Mistakes of Youth: The Blog (Powered by EXCELLENCE!)

No, I have not seen Death Note episode 20 raw. I feel watching Death Note raw would be futile, as I wouldn’t understand a thing. They talk too much. However, someone did direct my attention to the new opening, which is truly something. The first thing that came to my mind was NHK’s first ending, but this really gives NHK’s ending a run for its money when it comes to sheer visceral energy. The song doesn’t even flow, it’s just random cuts of silly noise matched to equally weird and crazy animation. The screencaps, while pretty, don’t do the animation justice at all. I suggest you hit up your local blogger and download an encode of the opening off of them.

Also, Aizawa says hi from 1973.

And it’d be criminal to forget this…

Goddammit, Death Note.

DIE IN A FIRE

After a couple of months, I finally popped in Manga’s re-release of the classic Lupin film “Castle of Cagliostro” into my DVD drive with high expectations. I figured their last release was bad enough, so they couldn’t possibly do anything worse to the film with this new release, right?

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After years of difficult fighting up on the eroge front, I’ve finally completed Really? Really! I played it continuously for a while, then the month long winter break at home destroyed my flow. After that, I played it on and off. School work (among other things) piled up and I just couldn’t get to it. Only now, after watching Kaede’s final summary episode in Shuffle! Memories did feel compelled to complete the quest (needed some happy Kaede to balance out crazy face-cutting Keade.) I can’t really say anything about it, because I understood a good 5%. The porn was good, I can tell you that!

Now to never touch it again until my Japanese comprehension improves or a translation patch surfaces! Well, actually, I’ll certainly revisit it for the H-scene viewer…

I swear to god there will be a comic next week…

This just in from http://www.asosbrigade.com

The latest video put up on the ASOS Brigade website revealed all the US release details for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu. For those who do not feel like watching the video, here is the rundown.

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I am so going to this. Expect an informal review, a comic, or maybe even a podcast to materialize as a result.

I updated the artsite with stuff. Check it out.

I was bored during my 3D Design class today (it was basically a class-long crit), so I decided to draw things. I drew things far more serious, and in some cases, sexier than this, but this is the only page you guys get to see, for now.

Yes, I do very much like Motsu.

I AM DOWNLOADING RENKIN 3-KYUU MAGICAL? POKAAN. ARE YOU HAPPY ABOUT THIS? ARE YOU? All the borderline loli porn you posted pushed me over the edge, and I just had to see this goddamn thing.

By the way… Lastarial is a smashing fellow. He runs a blog about railways, music and occasinally writes about animu. Check it out, will ya!

I shouldn’t like Nodame Cantabile. It is a show for women, and I am a manly (very manly, Char Aznable manly) man. Yet, I like it. Why?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not totally in love with this show, but I think it is rather good. Good enough to blog about. I think the only reason I even gave this show a chance in the first place was because of the Kenichi Kasai factor (perhaps you’ve heard of him. He did Honey and Clover THE FIRST.) I really liked what he did with season one of Honey and Clover. Each episode had good rhythm, and nothing ever felt boring. All the humour was well timed, and quite hilarious.

The studio, JCStaff, is also the same. Nodame Cantabile looks a lot like H&C, what with its watercolour backgrounds (which actually remind me more Karin, which isn’t surprising given some of the background artists are the same) and use of lighting. However, the show does not look as good as H&C. The animation is stiff. Often times the crew resorts to panning over stills of the characters playing their instruments, and it’s not uncommon for facial features too look somewhat skewed (especially in crowd scenes.) They do sometimes have 3D renderings of the instruments as they are being used, but this technique is kind of hit and miss.

What I like about this show is the main character, Chiaki. I can relate to him. Well, it’s not as if I’m good looking, or good at everything like he is, but I know his attitude well. He is kind of like Kyon except less clever and more of an asshole. I also like how he plays off Stresemann. To me, it seems that Stresemann is playing the part of the unconventional teacher that will teach Chiaki things “the hard way”, through experience. Either that or he really is as irresponsible and childish as he acts. Time will tell.

Nodame, the title character is actually the least interesting to me. While Ayako Kawasumi’s portrayal of her is quite cute and funny, I’m not seeing much past that. So far the story seems firmly focused on Chiaki, and Nodame is the comic relief. However, a lot can change over 23 episodes (according to ANN), and we’re only at episode 6.

Oh yeah, one thing. I still think the designs are bland.