Life in Quadrant 4

The nice FedEx man dropped this off,

and inside, was a beatmania IIDX controller.

Modding really, really pissed me off, but after about four hours, it finally worked (though I hope the keys don’t stick >_>).

And I totally suck at IIDX (that was on a level 4 song).

So now, evidence of my soraphillia (courtesy of sola).

Also, finally changed my desktop. Kemonomimi ftw.

Oh my god, a post that’s actually about anime? I must be shitting you right? Unfortunately, I shit you not. Now prepare to be assailed by a GIANT WALL OF TEXT.

CLANNAD 01-04
My fanboying is pretty much nothing compared to some other people, but anyway, CLANNAD is fucking awesome times infinity to the 42nd power. I must admit, the Tomoyo kicking the hell out of Sunohara is getting a little overused; I mean, 4 episodes straight. COMBO CHAIN was pretty funny though. Also, Kyou, as some others have said, has some of the most awesome facial expressions ever. Ryou and Kotomi need more screentime though; perhaps they’ll get some of it later, since the story seems to be focusing on Fuuko first.

Minami-ke 01-02
I wasn’t really expecting much from this series, which may be why I was able to like it a whole lot more. I sorta-kinda related with Chiaki (being the younger one and all) especially since I have a sibling, my older brother that annoys the hell out of me. And he’s like, a 20-year old bum and a mama’s boy. Anyway, yeah, Minami-ke is an enjoyable watch.

Shakugan no Shana II 01-03
While a lot of people were saying that Shana 2 was off to a slow start, I thought it went at a fine pace. Possibly because I haven’t seen Shana since at least half a year, or maybe I’m used to JC Staff making every full season-length show they animate super stretched out (I mean, even Tsukihime was pretty… bah, words fail me, but you get the point). And by the third episode, I was like, “What the fuck is Heka-slut Hecate doing there?” Somehow, I suspect this will turn into some crazy soap opera thing.

Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun 01-04
A whole lot of bloggers are calling this the “Girl’s Bravo of the fall season”, but because I never saw Girl’s Bravo (lol nub), I can’t make any comparisons. Anyway, it’s one of those stupid fanservice-y shows with character archetypes, like ditzy innocent girl with huge boobs and the flat-chested ojou-sama (who also happens to be a maid). As for the graphics, plot, and other stuff, well, let’s just say it’s like watching porn. There’s barely any plot, it looks horrible, from a technical point of view, and no matter how much you want it, you’re not gonna get any, but then who cares? It’s a good time-killer. Oh, and Reika > Mayu.

Night Wizard 01-04
This sort of alternates between part dead-serious and part not-taking-itself-seriously, and it does so with complete disregard for keeping those two parts separate. Not that I mind, of course. It’s a decent show, and though it’s not flat out funny, not does it have the best plot, graphics, etc., it manages to be entertaining, while keeping a generally good pace. I am wondering what would be left after they collect all those seven jewels/gems. Putting that aside, Akari is cool, because girls with guns the size of a small bus are always cool.

Gundam 00 01-03
Initially, the only reason why I watched it was because (after reading Owen’s article) I decided to try to break out of my mindset that “all Gundam shows sucked”. Thankfully, I made the right choice with this one. While I’m not very fond of pilots who look female, I do like the plot. It’s a lot deeper than the usual “Earth vs. Space” thing that most of the shows from the series throws at you, and the ensemble of characters is still somewhat large, but manageable (I hope). I’m not sure whether or not I’ll continue with this series, even if it turns out crappy, but hopefully, that won’t happen with this one.

Sketchbook ~full color’S~ 01-02
Oh God, what the hell is with that ‘S at the end? It’s as if turning “color” into its possessive form wasn’t bad enough, that they even capitalized the S. Grammar issues aside, the show itself was… I dunno. I expected a slice-of-life series and I got one. What I don’t like about Sketchbook was that absolutely nothing happened. I mean, yeah, a girl talks about cats and crap. THE END. It barely ellicits even a smirk from me. Strangely though, what I do like about the series is just that. Nothing happens. As I watched the first episode sometime while I was cramming my ass off on like, 3 different papers that were to be submitted the next day, I was able to clear my head and just watch the episode as it showed. By its end, I was feeling a lot more peaceful and relaxed, despite knowing that I had a crapload of stuff due in less than 10 hours. I guess that’s what’s good about it.

I was gonna write about ef and Rental Magica, but I lost drive. Oh well, whatever.

ef – a tale of memories 01-03
Let’s just start off from the art direction, like everybody else did. Personally, I find no problems with this sort of presentation if it doesn’t distract the viewer, or, in rare cases (such as Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei), aids the viewer in his, well, viewing experience. Unfortunately, the continuous color palette changes, overly dynamic angles and just plain crazy shots aren’t really doing much to improve ones viewing experience (I need better words for this phrase). Direction aside, I thought this was generally good; there are “set couples” which more or less gives a good foundation for the people to build relationships upon, and being a character-driven show, this would be a good thing. I initially had high expectations for the show, but as of this moment, it’s just around fair-to-middling (damn The Little Prince) on my priorities list.

Rental Magica 01-04
The show itself is sort of okay, but my least favorite character is the main character. The only time he ever gets good is when he’s in Geass-mode or something. Other times (95% of the time), he’s an annoying wimp. The plot itself isn’t too shabby, but I dunno, it lacks a certain oomph. Perhaps I’ve just watched far too many slice-of-life, moe-blob-filled shows. Oh, and Kana Ueda’s Kansai-ben is absolute love and awesome. Anyway, I’d probably place this somewhere slightly above ef, if only because this has Honami in it.

Da Capo II
I didn’t indicate any episode numbers because I never got around to watching it. I probably will never get to it unless something epic (like, “NICE BOAT” epic) happens. Nanaka > all, by the way.

I have absolutely nothing to write about, so I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite ones. Mind you, this post may probably be not work safe because it has one or more half-naked women.

Disclaimer: Wallpapers are in their original file formats and sizes. Any post-editing work to make it fit your desktop is up to you.

With that out of the way, hit the jump for wallpaper lurve.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yeah, quarterly tests tomorrow ’til Friday. That sucks.

Also, I fianlly bought a new 23 Watt light bulb for me to use on photography. It is brighter than the sun so hopefully, pictures will turn out better when the next couple figures come.

I guess that’s it for now.

Oh, I can’t be bothered to fix up the categories or the blogroll since this thing is only temporary (hopefully).

Happy Birthday, Sakagami Tomoyo!
To celebrate, I have uploaded a massive (2510×7105px!) poster with which you may print on tarpaulin and hang up outside your window for all to see. Poster now taken down to conserve my friend’s bandwidth. It’s at moe.imouto.org though.

many thanks to moe.imouto.org for the scans.

PS: incidentally, today is also Impz’s (of THAT Anime Blog fame) birthday.