Chikorita157's Anime Blog

The thoughts, reviews and analysis of Comedy, Romance, Drama and Slice of Life Anime of a College Student

MyAnimeList Updater… Why no Mac OS X Client? and the Alternative.

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I watch Anime that I forget to update MAL... Why? There is no MAL Updater for Mac OS X.
I watch Anime that I forget to update MAL... Why? There is no MAL Updater for Mac OS X.

I watch anime on my free time and I am often too lazy to log in to MyAnimeList and go through the hoops just to update what episode I’m watching. Like with Twitter, I want to instantly update my stuff through a client without needing to open up the web browser and log into MAL just to do that. There is actually a program like this called “MAL Updater”, but only for Windows…. That means that users that uses Mac OS X or Linux are SOL, unless you run it in Virtual Machine, but why would you want to do that since it takes resources just to run Windows….

Sure there are command line clients for Mac OS X and Linux, but they are no means user friendly for inexperienced users nor they are easy to use or feature rich as the Windows version. I’m complaining because why should users be shut into a Microsoft monopoly when the purpose of using Mac OS X and Linux is to get away from the Microsoft monopoly… but there is a alternative to all this MAL Updater madness… Melative (a combination of media and Twitter)… I have been using it for a few months now thanks to one blogger that does the same purpose and I have been helping with the development of melativemicro, a client that works on Macs, Windows and Linux. Besides, I don’t even use the social aspect of MAL anyways…

If Melative can have a cross platform client, how come MAL Updater can’t have a crossplatform client that have the same features to work on Macs and Linux instead of being stuck with command line crap that is hard to use and control and the Windows version only be locked into Microsoft? There are cross platform tools like Qt4, Mono, Realbasic, etc out there, so there is absolutely no excuse to make a client with the same feature set for all the OS. Until they make a full featured MAL Updater for Mac, I’m sticking mostly to Melative until that happens.

Update: In response to no MAL Updater on Mac, I decided to take the blue pill and build my own MAL Client for Mac OS X. If you want to track my progress or help out, join the club. 

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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 1 and 2

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Killer loli maids.. WATCH OUT!!!!.
Killer loli maids.. WATCH OUT!!!!.

As I recalled, I skipped the first episode because of prejudice, but after watching the first episode, the episode consist of 65% fanservice and 35% actual content… The first episode wasn’t bad, but with the fanservice going on, it was too much. As I thought about the first episode after it aired, isn’t the title “Purity” a oxymoron?

The second episode however…. You have to find out by clicking “read more”.
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Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 1 Thoughts

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NogizakaHarukaS2-Ep1-Scr1
When there is a hot spring, you have to expect EXCESSIVE FANSERVICE?!

Well, that what I can say about this episode… This episode is basically one those episodes like Episode One of Clannad After Story with the Baseball episode, it’s a filler to reintroduce you back into the series and the characters. However, when you see a hot spring, you have to expect excessive fanservice, which isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

If I compared this episode to the one I previously saw in the first season, there is actually a big difference. Sure, the first episode only shown a moderate amount of fan service, but the amount presented in this episode is a bit too excessive. What does this mean with the high amount of fanservice, you can expect the decrease in quality of the story… For instance, you can compare the amount of fan service vs the quality of the story line can be pictured like a demand vs supply graph. For instance, As the quality of the story is high, the amount of fanservice is low and the amount of fanservice is high, the quality of the story is low and the equilibrium point being the equal balance in the story quality and the amount of fanservice shots. For the most enjoyment while maintaining the quality of the story, I rather have it at the equilibrium so that people can still enjoy the fanservice that that series provides while providing a good story.

Overall, I cannot rate this episode or give a full thought about how the whole second season is going to go due to the high amount of fanservice in this episode… I’ll leave it up to the next 4 episodes and hope that the fanservice is not excessive in the next few episodes and hope for the best that it will get better than this.

Verdict

Unrated, –/10 

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 1

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The very unlikely show I would watch, but after looking at the post about wifes and I seen her name on it and looked it up… Oh crap…

Anyways, I decided to watch it for myself and see what I thought of it… so here it goes.

Synposis

Ayase is a normal high school student who doesn’t seem to want to think about girls due to the fact of the two girls in his household. While returning the overdue magazine Nobunaga Asakura had, he sees Haruka acting strangely and after she checked out a magazine from the library, she bumps into him, which caused the magazine to drop onto the floor and him seeing it causing her to run away with tears. Days after, she started to avoid him and eventually, he said that he won’t tell anyone about her hobby, which made her happy… but one thing… the magazine was due on the same day, so they went back to school at night and finally returned it. This is when the relationship between them started.

Thoughts

Although it may be a generic moe show with moeblobs doing moe things in shows like Lucky Star and K-ON!, but this is a pretty enjoyable series from watching the first episode, although it’s light on the story aspect. As you suspect, Haruka’s qualities make you think that she is a Mary Sue, but no since her flaw seems to be her “Otaku” hobby, which in reality is looked down upon since Otakus stereotypically don’t seem to have much social skills in comparison of geeks and nerds and have a obsession of anime and video games. Haruka like you expect, is a moeblob like character and she is cute and clumsy, which is probably why some people seems to obsess over her alot…

Animation was decent, but with a few flaws.

Overall, I thought it was a enjoyable show, but I won’t expect much from the storyline… but I will keep watching unless it goes south after 4 episodes…

OP/ED

OP: Tomadoi Bitter Tune – Miran Himemiya and Chocolate Rockers
ED: Hitosashiyubi Quiet! – Kana Ueda, Mai Goto, Rina Satou, Kaori Shimizu, Mamiko Noto
Sounds decent enough…

Rating

8.3/10 

Nagisa, why she is the ideal girl, which screams moé! – Part 2

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Nagisa during the progression in Clannad have overcome her challenges of reviving the Drama club and also made new friends, but unfortunately, she got sick again, which caused her not to graduate with Tomoya. In After Story, we will touch more on the path with her eventually marrying Tomoya and deciding on giving birth to a child.

During the course of After Story, the relationship between Tomoya and Nagisa develops further. Towards the end of summer, Nagisa became sick, which resulted in being held back for another year. While Tomoya wanted to stay back a year, it would be foolish to do so anyways.

During the next school year, Tomoya moves into a apartment and start working while Nagisa finishes her school year. Although she couldn’t get the Drama club up again, she still seem to survive the whole school year with friends from the music club. Nagisa during that period help make food for Tomoya, which proves that she still seems to care about him alot, especially about her being concerned about his left shoulder.

Although Tomoya didn’t make it to Founder’s Day due to his mistake, she didn’t mind anyways…

Another instance with her caring about him alot is the night after asking about the swimsuit, Tomoya was avoiding the question about his father and insists on meeting him one day. When Tomoya was about to get a promotion, it was cut off by his father’s actions which made Tomoya deciding to move away from the city, which Nagisa doesn’t want since she seems to like the city and wants to make him happy living in the same city instead of running away from his problems. In meeting his father at the jail, Tomoya starts getting angry at him and walks away. With him angry, Nagisa chases after Tomoya before he punches right hand to a wall, but couldn’t stop it and injured his hand. Nagisa having seen what he done, gets him to stop. In this scene, Tomoya gets engaged with Nagisa so that they will become strong.

After marriage that happened after Nagisa graduated, she takes a job at a nearby restaurant that opened. After saving her, the manager reveals that she is a hard worker. In contrast with Shiori, although she is weak, she still managed to survive to have fun with Yuuichi and also attend a whole week of school.

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Oh noes! I bet the moe levels are very high!

And yes, the famous scene and she did the impossible…

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Sorry, no hentai scenes in Clannad.. It wouldn't matter anyways

In her decision of wanting to have the baby, she seems to want a home delivery, although it’s not safe due to her conditions. The decision to have it at home is not only because she wanted to see and hold the baby after it was born, but throughout the course of her relationship of Tomoya, she have grew stronger as a person… but the only problem is that the changes of the city causes her to become more ill since all things can’t stay the same forever. Even though she is strong, the illness caused by the city changing so rapidly caused her tragic death which caused everyone to be crushed with devastation the fact that Nagisa herself through the course of After Story to become stronger, but unable to because of the bad luck. This is why most people can sympathize with her (maybe more so with the visual novel than the anime). Although she have overcome the hardest challenges and become strong with the help of Tomoya and his friends, she was unable to survive, until Tomoya collects the light orbs to help save Nagisa and also Ushio from the horrible fate. In comparison with Shiori and Misuzu, there is a reason why we can also sympathize with both. Shiori in a sense that she is rejected by her sister and had her relationship with her sister and being strong until her birthday. Misuzu is that she is a sweet and innocent girl, which is unfortunately stuck with a curse and dies in her aunt’s lap on the beach which made many people’s hearts crushed with a bucket of tears and she was given no chance to live, unlike Shiori and Nagisa although she was offered a reincarnation along with Yukito.

Next Post, I will conclude why Nagisa is the ideal girl and sum up both parts with the full argument.
Attribution Information

Fanart used in this post is by 小倉　脩一 (ogura shuuichi) Source 

Final Thoughts on Poll 9 and Air Movie

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I have closed the poll yesterday and it seemed to even out, with 6 yes, 4 no, and 2 saying Toei Animation should keep doing what they are doing.

poll9

However, polls do not show the whole story since people did not leave comments after they voted, so I can’t tell why it’s not that good. From reading all the comments in the post, I decided I will just see it just to see how good or bad is it, but it won’t be a while since I need to obtain the actual DVD before I can watch it. Once the time comes and I finish watching it, I will post a full review on the Air movie without any Kyoto Animation bias I had in the last movie review. 

Kannagi Volume 2/sola Unboxing and First Impressions

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Well, while I was at college learning, the final two DVDs I have preordered have finally arrived in the mail and yes, sola seems to finally materialize instead of being delayed indefinitely…

Like with the first Kannagi volume, Kannagi second volume have the same format as the first, but now featuring Zange-chan/Hakua. The DVD features extras like a creditless Opening/Ending and also trailers. The DVD Menu is the same format with some background changes. The only problem right now is that Kannagi is only available at Rightstuf at the moment (talking about monopoly), but I hope it changes in the future.

Another surprise is that sola have finally came in after the many times raging about how many times they delayed it. Given how many times they delayed it, they seem to got it right this time. As you see, there is nothing special with the case, but the series came on 3 seperate discs and features a creditless Opening/Ending themes. There is nothing special with the DVD menu and looks plain, but the picture quality is good enough. sola should be available in other retailers today.

I’m expecting to start at least one episode of sola this week, but the exams that is going on, it’s going to take awhile… I can’t wait. (click Continue Reading to see the pics)
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