Death’s Notes and Thoughts

Posts Tagged ‘anime’

Here is some great piece of anime done by an independant author. I found it on Sankaku Complex and took a liking in it. It’s very simple storywise but sometimes like u can see here the less can be the more aka very funny. The clips also enjoys very high attention currently on YouTube and Nico Nico Druga. Without further words, here is the fun:

Source: YouTube

For those who want more, you can find some storyboards and concept arts on the authors webpage found here.

Have much fun with it, and thanks to the author. We look forward to more :).

-Death

[Via Sankaku Complex]

This is the first year of high school for the four girls, looking for that very special club. The healthy and energetic Tainaka Ritsu (club president, drums) decides to join the school’s Light Music Club, only to find out that the club is about to be closed — due to the lack of members. Without much ado she drags along her childhood friend, the shy, mature, and sensitive Akiyama Mio (bass). That leaves only two more members, required to keep club from closing. Luckily the gentle, calm, warm, and cute Kotobuki Tsumugi (keyboard) stumbles into the club, only to be “convinced” by the pleading Ritsu to stay. The last member, the easily distracted klutz Hirasawa Yui, can only play castanets, even though the club needs someone on the guitar, but she is “bribed” — with cake — to stay anyway. Will Yui be able to learn to play the guitar — the special one she just bought and loves so much — before the four girls graduate? [stolen from AniDB] I must say unlike many other animes with the genere music/band I liked this one and enjoyed it. It wasnt focusing too hard on just the band-thingie but also featured some life outside the band, making it more balanced. Also the characters are something one can enjoy as they sometimes a bit typical but also have their own cute behaviors. Funny was definitly Tsumugi (Nickname: Mugi-chan) with her big eyebrows, a very unusual attribute for a girl in anime (and reality aswell?). Normally I would expect her to be some bad-ass angry something, but its more the other way round. A bit quiet but lovly person. Through my favorite unlikes the masses opinion is still Yui, as she is just so wonderful clumsy, but also is just great when she is set on something. Its like she goes on fire but well… she lacks a bit planning ahead sometimes so… u can imagine what comes out^^. Mio is nice, and have a good makeup for a moe-char that pleases the masses (shy, easy to scare, easy to embrass, nice body). Ritsu is the impulsive and a bit hyperactive one of the quartet, but the same amount she is hyperactive she is lazy at other times and keep forgetting her forms for things (bad bad ritsu), and so causing Nodoka (the representative of the student concil) pain. At some points I feared it might end up in some worse drama (I cant stand drama stuff too much currently, having too much IRL drama around me) but thankfully they didnt choose that way. It always just was some lil “panic” event that get resolved within an ep. Also fun was their club supervisor, which i would call “metal teacher sawakawa”. Boy… she was definitly evil, also have this nice cosplay fetisch. (why i call her metal teacher sawakawa, u have to find out yourself, i already spoil too much^^) If this all is to your liking, watch it. The only thing I would have liked to be different would have been the amount of songs. 1-2 more songs would have been nice, but well, you can’t have everything, right?

Trailer

Source: Youtube

Opening

Source: Youtube

Ending

Hopefully u enjoy it as much as I did. I suggest to watch Frostii’s version.

-Death

Many of you might remember my article “Four Chan Magazine (FCM) – the FHM of the future ?” which i wrote around 2 years ago. Well, I got new material and so here we have an update.

• Feb 2008

This issue is featuring our lovly Horo from Spice and Wolf on the cover.

• Dec 2008

Here we have the highly trolled but also highly beloved Taiga Aisaka from Toradora as our cover girl.

• Jan 2009

This time we have Girls from Strike Witches (also called Strike Lolis on the Cover. Also in difference to the other issues this time we have 9 additional pages accomplish this one.

Here is a sample of those 9 bonus pages that comes along with issue Jan 2009.

You can download the complete issue Jan 2009 here. As source for this article I used again the lurkmorewiki aswell as Superior Internet Content! X2 Blog, thanks to both of em. Enjoy the stuff,

-Death

On November 22, 2010 ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later… Saki Morimi is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her. However, this man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory and he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash. (the description comes from Production I.G themself) In fact this anime is sounding weird, but its great. Those who enjoyed already Honey & Clover, especially their animation styles and ways in that anime, will already have something they will love about this one. It features a similar animation, through the story is much deeper and serious. But dont think a serious anime cant be funny, it always have something to laugh about. Surely the beginning have more but still, i liked their balance act. Also the way how Saki gets dragged into all this mess is good made up, in some other animes they’re pretty weak with finding a way to drag the char in the story events in the beginning. Its not the perfect way but its definitly one of the better. Also to my liking was the bigger idea behind the phone and the money which get slowly revealed as the story goes on. What should be said is that this series is a kind of a cliffhanger, the prequel for the movies to come (its three in total). I understand it that the series tell us how all begun and prepare us for the coming events, while the movies will keep the real deal, and have the highlight of the whole thing in em. Maybe I’m wrong but that will we find out once we saw the movies. But if u ask my opinion from all I watched about higu so far, I say it will be good. So if u like conspiracy, spiced with a splash of love and some crazy characters combined with great animation and some fun parts, u found your anime. But like always I say, give it a try even if u say “wtf is this??” as it confuse one a bit until u begin to get bigger picture.

Trailer (eng sub by Frostii):

Source: Youtube

The opening is a great song by the british band oasis, it fits the anime perfectly and if u can get your hands on the video of the song in the “Higashi No Eden” version, watch it. Its 200% better then the original music video, but sadly they decided to keep this version a japanese only thing. Sigh, sad but true. Anyway, here we have the opening for your and after that a lil parodie on the trailer, Higashi no Eden feat. Borne Identity.

Opening:

Source: Youtube

Higashi no Eden feat. Borne Identity:

Source: Youtube

The Quality of the fun trailer is a bit sucky but still its lulz. All together, watch it .

-Death

Chiko, who had been leading a lonely life because of her parents death. Together with the Phantom Thief Nijū-Mensō (20-Faces), she sets out on a journey into the real world. She gradually changes as she encounters new friends and places. But strange events start happening revolving around the mystery of “Legacy of the 20-Faces”. So Chiko has to move forward, regardless on how checkered her life will become. (the plot descroption is taken from AnimeNewsNetwork) It was a good anime. They builded up the mood pretty good, especially Chiko’s stepmother was made very good. She really builded up hate against her and her actions in me, and that was definitly needed to get into the mood. It wasnt a fail hate more a “go just die and leave our Chiko alone” hate. Many other animes that attempt this raise more a “u fail” hate in me then the kind of hate and angery they want to archive. Also the drama was good distributed over the series, not all in one point but rather spread over the series and so it felt more as part of the whole instead of beeing the whole. What I dislike on many other animes where some chars u learned to like die is when the complete drama focus on one point, and before that all happyness. That kinda plot feels too much artifical to me. If we would have one or two anime using such a way of initating drama, it wouldnt be bugging me, but many does it, so it does bug me. But lets go back to the point, this one here definitly doesnt do that. It kept a good balance between drama and action parts spiced with some nice (funny?) scenes. But its not focused on fun, thats a side part and like i say just a spice to make it intresting and let u relax for a sec. The characters as stated earlier build up a good mood, and take u into their world. You really feel along with Chiko often and not getting this “dow~ why dont she do this, why dont she do that” feeling, which u sometimes get when characters get the ultra opportunity but don’t take it. Its a bit dark mood-wise, so if one prefer happy anime maybe u shouldnt try this one. For all others, give it a try and hopyfully enjoy it as I did.

Opening

Its a pretty much relaxed and calm op, but dont let it fool you.

Source: YouTube

-Death

a picture of how it could look

Saitama prefecture (home of the anime Lucky Star) is currently considering a proposal that should make the schoolgirls of the prefecture wearing school uniforms which follow the design of the ones found in the hit anime “Lucky Star”. Here are are more pictures, one from the Uniform and one from Lucky Star.

The Uniform

Kagami wearing the uniform

The “Prefectural Anime Tourism Investigative Commission” came up with the idea behind this and also submitted this proposal. They’re a group of professional in the anime/manga industry which thinks when this is taking place it should definitly help to boost the popularity of Saitama for anime/manga orientated tourism. That would result in even more money for the local economey as they already earn with other stuff in this direction. Also they plan more meetings to find futher ways to improve the anime/manga tourism in the region. The final results can be awaited in 2010. The prefecture’s tourism board is non-committal: “We’d like to consider the results of their deliberations for events and so forth.” Well, i personally wouldnt disagree on that proposal ^.^

The reaction on 2ch (maybe also intresting in this context) are however mixed:

Saitama has started up!

Saitama is just too amazing…

These will probably encourage sex crimes.

Aren’t these uniforms unsightly? Their colours are designed for anime after all.

The uniforms are ripped off of ToHeart anyway.

The colours are totally unrealistic.

Whichever way you look at it, these uniforms are from an eroge…

Tourism is for people coming into the prefecture. These look a huge nuisance to students.

Let me just go get my little sister transferred to a Saitama school…

Well, we’ll see what comes out in the end.

Sources used for this article: Sankaku Complex

Enjoy, Death

Magician’s Academy revolves around Takuto Hasegawa, who attends a magic academy that is not marked on any map. During a summoning spell exam, he accidentally creates a girl named Tanarotte, who happens to hold enough magical power to destroy his country, but fortunately Tanarotte professes undying loyalty to her “creator.” The universe separated in three worlds: Heaven, Human World (Earth), Demon realm. The Gods & Demons are not seen fighting among themselves in the human world and try to keep their existence a secret from them. The human world is only source of entertainment and enlightenment to both the demons and the gods to the point of smuggling human goods to both realms. (taken from Wikipedia, and shortend to remove spoilers) Also it should be said that this anime is based on a game for the Playstation 2. Its really a feast of catgirls and cuteness, it begins with Tanarotte and goes on with the other girls. I also to a big liking in Falcé, especially when she is in the “small” mode. She appears later on and follows Takuto around, often in form of tools like pens and stuff. And there is that scene in the cafe where is she a small chibi sipping some kinda soda. Its so damn cute~. Its not much special about this one besides the pretty high catgirl/nekomimi and animal ear appearence. Take that away from it u get a more or less normal anime with the topic “magic” spiced with some small potions romance and some parts school. The romance part is more used as a base for jokes and fun then beeing too honest with it, so it dont become annoying as in some other anime. It fits my latly intrest in more comedy/fun orientated animes, and so u shouldnt expect anything “special” or “great” from it. Also some may say it contains a lot of loli, that a point where I say NO. That isnt what I call loli, at least not in the terms when loli gets used as “bad” attribute. hmm… but stop, one thing is a bit outstanding here… I actually never saw the higher ups from the demons and angels going along, where the Gabriel is a goth loli and both are hardcore otakus for anime and stuff. OK, so I should correct here my further statement it lacks something special, but its maybe still something not everyone consider great. Anyway, I could tell u more about the other chars that are part of the regular play but that would kill off the fun factor for u. There is quite some parodise in it. I add some pictures to show a few scenes i refered to in the review earlier. So, those who search for something to have fun with, and not for a great honest romance story or something other more “real” thing, should enjoy it.

Trailer

The chibi Falcé (bottom of the picture)

Gothic Angels and the Deamons

hm~ this cube is somehow familar, dont something run in the cinema these days….

Anyway, lets end it here. I really suggest if u dont have a problem with loli and like fun stuff to watch it. There is so many stuff that everyone probably find something for himself.

-Death

Padudu is a young girl who travels to Sweetland, from her own land, Sea Heaven. Once there, she competes with many others, in ranging from winning simple contests to fights. These earn them ‘Hanamaru’, which are simple designs from a stamp, and when enough are collected, the girl will get the right to become a Magical Girl on earth. (plot summary taken from Wikipedia) I must say a weird but somehow fun series. What i should tell u from the start, it have no real ending, at least not in terms Padudu finish her task or something. In that sense it follows Mahoujin Guruguru which also lack a real final ending where they finish the task they’re assigned to. Anyway, if u’re ok with some a bit random fun anime without any end, this one is one u will have lots of fun with. It features a bunch of also unusual fellows like that girl named Myumyu, which have two cats as clothing (which is a reason for fun, since Padudu is having a fish as her partner). Most of the characters feature some animal as “partner” for life and as helper that support him in some way. Uokichi (Padudu’s partner) is used by her as cloak and also as foot supply (also something that get parodised later in the series, but we wont spoil the fun, don’t we ?). It’s a fun concept as this not get used every magical girl series, more the normal give some animal as instructor along (we remember here negima with that hermit, or maybe some of u know Nanatsuiro Drops, where the instructor is a stuffed animal), so its also one of the points i liked. Also they as earlier stated make up many reasons for fun. The temper and targets of the individual characters do their addition too. All together it seems a bit random at time but not in a too annoying way. Its also pretty short, the individual episode is around 8 to 9 minutes plus a 29 minutes 3d OVA. The 3d ova is not really something i enjoy, since it feels so unnatural to see anime characters (2d) in a game-like optic (3d), but if u can get along with that factor, it isnt too bad, through altogether the series was better. Ah, and before I forget, the OP/ED is wonderful wacky music… I just loved it, it goes straight into your head and becomes an earworm. So becareful! With that it’s up to you to figure out if u wanna watch it or not.

Trailer (english)

Source: YouTube

This trailer shows nicely shots from the 2d (series) and the 3d (ova) versions of the anime. Enjoy,

-Death

Since we spoke just about it in the channel over at Animepath (one of my fansub groups), I thought that I could throw in some impressions here. Just let me foreclose… it was a heaven for the maid fans. Here u have a few pictures:

Those 2 were great, i have tons of pics of em. They had really fun with their role, u can see that when u look up the pictures.

We also had a madio cosplay cafè there.

When one consider it was the first event and was created out of a “just for fun” idea it was a great con. It was great to see all the ppl again u normally just meet when u’re at those events and also I had the chance to snatch some stuff again ;). Got me a japanese limited edition box of Memories (which even included english subtitles) for a good price. Also like I stated earlier, great for me was the big amount of Madio cosplayers. I have a certain weakness for those, and I think my pictures in the gallery shows that. But also fun was their stage programm, which had some bands (not my taste but hell, they werent too bad), a real good comedian dude making fun of serveral anime (buddy, keep it at this level!!!) aswell as a quit funny cosplay competition and cosplayer auction (where u could bid on a cosplayer so he be at your side for some hours). The money they made was used to cover costs and all thats left after that got donated to social services. I hope they make another one next year, maybe with a bit better planning at some ends. I even think of attending it as a “helper” or staffer if u wanna say so. Another thing I think of is maybe making a small scale subtitle workshop to show the ppl how its done and give ‘em also an idea what amount of work and time is involved in fansubs. But thats future music, thats not realism yet, but if we turn it into realism i will surly cover it with foto or video footage ;). If u wanna now see more pictures, u can click on link in the right side bar, its filed under “Pages -> Galleries -> Dokomi 2009” or just click on the link here.

Yours, Death

PS: ah, forgot the link to the page of the DoKomi, here it is: http://www.dokomi.de/de/ and when u wonder what DoKomi stands for, its Doitsu Komiku Market.

“Let’s begin a new myth, sweet battles, and a miraculous love story…” declares a man on the top of a building in New Tokyo in 2020.

It is a signal of the start of the Sekirei Project. 108 beautiful fighters called Sekirei are dispatched to the world to seek Ashikaba, their masters, in order to be the last surviving Sekirei and realize his or her dream. Sabashi Minato is a high school graduate who failed his college exams last year. He is a loser; he doesn’t have any goals nor does he have any friends, let alone a girlfriend. He failed all his exams this year, too. On his way home, a beautiful girl suddenly falls from the sky. Her name is Yui. She identifies herself as one of the Sekirei and has chosen Minato as her Ashikabi, her fated partner. (stolen from Fansub.tv) And he instantly fell for her… I mean, i guess every single man would fall for a girl like her (yea yea, there are always different tastes but the most ;). But well, this is the anime which made me understand why its sometimes not just called a trap but a “Boobietrap”. I mean its quite some time since I had last an anime with this much boobie fetischism thats not entirly dumb, but putting that aside the chars are also quite intresting as u can feel they hide something, but they dont let u get it too fast. They reveal the things bit by bit, still leaving enough space for another 12 episodes as Sekirei isnt finished with this 12 episodes. There is already a OVA but I didnt watched it yet, aswell as a 12 episode series planned which is supposed to finish it. The char i liked the best besides Yui (more or less the main char i would say) is Tsukumi followed by the Landlord. On Tsukumi i like her tusundere behavior, at first she hates Minato but then she wont let go of him… she is really a wicked one^.^. The landlord lady is just fun as she is the good old “one look and its solved” type… a char with the evil “look”. I love that. Where the story might go… I wonder, i just fear we get an emo battle royal ending, but since season 2 isn’t out yet, I have to wait and see…

Sekirei Trailer

Source: YouTube

Enjoy, Death