Tachii's Blog - MyAnimeList.net

A couple of imgs/gifs for the right times.

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:22:03 -0700

Talking too much.

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Mon, 13 May 2013 20:38:34 -0700

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Anime OP/ED/insert songs that are still in my kokoro.

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:00:05 -0700

1. Crawl - Veltpunch - Nabari no Ou's OP

2. Canvas - COOLON - Eureka 7's ED

3. God Knows - Aya Hirano - Haruhi's insert.

4. Sorairo Days - Shouko Nakagawa - TTGL's OP

5. Gekko Symphonia - AKINO - Aquarion Evol's ED

6. Unlimited Sky - Tomoko Kawase - Gundam 00's insert.

7. Ash like Snow - Tomoko Kawase - Gundam 00's OP

8. Egoist - Namae No Nai Kaibutsu - Psycho Pass's ED

9. Egoist - All alone with you - Psycho Pass's ED2

10. Shissou - LAST ALLIANCE - Ouran High School Host Club's ED

Valkyria Chronicles - Thoughts, mini-review

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:25:52 -0800

Valkyria Chronicles, set in a fictional world resembling Europe in its 20s? WWI? A small nation, Gallia, with a precious resouce ragnite, were attacked by the Empire, in their campaign to secure ragnite to continue their larger warfare against the Federation. The anime is adapted from the video game AFAIK, which really made me want to play it. The adaptation remind me of Persona 4 adaptation. To sum it up: Even though I haven't played this game, I feel the game will be a LOT better than this. You can tell the strategies in gameplay was all downplayed in this anime. Like Persona 4, the anime seem to target the more mundane aspect of the story (since obviously it has no gameplay as an anime). At the beginning it felt like a slice of life. No, it was SOL. The focus on military strategy was minimal. But even with SOL, I've only attached to Welkin, and to a lesser degree, his buddy, Faldio. SOL was probably an attempt to set up the characters and setting, except the only thing I got out of it was how outrageous the squad is. We have a girl that faints at every bad news, a bunch of kids that do pranks, a baker who has the most obvious target fashion choice? And you honestly want me to believe this is the same squad that pulled incredible feats when they literally had no moments where we're shown they excelled in combat? Now maybe this anime wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and you can definitely see it that way, but from what I observe, it was an anime stuck in limbo. Trying to maintain a light-hearted tone while trying to be serious. Trying to be smart with combat strategies with some recklessness. Trying to be entertaining while still be gritty. In the end though, it felt like a cliche product. Except my lens were already tinted with flowers and kool-aid. There was a sweet spot that just kept me going. I can't explain why. Was it the art? Was it the utter unrealistic world of teens fighting in wars all wishy-washy? Was it the eccentric Welkin? STORY & SETTING: It was mediocre. Nothing special. It reminded of Code Geass and how a bunch of kids seemingly in high school (Lelouch, Kallen) was owning military elites. Except it was never as exciting as Code Geass. The setting was pretty good. I dig the architecture. I dig the tanks, somewhat. CHARACTERS: Okay, so, Welkin Gunther was the hero we're all suppose to like here. And it was for the most part, except his voice was annoying. He was shown to be eccentric, intelligent, reckless, and confident. He was also shown to be emotionally weak when dealt with personal problems, and clearly indecisive when it came to romance. You could say his character of putting the life of others before his own was his strength and weakness. It made him a capable commander, but made him a weak individual. Aside from Welkin, Susie and Largo were probably the only 2 other characters that was decently developed. Alicia's backstory felt VERY tacked on, like a plot device to level the playing field. Selvaria's unconditional love to Max was just appalling to look at (some elitist taking advantage of a fragile girl). Max was just Jun Fukuyama. Cue the Code Geass comparison. Except here he was trying to be a douchebag arrogant cold-hearted bastard. And well, he pulls it off. Except his back story was nearly non-existent and vaguely familiar of Lelouch's. Except think of Lelouch, but without any human qualities. Who didn't care about C.C., Shirley, Kallen, Suzaku. You'd get Max. Faldio gets a nod for being the cool bishounen buddy except the love triangle was kind of a bother. His actions are fairly "realistic", a rarity in this anime, which means sometimes he has to do stuff even he doesn't want to. But it's war. And war is never a fair game. Faldio was one of the few that actually portray a soldier in war, so kudos to that. Largo would also be here. ART & ANIMATION: I love the art. It reminds me of Gankutsuou, where the filled colors seem static even though the body/object is still moving. Also, it made it seem like some handrawn piece of work. Which was lovely to look at. The landscape and objects looks great. The incorporation of CG with the use of tanks was OK. Nothing too distracting or exquiste to look at. Character design was okay. The clothing... not sure if suitable for wars, but hey, it's an anime targeted for a younger audience. Can't fault them much here. THE VERDICT: I'm going to give it a 7/10. But it would be 7 above SAO. I might just bump SAO to a 6, but then again I'll have to bump Guity Crown to a 5... lol. That's a story for another time. The anime doesn't really have much to really sell it out with. It was an okay war drama except it had a bit too much SOL and characters felt a bit flat even though there was plenty of opportunities to expand them. Do not expect realism. Think something more like Code Geass, except it has less fabulous, about the same kind of melodrama, certain deus ex machina, and a more calmer setting.

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Thu, 17 May 2012 20:29:32 -0700

Private Entry

Reminiscing the first time I dealt with subbed anime & current views on anime

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 21:03:41 -0800

Before I even had basic cable, I was introduced to the "rudimentary" anime titles such as Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonball, etc. I haven't even seen Naruto or One Piece at that time yet. This was when I first moved to Canada when I was perhaps 9-10, watching poor satellite received channels with lots of blurs in a rented basement somewhere. Perhaps anime was the first recognizable experience I had with my childhood experience in Canada which stuck with me until this day. After maybe a few years with no changes, it was around 12-13, middle school perhaps, that I got really into anime. I believe we moved from that basement to a house and to an apartment (where I finally got basic cable, although it was "stolen" from the old resident which still had the service.) I do not remember how it all started. Animesuki was probably the first site I came across, or maybe it was site for static-subs. I then found ANN later and used that as the base for checking out anime that came out on animesuki. The first subbed animes I remember seeing was Kannazuki no Miko, Operation Sanctuary, and Mai-HiME in 2004. I was 13 at the time, which was grade 7, I believe. Conveniently, they were all from static-subs, which is probably how I started my anime "career". I would end up watching many from static-subs, including Shakugan no Shana, Final Approach, Utawarerumono, and Natsuiro no Sunadokei. It was probably Operation Sanctuary that got me interested in alternating time lines and parallel universes. This would stuck as I watched Natsuiro no Sunadokei, Noein, and books or movies related to this theme. Because this was the only element I remember in that anime, my score of 6-7 do not in any way reflect what I felt at that time. It seems I started my "career" with some rather oddballs. Mai-HiME and Kannazuki no Miko both had yuri moments, which after years I have come to dislike, but at the time I was just in awe of everything anime. What did stick was KOTOKO, I still listen to Kannazuki no Miko's OP/ED, it is seriously that good. In the next year, the animes I remember was Elfen Lied, Eureka 7, Trinity Blood, and Elemental Gerad. Elfen Lied was memory-worthy. I was sitting on the couch, alone, with a monitor some distance away, watching ridiculous decapitations and constant fear of more decapitations. The ending theme was so out of place, it was cheerful with a nude Lucy/Nyuu, followed by a preview with the Lilium theme (spooky as hell music btw). I think I still have a fear of that theme song, Lilium, that is. Fastforward from 2005 to 2010, and I came to watch a rather diverse selection, many of which is, I think, in the top ranked lists on MAL. It seems my taste is average, it usually agrees with the statistical aggregate of MALers (probably most of which are teens). The 5 favs, TTGL, FMABrotherhood, Code Geass, Honey & Clover, and Baccano was all very highly ranked animes. I think I have watched many good series, which is why my scores are high as well, and I really just don't have the time to continue with a series I think is average or below average. And since my average is a 7, my ratings past 2010 is probably mostly in the 8-9s. The last anime I've seen was Gosick, which I marathon-ed in two days, even before I had a midterm (which I did relatively poorly on). It was great. The mystery-detective portion was something new. I don't remember the last anime I've seen that was wrapped in investigations. Victorique (or should I say, Victori-ka) was a great tsundere, probably the only one that isn't as annoying as what Rie Kugimiya had plagued the industry with (the infamous Shana/Louise/Taiga trio). Though Shana less so because of that awesome sword and concept of the story. Victori-ka's knowledge/tsundere was a nice complement to Kujo (damn I forgot his name ALREADY) who ironically was probably more annoying, at least in the beginning, and got less so. Anyways, I'm not really sure why I decide to write a wall of text. I don't think I'll be watching another anime soon, but time will tell. There just isn't incentive or time for me to watch anymore. Since like 2010, I have met friends who watch j-dramas, and got over the hump over what some/most anime fans seem to avoid/dislike j-dramas with great stubbornness.

I finally finished Seto no Hanayome

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:59:52 -0700

Wow, it really had been a ridiculous long time. I've started Seto no Hanayome around the time it aired, but I never found the time to finish it. MAL said I stopped at episode 14, but I started watching from the beginning a week ago, and finally finished it. I almost wanted to write a review about it, but it would take me too long to write a helpful interesting review than a simple blog. And I only written blogs recently because I've got too lazy to write in a journal. Which really, isn't a good thing since my writing will deteriorate to a point like those doctor's notes that nobody really know what's ever on that paper beside the pharmacists. I digress, now what was I... oh yeah. Seto no Hanayome. I recently finished Baka to Test, give that an 8 (or maybe change to a 7, but that's another story). And now... I gave Seto no Hanayome a 10. It felt more funnier, more ridiculous, more crazy, and at the same time, it uses its own ridiculousness and exaggeration for viewers like me to know more about the characters. Yes, for a harem romcom school comedy, there's actually depth in these characters. Or perhaps I'm just giving too much credit to a show that made me laugh out loud in every episode, keeping it fresh even though there's always an overload of girls owning Nagasumi, Nagasumi speaking ridiculously fast, among other things. Perhaps what I liked the most about SnH is how different it is as a harem romcom to others. Nagasumi isn't dense, or shy, or indecisive. That's a huge plus. He might actually be the most interesting character in the entire show. It's hard to say if Nagasumi is a completely average character, or maybe the entirely opposite. I think he has at least 5 different facial expressions, he evades better than most shounen characters (even though he gets hit at the end), he talks incredibly fast, and he's essentially a nice guy most of the time. Technically, I think Seto no Hanayome could've been a 13-episode series. There was a brief drama of 2-3 episodes between San and Luna about who Nagasumi should marry. That was the reason why I first dropped, or on-hold the show for like 2 years or something. Episode 14 just seemed... pale in comparison to the drama the characters went through. But then I realized, there needed to be more episodes simply because we don't really know much about the characters. I know something about Nagasumi, his parents, San, her parents, Masa-san~~, Mawari, but there was a lot of stuff that could be fleshed out. Masa-san~~ actually had amnesia, Luna's dad will actually go into more ridiculous steps to improve his relationship (and inevitably fail) with his daughter, Luna actually care a great deal about her career and it isn't just about her competition with San, San became manly, San's dad is scared of cats, lists goes on and on in pretty much every episode. Well, like some wise old dude had said, laughter is the best medicine. For what, I don't remember. I hope my longevity increased to counterbalance the amount of time I spent on the computer doing absolutely nothing or posting a pointless blog on MAL to express how hilarious Seto no Hanayome was. There was probably something else I would've said about the anime, but it feels like I wrote an essay that's not even going to get marked or improve my borderline meds school GPA. Well, I'm glad I don't have to write an actual essay for university for, I hope, a longass time.

Pokemon movies - what, first blog entry?

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 19:47:29 -0700

Lately, I just had a surge of nostalgia (perhaps the wrong word to describe me currently) about Pokemon Movies. I don't remember the plot of those movies, and they're probably all the same, just with different pokemon and setting. But they are one of the first animated movies I have ever seen as a kid. I might have seen Toy Story or some Disney movies in China but I don't remember at all. And boy, was I fascinated by it. Pokemon was already the best show ever during my childhood. When I just moved to Canada, we didn't even have cable but I already heard about Pokemon. My dad had gotten me a really cheap satellite receiver that had KidsWB in really blurry quality. By the time I've watched my first Pokemon movie (I think it was Pokemon 2000 that we rent on VCR), I was very well into the world of Pokemon. I would watch Pokemon 2000 for probably 4 more times before I've finally grown out of Pokemon (at least the anime) by then. Pokemon 3, 4ever, and Heroes, with the two Mewtwo movies, would be all that I've seen of the movies. 12-years-old, the age that I probably lost interest in Pokemon. Still, I remember the joy of watching them. All of them. I don't remember much about the TV series, but I remember the fascination I had with Pokemon 3's dream-like world, Pokemon 4ever's time-traveling, Pokemon Heroes' alternate Venice, and the awesomeness of Mewtwo (and his voice). Then it got me thinking, I had forgotten about these movies on myanyimelist, as I added them on, it only took me a brief time of thinking to decide the ratings that I gave: 8s and 9s. It wasn't "all about entertainment", it wasn't Pokemon movies had a "deep plot, characterization, originality". I was 10-years-old, I was so fascinated and intrigued by the world of Pokemon that I didn't think of anything when I was watching the film except the contents of the film itself. When I began, I was looking forward to what's going to happen. When it ended, all I thought about was how fantastic it was, and when I'd rewatch it again. Why should I give the movies anything less in complementary to what I felt back then? There's no way I'd watch them now, and just to give a lower rating because now I'd intentionally watch the anime and rationalize why I should give it a lower score. The Pokemon movies (and the series itself) was probably how I got into fantasy, probably how I got interested in time-traveling, probably how I got interested with the Venice-like appearance (only to learn that the world was Venice later on), probably how I got interested with RPG games, probably how I got into anime itself. Don't even get me started on Digimon. But then again, I only known Digimon way after Pokemon, as I couldn't receive Fox Kids until after I probably have seen my first Pokemon movie. So yeah, I've no idea how I've wrote so much about my childhood experience; a subject which I seem to forget and remember only vaguely of anything that had happened. Perhaps this further shows the impact of Pokemon, and its movies. Was 8-12 years old a bit too old for Pokemon? Maybe. Grade 6 after all is the last year of elementary school. Was I an ignorant kid who listened to nobody but what my heart told me? Probably more so.