Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials
After Souta reluctantly crossdressed as “Kotori-chan” so Inami could keep working in the restaurant, Popura, the one that Souta likes now have a desire of wanting Souta to crossdress as a girl. You know that most males do not want to crossdress… They would not even do it for love? Also, in Episode 11, it becomes so tense that Yamada thought about this love triangle between Inami, Popura and Souta.
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WordPress 3.0 is the next big installment of the popular WordPress blogging platform used by the majority of Anime Bloggers. Automattic, the maker of the WordPress have been working on 3.0 since the early of this year and there had been some Beta and Release Candidate builds. Currently, they are very close to releasing WordPress 3.0, which brings a new array of features to bloggers. I will discuss some of these features that could be useful to the Anime blogger.
This only applies if you have a self-hosted WordPress, not blogs hosted on WordPress.com
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Since, most of the 13 episode shows will end by the last week of June that includes Angel Beats! and Working!!, I decided to post my Summer 2010 plans. Kaichou wa Maid-sama and perhaps K-ON! by the looks of it will be 24+ episode shows that will air throughout the summer. Therefore, I am pretty much occupied without getting into the Summer 2010 Season. Before I go into detail in what I will be focusing on this summer, I want to give my overall thoughts about the Summer 2010 Anime lineup.
Fanart used in this post is made by 月蔵.
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In light of the drama, I felt that I needed to write this editorial because things went out of hand. People arguing each other saying that Listless Ink doesn’t deserve this victory and that Random Curiosity should have won. I have discuss this on my sideblog that I won’t go into detail (just read the post on my Sideblog if you are still interested). Still, this argument keeps going and going, which disturbs me. This editorial won’t be about Random Curiosity and Listless Ink, but other things that bother me about the whole situation.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by 紅雪
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Sawako is under pressure because she wants to keep her pure image around the freshmen. However, the former members of “Death Devil” want her to participate in playing music at a wedding reception since the bride thats getting married used to be part of the band. Sawako refuses and the Light Music Club devises a plan to eventually force her to play.
You might be wondering how well they will perform without Sawako. We will find out soon enough.
In the last season, Sawako revealed that she had a wild past because the boy she wanted liked wild girls. However that pretty much backfired as she went too far and he rejected her. If she was so talented, why she stopped now? It’s because purity and hardcore death metal does not mix.
Wait… Haven’t I seen something like this before?
When I saw the girls in K-ON spying on Sawako, I thought about Nogizaka Haruka Episode 4 when they were spying on Hazuki. In the the first half of the episode is focus on following this one person. It was the same, except it was a lot shorter and the girls got caught as you will find out.
The funniest thing that happen when the girls were spying on Sawako? The short, light brown hair woman noticed them all along.
In the end, Yui cries because she spent the most amount of money. It happens because sometimes, we want the best and the greatest that we sometimes spend too much money.
By the way, that girl… isn’t she…
Actually, she is a nice person. Her name is Norimi and she finally tells them what is going on. She wanted Sawako to play with the former members of Death Devil at a wedding, but Sawako declines. It’s pretty difficult since Sawa-chan had image problems.
This scene is probably the funniest scene in the whole episode. Passing notes during class is somewhat typical when students are up to no good. Mugi passed notes to Mio. then to Yui and Ritsu. The reactions from Yui and Ritsu is hilarious. Yui says that Mio’s handwriting is cute and Ritsu draws some scary shit that would make Mio laugh. The response is pretty obvious. Sawako catches them and they get time out in the hallway as Mugi had wished for…
Usually, standing in the hallway is a punishment like shitting in a corner… It’s so elementary, yet the girls make standing in the hallway a fun punishment. I highly doubt it will happen in real life, but it was pretty funny.
Now that they were unable to get Sawako to participate, they help Norimi and dress outlandishly…
Whose idea was this? Well, of course, Norimi’s!! You know when something doesn’t feel right, but you don’t want to blow your image, but you have to do something… Sawako flips, went on stage and started to play. She blew everyone’s expectations away on Death Devil. After performing, she realizes that she had done it and her image is completely ruined!
In the end, I knew that the girls couldn’t pull it off because it’s not their type of music. It seems that they do better with fluffy J-pop music instead of metal and I don’t blame them. Some people are simply better at a niche than others.
Well, I guess Sawako would be popular either way, so it’s no use of holding what you like most back. Sawako shouldn’t be so worried about the past because she is so talented. People change and grow up once they graduate in high school. The students aren’t going to make fun of her just because her past. Heck, they might even be amazed about it. Lastly, people look up to others who are talented, so she take advantage of that. If she does, she will remain a good role model.
Next Episode: It’s so freaking hot… can’t move… Yep, summer is in full force and you might be wondering… Where is the Air Conditioning?
8.9/10
It’s been nearly three years since I last touched the Pokemon Anime and a lot have changed. However, I don’t intend to go back to watching Pokemon since I want to spend time watching good Anime. I felt that the Pokemon Anime was going into the pool of mediocrity because it took them several years to have the show in wide screen and there is so many filler episodes… It’s just as bad as the worst offender of filler episode, which I will not name.
I have been holding off this review since I was busy on other things like college and working on programming projects that I completely forgot about it. Since I have the time, I will review it in my view after watching several good (and bad) Anime.
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Sakura, the fangirl of this Indie band… We knew this was coming by the preview shown in the last episode. Don’t worry, it’s a bit better than the mediocre Girls Dead Monster singles I reviewed. It seems like anime these days starting to include some sort of band. First Suzumiya Haruhi, next K-ON, then Angel Beats and now, Kaichou wa Maid-sama… I think I lost track now! :p
Sakura is really cute and innocent! However, does she deserve what coming beyond the horizon? We will find out!
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A lot had happen since I last watched Angel Beats. Episode 8 is the battle to save the real Tenshi with the reprogrammed cloning ability by Yuri. In Episode 9, Tenshi looked like she is in an eternal sleep while they have others rewrite the program. Meanwhile, we get more of Otonashi’s memories after the train crash. Otonashi I have to say is a pretty strong character that doesn’t seem to give up and give others hope, but at the same time didn’t survived after the help crew came. The whole 7 days was like you see in Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 where people are left without food and supplies and some dying on the streets. Same case scenario here, but in a train wreck and both ends are covered with rocks.
Retouching on why people end up in this “purgatory,” people come here because they couldn’t live out their youthful days, as Tenshi put it. Life can be unfair and good people might pass away even if they didn’t want to. Life has many variables that it’s nearly impossible to get an accurate meaning of life. People need to live life to the fullest and not end up with a life full of regrets. That way, people can remain optimistic and strive for their goals.
Otonashi and Tenshi seem to want to help others, even though it means that the person disappears. However, Angel Beats seems to have so many unknowns because we don’t know exactly what happens when the person disappears. Does the person get reborn as someone else or reincarnated? Perhaps humans who are in this “purgatory” don’t want to disappear because they are afraid of the unknown. We won’t know exactly until the next few episodes.
This ultimately means that Tenshi gets back her student council position and the rest of the season focusing on clearing people’s regrets? I won’t know until I watch, so stay tuned and remember to have a box of tissues beside you… It’s going to be an emotional roller coaster ride!
Album Title: Little Braver
Artist: Girls Dead Monster (Singer: LiSA)
Catalog Number: KSLA-0055
Release Date: June 6, 2010
If you haven’t heard enough of the rather mediocre music from Girls Dead Monster, there is more! A few weeks back, there was a promotional video on Little Braver, but I didn’t take a look at it because I don’t want to go and spoil it. Several weeks later, the single is released. Have LiSA improved her rather mediocre and rather forgetful performance of the “Thousand Enemies” single? It’s only slightly better, but I am still not convinced if it’s good enough. LiSA seems to sound good on the lower notes, but she still goes slightly out of tune in some areas. Not as bad as Thousand Enemies, but that is saying too much about it. The songs are still pretty forgettable and made me wish that they had better singers singing these songs…
Little Braver is the song that was shown in the promotional video. It starts off with a calm intro and when LiSA enters. This is where the good composition gets drown out by the mediocre vocals. It does sound slightly better than Thousand Enemies, but it’s slowly goes downhill from there. The songs feel pretty dull and the higher pitches like with the previous album sounds slightly ever out of tune. Not only that, Little Braver is pretty forgettable several minutes after. Little Braver is an okay song, but it doesn’t try to go beyond the mediocrity of Girls Dead Monster.
The intro of Shine Days sounds pretty well like the intro to Alchemy and it’s a pretty upbeat song. This is probably the best song out of the whole single, but it’s hardly perfect. It still have several flaws like the slightly out of tune pitches on the higher octaves and it’s slightly dull. It’s an okay song, but still forgettable like the rest of the songs LiSA has sung. It’s worth mentioning that at 4:30, her vocals are barely audible…
Lastly, we have Answer Song, which is probably the most disappointing song out of the whole album. The performance of the song felt a bit messy and somewhat dull. I don’t feel any energy in this song, except mediocre singing that could put me to sleep. Probably the worst song I heard from LiSA.
I don’t know what they are getting at by not letting the seiyuu sing! I’m pretty sure Eri Kitamura and Miyuki Sawashiro are fully capable of singing, but no! Lets pick two amateur singers that doesn’t necessarily represent Japanese Indie scene and fuck up all 9 songs! Thats how I feel about the whole Girls Dead Monster thing and it’s a big disgrace. Jun Maeda does a wonderful job in composing these songs and these singers go out and ruin the work he worked hard for. It’s just like making a good game with good game play, story and graphics and the orchestra go and fuck the music up. Like I mentioned in my rant in the last paragraph of my Pure Pure Heart single review, they choose singers that can’t sing properly and resulted in the mediocre and disappointing performance of these songs. Girls Dead Monster will never reach the appeal of Houkago Tea Time because their songs continue to have flaws with the vocals, which make them rather forgettable. Houkago Tea Time is simply more polished, sounds better and the vocals don’t go out of tune so many times that it makes me cringe.
Not only that, there is more Girls Dead Monster singles that is coming out and what can you expect out of them after hearing the first 9 songs? More disappointment. They are making a mockery out of Girls Dead Monster and milking it what its worth from the hype. Believe me, My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song sounds like heaven compared to the mediocrity of all the Girls Dead Monsters songs combined.
7.0/10
Somewhat irrelevant to HeartGold, but whatever…
After three months and a few weeks, I have finally beaten Red, which people say that he is hard to beat. Well, I managed to beat him with minutes, so yeah… Since I completed pretty much everything in the main story, I will share my thoughts about Pokemon HeartGold.
Back when the original release of Pokemon Gold and Silver came out back when I was in 5th grade, I have played this game a lot. There was only 251 Pokemon back then and I also bought Pokemon Stadium 2 for a bit more fun with 3D battling. Fast forward to today when I am a college student now finished Diamond and Platinum, when the remakes of Gold and Silver was revealed, I wanted to play it. After the English release back in March, I have started playing it and the nostalgia factor came back.
People who have played this game will notice that most of the story and the maps are pretty much the same, with minor differences. These differences included updated mechanics since the Second Generation (basically, it has everything from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum), berry trees replaced with Apricorn trees (since the 4th Generation has a different berry system compared to the 2nd generation), Battle Frontier, Pokéathlon (essentially a sports version of the Pokemon Contests), Revival of the Safari Zone and other changes to music and graphics. If you compare the graphics to D/P/Pt to HG/SS, the newer remakes look slightly better. There are some minor changes to the story to take advantage of the new graphics and such.
If you played Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, you will immediately notice that the menu is moved to the touchscreen since there is no Poketch. This allows you to easily access your Pokedex, Pokemon list, Items, Save, etc. Another thing I liked is that you can lock on to using the running shoes without needing to hold B down. Another improvement is that you can set two key items for easy access. This made it easy to use the fishing rod without needing to unset the other item. The PokeGear is pretty much the same, except that you can store an unlimited amount of phone numbers. However, this can be annoying since your PokeGear will keep ringing at random moments after you get out of a building, defeat a Pokemon/Trainer, etc.
Like in Pokemon Yellow where you have Pikachu following you, in HG/SS, you can have any Pokemon walk with you, as long its on the first slot of the Party. This is where you can find accessories for the dress up mini game like in D/P/Pt and check your mood of your Pokemon.
The game is pretty easy since I used my other game to Effort Value train the Pokemon and send them back to the game. I managed to beat the first 8 Gym Leaders in 21 hrs and 47 mins, beat the next 8 Gym Leaders in several hours later. However, when it was time to train for Red, training got very frustrating. Compared to D/P/Pt, HG/SS does not have a VS Seeker. This meant that you had to rely on trainers that call you, weekly rematches of Gym Leaders depending on the day and the Elite Four. The lack of a VS Seeker is the biggest flaw in this game because they push the PokeGear so much for rematches that it becomes a gimmick. I liked it when I can battle trainers on demand since I can level up quicker and go on. Because of this, I had to resort to trading the Pokemon to my older games, train them and send them back. I even battled the Elite Four (I deposited my money before doing this) until I lose and I do it again over and over again. Eventually I managed to beat the stronger Elite Four’s Pokemon 6 times because my Pokemon were already on Level 70s to 90s. If I had the VS Seeker, it would have been done in no time and I see this as a flaw in the game. If HeartGold/SoulSilver is the only game you have, be ready for a long level grinding up to Level 82 or higher because if its below level 82, you won’t stand a chance against Red.
Talking about Red, he was incredibly easy (Beaten on the first try after 74 hours of playtime). I beaten his whole team with these Pokemon:
If you properly Effort Value train the Pokemon along with the right natures, you will stand a better change against Red’s Pokemon since I highly doubt Red’s Pokemon are EV trained.
Another flaw with the international release is that they replaced the slot machines with this incredibly hard Voltorb Flip. Basically, it’s a game of chance that involves no risk. I don’t really care about the games, but they took away the ability to buy coins. So, the only way to get coins is beating Voltorb Flip, which I found very frustrating, even with a helper. Eventually I gave up and bought the items in Platinum. Slot Machines replaced with Voltorb Flip was simply the worst change they made in the whole game.
Now to the positive aspects of the game… The Pokéathlon is the Sports version of the Pokemon Contest. There are five game modes (Speed, Power, Skill, Stamina and Jump) depending on each performance stat. You can raise these stats by blending Apricorns and giving the Apricorn shake to the Pokemon. Honestly, I only tried Speed and Jump since they are the easiest out of the five, but haven’t tried out the other three. They consist of three events that takes advantage of the touch screen on the DS. The games are okay, but they take some time getting use to. Once you get use to these events, they will go pretty easy.
If you notice, the cartage of the game is different from the others. This is because it contains an infrared sensor used by the PokeWalker. PokeWalker, as the name suggests allows you to send a Pokemon to level up by one and raise happiness. You can find items, catch Pokemon and send watts back to your game. Basically, the PokeWalker is like those Pokemon Pikachu gigapets that you walk around with and earn watts. I’m guessing that Nintendo and the creator of Pokemon wanted to get people off their butts and start exercising. However, there are always going to be some cheaters… On Youtube, I saw people taping their PokeWalkers to phonographs and fans. They even go so far to build a MindStorm device to have it shake the PokeWalker. That pretty much defeats the whole purpose of the PokeWalker and its pretty sad.
For me, I have used the PokeWalker a few times by bring it to college to generate watts. Ever since the Spring Semester was over, the PokeWalker is sitting by my bedside collecting dust. I rarely use it nowadays since I have a lot of stuff I bring with me when I go out.
Lastly, there are a few mechanics changes to this game. Breeding for Individual Values is a lot easier since you can just have a Pokemon hold a single-stat EV enhancing item and keep the IV of that Pokemon. Like with Platinum, additional moves that was previously unavailable for various Pokemon is now available. This allows for better move set building.
Overall, HeartGold is a great remake of the original games. There were some flaws, but I enjoyed the nostalgia factor and the pretty graphics and music. If you played Pokemon in the past or still like it, I recommend this game… Although there were a few things that bothered me about the game, it didn’t impact my enjoyment of the whole game and I will continue to play it as long as I can.
One last thing… If you want to do any online activities with my Pokemon Game, my friend code 0818 6384 1156. If you want to do a Battle, I only do Level 100 Singles with no Ubers and Hax Items. Contact me via my XMPP address or Twitter (as a Direct Message) if you want to arrange a battle (See “About chikorita157″ page for my contact information). I’m usually online throughout the summer at 10 AM to 11 PM Eastern Time.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by わっこのやろう
She got distracted…
Final Exams… Does this remind you of something?
Final Exams seems to be the period of time towards the end of the school year or semester where stress levels goes to the max. Last minute studying and/or the pressure that if you don’t do well on the finals, your final grade will tank adds more to the already high stress…
As finals approach, Yui forgot about it and panics. Yes, I to admit that I was goofing off on the internet when I was studying for various subjects. The end result is that most of the grades turn out great, except one that I won’t go into since its embarassing. It’s somewhat difficult to focus on studying the material when you have several distractions like your mobile phone, laptop, television, etc. Believe me, I don’t have the study habits of Yui…
Study Groups are usually helpful, unless they goof off…
Note taking is probably the most boring thing to do. In most of my classes, teachers usually teach out of the book, which makes little sense of taking any notes and just study from the textbook. Sometimes, I record the lecture, but I forget to listen to them after I recorded them. However, there is an advantage of note taking because you study what the teacher covers so you don’t have to study the whole textbook. Also, there could be things that the teacher covers in class that isn’t in the textbook.
Going back to the show, there are funny differences on how these girls take notes in class. Mugi seems to take the neatest notes (Yui gets a copy of them), Mio draws cute things on hers and Ritsu sleeps in class like with Yui… Guess who seems to have the higher grades? No need to guess… While they are studying, Yui fools around with a crossword puzzle and distracting the whole study group. What was the purpose of having a study group if they are going to fool around?
Hyper Ultra Sadistic Mint… I don't want to know the taste or feeling of it…
Yui rans into the grandmother and she gives some snack… Yui also introduces her to Gitah.
They were so cute….
I have remembered my grandmother on my mother side taking care of me and my sister. She use to do stuff like taking us to places and doing stuff when my mom isn’t around… until 3rd grade when she got a stroke and unable to look after us anymore. By then, we are a bit grown up. She is still around living by herself in senior housing that is a few miles away from I live.
I’m guessing that Yui had a great childhood by looking at the flashbacks. Also, you see Nodoka in the last scene of the flashback. Lastly, this is the second time I saw Ui as a child which she looks really cute.
When Yui got home, she doesn’t study and practices guitar instead. Great study habits since it won’t get you very far. So, she studies more at school, but like aways seem to drift way when something distracts her.
Oh dear lord… No normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar.
Like Azusa says, no normal person would mix up soy sauce with sugar…
Yui decides to do the talent show for Grandma as solo because she didn’t want to distract the others from studying for finals… Azusa agrees to help, but on one condition…
Azusa forces Yui to study on a schedule…. No breaks whatsoever.
And the result…
Yui still goofs off… drawing Azusa as nekomimi… Does this signify anything? Absolutely Nothing…
They practice and Grandma comes over when she notices Yui. Yui introduces Azusa to her and the Grandmother leaves. They decide on the duo name, which is YuiAzu. Next day after Yui studied all night, she finishes her exams and a day after, the talent show.
They look cute, but this is just funny…
After cracking up some jokes from Yui, they started to play a song. This pretty much reminded me of slap-stick comedies like Angel Beats… oh wait…
They play a different version of Fude Pen, which is a song played last season and also in the Houkago Tea Time single. Overall, their version of the song sounded okay. Half-way through, they ran out of time and they got the concession prize. I find the whole thing funny, but if Yui hadn’t acted so funny, we could have heard more of the song. Anyways, Grandmother was happy even though they didn’t win and they had dinner with Ui.
Surprisingly, Yui passed the finals with high scores, even though she was goofing off!
This was a rather enjoyable episode. It simply proves that there are people out there that are a lot smarter than they act. Yui is one of these characters, which seems to be this childish genki girl and manages to pull through even with the talent show. However, don’t do this in real life, especially in college because every grade counts in the end.
Next Episode: Sawako and hopeless love? Oh, this is going to be interesting!
8.8/10
Album Title: Pure Pure Heart
Artist: Houkago Tea Time (Toyosaki Aki, Hikasa Youko, Satou Satomi, Kotobuki Minako, Taketatsu Ayana)
Catalog Number: PCCG-70075
Release Date: June 2nd, 2010
1. Pure Pure Heart
2. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.]
3. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental)
4. Sakuragaoka Joshi Koutougakkou Kouka [Rock Ver.] (Instrumental)
5. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar1])
6. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Guitar2])
7. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Keyboard])
8. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Bass])
9. Pure Pure Heart (Instrumental [-Drums])
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Right in the stomach!
Well, when the show gets weirder, it get even more funnier than before! Also includes a present surprise.
Hold up… not this time…
Episode 8 is a mediocre hot spring episode. It was mediocre because they never gone inside the hot springs. Obviously they went because the water main broke in front of the restaurant and they couldn’t use water. Another funny part is Kyoko slept in and they had Satou take the girls to the springs and… he ran out of gas. Go blame BP on that (and also the damn oil spill in the Gulf that is still going on). There is some Inami development, but most of it comes in the next episode. Overall, it was a nice episode, but I think the punch is getting redundant again.
Crossdressing? Why did you ask me that?
Worth nothing that Souta seems to hate crossdressing because he was forced to crossdress by his father. Inami wants him to crossdress because her father found out that she got a present from a man and if he finds Souta, he would force Inami to quit the job.
Inami’s father is just horrible… Why would you teach a child to hate men because you don’t want her to wed? Eventually, they have to so they can raise their own family of their own. Also, not all men are bad… Kinda reflects back to Misaki’s strong dislike towards men in Kaichou wa Maid-sama. Overprotective parents are harmful to a child’s future… just don’t do it.
Souta gives in this time to help Inami. With the help of the others, we get this result:
Holy crap! We got trapped again!
At the ranks of Hideyoshi, Aoi-chan and now Souta-kun! Oh dear lord, we can never get enough traps…
Inamis jealousy of bust size again…
How it was done… Too bad they didn't keep the glasses…. It would have been a Meganeko trap.
Kyoko's reaction to Souta's crossdressing = priceless.
I can never get enough of this. Also, her name is Kotori-chan and believe me, after this episode I think we are going to see many pictures of her on pixiv/danbooru. He gets some practice from Popura and others. He became uncomfortable and wanted to quit. However, Souma will blackmail him with his cute baby picture. Although his girly voice has some feminine quality, I wished it was more feminine because it was somewhat lacking. Probably they didn’t want to overdo it, so whatever…
Now they put it to the test when Inami’s dad come. Kotori introduces herself to Inami’s father and he takes out the gun. Her father thinks the girl is a man crossdressing by how tall Kotori is… Inami runs over saying that she is a girl. Inami gets fed up and then saying that she hates her father. Who wouldn’t? If I was her, I would punch the lights out of him.
Holy crap… Kotori-chan flipped.
Later on, Kotori-chan flips after hearing what he done to Inami and s(he) almost punched the lights out of him… Who wouldn’t because he is a terrible father? Kotori makes him apologize to Inami and he leaves afterwards. This makes me think that the whole purpose of Souta crossdressing is to teach Inami’s father a lesson that he shouldn’t be overprotective of Inami and let her date men.
In contrast to Misaki’s situation with her father abandoning the family and leaving the debt behind, Inami is also in a similar situation. Her father is simply horrible, making her carry a heavy metal sheet in her school bag to hit men and showing movies that shows the negative aspect of males. I knew this would backfire at him in the end.
Although Inami’s the weakest character in the whole series because of the over-redundant punching of men, I can’t blame her because she was psychologically manipulated by her father. The fear of men is simply fabricated and eventually, she will get over it like with Misaki.
Overall, Episode 9 is probably the best episode in the whole season… Episode 8 was enjoyable, but not on the same level. This makes me think that they are pushing for a Inami and Souta pairing… What ever happened to Popura and Souta? Not Popura enough?
No, she isn't mad at you… heck, she might like you. 
Episode 8: 8.4/10
Episode 9: 8.7/10
Even though the content in this episode looks fillerish, it was actually in the manga too.
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Unfortunately, Yui and Ritsu didn't submit their career plans…
Senior year… Time to think about what college you are going to… But Yui have not decided what she is going to do.
Talking about colleges and admission exams….
It's blinding me!
In my senior year, I knew what I wanted to be… an Accountant, but I haven’t applied to any schools since I haven’t finish taking those SATs and ACTs… I didn’t get in the school I wanted at first, so I had to transfer in after sophomore year. Not only that, taking these tests are pain in the ass.
Yui quickly faces her decision on colleges and her future, but she doesn’t know what to be… A NEET? Good idea, but do she really want to be supported by her sister and parents for rest of her life? Most people wouldn’t like to live with their parents for rest of their life… it gets pretty embarrassing.
How about “undecided”? You cannot be undecided on colleges because she has to go somewhere. Most of the time, students in college have a “undecided” major simply because they don’t know what they are going to do. Once they become “decided,” some of their courses won’t count and they have to take even more courses.
Ritsu and Yui gets called down to the facility office and of course, rejected and they try to ask about Sawako’s past. If she looks perfect, why she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet? Maybe because of her outrageous past? I don’t know…
The story on how Yui met Nodoka is pretty funny.
Crayons aren't food… Don't do this or you end up having a mark on your face.
They are usually in the same class… Some more troubles:
I don't think this is the right way to cook it.
She forgot the octopus for the recipe…
Don’t depend on Yui with anything… she manages to forget the octopus and…
Tako-less takyaki! You can laugh all you want because its so funny.
but people manages to forgive her because of her innocent looks. Don’t worry, she improved a little bit…
There is another funny moment in her life when Yui wanted to be a Kindergarden Teacher in this writing assignment assignment:
My dream is to become a kindergarten teacher. I want to become a kindergarten teacher and play with kids forever.
And the whole class laughed at her… even though she didn’t notice and yes, that is so like her… Even the other jobs are unsuitable for her including an office job.
Mio was more shyer than she is now in her childhood:
More like a bookworm at best…
Ritsu picking on Mio as a child… like she always done…
My sister was pretty shy when she was young, but it took awhile to break away from it. Ritsu have teach her well to overcome the fear of speaking to an audience for her piece of writing she got a reward on. Pretty amazing, although not everything that Ritsu teaches is useful.
Yui tries to write Musician down and hand it in and the paper got rejected because notice that she put it in the wrong area… It was supposed to be in the bottom section silly.
And yes, that make her laugh… and the first time too!
This episode is pretty enjoyable not because of some character development. It relates to my time when I decided on my future plans. I’m sure other high school seniors, college students and graduates have the same feeling. The question remains… What will Yui eventually decide on her future for real next time? I guess we will never know…
8.75/10
Sorry for the delay… I was playing Half-Life 2 (which is a good game like with Portal) and totally forgot about the last few matches… so I guess I have to write them up…
Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more. Second Page contains the Round 2 Followup. Note that I won’t be doing any digests next round since I have already reviewed all the blogs in the tournament.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by 竹家ﾕｰｷ@待機.
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It’s more like Misa-chan playing right into Miyabigaoka Academy’s Student Council President’s trap…
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When I really need to do these digests, I forget now since I have no classes at the moment. It was a week and a half since Spring Semester ended, so I will try to roll these posts a bit more quickly than what I am doing right now.
Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by 悠夜
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Album Title: My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song
Artist: Lia, Toda Aoi, Maeda Jun
Catalog Number: KSLA-0054
Release Date: May 26, 2010
When something gets animated, the theme song will get referred to as the national anthem.
– Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon
Typically, all the Key Anime Adaptations always had great opening and Eeding Themes (Tori no Uta, Last regrets, Megumeru, Toki wo Kizamu Uta, Light colors and others). Angel Beats is no exception to this, except the insert album songs from Girls Dead Monster since the vocals sound like they were amateurs. From hearing the songs over and over again, I think this is a pretty solid album overall with some tiny flaws (some minor screeches in a few areas in My Soul, Your Beats! and vocals being soft in Brave Song), but nothing that serious. Both songs have strong instrumentals and sound really beautiful, especially with Brave Song.
The intro of My Soul, Your Beats! has a simular feel to Toki wo Kizamu Uta (A Song Engraved in Time) from Clannad After Story… Heck, the vocals sound similar. From the song, I like how the piano and the guitar is played in the background as it gives this feeling of being blown away because of how powerful it is. Since it’s Lia, the vocals are solid. Nothing else to say about My Soul, Your Beats! as its a very good song. No need to recommend as most people will like this off the bat.
It’s worth noting that while I was listening to My Soul, Your Beats, I was comparing this song with Lia’s past opening themes with Key (Tori no Uta, Light colors, Toki wo Kizamu Uta). While My Soul, Your Beats is a good song, it lacks the emotional feel from these three songs. However, Brave Song conveys that feeling, which is the next song in the review.
Honestly, it took several listens for Brave Song to click in, but it has the feel of Chiisana Tenohira. It pretty much fits in with the whole premise of the show. The vocals from Toda Aoi seem to be a bit soft at first. After listening it a few times, it fits in well with the song although not as good as Lia. The strength of this song is the lyrics that can compare to Toki wo Kizamu Uta as it has emotions that’s not present in My Soul, Your Beats. Although most won’t get Brave Song from listening it to the first time, but after a few listens, it will click in. Maybe not like Go Go Maniac since I still can’t get over the screechy vocals from Toyosaki Aki.
By the way, Brave Song is the song that is played when the rocket goes off, which I found really strange.
From listening to both of these tracks, Jun Maeda should be proud that his Opening and Ending Themes are not ruined by mediocre vocals from marina and LiSA, but with more established singers. Lia delivered just like she alway do from all of her tracks I had listen to. Toda Aoi on the other hand isn’t as refined as Lia, but her performance of Brave Song turned out pretty good. Nevertheless, this is a solid single and is a recommended listen if you are watching Angel Beats or like Jun Maeda’s compositions.
8.9/10, A-/B+, Outstanding
Beware, this episode has a lot of MugiVision…
I bet all those Mio fanboys are raving this after they had a tea party commemorating Mio.
Fangirls are fascinating creatures…
Fanboys and Fangirls are facinating creatures that seems to love and be so passionate what they like way too much. In real life however, these Fanboys and Fangirls can get so annoying to fan haters that the fan haters and the fanboys/fangirls go out on an all out war. In K-ON!!, they seem to not show that negative aspect. No matter how much those Mio fanboys want to be at the tea party, they can’t go since it’s an all-girls school.
Considering how popular Mio is after that pantsu Nice Bowl incident doesn’t help the fact that she is shy. Not only that, she generated a lot of fans that she thought they were stalkers…
Caught Red Handed!
In a past incident, the former student council president, Sokabe Megumi is actually behind the Mio Fanclub! No wonder she knows how to make tea! Also, Ritsu tried to add some Mugivision while Mio was telling about what happened with the Mio Fanclub which I found rather funny. Not only that, the whole club plays for Megumi before she graduates… and the club gets handed down to Nodoka although she doesn’t want to…
Megumi is the biggest Mio fangirl out there that she could surpass all those Mio Fanboys in real life. Not only that, she wants an autograph from Mio signed as Mio-tan… I laughed.
Now onward to the party:
Holy crap! Mio themed items!
The speech isn’t much of a speech with Mio biting her tongue, lips and also with someone saying Shish kabob that makes Mio laugh. Fangirls love it when they see her quirkiness.
Azu-nyan and Mio cutting the cake with embarrassment.
Fangirls are still squealing…. Not only that, the cake looks nice.
Ritsu and Yui is having a field day with this…
Although Mio doesn’t like Ritsu and Yui asking about scary stories…
The fangirls are… They will be satisfied with anything…
Not only, they take advantage of this by asking Mio embarrassing questions. Also, do I smell some Mugivision going around here
They look so cute… Also, why Ritsu is in every picture? It's her pictures, obviously…
When the fangirls look at the sideshow…
They are liking it.
Mio afterwards share a very strange poem that sounds like a love poem… ouch… Next, they play “Pure Pure Heart” which sounds really good, on the same level as Fuwa Fuwa Time from the last season. At least its better than the mediocre music I had listen from Girls Dead Monster…. Ugh… Not only that, the insert single is releasing in another week, so I will probably get a chance to review the full song. Will it be better than Fuwa Fuwa Time? We will find out soon.
When they take group pictures with Mio and the fangirls, Azusa sends a group picture to Megumi who can’t come to the party. Look at how much she grew in the last scene:
Oh look how much she changed after she graduated…
Girls grow more mature and beautiful once they graduate and enter their adult/college life. Also, the last scene as pretty heartwarming indeed… especially when she is the #1 fan of Mio… Take that Fanboys~
Even though I am not a Mio fanboy, I found this episode rather enjoyable… This episode pretty much done it for me along with Episode 4 and others. It makes me wonder… What will happen to the Mio Fanclub once Mio graduates? That will leave us speculating about it until the end of the season.
8.9/10
Just don't ask why the hell I'm playing this…
On Wednesday during the week of finals, someone on Twitter was playing this game called CLANNAD spelunker, which is essentially a Clannad themed version of the original Spelunker on the Atari. If it has Clannad characters, it must not be that bad… you will be mistaken when I show how hard this game really is.
Warning: There is a lot of swearing when I made the post.
It is pretty odd to have a game such as spelunker and slap Clannad characters in it… Well, yes… it’s so out of place… Now to the gameplay:
Character Selection Screen
Although I can’t read Japanese, it doesn’t really matter since its pretty obvious. In Clannad Spelunker, you can play as Nagisa, Kotomi, Tomoyo and Yukine. I’n guessing that each character has different abilities… I don’t know… but whatever.
The goal of this game is to explore caves, collect treasures and defeat enemies… Sound easy, right? You will find out sooner…
What? I just died from that jump? WHAT????!!!!!
That is fucking bullshit! I died from that fall? Yep, I did and it wasn’t that high… Note that when you lose a life, you go back to a place in the level… Note that when you hit a checkpoint, you will get sent back there when you lose a life
The game fools you in thinking the game is easy. Compared to the original spelunker which is one hit and game over, Clannad Spelunker gives you 4 tries and you can replenish them by collecting the hearts. Not only that, its pretty hard to get on the damn ropes that you will end up falling when I realized that I need to use the double jump. You are going to use the double jump a lot to get to these places. However, the controls feels like shit that you will end up doing a single jump and lose a life because of the fall. That is fucking horseshit!
In Super Mario Bros, you can jump further without dying even if you fall from a high platform, but in Clannad Spelunker you die from a high jump. The developers made the game feel so hard that nobody can beat it in one sitting or without saving. Believe me, you are going to die a lot in this game. And yeah, if you lose all your lives, there are NO continues…
Forgot to mention, there is a save function, but I have no idea how to use it.
Seriously, this enemy looks stock…
It seems that the makers of Clannad Spelunker are not creative. We get stock characters like ghosts, bats, blobs and witches. Can’t the developers be a bit more creative? They should have added dangos or starfish… but whatever… Not only that, they have insane amount of hit points. It takes 6 hits just to defeat that ghost. Not only that, if you don’t hit them fast enough, they get you and you die… and you know thats bullshit!
Fuck! That is not fair! I just respawned there and I died just like that… Thats bullshit!
An enemy right near the checkpoint. When you respawn, you get hit again and lose a life. That is just fucked up.
What is a wedding head dress doing in a cave? Also, it looks cropped out of somewhere.
After dying so many times in getting to that treasure chest, I finally get to it and what I found? A head dress? What the hell is a wedding head dress doing in a treasure chest? I would have thought there would be something like gold, but no. I think they had done this since it’s Clannad themed. This wedding head dress from what I recalled is from Kouko Ibuki from Fuuko’s Arc. I grabbed the key and bullshit…
Fuuuuuuck! I fell and now its game over… I was so close, but now I have to do that over again? F that!
I died… I gave up afterwards since I couldn’t even beat the first level!
What is this game intended for? Certainly not Clannad fans or fan of Key…. It disappoints everyone just because the game is too fucking difficult! Even with the four lives compared to the original, it’s still too fucking hard. It even compare to the difficulty to Transformers: Convoy no Nazo, which is known to be the most difficult Transformers game out there. Clannad Spelunker is on the same level difficulty as the latter. Clannad Spelunker just redefines the definition of Nintendo Hard, a game that is very difficult and gives no mercy.
What would be my suggestion? Stay the hell away from this game, unless you like dying every time you fall or hit an enemy… This game is basically trial and error. Every time you play, you will get better until you get stuck again… and believe me… you will die a lot and I mean it!
Pros: It’s a Clannad themed Spelunker game!
Cons: Intense difficulty, poor controls, stock enemies, unfair respawning, no continues (without saving).
6.2/10, D-, Below Average
Ah, Kampfer… The Genderbending Anime that hasn’t been. Kampfer was a big disappointment across the board not only because of the excessive fanservice, but they dumb down the main character to intolerable levels so he would be hated just like Sakura… They did just that… They made Natsuru into a big idiot and a sucker for Sakura, who is obviously taking advantage of his female form. Also, he didn’t gave a sh** about the other girls who want the male Natsuru. Hell, probably the only sane character in this story might just be Shizuku… As I remembered, I only watched Episodes 1 and 6 before dropping this piece of crap… but I will go more in detail on why this show is a piece of crap.
Nogizaka Haruka Purezza’s fanservice may be bad, but it cannot compare to Kampfer. Kampfer is fanservice laden to beyond belief. The typical stuff from most harem anime plus clothing being ripped, more censor steam, boobs and then some. Not only that I heard they put references in completely random places. What kind of Anime does that? Oh wait…
From what I have seen from the two episodes I seen, It was a disaster. Girls randomly battling each other with more fanservice shots, Natsuru obsessing over Sakura, and girls obsessing over Natsuru and wants to dress him (or her) in outrageous outfits for example… That what I got from it and it definitely didn’t play well for me. What Purezza and Kampfer have in common is the weak male lead. Yuuto’s apparent flaw is that he let everyone else step over him and not being aggressive enough. However, Natsuru got to be the lamest, even Yuuto’s niceness can’t beat Natsuru’s pathetic life. Natsuru knows damn well that other girls in his harem (Akane, Mikoto and Shizuku) wants him, but he completely ignores them and go for the manipulative bitch called Sakura Kaede. Natsuru likes her because she is obviously the prettiest girl in the school, but you have to know that appearance isn’t everything. This can apply in real life. The prettiest girl ever can be the most manipulative bitch out there and wants you to do things for her all the time.
Not only that, the ending from reading it on various anime blogs shown to be a big disaster. What Ode to Joy have to do with anything? Funny thing is that Purezza took the same cue from Kampfer and did its Ode to Joy thing, but not nearly as lame as Kampfer. Want to power up, let’s take more clothing off… Bullshit! After that final scene, absolutely nothing is resolved… That is just bullshit. Not only that, people ask, what the hell we watched after looking at Episode 11. I wonder too, what did I watch/read about? A pile of shit!
I can go on with Kampfer, but there isn’t really much more to say. Kampfer disappointed everyone across the board. Not only that, they ruined the story by making the male lead even more of an idiot than in the Manga. It’s worth noting that not only the story is horrible, but the music too as what zzeroparticle said in his Kampfer Soundtrack Review:
Katou’s messing around with musical genres is a double-edged sword and while Kanno and Iwasaki are able to draw forth memorable music by doing so, Katou displays no such skill and ends up cutting himself badly because he’s simply not good enough to deliver wide-ranging music that consistently engages the listener.
And it shows when you listen to Kämpfer’s music. The task of composing a diverse musical portfolio taxes him to the limit and he doesn’t have a whole lot to give. In the early part of the track, there’s a glimmer of promise; the melody is solid, catchy even, and just when you enter the bridge, you come back face to face with the opening melody. Development? What development?
By reading this, you know that Kampfer is a pile of shit since it suffers from not so good storytelling, uninspiring and completely random music, an incompetent male lead and a horrible ending. From this, what do I expect out of Kampfer? Absolutely nothing, except watching it with other people for amusement on how shitty this Anime is. Nomad could have done a better job on Kampfer, but they bombed it like on the same level of Action 52… Maybe not as horrible as Action 52, but it’s still bad. So yea, Kampfer is probably the most horrible Anime I watched so far excluding the Endless Eight fiasco with Suzumiya Haruhi S2.
Notes: My plan was to originally rewatch up to Episode 6, but the problem is that most of the torrents by then were pretty much dead, so I have to use what I already know.
What? Now she is living at the restaurant?
Believe me, this anime gets stranger by every episode. Nevertheless, this episode was pretty good and better than the first 6 episodes
Needless to say, they introduced a new character called Yamada Aoi, who has a hair style like Mio from K-ON!. The funny thing is that she causes havoc… It’s like bringing a dog you bought from the pet store. When you leave it home, it makes a mess of the house, trying to take stuff out and pooping on your furniture. Yamada is just like that breaking dishes and cups, taking all the spices, taking shelf space for herself and causing trouble with her peers. Don’t worry though… she will be tamed soon enough.
Yamada can’t help it since she doesn’t have a family. She tried to make Yachiyo her mother, but as you know… she is obligated to Kyoko… It’s just like a boy trying to take away someone’s girlfriend… you just don’t do that (and we know that because Kyoko wants her parfaits). She also causes some drama between Satou and Yachiyo… Believe me, she is a very troublesome girl.
Not much to say about this episode, except that it is a vast improvement than the earlier episodes. The problem that was present on the first half of the season such as the over-redundant punching of men from Inami is pretty much gone that it made the show more enjoyable. I know it had potential, but under the pile of meh, it didn’t deliver. Episode 7 pretty much change that view a little bit and it is redeeming itself. However, I need to watch the last 6 episodes to be sure it doesn’t go down the same path as the first half of the season. It may have a lot of flaws, but it’s not bad overall… if the material remains consistent.
8.5/10
Summer fever sets in and I totally forgot yet again… Oh well!
Not summer yet, but close to it… Like the last digest, blogs will be judged on content and design with content weighing more.
Note: Fanart used in this post is made by ミサコズ.
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