Great; now he's gonna make more obscure references

So, would you like to know what I've been playing for the last week-and-a-half?

Tsukihime.

Don't ask me how I got it, (the same way I got those Touhou games) just know that I have now finished my first ever visual novel.

Wow.

Since Tsukihime is a game with very little interactivity, it is a game wherein I do care about its story. Well lucky for you, the writing in Tsukihime is top-notch.




I USED THE NON-ERO ENGLISH PATCH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!



Now while some arcs are better than others, (Hisui's route pales compared to Arcueid's and Akiha's) it was overall a very rewarding experience. The characters felt like real people. Even the downright monstrous characters felt believable. And at least one romance was very heartwarming. (I guess that would make me a Shiki/Arcueid fan then?)

But be warned, Tsukihime is the most depressing game I've ever played. It's even more depressing than Final Fantasy 6. Your heart will inevitably be torn about at least once during every route. And some of the scenes of violence (and sexual violence) will make you cringe. This is not a game for the faint-of-heart. This is vampire mythology at its most brutal.

But now I have been inducted into the works of Type-Moon. Who knows what will become of me, now? Maybe I'll "acquire" more games; I know some of the Melty Blood games have English hacks. I have a little bit of knowledge of the Fate franchise. And if it got out of translation Hell, I would buy the Kara no Kyouki novels, if Del Rey ever got off its ass and finished it already. (Come on, you haven't disappointed me with Tsubasa and XXXHolic; why let me down, now?)

Just know this; you might be seeing more of a catgirl vampire in the near-future.

FORESHADOWING!

I'm still alive (not referencing Portal right now)

Hey Internet. Haven't updated in about a week; it's what happens when you're close to getting an Associate's degree.

Well, thing is, even though I have homework again, I somehow still have time for my leisurely pursuits. For one thing, I'm working on the next chapter of A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing. Also, I actually got a PM asking Rachel Alucard about something! So I'm also in the process of writing the first true chapter of Ask Rachel Alucard.

By the way, even though I'm currently unemployed, I do get allowance from my parents and my grandmother. Lately, I've been saving it for something; a brand new PC. The PC I want is a desktop whose asking price is around 500 dollars. Yes, I really have quite a bit of pocket change right now, almost enough to buy that PC.

But before I do that, I wanted to play one last game on my current PC. I can't tell you what the game is, but when I'm finished with it, (yes, I said when, not if) then I will make the order final. Maybe then I might have also have enough cash for that computer.

You see, my current PC is a very good one. I've had it for 5 and a half years. Only within the last three or so months has it finally shown signs of entropy. However, because of that, that's why I haven't gone to the video store or bought anything, so that I can replace this computer when the time comes. Well, there is one thing I need; a new flash drive. I have a flash drive . . . that can only hold 256 MB of memory. I have another one . . . that can hold 64 MB of memory. I'm gonna need a bigger flash drive to properly port my stuff over to my new PC once I have it.

I have one component already; a brand new monitor. I got this new monitor for Christmas. Sadly, it does not work (properly) on my PC, yet works just fine on my dad's computer. (Our systems are like freakin' inverts of each other: my PC is circa 2004, Dad's is 2008, I have XP, he has Vista, my video and sound card are optimized for games made before 2006, his video and sound card suck for games, and yet, his PC has way more RAM than mine, as well as a way faster processor. His can use an LCD monitor like the one I got for Christmas, yet my PC shoots itself in the foot with an LCD, even though my PC can play Far Cry, and his can't! Yeah, I don't understand computer technology either.) But once I get my new PC, I will inherit my proper monitor, and Dad will just have to switch back to his older, smaller LCD screen.

But like I said, I'll only order this PC once I finish playing a game I downloaded. Again, I'm not talking about the game until I'm finished with it. Until then, stick around for fanfic updates for the time being.

Reaction Shots: xm0123 text-only Edition.

"Chrono Crusade" THEY MADE ANOTHER CHRONO GAME!?!?!?!?!?

"Premise" There's this sect of the Catholic Church that's fighting evil demons, and their best line of defense is a demon boy and a teenage girl armed to the teeth! And it's set in 1920s America!

"Male Protagonist" A noble demon who kicks ass and is kind to humans, just don't make him angry.

"Female Protagonist" A nun who never says die. And loses her temper at the drop of a hat. And is always blowing shit up. Very fun character.

"Antagonist" An evil, though tragically misguided, figure. Not one-dimensional, surprisingly enough!

"Supporting cast" Nothing short of excellent.

"Story" Starts off like typical shonen fare, then becomes more serious. Extremely engaging.

"Action" Tons of it, all of which is beautifully illustrated.

"Comedy" Ha ha ha! Rosette is giving Chrono a noogie! Ha ha ha!

"Tragedy" Dang. The First World War sucked.

"Flashbacks" It's all so painful!

"Plot Exposition" Smooth and with no filler; the way I like it.

"Anime Adaptation" HIGHLY UNACCEPTABLE!

"English Dub" AAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

"What We're Supposed to  Take From It" Life is short. You may never get another chance to tell a loved one, "I love you," so make the most of your life while you still can.

"What we DO take from it" NUNS WITH GUNS!!!!!!

"Thumbs up?" Yes, so long as you avoid the anime.

"Last word" Didn't I already say this was my favorite shonen action series? So what are you waiting for!?

"Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle" What does a newspaper have to do with a reservoir and the Japanese word for "Wing(s)"?

"Premise" These four people are looking for these magical feathers so that they can save the multiverse . . . going into any further detail will cause my head to explode.

"Male Protagonist" The 1st one is a boring generic RPG lead. The 2nd is a musclebound "ninja" who is rough around the edges. The 3rd . . . is cool incarnate.

"Female Protagonist" Sweet, delicate, beautiful . . . and can kill giant worms with a revolver. In short, my kind of woman.

"Antagonist" A guy with a huge chin who screws with people just to do . . . something, I can't reveal because of my spoiler clause.

"Supporting cast" They help move the plot forward.

"Story" Feels like an epic RPG, but with most of the random encounters cut out. And then, it gets convoluted, again, like most epic RPGs.

"Action" So explosive, it's like the fights are leaping right off the pages!

"Comedy" Uh . . . Fai and Mokona have a few one-liners.

"Tragedy" *sobs* The past is so painful!

"Flashbacks" *sobs* The past is so painful . . . and convoluted, and painfully convoluted!

"Plot Exposition" A lot. Thank Ashura-O for Wikipedia.

"Anime Adaptation" Why do all the action sequences look and feel like music videos?

"English Dub" laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame

"What We're Supposed To Take From It" No matter how many hardships you encounter, you can overcome all of them, but only if you have the determination to see it through to the end.

"What we DO take from it" Fai And Kurogane Oh Tee Pee!

"Thumbs up?" Sure . . . if you don't mind insane plot twists.

"Last word" This is my favorite CLAMP series, so take from that what you will.

"Kurokami" KAMI! *sighs* I'm sorry, I thought I wouldn't quote Death Note for this.

"Premise" There's a race of people who are like regular humans, but with super strength! And they can form a pact with a regular human to make them even stronger! But if either one dies when they are "synched", so does the other!

"Male Protagonist" (first impression) FUCK OFF AND DIE ALREADY!!!!! (second impression) Now he's focusing his rage on the bad people! This is great!

"Female Protagonist" iloveheriloveheriloveheriloveher

"Antagonist" . . . . . . my god. these people . . . are horrifying.

"Supporting cast" Every supporting character who's not Akane is awesome.

"Story" Rather wordy for what is essentially an excuse for people to fight one another.

"Action" The action in this series is orgasmic.

"Comedy" Kuro's ignorance of the world of Terrans is adorable!

"Tragedy" WHY MUST HORRIBLE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE!?!?!?!

"Flashbacks" half the time, it's "WHY MUST HORRIBLE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE!?!?!?!" The other half of the time, it's, "Look at me! I'm such a douche! I take advantage of the people around me because I'm that much of a douche! Aren't I a great protagonist?"

"Plot Exposition" So much, it actually slows down the pace of everything. Some may actually welcome this, though.

"Anime Adaptation" Starts off great . . . then devolves into a Dragonball Z ripoff. Yeah.

"English Dub" Good enough for me!

"What We're Supposed To Take From It" No man is an island. Humanity as a whole is capable of great things, but in order for that to happen, you must take the first step to reach out to someone.

"What we DO take from it" Hot chicks beating the crap out of each other!

"Thumbs up?" Once you get to chapter 37, yes, by all means. Anytime before that . . . I can't make any promises.

"Last word" I sure hope you can tolerate the dickishness of Keita and the uselessness of Akane for five books. If so, your patience will pay off . . . . . . . . KURO-CHAN IS LOVE! (Sorry; I'm now contractually obliged to say that every time I bring up the subject of Kurokami.)

"Lucky Star" Count your lucky stars.

"Premise" A bunch of high school girls in Japan talk about anime, video games, food, moeblobs, and study habits.

"Male Protagonist" Uh . . . the closest thing this series has to a male protagonist is a middle-aged dad who's sexually attracted to short girls with tiny breasts. No, I did not make up that last sentence.

"Female Protagonist" Think every anime fangirl you've ever met, only much friendlier and much less of an elitist psychobitch; no wonder everyone loves her on myanimelist.net!

"Rival" An older sister to a moeblob who has extreme mood swings and scares away all of the cast members' potential boyfriends, and is also very beloved on myanimelist.net!

"Supporting cast" Think the girls from Azumanga Daioh, but with unrealistic hair colors and the physiques of 12 year olds. 12 year olds, Dude.

"Story" Plot? Who needs plot!?

"Action" Does surviving a visit to the dentist count as action?

"Comedy" *riotous laughter* Kagami's mockery of moe girls is killing me!

"Tragedy" Uh . . . I guess that whole thing with Konata's mom counts? But no one seemed depressed about that.

"Flashbacks" Not . . . substantial enough . . . to write something . . . witty about . . . . . . . . I am unworthy.

"Plot Exposition" Again, who needs plot?

"Anime Adaptation" Let's have a chat about snacks for six minutes straight! It'll become a legendary moment in anime!

"English Dub" I plugged this series' English voicetrack on the "Superlative Dubbing" page on tvtropes; what do you think my opinion on the dub is!?

"What We're Supposed To Take From It" Don't go to school events just to take pictures of schoolgirls, or your daughter will become very concerned about your habits.

"What we DO take from it" HOLY SHIT! GIRLS ARE TALKING ABOUT ANIME!!!!!!

"Thumbs up?" Eh.

"Last word" There will never be a high school comedy that can dethrone Haruhi. With that said, I suppose Lucky Star, in both anime and manga format, can pass the time.

"Slayers: Medieval Mayhem" As opposed to Jazz Age Mayhem?

"Premise" Intrepid adventurers go around and do stuff. Hilarious supposedly ensues.

"Male Protagonist" An idiot swordsman who feels the need to point out every large-chested woman he lays eyes on.

"Female Protagonist" An amoral sorceress who feels the need to point out how cute she is, in spite of how insecure she is about her chest.

"Supporting Cast" I'll come back to you on this one.

"Story" I think it's supposed to be a parody of the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games, but I wouldn't know nor care.

"Action" There is some, not that it matters.

"Comedy" IF POINTING HOW HOW SMALL LINA'S BREASTS ARE WASN'T FUNNY THE FIRST TIME, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO IT 126 MORE TIMES!?!?!?!?!

"Tragedy" The only tragedy to be found is how soul-crushingly disappointed I was and still am with this entire goddamned franchise!

"Flashbacks" I DON'T CAAAAAAAAAAARE!

"Plot exposition" I DON'T CAAAAAAAAAAAAAARE!

"Anime adaptation" Actually explains things better, but is still devoid of any entertainment value whatsoever.

"English dub" It was dubbed in the 1990s by someone other than Disney; you do the math on that one.

"What we're supposed to take from it" That the otakus who recommended this are completely full of shit and are just saying it because "Oh EM GEE! IT'S ANIME! THEREFORE IT'S AWESOME BY DEFAULT! U HU HU HU HU!"

"What we DO take from it" "ZOMG! SLAYERS! FUNNIEST ANIME EVARZ!!!!1"

"Thumbs up?" What!? Are you dense!? Are you retarded or something!? Did you not read my March 2008 review!? Can you not pick up on the hostility of this last part of the blog entry!? If not, then the answer is CAPITOL FUCKING N. CAPITOL FUCKING O.

"Last Word" This still remains the most overrated piece of Japanese pop culture I have ever seen that is not a video game. Is that something to be proud of? That's for you to decide.

END.

A plug, and some inspiration

Before you do anything else, I must plug something.

My favorite episode of Read Right to Left.

You have inspired me, Y Ruler of Time. For my next blog entry, I will do a text-only version of Reaction Shots!

Read it.

Oh, actually, here's a teaser; one of the series I'll do reaction shots for is Lucky Star. I can do this because I glanced in a copy of the original manga version in a bookstore recently, and did research on the differences between the manga and anime. By the way, the art in the LS manga is much nicer than in the anime; too bad I don't like the character art very much.

clubs: the investigation.

Listen, everyone; school is back in session, and granted, I won't be a college student for too much longer, but school is back in session, and I better blog about randomness now before I get flooded with homework.

Okay then.

Been checking out MAL some more. Even started posting on its forums. No one's flamed me yet; so far, so good.

I've even updated my profile page to display anime and manga I like. And also favorite characters. The usual (and not so usual) suspects are listed, however, you can have up to ten, but I only came up with eight all-time favorite anime and manga characters, so I threw in two more just for fun. Hint; one is someone I should totally voice in a fandub someday, the other is . . . a robot.

But here's the real interesting part: there are also clubs on MAL. Anyone can start one, and most of them are open to members of the website. Clubs have their own forums and comment box, and what have you. There are your usual suspects: "Fans of (insert popular anime here) unite!" "Click here to join the (insert name of Ensemble Darkhorse from popular anime) fan club today!"

Yeah. That's the typical kinds of clubs. There are some that are . . . not so typical. Like one that's all about . . . anime boobs. Actually, that does seem typical.

But you know what club caught my eye more than any other? A character club for a character I just very recently came to like; a club for Makoto from Kanon. This club, wow. I'm actually impressed. The creator seems to be someone who's genuinely in love with Makoto, not in a "OH EM GEE KAWAII DESU!" way, or a "Makoto is phukkin hawt I fap to hentai of her every niiiiiight~!" way either, but, like, true love. It's almost . . . touching. What the hell? I'm sympathizing with people who have adopted Makoto as their "waifu"? I'm not going, "Yeah, she's cute, but she's not worth obsessing over!"? I'm instead going, "Aww! That's so sweet!"!? What is wrong with me!?!?!?

Oh, and that club links to the Fang-Tan club, a club that's all about cute characters with fangs! And that club has links to a club for Tsuruya, and a for a club for Megpoid! Holy moly! There are clubs for everything!

(Hey wait, isn't Megpoid a corporate mascot? Oh, MAL counts mascots, but not video game characters!? If you're gonna have a club for a cute girl with fangs, then I demand a Rachel Alucard fanclub! Hint, hint.)

But you know what? Most of the MAL people seem pretty well-adjusted. I think I'll get along just fine.

"Current #1 character: Lelouch Lamperouge."

GAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I TAKE THAT BACK! HOW CAN I HOPE TO GET ALONG WITH THESE PEOPLE IF THEY LIKE-

-"Current #2 character: L."

Well, that's good to hear.

Bottom line: I think I finally found anime/manga fans I can relate to. Rejoice.

This title is innocuous; too innocuous

 So then, I've been plumbing the depths of myanimelist, or MAL for short. It's, uh, been pretty interesting.

Here I am, making a list of Japanese cartoons and comics I'm familiar, (or rather, the ones that my brain can give an honest opinionated score for, anyways) and also checking out other profiles at random. I figure not everyone's not gonna share the same taste that I do, (considering that that's been happening for my entire life) but I get curious, anyways.

And then, that's when I noticed something. Something . . . ugly. There's a ton of people on MAL who think Code Geass is the bee's knees. And no, I don't mean the CG fanfic by Cal Reflector, either; I'm talking about the animated tv series. And not only that, there's an awful lot of people who also adore Fruits Basket, both the manga, and the anime. You know what I feel like the website is saying to me?

"Hi! Welcome to MAL! Oh, what's this? You gave a 1 to CG and FB? Actually, let us rephrase that;

WELCOME TO HELLLLLL!!!!!!!!"

Damn my eyes! I just entered a pit full of people who like anime I despise!

Oh wait; what's this? Some people who also think Eureka Seven is the best anime series ever? Some people who also love Death Note? And . . . and . . . other people who don't like Princess Mononoke!?!?!?!?!

Rally behind me, my brothers and sisters! Together, we will whether the tyranny of those who allow themselves to be suckered in by shallow anime!

"Uh, what if the people who love and hate the same stuff you love and hate also like CG? What then?"

GAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

*sighs* Nevermind. I only hope people don't flame me for this. (for added effect, read the three passages in-between the quotes as well as my scream in Todd Haberkorn's voice. Do so, because he is the man.)

------------------------------------

By the way, I just published a new series on fanfiction.net.

SURPRISE!

That's right, bitches! In-between raving about Chrono Crusade, bitching about Mary Sue witch hunting, obsessing over the Touhou Project, discovering Darker Than Black, signing up for MAL, and celebrating the holidays with my family, I started writing a new fanfic series, which I just published on fanfiction.net last night, just in time for the new semester.

A fanfic of what, though?

A Blaz Blue fanfiction.

A Blaz Blue fanfiction . . . told entirely from the perspective of Rachel Alucard.

*cue Light's Kira laugh*

"Oh! I should've seen the signs! 'I would love to write her dialog!' 'I want her as my avatar!' 'Rachel is kee yeute!' You did it; you actually did it!"

And here's the fun part; I'll be answering questions anyone sends my way, get some reader input. I only hope that people actually write-in; I don't want to resort to making up letters.

"But . . . why?"

Why would I write another fanfic? Simple; because you only live once.

animania!

Oh, Funimation; you really have done me good on this winter break. Aside from Darker Than Black, I've had the chance to watch a few more series, not in their entirety, but close enough. Let's go over them, shall we?

----------------------

Welcome to the NHK.

Excuse me for one moment.

*Riotous laughter is heard from the distance*

Holy SHIT, this show is funny! This is officially the third anime series I've ever seen that's made me laugh my ass off! Although dramatic at times, (Satou's social anxiety is portrayed in a scaringly realistic manner) it is mostly a comedy, and even the drama is well done, too. Sadly, only the first 7 episodes are available; I may have to buy this on DVD.

Oh, also, here's the crazy part: the English dub is by ADV, and it's really good.

Okay, so why now is ADV doing a good dub? Oh, it doesn't matter; Chris Patton and Greg Ayres are my new heroes for nailing Satou and Yamazaki so well.

Yay! I don't hate the anime division of ADV anymore! Isn't that great!?

------------------

Kanon, the KyoAni version.

This show is . . . moderately adequate. It's a character study about a young man named Yuuichi who returns to a snowy town to live with his aunt and cousin. He used to live there during his childhood, but he can't seem to remember anything from back then. He meets a number of characters, most of them beautifully illustrated girls, and slowly pieces together his past. Unfortunately, only the first four episodes were available, and ep. 4 ends just as things started getting interested.

The show is infamous for having a bunch of moe girls in it . . . I don't know if moe is the right phrase. Only Ayu comes across as moe to me. The characterization is pretty good, but the series is not an action-packed one; it's a slow and deliberate series, and it's not for everyone. That said, the art and animation is gorgeous, and the English dub (again, by ADV, oddly enough) is spot on. Pertaining to the last example, Jessica Boone and Tiffany Terrell are my new heroines for playing Nayuki and Makoto so effectively. By the way, Makoto is so kee yeute! ^_^ Hey, someone had to say it.

-------------------

Soul Eater.

If this aired on tv when I was a teenager, not only would I have watched it, it would've been really popular, too. This has every recipe for a successful shonen series, and ya know what? The first four episodes were good!

This show is wacky; the hometown of the protagonists looks like Halloween Town, the characters are eccentric beyond belief, and it is just plain silly. The artwork doesn't try to be strikingly beautiful, but instead opts to look cool. I love it. The animation is great, and it's a lot of fun to watch. Also, it's really funny at times. I saw episodes in Japanese and in English; I actually prefer the English dub, for the characters sound even wackier in English. (Huh. DTB sounds better in Japanese, but SE sounds better in English. What do ya know?) If I can, I'll see about watching more episodes in English.

Lastly; Death the Kid. He is hilariously awesome.

-------------------

All this watching of anime got me interested in finally signing up for myanimelist.com.

My profile!

Keep in mind, my lists only show anime and manga I can properly score. Anyone who's read this blog knows that I've watched (or tried to watch) Cowboy Bebop, Kurokami, Hellsing, and Kiddy Grade, among others, but I would need to research some of those shows more to properly review them. And as for CB and Kurokami . . . how can you say "I liked some episodes, but hated others"? Oh well.

My lists though . . . they definitely look like something I would make. Be sure to check the comments, too; some of them have comments only I would write. Heh.

I go back to school in two days. So don't expect as many entries by then.

LATE EDIT: Which is funny, when you consider that I now have CB and Kurokami scored on my MAL list. I still can't decide how much I dislike Hellsing Ultimate (yes, it was Ultimate I sampled) or Kiddy Grade, though.

I've been saved!

This may (or may not) come as a surprise to you all; I used to be a fan of Newgrounds.

This was back in my late teen years, obviously, but I used to be a fan of the website. Whenever I had spare time, and I was bored, and I could use the modem to myself (this was obviously before my family had cable. When we had dialup, I couldn't use the internet whenever I felt like it, because that would tie up the phone line. Thank goodness those days are in the past), I would either watch flashes or play games.

NOTE THAT FOR THE RECORD I NEVER SAW ANYTHING "MATURE" RATED THERE!!

"That actually does not surprise us, xm. Keep going."

However, NG is really badly afflicted by Sturgeon's Law. Now, normally, I operate under a modified Sturgeon's Law: 60 percent of products are crap, 30 percent are "okay", and the remaining 10 are good. However, on NG, I figured out, by experience, that it's actually the 90/10 ratio.

I never signed up for NG. It's a good thing, too, because I don't want to be associated with them. The day I stopped being a fan of NG, I, uh, snapped. Yeah.

There was a "top" flash movie of the day or something, being bored, I watched it. It was advertised as a "comedy." It was . . . hmm, let's phrase this in a way only I would; the flash was about as funny as an episode of Slayers. Not only that, it was freakin' racist, too. And what did the reviews say!?

"LOL! 10 outta 10!" "This shit is phukkin loltastic! 10!"

AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!! THIS!!! ISN'T!!!!!!! FUNNYY!!!!! AAGAAAGGGHAGHGHAHG!!!!!!!!!!111 11!!@11!!!21111!1~`11222!!!!1!1

*ahem* Sorry about that. I didn't expect there to be latent rage still boiling within my heart.

Thank God for Retsufrash.

My homeboys who spoof sucky Let's Plays are also spoofing sucky Flash products. Man, considering the shit that's on NG alone, they could be spoofing these things (and the reviews) for yeeeeeeeeeeeearrrrrrrs! And that makes me happy.

--------------------

Can I get back to talking about Darker Than Black, now, instead of an infamous website?

Okay, I have two favorite characters in DTB. Three guesses as to whom they are.

"Gai Kurosawa and Kiko?"

Oh god yes! What makes them so effective is they don't look like they belong in DTB. They are both animated like characters from a low-budget comedy, unlike everyone else; they both face fault, Gai's face is more cartoony than everyone else's, Kiko warps around at times. And it's not just that, Gai behaves like a character from a noir film. Well then again, DTB is authentic noir, but Gai acts like he's in a retro 1940s noir, which of course, is hilarious. And Kiko, ah, we need more spoofs of fangirls. She's almost always dressed like an anime character from a space opera, she reads yaoi fanfiction, (MISS YAOI OBSESSED FANGIRL!) and she writes someone's name in an all-black notebook! Oh gawd, I'm cracking up just from writing this!

But there were some other characters I liked, too. For one thing, I thought Kirihara was cool; she doesn't have any powers, and yet, she's tough, still. It also helps that she's the best-looking character in the show. Don't judge me! Oh, also, I think Amber is cute. Don't judge me, still! She looks like a cross between Winry Rockbell and C.C. In fact, the first time I saw her with her hair free, I thought, "Holy crap! It's C2 . . . except a lot less ugly . . . and a lot more cute!"

In fact, I'll let you in on a secret; I don't feel like buying DTB, because it's only on DVD and in single packs. However, if Funimation re-released the whole series on blu-ray, preferably in one package, I would seriously buy it. There is a blu-ray version out in Japan, so I figure it's only a matter of time.

LATE EDIT: Oh, in case you were wondering, the flash in question made a really stupid remark about East Asian people. A remark I did not find funny, and I'm a White American!

Neat Stuff

I finished watching an anime series I discovered not too long ago on Funimation's website. I've known of this series for a while, but only now have I finally watched the first season.

Darker Than Black.

Huh. How does one describe DTB? Well, it's by Studio Bones, it's got music by Yoko Kanno, and it combines many different genres. You could say it's like Cowboy Bebop. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that it's like a cross between CB and the X-Men, only DTB is not as cliched and directionless as CB, and is more subtle than X-Men.

On a technical scale, DTB doesn't disappoint. The animation is above-average, the artistry for both backgrounds and characters is good but not great, the music fits the mood, (though I honestly believe Yoko Kanno will never top her work on CB) and the voice-acting in Japanese is pretty good. The English dub is competent, but I didn't find it as nuanced as the Japanese voicetrack. Luckily for me, the entire series was available in Japanese with English subtitles.

But that's not what DTB's strongest point is. Its strongest point is in the writing. There is close-to-no filler in this entire series. Every word of dialog, every action, every image serves a purpose. It helps that DTB was not originally a manga, novel, or video game series; it was originally the first season I just saw. Not only that, the setting really goes into detail as to what it would be like if beings like the contractors really did exist in our world. The characters are almost never black-and-white in terms of morality; someone who may seem a friend one moment will become an enemy the next, and vice versa. The group of perennial characters in the series (known only by the codenames Hei, Yin, Huang, and Mao) are not always a stable group, or nakama. (stupid otaku slang!) In every organization, people will always have their own thoughts on a situation, even if it clashes with the wills of their superiors. Not only that, characters don't know everything; this is a mystery series, not just for the viewers, but for the players as well.

But it's not just a mystery series, it's a little bit of everything. It's got action scenes that tend to be short, yet exciting and to the point. It's got drama, with some episodes generating the most heart-rending moments I've ever seen in a television series. It's got comedy, especially in the form of two bumbling private detective who are semi-regular characters. It's got a little bit of sexual fanservice, though thankfully none of that feels out of place. There's even a little bit of Evangelion-esque weirdness in a few key moments. The best thing about this is it doesn't feel jarring when DTB goes from one mood to another; the transition is always natural.

If there's only one flaw, it's like, much like in Death Note, you can't look away for a second. Like I said, almost every scene contributes something. Look away, and you might miss a visual clue. Stop listening for a moment (or stop reading the subtitles for one second), and you may miss an important piece of information. This is not something to watch at a party. Not only that, there are some things that you the viewer must figure out on your own. Thankfully, unlike Ghost in the Shell, the information in DTB isn't too dense, but don't get lazy.

Now, some episodes are better than others. That is to be expected from a tv series, but there was not a single episode in the first season that made me say, "Wow. That really sucked!" This plagues some other anime series I've seen, even those I like, but not so in DTB. On my scale of 0 to 10, no episode ranks lower than an 8, but a few hit the perfect 10. DTB was able to score consistently high, something not even Trigun, Scrapped Princess, Haruhi, and the anime version of Kurokami accomplished for me, and that's probably the best thing I can say about the series. At its best, DTB is a modern masterpiece. At its "worst", it still is a hell of a lot better than most other works of Japanese animation. You need to watch this show at least once; it has a style all of its own, and it makes you think.

A New Rant

Okay, there's something that's been going on too much on the web. It concerns an overreaction to something that's generally bad. Until just very recently, I didn't know a phrase to describe what I had been seeing. Thanks to a Troper Tales page, I can rant about this now.

Mary Sue Witch Hunting.

What is Mary Sue Witch Hunting? Basically, it's when you falsely accuse a fictional character of being a Mary Sue kind of character. Okay, let's go over my two definitions of Mary Sue again.

A Mary Sue is a character that possesses either no negative qualities, or almost no negative qualities, only positive qualities. Also, if they are not the main character, they will have a substantial amount of focus in the main storyline, even if it makes no sense for them to be of that much focus.

However, as I wrote in 2008, there is a such thing as good Mary Sues. However, those are very rare.  The problem usually comes from the fact that characters with no negative traits often breed no conflict. No conflict often does not drive plots forward. Also, when a Mary Sue who isn't the main protagonist takes center stage, they often leave other characters less fleshed out. I can understand this.

However, also keep in mind, there are different degrees of Mary Sues. There are a few who are likable. (Oh, Nausicaa from the last volume of Nausicaa. She may as well be a goddess, and I'd have no complaints.) There are some who are dislikable, but not hateable. And then are those who really deserve to burn.

A Mary Sue I don't like, but don't outright hate, would be Misa Amane from Death Note. Why do I feel she's an MS? Well, she has a Death Note, just like Light, but has Shinigami eyes, unlike him. She has a tragic past, and declares Light her "Bishie." She's a model, actress, and singer, and has an adoring fanbase. Also, she has a Shinigami who is most loyal to her. About her only negative trait is her willingness to kill innocent people for Light. At first, she proved an interesting obstacle for Light and L, but then episodes began to mainly focus on her, and she irritated the hell out of me with her immature fangirling. It was almost like she was the star of an OC fanfic set in Death Note. However, the later episodes round her out more as a character, and she loses her MS status to me after a while. (And unlike most fans, I liked that scene between her and Kiyomi.) However, some people genuinely like Misa Misa, so your mileage may vary.

An MS I outright hate is Chris Thorndyke from Sonic X. Here's a hint: Sonic X's real title is The Adventures Of Chris, Guest Starring The Sonic Animals! Chris may not be impossibly beautiful, but he comes from extreme wealth, is often the Hero That Saves The Day (I read summaries on Wikipedia; I wish I hadn't), he literally can do no wrong, even though SONIC X IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT SONIC, BUT THAT'S NOT THE CASE AFTER THE FIRST EPISODE! Also, Chris's friends and family sometimes get more airtime than Sonic and friends. He completely ruined an entire series. (Even before 4Kids got its hands on it. Ba-dum-dish!)

But why is Mary Sue Witch Hunting so bad? Often times, people (more often fanboys) erroneously label a character an MS is he/she/it possesses one common trait for Mary Sues, and claim said character "ruined it for me." I saw this a lot on the Nuklearpower forums (surprised?) and I'm starting to see it more often elsewhere. Okay, first of all, like I said, not all Mary Sues are bad. Some become improved overtime in a lengthy series. (See Azmaria from Chrono Crusade for a recent example I re-lived.) Others could be seen as people who do impossibly cool things. Another example, the main hero of Fist of the North Star (my latest guilty pleasure) is a Marty Stu to the max, but it's just so darn entertaining to see Kenshiro take down the scum of the earth. The fun comes not from whether he'll live (because he always wins), but rather, the fun comes from how he disposes of his foes. How can you not like that!? Even if a character is flawless, in the hands of a capable writer, they can still provide entertainment.

I think the problem is in that last sentence; a Mary Sue archetype is easy to write, but there's many examples (particularly in fanfic) that are not done right. I think that's why we're seeing an increase in Mary Sue witch hunting. I say cool your jets, and analyze the story a little more closely before you go flinging out such a phrase.

The Answer To EVERYTHING

No, it's not 42.

And it's not 26, either.

It's this; what's something I do a lot on this blog?

Bitch about people who share my hobbies, that's what.

The Hedgehog's Dilemma For Manga Fans, my distaste of homophobic assfucks who dominate the gaming community, general nerd/geek behavior, I've slammed them constantly.

Why are they like this? Why? Why is it my hobbies that are plagued with elitist conformist shitheads?

I think I finally found the answer. (Thanks to Tropers, yet again.)

There is something very infamous in the fanfic community. I really wished I never had to invoke his name. I don't like naming anyone famous who doesn't deserve my respect. *sigh* I'm about to break that rule.

You know David "Davey Kins" Gonterman? God, the Sonic and Sailor Moon fan inside of me is wretching right now. Well, I found a website that tries to explain what he is. Now granted, this webpage hasn't been updated since May of 2001, so maybe he's not like this anymore. (The optimistic side of me says he's not.) Still, it was an accurate explanation of his behavior for the time.

Now I know Davey is an extreme example, but just look at the pages. (Well, maybe not the one about furries; that's irrelevant to my argument) Much of this is speculation, I know, but I think I finally found the answer to my question of why I can't suffer my fellow fans: because they never emotionally matured like I did. And they prefer fantasy worlds to the real world. They reject reality and substitute it with the reality of a video game series, or an anime series, or whatever is something fantastical enough to live vicariously through. It also explains why most fanfic authors seem to never improve, but that's not the major issue here. The major issue is many of my favorite products of recreation attract people who despise the real world and never matured past a certain age. It would certainly explain the friction that almost always occurs between me and other gamers and other fans of animation. The immaturity thing definitely would explain the continued success of Transformers, third-rate slashers, and the works of Rumiko Takahashi.

It's like this: I'm 24. I behave like how society would expect of a 24 year old, minus the late-night parties full of booze and shitty rock music. A fellow gamer/animation fanatic/whatever else is also 24, yet still behaves like a 14 year old, on a good day. If either of us try talking to each other about anything for an extended period of time, there would just be too much friction between us, and one or the other would simply cut off all connections with the other.

And I can understand the real world not being cool, either. Look at me; I don't have a romantic girlfriend for reasons outside of my control, I don't have a paying job (although that might change once I'm finished with community college), I'm not exactly in great shape, I hate dodging traffic whenever I drive, and there's not very people I can relate too. That's why we have mindless diversions; they're a break from the bad things in life. Running around the Wasteland shooting up giant ants in Fallout 3, seeing cartoony frogs doing silly things in Sgt. Frog, these are things you don't see nor do in the real world, and that's why it's fun.

But remember what I wrote in an earlier entry: life sucks, but life rules, too. For every downside in life, there is also an upside. For every bad thing that's happened to me, I've also had good things: my family, what few friends I have made, my hobbies, eating a delicious meal at the end of the day, finishing the semester with good grades. Because of this, I refuse to shut out the real world entirely.

But of course, I realize that's not gonna get through to the immature hordes out there who think I'm being "naive" for looking on the bright side. There is only one way I can get through to the nerds, the ones who give my hobbies a bad name. I could say something like, "you can't ignore the good things in life" or "Growing up is nothing to be afraid of, nor ashamed of," but I know, you won't listen. To all of you out there, who refuse to like anything popular with "normal people", who hate anything that's dubbed into your native language, who think anyone who doesn't enjoy Final Fantasy 6 or 7 is a "retard," here's my real piece of advice for you:

GROW THE FUCK UP, ALREADY!!!!!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST ALMIGHTY! (I'm not even a Christian, and I'm crying out for him.)

2009: A Year in Review

Allow me to summarize the year of 2009, as it was for me . . . and also, I only cover what I mention on the blog, anyways. Anonymity is great.

January 2009:

-I start playing Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete on my PS1 emulator for the first time. Makes me wonder why there weren't more games like it for the PS1.

February 2009:

-My curiosity leads me to a Sailor Moon fansite, one that says that the manga is far superior to the anime. So, I read the manga online and . . . OH EM GEE! THESE GIRLS ARE SO CUTE! AWW! IT'S ALL SO TOUCHING! ^_^ And these girls are kickass!!!!! In short, I became a thing I used to hate; a Sailor Moon fanatic.

March 2009:

-I play Persona 4 for the first time. I like it more than Persona 3. Fight on, Teddie! Fight for everlasting peace!

April 2009:

-I suddenly remembered that I had once played a demo of a PC game called Perfect Cherry Blossom. Nothing about it stuck out in my mind, save for the music. Tvtropes had links to Touhou music, and remixes. I hit one of their recommended links, a song and video called "The Cruel Sisters and the Suffering Maid." Cue constant gushing, new fanfics by me, 1.8 gigs of new music, and a pathological obsession I just won't let go of. All because I saw a video of two vampire sisters feeling up their maid.

-I play Fallout 3 for the first time. My gaming senses were thrown for a loop. PLAY FALLOUT 3 IF YOU HAVEN'T!!!!!!!!!!onelolio!!!!!!!!eleventyone!!!!!!!

May 2009:

-Uh . . . I finish Lunar, obsess over Touhou, give you hints for playing Fallout 3 . . . basically, just a continuation of the earlier months.

June 2009:

-I start collecting the manga version of Cardcaptor Sakura. First shoujo series I ever owned. I share the details with you.

July 2009:

-Uh . . . I continue obsessing over Touhou, Fallout 3, and the fact that i started writing a Touhou fanfic. Nothing new, apparently.

August 2009:

-I play Portal, HL2 EP1 and EP2 for the first time. It was a worthy investment.

-I play Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core Plus for the first time. It's tied with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 for best fighting game I've ever played. And I got GG music! RAWK!

September 2009:

-I discover an anime entitled Kurokami, which later ends up with me collecting the original manwha version. I go from pumping my fists constantly at the action scenes, laughing at the humor scenes, adoring Kuro-chan, blasting Keita (up until his character redemption in volume 7), and also getting MP3s of the opening songs.

-I also discover an anime called Sgt. Frog. "DON'T LET THEM BLOW UP THE EARTH! GUNDAM MODELS ARE AT STAKE!" "What have you been doing for the last 30 hours, Sarge?" "Eating cow flesh and reading Gundam fanfiction." "Will you help me pick up these big round bags?" *massive nosebleed* Oh god, yes.

-I get a PS3. I now start watching Blu-rays, as well as playing PS3 games.

October 2009:

-I buy Valkyria Chronicles for the first time. Makes me wonder what Sega was doing for all of these years. Nonetheless, it's a stellar game.

November 2009:

-I buy Blaz Blue: Calamity Trigger. This is tied with Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 and GGXX for faovrite fighter of all time. Oh, also, I talk about how awesome Tao and Rachel are. And Bang. And Noel.

December 2009:

-I re-read Chrono Crusade. Picked a good time to do it; during Finals and the Holiday Season! This made my updates sparse. Only now am I rectifying this.

So here's hoping my Xbox 360 doesn't explode (it hasn't, yet) and that I play more games, write more stuff, and finish college, all at once. All this and more . . . on xm0123's Domain, season 2010!