When I first heard that Kyou’s route was finally going to animated a few months back, I was elated, fucking ecstatic. You see,  I’ve been waiting for this ever since the route had been curiously absent in the first series. So in celebration, I went back, loaded up a save on the Clannad visual novel and started replaying her route again. As I was progressing through the game I suddenly remembered that Kyou’s route was… well, disappointing.

Yet, I still anticipated this OVA, of my favorite (just a tad bit more than Tomoyo) Clannad female. Despite my complaints on Kyou’s route, did I enjoy this episode? Heh, you fucking bet I did. And maybe other Kyou fans share the same sentiments.

So, a couple things about this episode:

1. Delicious tears

Yeah

I knew prior that this episode was going to be filled with teenage angst and depression, but Jesus Christ, I felt like I was rewatching School Days ( okay, maybe I’m exaggerating).  Then again, the plot of this route is eerily like the one in School Days, minus promiscuity.

Despair

Suddenly, chance encounter!

Commence cheering in 3, 2, 1...

*anticipation*

...damn it

It was kind for KyoAni to, I guess, summarize Tomoya and Ryou’s boyfriend, girlfriend antics in somewhat of a 30 second montage (more screentime for the better Fujibayashi twin). However, at the same time, several key scenes from the visual novel were omitted (fortune-telling, gemstones). And because some of these aspects of the route were missing from the OVA, viewers who haven’t played the visual novel won’t get deeper details of the situation between Fujibayashi and Tomoya, than what was provided.

Other than the missing scenes, and other alterations, KyoAni, for the most part, stayed true to the visual novel. It’s rather impressive how they were able to condense the entire route into a 20-minute timeframe though. Bravo.

Bro

Mad fucking props to Sunohara. When Kyou tried coming onto him, he remembered the cardinal rule of bro’s before ho’s. One of his best moments. He thought of Tomoya’s feelings over his own, true pal.

I had to rewind multiple times in this scene because,  ohmagod. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the above is the first, clear onscreen kiss in the entirety of the Clannad anime. (Fuuko’s kiss way back when doesn’t count.) But why Ryou? Ah what the hell, she deserves something.

What’s with KyoAni and their lack of onscreen intimacy anyway? Up until now all we’ve seen are some hand-holding, caressing, hugging…glomping. We didn’t even see Nagisa and Tomoya kiss.

See what I mean? But damn, does that look so pretty.

True to Kyoto Animation fashion, we have  fantastic animation (god this is redundant). And especially towards the end of the episode, my eyes were pleasantly assaulted with lovely visuals, and grotesquely beautiful backgrounds that I considered making my desktop.

Noooooo! Kyou! Your beautiful, long, flowing purple cascade of locks of hair! On second thought...

At last! Closure!

D'awwwww

Now, let’s look forward to KyoAni’s future projects

K-On 2! Little Busters

(seriously though, I want more K-On)

Half an engineer....well, not literally anyway

By the time this post is up, I would’ve completed my last day of school (which is a lousy lab) and finally get that diploma (Associate’s Degree to be exact of which my free tuition is entirely dependent on) I painstakingly tried to attain for the last dozens of months, with much opposition.

Jeezuz…I can’t believe I made it out of shitloads of bullshit .

Last May, I think I might have spammed Twitter with my rants on how the college administration was being an ass by suddenly taking a summer course out of the course catalog. And it just so happens that the summer course they canceled happens to be the very last course I needed in order to graduate! Fortunately for me, there was a way I can restore back the class…that is, if I can find enough people to sign up for it; and that was what I did exactly. At first, the minimum number of students to hold that class in session (according to the rulebooks anyway) was ten. So I went out…and somehow managed to hypnotize ten unsuspecting students to sign up for the class; only to find out that the minimum increased to eleven! WTF?! Okay fine…maybe one more wasn’t too bad. So I got another student to sign up to satisfy the requirement only to be told by them higher ups that the class I was taking was worth five credits, which in turn changes the minimum to twelve. And oh…the madness and blasphemy do not stop there. When the class was finally in session, I found out that that out of the eleven students that signed up, only seven actually paid for the class….and was later informed by the top people that having seven students was actually okay………..

WTF MAN?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! You made me go through all that for nothing?!?!?!?!

So pretty much I did all that for nothing and the First Law of Equivalent Exchange is violated.

On the bright side, I received a phone call of invitation from the dean herself the day before the graduation (around the end of last May) that I originally intended to skip. I mean what’s the point? I’m one class short…so it only makes sense not to go through all that trouble just to attend a boring ceremony (especially when there’s a bajillion of you). Turns out that, because the school only holds one graduation ceremony, people that are one class away from satisfying the graduation requirement are given special eligibility to attend the ceremony, given the condition that they complete that one class within one semester. Okay…so maybe I was eligible, but that doesn’t give me enough of a reason to travel some 50 miles away just to dress up and pretend that I’m going to get a diploma at that time.

What did I do? I attended the boring ceremony of course. And what for reason? I was the sole summa cum laude of the entire engineering department. Woot~!

With regard to Anime and how they can affect a person’s demeanor and/or way of life

Honestly, I was going to write this up as another ‘What If’ post; but since I’m talking about my chosen career path and how it all started, I might as well stick it here.

I am primarily heading down the path of a chemical engineer; and while looking back at how and why I suddenly decided to be one, I was greeted back by what I think is one of the most intricately made anime series out there….and that’s none other than Full Metal Alchemist (and its entirety). Well okay, I admit. I loved mixing stuff as a child, but what really makes up of why I am what I am now is because of this show; pretty much a catalyst of sorts. The more I got in to the science-fictional world where the predominant laws of nature are primarily can only be interpreted by the pseudoscience of alchemy, the more fascinated I got with its real world counterpart. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not such a fool that I lose my sight of the thin line between fact and fiction. But given the chance of being able to apply fictional creativity throughout the FMA series and apply it to real world situations in hopes of increasing the chance of solving the world’s problems by a fraction of a percent, I can guarantee everyone I’ll be the first to act.

But heck…it’s amazing how one series can affect one person (that’s me). Of course, I’m quite aware that my case is something that’s easy to overlook..but imagine if everyone who’s currently watching an anime and/or reading manga suddenly stands up and says…”I think I know what to do in life!” That by itself would probably bring about some changes…I don’t know what but you can bet on it that things will change. Now I’m wondering if there anyone out there who might have experienced something akin, even to the smallest degree.

Oh wait…what am I saying? The younger ones do it all the time with those kiddie shows like Pokemon, YuGiOh, and things of that nature. Though the chances of hearing somebody at a tender age say something like “I want to be a zoologist” because of Pokemon may be slim, I’m sure there’s something going on in that little heads of theirs. As to what extent those shows would have on their life, one can only guess.

Okay, you got your stinkin’ piece of graduation paper…what now?

This is how happy I am while my Summer lasts...

Well now that school’s out for two whole months, I can finally have my first real summer break since last two years. That said, I’ll be able to reduce the strain I put on this frail body to a significant degree and be able to do things I wasn’t able to do before because of ridiculously cramped up schedules. In other words….more time to catch up to more anime, more time to hit the books and learn basic Japanese (which I’ve started doing every time I’m commuting on the train), more time get back into sports (tennis, to be exact) and much much more. I guess you can throw in “watching Summer Partial Fail shows to see if I can get any good out of it” in the list.

Come September and I’ll find myself in hell again since it will be the time when I will enter a University, where everything is fckingsrsbsns. It will be hard…especially since I’ll be going in as a transfer student and I probably need to adjust to their pace.

As far as blogging and the maintenance of KokidoKom go, I might have to pause them for a while, at least until I get used to the whole new atmosphere. So unless it’s absolutely necessary (as in one blog suddenly crashes), I’ll probably (50%) stay out of these things.

If there’s any compensation, I would most likely (60%) attend NYAF and go see Makino Yui, whose autographs I will get and sell on eBay even though it’s stuck right in the dead middle of September where classes start. UGH! And yes, there’s the meet up with two or so people in the aniblogosphere, FuyuMaiden being one of them if all goes well.

I guess that’s that.

What better way is there to start of the Summer Anime season than to watch something that reminds you of vast open waters and splashing girls in skimpy swimsuits (more of this later) ?

Umi Mogogatari just happens to be that kind of series, and as much as I’d like to point out that the first episode to be somewhat pointless (just as I expected), I didn’t expect it to be tadbit entertaining. Now that I think about it, this isn’t the first time something like this happened. I think I felt the same way back when I was watching Aria, where every episode pretty much is pointless 90%  of the time pointless, and yet is able to somehow captivate you rather than drive you to boredom.

I love the coloring of this scene so much

I think I’ve found the reason why I’m so in to this episode…and apparently, it’s the same reason why I watched Aria. That is, most of Umi Monogatari appeals to the senses, mostly to the sense of sight and hearing. Forget about the plot; if you look into the episode, I’m pretty sure you’ll find everything is drawn with vibrant yet surprisingly non-astringent colors. I really like how they went all in-depth with the under-the-sea theme. It really is mesmerizing to look at. Now, I don’t know how many of you out there play MMORPGs but the setting here just reminds me so much of a place called Aqua Road in a game I used to play called Maplestory (god I missed those days). It’s a bit off topic but relevant nevertheless to proving a point.

Again, as much as I’d like to say that’s all there is to this series, Umi Monogatari pulls a fast one by orchestrating a very soothing batch of background music throughout the episode, on top of the sweet melody played mainly by two acoustic guitars that is the OP. Curse this show for instilling the thought of me picking up a guitar again…but that just goes to show you how good the music is.

Jeezuz...she's begging for it...

Of course, how can we ever neglect to mention the word “loli” when your two of your three main charactars are dressed in “swimsuits” for like what…the entirety of the episode? And if that’s not enough…wait until you get to the point where they’re bending over in search of a piece of jewelry, only to have their rears placed in plain sight for all the people to look at. I can’t see them but I’m sure lots of boys who saw this episode will be sleeping happy tonight. But hey…I did say this was an appeal to senses, right? Would it matter if it’s one of the five senses or some kind of sense many of the boys out there have that the appeal’s being applied to? Absolutely not…

I'd just like to point out how wonderful....the symmetry of the columns is

]]> http://exce7ion.kokidokom.net/2009/06/umi-monogatari-first-impressions-an-appeal-to-the-senses/feed/ 7 http://exce7ion.kokidokom.net/2009/06/a-short-one-on-watching-k-on-for-the-wrong-reasons/ http://exce7ion.kokidokom.net/2009/06/a-short-one-on-watching-k-on-for-the-wrong-reasons/#comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:11:59 +0000 7 http://exce7ion.kokidokom.net/?p=2702

K-ON IS NOT Titanic...both literally and metaphorically speaking

Seeing as to how the season finale (or probably the the entirety of the season) of K-ON! has been greeted with many negative reactions, it’s rather interesting  how and why these naysayers have gone through so much trouble to watch this all up to the very last episode. But that’s okay…the question need not be answered for now since that’s not where I’m trying to get at.

Well actually  now that I thinking about it, I’m kind of wondering why I’ve been watching K-ON all this time. I mean it’s not that epic good, the animation quality does have some conspicuous flaws, and there’s an excessive redundancy to the use of puns/gags. So why?! Is it because I didn’t exactly watch K-ON! for the same reasons as a good majority of others have? I don’t know…you tell me. Then again, it’s not that hard to figure out really. It’s because…

K-ON! isn’t…

1. Your essential source of Vitamin Moe – A lot of people I interact with who despise K-ON! blame their negativity towards the series to the overreacting moe fanboys (and in some cases, fangirls) who don’t have anything better to say other than..ZOMG MIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO or ZOMG AZUS-NYAAAAAAAN or anything else of that nature. Then again, I really can’t blame them entirely either considering how K-ON! tries so hard to emphasize moe (especially the “Moe moe kyun”). But really….it’s as if that’s the only reason we watch it.

2. Lucky Star – I must have been living under a rock not to make a correlation between K-ON! and Lucky Star. I mean sure, they’re both made by KyoAni and that both have four school girls as main characters. But other than that, I don’t see any further reason to compare the two. In fact it’s not even comparing that I’m seeing…it’s more like K-ON! sucks because it doesn’t have this <insert Lucky Star exclusive quality here> that Lucky Star has.

…and that K-ON! is just…

your unusual slice of life that doesn’t necessarily need to have a good badass storyline nor a consistency in style of its humor. I mean it wasn’t awesomely good..but it wasn’t THAT bad either…yet most of the people out there act as if it’s the most disgusting thing they’ve ever seen. Really, I don’t think this is a kind of show that one should take with all seriousness. Jeezuz….

As for me, all that really mattered the most was that K-ON served as a light entertainment (as well as a contrast to a lot more serious shows) throughout the Spring season. So unless you aren’t watching K-ON for the right reasons, chances are, you’re going to cast a FAIL spell on it….at least that’s what I think anyway.

Late loot post is late courtesy of a sudden illness I got during the middle of the week . But it’s finally here~!

Actually, I think I’m insulting the word, “loot” with what I bought. I mean, I really didn’t buy much and all, considering the merchandize the convention had to offer for a span of three days. No…I really wasn’t compelled to buy manga (even though they were sold at a ridiculously discounted price) or even bother to get DVDs mainly because they’re something I can read and watch online. I know…I’m aware this makes me a bad otaku to some extent.

Anyhow, the place where they sold stuff is called the “Dealer’s Room.” Dealer’s Room?! WTF?! Out of all names they could’ve chosen, why “Dealers Room”?! It would’ve made sense if they called it “mall,” or “shop,” or even “market.” But whatever.

So here’s the first purchase of the entire convention…Yu Kanda’s Mugen from D. Gray Man. I think it’s safe to say I got the katana version instead of the chokuto one? Relax…it’s just a replica. The blades are not really as sharp as they seem (though given the right circumstances, they can be capable of cutting your finger).

I really like this sword, especially how the tsuka is long enough that you can hold it with two hands and still have space left for adjustments. Unfortunately, it isn’t without flaws. For one thing, the mark of Innocence had an awful stain on it. I’m pretty sure it’s something I can remove…but it will take a lot of effort removing it without taking the rest of the marking with it. The other flaw…well, not really a flaw..is the fact that it’s *ahem* Made in China. I know I’m being rather critical here but you know how it’s been. If the wound inflicted by the blade won’t kill you, the lead paint on the blade will …just kidding.

This piece of steel gave me so much trouble. Apparently, we aren’t allowed to carry them around the convention…even if they were kept inside it’s original packaging, unopened and all. I had two choices…keep it in the car or leave it at a hotel. Uhm yea…except that there’s one problem…I neither have a car nor a hotel that I booked for the convention! Thank god I was able to stash it for the time being where the people I bumped into were staying. Bless their souls for letting a random stranger like me keep a weapon at their place. Never again will I buy a sword at a convention at its first day…unless it was something as small as Ichimaru Gin’s (Bleach) wakizashi that I’ve been looking for.

Next up are two portraits books…one for Nia of Gurren Lagann and one for Louise of Zero no Tsukaima. I actually had a hard time choosing which portrait books to buy. I managed to narrow it to , in addition to those two I mentioned, Yoko’s (TTGL) and Mikuru’s (MoHS) portrait book. Between Nia and Yoko, it was a heart-breaking choice except for the fact that I’ve seen more scans of Yoko than Nia…that plus the fact that Nia’s book featured all three girls I like in TTGL: Nia, Yoko, and Darry <3. As for Mikuru and Louise…well, Louise just had a louder calling than Mikuru. So yea, I guess that’s that.

I guess it’s a bit showing every single page since somebody somewhere on the web probably have it up on some imageboard. So here’s some of them pages anyway.

We then head over to this looting’s most valueble asset. I can’t believe it took a good chunk of energy for me to scan the whole frigging area in search of any Little Busters! merchandise only to find three of them, more specfically, two mouse pads and one figure. Then again, I’m not surprised by the scarcity of all things LB! since a good 95% of these people probably have no idea what Little Busters! is.

I was this close to buying that mousepad seeing as to how it’s the only Rin merchandise throughout the whole convention but I found its price to be a bit too much for a mousepad (and wrist rest in that regard ). So I went browsing some more in hopes of finding something else to my liking and I found this…

It’s not Rin…but it sure is the next best thing. Komari~~~~<3 !! Funny how she’s all obscured from anybody who didn’t bother to inspect the shelves at point blank to take a closer look and how there’s only one of her when every other figure is abundantly many. I found her during the Saturday of the convention with plans on purchasing her the next day. Of course, that didn’t happen since I was too worried to leave her alone and have someone else take her away. So what did I do? I bought her right on the spot of course! I now had one of the three available Little Busters! merchandise throughout the whole convention.

Jeezuz…Komari, like my Haruka, sure does love to play hard to get. Them plastic wraps that come in mostly every joint gets on my nerves every single time. Okay…I admit, I’m a scaredy-cat when it comes to this because I don’t ever want to do damage on my figures. It’s just that sometimes, I don’t realize my own strength where a gentle yank to me is actually a full-blown pull. After much observation on other people across the web who has the same exact figure, I was finally able to figure everything out, thus starting the fun part. Komari actually comes with extra set of facial expression, two lollipop acessories, and something I’ve learned with from my experience…access through a pantsu shot by method of detachable skirt. If there’s anything I can say, she’s worth every dollar I spent on her.

And to wrap things up, a T-shirt. That’s all there is to it.

So yea…like I said, it’s not much but hey, I was one happy otaku those days.

I shall now breathe my last for the day since this whole post just took away the last ounce of energy in my sickly body.

Hi! After much deliberation about life and what direction I should take in it, I decided to man up and start contributing to my buddy’s website. Yes, you’ll  see me from time to time here over the course of summer posting anime related stuff.

You see, the advent of summer wrought about empty slots in my schedule. What better way to fill in the void that school left by watching more japanese cartoons and writing about them? It is the only thing keeping me from doing absolutely nothing (which I excel in).

Hooray for productiveness. I’ll be around (hopefully).

Cheers, Dark Longcoat

[Note: This is a backup post in place of the original that was deleted in the process of upgrading a plugin. I sincerely apologize for the lost comments. ]

Hooray for my first anime convention ever! I have to say, being there was a bit demanding considering how the weather has mostly been shitty, if not wild and/or ever-changing and seeing how the entire weekend left me dead beat, if not ill and/or bedridden. But then again, who cares?! I had a blast and that’s more important!

I went there alone as I originally intended and although I was having second thoughts on whether or not I should bring my younger sister with me (for convenience’s sake), I think I made the right decision by going alone considering how my musings those days would’ve left anyone who tagged along extremely exhausted to the point where they might become more of a drag and less of an aid. Of course, I would’ve liked it very much if someone outside my household (a fellow blogger maybe?

) went with me since I did feel a bit lonely every time I saw a bunch of people musing around the convention with their friends and what-nots…but I guess I was asking a little too much.

So I went about my business that first day when I suddenly realized I had no idea as to where I was headed. No no, I wasn’t lost or anything…it’s more like I had no idea what/where I wanted to do first. You see, this is one of the reasons why it’s useful to have people (other than the ones in your household) come along with you – this way, whenever you feel undecided, the group can decide for you. Well, as luck would have it, I found myself tagging along a lively band of cosplayers (whom I’m very thankful for, by the way) who wanted to check out the Open Mic session (otherwise inaccurately dubbed as Karaoke session, though there seem to be no Karaoke machines in sight ) where people sing just for kicks regardless whether or not they know how to sing well and/or they know the lyrics. I HAD A BLAST!!! Who knew these people actually sang very well?

I also managed to capture them on video through my amateur recording…two videos featuring a rowdy group singing the Pokemon theme song and one featuring a bold gentleman singing Cruel Angel Thesis from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s too bad that I had to cut them short since I only had limited space in my memory stick.

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

(Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

I then head over to the panels which most likely make up a good 90% chunk of all the chaos in the convention. Never mind the traffic jams and the tight squeeze along the hallway…if there’s anything that caused me so much trouble, it’s the fact that a significant number of panels I wanted to attend are either canceled or postponed. So here’s a makeshift list of panels that I attended/ought to attend but couldn’t for whatever reason…

I attended…

[Surgeon General's Warning: Verbose content ahead. Proceeding can lead to excessive boredom and probably induced suicidal behavior. Read at your own risk!]

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Of course, there were some panels I could’ve attended but wasn’t able to for some reason. Like I mentioned earlier, I missed Reverse Thieves’ presentation, “Can’t believe you haven’t seen this” because I overslept. There was also a panel aptly named “What? Why Hentai!” which I originally planned to attend on a Saturday night but was canceled due to unforseen circumstances. And oh, I might as well throw in “How to draw Yuri” to that list.

And as luck might have it…a special treat for kanzeon (if she lived close enough): a Hetalia Axis Powers Fan Panel. Curious as I am, I decided to take a peek to see how things were…only to be met with yaoi fanart of Italy’s personification with some other country’s personification….that and squealing fangirls. Jezuz…

Weaboos

But what is an Anime Convention without one? You see, I got in to the convention thinking that I’ll be surrounded by them everywhere I go at any given time~ I sure am glad I was wrong…partially. Sure I didn’t encounter them every single time but whenever I did…it was like worst case scenario. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed that’s common from them, it’s how they speak in an unnecessary highly-pitched tone, much like the sound of finger nails scratching a piece of glass or a portion of a chalkboard. And when I thought I’ve seen the worst of them, along came this guy whom I mentioned earlier who has got to be most obnoxious person I’ve encountered throughout the convention. He really does a good job of interrupting panels, yelling unnecessary remarks like..”Nani?!” for the same number of instances as the Chinese population. Even worse…he f*cking sat right in front of me out of all places! Ugh…the horror. Good thing I wasn’t carrying the sword I bought from the convention that time…otherwise, I would’ve beat the living daylights out of him with its sheath.

But enough of that…it’s about time we move to one of the best parts of the convention…

Cosplay

Please excuse me for the bad blurred shots. Two things could’ve happened…(1) I took a picture with my back facing a traffic of people passing through a narrow path in which I had no means of making my shot stable since I always keep bumping into somebody or (2) I got overly excited when I saw somebody I particularly wanted to take a picture of that I neglected to change the camera to an appropriate setting.

Without further adieu…

I think I had the most thrill out of the convention from taking pictures. Well, actually…I was chasing people half the time, especially if there was a particularly interesting cosplayer that needs to be photoshot. I think I deserve some credit trailing people from a distance until I catch up to them and take their picture…especially that one time where I had to run a flight of stairs like a crazy ninja just to take a picture of someone who was about to leave the convention…and that was the Nia cosplayer. Any slower…and I would’ve missed my chance on the only Nia cosplayer convention-wide.

On another note, I’m really surprised to see only six people decided to cosplay anyone from K-ON (the one I got is probably the best one!). Then again, I found out that these people, the majority of them anyway, are not up to date as we are in the blogosphere. Sucks for them.

Closing Remarks

AnimeNEXT was alright I guess, actually…it’s pretty good for my first one. I just wished I was able to plan properly so that I can maximize my time and be in as much events as possible, all the while leaving a sufficient time frame for photoshoots and shopping. Ah well, there’s always next year…or better yet…next three months at NYAF.

Where the f*ck is your f*cking loot?!

Oh don’t you worry. There will be an upcoming post for that..so stay tuned!

Yosh! Another contemplation successfully turned into actualization! Bleh~let’s just say after being at odds with myself for a while, I finally managed to get past having second thoughts and actually get into the goddamn figure business.

Funny how it all started after I saw a rather unfamiliar poster of the upcoming shows airing this Summer that mentioned a second season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu. In case you didn’t know yet, I have a tendency to marathon shows that have a very enticing sequel and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu was no different. So I spent a day and a half to finish the whole first season only to find out that I’ve been entrapped and captivated by Haruka’s charms. And when all hope of satiating this unhealthy obession seemed to have gotten far beyond my reach (and when I say far, I mean the time minus the actual airing of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu’s second season ), along came a flash advertisement for anime figures and boom…the next thing I know is that I’m writing this post.

It wasn’t easy…(well actually it wasn’t that hard either, but still) since up until now, I had no idea whatsoever on anything relating to figures. So what did I do? I asked people of course…and what better place to start than in your own web neighborhood…that is, KokidoKom. So I started bothering FuyuMaiden first, seeing how she bought her first figure not so long ago. A couple of inquiries and I was reccommended to a good place to buy stuff (which is probably the same place she bought one of the figures she mentioned in her tweets, I think) . Of course, I also considered asking our very own figures extraordinaire, gundamjehutykai a couple of minor yet nevertheless enlightening questions.

If the problems would have ended there, I would have been happy jolly guy. Unfortunately, the way my household is, having to keep a low profile on having figures is mandatory. I really don’t know how the people here will react if they find out I’m dealing with something that will look like a doll to them that I can dress/undress. I’d rather not find out…which brings me to my main concern: how on earth will I sneak it up to my room without anyone seeing any packages? The answer – there’s no f*cking way…mainly because I have no control as to when the package will get to my house. So I resorted to my next best weapon on my arsenal – misinformation. I told them that the package was for me because I’m such an awesome hostmaster *bows down*. Pffffftttt…what a bunch of bullshit! But guess what…it friggin’ worked and that’s all that matters.

So here…please ignore the amateur shots and the haphazard attempts on resizing. This is what you get when you don’t have your own camera. Pretty much, I had to do this photo shoot on borrowed time.

Preopening

Haha, I had fun opening the package up probably because for some reason, it was a bit hard to open. It’s as if Haruka’s trying to play hard to get….even more so becauses she was faced the other way around when I found her inside.

And lookie what we have here…look familiar, Fuyu? I guess I know what figure I’m getting next. I really didn’t expect to have some kind of Little Busters! advertising along the flaps of the box.

After Opening

ZOMG~I thought the shoes were cute…but seeing how those things are actually removable made me squeal! Haha..you have to love those. And oh, for those of you didn’t know, Honey Lemon (which is the version I have now) is just one of the two available color schemes. The original version is supposed to be a pink one similar to the front page pic of this post. But heck, I like the “honey lemon” version better. And oh, have I told you that this version is supposed to be a limited edition? It only made me happier that I chose to buy this one in place of the other.

Aww…I really like her posture…especially how she clutches the front side of the skirt. It’s soooo like her. Ooo…I know how I can take advantage of her pose. Bwahahahahahaa!

Precaution!

Potentially unpleasant/inappropriate pics ahead. Not for the faint-of-heart (for fear of diswembowelment) nor for the people who are at their jobs.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Extras

And here’s a couple of shots that I like. If the picture quality were any better, I would have turned this into a desktop wallpaper.

Remember when I mentioned something about taking advantage earlier? Well here it is. I know…it’s mandatory. It’s amazing what a pen and a piece of Post Its can do.

Hooray…another “What if” section!

So here’s the deal. One day, while I was talking to one of my coworkers from one of my jobs, I found myself engaged into a discussion of what kids were watching these days (the person I was talking to was a mother of two kids after all). Of course, she started enumerating shows that I’m sure a majority of people would recognize immediately…shows like Spongebob Squarepants (and all related things from Nickelodeon), a couple of shows from Cartoon Network, and of course the usual Japanese hits like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and some shit that I would have never laid my eyes on (not at least at my current age anyway). Then she mentioned Spirited Away and Ghost in the Shell….well, okay that last part was a lie. But if that would have happened on that boring mundane day, I would have felt much more awake (in surprise) than I would have been after chugging down several cups of coffee.

There’s also the undeniable fact that, while most of the people I know at the aniblogosphere range somewhere between the ages of late-teens to maybe mid-twenties and are indeed single, there’s a few I know that are married and even fewer…married with kids (yes ghostlightning, your inclusion to this category is mandatory as of a few weeks ago). Well, the point is, I can’t stop wondering how those children would react (assuming that they themselves would come to adore all things anime, manga, etc) if they found out that their parents are otakus. Come to think of, I really don’t have a clue how on things would have turned out if parents enjoy the very same thing I enjoy. Well then, let’s get down speculations…

Speculated Advantages of Having Otakus for Parents

• No more strange looks every time they see you watch anime - After all these years, I thought one of my parents would have accepted this hobby of ours, and yet every now and then I get strange looks that pretty much say “are you my child?” Perhaps things would have been different if they were in to the same thing. Then again, I do give them the same exact look whenever they’re into something that’ illogical for me. Ah well..must be mutual.

• Expensive figures will be yours for presents -
  

  Getting one without having to pay one...that's all there is to it

  Oh hell yes. With this, I no longer have to contemplate on buying figures. All I need to do is be a good kid and somehow make birthdays come more than once a year. If I do that and… boom! Figures galore…

• Getting them periodic manga anthology magazines would be treated as any other monthly magazine subscription-
  

  Goodbye National Geographic

  Pretty much the same as figures…no need to get a-spending.

• Anime/Manga conventions are a family get-together thing - The only reason I put this here is because I don’t have to spend on anything. I just need to ask parents for a simple favor which I know by all means they’ll understand. Otherwise…

Speculated Disadvantages of Having Otakus for Parents

• Freakshow family – It’s bad enough that you have a parent who looks down upon you and anything anime-related; It might be worse if other people look down on you as a family.
• Means of punishment-
  

  WHAT?! NO ANIME FOR A WEEK?!!!!

  This one’s easy. Technically, because you have parents who know pretty much what you’re up to when you do anything otaku-related, they can use this a means of punishment. Of course, I’m way past the age of penalties…I’m just stating the possibility.

• Not being able to tell which one is worse between your father catching you watching hentai or you catching your father watching hentai-
  

  Son, I need you tell me what you saw me doing last night...

  Need I say more?

• Anime/Manga conventions are a family get-together thing – Like I said earlier, the only good thing about this point is how you are able to have free stuff, well in theory at least. Other than that, it’s kind of weird to have your parents follow you around conventions.

Of course, we have to keep in mind these are speculations from my own perspective…so some of the things here might/might not make sense to people depending on who you’re asking. And while any of these instances are unlikely, they are by no means impossible.

Personally, I’d rather not have otaku parents no matter how the advantages outweigh the disadvantages (if they really do outweigh them). I don’t know…it’s just…

Mandatory

There’s a new poll about this by the way. Check the sidebar nauuuhhhw!!!!

Before I even start, I just want to make it clear that I could care less whether or not you’re going to agree or disagree (I’m assuming the latter) with me; what I’m going to say is absolute, unless of course some miracle happens where shows from the upcoming Fall series later this year magically gets shifted to Summer for whatever reason. I mean I try to be nice and all by watching some series that have even the slightest potential of being interesting but the last time I did that (last Winter to be exact) ended up in a massive failure. But whatever….here’s a partial-failure-packed preview.

And oh…I’m not even going to bother putting links and summaries since EVERY FRIGGING ONE IS DOING IT.

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Spice and Wolf II

- No mention of anything school related… +1

- Made me want to watch Season 1 now so I can catch up on Season 2… +5

Not much to mention here, except that this series has been on my ‘To Watch’ list. I guess it’s a good thing there’s a second season, since (mostly) anything with more than one season gives me a reason to marathon.

Cobra: Yukuni no Yushi

- No mention of anything school related… +1

- Not so appealing piece of art…-3

- Failure to catch my attention at first glance…-5

- Not so interesting preview…-5

- Slightest hint of manliness…+1

No seriously…I don’t even have the slightest clue as to why this series is here. It looks as if it should have been sent back to anime series of Ye Olden Times.

Element Hunters

- No mention of anything school related… +1

- Looks like something along the lines aimed at youger audiences (like Pokemon and such)…-3

- I LOVE CHEMISTRY…+3

- Is it me or are the characters drawn vectored-style?…+2

- Boring summary of the plot…-5

Yesh, I love elements and things of that nature. I guess I can let the childishness pass by and watch an episode or two to see how things turn out. I would’ve discarded this show immediately of it was named otherwise.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

- No mention of anything school related… +1

- Cool title…+1

- Failure to catch my attention at first glance…-5

- The only thing that gave out a loud impression in the plot synopsis was that there was a bigass earthquake involved…-3

It probably would have been something I would watch, but I find the plot synopsis lacking. Maybe if they added the earthquake was caused by something supernatural like a creature from the 69th dimension or something, I wouldn’t mind taking a look.

CANAAN

- Potentially interesting plot synopsis…+3

- Very promising characters…+3

- How the latter 2 plusses reminded me of Ga-Rei-Zero where everyone in the promo died one by one…-3

- No mention of anything school related… +1

This is one of the few shows this season that I might get into if everything goes well. I find the whole detective, suspense and the ‘whodunnit’ theme and all. I think I might have likened this to Case Closed…but with better drawn characters!

Hetalia Axis Powers 2

- Failure to get me to watch it in Season 1…-3

- Failure to get me to watch it even when there’s an upcoming sequel…-3

- No mention of anything school related… +1

I guess it’s safe to assume that I’m the only one who has not watch Hetalia? Even more intriguing is how I wasn’t compelled to marathon Season 1 when there’s a sequel like I would have done for other series that have sequels. Uh oh…I sense flamers coming…pfft..whatever.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

- Nicely drawn…+2

- Potentially interesting plot synopsis…+3

- No mention of anything school related… +1

Nothing much to say here except for the fact that I’ll be checking out this one for almost the same reasons as CANAAN.

Sora no Manimani

- School Related!!!!!…-2

- Using astronomy as a central device in the plot…+3

- So-so plot synopsis…-1

I’m not too sure about this one. I initially didn’t want to have anything to do with this series but I’ve been a bunch of people speak good of it, so I guess I’ll take an episode or two.

NEEDLESS

- Potentially interesting plot synopsis…+3

- No mention of anything school related… +1

The moment I read the synopsis, my eyes immediately homed on the two words, “Black Spots.” Not only does it sound thought-provoking, but the fact that it involves supernatural aspects would make my head itch with curiosity if I don’t take a look.

Kanamemo

- Happy go lucky atmosphere…+3

- The only Summer show I find that’s befitting of the season..+2

- No mention of anything school related… +1

I almost forgot that these are the ones that will air THIS SUMMER. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to watch something that will give a nice and easy feel? Apparently, this show fulfills those demands.

Princess Lover

- I’m a bit sick of harem themes…-2

- Conflict between synopsis and promo image…-2

I find it funny how the synopsis mentions a ‘he’ protagonist when there’s none to see from the promo images I’ve encountered. Nah…I think I’ll let this one pass.

——

I guess that ends the line up. The blogging part will be something I’ll decide arbitrarily once the season starts…though I can already tell you that I’ll be doing First Impressions on most of the ones who have a positive net score.