Getting ready for MOON. and Katawa Shoujo

While I've been working my way through Suika A.S+, two other VN projects have caught my attention.

The first is Katawa Shoujo which has had a Act 1 demo release. So, it'll be worth a look at any rate given the hype I've seen for it on /jp/.

And the other is MOON. that'll soon generate a keen fan following due to being made by the team that later went on to found KEY.


I'd love to try MOON. now its fully translated, but it seems my usual AppLocale method of playing VNs won't work here. Which means I'll probably need to switch my PC to Japanese settings in order to play the ruddy thing until I can find a workaround.

Motivate yourself with an essence of anime boin

Just when I thought the Kamen Rider exercise programs were bloody weird, I chance upon Isshoni Training with Hinako.

The DVD of this is selling like bleeding hotcakes in Japan, and why wouldn't it with the amount of Gainax bounce Hinako exhibits for the viewing audience?


To put it bluntly, I can't see many otaku using this for the purpose of keeping fit. Going blind and getting a sprained wrist would be more closer to the truth in my opinion.

Not to mention it makes series like IkkiTousen and Queen's Blade seem way more tactful in comparison.

Kuuga had No Fear and No Pain when protecting smiling faces

April 28th 2009. This date will be known as the date I've watched all of the current Heisei Kamen Rider series from Kuuga through to Decade. Yes, I'm counting Decade in that even though it is still airing in Japan.

Actually, it was because of Decade that I wanted to see the exploits of the original Kuuga, Yuusuke Godai. Then I could see for myself if his alternate universe counterpart, Yuusuke Onodera, will match his level of heroics by the time Decade's journey is over.


At this point, I'm hoping that whichever fansub group is deciding to do Kuuga will see it through to completion, as the subs I watched from episode 5 onwards had a lot of incorrect name usage and a lack of English translation for the Grongi. Which wasn't very helpful when they were talking about their motives during the series.

Kuuga was an awesome series to watch due to it being the only Heisei era series with no secondary Riders which have been the norm since Agito had G3 and Gills. Not that it was a problem or anything, as the other cast members were equally important in their contributions to assist Number 4.

It also gave me a better understanding of Kuuga's Ultimate Form, and why its eyes were black in the great Rider War flashback in Decade. Kuuga needed to have a deep hated for Decade to willingly submit to the evil nature of that Form!

Dai Guren-hen Lagann Impact!

I'm sure most of you know of the awesomeness that is Gurren Lagann. And if you're one of those who doesn't, shame on you! As you're missing out on a truly great mecha series that rivals the awesomeness of GaoGaiGar!

If you can't be arsed to watch the series, watch the movies instead! There's no excuse now that Guren-hen has been subbed for all to see!


Guren-hen is the first of the Gurren Lagann movies, and it covers roughly a third of the anime in the space of two hours! So where's the problem now?!

Oh, and for everyone that has seen the series already, Guren-hen is still a must see for the newly done battle that serves as the ultimate climax to this movie!

Confirming the truth with Kotonoha Katsura

This figure of Kotonoha Katsura has been on my wants list ever since I saw the prototype.

And today it appeared for pre-ordering on Ami Ami with a release date of July.

Now if my assumptions from these pictures are true, Kotobukiya have done better job than I could have hoped for.

It looks like she'll be interchangeable between her normal state of mind and her broken state of mind complete with the infamous bag which contains Makoto Itou's severed head in the finale of the anime.

No more delays in playing Suika!

After what seems like bloody ages, MangaGamer have finally released their English translation of Suika A.S+ (and had it cracked by the guys of /jp/ within 24 hours).

It should be said that I don't know an awful lot about this particular VN apart from the Wet Summer Days OVA and the references to it which appeared in the D.C. VN.


And as usual, you should probably expect another entry from me with my overall opinion of Suika A.S+ once I've finished it.

Rescue Fire starts off very Explosively!

I was planning on commenting of the beginnings of Tomica Hero Rescue Fire sooner than this, but my shitty AOHell connection prevented that happening.

Anyway, I'll try and give my thoughts on it even though I'm still coming to terms with the news about the death of my granddad.


I've now seen the first two episodes of Rescue Fire and I'm liking what I see.

• It has an awesome opening song by JAM Project.
• Decent passing of the torch from Rescue Force.
• Fire-1 is no R1, but I don't dislike the guy.
• Their captain has impressed me already.
• Hell, there was even a cameo by Hiroshi Fujioka!
  

Seriously, this series is going to be one to keep an eye on like its predecessor before it.

Rest in peace, Reginald Ellis 1931-2009

I had a rather nasty shock when I woke up this morning. My granddad on my mother's side of the family died last night and I honestly don't know what to think at the moment.

Yeah, I'm sad that he's gone, but I haven't shed that many tears since learning of his passing either.

Does that make me a heartless bastard if I can't even cry properly when a loved one dies?

Am I just putting up a brave front, or am I really fucked up enough emotionally to accept this so easily?

If there ever was a time for me to feel self-hatred, it'd be now I think.

I can't believe I didn't finish Utawarerumono sooner

This recent slump of mine has given me one beneficial opportunity in clearing some of the VNs I've had on the back burner for one reason or another.

And one of those was Utawarerumono, which I've finally finished after a period of leaving it untouched for nearly four months. In hindsight it was a stupid thing to do when I'd almost finished the thing anyway.


I wasn't originally expecting much from this VN, as the thought of it also being an RPG didn't sound all that enticing. But it proved those worries wrong by having a simplistic enough interface to make the RPG battles rather enjoyable.

The story was pretty good too. Although I probably wouldn't have been drawn into it as much without the patch for voices.

There are still two CGs left for me to get. However, I'm not getting them if it involves replaying the game on any of the Hard Modes (specifically Hard Mode 3).

Will this be the first of many Disney character figmas?

This new figma sure surprised me when I first saw it.

I originally thought it was something related to Miku Hatsune judging from its looks.


But it turns out to be a character named Drössel from some Disney production called Fireball.

Could this release be the beginning of more Disney characters entering the figma range?

Distracting myself from this melancholy is a tiring task

I haven't been feeling all that great lately. My AOHell connection persists in pissing me off as usual by going stupidly slow and cutting out at any given moment. And with it constantly doing that I can't even generate enough motivation to login on forums I normally visit at the moment.

Which means I've been spending a lot my time in the last few days replaying CLANNAD to try and take my mind off things. And there's enough hidden extras in that VN like the Jet Saito and Storage Room Curse events I haven't reached to keep me busy when I'm not going through the routes for Tomoyo and Kyou again.

Ugh, why do I even care? It's not like anyone really responds to all this drivel I write anyway.

New footage from Revenge of the Fallen is now online

Even though I'm not feeling the hype for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I can't deny that this latest showing of footage from Michael Bay at ShoWest looks mightily impressive.

The scene with Bumblebee and Sam didn't really interest me even when the waterworks started.

It was the bit after that which grabbed my attention the most.

• We have the Devastator Megazord in action.
• Prime gets brutally knocked about by Megatron.
  
• Blackout is back from the dead somehow.
• And Jetfire will no doubt be compared to me at some point.

If this is a sign of things to come, I might have to change my current viewpoint of preparing to be disappointed by RotF.

Rescue Force clears the path for Rescue Fire!

Yeah, I know Tomica Hero Rescue Force has officially ended and already shifted to Tomica Hero Rescue Fire in Japan. But I've been seeing it subbed from TV-Nihon, and they've only just released the finale.

Anyway, Rescue Force has been a unique series to watch over the last year. So I'm really glad that the guys behind Madan Senki RyuKenDo decided to continue their work in toku with this, as it's nice to have something different from the usual Super Sentai and Kamen Rider offerings.


If I had to name one thing I liked about the show, it would be Eiji Ishiguro (a.k.a. R5). He was awesome as their captain, and even more awesome when out in the field beating up villains in an overly hyper fashion and calling the Rescue Vehicles his servants.

I still laugh at how he overzealously summoned every Rescue Vehicle and suddenly remembered that he could only pilot the one when they arrived.

Man, I hope Rescue Fire is as entertaining as Rescue Force when I see its first episode subbed.

All the bitching on Kyou's route finally paid off!

Okay, slight exaggeration, but the result is the same either way.

Just when I'd almost given up hope of seeing Kyou's route animated when the recap episode aired. KyoAni go and confirm it'll see the light of day as a bonus episode when the eighth DVD of CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ is released on July 1st.


And despite the fact it'll be condensed as hell like Tomoyo's route was, I don't really give a shit, as I'm absolutely ecstatic that they're animating it!

I've been waiting for this moment since finishing her route in the VN, and it's enough to make me wish July would get here sooner.

Reviving the Z of Dragon Ball in a new Kai

How many years has it been since I last watched Dragon Ball Z?

(And no, I'm not counting that recent Yo! The Return of Son Goku and Friends!! special in this.)

It might be at least four or five years, but I can't really remember, so let's just say it has been a bloody long time.

Now I've got off to that rather crappy start, I ought to simply get on with it.

That brings us to Dragon Ball Kai, a HD remastered re-editing of Dragon Ball Z that'll reportedly have a lot less of the time wasting which plagued the original anime.

Seriously, I cringe at how they thought dragging out the five minute countdown to the impulsion of Planet Namek to (what seemed like) thirty episodes would be a good idea.


I'm used to watching filler in anime, but that's taking the piss.

Just when you thought they getting somewhere in the fight against the villain, you sigh at the fact you wasted another episode watching Goku and company powering up to whatever new Super Saiyan level bollocks they acquired in training.

So this 'new' Dragon Ball Kai series sounds very appealing to me if they're condensing the 291 episode content of Dragon Ball Z into approximately 100 episodes.

Plus I've never really seen much of Dragon Ball Z in Japanese anyway, so that'll be a nice little bonus for yours truly who primary watched the entire series in English.

The first Wolkenritter figma enters the fray

Another figma is now available for pre-ordering, and this one is going to be awesome.

Here we have Signum of the Wolkenritter to continue the range of Nanoha figmas.


Some of you may remember that I got a figure of her in a haul not too long ago.

Anyway, I will say Max Factory have done well here in giving Signum the Schwertform, Schlangenform and Bogenform versions of her Armed Device Laevatein.

And even though she wouldn't have been my first choice of the Wolkenritter to see as a figma. It does give me hope that they'll do one of Vita later on.

Having a blast with patches and exploding tits

Although it was only a V1.1 update of their current Higurashi patch. I do think it was kinda silly of Sonozaki Futago-tachi to sneakily announce it amidst their April Fool's day prank.

I would have grabbed the update sooner if I had known about it.

But there's no use complaining now, as I could start ranting over how I missed the beginning of the Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi anime.


I only picked up this anime on a whim as I keep seeing figures of the characters on various sites I visit. I don't even know a lot about Queen's Blade other than it being some series of combat game visual books that give off a similar vibe to IkkiTousen in the way it provocatively displays its characters.

So unless there's some complicated plot to it I'm not seeing. I'll be viewing this anime as mindless entertainment.

Brave Gokin gains another Hero of Justice!

I haven't been paying much attention to CM's Brave Gokin range in recent months, as I'm still pissed over those Ver.2 remakes of Star GaoGaiGar and Genesic GaoGaiGar.

Just how could they do that to me after I faithfully bought all their Ver.1 releases of Star GaoGaiGar, GaoFighGar, Genesic GaoGaiGar and GaoGaiGo dammit?!

Ugh, I'm so gonna break into another tangent at this rate. But what the hell, being pissed about something or another is what makes blogging fun!

And now before I totally forget what I was here for because of my tendency to rant; I best start talking about the 27th entry in the Brave Gokin range.

That said entry is none other than Linebarrel from Kurogane no Linebarrels (a.k.a. Linebarrels of Iron if you've been watching the series on Crunchyroll).


I know relatively fuck all about the details of this toy as I only knew of its existence today from browsing Ami Ami.

CM's haven't got it listed on their site. My usual sources have no information on it. And the damn thing is supposedly due out in June!

If I had the cash to risk, I'd place a pre-order right now. But I'm sure if it'll be worth it, or that they'll pull a fast one on me later and do a Mode-B repaint.

UPDATE 16/06/2009 - I thought I'd best change the picture of Linebarrel to one from CM's product page.

For every ending series, there's a new beginning series

For every series I start, there's usually another I'm close to finishing.

My most recent finished series is FighBird; the third Brave series (fourth if you count GaoGaiGar FINAL as a series) I've seen in full. The other two series were GaoGaiGar and Might Gaine (with very shitty quality subtitles I should add). I would of course like to watch more of the Brave series, but it seems that the only active fansub project at the moment is for J-Decker.

It took me awhile to finish FighBird as it lost my interest towards the end. I don't dislike FighBird, it simply lacked that 'spark' which makes me watch episode after episode after episode.


When we mention that 'spark', Hayate no Gotoku! comes to mind. Hell, I'm still surprised by my marathon feat from when I was so engrossed in it that I somehow got through all 52 episodes in a couple of days!


Although I saw the first episode of Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season a few days on Crunchyroll, I jumped at the chance for getting it fansubbed by the joint that worked on the last series.

And one-half of that joint is also working on another new series I've been wanting to see, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.


They say it'll follow the FMA manga more closely, but I'm not too bothered by that.

For me it's just enjoyable to see more of Edward Elric getting pissed over comments on his height after such a long time.

Here's a figure that's dying for a Nice Boat!

I could almost kick myself for not knowing of the development of this figure sooner. I only learned about it from seeing some prototype pictures on AkibaHobby by chance.

It had even been shown off on Kotoblog without my realising it!


Ah well, the main reason I'm annoyed is because this is a figure of a character I've been wanting for the last couple of years. So I'm feeling grateful towards Kotobukiya for making one of her.

This is Kotonoha Katsura from School Days; who you may remember better if she had a bloodstained dozuki in her hand. I know I do as I used that uncensored DVD scene of her holding it from episode 12 of the anime for my current signature on TheTF.net.

And on a related note. Sekai Project are apparently very close to releasing a partial English patch for the School Days VN!

I'm not too fussed about it being a partial patch, I just want to play the VN I've been waiting to understand since the anime ended.

How to pass an uneventful week the Nemmy way

It has been over a week since I last posted a blog entry, but I've had my reasons for not doing one.

For the most part I've been busy replaying the last three Episodes of Umineko no Naku Koro ni after I found out my install of the game was missing much needed sound files. And having those 'new' sounds actually made the VN way more interesting.


Besides that I've been watching the odd anime and toku episode here and there.

• Like the finale of the random as hell Maria†Holic.
• Getting nostalgic over Faiz's World in Kamen Rider Decade.
• Finding an extended cut of the ending in Mai-Otome Zwei.
• Discovering the wackiness of Churuya-san and Haruhi-chan.
• Enjoying the newest Higurashi Rei OVA episode.
  
• Checking out K-ON! on a whim and being glad that I did.
• Catching the start of Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season.
• And grabbing the second part of the D.C.if OVA.
  

Oh, and I should also mention that Tsukihime - Fool's Errand release mirror moon did on April Fools' Day for those who were expecting Tsukihime 2 (yeah, like there was any chance in hell of that!).