BLooDy ~Listen To The Rhythm Of Life And Create The Road That You Seek~

2011-01-01T15:16:00.001+08:00

i have moved!!!

CLICK HERE

to visit my new site! :D

2010-12-08T12:40:00.001+08:00

70% moved, might move the related posts over as well... trying to keep the new blog simple and easy to view too but the HTML is confusing =(

do stay tuned :)

2010-12-03T10:49:00.000+08:00

new blog still under construction: 30% done :) stay tuned!~

2010-11-29T14:22:00.003+08:00

The End...

some of you guys might have expected this and the time has come.

having weighing my priorities, i am stopping all long anime posts from this moment on. (shall elaborate later on) Reason being, not that i have lost interest in japanese anime or culture, but it's just a "fast-forwarded" end. Having an important exam coming up next year, i wouldn't have the time required to continue blogging to such extent. I had already scheduled the stop to next year but since this year was ending, i merely just brought it forward.

firstly,

THANK YOU! ありがとう!

This blog has indeed gone on for so long and its now returning to its old short comments-styled posts. updates on anime series will still go on, just lacking the long synopsis. thank you all for following this blog whether or not you're a random visitor or not.

and...

SORRY...

i offer my sincere apologies that i'm unable to finish up the current series that are running now, such as MM! and Index II & TWOGK. i had initially intended to finish them off before ending the long posts but after lagging behind for so many days due to other things and also for AFAX, continuing from where i left off would not be much of use.

SO... WHAT NEXT?

this blog might stop functioning (note "MIGHT") as i might move to another blog or a new URL with a default template to allow commenting or feeds to reach out more to you guys (i really wanna hear some opinions from everyone on the episodes too!) this would most probably be done, hopefully by next year. so stay tuned... The normal event coverage posts will still continue with photos of the highest res blogger can give me. Might considering moving to other web hosting services too.

will update more when the time comes.

a rather interesting vid :) shows all the anime sequences through the years that almost all are relatively the same!

Thanks for all your support!

BLooDy

2010-11-22T23:22:00.002+08:00

on hiatus for ard 1 week... busyyyyy

experiencing some problems on the viewing of AFAX photos, so here's the direct hotlink to the posts:

day 1: http://steam-connecxion.blogspot.com/2010/11/warning-image-heavy-afax-has-closed.html

day 2: http://steam-connecxion.blogspot.com/2010/11/warning-still-image-heavy-afax-day-2-ok.html

2010-11-18T21:09:00.018+08:00

WARNING! STILL IMAGE HEAVY

AFAX Day 2

ok... apparently, blogger restricts the dimensions to only 30% of the original so thats the "high-res" i can get blogger to give =X, testing out with deviantART soon to see if they could accept the full resolution. without further ado, here's day 2 and the final entry on AFAX!

P.S. other than the flooding of Kaname and Aira photos due to their panel session, some photos might be repeated but off better quality (checked on day 1 and went back to get a better shot) most of the things were covered in day 1 so day 2's contain more on stage activities and also on the other small things that i've left out.

P.S.S the anime posts will come pretty soon :)

2010-11-17T11:51:00.017+08:00

WARNING! IMAGE HEAVY!

AFAX has closed last weekend and it was a thrilling and another fun experience at the 3rd year of AFA. There are rumours going around that AFA 2011 might not be in SG anymore, which is quite likely as this is an Asian event, but definitely, i would hope that AFA could stay on in SG :) Leaving that aside, this year was a blast! Much much more artiste coming over which gives rise to the higher pricing of the tickets. For the 1st day, there was the movie screening of Gundam 00 Movie, which was a laughable one (i mean srsly, it wasn't good), and then, the much awaited Kana Hanazawa live dubbing session which she dubbed scenes from Angel Beats! and also BRS. Danny Choo was able to fish out some nice information as well, which hinted that BRS would soon be getting a series too. (next year probably) Had queued for COSPA right at the start of the day too and finally got the special handphone straps which went out of stock the 2nd day, limited stock yea... This year's AFA had focused more on BRS and Vocaloids too after seeing Good Smiles Company's glass cabinets being FILLED with them and also the bringing in of Project Diva arcade which its waiting time for free play was approx 60mins. Managed to spot Kaname on day 1 as well too :D Day 2 then started with the movie screening of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya which lasted for approx 2hr 30mins and it was TOTALLY great! Loved it. Stage activities for Day 2 was more packed and had to forfeit watching the regional cosplay comp to have time for lunch before returning for the Kaname and Aira panel. So the 2 renowned cosplayers came as BRS vers on day 2 with Aira cosplaying as BRS and Kaname as BRS Kaito vers. They too, had entertained the crowd with suggestions on poses a cosplayer should or should not do but they still look good even with the supposedly bad poses :D Headed down to RapidCulture to get my 1st weib schwarz booster back of Angel Beats! as well and got 4 out of 8 from Angel Beats!, sadly there weren't any foils, considering getting more in the future xD Overall, AFAX was an enjoyable event as always, hoping AFA to come to SG again soon (or remain as it is :D) sayonara!~

finished Day 1 photos, day 2 in progress : (photos are NOT in any particular sequence, overload of BRS and vocaloids in this AFA so expect many of them)

images are specially picked out of 596 photos to be posted :) cheers!

CLICK for high res!

2010-11-15T18:07:00.003+08:00

*state of processing photos* hopefully all would be uploaded by this week :)

check sidebar <-- for details

2010-11-13T23:36:00.000+08:00

JUST A NOTE

AFAX is currently ongoing, last week's and the next's series coverage will be delayed to fit in AFAX's photos :)

2010-11-08T11:17:00.006+08:00

WARNING! long post ahead!

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR TICKETS YET?!

AFAX WOOTS!

TWOGK OP:

(lyrics credited to the video)

What I'm seeing......
Is it real?

What I'm feeling......
Is it real?

What I'm doing......
Is it real?

There is no regrets,
satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting,
explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee,
just improve my abilities

There is a choice to make,
setting the right priorities

(Go ahead with your own life Is there any hope in your sight?)
(You will always be the one)
(so feel the power And you should know the sun comes up - For you)

There is no regrets,
satisfy my curiosities

There is a new world waiting,
explore my possibilities

There is no guarantee,
just improve my abilities

There is a choice to make,
setting the right priorities

(What is the best you can do? How can you do?)
I was sitting and thinking the other day

(What is the best you can do? How can you do?)
If I fail,I won't throw my passion away

(What is the best you can do? How can you do?)
Just 'cause giving up is not the only way
No matter how it's gonna be,
I'll try it anyway

Love is such a sweet illusion
(Let's come together)

Can't seem to stop my imagination
(Goes on forever)

What a ridiculous situation
(Another matter)

But I can't Deny,
I'm faced with a tricky temptation

In the world that keeps on changing
Don't Know why my heart is aching
Gotta handle it,no more hesitation
There can be no turning back

God only knows
"My mind is as free as the wind But now what i should do is to fall in love"

God only knows
"I don't need that kind of real things Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"

God only knows
"There must be the meaning of life Somehow unexpected happenings thrill me"

God only knows
"Just believe in myself and my dream Anyone could be a hero and heroine"

God only knows
"Though it's not so easy to get through Here I am,I'm sure taht things willgo my way"

God only knows
"My mind is as free as the wind But what I should do Is to fall in love"

God only knows
"I don't need that kind of real things Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth"
(Your own happiness,you can find it)

God only knows
"There must be the meaning of life Somehow unexpexted happenings thrill me"
(Your infinity,you can feel it)

God only knows
"Just believe in myself and my dream Anyone could be a hero and heroine"
(Opportunity,you can take it)

God only knows
"Though it's not so easy to get through Here I am,
I'm sure taht things will go my way"
(Toward the future,you can make it)

(Sailing, you're sailing away And now it's blowing, breeze will take you away)

I feel that my spirits rise
I will survive and just stay alive

Enjoy being alone,
the isolation is not always so bad

Another day has gone by,
every day goes by
In the sky there'd be a bridge to a bright tomorrow

(You will find your treasure and share your pleasure Let me tell you......)

(just keep your vision,
your dream,
and your soul alive Be as you are,

I will always be right by your side)

Think about my love and my life
In an uncertain world,
face to face with my self

Continue to make progress,
day by day and step by step

I've got a good feeling
So I'm gonna keep on trying,
life will go on......

MM! 6

Tarou's sister, Shizuka, was stalking Tarou in his sleep when she discovers that her beloved brother has been exchanging mails with Yuuno and together with Tarou's mom, the ladies vow to get rid of Yuuno. During the club activities, they had all went to the countryside to test out some landmines on their effectiveness in curing Tarou. Mio attempts to use the gruesome military spirit to get rid of his masochism but it didn't turn out well and Tarou was left to fantasize about Mio in her military outfit and had to be knocked out before being brought back their temporary base. Yuuno, who was now in a nurse outfit, came to tend to Tarou. Yuuno exclaims that she had always loved nurse uniforms and wondered if she looked weird. Tarou gave his honest comment but had a change in attitude when Mio asked about her looks as well. However, Yuuno and Tarou accidentally came into contact again and Tarou had yet again felt hell and their operation of curing him had failed once again. Back home, the ladies had already started their plan and had took Tarou's cellphone to send a fake message to Yuuno, telling her that he had caught a cold. Feeling that it was her fault, Yuuno came to visit him the next day. Welcoming her was also the ladies of the house which Tarou felt the atmosphere changing as they weren't impulsive and was rather welcoming to Yuuno. However, it was all going according to their plan.

*dun dun dun* Yo-kooo-soo, to HELL (this was pretty epic)

Together as a family, Tarou, his sister and mom prepared dishes to accommodate Yuuno and had acted like a rather normal family in front of them. Tarou's mom had even encouraged Yuuno that with practice, she would also be able to cook up something, she too had also even recommended cooking together the next time. The ladies then took the opportunity and asked about Yuuno and Tarou's relationship, which Yuuno slowly spills out their activities together and Tarou knew that she had stepped on a landmine. Incidentally, the ladies of the house didn't flare up and Tarou had finally seen his family ascending to become a normal family. For the ladies, chatting with Yuuno and enduring it all was indeed difficult and they had decided to move on to their next part of the plan. Purposely fishing out Yuuno's phobia of men, they had ambushed Tarou's room with "men" things and after clearing it all up, the ladies unleashed their high-tech gadgets to eavesdrop on their conversation outside Tarou's room. Tarou apologises for bringing her into his room as she must be feeling uncomfortable with a man around her but Yuuno replies that it was alright as it was Tarou in front of her. Feeling the atmosphere, Tarou's face went red and soon, Yuuno's too. When the two started to talk about a kiss, the ladies rushed in and they were finally at their limit of endurance. The fighting between them for Tarou soon started and Tarou couldn't comprehend the situation at all. As Yuuno was leaving, she tells Tarou that it must have been nice to have a family and that his house was filled with warmth. She then reveals to Tarou that her dream was to marry someone she loves and have a warm and loving family and leaves, reminding Tarou that it was a little secret between them. Seeing how good Yuuno was, as a girl, the ladies felt immense guilt and Tarou managed to pick up their secret plan (written on a note) to "remove" Yuuno and was totally pissed. The ladies tried to run but was caught by Michiru-sensei and for revenge, Tarou happily "gave" them over to her to have some photoshoot with them. Soon after, the ladies discovers the existence of Mio as well and even tried to go to school with Tarou to find out more about her... nothing has changed in his family, yet.

It was a rather entertaining episode, laughable start and a rather serious end. The conversation between Tarou and Yuuno could be hinting of future development of their relationship but since Mio had butt in when Tarou was commenting about Yuuno's looks, it seems like Mio isn't backing down either. Not forgotting Noa as well, who will be making her appearance the next episode, together with the DX-Hentai Belt again. would love it if they could continue with "this" type of development instead of "filling" in episodes with super saiyans and stuff...

To Aru Majutsu no Index 5

With Sheol Fear bring useless, Stiyl and Tatemiya steps in to help Index. With the large number of Anieze Forces still around, Touma had managed to get behind doors and calls out to Index and the others to follow him. Behind the heavy doors, the group seems to be safe, but not for long as the Anieze Forces have already started damaging the doors. Thinking of a solution to get themselves out of the trouble, Ursula hopes to use "Liber Al vel Aegis" for help but they do not have the copy at hand. However, Touma believes that Index has it in her memories but after suggesting it, Stiyl became enraged at Touma for intending to make Index a target sought after by people who wishes to possess the "Liber Al vel Aegis" as she'd not forget it after viewing it. Stiyl also vows to kill Touma if Index gets into any trouble. The group however goes ahead for Touma's suggestion but when Ursula stated her way of deciphering the "Liber Al vel Aegis", Index tells her that it was a dummy method. The "Liber Al vel Aegis" is a magic book that is readable by anyone as it can be "deciphered" through many different ways but all of them were dummy deciphers and the real "Liber Al vel Aegis" has yet to be deciphered. Considering the situation, announcing that Ursula is unable to decipher the "Liber Al vel Aegis" would be pointless. As the Anieze Forces break through the door, Touma discovers a huge bunch of rune cards Stiyl has dropped and a plan could have been already underway. Touma goes off to confront Agnese by himself and he got a feel of Agnese's staff (or mace actually), unknown attacks that is unleashed with her "connecting" her weapon to the world. Whenever she designates a spot and slams the mace down, a huge dent caused by an unknown force at the coordinates she had targeted. With such unpredictable attacks, Touma was beaten down and was scared heavily on his back, but he didn't want to give up just yet. Carefully waiting for the dent to appear, Touma's Imagine Breaker breaks through it and he finally lays a punch on Agnese's face. Hearing how quiet outside has become, Agnese tells Touma that his friends had failed and with their sheer number, there was no way the Anieze Forces would lose. Touma agress with her but instead, he believed that it was them, who was victorious. At that same time, Innocentius appears with Stiyl and the rest. Apparently, the Amakusa had helped place the rune cards all around the church, forming a large magic circle encircling the location, allowing them to easily defeat the other forces under Agnese. The Anieze forces still had a chance to win but they did not believe that they could do it and froze, looking on at Agnese herself. Touma rushes to a "already shaken" Agnese and claims their victory before whitening out due to fatigue and his own injury. Back in his visit to the hospital, Kanzaki had stayed by him and apologises to him on the troubles they had caused for him. She tells Touma that Ursula is now under the Anglican Church and to protect her from attacks from the Roman Catholics. Tsuchimikado then joins in the conversation and took some fun teasing Kanzaki. Touma later tells Kanzaki that he's siding with Index not because she is a member of the Anglican Church but instead, he's siding with Anglican Church because Index is a member of them. He would also help Agnese if she had wanted help as one cannot be always the antagonist. Stiyl is now back with Laura Stewart and discusses with her the aftermath of the commotion. Apparently, the Roman Catholics had concluded the incident by placing the blame on the Anieze forces but Stiyl doesn't understand why Laura had not requested for him to save Ursula, while she knows that she was in danger. Laura explains to Stiyl that it was for the benefit of the Anglican Church. Kanzaki Kaori holds much power and acts accordingly to her will and with the knights challenging her, they were all quickly wiped out. Laura feels the need for a stronger "shackle" around her, not one that threatens to harm her friends if she disobeys, but a "shackle" that reminds her that the Amakusa would be protected from the Roman Catholics if she obeys the Anglican Church. With that, Stiyl acknowledges that Laura Stewart isn't the normal, simple "good" girl.

the arc has concluded and indeed, Laura Stewart isn't someone u should beckon with. What did change Kanzaki so much? Tsuchimikado's influence perhaps... Fiery scorching Innocentius appears again and Touma really likes to visit the hospital eh. He does seem to not hold back on Agnese as well, although she's just a girl too O.o maybe all that Index biting has taken a toll on him. Looks like we're "going" back to Misaka and her group next...

The World God Only Knows 5

Kanon Nakagawa, an idol who is amazingly concerned about whether she was recognised, has appeared! Incidentally, Elsea is Kanon's die hard fan and had even tied up her hair using the same style as Kanon to imitate her. Keima however, does not show any concern for such idols as he finds it pointless. To him, the idols in real life aren't changing at all and are always the same, plain in his eyes. But that is not the case for game idols who have changed as technology advances and they'll never grow old of die out. Having that proclaimed, Keima was about to drag Elsea into his "new world" until their mother, ex-biker gang member, teaches them some table manners. In school, Elsea realises that many people were flooding the corridors and were preparing their cameras for something or someone. Curious, Elsea asks her classmates and discovers that Kanon was actually their classmate all along. Meanwhile, Kanon had went to the rooftop and was talking to herself, about how insecure she feels after obtaining an award for her songs and wonders if she was really recognised as an idol. She then realises the existence of Keima at the rooftop as well and went to greet him, but was taken aback when Keima does not recognise her. Pissed, Kanon unleashes her tasers (which are claimed to be safe), and took her anger onto Keima. She was surprised by the fact that Keima does not know her which reinforces her uncertainty as an idol. Elsea arrives at the rooftop as well and was all high when she sees Kanon is the flesh. She tells Kanon that she is her hardcore fan which makes Kanon feel pleased and even took Keima's PFP to allow Kanon to sign on it. Keima, however, still refuses to acknowledge her and gets a feel of double tasers from Kanon herself. As Kanon leaves, Keima tells Elsea that he hopes never to come into contact with her ever again but unfortunately, Kanon was a host for an escaped spirit. Kanon now treats Keima as her enemy as he's the only one that is oblivious to her and she wishes to transform him into one of her fans to acknowledge her existence as an idol. In the class one day, Keima was given a CD from Kanon, asking (threatening would be a better word) him to come to the rooftop where Kanon shows off her singing talent in front of Keima, hoping to touch his heart with her songs but Keima had started playing his PFP. To Keima, what he sees Kanon's actions as a kind of trap as normally, its guys chasing girls and not the other way round. Kanon however doesn't give up and sings for Keima her new song but Keima just dozes off. Feeling totally depressed on how her songs are unable to move anyone and that she wasn't really an idol, she slowly fades away and disappears right in front of Elsea and Keima.

An introduction of the next target, Kanon Nakagawa, who'd soon be someone impt for the series (spoilers for the manga). The voice seems rather well-done too and its a new seiyuu :) Having those tasers around seems to be a more extreme case which was not reflected in the manga and much scenes about Kanon's life was featured, rendering less text this time. Having disappeared, it was caused by the escaped spirit, no doubt. Only one more girl to go after this arc concludes, rather fast i suppose... so more fillers? O.o

2010-11-06T17:35:00.000+08:00

AFAX Ticketing

information is finally released:

from the main website itself:

Pre-Event Ticketing for Festival + Stage (S$15) & Concert Standing (S$55)
are now available at the following outlets!

Get them online at:

KKnM http://www.theanimehouse.com
Toy Coin http://www.toycoin.com.sg
Kurocha! http://kurocha.com/store/
Rapid Culture http://rapidculture.livejournal.com
La Tendo http://www.latendoshop.com

At physical locations throughout Singapore:

Kareshi Kanojyo no Mise (KKnM)
91 Bencoolen Street
Sunshine Plaza, #01-34
Singapore 189652
Tel: 6338 0938

The Card Geeks
91 Bencoolen Street
Sunshine Plaza, #01-77
Singapore 189652
Tel: 6333 9080

Black Technology - KuroCha!
Block 11 Chai Chee Road #01-17
Singapore 460011
Tel: 6441 6455

Rapid Culture
109 North Bridge Road
Funan DigitaLife Mall 109 North Bridge Road #05-18
Singapore 178087
Tel: 6336-4963

La Tendo
Funan DigitaLife Mall, 109 North Bridge Road #05-10/11
Singapore 179097
Tel: 6336-6615

*FOR I LOVE ANISONG CONCERT TICKET HOLDERS
Redeem your concert pass and merchandise early on the 12th NOV 2010, at AFA X Venue, at the entrance of hall 402.

woots~~~

(will be updating The World God Only Knows soon)

2010-11-03T22:48:00.002+08:00

just a random song :)

Bleach got started on a new arc... it should srsly end when Ichigo lost his powers and Rukia fades away, it was a possible and probably the best ending Bleach could get with such a conclusion.

HnG went all random again with new chars being introduced. *misses a-tan =X*

and not to forget...

AFA is COMING SOON!

2010-11-01T10:01:00.004+08:00

MM! 5

The next plausible method for removing Taro's masochism is revealed to be exorcism, which Taro had to balance three burning candles on his stomach which his hands and legs were on the floor. Mio, now in a witch outfit, literally tries to force the candle flame to waver with wind movements, causing hot wax to drip onto Taro. And of course, once again he felt extremely blissful. However, Taro was currently being watched by another girl, Hiiragi Noa, who seems to have found high levels of data on Taro and is pleased to have found a new assistant. In school, Taro discovers a letter for him in his shoebox and quickly hides in a corner to peer at it, suspecting that it was a love letter. The letter wrote that the sender wanted to talk to Taro about something and asks him to come to the inventor's club room today after school. Back in class, he questions Tatsukichi about the inventor's club and it turns out to be run by a girl who has high IQ and was also cute as well. Yuno then came into the picture and tells Taro that Mio would be absent for today but club activities would still go on. Taro later spends the rest of the day thinking about the letter he received and how bad things could turn out if the girl got to know about his masochism or the letter could be a threat to him. Nonetheless, he decides to head to the inventor's club and is greeted by the girl, Hiiragi Noa herself. Noa later uses her "cuteness" and tries to lure Taro into helping her experiment which succeeded and Taro was tied and given a huge shock. Noa then leaves after frying Taro and thanks him for helping her progress in her plans. Noa's assistant then comes running and realises that he too, was too late in stopping Noa's plan. Her assistant, Himura Yukinojo, explains that Noa plans to make everyone in the world a pervert with her discovering a source of "pervert energy" from all perverts and for Taro, he has an insanely huge amount of "pervert energy". With the plan already going underway, the students in the school have already turned into perverts and stopping Noa in changing the rest of the world's population becomes the imminent task. While having escaped from the school, Taro incidentally discovers that Himura was a lolicon and had followed Noa most probably due to her similar "seduction" earlier. Advancing to Noa's hideout at the rooftop, Himura gives Taro a "Hentai Belt" which allows him to convert "pervert energy" into a powerful force for him to fend off incoming students who are now under Noa. The first blow did lay some damage to the students but Himura was soon taken captive and using the time Himura had stalled, Taro races to the rooftop. Noa tells Taro that he is no longer needed and all the "pervert energy" she had accumulated would change humanity into perverts forever. Having said that, Noa summons her minion robot and easily takes Taro down as Taro was already low on "pervert energy". Thinking hard, Taro decides to take the risk of digging his own grave and calls Mio, telling her that she was an ugly, flat-chested bitch. She arrived immediately and gave Taro hell, which incidentally charges his "pervert energy" as well. When the belt is fully charged, Taro goes into "super saiyan" mode. Easily destroying the missiles that the robot shoots, which at the same time Mio doesn't grasp the situation at all, Taro begins charging his final attack: "H-E-N-TAI--HAAAAAA!!!!" With the minion destroyed, Taro questions about Noa's motive, which she reveals that she wanted to make everyone abnormal so that she would hit in as she was a genius and was seen by others as abnormal too. She was always alone and Taro shared her feelings as well with his problem of masochism. He then tells Noa that together, they could do some normal things and Noa was won over by Taro's determination. However, the plan had already progress to the final stage. When Taro was about to lose all hope, he hears the voices of perverts all around the globe, giving him more "pervert energy" for him to go into super saiyan mode again and successfully destroys the "pervert energy" machine. Noa later runs away after feeling something she had not felt before in her heart and Taro was then confronted by Mio again, who obviously did not forget about what Taro had insulted her with and it was hell for him once again. Back in the clubroom, Noa then arrives in a robot, giving Taro a huge amount of flowers and then leaves after asking Taro not to forger his promise to her. Yuno then notices that the flowers given to Taro was lilac and it represents first love.

... what exactly did i watch just now? == it was a totally random episode. Maybe not just "totally" but it was a hell of a random episode. It was just pure random and hilarious. It started out all well, until Himura comes in and reveals about pervert energy. From that point on, i knew the episode was going to go crazy, literally. I srsly laughed hard when the super saiyan mode appears and i wasn't expecting "H-E-N-TAI--HAAAA!" at all .____. Mio did arrive surprisingly fast when she got insulted and maybe, she had went "absent" to give Taro and Yuno some time together and was planning to eye them in the clubroom. Nonetheless, another "love rival" appears for Taro, a much bolder one perhaps with Noa sending the lilac over. How the series goes on would be interesting :)

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 4

With the Roman Catholics displaying their wrath and true intention to Touma and the others, they were left with no choice but to trust Tatemiya's words. Stiyl explains that Ursula would not be executed immediately as she had never sinned and Index adds on that the Roman Catholics would not execute such a believer. A way to execute her would be to treat her as a person who has left the church and would be dealt with as a non-believer. Touma however wishes to save her but his decision wavered when he realised how serious things could turn out if he had stepped in to rescue Ursula as it would mean war between the different churches. Tatemiya steps in and unlike the Anglican Church, they, as the Amakusa, have a reason to fight with the Roman Catholics and would help to rescue Ursula. Stiyl discovers that the cross he handed to Touma wasn't with him anymore and for him, he won't be needing it anymore. Heading back, Touma then decided that he needed to head to a convenience store to get some supplies and leave Stiyl and Index behind, while his true goal was to locate and rescue Ursula as well. In the Church of Ursula, Ursula is being held captive by the Roman Catholics and was beaten by Agnese who tells her that it was an easy task to fool the others in bringing her to them. Ursula later tells Agnese that she had seen exactly how different the Roman Catholics were as compared to the rest, where the others act on their own beliefs whereas the ROman Catholics act on their doubts. Agnese adds on a few more kicks and tells her to die cursing the people who brought her here which she denies to do so as even though she was a stranger to them, they still did come to save her. Touma then arrives and breaks the barrier surrounding the church with Imagine Breaker and steps in to confront Agnese. Agnese tells Touma that it was his last chance and Touma gave her a punch as a reply that he had came here to rescue Ursula. Stiyl arrives through a burning hole he made and took his stand in protecting Ursula with the cross that Touma had given her, which gave her an identity of a person under the Anglican Church and would be protected by them. Tatemiya and the Amakusa arrives as well. And the battle begins. In the commotion, Touma was able to carry Ursula away from the church while the others took their step to fend off the Anieze forces. In the meantime, Kaori had also arrived in the city and was pleased that her fellow Amakusa wasn't aiming for "Liber Al vel Aegis" and was fairly certain that Tsuchimikado had planned to get "Liber Al vel Aegis" for himself in the whole commotion. Index, who had joined the battlefield, was quickly surrounded by the Roman Catholics and Stiyl warns Tatemiya not to get close to her and Index unleashes "Sheol Fear", which is a song that targets individuals through contradictions in what they are being taught. "Sheol Fear" could now be used efficiently with Touma and Stiyl out the way as they would lower its effectiveness of the purity of the song. Having taken permission from Agnese, the rest of the Roman Catholics arrives to confront Index and busting their ears just to avoid "Sheol Fear" and that extreme action taken had shocked both Index and the others.

Index seems to be much more useful in battles now after showing some of her skills: "Spell Interceptor" and "Sheol Fear". Although the most fearsome attack would be the one that took Touma's memory away but i doubt she'll be able to unleash such an attack in the future. Tsuchimikado still remains as a mystery though, his goal? his aims? i really don't have much of a clue about him. And where had Kanzaki went the last few days? She could make an appearance if the Anieze forces manage to strike back. Agnese's staff or rod or whatever had yet to show some skills other than just badmouthing and kicking people. I wonder about her true abilities.

2010-10-29T08:23:00.003+08:00

AFA X

more information is slowly being released in the AFA main web but for advance ticket purchasing, it's still not released yet.

currently, what they have released for the normal tickets, is that you could purchase them during the festival itself and also during the friday right before AFA starts (what they did list is for Sunday's ticket that can be purchased on 12/13 Nov)

2 more weeks! :D

The World God Only Knows 4

Asuka Sora, the first heroine that poses a real challenge to Katsuragi Keima. The only difference now for Sora is that she isn't the next carrier of an escaped spirit, but a game heroine in a bishoujo game. "Would you look at my painting?" Sora's words tied Keima's pride on the line, to finish the game at all cost. Sacrificing his head and suffering wounds, Keima used all the time he had in the lessons to attempt to clear the game, but in the end, he couldn't and was so demoralised to the point to apologise to Sora herself and his pride was totally beaten. Elsea couldn't understand him as he was the Capturing God after all. Keima then showed her the true difficulty of the game:

...
...
"Would you look at my painting?"

Having picked yes, the same sentence reappears, picking no, it repeats again.

The true difficulty of the game lies in the BUG that the game contains. Elsea wondered why Keima still wanted to continue playing such a game but Keima has his pride on the line and to him, the heroines aren't at fault at all and it was the game which is at fault. Keima thus vows to save the girl at all costs. He drags Elsea off to the rooftop where together, they will record every single choice that they make, in hope of bypassing the infinite loop. When Keima chose a different option from the past, a hell lot of options appeared as it was a choice on food in the cafeteria. Addtionally, the game cannot be saved and have to be restarted if they encounter the loop again. Elsea tries to leave but was held back Keima who forces her to help. Hours passes and Keima was still unable to bypass the loop. In the night, Elsea then suggests to Keima to look for the producers of the team instead but Keima tells her that the company has already closed down and the people that were responsible for the infinite loop file had also disappeared. Everyone had given up on the game and it was now up to him to save Sora once and for all. And then, after making more wrong choices and finally:

"Would you look at my painting?"
(picking yes)
"Thank You!"

the loop has been broken and Keima was now elated on what he had just achieved. Having finally bypassed the loop, Keima thought that he could already see the end, until a screen full of gibberish letters and symbols appears. Having prepared to encounter more bugs after the infinite loop, Keima vows again never to give up and to clear the game at all cost.

In the epilogue, it was shown that another otaku had browsed on the information of the game and there was a text that says "only one person has claimed to have seen the ending but not many choose to believe it"

Amazingly, they decided to put a kinda filler chapter to be animated. And the timeline for the chapters are mixed up, since after this would come Kusunoki. Nonetheless, it was a rather well-made episode but having such "fillers" near the start isn't really such a good choice. Following the manga would be much better :)

2010-10-27T13:58:00.004+08:00

To Aru Majutsu no Index II 3

Aineze briefs Touma and the others on the infiltration of the Amakusa members; and she also declares that she would never forgive anyone who uses their authority of a church to perform such acts. Stiyl leads Touma and Index away, informing them that Kanzaki Kaori has disappeared and cannot be contacted. Her current location is unknown, regardless of whether she was helping her fellow Amakusa members. Touma then chooses another priority, rescuing Ursula. Stiyl then agrees to Touma's decision since Ursula was just a cipher for "Liber Al vel Aegis" and without her, "Liber Al vel Aegis" would just be an useless treasure. The diversion for the Amakusa begins and Stiyl, Index and Touma heads to rescue Ursula. Heading to her location, the trio is quickly ambushed by members of the Amakusa. Stiyl hands the cross he obtained from the archbishop to Touma and asks him to keep it if he wants to survive. Stiyl then escapes with Index with a spell he casted and Touma was yet again, the decoy for the members. Luckily, he was able to avoid the Amakusa but had tripped over a metal can, revealing his location to one of the members of the Amakusa. Alone, he was able to fend her off and took her sword away. Touma quickly ran into Ursula, who was binded and muted by spells, and releases her with his Imagine Breaker. Ursula asks if Touma was with the Roman Catholics or with the Anglican Church and felt relieved for him when she knows he does not belong to any. Touma then asks about the "Liber Al vel Aegis", which Ursula reveals about how she's trying to decipher the "Liber Al vel Aegis" to find a way to destroy the book. Ursula then request Touma to help her wear the cross Stiyl handed to him and before they could continue their conversation, Stiyl falls and is injured by the leader of the current Amakusa forces, Tatemiya Saiji. Touma doesn't want to engage Saiji but was soon forced to do so but even with his Imagine Breaker, he isn't able to get past his spells, which Index had forewarned that it wasn't actually magic at all. Stiyl starts to call forth his flaming sword and attempts to charge at Saiji. Touma calls for Stiyl to ignore him and stabs through him, Stiyl does so and with Imagine Breaker denying both the flame sword and Saiji's magic resistance, Touma is able to land a punch on Saiji and with Stiyl, the both of them manage to capture Tatemiya Saiji. Saiji is tied and "sealed" with Stiyl's magic cards, and he starts to attack Touma with his influential words. He tells Touma if he really think Ursula would be safe with the Roman Catholics. He adds on that the Roman Catholics were planning to take Ursula's life instead to prevent the "Liber Al vel Aegis" from being deciphered and had used the disappearance of "Liber Al vel Aegis" as a "disguise" to capture Ursula and silence her in secret. Saiji continues to tell Touma that the Amakusa plans to protect her with the pride of their priestess, Kanzaki Kaori. Touma still didn't believe Saiji's words and doubted her, similarly to Ursula, who had doubted Saiji as well. Touma's decision however starts to waver when he hears Ursula's scream and was then asked by Saiji to take Ursula away from the Roman Catholics and the Amakusa and bring her to somewhere safe. Members of the Anieze forces, Sister Lucia and Sister Angelene, arrives to obtain custody of Tatemiya Saiji. Touma asks her if he could see Ursula again and had tapped Sister Lucia on her shoulder and with that, he accidentally incurred her wrath since he was a non-believer and attacked Touma with flaming wheel, injuring Touma in the process. Angelene also intercepts Index but was negated by Spell Interceptor, which was casted by Index. Touma now begins to really doubt his decision made after the Roman Catholics leave the scene.

Plot development is in a good pace, doubts rising from the Roman Catholics, and the unknown "Liber Al vel Aegis". Saiji's words do have an impact on Touma (and on me as well). Stiyl is pathetically weak ._____. what's with his sword that even need incantations? == spell casters with incantations, super long ones, does seem useless... Kanzaki's presence remains unknown, with the Amakusa or not still remains as a mystery. Drawings kinda weird this episode, just seems rather different from the others. What exactly is the cross the Archbishop handed to Stiyl and now to Ursula is still another mystery. Arc seems nice too, waiting for Accelerator to appear again :)

MM! 4

The new tactic for curing Taro's masochism was now of the "Power of Love" . With that, Mio now becomes Taro's lover and their first date is planned by Michiru-sensei, for the worst. And so the date begins, with Michiru-sensei giving Taro guidelines for the lane and soon, with Taro receiving a direct kick in the face. Apparently, he revealed how long he had actually waited when Mio asks him, where he should have replied, typically, "actually i just got here as well". The symptoms of masochism appeared immediately with that kick and with Mio handing her hand to Taro, he merely touched her hand and left. Being pissed off by him, Mio grabs Taro's hand and leaves with him, acting like a real couple. Mio had initally forgotten about where they should go next but soon heads off to the park. In the park, the duo seats on the mat and Mio took out the food that she made, which Taro deems as "dangerous" to begin with. He then spot plasters on Mio's hand and asks her if she was alright and that she need not put in so much effort on this date. However, the plasters were just for show to "trick" Taro into worrying for Mio and when Taro really did tried her food and appreciated it, Mio felt embarrassed and started stuffing food into Taro. The next step was to walk around in the park where they stop for some ice-cream and with some of the cream on Mio's face, Taro receives a guideline call from Michiru-sensei, telling him to wipe it off for her. Taro took her advice and got done with the task, "raising" Mio's affection by a notch and everything seems to be a bishoujo-game prepared by Michiru-sensei. Moving on to the next location, while Taro was wondering if Mio was also nervous with her face being red, a cross-dressed Hayama appears with his cocky attitude, belittling Mio's figure and small frame. He then continues the taunting by grabbing Taro over and even almost plant a kiss onto him. Mio was utterly surprised at the development and suspected them of having forbidden love which Taro denies. Hayama doesn't give up on Taro since it was all Michiru-sensei's plan and was ultimately "forcefully" sent off. At the theme park, the duo went onto the ferris wheel and Michiru-sensei gave her next guideline, which was to let Mio rest on Taro's lap and then talk about what they like about each other. Mio follows suit to the instructions and was embarrassed when Taro says that he likes how she loves to help other people and was cute too, but Mio couldn't really find something she "likes" about Taro. After Hayama, the next person they encounter is Yuno, who "declares" that she'll be taking Taro away. Both Mio and Yuno then resulted in a tug-of-war, with Taro in the center, feeling absolute bliss with each of his arm being tied to a rope and being pulled by two bishoujos. Mio couldn't last long and Taro went to Yuno's side, "activating" her automatic repelling male system and Taro got sent off into the sky. Soon after, Mio bends down and started spitting out red liquid, which was obviously just tomato juice but playing by the storyline, Taro is given two choices from Michiru-sensei with Mio having contracted a terminal illness and can't live long, and he chose the option of marrying her now. Taro is immediately captured after he chose the option and was brought to the church where he finally gets to see the cunning Michiru-sensei and she tells him that the date was actually for Mio instead and then leaves when Mio arrives in a bridal costume. Following the ceremony, Mio took advances and gave Taro her first kiss which he then stops her soon after. He turns out to be angry instead and asks why would Mio kiss a person like him and that a kiss is something important that can only be given to someone that he or she loves. Mio was however hoping to cure his masochism and took the sacrifice but it resulted in Taro storming off in the end. Mio tried to stop him but collapses and it turns out she had a high fever ever since the date started, explaining why she had forgotten about the locations they should have gone and her face looking red. Taro carries her and runs to the nearest hospital in the rain, pestering Mio on why she had placed her life on the line trying to help him. From being carried, Mio manage to see a serious side of Taro and declares that she likes the part of him giving his all when it concerns someone else and important to him. The duo then arrives in the hospital with Michiru-sensei who reveals to Taro that Mio couldn't socialise well and had hoped that the date would change her by a little. Taro then stayed on in the hospital to look after Mio and when Mio had fully recovered, she asks Taro to close his eyes again which he anticipates another kiss but it was a heavy blow to the face and his masochism is yet to be cured. Mio concludes that the "Power of Love" is ineffective and gave Taro a beaming smile.

definitely, a Mio and Taro pairing is indeed special and interesting. i wouldn't doubt if they could get together in the end, they seem good together :) overall, it was a cute little date and things did progressed fast from walking along the streets to vomiting tomato juice to marriage and a kiss. As an important first kiss, Mio doesn't seem to have taken it into account but Taro did, this might also hint to a start of their cute little relationship. Seriously, there is something wrong with Hayama's attitude, cross-dressing and having that attitude to boot definitely entices a point blank blow to his face. (Not that he's actually bad)The climax with Taro carrying Mio and running to the hospital in the rain was sweet too. Cute little episode and a moving end! :)

2010-10-24T09:34:00.003+08:00

took 3 and a half days to complete this (not the entire day too...) had a reference and did a sketch :)

editted the tones slightly on the comp to show more concrete shadings

The World God Only Knows 3

Keima overhears the conversation in Mio's apartment, where it was disclosed that she was once a rich individual but apparently her father's death took that identity away from her. Mio doesn't seem to have accepted her father's passing too as she'd never opened the cupboard with her father's photo. Her chauffeur, not being able to take her attitude of pretending to be still rich and buying such a large amount of bread, he leaves and drives off. Mio, while trying to stop him, steps out and is shocked to see Keima outside her apartment. Knowing that he had definitely overheard their conversation, Mio flustered and told him to go away before heading back to the apartment. Elsea, having seen Keima being told off again, assumes that it was a bad impression given but Keima says otherwise. With a secret shared now between them, it's bound to work out nicely. The next day, Mio's chauffeur didn't turn up and Keima attempted to take his place instead, offering to be her chauffeur with a bicycle. Mio refuses to get on the old and cheap crap and Elsea changes the bicycle to a carriage. Not being able to walk properly with her high heels, she took Keima's offer to bring her to school. This had to continue for the next few days where Elsea just keeps making the carriage more extravagant, and more heavy in the process. It was until a point where Keima was totally powerless to move the carriage and Mio tried to force him to move, smiling genuinely in the process. She however stops playing with him and leaves after realising something and Keima thought that it was probably something important. Keima then goes to her apartment's letter slot and sees an invitation to a party for the rich, and tells Elsea that he can already see the ending. The next day after school, Keima arrives with another carriage, bringing Mio this time, to the party and even prepared a dress for her. Keima had also got into his own suit and requested Mio to teach him how to dance in the backyard of the party. While the two began to dance, several others from the party spots Mio and started belittling her and pretending to feel sorry for her father's passing. Mio's father had always been caring towards her, supporting her in any ways and then Keima cuts in, telling Mio if that was the world she wanted to return to, or to stay here in this place with him, he also adds on that he wanted to see more of Mio smiling genuinely similarly in the past. Mio flustered and hit Keima on the face, calling him a liar, and that ever since he appeared, the place in her heart where her father was, was getting smaller. Keima advances yet again to ask her to choose between them or him and then initiates a kiss, forcing the escaped spirit out and Elsea had obtained their second runaway spirit. The memories of the capture disappeared again and this time, Mio had acknowledged her father's passing and was now willing to use small change as well.

a 2nd runaway spirit sealed and 2 more to go for the series. the scene where Keima actually described that a secret shared between them would be beneficial was totally random... yet another capture in one single episode. 2 more to go and roughly 9 more episodes (as hinted from the OP), unless the OP changes which is unlikely. Heard somewhere too that the 2nd season for this series has already been green-lit, will reconfirm this info again. the capture this time was sweet too, and with more and more captures, Keima could have his perception changed on 3D girls but most importantly, it was the captured girls who had lost their memories, who had changed for the better

2010-10-19T12:04:00.003+08:00

MM! 1/2/3

here's just a big wrap up to start the ball rolling for MM!

the series is set with our main protagonist, Taro Sado, who has a problematic fetish for assaults from women, masochism for short. Apparently, Taro is having trouble keeping such fetish of his as a secret and there was also a girl whom he likes at his workplace, and he gets to see her from time to time. In hope of curing such a problem, Taro heads for the "Second Volunteer Club", who assists students in need of help. In the club, he meets Mio Isurugi, who was the head of the club and tends to him nicely. However, just as he was about to talk about his problem, he sees Arashiko Yuno, a cute classmate of his class, coming in to the club as well. Not wanting to embarrass himself, he attempts to leave but is grabbed back by a now-pissed-off Mio. When being hit by her, Taro's problem took effect and he was now feeling bliss, while being attacked by Mio. She then tells him that she'll try her best to cure him of his problem. Leaving the school with his best friend, Tatsukichi Hayama, he talks about the girl whom he sees at work and have a certain feelings for her. During work, Taro sees the girl again but this time, she was afraid to start a conversation with Taro and walks away. Next day in school, the "masochism-removal" plan comes into play and Taro is being targeted by Mio and her violent baseballs. Taro was then sent to the infirmary with his injuries and after accidentally touching his classmate, Arashiko Yuno, he nearly lost his life after getting beat up by her. After all the fuss, all Taro could feel was true happiness and curing his problem would take a rather long time indeed. At work again, this time Taro confronts the girl he likes and follows her out. When he tries to stop her from running away, the moment he grabs her hand, she turned over and hit him on his head. Surprised at how his masochism did not take effect, the girl in front of him revealed himself to be actually Tatsukichi Hayama, his best friend who has a problem of loving cross-dressing. He had previously went to look for Mio as well to seek help on how to reveal his identity to Taro and had decided to do so after receiving suggestions from Mio and indirectly from Taro as well. And with that, Taro realises that his first love was actually with a guy. Meeting Mio later, Taro thanks her for helping both him and his friend from overcoming his difficulty and Mio is pleased to have been able to help.

The next big plan for Taro was to place him in boiling water in hope of removing his masochism by making him feel more intense pain from external sources. It didn't turn out rather well and was hit by Yuno when he leaped out from his cauldron. In the train station after school, Taro sees Yuno waiting for the train as well but was reluctant to step into the same train as her after being hit so many times when they encounter each other. Surprisingly, Yuno wasn't entering the train as well, after seeing how packed it was with all the passengers and headed to sit down while waiting for more trains to pull into the station. Taro heads to the seats as well and starts a conversation with Yuno. She apparently doesn't want Taro to sit close to her and then decided to talk from the distance. Yuno reveals to Taro that she has androphobia and is afraid of men. She would literally "retaliate" when a man touches her, which was exactly what had happened to Taro in the past. After alighting, Yuno starts to link Taro with a dog, called Taro as well, and became less afraid of Taro after that and conversations starts to become more natural between them. Before Yuno enters her home, she asks Taro if he could help her study on the upcoming tests and he agreed, and brought his friend, Tatsukichi Hayama, cross-dressed, to aid her in her studies and to prevent her androphobia from taking effect again. Mio does see potential in the cross-dressing quality of Hayama and after praising her, Hayama's personality took a drastic change and became all high up and belittled Mio, and thus rewarded with a direct punch in the face. After the test's been done, Mio tells everyone that they're all heading for the zoo with the tickets she have and as Yuno loves animals, they decided to meet up the next day to have fun in the zoo. When Taro woke up late do to his family members (who have a fetish for him...), he sees that he was the first to have arrived and Yuno soon came along. The both of them then receives a call each from the other members of the club, telling them that they were the only two going into the zoo and with their two different problems, it would be interesting and good to see how they can complement each other since they're rather similar. After having all the fun in the zoo and resting afterwards, Taro, while holding his drink in his hand, asks Yuno what exactly had caused her androphobia. He had decided to ask her directly as Mio suggested and Yuno slowly reveals about its origin. When she was in middle school, she had many boys going after her and she had rejected all of them, until a well-known senpai came looking for her and after going out together, he tries to force himself on her, causing Yuno to scratch his face while trying to protect herself which then caused him to take revenge on retaliating, and ultimately, causing her to develop androphobia. After hearing all these, Taro felt angered and crushed the cup that he was holding immediately. After heading home together, the duo meets Yuno's best friend, Mamiya Yumi.

Mamiya Yumi, a girl who have a slight fetish for cute gal's bod, decided that Yuno would be transferring with her to an all girls school to avoid her androphobia. After school the next day, Taro begins to ponder over the time they spent in the zoo and the secrets that Yuno had, speculating around her androphobia. The following day, the excited Yumi decides to follow Yuno to school to see what kind of person Mio was actually and her symptoms started again after seeing how cute she was and started her deadly massaging skill. An embarrassed Mio asks Taro to help her but was immediately taken out by Yumi and he, at that moment, felt total bliss again. Yumi then had a formal talk with Mio about Yuno transferring school but Mio asks Yumi if she thinks of it as a solution to Yuno's androphobia and adds on that they're some things that can only be done in the second volunteering club. Returning home that day, Yuno is confronted by her old senpai, Yoshioka. At that moment, Hayama did spot Yuno as well but was unaware of her situation. The next day, Yuno didn't appear in school and everyone was worried about her. Further phone calls were still unable to reach her and after realising the fact that she could have met with Yoshioka, Taro calls Hayama to reaffirm his suspicion and heads to Yuno's home. He sees her all covered up in her bed and her room as in a mess. After persuading her that it was Taro in front of her, Yuno shed light that Yoshioka had repeatedly threatened her with calls to stop her from spreading what happened in junior high. After hearing what Yoshioka had did again, Taro this time, rushes out of the house and goes off to confront Yoshioka. He tells Yoshioka that he had heard of what he had did to Yuno and is pissed off by that. The conversation soon broke into a fight but as Yoshioka is in the boxing club, Taro didn't even have the opportunity to return his blows and was acting as a boxing bag for him. Fortunately for Taro's masochism, he's able to withstand much more damage then he normally receives and with a final blow that he could throw, he lands a hit flat in Yoshioka's face with a baseball bat thrown at his leg, forcing him to lower his body and landing a hit. Yoshioka lay unconscious on the floor and with the baseball bat, he realises that Mio had helped in and had not stepped in earlier after seeing how serious he was. Yumi arrived at the scene as well and gave Yoshioka a hell massage. Taro returns to Yuno's home, with his face all bandaged up, and hands a photo of a embarrassingly stripped and beaten up Yoshioka. Yuno discovers the origins of his injury and thanks Taro for everything that he has done for her. The next day, Yumi had apparently transferred into their school as well so as to get closer to Yuno and also to prevent Taro from getting too close with her.

MM! is definitely a promising series and had an interesting start and setting with the different characters having their own personal problems. Other than the leading role of the club, i begin to wonder what significant role could Mio play near the end of the series. Moving this series to romance would be interesting but that would depend on how things turn out. Taro X Yuno pairing would be highly possible, but a Taro X Mio pairing would be interesting. Their 3rd episode did bear much resemblance to Ookami-san. The setting is similar with a bad senpai boyfriend screwing the maiden's life up. And a hero with a personal problem starts going all cool and defeats the bad boy. Similar ain't it? Interesting interesting series... would definitely continue with this :)

2010-10-17T22:00:00.002+08:00

i apologise for the rather late updates for Fall 2010, lots of things crammed up these few days, will try and get MM! and Bakuman updated as soon as i can =X

2010-10-17T10:57:00.002+08:00

To Aru Majutsu no Index 1/2

Term break was about to end and Touma has yet to finish his assignments, probably being too caught up with all the ruckus with the mages. Index however wants Touma to spend more time playing with her and even tries to "brainwash" him into doing that through acting like an innocent looking sister. While in the midst of all this, a mysterious magician, by the name of Yamisaka Ouma, appears in Academy City and is eyeing for Index. He arrives at Touma's apartment and uses his crossbow to summon a vortex of wind to push him up, allowing him to have a direct shot into Touma's room. Fortunately, Touma and Index have already left the house, heading for a family restaurant where Index would be kept occupied and Touma would be able to get his assignments done. Ouma however quickly discover Touma and Index's location and fires a spell right into the restaurant. A quick reaction of Imagine Breaker protected him but his assignments got burnt as a result. Ouma then takes Index hostage and escapes with her. Touma is then left to try and find Index and tries to call her cellphone. It turns out that Ouma had wanted to save someone who is important to him who was cursed and he hopes to use a book that Index has in her mind to save her. He ties Index up and prepares to enter her mind with a spell set on the roof of a building which Index warns him that it could cost him his life but he doesn't care about endangering him life. Index later picks up her cell but does not answer it, allowing Touma to listen to the conversation between Index and Ouma. While trying to locate them, Touma bumps into Mikoto who feels agitated at Touma for ignoring her and later blushes and stammered when Touma confronts her close to her face. Touma leaves and quickly discover where Index was with bright lights from a building prompting the spell has been set there. In the end, reading the book from Index's collection proved to be lethal and when Touma arrives, Ouma had already fallen to his own injuries. He tries to throw another spella at Touma but was quickly negated by Imagine Breaker. Not being able to launch another spell, Ouma collapses. Touma wakes him up after that after sending him some scratches with Sphinx and asks Ouma to bring him to the person he wants to save instead as he believes his Imagine Breaker would be able to break the curse.

The archbishop of Necessarius, Laura Stewart, talks to Stiyl about the magic book, "Liber Al vel Aegis". which can no longer be deciphered, even Index couldn't decipher it. She then reveals that there is someone who can decipher it, a sister named Ursula Aquinas. And now, both the book and the sister have disappeared. Back in Academy City, Index is bored and begins talking to Maika, questioning Touma's lack of time to play with her when apparently there's a combined sports meet coming up and everyone would be able to use their abilities to their full potential as a form of experiment. Stiyl then appears and takes Index away, leaving a note behind to Maika. Upon reaching his own home, Maika calls out for Touma and hands him the note, which tells him to come to an abandoned theatre outside of Academy City if he values Index's life. Further questioning made it clear to Touma who had exactly taken Index, there was no way he couldn't remember someone with blazing red hair and having a barcode below his right eye. Stiyl briefs Index about the situation and she's aware of the culprits, the ones she calls the Amakusa. Kanzaki Kaori, who's part of the Amakusa, is currently in an unknown location and Laura hints Stiyl that if the situation arises, he might have to fight her. Touma then heads for the abandoned theatre and midway, he sees a sister who asks him directions to Academy City. She was however a little difficult to comprehend and when Touma asks for her reason for heading to Academy City, she reveals to Touma that she was currently being pursued. Back in the theatre, a sister, Anieze Sanctis, meets up with Stiyl and Index. She tells Stiyl that they're currently unable to comprehend what type of magic the Amakusa actually uses, Index also adds on that the spells that they use do not contain recognisable spell circles and are mostly camouflaged as just normal everyday activities. Touma and the sister then arrives at the theatre and Stiyl reveals to him that he had needed his help in searching for someone but it was all done now, as they were searching for Ursula Aquinas, who is the sister that Touma had encountered and brought with him. Within minutes, the group receives a message from the Amakusa, telling Ursula to come to them. The floor then disappears beneath Ursula, with Amakusa members taking her away, Stiyl's spell couldn't make it in time as well. As the sisters "below" Anieze are sorting out the situation at the theatre, Index explains to them about the "Liber Al vel Aegis". It was a book that could disrupt the peace they have in the world right now and as a magic book, sealing it would be the one and only way to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Tracing the Amakusa would be difficult and Index suggests that they still have time to search for them, as they'll most probably use "miniaturised pilgrimage" which is a spell that can teleport members from certain places to another, or long teleportation for short. The spell depends heavily on the star movements so they still have time before they use the spell. Later in the night, tents were laid out to prepare for their plan on the Amakusa and when Touma hears a scream from a tent, he accidentally stumbles into Index and Anieze bathing, causing him to be bitten yet again by the ferocious teeth of Index. Touma later has a chat with Stiyl and he too, knows that the Amakusa are Kanzaki's friends and Stiyl reaffirms that he'd fight anyone. Late in the night, Touma was assaulted by Index with her sleepwalking and thinking that everything now was a dream and biting Touma would be alright. Even Anieze was sleepwalking as well and cuddled to Touma. Meanwhile, the Amakusa are already preparing their pilgrimage spell and they hope to show Kanzaki what the Amakusa are like now with magic fused through the different religions.

honestly, i have no idea what the 1st episode was heading to, but that was quickly forgotten with the much much better 2nd episode. more mysteries are cropping up, with the mysterious book of "Liber Al vel Aegis" and its only decoder, Ursula. The Amakusa seems to be a deadly foe, but with Imagine Breaker, who knows? Touma could emerge victorious (well, it most certainly would be). Its great to see Stiyl back again and more sisters being introduced, such as Aineze. plot development wise was great this time round, what exactly is Kanzaki after or her current situation is still unclear, with both sides targetting her, even her Amakusa seems to be against her as well. Would appreciate if they reduce the amount of fs, it was fairly un-needed.

2010-10-15T10:13:00.003+08:00

The World God Only Knows 1/2

The story begins with our main protagonist, Keima Katsuragi, happily enjoying his bishoujo games on his PFP... during classes. His teacher didn't let him off easily too and bashed the hell up of his face. Keima, a student, is interested in girls, but not the girls in reality but those in bishoujo games. There is no bishoujo games' heroine that he's not able to "capture" the hearts as of yet. His classmate, Ayumi Takahara, came running towards Keima and collides into him, damaging his PFP as a result while she rammed into a wall. Ayumi asks Keima to clean the rooftop by himself since they were both assigned to the cleaning duty but Ayumi, who is in the track team, has an upcoming sports meet and would want to train for it. Keima refuses but before he could finish his sentence, Ayumi had already been long gone. In the end, Keima was the only one who had to complete his cleaning duty by himself and as he was taking a break, he browsed through the emails, fan-mails to be exact, as he is nicknamed the capturing god by the other bishoujo game players. He then realised a weird mail that sounded like a challenge to him, after stating that there is a girl that they would hope he could "capture" and with his pride on the line, Keima accepts the challenge without hesitation. Something then seemed to have dropped from the sky, throwing Keima off his feet and when he managed to get back his attention, he finds a girl floating down from the sky, thanking Keima for accepting their proposal and flies off with him. Back in the classroom, a disturbed Keima now tries to calm himself down and made matters clear with the girl. The girl, introduces herself as Erucia de Lute Ima, Elsea for short, and she's a girl from hell whose in charged of capturing escaped spirits. Keima is unable to comprehend to the situation and leaves but Elsea stops him, telling him that the previous mail he had received was the contract and if he doesn't adhere to it, his head would be taken. Keima then realises that there was a ring around his neck and it was a prove for the contract. Elsea then brings Keima to the window, telling him that there was already a escaped spirit around and the carrier was Ayumi. Apparently, escaped spirits are souls that have escaped from hell and hides in the depths of the heart, and Elsea believes that through love, the escaped spirit would be forced to escape. Keima then drills the fact into Elsea that he captures girls in the game and not the girls in reality and that disappointed Elsea as she had misunderstood his abilities. Keima requests that since she now knows that it was impossible for him, to remove the ring immediately but Elsea tells him that it could not be done and even if Keima dies, she would lose her head as well as they were bounded by the contract together. Elsea suggests to Keima to use the identical methods to capture a girl in reality but as Keima despises their appearance as compared to the girls in the games, Elsea tries to make them similar which her special robe and Ayumi starts to become slightly more similar to a bishoujo game character, like tying up her hair when she got serious and Keima thinks that its an ideal trait for all track members. Keima thus begins his "capture" the next day through displaying banners with words cheering Ayumi on but was quickly kicked by Ayumi when she saw it as she feels that it was like a revenge for making him clean the rooftop by himself. Keima however believes that love sprouts from more encounters and continues to support Ayumi with banners, balloons etc, declaring openly that he's cheering for her. Ayumi had already began to ignore all his efforts and later when their track seniors came, she was reprimanded for training earlier than them and punished her with numerous rounds around the track. One day, while training, Keima notices something was wrong with Ayumi and while practicing hurdles, Ayumi trips and sprains her ankle. Outside the infirmary, Keima thinks about the current situation he's being tackled with, sports meet, cheering, bad seniors... and he feels that he could already seen the end to it. Keima later asks Ayumi out after sending her a basket of fruits and when he was asked the reason for doing so, Keima told her that he wanted to see her run in the sports meet. Ayumi rebukes him by saying that she had sprained her ankle and would be unable to run, but Keima replies to her, that she wasn't injured at all as she hadn't tie her hair up when she fell, and she had always done so when she was serious. Ayumi then stands back up straight and she really wasn't injured at all. She had wanted to go for the sports meet but was stressed by her seniors. Keima then tells her that it would be alright for her to just run as fast as she can and if it was the rank that matters, she was already number 1, in his heart. Blushing, Ayumi started to throw more fruits at Keima and then discovers a set of new running shoes beneath the fruits. She steps forward and asks if Keima would go and support her in the sports meet, which he agreed. Ayumi edged closer to Keima and while retreating, Keima trips from the steps and as Ayumi grabs him, she kisses him and the escaped spirit is forced out and successfully contained by Elsea. The memories of the capture faded away and it was easier for Keima as well and as things were about to become peaceful again, Elsea arrives in class and introduces herself as Elsea Katsuragi, his "sister".

Following up, Elsea is now transferred into Keima's class and she had also a letter in possession as by being his sister, any escaped spirit in the vicinity would be quickly cleared up. The contract bounded would only be removed after the escaped spirits are all taken cared off in the town. Keima realises that Elsea was about to follow him and live with him and rejects her immediately, however, Keima's mother approaches them and invites Elsea to their house to have a good chat. While having tea, Elsea introduces herself as Elsea and was an illegitimate daughter of Keima's father. Elsea then hands the letter to Keima's mother, saying that it was letter from her deceased mother. After reading the letter, Keima's mother goes off and calls her dear, asking for an explanation for this and in the meantime, starting destroying the chairs within her range. It was partially due to that she was previous from some biker gang in the past. Keima's mother then throws away the phone and hugs both Keima and Elsea, telling them that she would be responsible for them from now. In the town, Keima tells Elsea that he would not accept her as his sister yet as she doesn't have the traits of being one, as quoted by Keima, the BMW traits. 1st, the blood that's flowing in them are not the same, the 2nd, there isn't any memories of siblings, and the 3rd, the "wonichan moe" which describes the love for their brother. Having said all that, Elsea bites Keima's finger, and tells him that now they have the same blood flowing in them and she would really want them to work together to capture all the escaped spirits. Later in the night, Elsea cooks a dish for dinner, which was filled with ingredients from hell and poor Keima was forced to swallow it and it actually tasted good. Upon realising how clean the house was, Elsea reveals that her broom, that had followed her through hundreds of years of cleaning duties, was able to sweep off any amount of dust and while demonstrating, she destroys and wall after accidentally setting the power on the broom to maximum. Keima soon feels the aftermath of the dinner and started having a hell of a diarrhea in the restroom. Later in the bath, Keima thinks that Elsea is starting to meet the BMW requirements and begins to worry. While doing so, the lights went off and he felt something touching his shoulder. He then pulls the shutter down to allow light to enter and sees Elsea in the bath with him. Keima lets out a piercing scream and covers himself out of the bath. Elsea said that he wanted to make up for her mistakes and she also explains that she wasn't trying to fake being a little sister as she really was. She had an elder sister who's a great demon unlike her who was always on cleaning duties and when she was selected to help capture the escaped spirits, she was elated and felt that it was one step closer to being a great demon. Keima seems to understand her feelings and allowed her to stay by his side, brushing it off by saying that it would be the best for the both of them as the faster they get the job done, the faster they could get the rings around their neck removed. The next day in school, Elsea wanted to pass a message to Keima, about keeping the time they had in the bath a secret as it was embarrassing but the message was read aloud by a classmate before passing over to Keima and that brought suspicions about what exactly did happen in the bath. The duo later finds their next target, a rich girl, Mio Aoyama. Keima thinks about her characteristics and planned a route for her. While Elsea was also thinking about the situation, Keima confesses his love for Elsea. Feeling embarrassed, Elsea couldn't walk straight and then she realises that Keima was just trying to find out the different forms of confession to Mio. Keima had took into account that she seems to be an aggressive girl but gentle in the inside and focusing on breaking the outer armour would be the best option. And after testing them out on Elsea and her getting repeatedly lovestruck, Keima took an opportunity to confess to Mio but was silently rejected and beaten up by her bodyguard. Following after their vehicle, the duo discovers that Mio was actually living in an old apartment and what they had initially expected was different from reality.

honestly, this series could be one of the best for this season. animation quality's good, seiyuu's good too :) shan't give much spoilers ahead. pace is moving nicely as well. great series! :D

2010-10-13T10:13:00.002+08:00

back then there was Kinema-kan

and now, finally, this:

something worth anticipating :)

to end it off properly for the previous season, K-ON!! had their extra episodes which is slotted to be before the last episode. honestly, the end would have already been done wonderfully with their presumably last episode which Tenshi ni Fureta yo. about K-ON!, much have already been covered when their last episode aired so i wouldn't talk about it again. Mitsudomoe, is a wonderful series as well, the 1st few episodes went rather well, with laughs picking up here and there and more of the sister's personalities. It is a fun-to-watch series too. However, it felt that there was too much of misunderstandings in one particular episode (can't really remember which exactly), but luckily that overdose didn't carry on for long :) Following up, another hilarious series: Seitokai Yakuindomo. well, it bears much similarity with Seitokai no Ichizon and both are hilarious in their own ways. slice-of-life series have always grabbed my attention and if you're someone who laughs hard at mature jokes, this is the show for you. Their antics are funny, their jokes are funny, basically, its just hilarious :D could have added more to character developments as well, it felt sad when the relationship hints between Tsuda and Shino went as a misunderstanding D: with that, fall 2010 begins!

FALL 2010

and it begins:

many series have already started running and there are already some that had "grabbed" my attention which i might continue watching / blog in the future. i wouldn't be blogging about the 1st episodes of the series until i reaffirm that i'll continue with it, wouldn't want to leave things hanging around.

starting off:

To Aru Majutsu no Index II

the 1st episode somehow lacked something crucial, there wasn't much to make anyone continue watching this series. honestly, the 1st episode just started off with a mage appearing, out of nowhere, and blast through Touma's house, later kidnaps Index in an attempt to save someone (typical classical setting) and Touma rescues Index later, showed off his Imagine Breaker and said some "cool" sentences. If they're following up with the previous season, at least do try and make something more different... it's just weird watching the 2nd season of Index, just felt very different from the time i watched their 1st season which had more punch to it. would appreciate it if they would quickly bring in the climax from the novels too, it'll be waay more interesting. would see how the next few episodes go =/

Bakuman

adapted from the manga, it sure feels great to see everything animated out. having only just a few episodes for the series and its manga uncompleted, this series would most probably end when their 1st series get serialized. happy ending? not exactly, but you can always follow up with their manga after the series end. a much promising series (i've already known about the storyline too and its great :D) recommended to watch or read the manga as well :)

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

another slice-of-life comedy series for fall 2010. a 3 part story per episode is generally how the episodes run. and it begins with this girl, apparently a squid, wanting to take revenge on humans for harming the sea. she swings her tentacles around, just ordered around, and spits out squid ink .__. as compared to the other similar type of series, this is weaker in its jokes. so its watchable to kill time.

The World God Only Knows

i have been waiting for this! :D from their manga, it was definitely an awesome series to follow and with its animated version, things just can't get any better than this :D according to their OP, it seems that there are only a few targets introduced in the series, and most probably ending before they reach Kusunoki's arc. and Baka to Test's Yoshii returns in this series! awesome combination of seiyuu and character as well. the 1st episode took off with the 1st heroine captured and Elsee entering the school as Keima's sister. story's seem to be moving fast too with 1 heroine captured in just one episode. it might seem rather rushed so i'm hoping for them to slow down just a bit for the future episodes.

For the manga, yet another goddess is revealed, from Kanon this time, named Apollo. Things didn't go well after Kanon apparently remembers her time with Keima and confesses to him as well. However, before more could be explained, Kanon gets attacked by a mysterious person from hell and Apollo seems to have been killed (in just one blow O.O), note "seems". Keima discovers an injured Kanon later and the chapter ends. having another goddess appearing and disappearing immediately could have taken a heavy blow on Keima as well since he had finally found another goddess with Tenri's request. and it'll be slightly disappointing when someone, who remembers about their "capture", will forget about it again =X

SUPERB opening, special song dedicated to the series and amazing start, honestly, i was blown away when the opening started :)

Sora no Otoshimono Forte

as a continuation from the 1st season, more laughs and much much more seriousness. the 1st episode went on with the "Dive" game arc and Sugata starts to know about Synapse and the link between Tomoko's dream with Synapse and with the end of the 1st episode, Astraea lands and heads for Tomoki. The 2nd episode went with the encounter with Astraea but had also brought in the 3 omake chapters from the manga. and with its end, Astraea accidentally reveals about Tomoki's link with Synapse, reaffirming Sugata's perception on it. from its OP too, Chaos seem to be there and i am definitely waiting for that climax to arrive. "Let's play dolly..."

for the manga, after Hiyori's arc, i was hoping more of the connection between the angels and the downers and also the "unreal" humans around Tomoki. Could Tomoki be unreal and his real self was the one on top of all the angels? (well, its possible...) their latest 2 chapters were funny but at the same time, seems unneeded too.

"Let's Play Dolly..."

MM!

another comedy series that revolves around 2-3 students who had went to the special club to receive some help to "cure" their special illnesses, ranging from being a masochist, being afraid of men and also cross-dressing. Interesting series from the start, nothing much to talk about too, seems more like in the center of being a slice-of-life to a normal series.

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tactically, among the series, the series that i should be covering would be:

To Aru Majutsu no Index II
The World God Only Knows
Bakuman
MM!

2010-10-12T10:37:00.000+08:00

will start updating again around tomorrow :)

2010-09-20T20:02:00.002+08:00

alright, time to go on HIATUS for now, till around 11-13 Oct. examinations coming up =X i could do a write-up on Seitokai Yakuindomo and Mitsudomoe after it ends next week, BUT it depends on whether i could squeeze in my tight revision schedule, so there's no guarantee for that. and sadly, my exam dates clashes with the start of the new seasons, so i guess i wouldn't have time to blog about their first airing until my exams are over. So, till then! :)

Highschool of the Dead 12 (END)

after looking back at how the other episodes were, honestly, this would be the best among them, considering that it IS the last episode.

With the 4 nuclear missiles shot, the submarines were preparing to intercept them, no matter what their targets were. 3 of the missiles were intercepted but the last went on with its programmed route after the submarine that was responsible for its interception had already fell prey to "them". Soon after, the missile blew up in the atmosphere, emitting a bright light across the country and frying all electronics with it. Moments before, Shizuka-sensei had remembered the phone number of her friend who's in the special unit and borrows Takashi's phone to contact her. Shizuka-sensei was happy to know that her friend was still alive but before she could disclose her location to her, the cell phones got fried with the bright light that lit up the entire sky. Saya recognised the light as an EMP burst, which was caused by a nuclear missile blowing up in the atmosphere, causing special particles to be emitted and they target the waves that electronics use and frying it as a result. From that moment on, nothing that has electronics would work, not even the aiming function in the rifles. The EMP blast had also brought devastating effects with it affecting pacemakers as well and the brakes of vehicles. Shido-sensei had crashed the bus onto a barricade due to fried brakes and with the barricade broken, "they" had started entering the Takagi territory. Soon after the barricade had been crossed, the Takagi household witnessed the first all out attack from "them" and even with the iron gates closed, their inhumane strength overcame it and hell broke loose in the premises. Takashi and his group started to help out and retaliated with their firearms and the situation got temporarily controlled. Takagi's father tells Takashi that he should go and look for his parents and Hirano to protect Saya. Hearing what could be the final words of her father, Saya tried to interrupt but was slapped by her mother, who tells her that it was a selfish decision but hopes that she would not make things more difficult than it already was. With a last word that she loves them, Saya leaves with Takashi and the others, who headed for their armoured vehicle. Turns out that it was EMP-proof and was reinforced by multiple plates of metal, preventing the EMP blast from affecting it and while the mechanic was onto repairing some damaged parts, the others started to take on "them" from where they stood. Within minutes, the vehicle was up and running again and with everyone assembled in it, Shizuka-sensei hits on the accelerator and the group leaves the Takagi household. With a side-wheel maneuver in the streets, they managed to reach the highway where they continue to encounter more and more of "them" and with their vehicle damaged after a long ride through, the group finally reached a shopping mall.

It had ended rather nicely with the end of the Takagi household arc where the shopping mall arc is about to begin BUT the season ends here. It was certainly the best episode they had so far, as compared with the other 11, with ample action and the cool side-wheelie to end the series off. The series has a unique storyline and that was probably the "cool" thing that prompted me to start with this series, and after reading through the manga as well, it was indeed a rather promising series. Action-wise, it was great, with firearms and blades (although they're all highschool students) storyline-wise, it does have many possibilities but a conclusion would be rather difficult. The only disappointing part of the series was probably the excess and overload of fanservice. Come on, a little is OK, but that is just excess! focusing on action and storyline would honestly be a better option IMO. the end of the end of HOTD had its usual casual tone in the humvee to conclude everything and that was rather typical but they could have a much more conclusive ending, rather than just showing the shopping mall where non-manga readers wouldn't understand why it was shown for. A 2nd season is perhaps possible, but it'll be a long long time before they could animate what the manga is being released at their slow pace. Nice series? Kinda. If you ignore the fs, the recap episode (right early in the short series), how they drag on for a chapter to be completed in an episode, it would probably be a series one can enjoy. So for now, no more zombie fighting!

P.S. and no more Shido-sensei xD

2010-09-19T17:28:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 12 (END)

and with the last episode, a new character is added in, a tiny bit of life storytelling and it ends =="

Himura Machiko, a student who's working part time to deliver newspaper, sees Ryoushi walking his two dogs in the morning. After glancing at the large house he lives in, she mistakes him as a rich guy walking two expensive dogs and becomes determined to marry him and obtain a life of happiness. With that in mind, she goes all out to try and get Ryoushi's attracted to her. She carefully plans out her first impression for Ryoushi which turns out to be just wierd and predictable as Ringo names it as directly taken out from a game when she and Ryouko sees Ryoushi feeling rather troubled in class. Soon, Himura makes an appearance again but had now grown tired over all the planning and went straightforward to ask Ryoushi to marry her. That sentence sparked off dozens of gaze towards the poor Ryoushi who's still suffering from his own fear of being seen. Otohime and Tarou soon came into the class to witness the commotion and when it was said that Ryoushi had some ties with Ryouko, Himura confronts Ryouko and she brushes it off that they have no relationship at all. Ringo grasps the situation of how Ryouko still could not be honest with herself and plans something dark for her. Back in the Otogi Bank, while talking about how Ryoushi was confessed to, Himura comes to the Otogi Bank to make a request to book Ryoushi for the weekend for a date with her. Liszt agrees to it as well after seeing Ryouko not objecting and the date begins. Ringo and Ryouko had went to check on them as well after Ringo lured Ryouko to do so by saying that Himura could be plotting something with her sudden confession and they should look after Ryoushi's well-being; and since Ryouko didn't want to be honest, it was an ideal excuse to "stalk" them during their date. Himura was however surprisingly bold to get Ryoushi to fall for her and through every action she was trying to lure Ryoushi in, Ringo teases Ryouko with it and loves to see her "i must not show that i actually care" attitude. And so, examples like trying to get Ryoushi to accept her feeding him food and to rock a boat on purpose just to grab on to him and that got Ryouko to snatch the binoculars from Ringo to take a look. Whist asking Ryoushi to talk about his family, Ryoushi shed some light on his past, like on how he had the phobia of being seen and then when he asks Himura about her family instead, she changes the subject quickly and leaves the park with Ryoushi. She then wanted to bring Ryoushi to another place but had suddenly changed her mind and bid goodbye to Ryoushi. As Ryoushi went out of sight, Himura was confronted by two thugs who tells her that her father had took the money, which was to repay their debts, and ran away, and they had since been looking for her. Himura could not believed what she had heard and when she was about to be taken away, Ryoushi shoots a smoke ball and grabs Himura away. The onlooking Ringo and Ryouko follows them to safety as well. In the playground, Himura tells Ryoushi that she had been working part time to help repay her father's debt and had only hoped to live in happiness, away from the thugs. She also apologises to Ryoushi for sticking so close to him for her own motives. Ryoushi then looked angry but was towards her father and not her. He then calls for more information about Himura and tries to help her get away from the thugs. The thugs soon found them and brought reinforcements as well but this time, Ryoushi wasn't holding back and switched to steel balls, soon accompanying him in the fight was Ryouko where they started to thrash all those thugs coming at then. Just as Himura was seeing how cool Ryoushi was, Ringo appears and tells her that both Ryoushi and Ryouko have always been fighting alongside with each other. After the commotion ends, Himura has her debts cleared by the Otogi Bank and was also given lodging which Liszt tells her that she does not need to worry about anything as she'll be repaying them soon enough. Himura then takes Ryoushi out for a talk and Ryouko follows them after making an excuse on going to the restroom. Himura thanks Ryoushi for what he had done for her and when she wanted to confess to him, Ryoushi cuts in and started saying that Ryouko was the reason he had became a little more manly and with Ryouko acting strong to protect her weak self, it was important for Ryoushi to be strong for her. Ryoushi then takes his leave and Himura, knowing all along that Ryouko was listening, asks Ryouko face to face if she likes Ryoushi or not, or she wouldn't stop chasing him. Ryouko soon replied that she does not hate him. With the sparklers being light up on everyone's hands, Ryoushi tells Ryouko that no matter how long it's going to be, he would always love her but this time, Ryouko did not hit him back, seems that she had acknowledged her own feelings for him as well and gave him a warm smile in return.

the last episode wasn't that much of an ending, it felt more like a typical episode after seeing how the various episodes in the series is modeled to be. Not much conclusion, many things are left hanging around probably due to the still ongoing novels. on how the story was actually heading back at the start, having a romantic ending would be rather weird. a comedy? not actually. I would have appreciated it more if they had decided to focus more on Shirou back when Ryoushi gave a badass look at him and gave the series a more proper climax and a much more fulfilling or proper end. I don't really dislike the ending though, just felt that they could be more to it rather than adding it a whole new character and ending her story so quickly that it just feels as if she's an "extra" character. it did seemed rather rushed though, and Ryoushi's cool look just came too fast and abit faked .__. leaving those aside, it was actually a rather nice-to-watch series at the start but on the ways on concluding it, it is rather difficult. having such resemblance to Toradora! when the preview came was a "hook" to this series. Having the same personality and an awesome start of confession kicked off the series to a good start. Shirou, as the ultimate antagonist was a great idea, focusing on Ryouko's past that developed her current personality. and that brought forth a much more "manly" Ryoushi, who is waaay cooler than how he is normally. overall, it wasn't a bad series but its watchable for leisure, much more improvements could be made IF there was a 2nd season. 12 episodes is honestly a little too short.

P.S. still love their fairytale-like reference though :)

2010-09-18T13:49:00.002+08:00

Anime Festival Asia 2010 a.k.a AFA X

Alright, here's the current info on what's you can expect this year at AFA

for the booths, its still not confirmed what will be coming this year and their event guide is still under-construction. But if nothing much changes, we can safely think that they would be Bandai coming, probably for the upcoming Gundam 00 movie, the other figma stores, Latendo and possibly KKnM.

for the highlights this year:

Kaname is coming back again :D and this year, seiyuu Kana Hanazawa would be coming, could be similar to last year's K-On! experience. well, who's that you may ask,

here are some of the roles that she play that you might know of:

Zange in Kannagi
Sharon in Pandora Hearts
Nadeko in Bakemonogatari
Suou in Darker than Black, Ryuusei no Gemini
Kanade in Angel Beats!
Mato in BRS

yup, the lovely Tenshi in Angel Beats! :D so we might possibly see her doing a live dubbing of Kanade or maybe most of her roles in the various anime series.

and of course, there's the Regional Cosplay Championship 2010 as well and the I love Anisong concert.

so thats what they have released so far, but ticket pricing... its slightly different this year (well, it was expected)

So there isn't any 2-day special pricing ticket, yet (who knows if there's gonna be a change? :D)

it's $15 bucks PER day with stage access, and $8 PER day for non-stage access.
and note this "

Grants full access to exclusive main stage activities and content, such as Special Guest Appearances, Movie Screenings, AFA Regional Cosplay Championships and more!

* Does not grant access to I LOVE ANISONG concerts.

*from their web*

and so whats in for the concert?

NO MORE STANDING and WATCHING this year =/ disappointed? yes. but what if i wanna stand? pay.

thats the rule this year, no more free standing areas for the concert.

Its now $55 bucks to STAND, and watch the concert, PER day

and for the concert tickets itself, its $118 bucks PER day and $198 bucks for a two-day special offer.

leaving money behind, and after thinking it through, here are the guests for this year's I Love Anisong:

for day 1: Ichirou Mizuki and JAM project
for day 2: SCANDAL, angela and May'N

i will definitely miss the concert feel this year and this year, angela's coming D: dang, i wanna hear her sing live =X but for that amount of money, i'll pass this year, not being able to fork out this year =/

so till 13/14th Nov 2010! AFA yooooshi!

2010-09-16T21:02:00.003+08:00

K-ON!! 24 [END]

it ends. excluding the extra episodes to come, this is the end of the long, and rather influential series.

Having decided to meet up earlier before heading to school for the graduation ceremony, Yui was the only one that was late. The others waited for her and when its turns out that she had woke up early to play her Gitah and had lost track of time, with that, the girls rush to their last day in high school. In their class, Sawa-chan had came to make sure everyone was prepared and ready for graduation but the keion girls have yet to arrive. Meanwhile, Azusa's class were given flowers, just like the other classes, where they'll give it to their seniors to celebrate their graduation. While heading to the venue, Azusa, Ui and Jun then sees the girls rushing up to their own classroom and while looking at them, Azusa did not realise a wall in front of her and hit her forehead, injuring it as a result. The girls then arrived in class, but Yui had tore her tights which Nodoka had a replacement, probably with Ui having a sixth sense about how things are going to turn out. Another classmate then hands Ritsu a board where everyone had written their messages for Sawa-chan, treating it as a surprise gift for her. Luckily enough for Azusa, her bangs were long enough to keep her bandage away from sight and which it properly patched up, they headed out to give their flowers to the graduating seniors. While in the auditorium for the graduation ceremony, Yui had no choice but to hide the board in her shirt but that prompted Sawa-chan to worry about her as she thinks that she was hiding something else. Mio realises that they could be in trouble and passed the message that Sawa-chan was worried about Yui but when the message reached Yui, it had transformed into "Sawa-chan has failed" instead, which sounded similar but confused Yui as she didn't quite understand what Mio was trying to tell her. Back in their classes, Sawa-chan gives out their graduation certificates and wish them all the best for their future and she was very happy about each and everyone as this was the first class she was in charge in as well. It was then time to hand the board to Sawa-chan which made her realise that the thing Yui was hiding during the ceremony was the board all along; she really appreciated it and tells everyone to come back once in a while. Azusa was meanwhile daydreaming until Jun managed to snap her out of it and tells her that she was leaving for the Jazz club. Ui then tells Azusa that she'd be celebrating for Yui's graduation and it would seem wierd for her not to see her sister wearing the same uniform as her again. Azusa then grabs Ui's hands, telling her that she'll celebrate their graduation as well and they should send them off with a smile. Back in the class, the keion girls were having their pictures taken by people who love their music and would hope that they continue to play music even after they go into University. Before heading to the music room, Nodoka separates from them and Yui reconfirms with Nodoka that they'd walk home together that day which Nodoka agrees. At the same time, Sawa-chan walks into the now empty classroom and thinks about all the time spent here and as she looks back, she begins to tear when she sees the entire chalkboard filled with messages to her as well. Azusa later arrives at the music room and apologies for not being able to serve them tea. She sits down and gives them each a letter she had wrote for them and while congratulating them for graduating, the truth that they are leaving sank in when she sees their graduation certificates. Azusa then whispers that she doesn't want them to graduate and leave and would want to them to stay on with her; and she'd not bug them to stop drinking tea or clean the room if they continue to stay. Azusa then breaks down and Yui rushes forward to comfort her and Azusa apologises again for crying as she had wanted to send them off while smiling. Yui later gives Azusa a photo of them with a small cut-out print of Azusa sticked onto it, and also a flower with five petals, representing the Keion-bu. Mio then tells Azusa that they had all prepared a song for her and performs for her. With the lyrics of the song, Azusa is touched and tears began to well up in her eyes and when the song ended, she stood up to applaud, causing a drop of tear to land on the photograph given to her. Sawa-chan and Nodoka later steps into the music room as well and the keion-bu decides to perform for them as well and its fuwa fuwa time. The End.

the series has really came a long way, ever since it first started on Season 1. I was first captured by how they delivered their 1st ED, Don't Say Lazy, got hooked to it and started watching ever since. Story-wise on the 1st season was somewhat better than the 2nd season, until about the last few episodes where the situation starts to feel heavy and it was the end of the girl's high school journey. Seeing how the manga had ended, it does seem to be pretty much similar to the animation's end, Azusa in tears... honestly, it felt sour watching that. Having the thought that being left alone after all your close seniors graduate isn't something that one can overcome so easily. I mean come on, just look at the time they had spent together, it was indeed, a tight bond that had to be broken when graduation arrived. Sawa-chan had her emotional side as well with wishes from the students being given to her, and they were her first graduating batch as well. In the manga however, Mio did teared later after holding it in in the school. Leaving that aside, the song they had wrote for Azusa was just marvelous, the lyrics had such deep meaning to it and i was really touched by it as well:

what did spur me on to continue watching the series was the songs, really. They had all some rather interesting lyrics but most of it had rather deep meaning to it, just like U and I. Clearly enough, their last ED song, No, Thank You!, had the quality of Don't Say Lazy back into the spotlight. Ritsu with her hair down in the ED is already full of win :D a more crucial part of the song they had sang to Azusa is that everyone sang, yes, everyone did, if you had seen or heard closely. Seeing that Azusa is someone close to them, Mio really didn't felt shy while singing it. It must be difficult for Azusa to send them off and she'll probably won't see them much often and it was, too, touching when she became honest about how she felt about their graduation when she saw their graduation certificates. With the manga ending the entire K-On! series, a 3rd series is rather impossible, and i wouldn't think it would be practical as well, this was quite the ending i think i quite appreciate, definitely NOT because Azusa teared OK? it someone made me feel that it had placed a full stop to such a rather wonderful series. All in all, this is a great series to enjoy as a slice-of-life (or you're just looking for moeblobs). Their songs are hits and i enjoy listening to every single track of their song, especially how the ED are animated and their accompanying songs as well. K-ON! has left a deep track in the animation "world" (which it did), all the hooha going around when it's approaching its end and how some other people reacted to it as moe overdose. At least they didn't focus too much on FS, and luckily, they didn't. For myself, this 2 wonderful seasons did make me enjoyed it and i laughed through it, heard their live (at AFA 09), felt sour with it, and nonetheless enjoyed their songs. It would be a series i'd miss watching and definitely something worth remembering. The K-ON! legacy has now come to an end. A full stop is placed in the series and its really, the end.

Kei-On! SAYONARA!

P.S. well, literally, IT IS the end for the story, but there's still an extra episode coming along.

P.S.S would go on a hiatus after the current series i'm blogging ends, all the way till around mid/early Oct as i'll be focusing on my exams so till then! :) which also means that K-ON!! 25 might not be blogged. Note: *might*

2010-09-14T19:41:00.002+08:00

will be updating on AFA X soon :)

Highschool of the Dead 11

Back in the school bus, Shido had already brainwashed every single student he has with him, all except one, who was thrown out of the bus and was quickly eliminated by "them". Back in Takagi's home, Takagi, Takashi and Hirano went to talk to the adults seeking shelter here and were telling them about how they should accept the world as it should be, just like how Takagi's father had showed everyone when he beheaded his best friend who had become one of "them". The adults however feel that they were trying to convince them to take up arms and are encouraging them to kill and refuses to accept their suggestions. Leaving the tent, Takagi feels pissed since she had went to talk to them after hearing them talking about her father and yet they still do not understand their current situation. Hirano then thinks that it was due to this screwed up world they are in that everyone is hoping that everything could be resolved and be back to normal in no time and thus, do not want to accept reality. Takashi agrees and share some of his thoughts on it as well, which prompts Takagi and Hirano to feel that he should be the leader of their team. Saeko was meanwhile with Takagi's father and he allows her to unsheathe a katana, which Saeko recogises it as a katana of the finest quality which reassures Takagi's father that she is really Busujima's daughter. He later wants to give the katana to Saeko but she refuses, asking for a reason. But he tells her that it would be best suited for her as he can still see Takashi hesitating on his actions. Back in his room, Takashi begins to ponder of his "status" in the group, and Rei joins in soon after. He thinks that with everyone being rather professional in their own specialised weapon and Shizuka-sensei having medical knowledge, it does not seem that the position of the leader should be given to him. And then comes Rei's rather irritating speech, where she tells him that she sees his more differently now with him taking his every actions seriously while protecting the group. She later leaves the room where she goes to check on her injuries again and sees Saeko outside, who tells her that she had not heard anything. Takashi then goes to Takagi's father and informs him that he's leaving to search for his family members and if he does not come back within 2 days, it would mean that he had decided to stay with his family and any plans the Takagi family has would not concern him. Saeko decides to follow him as well to help lead his family members back but before they leave, Rei sees someone outside the house and rushes out with her bayonet. It turns out that Shido and his students have arrived at the house to seek shelter and Rei immediately points her bayonet at his face. She knows that she was forced to repeat a grade as her father was a political rival of Shido's father and right now, she feels like taking his life. Takagi's father then appears and tells her to decide on her own whether to take his life or not and Takashi was also stopped by Saeko in intervening. Rei later puts down her bayonet, saying that he's not worth killing and Shido and his students were then chased out by Takagi's father and not to return with his evil. Other countries seems to be firing missiles to wipe out the zombies and the crew on the satellite begins to see a much more chaotic world with much more missiles being shot across the sky.

Rei is getting more and more irritating. What's with her sticking around, seems like she's forcing Takashi on her. Come on Takashi, Saeko's better than her .____. so stop flirting around with her! leaving that aside, we finally got to see Mr. Shido being "pwned" woo!!! thats great to see :D with only a few episodes left, its probably going to end in the Takagi house arc before a new arc comes in or it could be a totally original ending, who knows? o.o

2010-09-10T21:14:00.002+08:00

K-ON!! 23

With graduation just round the corner, Ritsu decides to call everyone and meet in the music room where they can enjoy their "last" school day together. It was still early in the morning and the girls were already having their own cup of tea, happily listening to the school bell as it rings. It had seemed that they were skipping lessons. As time passes, the girls got bored and decide to head to their classroom where Ritsu started sorting out her belongings under her table, which she should have already brought back days ago. Yui was then digging out all the notes that Ritsu had been passing to Yui during classes and Mugi requested to keep them, treasuring them as a part of their memory. Nodoka then comes by the class and is surprised to see them all gathered together and replies to Yui's question that she was going to hand up her script for the graduation speech the next day and to get it approved. The girls went and followed Nodoka to see Sawa-chan, who approves of the script and allows Nodoka to hand it over to the person-in-charge. The girls stayed back a little while to have a chat with Sawa-chan, but nothing seems to be able to "lure" her back to the music room as she still had many things to settle on her very first graduating batch of students. Bored, the girls waited for Nodoka and when she leaves first to the student council room, they decide to follow her as well and took their time exploring the room. In the shelves, the girls discover a student council photo album and for the first time, they get to see Nodoka blush as they peered at her pictures in it. Yui then comes over and asks Nodoka to borrow her spectacles to wear, in an attempt to make herself look like a student council president. Having explored the room well enough, the girls take their leave and Nodoka had sorta enjoyed their little "stay" as well. The girls then headed to the cafeteria where they see Azusa and Jun and Yui goes forward to ask Azusa to buy some bread for them as it'll look wierd if the others see them in school as they weren't supposed to be. In addition to their requested bread, Azusa also bought a golden chocolate bread which was a long bread filled with sweet chocolate fillings which the girls have not tried before and loved it when it first entered their mouth. They left some as well to Ui and Jun for which Azusa already knew that they had eaten before. With nothing to do, the girls return to the music room and were unable to play music as classes were going on and they started to think of something to do. Mio went to feed Ton-chan as Yui had always reached earlier than she did and Yui later started to design some game which was unplayable with a lack of a goal. Mugi then decided to test out a cloth that makes a sparkle on the windows and that prompts the girls to clean up the music room and that took them the rest of the time until the last bell rung. Yui later finally realises that it was perhaps the last time they could have tea here and practice here and became uneasy, feeling that they should leave something before to prove the existence of Ho-kago Tea Time in this school. Through some pondering, the girls decide to record all the songs that they had wrote into a cassette. Azusa runs to the music room as it could possibly be their last practice session together and also agrees with the recording but as no planning was done, everyone went to the table again to discuss on the recording list of songs. Whilst deciding, Mugi decides to record their conversations as well where Mio got embarrassed over her own recorded voice and Azusa, being shocked after her shout was recorded by Yui. The song list was then completed and just as they were about to begin, Sawa-chan comes in and stays aside to listen to the girls record their very first "album". It was finally completed in the night and Ritsu wrote down "Ho-kago Tea Time" onto its cover sealing their history in Sakura High.

i'm already feeling bad for Azusa already, she's going to be left alone after the rest graduates and that feel was already amplified in the past episodes and now it is soon coming to an end. And that's where the cassette comes from (in the transitions) and with that well recorded, it could be made into a CD and be sold :D seeing how its going to end a quite differently from the original manga, i'm actually looking forward to their own unique end to such a "hit", it doesn't really need to be a hit series, but it did, without doubt, proved to be a series known to many (shall post more when it ends in the next episode). i wouldn't think there would be any season 3 but a extra episode 25 could be possible... time leap anyone? :P

P.S. pardon me, i've some fetish for time leaps :D

2010-09-10T09:59:00.002+08:00

now this is adorably cute >///< from Good Smiles

and this is from Alter, with cost a bomb of around 200+ SGD D:

Max Factory's Mio Akiyama PVC, lurve the bass @.@

2010-09-09T21:05:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 11

While training with Neko-san to improve his own fighting capabilities, Ryoushi receives a call from Liszt who called everyone for an urgent meeting where he explains the current situation. According to his investigation, other members of the Otogi Bank could have been kidnapped by the delinquents of Onigashima High and were probably under Shirou's directions. Meanwhile, Ryouko had been tied to the chair and brought to Shirou, who explains that he had hoped to separate the Otogi Bank members and kidnapped them to see their despair and it his plan was working better than expected and now he was waiting for Ryoushi to arrive to save Ryouko. At the same time, Otsuu was cornered by the other delinquents and was being forced to change into a nurse outfit and Tarou, when placed in a room with Otohime, was "assaulted" by other bikini-clad girls as the delinquents had heard that he was a playboy. Fortunately, Tarou wasn't led astray by this and kept his heart to Otohime and retaliated, with Otohime targeting the girls after exclaiming that a girl's jealousy is not something to be underestimated. Otsuu was then saved by Majo who unleashes her chemical gas and led Otsuu away from the vicinity, only to get her to wear something that she would like to see instead. Mimi and Alice, who were on the run, had managed to get some time to rest and Mimi apologises to Alice for bringing trouble which surprised Alice that she was actually a rather honest person. After the duo started to run again, Alice accidentally sprains her leg and was saved by Liszt, whom Alice called out as "Rikkun" when she first saw him. Liszt tells them that everyone is now moving to save the other members but the group he was most worried with is Ryoushi's group, who consists of Ringo, Neko-san and Ryoushi himself. The trio arrives at Onigashima High and is welcomed by a large number of delinquents but was fortunately given assistance by Momoko and her followers and later, the rest of the Otogi Bank. With the duo, Momoko and her followers successfully infiltrated the school building, they were met with more delinquents as they proceed further and it was soon up to Neko-san, Ryoushi to save Ryouko. In the school grouds, the Otogi Bank members were rounding up the rest of the delinquents with even Mimi helping Otohime out. Neko-san explains to Ryoushi that he had decided to train him as he did not run away even when he was faced with delinquents whom he might not be able to win in a fight unlike him, who had once left a girl behind when he was faced with a similar situation. Neko-san then leaves Ryouko to Ryoushi and stays to fend off the remaining delinquents. Ryoushi finally reaches Ryouko and was greeted by Shirou, who tells him that he was a little later than he expected. Ryoushi immediately tries to shoot with his slingshot but was quickly cut by Shirou and was then kicked, throwing Ryoushi onto the wall. Ryouko, who was forced to see Ryoushi being beaten up, was extremely concerned about Ryoushi's well-being after he was cornered and got bashed up pretty badly by Shirou. Ryouko couldn't bare to see the situation anymore but at that moment, Ryoushi remembers what Neko-san had said earlier on, the girl he had once left behind was Ryouko herself and in order to redeem himself, he begins to train himself and seeing how Ryoushi is determined to protect her, he decides to train Ryoushi up. With the resolution to protect Ryouko, he regains his strength and pushes Shirou aside but was still unable to lay a single blow on Shirou. Learning from Neko-san's advice, Ryoushi decides to stop his thoughtless attacks and remained calm, ready for Shirou's move. Shirou does not hesitate and rushes in for the blow, which Ryoushi dodges cleanly off and punches him on the face, knocking Shirou off his feet and losing some blood as a result. Ryouko was surprised to see how Ryoushi had turned the table around but when Shirou stood back up, his expression seemed to have changed for the worse after Ryoushi was able to land a hit but before the fight ensues, Liszt steps in and stops the fight, treating this as a request by Onigashima High and he'll be sure to return the favour soon. The fight at Onigashima High then ends but Shirou doesn't seem to have given up, only to feel that it could become more interesting if he could break their deepening bonds. Back in Otogi Bank, Liszt thanks everyone who has helped in the "operation" and Mimi and Otohime seems to have patched up their relationship and Neko-san feeling that he had redeemed himself and had not run away in this situation unlike him in the past. With the crisis being over, Ringo suggests Ryouko to give Ryoushi a reward after seeing how much he had gone through to save her but Ryouko brushes it off while blushing. Later in the night, Ryouko seems to understand what Ringo is hinting and asks for her help in how she could reward Ryoushi, which was that she'll tag along with Ryoushi when he walks his two dogs the next morning. Seeing Ryoushi's back, Ryouko seems to have developed a much deeper feeling for him and just after Ryoushi, looking determined, tells Ryouko that he would be the one protecting her, she had almost wanted to be honest about her feelings towards him for once but her words were cut when she sees Ryoushi back in his old state when a large group of children passes them and had then wacked Ryoushi when he wanted her to continue what she had intended to say.

was a little disappointed on how the climax was built up, Neko-san IMO still feels like a last-minute-addition to make Ryoushi become stronger, which unfortunately didn't have long lasting effect on him. this climax seems to be just like the episode where they had previously stormed Onigashima High, without any real proper end to Shirou and his delinquents. things do seem to be rushed in the series and for a 12 episode series, i would think that a 24/25/26 episode for this series would be better for them to end everything nicely and having a much more better climax build up instead of a short 20mins climax that comes and goes. nonetheless, we almost got to see a honest Ryouko, well.. almost... so i'll see how the series decides to end...

P.S. Liszt has some deadly cool eyes O.o

2010-09-08T20:51:00.001+08:00

one of the series i'm anticipating :D

P.S. and not forgetting Sora no Otoshimono as well :)

2010-09-07T21:40:00.002+08:00

just thought that i should leave this here: (have been around on many other webs as well; credits to chart creator)

much awaited series are popping out this fall, Sora no Otoshimono, Index, The World God Only Knows... might be missing some of the front few episodes when they start airing since the start of fall is also the start of my exams D: oh well, at least there's something to look forward to after it ends, including AFA X :)

2010-09-07T09:23:00.002+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 10

The group has now safely arrived at the Takagi household and for them, it was the most relaxed atmosphere they have been in ever since hell broke lose. Takashi later sees two man carrying a heavy crate and offered to help, but was rejected as they felt that it was the job of the adults and the kids should just stay aside and that, was the beginning of the troubles they are going to face. Alice comes in and greets Takashi whom is happy to see her back to her cheerful self again and have most probably gotten over her father's death. Shoutings were then heard from Takagi in her room where she later storms out and reprimands Takashi for not calling her first name when he calls her. Takashi then meets Takagi's mother and hears from her about the current situation on how the commander is sending troops to the power plant to keep it working but the workers wouldn't be working there all the time since their family aren't there and that's where her role comes in. The household would only accept those whom they know would be able to survive to seek shelter here. Meanwhile, Kouta is checking out his own arsenal of guns when an adult comes buy and asks him if its real and before the situation worsens, Takagi intervenes and cuts into the questioning and hopes that Kouta realises that here, they are treated as kids and wouldn't have much authority and freedom. Takashi was then asked to talk to Takagi and when the group had gathered for a meeting, everyone knows that there are only two options laid in front of them, whether to be absorbed into the large group of the Takagi household, or to separate and go their own way. Takashi then started to talk about how great Takagi's parents were and that hit the nail and Takagi was agitated by it, since her parents did thought of her in the first place but had not dispatched anyone to search for them as they had presumed that she wouldn't be able to survive and that made her hate her parents. Takashi then lifts her up and bellowed at how lucky she actually was, that she was able to know that her parents were safe but the rest were still in doubt. Takagi returns to her senses after Takashi's words made it clear and her father and his other troops return to the household from the outside world. His father showed the rest on how his best friend had sacrificed himself to save others and became the one cutting him down to show everyone that no matter it is someone you love or your own family members, once they become "them", one should show no hesitation. Kouta soon breaks down as well and started talking about how swords are not able to cut down every single one of "them" if they are outnumbered but multiple stressing of the situation did not enlighten the rest and he got in a small argument with Takashi. Alice later made Takashi realised that in the household, they might have become too relaxed and must constantly remind themselves that the world they were previously enjoying has already perished. Later Kouta gets surrounded by several adults, to force him to hand over his guns which he refuses and later, Takagi's parents come by to see what the commotion was and her father questions Kouta on the reason why he doesn't want to hand the guns over to the adults. He replies that he doesn't want to give it up as he has finally found something he was good at and his qualities and before he add on to what exactly it was, Takashi butts in and tells them that he was the one protecting Takagi all along and the other members of the group arrives, even Takagi herself, who tells her parents that it was Kouta who was protecting her and it wasn't her parents who are doing that.

as usual, the story gets dragged out quite a bit with more mixed emotions showing between the members due to the screwed-up world outside. not really a anticipating cliffhanger here, just like a typical ending-off episode thing. i would have sticked to the manga IMO, the animation doesn't seem to be getting better...

2010-09-04T11:16:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 10

Everyone was called back by Liszt and that wasn't a common decision made and Ryoushi suspects that it could be some form of an emergency for such an urgent meeting to crop up. Ryouko was still troubled about the dream she had about Ryoushi and was felt embarrassed whenever she looks at Ryoushi. The urgent meeting was conducted due to an unknown individual spreading negative rumours about Otogi Bank and their hideout was even almost discovered, with Majo bringing reporters to her lab instead to pass it off. It was suspected that the person behind this was Shirou, the student council president of Onigashima high school but they could not think of what exactly does he plan to achieve by doing this. In order to counter the negative remarks, Liszt decides to start a 30% discount on all requests made, to boost their positive side and also to garner more loans in prepare for something unexpected that might happen. With that promotion ongoing, every member of the Otogi Bank are extremely busy with completing the countless offers that forms the long snaky queue in front of the Otogi Bank. From cleaning the pool to conducting lectures, every member was occupied with the requests and Alice had done the job of allocating these jobs accordingly. Back from a request, Ryoushi thinks about how Ryouko have been acting all wierd towards him and thinks that he might have done something wrong. Just then, he sensed someone targeting him and that individual reveals himself as Neko-san and wants to help Ryoushi. He knows everything about Ryoushi, about how he had confessed and his fears of being stared at; and he wants to help him become a real man to protect the girl that he cares about and suggests him to train under him. While Ryouko and Ringo were on their way back to the dorms, they spot an Onigashima high school student, lying injured and asks Ryouko to help her before passing out. She later wakes up after being taken in by Ryouko and Ringo and introduces herself as Reiko. She had been with Shirou but had wanted to sell her off after dumping her and sent delinquents after her and thus forced her to seek shelter outside of their territory. Ryouko, hearing how Shirou had deceived another girl again, wanted to find him immediately and take him down but Ringo suggests that she should stay put and decide on their actions later. Ryouko then suggests that Reiko should transfer to their school and that they will protect her from the delinquents. The next day, Ryoushi's training begins and Neko-san, with steel plated boots, started to train Ryoushi into removing his fear of being stared or seen and to train his combat skills up rather than staying in the sideline, unable to protect Ryouko upfront. Ringo was still a little suspicious about Reiko and wanted Alice to check on her again and to make sure everything was alright, Liszt sends Otsuu to keep a lookout on Reiko's actions and to report back to them if there was anything amiss. It was finally the last day of the promotion period and as usual, everyone was away for their various requests and even Alice was taken away by Mimi to conduct another request and that was the beginning of the plot Shirou had. Otsuu, while spying on Ryouko and Ringo's room, was tasered from behind and Taro, while on the way back from his request, was forced to follow the delinquents from Onigashima high school when they threw him Otohime's handbag. Ryouko leaves for the dorms first before Ringo and Ringo receives a call who tells her that snow white has seven "children" and they were all disappearing one by one. Ringo, in fear that her sister and her siblings were targeted, she rushes to check on them but they were all safe, which led Ringo into thinking that she had misunderstood and it was the Otogi Bank members who were being targeted. Ryouko reaches home and was confronted by Reiko, who tells her that she was a kind girl and would hardly doubt anyone and when Ryouko knows about her true colours, she was paralyzed and taken away. Mimi had initially planned to take Alice away as well, possibly after being asked by someone but had taken Alice and runs away when they were both faced with the delinquents. Liszt returns to the Otogi Bank and sees Alice missing and her note on the table that describes where she was going and Ringo rushes in to report that Otsuu and Ryouko were missing and all that she had found in her dorm was a taser.

now this was what i had been waiting for, for the past 2-3 episodes. finally... they brought "shirou" back into the picture from where a cool Ryoushi rebukes him in the early episode. with Reiko fainting in the dorms, it was rather obvious that she was up to no good and that the plan was to bring all the members out for the different requests so as to separate them and Liszt could have accidentally overlooked this. so Ryoushi could possibly get stronger after Neko-san's training which seems like a rushed-styled powerup, just like KHR with a mysterious man coming out of nowhere and telling them that their Vongola rings can be upgraded... oh well, at least we might get to see a more manly Ryoushi and a happy end to this series :)

2010-09-02T15:34:00.000+08:00

changed the template / layout, hopefully i didn't miss out any of the codes =X

2010-09-01T22:45:00.002+08:00

K-ON!! 22

valentine's day is nearing and Azusa, Jun and Ui ponders over who they should make and give their chocolates to. Azusa have yet to gave any chocolates to her senpais over the past years and especially last year when Mugi brought expensive chocolates over which were so delicious that she forgot to prepare some for her senpais. Meanwhile, in the music room, the girls were studying for their exams and Ritsu was relying on her marvelous pencil which helps her to predict her answer. But when the truth that there were actually more options to choose from for each question, the choice of using it was eliminated. Azusa was also practicing in the same room and when she began strumming with the others telling her not to worry about disturbing them, Ritsu and Yui lost their concentration soon after with their hands following the rhythm. Mio however ensures Azusa that she works better with music and Mugi suggest that they all take a break and have some tea. She continues to add on that she might not be able to bring anything for valentine's this year and that prompted Azusa to make some chocolates for them. With the snow falling, the girls head on to their exams with Mio checking repeatedly for her exam pass and Ritsu almost losing it after having dropped it. A shaking Yui then came, clutching her head to "protect" all her last minute information stored from dropping out which could be due to her rushing through the whole night studying. At the same time, Azusa was shopping for ingredients and had initially gave up on making a chocolate cake as it was complicated but Jun helped her to change her mind and later Ui came by and decided to invite them to her house to make the cake together. With that, the trio goes off to bake the cake but halfway through, Yui returns home and questions about their actions. Azusa, not wanting her to know that she was baking a cake for them, tries to divert the topic but the truth was spilled by Ui who reassures Azusa that Yui would just think that it was a normal snack instead of it being for valentine's. One of the ingredients seemed to be missing and Ui and Azusa goes on out to fetch it and while passing by, the duo decides to pray for the senpais in scoring in the exam and entering the same university. The cake was completed and Azusa held on to it before school starts, hoping to give it to them but was too embarrassed to do so. Placing the precious cake under the table nor hiding it in a guitar case are practical options and while thinking about it with Jun, the others arrived and when Mio was given some chocolate from some admirer for her vocals, Azusa decides that it wasn't the best time. Time past and Azusa still had the cake with her and after some encouragement, she decides to go and pass it on to them with Jun as well, who prepared some for Mio too. They then see the senpais talking to Sawa-chan who wishes them good luck on entering the same university and that they'll have a wonderful graduation. Hearing that, Azusa suddenly came to a standstill and even after Jun had gave her gift, Azusa avoided them and walks off, stands in the corner and let the truth sink in. That her beloved senpais are really leaving soon and she'll be left alone. Jun and Ui comforts her and once again, Azusa goes to the clubroom, in hope that she'll finally be able to give it out. Mugi prepares some tea and says that she had not brought anything to eat as she knows that Azusa had brought some and with that, the cake was split accordingly where they were all in praise of how good it tasted. It then began to snow again and the girls crowd around the window, looking at the falling snow. Azusa then feels that she hope such a time could last longer and Yui grabs her hand, telling her that she feels warm now. Azusa later goes off to pray for her senpais that they'll make it to the same university and on the day where the results were printed on the boards, the girls prepared themselves and stood up together, looking at the board all at the same time. Back in the school, both Ui and Azusa received a message from the others, telling them that they had all made it.

it was a heartwarming episode, seeing how Azusa felt the impact that her senpais were really leaving her after they graduate and all the fun they had together might not happen again. and with the last scene where everyone had made it, it was sweet to see how Azusa reacted to it and the bonds between them are really strong (i could feel it too =X) this is different from the manga and they could actually have a totally original ending which i won't find it bad but hopes that it would be a great one. time leap anyone? :D

2010-09-01T08:48:00.002+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 9

With the rest being safely escorted to Takagi's home, Saeko and Takashi are now heading there as well via an alternate route but was forced to keep switching streets as they continue to encounter more and more of "them" as they get closer to Takagi's home. Takashi then thought of a bike shop he had previously saw and decided to take a look there to take a motorbike for easier travelling. Saeko however, suggests to use a buggy at the back of the shop and Takashi agrees too that it would be the best choice. Leaving the main streets, Takashi attempted to lure "them" down a slope since they weren't able to navigate but since "they" were undeads, it didn't really matter much. Takashi took another turn and drove the buggy into the water to avoid "them" but in doing so, he got Saeko into an unglamorous situation due to the heavy water splashes. Taking a break midway in a small elevated ground in the river, Takashi asked Saeko if she had a relationship with anyone before for which she replies that as a girl, she once had a crush on somebody and declined to explain further. Later in the night where the coast seems to be clear of "them", Takashi drove the buggy to the park and brought it into the fountain and with a tape secured tightly to the buggy's controls, it was led to encircle the fountain, producing sound to lure all of "them" together while the duo take a different route. Saeko then took the opportunity and took down many of "them" but had suddenly stopped in front of 2 dead children and hesitated. Takashi sees the situation and immediately runs forward and shot them as he wouldn't make it in time if he didn't and with "them" now attracted to the gunshot, the duo began to run to a nearby house and stayed there temporary. Saeko later tells Takashi that she had stopped due to her realising that her nature hadn't change at all. In the past, when she was forced on by a man, she had the upperhand with her wooden sword but had deliberately lure the man close to her before smashing him with her sword and almost taking his life. Saeko tells Takashi that she felt ecstatic while doing that and that was the real her that she hopes she could change but it got worse when "they" came. Takashi says that he too, had felt great while killing "them" but Saeko tells him that it was AFTER "they" appeared for him and for her, it was way before that. The next morning, Takashi scopes the surroundings and seeing the coast was clear, signalled for Saeko to move out. Unfortunately, the rustling of leaves had attracted many of "them" to their location and Saeko wasn't really willing to go all wild again. Takashi then took on the role of her assaulter, telling her that she would always be the Saeko he looks upon no matter what her character was like. And with that, Saeko unsheathes the sword Takashi had found and passed to her last night, and began cutting down all of them, and with the coast clear, the duo finally reached Takagi's house.

well, ignoring the fs, again, it felt rather draggy and seeing how the series could be ending at, i would've looked forward to it if they managed to reach the latest few chapters. nonetheless, the ecstatic problem finally gets mentioned and it really is, a serious problem in the screwed up world they are in now. *hopes for less fs in the next few episodes, last 2 were just plain overload...*

Note

there would be a template change sometime soon, so do look out for the change :)

2010-08-30T22:22:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 9

It begins in Ringo's dream where she, as little red riding hood, meets a genie who'll be able to grant her wishes and her wish was to get along well with a person she knew again. Meanwhile, the Otogi Bank had took on another request which was to help babysit the brothers and sisters of Shirayuki-senpai who works part-time in order to have enough money to take care of the others. Ryoushi and Ryouko were given the task of babysitting them and Ringo, who was supposed to be the one babysitting since the client requested for her, stood outside the house and kept hesitating on moving forth to talk with Shirayuki-senpai. Back from her job, Shirayuki-senpai thanks Ryouko and Ryoushi for their help and questions about Ringo's presence for which Ryouko tells her that she'd try to persuade her to come the next day. Back in the dorms, Ringo serves Ryouko and Ryoushi tea and when Ryoushi seemed serious on wanting to know what connection Ringo and Shirayuki-senpai actually had, Ringo stared hard in Ryoushi's eyes, frightening him so as to reconfirm if the serious Ryoushi was real. It was not something that couldn't be revealed and Ringo recited her past with Shirayuki-senpai to them. When she was young, her mother brought her to a mansion one day and told Ringo to play with herself while she tend to some important business. Ringo started to feel lonely and that was when she met Shirayuki-senpai for the first time. She was living in the mansion with her mother and had saw Ringo alone, prompting her to play along with Ringo and the duo had so much fun together. In the end when Shirayuki and her mother left the mansion, Ringo asks if they would meet again and she was replied that they will, if Ringo continues to be a good girl. Ringo later discovers that Shirayuki-senpai was actually her sister from a different mother and that important thing her mother had to tend to was the filing of divorce for her father with Shirayuki's mother and that was why they were forced to leave the mansion. Ringo thus felt that she was bad when she asks Shirayuki if they'll meet again, they were actually forced out of their home by Ringo and her mother. Ryouko pushes an entry ticket to a swimming pool, telling her that the Otogi Bank had invited Shirayuki-senpai and her siblings as well and the choice was up to Ringo whether or not to stop hesitating and be true to her feelings. The next day at the pool, Ringo didn't show up but Ryoushi believes that she had come and was hiding somewhere nearby instead. The girls were changed into their swimsuits and their free time had arrived. The kids had fun playing with the slide and Shirayuki-senpai was playing ball games with Ryoushi and Ryouko but Ryoushi earned a punch from Ryouko when he slipped and fell onto her. Tarou had also fell into great misery when he attempted to flirt with other girls and was unfortunately caught by Otohime and brought away to be taught a lesson. While Ryoushi was rowing a boat with Shirayuki-senpai sitting in front of him and Ryouko and one of Shirayuki-senpai's brother was pushing the boat from behind. Her brother then suddenly started to drown and Shirayuki immediately dived in to save her and holds him before passing to Ryouko but as she was doing so, she sinks into the water and Ryoushi dives right in to save her. Out of the water, Shirayuki-senpai was still unconscious and at that moment, Ringo came out of hiding and performed emergency treatment for Shirayuki-senpai and when she awoke, Ringo tried to escape but was held back by Ryouko. The duo finally had some time to talk to each other again and Shirayuki tells Ringo that she shouldn't think that everything was her fault and without that departure, she wouldn't have so many hardworking and cheerful siblings with her. She then pats Ringo's head and tells her that she had always been her sister. Ringo started to cry and was finally able to throw herself at her beloved sister again. Due to the lack of money, Shirayuki was planning to skip University to work but Ringo had used one of her wish she would get for working for Otogi Bank to give her a scholarship to continue studying and in the dorms, Ringo rebuked Ryouko's words back at her, telling her to be true to her feelings towards Ryoushi. Ryouko ignores her and goes to sleep first and then her dream started to appear. Dressed as a princess, she awakes to find a smart-looking Ryoushi in front of her, dressed as a prince and then he holds her down, telling her that he knows the correct way of waking a princess up and when he was going to kiss her, Ryouko didn't try to reject it and just at the moment where their lips had touched, she awakes and went screaming after she had such an embarrassed dream and had punched Ryoushi once again after they meet which Ryoushi didn't understand why he was hit when he had merely greeted them.

for the episode, Ringo's past was much said, and i myself am rather interested in Ryoushi's but more importantly, i had actually intended to see more about how Ryoushi's going to hunt that arch enemy down but now it all seems that all that had disappeared into thin air. rather, at least there was a large hint that Ryouko actually has feelings for Ryoushi after being about to dream such a dream... and poor Ryoushi who always get hit when he doesn't know the situation.

2010-08-29T22:38:00.003+08:00

Eden of the East - Paradise Lost

^a rather nice pic i found O.o

alrighto, i just had to prioritise this first other than the others (like ookami-san). Watched it, was glued to the screen although there weren't much actions but rather plot developments. Whole thing ends and i went "ARGH!"

yea really... the end felt rather rushed... and there wasn't really a happy ending i was hoping for.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Akira and Saki were on their way back to Japan on the airplane and Akira himself didn't really feel that everything would progress smoothly. The air-stewardess then handed Akira an Air King T-shirt which he wore and left the plane when it finally landed in Narita Airport. Akira and Saki were stopped by people under the Iinuma Chigusa, the wife of Prime Minister Iinuma and she leads Akira elsewhere to have a talk. She labels Akira as a terrorist behind the missile attacks and that she does not tolerate him appearing out of nowhere and announcing that he's Prime Minister Iinuma's illegitimate son. She then pulls off a strand of hair from Akira to perform DNA checks and then leaves the room. Akira walks out and asks Saki to help find his mother as he thinks that the woman who left the dog, which was previously in Akira's care, was actually his mother and he wants Saki to try and find her. With that, Akira leaves Saki to tend to his request where he heads to a holding room by the security personnel. Saki leaves and as she walks down into the lobby of the airport, she sees many NEETs and media individuals waiting to catch a glimpse of Akira after hearing rumours that the Air King was finally here. Osugi spots Saki and leads her away while telling her that their cell phones and calls were being tapped and they have t0 now use Itazu's own communication system, AirShip, to communicate among them. As Osugi goes off to get the car, Saki calls Hirasawa so as to not let them worry and then calls her family members to bring the dog to her as it was a clue to Akira's mother. Meanwhile, the group sends Akira the AirShip program and was finally able to get a hold on him. Hirasawa tells Akira that he can share the burden with them and they wouldn't mind even if they couldn't return to lead their normal lives again. Itazu explains that after the missile attacks on Juiz trailers, he has been trailing their locations and have found out that Mononobe had called Juiz for extra gasoline so as to keep the trailers on the move and had suspected the trailers to take a break at another location. Akira acknowledges and heads over to that location and prepares to rendezvous with the others after he reach the trailers. Akira took the chance by sending a NEET he met in the holding room to serve as a disguise for him while he sneaks away and grabs a motorbike. True enough, the Juiz trailers were all parked nicely while the girls in charge, who are identical granddaughters of Mr. Outside, take a break at a nearby cafe. While thinking about what they should do and feeling worried as a missile strike on the trailers could cost their lives, they see Akira arriving at the carpark where he searches for his own Juiz trailer. He spots it and attempts to communicate with Juiz, determined to save it but at the same time, the trailer with Juiz No. 1 was driven away and Akira drives his own Juiz No.9 to follow Mononobe's Juiz trailer so as to prevent his trailer from being targeted as it would mean Mononobe's downfall as well. The granddaughters did not see it as a need to report to Mr. Outside since Akira had not used Juiz to move his own trailer and the other Selecaos have no right to know. Akira gets back into contact with the rest of the Eden group and they were meeting up elsewhere where trailer No. 1 stops for a break. Akira finally got to see the rest face to face again and asks if anyone could drive a trailer for which on of them was able to and they were told to follow him who he personally drives his own trailer No. 9. The group was led to the Iinuma's household where Akira had used its front yard as a place to keep the two trailers and heads in to talk with Iinuma Chigusa. Meanwhile, Osugi and Saki had already met the owner of the dog and had chatted with her, for which Saki highly suspects was Akira's real mother. She however, does not divulge any information and when Osugi took a photo where it shows a young her with Prime Minister Iinuma and she was pregnant in the photo. The duo decides not to ask her anything regarding the photo yet and as she serves them another drink, she tells them that there are already people looking out for them and tells them of a escape route. Saki follows her while Osugi helps to delay those people and she confronts her with the photo. The woman reveals that she had left 500 yen to her child and when she heard that Akira had not spent a single yen of the 10 billion he has on himself, she brushes it off and says that it was definitely not her child and leaves Saki behind. Osugi catches up with some torned portions in his shirt but still made it safely out and questions Saki about the woman. Saki knows that it was definitely Akira's mother but if she had called Akira now, she was worried that Akira would not be by her side anymore and was in a dilemma. Osugi however comforts her and suggest that meeting Akira face to face and speaking to him would be the best option and they head off to meet Akira. While in the Iinuma household, Chigusa questions about Akira's motive as she still thinks of him as a terrorist for which Akira tells her that he wishes to become the country's King and change the country for the better but Chigusa didn't really understand what he was trying to do but she would not bulge on the hearing on Akira being a terrorist. Mononobe arrives at the house as well for which Akira knows that he was looking for him and leaves to have a talk with him. Mononobe asks Akira if he wanted to give up on the game together since there wasn't really much meaning to the game and seeing how Akira had took his trailer as well, he admits his loss. Mononobe tells Akira that when he was asked on what he would do to change the country if he was given 10 billion yen, he wants to get rid of the current government and start everything all over by placing more importance on the citizens firstly by re-instating the Home Ministry. Akira receives a call from Saki and knows that she had arrived at their location as well and learns from her that his mother was found. He heads out to see Saki for a moment and is glad that she's safe before returning to speak with Mononobe. Having confirmed about his past and that he was really Prime Minister Iinuma's son, he didn't really feel different and he declined Mononobe's offer on helping to get rid of the danger of Akira's friends on the note that he disappears elsewhere. Akira knows that he and Mononobe's aim was similar but his way of doing things lacked love. Meanwhile, Hirasawa had tracked down some requests made by Selecaos and had finally tracked down Mr. Outside, who is a taxi driver and had chosen the Selecaos via his customers by asking them what they would do if they had 10 billion yen to change the country and had chose Akira after seeing him thinking that the world world would be better if people work to earn rather than spend since there wouldn't be anyone around to provide the services if everyone was spending their money. Akira then makes a request for Juiz to make a call to everyone in the country through using of the Eden system to force the download of AirShip on every citizen's handphone, and also leaving around 100 million yen to spare. Itazu, who had escaped from their old school building and was now at a Internet Cafe, helps Juiz with the task and AirShip was transferred to everybody's handset. Akira prepares his speech with all the citizens in Japan and declares firstly that he was the one behind Careless Monday and was the main antagonist behind everything. He tells everyone that his next plot was to take even more people away to paradise as compared to the 20,000 NEETs before and the only way to stop him was to comply to his requests, which was to ask the old men to change their ways according to what he feels is right and that the NEETs should now step out of their comfort zones and all this have to be done if not the country wouldn't have enough youths, who are the future of the country and the country is doomed, but if they comply, everyone would be led to a paradise. He then ends off his call by sending everyone a single yen as e-money and tells them to take this to Eden where he'll meet them and everyone would be living in paradise. Mr. Outside sees Akira's way of doing things and agrees with his rational choice and decides to end the entire game. He takes his phone and calls all the Selecaos, telling them that everyone was a winner and the game ends where they get to keep the phone as a gift but everyone was given a memory wipe. After Hirasawa discovers that there was a trap lie in store for the Selecaos once the game ends, he tries to stop Mr. Outside from toying with them further but to no avail. Mononobe steps out of the Iinuma household, looking dazed after losing his memories and as he drives out and does not recognise Yuuki, Yuuki attempts to shoot him after seeing how Mononobe is trying to forget all that he has done for him (Yuuki still had his memories intact since he had already lost his phone) and he was run over by Mononobe who in turn crashes his vehicle. A dazed Akira steps out as well but the memory wipe does not seem to work on him, possibly due to him having wiped his memory once already. He takes a look at the DNA report Chigusa handed to him earlier and sees that he wasn't Prime Minister Iinuma's son at all and that the woman whom Saki confronted wasn't Akira's mother at all but was only hinting her to make her suspect that she was. Akira then leaves the rest, telling Saki that he still have things he need to do, promises that he'll be back after that and leaves. Saki however runs after him and grabs on to his hand and kisses him. She asks Akira to promise that they will definitely meet again which he complied but that was really the last time Saki would ever see Akira. The NEETs, under Akira's "orders" were now making a living in the shopping center which Akira used to own and many companies were going on a hiring spree after being "awakened" by Akira's speech over AirShip. But Akira was never there to meet them, he had however went to find Mr. Outside where they together try to change world even more and Saki, herself, knows that the world is changing in ways that she could not see and follows the rest to develop another communication-styled program, like the Eden system, under Hirasawa's leadership. And that was the short days of which Saki had spent with Akira.

...

and it ends.

personally, on how the story develops, it could be boring for some, but i was honestly kept glued on the screen for various reasons. the twist in plot was interesting and based on how the story had started, it was quite a good way to wrap everything up. some mysteries remain unsolved though, on the truth about Akira's past and with the woman who claimed to have left a son behind but was that really Akira or someone else? and did Prime Minister Iinuma really mistook Akira for his son at the candy store where he was abandoned? the idea of protecting Juiz 1st-hand was rather cool but comparing the two movies, i did felt the end of the 1st movie was much better with the missile targeting the Juiz trailers and was expecting more on how the whole story was going to end. I did felt slightly disappointed when Mr. Outside announced the end of the game just after Akira made his speech, it was like all the fuss had all been for nothing. And of course, i had expected Akira to disappear at the end of the whole series (including the movie), which he did and i would've hoped for some time leap or something... can't they just show them reuniting again?! =X overall, it was a series i had definitely enjoyed watching. ending-wise wasn't that great but the plot and everything was truly marvelous... a totally great series worth watching over again :) thumbs up!

2010-08-27T14:14:00.003+08:00

K-ON!! 21

it was photo-taking day for the girls and Yui was particularly interested and troubled on what kind of hairstyle she should get since the graduation photo would be the one and only photo that serves as a memory. With that in mind, Yui was tending to her hair the whole morning until she sees Ui and asks her for help. In school, Ui meets Azusa who seemed to have just woken up since her hair wasn't tied and had thought that she had same thoughts as her sister on changing a hairstyle. After helping Azusa with her hair, Ui thinks that she perhaps could change her hairstyle and changed into Yui's hair which with it, was darn similar to the real person herself. It had seemed that in the morning, Yui had requested Ui to be her hair model and used her hairpins on her and had forgotten to retrieve it from Ui. A restless Yui then slumps on her desk, feeling slightly different that a side of her hair wasn't pinned up. Nodoka wanted to hand her something to help keep the hair stay but Mugi was already on the task. She helps to tie Yui's hair up, revealing her forehead for which she wasn't pleased about it and while Mugi was attempting different styles on Yui, Ui returns to return her sister's hairpins and saved the day. Every senior was already stepping down from club activities after the school festival and Azusa, thinking that she might not see her senpais again, rushes to the music room, only to see everyone having tea as usual. Ritsu immediately saw through why Azusa was in such a hurry and the girls felt that they could study in the clubroom from then on. While having tea, Yui showed the rest a book on different hairstyling and felt that everyone should do something different for the photo. Ritsu also then decided that she'll bring her camera to see if they're all ready for the photo-taking. Back at home, Yui browses and analyses her photos so as to obtain the best looking style for her photo. The next day in the music room, the girls get on with her mini-photo-taking session and Ritsu was up first, followed by an embarassed Mio and Mugi who attempts to look different. When it was Yui's turn, her serious face almost made Azusa, who was taking the photo, laugh, since it was rare to see a focused and serious Yui. After seeing her own photo, she decided that her bangs were too long and decides to cut it herself. She then made a second cut after it still wasn't up to her expectations... until she sneezes and had cut her whole bangs off. Ritsu tries to "save" her by lending her her hairband but Mugi then really helped her after shifting the "what remains of her bangs" to a side to barely save her image. The next day was the photo-taking and Yui was extremely regretful on what she had done to her own hair but had lightened up after she was threatened with no snacks to eat if she continue feeling down. Their photos were taken and after which, Mio and the rest hand in their forms where it was accepted by Sawa-chan and that they are all now aiming to enter the same university.

... its just all about hair, hair and more hair. honestly, Ritsu looks great without her hairband and Ui and Yui are just dreadfully similar with their same hairstyle... and all that actually matters was the very last scenes of the episode where the girls are all aiming for the same university,

*SPOILER ALERT*

which they did. but K-ON! ends there. just a typical episode :)

heres the ED of Seitokai Yakuindomo by Angela. she really CAN sing fast eh ...

2010-08-23T21:47:00.002+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 8

honestly... i'm getting sick and tired of seeing jiggling objects whenever they got the chance to show it .___. i mean, come on... this is just overboard fanservice and i dun think it pleases many of the viewers IMO. even the manga wasn't THAT overboard...

So the group have managed to cross the river and had made it to the other side. Having previously taken the bath, Shizuka-sensei had prepared some clothings for them to gear them up for combat. Takashi was handed a shotgun by Kouta and had taught him slightly on how to operate the gun and if he needed, it could always be a secondary bat for him but having a firearm is still better than nothing. Kouta meanwhile holds on to his own assault rifle, Saeko still has her own wooden sword and Rei is now equipped with a long rifle with a bayonet attached to aid her style. Kouta and Takashi took the initiative to check their surroundings and signalled Shizuka-sensei to start the vehicle and ferry them across the streets. Since Takagi's house was the nearest among them, the group decides to head there first and Takagi herself knew that chances of her family members surviving was very slim. Nonetheless, the group still headed in the direction of her house and midway, Rei asks Takashi if he had noticed something different. The group had not encountered "them" ever since dawn and the other side of the river was as quiet as it seems to be. Just when they thought how great the situation was, they started to encounter "them" as they get closer and closer to Takagi's house and suspect that something must have happened that led "them" to be grouped together. In an attempt to keep of roads filled with "then", Shizuka-sensei accidentally swerved the vehicle into a wire barricade and after slamming on the brakes, both Rei and Takashi stumbled on the vehicle and Rei was thrown off. Looking at the approaching "them" and an immobile Rei, Takashi jumped down the vehicle without hesitation and fired his shotgun. Kouta then taught him how to aim properly with the intense recoil and Takashi did managed to fend most them off but the number was just too large. Even with Kouta assisting Takashi and Saeko with her wooden sword, the numbers just does not seem to have decreased at all. Takashi soon ran out of bullets and when he almost said that they could at least die together, he took notice of Rei's rifle and attempts to use it, while sling-ed to Rei's clothes, but none of the shots seemed to hit. Takagi also tried to help after picking up Takashi's shotgun but the situation seems to be getting worse. Saeko and Takashi then slashes through the crowd of "them" and tries to lure them away using sound but not all had followed them. Kouta then took the chance to bring Alice and her dog over to the other side of the barricade first but she refuses to be left alone and cries to say that she wants to remain together with the rest of them. Just then, a group of people arrived at the scene, wearing firefighter suits and blasted "them" off using their high pressured water rifles and also aiding the group to get over the barricade. When they were safely across, one of their saviours removed their mask and Takagi immediately realised that it was her mother and hugs her happily with the fact that she was still alive. Meanwhile, with Takashi and Saeko being separated from the group while trying to lure "them" away, the duo are now proceeding to Takagi's house.

ASIDE from the FS scenes, the actions were much well thought off with gunfire actions and rather remarkable swordsmanship. and with the episode down, Takagi has reunited with her mother and Takashi could have started to feel the ecstasy of killing "them" like as if he was killing humans when he actually felt high when he was wiping "them" out with his firearm. ain't a good sign but in such chaotic world they are in, it seems to be inevitable with the fact that they are all trying to survive.

and please ... stop overloading FS .___.

2010-08-22T11:10:00.003+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 8

i mean, honestly... what does this episode got to do with the entire series .___. was disappointed about how this episode turned out to be but at least the insults hurled were rather at least interesting to watch

and it starts with a rather interesting scene of Ringo, Ryouko and Ryoushi infiltrating a school that contains 3 brothers who refused to bath and they were forced to wear gas masks to prevent themselves from being wiped out by the smell and after Ringo did almost succumb to the toxic gas, the short scene ends.

it returns back to the Otogi Bank where the cast is about to receive another request by Chuutarou, a rich boy who had come to seek help for his future wife due to his family tradition. Accompanying him was his butler Hammel, who became the one looking through the candidates himself rather than the boy himself. And so, when Ringo asks him about what type of girl does he like, he tells them that he would like someone who can help him in managing his company, someone who is pretty and hardworking at the same time. Just as the rest just thought of Alice who does fit the description perfectly and at the same time, Liszt had sent her to them, perhaps knowing that she'll be a perfect candidate. However, Hammel passes her off by saying that she'll just be dominating his assets in the future. Their next candidate was Ami, who Ryoushi helped the rest to locate her spying on Jin practicing while camouflaging herself in the trees. She was passed off as well, saying that such dedication is just like unintended load to Chuutarou if she does become his wife and that's another insult hurled by Hammel and another candidate down. The next target was some who was rich and it was Otohime who was located again in a storeroom with her pinning Tarou down, forcing him to answer her questions on why she had seen him holding someone else's hand. While Otohime had gently rejected Chuutarou's request for becoming his future wife, Tarou had went off to greet Ryouko and Ringo which in turn made Otohime fume. She confronts Tarou but he brushes it off by saying that the only person in his eyes was Otohime but thinking that he could get away scot-free, Otohime drags him into the back of the room, closes the door and unimaginable things start to happen inside... The next few candidates were quickly moved on, including Mimi and even cameo appreances by Taiga, Minori, Kawashima Ami, Kuroko, Misaka, Saten and Uiharu. And after a long say of searching and rejecting, Hammel goes down into saying that women with large chest would be the best candidate and Momoko walks by and gets stopped by Chuutarou. However, Hammel adds on that to them, gravity would be their worst enemy as they age and that flat chests would be the best .____. (lolwut) and that didn't register quite well in Momoko, Ryouko and Ringo's ears. In the end, Hammel tells Chuutarou that the best option for his wife would be his childhood friend who had been watching the entire process of him seaching for his future wife and the two reunites and they live happily ever after...

the scene returns to the start where the trio were engaged in a fight with the toxic gas brothers and just as they played "King" and Ringo kissed Ryouko, Tarou turns the screen off and it was actually just a clip made by Ringo. And after all the insult, the girls were all treated by Liszt to some cakes which indeed had burnt a large hole in his wallet.

._____. just wheres the link to the story?! this episode had no story developments, nothing at all... just insults hurling here and there and short split second cameos. seeing how little episodes the series is left, maybe around 5, i was hoping for the relationship to blossom slowly and nicely between Ryouko and Ryoushi after seeing how nicely the previous episode left off. epic fast relationship developments do not interest me, just like what happened in Angel Beats! ._.

2010-08-19T20:42:00.003+08:00

K-ON!! 20

The day of the live performance has finally arrived. Seeing that Mio was still fast asleep in her sleeping bag, the others decide to draw something on Mio's hand when she was unaware. Mio later wakes up to find a huge number of scribbles on her hand and screamed, for which she later hits Ritsu on the head for doing that. The time of their performance have arrived and the girls quickly changed into their HTT t-shirts before moving to the stage. After the previous performance had ended, the girls quickly prepared their instruments and get ready to make it a wonderful performance and Ritsu just had to remind Mio of what had happened to her two years ago and Yui as well, who had forgotten her Gitah last year. Just when the stage curtains were about to unveil, Yui tangled herself with the wires and fell but picked herself up quickly after the audience is able to see them. The girls then realised that everyone was wearing their HTT shirts and even Nodoka was wearing it too. Further questions led Nodoka into disclosing that it was Sawa-chan who had helped in it and as the "president" of the Mio fanclub, she felt that she should be doing something to support the band. Sawa-chan was also feeling pleased with herself after hearing words of thanks from the students which she initially wanted to hear. The girls then started on their first song, Gohan no Okazu, where the lyrics were all just about food... the audience seems to like it though and Yui got as high and took the mite out for the audience to sing-a-long as well. Then came the introduction where Yui introduced Mio and asked her to perform a line of Romeo the day before and had squeals from her fanclub after she reluctantly agreed to do it. Ritsu was also given the chance to speak her Juliet lines, Mugi thanking everyone for coming to the concert and even inviting the others to join then for tea and also Azusa which Yui introduces someone who has superb guitar skills. Yui had even introduced Sawa-chan by "Sawa-chan" and had changed to Sawako-sensei after Mio gave her a disapproving look. Yui went on and had almost introduced Nodoka as well until she prompts her to continue with the performance. Meanwhile while they're performing Fuwa Fuwa Time, audiences streaming in were given a HTT t-shirt as well when they stay to listen to the performance. Yui thanks everyone for supporting them and listening to their performance before moving on to their last song, U and I. The song was somewhat dedicated to show the close bonds between Ui and Yui after looking at the lyrics and the song had a little more meaning than Gohan no Okazu which was just all about food. The performance ends and the girls returned to the music room and sat on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Yui asks them if it was a success and that it was truly fun even though they had forgotten whether they had played the pieces well. Yui also took the chance and "revived" the naming process where Mio and Azusa seems to have already accepted their bass and guitar to be Elizabeth and Muttan respectively. She then hopes that next year's performance would get even better, being able to perform in front of the freshmen and also go on training camps together. But, the truth sinks into them and the last and final performance they could ever have together in high school was over. Yui started to cry and the others as well, thinking about all the fun times they had and performing together but all those have come to an end now. There won't be another high school festival for them anymore but at least their final performance was definitely a good one. Sawa-chan and Nodoka later comes to music room and sees the girls sleeping by the wall, holding each other's hands and having such happy expressions.

this could be the possibly the one episode of the K-ON! series that actually made me feel sour. the episode had of cos, the debut of the two new songs, which i personally prefer U & I. and those totally random words coming out from Yui's mouth. and after all that, the impact really came when you can actually feel how sad the girls were feeling, the last chance they could play together as a band and that they could be all separated after they graduate from high school and perhaps after the university. the manga would be ending after they finally do graduate from high school but this was definitely an episode with the most touching scene i have ever seen in any of the K-ON! episodes...

2010-08-17T21:36:00.003+08:00

AFA 2010 aka AFA X

AFA X

just a small update, AFA's web is up but for now, only the date of the event is shown.

they really did push quite forward this time, ticket pricing is still unknown, hopes that it wouldn't increase or at least retain the 09 pricing. Concert-wise, definitely anticipating it. so.. till then! :)

2010-08-16T21:33:00.003+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 7

after a hectic night and a chance to get some rest, a nearby barking dog started to group all the zombies near the house Takashi and the others are in, where things are just getting started. Along the streets filled with zombies, an individual with a shotgun was fending off the zombies in front of him but he himself wasn't in the right state of mind after experiencing such a chaotic world. The piercing sound from the shotgun was enough to cause himself to be surrounded by the zombies and while attempting to reload, he was swarmed upon and was taken out. Takashi was watching the scene and could've wanted to help the survivors but Saeko wouldn't want Takashi to do it. Takashi thought that Saeko would be different and would agree with his actions, Saeko tells him that she was facing the cold hard truth that they wouldn't be able to save everyone and even turned the lights off to prevent anyone from coming up to the doorstep. Takashi was handed the binoculars to "familiarise" himself with the current world they are in and all he could do was to watch victims after victims fall prey to the zombies in the street. It was then a father and his daughter caught Takashi's eyes and continued to watch them. The father had brought the daughter to a nearby household and called out to the people inside to at let them in. They were however rejected of entry but to save his daughter, he once again plea with the household and even threatened to break down their door to allow his daughter to be saved. Hearing that, the members of the household agreed to let them in but stabbed the father when the door opened and they truly wouldn't want more people to seek shelter in their house. His daughter, Alice (who would be introduced soon), witnessed her father's death and cried, causing the zombies to target her instead as they are attracted to her cries. Seeing how the situation has become and a zombie closing in on her, Hirano snipes down the zombies targetting her and tells Takashi to go and save her. Takashi does not need to be asked to as he himself had already wanted to go and save the child, passing by Saeko, he tells her that he must go and save the child which Saeko let him go, telling him that she'll protect this place and he can leave the house to her. Leaving on the motorbike, Takashi reaches the girl quickly with Hirano covering him with his sniper rifle. Takashi takes down the approaching zombies and saves the girl but had to fire his hand pistol when he was nearly ambushed, causing the zombies to group around the house but with the gates being locked, Takashi and Alice are currently saved. Takashi sees her father lying on the floor and covers the face with a piece of cloth and hands a flower to Alice, telling her that her father had gave up his life protecting her and as she place the flower onto her deceased father, Alice continue to cry in Takashi's arms. Judging by the huge number of zombies grouping together at Takashi's location, the group decides that it would be best for them to go and pick Takashi up and loads the various items that they need into the armoured vehicle that belongs to Shizuka-sensei's friend. It would be difficult for them to pass by the entire hoard of zombies to reach Takashi but Takashi himself have already taken a step forth through walking by the walls, carefully taking each steps as the zombies are still on the streets. With that easing the situation a little, the others arrive and with Saeko cutting through the incoming zombies and Hirano blasting away the rest, Takashi and Alice are able to reach the armoured vehicle safely and crossing the bridge becomes their next priority.

quite number of "not-so-needed" fanservice scenes but at least this episode had more of a plot rather than the previous one. Alice would play a role of one of the main chars so all the char in the group have mainly all grouped up. Hirano had a pretty much personality change in this episode as well, from a nosebleeding dude to a rather cool sniping dude. seeing how the series is proceeding with the manga, im hoping that they wont make the same boring episode as the one with tons of recap just for the sake of keeping the 1 chapter 1 episode kind of thing.

K-ON! is going to end in their next issue and the girls have all made it to their Universities, which the final chapter of the rather famous series would end with the girls graduating and with the entire series focusing on their high school lives. so we wouldn't be able to see them perfoming in Budokan / outside the school as a professional band. unless they do a time leap which is pretty unlikely.

2010-08-13T19:10:00.005+08:00

K-ON!! 19

With much practice being made, the long awaited school festival as finally arrived. Everyone in the class were busy adding final touches to their props while Mio and Ritsu continue to practice their lines. Mio was however beginning to feel nervous and even forgot most of the lines. Yui returns to the class and advices Mio to write down pumpkin on her hands and then "gobbling" it down to relieve stress. Ritsu knew that it wasn't really something practical but Mio really did went on to try it nonetheless. Meanwhile for Jun, Azusa and Ui, they were finally given a break after attending to their own booth and took the chance to go explore the school festival. Through touring the festival, the girls sees that most of the costumes worn were rather well made and then heard that they were all made by Sawa-chan. Azusa wonders just how many other clubs Sawa-chan had volunteered to design their costumes for. At last, the costumes were finally ready after Sawa-chan's all nighter and everyone were all happy with the quality of the costumes made and the class prepares to step onto stage. Ritsu sees more and more people swarming in to watch their play and was getting excited but that wasn't the case for Mio who was still slightly nervous just right before the real play. Meanwhile, Azusa and the others have already reached to watch their play and Azusa started to think for a moment on how the others have "neglected" their club practices but she thinks that it could be because the school festival would be their last one and it would be right for them to practice very hard for their play. After settling down beside Sawa-chan, the Romeo and Juliet play begins. Mio did somehow obtained some courage and was performing rather well, the only possible distraction for the audience would probably be the tree Yui is in with her head sticking out of the tree's trunk. As the play continues, one of their classmates realised that an important prop was missing, the grave which was to be use during the climax of the play. Seeing how complicated the situation has become, one of the performers leave her role to Yui and heads out to borrow a similar-looking prop from the Occult club and Mugi follows her as well. Yui then took up her new role for the time being where she is now a bush with her head yet again sticking out in the middle. Luckily enough, the Occult club allowed their look-a-like to be borrowed for the play and it was transported back to the stage just in time. With that, the play was successfully completed and the curtains close with Azusa tearing, not because of how touching the play was, but rather about the lack of club practice with the rest. The other girls then went back to the music room and sees Azusa practicing by herself and after knowing how she feels, Ritsu tells her that they would not neglect the Light Music Club at all and will be staying overnight for practice. When night falls, the girls decide to take the chance to take a stroll around the campus and coincidentally found the Juliet's Grave being left behind near some other booth where someone must have thought that the prop belonged to them. The girls later went to thank the Occult club as well for borrowing their prop to them, making the success of the play possible. After some pointless chatter, the girls went to sleep and were called up by Sawa-chan next morning after she, who has now deep eyebags, have finally completed a normal looking T-shirt for the girls after rushing through it the entire night and the girls are now finally ready for their perfomance later in the afternoon.

the play was rather alright IMO and more classmates were given some scenes as well. it was distracting for me when you have some serious and touching scenes being acted out and you see a small Yui's head on a tree and on a bush .___. just to add on, the manga is ending, where we won't get to see the going into Budokan or even their lives after high school as it would probably end in the next chapter being the last, and would most possibly be showing them graduating. nonetheless, this episode was rather OK, well, seeing more dialogues from the other characters is interesting and in the next, the LONG awaited performance it finally here! HTT!!!

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 7

In the town, Ryoushi is greeted by a Ryouko in a dress, resulting in Ryoushi getting whacked after exclaiming how cute he thinks she was. It turns out that the Otogi Bank has a new request where it was first started by Hanasaki Jin, who has come to the Otogi Bank to make a request for them to help find out who was going into his house everyday to clean his house and even prepares food for him. With the spy cameras installed, it was easy for them to discover who it was, and it turns out to be Jizou Ami, a student of their school. After confronting her with visual evidence, she explains that Jin had lent her an umbrella one rainy day and she was too embarrassed to thank him face to face and had used this way of thanking him. Under Ringo's advice, Ami finally found courage to express her feelings face to face to Jin but he had not look at her once in a romantic way. Jin however tells Ami that her way of repaying him was too much and would like to do something in return for her, which Ringo then suggests to them to go on a date. Ryoushi and Ryouko were then asked along to go with a double date to make Ami less nervous. Seeing how stiff Ami was still after walking beside Jin, Ringo tells Ryouko to hold hands with Ryoushi and to act as a model example to the two. For the request, Ryouko then forcefully grabs Ryoushi's hand and walks in front of the other two, successfully bringing them to hold hands as well. In the cinema where they watched a sad movie, Ryoushi had brought with him a handkerchief to aid Ryouko when she tears and Jin also helped to wipe off the tears of Ami as well, so did seem like a doll, being all stiff. The double date continues where Ryoushi and Ryouko look more like a dating couple rather than the other two, whether in the pet shop or in the arcade where the two rarely spoke to each other at all. The group then reach the park where they were suppose to have their picnic but Ryouko takes her leave temporarily, Ryoushi follows as well, leaving Ami and Jin alone on the picnic mat. Ryoushi discovers Ryouko trying to save a cat on the tree and after reaching it, the branch breaks and they both fell in the shallow river. Ryoushi sees the situation and dives in to save Ryouko. The cat was safe and Ryouko had passed out for a moment and when she wakes, she does not recognise Ryoushi at all and Ryoushi suspects her to be suffering from amnesia after probably hitting her head on the bottom of the river. Luckily, Ryouko still remembers her own name but had her mindset when she was 13 years old. She calls Ryoushi "Onii-san" after thinking that he was older than her which did made Ryoushi happy for a moment. After seeing Ryouko might have caught a cold, Ryoushi goes forth and hands her his shirt which was drenched and when Ryoushi was anticipating a wack from her, Ryouko thanks him instead and Ryoushi is kinda happy when she's being honest. Jin and Ami weren't talking to each other and had a wierd atmosphere without Ryouko and Ryoushi but Ringo covers it for them by telling Ami that it was part of the plan. Ringo later receives a call from Ryoushi where he tells Ringo that Ryouko has become cute and the line was cut off before he could actually make some sense in his words. The duo then settle down on a bench and Ryoushi helps to relate the current situation to Ryouko. She learns that she was actually older and that when she asks about their relationship, Ryoushi tells her that they were companions and Ryouko had initially thought that they were in a relationship. Ryoushi suggests yet again that they should go to the hospital but Ryouko drags him into town. While doing that, Ringo sees a happy Ryouko dragging Ryoushi along and thinks that she must have been to tired to be seeing something impossible happening. The duo went into town were enjoying themselves like in a genuine date, eating crepes and shopping but when Ryoushi mentions about the visiting the hospital again, Ryouko stops and seemed reluctant to go. Ryoushi then pats her head, telling her that she was probably feeling scared that she was all alone but he would always be there by her side and protect her. It then started to rain and while taking shelter, Ringo calls Ryoushi and tells him that Ami and Jin had left together under an umbrella and Ryoushi suggests that they meet up as it would be easier to explain the situation. In a family restaurant, Ryouko was eating her ice cream while Ryoushi explains the siutation to Ringo and Ringo proves it when Ryouko does not recognise her. While they were discussing on how to recover her memories, Ryouko sees that she was being ignored by Ryoushi and leaves, telling Ryoushi that what he said to be by her side all the time was all lies. In the rain, Ryouko ponders over Ryoushi's words and had thought he would be caring towards her and when she turned, she hit someone and fell to the floor where she sees Shirou in front of her. She starts to feel scared after seeing that familiar face once more but was kept "conscious" after Ryoushi called out to her again and then helped carried her back up. Shirou stops them in their tracks and started to talk about the relationship he and Ryouko had in the past. Shirou tells him that Ryouko was labelled by the others as a liar after he tried to force himself on her but the others did not believe Ryouko's side of the story and that was why she had transferred school. Ryouko breaks down and Ryoushi quickly takes out his slingshot but was sliced through within a split second. Ryoushi tells Shirou that he does not care about how Ryouko was in the past and would protect her from now on and that he will continue to hunt him down for what he had did to Ryouko in the past. Shirou leaves after the commotion and Ryouko's memories returned later in the day. Ringo tells Ryouko that it was a pity that she had lost her memories while she was having amnesia and when she tells her that they should go and eat, Ryouko decides to pass and tells Ringo that she already had crepe. This then gave her away as she had ate the crepe while having amnesia which means that the still retained all her memories during the whole time and then, Ringo smirks. The result was seen in the next day in school where Ryouko was forced to wear a ribbon to prevent Ringo from spilling the beans and when Ryoushi said that she was cute with it, he receives the familiar wack from Ryouko once again.

a rather decent episode and Ami and Jin were probably real side characters where the episode mainly focuses on strengthening the understanding between Ryoushi and Ryouko and also we got to see a different side of Ryouko, and Ryoushi as well. It was really cool when Ryoushi tells Shirou that he would definitely hunt him down, a totally different him and a side of him that we all probably wants instead of his timid side. he gets pretty serious when it comes to Ryouko eh. and of cos we get to see Ryouko's soft side as well, which wasn't bad but did felt a little wierd where she's all honest, unlike being a tsundere. so probably the series would be heading towards Ryoushi hunting down Shirou (which isn't bad i presume) and hopefully an ending that we would all like at the end...

oh and Jin and Ami seemed to have been together after that with Ami still preparing food for Jin in his house O.O

2010-08-10T21:03:00.003+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 6

typically, this would be a rather short post on HOTD, the reason... nearly 3/4 or even more of the episode was just plain fanservice and that isn't something that can be written @.@

leaving those aside, what was left isn't much =X

the team went to Shizuka-sensei's friend's home and was finally able to take a rest and take a shower as well (and there's where the fanservice are all coming from .____.) Hirano and Takashi manage to pry open a locker which contained a rifle, shotgun and a crossbow. Meanwhile, the police who were containing the crowd were given orders as to do whatever means necessary to keep everything under control. So when there was a demonstration by a group of people to condemn the police, one officer had no choice but to end the entire demonstration by firing a point-blank shot at the leader of the demonstrations. Later that night, the people being infected by the virus was spreading so quickly that wiping them all out, including some who are still alive, seemed to be one of the best options around and huge machinery were used to eradicate all those on the bridge. In feeling of how inhumane he had become, the officer eventually killed himself with his own pistol. Having the commotion died down over at the bridge, the zombies were now attracted to a barking dog near the house the team is currently staying and they were all yet again surrounded by the bloodthirsty monsters.

due to the lack of "attractiveness", Shiki is given up for this season... mainly due to the story which didn't really prompt me to watch it further.

The World God Only Knows will soon have its anime preview coming up, shall be waiting for it :)

finally got my HnG vol. 22 which stars Athena yet again :D the next 2 volumes which have a double cover shall be released together in Nov-Dec... oh well, good things are worth the wait!

P.S. too much braincells being killed off these days ... extremely busy with schoolwork and preparing for upcoming exams. do not expect more frequent updates in time to come... shall be more active during hols.

oh and heres a quite beautifully done Miku PVC (kinda late on this):

2010-08-08T23:57:00.002+08:00

K-ON!! 18

with the results of the class polling, Mio has been selected to be playing the role of Romeo in their class play and being unable to take the shock of being chosen as a lead character, she faints in her own seat. After regaining her senses, Mio immediately objects to the decision made but was denied by Nodoka since it was of the majority vote and no one else was nominated or volunteered themselves. Ritsu tries to comfort Mio and to make her accept the fact of the Romeo's role. Coincidentally, Ritsu was chosen to play Juliet and objected too as well but the both of them were clearly ignored by Nodoka. While deciding on who would design the costume, Sawa-chan volunteers herself to design the costume and both Mio and Ritsu looked at Sawa-chan and appears to be afraid of what she was going to make for them. Back in the music room, Mio had remained emotionless in a corner, staring closely at Ton-chan, while Ritsu was thinking about her own role as Juliet and was laughed at by Azusa who just couldn't control herself being amused by Ritsu taking up Juliet. Azusa then goes to Mio and tells her that she would be in the spotlight on the stage, Mio immediately receives the impact and later walks off, saying that she plans to transfer school and would be back after the school festival. Her self denial continues with her thinking that the role she had taken was all just a dream but Ritsu quickly drags her off to practice the scripts. Meanwhile, Yui had been standing still all along as she plays a tree in their class play and was adviced by Nodoka to practice standing still. Mio later finds Nodoka and tells her that she really cannot take up the position as Romeo and before Nodoka agrees to it, she tells Mio that everyone had believed that she could perform the role best and with that, Mio feels motivated and accepts the role to not let everyone down. The duo then started practicing lines but the both of them still had problems with Ritsu not being girly enough and Mio being totally embarrassed after reading the script and being unable to project her voice. After returning to the music room, Yui suggests to them that they should start acting like their roles in the play and tries to make Ritsu more girl-like and Mio more boy-like but it wasn't long before Ritsu grew tired of it and dragged Mio to her house for more practice. Just as Ritsu began to speak her script, Mio began to laugh uncontrollably and the situation continues with the them still being unable to totally match the characters. While teasing each other, the duo suddenly "caught" the voice as was finally able to properly act out their respective roles. Mio was however still unable to project her voice even though she did quite well in Ritsu's room and Mugi decides to bring her to a special training during the weekends. Mugi had brought everyone to work at a cafe where they would serve the customers as waitresses and since they are all strangers, Mio would be able to boost her courage after the training. Mio wasn't really up to the task and was rather clumsy while serving the customers and couldn't really speak up. Azusa wonders why Mio was still able to sing during the school festival in front of the audience and Ritsu tells her it was because she wasn't given a choice and with that, she thinks of a perfect plan for Mio. While everyone was given a chance to rest, Ritsu deliberately leaves Mio to tend to the customers alone and while given no choice, Mio could actually perform better. The others then decide to check on Mio after some time and did see her perfect smile and sending of the customers but after stoning there, she had fainted once again while standing as due to extreme stress. The next day in school, Mio seems to be unable to remove her smile after practicing it for so long and was finally removed with Ritsu's cheek grabbing technique. In the end, the training did seem to have paid off a little and Azusa feels wierd practicing her guitar with Yui standing still in front of her.

just another typical episode, would lovely wait for the next school festival episode...

P.S. Mio was extremely depressed after having larger hips than the rest .____. Mio's self delusions is just awesome. Still Tree FTW! xD

2010-08-06T21:43:00.004+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 6

the 6th episode focuses more on Ryouko's past but was indirectly known to the viewers and not Ryoushi, yet.

the day starts off with Ringo cleaning up their room while Ryouko goes off to the gym to train and is seen by Ringo to be behaving rather wierd after she did not seem to be extremely happy when Ringo tells her that she's preparing her favourite hamburgers for dinner tonight. Having pondered over the relationship between Ryouko and Shirou, Ryoushi decides to call Ringo and asks if he could have a chat with her. Ringo complies to Ryoushi's request and goes out to meet him but declined telling him about Ryouko's past as he should be the one asking Ryouko directly after gaining her total trust just like Ringo did. Meanwhile, the past wasn't totally kept secret and flashbacks were seen by Ryouko in the gym, where after she was forced on by Shirou, her other friends did not believe her words at all and she felt all alone and lost. This directly affect her training blows and even her old time "trainer" could see that lack of energy. Alice and Liszt are both trying to garner more information about Shirou as well but it seems like his data before he transferred school had all been deleted. While back in her room, Ringo takes out the photos she had with Ryouko when they first met and starts to think about them yet again. On that fateful day, Ringo had took the opportunity to pass Ryouko a form as she was absent and after being warned by the other classmates that she was scary and violent, Ringo wondered if she had made the wrong choice but helping out. When she went to find Ryouko, she discovered that she reads Girl's Novels and at the same time, found that she was having high fever. While Ringo was going to get something to cool her down, Ryouko, in her sleep, pleas for her friends to believe what she had said. After her fever had went down with Ringo's help, Ryouko awakes and immediately questions her about her coming into her room. Ringo passes her the form and even cooks porridge for her and takes care of her while she was sick. When Ringo wanted Ryouko to call her by her name as they were friends, Ryouko's mood changes and asks her when did she became her friend and asks her to leave. Seeing how determined Ryouko is on asking her to leave, Ringo complies but was thanked for by Ryouko who did call her name in the end. From that day onwards, Ringo seems to follow Ryouko around and sticks with her to the gym where the trainer tells Ryouko that she should take a rest as she was sick but Ryouko tells him that she wants to become strong as fast as possible. The trainer tells her that if she continues at this state, the strength that she would have would only be a short-lived one. After the session at the gym, Ryouko sees someone getting bullied and leaves Ringo behind to go forth and save the guy. Ryouko managed to land a few blows but was quickly outnumbered and had to be saved by Ringo who fakes the bullies that the police was coming. Ringo then treats Ryouko's injury and asks her why was she trying so hard to become strong. When Ryouko tells her that it wasn't of her concern, Ringo told her the phrase she heard when Ryouko spoke in her sleep, to ask someone to believe her words. Ryouko was taken aback by what she said but Ringo tells her to stop lying to herself and Ryouko was actually just a lonely person at heart, just like her who had just transferred into the neighbourhood. Ringo then asks Ryouko to be more of herself when with her which Ryouko eventually did and opened her heart to Ringo. Meanwhile, Ryoushi have always been pondering what exactly should he do now. While in school, he was always trying not to get into people's eyes by avoiding but one day his eyes caught sight of Ryouko and after days of observance, his love for her grew. During the day where he confessed to Ryouko, he was trying tell her that she was indeed a much more gentle person but Ryouko had already left after hearing only the first part of it. Ryoushi is now determined to protect Ryouko and not be the powerless on that stands far and being unable to protect the one he loves at all. He gets up and then goes to find Ryouko and tells her that she would have her putting her trust in him and confesses to her once again. Back in their room, Ringo have noticed that Ryouko's mood has changed for the better and confiscates her dinner to force her to tell her what had happened and she is indeed quite happy after hearing those words from Ryoushi but was too embarassed to say it to Ringo.

things get revealed rather fast where the flashbacks were slightly explained. and at least we get to know her past but not Ryoushi who like sat at the grass for the whole day?! .__. it was something out of the blue for him to confess to Ryouko once again and i wonder how their relationship would become if Ryouko had listened to Ryoushi's entire confession and realise that he has the same sharp eye as Ringo. half the series is down and i really can't see the ending yet =X

2010-08-02T19:39:00.002+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 5

People who are still alive and important people are being taken out of the city through the airport and their families were also given priority to leave the city 1st. The runway was however blocked with zombies all crowding around, causing problems for the plane to take off as it is still potentially risky. Having a zombie grabbing on to the plane isn't an eliminated option and the possibility is still there. The problem was however quickly resolved with a duo sniping team, wiping out every single one of them and clearing the runway for the plane to take off. Meanwhile, Shizuka-sensei and the others were stuck in the bus due to a serious traffic jam and Shidou-sensei was still "brainwashing" the students who are following him. Takagi tells Himuro that the situation could get worse since people are all trying to move to the airport to leave the city but it was already too late for them as those cities with armed forces would not want more people to enter their city, all for survival's sake. Both Takagi and Saeko were worried about Takashi and Rei as well. While on the motorbike, Takashi and Rei continue to travel through the town and sees how crazy the world has become and the people are no exception. Seeing how people are killing the zombies and even opened fire at the both of them, Takashi concludes that everyone had killed too much and were already a little "crazy", just like them. The duo arrives at the bridge to cross over but Takashi quickly took a different route since he doesn't know how long it would take for them to be able to cross, seeing how packed the entire bridge was with vehicles. The police were enforcing their barricade very strongly, preventing the zombies from entering and urges the citizens not to force their way through and when some complacent students did, they were severely dealt with and were blasted into the river after getting hit by high pressured water. Back in the bus, the others started to feel irritated by Shidou-sensei and prefers to leave the bus and try and check on their families. Shizuka-sensei expresses her ill feelings for Shidou-sensei as well and the team prepares to leave the bus. Shidou-sensei spots them and asks them what they were planning to do. Takagi rebukes him that they had a different objective as them and that it would be pointless for them to stay. Shidou-sensei complies to their request but asks for Shizuka-sensei to stay due to her medical knowledge but Hirano stops him in his tracks after grazing him with his nail gun, telling him how he had kept his anger in for him for so long but now he is able to kill someone who is living and urges Shidou-sensei not to push him to do it. Takashi and Rei reaches another bridge but encounters the same problem as the other one and were unable to cross it. While thinking of a solution to cross the bridge and meet up with the rest, Rei thought that she heard a gunshot but Takashi thinks that the sound was from Hirano's nail gun instead and starts the motorbike to head in that direction. True enough, Saeko and the rest were fighting off the zombies but Hirano's nail gun was already running out of ammo and relying on Saeko alone would not be able to protect everyone. Just then, Takashi and Rei, on the motorbike, flies above their road and land on the higher ground where Saeko and the others were and starts to help exterminating the zombies. Together with Rei's lance, Takashi's motorbike skills, Saeko's tag team with Takashi and Hirano being equipped with Takashi's handgun, the group was now safe from danger and while making sure everyone was alright and that it was great to be all teamed up again, Hirano was still engrossed over the handgun that Takashi threw to him earlier. Seeing how it would be impossible to cross the river to check on their families, Shizuka-sensei suggests that they take a rest first at her friend's house where they have their rest and also possibly "take" the tank-look-a-like vehicle at that house and both Shizuka-sensei and Takashi goes off to check on the house first. Incidentally, Shizuka-sensei's friend would be one of the snipers protecting the airport.

no more recaps! :) truthfully speaking, i was really irritated about how Shidou-sensei speaks and seeing how Hirano had grazed him, i went "serve him right! :D" ... nothing good really happens to bad people eh. Thankfully, the team is now grouped up again and the scene where their teamwork fended the zombies off was really cool and i could have wanted more of those rather than just mindlessly scrapping all of them away like L4D. not much storyline could possibly develop from here since their main goal of it all would be to locate their parents and to confirm their safety AND also to survive as well. how everything could end in like 13/24/25/26 episodes really is something i think would be unexpected (provided they plan to remove all of the zombies but the manga isn't near there yet so probably not =X)

2010-07-30T19:30:00.002+08:00

some update delays soon with exams coming soon... =X

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 6

Liszt returns to give his report to the headmaster of Otogi Academy who was also the one behind the Otogi Bank. Liszt informs him about the problem of the Onigashima High School where the students have been acting more rowdy and had picked on Ryouko lately. Liszt adds on that the new student council president of Onigashima High could be the root of the problem or that he wasn't doing his job as the student council president properly. At the school gate, a new character is introduced who is an old friend of Ryouko, Kibitsu Momoko. Ryoushi sees Ryouko hiding behind the tree, and as he calls out to her, Ryouko is startled and then asked Ryoushi to be her shield for the time being and attempt to sneak in the school without Momoko realising her. It failed and Momoko became all hyped after seeing Ryouko, who is apparently afraid of that nature of hers. Ryoushi later learns that Momoko had already fancied Ryouko and Ryouko wasn't comfortable about it at all, making her hair stand after Ringo added more comments on her. Later that day, Momoko went to the Otogi Bank for a request which Ringo started the conversation by revealing that Ryoushi had confessed to Ryouko. An interested Momoko came forth and got close to Ryoushi, telling him that he have some good senses to have fallen for Ryouko but Ryoushi's "illness" returns and he cuddles back into the corner. Momoko then makes her request that she wants to raid Onigashima High to make them know of their place which the request is quickly accepted by Liszt, who had the same idea of investigating the school, and the members prepare for an assault on Onigashima High. After a short briefing where Ryouko later goes off to the gym, the trainer there asks Ryouko if she had found someone to rely on since he had seen her moves becoming more stable. The day of the assault arrives and Ringo had designed a rather "interesting" armour for Ryouko which was equipped with cat ears, which were probably the communication mic. Momoko then arrives with more underlings who were all captivated by her nice figure and even Tarou wasn't left out, but was quickly taken away and shut in by an angry Otohime. The team of Momoko and her men, Ryoushi and Ryouko was welcomed by a large group of Onigashima High students and the fight begins. Ryouko's neko-knuckles were upgraded again by Majo and was now more lethal than the previous versions. Ryoushi then covered Ryouko's back with his slingshot and Momoko could see the wonderful teamwork between them. The team moves off to the student council room and while fighting their way through and finally nearing their destination, the trio meets the old dude back when Ryouko was kidnapped. Ryoushi asks Momoko and Ryouko to leave first and prepares to take on the man. Soon after, communications were jammed and Ryouko was separated from Momoko, probably done by the new student council president and with Ryoushi's obvious disadvantage, Tarou comes to his rescue and Ryoushi is guided by a well-disguised Liszt to Ryouko's location. Meanwhile, Ryouko had reached the student council room and is taken aback by what she saw, someone she probably knew in the past, Hitsujikai Shirou. Bad flashbacks then flooded into Ryouko's mind on how she was treated indecently by that man before and was rooted to her feet in the room. Luckily, Ryoushi reaffirms her after shouting for her and Momoko and Liszt arrives together with Ryoushi. Shirou tells the members of the Otogi Bank that he would promise to try his best to control his own students and without prove to detain him, a warning to Onigashima High ended the long day. Ryoushi later had a drink with Ryouko and tells her that he would always be by her side which Ryouko replies that she would count on him from now on with a smile. Ryoushi was surprised to see Ryouko replying like that but was still happy nonetheless.

bad boss appears! well, most probably too. so now the question lies on what exactly did happen between Ryouko and Shirou, could they have been in a relationship which breaks her maiden heart, causing her to be more "violent" now? the flashbacks aren't really detailed by Ryouko does seem to be heavily affected in it and seeing how Ryoushi's voice had helped her bring herself back to senses, she probably agree that Ryoushi is really someone who can support her and thus gave a different response than the more commonly one where she shrugs it off like a tsundere.

K-ON!! 17

the music room is out-of-bounds due to a water leakage problem and the girls now do not have a place to practice in, further more, the school festival is only about one month away. So off the girls go to find some location they can practice in and their first glimpse of hope from Sawa-chan was to borrow a room from another club that Sawa-chan is in charge in but it didn't turn out as what they wanted. The girl's next location was a classroom and after Sawa-chan left and the other students watching on, they start to practice but the intense music shook the other rooms around them and they had to apologise for disturbing them. And so, classrooms are out of the options. With their instruments, the girls now go to the gym where they were given permission that they could practice there but with all the sports club and cheerleading club practicing there, they did seem out of place to be practicing in the gym. Ignoring that, they began to practice but Mio was too distracted watching the other students as she enjoys watching sports and while they were going to start off again, Yui was taken aback by the loud voices from the sports club and then the girls had to give up practicing in the gym after music came playing from the cheerleading club. In the end, the day had ended and not much progress was made. The remaining time was then used outside to discuss on the lyric of a new song that's going to be used for the school festival and Ritsu had rejected Mio's first copy as she wasn't really able to express her own feelings and the rest were given the task to write their own songs. The next day, the girls this time, under Sawa-chan's advice, goes off to a studio to practice. While having tea as usual outside of the studio due to their no eating and drinking rules, Ritsu decides to start discussing on the lyrics that everyone had wrote. Yui's was all about food, Mugi's was more like a story and Azusa's, which did seem to be promising at the start, turns out to be all about Ton-chan. When the girls returned to the studio, their time was already up and yet again, no practice was done. Leaving the studio, Sawa-chan meets them in her car, informing them that the music room is ready to be used again and everyone was just as happy to be able to use their own club room once again. Next day in the music room was yet another lyrics selection and Yui's song was quite well done, and which Yui reveals that Ui did help her on her lyrics and the rest knew that it wasn't just a little help. Later that night, Yui calls the others, telling them that she had caught a cold but it wasn't her who had caught it when the others reached, it was Ui. After taking care of Ui, the others leave, telling Yui to call them if she needs anything and after leaving Ui in her room to prepare some porridge for her, Yui suddenly had some inspiration for the song and her lyrics were chosen which were done solely by her while Ui was sick in bed.

just a typical episode but am quite interested on how Yui's song would turn out...

2010-07-26T19:26:00.003+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 4

much of the episode was a recap and a brief summary of what exactly has happened in the town. From the moment Takashi saw the mysterious man outside the school gate till when both Rei and him were separated from the group.

Riding on the motorcycle, Takashi stops by on the road and Rei asks him if he think anyone is coming to save them which Takashi replies blindly that there isn't going to be any help at all. Rei however hates him for putting it so straightforward and spotting a group of incoming zombies, Takashi restarts the engine and leaves the scene. Meanwhile, Shizuka-sensei and the others were still stuck in the bus, waiting to cross the bridge due to tight barricades from the police, potentially keeping the zombies away. Rei and Takashi now passes through the towns, having mixed feelings are seeing no one was left and even if they had become one of the zombies, they were most probably already gone looking for more victims. The town has already become dead quiet and blood splattered all over the place. Then, the duo spots the headlight of a police car and thinking that they might have found some form of rescue, the police car was however, already smashed from behind by a truck to their dismay. The policemen in the car weren't spared either. Takashi warns Rei that there might be gas leaking out of the vehicle but Rei isn't going to let that bother her and goes to search for some things that could possibly help them. Together, they manage to recover a hand pistol with all 5 bullets intact and also 5 extra bullets from another policeman's damaged pistol. Takashi decides no to throw away the bat for now since he has never fired a shot before but couldn't deny the fact that he did felt more safe after acquiring the pistol. Leaving the scene, there wasn't much gas left for the motorbike and the duo heads for the gas station. Takashi was however unable to pump gas in since he does not have any spare change and after Rei tells him that he's the worst, Takashi dragged Hisashi back into the picture which Rei is trying desperately to forget. Takashi then quickly changed the subject and asks Rei to lend him some money for the gas but she didn't have her wallet with her, which in turn led to Takashi having to break the cash register in the store to top up their gas. At the same time, Rei lets out a scream which made Takashi run out and sees a man holding Rei tightly and a blade at her neck, prompting Takashi not to move. The man himself has already lost his mind after he had smashed the skulls of his family members after they had all became zombies in front of them and after looking at Rei, he couldn't resist the urge to do something to her in this already wayward world. Seeing how Rei is suffering, Takashi does what the man tells him to do and refuels his motorbike, but before doing so, he threw his baseball bat onto the ground, causing the echoed sound to attract the nearby zombies. After topping up the gas, Takashi turns back to the man who urges him to scram but when Takashi saw an opening, he rushed forward and points his pistol onto the man's shoulder and tells him that it would be impossible to miss. The man however dared him to shoot which Takashi eventually did and shot him point-blank at his shoulder. Rei escapes from his clutches and was stopped by Takashi when she wanted to take revenge on the man as she already noticed from Takashi that they had already created quite some noise and groups of zombies were already heading this way. The duo then leaves on their motorbike, leaving the injured man totally defenseless towards the incoming bloodthirsty predators.

it was rather true that no one was really going to help them at all since preventing the spread of the virus could and most possibly would be every country's mission. reliving the scenes from the beginning of the whole commotion really did make the world looks like it had already ended and streets were all filled with them, bloodthirsty and merciless zombies. Obtaining some firepower is indeed good but with nine bullets left, i doubt Rei and Takashi could last long, perhaps they could regroup with the others before they run out of ammo too. How this series is going to end really does interest me though...

*oh and just a note, the first defeat of BRS as shown in the OVA was probably depicting how she actually got her scars

2010-07-25T21:25:00.003+08:00

. Black Rock Shooter OVA

the wait is over! its finally here after months of waiting after the pilot edition was released. The original BRS animation makes its debut!

after hearing the BRS song being sang by Miku and subsequently getting to know more about BRS, the BRS OVA was finally confirmed. The pilot edition did bring out some of the highlights of the OVA and i am extremely happy now, that the wait's OVER!

The OVA had split scenes in and out throughout the entire 50 minutes, showing both the real world and the world Black Rock Shooter is in. It was honestly confusing, about when exactly are the two worlds occurring, they don't seem to be happening at the same time... I'll temporary leave the BRS world to the end for now.

The story begins where BRS is facing off with an enemy wielding a huge blade whilst our dear BRS is only holding on to her thin katana. Apparently, BRS was quickly overpowered by the enemy and falls in comparison of power after being stabbed cleanly with the huge blade. It then returns to the real world where we get to see the main protagonist, Kuroi Mato. She wakes up to a new school term, ties up her hair and before leaving for school, she goes off to her favourite place where she's able to see the whole town just by standing there. While staring at the beautiful scenery, Mato nearly missed the train to school and only nearly managed to catch it. Nearing the school gate, she spots another girl, the other main char, Takanashi Yomi alighting from the car and from then onwards, Mato hopes for a chance to talk to her, as though there's some special feeling Mato feels on her. Spotting an opportunity, Mato goes forward and starts a conversation with Yomi, talking about how she's tall and that she arrives in school from her parents' car. Mato then mispronounced Yomi's name as her written name isn't exactly how it's supposed to be pronounced as. As time passes by, Mato and Yomi become really close friends and when it was time to pick a club, Mato had chosen basketball as she was experienced and wanted to grow taller as well. Overseeing how well Mato is doing in the basketball team, she notices the volleyball team practicing as well and took interest in it, joining the club as a result. From then on, the duo were always able to see each other since both their clubs were practicing in the same location. After school, the duo decides to hang out together and while doing so, Mato buys a blue star handphone strap for Yomi after bringing her to her favourite location which she tells her that she'll definitely take good care of it. Time then flies by quickly with the the both of them excelling in their clubs, going to festivals together, hanging out and then the next school year arrives. After checking the new class arrangement, the duo are disappointed that they're both in different classes and can only meet after school and during breaks. During one of the club practices, Yomi sees Mato spraining her ankle and is taken care of by their manager, Yuu. At this point, Yomi already feels sour from not being there to help her. During one of the school breaks, Mato goes to find Yomi to chat and midway, Yuu cuts in to inform Mato about club activities and introduces herself to Yomi. One day after Yomi's club activity has ended, she sees Mato chatting happily with Yuu on the bench while waiting for her and feels a little down. Even on the way back, Yomi was segregated as the other two were chatting about basketball things which she has no idea. After Yuu leaves and Mato and Yomi are left with each other, Mato sees Yomi spacing out and asks her what was wrong and later apologises for talking about things that excluded her from their conversation. Yomi however said that it doesn't matter but that was only at the surface. The next day, Yomi was already jealous about how close both Yuu and Mato were after they got into different classes and while she was going to find Mato during one of the breaks, she sees Mato chatting happily with Yuu once again and this time, she leaves without cutting in to their conversation. Later that evening, Yomi didn't show up at the bench and after asking the volleyball team, Mato finds out that Yomi had left earlier that day due to urgent matters. Sensing something was wrong and feeling that it was her fault for neglecting Yomi, Mato sends Yomi a message and waited during the night but there was no response from her. Even in school, Yomi was nowhere to be seen and then Mato receives news that Yomi has went missing. Investigators called in for Mato in hope for more information since she was Yomi's closest friend but there wasn't really any important clues to aid the search. Yomi didn't turn up the following day as well and seeing how worried Mato was, Yuu comforts her, telling her to think positively and that she'll return soon. Later in the night, Mato receives an empty message from Yomi and thinking about a possible place Yomi could be, Mato leaves the house, grabs her bike and rides frantically to her favourite location. No one was there when she reached by after seeing something shiny on the ground, she picks up the handphone strap that she had previously bought for Yomi and after holding it close to her chest, a mysterious blue light engulfs her and she sees Black Rock Shooter in front of her. She asks Mato if she wants to save that girl but Mato corrects her, saying that she doesn't want to save her but wants to talk to her like always once again. Black Rock Shooter then let her consciousness enter Mato's and with that, Mato has now the ability to rescue Yomi. After Yomi's return, it seems that Yuu is the one feeling jealous now or could she be the main antagonist after all?

-END-

Leaving the real world aside, its now time to look into the world of BRS. Scenes from the both worlds were mixed with each other and the scenes in BRS generally consists of fighting sequences. After failed to save the first girl where she was stabbed through by her blade, BRS now returns to face another girl, who seems to have been possessed by Dead Master, the girl wielding a large scythe and floating skulls around her. BRS this time is equipped with her own unique cannon and finally locates Dead Master in her castle. Looking at her, BRS raises her right hand, in a request for the girl inside Dead Master to leave with her. It wasn't that simple as it seems to be and a fight ensues. The famous blue flaming eye activates and BRS is up and ready. After finally clearing the two skulls with a concentrated shot and later transforming her cannon into a large blade, she follows Dead Master and after being able to break her scythe, BRS succumbs to her chains. Keeping in mind that she's here to rescue someone, she frees herself from the chain and advances towards Dead Master. Not wanting to be freed, the Dead Master nearly falls from an edge but BRS goes forward and hug her. It then seems like the emotions took over the Dead Master and the form leaves the girl, Yomi, behind in BRS's hands. After finally rescuing Yomi, BRS makes the break for it with Yomi in her arms and escapes from the collapsing castle.

Somethings i'm currently assuming is that the sequence in the BRS world happens AFTER Mato receives BRS's consciousness and the scene after the credits showing Yomi having returned and Yuu feeling jealous would be after BRS rescue Yomi from her world. So what i can conclude is that Yomi, after feeling neglected from Mato, feels that she doesn't belong anywhere and is swallowed by the Dead Master and with BRS's consciousness, Mato is able to save her. The previous "host" of BRS could have been killed in the first scenes where BRS is defeated and that could possibly be the reason for BRS looking for Mato to rescue Yomi or it could be just because they were close friends. A Yuu in the BRS world has incurred some possibilities that could possibly happen after the last scenes of the credits whereby whatever happened to her was similar to Yomi's case or it could perhaps be the one behind everything, planning everything to make Mato being close to her and neglecting Yomi and as a result, she would be engulfed by the Dead Master. There are just too many possibilities floating around and seeing that this is an OVA and an anime series isn't really confirmed, how it would end out to be would be clearly something unknown for now.

For the plus points, the animation was great. It did manage to retain the style of Black Rock Shooter as compared to the original art and the feel was there. Fighting scenes were unique and the fight sequences seems to be equally great as well. Music wise seems to be OK, would love to hear their OSTs but would've hoped that there was at least a small OP of BRS Miku vers. being played. The credit song by ryo too, was a rather nice song as well.

For the negative side, i think the main problem about this is the lack of story development. Considering that this is an OVA and there shldn't be much expectations on story development, it was still rather bland and things happened a little fast. Just a few seconds and minutes and one year had already past?! Mato crying over Yomi's disappearance could have a little more feel if they could show more on their friendship but 50 minutes is really limited. I personally had felt that the introduction of BRS into the storyline could mean something more rather than just jealousy in friendship which seems similar to The World God Only Knows where a "gap" in the heart is taken over by a devil, which in this case is the Dead Master.

Overall, i really was anticipating this OVA but was slightly disappointed on how it turned out to be, watching a 50 minute OVA with way too much split scenes is already confusing enough and with no proper connection between the worlds. Nonetheless, the animation quality has proved to be rather well done and hopefully, there will be a full anime series on BRS which then, could possibly fill in the loopholes in the OVA and also more on story development.

P.S. Mato's seiyuu is the same as Kanade from Angel Beats! if anyone is wondering :)

2010-07-22T20:11:00.003+08:00

K-ON!! 16

we'd have to accept the fact that the Light Music Club is probably the best club you could join... just think of all the free time and snacks to eat... .__.

The girls were having their normal cup of tea and Azusa was given the last piece of cake since Sawa-chan won't be coming. Azusa then sees that Yui's hair had a sticker stuck upon and while helping her to remove it, Jun happens to drop by and stumbles upon them having their usual snacks. Next day during class, Jun approached Azusa and asks her to write down the activities the Light Music Club has for every session. Azusa did not dare to let Jun find out that they were having break times now and then to have snacks and wrote down as 'meetings' instead which Ui helped cover the truth for Azusa. Azusa was therefore determined to change and not to slack during club sessions but when she stepped into the music room, no one was there yet. Moving in, Azusa then finds a clump of hair sticking out from the piano and sees Mugi sleeping there. Mugi awakes, greets Azusa and suggests to her to come over to her as well with the warm sun. When asked for a reason, Mugi tells Azusa that she had planned to scare someone who comes in and after realising that her target was supposed to be Azusa, she tries desperately to scare her, but to no avail. Azusa feels wierd as it was her first time being alone with Mugi and when she takes out her guitar, Mugi was surprisingly close and asks her if it was hard to play the guitar. Azusa let Mugi try playing the guitar and after teaching her some chords, Mugi concluded that it was hard and continuous practice is definitely needed. After spending the next few minutes chatting, Azusa hears voices from the door and opens to discover Ritsu, Yui and Mio watching them from outside the room since it looked 'interesting' to see Azusa and Mugi together. Incidentally, the girls continued to have snacks and Mugi then takes out her newly composed song which would be used for the school festival. After class ended, Azusa was determined again to practice hard during club session and this time, she finds Mio changing her string for her bass alone in the music room. Azusa suggests that they practice but by the time Mio was ready, Ritsu came running to Mio to ask her for help on her home econs for sewing a skirt. Mio then agrees to help at Ritsu's home and packs up her bass and before Azusa could initiate a practice session, she ended up tagging along after Mio thought that she wasn't following. Mio quickly finished up the task which Ritsu treats them to her homemade meal afterwards and Ui wished that she could eat Ritsu's homemade meal too after Azusa told her and Jun the next day. For the third time, Azusa tried to be determined again and this time, she finds Yui alone in the music room. Moving close and finding a chance to start practicing, Yui suggests that they should clean Ton-chan's tank and by the time they had finished, both of them were already tired but with Azusa's calling, Yui asked Azusa on the reading of the notes of Mugi's new song. Seeing how enthusiastic Azusa was on practicing, Yui asks her for a reason which Azusa says that now, it was the real her but Yui doesn't think of it as important since she feels that everyone is everyone themselves and Azusa and Azusa, there isn't really a 'real' self kind of thing. With that, the next day in class, someone went to return the keychain that the others have bought for her during their class trip and it was known to have belonged to Azusa as Yui's fetish on stickers had caused her to stick on Azusa's keychain and writing her name on it. Azusa, who was trying to protect the 'real' Light Music Club from being found out, finally broke in her class. Apparently, the class was deciding for an event in the school festival and since they were doing a maid cafe, Azusa asks Jun if she was wearing cat ears which Jun doesn't understand and Azusa had thought that cat ears were an essential part of a maid. In the end, Jun could nearly see what exactly the Light Music Club was about after her comments.

much about Azusa interacting with each of her senpais in this episode and having such slack members, determination alone isn't going to cut. and poor Azusa have been 'learning' the wrong ways of the maid, most probably through their dear Sawa-chan... Jun's expression was exceptionally priceless after hearing from Azusa that maid comes with cat ears .__.

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 4

and it begins with Long, long time ago... once again...

Ryouko is seen to have disguised herself totally, wearing a cap, sunglasses and mask in order to buy a girls novel written by Yuki-sensei which she admires but feels embarassed for buying a girls novel and thus, had disguised herself. Otsuu was cleaning the front yard of the Otogi Bank and is watched by her admirers as usual. While returning to the Otogi Bank, Ryouko sees a baseball flying in the direction of Otsuu and tries to get her away but she wasn't going to reach her in time. Ryoushi then shoots the ball away using his catapult and which Otsuu later goes to Ryoushi and thanks him for saving her. Seeing how she's staring, Ryoushi's old habit had started again. Returning home, Ryoushi discovers a maid in his house and quickly closes the door, thinking that he must be seeing things but it was a fact. The next day in school, Ringo sees Ryoushi having some serious eyebags and asks him for a reason which he slowly explains. Having saved by Ryoushi, Otsuu wants to return the favour to him and had thus become his maid. Ryoushi wasn't exactly happy about it but Otsuu seems to be overworking herself to serve him and having to sleep in the same room as her, Ryoushi was unable to sleep at all and fears that he may die from sleep deprivation if the situation continues. Ringo tells Ryoushi that many boys would prefer to be in his situation but Ryoushi says that he prefers Ryouko instead and after seeing her blush, Ringo goes to Ryoushi and whispers to him, asking him if he would like to see Ryouko in a maid outfit which he nods. Ringo then decides that they'll go to Ryoushi's house after school and after enticing Ryouko with the two dogs that she was close with, Ryouko tags along. Having reached Ryoushi's apartment, he tells them about the person looking after him and the other tenants who was Yukime and she was the Yuki-sensei that Ryouko admires. Taking the chance, Ringo reveals to Ryoushi that Ryouko's a die hard fan of the girls novels that Yukime writes and is afraid to be seen reading it for which she attempts to hide them using separate book covers. Ryouko was unable to deny it and shouts out loudly that she's a fan of Yukime's novels which in the flat, Yukime hears it and invites them up. After having some chat, Ringo sees that the impression of Yuki-sensei is rather different from what she imagines to be. Otsuu then comes to serve tea which Ryoushi still feels uneasy and spills it, and was taken away by Otsuu. Yukime could then tell that Ryouko had some feelings toward Ryoushi and when she tries to deny it by saying that she prefers some strong person, Yukime corrects her that what she really wants is someone who could protect her, someone she could rely upon and someone who would love her with his mind and soul. She also tells Ryouko that Ryoushi is someone that fits the bill and that he changes when influenced by certain girls and since its Ryouko, there isn't going to be much problem. Yukime then asks Ryouko and Ringo to stay for dinner which they did and while serving them water, Otsuu faints due to her high fever and was brought away by Yukime to the hospital. Back in Otogi Bank, Ryouko is curious on the reason why Otsuu is willing to overwork herself to repay her favours but Liszt feels that whether to tell them or not, the choice does not lie with them. The Otogi Bank then decides to go visit Otsuu in Ryoushi's house and after seeing how Otsuu still wants to serve them in her current state, Yukime reprimands her and tells her that it would be a selfish decision to do so and asks her to continue to rest. Looking at the situation, Liszt decides that it would be best for the others to know the reason why Otsuu is so determined and tells everyone that during Otsuu's childhood, she had acquainted herself to a neighbour boy and once, while crossing a road, she was nearly banged down by a truck which the boy risks his life to save her. Otsuu vows to return the favour for saving her but before she could repay it, the boy dies from his injuries and the favour can never be repaid. Thus, in fear of not being able to repay a favour again, Otsuu is therefore determined to repay all her favours. Ringo then have an idea which they later carry out and Otsuu, this time, would be served by the Otogi Bank who are all dressed up as maids, even Liszt, Ryoushi and Tarou aren't left out. After serving her for the day, Otsuu thanks them and promises that she'll repay the favours eventually but Ringo tells her that the favours she needs to return is just too much and she'll never be able to repay them all. Even if she did, she would just continue adding more and more favours to pile up her debts. Ryouko adds on that she doesn't want the Otogi Bank system to work within the members since everyone are all companions. Otsuu was touched by them and apologises, telling everyone that they are all her dearest companions. Having solved a problem, Liszt then decides to hold a celebration in Ryoushi's small, compact room which Ryoushi fears of having sleep deprivation again.

having more character development and with more on Ryoushi and Ryouko's relationship, i could say, for now, that as compared to Toradora!, this is less entertaining... maybe due to the larger number of characters that the plot has to develop into and perhaps slowly move on to the actual relationship between Ryoushi and Ryouko. and for this episode, Otsuu's character developent was rather short, as compared to last week's Otohime but at least we get to see Majo out of her funky costume :D

2010-07-19T20:28:00.002+08:00

Highschool of the Dead 3

more and more on story development and perhaps the antagonist of the series is revealed. and it was rather quick for the cast to escape from their school, so wouldn't it be wierd to call it high school of the dead anymore?

the group took their rest in the staff room and tuned in to the news where they witness the downfall of a news reporter and the others around before the camera got cut off. Back in the studio, the reporter urges everyone to stay indoors as its potentially dangerous outside. Seeing how bad the condition is all over the world, Rei only hopes that all was just a dream but was quickly rebuked by Saya who reminds her that it is an epidemic spreading outside and no one can hardly stop it from spreading as it spawns from the dead. It is generally different from other past worldwide epidemics where the virus dies off after losing hosts but this virus spreads AFTER a host die which in other words, it is almost impossible to stop. Shizuka-sensei however thinks that the zombies might decompose after a few days or months since the body's already dead but Saya thinks otherwise as its all just her assumption. Leaving all those thoughts aside, the group decided that leaving the school grounds would be the best option and rushes for the school gate where a school bus is parked. Running through the school grounds and striking down the zombies made the group discover other survivors and grouped up with them to leave together. However, just as the gate was right in front, the group would first have to get past a large group of isolated zombies. Saya tells the others that from experimenting, she concludes that the zombies can only hear and are unable to see. Saeko still have doubts over it and Takashi took the risk to prove Saya's theory. As the theory was proven to be true, Takashi lures the zombies away through flinging a shoe to the other end and signals the rest to quickly leave. One student, however, accidentally hit his weapon onto the metal railing, echoing the sound throughout the school and thus provoking the zombies. The group then rushed to the school bus but two of the members unfortunately fell prey to the zombies. Just as the rest had boarded the bus, Shidou-sensei came running with the other survivors and request Shizuka-sensei to wait for them. Rei however asks Takashi to leave them and tells him that he'll regret saving Shidou-sensei. Takashi however still waited for the survivors and Shizuka-sensei stomps onto the pedal and takes them all out of the school and into the city. However, midway through the journey, Shidou-sensei tells them that a leader is required to prevent a conflict and automatically picks himself to be the one without Takashi's group consent. Rei immediately leaves and Takashi follows her, asking her to hold on till they reach the city. Just then, a bus filled with zombies came crashing in Takashi and Rei's direction, skided and burst into flames. Saeko rushes out to try and find the duo but as the flames were too big for them to return to their side, Takashi tells Saeko that they'll meet at the East Police Station at 7pm and it might be the next day if they can't make it in the same day. With that, the bus explodes, completely separated into two groups and Takashi and Rei are now alone with each other. Leaving the scene, Takashi was ambushed by a zombie and lost his weapon. The intense strength of it was enough to cause him to succumb but Rei saved him in time and lifts him up, reminding him that he can, too, count on Rei and the duo hurries to their meeting place.

out of school and into the city! and Shidou-sensei is really a @!#!$ .___. how i wish he could like die off and become a zombie lol. He was the main reason why Rei and Takashi were split up from the rest and could possibly cause deaths of the the others since he's now the self-proclaimed "leader" of the group. even if it was Rei's personal grudge that caused the to be separated, i still don't like Shidou =/ ... it was a story development episode this time and a rather lot of zombie smashing again ...

2010-07-16T21:22:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 3

more on Otohime's past is shown and that she was a fat girl in the past. Luckily enough, she met Tarou, who she daily chase after, and that meeting changed her life, including her own body. Meanwhile on the way to school, Ringo tells Ryoushi that she now has a bento that Ryouko has made and asks him to spin around 3 times and bark in order to get it... which he did and got hit from Ryouko. Just then, Tarou rushes forward and grabs on Ryouko's leg, asking her to save him and from afar, sparks are flying from both Otohime and another girl. Turns out that the other girl was Mimi and was also in the same elementary school with Otohime and Tarou. Earlier on when Tarou bumps into Mimi and later sees Otohime, she was shocked to see how much Otohime has changed but still called her by the nickname "turtle" as in the past. The duo then decides that they will settle their score in the Miss Otogi Academy Contest where if Otohime wins, Mimi will stop using the nickname "turtle". Back in Otogi Bank, Otohime becomes the cilent this time and requests that they help her to win the contest and of course, the normal fee of the request applies to her as well even though she's a member of the Otogi Bank. Having requested it, Ringo gives more in depth information about the contest where both Mimi and Otohime are equally competitive and every male student would only be entitled to one vote each. Ringo also tells about the history of the winners and also about a mysterious girl who appears just as Ringo finishes. Turns out that it was just Liszt crossdressing and his marvelous ability to do so allows him to gather information efficiently. No doubt his Otogi Bank's president. And so, the defaming mission begins for the Otogi Bank and Mimi as well, whom both parties have started spreading rumours about each other, resulting in them being recognised more, but in a bad way. Ryouko was also shocked to discover that she was entered into the contest as well. The defaming continues and Ringo, Otohime and Otsuu went to snatch votes from Mimi which later results in a bad-mouthing exercise and defames the both of them even further. The day of the contest is nearing and when Tarou sees Otohime dozing off he supports her and tells her not to work too hard for it. The Contest day finally arrives and it was a swimsuit extravaganza and Ryoushi was initally happy as he thought he would see Ryouko in a swimsuit but fanservice doesn't come easy. In the end, when the results of the top10 contestants were revealed, neither Mimi nor Otohime was in the top 10 position and while Mimi goes on a rampage on the students, Otohime was on the verge of tears when the contest had ended. Liszt then gives Otohime a voting slip and brings her to the scoreboard where she discovers that she had only gotten one vote while Mimi had none. Liszt tells her that they were not able to fully accomplish her request and took a different route to let her see how important one vote counts and Liszt suspect that Tarou's vote would be the most important to her. Otohime then throws herself into Tarou's arms and cries in happiness after Tarou telling her that she has already worked hard enough for him and she'll always be in his heart.

a sedimental episode i suppose... was quite surprised to see how much Otohime has changed and Tarou and Otohime are really bonded by fate eh =) it was amusing, too, to see how the rabbit (Mimi) fights the turtle (Otohime) and those scandalous remarks on each other... and the censorship with the character overlap of Ringo and Mimi's vulgar quarrel. it is a light-hearted series and storyline wise per episode seems to be going quite well too...

P.S. i just realised that Liszt had opened his eyes while crossdressing O.o

2010-07-16T13:44:00.002+08:00

K-ON!! 15

It is the end of school break and the girls are back to school, to prepare for the finals and the school festival as well. A highly enthusiastic Azusa was totally pumped up due to the school festival but the mood dampens when the school marathon comes first. Everyone wasn't anticipating the marathon at all and even though it was just 4-5km, Yui kept whining about why they have to run. Sawa-chan then told them that things could be more fun if they wore her costumes and run at the same time. This time, Mugi brought a wierd looking black jelly for the rest to try and it did tasted funny in Sawa-chan's mouth and it seems that Mugi had made it herself. Ui and Yui then went shopping after school and after browsing through a shoe shop, they see Sawa-chan and are given a ride home. During the ride, Sawa-chan explains that she was going through the entire marathon route and had bought some ingredients with her such as red beans and rice cakes where the students would be given after they finish their marathon. Passing by the marathon route, Sawa-chan tells them about how tempting the cake shops on either side of the road could "take down" some of the runners and also a uphill slope which would demoralise some of them. After reaching home, Ui is puzzled to see a rice cake but temporarily ignores it. Back in school the next day, Yui hopes that when tomorrow comes, it would rain and so as to cancel the marathon. Things didn't go well as weather report announces that it would be a sunny day tomorrow and in order to try her best, she hangs rain dolls upside down outside the house. It obviously didn't work and the marathon begins. Nodoka quickly leaves the girls behind and after Mio thought about how embarassing it would be if she was the last runner, she decides to pick up her pace and goes on ahead. Jun couldn't hold out running with Ui and Azusa and took a short break where Mio catches up with them. Jun was suddenly filled with energy after seeing Mio and ran together with her. Meanwhile, for almost every few metres, Yui would be distracted about the things around her, by cakes, new vending machine drinks and even dogs and Ritsu is surprised to see her attention span being so short. Mio waits for the others however and the girls continue to run. Reaching the uphill slope, Yui was the first to be "taken out" and Mio suggests that they sing while they run and switched to singing in your own head while you run when it was too exhausting for Yui. It didn't work quite well and it was then converted to think of something happy which Mugi backtracks to suggest that they sing and run again. Meanwhile, Mio suddenly had an inspiration for a sound and quickly registers it in her head as they continue running. Reaching the top of the slope, the girls realise that Yui was missing and Sawa-chan and Ui were notified. They were unable to find Yui at all until Ui thinks of a possible place and finally finds her in a grandma's house after she gave Yui a plaster when she fell. The girls were now last in the marathon and as Yui suddenly remembered the rice cake that Ui had discovered and each student is only given one, she then had a burst of energy to rush to the finishing line to get the rice cake. The others were no exception, just that Mio only wanted to not be the last and sprints forward as well. However, at the finishing line, Mio trips and rolls forward, creating a flashy end to the marathon and was totally embarassed about it. However, Sawa-chan wasn't notified that Yui has already been found and continues searching for her in the nearby forest.

what a marathon... singing while running isn't a really good strategy to keep yourself running at all but keeping the rthym in your own head is actually a good way to do it. and really, Yui's attention span is just too short .__. i really wonder how did she manage to get into high school at all... oh well, Mio's new song could debut in their school festival so i'll be looking forward to that :)

2010-07-13T16:16:00.002+08:00

had the time to catch up with the other series before i go into work overload mode again =X

Mitsudomoe now begins to play with mucus in the 2nd episode @.@ ewww...... spinning your teacher and your arm around to lump the mucus together isn't cool at all ._. its still a good entertainment series although it kinda lacked humour in the 2nd episode as compared with the 1st. hopes epi 3 would go well...

Shiki's trailer was cool and mysterious, and an anticipated series for me... guess it didn't turn out as well as Angel Beats! did... the 1st episode was mysterious enough, but pace-wise, it was rather boring. The story revolves around a girl, Megumi who lives in the countryside and absolutely hates the village she lives in, due to her feeling that the village wasn't suited for her kind of trend. For her, she wants to leave the village as soon as possible with her grades and she too, has a crush on a teen in the village, Yuki. Things weren't as simple since Yuki doesn't like Megumi at all and ignores her when she attempts to start a conversation. The village is old with traditional houses, except a new European-styled house being built up in the hill. Megumi was interested in it and one day, she decided to take a look after hearing that a family had moved in. Megumi then didn't return home and when she was found lying on the ground, she had already suffered some huge blood loss and passes away the next day. So theres it, the "main" girl dies... in the 1st episode, and a cliffhanger as well. Since the title of the series is Shiki (Corpse Demon), she'll most probably be the demon that kills? and questions are popping out already from the 1st episode, wad's with the European-building and the family that lives inside, whom Megumi had met and then passed on... will see how the series goes but the 1st episode wasn't really enticing at all.

High School of the Dead 2

In the hectic situation, Saya was now stuck with a plump dude, Kouta. Kouta suggests that they go to find the other teachers but Saya showed him the consequence of the students thinking the same thing as Kouta. The duo now attempts to make their way out to safety and meanwhile, Takashi and Rei are still staying at the rooftop and Rei tries to contact her father again, who is a policeman. As the emergency hotline is overloaded, Rei decides to call a private number and successfully contacted her father. Her father however was unable to recognise Rei's voice but tells her to get to somewhere safe as the whole city is now in chaos. In the school infirmary, another student had turned into a zombie after being attacked and the teacher there now confirms that those who are bitten once will turn into zombies. The student with the teacher, Shizuka-sensei, requested for her to leave quickly but they were soon surrounded by zombies, only to be saved by Saeko, a student with a wooden sword. She later helps to end the life of the student who was bitten after protecting Shizuka-sensei, who requested to be killed while he was still himself. Saya and Kouta then went to lock themselves up in a room but the zombies found them pretty soon but Kouta had already built a nail gun rifle from the parts that Saya had grouped together and successfully fend off the incoming zombies. At the same time, Takagi and Rei decides to use a water hose to drive away the zombies and with the high pressured water, the zombies stand no chance and the duo rushes forward and take down those in front of them. In the hallway, Saya throws a drenched cloth at a zombie and then at a wall, testing the zombie's abilities and senses. It turns out that the zombies' senses are already dead and relies on sound to find their prey. Soon after, Saya and Kouta were cornered and the nail gun rifle had already run out of ammo. A zombie closed in on Saya and while she screamed at it to go away, she reaches for a nearby tool to protect herself. Takagi, Rei, Saeko and Shizuka-sensei then came running towards Saya's location after hearing her scream, only to see her hands holding tightly to a electric drill. The rest quickly defeats the remaining zombies and introduces themselves to each other as they're most likely going to be working together from then onwards. Saya finally couldn't hold in much longer and breaks down on Saeko after seeing how the world around her has become.

couldn't really see the drill coming towards the zombie, bet it was too gruesome to be shown... and now the survivors should be all grouped up and probably fighting their way out of the school soon. Didn't expect Kouta to be experienced in guns and stuff, his nail gun mod ver. really did helped out. with the whole city in the same situation as the school, it would be interesting to see how the plot develops and how it ends. it wouldn't be just massacring zombies now and then... its getting rather normal to see them being killed off ._.

2010-07-10T23:16:00.002+08:00

Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi 2

for Ryoushi, who had overcame the fear of being looked at by the people in Otogi Bank, was however, still having the same habit in front of the others. Incidentally, when not being stared at, he is actually quite a skilled hunter, which was shown in the episode.

Unfortunately for Ryoushi, Ryouko still does not see him as a potential target for a relationship but still accepts him as being her shield which was at least better than nothing. Ringo and Ryoushi went home together and on the way, Ringo asks Ryoushi the reasons for him falling for Ryouko. Ryoushi told her the exact same thing as he told Ryouko, that she was cool and strong but Ringo knows that those were attributes that do not compliment girls at all. Ryoushi however added on that he thinks of Ryouko as a different personality as her outer strong self and that she seems to be a totally opposite person on the inside. Late in the night, Ryouko spots two cute dogs waiting outside of a shop and looking around to see if there was anyone she knew, she went forward and patted them after making sure there wasn't anyone. However, the two dogs belonged to Ryoushi and he was the one who had spotted Ryouko patting them and the duo seems to like Ryouko alot. Back in the dorms, Ringo tells Ryouko that Ryoushi is actually quite sharp to have noticed that Ryouko does seem to be two different self in one body. Ignoring Ringo's comments, Ryouko goes off to sleep first to rest for the next day. A new cilent had came to the Otogi Bank, requesting to look for Ryouko which she tells her that she has a very violent boyfriend and she hopes that Ryouko would be able to free her from his clutches. Ryouko accepts the requests and goes off to the meeting point with Ryoushi. The duo were however ambushed by the cilent's boyfriend and were outnumbered by his subordinates. Ryoushi tries to protect Ryouko and takes a heavy blow to the head, resulting in him being powerless as Ryouko was captured and taken away. As the other members of the Otogi Bank became worried about them after quite some time had passed, an injured Ryoushi returns to explain the situation. In the enemy's territory, Ryouko herself actually hopes that she can depend on someone one day and with that in mind, her cellphone rings and the boss picks it up. Ryoushi was on the line and warns them about their danger and fires projectiles from the shadows after equipping a catapult to his left arm. As a trained hunter, Ryoushi's aiming were exceptionally accurate and had taken out most of the other enemies and the whole of Otogi Bank came down to assist as well. It turns out that the two dogs had followed Ryouko's scent to her location and Ryouko's Neko Knuckles are now being upgraded to Neko Taser Knuckles that emit electricity upon contact. Teaming up with Ryoushi, Ryouko defeats the boss but he wasn't totally knocked out and manages to remove the Neko Knuckles from Ryouko and binding her. Ryoushi steps forward and faces off with him one-on-one and defeats him in the end before he himself succumb to the injuries that he had been dealt by the boss. Back in the Otogi Bank, Ryoushi's old habit seemed to have worked up again and feels all uneasy after Ryouko stared at him. Turns out it might take a long time before he can discard it.

near the end, there was like some kind of mastermind behind the planning of the plots to "defeat" the Otogi Bank? hopefully this series isn't going too far into the mastermind thing though, would prefer if they remain as a love comedy kind of series... Ryoushi did looked quite cool with him helping Ryouko from behind the shadows and him facing off with the boss was cool as well, seems like love can overcome his phobia... heh... and i'm now loving the Neko Knuckles even more :D imprinting injury!

2010-07-08T19:59:00.005+08:00

with Cosfest being over, it is time to start on some new series

having mostly watched the 1st episodes of them, i've narrowed my viewing to the following series: (for now)

Mitsudomoe
High School of the Dead
Seitokai Yakuindomo

and of cos: Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi

leaving High School of the Dead aside (for blogging afterwards), Mitsudomoe and Seitokai Yakuindomo doesn't really have a main storyline.

Mitsudomoe revolves around a new teacher in primary school and there are three problem sisters in his class, each with different personality and he's having a hard time keeping them under control. nothing much really adds on to the storyline and build-up but for its hilarious side, its quite good i would say. although the hilarious level still has not match up to Baka to Test, it is a series that one can try for its laughter and just for a slice-of-life.

Similarly, another slice-of-life series to keep me entertained while i'm bored would be Seitokai Yakuindomo. Watching it for the first time made me constantly think about Seitokai no Ichizon, which is somewhat similar to this series:

Having a student council: Checked!
Having a single guy in the student council: Checked!
Harem-styled: Checked!

perhaps the most significance difference would be that the male protagonist isn't the one aiming for a harem.

short scenes + small laughs + how the girls act with guys around (their school was previously a girls school = not having interacted with a guy for quite some time...) somehow trapped me into watching this just for killing time, whether or not i'll continue watching this till the end would be still under a pending decision... *but its hard to ignore this if there's Mio and Ritsu's seiyuu here =="*

High School of the Dead

this series ain't suitable for all, there's not only violence and gore but another contributing factor as seen from the OP (it should be quite obvious...)

The main protagonist and his classmates are being chased my mindless zombies who are after their lives and the only way to kill them was to crush their skulls, totally. He then wonders what exactly has happened to the world around him which was previously at peace hours ago...

The main protagonist, Takashi, was alone at a corner of the school, pondering about the girl that he liked, Rei, who had once told him that they'll get married someday but that has already seemed impossible as Takashi didn't really returned her feelings towards him, resulting in Rei leaving him and is now close to Takashi's best friend, Hisashi. Saya happens to pass by and is disappointed to see Takashi still hiding alone when he's feeling down. Just then, Takashi suddenly sees a suspicious-looking man coming up to the school gate and rattling it, until the teachers started to approach him. One of the male teachers grabbed the man and slammed him onto the gate and tried to turn him away but the man suddenly bites the teacher's arm with immense strength that a huge wound was inflicted on the teacher and he then dies due to blood loss. The other teachers were totally shocked to see what had happened but started to feel relieved when the injured teacher stood up but they got bitten and subsequently killed by him. Witnessing the murders, Takashi runs back into the class where Rei and Hisashi are in, grabs Rei by the arm and tells her to leave with him now. Rei initially thought that Takashi was trying to be funny and refuses to leave with him, but after Takashi's slap, she sees that he's serious about it. Taking Rei and Hisashi out of the class, he tells the both of them what he had seen at the school gate and is now trying to get them to safety. Hisashi then breaks a mop to obtain a pointed weapon just in case what Takashi said was true. Meanwhile, a broadcast was delivered through the school, warning the students of a "fight" going on and that everyone should evacuate. Everyone doesn't seem to be affected by the announcement until the broadcaster started to scream into the mite and when it when dead, the students started to panic and pushed each other while trying to escape, resulting in multiple casualties. Seeing how chaotic the situation has become, Takashi leads Rei and Hisashi to the rooftop where they'll try and get help and on the way, they encounter another teacher who was supposed to be dead and when he attempted to attack Rei, she stabs him with her weapon through the heart but it wasn't enough to stop him. Hisashi rushes forward and retrains the teacher but its overwhelming strength was too much for Hisashi to stop and his arm was bitten by the teacher. Seeing Hisashi in pain, Rei attempts to free him but to no avail, she then turns to Takashi for help which he smashes the skull of the teacher with his bat, and thus ending the whole facade. At the rooftop, the trio was shocked to see what has happened to the city, emergency lines were flooded, there were smoke everywhere and those who are killed by the unknown people are revived as one of them. The students of the school are all getting killed one by one, creating a large number of "zombies" which is what the trio decide to classify them as for now. Having blocked the stairs, the trio took a rest but Hisashi started to vomit blood and told Takashi then he's time was up the moment the teacher bit him and it did not need an individual to die to become one of them. Hisashi tells Takashi to throw him off the building to kill him while he's still human but Takashi was unable to do it. Rei tries to protect Hisashi but it was already too late and he had became one of "them". Having no choice, Takashi strikes his best friend down, causing Rei to be in a stage of shock for a moment and says that Takashi had already wanted to kill Hisashi as he hated him for being Rei's partner. Takashi sees that any explanation would be futile and decides to leave alone to fend off the zombies but that woke Rei up and she pulled on to Takashi, telling him not to leave her alone and that they would stay together from now on.

It is, a rather gory show, with all the students getting killed and zombies being skull-smashed. i have not read the manga so i do not know what's gonna happen next, but storyline wise, it does seem interesting. Having that amount of zombies around, Takashi and Rei would have to fight their way out if they could but there would be still zombies around in the city, so literally, they are not safe anywhere they go? Judging from the OP, the duo aren't the sole survivors and would probably team up with them to fight the zombies... L4D? O.o

K-ON!! 14

Ritsu was apparently bored out of studying and decides to ask Mio out to hang out with her. Mio was however studying and turned down the offer. With Yui studying with Nodoka, Ritsu now have no one to hang out with... until she saw Mugi. Off she goes to tail Mugi, planning to surprise her in the end but when she thought she had lost sight of her, Mugi jumps out and became the one to surprise Ritsu and coincidentally, they both have the same idea. Ritsu then asks Mugi if she had spare time to hang out with her and after a short call, Mugi turns back and tells Ritsu that she's absolutely free right no. Meanwhile, Yui fell asleep while studying and had dreamed of "eating" Mugi's pickles eyebrows and as Mugi starts to melt due to the lack of eyebrows, she was rescued by having protractors as temporary substitutes for her eyebrows ._. Meanwhile, Ritsu brings Mugi to an arcade where Mugi gets all excited with the games that she had never seen before and the duo had much fun there, toying with snapshots of the both of them and winning a plush toy from the UFO machine. Yui then wanted have a taste of the cake Nodoka was eating and offered to exchange a small bite. Nodoka then reaches out and takes the strawberry on Yui's slice of cake, causing her to space out after seeing what Nodoka had done. Going back to Ritsu and Mugi, they were now at a candy store where Mugi is fascinated on how cheap the things were and was having fun learning how to eat various snacks from Ritsu. Azusa was totally not amused by Yui calling her and telling her how wierd it was for Nodoka to have taken the strawberry first and that it was the heart and soul of the cake... ==" Azusa's face was priceless, guess its hard to have a senpai calling you now and then, talking about the most unique things, ever. Mugi then requested Ritsu to hit her as she sees that Ritsu and Mio get along so well together with Mio hitting Ritsu most of the time and she wanted to try that too. Ritsu, however, was unable to do it and tells Mugi that most of the time, it was cause she was acting all stupid that she'll get hit by Mio and somehow, Mugi took it to heart and tried to be as stupid as possible. The next day was Summer Class and everyone were in their home clothes, except Mio who was in uniform. Mugi then arrived, wearing a dress and had intentionally forget to remove her dress tag which Mio found out. Ritsu then discovers what Mugi was planning to do and tried to give her opportunities to get hit by Mio but to no avail. Back in the music room, over the dispute of who getting to eat the slices of cake, Mugi accidentally won a game and avoided getting a hit once again. Not giving up, she snatches Mio's slice of cake's strawberry and eats it. Mio initially spaces out but starts to tear after realising what had happened. Mugi apologises and when she told Mio what she was intending to do, Mio was still unable to hit her at all. Mugi later leaves with Ritsu and thanks for everything that she has done and tells her that it would be great if she was a guy. Ritsu doesn't really understand what Mugi meant and out of embarrassment, she finally hits Mugi. Later that night, she calls Mio, telling her about her "hanging out" with Mugi and Mio, this time, was surprisingly angry at Ritsu for not calling her out to join then and Mugi was happy as she had finally accomplished her goal.

so the whole episode was about Mugi trying to get hit... and there's finally like an episode being focused on the rich girl who doesn't really know much about the normal world. i seriously went ._. after seeing the protractor eyebrows... K-ON!! has somehow turned into a more watch-for-entertainment kind of series, would've preferred these kind of series to not last so long as there isn't much storyline development and it doesn't have multiple switch scenes like other slice-of-life series... ain't really all hyped up on this series but nonetheless, their new ED is great as usual :)

2010-07-06T19:32:00.011+08:00

Day 2 pics uped and thats the end of Cosfest 2010!

photos uploaded are not in order of time when photo is taken:

BlazBlue

BRS

Day 2 Graffiti Wall

RAWR! Ichigo~

BRS Kaito (from Korea!)

Lelouch *look into my eyes*

BlazBlue Faye Ling

Korea team? (not very sure if they're all Koreans)

Naruto

Pandora Hearts Sharon (correct me if i'm wrong =/)

Gotta Catch 'em All! POKEMON!

Tsuna

Rin and Len

Soul Eater

Unidentified photos =X

Miku!

Rin and Len?

Vocaloids!

AND... The End

2010-07-05T21:53:00.000+08:00

-Day 2 photos still under filtering- sry for the wait =X

2010-07-05T10:42:00.006+08:00

Cosfest photo-stash from Day 1

(after much filtering , off-focus, brightness bla bla bla, Day 1 is now complete, moving on with Day 2 soon, expected to be completed in the next few days)

Cosfest 2010

Ragna, this dude's from Korea :)

BRS

Chobits

看他！(Kanda)

DGM

Graffitis!!!

Nuclear Fission from Touhou lol

Chrome

Hibari

Kuroko!!!

Sebastian (did i mis-spell?)

??? is the left dude from Kingdom Hearts?

Primo

Shana

Suika

Beatrice... HA-HA-HAAAA!

???

??? Sakura?

???

Vocaloids

MIKU! <3

Yu-Gi-Oh

2010-07-04T21:29:00.004+08:00

photos will be uploaded as soon as i filter them :)

it was a long day after all at Cosfest 2010, and it was the very 1st time that i did went on both days = resulting in a huge pile of photos waiting to be filtered.

well, i'll start with Day 1 then...

i was actually quite worried for the day itself since it practically rained the entire day and amazingly stopped temporarily while i was there and re-started again after i reached home... kinda lucky i guess... so with the weather being rather cooling after the morning rain, destination Downtown East! it wasn't as packed yet when i reached there (with my friends of cos) and it was a perfect chance to look around the booths in the meantime, while waiting for the band competition to start. the stall layouts were changed this year and there are pro and cons to it too. i personally feel that having the public booths at the side of the tent was quite a good idea since the "owners" of the stalls wouldn't be blocking any public walking to and fro and they would have much more space as compared to previous years where people get to walk behind them. but for the main shops like pan-in-the-box and such, placing them in the center wasn't actually good, it did accommodate to more visitors but for space wise, it was a little cramped up... pros and cons yea... leaving that aside, the band competition was wonderful as well, however, i really couldn't see the drummer at all ._. he was like blocked by all the amps and was sitting alone in the corner, poor guy / girl. Music wise, it was OK, Bad Apple from Touhou was a good attempt, Butterfly from Digimon just rocked through, and the vocalist was not bad too :) didn't stay for the entire band competiton since switching among teams took a rather long time as they were using their own personal instruments. so moving in and out was a way to kill time and to spot-and-snap some photos to my collection. it then started to get packed later in the afternoon but i left the event early, like 4pm+ as there isn't much going on after that... and the Korean team that was invited had a great skit as well, great stunts and coordinations! thumbs up for them :D

for today, the weather was great throughout the day, no rain whatsoever to upset the event at all. reached there about the same time as day one and some performances have already started. decided to go to the Graffiti Wall to scribble somethings, leaving my first mark on Cosfest :) and then moving on to the spot-and-snap procedure. there weren't many repetitions as compared to Day 1 and most of the stalls, including the major ones, had restocked their goods... wanted to buy the small miku plush but it'll burn quite a big hole in my wallet =X when the competition on the Asia Meet had started, i was generally glued when most of the performers came on stage. especially the Kaito (from Korea) who had this super bright LED-wrapped guitar. went on to locate them afterwards and found them at last, after some zooming in and out of the tent. it was then the WCS competition, the FF team's monster had some awesome costume and exchangeable wings and THAT is cool =/ so for this year, there were 2 winners for the Asia Meet, Mr. Franky, previously Armstrong from Cosfest 2009 (he's got the luck to go Japan twice eh...) and another gal from the Philippines. and the WCS team representing Singapore was the FF team and the awesome costume. oh, and i almost forgot, the Singapore Wind Symphony was awesome too, beautiful FF piece and caramelldansen xD. But sadly, the Caramelldansen fever had expired and it was now turned into a parade around the shops, it wasn't a bad idea but i would've hoped for Caramelldansen fever to last a few more years... and thus, the finale and the end of Cosfest 2010, enjoyed myself quite well this time (although my Angel Beats! armband broke .__. nearing the end) and its sayonara Cosfest 2010! SEE YOU AGAIN ON COSFEST 2011 XDDD

oh and on the last note: LED-lights have now TOTALLY entered the Cosplay community, i mean, almost ALL the competitors are using SUPER BRIGHT LED lights to light up their weapons etc, maybe i'll get to see Mr. Gundam back again, and this time, with more LED @.@

and what i got from Cosfest :) Vocaloid + BRS lurve :D

2010-07-03T20:07:00.000+08:00

day 1 of Cosfest is over! will be blogging the whole of Cosfest as a whole and will upload the photos subsequently.

2010-07-01T21:27:00.004+08:00

After the wonderful Summer Fest with her senpais, Azusa is now left alone as the others had to study for their final exams. Ton-chan was temporarily left in her care and with the intense heat, she felt more bored without hanging out with the others. Azusa then went to Yui's house to give them a watermelon. Upon reaching, Ui tells Azusa that she was studying upstairs but sounds of the guitar came out of Yui's room and Azusa knew that it'll become like that if she was left alone. Ui then chops the watermelon into half before bringing it up to her sister. After that, Azusa discovered that the sisters had tempura in the afternoon and went rushing to Yui's rescue as she suspect that eating cold things with tempura could lead to food poisoning. Before she was able to reach Yui, Azusa woke up in her house and it was all a dream. Ui then came by Azusa's house, and couldn't recognise her due to her tan she got from the Summer Fest. Azusa then wanted to hang out with Jun but she was in school for her club activities and Ui suggested to go and find her in school and also bringing some snacks along. No one was there in school however, due to some festival going on and only Sawa-chan was left in the teacher's room when Azusa wanted to borrow the key to the music room and have their snacks there. While thinking about what they should do later on, Ui suggest that they go and watch a movie and off the both went to watch a horror movie. Just as the movie was about to start, Azusa sees Mio coming to watch the horror film as well and even though she herself was repeatedly scared by the different scenes, Mio doesn't seemed to have flinched at all. Suspecting that something wasn't right, Azusa went to look at Mio's condition and discovers that while she was trying to overcome her fear, she had already fainted in the cinema. Azusa had, however, dozed off in the heat in the music room and the movie trip wasn't actually real. Both Ui and Azusa later really went off to catch a movie together and while waiting for the movie to start, Azusa decides to get a part time job and both Ui and her went to help out in some lottery stall. Mugi then came and patronise them , in hope of obtaining a tissue pack which was 50/50. She really did get it and since the last prize was inside, Azusa turned it and won a trip to Finland. Suspecting that it was a dream, she asks them to pull her cheeks which didn't hurt at all. And Azusa had just missed the entire movie by falling asleep. The next day, Jun was free and hanged out with Azusa and Ui, and played on with the "who are you" on Azusa's tanned self. Due to her sunburn, Azusa stayed away from the water while Jun and Ui went in to play and all of the sudden, Azusa sees the other senpais around her, playing with a large slide and eating takoyaki at the same time as sliding down. Ritsu then pushed Azusa into doing it as well and at the end, she nearly collided into the others and woke up from the extreme heat again. On the way home, the trio met the other senpais and they decided to go to the festival together and everyone was brought there to celebrate. When the fireworks started, Yui grabbed on to Azusa's hand and pulls her to the scene and through that, Azusa realised how fun it was to hang out with the senpais and she'll all be left alone after they graduate and that wasn't cheering her up at all. But she was more determined to bring out the best during the school festival. Yui then returned home earlier than Ui and sees leftover tempura on the table. After eating it, she realised that Azusa had tried to tell her that after eating cold things during the festival, it could lead to food poisoning if she ate tempura... which she did.

so after the focus on the entire k-on members, they decided to shed light on the side characters as well, and similarly with the previous season, Azusa was tanned as she hanged out with her buddies. there was kinda too much of daydream there, although i loved Mio's part the most ._. literally fainted in the cinema... it would be great if they left Azusa in her world for 1 or maybe just 2, and this episode just brought in too many of it. this episode mainly focused on Azusa, like the one when the others were in their school trip, but i kinda preferred that episode rather than this. nothing much did actually happen and it merely showed how much Azusa enjoys hanging out with her senpais and the reality that she'd be left alone after they graduate, which will most likely won't be shown in the series unless they do a time leap (which is almost impossible)

and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi has finally begun airing :D

so off the series start with a dude running away from Ryouko (Ookami) and Ringo who both are given the task under Otogi Bank. The guy being chased was however reluctant to turn himself in and attempted to retaliate with a small knife. Ryouko gets Ringo to stay back and prepares to face him with her neko knuckles. With the knife as a potentially dangerous weapon, the guy dropped his knife after getting hit by a stone from afar and taking the chance, Ryouko strikes him in the face, imprinting a neko red print onto it. Otogi Bank is a club which helps students according to their requests, which in turn they have to return the favour some other day. After completing the request, Ryouko and Ringo return to the club room where the other club members are introduced. The president of the club is Kiriki List and the secretary is the president's cousin, Kiriki Alice. Incidentally, there's also a maid, Otsuu-san and the other 2 freshmen are Urashima and Otohime. After club activities, Ryouko would go to the gym to sharpen her fighting skills for more difficult tasks and while returning home, she hears someone calling out to her but when she turns back, there was no one to be seen. Feeling irritated after hearing the same voice over and over, she finally managed to get the culprit out who introduces himself as Ryoushi, her classmate. Ryouko doesn't seem to recognise him but still asked him to repeat what he had said and Ryoushi confesses that he likes her and tells her that he likes her as she's strong, cool and brave which she does not seem to want guys to like her that way and left before Ryoushi could finish. Back in the dorms, Ringo was surprised and all pumped-up after hearing that Ryouko was confessed to and would like to see if he's suitable for her. The next day, Ryoushi's information was gathered and it was said that he prefers to stay away from people's sight and feels insecure when people stare at him as he has learnt the skills of hunting in the wild and his tailing skills might be useful for the club and thus, Ringo brought him to the Otogi Bank. Ringo further told the rest that although he does not like attention, he had already confessed to Ryouko which he then adds on that he's been tailing her for a week, in hope of finding the right time to confess to her. Everyone seems to have agreed in letting him join but Ryouko does not accept it as she knows that he was around when she was attacked by a knife and he did not bothered to come out of hiding at all. However, a new cilent gave way for Ryoushi to show his abilities and hopefully Ryouko would accept him. The new cilent was Haibara Kakari and she wants to request to stop her senpai, which she admires, from handing in his club resignation form as he was injured and unable to continue playing tennis. This time, Ryoushi's skills in tailing came in handy and amazingly managed to stalk Ooji, the target of the request. However, Ryoushi seems to have acted too suspiciously in the public bath, in hope of obtaining the resignation form but failed to get it. As the form would need approval from the club president, a teacher and a club head, there were many chances to intercept the form but as Ryoushi was afraid to be looked at, he failed to get it and Ooji was already approaching to hand in him completed form. With time running out, a new member of the Otogi Bank was introduced, Majo-san, who invents things to help the club and the neko knuckles that Ryouko uses are from her as well. So the tool to be used was a pumpkin carriage, similar to Cinderella. Ryoushi stood out and became the one to paddle it and told Kakari that its better to tell someone you like directly and off he goes, blindfolded, to avoid his symptoms. When Ooji was already in sight, Ryoushi then discovered that the carriage didn't have brakes installed and crashed. Kakari was flinged forward but with her skills, she tried absorbing the impact with somersaults and incidentally kicked Ooji directly in his face and the both of them fainted on the spot with List taking away the resignation form and thus, completing the request. After a busy day, Ryouko and Ringo were met with the same guy who attacked Ryouko with a knife and was back with two of his friends. With the neko knuckles equipped, she takes on the three of them but when the guy saw an opening and swinged down the metal pole, Ryoushi came to Ryouko's rescue and became her temporary shield. Ryouko then quickly take down the remaining two and went o Ryoushi's aid. He tells her that he had initially wanted to save her but froze up and could only become her shield. With that, Ryouko seems some qualities in him and formally accepts him into the Otogi Bank to work with her.

judging about the characters in this series, they are mostly made up of familiar seiyuus and the most prominent one was the narrator for the series .__. dear Kuroko, heres not Academy City!!! oh well, didn't really like the narrator, (not with the voice), but having a narrator that attempt to be funny but don't really work does not really interest me, feels like the series is spoiled by it. it'll be OK if its just a few lines but appearing here and there isn't really entertaining... ignoring that, the series headed off with a good start ad judging by the OP (by May'N), there seems to be some "boss" or something... and Ryoushi would get a slingshot weapon? O.o looks quite like Hand Sonic vers. 5 catapult vers :D hopefully it doesn't bring the series to another light. it would be interesting to see how the relationship between Ryouko and Ryoushi would develop and i LOVE the neko knuckles! so kawaii~! xD

2010-06-26T23:26:00.003+08:00

*A GIANT THUMBS UP* for Angel Beats! i really did enjoy the entire series and 13 episodes is kinda short to make it an exceptionally "moving" series.

Yuri wakes up after losing consciousness back in Guild and sees Otonashi, Kanade, Naoi and Hinata beside her. Yuri then learns that the rest have already moved on and is glad to hear that but when she asks why are the four of them still here, they told her that it was because she was still around. The rest then sees that Yuri seems to be a little different from usual and suspects that she had already gotten over her regret in life but Yuri denies it, saying that as the leader of the SSS, her regret would be the most difficult to eliminate. But after Naoi tried to hypnotise her twice to make her speak the truth, Yuri gave in and admitted that she had already gotten over it and had no more regrets in her life. The five of them then moved on to the gymnasium and on the way, Hinata tells Yuri that even Takatmatsu had reverted back from becoming a NPC and have departed the world as well. Meanwhile, Kanade was humming the tune of "My Song", the last song that Iwasawa sang before she left the world and Yuri agrees that it was a nice song. In the gymnasium, the stage was taken care of, with the banner to mark the graduation of the SSS members. Somehow, Otonashi and Hinata sees that Yuri has become more girl-like after she returned from Guild and she even got easily embarassed with Hinata saying that she's cute like that. Otonashi then led the rest through the ceremony, singing the anthem that Kanade had composed (lyrics with Mapo Tofu lines), receiving a self-made graduating certificate and then singing the farewell song. With that, Naoi takes his leave first after crying in front of Otonashi, thanking him for helping him get over his regret in his life and then, he disappears. Yuri then went to Kanade and apologise to her with the fights between them and told her that they could have become great friends if they had more time and then, Yuri hugs her. Hinata then thank her for being a great leader and Yuri finally leaves the world. Next is followed by Hinata who thanks Otonashi for his help too and being a great buddy. Otonashi then asks Kanade if they could take a walk outside to have some fresh air. Outside, Otonashi asks Kanade if she would want to stay in this world together with him as he thinks that there will definitely be people like them, having regrets in their life, and that he could help guide them to move on and with Kanade by his side, he wouldn't feel lonely in the world. Otonashi then confesses to Kanade that he loves her and wants her to stay with him. However, Kanade refuses to reply and when asked by Otonashi, she replies that she'll disappear if she replies to his feelings as she was kept alive by Otonashi's heart and she was the one who had continued to live after Otonashi donated his heart after he died. Otonashi couldn't believe it but Kanade tells him that her only regret here was no being able to thank the person who had allowed her live on and that she knew it was Otonashi after stabbing him on the first day and knowing that he does not have a heart. It was further reinforced that Otonashi had regained his memory after lying on Kanade as his heart was in her after all. Kanade then asks Otonashi to say that he loves her once again but as she'll disappear as a result, Otonashi initially refuses to say it but gave in after pleas from her. Otonashi then hugs her, telling her to stay with him forever and ever but after finally thanking him, Kanade disappears and Otonashi was left alone and he cries after her disappearance as they'll probably never meet again. However, in the real world, Kanade was leaning against a wall and humming the tune of "My Song" and when Otonashi went past her, he somehows recognises the song and chases after her and touches her on the shoulder...

and it ends...

the initial part of the episode was rather plain in a sense that it was just a graduation ceremony being carried out, would've been better if they had used those scenes to add on more scenes from the real world. i really wanted to see Hinata and Yui =X just when i thought that everything was just a plain old ceremony, the climax came, with Otonashi suggesting that they should stay on and that was really something i did not expect. and the confession thing was rather "awkward" kinda like a little rushed in their "relationship" but perhaps it was the bond of them having the "same" heart. with that, i never really did expect Kanade to be the one who benefited from Otonashi (or was it just me? =/) and was Kanade dead? or just in coma or some sort as she would be alive if she had a heart transplant wouldn't she? (and since Kanade had came into the world of the dead waaay before Otonashi so whys that ._.) anyways, i absolutely loved how the climax was carried out with the beautiful song playing in the background and then the "time leap" i was waiting and anticipating for... =) *happy~*

overall, the series had a big "hoo-haa" even before it started airing and i was caught in it. it was the only series so far that i have anticipated almost every single episode and enjoyed every single one of it. the animation for the fighting scenes were great, story lines were great, and the emotional changes throughout a single episode was nice as well. music wise is definitely great and i definitely wouldn't mind watching it all over again. it could be more moving, given that it was a KEY production but the short 13 episodes was really too short =X really loved the series~ *DOUBLE THUMBS UP* xD

and the reunion :)

2010-06-24T21:26:00.002+08:00

although it was already nearing their final exams, Yui still wanted to go on a training camp and was well supported by everyone, including Azusa, but Mio wasn't really supportive of the idea. And so the girls went to Yui's house to discuss more ab0ut the training camp and in the end, they decided to go to a Summer Music Festival and coincidentally, a mysterious appearance of Sawa-chan out of nowhere had brought the girls the tickets to the festival. The festival was held in the mountains and thus, there were bus services to bring the public there and everyone was quite surprised to see Yui arriving earlier than them, but was even more surprised when they see Sawa-chan's condition which she went drinking the night before and had not slept at all. Both Sawa-chan and Yui were knocked out in the bus with the lack of sleep and bad with vehicles respectively and when they finally reached their destination, there were already tons of people there, all waiting for the festival to begin. In the whole venue, there are many different stages where different bands will be performing and Mio had already carefully picked 0ut what she'd want to hear from the different stages the night before. Sawa-chan then miraculously revived and told the girls to be prepared for the intense heat during the festival and then the group headed out to their first stage. After the first band started performing for quite some time, Sawa-chan left to a indoor stage to go wild in there, Mio then dragged Ritsu to another stage to watch another band and Mio was totally attracted to the fact that there was a left handed member in the band. Soon, Mugi, Azusa and Yui went to locate some food and both Mugi and Yui were deeply disappointed when the food that they were looking forward in eating was already sold out. After taking a break to have lunch, Mio told the rest that she'd go and get some food but returned after purchasing a T-shirt of the band with the left handed member and without food. Luckily enough, Sawa-chan had already purchased food for the girls and heading to them in the meantime. This year, even with sunscreen, Azusa still became all tanned and when the girls laid of the grass patch to listen to the soft music around the mountains, they decide to have a goal together to perform in this summer festival one day.

Mugi seems more hyped up in this season as compared to the previous, and was all enthusiastic on eating Yakisoba which in the end, turns out to be sold out and Yui even threw a small tantrum after her food was sold out too. Mio was also captivated by all the left handed musicians and Ritsu seems to be happy for her after seeing Mio enjoying herself during the festival. So other than Budokan, this was another goal for them and i certainly agree with them that it would be great if they all remained as a band even after they grew up. =)

2010-06-22T23:43:00.002+08:00

Kanade's smile is so sweet~ =X

hopefully it would be a great ending (time leap to the real world or smth) or just letting everyone move on... if there is a person being left behind... (Yuri / Kanade... HOPEFULLY NOT!) i wouldn't be surprised since its by KEY anyway...