It has already been a couple of weeks since I returned from Japan. Since then, it has been ‘no rest for the weary’. We still had (and still currently have) some things to do for the project and anime had to take a back seat. The last time I watched one was on my last day in Japan and from the title of this post you can guess what title it is. Luckily, I managed to create a draft on that day and it has only been now that I managed to find the opportunity to finish it.

To start with, Neko no Ongaeshi tells the story of Haru, a pretty much normal high school student, as she seeks help on an issue with some overtly grateful cats and their overzealous ways of repaying her brave act of saving their prince.

Now I might ‘fanboy’ a little on this anime but I just have to say that this is one lovely show. The characters are interesting, likeable and practically just charming. I admit that the story may not be that spectacular for some (it was wonderful for me though :p) but I feel it has a lot of heart. In any case, this show is another one that I would give a thumbs-up.

Furthermore, I’d like to mention that this show has also a nice catchy theme. ‘Kaze ni Naru’ by Tsuji Ayano is one of my current viral songs along with Figure 17’s ‘Boy’ and ‘Fairy Dance’ :3. One thing I would like to note here though, is that the version that I watched had subtitles directly translated from the original japanese dub. As my copy uses the subtitle from the english dub there will no doubt be some differences in the story flow. But no matter, that would mean I could rewatch it again as this has a high replay value for me.

On a sidenote, I mentioned that my copy has an english dub. When I watch anime, I usually go for the original japanese audio because the english dub makes me feel awkward in watching anime. Even if this show was licensed by Buena Vista which would mean a high quality talent pool for voice actors (in which I think it is … didn’t bother to verify though), it still didn’t make me want to watch it first in english. But as I was entranced with the show’s theme during the ending credits, I noticed some familiar names such as Tim Curry and Anne Hathaway who voiced for Haru. I thought, “hmmmm … interesting”. So I figured I’d try out the English dub for the first few minutes and what do you know, it’s good. I didn’t feel weird or awkward or anything and somehow the voice acting ‘fits’. I mentioned wanting to watch this again when I get the the non-english-audio-subtitle version but maybe before that I think I’ll try out fully the English dub. Till next time.

With work in full steam and nights reserved for family matters, I haven’t as much made a significant dent in the now ever bulging monstrosity called ‘The Backlog’. How about weekends? Well, let’s just say they are reserved to wandering around anywhere, but mostly in Akihabara, looking for things that catch my attention.

Speaking of catching attention, I usually find titles to watch just by that concept. Basically just add to the list those anime that catch my attention or at the very least being led to it by another trigger. And that basically is how my watch list grows ^_^*.

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Take the case of Neko no Ongaeshi. I just saw this show on tv (I forgot what Japanese channel was it on) where a certain girl is surprised by a talking cat. Now I didn’t know what the show’s title was at that time and I only came to know the girl’s name, Haru. I felt that this show is nice and worth watching but I don’t know the title. So who you gonna call? Google! Hoping for some luck, I typed these keywords ‘anime neko haru’ and voila! It worked.

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Sometimes, just being at the right place and the right time can lead to interesting stuff. I was just lurking around anidb when I encountered this seemingly interesting show titled ‘Kamichu.’ I tried the first episode and it immediately clicked. The character designs are nicely done and the premise of the story about the main character, Hitotsubashi Yurie, becoming a god is interesting enough. With the light feel of the show, I am beginning to like it better than the other more popular student god *cough* Haruhi *cough*. Here’s to another show that I am looking forward to watching. 

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More than once, I have been lead to different anime by music. A recent example was Sousei no Aquarion redirecting me to an anime of the same name. But it was Kotoko songs that lead me to more anime than others, ‘Dudiduwa’ lead me to Mahou Shoujotai Arusu and in this case, following the music lead me to Kannazuki no Miko. One thing that surprises me is that although I am not deliberately avoiding the genre, ‘mecha’ anime just finds its way to my watch list without my conscious knowledge :p. Funny that this also was the same case for Sousei no Aquarion. Two shows I watched without doing much background check and turning out different than what was expected hehe ^_^*.

And totally unexpected it was. What drew me into this anime was just the simple mention of it having a Kotoko song ‘Re-Sublimity’. Being a Kotoko enthusiast, I gladly picked this up for the chance to see (or hear) it being used. And what’s more is that it also has ‘agony’ and ‘Suppuration –core’. That aside, I wasn’t expecting much and as for the show itself, I can’t also say much as I am not used to fanservice and although the animation is nicely done, the story is a bit loose. Basically I’m just in it for the music :p.

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On the other hand, I find Angelic Layer much more suitable for my tastes. Animation nicely done, a bit addicting soundtrack, story’s a typical tournament anime where a highly talented main characters goes from a newbie to a master and catches the hearts of others around all but overall a pretty much enjoyable anime. I also feel like watching this again as like the soundtrack, this show’s also a bit addicting by which I would give this a high replay value :). I just sometimes can’t help comparing the show’s main character, Misaki-chan, with Akari-chan from Aria though. Must be the twin locks I guess. But they do have some slight similarities in character :3.

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Moving on, I have finally queued to my watch list the Seikai no Monshou/Seikai no Senki series, another show that was brought to my attention some time ago. In fact I already took a sneak peak on the first episode and it surely does live to the hype I have built up. I feel that this is going to be a show that I could enjoy very well. On a sidenote, it has been a long time since I watched a space series ala Babylon 5 or Star Trek Generations and now with anime as a main interest, another addition to my look-forward-to list :D.

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Hmmm … now that I think about it, a lot of anime seem to be catching my attention these days. Here’s another one from my looking-forward-to list … Figure 17 Tsubasa & Hikaru, a sort-of lighthearted action anime. Just think of a ‘slice of life’ show with the atmosphere that gives a kind of slow paced relaxing feel at the start where things are normal but with a twist of action at some point. Even with just a sneak peek, I like it already. Tsubasa-chan, the main character has a personality I can empathize with and she’s cute and pretty much likeable. Plus she would gain something awesome at the end of the first episode. Something that have also passed my imagination before and that is having someone appear in your life who is just like you but really not exactly like you but probably is the you that you think you should be :D. One notable thing I would like to point out about this anime is its time format of around 46 minutes and it is a welcome format for me as it would mean more enjoyment … happy happy joy joy \o/. (The themes, esp the opening theme ‘Boy‘ by Alfee, are also nice :D).

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Well, that’s enough for my misc blabber. I sure wish I could actually move from just watching sneak peeks to actually watching the entire series. For now I am trying to avoid sneak peeking as it could be counterproductive to be too much overhyped ^_^* on my other acquisitions such as Planetes, Paradise Kiss, Ichigo Mashimaro, Majo no Takyuubin, Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto, Mononoke Hime, Brave Story (didn’t even knew that this existed while playing the psp game of the same title until someone mentioned it), Tokyo Godfathers, and Haibane Renmei to name a few.

Unfortunately, like all good things, this mini-golden age will be nearing its end soon. I will be returning to my home country next week. But hopefully, I see this as a chance to slow down my backlog’s growth spurt and start to fully enjoy all these anime that I am happily looking forward to watching and eventually share some thoughts about them. Till next time. :D

A few months ago, I was introduced by absolute0 to a show titled ‘Mononoke.’ This anime is my first take on the ‘horror’ genre. However, I kept putting this show on hold for many times already because of the fact that I have reservations on ‘horror’-type shows. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t watch any (I have watched ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Exorcism on Emily Rose’), it is just that I decided to watch, err … marathon this show in the daytime ahehehe ^_^*.

Anyway, I did watch the first two episodes of this anime and the thing that comes into my mind is that this show seems to have come from an ‘art festival’ or something. It is a good show in my opinion (at least I think it will be a good show) based on the first two episodes but I just needed a ‘trigger’ or opportunity to marathon this.

In the meantime, I have decided to relive an old favorite. As of the moment, I am currently watching ‘Akazukin Chacha’. This is one of the oldest anime that I can remember with ‘Magical Princess’ as my very first subject of admiration :3 <3 (I wouldn’t call it fanboyism though :p). I have always loved this show for its loveable characters and the humor ^_^ and I still do. All in all, this show is very much charming and totally enjoyable.

Indeed this coming to Japan has brought a lot of blessings it feels like a mini-‘golden age’. With this golden age, I have added a lot to the backlogs already ^_^*. A recent addition was ‘Gakkou no Kaidan’, a show that could distract me more from watching Mononoke and before that was ‘Seikai no Monshou’, a show I am very much eager to watch since I found out about it. I am currently waiting for ‘Seikai no Senki’ before I would start Seikai no Monshou and once I do, this will be my first of the ‘Space Opera’ genre. Currently waiting to be added to my backlog ^_^* are ‘Fantastic Children’, ‘Angelic Layer’ and ‘A Little Snow Fairy Sugar.’ I’m totally looking forward to watch these. (Here I am self-hyping again :p)

For the other news, I have been walking around Akihabara during the weekends and in one particular shop, I just happened to notice a preview on a display with what seems to be a song called ‘U-U-Uma-Uma.’ The accompanying dance animation seemed very familiar as I have been seeing a lot of it in MyAnimeList user profiles and club pages. The song is also very catchy and as soon as I got back, I decided to look into it. After a little bit of checking, I found out that this song was titled ‘Caramelldansen’ and confirming my suspicions, it is not japanese but in fact it was by a Swedish group named ‘Caramell.’

On a sidenote, while I was searching for info on Caramelldansen, I stumbled upon this article. Based on it, I realized that I am a candidate for the ‘living under a pebble’ category :(. At least I am happy that I was able to update myself a little lol :p. Not to mention the videos referred to in the article are absolutely cool, especially the Hatsune-Miku-Nendoroid-tachi dancing video (^_^)=b. Me thinks me should drop by at the Hatsune Miku clubs in MAL. Ja ne.

It has been a while since I last watched a series in a constant pace (a bit less than what would be considered as a ‘marathon’ XD). This has been possible for now because I have been temporarily issued a machine for use in work here in Japan and what better way to spend the weekday nights after work than to work on a little bit on my anime backlog ^_^*. So for now here are my quick thoughts on two titles I find nice and enjoying.

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Sousei no Aquarion … I was pointed to this anime by absolute0 of The Scrumptious Anime Blog when he gave me a music clip of this show’s theme ‘Sousei no Aquarion’, and ‘Genesis of Aquarion.’ I can say that the songs were ‘catchy’ and it got stuck up in mind for a while eventually leading me to the anime. From watching the show and comparing to what I was thinking of it based on the anime, the difference is big. First of all, I never expected it to be a mecha show and was thinking more on it being drama. (Well, I usually don’t research much on the titles I plan to watch due to my inherent aversion to spoilers so there lol :p). 

Sousei no Aquarion, set in a post-apocalyptic world, is generically about a group of people in an agency fighting off fallen angels from the fallen land of Atlantis who regard humans as livestock (humans as livestock? Hmmmm .. this sounds familiar *cough* claymore *cough*). Anyway, to say more about this show, I’d say that I always felt that this was weird and kinda creepy at times. I still can’t explain why but that was what I usually get during the first half of the series. But creeped out or not, I still liked this show. The level of the character development taken was above than what I usually notice. Furthermore, this show is very philosophical in sense with almost each episode being like a philosophical lesson. My favorite line from this show is:
“Distance and time are only an illusion created by the hesitation of the human heart”

Yahho … this post was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago but as they say, better late than never ^_^*. 

Anyway, the thing is that this introvert just happened to be unluckily picked to assist in testing in Japan. T_T. I say ‘unluckily’ because being the introvert that I am, I am not worthy to do such things and all I could think of are many negative things that could possibly happen if I would be subjected to such an undertaking. (let’s say I am a sort-of-disciple of ‘Moore’s Law’-ism) Hence, I have been trying to avoid such attempts for a few times but sad to say, I got cornered this time and had to concede (guess Moore’s Law works the other way around also :p).

So here I am now in Japan and for the 2 weeks since I arrived, all I can say is that it is ok so far. I kind of like the current season and weather and as a whole, I like place (can’t blame me since this is a jump from a third-world to a first-world country). But being the introvert that I am, I don’t go around much … especially with the last incident at Akihabara where I must be wary of copycats and also with the recent earthquake at Honshou (waaaa … Moore’s Law at work or am I a harbinger of something2x?). On the bright side, I am now able to progress a little bit from my huge anime backlog and for the past weeks, I was able to view Sousei no Aquarion and Moyashimon ~ Tales of Agriculture and am now trying out some others.

But mind you, I wouldn’t spend my entire short stay here in Japan just working on my anime backlog :p. Even with the introvert in me, I would still like to tour around even for just a little bit, enjoying the sights, visiting some landmarks, and experiencing the local cuisine. Not to mention that since I am also an anime enthusiast, I should grab this opportunity to visit Akihabara for some tech and anime goodies … mmmmmmmmm … 

Yaho … still alive da yo … ^_^ been ‘sort of’ busy for the past few weeks (or is it months already? @_@) *fades away* … anyway, to minimize the impact or better yet, to avert a possible ‘state of withdrawal’ due to long periods of anime deprivation, I figured a slow consumption of three titles in parallel (well, sort of parallel) will suffice as some kind of life-support for the hard times ahead :p. Now I can say that it worked out fine ^_^*. Although the ‘Busy Season’ may not yet be over, I see smooth sailing ahead.

Back to topic, I started watching these titles in this order; Ergo Proxy -> Claymore -> Seirei no Moribito. And since there are three titles in this ‘Quick Thoughts’ post, here is what I can ‘quickly’ say:

Lol … that simple? :p … although I am comparing apples to oranges to peaches here, my basis for judgement is the same for all three: the overall enjoyment factor.

But enough of the comparisons, here are the individual quick thoughts:

Ergo Proxy … the first thing that came to mind when I first heard of the title is a computer-based sci fi. I don’t do much background checks on the titles I pick so I never had any idea what to expect of this show. All I know is that this was sci-fi and to a person with sci-fi interests, it was enough for a go signal.

Set in a pseudo-dystopian-utopian future, Ergo Proxy is a psychological show with a theme centering on raison d’etre or purpose of existence. In this story, there is a level of control/rules and with control comes regulations and with these regulations come the imposition of tasks and duties on the characters that give rise to the purpose-of-existence motif.

The story is deep but even with the mental/psychological aspect put in plus some dark undertones, it was still a light watch for me. The characters are cool and likeable (with one of them turning out to be verrryyy likeable that I am a self-professed ‘Pino-fan’. As to who Pino is, you would need to find out for yourselves. All I can tell you is that I consider her a special charcter of the series). In addition, I see no annoying aspects whatsoever and with regards to the story, I can say that it unfolds nicely up to the climax culminating into a satisfactory end.

As for who will this be good for, I am not really sure. This is a good sci-fi anime and it can sometimes toy a little bit with your mind so this might work well with sci-fi and thriller story enthusiasts. But for the general viewership, if ever you would get to try this, I suggest you watch at least 4 episodes to see if this will strike a tune within you. :)

Claymore … now this one is a first for me, a bloodbath anime (The last time I watched something close-to-“similar” was Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol.1 :p). The story is simple in nature; world is farm for ‘yoma’ with humans as the ‘livestock’, yoma-fused humans called claymores hunt down these yoma. Main character for this story is a certain claymore named Clare and a oh-no-I-think-this-kid-will-turn-out-to-be-annoying-in-the-future lad named Raki in what would follow in the standard formula of soon-to-be-symbiotic-support-pair (even though one is seen to be very/clearly useless in all other aspects ;)).

Anyway, I have heard a lot of negative feedbacks about this anime but those are mostly a result of being compared to the Claymore manga from which this anime adaptation comes from. However, I haven’t read yet the manga so my comments are all based on taking the anime at face value. For me, it is ok as a whole. Decent enough to be enjoyed if you are ok with the mindless hack and slash (I was even concerned for the weapons used as to when they will break :p) … or perhaps more than decent as I really did enjoy the show anyway. The story is ok too, glad Raki didn’t turn out to be ‘that’ annoying and looking at his total air time ;), I’d say a thumbs up for that aspect (well not only that but I could say the same for the whole show as well :D).

That’s it for a quick rundown of the anime, now I just have to find some opportunity to pick up the manga as I get a lot of recommendations for it.

Seirei no Moribito … now we’re talking :D. This is a very nice show. The story goes like this, Balsa, a bodyguard expert in the spear is asked to protect Chagum, a royal prince who seems to be harboring a doomsday spirit, from assassins while at the same time trying to learn more about the condition.

The story is very enjoyable deriving some of its charm from three of the main characters namely Balsa, Chagum and Tanda, the herbalist friend of Balsa. At first I thought that Chagum, being of the royalty, will show some annoying traits but there was none of that. He actually turns out to be a very strong fellow and that is good and like the rest of the cast, is very likeable. The action scenes while few, are nicely done and are notable that is it stays closely within the limits of human parameters (not exhibiting superhuman characteristics of which a lot of shows usually have :p).

Overall a wholesome show I consider a gem among the usual moe, fanservice laden titles out there. A nice watch I would never mind suggesting to any anime enthusiast. (^_^)=b

With Aria being one of my most beloved series, it is but eventual that I would develop an aspiration extending beyond the anime. And it has lead me now to a desire to collect at least 1 figure of each member of the cast.

However, figures are rare in this country of mine and I am sort of not inclined to order from the net (as of now) so the only way for me to acquire some figs would be to ask for the help of others who are in Japan. Luckily, I have some friends/acquaintances who share general interests in anime that were willing to extend that much help.

Then it wasn’t long before I got my very first Aria figure. A friend of mine tried one of those random dispenser machines (He calls them ‘gacha2x’) and got Akari-chan :D. The figure in itself is nicely done imho and I like the fact that this pose has Akari-chan holding a paddle. I especially like the way the face has been done. :3

 
That was a few months before and the count is 1 out of 6 .. still a long way to go yes?. But not anymore because just recently, my wish has been granted. Another friend of mine was able to acquire the other characters. :D.

But I’m not one to complain. One of each is one of each :). But I fear that I may have opened a dangerous ‘Pandora’s box of wanting’ as I now also want to collect the other figures in the Alicia set. T_T. All in good time my dear Hinode .. All in good time.

There is just one thing amiss with this collection though. Care to guess? President Aria Pokoteng is not present D: … unfortunately, he was supposed to come along with the winter set Alicia-san. Guess I have a new fan-goal … secure President Aria *contacts the secret service*.

On a sidenote:
Along with the the Aria figures I was given by another friend a chibi figure of Shiraishi from Lucky Star. It just happened to pop into my mind to take a shoot of him along with the gang and it turned out quite lol :p.

My friend apparently liked the idea so she quickly made this post using an earlier take lol. I do like to point out though that I did not/was not/is not flaunting my precious Aria cast in the office as this and that pic was taken discreetly so as not to illicit any unwanted attention :D.

It has been quite some time since this site started. Fresh out of the box it was and is still is as of now tsk tsk. So for this site’s first (and probably the only) goal for 2008:

Now I hope I can find time to actually achieve this goal. There’s a need to add some navigation features here and there, proper categorization and arrangement of categories which basically means proper layouting and design. In short, a total makeover ^_^*. Have a lot of work ahead of me.