Well, I mentioned that Gackt was going to release a Gundam album, so I thought I may as well review it... ^_^
It's a bit disappointing that there are hardly any new tracks on it - six of the nine tracks are just re-releases of his previous Gundam songs. This review only covers the covers for that reason.
And there's no cover of "Tobe! Gundam" (which I only wanted because it would have been amusing).
They brought in Furuya Tohru to randomly say stuff as Amuro, during the songs, so that's fun. ^_^
Gackt's album version of Ai Senshi is much better than the live version that's been floating around on youtube, though it's essentially the same. He sings something closer to the right notes (well, at least for some of the song), and there's not so much clanging (it was too loud before).
After Amuro comes in, he seems to wander off into singing some other song, though...? I'm thinking "hey, wait, you were in the middle of this song! Come back and finish it, you slacker!" ... then he comes back and sings the wrong notes for a bit (like in the live), before finishing off the song.
Oh well.
The cover of "Suna no Juujika", or "Cross of Sand", is an acoustic guitar instrumental version. It's got a sound quality that really isn't studio like, it's not cleaned up, and it's got a real Mediterranean feel to it. The original version is 70s dramatic music with almost enka-style vocals. There's one point where distant church bells are heard in the background, and you get the feeling this is being performed in some Spanish café in the early morning... it's all very pleasant... right until... T_T ... the end, where someone thought it would be a good idea to ruin it all by ending the track as scratched vinyl skipping. -_-;
The final track on the album is a cover of "Meguriai". It seems to also be known as "Encounters" or "Unexpected Meeting", depending where you look. If you want to hear the original version, this AMV uses the song. Gackt's version is very Gackt. It's got a nice soft piano / vocal beginning, and then drops you head first into heavy rock. Impetuous for an old man, isn't he? Then it sorts itself out and builds itself from piano / vocal into rock gradually, then goes off the rails a bit at the end...
The rock parts make this song a little bit too similar to his cover of Ai Senshi, that's my feeling. I guess that's the sound he and his current band specialise in these days. I think it would have been better if it didn't sound so unbalanced; it would have been just as passionate a song if it had remained piano / vocal. Or if had built up to being heavy rock and stayed as such.
...it made me want to listen to Ishihara Shinichi's Para-Para Eurobeat cover of Meguriai! So I did! ^__^ I'm not sure how a Eurobeat cover can seem closer to the original of a song like this, but it does.
Overall Verdict: Gackt is too Gackt to be good at performing other peoples' songs. He rates his own style too highly to be able to adequately see the beauty in another person's song, so he wipes out too much of the character of the original. I know, from listening to his other works, that he's more than capable of producing the right kind of sound to suit these songs, and that he could have done a much more beautiful and faithful job, I think that irritates me a bit.
It's not bad but I don't really like it.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Wasp in my kitchen
There's a wasp living in my kitchen. First time I saw it, it was probably November, and made me go "aargh!" as I unexpectedly saw it walking round on my cardboard recycle pile. It was huge at the time. The next time I saw it, a few days later, it made me go "aargh!" as I saw it unexpectedly walking around on the kitchen blinds. The next time I saw it, a few days later, it made me go "aargh!" as I saw it walking into my living room. At which point I got a glass from the kitchen and took it back in there. I put a few drops of fruit juice in the glass and it lived in there for a few days. I looked it up on wikipedia - it says that all ordinary wasps die off in the winter, except the queen which hibernates. So I thought... "it's December, this kitchen is cold, it should die soon. Poor thing." ... so it was there in the glass in the kitchen for a few days. Then one day it was gone. This was about a week ago. I thought "do wasps do somewhere to die?" and felt quite sad about it. Today, I saw it walking round on the carpet and... I got a camera and took a picture and decided to post it in my blog. ^_^;;
There's a wasp living in my kitchen! In the middle of Winter! And it walks everywhere!
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun
I also bought a copy of "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun", which is the biggest-selling 7" single of all time, in Japan. Possibly still the biggest-selling single, depending on which reports you read. (Some stories report that Utada Hikaru has overtaken this in sales thanks to downloadable singles being counted in the charts).
Being the biggest-selling record ever, 4.5 million copies sold, there are tons of copies around (even for a record from 1976!) so mine only cost $1.99 ^_^ I already had a copy of the song on a compilation CD, but it's symbolically nice to own a copy of such an important record.
It's a bit like the story of the gingerbread man, it's a short children's song animation. You can watch it here
Every day the baker makes taiyaki and it gets eaten. One day, the taiyaki gets bored of this, gets into a fight with the baker and decides to escape, and it goes off and swims in the ocean. It has a nice time there, lots of fun swimming about, but eventually it gets hungry. So it looks for some food, and sees a worm hanging about in the water.... some old guy fishes him out! What a surprise! So he gets eaten.
There's a live version here too:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=XPHOOBLL
Hooray for Masato Shimon! Isn't he great? Why is he surrounded by businessmen, clapping? Well, it seems that the reason this was such a big hit was not just because it's a great song, but everyone in Japan could relate to it as a metaphor for working life.
...isn't that somewhat depressing? I guess it depends on your interpretation.
Apparently due to contracts, Masato Shimon didn't make much money out of this at all. :( The record company made enough profit to build a new building just from this one record, though.
Being the biggest-selling record ever, 4.5 million copies sold, there are tons of copies around (even for a record from 1976!) so mine only cost $1.99 ^_^ I already had a copy of the song on a compilation CD, but it's symbolically nice to own a copy of such an important record.
It's a bit like the story of the gingerbread man, it's a short children's song animation. You can watch it here
Every day the baker makes taiyaki and it gets eaten. One day, the taiyaki gets bored of this, gets into a fight with the baker and decides to escape, and it goes off and swims in the ocean. It has a nice time there, lots of fun swimming about, but eventually it gets hungry. So it looks for some food, and sees a worm hanging about in the water.... some old guy fishes him out! What a surprise! So he gets eaten.
There's a live version here too:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=XPHOOBLL
Hooray for Masato Shimon! Isn't he great? Why is he surrounded by businessmen, clapping? Well, it seems that the reason this was such a big hit was not just because it's a great song, but everyone in Japan could relate to it as a metaphor for working life.
...isn't that somewhat depressing? I guess it depends on your interpretation.
Apparently due to contracts, Masato Shimon didn't make much money out of this at all. :( The record company made enough profit to build a new building just from this one record, though.
MIO (MIQ) - L-Gaim & Starlight Shower
I've been buying vinyl. ^_^
I bought the L-Gaim 7" single, along with the album "Starlight Shower" by MIO.
The single contains "Time For L-Gaim" on side A, and "Starlight Shower" on side B. Its catalogue number is K07S-512 (K07S-512B) and cost 700 yen when it came out in 1984.
The album contains both those songs, and more. Both records were released on the STAR CHILD label. Its catalogue number is K28G-7197 and it cost 2800 yen when it came out in 1984. Prices haven't changed much! The full tracklisting is provided handily on the back in English, hooray!
Side A:
* MORNING BELL
* KAZE NO DUET
* BIARRITZ NO KYUJITSU
* Good-bye TOKYO
* SAYONARA WA Tenderly
Side B:
* L-GAIM - Time for L-GAIM
* AMOREI
* MINT BAR
* MAGIC CITY
* STARLIGHT SHOWER
It comes with a lyrics sheet and also, separately, a full fold-out poster of MIO - that's kinda cool. ^_^
I haven't listened to them yet - too busy playing with my new iPod. I need to get my act together and preserve this vinyl to MP3 format... my computer is being dodgy when it comes to recording from line-in at the moment, though. -_-;
I really do like listening to MIO. Or, MIQ as she's now known. Such a great voice, quite low, especially compared to other female singers from Japan. She sounds something like she ought to be a glorious black gospel singer, but no, she's a little Japanese lady. That's cool. ^_^ I already have some of her work - various live performances on CD and DVD, various Xabungle 7" records, her recent hits CD album, the Dunbine CD single and the L-Gaim CD single, even! But the L-Gaim CD single doesn't have the song "Starlight Shower" (L-Gaim ending theme), and I am especially addicted to that song at the moment.
I bought the L-Gaim 7" single, along with the album "Starlight Shower" by MIO.
The single contains "Time For L-Gaim" on side A, and "Starlight Shower" on side B. Its catalogue number is K07S-512 (K07S-512B) and cost 700 yen when it came out in 1984.
The album contains both those songs, and more. Both records were released on the STAR CHILD label. Its catalogue number is K28G-7197 and it cost 2800 yen when it came out in 1984. Prices haven't changed much! The full tracklisting is provided handily on the back in English, hooray!
Side A:
* MORNING BELL
* KAZE NO DUET
* BIARRITZ NO KYUJITSU
* Good-bye TOKYO
* SAYONARA WA Tenderly
Side B:
* L-GAIM - Time for L-GAIM
* AMOREI
* MINT BAR
* MAGIC CITY
* STARLIGHT SHOWER
It comes with a lyrics sheet and also, separately, a full fold-out poster of MIO - that's kinda cool. ^_^
I haven't listened to them yet - too busy playing with my new iPod. I need to get my act together and preserve this vinyl to MP3 format... my computer is being dodgy when it comes to recording from line-in at the moment, though. -_-;
I really do like listening to MIO. Or, MIQ as she's now known. Such a great voice, quite low, especially compared to other female singers from Japan. She sounds something like she ought to be a glorious black gospel singer, but no, she's a little Japanese lady. That's cool. ^_^ I already have some of her work - various live performances on CD and DVD, various Xabungle 7" records, her recent hits CD album, the Dunbine CD single and the L-Gaim CD single, even! But the L-Gaim CD single doesn't have the song "Starlight Shower" (L-Gaim ending theme), and I am especially addicted to that song at the moment.
Yay! I bought an iPod!
Woo!
Shiny, isn't it? ^_^
This is my first portable MP3 player. Well, the first proper MP3 player. I've had portable CD players that could play MP3s and I can play MP3s on my handheld consoles and what-have-you, but... well, you know what I mean.
It's a 6th generation silver iPod classic, 80GB. ^__^ I got it on Amazon for what I think is a pretty good price, considering its capacity.
So far, I'm happy with it. The only irritations I'm feeling are:
* I find the navigation wheel a bit annoying.
* It only comes with a quick start manual, and it's too simplistic
* I managed to scratch the metal back already (!)
(how? I haven't done anything! I haven't even left this room yet!)
* You can't charge the battery and listen to music at the same time.
The last being plain stupid design, IMHO.
I got round having to install iTunes by getting a copy of Poddox, which seems to work well. It won't transfer video, but I'm not bothered about watching video on little portable devices anyway.
Shiny, isn't it? ^_^
This is my first portable MP3 player. Well, the first proper MP3 player. I've had portable CD players that could play MP3s and I can play MP3s on my handheld consoles and what-have-you, but... well, you know what I mean.
It's a 6th generation silver iPod classic, 80GB. ^__^ I got it on Amazon for what I think is a pretty good price, considering its capacity.
So far, I'm happy with it. The only irritations I'm feeling are:
* I find the navigation wheel a bit annoying.
* It only comes with a quick start manual, and it's too simplistic
* I managed to scratch the metal back already (!)
(how? I haven't done anything! I haven't even left this room yet!)
* You can't charge the battery and listen to music at the same time.
The last being plain stupid design, IMHO.
I got round having to install iTunes by getting a copy of Poddox, which seems to work well. It won't transfer video, but I'm not bothered about watching video on little portable devices anyway.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
JAM Project to cover Lucky Star OP
To be released on 2007-12-26:
Lucky Star Mottake Sailor Fuku Re-Mix002 by JAM Project.
Fun! You can hear a clip of it in this CM!
Catalogue No: LACM-4445
Price: 1,200 yen
Lucky Star Mottake Sailor Fuku Re-Mix002 by JAM Project.
Fun! You can hear a clip of it in this CM!
Catalogue No: LACM-4445
Price: 1,200 yen
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Misawa Go - anime composer - died aged 79
From animenation news:
Goh Misawa, the soundtrack composer for the 1972 Devilman and 1973 Aim For The Ace! anime television series, died of esophageal cancer in a hospital outside Palm Springs, California, on the morning of November 20. He was 79. Misawa moved from Japan to America, where he continued to create music and dub movies, in 1976.
--
He had the same birthday as me, but half a century before... follow this link for a big list of anime songs he worked on (list in Japanese). As well as the opening themes to "Ace o Nerae!" and "Devilman TV", he wrote the opening theme to "Ryuusei Ningen Zone"! I think that might be my favourite of his songs, but it might equally have been because of Masato Shimon's performance of the song.
Of the others, I've only heard the song "Attention Please" as part of Mizuki Ichirou's "Seishun For You" compilation song... -_-;
Oh he also wrote the opening to Jungle Kurobe, but... it's not one of my favourites...
(This may be a bad time to say it, but... I like the Devilman ED theme much more than the OP theme)
Goh Misawa, the soundtrack composer for the 1972 Devilman and 1973 Aim For The Ace! anime television series, died of esophageal cancer in a hospital outside Palm Springs, California, on the morning of November 20. He was 79. Misawa moved from Japan to America, where he continued to create music and dub movies, in 1976.
--
He had the same birthday as me, but half a century before... follow this link for a big list of anime songs he worked on (list in Japanese). As well as the opening themes to "Ace o Nerae!" and "Devilman TV", he wrote the opening theme to "Ryuusei Ningen Zone"! I think that might be my favourite of his songs, but it might equally have been because of Masato Shimon's performance of the song.
Of the others, I've only heard the song "Attention Please" as part of Mizuki Ichirou's "Seishun For You" compilation song... -_-;
Oh he also wrote the opening to Jungle Kurobe, but... it's not one of my favourites...
(This may be a bad time to say it, but... I like the Devilman ED theme much more than the OP theme)
Friday, 9 November 2007
Nin nin nin nin!
Look what my boyfriend gave me for Christmas! ^__^
It's not Christmas yet, but he's not good at waiting. ^_^;;
Oh well. I like it anyway. ^__^
It's not Christmas yet, but he's not good at waiting. ^_^;;
Oh well. I like it anyway. ^__^
Thursday, 8 November 2007
VOCALOID 2 Hatsune Miku 初音ミク
The virtual idol Hatsune Miku seems to be extremely popular at the moment, particularly at covering anime songs and performing video game sounds/BGM. People are posting loads of videos to youtube.
Here are some of my favourites that I've found so far:
GAME:
Dancing Mad (Kefka battle) from Final Fantasy 6
Gradius 2
Konami retro mix
Castlevania
ANIME:
Shangri-La - Soukyuu no Fafner. I love the way they got it to do an impersonation of the lead singer of "angela".
Zankoku na tenshi no thesis - Evangelion.
Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo komete - Zeta Gundam
Tobe! Gundam - Gundam 0079
Captain Harlock
Ai Obotetemasuka - Macross: Do you remember love? (WARNING: Contains spoilers!)
Geki! Tei ~Saishuushou~
The Sakura Taisen 1 and 3 themes together.
Not such a great version but I like this song. ^_^
TOKUSATSU:
Battle Fever J
Denjiman and another version
I like the way they've kind of used her as an instrument rather than as a singer for the videogame remixes. The "angela" song is the best anime cover version by a long way, I think. Not a patch on the original, but I like what they tried to do - it's very ambitious, and is a good result. Some of the others are just plain funny. :D
Here are some of my favourites that I've found so far:
GAME:
Dancing Mad (Kefka battle) from Final Fantasy 6
Gradius 2
Konami retro mix
Castlevania
ANIME:
Shangri-La - Soukyuu no Fafner. I love the way they got it to do an impersonation of the lead singer of "angela".
Zankoku na tenshi no thesis - Evangelion.
Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo komete - Zeta Gundam
Tobe! Gundam - Gundam 0079
Captain Harlock
Ai Obotetemasuka - Macross: Do you remember love? (WARNING: Contains spoilers!)
Geki! Tei ~Saishuushou~
The Sakura Taisen 1 and 3 themes together.
Not such a great version but I like this song. ^_^
TOKUSATSU:
Battle Fever J
Denjiman and another version
I like the way they've kind of used her as an instrument rather than as a singer for the videogame remixes. The "angela" song is the best anime cover version by a long way, I think. Not a patch on the original, but I like what they tried to do - it's very ambitious, and is a good result. Some of the others are just plain funny. :D
3rd generation of PS2
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/06/sony_ps2_redesign/
Oh, it's pretty much the same as the previous PS2 but lighter. Which makes it *more importable* if you want to buy a different-region console.
But I guess I have enough PS2s already... (2 European PAL, 1 US NTSC, one Asian NTSC)
Yay, Sony aren't treating the PS2 as dead. ^_^
Oh, it's pretty much the same as the previous PS2 but lighter. Which makes it *more importable* if you want to buy a different-region console.
But I guess I have enough PS2s already... (2 European PAL, 1 US NTSC, one Asian NTSC)
Yay, Sony aren't treating the PS2 as dead. ^_^
Environmentally friendly chopsticks bra
We had the store-away-your-groceries bra from Triumph before, and they seem to have another environmentally friendly novelty bra for Japan...
Source: Ananova
A 'chopsticks bra' has been unveiled in Japan for busy women looking to stash their eating utensils whilst on the go.
Bra maker Triumph International is pushing the green message with a bra it hopes will cut down on disposable chopsticks.
The 'My Hashi Bra' (or My Chopstick Bra) comes with collapsible chopsticks stashed inside the body of the brassiere.
According to the company they are compact and form part of the bra's frame.
Triumph spokesperson Hiromi Shinta said: "Its small step, but because many Japanese chopsticks are disposable, big chunks of forests are being cut down. So we thought we could help promote the use of 'My Chopsticks' and help cut down on disposable chopsticks."
Chopsticks were first used in China nearly 4,000 years ago and first went disposable in Japan about 130 years ago.
People in Japan throw away an estimated 25 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year, although many of these are made from recycled wood chips.
--
There's a hilarious video on the ITN website:
"Take out your collapsable but reusable chopsticks which have been tucked away in various parts of your brassiere, clip them together, and enjoy your lunch from your rice bowl, or rather, your right bra cup".
Yes, really. -_-;;
Source: Ananova
A 'chopsticks bra' has been unveiled in Japan for busy women looking to stash their eating utensils whilst on the go.
Bra maker Triumph International is pushing the green message with a bra it hopes will cut down on disposable chopsticks.
The 'My Hashi Bra' (or My Chopstick Bra) comes with collapsible chopsticks stashed inside the body of the brassiere.
According to the company they are compact and form part of the bra's frame.
Triumph spokesperson Hiromi Shinta said: "Its small step, but because many Japanese chopsticks are disposable, big chunks of forests are being cut down. So we thought we could help promote the use of 'My Chopsticks' and help cut down on disposable chopsticks."
Chopsticks were first used in China nearly 4,000 years ago and first went disposable in Japan about 130 years ago.
People in Japan throw away an estimated 25 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year, although many of these are made from recycled wood chips.
--
There's a hilarious video on the ITN website:
"Take out your collapsable but reusable chopsticks which have been tucked away in various parts of your brassiere, clip them together, and enjoy your lunch from your rice bowl, or rather, your right bra cup".
Yes, really. -_-;;
Gackt's Gundam album
Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-11-05/gackt-gundam-songs
Gackt to Release Album of Gundam Songs
0079-0088 scheduled for December 19 release
According to an announcement released today, popular Japanese rock artist Gackt will release an album composed solely of songs from various Mobile Suit Gundam robotic mecha anime on December 19.
The album, which will be called 0079-0088 in reference to the fictional timeline of the first two major wars in Gundam, will include the five songs that Gackt recorded for the Mobile Suit Z Gundam film trilogy in 2005 (such as "Metamorphoze," pictured right), as well as covers of three songs from the first three Gundam films released in the early 1980s. The three cover songs from the Gundam films that are confirmed to appear on the album are "Cross of Sand" (originally performed by Takajin Yashiki), "Soldiers of Sorrow," and "Encounter" (both originally performed by Daisuke Inoue).
Gackt made the announcement on November 5 as a birthday present to Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, who was reportedly thrilled to hear the news on his 66th birthday. "These songs will move the hearts of all Gundam fans," said Gackt. He added, "For Director Tomino, I think it was an unforgettable birthday present. As a Gundam fan, I can safely say that there's nothing better than hearing that."
--
I hope he does a good cover of Ai Senshi. I love that song. ^_^
Gackt to Release Album of Gundam Songs
0079-0088 scheduled for December 19 release
According to an announcement released today, popular Japanese rock artist Gackt will release an album composed solely of songs from various Mobile Suit Gundam robotic mecha anime on December 19.
The album, which will be called 0079-0088 in reference to the fictional timeline of the first two major wars in Gundam, will include the five songs that Gackt recorded for the Mobile Suit Z Gundam film trilogy in 2005 (such as "Metamorphoze," pictured right), as well as covers of three songs from the first three Gundam films released in the early 1980s. The three cover songs from the Gundam films that are confirmed to appear on the album are "Cross of Sand" (originally performed by Takajin Yashiki), "Soldiers of Sorrow," and "Encounter" (both originally performed by Daisuke Inoue).
Gackt made the announcement on November 5 as a birthday present to Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, who was reportedly thrilled to hear the news on his 66th birthday. "These songs will move the hearts of all Gundam fans," said Gackt. He added, "For Director Tomino, I think it was an unforgettable birthday present. As a Gundam fan, I can safely say that there's nothing better than hearing that."
--
I hope he does a good cover of Ai Senshi. I love that song. ^_^
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Animegu - Ogata Megumi
Animegu, catalogue number LHCA-5080, is the newest album from the seiyuu Ogata Megumi, celebrating the first 15 years of her career. Not that she seems to do very much seiyuu work these days...
Here's a tracklisting:
01. THE GALAXY EXPRESS 999 (from the Galaxy Express 999 movie)
02. Get Wild (City Hunter ED theme)
03. Unbalance na KISS wo shite (3rd Yu Yu Hakusho ED theme)
04. Yamato yori Ai wo Komete (Saraba Uchuu Senkan Yamato Ai no Senshi-tachi movie ED theme)
05. Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze (Neon Genesis Evangelion OP theme)
06. Omoide ga Ippai (Miyuki ED theme)
07. Kyou mo dokoka de Devilman (Devilman TV ED theme)
08. Moonlight Densetsu (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon OP theme)
09. Yuzurenai Negai (Magic Knight Rayearth OP)
10. Miyu Yachiyo (Vampire Princess Miyu ED)
11. Ao no Requiem (SAMURAI DEEPER KYO OP)
12. Agape (UFO Princess Walukyure song)
13. Okaeri! (an original song)
Moonlight Densetsu has been kind of crossed with the Macross 7 theme "Seventh Moon", somehow. I like it. ^_^ My favourite track is the Yamato song (I love the original too), and I find the Vampire Princess Miyu ED theme especially haunting.
Here's a tracklisting:
01. THE GALAXY EXPRESS 999 (from the Galaxy Express 999 movie)
02. Get Wild (City Hunter ED theme)
03. Unbalance na KISS wo shite (3rd Yu Yu Hakusho ED theme)
04. Yamato yori Ai wo Komete (Saraba Uchuu Senkan Yamato Ai no Senshi-tachi movie ED theme)
05. Zankoku na tenshi no te-ze (Neon Genesis Evangelion OP theme)
06. Omoide ga Ippai (Miyuki ED theme)
07. Kyou mo dokoka de Devilman (Devilman TV ED theme)
08. Moonlight Densetsu (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon OP theme)
09. Yuzurenai Negai (Magic Knight Rayearth OP)
10. Miyu Yachiyo (Vampire Princess Miyu ED)
11. Ao no Requiem (SAMURAI DEEPER KYO OP)
12. Agape (UFO Princess Walukyure song)
13. Okaeri! (an original song)
Moonlight Densetsu has been kind of crossed with the Macross 7 theme "Seventh Moon", somehow. I like it. ^_^ My favourite track is the Yamato song (I love the original too), and I find the Vampire Princess Miyu ED theme especially haunting.
Dorodango
I just discovered something that somehow really impressed me... that there's a pastime where Japanese children create perfect shining balls out of mud. I mean, polished up like they were snooker balls or something. Mud! Beautiful.
http://www.kyokyo-u.ac.jp/youkyou/4/english4.htm
http://www.dorodango.com/about.html
http://www.kyokyo-u.ac.jp/youkyou/4/english4.htm
http://www.dorodango.com/about.html
Saturday, 13 October 2007
Transformers fans take a Citroen C2 and...
...built an original giant robot (which they call X2) in their garage. It's very cool. There are pictures in the following articles. ^_^
Ananova link
techchee link
It doesn't actually transform or... well, do very much at all. Its fingers move.
Just as well, really. ^_^;;
Ananova link
techchee link
It doesn't actually transform or... well, do very much at all. Its fingers move.
Just as well, really. ^_^;;
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Mysterious Cities Of Gold coming on DVD!
According to Anime News Network, the Mysterious Cities Of Gold is coming out on DVD here in the UK in February 2008! I really loved this TV series when I was a child! My boyfriend has already volunteered to get me a copy for my birthday. :D
As it doesn't say otherwise, I expect this release to be English-language only, which would be great - as I remember. It was good in English, a similar cast to Ulysses 31 (which is another superb series I'd recommend to anyone), but, I'd also love to hear this in Japanese. Why? Because Sasaki Isao is playing Mendoza. ^_^ Nozawa Masako (most of the Dragon Ball universe saiyajin, and hundreds of other leading roles) is playing Esteban, too. ^_^
It probably can't be multi-language, though, since the differences between the English, Japanese and French versions of this series are all a little different... even the UK and US versions are different...! -_-;;
As it doesn't say otherwise, I expect this release to be English-language only, which would be great - as I remember. It was good in English, a similar cast to Ulysses 31 (which is another superb series I'd recommend to anyone), but, I'd also love to hear this in Japanese. Why? Because Sasaki Isao is playing Mendoza. ^_^ Nozawa Masako (most of the Dragon Ball universe saiyajin, and hundreds of other leading roles) is playing Esteban, too. ^_^
It probably can't be multi-language, though, since the differences between the English, Japanese and French versions of this series are all a little different... even the UK and US versions are different...! -_-;;
Sasaki Isao in Taiyo No Hakaba
Well, my brother was talking about Sasaki Isao and DVD screencaps today, so I decided to go ahead and get some screencaps from the 1960 film Taiyo no Hakaba (otherwise known as "The Sun's Burial" or "Tomb of the Sun"), which is a miserable kind of film by Oshima Nagisa ("Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" etc).
Sasaki Isao has a large role in the film. He's still a teenager, a very scrawny looking Japanese Elvis. :D He's so young he doesn't even have a really deep voice yet! But even now, closing in on 50 years later, he hasn't changed that much, has he? ^_^
Sasaki Isao has a large role in the film. He's still a teenager, a very scrawny looking Japanese Elvis. :D He's so young he doesn't even have a really deep voice yet! But even now, closing in on 50 years later, he hasn't changed that much, has he? ^_^
Monday, 1 October 2007
Samurai Champloo - oops I won it on DVD
I got a mysterious package. Not to worry, it smelled like DVDs so I knew it was safe. ^_~
I opened it and found...
Which was strange as I certainly am not interested enough in this series to buy a copy. There was no slip in the package to say where the DVDs came from. Then I remembered... I entered a competition for them, since it was just a "send in your name and address" competition and I thought "free anime DVDs are a good thing".
...maybe I should leave competitions to win things I don't want to watch to people who do want to watch them...
...or maybe I'm the only person who bothers to enter...?
Actually, I'm still really only speculating because I can't check to see the competition winners... it would be on the website where I entered the competition, but that's down at the moment...
I opened it and found...
Which was strange as I certainly am not interested enough in this series to buy a copy. There was no slip in the package to say where the DVDs came from. Then I remembered... I entered a competition for them, since it was just a "send in your name and address" competition and I thought "free anime DVDs are a good thing".
...maybe I should leave competitions to win things I don't want to watch to people who do want to watch them...
...or maybe I'm the only person who bothers to enter...?
Actually, I'm still really only speculating because I can't check to see the competition winners... it would be on the website where I entered the competition, but that's down at the moment...
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Dungeon Maker Hunting Ground
I just finished Dungeon Maker Hunting Ground, or rather... I beat the Wandering Demon, and saw the credits. I could just go and build more, but I thought I'd rest for a while.
The box art doesn't look very impressive, does it? Strangely, the cover of the instruction booklet inside is a better picture. ^_^;;
This game is very simple, the premise is laid out to you at the start and you follow it. There is a kingdom. There are monsters around the kingdom. Boo. You can build a dungeon near to the kingdom, and the monsters will move in, keeping them away from the people. Yay! And you can then go in and slay the monsters for profit, buying more building materials with the cash!
It feels a little exploitative and predatory, especially at the start when you're mostly up against harmless bats... you feel like this is some strange kind of hotel sim where you sneak in at night and murder all the guests and steal their money.
But it also feels... a bit like in Harvest Moon where you work hard every day on your land, plotting where to put stuff, and make money out of it...
It doesn't have any time constraints per day, either. You go home when you feel like it or if you "die". So mostly when you run out of building material, and have filled up your item bag with goodies (or killed all the monsters in the dungeon, whichever comes first).
There are also quests set for you by the townspeople (usually "bring me this item" or "kill this monster") that make the game more varied, and that's also how you progress to further levels.
The first 3/4 of the game were really great fun, the last 1/4... I think it was my own imposition of a rule of farming enough items per level to maximise the day's earnings that made it quite slow (that plus I wasn't feeling well anyway).
Oh and btw the music in this game is really really super-repetitive. I suggest putting your own music on while playing!! -_-;;
I beat the Wandering Demon! See:
And in 80 days of in-game-time. ^_^
My tips on beating the demon:
* Do what the old man in town tells you. He knows best.
* Train your body up first by eating well - Grilled Wolf is good, farm in the 9th level unknown dungeon for ingredients.
* Run around a lot, avoiding damage is better than shielding it.
* Equip a sword - I used the Flamberge. Seems to do the optimal amount of damage. Everything else is too slow or too weak.
* Attack him either when he's stopping to attack you (when a circle appears under him, think of that as a target!), or from a distance with a bow and arrow (composite). Use your magic chiefly to heal and protect yourself.
The box art doesn't look very impressive, does it? Strangely, the cover of the instruction booklet inside is a better picture. ^_^;;
This game is very simple, the premise is laid out to you at the start and you follow it. There is a kingdom. There are monsters around the kingdom. Boo. You can build a dungeon near to the kingdom, and the monsters will move in, keeping them away from the people. Yay! And you can then go in and slay the monsters for profit, buying more building materials with the cash!
It feels a little exploitative and predatory, especially at the start when you're mostly up against harmless bats... you feel like this is some strange kind of hotel sim where you sneak in at night and murder all the guests and steal their money.
But it also feels... a bit like in Harvest Moon where you work hard every day on your land, plotting where to put stuff, and make money out of it...
It doesn't have any time constraints per day, either. You go home when you feel like it or if you "die". So mostly when you run out of building material, and have filled up your item bag with goodies (or killed all the monsters in the dungeon, whichever comes first).
There are also quests set for you by the townspeople (usually "bring me this item" or "kill this monster") that make the game more varied, and that's also how you progress to further levels.
The first 3/4 of the game were really great fun, the last 1/4... I think it was my own imposition of a rule of farming enough items per level to maximise the day's earnings that made it quite slow (that plus I wasn't feeling well anyway).
Oh and btw the music in this game is really really super-repetitive. I suggest putting your own music on while playing!! -_-;;
I beat the Wandering Demon! See:
And in 80 days of in-game-time. ^_^
My tips on beating the demon:
* Do what the old man in town tells you. He knows best.
* Train your body up first by eating well - Grilled Wolf is good, farm in the 9th level unknown dungeon for ingredients.
* Run around a lot, avoiding damage is better than shielding it.
* Equip a sword - I used the Flamberge. Seems to do the optimal amount of damage. Everything else is too slow or too weak.
* Attack him either when he's stopping to attack you (when a circle appears under him, think of that as a target!), or from a distance with a bow and arrow (composite). Use your magic chiefly to heal and protect yourself.
PSP games
I've spent the weekend on my own, sleeping and playing video games, this weekend. I wasn't feeling too good on Friday so I went into "standby" mode. ^_^;;
I'm amassing a pretty good collection of PSP games, aren't I?
Here we have... Tales Of Eternia (European version, dub), Jeanne D'Arc (North American version, dub), Dungeon Master Hunting Ground (North American version), Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (North American version), Blade Dancer (European version), PQ (European version), Dungeon Master Jewel Summoner (North American version), LocoRoco (European version), Popolocrois (European version, dub), Generation Of Chaos (North American version, dual language), Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (European version, dub), Taiko No Tatsujin 2 (Japanese version), Me & My Katamari (European version), Super Robot Wars MX Portable (Japanese version), Exit (European version), Tekken Dark Resurrection (European version).
I also have the UMD only of Mercury (European version), which I bought in an ebay auction, the demo UMD of LocoRoco, and a copy of WTF (North American version) but I've decided I've defeated that game so I don't have it here. ^_^
I haven't even tried out Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (it's a card game and comes with 3d glasses!), Blade Dancer (it was cheap), or Jewel Summoner (is not a Shin Megami Tensei game). Maybe I should...
I'm amassing a pretty good collection of PSP games, aren't I?
Here we have... Tales Of Eternia (European version, dub), Jeanne D'Arc (North American version, dub), Dungeon Master Hunting Ground (North American version), Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (North American version), Blade Dancer (European version), PQ (European version), Dungeon Master Jewel Summoner (North American version), LocoRoco (European version), Popolocrois (European version, dub), Generation Of Chaos (North American version, dual language), Valkyrie Profile Lenneth (European version, dub), Taiko No Tatsujin 2 (Japanese version), Me & My Katamari (European version), Super Robot Wars MX Portable (Japanese version), Exit (European version), Tekken Dark Resurrection (European version).
I also have the UMD only of Mercury (European version), which I bought in an ebay auction, the demo UMD of LocoRoco, and a copy of WTF (North American version) but I've decided I've defeated that game so I don't have it here. ^_^
I haven't even tried out Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (it's a card game and comes with 3d glasses!), Blade Dancer (it was cheap), or Jewel Summoner (is not a Shin Megami Tensei game). Maybe I should...
Monday, 24 September 2007
Machida Yoshito
Well, not being able to post pics from my camera and going to Prague for a week... I didn't post anything here for a while, did I? Sorry...
Today I've been repeatedly listening to Machida Yoshito singing the OP theme for Takarajima, the 1978 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel "Treasure Island". Oh, I love this song. It's far better on CD than it is on youtube, btw. It's got a great dynamic feel to it.
I don't know much about him, but I see that he was a member of Godiego and also performed themes for a 1979 Emeraldas anime and Cyborg 009. There's a Super Best compilation album out of his works, maybe I'll buy a copy...
Maybe I'll look into the Takarajima anime, too. ILA fansubs have taken it up as they have with lots of other series directed by the director Dezaki Osamu - they must be fans of his (as am I, ever since watching Rose Of Versailles and the Air movie)
Today I've been repeatedly listening to Machida Yoshito singing the OP theme for Takarajima, the 1978 adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's famous novel "Treasure Island". Oh, I love this song. It's far better on CD than it is on youtube, btw. It's got a great dynamic feel to it.
I don't know much about him, but I see that he was a member of Godiego and also performed themes for a 1979 Emeraldas anime and Cyborg 009. There's a Super Best compilation album out of his works, maybe I'll buy a copy...
Maybe I'll look into the Takarajima anime, too. ILA fansubs have taken it up as they have with lots of other series directed by the director Dezaki Osamu - they must be fans of his (as am I, ever since watching Rose Of Versailles and the Air movie)
Friday, 31 August 2007
Softimus Prime and Slumblebee
While I was on holiday, I saw a crane-game machine containing Softimus Prime and Slumblebee transforming cuddly toys. ^_^
I took a photo and would have uploaded it but I still don't know where my card-reader is, so I can't. So I've posted links instead. I didn't win one; the machines were cheating! ¬_¬
I took a photo and would have uploaded it but I still don't know where my card-reader is, so I can't. So I've posted links instead. I didn't win one; the machines were cheating! ¬_¬
Thursday, 23 August 2007
Space Adventure Cobra
I'm currently playing through the Space Adventure Cobra videogame that came out for the Sega Mega CD. There's a review of it here with a small gallery here. It contains more fanservice and nudity than is usually seen on console games these days, but then again, Sega seemed more relaxed about this than either Nintendo or Sony etc are. It's perfectly welcome to me to see naturally proportioned people after starting to watch Code Geass...!
It's a very linear story; it forces you to follow each possible option - especially at the start of the game - before it forwards on the story, and there seems to only be one single path through the story. (There are a few instant death options in battle, but in those cases you just continue a little further back in the story with no penalty)
It's the story about three identical triplet sisters... so I guess it's the same as in the movie I saw on videotape a few years ago. I don't know whether it compares to the anime series or the manga because I haven't read any of the manga and I only just started watching the anime (ILA have fansubbed it).
EDIT: Maybe there are games for consoles with equal amounts of fanservice these days, it's just that none of the character designs in things like Playboy The Mansion are particularly attractive, so I forgot about it.
It's a very linear story; it forces you to follow each possible option - especially at the start of the game - before it forwards on the story, and there seems to only be one single path through the story. (There are a few instant death options in battle, but in those cases you just continue a little further back in the story with no penalty)
It's the story about three identical triplet sisters... so I guess it's the same as in the movie I saw on videotape a few years ago. I don't know whether it compares to the anime series or the manga because I haven't read any of the manga and I only just started watching the anime (ILA have fansubbed it).
EDIT: Maybe there are games for consoles with equal amounts of fanservice these days, it's just that none of the character designs in things like Playboy The Mansion are particularly attractive, so I forgot about it.
Anime Buses
Well, I was reading a forum thread about some anime decals seen on cars at comiket, and that's interesting, I guess, but I then got to looking for full professional jobs - fully painted bus advertisements.
I found more than I'd seen before and they're kinda cool so I thought I'd preserve the links here.
There are lots on http://zbzbm.hp.infoseek.co.jp/kikaku/moebus/
Chiyo-chan and many other Azumanga Daioh buses
Gunslinger Girl bus
various anime and manga advertised on this bus... 2x2=Shinobuden, Azumanga & Yotsuba to, Onegai Twins etc
DearS
Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime
Lucky Star bus #1
Lucky Star bus #2
Lucky Star bus #3
Sister Princess bus
Futakoi bus
Dragon Ball Z bus
Precure Splash*Star (argh! my eyes!)
the Rozen Maiden Shinku Liner ^_^
and....
the Pokemon Jet
and the Ultraman train!! (ok they're not buses)
I found more than I'd seen before and they're kinda cool so I thought I'd preserve the links here.
There are lots on http://zbzbm.hp.infoseek.co.jp/kikaku/moebus/
Chiyo-chan and many other Azumanga Daioh buses
Gunslinger Girl bus
various anime and manga advertised on this bus... 2x2=Shinobuden, Azumanga & Yotsuba to, Onegai Twins etc
DearS
Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime
Lucky Star bus #1
Lucky Star bus #2
Lucky Star bus #3
Sister Princess bus
Futakoi bus
Dragon Ball Z bus
Precure Splash*Star (argh! my eyes!)
the Rozen Maiden Shinku Liner ^_^
and....
the Pokemon Jet
and the Ultraman train!! (ok they're not buses)
Monday, 20 August 2007
recent videogame purchases
Well, I went round a lot of 2nd hand shops and a car boot sale last week and came away with a load of cheap games. Here they are:
Yoyo's Puzzle Park is a strange little game, it's by irem (I was just playing R-Type Final too..) and is unusually named after the bad guy! It's very much in the style of old 2D single-screen platform arcade games such as Snow Bros and Bubble Bobble, and has these extraordinarily cute characters wandering round jumping on bombs to kill monsters, and saying "Nanoda!"
I, too, was going round saying "Nanoda!" for ages, afterwards.
Fighter Maker is a beat-em-up-construction-kit. It makes 3D fighter games to the level of... well, my brother thought Dead Or Alive (1) looking at the graphics, but then we agreed it was more Last Bronx when we looked at the game in motion.
Rox (which I suspect must be called that because of the Japanese number 6) is a puzzle game that makes NO SENSE at all if you try folowing the in-game instructions. It makes a bit more sense if you read the instruction manual, but by that time I wanted to try another game (nanoda?!). Watch some in-game footage and see if you can work out the pattern. Makes just as little sense in English as not being able to read Japanese. What you have to do is trap the same number of blocks in between matching numbers as is on the matching pair. e.g. you have [4][1][2][3][5][4] and they'll disappear. Or [3][5][4][1][3] and they'll disappear. does that make sense? Yes? No? It seemed too much of a brain-ache to be fun, to me.
Treasures Of The Deep is a game by Namco that gave away a free demo of Point Blank. But mine is missing that. Apparently it's a pretty good game, but I haven't tried it yet.
Last Battle is a Hokuto No Ken game for Megadrive, but has had all the Hokuto No Ken-ness removed from it, like many of the graphics, the names, the story, and the blood / exploding heads. I'm not sure which Hokuto No Ken game it was as there are so many of them, I picked it up because of the novelty value and because I felt a loss at not being able to play Fighting Mania. It could do with better collision detection.
Spider-man is actually "The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin", but it doesn't say it's that one.
Flashback is a classic platformer with really nice fluid animation for the main character, reminding me of Impossible Mission and the 1st Prince Of Persia game. Unfortunately, my copy just has a copyright notice and then I get a black screen. T_T Apparently Fade To Black is supposed to be the sequel, though. I guess my copy is ahead of itself, as fading to black is all it does! T_T
Revenge Of Shinobi is cool, that's why I got it. ^_^
The 3 Gameboy carts there are Magical Drop (GBC), Doraemon Kart 2, and the game with the torn label is Holy Magic Century. Although there's an RPG called Holy Magic Century for N64, this game for GB is quite obviously a rebranded clone of one of my all-time favourite arcade games: Mr. Do!, though it's not as good because the ball you throw doesn't bounce off walls, and you can't turn round immediately and fire when you need to. I got it for free, though, the lady at the stall I got it from just gave it to me as a gift when I asked if she knew what it was.
And finally, I got a cart of Sonic 2; during my mis-spent days at university I played the Sonic games a lot with a close friend of mine, using a rom on a megadrive emulator called Genecyst. It was always graphically glitchy on the levels containing liquids, and that was annoying. I have this game as part of a few compilations for later consoles, but I wanted a copy for the actual Megadrive now I own one of my own.
Yoyo's Puzzle Park is a strange little game, it's by irem (I was just playing R-Type Final too..) and is unusually named after the bad guy! It's very much in the style of old 2D single-screen platform arcade games such as Snow Bros and Bubble Bobble, and has these extraordinarily cute characters wandering round jumping on bombs to kill monsters, and saying "Nanoda!"
I, too, was going round saying "Nanoda!" for ages, afterwards.
Fighter Maker is a beat-em-up-construction-kit. It makes 3D fighter games to the level of... well, my brother thought Dead Or Alive (1) looking at the graphics, but then we agreed it was more Last Bronx when we looked at the game in motion.
Rox (which I suspect must be called that because of the Japanese number 6) is a puzzle game that makes NO SENSE at all if you try folowing the in-game instructions. It makes a bit more sense if you read the instruction manual, but by that time I wanted to try another game (nanoda?!). Watch some in-game footage and see if you can work out the pattern. Makes just as little sense in English as not being able to read Japanese. What you have to do is trap the same number of blocks in between matching numbers as is on the matching pair. e.g. you have [4][1][2][3][5][4] and they'll disappear. Or [3][5][4][1][3] and they'll disappear. does that make sense? Yes? No? It seemed too much of a brain-ache to be fun, to me.
Treasures Of The Deep is a game by Namco that gave away a free demo of Point Blank. But mine is missing that. Apparently it's a pretty good game, but I haven't tried it yet.
Last Battle is a Hokuto No Ken game for Megadrive, but has had all the Hokuto No Ken-ness removed from it, like many of the graphics, the names, the story, and the blood / exploding heads. I'm not sure which Hokuto No Ken game it was as there are so many of them, I picked it up because of the novelty value and because I felt a loss at not being able to play Fighting Mania. It could do with better collision detection.
Spider-man is actually "The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin", but it doesn't say it's that one.
Flashback is a classic platformer with really nice fluid animation for the main character, reminding me of Impossible Mission and the 1st Prince Of Persia game. Unfortunately, my copy just has a copyright notice and then I get a black screen. T_T Apparently Fade To Black is supposed to be the sequel, though. I guess my copy is ahead of itself, as fading to black is all it does! T_T
Revenge Of Shinobi is cool, that's why I got it. ^_^
The 3 Gameboy carts there are Magical Drop (GBC), Doraemon Kart 2, and the game with the torn label is Holy Magic Century. Although there's an RPG called Holy Magic Century for N64, this game for GB is quite obviously a rebranded clone of one of my all-time favourite arcade games: Mr. Do!, though it's not as good because the ball you throw doesn't bounce off walls, and you can't turn round immediately and fire when you need to. I got it for free, though, the lady at the stall I got it from just gave it to me as a gift when I asked if she knew what it was.
And finally, I got a cart of Sonic 2; during my mis-spent days at university I played the Sonic games a lot with a close friend of mine, using a rom on a megadrive emulator called Genecyst. It was always graphically glitchy on the levels containing liquids, and that was annoying. I have this game as part of a few compilations for later consoles, but I wanted a copy for the actual Megadrive now I own one of my own.
House Of The Dead 4
I didn't play many arcade games at all on holiday this year (sigh), though I had a go at House Of The Dead 4 - two credits for a pound. I got as far as the 2nd chapter.
I'd upload a photo if I could just find my flash-card reader... T_T
Here's some in-game footage, and here's the official site.
It was a bit annoying having a submachinegun and having to reload so soon, it was a bit annoying having to put off your aim to shake the gun around (it's not motion detection so much as you hear something rattling back and forth in the gun), and it was annoying that *all the zombies seemed to be immortal while on the ground*, as in, there were plenty of times that zombies were visible, you'd shoot them and the hits would not register until they were fully standing up.
And the players seemed to keep turning around while there were still zombies in front of them! And it hardly ever seemed to matter...? Like, oh, zombies are really nice, they won't attack anyone who's not facing them...!
There was one line in it that the main character said:
"It's all happening again. But it's much worse this time."
and hey, that's just what I was thinking too as I was playing it.
I'd upload a photo if I could just find my flash-card reader... T_T
Here's some in-game footage, and here's the official site.
It was a bit annoying having a submachinegun and having to reload so soon, it was a bit annoying having to put off your aim to shake the gun around (it's not motion detection so much as you hear something rattling back and forth in the gun), and it was annoying that *all the zombies seemed to be immortal while on the ground*, as in, there were plenty of times that zombies were visible, you'd shoot them and the hits would not register until they were fully standing up.
And the players seemed to keep turning around while there were still zombies in front of them! And it hardly ever seemed to matter...? Like, oh, zombies are really nice, they won't attack anyone who's not facing them...!
There was one line in it that the main character said:
"It's all happening again. But it's much worse this time."
and hey, that's just what I was thinking too as I was playing it.
Back from holiday
I was off on holiday last week, same old seaside holiday resort as every year, but this year... oh, so much had been lost! T_T
So long, Saturn Palace, where I first played Super Mario Bros, APB, Bubble Bobble, and so many other arcade games.
So long, Crystals, even though you never had any real arcade games other than Track And Field for the last few years.
So long, Mazan: Flash of the Blade, oh arm-tiring fun where I somehow remained in the top ten ranking from one year to the next.
So long, Ninja Assault and your strangely-pronounced English from an all-Japanese cast.
So long, Last Bronx, though you were broken last year and I expected you to go.
So long, Bang! for 10p a go.
So long, Hyper Bishi Bashi Champ, although you were broken for years I liked to see the shell of a classic machine.
and most of all,
So long, Fighting Mania, from every arcade in Hemsby and Gt Yarmouth, and gone from Meadowhall too, beloved Hokuto No Ken game, I will miss you even though I never once beat "normal" mode.
So long, Saturn Palace, where I first played Super Mario Bros, APB, Bubble Bobble, and so many other arcade games.
So long, Crystals, even though you never had any real arcade games other than Track And Field for the last few years.
So long, Mazan: Flash of the Blade, oh arm-tiring fun where I somehow remained in the top ten ranking from one year to the next.
So long, Ninja Assault and your strangely-pronounced English from an all-Japanese cast.
So long, Last Bronx, though you were broken last year and I expected you to go.
So long, Bang! for 10p a go.
So long, Hyper Bishi Bashi Champ, although you were broken for years I liked to see the shell of a classic machine.
and most of all,
So long, Fighting Mania, from every arcade in Hemsby and Gt Yarmouth, and gone from Meadowhall too, beloved Hokuto No Ken game, I will miss you even though I never once beat "normal" mode.
Sealed Game Heaven
I read last week's posts on Insert Credit - one of them is pointing out a community of sealed videogame collectors.
This post was one of the first I looked at, and... I'd never have thought that looking at a very-almost complete collection of Japanese Dreamcast games would make me feel so saddened and slightly sickened.
NONE OF THESE GAMES ARE OPENED!
[cries]
It's wrong! It's so wrong!
It's no good cheerfully denying a videogame its right to be played, and sending it to Heaven before it's born... the idea makes me sad... T_T
This post was one of the first I looked at, and... I'd never have thought that looking at a very-almost complete collection of Japanese Dreamcast games would make me feel so saddened and slightly sickened.
NONE OF THESE GAMES ARE OPENED!
[cries]
It's wrong! It's so wrong!
It's no good cheerfully denying a videogame its right to be played, and sending it to Heaven before it's born... the idea makes me sad... T_T
Top 100 independant games by Game Tunnel
Someone brought to my attention this list of Game Tunnel's top 100 independant games reviewed over the past 3 years:
Top 100 independant games by Game Tunnel.
I already have too many games to be getting on with at the moment, though. -_-;;
Top 100 independant games by Game Tunnel.
I already have too many games to be getting on with at the moment, though. -_-;;
Thursday, 9 August 2007
Sega Mega CD
I got myself a Sega Mega CD on ebay. It cost under £60! and came with a load of games! ... and then I had to spend £10 on a composite cable so I could connect it to my monitor because I don't have any RF inputs. ^_^;;
But!
I now have a Sega Mega CD. Model 1! ^_^
Wow, Cobra Command is a terrible game...! *_*
But!
I now have a Sega Mega CD. Model 1! ^_^
Wow, Cobra Command is a terrible game...! *_*
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
Arina Tanemura Interview
It's been a week and I'm still eating watermelon. ^_^;;
I just started reading Full Moon o Sagashite recently so I was glad to see that ANN have posted an interview with Arina Tanemura. It's a pretty pointless interview, though. They didn't really talk about any of her work at all. ¬_¬
I just started reading Full Moon o Sagashite recently so I was glad to see that ANN have posted an interview with Arina Tanemura. It's a pretty pointless interview, though. They didn't really talk about any of her work at all. ¬_¬
Monday, 6 August 2007
Tales From Earthsea
I went to a local cinema on Friday evening with my boyfriend, and we wathed the new Studio Ghibli film Tales From Earthsea (or Gedo Senki).
It's based on a series of books by Ursula K. Le Guin who I remember my dad mentioning before as a SF writer. I haven't read any of her work though. Apparently she wasn't entirely happy with the film, and I knew that the film had not been well received in Japanese reviews either. I decided to go to see it anyway because it's rare to see subbed anime in the cinema.
It was alright, not nearly as terrible as I was led to believe it would be. But then, I haven't read or feel any attachment to the original books, and my expectations for the film were low (due to the reviews and perhaps because I don't think Ghibli movies are better or more special than other anime movies).
I got this feeling that the storytelling was being affected by that thing where the makers don't explain something big because they think thay're too cool. ¬_¬
It still has the old Ghibli cliche of *befriend weird things!* and *heroic girl!*, but in this film they're both the same character and she's not the main character, but I get the feeling she'd like to be.
It also has the *be environmentally friendly* ethic, as always.
It was a Goro Miyazaki film, rather than his father's work, though I noticed at the end of the film that it said the film was "inspired by" a Hayao Miyazaki manga called The Journey of Shuna / Shuna no Tabi.
So this film tried to serve two masters. Perhaps that was another of its problems.
It's based on a series of books by Ursula K. Le Guin who I remember my dad mentioning before as a SF writer. I haven't read any of her work though. Apparently she wasn't entirely happy with the film, and I knew that the film had not been well received in Japanese reviews either. I decided to go to see it anyway because it's rare to see subbed anime in the cinema.
It was alright, not nearly as terrible as I was led to believe it would be. But then, I haven't read or feel any attachment to the original books, and my expectations for the film were low (due to the reviews and perhaps because I don't think Ghibli movies are better or more special than other anime movies).
I got this feeling that the storytelling was being affected by that thing where the makers don't explain something big because they think thay're too cool. ¬_¬
It still has the old Ghibli cliche of *befriend weird things!* and *heroic girl!*, but in this film they're both the same character and she's not the main character, but I get the feeling she'd like to be.
It also has the *be environmentally friendly* ethic, as always.
It was a Goro Miyazaki film, rather than his father's work, though I noticed at the end of the film that it said the film was "inspired by" a Hayao Miyazaki manga called The Journey of Shuna / Shuna no Tabi.
So this film tried to serve two masters. Perhaps that was another of its problems.
Friday, 3 August 2007
Nintendo DS flashcards on Amazon
I was really really surprised to notice that Amazon UK sell the M3 and
R4 devices. As in, my eyes popped out of my head.
They're flashcards for the Nintendo DS that let you play homebrew, movie files, MP3s, and downloaded .nds roms! Just stick the files onto a micro-SD card, put it into the flashcard, and play.
They're very popular items, too. The M3 is ranked #16 in the NDS bestselling list, and the R4 is #43, at the moment.
I didn't think Amazon would dare to sell such things. Especially not directly with free shipping (which is what they offer for the M3).
I suppose Amazon could argue it's like selling MP3 players. You might play music from some download shop, or you could be playing illegal MP3s. Or maybe they just don't understand what the product does and why it's popular.
Meanwhile, today's news is that there's been a huge crackdown on US mod chip sellers! It seems customs were doing the raids, so maybe it's just for imported modchips; the ones developed within the US were ok? [shrug]
R4 devices. As in, my eyes popped out of my head.
They're flashcards for the Nintendo DS that let you play homebrew, movie files, MP3s, and downloaded .nds roms! Just stick the files onto a micro-SD card, put it into the flashcard, and play.
They're very popular items, too. The M3 is ranked #16 in the NDS bestselling list, and the R4 is #43, at the moment.
I didn't think Amazon would dare to sell such things. Especially not directly with free shipping (which is what they offer for the M3).
I suppose Amazon could argue it's like selling MP3 players. You might play music from some download shop, or you could be playing illegal MP3s. Or maybe they just don't understand what the product does and why it's popular.
Meanwhile, today's news is that there's been a huge crackdown on US mod chip sellers! It seems customs were doing the raids, so maybe it's just for imported modchips; the ones developed within the US were ok? [shrug]
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
recently watched
I've recently watched:
* The first episode of City Hunter
* The first two episodes of Code Geass
* The first episode of Cutey Honey
City Hunter is SO COOL! *_*
The first two episodes of Code Geass made me go OMG!! at the end of each episode. *_*
I can't decide whether Cutey Honey is bad or good. It's started like like any other old Go Nagai show. Family dies at the start. Hero shouts stuff, robot throws its adornments to attack. Beats baddies. Actually, it's more like the old Devilman series than the robot shows. But with more gratuitous female nudity. The episode is 25 mins long and finishes at 20 mins! The full-length end theme is played, and there's a really long episode preview. Maybe I'll give the next episode a go... or I could watch more of the other *really cool* shows... hmm...
EDIT: I decided to watch more Cutey Honey. I've also decided that she's now my favourite Go Nagai mecha. ^_^;; She's far less evil than any of the other Go Nagai heroes I've encountered, after all.
I'm still not sure how Go Nagai manages to make scenes that ought to be erotic just plain bizarre. Or rather, maybe I'm just not sure *why* he does it. Maybe he prefers it that way. O_o
* The first episode of City Hunter
* The first two episodes of Code Geass
* The first episode of Cutey Honey
City Hunter is SO COOL! *_*
The first two episodes of Code Geass made me go OMG!! at the end of each episode. *_*
I can't decide whether Cutey Honey is bad or good. It's started like like any other old Go Nagai show. Family dies at the start. Hero shouts stuff, robot throws its adornments to attack. Beats baddies. Actually, it's more like the old Devilman series than the robot shows. But with more gratuitous female nudity. The episode is 25 mins long and finishes at 20 mins! The full-length end theme is played, and there's a really long episode preview. Maybe I'll give the next episode a go... or I could watch more of the other *really cool* shows... hmm...
EDIT: I decided to watch more Cutey Honey. I've also decided that she's now my favourite Go Nagai mecha. ^_^;; She's far less evil than any of the other Go Nagai heroes I've encountered, after all.
I'm still not sure how Go Nagai manages to make scenes that ought to be erotic just plain bizarre. Or rather, maybe I'm just not sure *why* he does it. Maybe he prefers it that way. O_o
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Huge Melons
I thought I'd make an ordinary dull blog-type post today.
I bought a huge watermelon this evening. It cost me £4.50 which is a lot but not the most I've spent on a fruit this season (that would be the durain fruit I bought for my mum as a present last month which cost about 4 times as much).
It's the smallest one they had in the shop! They had a huge crate full of them there.
Here's a photo of it:
I put Yuusha Raideen in God Bird form next to it, for perspective. As you know, Raideen is very very big. This watermelon is massive!
I think I'l spend about a week eating it...
I bought a huge watermelon this evening. It cost me £4.50 which is a lot but not the most I've spent on a fruit this season (that would be the durain fruit I bought for my mum as a present last month which cost about 4 times as much).
It's the smallest one they had in the shop! They had a huge crate full of them there.
Here's a photo of it:
I put Yuusha Raideen in God Bird form next to it, for perspective. As you know, Raideen is very very big. This watermelon is massive!
I think I'l spend about a week eating it...
Sunday, 29 July 2007
weekend update
Ah, I did a lot of things this weekend...
* Played the Kakugo No Susume video game for PS1.
* Played Real Robots Final Attack for PS1.
* Started playing Psychic Force complete for PS2.
* Read the first 3 volumes of Full Moon wo Sagashite manga.
* Read the 4th volume of Yotsuba&! manga.
* Received Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw controller.
* Started playing SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters.
Details:
* Put in the Kakugo no Susume disc. Blindly went into battle. It's a primitive 3D fighting game. 10 minutes later, my brother pipes up "this must be the last battle; that's your rival". Ah yes. My brother. Before I noticed, the battle was won. SHORTEST GAME EVER. O_O
* Real Robots Final Attack is a bit like Gotcha Force or Virtua On, but featuring mecha from Xabungle, Dunbine, L-Gaim, Z Gundam, Gundam X, Dragonar, and some of the Banpresto Originals (R-1, R-2, R-3). Dunbine is ace. ^_^ The last boss is very hard. T_T I got motion sickness. (#_#)
* Psychic Force Complete doesn't contain the puzzle game, and it doesn't contain the animated intro for Psychic Force 2012 (with Kageyama Hironobu singing). Boooo! That's not complete at all!!
* Full Moon wo Sagashite, oh, it's a powerful story, and feels quite sad. It's a good read, though.
* Yotsuba&, oh, it's so simple, light-hearted and funny. A good contrast. ^_^
* My brother thinks that the Resident Evil 4 controller is not cute. [shrug]
* SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters was a bit hard to get into, but I'm getting used to it. It's quite fun, but the battles take a while. Even though this is the 2nd edition release of the game, there are still mistakes in it, for example in one description, the word "naïve" is written as "na?ve". It's quite fun playing and collecting cards, though. And I found it funny powering up Miles Edgeworth and getting him to defeat really tough fighters. But that's just me.
* Played the Kakugo No Susume video game for PS1.
* Played Real Robots Final Attack for PS1.
* Started playing Psychic Force complete for PS2.
* Read the first 3 volumes of Full Moon wo Sagashite manga.
* Read the 4th volume of Yotsuba&! manga.
* Received Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw controller.
* Started playing SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters.
Details:
* Put in the Kakugo no Susume disc. Blindly went into battle. It's a primitive 3D fighting game. 10 minutes later, my brother pipes up "this must be the last battle; that's your rival". Ah yes. My brother. Before I noticed, the battle was won. SHORTEST GAME EVER. O_O
* Real Robots Final Attack is a bit like Gotcha Force or Virtua On, but featuring mecha from Xabungle, Dunbine, L-Gaim, Z Gundam, Gundam X, Dragonar, and some of the Banpresto Originals (R-1, R-2, R-3). Dunbine is ace. ^_^ The last boss is very hard. T_T I got motion sickness. (#_#)
* Psychic Force Complete doesn't contain the puzzle game, and it doesn't contain the animated intro for Psychic Force 2012 (with Kageyama Hironobu singing). Boooo! That's not complete at all!!
* Full Moon wo Sagashite, oh, it's a powerful story, and feels quite sad. It's a good read, though.
* Yotsuba&, oh, it's so simple, light-hearted and funny. A good contrast. ^_^
* My brother thinks that the Resident Evil 4 controller is not cute. [shrug]
* SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters was a bit hard to get into, but I'm getting used to it. It's quite fun, but the battles take a while. Even though this is the 2nd edition release of the game, there are still mistakes in it, for example in one description, the word "naïve" is written as "na?ve". It's quite fun playing and collecting cards, though. And I found it funny powering up Miles Edgeworth and getting him to defeat really tough fighters. But that's just me.
Friday, 27 July 2007
Taiko No Tatsujin DS
Yay! Taiko No Tatsujin DS Touch de Dokodon! is out! The first Taiko No Tatsujin game that UK gamers can happily import to play without having to get round region restrictions or trade restrictions (grr Sony, I'm the only person in the world who still wants to buy PSP games and yet you don't want me to...!). Comes with 2 cute mini drumstick stylus (styli? stylee? styluses?) too. ^_^
So... what does Taiko No Tatsujin DS have that the other Taiko No Tatsujin games don't?
* You can enter your name in katakana.
* there's the option to play with touch screen and with direction / shoulder buttons.
* There's a daily play dojo, presumably in the vein of other self-improvement DS titles
* You can dress up your taiko drum. It's so cute! (*^_^*)
* 4 player wireless multiplayer (apparently; I haven't tried it)
* There's an option to make the faces fly across the screen fast, and an option to make them fly super-fast!
* Mekadon no longer explodes!
Entering your name in katakana is not important, but is something I always wanted to do. I'm a foreigner, after all. ^_^;;
Being able to use the touch screen and control pad both at once means you can play it the way you want to, switching back and forth whenever you want. So, for example, you can play the main tune with the touch screen and then use the control pad / buttons for the rapid-hit score-boosting parts (the long yellow strips where you just get as many hits in as you can).
Some of the songs available:
Anime:
* Touch - 1st OP theme from "Touch" ^_^
* Together - Pocket Monster Diamond Pearl Opening Theme
* Gekiranger OP theme ^_^
* Smile go go - Yes! Precure 5 OP theme
* Doraemon no uta (1st OP - the Oosugi Kumiko song) ^_^
* Meitantei Conan Main Theme
* Anpanman no theme
Game Music:
* Super Mario Brothers <- this is lots of fun!
* GO MY WAY!! - THE IDOLM@STER
* Namcot Melody <- this made me feel happy & nostalgic T_T
Classical:
* Beethoven's 7th
* William Tell Overture
* um... the "Can Can", I forgot it's real name
* Flight Of The Bumblebee
* Classic Medley - contains Wagner's "Wedding March" & Grieg's "In The Hall Of The Mountain King".
I'm not going to go through and list the J-Pop, Namco Originals or the children's songs... I want to go back to playing... ^_^
(BTW you can get a copy from either YesAsia or Play-Asia, my copy comes from YesAsia because they were slightly cheaper)
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Res 4 PS2 Chainsaw Controller £8.99
Random Bargain Of The Day:
Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller now in stock at £8.99
I don't know if it's any use as a controller, or it's just something you keep as an ornamental piece.
Resident Evil 4 Chainsaw Controller now in stock at £8.99
I don't know if it's any use as a controller, or it's just something you keep as an ornamental piece.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
Truly Random Number Generator
The Quantum Random Bit Generator Service is now up and running, providing truly random numbers from... um... (reads description) observing photons at a very low level. [Isn't exactly sure about that]
Anyway. To sign up for the service, and get your high speed random numbers, all you have to do is fill in the registration form. However... the captcha on that page...! I'm used to typing in 4 numbers displayed on the page, this... oh... -_-;;
[suddenly wonders about the Lava Lamp Random Number Generator]
[thinks about how much she hates the word "captcha"]
Anyway. To sign up for the service, and get your high speed random numbers, all you have to do is fill in the registration form. However... the captcha on that page...! I'm used to typing in 4 numbers displayed on the page, this... oh... -_-;;
[suddenly wonders about the Lava Lamp Random Number Generator]
[thinks about how much she hates the word "captcha"]
Wednesday, 18 July 2007
SRWOG Gaiden announced!
Yay! Super Robot Wars Original Generations Gaiden is coming to PS2 sometime in 2007! It says so on these 2 scanned pages:
Tuesday, 17 July 2007
Disgaea 3
Disgaea 3's been announced! Yay!
For PS3! Boo!
Next year! Boooooo!
The details are in this pdf that's on the Nikkei website. (Yes, the Nikkei as in Japanese stock exchange...! I don't remember ever hearing about any new games this way before!)
I think I'd prefer the game to be on PSP. Not just because I don't own a PS3, but because I appreciated the portability and sleep mode of the PSP version...
For PS3! Boo!
Next year! Boooooo!
The details are in this pdf that's on the Nikkei website. (Yes, the Nikkei as in Japanese stock exchange...! I don't remember ever hearing about any new games this way before!)
I think I'd prefer the game to be on PSP. Not just because I don't own a PS3, but because I appreciated the portability and sleep mode of the PSP version...
Rose & Camellia
Rose & Camellia is the strangest game I've seen in a while... it's a flash game whereby anime-style women in old-European style gowns & dresses slap each other across the face (and dodge slaps!) according to movements the player makes with the mouse.
The game is available to play, there's a link at the top of the intro page to play. The first few times I tried it, it gave me a 503 error - perhaps it is too popular for the server. It loaded up eventually, though.
If you can't get it to play, you can, however, watch some of the gameplay videos on youtube.
Such a brutal fighting game... it gets hard to watch...!
The game is available to play, there's a link at the top of the intro page to play. The first few times I tried it, it gave me a 503 error - perhaps it is too popular for the server. It loaded up eventually, though.
If you can't get it to play, you can, however, watch some of the gameplay videos on youtube.
Such a brutal fighting game... it gets hard to watch...!
Sunday, 15 July 2007
SRWOG & GDF
Over this weekend, I intended to play a load of PS2 games with my brother, but ended up only playing two:
* Super Robot Wars Original Generations
* Global Defense Force
SRWOG is quite fun. ^_^ And Ryusei seems a good kind of guy. ^_^ ... what we did was... I got out my SRTOG (US GBA) cartridge and played that alongside the new Japanese PS2 version, so I would have a quick translation in front of me. However, the text in the PS2 version seems more in depth than on the GBA game, and I accidentally ended up on two different routes right from the first stage. You see, I'd spent ages trying to get the skill point on the first stage on the PS2 version, and couldn't be bothered on the GBA version, and I think that's why the stories were different and the game was a little harder on PS2. Diverging story, right from the first stage! O_O
It's also a bit awkward that the GBA menus are all laid out in one way, and the PS2 menus are in another way. That's because the amount of space available on the GBA screen is small, but the PS2 version has a luxurious amount in comparison... it's not meant to be used as a translation device for the PS2 game, either!
Global Defense Force is what I played at about 2am while I was asleep. It's pretty much identical to the first game, in format, that is, for the first few levels I played through... except... you now get a widely different choice of soldier to use. For the first two levels - set in London, whee! I accidentally helped destroy London! - I used the default soldier as in the first game. Then on the 3rd level, Tokyo, I decided to try out wave something plasma bullets... and I was like... "what is this? The Akihabara Defense Force???" because the character you get to control looks... *just like Halko Momoi in her kind of cosplay outfit* *kills things with lasers* *and can fly*. Ha! Brilliant!
She can't use vehicles, that's her limitation. But being able to fly...! She flies just like the people in Robot Alchemic Drive (R.A.D) (another Sandlot game), ah, it's so much fun!
And so I'm just blasting away, spinning round, playing "Momo-i VS the Giant Ants" and thinking... that would make a great concept album... or something... this is a good fun game, it least it was for me, but my brain was fast asleep...
I found a video of some gameplay, if you want a look. The picture's a bit dark and dull, and you don't get to see the hilarious image of giant ants flying off everywhere, but... you'll get the idea!
Oh yeah, I'm still playing Etrian Odyssey too. ^_^ I'm on the 4th Stratum!
* Super Robot Wars Original Generations
* Global Defense Force
SRWOG is quite fun. ^_^ And Ryusei seems a good kind of guy. ^_^ ... what we did was... I got out my SRTOG (US GBA) cartridge and played that alongside the new Japanese PS2 version, so I would have a quick translation in front of me. However, the text in the PS2 version seems more in depth than on the GBA game, and I accidentally ended up on two different routes right from the first stage. You see, I'd spent ages trying to get the skill point on the first stage on the PS2 version, and couldn't be bothered on the GBA version, and I think that's why the stories were different and the game was a little harder on PS2. Diverging story, right from the first stage! O_O
It's also a bit awkward that the GBA menus are all laid out in one way, and the PS2 menus are in another way. That's because the amount of space available on the GBA screen is small, but the PS2 version has a luxurious amount in comparison... it's not meant to be used as a translation device for the PS2 game, either!
Global Defense Force is what I played at about 2am while I was asleep. It's pretty much identical to the first game, in format, that is, for the first few levels I played through... except... you now get a widely different choice of soldier to use. For the first two levels - set in London, whee! I accidentally helped destroy London! - I used the default soldier as in the first game. Then on the 3rd level, Tokyo, I decided to try out wave something plasma bullets... and I was like... "what is this? The Akihabara Defense Force???" because the character you get to control looks... *just like Halko Momoi in her kind of cosplay outfit* *kills things with lasers* *and can fly*. Ha! Brilliant!
She can't use vehicles, that's her limitation. But being able to fly...! She flies just like the people in Robot Alchemic Drive (R.A.D) (another Sandlot game), ah, it's so much fun!
And so I'm just blasting away, spinning round, playing "Momo-i VS the Giant Ants" and thinking... that would make a great concept album... or something... this is a good fun game, it least it was for me, but my brain was fast asleep...
I found a video of some gameplay, if you want a look. The picture's a bit dark and dull, and you don't get to see the hilarious image of giant ants flying off everywhere, but... you'll get the idea!
Oh yeah, I'm still playing Etrian Odyssey too. ^_^ I'm on the 4th Stratum!
Friday, 13 July 2007
Desktop Tower Defense
Ever had one of those weeks where you've suddenly lost all your friends to a video game? Everyone in my office seems to be obsessed with playing Desktop Tower Defense. So it's probably quite good. As well as being a complete time-sink. Sounds so good I've been putting off playing it.
Anison CDs
Upcoming...
Crystal King - Kurukuru Kurikuri
Endoh Masaaki Anison Greatest Hits
The Crystal King song is the theme for a Nintendo DS game called Kurikin Nano Island Story and Crystal King is "Kurikin" for short. ^_^
Already out:
JAM Project Best #5 - Big Bang - I somehow completely missed this. Oh well.
Anison 100 hey, that's a big compilation...
Crystal King - Kurukuru Kurikuri
Endoh Masaaki Anison Greatest Hits
The Crystal King song is the theme for a Nintendo DS game called Kurikin Nano Island Story and Crystal King is "Kurikin" for short. ^_^
Already out:
JAM Project Best #5 - Big Bang - I somehow completely missed this. Oh well.
Anison 100 hey, that's a big compilation...
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
Aerobics / English Language educational videos
I found these strange videos on youtube this afternoon...
Here and Here.
They're very very random English phrases to learn. If you were going to teach people Japanese people English, would these be the phrases you would say were most useful?
This one makes it all make a bit more sense
So it's a little bit less random. But only a little bit.
Here and Here.
They're very very random English phrases to learn. If you were going to teach people Japanese people English, would these be the phrases you would say were most useful?
This one makes it all make a bit more sense
So it's a little bit less random. But only a little bit.
Friday, 6 July 2007
Play Asia Sale!
Oh, I noticed a sale over at Play-Asia and got overexcited. Now I've spent a load of money (about £150?) on random stuff. But it's random stuff that's hard to come by!
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien [Limited Edition] [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Kakugo no Susume [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Real Robots Final Attack [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Patlabor CD Box (Japan, Audio CD)
Dragon Ball Z BGM Collection CD Box (Japan, Audio CD)
Pop'n Music Animation Melody [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Psychic Force Complete (Japan, NTSC J)
Pokemon Shudaika Song-shu Perfect Best (1997-2003) (Japan, Audio CD)
Yeah, I know... of all the anime you could ever watch, buying games of Kiminozo and Kakugo No Susume are, well, just asking for trouble! But that's what makes them interesting, to me!
And... just following the links now, most of those things are now either out of stock or increased price because they're not in stock anymore. That makes me feel that it was good to move fast...
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien [Limited Edition] [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Kakugo no Susume [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Real Robots Final Attack [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Patlabor CD Box (Japan, Audio CD)
Dragon Ball Z BGM Collection CD Box (Japan, Audio CD)
Pop'n Music Animation Melody [pre-owned] (Japan, NTSC J)
Psychic Force Complete (Japan, NTSC J)
Pokemon Shudaika Song-shu Perfect Best (1997-2003) (Japan, Audio CD)
Yeah, I know... of all the anime you could ever watch, buying games of Kiminozo and Kakugo No Susume are, well, just asking for trouble! But that's what makes them interesting, to me!
And... just following the links now, most of those things are now either out of stock or increased price because they're not in stock anymore. That makes me feel that it was good to move fast...
Thursday, 5 July 2007
Manga rescued from ADV
Well, I got the 4th volume of Yotsuba&! (Yotsuba to!) this week. ABOUT TIME, ADV!
And I was wondering about the other manga of theirs that they stated releasing and never finished... then I came across the news that Tokyopop have gotten a hold of the 2 titles I as most anxious to get more of. That's Aria and Boku to Kanojo no XXX (Your And My Secret).
All I need now is the rest of Duck Prince to be released in English...
(I should get round to reading the first volume of My Heavenly Hockey Club too... Morinaga Ai writes such funny manga!)
And I was wondering about the other manga of theirs that they stated releasing and never finished... then I came across the news that Tokyopop have gotten a hold of the 2 titles I as most anxious to get more of. That's Aria and Boku to Kanojo no XXX (Your And My Secret).
All I need now is the rest of Duck Prince to be released in English...
(I should get round to reading the first volume of My Heavenly Hockey Club too... Morinaga Ai writes such funny manga!)
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Global Defense Force
I placed an order with Amazon last October for the then-upcoming "Global Defense Force" game. It's originally a D3 Simple 2000 game called "Chikyuu Boueigun 2", the sequel to "Chikyuu Boueigun" which I played the UK release of under the name of "Monster Attack" for PS2.
The first game is not a brilliant game, but I liked it. It's simple, as it says. You run around 3rd person shooter and blow up giant ants. And the city. By accident. You get into vehicles and blow up more giant ants and some UFOs. And the city. By accident. You get bigger guns, blow up more giant ants and some UFOs. And the city. By accident. You can also blow up things collaboratively with a friend, if you like.
The 3rd game has come out for Xbox 360 in this country already.
Anyway.
On the 26th June Amazon finally decided to send me an email saying "we give up, we can't get this game, we cancelled your order". Meanwhile, play.com list it as available for despatch in 24 hours. So here's a link. ^_^
The first game is not a brilliant game, but I liked it. It's simple, as it says. You run around 3rd person shooter and blow up giant ants. And the city. By accident. You get into vehicles and blow up more giant ants and some UFOs. And the city. By accident. You get bigger guns, blow up more giant ants and some UFOs. And the city. By accident. You can also blow up things collaboratively with a friend, if you like.
The 3rd game has come out for Xbox 360 in this country already.
Anyway.
On the 26th June Amazon finally decided to send me an email saying "we give up, we can't get this game, we cancelled your order". Meanwhile, play.com list it as available for despatch in 24 hours. So here's a link. ^_^
Horie Mitsuko CD - "Choshin Neiga Utakko Zenshu"
I got more advertising emails in my inbox while I was away last week, advertising a new Horie Mitsuko CD - "Choshin Neiga Utakko Zenshu". On 27th June, the day the CD was released.
The only videos with music I could find on youtube have this song which sounds like Mizuki Ichirou to me...
The Mizuki Ichirou CD was advertised to me sometime last year, but this is the first time I've heard the song. At the time I was thinking it was a live-show only, but now I'm not sure if it's a TV hero show too...
This live show video has an amusing bit at the end where a monster gets up on stage with a guitar and starts to sing "Mach Baron" really badly...
The only videos with music I could find on youtube have this song which sounds like Mizuki Ichirou to me...
The Mizuki Ichirou CD was advertised to me sometime last year, but this is the first time I've heard the song. At the time I was thinking it was a live-show only, but now I'm not sure if it's a TV hero show too...
This live show video has an amusing bit at the end where a monster gets up on stage with a guitar and starts to sing "Mach Baron" really badly...
Iczer One
I was away for a week, and attended my brother's university graduation ceremony on Friday of last week. He's just as qualified as me, now, woo!
During last week, I also watched some anime and played some games...
Anime: Iczer One. This was more horrific than I'd expected but I enjoyed it. I couldn't stop halfway so I ended up watching this until 5am when I viewed it! It's got a great soundtrack by Watanabe Chuumei, and aside from being horror, it's also yuri-mecha, which is one of my favourite genres. That poor girl Nagisa, having so many terrible things happen to her and her family, all the while being staked by a crazy alien android who wants Nagisa to co-pilot a mecha because she's fallen in love with Nagisa. It's somehow quite funny if you look at it in a certain way.
It also looks very nice, very much the style of the time - the 1980s - styles you don't see too much of these days... doing a bit of research after watching the show and the interview extras, we found out that the director (Hirano Toshihiro) and animation director (Kakinouchi Narumi) are now married. In the DVD extras the director says the next thing he's like to work on would be a love story. (With monsters?) And so they next collaborated on Vampire Princess Miyu, which fits the bill perfectly. And is also a much more evolved series. Interesting to see what steps they took in leading to that series, though...
BTW much of the rest of the English-language internet will tell you that Watanabe Chuumei is called Watanabe Michiaki. He's definitely not! We've heard his name spoken in interviews! That's not the way you're supposed to read the kanji in his name...
(And he's definitely not the manga author of Violinist of Hameln; that's someone else who's actually called Watanabe Michiaki, with different kanji).
Watanabe Chuumei is definitely one of my all-time favourite anime soundtrack composers. Especially now I've been listening to a lot of his work recently on Kushida Akira albums... the various Super Sentai themes and Uchuu Keiji songs... I got this DVD mostly to see him in interview 20 years ago. He was really old 20 years ago! He's ancient now! ^_^;; (and he always looks so serious...)
During last week, I also watched some anime and played some games...
Anime: Iczer One. This was more horrific than I'd expected but I enjoyed it. I couldn't stop halfway so I ended up watching this until 5am when I viewed it! It's got a great soundtrack by Watanabe Chuumei, and aside from being horror, it's also yuri-mecha, which is one of my favourite genres. That poor girl Nagisa, having so many terrible things happen to her and her family, all the while being staked by a crazy alien android who wants Nagisa to co-pilot a mecha because she's fallen in love with Nagisa. It's somehow quite funny if you look at it in a certain way.
It also looks very nice, very much the style of the time - the 1980s - styles you don't see too much of these days... doing a bit of research after watching the show and the interview extras, we found out that the director (Hirano Toshihiro) and animation director (Kakinouchi Narumi) are now married. In the DVD extras the director says the next thing he's like to work on would be a love story. (With monsters?) And so they next collaborated on Vampire Princess Miyu, which fits the bill perfectly. And is also a much more evolved series. Interesting to see what steps they took in leading to that series, though...
BTW much of the rest of the English-language internet will tell you that Watanabe Chuumei is called Watanabe Michiaki. He's definitely not! We've heard his name spoken in interviews! That's not the way you're supposed to read the kanji in his name...
(And he's definitely not the manga author of Violinist of Hameln; that's someone else who's actually called Watanabe Michiaki, with different kanji).
Watanabe Chuumei is definitely one of my all-time favourite anime soundtrack composers. Especially now I've been listening to a lot of his work recently on Kushida Akira albums... the various Super Sentai themes and Uchuu Keiji songs... I got this DVD mostly to see him in interview 20 years ago. He was really old 20 years ago! He's ancient now! ^_^;; (and he always looks so serious...)
Saturday, 23 June 2007
I hate customs charges
Who is the true enemy of the UK-based otaku? Is it the high high prices of domestic DVDs? Is it the lack of range of what's available to us? Is it the general public that still think we're just here for the schoolgirl tentacle rape scenes?
No.
It's customs charges.
As always, click on the picture to see a big version of it....
A package with goods inside declared at $51 USD - it's a parcel from the USA - add on customs charges and handling (handling being the large part) and that's an extra *half the cost of the orginal package*. That's a tad excessive!
No.
It's customs charges.
As always, click on the picture to see a big version of it....
A package with goods inside declared at $51 USD - it's a parcel from the USA - add on customs charges and handling (handling being the large part) and that's an extra *half the cost of the orginal package*. That's a tad excessive!
Thursday, 21 June 2007
Angband for PSP
I just found a new game to play on PSP that might mean that it's not just my portable-Disgaea-console.
Angband for PSP.
Yay for homebrew! It needs 1.50 firmware to run, seems to run just fine, though. Remembering keys and navigating the mini-menu to each key is a bit of a trial, though.
I've tried it out and got as far as lvl 5, getting killed by "Grip, the farmer's dog".
FOE! FOE! FOE!
I'm going back to Etrian Odyssey; it's not as difficult and cruel! (3rd Stratum, training up my Ronin...)
I called my party in Etrian Odyssey "Angiband", you know... ^_^;;
EDIT: 2007-06-22, 07:35am
I carried on with Angband last night, got to about lvl 8 and then wondered how to do something... entered "?" to get to the help topics, read what was there, and then.... "Hmm." [presses "circle" a few times] [navigates through the alphabet to "Esc" a few times] [presses random buttons] ... I couldn't work out how to get out of the "help" section! [power off] what a terrible way for a warrior to go.
Also... *this game could really do with save points*! I mean, not wiping your player out completely when you die type saves. Officially. At least in the options.
Angband for PSP.
Yay for homebrew! It needs 1.50 firmware to run, seems to run just fine, though. Remembering keys and navigating the mini-menu to each key is a bit of a trial, though.
I've tried it out and got as far as lvl 5, getting killed by "Grip, the farmer's dog".
FOE! FOE! FOE!
I'm going back to Etrian Odyssey; it's not as difficult and cruel! (3rd Stratum, training up my Ronin...)
I called my party in Etrian Odyssey "Angiband", you know... ^_^;;
EDIT: 2007-06-22, 07:35am
I carried on with Angband last night, got to about lvl 8 and then wondered how to do something... entered "?" to get to the help topics, read what was there, and then.... "Hmm." [presses "circle" a few times] [navigates through the alphabet to "Esc" a few times] [presses random buttons] ... I couldn't work out how to get out of the "help" section! [power off] what a terrible way for a warrior to go.
Also... *this game could really do with save points*! I mean, not wiping your player out completely when you die type saves. Officially. At least in the options.
Thursday, 14 June 2007
More tokusatsu stuff
Today I discovered:
The JAKQ vs Goranger crossover movie (it's under 30 mins long) on youtube. It's got subtitles! It's fun!
There are cute "dance lesson" videos of children performing the ED credits dances for Dekaranger and Magiranger!
The JAKQ vs Goranger crossover movie (it's under 30 mins long) on youtube. It's got subtitles! It's fun!
There are cute "dance lesson" videos of children performing the ED credits dances for Dekaranger and Magiranger!
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Mahou no Mako chan
Oh wow, the group DAF (Denjin Anime Fansub) have released the first episode of "Mahou no Mako chan" from 1970. I checked their website and it mentions that they've dropped Candy Candy, though.
Quote:
Quote:
The Candy Candy project is currently on perma-hiatus. We've gotten the series up to the episode 54 out of 115 but the circumstances surrounding the series are currently too prohibitive to continue work. Firstly, we are afraid that the angry authors might pull a legal action against us (just think of the French DVD disaster) and frankly, the next 30 episodes in the Candy lineup aren't very interesting to begin with. We could do a half-assed translation job but nobody would be satisfied by that. We might continue the project if we find more translators or if the authors chime in with their blessing for this free project.
Tokusatsu stuff
Over the weekend, I got to listen to my Gingaman & Go Go Five CD Super Hero Chronicle: Super Sentai Shudaika Sonyuka Dai Zenshu VI. It's lots of fun. It's got Masato Shimon (wow!), Ishihara Shinichi and Yamagata Yukio. And a guy that sounds like a cross between Yamagata Yukio and Ishihara Shinichi. My brother suspects they do the fusion dance and then go under a different name. ^_^;;
The elements the heroes use in Gingaman are Fire, Water, Wind, Thunder and Flower. And I thought... "flower is an element?" and didn't think it would be up to much.
But then I came back home, and got hit by the power of Flower on Monday evening. Oh, the tear ducts on my eyes were so swollen up that I could feel them when I blinked, and that made them more and more itchy.... I was completely defeated by the power of Flower. I fought it with Water in the shower and Wind by shutting myself away from it. Flower is a formidable force. But does that mean the enemies in Gingaman have hay fever too?
I have found a great tokusatsu show blog today. It's http://tokuraws.blogspot.com/ and it's got raws of all sorts of shows, even going back to Himitsu Sentai GoRanger!! *_*
The elements the heroes use in Gingaman are Fire, Water, Wind, Thunder and Flower. And I thought... "flower is an element?" and didn't think it would be up to much.
But then I came back home, and got hit by the power of Flower on Monday evening. Oh, the tear ducts on my eyes were so swollen up that I could feel them when I blinked, and that made them more and more itchy.... I was completely defeated by the power of Flower. I fought it with Water in the shower and Wind by shutting myself away from it. Flower is a formidable force. But does that mean the enemies in Gingaman have hay fever too?
I have found a great tokusatsu show blog today. It's http://tokuraws.blogspot.com/ and it's got raws of all sorts of shows, even going back to Himitsu Sentai GoRanger!! *_*
Thursday, 7 June 2007
HA! HA! Bar voucher (printoffable)
I found this voucher for a UK restaurant/bar chain:
http://www.hahaonline.co.uk/pdf/promotions/2161_voucher.pdf
It's £10 off any order for food over £20, valid Mon-Thurs 23rd May - 28th June.
http://www.hahaonline.co.uk/pdf/promotions/2161_voucher.pdf
It's £10 off any order for food over £20, valid Mon-Thurs 23rd May - 28th June.
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
Happy Shinji-day!
It's Ikari Shinji's birthday. You know, the main character in Evangelion...
Yes it's disturbing to think that people can celebrate the birth of fictional characters, I only remember this one because the Eva pilots share their birthdays with the seiyuu who performed them in the anime, and Ogata Megumi was my favourite for a long while.
Today we celebrate the birth of Shinjis all over the world, celebrating the fact that in order to be true human beings, we retain the right to scream a lot, run away a lot, avoid contact with people for fear of hurting them, and reject instrumentality. And we do this by standing round in circles, clapping, and saying "omedetou". ^_^;;
I'd tell you about the Ltd Ed version of the detective story (!) game Meitantei Evangelion for PS2 being at a silly price on Play Asia - not sure if it's the same as the premium box which retailed for stupidly large amounts of money but came with a pretty nice NERV logo watch... ... BUT! It seems to have sold out in the last hour or so.
So have a look at these silly Eva Angel hats instead. I don't know who in the world could ever wear these outdoors.
Ah, the greatest quantity of inappropriate merchandising for any anime ever, that series. And yes, that includes all of the Hello Kitty franchise!
Yes it's disturbing to think that people can celebrate the birth of fictional characters, I only remember this one because the Eva pilots share their birthdays with the seiyuu who performed them in the anime, and Ogata Megumi was my favourite for a long while.
Today we celebrate the birth of Shinjis all over the world, celebrating the fact that in order to be true human beings, we retain the right to scream a lot, run away a lot, avoid contact with people for fear of hurting them, and reject instrumentality. And we do this by standing round in circles, clapping, and saying "omedetou". ^_^;;
I'd tell you about the Ltd Ed version of the detective story (!) game Meitantei Evangelion for PS2 being at a silly price on Play Asia - not sure if it's the same as the premium box which retailed for stupidly large amounts of money but came with a pretty nice NERV logo watch... ... BUT! It seems to have sold out in the last hour or so.
So have a look at these silly Eva Angel hats instead. I don't know who in the world could ever wear these outdoors.
Ah, the greatest quantity of inappropriate merchandising for any anime ever, that series. And yes, that includes all of the Hello Kitty franchise!
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