"dasaku" via Randall in Google Reader

Darker than Black 2nd Season

2009-07-13T05:42:31Z

I hated the first season’s lack of closure. Thankfully, I’m a bit over it now, and I’ve slowly started browsing around for the score to Yin’s Piano. Which is why when I heard about the 2nd season, you can imagine my reaction.

Saimoe Preliminaries Round 9: That which matters

2009-07-12T18:01:37Z

The polls opened roughly 2 hours ago, which gives you about 21 hours to vote from the time of this post (10 AM PST). I’m sure you’ll find someone to vote for in the group; Saki features strongly, Kyou of Clannad is set to steamroll, and there’s also Churuya-san and … Krauser-tan? It’s a make-or-break round for Mission-E as well, that one show that I was busy paying some respect to last night in my epic 2000-word paean last night.

So in that respect, I’m hoping you can help out with a little vote for Chinami in this round. Or at least, if you can’t muster up the time to vote, grab a code at least and pass it on to someone who can. It’s fairly easy to get a code, after all: Click on this link now, then click on it again in 2 hours. It’s up to you to decide what to do with your code…

But if you do vote, please add Chinami to your ballot – her Japanese name is found here, formatted for Saimoe voting, because Wordpress isn’t cooperating with Japanese at the moment. If you’ve felt moved at all by my passion from last night … thank you.

Voting tutorial and relevant links to follow.

Saimoe synchroom:
http://synchroom.wikispaces.com/SaiMoe2009

List of characters in group 9:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=2498513#post2498513

Voting thread (current as of 19:40 PST):
http://changi.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/vote/1247420127/

===

How to vote:
1a) Go to the vote code generator to reserve your code. The fourth bullet should tell you what time it currently is in JST, and the very last line on the page should tell you when to come back to receive your code.

Visit the page again at that time (do the math between the two times to determine how many minutes you need to wait) to recieve your voting code, which will look something like this: [[VT23-ACUeRQsS-AZ]]

1b) Alternatively, a little Java application I wrote should be able to parse the vote code generator page and automatically remind you when it’s time to get your code. Do give that a shot if you wish.

2) Once you have your code, find the voting thread, which I usually do by perusing the Saimoe 2009 synchroom; it should be located under “2Channel Voting Information”. Go ahead and open that thread up.

3) Now to make your post! Your post should be in the format
[[code]]
<<character@series>>
<<character@series>>
…
<<character@series>>
some flavor text here to convince people you are not a bot

Naturally, the character and series name must be in Japanese; to help make the jump between languages, the AS people will also tend to translate the list of characters eligible for voting in each round, so check the AS thread to find who to vote for. For the fourth preliminary (July 8th in JST), the character list is here in the spoiler box labeled “group 4″.

For preliminaries, you get to pick up to 10 girls, so pick your favorite 10 using whatever criteria you select girls to vote for, and put those in your post.

4) And … uh … now you vote.

Put your vote in that white box at the bottom of the thread, click the one button that’s there, and ta-da! Posted. Now just time to sit and pray for the results…

(If you’re still confused, check out Komari’s excellent tutorial from the AS thread, or just ask questions there as well. It’s a good place to hang out for Saimoe 2009. I’ll also answer questions here if you have them, or on IRC at #dasaku on Rizon, because, y’know, #dasaku is cool.)

-CCY

Firsties – Bakemonogatari & Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

2009-07-12T09:08:15Z

Bakemonogatari

It’s probably the standard reaction to a Akiyuki Shinbou anime, but after watching episode one of Bakemonogatari I felt like I was missing something. Not so much in the ‘WAHHH ABSTRACT I DON’T UNDERSTAND’ way, but rather a walked-in-half-way-through sort of sensation. For some reason I thought it was a sequel of sorts to another anime, having not really kept up with the finer details, but a brief scan around the minternets suggests it’s a completely new series (albeit based on a set of light novels). It’s baffling, particularly that opening montage which seems like a recap, but gorgeously so. Shinbou & SHAFT brings the sexy regardless of how coked off its tits the delivery is and I’m a number one fan of his style of direction.

The characters seem intriguing enough but Senjōgahara’s paranoia started to irritate as did Araragi’s seeming inability to explain his intentions (who wants to write an article on strained communication in anime? I would, but it would descend into a frustrated tirade almost immediately). Still, I’m much more interested in this than I was with Shikabane Hime, which is the very loose comparison I made while watching. The wee otaku-meta scene on the bike was a nice touch, too. A definite WATCH.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

The big show for me this season, as it is for most people by the looks of things. BONES can pretty much have their wicked way with me in any fashion they see fit… even if I’m quite tsundere towards their anime in the beginning. This is usually because their broader-picture approach to storytelling initially leaves a lot to be desired. Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, however, seems like quite a departure from both their usual themes and how they tell their stories. There’s not a bloated sci-fi concept in sight (short of a few robots at a exhibition that actually exist in reality) nor is there the hint of an epic fantasy adventure just around the corner. Just a disaffected tween and her struggle to deal with a strained family dynamic and her own pubescent ennui. And, like, a really big fucking earthquake.

It’s a pretty fantastic change of approach for the studio. The episode opens with the protagonist Mirai standing in the ruins of Tokyo city declaring her hatred for her family and the world at large. Time then skips back a day or two before the quake and we learn exactly why she’s such a narcy little bitch. The show perfects taking a measured approach to setting up her life and explaining perhaps why she’s so irritated by the world around her. Rather than taking a side, BONES gives us reasons to sympathise with, as well as judge, her attitude. I get the feeling the main thrust of the show will be her working through the mix of blatant ungratefulness as well as the seemingly justified frustration. There’s a very interesting social-realism slant to the show that anime rarely gives much credence to (with the opposite often being the case, giving its target audience escapism from all these real daily frustrations) which immediately makes it stand out as something special.

I have to give particular credit to how Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 makes you forget the distinct sense of foreboding it sets up from the start. I was so charmed by Yuuki’s gleeful innocence that I ignored the inevitable conclusion his character was facing. Normally I’d spoil it for myself and predict the various outcomes of characters – especially the ones that are so likeable (they never get out unscathed) – but BONES worked their magic and I was blind-sided by the episode’s ending (knowing what was coming, but not really considering the wider consequences). There’s so much going on with this show it’s really kind of exciting to think of what’s coming next. Not a disappointment and a categorical WATCH.

At this point I can no longer back down – and I’m hoping neither will you

2009-07-12T09:14:42Z

(If at any point you find these 2000 words to be too overwhelming, click here to skip to the last few paragraphs at the end; although you’ll be missing out on some great stories…)

I like to make things sound so dramatic, when obviously they are not such.

Well, maybe not to you anyway; certainly you will groan when you find out the true premise of this post, which I am obscuring for just a -few- paragraphs longer so that you will be compelled to read on past whatever preview is showing up on Anime Nano or AB.net Antenna or any of those great sites.

But I’m sure as anime fans we are all familiar with that passion of fandom that burns like no other, that beyond all rational reason and logic, continues to drive one possibly beyond the edge of sanity – but that’s how we’d like it.

Saimoe – yes, go ahead, shout “I called it!” – has always been one of those things to me.

Despite all the signs to the contrary that it’s just a mere popularity contest, that J-Saimoe is xenophobic, that there’s no merit to ‘winning’ such a contest when it’s inevitably a KyoAni character or whomever, Saimoe is still something that can get that blood pumping and that wild grin on my face when I least expect it.

You saw it happen just a few months ago. That one campaign, in the 5th preliminaries of ISML, that probably cemented my place as That Shiori Guy (look out, Guncannon). That one campaign that just might have helped give Shiori enough votes, to come back from being the very last girl eligible in nominations to become one of the selected 64 that are fighting on the world stage as I type.

It’s something I look back upon fondly. If there’s one rule I like to live by, it’s to never let ration or sanity hold you back. Maybe this is why I’ve become such an ardent anime fan, because I don’t ever worry about being labeled as That Shiori Guy or That Moe Addict, and so I will fight to the ends of the earth for something that may be insignificant to some, but fires up the blood of many.

And so I don’t mind putting myself on the line, again and again, writing these posts that bring out courage and passion I didn’t know I had – maybe this is, as they say, truly how I remember love. My love for not just these girls, these series, but for this passion, this fandom of mine as a whole.

But as interesting as it is to write about myself and how I’m inspired to write, I feel I should be waxing much more poetic for the one I’m devoting myself to for J-Saimoe 2009, Chinami Ebihara of the Code-E / Mission-E series.

Now how to write a campaign post for a character is a bit tricky. The Shiori post was a bit less serious than my usual fare, more infomercial and less paean; it was a bit purposely exaggerated, in an effort to cover as much ground as possible, eventually ending on the note of ‘maybe they’ll just vote for her because they enjoyed my post’.

It seems inefficient to go the route of “she’s just everything, seriously guys” because in the end someone will point out they don’t go for dojikko meganekkos with electric powers, at which point my entire argument falls through the floor like the engine dropping out of a rusty car.

Equally I’d kind of like to beg, say that I’ll watch whatever anime you want, write on whatever topic you want, swap J-Saimoe or ISML votes with you. trade you some currency on some of the online games I play (mostly Pangya and Kingdom of Loathing) – and this is true! I’m not unwilling to strike a deal for this one preliminary. I abstain about 5 times each ISML round. I’m sure that could be fixed. And Owen, I heard you still want people to watch Mononoke.

But of course naturally those of you with less to gain and more sense of moral will already be scoffing at me, laughing as to what lows this man will sink for some 2D girl. And I answer you: pretty deep lows.

So I’ll try to avoid both those routes, and tell you a story: this is the story of the Boy Who Had Too Much Moe.

Once upon a time, there was an anime fan. He liked moe. He enjoyed all his favorite moe anime and all his favorite moe girls. He had his moe figures and his moe posters and his moe computer background and his moe everything!

He wasn’t particular: he would accept any character as long as it gave him the urge to ‘take them home’, as Rena would put it. He was pure-hearted and unjudging in that regard.

And you would think such a die-hard moe fan would have no social life, right? But you would be wrong? Despite always carrying around a moe cell phone strap on his cell phone (with a moe ring tone), he had friends (who weren’t moe, but that was OK) and even a girlfriend! He was well-respected in real life and the internet, and everyone laughed whenever he interjected a moe catchphrase into his conversation. All was well for The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe.

But one day, The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe was killed by a hammer that a construction worker dropped while building a skyscraper. And that’s why you shouldn’t have too much moe.

Don’t worry; this story is entirely fictional. Naturally, I am not The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe, because otherwise I would be dead right now. And I am not dead. You have my word.

But it’s important to keep The Tale of The Boy Who Had Too Much Moe in mind, as no one wants to be killed by a freak accident unrelated to having too much moe. Nor do you want to end up like the Boy Who Had Too Little Moe, who ended up growing a nose about six inches long before going on a cruise ship, losing 10 million yen, and having his fingers chopped off. Among other things.

So the moral of these stories is obviously that you want to have the right intake of moe, and I feel I can argue that much, at least, for Chinami Ebihara, who provides 95% of your daily intake, and not a penny more. (the other 5% you’ll absorb from the atmosphere as you gloss over K-ON posts)

Chinami looks at first to come from of a long line of ‘entirely ordinary transfer students’, such as Shiki Tohno, Hanyuu, everyone in Shuffle, so on so forth; at first glance her description looks like it could have been pulled out of a bag.

“A glasses girl who is shy, a bit clumsy, and has the power to emit electromagnetic waves falls in love with a guy who is interested in studying her power as they fight …”

Actually, there’s no fighting in the first season of Code-E. Well, they fake some ominous pretense, but really it drops almost to Aria levels of conflict at times. And that’s kind of nice.

And maybe I have sold some of you already with just that two-line description. Her design isn’t too bad. I feel those characteristics are a plus (you may imagine why). But y’know, Studio Deen decided to go out on a limb and develop their characters, and Chinami’s a fantastic example of it.

And that’s really why she won my vote, and deserves yours.

So let’s say you have the mysterious, magical power to control EM waves. Fantastic, right? Now you can blow up the cell phones of people who won’t shut up in public.

Somehow that’s a bit off the mark, as you’re too busy accidentally blowing up your own cell phone whenever you get flustered. When emotional spikes are all it takes to level an entire block’s power system, it makes life mildly difficult.

And so Chinami spends a large part of the beginning of Code-E attempting to be desperately boring, avoiding people and generally being a complete walkover. Now the anime fandom has proven to like walkovers before, but of course the story gets better.

As she meets other people who are like her and have her powers, naturally she opens up, starts talking more to others, makes new friends, starts some love triangles, so on so forth. It’s a nice development, as we go from utterly adorable shy clumsy meganekko to utterly adorable mildly confident clumsy meganekko.

And with the tone of Code-E as it is, always managing to feel relaxed and heartwarming despite containing a few action elements, I found it really difficult not to like Chinami as a character.

Well, the ending to Code-E, or more explicitly, the lack thereof, left a bad taste in my mouth, but then Mission-E came around to continue the fun, except now with more of an action twist and … it was incredible.

The show was a bit faster-paced, with a few chase scenes, some high-powered-electric-body-suit-lightning-shooting antics, but somehow, it still has that same light feel to it, avoiding what many imagine is the grimdark trap. It still has that same warm feel as Code-E and I love it for that, and Chinami is entirely to credit.

After a few scenes in Mission-E, you would probably double-take twice when seeing her again - well, aside from those trippy visors the Type-E’s wear – for the personality shift she’s gone over in the meantime between the two series.

The confidence development within Code-E was one thing, but from Code-E to Mission-E, it’s like seeing a childhood friend again after years of separation. You know it’s the same person, but the change is just astounding.

She still has that same soft side to her, that you saw from the first season. That slight clumsiness, a bit spacey without being completely airheaded (like so many lambast from typical Key games). That heaven-piercing happiness mode when she thinks of her lover Kotarou; it’s almost like seeing into a mirror of one’s own moe overload.

But in the heat of combat and in crunch time, suddenly Chinami’s the cool-headed, genki girl. It’s that almost Akari-like ability to keep a positive spin on things at all times, combined with the confidence of a general with years of experience, it’s really something to admire, not just as a development of character but as a personality that I wouldn’t mind emulating myself.

That’s the kind of character I appreciate. Chinami does not demand constant attention, nor does she fold like a house of cards at the slightest gust of wind. She’s the kind of person you wouldn’t just like to be with (in either sense of the word), but would flat outright want to be. That kind of charm. And isn’t that the strongest moe of all?

Well, that’s the sort of definition of ‘moe’ that I’ve evolved over my years, forming into something that is even less sensible than the typical definition of ‘urge to protect’. For me, it’s become things that moves my emotions and flutters my heart, whether it’s to give me a warm smile across my face or a shy blush … that’s my sort of moe.

Hopefully I’ve been able to convey that to you as well. It’s hard to explain such a moe with just still pictures and words; if you can watch Code-E or Mission-E for your own, that would naturally be best. It may not be the best series all-around, but it’s definitely an underviewed gem that I think is a nice warm show. If the storyline does not make it, I feel the character interactions should.

Well, that’s my 2000 words of the day. If a picture is worth a thousand words … how many pictures are worth a vote? It would turn into a complex math problem more than a bad wordplay pun at this rate; I should just hope that it was enough to stir your emotions too, enough for you to support Chinami with a little bit of your time in J-Saimoe.

I’ll be posting instructions on how to vote in J-Saimoe, if you do not recall or are having trouble, later in the morning, when polls open in about 7 hours from the time of this posting (2 AM PST). I shall hope you will still be there then.

-CCY

I should probably apologize to all of you who read my Haruhi post yesterday

2009-07-11T09:23:58Z

And didn’t see that,

there remains one more stage to that story …

-CCY
who is a douche
but for an entirely different reason than you thought so yesterday

In the light of what’s happening now in a certain fandom

2009-07-11T11:33:01Z

Yeah, we know what’s happening with Haruhi. However, what’s making me laugh is when some fans saying inanities like “At least, back in the day, when Gainax did it with Evangelion, IT WAS AWESOME.”
Then I look at the age range of those who said that: late 10s (16 to 19) to early 20s, I can only cringe and smirk. Eva aired first in late 1995 and ended in 1996. Do your math according to their age range. Myself, I am 29. Do your math again. So what can I say about “Back in the day, when Gainax did it with Evangelion, IT WAS AWESOME.”? Did all japanese thought it was awesome?

Wrong. In regard of the reaction of a part of the viewer pool and the sponsors, NOT so quite.

Gainax did not get an endless stream of praise mails, the reactions were as polarized. Those were not as many as you would believe or like to think. I am old enough, getting closer to my 30s. I don’t exactly have a first hand experience of Eva, not living in Japan and all. However, I got reports, I read articles and interviews of Anno and some of the Gainax staff who were involved. I talked with the few japanese students who were in Paris and experienced it first hand.

And let’s be blunt, Gainax and Anno also got hate mails. And it had gone so far that Anno got death threats for the direction that Evangelion have taken. Moreover, parts of the otaku crowd grew discomfortable (they felt that Shinji and the cast were mirrors cast before their eyes) and the anime slowly alienated more and more sponsors who would not bring their money on the table after seeing where this is going (not to mention that the Gainax staff suffered from schedule issues). Back in the day, remember that Eva was first a commission from a famous toy manufacturer who wanted a series about young teens fighting in giant robots against an unknown enemy.

Thus, with a very thin budget, Gainax gave us the famous two final episodes. And RAGE ensued. A RAGE that culminated with even more hate mails and death threats. Pressured, Gainax and Anno released the two movies, infamous for their sheer nihilism and the Shinji fap to Asuka, or Shinji choking Asuka scenes. Contrasting with the more heartwarming, although abstract, final episode of the TV series. Then Anno left Eva behind him. Coming back on it only about ten years later, when the flames died out (well, not really).

I told you this story because I could not really stay silent when zealotous Haruhi and Eva fans said that ‘At least, back in the day, Gainax was awesome and got praised for that.”

Not entirely true but HEY PINK-TINTED NOSTALGIA GOGGLES ARE AWESOME, RIGHT?

Did KyoAni get hate mails for making Endless Eight as it is? Surely. Is it as bad as Gainax back in the day? I don’t think so.

However, I think that KyoAni need to get out of what I call Studio Hubris as fast as possible. A stage that some studio had gone through in the past. I really think that firing Yutaka Yamamoto have done more damage to KyoAni than fans would like to think.

Meanwhile, I resume playing Umineko no Naku Koro Ni AND Eve Online, yes I finally left RO ;)

EDIT:

Therefore, I’ll add that you guys need to be careful when you state things like “Back in the day…”

This can be wrong. As examples, Carpenter’s “The Thing” and “Big Trouble in Little China” FLOPPED back in the day, it’s the VHS market and the word-to-mouth from fans of the movie that vindicated the films. Another example, “The Good the Bad & The Ugly” got shot down by the critics of its time period, because of their scorn for the spaghetti western genre, it’s only way latter that they recognized that the movie was, well, awesome.

Interesting Observations regarding CANAAN Episode 01

2009-07-10T19:56:00Z

This isn’t really an episode summary, I just think that some things in CANAAN were pretty interesting to point out.

1. The disease.

Okay first off I initially operated on the idea that this is the same one Evospace mentioned when he summed up the events of 428 that provide the backdrop for CANAAN. After some consideration I don’t think this is the same virus basically because the virus in 428 is airborne, while the thing in CANAAN appears to…well…not spread at all.

Okay so I got a vibe of agonist disorder over the virus/syndrome, but now when I look at it, its victims remind me of deads (read: tsookihimay) minus the lack of free will plus a little agonist disorder on the side.

2. Untapped potential for Mollusk Jokes

I don’t think by now I would be a stranger to Nasu’s unnatural love for all things mollusk, so this is oh so exploitable. It should go like “A low pulsation makes my abdomens undulate, rhythmically throbbing like the interior of an oyster slowly digesting its daily feast of plankton, pulsing again and again as it cries out for sweet release-! As I near the point of no return, my abdomen ripples like the gills of a mussel in high tide. Soon after, a white light overtakes my vision, and I remember nothing.“

Oookay I think I went off topic there but seriously, there’s more than one scene!

And this one’s even better, it’d go like “…makes the red inside of me flare up, causing sensations to ripple through my body as though an anemone were wrapping it’s long, undulating tentacles around me, bringing me ever closer into the pulsing, sweet embrace of its many polyps…from which I knew there was no turning back.”

3. The red string Canaan ties Maria’s hands together with.

Okay this was actually pretty funny- long story short, I was editing a doujin manga series, and there was this line about the red string of destiny inside. I thought it was some kind of literary plot device etc, but through the mystery of true magic google, I managed to find out it actually exists!

Okay so if you read the legend, it leans more towards the fact that it entwines soulmates, or those destined to marry.

Look at it this way though, soulmates/hasubando-to-waifu/destined lovers are all people whose fates are intertwined in one way or another (hence the intertwined string). There really isn’t much of a difference here between Canaan and Maria in that aspect- it is that string that joined them as friends who stand together against a struggle larger than life.

The More You Know-!

4. Rin does it too!

That’s about it. I probably won’t episodically blog it but rather just give a few cents worth of pointless info every week or so. Next episode airs in less than a day anyway.

That being all said and done, I chose not to go into Canaan’s eyes vs. Mystic eyes because most people should know that there are more than any one type of mystic eye(s) in the Type Moon Universe and I don’t want to go through the :effort: of finding out who has what again.

Before I end off, there is something a little interesting I grabbed off Seasons of Change, regarding the report on Newtype’s 2009-08 issue.

Interestingly enough when I saw this, my first reaction was “wait what but I just bought the ALL Around Type Moon 2 Poster Set less than a year ago! Not to mention I had to wade through a horde of smelly otaku and brave freezing winds and lack of food overnight to get it!”

Comiket 77: All Around Type Moon POSTER SET – NOW WITH MORE CANAAN?

It may be more likely than I think. Setting that aside, I do realize this is a pretty weird thing for newtype to put forth since CANAAN isn’t Nasuverse. If anything, Canaan’s more chunsoft than anything since a decent amount of characters come out of the 428 universe and Nasu and Takeuchi only wrote and drew for the extra scenario.

Then again there’s the whole argument that since they wrote the extra scenario and that the anime uses the scenario as a backdrop to the events of CANAAN etc etc.

EDIT: Changed some terms, I don’t know if it’s a virus or some form of forced synesthesia. I still like the term virus though

Wake up, people: it’s time to get over the trash called “Haruhi Suzumiya”

2009-07-10T06:00:14Z

It’s done, finished, over. I don’t care how many more Endless Eight episodes they do or don’t produce; KyoAni’s thrown a sure deal away, looked a gift horse in the mouth, exploited their fans beyond the breaking point, and I’m not having any of it anymore.

I think, if we want to show KyoAni and Kadokawa that we’re not standing for this, that we have to do something about it more than just complaining. After all, so many naive fools are still watching the series, no matter how much they moan about it.

And so for this bandwagon, this is where I jump off. I urge you to do the same before other companies think they can get away with such cheap tactics, that offend the very nature of anime itself.

Ugh. So glad I didn’t buy the actual DVDs or any actual merchandise. Kadokawa isn’t getting any of my hard-earned dollars anymore if they’re going to take advantage of us fans like this.

From now on, Haruhi is dead. Nietzsche would be proud.

-CCY

Cracker’s Delight

2009-07-09T19:54:37Z

Only just recently, K-ON-boot was released. OK, so that was kon-boot. I’m hosted on an anime centric domain, after all. Through the wonders of x86 assembly, this program (or bootloader, perhaps) allows a user to boot up a Linux/Windows install on hard disk in root user. All you need is access to the BIOS to change the [...]

Darker than BLACK exam edition

2009-07-09T00:07:08Z

So there’s less than 12 hours to my first exam of the semester, of a course I only attended one lecture for, and I just marathoned Darker than Black. I’m obviously heading down the wrong, unremarkable path in life. Which was accentuated even more when I found out at the end of the series that Darker [...]

Saimoe 2009 First Preliminary Round 4

2009-07-09T00:23:16Z

No big surprises here… =Auto-in 1位　589票　桂ヒナギク＠ハヤテのごとく!! (Katsura Hinagiku @ Hayate no Gotoku!!) 2位　569票　インデックス＠とある魔術の禁書目録 (Index @ Toaru Majutsu no Index) 3位　536票　櫛枝実乃梨＠とらドラ! (Kushieda Minori @ Toradora!) 4位　529票　天江衣＠咲 -Saki- (Amae Koromo @ saki) 5位　511票　日奈森あむ（日奈森亜夢）＠しゅごキャラ! シリーズ (Hinamori Amu @ Shugo Chara! series) 6位　412票　ナギ＠かんなぎ (Nagi @ Kannagi) 7位　350票　張飛（鈴々）＠恋姫†無双 (Chouhi (Rinrin) @ Koihime Musou) 8位　330票　エーリカ・ハルトマン＠ストライクウィッチーズ )Erica Hartmann @ Strike Witches) 9位　273票　ランカ・リー＠マクロスFRONTIER (Ranka lee @ Macross FRONTIER) 10位　261票　赤夜萌香＠ロザリオとバンパイア CAPU2 (Akashiya Moka @ Rosario [...]

Saimoe 2009 First preliminary Round 3

2009-07-08T08:50:57Z

Round 3~~! ======Auto-in======= 1位　408票　鷺ノ宮伊澄＠ハヤテのごとく!! (Saginomiya Isumi@Hayate no Gotoku!) 2位　340票　月詠小萌＠とある魔術の禁書目録 (Tsukuyomi Komoe@Toaru Majutsu no Index) 3位　323票　ヒロ＠ひだまりスケッチ×365 (Hiro@Hidamri Sketch×365) 4位　305票　サーニャ・V・リトヴャク＠ストライクウィッチーズ (Sanya V. Litvyak@Strike Witches Series) 5位　300票　片桐優姫＠あかね色に染まる坂 (Katagiri Yuuhi@Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka) 6位　260票　西連寺春菜＠To LOVEる (Sairenji Haruna@ToLoveRu) 7位　250票　沙英＠ひだまりスケッチ×365 (Sae@Hidamari Sketch×365) 7位　250票　綾波レイ＠ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:破 (Ayanami Rei@Evangelion New Gekijoban: ha) 9位　243票　アルルゥ＠OVA うたわれるもの (Aruruu@OVA Utawarerumono) 10位　206票　松岡美羽＠苺ましまろ encore (Matsuoka Miu@Ichigo Mashimaro encore) 11位　205票　斑鳩いぶき＠明日のよいち! (Ikaruga Ibuki@Asu no Yoichi) 12位　202票　別所小宵＠初恋限定。(Bessho Koyoi@Hatsukoi Limited.) 〓〓〓〓〓2nd Chance Prelims〓〓〓〓〓 13位　193票　綾瀬夕映＠魔法先生ネギま! ～白き翼 ALA ALBA～ (Ayase Yue@Mahou [...]

MangaGamer at Anime Expo: can they turn over a new leaf? (or rather, a new Navel, and a new 07th Expansion)

2009-07-08T17:08:06Z

During my travels to Anime Expo 2009, I suddenly hung a sharp left into IndustryLand, that famed place where normal anime fans become suck-up brown-nosing pimps, ready to do corporate bidding. Well, that was the sort of shameful feeling I got when considering how much I was suddenly interested in some of the companies that were at AX. I feel like it’s a good thing to support their efforts though, as I do believe in a lot of what they do.

One such example is MangaGamer, that one company famous for licensing a few Circus games and then promptly cocking up the translation worse than girls in eroge (that are now banned) get cocked up. In the butt.

Well, that was their reputation anyway, and they’ve taken to try to turning it around naturally. As a whole I’m impressed, although more than a bit worried for them.

If you want a comprehensive summary of MangaGamer at AX, you can read the excellent encubed article here, if you want more sarcasm and fangasming, continue on.

So yeah, all I remember of MangaGamer is that their games are expensive and their translation was bad. But hopefully that has changed! To prove that they turned over a new leaf (…although I don’t think they have any Leaf games), I checked out the free CD they were handing out like candy at their booth.

On the CD were trials for Da Capo, Suika, and Kira Kira, and I decided to try out the game that convinced me, if even just once, to like a character that was a catgirl maid. The C.D. is a bit clunky but it’s readable and it insists that I “get a kick out of Moe in English”, so I approve. Let’s see how the game plays.

The opening video looks a bit low quality to start, although I can’t say whether this is the fault of compressing 3 VN demos onto a CD, the age of Da Capo, or something else, so let’s move on.

I read the prologue of Da Capo very quickly, and didn’t spot any huge glaring errors. Or any errors, really. It’s a very workable translation (although I do not know the original material), and the game is still Japanese-voiced. I’ll call it ‘well done’. Even Sankaku beat me to the punch of reporting how Mangagamer fixed its original translation problems, so that’s one non-issue.

The other famous issue is that while the eroge on Mangagamer.com retail for the typical price of 49.95 (or at least Da Capo does), the units of currency is different … Euros. This places the price of an eroge painfully near Japanese levels, at about 80-90 dollars.

To alleviate this pain, at the Mangagamer Bishoujo games panel at AX, they announced that they were holding a buy-1-get-1-free sale as a response to fans’ complaints about pricing. Those who picked up CDs earlier in the con may have noticed codes on the back which enabled such a sale; those who didn’t go to AX may be more out of luck.

(However, I do have an extra CD and thus an extra code, so if you want to buy some Mangagamer goods, let me know.)

So that’s two complaints voiced by fans, two complaints answered by Mangagamer. Looking promising so far. Now let’s look at what games they announced at Anime Expo:

1) Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
2) Shuffle!
3) Da Capo II

I know I’m not sitting down while typing this. It’s an incredible line-up for visual novel fans, who should find something to like among these three titles or among the ones already released by Mangagamer.

They are a company with ambition to bring moe and popular visual novels to the English community, and they are so damn ambitious they want to translate frickin’ aisp@ce.

Yes. THAT aisp@ce. Is there an English market for it? My money’s on ‘hell no’, but I really like Mangagamer’s spirit.

This spirit was out in force during AX, as Mangagamer seemed to pull no stops at the convention. From the free CDs and fans they were handing out, to the full-page ad on the back of the convention guide, to all the Japanese personalities they brought over …

Well, more on that. The Bishoujo Games panel they hosted contained a lot of big names from Circus and other Japanese companies; tororo-danchou, the head of Circus; Yuka Kayura, a Circus artist; Shinji Katakura, ninja and OVERDRIVE artist; and singers such as yozuca*, miru of Cy-Rim revolution, and Aina Kase.

Yeah, yozuca*. I thought that was pretty nifty … or I thought ‘hey, that’s someone whose work I recognize’. Indeed, all the singers would later converge on the Mangagamer booth to hold a mini-live performance, so idol fans defintiely got their money’s worth at AX.

Oh, and they were giving away goods like you wouldn’t believe at the panel. I kind of feel sorry for the two ‘lucky’ people who won the dakimakura covers as I somehow doubt they made it out of the panel alive (the people in the crowd were educated but a bit immature, although nowhere near as bad as the JAST panel).

So yeah, I’m guessing this is some sort of interesting business strategy by the Mangagamer people, which almost feels a bit desperate in tone; they had the guts enough to say flat out in the panel “we’re in the red”, which honestly doesn’t surprise me given how 1) visual novels are a niche industry within a niche industry, and 2) their initial bad reputation.

It’ll be difficult for them to turn it around; they are licensing a lot of interesting titles, but they might be spreading themselves too thin with attempts at games like aisp@ce; they might be reaching for more than they can grab at the moment, which is good in premise but bad when everything falls down like a stack of cards.

It’s the business model I’ve seen one too many times on game creation forums, where someone has a bunch of ideas and wants to make the next 3D Pokemon MMORPG, which is great but not when you don’t have enough experience to program Pong. Here, the limiting factor is the market and the money.

What Mangagamer can do to solve this, other than continually shout at people to buy their stuff and offer more incentives like the 2-for-1 deal, I don’t know.

Personally, I am a collector-type consumer and I would rather have boxed copies of Da Capo, Shuffle, etc, then the digital downloads Mangagamer offer. Certainly boxed copies might help them hook up with other retailers such as Rightstuf or J-List, who seem to have less trouble selling VNs (relatively, anyway).

But aside from that, and maybe focusing on more popular titles (if Higurashi doesn’t pull up their bottom line, I don’t know what will), I feel like we’re just counting down the minutes until Mangagamer expires. I don’t mean to be alarmist, I just mean to be realistic. Hirameki had some good times too, but in the end the English market just wasn’t enough.

It’s a tough industry and Mangagamer is going for some tough goals. My entirely selfish goal for them is to have them live until they release Higurashi. If they can adapt and survive in this climate, all the better for them. But how ready is the English market for visual novels?

Well, they got a panelful (800+) of people at AX who all knew bishoujo games (at least 80% of the hands were up in the room when they asked “who knows what a bishoujo game is”), and were possibly willing to play them. Willing to pay for them? That’s a mystery, as I don’t know how much people want to buy and I don’t know how much Mangagamer needs to sell.

It’s one of the mysteries that feeds the paranoia in the anime industry, that tension between companies and fans. They know that fansubs are not going to go anywhere. They don’t know how much sales are being sapped by fansubs and they don’t know how much we will support alternatives. Fansubs steal sales away from DVDs and fansubs sell DVDs, yet neither is even close to a 1-to-1 correlation.

It’s that opaqueness in the industry that causes people like me to babble on paragraph after paragraph with really no idea what they are talking about; yet if we knew actual numbers, would that make it any better? Or would it just make the heated war worse, kind of like knowing just how much Haruhi is trashing the field in ISML?

Well, in situations like this I can only think for myself. I don’t want to use terms such as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ as I don’t think this situation is describable in such a term nor do I think I would be capable of doing stuff. Buying stuff is ‘right’, buying stuff for the wrong price is ‘wrong’, maybe, so what can I say when I’m not even sure what is the right price for me to pick up Da Capo?

I can say I believe in what Mangagamer is doing. I like their products. I like the persistence they have in bringing visual novels to niche fans. Their business model? I can’t say the least on that.

But until then, I can wish on a sakura tree for their well-being… and continue this introspection, this analysis, and this non-directional ranting next time, in this feature about the niche industry at Anime Expo…

-CCY

ECOnline Singapore CBT

2009-07-08T12:03:37Z

Sup bitches. No time to talk. ECOnline CBT in 1h and counting. You can see more of the details on Micchi’s site. Made an IRC channel in Rizon to try and coordinate with you fuckers thinking of trying it out. JOIN IT. JOIN USSSSSSSSSS.

Saimoe 2009 1st Preliminary-Day Two

2009-07-07T20:18:59Z

Battle of the Imouto: part 1 Note: as like day 1; First 12 Auto-enter: 1st 436 votes | Sunohara Mei@Clannad ~After Story~ 2nd 414 votes | Hirasawa Ui@K-ON! 3rd 373 votes | Sakagami Tomoyo@Clannad ~After Story~ 4th 347 votes | Isayama Yomi@Ga-Rei -Zero- 5th 296 votes | Asahina Mikuru@Suzumiya Haruhi-chan no Yuuutsu / Nyoro~n☆Churuya-san 6th 240 votes | Shirai Kuroko@Toaru Majutsu no [...]

Passionate Prelude: J-Saimoe 2009, preliminaries round 4 are open

2009-07-07T18:39:05Z

Yeah, let’s start this up again; a bit late to the party thanks to Anime Expo (which will also get posted on soon) but the Japanese Saimoe (as opposed to ISML) preliminaries have just begun, and … to be honest, it requires a bit more work to vote than ISML, so I’ve written up a few things to help newcomers get the voting ball rolling.

J-Saimoe is one of a couple ‘moe tournaments’ created with the intention of crowning the most moe (cute / adorable / popular / etc) girl in anime; in practice, it’s heaven for those who like both anime and statistical analysis, or those who love anime and debating about favorite characters. It’s a very competitive atmosphere and gives one the chance to really show their passion as a fan.

J-Saimoe itself is a bit interesting in that the preliminaries are about as fairly complicated as ISML’s, if not more. The approximately two thousand or so girls nominated in the intial rounds (which have already passed) will be narrowed down to a mere (if you can call it that) 386 through two sets of preliminaries.

In the initial set of 18 preliminaries, the top 12 girls in each prelims go straight through to the big dance in Saimoe, while 13th through 40th advance to the second prelims. Everyone else is chopped on the block.

The second prelims is the last-chance event, where the girls that barely made it through first prelims fight for the final spots in the tournament; the top 9 advance here to the main tournament.

Once we have the top 386, chaos ensues, but we’ll get to that later; until then, just know that J-Saimoe is an event with no second chances (well, just one, and it’s in the preliminaries), and so every fight should be fought to the fullest of your abilities.

And with that, let the curtain rise, a bit delayed, on round 4…

===

Saimoe synchroom:
http://synchroom.wikispaces.com/SaiMoe2009

List of characters in group 4:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?p=2491737#post2491737

Voting thread (current as of 10:40 PST):
http://changi.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/vote/1246984267/

===

3) Now to make your post! Your post should be in the format
[[code]]
<<character@series>>
<<character@series>>
…
<<character@series>>
some flavor text here to convince people you are not a bot

For preliminaries, you get to pick up to 10 girls, so pick your favorite 10 using whatever criteria you select girls to vote for, and put those in your post. My vote for round 4 looks like this (with the English character names added for now):

[[code here]]
<<????????†????>> Satsuki Chifumi @ Maria†Holic
<<?????????????????>> Index @ Toaru Majutsu no Index
<<????????????????????????????!>> the meganekko who rant when the circuit breaker down @ K-ON!
<<???????>> Nagi @ Kannagi
<<?????Mission-E>> Togakushi Miyuki @ Mission-E
<<??????????!>> Kushieda Minori @ Toradora!
<<???????????FRONTIER>> Ranka lee @ Macross FRONTIER
<<????????????? ???>> Tsukamoto Tenma @School Rumble Sangakki
?????????????

A rather varied set and only a few favorites; most of my field consists of series I support (Mission-E), nostalgia picks (Tenma), and random meganekko. But for this group, it’ll do. I tend not to vote for ‘popular’ girls as they don’t need the help – at least in preliminaries. Even Isumi won her prelims! ^^

4) And … uh … now you vote.

Put your vote in that white box at the bottom of the thread, click the one button that’s there, and ta-da! Posted. Now just time to sit and pray for the results…

(If you’re still confused, check out Komari’s excellent tutorial from the AS thread, or just ask questions there as well. It’s a good place to hang out for Saimoe 2009.)

-CCY

Indignationnnnnnnn!

2009-07-07T17:44:24Z

(゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜) (゜Д゜)

Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο) Σ(Ο□Ο)

(◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎) (◎o◎)

(;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`) (;´Д`)

That’s it after I finish up with my friend’s PS3 for the time I have it with me I will come up with a majestic plan to buy my own consisting of these phases

1. Work at Starbucks

2. Offer customers only hot or cold coffee and no other shit options like latte and all that shit and/or otherwise. no no no

3. Rise through the ranks thanks to excellent service

4. ???

5. INDIGNATION!

Oh well if the whole coffee-kun shit fails i guess I can try to actually work, or sell whatever organs I don’t need.

Now, who wants to buy tonsils! Bidding starts at this price.

Tena on S-String Vol 01 – Thoughts & Impressions

2009-07-07T00:25:08Z

Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy.

About the Mangaka

No real information available on Mikabe Sesuna sadly. If you have any please drop me a line.

About the Manga

I’m not really sure what to make of this series to be honest. On the one hand it has elements I really love in a series (not to mention a gothic lolita), but it also has all the bits I hate in a series as well.

I know this is a fantasy series, and I should treat it as such. However I like my fantasy to at least make a semblance of sense, which this series sadly doesn’t.

I’m guessing (or hoping) the how and why will be answered at some point, however I find the entire situation un-plausible, even for a fantasy series, it has to many holes in the plot hook.

The art of the series, is rough. It’s not bad, as some series have been. But it lacks the polish to make the art something special.

The cover design is disgusting, the green background with her hair is just horrid. The way her hair seems to be the same colour as her skin is equally a bit off, almost like she wasn’t caring about it. The other aspect of the cover I hate is the title font, it’s totally wrong.

Oddly, if the cover had had a different colour scheme to it, the font would have fit better I think.

Unfortunately the issues don’t stop there. Tena’s design is inconsistent throughout the volume, especially the way her face is drawn, it’s almost like she’s different people.

About the only thing consistent about her was her personality, which I have to admit I found funny at first. However as the volume went on I found it grating. I kept thinking of Louise from Zero’s Familiar, who has an almost exactly the same personality and treats the main male lead the same way. However the difference is in the atmosphere the characters build.

Tena sadly lacks atmosphere, completely, it’s nothing more than a book of pictures.

Hibiki is also annoying, but with him it’s because his personality changes from page to page. When we first meet him he’s rescuing a child, the next he’s being an arrogant sod that needs a swift kick, and that’s the way it goes through out the volume.

Either personality would have worked well in this setting, but the constant swapping between Mr Nice Guy, and Mr Bastard, destroys the setting.

Sadly the story makes even less sense. Granted, since this is the first volume Sesuna could have focused on setting up the characters, rather than the story. But I do find myself wondering over the way the story flows in this volume.

To much time is spent on Tena stabbing Hibiki, and frankly if I was him I would have turned her over and given her the spanking of her life, cause she needs it. Spoilt and arrogant are good personality hooks, but they’re taken to far in this volume for me.

However that doesn’t mean it’s a total was out, the concept alone is enough to keep me interested a few more volumes. And I’m hoping that the story will pick up soon and swoop me off my feet.

This was the first Yen Press titles in a while to have some really bad guttering issues, and even after only one read through the spine was damaged. And there was nothing wrong with the translation or editing as far as I could see.

Sadly, this doesn’t go on my Essential Read list, and barely avoids the Junk Heap, though who knows what future volumes will do to it.

Where to Buy

This volume is due for release 3rd August 2009

Brits: Play.com or Amazon UK
Yanks: Borders or Amazon US
Canadians: Chapters or Amazon CA

Hayate’s Heated Harem: investigative journalism on the popularity polls of Hayate the Combat Butler

2009-07-06T18:26:15Z

Yes, I’m writing this instead of driving home from AX. No pictures because it’s a quick report, but something I found interesting.

There was another popularity poll for characters of the Hayate the Combat Butler series, conducted recently with its results televised in the 14th episode of the second season of the anime. I figured it’d be interesting contrasting it to the popularity results from chapter 110 of the manga (from whenever long time ago):

MANGA (CHAPTER 110)
11,753 votes (?)
1st – Hinagiku Katsura – 3,728 votes – 31.7%
2nd – Maria – 1,586 votes – 13.5%
3rd – Hayate Ayasaki (not including Hermione) – 1,503 votes – 12.7%
4th – Nagi Sanzenin – 1,103 votes – 9.4%
5th – Isumi Saginomiya – 666 votes – 5.7%
6th – Sakuya Aizawa – 431 votes – 3.7%
7th – Ayumu Nishizawa – 421 votes – 3.6%
8th – Izumi Segawa – 410 votes – 3.5%
9th – Wataru Tachibana – 220 votes – 1.9%
10th – Saki Kijima – 187 votes – 1.6%

ANIME (SEASON 2, EPISODE 14)
13,962 votes in top 10
1st – Hinagiku Katsura – 4,185 votes – 30.0%
2nd – Maria – 1,814 votes – 13.0%
3rd – Nagi Sanzenin – 1,776 votes – 12.7%
4th – Hayate Ayasaki – 1,366 votes – 9.8%
5th – Mystery Girl – 1,005 votes – 7.2%
6th – Izumi Segawa – 905 votes – 6.5%
7th – Ayumu Nishizawa – 888 votes – 6.4%
8th – Sakuya Aizawa – 881 votes – 6.3%
9th – Chiharu Harukaze – 705 votes – 5.0%
10th – Isumi Saginomiya – 437 votes – 3.1%

NOTES
* I haven’t seen episode 14 yet so this is just off of blog posts.

* Hinagiku crushes the field both times.

* Maria remains number two both times as well – surprising popularity that is not reflected much in the English otakusphere.

* Hayate and Nagi swap positions but remain podium contenders.

* Hayate is the only “guy” in the anime rankings, as Wataru drops off the top 10 in the anime rankings.

* Chiharu Harukaze is Sakuya’s maid. I’m not sure who that is. I can’t even picture her.

* Pretty sure Mystery Girl is Athena Tennos.

* Izumi gets a huge boost from anime fans, for some reason or another. I forget if she’s had any dedicated manga chapters, and whether she can be considered part of the harem.

* Meanwhile, Isumi tanks. A-tan was not introduced in the manga proper by chapter 110, so I think a lot of characters who lost votes lost them to A-tan, but Isumi’s drop in popularity is surprising, even if she ‘only’ loses 200 votes.

* In contrast, Hamster doubled her vote total but remains at roughly same position in the rankings.

* Sakuya does the same but drops to 8th position. In the end, Izumi, Sakuya, and Hamster all enjoy the same rough level of popularity. Rather then, I should sum it up so:

A ROUGH GUESS AT POPULARITY TIERS (not a personal ranking)
1 – Hinagiku
2 – nobody
3 – Hayate / Hermione Fusion (maybe)
4 – Maria, Nagi, Hayate / Hermione Separate
5 – A-tan
6 – Izumi, Sakuya, Hamster
7 – Isumi
8 – others

The more you know~

-CCY

(Personal ranking is naturally:
1 – Isumi
2 – Hayate (which one!?)
3 – Maria, Ayumu
4 – Hinagiku, Deredere Nagi, Saki
5 – others
6 – Tsundere Nagi)

LIVE DIAMOND = Dead Panda

2009-07-06T16:23:35Z

Nana’s voice in the background: “ARE YOU READY?” “Let’s BEGIN LLIIIIVVVVVEEEE” !!!!XDDDDD!!! …was how I expected Mizuki Nana’s LIVE DIAMOND 2009 to start, but it didn’t (Maria & Joker came out much later than expected – but it’s NEVER too late to watch Nana kick stage butt in a sexy red number *whistles*). Nonetheless, to state the obvious [...]