Soramimi Project #9: Yajima Akiko 矢島晶子

First heard: Announcer (Shinseki Evangelion)

First noticed: Kohaku (Inuyasha)

Memorable characters: Relena Peacecraft (Gundam Wing), R. Dorothy Wayneright (The Big O), Kohaku (Inuyasha)

Image character: Relena Peacecraft (Gundam Wing)

Discernment rate: average to above average

Number of works seen: 30

Back in the days, people who watched Gundam Wing in English despised Relena, and Relena bashing was almost the norm. But the Japanese audience seemed to love her. The only difference I could see, beside it being two different cultures, would be the voice acting. Before I even had a chance to experience Japanese seiyuu, I was already made aware of their existence.

I'll confess that I used to be a huge Gundam Wing fan (still find the concept interesting, just not how it's executed), since it's my first anime after almost eight years of blankness. And I actually made a secret resolution a few days ago to finish all my GW fanfictions in 2010 *crosses fingers*. So it was with much anticipation that I played the Gundam Wing DVD, eager to hear the voices of those famed names. I was not one bit disappointed, and I came to understand the mixed reception of the character of Relena. I had since switched from don't-really-care to like-her, btw.

Yajima Akiko's voice has a rather neutral feel and doesn't usually leave a strong impression, but she's able to manifest a sense of prestige and authority, yet at the same time being innocent and modest. I enjoy it when she plays young boys, but I also like her being impartial and imposing women. Kohaku is where I started noticing her, R. Dorothy is when I warmed up to her, and Relena is who I'll always remember her by.

I'm able to distinguish her voice most of time after hearing her female and young boy pitches, but I haven't really heard very many of her works where she plays a lead or major character. Needless to say, I'm kind of surprised of the high number of works seen. Yajima Akiko is not a seiyuu I'd actively seek out works to watch or listen to, but I definitely enjoy her voice acting and would love to hear more of her.

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As promised, here's the Soramimi seiyuu acquaintance rank of 2009, from the most number of works heard to the least. This has nothing to do with how familiar I am with the seiyuu nor how much I like the seiyuu, but rather a statistic on how many chances, including nameless extras, I've had of that seiyuu.

2009 Soramimi Seiyuu Acquaintance Rank:
Yajima Akiko 矢島晶子 - 30
Nagasawa Miki 長沢美樹 - 27
Nakai Kazuya 中井和哉 - 25
Maeno Tomoaki 前野智昭 - 16
Yao Kazuki 矢尾一樹 - 15
Nakao Ryuusei 中尾隆聖 - 13
Tai Yuuki 泰勇気 - 10
Aizawa Masaki 相沢正輝 - 9
Aizawa Mai 相沢舞 - 8

Soramimi Project #8: Nagasawa Miki 長沢美樹

First heard: Ibuki Maya (Shinseki Evangelion)

First noticed: Hoshii Ramika (Anime Tencho series)

Memorable characters: Hoshii Ramika (Anime Tencho series), Monique Cadillac (Gundam MS IGLOO), Helen (Claymore)

Image character: Hoshii Ramika (Anime Tencho series)

Discernment rate: below average

Number of works seen: 25

(Another seiyuu whose name starts with an N... My 3rd one, actually, out of a total of 8 so far. What's the odds of throwing even-odd-odd combos three times out of eight?)

I'm rather surprised of the number of works I've seen with Nagasawa Miki as I only started to recognize her in the past few years. I'll probably recognize her when I watch the new Evangelion movies...

I first noticed her name from watching a commercial on animate.tv for a stage show of Anime Tencho. Seki Tomokazu dressed up as Anizawa and Nagasawa dressed up as Ramika, complete with the hair-do. That short clip gave me quite an impression (or shock), that her voice and name had stuck in my head ever since. Out of the 25 works I've heard her, 4 are Anime Tencho drama CDs.

Nagasawa's voice is a bit on the coarse side, but she has good acting skills. It's not unusual to see her character from any series to go from composed to angry to crazy to normal again, and still be in character. Monique from MS IGLOO is probably my favourite Nagasawa character. She really gave life and added spice to the otherwise deathly pale looking 3D doll.

Despite having seen many of her works, my discernment rate for her is somewhat below average. If she speaks close to her normal pitch, I'll probably recognize it, but if she smooths out the characteristic coarseness, I might not be too successful. Even now, I'm still having trouble connecting her voice to Ibuki Maya from EVA. Hopefully I'll her pitches down in the near future.

A few days ago I received a parcel pick up notice. But I didn't get any shipping notification email from Amazon.ca, so who could possibly be sending me stuff? Since I was planning to drop by friend-I's place today, I thought I might as well go pick up this mysterious package.

Half way to the post office in this beautiful, sunny, and freezing afternoon, I regretted not taking friend-P's offer for a ride there. My legs felt like being pricked by a thousand needles, and the thought that I also had to walk from the post office to friend-I's then back to my place, made my heart sink even more.

But in the end, the long trek was well worth it. Not only did I successfully complete the retrieval mission in one piece, upon opening my mailbox, I discovered the delirious? CD I ordered (no walking to the post office for pick up!). Double presents! :D

With my legs still under the freeze spell, I opened the mysterious box (okay, maybe not so mysterious now that I knew where it was mailed from) to find a card and carefully wrapped... furry slippers! And it's purple, too! XD

My dear sister back from the home church is a sweet and loving woman, indeed. :D

I just had half a tub of strawberry-flavoured Häagen Dazs as dessert. I'm going to take a nice hot shower (my limbs are going to sting from the walks), change into my warm reindeer-patterned pyjamas, slip on the pretty purple slippers, and read. That's a good way to spend my last moment as a 29-year-old, eh? XD

Soramimi Project #7: Maeno Tomoaki 前野智昭

First heard: passer by (Kiniro no Corda ~primo passo~)

First noticed: Doujou Atsushi (Toshokan Sensou)

Memorable characters: Doujou Atsushi (Toshokan Sensou)

Image character: Doujou Atsushi (Toshokan Sensou)

Discernment rate: low to below average

Number of works seen: 16

Maeno Tomoaki is a new seiyuu to me. Even though I've heard him in 16 works, he's only played named characters in five of them, including one where he just appeared in the tricky first episode *cough*Ga-rei Zero*cough*.

According to my favourite source (ja.wikipedia.org, in case you haven't noticed), he was mainly doing dubs and essentially made his break in anime with Toshokan Sensou. Doujou Atsushi is what I remember him mostly by, and both Neko-tan and I were rather impressed by his performance in Toshokan Sensou. Doujou Atsushi is both rational and angry, leaning more toward the angry side when it comes to Kasahara. If he weren't so slow in love, he might even be branded as tsuntere. XD

Speaking of Toshokan Sensou, I mentioned before that it reminded me of GunParade March. Both seem to be battle-oriented at first glance but are love comedy in actuality (okay, so GPM has a lot more grimness and death). Both have really clumsy (in love) lead males regardless of how adept they are in battles, and both have strong-headed lead females that recognize love quicker than the guys and are not afraid to face it. The colour palettes and tones are completely different for both, but the art styles are both simple and clean. Both made me wanting to play/read the original work they're based on. Unfortunately, the Toshokan Sensou novels I have partially managed, but the PS game GPM is simply beyond my reach.

Due to the strong impression of Doujou and the Toshokan Sensou web radio show which Maeno-san co-hosted with Suzuki Tatsuhisa, I've got his solid pitch and real voice down, but I haven't been very successful if the character is soft spoken or calm. I do have high expectations of him so hopefully I'll get to hear him more!

I've been pondering whether to separate "Games" from "ACG" for the labels, and I finally went ahead with it today. I also made a few other changes regarding the labels.

- Created "Games" to incorporate "NDS" and "MUD", as well as game-related posts formerly under "ACG"
- "Dramas" posts are incorporated into "TV"
- "Travel" posts are incorporated into "Life"
- Created "Sports" to incorporate "Baseball" and "Hockey"
- "Novels" is renamed "Novels/Manga" and contains manga-related posts formerly under "ACG"
- "ACG" is renamed "Anime"

Now that that's done, time to return to my attempt at the UC Gundam Quest, since I only less than one week before the deadline...

Soramimi Project #6: Aizawa Masaki 相沢正輝

First heard: Takatori Hirofumi (Weiss Kreuz)

First noticed: Shouryuu (Juuni Kokuki)

Memorable characters: Shouryuu (Juuni Kokuki)

Image character: Shouryuu (Juuni Kokuki)

Discernment rate: low

Number of works seen: 9

Another seiyuu of whom I recognize the name but not the voice... orz

Sometimes I might look up the seiyuu in the end credit roll when I hear him in an episode, but I have yet to pinpoint his voice. The main reason for this can probably be attributed to him playing a lot of nameless or minor characters in the works I've seen. I think Weiss Kreuz (out of which I only remember five voices since it's my first anime in Japanese) and Juuni Kokuki might be his most prominent works with the exception of Death Note, where he played six characters.

I quite liked him as Shouryuu, though. A wise and excellent emperor on the throne over 300 years and being called idiot(馬鹿), reckless(無謀), foolhardy(猪突), and crazed(酔狂) by his kirin and retainers. Needless to say he is one of my favourite characters from Juuni Kokuki. That's when I started to recognize his name whenever it appeared in end credits.

Aizawa Masaki's got a nice deep voice, which might explains why he does a lot of dubbing work. I'm usually not a big movie fan, having been spoiled by the extremely diverse themed anime, but I would definitely like to watch a Japanese dubbed movie if it's got a good seiyuu cast.

At the moment, my only Jap-dubbed experience consists of 1.2 movies, where 1 is 17 Again, and the .2 is He's Just Not That Into You. The plane landed before the .2 finished playing. But I was really just using Namikawa Daisuke's voice as background music while I read Saiunkoku Monogatari anyway. I gave up the movie after about 10 minutes and only recognized Namikawa during that time. One seiyuu does not a good seiyuu cast make, unfortunately.

機動戦士ガンダムＵＣ Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

Where to start... The first of the OVA won't be out until March of 2010, but I'm already jumping with anticipation. It's great to know that it'll be a world-wide release, shortly after the Japanese release! I'm seriously considering getting the BD version, and hoping that PS3 might follow in the second half of 2010.

Let's talk about first impressions. Now, I knew Unicorn started as novels but never got a chance to read it, so I'm basing everything from the two PVs and the official website.

I don't typically pay attention to production staff and therefore don't recognize most of the names, but I got excited when I saw Sawano Hiroyuki as the music composer. It definitely sounded like him in the 40-second PV, too. XD

Character design is usually misleading when judging from static shots on websites so I'll refrain from commenting too much for now (Syam Vist can totally pass as the head of a religious cult!), but I do have to point out one thing that bothers me: hair styles. And names.

What's with the retro hair? The most glaring examples of which are demonstrated by Mineva/Audrey, Micott, Marida and Full on the character page. And the names! Why are you walking down the same horrible path of English spelling names as SEED (How do you spell Maryu with Murrue??) when you are a Universal Century series?

And Full Frontal? I assume his name signifies something in the series, but it just sounds so stupid in English. -__-

Character-wise, Banagher (another failed English spelling when it's pronounced Banaaji) seems promising. His bio reminds me of Kira, along with his school mates from the AE Industry Technical School. I also have high hopes for his seiyuu Uchiyama Kouki, based on his performance in Soul Eater and the PV.

Mineva's alias Audrey Burne is obviously gotten from Audrey Hepburn, and her hair also kind of tips her off. I've actually never seen any of Audrey Hepburn's works except for a few images, but somehow I immediately associated Mineva's alias to her from looking at the hair. I was slightly worried when I first saw Fujimura Ayumi's name because her image as Kannagi Ayano and Cecily Cambell came off a lot stronger than what I'd imagine Mineva to be, but after hearing her in the PV, I'm fully relieved. She still sounds quite a bit older than Banagher, but I can attribute that to her experience in wars. And the hair.

My first thought when I saw Full Frontal was "Char", yet at the same time there's this sense of incongruity. His hair style (again with the hair) reminds me of Neo, but the vibe he gives off is closer to that of Rau's. Char's Counterattack was supposed to be the end of the original Gundam saga, so I'm not sure what to make of this masked blond when Char is dead. Even if Char isn't dead at the end of CCA, I doubt he would stage something like this after what he witnessed during the failed attempt to drop Axis. It's probably safe to assume that there's secrets and/or conspiracies behind his name and his voice. I don't think Ikeda Shuuichi would voice another character in the UC timeline if he isn't connected to Char in some way, though... Oh, and the Neo Zeon's uniforms look so OZ. XD

Mecha-wise, Unicorn Destroy Mode looks pretty good, albeit the colouring sort of reminds me of Astray. It's interesting to finally see a Gundam model being mass produced, but the lack of the signature white likely predestines the models to be secondary. And why is everything green? Are both E.F.S.F. and Neo Zeon trying to be eco-friendly in this time and age? (Sorry, cold joke)

Sinanju looks (not listed on the website at this point, judging from the box art of the model kit) majestic and, seeing that it's red, is probably piloted by Full. The Kshatriya looks pretty ugly to me; the 666 model number might mean it's the "Devil Gundam" of this series? I like how the Neo Zeon MS all wear bibs and sleeves, though. XD

It might look like I'm complaining a lot, but don't get me wrong. I'm itching to see it. I just don't want to be disappointed and have my experience hindered by little details.

Omake: I almost didn't recognize Namikawa Daisuke in the cast photo. He's at least two shades darker and looked like a wild man! XD

Oh yeah, I definitely will have to re-watch Char's Counterattack to refresh my memory.

And I'm dropping Victory Gundam from the UC Gundam Quest for my birthday. I'm going to just finish series that pertain to the original Gundam saga. Victory is technically a UC series, but it's so far into the future and no one from the 1st Gundam generation is around. I'm still going to watch it, of course, probably before Unicorn comes out.

Soramimi Project #5: Nakao Ryuusei 中尾隆聖

First heard: Jei Farfarello (Weiss Kreuz)

First noticed: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (BLEACH)

Memorable characters: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (BLEACH)

Image character: Kurotsuchi Mayuri (BLEACH)

Discernment rate: average?

Number of works seen: 13

I don't have much experience with Nakao Kyuusei beside BLEACH (4 out of 13 of the works seen are BLEACH), so it's probably obvious that his image character is Kurotsuchi Mayuri. I know Nakao-san also voiced/voices Freeza, but I haven't seen Dragon Ball Z and dropped Kai due to time constraint, so I only heard one scene of Freeza in the first episode of Kai. 'tis really a shame.

Because I have limited encounter with Nakao-san, I'm going to say that my discernment rate of him is average. Mayuri is a pretty impressive character so I'll likely recognize his voice if he acts along that pitch or style. Haven't heard him in a different pitch so I can't say if he changes his voice.

I first heard him in Weiss Kreuz, but I don't really remember anyone except for the actual Weiss group since it's the very first anime I ever watched in Japanese (actually the first anime after moving to Canada, too). This is both a good and a bad thing. I most likely wouldn't be able to stand the lame plot now, but I'd probably still watch it for the seiyuu. It was such a waste since I didn't know anything about anime and seiyuu back then, and the episodes my cousin had included the seiyuu interviews at the end!

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I just watched four episodes of One Piece online, and I have to say that Zoro sounds so cute! Yeah, I wasn't ever planning to touch One Piece, but my interest was piqued when I read how popular Nakai-san's Zoro is on the wikipedia, so I decided to give it a try since it's streamed online. I'm liking Nakai-san the more I hear him. XD

BTW, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I heard Ikeda Shuuichi as Shanks! He sounded so casual and humourous that I almost doubted my ears. It's so... un-Char-like! XD

I've been putting off this trip since October, but with snow in the forecast within 24 hours, I figured it's time at last. And thus I ventured out to find a pair of winter boots and a hat that would help me survive the dreadful winter that everyone's been warning me about.

After a few hours walking back and forth between a couple stores in the shopping centre, I was at my limit and decided to just pick something -anything- for my feet so I could pet myself on the back for a mission accomplished and be on my way home.

My loot for today (all prices before the wonderful 13% sales tax)
- Horseradish seal: $11.99
- Desktop mic: $9.99
- Energizer AA batteries x 16: $13.00
- Brown owl pilot hat: $20.00
- Fur trim town shoes: $109.99
- Not having to do this again until the shoes die on me: priceless

For the Home Grown veggie collection, I was tempted to get the broccoli camel or the cucumber alligator in addition to the seal, but my wallet won out at the end. I tend to prefer ones that's more natural with as few modification (mixture of different types of veggies or fruits) as possible. The beauty of Jagainu-kun is exactly that.

For the hat, I was leaning toward the beaver (it's even got a little beaver tail on the back!) or the raccoon, but the owl ones have a better lining layer for some reason, so I went with the brown owl.

For the boots, I was hoping to just buy a pair of rubber boots like my colleague had suggested and get it over with, but I had three shops to choose from (see the next paragraph for why) and all their rubber boots are more expensive than regular ones. Originally, I was trying to keep my budget under $100, but the only pair within that price range was made in China with obvious crude seam work which I wouldn't dare to trust. So I went with my next best choice. There's a pair that looked really promising, but it was also $160. All the ones I looked at were on sale, btw. Otherwise they'd be much higher priced.

For this shopping trip, I stayed on the 3rd level, the floor right after I got off the bus, and didn't have the energy or will to explore the other two floors. I tire very easily when shopping for things that go on my body, even though I can spend hours in a library or a zoo. Now all I need is some non-perishable or frozen food so I can coop up in my nest when the weather is less than ideal for grocery shopping.

I am ready for you, winter (I hope)! Come as you may!

The Soramimi Project is still undergoing development as I progress through the weeks. Just now, I've added another entry to the standard list, "Number of works seen". This should provide a better statistic on my opinion about the individual seiyuu. At the end of the year, there would be an accumulated update post for all the featured seiyuu thus far. I might even put them in order from the most seen to the least seen, if I remember.

The "works" here include anime, games, drama CDs, web radio hosts, movie dubs (of which I've only seen one and a bit so far so it won't count as much), show narrations (of which I've only seen the East West Cooking Showdown), tokusatsu and drama. For games, I'm also counting the ones I've watched rather than actually played, like FF X, FF X-2 and FF VII CC.

I'm not counting music CD 'cause that will really complicate matters when I get to seiyuu/singer people like Mizuki Nana and Sakamoto Maaya. I'm also not counting any live events since these are mostly geared toward particular audiences and therefore some seiyuu would have a much high appearance rate than others.

There's probably going to be other things I'll add to the slowly growing standard entries. Hopefully it'll reach a good list soon so I won't have to go through those appending steps too often.

Quick update on my Firefox Persona favourites. I removed 2 out of 11 from my last selection. Here's the 9 that remained:
- Groovy Blue
- Firefox B
- Cosmic
- Watergarden II
- New Colors 1
- concrete
- Aurora Sky
- Firefox Pierrinho
- Light & Blue

I've added 3 more to get the total up to 12 now.
- My Neurons
- Fractal Butterflies
- Pastel Butterflies

BTW, I think this only happens when the Windows theme is set to classic, but my Firefox status bar on the bottom doesn't get skinned by Persona. It remains the pale green colour as set by my custom theme, making it very difficult to see the text if it's set to white by the particular Persona.

5 out of my current 12 favourites use white text so I have to squint almost half the time if I want to read the status bar. Luckily I don't need to do this very often as I typically visit the same sites and don't need to see ahead using the link. But I wish someone would notice this and address the issue... Maybe I should file a bug?

No, I'm not turning on Aero or whatever default Vista theme it comes with just so I can see the text. There is a reason why I've been using the same classic theme for years. Beside the fact that I'm lazy, that is. XD

Soramimi Project #4: Tai Yuuki 泰勇気

First heard: Kai Kudou (E'S OTHERWISE)

First noticed: Shibuya Kazuya (Ghost Hunt)

Memorable characters: Shibuya Kazuya (Ghost Hunt)

Image character: Shibuya Kazuya (Ghost Hunt)

Discernment rate: low

Number of works seen: 10 (2009.11.25)

I don't have much to say about Tai Yuuki, unfortunately, since I can't recognize his voice a lot of the time. orz

One might think I've only heard of him through the two anime listed above, but I've actually also heard him in School Rumble, Dancouga Nova, ef -a tale of memories/melodies, Narutaru, Amatsuki and Gundam SEED DESTINY. I don't know why I still can't distinguish his voice most of the time... I know his name, though.

I've added a "Discernment rate" to the standard list and filled in for the previous three seiyuu:
- Yao Kazuki is somewhat high. I can recognize him in most works he appears in, but the rate is not high or very high because I might not had been able to tell that he's Judau if I hadn't known before hand...

- Nakai Kazuya is very high; visual. I've been able to tell him every time since I started take note of seiyuu; hasn't missed so far. He's also one of the few seiyuu that I know by face. While he's not the fashionable type, his simpleness and faithfulness to his wife are pretty cute so I like him as a person as well. :)

- Aizawa Mai is 50%. I can usually tell her high pitched voice, but sometimes hit-and-miss when she speaks in a calm and quiet voice.

---

I've decided not to put a deadline for the Gundam Quest. *gasp* Yeah, I know, after all the fussing over and hypes, too. But I have excuses good reasons.

First and foremost, as touched on before, Gundam series are not something you watch to pass the time. They're as hard and heavy as they come, and they usually require a fair amount of brain cells for processing. So I want to be able to enjoy them at my own pace and not rush through them to meet a deadline.

Secondly, I recently remembered/realized that I don't have all the Gundam works. I'm missing the 2nd movie for Turn-A. orz

But I'm not throwing the whole project away! I'm still going to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Gundam by finishing the UC Gundam series by my birthday. As a result, the Gundam Quest is now in two parts.

UC Gundam Quest
機動戦士ガンダム *A
機動戦士ガンダムI *N/A
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編 *N/A
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編 *N/A
機動戦士Ζガンダム *B~B+
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ *B+
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア *B+
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争 *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 *A
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録- *A
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線

AU Gundam Quest
機動武闘伝Gガンダム *B~B+
新機動戦記ガンダムW *N/A
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz *N/A
機動新世紀ガンダムX *B-
∀ガンダム
∀ガンダムI 地球光
∀ガンダムII 月光蝶
機動戦士ガンダムSEED *A-~A
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY *B-
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

And I can't wait for the Gundam Unicorn OVA (機動戦士ガンダムUC) next year!!!!! The trailer looks great, the music is the usual Sawano Hiroyuki-awesomeness, and the character design is handed back to Yasuhiko Yoshikazu! I'm sure I'll be able to overcome the funny looking Char blond masked man in no time. JUST GET THE OVA TO CANADA! (along with the MS IGLOO OVA!!!)

It's been a while since I visited Niconico due to time constraint *cough* so I was pleasantly surprised to see some new features (ooh, it's now at Version 9! I haven't been back since Natsu, except for one or two videos during Aki). I haven't the leisure to explore them all, so I'll just mention what I've briefly played with.

Now at the end of each video, it asks if you want to mylist-for-now the video, and you can choose to put in a comment at the same time. (There's now a Mylist-for-now section in the user's Mypage, which will allow up to 100 mylist-for-now videos and start deleting from the oldest if you exceeds the 100. The video can be retained by moving it to the actual Mylist.)

After clicking on the yes or no button for mylist-for-now, a panel appears (all this happens within the video frame with an X on the top right corner to close if you don't want to see it) to offer options such as to replay the video, to see other videos from the uploader, to blog about the video, to promote the video, to read or write about the video in the Niconico encyclopedia, to see other people's comment for their mylist of the video, to mylist the video, or to post the video to a community you belong to.

I'm using the feature to blog about the video here, of course. Blogger, unfortunately, is not in the list of supported platforms, but they do provide the scripts for manual addition as iframe or plain text links, so it's just a matter of copy & paste.

For demonstration purpose, I'm using a video I clicked from the Niconico flowing news header section:





Voilà! Niconico video at a glance! (I know people's been doing this for the longest time, but I never attempted it...)

BTW, if you have a Niconico account, I highly recommend this very hilarious video! The comments are quite funny, especially the ones that said, "There is no answer. This is just a body." or "There is no answer. This is just a shiba dog." The MUD lingo made me laugh so hard. The comment suggesting it being the latest type of robot was good, too. XD

I don't see myself doing this too often (otherwise, I'd write about almost every video I watch on there), but it's good to keep up with the technology. (wrong usage!)

Soramimi Project #3: Aizawa Mai 相沢舞

First heard: Super Robot OG net radio Umasugi WAVE

First noticed: Super Robot OG net radio Umasugi WAVE

Memorable characters: __soba (Super Robot OG Umasugi WAVE), Hidaka Yumemi (MUNTO TV)

Image character: __soba (Super Robot OG Umasugi WAVE), Hidaka Yumemi (MUNTO TV)

Discernment rate: 50%

Number of works seen: 8 (2009.11.25)

Hehe, this is a pretty unusual one, as one can probably see from the above. That's right, I actually learned of Aizawa from an internet radio show rather than from an anime. While seiyuu act out all sorts of characters using various pitches, they speak in their original voice on radio. I was surprised at first to hear this really child-like voice when I listened to Super Robot OG radio.

Not being a great lover of kids, I usually stay away from this kind of high pitch voice. But the more I listened to the show, the more faces of Aizawa Mai I discovered. Although, for some reason, the only voice I've heard of her in anime is the calm and serene type, as heard in Dennou Coil, MUNTO TV, CLANNAD, or Ga-Rei Zero.

As expected, her image character is split between her renditions of the different __soba on Super Robot OG radio and Yumemi from MUNTO TV. BTW, both shows have rather long names so I've abbreviated them; the full name of the MUNTO TV series is actually Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai.

My discernment rate for Aizawa Mai is probably a bit better than 50%, but I haven't seen enough of her to be sure. I can usually tell her high pitched voice, but sometimes hit-and-miss when she speaks in a calm and quiet voice.

Aizawa is not one of seiyuu that I follow, but I sure would like to hear more of her on the radio. Speaking of which, I should get back into the habit of listening to net radio again. Maybe after the Gundam Quest (almost everything falls behind the Quest now...)

---

Some notes on previous seiyuu:
- Yao Kazuki's Judau Ashta is a pretty decent protagonist for a Gundam series. Yao-san voiced him just right considering Judau's background and experience, a bit on the mature side yet still retaining his youthful nature. Although, I might not be able to make the connection between Judau and Bunshichi. Compared to Bunshichi, Judau sounded... normal. XD

- Nakai Kazuya seems like a pretty laid back guy as he walked on stage with very very very casual (something I'd wear at home myself) clothes for the Sengoku BASARA pre-air special. It's quite funny when he categorized himself as a pure Japanese (ie. no English) and got corrected on his pronunciation of "Are you ready, guys" when he did the recording. XD

On a completely different note, I've decided to extend the deadline for the Gundam Quest from my birthday to the end of 2009. The extra week and a half will give me more leeway to not rush and be able to enjoy the Gundam series better. Of course, that's also just another excuse for me to slack off. My brain isn't built to strictly handle heavy stuff like Gundam for two straight months.

Omake: I sneaked out of Gundam mode yesterday due to certain reason (see last sentence of last paragraph) and watched a movie instead... And there's a scene in there that mentioned names like Dom, Jet Stream Attack, Red Comet Char Aznable, White Soldier Gundam, GM and Ball! And there's models on the bookshelves in the protagonist's room. I tried and still bumped into Gundam. orz

機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録- The Hidden One-Year War

I don't have a PS3, but if they release this in BD, I'll buy it in a instant without a second thought. (Bring it over to North America, Bandai!! I'll even settle with just DVD!)

When news of it came out a few years ago, I was thrilled at another new Gundam show but at the same time somewhat sceptical with the 3D CG. Of course, screen shots of the deathly looking faces of people didn't help.

While I still frown at some of the robotic movements or postures made by the humans, it was actually pretty decent by my standard. Even though they exaggerate often, the faces are quite expressive with the subtle motions.

The music and the battle scenes are some of the brightest points for the show. The score is epic and resolute at times, but always ending in a solemn and poignant note because of the nature of the show. Never heard of Taja, but the theme song is not bad, and moving as an insert song. The battle scenes take full advantage of CG to showcase the individual arm's mobility and combat style, and to orchestrate a war fleet battle in space on one of the grandest scales.

The story is unique in that it's told from the side of Zeon by a militia engineer who bears witness to the sorrowful downfall of prideful soldiers fighting until the very end. The fact that it takes place during the One Year War foretells the outcome of the war and the experiments on the prototype arms, which makes it all the more painful.

While watching the events unfold, I was reminded of RIGHT OF LEFT, which takes place before the main story of Fafner. (I briefly wrote about it in Chinese back in 2006.) Even though I didn't cry watching IGLOO, it doesn't mean it's less heart-wrenching. War is indeed a cruel reality, in anime and more so in real life. Its terrible impact doesn't just affect those directly involved, but to all humanity during and after.

Allow me to leave it on this note until after MS IGLOO Apocalypse 0079.

My right eye is still kind of sore from the lack of sleep, but after an hour of turning restlessly on the bed, I decided to get up anyway. For one, I was hungry because it's been almost 17 hours since my last meal (which explains the double portion I'm cooking right now to make up for it). I also had a hard time sleeping because memories of my childhood kept coming back and occupying my mind.

So I've decided to start another weekly project about the bits and pieces in my childhood. I had always thought that my childhood experience (mainly school life since school took up such a big chunk for students in Taiwan) was similar to that of everybody else's. I've since realized that not only are those experiences foreign in the literal sense to my fellow Canadians, they are likely alien to people that grew up in the digital age. But that's really just an excuse for me to take a trip down the memory lane 'cause I'm getting old. XD

Here's a preview of some of the topics I would like to talk about:
- cleaning duties in school
- school uniforms
- subjects taught in school
- after school activities
- commuting to schools
- stray dogs & co. in the neighbourhood
- cartoon/anime
- NES
- etc.

My first impulse was to name the project 余憶童稚時("back in my childhood years") or "Once upon a time", but all my labels are single words, so I decided to go with Mukashibanashi(昔話), which means stories of old. Japanese is such a convenient language. XD Due to the time constraint, I will start it after my birthday. 30 is as good a time for an old one to start reflecting back on one's memories.

On a side note, I did a quick calculation on the amount of Gundam stuff I'll need to go through if I were to finish them all before I turn 30. It's very obviously that I will never make it at the current speed I'm going. I think I might have to try and pull a few Higurashi, where I was so scared that I didn't want to drag the series over the week and get haunted by the images, so I gobbled through it (26 episodes) over a weekend. Same thing with Higurashi Kai (24 episodes), although it was really not necessary for Kai. Yup, I think a couple Higurashi is definitely in order.

Soramimi Project #2: Nakai Kazuya 中井和哉

(I've decided to rename my seiyuu project to Soramimi, which means mishearing or just hearing things in Japanese, since recognizing seiyuu usually takes a lot of practices as well as trial and error.)

Now on to the main topic today, which is a rather big one. Let's start with the standard breakdown list.

First heard: Peacemakers Galil and Socom (Scrapped Princess)

First noticed: Tres Iqus (Trinity Blood)/Sugawara Fumiya (Hatarakiman)

Memorable characters: Mugen (Samurai Champloo), Date Masamune (Sengoku BASARA), Witz Sou (Gundam X), Hijikata Toushirou (Gintama), Etou Kouzou (Nodame Cantabile), Gray Ringmarc (Clover no Kuni no Alice)

Image character: Mugen (Samurai Champloo)/Date Masamune (Sengoku BASARA)

Discernment rate: very high; visual

Number of works seen: 22 (2009.11.25)

Scrapped Princess was one of my earliest anime and I wasn't able to recognize seiyuu very well at that time. Nakai-san's roles in Scrapped Princess didn't really have a lot of screen time, so I claim full excuse for not noticing him then. I also heard him in other shows such as Gundam SEED, Inuyasha and Juuni Kokuki, but they were mostly very small roles. I became interested in his voice in Trinity Blood, but he played a cyborg and talked in a monotone so it was difficult to tell of his acting skill. Then I picked up Hatarakiman because of Tanaka Rie, and I started to take note of Nakai Kazuya.

What really made me pinned to his voice was Mugen in Samurai Champloo, an unruly and wild vagabond who trusts no one but himself and his sword, yet he would give his all and fight to the very end for something he believes in. I haven't seen enough Gintama to be familiar with Hijikata, but both Witz and Masamune resemble Mugen in a way, except that they're more like the grown-up version who knows the value of working together with fellow comrades rather than relying solely on one's own strength.

I haven't heard very much of Nakai's cooler voice in anime, but his otome game characters are must play for me if they're available. I recently finished the DS game Dual Love which has Nakai as one of the playable characters, and I endured (except for Namikawa's route) going through all five paths just so I could unlock his character. BTW, unless you're into seiyuu, I don't recommend Dual Love to anyone... Nakai's character Gray isn't very eye catching amongst the colourful cast in Clover no Kuni no Alice, but he is easily the most reasoned voice in the crooked world. He ended up as my 2nd favourite character beside Blood.

Nakai-san's got a nice low and husky voice on screen, though his original voice is softer and more laid back. While he plays a lot of rowdy characters, he is also good with cool and gentle roles. From what I can remember, his characters are usually the straightforward type that live in their own pace and prefer not to trouble those around them. It's pretty easy to like his characters even though they may have some oddities. Oh, and for some reason they give me the impression that they are easily clueless around girls they like. XD

I couldn't decide between Mugen and Masamune for the image character for Nakai-san because both have very strong persona and represent his hot-bloodedness well, so I listed them both. There's a couple seiyuu who's played a wide range of remarkable characters, so there will be times when I have multiple roles listed for image character, or none at all if the seiyuu is just too good with any character.

I'd say my discernment rate for Nakai Kazuya is very high. I've been able to tell him every time since I started take note of seiyuu; hasn't missed so far. He's also one of the few seiyuu that I know by face. While he's not the fashionable type, his simpleness and faithfulness to his wife are pretty cute so I like him as a person as well. :)

Even though Nakai Kazuya is not one of my top two male seiyuu (I seriously doubt anyone can overthrown Ishida Akira and Seki Tomokazu), but he is definitely on my growing list of favourite seiyuu. I look forward to hear more of him in anime and games (if only I have at least a PS2...)!

A few days ago I saw a post on a forum somewhere mentioning the Hatsune Miku theme for the Google Chrome browser, which in term reminded me of Persona for Firefox. I've been embellishing my Firefox with Groovy Blue for almost two years now, so I figured it might be a good time to check out the gallery for other personas. Surely there's good ones out there!

And boy, was I in for a big surprise when I saw thousands of flavours in the gallery. I managed to browse through the entire Abstract section but couldn't bring myself to do the same for all the other sections except for the smaller ones.

There's a lot of very beautiful personas, but not all are practical and even fewer fit my Firefox both functionally and aesthetically. First of all, my Windows theme is set to classic, and the base colour is various shades of green. Then I have my Firefox icons as small, took out the search bar and extended the address bar all the way. Lastly I have a fully loaded Bookmark Toolbar. So the ideal persona needs to look good for the shorter height in the toolbar area and blend in with the Windows colours well, and it must show the texts and maybe fav icons in the Bookmark Toolbar clearly.

After hours and hours of trying out new outfits, I decided on the following personas and have them randomly displayed:
- Groovy Blue
- Firefox B
- Cosmic
- Blurry Blotches
- Watergarden II
- New Colors 1
- Floral Abstract
- concrete
- Aurora Sky
- Firefox Pierrinho
- Light & Blue

Some of these only have single-digit active daily users, which is a shame. If you use Persona for Firefox, definitely give them a try!

---

I was going to keep this post strictly about Firefox, but I couldn't help to not squeeze in a few paragraphs about a very funny series I am watching right now. The name of that very funny series is Gundam ZZ.

Yes, you read it right. It's a Gundam series (November is Gundam month, remember?), part of the UC timeline series, no less. Not only is Haman's carefully(?) brought up apprentice a complete Haman-worshipping idiot (I cracked up so many times at the literally rosy flashbacks of Haman handing down to Mashymre the know-hows), even Yazan, one of the most persistent and skillful pilots in Zeta, turned into a comedian with acts of running and falling into a manhole, or knocking down the main cannon of Endora as it was ready to fire at Argama with his fallen MS.

Of course, it's still early so things can easily turn ugly as Argama enters into space and encounters new and more serious enemies. Hopefully this won't be the last of Marshmellow (XD) and Yazan. Somehow I have a feeling that Yazan might make it through the series as long as he doesn't join Haman...

Protagonist-wise, Judau is a new kind of Gundam pilot for me, with his street-smart fighting style, bright personality and close bond with his group of merry-men. Very different from the somewhat introverted lone-wolf Gundam protagonists from some other series, especially Amuro and Kamille that preceded him.

機動戦士Ζガンダム Mobile Suit Z Gundam

2nd Gundam series in the UC lineup. Frankly, I am still not quite sure what to make of the whole thing.

I entered the world of Zeta knowing just Kamille's and Four's names and the faces of a few of the women, and that SEED Destiny is supposedly modelled after Zeta to some degree like SEED was after First. Now I'm leaving the world of TV Zeta (the TV series aired in 1985) with names and faces of various characters but not the sense of the world situation. There is still the world of New Zeta (the three New Translation movies from 2005) which I heard are not just rehash and re-edits of the TV series like the three movies for the First Gundam. Hopefully I'll be able to understand Zeta a bit more after watching New Zeta.

The first half of TV Zeta integrated quite a few people from First and showed the changes they went through over the years. It's always fascinating to see Char interacting with the former crew of White Base. Because they used to fight each other so fiercely, they can now understand each other and work together. Yesterday's foe is today's comrade. This is indeed fitting for them. And Kamille seemed to have a older-female-complex (I wouldn't call it Oedipus complex because he didn't feel that way toward his own mother) and it took me quite a while to accept him.

The second half gradually turned chaotic with the addition of Haman's force and Scirocco's movement, which is fine withe me until they started fighting psychically in the literal sense. While the second to last episode made me believe this was what set the tradition(?) of important characters dying before the last episode for the Gundam franchise, I was rather baffled when Kamille/Zeta Gundam started gathering life forces and emotions in the last battle against Scirocco. I think TV Zeta probably predates Dragon Ball Z, but I couldn't help but blurted out "元気玉かよ？！" when I saw it.

I seriously thought Jerid would survive the series, with Jerid becoming something akin to Kamille's best rival, especially seeing how he's lived through so many failed missions and piloted so many different models. Katz not making it was a bit of an upset for me since I saw him as a child in First, and he wasn't even shot down in battle, but having Kamille snapped at the end probably came as the biggest shock. I guess he's relied too much on his New Type psych power and finally overloaded his mind.

Minerva is practically the predecessor of Mariemaia from Endless Waltz, though I didn't expect her to return when Dozle sent his wife and daughter away to safety in First. Seeing how she wasn't shown dead, maybe she'll appear again in a later series?(I just found that she's the female lead in the Gundam Unicorn novel series, which will have an OVA series next year!)

While First has a straightforward focus and is very much character-driven, Zeta adopts a multi-facet view, showing the inner workings and conflicts of various forces, and is more plot-driven. The efforts of individual characters, while still significant, aren't as crucial in the grander scale of things in Zeta. As a result, the protagonist Kamille doesn't leave as strong an impression as Amuro.

Beside the ever present New Type motif (and Cyber-New Type in the case of Zeta), the desire to be loved seems to be one of the themes of Zeta. The ratio and frequency of female characters in Zeta may even be the highest out of all the Gundam series, and every single one of these women is a fighter. With the exception of Fa (Fraw and Mirai don't count since they're happily married), almost all the female cast expressed, either openly or implied, their logic on the topic of love, as well as their value as being seen as women. Kamille's development is also heavily shaped by the women around him.

I feel that it took Kamille much longer to become independent because most people around him are experienced adults and both human and material resources weren't lacking, where White Base had to fight through the most difficult situations by itself with nothing but an all-teens green crew before finally joining the Federation force.

Mecha-wise, there's again a few new designs as in First. I like the design of Gundam Mk-II better than Zeta, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Qubeley and Hyaku Shiki. I learned of Qubeley from the SD Gundam games back in the NES days and the one-page manga in SD Gundam model kits, and Hyaku Shiki from the SD Gundam 4-koma manga that I used to read when I was little. I was so intrigued by Qubeley's design that it left quite an impression on me. One day when I finished a chemistry exam early during high school, I decided to start doodling while waiting. The fluid line of its head immediately came to mind and I did a sketch of one of my original creatures based on Qubeley's head design. I also liked the fox form of Bound-Doc.

Originally, I was planning to watch New Zeta after TV Zeta, but I think it might be better if I watch the UC series in the chronological order (yeah, I'll have to re-watch Char's Counterattack now that I have the knowledge of First under my belt, but that'll happen next year). Next in line will be ZZ Gundam!

Starting in November, beside my somewhat futile attempt at completing the Gundam Quest, I've also started a little pet project on another of my interested topics: seiyuu.

Using the list of seiyuu on wikipedia, I'll select one seiyuu to talk about every week. The method of selection is done scientifically with the help of a die. Really, it's nothing but scientific. I even have a chart drawn out for it. After a controlled entropy experiment, I'll just go down the list for the selected row and write about the first name I recognize to some degree.

For this pilot project demonstration, the lucky(?) seiyuu is: Yao Kazuki (矢尾一樹)! *applauds*

I actually haven't heard a lot of Yao-san, but his voice is really unique and I learned to recognize it right away.

First heard: Tawara Bunshichi (Tenjo Tenge)

First noticed: Tawara Bunshichi (Tenjo Tenge)

Memorable characters: Tawara Bunshichi (Tenjo Tenge), Dominikov (MURDER PRINCESS), Moroha (Sousei no Aquarion)

Image character: Tawara Bunshichi (Tenjo Tenge)

Discernment rate: somewhat high

Number of works seen: 15 (2009.11.25)

It's probably obvious that Yao-san=Bunshichi for me. XD Yao-san's performance as Bunshichi was so impressive, that even in a show full of high level seiyuu such as Tenjo Tenge, he stood out as one of the significant characters. I liked his Dominikov as well. That cute little skeleton man with a big heart. I shed a few tears when he disappeared...

I'd say my discernment rate for Yao Kazuki is somewhat high. I can recognize him in most works he appears in, but the rate is not high or very high because I might not had been able to tell that he's Judau if I hadn't known before hand...

Hopefully I'll be able to hear his Judau soon. I was surprised to see him playing the protagonist in a Gundam series, but I definitely look forward to it. As soon as I finish those Zeta Gundam DVDs...

---

My little seiyuu project will be something similar to the above. There will be times when I don't have a lot to say (such as today), but there will be times when I can't stop myself, especially when it comes to some of the big names.

On a side note, I realized yesterday that the Victory Gundam episodes I got were RAWs. Even though it's still in the UC timeline, it's very very remotely connected to the original Gundam's world. So I'll have to re-learn a lot of the terms. It'll be a welcoming challenge to tackle a hard and heavy series with my passing listening level. I can understand Zeta reasonably fine without reading the subtitles, so I'm hoping the same when I get to Victory Gundam.

I'm so far behind schedule on my Gundam Quest that I've considered giving up the whole idea. It was really just a whim anyway. But, going down without a fight isn't my style, so as a last resort, I've decided to make the month of November a Gundam-only month. In short, I'm putting everything else on hold and the only shows I'll watch would be Gundam.

So I spent the whole night watching the zanpakutou arc of Bleach, since it'll be nothing but sci-fi starting today.

Here's the current standing. We'll see how far I can get by the end of the month.

BTW, for the ones available in R1 DVD, I'm watching them on DVD instead of fansub for the video quality. I'm getting used to a lot of the mech and military terms now that I can almost go by without looking at the subtitles. It disorients me occasionally when the sentence I hear and see is in reverse order due to the difference in grammar. In this case, I just go by what I hear.

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム *A
機動戦士ガンダムI *N/A
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編 *N/A
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア *B+
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争 *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 *A
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム *B~B+
新機動戦記ガンダムW *N/A
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz *N/A
機動新世紀ガンダムX *B-
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED *A-~A
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY *B-
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

劇場版BLEACH Fade to Black 君の名を呼ぶ

Ever since I saw the CM at the end of the second film, I have been wanting to see this. It brought joy and frustration to me at the same time. On the one hand, I was happy to know that the film would focus on the bond between Rukia and Ichigo. On the other hand, since it was when the DVD of the second film just came out in Japan, I was saddened by the fact that I would have to wait another year before the DVD of the third film will be out in Japan. The year's wait has finally ended! :D

As expected, Fade to Black is full of emotions and actions. Despite the new characters (I hesitated a bit when I noticed Hirano Aya, but it turned out all right), this fits the canon perfectly like the 2nd film, The DiamondDust Rebellion. I hope they continue to involve Kubo Tite every time when original contents are created, not just character design.

Rukia is my favourite character in Bleach out of the whole charming cast. She is nowhere near as strong in terms of fighting calibre as the majority of people around her, but there is few who can surpass her on inner strength. She's got her share of unfortunate past and raw deal in life, but rather than being crushed by the weight of them, she's overcome them time and again. Because of what she's gone through and experienced, she understands the pain of those in similar situations and willingly reaches out to help and support.

To Ichigo, Rukia changed his world. She saved him and his family at the price of her own life, knowing that she would be condemned according to Soul Society's law. She gave him the ability to save those he cared about, something he's always wanted to but often lacked the means to. She always put his and everyone's benefits before her own, giving out selflessly. She is so much smaller in size compared to him, but he never ceased to admire her spirit and has been encouraged by her many times. The phrase on the covers of the official books SOULs and VIBEs really sums it up well (just ignore the grammar): the rain drags black sun (Ichigo) down, but the rain dried by white moon (Rukia).

To Rukia, Ichigo changed her horizon. He taught her what it's like being a human, to feel and to care. He offers his helping hand to those in need, even when she rejected and refused him. For her, he went through hell and back so she could be free. Free from the threats to life, free from the cage in the noble family name of Kuchiki which prevented those around her to express their feelings for her, free from the chains that she had placed around herself after the Kaien incident.

Actually, the movie didn't really go into too much detail on the relationship between Rukia and Ichigo beside the few brief flashbacks, but I think it is definitely an underlying theme. That's why Ichigo was able to remember Rukia, even though he had known her for the shortest period of time than all the people from Soul Society. The fact that the shinigami forgot about Ichigo due to the erase of Rukia's existence in their mind is a nice touch. Ichigo has played a vital and groundbreaking role in shaping the current Soul Society, yet Rukia is the only connection between him and the people of Soul Society.

The siblings are the enemies in this movie, but they are not the bad guys. To them, Rukia is also their world. They shared a time with Rukia when she was still living in rukongai, but that short time of happiness was snatched away from them by the hallow-possessed shinigami. For them, their time stopped then, with Rukia being their only world. That's why they would go to any length to be with her alone. At the end, Rukia gave them a new world and names, mending their parting souls that had been broken for the past hundred years.

One thing I really liked about Fade to Black is the focus on characters. Rather than trying to fit all the characters in there, only a handful have considerable screen time and a few have just a short but important scene. There's no squeezing in Ichigo's friends in the Real World for appearance's sake, and many of the named (read: people of some importance) shinigami didn't make it on screen. This creates certain focal points and provides insights on the various characters involved. It also subtly separates those with brains (Urahara, Byakuya, Hitsugaya) and those that think more with their body (Renji, Ikkaku). XD

The credit roll features a very well done moving slide show of some of the zanpokutou and Porno Graffitti's song. The slide show is a clever play of plain yet bold colours and silhouettes, starting with Zangetsu and Sodenoshirayuki and ending with a fully hued Zangetsu in bankai form. I'm about to start the zanpokutou arc in the anime so this is the perfect PV for it. I don't usually get excited about fillers, but this seems like an interesting one.

On a side note, I got the R1 DVD for the 2nd film the other day, thanks to my new best friend Amazon.ca. I wanted to re-watch it again on DVD but decided to wait until after I finish my Gundam quest. After a series of ordering frenzy, I am holding off the purchases for now until after the winter. Taking a stroll to the post office in -40°C and trying not to slip on ice while walking against the chilling wind is not my idea of fun. Let us meet again under more favourable weather, my new best friend.

Speaking of fillers, I was quite pleased that I was able to get the Bleach DVD boxsets for the whole Soul Society arc without getting stuck with any Bound arc episodes. Why couldn't they do the same for Death Note? I just want the parts up to L's death. The two items shall continue to sit in my wish list until I make up my mind...

Häagen-Dazs! This legendary premium ice cream product line has been on my radar for over ten years, but I never got a taste of it. Until now.

Friend-I mentioned that there's now a green tea flavour of Häagen-Dazs, and I remembered seeing a special for the brand in the flyer. So I decided to indulge myself and jumped in... Green tea & honey vanilla is the best ice cream I've ever had! XD

Too bad the store doesn't carry the strawberry flavour that I used to see lauded on Haniwa-san's diary. I wanted to try a different flavour to see how it compares to other brands, but most of them were chocolate types (chocolate, chocolate chip, chocolate cookie dough, chocolate peanut butter) and few plain flavours. What's with all the chocolates?! I like my chocolate in chocolate form, not ice cream...

I just did a quick browse of the flavours on the official Häagen-Dazs website. They list Green Tea, but no Green tea & honey vanilla... I want to try the green tea one! Why doesn't the store carry it. T__T

---

On a completely different topic, I finished the first Mobile Suit Gundam movie and started on the Zeta Gundam DVDs! :)

Apparently the First Gundam movies (three in total) I have are the special editions that were re-voiced when they released it in 2000. The footage was original without any tweaking or re-mastering, but the audio was upgraded to 5.1 surround so the sound effects sounded very modern.

It was interesting watching the first movie right after finishing the First Gundam series due to the 20-year gap for the seiyuu. The change in voice was, of course, more evident in female seiyuu than in male seiyuu. In the First, most of the seiyuu sounded green in the beginning and grew to be more mature and assured as the series progressed. In the movie, everyone sounded mature to start. Amuro occasionally resembled Seiya, and Kycilia could easily move on to be Talia as-is. I doubted myself for a split second when I heard Fukuyama Jun as one of the White Base operators, but some digging around ja.wikipedia proved that I wasn't losing it. His name is not listed under the character, whose name I've finally learned to be Marker Clan, but the role is listed on his wikipedia page. I think he might be the youngest seiyuu in the cast for the special edition. Btw, I heard Casios from Saint Seiya when the new Gihren Zabi spoke. XD

Oh, remember the little complaint I had against Athrun regarding Haro making? I did a little bit of reading on ja.wikipedia (seriously, I think I spend way more time on there than I do on Niconico or Google) and found that Amuro did not make Haro. It's actually an off-the-shelf toy for kids. Amuro, however, made some major modifications on Haro, which turned Haro into the cutest thing. I'll give Athrun credit for making Haro from scratch and adding in the lock picking function (beats me why he would do that) and the Kansai dialect, but the mini-Haros are no match to Amuro's Haro in terms of cuteness!

From what Bright told Camille in Zeta, the new commercial model of Haro, probably manufactured after the One Year War ended, had the names of Amuro and Bright programmed in. The new Haro, however, sounds flat and is still not as cute as Amuro's Haro.

Speaking of Zeta Gundam, I haven't quite found any outstanding characters that didn't appear in First, except for Emma and Lila (wait, she's dead...) Still can't bring myself to like Camille yet. Hopefully he grows into a decent character before meeting Four, otherwise I would feel sorry for Four. Heard that she's a great woman, even if the love between the two of them is not meant to be.

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム *A
機動戦士ガンダムI *N/A
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア *B+
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争 *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 *A
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム *B~B+
新機動戦記ガンダムW *N/A
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz *N/A
機動新世紀ガンダムX *B-
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED *A-~A
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY *B-
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

機動戦士ガンダム Mobile Suit Gundam

There! I finished the classic of classics, the legendary First Gundam! *blows horn*
No wonder the last scene of SEED ended like that...

Now I understand why so many fans of the original Gundam stood up and cried foul when SEED appeared on the scene. However, I still think SEED stands up pretty well on its own and has its share of plot devices and some memorable (in both good and bad ways) characters.

The First Gundam is essentially a record of growth and development of the crew on White Base as they tumble through the chaos of wars and battles. Out of the whole cast that regularly access the bridge, only four people (Bright, Ryu, and the two operators that sit up there whose names I never remembered) were originally from the military. The rest are all civilians that never knew the cruelness of war first hand. During the four months that they were on-board the White Base, these young men and women saw life and death, fought down their own fears and weaknesses, went through the sweetness and bitterness of life, and finally overcame the ordeals and came to understand each other in a New Type-like fashion.

One thing I really like about the First is that while Amuro is clearly the protagonist, the other characters are not just there to fill the screen. Each and every one of them plays an important role and helps shape one another. Even Kai, who was acting even more spoiled than Amuro in the beginning, turned out to be a great man. On the Zeon side, there's also remarkable characters such as Ramba Ral and Crowley Hamon. Of course, there's the formidable and charismatic Red Comet Char. But no matter how much one grows or matures, there is no perfect person in First. There are people of great prowess and gallantry, but there is no hero figure. Even New Types are not that much different from the other people.

Speaking of which, the only thing I have complaints about is the eerie psychic brain wave battles between Seiya and Athena Amuro and Lalah. That was really weird for an Old Type like me and had me blinking a couple times before deciding not to think too much about it. I do like the "awakening" of the White Base crew at the end, though, even if it's just temporarily. After all, these people had come a long way by sticking together through all the highs and lows in support of each other.

It's a shame that the White Base got destroyed at the end. I'm not a mechanical person and don't typically find ships attractive, so I usually ignore the design of ships and vessels. I first came across White Base in the Famicom game SD Gundam 3 Eiyuu Senki and thought it was a cute horse. It even became a Pegasus in the Knight Gundam chapter. XD You can probably imagine my delight when I finally got to see the real White Base in action in First. ;)

Mecha wise, I don't really have anything to say except that Zeon sure was busy developing all those similarly ugly looking mobile suits. They all have similar names, too. No wonder they needed the mine resources on Earth (which reminds me, what's with the ceramic vase that M'Quve was obsessed with?) It must had cost them fortunes to churn out all these prototypes. I vote for Zaku on Zeon's MS, though! On a side note, I got a Zeong from a gashapon a long time ago and thought it odd to be legless. Turns out nothing was left out from the gashapon and it really is legless. It's piloted by Char in the last battle, too!

Oh, and HARO is the cutest thing! XD
Athrun, you should seriously learn from Amuro on the science of Haro making. Those colourful bouncing spheres that do nothing but utter the word "Haro" are bootleg Haros!

On a side note, there's a few other seiyuu neta beside the crossed out one above. I found it ironic that Char should shoot down Kycilia Zabi, since Gilbert ended up dying in the arms of Talia in SEED Destiny. The seiyuu of Kycilia and Amuro were enemies in Saint Seiya (Shaina and Seiya), but they were married before. Then Amuro's seiyuu married the seiyuu of Miharu. Char's seiyuu also married the seiyuu of Matilda before. Of course, there's the seiyuu of Bright (R.I.P., Suzuoki Hirotaka-san) who played Shiryu in Saint Seiya.

I've ranked the First Gundam the same as the 08th MS Team, which is the highest out of all the Gundam series I've seen so far, followed closely by SEED. Definitely recommended for any Gundam fan.

I added the ranks I gave to the series to the Quest list. There's years in between viewings of the various series so the ranks aren't really relative to each other. The only ones with no rank are Wing and Endless Waltz, which I watched before I had broadband internet and re-picked up anime after at least a 8-year blank period. Yup, I watched them in English on YTV. I'll update the ranks for them after I watch the series on DVD in Japanese.

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム *A
機動戦士ガンダムI
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア *B+
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争 *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 *A
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム *B~B+
新機動戦記ガンダムW *N/A
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz *N/A
機動新世紀ガンダムX *B-
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED *A-~A
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY *B-
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

To a lot of people, my Mum included, ACG is nothing but an escape from life and a waste of time, so I always make it a point to mention something learned from watching an anime or reading a manga. I mean, come on, why else would a non-scientifically minded person like me knew about Lagrangian Points or space debris before actually learning them in school?

Of course, science isn't the only things I've picked up from my ACG hobby. There's also cultures, languages, trivia, history, biographies, etc. Here, I would like to demonstrate this learning-from-ACG by an example today: Mobile Suit Gundam episode 29.

The battlefield has switched to South America when White Base moved in to join the Federation base there. Throughout the episode, there's various animals and plants shown, some for only a second or so. Being the animal fan that I am, I couldn't help but pause the video to start googling the animals. 1.5 hours passed by the time I was done with the 25-minute episode.

Here's a short list of animals and plants I noticed while watching the episode
- Scarlet ibis (they reminded me of vultures for some reason, even though their diets are far from similar)
- Capybara (I just stared at the screen when I first saw them 'cause I had no idea what they were. One of the websites I visited showed a video clip where a female anaconda preyed on a capybara. I can feel her appetite, for I happened to be eating dinner, too)
- Morpho butterflies (I have yet to find the species to match the colouring patterns shown, though)
- Arapaima (the whole Google spree started when I saw the Zock swam by this living fossil looking fish. I was a little disappointed when I found the real thing to be not as ancient looking as the one shown)
- Spider monkey (not sure what kind of monkey was shown, but this is the closest I can find. I'm not interested in Primates...)
- Amazon River dolphin (wonder why it's not the more famous pink dolphins...)
- Curare (blowguns!)
- Red mangrove (just like the ones in Northern Taiwan!)
- Hoatzin (I got blown away when I read that they have no natural enemy because their meat tastes foul and they stink XD)

That's my biology lesson of the day. XD

機動新世紀ガンダムX After War Gundam X

Frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about this series... It's an AU series, yet it's almost entirely Newtype-centric. It seems to be paying homage to the First Gundam (the pink film bubbles for taping up air leaks in space, too!) in a number of areas, but at the same time doesn't construct a realistic enough world view and stand points to support the ethereal concept of Newtype as depicted in the series. The anti-climax at the end to end all talks of Newtype kind of made me want to demand a refund for all the hours I had invested in the show. Luckily(?), I haven't got to the Newtypes yet in the First Gundam and was thus able to sit through all these Newtype nonsense in X.

Visual-wise, X is pretty consistent throughout. The character designs are okay, though sometimes some of the characters look like they belong in Wing. The mecha designs I never really got used to, except for GX, Air Master Burst, and Leopard Destroy. Double X's face looks like a catfish to me. XD It looks nice when it opens up the reflectors getting ready for the Satellite Cannon, though.

The story jumps quite a bit from genre to genre, so there's times when it's building up something good, and times when it's barely tolerable. One can easily get distracted with all the "side stories", but I personally find some of the side stories to be better told than the main plot line. Of course, that has a lot to do with the characters involved.

While the two protagonists are, without fail as in many robot anime, 15-year-old early teens, all the other characters are either late teens (which look and act like young adults than teenagers) or grown adults. This gives the show a good balance character wise and provides a more mature outlook on things. I didn't like Garrod in the beginning and thought him to be an annoying kid, but he grew so much that I ended up liking him in the end. Can't say the same for Tiffa (her psychic power and manners irritate me all the way), but she's opened up quite a bit, too. My favourite characters are Wits and Kid. Tonya is cute, and I totally support Wits x Tonya. XD

Unlike the other Gundam series, there is no last boss figure in X. The closest candidates, the Frost brothers whom I considered a dark force behind the scenes, failed to level up to the last boss status and remained just a dark force behind the scenes. Speaking of which, the last scene where the two brothers (one in a wheelchair and the other wheeling it) stood at a short distance away just made me want to orz. I see. So this is the so-called pseudo-ending, where they simply leave things there and pretend that it's intended and up to the audience for interpretation...

Considering the year of airing, X didn't have many big name seiyuu playing the main characters, but a lot of the seiyuu that appeared in it, even just for one episode, are now well known in the industry. X is also what made me realize the high Gundam pilot ratio in Sengoku BASARA because this is the only series where Nakai Kazuya and Morikawa Toshiyuki piloted a Gundam.

If you're confused at the lack of coherency of the post, that's because that's exactly how I feel about Gundam X. I'm just glad I finished it and can move on to the next one. By that, I mean going back to the First Gundam. XD

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムI
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム
新機動戦記ガンダムW
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz
機動新世紀ガンダムX
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

I recently made a new best friend, and its name is amazon.ca. XD

When I was on the west coast, I thought those people "back east" must get to have whatever they want 'cause that's where everything goes. In a sense, that's not wrong, provided you're within the Greater Toronto or maybe even Montreal. Ottawa, albeit just a few hours away from the two cities, is on a different scale. It's almost as bad as, if not worse than, Surrey.

While Ottawa is a much larger city than Surrey, it's not close to its rich and fancy neighbours like Surrey. This makes Ottawa a rather undesirable location if one wants good East Asian food (apparently there's no good Chinese or Japanese restaurants here from what I'm told) or gets a fix of ACG.

Without my usual sources readily available (Best Buy, London Drugs, Iwase Bookstore, Book Off), I was forced to explore other options. Online shopping was my conclusion, and thus I began searching. Since I work during the day and wouldn't be able to receive any delivery, anyone that returns the product right away when not unable to deliver wouldn't work for me. After some disappointing results, I decided to try Amazon, and I'm very happy with my choice.

I've received one shipment so far (Planetes boxset and Bleach 2nd Season boxset) and am planning to pick up a second shipment tomorrow after church. I've placed four orders this past week or so, but because there's pre-orders, my stuff will come in about six shipments. So far I've only ordered anime DVDs, but that might expand to include games in the future.

Right now I'm also hoping to make friends with amazon.co.jp, but that will depend on how the shipping work. The guy replied back that they use either DHL or FedEx for shipping to Canada, so I'll probably have to check their websites to confirm my options. If everything works out, I will be able to order books and CDs from Japan!

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the only things they would ship outside of Japan. In other words, I can't buy games, software, model kits, or figurines from them. I really am willing to pay the high price to buy the games in Japanese, too. Ah well, I guess I'll have to make do with books and CDs... To compensate the high rate of shipping, I can only order once I pick out a good number of items. Of course, everything's pending until I figure out the shipping dilemma.


On a completely different note, I decided to try this free Flickr Pro thing that Rogers provides... which I might get around to tomorrow.

You see, I had a Flickr account that merged with my Yahoo! account when Yahoo! took over Flickr. Then I forgot about both my Flickr and Yahoo! account for a looooong time. Due to past experiences, I figured that my Yahoo! account is probably suspended or deleted due to inactivity anyway. Then when I signed up with Rogers, I created a Rogers Yahoo! account upon activation.

Obviously I'd want to add to my existing Flickr account rather than creating a new one, so I logged into my Yahoo! account. I was expecting my inbox to be empty, so you can imagine my surprise when the number beside the inbox said 6xx. What the--?!?!?!?!

Yahoo.co.jp wiped out everything I had in my mail box when I didn't login after certain number of months. Yahoo.com didn't do it for some reason. So now I have literally hundreds of emails to go through. Luckily the majority of it are just newsletters where older issues can be ignored and deleted. When I dug back far enough to the first unread message, it was dated in October, 2008. Yeah, I haven't checked my Yahoo! email for almost a year. (Sorry, Eddie, I missed your happy birthday message...)

When I'm done with the mail box sometime tomorrow, I'll try the Flickr thing and see if it transfers over to my Rogers Yahoo! account to get the Pro upgrade. If things proceed smoothly, I might consider using Flickr alongside my Picasa web albums. Since it features unlimited storage, I might even use it as my primary photo album. We'll see.

For some reason, I couldn't get myself to watch Gundam during the week (lack of concentration?) so my Gundam marathon was halted after the Labour Day long weekend. I did manage to squeeze in a couple episodes of Gundam X during the week to somewhat make up the lost time, so The Quest is still within reach for now.

While I was watching Gundam X, it suddenly hit me how many of the seiyuu from the Sengoku BASARA anime have piloted a Gundam. A quick trip to the Wikipedia led me to compile a brief list of the Gundam pilots from Sengoku BASARA.

中井和哉 (伊達政宗) - X
保志総一朗 (真田幸村) - SEED, SEED DESTINY
森川智之 (片倉小十郎) - (V), (W), X, (0083)
玄田哲章 (武田信玄) - (1st), (ZZ), (G), 08th MS, (0083)
子安武人 (猿飛佐助) - (V), (G), W, SEED, SEED DESTINY, (0083), (F91), (∀)
朴璐美 (上杉謙信) - ∀, (SEED Special Edition), (00)
森田成一 (前田慶次) - SEED DESTINY
大川透 (徳川家康) - (SEED), (Z Movie I-III)
石野竜三 (長曾我部元親) - (V), W
中原茂 (毛利元就) - W
辻谷耕史 (浅井長政) - (0080), F91
藤原啓治 (松永久秀) - (V), (G), (W), (X), (08th MS), (00)
速水奨 (明智光秀) - (SEED ASTRAY), (08th MS)
若本規夫 (織田信長) - (1st Movie I), (F91)

(Parenthesis denotes series where the seiyuu plays a character but does not pilot a Gundam. No, Zaku and MA are not Gundam.)

I think the next closest show (Gundam series don't count) in terms of how many of the seiyuu pilots a Gundam would be Samurai Deeper Kyo? Or maybe Saiunkoku Monogatari? It might be interesting to do a quick comparison sometime. XD

機動戦士ガンダム Mobile Suit Gundam episode 1-10

Thanks to the folks at Zeonic|Scanlations, I finally got my hands on all 43 episodes of the original Gundam series! The 30-year-old series may not look as pretty as any modern anime, but the digitally remastered R2 DVD stands up so beautifully that it's hardly noticeable. (Bandai, when are you going to release the R1 DVD?!?!)

I watched the first episode last year, but that was all I could get. I was quite moved at that time, and the feeling only intensified today as I watched the first ten episodes.

When I was watching, I couldn't help but mentally compare it with Gundam SEED, which self-proclaimed to be the First Gundam of the 21st century and paid homage to the original series in numerous scenes. While I do quite like SEED, I did find it leaning a bit heavily on the notion of heroism, intentionally or not. The First Gundam, on the other hand, is rather down to earth with the characters and the background settings.

For SEED, in a lot of cases, I paid attention to certain characters because of their seiyuu first and then later extended to the actual characters. For a series featuring so many big name seiyuu, this can be both a good and a bad thing for me. If you take out the seiyuu factor, at the end, only Athrun and Fllay made a strong impression for me character-wise. I kind of lost interest in Kira in the later half after he made peace with everything and became all mighty and invincible. XD

For the First, since I only know three seiyuu out of the whole cast, I was able to fully concentrate on the characters without prejudice. There's surely a lot more development to come seeing I'm only at the tenth episode, but the potentials are already evident. I really like Mirai and think she and Bright would make a great pair. Amuro does whine as rumoured, but he's growing at a steady pace. The scene where Fraw expresses her will to pilot Gundam reminded of a similar scene from SEED, except Fraw and Fllay have very different motives for doing so... Char is certainly quite the charismatic, at the same time being calculating. Klueze (or whatever the official spelling of his name is) isn't as appealing despite his scheming tactics and dark background. The only person capable of measuring up to Char would be Lacus, but let's not divulge to the conspiracy theory here. XD

Anyhow, the 1st Gundam marathon shall continue. I don't think I'll be able to finish the series this long weekend, but definitely within the week. Then I'll be able to finally watch my Zeta Gundam DVDs... -__-

Actually, I set a goal for myself just right this moment: finish all the Gundam anime (minus the SD ones) to date before my birthday this year!

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムI
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム
新機動戦記ガンダムW
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz
機動新世紀ガンダムX
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2

最後って言ったけど、まさかほんとに最後になたとは...

Even though I used the words "last time" in the last post before leaving BC, I did not expect it to really be the last from Coordinator.

Roughly one week after my stuff arrived and the set up of my system, the tragedy happened. I was in the middle of using the computer when it suddenly restarted without warning, only to be stuck on the motherboard splash screen. Nothing I did can get it to go past that screen. After a few reboots (the power button was acting weird as well and would start the system automatically when I released my finger after the 6 seconds or so it took to shut down), the monitor wasn't even able to detect the video signal anymore.

I was overcame by a terrible sense of dread. Here I was, totally new in town and didn't know anyone. Without the computer, I couldn't check the internet for computer shops or try to Google for possible cause and fix. I couldn't even look for bus routes to get to the nearest computer place.

Luckily this was Saturday, and a couple from church was very kind and offered to drive me around town to look for a new computer. After a few stops, I ended up ordering a desktop from PC Cyber. Of course, my biggest concern was being able to get the free upgrade to Windows 7, otherwise I'd stay with XP. The guy at the shop checked for me and assured me it's fine, so I went ahead with the order.

Before I got the computer, I told bro that I think I would hate Vista. Almost a week and a half later, I still think I should have stuck with XP when I ordered the computer. Over half of my programs aren't compatible, and there's just so much quirks and annoyance that I'm still struggling with Vista everyday. Granted, there's a few good things about Vista, namely the ability to control the volume of all running programs individually, copying/moving files seem to be faster than XP, and the local search function actually works. The computer is running faster in general, but I think that's due to the much enhanced hardware specs.

Here's a quick comparison the hardware and software:

[Coordinator]          -> [Sirius]
Intel P4 @ 2.8GHz      -> Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 @ 2.66GHz
512MB DDR              -> 4GB DDR3
120GB + 250GB IDE HDD  -> 500GB SATA HDD + 120GB/250GB IDE HDD
ATI Radeon 9200SE      -> NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Windows XP Pro         -> Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
DVDRW + CDRW           -> DVDRW
AVG + Zone Alarm       -> Rogers Online Protection
Nero 6.0               -> Windows built-in burning
NJ Star Communicator   -> Google Chinese Input + MS Japanese IME

It's obvious it's a pretty bit jump from Coordinator to Sirius. I was already planning to get a new computer either near the end of this year or sometimes next year. By then, Windows 7 would be out, and i7 might be more affordable. The tragedy really happened at a bad time, forcing me to go with Vista... -__-

The software programs listed above are changed due to incompatibility with Vista or Vista 64-bit. Some programs I haven't found an alternative yet and are not listed. I haven't gone through all my programs and devices yet (yeah, I'm lazy...) so there's likely more. If there's more casualty, you'll surely hear me rant. My games better work...

So what did I do during my computer-less days after work, beside the usual chore? I finished watching Bleach DVD Box 1 and picked up my NDS again. I started on ワールド・デストラクション 導かれし意思 (World Destruction: Michibikareshi Ishi) but switched to Final Fantasy IV after a day. There's absolutely nothing wrong with World Destruction. I just got sucked in by FF IV after the initial play.

My only previous experience with the game was FF II for North America, which I learned was an easy type version. The DS version follows the same story line as the original SNES version, but the visuals are completely remade with 3D graphics, and there's event cut scenes with voice over (this is the reason I didn't go with the North American version). Right now I just finished fighting the water archfiend after Cecil transformed into a paladin. The event where Palom and Porom sacrificed themselves almost had me in tears. T__T

While it's more difficult for me to play it in Japanese, especially when I need to look for an item or spell during battle, I find the reading and voice over more engaging and thus allows me to enjoy the experience more. With the increasing number of games that have voice over, I think the few that I have right now (Chrono Trigger, DQ IV & V, FF III) might be the only RPGs I can get here. I'm seriously looking at buying stuff online now. There's NO place to buy Japanese media here, and the few places that sell anime DVD have rather meagre selections. If I can get past the obstacle of having someone there to receive the delivery, I can order anything online to my heart's content (and what my wallet can afford)!

1st post from Ottawa!

My stuff is still on the way (hopefully arriving soon) so this is a special post from Haineko, Mum's laptop. Yeah, she doesn't know about the name. It's only between me and my brother. But even bro sometimes calls it Little Grey 'cause Haineko is too hard for him to remember. For those in the know, this Haineko is the Haineko from Bleach. This laptop has a grey top, hence Haineko. XD

Now back to my life in Ottawa so far... Let's start with the flight here. After a really close call at the airport through the check-in and security check, I boarded the plane just as they started the boarding process (they were actually a bit late). Nothing of interest to note for the flight itself except for the in-flight movie.

On my last trip here, I only watched a few miscellaneous shows about technology and nature and had the Celtic Women on as BGM while I read. On the way back, I read through the whole flight.

This time, I did a quick browse through the movies just in case, but I wasn't really planning to see any. I'm generally not that into movies unless it's of certain genres. After finishing the last 20 or so pages of the first book of Saiunkoku Monogatari, I didn't want to start on the second book immediately and decided to give the movies a try.

First I tried Duplicity since the description seemed somewhat interesting. Cut it when the two protagonists meet in Rome. Then I tried 17 Again... and noticed the Japanese option.

Yup, I went with the Japanese audio track just for the sake of it, and I actually enjoyed it immensely. The movie itself was pretty good, but I think the seiyuu played a big role in this case as well. XD

Out of the whole cast, I recognized both Mikes (Morita Masakazu, Inoue Kazuhiko), Ned (Takagi Wataru), and the principal (Katsuki Masako). It made the whole movie experience that much more fun. XD

But it's not that fun after we got off the plane, as I kinda screwed up, what with all the preparation and stuff before hand, and forgot to book a rental car. Luckily, the hotel I booked is across the street from a big shopping centre and a major transit station so we've managed to get some things done during these past two days. Mum managed to get a hold of a rental car for tomorrow morning, so things should get a little better.

So as one can imagine, we've been eating mostly in the food court in the mall, which isn't exactly what I would call quality food. That should also change once we get that rental car tomorrow.

The apartment unit is a little smaller than what I remembered (we only had at best 5 minutes of viewing on that last day during the previous trip) and a lot smaller than what Mum remembered. It should still hold all the stuff I'm bringing over, though it'll sure be a bit cramped. Meh. It'll work out somehow.

All that's left is for my stuff to arrive and get moved into the unit, and the actual start of my new job. That, and I'm still looking for a church.

Last but not least, I finally got my very first cell phone! It's the same model as bro's, except that his is black and mine's red/black. Just like Guren, my NDS! XD
I named it Guren Type-02(紅蓮弐式), in the same line as Guren. Yeah, yeah, I know Guren is technically Guren Type-02, but Type-02/F1A(紅蓮可翔式) is a bit difficult to say. Let's just let this slide. XD

That's it for now. A pretty lengthy post about nothing really, if I do say so myself... I don't really have the strength and energy to review what I just typed. Let's pretend I'm still having that 3-hr jet lag. XD

最後かも知れないだろ？いや、これで最後だ。だから・・・全部話しておきたいんだ。(半分はFF-X より)

残念ながら、時間がないのであまり話しはできない。ただ、これだけは言う。

Vancouverは私の故里だ！短い間けど、本当によかったと思う。ここに出会た人達、様々の経験、すべて私を育てた。ありがとう！そしてさらばだ！またな！

では、次はOttawaに会いましょう！


This might be the last time? No, this is surely the last time. So I want to tell it all. (Half of the line is from FF-X, in case you're wondering.)

Unfortunately, due to the time constraint, I don't really have the leisure of telling it all. But I'll at least say this.

I consider Vancouver as my home town. It's only been a short while (shorter than planned), but I really treasure it. Everyone I've met here, everything I've experienced here, all these have helped shaping me the way I am now. Thank you, and farewell!

Next time we meet shall be in the little town of Ottawa. XD