Life in Quadrant 4

Nodame Cantabile 11

Wow, the anime rendition of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 really blew me away. Well, I mean music-wise, people said that it was played too slowly, but because I am not trained in music in any single way, I have nothing to say about it. Perhaps it was intentionally done that way because Stresseman told Chiaki to play it “with feeling and sexiness” (made up quote).

However, the concert, graphics-wise, was spectacular. People can assume that it would be mostly stills, because the previous times there were instruments being played, stills were used most of the time. In this particular scene, however, it was actually mostly CG of the instruments being played; the piano, in particular. The keys were actually being pressed down, and it even showed those super intense parts; that was cool.

I have no idea whether or not he’s actually hitting the right notes, but goddamn, this looks really really good. Sure, it may not be like OMG KYOANI quality, but this is one hell of a budget buster. The violin bows actually move, and you can see them get lifted up and down; the flutes and clarinets look like they’re actually being played, and even the timpani vibrates when it’s struck.

I forgot the rest of the episode though, aha, silly me for watching this in the early morning.

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Anyways, I have a job interview in about half an hour, so I’d best be wrapping this up.

Okay, so I basically just got a new banner. It’s (obviously) one from Air with Yukito and Misuzu; I made of a summer theme because even though it’s gonna be spring ‘07 for Japan, the Philippines only gets a hot and cold season, meaning Summer-ish and rainy. Maybe I’ll replace it, but as it stands, it’s fine with me.

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^ Old draft that I never got to finishing ’til now.
Anyway, my laptop finally got its motherboard replaced so it should be working fine again. Unfortunately, I now owe my parents somewhere between 13,000 to 20,000 php, which is like, 270 to 400 USD. とても orz.

Tomorrow’s gonna be an interview for a job that’ll be for 5 weeks in the summer (April 18 to sometime at the end of May or something) and it’s funny since my Birthday is like, on April 17. WHAT A GREAT BIRTHDAY GIFT HUH? Then the day after tomorrow, I get my report card on the Sophomore year so my parents will actually see my grades, even though I already knew about them like, a week ago. Yay for the school releasing grades and the card one week apart from each other. Yes, the system is fucked up like that.

Also, despite getting a job, the total amount of salary I recieve (minus COLA (no, not Curiosities of Lotus Asia, for transportation) is still not enough for my loans. HOORAY FOR MINIMUM WAGE.

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Blah, whatever. Anyway, onto anime.

KyoSora (insert episode number here) – 11

[I was lazy to grab a random picture for this show, because it sucked.]

I’ve gotten pretty sick of this now, to be honest. Screw the plot, screw Absolute Angels, screw it all. The animation’s gotten pretty awful, and I can already envision a yaoi doujin of Kazuya and Kyoshiro. I’m probably watching 12, just for the sake of completion, and then just delete it off my hard drive forever.

Nodame Cantabile 10

I love the S-Orchestra’s poster; it’s eye-catching.

I didn’t really watch 7, 8, or 9’s raws yet. The main reason why I watched this was because it had George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

I love Mine’s violin-playing trick.

It was awesome and the Pianica additions were cool too. I just wish they made it a longer version (like, maybe 9 or 15 minutes) because 3 and a half minutes seriously isn’t enough for the piece. It was too bad though, that since it was an arrangement, they didn’t play the glissando for the clarinet in the original score on the Pianica (or perhaps it’s not possible on one?). Oh well, you can’t have everything…

The contrast between Nodame’s cute mongoose costume and the drawings in the background make them stand out a lot more.

Additionally, Nodame’s story behind the Mongoose costume was hilarious and the imagery shown in the anime just makes it that much better. I seriously can’t wait for the raws of episode 11, where the A orchestra plays a piece from Rachmaninoff (I forgot which. ahaha).

Anwyays, I can’t think about any other stuff to write, so blah.

z0mg.
wtf.
lol.

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Yay, two and a half months of no school~
Except Saturdays for Japanese, and if I get that summer job, subtract another 5 weeks.

Okay, not much, but still, yay!

Now to marathon Air…

Click for (OMG) Hi-res version. Courtesy of /scenic route

I haven’t posted at all in like, over a week or something, but aha! I have an excuse!

This entire week’s been pure finals and the week before, we were expected to turn in homework like, a 5-page (okay, I jest; maybe two pages) essays on the entire Florante at Laura the next day. And I didn’t even get half the shit in that book.

Ranting aside, tomorrow (or rather, today) is gonna be the last day of school for the year. Fucking win. That means about 2 and a half months of Summer vacation. Okay, subtract 5 weeks since I’ll be having a job at that time.

Anyway, I haven’t talked about anything Japanese in a really long time, so I guess I’d better get started.

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Kanon (something) – 23
You know, KyoAni proves time and time again why it’s one of the best animation studios out there. From the cinematography of when Yuuichi and Ayu kissed, or the way the backgrounds really stand out, or perhaps how they can sync the music and the show so perfectly.
Also, spot the difference.

Yeah, I guess you know about it anyway.

Finally, this scene seriously blew me away, even though it was like, the preview.

Must be the sense of awe you get when you look at a really breathtaking landscape or something that really floored me here.

Guess that’s it for now. I can’t find the words to take about Kenta Cho’s games or Hitogata Happa right now.