August 3rd, 2009
Saimoe Japan: It's That Time of Year Again!
The annual exciting competition of this year's most moe characters is once again upon us.As I write, we are three hours into the first phase of the elimination round. Saimoe Japan, officially the Anime Saimoe Tournament, is the holy grail of saimoe contests, and I'm following it very closely and I will have lots of analysis and comments throughout the course of the contest. I am guest writing on two blogs for this year's tournament, with group by group analysis and predictions. Be sure to check them out!
http://m3.dasaku.net/saimoe/
http://animelucid.wordpress.com/
http://m3.dasaku.net/saimoe/
http://animelucid.wordpress.com/
Posted by kevo | Aug 3, 2009 11:11 AM | 1 comments
May 31st, 2009
Well, here goes nothing
Concerning my last post, I'm finally off the ground. I managed to secure a domain with dasaku, so I'm pretty excited about it that. I'll probably keep this blog around here for something, but I'm not sure. So yeah, kevo's blog is now moving from MAL to http://kevo.dasaku.net/
Thanks for the support, everyone! :)
Thanks for the support, everyone! :)
Posted by kevo | May 31, 2009 10:15 PM | 0 comments
May 24th, 2009
Ok, I guess I am going to dive straight into the deep end
To my loyal readers (all 3 of you :P) you might have noticed that I have not written in quite a while. I've been quite busy with school and work and also doing my best to watch my anime. Blogging, as I know from countless experiences, is quite a chore but extremely fun and rewarding. I used MAL's blog for quite a while because its simple to maintain, and automatically grants me at least some automatic exposure, as people are constantly at least navigating remotely close to the page.
I started to neglect my MAL blog because quite simply, I felt I could do more. And I had term papers and I had enough writing to take care of. Despite these misgivings, I've discovered that writing is a fun hobby for me. No matter what its about, for school or play, I take great pride in my writing and I love getting comments and knowing that people read my stuff. What others can put out there for people to read constantly amazes me. Some people like running, others like fishing, I like writing. I'm not a fanatic, I just like the feeling that I get putting my opinions and thoughts out there. I guess lots of people have that feeling. Not having written seriously about anime or that sort (or even an essay, as I am in summer break from college right now) I guess the urge to smear some words into the internet has gotten the best of me.
So I decided to take things one step farther. I am *pause for originality* going to start an anime blog. Soon. I'll also move some of my favorite posts from here and archive it. This is not really spontaneous, I've been planning this for a few months now, drafting a vision, thinking about structure, what to write about, whom to write for, etc. I have some free time over the summer, and I want to accomplish something. Hopefully this will be one of those accomplishments.
I know its a vicious world out there on the anime blogosphere. What I am getting myself into is neither easy nor original. But I feel that even if no one reads it and it doesn't get off the ground, at least I would have tried my hand at it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If I just write for myself and keep a few points in mind, I'm sure that even if I'm not successful on the hit counter, it would still be a fruitful endeavor. So there. I guess I'll holler and shamelessly promote myself when I finally get it off started in the next few days. I'm not Danny Choo, but a famous undine once told me I should be myself and be the best blogger that I can be.
Good lord that was cheesy. I bet I lost a whole host of readers right then and there. So... discuss, feel free to offer some tips, and wish me luck!
Love y'all
-kevo'
I started to neglect my MAL blog because quite simply, I felt I could do more. And I had term papers and I had enough writing to take care of. Despite these misgivings, I've discovered that writing is a fun hobby for me. No matter what its about, for school or play, I take great pride in my writing and I love getting comments and knowing that people read my stuff. What others can put out there for people to read constantly amazes me. Some people like running, others like fishing, I like writing. I'm not a fanatic, I just like the feeling that I get putting my opinions and thoughts out there. I guess lots of people have that feeling. Not having written seriously about anime or that sort (or even an essay, as I am in summer break from college right now) I guess the urge to smear some words into the internet has gotten the best of me.
So I decided to take things one step farther. I am *pause for originality* going to start an anime blog. Soon. I'll also move some of my favorite posts from here and archive it. This is not really spontaneous, I've been planning this for a few months now, drafting a vision, thinking about structure, what to write about, whom to write for, etc. I have some free time over the summer, and I want to accomplish something. Hopefully this will be one of those accomplishments.
I know its a vicious world out there on the anime blogosphere. What I am getting myself into is neither easy nor original. But I feel that even if no one reads it and it doesn't get off the ground, at least I would have tried my hand at it. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. If I just write for myself and keep a few points in mind, I'm sure that even if I'm not successful on the hit counter, it would still be a fruitful endeavor. So there. I guess I'll holler and shamelessly promote myself when I finally get it off started in the next few days. I'm not Danny Choo, but a famous undine once told me I should be myself and be the best blogger that I can be.
Good lord that was cheesy. I bet I lost a whole host of readers right then and there. So... discuss, feel free to offer some tips, and wish me luck!
Love y'all
-kevo'
Posted by kevo | May 24, 2009 11:00 PM | 2 comments
April 2nd, 2009
I am officially pumped for K-ON
Anime Relations: K-On!
OP:
ED:
Art looks great, music looks great, the ED looks superb, and Kyoto Animation is still going to torture us with 4:3. Can't wait! xD
ED:
Art looks great, music looks great, the ED looks superb, and Kyoto Animation is still going to torture us with 4:3. Can't wait! xD
Posted by kevo | Apr 2, 2009 1:31 PM | 2 comments
March 4th, 2009
Opening and Closing Themes 2
Anime Relations: Galaxy Angel 4, Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori
More than a month ago, I wrote and shared with you guys some great examples of good opening and closing themes. I promised more and then dutifully forgot completely. School has been kinda busy but that's no excuse to neglect writing about Japanese cartoons in a blog that a whopping 5 people read, right? ;)
The other day I randomly discovered that I never watched Galaxy Angel 4, which was a slight oversight but I didn't actually care that much. The Galaxy Angel naming convention puts the IUPAC organic chemistry nomenclature system to shame (Galaxy Angel 1 4? Galaxy Angel AA 2? X? Galaxy Angel 1,4 diethylbutylether?), so I wasn't even sure if I had seen it, it was the original cast, or if it was even animated. However I am currently rather pleased with it. I like the Galaxy Angel franchise because it's honest. What you see is very obviously what you expect and what you signed up for. The series doesn't try to step over what it is supposed to do and it's just simple laughs. It's not the most manly series in the world but who cares? Enough about the anime, I'll write about it later. On to the actual OP.
Under Title 31 of the United States Code, all Galaxy Angel opening themes must be catchy as hell. Under punishment of death. Angel-tai (the godly cast of Tamura Yukari, Sawashiro Miyuki, Shintani Ryoko, Mika Kanai, and Yamaguchi Mayumi), the very talented voice actresses of the Galaxy Angels sing all the songs. Galaxy Angel's OPs do a great job with giving you a taste of the show. It's fun, silly, dumb, and probably not for our age demography. The opening theme is fast, colorful, upbeat, non-nonsensical, and full of terrible Japanese puns. The fact that I manage to understand some of them without translation notes probably tells me something about how I spend my free time. >.> Anyways, enjoy.
Angel Rock and Roll - Angel-tai (Galaxy Angel 4)
Lets go the other way now and talk about an anime whose mood is around the polar opposite of Galaxy Angel. I am still at a loss of how they made 3 seasons of Jigoku Shoujo. You'd think that people would stop watching when they realized that every episode essentially ends the same way. But in the case of Jigoku Shoujo Futakamori, after every near identical ending is the balls to the wall awesome ending theme. Noto Mamiko's iconic voice is beautiful and the song is pretty catchy. The animation is gorgeous, and the beautiful colors and effects capture the atmosphere of the series. The series is quite a bit of fun if you don't mind the repetition, but the series really shines with its music.
Aizome - Noto Mamiko (Jigoku Shoujo Futakamori)
The other day I randomly discovered that I never watched Galaxy Angel 4, which was a slight oversight but I didn't actually care that much. The Galaxy Angel naming convention puts the IUPAC organic chemistry nomenclature system to shame (Galaxy Angel 1 4? Galaxy Angel AA 2? X? Galaxy Angel 1,4 diethylbutylether?), so I wasn't even sure if I had seen it, it was the original cast, or if it was even animated. However I am currently rather pleased with it. I like the Galaxy Angel franchise because it's honest. What you see is very obviously what you expect and what you signed up for. The series doesn't try to step over what it is supposed to do and it's just simple laughs. It's not the most manly series in the world but who cares? Enough about the anime, I'll write about it later. On to the actual OP.
Under Title 31 of the United States Code, all Galaxy Angel opening themes must be catchy as hell. Under punishment of death. Angel-tai (the godly cast of Tamura Yukari, Sawashiro Miyuki, Shintani Ryoko, Mika Kanai, and Yamaguchi Mayumi), the very talented voice actresses of the Galaxy Angels sing all the songs. Galaxy Angel's OPs do a great job with giving you a taste of the show. It's fun, silly, dumb, and probably not for our age demography. The opening theme is fast, colorful, upbeat, non-nonsensical, and full of terrible Japanese puns. The fact that I manage to understand some of them without translation notes probably tells me something about how I spend my free time. >.> Anyways, enjoy.
Angel Rock and Roll - Angel-tai (Galaxy Angel 4)
Lets go the other way now and talk about an anime whose mood is around the polar opposite of Galaxy Angel. I am still at a loss of how they made 3 seasons of Jigoku Shoujo. You'd think that people would stop watching when they realized that every episode essentially ends the same way. But in the case of Jigoku Shoujo Futakamori, after every near identical ending is the balls to the wall awesome ending theme. Noto Mamiko's iconic voice is beautiful and the song is pretty catchy. The animation is gorgeous, and the beautiful colors and effects capture the atmosphere of the series. The series is quite a bit of fun if you don't mind the repetition, but the series really shines with its music.
Aizome - Noto Mamiko (Jigoku Shoujo Futakamori)
Posted by kevo | Mar 4, 2009 7:20 PM | 4 comments
February 24th, 2009
Overly Complicated Anime Endings: Air (TV)
Anime Relations: Air
When an anime ends, you expect something really special. You may laugh, you may cry, you may even feel relieved (if it wasn't that good). The entire series builds up to the ending, setting up characters, subplots, and conflicts to clash and mingle to bring the plot to a pretty end. Sometimes they can be neat and perfect, happy or sad, but nice and defined. Others want to set up sequels or at least give the impression that the story goes on. Still others want to be cool and open a bit up to interpretation. Finally, there are the few whose endings either just went completely overboard in the "open ending" category or just have no idea what they are doing. This new semi-regular series on kevo's blog is about those anime.
I don't feel that I even need to say this, but as I am talking about the ENDINGS of anime, there will be SPOILERS. IN PICTURES SOMETIMES. I wrote this post designed for those who have not watched the anime, but you will be spoiled.
Air
I don't feel that I even need to say this, but as I am talking about the ENDINGS of anime, there will be SPOILERS. IN PICTURES SOMETIMES. I wrote this post designed for those who have not watched the anime, but you will be spoiled.
Air
Posted by kevo | Feb 24, 2009 1:11 PM | 1 comments