predictable, and it was as suspenseful as watching milk go sour. It seems like the show kinda lost its way, and I’m not sure if this happens in the light novel, but honestly I’d rather they make not so vague references to other anime and seiryuu instead of that sad excuse for a story. Yeah, I wasn’t really expecting some epic writing but what I got was worst. It gets a 4 instead of the original 3 I was going to give it, only because some parts did make me laugh.

You might point out that “it was only 12 episodes, what could you expect them to do with it?” I honestly don’t know. But it just felt it could of been better. How? I don’t really have the answer to that.

Art:
Nothing really stands out, but nothing really to complain about. The OP was also, quite plain (oh except for the Photoshop opening… and I’m still looking for a desktop wallpaper of Haruka in this outfit and pose >.<)

Characters:
It seems like not matter what show it is, Haruka is always amazing. I must admit that Mamika Noto (Shana’s Hecate, ZnT’s Tiffania, Sola’s Matsuri, etc..) as Haruka’s VA caught me totally offguard. But maybe I got used to it, since it really wasn’t a problem for me beyond the first episode. As for the others, most other characters were bland, but I did enjoy Haruka’s dad over the top GAR and the mafia-leader-like mom. Mikan get honorable mention for being one of the sluttiest lolis in recent memory (possibly beating out Pantsu Witches but still behind Kanokrap).

Sorry Shin, I don’t care how much you like her. Mikan is a lolislut!

Enjoyment:
See graph at the top
Honestly, I had enjoyed the first four or five episodes before it started to landslide.

I was dragged in by all the hype Haruka was getting at the beginning of the season and although I wouldn’t call the show a failure, let’s just say not even Haruka in a fabulous two piece could save the show:

I think CCY put it nicely when he said (with a minor correction by me >.>):

Is Haruka’s Secret still a good show? For the most part, yes. It is above average, the first ninefive-odd episodes for sure. Either way it’s still good cotton candy, but you get the feeling it could have been more than that.

It had the characters, the songs, the potential to bring something memorable out of a weary genre.

Overall: (8/10)
Story: (6/10)
Art:  (7/10)
Character: (8/10)
Enjoyment:(8/10)

Story:
Sorry, love triangles that don’t resolved sucks. And penalty for lack of character development (I mean how many times have we heard Ranka say “I won’t lose” to Sheryl??). There were also some pacing issues too, I mean I didn’t really buy the explanation in the last episode, but I was bought over with lots of flashing lights and explosions.

Art:
If not for the somewhat inconsistent standards in the second half of the series, I would probably given this a 9. Oh, and -1 for not enough tentacles on Grace in the last ep :P Again, explosions and flashing lights won me over.

Character:
Well, we had a whole range of unforgettable characters (except for maybe Nanase). Ranka is, obviously, my favorite, followed closely by Klan. Michael was pretty cool too, until he failed and got sucked out into deep space. Oh and Alto wearing Sheryl’s earring ? no.

Enjoyment:
Definitely enjoyable. I think it had a very strong start and a strong ending (I watched the last episode 3 times -_-; so ’nuff said). All the tunes were catchy, though I don’t know why they didn’t get May’n to just do Sheryl’s talking voice as well?

Some random thoughts:

• If Sheryl’s Vajara disease was transmitted via bodily fluids, doesn’t it mean it can spread when she kisses Alto?
• Gayest earring a man can possibly wear. But then again Alto-hime pulls it off nicely.
• thanks #gg for the Zentradi (and freaking 700MB) subs -_-;
• Did they ever explain what organization Grace was working for? (or maybe it was just her and her other 2 friends… whoever those voices belonged to in the recap episode)
• Alto FAILS for not choosing Ranka (plus whats with these corny lines?? “You’re both my wings??” “Charge! Love Heart!!!” … oh well)

Andohbytheway all my screencaps are blank… dunno why. Plus I’m lazy. So no pictures :P

ps. looks like Kabitzin agrees with me (except for the Ranka hating part) … or should I say I agree with him.. though I had this written 2 days ago… was just waiting for the screenshots that never came :(

Minami-ke / Minami-ke Okawari

I was a big fan of Minami-Ke in the Fall season and so Okawari was a must watch for me. The two seasons were kinda related (as they had gags from season 1 continuing in season two) although I guess it IS possible to watch Okawari first. Its kinda strange having a different studio pick up half way through (Doumu did Minami-ke and Asread did Okawari)… I kinda bunched them together, but I’ll give them separate ratings. First on Minami-ke. Good animation by Doumu… it had some stuff I really liked… like the tear-drop shaped mouths, bible-black eyes, Chiaki’s adhoge. The cast was amazing, I mean the three sisters were pretty much just the standard brainiac/beauty (closet banchou!), the troublemaker (closet control freak) and the tsun tsun. But put them all in the same house and it just works! But the most surprising is the amazing supporting cast! We got the always-confused Fujioka, the fantasizing Hosaka (who likes to strip himself down), the really confused Touma and her brothers (this whole family was introduced waaayyy too late), the broken Mako-cakes, Maki, Uchida and the list goes on and on. Just an amazing bunch of characters that have real dynamic and dispite the large cast, each character has a role to play (unlike say… in Gundam where we have Saji who does NOTHING, Louise that does NOTHING, Maria something Ishmail who does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and this list also goes on and on).

Okawari just continued off where the first season stopped. The strange thing is that it was animated by a different studio, Asread. At first I was skeptical about Okawari, I was used to Doumu’s character designs … and Asread had everyone with different hair colors (like Kana going from a brunette to a redhead) and omg Fujioka looks like he got 4 years older ~_~. Overall I’d have to say I liked Doumu’s version more then Asread’s, not only because I saw it first and thus I was more used to the art style, but season 1 also featured more Hosaka fantasies and bible black eyes. To make up for it, Mako-cakes had lots … and mean LOTS of love from Asread (maybe TOO much)… However, much to my surprise, Asread ended Okawari very nicely with a very appropriate Hosaka moment… Actually Minami-ke also ended with a Hosaka moment too, but not as funny. Funniest moments: WAAAAYYY too many.
Minami-ke
Minami-ke Okawari

And ohbytheway, I want an I AM BOSS t-shirt… D=

CLANNAD

I had really high expectations for this show (any show Kyo Ani choses to do instead of a second season of Haruhi already gets super high expectations from me D=). I don’t know if it’s as good as I expected… on one hand I’m no fan of these Key games turned anime, on the other, I was expecting the next Suzumiya Haruhi (which is totally ridiculous for me to expect…but still). So mixed feelings here. Fuuko arc, although kinda long, was hilarious and probably my favorite. My least favorite? The Kotomi arc. The good thing is that she was reduced to a mere side character after her arc =) The random Fuuko appearances were actually kinda annoying (though I heard that’s actually what happens in the game ~_~; so… meh). And the Nagisa ending was probably not what I would of liked… but exactly what I expected. Needs more Tomoyo and Kyou. No seriously. Overall, Clannad was very enjoyable though it did kinda drop off a bit in the middle (I blame Kotomi >.<). And what ever happened to the electrician they meet early on (during Fuuko’s arc I think)? They kinda sapend some time to introduce him and we never see him again? Well apparently he’s suppsoed to be Fuuko’s sister’s fiancee ~_~; Funniest moment : too many to choose from, but “Lets wear matching boxers and run down the road to school” is up there along with those Fuuko hallucinations, and the straw up the nose act. Needs more Tomoyo. Needs more Kyou.

eww Nagisa ending. I’d of gone with Tomoyo or Kyou =/

Dozo! have a starfish!

Shakugan no Shana II

I had just watched the first season a few weeks before the second season started airing and so I was expecting something good off the bat since the end of season 1 left me with a pretty good impression. LOL how wrong was I. We get about 6 eps of weak harem-comedy and a few episodes of Shana no Yuutsu. High quality stuff, as expected from J.C. Staff kept me watching though and it did pick up midway thru. Caramel & Shana vs Sabrac was a great fight (though don’t put too much thought into why Yuuji can figure out his weakness in mere minutes while Caramel and Pheles hasn’t figured it out after how many years?). The last battle was somewhat … bleh.. they didn’t even try to explain why Hecate stopped ~_~; At least Yuuji finally made a choice (this gets +1 just because of that). Funniest moment was when Shana asked where babies came from. Yes yes.. its a old joke.. but given the circumstances.. it was quite funny.

Bamboo Blade

Like Square Enix’s Nagasarete Ariantou, Bomboo Blade was just mediocre, but at least it was different. I wasn’t going to watch this originally, but boredom got the best of me. Bi-polar bitch MiyaMyia and acorn man Dan-kun duo were definitely my favorites of the series. Nothing especially good stands out, but nothing really bad to complain about either. Funniest moment: the American woman and Dan-kun with their Engrish. Yeah, I know it’s not supposed to be funny -_-; Bambloo Blade gets an average score for being so average.

Bi-polar Miya Miya FTW! Rin is also cool tho.

Spice and Wolf

Anime and a wolf goddess, Horo, and a merchant name Lawrence. Had potential… I mean a quasi-fantasy anime about economics, trade, and peddling… high production values… and well animated. I had high expectations and Spice and Wolf just didn’t deliver. The story is somewhat confusing (lol its not a good thing when an anime about peddling is confusing) and weak at times. And at the end of the 12 episodes (well 11 episodes since episode 7 is a DVD special what doesn’t have to do with the main plot), we are pretty much left off in the same place we find ourselves back in episode 3 or 4. At least Horo and Lawrence had good chemistry.

KimiKiss ~ Pure Rogue

I bet she watched Kimikess

After the first two episodes I had a pretty good feeling about this and like Spice and Wolf, it really disappointed me. Sure we get a cute caste of harem, and it isn;t really the typical harem set-up as we have 3 male main/side characters. Oh course my favorite male character, Akira, got no lovin’ from JC Staff. What pissed me off the most was not how Yuumi got the short end of the stick, but it was how an episode would end with something amazing then it would get completely ignored, it like it never happened the very next episode. It got to a point where I had to stop watching for a few weeks only to marathon it at the end. Btw, its really incestuous when you say “I love you Mao-nessan” ~_~; Oh and the whole frog doll thing? I wanna strangle them… ~_~; Kimi-Kiss’ saving grace is the half decent animation,tsun tsun Erika and super shy Yuumi. KimiKiss is diet coke level stuff >.<

Kimi-Kiss ~ Pure Crap also wins the facepalm 2007 award

So one day, like most, I was on Jason’s blog and happened to stumble across something called Hidamari Sketch. Although I’ve heard of it, I never really knew, nor did I bother finding out what it was about. But things look so different when you only other alternative is studying. So needing a break from studying, I glanced over a few brief summaries I though to myself “Hrmmm.. seems like my kinds of anime!” And so my Hidamari marathon began…

Hidamari Sketch is a slice of life anime (produced by Shaft!) about 4 students who go to this art school. They all live in a “dorm” (not so much a dorm than it is a student housing) across the street from the school. There is no real plot and no real climax, its about how the 4 friends interact. Kinda like Honey and Clover minus the serious business (Did I mention that Honey and Clover is one of my favorites?). The animetion style is… very Shaft-like different. Sometimes it’d be a normal anime, sometimes super chibi. They also mix in still shots with the anime which was annoying at first… but I got used to it. Although, It may seem boring but they depicted a student’s life (well at least my life when I was a first year student) very well. It really reminded me of my first year of university where my friends and I would eat together, have fun with the most random things, play pranks, poke fun of each other, help each other, and just spend lots of time doing nothing in particular. Of course if I were to describe my last year or two as a student, it would be closer to Honey and Clover where most of my time went towards planning and worrying about the future but freshman year was much more fun!

SHAFT = Not your every-day animation.

Aside from all the nostalgia, the quirks of the show also made it highly enjoyable:

• An enjoyable cast:
  • Yuno, first year student. Very normal.
  • Miyako, first year student. Energetic, loves to eat, loves to poke fun at Hiro and Sae
  • Hiro, upper year student. Sae’s lover, takes care of everyone, HAS COOL HAIR, always on a diet that never works out
  • Sae, upper year student. Likes HARD YURI, intelligent, writes books for a living
  • Yoshinoya-sensei. The world needs moar of her!
  • Phallic shaped headed principal.
• Episodes are not in chronological order. Keeps things interesting ;)
• Random stuff
  • Mailboxes usually change colours between episodes.. sometimes in between scenes as well. I don’t really understand it.
  • In the same scene, if the camera zooms in on someone then zooms back out, things are sometimes different. ie : things go missing after zooming out.
  • Objects will disappear right before your eyes. Not important things… but like a prop such as a doll lying on the floor will just slowly fade and disappear while someone is talking.

In the end I realize that probably only fans of SOL (slice-of-life) genre will enjoy this slow yet entertaining 12 episode anime. I have to admit that while watching I found it kinda boring at times but after finishing each episode, I would think to myself “Ahh I remember when something like that happened to me” or “Wow I did that too“. After finishing Hidamari, I ache to go back 4 years and start university all over again, not so that I could do something different. No, if I had a chance to go back in time like that …. I would of spent even more time doing absolutely nothing :)

I loved Hidamari Sketch, and although it wasn’t the most exciting, it did what it had to do and deserves “The Perfect Slice” title.

I can easily say that I was not a big fan of KyoAni/Key’s 2 previous game-turned-anime attempts. It really annoyed me how their mouths were always so close to their noses! Yet I had to see what all the hype surrounding Clannad was about (that and I needed a rebound anime after Gurren Lagann).

The OP was just amazing … the art was amazing … Clannad was amazing. And since I’ve never played the game and I don’t know what the story is even about, it is probably harder to disappoint me. For someone who didn’t actually care that much for Clannad to begin with, the first episode kept me interested … at least for now =)

Key points:

• (+) Their mouths are ok =D
• (+) Storyline was pretty fast paced … well faster than I expected…
• (+) Animation was nice! Damn the aspect ratio =(
• (-) Some of the transitions are kinda choppy… and it reminded me of a MS Powerpoint presentation at times >.<
• ( ) The end was slightly strange… not necessarily a bad thing and I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it!

Oh and “Okazaki Ginga” made me chuckle.

When I first started watching Gurren Lagann I never expected that I would be so into it! I didn’t even start watching until after episode 6 aired. That being said… this has to be one of my favourites this year. Maybe I just have a thing for GAINAX mecha shows… I mean look at FLCL. I loved it. Mahoromatic (well its not really mecha… )? Not bad. Evangelion? Yes I quite enjoyed that too (although I watched it in Cantonese, so I sat there for 20 minutes doing nothing but being bored during the last episode since I can’t read Chinese).

So what makes Gurren Lagann such a good series? Why did I come home every Monday night, throw off my shoes and check forthe latest Gurren Lagann release? Why was I totally hyped?

Well it got me hooked, fast. I remember being bored one day and after reading good reviews about it on various blogs, I decided to take a look. Before long, I was downloading the other 5 episodes… Aside from the loveable cast and the top notch animation, the story was one emotional roller coaster. It moved along quickly and we don’t see them standing there for 3 episodes doing nothing unlike this other anime that I watch. There were parts that were hilarious (if you haven’t see the DVD version of episode 6, you’re missing out), parts that made me almost want to cry, parts that got me so pumped up I felt like I could do anything, and parts that were so action packed it makes John McClane look like a wuss.

The anime just grew spiraled out into the total win that is Gurren lagann. The cast started with a small number of people, Simon, Kamina, Yoko and Leron. By the end of the series, we have over 20 main and sub characters including Rossiu, Nia, Viral, Lord Genome, Gimmy and of course who could forget Darry =) The story itself spiraled too! From drilling holes underground, to blowing up Lord Genome half way though the series, and ending off with fighting the Anti-spirals by using galaxies as ninja stars and making super big bangs. The final episode cannot be described by mere words or screenshots, its a “must see”.

My only complaints?

Yoko got a sex change.

and Nia dies =(

Quick Ep 27 screenshot recap

Special notes:
Lord Genome dies again
They fight using galaxies!
Simon becomes a hobo (although I can see many reasons why he would wander the earth like a hobo carrying a cool but probably useless spiral staff).
Simon, Rossiu and Yoko become ugly men
Leeron doesnt age? O_o

Thanks Gainax for the great series