Everytime summer arrives, the big-budget Hollywood movies come too. It seems to be the most lucrative season of mainstream film the whole year, as blockbuster after blockbuster gets released in a span of a few months. Granted that there are some exceptions to the rule, but generally, summer blockbusters are usually shallow, popcorn entertainment for the masses. It's not Oscar season, and so they are just raking in the big bucks for now by offering simple yet fun movies that one would probably forget after a while. In a way, this is how I felt Strike Witches was for me. It is an equivalent of a shallow, popcorny, simple and fun anime blockbuster… with a heavy slice of fanservice. (more…)
We now interrupt this anime program for some interesting developments in the tech world.
It seems that the trend nowadays is to make things "smaller". Since I have a penchant for 'small things' (no pun intended [no rly]), I have been following various tech news and stuff rather closely these past weeks. Actually I'm in the market for new gadgets to fill gaps in my rather already-bloated collection. Before I start delving and salivating on cool and spicy tech gizmos, let me describe what I have right now: (more…)
Originally a shoujo manga aimed at young girls, this is a small anime about a huge topic… or should I say a topic huge to girls who are growing up. Well basically… it's about girls growing up.
I know that a lot of people may not like this anime, and indeed in the surface it just looks like some fanservice anime about young Japanese love/sex/physical education. While the original manga was supposed to be for young girls, I think no modern Japanese parent in their right mind would pick up and buy an OVA anime like this for their growing-up child. I saw a lot of pantsu and underage fanservice goodness, which borders on the absolute controversial. This leads me to think that this time, the anime is specifically aimed at lolicon otakus. And as some of you know, I tend to be a lolicon every now and then (or more often than not lately?). Of course I'm going to give it a positive review merely based on that. NO, I am NOT. I don't like Naisho no Tsubomi just because it completely fulfilled a LOT of my anime preferences… or should I say fetishes. This anime is a surprising and timely reminder of why I am watching anime in the first place. (more…)
My condolences to all the people affected by this incident.
People die everyday, but modern media tends to lean on the more controversial ones rather than focus on the needs of the hungry and war-torn in other parts of the world. I guess they were having a field day when this happened. After all, shock happens when it's rare and one-in-a-million.
It's a perfect recipe. Akihabara, massacre, otaku culture. Same thing with the US version. Columbine, massacre, video games. That's two of my own hobbies there. So, in the "impossible" event that I freak out, get tired of life and start killing people on the streets, pundits will only need to refer to my non-conformities to find out what kind of person I am. Great.
Continue your idiocy you stereotyping, typecasting, racist people.
But by saying that, am I not the same stereotyping, typecasting, racist person? You throw stones at me, I throw stones too. What a fundamental problem in modern society. This kind of behavior can't be helped, really. A hopeless case for someone who strives for peace in this world.
While other people would say that this story will just die out, I say never. It doesn't deserve to die. Let the debates continue. Issues like discrimination should always be talked about. I am not a US citizen, but I like that you have a non-conformist guy to potentially be your President (please vote Obama).
I guess the Tragedy, Hope title would have been better applied to this story. Let me connect a bit of the Sakura factor in this one too. Remember, Sakura was different. She was eternally young. Wouldn't that be an issue of discrimination/envy in their Da Capo world? We don't see that in the games. I imagine that sometime between those 50 years, there came a time when people had become suspicious of Sakura. People may label her as a witch, deep inside feeling envious that she can never grow old… or not die at all even. But I also imagine at some point, people start seeing her beyond her physical appearance. As a person. As the same human being that they all are, despite the minor difference. Eventually they loved her, elected her as school principal, and possibly be a huge contributor in society. Her sakura magic research may even be more useful someday, and somehow people may trust her in searching for the truth in the magic. This is the hidden story that I wanted to believe. I hope society can learn from this too, accepting differences of other people instead of persecuting them. Maybe the Akihabara tragedy may have been avoided if the world, and all the people in it, were in a more open-minded state of being.
Knowing about the true story of Sakura in anime form was unprecedented for me. Even if I had already skimmed the surface, I guess the tale can still be told effectively in another way. The most important part of the experience though, is that I can relate somewhat to the character. Yes, Yoshino Sakura's trials, tribulations and tragedies reflect my own set of current real-life problems. As a result, my heart breaks yet again for this fictional character, and in part, this fictional character gave me a source of reference, reflection and inspiration of myself. (more…)
Yet another Touhou doujin music, but this one's interesting. It not only derives from Touhou, but from other meme references like a certain Idolmaster song, the Mojipittan song, Haruhi, the Onmyouji song, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and a reference to all the flat-chested anime girls in the world. All mixed together in a catchy-cute package made by doujin music maker Silver Forest. The song is effective enough to make me listen to it time and time again. The viral flash video seems equally hectic too, although I don't see many unique versions.
Yet another Touhou doujin music, but this one's interesting. It not only derives from Touhou, but from other meme references like a certain Idolmaster song, the Mojipittan song, Haruhi, the Onmyouji song, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, and a reference to all the flat-chested anime girls in the world. All mixed together in a catchy-cute package made by doujin music maker Silver Forest. The song is effective enough to make me listen to it time and time again. The viral flash video seems equally hectic too, although I don't see many unique versions.
Remember this little cute scene in Lucky Star where Yutaka-chan silently listens to music, slowly bobs her head to the tune, and then sings some lines of Mojipittan? Absolute moe~! In the original scene though, it's completely silent before she sang, so many wondered what she was listening to. Now that we know, shall we make her listen to other songs instead?
It gets old fairly quickly but please do look at some of these, some are equally cute, and some weird ones as well. There are also those long long medleys of multiple songs, but those sometimes lose the point entirely. I think there are better ways to go about this meme, so I'm looking forward to seeing more out of this Yutaka-chan listening scene.
Remember this little cute scene in Lucky Star where Yutaka-chan silently listens to music, slowly bobs her head to the tune, and then sings some lines of Mojipittan? Absolute moe~! In the original scene though, it's completely silent before she sang, so many wondered what she was listening to. Now that we know, shall we make her listen to other songs instead?It gets old fairly quickly but please do look at some of these, some are equally cute, and some weird ones as well. There are also those long long medleys of multiple songs, but those sometimes lose the point entirely. I think there are better ways to go about this meme, so I'm looking forward to seeing more out of this Yutaka-chan listening scene.
The new Niconico (9) site is quite confusing I agree. All we gotta do Just Be (β) http://bit.ly/2BWLNF>>>7 hours ago
Updating #NaNoWriMo 2000+ word count for the fail. I'm probably 8000 words behind the schedule. >>>18 hours ago
Ok I only know him by snippets and I don't care about Faux News, but Jon Stewart's parody of Glenn Beck is spot-on+EPIC http://is.gd/4OSGX>>>18 hours ago
Es ~dirty aspiration~ subbed by me http://bit.ly/1Pnjvb I went with the Mitani Nana version because it's so epic. >>>24 hours ago
@Canon2D Now it needs MikuMikuDance for the ultimate perfection. >>>2009/11/06
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