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

Current
Casshern Sins: Great art direction but the writing is so boring. I’m pretty sure Casshern says JUST WHAT AM I in every fucking episode.
ChäoS;HEAd: It’s always super special! I like this one a lot.
Clannad ~After Story~: Hit and miss. Needs more Mei and/or baseball episodes.
ef - a tale of melodies: This is like a Shinbo show except not good.
Ga-Rei-ZERO: I mostly like it. Really dig the opening/ending tunes.
Golgo 13: ….
Jigoku Shoujo Mitsuganae: It’s like the writers on this show compete on who can write the crappiest episode.
Kannagi: Yamakan’s direction is great, and the production values are flawless, but the plot stuff lets it down.
Kemeko DX: Nice tits. Humour is hit or miss.
Kurogane no Linebarrels: This show is about man things like robots, tits and giant black men named JACK SMITH who cut airplanes in half.
Kyou no 5 no 2: I guess it’s fine but I still don’t know any of the character’s names.
Michiko to Hatchin: Uneven, but on the whole extremely well done.
Rosario + Vampire CAPU2: This show has moments of genius, actually. Moments of genius mixed with many moments of utter stupidity.
Shikabane Hime: Aka: This show is incredibly trashy, but it takes itself so seriously that I can’t help but take it seriously too. Gainax’s work also really helps it.
Tentai Senshi Sunred: Mostly funny. Some moments fall flat, but mostly funny.
To Aru Majutsu no Index: Pretty entertaining fluff after a string of terrible opening episodes. Let’s hope it stays this way!
Toradora!: I really like this, even though I can’t find a character to like. Taiga is almost cute, but she’s too violent.
Tytania: :V
Yozakura Quartet: This has a really shitty plot, but the direction is ok. Good voice acting, too.
Zettai Karen Children: Not as good as Hayate, but a thoroughly enjoyable year-long show.

Not Current
Windy Tales: Finishing this soon.

Reading
Hayate no Gotoku: Comic version is pretty good so far, but Kenjiro Hata is kind of a bad artist but works around his failings well.
Ikoku Meiro no Croisee: What? There’s only one volume so far? It’s been a year! Where’s volume two :(

I guess I’ll read more of the Tsukuyomi manga soon.

Ah, Nagi. This is why I love you. Ignore all those other weak otaku who like girls like Hinagiku. They’re not real men. They don’t understand. I understand. I understand randomly buying a giant boxset of a show you’ve never seen before. I’ve been there. We all have. Nagi, I understand.

I started on the Hayate manga last summer, but stopped because… I only had one volume. At Otakon roastbeefy hooked me up with two through five because he didn’t like the comic as much as the cartoon. I’m about three chapters deep in volume two, and I really like it. I’m getting the same amount of laughs that I got from the cartoon, and I mostly like Kenjirou Hata’s style. You can really see his Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei influence, which makes the comic look more arty than it actually should be, but it’s nice to look at. I do prefer how the anime handled the art, though.

From Zettai Karen Children episode 33:

They even had speaking roles this time! The only thing that’d make these cameos better is if the Hayate characters were drawn in Zettai Karen Children style.

But I wonder; with all these cameos in ZKC, will we be seeing a lot of ZKC cameos in the next season of Hayate? It’s probably very likely, especially considering Hayate is actually a parody show, whereas ZKC just pretends to be one at times.

Anyways, next episode preview.

What cute little outfits~

I can’t get over how adorable this picture is. What a great way to bring in the holidays!

Click on everything labeled new

If you follow my Pixiv account you would have seen me uploading these as they were completed. Of course, I censored them for Pixiv.

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I MEAN SERIOUSLY

Is she really popular enough to get ANOTHER daikimakura cover made of her with completely original art? This better mean another Nagi one with MORE SKIN SHOWING THAN THE LAST ONE is in the works, and if one isn’t I will literally kill Japan. With my hands. Which are giant.

All that said, I think the illustrations are hot, but I won’t buy it since Hina is pig disgusting.

18+ content ahead
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Nagi celebrates by taking off her clothes

Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Good ol’ cartoons
Code Geass 2: Best part of my week.
Golgo 13: ….
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: I’ve finally accepted the fact that this is not a comedy. It still works, but I like it less than I initially did.
Macross Frontier: Consistently entertaining. Though honestly, I just watch it for Ranka and space fights.
Telepathy Shoujo Ran: lol kids show. Like the psychedelic effects.
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann music videos: Entertaining little diversions.
To Love Ru: Wonderfully entertaining boobalicious fun.
Toshokan Sensou: Kind of badly written, but it’s a not-boring IG show.
Zettai Karen Children: It has faults, but it’s just too entertaining to not like.

Waiting for other things to start.

Manga
Read a bunch of stuff. Keroro Gunsou is great and I wish I read it 5 years ago and the Hayate manga is just the anime with more stylized art. Moving on to a vampire triple-play with Blood Alone, Karin and Tsukuyomi.

Shingo brought this to my attention via IRC, so I figured I’d bring it to the attention of my like-minded readers as well!

A Sanzenin Nagi figure is coming out in August, and it can be yours for the low, low price of ￥4,179! She stands at 100mm and is made from PVC and ABS. I’m ordering it right when it hits either HLJ or 1999.co.jp!

Nagi da zo~~

I tried to record the making of this one, but the recording program I got crapped out on the rendering and in the end put out some corrupt file I could neither play nor edit.

Best part is they use this image for June; my birthday month. It’s like they knew all my favourite characters???

New stuff here, here and here.

Despair

Hope

Slightly more affordable Hope

Not much now. Will update when new things have started.

Current
Chii’s Sweet Home: Three minutes of stuff.
Ghost Hound: I don’t really care about this one anymore. Almost over.
Hakaba Kitarou: Subs have slowed down. Still decent entertainment with above-average art direction.
Kaiji: HOLY SHIT TISSUE BOXES THIS SHIT IS WILD
They Are My Noble Masters: Bleh.

Finished/Almost Finished
Clannad: Rushed but acceptable ending. I hope this after-story thing won’t be too long… but I suppose having questions answered would be nice.
Dragonaut: One episode to go. As horrible as this show was, I don’t regret watching it, since it was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.
Hayate no Gotoku: I’d welcome 50 more episodes. Nagi~
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Yeah, I’m thinking asread didn’t get their Shuffle! budget for this one. Looks good, but moves awkwardly. Ending was fine.
Rosario + Vampire: One episode left. Decent for a crappy show.
Shakugan no Shana II: lol
Wolfy Spices: Well thank god that’s over!!
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Waiting for Strato to sub the rest, but finished it raw. Very difficult to understand raw ;__;

Reading
Shinigami no Ballad: Past the deadline for the review, so trying to finish this one up. Works better as a cartoon.

Reading some KnJ chapters when they surface, and just finished another wonderfully confusing volume of Trigun MAXIMUM. I still have volumes of GSG unread, am almost caught up on OTAKU USA issues and have lots of unread Macias books from Christmas.

Can anyone recommend me any manga series that aren’t adaptations/have been adapted into an anime that I may like? I kind of wanna be an elitist manga reader, hur. Extra points if it’s not shoujo and not over 10 volumes.

Original Post

Here is the Anime Boston con comic, which puts a lid on my Anime Boston 2008 coverage. Like last year, most of this stuff only really made sense in context, but whatever. I should also note these kinds of comics aren’t really what people said word-for-word– if you want that, listen to the podcasts. Expect a comic about noses next week.

Lots of stuff from the TAF, which actually took me by surprise for some reason. Unfortunately, I can’t be all too excited about much of it since I’m not all that pumped about this next season, even after seeing these trailers. I guess I’ll just bullet-point this stuff.

• The Golgo 13 trailer is good, but it has too many still images, which makes me worry for its budget.
• Crystal Blaze looked fine for the first minute, then in the last minute it took a nosedive– I’m afraid it’ll take itself seriously.
• DMC looks like it could be fun.
• Jigoku Shoujo is the same old thing, which means it should be moderately entertaining.
• Michiko to Hatchin is Manglobe’s new offering, and certainly looks more fun than Ergo Proxy. Approaching with some degree of caution, but I have high hopes for this one.
• I’m guessing this new Gurren Lagann footage is from the new music video project, and not from the new movie. Some of it looks quite interesting.
• I certainly hope the people in this video are cheering for something else going on in the hall, and not for Kanokon.

Reading that Ballad of a Shinigami novel that Seven Seas sent me. I’m about 1/3 of the way through, and should be done in a week or so. It’s a good light read, but doesn’t really have a distinct writing style that inspires me or anything. It’s not bad, but it kind of just makes me want to watch the anime again. Maybe I’m just not used to reading books that aren’t written by Patrick Macias.

So I guess Hayate is getting a second season, which is good news. It’s managed to keep my attention for 50 episodes, which is quite impressive. Let’s hope they don’t drop the ball with this next one!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s a wrap.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/…ime-second-season-leaked

TELL YOUR FRIENDS. TELL YOUR FAMILY.

Current
Clannad: Fine. Last arc killed two birds with one stone, I guess, so now we’re on to Nagisa.
Dragonaut: Yes, I’m still watching this, 21 episodes in. It’s so horrible, but it’s so bad it goes full circle and becomes good again.
Ghost Hound: Each episode is well done, but as a whole it leaves a lot to be desired.
Hakaba Kitarou: Carries itself on art direction, but is still enjoyably dark and mischievous. Makes me want a US release of the Gegege no Kitarou manga.
Hayate no Gotoku: Coming to a close. I wouldn’t mind a second season after something of a break. This last batch of episodes is pretty strong.
Kaiji: Working off shock value now. About six more episodes to go.
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Not really funny, but an enjoyable watch. Asread’s animation doesn’t seem as good this time around, but I don’t remember much of what Shuffle! looked like past that one Memories episode I skimmed through for screencaps.
Rosario + Vampire: I should drop this crap, but I guess eight episodes is past the point of no return?
Shakugan no Shana II: Stuff is finally happening… four episodes until the end!
Spicy Wulf: Boring but watchable.
They Are My Noble Masters: Kind of want to drop this one too, but it’s not as bad as Rosario + Vampire. Carries itself of references.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: Only good winter season show that’s not Hakaba Kitarou (and I guess Okawari). For serious. ZETSUBOU FAITO.

Not So Current
Dennou Coil: Watching this again for some reason. Still pretty boring, but I’ve gotten past the point where I dropped it last time.

Reading
Trying to get through back issues of OTAKU USA. Have stacks up unread manga sitting about. Should read those Macias books I got months ago.

Original Post

I actually had this one drawn and done for a bit. The idea was to get this one done real early, then have the one for next week done already. That didn’t really pan out since I’ve been in something of a funk all week. No matter. This comic was real easy, and looks fairly good, I guess. I dunno why Rets has such a messed up expression that last panel, I guess I thought it would be funny. You know, the greatest thing about this comic is that you can probably put any kind of dialogue in and it could be funny. Probably funnier than what I have here. As you can see the comic is something of a joke on anime writing, highlighting two examples of QUALITY. Honesty, do girls really go “I WON’T LOSE!!!” all the time?

Winter season is still fairly lame, and a lot of shows from Fall are concluding. Hayate seems to be going out with a bang, with a strong set of final episodes (manga-based?) and Clannad is ending well. I kind of wished I’d just stayed with the widescreen releases of Clannad instead of watching both 4:3 and 16:9 versions. I kept up with the 4:3 mostly because I didn’t want to miss any discussion on it, but about 19 episodes in, there’s not much to talk abut. Yes, I do appreciate that Clannad was trying to be different in not telling overdone sob-stories, but as a result it comes off as rather boring. Well, boring isn’t the right word. Maybe not as memorable and engaging. I guess it’s not good that I don’t really dig the characters all too much (well, it’s more I don’t like Kyou and to a lesser degree Tomoyo.) Nagisa, however, is cute as a button, so I guess that’s fine. This last arc is shaping up to be a good one, but I doubt Clannad will leave much of an impression in my mind.

I’ve been catching episodes of Diebuster at MIT lately. Diebuster gets a lot of flack for various reasons, but I like it well enough. I think it lacks the punch of its predecessor, but is in turn a more competently structured story. The first two episodes are rather weak, I’ll admit, but the show settles into its groove at around the midpoint, and then does nothing but impress from there (splitting of planets etc). Maybe one of the problems people see with Diebuster is the lack of too much overdone drama. Sure, there’s drama, but Gunbuster was pouring that stuff on at episode 2. Personally, I like Diebuster’s approach better. Makes the show easier the watch.

Another thing I’ve caught snippets of at MIT was Ergo Proxy. For those who don’t know, back when Ergo Proxy hit I was kind of looking forward to it as a fan of Witch Hunter Robin. I dropped the show after nine episodes. I caught the first four episodes again a few weeks ago, and episode 8 last night (was trying to get there in time for Diebuster, but ended up watching an entire episode of EP, too.) The show is beautiful. I love dark, grey colour schemes. Always have. The show puts together a nice, if not somewhat generic, futuristic dystopian world. I think it looks great. The praise stops there though. The actual content is kind of meh, and the only good character is Pino. No, not because I’m a lolicon, because she’s genuinely entertaining.

That’s all I got for today. Let’s hope I can get something out by next week. I sure do have plenty of scripts to work off of…

Current
Clannad: It’s good. I think it has nice characters and a number of good scenes, but thus far the main stories have been kind of weak.
Dragonaut: I don’t even know why anymore…
Ghost Hound: Still moves at a snail’s pace, but that doesn’t really bother me at all. Something of a plot seems to be developing, and I’m hoping it involves more Miyako screentime.
Hakaba Kitarou: Deliciously dark and enjoyable. Needs Nekomusume :3
Hayate no Gotoku: Nearly over, and I shed HOT TEARS OF SHAME. Another year-long season, please?
Kaiji: Show kind of got weaker after GAMBLEBOAT but it’s still fairly enjoyable. I hope E-Card is more complicated than it looks.
Minami-ke ~Okawari~: Most certainly different, but that’s not a bad thing. It looks good, but you can tell Asread is still a bit green with some cuts here and there. Probably not as funny as the last one, but still enjoyable. You can tell they’re trying.
Rosario + Vampire: Apparently has no inbetweening. Yeah, this animation is super cheapo, but the characters are always on model, so that’s good. I could probably stand it for another nine episodes.
Shana II: Stuff happens.
Wolf and Spices: Pretty good, but not totally awesome. Probably a step above a lot of stuff airing right now, though.
Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei: EXTREME. Shinbo and Co. play with original manga material, usually with hilarious results.

Mr. Sunshine used some underhanded marketing tactics and got me into watching They Are My Noble Masters. I’ll check it out soon.

Not so current
Baccano!: Finishing the rest tonight. Just plain fun, but I hope all the stupid commotion makes sense in the end.
Devil Hunter Yohko: Finally finishing this after many years. Lots of nudity, action and dirty jokes– so basically good stuff for growing boys.

Porno update. 18+ only plz

2007 was really fucking uneven. The first few months got by on the better titles that carried over from 2006, but between April and August it was something of a wasteland. I managed to get my fix for good modern anime by way of genius works such as Gurren Lagann and Hayate no Gotoku, but all the other offerings during that period of time where somewhere between mildly amusing to plain bad. Thankfully, August saw the debut of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Zero No Tsukaima 2, both of which restored my faith in the industry somewhat. October once again impressed with Minami-ke, Kaiji and Clannad.

What follows will be something similar to my monthly posts, but for the Year In Review, I’ll be ordering things by quality using letter grades, starting from the worst to the VERY BEST. I cover a lot of shows in the post, but it’s not everything I watched during the year.

Here’s my rankings.

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Original Post

First comic of ‘08! It looks kind of bad! It’s not totally horrible, but it’s not totally good, either. I do like Tina’s yandere face in panel 4, though. After reading this comic over and over, I realized that it’s actually just this comic + this comic. Oops. This comic plays up the slowly developing insanity in Tina. Normally she’s a cheerful fangirl with pretty well rounded opinions on things, but if you hung around Rets as much as she does, certainly you’d have instances where you’d crack. Rets, however, is smarter than he looks, and knows how the right time to exit. He should thank his lucky stars he’s not dead on the floor. Yet.

The severe lack of Nagi doujins out of C73 is a problem, though. I let last Comiket off since the show was just beginning, so naturally I assumed there wouldn’t be a good turn out. But now the show is almost over, we are lacking in high quality Nagi porn! What is with the fixation on Hinagiku, huh? Tell me, Japan! Actually, I’m sure Japan would tell me to stop whining and just go over there to buy the things myself. Which I would like to do. Eventually. I may do a comic around that idea for next week, but it’s not really fully planned out, yet. In any case, I am in despair. To console myself I’m downloading older Hayate doujins, hoping they will be of Nagi. It’s fine, but I want stuff that’s FRESH. FRESH, NEW AND WELL DRAWN. Sigh. Comiket, I will take you on. One of these days.

New season has started, and as usual, I’m not watching the first episode of everything like every other blogger. I am a discerning individual, and can tell just from promotional art whether or not a show will be for me or not. My judgment has rarely done me wrong, so I’m fine with not watching everything. I have watched some things though, those two things being Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei and Rosario + Vampire. I won’t say much here, since I’m reserving my thoughts for a blog post that may or may not happen. I will say that SZS 2 is more of the same except with better animation and the style may be a bit more off-beat and wacky. Rosario + Vampire is a stupid fanservice show, but provided Gonzo doesn’t fuck up the animation, I could watch that for 13 episodes. As of right now currently looking forward to subs of Minami-ke ~okawari~, Gunslinger Girl 2, and the end of Sky Girls (I need to finish my year in review, dammit!)

Before I take off, I’d like to mention a few things. The comic has gotten some press again, this time in the form of the Anime Genesis Podcast, and Aarin’s Blog. Anime Gen declares me webcomic of the year, and Aarin gave me a fairly well thought out and honest review. Thanks to both of them.

That’s it for this week. I head back to school next week, but I’ll try to push out another comic before then. Later!

…you disappoint me. I’m searching for Hayate doujins, and as of yet none of them have been Nagi focused at all. What is wrong, C73? Where did my fellow lolicon go? Why are people drawing doujin of lesser characters? It makes no sense!

It also doesn’t help that whoever’s uploading the doujins to Share is neglecting to label what series said doujins are from, which makes searching a little difficult. JAPANNNN!!!!

Year in review post is like 75% complete. Will finish it once Ayako pushes out the last Sky Girls episode.