Games finished lately: Final Fantasy III, Sam and Max ep3, Hotel Dusk, Gears of War (casual, need to go for hardcore and insane). Will start on Castlevania Portrait of Ruin soon. Currently playing Call of Duty 2 (Veteran difficulty is hard).
Anime:
Otogi Juushi Akazukin ep28-32 - Surprisingly nice set of eps. Gretel suffers an injury and ends up being taken care of by Souta & his harem. The seed is sown in her mind to join them and fight Cendrillon, but for now she'll have to spend time imprisoned for her uselesness. Gretel's so cute, and she sure can handle huge swords *cough* Anyway, the gang visit the abandoned Vize Village. Akazukin was born here, but it's also the place where she lost her parents and her best friend Cain. Sadness ;_; It's also the place where she first met Val, who has since been by her side to protect her. But what's this? We find out Val's secret, and I didn't see that coming! Jed also makes an appearance, and besides wanting Erde's Key, he's now also after Val for unfinished business. And finally the Bremen gang want to help out Randagio and end up making a rather rash decision. The result is a Randagio happy that they're spared from being in Cendrillon's army, but also sad because he's now all alone :/
Kanon 2006 ep20 - Ah, starts out all cute and sweet. But it's not Kanon if it's not also terribly depressing ;_;
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho:Tou ep3 - Our 5 protagonists don't get along very well and don't understand their own powers either, but Aoi is determined to protect people from the demons afflicting the town. But for now they'll have to deal with Umon.
Amaenaideyo! ep11-13 - Can Ikkou overcome his desires or will he consumed by them? Too bad none of the girls really want to help him give in to his desires just a little, but at least the audience does get an eyeful. Especially in ep13.
Kanon 2006 ep18 - It's Shiori's birthday party. The ice between her and Kaori finally melts. We find out that Shiori has her...dark periods ;_;, but she's been able to keep smiling :). Love that bit at the fountain. However, what happens afterwards is... unsatisfying. Sigh.
Kanon 2006 ep19 - Ah Yuuichi, you forget Nayuki too easily. And have you figured out yet that there's something very much wrong with Ayu? She's cute no? I'd go uguu~ over her too.
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! ep5 - You know how the girls sometimes get puffy cheeks when they're a bit miffed about something? Well, Manabi gets diagnosed with the mumps. I laughed. Momoha is a bit too careful regarding its infectiousness. Meanwhile with Manabi out of action, Mika and Mei have to do all the work.
Amaenaideyo! ep8-10 - Yuko can be quite cute if she wants to be, I wouldn't mind if she tried to be more feminine from time to time.
Kamichu! ep1-16 - Finally got the chance to watch all of the show! So cute and sweet! The music is nice and calming too; got the Japanese ost ages ago. This is probably as close as you can to having something like a Ghibli tv show. Loved the wonderful Gods, the budding romance bits, the support team, the shy Yurie, little Miko, and the atmosphere in general.
Gakuen Utopia Manabi ep4 - Whoa, whoa, hold it! What happened to the super happy energetic Manabi show? Mei is carrying some serious emotional baggage , poor thing ;_; On a side note, while she doesn't usually show it, she is kinda..uhh..curvy ^_^;
Kanon 2006 ep17 - Yuuichi spends time with Shiori, while trying to convince Kaori to be with her sister. Shiori's illness isn't exactly convincing - for someone who only has a few days left, she's never seen being, well, ill. And what about her parents?
Otogi Juushi Akazukin ep26-27 - The bad guys attempt to trick Shirayuki but she's smarter than that. Next the gang is heading straight for Cendrillon's castle to rescue Fairenand, and they finally realize that Cendrillon = Marlene.
Venus Versus Virus ep2 - Sumire undergoes testing to control her Berserker mode. It wears her out and she wishes she could go back to her old life with her friends. But with the Virus still lingering about it's not something she can do. Certainly an interesting premise, but other than some very juicy artwork stills, this is unfortunately a rather low budget affair.
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho:Tou ep2 - Episode 2 takes us back to when Tatsuma transferred to the school, letting the audience know the main cast a bit more. There's the occasional random humor, like Daigo's uhh rather excentric wrestling partners, and eyepatch girl giving Tatsuma a "love" letter. More importantly the production values and action sequences are still very good. I like the music and music editing/directing as well.
Code Geass ep12-14 - Lelouch finds himself in a dilemma. His actions cause suffering amongst innocent bystanders, will he try to appease everyone or will he be resolute and proceed as planned? Shirley gets involved with Zero in more ways than one, with the mysterious Mao eager to take advantage of the situation. Lelouch solves the Shirley problem in the easiest way, but I can't help but think it might end up hurting him and biting him in the ass later. Oh, gotta love the costumes CC wears throughout the show (more of that in ep15)!
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! ep3 - Comments when it gets subbed; for now here's some cute pics! Dodgeball's pretty dangerous yo.
It appears that Funimation has licensed Mushishi (also Itsudatte my Santa and Shuffle, but who cares about those?). Great news. Buy it.
Negima!? ep10-13 - So who's the Black Rose Baron? Negi suspect it to be his father, but I have serious doubts. Negi finally gets found out and gets turned into a chupacabra. Not that the show throws much of a threat at our protagonists. Unfortunately the show is extremely weak on the writing department - unable or unwilling to tell a compelling story, but also weak on the comedy front. It's no Pani Poni Dash. And whenever it tries to be cool, it never last longer than a few seconds :/
Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho:Tou ep1 - Whoa! Gang of high school martial arts and magic users take on... the undead! Episode one throws us right into the action - zombies, thugs, sorcery, archery, swords and other weapons, tentacles, and some guro to boot. Starts out with some very nice classic music, hopefully they'll have more of this later on.
Kanon 2006 ep16 - Ayu begins to see Akiko more as a mother. More hints pop up regarding Ayu's story, but we'll have to wait for the ending episodes for it. After Mai's story arc, it's now time for Shiori. Yuuichi spends more time with her, and Kaori finally acknowledges to him that Shiori is indeed her younger sister. Aah, I can't remember how this is supposed to end ;_;
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! ep1 - Manami/Manabi (Yui Horie) transfers to Seiou Academy and makes an immediate impression. She's a very energetic girl and applies for the vacant student council president position. Looks like school is going to be much more interesting to the other main girls Mika (Ai Nonaka), Mei (Aya Hirano), Momoha (Saki Fujita) and Mutsuki (Marina Inoue). By ufotable (2x2 ga Shinobuden, Futakoi Alternative, Coyote Ragtime Show), this looks like it's going to be fun and enjoyable show with cute moments. Also of note is that the OP and ED are sung by Megumi Hayashibara.
Aria the Natural ep17-19 - Ep 17 sees Akari continuing to bid farewell to her old gondola. Next up Aika gets her hair burned and ends up cutting it. These are some sweet eps as we get to see her being sad and depressed, but also the strength of her friendships, and several silly moments. Aika's so moe here~
Viewing this without any context makes you think she's holding her breasts :) (She's not.)
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! ep2 - The show is super cute so far, and nicely animated to boot!
Nodame Cantabile ep1 - Shinichi Chiaki is an arrogant student at a music academy. He wants to be a conductor but for now he's relegated to the reject class, which includes the excentric Megumi Noda (nicknamed Nodame). From the Honey & Clover staff, this is a promising romantic comedy; that is, as long as Chiaki shapes up and becomes less of a prick :P
Getsumen to Heiki Miina ep1 - Silly superficial show, but enjoyable so far. Hello fanservice! Spawned from the Densha Otoko op.
Ah! My Goddess TV ep1-26 - Things are fun when it involves Urd, Skuld or Sayoko; and episodes 25 & 26 are definitely the more enjoyable eps. Unfortunately the show does start a bit slow, and like the manga it's still a series which likes to blueball its audience. There are countless times where either Keiichi fails on us, or Belldandy being way too naive and oblivious to his struggling advances. While they do end up professing their love for each other, they rarely get really intimate. The series is also fairly episodic, except with the inclusion of the Lord of Terror arc, but honestly I prefer the manga when it doesn't try to do action/drama arcs too often.
Kanon 2006 ep15 - Great episode, finishing up Mai's story, but depressing ;_;
Otogi Juushi Akazukin ep25 -
Hidamari Sketch ep1 -
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! ep1 -
Venus Versus Virus ep1 -
Master of Epic ep1 - Anime adaptation of a Japanese MMORPG from Hudson Soft. Seems to be various comedy vignettes - except it's not very funny.
Kanon 2006 ep14 - We find out a bit more about why Sayuri hangs out with Mai, and how she used to be an older sister, but not anymore :-( Things go haywire when Sayuri decides to meet up with Mai at school :-( Mai goes berserk, but Yuuichi calms her down and decides to finish things off with the demons. An OH NOES episode.
Deltora Quest ep1 - Based on a series of children's fantasy books by Asutralian author Emily Rodda. Proper impressions will have to wait until a sub pops up, but I noticed that it's quite a nice looking series, with some nice line art, as well as nice 3d cg, though combining the two doesn't always seem to work. The backgrounds are nicely detailed - I wonder if some of them aren't just real pictures with the Photoshop watercolor filter though.
Kenran Butou Sai The Mars Daybreak ep1-26 - Looks and sounds good, and initially it seemed promising enough - mixing action and comedy. Gotta like a show which isn't afraid to use a talking dolphin and a talking cat. But after a while the weak writing becomes too apparent. The characters, while likeable enough, aren't fleshed out, especially our lead Gram. A tad more background would have been nice. I also cast my doubts on some of the decisions being made, as well as the incompetency of the military. The action sequences aren't very exciting, there's not much in the way of interesting drama either. While the idea of a woman scorned chasing after her love to smack some sense into him is a neat romanticism, it didn't quite end up as nice as it could have been. Ah well, maybe I shouldn't have watched this so close after Planetes.
Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora ep1 - It's not a Kaishaku show (Kannaduki no Miko, Magical Nyan Nyan Taruto, Steel Angel Kurumi, Kagihime, UFO Princess Valkyrie) without maids, catgirls, high school girls, lesbians, bishounen, bishoujo and mecha. Good music from Mina Kubota (Kaleido Star, Kannaduki no Miko) as usual, but she might be treading familiar ground here. Can't say much about the show yet, except it's a bit over the top again, but at least it looks nice and seems to have more budget than Kagihime.
Saint October ep1 - Winter season has begun. Gosu rori shoujo tantei dan! Some company has some card powers and are kidnapping boys - don't ask me why. It's up to Natsuki and Kotono to apprehend the culprits. They encounter a mysterious young boy who bestows mysterious powers to Kotono who undergoes a bukkake transformation and becomes Kuro Rori! Cute designs (from the Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club designer), but the pacing is inadequitely slow and uninteresting. Bit underwhelming so far and lacking in oomph, spark and genki.
Otogi Juushi Akazukin ep23-24 - Groan, Souta is incredibly dense regarding girls. Ringo puts on a glass slipper and spins away. The gang goes in search of her before Hansel can get to her. Marlene sure jumps to conclusions quickly; poor girl, but someone beat some sense into her. At least we finally find out who Cendrillon truly is! Next, Souta encounters his mother! Doesn't take a genius to realize it's not really her though.
Planetes ep1-26 - Started watching my dvds after all these years after only catching the first half fansubbed. It's an absolutely great show - well written and directed. Despite Hachimaki and Tanabe being very volatile characters, it's great to see theirs and other character's personalities showcased and developed throughout the series. Treachery, trust, friendship, sadness, anger, political maneuverings, even space ninjas, and let's not forget the all-important love! It balances absurd comedy and serious drama quite well; there's quite a few laugh out loud moments, but just as much really depressing ones.
Shakugan no Shana Special - The class goes to the hot springs (yay service), and cute Ogata wants to confess her feelings to Tanaka. Unfortunately she doesn't have much luck, and she gets all kinds of yaoi ideas between Tanaka and Satou.
Amaenaideyo! ep5-7 - Although Ikkou seems to suffer from the usual harem-anime abuse, the show does provide plenty of good fanservice.
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge ep8-10 - Somebody tell Sunako she's not ugly.Wonder how the show would've ended up like, had she looked like one of the gothlolis.
Kujibiki Unbalance ep5-6 - Renko is very hard to like and pisses everybody off. She ends up fixing her attitude problem a bit, but there's still some ways to go. Kinda amusing how her panties keeps showing throughout the whole ep though. Next we find out more about Koyuki's secret. She's very cute, but way too timid. The show can be quite cruel at times.
Kurau Phantom Memory finally gets a release date, more than 2 years after its licensing was initially announced by ADV. Great show, get it.
Kurau ED song - Moonlight by Yakuri Katsuki (SENS)
Kurau AMV featuring a song NOT from the show, but the video will at least show you actual footage from the show.
Winter Garden ep2 -
Kanon 2006 ep13 -
Otogi Juushi Akazukin ep19-22 -
Kujibiki Unbalance TV ep2-4 - The Student Council sure likes to order the candidate Student Council around. The Domino Club plans a bombing and it's up to Chihiro & co to defuse the situation. Perhaps the lottery isn't mere luck after all but fate? Next they have to find an escaped panda, while we see more of Chihiro's sister obsession for her brother. While Chihiro and Tokino explore the school on a quiet sunday, they bump into Ritsuko. Chihiro's always so unsure about how to act, especially around Ritsuko, but perhaps Ritsuko hasn't changed that much after all. There are some nice feelings of friendship and romance beneath this silly exterior.
Code Geass ep11 - Cornelia and the Britannian forces are getting hammered by both the JLF and Zero until Lancelot is called in. Exciting action and tactical maneuverings. But even Lancelot is no match against CC - who we find more about! CC's so cute and pretty when she feels touched :)
Rozen Maiden Ouverture ep2 - Despite Suigintou being a Rozen Maiden doll, Shinku decides to help her out since she's terribly fragile emotionally. She yearns for father's love and decides to partake in the Alice Game, but we find a huge revelation about her! Hmmm, is this some more trickery from Laplace's Demon? Good stuff, now can we get a cute Suiseiseki ova? :P
Negima!? ep8-9 - Fuuka and Fumika want to be like adults. Now there are a few ways I think they could achieve that, but that would be venturing into NSFW territory ^_^ I guess a kiss from Negi will suffice for now! Next Negi and his gang of partners go on a camping/training trip, and Kaede joins.
Rozen Maiden Ouverture ep1 - We see Suigintou, discarded as junk, and suffering despair. This will probably end up showing how she went from that state to her deliciously evil and insane self. A brooch given by Jun to Shinku sparks a recollection of the past - where Shinku had a different medium (a little girl named Sara, who I suspect to have the same seiyuu as Jun), and where she first meets Suigintou. It's great to see the gang back together-desu.
Winter Garden ep1 - Dejiko and Puchiko are back! But this isn't your regular zany DiGi Charat show, this time it's more a relaxed, down-to-earth, romantic story. Dejiko has a faithful encounter with Takuro on Christmas Eve. Slowly but surely the begin to seek each other out. Dejiko is quite a normal girl, perhaps a bit on the shy side - definitely a change from her overly energetic self. She's not really the same girl anyway. Neither Dejiko or Puchiko's names are mentioned in ep1, although the official site does list them as such. Puchiko is amusing in her teasing and support of her sister's romantic adventures. Very light hearted and idyllic so far, but that might change as there's another girl in Takuro's life.
Code Geass ep8.5-10 - Caught up on Geass! Ep 8.5 is a recap so let's forget that. Ep 9 shows some background on Kallen (argh, Karen) and her mother, and the reason she fights. Meanwhile the Order of the Black Knights gains popularity and support, and Kallen ends up with a nice new mecha toy to play with. In ep 10 Cornelia starts an attack on the JLF, which Zero uses as an opportunity to capture her alive. Argh, need ep 11 now! Hmm Milly is kinda seductive, especially in her cat get-up. There's a lack of CC lately, gotta know more about her intentions - and if she has collected enough stamps for Cheese-kun.
Kanon 2006 ep11-12 - It's Ayu's turn to stay at the Minase household now. Mai gets in trouble again. Yuuichi thinks it might be a good idea for her to go to a dance. She looks great in a dress! Unfortunately a demon decides to disrupt the party and Mai gets the blame :-/
Kanon 2006 ep10 - And the inevitable has occured; farewell Makoto :-(
Honey & Clover 2 ep12 - I kinda held off watching the last episode as I was dreading what they would throw at us, but I feel a bit silly about that now. With the bitterness and sadness also comes sweetness. I guess the main problem I have with the second season is that I found Hagu's problems to be a bit heavy handed. I thought to myself why she hadn't considered using her other hand, but that's easier said than done of course. Anyway, it's still a great show, and it does develop several issues rather than being stagnant. Will we see a third series?
Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge ep6-7 - Sunako is depressed after forgetting Halloween. The guys are left to fend for themselves, hopelessly watching the trash pile up. Next some thugs want to battle Kyouhei and the banchou falls in love with Sunako. Even though Sunako can singlehandedly deal with the thugs, a girl does want to be saved by a white knight right? I think Noi's pretty cute myself.
Games:
Bought a Wii and Zelda:TP and Rayman! After searching many stores, I finally lucked out because someone cancelled his preorder! My guess is that it's pretty much sold out in the Netherlands. After playing with Wii Sports I can totally see how accidents can happen :P Rayman is a mixed bag. The dancing and rail shooting minigames are good fun, but the minigames where you have to pump like mad, harkens back to the really bad old days of Decathlon. Not far into Zelda yet but it's quite charming so far and the controls aren't annoying. My Wii number is 6014 3272 7531 0891 - reply with yours if you've added me.
Final Fantasy XII (PS2) finished! Very nice game. I like the combat system and the production values. The story is good, but the effort put into it makes it even more clear in my eyes that Game Stories still have a way to go. For example, I've never felt really sad or angry by a game's story, like I do with movies/anime. Granted, they're different entertainment mediums but surely we can work toward some kind of happy medium between storytelling and gameplay.
Phoenix Wright 2 (DS) also finished! Case 3 > 4 > 2 > 1. Okay, where's Phoenix Wright 3?
Next up - continuing with Gears of War (X360) and starting up Final Fantasy III (DS) and Yggdra Union (GBA).
Kanon 2006 ep9 - Makoto regresses even more, slowly becoming more childlike. Yuuichi is determined to stay at her side...till the inevitable end. It's so weird seeing Makoto being so cute, but that only makes it even more sad :-/
Code Geass ep7 - We find out why Lelouche harbors ill-will towards his father the Emperor. Shirley seems to be in love with Lelouche, but methinks Suzaku is more likely to actually get the girls! Cornelia lays out an obvious trap to lure out Zero, and Lelouche willingly takes the bait - he is a proud man after all and overly confident of his skills. CC tries to stop him, but it's no use. Lelouche thinks he can repeat what he did during the Shinjuku incident, but Cornelia is clearly superior to him! Good stuff.
Code Geass ep8 - The Japanese Liberation Front takes several Britannian hostages, including Lelouche's and Suzaku's friends! Cornelia generally isn't willing to give in to terrorist demands, but her dear sister Euphemia is also one of the hostages. Despite having a common enemy, Lelouche doesn't see the JLF as allies and to the surprise of Cornelia attempts to rescue the hostages. Another good episode; makes it more clear what Lelouche wants; Suzaku also shows how cool he is and how much his friends mean to him. Those scenes of young Cornelia and Euphemia are so cute!
Negima!? ep7 - Sayo finally gets discovered after being a bit mischievous. Although an amusing episode, it does make it abundantly clear that the writing isn't particularly strong and that the show doesn't really concern itself much with telling a compelling story - the Sayo episode in the original Negima series is much better. It took a way more serious and dramatic angle with Sayo's story and it worked too.
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tempy's journal
ep11-13 - Can Ikkou overcome his desires or will he consumed by them? Too bad none of the girls really want to help him give in to his desires just a little, but at least the audience does get an eyeful. Especially in ep13.
ep1-16 - Finally got the chance to watch all of the show! So cute and sweet! The music is nice and calming too; got the Japanese ost ages ago. This is probably as close as you can to having something like a Ghibli tv show. Loved the wonderful Gods, the budding romance bits, the support team, the shy Yurie, little Miko, and the atmosphere in general.
ep1-26 - Looks and sounds good, and initially it seemed promising enough - mixing action and comedy. Gotta like a show which isn't afraid to use a talking dolphin and a talking cat. But after a while the weak writing becomes too apparent. The characters, while likeable enough, aren't fleshed out, especially our lead Gram. A tad more background would have been nice. I also cast my doubts on some of the decisions being made, as well as the incompetency of the military. The action sequences aren't very exciting, there's not much in the way of interesting drama either. While the idea of a woman scorned chasing after her love to smack some sense into him is a neat romanticism, it didn't quite end up as nice as it could have been. Ah well, maybe I shouldn't have watched this so close after Planetes.
ep2 - Despite Suigintou being a Rozen Maiden doll, Shinku decides to help her out since she's terribly fragile emotionally. She yearns for father's love and decides to partake in the Alice Game, but we find a huge revelation about her! Hmmm, is this some more trickery from Laplace's Demon? Good stuff, now can we get a cute Suiseiseki ova? :P
