買わなイカ？

ドラマＣＤ「ボクたちオトコの娘」

石田さんｗｗｗ
何やってるんですか...orz

いや、石田さんの女声は安定の評判ありから、絶対いけると思う。あの一人七役の大声優だし。
が、オトコの娘としてアイドルデビューはさすがにちょっと…な。

普通の、もしくは一般的のオトコの娘は女性声優がやりますから、男にはコレあまり興味ないでしょう。
どうせ女性向けの計画なら、もっと甘い声とかイケメン声の方が売れるじゃない？
男性声優に女声、これは一体どっち向けかな？
まあ、でも石田さんがいるから、多分買う奴（男も含めて）は少ない。面白そうから。

他の二人はどうかな？
下野は期待するでもいいと思うが、代永の女声はちょっとうんざりかも。ピッチが高いし、あういうのは苦手だ。

おまけ：
ドSな社長。何でここ子安武人の名前を思いつきますかい？ｗｗｗｗ
それはさすがにない。

カレー実験第一弾

Because I'm lazy, people tend to think I don't cook. While it's true I don't like to cook elaborate dishes, I have an interest in feeding myself in my own way. Friend-I left me three packs of curry, which gave me the perfect excuse to perform some experiments.

Experiment #1: Curry fish

Ingredients involved: curry, fish, carrot, cabbage, water, yogourt drink

Steps: I'll leave this to your imagination...

Result: Success!

I didn't have milk on hand (and only green tea flavoured Häagen-Dazs ice cream, which I'm not ever gonna use to cook with), but I thought of the yogourt drinks when I was sipping on one near the end of the experiment. Too bad I didn't think of this sooner and already added enough water, so I only put in 4 oz. of yogourt drink. Moderate amount of coke or sprite might also work?

What? Experiment #1 should be the curry pork hog with apple from last time? That was a perfectly normal dish! Of course it doesn't count as an experiment! XD

For next week's experiment, let's do that! XD

歴史あるの野犬ロマン

I missed last week's ep.8 of WEED and had to make do with connecting the characters and plots by myself. Thinking that eventually I'll need to read the original manga, I headed to ja.wikipedia for a bit more info...

60巻…だと？！

While it's not the longest manga series by a long shot, it would be the longest for me. I think my current record is only at 42 volumes for Dragon Ball. I haven't read that far into Bleach yet, but I should be able to catch up (if I take the time) to vol.48 before the next volume is out.

But really, 60 volumes? How many enemies are out there? I'm hoping they're not all dogs as you can only have so many patterns, and the bears and wolves were defeated in the 1st series Nagareboshi no Gin. How can Ohu be a paradise for the dogs when there's so many wars going on...

And there's also Orion, the sequel to WEED.

どうやら奥羽の男達の物語はまだまだ続きます…

さすがのHD

Almost a year and a half after I got my 32" flat screen TV, I finally got to fully exercise its HD capability. (I know it's only true 720p and upscale for 1080i, but ya know...)

The HDMI cables I mentioned yesterday were waiting for me when I opened my mailbox today. It almost felt like opening the present on Christmas Day! XD

Also waiting in the mailbox was the pick up notice for Bleach box set 7. Since there's only enough space for one order, and both orders arrived on the same day, the mailman decided to leave the bag (cables) and sent the box (Bleach) to the post office for pick up. I would have preferred it this way, too. Good job! XD

I spend a good 2-3 hours watching FF VII: AC Complete and the BD exclusive extras, and I was really impressed with the quality of the HDTV. Now I can't wait to watch other series on BD or play games on my shiny PS3!

You can also tell how far CG animation technology had come along from FF VII: AC Complete to FF XIII (at least the trailer included in the extras).

Now I really want to play Crisis Core. I watched all the cut scene movies online a few years ago, but it's just not the same when there's so much emotions involved. And Dissidia as well, while I'm on this topic. And the new FF IV Complete Collection slated for next year.

The Japanese versions, of course.

I should probably finish playing FF III DS and FF IV DS first, eh...

イッツ・ア・ピーンチ～

I officially have less than 10G of space left on Cygnus. orz

Planning to consume a large amount of stuff over the Christmas weekend, maybe finish a few current series while I'm at it. My goal would be to get Cygnus back up to around 20G or more. Will probably need a focused effort, though, as my HDMI cables might arrive before the weekend and lure me away to start watching my Blu-ray collections instead...

さあ、やるぞ！イッツ・ア・パーンチ！


...I can't really fit イッツ・ア・ペーンチ in anywhere. :x

お嬢様！

え？！
いつの間にか、「ファイアボール」のDVD通常版が発売された！
その値段はちょっと無理やけど～ orz

でもfigmaは絶対欲しい。
お美しいです、お嬢様！

そして何と！新シリーズ「ファイアボール チャーミング」は制作中！
これはちょっとやばいかも？（いい意味で）　
( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

Full Circles

After finishing the J-drama Keizoku 2 SPEC, I wondered if there really would be a movie or not, so I went to ja.wikipedia to check.

In the section under the female lead character, there's a line stating that she uses 死語. Then things just veered from there.

死語→廃語→流行語→新語・流行語大賞→今年の漢字→はやぶさ (in the 2010 entry)

はやぶさ?! Didn't I just hear this term and saw its model in the last episode? Of course I had to check out this はやぶさ.

Hayabusa, code named MUSES-C (Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C) during development, was named after the bird 隼(falcon) for its swift prey snatching technique, since Hayabusa was designed to collect samples in a "touch and go" manner in the time frame of under 1 second.

Coincidentally, Hayabusa was assigned to collect samples from Itokawa, an Apollo asteroid named after the father of Japanese space development and rocket science, Itokawa Hideo. Itokawa also designed the fighter jet pet named Hayabusa back during WW II. While it's not related to the asteroid explorer being named Hayabusa (the asteroid was only known by its provisional designation 1998 SF36 at that time), it just so happened that the space probe with the same name of the fighter jet Itokawa designed was commissioned to go to an asteroid named after Itokawa. これもひとつのロマンかな？

Hayabusa already completed its mission and returned to earth, bringing back samples confirmed to be from the Itokawa asteroid. Further analysis would need to wait until special handling procedures are developed to avoid contamination, so there's still more to come from Hayabusa's successful journey.

お帰りなさい、はやぶさ！七年間お疲れ様！

フン (￣へ￣)

Thought I'd checked on the state of PS2 emulators, hoping that I'd be able to play Japanese PS2 games on PC...

There's nothing straightforward like the old consoles, it seems. The most developed one out there (not even at version 1.0 at this point) requires BIOS dump from the actual PS2. With the region locks, I assume playing Japanese PS2 games would require a Japanese PS2 BIOS.

......If I could get a Japanese PS2 in the first place, I wouldn't even be looking at emulators!!!
（ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴

Given the huge expand of hay stacks out there, it's probably still doable provided I put in the effort and time. But...

オレは誰だと思ってやがる？！世界一の怠け者だ！（ ﾟ Д ﾟ ）
面倒すぎ、無理。ギブ。

It's not as if I am lacking in terms of gaming options anyway. I'll just stick with my PC, NDS, PSP, PS3 (and the NES, SNES, GBA emulators) for now. XD

ああ、忙しい、忙しい～

敗家 pt.2

I racked up another order on Right Stuf... Yeah. orz

Since I ordered most of the things I wanted from the Christmas specials, I was having a bit of trouble making the free shipping threshold this time. After ten seconds of thorough consideration, I cancelled the Bamboo Blade order from Amazon.ca and put it on this one.

The saving on Bamboo Blade is less than $5 so I didn't get it in my last order, but Amazon.ca has yet to obtain the item from their supplier two months after its release (and failed to inform ppl who ordered it, only apologizing after I asked them what the deal was with this). Might as well. Otherwise I might have to wait another couple months before I can get it from Amazon.ca. If even.

Out of the six titles I ordered this time, I've actually only watched two, Bamboo Blade and Escaflowne.

Haven't seen Gundam 00 yet *gasp* but you can't go wrong with it so it's definitely safe. Now I just need Gundam 00 S2 pt.1, preferably the special edition to go with the other three parts I've got, to complete my Gundam 00 collection. I don't care for the manga in the special editions, but they're cheaper than the standard editions when they're on sale. I ordered all parts of season 1 before I discovered Right Stuf, so those are just the standard ones.

Neko-tan, who doesn't buy as much anime, mentioned Jubei-chan 2 many years ago, so it should be good. I believe the fights are supposed to be great, as well as the directing. The DVD extra with Horie Yui trying the Shikage-ryu sword technique should be interesting. XD
It comes as a DVD/CD bundle, though I already have the soundtrack CD. 囧

Peach Girl is based on the shoujo manga of the same name which I read many many years ago. Normally I wouldn't go for anime adaptations like this, but it's really cheap, $10. And the main cast is not bad. *shrug*

Now, I only kind of know the story of CLAMP's infamous X and never read the manga (which is on permanent hiatus). All I know is that it's very emo and a lot of people died, and I don't know how well CLAMP's extravagant art style in their early days would translate to anime. But the seiyuu cast is really good. And it's relatively cheap, $20.
This remix version is bundled with the OST II, which I also already have. 囧

Maybe I'll just sell the two extra soundtracks...

Mukashibanashi chapter 2 昔話第2章

I was going to write about something else, but the end of ep.6 of Bakuman prompted this. That's right, classroom seat arrangements.

In Canada, you pick where you want to sit. But in Taiwan, it's a different story.

In Taiwan, seating plan is assigned for the year. The desks, while just small wooden tables and chairs, are in set spots and only moved for cleaning. The boy-girl alternate seating also means the people on all four sides of you would be of the opposite gender.

Students in a class are given class numbers, often according to birthdays or heights depending on the teacher. Then the class seating plan is usually dictated by the class numbers. Once a seating plan is set, students sitting in one column would move to the next column on a weekly basis, so each column gets the chance of sitting by the window, in the middle of the class, etc.

I can't remember what the seating arrangements were for my early elementary years, except that the desks were probably regular single desks with an open drawer. For my last elementary year(s?), the desks were double desks with two open drawers so two students (one boy and one girl) sit at one table.

Throughout my elementary years (that I can recall), birthdays were used to dictate the class numbers, where no.1~x would be boys ranging from the oldest to the youngest, then no.x~last would be the girls. Since I started a year early, I always had the last class number (usually no.5x), except when there's transfer students whose number would go after me. I think class numbers were drawn to determine which number sat where for my last elementary year(s?) since I sat in the first row with no.14 (I think).

With the single desks, everyone just kept to their own during nap time (yes, we got nap times in my elementary and junior high schools XD). With the double desks in my class, it was more interesting. One person would sleep on the desk and the other on the two chairs, switching spots every other day. Obviously the desk was longer, wider, and a bit more comfortable. There's a gap between the two chairs in their regular positions so the body wasn't fully supported, and even when they were lined up together, it wasn't as long as the table. And since the 'walkway' between columns had to be cleared at all times, we had to curl up, which was easier on the desk than on the chairs.

Another fun(?) fact with the double desk was that we would draw a line down the centre of the desk, signalling our own territories. Some pairs had a rule where one would get spanked on the palm for crossing the line, but the rule was pretty much forgotten after a while once the desk-mates got familiar with each other. XD

For my junior high years, it was back to the regular single desks. I think the double desks were an oddity since I have never seen them outside of that class or in manga.

The class number for my 1st year junior high was determined by height, so people with a height disadvantage would be able to see the black boards... Yeah, I sat near the middle but still in the front half of the classroom. orz

I can't remember how the class number and seating plan were assigned for my 2nd year junior high, except that the oldest guy in the class sat behind me. I only noticed this little fact when he once was looking at some form that was passed around class during a recess time between classes, and he swore lightly while commenting to his friend from another class (who sat to my left in my 1st year and was also a good friend of mine) that a certain class number (mine) was more than one year younger than him. He shut up when he found out it was me, sitting right in front of him. XD

Compare to the rigid seating plans in Taiwanese schools, I found the versatile desk types and seating arrangements in the Canadian high school intriguing. Most of the desks were more like chairs with a small counter top for writing, and there's a number of classes where we could move to anywhere in the room (yes, even right by the door or leaving a huge empty space in front of the teacher) as long as we face the teacher somehow. There's also big tables for two for science classes, or rows of long tables lined up together. I even sat on choir stands in the choir room for an ESL class before. Of course, there's even more variety in university depending on the subject and age of the building.

Changing seats is no big deal in Canada, but it can be significant in Taiwan due to the long duration time. There's often scenes in anime or manga where the characters treat the seat changing event seriously. I can understand the mentality, 'cause I used to go through that. I liked most of my neighbours so I didn't mind.

「運動したい！」になるかも？！

I was reading a few Niconico News items (waiting for ep.7 of "WEED" to load) when I somehow linked to this very interesting article about someone's game play videos on Niconico.

I actually want a pad or a taiko drum like that now. XD

Don't care as much about the DDR games since I have no interest in dance/trance/house music and probably would know at most just one song, but the Taiko no Tatsujin series alway look so fun! XD

Of course, they would be useless without the actual console systems and games, so it's really just a 3-second daydream.

1... 2... 3...

*yawn* That was an intriguing daydream. I shall now go back to my real lazy life. (￣д￣)

よし。

Picking up from where I left off yesterday on the proxy experiment...

わたし、出来る子だ、母さん～（つд｀）

The test video was the 1st episode of "WEED," which I had seen quite some time ago but never got past ep.3 due to the lack of source. Personally I'd much prefer them to show "Nagareboshi no Gin," but I'll take whatever I get. Not to mention it's always so much fun reading the plethora of comments on Niconico! XD

Of course, since only the 1st episode is free and the rest are paid per view after a week for all officially hosted series, I would need to be diligent and keep up the weekly schedule.

それは物凄く駄目なんだ、わたしにとっては... orz

でも、まぁ、やれば出来る子だから、何とかなる。多分。

Of course, now that I can watch the Niconico Channel, I am more motivated to sign up for the Premium account to avoid the eco-mode and watch the live broadcasts without getting kicked out.

Due to the time difference, I don't usually get to watch that many live broadcasts anyway, so the eco-mode-free factor would play a bigger role for me. In the end, it's going to come down to what will be shown on Niconico Channel for the winter series that starts in January.

Haven't checked out the new line-up yet, but I'm looking forward to the winter season! Better speed up the consumption rate a bit to finish some current series before the next ones start... :x

挑戦失敗... いや、一応成功かな？

Since I've been considering paying for a Premium Niconico account but have not done so due to the inability to view the Niconico Channel with my non-Japanese IP, it's been suggested to me that I try going through a proxy.

なかなか見つけないな、使えるIP。

All the ones listed on the site are too slow and got timed out every single time, even when I just tried to load Google.

Just as I was about to give up and conclude the 1st round of challenge as failure, I decided to try looking at the comments to see if someone posted different sites...

It's loading! It also states my IP as Japanese! ( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

But the ones I've successfully used to connect to sites are still kinda slow, so it timed out several times when I tried loading a video in Niconico channel. There's a few dozen others I can try, so there's hope yet.

I think that's enough tempering with unfamiliar territory for me for the day, however, so I shall leave the continuation of the experiment for another day.

どっちかな？

Adachi Mitsuru is most well known for high school sports-themed love comedy, and he's also one of my favourite manga artists.

My first encounter with Adachi-sensei's work was "虹色とうがらし/Nijiiro Tougarashi." Since it's a mix of jidaigeki and sci-fi, there's a lot of cultural and scientific(?) references that I couldn't understand. But I immediately fell for the clean and smooth drawing style and the humour, so I dutifully followed the series as it was published weekly, thanks to the 少年快報 at the time.

It wasn't until high school that I got to read Adachi-sensei's baseball manga. I already stopped doing any type of sports/exercise except in PE class by this time, but I did use to like baseball when I was little, so H2 was an instant hit for me.

I've read some of Adachi-sensei's shorter works (~5 volumes), and just finished watching the Cross Game anime today (will be reading the manga shortly). Two decades after I first read his manga, I still find myself drawn to the characters and emotions portrayed in the manga frames.

Is it Adachi-sensei's talent to be able to entertain and attract people of all ages?

Or is it that I haven't really grown much over the years?

ちょっと怨念

When I get up at 8:30 am on a Saturday, you know something is happening...

ボーカロイド・ミュージカル『ココロ』本編無料放送@ニコニコ生放送！

But I, along with probably all fellow regular account members, got kicked out before it started at about 15,000 attendance. Apparently the final attendance count was just over 60,000.

With the time zone difference, the occasional 生放送 I watch isn't enough to justify me paying for the Premium membership. If Niconico Channel doesn't restrict access to Japanese IP, I'd have signed up for a Premium account already. :(

ちょっと残念。『ココロ』を見たかった...

But since I was already up and awake, I didn't want to go back to bed; ~7 hours of sleep is enough. So I decided to watch ep.23 of Denyuuden to make up for the loss.

どうやら、この間の展開予想が外れたらしい、「伝勇伝」は来週で終わります。全話数は最初予定の２６話ではなく、２４話だそうです。どうりであの無理な飛ぶ方だ。

って、第２３話の話しは「とり伝」の？こんな余裕があったら、重要なシーンとキャラの気分転換や考え事をもっと詳しくに描くべきです。確かに面白い話だけど、まさか最終の寸前のギャグとはな... でも、全てを終わらせるための選んだ場所はちょっと秀逸、すべてが始まった場所だから。

敗家

Just ordered a couple series from RightStuf, including Soul Eater, Ouran High School Host Club BD, and Evangelion 1.11 BD. Even with the exchange rate (which is great for shopping in the US now), the saving is more than what I'm paying compared to ordering the same items from Amazon.ca. I even cancelled Utawarerumono from Amazon.ca since it's $10 cheaper on RightStuf.

There's a few other items I was tempting to order as well, but I decided to hold off for now. The savings on Bamboo Blade and Samurai Champloo BD aren't as big so I might still get them from Amazon.ca. The price tag on Tears to Tiara is really attractive, but I haven't seen the series and never read up on it so I'm not familiar with the series at all, and thus don't wanna risk it.

Why did I order RahXephon when I haven't finished watching the series? I'm more tolerant when there's giant robots involved. As for Utawarerumono which I've never seen the series nor played the game, I really like the partial animal character design, and the story is supposed to be good. The covers for the Tears to Tiara box sets look a bit too generic for a RPG-type series for me. :Q

As for Durarara, I'm still debating whether to pre-order the 3 sets now or not. Since I lump my orders to reach for the free shipping threshold, I won't receive the shipment until they have all the items ready, which would be the end of May/early June next year. The price tag is also on the high-end for a 24-episode series (this I blame Aniplex). I think I'll wait for another year or so to see if they get put on special.

This winter has been a wallet-bleeding season for me so far, with the PS3, BRS figma, PSP, winter coat, and the usual anime stuff. I think I'm done for the bigger purchases... *cross fingers*

職人技

My thighs have been going through cycles of freezing and thawing for the past couple days thanks to the typical Ottawa winter temperature. Of course it's not fun if being outside in the winter threatens my ageing cells, so it's critical that I equip my body with suitable equipment against the formidable boss (a.k.a. icy wind=アイシーウインド).

I hate shopping for clothes (but love it when it comes to ACG goods or electronics) and was going to put off the search for the proper gear for as long as I could hold out...

Then Friend-K led me to a store today and we walked out in under ten minutes with my new lv.20(?) coat, and it's a lot easier on my wallet than I expected! その買い物姿、さすがプロの犯行、もはや職人技だ！

これでアイシーウインドにも勝てる！我が道に敵なし！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

Title!

My gremz tree has been growing gradually as I diligently write something almost on a daily basis. But its growth has halted since Dec.5 according to my gremz page.

I checked the Q&A section and found the three possibilities for non-growing gremz tree despite daily entry:
- post-dated entries cannot be read by gremz
- RSS feed is turned off or has a changed URL
- the blog entry's title field is empty

Orz

I've never had a title for my posts; that's why my gremz tree failed to grow for almost two years. A few months ago, I realized that gremz had somehow recognized my title field as empty and still read the entries. I was able to successfully raise my 1st gremz tree that way. I guess they probably found out about the 'bug' and fixed it, rendering my title-less entries to be unreadable to the bot.

So starting from this post, I'm putting in the title field.

面倒だな... I also need to tweak the style sheet to make the title looks presentable for my eyes. Haven't touched CSS in forever... orz

While waiting for bus today, I had a very brief exchange with Friend-K about what to call the weather phenomenon occurring at that moment. Freezing rain and freezing flurries were proposed, and we just left the topic for the lack of a better description term.

Just as I got off the bus and about to go through the station shelter hub, I looked up and saw the tiny ice crystals reflecting off the lamp against the dark sky, sparkling like diamond chips. Then it hit me.

Diamond dust! :D

ダイアモンドダストといえば、氷河とカミュの技だ！

I'm tempted to categorize the winterly precipitations in terms of the Saint's techniques from now on, namely ダイアモンドダスト/Diamond Dust, ホーロドニースメルチ/Kholodnyi Smerch, オーロラエクスキューション/Aurora Execution, カリツォー/Koltso, and フリージングコフィン/Freezing Coffin. Haven't decided on where to draw the line between each technique, but that should be fun. XD

According to ja.wikipedia, ホーロドニースメルチ means "冷たい竜巻/cold tornado" in Russian, and カリツォー means "輪/ring" in Russian. カリツォー is pretty straightforward and should be кольцо in Russian, but there's some uncertainties regarding the Russian word for ホーロドニースメルチ.

Not being a speaker of the Russian language, the closest word I could find for cold was холодной using the Google Russian<->English dictionary (for some reason, there's no Japanese at all on Google Dictionary).

Then Google told me about this page by a Japanese associate professor, Minoura Nobukatsu. Looks like холодной should actually be written as ホロードヌィイ in katakana. スメルチ, the 2nd part of the word, is probably a misspell of スメールチ. However, due to the vague nature of foreign language pronunciation in Japanese, スメールチ can be either смерть (death) or смерч (tornado). Minoura-san's questions were left half-answered here, probably due to grammatic and spelling discrepancies with the translation.

"Cold death" refers the death to all life as the universe expands and eventually cools down to absolute zero (which is -273.15°C, as I learned while reading Saint Seiya in elementary school). Since ホーロドニースメルチ is not the strongest ice-based technique (it's オーロラエクスキューション/Aurora Execution), "cold tornado" would make more sense as the official translation indicates. As a result, the Russian word would be something like холодной смерти.

I think Kurumada might had just tried to translate the word from Russian to Japanese without a proper dictionary. As a non-speaker of the language, I think it's close enough. :Q

Sora no Otoshimono is known for its unconventional ED animation, changing every time to go with the theme of the particular episode. And for the ED sequence of episode 6, IKAROS made an appearance!

No no no, not Ikaros the character, IKAROS (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) the experimental spacecraft from JAXA! :D

I found it a really nice touch to have Ikaros trying to take a picture of the Earth from space, only to have IKAROS passing right in front when she snapped the photo. With the sunlight reflecting off the sails, the animated IKAROS looks more attractive than the official illustrations and 3D CG, too! XD

I was updating my Soramimi files (in Notepad text files!) when I noticed a web radio programme for Denyuuden. I haven't listened to web radio in years, so I thought I'd get back to it for a bit and loaded the website for Onsen...

I can't get it to play. orz

The site has changed a lot since I last accessed it a few years ago and is now Flash-heavy. I tried both Firefox and IE(!) and still couldn't get the video to play.

Then I decided to try Niconico, since I've seen postings of web radio programmes on there before. Lo and behold, the keyword "伝説の勇者の伝説のラジオ" rendered some results! The result barely contained half of the aired sessions, but it's better than nothing.

Three sessions later, I realized how much I miss listening to web radio programmes like this. Should definitely get back into the habit some more. :D

（怨念太深了，把丟給猫的訊息貼過來再稍微展開；ネタバレあり，請小心前進）

可惡，我從上一週就很期待的フェリス跟リュートルー公爵對決，居然這麼草率就混過去了！
我要看フェリス的認真模式啊～～～

而且兩人這種醒來方式是怎樣？！（雖然我承認在ライナ身邊醒來的フェリス很萌 XD）
打算就這樣無視住院劇情來跳過半本小説，然後用自創橋段直接連到最後一日嗎？
照這種進度來看，下一話做完傳勇傳小説最後一本也不奇怪，反正22話裡都已經做掉一些了。

不過這樣的話，難道是打算用最後三話做大傳勇傳的前兩本？
果然是想結束在昼寝王国の王様帶著だんご女神外加勇者王單戀對象跟だんご見習蘿莉，發出決定亂入英雄王跟お人好し青年之間的戰爭的幹勁滿滿（？）宣言那裡嗎？

まあ，本來就覺得理想的結束點應該是ライナ被フェリス救出後的拯救シオン宣言那裡，要不然就是大傳勇傳開頭部分的亂入決定宣言那裡。
這樣不做二期的話也能吊人胃口去補完原作，做二期的話也好接。
不過原作紅成那樣，應該會做第二期吧。只要不改編得太爛，絶對會有人衝著聲優陣跟原作去敗的。

沒錯，就是我。orz

Soramimi Project #28: Tanaka Rie 田中理恵

First heard: Chii (Chobits) or Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED)

First noticed: Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED)

Memorable characters: Chii (Chobits), Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED DESTINY), Koigakubo Yuri (Toradora), Matsukata Hiroko (Hatarakiman), Liang Qi (CANAAN), Aizawa Chizuru (Shinryaku! Ika Musume), Kuki Ageha (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de), Yamamoto Misaki (Hatsukoi Limited)

Image character: Lacus Clyne (Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED DESTINY)

Discernment rate: high; visual

Number of works seen: 23

Number of merchandise owned: 5

Tanaka Rie is in the list of my top 10 female seiyuu, and for good reasons. Compare to some other seiyuu, I actually haven't seen a lot of her works, but almost every single one of her character leaves an impression on me. 2002 was when I started to get into anime more so I can't be sure if I got to watch Chobits as it aired. So my first experience was either with Gundam SEED or Chobits.

Lacus Clyne was what opened my eyes to RieRie's wonderful voice and acting skills. The phrase "粉紅切開來裡面都是黑的" (the inside of pink is black) was coined for the character in the Chinese ACG community, thanks in no small part to her striking portrayal of the character transformation over the period of 50 episodes. Live event for shows are not counted toward the number of works seen, but I think RieRie's appearance at the Gundam SEED Festival is worth a mention here.

RieRie plays a wide range of character types, as illustrated in some of the memorable characters I listed above. She's remarkable as anego roles, charming as gentle and calm girls, and exceptional as maniacal and scheming characters. She has a great singing voice and sings a number of character and theme songs for various titles. Her character song "水の証"(Mizu no Akashi) for Gundam SEED was one of the first (if not the first) songs in Japanese that I had the lyrics memorized. She also has a nice figure (really!) and a known avid gamer.

Beside the series I listed under the memorable section, she's probably best known for her roles such as Suigintou from the Rozen Maiden series and Maria from the Hayate no Gotoku series. There's a lot of her works that I haven't seen, so I look forward to see and hear more of RieRie!

---

Starting with this one, I'm adding another stat for number of merchandise owned related to the seiyuu. This includes CD's, DVD/BD's, games, and drama CD's. I usually try to buy what I can (and on the look out to poach series released in new boxset), but there's simply too much stuff (especially outside the DVD/BD department) that's not available in North America...

I just spend over an hour or so reading over something I started during a ten-hour plane ride back in 2000. Being an impulsive pet project initiator who rarely sees them through, I continued the story for the next couple months before I got distracted by other things and left the story there.

The main character of the story is a high school girl who's part of a Hunter group consisted of her and her four sworn brothers, and she loves baseball and is a great pitcher. The first few chapters focus more on baseball, while the later chapters get more serious with the Hunter aspect as they interact with other Hunter groups.

With all the stuff I need to watch and play through, obviously I had long forgotten about this little unfinished work. But I've been watching the Cross Game anime lately and was reminded of my pet character 狼 from the story.

As I read through a part of my immature youth (『認めたくないものだな……自分自身の、若さ故の過ちというものを』), I couldn't help but laugh at the formulaic plot and disorganized story, but I also mentally noted to myself that I'd never be able to write like this again.

I actually planned out the next couple chapters leading up to the last mission in my mind, but my lazy nature reigned and thus my physical self was not able to catch up with my randomly leaping mental self, and the story was left on indefinite hiatus. There's times over the years when I gave a fleeting thought about finishing the story, but as time dragged on, it's just more and more difficult to recall what I had planned. Now I just figured the story to be too shallow to bother filling the hole.

And I'm totally considering starting another big hole maybe next year with Agion! XD

学べない奴だな。 orz

まあ、もし本当に書くことになったとしても、『シューピアリア』のドラマCDの翻訳は先だ。それが終わるまで、自分を止めるチャンスはいくらでもある。問題ない！多分。XD

Got all seven true endings for Mizu no Senritsu!

I had to grin to myself when I saw the true ending CG for Katase, which I used for my desktop wallpaper back in 2007. XD

Now aiming for the six good endings and all character CG's!

Then I can move on to Mizu no Senritsu 2 next year! :D

I had a chance to play with Universal Subtitles today and found it to be a fun experience!

I haven't looked around to see what the project is all about and what runs under the hood, but the subbing process itself is pretty dummy-proof (Hey, even I can use it!), and the interface is clean.

I didn't have enough patience and time to sync the subtitles to the 10th of a second, but I think I did a decent job for a first timer. I'm sure I'll get better with practice.

If subbings were all this easy! :)

Today I waged a mini-war with certain evil creatures hiding inside the bag of rice. I only just got that bag a few months ago! Must be the heat I turned on for the cat during the winter... orz

There weren't very many (that I saw) so I decided to transfer the rice from the bag to smaller containers for storing in the fridge, at the same time getting rid of the evil creatures as I saw them during the operation.

I never had this problem before in Vancouver, but this is already the 2nd bag I have infested in Ottawa. We even used to store rice in the same iron bucket, too. Is it the temperature??

Maybe I should start buying rice in smaller bags and throw it into the freezer first as suggested by many ppl online...

Me no like those little evil creatures. （つд｀）

機動戦士ガンダムUC episode2 赤い彗星

気持ちでいっぱいになるけど、うまく言葉で伝えられない。だから、これだけは言う。
見れば見るほど惚れる、これこそがガンダムシリーズの塊だ。

おまけ：
袖付きのシナンジュはカッコイイ！
プラモが欲しい！でもマスターグレードはちょっと...

あと、episode2の「Everlasting」より、episode1の「流星のナミダ」は雰囲気に合うと思う。
episode3のエンディングテーマは何ていう曲か、楽しみに。

就知道前面太拖戲了，後面一定都用飛的，可是他們是要飛多快才高興...

第21話居然一話解決掉小説整本第九冊？！

まあ，第九冊算是ローランド編的開場，這種飛法還在可以接受的程度之内，但是第八冊可是重要場景跟台詞一堆的前篇結局，兩話解決根本做不出角色的情感變化及意念轉變啊啊啊～～～

對，我對フェリス去迎/贏回ライナ那段的動畫超有怨念。這麼不痛不癢的處理我不承認啊！！
全身全霊の昼寝王国の王様 ｘ だんご女神の信者です！

果然還是要去敗原作小説吧。
不過光是本篇就大概二十本左右，如果加上とりあえず就超過三十本了。比ハガレン全套還多！囧
可是我想看ライナ跟フェリス打情罵俏（拔劍又吐槽，高等級的打情罵俏啊），所以還是得敗とりあえず吧...
這個再從長計議吧，反正要訂也要等到有免運費的機會。

剩下的五話能好好處理的話，應該還是會敗動畫DVD吧。
聲優陣容跟演技豪華地有點太犯規了，人物也比小説插圖的人設有味道的多。
ペース編排太差真是太太太遺憾了。

以上是看完第21話之後的碎碎念...

例のうみねこ対戦格闘ゲーム「黄金夢想曲」、まさかキャラクターフルボイス付きとは...！

双方同時に喋るからちょっと聞き取りにくいが、臨場感を感じますね。
また、メタフィールドを戦闘中に切り替えることができそうので、戦闘の流れもいい感じ。

ますますやりたい！

残念ながら、いくら欲しいって言っても、これはあくまで私の個人的な妄想に過ぎない。
日ノ本の国は遠い地平線の向こうにいるから。

I once read somewhere that once you fall for your first figma, more figma will steadily follow. I'm not at that stage yet after my BRS figma, but I do find myself looking at the different offerings on Good Smile from time to time.

ねんどろいど 伊達政宗はかわいい、よく出来てるな～

このfigma ドロッセルも良い、でもfigmaより、『ファイアボール』のアニメーション自体が欲しい！！！

ちなみに、初めてのGood Smile 商品は実はBRS figmaではなく、ねんどろいどぷち ボーカロイド#01だ。

なに、スケールフィギュアはどうって？あれは無理だ、値段が高すぎる。

たたいま水の旋律の九艘ルート（手塚と憲吾も含めて）を全部攻略した。
やっぱり拓哉編は甘い。さすが子安さん～

小野Dが「私の子供たち」って言った時、思わず笑った。
その子供たちは子安兄さまとにゃんこ先生だぞ！エライ！XD

残るのは一謡ルートの三人、楽しみだな～

絶望した！原作小説を劣化するアニメに絶望した！

Well, the Denyuuden anime isn't really that bad compared to some other series, but it's definitely lacking, especially in the emotional display and transition department. But only if you read the novels before watching the anime.

There's supposedly 26 episodes for 11 volumes, but the anime didn't start on vol.6 until ep.15/16, leaving roughly 2 episodes per volume for the rest of the season. I kinda figured they'd do the whole Denyuuden, but as soon as I saw Toriazu Denyuuden stuff in there, I knew they would be rushing like mad for the second half of the season. It's already happened and quite evident, too. Which is a shame since the 2nd half is where a lot of the meat is, but that's also where they're cutting out the most to fit the schedule.

If you ignore the sucky pacing, omission of crucial (IMO) details, addition of Toriazu Denyuuden stuff to increase screen time for certain characters, the anime version is still a good watch. The character design and art is much much better than the original novel illustration, and the seiyuu cast is really really awesome.

I'll probably end up getting the novels for the story and maybe the anime for the seiyuu and art.

うみねこ対戦格闘ゲーム「黄金夢想曲」

これ、すごく面白そう！やりたい！
格闘ゲームはちょっと苦手なので、多分下手になる、でもやってみたい！

黄金夢想曲OP

杏仁豆腐 (almond tofu) isn't made from 豆腐 (tofu)... ( ﾟДﾟ) ﾊｧ?

I was halfway through Tezuka's route in Mizu no Senritsu when I came across this shocking piece of information. I seriously thought 杏仁豆腐 is a type of 豆花...

There's your food science of the day~ :Q

Neko-tan always points out that I am a high roller when it comes to ACG, and I do not have anything to say in return. orz

Amazon.ca is typically my preference for R1 anime, but as more series get licensed and released in North America, there's more and more US-only releases. For those no-one-cares-about-Canada releases, I'm forced to order across border and rack up my order in order to reach the steep free shipping threshold to Canada (a bit mouthful to say, but that's just how troublesome the process is).

Right now I'm in another such dilemma. Should I pre-order all 3 parts of Durarara! and add another series to make the threshold now, or should I risk and wait it out to see if it'll be released in a single boxset and find a couple other more series to make the threshold maybe two years down the road?

At the end, however, I think I'll probably put it on hold for now. I'm sure there will be other US-only releases that I can order together at that time to make the threshold.

Or if the timing is right, I can have it shipped to Neko-tan's place and pick up when I go down. XD

PS. I emailed Aniplex the other day to ask if they'll be releasing titles in Canada in the future. Still waiting for a response that might not come...

I spent a good few hours online tonight looking at PSP games... Can't believe how many otome games and PC ports there are for the PSP! I can totally see why PSP is so popular in Japan; I'd have long gotten one if I lived in Japan, too.

Beside my regular anime intake and occasional NDS gaming on the side (and soon PSP gaming), I think I'm going to focus on PC games for the rest of the year.

With the number of games I currently have in the reservoir across the various platforms, I probably wouldn't be able to play through them all even if I stay home for a few months. orz

Time to start some serious gaming! :D

任務完了！

Thanks to Friend-K, I was able to complete the mission, which I wanted to abort due to my natural laziness, successfully.

My winter gear is now two pieces stronger with a new and half-fluffy scarf and a pair of fluffy gloves!

If I'm lucky and able to stand the frozen-thigh sessions, my current armoury should get me through another winter without too much trouble. I really don't want to have to get the long winter coat...

Mha ha ha, I thought it might take me a while to find the games I listed before for PSP given that they're older games, but it's actually much easier and cheaper than I anticipated.

For now, my PSP game library has grown to a total of 3 titles:
- LittleBigPlanet
- LocoRoco 2
- Patapon 2

Except for the original LocoRoco and Patapon, I'm pretty much set for English PSP games. Now I just need to find myself some Japanese games...

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 2 part 2

After the concert, we re-grouped with the guys already in the line-up for the Horie panel (apparently someone started lining up 4 hours ago to get them within the first 50 spots...). While I waited for Neko-tan and Magic Frog's return from their trip back to the car, Horie Yui and a few staff walked down the hall way roughly 2 metres away from us. I quickly pointed it out to the group. Ho-chan might had noticed the noises I was making and turned to look and smiled at me briefly. XD

She was being rather discrete, so there were ppl in the line-up (already wound around to the opposite side of the hall way by now) who didn't notice her at all and exclaimed their failure as fans after the fact.

I left the group once I confirmed meeting time with Neko-tan since we were going to different panels for the rest of the day, and then it was cosplayers photo time and shopping time! I got the Z Gundam New Translation movies (not available on Amazon.ca) and a book on all the characters from the 1st Gundam series. Was tempted to grab the Toradora vol.1 premium edition, but since vol.2 wasn't out yet and I would have to order from Right Stuf (not available in Canada again) anyway, I might as well order both at the same time to make the free shipping threshold for Canada. Almost snatched Eiyuu Densetsu VI: Sora no Kiseki Second Chapter but stopped myself at the last moment. It's unlikely that I'd be able to acquire the 1st and 3rd game of the trilogy, so it might left me hungrier than if I didn't play the 2nd game.

The Bandai plamo booth (Bluefin Distribution) was super awesome, and Kitamura was having an autograph session at the NIS booth. This time I had plenty of time if I wanted to line up, but I didn't like her enough to buy a signing board (US$5) as I didn't bring anything for her to sign in the first place. Apparently only one person out of our group got Kitamura's autograph at the end thanks to being there at the right time when Kitamura was taking picture of his itasha on the way out. Everyone else, including Neko-tan, failed at the regular autograph session.

Someone (CooRie? UR@N?) was performing at the MangaGamer booth when I entered the Exhibition Hall, so I checked with the staff and returned to the booth when it was Kuribayashi Minami's turn. I was in the first row a bit to the side near the speaker so I was pretty close to her and had great sound reception. Unfortunately the spot also made for bad video taking, so the 2-minute video I shot was somewhat harsh to the ears in the later part when a staff nudged me forward out of kindness to get a closer view.

It's such a rare opportunity to be able to see Kuribayashi Minami's live performance (this might had even been her 1st time outside Asia), but I was unable to stay for the last (two?) song because I needed to go to... (and bumped into Nabeshi on the way and took a picture of him XD)

[Eden of the East Panel]
...and they started late so I could have stayed for the whole mini-concert. orz

But I did get to watch a full episode of Eden of the East in English dub (since I likely wouldn't watch it dubbed on my Blu-ray), and it was not bad at all. It was also fun as I knew what's coming in the episode and anticipated the respective reaction from the audience. Apparently that's what the guests did as well in the back.

The guests for the panel were director Kamiyama Kenji, producer Ishii Tomohiko, and animation supervisor Nakamura Satoru. Kamiyama-san answered most of the questions while Ishii-san and Nakamura-san just added a few words here and there. I was moved as I listened to Kamiyama-san talking about the inspiration and motivation behind Eden of the East, and it made me like the series even more. I don't quite fit in the NEET category so I didn't feel as strongly that way, but I can understand why some NEETs would start to move after watching the series as per Kamiyama-san's testimony. I'm very eager to re-watch it on Blu-ray and also eagerly await the movies on discs.

One interesting thing I noticed at the panel was that the level of Japanese proficiency in the audience was considerably much lower than at other panels, especially compared to the seiyuu panels where pretty much everyone knew a bit of Japanese. Here, the reaction to the Eden of the East guests was minimal before the translators spoke, and the couple sitting beside me kept giving me weird looks for being able to understand directly.

[Aniplex Industry Panel]
Neko-tan, Magic Frog, and a few other guys went to the MELL concert, so I attended the Aniplex panel by myself after taking more pictures of cosplayers (super pleased to capture the Ulquiorra x Orihime couple! Best couple I saw at AX!). Since Gurren Lagann was all the rage during AX, the theme for the panel was "Who The Hell Do You Think I Am," after the famous Kamiya line "俺を誰だと思ってやがる！". The slide even had a silhouette of Kamiya's famous pose pointing toward the sky. XD

The panel itself was the usual industry pitch about upcoming releases, including Durarara! From what I've seen so far online, everything looks like the Z Gundam and Gurren Lagann movies again, which means it might not be available in Canada... （ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴

About half way through the panel, the Aniplex lady informed us that Konishi Katsuyuki just flew out of Narita airport at that moment. She listed all the events Konishi-san would attend at AX and the schedule, one of which was a special signing session at the Aniplex booth for the first 100 (or was it 50?) people who bought the limited edition of the 1st Gurren Lagann movie (the quota was quickly reached on the 1st day), and that we were encouraged to show up to show our support to Aniki.

I was planning to stay for the next panel, Mirai no Neiro - VOCALOID: The Sound of the Future, but Neko-tan and Magic Frog were beat and we decided to call it a day. Over supper in the restaurant (more like large night snack by now), Magic Frog learned the big announcement for the Vocaloid panel: Megumine Luka would be released in the States. That explained why Asakawa Yuu was a guest at AX!

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 2 part 1

I think I'm the only person in the group that watched Bleach, so needless to say everyone else went into the line-up for the Kitamura panel starting almost 2 hrs later. We also got a glimpse of the end of the line-up for the AKB48 panel outside and the AX staff preventing more ppl from lining up. I was genuinely surprised at the number of AKB48 fans on this side of the Pacific...

[Bleach Panel]
Since there's still time before the Bleach panel, I decided to walk around and take pictures of cosplayers as I didn't have much chance to the day before. When I got to the hall where the panel was to be held, there was no line-up. The majority of the people who would attend the panel were already inside the theatre watching the showing of Ulquiorra vs. Ichigo director's cut. I had already seen the respective episodes so I didn't feel like arriving early for it.

The panel itself started with a mini-performance by RSP before Morita entered the stage, followed by a Q&A session for Morita. One of the questions was asked by a Hitsugaya cosplayer who demanded to know why Ichigo wouldn't call him (Hitsugaya) by his captain title no matter how many times he asked Ichigo to, to which Morita just smiled and apologized politely, then proceeded to call him Toushirou. XD

The last corner of the panel was a room-wide rock-scissor-paper match against Morita to decide the lucky few for the rare Bleach goods Morita brought from Japan. I lost in the 2nd round. T__T

After the panel, I took more photos of cosplayers before peeking in the Kitamura panel. I sat there for a few minutes and heard (I was too far back to see her expression) Kitamura said the famous Yui line from Angel Beats! Unfortunately I hadn't watched Angel Beats! at this point so the reference was lost to me... Acoording to Neko-tan, even though Kitamura was there to promote Toradora, most of the questions were Angel Beats!-centric. Angel Beats! just finished airing in Japan the week before AX, too. XD

There was still time before the panel would end so I went to the Exhibition Hall and browsed around. There, lo and behold, was Horie Yui having an autograph session at the NIS booth! I didn't have anything for signing on hand and didn't really want to try my luck with the long line-up so I just looked from the side. Of course, no photos allowed. :x

Then I went back to the Kitamura panel and waited for Neko-tan and Magic Frog so we can go to the...

[May'n & Nakajima Megumi Concert]
ｷﾀｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ（°∀°）ｰｰｰｰｰｰｰ!!
This was what spurred me to flew across the continent to attend AX. I watched the Macross Frontier concert @ Budoukan before coming and, despite knowing that the scale and program would be far from comparable, had been anticipating anxiously for the AX concert. I wasn't hard core enough to buy glow sticks, but a lot of people at the concert did. There were three guys from Japan a few rows in front of us fully equipped with hoards of glow sticks, clothes wrapped around the neck, and the blue T-shirts from May'n's BIG★WAAAAAVE!! @ Budoukan concert. My first time seeing professional glow stick waving techniques in person. さすが職人技！　XD

The exceptional musical treat started off with "Welcome To My FanClub’s Night!" and May'n performed Sheryl's and her songs for the first 20 minutes or so. The speakers at Nokia Centre weren't the best and the stage was small (reduced to almost half the size with the grand piano there), but May'n vocal and dance prowess was evident. They sounded exactly like the CD's and more! The air she maintained while singing Macross Frontier songs was fitting to Sheryl's character, but she's just cute being herself during "May’n☆Space." I hadn't seen the Macross Frontier movie at this time so I didn't quite understand fully the different tones she used for "Universal Bunny", and only now realized that her dance moves were exactly the same as Sheryl in the movie! 生May'n最高！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

After May'n left and Nakajima took centre stage, you can tell ppl were still in the mood, but the number of glow sticks in the air decreased drastically, especially when she sang her own non-MF songs. 一気にテンション下がったって感じ。無理もない、こっちもそうだった... Her stage costume was fitting for the idol-wannabe character of Ranka but also kinda made her looked like a cosplayer for a Disney princess when young. The changed-lyric carrot song about her coming to the US was nice, though XD.

And the special secret guest...!! I kinda expected it to be that person, but actually seeing her was something else. 菅野よう子！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ ) The place went wild when Kanno-san appeared on stage as everyone clapped and screamed like crazy. Kanno-san performed on the piano for the next couple songs with Nakajima: アイモ, VOICES, 蒼のエーテル, 愛・おぼえていますか, ダイアモンド クレバス (acoustic duet version with May'n).

With Kanno-san's exit, the concert was coming to an end as May'n and Nakajima performed Lion and Triangular together. There was no encore, but it was still a satisfying closure. There were a few instances when Nakajima went off-key or couldn't get her voice up enough for the faster songs with May'n, but May'n alone made up for everything. 来てよかった。（つд｀）

A quick list of games I need to get or would be interested (that aren't Japanese and can be obtained locally):

NDS
- Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light

PSP
- LocoRoco
- LocoRoco 2
- Patapon
- Patapon 2

PS3
- N/A... Everything I want is in Japanese.

Nya ha ha, it only took me almost 10 minutes to realize the slightly protruded round thing under the d-pad on the PSP is the "analogue control" that dictates directions for LittleBigPlanet... orz

I'm too used to the d-pad (which stands for DIRECTIONAL pad) as the directional control, but can you really blame me? Even the PSP diagram in the box labels the d-pad as directional buttons and doesn't say anything about the round thing.

BTW, my friend Google told me that PSP plays all region UMD games, just not all region UMD movies. So this particular unit isn't modded and I'll need to have it done myself, which I'll probably wait until I go back to Vancouver next year. I have enough games on my hand right now to not worry about acquiring Japanese PSP games.

And to go with my very unsophisticated naming convention, my pearl white PSP has been named Lancelot. Of course it's not the knight from King Arther (not to be confused with Arturia Pendragon/Saber), but the 7th generation KMF from Code Geass. It now sports a small Suzaku metal plate, which goes with Guren's (a.k.a. my NDS) Code Geass strap and Lelouch metal plate.

I thought about naming it after a Gundam (especially since the term 白い悪魔 is mentioned when referring to Gundam in the 2nd episode of Gundam UC) and gave it a Gundam 00 strap that goes with Guren Type-02 (a.k.a. my cell phone), but decided not to. PSP should go against NDS, so the opponent for Guren should be Lancelot! XD

Naming neta aside, I have to say that NDS is more user friendly and intuitive than PSP. I find myself preferring the NDS as a system over the PSP and was lured into getting a PSP only because of the Japanese game lineups (and thus the 2-yr gap between the two purchases). Though, the screen size of the PSP sure is huge compared to my NDS Lite...

ニャンコの憂鬱

最近天気はどんどん寒くなったから、部屋のヒーターを起動させた。あいにく静電気も同時に生まれた。

こっちは別にいいけど、うちのニャンコには結構いい迷惑だ。ロン毛だし。

そろそろあの中古加湿器の出番かな、購入後まだ一度も使ってないが...　頑張ります（何が）！

２本目のグリムスが発芽しました！( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

どんな形に成長するのかワクワクするね～

＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊　＊

今日もも色のうみねこカモメを見ました。

その白い羽を夕日に染めた、ちょっとメルヘンチック。

PSP! ( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

Finally got my paws on one today but... the manual says it plays region ALL or 1 UMD's only.

（ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴

Well, I actually kinda expected that since it's Sony. The single Japanese game title in the offered list fooled me (and the guy selling it) into thinking it does.

Since there is indeed saved data for the Japanese game on the memory card, either the particular game is region ALL instead of 2, or the kid (of the guy selling it) had mod software loaded in the memory card in order for the R2 game to work.

Unfortunately, my PC doesn't have card reader slots and I don't have a USB cable that fits, so I can't check the actual content of the memory card. I'll probably enlist some help and get a screen cap of the content to see what's inside. If luck is on my side (which is not very often), I won't need to get it modded myself! *crosses fingers*

BTW, for anyone out there selling your 2nd-hand system: erase your data first. Or at least check with your kid before selling it.

I was able to tell the main player's name and gender (the kid), some (if not all or most) games that's been played on the system since maybe when the system was purchased originally, and that they had a USB cable that fits. Nothing major, but still.

劇場版 マクロスF 虚空歌姫 ～イツワリノウタヒメ～

どう見ても、全部あの緑毛のせいだよね。
あいつがいなければ、或いは歌えなければ、襲い掛かれることはないでしょう。
中島の演技も下手すぎてイライラする。一言で言うと、ウンザリです。
コッチは１２０％の女王派ので、尚更。

でも戦闘シーンは素晴らしかった、ミハエルも死亡フラグを何とか回避できた、良かった。是非この調子で最後まで生き延びてください！

まあ、あと一作目でもあるし、展開もオリジナルになったし、このトライアングラーマクロスFの物語はどう完結するのか期待する。テレビ版のエンディングの様なガッカリさせないで頼んだぞ、河森監督。

First snow! ( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )

I knew some of the rain drops looked too suspiciously large when I walked home in the afternoon sheltered only by the hood of my jacket...

Since the temperature isn't low enough now and is bound to rise, all traces of the white stuff (a.k.a. lame snow) will probably be gone by morning. But it might be an indication that the coming winter would be cold as predicted by some.

...which means I'll need to get a long coat, and I'll need to actually go shopping for it.

Me no like shopping for clothes. （つд｀）

ｷﾀ━━━( ﾟ ∀ ﾟ )━━━!!

After almost two years and two months, I've finally grown one gremz tree! :D

Can't wait for the new bud and the actual tree planting! :D

Hopefully my next gremz tree will have a smoother and speedier growth~

ネットの住民よ、私は帰って来た！！

I get to sleep in my bed again! :D
And watch stuff again!
And sing along again!
And pile stuff again!

まあ、一緒に過ごした時間は大切だと思う。一応ありがとうな～

Amazon.ca finally seems to be getting the idea that "grouping items together for as few shipment" means grouping items together for as few shipment. Somewhat, at least.

In light of her Ladyship's visit, I wasn't looking forward to receiving any package from my friend Amazon for the duration. As I remember that there should be two releases today, I anxiously checked my inbox for news of the orders being shipped... There isn't any.

A quick check on my order status showed that Utawarerumono will be shipped in late December/early January with FMA Brotherhood part3, rather than being shipped as it's released. That's a first I've seen over the past year!

Bamboo Blade is scheduled to be shipped with Bleach box 7 in late December, but the image of the DVD cover was pulled, and the product page states "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

You can't do this to me!!! （ノ`Д´）ノ～～┴───┴

Funimation's website shows the series as available and Amazon.com is still selling it. Come on, Amazon.ca! Don't let me down!

On a more cheerful news, I've successfully picked up Eden of the East and FMP Fumoffu before her Ladyship's arrival. XD

And I received the re-mastered discs for Toradora Vol.1 from NIS America yesterday. I forgive you for not making Toradora available in Canada and forcing me to order across the border, NIS A. XD

Today is a good day. :D

In light of the release of the new PS3 Move models, I scrambled to get the regular 160GB model before they're gone.

So today's loots:
- 160GB PS3
- Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
- figma ブラック★ロックシューター

The first two I intended to acquire, but the 3rd item was a surprised find. After being taught by Neko-tan on how to spot pirated Nendoroid at AX, I tried to apply the same technique and stared hard at the eyes... Of course, I couldn't tell since I've only seen the images online and never paid that much attention. But seeing how the store actually sold legit anime DVDs and BDs, I decided to trust them and made the plunge.

I can't wait to play with the BRS figma next month! XD

I think what I paid for the PS3 today would be enough to get me another $20 or so in coupon, which I can use toward Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (DS). Now I just need to get a HDMI cable for the PS3 so I can finally start watching my very slowly growing BD collection. :D

Today is a good day indeed. XD

戦国BASARA弐 ep.6

アニキ～～～～～
Toyotomi's level probably far surpasses that of Honda-bot or even the last boss of the first season, Wakamoto NorioOda Nobunaga. もうありえないレベルだ。 Why go through the trouble of securing and dropping a space colony, when one Toyotomi can probably do the same damage in no more than a few dozen punches? He's even re-usable!

まさかのアムロ戦死？！
Yukimura learns the lesson that Kojuurou wanted Masamune to learn before... Kira would be smirking if this were a Gundam 4-koma.

浪川大輔宮本武蔵！？
Took me almost the whole preview time to realize it's Namikawa. There should be a Sasaki Kojirou to go with Miyamoto Musashi! XD

With all the Gundam references I threw here, I just remembered that I made a quick list of Sengoku Basara seiyuu in Gundam series before. With the change in characters in the 2nd season, here's a new list up to ep.6.

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
石野竜三 (長曾我部元親) - (V), W
中原茂 (毛利元就) - W
藤原啓治 (松永久秀) - (V), (G), (W), (X), (08th MS), (00)
古谷徹 (小山田信茂) - 1st, (Z), CCA, 00
甲斐田裕子 (まつ) - (UC)
置鮎龍太郎 (豊臣秀吉) - (W), (SEED), SEED DESTINY, (00 S2)
石田彰 (竹中半兵衛) - SEED, SEED DESTINY
浪川大輔 (宮本武蔵) - (0080) ,(SEED Special Edition), (Z New Translation I-III), 00, (UC)

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

I compared the 1st season to watching G Gundam when I described my impression to Neko-tan. I think the 2nd season further affirms the connection between the series with the Gundam series after numerous displays of Toyotomi's extraterrestrial strength. XD

I've been reading the original novels of Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Denyuuden) according to the schedule of the anime episodes. At least, that was the plan.

Almost as a rule of thumb, the anime adaptation based on an original novel series overlooks a lot of character details and scenes, especially if the anime version is no longer than 2 cours. As a result, the anime version often presents the width of the story but not the depth, making it an inferior version for the series. Technically, that's the purpose of the anime adaptation, to get people interested in the original works, so there's nothing wrong with it as long as it serves the purpose.

For me, Denyuuden definitely serves its purpose and got me somewhat hooked on the novels at the moment. The only problem is... the anime hasn't finished airing, so I should wait for a few episodes before reading the next volume so I don't get disappointed by the lack of detail or scene change in the anime.

I just started vol.8 of the novel, while the anime covers up to a little bit of vol.7 (minus a scene with new characters in vol.6). Yeah, the book worm inside me couldn't wait for another couple months before the anime finishes and decided to plunge ahead.

Even though I'd know what's going to happen in the anime, that still shouldn't take away much of the fun when I watch the episodes, especially when the story follows the novels rather closely (unlike a certain *cough*Regios*cough*). I shall continue to enjoy the seiyuu's excellent performance and hearing the lines being spoken. :)

Now, back to vol.8... XD

To my surprise, I actually managed to start on most of the fall anime series. Here's my impression of the watching/might watch series as speculated based on the PV before the season started.

咎狗の血
- Haven't watched but still planning to trial watch.

神のみぞ知るセカイ
- Was going to trial watch, but decided not to when I read the series introduction and seiyuu cast list posted by the subs group. Shimono Hiro would be a selling point for me, but the story doesn't seem that interesting to me and I only know one seiyuu out of the cast of girls.

俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない
- Was going to trial watch, but decided not to when I read the series introduction and seiyuu cast list posted by the subs group. Nakamura Yuuichi is a selling point for me, but the story doesn't seem that interesting to me and I only know 2 seiyuu out of the cast of girls.

ヨスガノソラ
- Was going to trial watch, but decided not to when I read the series introduction and seiyuu cast list posted by the subs group. Shimono Hiro would be a selling point for me, but the story doesn't seem that interesting to me and I only know one seiyuu out of the cast of girls. (Yeah, I totally just copy&paste from 神のみぞ知るセカイ) Still interested in Nekokan's theme song, though.

スーパーロボット大戦OG ジ・インスペクター
- Grabbing. Won't be able to start until after I finish the first season of OG...

それでも町は廻っている ep.1
- 普通に面白い
- Omigawa's actually good at being a ドジ子
- Interesting dialogues & shooting angles
- Sugita Tomokazu. 'nuff said. XD
- Sakurai plays an old maid

そらのおとしものf
- Haven't watched but will definitely watch.

Ironman
- Didn't even trial watch. The combination of Mad House, Fujiwara Keiji and Itou Shizuka isn't enough to compensate for the visual style for me...

おとめ妖怪ざくろ ep.1
- typical series for girls; the "Kaichou wa Maid-sama" of this season, except Kei is more human than the hentai alien Usui
- soft and water colour-like colour palette
- already interested in the Yoshinokazura x Susukihotaru pairing. XD
- recognized Katagaki Ayahi's singing voice before realizing it's Sphere and not the female cast in the OP
- disappointed at the "fight" scene, especially after them going through the trouble to transform their weapons and the song

STAR DRIVER 輝きのタクト ep.1
- 颯爽登場！銀河美少年～～ ｗｗｗｗｗｗ
- squealed when I heard Ishida Akira, followed shortly by Kuwashima Houko XD
- really like the chemistry between the 3 main cast
- when scene changed to the underground base just as Benio forbade ppl to go there: 何この超展開
- when Takuto called out Tauburn: 何がなんだか分からないけど、面白い～　XDD
- Takuto really reminds me of Kamen Rider Kabuto
- haven't finished RahXephon, but the painting really reminds me of the painting in RahXephon
- 1st time noticing Tomatsu Haruka's singing voice
- would have been the 本命 of this season if it weren't for...

荒川アンダーザブリッジ　＊２ ep.1
- やはり本命はこっちだ！
- a continuation of the high quality from the 1st season
- the Amazoness from the very last scene of the 1st season!?
- finally getting into Nino's background!?

テガミバチ　REVERSE
- Grabbing. Won't be able to start until after I finish the first season...

薄桜鬼　碧血録 ep.1
- a continuation of the 1st season with a wardrobe change (hurry up and change Chizuru, too!)
- still not too pleased with the series taking the Hijikata route, especially when Chizuru shows her feelings :(
- will likely see more character death...

侵略！イカ娘 ep.1
- 普通に面白い
- Tanaka onee-sama! Another solid proof that closed-eye characters are black...
- ウホ！いい触手。

バクマン ep.1
- your usual Jump anime
- characters are somewhat Obata Takeshi-ish, but the art quality is simply not comparable to that of Death Note

海月姫　～くらげひめ～
- Haven't watched but still planning to trial watch.

FORTUNE ARTERIAL　赤い約束
- Haven't watched but still planning to trial watch.

心霊探偵八雲 ep.1
- pace felt really rushed
- why is it that all 3 versions (2 manga & anime) of the same case are different...?
- glad the character design takes after the Asuka manga version, but come on, why does Haruka have light purple eyes when having red eyes is a big deal for the series??

Summary (total 28)
- Watching for sure: 11
- Not watching for sure: 14
- Undecided: 3

My watch list for the fall season is almost complete. Now if only I can keep up the weekly or bi-weekly schedule...

...バカでも風邪を引くんだ。

今晩はちょっと早寝をするか。

なんて面倒なことだ、病気は。

Soramimi Project #27: Ishikawa Hideo 石川英郎

First heard: Akira (Weiß kreuz)

First noticed: Ukitake Juushirou (Bleach)

Memorable characters: Ukitake Juushirou (Bleach), Tooyama Kintarou (Tantei Gakuen Q), Kanazawa Hiroto (Kiniro no Corda ~primo passo~), Oliver May (Gundam MS igLoo)

Image character: Ukitake Juushirou (Bleach)

Discernment rate: low; sometimes visual

Number of works seen: 19

Out of the 19 works I've heard him in, 5 are Bleach. Ukitake is one of the regulars in Bleach (unfortunately, due to the physical condition of the character, he doesn't leave a very strong impression or have too many scenes), but I still have trouble recognizing Ishiwaka-san voice in other works a lot of the times, unless it's of a similar pitch as Ukitake's. I do sometimes recognize him in photos from the few Kiniro no Corda seiyuu interviews I've seen, however.

Judging from the list of characters I've seen Ishiwaka-san played, most of his roles are supporting characters, while some are part of the main cast. The only main character I've seen him played is Oliver May from Gundam MS igLoo, who gives a glimpse of the One Year War from a rarely explored prospective. (I didn't cry watching The Hidden One Year War, but I did for Apocalypse 0079. Must-see OVA for anyone! No previous Gundam experience or knowledge required to enjoy. Of course, having it will allow you to get the full taste.)

I'd list Auron from Final Fantasy X under the memorable characters, but it's really been too long for me to remember what he sounded like, especially since Auron wasn't awfully talkative.

Since Ishikawa-san isn't as active on the anime front as many of the other seiyuu, I kinda doubt I'll ever be familiar with his voice. But he's in a couple of the series I'm waiting to watch (there's only 100+ of those, too), so I will still hear him here and there. Hopefully I'll be able to raise the discernment rate from low to at least an average...

In commemoration of the advent of dear mum and the temporary lost of freedom, here's a quick list of what I won't be able to do during her stay.

Off the top of my mind, in no particular order, I won't be able to:
- stay up late
- see the sun rise
- sleep in my bed
- have ice cream & chips for meal
- eat my current portion of meat
- watch anime
- read manga
- be on the computer all night
- listen to music all the time
- sing
- pile things around
- leave dishes out
- talk to myself
- have my own peace and quiet
- leave the bathroom door open
- throw clothes onto the couch
- not get out of the building on weekends
- have the cat to myself
- be lazy
- gaze into space blankly

...I think I will stop here before the list grows exponentially.

Of course, there's also good things (especially for the cat), but the inconvenience far outweighs the merits for me.

Ah well, as long as it makes her happy...

ヤバイ。

あの方が来る。

掃除しなくちゃ！あちこちにモノの山も片付けなくちゃ！

風呂も！台所も！冷蔵庫まで！要するに全部屋だ！！

壁｜O|￣|＿

まあ、いくら悩んでもしょうがない。
......寝るか。

One reaps what one sows. 自業自得だな...

Due to my usual laziness, I've been neglecting routine tasks such as grooming the cat, trimming his nails, and cutting off hair knots. Today, the inevitable happened, and the infamous brown stuff got stuck on the two good-sized hair bundles by the old guy's rear. Needless to say, it stunk.

At first I tried to wipe the substance off with tissue paper, but I immediately realized the futility of the tactic. So I switched to my trusty blue brush that the cat detests so much and tried to scrape the tangled hair bunches off with the help of the magic hair spray.

Of course, anyone who's tried to brush through matted hair mess know it can be painful. All the more so for the poor feline since he couldn't brace himself for the searing pain. He meowed in protest and hissed a couple times throughout the wrestling match. I felt so sorry for him that I allowed him to escape a few times (before catching him right after). It was during his last round of struggle to break free when he used my left palm as leverage and sprinted with all his might (I was kind of letting go, too).

And left a deep, long gash on my lower left palm with one of his hind claws.

In the beginning, there was just a clear slash lined with slightly raised skin that's flipped up from the cut. Then tiny red beads started to emerge from deep within the abyss after a few seconds. This was when I went to wash my hand and tried to hold my left hand up in a lame attempt to slow the blood flow and make it clot.

Once it appeared that I was able to use my left hand somewhat without the gash bursting open again, I returned to my operation. This time, I resorted to using my trusty purple scissors...

I should have done this in the first place, even though it's more time consuming and difficult to handle. orz

After another power struggle (he even coughed a couple times in an usual way from over-exerting himself) that ended in my dictatorship, his rear was free of the smelly substance as he eagerly sniffed and licked at the catnip I offered him afterwards as compensation. There's still some remnants of the tangled hair bunch left, but these won't interfere with his usual biological sessions and can wait until next time, preferably after my palm heals as I'll need to hold him down tighter than this time in order to completely rid of them.

I liken the gash to a deep cardboard cut, only cleaner. Cleaner cuts are supposed to heal faster, so hopefully I'll be able to use my left hand normally next week. Right now, I'm keeping my left palm flat to help solidify the drying blood dike. Seeing blood on my bed tomorrow morning from curling my palm and breaking the cut open during sleep would not be fun.

ちょっと痛いよ、傷。（つд｀）

Starting today, people all over the world who didn't jump at the Collector's Edition of Final Fantasy XIV will be able to embark on the new adventure with the Standard Edition.

I would have been one of those people if my video card was high-end enough. orz

The system requirement and specs for Final Fantasy XIV wasn't available when I got Cygnus, so I stupidly believed the sales guy that the video card would be able to run it. Such a bitter after taste when I realized it just prior to the game's release...

So I am going to get a new video card along with PS3 this Christmas!

I thought about getting a new monitor as well to replace my current 17" non-wide, VGA-only screen so I can get the best out of the new card (whichever card it'd be), but I think I will be able to pull it off by connecting Cygnus to my 32" panel via HDMI instead. I might need to get a new set of keyboard and mouse, which I have been planning to anyway, but it'll still be cheaper than a new 22"+ monitor.

Of course, I'll still need to get a new monitor when my 17" screen dies, but now I can wait until the time comes. The later the better.

Here's hoping to start gaming in 2011! :x

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA
Day 1

[Gundam Panel]
Neko-tan and friends attended the opening ceremony but it partially conflicted with the Gundam Panel, so I just went straight to the Gundam Panel. While waiting in line to get into the room, there's a kid cosplaying as Gundam Exia. He could barely walk two steps before getting stopped for a photo. XD

The Gundam Panel was hosted by people from gundam.com, which I used to be a member of back since when SEED aired in Japan until Ben took it down (I wonder if there's still a ML for it somewhere?) I actually recognized the names as the people introduced themselves by their g.com handles, too.

They showed the trailer for the Gundam 00 movie (I was totally neta-ed since I haven't watched the series yet) but skipped the trailer for the 2nd instalment of Gundam UC since there's no good quality video source. Needless to say, Full Frontal was a popular name during the panel. XD

They went over some upcoming gunpla kits and spent a bit of time going over the various Gundam manga available in English. They mentioned a few Japanese lineups just to tease ppl, including Tony Takezaki Presents Gundam (awesomely hilarious!) and Gundam ACE. I happened to have a Zeta Gundam pencil board from Gundam ACE with me to use as a hand fan, but I resisted showing it when they were talking about the goodies that come with the magazine.

The Q&A session actually consisted of two parts, where the person gets to ask a question and gets asked a question, in either UC or AU categories, in return by the g.com ppl. If the person answers the trivia question correctly, he (there's no female in the Q&A line) wins a gunpla. One guy asked who the g.com ppl think is the best pilot. Eeeeeveryone in the room groaned at the question. One of the g.com ppl squealed in a fake girlie voice "Kira~" on purpose, but they decided to go with Char at the end, if I remembered it right.

[May'n Panel]
Unfortunately, because the rule this year was changed so that the room would be cleared before ppl can enter for the next panel, so I had to leave early to line up for the May'n Panel to be held in the same room right after. By then, the line had already winded around the hallway once and I lined up by the elevator door on the opposite side of the hallway.

And I spotted May'n earlier than anyone! XD She was discretely escorted by a camera guy and two other ppl into the elevator. The elevator was located right by a corner at the start of the hallway, so most people in the hallway never realized that May'n was even there for that ten seconds, including the people in the line around me. Then I found Neko-tan and co. who had much better spot in the line (within the first 50) and got in with them.

May'n was very cute as expected. The translator kinda mumbled so it's not easy to hear her sometimes. Plus she often left out sentences and translated quite a few instances wrong. Luckily, most of us in the group knew Japanese so we could ignore her most of the time. I was quite pleased to learn that May'n favourite song is Diamond Crevasse, which also happened to be my favourite Macross F song. A girl in the Q&A line asked May'n to sing the first line of Triangular with her, and even with just one line, May'n rocked the room. :D

There was a timed photo session (less than a minute) at the end of the panel. There's quite a big crowd and I was almost on the outer most edge, so I wasn't able to get a very clear shot of her. But I still managed to get two decent pictures considering the sucky quality of my camera. After picking up a ticket for the autograph from the staff at the exit, it's rushing to the Exhibition Hall where the autograph session was located.

[May'n's Autograph Session]
As expected, there's already a long line up by the time I got there. I first got in line where Neko-tan was, then spotted another guy from the group much further up the line and joined him instead as I had a tight schedule. People in the line were holding the item they wanted signed, and there's a lot of Macross F books and CDs. One guy saw my "Diamond Crevasse/Iteza Gogo Kyuuji Don't be late" single and asked to see it as he thought he had everything Macross F there was but had yet to see the single.

May'n's really cute up close, and her hand's small and soft, too. (ヘンタイみたい orz) Just as I was leaving the signing area, an older guy accompanying May'n came up to ask me where I got the single CD and if I ordered online. According to Neko-tan on our way back home, the single sold so well in Japan that it was out of stock everywhere for a period of time. Now mine's even more rare 'cause it's got May'n signature on the cover! XD

[Morita's Panel]
I ventured out into the sun after I got May'n autograph to attend Morita's Panel at the Nokia Plaza. That's right, it's outdoor. Morita dressed up as a shinigami and got the crowd high in no time. The main event for the panel was Morita's live voice-over performance for the scene in the 1st episode where Ichigo and Rukia formally introduced each other before Rukia stabbed Ichigo with her zanpakuto and transformed him into a shinigami. It's really awesome to hear Morita live as Ichigo beside calling out Bankai, and the selected scene was a nice one as that's where Ichigo's journey as a shinigami started.

Three pairs of Ichigo and Rukia were picked from the audience and invited on stage to voice-over the same scene. The first pair consisted of a Rukia cosplayer and a big guy. The Rukia cosplayer was extremely excited and was almost slurring when Morita interviewed the two. She actually blurted out the term "IchiRu", too. XD The 2nd pair consisted of a Yachiru cosplayer and another random guy, and the 3rd pair consisted of a Yoruichi cosplayer (I think, can't quite remember. She's the only to do the voice-over in Japanese as well.) and another random guy. When it's time for Morita to pick one person to present a prize, he went with the Rukia cosplayer at the end. She definitely wasn't the best, but she struggled the most and pulled it off at the end. And the wind played a trick on her and showed what's under the school uniform skirt when she was on stage.

After a short announcement from Morita that he detests piracy and wants everyone to watch it legally since Bleach will start streaming on Crunchy Roll, he ended the panel with the usual bankai (26sec, 19.31MB, MediaFire; first video I ever took with my camera) call. Then it's a mad dash for everyone to line up for Morita's autograph session!

(While waiting for the panel to start, I spotted Nabeshin exchanging business card with someone else before casually walking off scene by the side of the plaza. XD)

[Morita's Autograph Session]
This one didn't require a ticket so the line was insanely loooooooooong and had quite a bit of ppl that didn't go to Morita's panel to be in the line. Then, after two hours, with no more than a dozen ppl in front of me (probably over a hundred behind me; I never saw the end of the line), the_line_was_cut_off. Morita wanted to continue, but the staff wouldn't allow it and wanted to clear the room. The people in the front of the line argued and haggled with the staff, so finally it was decided that Morita would have a special hand-shake session for those who remained (staff had already spread the bad news and dispersed most of the crowd by now).

Roughly 50 of us filed quietly into the room and sat down, where Morita gave a short apologetic speech and thanked everyone. We were given 3 questions to ask as a group, then everyone lined up to shake Morita's hand before getting ushered out by the staff. There was a second autograph session for Morita the next day, but it coincided with the concert I mainly went to AX for, so I never got Morita's autograph in the end... But it's still worth the 2-hr wait to shake his hand! :D

Then I finally called Neko-tan back and re-grouped with them to leave. That's it for the 1st day!

Anime Expo 2010 @ LA

I've been wanting to write about my 1st experience at AX 2010 but kept procrastinating as usual. Since the next big anime season is close at hand, I figured now is a good time to upload the photos to conserve bandwidth for the next season. XD

All the guests photos and other miscellaneous pictures can be found here. Those are open for view because the guests are public figures (and the cosplayers album is locked for privacy).

Most of the photos are quite grainy because I had to do no-flash, and my cheapo camera ($50!) absolute sucks when there's insufficient lighting. I'm definitely getting a new camera if I'm going to AX again.

And here's the real test to see my memory retainment rate after almost three months.

Day 0

We hitched a ride after zoo from Neko-tan's friend who's also going to pick up the badge. We had completely lost faith in LA's bus system after the bus trip to the zoo.

We spotted an itasha in the underground parking featuring Mikoto from Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (funny how I recognized her without ever watching the show or the series it spin-offed from). My 1st itasha spotting! :D

The line for the badge was expectedly long, from the back entrance to the back alley, winding around a few times. Quite a few cosplayers, but everyone's in the line up so I didn't even try taking photos. I had my book to occupy me so it wasn't too bad, but the scorching sun overhead was a different story. Everyone had much respect for a cosplayer dressed in a full plush suit (head to toe enclosed) as Akamaru from Naruto. There's an ice bar vendor that walked up and down the line selling the icy treats at 2/$10 or something outrageous like that.

It only took us less than 3 hours to get our badge and program guide, then another 20 minutes for the main event tickets. Apparently it's not as bad as once before where they lined up for 5 hours for the badge (back then, they didn't charge for the main events, but you had to line up for hours during the Expo to get the tickets). Last year, on the other hand, was a breeze as it was a far smaller crowd due to the lack of good guests.

I had sausage in pineapple sauce (didn't feel adventurous enough to try the sausage in chocolate sauce) and black sugar caramel shaved ice for dinner. XD

Seeing how the big season of fall anime series is almost upon us, I sought out the introduction video on Niconico for a rough estimate on how much bandwidth I might have to put in. Of course, it would help if there's a way for me to know how much bandwidth FF XIV will take up when I make the plunge. I'm probably fine until the winter shows, though, as I'll need to shop for a video card first...

The following is a summary of the series listed in the video and my impression based on the PV. I'm sure I'll most likely end up grabbing more than what I mark here, though. Beware of super long list ahead!

とある魔術の禁書目録II
- Not watching. Didn't watch the 1st season, either. The seiyuu and design for the main male & female don't appeal to me. Will be watching the spin-off series, though.

咎狗の血
- I'll probably watch the 1st episode to see if it's gonna be obvious BL, then drop it if it is. No idea what the original story is like. PVはカッコイのに、残念だ...

百花繚乱　サムライガールズ
- Not watching. Read the 1st volume of the novel and didn't get the urge for more, and the seiyuu cast isn't heavy enough for me to even trial watch.

神のみぞ知るセカイ
- Probably trial watch. No idea what the original work is like, but the PV doesn't seem that bad (*ry1). Seiyuu cast is all right.

俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない
- Probably trial watch. No idea what the original work is like, but the PV (ry1. If I end up watching it, it'll likely because of Nakamura Yuuichi. XD

ヨスガノソラ
- Probably not watching. しかし、まさかのねこかん！これは期待します！

パンティ＆ストッキング with ガータベルト
- Not watching. グレンラガンの次はこれかよ？！何を考えているんだ、GAINAX！ Orz

スーパーロボット大戦OG ジ・インスペクター
- Watching. Haven't the time to watch the previous SRW OG series, but will be watching it for sure.

それでも町は廻っている
- Probably watching. No idea what the original work is like, but the PV looks interesting (*ry2). The seiyuu cast is somewhat good.

そらのおとしものf
- Watching. Already watched the 1st season and found it within standard (what low standards I have...)

Ironman
- Probably not watching, even though it's done by Mad House and has two seiyuu that I like. Never watched the movies, but I just can't bring myself to like the design of the cyborgs/robots(?).

おとめ妖怪ざくろ
- Watching. No idea what the original work is like, but the PV (ry2. The art looks nice and the seiyuu cast is good.

えむえむっ！
- Not watching. Fukuyama Jun sounds really good in the PV and the female seiyuu cast is not bad, but the story... Orz

STAR DRIVER 輝きのタクト
- Watching. The original story by BONES looks pretty interesting, and the seiyuu cast is really really good. 銀河美少年ってｗｗｗ

テガミバチ　REVERSE
- Watching. Haven't watched the 1st season yet, but will be watching for sure.

もっと To LOVEる　-とらぶる-
- Not watching. Never touched the series and not really planning to.

探偵オペラ　ミルキィホームズ
- Not watching. I don't do shows starring female kid characters not voiced by seiyuu I like.

荒川アンダーザブリッジ　＊２
- Watching. 秋アニメの本命だ！ I should go finish the 1st season before this air. :D

ポケットモンスター　ベストウイッシュ
- I actually would want to watch this if I have time because of the seiyuu cast. If I do, it probably will be like Naruto or One Piece to me, where I watch a few episodes here and there when I remember.

バトルスピリッツ　ブレイヴ
- Not watching. Another one of Sunrise's shows based on a trading card game. Of course I'm not watching it. But what's with the slightly heavy seiyuu cast... orz

薄桜鬼　碧血録
- Watching. This would have been my honmei for the fall season if it weren't for 荒川アンダーザブリッジ　＊２, and the fact that the anime takes on the Hijikata route, which is my least favourite out of the playable characters (not that I've played the game...) But it's still got Kuwashima Houko! XD

侵略！イカ娘
- Might be watching. No idea what the original story is like, but (ry1). The seiyuu cast is all right.

バクマン
- Watching. No idea what the original story is like, but (ry2). The seiyuu cast is all right.

海月姫　～くらげひめ～
- Might be watching. No idea what the original story is like, but (ry1). The seiyuu cast is somewhat good.

FORTUNE ARTERIAL　赤い約束
- Probably not watching. OnoD definitely appeals to me, but the female seiyuu cast doesn't. But that's okay, 'cause I can still hear OnoD in...

心霊探偵八雲
- Watching. Kazuma x Ayano OnoD! XD Never read the original novel but read one of the manga versions. Too bad it ended with just 2 volumes. Maybe I should find time to read the novels, too. I'm quite happy that Haruka's seiyuu isn't the same as the drama CD.

夢色パティシエール
- Not watching. Didn't watch the 1st season and likely won't. I'll probably like the food, but most likely not the kids.

ヘタリア４期
- Not watching. Never watched/read the series. I might in the future, but it's pretty low priority despite the heavy seiyuu cast due to the lack of story.

Summary (total 28)
- Watching for sure: 9
- Not watching for sure: 9
- Undecided: 10

I think there's a few other shows for the fall season not included in the video. Regardless, it seems like it'll be another heavy season. The 2nd chapter of Gundam UC also comes out during the season. FF XIV will definitely need to wait until after fall...

Project NewType #6: バカとテストと召喚獣 Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
13 episodes
SILVER LINK.

[Other media]
- original novel (ongoing, never read)
- spin-off manga (ongoing, never read)
- drama CD (pre-anime with different seiyuu cast, never heard)

[Highlights]
- PV
- comical gags

If I had known what the story is about before hand, I probably wouldn't had bothered watching it. What really got me was the PV for the anime, narrated by Ootsuka Akio and scripted to be RPG-like. Well, a number of people on Niconico (where I saw the PV) warned that it was nothing like the actual thing, but it already piqued my interest.

I quickly realized, after watching, that the anime itself is no where near the atmosphere depicted in the PV. Luckily, the "baka" in the title isn't just for show, and there's a good amount of comical gags to keep me entertained. The anime parodies are always fun to watch as well.

[Notable seiyuu]
- Shimono Hiro, Mizuhashi Kaori, Suzuki Tatsuhisa, Katou Emiri, Miyata Kouki, Terashima Takuma, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Ootsuka Akio, Tsuda Kenjirou, Kakazu Yumi, Inoue Kikuko

I find myself rather foreign to most of the new female seiyuu with their moe voice, so the male seiyuu (Suzuki Tatsuhisa in particular) were the main driving force for me. What took me by surprise here is Katou Emiri, for whom my impression was perpetually stuck as Hiiragi Kagami from Lucky Star. It's my first time hearing her play a male, and she did it beautifully (in a literal sense, to be explained in the next section).

[Favourite character]
- Sakamoto Yuuji, Kinoshita Hideyoshi

I had my eyes on Yuuji from the very beginning because of his seiyuu, but I immediately thought he's bigger than what he appeared to be, which he proved throughout the anime.

I don't often pick a female character for series such as this unless she's voiced by a seiyuu I like, and I don't actually have much love for Katou Emiri 'cause I'm not particularly fond of Kagami's tsundere character. But I don't believe anyone can say no to Hideyoshi, since Hideyoshi is Hideyoshi, of the Hideyoshi gender. XD

[Couple supported]
- Sakamoto Yuuji x Kirishima Shouko

I've been rooting for this couple since before Shouko asked to be Yuuji's girlfriend. If only Shouko would be less S towards Yuuji. I might actually want to read the novel if there's a love-love chapter about the two without Yuuji getting physically abused...

[Buying guide]
- not interested

I started on the anime with absolutely no previous knowledge. After watching the first season (2nd season to air in 2011), I had no desire to read the original novel or the spin-off manga. In this sense, the anime failed in the promotional department. Though, I'll likely watch the 2nd season next year just to complete the anime series, but not enough to spur my buying urge.

ドアホだ、わたし。 orz

I foolishly deleted a whole bunch of folders in Sebastian (the awesome 2TB external HDD) thinking those files were previously backed up on discs... but they're not!! I recorded those folders into the master list but failed to specified their location (thought about it but didn't follow through...)

Some folders I still have on Cygnus or Stargazer that I can just copy over for real back up, but others are already partially deleted and the files scrambled. I also need to go through the master list and remove the folder names, then record the salvaged ones into a new list.

Not sure how much longer this'll take, but there goes my wonderful Saturday afternoon... orz

I want to clean up Cygnus and run the benchmark tool for FF XIV, damn it! I need to clear up some serious space in preparation for the actual game, too. 15GB out of my current <20GB space would not work very well...

I'm sure a lot of people have already seen Popo-chan transforming on YouTube. So it was no surprise that it came to mind when I saw the owl thief in the first episode of Sora no Woto, and I just had to laugh when the same owl transformed into both forms in the second episode. The point here, of course, is to show the hierarchy of the platoon in the owl's POV...

However!

According to ja.wikipedia, this particular breed of owl, White-faced Scops owl/アフリカオオコノハズク/Ptilopsis leucotis, doesn't alter its body shape depending on the strength of the opponent, as narrated in the video clip. Instead, it mimics a tree branch when it is not yet spotted by the enemy at a distance and still has a chance to run away. When it's discovered by the enemy and too late to escape, it flares its feathers and wings to try to make the enemy back off.

In addition, the act of elongating one's body to mimic a tree branch isn't limited to White-faced Scops owls and is done by other owl breeds as well.

So, kids, don't take everything as the truth on TV, especially if it's meant to be entertaining.

On a side note, what Kanata initially saw underwater, the one wing and partial ribcage, reminded me of Macross Zero. Then the almost-full thing was shown and ruined the moment for me because it rather resembles the famous Archaeopteryx fossil.

On a second note, when I saw the owl emblem and the name 1121 platoon, it reminded me of the 5121 platoon from GunParade March, whose emblem is a black cat. Speaking of GPM, it's the first anime series I bought and the R3 version purchase was spurred by the fact that Haniwa-dono translated it. I used to want a PS for the longest time so I could play the original game, too (I kinda gave up the idea since the game is too hard to find). Seeing people's fan arts made me realize the anime didn't even scratch the surface of the complexity and depth of the game. I think I would want the novels as supplementary material...