蝦餃

毎週のVOCALOID - Bad ∞ End ∞ Night

2012-01-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

This one is from a week or two ago.

Title: Bad ∞ End ∞ Night
Producer: ひとしずくP，やま△
Art: 鈴ノ助
PV: TSO
Genre: Not even sure...pop?
Vocaloid: 初音ミク，鏡音リン・レン，巡音ルカ，GUMI, ガクポ, KAITO, MEIKO

Kenn's Comment: Using 8 of the Vocaloid in one song is impressive in it's own right, though there are some of the 8 that are only used in the choruses. For the most part, it's maybe...3-4? Miku, Rin and Ren are the ones I hear coming up most often. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, just not...what 8 could be.

Anywho, the song's melody reminds me a lot of something MachigarritaP might do (I spelt his name wrong). It gives it a bit of a creepy-feel to it. The PV is pretty amazing and the art (character art) is wonderful.

毎週の漫画 - 銀の勇者

2012-01-22T17:55:00.001-08:00

Image from Kotenha

This week's Weekly Manga Feature is brought to you be Weej, of Karmatic.

Title: 銀の勇者, Gin no Yuusha, The Hero of Silver (Silver Hero)

Author: Watanabe Yoshimoto

Genre: Shoujo, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Serialized in: Hakusensha LaLa

Total Volume Count: 5

Series Summary by Storm-In-Heaven:

Beat has always dreamed of being the Golden Hero of Totia. He made a pact with his best friend Ricercare (Rice for short) to join forces to annihilate the demon king in order to achieve this aim. Yet a twist of fate causes him to abandon his goals and fight alongside Rice to protect the demons. Just how will they fare against the entire nation of Totia? And can Beat protect Rice from the hero of Totia before it's too late? Cute and heart-warming, this amusing five-volume series also includes interesting side stories rich with magic and beautiful art.

Weej's 4 Reasons Why You Should be Reading This:

It has a nice, uncomplicated, heartwarming story.
The mini-dragons are adorable *kya*
The art is absolutely gorgeous.
The characters occupy archetypical roles, but each have their own quirks and is effectively used. There isn't, however, a great deal of back story that's put into the series.

She also makes a little mention of it in this post, though it's more or less regurgitated here.

This post is Weej Approved.

*weej says: haha i approve

A Day with Kenn 102

2012-01-22T12:33:00.001-08:00

It's only been like a year since I last posted one of these. I've been taking photos around recently, but I've constantly been forgetting to put them up and take them off the phone.

This one is taken at the Vancouver Waterfront side of the Seabus terminals. Winter isn't so much fun because of the cold but it also means that the sun rises pretty late. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all early morning classes for me, so this was often my view while waiting for the boat. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a photo of the actual sunrise, so this one will do.

Recently snowed a bit in Metro-Vancouver. I say Metro-Vancouver being the main city; suburbs like Surrey, Coquitlam, Abbotsford and Chiliwack got much, much more snow. That and the photo is taken in North Vancouver, which is it's own city, apart from Metro-Vancouver. Anywho, the weather's already started to warm up a bit from the -10C that we were having last week, and most of the snow has been cleared by the rain which has been walling non-stop since Friday.

Photo taken at Capilano University.

During a walk, I noticed that there was considerably more snow at the top of the hill than at the bottom. Perhaps it's because this area is almost completely shaded from the sun. When the snow melts away, this area usually still has their snow for another day or two.

Photo of the street I used to live on. It hasn't changed much in the 5-6 years since I moved. Unlike the top of the hill in the previous photo, the snow melts away very quickly here as there's no shade from the sun.

Street sign photographed while on my walk. Many people have mistaken Commercial Street with Commercial Drive. They're in very different parts of the city and have led many people astray.

These Tamarind candies are delicious. I'm almost certain I've put them on the blog before, but they're good enough that I'll put them up every year. I like the sweet ones a heck of a lot more as they're more likely to have the seed already taken out. These ones are 50/50, though the light heat that they pack is quite nice. ^^; I think I might have finished 2-3 of these by myself in the last two weeks.

Around Chinese New Years, the family gets all sorts of dried Chinese foods; some for offering to ancestors (it's a prayer thing), others for snacking on during the holiday. Pictured is a dried persimmon. Doesn't really taste like a fresh persimmon...or really look like one either. It's got a bit of a smoky taste to it, and is fairly dense. They taste great with tea too.

Picked this up yesterday. I've been looking for these ever since I read Shigatake's 「ハバネロたん」 series and finally found them at an Asian specialty store yesterday. These are Habanero flavoured chips, and aren't actually as spicy as they packaging makes them to be. They've got a bit of heat, but also have a bit of the habanero's burn which hits the back of the throat. A few of these won't hurt a bit, but the whole bag might leave you running for a glass of milk.

Also picked up yesteday. This jade...figure I suppose is of a goat, my Chinese astrological Zodiac. I've got it now, but I really don't know where to put it. For those who aren't familiar with the Chinese zodiacs, here's the article on Wikipedia. Unlike the Western Zodiacs which are assigned by birth-month and day, the Chinese zodiacs are assigned by year and rotate cyclically each year in units of 12 (the total number of Zodiacs).

For those who don't know, the Chinese Lunar New Year is tomorrow (Monday, 23rd), so we've broken out all the decorations. This should be a lion, coloured red for good luck, though I'm not sure that something this size will scare away any spirits... Last year's Chinese New Year post is here for more on the Lion Dance. Please ignore the fact that it's numbered 92 while this one is 102. ^^; 10 posts of these posts in a year isn't very impressive.

This year is the year of the Dragon, possibly the most prosperous of all the Zodiacs. Kids born in the year of the Dragon are said to be fated to great fortune and prosperity, though I suppose getting there requires some elbow-grease of your own. I heard somewhere that this year is specifically the year of the Black Water Dragon, linked here. I'm not familiar with the whole element things, so I haven't a clue about what this means. If you do, leave a comment to explain!

毎週のVOCALOID - ドレミファロンド

2012-01-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

This one was simply too cute to not put up.

Title: ドレミファロンド, Do Re Mi Fa Rondo
Producer: 40mP
PV: たま
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: The song and PV are ridiculously cute. Great Scott. It's also very good, though that's to be expected coming from 40mP. The music is pretty darn catchy...and the animals are awesome. Watch the PV to the end. You'll see references to other 40mP songs that I probably have put up a very long time ago.

Being a smarty pants, I get the feeling that the song is closer to a march than it is to a rondo.

毎週の歌 - Lines

2012-01-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Image from Radio3

Awesome song from one of my favourite bands. They're local (to me) too.

Title: Lines

Artist: Said The Whale

Genre: Indie, Rock

Single: N/A

Album: New Brighton EP

Vintage: 8/11/11 (ddmmyy)

Kenn's Comment: An awesome song showcasing Said The Whale's ability to do (almost) any style of music. The music video is inspired by Back To The Future, while the song is reminiscent of the days of the 50's (I think). I remember the band putting out a call for extras for the shooting of the video. I don't have 50's attire, nor did I have the time to take part.

Anywho, enjoy the song! I think they've got a free download up on their site somewhere.

毎週のウェッブ漫画

2012-01-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Image by Konbu Umauma

A tale of Pika friends turned lovers.

Title: Pokemon Special: Christmas Midnight

Artist: Konbu Umauma

Genre: Romance

Series: Pokemon Special (Adventure)

Characters: Red, Yellow, Blue

Kenn's Comment: This is a short little doujinshi of Pokemon Special (known as Pokemon Adventures here in North America), featuring Red and Yellow. This manga is based significantly more on the game than the anime is, and thus is a little bit more tolerable. Red's also a total bad ass, so much better than the wishy-washy-eternally-10 year old Satoshi (Ash) of the anime.

Anywho, the story is really quite cute and sweet. Sweet enough to give you cavities. I don't think you really need to know much about Pokemon Special to really enjoy this, as it's fairly independent of Special's story.

Pokemon Special is really good too. It's a bit different from the game and very different from the anime, but it's still really good. Fans of the games will enjoy it. I believe it's published in North America by VIZ. Those in Singapore can look for Chuang Yi for their fix of Pokemon Special.

Read it over at Danbooru.

毎週の漫画 - ガンオタの女

2012-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

Image from here

Because otaku girls are always more fun to read about than Otaku guys.

Title: ガンオタの女, Ganota no Onna, Ganota Woman, Gundam Otaku Woman

Author: Uroaki Sabishi

Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Romance

Total Volume Count: 3

Serialized in: Kadokawa Shoten Gundam Ace (lol)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Ganota Utsuki is an odd one – she just started her new job at a new company and already she acts like she owns the place. And, she tends to live her life as if inspired by Gundam…

Kenn's Comment: Fans of the U.C. timeline of the Gundam franchise will probably enjoy many of the jokes much more than those who started with the alternate timelines (especially Gundam Seed).

It's an entertaining series, even if you don't get the jokes (which are everywhere). The cast is zany as can be, while still retaining a bit of professionalism (they work in an office) making some of their antics rather interesting. Once Lala (obvious reference) comes in, Utsuki gets a whole lot more entertaining because she now has antics at home and at the office. ^^; Please don't try any of the things in the manga in the real life. Falling five stories and landing on a car won't feel very nice.

That and Uroaki's art is great.

毎週のVOCALOID - Pelagic Fish

2012-01-14T18:45:00.000-08:00

I'm going to need a translation of the lyrics to really figure out why this song is called what it is...

Title: Pelagic Fish
Producer: 無力P (Mouryoku P)
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 巡音ルカ

Kenn's Comment: That opening alone is amazing. So very ambient and easy on the ears. The rest of the song is pretty good, but I think that opening really stands out to me. The instrumental is pretty cool too, and are done well as they're not boring, but aren't overly active.

I'm not entirely sure why it's titled 'pelagic fish' though. For those who don't know, a pelagic fish is any fish that lives near the surface of the ocean, like sardines and most commercially harvested fish. This is as opposed to deep water fish (should be self explanatory) and reef fish, which live in and around the coral reefs.

毎週の歌 - GALLOWS BELL

2012-01-13T21:14:00.001-08:00

Long-time readers may recognize this song from many moons ago.

Title: GALLOWS BEL
Artist: buzzG ft. Nano
PV: ke-sanβ
Genre: Cover, Pop-Rock
Single: N/A
Album: N/A

Kenn's Comment: I know, I know. This is a vocaloid 歌い手 cover (normally tagged as 歌ってみた I believe). The song itself has been featured on my blog way back in July..many, many years ago. Find it here.

There are probably lots of covers of this one out there, but this one stands out above the rest. I'm not giving it special treatment because Nano's English is impeccably perfect, but rather because it's done so very, very well. Her singing and voice are wonderful; her fairly low and controlled voice really make her a joy to listen to. The English lyrics (made by Nano herself) really flow well, something I feel that needs to be looked at a little bit more than creating an overly accurate translation. I guess that's one of the perks to being fluent in both English and Japanese, knowledge of both means you can make the best translation and not have to rely on someone else's.

For more of Nano's covers, you can head on over to her YouTube channel, here. Most of the covers are in English, though she has a few in Japanese. Most of those are duets (the PONPONPON cover with VIN is awesome). There's also one I've been stuck on for a while now, where she's with Neko in a punky duet, linked here. Quite fond of it, and Neko's (who's English is pretty darn good too) punky rocky voice really works in this one. It's easier to hear with headphones. Be sure to turn down your volume before you plug yourself in. I'm starting to go off topic. Kenn over and out.

毎週のウェブ漫画 - -絶対に笑ってはいけない魔法少女-

2012-01-13T00:03:00.001-08:00

Image by tsukumo

The title is a bit on the long side, so I'm using part of it.

Edit: Was supposed to get published at 11:59pm, but I got distracted.

Title: 魔女の使いやあらへんで！！　-絶対に笑ってはいけない魔法少女-, No Laughing Batsu Game

Artist: tsukumo

Genre: Comedy

Series: 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ (Madoka)

Kenn's Comment: The title is long and has lots of kanji. I can't translate it. That being said, I've nabbed the one off of Danbooru. While it's probably not exactly what it says, it has the general gist of what the comics are about.

Quite funny, I have to say. First series is a No Laugh batsu (punishment) game, where the cast of Madoka are shown scenes from the anime (making it a bit meta) and those who laugh are punished. The rules change a bit nearer to the end, but I won't spoil it.

The second one is a challenge involving Homura. It's a rather entertaining one that sends the cast back into the series. Can't say much more or I'd spoil it.

The rules are written out on the first page of the series.

Read it over at Pixiv (1, 2) or Danbooru (1, 2)

毎週の漫画 - 銀の匙

2012-01-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Image from here

From the author of Full Metal Alchemist....comes a very good manga about the farm life.

Title: 銀の匙, Gin no Saji, Silver Spoon

Author: 荒川弘 (Arakawa Hiromi)

Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Slice of Life

Serialized in: Shougakukan Shounen Sunday

Total Volume Count: 2 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Young boy named Yugo Hachiken apparently aspire to live separated from his family. So he took the chance by enrolling to an agriculture school, one which required its students to live at dormitory. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problem will arise no matter what kind of school he goes to. But he's proven wrong. Grown up as all-easy-to-get city boy, he is forced to uncover not-too-convenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he trying to keep up with his friends, farmers' heirs who are already accustomed to hardworking farm life.

Kenn's Comment: I'm a big fan of the series. Not only because it's by the same author as FMA, but because it's really good. It really puts life back into perspective for me; being a city kid all my life, you often forget about farm life.

Before anyone says anything, I'd just like to tell you that there isn't any action or alchemy in this. I've seen a few comments about this not having any action or fantasy compared to FMA and I'm not too pleased to see that. If you compare this to Ohba and Obata's Death Note and Bakuman transition, I've enjoyed the FMA - Gin no Saji much, much more. Bakuman feels too action packed and dramatized, or in my words too 'shounen'. Gin no Saji could easily pass off as a seinen on first glance.

Anywho, it's a great read and you really should take a look at it. I'm wondering if 荒川先生 is familiar with this kind of a life, coming from Hokkaido.

毎週のVOCALOID - Cat's Dance

2012-01-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

A little bit late today; was watching the first episode of 偽物語 and trying to finish Atelier Rorona. Still.

Title: Cat's Dance
Producer: まらしい
Illus: 金たロウ
PV: Parmy
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: I'm not sure whether the producer is the Piano whiz of ニコニコ動画, but the heavy presence of the piano seems to certainly suggest that it is. I believe his YouTube channel marasy8.

It's a great sounding song. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it draws from a certain kind of music. Sound wise. Latin...perhaps?The way the chorus flows. Regardless it's a great sounding song. The guitar and piano are one of the big keys for me. Really makes it a bit classier than it would be if it had been all electronic.

That's all from me for today. See you all tomorrow!

毎週の歌 - Bandages

2012-01-06T16:04:00.000-08:00

Image from Chart Attack

I believe this is off their latest album, Seeds.

Title: Bandages

Artist: Hey Rosetta!

Genre: Indie, Folk

Single: N/A

Album: Seeds

Vintage: 15/02/11 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: My cousin showed me the music video last month, and I've been hooked on it ever since. Hey Rosetta! is a Canadian band, hailing from St. John's, Newfoundland.

The cool thing about the video is how the sound changes with the shots. Whenever you see scene changes in most music videos, the band or singer is usually dubbed over with a studio recording. In this one, they've taken the recording on location, giving a much more...real experience, shall we say? It's shot in St. John's too, so you can more or less call this the official song of the city.

Anywho, that's it from me. Enjoy!

毎週の同人誌の東方

2012-01-05T17:19:00.000-08:00

Image by tako

I'm not sure if that Title is right. I'm trying to go for "Weekly Touhou (東方) Doujin".

An adorable Remilia comic. She'll make your heart go pi-chuun.

Title: つゆのオマケ, Tsuyu no Omake, Rainy Season Bonus

Artist: Tako

Genre: Slice of Life

Characters: Remilia Scarlet, Izayoi Sakuya, Yakumo Yukari, Hakurei Reimu

Description from Danbooru:

Remilia watches Sakuya coming home and decides to go shopping herself, followed by a shrine visit.

Kenn's Comment: Hnggggg. Several doses of Insulin should be at hand when reading this. Remilia in this one is cute enough to put your blood sugar levels through the roof and then some.

The art is good and incredibly cute. That raincoat...hnggg....

Story-wise it's a rather heart warming story with Sakuya, Remilia and Reimu. Though Remilia is canonically significantly older than both Sakuya and Reimu, she's portrayed more like a child in this one....and a lot of other doujins. Anywho, give this one a read! It's really cute! How many times did I use cute in this one post...

Read it over at Pixiv, or Danbooru.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ゼロの使い魔F

2012-01-03T16:55:00.001-08:00

Image by Ha-Ru

If you can't tell who that is based on their face, shame on you!!

Title: ゼロの使い魔F, Zero no Tsukaima F, The Familiar of Zero F

Animation Production: J.C.STAFF

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Airs: 01/07 08:30 AT-X

Website: http://www.zero-tsukaima.com/

Series Summary from AniDB:

After successfully rescuing Tabitha, Saito and gang return to the Magic Academy and their normal, everyday life. However, a secret order from Henrietta sends Saito and Louise to Romalia, with Tiffania also tagging along.
-Translated from here

Kenn's Comment: Zelos was supposed to do this, but it airs in a few days, and I don't see any sign of him starting, so I did it myself. He would've given a better overview of it, but alas, it didn't happen.

Looks like they've more or less put this series in a prime timeslot. Hopefully this means that they won't make this one as dismal as the last two seasons were. The first episode (sometimes into the second or third) are usually the best before the series nosedives into a mess and then swooping back up for glory during the last episodes...which isn't entirely all that great.

Regardless, followers of the series should be excited for this one because if the latest Shana season is anything to go by, they're not going to be screwing around with this one.

I have to admit, I've grown weary of J.C. STAFF's adaptations of the novels. I've lost a bit of the fire that I once had for these. Maybe it's just that the story of the series have began to wane for me, or the fact that the previous seasons were like a bad CD where only a few of the songs are even worth listening to. Either way, something's changed and I've lost a bit of interest in these series. Hopefully this one will rekindle that dying flame. There's a lot of great series next season, and I'm hoping this one will make it onto my weekly watch list.

Anywho, look forward to more of everyone's favourite Sadist-Abusive-ぺったんこ-tsundere-Kugimiya characters.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ブラック★ロックシューター

2012-01-01T20:48:00.000-08:00

Image by huke

Black Rock Shooter blazes back, this time as a TV series.

Title: ブラック★ロックシューター, Black★Rock Shooter

Animation Production: Ordet/Sanzigen

Genre: Action, Fantasy

Airs: 02/02 24:45 Fuji TV

Website: http://www.noitamina-brs.jp/

Series Summary from ANN (ova):

Mato Kuroi just got into junior high school, and on the first day, someone catches her eye; her classmate Yomi Takanashi. The two meet.The innocent and naive Mato. The mature Yomi. Seemingly opposites, but the time they spend together only strengthens a growing friendship. But as they go into their second year at the school, they get placed in separate classes, and they begin to grow apart. But somewhere simultaneously... In another world, a young girl, blue fire residing in her eyes, Black Rock Shooter faces another young girl; this one holding a jet-black scythe, Dead Master, and a battle to the death begins to unfold.

Kenn's Comment: I...really don't know much about this one. The PV looked pretty good. Looks like they'll lean more into the action than they did with the OVA, which honestly wasn't that great. What worries me is that, for some reason, I'm seeing all the Shooter scenes as being almost all CG'd. CG worries me a bit, because there's good CG...and it doesn't happen as often as you'd like it to. There's not-so-great CG and then there's overused CG. It just stands out from the rest of the picture.

Can't really say too much because of how little I know about this. Other than that, the main voice cast is rather enticing, Asumi Kana, Hanazawa Kana, Sawashiro Miyuki, Kitamura Eri, Noto Mamiko and Numakura Manami. You may not have heard of Numakura Manami, but it's not like she's super new. She voices Ganaha Hibiki in the IDOLM@STER games as well as reprising that role in the anime.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - あの夏で待ってる

2012-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Image from Ichika-Ichika

I held off as long as possible for this one to see whether I could find more info on it...but nope

Title: あの夏で待ってる, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Waiting for that Summer
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Genre: N/A
Airs: 01/09 25:30 TV Aichi/KBS Kyoto
Website: http://www.ichika-ichika.com/

Series Summary: N/A

Kenn's Comment: Still no Synopsis on this one, meaning that the only things we have to go on is the staff listing, which looks quite impressive. Director is behind あの花, screenplay is done by a man with a rather impressive list under his belt, and the voice cast is pretty impressive too. The Original character designs are the same person who did them for おねがい☆ティーチャー and R.O.D, among other works. I really can't say much about it because of how little I know about it, but from the PV's that are out so far, I'm going to guess it has something to do with the main characters being part of the Film club. And maybe some aliens involved? I'm not too sure, but I'll go out on a limb for that.

PV:

毎週の漫画－悪ノ召使

2012-01-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

Image by PenPonMoe

Who would've thunk it?

Title: 悪ノ召使, Aku no Meshitsukai, The Servant of Evil

Author: Mothy
Artist: Nekoyama Miyao

Genre: Shounen, Drama, Romance, Tragedy

Serialized in: Comic Rush Jive

Total Volume Count: 1 (Ongoing)

Series Description from MangaUpdates:

In a certain kingdom, a prophecy was made about a child born with a birthmark on his back. It was said that he would bring an end to the kingdom, and that his death would bring about its destruction. When the twin prince and princess were born, Len and Rin, Len was discovered to have the birthmark. He was banished to a lonely tower, and Rin was raised as the only princess. However, it ended up being impossible to keep the siblings apart, and soon they formed a deep friendship. Although circumstances may pull them apart, nothing can break the bond they have with each other. They struggle together to survive the treacherous and dangerous world they were born into.

Kenn's Comment: If you haven't realized it yet, 悪ノ召使 is based on the Saga of Evil, by Mothy. I'm sure I've had it once on the blog. It's gorgeous and quite sad too.

Mothy's Saga of Evil always struck me as something that could totally turn into a novel of sorts, so this isn't...completely unexpected. Still very surprising though.

I haven't read much, if any of it at all, but rather than following the song to a dot, Mothy has gone into the past of the story, and the history of the Yellow Kingdom. I'm not whether he'll go into Regret Message and Re_Birthday, but the ending will definitely coincide with Servant of Evil's.

The art has been great from what I've seen, and with Mothy at the helm of the story, I can't see it going wrong. That's all from me. Happy New Year! I've added an earlier video of 悪ノ召使 below.

明けましておめでとう!!

2011-12-31T19:21:00.003-08:00

Image by Neg

明けましておめでとう! Happy New Year! I think I typed that right...

There's more after the jump.

Happy New Years to my fellow North American compatriots! I know the shot glass says Sverige, which is Sweden in Swedish, but I am wholly in Vancouver. How about we start the year off with a few shots of Canadian Vodka, yea? Only if you're legal drinking age. ~~And drive carefully~~ DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE. I have some roots in Sweden, hence why we have Swedish shot glasses.

Anywho, to my wonderful readers living in the Eastern Hemisphere, I wish you the best in the coming year. And to those in Japan, 明けましておめでとう! Welcome to 2012, and the year of the Dragon. Not sure how Korea works, but China and other countries that follow the Lunar calendar don't switch over to the next Zodiac year until the end of January.

To those with me in the Western Hemisphere, we've still got a ways to go until I can wish you the best.

I was honestly hoping to put up some of my thoughts about some anime series that finished recently, but I haven't been able to get myself to do those. I'll finish those previews eventually...but some of them are lacking crucial information, like a synopsis, and it makes me reluctant to put a preview up for it. I've asked Zelos to do a preview for the Zero no Tsukaima F, but I'm not sure whether he'll get it done or not.

In other news, I've recently been hooked on a certain few songs.They're done by TrionaP. These lovely arrangements of the Mass (Agnus Dei and Sanctus) are set to the OST of Madoka. Sagitta Luminis, Goddess Madoka's theme, has Agnus Dei set on top of it, while Sanctus is set to Credens Justitiam, Mami's theme. The music in Madoka is gorgeous. If you haven't watched it yet, make it a New Year's Resolution! I strongly, strongly recommend it.

If I'm reading correctly, these are part of a compilation CD called Lux Aeterna, released at Comiket 81, which was...not very long ago by the Forest Fairy circle. The site for those interested is here. The vowels in Latin are, for the most part, very similar to the ones in Japanese, which means that Vocaloid will pronounce Latin fairly well.

Anywho, my New Years Resolutions are to get more blog activity up! I'd really like to be able to talk a bit more like a blog, but I'm really not very interesting. I'd also like to give the blog a bit of a facelift. It's been using this design for quite a long time now, and as nice and clean as it is, I really feel like a new design would do some good. I'd also like to make more progress with my work as both a pianist and a composer. I'm currently working on my most ambitious piece to date, a multi-movement string quartet, and I have plans for another couple things. One of those has to get done by the third week of January at the latest...so I'll certainly be busy.

Anyone else have some resolutions they'd like to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments. Most of the comments I've been getting have been spam and it'd be a nice change. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a pizza to make.

毎週のVOCALOID Feature - BUNKA開放区

2011-12-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

This week had quite a few songs with both of the twins, moreso than them separately I believe.

Title: BUNKA開放区、Not sure how to read that.
Producer: ワンオポ
Illus: グライダー
PV: WONDERFUL★OPPURTUNITY
Voc: 鏡音リン・レン

Kenn's Comment: That's a pretty cool song. It'd be cooler if I could read the second part of the title, because alone, all I've got is Bunka (文化) meaning culture, as in Bunka-sai (文化祭), being the Cultural Festival, a high-school event I believe.

Anywho, it's a cool song. Even it's drum rhythm is pretty cool. Ren's lines separated lines in the song sound really good too, and it's awesome how they switch parts in the second half. I'm not usually a fan of Ren's voice, because it's too often put too high or too low, but this one sounds really good. The PV really matches the song's mood too, even if I can't really understand it too well.

For NYE (New Years Eve), here's another one by the twins. Unlike the one above, this one's a slower, more emotional song. It's quite beautiful, though the twins' voices could've been a touch lower for my tastes...and being acoustic would've helped. All credits are in the video description. A subbed version can be found here. Berrysubs also did BUNKA開放区, just look around on their channel after you've finished with Voice of Memory

Title is 「追憶の声」, Voice of Memory.

毎週の歌 - 約束

2011-12-30T18:25:00.005-08:00

Image by ichinose (sorario)

The song...it's beautiful. ;__;

Title: 約束, Yakusoku, Promise

Artist: Kisaragi Chihaya (Asami Imai)

Genre: Ballad

Single: N/A

Album: アイドルマスター Vol. 6 (I think)

Kenn's Comment: Lovely, lovely, lovely song. If you've been watching The IDOLM@STER TV, then you would've heard this song in Episode 20, which is more or less the climax of Chihaya's story. The beautiful song 'has lyrics' written by the other twelve idols based off of Chihaya's late younger brother's drawing book. Chihaya's full version, at a whopping 7 minutes, is even more beautiful, with Chihaya being the only voice. If you can't tell, I'm a real fan of Asami Imai's singing voice.

As for what album it's on, I believe it'll be bundled with the 6th volume of DVDs and Blu-Rays, but I'm not entirely sure. Anywho, order the DVDs and Blu-rays! 6th Volume is out in March!

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - エレアの騎士

2011-12-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

Image from here

Soccer anime, if you couldn't tell from the image. The girl is cute!

Title: エレアの騎士, Area no Kishi, Knight of the Area

Animation Production: Shin-ei Animation

Genre: Drama, Sports

Airs: 01/07 06:00 TV Asahi

Website: http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/knight/

Series Description from ANN:

Believing himself to be useless at scorer, Aizawa Kakeru is the manager of his school's Scorer team, while his brother Suguru is its ace, and is even good enough to represent Japan. However, Kakeru may be harbouring a strong talent within himself that only Suguru can see, and the two often get into arguments over Kakeru's denial of his skills. Things are made more complicated with Suguru die in a car accident and Kakeru got a heart injury and need a heart transplant and the parent gave Suguru' heart to save Kakeru. Nana, an old playmate of theirs that Kakeru has a crush on. She join Aizawa Kakeru in his journey to the national and even international championships.

Kenn's Comment: Story is a bit like Touch in a way, isn't it? With the talented older brother, the talented-but-doesn't-realize-it younger brother, and the girl who's pushing the younger one along his path to glory. Showing my age a bit here, if you know what Touch (タッチ) by the rather famous Adachi Mitsuru.

Being a Shounen series...particularly of this era, sports series tend to...over dramatize the sport, so to speak. I'm talking about people having special shots and abilities. It's why I tend to stay away from sports series. I'll check this one out, but in terms of football (soccer, in North America), I don't think anything will beat Giant Killing, which took the soccer series in the perspective of the coach. Unrealistic still, but sports series are almost exclusively in a player's POV, and usually one who isn't all that talented. It's the story of growth people like.

Also, if you search this up on a site like ANN or AniDB, they translated Nana's name literally (and likely incorrectly) as Seven. Nana's name isn't written as 七, but rather 奈々, and I'm pretty sure the latter isn't translated as 'Seven'.

PV:
http://www.tv-asahi.co.jp/knight/news/cur/index.html

It should be the video box on the right side of the site.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - リコーダーとランドセル

2011-12-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

Image from here

This...might be one of the 'odder' series of the season.

Title: リコーダーとランドセル, Recorder to Randoseru, Recorder and Satchel

Animation Production: Seven

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life

Airs: 01/05 25:00 Teletama

Website: http://www.takeshobo.co.jp/sp/tv_rikoran/

Series Summary from ANN:

The story revolves around Miyagawa Atsushi and his sister Miyagawa Atsumi. Atsushi looks like an adult at 180 centimeters (about 71 inches) tall, but he is actually an elementary school boy. Atsumi looks like a little girl at 137 centimeters (54 inches) tall, but she is actually in high school.

Kenn's Comment: ...I'm not really sure what to think about this one. Seven is more or less a new company, and the only titles it's got under it's belt as the Production company is 森田さんは無口 (Morita-san wa Mukichi)...and I haven't really watched that one. There really isn't much English info on this one out there, so I'm be honest and say that I really have no idea what this one will be like; I don't even know the story!

Nevertheless, a common, recurring joke will likely be about the brother, with his tall, adult figure and good looks, combined with him being in Elementary school will likely lead to persecution on all fronts: girls will chase after him, only to learn (they can be denial) he's that young, or be chased away from his fellow Elementary friends (pedo).

That's more or less what I can make of it.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - アクエリオンEVOL

2011-12-26T17:53:00.000-08:00

Image from here

GO! AQUARION!!

Title: アクエリオンEVOL, Aquarion EVOL

Animation Production: 8-bit/Satelight

Genre: Action, Romance, Sci-Fi

Airs: 01/08 25:35 TV TOKYO

Website: http://aqevol.com/

Series Summary from anidb:

Twelve thousand years ago, after the fierce battles with Aquarions that became legendary... People are living in fear from the abduction of Abductors who descend from another dimension.
Aquarea, the joined weapon opposes to this. Dating and unification between guys and girls are prohibited even with that crafts as well as the elements candidates from the school.
However the fateful encounter between the lonely guy Amata and a girl Mikono changes everything. Now love prohibited, new Unification Legend is ready to activate!

Kenn's Comment: GATTAI!!!!!!

Aquarion is back, 12,000 years in the future of the one we all know and love. The summary was translated from the Facebook wall of the series.

Aside from what's up there, I haven't really heard too much about this one. The PV looks great though. Glad this one is a collaboration work though. Between this and モーレツ, I'm not sure Satelight would have the resources to make both good, especially with Aquarion being a sequel to one of their biggest series.

Interesting fact: this post was typed up while listening to the OP of the first series, also by Akino with bless4.

PV:

A Day with Kenn 101

2011-12-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas! Hope you're all enjoying the holidays. I might be back again later today; we're having Christmas dinner I think, and I'll be posting about that as usual.

Yesterday's Christmas Party for the folks at my family's restaurant. Who was invited? Employees and their families, as well as long time customers and family friends. Loads of food. Turkey, a whole roasted pig, sushi as well as some Vietnamese dishes that are served every year.


A whole, roasted pig.

This was up on display before the party started. A bit grim, yes, but it's quite the common sight when you pass by a Chinese butcher. It got hacked up in the kitchen, away from the party.

Today's feast. Basically just leftovers from yesterday, with a few new things. On my plate, in clockwise order:

what I believe is pork, marinated in something quite spicy
the roasted pork
what I think is part of the turkey
mashed potatoes and gravy
Vietnamese Chicken salad (Gỏi gà)
some Starfruit

Everything was delicious, and it got washed down with a glass of sparkling Apple-Berry juice.

My cousin got me this for Christmas. Always the musician, I've gotten another instrument. This one, just a little bit weirder than the melodica of last year. For those who have never seen one of these, it's an Otamatone, the brain child of Cube Works Company/Maywa Denki/Novmichi Tosa. Modeled after the East-Asian fiddles, like the koyku, erhu and haegeum, you produce a tone by lightly pressing on the stem of the instrument. The 'mouth' opens up to change how the sound resonates. I haven't figured out exactly how the notes are laid out, but I'm pretty certain it goes from an A (A3) to the E or F above middle C (E/F 5), and is set chromatically. Using the switches at the back, it has 3 octaves, a low, mid and high, as well as two volumes. Interesting instrument, but not exactly practical.

While they're really easy to pick up and 'play', they're ridiculously hard to get a consistent pitch if you haven't figured out where notes are on the stem.

Here's an example with a guitarist with delicious 絶対領域 (Zettai Ryouiki).

Anywho, that's how my Christmas went. Tell me about yours! Leave it in a comment, and I'll see you...whenever I post again!

毎週のVOCALOID Feature - メリーとニコラウス

2011-12-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

And a very Merry Christmas even to you and your family too.

Title: メリーとニコラウス, Merry & Nicolaus
Producer: BuzzG
PV: mogelatte
Genre: Pop-Rock
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: A Christmas Vocaloid song for Christmas eve! And it's a good one at it. Awesome song. Miku sounds really, really good in this, better than I've heard in a long time. Lovely song. You really need to listen to it. For more Christmas/Winter cheer, hit the snowflake button on YouTube and make it snow, even if it's not. It's actually raining pretty hard in the 604.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 輪廻のラグランジェ

2011-12-23T23:32:00.000-08:00

Image from here

Highschool mecha action...by Xebec?

Title: 輪廻のラグランジェ, Rinne no Ragurange, Rinne no Lagrange

Animation Production: Xebec

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Airs: 01/08 22:00 TokyoMX

Website: http://lag-rin.com/

Series Summary from ANN:

Kyono Madoka is the lone member of her school's Jersey Club. She is one day recruited by a mysterious girl named Lan to pilot the robot "Vox" and protect her city from space invaders. They are joined by a third girl, Muginami, who has a different goal than Ran. Meanwhile, they still don't know their enemies' true goal, or what "Rinne" might be.

Kenn's Comment: Always apprehensive about Xebec. Despite being a satellite comapny of I.G. they're more recent series haven't exactly...been spectacular, so to speak. Like many series (not only by Xebec), I'm seriously hoping that fanservice won't becoming overbearing. I'm fine with it, or when it's done well, but when it's there unnecessarily or ends up being more of a focal point than what was intended, then I've got a problem with it.

The mecha is pretty cool looking; part Macross and part something else...designs look kind of like the Sonic Drivers in Sky Girls.

The director of this one, Sato Tatsuo, is also doing モーレツ宇宙海賊 and is also behind some of Xebec's other works, like Nadesico and Stellvia.

PV:

毎週の歌 - Home:Word

2011-12-23T16:18:00.000-08:00

Haven't seen this feature in a while.

Title: Home:Word
Artist: Magnetic North + Taiyo Na ft. Sam Kang
Genre: Hip Hop
Single: N/A
Album: Home:Word
Vintage: 29/11/11 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: I have to say that it's the first time I've seen Artist + Artist ft. Artist. Regardless of that, it's a great song. Been with Magnetic North since I first heard them in Drift Away...or was it 'We Will Not be Moved'? Either or, they were on the same album. That was way back in high school. They kind of fell off my radar after a year or two, but they're back with their newest album, Home:Word.

It's a particularly heart-felt song, with lyrics that'll hit home to more or less anyone in these wonderful days ~~(before 2012)~~ of instability. Anywho, enjoy!

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 夏目友人帳肆

2011-12-23T00:26:00.000-08:00

Image by Pocky1202

How do you read 肆? It's always translated being pronounced as し, but I don't see it when I type out　し...

Title: 夏目友人帳肆, Natsume Yuujinchou Shi, Natsume and the Book of Friends 4

Animation Production: Brains Base

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Airs: 01/02 25:30 TV TOKYO

Website: http://www.nasinc.co.jp/jp/natsume-anime/

Series Summary from ANN:

Natsume Takashi sees spirits, and with the help of his lazy and sake-guzzling bodyguard Nyanko-Sensei he returns to spirits their names that were stolen by his grandmother Natsume Reiko. Not all of the spirits are peaceful though, and he often fights to keep himself and his family and friends safe while at the same time fighting the loneliness that plagued him before he found his home.

Kenn's Comment: By far one of my most beloved series returns for a fourth helping. I'm overjoyed to see it return, and I'm seriously hoping this isn't the last time I feel that way. Easily on of Brains Base's most popular works, as sales of the series has supposedly remained very stables from season to season.

From the PV there doesn't seem to be any new faces, and trouble that started last season (actually started much earlier) will continue in this one. Let's slam goblets together and shout in praise for another great season! 乾杯！！

PV:
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/natsume4/

Click on　「PVを見る.」

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア

2011-12-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

Image from here

Futuristic musical-action is what this is.

Title: 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア, Senhime Zesshou Symphogear, [Not sure what it means]

Animation Production: Encourage Films

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi

Airs: 01/06 23:00

Website: http://www.symphogear.com/movie.html

Series Summary from AniDB:

Since the dawn of time, humanity has been threatened by the disaster called "Noise". When it occurs, people die, and there are no countermeasures. Except one...

The top-secret Symphogear System, capable of eliminating Noise, has been deployed in Japan. Unknown to the general public, a pair of girls wielding Symphogears strive relentless to protect society from the ravages of Noise. It would surprise people even more to know that their protectors are none other than chart-topping singing duo "Zwei Wing", Amou Kanade and Kazanari Tsubasa.

Tachibana Hibiki and Kohinata Miku are two normal girls just enrolling in Lydian Private Music Academy. There, they meet Kanade and Tsubasa and become involved in the struggle against Noise.

Kenn's Comment: I've never heard of Encourage Films. I've watched Ontama!, but those were shorts...and I can't say it's something I'd really like to judge a company by. It's a relatively new company, and it's been a part of larger works, like OreImo, Tamayura and House of Five Leaves, being in less major roles, like Production Assistance, or 2nd Key Animation, though the furthest back it goes is more or less that region in time.

Regardless of the animation company, they've cast the two main characters with some very heavy-hitting actresses. Being heavily music based, as you might have noticed, there is no doubt going to be many insert songs. I don't usually worry about them, but like Macross, they've cast singers for their singers. Mizuki Nana plays Kazanari, while Takayama Minami plays her counterpart, Kanade. Mizuki's a very well known seiyuu, with roles such as Fate (Nanoha) and Hinata (Naruto), as well as being a chart topping solo artist. Takayama is a veteran seiyuu, with her most prominent role being the long lived Edogawa Conan (Detective Conan), as well as Dilandau (Escaflowne), among many, many other roles. She's also the vocalist of Two-Mix, which you might recognize from their songs used for the OPs of Gundam Wing. Both are great seiyuu, as well as having a rather extensive background in music.

There's no PV out as of yet, which worries me a little bit, but I'm sure we'll see how it looks. With seiyuu like Mizuki and Takayama, I'm really hoping this turns out well.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 男子高校生の日常

2011-12-20T22:47:00.001-08:00

Image from here

Sunrise? Gag comedy? I think this is unheard of...

Title: 男子高校生の日常, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou, The Everyday Life of a Highschool Boy

Animation Production: Sunrise

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life

Airs: 01/09 26:00 TV TOKYO

Website: http://www.danshinichijyo.net/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

High school boys are really simple and curious creatures. They want one and only one thing: girls. But they haven’t got a clue about them. Male teenagers are dumbfounded by the girls’ thought process, actions, appearance and everything in between. They spend countless hours amongst themselves discussing and arguing their theories which are usually completely off base. If only they had the courage to ask them instead of screwing around and talking about nonsensical things, they might get somewhere.

Kenn's Comment: Highschool boys are simple indeed. Better than highschool girls at least.

Anywho, I think this is the first time I've seen Sunrise do a comedy /slice of life. Regardless, that should more or less guarantee good animation. I'm not familiar with the series, but it's listed as a gag manga, so it should be fairly simple to follow. Hopefully the romance aspect isn't too often left out or too often...annoying.　The PV looks like a lot of fun though.

Edit: The PV's are animated shorts, around 3-4 minutes long. There's at least 7 of them out at the moment. I'm just hoping that these will be worked into the series itself or aren't taking up material that could be used for the series. You can find them on YouTube and NND.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - Another

2011-12-19T21:11:00.000-08:00

Image from here

This was surprisingly hard to find an image for. Doesn't help that typing 'Another' or アナザー comes up with stuff not related.

Title: Another, アナザー

Animation Production: P.A. Works

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery

Airs: 01/09 25:35 KNB

Website: http://www.another-anime.jp/

Series Summary from ANN:

When Kouichi Sasakibara transfers to his new school, he can sense something frightening in the atmosphere of his new class, a secret none of them will talk about. At the center is the beautiful girl Mei Misaki. Drawn to her mysterious aura, Kouichi tries to touch her, only to discover that the mystery goes deeper than he ever thought.

Kenn's Comment: This season's horror show. This one will likely be based on the novels rather than the manga adaptation, but I'm not sure what the differences between the two are.

The PV certainly is creepy, but I'm not entirely sure what to expect. I'll probably watch a bit..maybe not at night. OP is by Ali Project.

Off topic now, but holy f*ck*ng sh!t. How is it that on topics completely irrelevant, Nazi's, Jewish faith and Germans somehow come up in every YouTube video? I think YouTube should just ban comments, because this is getting incredibly annoying. Can't wait for 2012...

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 探偵オペラミルキィホームズ　第2幕

2011-12-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

Image by Garakuta

Another helping of everyone's favourite bumbling detectives.

Title: 探偵オペラミルキィホームズ　第2幕, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai Ni Maku, Detective Opera Milky Holmes Act 2

Animation Production: J.C. STAFF

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery

Airs: 01/05 23:00 Tokyo MX

Website: http://milky-holmes.com/

Series Summary from ANN (season 1):

In the future world, people use ‘Toys’ that grant them superhuman abilities like ESP and telekinesis. This has led to a boom in both minor crimes and the need for Toy-using detectives to track down the offenders and bring them to justice. Opera Koyabashi runs the detective agency, Milky Holmes, staffed by four cheerful and energetic girls.

Kenn's Comment: Loved the first season. It was whacky, zany and extremely fun. It's hard to hate the main cast because they're really just so dumb and loveable. The girls are back, and this season is likely to continue much like the first season did with Milky Holmes chasing after their loving arch-nemesis Arsene. If it's packed with as much awesomeness as the first season was, I'm gonna love this one too.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - モーレツ宇宙海賊

2011-12-18T23:52:00.001-08:00

Image from Gigazine

Anime adaptation of a light novel series.

Title: モーレツ宇宙海賊, Mouretsu Uchuu Kaizoku, Bodacious Space Pirates

Animation Production: Satelight

Genre: Sci-Fi

Airs: 01/07 24:30 TV Kanagawa

Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/mo-retsu/top.html

Series Summary from ANN:

Marika is a first year high school student living in a far away galaxy known as Uminoakeboshi. One day she finds out that her recently deceased father was once the captain of the space pirate ship called the Bentenmaru. More importantly, the only one to inherit the captain's title has to be a direct descendant - meaning that Marika is next in line to become the captain of the ship.

Kenn's Comment: Reminds me a bit of Sora no Kakeru Shoujo.

I'm worried about this one. And I have all the rights to worry about it. Satelight can be a great studio...if it has the funding support, especially with a space-opera-esque series like this. Also, I had a hard time digging info up for this one. The light novel series goes by a different name, ミニスカ宇宙海賊, Miniskirt Space Pirates. I hear it was changed to give the series a less...moe first impression, so to speak. Some of the CG scenes in the PV didn't look all that great either, mainly with the ship.

Anywho, from what I've read, it's supposed to appeal to the 'older-school' otaku, rather than the moe-fanservice-crazed ones of today (look at Twin Angel lol). All female cast, with a rather impressive voice cast as well. I'll give this one a shot, and hope it doesn't disappoint.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - パパのいうことを聞きなさい！

2011-12-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

Image by Nakajima Yuka (DL)

Despite being a comedy, this one starts out pretty dramatic...

Title: パパのいうことを聞きなさい！, Papa no iukoto o kikinasai!, Listen to Papa's Words!, Listen to Me Girls! I'm your Father! (English title)

Animation Studio: Feel

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Airs: 01/10 25:30 Tokyo MX/ TV Aichi

Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/papakiki/

Series Summary from Wikipedia:

The story revolves around the daily life of a university freshman in the Tama University School of Literature Department. While he grew up with his older sister in the same house, he left home to live on his own when she got married, taking the two daughters from the husband's previous marriage in the house. The reason for moving out to live on his own was to distance himself from his sister's family. Approximately 3 years later, his sister and her husband suddenly went missing on an air flight. His life thus turned upside down when he was tasked with the responsibility of looking after the girls. He now has to live with three daughters of his sister. Two of the three are from a previous marriage and are hence not blood related. The girls are of various personalities; namely a tsundere (14 years), a mischievous girl (10 years) and a toddler (3 years) all cramped in a six tatami mat size room.

Kenn's Comment: Read a bit of the manga serialization, and so long as Feel doesn't exploit the fact that the girls are all loli (god forbid they do fanservice of Hina), it'll be a fun ride. It combines the usual harem hijinks with themes on family and responsibility (not family oriented mind you). I also hope they stick close to Nakajima's designs, because she's awesome. For those of you who read doujinshi, her circle name is Digital Lover.

I'm not exactly knowledgeable on the novels so I'm not sure how things turn out, and who gets more love, though I'm seriously hoping for the upperclassman.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - アマガミSS＋

2011-12-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

Image by coroske

More Amagami? Not sure if body is ready...

Title: アマガミSS＋, Amagami SS+

Animation Production: AIC

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Airs: 01/05 25:55 TBS

Website: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/amagami/

Series Summary from ANN:

A second-year high school boy finds himself uneasy during Christmas time due to an experience in the past. However, this year at Christmas, he gets his last chance to ask out a graduating female senior named Haruka Morishima—or one of several other classmates.

Kenn's Comment: I'm not entirely sure what there is to continue on from the first season. Looks like this one will be focusing on the afterstories, but I'm not super sure about that, or what it would entail. More Tsukasa/Miya/Kaoru/Rihoko/Haruka/Ai is always welcome.

Oh and the OP and ED are both of the wonderful and eternally awesome azusa.

PV:

毎週の漫画 - ラットマン

2011-12-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Image from here

All the heads look oddly disproportionate to the body they're on. Something's just really off about that...and I don't remember the manga having the same problem.

Title: Ratman, ラットマン, Ratman - The Smallest Hero!?

Author: Inui Sekihiko

Genre: Shounen, Action, Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi

Serialized in: Kadokawa Shoten Shounen Ace

Licensed: TokyoPop (dropped)

Total Volume Count: 8 (ongoing)

Series Summary from Mixini Studios:

Meet Shooto. He's a bit vertically-challenged. He also wants to be a hero. But guess what? Midgets can’t be heroes! Ha! So he becomes a villain instead. Sort of. Not really. Wait a minute here, why is he so heroic if he’s supposed to be the bad guy? And what about the so-called good guys? Why are they so… evil?

Kenn's Comment: Saw it at the bookstore the other day, but with Tokyopop six feet under, finding it's earlier volumes is next to impossible.

Anywho, the manga is set in a world much like Tiger & Bunny was, a place where Heroes are commercialized icons, much like Korean idols and celebrities. The summary doesn't really do the series justice as it oversimplifies everything, but it does certainly hammer down the important parts.

It's also pretty interesting to see a stereotypical shounen archetype character getting thrown into a role you'd almost never find one in. A hero playing hero as the villain role. His suit is also freaking awesome. Think Evangelion mixed with Kamen Rider. Awesome right? I know.

Overall a fun read. It doesn't have a really heavy seriousness to it's story, and tense moments are generally well done. I'm also seriously hoping that the kuudere gets some love for once, and that Inui doesn't go for the 'first-girl wins' because at the moment Mizushima's my more preferred girl.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 偽物語

2011-12-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

Image by tarou no tsubuyaki

It's that time! Yes!

Title: 偽物語, Nisemonogatari, Imposter Story

Animation Studio: SHAFT

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Supernatural

Airs: 01/07 24:00 Tokyo MX/Tochigi TV

Website: http://www.nisemonogatari-anime.com/

化け物語 Summary from MangaUpdates:

Bakemonogatari centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate named Hitagi Senjōgahara, who infamously never talks to anyone, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs next to nothing, in defiance of physics. After being threatened by her, Koyomi offers his help, and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire....

Kenn's Comment: Nisemonogatari is the sequel to the much lauded Bakemonogatari, this time focusing on Koyomi's sisters, Tsukihi and Karen. Like Bakemonogatari, I'm walking into this one without a clue of what will happen, except for the fact that everyone now has short hair.

The titles are rather tricky to translate when you've got a limited vocab. I originally had translated the title as 'Fake Story' as 偽 means fake. However, when the title is read, you get a portmanteau word, of 偽者 and　物語, meaning Imposter and Story, so technically the title should read ImpoStory.

Btw, the ED is by ClariS (of Madoka OP and OreImo OP fame), with their song by Ryo of Supercell. Irony (OreImo OP) was by kz (livetune).

PV: This PV contains brief parts for 化け物語, 傷物語 and 偽物語.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ハイスクールDxD

2011-12-17T19:45:00.000-08:00

Image by Miyama-Zero

Hothothothothothothot....

Title: ハイスクールDxD, Highschool DxD

Animation Production: TNK

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Airs: 01/06 11:00 AT-X

Website: http://www.haremking.tv/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

The story follows Issei Hyōdō, a dim-witted, lecherous second-year high school student who is killed by a girl on his first date ever. Issei is reincarnated as a devil, and from that day forward, he serves as an underling of Riasu, a high-level devil who is also the prettiest girl on Issei's campus.

Kenn's Comment: Well, hopefully this won't turn out to be a mindless, ecchi filled series. I'm hoping for at least a coherent plot that won't make my brain melt.

Anywho, from the website, I can see what it's title will be if it gets licensed. Harem King. Terribad title. Kind of like Majikoi's English title. "Oh! Samurai Girls". Ugh. Or Ashita no Yoichi. Samurai Harem or something like that.

Regardless of impending terrible English titles, I can't say I know much about the series. Main character's described as a dim-wit, so I'm really hoping he's not annoyingly stupid. Or annoying lecherous either. Things should be balanced!

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ブレイヴ・テン

2011-12-17T18:32:00.002-08:00

Image from here

The obligatory Samurai-Ninja 戦国 anime.

Title: ブレイヴ・テン, Brueivu Ten, Brave 10

Animation Studio: Studio Sakimakura

Genre: Action, Adventure, Historical

Airs: 01/07 26:00 Tokyo MX/TV Kanagawa

Website: http://www.brave10.com/

Series Summary from ANN:

A year before the battle of Sekigahara that ended the Sengoku Period, the ninja Saizou Kirigakure meets the miko Nami Isa as she's attacked by assassins. Her shrine was destroyed by Tokugawa Ieyasu for siding with Yukimura Sanada. Meanwhile, Sanada has been gathering ten warriors known as Sanada's Brave 10, who have the power to change history. As they gather one by one, Nami's own mysterious power awakens.

Kenn's Comment: Read through some of the manga a while back, and I can tell you that this isn't going to be like Sengoku Basara for those who watched it. It's bloodier and got more...not-for-children content, so to speak. Action scenes should be go, however, as they were pretty intense in the manga.

On the topic of the Animation company, they seem to be fairly new. Haven't heard of them before, but looking them up, they're behind Cardfight!! Vanguard.

Another thing to note is that this one has quite the voice cast, like Ono Daisuke, Kamiya Hiroshi, and Satou Rina.

PV:

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Lily

2011-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Been a while since we've gone back to Miku.

Title: Lily
Producer: キョーヘイ
Art: loAlo
Genre: Rock
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: Not sure if I've said this before, but rock is my preferred genre.

Anywho, the song is great. Miku's given a non-rock voice on top of a very rock accompaniment. My guess is that it's not exactly a happy song, judging by the PV alone.

Also, I imagine playing this live would be quite difficult, as many sections require double-pedaled bass, and it's quite fast. It'd be awesome to see though. Also waiting to see if anyone covers it. I really hope VIN and maybe a female singer do it. 'If' is the first example I can think of, with VIN and のある (Noir). Anywho, I'm a bit hungover, so that's all for today.

Weekly 東方 Doujin - はなのなまえ.

2011-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

Image by TAKATORA

Even if you don't get or don't like the story, you should at least be in awe of the very artful art.

Title: はなのなまえ, Hana no Namae, Name of the Flower

Artist: Takatora

Genre: I'm not actually sure...

Characters: Hakurei Reimu, Kazami Yuuka

Kenn's Comment: It's hard to talk about this, because I can't say I understood the story very well. It also is a sequel to another doujin that Takatora did, Ye Fair Green Hills of Galilee. I haven't read/looked at that one, and Takatora says that you probably should...but time and other restrictions have prevented me, so I'll be sharing this one only.

Regardless of how much I enjoyed and understood the story, the art is absolutely gorgeous. I suggest everyone take a look at it, even if you're not interested in the 東方 Project.

Read it over at Danbooru, or...Pixiv link doesn't exist, and it doesn't seem to be on Melon Books (tis a shame). Melon Books link is here, for those interested in the artist's other works. Pixiv link as well, is here.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 妖狐X僕SS

2011-12-14T22:53:00.000-08:00

Image by Futaba Hazuki

Like the previous one, I've definitely put this one up for a Manga of the Week.

Title: 妖狐X僕SS, Inu x Boku SS, Dog x I Secret Service (literally)

Animation Production: David Production

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Supernatural

Airs: 01/12 26:00 MBS

Website: http://www.inuboku.tv/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

The Shirakiin house's daughter, Shirakiin Ririchiyo, who has a complex about being unable to live independently and unprotected, feels the need to move out and live on her own under the condition of residing in the mansion named "Ayakashi Kan." In this mansion, only those who have cleared a very strict examination could reside in it, and for each resident, they are accompanied with one agent of the Secret Service (S.S.). Although Ririchiyo has rejected the company of the S.S., while residing in the mansion she finds out that the agent dedicated to protecting her is actually the Fox Spirit whom she previously rescued.

Kenn's Comment: Everywhere seems to have this problem. It really shouldn't matter much whether a series is a shoujo or shounen, because they can be enjoyed regardless. It'd be like only hanging out with either boys or girls because you like one more than the other. Nevertheless, Fujiwara's art and style always seems to come across to people as a shoujo series, but most of her works are serialized in Shounen magazines.

Anywho, I'm really looking forward to this one. Not only is it the first of Fujiwara-sensei's works to be animated (to my knowledge; she's probaby thrilled), it's being animated by David Production, a relatively new company with an impressive track record to date. In recent seasons, they've really made a name for themselves, first coming in with Restaurante Paradiso (I didn't watch it) and then the wonderful Level E, and this season, Bento!.

I haven't read much of the manga, so I'll be going into this with baited breath. The character designs and the animation are quite nice.

PV:

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - キルミーベイビ

2011-12-14T19:11:00.001-08:00

Image by b3

For those of you who remember, I'm almost positive that I've put this one up as a Manga of the Week many, many moons ago.

Title: キルミーベイビ, Kill Me Baby

Animation Production: J.C. Staff

Genre: Comedy

Airs: 01/05 25:25 TBS

Website: http://killmebaby.tv/

Series Summary from ANN:

Sonya is an assassin attending a normal school. Yasuna is an airhead who follows Sonya around, unaware of how dangerous she is. This adaptation of a 4-panel comic focuses on the adorable ultra-violence that erupts when they try to get along.

Kenn's Comment: I'm usually quite apprehensive to projects helmed by J.C. Staff, but they did a good job with Azumanga and Milky Holmes, so I'm not too worried about a series like this going bad. The true test will be how they stitch together all the strips into a semi-cohesive story. All the strips are related by story, but they don't necessarily continue from strip to strip.

Hopefully it'll all be good fun, and the 'ultra-violence- aspect doesn't become too overwhelming.

Be warned: the PV can get pretty annoying.

PV:

Manga of the Week - ニセコイ

2011-12-11T15:57:00.001-08:00

Image from here

This week we look at the latest work from the author of Double Arts.

Title: ニセコイ, Nisekoi, Fake Love
Author: Komi Naoshi
Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Romance
Serialized in: Shueisha Weekly Shounen Jump
Total Volume Count: N/A

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Ichijou Raku is an honor student with outstanding grades and admirable conduct. He has a female childhood friend named Kirisaki Chitoge, who has slightly better grades than him, or so he says. They haven't been getting along since Christmas when they exchanged gifts, and they also have opposite taste of things.

Their families are currently at war because of business rivalry: the boy's family are yakuza while the girl's family are gangsters. The leaders of both groups would like to get along, because if the war is not stopped, there will surely be many casualties. The problem is that their underlings won't listen to them, so they decided on something that will make them cooperate. They want Ichijou and Kirisaki to become lovers, so that their families will come to an understanding with each other.

But the problem doesn't end there; both families already know that the two of them don't get along with each other, so to make sure they are really lovey-dovey with each other, the followers of each party followed them on their date, from watching movies, to singing in the karaoke bar, shopping, and in the amusement park.

Will the two of them become official lovers and make their families get along? Or will their families continue to fight and create many troubles along with it?

Kenn's Comment: The Oneshot was amazing. The pacing was all there and it made for a really good, quick read. The serialized series, however, seems to have lost a bit of the magic that made the Oneshot so great in it's journey to serializationdom.

Added to the story from the Oneshot is the introduction of a third character, Raku's crush, who serves more or less the same purpose that Haruna did in To Love-ru; ~~to be a pain~~ to provide a dilemma for our hero. Also added to the serialization is the locked locket, which can only be unlocked using the matching key, given to the 'destined girl' of his past.

I'm seriously hoping that Komi Naoshi doesn't follow the 'first girl wins' route. If he's following the general story of the oneshot, then it shouldn't end up like that, but I can never be too sure. That and I really hope this story doesn't drag out to be ridiculously long and tedious, never making any progress. At least a story like Pastel moves, albeit very, very slowly.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - ナンカイレナアイ

2011-12-10T08:00:00.003-08:00

I've got a sweet spot for GUMI songs that sound like this one (there's lots of them).

Edit: Scheduled posts never work. =_=

Title:ナンカイレンアイ, Nanakai Renai, I'm not actually sure what that means
Producer: タカノン
Art: たま
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: GUMI

Kenn's Comment: Yeah, so I'm not entirely sure one what the title means.

Anywho, GUMI's more or less become my Vocaloid of choice, though I'm fine with any of them so long as the song itself (the important part) is good.

The song itself is standard fare, I have to say. This week was rather slow in songs (imo). It's good, but nothing about it really stands out as super duper amazing...except that art. Hot diggity it's nice. Feel like I've seen the name たま come up before though...hm.

Song of the Week - A Velvet Affair

2011-12-09T14:19:00.001-08:00

Image from Blanket Barricade (BandCamp)

A song that surprisingly is related to this blog.

Title: A Velvet Affair

Artist: Blanket Barricade

Genre: Indie, Pop, Rock

Single: N/A

Album: Parade Bells

Vintage: 12/12/11 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: How's it related you ask? Watch the MV and see if you recognize anyone, or anything. Is that a horse mask you see? Which loveable blogger do you know of who has one? Yes, that is I. But that's not the only thing that ties the song to the blog. If you read the Video Description in the Youtube video, you'll see that the director of the MV is an author on this blog, and it's even on their channel.

It's none other than Mysti (Ivy), who I believe currently holds the record for least number of posts before disappearing on me (she beat Utumin by 1 post). I know she's been really busy with work and everything, so I won't hold it against her. Zelos on the other hand...

Anywho, when I got the vidya, it was actually the first time I've heard the song. We did the filming without the song playing, and whenever we did hear it, it was played backwards. If you watch carefully or just read the description, you'll see that the whole thing was done backwards.

That's all for today. I'll do some anime posts...maybe later next week or the week after. Still in exam time for me. /sigh

Weekly Webcomics - 劇場　DARK SOULS

2011-12-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

Image by Rynono09

Continuing from the last Webcomic of the Week...

We now return to your regular programming.

Title: 劇場ダークソウル, Gekijou Dark Soul, Dark Souls Theatre

Artist: Nameless (Rynono09)

Genre: Comedy

Series: Dark Souls (game)

Kenn's Comment: Like it's spiritual prequel, Dark Souls Theatre is a fun series of strips featuring the many NPCs of this year's painfully difficult Dark Souls, which I'm still trucking away on. It's been almost 2 months I haven't beat it yet. I'm almost done it though. 2 bosses left.

Anywho, back on topic. There are similarities between the two. While there's no Yuria and Maiden in Black to lead the lily brigade (they show up on a cover page as well as making a cameo on the cover a book) we've got the sorrowful plight of Seath and his bumbling servants, as well as a rather humourous strip featuring everyone's favourite Sunbro. It's not quite as long as Demon's Souls Theatre, but it's just as funny. Not sure whether Nameless will be updating it anytime soon though. Didn't see any updates on his Pixiv.

Read it over at Pixiv or Danbooru.

Dark Souls Theatre 1

Dark Souls Theatre 2

Dark Souls Theatre 3

Break Week

2011-12-03T01:31:00.000-08:00

No Vocaloid Feature today, and I may or may not put up a Manga of the Week tomorrow. I've got concerts (performing) today and tomorrow and won't be home all day.

On another note, I was at school for a wonderful 12 hours on Friday. Had a recital, a class and then a 4 hour choir rehearsal.

Weekly Webcomics - 劇場デモンズソウル

2011-12-01T22:44:00.000-08:00

Image by Nameless

A comical comic that sheds new light on the NPCs of the tortuously difficult game of 2009.

Title: 劇場デモンズソウル, Gekijou Demon Souru, Demons Souls Theatre

Artist: Nameless (Rynono09)

Genre: Comedy

Series: Demons Souls (game)

Characters: Major NPCs

Kenn's Comment: You'll enjoy this much, much more if you've played the game. If you haven't, you don't know what you're missing. And many of the jokes will fly right past you.

Regardless, seeing Yuria live up to 95% of her name with all the other female NPCs and the executioner baking and selling ice cream is awesome. No major NPC is spared in this one, though some may only get a bit of time in the limelight. Maiden in Black, Yuria and Surt are more or less the three main characters in this one, with Surt getting the short end of the stick. He's an ass after all. He's only good for his armour.

Rynono09 can't draw feet though, though the rest of the art is pretty good.

Read it over at Pixiv, or at Danbooru.

Pixiv Links:

Manga of the Week - となりの怪物くん

2011-11-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

Image from here

Holy crap, I almost forgot about this. Better late than never!

Title: となりの怪物くん, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, The Monster Beside Me

Author: Robiko

Genre: Shoujo, Comedy, Romance

Serialized in: Kodansha Dessert

Total Volume Count: 8 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Mizutani Shizuku is the type of person who only cares for her own grades. But when she accidentally delivers the lesson notes to Yoshida Haru, Haru becomes convinced they are friends.

Haru turns out to have a very innocent personality, but who would've thought that Haru would actually confess to Shizuku?

A cold-hearted girl x super troublemaker romance with a fresh new perspective.

Kenn's Comment: Fresh new perspective? That's pushing it a bit, but it's certainly breaking the mold a bit. Shizuku's not really like any shoujo lead I've encountered in recent memory, as many of them start out cold but quickly melt down; Shizuku hasn't let her guard down much, though when she does, you know it's a special moment. Haru is your typical problem child with a few extra quirks that make his character a little bit more special. Together they really do diversify the cast, much of which is where your cookie-cutter characters are found. Though it should be noted that while the characters may be 'refreshing', the way the story progresses is by no means super new. It's quite orthodox in fact.

It's an enjoyable read for the most part. It's a bit hard to watch some of Haru's actions, and sometimes I'll cringe when I feel a generic misunderstanding coming around (usually doesn't happen). Art is quite nice, and the characters are a breath of fresh air compared to the typical love-is-the-most-important-thing-sparkle-sparkle shoujo leads. It's also a rom-com, so it's never overly heavy. Heavy dramatic moments usually are avoided by having a comedic quip break the drama for a bit. Just the way I like it. Never really have been a fan of heavy dramatic atmospheres. Too sense for me. Life's stressful enough.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - V3 New Comers

2011-11-26T11:38:00.001-08:00

Image by Caffein

Holy crap. I checked my YouTube subscriptions this morning to find more than a handful of demos for the new batch of Vocaloids. I likely won't find too much info on any of them, so I won't go into too much detail about them, but I'll be sharing those demos.

*If you can't read it (or can't read at all) title pic is an illustration of Yuzuki Yukari, who's featured after the jump.

We start with CUL. She might be familiar to those who follow Vocaloid closely as she was originally a model for an MMD video using VY-1's voicebank (which is higher).

According to her page, her voice sampling is provided by voice actor Kitamura Eri (I really like her btw). Also, she's from Internet like GUMI (GUMI's v3 is amazing) and Gakupoid. She rolls out on the 22nd of December.

Next up we have 結月ゆかり（Yuzuki Yukari) from AH-Soft. Like the rest of the AH-Soft Vocaloids, her voice can be a bit rough (not as smoothed out on note transitions as ones from Internet Co, or Crypton). Her voice and design are nice, but the fact that she sounds like a really good Vocaloid 2 bugs me a bit. How popular she'll be, however, is a different story. I dont' think AH-Soft's Vocaloids really got very popular. Crypton's and GUMI eat up all the popularity.

Aria on the Planetes

Last one as well as the one I have the highest hopes for. Her name is IA (really funny, I'll explain in a bit), and she's from new comer to the Vocaloid market - 1st PLACE. Like the rest of them she's using the V3 library and yada yada yada. Here's where it gets interesting: her voice sampling is provided by Lia, who has a gorgeous voice. I'm just hoping that artists don't try and make IA sounds too much like Lia. And if you don't know, the song is 鳥の詩 (Song/Poem of Bird), the OP to AIR TV.

She rolls out at the end of January next year.

What was so funny about IA's name? It's just the last two letters of Lia's name.

Weekly Webcomics - まどほむ育児しろ

2011-11-24T22:32:00.001-08:00

Image by Mura

A short and hilariously adorable comic featuring Homura and (goddess) Madoka in some other timeline.

Title: まどほむ育児しろ, Mado-Homu Parenting

Artist: Mura

Genre: Comedy

Series: 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ, Puella Magi Madoka Magika

Character(s): Akemi Homura, (Goddess) Kaname Madoka

Kenn's Comment: A wild child appears! Can't say too much as it's too short and any details would spoil the events and happenings, but let's just say that when you've more or less a god, science and logic no longer applies to you.

Also, there's two panels with Kyouko and Sayaka which are hilarious.

Also, the first page of the manga seems to have a different title than the one given...and Homura's head also blocks out the last character, so I can't really see what it is.

Read it over at Pixiv, or @ Danbooru.

Manga of the Week - 私たちの幸せな時間

2011-11-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Image from here

A hauntingly beautiful story coupled with the absolutely gorgeous art of Sahara Mizu.

Title: 私たちの幸せな時間, 우리들의 행복한 시간, Watashitachi no Shiawase Jikan, Our Happy Time

Author: Gong Ji-Young

Artist: Sahara Mizu

Genre: Seinen, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, Tragedy

Serialized in: Coamix Comic Bunch

Total Volume Count: 1

Series Summary from Psycho Pandas:

“I have something I don’t want to lose—
So much so that these terrible feelings have grown.”

A pianist who attempted suicide 3 times, Juri, is taken to help her aunt at a prison where murderers who killed indiscriminately are sentenced to death. There, she meets a man named Yuu who took the lives of 3 people. A mother's antagonism--a brother's death... Together they embrace the violent rebellion in their hearts caused by the large, deep scars they carry. However, before long, they both embrace an earnest hope in their hearts. "I want to live"...

An adaptation of a novel by South Korea's most popular female novelist, Gong Ji-Young.

Kenn's Comment: In 1 volume, Sahara Mizu (and Gong Ji-Young) bring out a beautiful story of love and life, giving it more feeling and emotion than almost any other series I know of. And it's all very human to boot. The story reminds me a bit of a series, 死刑囚042, which also deals with the capital punishment albeit with a slightly brighter outlook.

Anywho, the novel that this is adapted from also has a movie out, going by Maundy Thursday I believe.From the trailer for the movie, it looks sooo much happier than this manga adaptation.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - 初恋の絵本

2011-11-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Great song. Also really cute.

Title: 初恋の絵本, Hatsukoi no Ehon, First Love Picture Book

Producer:　チョリスP,　フェルンドP

Illus.:　ヤマコ

PV:　Ziro

Vocaloid: GUMI

Kenn's Comment: It's got a really really catchy chorus, and even the verses sound great. There are some times where I could've done with a bit less on the instruments and more on GUMI's voice, but overall, I thought the balance was pretty good. The art in the PV looks really good and makes the PV all pretty.

If this was a live performance, I think the supporting band would be pretty intense towards the end. Which would be pretty interesting considering how not-intense the song is.

Weekly 東方 Doujin -　押入れ隠れちゅう

2011-11-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Image by ちはぐら

This is...I believe Chihagura's latest work.

Title: 押入れ隠れちゅう, Oshiire Kakure Chuu, Closet Hidden Kiss (literally)
Artist: Hachi (ちはぐら)
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Yuri
Characters: Houreisen Kaguya, Fujiwara no Mokou

Kenn's Comment: No description, because I can't think of one that won't spoil everything.

For those who have been following me for a while, you'll know that this isn't the first Chihagura doujin I've put up, the earlier one (I think) being from way back in June of last year. You'll also know that Mokou x Kaguya is Hachi's pairing of choice, and often has Reisen, Eirin and Tewi as humourous side characters (Keine also makes a brief appearance).

For those who are new here, Chihagura's an artist who, I believe, has almost all of their works as a Kaguya-Mokou pairing doujin. Likewise, those of you who absolutely loathe girls kissing each other (I don't think it ever goes further than that), you may want to leave now.

Anywho, Chihagura's art is lovely as always, though a neck or two in a few panels might have been a little bit off. Mokou is the seme in this one, but a little twist at the end throws everything out the window...maybe.

A preview's up at Pixiv, and you can buy the book itself for 326 Yen I believe from Melon Books (not exactly safe for work, open at your own risk.)

Manga of the Week - まおゆう

2011-11-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

Image by Ishida Akira

Dont' think I've put this one up yet. It's a great one too.

Title: まおゆう, 魔王勇者「この我のものとなれ、勇者よ」「断る!」, MaoYuu, Maou Yuusha "Kono Watashi no mono Tonare Yuusha yo" "Kotowaru!", Demon and Hero "Be My Hero" "I refuse!"

Author: Touno Mamare

Art: Ishida Akira

Genre: Shounen, Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Serialized in: Kadokawa Shoten Comp Ace

Total Volume Count: 1 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

After a long and treacherous journey, our Hero finally arrives at the Dark Lady’s castle only to find himself being asked for help. The Hero explains how the war that the demons have brought upon the humans have killed thousands and put more in misery. The queen of demons however argues that this war has made the human society band together as one and showed empirical evidence how it has increased population, increased production, boosted economy and improved society overall. Furthermore, she explains to the Hero that ending this war will result in a civil war that will produce more bloodshed than there ever was. The Hero, convinced that the only way to bring peace, relatively speaking, is to join forces with the Dark Lady, agrees to help with her plans!

Kenn's Comment: Awesome series. Similar to Spice and Wolf in concept with all of it's medieval economics (S&W isn't quite medieval), but features a Dragon Quest-like cast of characters. They're also aptly named by what class they are, for example the two main characters, Yuusha and Maou (Hero and Demon King, respectively).

This one's based off a novel, though I can't seem to find any info on that one. There's at least 2-3 other manga adaptations of the novels, each one running in a different magazine. This one more or less has the best art (my opinion, as well as a fair number of other readers) which means we can read Maou in all of her ~~breas~~ glory. Maou is the ~~breast~~ best. Yuusha is a riot too, with how ridonculously strong he is.

Like last week's Arpeggio of Blue Steel, this one is also recommended by that straight laced friend of mine (I'm sure he is a bit wary of Maou's 'assets') so you know this one is good. I'll see to it that I make a "Straight Laced Man Seal of Approval" one day.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature -　インタビュア

2011-11-12T15:55:00.000-08:00

Luka uses and iPhone in this. Sponsor!

Title: インタビュア, Interviewer
Producer: ケワガタP
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 巡音ルカ

Kenn's Comment: I'm not even sure how old this one is. I also feel like I've put this one up before...though I can't find it at all.

Anywho, Luka's used really well in this, and her voice is done really well. The balance is done well, the instrumentals don't over power Luka's voice and Luka's voice isn't overpowering the instruments (it happens).

The real reason why I put this one up though, is because of these two covers (below).

First by ヲタみん (Wotamin). She's got a great voice, and I've heard her singing in a few other songs, including -ggrks- in a collab with Clear.

This one is by 蛇足 (Dasuko), a NND singer I've really liked ever since I heard him in Imitation Black, which was a collab with Clear and バルシェ (Valshe).

Song of the Week - 遠く君へ

2011-11-11T18:48:00.002-08:00

I love this song. Like seriously. I love this song.

Title: 遠く君へ, Tooku Kimi he, Far Away to You
Artist: Touyama Nao (and/or) Noto Mamiko (or) Nakajima Megumi
Genre: N/A
Single: N/A
Album: 異国迷路のクロワーセ OST, Ikoku Meiro no Kurowaze OST, Crossroads of a Foreign Country OST

Kenn's Comment: A beautiful song from Ikoku Meiro's bonus episode, 4.5 as it's usually referred to.

The reason I have all those people under the 'artists' part is because it's sung by all three of them. The song is played in 4.5, and is sung by Touyama Nao (Yune) and Noto Mamiko (Anne). The songs on the OST are by either Touyama and Nakajima Megumi (hers is an ending for 4.5).

From what I managed to understand (and be able to translate) this is a song of longing for a certain country and person (most likely Japan, though it's not specified, and the title should more or less be self explanatory on the second point). I've got a friend who recently said that she wanted to go back home to Japan, so I'm sure she'll love this song.

Anywho, lovely song. Played by non-Japanese instruments as Ikoku Meiro takes place in Paris and Anne plays a guitar. I'm up to the challenge to set it for koto instead of guitar and maybe two other instruments to take the place of the clarinet and violin (I am a composition major after all). I don't know of any Japanese instruments that really sounds like the clarinet...or violin though.

Anywho, enjoy!

Weekly Webcomics - マミさん漫画

2011-11-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

Image by Shino

Moving away from 東方 and back to Shino's obvious infatuation with Mami.

Title: マミさん漫画, Mami-san Manga

Artist: Shino

Genre: Comedy

Series: 魔法少女まどかマギカ, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika (Puella Magi " ")

Description from Danbooru:

Due to some misunderstanding, Mami is getting a birthday party celebration from her juniors.

Kenn's Comment: In typical Shino fashion, this comic overflows with comedy. There's a brief not-so-funny moment, but it's fairly short, and even that gets taken lightly. Shino's art is great as always, and even if you don't understand Japanese, his expressions will always give away the mood.

It's a great read, funny and relatively short, the covers of each 'chapter' are rather tantalizing.

Trying not to spoil the story, but let's just say that Mami's blessed to have such great friends. I'm no longer afraid!

Read it over at Pixiv, or Danbooru.

Pixiv links:
漫画１
漫画２
漫画３
漫画４
漫画Fin

Manga of the Week - 蒼き鋼のアルペジオ

2011-11-06T20:52:00.001-08:00

Image by Mizuki Ame

A little late, but I was just about to forget to put this one up.

Title: 蒼き鋼のアルペジオ, Aoki Hagane no Apreggio, Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Author: Ark Performance

Genre: Seinen, Action, Sci-Fi

Serialized in: Shounen Ganosha Young King Ours

Total Volume Count: 4 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Suddenly, a fleet of ships with mysterious superweapons called the “Fleet of Fog” appeared all around the world. Humanity didn’t have the technology to fight such a fleet, so they were driven out of the sea...

Seventeen years after the battle, for some reason, Gunzou Chihaya and his crewmates aboard the I-401 and the personification (Mental Model) of the I-401, Iona, started fighting the Fleet of Fog...

Kenn's Comment: Great read. Action is well paced, and the story isn't bogged down by constant technical explanations. The art is great, and there are small bits of comedy every now and then. The protagonist has a good head on his shoulders too, which really helps. Better than having a Naruto or Bleach with battle-ships. Good grief, I think I'd burn anything like that instantly. After all, losing a battle with a ship usually results in it either sinking or exploding. Both ways, you're more or less done for. Technical details are usually at the end of the volume, often explained by two characters (can't remember if they ever show up in the manga or not).

Looking at past works of Ark Perf., they're no strangers to the field of mechanized warfare, with several Gundam manga adaptations under their belts.A rather...straight-laced no-nonsense friend of mine recommends this one too, so you can rest assured that it's good.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Would You Marry Me?

2011-11-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

No this is not a proposal post.

Title: Would You Marry Me?
Producer: フルーツ（笑）Ｐ (FruitsP)
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: KAITO

Kenn's Comment: YES. But I have too many other waifus that I'll have to decline.

It's been a while since I've heard such good use of KAITO. Saw it, gave it a listen and decided this should be today's feature. Also a treat for anyone who really likes KAITO. All in all, a really cute song with an equally cute PV. Gorsh, I don't even remember when the last time I've heard KAITO sound so good...he often..sounds either robotic, or the song uses too much of his upper registers. Anywho, over and out!

Song of the Week - C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h.

2011-11-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Image from TokyoHive

Off their latest album!

Title: C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h.

Artist: ONE OK ROCK

Genre: Rock

Single: N/A

Album: 残響リファレンス

Vintage: 5/10/11

Kenn's Comment: I can't stress how much I love these guys. I've been fans for a long time, the first song being ゆめゆめ.

This one is quite different from the one I put up last by the band (NO SCARED) for those who don't remember. It's more melodic, less loud and every bit as awesome. I'm having a hard time thinking through this splitting headache, so listen to the song and judge for yourself. The chorus (hook) is really the best part of the song (as it should be). The PV is a feel-good one, and I'm pretty sure the song is that kind of one too...albeit in awesome rock form. Excuse me while I pop a few Advils..

Manga of the Week - RロックンRロールRリッキー

2011-10-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

Image from here

Remembered about this post just in the nick of time.

Title: RロックンRロールRリッキー, Rock n' Roll Ricky, RRR

Author: Watanabe Jun

Genre: Seinen, Comedy, Sports

Serialized in: Kodansha Young Magazine

Total Volume Count: 10

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Rikitaro is a musician whose dream is to become a rock star just like Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison, but at the age of 27 that dream is fading away rapidly. Ooishi is a 3 time world boxing champion who recently retired and is now in the entertainment world, shooting a boxing reality show.

These two unlikeliest of people cross paths one day, but both of them think nothing of it until weeks later. Rikitaro is given one last shot by a record label to sign a deal but before that, they need him to get into better shape so that he is easier to sell. He stumbles upon a boxing gym which also happens to be the same gym Ooishi is filming his show.

As fate’s wheels start to turn, neither man realizes that they will work together to train the best boxer ever, even better than Ooishi himself.

Kenn's Comment: Started reading this one a few weeks ago, and loving every bit of it. I'm normally not someone who reads manga about boxing, let alone any sports series, but this one is really good. The beginning is a tad on the heavier side, but it quickly starts to lighten up a bit, so don't let the beginning bring you down.

The characters, or at least the main cast, are fairly well fleshed out from the extent that I've read. Main cast being the handful of characters that really have a backstory to them. I'm sure other characters get their turn in the limelight, some more likely than others. Anywho, it's a great read for anyone interested, and while boxing is certainly one of the main elements in the series, most of the series takes place out of the ring.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - パンキン・シンドロム

2011-10-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Halloween song!

Title: パンキン・シンドロム, Pumpkin Syndrome
Producer: Polyphonic Branch
Art: Buzz
PV: hie
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 鏡音リン・レン

Kenn's Comment: Every October, a slew of Halloween songs by the twins gets churned out; some are great, while others...well let's just say they don't make the cut. Polyphonic Branch has lots of great songs under their (don't know what I should refer to PB as...) belt. This one is pretty catchy, and is pretty happy and upbeat for a Halloween song, especially towards the end.

Also, for those who know/ don't know what polyphony is, Polyphonic Branch's songs aren't actually polyphonic. If they were, they'd be a bit hard to listen to (though if done properly, it'd be truly awesome, especially if it ended up something like J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass) and hard to understand, assuming the polyphony happens with the vocals.

Over and out.

Song of the Week - シャングリラシャングリラ

2011-10-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

Image from Avex

Yes, I'm well aware that I didn't post yesterday.

Btw, such a happy song.

Title: シャングリラ, Shangrila

Artist: Acid Black Cherry

Genre: Rock

Single: シャングリラ

Album: N/A

Vintage: 19/10/11 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: PV provided is about half the song or so, the 'short' version PV. The other option was the 30 second CM (commercial) cut.

Seems that this one is quite a bit more poppy than some of his other works. Yes. His. For those who don't know, ABC is Yasu's (the vocalist of Janne Da Arc) solo project. One thing I've noticed from many of the PVs is that he often has that huge cast of instrumentalists. I have to say I'm quite fond of his voice. It carries a certain...charm to it? I haven't listened to much of Janna Da Arc or ABC, so I can't really vouch for other songs, but I do remember Zelos telling me about how ABC was really good. So anyways, if you want to full song, I'm sure you can find it on iTunes or something.

In unrelated news, I'm going to very, very busy from now until the end of December, and most likely well into the new year. I've got exams out the wazoo, a masterclass to prepare for along with a recital and a concert, not to mention the ocarina-string quartet and the koto-erhu pieces I'm writing at the moment.

Manga of the Week - コインランドリーの女

2011-10-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

Image from here

Makes less sense than that physics test you just bombed.

Title: コインランドリーの女, Coin Laundry no Onna, Coin Laundry Woman

Author: Kiyohara Hiro

Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural

Serialized in: Kadokawa Beans Ace, Shounen Ace

Total Volume Count: 1

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Some random gag stories happening around a woman living inside the washer in the coin laundry. Why does she like to live there?

Kenn's Comment: A series of random stories connected by the equally quirky characters. The sheer oddness of the characters reminds me very heavily of Arakawa Under the Bridge, and it doesn't help that the few characters seem to be sane, are in fact quite insane. Each chapter is fairly short and it's only a volume long (I think almost all of Kiyohara's works are around that mark) so it makes for a rather entertaining quick read.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Sweet Shackles

2011-10-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Halloween?

Title: Sweet Shackles
Producer: Maya
PV: しーな
Genre: Not really sure...pop-rock...maybe?
Vocaloid: GUMI extend SWEET

Kenn's Comment: As a commenter on the video wrote: I'd let Gumi tie me up anyday. Heck to the yeah!

Anywho, this slightly creepy and cute song really shows off cute in a way that I haven't seen yet. I know that producers like Machigerita-P do this kind of stuff real well.

Also, I've been less and less active lately, spending more and more of my free time either with school or on Dark Souls, so here's a treat. More Gumi! This one's an adorable MMD one. All credits are on the video I believe. Watch in 1080p for absolutel moe-ness.

Song of the Week - Are We There Yet

2011-10-22T00:11:00.001-07:00

Image from Far East Vibes

Awesome song. Dumbfoundead is the greatest.

Woopsie daisy. Forgot to hit publish before I left for Dark Souls. Came back and hit publish without looking at the time. This is supposed to be a Friday post!

Title: Are We There Yet

Artist: dumbfoundead

Genre: Hip Hop, Rap

Single: N/A

Album: DFD

Kenn's Comment: This song is dumbfoundead's life story in song form. What I love about dumbfoundead (aside from his impressive abilities) is that his lyrics and musics are always positive. He doesn't promote the gangster lifestyle (to my knowledge) or drug use and all that stuff that's almost become synonymous to the genre (mainstream at least). First heard Dumbfoundead on Epik High's [e] album, most likely Maze, but I didn't pay much attention then. He does a good amount of Youtube work, so that's most likely how I ended up a fan. Anywho, it's a great track, so give it a listen or three!

Weekly 東方 Doujin - ４コマチルノ

2011-10-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

Image by Nishi Koutarou

A little bit Yotsuba, a little bit Touhou and every bit awesome.

Title: ４コマチルノ, 4 Koma Cirno

Artist: Nishi Koutarou

Genre: Comedy

Characters: Cirno, Letty Whiterock, Kazami Yuuka, Daiyousei, et al.

Description from Danbooru:

Cirno's misadventures as Letty's daughter.

Kenn's Comment: It's got Yotsuba&! tinges here and there, but does not have the feel of a 'parody'. By that I mean something that more or less takes the source material and changes the characters. It's original, but Cirno, being the ⑨ she is does end up acting a lot like Yotsuba. It can be surprisingly touching at times, especially when Letty is in the picture. I'm hoping this one lasts a long time, for reasons I can't say without spoiling events for non-Touhou..ites?

Art is great, characters...well they're a handful. From the flighty Cirno to the clingy Daiyousei, they're a varied bunch. Story-wise, it's entertaining, especially when Yuuka comes into the picture. She's got her hands full with Cirno.

Anywho, give it a read oｖer at Pixiv or Danbooru

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - VOCALOID 3

2011-10-15T21:17:00.000-07:00

Image by Mitsuka

A few songs today, since a just bunch of them came out.

A little late, yes. Was out all day. And Dark Souls.

POWER

Title: LoveDroid

Producer: かにみそP

Genre: Pop

Vocaloid: GUMI Extend (V3) POWER

Kenn's Comment: The thing about GUMI's extend is that, unlike the APPENDS of Crypton, GUMI still sounds like GUMI. Miku APPEND still sounds like Miku, yes, but it drastically changes her voice. Extend still very much sounds like GUMI.

Anywho, the whispering in this one bugs me a bit, but aside from that it's a cool song.

Whisper

Title: メガネの向こうの世界, Megane no Mukou no Sekai, World Beyond the Glasses

Producer: キャプミラP

Genre: Pop

Vocaloid: GUMI Extend (V3) WHISPER

Kenn's Comment: This one's a cute song, with an interesting instrumental backing. Whisper is the equivalent of Miku Append's soft. It's pretty catchy, with a cute PV.

I'm not really sure what the title would be in English, so I took my best shot at it. If I translated that wrong, feel free to leave the correct translation in a comment.

Adult

Title: ずっとこのまま, Zutto kono mama, Just as it is

Producer: れるりり&ロンチーノ＝ペペ

Genre: Pop

Vocaloid: GUMI Extend (V3) ADULT

Kenn's Comment: The title more or less comes up in every verse. GUMI Adult voice deepens her tone colour by a bit, making her sound a bit older. I can see this one being used to get an edgier sound out of GUMI, putting her more or less in competition with MEIKO and Luka (sometimes) for that role. Catchy song, but the her foot in that picture kind of scare me.

Weekly Webcomics - 21ばんすいどら

2011-10-13T23:14:00.001-07:00

Image by soara

As late as possible. Blame Dark Souls. Only left it because I was just about to throw the controller.

Title: 21ばんすいどら, 21 Bansuidora, Route 21

Artist: soara

Genre: Horror

Series: Pokemon

Description from Danbooru:

A manga/comic by the renowned pokemon fanartist Soara, entailing a young Satoshi and his troubles with a certain pokemon.
Based on the mysterious addition of Route 21's grass patch south of Masara Town.

Kenn's Comment: For those not familiar with Pokemon, Masara Town is the Japanese (original) name for Palette Town, the hometown of the player character. Route 21 is only accessible after getting Surf, and, if starting from Cinnabar Island, which is Gym #7 I believe, it ends with a single grassy patch before entering the town. Compared to the wild Pokemon in Route 1, the other exit of the town, the ones found in Route 21 are considerably stronger.

Anywho, soara's undoubtedly one of the greatest Pokemon fan artists I know of. I usually drop in for his/her 4 koma, a hilarious mix of game mechanics and ridiculous antics. But this one was quite different. Not a comedy, but rather a horror story, based on the strong Pokemon found in the route. The title picture should be a dead give away of which Pokemon it's going to be focusing on: everyone's favourite ~~tentacle rape~~ Tangela. Prepare to be creeped out and never look at a Tangela the same way again (though honestly, I never did like Tangela).

Also, no actual Pokemon battle. It's less of a 'Pokemon' and more of a horror story set in the world.

Edit: And it reads left to right. Almost forgot to mention that. Caught me off guard the first time I read it.

For those who follow the English dub, Satoshi = Ash Ketchum.

Read it over at Pixiv, or Danbooru

January 2012 - Zero no Tsukaima Final! Kugimin is killing me~

2011-10-10T03:31:00.003-07:00

I'm an avid ZnT fan, and I shall always be, I own the novel series up to the point to how much I can own it, I own all 3 season's DVD, I own all the artbooks, I own some figures and I have the CDs and all that whatnot for ZnT. Basically saying, this 4th season, is going to kill me, both in a good way and a bad way...

Yamaguchi survives his cancer and is able to continue his novel, I'm glad that he will be able to finish it, it is at the last 2 volume and he was battling with cancer just the past summer, and I'm glad that he won the fight so far.

Zero no Tsukaima is about a boy named Saito who was summoned by a girl named Louise to become her ~~manslave~~ Familiar(Tsukaima). Louise was known as Louise the Zero because she knew no magic, and she summoned a human being as her Familiar while other students in her magical school all summoned some sort of fantasy monster. The story carries on to talk about the adventures of Saito and Louise, how their relationship changed throughout and how Saito was looking for a way home back to Japan.

To talk about the 4th season, I'm going to have to go back to the first 3 seasons.

Season 1, was superb, that was what got me hooked, I believe it was possibly the first time I felt very sad that an anime ended. I wasn't as into anime back then I didn't know I would become such a huge ZnT fan at the time either. I just knew that the show was amazing, it has everything I like, comedy, romance, magic, battles, and of course, ecchi! So then, season 1's ending left with an opening for season 2, but it also gave out the vibe of "this story could end now even if we don't show it!"

Then season 2 came along, with the director change and all that. The story was no longer the focus, the ecchiness and the fanservice became the top priority, but the story was still carried out, so ok, that wasn't too bad.

Season 3 was the worst of all, the show became a sloppy mess of fan service while the story was changed here and there to fix holes they made during the first 2 season, and making even BIGGER holes. The story carried out fine, it still makes sense, but it has lost it's luster in my opinion, the feelings in the novel was not portrayed at all in the anime. I was really sad, and then there was no news about 4th season at all for a long time.

Then the author decides that the story is going to end, at volume 22. Everything was ending, Shakugan no Shana, Spice and Wolf, Zero no Tsukaima. All these old light novel series started ending and JC decides that it is time to make the anime have a tie in end with the novel as they were very successful doing so with Toradora, which ended with the novel(volume 10). No fan likes original endings so JC sat on Shana and ZnT until the authors are ending the series. Shakugan no Shana was much more well made because it has more episodes, it only has 2 seasons so far with final season on going but both seasons were 24 episodes each putting it at 48 episodes + the last season to cover the rest of the novels, which isn't too many.

ZnT however was left in a mess. 3 seasons with 12 episodes got us to 36 episodes, which got us through the story for about 12 volumes of the novel, so now we would need to cover 10 volumes in season 4, are they going to make season 4 a 12 episode series!? That won't be sufficient at all, so I'm hoping with all my might that it will be at least 24 episodes, they need that, even 24 episodes will be pretty rushed, but it is doable(toradora). I was scared that they will mess up the show even further but I was extremely anxious to see it at the same time, then the staff list was updated a few days back.

The season 1's director is coming back for the Final season, AMAZING, I love his direction much more than season 2 and 3's direction. And then the main hit factor. The author HIMSELF is making the script. Just...wow, I've never seen that happen before, he must be determined to rescue it!

Seeing this new picture on the website also assured the continuation of the story into further than Galia, because I was suspecting it to end there if it will be a 12 episode series. However we were shown the Romanian people as well so I think it should be safe to assume that this will be good, this will go on and have the novel ending tie in. Now, I'm amazingly hyped and pumped for season 4, I hope this will be good!

October Impressions - Shakugan No Shana III ~Final~ Spoiler ALERT!

2011-10-10T03:03:00.000-07:00

Shakugan no Shana Final OP - Light My Fire by Kotoko

Yes, I'm suppose to be slacking off and not posting like usual, but october so far has been TOO godly for me to just lay low. I have to mention that every single OP/ED I've heard I've absolutely LOVED. Shakugan no Shana Final finally makes its debut...

*Spoiler ALERT!*
oh, and I'm NOT giving you guys an overview of the past series, cuz this is all going to be my thoughts about the current one, hell, this is full of spoilers, why would anyone new come in anyways!? XD

and hell I gotta say, JC Staff, I have faith in you and Zero no Tsukaima season 4 again. Kugimiya core virus strikes again! Shakugan no Shana, Zero no Tsukaima, Hayate no Gotoku! one after another, making the up coming seasons just so amazing and dense of Kugimin powers!

Season 3 starts with a blast for Shana, I was throughly surprised, they pulled a naruto shippuden thing, like how they showed Sasuke fight LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG before the fight actually comes, just as a teaser of what this season will get to. The story between season 2 and 3 was filled in very quickly with flashbacks and information that was narrated. The explainations were simple enough so you don't lose track of what is going on in the story so far and what happened between then.

Yuuji turned to the dark right off the bat in season 3 and that was the wake up call. Shakugan no Shana Final is not about giggly school romance or happy comedy scenes. This is serious business now. Just because of this first episode of Season 3 I've decided that I need to buy the whole novel series because I'm so bloody hooked to Shana right now. I listen to the OP and ED repeatedly every day every hour every minute that I can. I was a bit sad that Kawada Mami wasn't doing a song for the first 3 monthes of the season, but hey, Kotoko's song I actually love to death this time, not complaining, still doesn't compare to Joint probably, but...that's fine!

Season 3 of Shana will end with the novel ending, the last volume of the novel actually came out in Japan yesterday. Shakugan no Shana XXII, XXI's scene was shown in the FIRST EPISODE of season 3 in fact, just to build up the excitement and tension. The story will probably go backward and start building up how the first scene happened with the upcoming episodes.

This is the ending to the first episode, we were shown Yuuji turning SUPER SEXY and taking over the Bal Masque as their Head of the Alliance. The reason was not clearly shown but Yuuji decides that he needs to end the fight between Flame Haze and the Crimson Denizens once and for all, and to do that he needs Bal Masque. Yuuji probably talked with Gin inside his Reiji Maigo alot about this issue before deciding as well.

We can see the ranks of Bal Masque clearly in the ED, Hecate bowing and standing lower than Yuuji indicating that Yuuji is now the head of Bal Masque.

All in all, I can't wait for episode 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ~ Finale
Episode one has hit with me with such an impact that it still lingers after 2 days. ugh, Kugimiya virus is taking over me again...I can't even imagine when Shana and Zero no Tsukaima attacks me at the same time next January...

Manga of the Week - ひよ恋

2011-10-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Image from here

After 4 grueling hours of Dark Souls, I needed something to calm my nerves.

Title: ひよ恋, Hiyokoi

Author: Yukimura Moe

Genre: Shoujo, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life

Serialized in: Shueisha Ribon

Total Volume Count: 5 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Hiyori, a small and timid girl, goes to school for the first time in a year since an accident left her hospitalized. Follow her as she struggles with her social skills, tries to make friends and maybe even a little bit more...?

Kenn's Comment: I'm not usually fond of shoujo leads that are insecure about themselves and base their transformation around their love interest, but Hiyori's so ridonculously adorable that I'll let it fly. She's not all that bad actually. She's literally dwarfed when she's next to Hirose, who looks as if he's double her height. The supporting cast is a riot, from Hiyori's first friends to the bubbly amicable homeroom teacher, they're a fun and colourful cast.

Character growth isn't slow and stunted in this one (stunted being in the form of constant resets), which is a really good thing. Since the beginning Hiyori has become less and less shy, and, I believe, has more or less shed her habit of hiding in small spaces.

It's also gotten an OAV I believe, a one episode thing that was screened during a party for the magazine it runs in. Anywho, I've gotta catch up to my friends in Dark Souls, so I'll see you all...someday! Assuming I survive this ordeal of course.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - ビフォーアフター

2011-10-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Awesome PV.

Title: ビフォーアフター, Before After
Producer: 164
PV: イケシマ
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: The PV is gorgeous. You'll probably recognize 164's name from last week when I put up a collab with 40mP (1640mP). That one was very much in 40mP's style, so here's on in 164's. 164's known for his (assumed gender) awesome guitar tracks in songs, while 40mP is known for both composition and the piano.

The songs is great. It's catchy and the entirety of the song is great, unlike some where only the chorus is worth listening to (like a lot of the stuff on the radio). So, enjoy! I'm going back to getting myself killed over and over in Dark Souls.

Atelier Totori

2011-10-07T22:52:00.002-07:00

Image by Kishida Mel (from Danbooru)

Got this one before Dark Souls, but the post is coming after Dark Souls. Hmm.

Unlike Dark Souls, this one came in your standard 'special edition' box, much like Trails in the Sky did. The cover art is gorgeous, done by the wonderful Kishida Mel.

This is what came with it. The game, the CD, and an art book. A physical CD! It's gorgeously illustrated, again by Kishida Mel.

Such vibrant colours. Totori looks wonderful as usual.

Totori's page in the artbook. Much of it is character bio, and the rest has a few miscellaneous works as well as backgrounds and locations in the game (many of them are familiar, as it's set a few years after Atelier Rorona). Again, the colours and Totori are wonderful!

The only problem I had with the artbook was how it's made. It's a soft cover book, and looks and feels very much like a game manual. Colours and content constrast very much with Dark Souls' art book.

And yes, that is my phone. Keroro hangs off of it.

Song of the Week - Sleeper

2011-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Image from here...probably

I believe this is one of their latest songs.

Title: Sleeper

Artist: Nightmare (ナイトメア）

Genre: Vis-Kei, Rock

Single: Sleeper

Album: N/A

Vintage: 07/09/11 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: I've been a fan of Nightmare for a long time now, at least a good 5-6 years. Much of it comes from a little backstage hilarity that played out a while back. Yomi's voice is awesome too. This song's a great one, clocking at 7th on the Oricon charts. Anywho, I'm going back to torture myself in Dark Souls, so enjoy this one! The chorus is wonderful!

DARK SOULS

2011-10-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ah yes. This is what Hell looks like. A painful, frustrating hell.

So, Dark Souls came out a few days ago and it's a good thing I had it preordered (who wouldn't have it preordered?) because the shop apparently sold out of copies before 3pm. Preordering got you upgraded to the 'deluxe edition', but it unfortunately doesn't exactly live up to that deluxe part.

Regardless of the content, that tin is pretty kick ass. This is the backside of the tin (which obviously makes the earlier image the top).

This is what the deluxe edition gets you: the game (obviously), a small art book, and a card bearing a redeemable code to download the guide, soundtrack and bonus content. I have to admit that I was rather disappointed at that. The Demons Soul deluxe got you the guide and soundtrack, in a physical copy. It's the physical copy that really counts! You can't read the guide and listen to the OST while your playing the game (to my knowledge). The artbook is hardcover, which makes it a little bit better, though the binding of the book leaves a lot to be desired.

The bottom picture of Gwynevere is the most colourful and vibrant image in the book. Everything else is Dark Souls' typical dark and shades of gray (with occasional red).

Verdict: the deluxe edition was okay, but certainly not 'good'. The good part? Deluxe edition didn't cost anything extra, so for what it's worth, I reckon we're getting our money's worth. Now excuse me while I get back to torturing myself with the game...

And for those who don't know about Dark Souls, have some trailers.

Next up: Atelier Totori.

Manga of the Week - ポップコーノ・アバター

2011-10-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Image by ほしお

Okay, I'm back for the Manga of the Week. Have to say that it's getting harder and harder to find stuff to put up when I've done almost everything I've read (or am reading).

Title: ポップコーノ・アバター, Popcorn Avatar

Author: Hoshino Koichirou

Genre: Shounen, Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance

Serialized in: Shogakukan Club Sunday

Total Volume Count: 6

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

One rainy night, Wada, a young teenage boy, standing near the edge of a bridge over a raging river - is on a depressing brink towards committing suicide. Suddenly, a beautiful blonde foreign girl, named Lisa, mysteriously appears. Who is this cheerful girl? And why is she dressed as a cheerleader? Wada wasn't interested and tries to ignore her, but Lisa kicks him off the bridge, and says "try flying." And to his surprise, he does. This power, where did it come from?

It seems that there is a war between the gods and demons. And by fate, the result of this war is tied to Wada. Upon learning this, Wada does not look very pleased. Was this his purpose - his destiny? What will he choose? Does he even have a choice? Afterall, Lisa, the goddess cheering him on, is surprisingly his classmate.

Kenn's Comment: Something about this series really caught my eye. First discovered this one a few years back, and more or less was smitten by it almost immediately. It's probably the personality clashing between the indifferent hero and the overly-bubbly heroine. The art reminds me a lot of Mizukami Satoshi's (惑星のさみだれ, 战国妖狐) with some...'upgraded' female models (yes, I'm talking about Lisa). I kind of forgot about this series a year or two ago after I started it and haven't really had a look at it since. Saw a work of it on Pixiv this morning though and figured it should be this week's Manga. Enjoy!

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - 未来線

2011-10-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Back to Miku this week!

Title: 未来線, Miraisen, Future Line
Producer: 40mP
Composition: 164
Production: 1640mP
Illustration:　ぎた
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: Image look familiar? It probably should. I feel that I've put the original up before. This one's a new one, most likely a sequel of sorts to Time Machine, which I'm sure that I've put up before. 1640mP is the co-op name of 40mP's words and 164's music, hence 1640mP. Always great stuff from them. Give this one a whirl because it's a great one.

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - ラストエグザイル-銀翼のファム-

2011-09-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Image from Gigazine

Like a phoenix, GONZO rises from the ashes!!

And with that, I've finished all of the previews I planned to do.

Title: ラストエグザイル-銀翼のファム-, Last Exile -Ginkyou no Fam-, Last Exile, Fam, The Silver Wing

Animation Production: GONZO

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, SciFi

Airs: 10/07 26:00 CBC

Website: http://www.lastexile-fam.com/chara.html

Series Summary from Animax Asia:

"I've made up my mind! I'm going to steal that ship!"

All source of life originates from the Grand Lake.

At this very sacred lake, the battle of Ades Federation and Turan Kingdom has begun. Ades Federation, armed with crushing force and massive battleships and its sights set to conquer the world, invade the Turan Kingdom. With the Ades troops heading to their beloved country, Turan now lies at the brink of collapse. The princesses of Turan (Millia il Velch Cutrettola Turan and Liliana il Grazioso Merlo Turan) look on as a small vanship named Vespa cruises above their heads.

"We'll steal your flagship from now, from this battle field!"

The Vespa continues to weave through the barrage of bombs, while the fleets of Ades close in on Turan.

What are the motives of Luscinia, the man leading Ades Federation into the war? And what is the secret behind 'Exile'?

Kenn's Comment: Gonzo's revival is symbolically marked by one of the companies most beloved series. I never watched the first Last Exile, but it should be known that the story and cast are more or less completely new, meaning those new to the series should be able to get into it without missing out on too much. One thing you can count on is that it'll be visually stunning. I've seen screens of the first season and they look wonderful.

Character designs by the wonderful Murata Range, who also did character designs for Shangri-La (for those who watched it). Also, the two leads (pictured in top image) are played by Toyosaki Aki and Yuuki Aoi (Fam and Giselle, respectively). Really looking forward to their roles, as both are excellent voice actresses.

Despite all this praise and excitement for this one, I'll always have a shadow of doubt and worry about Gonzo doing anime. I know they've got some well loved series like Last Exile and Gankutsuou, but they've also done some really, really bad endings for series (NHK). That and the series is written by the same person who did Linebarells of Iron and でんゆうでん (Legend of the Legendary Heroes), with the former suffering from problems on several different fronts and the latter being a bit on the messy side. He, however, did write the first series, so I suppose there is merits in that.

PV:

Weekly 東方 Doujin - 紅魔学園

2011-09-29T21:36:00.001-07:00

Image by Rapattu

Weekly Webcomics returns!!!!

Title: 紅魔学園, Scarlet Devil School

Artist: Rapattu

Genre: Alternate World, Comedy, Slice of Life

Characters: Everyone

Description from Danbooru:

Same universe as Four Season Family, but seen from the view other students of the school.

Kenn's Comment: I feel that I've put the Four Season Family one up before, but I don't seem to be able to find it. Anywho, this one is a spin off of said series, focusing on everyone else. That's about right. Remilia and Reimu seem to take up the most number of scripts (Remilia being a fairly major character in Four Seasons, and Reimu...well she's Reimu.) It's a fun read, even for those not familiar with the Four Seasons comics (there may be a few jokes you won't get). Like it's parent series, everything is rather..down to Earth, save for the exception of Youki; everyone is essentially human, and any horns or animal ears are attached to hairbands.

Read it over at Pixiv, or Danbooru.

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - Gundam AGE

2011-09-29T20:38:00.001-07:00

Image by banchengping@126

Not so sure about this one, and with the current list of series I'm going to be watching, I'm not sure if I can take anything else.

Title: 機動戦士ガンダムAGE, Kidou Senshi Gundam Age, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

Animation Production: Sunrise

Genre: Action, SciFi

Airs: 10/09 17:00 MBS/TBS

Website: http://www.gundam-age.net/

Series Summary from ANN:

Gundam AGE's story will cover a century and three generations of Gundam pilots. In the year A.G. 101 (Advanced Generation) — several hundred years after human have migrated into space — an Unknown Enemy (UE) suddenly attacks the space colony Angel and destroys it. In A.G. 108, the war with the UE comes to the home colony of seven-year-old Furitto Asuno. After losing his mother to the war, he is entrusted with the "AGE Device," a memory unit with blueprints for an ancient mobile suit known "Gundam."
In the year A.G. 115, 14-year-old Furitto is at the Earth Federation base Arinsuton on the space colony Nora. For seven years, Furitto has continued developing the mobile suit with the base's engineers, and at last the "Gundam" is complete. However, the UE has arrived at Nora, and Furitto must fight in the very Gundam he built himself.

Kenn's Comment: Story is written by LEVEL-5's president, Akihiro Hino.

It's an interesting story concept, and is probably why we start the series with such a young kid. The fact that this airs so early in the day is a bit worrisome however. Will it be like the rest of it's Gundam brethren, or will it deviate from the norm and cater to a younger audience? Not really sure, but based on the PVs it could be either. This one's apparently going to be running for a good 50 or so episodes, so watching this one will be a bit of a commitment.

Btw, the PVs remind me of Macross, with the UE landing and blowing up the city.

PV:

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - ましろ色シンフォニー

2011-09-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Image by Aono Ribbon

Only 2 left after this one I think.

Title: ましろ色シンフォニー -The Colour of Lovers-,ましフォニ, Mashiro Iro Symphony -The Colour of Lovers-

Animation Production: Manglobe

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life

Airs: 10/04 26:00 TV AICHI

Website: http://www.mashiro.tv/

Series Summary from VNDB:

Shingo's school is decided to be joined with a girls' school. As a selected student, Shingo temporarily transfers to the girls' school until they officially consolidate. He meets various unique girls there, but all girls dislike male students. To remove their misunderstanding, Shingo works hard and...

[Edited from ErogeShop]

Kenn's Comment: If you haven't figured it out by now, this is the adaptation of the eroge that it gets its name from. It's a slice of life comedy, with a focus on cute, bubbly fun, much like the recently animated 祝福のカンパネラ was. Storywise, don't expect anything spectacular. I don't think you'll find extremely edgy, avant-garde writing here. It'll most likely be light, fluffy, and wonderfully cute (just look at the cat). Will I watch this? Maybe as an off thing, but probably not as a "guess what time of the week it is?!"kind of thing. Manglobe's at it...I believe their most recent work was 神のみ (The World God Only Knows), and that went well, so I'm not too worried about this one. Oh and Marble does the OP (probably) and that's always a good thing.

PV:

SOOM Monthly Dolls: Borol & Marl, Brother & Sister

2011-09-26T23:02:00.007-07:00

Image courtesy of SOOM

Now, this blog has officially been Soomed!

As the title states, Borol and Marl are this month's Monthly Dolls (MD) released by Soom. They're ordering period started on the 22nd of this month and will go until the 12th of October.

The basic package includes

Little Gem body
open eyed head
romantic head
horns and hooves

Optional additions include

oak wand and special hands
additional Little Gem body
face up options of either one, or both heads
body blushing options
eyes
wigs
outfit
cloak
shoes

All of the above are limited edition items, just like the doll. The basic package with no additional items would be $395.00USD. The entire package with all additional items included would cost $1,098.00USD.

As for me, I have plans to adopt a Borol on layaway. My poor wallet for the next three months ;~;

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - ファイ・ブレイン神のパズル

2011-09-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Image from Enterjam

Only a few of these left!

Title: ファイ・ブレイン神のパズル, Phi Brain Kami no Puzzle, Phi Brain God's Puzzle

Animation Production: Sunrise

Genre: Adventure, Mystery

Airs: 10/02 17:30 NHK-E

Website: http://www9.nhk.or.jp/anime/phibrain/

Series Summary from ANN:

The school adventure story revolves around Kaito, a puzzle-loving freshman at the private high school named "Root Academy." He is selected as a candidate for "Phi Brain" for his extraordinary mental skills. One day, he and his childhood friend Nonoha tackle the "unsolvable puzzle" hidden in the underground ruins near the school. They are guided by the mobile device given to Kaito by the student council president.

The puzzle is the "philosopher's puzzle," a life-threatening creation of a mysterious intelligence group known as "POG." When he defeats the puzzle, he is designated as a "Solver." Together with Nonoha and other Solvers, Kaito battles POG at "philosopher's puzzles" all over the world.

Kenn's Comment: NHK-E is NHK's Educational channel. Which would then imply that this one isn't a brainless series, and will likely have something to tie it into various kinds of puzzles (math, word, etc). I haven't a clue about how this will turn out, but if it's Sunrise (though I suppose Sacred 7 is an example of things not going well) and Satou Junichi at the helm (though he's working off scripts provided by another person), it will likely turn out to be at least a few levels above decent. I trust in you Satou-san!

And if you haven't already guessed, that's more or less the extent of information I can find for this one. Oh, and May'n does the opening. Anyone interested now? Title is Brain Diver.

PV:

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - だってだってだって

2011-09-24T07:52:00.001-07:00

More GUMI this week!

Title: だってだってだって, Datte Datte Datte, Because Because Because
Producer: タカノン
PV: こみね
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: GUMI

Kenn's Comment: A lot of the Vocaloid songs as of late..not too many of them have stood out as being awesome. It's been getting kind of hard to find ones that are great. I've found, though, that when things start getting rough, GUMI usually shines through. Not sure why this is, but GUMI's always around when you need her.

This one's a cute one. The PV is great too. All of タカノン's songs (the ones I know at least) are great and quite upbeat, so it's nice to a fall back for when things get rough.

I hear Vocaloid 3 is in the works and set for release in October or something like that. I'll have a look into it before I post anything (or even if I post anything).

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - まけんきっ!

2011-09-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

Image by Takeda Hiromitsu

Beyond the jump are heaps of panchira and what'll likely turn out to be one of the least impressive series of next season.

Title: まけんきっ!, Maken-Ki!

Animation Production: AIC

Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance, Supernatural

Airs: 10/04 25:05 Teletama

Website: http://maken-ki.com/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Ohyama Takeru happily enrolls in a co-ed school that didn't require any entrance exams and has hostels to boot... Only to find out that there's more to the school than he thought!

Kenn's Comment: I'm trying my best to not sound negative about the series, but it's pretty darn hard to when it's this bad. It's generic; this kind of story has been done many, many times over. It's by no means an uncommon plot set up. The main character is more or less absolutely useless; premise wise, it bears similarities to Sekirei and Freezing, while still being worse than the two. At least they do manage to do stuff while being relatively powerless (in Freezing's case, he's got a bit more up his sleeve). It's also a fanservice heavy series (if you couldn't tell from the PV), so expect some rather...improbable occurances to happen, like falling and grabbing boobs, pulling down skirts and everything like that. All my negativity aside, this is a series that's at 6 volumes and counting (manga) so it obviously does have something to it. I probably won't take this one for a spin come next season (though I won't miss it, I've got more than enough series on my plate), but I'll read and check on it every now and then. Would've thought this would go to Xebec, since this is more or less right up their alleyway.

Oh, and I hate how the protag looks. Just saying. He looks lame, and his lameness is equally reflected in his character.

PV:

Song of the Week - 你不知道的事

2011-09-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

Image from here

Can it be an early C-POP day? From Kenn? Might be infringing upon Zelos' duties, but I'm sure he has something else planned.

Title: 你不知道的事, All The Things You Never Knew

Artist: 王力宏 (Wang Lee Hom)

Single: N/A

Album: 十八般武藝 (18 Martial Arts)

Vintage: 12/08/10 ddmmyy

Kenn's Comment: Awesome song. I can't understand a word of it (much like me and Korean songs), but I still like it. It's in Mandarin if you couldn't tell. I've grown up around Cantonese, and even with that my cantonese is somewhere in between terribad and horribad.

I don't usually follow the Chinese music boards and the like, but this one came to my attention via Jimmy Wong with his cover of the song, which I'll link here.

DD Saber Alter 2nd Ver. & Fate/EXTRA Ver.

2011-09-22T23:28:00.009-07:00

Image courtesy of Dollfie Blog

If only I was a bajillionaire.

Compared to many other blogs out there, I am late in providing these newly released pictures of the most recent hype in the DD community. Who are these stunning vinyl beauties that many wish to own but never will? Dollfie Dream Saber Alter 2nd Ver. and Fate/EXTRA Ver. Saber Nero.

I'm usually not very knowledgeable with how the process of ordering limited DDs work, as I figured that I would never have enough saved for the time of their release anyway and probably end up paying thousands later to get them in a fight-for-your-life auction. However, the community is buzzing and I am all ears.

Pre-orders for them will start tomorrow and anyone, they mean ANYONE, will have a chance to place your order to own them until the 30th of October.
Saber Alter will be 62,000 yen.
Saber Nero will be 69,000 yen.

Oh how I pray I have the money to keep up with limited releases. Unfortunately, I know that I will have to eventually fish out maybe thrice the original price to own my own Saber.

Volks and I, we have a love hate relationship.

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - たまゆら

2011-09-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

Image by Shirabiso

A TV series of the 4 episode OAV by acclaimed director, Satou Junichi.

Title: たまゆら, Tamayura

Animation Production:Hal Film Maker

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life

Airs: 10/03 09:00 AT-X

Website: http://www.tamayura.info/

Series Summary from ANN:

For her first year of high school, Fu Sawatari moves to Takehara, a scenic old town near Hiroshima, on the Inland Sea. Her father, who has passed away, grew up in Takehara. She loves taking photographs with her father's old film camera, a Rollei 35S. The story follows her and the friends who gather around her as she comes to love her new home.

Kenn's Comment: I loved the 4 episode OAV. Lighter than ARIA was, but still bringing the same kind of feeling. This one is Junichi's original work, penned by the man himself. His style oozes from this one, which is a very, very good thing. If memory serves me correct, like ARIA and Umi Monogatari, this one will likely be another of his 'healing' anime, that is, immensely enjoyable, light series that are calm and soothing. If you haven't guessed from the fact that ~~Potte~~ Fu has a Rollei 35S, this series is has quite an emphasis on photography. I'm not entirely familiar with the specifics of photography, so I'm not entirely sure about how accurate this can be. I couldn't find a PV for the TV series, so I'm giving you guys the OP of the OAV series. It should look more or less the same way the TV series will. And yes. That's a cat.

PV:

Weekly Webcomics - シュバドレ劇場

2011-09-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Image by Yosinoya35

I wish my Liligant was this adorable.

Title: シュバドレ劇場, ShubaDore Gekijou, Escavalier-Liligant Theatre

Artist: Yosinoya35

Genre: Comedy

Series: Pokemon

Characters: Liligant, Escavalier, Accelgor, others

Kenn's Comment: I used the English names of the Pokemon when translating the title, for the sake of translation. Doesn't work as well, unless you think Esca-Lili sounds good.

It's an adorable comic. Liligant is ridiculously cute, especially with her 'にや～ん'. Escavalier gets the butt end of most of gags, though Accelgor gets the short ends on several occasions.

Cute, funny, more so if you've played Pokemon Black/White (though previous games still work).

Read it at Pixiv, or Danbooru.

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - 未来日記

2011-09-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Image by Ginko (flipflops)

I'm sure everyone's been more or less waiting for this one. Maybe.

Title: 未来日記, Mirai Nikki, Future Diary

Animation Production: asread

Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy

Airs: 10/09 23:00 NND (ニコニコ動画)

Website: http://www.future-diary.tv/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

High school 2nd year, Amano Yukiteru, is a boy who has problem making friends. He thinks of himself as a bystander and will always write down everything he sees in a cell phone diary.

Tormented by solitude, Yukiteru began to imagine things like a friend called Deus Ex Machina who is apparently the Lord of Time & Space. Seeing Yukiteru's miserable state, Deus gives him a new ability. His diary will now record events that will happen in the near future. Yukiteru is then forced to participate in a game which the winner will become Deus's successor.

Kenn's Comment: I think I stopped following the manga well before it ended at chapter 59. I'm also not sure about the status of it in North America now that Tokyopop's been dead for a few months.

This one isn't for the faint of heart. There's copious amounts of blood, not so much on the gore side though (that I can remember). From the top image, I think it should be quite clear that Yuno (pictured above) is yandere and is easily one of the best examples of that archetype. Story-wise, with 24 episodes, I don't think it'll be too hard to fit 59 chapters in. The execution, however, is a different story. Not to mention the censorship it'll likely face.

asread has a bit more history than you think it does (unless you're familiar with the name). I guess some of their more well known titles would be Shuffle! (both seasons), Minami-ke (seasons 2, 3 and OVA), the KIDDY Grade movies, as well as KIDDY GIRL -and. That's more or less their major works, with the rest being production cooperations, and 2nd key animation and whatnots like that. I haven't watched any of the KIDDY Grade / Girl series, so I can't judge them off of that, but I liked Shuffle! as well as the seasons they did with Minami-ke (Okaeri took a bit of getting used to).

Also, Wakamoto is in this as Deus. I am pleased.

PV:

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - C³

2011-09-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

Image from Danbooru

It's getting harder and harder to find info no the last few series...

Title: C³, シーキューブ, C Cube, Cube x Cursed x Curious

Animation Production: SILVER LINK

Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Supernatural

Airs: 10/01 23:30 AT-X
Website: http://www.starchild.co.jp/special/c3/

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

One day the high school student Yachi Haruaki received a mysterious black box sent by his father from abroad. It was a "Cursed" object which could assume human form. The black box whose name was Fear came to Haruaki wanting to rid herself of the curse. Together with Haruaki and his boarder Konoha, Fear decides to do helpful things in order to neutralize the negative energy that was built within her, to be free from the curse that bound her.

Kenn's Comment: I may or may not have read a chapter or two of the novel that this is based off of. It was a while back, and I can't remember, and I can't remember whether I can't remember it because it wasn't worth remembering, or if I simply just can't remember remembering it. I used 'remember' 6 times in that sentence.

Fanservice galore in this one, if the PV is anything to go by. Hoping fanservice isn't added in exchange for a tangible, cohesive and proper plot. Looks like this one will be SILVER LINK's third production project (the previous two being the two BakaTest seasons). Those two were a blast to watch (2nd season less so, but it's still quite entertaining), so I'm hoping this one gets a similar treatment.

1st PV has the action sequences, while the 2nd PV is the wonderful fanservice.

PV:

A Week with Kenn 100

2011-09-19T19:06:00.001-07:00

Image by Yume Shoukunin

THE BIG ONE-OH-OH. LET'S PARTY!!

Haven't done one of these in a long time. Truth be told, I haven't been really doing that's worth blogging as of late, so I've been waiting until I find something worth putting up as the big 100th one. But that doesn't seem to be happening, so I'll put one up.

Found this sucker crawling around on the walls late one night. Was up watching anime when I spotted this one. Click the image to blow it up and view the spider in it's rather large, hairy glory.

Also recently managed to procure a bottle of Amazake. Not entirely show how one should enjoy this, so if anyone reading happens to know good ways of drinking this (minus sticking in a blender with other stuff), by all means, please do share. Anywho, the sushi restaurant I go to often (Sakura Sushi) happens to sell Amazake by the bottle, so I figured I might as well try it out after hearing about it in anime and manga. It's...certainly a taste that must be acquired for those of us who haven't grown up with it.

I hear it's a great drink, health wise. Gave the label for those interested. It's more or less got nothing in it, so I guess it's great with konnyaku!

My aunt made these. It's like jello, except it's got bits of stuff stuff inside it. I think it's coconut and mung beans. The fish was missing an eye, so I decided to push a loose bean into where the eye was supposed to go...but the jello pushed it back out, resulting in a rather...grotesque sight.

This morning's breakfast. Pulled pork sandwich, except I stuffed it inside of a croissant. Delicious. Pulled pork is a shoulder that's been in the slow cooker with a bunch of other stuff for like 20 years (half a day would be closer) and then drenched in a barbecue sauce we made.

Picked this one up last week. Story wise, it's about as generic as you can get. The voice acting...well, let's just say I'm putting up with it for now. It's a direct sequel to the first game, and even includes a remastered version of the first game on the same disk.

I'd love to be playing it right now, but our TV died yesterday. After a good 10-14 years of service, it finally kicked the bucket. The screen had been flashing white and being a bit messed up as of late, but I didn't think it's time had come. This thing is an elephant of a TV. It's huge and equally as heavy. Not even sure it'll fit through the door when we get a new one. Got to find the nearest electronics recycling center...

Well that's more or less my week and a bit in a nutshell. Tune in next time when I find more stuff to talk about.

Manga of the Week - 煩悩寺

2011-09-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Image from Danbooru

A nice and light, refreshing series. Fun fact: I can't remember what I put up last week.

Title: 煩悩寺, Bonnouji

Author: Aki Eda

Genre: Seinen, Romance, Slice of Life

Serialized in: Media Factory Comic Flapper

Total Volume Count: 1 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Fate brings two people who live in the same condo together on a typical afternoon. Ozawa (26) has just broken up with her boyfriend of five years and was in the process of trying to rebuild her life when she meets Oyamada who lives a couple floors below her. He is somewhat of a loner although he does have a few friends and his room is cluttered with all the random stuff that his impulse shopper brother sends him. Ozawa takes an interest with all the things in his room and the two start a friendship that slowly turns into something more.

Kenn's Comment: It's a lovely series. The characters aren't your cookie cutter plot type ones, they're well into the 20's. Furthermore, the romance in the series isn't so in-your-face that it either becomes stagnant or unbearable; it's usually on the back burner while the slice-of-life aspect of it takes center stage. And it's great. Oyamada's room, with the seemingly endless supply of boxes of magical wonders makes his room seem almost fantastical (and he says something similar in the first chapter). The way Ozawa drops by at Oyamada's place reminds me of a bar (considering how much she drinks). Anywho, I'll start spoiling everything if I keep talking, so go on and give this one a chance.

Cpop of the week - F.I.R. 月牙灣

2011-09-18T13:46:00.001-07:00

image from their third album cover

No ~~sadly~~ I did not forget it this week, this is the band that I absolutely adore, because of their ability. They came out advertising themselves as a creating band, since they compose all their own music and in Taiwan, many artists don't do that, and the fact that their songs are amazing secured their popularity.

This is the song I'm going for this week, Crescent Bay

This is from their 4th album "Love Diva"

We can hear some of Faye(the vocalist)'s high and skillful lines and it's a great example of their style in general

F.I.R. is consisted of 3 members, Faye(Vocalist), Ian(Keyboard, composer), Real(Guitarist)

the band name came from their English names, but it also means Fairyland In Reality

Anyhow, to show off Faye's vocal skills

This is an amazing song...she shows off her vocals skills, and this level of skill is rare in Taiwan, since Taiwanese singers are mostly packaged idols.

Well, I'll just throw in a third song for the heck of it.

This is the song that got them famous.
This is the first song the public heard about them, and it was just so epic they instantly got famous, not surprising eh?

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - ベン・ト

2011-09-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Image from Dengeki Online

How 'bout s'ma dat akshun?

And them stockings. Delicious, delicious stockings...

Title: ベン・ト, Ben-To

Animation Production: Studio David

Genre: Action, Comedy

Airs: 10/08 26:20 TV AICHI

Website: http://ben-to.net/

Series Summary from ANN:

The story revolves around a poor high school student named Satou You. Satou goes to the supermarket one day and discovers a bento (boxed meal) on sale at half price. Just as he reaches to grab it, he ends up on the floor unconscious. Satou has just entered the fierce, no-holds-barred supermarket survival battle for half-price bento.

Kenn's Comment: I've heard lots of good things about the light novel this is adapted from. It's a rather unusual setting, don't you think? The most absurd plots have usually come out pretty well in my own experience. Plus it's got action! What more could you possibly need. Those stockings certainly don't hurt. If the novels are followed, we'll have Satou being quite the...character, so to speak, great action scenes, and some wonderful food (awesome, awesome, awesome food, illustrated).

Studio David was behind Level E from a few seasons back, and that one was a blast to watch. Hoping this one turns out to be the at the same awesomeness as that one.

PV:

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - cinematronix

2011-09-17T18:54:00.001-07:00

More GUMI, more power.

Title: Cinematronix
Producer: rascal-P
Music/Lryics: llliiillliiilll, rascal-P
Art: 八角
PV: llliiillliiilll
Genre: Rock
Vocaloid: GUMI

Kenn's Comment: Haven't been keeping up with Vocaloid songs lately; been far too busy with school, though things should start slowing down now.

Anywho, here's a GUMI one. Don't think I've heard rascal-P songs before, but it's a good first impression. The guitar is pretty cool, but I feel that GUMI's voice should be a bit louder to balance better with the instruments. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine, having the instruments being at the same level or louder than the vocals. Anywho, enjoy! Now to look for a manga for tomorrow...

蝦餃

毎週のVOCALOID - Bad ∞ End ∞ Night

毎週の漫画 - 銀の勇者

A Day with Kenn 102

毎週のVOCALOID - ドレミファロンド

毎週の歌 - Lines

毎週のウェッブ漫画

毎週の漫画 - ガンオタの女

毎週のVOCALOID - Pelagic Fish

毎週の歌 - GALLOWS BELL

毎週のウェブ漫画 - -絶対に笑ってはいけない魔法少女-

毎週の漫画 - 銀の匙

毎週のVOCALOID - Cat's Dance

毎週の歌 - Bandages

毎週の同人誌の東方

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ゼロの使い魔F

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ブラック★ロックシューター

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - あの夏で待ってる

毎週の漫画－悪ノ召使

明けましておめでとう!!

毎週のVOCALOID Feature - BUNKA開放区

毎週の歌 - 約束

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - エレアの騎士

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - リコーダーとランドセル

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - アクエリオンEVOL

A Day with Kenn 101

毎週のVOCALOID Feature - メリーとニコラウス

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 輪廻のラグランジェ

毎週の歌 - Home:Word

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 夏目友人帳肆

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 戦姫絶唱シンフォギア

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 男子高校生の日常

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - Another

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 探偵オペラ ミルキィホームズ 第2幕

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - モーレツ宇宙海賊

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - パパのいうことを聞きなさい！

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - アマガミSS＋

毎週の漫画 - ラットマン

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 偽物語

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ハイスクールDxD

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - ブレイヴ・テン

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Lily

Weekly 東方 Doujin - はなのなまえ.

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 妖狐X僕SS

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - キルミーベイビ

Manga of the Week - ニセコイ

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - ナンカイレナアイ

Song of the Week - A Velvet Affair

Weekly Webcomics - 劇場 DARK SOULS

Break Week

Weekly Webcomics - 劇場デモンズソウル

Manga of the Week - となりの怪物くん

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - V3 New Comers

Weekly Webcomics - まどほむ育児しろ

Manga of the Week - 私たちの幸せな時間

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - 初恋の絵本

Weekly 東方 Doujin - 押入れ隠れちゅう

Manga of the Week - まおゆう

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - インタビュア

Song of the Week - 遠く君へ

Weekly Webcomics - マミさん漫画

Manga of the Week - 蒼き鋼のアルペジオ

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Would You Marry Me?

Song of the Week - C.h.a.o.s.m.y.t.h.

Manga of the Week - RロックンRロールRリッキー

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - パンキン・シンドロム

Song of the Week - シャングリラ シャングリラ

Manga of the Week - コインランドリーの女

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - Sweet Shackles

Song of the Week - Are We There Yet

Weekly 東方 Doujin - ４コマチルノ

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - VOCALOID 3

Weekly Webcomics - 21ばんすいどら

January 2012 - Zero no Tsukaima Final! Kugimin is killing me~

October Impressions - Shakugan No Shana III ~Final~ *Spoiler ALERT!*

Manga of the Week - ひよ恋

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - ビフォーアフター

Atelier Totori

Song of the Week - Sleeper

DARK SOULS

Winter 2012 Anime Previews - 探偵オペラミルキィホームズ　第2幕

Weekly Webcomics - 劇場　DARK SOULS

Weekly 東方 Doujin -　押入れ隠れちゅう

Weekly Vocaloid Feature -　インタビュア

Song of the Week - シャングリラシャングリラ

October Impressions - Shakugan No Shana III ~Final~ Spoiler ALERT!

Fall 2011 Anime Previews - ファイ・ブレイン神のパズル