Notes from Otaku-san

A song made for The Wallflower

2008-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was watching a video on Youtube of how the manga-ka of Cherry Flavored Marshmallow War draws. The song she put in the video, Skeleton Song by Kate Nash, reminded me of The Wallflower (aka Perfect Girl Evolution and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge). Nice, huh? I think I might make an anime music video out of it.

Lyrics:
Skeleton song
Skeleton you are my friend
But you are made of bone
And you have got no flesh and blood
Running through you to help protect the bone

Skeleton we have been friends for years
And you have seen me through some trials
And tribulations and some tears
But everybody thinks I’m weird
And I should have known
That it wouldn’t be long
Until you, you’ve got me standing in an awkward position
With unwanted attention and a need for explanation
And it’s not that I’m letting go of you
But I don’t know what to do
Skeleton we are so close
But you have got no body
So why do you insist on wearing clothes
Skeleton when we were young
It was easy
Even though the other kids
They would tease me
But I was only seven I had you
But now I’m twenty-two
And now it’s different, when I take you out
And you, you’ve got me standing in an awkward position
With unwanted attention and a need for explanation
And it’s not that I’m letting go of you
But I don’t know what to do
‘Cause sometimes at night,
I dream of the most terrible things
I take a hammer and I creep out of bed
And I raise it high
And I smash your head
Fibular and tubular
And ribs and cages, too
In fact, while I’m here
I'll smash the whole of you

Smaaaaaaaaaaash !
But Skeleton, you are my friend
And I could never bring your life to an end
Yes Skeleton you are, you are my friend
And I will be there for you until the end
And even though, when I take you out
You’ve got me, you’ve got me standing in an awkward position
With unwanted attention and a need for explanation
I could, I could never let you go
And that is all I know
And that is all I know
And that is all I, that is all I know
And that is all I know, know

Silkroad Online and the hype about MMORPGs

2008-06-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

More Silkroad Online artwork here.

Game launcher.

I'm not much of a gamer, myself, seeing as I own no game system, and I used to own a very slow computer that I fear would die if I tried installing a 3D graphics card or other such accessories. However, all that is over and done with and I now have a nice new computer all to myself and tried my hand at those free online MMORPGs (that's Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game for all you non-gamers out there). The ones I tried out were the fairly new Fiesta, Secret of the Solstice, Silkroad and a classic, Maplestory (and I'm sorry, World of Warcraft is currently not in my budget).

The one I enjoyed the most by far was Silkroad Online, a game based on the real silk road linked from Europe to China. When I first picked it up, I was blown away by the graphics. All the character designs and concepts are solid and the armor/clothing is all intricate and aesthetically pleasing. Not only is the art amazing, but the animation of the different animals is spot on and the clouds actually move! It has a huge playing ground since it's supposed to encompass two countries. Also, it has tons of different skills you can constantly level up on and loads of new ones to add to your intelligence as you gain skill points, so you never get bored with fighting even if you've stayed at level 40 for weeks on end.

Now, the cool thing about Silkroad is that it actually has some historical, nonfictional value to it, unlike the other games I've mentioned. It ties together the situation of travelers and merchants on the silk road into an enjoyable game. The downside is that in order to make the game more enjoyable, it's not completely accurate nor should anyone base their history dissertations off of this game. For starters, most of the names are Korean, not Chinese (that can probably be attributed to the fact that Joymax, the company producing Silkroad is Korean) on the China end of the game. Yeah, that's another thing I forgot to mention, when creating your character, not only do you get to decide the odds and ends of your character (hair style, height, bustiness), you also get to choose the race of your character.

They only logically have two options: European and Chinese. If you pick European, there are six classes/skills you get to choose from: Rogue, Warrior, Wizard, Warlock, Bard, and Cleric. But not only are there a variety of classes/skills, but you don't have to commit to just one, in fact many users choose around three (one melee, one caster, and one buffer). If you pick Chinese, on the other hand, you get the choice of Archer, Spearman, and Swordsman.

Overall, I give it 4.5/5, recommended for high quality art and animation fanatics such as myself.

This is one of the monsters close up :)

Notes from Otaku-san is back!

2008-05-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right! I haven't given up yet!

We'll be back during the summer with more reviews of anime, manga, Asian dramas, and the rest of the web!

We'll be including embedded videos from Youtube or Veoh when we can find them, additional links to other sites about what we reviewed, and other sites or videos (anime, manga, movies, or dramas) you might like if you liked what you saw.

Stay tuned for:
Nabari no Ou (anime)
Fated to Love You (Taiwanese drama)
Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do (Korean movie)
and more!

Don't forget to subscribe to our feed if you like what you see, or apply to be a reviewer on Notes from Otaku-san.

Nabari no Ou

2008-04-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

Think Ouran-like characters and art mixed with Naruto plot, and you get Nabari no Ou.

High school student Rokujou Miharu is the "Master of Apathy" and one day stumbles upon Kouichi who asks him to join his Ninjutsu club. But Miharu is determined to be completely indifferent and ignores Kouichi's offer. What Miharu doesn't know is that a Hijutsu is embedded inside him and that's why he's being targeted and also recruited to the Ninjutsu club. Set in the real world where ninja's still exist for the hijustu, Kouichi, Komohira-sensei (advisor for the club), and Shimizu must protect Miharu from other shinobi who want the Hijutsu for themselves.

Our effeminate lead: Rokujo Miharu

Like Naruto, Miharu has a legendary, powerful being/thing inside him. However, unlike Naruto, Nabari no Ou has a much more appealing character design and plot for the females audiences and has a more teenage/josei feel than Naruto which is a little more childish.

Overall, it has fantastic animation and character design, but an average plot. I'm sure the further episodes won't let anyone down.

And Look! There's Ishida Uryuu from Bleach! Just kidding, this guy's Kotarou, a juunin from the Fuuma clan.

Subbed episodes 1-4 are on Veoh.com:

Links:
Anime News Network: Nabari no Ō (TV)
Official Japanese Website
MangaUpdates: Nabari no Ou

Windy Tales: Episode 1

2007-08-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

With a passion for capturing feelings and life with her camera, Nao is head of the Digital Camera Club at her school. Today, she is taking pictures of clouds on the roof of her school when she notices a cat with a peculiar ability to fly (it seems). As she tries to get a better shot of the cat and his feline relatives who seem to simultaneous lift off the ground and float in the air, she falls off the roof. Surprisingly, she has no injuries whatsoever due to the manipulation of the wind by her math teacher who happened to see her falling.

Like the title suggests, the anime is a really calm, cute and gentile. The animation and artwork itself is unlike any I've seen. Although it seems somewhat sloppy and sketchy, it really emphasizes the warm simplicity of their lives.

Naruto Shippuuden 26 - oh the action!

2007-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Whoever thought the battle between the 3rd Hokage and Orochimaru was an epic one, seriously missed out on the battle between Sasori and Sakura & Chiyo-baa-sama. Honestly, that episode was the best animation, action and storyline I've ever seen. Well, I don't want to give those of you who haven't seen the latest subbed episode any spoilers, so I'll log off now before I start screaming with delight from the animation sequences XD.

Yes, this is Sakura, kicking ass, once again.

And Chiyo-sama, finally showing off her mad skills.

Anime Review Blogs

2007-08-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

(Oh, I'm sorry, that anime and manga review blogs, but I really don't care to be politically correct.)

So, I've thought about approaching blogging anime in tons of different ways for the duration of this blog's existence. Yes, I've done my research (if a bit sloppy and rushed, at that), and found that many anime bloggers seem to blog an entire series episode by episode. You want to know my opinion? Too bad, you're going to get it anyway. I think going episode by episode is a poor way for readers to decide whether or not they want to pick up the series. They'd have to read at least two posts to really know if the anime series is actually good and suits their liking. But of course, if the blogger is aiming to just give a description of each and every episode for archiving purposes, by all means, go right on ahead.

In the future, however, I think I'll try and review the first episode, and then blog the entire series in one cumulative review. Of course, this will only be when I have enough time and patience to watch and review series like Lucky Star. Usually, you'll see when a series goes bad because I won't finish the series and I'll tell you that I hated it.

Welcome to the NHK

2007-08-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

Satou Tatsuhiro is a 22-year-old college drop out. As someone who is Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) and a hikikomori (one who is socially withdrawn), he stays in his apartment and has to constantly listen to the PuruPuru Purin anime song of his next door neighbor, thinking the world is conspiring against him and driving him into this hikikomori state. One day he meets Misaki Nakahara who invites him to her project to cure him of his hikikomori ways.

I've only watched three episodes of this anime, it's cute with its talking refrigerators and weird monsters. A comedy that any otaku can enjoy, but certainly not a masterpiece.

Notes from Otaku-san is on Technorati!

2007-08-15T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yep! Check it out! Technorati Profile
Also, new features added to the blog with FeedBurner.

Goong

2007-08-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

What's not to like about Goong with its references to Prince William, Michael Jackson, and hilarious monologue about poo?

Goong is set in modern-day Korea, a Korea which maintains a constitutional monarchy. It's about 17-year-old Chae Gyoung who, by a promise from her grandfather to the former king of Korea, is arranged to marry the crown prince of Korea, Shin. At first she is completely against this marriage especially considering Shin is rude and inconsiderate, but she gradually comes to love Shin even though he does not return her feelings. However, things are complicated as Shin's cousin, Yul, falls in love with Chae Gyoung on top of Shin's ex-girlfriend trying to win Shin back.

The comedic manga (or should I say manhwa) by Park So Hee has everything. Although the chibis in the manhwa are ugly, rather than cute, it makes reading it so much funnier and easy to enjoy. The style of writing is also interesting where unlike other mangas, Park So Hee oftentimes refers to herself as the author of the manga in a playful author vs. character sort of way. Unlike other shoujo manga, it doesn't have the overly predictable plots which sets this manhwa apart from the rest.

Although its excellent plot and art makes Goong a read that's hard to put down, non-native Koreans will have trouble becoming familiar with all the formalities of addressing the royal subjects of Korea. But that shouldn't stop you from reading!!

Special A (manga)

2007-08-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

When I first picked up the manga Special A, I was drawn in by its cute artwork and loveable characters. The protagonist, Hanazono Hikari, is a hot-tempered over-the-top hard-worker. Ever since being beaten at pro-wrestling by Takishima Kei, she has gone to the same prestigious school as him just to beat her rival. Even though being in the same "Special A" (aka SA) class is an extreme achievement, her #2 status doesn't suffice while Takashima is in #1. What I love about this manga is that all the characters are care-free and interesting. If you loved Ouran High School Host Club or The Wallflower (aka Perfect Girl Evolution and Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge), you'll love Special A.

I've only read through Volume 3, but I can't wait to see more!

Hello

2007-08-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Konnichiwa mina-sama! Hello, I'm Otaku-sama, owner of this blog. I figure I should introduce myself and the blog so that readers can understand what it's all about.

My pen name online is usually Lyra. I was born and bred in the U.S.; I'm by no means Japanese, although I'd really like to live there someday. This blog will be featuring reviews of anything and everything, not just aspects of Japanese culture, but also books--of both the novel and graphic novel variety--, websites, among other things from the U.S. will be discussed. In a sense, my hermitage and attachment to the computer isn't only bounded by Japanese things, but it expanded to the entire internet. So don't be surprised to find a post about Google Analytics (for example), it all just depends on my mood. But, with that said, I'll still be writing mostly about manga and anime, but I hope fellow otakus out there can see more to otaku-dom than Japanime.

Thanks for reading,
Lyra

Nana (the anime series)

2007-07-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am continually inspired by Yazawa-san work. Both her art and writing/plot-creating have really influenced me. I finished watching her series, NANA, just yesterday but was surprised of the ending. It seemed half-assed and cut short and didn't tie up the many loose ends that remained.

If you haven't read or watched the series, NANA is about two 20-year old girls from the country. Komatsu Nana is a carefree cute girl who is obsessed with her current boyfriend, Shouji. In fact, she decides to move to Tokyo to be with him once saving enough money to go there. On the train, Komatsu-san meets Osaki Nana, a punk-rock singer for her band, Black Stones (BLAST). When Komatsu stumbles upon Osaki looking for an apartment to live in, they agree to be roommates (even though they are almost completely strangers) to split living expenses for room 707 (Nana = Seven in Japanese). We see everyone's relationships with each other evolve as BLAST strives to gain stardom.

So many questions remained at the last episode: will Takumi remain faithful to Hachi (Komatsu Nana's nickname which is also a common dog name apparently and means "eight" in Japanese), did BLAST succeed in surpassing Trapnest (rival band whose guitarist is also Nana's boyfriend), did Nana end up getting married to Ren, will Nobuo ever confess his feelings for Hachi? It seems unlikely that Yazawa-san will create a sequel, but I'm left feeling unsatisfied and discontent at all the issues still left unresolved in the story. I think Yazawa-san's Paradise Kiss was much better compared to this. However, NANA, will still remain on my recommended list of shoujo anime for any hopeless romantic teen to watch.