December 14th to Christmas Day (the 25th).
Twelve moments in anime, one a day.
Let’s join in a display of enthusiasm and spirit~

…Those moments that stick with you, through your troubled times and your happy times, that really make that passion within you burn…

Now let’s begin.

While CCY decided to put down the infamous Clannad locker scene for his first moment, I decided to stick to something that had a much more personal impact.

Yuno and the gang (minus Hiro) go exploring their school’s tunnels and paths less traveled. This was particularly nostalgic for me because of my days spent in university. For those who don’t know, I am a Mathie from the University of Waterloo. And in Waterloo, pretty much all the buildings are connected via some sort tunnel/overhead bridge. You can pretty much get around the whole campus without going outside.

Long story short, I spent 4 years exploring my university, and even during my last week as a student I was discovering new things (some strange tunnel connecting the math and chemistry? buildings via an underground tunnel that was painted black with NEON SPRIALS. I nicknamed it the ‘psychedelic tunnel‘) Exploring tunnels and other odd palces around campus at the wee hours of the morning with friends. Not something we did too often, but often memorable.

It is stuff like this, that makes Hidamari Sketch (x365 inclusive) better than what most people give it credit for (and OH GOD YOSHIYONA!).

ps. Campus map – you can see all the overhead links on the map. Sadly, all the underground tunnels are not shown.

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… -_-)

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.