Anime Raku

Bakemonogatari @ Odaiba pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Last post from Odaiba. This time it's some scenes from anime Bakemonogatari, specifically episode 14 and 15. It's easy to take the photos once you get there. You just have to make sure that you get on the bridge, because I failed to get there from the west side (the side where the Ferris wheel is), so I had to cross the river via a different bridge and walk back to the right one from the east side. It may be easier to go from the east side to begin with.

Directions, right? You need to get to Odaiba. Either go to Yuurakuchou Station, transfer to Yuurakuchou Line for Shin-Kiba and get on Rinkai Line there. Get off at Tokyo Teleport or Kokusaitenjijou. Another way is to go to Shinbashi Station and get on Yurikamome there. In that case, you would get off at Aomi or Kokusaitenjijouseimon (in front of Tokyo Big Sight).

View Bakemonogatari in a larger map

Taketatsu Ayana Debut Single Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:06:00 +0000

Popular seiyuu Taketatsu Ayana known for her roles of Kousaka Kirino (Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai), Nakano Azusa (K-ON!), Sawatari Fuu (Tamayura), and others is going to release her debut single. The title is "Sinfonia! Sinfonia!!!" and it's scheduled to be released on April 11. Regular edition will be sold for 1,350 yen; the limited edition including a DVD will cost you 1,850 yen. Taketatsu Ayana has released several, mainly OreImo and K-ON related CDs before, but all of them were character songs, making this her true debut single.

The CD release isn't the only news revealed today. A website http://taketatsuayana.jp has been launched, listing all Ayana-related announcements. On March 14, Taketatsu Ayana's 1st photobook titled AYANA will be released. The debut single is due the following month, and a BD/DVD release is planned on May 16. BD will be sold for 4,900 yen, DVD for 3,900 yen. One of the settings for the BD/DVD is Guam. Ayana said she had never gone to the sea, so the staff decided to take her to the beautiful beaches in Guam and shoot the video there. According to the announcement, some of the content will be made in studios in Japan.

A special live event on the occasion of the debut single release will be held on April 21. In addition, two events will be held in Nagoya and Osaka on May 5 and 6 respectively. People can apply for the event tickets at Animate and the audience will by selected by a lottery.

Strike Witches Movie PV

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:51:00 +0000

The official Kadokawa Youtube channel has streamed a 2-minute long PV for the upcoming Strike Witches movie. The movie once again takes place in Europe where Yoshika transfers as a student from Japan. However, when she comes to Europe, the fear of the enemy Neuroi is rising again.

The movie will premiere on March 17 in cinemas across Japan.

DFC Saturday #76

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:06:00 +0000

Astarotte Ygvar by shishamo

Ririchiyo is so cute! Ririchiyo! Yeah, extra serving of Ririchiyo-chan. She's cute, after all. Her sharp tongue is adorable. I wouldn't mind being stepped on by Ririchiyo. Enjoy Ririchiyo! And others too ^^

Furude Rika by gaou

Nomizu Iori by shotarou

Eila Ilmatar Juitilainen and Sanya V Lytviak

BRS by niyang53

Shirakiin Ririchiyo by joy ride

Shirakiin Ririchiyo by haruken

Yamano Remon by bow

picture by yan-yam

Shirakiin Ririchiyo by safi

Infinite Stratos @ Odaiba pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:40:00 +0000

If you have seen Infinite Stratos, you will surely remember the picturesque shopping mall designed to look like an Italian town in the 17th century. That mall actually exists in the Palette Town in Odaiba and it's called Venus Fort. However, only the second floor is designed this way, so don't think you've been had if you go into a wrong floor and find nothing out of ordinary, just your typical shopping mall.

The best way to get there is to transfer to Yurikamome at Shinbashi Station or Toyosu Station. Another option is to get off at Tokyo Teleport Station on the Rinkai Line.　I think that map isn't really necessary, but here it is anyway.

View Larger Map

Seitokai no Ichizon @ Odaiba pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:23:00 +0000

These photos were taken on the second day of Comiket 80 on my way to Tokyo Big Sight. I got of at Yurikamome Line's Daiba Station and had a nice walk in Odaiba during which I passed by a few places that had appeared in anime. Seitokai no Ichizon is one of them. The first photo was taken in front of the Aqua City in Odaiba. The second one is from the Aomi Station.

Here's the location map.

View Seitokai no Ichizon in a larger map

Shinryaku! Ika Musume pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:48:00 +0000

It's been quite long since the last post of this kind. I'm the only one to blame orz Well, I could try to turn the blame to my exams at university, but I've finished them 2 weeks ago. What I've been doing these 2 past weeks is a mystery even to me. I must have been possessed by some evil spirits who control my body, even now as I write this post. I don't know what to do if I'm made to do something evil... Chuunibyou, otsu! Anyway, Shinryaku Ika Musume pilgrimage photos are here.

This wasn't very successful, but it was thankfully just a secondary objective. The primary objective of that day was the Elfen Lied pilgrimage. The second season of Ika Musume seems to present more spots to take photos of, but I took these before the second season started airing. Well, maybe some other time ^^

Here's a map. You can either walk there from Kamakura Station or get on the Enoden Line at Kamakura Station and get off at Yuigahama or Hase Station.

View Shinryaku! Ika Musume in a larger map

Top 10 cutest girls with a fang

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:52:00 +0000

The Japanese anime server Anime One, known for its anime polls, has presented us with results of a poll inquiring about everyone's favorite anime character with a fang. The Japanese term for such a tooth is "yaeba" (八重歯) and it's regarded as a charming point by many. The psychological explanation for it is that it's something uncommon, thus highly appreciated. Everyone who has seen Lucky Star or Shuffle will surely remember the saying that "flat chest is a status symbol, rare and valuable.". This seems to go hand in hand with the above explanation of an expert.

1	Kousaka Kirino	Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
2	Sakura Kyouko	Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
3	Kashiwazaki Sena	Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai
4	Hachikuji Mayoi	Bakemonogatari
5	Tsuruya	Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu
6	Serizawa Fumino	Mayoi Neko Overrun
7	Kusakabe Misao	Lucky Star
8	Huang Lingyin	Infinite Stratos
9	Ranka Lee	Macross F
10	Akashiya Moka	Rosario to Vampire

Hasegawa Kobato Beach Queens Ver.

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:29:00 +0000

It's not very often that a figure from the Beach Queens line is to my liking, but this figure of Hasegawa Kobato from Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai wearing only pink bikini and holding her guro usagi (rabbit plush) is quite well-done and appealing to me. It's not exactly the best quality you can get, but the price of 3,800 yen makes up for that more than enough. The scale is 1/10, so it's a bit smaller than regular 1/8 scale figures.

Those who are interested can place their preorders on CDJapan, and Hobby Search. She is due to August release.

DFC Saturday #75

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:14:00 +0000

Hinanawi Tenshi by zazazazazazawa

Greetings! Another DFC Saturday is here. After last time, I've decided that DFC Saturdays won't be weekly posts, but a fortnightly post. One reason is that I will be able to make also some different posts this way. The other one is that it will be easier for me to find 10 nice flat illustrations every two weeks rather than every week. Okay, without any further ado, enjoy the flatness!

Hinanawi Tenshi by mamo

picture by peko

Houraisan Kaguya by geppewi

Gokou Ruri by kuzu kow

Kagamine Rin by shun47

picture by meito

Oshino Shinobu by umeno

picture by Kishida Mel

picture by karory

Mizuki Nana's Synchrogazer ranks #2

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

Mizuki Nana's new single Synchrogazer, whose title song has been used as the opening theme for anime Senki Zesshou Symphogear, has ranked #2 on the Oricon Weekly Single Chart, having sold 51,017 copies according to the sales statistics. The first rank has been claimed by Kinki Kids and their single called Kawatta Katachi no Ishi with 123,475 sold copies. Nana's previous single, Junketsu Paradox, sold a bit less than 51,000 during the first week.

If you're interested, you can get the single on CDJapan. They still have a few first press editions available.

Here is the CM for Synchrogazer.

K-On! Movie nominated for Japan Academy Award

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:51:00 +0000

K-ON! The Movie has been nominated for the Japan Academy Award, which is a huge accomplishment for a late-night anime. K-ON! Movie has been nominated for the award for Excellence in Animation, the award usually given to accomplished anime series with long history, such as Detective Conan, or anime produced by distinguished directors, such as Miyazaki Hayao. Even if K-ON! doesn't receive the award in the end, it will have taken another step to settle itself among the highly esteemed anime titles and hopefully also being praised by people who don't watch anime very often.

EDIT: The information in the post has been corrected.

Happy Birthday, Mio!

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:03:00 +0000

It's Mio's birthday today! Happy birthday, Mio! She was the first character I really liked in K-ON before eventually growing to like all of the characters. I really can't wait to see the movie.

On another note, my exam period is over, so you might expect some more posts from now on. The first half of January was really devoid of new posts and that should change now.

DFC Saturday #74

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Hasegawa Kobato by buntan

Time is money. Enjoy!

lucie

Yanagise Eika by Korie Riko

Kasugano Sora by Hashimoto Takashi

Takayama Maria by kakukaku

Inami Mahiru by Sawashiro Kei

Akemi Homura by Fujikawa Daichi

Tougetsu Gou

Aoyama Mio by Yuto

Kisaragi Chihaya

ISML 2012 Nominations

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

International Saimoe League has entered the nomination period, which will last until January 8 0:00 GMT+0. This time, your nomination ballot has space for 12 girls and each of your votes has the same value, so you don't have to care about their order. Make sure that the girls you want to nominate are eligible (read the rules to find who is not eligible) and that they are not among the 24 auto-qualified for the preliminaries (you can find the list of auto-qualifiers in the voting arena).

This year, ISML is divided into the newcomers' division (Nova) and veterans' division (Stella). The nominated characters will be separated into these two divisions and 72 characters with the most votes from each division will advance into the preliminaries together with 12 auto-qualified Nova and 12 auto-qualified Stella characters. The preliminaries as well as the subsequent regular season and post-season 1 will be separated into Nova and Stella divisions too. In post-season 2, top 8 characters from each division will clash their weapons in the battle for the Heavenly Tiara.

I haven't finalized my ballot yet. I will definitely vote for Furude Rika, Alice Carroll, Fate Testarossa, Ichinose Kotomi, Kawasumi Mai, Hakamada Hinata, and Tainaka Ritsu, because they need the support. The remaining slots will be filled with 5 characters from a list of 7, containing Makise Kurisu, Hasegawa Kobato, Kashiwazaki Sena, Ika Musume, Toshinou Kyouko, Touwa Erio, and Hoshii Miki. All of them should be able to make it into the preliminaries.

Support your favorite girls!

Goodbye 2011, Welcome 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:53:00 +0000

The year 2011 is over and we are entering the new year. If I look back at the year 2011, there are several things I can say. First, 2011 brought as a good deal of great anime titles. It was richer than 2010 and 2009. When I was putting together my top 12, I was really at a loss, because I simply couldn't decide which anime to include there and which to leave off the list. In the end, I couldn't put there series like iM@S, Hourou Musuko, and Working'!!, which I really enjoyed.

2011 was a year of first-times for me. In August, I was in Japan for the first time. I know I'm really taking my time more than I should, but stay tuned for some more pilgrimage posts. I hope they might be of use to some of you one day. I saw Nana and many other anison artists for the first time. I staked out outside an anime recording studio for the first time (I didn't camp there. It was only for a short while, really ^^;). I received my first sign from a person related to anime industry. I made my first anime pilgrimage. Well, I could go on reciting, because there are a lot of first-times related to my trip to Japan, but let's keep it at that.

If everything goes smooth, this blog may go through a cosmetic surgery in the second half of January. Nothing big, just an up-lift ^^

I wish you all the best for the new year. あけましておめでとうございます！今年もよろしくお願いします！

Elfen Lied pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 13:54:00 +0000

Elfen Lied is one of the first anime whose real-life location I learned about. That's all thanks to comrade punynari, so make sure you check out his pilgrimage posts as well.

The first location is Sasuke Inari Jinja in the woods of Kamakura, east of Kamakura Station. Get on Yokosuka Line at Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station and get off at Kamakura. You can also get on Toukaidou Line, go as far as Oofuna Station and get on Yokosuka Line there. At Kamakura Station, use the east exit and go straight forward and then turn right at the second traffic light. Go on and make the second left. Alternatively, you can reach Sasuke Inari Jinja from Kita-Kamakura Station if you follow the hiking path.

The second location is the vicinity of Gokurakuji Station. You can either walk from Kamakura Station or Sasuke Inari Taisha, or you can get on the Enoden Line at Kamakura Station and get off at Gokurakuji.

The above photo has nothing to do with the pilgrimage, but I consider it to be one of the best shots I've ever taken.

The last location is Enoshima, a very nice place to go for a trip. To get there, you will have to get on the Enoden Line and get off at Enoshima Station if you are already in Kamakura. If you are coming directly from Tokyo, get on a Toukaidou Line train, get off at Oofuna Station, and use the Shounan Monorail.

Here is the map of all of the places.

View Elfen Lied in a larger map

Travel tips: How to save some money in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:32:00 +0000

Ever since I returned from Japan, I've meant to write an article about how to save some money on unavoidable expenses. Now it's finally finished. It's just a few tips which many of you might know about, especially if you have been to Japan before. Nevertheless, I believed that some people might learn something new from it, so I felt it was worth writing. I write about 4 points which appear on every traveler's travel budget, regardless of what he or she does and buys there. Drinks, food, accommodation, and expenses on public transport. If you disagree with something written in the article or if you find something that ought to be corrected, feel free to leave a comment.

1) Drinks

You can easily save some money if you choose your drinks carefully. You will see the vending machines anywhere and everywhere and most of them would offer 0.5 liter drinks for 150 yen. However, if you don't opt for the first vending machine you lay your sight on, you are likely to come across another one which will have the same drinks or some other 0.5l drinks at a lower price. Some of these vending machines have big 100 yen prints on them, so you can easily tell that the vending machine has 100 yen drinks.

That's not all. If you want to reduce your expenses on liquids even more and you do not want to buy still water (depending on the store, that may actually cost you more than the following option), you can buy 1 liter tetra-packs of flavored water for 105 yen. Different shops offer different flavors, some of which include peach, muscat grape, lemon, and chassis. But you will find at least one in every convenience store. The only disadvantage of this is that you can't carry it in your bag once you open it.

2) Food

Where should I start... Okay, let's go through the options that are more on the cheaper side, starting with not expensive options and finishing with the cheapest possible options that will ensure your survival.

If you want to have a proper lunch or dinner, you can go to a restaurants. Of course, there are many of them, but what I want to mention are the chain restaurants. The prices start at about something over 500 yen for a simple meal. For example, at Denny's, you will pay some 700-1200 yen if you order a regular meal. Some family restaurants are cheaper than that, but it might come as a trade-off for the size of the meal. For example Saizeriya's menu lists some pasta for 300 yen, but I haven't seen the size you get for that.

If you fancy some curry, you can go to one of the restaurants of CoCo Ichibanya chain. You can have some good curry starting at about 600 yen, and you can order a large serving of rice for additional 100 yen. I had nattou curry there and it was delicious.

Let's move on to something cheaper. You might call this category Japanese fast food chain restaurants. First, we have Yoshinoya. It was established in 1899 so it has quite a long tradition and it's very popular. They primarily offer bowl meals (gyuudon, etc.) and curry and the prices start at 300-400 yen. But as far as I know, they have one meal for a special price at any given time. For example now, they offer gyuunabedon for 280 yen.

A similar chain to Yoshinoya is Matsuya. The menu resembles the menu at Yoshinoya and so do the prices.

Another option are noodle bistros which you can find pretty much anywhere. In large cities, they usually have a vending machine outside which you buy a meal ticket from and hand it in inside. Besides soba and udon, they might offer various bowl meals (katsudon, gyuudon, oyakodon, etc.). The price varies from store to store, but some of them might offer soba and udon starting at about 250 yen. However, bear in mind that the size is not likely to fill your stomach. You will have to order something more expensive, like large size soba/udon, katsudon, or a set if you want to feel full.

What seems to be the cheapest option is supermarkets and convenience stores. You can get some pastry or things like yakisoba pan for about 100-160 yen there. But it's nothing big, unless you happen to come by something with good mass/price ratio. You can also get onigiri there for about the same price. What is surely a better deal if you want to fill your stomach is the various bento they sell there. What's more, if you're getting it for dinner, you might come across some discounted bento, or even a half-priced bento (don't worry, you don't have to seize it in a fight ^_-). Expect to pay at least 400 yen for a full-priced bento.

If you are very desperate and all you want to do is to fill your stomach with some mass, you can buy some toast bread in a convenience store or a supermarket. In supermarkets, you might get about 360g of toast bread for about 100 yen (probably a bit over, but I also came across 68 yen one in Osaka's Shin-Imamiya area). But don't live on nothing but bread! You have to try out some things when you are in Japan.

Another thing worth mentioning is that supermarkets (Fresco, Shimadaya, Y's Mart, etc.) are almost always cheaper than convenience stores (Family Mart, Lawson, 7-Eleven and the likes). But it's harder to come across one. Convenience stores are, on the other hand, on every corner (well, almost :D).

3) Accommodation

If you are looking for cheap accommodation in Tokyo, search in Taito-ku, specifically in the area marked by Minami-Senju, Ueno, and Asakusa stations. You can find lodging for as low as 2,500 yen per night. You will have to bear with a small room (and when I say small, I mean really small), but you will have Internet access, usually tea and coffee, and shower, whose use may, however, be charged (I paid 100 yen for 5 minutes at Aizuya Inn). What's more, Akihabara is only some 15 minutes by train or 11 minutes by metro from Minami-Senju Station. Sounds good, doesn't it? The area doesn't really belong to the pretty parts of Tokyo. You will see quite a few homeless people and drunk people there, but they possess no threat unless you provoke them. Just mind your own business and you will be fine.

In Osaka, try looking in the area near Shin-Imamiya Station. I hear this area used to be a slum, and I have to say that you will notice that it is very far from being an upscale area. You'd better not go southward from the station, because that area is not considered safe. There's a very shabby shoutengai (shopping street) stretching southward from near Shin-Imamiya Station. I went there about three times, because there was a cheap supermarket there, but I must say it sent chills down my spine once. At the south end of the shoutengai, there's the largest red-light district in Osaka and places like that always possess some level of danger (though, you're still in Japan, one of the safest countries in the world). If you go northward from Shin-Imamiya Station, you will find yourself in Nipponbashi, Osakan counterpart of Akihabara.

4) Transport

If you are not going to stay only in one city, but intend to travel around different places, you should get the Japan Rail Pass, with which you can use any JR Line, except the Nozomi service and Mizuho service Shinkansen trains. JR offers 7-day, 14-day, and 21-day pass, all of which come in two versions, Standard Car and Green Car. With the Green Car pass, you can use the green cars if they are available. If you have the Rail Pass, you can also reserve seats for free. You can only obtain the Rail Pass if you purchase the exchange order prior to going to Japan. Once you are in Japan, you can exchange it for the Rail Pass upon presenting your passport with 90-day Visitor's Visa. If you have any other type of visa (student's visa, working visa, etc.), you can't use the Rail Pass.

Class		7-day	14-day	21-day
Green Car	Adult	¥37,800	¥61,200	¥79,600
	Child	¥18,900	¥30,600	¥39,800
Standard Car	Adult	¥28,300	¥45,100	¥57,700
	Child	¥14,150	¥22,550	¥28,850

Now, which one is the right type for you? I believe that in 99% of cases, you will do fine with the Standard Car version. What are the advantages of green cars? From what I hear, they are a bit more spacious. That's about it. I used the standard cars carrying two suitcases and didn't encounter any problem. Not even during the Obon period. Another thing which needs to be mentioned is that green cars are only available on certain train services.

When you go from point A to point B, there might be more than one way to get there. For example, if I were to go from Minami-Senju Station to Shibuya Station, I could either use JR Jouban Line and JR Yamanote Line or I could opt for the metropolitan metro lines (Hibiya Line and Ginza Line). What would be the difference? I would pay 290 yen for the former and 230 yen for the latter. You can look up the possible connections and the prices on Google Maps.

I hope you can make use of some of these bits of advice. You can spend all the money you save that way on some anime merchandise, CDs and other thingies you can take home with you :D

Yuru Yuri Second Season Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 22:04:00 +0000

Production of a second season of anime Yuru Yuri was announced earlier today during Yuru Yuri broadcast on Nico Nico Live. The title of the second season will be Yuru Yuri♪♪. More information will be probably announced next Saturday during another broadcast titled Yuru Yuri♪♪ Project Announcement. The official website of Yuru Yuri has been updated with the announcement of second season as well. This is a very pleasant announcement which I'd been expecting for some time. Yuru Yuri was a great anime full of awesome characters and I can't wait for the second season.

DFC Saturday #73

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:31:00 +0000

Yuuki Mikan by 40010prototype

The weekly DFC Saturday doesn't really seem to be weekly anymore orz But it will always be a Saturday post. I will do my best to make a DFC Saturday post every week, but expect that there will be some DFC-less Saturdays even from now on. Next Saturday is the Christmas Eve, so I will announce beforehand that there will be no DFC Saturday on that day. Anyway, enjoy today's serving!

Kisaragi Chihaya by inusaki

Yamada Aoi by onsen panda

Black Rock Shooter by Kimagure Ringo

picture by moyashi

Kirisame Marisa by yuukiarisu

picture by Yukino Minato

Kikuchi Makoto by tanaka (colorcorn)

Minato Tomoka by Kuruno Yuzuko

Minase Iori by K.Y Ko

ACAA 2011 - My Top 12 Anime of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 01:17:00 +0000

The year 2011 has been a year that has brought us many great anime titles. Even though we've seen some great anime series in 2010 and 2009 and there were many titles that we at least enjoyed watching, compared to those two years, 2011 has been much better, in my opinion. It was very hard to select 12 anime from this year into my top 12. When I did the same thing last year, it wasn't easy either, but I didn't have the feeling that I didn't include something I should have included there, like I do now. On top of that, I chose only top 10 last year. Anyway, without any further ado, here is my selection of 12 anime from the year 2011 for the AniBloggers' Choice Anime Awards 2011.

12. Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

You might wonder why I included this anime in the top 12 of this season, and I won't be able to fully explain the reason. I laughed a lot each episode and the show was a real mess, in a good sense. Many people thought it was only about senseless fanservice, but the show have managed to go further than that, only that not everyone have realized that and many people gave up after a few episodes. It required a lot of patience and attention to find out all the details thanks to which the whole thing made sense, which may be regarded as both a good and a bad point.

11. Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni!

An excellent comedy with excellent characters.

10. RO-KYU-BU!

I like my lolis playing with balls ^^ Even though Ro-Kyu-Bu is an anime whose main objective is showing the audience some cute girls, many of its episodes ended with a big cliffhanger which made me crave for the next episode to see what would happen next.

9. Mirai Nikki

I only started watching this anime when 6 episodes had aired and I was really glad I had decided to give it a try, because I would miss out on a lot of great action and a very amusing character. I think it's quite appropriate for Yuno to receive the title of the Queen of Yandere. What she is able to do and say when driven by her obsession is amazing, and her expression in yandere trance is extremely scary yet cute at the same time.

8. Gosick

Victorica is soooooooooo cute! Now, Gosick was a very enjoyable anime in guise of a mystery series but focusing on the bonds between the characters. It started by the main character solving mystery cases like you can see in regular mystery shows, but it evolved in quite a grand scale story with lots of emotions.

7. Yuru Yuri

A character-driven show, which I greatly enjoy. The everyday shenanigans of the members of the Amusement Club and the members of the student council, interactions between the characters, and the overall atmosphere of this anime; all of it was excellent. I hope for a second season to be green-lit. We still have yet to see Akari's hardcore siscon sister ^o^　＼ｱｯｶﾘｰﾝ／

6. Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

I love the light novel, so my expectations have been quite high. Anime adaptation of Haganai hasn't let me down and it has answered the expectations of mine. All of the characters are perfectly designed and having them all at one place results in a series of extremely interesting events and conversations.

5. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai

I like CLANNAD, AIR, Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and other anime that bring you to tears and Ano Hana is one of them. The portrayal of the characters and their bonds was very deep and the general flow of the anime was well-paced. All of this and many other factors have made it possible for not only me but also countless of others to sympathize with the characters, cheer for them when they were troubled, and shed a few tears or even a whole bucket. It may sound strange to some people, while others might agree with me, when an anime makes me cry, I regard it in a very positive light and give that anime some bonus points for accomplishing that. It's not a very frequent occurrence.

4. Hanasaku Iroha

A masterpiece when it comes to anime which revolve around the everyday lives of people. Even when the characters face some difficult situation, the show always has a bright atmosphere and it encourages people by a hidden message that hardships are meant to be overcome by work and dedication and that there is nothing like an utterly hopeless situation. All you have to do is bonboru ^^ It might be bit idealistic and utopic, but what's bad about that?

3. Fate/Zero

DAT BROSKANDAR!!! This series reeks of epicness on miles. It's not only Iskandar, but also Kiritsugu, Kotomine, Tokiomi, Gilgamesh, and Lancer, all of them are really cool characters. Then you also have DAT MILF IRISVIEL and DAT ULTRALOLI ILYA AND LOLI RIN there.

2. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

At first I thought that I would pick Madoka as my top anime of this year, but after a lot of deep thinking I came to a conclusion that even though I had greatly enjoyed it and would give it 11/10 if it were possible, there was another anime which was as great as Madoka and which I had enjoyed even more as it pulled off a great combination of serious action and lots of fantastic humor...

1. Steins;Gate

...and that series was Steins;Gate. Everyone who has seen it will remember the excellent scene where Kyouma spoke to a foreigner in the back alleys of Akihabara. Steins;Gate might have had a slow start which might have disappointed some people and make them drop it. But it had an escalating tendency. It was getting better and better with every episode and the real turning point was in the twelfth episode. I could write a long article about what I liked and enjoyed on Steins;Gate, but I will cut the long story short and simply say, I loved every bit of Steins;Gate.

That's it for the top 12. It's full of awesome anime which I truly enjoyed.

Anime which I feel I should at least mention, because I really like them and find them to be much better than your average show: Shakugan no Shana III, Working'!!, Hourou Musuko. I could name a few more, but I wanted to narrow it down to as fewer as possible.

Guitar Shoujo! CM

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:13:00 +0000

Lantis and LMD are preparing quite a mysterious project involving Ogura Yui, seiyuu whom you might recognize as the seiyuu who has voiced Hinata from Ro-Kyu-Bu!, Alice from Kami-sama no Memo-chou, etc. The project is called Guitar Shoujo! (Guitar Girl!). What it is about will be publicly disclosed on December 21 at an event in Akihabara. Yesterday, a promotional CM for Guitar Shoujo!, in which you can hear the main character, presumably Guitar Shoujo, talking on phone with a friend, saying: "It's still a secret. You will find out soon", has been streamed on the Internet. Whatever it turns out to be, the fact that it involves Ogura Yui makes me excited about it.

Clannad pilgrimage in Yawata

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:20:00 +0000

Kyoto Prefecture, Yawata City houses a place which must be familiar to all fans of Clannad. The riverside and the cycling road there is a place where Tomoya fought the other guys and where the highly radioactive rainbow pan made its appearance. The very same place also appears in the opening of After Story. A few hundred meters away is a place which also appears in the opening from After Story and if you turn 90 degrees to your left hand side, you can see a picture from the ending from After Story.

I wanted to get down there to take some photos from there, because that's the exact spot where the fighting scene took place; alas, it was impossible since the path was blocked by tall grass.

Yawata can hardly be called a touristic spot. There seem to be some places of interest there as they had some maps and brochures at the station, but they won't be much well-known, I think. The places appearing in Clannad must be the most interesting and exciting thing about Yawata ^^ Here is a map with the spots (you need to zoom out a bit). It's a short walk from the station so you should not have much trouble getting there.

View Clannad in a larger map

The 62nd Kouhaku Uta Gassen Performers List

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:43:00 +0000

The list of artists who will appear at this year's NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen has been revealed. Nana will make her third appearance and she will be the only anison representative again this year as well.

NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen is an annual music TV show broadcast on NHK on New Year's Eve. It is probably the most popular New Year's Eve TV show in Japan and performing there is a dream of many artists. There are artists of various genres at Kouhaku, but mainly it's enka and popular J-Pop artists. The artists are divided into two teams: read team, which consists of female artists or groups with lead female vocals, and white team, which consists of male artists and groups with lead male vocals.

Red Team:

aiko
Ashida Mana
Ayaka
Angela Aki
Ikimonogakari
Ishikawa Sayuri
AKB48
KARA
Kawanaka Miyuki
Kanda Sayaka
Koda Kumi
Godai Natsuko
Kobayashi Sachiko
Sakamoto Fuyumi
Shiina Ringo
Shoujo Jidai
Tendou Yoshimi
Natsukawa Rimi
Nishino Kana
Perfume
Hamasaki Ayumi
Hirahara Ayaka
Fuji Ayako
Matsuda Seiko
Matsutouya Yumi
Mizuki Nana
Mizumori Kaori
Wada Akiko

White Team:

Akikawa Masafumi
Arashi
Itsuki Hiroshi
Inawashirokos
EXILE
NYC
Kitajima Saburou
Gou Hiromi
Suzuki Fuku
SMAP
Sen Masao
Touhoushinki
TOKIO
Tokunaga Hideaki
AAA
Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi
Nishida Toshiyuki
Hikawa Kiyoshi
Hirai Ken
FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
Fukuyama Masaharu
flumpool
Hosokawa Takashi
Porno Graffitti
Mori Shinichi
Yuzu
L'arc~en~Ciel

Kanon pilgrimage

noreply@blogger.com (Matteas) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:15:00 +0000

These photos must be familiar to anyone who has seen Kanon. It's the bench where Yuuichi waited for Nayuki when he came to the town and where some other spoilerish things happened later. I looked quite odd there, taking photos of a bench from various angles XD I was fortunate that nobody had been sitting there when I came, so I could take the photos. I would have had to wait if someone had been sitting there.

The location is in Osaka, outside Moriguchishi Station. It's right outside the station so you can't miss it. I don't remember if there is one or two exits, but if there are two, the correct one will be the east exit or the south exit. It's southeast actually, so it can be either.