Happy New Year!

Image by Junji

Alright, so first off, I'd like to wish y'all a happy a new year. Going into the next decade, and a whole new chapter of my life in the new year. A few things I want to do with this post. Reflect on the passing year, resolutions for next year, and things I did today, which will probably come first.

So, Jason messaged me earlier today asking if I wanted to come over. I declined his offer, sticking around until my mom came home. I forgot all about his offer by then. He called again at nine, and I took up the offer this time around. Sam stopped by, with Chris as his navigator, and Darren as excess baggage, and gave me a lift up to Jason's place. I guess it was supposed to be a new years bash, though it was pretty dreary to be one. Poker was played, iTouch games went on, laughs were had.

Keith went off to play Demon's Soul, invading other people, and being met with little success. He lost three soul levels while he was at it. He then switched to online play with Street Fighter IV, where unlike Demon's Soul, he won all the matches he was in. Calvin took a shot at it, but wasn't used to the PS3 controller and lost.

Sam left fairly early, with Chris and I hitching a ride with him.

Last year, we were at Jason's til around one, with sparkling fruit juices and stuff. A stark difference from whatever happened this year.

Anywho, onto my reflections of this year.

Hm. Much of the first half of the year was Grade 12. Aside from the work and stress, I'd say that that the second half was so much more fun than the first half. For one, I chopped physics and math from my schedule, which relieved so much pressure off my back. Spent one of my free blocks with Ed and Kevin, spent afterschool tuesdays with Chris in the Market. Fridays afterschool at Jason's place.

Grade wise, I wish I could've done better. There's no point in crying over spilt milk, but it's just one of those things where you just kick yourself after you think about it.

Went to Texas again, and spent a month or two frying my brains out in the Texan sun. It was fun though. Minus the lack of internet of course. I'm quite dependent on the internet. Some of my cousins are coming over in the summer.

Anywho, my top ten resolutions.

1. Keep my grades at school up
2. Finish my 1/100 Blue Frame
3. Redesign my blog
4. Get a job
5. Exercise
6. Procrastinate less
7. Procrastinate less
8. Exercise
9. Procrastinate less
10. Exercise
    

けいおん: もう一度！

Image from Pixiv

Officially announced today. Prepare for more Mio*, Yui, Ritsu, Azunyan*, and Tsumugi. Oh and don't forget the moe.

Tell me if my Japanese was right in the title too.

*Bolded names are characters I'm looking forward to seeing more of.

Well, I honestly would've preferred a second season of something else, like Ghost Hunt or SeiZon. K-On! is nice and all, but in the end it really is just a twenty-two minutes of moé. I would've liked if they hadn't mixed up all the events in Sora no Otoshimono and made a second season for that one.

K-On! is pretty much character driven, as it doesn't really have much else to offer. I'm not saying that's a bad thing now. There are a lot of series like that. Just, I'd prefer a second season of something a little more...complex. Now, I can think of a few people who might disagree off the top of my head, but whatev's.

Looking forward to see what kind of songs Houkago Tea Time cranks out this time around. If I'm right, the story should take place during Yui, Mio, Tsumugi and Ritsu's last year in highschool. Which means that the end of the series will be akin to the end of Lucky Star. Which then makes K-On! a Lucky Star clone? There's more a few similarities between the two mind you.

Weekly Vocaloid Feature - HOLIDAY SPECIAL

CHRISTMAS EVE! HEEYYY!

So yeah. I started on the Miku photoshoot with my newly created photo area. I actually finished all the photos. I looked over them again, and my lighting got screwed up, so I have to redo them all so you can actually see Miku.


Song by Noboru↑-P. Illustrations by H/Y & Saki Ukai.

Christmas song. A nice one. Maybe. Another song of the week tomorrow. Christmas related for that one. The Vocaloid on Saturday won't.

Party today and tomorrow I think. I'll blog about those. @_@

Winter Anime Previews 1 - はなまる幼稚園

Image by Yuto

Well, it's that time again. Time to take over the world! Time for another set of anime previews. Not too many trailers are out that I know of, although I nabbed this one pretty early.

Title: はなまる幼稚園, Hanamaru Youchien, Hanamaru Kindergarten

Genre: Seinen, Comedy, slice of life

Airs: 01/10 25:30

Animation Studio: GAINAX  

Summary from MangaUpdates:

Anzu goes to a preschool with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together, they try to gain Anzu attention from their male caretaker Tsuchida, though he is clearly more interested in the pretty Yamamoto who supervises the class next door.

Kenn's Comment:

I'm guessing that preschool and kindergarten are pretty much the same thing in Japan. That aside, I really like the manga. It's chock full of comedy, and the things the girls pull off to get Anzu some attention are both funny and cute. Now, I'm no lolicon, but those girls don't really act or speak their age. Anywho, quoting someone on MAL,

"GAINAX and Mizushima produce a kindergarten anime... sounds like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

^^" I suppose that analogy is fairly accurate. GAINAX brought us Evangelion, and more recently Gurren Lagann, while Mizushima brought us FMA and Gundam 00.

Trailer:

My Girl (Sahara Mizu)

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.

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.

SF-AS MIKI demo 2

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.

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.

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).

One

Image by punchiki

Nothing important or big, or even worth blogging about, but I have nothing else to blog about, so what the hell.

My blog (Ha Gao/ k625.blogspot.com) turned one yesterday! Looking back on the posts I did back then, and looking at the ones I do now really shows how I've changed. It went from full on exposition, to a more common blogging form.

Back when the blog was first started up, it didn't look too much different. The layout hasn't changed since the first day ^^". What has changed are the various bells and whistles that I've added.

It started out with only Labels (not many at that time), and the blog archive (pretty small back then). Eventually, I added all the various 3rd party widgets, from a chatbox, to a slide show of my blog's mascot (who's evidently missing).

I've pared it down to the bare minimum once again, having only the Recent Posts, Blogger Friends, Labels and Blog Archive. Need to figure out a way to reintroduce Kaihaku back to the blog ^^". e_e Maybe I can figure out how to do rotating headers. If only. Sad face.

VOCALOID 04

Image by ura

That's right! Namine Ritsu is the newest addition to the Vocaloid family! Ritsu's voice is somewhere between Luka's and Miku's...and supposedly is best at singing requiems. The profile seems odd too..

Age: 6

Height: 156 cm

Weight: 25.0 tons (Yes, that's tons)

Official site here.

Sorry. I lied. Ritsu's a creation by the folks at 2ch, the people who made Teto and Ruko. It's another one of their tricks to fool people into thinking that there's a new Vocaloid.

Another thing: Ritsu's a guy. Yes, as Admiral Akbar famously exclaimed, "it's a trap!", the same phrase can be applied here with Ritsu. I'm guessing earlier on, some artists didn't realize that Ritsu was a guy, and added breasts. Of course, that's explained here.

The folks over at 2ch might not be so far off though, as there's supposedly a new Vocaloid in the works by Crypton, the ones who brought us Miku, Rin/Ren, and Luka. This one's a male Vocaloid, with voice sampling supposedly from a 'young popular seiyuu'. More details over at ANN.

Anyways, enjoy some Ritsu singing. It's a really good song, and Ritsu sounds really good for UTAU. xD

E.F.B～恒久の氷結～

ブラック★ロックシューター 2M MIX

While supercell's been busy with non-vocaloid stuff (i.e. music for cencoroll, 君の知らない物語, b★rs anime, etc.), ryo was able to crank out a new version of B★RS! The song comes with the pilot dvd of B★RS.

It's not too different from the usual and older version, although it has been upgraded to have a string accompaniment. Miku's voice has also gone through a bit of work. Most noticeable in the beginning with her vibrato ^^" Anywho, this isn't a Weekly Vocaloid Saturday, just a little update xD

Coming Soon for the PSP

Title: Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Fighting (3D)

Release Date: 08/27/09 (jp), 09/01/09

Kenn's Comment: Hmm. Another installment of Namco's Soul Calibur series. My favourite part of this game would probably be the character creation. =l Hopefully I can create Saber :] Anywho, I'll check this one out when it comes around in a few days.

High and Mighty Color

No, it's not a friday. This is not a Song of the Week. More after the jump.

It's High and Mighty Color's latest song, with the debut of their new vocalist, Haruka, taking Maki's place in the band. Haruka's voice is quite similar to Maki's, although it does sound a tad bit lower. Hoping they stick to their style of light rock (pop-rock-ish sound) with their new vocalist.

T.T

So...sad...so beautiful...more thoughts after the jump. Has spoilers for those of you who haven't finished or are planning to watch CLANNAD (both seasons).

It's so sad. SO SAD! and SO BEAUTIFUL. It's like ten thousand gods compressed into three, and then recompressed into one video. (Inside joke)

Another Day of Hunting

Image by shiranagi masa

Another day of hunting @ Jason's. More after the jump.

Hoo. Left at around 1:40 again today, and got to Jason's at 2 something. Grabbed Church's instead of KFC this time around. Spicy Thigh Sandwich burned =(.

Anyways, while waiting for Ed to arrive, we hunted stuff, and completed my Rathalos X armour, and tried to complete my Tigrex greatsword, but them tigrex are real annoying. Hunted them for a while, actually hunted them until Ed came, and hunted them again with three people. Made it a whole lot easier. Got my stuff, and made my sword. It's currently the strongest great sword I have.

After the tigrex runs, we went on to hunt Diablos and other things Ed needed. Pink rathian (G Rank) in less then five minutes anyone?

Had some Chinese food for dinner. This lifestyle can't be good for me. xD At last I had lots of water?

Finished up by killing a Yama Tsukami. Walked home at around 1:10.

Will have the Song of the Week and Weekly Vocaloid Feature up shortly.

Souvenir Exchange

Went to Jason's for some gaming and fun today. More on the day after the jump.

Alrighty, so today I went to Jason's place (first time in a long time) to hunt (play Monster Hunter). While I was there, I figured it'd be a good time to give him the souvenirs I got him from Texas. The photo up there is pretty much what I got him. I also got him a Texas Card, a joke item that's pretty much like "I've Been to Texas" thing. Anywho, had a little fun with the finger trap, figuring out ways to get your fingers out without using any outside forces, so no other fingers other than the ones stuck in the trap. His fingers are pretty small, so it was a bit easier for him.



From Japan, Jason brought back a bunch of stuff, and I got to pick what I wanted. Had the choice between bottle cap dudes, or the Mugen beer. As you can see, I went with the Mugen beer. Wahaha, it's pretty fun, but I can't let my younger cousins play with it. I showed it to him and he was pulling the tab like there was no tomorrow. =="



Extra video here. Blogger doesn't like videos uploaded to Photobucket. =l

Anywho, went to KFC to grab lunch, because every hunter needs to be well fed before heading out. Hunted for 4-5 hours before we ran out of things to do. Went on the net, watched a few College Humour things. Hilarious stuff. Read a bit of manga, and then headed home.

My younger cousins are very loud. Watching TV with them just makes me want to pump the volume. Chilled with the dog for a bit. Day end o:

Blog Update: Gonna be Busy

Image by Kenn.

Left: SVMS-01O Over Flag
Center: GN-0000+GNR-01 "00 Raiser"
Right: MBF-P02 Astray Red Frame

Ah yes. I got the 0-Raiser (1/100 scale) for my 00 Gundam. It's smexy, yes, but also obnoxiously heavy. Anyways, the rest of my day's after the jump.

So I woke up early, since I had plans to go out to see a movie with friends. Was up, started anime downloads and what not. The rest of the folks went out for dim sum, while I stayed behind, assuming I'd be gone by the time they got back. Boy was I wrong. They copped out, leaving me with nothing to do, virtually home alone.

After a good 4 hours of almost nothing, the folks came back. Did a few things, and talked a bit before heading off to Metro to pick up something for a cousin who had cried because he couldn't get something he wanted. While we were there, I picked up the 0 Raiser, and my brother picked up a box of Glico instant curry. Gonna make curry. Hopefully, it doesn't end up like Kana and Chiaki (Minami-ke), if you remember that episode. My cousin got a rather expensive Lego model of the Rebel Gunship, or something like that.

Anywho, swung back home for dinner outside. The bees were everywhere, and very interested in the ribs for some odd reason. Gave some of the ribs to the dog. He needs love too. The bees got on my nerves, so I fled indoors. Went to the park to play with the Frisbee, and burned lot's of energy.

And there you have my day. ;D

Summer Night Market 7

Image by Sarashi

Slow day. More after the jump.

Had to move stuff to get enough room to sit in my cousins car. While moving, he hit the gas, running over my foot. Wasn't fun, but it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. After that, it was the same routine of setting stuff up. People came in waves. It was like Horde mode in Gears of War. You occasionally have one or two people, but most of them came in big groups and orders came by the dozens. Hard to keep up.

My math is terrible, and even giving change wasn't fun. Got it though. Needs cash register to do money. Bah.

Hit Wendy's after for some food. Honey something chicken wings for me, along with fries and a root beer. Found a spider in my room. Got my cousin to kill that. There's still one in my closet, but as long as he stays in there, I'm cool with him.

Relatives coming over from Texas on Monday. It's Mandy and Jason. Been cleaning up the house in preparation. It's the cleanest I've ever seen the house. Like the whole house was cleaned. Ahaha, it's pretty cool.

Might do a Tour of Kenn's Area later this week. If the weather permits of course. Might be cool to do it in the rain, but I don't have an umbrella, since a friend bent mine out of shape. Anywho, look forwards to that whenever it gets done. ;D

E³

It's over! Endless Eight Ended!

After 8 grueling episodes of the same thing with minute changes every episode, we can finally let out a collective sigh of relief. Now let's hope they don't pull any stunts like that again. If the series what run a-chronologically, that would've been so painful to watch. "orz


Just to show a certain someone that A-tan (pronounced Ah-tan) does make an appearance in the anime. I think that's from episode 10 of Hayate no Gotoku!! (second season)