Otaku Life: Anime Review

B is for Ben-to

2012-02-22T08:40:00.000-05:00

First of all: what is this I don't even. That's the first thing I have to say on this note. And writing this review is going to be kind of weird when I'm busy watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood because I'm almost done with it. The intensity at this point (seriously, I'm watching Mustang fight Envy in episode 53) kind of doesn't mesh with the light-hearted Ben-to.

The Basics

Episodes: 12

Genre: Comedy, Action

Aired: October 9, 2011 to December 25, 2011

Directed by: Shin Itagaki

Producers: AT-X, David Production

Opening Theme: Live for Life ~Ookami-tachi no Yoru~ by Aimi / Treasure by Emiri Katou

Closing Theme: Egao no Housoku by Mariya Ise

Review

The Story: I'll be totally honest. This anime has one of the most thoroughly baffling stories I have ever seen in a series. And I don't mean baffling as in confusing (Persona ~trinity soul~, I am looking at you)...I mean baffling as in WHAT AM I WATCHING? But in a silly way. You remember those food fights in the cafeteria? Okay, we never actually had any of those in my school, and for all I know you never did either, but I'm just going to run with the idea that everyone has seen one in a movie or something at least. If not, that's what Youtube is for.

Ben-to is the anime that takes food fights to an extreme. Basically, you have your typical male lead, and this time he's named Yo Sato. He goes to the grocery store, as people tend to do when they want food, and since he's pretty broke, he gets really excited when he sees a half-priced bento. The next thought is to grab it and that just doesn't end well—he ends up unconscious.

Turns out that people literally fight over the half-priced bento at the supermarkets. Probably because they're crazy. Or hungry. Or broke. Or an excellent combination of the three that should never be questioned. So, instead of repeatedly getting his butt kicked by the other people who want those meals, he ends up joining a club to get better at the fighting and be part of a group for getting them.

Also they call the people who go after the Bento “Wolves” and some of them have like, titles to suggest that they're famous and it kind of makes me giggle.

The Characters: The characters might actually baffle me even more than the story, and I'm not sure if that's scary or impressive. Maybe a little bit of both. (Side note: Roy Mustang is a badass. And tiny worm Envy is adorable but I still hate him. Now, back on topic...) So the main character of Ben-to: Yo Sato. He really is the typical male lead, so I can't say much about him.

Then there's the women of the series. They're everywhere. Which is normal, yes. So there are three main girls: Sen Yarizui (aka the Ice Witch), Ayame Shaga (the Beauty by the Lake) and Hana Oshiroi (not worthy of a nickname). Of the three, Hana is the craziest by far. She basically gets into the fight for bento because she wants inspiration for her writing (I really hate how anime tends to portray writers...I have yet to come across a good one) and there's a lot of times that she ends up randomly writing yaoi—yes, she a fujoshi. Half the time her fantasies involve the main character. I can't help but wonder what he would think if he could read her mind. He'd probably be scarred for life.

Moving on: Shaga. She's the main character's cousin, and evidently she's part Italian. I decided not to question it, because I think there comes a certain point where you just have to stop questioning the things that happen in anime. Otherwise you'll go insane. That's just how it is. But this character...well I think she exists mostly to show off her boobs. Those things are impossible to ignore. So she's a badass with breasts. (Badass for this series. Comparatively speaking, she's got nothin'.)

Then there's Sen. The Ice Witch. She earns her name. She's quiet, doesn't talk a lot, and when she does she's very quiet. Despite that, she tends to kick some serious butt. If someone takes her on, they're probably going down. And people just LOVE taking her on, because proving yourself against the strongest is like, a mark of awesomeness or manhood or puberty or Autobots. No, Autobots have nothing to do with this, I just wanted to mention them.

Aaaaaaanyway. Those are the main people. And I like them, but I have to be honest: they are so far from special. Like they're just pure...I can't remember the word. You know the kind of character that you see everywhere and you just know what sort of person they're going to be right away because you've seen roughly ONE BILLION of them? Well every character in this anime is one of those. So don't get your hopes up.

The Action: All right, for a ridiculous series that's based on the most absurd idea I have ever heard...I will say that it had good fight sequences. And yes, those fight sequences totally took place in various supermarkets and there was basically always a bento flying around (much to my disappointment, they did not use the bento smack each other in the face, which I totally would have done) for someone to grab onto.

So, superbly animated kicking the crap out of each other for food. Only in anime.

Conclusion?: This series is just...odd. I mean, it wasn't confusing or anything—there's really not space to get LOST in a story about who gets to take home the bento. I just gave a serious explanation of the series in seven words right there. I just don't really know what to say about it.

It was supposed to be a comedy. Now, apparently I was missing something, because I don't think I laughed a single time throughout the entire series. I've come to the realization that the humor and I just weren't meshing last fall, because the other major comedy (Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai)...I didn't laugh at that either. So you should take my advice with a grain of salt, because I know plenty of people who really did enjoy this series.

This is my view though: Ben-to was a series with a stupid premise, a stupid setting and characters who weren't good in the least. There was no real plot and nothing to make it worth watching. Maybe the boobs, but if you want boobs, there are plenty of other places to go.

My rating: 5/10. Again, take my words with a grain of salt. It just didn't suit my tastes, and that happens sometimes.

(PS: It's 8 eight hours later—I went to bed halfway through writing that review—and I now remember that the character word I was looking for is TROPE.)

(PPS: Finishing this review while trying not to cry over a few things in Brotherhood was a challenge I cannot express in words.)

(PPPS: I'm pretty sure the guy in the last picture got his start in Pokemon.)

B is for Barry the Chopper

2012-02-20T10:35:00.000-05:00

Look, it's an alphabet series post! I said they'd be back, and I wasn't lying. Today we're going to talk about Barry the Chopper, because I think he's a pretty cool dude. Sort of. Just read, guys.

The Character: Barry the Chopper (voiced by Kentarou Itou in the original FMA, Hideyuki Umezu in Brotherhood, and Jerry Jewell in both English releases, which are what I've seen)

Series: Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Probably some spoilers ahead.

Barry the Chopper is kind of a crazy guy. I mean, he's not as crazy as one of the other people I'll be doing when we get close to the end of the alphabet, but he's still pretty crazy. In the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime, they gave him a nice episode where you got to see where he actually originated instead of him explaining it (which happens in the manga and Brotherhood). And where did he originate?

Why, he was a serial killer, of course!

Just totally reminded myself of this picture and now I want to share it with you all:

Anyway, in that origin episode it shows that he likes slicing up women because...well, back to the crazy thing. He attempts to kill Winry, but that doesn't work out. That would have been crappy. But anyway, he's arrested and all that normal stuff that happens when you get arrested...to a point.

When Ed and Al go to investigate at the lab that's supposed to be shut down, they end up coming across him. “Again”, for the first anime. In the other versions they're meeting him for the first time. Except it's mostly Al meeting him. Now, Barry the Chopper is kind of an arse. He tells Alphonse that maybe he's artificial, that maybe Ed has been lying to him, and that his memories could be fabricated. That causes Al to be dumb and then Winry throws a wrench at his head (yay for the armor, right?) and other such fun.

That's besides the point though.

Barry the Chopper shows up again later. He takes an interest in Hawkeye (be it a crush or a creepy fascination...then again with Barry they're sort of the same thing) and ends up getting captured. Then he helps Maria Ross get out of prison, which is pretty awesome of him. Sadly he ends up dying later—if I remember right, someone licks his blood seal. It's slipping my mind who, and I don't have the episode on hand to check.

But I saw these guys at Ohayocon and it like, made my life:

Character Awesomeness: 7/10 awesomes. I love him, but he kind of loses some awesome for trying to kill Winry and Ed. And for convincing Al that he might be artificial.

Cosplayer Photos Anyone?

2012-02-15T09:55:00.000-05:00

I lied about getting back to the normal alphabet posts. I mean, that'll happen, just apparently not quite yet.

I'm collecting photos for use in Culture, Conventions & Cosplay: The Lifestyle of an Anime Fanatic. So this post is really just me saying...for any cosplayers out there, if you have a picture you'd like to see included, send it along to AriannaL.Sterling@gmail.com. Please include your name (the name you'd like to be credited as in the book itself), the character and series, the photographer's information (name for crediting if they want to be credited--I have at least one photographer who doesn't want to be) and the convention the photo was taken at, or if it wasn't a con photo, the occasion.

There's also a Facebook page for the book now, which can be located here.

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day yesterday!

O (New) Blogger, Where Art Thou?

2012-02-09T15:48:00.001-05:00

Okay, I said the other day that I have an announcement.

What is it? Actually there's like...two.

First of all, the new release date for Culture, Conventions & Cosplay is the...okay I forget off the top of my head, but it's the weekend BEFORE A-kon Mostly because they're advertising for me so the book kind of has to be out for that con, and I might as well set it close to the event. So there's that. I'm hoping to have my novel out around the same time, but we'll see. Working on an NF book and a novel at the same time is tough.

But here's the announcement I was mostly referring to before. I have decided that I would like to find another person to help me run this blog. Is there a term for a blog that's only two people? I personally don't consider two a group blog, but if we're calling it that...okay, I can live with this.

Anyway. Yes. Second blogger = wanted.

Requirements?

1. Please be AT LEAST fifteen. I will admit that age is not important to me most of the time (one of my best friends is fourteen and I have other friends who are 10+ years older than me) but I would like the person I'm working with here to be a minimum age.

2. Be willing to post at least twice a week. Geez that sounds hypocritical coming from me, with how much I vary posting. I'm trying to get back on schedule though. In any case, posts will need to be made only on days I don't plan to post--Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are all free game.

3. Be accepting of all sexualities. I made a rage-post awhile ago about the homophic comment I got once and how much it ticked me off, and the points I made in that post still stand. I'm pansexual, I watch yaoi (and hate most of it, but that's beside the point) and a good chunk of my friends are about as straight as I am...so while I don't expect you to be gay or lesbian or anything else (your sexuality itself is not my problem, seriously) just be accepting of people who are. Or I'll beat you with a frog.

Yes. A frog.

4. Grammar and spelling. I'm not a serious Nazi, and I make typos pretty frequently, but you need to be able to spell and use grammar at least semi-properly. That's all I ask.

5. You have to be someone I can TRUST. The password to get into this blog is tied to my authorial email address, and while I don't actually use it for a lot, it still comes into play sometimes. So yes. Please play nicely.

Oh, but then there's the whole "interview" thing. I just want a few simple questions answered. Please EMAIL me yours answers at AriannaL.Sterling@gmail.com. The one listed on my contact page. I would hand out the one I check every five minutes, but that one is tied to my legal name so NO. Aaaaaanyway. Answer these, email me with the subject "blogger position". But capitalize blog. I was just lazy.

Tell me the following:

1. Age

2. Where are you from? I don't need specifics--I mean, I'm from Ohio, so that's really all I'm looking for.
3. What do you do? Student, job (what is it?), NEET? Sorry, I had to include that.
4. What is your favorite anime?
5. Do you follow current anime? What are you watching right now and what do you like best this season?
6. Assuming you follow new stuff, or have watched at least something from last year, what was your favorite of last year?
7. How harsh are you in judging anime?
8. Do you pay attention to music (more than just OP and ED) when watching anime?
9. What do you see as the most important aspect of anime? The characters, the plot, the animation style, etc?
10. Why on earth do you want to join THIS blog when there are so many others out there? Or why join me instead of starting your own blog?
11. Tell me something random about yourself.

And that's all! Hopefully I get a few good replies from people out there! I check my stats, I know there are people looking at this stuff, ha!

Unrelated, Airin is in this post. I dunno why. Symphony actually managed to surprise me once and it had nothing to do with her. Actually I guess it did but...maybe I should do a post on harem anime.

Bah, that's for another day!

Gah, Ohayocon!

2012-02-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

Ohayocon was, as usual, the last weekend of January. And as cons tend to do, it got me all out of swing--I had SIX panels to run that weekend! SIX!!! I spent so much time making powerpoints in the days before the convention it isn't funny and yes, I should have had them done earlier, but I still had to talk to my co-panelists about how we were planning to do everything and it was terrible.

Anyway, after a few days of playing catch-up for school stuff (I missed some important things) and then figuring out some other stuff, I THINK I'm back on top. So I'll return to my ABC stuff next week, this week will be...other stuff. And a LOT of catching up on anime. I've fallen so far behind it's ridiculous and I place the blame squarely on my boyfriend because once we started dating I was with him a good 80% of the time.

Moving on. Right now I happen to have an episode of Mirai Nikki open in another window and it's fantastic and I am so in love with this show I can't even tell you.

But back to Ohayocon. I bought stuff! Forgive the crappy pictures, I took every single one of them with my phone.

First, the unrelated objects. I bought this guy:

His name is Professor Lumpkin. I found him in Artist Alley, and due to Ohayocon's "no fanart" policy (which I loathe, by the way) he's obviously an original design from wherever I bought him. I honestly just thought he was adorable so that's $25 well-spent, as far as I'm concerned.

Then, I found a table with a bunch of the CLAMP no Kiseki things for sale. As a huge CLAMP nerd (I'm watching Tsubasa finally, and I'm keeping a running list of every CLAMP character who appears as I go since I've read like all of their other work) I felt the need to buy one--especially since they were only $15! I got the Magic Knight Rayearth/Angelic Layer one, since those are two of my favorite series by the group. And it came with the chess pieces seem above--the black Mokona, the guy from Tokyo Babylon (I haven't read that series yet, sadly) and Misaki! Yay!

Everything else I got...well...here:

Yeah. I really, really love Mami. The keychain thingy (at the bottom) was like $12, and the first thing I bought of her. Then I found the mug, and there went another like...$21. The cover on top of it has her little flowery symbol. I doubt I'll actually USE the mug, but I love owning it. And on Sunday, I found the figure--only $20! I was so excited. So she stands on top of her mug and it's awesome.

Ohayocon was great this year...at least for me. I obsess over the feedback threads, so I know a lot of other people had issues, including a few of my friends, but for me the con was a success mostly because my panels went well and I got to see my friends. Oh, and subject my boyfriend to a yaoi panel I was running. That was excellent, teehee.

Hmm...that's all I really have to say right now. Plus in a few days I'll have an announcement. It's something I've been thinking about for awhile, and I'm finally deciding to throw it up.

Later guys!

B is for Brave Song

2012-01-24T12:59:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I'm really not bothering with order when it comes to series/character/song. So sue me.

B is for Brave Song, by Aoi Tada.

This was used as the ED for Angel Beats!, which I reviewed a long, long time ago. Now, the series was not perfect, but if there was one thing involved about it that definitely hit perfection on the head and then danced around it in a circle while wearing a Pedobear suit (do not question my nonsense, just accept that somehow, what I just said is awesome), it was the ending theme.

Like holy wow. Brave Song is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard in my life. I love the instrumentation of it, I love the vocals (Aoi's voice is 100% gorgeous, and she reminds me a lot of Riya or Lia).

I mean come on, isn't this just gorgeous?

(For some reason I searched for Aoi Shiori at first. I blame the word Aoi.)

This is definitely on my list of favorite anime songs EVER.

A is for Archer

2012-01-19T12:28:00.001-05:00

The Character: Archer (voiced by Junichi Suwabe)

Series: Fate/stay night

Yes, there's also Archer in Fate/Zero, but to me that guy is Gilgamesh and...well, screw that guy. He's an ass. Nobody likes him. Heck, he'd been on-screen for like three seconds in Fate/stay night and I was like “Wow this guy is a tool”. Lo and behold, that guy was totally a tool.

Anyway. Spoilers ahead.

ARCHER.

This guy:

He was summoned as Rin's Servant, and the first thing she did was complain that she wanted Saber, to which I was basically like “Bitch shut up, that guy is awesome”. And in fact he was my favorite character in the entire series. Go figure, he dies.

Now, she ended up figuring out that he was totally awesome. There were approximately zero things not awesome about him. So what I'm saying is, he had ALL the awesome. (For the record, the ALL THE THINGS meme has been my favorite since it started existing.) Even his true identity is awesome, which, by the way, is sort of a weird time paradox thing of “how did that even happen”. Because his true identity is the main character of Fate/stay night.

Best moment:

Rin, Archer, Shirou and Saber are all in this huge mansion, along with Illya (tiny Russian girl) and her Servant, Berserker. Her Berserker happens to be Hercules (Heracles, for those of you who are like me and really obsessed with Greek mythology to know the proper spelling). And he's really gross and huge and looks like this:

It kinda looks like they're all totally screwed. So Archer tells them to go, says he'll deal with Berserker. Rin doesn't really want to leave, but they force her to go so she doesn't, you know...die. They all make a break for it. Archer stays behind.

His Noble Phantasm (basically a Servant's unique special ability, for those of you who haven't seen the series) is something called Unlimited Blade Works. He uses that to put up a very good fight against that fecking Berserker. To protect his Master and her friends.

And then he dies.

Character Awesomeness: Approximately 10/10 awesomes. (That is a word now, because I said so.)

A is for Asu E

2012-01-17T11:50:00.001-05:00

So it turns out I'm an idiot. Since I switched over to Blogger's new format thingy, I learned how to set posts to go up automatically. I had a few posts for the alphabet thing to go up on auto and...okay, well I thought I did. Turned out I got on today to set up my posts for the rest of the week and uhm...I was wrong. You have to click in the little "automatic" circle, and I thought I'd done that. I stood corrected.

Here's what should have been up last week. I decided to switch my characters and songs around.

The song for the letter A?

Asu E, by Galileo Galilei. The song was set as the OP for Gundam AGE (which I am loving, by the way), and I ended up addicted to it. So I waited tremendously impatiently for the full version to come out. When it did I listened to it on repeat for like three hours. Not kidding.

Then I realized it's by the same group who did Aoi Shiori (used for Ano Hana) and ended up buying one of their CDs because apparently I am in love with them.

This version is a little bit edited, and it isn't the full, but I'm having issues finding the legit one. So listen to this and then go find the full one somewhere and worship it in all of its glory.

A is for Angelic Layer

2012-01-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

Here we have the very first post in my alphabet series! Oh, Angelic Layer... Please note that this post is fail on the pictures end. I wasn't being very smart about my screen shots for Angelic Layer.

Come Thursday we'll meet a character who starts with the letter A, and it will be awesome.

The Basics

Episodes: 26

Genre: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Sports, Drama, Shounen (really MAL?)

Aired: April 1, 2001 to September 23, 2001

Directed by: Hiroshi Nishikiori

Producers: Bones

Opening Theme: Be My Angel by Atsuko Enomoto

Closing Theme: The Starry Sky by HAL / Ameagari by Matsushita Moeco

Review

The Story: Young (she's all of twelve) Misaki Suzuhara moves to Tokyo to live with her aunt, instead of with her grandparents. She hasn't lived with her mom since she was very tiny and they really don't talk about her dad. Anyway, when she gets to the city, she's looking around like WHOA (always the proper response to Tokyo) and she sees this fight...well, a game. The game is Angelic Layer, and it's a fighting game playing using electronics dolls, which are called “Angels”. Of course she thinks it looks awesome. So she goes to spend all of her money on stuff for it, along the way meeting a weird guy named Icchan who gives her advice on the topic of...well, Angelic Layer.

Next thing she knows, she's taking part in a huge Angelic Layer tournament and really, doing quite well.

The Characters: I really like the cast of Angelic Layer. First you've got Misaki, who is just...adorable and determined, and even though her Angel (Hikaru) is just a toy, she really feels bad and ends up all sad when she loses, because it wasn't good for Hikaru. I think she's very admirable.

Then there's her two (three?) best friends. They include Kotarou, who is a cute kid who ends up with a crush on her and I don't remember if it happened in the anime, but in the manga, at least, they were dating by the end. You know, a cute kid relationship. Tamayo is another of her friends, who likes to test out karate moves on poor Kotarou...but it's hilarious, so who cares. Then there's Hatoko, Kotarou's little sister...and a champion of Angelic Layer.

Plus you've got all the opponents, who were pretty well-characterized. Not to mention Icchan, who Chobits fans would also know as the creator of Persocoms...anyway, the cast is really a pretty funny, entertaining group of people. I have no complaints about any of them, even the jerks.

The Transition: Well, Angelic Layer was originally a manga written by CLAMP. And as I may have mentioned before, I worship that mangaka group as gods and have read basically everything by them (minus RG Veda, X/1999, xxxHolic entirely, Tsubasa entirely, and I think Tokyo Babylon...might be forgetting something, who knows) and of course that includes Angelic Layer. It's actually one of my favorites of theirs, so I was more than a little worried about watching the anime—could it possibly compare?

...Nope.

The anime seemed really, really drawn out. I mean, the manga was only five volumes long. It was mostly made up of battles and Misaki figuring out the best way to win when her opponents were often a lot more experienced and had excellent strategies. So it was kind of a character-growing-up series. Thing. I don't even know. The thing is, it was really well-done. I think if the anime was one of those series that went like 14 or 15 episodes, it would have been a lot better, because they wouldn't have been inserting all sorts of filler.

Conclusion?: Now, to watch Angelic Layer, or NOT to watch Angelic Layer...I'm going to be honest, as I always am (and in view of being ever-honest...I just spelled honest wrong three times before getting it right and I also added an S to 'am').

If you really like CLAMP and want to be thorough with their stuff, watch Angelic Layer. Don't expect it to live up to the manga. Just don't. You'll be setting yourself up to have your feelings hurt, and it's just not very pleasant.

If you're interested in like...girly fighting stuff with important strategy things? Go ahead and watch it. Or maybe if you're looking for a few laughs, because it is pretty funny (though the manga was much funnier).

Other than that, I can't really recommend it unless you're looking for a quick, fun watch that you don't have to pay a lot of attention to in order to understand.

My rating: 7/10. It was kind of average. Now if I were reviewing the MANGA, I would be giving it a 10/10 because...well CLAMP. I loved the manga.

A New Idea

2012-01-07T12:05:00.001-05:00

All right, it's the new year, it's time for freshness and awesomeness and...other such things. Like another semester in Japanese, in which I will learn ("learn") Kanji. I will not remember this Kanji and it will hurt my grade, but I'm determined to get like straight A's this semester.

I digress.

As of right now, I am implementing a post schedule. I have two blogs to maintain now, this one and a writerly one that only has a few posts so far (it's here if anyone cares). So my plan is that the writerly blog will get posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday--it had to get Wednesday thanks to a certain thing that another blog I love does.

THIS blog will be updated every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Sundays belong to me, and me alone, and I will not acknowledge blogs at all those days.

I came up with what (I think is) an awesome idea for a new series of posts. My old series posts are basically canceled at this point, but this one is just fun to me. It's ABC posts. Which is to say, every week is going to get a letter, and it'll be just like this:

Tuesday: a series

Thursday: a character

Saturday: a song

So this Tuesday I'll open up with a selection of A's. Like it could include Ano Hana (it doesn't, I already reviewed that), Axel from Kingdom Hearts (not true), and All the Umbrellas In London (that's not even a real song, just a line from a song by the awesome Canadian band Stars).

I'll keep that up until I go through the whole alphabet, maybe with other sporadic posts thrown in, like about current anime and such, and it'll get me halfway through the year more-or-less.

I think this'll be a really great year. My main resolution (yes I failed at the 150 Challenge resolution from last year but OH WELL I finished like 80something anime) is to enjoy every minute of the year. And I plan to make that very much come true.

Here's wishing everyone a great year of anime and blogging and whatever else you have going on!

Lesson: Computers Are Evil

2012-01-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

So this has been me lately:

My computer and I stopped being friends because the computer thought it would be a cool idea to obtain a virus...then another one...then another one...thus why my 12 Days of Anime posts cut off partway through the celebration, and why I really haven't been posting much anyway. Things seem to be okay now, other than one pretty freaking big thing:

The computer ate stuff.

So guess what I no longer have? ...If you guessed that I no longer have my book, you guessed properly. Oh, I still have bits and pieces of it, and thankfully I still have the interviews I've conducted, but for the most part...suffice it to say I am pushing the release date back a few months. The NEW intended release is mid-April. And I'm backing everything up obsessively now.

Anyway, here's to an awesome New Year, in which I blog a lot and don't have to deal with computery hissy fits every five seconds.

12 Days of Anime: Day 7

2011-12-19T16:37:00.000-05:00

Today's goal is to get this post out as quickly as humanly possible because I want to get back to playing Pokémon. I'm presently marathoning the game, mostly trying to avoid my computer as much as I can...said computer keeps ending up with random viruses out of nowhere so we aren't really friends at the moment. Granted, tomorrow I have to be nice to him for the sake of book stuff.

Joooooooy.

Anyway.

On the seventh day of anime, the studio gave to me...

DID YOU REALLY?

No. 6: The Kiss

Well anyone who watched the series already knows exactly what I'm referring to. Basically, No. 6 was a passable series..erm, the first half was a lot better than the second in my opinion. To the point that I was bored out of my skull for the entirety of like, episodes 9 to the end.

However, I liked it for the fact that it was a normal anime—y'know, plot, character development, nice setting and everything. It just happened to have some BL. Which really, is exactly what we should have. Instead of focus on the gayness, focus on the actual STUFF with the gay on the side.

So for this specific moment to appear in a nice, normal anime...that's freaking PROGRESS right there.

Here's the actual moment, by the way:

(gif stolen from a friend of mine while at Youmacon)

Plus there was another kiss later on. Heck, it was excellence!

Now I'm going back to Pokémon.

12 Days of Anime: Day 6

2011-12-18T16:40:00.000-05:00

I was originally planning a different moment for today, but it kinda dawned on me that I might as well honor another of my favorite fall series. So I switched it out, and I quite like the moment I switched to. After all, Persona 4 isn't the only thing I'm loving to death for the fall.

On the sixth day of anime, the studio gave to me...

O______O

Fate/zero: Enter Caster

Well, a friend and I recently realized something about me. I really like a certain kind of character—now, these are people I probably wouldn't like in real life, but in anime/manga/whatever-other-medium-of-entertainment, I enjoy them waaaaaaay too much.

Here's a list, just so you can maybe guess before I name the character type:

Vincent (Pandora Hearts)

Genkaku (Deadman Wonderland)

Izaya (Durarara!!)

Uryuu (Fate/zero)

Kimblee (FMA)

Anyone got it? Probably, but here it is:

Psychopaths.

I really freaking like psychopaths. So you take episode 2, and Uryuu is sitting there with this tied up kid, aiming to summon a demon, and...well, he summons Caster. Who is supremely ugly and seriously I'll take the Caster from Fate/stay night over this guy any day, but the point is, this is how Uryuu introduces himself:

“I'm Uryuu Ryuunosuke. I'm currently unemployed, and I like killing people, pretty much. Especially kids and young women.”

Well dayum. That's about as psychopath as you get, isn't it? (Other than Vincent, because Vincent always wins.) I found that awesome on its own.

Then Caster unties the kid and is appearing to let him go. Just before the kid makes it out...

Was I horrified? Well yeah. I don't like when little kids die. But it was still awesome in a really, really disturbing way.

12 Days of Anime: Day 5

2011-12-17T17:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, very short post today because there's not actually a whole lot I can say about the topic...

On the fifth day of anime, the studio gave to me...

DEAR LORD WHY.

Persona 4: Kanji's Dungeon

I love Persona 4. It's one of my favorite games ever (though I probably don't love it as much as P3) and therefore I always know exactly what to expect from the animated edition. As such...well, I wasn't looking forward to Kanji's dungeon to begin with.

(Side note: I don't know that they're really considered dungeons in the anime. However, having played the game, they're always going to be dungeons to me. I'm too used to running through them trying not to die and such.)

The thing about Kanji's dungeon is that it scarred me for life. I mean you have voices from nowhere going “c'mere big boy” and other such terrifying things. Besides, his Shadow was a hardcore flamer (we all know I have no issue with gay stuff, no one is allowed to be offended by that) and the actual thing in full boss-mode was even worse. Maybe. I'm not sure.

Okay then the episode happened.

...THEY MADE IT WORSE.

I am positive that I cannot possibly become more scarred for life than that episode made me. Seriously

Now I'm going to go read a nice happy story and think about less scary things. Like Narnia or something.

12 Days of Anime 2011: Day 4

2011-12-16T16:01:00.000-05:00

No snazzy introductions from me today. We're hitting day four of the 12 days, and then I'm going to...probably get back to novel revisions. Hey look, it's the SOS Brigade celebrating the holidays!

On the fourth day of anime, the studio gave to me...

B'AWWWWWWWW

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée: Oh, Claude

Ikoku was an adorable, adorable series. Come on, you have this little Japanese girl (who makes up an enormous chunk of cute all on her own) who randomly ends up traveling to stay in France with an old man and his grandson, Claude. Of course, Claude wasn't aware this was going to happen and he isn't sure how to feel about it at first but he works on adjusting to it and dealing with the girl—Yune.

A bunch of the series was devoted to those two interacting, because heck, no matter how long Yune had been living with them, it seemed that Claude just couldn't get used to her.

Now, sometimes Claude could be a jerk. I don't think he ever intended it, but he was incredibly rude a lot of the time, just being himself. Half the time I had to wonder if he really cared about Yune or anything like that.

So in the last episode, she goes wandering, following around a cat that she wants to get back to where it belongs. Where does she follow it? ...Onto a roof. Very smart. Claude goes looking for her, figures out she's on the roof, and well—he's Claude, so he yells at her. She says something about just wanting to help and he responds with this:

I might have exploded a little from that one statement. It was so sweet, and adorable, as much as he can be adorable anway and gahhhhhh, it just made me squee. Because yes, I do squee sometimes, I am not afraid to admit it.

Yep. There's day four.

12 Days of Anime 2011: Days 2 & 3

2011-12-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

All right, since I failed to post yesterday, I'll be doing days two AND three today. I'm actually not even home right now and won't be until late tonight, but well...I need to post and I still have awhile before my final today, so I may as well sit here and blog, right? Seems reasonable to me. Winter break starts tomorrow for me, meaning I can catch up 100% on EVERYTHING then.

Anyway.

On the second day of anime, the studio gave to me...

REALLY BAD NEWS. (No, I didn't bother trying to rhyme that one.)

Steins;Gate: Win One, Lose One

This anime was awesome. I haven't gotten around to reviewing it yet, but anyone who watched it knows it was freaking awesome. I'd probably call it the third best anime of the year (upcoming post for my top ten best/worst stuff...AFTER the twelve days are over), and it earned that position.

The moment for me that stuck the most came pretty well-into the series. The main character, whose name I don't remember right now, had been repeatedly going back, sending new D-mails, desperately trying to save...I forget that one's name as well. The one that was a boy, then it was a girl, and then it was a boy again. That was kinda weird, but I've seen weirder. So for one it really sucked watching him try so hard and fail every time because yeah, they just kept dying no matter what he did. His goal thus became to get back to the ORIGINAL timeline, because they didn't die there.

Great, let's go back. Nothing wrong with that idea, right?

...Wait.

Episode something or other: he has a sudden realization. No, that person didn't die in the original timeline...Kurisu did. If he returns there, the woman he's started to fall in love with throughout timeline after timeline is going to die.

That moment hit me hard when I watched it, and it's probably always going to be the most powerful part of Steins;Gate for me. Because hell, she was my favorite character, too. And suddenly she was about to be lost again? Kinda harsh.

-----

On the third day of anime, the studio gave to me...

A TERRIBLE EVIL CLIFFHANGER

Kamisama Dolls: *@%($*^#&@(#*%&#(&U(*^!!!!!

Guys, I really liked Kamisama Dolls. Like it was freaking awesome and badass and my favorite character was Aki (I was totally voting for him to destroy the crap out of that little village they're from) and just WHOA. By far one of my favorites of the summer anime season.

So the series goes on, y'know, main character kinda getting slowly cooler as time goes by, some things just being all right but nothing special, just enjoyable...the lovely way Aki just referred to the one chick as “The girl with the boobs” and I had to do the same because like hell I remembered her name.

Anyway, we get down to the last episode and we have this awesomeness going on:

Followed by:

...Yep. Cliffhanger for the series. Not cool.

I'm done now.

12 Days of Anime 2011: Day 1

2011-12-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

Holy crap I died. I mean, died died—well, without the light at the end of the tunnel. I actually have multiple excuses for my complete disappearance from the Internet (other than Facebook...I was totally there still), but I'm not going to bore you guys by making you read them.

This is what I DO have for the day.

It dawned on me yesterday that I needed to be doing the 12 Days of Anime, because heck, I have my moments picked out and everything and I am freaking going to use them. So yeah, I returned to life due to the HOLIDAYS. I'm not really putting these in order of awesome or anything, kind of just...however I see fit. Except my last one. That's going to be the moment that has stuck with me the most throughout the year since I watched it.

So on the first day of anime, the studio gave to me...

SOME SERIOUS BADASSERY.

IS: Infinite Stratos: Laura Was Awesome

Some of you might be confused, because well...Infinite Stratos was NOT good. Heck, I even bitched about it myself a few months back after it finished airing. The Hetalia-style-harem in this series was frustrating beyond belief, and it wouldn't have been if not for...okay, here's why I have a moment from IS.

It COULD have been good. Does anyone else remember what happened in episode 7? Yes, no, maybe? It's all right, I'm going to tell you about it anyway.

In episode 7 of Infinite Stratos, it seemed like there was still a chance for this series to be good. It was kind of on the fence between typical harem nonsense (with robots) or totally cool mecha (with lots of chicks), and I was curious about which way it was going to go. This episode gets credit for making me think it was going to go the cool way—you know, the robot action that happens to be filled with women, because this is anime and boobs are almost always a must.

So in this episode, how did it fool me?

England and China (aka Cecilia and Rin) choose to face off against Germany (aka Laura). And you know what? Laura does not like them. She feels she's the best and she REALLY doesn't like them. So what does she do? Well, she beats the LIVING SHIT out of them during their fight.

Then Ichika throws himself into the fight because he is an idiot and she is totally about to beat the shit out of him as well—because she hates him even more than she hates everyone else. He like, took away her lesbian lover or something like that. (I'll be honest, I tried to wipe most of this series from my memory.)

And France (Charlotte) joins in as well. Let's just say Laura is definitely about to destroy every last one of them until Ichika's sister (the lesbian lover) comes in and is basically like “Godammit guys stop being stupid”. Laura probably wouldn't listen if not for the fact that it is her lesbian lover and that is VERY IMPORTANT. I don't even know.

Basically, watching Laura try to completely destroy everyone (and mostly succeed!) was FANTASTIC.

The series went down the drain 100% after that, but for the one shining moment...the only word that fits is “dayum”. Like YEAH. That was badass.

And this is me, signing off. I have a final later that I am going to do very badly on, so I need to keep cramming.

Some Awesome Music

2011-11-22T17:36:00.000-05:00

Today seems like a good day for sharing music. So I'm going to share some music. And hopefully everyone who isn't me can enjoy it as much as I do, because...it's awesome. Have at!

Oblivious – Kalafina

All right, I really like Kalafina. As in really like. Heck, listening to Lacrimosa on repeat for a good few hours (I do this with way too many songs, way too often) is what inspired a good chunk of Weeping—one of my novels, for anyone who doesn't remember or wasn't here for those posts.

When I first watched the very first Kara no Kyoukai movie, I was planning to skip the credits because it was like 2 in the morning and I wanted to go to bed. I am so, so SO glad I chose not to do so. If I had, I would've missed out on this totally awesome song! It sounds a bit like Magia, yes, but...well, Magia is awesome too.

Magnet – Gakupo and Luka

Oh Vocaloids. I will admit, I didn't like Vocaloids to start off. I didn't like listening to computers sing when they sounded so very...computery. Which is why to this day I'm not a Miku fan for the most part, other than the append stuff. Still, over time, I've developed to like some of the stuff. And I will whole-heartedly admit to loving the crap out of Gakupo and Luka. Particularly together.

There are about a million different versions of Magnet. I have about four of them on my computer, but my absolute favorite is this one. Gakupo and Luka sound awesome together.

Aoi Shiori – Galileo Galilei

Gah, opening theme of Ano Hana. For a long time it didn't make me cry...until it made me cry. Now it doesn't make me cry, but it does distract me to no end. I decided to listen to it while trying to write the other day, and well...let's just say that didn't work out.

I'm trying to find a video on Youtube and having trouble for some reason right now...so I will hopefully update this post later with a video.

Uninstall – Chiaki Ishikawa

Assuming I ever get back to doing my top ten lists (maybe eventually), this song will make another appearance, because the OP sequence is one of my all-time favorites. Seriously though, this song is just...gah. I can't get over how much I freaking adore it.

Disillusion – Sachi Tainaka

I didn't realize how great this song is until yesterday. It is now one of my favorites.

So yeah. That's all for now. Hopefully there's a song here you like!

Dear Fall 2011

2011-11-16T12:28:00.000-05:00

All right, so...fall is being a little bit fun. Well, a lot of fun for me, but I still spend a lot of time staring at my screen wondering just what the heck is going on because...what? Some of this stuff is seriously wonky. I figured I might as well announce some of what I'm thinking about these things.

In letter form, because I'm bored and it seems fun. (I'm also procrastinating working on the book, but that's a whole other story.)

Dear Ben-To:

Whoa now.

I had accepted that you were ridiculous...come to terms with it, even. Much as I didn't find you funny, I could deal with you. And then—and then you had this huge-ass guy announcing that he was going to kill the Ice Queen over some half-priced bento to prove how strong he is. I'll be honest. There's ridiculous and then there's you. Stop that.

Hey, C3!:

This makes everything worth it.

Much as I can't be bothered to make the 3 in your title look how it's supposed to right now, I want you to know that I appreciate you. I expected you to be a carbon copy of this one other anime from earlier in the year and you've surprised me by being...dare I say...good? Don't get me wrong. I don't think you're very good and you'll probably join OreImou on my list of guilty pleasures, BUT I am actually enjoying you for some reason. And that's a lot more than I can say for some anime this year.

Dear Guilty Crown:

It was at this point that I was appalled.

First of all, you're still Code Geass in denial. Second of all, thank you for making me think of Elton John. I may or may not have been forced to pause you and run off to Youtube. I wasn't aware his song topics were becoming drugs, but I guess I'll take your word on it. Gai is either hot or creepy. Also, I predicted Shu getting his butt kicked by Wheelchair Girl as soon as he mentioned the wheelchair.

Dear Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai:

Epic karaoke competition?

What is this I don't even. You're kind of...weird. And kind of semi-entertaining. And maybe just a little bit fascinating. I do think your characters are totally missing the point of how you make friends, and also missing the fact that: hey guys, you're all becoming friends, problem solved!

Dear Maken-Ki!:

This kitten is the only good thing in the show.

You make me regret being alive. That is all.

Dear Chihayafuru:

I like you sir.

Why on earth are you so endearing? More importantly, what was with the distinct lack of Arata in the last episode? He's my favorite character, you have to let me watch him some more, you jerks! Especially after the end of episode...was it five? I'm losing track, but come on. Please? (I am watching seven RIGHT NOW, so if he's in it, yay.)

Dear Iku Musume:

FFFFFFFFF-CUUUUUUUUUTE

I had no expectations. Continue as you are. I love Ika-chan.

Dear Mashiro-iro Symphony:

I don't...have...a comment...

There's nothing to say to you. You started out as a generic harem anime and well—you're still a generic harem anime. The laws of harem series tend to say that the first girl the guy meets is the one he'll end up with, so as of now I've got my finger pointed toward the Obligatory Tsundere.

Dear Gundam AGE:

It was here that I knew you would be a tool.

I hated Gundam 00, and other than that only saw like two episodes of Gundam Seed Destiny. So my opinion of the Gundam franchise wasn't very high. But hey. You're managing to reverse my opinion. Good work.

Dear Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!:

Wut.

I understand that you're probably created mostly by men, and that men seem to think breasts are a worthy replacement for stuff like good characters and plot and whatnot. Honestly though, there is no excuse for your existence. Stop that.

Dear Fate/zero:

Good job.

I love you. Keep up the good work.

Dear Kimi to Boku:

One juice for...four people?

Why are you so boring? Thank you though, for like...giving this guy a haircut so I can actually accept that he is in fact male.

Dear Tamayura:

I concede that you are adorable.

You're also boring. You and KtB can hang out. Maybe it'll liven things up a little.

Dear Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi:

Excuse me for a moment. I just laughed so hard I died.

I didn't like the first season, I don't like you either. I'm only watching because you have Hiroshi and I love him. I apparently love him more than I love my sanity.

Dear Un-Go:

Man, that ancient Vocaloid thing.

Here's the thing. I like you. But you're a lot like Gosick. Heck, you're even from the same studio! Your mysteries suck, but some of your characters are cool. I like Shinjurou, I really do. And I like that guy whose name I can't remember, the one who is always at a computer. I even like the creepy little RAI conscienceness even though it likes going into the little girl body (awkward much?). Also, you have like one of my favorite ending themes this season...but really, the mysteries. Bones needs to stop trying its hand at this stuff.

Dear Phi Brain:

Every one of these puzzles would KILL ME.

I still like you. I'm wondering if there's ever going to be some big over-arching plot, but I assume there will be on the basis that you keep showing the one POG guy. He seems like a very angry guy, to be honest. Hopefully he does something other than be pissed off at some point.

Dear Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon:

Believe it! ...Wait, wrong series.

Do YOU even know what you're about? Because I don't think you do.

Dear Mirai Nikki:

Potentially the creepiest puppet I have ever seen.

You are fantastic. Truly fantastic. Granted, your main character needs to MAN UP PLEASE and Yuno can just go crawl in a hole (I hate yanderes). Also, Ninth is insane and Twelfth was one of the most annoying people I have ever seen...and Sixth was totally evil but whatever. I will admit that a little kid being a diary holder concerns me, but...go on.

Dear Persona 4:

More stylish have never been seen.

I love you. Never ever, ever change. My god Naoto looks so tiny in the anime. BUT BLOODY HELL I LOVE YOU.

And that's my fall right now.

Wow, Just Look At the Date

2011-11-10T13:15:00.000-05:00

I would like to open this post by questioning Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!!, and why I am watching it. “He saw your panties, you have to marry him!” I don't understand. I don't understand why it exists, why it legitimately seems to be providing enough fanservice for the entire season (not that you can't easily find it in other places, like Maken-Ki! and Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon), and WHY I AM WATCHING IT.

Oh, right. It has Hiroshi Kamiya in it.

Godammit.

ANYWAY.

Today is November 10^th, 2011.

This day last year I made my very post on this blog. It was a tiny little bit of nonsense introducing myself.

I find that my birthday post has the most incredible timing in the history of such things, because, well...tomorrow is obviously the 11^th, right? Turns out that the game Skyrim is coming out at midnight and some of us (read: me) have it pre-ordered and plan to be dead to the world this weekend in favor of playing the crap out of that game. I mean, I have over 1500 hours clocked in Oblivion, which is the fourth game in that series, and I've been fangirling over every bit of Skyrim news they've released.

So, make this post, and go away for three days, right? Yep.

I've found that I've been pretty darn successful in this first year of being around. What's my definition of success?

I will show it in screencaps.

Check out the number for all-time pageviews. I'm less than 500 hits away from the 100,000 mark. I know I've seen a lot of bloggers do celebratory posts for their 100,000, but since mine would just end up being like....tomorrow or later tonight, I'm thinking I won't bother. I'm just excited to be so close to that milestone. Am I anywhere near some of the other bloggers I know? Heeeeeck no, plenty of people are way ahead of me right now, and I probably won't catch up for a good long time, but 100,000 hits in a year?

I can be happy with that.

Of course, then we have the true measure of success: Google.

How easily does Google find you? Or in this case, how easily does Google find me? (Yes, I know there are other search engines, but no one cares about them. Bing and Yahoo? Pah!)

Anyway. I ran this search:

Yep, if you search for “anime review blog” I am the second result. Right underneath the always-awesome Canne. Of course, Canne was the first anime blog I ever discovered myself, so the fact that I'm showing up right by his name...faaaaaantastic!

I ran one other search right after that:

I figure there are more people searching for just plain “anime review” than the full “anime review blog”. So I figured I'd see where I stood in regards to people who are just looking for reviews and...whoa, I'm number four? How on earth did that happen?

Not that I'm going to complain. I AM NUMBER FOUR. (Note to self: do not watch that movie, the creator was a jerk.)

But yeah, I think I've done very well for myself in this last year. Plus I've got a lot of great things going on with the impending release of my book, featuring a few voice actors, some absolutely amazing (and well-known) cosplayers, and garnering support from a number of anime conventions.

So, in celebration of this stuff, I'd like to offer a giveaway of my book once it's out. You won't be saving a huge amount of money because to be honest it's not going to be especially expensive (I know anime fans are cheap, or at least a majority of us, thus a low price).

How to win the giveaway?

Just leave a comment! First person to comment gets the free copy. By the way, if you're one of my fellow bloggers, you might not want to bother with this because I'm planning something more specific for you guys. Which I promise to tell you about by the middle of December.

So yeah. I'm a year old now, and I've done brilliantly well.

Now I'm going back to watching Maji de Watashi ni Shinasai!! and questioning my existence.

Youmacon 2011: “I Do Stuff Good”

2011-11-06T19:42:00.000-05:00

Well guys, I spent this last weekend in Detroit. In general I avoid Detroit like you wouldn't believe, but what was going on the last few days? Youmacon 2011, of course!

The post title didn't give that away at all, right? Right?

Okay, so it was a pretty excellent weekend. I only live about an hour from the city (feel free to begin guessing where exactly I live), so I got there at around 12:30 in the afternoon on Friday and left...well, about two hours ago...got home an hour ago.

As I write this post I'm suffering from a combination of massive headache, post-con deadness, and hunger because dinner won't be ready for yet another hour.

Now obviously, I'm not going to detail every. single. thing. that happened to me this weekend...but I'll touch on a few highlights.

I don't usually get to be around for the opening ceremonies of a convention. Half the time I'm at the con for them, yes, but I haven't quite paid a lot of attention to my schedule yet so I don't realize when they are (were) until two hours after the fact.

Not this time. I was alone when I got there, got my badge taken care of in like three minutes (thank GOD for pre-reg, since the at-con line looked about a mile long), glanced at my program to see what I could do to kill time and was like, “Oh hey, I'll go to these...”

And I'm glad I made the decision to go. It was a lot of fun, sitting and listening to what the main events were going to be and hearing the guests introduce themselves and everything. I particularly enjoyed hearing the voice of Duke Nukem say it wasn't his fault Duke Nukem Forever sucked—I'm glad he acknowledges that. Plus the voice of Dante (DMC) was there and come on, that guy is hot, voice included. Dante, I mean.
Anyone who knows me and goes to conventions with me typically notices one thing: I don't eat. I mean, I don't 100% not take anything in for three days, but like...well, Anime Central this year I believe I ate once a day and Matsuricon I only vaguely remember eating on Saturday but not Friday or Sunday. When I do eat, it's typically like a honey bun or twinkie or something that barely is food. I just don't think about it. This weekend? I ate food! Real food! As much as Burger King and McDonalds count as food anyway.
Going to cons all the time, you're prettymuch bound to meet someone (lots of someones) who live really far away, or at least far enough away that you can't get to them easily on a regular basis. So I of course have friends who live away and I can't drive meaning I don't see them unless we're going to the same convention. As such, I saw a few people I literally haven't seen since freaking January (Ohayocon) and others that I haven't seen since May (Anime Central). That was pretty spectacular.
Friday night, one of those friends was going to show me the Powerpoint for his panel (which was Saturday night). Pulled up his laptop...went clicking through...no Powerpoint. So guess what we did until around 3 in the morning? Yeah. He recreated his panel and I sat there to keep him company, using my own laptop to show him...you know, gay porn. (BL panel being created, obviously the correct choice is gay porn.) Plus I gave him my ENTIRE Durarara!! picture collection. Reminder: I have more than 6000 of them. Yeah.
Saturday night, I went on an adventure. Which is to say...another of the friends I hadn't seen in awhile was leaving that night and me and another friend figured we would walk out to his car with him. So we follow him to a parking garage... “Oh, no, I didn't park in this one, I parked in the garage on the other side of the building.” Okay. So we head back over that way. There's two parking garages side-by-side. He says which one he's in. Guess what? Nope. We had to walk over to the third parking garage to finally get to the car. Thankfully he drove us back around to the building entrance, so I think our feet appreciated that.
Earlier on Saturday I lost my badge. We were heading into the dealer's room, and my badge was gone. Thankfully when we went to con ops someone had dropped it off there and we recovered it no problem. (By the way if you're ever at a con and see an Arianna Sterling, it is me. That goes on all of my badges.)
A friend and I pulled a few little photoshoots (just the two of us) the same day. For him it was SeeU (the new Korean Vocaloid, for anyone who doesn't know). And for me we got pictures in a Casual/Schoolgirl!Mami I chose to do, as well as Tsukishima!Shizuo. I'm not too excited about the Tsuki pictures, though there are a few all right ones. The Mami pictures on the other hand? Let's just say I have my author photo for the book. And here's another one from the shoot:
I met a few new people, including some people where we knew the same people but hadn't met each other yet.
I got some pictures that will definitely be going in the book. I got permission from the cosplayers and everything, as well as contact information so I can say, “Hey yo, this book is out and you're on page pick-a-number”. Except sounding more like myself and such. Seriously, I got some cool people. None of them are in this post though because I want them to be a surprise!
While I didn't plan to buy anything, that plan flew out the window in Artist's Alley. There I bought a print of Mami and Charlotte, as well as two keychain-drawing thingies. One of them has Mami and Luka in it, while the other has Kaito and Menma. (I saw some seriously adorable cell phone charms of the Ano Hana cast, but sadly couldn't afford them so I just got the business card of where they were being sold. I'll get them later.)
I came to the conclusion that I'm done cosplaying Shizuo (my signature cosplay) unless I actually have my Izaya with me. There were literally about 15-20 of them including myself...no, not seeing the same ones over and over again. DIFFERENT SHIZUOS. So unless I have my Izaya (this weekend I did not) to make it stand out more, I'm not wearing Shizuo to places...even though I make a damn good Shizuo, for a girl and all.
Sleep? What's sleep? I think Friday night/Saturday morning/whatever you want to call it...I was out from maaaaaybe 4am until 9:30am. So about 5 hours. Then we had the time change the next night. I went to bed at what was 2:30am technically, but to my brain and body was 3:30am...and I was up again about a quarter to 7 (← only because I was freezing my butt off and figured shower = HEAT). I can't actually tell you how often at cons I am the last person back to the room. Why go to bed when I can walk around and stuff?
Elevators. Oh. My. God. I was best friends with those things this weekend. Legitimately, I ended up with some of the coolest people in the world in there with me. First off, I was in an elevator with LittleKuriboh—you know, YuGiOh! Abridged? Hilarious parody that everyone should watch and love? Yeah. Then I ended up with Sonny Strait (Maes Hughes and other awesome characters) later on. He was actually talking to us, asking ages to get a median for some reason..then we talked about how elevators are going to take over the world for some reason.

Yeah, that was my weekend in a nutshell. Basically, an awesome time. Oh, and the title of this post? One of my friends said that this morning. I figure it sums up the weekend and...you know, every other anime convention. It rounds it out.

Next upcoming is Anime Crossroads. If anyone is going, let me know! (It's tiny, I doubt any of you are going.) Was anyone here at Youmacon, or Sugoicon or any of the other few conventions that went on this last weekend?

Anime Review: Monochrome Factor

2011-11-01T17:46:00.000-04:00

Okay, I watched this...so long ago. Like March or something like that. Granted, I watched Bakemonogatari and Arakawa Under the Bridge before this one and haven't reviewed them yet either. I will...sometime or another. Moving on though, review!

The Basics

Episodes: 24

Genre: Action, Shonen Ai, Supernatural

Aired: April 7, 2008 to September 29, 2008

Directed by: Yuu Kou

Producers: Genco, A.C.G.T.

Opening Theme: Metamorphose by Asriel

Closing Theme: Awake ~Boku no Subete~ by Daisuke Ono (and I'm pretty sure Hiroshi Kamiya sings in it as well) / Kakusei ~Dark & Light~ by Junichi Suwabe

Review

The Story: The story focuses in on a slacker high school boy named Akira...according to anime, slacker high school boys are the most interesting people in the universe. One day he meets this guy Shirogane, who tells him they've got some sort of destiny together and Akira is basically like “wut” and ignores him. Not too long after this, a friend needs him to go to the school with her at night to find something she left there. At the school, he gets attacked by some shadow creature...thing.

Shirogane pops back up because that is What Happens where you're watching this kind of series. He kinda convinces Akira to help him fight these shadow beasts by becoming a “shin”, to help restore some balance to the world because...oh, did I mention the sudden lack of balance? Right, it's there. The anime revolves around fighting these things.

Also, it's kind of gay.

The Characters: The Monochrome Factor cast was something of a mixed bag in my eyes. Akira himself was pretty average, in terms of male leads. Really, you've seen one Teenage Boy Who Gets Supernatural Powers, you've seen them all. (Unless maybe it's the guy from Natsume Yuujinchou? Why do I keep mentioning that anime in other reviews? Maybe I should just review it?) I mean, yeah, there was the thing where he was trying to avoid Shirogane's incredibly blatant seduction attempts, but other than that...typical.

Then you've got Shirogane, who...was a little bit hilarious. Like he's supposed to be pretty awesome, I think, since he's fighting these shadowy creature thingies, but it seems like he's so much more concerned with hitting on Akira every two seconds and trying to get him into bed. Really, the shonen-ai undertones were a lot less...under...when this dude was on-screen. Also: best braid in the history of braids. It's so loooooooong.

Other primary characters include Kengo, Akira's best friend/probable opponent to Shirogane for his affections. (Watch the series to decide if I'm making that up or not...honestly he's voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya with Daisuke Ono as Akira and ever since the Shizuo/Izaya business I've been pairing their characters up a lot.) Honestly though he loves his BFF and is just sort of that comic relief idiot (think Jounouchi in YGO). There's that Aya chick, who is pretty average. There's Kou, a big-brothery figure...huge pervert, by the way. And Haruka, an 11 year old boy who didn't exist in the manga but happens to be an Enormous Plot Device in the anime.

On the whole? They're an average cast, nothing really special or stand-out about them...but they're entertaining enough.

(Side note: listening to Take Off from Ao no Exorcist while writing this is really distracting.)

The What Is This I Don't Even: All right. So in a way, this series reminded me of Uraboku (which I swear I will review eventually...probably...) in terms of the enemies. Like you have people kinda getting possessed by the shadowy creatures and...well in that respect it could be like some of the early Sailor Moon episodes as well. But legitimately, it was all pretty episodic fight stuff—you know, this shadowy jerk kidnapped that chick so we'll kill him, he's gone, we're done until the next episode when shadowy jerk number 52 pops up and tries to stab you with a fork. (Sadly, fork-stabbing never actually happened in this anime.)

Then you got to the end. Once you get there, some stuff happens. Intense stuff that I obviously can't say because I hate spoilers. However, the intense stuff is kinda like WHOA WHAT and it...was just very off-putting. Like I don't even know.

Conclusion?: Monochrome Factor is generic shonen, with a little something for the women-folk thrown in. Yes I just referred to my own gender as the women-folk and yes, by something for them I mean the gayness. Obviously. I am talking about ANIME-watching women.

Moving on, the basic gist is that if you liked stuff like Saiyuki and Ao no Exorcist, you'll probably be interested in Monochrome Factor. (Though admittedly, Saiyuki is way less generic and Ao no Exorcist has less gay undertones...there's more similarity to Exorcist in terms of the generic-ness.)

If you're not into that and it makes you really freaking bored (this is me sometimes) you won't really be into it. Then again, you might. Because when I said “sometimes”, I meant that Exorcist bored the hell out of me and Monochrome Factor was pretty darn entertaining.

Granted, you throw Hiroshi Kamiya, Daisuke Ono, and Junichi Suwabe into a series together and I immediately give you bonus points.

My rating: 7/10. Not awful, but like I said, nothing extraordinary either. OTHER than Shirogane's braid. Damn I look forward to cosplaying that.

Chihayafuru: Random Thoughts

2011-10-27T18:33:00.000-04:00

I don't understand this series. I just don't.

I mean, I like it all right.

I also want to punch it sometimes.

Chihaya is one of those characters that, as annoying as she can be, I can't help but root for her. Even now, as I'm watching episode 4, I want Taichi to have to start the club with her. I want Arata to come back and...I dunno, be awesome? He's my favorite character anyway, so I have a few expectations of him. Awesomeness is one of them.

The guy she's playing against right now is a jerk.

And hopefully by the end of the season I figure out what I actually think about the series. You would think that's a guaranteed thing, but...well, I still didn't know what I thought about Wandering Son by the end, so who knows.

In any case, I'll just keep watching and see what happens.

Anime Review: Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi

2011-10-20T20:04:00.000-04:00

The Persona post is being delayed not because I'm a slacker (it's actually mostly done) but because I realized something: I keep saying nice things in my reviews lately. Like, I haven't been bitching about anime nearly enough, and it's not like there's a shortage of stuff I dislike in what I've watched. So I will now make up for that by...well, you'll see.

The Basics

Look! He's summing up how I feel for the series!

Episodes: 12

Genre: Comedy, Ecchi, Romance, Shonen (how, MAL, how?), Supernatural

Aired: July 9, 2011 to September 24, 2011

Directed by: Takashi Yamamoto

Producers: Zexcs

Opening Theme: Once by Hitomi Harada

Closing Theme: Utsusemi by Akiko Shikata / Sparkling Kiss by Iori Nomizu / Strawberry Eyes by Megumi Takamoto

Review

The Story: All right, so you have this dude Taito. And lately he has all these dreams about a girl with really wacky hair (it's pink and blue and would be right at home in Shiki with all the other wtf-hair), who talks about giving him her “poison”. Or something. Sometimes he imagines something crazy—is he hearing her while he's awake? No way. Then he survives an accident that really should kill him and goes WHOA NOW. I don't even know.

Well it turns out that he met the chick, whose name is Himea, when he was like 6. And she fell in love with him when they'd known each other for like a whole hour it looked like. Of course she was a “vampire” (ha....yeah, we'll get back to that) and she put a “curse” on him so he can always stay with her. Which is to say, he's like sort of a vampire too, only not really. Don't ask. She was stolen by this other dude and then he meets her again years later blah blah and they're still totally in love blah blah blah.

We've heard this story before.

It's not a goddamn story. It's...no one knows what this is.

The Characters: KILL THEM ALL. Or at least the main two.

First of all, Himea. Let's talk about Himea. For one, her hair SPARKLES. We've been through this before with a book that is for some reason famous...Vampires. Do not. Sparkle. Period. Second of all, if she is a vampire, will someone please explain to me WHY she can go in the sunlight? WHY she exhibits none of the normal vampire weaknesses? WHY she is more like, I don't know, a witch or something (sadly not a Madoka-style Witch...) than a vampire and they can't just call her the right thing? Oh, and why she is one of the most annoying little bitches I have ever laid eyes on? (And that's saying something. I watched Dog Days, remember?)

And Taito. Oh, Taito. He's in love with Himea for no apparent reason. Then again, she's in love with him for no apparent reason as well. Apparently since Himea put her poison in him (why does that sound like reverse-pregnancy whenever I say it?) he can die six times a day and it's totally cool, but the seventh time he's screwed. How has this ever applied to vampires? It just...it just no. He's also stupid, but I can't complain about that as much because let's be honest: a lot of anime guys are pretty stupid.

The other characters were easier to stomach. You had Gekkou, the guy who abducted Himea earlier, and he's a jerk, but jerks are way more interesting than guys like Taito. And Gekkou has like...a servanty chick named Mirai, who is annoying but ADORABLE. Mostly annoying.

Then there's this teacher guy, who just looks like the most trustworthy person on the planet:

Yeah, I'm full of it.

The Beach: I want someone to explain this to me. I understand that the Beach Episode is tradition in any anime with a lot of girls. I understand that we clearly have to see these girls in their bathing suits at some point and you know, normally I wouldn't complain because...y'know, I take no issue seeing girls in bathing suits. (Especially if that girl is Mami Tomoe...that would have been fantastic.)

However, when your main female protagonist who needs to be punched in the throat is a VAMPIRE, she should not be going to the mother-effing BEACH. She should in fact be staying as far away from the beach as humanly possible.

Grahhhhh.

Conclusion?: Okay. I did a post like two or three episodes into the series saying it made me want to stab myself in the eye, right? Okay... At the end of the day, it still made me want to stab myself in the eye. Or gouge my eyes out of my skull. Or destroy my ears so I could never hear it again. All perfectly reasonable options.

I can't come up with a single reason you should watch this series. It had annoying characters. It had NO plot...by which I mean it had a few mini-plots, nothing overarching, which sometimes is totally cool (like I just watched Natsume Yuujinchou and it was faaaaaaaaantastic), but in Itsuka Tenma, the mini-plots were all so totally FAILtastic that it made the whole thing cause me to almost bash my head against the wall.

It had the teacher who looked suspicious and was kind of an ass but not really and like...well let's just say that one was pulled off much, MUCH better by the teacher who actually WAS an ass back in Yumekui Merry. You know, this guy, who at the time of this screen shot is kicking the crap out of one of his students:

But there was nothing good here. Nothing.

My rating: 1/10 Sometimes there's anime where I celebrate the final episode being released just because it means that in about twenty minutes, I never have to watch it again. This is one of those series.

Guess What I Did?

2011-10-19T08:44:00.000-04:00

I...set a release date for my book. Like it's firm, like I created a Facebook page for it (because clearly that's the most official thing ever, right? Right? ...yeah, I know...).

Anyway. The page I made is an event page, not a page for the actual book, but here it is (click the picture):

I promise that's not a random picture, it's what is going to be on the book cover. I made sure to keep the event public of course, so you don't have to be friends with me to say you're attending.

If you read the event details I have a few other dates listed in there...maybe you'll be interested.

What else do I have to say right now...oh, yes. The Persona post has been postponed because I have a half-written review of Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi that'll be coming up tomorrow (preview: swearing happens), and after that I really want to do a post on the theme songs of this season. I'm in love with like half of them, even if I don't like the anime they go with in some cases.