Whoops I did it again…

neglected my blog, got lost in my work, ooo baby baby…

But enough of that. K-On! ended and I’ll be posting my review of the final few episodes soon. Basquash! 13 aired which was easily one of the best episodes this season, so I’ll post some thoughts on that as well.

Maybe a post season look at most of the animes I watched, if I have the heart to do so.

A big FINALLY for Medicom’s Shikinami Asuka Langley, which is now available for preorder. After 2 months of checking daily for preorders, sheesh. The things I do for love.

Finally, DAICON is this month (in a fortnight’s time actually), and I’ll be there with the TFM people.

More Sanya

Moeyo has a preview sample! Click here.

Interchangeable propellers like Alter’s Miyafuji. No big surprise there. The Striker Unit doesn’t look half as good as the one on Alter’s Miyafuji – maybe due to the lack of panel lining? Sanya’s unit is black so I guess there’s not much Kotobukiya can do about it. I wish the propellers looked liked the ones on Miyafuji though, and not so plasticky.

Surprisingly, the rest of the figure is quite an accurate depection of Sanya. All the decals are there, including the star on Sanya’s tie. Her lil brown pouch is also present. Whatelse? The Fliegerhummer is suitably massive. And of course there’s that camel toe, that Moeyo terms ‘a dynamic V-shaped opening’.

/facepalm

Too bad the face is still disappointing. Ah well, can’t win them all.

Kotobukiya’s Sanya V. Litvyak is open for preorder!

1/8 scale, 215cm tall with the base (she floats), 185cm without. September release. Pic spam inc.

Random comments: The face isn’t 100% Sanya. Very prominent camel toe. Propellers look kinda plasticky.

The camel toe made me wince. I’m the guy with Blanc and Noir, Orchid Seed’s Al Azif and Another Blood, Chu Chu and Pixie in my collection, and I winced. Color it flesh and pink and Sanya would be an ero-ero figure to beat all the other ero figures I have.

In the end this looks to be a very normal figure, but hey its Sanya. The day they announced this was the day they took my money.

Princess Waltz erogay

I don’t usually play eroges. I can’t read Japanese, so what’s the point? Yes, some eroges get translated, but still, sitting in my chair clicking through a gazillion lines of dialogue isn’t my idea of fun. Type-moon games are the notable exceptions, but how many eroges have that level of story?

Well, it so happened that I ran out of things to download a couple of weekends ago. There was Princess Waltz’s advert, telling me to ‘download it now’, so I figured what the heck and did as I was told. Once downloaded and installed, I booted up the game and got ready for some virtual sex.

Except, when it got to the sex part, I clicked as hard and as fast as I could to get pass it. Why? Here’s why:

its a man!

Meet Chris Northfield, the main heroine of Princess Waltz, the woman you fall in love with, and ultimately sleep with. Unfortunately, Chris really really wants to be a prince. Half of the time she’s whining and bitching about being born a girl, and the other half of the time she’s emo-ing about not wanting to love you because, well, she’s a guy. In fact, she spends the majority of the game dressed as a guy, acting like a guy, and talking like a guy, except with PMS.

Worst yet, she sounds like Naruto.

Later on (after you sleep with her) you find out she’s your half sister. So add incest to the list of yucks.

The sex scenes are god-awful. I wouldn’t even call what Chris has as ‘breast’. They looked more like man-tits. Oh and when she gives the main character head, wow, was that hard to swallow seeing a ‘man’ sucking another man’s dick. Note that I used the plural of scene – you have to sit through the horror twice.

There’s better stuff towards the end. You get another sex scene with one girl of your chosing (though you remind said girl that Chris is the most important girl to you. What kind of moron tells a girl he’s about to sleep with that she’s second choice?). And then there’s the game’s card battle system. Yes, card battle. The developers want you to work for that sex scene.

By the way, there are some scenes that are blatant rip off of scenes from Fate/Stay Night. Half of the time I half expected someone to shout ‘EXCALIBUR!’.

I did finish the game, but I attribute that to sheer boredom. If you came here looking for a review, here’s the verdict: don’t bother.

Kemono no Souja Erin

Kemono no Souja Erin (獣の奏者エリン, The Beast Player) is one of the most under rated anime currently broadcasting. Heck, there’s only one group subbing it – Static-Subs (SS). I’ve been getting their releases from day one of the broadcast but it wasn’t until this weekend that I found some time to sit down and watch the series.

I was so hooked I marathon-ed the entire 15 episodes available in one and a half days.

Erin lives in a world where the empire, ruled by the descendants of a God-king, keeps the peace using beast known as touda. Touda are giant, purple colored crocodiles, and are ridden into war by the elite warriors of the empire. None can stand against them, and thus the empire thrives. This leads to the touda enjoying an extremely high status within the empire, especially the Kiba – the biggest and strongest of the toudas. Entire villages are dedicated to the breeding of toudas, with dedicated ‘beastinarians’ attending to their care. Harming a touda means death.

a Kiba, elite amongst the touda

Erin lives in one such village, the Ake, with her mother Soyon who is the villages top beastinarian. Despite this status, Soyon is an outcast of sorts. She belongs to a race of people known as the Arryo – the ‘People of the Mist’ – who have a reputation as shady, sorcerous people. The Arryo also have distinctive green hair and eyes, a trait Erin inherits even though she’s only half Arryo.

Erin

more Erin cos she’s so cute

Soyon

The first few episodes of Erin have a ‘slice of life’ (or rather, problem of the week) feel, as Erin grows up and learns about the touda from Soyon. You’ll immediately realize that Erin is very bright, picking up knowledge and solving the problems faced in each episode. You’ll also notice that Soyon is a tired, sad woman who seems to carry an enormous burden, with only Erin as the bright spark in her life.

mother and child

Things get really interesting after half a dozen episodes. To reveal anymore would be spoiling it. Suffice to say that Erin is fated to play a role in the future of her world, and there is indication that the story will take a turn towards the epic. Frodo inherits ring and embarks to Mordor kind of epic.

Erin is produced by Production I.G., but don’t expect awesome 3D art. The look of the show is very unique, and much of the scenery is breathtaking, but there are some scenes that have very iffy animation. One of the first scenes showing toudas running across the battlefield was… funny, to say the least.

some art from the show

scenery like this one gives the show a unique look

not so bad in a screen shot. animated they’re plain darn weird

Character design is on the cartoonish side. Think children’s anime. I never liked the pug/huge nosed type characters, and you’ll find them in abundance over here. Thankfully the main characters are well designed. Erin is cute as a button, and Soyon is the inheritor of I.G.’s ‘strong female’ mantle – seeing her reminds me of Motoko (GITS) and Balsa (Seirei no Moribito).

comic relieve characters. hate that nose

Jone, an important character later on. again that nose

One department in which Erin definitely shines is the music. The opening is by Sukima Switch, and the ending is by Cossami, who also provide the insert songs. I’ve never heard of Cossami, but after a few episode I became a fan. Their music features a stripped down, acoustic feel – very pleasant on the ears, and very well employed by I.G. in scenes involving Erin and Soyon. The background music in Erin features harps, pipes and acoustic guitars, and again makes for very easy listening. Its one of the OSTs I definitely want in my collection.

Erin is set for 50 episodes, a suitable number for an epic tale (it also suffers from the usual fate of long animes – there’s already one recap episode so far). So far 21 episodes have been broadcast, with 15 episodes subbed by SS. Being SS, sub and video quality is top notch. Couldn’t have asked for a better group to be the only ones subbing Erin.

It really is a shame to see such an amazing series not recieving much attention. My readership isn’t amazing, but hopefully I’ll at least get a few people to watch this show. Really guys, go watch Erin.

Whoops…

I posted about KyoAni mistaking a Korg tuner for a Yamaha yesterday. Truth is, they actually didn’t get it wrong.

This is what Azu-nyan uses:

Azu-nyan’s

This is the Korg AW1 tuner:

Korg AW1

And this is the Yamaha TD-30M tuner:

Yamaha TD-30M

Obvious similarities is obvious. Well, it seems in Japan, the Korg AW1 is marketed under the Yamaha brand via an OEM agreement. Can’t blame me for not knowing, since the one I have experience with is a Korg. Still, that’ll teach me not to gleefully jump at opportunities to prove KyoAni wrong.

Its interesting to note however that the Korg AW1 has been replaced by the AW2, and the Yamaha model isn’t sold beyond Japan. I wonder how this will affect prices.

K-On! 10

We finally hit double digits! To celebrate, the K-On bou girls decide to take us to the beach for some fan service. Cheer cheer!

but we have nothing to show off! Mio always steals the show!

you think you have it bad? what about me?

its ok, your moe factor alone ensures that you have more fans and screen time then the others despite being the newest member

Yep, its band practice at Mugi’s villa, the beach, and a lot of fan service again, only this time we have Azu-nyan along. Least you think the girls are cheap, they all get new bikinis. Here’s a shot of Mio and Azu-nyan, with Mugi’s butt for good measure.

hot if you’re normal, hot if you like lolis, and hot if you’re into eyebrows

There’s plenty of reference to episode 04 – barnacles, stranded on an uninhibited island, fireworks… Ritsu also suggests a ‘test of courage’ (its a Japanese tradition, at least in anime), with predictable results regarding Mio.

BARNACLES! I think we actually didn’t have Mio doing ‘the scream’ in episode 09, so…

KyoAni (over)compensates

What else? We have some awesome product placement:

that’s all fine and dandy, except…

its actually Korg…

Kinda like the Fender Les Paul boo boo that got fixed in the widescreen edition? Still, expect the Korg to fly off the shelf despite sudden inflated prices. After all, resistance is futile.

And then there’s a moment of sheer ludicrous idioticy from Yui and Ritsu that most people will miss.

…

is this where TFM members get their whole roll here roll there thing?

Followed by a moment of sheer ludicrous idioticy from the broadcaster that most people won’t miss.

the infamous magical fog

I mean, what the shit? Look closely and you’ll see that Azu-nyan’s arms are held tight to her chest. Besides, its KyoAni, who don’t even show us pantsu. The scene’s probably safer than an episode of the Teletubbies (one of them is gay!). Did they have to fog up the scene? Whatever, DVD edition inc.

Oh, and what on earth is this?

how do 4chan-ners say it? 3D pig do not want?

Felli daki

Ahem.

Chara-high Felli Loss dakimakura, July release. Hobby Search link here.

Felli sempaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiii

Same maker as my Sanya dakimakura. Same price as well.

p.s. There’s also a blond barbarian dakimakura. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

K-On! 09

Episode 9 is dedicated Azusa fan service. Azusa fans rejoice!

a mini Mio with twin tails

When quizzed, Azusa claims to be a beginner guitarist. However, when given Yui’s guitar and asked to play something, she’s anything but! In fact, she’s so much better than Yui that Yui starts panicking over her sempai status.

or maybe she’s actually Jimmy Page with twin tails

But poor Azusa. She very enthusiastically shows up for club activities, only to get served a cup of tea. The girls start chit chatting like usual, and after a bit Azusa blows her cool. She goes into full blown rant mode until Yui calms her down with a hug and some cakes.

k-on, teaching otakus how to…

…bait lolis

And then Sawa-chan gives her a pair of nekomimis and we get more service. After Azusa puts them on, she officially becomes Azu-nyan.

K-On! Origins: Azu-nyan

Mio finally steps in and warns the other girls about the danger of losing Azu-nyan if they keep fooling around. I think what she had in mind was practice sessions, but in the end the girls organize a welcoming party for Azu-nyan instead.

takoyaki down the hatch!

Sawa-chan brings costumes! do the girls change in the open? do they?

With no improvement to the level of seriousness within the K-On bou, Azu-nyan starts skipping practice. When she finally shows up again, she questions the girls why their performance during the club recritment mini concert so captivated her that she decided to join. Anyone with half a brain can probably see the answer from miles out, but here’s how Mio puts it:

2 idiots and a vending machine, fun!

Well, that settles the issue of Azu-nyan. There’s one thing about episode 09 that bugs me though… Who on earth is this supposed to be?

looks kinda gay. Azu-nyan twin tails don’t help

Cool devices

Sankaku regulars would have heard of the Evangelion phone and the concept Eden of the East phones.

Evangelion phone by NTTDoCoMo

Eden of the East concept phone by NEC

With the recent release of SPB Mobile Shell 3.0 and its customizable lifestyle homescreen (wallpaper, widgets etc), I was hoping to customize the look of my Omnia into something cool. I managed to get a NERV wallpaper, but attempts to find a Evagelion like clock and battery indicator apps failed miserably. Now if I were on the iPhone… they have this from Appliya.

more proof that the iPhone’s a toy

SPB Shell 3.0 is a very new program, so more widgets will probably get released in the coming months, but considering how specific the look of the clock and battery I want is, I’ll probably have to learn XML to get what I want.