image credit yoshimizu kagami (thanks to danbooru)
Something I just realized: Tanabata – July 7 – is coming up in nine days.
Tanabata happens to be the birthdate of the Hiiragi twins, of Lucky Star fame.
Tanabata also happens to be the day the first episode of Sora no Manimani is aired. (I sorta realized this a bit late, but when I did, part of my mind was blown by this fact.)
During Tanabata, it’ll supposedly be 83 degrees here, much better than what I lamented about in my last post.
Tanabata will surely be a good day.
He was buried in what must have been hundred-degree sand, yet he still had a smile on his face. He was, perhaps, probably thinking about how, after he’d be done shooting the promotional video for Ottototto Natsu Da Ze (trans. It’s Summer Already!), Yuki Goto of the now long-disbanded idol pair EE Jump would head back to his house, smothering himself in the chill of his house’s air conditioner.
In contrast, I’m not quite as fortunate in regards to climate control. At the time I write up this particular post, the Weather Channel reports to me that we’re in 96-degree (Farenheit, natch) heat, complemented by two heat advisories – one for today, one up until tomorrow morning. The most I’ve got is one of those Blizzard fans pointed at me on high speed, which seems to be working wonders…until I realize that, for some forsaken reason beyond me, I’m still sweating.
This doesn’t bode well for this upcoming weekend. I’ve confirmed that I’m going to Anime Expo, which is supposedly for all intents and purposes, the quintessential American anime convention. The problem is that Anime Expo is in Southern California, which is supposed to be, on the average, ten degrees hotter than the climate of Northern California, which is where I live.
Did I mention it’s 96 degrees here?
The Los Angeles Convention Center better have the best air conditioning system on the face of the planet, lest the cosplayers ruin their outfits on the first day, and I perish while cheering Morning Musume on.
A crosspost from deviantART:
Long story short, my friend Panda’s cat is sick, and almost fatally so, due to a brand of cat food (that’s been recalled recently, natch). Because she and her husband are not too well off financially, she’s holding a raffle to raise funds – to the tune of $2000 – for her nigh-deathly sick kitty.
If you can spare a couple of bucks, please help! It’s only $3 for a raffle ticket, or, if you’re feeling lucky, $5 for two! Alternatively, you can help her by donating something to raffle off, like a commish. Or, if you’re feeling really generous, you can just straight-up donate money to her.
Please help Mr. Nibbs out, and thanks for reading this notice!
Congratulations, Peter Jung and Michael Yum of PM Studios, on the US release of DJ Max Technika, and the birth of the subsequent community at large!
Here’s to the eventual release of Platinum Crew, the release of more games, and to the newly-updated Technika guide for this final build!
About three days ago, Marvelous Entertainment posted the schedule for the Sora no Manimani anime, which is set to begin on July 7. That’s a Tuesday; namely, the Tuesday following US Independence Day.
So I guess I’ll be watching some fireworks over the weekend and then I’ll be watching (and maybe subbing!) the stars three days later. Sounds like a plan!
The Story So Far:
- The current arcade release of pop’n music comes in the form of pop’n music 17 THE MOVIE. The current console release is that of pop’n music 14 FEVER!, which was released two years ago. Usually, the timeframe inbetween console releases is a year (in which case the console version of pop’n music 16 PARTY♪ should’ve come out by now).
- About half a year ago, Konami attempted a downloadable web release with Beat’n Groovy, for the XBox Live Arcade. It failed horribly with both Western and Japanese audiences.
- Konami, not too far back, released an enquete about home versions of pop’n. This fueled speculation that a new version of pop’n might come – perhaps they would find a way to toss pop’n 15 and 16 onto a PS3 disc, and make it work with existing peripherals (PlayStation pop’n controllers that mimic the arcade are at least $200!)
- This month’s Famitsu has a little corner that denotes pop’n coming to the Wii, along with a screenshot of Mimi, falling pop-kuns, five buttons, and Miis, wrapped up in a rather shiny, not-really-pop’n interface. Text below the screenshot suggests that you shake the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in time with the music, and confirms multiplayer play.
- Said Famitsu issue also has a thing in the back denoting a release date for said pop’n game – August 6.
- Prior to that, Konami registered for a United States trademark on pop’n music on May 20, which covered “game software” alongside “cell phone program”.
Now, in the ever-continuing saga for the next console version of pop’n music, Konami, today, released a information page for the upcoming release of pop’n Wii that confirms the relatively radical makeover. Along with what we already know, it also denotes online connectivity, and downloadable content (through the red Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Pay to Play emblem on the boxart).
There are plenty of people in the English pop’n music fanbase who are alienated by this decision to move to a next-gen console with half of the actual gameplay of the arcade version. Unfortunately, to Konami, the only people who play pop’n music are Japanese; other countries aren’t supposed to be able to import it in any flavor. It’s actually a pretty smart decision by them to keep people coming to the arcades to increase revenue, as opposed to releasing console releases in order for them to die out faster.
It might be part of the reason why arcades haven’t died in Japan: because you can’t replicate the modern Japanese arcade experience anyhow else.
Longer post to come soon. I’m too tired.
FanimeCon is in two days. Yeah, I’m totally counting Thursday as an official con day because stuff actually goes down on Thursday and anyone can come to it – even those without badges! It’s like a sampler of sorts before people submit to the almighty powers of the Anime Resource Group and toss three Jacksons at the registration staff for more.
But yeah, two days.
Oh damn.
So, today, I’ve taken to linkhopping between convention reports while getting hyped up about the one I’m actually going to go to.
One such report was that of Anime Central (ACen) 2009 from The Fan’s Point of View, and aside from me getting kicks out of the everlasting everchanging ticker at the bottom, the real kick came to me in the form of a report on a car show that ACen held.
To which I say, what the hell?
I just realized it’s a week ’til Fanime. And, appropriately, the schedule’s been posted.
It didn’t rock me until I saw Paranda’s post on the subject, but, uh, the Momoi Halko concert is two and a half hours. Two and a half hours of Momoi Halko. (Well, supposedly there’s an opening act, so I guess it’s not literally two and a half hours of Momoi.)
This might be the most exercise I get all year. Back to studying calls, now…