Sunday Morning Report: Entertainment News… You Know What It Is Already

I know, that’s why I’m thinking of another title so the web host does not produce the same websites enough for them to have to number them. Go check out last week’s entry. Before that, finish reading this first, ok?

ANIME
(Well we finally can stop reviewing this bunch of Anime already huh? NOT.)
Nagi no Asukara: (I watched this first to see what happens) Oh and it’s not last episode yet. This time they do the Ofunehiki (ceremony in short) the same exact thing happens. They sing badly, a whirlpool happens, some people drop into the sea because they don’t hold on to their boats, and guess what? Someone else besides Manaka has to be the sacrifice. What happens to Miuna-chan now? Your guess is… definitely different from me, because I don’t know. Next week’s the last, and hope they have a good ending. Really. Like the Sea God takes the wooden girl. Apparently the God’s as sick as the Uroko-sama, going after small, cute girls…
Samurai Flamenco: Eh… if anyone likes the marriage confession portion, I’ll know that you are gay. Or into boys love. Whichever it is. Anyways, great news it ended on a good note, like Haiji gets into detention, the cop gets away with his girlfriend’s loss with the replacement of (god help him) Masayoshi-kun, who just doesn’t mind being a hero again another day.

The end.

I’m glad it’s over. Phew!

Golden Time: Finally to what I want to talk about this week. Honestly this is 1x good last episode. At least in compensation to the front few episodes which are… worse than expected, initial impressions of course. A year later after Banri admitted into hospital to recover while forgetting everything he does in university, he is helped by 2D-kun and Kouko’s appearance to recall everything with the sight of that mirror he exchanged with his ex-girlfriend back then. What a wonderful ending. But the past him is like… is he a ghost or something? Why Linda also can touch him? It’s part of Banri’s conscience? Okay I don’t care since I don’t (and most likely won’t) read the novel, but happy that it ended on a positive note. As they play the first opening song again in the ending of the episode I finally feel that this show is at least complete.
Seitokai Yakuindomo: Oh this show? It’s ending very soon, as soon as I get the last episode, which has aired yesterday late at night. And they’re turning this into some filler-romance show featuring Uomii, and hope they don’t crash this show. It’s been good so far, the sick jokes…
Tonari no Seki-kun: Honestly, I don’t know when this will end. May last another quarter? The manga (from what I saw) is rather long…

MANGA
BLEACH: Anyone scared of Kenpachi? That Sternritter isn’t. *silence* Wish him the best of luck. For Kubo, so long as the main guy hasn’t revealed his recently acquired power this battle isn’t ending with the opponent’s victory. Oops. Haha. I don’t do spoilers anyway. I wish I was…

KLASSIC NOTE
Hmm not much this week. Reviewed three albums from people… I seemingly know little of. ALTIMA’s first album was… full of dance and (not surprisingly) techno, which pretty much deters me away from their album. Period. I also listened to Annabel’s 2nd album (you remember back then the Anime “Red Data Girl”?) due to a familiar tone I hear from the hit song “Ryuusen to Kaiwa”, which surprisingly is really composed by the guy in School Food Punishment, which disbanded (if you guys don’t know) in 2012 after singing their last on Anime “UN-GO”. Wow I feel I dumped too much relating to you guys enough to confuse you already, huh. Well that also is not in the list. I tried, at least. In contrast, I have Aso Natsuko’s 3rd album a second chance after not being impressed in the first listen a few weeks back. Now? I’m still not really pleased. But seeing her DVD which has the PV for the song I will be taking soon “My Starlit Point” and live footage for when I bought her single “Never Ending Voyage”… I guess that pretty much says it, huh.

Don’t say I don’t give chance. I may even give the recently-released Nagi no Asukara’s character songs a chance. Yesh both of them.

I guess that’s all. In GAMES I mentioned on the previous post (no not the Satomi-chan one, the one before that *blush*) about other games to play besides SimCity (because it has many problems to complain about), and recently been playing a lot. But I do remember APoL, and other Anime who already took some of my ideas away. Look back on the posts and you’ll find one which talks about this. Cya guys next week again, until next time… you’ll be seeing either a very happy me, or a me that is searching for jobs on the Net. Figure it out yourself.

Sunday Afternoon Report: A Dream Full Of Sugar

Hi guys. Haha you guys should know why I’m here so early. I had a wonderful dream last night, and this time again featuring one of the… idol voice actors I’m following. Given the title, hopefully most of you would be able to guess it’s full of Satou Satomi-chan. Don’t ask me how it happened, but I can tell you what happened…

“As far as I can remember, I’m standing with a crowd facing (probably) a stage, with (I guess) a whole bunch of friends. I was on the first row. Diagonally from me, someone tapped by right shoulder and I faced back. She told me if I could switch places with her as she could not see what is in front. I replied ‘fine’ and switched over. Not long after, someone directly behind me tapped by shoulder. I then commented to the one who switched with me in front of me (something like) ‘you see, another wants to take my place’ and I look back to see Satomi-chan! What’s more, to my surprise as I comment and face the first person I switched with is also Satomi-chan! Oh!!…”

Pretty much what both of the girls wore. Yes, it may be an illusion, but I swear this is more than coincidental. And I think I spent the rest of the night (early morning I think) ringing that tune on my head:

(*Player not working is not my concern.)

It’s from her debut single, called “Brave Morning!!”, and that gave me the courage to wake up in the morning for another day. The end. Hehe…

[P.S.: Stay tuned for Entertainment News tonight. Don’t worry, me writing it here means I remember.]

Saturday Night Report: SimCity, and Everything Else

Hi guys. Been playing plenty of SimCity and other games this week, thought I should share about what’s good and bad about all I’ve played, and what an ideal game it would have been if all came together.
THE NEW SIMCITY

Back in it’s 5th instalment, SimCity released in 2013 (last year) has been well-acclaimed with plenty of praises and complaints. Mainly praising of their new game engine “Glassbox” and awesome graphics in the game, but compensated by the array of technical problems and aesthetics, with players wanting bigger maps and (initially an online-only game) an offline playing experience. Until today, they recently released an update which features single-player mode, where users can save their cities and play with themselves in a region as promised.
THE SEARCH FOR AN ALTERNATIVE
Why I think this game is great: Graphics. There’s no other simulation game that focuses THIS MUCH on animation quality, and they have done it this time round. I’m deeply impressed.
Why this game can improve: Focus of the game. I’m not bothered to talk about the technical difficulties, even thought I did say that
“Haha well it wasn't easy. I spent 40% of the time getting this game running, 30% of the time puzzled some of the game mechanics are not working, 29% of the time waiting to recover after I maxed out my loans to build everything and that 1% to take these pictures for my wallpapers... xD” –Kaineng, on Facebook
Okay, let’s get back. Problem here is I wanted a game which focuses on a wonderful transport system and I could be part of it, much like in Grand Theft Auto, where one can take metro and taxi around town. So, I went on to find whether such a game exists. Which brings us to the main point of me writing this post, and why I’m playing some other games which include:
CITIES IN MOTION 2 & CITIES IN MOTION
I tried the latest game first before its predecessor, but that’s not the point. Generally I landed myself in the category of business management, where one has to take care of everything of creating an efficient transport system. Which makes you like a Transport Minister, so to speak. Meaning you have to deal with the congestions on the road with citizens and tourists complaining about the long waiting time and high transport fares in the long run of the game, trying to make a profitable business. Saying it like this, this game also is not as good as SimCity. Given that I’ve seen SimCity as my benchmark of the graphics I’ve remembered, Cities in Motion 2 (running Unity engine) would not make this a better game. Besides, it’s as irritating as the SimCity game in terms of transport. Really.



A-TRAIN 9 (TRAIN GIANT in English versions)
Developed by a Japanese company, this game also is business related, whereas this has some focus of being IN the transport system, being on buses and trains etc. However it consists a heavy content of resource management and city development in a manner that would not be easy without a tutorial. Really, it DOES NOT have a tutorial. I see trucks in my vehicle list and I ask myself “What the heck is happening?” in the game. That’s the problem. Great, but falling short.
In conclusion, NOTHING I played can compare to SimCity, even though can easily compensate for what SimCity lacks. So if:

• SimCity keeps its awesome graphics and game engine;
• Cities in Motion’s big maps and monopoly-themed gameplay, and;
• Train Giant’s focus on being inside the transport system.

Combing all of that, and you’ll have a game that I’ll probably start buying. Cya guys then. Until next time… if you’re bored, go ahead and play some games. Don’t be like me, staring into the computer screen, thinking of what to write next on my blog…

Friday Night Report: Universal Inspiration

Not that I missed the dates because I spent too much time at home, but I’m just here to share something. Someone stole my story idea. (Audience: Who?) Well you’re about to find out.

Apparently I was reading the new season previews for Anime, and came across this show. The synopsis sounds very familiar…

According to Random Curiosity: (where I go most often for Anime reviews)

“A popular card game among teenagers, it’s been said there are special cards that possess a will of their own. Known

as LRIG cards, these cards can only be heard and possessed by girls known as “selectors,” who fight in an alternate


dimension in order to have any wish of theirs granted. As hope, desire, and greed combine and WIXOSS starts taking a dangerous turn, Kominato Ruko joins the fight as the newest of the selectors.”

It’s called “Selector Infected WIXOSS” (read as wɪkˈsəʊˌesˈaɪz if you understand) (Audience: WTH was that anyway?) (Phonetics?), and according to the writer that this show bears many similarities to APoL, if you guys would know, is the story I’m currently STILL DOING on since a few years ago… (Audience: Yeah slow huh…) Ok whatever. Anyways, the similarities include “special cards that possess a will” and can only be used by “selectors” and actually “fight in an alternate dimension in order to have any wish of theirs granted”, and what’s more, someone “joins the fight as the newest” of the people. Sounds familiar? Here’s the further breakdown:

WHAT’S SURPRISINGLY SIMILAR

• “special cards”, as with APoL Cards too, they are special
• “selectors”, as compared to Yielders and Abusers, or generally Users
• (most similarly) “fight in an alternate dimension”, which is a Duel in my story. And;
• “to have any wish of theirs granted”, which is the Final Card in a Duel.

But just in case you think I’m already giving in to their ideas:

WHAT’S DISTINTIVELY DIFFERENT

• The Cards in APoL do not possess any Will of their own. They create effects via taking in a User’s Will
• Users in APoL do not only consist of cute girls. That’s why this is an original Anime, produced by people driven by loli-perverted audiences, that is the feature of Anime. APoL is NOT like that..
• The Duel’s ultimate objective is to weaken the opponent in order to FORCE UPON to earn what they desire to do, not just purely for wishing something to happen, which is vague in some situations. (I swear this is the most difficult to refute)
• WIXOSS is in the Psychological genre. APoL is more slice-of-life, mystery and a little action.
• WIXOSS has monsters. APoL is all about humans and everything around them.

In conclusion, this show is unlike APoL, but has sparked much interest in similarity for me to mention it here… I swear someone read my story. The production team.

Does that mean I’ll watch the show? Does that mean I’ll stop APoL because there’s someone using the idea already? No. Stories are about inspiration, and they originate from watching, imagining and reading from others. So you know what I may do? I may just watch this show a few episodes to see how I can integrate some of their ideas into my story. Haha. You can say it’s cheating, but for a much larger scale story like mine (haha spoilers?) I’ll need more material and solid theories in place. If you’re interested in APoL but need a serious psychological twist (if you don’t know about the genre go Google this Anime called “Aku no Hana”) then I’m not recommending this show. Because it wasn’t my idea.

Haha anyways, keep the inspiration universal, people. APoL also started, developed and is developing because of the Anime I’ve watched too…

[P.S.: Cya guys, and I won’t forget to say about how Miuna drowned in Nagi no Asukara and the wonderful futurescope of Golden Time. Oops I’ll talk more in the weekend. Oh it’s the weekend already, haha]

Monday Night Report: Latest From Shelf To Shelf

Hi guys. Yep I didn’t have to wait long, not longer than today, at least. IT’S HERE!!!

 

I swear I got too excited from taking it, and forgot about posting it up on the official Twitter. If you came here from Twitter, you’re probably on the right track. Let’s start shall we?

THE KLASSIC NOTE REVIEW

(Audience: Huh still following this format?) (Then you think what?)

THE KLASSIC NOTE REVIEW
Toyosaki Aki – Delight (Single)

[Limited Edition]

[Regular Edition]

Origin: Aki-chan has been one of my personal (not recommended) favourites ever since she started singing in Anime “K-ON!”. But she has came a long way. This is already her 10th single ever since her debut in October ‘09, and she’s still going strong. With her regular cast of various notable composers supporting her release including Rie fu (yeah…) and vocaloid composer sasakure.UK, she sure is getting the best out of her career.

(1) Delight
Hmm… initial impressions are alright, but kinda deterred by the lyrics, like “SOS” sounds weird to me, and the unusually high pitched notes in some parts of the song. But then listening to the lyrics make you understand that this is a wonderful song about farewell, to welcome spring, which you guys should know is not far in front of us. Composed by someone who I’ve at least heard her write for Aki-chan once is Tamurapan-san (it’s her stage name, and the song is from the 2nd album “Patapa”), who does write decent melodies with relaxing style of music, which is shown in the song. And I like the song, because it’s a soft song of farewell.

You know something? I thought for once when looking at the title that Aki-chan maybe going for her wildest single yet. I’m terribly wrong…
Rating: 4 stars (Average) (Pretty damn good)

(2) Osanpo no Uta
Eh those who don’t desire to go back or even recall your childhood please stop here. Because this song is definitely only audible for kids under elementary school. Nevertheless, the simple folk-song style melody does make the song sweet yet catchy to listen to, especially with Aki-chan at the vocals. Reminds me of Yui in K-ON!, when she was a kid. This must be her theme song back then, haha. Not recommended for matured audiences, but it’s worth a listen. Surprisingly, what I heard on the radio preview is the same as the full song as it’s a little short over 2 minutes.
Rating: 4 stars (Average) (Delightfully cute)

Conclusion: If you liked Aki-chan, I bet you are one of those bastards who took the pre-order from somewhere in which the special gift I wanted to get. Or else, if you don’t mind Aki-chan’s irresistably cute voice and her average singing, please give the songs a listen. The composers at least did a good job doing up the songs. *silence* That’s as far as I can convince you guys to listen, I guess.

AS IF AKI-CHAN IS NOT ENOUGH!
(Audience: Must it be like this every time?)

THE KLASSIC NOTE REVIEW
Horie Yui – The World’s End

Haha. Link is above. I don’t wish to type twice. Lucky I checked it beforehand.

The source? This time it’s TOWER RECORDS (Oops I guess no one bothers about this then. I’ll keep it short), and it’s as troublesome as Animate Online Shop. No EMS, and the packaging is as un-protective as ever. Let’s say it’s “basic” instead of “minimal”, huh. Besides, the gifts are making me happy already (haha), so I guess that doesn’t matter…

I guess that’s all. If you wonder why I took a few hours before doing this up, it’s because I’m enjoying playing SimCity. OFFLINE. I’m not 伍佰 anyway; I don’t enjoy playing ONLINE…

 

[P.S.: News of Mina-chan’s new single sure spread far and well, if you guys don’t know yet. It’s “Believe x”, confirmed from the official website, and the jacket artwork if out. If it’s like her first single, I don’t mind. I see familiar names in the composition too, like Hoshimura Mai, who impressed me with a BLEACH ending and one song from Mina-chan’s first album, This, is going to be something to look forward to.]