Chikorita157's Anime Blog

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

Some things before Thanksgiving

by Leave a Comment

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so I won’t likely make any updates on this blog, but before I leave for a day, I will make the following updates reguarding the Karaoke Contest and also MAL Client OS X and MAL Lite:

Karaoke Contest

I have made a change earlier that no effects or any alterations of the recording may be used. You may only use effects to reduce any grainy/background noise, but anything but that may not be used. I will be posting further details after I come back from Thanksgiving and hopefully start it on Monday.

MAL Client OS X and MAL Lite

I have made several changes to the MAL updating program for Mac OS X and also the lightweight, minimalist solution on Windows and Linux. MAL Client OS X 0.3.6 now features a new interface similar to the one on Finder. If used on Tiger and Panther, the interface will default to a sheet metal feel. Manga list lookup is added, but when you double click on a item, you can view the information about it on the browser. No manga updating is added yet since there isn’t enough API to implement it yet. Lastly, Melative updating can be done without updating your MAL status. You can make a update by going to the anime information window and clicking “Post Melative Update” on the toolbar.

I apologize that I can’t get the help updated and the Sparkle appcast updated since the FTP is down. Once it comes up, I will post the Sparkle update. For now, you need to download the disk image.

Download MAL Client OS X 0.3.6

For MAL Lite 1.1.2, I restored the full list featured on MAL Client OS X and added a tray icon. Download 1.1.2

I hope you a nice and joyful Thanksgiving… I will resume blogging on Friday after shopping on Black Friday and hopefully cover Kobato Episode 7 and Seitokai no Ichizon Episode 8. 

Advertisements

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 8 Impressions

by Leave a Comment

Oh no... more girls in Yuuto's "Unwanted Harem?"
Oh no... more girls in Yuuto's "Unwanted Harem?"

This time it’s a Mika centered episode and yes, it’s the last of the episodes that don’t focus on Haruka and her secret (which so far about 4 episodes in the season don’t have her in the spotlight, which some of the complaints are coming from.)
[Read more…] about Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 8 Impressions

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Final Impressions

by Leave a Comment

1b495b07280c93eb36a2b781148b7bbb
I have completed the first season nearly a week ago and it was a pretty good concept of a story which is pretty unique. In this story, they took a extraordinary nice guy and a high class girl who have one major flaw of being a otaku. That is just the surface of the story since Nogizaka Haruka is not entirely about otaku subculture in shows like Lucky Star. This twist, however makes things more interesting, but is it well executed? Let’s find out, shall we?

Content

The story is a typical romance story… a ordinary guy meets a girl. However there is a big twist in this story. Nogizaka Haruka, an ojou is the most unattainable girl in school with rejections up to the triple digits. Yuuto bumps into Haruka in the library after Yuuto returns the book and the magazine she took out revealed her secret, her love for Anime and Manga, which is viewed negatively for people of her class. However, Yuuto accepts her secret and will keep it as a secret. Throughout the series, the relationship between Haruka and Yuuto builds up with some help of Mika (Haruka’s sister), Nanami and Hazuki. Also with that, another girl is thrown in called Shiina which Yuuto accidently bumps into which causes her to gain some kind of a romantic desire of her becoming his boyfriend, although Yuuto only seems to like Haruka.

The series itself throws some references to other anime. The most references shown is Shakugan no Shana.

What this anime tries to shows the sad realization of how Otaku are viewed in real life. In real life, Otakus are viewed negatively because Otaku means house in Japanese, meaning that people who are otakus spend time watching and obsessing over anime, manga or playing games/visual novels and never leave the house, meaning that it can cause a lack of social skills. This is viewed when Yuuto tries to over up Haruka’s secret when a comiket catalog falls out of her bag when she fell and her father, Gentou which does not want her daughter to watch anime and read manga, but eventually allowed with the help of her mother.

There are some fanservice moments in Nogizaka Haruka, but nothing too excessive.

Animation

Diomedea did a pretty good job with animating Nogizaka Haruka, so there isn’t really much to comment here.

Characters

The characters in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is what you expect from a romance comedy, but not so much. I will talk about the most important characters, but besides from those, Nanami and Hazuki, Nogizaka’s maids who seems to be shown most of the story and help with Haruka and Yuuto and also help stop Gentou before his wife comes. Another is Ruko and Yukari, who seems to be alcoholics and finally, Haruka’s parents, Gentou, the hot headed father and Akiho, the seemingly beautiful, despite her age and intelligent mother.

Ayase Yuuto – The seemingly, extraordinary nice guy who seems to understand everyone’s feelings… This is somewhat the departure of the losers and jerks that are typical in harem/romance comedy anime, but there are some flaws that are more apparent in the second season with his character. Also, his personality seems to be more of a gentleman, although his class is lower than the jerkass Shutto, which in contrast is a spoiled brat and causing him at sometimes, being unworthy for being Haruka’s boyfriend, although he overcomes it, but the notion of him being a lower class than Haruka will be stuck in his mind for some time.

Nogizaka Haruka – The moe ojou and also have a terrible secret of being a Otaku, which is viewed negatively, especially in the higher class she is in. Haruka seems to be a very sweet character, which mainly causes most of the terribly sweet moments between Haruka and Yuuto. Although Haruka is really smart and is top of her class, she is somewhat a dojikko.

Nogizaka Mika – Haruka’s younger sister, but seemingly dirty for her age and already talking about sexual stuff? Mika in comparison is more easygoing and not as naive as Haruka… and even calls Yuuto, “Onii-chan.” It makes me wonder.

Amamiya Shiina – The second girl in Yuuto’s love triangle, although Yuuto does not have any romantic relationship with her and her being only a friend. With her bumping into him causes her to have a romantic interest with Yuuto.

Music

The music from Nogizaka Haruka was pretty good… We are presented with a pretty catchy opening theme which seems to have a fast pace and a ending theme with maids (seriously, who doesn’t like maids). The extra image songs not played in the anime sounded pretty decent, so no complaints.

Conclusion

The first season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu is a pretty good watch for those who are sick of a indecisive harems and romance comedies filled with too much fanservice and a jerky male lead. For those who are looking for a deep romantic story or a non-cliched romance anime, you may come off disappointed. Nogizaka Haruka is a pretty good comedy romance anime in my opinion so far… but I would say since I haven’t watched other yet.

Once you finish with the first season, I suggest taking a look at the second, although it’s somewhat weak in content and have a little more fanservice, but you may find it just as enjoyable.

Overall Rating

8.72/10, B+, Outstanding

Attribution Information

This image is from here 

Kobato – Episode 6 Impressions

by 2 Comments

OMG.... It's a bird...
OMG…. It’s a bird…

I have to admit, while this episode of Kobato is pretty good, it was slower than normal… and Kobato being the a complete Dojikko, which is shown more in this episode than earlier episodes with her tripping and hitting her head.

This episode is basically the nursery goes on a field trip and Kobato while getting her bag answers the phone call from the loan shark villain saying that he will shut down the nursery. She goes and tell Fujimoto what happened and he said to not to tell Sayaka because it will upset her. While they went on the trip, Ioryogi goes into another dimension and ask the wolf to investigate what happened to the nursery. After while, Kobato came back from the trip and brought back a four leaf clover. However, Ioryogi is bothered by the findings the white messaging bird brought back telling that the master who owned the nursery was forced to take a loan from a loan shark before he died two years later and now they are harassing Sayaka, which brings them a difficult task of filling up the bottle and saving the nursery at the same time.

The episode itself introduced to Ioryogi’s buddies and also the situation of the loan sharks that happened in the last episode… seeing that, what previously looked like a fluffy and soft anime just have turned into a dark and dramatic… Again.. it’s the working of CLAMP again… =p

Verdict

8.5/10 

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 7

by Leave a Comment

The way Shiina injured herself is pretty lame...
The way Shiina injured herself is pretty lame...

Although they somewhat up the fanservice, it’s away from the usual Haruka-Yuuto development and Shiina was given some screen time… Too bad it was too late since Shiina have no way in hell that she will win over Yuuto’s heart although some people perfer her to be the girl that Yuuto should be as a couple instead of Haruka…

[Read more…] about Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Second Season – Episode 7

Seitokai no Ichizon – Episode 7 Thoughts and Impressions

by 1 Comment

Mokyu~ Mokyu~
Mokyu~ Mokyu~

Well, this episode was really funny in a sense… not because it shoved references like Lucky Star did with going overboard and putting it in random spots, but actually made it work so it is funny. This is basically an episode where Kurimu decide that the whole student council should go on a summer trip to Tokyo by a overnight train. However, what the girls packed show a lot about their personality and interests. Minatsu hardly packed everything, Mafuyu packing all her game consoles (which looks like a computer, a Wii and a Playstation 2) which makes the suitcase very heavy and also her favorite treat that seems to heal her HP, Chizuru have a completely normal suitcase with her belongings although Ken thought there was something dangerous in there and lastly, Kurimu with a bag full of toys.

Night time came (Ken being chained and blindfolded) and Chizuru does something to Kurimu before she goes to sleep and Minatsu can’t recognizes Mafuyu without her ribbon on her head which causes Mafuyu becoming upset and relating it to a RPG she is playing. Chizuru goes to sleep, but she sleeps without anything on which makes Ken goes crazy.

What... Mafuyu was gaming all night long?
What... Mafuyu was gaming all night long?
Is this Marimite? and what is Kurimu is doing with her?
Is this Marimite? and what is Kurimu is doing with her?

Next morning, Minatsu wakes up and finds that Kurimu was missing, but actually sleeping with Chizuru. She also finds that Mafuyu spent all night playing with her Playstation Portable. The train announced that the train arrived at Tokyo and after they got there, they spent the whole day in the hotel room because it was too hot outside and night time came and they decide to tell scary stories such as Kurimu ended up getting murdered with knives(does this reminds you about a very familiar sound-based visual novel named Higurashi?) which scares the heck out of her. Kurimu not wanting to hear any more of these stories decides on catchphrases for each person and they cosplayed which was the most hilarious part in this episode.

Not sure about the cosplays though, but here is what they dressed up as:
Kurimu – Some kind of robot
Minatsu – Some classy dress
Ken: Maid uniform and some wacky shouen hairstyle
Mafuyu: Some school uniform
Chizuru: A Sheep… Errr… mokyuu~ (So Moe!)

The funny thing is that Chizuru after they got back still dresses in that outfit saying mokyuu~. I guess she does have a cute side of her after all. =p

The episode itself is the best I have seen so far in the whole season… the references are better executed in this one and it was very funny in many instances… Too bad some people have already wrote it off already even though it have gotten better… and you can never forget the Mokyuu~ so moe…

Verdict

9.2/10 

Editorial: Sad state of MyAnimeList and it's APIs

by 6 Comments

MyAnimeList is probably the most used site by most anime viewers and bloggers besides AniDB, melative, or Anime Planet to log all the watched anime and also manga, although not everyone read manga compared to Anime. However, I feel that MyAnimeList just like Facebook is cluttered and have too much going on and you have to log in just to update your list and most of the time, you forget to update that list. This is why there are programs like MAL Updater on Windows and MAL Client OS X on Mac OS X with a small number of other MAL Clients. However, MAL is not making it easy with developers to create these programs and I already have some trouble trying to figure out how to implement it.

The problem is that the MAL API is very incomplete. There is no documentation on how to obtain the list or even get the information of the Anime using the APIs. sliceoflifer made the Unofficial MAL API , which is the supposed replacement of the MAL API and also makes life easier since all the functions are there and you can easily implement the API. The problem is, there is no Manga support. With the Official MAL API, there is a severe lack of information on how to use the API and the lack of JSON support. Also, it’s buggy since in some instances, searching for titles like Kampfer does not even pop up any results due to the bad data spit out by the official MAL API.

MyAnimeList in my opinion is becoming too big and the developer APIs are left neglected for months and left to rot. MAL Updater is a closed sourced program and there is no native open source solution (No, AniChou does not count as native alternative) that would work natively on Windows or even a full Mac solution. The developer of MAL Updater have to resort largely with HTML scraping which is a pain in the neck to figure out and I commend him on his effort to do so… Why should developers be left having to do this time consuming process of making code to get rid of the HTML tags and convert it to XML? Does MAL want developers make more programs that would work with MAL and instant updating instead of resorting to the near-monopoly MAL Updater…

Another gripe is that their site is STILL not iPhone friendly or perhaps smartphone friendly… Most sites these days have iPhone versions of the website since the iPhone grew in popularity due to it’s powerful browser. iPhone friendly MAL would help since if some people watch anime on the TV and don’t have their laptop on or want to go to a computer just to update their status, they can do it easily on the iPhone. Why not jump on a iPhone solution for MAL, either a iPhone App or a iPhone friendly website… It shouldn’t be terribly hard to do since popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter already have one with their own iPhone apps.

Hopefully you take these suggestions seriously and help make MAL better, or I have to resort more with melative since it’s works alot better… (and why not join in on the fun). 

Seitokai no Ichizon – Episodes 4-6 Thoughts and Impressions

by 1 Comment

So, the student council is going to have a Keion-bu????
So, the student council is going to have a Keion-bu????

Oh god… Seitokai no Ichizon is funny in a very weird way… that I can’t stop laughing… Mostly with Episodes 4-5 with all those anime references… most notably the K-ON parody… that pretty much cracked me up and also with Mafuyu’s boy’s love story with Ken and Ken wanting Minatsu cooking breakfast for him in a naked apron, accidentally seeing Kurimu in the shower, Chizuru asking him to put suntan oil on her and Mafuyu tripping and saying she isn’t wearing underwear. (Ken must be one perverted person and very desperate to get his so called harem, lol).

Episode 5 made it even funnier… Ken is forced to wear a blindfold which he can’t take off which makes him come up with weird imagination and ecchi stuff… and somehow his blindfold came off and he saw them in swimsuits which makes him crazy…. and have him locked up in the locker.

We also get to see Minatsu with a different look.

She looks alot prettier with her hair down... =p
She looks alot prettier with her hair down... =p

Episode 6 is again with more hilarious moments… but a sad realization that Minatsu and Mafuyu are going to transfer… at the end of the school year… or who knows….

Overall, the series gets better by time goes on… I can’t see why some people are giving negative opinions about it, it’s pretty good mindless, lighthearted comedy… Atleast they haven’t go overboard on the Haruhi references… but Seitokai no Ichizon works alot better in Anime and Manga form than the light novel, I have to admit….

Verdict

Episodes 4-5: 8.3/10
Episode 6: 8.5/10 

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 11-12 (END)

by 1 Comment

Sorry Shutto, but you just got pwned!
Sorry Shutto, but you just got pwned!

Now it’s Haruka’s birthday which she have on her private island… but how this effects Yuuto personally since he is a class lower than Haruka or will love prevail even though there are class differences.

Also, this is also a beach episode… can’t have an romance comedy without it.
[Read more…] about Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu – Episode 11-12 (END)

MAL Client OS X 0.3.4 and MAL Updater OS X 1.2b GUI Released

by 2 Comments

What are you doing?
What are you doing?

MAL Client OS X 0.3.4 is now released with new features allowing you to search for information on AniDB and Tokyotosho and sharing of a title to a email with the URL to the MAL Page… just add a message and send. Minor changes made to melative updating to reflect the changes made to the APIs.

Major change is that MAL Updater OS X GUI is now included with the MAL Client OS X distribution. This is a simple frontend to TakakoShimizu’s MAL Updater OS X, which is a command line script programmed in Ruby that allows Mac users to scrobble their Anime from MPlayer, Quicktime and VLC. The drawback is that the setup script does not always work and you cannot turn it off unless you get rid of the launchd file which will disable the automatic scrobbling. There is a better way to this issue.

MAL Updater OS X GUI is just a frontend to this mess and allows you to save your login info securely which will be used for automatically generating the script needed for MAL Updater OS X when scrobbling is turned on. When you close or stop scrobbling, the script is deleted so people won’t easily find your MAL password. The GUI is a lightweight program and only uses around 10 MB of RAM. Note that you still need Growl installed to find out what is scrobbled or you have to resort to the log files to find out.

The only drawback is that MAL Updater OS X script is outdated by .1 (since 1.3 isn’t available for download), so I can only include 1.2 for the time being. Once 1.3 is posted again or if he decides to update it, I will add it to the package and also make some improvements to the GUI.

The source code for the MAL Updater OS X GUI is located in the malclientosx SVN at Google Code.

In addition, a Linux version of MAL Lite is now available for download here (1.7 MB). GTK+ 2 is required to run the program and will work with any Linux distro. To run it, unzip and double click on “MALLite”

Download MAL Client OS X 0.3.4 with MAL Updater OS X GUI (9 MB, Universal Binary) 

%d bloggers like this: