That’s right! A new season is coming out soon! Hopefully the shows this season have less on bouncing boobs and more brain friendly material.

Currently the highlights are:

Hot loli bad ass seductress? Give!

Dance in the Vampire Bund: Another Shaft piece of work. The preview have promised us action and violence. Shaft have often delivered very well done scenes (when they do actually finish and not run out of time) and their choices in works are often… unique to say the least. This one is about a vampire who managed to pay off Japan’s national debt in return for a haven for vampires. However, before the press conference, she was attacked by a terrorist group.

Interesting art style. Do like! I just hope the production house doesn't screw it up

Durarara!: Made by the creator of Baccano! If some of you never watched Baccano before, watch it! A beautifully woven storyline with a multitude of characters seemed to be the speciality of this writer. I just hope that the music is as good as Baccano. Unlike Baccano, this one is set in modern day Tokyo. Looking forward to the headless Irish fairy.

Here’s the current chart:

http://ganbatte.kokidokom.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/winter0910v1.jpg

Staplers~

Well, it’s been a long while, but I felt like writing. : P

When I went through the trailer for last season. Two things caught my eye. One is, of course, Canaan (because I’m a TM Otaku) and the other is Bakemonogatari. The trailer was strange in that it didn’t have very much of the anime itself in it, but rather Shaft kanjis, yet the mysterious air that surrounds it brought me in immediately. And then Senjougahara appeared. If anything, I’m a sucker for character design. If a girl can look beautiful and gar at the same time, then I’m probably sold in watching the show. And during that time that was all it had. Yet it proceeded all expectation and became the top anime of the season amongst 2channers.

However, what was it that made it so good? Character design can only go so far. I was skeptical of the show at first. I complained about the artsy background, that didn’t seem to add very much into either the visual aspect nor the metaphorical aspect (or at the very least a definite metaphorical aspect) of the show. I complained, less so, about the not-so-random kanjis being thrown about. I fear that this show might end up as another Maria+Holic or, even worse, Pani Poni Dash. It’s been too often that I feel shafted when watching Shaft stuff. Horrible pun, I know. Kill me : P.

Story wise, Bakemonogatari is unusual, but is in no way unique. There is plenty of supernatural-myth anime around, some of which I won’t bother to announce. In the end it is about struggles that people face when they grow up. Feeling betrayed by family. Feeling homeless. Repressed desire. These are all very common themes that surrounded many anime.

No, what made this the best anime in the season is Senjougahara-sama and Arararagi-kun, and the relationship between the two. Bakemonogatari is about people’s problems, but behind that, it is about a romance between two. Everything that happened (aside from Nadeko Sengoku, but she’s awesome ) leads towards the abrupt ending (at least to the tv-airing) of Senjougahara and Araragi lying there, below the stars, as Senjougahara gave herself to Araragi. The lines from that scene was just beautiful.

It was even more beautiful when you realised how awkward Senjougahara is when it comes to relationships. There was never a time where she was acting particularly dere, but my god, in her very straight forward and unique way she bares herself to Araragi. When you think about it, considering what Senjougahara went through in the past, it was almost unthinkable for her to even get into a relationship, and yet, she still went into a level of intimacy that was, to me, unknown.

Bakemonogatari reigns supreme as last season’s top anime, not because of the staples, the shaftiness, Sengoku, or the fancy pantsu. But because of the well paced dialogue and the well developed intimacy that was created from the very beginning to the very end without me realizing it. It’s certainly a hit or miss series, but you should watch and ep or two.

G-Good day, this is Momizi, a colleague of mercspy. She is currently indisposed of due to certain circumstances involving Komachi-san and Yamaxanadu-sama. Aya-san has ordered me to take up her slack until she returns, so here are some of the news mercspy has gathered:

• The new season of Spice and Wolf has been dated and is set to air in July. And a Horo hand puppet has been scheduled for sale 1 month after the anime has been aired.
• Hidden amongst the Haruhi re-run, episode 8 proves to be the start of the second season of the much anticipated anime, airing chronologically compared to its original run. In addition, the new ED single will be on sale in Japan August 26.
• After the original info leak, the Sunshine Creation convention will be returing this coming 27 of September.
• The Kanon fan translation project is going well, having only Mai’s and Ayu’s route left to be done before being fully translated. Non-Japanese speaking fans of Key visual novels will be delighted to be able to enjoy the original visual novel in English.
• And finally, in addition to Ryougi Shiki being in Melty Blood Actress Again, the game will also include a 3rd edition of Akiha in her school uniform.

U-um… that is all for now… until mercspy returns…

Yup, it’s Haruhi second season! Sankaku has confirmed this and I’m damn hyper about it!

It seems that first second season episode is the Bamboo Leaf Rhaspody, I don’t know anything about it since I never read the light novel but I know its going to be

Legen-

wait for it…

-DARY! LEGENDARY!

Now, I am going to sleep while waiting for the (speed) sub!

Better than the original, BY FAR!

I admit that my taste of anime belongs to the area that could be described as Romance + Growing Up anime. 5cm/second, Honey and Clover, FLCL (yes, it counts), Place Promised in our Early Days. Futakoi Alternative belongs somewhere here too, somewhere alongside FLCL, which says quite a lot about the show.

The story starts out rather simply, and abruptly, with a military cargo plane being attacked by a random white tentacle monster, and two twin moe-lolis’ desperate attempt to escape the tentacles. After a few minutes of gun fires and explosions, the two jumped off the plane and parachuted down to safety. They have nothing to do with the rest of the story.

Nothing to do with the rest of the story

What the story is about a young private detective in his early twenties,Futaba Rentaro, his two (unofficial) assistants, Shirogane Sara and Soju, and their daily life. Similar to FLCL, the messages and meanings behind each episode is buried in a few meters of randomness. The difference is that Futakoi Alternative is a lot more subtle and more down to earth than FLCL (not a hard feat to pull off).

I always liked it when the main character actually has attitude

The meaningful moments in this anime does not derive from a grandstand on top of the building (ok fine, sometimes it does, but not often), but rather from smaller things, such as the number of sugars one take for their coffee. Or a simple walk through the city, talking to the people that you care about. And because of this, it is easy to relate to the characters within the anime.

The cups that will always make me smile

I believe this anime drove 25% of the people inside the screening room out in the first two episodes. I, on the other hand, sat there, transfixed. I first watched Futakoi Alternative when I was in High School, and when I had to make more space in my hard drive, I deleted it, and after a few years, I have forgotten it. Watching it again, I regretted that decision, and silently made space in my hard drive for the show. The animation is old and mediocre (compared to, say Clannad), the music was alright ( I do like the ED and OP though), and the storyline was in the verge of insanity, but my god, it’s a damn good anime.

Never fails to draw an "awwww..." out of me.

What attracts me to this type of anime is its simplicity. While I agree that there’s nothing like the image of a bifauxnen
in a kimono and red leather jacket wielding a knife, the warmth that comes from being able to truly understand the feeling behind a simple scene that you yourself has experienced is…golden.

-Yumekki

This isn't what I ordered!

Zetsubou shita!

Studio Shaft has left me in despair!

Rei objects to the referencing of other anime

What did you say?!

Hmmm... that look oddly familiar...

Why... it's our favourite... wait- Is that some HEAT reference I see?

Our favourite aliens! Jean-Luc Picard and Kyon!

Yukkuri shiteitte ne!

Fear the power of Rule ⑨!

Let's play find the cameos!

Media is <3

Just don't piss her off!

When 1 isn't enough...

Miyako and Kurumi will pierce through the heavens!

And that’s it for now! Don’t want to overload the system and why aren’t you watching this awesome OVA yet for more?

]]> http://thousandmemories.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/pani-poni-dash-ova/feed/ 0 mercspy ppd-ova-01 ppd-ova-02 ppd-ova-03 ppd-ova-04 ppd-ova-05 ppd-ova-06 ppd-ova-07 ppd-ova-08 ppd-ova-09 ppd-ova-10 ppd-ova-11 ppd-ova-13 ppd-ova-14 ppd-ova-15 ppd-ova-12 http://thousandmemories.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/%e7%b5%b6%e6%9c%9b%e3%81%97%e3%81%9f/ http://thousandmemories.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/%e7%b5%b6%e6%9c%9b%e3%81%97%e3%81%9f/#comments Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:06:40 +0000 mercspy http://thousandmemories.wordpress.com/?p=81 ]]>

Zetsubou shita! The TIME Magazine’s World’s Most Influential Person has left me in despair! I kid you not, fellow readers, it’s moot, the founder of 4chan, with Anwar Ibrahim being the runner up! What is this- I don’t even- I’m left utterly speechless by this. To quote the article: “To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it’s worth noting that everyone moot beat out actually has a job.” Article can be found here.

Well, it wouldn’t be /b/ if they didn’t have a hand in it. So well played, /b/, well played. Details on the hack can be found here.

Zetsubou shita! The fact that I can’t be in Malaysia has left me in despair! The reason: the guest star for DaiCon, (No, not a vegetable convention) an anime convention that will be held in Malaysia, will feature Chihara Minori, the seiyuu behind Yuki Nagato, Chiaki Minami and Kagura Tsuchimiya. She will hold a Q&A panel on Day 1 and a mini-concert on Day 2 of DaiCon and holders of the AWSM seats will be able to get an autograph from her! WRRRRRRYYYYYY!

I’m truly in despair!

It sucks when you forget Good Friday…at least I went to church in the next day for Easter

One of the anime that I’m really looking forward this season is Valkyria Chronicles or (Senjou no Valkyria in Japanese), why? Simply because I played the game before and I really like it, the game play is awesome and it has the best cell-shading graphic ever (c’mon it’s PS3). So the game is all nice, so how’s the anime?

Well, I say that episode one is ‘okay’.

I like how they give an intro to Darksen (or Darcsens in the game) vs Valkyria. If the anime really follows the game storyline, you will see the real significance of this intro soon enough.

Well what can I say, having played the game before, I do notice they do change minor details….like:

1. The two shotas town guards…well in the game they are just another ugly NPCs.

2. How Welkin meets Marthas. Too bad, I like the original game scenario

3. The anime skipped the first battle in the game, where Welkin shows his ability as Scout (meaning, he can fight with gun too).

4. Welkin’s tank,Edelweiss appears faster in the anime.

There are probably more but I think I said enough ^^

Like I said, its only minor details, and it’s nice to see something different from the anime version.

Oh, I must say the opening is MEH. They could make it better, there are lots of awesome scenes in the game. I think the game OP is better even though its just movie clips from the game (the game opening has LOTS of SPOILERS btw).

I really looked forward which side characters that the anime studio going to choose for the anime, there are 20 or more side characters with different class in the game, all with different background stories and abilities.

I really hope my favourite tsundere character (yes, a tsundere female soldier with gun har har): Eddie-sama will showed up in the anime AND THERE SHE IS (The girl with grey hair and blue ribbons):

And that damn Humanitarian is here, argh! I hate her. As you can see from the 1^st ep, she is afraid to kill a human (Then why the hell do you become a soldier in the first placeeeee!?!?!?):

And shit, they put THAT guy:

and God I hate the anime version of Alicia: THE CAT EYES (although not really):

The game version of Alicia is so much better: