I’m still alive! Seven days more to FanimeCon — I figure I should post. Let’s start by talking about anime.
What I’m following this season:
- Angel Beats!: How do I put this?…it’s so convoluted. There’s the random awesomeness, like, say, every Girls Dead Monster concert and TK (and crew’s) ability to pack up a mahjong set in five frames flat (that’s a sixth of a second!!); then there’s what I expect out of Jun Maeda (every flashback thus far; the Otonashi-hugging-Naoi-in-the-rain sequence; Tenshi missing out on her mabo tofu, et al.); then there are the unanswered questions about the world proper (see: everything about Tenshi). I think it’s precisely because it’s so convoluted that I enjoy it, even if in the end it has the potential to be the biggest troll Maeda’s come up with.
- Ookiku Furikabutte ~Natsu no Taikai-hen~: I liked the first series, so I figured I should follow it up with the sequel — it’s pretty hype. So hype, in fact, that I decided to take a look at how Funimation decided to localize the first season (and they did a pretty good job of it, I’d like to say — but I digress.) I see that (as of this post) ANN has it down as a 13-episode series, but AniDB, MyAnimeList, and Wikipedia all say it’s “ongoing” — here’s hoping to another 26 episodes!
What I tried this season:
- K-ON!!: Watched one episode. I don’t dig the new opening or ending. Supposedly it’s grown on people. Other than that, seems like more of the same, which isn’t a bad thing. On hold, because I’m too lazy.
- Working!!: Watched three-fourths of the first episode. I’m not sure what turned me off — the oddball cast, the loli jokes, my sympathy for Takanashi, picking on Popura, or what. Dropped for now, but reconsidering. (Also, as an aside, the first half-minute totally invokes the Sex Machineguns.)
Not too much is new, though. Finals are around the corner (I’m prepared for everything!!…except statistics); I recently held Doubletap, a wacky DJ Max Technika tournament (of which you can see videos on Drayne O’s YouTube account); I’ve got two cosplays ready for Fanime (thanks in no small part to Panda)…
What else is there? Oh — for kicks, I bought a bottle of Odor Blocker. It does, indeed, block odor for 16 hours, and maybe a bit more.
April 27 is a Tuesday.
On Tuesdays, I go to school just a bit earlier; the timing thereof also means rush hour.
April 27 is the release of Super Street Fighter IV.
I know correlation isn’t quite equal to causation, but I want what happened last time to happen again.
That’d be pretty great.
(click for fullview)
wait wait wait WHAT it was released on March 30th and nobody told me?!
I don’t care if it’s $35 that’s like half-off R2 price and it’s 5 episodes so it’s technically quarter-off!
brb telling Omo so that he has a working link instead of that dead link to the predecessor of this post two years ago and maybe Pete but Pete has R2s already soooo
This next week, I get to relax a bit from my academic duties and watch this thing called “Japanese animation” for longer than an episode of Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆ at a time.
As a related tangent, even though it’s spring break, even though spring started just some eight days ago, it certainly doesn’t feel like it — flowers were blossoming around town a month early. Also, it’s hotter than I remember spring being.
El Niño sure is a funny thing.
Oh, yeah, something I totally forgot to note –
I passed.
Looking at my last post, I realize:
- It’s been a month and a bit since my last update.
- My last update was about a storm so crazy it turned 101 into a parking lot.
- It’s only been a month and a bit since we’ve had weather this crazy, where “crazy” includes but isn’t limited to rain pouring so hard I swear the heavens are shooting Super Soakers at us earth-bound people; cherry and peach blossoms blooming waaay earlier than expected; and 75-degree high temperatures in the midst of winter’s grasp. Oh, and there was a lake in the middle of the frickin’ road as I was driving back home. Sorta like the aforementioned 101 incident, except it’s not 101, so it doesn’t matter as much.
I’m not sure what to think of the weather here in California anymore, except for the fact that somehow, it manages to surprise me every year. I’d say “every season”, but in retrospect, summer always comes just the way I thought it’d come, which is let’s break out six table fans and point them all at my body hot.
Oh, wait a minute — there was a time in the middle of July last year where the highs suddenly dropped into the 80s, huh?
Yeah, like I said, I’m not sure what to think of California weather anymore.
credit KGO-TV
There’s a bit of a storm outside; specifically, the third of four fronts hitting the San Francisco Bay Area this week. And despite the storm, business — and thus, the ever-so-popular commute by automobile — continues.
On Twitter and Facebook, the image of a flooded freeway (shown above) is being passed around, notably by people who didn’t go to work, aimed at people who did.
The most hilarious part of this image is the fact that this happens to be a depiction of Interstate 101 — perhaps the most notorious freeway used for commute. Normally, at this time of day (4 PM), 101 slows down to a crawl for most of its length. ABC-7, one of the local news stations around here, has footage of one lane, still submerged, open for commuters to wade through — a pretty painful sight to watch.
Abandon hope all ye who enter here? Why, yes. Yes indeed.
My contribution to the current trend of stickering Technika cards to personalize them and make them stand out in the local arcade’s card line? A reference printed on the back side of any given Technika card to what many people would regard as an injoke.
Until beholders of this card actually realize that Shoreline is probably one of the greatest songs in the game, and Para Q occupies a ranking far, far below.
Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆‘s first episode was oh-so-sublime. Also, it might be the whole buildup-of-hype thing, but I think the OP and ED are probably the best OP/ED yet. I’m especially liking how the ED is faster-paced than both of its predecessors, keeping that signature marble synth violin thing while rocking out.
I’m anticipating the second episode, if only because of those last two budget-saving minutes…new characters, banzai!
I’d be continuing the streak of posts I’ve got about character birthdays (today’s Kanon‘s Ayu Tsukimiya), but in about six hours from the time of this post airs the first episode of the one thing I’m committed to following during this 2009/2010 winter anime season: Hidamari Sketch x☆☆☆. And thus, all of my hype is being focused accordingly.
Therefore:
Yeahuh.
