Vanya Mania

Laziness Put On Hold, OtaRoom Makeover Performed!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 22:46:00 +0000

SURPRISE SURPRISE! A lot of "OtaMono" goods came since last time I updated this poor, lonely site.. When I say A LOT, I'm kinda not kidding this time! XD I was planning to update with every new arrival at first, but then stuff kept rushing to the mail and things got out of control. That's when I decided to laze around in order to escape the hopelessness of the situation I was in, which made the matter even worse. Anyways, yesterday came another shipment of awing figures, and a look at the room told me it wasn't the tidiest home they deserve. I thought it was time to finally stop slacking and get some work done, so I did. I've been working whole day to rearrange the place, and I also got some captures to document the new upgrade of "VanOtaRoom" which was done in 15th July 2011. *just came up with the silly name so.. nevermind! XP also, this post is my attempt for documentation by the way lulz*

Since I'm not good with long meaningless notes, and a picture is worth more than a thousand words *blah blah blah*.. Here we go! X3

Hunt of Kinokuniya Dubai Feb 2011: maybe it's better that I don't live there XP

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:20:00 +0000

Visiting Kino might be the fastest way I can burn my money haha. I got mostly manga (Lots of Shoujo! X3), few artbooks and different stuff. Bought some books in Japanese for me to actually practice reading and get used to Kanji somehow (><")

*wanted to list my purchase but I'm lazy to do it when it's kinda clear from the image =3*

New Arrival: [Makise Kurisu + Akiyama Mio + Hirasawa Yui] =3

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:11:00 +0000

Kurisu san looks stunning! She will surely keep me counting the days until Steins;Gate anime starts next April (>,<"))

And with Mio & Yui coming, the K-ON! band still isn't complete.. Can't wait for Ritsu to join in to Rock'n'Roll silly songs all nights XP

Review: Figure - Saber Excalibur ~Triumphant~ Goodsmile1/7PVC

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:04:00 +0000

Saber Excalibur is dynamic to no end! That made me try making energetic captures of her fitting the image I had in mind back then, and this set was the result of it. Any written text seemed distracting for all the tension residing inside Saber, so I thought why not keep all the action happening in your brains this time *escaping* ~((((((^_^;)

House of Five Leaves (Sarai-ya Goyou): A Soothing trip to Edo..

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 03:52:00 +0000

This is the first time for me writing about something as soon as I finish from it, so I'm still jammed with emotions and my head isn't clear about it. I know one thing for sure though, what I just watched is a valuable jewel that anyone who has the slightest interest in Japan's history should treasure. No, Sarai-ya Goyou is not a historical show. It admirably deals with humanity. But it also has one of the best representations I've seen of the Samurai and Edo, if not the best at all!

Sarai-ya Goyou storytelling and pace feels natural from start to finish, so you'll end up soaked in the atmosphere the second you set your eyes on the screen. First, You're introduced to a weak-looking desperate Samurai named Masanosuke who is jobless at the time. Then a fearless-looking man named Yaichi offers him a job as personal bodyguard for fun, and events continue to flow from that moment on. Visuals are captivating, I quickly fell in love with the heartwarming color style and I was clearly hypnotized by that <3

Not only the art will suck you in, the music is going to vacuum you, too! I'm a fan of traditional Japanese instruments. Because like any other traditional instruments, you feel their own culture behind their melodies. That sounds perfect for the historical setting Sarai-ya Goyou has, and it indeed is. I hope you're not imagining any generic historic soundtracks by now, because that certainly isn't the kind of thing you'll be hearing here. Yeah, all these old wind, string, and percussion instruments are amazing lonesomely. But that didn't stop the composers from adding some genius twists as well, one of them is the piano playing in some tracks. I won't ruin this ear-candy experience for you any further, try and hear it on your own ;3

I can't believe I didn't get to watch Sarai-ya Goyou while it was airing back then, yet I'm kind of glad that I didn't. I wouldn't be able drink it off in one shot if I did. I wont excuse myself though, I missed it from my top ten list of last year. So I'll bring it up for sure when next time comes in sha Allah =)

Room Update: More Figures, Still Want More!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:57:00 +0000

A lot of items came since the last time I updated. My original plan was to make individual reviews for each, but the increasing load and getting back to school prevented me from doing so. Anyway, it's not just the figures that grew in number but we also bought a new desk for PC and a bookshelf recently, so I thought of showing how we arranged the stuff. No, I didn't re-organize anything for the photo-shoot. I'm just obsessed with order for my own good =3

Here is where I spend my time on PC. Gwendolyn (the birdie girl) stands out even among all the other awesome ones around! But they're not to be underestimated there X(

A closer look at the shelf. I love this shelf! Asuka (in yellow red suit) looks so elegant on that bar unlike her usual self. <3 The others from left to right are Momohime, Mercedes, Gwendolyn, and Mercedes yet again. XP All of them are Vanillaware's heroines, figured how much I'm attached to Vanillaware by now? XD

Shiawase koi koi yatte koi~! Maneki Neko is here, and Nekomimi Shiki is welcoming you as well! I couldn't resist slipping a peep at my glasses here haha. Notice Saber's interesting reflection on the iPhone screen too! XO

King Kazuma and two of the K-ON club members are ready to rock! They look lonely don't they? I know I know.. Yui and Mio will be joining in very soon but Ritsu is so stubborn she'll only come after three months, or she might be just lazy packing up her drum-set haha. I'll have to make some full club photos when all join in anyways! =D

Oh these are the puchi Bakemonogatari cast gathered. Shinobu with her donuts is definitely my favorite in the set, but all have a special place in my heart ><" (especially Hanekawa Tsubasa [megane/glasses] who I can relate to too much maybe X3)

Double Black Rock Shooter treat! Looking cool together ne? But why buy two in first place?! Long-story short, I got one for free ;3

King Kazuma the king of bookshelf! Lame I know so don't bother.. But that usagi plushie OMG kawaii darou? His arms and legs are movable, too X3

You might have seen Hatsune Miku in my review before, but I couldn't stop myself from snapping a shot of her. Just look how attracting she is with the lamp lighting up her hair (Q.Q)

The brave Saber is ready to strike! But why hide in the shadows? Don't worry, I just found her photo-shoot captures which I made before this semester in my DSLR. I'll use them in a review for her very soon, she's amazing she deserves a post on her own (The others do as well but darn I have no time T.T)

Vanyalic Best: Top Ten Anime (Finished Airing) in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:13:00 +0000

As the title suggests, my top ten list includes all anime that finished airing in 2010 and it means that I included the ones that started in 2009 but didn't finish by then. It makes sense to me that way since it is obviously unfair for the longer shows that end in later years otherwise. So without further ado, Happy New Year and enjoy! =D

10 - Durarara!!

I had to struggle to add Durarara!! in my top ten. The quality of "Durarara!!" was inconsistent unlike the awesome "Baccano!" before it. The 24 episode run is divided into 3 arcs and that's where this problem came from. The first arc was good, the second one was excellent, and the third was boring. Basically it's an awesome anime with a disappointing ending, but my love for the amazing middle part forced me to mention it here. The "bad ending" is not a real ending because the anime is based on an ongoing light novel (9 volumes til now) covering the 3 first volumes only, so that made me forgive the producers a little. Still, I admit that I shouldn't do so! "Baccano!" also didn't cover the whole light novel and the story of the anime was wrapped up in the best possible way so you end up satisfied with a complete experience watching it. I'm clearly biased here, but I heard there's gonna be some OVA to finish things in a better way so I'm giving it a chance to correct its mistakes. The news regarding the OVA itself was bad news to me, I wanted a whole new second season instead as there is no way OVA is gonna do the story its justice.. Oh that ended up being an expression of my frustration toward Durarara!! instead of a light review! Forgive me, I hope you got my point reading that =S

9 - Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Think insane anime/cartoon hybrid with overdose of steroids, yet Panty & Stocking will still constantly shock you on how far they're willing to delve into shamelessly mocking every bit of dirty desire you might have. There are really no rules for this show, and that makes it even harder for you to expect where the next blow is gonna come from haha! The main cast are few, but they're all likable despite any kind of disgusting sickness they might have. Actually, their hopeless conditions are the secret of why they're so lovable in first place, they kinda make you awkwardly sympathize with them haha.. Oh and the soundtrack, I love the soundtrack. I dance to the soundtrack! It's so great and versatile that you might end up running an episode for the sole purpose of enjoying the funky electronic pieces it has. If you ask me why do I love the show and why is it in this list, I can't give you a proper answer for that. Panty & Stocking is surely random, stupid, and crazy, but it still delivers the message in the end. Oh no, scratch what I just said. It's smart but only acts stupid, that's one reason behind the "fucking!" charm that it has XP

8 - K-ON!!

Who reads an anime blogs without knowing what "K-ON!" is?! That doesn't mean you necessarily like it. K-ON!! might be the most popular moe show of 2010, making me guess that you are either a lover or a hater for this show. Lovers should understand why they love it, but I want haters to give it a chance too. Grouping K-ON!! with moe shows doesn't mean only an Otaku will enjoy it, It's also a family show that anyone can enjoy. Why? Because there is more to K-ON! than music and moe. The most attracting aspect about K-ON!! for me is actually more universal than what its themes suggest (rock music & moe), that aspect is the warm real friendship those girls have. Sure, the silly way they mess around aimlessly most of the time keeps me laughing nonstop. But the situations they face is not all sweet'n'sweet dreams, and some reality check moments they got caught me off-guard! That alone made it special for me.. I don't want to spoil anything unnecessarily here, but I want to emphasize how you may love K-ON!! no matter who you are. Simply because of the way it manifests pure friendship in those girls, friendship that we all wish we have ='(

7 - Kuragehime

Kurara~! What an adorable little jellyfish that is. Kuragehime is a show that doesn't try hard to impress you but still does disregarding that. It is based on a relatively new Josei manga so I was having doubts if it could build up a decent story with the little material in hand, especially with the other problem of low episode count (only 11 episodes T_T) that it has. Despite this, I was excited for it the most before the Fall season. It had the most interesting plot and it was the noitaminA slot after all. I can say with confidence that I was wrong in my worries about the story as everything was built up solidly through the whole run. I enjoyed every single episode on its own and couldn't wait for what happens next! I can see the talent the mangaka has just watching how events (and serious comedy XD) develop. There is also a decent character cast, and every character is interesting yet silly on its own way. They all are involved in the plot making all their acts (even if stupid) purposeful, and their screen-time in the limited time meaningful. Even if the ending turns out only OK tonight, I wouldn't mind it since the manga is still going and will be for quite some time. Yet, I'm crossing my fingers it ends up a cliffhanger tease and not messed up original ending after all the built up climax by this point m(._.)m

6 - Angel Beats!

I didn't expect anything from Angel Beats! at first. There was a black spot in history between me and orginal creators of the novel that prevented me from caring about it. I still gave it a chance yet it didn't impress at first, so I was this close from dropping Angel Beats! halfway. I'm honestly glad that I didn't! Too much introduction was given in the beginning but things completely changed by episode 5 when the story started to move on. My insides started to shake up more and more as I began to realize what was going on and what happened before the formation of "SSS". Twists after twists they had started to crumble my emotional walls mercilessly until I couldn't take it in the end. The finale of Angel Beats! was the most tear-jerking experience in the year, it almost had me suffocate in my own tears.. "Bravo!" to Otonashi for everything, I mean what I say with all my heart into it ='(

5 - Shiki

Shiki might be the creepiest anime I've seen in a long time, or probably creepiest anime ever! What's so special about Shiki making it feels different than the other many vampire shows is that it tries to play with your psychological state rather than directly scaring you off. It takes it slow at the first half of the anime to let you bond with all the cast whether they're the good group or the bad group, then force their mental states and fears on you. You end up sympathizing with (almost) anyone by the end and start questioning your previous judgments about the characters whether you considered them good or evil at the start. That's the most interesting part about Shiki, you can and will pick up a side then you'll see yourself shifting sides without realizing it haha. It got disturbing at the very last episodes of Shiki, and it seems that was the ultimate vicious goal from the start ">_<

4 - RAINBOW: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin

I talked about RAINBOW in one of my older posts before it finished, and it only kept getting better from that point on! I said not to get fooled by the RAINBOW part, but looking more closely now, RAINBOW is more about reaching the dream rather than dreaming itself. One thing I want to note now is how realistically the strong bond between these kids formed then how naturally the role of each one of them developed to became a distinct vital key in their friendship. Gosh I remember the emotional moments and have this bittersweet feeling instantly. If RAINBOW doesn't move and teach you a lesson or more in life, I seriously don't know what will do..

3 - Cross Game

Part of me wanted to have Cross Game as the top anime I watched this year, that is how excellent this show was! It's the only sport anime in here, and the sport part isn't really the thing that made it unforgettable to me. The perfect and genius storytelling is the magic here. I can argue that Cross Game might be the best Slice of Life anime I've seen. Many are slow and melancholic, but Cross Game was exciting and bittersweet to no end! No show kept me crying the whole run over an event that happened in episode 1 other than Cross Game. Tragic.. I'll have to spoil if I disclosed my feelings any more than this, I feel you all Tsukishima family T_T

2 - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I would be a criminal if FMA didn't take this place! One of the better anime adaptations to one of the best manga I ever read. There are some reasons that didn't make me go all crazy about it though, one is that I always thought manga was the better media for you to really grasp the meanings behind all the deep story FMA has. The soundtrack also had some serious issues at important moments which ruined them for me, but I admit that there are nice pieces available there. The art-style was identical to the manga and the animation was awesome though! And like magic, almost every issue the anime had in the 1st half of it was fixed later on. That gave us the best ending we could ask for! FMA is the longest anime in this list with 64 episode run, but it certainly deserves the time you're gonna spend on it whether you read the manga or didn't before (I still recommend reading it first though!)

1 - Katanagatari

My admiration for the novel writer NisiOisin began last year when I first watched the 1st anime adaptation of his works, Bakemonogatari. I loved that show despite the poor anime work it had, because the NisiOisin essence was completely preserved and that's what mattered most at the end. Now Katanagatari didn't suffer from poor quality, it was quite the opposite actually! Every scene was detailed, every animation was carefully drawn, and even during conversations it had amazing peculiar angles similar to those Bakemonogatari is full of. Despite being new, studio White Fox gave it all trying to deliver quality and they didn't stop there. They took their freedom with directing in each of the 12 episodes to fascinating extents, one that I cannot forget is when they directed the whole episode to show how "Katanagatari" would look like in any gaming genre it would be adapted to! Another extra thing I loved is how White Fox took the courage to set Katanagatari as their only slot for the whole year with monthly airing of 40-minute-episode instead of the common case in all other shows. By doing that, they fitted the 12 volumes of Katanagatari into 12 episodes corresponding to them. Without a doubt, no more faithful anime adaptation could be achieved better than that (you should get the reason behind my gaga for Steins;Gate a little by now XP). Wait! Why didn't I discuss the quality of the show itself? Answer is NisiOisin, meaning no need to expect anything other than unique characters, amazing story, and smart twists in every bit Katanagatari has ;3

EXTRA:

~Honorable Vanya Mentions~

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Otaku girls of the vanyear.

Spice and Wolf II

Romance in denial of the vanyear.

Kimi Ni Todoke

Giant fat tease of the vanyear.

Tatakau Shisho

Fantasy world of the vanyear.

Iron Man

Foreign hero of the vanyear.

Bakemonogatari

Canniest dialogue of the vanyear.

B Gata H Kei

Silliest laugh of the vanyear.

Heartcatch Precure

Internal conflicts of the vanyear.

Vanya said on the topic of One-Hit Writers/Artists

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 06:09:00 +0000

I suggest reading this only after going through the previous post about popularity. Enjoy! XD

I can't define a reason for why many authors end up with only one-hit in their lives, simply because there are a lot of justifications behind it. Like you said, many don't know how their hits became hits in first place, and that's why they struggle in making a second-hit until they give up at some point (or not give up at all! *cough*Kawaguchi Tarou*cough*). My guess for their inevitable failure? The shift from spontaneous writing to calculated writing which destroys the magic these spontaneous artists has. I'm not saying being a calculated person affects the work negatively (I can only be a calculated artist myself haha), but the shift between the 2 styles does. Calculations in art is like anywhere else, it needs a lot of effort. Someone who's used to do what first comes to mind and go away with it will end up having fatigues and fail at what he/she does if he/she ever tried to calculate his/her acts. Nothing will make much sense to him/her anymore. Even if they are told about what makes their work appeal to the public, that will end affecting them badly. They'll start thinking about it until they lose the "magical" spontaneity they have. Certainly not the case for all, but it's the general case here XP

Why do spontaneous hits appeal to us? Choosing only one general reason, I would say because they allow us to peek into the creator's mind without fully understanding his/her intentions at all.

Now comes the calculating variants. Do they have the same problem? I don't think so. They might have a similar problem though if the reason that made their hit a hit was outside the realm of their calculations, meaning that people loved the hidden spontaneity they have. They might or might not figure out the reason but that won't make much difference since they don't have "control" over it at all. Actually, I'm imagining that they might even despise the reason if they found it making the matter worse lol. Still, that is not the main problem here. Like what was said before, calculation needs a lot of effort. It also consumes much more time. You hear "Time & Effort" and it feels like heavy duty already! Some might need years working on their pieces, and others might push themselves to their limits. They get it done, it became a hit! After that, countless problems need to be overcome so I'll give random examples here. If some need time (five years?) they might be pushed to do more (in one year?) since money is involved. If hellish effort is needed then slacking off and easy way out becomes the enemy. I believe the scariest problem of all is the simple questions that can't be answered "Will it become a hit again? Can I do better than what I already did? I already reached my goal so is the risk worth it?" so they end up avoiding a direct challenge with themselves in any possible way they have.

Why do calculated hits appeal to us? Again, forcing one answer, I would say the flawlessness is doing the magic here. You don't care who made it but it looks perfect it amazes you nonstop.

For me both types are geniuses at what they do and I don't know if I can prefer one over the other. Other type of genius is the hybrid of the two but I'll run from further mentions of them haha. Now a hit means it's popular. We agreed that popularity doesn't equal quality so why did I focus on the quality of hits before? Because one-hits are 1st hits, and pure quality in the 1st hit (or the hit at 1st! XP) is a crucial ingredient to the "magical recipe of popularity" we seek here.

I agree, there is no "ultimate recipe" we can reach, we have different tastes after all. Like cooks have different tastes in their food, arts have different tastes in their art. They keep inventing recipes until they reach the taste they're after, and whether people love it or hate it determines its popularity. You can't force someone who doesn't like mecha to write about it because he won't test its taste before the people do, and we know experimenting on people first in food & art is always a bad idea (funny logic but whatever lol). I'm not saying some genres can't be popular but they need special spices to get anyone interested in them, things that let you say "Even if you hate sci-fi you are gonna LOVE this one!". This is an obvious point but even if your art is excellent but you don't show it then popularity is missed, and the opposite is also true! If you have an average piece of work that is heavily advertised and competition is neglected then popularity is certain (*cough*Avatar*cough!*). What I'm trying to say is that there are countless effective popularity recipes already reached, some are hard to cook and others are easier. And in the end, (like any cook XP) any artist wants to reach the ultimate recipe of his own and continuously upgrade it (and continue producing hits with it!).

Having said that, it doesn't mean recipes cannot be stolen (adapted is a softer word here X3). Not just the recipes, tough ingredients to find like 1st hit quality can also be stolen. For example, all the average mecha shows gained partial popularity due to the quality of past hit mecha shows (again this is an example, no mecha lover to be targeted XP). The same can be said for other popular genres like moe and such. While these shows of stolen recipes may become popular, the makers shouldn't be (and I think aren't) treated us geniuses or artists. And also, unless luck strikes hard, one show of stolen recipe won't reach the explosive popularity of the original one (popularity will be divided on all the shows using that recipe XP). Wait, so how come the the more recent shows can obviously be more popular than the older quality ones even though recipes appear to be stolen? No, recipes are not stolen. Ingredients are "adopted" and recipes are upgraded and improved (or even produced!).

So as you can see, food and art are linked in more ways than we can ever imagine. Or I should say that food itself is art, the most popular and easiest to taste kind of art. That would explain my logic then lol.

Vanya said on the topic of Popularity [Anime & others]

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:59:00 +0000

Even though I don't get many chances for it, I love talking about the popularity vs quality of the different media. Discussions like these is like a refresh button to help me update and organize all the mess in my head. I didn't write this for the blog, it was part of a conversation I had with my friend in the past weeks. Still, I thought it'd be a waste not to archive it here seeing how long it turned out to be! I'm too lazy to refine it though, but I don't see how that will discourage if you're interested in the subject, too X3

Popularity is affected by countless factors but I don't believe how easily a work can be digested is a strong one there. It's true that works which make people grab the feeling of smartness get attention. But while understanding something immediately satisfy you, reading more about what you didn't get until understanding it out or not reaching the point of complete understanding at all might end up masking your ignorance with more (I dare say unexplained) appreciation for that certain work. Take "Evanglion", "Ghost in the Shell", and "the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumia" as a few examples here. Non of them are easy to get (even confusing!) but their popularity is unmatched. I'm not planning to critisize the reasons behind their popularity because I have to deal with some essential issues in us human beings at some point to go away with it haha.

If I had to pick up the 3 most affective factors for gaining popularity I would say the genre, the advertisement, and last but not least is the concept. The quality of the work enhances the popularity allowing the work to break into broader audience but is not an initial factor in my believes. Since I'm a fan of Tsugumi Ouba I'll take his works as examples and steal some of his ideas here XP. Now "Death Note" is one of these anime with explosive popularity such as the other works mentioned before so I'll try to explain why I think it gained such fame here. It's obvious that a Shounen manga will gain much more attention because of the huge base of Shounen readers worldwide, being a cult manga actually helped it getting the immediate recognition it desperately needed.

A serialization in Jump is big advertisement in its own for the manga, and Jump itself probably advertised "Death Note" as Takashi Obaata's next work after "Hikaru no Go" which became fairly popular in Japan. The manga medium itself wasn't enough for "Death Note" to reach the popularity it has today, but the relatively large fanbase for the (finished!) manga were anticipating the anime and were enough advertisement to point the eyes of the larger group of anime fans toward "Death Note". I can also argue that the popular studio MadHouse taking the project got the attention of some more experienced anime watchers even if they didn't care about Shounen or manga since it's one studio famed with its quality anime AND movies (Ninja Scroll - CLAMP productions "X" - Satoshi Kon productions "Perfect Blue" - etc.). Anime doesn't just have larger audience than manga but the medium as a whole is more easily ingested than manga because more senses are used to digest haha. That's how it was easier for the anime to get advertised than the manga.

All what I said earlier would be just empty talk if not for the third most important key to grasp popularity, and that is the concept. It can be shown and explained in many ways (a title - a picture - a trailer - a summery - use your imagination here XD etc.). The simpler and faster way to get an idea behind the concept, and the more interesting that concept itself both will affect how strong of an impact the first impression is going to leave (there is no need to delve deeper to explain how much first impressions affect our judgment here, and everywhere else for that matter XP). Amazingly, just the title, "Death Note" is a simple fast way that explains an interesting concept. All people fear "Death" so it's a universal subject of interest, and the association of "Note" adds even more mystery to "Death" in there. While mystery might not be a mainstream genre in manga (only because of the restrictions manga has), that certainly can't be true for other media shown in TV. You can imagine the potential viewer base from just that, I bet that the littlest detailed explanation of the idea behind the "Death Note" (godlike power - controversial uses - etc.) was enough to get these people interested to check it out.

All that is still not enough to explain the "explosive" popularity shows like "Death Note" has. All popularity ingredients are present so what's missing? It's the most crucial thing that is missing, how well these ingredients are cooked and the type of spices added there. Imagine two local stores that sell ice-cream (I love ice-cream XP), and despite how popular ice-cream is, one of the stores has only some people who are first-timers coming in there, while the other store is always full with customers, and even people who don't like sweets start testing it out. Yes, the pure quality content finally comes handy! So again in "Death Note" the quality is so good only a mere scene was enough to get people interested in watching it. Just like one level in "Super Mario Bros." was enough to get people interested in playing it.

From what I said til this point, you can probably guess how I may explain why "Bakuman" is not as popular as "Death Note" but I want to say it briefly anyways. "Slice of Life" is not as attractive genre as "Mystery". It's much harder to advertise "Bakuman" unlike "Death Note" since the subject of interest matters to narrower spectrum of people. The concept of "Bakuman" doesn't appeal as much as that of "Death Note". the title "Bakuman" itself doesn't even explain a little here. The first impression of "Bakuman" is not as destructive either. Notice that I didn't say anything about the quality of "Bakuman" because it's done an amazing job with the ingredients and spices in hand, and I personally think it's unfair to call it inferior to "Death Note" regarding that.

Actually, I want to praise "Bakuman" in one of the aspects I love the most about it. That is how briefly yet realistically all the competing manga are explained so that you end up feeling like you've read them as an editor yourself. You are given the genre of each work (sci fi - battle - gag - romance etc.). You see the way each one is advertised by the department (categorizing the mangaka - drama CD/anime announcements etc.). You get the title, art-style, and the concept of each work. And while you don't get to see the actual quality of the manga itself, you can just imagine it since you are already given the style, strengths, and weaknesses of each artist so you end up finding much sense in what's most popular and what's not so popular in there. You understand all the "silent battles" in there.

Finished reading it?! There is another continuation post about one-hit writers/artists following that XP

Vanyalic Game [Shock] of the Year: Cave Story

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Did you ever experience this feeling where you do something not expecting anything from it and then get repeatedly shocked that no matter how your expectations raise you still don't reach how great that thing is? You see I don't know any proper word to express this feeling, that's how unusual it is and what happened to me as I was playing Doukutsu Monogatari (AKA: Cave Story) the first time! Most of the games were boring to me lately, and even the good ones were good because they felt like old games I played before. That might be why I misjudged Doukutsu at first. It was really good from the moment I held the controller, but I thought it was only that because I missed decent 2D games and decided to play it when I have some free time to waste. Thank god that happened before the end of the year or another game might have stolen this post which ONLY Doukutsu Monogatari deserves to take! It's easily the most original experience I had with a game this year, and one that I know I'll set as a staple example forever to go.

You might notice that I avoided defining its genre and only mentioned that it looks like a traditional 2D game until this point, the reason is that I can't seem to do it justice no matter what games I try to group it with. Doukutsu Monogatari has the "Mario" platforming, "Contra" action, "Metroid" exploration, "RPG" decisions, "Tomba!" quests, and "Megaman" perfect pixel design blended together with overdose of originality added to them! The perfect floaty jumping mechanism deserved to be praised here, because the design of every obstacle in the game is carefully calculated according to it. That alone gave me rushes of adrenaline I longed for, and add to that some insane boss battles that will make you bounce in there! When was the last time that you had 4 consecutive final boss battles without a convenient mean to replenish your health? And that wasn't even the ultimate final battle of the game?! Yeah, Doukutsu Monogatari can be difficult at times, but there are hardly any cheap deaths you'll encounter in your breakthrough (it doesn't mean that you wont hate it for asking too much of you sometimes haha!). It didn't happen to me, but even if you die a lot at first, you'll gain playing experience that will help you getting past harder obstacles later on. I'm genuinely amazed by how balanced from A to Z Doukutsu Monogatari is! Perfection was achieved during the 5 years spent on tweaking this masterpiece of a game.

There is another thing I must glorify about Doukutsu Monogatari, that is the soundtrack! To be in a perfect blend with the retro/pseudoretro pixel design the game has, the OST is also composed of midi-like tracks (in .org format which sounds similar). You guessed right! It's catchy, you can't get enough of it, and it keeps repeating itself like a virus in your head when you don't play! But wait, there is more to it than that. The pieces have unique tunes to them which makes them immediately recognizable as Doukutsu Monogatari tracks. In easy language, it's not like the generic retro midi tracks that despite being "slightly" noisy we have "pleasure" listening to them. Further more, the music is extremely variant, and each track has a mood of its own. That added even more character to the different stages you advance through in-game. I felt calmness, excitement, creepiness, funkiness, melancholy, encouragement and all that just listening to the music tracks Doukutsu Monogatari is treasured with. Soundtrack composers need to take an example from that!

Ah, I'm telling you all to go have "gamorgasm" playing Doukutsu Monogatari as I'm planning to do myself during the next vacation I have. The game has different paths which I'm not finished with yet, and I heard that the hidden final area is literally as hard as hell to complete so I want to be well prepared haha!

p.s. On a related matter I have the urge to say this here.. Screw all the money cows delivered by big-mouthed developers and raised by greedy publishers which are called and advertised as games. It's not just Cave Story, there is no way in hell for these to reach a fragment of the awesomeness that unknown/indie developers brought to us this generation so far! Total brilliance. I'll bet my money on them from now on, what an easy bet that is! <3

Winter 2011 Anime Preview!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 04:32:00 +0000

A new year coming with new shows, lots of which I don't care about haha. I'll only mention what I think looks interesting in this post. There is also a chance of dropping some of the few I set my eyes on, but at least I wouldn't lose as much time watching all the crappy shows LOL!

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Title: Fractale
Producers: A-1 Pictures
Airing: January 13 - 2011

Summary: In the future, the world is managed by a network called the Fractale System. A boy named Crane is living an aimless life with his parents, who are actually computer-generated “Doppels”. One day, he runs into a pretty girl named Furyune, who is being pursued by someone. When he rescues her and helps to keep her hidden from her pursuers, he is pulled into her troubles as well. After meeting her, his life will never be the same!

Vanya? Sure it looks interesting, the art is my thing AND it's the noitaminA slot. But I dunno, Fractale network system? Computer generated parents? Urgh, I'll have to give it a try for that. Plus, my friend recommended it so that's more reason to add it here.
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Title: Kimi ni Todoke 2
Producers: Production I.G
Airing: January 4 - 2011

Summary: This is the second season of KnT. The story is centered around a girl named Kuronuma Sawako who is nicknamed Sadako (ghost girl from “The Ring”) by her classmates because of her scary face and demeanor. She greatly admires Kazehaya-kun from afar, he is “100% refreshing” and is able to draw in people with his personality. Unlike her facial expressions she yearns to make friends and live as a normal student. Gradually she starts affects those around her, including Kazehaya-kun…

Vanya? Watched the 1st season, just a freaking teaser for the manga but I still liked it. It's been a while since the last shoujo anime I watched and I'm hoping to get the real deal this time.
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Title: Hourou Musuko
Producers: AIC
Air Date: January 13 - 2011

Summary: Shuuichi Nitori is a 5th grade student who likes to bake and has always been something of a feminine boy. When he transfers to a new school, Shûichi is mistaken for his 6th grade sister on his first day. Then he ends up sitting next to Yoshino Takatsuki, a tall, boyish girl who everyone calls “Takatsuki-kun.” They both have secrets they can’t let anyone know… The series deals with issues such as transsexualism, gender identity, and the beginning of puberty.

Vanya? Now look at that interesting summery we have here, and the art-style looks unique too! I'm looking forward to seeing a mature kind of anime here, so please don't disappoint.
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Title: Wolverine
Producers: Madhouse
Episodes: 12
Airing: January 7 - 2011

Summery: It's Wolverine (Marvel) in Japan!

Vanya? Wolverine fighting ninja, samurai and demons? Count me in! I'm currently watching Iron Man (same combo, Marvel + Madhouse) and so far so great! Only one complaint though, where is the yellow suit?! These clothes totally sucks. =(
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Title: IS: Infinite Stratos
Producers: 8-bit
Airing: January - 2011

Summary: Japan engineered an armed powered exoskeleton “Infinite Stratos” (IS) and it became the mainstream of weapons. Since only women can operate IS, women dominate the society over men. Orimura Ichika is a 15 year old boy and accidentally touches an IS placed in the IS pilot training school. He is found to be the only man who can operate IS and forced to enter the training school. Ichika’s busy school life surrounded by girls has begun.

Vanya? "Instant drop.." is what I thought as I read the synopsis. Then the beginning of the trailer confirmed my thoughts. "But wait, battle scenes? These look good!" is how my mind shifted as I continued to watch. "What's this 8-bit Studio?" so I had to look them up. They only did Macross Frontier movie remake (2009) before so it's a new studio. Macross Frontier is kinda popular and I didn't watch it yet so this is probably a chance to hit two birds with one stone and watch the movie first! Infinite Stratos appears to be based on a light novel so I guess that's another good sign not to expect something shallow. Me gonna give it a shot!
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Title: Freezing
Producers: Media Factory
Airing: January - 2011

Summery: Set in a slightly futuristic world where Earth has been invaded and is at war with aliens from another dimension called the Nova, the story follows the adventures of a Japanese boy named Kazuya Aoi who enrolls for training at a special school for genetically modified girls called Pandoras who battle the aliens, and their male partners, called Limiters, who use a special power called “freezing” to limit their opponent’s mobility. The protagonist makes the acquaintance of an unusual older girl named Bridgette L. Satellizer who appears to be the most powerful Pandora in her class, but has not yet chosen a male partner to be her Limiter, and in spite of the warnings of all his friends, he decides to be her Limiter.

Vanya? Like "IS" before, the summery looks like a setup for anime made for the sake of fan-service and ecchi so I was doubtful. The trailer starts with a beaten up girl with clothes ripped off awkwardly and I go "WTH not another one of these shows?!", but then I hear this awesome track playing! Despite the clothes bit it looks serious here. Some scenes (and the summery too) reminded me of Fate/Stay Night somehow so that's another plus for it. Hm, based on a Seinen manga.. Let's give it a chance, shall we? =3
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Title: Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!
Producers: Zexcs
Airing: January - 2011

Summery: Junior High student Nao’s brother complex is so strong, it’s almost at the point of incest. She’s determined to make her brother, High School student Shuusuke, see her as a woman. So determined, that she goes as far as going into his room to throw away all his non-incest related porn. But as she’s looking for his porno stash, she finds a photo album… and she’s not in any of his childhood pictures. What is going on?

Vanya? Brother complex? Incest? LOL. Hey this is some serious sh*t going on here. Something as bold as that definitely deserves a try. I also keep thinking it has its similarities with OreImo which is airing and I'm loving now so it might be fun comparing the two shows. No otaku stuff here though, let's see how these siblings work it out. =O

Preview: Star Driver. Did it make sense, pretty boy?!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:16:00 +0000

Um, honestly I wasn't excited about Star Driver until I started watching the episode. I don't like the way studio BONES deal with anime for some reason, I think they tend to throw too much stuff in introductory episodes that always leave me unhappy and confused(They even forced an original first episode of FMA:Brotherhood for that reason haha!). Anyway, Star Driver was no exception to this rule, but some good points it had covered for it so I think I'll keep following it for some time.

The first good thing was hearing the voice of Miyano Mamoru (the seiyu of Yagami Light in Death Note) unexpectedly. I'm a fan, and he's performing the rule of the protagonist of the show so we'll be hearing his awesome voice-act a lot xD. I also think it's a good thing that the show doesn't take it self seriously from what we have seen. I don't like the Mecha shows for being too serious about themselves and Star Driver is quite the opposite, it's crazy! It didn't give me the impression that it will be as good as Gurren Lagann which was peerless regarding that but it's still a nice start, and I think a particular scene toward the end of the episode was taken from the last battle in Gurren Lagann shamelessly! I also heard it made jokes of some popular Mecha series but I'm not experienced in the genre so I don't know about that.

I'm not sure I like all the settings she show had, I particularly didn't like the mask and ritual bits about it. It reminded me about the mask in Darker than Black (I only watched the first episode and stopped for reasons I stated about BONES xD). BUT, the Mecha designs were neat! I bet Mecha lovers are delighted with what they've seen, and waiting for even more to come. I'm just wondering what people think about the "Galactic Pretty Boy" thingy, it was too stupid I thought it was hilarious haha!

I know my thoughts are not connected, and I blame the way people at studio BONES direct anime again for that! Maybe the OST was nice, but like FMA it was sparse so you can't make a judgment. A lot of characters were introduced too and the voice selection was great (Maybe too great, I wanted to hear Mamoru acting the voice of Takagi in Bakuman instead /x). Drawing style looks good but I can't stop thinking it's an animated copy of Takeshi Obata style (Death Note and Bakuman mangaka, maybe I was thinking about them too much at the time!). the animation itself was awesome when it needed to be, I know so because I still have the scene of Galactic Pretty Boy fight repeated in my mind! I can't say anything about the story now but nothing kept me waiting to see what happens next. I'll wait for a couple of episodes to make a judgment about that, and it will probably decide if I'll continue following the show or not.

Mania Gauge: X X X _ _ !!

Scoring Note:
X _ _ _ _ !! = Meh...
X X _ _ _ !! = Bored..
X X X _ _ !! = Neutral.
X X X X _ !! = Excited!
X X X X X !! = Maniac!!

Fall Season Anime Previews!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:13:00 +0000

It's somehow depressing when all the anime you got attached to during the previous season start finishing one after another. And then you have to go through the difficult process of picking up the ones that match your taste from the season that follows. I don't know if I'll get accustomed to it but I'll be previewing all the shows I'm testing out this time. I'll update this post as I watch newly airing shows, or just separate them in different posts if I find that I have substance to talk about (and I might go that way for the sole purpose of filling out the blog xP).

Review: Figure - Vocaloid Hatsune Miku VN02 PVC

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:55:00 +0000

So who's that? Simply put, Hatsune Miku is a part of Vocaloid singing software given the appearance of an anime character. She's one of the most popular otaku idols since her first appearance 3 years ago. There are countless numbers of different fan-arts and designs of Hatsune, and this VN02 version is based on Nagimiso art down here:

The figure itself is produced by MaxFactory in 1/8th scale. I'm posting the images I took first then I'll express my thoughts last. I worked my butt off to arrange them like that so I really hope they look good now:

Note: You can show any image in original size by mouse right-click > view image.

Thoughts of Vanya:
My god, this is the first time I get a figure from MaxFactory and I'm seriously impressed. It's not only the pose or details that leave me speechless, but even the coloring is something I'll never get bored of. The translucent hair, the fair skin, the metal wings, the leather cloths, and the sophisticated base. All looks awesome! It was the longest and hardest photo-shoot I've done and I know I still missed lots of great angles. My back hurts and I'm sick of the poor lighting set I have, so I better consider upgrading that sooner than later. Excuse me as I'll be looking for any options around, later!

link: Hatsune Miku - wikipedia

Vanillaware: I'm Enchanted..

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:05:00 +0000

I believe games can be used to convey art. Not one form of art but they can blend different forms together. they can express music, literature, and most obviously graphics. Games by themselves are not art. That's why we praise only handful of games for being artistic, meaning that these games have more to them than what games in general should have. If you read what I said about the challenge and experience of games before, then you should already realize that while art doesn't add to the challenge, it strongly affects the experiential value of any given game.

Generally speaking, games are played for the challenges they offer. They sell for the challenges they offer. Highly praised games might not sell if the challenges are not interesting to the players, while average games might sell if the same players are interested in their challenges. There are still minority who look for experience & art in games as much as they look for challenge or even more. The most exposed of these might be the exclusive Japanese RPG players. They pay close attention to the story (literature), the soundtrack (music), and character design (graphics), while they may be satisfied with the gameplay if it's just enjoyable. I know I'm not one of them, but I also know that I, too, care more about the experience than the challenge. After all, the most memorable games to me are the ones that gave me pleasure by provoking my senses, not my acts.

That being said, it should explain some of the reasons behind the poor popularity of Vanillaware's games. But more importantly, I want it to clarify that when I say I love them, I mean I'm going gaga about them! So from this point onward, I'll be grasping this chance to address my admiration as much as I can.

Undeniably, the most powerful aspect of Vanillaware's games is the graphics. It's the first thing that captures your attention and what keeps you constantly impressed. So what makes Vanillaware 2D style outstanding even among other 2D games? I have a quite simple answer for that. While most 2D sprites are rendered using computers, the sprites & background Vanillaware uses are hand-drawn artworks, and what's more to them is being moving artworks, not still. The outcome for that are dazzling rolling paintings. Once you have a look at them, you can't help yourself from getting allured.

Another really incredible thing about these games is that the stories are no less impressive than the graphics. Each story is presented in a different way and adapted from a different culture. Odin Sphere deals with the story of a grand war during the times of Norse mythology. It sets the focus on 5 protagonists from 5 nations letting you experience the story from 5 perspectives, and then leads you to an epic conclusion in the end. Grim Grimoire has that kind of mysterious & twisted story told in the atmospheres of Magic and Occult. I can't speak without spoiling it, but at least let me say that you play in a period of 5 days that is repeated 5 times allowing you to interact with the same characters and situations differently in order solve certain problems. In Oboro Muramasa, time and money were a big issue, and sadly, the storytelling was severely affected by it. You can still sniff the same brilliance presented in the other games nonetheless. Speaking for myself, I never get bored of its Kabuki play influence with the exaggerated speeches thrown everywhere, even when the awful translations didn't do them the justice they deserve. The characters in all these games have certain depths that can't be overlooked as well. And even though Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire both offer English voice option, I insist the Japanese option is the one to choose as it adds more layers to what the characters already have. Japanese are considered to be masters when it comes to voice acting after all.

The music in Vanillaware's games is always the job of Sakimoto Hitoshi, who was previously working in Square Enix and currently is the owner of Basiscape. The musical scores blended perfectly with each game when each one had its individual settings and atmospheres. That alone was enough to tell me that this man is talented, and I believe Vanillaware agrees with me regarding what I say about him.

When it comes to gameplay, the truth is that it doesn't match how good the visuals are, basically due to the visual being superb in first place. It's nowhere near bad though, and actually has its own depth and magic. It has a particular flavor, this flavor is what made me adore these games even more than just for their splendid storytelling and visual style. Each game has basic gameplay mechanics with added twists turning it into something fresh and new. Odin Sphere is 2D hack'n'slash RPG with hidden strategy elements in using alchemy and planting trees. Grim Grimoire is fast paced 2D RTS in closed rooms with vertical advancement rather than horizontal. Oboro Muramasa is more about 2D action with metroidvania style of play. That alone might not be enough to attract someone to play, so that where some magic might come in handy and exactly where it was used. Vanillaware developers did what they do best trying to raise the value of gameplay, that is by "painting" it artistic. Fighting armies in Odin Sphere, summoning chimeras in Grim Grimoire, or even running in Oboro Muramasa, it's all done in style. The endless spread of details in there is enough keep me wowed the whole time. Be warned though, going through these games is not all sweet and sugar experience. Playing them can be frustrating sometimes as they are somehow difficult to beat. I'm guessing this is one more reason that made them even less accessible, that is going by the old-schooled [skill challenge -> reward] formula rather than the [gimmick challenge -> reward] formula which is overflowing these days. That really shocked me the first time I played Odin Sphere. I thought the game was going to be gimmicky and didn't expect such skills to be required when I was literally playing with arts, not pixel perfect sprites.

I'm enslaved by love and I can no longer escape from its prison. I bought Kumatanchi as soon as I finished Grim Grimoire before yesterday and after I learned that the publisher Dimple is closing its doors. It's a completely different type of game with a completely different purpose than the others, but I'm still going crazy over it just because Vanillaware was the one behind it. Now I only wish for a new game announcement from them. TGS is coming in few weeks so I'm gonna pray night and day for my wish to come true by then, and I'm gonna be among the happiest lovers on earth if it actually does <3

P.S. Van+illaware = Vanillaware! I'll consider that to be a proof of my eternal love xP

Bakemonogatari Nendoroid Puchi Set: OMG so cute!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:56:00 +0000

It's not complete yet though. The last volume was supposed to be released tomorrow, but things happen and now it's delayed a whole month!

*I guess we'll have to wait a bit more and take Shinobu as an expample here x3*

Metroid Prime: I say this game is PERFECT!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:23:00 +0000

There are two things I was thinking of when writing this post:
1. Metroid Prime is the best game of all the time, it's flawless whether we like it or not.
2. Other M will never reach the level of Metroid Prime, it's flawed whether we like it or not.

So yeah, it's an eight-year-old game but the close release of Metroid Other M makes it the perfect time for me to talk about Metroid Prime. Plus, any real gamer knows it's never too late to praise a game such as Prime, simply because it's a treasure that will forever shine no matter what happens after. That being said, then why didn't Prime gain such popularity that matches how great I claim it to be? But then again, quantity does not equal quality, right?

The quality of any game is affected by 2 main components, "challenge" and "experience". The greatest games keep these components in balance and perfect harmony. "Challenge" is original and rewarding. "Experience" is exceptional and mesmerizing. It sounds simple, but the problem lies next. The challenge part is relatively measurable, but people have different tastes depending on their own past experience. I'll focus on the experience part because I think it's the real issue here, challenge is the backbone of any game and more obvious when lacking.

In Metroid Prime, you are on a quest to explore [Tallon IV], a planet that was destroyed by a meteor crash, to investigate the truth behind the enclosed massacre of the Enemy's Space Pirate Frigate [Orpheon]. Humans fear the unknown, and they seek the familiar. So you're seeking what you fear, getting familiar with the unknown. You can see how extraordinary that can be, but you can also get why it appeals to few. You are all alone at the beginning, but then you start to get familiar with the "life" in the planet. And before you know it, you want to save that life from a disaster because you started seeing a "family" in it. This all occurs in utter isolation from the known world. Your only escort is the [Scan Visor], a device which analyzes and identifies whatever you choose of the surroundings and environments.

That strangely sounds eventful, don't you agree? So here is the thing, there is no discriminative events in Metroid Prime. This is the kind of silent story the game has. If you rely on what is served on a silver plate you'll get absolutely nothing from Prime, because you'll hardly find any "convenient" cut-scenes or whatever in there. Prime only rewards you by how much you work, thus offering gratification to these who carry on and mortification to those who slack off.

Everything lies in the gameplay then. And no question that Metroid Prime excelled in serving one of the best gaming experiences ever, dare I say the best. It is the 1st first-person-adventure, both in time and rank. Despite having a dislike of first-person-view at that time, the HUD & control layout felt completely natural the same moment I gabbed the GC controller to play. The gestures and movements were surreal. FPS players can't deny that camera view still feels awkward on consoles no matter what developers do to mask how unrealistically frozen it is. But due to the nature of how Prime works, more freedom was taken to set FPV on a different level from before as well as after. Like the Z-target in Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the revolution that third-person-games needed to evolve, I consider visor-lock-on to be the ignored revolution that first-person-games need as well, at least on consoles that is.

Having said that, I should remind you that Metroid Prime is not a pure first-person-game. By the click of a button, transforming into a [Morph Ball] shifts the screen to the third-person-view. That alone opens the door to farther gameplay mechanics, reaching as far as 2D experience and more. The least that can be said about that is classic!

Now let's face it, open ended areas and repeated patterns are scary common hybrid in 3D games. They let you lose your way without a map, and get bored of looking later on (both at environment & map!). Metroid Prime doesn't fail to impress yet again, as I don't remember a single area or pattern that was repeated in game. Heck, even save rooms looks different! Sure, you'll need to look at the 3D map from time to time to get where you are and where you're heading, but the design is brilliant. It makes sense when you get familiar with it and it's so easy to remember that you'll rarely need the map later on. I'm not kidding when I say that I memorize the routes in Tallon IV like I memorize the roads in Dammam, it's all there in my mind but the way I decide on is the only way being highlighted.

I'll throw a remark about the musical score because it deserves a mention here. We all know that soundtracks can either make or break the mood depending on how well they are played. Metroid Prime did an amazing job in this aspect, too. The music is calm when it needs to be, sad when it needs to be, creepy when it needs to be, and exciting when it needs to be. Plainly said, it's perfect.

I said what I said about Metroid Prime confidently after playing it many times during different periods since it was released. Even if you don't agree, you might not object when I say Metroid Prime is flawless. But how can I say Metroid Other M is flawed although it's not even released yet? It sounds absurd. Here I remind us about the "challenge" and "experience" I talked about at first. I can say nothing regarding the challenge which Other M might offer, and I'm planning to play it for that sole reason if nothing else. But experience is different, it is a dynamic component that modifies based on past experiences. Being exceptional let it avoid being judged based on something before, that was the case with Metroid Prime but it really isn't with Metroid Other M.

The moment [Galactic Federation Corps] were introduced as characters in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes the sense of isolation was broken, ruining part of the experience. They went even further in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with introducing [Hunters] and [Voice Overs] which made it even laughable at times. Based on my experience, I'm confident in saying that drama and "convenient" story-telling are not suitable for a game like Metroid. You might consider yourself lucky if you didn't play Metroid Prime then, but sadly that's so untrue I might cry if I hear you say it. There is nothing original in experience of hearing a story or drama, so you'll be comparing that to what you love best if you liked it later on. What's planted deeper into your mind and soul will prevail, and we all know the newer similar experiences hardly take over the older more cherished ones.

While Metroid Other M might end up being a good game, it can't reach the summit where Metroid Prime is, simply because the "experience" component of the game is lacking the singularity Prime has. Period.

P.S. This post is a love letter for those who share my feelings toward Metroid Prime <3

Human Japanese: Best Way to Start!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:46:00 +0000

Finally finished the PC version of the eBook. A total of 40 chapters that can build you from scratch in learning the language. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed every bit of it and now I'm ready to tackle intermediate level study books! I'll focus on piling up more vocab and mastering the different verb-forms before anything else. That way anime will help me in practicing what I learned even if I slack off (not that I intend to but I know I might lack time when school starts again). One thing I'm worried about though is finding a good source to start memorizing Kanji (any suggestions?). My goal is to learn 1000 basic characters, which equals roughly 1000 meanings, 1000 on-yomi readings, and 1000 kun-yomi readings. Not as hard as it sounds but it's still hard. It needs time and effort, time being the real issue here. x(

I sacrificed my gaming hours the past period to dedicate myself to Japanese. And tell you what, it was definitely worth it! Building new skills for yourself gives an incomparable sense of accomplishment. That's one common reason why I chose hobbies like gaming, photography, Japanese, and now blogging as mine since all require different skills to achieve. I say enough of wasting our precious "salad days" already! xP

As I'm on the subject of linguistics, let me be random here and remind myself about old news.. I'll say it bluntly, English is the most boring language on earth. I failed to find any soul in it, probably because English is soulless from the start. That being said, it's convenient in a way, because it makes saying difficult words like "I love you" and "I hate you" easier than ever if you catch what I mean. Another example is "good bye", which is supposed to be a sad phrase since it should mean the "last bye", but what's with the happy tone in there?! Maybe it's the most fitting one as a universal language after all, since other than being tasteless, it also lacks a basic component of other languages, that component is "home", that home is "culture". I don't want to get deeper and blab about things I know nothing about, so this should be a good point to stop. Please, I might be completely wrong about all of what I said so I welcome criticism here or any other place for the matter. Might as will keep my randomness to myself next time things pop in my head.. xD

link: Human Japanese Site

Bakemonogatari: A show that fell below its full potential due to budgetary concerns, did it not?!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 05:41:00 +0000

I've been praising Bakemonogatari for its clever storytelling and unique presentation for a while now, but that's not what made it an excellent show for me. Actually, part of what made the presentation as peculiar as it is was the low budget it had. I'm not sure if it was like that from the start or that Studio Shaft wasted the cash, because the difference in quality between the 1st 2 episodes and the rest of the series is so clear not to point out. It's not bad to watch, and the heavy nature of the dialogues surely masks it well enough letting you forget about the lack of animation or maybe not noticing at first, but it gets painful when you start seeing it. Sure, I loved the constantly shifting captures and the clipped real-photographs presented in the show, but it was too much at times I thought it was better if I was able to enjoy reading the novel instead (I'm learning Japanese for reasons like these btw!). What made me more conscious about this shortage is the coming brief scenes in some episodes where animations suddenly go wild and you start seeing flying action everywhere in screen. I still like the end result of what they did, but part of me wishes for more of what the intro had and regrets that a cheap studio like Shaft was handed over the baton for the first novel adaptation of NisioIsin's works.

Whether we liked it or hated it, we probably all agree presentation is not the selling point of Bakemonogatari. What's more compelling about the anime is the variety of complex characters in there. Yes, we have the smarty, tsundere, loli, imouto and tomboy female-character-set, but the show itself is aware of that giving it opportunities to make fun of itself and delve deeper into the otherwise generic characterization. The surreal interactions between each of the girls and the boy protagonist Araragi Koyomi allow him to expose his personality in different ways as well, thus giving him his share of shameful, awkward, prideful, and heroic moments a man would face while dealing with the opposite sex. That given, the outcome should be an amusing mixture of hilarious laughs and intelligent twists, and I can say it certainly was thanks to the witty dialogues Bakemonogatari is abundant with.

Owning to the resourceful work of NisioIsin, there is little doubt that Studio Shaft wont bring us the same level of creativity in the planned prequel, Kizumonogatari. My only demand for them is to spend more pennies on it especially with their huge success after releasing the long-waited final volume of Bakemonogatari at last. Being greedy brings misfortune in the end, so let's hope I'm not the greedy one this time xP

related links: Kizumonogatari: I can't wait T_T

A New Corner to the Room: Gwendolyn is.. Huge!!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:06:00 +0000

It got more Otaku-ish than ever, but I don't really mind about that xD

Anime chart Fall2010 (English): One more Anime in the list!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Nothing much changed but..

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

The story centers around a teen-celebrity-like blond-haired girl named Panty and a black-haired Goth Loli girl named Stocking. The two are angels sent from the heavens to battle the "Ghosts" on Earth.
why is Vanya excited? How did I miss this one before! I should have checked it out as soon as I saw it was produced by Studio Gianax. Members of Gurren Lagann team are working on it, which is more than enough to keep me waiting on fire. Please, don't disappoint!

link: Gainax's Newest Is Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

New Figure Joins: Azusa Nakano (K-ON!)

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:51:00 +0000

Just came yesterday! Azunyan kawaii~ <3

I'm getting the whole K-ON! crew but I need to be patient and wait for their releases. Tsumugi-chan will be the next to welcome 2 months from now.. Excited!

RAINBOW: Nisha Rokubō no Shichinin. Don't get fooled by the RAINBOW part!

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 05:12:00 +0000

It's rare to have an anime like RAINBOW airing these days. Because unlike what its name sounds like, it's dark and filthy, and definitely not a dreamy show. Well, there is a hoping theme in there. But it's hope for what might seem trivial to us mommy's plush toys, that being only due to our lack of experience of what some less fortunate kids went through in their lives. Yep, basically that's RAINBOW for you.

It's about 7 teenagers who try to hold up together against the harsh, inhumane life they are experiencing in a disciplinary prison in Japan. The story starts in 1955 and follows afterward with some brief moments of their unfortunate pasts. If you expect anything like a hotel-like prison and a perfect break plan, *coughs*pris*coughs*reak, then you'll be definitely shocked. It's all brutality, harassment, and starvation for survival in that pathetic shell of a reformatory school.

Now I'm not enjoying the anime because I'm feeling masochistic or anything, but because there is more to it than freaking old perverts and pitiful young men. It shows how the strongest bonds can be formed in the harshest of times, How is sacrificing oneself for another sometimes bring moments of happiness which cannot be if all care only for themselves, and how some spoken words can be endless treasures to the poorest of people when told at the right times.

The show also send messages that a social rank is not a measure for the quality of a person. One of highest authorities can be the worst kind of scum, and a labeled criminal can be the best kind of man. Good people aren't sinless angels, and bad people aren't sinful devils. Humans are mixture of right and wrong, only with different shades of gray.

A decent show to say the least. Sure it has its share of problems like relying a bit much on sexual abuse to seek sympathy, but that doesn't prevent anyone ready to have a look at the dark side of life from enjoying it. It touches the heart at painful spots and leaves the eye with salty tears. Get prepared for some emotional moments if you plan on watching it. Recommended.

links: RAINBOW official site.

Kizumonogatari, I can't wait T_T

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 00:04:00 +0000

“I think it’s about time I talked about Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. I believe it’s something that I have to do. I met her in the spring break between my second and third years of high school. That meeting was impactful, and also quite devastating. In any case, I thought I had really bad luck――of course, this probably wouldn’t be the case if I wasn’t there, but instead, someone else was in my shoes. Actually, I do think it’s quite irresponsible to say that it was really bad luck that got me into this, and that maybe I should just accept that it was my fault entirely. In the end, I believe that my being there had started that chain of events.”

Recently, the last volume of Bakemonogatari was released. The anime went through an unbelievable series of delays since its premiere last year which lead to the cancellation of its time-slot and shifting to web-streaming instead. Even though Shaft studio is an ass when it comes to deadlines, I forgive them for their high production value, and the immediate announcement of the prequel Kizumonogatari after the crazy sales of Bakemonogatari's last Blu-ray (which is partially due to their laziness and the poor quality of web-streaming, darn their good luck!).

Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, what kind of name is that?!

Kizumonogatari tells the story of Araragi Koyomi, the main character of Bakemonogatari. Just look at the synopsis taken from the original light novel at the beginning of the post. It gives a fairly good idea of how things run in kizumonogatari (as well as Bakemonogatari for that matter), which consist of freaking awesome dialogues with tons of wordplay, a variety of bizarre characters, and mind-stirring plot twists. Soon, or maybe not so soon *remembers the suffering days of wait for Bakemonogatari to finish ( >,>)*, we'll get the bonus of crystal-clear'n'fluid-like animation Studio Shaft has to offer as light is shed on the anime adaptation of the novel. What's more exciting to me is that Amazon.jp listed both Kizumonogatari and Nisemonogatari DVDs for release in January but then they were removed. That's still hinting at the release of Nisemonogatari, the sequel of Bakemonogatari telling the stories of Araragi Koyomi younger sisters!

Although it's sad some characters of Bakemonogatari characters wont be appearing in Kizumonogatari, there are still interesting new faces in the wait.

And of course, seeing Oshino and Hanekawa here again is more than enough for me. Both are favorites of mine.

All we can do now is wait for the official release date. And let's hope Amazon was right about the listing, too!

Vanya's Banner: Mercedes of Odin Sphere

noreply@blogger.com (7van) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:51:00 +0000

In case you're like me, eager to know all, this is a gift for you. The original shot of the image shown in my banner. Yes, I made it myself along with the design of Vanya Mania, and I'm kinda proud of it haha. It's taken from my first PVC scale figure, Mercedes of Odin Sphere:

I know I'm more than a decade late saying this now.. But really, photoshop is an unlimited source of magic x3

And I guess it's the proper time to say this, picasa uploads suck (#>,<)

UPDATE: It appears it was the stupidity of the automatic resize feature. I fixed most of the posts including this one and Momohime's review. My photos are as clean as I want them to be now =')