Yorokonde! Review

Mod Post

2006-02-21T01:35:00.000+08:00

> changed layout
> changed profile
> took down tagboard
> attempting to recover lost links
> ~~worshipped Ueshima~~

Mod Post

2006-02-10T20:01:00.000+08:00

Changes made:
> Added people to Admin
> Removed inactive contributors
> Layout (yes, there is something wrong with the sidebar. i plan on fixing it later. unless one of the other Mods will)

Added:
> None

----

On a side note, I'll be uploading another Bad Caps review.

Bad Caps Review #1

2006-02-01T18:18:00.000+08:00

Welcome, Ladies and Gents, to Rika's first issue of Bad Caps Review!! As the name says, this review is full of Bad Caps and should not be taken seriously. This is for crack fandom purposes, and any damage to people's braincells wouldn't be my fault since I'm already warning you about the stupidity that is bound to be ahead.

The first issue features Musical Tennis no Oujisama: More than Limit -St. Rudolph Academy-. If I remember correctly, this is the third Musical, but never trust Rika's memory. It's bad. That's another reason why this is named Bad Caps Review.

Now that I've warned you about the content of the review, I shall warn you about how this post will kill your bandwidth. I've gotten around 125 caps from the musical and if you're on dial-up, it'll take time to load them all. Muharhar.

Regarding the caps here, feel free to take them, but DO NOT HOTLINK. Credit Yorokonde for the caps, if you want, too. Also, this is crossposted at Red Moon Media, Rika's media journal.

Now, without further ado, let me present you....

TeniMyu: More than Limit -St. Rudolph Academy-

We are greeted by a silly dance number by the Ichinen...

...who then do a sentai pose.

And then we are given a shiny glowy introduction of the Seigaku regular-jin

Who also do a Sentai pose. Which doesn't look Sentai at all.

Now, isn't that a better Sentai Pose?

Mizuki: ohshit. This isn't my mirror.

Mizuki: Now, how am I supposed to fix my morning hair now?

And yet another Sentai Pose.
This time, brought to us by St. Rudolph.

Mizuki: Why yes, I'm ~~gay~~ pretty.

Tezuka calls on the Golden Pair, who obviously went through some sort of "warm up"

Ryoma says "CHEESE".

Taka-san is doubting Tezuka's sexuality.

Um. I have no idea why this cap is here.

Kaidoh and Momo want to play House.

Kaidoh's Tennis Kancho.

See? They can play House nicely.

Look! Momo has a flower!

Kaidoh has a cheap trick, too!

Mizuki: *nfu!*

Kikumaru: *flirtflirt*
Oishi: ...Stop that or it's the couch for you tonight.

Ryoma, meet Racquet. Racquet, meet Ryoma.

Yaneda: I'm a duck, da ne!

Oishi: Eiji, I heart you.
Kikumaru: Um, what?
Oishi: Oh, nothing.
Kikumaru: ... *scratches back of head* Silly Oishi.

Mizuki: *nfu!*

Mizuki: Look, Inui! Porn!

Kikumaru: Hey, Oishi hasn't even started doing anything! What do you mean, Porn??

Mizuki: *nfu*

Kikumaru: Oh, now I know what you mean, you sly bastard you. Maybe later?
Oishi: STOP FRATERNIZING WITH THE ENEMY!

Inui: Oishi... *scribblescribble* is jealous of... *scribble* Mizuki... *scribble* Ii data...
Ichinen+Taka: Oooh..
Horio: Hey, look, stick figure sex!

Oishi: Leave me alone!
Kikumaru: ??

Mizuki: *seethe* Look at me, damnit!

Oishi: We're still going out tonight, right?
Kikumaru: Of course, silly! You're my only one! /sap

Rudolf-Buchou: I WANT A DATE TOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Yes, they're doing the Can-Can.

Taka apologizes for the stupidity.

Oishi: Look, Eiji, it's not your fault.
Eiji: ...Yes it is.
Oishi: Look, mistaking the toothpaste for facial wash is a normal thing..

Mizuki: Ohgod, Oishi's an idiot.
Yuuta: *boredboredbored*

Mizuki: Oh, look! Something interesting is happening! *nfu*
Yuuta: I wonder what I'll have for dinner...

Eiji: Oh, I'm still so embarrassed..!

Oishi: Eiji... *thinks: I have to do something...!

Oishi: *stares at Eiji's ass* mmm...

Oishi: Don't worry, Eiji. You still look pretty.
Kikumaru: ...Oishi...♥

Mizuki: How cheesy. *nfu*

Kikumaru: I have a trick!

Mizuki: HOSHIT.

Mizuki: He's doing Snow Angels in the tennis court!
Oishi: Eiji! Stop it, You're embarrassing me!

Kikumaru: Jyuuden Kanryou!

Oh, you know they were trying to kiss in public.

Kikumaru: Why yes, I can be very sexy.

Foreplay.

This is Oishi and Kikumaru auditioning for the roles of Takeshi and Kentaro from Clamp Gakuen Tokkei Duklyon.

Kikumaru: Come here, you sexy little thing, you. *points to Oishi*

Oishi: No, I'm the seme. You come here.

Oishi's expression when Kikumaru runs off and goes to the audience.

Fuji and Ryoma become back-up dancers.

Oh, they are SO in love.

Kikumaru: *beeda!*

Kikumaru: We lost! No!
Oishi: Kikumaru, don't be sad! Here, let me hug you! *pounce*

Kikumaru: Oh, Oishi!
Oishi: Oh, Eiji!

Someone from St. Rudolph: Hey, Mizuki, is PDA allowed in tennis?
Mizuki: Shut up, I'm being jealous here.

Yaneda: Hey, Kaidoh, don't i look sexy too?

Kaidoh: OHSHITNO!!

Yaneda: How 'bout you, Atsushi? Do you think I'm sexy?

Atsushi: NO! NOW STOP EMBARRASSING ST. RUDOLPH!

Yaneda learns his lesson.

Mizuki: See? I'm the only person allowed to be sexy.

Tezuka looks grumpy because he hasn't had any caps since the beginning of the review.
He also says he should be the only person allowed to be sexy.

Kikumaru, regretting the silly song and dance number during the match between St. Rudolph.
Kikumaru: If i hadn't sung and danced, we would have won...

Kikumaru: I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!

OHLOOK. They're dating.

Caaaaaan you feeeeeeeel the looooove toniiight~~?

And yet more foreplay and flirting.

Taka-san asks ~~if they can have a threesome~~ how come the Golden Pair completes each other's sentences

Presidential Campaigning.

Taka-san: Er, nevermind...

Fujicest.

Ryoma: Stop flirting with my opponent, Fuji-sempai!

Mizuki: *nfu~*

Ryoma: Oh look, a coin.

Mizuki: *nfu* Interesting kid. *nfu*

Inui: Ii data.
Horio: WTF, Ryoma?

Mizuki: *nfu*

Yet another duo, applying for sentai characters.

Fuji: I only shake hands with people who are as kirakira as I am!

Mizuki: *nfu*

Mizuki: Prepare for pwnage, Kirakira-whore!
Fuji: Stfu, Mizuki. You're just jealous you're not kirakira enough!

Fuji, ~~Kirakira whore.~~ Tennis Prodigy

Fuji: Tezuka, ~~the bed awaits~~ stop staring at Mizuki. I'm your ~~uke~~ seme here!

Mizuki: We lost. Oh well. *nfufufufufufufufu* *leaves*

Rudolf-Buchou: Mizuki! Wait! Teach me your laugh!

Atsushi: *follows Mizuki* *nfufufufufufufufu*
Rudolf tennis-bu: liek whoa!

Fuji: Come to the dark side, Yuuta. We have cookies.

Yuuta: Coo...kies...?

Fuji: Yes, cookies. And Porn.

Yuuta: Count me in!

Kaidoh: *hiss*

Golden Pair. Asleep.
1, 2, 3... AWWWWWWW.

Taka-san, trying to play... er, whatever that thinng is.

1, 2, 3... awwww..!

Fuji, making his plans to rule over the world.

Tezuka, going emo because he knows Fuji isn't thinking about him

Inui: Ii data.

Tezuka and Fuji, courting.

One final Sentai Pose from everyone.

The End.

Long Overdue...

2006-01-18T20:17:00.000+08:00

Finally! After all these weeks of trying to get to Yorokonde just because the invites hated me! >_<

Well, now that I'm here, I might as well start, nee? I requested myself to join for reasons that I've got a few things to make reviews on, and to make Yorokonde live again. Live, Yorokonde! LIIIVE!!!

Unfortunately, because of the stupid invite system, I had to postpone my reviews for around 3 weeks. Gawd! I have so many things to talk about but I fear that it's too long to keep around in one post. So, maybe I'll just start with this:

Kino no Tabi

One day, I've been watching my everyday replays of Animax's animes when I suddenly stumbled upon a commercial. It was Kino no Tabi (Kino's Travel/Journey in english). Getting bored of the rather repetitive animes in Animax, I decided to watch it once it came out. The timing couldn't be better. I could watch it on Friday, 10:00 pm. Though it was kinda late, I wouldn't mind. It's gonna be Saturday the following day anyway! :P The series also made a great impact with me. Why do you think I joined Yorokonde in the first place anyway?

This is a story about Kino, a young traveller, wandering the land with her talking motorcycle, Hermes. Both of them go in all sorts of adventures, exploring new countries and meet new people with different cultures. Kino's purpose is unknown in the beginning. She also starts with a very mysterious behavior likewhy does she keep so many guns around. As episodes go by, however, Kino slowly reveals to the audience the answer why.

Here's a pic of the two main characters together:

Kino, despite her looks, is actually a girl.

Other than that, the music is good. Well, the OP and the ED are good. You really can't hear any other music in the episodes itself (or if you do, you hardly even notice them) but for me, I guess that's fine considering that the characters' actions and words are powerful enough.

I pretty also like the artwork and animation. Everything's so clean. The lighting effect also brings in a lot of mystery. The characters go by smoothly. Some episodes, however, seem to last a lot faster than one should expect. I guess, that's probably because of the three-day visit rule of Kino herself.

However, those details are just the surface. What you should really be watching is how deep the story goes in just a few episodes. The story is very philosophical in nature about how the world is imperfect. In fact, it is so imperfect, it's beautiful.

When watching the series, you should be listening (or reading, in case of subtitles) carefully of what they have to say. There are a lot of lines that are very deep and/or very catchy. You should also observe their actions. It may not seem so at first but Kino actually has some moves to keep her audience at awe (most especially episodes 2, 5 and 6). Once you've done these, you'll really gonna enjoy the series.

Well, that's that for now. I'll be writing about the episodes the next time I decide to post on this blog. I'll be in touch soon and hopefully, I'll catch up with the current episodes Animax's airing right now.

Good day, traveller.

BOM

2005-12-26T06:20:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week, I was flipping through video games in my favorite games shop when a title popped up at me.

"Narutimate Hero 3."

Since I was a fan of the first two games, I didn't give a crap that a)the game is in Japanese, b)I can't understand Kanji, and c) there are no translation guides(there are some in forums though) or cheat codes available online yet. I just bought the damned thing and took the tricycle back home to try it out.

Let's get started with the review proper, yeah? And let's try not to exceed the typical 500 character limit for profeessional articles. XD

Narutimate Hero is the third instalment in the slightly-higher-than-just-popular series for fans of the video game.

As always, we're offered a decent RPG/story mode that THIS TIME is a lot more solid than the older ones, even though you're playing practically the same damned storyline for maybe the nth time in a row. *coughcoughbudokaicough* We're also given the ever-popular VS mode where you can pit your favorite naruto ninjas (well, some of 'em) aganst each other in mash-happy combat.

I've noticed that there seem to be less ninjas available though. o.0 Though a few new faces DO appear. Check it out yourself. XD

New to the game are dual-attack ougis. I.E. Sasuke/Kakashi Double Chidori, Naruto/Jiraiya Double Rasengan, Kakashi/Gai Double Dyamic Entry. Note: these are OUGIS, not recommended yaoi pairings. Shame on you. Blech. Who would pair Kakashi and Gai anyway? Hell, who wuld pair Gai with anyone AT ALL?!? .. *cough* Sorry. Anyway...

Another cool new addition to the game are chakra struggles, DBZ:Budokai Style. Watching Naruto's Rasengan VS Sasuke's Chidori is fun, but it being interactive(re:MASH BUTTONS) is pretty cool.

The animation in the games is a bit cleaner than past games, and the game now has a penchant for showing you what jutsu command you've just used(how the hell do you turn it off?!?) and chakra gets used in this game like NOTHING, man. Five seconds into the fight, and I was out of chakra. o.0

A lot of characters get updated ougis, as well as updated movelists. n_n They took away Kakashi's 'kancho' attack, though. *sniff* But they DID give him chidori as a jutsu.

The ougi system itself gets updated though. Gone are the 1-2-3 ougi sequences of old(though those were pretty cool) you get ONE ougi clip, a power struggle to see how much damage your ougi does, and that's it. Done. Some people like the way the ougis are treated here ("short and to the point") but personally, I kinda miss the ougi sequences. In my vernacular, BITIN, AMP!!

The ougis in the game ARE very pretty though. Ino's ougi in particular is a favorite. XD Especially when used on Sasuke.

Another addition I've noticed was the addition of the transformed versions. Thank goodness they don't work like the SSJ thingies form Budokai. Otherwise, we'd have to put up with ugly-ass Sasuke a helluva lot more often.

It's pretty overall, but it has it's ugly points.

For that, I give the game an 8/10 (oh noes! another eight!)

Note: Do not watch the opening movie as it may contain scenes not suitable for those who have no resistance to shounen ai. Fangirl earplugs are advised. XD

THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT BY 'THREESOME', YOU JACKASSES!

Naruto:Narutimate Hero3
Designed By:Bandai
Genre: Action>Fighting>3D
Platform:PS2
Length:story mode:6-8 hours VS mode:great time killer
Difficulty:Bordering on hard if you can't speak japanese.

image courtesy of www.gaara-fr.com

Super Robot Taisen Impact

2005-12-03T18:12:00.000+08:00

Remember the good old days on the SNES?

Yeah. Those.

Remember Super Robot Wars? Fun, wasn't it?

Now imagine it on the PS2. Whoo.

The game is an excellent translation of the original, with more robots thrown in (What're the eve doing in space? Go figure.) But more or less the same game.

Story mode is pretty cool.

Graphics? EXCELLENT. God fingaaaaah!!

The sound is up there too, with good BGM, and each robot's particular theme playing when you do a Hissatsu.

New features include: 'simultaneous support', which enable a sure-fire critical hit; 'battleship support'; 'Combined attacks'; Shields, and the bnus skills.

Oh, and you can now rotate the map.

The game is a very sweet treat for fans of the original game and anyone who digs tactics-style games and/or mecha.

Oh, and before I forget: The whole thing is in Japanese. I recommend the translation guides from gamefaqs.com.

Persomal Overall:8/10

>screenshot goes here, I only have ten minutes left<

Super Robot Taisen Impact
Designed By:Banpresto
Genre: General>Strategy
Platform:PS2
Length:Too damn long
Difficulty:hard

The Stars Aren't That Bright from Up Here

2005-11-21T16:03:00.000+08:00

Star Wars Battlefronts 2. I'm really spoiling myself with videogames here (granted, this is also the week I bought myself a brand-new mp3 player and a new adapter :D) but what the hey right? Anyhoo...

The force is strong with this game. I sensed it from 4 months ago, when new dev screens came out, and I had to go to a doctor because of the massive jaw drop I experienced. Some new tweaks overe SWBF1:

-A.I. is more advanced (they dont blankly stare at walls while you shoot them anymore)
-Tanks are not as omnipotent as they were before (Blasters do pick damage while grenades stick and do some damage)
-You can play as Jedi Heroes (Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, etc) and Heroes (Han Solo, Boba Fett, General Greivous, etc)
-Starfighter combat has been slowed down (mercifully) and given a facelift (by the guys who did Ace Combat no less)
-New Starfighter levels
-New story modes (with actual mission objectives!)
-Rebalanced character classes
-New class system (you have to earn a certain number of "points" to use the Officers and Special Forces)
-New medal system

The game now has an arcadey feel, which kinda feels awkward at first, but you get the feel for it after a few battles. The controls feel tighter, and there are control tweaks (up on the d-pad reloads, double tapping left issues orders, square toggles auto-lock).

The space battles are SWEET. Imagine going into a TIE Bomber, flying right into the enemy cruiser with two wingmen, barrel-rolling to avoid incoming missles, taking out their frigates, shields and life support systems before flying back to home base, switching to space-marine class, taking a transport and then wiping them out from inside their starcruiser. And it all plays like Ace Combat. It's that intense.

Story mode is nothing to write home about, but it works fine for me. Story mode covers the history of the 501st Division, also known as "Vader's First" from the Clone Wars all the way to the Battle of Hoth. The battles are objective based (on Utapau for example, you have to take control of Obi-Wan and beat General Greivous) and some of the missions are a bitch (the Kamino level and the Death Star stand out).

Not a world-shattering, mind-blowing game, but I like it anyway. Try before you buy.

For the last time, I AM NOT HAYDEN CHRISTIANSEN!!

Star Wars Battlefronts 2
Publisher: Lucasarts Ltd.
Developer: Pandemic
Genre: 3rd Person Shooter/Squad Shooter
ESRB Rating: Teen
Platform: PS2, X-Box
Length: Unlimited
Difficulty: Adjustable

photo courtesy of gamespy.com

Because Nobody Else Was Going To.

2005-11-19T16:28:00.000+08:00

After 9 long and agonizing motnhs, Capcom has finally released Resident Evil 4 for the PS2 (Agonizing because I have no Gamecube to play RE4 9 months early T_T). So was it worth the wait? The answer is an astounding yes.

RE4 takes place 6 years after the events of RE2 (which means the game is set in 2004). Raccoon City is nothing more than a bad memory, Umbrella Corporation has been wiped out and Leon Scott Kennedy, one of the 9 survivors of the now smoking pile of rubble (the others are: Jill Valentine, Chris and Claire Redfield, Barry Burton, Carlos Oliviera, Sherry Birkins, Ada Wong and Hunk) has recieved special training and is now serving in a special unit under the president of the USA. So the new president's daughter has been kidnapped and traced all the way to a remote village in Spain, and Leon is sent to retrieve her. Things start out routinely enough. And then things start to get bad really fast.

The game's ambience is amazing, thanks in no small part to the gritty (In a good way) graphics and ambient noise that surrounds you and sometimes serves as a warning (you'll hear enemies screaming in Spanish when they spot you or are in close proximity). The reworked control scheme does wonders to, as does the new camera angle (behind the back as opposed to the static view of previous REs). There is a new emphasis on aiming, thanks to the new physics engine (translated: throw grenades and bodies fly). A shot to the leg for example, wil make most enemies fall down (to their dooms if they're perched on a high ledge or over a bottomless cliff), a shot to the hand will make them drop their weapons and a shot to the head may have a chance of killing in one shot.

A new mechanic is added 2 chapters in, when you finally rescue Ashley. Now instead of worrying about yourself, you have two extra worries: keeping Ashley alive and preventing her from being carried off. Good thing you dont spend the whole game babysitting (in typical videogame female fashion, she gets kidnapped/captured A LOT). And instead of finding weapons around (except for grenades, the shotgun, the Broken Butterfly and one rocket launcher), you find money (from stuff you break or dropped enemies) and treasure (which sells for plenty) which you then exchange with weapons merchants for stuff like bigger guns, larger inventory space, gun add-ons and gun upgrades. Enemies drop ammo a now, and the type of ammo dropped is determined by the weapon you keep using (i.e., using the pistol a lot makes enemies drop more pistol ammo, etc.), and the enemies are smarter too. They have new tricks now like throwing weapons (hatchets, sickles and dynamite), putting up ladders to reach your sniping posts, breaking down doors, shooting crossbows, wearing armor (or carrying shields) and even ducking under your targeting laser when you're going for headshots. But that just makes gaming more fun, doesn't it?

As far as I know, the guns in the game are:
Pistol (you start with this)
Shotgun (everyone's favourite gun, found in one of the houses in the village)
Rifle (don't bother at first, only get it at the castle)
Punisher (shots go through 2 enemies. Shoot 10 or more blue medallions to get it but not really worth keeping though)
Riot Shotgun (not worth keeping either. Keep upgrading your standard shotgun till the Striker becomes available)
TMP (automatic weapon, buy the stock ASAP, you'll thank me for it later)
Semi-Automatic Rifle (my rifle of choice, too bad it's expensive as hell)
Broken Butterfly (your first magnum. Too bad ammo is rare)
Killer 7 (your second magnum, worth keeping)
Red 9 (second pistol, I dont like it though)
Blacktail (get if you're feeling lucky)
Mine Thrower (sucks like hell)
Rocket Launcher (THE anti-boss weapon)

More guns become availble upon completing the game, but I'm not gonna spoil the surprise for all of you :D.

The game's not perfect though. Enemies could be less cheap (like not attacking when I get off the freaking ladder) and the option to skip cinemas (interactive and otherwise) would be nice too. But I'm just nipicking.

And some old faces make an appearance too. Ada Wong, Nikolai Krauser and Albert Wesker, but I'm not saying when. Ada is still uber-hot, and Krauser is now an infested bastard who loves kinfe fighting.

Lots of references to pop-culture too. The Chainsaw Maniacs are very reminiscent of Jason Voorhees, and the Los Gigantos look like the Cave Troll in Lord of the Rings. Chief Mendez ("The Big Cheese") grows Kurow-esque claws when you fight him, and Leon and Ashley's special outfits are throwbacks to RE2 (Leon's is his REPD uniform, Ashley's is Claire's alternate outfit)

There's also a lot of unlockables that you get for beating the game (minigames, extra weapons, extra outfits) and in-game collectibles (from the shooting gallery minigame).

Overall, a great game. Get it for some major fun.

An interesting note is that Capcom plans to release the chainsaw controller for this game. ^_^

(picture removed for re-editing)

Resident Evil 4
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Genre: Survival Horror
ESRB Rating: Mature
Platform: PS2, Gamecube
Lenght: 13+ Hours
Diffuculty: Adjustable

Cluster Edge 01-04

2005-11-06T01:47:00.000+08:00

I'd put pictures right now, but I make crappy screenshots at 1.47 in the morning. So wait for them :D

See, this is what I get for not being up to date with the current anime scene. I'm behind by a month. I don't have a PC with a bajillion gigabytes to store raws and my brain cannot comprehend complex Japanese, so I wait for Fansubs to watch the recent shows.

Just recently, while being bored out of my mind, wondering why the hell Shi-Fa has not released Meine Liebe 13 yet, I stumble upon Cluster Edge. I saw a screenshot with this cool looking Black-haired dude and I thought, Ooooh, what a cute guy. I wonder if there's shounen ai in this? So I go ahead and download the current releases from Baka-Updates. Four episodes out by Ayu, Two by Shi-Fa. Not bad. So, while there's a party going on behind me, I watched Cluster Edge.

I'd be lying if I said there aren't hints of shounen ai in this one. See, in the first Episode [A Boy Named Agate], we meet the black-haired dude I was talking about earlier. He looks like this normal country kid who's got a lot of luck. Sort of. Anyway, the train he's on is taking him to his new school of sorts, but his ticket says that he's only part of the cargo and won't be allowed food. He argues and tries to sneak in to the dining compartment with the conductor persons.. Then cue what I dubbed the "Hatsukoi Scene" (Hatsukoi means first love). Pink backgrounds, swirly twirly shiny happy bubbly scene between Agate(black-haired dude) and the blonde rich kid, Beryl (who is voiced by Fukuyama Jun <3 ). Agate is all smiles and declares that Beryl would soon be his. Friend, I mean. *ahem ahem* This episode also leaves us hanging. In the first few scenes, we're given the image that the setting of Cluster Edge's story is somewhat based on post-World War I England. Take note, I said somewhat. Anyway, the first scenes involve two brothers who are in the middle of a battle. The elder brother leaves the younger brother and his team of.. er, well, they looked like knights in not-so-shining armor... As I was saying, the older brother, whose name is Chalcedony, who everyone calls Chalce, takes off in these bird-looking planes, leaving his brother, Chrome and his team, saying that Chrome needs to live longer. Or something along those lines. After the Hatsukoi Scene, we get to see Chalce again, this time escaping the evil military people after him. Agate, who happens to have brought with him this spiffy plane with him on the trane, rescues him. Or attempts to, anyway. Their planes get shot down and Agate wonders why the Chalce gave up the fight easily. Agate's plane ends up in the sea as well. Anyway, Agate manages to save Chalce as we see him carrying Chalce on shore. End of episode.

Second episode begins with Fon, cute kid that reminds me of Wolfram, steaming that he's not supposed to be doing the greeting thing, whatever you call it, with the other school. Agate manages to get his plane back with the help of the old man he rescued and he's on his way to the school he'd mentioned earlier. Once they reached the bridge going to the said school, Agate tells teh old man to let the boat pass first. And then bam! Fon's car, due to him not paying attention, gets thrown off the road, skids on top of the boat and lands on the other side of the river safe and sound. Huzzah. How the crap that happened is beyond me. Agate probably has something to do with it, but we're not so sure. *ahem* Anyway, cut to school where Fon's car has been taken without permission by the military dudes he had to greet earlier who turns out to know him from the past, who also turns out to be bullies, who also ruins Fon's car which makes Fon very furious and angry and... stuff. Agate helps Fon fix his car and voila. Instant friends. Yeah. Oh, and there was some stuff about Beryl and fencing and his right shoulder miraculously healing after Agate throws him a fencing sword. This tiny bit is why the episode was called [Beryl's Sword] (But in reality, it spanned around twelve, thirteen minutes of the show, so yeah, it was short).

[Cold Bullet], the third episode, introduces another interesting character. He looks like an older Agate, really. His name's Hematite. They have GOT to do something about naming their characters after stones >__> Anyway, Hema dearest apparenly has a connection to the pretty boy, Chalce, who apparently DIED in the first episode. Bloody hell! DIED?! Agate bloody saved him! How can he possibly DIE?! Blargh! Anyway, continuing. Hema gets a visitor who turns out to be Chalce's rival ~~for Hema's love~~ and Hema's friend, Vesuvia, who is now part of the military. Vesuvia's purpose for visiting Hema is that the military has gotten information that a student of the school, Cluster EA, was the one who attempted to rescue Chalce and that he's there to exterminate the said student. Hema volunteers to be the one to look for the student and narrows it down to two: Beryl and Agate. Hema, unfortunately, turns out to be a disappointment since he only looks cool on the outside, but in reality, gives up before he even tries anything. Meine gott, there was even this one part, when he learns that Chalce's gone(I REFUSE TO SAY THAT CHALCE IS DEAD!), Hema goes all angsty and shaky like he's lost a lover. Bwahaha. *cough* Anyway. Vesuvia notes that if they target Beryl, there would be lots of scandals, decides that they should arrest Beryl because he's twisted like that. So he opens fire to Beryl. Not really. Hema attempts to protect his student, gets grazed on the cheek by Vesuvia's bullet, Hema goes all shaky again, and then Agate appears to save the day! ...Not really. Fon told him that Hema was looking for him. And then we learn that Vesuvia was the one who shot Chalce down, laughing as he did. Agate gets angry and destroys Vesuvia's fleet thingy and ends up floating in a river to god knows where. Er. Yeah.

And then here comes episode four, [The Jet Black Chrome Group Appears]. And they do. But they're not exactly Jet Black. More like, Ninja Knight Warriors. Or some weird Sentai group that decided to look like Ninja Knight Warriors that had different-colored capes to identify them. Ick. They look kinda cool though. It's just that... They're sort of out of place. Anyway, Chrome-dan attacks the port where Chalce was brought down. They trash the place blah blah blah. It seems that Chalce was really really really important to Chrome, else he wouldn't be doing this, reasons Chrome-dan Member number 1. The Chrome-dan members are the only ones without names, it seems. Even on the Cluster Edge Character page they don't have names. Odd. Anyway, so they trash the port and head on to wherever Chalce was heading to. Turns out to be Hema's hometown, which Hema is currently visiting because he didn't want to get the school more involved with the military investigations(not quite sure about that.) so he went on leave to go to his hometown. Turns out that Hema's family business was to create them Artificial Soldiers the world so hates and Chalce loves. Aww. What a complicated love life Hema has. *ahem* Anyway, Chrome-dan attacks the old Artificial Soldiers factory, where Hema is currently having a discussion about what had happened in that particular factory with a religious group leader called Ludwig. Chrome personally goes down to the factory and attacks Ludwig but is stopped by Hema. Chrome says that if Hema wishes him to stop and he will, then takes off with Chrome-dan to.. um.. the sea? Anyway, Ludwig explains that Chrome-dan must be a group of Artificial Soldiers that Chalce took in. Chrome was the Artificial Soldier that he raised, treated as equal, which explains why Chrome calls him 'Brother' (I forgot if Chrome called Chalce Niisan or Niisama.) Apparenly, Chalce did some memory transplant experiments and was successful with it, hence why Chrome knows who Hema is. And then, Hema sees the security footage of the AS Factory. Turns out, that the single Artificial Soldier that was being held in that specific Factory was...(dun dun DUN!) Agate! And then the episode ends.

Honestly speaking, Cluster Edge's story is a bit screwed in some places. It needs to straighten out a few edges, like that part whether Chalce is alive or not. I'd like to believe that he's still alive and that grave Chrome visitied in episode 04 was an empty one because ~~I want to see a Chalce/Hema make out scene.~~ Agate went through SO much just to save him. Plus, Chalce's too pretty to die. Also, I'd like to give the Chrome-dan memberes NAMES, dammit. I don't want to watch the whole series and end up calling them Member 1, Member 2, Member 3 and The Triplets! Plus, that thing about Agate. Explain it further! Or something. Bleah. So far so good. The animation is quite good, as it is being produced by Sunrise and Bandai Visual. And since those two are the ones producing Cluster Edge, expect some extremely cool mecha(not the Gundam types, though. I don't think there'd be some of those in Cluster Edge). I admit the animation isn't top-notch, but it's better than most, and the colors are just right.

The Opening theme, Fligh High is so-so. Catchy, but doesn't quite hit the mark. Opening animation includes some scenes from the first episode. The cracked glass scenes were okay. It seems that, as the opening suggests, our main characters are Agate, Fon, Beryl and Chrome. Awwww, I wanted more Chalce. But I think it's only because Chalce looks like a Chris/Lucas Volks SD13 doll O_o;

The ending theme, Kimi to Iu Na Hikari (The Light Named 'You'), is sung by the four lead characters seiyuu. Remind you of another series? Thought so. I found the song really good and I'm trying to look for a copy of it, rip or no. Starts as a boring ending theme type of song, but it evolves into something really good. Someone get me a copy before i go crazy!

All in all, if I rated Cluster Edge in a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest... I'd give this a 2.5. It's not too interesting and the story has some holes in it, but it's a promising series as far as I can tell. That's just me though. Why don't you check out the series yourself to judge? I find this really entertaining, but maybe it's just the hints of shounen ai or the spiffy ending theme. Who knows ^_^

The king of the iron fist has been edited.

2005-08-21T15:42:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's true. There IS a Tekken 5.1, and it is a sad, sad day for Mishima haters out there.

It's basically the same game, but with a few tweaks here and there... I.E, Nina William's uf+1 has been slowed down immensely. Steve Fox moves like he was playing DDM on 500 BPM. And The Mishimas rule the playgorund. Oh yes.

Then again, I've always hated the mishimas. Go figure. Jin roxxorz, though. XD

Anyhow, no full review on this... It's about as futile as making a review everytime Sammy updates GGXX with a new version.

Will keep you people posted on new stuff that i notice, though. Ja.

Howl's Moving Castle

2005-08-14T16:06:00.000+08:00

This movie has got to be Hayao Miyazaki's best. At least, in my opinion it is. The story is about a Hat-maker, Sophie, who is rescued by a mysterious handsome wizard. At first glance, she falls in love with him, but her feelings for the mysterious wizard led to her being turned into an old woman by the Wicked Witch of the Waste. Not being able to tell anyone about the Witch's curse, she runs away in search for a counter-curse and ends up as a cleaning lady in a walking castle owned by a famous wizard: Howl. As it turns out, Howl is the handsome wizard who had rescued her earlier. But Howl has secrets, including one that involves an evil spirit that powers the moving castle, Caluficer. Sophie's determination and love brings about a change in the atmosphere of Howl's moving castle, and ultimately leads to the end of the war. The movie was based off a Diana Wynne Jones book of the same title. This book was first published in 1986. I did a little search on Amazon.com and there are still copies available from a recent publisher(HarperTrophy, 2001). As I have not read the book, I will not compare the book to the film.

As can expected from any Miyazaki film, the animation is most wonderful. The colors and themes fit the magical and mysterious feel of the story. The scenes-- especially the valley with the lake and the small house where Howl used to stay in when he was young-- were spectacular. Joe Hisaishi's great talent was again displayed in the film. I loved the background music! It was absolutely amazing! It went oh-so well with the film ^^ I would love to have a copy of the OST~

All in all, this is a must see film! ^^ Now go look for a copy! ;)

Pictures
coming soon

A WWII Game of Epic Proportions!

2005-05-19T21:54:00.001+08:00

You're in a boat crossing the Volga river. Before you is the burning ruin of the city of Stalingrad, and all of a sudden, a German fighter strafes your boat and two of your comrades fall into the water as Commisar Viktor Durasov shouts over the unending din "Do not count days, do not count miles, count only the number of Germans you have killed!"

And so begins the story of Pvt. Aleksander Sokolov, one of the many characters you will use in Call of Duty: Finest Hour.

Finest Hour is the latest installment of the best-selling WWII game series Call of Duty. This tour of duty will take you all over Russia (during the siege of Stalingrad), Africa (during Britain's counterattacks against the "Desert Fox", Erwin Rommel), and all over the Western Front (France, Holland, and Germany). The game itself is pretty linear, but damned if the cutscenes (using in-game graphics even) arent kick-ass (just try watching the massive charge against the German machine gun bunkers during the first Stalingrad mission). The game borrows Halo's 2-weapon carry limit and the ability to use grenades anytime, without switching weapons and Medal of Honor Frontline's AI and war situations. Without a doubt though, the battles are epic. Intelligent enemy and allied AI (for once, the enemy is intelligent but not cheap, and the allied AI is on par with the standards saet bt Halo 2 and SOCOM: US Navy Seals 2), who will cover their backs (yours and theirs), breach doors, take cover and act like real soldiers will keep you on your toes, especially during the later missions. The weapons are taken straight out of history archives, and are only found where it makes sense (the Mosin Naga for the Russians, MP40 for the Germans, M1-Garand for the Americans and British, etc), and the narrative deviates from the America-centric story of other WWII games (MoH for instance).

Graphics are gritty, but done tastefully, and coupled with the amazing sound and music, make for the most realistic, heart-pounding, show-stopping WWII game this side of the Medal of Honor series. A flashlight for some of the darker levels (Tanya's 1st level, where you spend most of it crawling through dark sewers) would be helpful though, but I'm just nitpicking. After playing through each character's two levels, you'll grow to love them, and you'll even see them in later levels (when playing as Tanya, Aleksander is your spotter, and while playing as Nikolai in levels 5-6, Aleksander and Tanya hitch a ride on your tank), where they provide backup, an extra gun to help fight off the Germans and even some advice at times.

Too bad the tank driving levels are clunky. You'll really hate them when you get to Africa, since you're surrounded by German Panzers while trying to simultaneously steer and fire the damn thing.

The game is linear and short, but a damn good game while it lasts. It deserves a spot right up there between your Band of Brothers DVD collection and your copy of Medal of Honor: Frontline.

Do not count days,Do not countmiles, count only... DAMN IT SOKOLOV, GET BACK IN THE BOAT!!

Call of Duty: Finest Hour
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Producer: Activision
Genre: FPS (First-Person Shooter)
Platform: PS2/X-Box/Gamecube
ESRB Rating: Teen
Difficulty: Adjustable
Length: 10-12 Hours, on Normal
Players: 1 (PS2and X-Box, 2-16 Online)

Ark of what-now? + !

2005-05-06T08:06:00.000+08:00

Okay, I know it's a bit late, but:

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

No, that's not Solid Snake, and yes, he's running around the jungle. In kabuki facepaint. Naked. No, I'm not joking, just messing with my camo. After the near-disaster that was MGS2 (the scene where the President grabs Raiden in the "important parts" sticks out), Kojima and co. went back and re-tooled the game. So what do we get? Well for starters, they sent us back in time. The first MGS (PSX-Konami) was set in the late 90's, MGS2 was set in the beginning of the 21st century, so it follows that MGS3 would be set 10 years later right? Wrong. MGS3 is set in the 1960s, during the height of the cold war. I won't spoil many secrets, but there are at least 2 surprises in the game. The boss fights rock though. They're the most imaginative fight in the series since Psycho Mantis back in MGS1 (where you had to switch the controller to port 2 so he couldn't "read your mind"). In my mind at least, the battles against The End (a sniper battle that can last for hours) and The Sorrow (a surprising battle, one that is probably an hommage to a certain battle from the original Prince of Persia) are the best. The battle with The Fury really shows of the PS2's processor power, and the battle against The Fear is great for re-creating moments from the first "Predator" movie (ugly motherf****r). The creative and (at times) downright insane camo outfits/paints are really worht looking for, if only for the benefits and the bragging rights. Each boss has at one camo outfit, and each provides some kind of bonus (like The Sorrow's outfit for example, which keeps you from being heard by guards). The Snake Vs. Ape minigame is worth playing, if only for the hilarious intro ("Why don't you just send Sam or Gabe to do this?" - a reference to Sam Fisher of Splinter Cell and Gabe Logan of Syphon Filter) and the appearance of the monkeys from Ape Escape. The in-game cinematics wow, and so does the music, which is subtle when you're sneaking around but then kicks in when you've been spotted (series vets will be glad to know the "!" above the guard's heads is still there). The lack of an onscreen radar really helps keep you on your toes, since you now have to crawl and sneak a lot just to avoid being spotted. My one complaint with the game though, is the camera. It's very obstructive sometimes, and got me killed a few times. Maybe Konami should make a more Splinter Cell-esque camera? But that's nitpicking. Another thing to loom for: try looking for the hidden EGM in the game (hint: it's hidden in one of the guardhouses before you fight The End). The fact that the members of the Cobra unit (The Fear, The Fury, The End and The Pain: you don't actually fight The Sorrow) explode when they are beaten is a reference to old kaiju shows like Kamen Riders, a fact that Kojima himself explained. Ingenious game design and boss fights, amazing music, breathtaking locales, a plot like something out of a James Bond movie, and a bevy of secrets, hidden items and at least one "special" minigame (it's a Devil May Cry style game. Try finding it) will keep most people stuck to this for a long time. Buy it if you don't have it already.

I think it's say to say you've been spotted.

Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Genre: Stealth/Survival
ESRB Rating: Teen
Platform: PS2
Length: 20-30+ hours
Difficulty: Adjustable

Ys IV: The Ark of Napishtim

A series that first debuted on the Turbo Duo (also known as the TG-16), and one of the many attempts to top Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise (and if you don't know what that is, you have no business reading this. I mean it) now on the PS2 (it's pronounced "Ease" by the way). So we have a Zelda-esque combat system, which is fine. I like the fighting in Legend of Zelda. The enemies can be cheap at times (I got killed by a raccoon a couple of times), there's no fast way to get between the only two towns in the game (Quatera and Rimorge), the game is bloody short and some of the lines are really corny. The voice acting is superb though. You'll really grow to love some of the characters (Issha, Olha, Terra, Geis, August, Quval, etc.) and really hate some of them (Admiral Agro, Emilio,Silva, Rose, etc) based on their voices. The fighting is fun too, once you get enough Emel to start levelling up your weapon's powers. Too bad you only get three weapons (cliche: a fire, lightning and wind sword) and a few shield and armors. Plus the massive item limit, the fact that you can only use one kind of item during boss battles really dragged it down for me too'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">me too. An active-inventory system might have killed the number of frustrating moments, as would raising the number of items you can carry would. Word of advice though: you get nothing for solving Alma's Trials. Nothing save for a choice of Emel, Money or Experience. No rewards, no uber-secret item, no nothing. Character design is very minimalistic. You get tiny in-game characters, which are basically clay models, a character sprite when you talk to them, and a few times in the token FMVs. Disturbingly though, Issha and Olha have some kind of magnetic attraction about them, even though a) they both have elf ears'; return true;" onmouseout="window.status=''; return true;">elf ears and bushy tails, and b) Issha is still a little girl. Blah, I like Terra and that Emel-swordsmith girl better. And like I said the game is bloody short. I finished it in less than 40-hours, which is half the amount of time it takes to finish a Legend of Zelda game, if you just blaze through the game, and a small fraction of the time it takes to finish your average Final Fantasy game. Not a must buy, but something to try out if you like Legend of Zelda.

Ys IV: The Ark of Napishtim
Publisher: Sony CEI
Developer: Falcom
Genre: Action/RPG
ESRB Rating: Everybody
Platform: PS2
Length: 40 hours
Difficulty: Adjustable

Waiting for my Final Fantasy: Advent Children DVD to arrive in the mail so I can rant about that. Plus, Resident Evil 4 comes out (PS2 version. Gamecube version is out already) in about 8-9 months.

Too bad the devil trigger is fugly.

2005-03-20T18:24:00.000+08:00

Devil May Cry3.

Dante.

new moves.

new weapons.

new costume.

And his twin brother.

Heheheh. Shouldn't that be enough?
Okay, fine. Review it is then.

When I first heard that Capcom was working on Devil May Cry3, My first thought was "Wheeee!! DANTE!" then, I thought "Oh, wait. DMC2 wasn't exactly all that." It may look cool, but the ability to shoot in two different directions for a limited time wasn't very useful.

Well, the usual hype surrounded this. Would it deliver on the action we got from Dante's first adventure? Or would it be as bland as DMC2 was? I'm not dissing DMC2, I just thought it was corny compared to the first game. Well, thank god for Capcom's minds. DMC3 delivers, and is every bit as exciting as the first game was. Yee-hah. The game's graphics are sweet, delivering action without any slowdown whatsoever (that I've noticed, at least.), alowing for the insane adrenaline-pumping action most action/adventure junkies like myself crave, allowing your self to blast away with Ebony and Ivory(Dante's handguns), combo with Rebellion(Dante's default sword) and not worry about and graphic breakup.

The 'style' combo system from the previous games is back. For those who don't know, the 'style' system is a system that rates your combos as you deliver them; these ratings actually affect your gameplay, giving you both bragging rights, and more red orbs. Again, for the uninformed, Red orbs, BTW, are the thingies you need to upgrade Dante's stuff and buy his moves. The Style system is a s follows:
Dope!
Crazy!
Blast!
Alright!
Sweet!
SShowtime!
SSStylish!!
Get it? If you don't, don't force it. Try not to hurt your head.

Whereas in DMC2, Dante was stoic, this Dante is the jerk we know and love to hate from DMC1. Granted, storywise, DMC3 is a prequel to DMC1, which explains all that.

DMC3's storyline revolves around the rivalry of Dante and Vergil(cheap names by Capcom, I know. But hey. It works.) the twin sons of the demon Sparda. Dante has not yet realized his demon powers(as showcased in DMC1&2) and more or less, he develops them to meet up with his bro. Check out the opening movie of Mission 8, after you first fight Vergil, and when you first get the ability to Devil Trigger. Fun. For more fun, Capcom threw in a third and fourth character, the demon slayer 'Lady', and Vergil's right hand man with his own agenda, Arkham.

Plot sound generic? Remember: It's not just the story. It's how you tell it. And Capcom delivers in that aspect.

Some of Dante's new weapons include Cerberus, an ice-casting triple-nunchaku (Sword-chucks, yo.) and Nevan, an electric guitar, that's... well.. electric. It shoots lightning. And bats. Meh. Pretty sweet, though.

Ebony and Ivory are back, and so is the shotgun. And three new guns.

However, you can only carry four weapons at a time. Two long range, Two melee. Maybe limiting, but they add to the fun of the game, being able to switch weapons on the fly and all. Speaking of which, some old moves get revamped. Stinger and Million stab are back, and Rainstorm is very sweet. And Twosome time can be done withut stopping now. Huzzah. In other words, for you trigger happy fans out there, you can just stand in the middle of the room, equip E and I, tap 0, and rotate the analog to keep those idiot demons at bay. Stylish, and effective. I still prefer the sword though.

The game also introduces a new trick: choosing a fighting style. The available styles are:
Gunslinger(duh)
Swordsmaster(again, duh)
Trickster(The default style, A style that enables you to dodge invincibly around at high speeds. Stealth dash, anyone?)
and Royalguard. (a defensive style which hajiki-issen fans from Onimusha 3 like me appreciate.)
There are also two other styles to unlock, but I won't spoil 'em. One of them makes me want to play Prince of Persia:Sands of time again.
Using these available styles levels-up said style, and in effect, increases Dante's effectiveness in said mode of combat.

The enemies are dangerous. They're not patsies, but they're not uber-tough either, unless you're playing 'Dante must die' mode. Enemies WILL attack as a group. They won't just attack one by one like they do in other games, so always keep on your toes, aand be ready to jame the O or X button. Due to the lack of a block button, evasion is a must. The game's combat system is focused on action, action, action. Or, you could just do it the easy way, and hang back and fire away with your guns. They have infinite ammo anyway, but that's no fun.

The bosses are just right. Difficult, but not overwhelming. Fighting them can be a thrill, since bosses will actually change their patterns, so fights never get stale. Except for Cerberus, since you can be cheap against that doggie.

The puzzles are simple enough; not solvable on first glance, but thankfully not frustrating enough to make you throw your controller against the wall...well, most at least. And since hell has a sense of humor, one particular mission has you running around a huge spiral staircase just to get a bloody cage to work. Eurgh. I was stuck on that one for quite a while, I can tell you.

That said, the game is not the cakewalk it was in DMC2. This is the DMC I enjoyed to bits. Granted, for newbies, the learning curve is extreme. The game starts of in media res, meaning you have no warm-up mission; learn to swim, or drown. And since you get no continues on the translated version of the game, you'd better hope that you got the japanese version, ne? The difficulty of the game can be insane at times, since you have everything happening at once, and you with no invincibility.

Once you learn the ropes however, the game's fun factor doubles, and the difficulty... well... still difficult, but at least you don't die every twenty minutes anymore.

If you want to play this thing without coninuing, you had either have a) insane reflexes, b) fast fingers, c) played lots of similar games on Hard mode or higher, or d) played the first two DMCs under the same conditions.

Quick note: the american version of the game's 'normal' mode? It's actually the japanese version's 'hard' mode. Explain anything? Bleah. Go figure. Whichever genius at capcom thought of that idea deserves a stinger to the head.

The soundtrack of the game rocks. I especially love the game's title song: 'The devils cry' by Tetsuya Shibata, Shootie HG, and David Baker. The fight music is fun.

The fighting system is fluid, switching weapons on the fly, delivering combos with Cerberus, juggling enemies with Rebellion, delivering lead into an airborne demon with E and I, then sending them flying with the shotgun feels like second nature after the first couple of missions. Each style of course, adds to the fun. Aerial Rave in Swordsmaster and Rainstorm in Guslinger are just a couple of the stunts you can pull. There are the new moves of course, like Free Ride, where Dante jumps on the body of a fallen enemy, kicks off like a skateboard, and spins around the room like some psycho-thrasher with a living board, guns a-blazing. Personal fave move just because it looks cool, is 'Fireworks' with the Shotgun. Dante swings the shotgun around like nunchaku, firing in multiple directions around him.

Some moves are a hassle, though. For me at least. Delivering Million Slash consistently for me is still pretty hard.

A notable new move with Dante is the ability to taunt. Tapping select on the controller makes Dante taunt the enemy. No notable benefits; It's just a taunt. However, I've noticed something. Remember the combo ratings I gave earlier? try taunting directly after a combo. The taunt may change. From the classic "Bring it on!" taunt(Dope!) to "Whatever.*shrug*"(Sweet!) to "Who's your daddy?!?"(Stylish) It's just really funny to taunt when you're surrounded by a roomful of enemies. One of my most cherished moments in DMC3 is comboing Vergil, Taunting him, then Hitting him with a Stinger just as he's about to dash out of the way.

Again, there's no point to taunting. It's just for show. But hey, It's fun.

I suggest you pick up the japanese version of the game. You can change the language to english anyway, but the major advantage is: in the japanese version, you can continue after dying. In the American version, you can't unless you have a gold orb. Meaning, if you die, you have to start the game from scratch. Which, as Shinobi players can attest to, is crappy as hell. There's nothing as frustrating as playing through a mission, losing to a boss, then having to start again from the beginning. Bleah. Unlike Shinobi however, this bloody game's bosses do not consist of a whole mission. here, mission then boss. Bleah. Go get the game. And get the Japanese version, it's less frustrating. Whoo.

If you have a PS2, I definitely recommend this as a must-have.

"Go out with a demon? You must be joking."
"Excuse me?!? I make it a point not to go out with women who shoot me in the head!"
-Lady and Dante, while shooting the crap out of a bunch of demons.

Dante models his new gloves. Just before he shoves them down this demon's throat.

Devil May Cry3:
Dante's Awakening
by Capcom
Action/Adventure(I think, it's not survival/horror to me)
platform:PS2
screenshot courtesy of: www.1up.com

Tekken five review!

2005-03-20T18:23:00.000+08:00

tekken five review!

Well, put another feather in Namco's cap.

tekken five is out, and it is sweet.

The first notable improvement over T4 of course, (fer me at least) is the kick in the game speed. While T4 was kinda clunky, T5 feels a lot like Tekken Tag again. The graphics of four, with the speed of tag. Whee. The physics stay like four, though. So, sorry, Jin laser-cannoneers. Wouldn't do you any good anyway.

Character movement feels good.

The characters have new/updated moves of course. Some to their detriment(Personally, Jin) others to their advantage.(King's Magma drive, Kazuya and Heihachi's new strings. Xiaoyu SS+3!! Wheee!!! Xiaoyu B+3>california roll!! Whee! Xiaoyu UF+34!! WHEEEEEEE!!!) And a new addition is air grabs. (King, Marduk, and Hwoarang with his overhead kick a la Pele.) I still mourn the loss of Jin's Laser canno/scraper though. It's not totally crap, but it takes some getting used to. On the flip side, he gets a crouch-dash juggle again. Also, almost everyone gets a spring to feet and cross chop to standing now. Ph34r my Xiao, crouching okizeme whores. Other characters, however just get new animations for old moves. Kazuya's flash punch for example.

Wall games and cornering still rampant, though. Bleah. The arenas are just as dangerous as they were in T4.

For some odd reason, the universal offensive shove(f+13) is gone. Huh. Well, the arenas are bigger.

BGM is fine, and so're the voices. ("Yoink! Toya!"<---Listen carefully to Kazuya.) In any case, the tekken characters amaze me with their ability to overcome the language barrier. We have Jin speaking japanese, Hwoarang speaking Korean, and they perfectly understand each other. Again, huh.

The new characters include:
Asuka Kazama(Jin's cousin. Welcome back, Jun-users.),
Raven(A Wesley Snipes look-a-like ninja wannabe with teleporting moves which somehow aren't cheap)
Feng Wei(A kenpo powerhouse with shit for range. Like Paul. With no range. And not as much damage. Crap. My opinion may change someday, but for now, I'll maintain him as crap.)
Jack-5(Another Jack. Go figure.),
and the jackass cheapshit boss, Jinpachi Mishima. Just play against him. Even once. You may kick his ass first time like I did, but his moves are cheap as hell. At least Ogre was escapable. Bleah.

Familiar returning faces include:
Bryan Fury
Christie Monteiro
Heihachi Mishima(No, he's not dead. Sorry.)
Hwoarang
Jin Kazama
Julia Chang
Kazuya Mishima
King
Kuma/Panda
Marshall Law(Ow. That pun has always stunk.)
Lee Chaolan
Lei Wulong
Craig Marduk
Mokujin(!)
Nina Williams(FF+3 on counterhit=ow.)
Paul Phoenix(Unfortunately, he has that.. 'hair' on both costumes. Damn.)
Steve Fox
Ling Xiaoyu(Huzzah.)
and Yoshimitsu.
Did I miss anyone? I don't think so.

Comeback characters are
Anna Williams
Baek Doo San(hotfeet, nothing.)
Bruce Irvin(ph34r.)
Ganryu
Wang Jinrei(!)
and 'Roger'. Well, techinically, it's Roger. Actually Roger JR., but who cares?
And, oh yeah. Devil Jin. TTTJin armed with some new knockdown moves, a laser beam, and a few new juggles, and we've got a cheapshit in the making. Too bad his wings count as hit sprites. Some high moves will actually connect while he's crouching.

Story? Who cares about the story? It's a fighting game. Here it is in a nutshell, anyhoo. Jin flew away, Heihachi and Kazuya duke it out with some Jacks, dojo blows up. Heihachi survived explosion, Kazuya flew away, explosion frees Jinpachi, Heihachi's demon father which in turn triggers Jin's transformation to Devil Jin, wherein Jinpachi organizes the T5 tournament in hopes of finding someone to defeat him before the devil within him takes total control of him.

If I got it wrong, tell me. For individual character stories, go play the game or check out Tekken sites. There are a lot of good ones out there.

As for character costumes, they came up with a bunch of whole new ones.

Plus, T5 now introduces the 'character customization' system like in Virtua Fighter, where you can now save your wins, losses, and individual custom characters to a memory card. You earn currency by kicking the crap out of your friends, and you use that 'GP' to buy character accesories, hairstyles, colors, etc. One of the best character customizations I've seen was Hwoarang in a bandanna with blue as his main color, an electric guitar strapped to his back, and a knife sticking out of his boot heel. Heheh.

With some fooling around, though, you can also make some characters look like their old costumes. (Jin and Hwoarang for example.)

BTW, Here's something I've noticed. Tap the punch buttons(p1 costume) for a character's fighting gear. (Heihachi's gi, Nina in her purple camo) or tap the kick buttons(p2 costume) for their 'civvies.' (Jin's horrid huge jacket, Lee in a tux.) May not hold true for everyone, but it's a pattern.

The AI has improved some, thankfully. It's actually started thinking. Still patterned on easy mode, but bump it up to normal, hard and above, and it's actually different. Not always hard, but definitely different.

In the PS2 version, you get to play Tekken1,2, and 3 as an added bonus, and you get two mini-games, one of which you have to finish as one of the possible ways to unlock Devil Jin. I've heard there are other ways to, but I accomplished it by finishing the 'Devil Within' minigame.

Oh yeah, I've heard that you can connect PS2 controllers to the arcade machine, but since I'm here in the philippines, I haven't seen how.

Again, Tekken manages to deliver another excellent fighting game to it's list. (Even though T4 was kinda slow.) Some guys say that it feels recycled, but hey. It's a fighting game. What do you expect? I play for the sweet, sweet sound of delivering a succesful California roll>Kangaroo kick with Xiao just to hear the other guy comment in frustration "Dammit!"

With the new character customization system, you too can make your character more fearsome! Rargh!
easter egg: Anyone recognize that dude in the horrid purple shirt in the background? :)

Tekken 5
the king of the iron fist tournament
by Namco
fighting game
Platform:Arcade, PS2
screenshot courtesy of: www.1up.com

HIATUS!

2005-01-14T22:36:00.000+08:00

Because Bleach is taking me a long time to review and I hate my life, currently.

Hiatus for an unknown length of time.

Go re-read the Gravitation review. I liked it.

It's Gravitation!

2004-11-14T23:31:00.000+08:00

Eeep! I haven't updated in a looooooooooooong while. Here's something for all those who's been waiting.. The series is kinda old, so.. ^^; Oh well. At least there's something to put up. KKM reviews will be back up soon. I just have to watch everything over again since my PC crashed and erased all of them.. ^^;;;

==

Gravitation: TV Series
It started as a manga by Maki Murakami and ended as one of the best shounen ai anime ever aired in televesion. In 1996, it started airing, though I'm not quite sure which Japanese tv station aired it. Actually, a really really die-hard Maki Murakami fan would say that Gravitation wouldn't exist if Help! did not exist. But this review isn't about Help! I don't even know where I could get my hands on a copy of Help!

Aaaaaanyway, after years and years and years of grovelling and digging and crying my eyes out for ~~lusting~~ wanting to have a copy of Gravitation, I finally managed to get fansubs! Yay! See, I got my hands on the OAV first before the series, which was just so wrong because i got tempted to watch it first. I succumbed into the temptation and told myself that i ABSOLUTELY HAD TO HAVE the series. And today, I finally finished getting them all. Hyep, all thirteen lovely episodes of Gravitation.

Anyway, enough about how I got my ~~greedy~~ hands on Gravi. Let's head on for the review! yay! First off, I shall state at this point that I am extremely attatched to Shuichi Shindo and Sakuma Ryuichi, and I'll try my best not to be biased. :D

Gravitation is all about this 18-year old pocky-overdosed pink-haired purple-eyed shounen called Shuichi Shindou. It's always been his dream to become like his idol, Sakuma Ryuichi, the vocalist of Nittle Graspers. So during his High School days, he formed Bad Luck with his best friend, Hiroshi Nakano (who, from this point onwards shall be called Hiro, the only other character you'd never expect to be horrifyingly uke OxO) and later on, joined by Fujisaki Suguru. Bad Luck is under the care of Sakano-san and is part of NG Productions, which is owned by Seguchi Tohma (God ~~of Everything~~). The show actually centers it's very story on Shuichi's relationship with Yuki Eiri, the guy who ~~eternally has a stick shoved up his ass~~ has a lot of bad habits, treats Shuichi like he's an idiot (wait, Shuichi *is* an idiot..), has a super secret past, but he's really really nice inside. Deep, deep, *deep* inside. o__O; Almost all episodes have extremely cute sweet, cuddly and insanely funny romance scenes to the extent that Shuichi wears a dress. Honestly speaking, I cringed when i saw him in make up. *shudder* Where does the Graspers take part in this? Basically, they're there to give Bad Luck a) inspiration and b) competition. And it's just adorable that Ryuichi Sakuma-sama tells Shuichi to "shine", because "that is what a song is". Aww..

Anyway, over all, Gravitation is a fun anime to watch, especially if you're a sucker for fanservice. I mean, look at all those suggestive scenes in the middle of the episodes, the suggestive dialogue, the almost all-male cast!! There are only three females that played somewhat big parts in the series (Mika Seguchi, Noriko Ukai and Ayaka Usami.. or whatever her last name is).

The quality of the animation is really good. It's smooth and most of the time constant. There were only certain scenes that some characters looked god-awful. One bad point though, is that they sort of recycle clips of The Rage Beat. At first, I thought you'd never get tired of Gravi songs. I was wrong. That's another point for Gravitation. The music, may they be the songs or BGM, are absolutely wunnerful. <3 You have to love the songs. The songs are all upbeat and very coolies. Though you really do have to admit that The Rage Beat sort of gets to your nerves because of too much air time. The opening and ending themes are wonderful, although they could have made a better animation for them. Also, in the span of 13 episodes, it's got good character developments. From being dependent, genki, stupid and idiotic, Shuichi became determined, genki, stupid and not-so idiotic anymore. ^^ Or maybe he just went from straight to gay, but who cares about that. xD Anyway, the character developments fit the 13 episode limit, and the characters did show maturity, one way or another. Plot development, however, was somehow muddled. From what seemed to be just a small time band making it into bigger audiences to just developing the relationship between Shuichi and Yuki. Whichever the plot was, I think both were underdeveloped.

All in all, I give Gravitation an 8/10. It's got lots of good points and it's share of bad points. And I reccommend you watch it, even if the series *is* quite old.

Gravitation - OAV
Released in 1999, the OAV had different animators and the rest of the old crew. The story still revolves around Shuichi and Yuki, or maybe more on Shuichi's obsession to get Yuki to notice him. The basic story is that Yuki has been ignoring Shuichi as of late. Also, the Tokyo Bay Music Fest is coming up, and that Tohma Seguchi has something in store for Nittle Graspers, the band representing Japan in the Music Fest. Turns out that Yuki Eiri was writing a song for them. This breaks Shuichi's heart and goes back to his home. In the end, Ryuichi was able to lift Shuichi's spirits and ~~Kumagoro Beamed him~~ gave him tickest to the Music Fest. Somehow, it ends happily ever after where it is implied that Yuki and Shuichi made happy sweet love. So much for plot.

As for animation, it sucked. Colors, lines and the whole quality sucked major ass. There were also some inconsistencies in the flashbacks, such as that time where Shuichi first met Yuki. It wasn't in some dark alleyway. It was in some pathway in a park. Or at least, it looked like a park to me. Also, when Shuichi wasn't able to sing because he saw Yuki in the crowd and was simply dumbstruck. It was during their opening act for ASK in Zepp Tokyo, not somewhere else.

Blah. It really really sucked. So the songs were good. So what? It's just sooo darn sucky compared to the series. The story wasn't even as good as the series. The colors were screwed, Fujisaki looked like a girl, Noriko didn't have purple hair, eyecolors weren't right, everything was just so wrong.

I give this OAV a 4/10. Maybe if you have tolerance for sucky quality animations with sucky quality plot you can watch this. I don't really reccommend it.

==

And there you go! A review! Yay! ^^ Now Rika shall go back programming in Java.

Anime Bitching: Rurouni Kenshin = Crap on a Stick?!

2004-09-22T19:30:00.000+08:00

Admit it. Even if you say you're sick and tired of the never-ending re-runs of Rurouni Kenshin (Samurai X) when you watch it and it happened to be one of his kick-ass fights (which is anything along and after the Raijuta episodes) you'll b watching it again and singing its catchy ending theme. Even if it was just for one episode. Still.

But what's there to bitch about? We all know that Rurouni Kenshin is a tried and tested title. It hanged along the walls of Dragon Ball, Sailormoon and Gundam as one of the best and much influencial anime titles out there. But what exactly is there to bitch about?!

Well... In episodes 28 (which is the ned of season 1) to 31 is probably one of the best episodes, based on how far I'm watching the re-runs in AXN, art-wise. The fluid and the OMFG-ness of Saitou and Kenshin's fight was simply: "OMFG!!1!"The animation was fluid, the music was beautiful and the both Kenshin and saitou looked EXTREMELY HOT during the fight and the said epside on general. And the Kenshin and Kaoru is one of the best HET moments in the series. =)

But what the HELL happened after the said episodes?! Rurouni went back to its under-budget look. Bah. Big eyes, crappy "effects" used to make the production people's laziness O_O Crap on a stick. That's what it was.

BAH.

kangersJpop Review by Kang #8

2004-09-13T13:37:00.000+08:00

Just to keep this sugoi anime review blog alive, I bring to you reviews on the two major tracks in BoA's latest Japanese release, plus downloads! (because I have too much time on my hands -.-)

Quincy + Kono yo no Shirushi // BoA

Album Title : Quincy / Kono yo no Shirushi ( Japan version )
Release Date : Sept. 01, 2004
Track Listing :

Quincy
Kono yo no Shirushi
Quincy ( Instrumental )
Kono yo no Shirushi ( Instrumental )

Track 01 : Quincy

>> Yay for r&b disco! Got instantly addicted to this song the first time I heard it. You can't imagine how frustrated I was when this song got stuck in my head & I couldn't find the lyrics to it! Anyways, "Quincy" is the upbeat side of this release. And being r&b disco, expect it to be fun, danceable & just plain catchy!

>> Download track here. *down*

>> Click here to view the lyrics.

Track 02 : Kono yo no Shirushi

>> This song is uber pretty :3 Lullaby-ish to an extent. Not enough to put you to sleep at least. My fondess for the chorus isn't really as much as my fondness for the rest of the song but hey. All in all it's a good track. Very realaxing & refreshing.

>> Download track here. *down*

>> Click here to view the lyrics.

Review? What Review?

2004-08-29T00:20:00.000+08:00

Since people like stealing (borrowing) my Wolf's Rain and I couldn't supply you with the proper Wolf's Rain reviews, I'm going to stop @_@ But I'm going to review and bitch about something else. =) Im not sure what, but expect a weekly bitching from me. =)

~Creole (misses her WR series)

Jpop Review by Kang#7

2004-07-24T15:41:00.001+08:00

The jpop princess has returned. You may now bow at will. Eep! *dodges rotten veggies*

Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro // Hikaru Utada

I downloaded this song on one of my mwahahah-watch-me-hoarde-mp3s-like-there's-no-tomorrow sessions & yeah, I didn't get to appreciate it that much. Then one day I was in the mood for a Hikaru Utada marathon & fwee. I fell in love with it. <3 As usual, pretty vocals from Hikki. I heart the arrangement. It's a little sad, almost depressing, but lovely nonetheless.

Clickie here for the lyrics. I'm in a hurry. x3

Kyou Kara Maou ep 3

2004-07-04T22:01:00.000+08:00

Wolfram and Yuuri play horsie. I mean, ride on a horsie. Peh. Me and my fantasies.

Yeah. Wolfy and Yuuri ride a horse to save the day! Or not. It depends on how you see, it really. Mr. Football Player, Adalbert, who I sort of "forgot" during the first episode, makes a come back. Here's how his scene goes:

Adalbert: Come with me to the dark side...
Yuuri: Never!
Wolfy: But you have to. You'll be the damsel in distress and I'll be the prince who saves your ass.
Yuuri: Reeally? Wai! Okay! I'll join you, Adalbert!
Adalbert: You're an idiot. I have to kill you for that.

Yep. In a nutshell, that's what happened. I want to poke Konrad's eyes for hugging Yuuri though. -___-;; Pah, I'm just a widdle jealous cause Konrad's gone all huggy wuggy with Yuuri and Wolfy hasn't. Aaah.. But I *like* the sexual tension between Yuuri and Wolfy! I even made a fic about them!!

But anyways, none of that neemore. I must concentrate on teh review. I think this is the first episode Wolfy called Yuuri 'henachoko'.. I think. I'm not sure. I was too busy watching Wolfy's purtee eyesness the last episode to notice. ^^;;

Oh, I noticed that Yuuri's hair seemed puffier this episode. And he displays more of his tasteless humor. >.> What is it with Yuuri and his sense of humor? Can't he say something funny? Wait. He does. But they're not even jokes!! >.<

The strangest things happen to Yuuri.. I mean, first he gets flushed down a toilet, and now he gets sucked into this indoor waterfall of sorts.. Oh, and he hasn't changed underwear yet. He's still wearing those thongs Konrad and Gunther gave him in episode two. Eeeeeeeeew.

Kyou Kara Maou ep 2

2004-06-29T07:31:00.000+08:00

Whee~ ^^; I'm back. For those interested, Jem and I brainstormed on the soon-to-be yaoi site of ours, and we kinda decided it to be Lemon Strings. ^^ Watch out for it.

Moving on to the Kyou Kara Maou review~~

Whee! Bathtime! Fanservice on the second episode! Whee! Half-naked Yuuri~~ *does a happy dance*

Oh~ Oh~ Oh~~ I found out that there is no manga for Kyou Kara Maou, but there IS a novel for it, and some illustrations by a BL game/doujinshi artist.. Hmm.. Will post up more info on that later on.

Gunther proves that he's as much as a perv as most of us fangirls are. Impure thoughts.. xD We all know what those thoughts are *wink wink* But you ahve to admit, he's just so adorable when he's mooning about Yuuri. And Conrad/Konrad [I have no Idea how to spell his name correctly] really does seem the father figure for Yuuri.. Especially at the baseball scene.

Wait. I skipped a super duper important part.

Did you know that slapping people on their left cheeks is a wedding proposal? Which is what Yuuri did to Wolfram at dinner. ^o^ But then he didn't know that it was a marriage proposal and refused to take the slap back. And Wolfy's mom, the "sexy queen-san" Yuuri met earlier in the bath, happily agreed and accepted the proposal. Aww.. Doesn't that make us all happy? *fangirl squeal of joy*

But then Yuuri picks up the knife that Wolfy "accidentally dropped" meaning Yuuri's accepted a challenge from Wolfy. Aww.. Yuuri just proposed to the guy and now they're in their first Lovers Quarrel?

*slaps self* bah! What am i saying?!

Anyways, that night, Yuuri and Conrad play a little game of catch, where Yuuri finds out that all his name torments came from Conrad and his great idea that Yuuri was July in German or soemthing.

The next day, Yuuri teaches Wolfy how to play sumo. Half-naked. But Wolfy didn't want to take his clothes off, the shy cutie. Anyways, Wolfy ends up getting his but kicked.. Um, but technically he lands on his butt after a scolding from Maou!Yuuri and his water serpents. I *like* water serpents.

will you guys just stop and listen to me for a moment?

2004-06-28T07:27:00.000+08:00

oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!

screw you if you think using the name of god in such a way is damnable...

@.@ i am so freaking high on yaoi goodness right now curtesy of roo-too-good-to-be-true-sama... roo by the way is probably one of the best yaoi writers out there... am not lying... she's really one heck of a kick-ass yaoi person lady...

anywaaaaaaaaaay!!!

a big chunk of the yorokonde staff is a yaoi sympathizer if not a yaoi lover... and most of us read and write yaoi stuff anyway... so... i was kinda thinking...

why dont we put up our own yaoi site thing...?

it would have yaoi fics of all shapes and sizes... yaoi fanart courtesy of rika, the lithium girl, jessica and kang! forget about my drawings... you might drop dead... lol

what do you guys think?

oh and if anyone asks?

this is all roo-sama's fault

ja ne~~~

oh yeah... almost forgot... :P dont hesitate to hit me back with anything with regards to this post okieee?

Kyou Kara Maou ep 1

2004-06-21T12:08:00.000+08:00

Oooooh-kaaaaaaaaaaaayy.... I'm back with a review!! ^^ *cheers*

Recently, I've gotten myself BitTorrent, 'cause I've been downloading scans from HemuLoki Scans through their torrent files.. and then a friend of mine suggested I should watch Kyou Kara Maou.. So I did a little research on it on the web, and look! Fansubs! I was so happy and started to download them. Thank you very much, DSL. ^^ After downloading eps 1-3, I started watching and boy was it fun!! xD I fell in love with the series~ ^o^ So here I am, doing reviews for it~

Okay, so we have here this normal shounen, whose name is Yuuri Shibuya, in this very cliche scene: watching the baseball team play/practice at the end of the day. Next thing you know he's fending off bullies who's picking on the resident ~~smart-ass~~ straight-A student, complete with glasses and messy hair, mind. You'd think the ~~smart-ass~~ highly intelligent classmate would back Yuuri up, but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, he chickens out and runs away from the fight, leaving Yuuri alone and gets beat up by the bullies. He goes home battere dand bruised and.. Wait, wrong series.

Yuuri gets flushed down the toilet. In the female's public urinal. Near the park. Yep. You read right. He got flushed down the toilet. Like those dead goldfishies. If you think about it, it's impossible. But not for this anime. Cliche? No, i dont think so. I wonder.. Is Yuuri a goldfish? O_o

Anyways, the animation ish coooooool. Its gots smooth coloring, pretty eyes, and not to mention, winged skeletons~ Go winged skeletons!! xD The art is very good, though for some reason, there are those times that I think Gonzo did some of them.. Not sure. I dont exactly pay much attention to the credits...

The opening song is uber funkeh. The ending song ish lurvleh-- and the ending animations is just soooo adorable~~. They were both sung by The Stand Up, and they apparently love their guitar solos [in the full verions]. Might do a separate review for those later.

Anyways, back to the review. For a first episode, everything just goes too fast. Most of the major characters get introduced in the episode.. And believe it or not, Yuuri gets to meet this really really cute bishie. (Wolfram!! Marry me!!) Oh, and Yuuri and horses don't mix. And people might think that Conrad is Yuuri's real dad. Ch'yeah right.

Prince of Tennis Review

2004-06-12T06:42:00.000+08:00

Prince of Tennis started out as a manga publish by Shounen Jump/Jump Comics *dont you just love the name?* followed by the anime series that followed the manga closely. Later on Prince of Tennis GAMES were developed and released for the adoring public of POT and gamers to enjoy.

But I am here to write about the series and write about it I shall. Should you need further information on the manga and the games google it up or something. :P

Prince of Tennis or otherwise known as Tennis no Ouji-sama or Teni Puri basically focuses on the story of 12-year old freshman tennis genius Ryoma Echizen and his life as part of the SEIGAKU tennis club and their troublesome journey towards the Nationals.

The anime is very well put together. The drawing styles are consistent throughout the series and does not morph into these ugly bits of colored silhouettes holding tennis rackets at the climax of a tennis match. Speaking of morphing, there's this episode in the series that features all the characters found in POT in SD form! :P I turned to mush at the sight of the Seigaku Tennis Club flooded in SD cuteness... *ahem* Vital scenes like tennis matches, injuries, super tennis moves and the likes are all drawn with utmost style that it makes you really look forward to who's going to win and what that move is called or make you gasp from the injury acquired.

The series also features an insane amount of bishounens that makes it quite hard for one to look away even if it's just the ending song running. Needless to say I've fallen in love with almost all of the characters in POT but my loyalty lies on Ryoma-kun, Tezuka-sama, Momo-chan-senpai, Kikumaru-chan and Fuji-samaaaaaaa! Okay, okay that's practically the whole team but I can't help it! They're all insanely cute and their personalities are just to die for.

PoT can be watched by everyone from tennis enthusiasts to people who have no idea how to hit a tennis ball to the otherside of the net. It is comical, fun and actionpacked. I would recommend this to anyone who would want to watch a decent sport-related anime anytime.

~end~

Jpop Review by Kang#6

2004-06-09T10:36:00.000+08:00

Nobody's currently doing a review on the series so might as well review the music...

Kindan no Panse - Silent Mobius Opening Song

Waaah. Animelyrics doesn't have the artist listed... Ah well. 'Kindan no Panse' is a fitting opening song. It has that opening song mood, as I'd like to put it. The song kicks off with creepy-sounding organs (very much like Kurapica's 'Inori') then it picks up the pace after the first stanza. Sweet electric guitar instrumental in the middle. All in all, a pretty good song.

Oh & the English translation is just amazing, so I'll post it as I found it. Translation is italicized, doi. >3

And yeah, 'Kindan no Panse' means 'Forbidden Thoughts', which I think is an awesome title for a sexual tension fic. Heehee.

Kindan no Panse
Opening Song
Silent Mobius

hito ha dare mo umareta imi o sagashite toki o samayou no
wasurenai de futatsu no tsuki ga kasanari au toki o...
People wander when they search
for the reason they were born
Don't forget when the
two moons overlap each other.

Ah kimi ha kaze no naka aozameta rakuen o toki hanashi
kimi ha miokuru yo kegarenaki ano hibi no omoide o
Ah, you release a blueish paradise in the wind
And you see off the memories of those days without getting dirty

amai doku ni sasoware
atsui tsumi o okashite
toki no ame ni utarete kimi ha mezameru
Being invited by a sweet poison,
You commit a deep crime
Being struck by the rain of the moment
You wake up

* kindan no PENSE
aisuru imi o sagashite daremo kizutsuku no
namae mo naki da tenshitachi yo
inoru you ni odore
unmei no PENSE
namida no naka de kimi ha umare kawaru
kitto ai o dakishime tsuyokunareru...
* Forbidden thoughts
When he looks for the meaning he loves
Everybody gets hurt.
Fallen angels without even a name
Dance as if you were praying
Fateful thoughts
You are reborn inside your tears
Surely, you can get stronger by embracing love

Ah kimi ha yume no naka taikutsu na shiawase ni tsukare hate
kimi ha tanoshi muyo zeitaku na kanashimi no uragiri o
Ah, in your dreams, you've got tired out in your tedious happiness
And you enjoy the betrayal of your wild sadness

hoshi no kakera atsumete
akai hana o chirashite
mune ni toge o umete kimi ha hohoemu
By carrying fragments of stars
And scattering red flowers
And putting a thorn in your heart,
You smile.

seijuku no PENSE
umareta imi o sagashite daremo tabidatsu no
namae mo naki da tenshitachi yo
inoru you ni nemure
unmei no PENSE
haruka na michi o kimi ha arukidaseru
daremo shiranai mirai tsukuru tame ni...
Prudent thoughts
When he looks for the meaning of his birth
Everybody begins a trip
Fallens angels without even a name
Sleep as if you were praying
Fateful thoughts
You can begin to walk on a distant road
So that you can create a future that nobody will know

* repeat
* repeat

o As usual, lyrics stolen here.

Prince of Tennis

2004-06-07T23:02:00.000+08:00

now you guys listen to me. i havent seen the whole series but i will not write a review of prince of tennis per episode! this is going to be a one-shot thing if not done in multiple parts due to writer's block and miscellaneous/anonymous reasons...

i believe nobody has taken claim over prince of tennis... so if there are no violent reactions whatsoever from the readers, other reviewers and whoever you are... i shall put up my review the next time i go online.

advert: you can go see prince of tennis here in my house but i only have episodes 1 up to 115. feel free to ask me about viewing this certain series or any other series that is par of my euh... anime collection?...

ja

Swords and zombies mix VERY well...

2004-06-07T06:06:00.000+08:00

...Especially when releasing agression. Expecting another Anime Review? Too bad. I review games, dammit. That's why I'm the game reviewer. Unless I feel otherwise. Unfortunately, I do not watch TV on a regular basis. And I do not have the funds to sustain Anime-ishness with VCDs... So I'm stuck reviewing games. Ha.

Onimusha3
Capcom
PS2
First off, this game has actual actors... well, not actual, but character models based on actors. We have Kaneshiro Takeshi or something, as the main hero, who comes back from Onimusha 1, as Onimusha 2's hero died, And Jean Reno, that french guy from Hollywood, (but for some reason I only remember him from Godzilla) as Jacques Blanc, the second hero to this game.
On the gameplay, Does having two switch between two characters affect playing style? None. You just either enjoy yourself using swords and kick arse as Samanosuke, or lash around with whips, castlevania style, throwing/whipping/shooting monsters right and left. Yes people, There is a gun in this Onimusha. Sounding like resident evil already? Puzzle wise, it is... but there is a very resident evil-ish sequence when you run around with a rifle using the third character...
Coming back to this game of course, is the Onimusha transformation, which some purists consider as a 'Devil Trigger ripoff' but then, DMC isn't really that much fun. It's more of a shoot-em-up with the devil trigger thrown in to make it even easier. In Onimusha however, the Oni form is nowhere as all-pwerful.. you're given set invincibilty, but for about seven, eight seconds tops. Less if you use magic. But you deal damage like no one's business.
On the game itself, The in-game puzzles are difficult, but nowhere near the RE series, where if you forget an item, you trek backwards for miles.. This game also boasts that you also require some skill; unlike other games where you can mash the slash button and kick arse, this one enforces that you learn it's skills, such as the issen (attacking at the exact moment as your opponent-critical blow.) hajiki issen (blocking, THEN attacking, but only at the exact moment of your opponent's attack) chain-issen (critical blow.. followed by several more to the surrounding enemies. Don't worry, a critical blow is an instant kill.) at least several more skills that simply require practice, and actually making use of the block button. In other words, this game may seem deathly hard to a newbie, but stick with it, and you won't stop until you unlock everything... or at least, Samanosuke's panda costume.
VISUALS:
FMV:excellent, FF-worthy.. I mistook this for an actual movie first time I saw it. NO kidding. ^^ The opening movie is a must-see. Will post alink to the trailer when I find one. 10
in-game:Fluid, and makes very good use of the PS2 processor. And the combos never get repetitive. You can always mix the moves on the fly, going from the Tenso's light sword combo to the Chigo's Magnum Break-looking fire explosion. Plus, no break-up whatsoever. An Opponent may occasionally go through a wall though. 8.5
SOUND:
Background Music: Pretty good, But nowhere near Tenchu. 8.5
Voices: Ehh.. I suffer. The english cast is pretty good, but I get thrown off by the fact that the character mouths aren't in synch. I prefer the Japanese version. 9
Effects: bones breaking as you kick an opponent into a wall, the whip cracking as it hacks into opponents, metal on metal, and that loving squelch when you stab an opponent into the floor. 10
STORY: Most people will feel this is incomplete, but this is part three in a trilogy, dammit. go play Onimusha 1 and 2 before you complain about the story. Me, I give it a 10.

Overall:9 or 10-ish. Just play the damned game if you can. If you find it too hard, go play SSX tricky instead, or something. Hell, Shinobi was hell of a lot harder than this.. Want to play on easy mode in Onimusha3? Die twice in a row. this automatically unlocks easy mode, since the game pities you.

Don't like my review? Too bad. :p

if you wonder why I take so damned long between reviews, ir's because I spend time playing the game again and again.. I don't get paid like they do at EGM.. and I don't have my own PS2.. *sob*

***half an hour later***
Gee. NOW I find it. http://www.gametrailers.com/gt_vault/t_onimusha3_4.html
You can download the trailer here. The trailer only, though.. haven't seen if they have any of the in-game movies.. It am downloading as I type.. My connection is slow. >.<

smoosh.

2004-06-02T14:25:00.000+08:00

Oh nothing. Just thought i'd be the 101st post. XD

Jpop Review by Kang #5

2004-05-30T19:37:00.000+08:00

YAY! 100th POST!! x3 HAPPY... ehr... 100th YOROKONDE POST TO YOU ALL! x3

GetBackers Image Song Review

(Just 2 songs though. I couldn't get my hands on the rest. ;_;)

Kaku (Core) - MakubeX image song
If you're looking for an unbiased review of this song, it ain't here. >D This one's performed by MakubeX's seiyuu, Mitsuki Saiga. Emi's comment on this one? "Face it, Kang. Mitsuki Saiga can't sing." And she's kinda right. The vocals are a little stiff, if you know what I mean. But melody-wise, it's actually kind of beautiful. Very, very sad & depressing. If you pay attention to the BGM during some parts of the series, you'll hear the intro to 'Kaku' minus the percussions. =3

Kaku (Core)
GetBackers
MakubeX image song
by Mitsuki Saiga

kimi wa mada nannimo shiranai ne
sekai ni wa imi nado nai koto wo

bokura wa maboroshi nano sa toki no hazumi
shounen shitte mise youka
kimi wo kesou...

bokudake ga mitsukeru sono imi wo
sono tame ni subette wo kesanakucha

itami wo kanjitteru no wa bokura no hou ne
katachi ga aru to wakaranai nani hitotsu
passing away kokoro to
passing away maboroshi....

horobi yo hikari wo mattou toki no hazumi
shounen shitte miseyouka
boku wo kesou...

--o---

Beast Master - Shido Fuyuki image song
No offense to Shido fans. I mean, I have nothing against Shido but his image song is a little, ehr...traumatizing. The arrangement of the instruments make it sound like it could've been a random insert song on a Japanese Tarzan flick. And Shido going 'Ooooooh' practically before every line doesn't exactly help. But Shido's seiyuu, Takanori Hoshino, has a pretty decent bishie voice. No problem there. So it's basically the arrangement that makes this song sound cringe-worthy. But otherwise, it's a must download for Shido fans. ^^V

Beast Master
Get Backers
Shido Fuyuki image song
by Takanori Hoshino

ohhhhhhhhh.....

ten to chi ga kono machi no yatsura wo saku
kogare na fune tsuranukeru mono nado nai

yasei ni seigi mo aku mo nai
seigon sore ga subette sa

ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
sono sakebi ga mariyuudo (malnde) no shi wo yobuze
ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
ore no me ni tatsu no wa omaeda

mamoru mono ga aru koto osoretta hibi
ima wa chigau, mamorittai shirabe ga aru
irojiro seikaijyuu subette sae
shiranai kono machi no mune

ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
kuware te shimaeba esa nante komaranai sa
ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
sakebi agero sono kiba wo misero

ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
sono sakei ga mariyuudo (malnde) no shi wo yobuze
ohhhhhhhhh.....(2x)
ore no mae ni tatsu no wa omaeda!

o Thanks to http://www.kickme.to/mugenjou/ for the lyrics. Don't you just ~love~ the url? x3

Jpop Review by Kang #4

2004-05-30T18:44:00.000+08:00

Rika asked for stuffage. Here it comes. Abunai!! >3

First Priority - Melocure

I can practically see the WTF expressions on your faces as I type this review. Heheh. Yes, it's a review of Stratos 4's opening song. Well the series may not appear to be as review-worthy as the other Animax shows we've covered. But hey, it's got good, review-worthy music, so enough with the drabble. Here it is.

As previously mentioned, 'First Priority' is the opening song for Stratos 4. It's nice, mellow pop with pretty vocals done by Melocure (Okazaki Ritsuko & Hinata Megumi). Lovely melody, lovely blending. And for it to be review-worthy in my book, it has to be addicting! And 'First Priority' is definitely in that category. ^^V

First Priority
Stratos 4
Opening Song
by Melocure (Okazaki Ritsuko & Hinata Megumi)

dare ni mo makenai omoi, dake naraba
sono uchi uso ni naru akogare no mama de

yokubou zetsubou tsuyokute yowai watashi
kono POJISHON (idokoro) ni zutto amaeteta

te wo nobaseba todoku kamo
toosugita sora ni ichi MIRI no yuuki
mou nigenai to kimeta

* So on! ichido shikanai jinsei dakara!
nani ge ni fuan dakedo...
IMA (saisho) wa omoi komi demo hajimereba ii
kekka all right!

akumade KUURU ni, kimi wa bunseki ka
tashika ni itsudatte KANARI tadashii kedo

suki toka kirai ni riyuu wo motomenai de
kono kimochi kurai jibun demo wakaru

gyakuten no CHANSU saigo no ichi BYOU made
ROSUTAIMU wa tsudzuku

Believe me! hitori shika inai unmei no hito
you're my 1st priority dakara
sukoshi toomawari demo
kore ga watashi no TAIMINGU

Believe me! mienakutatte iwanakutatte
you're my 1st priority dakara
sukoshi toomawari demo
kore ga watashi no TAIMINGU

* Repeat
* Repeat

o Lyrics nabbed from Animelyrics.
o PLUG ALERT! You can download 'First Priority' & requested songs over at Asphyxia on the first week of June. *dodges flying anti-plugger veggies*

Get Backers: Temporary Hiatus

2004-05-27T23:04:00.000+08:00

Er, yeah. Until I get a nicer viewing schedule and/or I get a copy of it. That, and I need to get my inspiration to write back. So until then, or Kang or some other person decides to continue wehre I left off, there shall be no Get Backers reviews.

Get Backers episode 43

2004-05-25T12:12:00.000+08:00

MakubeX was KIDNAPPED?!?! Uryou is hotness, Kanou is cuteness[see my blog for claiming.], but I guess they're on the baddie side. Was it just me, or did Ginji's neck stretch three inches? o.0 The animation was kinda off on today's episode.. Everyone looked like they went through some psycho-plastic surgery. Whoa, a tatoo that can burn you inside out.. I'd like to learn that, please! ^^

Get Backers ep 42

2004-05-22T22:05:00.000+08:00

Whoa, we're kinda getting episodes that look into the past of characters? Nyaa.. Today's person is Pore/Paul/Pooru/However you spell his name. Let's stick with Paul, cause it sounds and looks like a decent name.

Okay, we learn that Paul came from some retreival team of three people. One of his old partners, the leader of said retreival team, comes to Honky Tonky, and thus our adventure starts. We find out that the leader, Azuma, was supposedly dead, but had survived somehow. The third member of their retreival team had betrayed them on their last mission(to get back a vase) and was now, thanks to plastic surgery, a political figure connected to the Japanese Mafia. So Azuma and Paul seek the help of Ban and Ginji to get to their traitor-slash-former-teammate's place and get the vase their traitor-slash-former-teammate took. Actually, I dunno why they had to seek help from Ban&Ginji.. they could've done everything on their own.. o.0 Anyways, I don't remember exactly how the ordeal went through, except Ban used his Evil Eye on the traitor-slash-former-teammate and then they all lived happily ever after...

What struck me most was the last few minutes of the show where Paul said that not everything lasts and that Ban and Ginji should enjoy their partnership before their parting comes.. Aww.. And then we see Ban and Ginji fighting for a slice of pizza. o.0

Get Backers ep 41

2004-05-20T21:37:00.000+08:00

Today's episode's highlight is Hevn! We finally know something about Hevn's past.

At first, we all thought it was just some normal National Secret got stolen mission, but noooo, something had to happen. We find Hevn in her super serious "I gotta do this on my own" mood, so she cancels the job she gave Ban and Ginji so she can go on her own. Oh, and she gives Ban and Ginji some of her own money to compensate for what they've already done. So there. Hevn goes off on her own, buys herself some k3wl spygear, oh, she drives a motor bike! Kakkoi~ She looks good in espionage gear, yes she is. Turns out Hevn has some cutesy lover way back. Oooooh, the conflict... Hevn vs her past lover?! Yikes..

Get Backers ep 40

2004-05-19T21:18:00.000+08:00

Wacky, wacky episode again~ Monkeys = Evil! Monkeys are mean, vicious and always hungry. Poor Ban and Ginji.. always being picked on by those evil monkeys in the hot springs..

Ooh, Shido becomes the leader of the Evil Monkeys!! *gasp* And he's mean to Madoka's cooking.. Poor Madoka.. Rawr! Evil.. And because of that, he goes on a "Drive the Humans Away" spree wiff his hoarde of evil monkeys. Ban and Ginji try to stop them but.. *sigh* The scenes were so horrible, the animators didn't bother to animate it. Ban, Ginji and Shido all ended up in some Wild Animal protection agency or something.. o.0

Wolf's Rain Episode 4: "The Scar of the Wilderness"

2004-05-19T20:27:00.000+08:00

Ok, this episode proves two or more things ^^ One, Wolf's Rain does not only excel in photo-realistic animals but also they are great designers of mechs! And~ they also throw one hell of a fan service!! XD Hail BONES!! XD

This is one of my favorite episodes, so that means there must be a hint of shounen-ai/yaoi ne? ^^ Don't worry, nothing to squick you or anything.. =3

Ok, back to the great mech design. Wolf's Rain features classic anime battleships, not the ones we see in Vandread or the like but more like the ship of the bad guys from Voltes V or summat ^^ Except less buggy. Now the robot featured in this episode (who caused soo much pain for my tsume-chan) looks like those blue things from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. BONES managed to justify the physics behind the robot so is movement wont make a mech-crazy fan jump and say "WTF?! That thing can't do that!!" =P Im not a mech fan BTW ^^

Very slight character development in Hige, Kiba and Toboe's case. Tsume however gains heart after a rather touching scene. Aha! Those are friends in your face, man! *hugs Tsume*

Now there is this smudge of a development in terms of the Book of the Moon (which i carelessly forgot to put it >_>). And ohhh~ sparks fly between Cher and Hubb (<3's the two)

So far so good =3 Hmmm.. maybe i understated it... <3's this episode!!! XD

Wolf's Rain Episode 3: "Bad Fellow"

2004-05-19T20:12:00.000+08:00

Long time no post ne? Well, 'tish my cousin's fault because she keeps on forgetting to give me back my Wolf's Rain videos. Bah. Anyway, back to the review! XD

The episode is like an animated wolfy telenovela. Both Tsume and Toboe have issues and no one hasn't recovered from the previous episode's shock.

Well, in terms of character development, wolf's rain is going good so far. We learn more about them, not in the background/ history sense but more of how they think and react to things. Soon enough you'll see the pack will have a more 3d character thing going on than your usual 4-bishie formula, which I think I mentioned earlier.

You'll see sparks as both of the strongest wolves (Kiba and Tsume) glare at each other fighting for dominance or the title of alpha male. Well, they're all males ne? But someone has to lead them. ^^

So far, wolf's rain is a good anime. Actually its one of my favorites and that is why I'm giving ou this review. To make you see why I like it ^^ Well, if you can't take mah word for it, you just have to watch it ne? =)

Get Backers episode 39

2004-05-19T00:54:00.000+08:00

Wacky, wacky epi. But I don't think anyone's complaining. xD

Starts off with our beloved Ginji falling off a builiding trying to chase a ~~runaway~~ free-falling rice ball. Don't ask. And nope, he does not perform elaborate acrobatic stunts to break his fall. Anyways, poor Ginji-kun ends up in the hospital. The whole cast pays him a visit & things get a little ehr... funky. ^^;;

The evil head nurse has been taking the nurses' rabu letters! Hidoi! >.> And it's Ban vs Shido once again! Whoever doesn't complete the job gives up being a GetBacker! What? Hundred Beast Cat Mimicry has been countered??! And Ban gets a taste of his own Jagan/Evil Eye! Hwai! x3

Meanwhile... ~~it's Ginji/Himiko all the way baby~~ Himiko keeps Ginji company. And gets to feed apples to Tare!Ginji, the lucky girl. <3 But keep those apple peelings off the floor! Accidents happen & people can get dirty-minded... =P

Oh look! Kadsuki's here! *faints* Evil head nurse spots him helping out patients & eh?? Kadsuki in a nurse outfit?? 0.0 No complaints here, m'friend. I just wish I had his waistline though... *sigh*

Jubei is caught in a stampede of patients! Lucky doctor gets to use a stethoscope on a shirtless Jubei. Our hot bishie gets a headlock for throwing a fit over a camera capsule or whatever it's called. *kicks doctor & male nurse*

Evil head nurse gets to feel the warmth of a man's chest for the first time. And it just had to be Shido, hadn't it? xD Ooh... raburabu everywhere! *Kang gets severely beaten up by Shido fans*

And let's not forget those adorable Tare!Ginji moments, mew! =3 Hyep. So all in all it's one kewl episode. My job here is done. ^^

...

Akabane-sama! I want apples too~o! ^o^

o ~~Overhauled~~ Edited by Kang. ^o^v

Get Backers ep 38

2004-05-17T20:47:00.000+08:00

Is it just me or does Shido look like... like... Damn, I forgot the name... It starts with 'S', i think, and he appears in RUrouni Kenshin a lot... The Shinsengumi guy.. o.0 Oh darn, I forgot.. What kind of Anime Fan am I?! *sobs* Oh, and then there's this guy who looks like Kikuchi from GTO wearing a chinese outfit... Seems like Shido and Madoka have a date *winkwink* but will Shido get to the "date" in time? Or will the Kikuchi looking guy stall him from getting there?

Puyo Pop Fever Review!

2004-05-15T20:17:00.001+08:00

Or rather, my pathetic attempt to make you buy this game. Rawr.

Wai, my first Yorokonde post! Since this review is way overdue, I figured I should make it a bit lengthy. And I'm warning you, it is quite a read. I've also noticed an extreme lack of video game reviews. I just had to remedy the situation, being a game whore and all. I wonder if anyone will bother reading this...?

And now for a bit of introduction.

Although I love playing RPGs in general, I always had a preference for puzzle and sim games. Sure, roleplaying games have a plot, character development and kewl skillz, but I always have to refer to walkthroughs whenever I'm stuck somewhere. That, and I find levelling-up to be very tedious work. These are some of the reasons why I tend to lose interest in RPGs fairly quickly. I also have an attention span akin to a fruit fly. Meep.

Puzzle games, on the other hand, are meant to be light-hearted, unadulterated fun. And Puyo Pop Fever directly falls into that category. So yeah, this game may not have an intricate plot or in-depth characters but it does the job of getting you entertained. Very fascinating.

To start off the actual review, PPF is a puzzle game for the PS2 console. Like Tetris in a way, only with less annoying background music and cutesy characters. ~~It has taken over my soul.~~ It's my newest obsession, actually. It's the good alternative for crack, I tell you!

Since I'm not used to explaining game mechanics without sounding completely stupid, I've provided a couple of links for your viewing convenience. Granted, I didn't put that much effort into compiling said links, but go click them anyway. Atleast you'll have an idea what I'm raving about. Moving on!

Hmm. As expected, PPF doesn't have much of a plot. I haven't finished the Wakuwaku and Harahara courses (<-- one-player modes) yet because I suck, so I can't contribute much. To progress to the next stage you have to beat up your opponent, basically. For some reason, there seems to be a "I CHALLENGE you! You can't pass until you DEFEAT me!!" thing going around.

Now that the game objectives and plot are out of the way, time for a bit of chara talk!

PPF's main character is Amitie, your typical genki girl trying to study magic. Er, she doesn't appeal to me much, but she's definitely main character material. I just prefer Raffine (<-- the obligatory rival) over her. The cast is nicely designed and the Japanese voiceovers are well-done as per usual. My favorite character is Arle, by the way~! The cuteness! Cute, cute, cute~! You should see her in action ("Ikimasu~! Ice Storm~! Yatta ne~! Matakyuu~~~"). Hyep, I use Arle all the time to DESTROY.

Oh, be still my inner Arle fangirl!

This game has a nice batch of characters to choose from, actually. I just love Arle so much that I tend to ignore them. They're all cute, nonetheless. The mascot-looking ones, especially. I still have to unlock Carbuncle (<-- Arle's dog, who reminds me of the San-X mascot, Purin.), though. Hmm. As for the music, it's cute, happy and really reflects the game well, in my opinion. Other than that, there's nothing uber-special about it.

PPF looks easy, happy and sparkly at first glance, but mastering the Fine Art of puyo-stacking is actually quite a challenge. I've only started getting the hang of things after, say, endless hours of playing. The practice paid off, though. My Arle can DESTROY my little brother's Onion Pixy. Yesss...

Overall, I highly recommend this game. Very, very addictive. I've managed to rack up hours without even realizing it! So if you can't seem to defeat any of the Aeons in FFX-2 (Chapter 3. Grrr. Yuna's a 100% White Mage. This shouldn't be happening! *ventvent*), consider giving this game a try!

And wai~! Arle is actually the main character of the previous Puyo Pop installments! Must get. Hmm. It's funny how much I worship Arle and completely ignore Amitie. These two are so much alike. Even their attacks and catch phrases are the same. Ah, well. Arle is cuter anyway. Sucks to be Amitie.

Ohhh! I've used the word 'cute' about eight times. It's definitely time to invest on a thesaurus. Go me!

The oh-so-relevant links:
01. Das official PPF site.
02. Review #1. Fwee.
03. Ah, look! A Review #2.
04. Why don't you check my search results? Or look it up on Google yourself?

...I'm just hoping SOMEONE ~~was converted~~ benefited from my article.

Get Backers ep 37

2004-05-14T21:03:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 37

Natsumi the Get Backer! Great display of Natsumi's super powers: Ping Pong Terror!! Kawaii~ Especially the part where Natsumi says "Did you have a nice dream?" xD Super-fun episode~ Guest starring the Ketsupuri-dan!! [those three idiot bad guys from RAVE ^^]

Jpop Review by Kang #3

2004-05-14T19:12:00.000+08:00

Jpop Review by Kang #3

Review for any Great Teacher Onizuka song requested by Miyu Hiwatari. And all I can say is... yorokonde! ^-^

Hitori no Yoru (2nd Opening Song)

Done by Porno Grafitti. By far, my favorite song from the series. I believe this song has the power to unleash your inner headbanger. Or at least, urges you to get the lyrics & memorize them so you could practice your Jrocker face whenever you hear it. xD Or is it just me? 0.o Anyways, it's fun, catchy & strangely addicting. ^-^

Hitori no Yoru
Great Teacher Onizuka
2nd Opening Song
by Porno Grafitti

Hyakuman nin no tame ni utawareta Love Song nanka ni
Boku wa kantan ni omoi wo kasane tariwashinai
"Koi se yo" to semeru kono machi no kihon kouzou wa
Easy love! easy come! easy go!

Souzou shite ita yori mo zutto mirai wa genjitsuteki dane
Kuruma mo shibaraku sora wo hashiru yotei mo nasasousa
Soshite kyou mo chikatetsu ni nori
Mukuchina tanin to machi ni okisari ne...

Dakara
Lonely lonely setsunakute kowaresouna yoru ni sae
Lonely lonely kimi dake wa original love wo tsuranuite
Ano hito dake kokoro no seikantai
Wasuretai ne...

Love me love me tsuyoku yowai kokoro
Kiss me kiss me aseru hitori no yoru

Maa! nante clear na oto de ohanashi dekiru ke-tai nan deshou
Kimi wa sore de juubun kai? denpa wa doko made demo todoku kedo
Soshite kyou mo timing dake hazusanai youni
Egao tsukutteru

Dakara
Lonely lonely amai amai melody ni yowasarete
Lonely lonely kuchizusamu itami no nai shareta story

Lonely lonely seiippai tsuyogatteru kimi no koto
Akkenaku mushi wo shite namida wa hoho ni nagareteta
Omoide dake kokoro no seikantai
Kanjichau ne...

Love me love me tsuyoku yowai kokoro
Kiss me kiss me aseru hitori no yoru

Dakara
Lonely lonely setsunakute kowaresouna yoru ni sae
Lonely lonely kimi dake wa original love wo tsuranuite

Lonely lonely aitakute kogoesouna mainichi ni
Kotoba ni dekinai koto wa muri ni shinai koto ni shita
Ano hito dake kokoro no seikantai
Wasuretai ne...

Love me love me tsuyoku yowai kokoro
Kiss me kiss me aseru hitori no yoru

o Lyrics stolen from Animelyrics.

Get Backers ep 36

2004-05-14T01:39:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 36

Ooooh, we find out more about Ban and Himiko's past! Kinda vague, though.. We still need to learn more about teh Last Children as of the moment. I support Himiko's cause for saving kidnapped babies!!

Get Backers ep 35

2004-05-13T15:36:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 35

Word for the episode: retribution. [note: the author does not know what that mean.]

Uh, actually, i have a vague idea of what it is. Ginji's flashbacks were sad. Does rain always do that to a person? It seems quite common in anime, though. Poor Ginji. This was a difficult task for him. Especially what their client wanted to get back... True, life is hard to get back once it's lost... And that's why Ginji was so determined in this episode... Ganbatte ne! Ginji-kun!

.hack//legend of the twilight bracelet ep 7 - Twilight Moon

2004-05-12T08:30:00.000+08:00

.hack//legend of the twilight bracelet ep 7 - Twilight Moon

kissu~ kissu~ kissu~ KISSU~ ^3^ Yesh, there was this teeny kissing scene in this episode, and you wouldn't guess who!!! xD I was so shocked, but then, it was those two, so I was kinda happy myself. ^^ Anyway, we find out a lot more today than any other episode! Rena's doing fine, Balmung and Sanjuuro tell Shuugo-tachi about the truth about the .hackers... Oh, and how could Reki betray Balmung, Shuugo and the rest after that kiss??? It's unfair!!! Kamui, you are so evil!!

Get Backers ep 34

2004-05-12T08:23:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 34

Oh no! Ginji and Ban aare fighting each other, and it seems they've broken up! Oh no! What are we going to do? Ban became the Protector of the Aztec Star, while Ginji was hired to Get back the Aztec Star!! They'll finish each other off! Waah! What's going to happen to the Get Backers now?

Just one minute....Did you have a nice dream? ^^

Get Backers ep 33

2004-05-10T21:15:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 33

x3 this is a fun episode wiff all emotions/actions/whatever mixed. Ban should practice his TV hosting abilities. xD And the trick with Akabane-sama was good! ^^ Tee hee! Anyways, I loved the illusion he created wiff the Venus de Milo~ xD 'twas fun! AH, Ginji~ ^^ Kawaii Ginji was thinking to save their boat, and accidentally threw off their cargo [both Aphrodite and the arms] into the sea. o.0 *pats Ginji* you were only trying to help~ It's okay.. Oh, and the sweetest thing happened to Hera-san. =^^= She *really* reminds me of Hevn.. o.0 But that's not the 'sweetest' thing. Kait and Hera-san got reunited, and Kait's probably going to be sent to a rehab to get better so he and Hera would live happily ever after. Oooohh~ MakubeX gets to appear, even just a teensy bit. And not to worry, Miroku fans! We'd get to see the Miroku brothers again soon! ^^

.hack//UdeDen ep 6 - Trouble at the Hot Springs

2004-05-09T17:30:00.000+08:00

.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet ep 6 - Trouble at the Hot Springs

Ahh, I'm not so sure about the title. ^^; Anyways, Where did Rena go? Shuugo-tachi look for Rena in teh Haunted mansion, but she's nowhere to be found! Oh, no! her ghost has disappeared, too! Poor Shuugo... Oh, but what's this? Shuugo gets an email with only an area name in it. Mireille suggests that it's a secret event! So, Shuugo-tachi go on to the area, "Grumpy Girl's Cooking Grill", if i remember correctly. ^^

Ah, and like any other anime, there's the obligatory Hot Springs episode. This has it, too! How lucky~ Oh, look! Rena's back! Wait, there's something wrong with this Rena.. It's not Rena at all! It's an old man disguising himself as Rena! Waah! Taihen da!!

What do those kids want? Where is Rena? When will the next .hack//UdeDen review be?!

2004-05-08T01:12:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 32

Oooh. Tish a very fun-filled episode, yes it is. Mafia Gunmen are defeated by Shido, Emishi, Ginji and Ban, but after that, Emishi and Shido are faced wiff Burning Dragon and Icy Tiger [Gee, what lame names -__-;]. yeah. So the four get separated, and worse, Ginji and Ban get separated, too! Ban warns Ginji about the Miroku Brothers, and i think i know why. Notice that you dont see both Yukihiko and Natsuhiko together physically, but you *know* they're together? We find out why. [No, I'm not spoiling you.] Ban faces Dr. Jackal as he comes out of the sewer/underground mine tunnel/whatever. Cool fight scenes, too. Anyways, Ginji sees Yuki, Yuki an' him talk, Then Natsu comes in and butts in teh conversation, yadda yadda. More cool fight scenes ensue. Anyways, yeah. Natsu is defeated, but Yuki isn't. He's created this nasty miniature black hole and is trying to suck Ginji in. Wait, that did NOT sound right. o.0 anyways, their fight is to be continued on teh next episode, so there. I noticed the fun fight scenes.

2004-05-06T21:40:00.000+08:00

Get backers ep 31

Ginji is OK! We find out who that painter guy is and what his relationship to the storyline is, too! Ban is OK too! Yay! Oh, and don't seriously think that a bunch of guys in black wiff big guns would defeat Ban, Ginji, Shido and Emishi. Geez, when do bad guys learn? *sigh* Oh, and our heroes get mixed up in a much, much more complicated job than they thought.

2004-05-06T16:48:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 30

Fwee~ Bishies just keep comin' out, myo.

So Ban did not get eaten by sharks, that's good, ne? ^^; Shido and Emishi ride dolphins to get to the ship! How adorable! xD Dr. Jackal is up to something, as usual. And it was sooo adorable when tare!ginji ate the ice cream Yukihiko gave him ^^ kawaii~ Oh, and I wonder who tat person who stopped Natsuhiko from slashing/killing Ginji was... Dr. Jackal perhaps?

2004-05-04T21:37:00.000+08:00

Get backers ep 29

Clay Man appears once more! Ain't she pretty? And what did the painter have to do wiff the rest of the series? We'll find out, for sure! One cute bishie spotted! ^^ Hevn gets jealous. Poor thing. Oh, and doesnt Hera remind you of Hevn? =^^= I wonder why...

Will the GetBackers win? Will Ban get a tan? Or will the Sharks get to him first? Find out on the next episode of Getbackers!

2004-05-04T14:37:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 28

Okay, if I'm right, This episode's teh one wiff Yuji and Midori. It's a bittersweet episode wiff two couples. A het and a homo. :D yeah. fangurls are evil.

Anyways, Here's this guy, Yuji, who loses his memory. He and Ban and Ginji went on a search for his memory only to find out that his birth info, school, etc, etc, etc, was forged, and all the answers were wiff his girlfriend. So yeah. But his girlfriend reasons out that there are some things better left unknown, but when the guy remembers, he says all this bittersweet mushy stuff. Awww.

2004-05-02T21:38:00.000+08:00

.hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu ep 5 - Mansion of Terror

Things just happen so fast. o.0 first they're on this beach, getting preached by Sanjuuro about not playing The World too much [by suggestion from Balmung-sama]. And then these elementary kids decide to play a prank on ~~Kite~~ Shuugo. Then they find themselves in this haunted mansion of sorts, where Rena boasts that she isn't a coward. Yeah right. Anyway, she gets lost and ends up in this room battling a Death-like creature. Of course, this monster is one of those unbeatables. Then, like any other anime, our hero, Shuugo, comes in and defeats the Unbeatable monster using Data Drain. Yay! But, they're too late. The trap has already been set! Rena disappears! *gasp* more on teh next episode!!

Note: Since I got a copy of the whole series, i'm not gonna watch Animax's .hack//UdeDen. :3 it's better that way, since i'm reviewing Get Backers at the same time.

2004-05-02T02:47:00.000+08:00

Jpop Review by Kang #2

Shine We Are! - BoA

Boa fest. Yeah. Because I'm biased. Sue me. xD

Everybody loves Shine We Are! It's happy, danceable & just goshdarn colorful. BoA wrote this one herself. *worships BoA* In an interview I saw in Arirang, BoA said that it the song was about looking forward to a relationship with someone special. (Arirang subtitles are wonky, by the way.)

I'm posting the English translation of Shine We Are! Note: translation. Not English version. Meaning you can't sing along to the melody with this one. Duah.

Shine We Are!
by BoA
(English Translation)

Gonna take a chance...
Something new?
Tell me, "what's your dream?"
I'll see through a loupe, try me boy
The feelings of us coming closer
Let's shake more brilliant than the sea

Everything that's supposed to go right
Sometimes goes by without it
But I still believe
Someday, So shine we are! Wow

I feel the brightness love
When you hug the sun
Without leaving one, with you,
There's a happiness we'll grant
If it's a future that the white waves give
We can keep running barefoot

I kept going back in forth in the same place
Even if that was the long way around
It might have been the short way
After being excited
Getting kind of lonely
We have that in common
So shine we are! Wow

I feel the brightness love
It can't be just anyone
The warmth from the hand we held was one
I held my breath at the eyes that looked far away
Because overflowing dreams floated there

Yes I'm gonna feel alright
Gonna take a chance
Let's be happy
All I need is love
Yes I'm gonna feel alright
Gonna take a chance
Let's be happy
All I need is love

Everything that's supposed to go right
Sometimes goes by without it
But I still believe
Someday, So shine we are! Wow

I feel the brightness love
When you hug the sun
Without leaving one, with you,
There's a happiness we'll grant
If it's a future that the white waves give
We can keep running barefoot

I feel the brightness love
It can't be just anyone
The warmth from the hand we held was one
I held my breath at the eyes that looked far away
Because overflowing dreams floated there

Yes I'm gonna feel alright
Gonna take a chance
Let's be happy
All I need is love
Yes I'm gonna feel alright
Gonna take a chance
Let's be happy
All I need is love

o Get the Japanese lyrics here.
o Download is linked directly to the file download at Asphyxia.

2004-04-30T21:38:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 26

Hot Springs! Hot Springs! Wheee! ^_____^ Ban looks sooo adorable with that hair cover.. thing.. What's it called again? o.0 Anyways, Kadsuki was super kawaii. Juubei *tries* to be a comedian.. o.0 it's just not right, i tell ya. its not right!!! Oh, and we finally find out Natsumi's powers! It's the Ultimate Ping Pong Battle Skills!!!!!! ^^; yeah.

Oh, here's a little equation we discovered: Hot Springs = Monkeys. I do hope Ban and Ginji remember that...

=====

Get Backers ep 27

High Schools girls are rabid. That's a fact. Oh, and High School girls always fall for the ultimate badguy bishounen. Ah~ Akabane-sama~ ^___^

2004-04-29T20:12:00.000+08:00

Jpop Review by Kang #1

It's about time I posted again! xD

Double - BoA

This song is taken from BoA's 'Love & Honesty' album. Her latest I believe. Like most of her hits, this song is just so much fun to dance to. And it has three versions done in Japanese, Korean & English. (The English lyrics sound funny though. 0.o) As always, amazing, incredible vocals. The video is just as kewl. Makes you dizzy if you stare at one particular BoA for too long (Confused? =P). Catch the video at Arirang or Animax when they show Animax Musix (they cut if halfway though, so you don't get to see the best dance moves *pout*).

Double ( Japanese Version )
by BoA

Ready?

Ka ki nagu ruyou ni toki kake nu keta
Kimi ga tonari ni ita
Rasen mi taidemo noboru tsudu keta
Te suri no nai gaida

Shikazu kutabi ni tooku kanjiru
Yume nanoni setsunai ne OH

Arino mama no futari negau kara iki runo
Yasura kimo itami mo kono teni DOUBLE TAKE IT!
Kanashimi mo kimi yuno omoi nara utsukushii
Mirai karano kaze wo chikara ni DOUBLE TAKE IT!

Kotae wa kitto hitotsu jyanai SO
Suki wa kira ito EQUAL
Unmei datte guuzen datte
Aedatte kotowa REAL

Wakari au tabi wakara naku naru
Ai nanoni sabishi iyo OH

Nani mo shinai yorimo motome kuyamu hougaii
Futatsu no tamashii de tsuka muno DOUBLE TAKE IT!
Tadori tsukuno oru ga shiro demo kuree demo
Kimi to nara egao de ayu kou DOUBLE TAKE IT!

Shikazu kutabi ni tooku kanjiru
Yume nanoni setsunai ne OH

Arino mama no futari negau kara iki runo
Yasura kimo itami mo kono teni DOUBLE TAKE IT!
Kanashimi mo kimi yuno omoi nara utsukushii
Mirai karano kaze wo chikara ni DOUBLE TAKE IT!

[ Check out Asphyxia, my mp3 rotation site. I take requests now. xD Watch me plug shamelessly. =P ]

2004-04-29T00:43:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 25

Awww.. How come cute antagonist bishies end up having super angsty dreams/recollections? :( It was soooooo cute when Ginji saved Maku's life, hugging him and all.. *^_^* And yeah, even if i would like to kill Sakura for being hugged by Maku, it felt right.. Maku and Sakura, I mean... They *are* kinda cute together.. ^^; Happy Ending. =^__^=

2004-04-27T22:11:00.000+08:00

.hack//tasogare no udewa densetsu ep 4 - Tanabata Festival

Oh-kay! Tanabata episode. So we presume that the timeline is sometime is June/july because the Tanabata is held in either one of those months. Moving on, this episode ish cute. It's actually nice to see technology and tradition being together :3 We have more hints on incest, too. Oh, and we get to see this annoying person riding on a Grunty, and they even have the same annoying laugh. Reki hosts the Tanabata event, since Balmung wanted to join in. Wouldn't that be cheating since Balmung was the one who organized the event? CC Corp is strange o.0 Anyways, Shuugo saves the day, as always, and then more hints on incest. Ah, but i dont really think that wishing to live together again as a family isnt incest... [or maybe it was just intentional that we misinterpret Shuugo's wish..?] We also find out that rain in The World is dangerous to players, and that it hurts o.0 i wonder why...

2004-04-24T17:16:00.000+08:00

.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet ep 3 - Phoenix Feather

Grunty episode!

While Shuugo and the others level-up, Shuugo being the total n00b that he is, this long-haired girl leaves her mini grunty to that cute blonde girl we saw in the previous episodes. Shuugo admires the fact that Rena and Ouka are really good players, and then Ouka shoves the fact that he's still got a long way to go right in his face. That and he gets into a Level Down trap. Poor kid.

Anyway, Shuugo and Hotaru(the blonde cute girl) meet at what seems to be Mac Anu(the river, the boats, the bridges, the town, etc). The Grunty's sick. (Now, where have i seen this before?!)

SO there, they go to this Grunty inn/whatever. The NPC(or something like that) tells them that the Grunty's sick and will die in a matter of hours if it isnt cured.

Unlike .hack//SIGN, they save the grunty. Yay!

That and they teach the evil girl who left the grunty with Hotaru some manners.

2004-04-17T21:59:00.000+08:00

.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet ep2

Balmung's Cherry Blossom event causes trouble for our heroes! Merielle[did i spell her name right?] is super genki and she annoys Rena, but i like her.. We find out that there's slight incest in this show, too. Oh, and Shuugo's a big perv. Oh, wait. You already knew that. Oh, and that wasnt a Dog or an Orca. It's a 'Wolf'.

2004-04-16T14:47:00.000+08:00

.hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet ep1

So we see this cute maintenance person fixing bugs while in the game and he encounters Unbeatable Monsters, remembers what had happened when the first Unbeatable Monsters appeared, gets killed and well, coes in a coma. Familiar scene?

Anyways, one should have at least some knowledge on the two previous .hack series to better understand this. Or maybe none at all, but at least you should know the first two.

Moving on, Shuugo is this teenage boy who quit playing internet games. That or given up, says his twin sister Rena who's living with their parents. For some unexplaiend reason, Shuugo is living alone. Anyway, Shuugo receives mail that he has won the limited edition dot hacker sprite of Kite. He calls his sister and finds out that she too, has won Black Rose's sprite.

Basically what happens next is an advanced level monster appears in a begginer's area, so Shuugo and Rena have to defeat it. Shuugo dies while saving Rena, but what's this? Something strange happens. He doesnt re-appear as a 'ghost' in The World! Balmung shows up in the beginners area and helps defeat the Advanced Monster. Next thing we know, Aura, or whoever looks like her, appears and gives Shuugo Data Drain.. Thus begins our hero's adventure in The World.

...That sounded like an episode summary.. Oh well.

2004-04-08T23:55:00.000+08:00

Yosha...
I don't know why she bothers... IMO, that series is about as interesting as watching a cockroach on the ceiling, wondering if It will fall on you.. the roach, not the ceiling. XD
Well, I was told that If I had nothing else to do I could review games, so, I will.. Shinobi, even though it came out ages and ages ago, I will only review now, as I have only begun to play it now. XD
The game is pretty solid, Excellent eye candy.. (stealth dashes are the shiznit! XD) But I can't comment much on the sound. Since I play in a rental, I can't hear a damned thing. Moritsune is cool. Hotsuma is cooler. But having the elder brother (Moritsune or Hotsuma, I currently forget who bigla. XD) as the first major boss was a cool idea, but.. on your first try, you'll be as annoyed as hell to find out that you CANNOT DAMAGE HIM AT ALL off the bat. But once you figure out that fooling him into falling off the building drains him of at least 1/8th of his life, the rest of the fight is chickenshit. If you're fancy, you can wait for him to summon his minions, and Tate his silly arse. There's another aspect of the game. Tate. This move allows you to increase the damage your sword does, depending on the number of enemies you kill. Requirement is at least four enemies killed under ten seconds. Pulling it off succesfully treats you to a quick sequence which must be this game's counterpart to Tenchu™'s stealth kills. If you don't understand me, good. Play the game to figure out what I'm talking about. What? Don't have a PS2? Neither do I. XD I just want to complain about that bastard Homura, though.. think Hisoka of HXH fame with teh blazing red hair wearing a Trenchcoat with a flame pattern. Bastard is standing at the other end of the level, taunting 'Kochi da!' and when you get to him, he teleports off in a boom. Bah. Two ways to beat him, though. Long yet simple.. run around, combo him when he shows up, run off... (though this could take you well over an hour. XD) or Tate his minions, (In mid-air, no less!) then run over to him while Akujiki (your sword) is at full power from the Tate and slash 'im. This method takes all off at leats twenty seconds. Damned hard, though, If you don't have the skills. Now I've wasted too much space. I only wrote this cause I'm bored. XD See you people on the servers. :D

2004-04-06T09:26:00.000+08:00

Yorokonde news!

Okay, so there hasnt been that much activity after the last episode of .hack//SIGN. Dun worry, tho. :3 A new season's coming up and Get Backers will catch up to the episode where we left it off. I just hope the other authors would get their muses to start giving them inspiratrion to write reviews. :3

Anyways, that's it for now.

See ya in a few days with .hack//Legend of the Twilight~

2004-04-01T23:30:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 28

Last episode.

Aww, They have a reunion thing! And all the characters are soooo cute! =^^= ~~I think Real-Life Tsukasa's a lesbian~~. balmung is hot. So it Kite. :3 Aura is just so pretty.

Er, there. last episode. Pretty cute. They had Fireworks and random stuff dancing. :D

2004-03-31T22:41:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN

There are some strange stuff happening, im not sure whether they are episodes or just extra fillers or what.. i'll do reviews anyways.

ep 24
Oh-kay. Sora and Old Lady Voice make some 'deal' and end up losing. So what if they summoned 3 more copies of really bad-colored EVIL GUARDIAN?
...
...Oh. Poor Macha.

ep 25
...Old Lady Voice is trying to turn Tsukasa, Mimiru and Subaru agaionst each other. Riiiight. Like that would work. Finally,t he confrontation between Old Lady Voice and Tsukasa! Sora is a betrayer? Again? I really dont get his role now. @_@

Y'know, i like Real-Life Tsukasa better. And Real-Life subaru. she's prettier. XD

The episodes which confuse me. Are they still part of the storyline?

ep26
Mimiru tells a story about how her sempai quit 'The World'. Interesting story, really. I didn't know three people could play one character all at the same time...

ep27
Er.. this is just a scrunched up version of everything up to the episode where they escape the upside-down map where bear falls off the bridge and tsukasa saves mimiru from his guardian. Yeah.

2004-03-26T20:22:00.000+08:00

Reviews

.hack//SIGN ep 23
Net Slum is weird. What's with the floating multi-colored Tsukasas? Oh. Right. And go Sora! Treat that Freaky Voice like shit! XD Oh, what's this? Green Guardian? Eeeeew, did he eat something not nice? *gasp* there's two of them? Cool. I mean, freaky. Poor Tsukasa. I know how it feels when you lose a ~~pet~~guardian..

.hack//SIGN ep 24

Due to the stupidity of Animax, I shall not review this episode. They are a bunch of stupid idiots who mistook episode 24 for the last episode. Darn them.

Yorokonde Note: The GetBackers Review will be on hiatus until Animax realizes that tehy fucked up somewhere.

2004-03-24T21:48:00.000+08:00

No Get Backers!

because Animax decided that they should irritate and annoy fans by showing episode one AGAIN. Ngrawr.

Anyways, here's the .hack//SIGN review!

.hack//SIGN ep 22
Tsukasa's conscious! And what's with ANNWYN? is that a for-real novel? O_o Anyways, Crim and Tsukasa have a Father-son talk thingy.. though they're not exactly father and son.. And Sora is his usual self.. ahead of others.. And the final chapter of .hack//SIGN has begun...

2004-03-23T21:58:00.000+08:00

Reviews

where the heck is everyone else? *glares at emmy who should be the one reviewing Get Backers*

Get Backers ep 24
Final Round! Start! MakubeX vs Ginji! Who will win? And why the hell does that old man keep leaving us hanging with his damn story?!?! doesnt he know how to ~~fucking~~ tell one? Oops.

.hack//SIGN ep 21
Ooooh, Sora meets the Unkillable Monster! Bear, Mimiru and Subaru meet one too! And we finally meet Balmung! Yay! XD he's soo cute! *rika claims balmung as her bishie!* And lookie! Sora was able to find **coughspolerauraspoilercough** in the land of whatever it is by jumping on Macha, the evil, misdirected cat. Plot twists here are confusing. @_@

2004-03-23T07:59:00.000+08:00

Reviews

because i forgot to do them last night.. O_o

Get Backers ep 23
Shido to the rescue! XD Heheh. And what's this? Juubei lying down on a bed only in bandages and his pants?! Mmmmm.. Yummy! XD Wait, did someone poke your eyes or what? Gen glued them together didnt he? didnt he?!?! ngyar.. that evil old man.. he's responsible for everything's that's been happening to MakubeX!! Ngyarrr!! Get Backers-tachi.. Ganbatte!!

.hack//SIGN ep 20
Poor Tsukasa.. And in this episode, we cannot decipher whether BT is being nice or bitchy. O_o and someone has to take subaru to some self-esteem thing.. O_o

2004-03-22T12:45:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 19

Subaru and Tsukasa? Together? It seems so right, yet feels SO wrong. And what's this? Bear's organizing a 'Key of the Twilight' Fan Club? Gah, Silver Knight, you JERK! Sora and BT are evil backstabbers. Eh? Where's The Floating Kid? Who took her? What? Wait, what's happening? Tsukasa!!

2004-03-19T21:52:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 22

Eee! Taihen! Raitei is here! Oh no! And he's battling Akabane! What will happen? What are you doing, Makubex? Are you sure that you have to do that? *gasp* Ban!! NOOOO!!!

2004-03-19T09:46:00.000+08:00

Reviews

Oh gosh, this is SO delayed. Sorry!! I had too much to do yesterday and the day before!! X.x

Get Backers ep 20

Oooooh.. Himiko used up all her poison perfumes.. I wonder how Kagami took off her clothe without her wriggling and screaming and defending herself..? And i wonder how Ban got into that Mayan Priest costume..? Aww, Ban and Himiko were just so adorable after that fight.. ^^

Get Backers ep 21

Go Ban! Beat that fat-assed metal-armed guy! Abunai, Ginji! It's not real! Everything's not real!!

.hack//SIGN ep 17

Serves him right, that stupid Silver Knight. Subaru was right in disbanding the Crimson Knights, even though it must've been hard for her.

.hack//SIGN ep 18

Subaru-centric episode. She has flashbacks. Then a look-alike molests her, thus making her look like she'd been run over by a train. And then Subaru molests Tsukasa. Oh, and we see a glimpse of the Subaru in the real world. Funkeh.

2004-03-17T23:17:00.000+08:00

March 16's episode reviews

sorry it's late. i watched it this morning only.. and i havent watched todays epis cause i had an exam. sorry for the delay!

Get Backers ep 19

"We always hurt the ones we love". :3 kadsuki and juubei were all over each other in this epi. Admit it, they look cute together.

.hack//SIGN ep 16

BT is a sad woman. Actually, i never thought that her player character name came from a sandwich. O.o strange. And who'dve thought that she'd have a crush on Crim.. Heh.

2004-03-15T23:37:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 17

Shido ish cool. i like his fighting style. Maybe i should go pracatice Animal Mimicry too.. Nyaa~ =^^= And the only thing I'd say about Kadsuki and juubei is.. "We always hurt the ones we love". ^.~

2004-03-15T19:46:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 15

OMG, did you see the Floating Girl smile evilly when Tsukasa was in pain?! how devillishly evil! *grrowl!* I dont like her. And Subaru finally found some backbone! Whoo! I hope she uses that. Mimiru and Bear are starting to look like a father-daughter whatever you call it. O.o strange. BT is still an evil bitchy plotter, and Sora has not changed one bit.

Did Subaru just put Tsukasa's hand on her BREASTS?! O_o

2004-03-12T21:18:00.000+08:00

Reviews

Get Backers ep 16

Eee! The Battle has begun! And how did Makubex calculate the probability that they'd all get a different number on the dice with the numbers arranged from least to greatest?! Even I would get a headache from that!! O_o Hmm.. At least my Probability and Statistics Classes will come later in my college life..

.hack//SIGN ep 14

BT is surely a cheating evil plotter. And what happened to Bear? Why is the sky below their feet? How come everything's upside down? Is the Red Gate evil? If you die in an RPG, you'll be taken to your last save point, right? Right?

2004-03-12T10:14:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 13

Ooooohh.. BT is an evil plotter. And Macha, that evil cat, is just plain evil. At least Tsukasa has a goal now. I wonder what would happen to That Kid..? And what's with the red gate? Mystery!

2004-03-11T22:03:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 15

Oooh~ kawaii Ginji-kun~ Today displays the many faces of Ginji~ ^^ He's just so adorable. ^^ Especially if he goes all sd and stuff~ Kagami is cool, tho. ^^ But Uh-oh~ Trouble ahead! Watch out!

2004-03-10T22:12:00.000+08:00

Reviews

Get Backers ep 14

Dr. Jackal is evil. Ginji is cute when he tries to run away from him ^^ Maku is still cute. and we now know what IL or LENS is~ whee! Ren has a crush on Kadsuki! and Ren's grampa is strange! Whoo!

.hack//SIGN ep 12

Ooooohh.. The plot thickens! I wonder what'll happen next? That Kid might die, then again, That Kid might not. Bear's profession is still a mystery. I wonder how he gets all those informations of his.. Hmmm.. Oh, and Subaru is annoying me. Why cant she do things on her own?!?! Agh!! >_<

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ep 26

Last episode? Nooooo!!
But I have to admit, Nokoru and Idomu make a better pair than Suoh and Nokoru... ^^;; Just something for the shounen ai fans. ^^ Anyways, Nokoru has defied all laws of physics, and all other laws at that. He's escaped death by subway. O_o Okay, that did not make any sense to me. At all.

2004-03-10T18:06:00.000+08:00

Review: Wolf's Rain Episodes 1-2

Episode One: Secret Corner of Howls

Like anyothre anime, our first scene starts with our hero, Kiba. But unlike other anime, the whole episode does not revolve around him. Instead we focus on another hottie: Tsume. But of course, we have scenes with Kiba and his newfound bestfriend: Hige. Cute guy. ^_^ [Shounen-Ai alert!!! Watch out for Kiba's look when Hige was talking about his great sense of smell ^^; Wai!] We have the introductions of our major and sort-of major characters: Quent, Cher, Hubb (<3).

Cool first episdode. From the first scene of a very battered and bloody white wolf, we can already see their detail in both background and animals. You also hear the good music. Lovely piano.

Episode two: Unlamenting Toboe

Obviously, one of my fave characters in the whole series is Toboe. Cute pup. Of course there's the initial "Is that a guy?.. Or a girl?" Question and to answer it: He's a guy. A very cute one at that. He hangs out with Tsume so we establish the Sanzo and Goku relationship here.We also meet Darcia, with his whole "I'm the biggest baddie in the whole series" aura all over the place. Another hottie. Cheza is also introduced! And she's the leading lady of the series. =) Beautiful violins!! And thus, in the second episode conflicts start. =)

>>Tsume X Toboe forever XD <<

2004-03-09T23:02:00.000+08:00

Reviews

I shall no longer call it Multiple Review day. :D Hurrah!

Get Backers ep 14
Why oh why must we computer lovers be branded as evil geniouses who want to spy on everyone?! It's not fair! And Akabane Kurodo was just sooooo cool in this epi. Gosh, you have got to love Ban and Shido. And did you notice that today's epi marked the first ever episode where Shido screamed "MIDO!" when ban-chan was in trouble? ^_____^ *fangrrls*

.hack//SIGN ep 11
Sora is just so strange. And Tsukasa smiled a lot~ ^______^ I wonder what's going to happen to That Kid when his/her dad[?] cuts off the life support.. i wonder if the doctor is stupid enough to do that. ~_~ Poor Tsukasa. At least now Bear's Daddy Complex is working on him and Mimiru.

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ep 25
Oooooohh.. Big big trouble. And a cliffhanger, too! All that fuss about this three/four year jealousy.. And CLAMP's Richijou is suspicously suspicous.. Either that or my instincts have gone wrong.

2004-03-08T21:47:00.000+08:00

Multiple Review day 4!

Because I have decided that i am lazy.

Get Backers ep 13
Kadsuki is cool. Makubex is cool. Everyone is cool. Akabane-sama looks like he's gonna jump on Ginji anytime soon. Hmmmm..

.hack//SIGN ep 10
BT x Bear? Crim x BT? Sora x BT? My, my, BT, such a playgril. Poor Bear. He has a daddy figure no one appreciates...

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ep 24
Awww... I didnt know Idomu and Nokoru were soooo cute when they were widdle kids. :D ^__^ Does thsi mean that CCD will end soon? Noooo!!!

2004-03-08T20:29:00.000+08:00

Whee. I'm here and I have a review.

Hi everyone, I'm Ruth Creole and I'm a new reviewer for th Yorokonde! Review. Basically I criticize new anime titles ("Where are the speed lines?! There must be speed lines!"), dubbing/ subtitling ("Like a pupa under the moonlight?! What the?!") and of course review rate 2 episodes (or three if it's a three-parter) at a time. Because I believe you just can't review one episode without knowing what's the resolution. (Unless you do mulitiple Review!day like what Rika does)

So, what anime title do I have my eye on? Wolf's Rain. Since so far we are limiting oursleves to animax anime` I might as well review Wolf's Rain ne?

One of the neglected anime titles seen in Animax. Why? Because of the god-awful timeslot. Sure it may be a tad bit violent, but ain't GTO a tad bit violent and a bucket full of hentai? What about chobits?! What about? I have no idea. But my point is that it sucks to look foawrd to this anime after a long tiring day just to sleep 30 mins. before it starts. So bah you animax. We demand a bettah timeslot!!

Next order of business, as much as I would lurv to make a plot-review, I myslef am confused. But here goes nothing. Wolf's Rain is set on the last years/months/days of earth where most life is extinct except for mangy corrupt humans. Wolves, according to one episode, is the ancestors of humans and is destined to lead the people to "Paradise", as in like save their souls, give them salvation/ saving. But, the catch is that poeple have given up hope of reaching paradise since wolves ave extinct 200 years ago. It's like saying that the Dodo bird holds the secrets of the past and the future, but we don't believe it since we know its dead/ extinct/ nada/ zip/ zero. Basically, Aristocrats have all the money while others merely survive on thier own under the what i call the "protectorate" of the aristocrats inside their Dome (a city like thingy). Demo... WOLVES STILL EXIST!! But how the hell they're gonna get themselves to paradise? That's one reason why you need to watch the series. =) **Warning: LAST TWO EPISODES LEFT!! JUST WAIT FOR THE RE-RUNS!! SAVE YOURSELVES FROM THE DEVIL OF SPOLIERS!!**

(oh man this is gonna be a long post)

Character Review!
Unlike our very much tried and tested 4 bishie anime series (Gomenasai Kazuya Minekura-sama!!), this is a tad bit new. Why? Because the major formula for our 4-bishie anime is: The brooding deadpan leader, the hot playboy (usually long-haired) sidekick, the witty calm-go-beserk most probably gay sidekick and of course the young naive one. But this time, the closest thing we could get to a playboy is a guy with no luck with girls, our sexay!hot! sidekick is the brooding thinking 2nd leader, our supposedly brooding leader is the aggresive blind from reality when with the leading lady and our young most-prolly-gay naive one is just one person. The character design is fantastic and for the fangirls out there, you'll not only be captivated by the drool-worthy art but also the wonderful characters and personalities they play! Thw animation for the animals (owls, wolves, cats, crows, dogs etc.) is just fantabulous. Realistic. From the scrunching up of the wolf's snout when its angry to the fluid grace of an owl's head when it does a 360º.

Music Review!
I don't have the OST yet =) But the entrance and the ending theme are both in english, though the second one is obviously sung by a Japanese singer. But beautiful lyrics just the same =)

Maybe I'll do the review of both epi's one and two later.

Ja ne~
[hugging Tsume-chan plushie]

2004-03-05T21:50:00.000+08:00

Multiple Review day #3!

Because someone is in a hurry to use the pc.

Get Backers ep 11
Shuu is cute. too bas he had to say bye bye. Makubex is cool. Akabane-sama was soo cute in this epi. ;D

Get Backers ep 12
WHy must we computer freaks be labeled as evil? I like it when Akabane taunts Ginji. :D And that Ayame Magami or something like that is just so darn eeeeew!! I mean, eeeeew!! XO Shido and Ban were just so cute whn they were fighting. :D

.hack//SIGN ep 9
Poor Grunty. Poor Tsukasa.

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ep 23
Yokatta ne. I thought the series was going to end with them disbanded and stuff. Ah, but 3000 burgers is cool. I'd like to eat them. Mmmmmm.. Expecially during Fridays. *evil grin* Idomu, you evil person.

2004-03-04T23:23:00.000+08:00

The Scryed Review (aka Why "Matter Alteration" Just Doesn't Appeal To Me)

It was a nice hot Saturday afternoon when I finished watching the last episode of Scryed, graciously fansubbed for my convenience (this I doubt). It was the moment after it when I started relaxing and thinking 'I can't believe I sat through 26 episodes of unclassiness.'

The prime reason I give Scryed (pronounced S(u)ku-rai-do) such a bad review is that if failed to carry on the massive interest I had in the series when I first watched it. That was actually fun, a story of conflicting characters and forces.

Let's lay out the basics: An accident causes a part of Mainland Japan to break off, isolating the inhabitants. There is an accident there, and many people are affected. Amazingly, corruption is still strife in Japan (the political system of which I shall no longer refer to on upcoming reviews) with the Mainland hogging most of the resources and funding. There is also a strange phenomenon, ability really, that occurs from this accident. A small percentage of the island's population have the ability to alter matter to a form which their subconscious wills, otherwise known as an Alter. Alters come in all shapes and sizes, from the drastically silly to the wonderfully intricate.

I'll stop here, because this concept alone tore me off. I should suppose that it is Anime, therefore they can get away with forming matter without blowing the Earth up (E=mc^2) and such... and they can also get away with amazingly high technology in 21st century Earth... hwow.

But, like most mediocre Anime, it's all clichè. And I'll explain why.

First, it's Science meets Magic. Sound familiar? The main progonist is lazy and self-willed, but has a soft spot for his very very short girlfriend. The antagonist/protagonist character is calm and calculating, and also a Class B Bishounen. He also has someone to care about, although his past hides another romance... ehem... you're starting to get my drift... I've seen it all before.

THEREFORE! I'm giving this series a 'B'! Nothing beats the power of Science/Magic mixes, no matter how improbable it gets, but no-one likes loss of originality. Shame on you, Scryed. Hopefully the next series I review isn't as painful to watch for 13 hours...

2004-03-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan ep 22

Idomu is just evil. And I love his Evil Glowing Red Eyes. Poor Nokoru. And Akira was just sooooo adorable with those little monkeys~ ^_^ I guess the whole series will now be centering on the Nokoru/Idomu relationship/rivalry/whatever you want to call it.. Lots of plot twists and expect a the start of CLAMP's trademark like "Feathers from Nowhere" and "Flower Petals from Nowhere" and the ever-famous "Out-of-Season Sakura"!

2004-03-04T21:45:00.000+08:00

.hack//sign ep 8

Sora is a strange, strange, man. Very strange indeed. And BT is a sly fox. Crim is a justice-freak being controlled by some unknown force. Subaru is Subaru. Tsukasa still needs a shrink, and that Cat is evil. I have nothing to comment about Mimiru and ~~Kuma-san~~Bear.

2004-03-03T22:26:00.000+08:00

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan

ep 20
Dangerous piano-playing kid.. And to think they would be smart enough that the amusement park wouldbe a trap.. The plot thickens! and a new ending theme! i wonder what kind of mysteries the Tanteidan will solve...?

ep 21
Idomu is just so cute. And he's just sooooo smart~ ^^ he's pure evil, too! what can you not like about him? But doesn't "balon" mean "well"? *shrug* oh, wait. i think it's a different language.. O_o and i think this is the first time they were defeated.. O_o poor them. This so far is the most dangerous episode they've got. so scary!!!!

2004-03-03T21:04:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 10

Clay man cool. I side with Clay man. She's pretty~ Hachisu is ev0l. i hate him. and i dont think i'd like to be in the art/painting business. O_o seems to be sooooo difficult. O_o and i actually did this review while watching the episode! whooo!

2004-03-03T20:56:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep7

No Tsukasa today. It's somewhat a Mimiru-centric episode. A-20 is cute~ ^^;

2004-03-03T17:02:00.000+08:00

Hack... How do you write this again?
Pweh. I'm sorry I ever tried watching it again... the art leaves something to be desired, and the story is lame.. Apologies to anyone who is offended.. (except Rika.)

2004-03-02T22:13:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 9

Clay Man is cool. Or at least i heard his name was Clay Man. *shrug* Himiko is still clueless. And Shido is SO in love with Madoka.

2004-03-02T21:47:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 6

Sora is highly amusing. BT is a bi0tch. And i pity Mimiru. *patting Mimiru* poor widdle girl.. And Tsukasa really needs a shrink.

2004-03-01T21:45:00.000+08:00

CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan

ep 18
Suoh and Nagisa are so.. so.. it's just so right, yet so wrong!! >_< And yes, Nokoru will do anything for Suoh's happiness~ Tee hee~

ep 19
I think this was just a filler epi, but hey! it was happy~ ^_^ They went treasure hunting, and it was fun. And Nokoru had a premonition, i think.. Of what he'd be doing in the future. X timeline perhaps? Or just the next episode? We'll see~

2004-03-01T21:44:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN ep 5

Crim is cool, although he's too justicy for my taste. And i dont care what Sakuraii says. i like watching .hack//SIGN, even if it's kinda dragging. Oh, and SOra is just so cool. BT is evil. And Tsukasa needs help. Is there a psychologist in the house?

2004-03-01T21:43:00.000+08:00

Get Backers ep 8

Shido and Madoka are SO in love. Ban is cute when his hair is combed(or rained) down. Tee hee~ And yes, wolves are the best kind of attackers there are. Go Monkey Man! Uh, I mean, Shido! ^__^

2004-02-27T22:23:00.000+08:00

.hack//SIGN

So Tsukasa hasn't tamed his pet afterall.. Guradian, i mean. Oops. And for some strange reason, they're hinting Subaru+Tsukasa. Me likes the comatose girl floating in The World. She reminds me of Suu from CLOVER. Mmmm..

Yorokonde! Review

Mod Post

Mod Post

Bad Caps Review #1

TeniMyu: More than Limit -St. Rudolph Academy-

Long Overdue...

*BOM*

Super Robot Taisen Impact

The Stars Aren't That Bright from Up Here

Because Nobody Else Was Going To.

Cluster Edge 01-04

The king of the iron fist has been edited.

Howl's Moving Castle

A WWII Game of Epic Proportions!

Ark of what-now? + !

Too bad the devil trigger is fugly.

Tekken five review!

HIATUS!

It's Gravitation!

Anime Bitching: Rurouni Kenshin = Crap on a Stick?!

kangersJpop Review by Kang #8

Review? What Review?

Jpop Review by Kang#7

Kyou Kara Maou ep 3

Kyou Kara Maou ep 2

will you guys just stop and listen to me for a moment?

Kyou Kara Maou ep 1

Prince of Tennis Review

Jpop Review by Kang#6

Prince of Tennis

Swords and zombies mix VERY well...

smoosh.

Jpop Review by Kang #5

Jpop Review by Kang #4

Get Backers: Temporary Hiatus

Get Backers episode 43

Get Backers ep 42

Get Backers ep 41

Get Backers ep 40

Wolf's Rain Episode 4: "The Scar of the Wilderness"

Wolf's Rain Episode 3: "Bad Fellow"

Get Backers episode 39

Get Backers ep 38

Puyo Pop Fever Review!

Get Backers ep 37

Jpop Review by Kang #3

Get Backers ep 36

Get Backers ep 35

.hack//legend of the twilight bracelet ep 7 - Twilight Moon

Get Backers ep 34

Get Backers ep 33

.hack//UdeDen ep 6 - Trouble at the Hot Springs

BOM