Burrrrr. It was 3°C when I left home this morning so I didn't think of wearing a scarf or a thicker jacket. I regretted it the second I walked out the door when I got off work. The forecasted flurries didn't happen (it's been pushed to tomorrow morning), but the strong and bone chilling December wind was blowing snow dusts all over the place.

It was in this fine weather that I braved myself and ventured on my quest for my very first DS game. Yes, I finally plunged in and got myself a DS.

The seal hasn't been broken yet, but it's already got a name: Guren (紅蓮). You can probably guess its colouring from the name. Out of the three colours that we carry (silver, cobalt & black, crimson & black), this one immediately caught my eyes as it reminded me of the Guren from Code Geass (Guren/Kallen & Black Knights/Zero, get it?) Yeah, bro just laughed dryly after hearing my reasoning behind the name. He had no idea what I was talking about, except that it involved Code Geass, a title I recited often to him.

I dropped by London Drugs first to see what anime titles they have since I haven't been there in a long time. They actually have a pretty good selection, including the first set of Gurren Lagann and Seirei no Moribito, both of which I haven't watched but have heard praises for. I'll probably start watching those two soon so I can get the DVDs if I like the series before they get bought by someone else.

Best Buy was, as expected, swamped. No one in the anime section, though. I was tempted to buy the second part of Aquarion, but the price tag of $45 for two discs set me off. I ain't paying 90 bucks for a 26-episode series unless I really like it. Sousei no Aquarion is a good show in many aspects, just not enough to justify the cost for me, especially when there's no part one and thus I'll have to hunt around for it. If they have both parts in stock, it might be a different story. That's what happened with Evangelion. I enjoy the series but it's not even in my top 20, but the complete series was there in a box set with a good and fancy box at a reasonable price, so I bought it right then and there.

Anyhow, I put Aquarion back to the shelf and strode into the video game section. It was really crowded. I saw more store associates in this area than we have for the department for the whole day today...

Before this little excursion, I had a couple titles in mind for my Guren so it didn't take me too long. My first choice, Chrono Trigger, was not available this side of the country yet. My third choice, Final Fantasy III, was no longer available in any Best Buy across the country (I thought I saw a copy just a week or so ago...) My fourth choice, The World Ends With You, was also nowhere to be seen. So I ended up with only my second choice, Dragon Quest IV. I want to finish the NES version first though, so it might be a while before I actually get around to play it. Puzzle Quest seems interesting. I might get it to fill the gap.

It's -4°C now. The numbers I see in the forecast for next week are all in the minus. I think it's time to get the muffler out. I should probably change my pyjama to the winter set while I'm at it, eh?

Due to an unexplainable impulse, I grabbed the ひぐらしのなく頃に series and finished it in three days. I was really regretting it by the second episode and even considered deleting everything and pretending this never happened. But I persevered and prevailed.

I've known about this series and its popularity for a long time, but I also knew that the show is full of grotesque murders and collapsing personalities. That's why I didn't watch it. Ironically, I'm familiar with its songs and have even listened to one of the drama CD's before. Maybe that's what piqued my interest at last.

The first chapter was really scary and creepy, which almost caused me to drop the series. Things got less creepy with each progressing chapter, but the goriness remained. This is easily more bloody than the second last episode of Neuro and I doubt there's anything that can top this (not that I would want to watch it), except for maybe the rumoured School Days.

I was somewhat confused throughout the question arc, but the Time Killing Chapter allowed me to digest and think over the various cycles of events. It gave me some ideas and prepared me better when the answer arc started. Things are slowly being revealed, but there's still many mysteries shrouded around the village and its people. I await to see the truth and real keys in breaking the curse and solving the secrets.

On a side note, when I mentioned to bro that I was watching a really scary show, he brushed it aside because it's an anime. Dear brother, you said that because you haven't seen enough anime to know what the medium can do. It's precisely because it's an anime that it is able to achieve the effect. Those bestial and sadistic facial expressions and acts are not something that can be acted out by human so easily. アニメだからこそ怖いんだ、我が弟よ。

Finished watching World Destruction 世界撲滅の六人 two days ago and thought I'd spell out some of my thoughts on the show. The show is based on the game World Destruction 導かれし意思, which I know nothing about along with the manga version, so I'll only focus on the anime version.

I was kind of skeptical about the story at first, but the seiyuu cast was too heavy for me to miss so I decided to give it a try. The art and character design is not quite my style, but I find the animal designs likeable. The setting isn't anything new, and the do-good tasks the group ended up with every time are rather typical for an RPG type show.

But I enjoyed the show despite the flaws. The episodic format, when done right, can be gratifying and attractive. The supporting characters in the episodes also displayed great development, which added to the enjoyment of the show. I especially liked the black bear (Char vs Amuro seiyuu neta!XD) and No.28 (another view on robot with kokoro!)

As for the story, I had a hunch about the connection between Kyrie and the destruct code very early in the series so the plot twist wasn't that much of a surprise for me. Being a tie-up title with the game, the anime only has time to address one or two main plot lines and very briefly touch on the other ones. While the subtitle indicates six people, much of the background and stories behind the four beside Kyrie and Morte are not explored. I'm interested in Lia and Naja's plot line if there's one, seeing how Lia is the last survivor of the dragon race and Naja is a half between human and beastman. Agan must also have an interesting story, living the life of a transport ship captain. ちょっと残念。

This series reminded me of Shining Tears X Wind a lot. Both are based on SEGA games, and both have a loaded seiyuu cast. While Shining Tears X Wind's seiyuu cast is heavier than that of World Destruction for me (It's got Kuwashima Houko and Ishida Akira, 'nuff said), World Destruction features a younger group (in terms of seniority) in average.

At the moment, the majority of the seiyuu I like are still from the 'previous generation', but the number of the younger seiyuu is slowly increasing. Miyano Mamoru and Ono Daisuke are two of the new male seiyuu I've taken notice as of late. I have high expectation for the two.

Speaking of seiyuu, I'm watching 宇宙のステルヴィア(Stellvia of the Universe) right now and find the seiyuu cast to be on the heavy side as well. I'm not familiar with Onaka Ai so I didn't pay much attention to her. Then when she said どうぞ to the bearded man on the shuttle, it suddenly hit me: 風子だ！

I only got through the Fuuko arc in the CLANNAD anime not too long ago, so her voice still lingers in my mind. And yeah, my eyes sweated a lot watching the Fuuko chapter. （つД`） I should find time to finish the CLANNAD anime. No doubt my eyes will sweat more.