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

Original Post

Really, one has to wonder if these two are even friends, considering that they never seem to have a nice conversation with each other. One also has to wonder why Hikki has an Ideon poster. And why him and Rets share the exact same expression. I kind of like this comic. I don’t like it as much as the last one, but I still think it’s ok.

A podcast happened earlier on in the week. I talk with omo and lastarial about 5cm Per Second. It’s a pretty good episode, so you should listen to it.

I’ve signed up for Project Wonderful. It’s working pretty decently right now. Please bid on this ad space if you want it. That’s all I got to say.

Real life’s been making pretty harsh assaults on me as of late. I’m trying my best to find some work for the next two and a half months. I need some money for various personal endeavours. One’s quite big, and other is quite… small, and cute, and probably smells good. Hopefully these three applications I’m filling out at the moment will get me somewhere. I just need money, man!

Lots of summer shows are coming to a close, and the fall season is just about a week away. Zero no Tsukaima season 3 ended in usual 0nT fashion, in that in crammed way too much into one episode and nothing was resolved. But hey, you don’t care, since Louise is hot, Siesta is hot, and Tiffania is hot. That’s what really matters. Nogizaka Haruka ended pretty well, albeit predictably. One thing that kind of bothers me about the series is how, even in the last episode, the animation never got back onto the level that it was in the first episode (and arguably episode 7.) Hopefully they’ll cleanup the show for DVD. It certainly doesn’t look bad, but it could stand to look better. Both Koihime Musou and Macross just ended, but I haven’t gotten around to them. Macross hasn’t been subbed yet, and I haven’t had time to get to Koihime yet. But I will.

Windy Tales is pretty interesting. I thought the first two episodes laid on seriousness a bit too much, but episodes three and four had a good slice-of-life vibe about them. I can appreciate the art style, but I’m not really sure if I like it. I’m going to stick with it, even though I’m not totally sold on it.

That’s all for this week. I don’t know what I’m going to do for next week, but with luck we’ll see an update.

Original Post

Yeah yeah, I’m wild, crazy, and free of all morals, but I like to keep the front page of this site fairly work-safe, so as such I’ve censored this comic. Do not fear, though, for an uncensored, and funnier version of the comic does exist. Inspiration for this one came from the room rules present in my new digs. I’m living in kind of a boarding house situation right now, so the rules are stricter than when I was living an apartment, but I can deal. Anyways, I found rule 9 to be funny, so I just drew a comic around it. Oh yeah, I guess I better credit some doujin artists here, considering I’ve stolen some imagery. The books in the panel four are the works of You Nagisawa, Koume Keito, Miki Miyashita and Atsushi Yamasomethingorother. The desktop image in panel five is by this awesome dude.

I was planning on re-watching Nadesico at MIT since they were showing it, but when I went there today I saw they were playing the release with all the horrible overlays. It was fun to see the first four episodes again and pick up on some of the early clues and nods to future events, but I’m far too much of anal purist to watch something from ADV’s darkages. I’ll still pop in for Windy Tales, though. That show’s pretty ok, but by the time they got to it I was nodding off.

Zero no Tsukaima has hit a pretty good balance between plot, character stuff and fanservice. I’m actually getting into this little rescue plot they have going on now, and Louise’s inner struggles are cute. Of course, I still watch it for the skin, and it looks like the next episode will deliver that well.

You really gotta feel sorry for the guy in Detroit Metal City. His life is just fucking terrible, and I don’t know if I should laugh at him or cry with him. That’s not to say that the show isn’t totally hilarious, because it is, it’s just that poor Negeshi doesn’t get a break! Also, I know it’s terrible, but I have both the metal opening and the Flipper’s Guitar-ish ending themes stuck in my head. AT THE SAME TIME, GOD.

That’s all for this week. It’s pretty late, so I’m gonna plop myself in bed and try to sleep in. Try, since waking up at 6:30am all summer has ruined me forever. Now it’s pretty much impossible for me to sleep past nine, but dammit I’ll try!

Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: Pretty easy to catch up on considering each episode is only three minutes. I watch them in sets of four here and there.
Code Geass R2: Oh lawd.
Golgo 13: ….
Hidamari Sketch x365: This show almost has the best Shinbo opening ever. Almost, since the best Shinbo opening is the second SZS opening. Neko Mimi Mode gets an honorable mention.
Koihime†Musou: Still junk food. Half-way done.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Yuuko Gotou is a butterfly girl. Win.
Macross F: I kind of don’t care anymore. Not like I don’t like it, but eh. Who cares.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Has slipped into being kind-of-sort-of generic, but I don’t care. It’s done well and I’m actually archiving the episodes!
Sekirei: I can enjoy me some tits, too.
Slayers Revolution: Where is it.
Strike Witches: Still the best of the season.
To Love RU: SAIGO NO CHANCE NOW IS THE TIIIIIIIIIIIME. Better than Rosario+Vampire.
World Destruction: Disposable action series. Has Toru Furuya.
Zero no Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~: Almost as good as season two. Kind of slipped down into season one level of good.
Zettai Karen Children: Plot’s getting pretty intense.

Birdy is on hold.

Will write about the upcoming season soon. Lots of regular looking stuff.

More preorders from six+ months ago have come in!

Alter 1/8 Mikuru Asahina Maid Version 

Yet another figure of Mikuru in her oh-so-cute cultural festival outfit. This Alter version features slightly greyed out colours for a more realistic look, and lacks MaxFactory’s Neko Miki Mode option. The sculpt is good all around, and the paint job is solid. A nice addition to my growing collection of Mikuru figures.

Alter 1/8 Siesta

I believe this is Siesta’s first foray into the world of figures, and it doesn’t disappoint. The pose is extremely cute, and is backed up a fucking solid sculpt. My only problem lies in the paint job– it’s about 99.98% good, except for one area around the bust, and some odd orange colouring in between her fingers. Maybe that’s just on mine, I dunno. Anyways, I’m quite happy with it. Shame it’s not castoff, though, because they have her wearing a nice pair of green panties :3

BONUS: MARTIAL ARTS MADNESS MIKURU!!!

I’m pretty sure that’s not a real stance in any martial art.

Current
Chi’s Sweet Home: I’m almost confident that I have not seen an episode within the past month. Oh well.
Code Geass R2: Feeling really Gundam Seed Destiny at this point. The stupidity is actually getting to me now.
Golgo 13: ….
Hidamari Sketch x365: Liking it better than season one, possibly because subs are coming out regularly and the episodes are slightly faster paced.
Koihime†Musou: Junk food anime. Tasty but forgettable.
Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Fun to watch– a curious mix of serious stories with comedy-like execution.
Macross F: Uh, I have no idea what this show is about anymore, I just like Ranka Lee. Sheryl can die in a fire etc.
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: I support anime about hot otaku girlfriends.
Sekirei: My Kanokon for this season– well produced fanservice fluff.
Slayers Revolution: Fun fantasy series– want to get around to the originals eventually.
Strike Witches: DELICIOUS FLAT CHESTS CROTCHES AND PANTIES ALL OVER DEAR GOD BEST OF THE SEASON
Telepathy Shoujo Ran: Ok kids thing. Have three episodes waiting to be watched– if they suck I’ll drop it.
Tetsuwan Birdy Decode: I liked the first two episodes… where’s the rest??
To Love RU: Why can’t THESE types of Jump shows run for 100+ episodes?
World Destruction: Has turned into a surprisingly fun adventure/fantasy series. Completely disposable, but I like it.
Zero no Tsukaima ~Princess no Rondo~: Girls, girls, GIRLS!
Zettai Karen Children: Watching it raw at this point. Hopefully Chihiro will continue on with it now that Deculture has folded.

Dropped Natsume Yuujinchou because it sucked.

Sitting on a bunch of DVDs and manga, too.

Man, so much anime, so little time. I work 40 hours a week, dammit!

Story is, almost a month ago I got the March issue of Megami from J-list. The mag came in one piece, but was kind of bent up due to a poor choice in shipping materials (a thin as fuck paper envelope with DO NOT BEND written on it in black Sharpie.) Once I got back into contact with my Friend in Japan, I complained to him, and he in turn complained to the rest of company. Minutes later I received an email from a J-list employee offering to replace the damaged magazine. However, they were out of issues of March Megami (I took the last one w) so he offered to send me the latest issue. I immediately canceled my order for this new issue on Animenation and took up the good man’s offer.

This is probably the most value I’ve gotten out of an issue of Megami, since I hung up all the posters except for one. Pretty good, especially since I paid absolutely zero for it. It is at this point that I’d like note favourite posters, but all of them are so good that I’d just list them all. A good lead up to issue 100, which is sure to be quite epic.

Also, I tried to put all of these up without taking down in posters. After some slight rearranging of things, I managed to get them all up, and as such I’m nearly out of wallspace. Eventually I’ll take new pictures of my otaku lair, complete with the hug pillows and bedsheets I normally hide when I’m at home– just for the full experience.

Previously…

Second three!

Strike Witches: My first reaction was, “Sky Girls, except better.” The characters are cuter, the setting is nicer and the fanservice is plentiful. Gonzo has really been letting me down lately, but they may have a winner here. The first episode wasn’t totally great, but this show could really go places. Like in my pants.

I was naughty and downloaded a torrent of the BOST file, but I’m seriously considering supporting this now. It’s better than paying for Blassreiter!

Tetsuwan Birdy Decode: I’ve never seen the original OVA, nor have I read the manga. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by this tasty slice of SF action. The production values sure are something– I hope this A1 Pictures Inc. studio can keep up the quality.

Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo: This first episode was business as usual for 0nT, and naturally I ate it all up and wanted more. In contrast to the second season, this first episode of season three actually progresses the plot somewhat. I kind of hope they continue on in this vein, but I’d be fine with more stupid fanservice, too. However, it seriously needs more Siesta.

Also, the opening and ending songs are great!

Liking where the flash is falling in that last pic.

I’d love to put up the Kure-nai poster, but I’m currently in my parents’ house, and the Kure-nai poster is one of a naked seven-year-old taking a bath. I mean, I’m already pushing it with the Kojika and Yotsunoha posters. I also ordered the March Megami from J-List because it had that poster of Kokonoe Rin covered in nothing but chocolate. Won’t be able to put that one up, either.

It wasn’t until I saw a sub out for Lucky Tousen*: Great Guardians did I realize that the summer season had already started. So, before anything else starts, I guess I’ll list out my picks like I normally do!

You know, since the list of shows playing this season was so short, I assumed I’d only walk out of it with something like three or four shows, but after I went through and picked out everything, I came out with seventeen! Good thing some of those are short OVAs.

GOTTA WATCH IT EVEN IF I HAVE TO KILL A MAN

• Cobra (OVA): The mighty space returns to the small screen after 30 years to kick more ass. I love Space Adventure Cobra, and if this OVA can capture the magic of the original series, I’ll be in love. COBURAAAA~
• DETROIT METAL CITY (OVA): I’ve always been interested in the manga, but never read it. Hopefully Studio 4C will do a good enough job with their adaptation that I won’t have to!
• Hidamari Sketch x365 (TV): Honestly, I find Hidamari only works for me if I’m in the right mood. Otherwise, it’s boring. But, this is another Shaft/SHINBO combo, so it’s worth watching just for that.
• Lucky Star (OVA): More Lucky Star can’t be a bad thing. I liked the TV show well enough.
• Zero no Tsukaima ~Three Princesses’ Rondo~ (TV): Hey, fuck you guys, 0nT 2 was great and I don’t care what you say. I’m watching this one without a second thought. So long as they keep delivering more fanservice than plot, I’ll be happy!

(more…)

By god, I mean Alter.

Getting this no matter what.

Source: Heisei Democracy

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.

(more…)

The fall season has started, and I don’t really care. Nothing starts for me until either Genshiken 2 or Kodomo no Jikan air. So instead of looking forward, I’ll reflect on three shows which have recently ended.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

I can’t really stress how awesome this ending was. If Diebuster was interstellar, Gurren Lagann is intergalactic. What I really love about Gurren Lagann was how far it came in its 27 episodes. Fitting 50 episodes worth of development while keeping good pacing into half that time is no small feat. I really don’t have much to say about this that’s not fanspooge. It just rocked. Also, the people complaining about the ending totally don’t get the point. I may expand upon that in a podcast that may or may not happen.

Darker Than Black

I’ve had it out for this show ever since it started. Bones isn’t a very good studio beyond its production value, I think. They can make things look fairly pretty, but when it comes to entertaining me, they fail. Darker Than Black was just boring. It had some ok episodes here and there, but for the most part it felt like an uninspired mishmash of elements that didn’t quite work. What kept me watching this was the fairly awesome cinematography (at times. I can’t help it, I dig cityscapes) and Yoko Kanno’s music. The show had some entertaining characters, but they didn’t get the exposition they deserved. I was kind of put off by the super power part of the show, since I fucking hate super powers unless they are ridiculously over done, (see: Giant Robo, s-CRY-ed.) but as it went on, I thought it kind of worked. Didn’t save the stories from being boring, though. Actually, the biggest problem with this was its episodic nature. The last couple of episodes try to start a story, but when it runs into the wall at episode 25 it just packs up and goes home. A lot of shit is left unexplained, and I’m left unsatisfied. So yeah, Darker Than Black kinda sucked. At least it was pretty. Also, needed more Yin.

Zero no Tsukaima II

For some reason people were getting on this show’s case for having a shitty story. Honestly, who watches porn for the story? Seriously though, this show is not meant to be taken seriously, so I don’t see why people were. Right up to the end, 0nT II delivered laughs, boners and serviceable drama. It didn’t really deliver when it came to plot, but when it came to everything else, it was totally entertaining. That’s what cartoons need to be: entertaining, and this show was really fucking entertaining, even more so than the first one. I’m really happy about the screentime given the Siesta and Henrietta this season. That’s probably what made it for me. But yeah, novel purists go elsewhere. This show is for people who like to have a good time 

Ok time to watch more animes

note: top image is a shop of a piece of fanart. Please don’t kill me, original artist :(

Here is some art.

I demand a season 3.

…and approved!

(more…)

The first of the four pillow covers that I ordered has come in, and it’s the lovely maid Siesta from Zero no Tsukaima.

Yet another lucky lady to keep me company at night. I wonder which side I’ll use the most （´・ω・`）

Dumping the Good and Bad thing since these first episodes are just too good to be bad.

When I saw the opening shot of this show, I thought it was going to be like this for about two seconds. Anyway, this is a pretty good show. It’s more of the same (which is quite a good thing), just cranked up a notch. Louise is more of a tsundere (on both ends) and Saito is a bit more of a pervert. Makes for great comedy right off the bat.

This is about the fourth show I’ve watched raw, so I didn’t understand much, thusly will not be able to comment on the story elements. I can comment on everything else, though! Like the animation! It’s pretty damn good! I really liked the first series for its consistent high quality animation, and it looks like it’ll be the same here, if not better.

Season 1 had pretty forgettable opening and ending themes, but it’s different this time around. The opening song here has far more punch than the last one, and the same goes for the ending. I quite like both of the songs, and figure I’ll listen to them a lot once the singles hit. As far as their respective animations go, they’re fine. Nothing to write home about, but not horrible. Kind of sad that the opening doesn’t have much Siesta. Makes me worry about her screen time in this season. The ending is quite charming actually. A little silly, but fun.

I can’t tell if the background music in this season is recycled from the old one since I didn’t really pay attention to the background music in the last one. Shiro, help me out here.

Of course, the main reason I liked this show in the first place was for how raunchy it was. The thing that got me into the first series was all the fanservice, and I’m happy to see that the second series in delivering it in spades as well! Everything from Louise’s nightwear to Siesta’s large breasts, it’s all here. Also, it seems the general raunchy tone is back, which pleases me greatly. However it’s not so raunchy that it feels cheap. It gets the balance just right, at least for me.

So yeah, this is a good show. Watch it if you liked the last one. Both series in general have “appeal” as Omo once put it (I would go back and find the exact entry but that’d probably entail reading a lot of Manabi Straight entries) so I think anyone who likes Japanese cartoons will get into it. The thing with Zero no Tsukaima is that it strikes a perfect balance with the all the elements most people want out of a show, so there’s a little something for everyone here.