End of 2012; Uta de Aitai

So today is the end isn't it? What are great year it has been, and I'm forever hopeful of whatever comes next...

But this post isn't going to be a general "year end" post. No, it's going to be about the huge musical event that happened on the NHK General channel in Japan before the next year.

This event is the Kouhaku Uta Gassen 2012.

And it was spectacular.


[post to be edited, sorry I must recompile my images and texts]

Razr sharp new phone (plus a Korean)

So today I was finally able to decide on a new phone.

Completely out of the blue when I went shopping with my father, so it might've been an impulsive choice, but it has so far panned out to be good.

The only problem I have with this not-so-sharp new phone is the fact that the only active developer community is in China. The language barrier is a pain... but maybe I'll just stick with stock stuff for now.


Oh and we also got a clone of my bro's phone for fun. It was cheap so now we can do some extra stuff with it if we wanted too.


Also, New Year's Eve... in Japan. That means the next post will be about a certain huge musical event that I will definitely be losing sleep over.

366 days later...

And now this blog is one year old! Hooray!

So... this post will probably a quick recap or the blog history.

• Cirno.
• Lack of Touhou, I'm sorry I did mention it but I somehow got disinterested in the current Touhou franchise.
• A bit of Vocaloid.
• Tons of Idolm@ster for a period of time, especially when I got into the mobage and all the live events.
• Random anime posts that were not exactly very informative since I tried to avoid spoilers by masking them.
• A few "buy" posts where I hinted at what I got without anything explicitly stated (most of the time).
• Recent Momoiro Clover post hinting at the future of this blog.

Some interesting stats included:

• The 366 blog posts published not including this one because apparently 2012 was a leap year. I completely forgot about it until now.

• Top tag was "idolmaster" at 146 posts.
• Second top was unsurprisingly the "late" tag. This tag was there to show that I went back in time to post that post. Apparently almost 1/3 of the content was late. Late by 2 days 17 times. Late by 3 days 6 times. Late by 4 days twice.
• Third was the "nico" tag with 81 posts. Some earlier posts did not include this so it's slightly higher. This tag was a general tag to indicate a nico video in the post. Most of them were Idolm@ster-related of course.
• Fourth and fifth were "anime" and "school" at 67 and 42 respectively. Seems like I still complain talk about school quite a bit, though of course anime is moderately higher.
• Then a whole bunch of random stuff with 21 or less posts.

• The top most viewed post according to Blogger's horribly inaccurate view count is the "Namassuka Special 01 Cover Songs announced" post. One of the first "informative" posts that I was meaning to follow up on, but ended up being lazy.

So what about the future? I'll probably continue this blog in a pseudo-daily fashion as usual with my "late" posts and all the random stuff.

I'll continue to edit this with more if I'm not lazy.

Farewell Heroes of Flonyard

Today was the day my brother and I finally finished up Dog Days' (aka. Dog Days 2).

With only about 4 episodes left, we put this fun and relaxing series on hold since a while back. Perhaps it was just one of those shows where every episode puts a grin on your face, but lacks any juicy substance to make you need to watch every episode weekly.

The episodes went by in a flash. First up is the end of one big day of the whole festival tournament between the 3 kingdoms called the "Union Fest". Then we got some beach and body-switching.
Then came some fun times with Cou, Rico and Noir in the Cou's library dungeon. Hooray for the "Demon" Rebecca. Oh and it came with a final concert by none other than Milhiore.
And finally the last episode with the final get together and farewells, as well as a little bit of human world bonding between Rebecca and Sink (Or Cinque? Sink still sounds weird).


The reason we started to watch? Because I happened to see "Presenter" (the first season ED) in the karaoke place yesterday and that reminded about this series. I'll certainly miss the music and all the fun characters.

I heard there was a third season confirmed so that's great! Perhaps there will be even more heroes or more kingdoms. Or maybe it'll just be another fun relaxing yet intense time in Flonyard.

Noodles and Karaoke

Today was a fun day of noodling eating and karaoke!

First, I met up with some old friends, of which I haven't seen many of them for almost 2 years! Then we ate noodles and chatted about random stuff.

Then we had some karaoke fun. This was probably the second time I've been to these karaoke places since I've always thought it was expensive, and the lack of many Japanese songs was quite bad. However, this place changed my mind since it was only mildly expensive (15 for 2 hours?) and the song selection, including the Japanese songs, was quite big. However, it was a pain to find the songs I wanted since the paper catalogue did not correlate well with the machine. Also, some songs was listed under a silly "Japanese Singer" or "English Singer" artist name that blankets way too many songs to efficiently search. I did spend a lot of time looking for songs. Sadly, with only 2 hours we didn't get to do at least 15 songs.

However, the fun was there as my friends were actually a bit crazy in terms of singing. There were almost constantly at least 2 people singing no matter what the song. And some screaming and yelling. And some awkward songs that no one can sing due to lack of furigana etc.

Next time I'll be sure to find those Momoiro Clover and Idolm@ster songs. Perhaps I'll even throw in a silly AKB48 song just for fun.

Boxing Day Upgrades 2012 Edition

Well today was certainly fruitful for a boxing day...

However, it was not quite a success from the usual source of new stuff since I actually did not buy any Boxing Day deals at all. I ended up deciding against getting a new phone today. Perhaps another day where I'll get a more "fun" phone to play around with.

Instead my dad upgraded, or rather built, a new computer out of some parts we already had. Quite a success and I hope to make good use of it for both school work (hooray for more CPU and RAM), as well as games.

Merry Momoiro CirnoM@S (Christmas 2012)

Indeed this title sums up all the fun of the year, plus the Christmas cheer!

I did not prepare much for this post at all, and was sidetracked by spending time at friend's and families places eating nice food and having a jolly good time.

Anyways, this post will somehow be edited to include pictures relevant to the title.

Starting up... Cirnomas!

Cirno comes bearing gifts! | Source

And also a ⑨ [snow]ball to the face! | Source

THE CHRiSTM@S is next!

Ranko-santa! | Source

And the lovely Makoto-santa! | Source

Miho-santa! | Source

All the cute S@NTAS! How nice Producer-san! | Source

And finally... MomoKuri, Momoiro Christmas! The very latest concert they just had this Christmas!

Little red-nose riding clovers?

Very interesting coats.

And the coats are off for more singing and dancing. 

And another outfit!

MomoClo-santas courtesy of Sushio | Source

Momoiro live pictures from natalie and Oricon.


I hope you all have/had a Merry Christmas!!

Till next year!

Merry Happy Birthday Yukiho~ Let it Snow

Yukiho in the snow, such a wonderful day.

Today is Yukiho Hagiwara's birthday! And also Christmas Eve!

There shouldn't be any shovelling for her to do today.

She is in the care of the great many friends she has from 765Pro.

May she continue to grow stronger and stronger as one very courageous person.


Merry Christmas Eve. And Happy Birthday to you Yukiho.


Enjoy this little BakaTest parody made by the guy who absolutely adores Yukiho and makes tons of these with Yukiho.

Nico

The End of a Chapter, The Start of New Worlds!

It's Finale time for Sword Art Online episode 25!

A pretty good episode indeed filled with lots and lots of people we haven't seen for almost half the series.

First it starts out hopeful and dramatic... then it comes with some crazy real life sword knife fight action that leads to the eventual victor. Then the heartfelt romantic reunion scene we've all been waiting for.

Then... time skipping! School days!

Drinking (oolong tea) in a bar! SAO meet up!

Then a little exposition on "The Seed" which was pretty interesting.

Almost finally... a little (or a lot of) dancing in the sky between siblings.

And finally a new, but old challenge has [re]appeared! And it glows!


The amount of exclamation points in this post are ridiculous. But it certainly captures some of the feelings I felt for this finale and the series as a whole. One of the subtlely big "!" moments was seeing Asuna in her ALO attire. Quite a treat for the eyes.

Dual Monitors Go!

So for a few days, I've tried out having an extra tiny monitor connected with PC along with my quite big monitor.

I have to say that it's working quite well, though I'm not exactly sure if it'll increase my productivity. I just put my chat and music program there so I don't have to alt-tab as often. The music program is especially nice since it has this little visualizer thing that is a pleasure to watch at the corner of my eyes. Though it is a little bit distracting.

Maybe later I'll grab a spare monitor that's quite a bit bigger. But for now, I'm liking this small one.

Little Busters 11 : The Test of Courage

Ghosts! Traps! And more!

This episode had the entire Little Busters team members (and member to be) on board.

We saw the three groups split up. Masato and Kengo in their muscle-bound sword slashing power; Rin, Komari and Kud in their Cat-Sweets-Dog combo; and we saw Kurugaya, Haruka and Riki with the most relaxed group filled with sarcasm and charisma.

4 talismans placed by Kyousuke. Many traps.


And ghosts! And a big thing flying through the whole school! Fun times for all, especially since Nishizono was able to lend a hand despite being called out at night.


Then it ends with a lovely reunion, plus a mysterious omen by the muscle sword's prolonged abscence.



Oh and today was the end of the world right? Feels normal.

Sweeping up Old Toys

So today I had the pleasure of cleaning up some old toys my brother and I had.

Or to be more precise, I helped to keep some of this old junk because of my natural hording abilities.

It's still an ongoing process for sure, but going through all these toys has been fun as well. Seeing them lets me remember all these old memories of playing with them. Some include stuff like real and fake Transformers or random toys of old cartoons. A majority also include a lot of cars and trucks from all those big companies.

One of the things we are planning on throwing away is an old broken Transformer-esque police truck. This truck has been with us for many years, but it's been in pretty bad shape after various incidents. Alas, we shall see it go soon, but I will still have fond memories of it. And a few pictures to help jog our memories later in the future.

We'll probably continue to clean up all these toys in the following days.


In the meantime, I'm waiting patiently for the end of the world. See you!

Save the Queen, Beat the King

In the latest episode of Sword Art Online (episode 24), we get to finally see the great reunion of lovers and child.

Then we get to see a disgusting act by the so-called "king".

Then we see a badass bringing justice.

Happy times! Plus a little throwback to the SAO days.


I was a little bit shocked by all the admin control stuff though... I mean Yui really is crazy, but the other guy using it? Strange.

Anyways, next episode should be filled with happiness and awe as the lovers reunite once again, plus we get to see what this "seed" is.


And I probably skipped a ton of episode in between this post and the last on Sword Art Online. We missed a lot of sibling bonding and drama plus a little tiny bit of cross-race alliances.

A new phone in my Palm

Well what strange thing to happen after all the phone shopping we did today.

As we search out for the best deal for my brother's new phone, I come home to find out that my dad got this little phone that's kind of like a little sister to my now-defunct tablet!

It's actually very responsive. However, it doesn't do the neat little web page sync with the tablet. Too bad.

Oh well now it's an old toy with a dead OS, but hopefully someone in the family will be able to use it. Or perhaps I'll just tinker around with it.

Baking and Kinecting

Today I went to a little baking party at a friend's house.

We baked cupcakes! And cookies!

All we did was add eggs and water. And a little bit of butter for the cookies. Although the icing and stuff on top of the cupcakes was a long job since they were all customized.

Then we did some random PS3 gaming. Fat Princess is actually pretty fun despite the camera issues with multiplayer. Then we did some Warhawk. Also fun, but only in multiplayer only (since that's the only mode I believe).

Then we got to try the Kinect! Just like Wii sports except with flailing arm and body movements.

Fun fun.

Twice the fun in the Borderlands

Borderlands 2!

Time to be late into the weapon loot bandit paradise of Borderlands. Except with more guns, new classes, and a new bad guy.

But there's also some mainstays... like Claptrap oh yes. Back with his slightly annoying but funny ways.

I hope I don't get too indulged with this game.

Old Gingerbread and Tasty Ice Cream

Today was a day full of fun and frustration as I made my old smartphone into an Android. Now it's some good Gingerbread, but it's super slow and lots of random app crashes happen. However, if it runs fine for at least 75% of the time I can finally bring around an Android phone! Even if it is slow, it's still quite powerful because of all the apps I can get.

Yesterday was when I upgrade my tablet into the lovely Ice Cream Sandwich. I should really experiment on it some more.

Then I come to find blue screens on my laptop... I wonder why? Was it tired of all the Android devices I kept loading up?

Winter Break 2012 Start!

School is over! Exams are over!

And what do I do?

Help my brother find a new phone. A much better phone than the one he has currently. Too bad I'm not getting any Android.

And then I had fun installing Ice Cream Sandwich on this tablet we had. Good stuff, even though it is a bit glitchy at first.

I guess I'll make do with the tablet while my bro gets a better phone.


Off to play some games and have fun for the winter!

Fall 2012 Final Exam Time 2 : Electronics

And this was the actual Final Final Exam.

Harder than I expected for some parts, considering it asked us about some things that we never got tested on before. Having 16 written questions was quite intimidating, but it surprisingly didn't take the whole 3 hours.

Now to hope for the best and have fun for the winter break!

And also be productive... somehow.

Early Christmas Party and Birthdays

Today is a break from the 2 Momoiro Clover posts I made.

Instead it's just about a fun time with my friends in this really weird triple birthday party with an added Christmas secret present exchange thing.

Fun times to be had indeed as the presents given were mostly great and clever. What I got was really good as it included some awesome crafts work that miniaturized the laptop I use at school and all the "accessories" that come with it like a bag (from a certain big box store!) and wired mouse. All this in the strangest packaging I've seen. Also came with a Swiss army knife of sorts.

Another thing was this other present which included a manga about a salary man turned manga artist plus a pillow from a certain popular anime that currently has movie showings all around the States (but not Canada... yet).

Fun times indeed. Thanks to all of them.

The Beginnings of a Momoiro Clover Fan 2

So yesterday I started a post explaining the small and slow beginnings of my growing interest in the idol group "Momoiro Clover Z". Today will be the post where I explain how I really got into them these past few days.

Akarin! Aarin! Momoka! Kanako↑! Shiorin! Renichan!

Introduction

Walking through

These past few days were what I would call the true beginning of my long journey into MomoClo fandom. How did I start? By simple checking the Wikipedia article for a bit and then getting their first (and only) album "Battle and Romance".

Down the MomoClo tunnel I go.

This album greeted me with something both expected and unexpected. The first track "Z Densetsu Owarinaki Kakumei" was like something straight out of a Super Sentai show, or at least it felt like it. With a typical Super Sentai announcer guy plus all those colour statements.

"RED" "YELLOW" "PINK" "GREEN" "PURPLE"... "BLUE" (ah...)

Then I blasted through the whole album and was still on the edge whether or not these girls were that great. Most of these songs were quite random with moments of rap interspersed with somewhat more tame choruses. "Kimi no Ato" stood out to me as the one song that didn't quite fit with the rest of the songs, but I thought it was a nice change of pace after all this crazy.

The problem with going through all these songs like this was that it was a bit too much to handle so none really stuck as much as the first track. However, after finishing up the first disk, I went straight for the solo disk with the 6 girls. Only two stood out to me: Akari's "fall into me" and Reni's "Koi wa Abare Ondekoza". Akari's was because of how strong her vocals were and how different her sound was compared to the others. Reni's was because of the enka-style singing and music.

Then I went out to seek more information on these girls all over the web starting from some forums and going from there. By starting at the beginning, I felt like I could follow the work in order and learn about them as they grew.

One of the first things I had to find out more about was Akari Hayami and how much of a difference it made when she left Momoiro Clover. And that's the reason why I was bouncing back between Momoiro Clover and Momoiro Clover Z, since they are the same yet quite different without Akari. The "Z" was added to the name after she left and they kind of shifted their image. Plus I found out all their songs in the "Battle and Romance" did not include her, as they went so far as to rerecord the tracks she was in originally. So I had to seek out the originals to hear her.

After I wandered around carelessly listening to some random live videos on youtube, I decided to start from the beginning. I went through the first few PVs on Youtube officially uploaded by Star Dust Digital. First up was their debut single "Momoiro Punch" (PV here) and "Mirai e Susume" (PV here). I could feel that there was something a bit different about these first two, but I didn't realize until a bit later that it was probably due to the style of the instruments and the fact that their were barely any of the solos that really defined the individuals.

Then I came across the next in line : "Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo".


The image at the top of this post is one of the covers for this single.

Now this was closer to what I'd expect from MomoClo. And this was also the first song where I could really feel the difference between Pre-Z and Z MomoClo. The part that stood out to me was the fast talking by the husky (or something) voice of Akari, a voice completely different from everyone else. Then the song went on with some solo parts which was really good since I was still learning everyone's names and voices at this point (I had been referring to them by colour before all this). But interspersed between all that was what I'd say would be the most memorable part of this song for me: Akari's "Neraiuchi" as she points and shots the camera. Her voice just blew me away again and I could not imagine this song without her anymore. So much so that I'm kind of avoiding the Z Ikuze at the moment.

After that song was a song that sounded strangely familiar to me. The song was "Hashire" and it was one of those songs I found in a live video. Although a bit generic sounding it was just the type of song that would get stuck in my head and put a smile on my face.


This is one long post right now and I'm really getting tired. I'll continue on tomorrow if I'm not stuck studying for my final final exam.

To be continued...

The Beginnings of a Momoiro Clover Fan 1

Today (and parts of yesterday) was the day I started to actually delve into Momoiro Clover Z's vast musical library. Little did I know that was in for a crazy ride.

This post will be a brief history of how I very recently got engulfed in the great fires of fandom of Momoiro Clover Z (shortened to MomoClo in this pos).

Momoiro Clover Z plus Idolm@ster style? Awesome. | Source

 Prologue

I actually first knew about MomoClo for about a year and a half already. I started with a random song I found on youtube called "Kono Uta" (I'll put embed videos after my long blocks of text). Or was is that one Pokemon song? I'm not quite sure but they were probably my first dip into the world of MomoClo. I thought the songs were catchy and the PVs (or MVs?) were quite nice. I especially like the whole Super Sentai styled colour schemes going on. After this little taste of MomoClo, I decided that they were a pretty neat group, but I guess I was a bit too intimidated by these so-called "Idol" groups with large amounts of singles and albums. It was "too much" for me even though these girls' numbers don't even compared to the biggies like AKB48 or Morning Musume. So I set them aside for another day, hoping to one day come back.

Kono Uta PV

The next encounter with MomoClo was a very neat "ah ha!" moment for me. It was during my viewing of Mouretsu Space Pirates opening and ending. I was absolutely blown away by such a great opening theme that I wondered right away who sung it. Turns out it was Momoiro Clover Z! A familiar yet unfamiliar name to me at that moment in time. They also sung the pretty nice though not quite as great ending theme as well. At this time I was dead set on acquiring the single... after I had finished the series. I didn't want the greatness to wear off and I wanted to listen to that song every single episode! But as fate (and laziness) would have it, I put the series on hold for a long period of time, having only watched the first episode for probably 3 or 4 seasons.

Moretsu Uchu Kokyokyoku Dai 7 Gakusho 'Mugen no Ai', the opening of Mouretsu Uchuu Kyodai (Bodacious Space Pirates)

Then came the past summer. I had time and my brother who I usually watched with was also quite free. So I went and got a whole bunch of episodes because "WhyNot?" (forgive the silly pun). The opening was still as fresh and great as ever and my interest was still high for MomoClo. Still I was reluctant to walk down the path of real idoldom, partly because of my large interest in Idolm@ster at the time (though I still am). Then as we watched through a few arcs we stopped right at the end of the Golden Ship arc, which landed on episode 13. Why did we stop? Perhaps it was due to more laziness to continue. Or maybe it was because we wanted to savour "high point" and not wring out all the goodness of the series too early. Or maybe it was just because the last episode wasn't released by that particular fansubber yet so we couldn't properly marathon to the end if we wanted to.

So that was it... we stopped halfway and it's been on hold ever since. I still hadn't gotten around to getting my hands on that great song. I still hadn't gotten around to giving MomoClo a proper listening.

Until today/yesterday that is...


To be continued....

129%

Before the Advent of Cirno.

The final Cirno Day of the year 2012 has arrived...

And it's in the midst of December of course. Winter has come!


The image over her is actually the cover for the prequel of the Advent Cirno series by Yoshitaka Ushiki. I felt that this image would be appropriate not only because of Advent season, but also having Letty be there for winter. It may seem a little sad, but it's all happy since Letty is here for Cirno and she gets stronger and stronger.


Check this link out for more of Ushiki's illustrations.

And that ends the final % post of this year. Cirno is still the strongest!

Little Busters 10 : Book and Parasol

Today I was able to catch the latest episode of Little Busters almost right away.

This episode was all about Nishizono-san and how Riki befriends her. She seems to have quite a particular view of the world and seems to be a bit out there sometimes. Though in the end you can tell that she really does pay attention to all the things around her, especially those that she would seemingly try to ignore. With the kind help of Yui-chan Kurugaya-san plus the strong word from Riki, they were able to reach out to her and now she can join the Little Busters, albeit on the sidelines for now.

Now the Little Busters seems to have a full roster... but next episode is the time for... being scared?

Fall 2012 Final Exam Time 1 : Programming

Well, today I just had the first of two final exams for the term. It was quite a bit harder than I expected in some parts, but also very easy in the written. Time to slack off while studying for the next exam which I heard is very tough. At least this time I'll be able to catch up on more sleep while doing other stuff.

Also, even though this is a second year programming course, it's barely more difficult than the first year stuff. In fact, I'd say one of my first year courses was harder than this.

Little Busters 9 : Jelly to the Rescue!

Due to my internet being wonky (and procrastination as usual), the post is "late" but I'm not going to mark it as such.

So today I had a chance to catch up on Little Busters.

Jelly.

So the episode seemed to me like a big plot point wrapped around a pretty silly situation. The situation itself seemed silly, but the objectives and outcomes were all really good. Rin finally gets to get out of her shy shell when times of crisis.

This crisis? Save the Cafeteria! Or... "Cook Dinner for All!". With the awesome help of Little Busters, they were able to do it. The food they cooked all seemed simple yet tasty indeed. How I'd like to eat a curry, jelly, omelette, jelly, fried shrimp, jelly, and lettuce combo with miso soup (and jelly) on the side. With some more jelly.

And then... it hits Riki again. I wonder why? Mission complete?


Anyways, next episode seems to have more Nishizono. Will she join the Little Busters? Or will it be just a slightly more in-depth intro?

UNIQLO WAKE UP - Alarm with Yoko Kanno

http://www.uniqlo.com/wakeup/en/pc/


UNIQLO never ceases to amaze me with their weird little screensaver app stuff. This time around instead of a constantly changing clock, they did an alarm clock app for the iPhone and Android along with a download for PC from before. The even better thing about this is the fact that Yoko Kanno helped composed the music for this along with Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada). Pretty big names to have there for a simple, but beautiful little alarm clock app.

Perhaps the minimalist design is getting to me because of all these design courses I'm taking. Or maybe it's the really nice way the announcer sings the weather to you. This really makes me want a proper Android phone now.

End to a Prototype [2]

Well today was quite uneventful indeed.

All I pretty much did was finish up this game from a company that has sadly been downsized to almost nothing. It was a Prototype of sorts, except that it was the second in the series. Although there were some features that expanded and improved on the first game, it still felt lacking, especially the combat and the ending boss fight.

"What do we do now?"

"The End"

Absolutely unsatisfied with the ending. Also, the "completion" percentage misled me into thinking the game was longer. Stuck at 74% and I'll most likely not go back to finish 100%.

Fall 2012 Final Days 5 - Spatial Design - COMPLETE

Post-Seattle Spatial Design - Week 4 Complete!

Which means... it's all over! Classes are now done and especially this crazy class with lots of thinking and work. Although I'm disappointed with the final results that our group (or me) delivered today, I still really liked this class. I learned quite a lot of things not just about spatial design, but also design in general. Thank goodness for the awesome group members especially during Seattle. I just hope that I can remember all of this and apply it to my future works.

Also, this class caused a revival of interest for a certain 3D rendering/animation/creation software. If only I could have used it to its Maximum potential.


And now I should go sleep. Being up for more than 30+ hours is really taking its toll.

Fall 2012 Final Days 4 - Fish

Just in time!

Today was crazy work on 2 projects, one of which is a silly fish fish fish eating game.

The other is that huge Spatial Architectural project doing tons of renders... I really suck at interior design...

All nighter here I come!

Fall 2012 Final Days 3 - Interlude

So called interlude because it's between two due dates for projects.

Although I did still work on the huge project for Monday by rendering.

This short break is really short indeed. Got to prep up for no sleep tomorrow.

Fall 2012 Final Days 2 - Controller

Second final day.

Today we finished a game controller for a silly labyrinthine 8/16bit parody racing game.

I implement fun music that was totally not from any well known games or anything.

Our fight stick-esque controller was also fun. It certainly had a link to a black mage. And our awesome logo.

This project was lots of fun indeed. Including the walking through walls part.

Fall 2012 Final Days 1 - Wayfinding

So now is the final few days of this school term.

That means all the final projects are now due.

Today we finished up and presented a wayfinding application meant for tablets. It went ok, though others obviously had more polished products. I had fun with my team though. Going over to the farm and playing Brawl was great.

Little Busters 8 : Kud gets a Roommate!

In this episode of Little Busters, Kudryavka Noumi or Kud tries to find a roommate!

But before that, she joins Little Busters because of her awesome dog-like fetching catching skills!

A whole lot of prospective candidates are there, including Rin who's too shy around people, Mio who we didn't get a proper introduction with yet, and Kurugaya-san who's attraction to cute little girls is too dangerous.

So who does she end up with?


The most unlikely candidate, the Disciplinary Head Kanata! She's nicer then everybody thinks for sure. Plus she already knows Kud's dogs Strelka and Belka, as they help around chasing down those who do bad.

Little Busters 7 : Haruka joins the Team

Haruka Saigusa gets to join the Little Busters!

Haruka with her playful and trickyness. Also, introduction to the Disciplinary Officer Kanata Futaki. They seem to constantly be at odds; one being the playful and prankster type and the other being the serious and strict type. But they have the same hair colours... hmmm.

Haruka being in the maintenance club (or whatever it was called) was interesting.

Then Riki, being the friendly guy that he is, helps her out as usual.

Next episode is more Kud! Fun times to be had for sure.

Post-Seattle Spatial Design - Week 3 Complete

And it was... not as good as last week.

Having a team member be sick the day before is pretty bad. Having barely any sleep and rendering using crappy and/or no textures is also pretty bad.

Oh well... it's the final week and the final stretch is inbound. I hope that we can resolve all the issues and do our absolute best!

Subliminal Namco Impact

Nico

Creepy little video featuring Nonowa (のヮの）　and a strange vending machine...

And who's that in the background? She seems to be form Home.


Also, today was a crazy project day. Had to do a lot of stuff because one of our members was sick... What bad timing.

Day of the Future (band arrange remix)

Nico

Neat little remix of "Day of the Future", Miki's character/image song from the Idolm@ster 2 Master Special Second Season.

Of course it was for Miki's birthday the day before.

Afuu~ Birthday to Miki Nano!

The Napping Queen being super stylish as usual!

It's the favorite napping girl Miki Hoshii's Birthday!

What to do? Eat/offer lots of onigiri and nap a lot!

Then? Go work hard on something (or for someone) you love!

Nico

Here's "Ne~e?" a song with lots of "nano"'s~



Time to sleep. Afuu~

Seinaru Sora no Shita de - Live

Konoka Konoe and Setsuna Sakurazaki! Ai Nonaka and Yuu Kobayashi!

I watched this a while back when I was in the mood for searching old Negima lives with Azumin. Then I came across this gem and it brought back lots of memories indeed. Even though the costumes were so silly, they still performed great!

Now I just have to finish up the manga... and anime movie... and Negima!?

Yanagi Nagi - Packaged

Found this a while back looking for F9/Kiyono songs. Then I came across this from -PF Audio- who actually have albums with various artists including F9 and Nagi. This album "a blue." in particular has some original songs along with some rearranges of kz (livetune) songs with Nagi on vocals. It's pretty nice.

Makoto's Stayin' Alive

Some had the bright idea of putting Makoto's Jitensha PV from Shiny Festa together with "Stayin' Alive". And it works really well for the first 40 seconds with that Makoto's strolling around in the hallway.

Post-Seattle Spatial Design - Week 2 Complete

Today we had our first presentation since the Design Charette in Seattle.

It was with the group we formed before Seattle, so the group in Seattle was split in half once again. Although we still don't have a dedicated graphic designer, we have an awesome team. Our writer is amazing, as well as our general do-everything guy. Then there's the infographic crew, and the guy who does random jobs. Then there's me, who does random jobs and attempts to pitch in with random ideas. Sometimes I feel like I just cause more work for them, but at least my presence seems to make people work.

As for the presentation content itself, we presented our very changed concept of "Wedges creating a Common Ground", that our writer, with feedback from the instructor, came up with. I believe he liked it a lot because he could clearly see it in almost every image we put up. And boy did he like that sketch that our writer did. The team was already amazed when we first saw it, so having the instructor like it was great.

Next week is interior design and more modelling. The following is renders galore. I hope I can survive.

Technology. Creativity.

Part 2 of this Design & Technology conference.

I was only able to attend the morning sessions since I had to work on more Spatial projects for school.

The first parts included introduction to Microsoft's new design language with the Metro. Influenced obviously by International Typographic Style (or Swiss Design) as well as Bauhaus. It was also influenced by movies and the actual subway/train systems (aka Metro).

The next one was something of an introduction to various programs like Processing and OpenFrameworks to make neat projects. It was pretty neat to see, though I felt a bit tired watching the whole thing.

And finally, the last for the day was all about Responsive Design. So-called for a somewhat new web design thing going on. Very nice presentation and very interesting presenter.


Then I had to leave for school project work. We were able to complete the presentation and practice it this time around!

Future. Innovation.

Today I had the chance to attend a Design & Technology conference in this pretty neat campus in the middle of nowhere. The name is this post plus the next post combined.

Mostly web design and this so-called "Responsive Design", as well as other neat things such as a cool presentation on open source, overview of new Adobe and Microsoft stuff, and a neat presentation on what type of designer you are and how to improve.

Some top dogs were here, but I sadly didn't have the courage to talk to many of them. At least I learned quite a bit and I am now more encouraged to try out more things.

There were also lots of pens and such. And neat T-shirts for volunteers. Too bad I didn't get any.


Oh and this weird looking beluga whale thing was part of the main design of this conference. Strange.

Isshiki: Hero of Men.

Isshiki Makoto : the hero of men became a monk in this episode (episode 6) of Chuunibyou.

First it's a love letter, then it's a tense class with suspicious eyes.

Then came the great balding of head.

And he became the great hero.

Wicked Eye vs Math

Catching up to Chuunibyou gradually. Starting with episode 5 this time around.

First it's Dekomori vs milk! Kumin is there to cheer her on. And Shinka comes in and gets it in the face.

Then the rest is dedicated to Dark Flame Master helping out the weak to math Wicked Eye Rikka.

Coolness and cuteness overload.

Mobage Change!!!! (in-progress trace)

Nico

This is a pretty nicely done - but incomplete - trace of the Idolm@ster second OP "CHANGE!!!!" with the Cinderella Girls. I hope to see the full version when they finally complete it.

Kirito - Beast Mode

On to episode 19 of Sword Art Online. We get to see some fighting happening with Kirito, Leafa, and some Salamanders.

Kirito gets to unleash his magic as a Spriggan. With support from Leafa of course. He goes berserk so to speak. Looking a little like Gleam Eyes there.

Then they head out to defend some diplomacy.

Forest Summer and Mabinogion

[moved post from November 9 to today due to shenanigans]

I am gradually catching up with Chuunibyou with episode 4.

It's the true beginning of the Far Eastern Magical Nap Association. Starting with a magic circle and the newest member Shinka Nibutani.

Then she visits Yuuta's house and everything starts to go crazy. She has a secret as well... and it has something to do with the Mabinogion and "Mori Summer" (Forest Summer).

This Mori Summer ends up fighting Dekomori, but it is short lived due to certain memories.

Fun episode, with a good reveal to a somewhat mysterious up-to-now character. I wonder what Nibutani is going to do in the future? Continue her tirade against the Dekomori?

Little Busters 6 : Remembrance Day

How fitting that today, the day where people in Canada and the States remember those who have fallen in war, coincides with the day Komari remembers everything.

This episode was somber indeed. Learning about the past of Komari and seeing her suffer through that. And the whole dead eyes thing...

BUT, like lightning the whole episode was going quick. Problem meets solution, as Riki gets an idea to get Komari back to her cheery disposition while moving forward. Of course, this is all with the help of Little Busters and co.

And then it became a Happy Remembrance Day.

School for Geniuses? An Academy for "Alice"

Just finished volume 1 of Gakuen Alice after all this time. It's been probably 6 years since I heard of this series and for the longest time I wanted to read it. It's really too bad I left it... but now I can read it again, since the whole series is in my local library and ready for picking.

Volume 1 is the introduction of the naive, but boisterous Mikan and the cool, but sly Hotaru. The introduction of their splitting apart. Cause Hotaru has gone and moved to another school now. But Mikan can have that. She wants to be with her precious Hotaru, so she goes after her into Alice Academy (Gakuen Alice)!

Then hijinks ensue. Fire, pheromones, inventions, mind reading, psychokinesis etc.

And the great reunion of LOVE between Mikan and Hotaru. Keep in mind that they are just elementary school kids.

So far a fun series and it did not let me down. Time to look for volume 2.

119%

It's the November edition of Cirno Day.

What? My timing is off? There was another post today? I don't know what you're talking abo--

Only one post Cirno can survive. | Source

Coin, Election & Freetrade

Nico

Neat Cinderella Girls parody OP of "Koi to Senkyo to Chocolate" or "Love, Election, & Chocolate". I really like the sprite work they have for the various Mobage girls.

Also, it has a very clever title.

Gunsligner Girl 1-5 Little Girls, Big Guns

I got a chance to watch the first bit of this somewhat old series by borrowing the DVDs from the library. It did not disappoint.

First off, I'd like to say that I did attempt to watch this maybe 1 or 2 years ago. At first it was with my brother and I guess it didn't seem suit our tastes at the time. Even now, my brother would still be apprehensive to watch this.

So I randomly picked this out of the library selves, tucked away in the Japanese multilingual section, if only to make it more obscure or due to lack of proper organization of anime.

Anyways, it's spoiler/summary/thoughts time.

These first few episodes serve as introductions to the girls who are each a so-called "Gunslinger Girl". They are girls who are saved by a great government agency - on paper. In reality they serve as assassins with biologically enhanced bodies and conditioned minds. They are watched over and used by handlers, who range from being like brothers or fathers to being pure handlers who seem them as nothing but tools.

The first episode begins with Henrietta. We see her breakdown in a way, due to her strong attachment to her handler Giuse (or Jose in other releases). At first a seemingly emotionless and quiet child. Then she brings down a rain of bullets. Then she bursts out into tears. A range of emotion and events brings this episode to a close. Great impact, though I would say the good parts start in the later episodes, as you get closer and closer to each girl.

Next up is more Henrietta. A simple yet efficient recap of the previous episode, yet focusing more on Henrietta's view. Now we see her more fully. If you have doubts about the previous episode, at least watch this one.

Then it's Rico. The most conditioned of the bunch. Her handler just treats her as a tool and nothing more. It's cute yet sad all at the same time.

Afterwards it's Triela. The most fiesty of the girls, and seemingly a sort of mentor as well. She acts independently, which also means she still struggles with the relationship she has with her handler. What is he to her? What is she to him?

Then it's Claes. Her story is also interesting. The man who gets recruited starts with doubts and ends with it too. But he has heart in himself too. I guess he struggled with the whole human and tool divide as well. Memories gained, yet memories forgotten. Still there are some that cannot be removed.


That brings to a close this somewhat long post about this series that piqued my interest again after all these years. Who knows when I'll get a chance to watch the next bits.

(post title is ripped straight out of the Gunslinger Girls volume 1 DVD: "Ragazzine Piccole, Armi Grandi" aka "Little Girls, Big Guns")

Little Busters 5 : Journey of Memories; Leafa Party

Today I watched Little Busters 5, and caught up on Sword Art Online episodes 17+18.

Let's start with SAO, since I blasted through that first.

These episodes were mainly to get the ball rolling as Kirito gets to know ALO and Leafa. Of course, Kirito gets to be the hero and what not, and is in "newbie" mode by asking all sorts of questions. While Leafa ends up being a bit tsundere as she gets closer to Kirito. Of course Leafa's real identity is pretty obvious, but they are both very oblivious. Later on they leave for the World Tree (or Yggdrasil). There were also some... Asuna moments as she is being held up by the creepy man. However, fun times await as it ends with a great Asuna moment.

All in all it's moving slowly but surely. I kind of hope Kirito can meet up with more old friends along the way.


--

And now for Little Busters!

As we journey along Komari's arc, there's a small interlude of baseball to start. Rin is always very cute when trying to handle anyone besides the Little Busters, especially with Komari. Komari has the strange and great aura that makes anyone feel different and great, even Kurugaya Yuiko, cutely called Yui-chan by Komari.

Then we get to the more serious parts. Again with the "who is Komari's brother". Shooting stars, old man getting serious, memories lost, rain and thunder, a walk through nostalgia. All of these and more in this episode.

What awaits Komari and the crew is a mystery until the next episode. Good luck Komari.

Spatial Seattle Study - COMPLETE!

... and on and on.

Work all throughout, though my job was minor and slightly less needed. All I ever did was wander and insert random comments, plus a bit of camera and rendering work in 3ds max. Quite basic.

During this crunch, we had this architect, this great writer, graphic designer, infographic designer, modelers, and various random taskers. Some of the random tasks included making random scale people.

All these forces combined, and the best presenters gathered together to look through and attempt to make sense of what they will say.


Then it came, the presentations. After last minute renders+PS context work, we all put it together.

Presentations after presentations, where most really were good.

Then came our group. We had a small three person group presenting all our work. Although they never practiced altogether, they did very well. Though they were extremely rushed in the end due to time constraints. One thing we didn't get into depth with would be the true program of it all connected to our audience of film-makers.

And then great presentations galore.

I thought one of those two great other groups would win this "Charette" contest. However, my personal best was 3rd, and we actually won! Hooray!

Then we ate burgers and head home on a fun filled bus ride. Then train. Then bus. Then car.


Time to sleep.

Spatial Seattle Study - Day 2

Day 2 of this crazy competition project thing!

It started out somewhat early to attempt to eat the free breakfast at the hotel as soon as possible. I got severely confused by the daily savings time and the multiple clocks around the room. At least we still made it pretty early.

Then we got a tour around various urban zones in Seattle. Fun times with these two group leaders, compared to the previous prof + TA combo. Rants galore, but good info on good and bad design choices. Especially prominent were the Darth Vader building and the Pike Place Market. One is bad. One is good.

Pike Place had a very familiar lively feel. We got some clam chowder down there, although I would've liked to get it at the more famous place, but we couldn't find it!

Then we just headed back to that one waterfront park with sculptures. To take a ridiculous amount of pictures for use on our model.

Then the rest of the day was work work work. Concept development (parti), what to do in the buildings, the general form, the pdf slides, the model, etc. So many things to deal with including find good ol' scale people (aka people we rip from photos and put them into renders). Good process forwards, though we did seem to move back at some point, so it was good of the 3 mentors who guided us to find a better concept to attach to the program.

And it continued on and on and on and on... (continued in next post)

Spatial Seattle Study - Day 1

Today was the day. Time for a hectic time in Seattle.

And today was border crossing and tour day. We got to go to the chapel we studied, the great big library downtown, and the park at the watertown.

The chapel was a lot smaller than I expected. The inside however was mostly what I expected. We all shot a lot of pictures of strange angles and location that we would've liked when we were modelling it. The chapel itself really was unusual for a typical church. Too bad it wasn't very sunny day or else the shining lights inside would've been so much better.

I'll update this later.

Little Busters 4 : Kud + Komari; Shiny Festa Play

I watched episode 4 of Little Busters today! Greatly looked forward to seeing Kud for the first time in the anime. Although her appearance was brief, it was absolutely wonderful especially her English.

And then we got more Komari! Komari with her sunny disposition along with the rest of the Little Busters crew help out with a retirement home. Fun times ensue, as well as a bit of drama to add to the mix. What's up with that book and dream Komari has? Who is this "Takuya"? I guess we'll find out next episode.


--

Also, I got a chance to play a bit of Shiny Festa today. And by a bit, I mean maybe 2 hours of random on-off playing. I skipped out on the special OVAs packed in because I want to watch them subbed first, but the gameplay is actually a bit fun. It's mostly the songs and accompanying music videos though. Especially looked forward to "Music" and the three other videos with new animation.

I only played a bit of Funky Note (with Ami, Mami, Hibiki, Yayoi, and Iori) as well as a tiny bit of Groovy Tune (with Makoto, Yukiho, Miki, and Takane). For the ones I played through, Music was quite fun as well as Honey Heartbeat and Next Life. I've yet to play a lot of the rest though, but will surely try it out when I get back from this weekend field trip.

November Birthday(s) Party Time

To celebrate two people's birthdays that are about a week apart, some of my friends set up this joint birthday party. Fun times instead of the super stress that we will receive in the upcoming weekend.

In the end, we ate great food and watch a silly "horror/paranormal" movie that doesn't even hold a candle to MarbleHornets. And a bit of Avatar too randomly enough.

Time to go pack up... tomorrow. I wonder what to get across the border?

Trick or Treat 2012

It's Halloween!

Zombie Cirno! | Source

And I stayed in school for the most part. Hooray...

But anyways, I saw quite some little kids in some cute costumes. Mostly in the mall though, since it was raining like crazy. It was nice to see that Power Rangers is still there as a costume, albeit the Samurai version.

And another not-quite Halloween news is that I got a great deal on 5 volumes of a certain space school manga that is out of print at the moment. I guess it helps that it was unpopular, even though it was so good. Hopefully I can retrieve the rest before the prices skyrocket too far. It's already pretty crazy for 2 - soon to be 3 - volumes.

I also got a sketchbook that will most certainly use this time around. No more "precious sketchbook" syndrome for me. 200 pages is a lot to sketch on.

To end this mainly off-topic post, here's some Touhou Halloween pictures I grabbed from pixiv. Tons more to look at, but these are a select few.

The Scarlet Devil Mansion! | Source

It's Kogasa - Pumpkin forme | Source

Subtle, but sweet costume for Nitori. | Source

The baka-gang all dressed up. | Source

Cool watercolours and the oh-so-popular Halloween witch Marisa! (and Reimu) | Source

And another for Marisa. Looking really... sweet. | Source

Petit Idolmaster Zero

And so it begins. The so-called episode Zero of Puchimasu! aka Petit Idolmaster was released a while ago as a bonus. It'll be floating somewhere.

This episode was just that. An zeroth episode with no "plot" but quick introductions of all the Idols and Puchidols. I expect fun times during the actual web show. Ritsuko seems to be the main character as she's front and center for the whole thing. Of course she's the one who has to take care of pretty much everyone. I can't wait to see them all, as well as P-head Producer-san!

Spatial Urban Study Week 8 - Complete

And it's done!

Ours was pretty decent, although of course the design could have been a bit better. Had it not been for those super tiny park images...

There were a lot of good presentations though. Especially impressed by the last two labs of the day. Also the final presentation of the day was great. "Basically" it was about a good urban area near where I live, as well as a really old square in Italy. Informative and funny.


Now to wait for the upcoming "trip". And get around to catching up on some anime.

Spatial Urban Study Week 8 - 1 day left

It's crunch time, though it's also a bit relaxed since we started at 2pm.

Finishing up those slides, Finalizing everything. Getting random last minute critiques that actually helped. And doing a really haphazard rehearsal that left us wondering "How do we finish this in 10 minutes? It's too long!" Graphics are ok, but it could be better.


Also had a chance to visit the library book sale's final day. Picked up an incredibly cheap player guidebook to a certain dice rolling game. Using a d20, which I don't have. Not the full set sadly, but it looks almost mint except for the writing inside. Super cheap.

Spatial Urban Study Week 8 - 2 days left

More work, less work.

Slides are being completed, the content and text is pretty much completed by our awesome dedicated writer.

Thank goodness that there are some people who can layout an outline so that we have a plan to follow. Or else we'll all be lost.

Graphic design is a pain, yet fun at the same time. Futura is an awesome font.


No library visit today. All project work all the time.

Spatial Urban Study Week 8 - 3 days left

Hard work or hardly working?

Not quite sure, but we have constantly researched and have started prep for some slides. Going to be a pain since we don't have a dedicated graphic designer, but we'll make do.

Urbanism and all that stuff in this one park in Shibuya, and this one district in Seattle.

Why are they so quirky?



And also I went to the library sale again, but came out with nothing. Those prices are darn cheap, but I really don't read enough books to randomly buy something.

And Shiny Festa is out! I've been looking at videos, but don't really know which to post. When I get around to playing it or something, I'll probably post some. Or maybe when I'm less busy.

2012 Library Sale Loot 1

Hopefully this is the 1 out of 4, since the sale lasts four days.

Anyways, I actually bought some more books today! I was able to pick up a very good condition copy of Buddha vol 1 by Osamu Tezuka. A brilliant work by a brilliant mind. I didn't notice that it was the UK/European copy until I got home though. Still, it was an incredible chance that I could not leave.

Next up was something I completely picked up as soon as I saw it. The "Train Man"/Densha Otoka novel translated into English. I was completely unaware that it was ever translated, so I had to pick it up. Even though it was in pretty bad shape, it was cheap and I really wanted to read it. Not bad for less than a dollar.

Lastly was something I was almost going to leave! Though I consider myself a pretty avid anime watcher, I haven't seen a lot of "must-watches" like the adaptation of this novel. The novel is "The Tatami Galaxy" or "四畳半神話大系" as I saw it because it was the original Japanese novel. I knew I recognized the cover somewhere, but I didn't know it until I searched it up at home. This is one where I trusted my instincts and got something good! No regrets here. I won't be able to read through it anytime soon, but it's still a nice addition to my "To-Read" Japanese collection.

All in all it was a bit hectic in there, but not as bad as the crazy closing sale that happened this summer. I even saw a 10 volume set of Claymore from that sale being sold at this sale, but alas, I'm thinking of saving my money for something a bit more special.

I ended up borrowing 7 more volumes of manga from the library as well, so that made my bag a bit heavy.

I'll be back tomorrow hopefully.

Asapon : The Great Imitator Returns

Alternatively, Ami (and Mami, even though she's technically not in this) : The Great Imitators Return.

Nico

Asami "Asapon" Shimoda does it again in the latest Namassuka Special 04. Her challenge (as Ami) was to imitate all of 765pro, so now we get to hear her takes on Takane, Hibiki, President, and even Producer-san. That Azusa and Miki voice always get me.

Priestess, Mjolnir, and Napping

I recently finished episodes 2 and 3 of Chu-2. It introduced the sleepy Kumin Tsuyuri (voiced by Azumin, the VA for Yukiho!), Touka the badass older sister of Rikka, and Sanae Dekomori with her huge twin tail hammers.

Fun times all around as Rikka tries to escape the clutche of th Priestess (her sister) whilst carrying a Chimaera (a cat) in her abode. Also great are her hijinks in trying to create a riiculous sounding club, that gets a longer name as more people join. What will become of the former Dark Flame Master? How will he handle all these weirdos (himself included)?

And next episode we shall see how weird that girl with the giant hairclip really is.

Little Busters 3 : Kurugaya-san

Kurugaya-san being a badass as usual.

In this episode of Little Busters, we get a tiny bit of Haruka screentime as well as a lot of Kurugaya-san action. Like everyone else in the Little Busters world, she's a bit crazy. Skipping class and doing whatever she wants, including toying with Riki a bit. She's also mysterious, almost like every other character...

This episode was quite fun, though of course the rest of the crew only got half the screentime due to introductions. It took a while to take off, but it's going pretty ok. Comedy is great, action is funny, and everyone is awesome. Although I'm not sure if it's just me, but the voice recordings seem a bit low quality sometimes. Could just be their voices.

Next episode is the long awaited Kud episode I hope!

Pop-up Pirate vs Katana. Only in Little Busters.

Elf World Online

Yep elves. And magic!

Honey Heartbeat - Namassuka SPECIAL 04

"3! 2! 1! Say ho!"

And now for... Namassuka.... (almost) Sunday 04!! Preview medley below!

So right after my "review" of 03 comes 04. I came in with only slight expectations such as there being a "Groovin' Magic" cover by Makoto, which she pulled off very well. And of course the rap filled "Honey Heartbeat". A nice M@STER version indeed with tons of rap and fun. The rest? Well I'll have to take a listen again, but it was all around pretty good. Hatsukoi this time was rockish, and it was pretty good though not as great as the others past. I'd have to listen to that again before having a better opinion.

Oh and we can't forget the extremely entertaining talk tracks! Haruka(kka) OTL! Brilliant Ami impressions! And Makoto... being girly? That... was a bit unsettling to say the least. And the extra talk with the upcoming duo plus one who's going to be in the next album. Oh Kotori, never change.

"Zunzun. Zunzun."
"Shiny Smile~ Hai na futari~"
"Say ho! Say ho ho ho! Sawage!!"

Nico

I guess something I forgot to mention was the new NicoNicoDouga (or just plain niconico now) interface. Seems pretty nice even with the bugginess at the beginning.

Ai LIKE Hamburger - Namassuka SPECIAL 03

Oh Yayoi. Eating on the job eh?

This is going to be edited in a bit, but I just want to put out my thoughts on the 3rd Namassuka Special even though 04 already came out a while ago.

Video medley of songs below.

First off, I didn't know Yayoi's and Ritsuko's voices could work together so well! That intro to the M@STER version of Ai LIKE Hamburger was a bit strange, but in the end it was still pretty good. Though not quite as great as Nanairo Botan, it's still incredibly catchy and repeatable.

As for the talk tracks, I haven't really payed my full attention, but I love the reactions of Ritsuko. Yayoi being the onee-chan is always fun. As well as the "surprise" visit from Producer-san himself.

For the cover songs, I have to say that I like them. His cover songs were not bad at all. As always, the Hatsukoi in this one was a nice listen as well.

Full thoughts will be edited in a bit I hope.

Nico

A Translucent Girl

I just completed volume 1 of "Translucent", a manga by Kazuhiro Okamoto. I picked this up randomly from my local library and I was thoroughly surprised by how enjoyable it was to read.

The main character is Shizuka who has this mysterious condition called "Translucent Syndrome" which means that parts of her body turn either translucent or transparent. It's a weird problem that seems to be accepted in society, though she is still treated slightly differently from the rest. She gets to meet an eccentric boy named Mamoru Tadami, who loves models and drawing. This guy has a strange interest in her, and that causes changes in both their lives.

Anyways, no more description just go out and find it somewhere. The art may be a bit strange to begin with, but it has its charms and improves as it goes along. Too bad volume 4 and 5 hasn't seen the light of day in English yet.

Although one thing to add is that I like the "Perfect" girl who ends up being the student council president, Okouchi-san. Her personality and relationship with Shizuka and Mamoru are pretty well done.

Little Busters 2 : Komari joins the Team

I recently watched the second episode of Little Busters. As random as ever, and the episode thoroughly introduced Komari. Komari seems to be a cloudcuckoolander huh... How interesting. Also great are the cute Rin moments. Oh so awkward, oh so cute.

And then narcolepsy. What will happen in the next episode? Who knows, but it seems to have someone who is very charismatic.

"What's necessary for baseball?"

"Guts! Courage! And Friendship!"

Brother and Sister

I recently watched Sword Art Online 15. Right now, it's after the whole SAO finale, so things have cooled down a lot. Although it was already in the outside world, I was surprised that there was some fighting going on. The main focus though, was Kirito/Kazuto's sister, who seems to play a major role in the next arc. 

Anyways, looking forward to Kazuto's quest to get back to Asuna. And hopefully beat that silly "childhood friend". 

Next episode: Goodbye swords. Hello elves!

Spatial 3D Week 6 - Complete

And it's done. Time for a much needed rest after that unexpected all-nighter.

So many better projects that other people did... Oh well, at least we got to experience all of this together. And the prof complimented our amazingly long render! All that time was not for naught!

Spatial 3D Week 6 - 1 day remains

1 more day... Haven't had time to practice the script yet, but I hope it goes ok.

Spatial 3D Week 6 - 2 days remain

Rendering and lighting all the way. Took forever to do this relatively simple piece of lighting. Good thing someone in our group is working on the interior so efficiently.

Aqua 2 : President Aria Adventures!

Today I picked up Aqua volume 2 from the library. Yet another light-hearted journey through the beautiful water, landscape, and architecture of Neo-Venezia. Part of it was President Aria, part of it was Akari, and then there was a chapter for Aika. All in all it builds up the world of Aqua and makes me intrigued yet "nostalgic" at the same time. I look forward to reading/watching the rest!


Also, unlike the leisurely pace of this story, there's been a lot of project work that I have to work on. 3D rendering is such a pain sometimes!

Pokemon and Androids

Wow this post is super late... I was super busy for the whole week working on two things. One "assignment" that was worth quite a bit. Had to make some infographics. The next one is a huge project involving research and 3D modelling software.


Anyways, during the downtime between sleeping and school, I found a use for my android. As a great big emulator hub. Today I just started Pokemon Yellow again, along with looking back at my almost finished Pokemon Emerald game. I had 7 badges already, but I didn't feel like trawling through that game till I got up to speed with my older nostalgia. All that nostalgia is coming back, though I won't be able to play too much. It'd be funny if I finished that again instead of the more recent Pokemon games. Next up is looking for a good PS one.

Nankurunaisa~ Happy Birthday Hibiki!

Happy Birthday to everyone's lovable Okinawan. She's "kanpeki!"

Hibiki Challenge~

Today's challenge is... to enjoy her birthday as much as possible! No[t much] suffering today!

Teal is her colour, Okinawa is her home, and suffering energy and power is her forte!

[nico video goes here]

109%

We have reached the 10th Cirno Day of the Year 2012 in October. That means costumes!

"Shark!" | Source

End Game

Sword Art Online 14.

"The End of the World" is what it's called.

And that's what it was.

It was quite a bit quicker than I expected, and the whole epilogue part of it was seemingly lack-luster. Of course, the moments between Asuna and Kirito were great as always. The big reveal was already spoiled for me, but the way it played out was different than what I expected.

I continue to appreciate the spoiler-free, fat-free episode "previews" that only state the title of the next episode. Here's hoping for a great new opening and ending song combo. More LiSA and Haruka Tomatsu songs please!

A New Beginning in Unova

It's time for more Pokemon!

Today I got a chance to play the very recently Pokemon White 2 while my bro played Pokemon Black 2. The nostalgia is there, but not too strong since it didn't seem that long ago.

So far I'm only about 1.5 hours in because of stuff I had to do. My brother's quite a bit further in and it seems a bit too familiar while being different at the same time. First thing to notice would be the big city we start in. Second thing to notice would be the rival who seems to be looking for something. Third and very important thing to notice would be Bianca giving out the starters! It's good to see Bianca again, but this game really does break convention by bypassing the lab completely.

All in all, I look forward to catching these "new" Pokemon in the Unova region. I'll be having fun having Oshawott as a starter this time instead of Snivy. Too bad there aren't too many actual new Pokemon.

Although most likely I won't get too much of chance to play for a while due to school work.