Friday 31 July 2015

A Lull in the Sea

Also known as/what i tend to call it: Nagi no Asukara.

But since i watched the Dub this time i figured the English title was more appropriate.

NISA's dub tend to range from Fantastic (Toradora) to oh god my ears (Cardcaptors which i know wasn't really their dub but they used it so yeah)

A Lull in the Sea is closer to Fantastic but i do have a few minor nitpicks.
Mostly pronunciation... and a few areas feel a bit stiff.

But yeah other then Manaka sounding like Monica for most of the dub and Ofuneheki/shioshishio/oshiooshi being really difficult to say in english and have make sense (especially that first one where they put so much emphasis on the 'he' part where it sounds like two separate words)
The acting is on point, the Bluray is well setup and the fact that it comes with the soundtrack (which is really pretty) just made this purchase well worth it...
It even came with the ofunehiki flag... which i will have to find a spot for cause it's kind of adorable.

This is easily one of my fav shows and i'm so happy to have a dub of it... it wasn't cheap (especially considering how terrible the canadian dollar is [omg .77 are you kidding me?!]) but worth every penny
plus the box is all sparkly... i'measily won over with glitter.

oh and watching the show again made me appreciate the first half more then the first time i watched it.
It just helped the overall theme hit home and i love that.

so yeah, watch it on Crunchy (sub only) or buy the lovely blurays from NISA but please try and watch this show... it's really really good.

Tuesday 28 July 2015

First Impressions: Lost Dimensions

And when i say first impressions i'm still in the tutorial.

So i didn't know this game existed till last friday... i haven't been keeping up on whats coming out because with my job i do not have time to dedicate to games.
On the other hand I am a sucker for a neat concept.

Back in the day (like... when i was 12?) i saw my first fire emblem commercial and one of the hooks was that there was a traiter amoung you and you had to make your own friendships while not being betrayed.
That sounded so awesome to little me so i was a little sad when that didn't even remotely happen... i Love FE7 don't get me wrong.... but i was up for some "who to trust" funtimes...
but that "you have a traitor among you" is the entire hook of this game and i gotta say.... i'm just as excited for the concept as i was when i was younger...  and the fact that it's random so it can't really get spoiled is pretty cool too... (unless it's just superficial and then that'll be disappointing)


So armed with that extremely limited knowledge i bought it and when i got home from work today it was waiting for me... and after DL all that free DLC (other then what is essentially free experience because that sounds incredibly lame) i started the game.

So far i like it... the concept is pretty cool, the story at the start is a little stilted but if i can sit through L'ark Rise fantasia i can sit through anything....
but even at this early point it's got some oddities...
Like it needs to load between every action... it seemed to be shorter and shorter as i kept playing but still i don't see why it's constantly loading.... and theres no option to install parts of the game on the system to help the load times so.... thats kinda disappointing.

So far it's like a visual novel (Which i tend to love assuming the story they are trying to tell is interesting) with combat sections that remind me the slightest bit of a Xcom or Valkyria Chronicles... you can move within a circle and attack anything in range with your teammates backing you up if they are close enough.

Probably the most notable thing i have seen is that one game = one save file.... you cannot make multiple saves and the game autosaves after every mission... now assuming that the traitor thing is determined from the start and not just randomly picked on the final floor that is pretty cool
ah who am i kidding of course it's picked on the last floor... but still i like this whole "this is the story you get.. .deal with it" aspect to saying you can't have multiple saves.

After playing a few missions i'm wondering how much voice recognition will come into play... At the end of each mission (main or sub it doesn't seem to matter) you hear the voices of those you fight with.. considering you can only have teams of 6 and you as the main character take up a slot...
In my first mission i didn't hear anything odd but when i beat the second map with a completely different team one voice was messed up...
Id have to hear it again but it sounds like the blond guy who controls magnetic fields didn't get a line... now i hope i heard wrong... i'm not used to all their voices yet and it goes by really quickly... and i like him... he's strong.

Still i can't get over how much fun i'm having after each match...

I know it's gimmicky but i just adore this kind of thing.

Okay so i get to the judgement and this is hard... the game is really pulling for you to pick a certain character but... i may love games like this but where my choice actually matters (unlike danganronpa) it's more then a little stressful.

Also find it kind of neat that you only get so many votes so if the other characters are suspicious of someone your choice may not do anything. (unless you buy a dlc item to force the vote but much like buying EXP and gift points LAME)

So yeah if i haven't made it clear this type of game is pretty much my jam... i love this type of mystery... i love trying to figure things out by being clever and i love that i can't actually be spoiled since my play through will be different then others.

So yeah if a visual novel with Turnbased/area based strategical combat and a plot of finding the traitor are up your alley... i would say give the game a chance.
If none of that sounds fun then probably best to avoid... it's not perfect by anymeans but i have a feeling i'm going to really enjoy this.

assuming i ever get the time to play....


Sunday 26 July 2015

ConBravo 2015

Just a quick (hopefully) post mortem of my trip to this chill fun con.

So this is the 6th year the con has run and also my 6th time attending... it's the only con i can say i've gone to since the beginning. (which is funny cause after the first year i said i'd never go again and now it's my fav con)

This year I got a hotel room, i was supposed to go with a good friend whom i drag every year she is free but she had a wedding to attend so i was solo.
It was nice cause there are almost always single seats neat the front available and i could get a good seat without waiting ages in line BUT i have this nasty tendency to forget about eating so i was pretty hungry all weekend.

On Friday i went to the dealers room before any panels and wow... our terrible dollar skyrocket all the prices...
I did manage to find the Tanuma figure i have been trying to get for about a year so even though he was a little overpriced it was worth it.

Then i went to the Pubquiz and sat with Diamnade Hagan and (i'm sorry if i get this wrong) Omega and that was a lot of fun.. .we were close to winning but sucked in the final round. 

After that I went to panels and because i had the hotel room i even went to the "Pro Jirard the Finishist" panel which was easily the funniest thing i have ever seen at a panel.

Then about 5 hours of sleep it was back to panels.... all day... never went to the dealers room on saturday... it was great though i was a bit dehydrated (or exhausted... or both)
Also on Saturday i managed to thank ProJared for a retweet he gave me for a quick fanart of the skitty from his nuzlocke
Titled: I can't wait to show him how much i've grown

because i am a terrible person... and i really enjoyed seeing all the "why would you make this?" and "my feelings they hurt" comments

anyways i also got some autographs... my Moleskine now has lots of signatures (because i forgot my Yuujinchou/most of the guests already have signed it)
uh i was going to go to d20 live but 5 hours of sleep the previous night told me that i needed rest more then entertainment.... one year i'll make it to that...
Then sunday i checked out of the hotel (sadly because it's nice having a place to go sit without other people around) checked my luggage and went to a few final panels... also went to the dealers room again... no deals and still stupid prices but i did find one vendor selling  US cover price manga so i cleaned them out of some stuff... over the course of the weekend i spent just over 100 bucks... i never spend that little at cons.... but everything was just so overpriced.

The i headed home and now i'm enjoying some SGDQ.

It did feel a little quieter this year which surprised me but half the reason i adore this con is that there aren't too many people... yes there were lines but i don't think any of the rooms were ever completely full. Pretty much everyone was very friendly but there were some extremely obnoxious children whose parents were obviously not around and that was a little annoying if only becuase they were bring rude at times.

But once again i had a great time, a little sad because a group of friends went to Japan (a trip i couldn't go on cause of work) the same day that the con started so it was a little hard to be excited for the con when i was really quite sad about not being on the trip... but hey i managed to have a great time anyways... and back to work tomorrow.

SO yeah if you are ever able to go to ConBravo in Hamilton, Ontario i recommend it, nice chill con with just an awesome laid back atmosphere. Also because 99% of the guests are content creators everyone is really chill an humble and very few guests are ever full of themselves.

But yeah i'm tired and hungry so see ya later!

Sunday 19 July 2015

Sailor Moon Crystal

It took over a year to put out 26 epsiodes...
I hope that if they do make more they wise up and do it weekly like damn near every other anime out there.
and i know they will do more... we are only halfway through... and i know they will continue to do this Twice a month crap.... because they are too full of themselves not to.

So... Story time? yes i think so.

When i was younger I would watch a channel we have in canada known as YTV.... it was pretty much the only channel i would watch... for the most part it showed cartoons for kids I think there was some anime but considering my memory of pre 1995 isn't really there i honestly couldn't tell you.... i think i watched Dragonball on there and thats technically my first anime but again... i don't remember so i don't count it.

Anyways in 95, sometime after october because i don't remember having a broken arm while watching it... I went to a friends house. She was a bit older then me but we were neighbors and back then everyone has the chance to be friends... so we were playing games and then suddenly she's like "oh no we have to watch Sailor moon"
I think i had heard of it but i hadn't watched any because the large eyes and extremely long limbs looked kind of ridiculous.
Still i didn't want to upset her so i watched the show, I remember it perfectly... it was the episode with the bus and the preeschool kids (just looked at my boxset and it sais episode 52 so a bit into R and right before the point where the channel would start replayin the show)
But yeah it quickly became my fav show.... probably was the time it aired was not the best...
I think it aired at 3:30pm and my school got out at 3:10 and with my short little legs it was probably a 15 min walk.
Still i would rush home after school and make it just in time for it to start.
It didn't matter how many times i saw the episodes (dic only aired Sailor moon and sailor moon r and even then it was like... release to a point then randomly jump back to the start.... then release a little more and randomly jump back to the start until it was all out) I would always rush home and watch it before doing anything else.

Years passed and i still loved it (granted by this time pokemon and other anime were coming out and i enjoyed those too)... it got to the point where my friends all wondered how i could still like a show for kids... i could see that to my friends anime was a fad that they had outgrown and i just didn't want to.
I got a little more silent about my love for anime (or more accurately cartoons considering i didn't know there was a difference till much later)
I would watch things in secret, almost ashamed of still enjoying 'kid stuff'
I started to doodle but never showed it to anyone (cause anyone who saw it laughed at how terrible it was... and it was terrible)
Then in Grade 8 I started Highschool and figured i really need to grow up and stop watching cartoons... we were about to move and i could be a whole new person.

However after we moved (and i got cable in my room) i was flipping through the channels i saw something i never thought i would see.
New epsidoes of sailor moon.
New scouts.
I could watch more of my favorite show... and i did...
screw being a new person... screw caring about what other things or what is 'kid stuff'
Shortly after that (like two years) there was an annoucement about an anime club starting at school...
I'm still friends with a lot of the people who attended that club... and i felt happier then i could ever be.

In a way i was really excited for this reboot cause i have so much personal history with sailor moon, i even went as Sailor Jupiter once for Halloween (I was six and it was adorable.... if i had the picture handy i would probably post it)
Then the reboot got delayed
and delayed some more
then the character designs came out and my heart dropped.
By the end of S and Super S the art was simply gorgeous... this was such a step backwards it was a little painful to look at.
Then it started
CG transformations were easily the worst thing because they just looked so rubbery and wrong, by the time venus got animated it looked okay but i still wish they would go back to traditionally drawn ones (because the one they did do traditionally looked really good)
The other disappointment was that none of them had any personality beyond saying other characters names.

The original anime may have been criticized for not sticking close to the source material but i would argue they did a better job or giving everyone a character and arc and purpose for being there.
You can take this adaption and cut Murcury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus out entirely and NOTHING would be lost. They don't do anything at all the entire series and i have a bit of a problem with that.

I hope as the show goes on they try to give the characters more personality... but if it stopped here i wouldn't be too upset cause you know what? i still have the original series and thats more then enough for me.
but yeah i cant recommend this adaptation... stick to the 90s version....

and if it does continue.... i will still hope that they do traditional transformations... not CG... Toei shouldn't be allowed anywhere neat CG... they are not good at it.
but.... i know that wont happen.

Saturday 18 July 2015

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan

I'll start by saying when I first came across the manga i was pretty excited... but i quickly learned i don't ship YukixKyon and thats kind of the focus.

After seeing all the anime... i still don't ship it... 

 It's frustrating... there are aspects of this show i desperately want to like... but i just reminds me so much of the haruhi suzumiya series and the fact that we will probably never get season 3
i can hold out hope for a long time but... 6 years since the last season and 5 years from the movie... it just hurts.
I love the Haruhi Suzumiya series so much... and while this was nice... it's missing so much of what made haruhi interesting.

Disappearance Yuki is just too boring... she has no defining characters... The reason Prime Yuki was so interesting and kind of worked well with kyon is that even though she acted emotionless kyon could partially see how she was feeling.
she is an all powerful alien who is dealing with emotions she cannot understand and he tries to help he with that struggle and it's great....
is this Yuki spends more time eating and playing games then interacting with him... and kyons a total moron who is unable to read other peoples emotions at all.
Not even going to go into the fact that Prime Kyon isn't stupid... he's actually really smart he's just lazy... his classmates even ask him for advice in class in the film.
in the novels he's constantly compairing things to actual theories or even saying quotes in other languages... he isn't stupid.
Ryoko was interesting in prime because she thirsted for knowledge and results and didn't care who or what she had to crush to get them... in this she is just there to make sure yuki doesn't starve... hell in the disappearance movie she even has a more interesting part since she desperately wants to protect her friend.
asahina has no buisness being in this series as the only thing that made her interesting was being a time traveller and in this there aren't any.
 Haruhi however... i really liked her in this... hey and kyons chemestry was perfect and seeing her and little kyon on tanabata and the fact that it was pretty much the same interaction... it made me so happy... unfortunately it made me more of a HaruhixKyon

I will say i'm glad the series ended the way it did.... even if at first it was like

Starts the final episode
"no"
continues to watch
"don't you do it show..... i watched that episode 8 times...... do not make it 9"
Phone rings
"SON OF A"
a familiar tune
"why must you tease me?! do you get pleasure from reminding me that season 3 of prime series haruhi will probably never happen?"
end of episode
"wonder if he finished his homework..."

but yeah... using the biggest middle finger to fans as the episode you want to end your series on... maybe not the best idea... i mean it works... but still...

But is Yuki-chan good?
partially... the episodes with haruhi are great... and the episodes where Yuki changes.... they were probably my favourite
but can i recommend the whole show? probably not... the original series is just so much better in my eyes.....
maybe if you haven't seen original haruhi suzumiya then give this a try before watching that? but i think you'd miss out on some of the jokes so maybe not.

however... if Satelight comes out and says "we plan to do season 3+ of haruhi" i would be so happy... it may not look as pretty as kyo-ani's.... but i'd rather kyo ani never adapt haruhi suzumiya again after the punch in the face that was endless 8...

i know this ramble doesn't make sense but my end point still stands... it's not as good as the show it's based on... but it has some really sweet moments.

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Romeo x Juliet

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.


It is a great monologue, it sets the scene and warns you about the tale you are about to witness...
The anime though... it takes some liberties.... lets see if i can see how they compare


Two households, - Ok so far so good, we do infact have two households... the montegues and capulets... this is a great start.
both alike in dignity, - uh... well not quite... the Capulets actually rule the land until the Montegues come in and murder all but one...
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, - Neo Verona in the anime but honestly close enough.
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, - The montagues do seem to bear a little grudge towards the capulets but it's mostly just the one guy and his lifetime so it's hardly ancient
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. - well there certain is a lot of civil blood
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes - again it's hard to be foes when 99% of one side is dead but montague does want the last remaining capulet gone so yeah ok we are still pretty close. 
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; - Spoilers! but um yeah... they handle it differently but pretty much the same... 
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows - they may have been piteous but at least in the anime it takes longer then a week
Do with their death bury their parents' strife. - Not so much in the anime... cause again... mostly dead...
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, - while everyone is against it at first most seem okay with the two together by the end
And the continuance of their parents' rage, - not so much again cause of all the death
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; - it's a 24 episode show so about 10 hours or so...
The which if you with patient ears attend,What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. - well... things do get mended in the anime so... point for being similar. 

what i couldn't fit into my comparison is that Neo varona is in the sky, Horses are part dragon and can fly, Juliet dresses as a boy and acts as a vigilante and that instead of romeo being sweet to Rosaline he is actually engaged to Hermione in the anime (and she has a much larger part)

oh also not every character who dis in the play dies in the show
and the one character thats kind of at fault for everything happening in my opinion (the apothocary) is nowhere to be seen. 

I will say that when i first put it in.... this is not what i expected. 
Seriously the intro song (and running theme of the show) is the wind benieth my wings... 
i don't know if they got in any trouble for that or if they got the rights but it does fit nicely with the theme.

Oh final thing... William Shakespear is a character within the anime... and he is blond for some reason. 

so yeah to say the least They took some small liberties with the story but in my opinion the changes they made were good. 

In the play Juliet is extremely Naive... in the anime she understands that there are consequences to her actions and it beings a while new meaning to some of the more iconic lines. 

Romeo is a bit of a hot head in the play but here he is willing to fight for what he believes in. 

I do find it funny that it was put out by Gonzo... who has also done Gankutsuou.... which i will argue is one of the more accurate teelings of the count of monte cristo (other then the blue space vampire thing) and this is easily the most inccorect version of romeo on juliet... i mean they took the names and base struggle... that is it. 

still i can't help but enjoy this type of story... i really like shakespear... i read many of his plays long before any of my pears... so even though this is barely the story it was a whole lot of fun and even though you know going in people are going to die i still got a little teary eyed. 

So if you get a chance i suggest giving this show a try just don't try to hold it up to the source material because they don't even try. 

Next thing i'm watching will be the "a lull in the sea" Dub which so far seemed decent (other then pronouncing Manaka as Monica but hey... minor gripe) 

Monday 13 July 2015

First Impressions: Summer 2015

I swear the Spring Season always just seems to end with little notice or care.

Some Ground Rules~

1. I will try to give every show a chance but this doesn't mean i have to watch a full episode... if i stop early i will note the time and reason for stopping.

2. No 'webshows' or shows that are shorter then 20 minutes... i don't like waiting a week for these so i don't tend to watch them... i have made exceptions in the past but they are rare.

3. No shows with Brother, sister or Father in the title... i mean i may still give them a chance but they almost always have insest so... no...

4. No Second+ seasons of shows i didn't originally watch for obvious reasons.

5. no shows about card games, again i may give them a chance but they are almost never my cup of tea.

6. all opinions are my own and are based soley on what i see... unless i have read the manga of something i tend to go into these shows completely blind.

Returning shows.

Sailor moon
Please just let it end... please... it's just getting painful
i'll be honest i nearly dropped this show a few weeks ago.... the way they have handled chibiusa is just downright creepy and it got to a point where i actually stopped and episode and walked away.
still... this arc should end very soon.... possibly before i even post this.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
More Haruhi....
The best episodes of this series focus on Haruhi and Kyon's relatiosnhip or Prime Yuki.... disappearance yuki is boring and dull and not terribly interesting to watch.
however this barely qualifies as a returning show as it's only going to air for about 3 more weeks
and yes... part of me is annoyed that Haruhi barely got more then 12 episodes per season (only like...7 in season 2 by my count) and yuki-chan is getting 16.... but i just bury those feelings and rewatch the movie/reread the books....
yeah seriously..
After watching episode 14
I'm getting a little tired of this show making me cry not because it's sad... but because it's making me miss the original series and reminding me the rest of the novels will probably never be animated. I will never get to see the snowy mountain lodge.... or the Anti-SOS brigade... or anythng from surprise
Shows like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya tend to sneak up on me with how important they become to me... I adore it, the movie is probably my favorite film... and being reminded every week that this is probably all you'll ever get again hurts... and then thinking that the same may be true for Natsume Yuujinchou... it just hurts...

Rinne
The only reason i watch this show is that Wednesdays are slow at work and i almost always get a lunch and last season i had nothing else to watch by that time... it's cute but a little gag heavy and if something more interesting takes up the 'you can watch this during lunch' slot i may just drop it.
I do want to mention the intro and ending song change... i've never seen a show where the animation is pretty much exactly the same but the song changes.... i've seen the visuals change with the same song.... but yeah only changing the song seems lazy... and a little foolish because it doesn't even work with the visuals...

MY love STORY!!
I love this show, there is something i am hoping happens because... well i think it makes sense but right now this show is one i look forward to every week and i'm so happy it's not just one Cour.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
It's an interesting enough show but it's a little slow and the artists style shines through a bit too much... if find it fairly distracting. still i'm hoping it continues to be interesting.

Not too bad of a start considering we haven't even started the new season yet.

Lets get started

Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace
So from the looks of it it's a show based on a series created by someone who has been dead for 50 years now.
I'm not the biggest fan of Detective type stories because they are either too obvious OR the solutions are so obtuse that no one outside of the show/book/film whatever could possibly get it.
Depending on how little ends up airing around this time i may or may not remember to watch this more but i have a tendancy to drop these types of shows after the first case is solved.
it's not bad so far... but it's not grabbing me just yet.
*watched episode 2*
Normally i don't want to talk about anything past the base first impression.... but i hate to for this.
So this is the type of mystery that takes the Obtuse road.... you cannot guess who the killer is before it's revealed... so thats already a huge failing... but even worse then that it's just way to blaze about things....
"I wanted to be his chair" is a literal line in the second episode... they try to make it sweet that a character was litterally murdering people and turning them into chairs...
yeah.... no that is incredibly messed up.
If the first episode was boring this is the one that pushes it into being terrible...

GATE
Well... i could hear that it's Junichi Suwabe right away so i'll take that as progress...
So it's a mix of modern day and fantasy from another world, a litteral gate is opened and it looks like one ends up in the other... and so we have fantasy armies and military armies and...
...
so far this just feel like a huge "look how cool the army is" anime... maybe that changes... i'm only halfway through but it does feel like "look at this pathetic Otaku, even he can become a Second lieutenant"
Also not really digging the whole "lets go into another world with vastly better tech and just... destroy everything" vibe... yeah they opened the gate but they didn't seem to expect where they would land.
Yeah... could just be that Military shows aren't my thing but i don't think i'll be continuing this unless i hear a lot of good things... i mean i like A1 pictures most of the time but this just isn't working for me.

Classroom * Crisis
is that Sakura Chiyo i hear?
... well she does have a unique voice but it's a little odd to be able to recognize it after only seeing her in one show.
Anyways this show kind of lost me when there was so much space talk...
Still a new transfer student is taken hostage and they go to rescue him cause this class doubles as a space piloting devision of the company...
yeah... again i just don't care... pretty much nothing in this episode made me wonder about the world or the issues... it's just "here is a class of gifted student who are building a type of plane"... so if i can't care about the character cause i know nothing about them then i'm not going to care about anything else... music wasn't terrible though.

Oh boy...
My Wife is the Student council President.
Crunchyroll has two versions of this... Censored and uncensored
I don't want to watch either....
Please let this be 3 minutes...
8 minutes! i will call this a victory and bail
Maybe i should add Wife and Husband to the auto ban list of title's i wont watch.... but gather those don't tend to get insesty (which is the reason i wont watch anythign with sister/brother/father in the title)

Aoharu x Machinegun
hm.... i have said this before but i don't like airsoft or bb guns because the guns look real and it's kind of romanticizes guns in my mind... at least painball guns tend to look like colourful things... rarely like guns (and those that use the ones that look like guns aren't terribly fun to play with)  anyways yeah... don't like guns so i think i'll pass on this show... i made it about 10 mins in before quitting.

Durarara!! x2 The second arc.
this should probably be in a continuing series section but there was a season off.
I love this show...
i am so happy.
Just go watch it... all of it... it's so good
I will still argue that the first season is the best use of non-linear story telling i have ever seen.

ok next!

Charlotte
I think i know a little about this before hand... well at least that it's Key/visual arts... so it'll probably be feelsy
you know whats funny? Uchiyama Kouki sounds extremely similar to Hiroshi Kamiya.... so much so that the only way i can tell it's him is by going "this sounds vaguely like natsume but i didn't get that intant reaction... it must be 'not natsume'..."
and i'm right 99% of the time... so i figure it's about time i learn his name... it's the least i can do lol.
Anyways... as much as i don't like aniplex's pricing models their animation is spot on... i'm so happy they seem to have taken over Key/vis arts stuff from Kyo-ani... this show is pretty.
It's about a boy who has an ability to possess people for 5 seconds, he uses this to cheat and pick up girls until he is found out by a school who gathers up students like this and keeps them in a dorm situation until they grow up and their powers vanish.
Considering i love Supernatural powers in a modern/realistic setting i have a feeling this will be one of my favs this season... also Key/vis arts tends to be on my good side more often then my bad side (granted i didn't care for little busters or angel beats but hey... clannad and Kanon[2006] are up there as some of my fav shows ever)
so yeah really looking forward to this.

Rokka -Braves of the Six Flowers-
it's odd looking at a character design and knowing what voice will come out of it... this is the first time thats happened.
Anyways... this was animated by Passion... i've never heard of them... seems like they've only done two other shows... and i HATED rail wars...
Still this is really interesting so far... Fantasy, despite the fact that i love reading it, is hit or miss with me in anime... but so far i'm intrigued.
Occasionally the Demon King breaks his seal and 6 warriors are given a mark that will prove that they shall seal the demon king once again...
of course i look forward to there being more to this sealing buisness and finding out why they can't completely destroy him... should be fun hopefully.


Working!!!
yay another season of funtimes! it's fun hearing Hiroshi Kamiya like this~
you'll be lost if you don't see the rest of the show so watch that first, it's essentially a slice of life for a group of people working at a family restaurant... and it's a comedy.
it's very fun and is a must watch of this season!
Hm... Popura's hair is really long.... *pulls up hair* and my hair is almost long enough to cosplay her....
I need a haircut
anyways sorry...

Shimoneta: a boring world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist.
......... well it's the first stupid titled anime of the season so i can't complain too much... but i can hope that it's only 3 mins long
23... damn... ok
So based on the opening bit... this is infact a world where dirty jokes don't exist... mostly because there is a 'decency squad' that destroy your ero magazines and put you to work for your indecent words... so they do exist but the price is pretty high
it's kinda funny how they had to censor the dirty words cause japan does have some silly decency laws. and when i say they i mean the show itself it wouldn't work at all if the broadcast was censoring it
*bursts out laughing* why does she have those on her face? how is yelling those words terrorism? if someone doesn't have the context for the word then it can't really be considered obscene can it?
I can't stop laughing... this show is stupid as hell but pretty funny especially considering the prudish society it's making fun of.
I probably wont be watching though... not my cup of tea... but pretty funny for a first episode.

Ushio and Tora
I have actually heard of this, i had a friend way back when who wanted this on dvd... i know nothing about it though... i hope this is a remake cause otherwise i'm going to be very lost.
also i keep wanting to call it Ushio To Tora... cause well thats what it's called it's just how i'm used to hearing about it
Right off the bat i like that it's kept it's older style while having pretty nice animation... better then some other remakes as of late...
*cough* however watching this made me realize something...
This is Natsume's book of friends... but instead of a book it's a spear...
but the concept is damn near identicle at it's base.
A boy who can see spirits teams up with a cat like Yokai that is forced to protect him but also plans to eat him... however they work together to get ride of problems with Yokai...
and to be fair i should say natsume's book of friends is this cause well this came WAY before....
but yeah the resemblance in plot is a little uncanny.
Will i continue? probably... i mean it's a shonen version of my fav show (or my fav show is a shoujo version of this... it's all about perspective i guess) and i'm not always into shonen.. too much focus on fighting and getting stronger... but still i am curious... and if it's older show thats popular enough to warrant a current day adaptation then I really want to see why.

wow too many shows on saturday... ok moving on!

Gangsta.
Again... i can hear that it's Juichi Suwabe playing the blond guy.... it's still not the instant 'i am positive about this' reaction i get with other VAs but still...
have... have i finally figured out his voice?
Anyways, i went into this expecting not to like it cause i'm not a fan of super gritty things...
It was actually really good... i don't even know why i found it so intriguing but yeah... i would say i liked this.
First episode is mostly setup but from what i gather they are somewhere where the Mafia is pretty much everywhere... there are two known as Handymen who are nuetral parties and go in to clean up messes.
The most interesting thing is that one of the main characters is Deaf so how they handeled that was really really interesting... looking forward to seeing more of this.

Snow White with the Red Hair
And here i thought i had my fill of Snow white but with pretty boys instead of dwarves...
granted this only seems to have 1 pretty boy instead of Pretear which had... well they claimed 7 but it was really 3....
anyways i really liked this... a very neat and unique take on the story... looking forward to more.
Shirayuki is an herbalist, one day a prince comes to claim her as part of his concubine and she runs away and bumps into Zen, the two cexome unlikely friends as they thwart The prince's dubious scheme.

Actually, I Am
Imagine being so easy to read you couldn't keep a secret or lie about anything ever....
now imagine you had to keep a secret so your crush doesn't have to quite school.
That's basically this show... it is a harem show which i'm not terribly fond of but i may give this one another chance... but i wont be surprised if i stop and forget about it.

Chaos Dragon
This looks pretty cutesy to have a MA rating....
oh boy... i really dislike the art... it's so angular and lacking in depth.
ok... so there is a ton of exposition.... but nothing was actually said.
from what i can gather.... there was a king, he was killed, his son helps with an orphanage.. it's a warring state caught in the middle and the dragon god that protects the land is going nuts and other people who have made contracts with other dragon gods have come to kill it butnoe the song of the king who died has made a contract and in order to unlock the dragons power he has to kill his friends... esentially the good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one.
it's a somewhat interesting concept... too bad it was boring as hell... the info dump is just so much and not once was i given a reason to care...
I know nothing about this character other then now he has to murder his friends who i also know nothing about.
and then gratuitous amounts of blood just for the sake of it... yeah i'm going to pass.

Castle Town Dandelion
So your father is king, but he insists you and your 8 other siblings have to live a normal life, go to school and even be elected to the position of king.
Each child has their own magic as they work to get their approval rating up
oh and you just happen to suffer from crippling shyness that makes you not want to be seen in any capacity.
it seems fine but again, large cast of characters an no reason to really care about them or why they want to be king or what they will do... it's just too goofy for that.

Overlord
Diving MMO RPG...
I am tempted to drop out now.... but who knows... it could be good... or it could be another terrible show like sword art.... guess i'll find out
ok.... seeing a big scary skeleton use emoticons like that already has warmed me up to this more
SO anyone who has played an MMO for a long time has probably have it end on them... do you wait till the end an have the server boot you or do you go on with your normal life?
One player Named Momonga, a giant inhuman Skeleton decided to wait... only when they clock struck midnight the game didn't end... instead things changed... the Hud vanished, NPCs started to act more natural and things like touch and smell became apparent.
SO does momonga work to figure wout whats going on and maybe get back home or does he enjoy tis game world?
I don't know if i'll continue this or not... so far there are no other tuesday shows...
but if this gets at all sword arty then i will bail so fast... i am not going through that again.

Monster Musume Everyday life with Monster girls
I know i'm not going to make it very far into it...
wait Musume translates to Daughter right? *checks*
YES... i mean it also translates to young unmarried girl but i'm taking the former definition and ditching.
i did see about 3 mins and yeah.... i would have ditched there regardless but i'm just glad i can use one of my ground rules to not watch anymore.

Bikini Warriors
... i don't.... want to watch this.... can i have a "if a character has underboob as the focal part of her wardrobe i dn't have to watch it" clause?
next season.... it'll be a new rule.... for now i just hope it's a short show... i mean... you can't keep up that kind of gag for a full 25 mins... can you?
4 Minutes! good, Bailing... insert obvious "thats not how those work" comments and off to the next thing.

Seiyu's Life
Seiyu as in a character name or "Voice actor?"... guess i'll see
Seiyu as in Voice actors.... extremely moe voice actors.
i hope this doesn't remind me of work like shirobako does... (i still wanna watch that show but it shoots my anxiety through the roof)
*character has to introuce herself to everyone individually* oh.... no this is exactly like work
*character gets starstruck* n-no.... you can't do that... you have to show some decorum an be chill... no speaking unless spoken to.... please stop.... *whimpering*
Granted it's a little different for the above the line people (actors/directors/producers) but still... be chill
wow they have to handwrite script changes instead of just getting pages...
*pulling out hair* please just.... calm down...
ugh this is shirobako all over again... i dunno maybe i'll continue but.... so much like work.... and work is enough...

Himouto! Umaru-chan
Please let this be 5 minutes....
Look i know i said i would try all the shows but there are a lot and the promo art does not look good for this so yeah... judging a book by it's cover...
Full Length... ok.... let's do this..
Wow... being able to Chibi yourself so easily is a little impressive.
wow this is one endearing character... i love when teenagers throw temper tantrums because they don't get their way.
The problem with Comedy is it's not universal
The problem with characters you hate is the fact that  you can't stand when they are on screen...
so you have an unfunny comedy with character who deserved to get smacked through a wall... yeah pass.... i made it to the midroll of the episode.
besides Himouto seems to be like an abreviated "hikkomori Imouto" or "sister who refuses to go outside" so... i'll classify it under no sister titles and go with that...
but seriously this show was really not enjoyable for me at all. I figure a lot of people are going to like it... but i just do not enjoy teenagers throwing temper tantrums like children.

Sky Wizards Academy
did this show just have the "i happened to crash into you and grab your breast" with both his hands?
ugh i'm just not in the mood so... not a fan of wars or harems or things that are probably only getting made thanks to a show about girls in school uniforms fighting like tanks and getting their clothing torn up.
plus the animation wasn't very good... so yeah next

School-Live!
This is incredibly adorable... too much... can something dark happen? please?
well the one girl is reading stephen king so maybe?
oh well... good... i was worried that this would conitnue to be Moe moe girls sitting around eating cake during club... yeah.... not the case...
dunno if i'll continue watching because as interesting as it is to have super cutesy visuals with 'that' mixed in.... i'm not the biggest fan of 'that' so we'll see... doesn;t look like i have anything else that i could watch during lunch on thursdays anyways...

Wakaba*Girl
And it's a short show (7 mins)... hm... yeah i'm still going to pass

Prison School
well... 90% sure i'm going to bail on this... lets see how long it takes.
oh.... please... please you have got to be kidding me... please don't let that be
well........ ok then... i'm so incredibly sad now i can't even begin to describe.
ok... first off... yeah this is technically an ecchi.... but remember those silly censorship laws in japan? well full effect here.... beams of whiteness make sure to block off seeing anything that might give people impure thoughts.
also one guy has a very small face.
so the shading is incredibly muddled... the animation is really jumpy
it's not as bad as i expected but it's still not the type of show i like... i am really sad that my fav voice actor is in it since yeah... not even he can make me watch it... *sighs*
also the scene right before the ending song.... ew.... seriously ew....
next.

Million Doll
8 mins again... pass (is it just me or are there a lot of these this season?)
also wow that CG dancing looks terrible...

God Eater
This should be the last show... there's one other that is reported being on crunchy but..
a) it doesn't seem to be there so maybe not in my region?
b) it's girls as mech genre which i don't tend to like and i'm tired of waiting... cause the more i watch the more i want to add to these and that kinda ruins the point of something that is only supposed to be a first impression.
I will say the animation is different for this... i'm not sure if i like it or not but i do find it interesting that they are at least trying something new. Granted it does come across as a little stilted and stiff.
it's almost like it's 2d animation on a 3d base if that makes sense.
unfortunately i think the biggest issue is that i have no clue whats going on or why i should care. so yeah not for me but i'm sure others will like it.

As far as i can tell that is it... a lot of surprisingly good shows so time to make some lists.

Shows i will most likely complete

continuing from last season
Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (cause at this point... there is only one episode left...)
My love STORY!!
Heroic Legend of Arslan
Sailor moon (maybe)
Rinne (huge maybe)

New this season
Durararax2 pt 2
Charlotte
Working!!!
Ushio and Tora
Gansta.
Snow white and the red hair

Need more episodes to decide if i like it 
Rokka
Actually, I am
Overlord
School Live

ugh... 14 shows... that seems to be my average as of late... it's too many and i wont be surprised if some get dropped but at least it's a bit more spaced out then other season have been

Alright see ya next time

Sunday 5 July 2015

Art school rant

Feel free to ignore... i just needed to vent
So, I was watchign a technical dave video
This one to be precise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOBIiTdWMIM

and i wanted to talk about my personal experience with Art college.... but i didn't wanna do it in the comment section because i am a coward and commenting on videos is REALLY hard for me.

So in the video he mentions some key things... mostly that they professors will say how open minded they are about something when in truth they really want things one way.

Painting class.
First year: A-chromatic (black and white) Acrylic paintings of shapes for 4 months... and our teacher only allowed us to use one brush (the number 8 that came in our kit) and i think it's the same teacher who Dave mentions "don't copy from a photograph because i will know" cause he gave that speech in our class verbatim...
Anyways... second semester: A-chromatic live model paintings in acrylic... still only one brush. i think we maybe used a bit of colour as well but first year is a bit of a blur as it was pretty boring...

now considering my program was only designed to be three years long that seems a little limiting... but you do learn a lot and i don't mind having the fundimentals beaten into me for a year... but things changed when we got to second year.

Second year:
The focus was trying to get everyone to try every medium including the more hands on ones like Egg Tempera (which we literally had to separate the yokes ourselves and mix the pigment)... we also worked with Acrylic, watercolour and oil... this turned my least favorite class into one of the ones i looked forward to... yeah it was still expensive as hell but i couldn't stand acrylic and it was a nice change of pace.

Second semester: i don't remember if we changed teachers or if i'm remembering things out of order but at the start of the semester the teacher mentioned "ok.... now you have tried a lot of different mediums.... you can use whatever you want for the rest of class****"
gee that sure is nice... wait... i feel a qualifying statement on it's way.
**** I would perfer if you used a fast drying opaque medium though.
Oh son of a--
Look like liked this teacher... i liked most of my teachers but this pulled that stubborness nerve in me like nothing else....
the only fast drying opaque medium we used and can easily buy is acrylic.... which i know after a year and a half i do not like.
I like watercolour... a translucent to transparent medium that is incredibly easy to screw up and can't be rushed....
so after he set up the display i grabbed my watercolour paints and started to set up.
"um.... i know you like that medium but i really would rather you use something like acrylic"
are you kidding me?
"you said we could use any medium we wanted... i want to use watercolour... if it's not good feel free to fail me... but let me try with this first"
I should mention around this time i was coming out of a college induced slump... i HATED being told how to make art... and i did an experiment in a class i knew i couldn't fail (cause the way my school works is your grade builds over the course of the year and you can mark the exact moment you are past 70%) i did what i wanted... vaguely following the base instructions but mostly just a "i do what i want" and i got an A... so yeah i was being incredibly stubborn about being confined by a specific set of rules.

anyways so i continued on with that class painting in watercolour and by the end of it the teacher came up to me "ah i guess i was wrong, this is really nice"
"thank you, sorry for being stubborn but i knew this is what i needed to do"
I felt for the first time i wasn't just being treated like another student.... something college didn't seem to care about teaching...
by the end of it i had a really good grade and i felt better about myself.

Third year:
Teacher knew me and understood i was going to only use watercolour... didn't even fight me on it... this year was about about finding yourself and trying new stuff... it was my favorite year.... well other then like... 70% of my entire grade hanging on different aspects of a Thesis series... that part wasn't fun.
anyways this teacher rocked, all the stuff dave mentions in his video... he didn't follow
"Good artist copy, great artist steal" (meaning techniques or concepts or ways to look at things not actual literal stealing)
"you can use paint just out of the tube.... thats why they make so many colours."
"oh i have all these photo references for my next series...."
"yeah paint whatever you want... i'm going to work on my next gallery piece and i'll come by to check on you later... you're adults so take your break whenever"

but the thing he made me realize was that we hadn't been taught something really important.... no one had taught us how to build a canvas from scratch... on the first day he expected us to bring in ones we made but we were never taught how....
pretty big thing to miss!

The shit i learned in art school was that i didn't learn what i needed to learn in art school.

i learned a lot of technique and i tried new things and i found confidence i never had before but there was still so much that was left out cause we were so damn focused on the bullshit side of the art world and not the actual practical side.

These aren't your classmates they are you peers... teachers can also be included into this since most of them were active artists.
being able to build your stuff from scratch is really important considering that you know the exact dimensions you want and the art store may not sell it. why should you need to compromise.
and most importantly
THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO MAKE ART.
This should be lesson 1.
but no... lesson 1 was draw squares....
lesso 2 was how you hold a pencil.
lesson three was how you hold a brush

USELESS
There is no wrong way to art, never let anyone tell you there is... some ways connect with a vide variety of people and some don't, some are visually appealing and some are not...
but no matter what there isn't a wrong way.

One time in business class out teacher mentioned that those who paint with themes like colour and flowers are hacks.
yeah well thats my bread and butter... so i had a few choice words
"art should offend and be political"
yeah only if you are into that.... if you make something because thats what it should be and not because it's what you want to make then you are wasting everyones time with your pretentious bullsh*t
"you'll probably be poor your entire life, get used to it now" or "money is a corrupting factor... let your art be pure"
no.... money pays the bills and makes sure i don't have to starve... artists don't need to be poor to make something that connects... they don't need to be damn near crazy to be considered talented and they don't need to follow a specific (and may i add outdated) set of rules

Between second and third year i worked on a film, partly because i was asked and partly because i needed to pay for 3rd year and i had to quite my crappy cashier job.

I had many people asking "why did you come back... you had a job"
because there was still other stuff i wanted to learn... not from the classes but from the teachers and my peers.... i learned so much those three years and i think i'm a better artist for it..

is art college something i reccomend? yes and no
Yes - you will learn if you are open to it... both about yourself and about art.
No - there is a lot of crap to wade through to get to the moments of actual learning.

also if you ever have a gallery you are expected (not forced but still) to thank your college... you become part of their branding... and i'm not so okay with that.

still those 3 years were fun and i wouldn't change them...
even if there was a whole lot of stupid going on in that first year.

This ended up longer then expected... sorry

Saturday 4 July 2015

Inside Out

It's so rare that i get to go see a film in theater anymore...

Kinda nice.

Inside out is a film about feelings.
A young girl who has had a happy life till now, mostly thanks to 'joy' taking control of her feelings most of the time, is upended by her family forcing her to move across the country...

where have i heard this before...
Oh thats right... around that age I moved across the country... hm

Anyways Joy is a bit over protective and while she thinks she's doing good she almost destroys everything that makes the girls personality... she has to come together with emotions she would rather ignore in order to make sure the girl can be happy.

It was a really cute film, the characters inside the head all have this effect where they almost look like they were drawn by crayon... all their edges are soft and it's just very pleasing to look at.

The story is also really good, moving across the country around that age really sucks and at first it's hard to see the good that can come from it... it's different, it's scary, you leave everything behind but it also can be a great chance to find yourself and make new memories.

My only real gripe with the film is there are moments that i think are supposed to be comedic but fall a little on the flat side.

Everything else was really enjoyable.

I will note that the person who cut the commercials should be fired as the commercials make this film look terrible...

Is it my fav Disney Pixar film? nah.... i still really love the incredibles... and toy story cause i mean come on....
but I think it's pretty good

Just as a side note the thing i was most upset about when we moved was the school situation.

In one province i was in highschool cause highschool was 8-12
when i moved i was in middle school because 6-8 was middle school and 9-12/13 was highschool.

Also when i asked for a felt everyone looked at me like i was nuts... back home we called Crayola makers "Felts" and anything permanent like a sharpie "markers"
Here everything is a marker... i mean it makes sense in it's own way but i've been here a long time and i still think it's strange.

and yeah... part of me still considers where i used to live home... even though i doubt i'll ever move back... stubbornness can be strange at times

anyways go see this movie... it's very cute.