機動戦士ガンダム Mobile Suit Gundam

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's my biology lesson of the day. XD

機動新世紀ガンダムX After War Gundam X

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

最後って言ったけど、まさかほんとに最後になたとは...

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

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

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

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

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

Here's a quick comparison the hardware and software:

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

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

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

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

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

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

1st post from Ottawa!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

残念ながら、時間がないのであまり話しはできない。ただ、これだけは言う。

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

では、次はOttawaに会いましょう！


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

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

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

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

It's been a while since I last posted anything here. My busy *cough* daily life being one of the reasons, but the suspending state of my gremz tree also plays a big part.

I don't know why, but no matter how much or how often I write (notice the short burst of posts back in March?), the thing just won't grow! I've seen other people's trees flourishing just fine on their Blogger page so I don't think it's due to incompatibility with Blogger. Is it because I went in and changed too much of the layout code and screwed up somewhere? The possibility of this is actually rather high so I'm not going to probe further for now. Before I figure out how to properly make the tree grow, I'm going back to my previous habit of updating when I remember. Or unless I find some other blog pet to keep...

Oh, in case anyone noticed, I've updated the Vocaloid player on the side with a couple of new songs, including ones by Megumine Luka! :)

Now that's over with, let's get on with this month's summary post!

First off, GO CANUCKS GO!! XD
I doubt we'll advance very far judging from the first round performance, but I still want to cheer the team on. After all, I became a Canucks fan during the '94 play-off.

BTW, the last snow of the 2009 winter fell on April Fool's Day. How humorous is our God... XD

April marks the start of another new batch of anime and drama shows. Of course, I'm so far behind that I'm not even attempting to finish the last batch from January. Still, I've been busy catching up and re-watching various series. I haven't really started on the new ones yet, but there's a couple that I've been really looking forward to since the news of them came out. I'll make another post on this later.

(Why did I start playing Super Robot Wars J yesterday? I'll never get around to watch all the shows at this rate... orz)

I bought a whole bunch of stuff on my monthly ACG shopping trip. Unfortunately, the NDS Gundam game that I wanted was already gone... But I still managed to get quite a few items of choice, including Sound Horizon's Moira!

Here's a quick list of this month's loot:
[CD]
- Sound Horizon: Moira (with 1st press limited embroidered box, no less! No privilege goods, though)
- Kanon: Sanctuary
- ELISA: ebullient future
- Toradora OP1 Single: Pre-Parade (which bro at first suspected as Vocaloid singing!)
- Heroic Age OP Single: gravitation
- CLANNAD Anime OP & ED Single- Megumeru/Dango Daikazoku
- Kalafina: oblivious
- Okiayu Ryuutarou: Sora no Ashiato
- Hajime Chitose: Fuyu no Hainumi Kaze
- Natsugawa Rimi: Kaze no Michi
- Final Fantasy XII: Symphonic Poem "Hope"
[DVD]
- Kenran Butou Sai DVD box set
[Novel]
- Saiunkoku Monogatari: Ryokufuu wa Yaiba no Gotoku (彩雲国物語 緑風は刃のごとく)
- Kiri: Shishatachi wa Kouya ni Nemuru (キーリ 死者たちは荒野に眠る)

The Toradora novels are already at Iwase waiting for me to pick up as well. :D

I'm seriously thinking of starting the translation project I've been planning, especially with all the new books I've been buying...

World Baseball Classic Final
Japan 5, Korea 3

That was a good few hours spent watching the game, and it sure brought some fond memories back. I'm never active in sports, but I used to watch Taiwanese professional baseball back in the days. For some reason, baseball lost its appeal to me once I crossed the Pacific Ocean and I rarely paid any more attention to it.

We were kind of rooting for Japan during the game and were glad that they won out in the end, though there were some intense moments. Congratulations, Team Japan! You go, Ichiro! XD

Now I can go back to my non-sportive lifestyle... Until the Canucks get somewhere in this year's play-off, that is.

I've said before that I would try not to judge an anime by its cover and decide for myself after giving it a shot. That's what I'd like to do, but due to time and space constraint, I don't always get to do this. I've probably missed out on a number of good shows as a result, and I almost walked away from one of the best series I've seen of late if it weren't for Neko-tan's enthusiastic comments on Gmail Chat.

The series is Toradora, which grabbed my attention with just the first episode and easily climbed up to my all-time top anime list by the fifth (I'm at ep.10 right now).

At first glance, the series appears to be a typical high school love comedy with cute girls and a lead loli female. The fact that two of the main girls are voiced by Kugimiya Rie and Horie Yui adds to the impression that the series is selling the tsudere and moe of the girls. But it's not like that at all!

Indeed, the series is a typical high school love comedy, but the characters and their interactions are so interesting and well scripted, it's hard to tear one's eyes away from this spirited display of youthful fireworks. I often find myself holding my stomach from trying to contain the laughters, and I also find myself smiling warmly at the things they say and the way they act. I haven't found myself tearing up or feeling the heart ache so far, but judging from the amount and depth of character emotions and sentiments in the show, I won't be surprised if it happens by the end of the series.

The last anime of which I felt this much emotion was Honey & Clover. Toradora actually reminds me a lot of Honey & Clover. The settings are similar, where one's main cast is consisted of three guys and two girls in a university, and the other one is two guys and three girls in a high school. Both have down to earth characters and respective issues, and both delve deeper beyond the superficial romantic relationships which is common in many shoujo works.

Having said that, Toradora and Honey & Clover are geared toward different demographics and therefore have different view points and approaches on various themes. I think I'm feeling for both because Toradora speaks to my emotions due to my lack of experience in love, while Honey & Clover speaks to my logics and reason due to my experience and knowledge in life.

Speaking of which, I just finished watching episode 4 of the second season of Honey & Clover (yeah, I haven't finished it yet) before writing this. I didn't like the pairing of Mayama and Rika at all when I watched the first season or read the manga. For some reason, I didn't dislike it as much as I thought I would when I watched the episode just now. I actually found reasons to support them. The seiyuu may have played a part in this change of heart, but I'd also like to think that I've grown more mature over the years.

Seiyuu-wise, the only seiyuu I was familiar with for the main cast of Honey & Clover was Ueda Yuuji, so I didn't really pay too much attention when watching the first season. I did start to notice Kamiya Hiroshi and Hamada Kenji after that, though. As mentioned above, I'm now able to appreciate the characters in H&C II better because of my growing experience with seiyuu. Sugita Tomokazu and Oohara Sayaka are great as usual!

Also as mentioned above, the only seiyuu I know for the main cast of Toradora are Kugimiya Rie and Horie Yui, neither are on my top female seiyuu list and usually aren't reason enough for me to watch an anime. My opinion of Kugimiya Rie used to be stereotyped because of her natural voice, but it has slowly changed over the past few years, starting with her role in Fullmetal Alchemist as Al. Once I see past her moe voice, she's got really great acting skills. Same with Horie Yui. I'm not familiar with Majima Junji, but he seems pretty good. I'll start watching out for him.

I'm still hesitant about buying the H&C manga because of the art style and am waiting for the DVD if it would be made available. I'm definitely buying the DVD for Toradora as well if it makes it and am pondering whether to buy the original light novels or not. I saw one of the spin-off volumes the other day when I went to Book Off, but that was before I started watching the anime so I didn't get it. orz

BTW, the OP song for Toradora, sang by the seiyuu for the three girls, is strangely addictive. I don't usually go for denpa songs, but this is just cute. XD

Kidou Senkan Nadesico

I just finished re-watching the series after almost five years and, even with all those other anime under my belt now, I still find it a great series. Actually, I probably appreciated it more this time around with all the knowledge and 'common sense' I've gained from watching other anime.

While the setting is fairly Sci-fi with all kinds of robotic devices and advanced technology, Nadesico is really a youthful love comedy at heart. With the battleship and the war between Earth and Jupiter as the grand stage, the crew of Nadesico live out their hearts with fanfare and lots of commotion. At times, there are laughters, separations and tears. At other times, there are arguments, disturbances, and reconciliation. Idiotic displays are intertwined with hot blooded moments. The characters often find themselves lost in life amidst all the wars and uproars, but time and again, they reclaim their hearts and set out once more with better understanding and stronger determination.

One can't talk about Nadesico without mentioning the great cast of seiyuus. Kuwashima Houko as Yurika is, of course, the best part for me (Houko-chan all the way!!), followed by the two Gekigan lovers played by Seki Tomokazu. Those two have come a long way since Nadesico over the past 12 years, and I never cease to be amazed by their display of skills. This is also where I first met Ueda Yuuji and Minami Omi. Their voices and acting skills don't stand out as much, but they're both unique, soothing, and memorable.

A lot of the elements in the series seem clichéd and thus makes the series seem rather ordinary by the current standard, but a good balance of all those elements as well as the excellent integration of Gekiganger 3 is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

The anime series ended with an open end and many mysteries were left unsolved. While it's inconclusive, I think it suits the series. Like Akito said in the series, once the last episode came to pass, it feels like the series really is over. But with an infinite end, one is free to imagine. Surely, the people on Nadesico will continue their adventure with the usual clamour and cheeriness after that last episode, opening new paths in their own style. Let's meet again somewhere else, Nadesico! :)

Look, it's him, Mario!

Well, it's not exactly Mario, but it's a plumber all right. Our kitchen sink got clogged after we ran the dish washer, which gets used once every three months or so in average, the day before, so we called in a long-time acquaintance of Mum's who happens to be a plumber.

A lot of people think it's dirty work, in the literal sense, and would prefer their children choose something else for a career. But, boy, would we be hooped without them.

While we were at it, we decided to have the whole plumbing system in the house checked and cleaned. The job took a good couple of hours and another hour or so to clean up the aftermath, but now all pipes are running well. Yay for plumbers! :)

This post was brought to you by the current temperature, -4°C. XD

I happened to be in the vicinity of Book Off yesterday and, given the rare chance, happily stepped in. And I walked out an hour later with a bag full of CDs and one art book by Toriyama Akira.

Here's a list of the CDs I got:
- Atari Kousuke: Yurai Hana
- Atari Kousuke: Tane o Maku Hibi
- Itou Yuna: HEART
- Itou Yuna: wish
- Shimatani Hitomi: Shinku/Ai no Uta
- SunSet Swish: Mosaic Kakera (the cover song was also what made me a fan of the group)
- Heroic Age ED Single: Azurite
- Polyphonica ED Single: Concordia (I've never seen the anime, but I like Shimotsuki Haruka)
- Mononoke Hime OST

The trip to Downtown was kind of unexpected so I didn't have a chance to do some research on the various DS games I saw at Book Off last time. Hopefully those games will still be there when I go there next time. It'd be even better if there's another 20% off sales... Then I'd buy all three games that I've set my eyes on! XD

During my search for the skytrain station (well, I got lost), I saw EB Games and decided to check it out. The first thing that caught my eyes was Final Fantasy IV, as the title has disappeared from store shelves everywhere else in the last few weeks. I was about to ask the store clerk for a copy when I noticed the words "voice over" on the back. If the game has Japanese voice over, I don't want one with English. Granted, I haven't seen the Japanese version laying around anywhere, but I'm not really in that much of a hurry. The three RPGs (and DQ IV when the price drops a bit) will keep me occupied long enough.

The other game that got my attention was YS I/II. I've never played the YS series and have only seen the OVA. The series is very well known among RPG fans in Japan and is considered as one of the classics, but I'm not sure about the game mechanics and plot...

The FF IV incident prompted me to do a quick search on The World Ends With You when I got home. Yeah, I finally managed to find a copy at Best Buy just last week. I don't know why it's taking them so long to get in a game that's been released for almost a year... Anyway, I found out that this game has voice as well so I guess I'm returning it. All that search for nothing. -__-

Now to find a store that sells Japanese video games in the Lower Mainland...

Nodame Cantabile

There's a couple different adaptation of Nodame Cantabile beside the original manga, including two anime (Chapter Japan & Paris), one Japanese drama (Chapter Japan), and one Japanese drama special (Chapter Paris). My pilgrimage started with the manga, then the drama, then the first anime, then the drama special, and then the second anime. While each medium has its strengths and weaknesses, this is one of the few works that actually excel in all versions.

I don't consider myself musical, especially when it comes to playing any musical instrument, but Nodame Cantabile easily opens the door to classical music for me. The manga orchestrates an interesting cast of characters with a fascinating story line to make up a unique melody. Even with all the classical music terms and names, it's attractive rather than intimidating. Of course, being a romanticist, the relationship between Nodame and Chiaki is one of the main driving forces for me as well. XD

While the manga is loaded with knowledge of great composers and music pieces, it lacks the audio component which is critical for a music-themed work. The anime and drama may not adhere to the original as closely, but it's invaluable to be able to see the characters come to live and hear the music. Instead of names consisted of letters and numbers that mean nothing to me (e.g. Etude Op.10-4 in A flat major), I can immerse myself in the melody and just enjoy the experience.

The drama version was quite intense, with deliberate gag and comical effects. I had a bit of trouble adjusting from the princely image of Chiaki in the manga to a real person, but Tamaki Hiroshi pulled off the prestige bearing rather nicely. Ueno Juuri's Nodame was so dramatic that she almost overshadowed Kawasumi Ayako's Nodame in the first anime. The biggest point going for the drama version for me was actually Takenaka Naoto's Milch, which the anime's Milch just couldn't compare.

The anime version is close to the original art style and uses a soft palette and lighting. The quality is pretty consistent and the instrument playing seems genuine to me. The second anime season, Chapter Paris, retains the same level of quality but at the same time also employs CG rendering for a lot of the conducting scenes and flowery effects, which I'm not particularly fond of. Seamless implementation of 3D CG into a 2D art medium with a harmonious result is very difficult, but Chapter Paris is within tolerable range for me.

Chapter Paris has a much smaller cast, so the seiyuu's acting skill becomes critical. Nodame has calmed down quite a bit and grown more mature in Chapter Paris, and Kawasumi Ayako really shines as Nodame here. Seki Tomokazu is exceptional as usual, and Itou Shizuka and Matsukaze Masaya are great as supporting characters.

Due to the time constraint, both the drama special (total about 5 hours) and the second anime (total about 4 hours) have to omit quite a lot of scenes and details and focus on different aspects. In this respect, while the drama special version is lively and entertaining, it pales when compared to the anime version for me. My brother would probably think otherwise, though, as he usually prefer story-driven than character-driven stuff.

All in all, I highly recommend Nodame Cantabile and all its adaptation for anyone whether music is your thing or not.

Why hasn't anyone licensed the anime yet? orz

I consider myself a newbie when it comes to Vocaloid. While I probably haven't even listened to 0.1% of all the Vocaloid songs out there, there's a couple that I really like and go back to from time to time. ココロ is one of them, and the 悪ノ series by 悪ノP is another.

悪ノ娘(Aku no Musume/Wicked Girl) depicts a princess who ascends the throne at the young age of 14 and rules over her kingdom with spoiled and selfish tyranny, and how she meets her end. Despite the cruelness of the subject, the song style is rather light-hearted with a quick tempo, as if putting on a stage play at a local comedy theatre.

I'm sure the series wouldn't have touched so many people's heart if not for 悪ノ召使(Aku no Meshitsukai/Wicked Servant), the companion song that tells the same story from the view point of the servant with the same face that's only mentioned once in 悪ノ娘. As it turns out, the twins were forced to separate when they were little, resulting in the heartless nature in the princess. The lost twin is brought back to her, but as a servant who does the biddings of the princess, no matter how sinful it is. At the end, he switches roles with the princess and dies at the guillotine disguised as her. She is his other half, and he loves her dearly, to the point of dying for her.

At the communion today, the pastor reminded us once again that Jesus loves us so much that he died for us. Len (the servant) is willing to die for Rin (the princess) because they are twin siblings. Jesus is not related to us by nature, yet He loves us and gives His all to us, so that we can be clean and be free.

In リグレットメッセージ(Regret Message, not written by 悪ノP), Rin thinks back to what Len had done for her and regrets her actions, but Len won't be back again. Jesus, on the other hand, rose from the dead after three days! When I do something wrong or stupid, it's not too late to repent and change, and Jesus is there for me every step of the way.

It's kind of hard to lay out in words what went through my mind when I heard those words from the pastor this morning and mentally made a comparison with Len in 悪ノ召使. I think this is one of the reasons why I like the song so much, to see the great display of love.

On the topic of 悪ノ召使, here are some PV that I mylisted. These two are chorus projects, and I especially love the second one, 悪ノ召使 -Classical version-【ミニ合唱】Project Edition. I couldn't help but tear up when Len sings T__T

On the subject of parallel comparison, I found Re_birthday and one of its PV just now (yes, I've been listening to the 悪ノ series on Niconico while writing this). Another uncunning resemblance! Len, alone in a dark space and chained down by the blood and tears from people he's wronged, is condemned by his sins. Then one day, the dark space opens up a crack and lets in a small light, freeing him from the chains and giving him a second chance. Sounds like every born again Christian's path, eh?

I think Re_birthday links up the trilogy (悪ノ娘、悪ノ召使、リグレットメッセージ) very nicely and completes the 悪ノ series along with ぜんまい仕掛けの子守唄(Zenmaijikake no Komoriuta/Clockwork Lullaby). こんな素敵なシリーズありがとう、悪ノP氏!(Thank you for this wonderful series, Aku no P-san!)

I had a chance to go to Vancouver Downtown the other day, and what was supposed to be a side excursion to knowledge turned out to be another shopping trip. Not that I'm complaining. XD

Before departing on my journey to venture into the unknown and scary territory of Vancouver Downtown, I did a quick search on Google Maps for Japanese book stores, hoping to locate the one tipped off to me by the girl at Sakura Media. Well, the result rendered two possibilities within walking distance, Sophia Books and Book Off. I went to Sophia first because that seemed to be the less likely one (I always leave the best for later) and, as expected, walked out empty-handed. I did see a volume of the Kyouran Kazoku novel series, but I didn't get it. It's not quite my cup of tea.

Then I walked into Book Off and knew, right that instant, that I just hit the jackpot! Not only did the store offer a wide selection of books and manga in Japanese with great prices, but also Japanese music and DVD, and even console game software. And it's 20% off everything in the store, with the exception of the $2 items, during the whole month of February!

After about two hours or so, I re-emerged into the night with a big and heavy bag of loot and a thinner wallet. I would have grabbed more stuff, but I was taking the transit that day so it was best to keep the luggage relatively light.

To keep the long story short, here's a list of what I got:

CD
- Sound Horizon: 5th Story Roman (the most expensive purchase of the day, but absolutely worth every single penny! I didn't even imagine I can get it outside Japan without ordering online!)
- Sound Horizon: Shounen wa Tsurugi o
- Atari Kousuke: Kizuna/Natsu Yuuzora
- Atari Kousuke: Hana
- Utsunomiya Takashi: easy attraction
- Kamen Rider Kabuto OP Single: NEXT LEVEL
- Sousei no Aquarion OP Single: Sousei no Aquarion (the seiyuu version is superb!)
- db songbook featuring Kuwashima Houko
- Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest IV

Books
- Library War
- Library Civil War
- Library Crisis
- Favorite (darn the American spelling...) Japanese-English dictionary

Yup, I finally went and got a Japanese dictionary. The Rikaichan add-on is awesome, but it's much more convenient to use a paper dictionary while reading a book. Maybe that will motivate me to start rolling the novel translation project I've been planning forever. Speaking of which, I might switch my target from the Saiunkoku Monogatari series to the Library War series... We'll see.

Yeah, I went in to look for manga, but I ended up not buying any 'cause I already grabbed so many things. Maybe next time, whenever that will be.

I was really tempted to buy the anime DVD there, but they're Region 2 DVD... :(

Their DS game selection was rather small compared to the other consoles, but at least they are in Japanese! Too bad I already bought Dragon Quest IV; I rather play it in Japanese than in English. Ah well, at least now I know where I can get a few of the Japanese games. I had to put two DS games back to the shelf because I was trying to keep my next month's credit card bill down after my anime spending last month. CT, FF III, and DQ IV are probably enough to keep me busy until next year anyway.

All in all, it was a fruitful day. The only disappointment was that the Japanese eatery I was planning to have lunch at was no longer there. Granted, it was at least a good four years or so since I last went there. The sushi cafe express I ended up going was relatively cheap (man, one has to go broke eating out in Downtown all the time), and the food was not bad. Not the best place to chat and relax with friends, though.

I think all I have left to buy is the Gundam 0080 DVD from Sakura Media and hopefully AIR TV if they have it (gotta use those coupons!), and I'll be good with my ACG shopping for a long time. Until chance leads me into either Sakura Media or Book Off again, that is. I can't decide whether it's a curse or a blessing to be living so far away from everywhere... =v=

I just got my credit card bill for last month and it was a big one as expected, thanks to all the Christmas shopping I did. My next bill probably won't be as costly, but it would likely be a good sum as well, thanks to the anime shopping trip I took today.

As mentioned before, I was hesitant about getting the Aquarion DVD set because of its price and the lack of Part 1. Well, I checked online and found that said missing item was available at the Burnaby Best Buy. After some struggle, I succumbed to my inner collector's thirst and got Part 2 not long after the post. But it's not until today, roughly one month later, that I finally went and got Part 1.

Aquarion Part 1 was what I set out to get today, but I ended up buying over $200 (after tax) worth of stuff. I will have to tighten my belt for the next month or so to make up for this...

Anyhow, after an interesting drive through the sea of fog, I arrived at my first stop, Crystal Mall. It's probably no secret that most of the DVDs there are bootlegs, so my main objective there was plamo rather than media. The ones I'm looking for are not out yet so I was really just browsing. I was also planning to ambush friend L at her work but I missed their closing hour...

There's quite a few Three Kingdoms themed SD Gundam plamo at the stores, including the clear colour versions. I was tempted to get the peach orchard oath 3-in-1 set, but I already have the Ryubi Gundam, so I settled for the Koumei & Chouun set. There were three stores selling the set, all with different prices. Luckily, I got it from the cheapest one. :)

Next stop was Best Buy, the original destination for the trip. I had asked friend L's colleague, who lives just a block away from there, to get the Aquarion Part 1 for me, but she couldn't find it even with the help of the store associate. I already checked last night to make sure it's still showing as in stock and went straight to the anime section and snatched it off the shelf today. Took me less than 10 minutes to retreat out of there. XD

My last stop was the infamous maze that has never failed to trap me every time I went there, Metropolis/Metrotown Centre. Friend D once mentioned to me that Sakura Media had moved from Crystal Mall to Metropolis, so I decided to take a look, thinking that they should have legit media since they're now selling in Metro. Little did I know that the place would be a black hole for my hard earned cash...

Less than five minutes after I walked in, I almost coughed out a Sir Borden for three volumes of Mobile Suit Gundam Illustration World. I held off on those and decided to browse the whole store first. I almost grabbed Guren Type-2 but stopped myself as I am waiting for Guren SEITEN (and Lancelot Albion). The Royal coating version of Vincent was very tempting as well, but the price was enough to pull me back out. The store was playing O2 while I was contemplating the plamo purchase. What coincidence. XD

Then I noticed the wall of anime DVDs... One of the store clerks approached me and led me to Code Geass as requested. They only had Part 2 and are waiting for more shipment of Part 1. I was ecstatic at first as I was going to order Code Geass from Amazon, then I saw their price tag and put it back. The first digit was double that of Amazon's. I'll just order them as planned...

My best find for the day was the Argento Soma DVD set that I've been looking forever for and was planning to order online along with Code Geass! Again, their price tag was higher than that of Amazon's, but this time the difference was within acceptable range so I still bought it there. I also got the Infinite Ryvius DVD set and almost grabbed the Kenran Butousai DVD set and the Gundam 0080 set.

They have a fairly sizeable selection of manga, but they're all in English. The girl tipped me off of a Japanese book store in Downtown, but I don't think I'll be able to make it due to the distance. Today was, as far as I can recall, my second trip to the other side of the bridge after I left Mepos last summer. Downtown? I go there maybe once every two years or so. I think I'll stick with Iwase for my Japanese reading needs.

They don't have membership currently but they give out coupons for the following month, $2 for every $25 spend. I guess I'm going back there next month. Should I go for the art book or the DVD? Ah, the decisions...

Hello 2009!

First of all, let's have a moment of silence for the melting and shrinking snow that's been with us for the past month or so... There.

I'll miss those pinkish night sky until they loom over us again in the 2009/2010 winter. As long as the snow doesn't compromise the road condition when I need to go out, that is.

Too bad it was ridiculously cold when the snow accumulation reached its highest so I didn't take a picture. Now that it's starting to melt, I have no interest in recording its slow and painful death.

We broke the record for snow fall in December for Surrey, btw.

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Because of the snow, we cancelled our different agenda and stayed home. Mum wanted to rent a movie but didn't have anything in mind. I voted for Wall-E, but bro pushed hard for Transformer, so we ended up with Transformer.

Bro and I had some hearty good laughs throughout the movie, though I had to keep explaining to Mum 'cause she was lost from the beginning and was still confused at the end. I especially love the scene when the main guy (sorry, forgot his name already) was demanded whether he was user so and so, and where item number so and so was. I also burst out laughing not five minutes into the film when the narration, with a low grave voice, mentioned the Cube. Nice name for such a supposedly powerful object. XD

Other than the eBay and robotic jokes, I found Transformer to be all right. The CG rendering and action is pretty awesome, though the fighting scenes between the robots can be a bit too fast paced to follow. And to untrained eyes such as Mum's, she had difficulty distinguishing the individual units unless they're in the vehicle mode.

Bro loved the movie and lauded it as the best movie of the year (2007?) I still think Wall-E would be better. I'm too used to robots fighting for peace/domination/destruction to get excited about Transformer, which is one of the reasons why I voted for Wall-E. I don't usually feel the attraction very often when watching commercials, but I did for Wall-E. It might not beat Fireball in the 3D robot-themed category in my mind, but I have high expectation for it.

Maybe I should just go buy the DVD?

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After my last post in December, I went and bought Puzzle Quest the next day for my Guren. I also managed to get a copy of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III after numerous searches around town. The World Ends With You, unfortunately, is still out of sight.

Bought New Super Mario Bros yesterday 'cause I haven't got any platformer game yet. Bro didn't seem too interested in it and wanted a Naruto fighting game instead. Not a chance, man. Buy it yourself.

Anyhow, I started Puzzle Quest right away and also got bro into it. I chose a knight and named him Fenir to go with the background setting, while bro went with a wizard and named him Naruto. He beat the game two days ago and complained about the difficulty of the last boss. At the end, he had to adjust the game level to easy because he just couldn't win under the normal level. I beat the last boss yesterday in my first try right in his room, causing an appalled cry from him. Then I used his character and fought the last boss using the Choose An Opponent feature, and I beat him in one try as well under the normal level setting. This earned an indignant grunt and a weak excuse from bro. 甘いな、おとうとよ。XD

Since I plan to finish the NES version of DQ IV first, I had Chrono Trigger and FF III to choose from for my next game. I finally went with Chrono Trigger. Listening to its soundtrack has that effect on people.

So I'm now reliving a precious part of my gaming history. Knowing the story development didn't take away the fun of playing, and it's priceless to be able to see those memorable character and monster sprites moving about on the screen. The OP movie (from the PS version?) is very nice, too. I'm having a blast with Chrono Trigger! :D