Lunch: Minami-ke



Pasta, Mandarin oranges, and a coffee that you can't see. Need a better camera. Can't really see Minami-ke playing on the TV, but it's there. Perhaps the table is too far from the TV.


I was planning to re-watch a few episodes of Seto no Hanayome, but the audio didn't seem to work for them, so I ended up watching the first few episodes of the first season of Minami-ke. Been a long time since I watched them. Gotta say that the first season was the best of any of the Minami-ke seasons, with season three coming in second. Looked very nice on the TV playing from the PS3. May make this a morning ritual for me. ;o; Too bad only my oldest series will play on the PS3. Doesn't support .mkv files ;o;


Song by Arashi (Sakurai is my favourite guy in Arashi btw)

*reupped xD YouTube got to all of them, and the opening doesn't seem to be anywhere on the net. xD Maybe I'll figure out how to cut it out of an episode and upload it somewhere else.


*u* The drama adaptation of Sahara Mizu's wonderful work. Was featured in one of my fabulous Weekly Manga fixes. Maybe I'll get around to watching this. I prefer 2D over 3D though...only in terms of shows I'm watching. May have a few more posts coming this week. Manga comparison, an anime thing. xD I dunno.

Manga of ze Week - キャットストリート


Image by Kamio Yoko

Aights, another week, another manga. This one's a good one.


Title: キャットストリート, Cat Street
Author: Kamio Yoko
Genre: Shoujo, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Shueisha Bestuma
Total Volume Count: 8 (completed)


Summary from Condensation:
The story centers around Keito Aoyama, a former famous child actor. Due to a childhood incident, she retired from her career early and withdrew from normal society. Now 16, she passes her days in boredom and without purpose. But one day she runs into a stranger who takes her to El Liston--a free school for high school students like herself, who don't have a place where they belong. Though hesitant at first, Keito decides to enter El Liston and subsequently, she begins a new stage in her life. With the help of her only remaining childhood friend, Taiyou, and her new classmates Rei, Momiji, and Kouichi, Keito slowly finds the courage to open up to others and to accept their support. Will Keito return to acting? Will she find true friends? Love?

Kenn's comment:
It's good. Read it. xD There's a live action rendition of it. Still trying to finish it. Half way there. But it's good.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - 牡丹



Really nice Miku song by Frozen Strawberry.


Titled "Botan" I guess. It's really nice though. I like the chorus X]

Hm. Still need to find time to get cloth for Miku/Kagami's santa hats. xD Kenn's slowly losing his masculinity.

Brunch: I lied.



Yum. Breakfast for Kenn. Chinese black tea, with longan, mandarin oranges, and dried Iranian figs. Sounds pretty Chinese to me. Those figs are apparently really expensive.

Lunch is after the jump.


 
I guess it's almost healthy. Noodles in soup with chicken (on the left of the bowl) and an egg (on the right of the bowl). My breakfast and lunch were seperated by about 20 minutes, so downing this after the tea and everything else was a bit of a task for me. Took me a while too. Kenn doesn't eat too much in the morning. 


Can't even call yourself remotely otaku if you don't know this song. More info and versions after the jump.


^^" I'm pretty sure I knew Macross before I knew Gundam. Somewhat prefer the Macross series of Gundam series too. It's a song from Macross 7 btw.

Title: 突撃ラブハート, Totsugeki Love Heart, Charge! Love Heart
Artist: Firebomber (fictional band)
Genre: Rock
Album: Let's Fire!!!, Ultra Fire!!!, Fukuyama Fire! (and there's probably more)

突撃ラブハート (acoustic)


突撃ラブハート Anisong 09(Fukuyama Yoshiki + May'n)


Yes, that's an awesome duet.

Final Fantasy XIII Trailer #4



Lovely trailer. Latest and last trailer before the game's Japanese release in December.


I'm kicking myself right now for not learning Japanese. I rather like the song playing in the trailer more than the song that they're planning to add to the "international release". Frankly, I'm tired of mainstream R&B in America.

Seitokai no Ichizon Episode 7



The thing I like about this series, is it's ability to switch between drama, and comedy seamlessly. Not many series can do things like this. Anywho, episode 7 was great. Hit read more to see why.



 
As Minatsu's character was developed, Aka-chan's gone the other, and pretty much degenerated into quite the annoying character.


"Chizuru-san,  can I touch your breasts?"
"Fine, but just a little bit"
"Yay...it's too far..I give up"



Student Council is outside the school? IMPOSSIBLE!



Minatsu didn't pack much.



Mafuyu only packed games. Mafuyu is actually super strong if she can lug that around.



 Aka-chan's pack is unsurprisingly childish. Ever since the shift in character, I've been slowly starting to disklike her. She only shines when she's with Chizuru.



Do you really want to know what's in Chizuru's pack?



 
Like Minatsu, no one recognizes Mafuyu without her ribbon...yes, even her own sister doesn't recognize her.



Male bondage. Kinky. The real things you should be starring at in this image are Minatsu's boobs.



Morning and everyone's present! Wait..where's Sugisaki?



Eyecatch. Yes, all that was the first half.



The council continues their trip by telling horror stories. Unsurprisingly, Aka-chan is utterly terrified of their stories. Minatsu's is generic, but Sugisaki's beat it out.

"Once upon a time there was a girl named Kurimu-chan. She worked as a maid for Sugisaki Ken for her entire life. The end."




And as punishment, everyone gets a change of characters, by changing the way they end their sentences.



Chizuru became a sheep, and please remember that giving wildlife money is strictly prohibited.
She's one dangerous sheep though, if she can get money like that.



This part was actually quite nice. After all the hectic mokyuu, and horror stories, came the silent, low colour walk through the empty city in at dawn. Well placed, well done, and was effective.



Mokyuu lives on!!

Manga of ze Week - にゃんこい!


(awesome) Image by nanao

Brrrr...it's so cold.


Title: にゃんこい!, Nyan Koi! (Nyan is the Japanese equivalent of "meow")
Author: Fujiwara Sato
Genre: Shounen, Comedy, Romance, Supernatural
Serialized in: Flex Comix Comix Blood 
Total Volume Count: 4 (ongoing)

Summary from Manga Updates:
The story is about a second-year high school student named Junpei Kousaka, who not only hates cats but also is allergic to them. Unforunately, he happens to have a crush on a girl, Kaede Mizuno, who really loves cats. On the way home from school one day, Junpei kicks an empty can and happens to accidentally hit the Guardian Deity of Cats. Now he's able to understand cats but was practically given a curse. He has to grant 100 wishes from any cat or he'll turn into a cat himself. 



Kenn's Comment: Yes, there's an anime series for it going at the moment. It's been pretty faithful to the manga, with changes here and there. Anywho, the manga is great. It's a nice light hearted series, with good comedy, great characters, and cats (Kenn is a fan of cats). 


I like the series mainly because, while being a harem based, shounen romance,  it's not as bad as other ones out there. Yes, Kousaka's a dense idiot, but he does get stuff through his head (when it's not filled with cat allergens or Mizuno). Also, unlike other shounen romance series, it's not filled with unnecessary fanservice shots. Now, people like Andrew will argue that fanservice is always necessary, and I'll let them believe what they believe. Anywho, it's nice because it's popular without the need of the fanservice that shounen series are so saturated with.


I'd recommend the manga to anyone just looking for something good to read. Plus, the stuff they changed in the anime was fairly important to the plot, so the manga's the one you want to read for better shipping material (I'm personally rooting for Kanako).

Currently Playing...7



Woo. Creed on the PSP. Now to muster up the cash for Creed 2 on the Ps3.


Title: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Developer: Griptonite Games
Genre: Action, Adventure, Historic
System: Playstation Portable

Vintage: 17/11/09

Kenn's Comment: Well, I suppose I could use this as a launch pad in preparation for AC2. Anywho, I've read that it's a short game...so I'm not expecting this to last me long. Sad face. Anywho, it's pretty fun so far, though I'm not too much of a fan of the targeting system (probably due to the PSP's lack of a second analog stick), and finding that the most effective way of fighting is by not engaging enemies. Counter attacks are pretty much the only way to do any damage to bosses. I would've loved if the game was dubbed in Greek, or whatever language they would speak in that area (Cyprus is in Greece). That would've been awesome *u*. Anywho, Gamespy gave it a whopping two and a half out of five. Great score, eh? Anywho, that's it for now. Probably be another one of these soon.


Nice song by merontei-P.


Changing it up. Lots of songs I could've used, but I decided to go with one that's not using Miku. Fairly easy to do this week.

Exploring with Kagami



Hm. It seems that the two cameras I used aren't that great. I want my camera back!

Anywho, Kagami decided to explore ze house (or part of the house). She learned that Kenn's habitat isn't quite as simple as it seems.



Hoping of getting more pictures, and a photo shoot  of Miku (which I had promised so long ago), but I still haven't gotten over my fear of breaking her when I'm swapping out parts. Miku seems more poseable compared to Kagami, so maybe I'll start having her participate in more shoots. Hoping to get myself a figma Seto San (Seto no Hanayome) in the near future. Can think of a cool shot with her.


 
 
First stop was the living room. It's hard to see, but the PS3's in the background. Anywho, Kagami (and almost everyone else) found it really warm in there. And yes, she's holding a strawberry.



Next up was my room. It's quite cold compared to the oddly-warm living room. Kagami's learned from her past mistakes. She now crosses her legs when sitting on high objects to avoid panty shots like in her photo shoot.

Gave her a nice blanket to stay warm. Yes, it's the same picture as the top one.



Outside my room is the foyer. It doesn't seem to recieve any heating, so it's very cold here. Kagami refused to go here, so I had the Ingram Unit take her place. Product placement. Can you spot it?


A childhood favourite. Can never get enough Sesame Street.

This week's song brought to you by the letter K and number 625.


Hey, I'm 18 now, and I still love the song. There's nothing wrong with that. Never had a rubber ducky when I was a kid. The song fills that void in my childhood.

Ernie's a relatively dark skinned Asian, possibly tanned. Bert's totally Asian though.

Crypton Future Media - Project IF



Well, this is a surprise. 「Project if...」 demo song. 崖の上のポニョ (Gake no Ue no Ponyo).


I had posted here that the next Crypton Vocaloid would be a male. Apparently, I was wrong? Not quite sure what 「Project if...」 but it may indicate that the next Vocaloid will be following Yuki and Ah-Soft's lead in creating a loli-vocaloid. Maybe they're releasing two characters, as Ah-Soft put out three. Maybe Project If is merely demonstrating improvements to the existing Vocaloid 2 engine. Who knows? Well, I don't, but surely someone does. I'll update when I find answers.

Kenn on Film


Image by imo works

Okay, so not really. Went out to help Ivy & co. with their film project, where I found myself as a freezing actor.


Let's start at the beginning of my day, shall we?

So I left the house, with my destination set for Patterson Station, quite far from my house. Two long bus rides, and a short skytrain trip got me there. After finding Ivy & co., we then had to wait for the other two people to show up. The fifth person showed up, but after waiting for a half hour, the sixth didn't show up. Being frozen to the core (only Ivy was actually), we (Ivy decided) to seek warmth and shelter at Metro. Waaaaaaaarmthhhhh....

And this brings us to the second leg of my day. Here we walked around and went to the Disney Store (again, Ivy and Megan's idea). Reliving our childhoods, and glomping and "d'haaawing" at everything.

"I had Buzz and Woody before"
"I still have a Woody if you know what I mean."

From there, we headed off to Toy R Us to relive our childhood some more, and more bad jokes from me. Anywho, we discussed where to go, and after spinning an umbrella to point us in the direction we wanted to go, we ended up entering T&T, a chain of Asian super markets (Ivy's idea). Asparagus juice anyone? After walking through the aisles, we set our destination for the Food court to grab some grub. Had Korean short ribs with rice and vegetables, while I got Ivy a Korean mix of noodles, chicken and vegetables. The plates are pretty big, and short ribs are impossible to eat. They're what I usually give my dog. Anywho, we were all warmed up with food in our systems, and with a replacement for the sixth person on his way, we headed back for Patterson station, which leads us to the third leg of my day.

Ivy & co. did a bit of filming, and I sat and became a guard dog for all the equipment that they weren't using. It was cold. But I didn't mind. I sat diligently, eyeing everyone who passed by. Okay, so I didn't. I was playing games on my iTouch. Anywho, the replacement for the sixth person showed up. Not sure how to spell his name, but it sounded something like "Dee". Anywho, he was a friend of Ivy's, and with everyone present, the filming could get underway. A short while into the filming, Dee took a fall, and needed to be patched up. So Ivy accompanied him to the next station, Metro, to get patched up. The rest of us remained under the Patterson station, with nothing much to do. I once again whipped out the iTouch and started gaming til my hands went numb from the cold. That might have been the longest half hour I've experienced. Anywho, once they returned, the filming continued. My part came and went, and the filming came to a conclusion. By now, the temperature outside was dipping below 5°C, and we were all freezing. The party disbanded, and we each went our own ways. This is the beginning of the final leg of the day!

Hopped on the skytrain, and went down a station to Joyce, where I found Fiona,  a friend from high school waiting for the bus. Chatted for a little bit, and then the bus came. By now, I really needed to use the washroom, but with no washroom for a while, I'd have to hold it in. Fiona got off a stop before me, and after I got off, I had to wait for another bus to get me home. Still holding it in, as there wasn't any washrooms around. The next bus came, and I hopped on. On this bus, I found Jason T. on his way home. Chatted with him for a bit before he got off. I could feel my bladder under all the pressure of holding it in. It was becoming a tad bit painful then. The bus reached my stop, the terminus, and I hopped off, and began the homestretch. I have to say, that might've been the happiest I've been to be in the washroom for a long time. Back in the warm indoors.

Anywho, that's about it. If Ivy & co. put the video up on YT, I'll see if I can find it and put it up on ze blog.

Kenn's Dinner



Sorry, as delicious as that looks, it wasn't my dinner. It was actually my lunch...at around 5pm. Miku and Kagami joined me for this scrumptious snack.

From left to right: apple, Miku, Mars bar, Dragon fruit, sweet potato, grapes, Kagami, grapes.


Anywho, my actual dinner was essentially a nice multicultural bowl of noodles.






In essence, it's Wonton noodle soup. Used a bit of soup from earlier in the day. Not sure what you'd call it, but it uses Chinese ingredients, dates, figs, longan, and carrots. There's an egg floating around somewhere in that bowl. That funny swirly thing is a pasta noodle. I had some lying around, so I threw it in. I added the soup base that you get with instant noodles to give it a bit more flavour.

Anywho, don't expect to hear from me until next Friday. I don't think there'll be anything worth blogging about in my rather plain life. You'll probably hear from me a lot during the week. Will be blogging about anime and manga. Plus, I might be having an outting tomorrow.


Actually, I'm not quite sure what it is.

A 1-chorus test Bucchigiri-P. She kind of sounds like Megpoid, though maybe a few tones lower. She sounds good. Don't see anything similar to this from Yuki or Kiyoteru.

Image by Endou Minari


Title: 破天荒遊戯, Hatenkou Yuugi, Unprecedented Game, Dazzle (US title)
Author: Endou Minari
Genre: Shoujo, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural
Serialized in: Ichijinsha Comic Zero-Sum, Square Enix GFantasy, Tokyopop (US license)
Total Volume Count: 11 (ongoing)

Kenn's Comment: I guess it's a love-it-or-hate-it series, looking at all the reviews up on MangaUpdates. If it ain't a high rating, it's a low rating. I rather like the series, and I'd recommend it to people for reading. I don't see why people complain about the art. I think it's perfectly fine. Maybe they're reading terrible scans or something. Oh, speaking of art, I love how Rahzel has a different outfit every outing. They're always cute too. Coming from her running-gag-bag-of-infinite-holding. I'm guessing the people who are giving really low rating for the manga are the type of people who think Kubo Tite's art is awesome, which..really..it isn't. Oh and, yes there's an anime for the series. But I don't really think that the anime does the series justice.


Summary from MangaUpdates:
A young girl named Rahzel is booted out of her house one day by her father with the instructions to 'see the world.' And so her journey begins. However, she won't be doing it alone... for she befriends a stoic young man named Alzeid seeking revenge for his father's murder.
Alzeid and Rahzel are like oil and water... but even still, they feel strangely drawn to one another. This could be either the result of an underlying attraction -- or their shared powers with magic. And so, the two reluctant allies travel from town to town, using their powers to help the helpless, while discovering their own respective places in the world.

New Vocaloids


Image by Kurohara Yuu

Well, it's not the Vocaloid I talked about here. But they're new. Not by Crypton or Internet, but by a new company, AH-Soft.  There's three of them b t dubs. They're set to be released December 4th. And they're after the jump.




Loliroid 歌愛ユキ (Kaai Yuki)



Complete with red (ランドセル) randoseru and recorder. The demo doesn't really make her sound that loli-though. Maybe it's just that I'm used to loli's sounding like Kugimiya Rie...
Yuki sounds a bit like Miku to me...but that's only the demo. Her voice sampling is actually from a child. ^^"


Kaito 氷山キヨテル (Hiyama Kiyoteru)




He sounds a bit like Kaito, and has already been made into Yuuki's teacher. From the demo, I can't really see anything special about him...in any aspect, including his character design (apart from the fact that he's a normal human character).

SF-A2 "MIKI"



She's the third one, though she's a tad bit different from the other two. She's more like the other Vocaloids (Miku and co.), though at the same time not. She's got doll-joints (sorta like Rozen Maiden), which sets her apart from the more human everybody else. Nevertheless, she's the more popular of the three, already having a few pages on Danbooru. I personally like her better than Yuki and sensei Kiyoteru. Like Yuki and Kiyoteru, Miki's created by AH-Software, though she's got backing from another company, HEARTFAST.


xD A cool song by headphone Tokyo.

Tune in later for news on a new addition to the Vocaloid family.

Song of the Week - Touch



An old favourite of mine. Yes, I'm that old. Full version after the jump.

Touch is a classic anime, a probably one of the highest rated anime of all time. I never actually watched it though. I had the music album though...though it's now hiding somewhere in the garage where I'll never be able to find it. Sad face.


Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu: Purezza Ep. 6




Well, for starters the episode was gorgeous compared to the last five episodes. And I do mean it was beautiful...visually. It's a spoiler for the episode, so the rest of it's after the jump.

 



Haruka's parents before they were married. Note that even for them we didn't get a kiss. It bodes ill for the couple in the present.




Angry mob of girls equals cock block...not saying that Yuuto would ever get that far.

 

A beautiful shot of the moon. One of the scenes that made me smile in the episode. On a related note, I haven't finished Sora no Manimani....




Haruka starts saying that her body feels hot...she's in her underwear. Hey Yuuto...not many guys are given a chance like that.



Ah..here it comes...


FACK!! That mop. Give it to me. I shall shred it into millions of pieces for ruining that PERFECT MOMENT. The feeling I had at that moment was about equal to the third episode of Endless Eight.


Another gorgeous scenery shot. Enlarge the picture and you can see Haruka and Yuuto...sorta.



I zoomed into that little spot for you guys. Kidding. Another beautiful shot.
More rage to come though.




Zoomed in again! Kidding. Again. Rage is next.




KISS! We all waited forever this to happen.




This might turn out to be my favourite episode so far. The only time we've had a kiss. I'm trying to think of a shounen series that has a kiss between a couple. Can't think of any off the top of my head.




WAIT WHAT?! JUST A PECK ON THE CHEEK?! #$%$@^!?




Beautiful end shot to calm my raging anger.

Right. So you now know why I'm raging. Anywho, a shot or two from episode four.



Yes. He just proposed. Oh Yuuto. Get dressed. Don't pop the question in your pajamas!




And a ring to seal the deal. I don't remember ever seeing that ring again...

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PS3)



Remember waaay back when I first posted about this game? About how impossible that boss was? Well, I've gotten past all that, and now as you can see, I'm stuck on a new boss. Guess I'll have to put more Kennthusiasm and Kenndurance into this. ^^" Final boss b t dubs. 

HA HA MOTHAF****R! Went up against him this morning and shot him down from the sky. Which means I just finished the game. Which also means I don't have anything to do now. Which is a bad thing, no?


If I were to sum it up in one word, that word would probably be "impossible". He's stronger and faster than you, and his attacks go further. And I'm supposed to have a cutting edge VS. They lied. Why his chain gun does so much more damage than mine is one story, when he's more maneuverable than I am is what I'm ticked off about. Ascending and descending are really quite a pain.

Anywho, I've died against this boss more times than you can count on your fingers and toes, even if you've got an extra finger and toe on each appendage.

My parents constantly walking in front of the TV, and constantly bugging me didn't help either.

On a different, though related note, I recently downloaded and played the Lost Planet 2 demo. I have to say, as I've said before, I'm really looking forward to it. The demo is really good, despite it's various issues (though it's a demo...so it's expected) and really gives to a taste of what's to come. It's not out for a long time though, so I'll have to find something else to keep me busy until then (namely Final Fantasy VIII, and other games that come out in December).

Fairy Tail 159



Hit "more after the jump" for spoilers on the manga!


It...It can't be!! Natsu is summoning the epic power-metal band from London...DRAGON FORCE!!





Anywho, jokes aside, Natsu just got his power up from Gerard, and despite my all my hopes, he doesn't turn into a dragon, which we all know would be awesome beyond awesome.

Manga of ze Week - シュトヘル


 Cover of Volume 1


Title: シュトヘル, Shut Hell
Author: Itoh Yu
Genre: Seinen, Action, Historical
Serialized in: Shogakukan Big Comic Spirits
Total Volume Count: 1 (ongoing)

Kenn's Comment: Duuude. Intense. Okay, so not really, but the manga is still really good. It's not often you have a main character that's female, and so bad-ass. Despite being so incredibly savage, Shut Hell still acts feminine, so she really never gives off that crazed axe-murderer feel...although a yandere end might occur if you decide to raise her flag. I'd don't recommend reading this series if you can't take copious amounts of blood.

Summary from MangaUpdates:
Beginning of the 13th century.

In the days of old existed a woman warrior named Shut Hell, the Evil One, feared even by the Mongols, said to be the strongest army in history.

At first, she was just a normal Tangut's soldier frightened by the mongol threat, but after coming close to death so many times, she found in herself a superhuman strength.

On the other side, a young mongol prince, Yurul, is fascinated by the Tangut's, his enemies' writings, and is worried for the future....
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