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Review: Pure Pure Heart Insert Song Single

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General Information

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

Tracks

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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Working!! – Episode 8-9 – Inami’s Past and Traps?

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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. :o

Verdict

Episode 8: 8.4/10

Episode 9: 8.7/10

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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 8 – Yui’s “Undecided” Future

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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…

Verdict

8.75/10

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AniBlog Tourney – Round 2 Part 5 (Day 14-17) and Round 2 Followup

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Time for the longest stretch of the digest....

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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Aniblog Tourney Round 2 Part 4 – Day 10-13 Digest

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Taking a small break...

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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Review: My Soul, Your Beats / Brave Song Single

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General Information

Album Title: My Soul, Your Beats! / Brave Song
Artist: Lia, Toda Aoi, Maeda Jun
Catalog Number: KSLA-0054
Release Date: May 26, 2010

General Thoughts

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.

My Soul, Your Beats!

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.

Brave Song

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.

Conclusion

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.

Verdict

8.9/10, A-/B+, Outstanding

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K-ON!! Second Season – Episode 7 – The Mio Fanclub Legacy

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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.

Verdict

8.9/10

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Game Review: CLANNAD SPELUNKER

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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 Gameplay

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!

Overall Picture

Pros: It’s a Clannad themed Spelunker game!

Cons: Intense difficulty, poor controls, stock enemies, unfair respawning, no continues (without saving).

Verdict

6.2/10, D-, Below Average

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