Okay, briefly mentioning Soul Eater twice in the past is not going to suffice. I need to dedicate a full entry. Now.
Do not be put off by the fact that Soul Eater is a shonen action series. Like Chrono Crusade, it goes above and beyond the expectations of a shonen action series. It doesn't eschew interesting characters to the side in favor of bland cliched characters like Naruto. It doesn't abandon all of its unique aspects 12 volumes in to become a ripoff of Dragonball Z like Bleach. It doesn't have insane amounts of filler like the older anime version of Dragonball Z. It's not extremely generic like Rurouni Kenshin, Trust and Betrayal notwithstanding. I'm up to episode 19 right now, since that's the latest English episode on Funimation.com, and I sampled the first volume of the manga version in a bookstore. Let's examine the awesomeness, shall we?
First off, the art. The art in both the manga and anime is really good. I'm a fan of Gothicism, and I also like the Goth aspects in Soul Eater; Death City looks like a more urban Halloweentown. The character designs are interesting, too. Every character is distinct from one another; most of them don't have identical facial features, which is a problem that plagues even some of my favorite character artists. Most of the Soul Eater, at first glance, look more like they belong in a Nickelodeon cartoon than a Japanese cartoon; no, seriously, when I first saw an ad for Soul Eater, I knew it was an anime, but I thought, "This, looks like an American cartoon, and one for kids at that." But that's the thing; it's different from what you would expect from a Japanese property. My only beef is this; I don't like Maka's design in the anime as much as her design in the manga. In the manga, she's cute. In the anime . . . not quite as much.
Secondly, the action. The whole setup of the weapons and meisters sounds more like something you'd see in a video game than a tv series. ("Out now; Soul Eater for the Wii, DS, and 360!") And yet, somehow, it works. The weapons can shift between human form and weapon form, to add a little strategy. Tsubaki can transform into many different weapons, which gives her and Black Star variety in their fight scenes. The meisters can fight without their weapons, but they can only do so much. Not only that, the fight scenes are very well animated in the anime version; I wouldn't expect anything less from Bones, (I lurve the fight between Hei and the blood dude from Darker Than Black for instance) but once again, I am very satisfied.
But, as I said in my MAL review of Kanon, it's characterization that's most important, and that's what I'm gonna be focusing on the most. In short, the characters of Soul Eater are amazing. Everyone is either a lovable dork, a badass, or a diabolical mastermind, or any combination of the three. Maka and Soul are perhaps the most "normal" characters, but their struggles, both internal and external, are engaging and add to the drama. Black Star at first is nothing more than a ripoff of Naruto Uzumaki, but he often gets his comeuppance when he screws up, but when he gets serious, he gets real. Tsubaki seemed to be bland at first, but the arc that involved her hometown really fleshed her out and showed the amazing strength she has as a weapon. The Grim Reaper (or Shinigami-sama if you insist) is an eccentric wise old man who reminds me a lot of Dumbledore; he's the head of an unusual school, he's more mysterious than helpful, and yet everyone has the upmost respect for him, and with good reason. And then there's my favorite character, his son, Death the Kid. Kid is basically an animated version of Adrian Monk. Anything that is not "precise and perfect" throws him off completely, and yet, when everything is symmetrical, (or when faced with an assymetrical foe) he becomes the most dangerous of all the meister students. Liz and Patty first appear to be nothing more than dumb blonde chicks, and yet, their past is one wrought with tragedy, but hope at the same time. Maka's dad, Spirit, is my second-favorite character; he's an eccentric goofball who doesn't know how to connect with his daughter, yet he is above all else a very loving father and guardian of Death City. Doctor Stein is a heroic mad scientist that puts most other mad scientists to shame. And the villains, oh god, the villains. Medusa is just absolutely evil, being both methodical and powerful at the same time. Crona and Ragnarok are an intriguing duo, to say the least. And . . . I can't say anymore because of spoilers, but I love the characters!
AND THE HUMOR! This is officially the fourth anime I've ever seen that has made me laugh my ass off. There were times when I rewound the videos just to laugh again. I can never get enough of Kid's OCD, and a certain scene involving Soul and Black Star from episode 6 just slays me.
And lastly, the dub of the anime. Funimation really put out with this one. Things were translated differently than the manga, (Shinigami-sama = Lord Death, no honorifics, a few Americanisms) but the altered dialog doesn't feel out of place. And now for the shout outs: Micah Solusod, Laura Bailey, Todd Haberkorn, John Swasey, Vic Mignogna, Chuck Huber, Troy Baker, Luci Christian, Travis Willingham, Maxey Whitehead, and Sonny Strait all do a fantastic job as their characters, and anyone else I'm forgetting sounds their part too. Why is the dub bashed so frequently? Soul Eater really does sound better in English, believe me, even if the only people who agree with me are a few peeps on MAL.
I am aware that the anime "goes older FMA anime" somewhere later down the line, but I can't stop. I love Soul Eater. I wished this show aired when I was a teenager. It would've proven to me that not all anime sucks, AND it would've kicked the asses of all the anime from that time, too. Well, except maybe Trigun, but still.
P.S. Speaking of shonen action, you wanna know something else you shouldn't be put off by? I'll talk about it in a later entry, but you know what else I recommend? Use your highlight feature to find out.
FOOL! Rule Number Three-Hundred And Twenty-Six in My List Of Provisions That You Must Obey reads, and I quote, "You must not highlight blacked out text unless it is between the hours of daybreak and twilight" okay, the answer you're looking for is One Piece.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
The Vocaloids Hath Returned
Last Updated 1/4/2011
Nearly two years ago, a post on the NPF led me to a youtube vid starring a virtual voice and idol named Miku Hatsune. This was the last good thing the NPF ever did for me, and it made me realize that synthesized voices can sing apparently. For a good time, I was listening to Vocaloid songs whenever I could, sampling this brave new sound.
After a while, I ran out of songs to listen to, but now, out of sheer boredom, I am back on the Vocaloid scene. Things sure did explode between then and now. Now there's a shit ton of songs, and I don't even know where to start. The tvtropes entry is longer and more comprehensive than I thought it would be. Miku herself has performed live thanks to the power of holographic projection. (3D projection; it's everywhere now.) New Vocaloids are out, both in English and Japanese, but mostly Japanese. There's fanart, fanvids (obviously), fanfics, and an amateur market that will probably rival Touhou in terms of fan material in the near future. Lucky Star even referenced Miku in the OVA episode. These digitized celebrities are taking over.
But, where does my opinion stand on the Vocaloid trend? Obviously, I like them, since I have a few vocaloid songs on MP3. However, is it all that it's cracked up to be? Allow me to analyze the Vocaloids one by one.
VOCALOIDS IN GENERAL.
As I pointed out in an earlier article, vocaloids can't mimic human emotion. That's a big turnoff for me. However, vocaloids are programmed to perform in ranges that organic human voices can't reproduce; this gives a songwriter the potential to create a sound that no other technique could reproduce at the moment. Also, if a producer wanted a singer in a song, but couldn't find or afford a good enough singer, said producer could just acquire a vocaloid instead. The programs aren't super cheap, (I think they average around 200 bucks, last I checked) but someone dedicated enough could use that.
Also, vocaloids are synthesized voices. I've heard songs in a wide variety of genres. Perhaps not coincidentally, most (not all), but most of the best vocaloid songs are techno, as in, synthesized voices in synthesized instrumentation. This isn't always the case, but vocaloids seem to work best when the music itself was also done on a machine. (I should ask my best friend from high school about this; he was into techno more than me.)
MIRIAM
Unfortunately, Miriam is very primitive-sounding. This may be because she is a Vocaloid1 program instead of a Vocaloid2 program, but when I hear her or another Vocaloid1 sing, I keep thinking the War Operation Planning Response supercomputer from Wargames is taking up lounge singing. Also, combine with the fact that English vocaloids aren't that popular, and you'll understand why Miriam isn't super popular.
SWEET ANN
Ann sounds way better than Miriam, and like other Vocaloid2 programs, she can sound almost as good as a flesh-and-blood singer. Sadly, again, since English vocaloids aren't very popular, the only song of Sweet Ann that I recommend is a song linked to the tvtropes page. Come on, America! Why be so scared of new technology!? Wave of the future, dude! 100 percent electronic! (that, and the sample I listened to for all of the Vocaloids. Seriously, where's the love!?)
Favorite Sweet Ann song(s): @your Side.
LEON
Okay, I take back what I said; not all vocaloid1 programs suck. Leon is cool! Okay, granted, he would only sound cool in entirely synthesized music, but if that's your thing, Leon is the one to go for!
LOLA
Lola sounds like a normal singer, but one who is using the auto-tuner to maximum effect. If you're doing a song wherein it would sound best if the singer was heavily auto-tuned, then Lola's a good pick. Otherwise, nevermind.
PRIMA
Prima is designed to sound like a female opera singer. As far as that goes, she's pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't like most opera music; too overdramatic for my liking. But, if you need a synthetic soprano, look no further than Prima!
SONIKA
Sonika is . . . weird-sounding. Her voice didn't sound as clear as most of the other English vocaloid2 programs, and . . . also, the sample song was kinda crappy. I hear she can be "tricked" into singing other languages fairly easily.
BIG AL
Big Al is awesome! Possibly the best male English vocaloid2 program yet!
TONIO
Basically like Prima, but for a male singer. Need a synthetic tenor-baritone singer for your opera? Look up Tonio!
MEIKO
She is a vocaloid1, and, like Miriam, sounds too primitive for my liking. She is manly only used as a novelty because of her very obviously fake voice. She tends to pop up in songs featuring more than one singer, but you tend to only see Meiko as a backup to a Vocaloid2, never the lead.
KAITO
Alas, poor Kaito. He is a vocaloid1 and is hard to listen to seriously. Since he was the only vocaloid done by a male Japanese voice for the longest time, he's fared a little better than the other vocaloid1 programs, and I have heard at least one song where he sounds really good, so apparently, he is useful for something. For what its worth, he is better than Meiko.
Favorite Kaito song: Cantarella.
MIKU HATSUNE
Oh yes, the popular idol princess herself. Her voice is the highest pitched, so much so, she may have the highest pitched voice in the galaxy. I once said she can hit the high notes; it's my belief now that she can only sing high notes. (I know I'm generalizing; good programmers can make her sound deeper, and a high-pitched wail is appropriate for some songs.) Still, she was the first Japanese Vocaloid2, and is apparently the easiest one to program. Because of this, she has more songs than any other single vocaloid program. However, her pitch can get out of control in the wrong hands, and capable programmers can use newer female voices more effectively. Nonetheless, she is the one who 'codified' the vocaloid phenomenon, and she introduced me to vocaloid, so yeah.
Favorite Miku Hatsune songs: Light Song, Miracle Painting, Dreaming Leaf.
REN AND RIN KAGAMINE.
The twin/duet pair that could. Rin sounds like Miku, but slightly lower pitched, but more advanced than the green-haired girl at the same time. (Compare the Miku and Rin versions of the Leek song.) Ren, despite being a boy, was done with the same recorded voice of Rin, and sounds rather girlish, only sounding slightly lower pitched than Rin. That's not a bad thing, though; Ren and Rin sound better than the previous Japanese vocaloids, and have become the second most popular Vocaloid program for a reason. Having been around for nearly as long as Miku, Ren and Rin have nearly as many songs.
Favorite Ren and/or Rin songs: Kokoro, Drive Me Flat, The New Millenium (With Miku).
LUKA MEGURINE
Luka is bilingual, capable of singing in Japanese and English, although considering that Luka tends to only be used by Japanese artists, I haven't heard her sing in English much. Her English vocabulary is not as extensive as that of an English vocaloid, so perhaps it's best to use her where a J-pop song suddenly inserts English into the lyrics. Her voice is deeper than the other female Japanese vocaloids, sounding more "womanly" than them. This makes sense; Miku, Rin, and Megupoid looks like teenagers, while Luka looks a little more mature. Meiko is also a more mature female voice, but Luka does not suffer from her limitations. She does have a great voice, and while it can't go as high as Miku or Rin, she is more than capable of producing a beautiful sound in capable hands. Sampled by Yuu Asakawa, the Japanese voice of Sakaki, who thankfully doesn't freakishly sound like a man as Luka.
Favorite Luka songs: Rip=Release, Just be Friends, Double Lariat.
GAKUPOID
Finally, a proper male Japanese vocaloid2! Sampled by Gackt, AKA, the guy who had songs in FF7: Dirge of Cerberus. I'll be forthright; Gakupoid is my favorite male vocaloid. Compare him to Kaito and you'll see why. Sure, I like the sound of a woman's voice, but it's nice to be able to hear a man sing too, even if he has a digitized voice. However, he doesn't have as many songs as most of the other Japanese vocaloids; why is that?
Favorite Gakupoid songs: Dancing Samurai, Go Google It (with Luka), Breath.
MEGPOID
Megpoid, or Gumi, has the same voice actress as someone from Macross Frontier . . . whatever the hell Macross is. Gumi is my favorite female Vocaloid; she doesn't have the insane pitch of Miku, and while she's not fluent in English like Luka, she sounds more nuanced than every other one I've heard so far. Actually, scratch that; Megpoid is my favorite vocaloid period. Her cover of Bad Apple is frighteningly good. Oh, also, fuck you fuckers who don't like her image; she's cute! In fact, if I were in charge, Gumi would be the most popular, not Miku! ALL HAIL GUMI!
Favorite Megpoid songs: Drive to the Moon, Megu Megu Fire Endless Night, Sorry to You.
Hiyama Kiyoteru
He kind of sounds like Gackpoid, but more subdued, it's hard to describe.
KAAI YUKI.
KYAAAAAAAAAA! KAWAII DESU! Er, sorry,her visual design may be adorable, but her voice sounds . . . off. Not getting a good vibe from her sample.
MIKI
Miki doesn't try to stand out like the other Vocaloids, but rather, seems to be designed to mimic the capabilities of most of the Japanese female vocaloids that came before her. Because of that, she sounds, to me anyways, like a cross between Rin and Gumi. This isn't to say she's bad; if anything, she's the most versatile of the Japanese vocaloids.
Favorite Miki songs: Lience, Satellite.
MIKU APPEND
People love Miku so much, the developers released an expansion of sorts that gives Miku six new voices, even though they were all developed using Miku's original voice actress. Allow me to cover them now.
Soft: It's . . . very soft. She doesn't project much with this voice, though.
Sweet: It's basically her normal voice, but cuter sounding. The song I heard her sing this in was . . . must . . . not . . . gush . . . very kawaii, yes.
Dark: Uhh . . . I honestly can't tell this voice apart from the standard one.
Vivid: Sounds like her normal voice, but a little more energetic. It is vivid.
Solid: It's a little deeper, but has more presence than her standard voice. Good for rock songs. My favorite version of "Love Is War" is Miku's Solid version.
Light: This is supposed to be a "heavenly" voice. It's really just her normal voice, but more echo-y.
Miku English version. ("OMGWTFBBQ! She's being dubbed in English!? PHUK THUH ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!! Everything should be Japanese, desu!") Miku-chan is currently learning English and about to be released to the English-speaking world. I will have my thoughts . . . right after it comes out. I only hope her pitch doesn't get out of hand in the English version.
LILY
Lily is said to be a mature female voice, but . . . she just can't compare to Luka or Gumi, based on the sample. Also, lol stereotypical punk rock girl appearance.
VY1
Mysterious . . . no avatar. The voice is nice; pitch isn't extreme, clarity is there . . . I like it! Now if I could just find more songs.
GACHAPOID
Ugh, ugly visual design! Also, that voice . . . oh god, it's like listening to the first season of Pokemon by 4Kids all over again . . . MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!!!!!!
IROHA NEKOMURA
She's got a deeper voice than the other female Japanese vocaloids, but can hold her own against the earlier vocaloids. I like her!
UTATANE PIKO
Piko is a guy . . . that sounds like a girl. You know how in animation, actresses sometimes fake a little boy's voice, sometimes to great effect, sometimes to poor effect? Well, Piko can fake a teenage girl's voice really well; reverse cross-dressing voices! He is pretty good, so, picking up Piko would be a good call.
Oh yeah, in case you didn't notice, some of these writeups were based on this, a sample of all the vocaloids.
So there you have it. I get the feeling that more Vocaloids are on the horizon. If people keep buying them, the makers will keep making them. Oh also, there is a vocaloid wiki, if you're that obsessed.
Nearly two years ago, a post on the NPF led me to a youtube vid starring a virtual voice and idol named Miku Hatsune. This was the last good thing the NPF ever did for me, and it made me realize that synthesized voices can sing apparently. For a good time, I was listening to Vocaloid songs whenever I could, sampling this brave new sound.
After a while, I ran out of songs to listen to, but now, out of sheer boredom, I am back on the Vocaloid scene. Things sure did explode between then and now. Now there's a shit ton of songs, and I don't even know where to start. The tvtropes entry is longer and more comprehensive than I thought it would be. Miku herself has performed live thanks to the power of holographic projection. (3D projection; it's everywhere now.) New Vocaloids are out, both in English and Japanese, but mostly Japanese. There's fanart, fanvids (obviously), fanfics, and an amateur market that will probably rival Touhou in terms of fan material in the near future. Lucky Star even referenced Miku in the OVA episode. These digitized celebrities are taking over.
But, where does my opinion stand on the Vocaloid trend? Obviously, I like them, since I have a few vocaloid songs on MP3. However, is it all that it's cracked up to be? Allow me to analyze the Vocaloids one by one.
VOCALOIDS IN GENERAL.
As I pointed out in an earlier article, vocaloids can't mimic human emotion. That's a big turnoff for me. However, vocaloids are programmed to perform in ranges that organic human voices can't reproduce; this gives a songwriter the potential to create a sound that no other technique could reproduce at the moment. Also, if a producer wanted a singer in a song, but couldn't find or afford a good enough singer, said producer could just acquire a vocaloid instead. The programs aren't super cheap, (I think they average around 200 bucks, last I checked) but someone dedicated enough could use that.
Also, vocaloids are synthesized voices. I've heard songs in a wide variety of genres. Perhaps not coincidentally, most (not all), but most of the best vocaloid songs are techno, as in, synthesized voices in synthesized instrumentation. This isn't always the case, but vocaloids seem to work best when the music itself was also done on a machine. (I should ask my best friend from high school about this; he was into techno more than me.)
MIRIAM
Unfortunately, Miriam is very primitive-sounding. This may be because she is a Vocaloid1 program instead of a Vocaloid2 program, but when I hear her or another Vocaloid1 sing, I keep thinking the War Operation Planning Response supercomputer from Wargames is taking up lounge singing. Also, combine with the fact that English vocaloids aren't that popular, and you'll understand why Miriam isn't super popular.
SWEET ANN
Ann sounds way better than Miriam, and like other Vocaloid2 programs, she can sound almost as good as a flesh-and-blood singer. Sadly, again, since English vocaloids aren't very popular, the only song of Sweet Ann that I recommend is a song linked to the tvtropes page. Come on, America! Why be so scared of new technology!? Wave of the future, dude! 100 percent electronic! (that, and the sample I listened to for all of the Vocaloids. Seriously, where's the love!?)
Favorite Sweet Ann song(s): @your Side.
LEON
Okay, I take back what I said; not all vocaloid1 programs suck. Leon is cool! Okay, granted, he would only sound cool in entirely synthesized music, but if that's your thing, Leon is the one to go for!
LOLA
Lola sounds like a normal singer, but one who is using the auto-tuner to maximum effect. If you're doing a song wherein it would sound best if the singer was heavily auto-tuned, then Lola's a good pick. Otherwise, nevermind.
PRIMA
Prima is designed to sound like a female opera singer. As far as that goes, she's pretty good. Unfortunately, I don't like most opera music; too overdramatic for my liking. But, if you need a synthetic soprano, look no further than Prima!
SONIKA
Sonika is . . . weird-sounding. Her voice didn't sound as clear as most of the other English vocaloid2 programs, and . . . also, the sample song was kinda crappy. I hear she can be "tricked" into singing other languages fairly easily.
BIG AL
Big Al is awesome! Possibly the best male English vocaloid2 program yet!
TONIO
Basically like Prima, but for a male singer. Need a synthetic tenor-baritone singer for your opera? Look up Tonio!
MEIKO
She is a vocaloid1, and, like Miriam, sounds too primitive for my liking. She is manly only used as a novelty because of her very obviously fake voice. She tends to pop up in songs featuring more than one singer, but you tend to only see Meiko as a backup to a Vocaloid2, never the lead.
KAITO
Alas, poor Kaito. He is a vocaloid1 and is hard to listen to seriously. Since he was the only vocaloid done by a male Japanese voice for the longest time, he's fared a little better than the other vocaloid1 programs, and I have heard at least one song where he sounds really good, so apparently, he is useful for something. For what its worth, he is better than Meiko.
Favorite Kaito song: Cantarella.
MIKU HATSUNE
Oh yes, the popular idol princess herself. Her voice is the highest pitched, so much so, she may have the highest pitched voice in the galaxy. I once said she can hit the high notes; it's my belief now that she can only sing high notes. (I know I'm generalizing; good programmers can make her sound deeper, and a high-pitched wail is appropriate for some songs.) Still, she was the first Japanese Vocaloid2, and is apparently the easiest one to program. Because of this, she has more songs than any other single vocaloid program. However, her pitch can get out of control in the wrong hands, and capable programmers can use newer female voices more effectively. Nonetheless, she is the one who 'codified' the vocaloid phenomenon, and she introduced me to vocaloid, so yeah.
Favorite Miku Hatsune songs: Light Song, Miracle Painting, Dreaming Leaf.
REN AND RIN KAGAMINE.
The twin/duet pair that could. Rin sounds like Miku, but slightly lower pitched, but more advanced than the green-haired girl at the same time. (Compare the Miku and Rin versions of the Leek song.) Ren, despite being a boy, was done with the same recorded voice of Rin, and sounds rather girlish, only sounding slightly lower pitched than Rin. That's not a bad thing, though; Ren and Rin sound better than the previous Japanese vocaloids, and have become the second most popular Vocaloid program for a reason. Having been around for nearly as long as Miku, Ren and Rin have nearly as many songs.
Favorite Ren and/or Rin songs: Kokoro, Drive Me Flat, The New Millenium (With Miku).
LUKA MEGURINE
Luka is bilingual, capable of singing in Japanese and English, although considering that Luka tends to only be used by Japanese artists, I haven't heard her sing in English much. Her English vocabulary is not as extensive as that of an English vocaloid, so perhaps it's best to use her where a J-pop song suddenly inserts English into the lyrics. Her voice is deeper than the other female Japanese vocaloids, sounding more "womanly" than them. This makes sense; Miku, Rin, and Megupoid looks like teenagers, while Luka looks a little more mature. Meiko is also a more mature female voice, but Luka does not suffer from her limitations. She does have a great voice, and while it can't go as high as Miku or Rin, she is more than capable of producing a beautiful sound in capable hands. Sampled by Yuu Asakawa, the Japanese voice of Sakaki, who thankfully doesn't freakishly sound like a man as Luka.
Favorite Luka songs: Rip=Release, Just be Friends, Double Lariat.
GAKUPOID
Finally, a proper male Japanese vocaloid2! Sampled by Gackt, AKA, the guy who had songs in FF7: Dirge of Cerberus. I'll be forthright; Gakupoid is my favorite male vocaloid. Compare him to Kaito and you'll see why. Sure, I like the sound of a woman's voice, but it's nice to be able to hear a man sing too, even if he has a digitized voice. However, he doesn't have as many songs as most of the other Japanese vocaloids; why is that?
Favorite Gakupoid songs: Dancing Samurai, Go Google It (with Luka), Breath.
MEGPOID
Megpoid, or Gumi, has the same voice actress as someone from Macross Frontier . . . whatever the hell Macross is. Gumi is my favorite female Vocaloid; she doesn't have the insane pitch of Miku, and while she's not fluent in English like Luka, she sounds more nuanced than every other one I've heard so far. Actually, scratch that; Megpoid is my favorite vocaloid period. Her cover of Bad Apple is frighteningly good. Oh, also, fuck you fuckers who don't like her image; she's cute! In fact, if I were in charge, Gumi would be the most popular, not Miku! ALL HAIL GUMI!
Favorite Megpoid songs: Drive to the Moon, Megu Megu Fire Endless Night, Sorry to You.
Hiyama Kiyoteru
He kind of sounds like Gackpoid, but more subdued, it's hard to describe.
KAAI YUKI.
KYAAAAAAAAAA! KAWAII DESU! Er, sorry,her visual design may be adorable, but her voice sounds . . . off. Not getting a good vibe from her sample.
MIKI
Miki doesn't try to stand out like the other Vocaloids, but rather, seems to be designed to mimic the capabilities of most of the Japanese female vocaloids that came before her. Because of that, she sounds, to me anyways, like a cross between Rin and Gumi. This isn't to say she's bad; if anything, she's the most versatile of the Japanese vocaloids.
Favorite Miki songs: Lience, Satellite.
MIKU APPEND
People love Miku so much, the developers released an expansion of sorts that gives Miku six new voices, even though they were all developed using Miku's original voice actress. Allow me to cover them now.
Soft: It's . . . very soft. She doesn't project much with this voice, though.
Sweet: It's basically her normal voice, but cuter sounding. The song I heard her sing this in was . . . must . . . not . . . gush . . . very kawaii, yes.
Dark: Uhh . . . I honestly can't tell this voice apart from the standard one.
Vivid: Sounds like her normal voice, but a little more energetic. It is vivid.
Solid: It's a little deeper, but has more presence than her standard voice. Good for rock songs. My favorite version of "Love Is War" is Miku's Solid version.
Light: This is supposed to be a "heavenly" voice. It's really just her normal voice, but more echo-y.
Miku English version. ("OMGWTFBBQ! She's being dubbed in English!? PHUK THUH ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!! Everything should be Japanese, desu!") Miku-chan is currently learning English and about to be released to the English-speaking world. I will have my thoughts . . . right after it comes out. I only hope her pitch doesn't get out of hand in the English version.
LILY
Lily is said to be a mature female voice, but . . . she just can't compare to Luka or Gumi, based on the sample. Also, lol stereotypical punk rock girl appearance.
VY1
Mysterious . . . no avatar. The voice is nice; pitch isn't extreme, clarity is there . . . I like it! Now if I could just find more songs.
GACHAPOID
Ugh, ugly visual design! Also, that voice . . . oh god, it's like listening to the first season of Pokemon by 4Kids all over again . . . MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!!!!!!
IROHA NEKOMURA
She's got a deeper voice than the other female Japanese vocaloids, but can hold her own against the earlier vocaloids. I like her!
UTATANE PIKO
Piko is a guy . . . that sounds like a girl. You know how in animation, actresses sometimes fake a little boy's voice, sometimes to great effect, sometimes to poor effect? Well, Piko can fake a teenage girl's voice really well; reverse cross-dressing voices! He is pretty good, so, picking up Piko would be a good call.
Oh yeah, in case you didn't notice, some of these writeups were based on this, a sample of all the vocaloids.
So there you have it. I get the feeling that more Vocaloids are on the horizon. If people keep buying them, the makers will keep making them. Oh also, there is a vocaloid wiki, if you're that obsessed.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Two subjects
Part One: JewWario.
Occasionally, I watch JewWario's "You Can Play This!" series on TGWTG.com. YCPT is very informative, but at the same time, it's not a hugely funny series. It's kind of like the AVGN but for Japanese-only games that don't suck. Even still, I still enjoy watching YCPT (and AVGN) because the episodes are like short documentaries about one of my favorite subjects.
The most recent YCPT, however, caught my eye. Two fighters in one. One of which was a PS2 fighter based off Fist of the North Star. I've actually watched a few episodes of it on Funimation.com. It's . . . not a classic, it's really more of a guilty pleasure, since it's chock full of retro 80s cheesiness, (If you thought only America succumbed to the effects of the "Me" decade, you're dead wrong) but the show has excellent Japanese voice-acting, the intro and ending songs are cool, and Kenshiro is so fucking badass he's awesome. The game, being made by Aksys, looks like a total conversion mod for Guilty Gear that replaces GG characters with the cast of Fist of the North Star. I'd like to play it, but, I don't normally import, and I don't want to bother using a modchip.
The second game he mentioned? Melty Blood. Oh gawd, yes.
But a few things to point out:
1: Neco Arc isn't that cute. (JW, if you're reading this, don't glance at the catgirls of Touhou, for they will surely turn you into goo.)
2: No huge-breasted girls? Um, dude, did you even look at the portraits of Arcueid, Aoko, Sion, and Ciel? Oh wait, I think he meant there wasn't anyone like Litchi from Blaz Blue chest-wise. Heh, one reason why I like Takashi Takeuchi's designs; the large-breasted women look real!
3: No fanservice? Uh, perform Len or White Len's supers and you'll see otherwise. (Although admittingly, there is less fanservice in MB than in most other fighters, as well as the VNs that spawned MB.)
4: unpronounceable names? nonsense! I can say Shiki, Akiha, Kohaku, and Satsuki just fine! And . . . Arcade? Arcu-aido? Nervensker? Scion? See-on? Okay, maybe you have a point.
But nice to see someone reference the Nasuverse.
Part Two: Amestris the Beautiful
Fullmetal Alchemist recently came to its end in Japan, and FMA: Brotherhood is nearing its end right now. All of the reckless souls that read scanlations claim the ending is one of the best ever. I wouldn't expect anything less on the subject of FMA, although now, this means I will have to wait for a while before I can witness its ending properly.
But yes, to think that it was nearly 3 years ago that I finally gave FMA a try. I consider it a good thing that I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be an anime hater. (Then again, I'm pretty sure that if FMA hadn't converted me, Death Note would have.) I still can't believe that the reason I started collecting manga novels, watching anime online, and even showing Miyazaki movies to my family can all be traced back to that fateful July night back in 2007, when I woke up early in the middle of the night and found a rerun of the older FMA anime on tv. If you're curious, it was episode 11, the one with the female thief that never appeared in the manga. When I watched that, a few thoughts ran through my mind:
1: "Whoa! The opening song is kickass! J-rock rocks!
2: "Holy shit! The English dub actually sounds good! How come the anime I've seen in English in the past never sounded this good!?"
3: "LOL! This is actually funny! I don't ever remember watching an anime that was funny!"
4: "Ed and Al . . . are awesome. Sure, I already know who they are since people on the internet won't shut up about this series, but seeing them in action, yeah man.
5: "Dude, the ending song kicks ass! I don't believe this, but, I actually wanna watch the next episode! I've never looked forward to watching a new episode of an anime! Wait a second . . . OH MY GAWD! THIS ANIME DOES NOT SUCK!"
Yeah, and then a month later, I discovered the manga.
"OH MY GAWD! THIS HAS EVEN BETTER WRITING THAN THE ANIME! SUCK IT, YU-GI-OH MANGA!"
Of course, you should've seen the times I watched Trinity Blood and Death Note for the first time.
"(Regarding TB) Holy shit. This show is beautiful. I need to get this on DVD. (Funny that no one warned me about the ending.)
"(Regarding Death Note) Hey, it's another anime that people won't shut up about! They're airing that on Adult Swim now? I think I'll join in! (20 minutes later) Hoooooooooleeeeeeeeeeeee sheeeeeeeee-iiiiiiiit. I. Need. To. Watch. The. Rest. Of. This."
But I'm getting off-subject. Yeah, FMA is made from awesome sauce, there's no denying that.
P.S. just for lolz, I watched a few more episodes of FMAB in English. Guess what? May Chang sounds better in English! Her voice isn't freakishly high-pitched, and she sounds even cuter for that! Yay Monica Rial! Also, Al in FMAB . . . if you listen really closely, you can tell that it's a woman now doing the voice, but then again, Al hasn't gone through puberty yet, so I don't mind. Also, although Todd Haberkorn doesn't sound like how I picture Lin Yao in my mind to sound, somehow I have a hard time thinking anyone else should do his voice. And the new voice of Scar works a lot better. SUCK IT DUB HATERS!
Occasionally, I watch JewWario's "You Can Play This!" series on TGWTG.com. YCPT is very informative, but at the same time, it's not a hugely funny series. It's kind of like the AVGN but for Japanese-only games that don't suck. Even still, I still enjoy watching YCPT (and AVGN) because the episodes are like short documentaries about one of my favorite subjects.
The most recent YCPT, however, caught my eye. Two fighters in one. One of which was a PS2 fighter based off Fist of the North Star. I've actually watched a few episodes of it on Funimation.com. It's . . . not a classic, it's really more of a guilty pleasure, since it's chock full of retro 80s cheesiness, (If you thought only America succumbed to the effects of the "Me" decade, you're dead wrong) but the show has excellent Japanese voice-acting, the intro and ending songs are cool, and Kenshiro is so fucking badass he's awesome. The game, being made by Aksys, looks like a total conversion mod for Guilty Gear that replaces GG characters with the cast of Fist of the North Star. I'd like to play it, but, I don't normally import, and I don't want to bother using a modchip.
The second game he mentioned? Melty Blood. Oh gawd, yes.
But a few things to point out:
1: Neco Arc isn't that cute. (JW, if you're reading this, don't glance at the catgirls of Touhou, for they will surely turn you into goo.)
2: No huge-breasted girls? Um, dude, did you even look at the portraits of Arcueid, Aoko, Sion, and Ciel? Oh wait, I think he meant there wasn't anyone like Litchi from Blaz Blue chest-wise. Heh, one reason why I like Takashi Takeuchi's designs; the large-breasted women look real!
3: No fanservice? Uh, perform Len or White Len's supers and you'll see otherwise. (Although admittingly, there is less fanservice in MB than in most other fighters, as well as the VNs that spawned MB.)
4: unpronounceable names? nonsense! I can say Shiki, Akiha, Kohaku, and Satsuki just fine! And . . . Arcade? Arcu-aido? Nervensker? Scion? See-on? Okay, maybe you have a point.
But nice to see someone reference the Nasuverse.
Part Two: Amestris the Beautiful
Fullmetal Alchemist recently came to its end in Japan, and FMA: Brotherhood is nearing its end right now. All of the reckless souls that read scanlations claim the ending is one of the best ever. I wouldn't expect anything less on the subject of FMA, although now, this means I will have to wait for a while before I can witness its ending properly.
But yes, to think that it was nearly 3 years ago that I finally gave FMA a try. I consider it a good thing that I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be an anime hater. (Then again, I'm pretty sure that if FMA hadn't converted me, Death Note would have.) I still can't believe that the reason I started collecting manga novels, watching anime online, and even showing Miyazaki movies to my family can all be traced back to that fateful July night back in 2007, when I woke up early in the middle of the night and found a rerun of the older FMA anime on tv. If you're curious, it was episode 11, the one with the female thief that never appeared in the manga. When I watched that, a few thoughts ran through my mind:
1: "Whoa! The opening song is kickass! J-rock rocks!
2: "Holy shit! The English dub actually sounds good! How come the anime I've seen in English in the past never sounded this good!?"
3: "LOL! This is actually funny! I don't ever remember watching an anime that was funny!"
4: "Ed and Al . . . are awesome. Sure, I already know who they are since people on the internet won't shut up about this series, but seeing them in action, yeah man.
5: "Dude, the ending song kicks ass! I don't believe this, but, I actually wanna watch the next episode! I've never looked forward to watching a new episode of an anime! Wait a second . . . OH MY GAWD! THIS ANIME DOES NOT SUCK!"
Yeah, and then a month later, I discovered the manga.
"OH MY GAWD! THIS HAS EVEN BETTER WRITING THAN THE ANIME! SUCK IT, YU-GI-OH MANGA!"
Of course, you should've seen the times I watched Trinity Blood and Death Note for the first time.
"(Regarding TB) Holy shit. This show is beautiful. I need to get this on DVD. (Funny that no one warned me about the ending.)
"(Regarding Death Note) Hey, it's another anime that people won't shut up about! They're airing that on Adult Swim now? I think I'll join in! (20 minutes later) Hoooooooooleeeeeeeeeeeee sheeeeeeeee-iiiiiiiit. I. Need. To. Watch. The. Rest. Of. This."
But I'm getting off-subject. Yeah, FMA is made from awesome sauce, there's no denying that.
P.S. just for lolz, I watched a few more episodes of FMAB in English. Guess what? May Chang sounds better in English! Her voice isn't freakishly high-pitched, and she sounds even cuter for that! Yay Monica Rial! Also, Al in FMAB . . . if you listen really closely, you can tell that it's a woman now doing the voice, but then again, Al hasn't gone through puberty yet, so I don't mind. Also, although Todd Haberkorn doesn't sound like how I picture Lin Yao in my mind to sound, somehow I have a hard time thinking anyone else should do his voice. And the new voice of Scar works a lot better. SUCK IT DUB HATERS!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Music and me
Well everyone, I just discovered something great: Todd In The Shadows. Todd has very quickly become one of my favorite internet viewers.
Now, people may've noticed that I don't have any pop music from the last 6 or so years in my collection. One glance at my MP3 player and you'll find that that is not true; I do have pop music from the last half-decade; it's just that all the newer pop songs from my collection are Japanese pop songs. Sure, go ahead, make fun of me for that, "You can't understand most of the lyrics!" "You're just a weeaboo in denial!" "You're too lazy to buy albums from Amazon, so you just download songs you've heard from various animes instead!" but I'll tell you right now that "Beautiful World" sounds about a 1000 times better than most of the shit Todd has reviewed. Okay, sure, I like Taylor Swift, but honestly, the American music industry has hit a new low. I didn't think it could get worse than the songs my colleagues back in my graduating class of 2004 wouldn't shut up about, but I can see now that I was tempting fate; it got worse. DO PEOPLE EVEN HAVE ANY FUCKING STANDARDS FOR MUSIC ANYMORE!?!?!? Well, they must; I have amassed a bunch of Touhou remixes, my parents have LPs from the 1960s, (the Sixties had groovy music, man, like, nuthin' like the chickenscratch sellin' today, dude.) one of my friends goes to Metallica concerts whenever possible, and one of my cousins collects obscure yet good jazz albums. But enough of that.
---------------
I once claimed that I was writing a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction that sadly will never see the light of day. In Troper terms, it is an Old Shame that I thankfully never released to the internet, even though admittingly, it wasn't a complete waste of text. However, I also claimed that I used to be very verbose when describing things. Since the text is lost, I can't post what I wrote, but, I have attempted that again. In my Touhou Fanfic About Nothing series, some of the descriptions are like the ones I used to give for Sonic characters. Indeed, my description of Kaguya was over-the-top, but you wanna know how crazy I got when I described my favorite Touhou character Youmu? Just look:
"Outside of the mansion, but within the walls of Hakugyokurou was a girl. She was sitting on her knees. A dying sakura tree was right in front of her."
You mean cherry blossom tree, not "sakura." No one outside of Japanese people and students of the Japanese language are gonna get that.
"She was short, lacked developed breasts, and petite. She appeared no older than a 12 year old girl, yet in fact was closer to 60 years of age."
I haven't decided Youmu's exact age yet, but based on what I've seen in the Touhou wiki, ZUN places her around the 50-to-60s range. If that's the case, I should've just said, "She was a loli."
"She wore a white shirt with short poofy sleeves underneath a green button-up dress, one that reached to her thighs. Her dress was adored with the insignias of ghosts along the edges and breast pocket, as well as a white belt around her waist, and a black ribbon on her chest."
A Victorian get-up. She was dressed like a girl from a Victorian period piece. Why am I so over-descriptive?
"Her skin was very fair, almost as much as her short silver hair which reached to just above the top of her slender shoulders. A black ribbon was placed off-center on the top of her hair. She wore black shoes with white socks that didn't go very high up her ankles. She carried the sheath of a katana in her left hand. The end of the sheath had a pink flower attached to it, while the handle of the katana was adorned with the insignia of sakura petals."
Most non-Japanese don't know what a katana is; it should say, "sabre" 'cause that's what it is, and again with the printing of sakura in Romanji!
"Most curious of all was the white, formless entity floating just above her. It appeared to be a ghost, or maybe a being of magic. It appeared no larger than her head."
Her ghost-half form. There, simple as that.
"During this time, her eyes were closed, and her hands rested on her thighs. It appeared as though she was meditating."
She sat Japanese-style. Come on, it's obvious by this point.
"Suddenly, her sharp midnight blue eyes opened."
As opposed to what, her cobalt blue eyes? Her ocean blue eyes? Her RC Cola can eyes? At least I didn't print "Cerulean Oculars" like a romance author.
"Within one moment, she had opened her eyes. The next moment, the dying tree was cut in two, toppling down to the earth. The girl, as well as the formless spirit, were several meters ahead."
Hey, I'll give myself credit here; I described the distance in metrics, since Gensokyo is, or rather, was a part of Japan, I figured they use metrics.
"She stood on her feet, with the sheath in her left hand, and her unsheathed katana in her right hand. Amazingly, both instruments were as tall as her, yet she could wield both without encumbrance."
In my character profile page that I haven't published, I listed Youmu's height as being around 4'10'', or 145 cm. Her longer sword is nearly that tall, and she looks like a girl who is at the onset of puberty; she must have oni-like strength.
"Her eyes were straightforward and focused, and her face showed no signs of emotion."
Just so you know that Youmu is the most stereotypically Japanese character in the entire series. The only other description I forgot was:
"Her voice sounds exactly like Stephanie Sheh's whenever she's voicing Excel from Kurokami or Natalia from Tales of the Abyss."
Then again, this is coming from a guy who pictures a character from Fate sounding like Vincent Price. Make of that what you will.
But yes, nearly every Sonic character that I included in my fanfic got such a lengthy introduction. Nowadays, trying to describe something in such excruciating detail usually leaves my mind wasted, but I can still do it.
Now, people may've noticed that I don't have any pop music from the last 6 or so years in my collection. One glance at my MP3 player and you'll find that that is not true; I do have pop music from the last half-decade; it's just that all the newer pop songs from my collection are Japanese pop songs. Sure, go ahead, make fun of me for that, "You can't understand most of the lyrics!" "You're just a weeaboo in denial!" "You're too lazy to buy albums from Amazon, so you just download songs you've heard from various animes instead!" but I'll tell you right now that "Beautiful World" sounds about a 1000 times better than most of the shit Todd has reviewed. Okay, sure, I like Taylor Swift, but honestly, the American music industry has hit a new low. I didn't think it could get worse than the songs my colleagues back in my graduating class of 2004 wouldn't shut up about, but I can see now that I was tempting fate; it got worse. DO PEOPLE EVEN HAVE ANY FUCKING STANDARDS FOR MUSIC ANYMORE!?!?!? Well, they must; I have amassed a bunch of Touhou remixes, my parents have LPs from the 1960s, (the Sixties had groovy music, man, like, nuthin' like the chickenscratch sellin' today, dude.) one of my friends goes to Metallica concerts whenever possible, and one of my cousins collects obscure yet good jazz albums. But enough of that.
---------------
I once claimed that I was writing a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction that sadly will never see the light of day. In Troper terms, it is an Old Shame that I thankfully never released to the internet, even though admittingly, it wasn't a complete waste of text. However, I also claimed that I used to be very verbose when describing things. Since the text is lost, I can't post what I wrote, but, I have attempted that again. In my Touhou Fanfic About Nothing series, some of the descriptions are like the ones I used to give for Sonic characters. Indeed, my description of Kaguya was over-the-top, but you wanna know how crazy I got when I described my favorite Touhou character Youmu? Just look:
"Outside of the mansion, but within the walls of Hakugyokurou was a girl. She was sitting on her knees. A dying sakura tree was right in front of her."
You mean cherry blossom tree, not "sakura." No one outside of Japanese people and students of the Japanese language are gonna get that.
"She was short, lacked developed breasts, and petite. She appeared no older than a 12 year old girl, yet in fact was closer to 60 years of age."
I haven't decided Youmu's exact age yet, but based on what I've seen in the Touhou wiki, ZUN places her around the 50-to-60s range. If that's the case, I should've just said, "She was a loli."
"She wore a white shirt with short poofy sleeves underneath a green button-up dress, one that reached to her thighs. Her dress was adored with the insignias of ghosts along the edges and breast pocket, as well as a white belt around her waist, and a black ribbon on her chest."
A Victorian get-up. She was dressed like a girl from a Victorian period piece. Why am I so over-descriptive?
"Her skin was very fair, almost as much as her short silver hair which reached to just above the top of her slender shoulders. A black ribbon was placed off-center on the top of her hair. She wore black shoes with white socks that didn't go very high up her ankles. She carried the sheath of a katana in her left hand. The end of the sheath had a pink flower attached to it, while the handle of the katana was adorned with the insignia of sakura petals."
Most non-Japanese don't know what a katana is; it should say, "sabre" 'cause that's what it is, and again with the printing of sakura in Romanji!
"Most curious of all was the white, formless entity floating just above her. It appeared to be a ghost, or maybe a being of magic. It appeared no larger than her head."
Her ghost-half form. There, simple as that.
"During this time, her eyes were closed, and her hands rested on her thighs. It appeared as though she was meditating."
She sat Japanese-style. Come on, it's obvious by this point.
"Suddenly, her sharp midnight blue eyes opened."
As opposed to what, her cobalt blue eyes? Her ocean blue eyes? Her RC Cola can eyes? At least I didn't print "Cerulean Oculars" like a romance author.
"Within one moment, she had opened her eyes. The next moment, the dying tree was cut in two, toppling down to the earth. The girl, as well as the formless spirit, were several meters ahead."
Hey, I'll give myself credit here; I described the distance in metrics, since Gensokyo is, or rather, was a part of Japan, I figured they use metrics.
"She stood on her feet, with the sheath in her left hand, and her unsheathed katana in her right hand. Amazingly, both instruments were as tall as her, yet she could wield both without encumbrance."
In my character profile page that I haven't published, I listed Youmu's height as being around 4'10'', or 145 cm. Her longer sword is nearly that tall, and she looks like a girl who is at the onset of puberty; she must have oni-like strength.
"Her eyes were straightforward and focused, and her face showed no signs of emotion."
Just so you know that Youmu is the most stereotypically Japanese character in the entire series. The only other description I forgot was:
"Her voice sounds exactly like Stephanie Sheh's whenever she's voicing Excel from Kurokami or Natalia from Tales of the Abyss."
Then again, this is coming from a guy who pictures a character from Fate sounding like Vincent Price. Make of that what you will.
But yes, nearly every Sonic character that I included in my fanfic got such a lengthy introduction. Nowadays, trying to describe something in such excruciating detail usually leaves my mind wasted, but I can still do it.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A Look Back: Part Deux
Starting from March 2009, I present my personal favorite blog entries by yours truly.
March 2009:
"What to do if confronted by a lamer gamer"
Oh man, my most vindictive article against video game otakus. I basically tackle everything that's wrong with modern gamers. But you wanna know how awesome this entry is? I showed this to a friend of mine in the real world, and his reaction was "I agree with everything you said, bro." Indeed. He didn't get the Metroid reference, but I just told him that that version of Kraid's Lair is manly. He also got that that was an anime image, but he didn't know it was TTGL. It fit, though.
April 2009:
"The End Result of a Product based in Doujin."
This article was originated called, "The End Result of a Product With No Trademark," until I learned that doujin technically are trademarked, but honestly, does Touhou make you feel like you'll get sued if you make your own spinoff?
But yes, this began my legendary descent into Touhou madness. Man, you can really see how noobish I was at the time. If I had written that now, it would read,
"Oh god, help me! I've become addicted to an Innocent Key remix of Remilia and Flandre's theme wherein the aforementioned Scarlet sisters molest Sakuya!"
Man, I knew so little back then. I did link Usually Dead's blog, so I was hip in that regard, and I even referenced my entry about the dream I had where I was accused of being a pedobear just because I like Cardcaptor Sakura. And I threw in a picture of CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! Yeah.
May 2009:
"Okay, Joke's over guys."
I learned that there are some Eva fans that, for whatever reason, prefer the English dub over the Japanese dub. This weirds me out because every Eva fan I had encountered before then, including people in the real world, were super-ultra-hardcore-nerds-to-the-bone, and also dub haters, not to mention I actually agree with the dub haters in regards to Eva.
Oh, and just so you know, I was joking about the reverse psychology bit. So those of you who read that I liked the Japanese voices of Darker Than Black more than the English voices, uh, you were supposed to take that at face value.
Oh, FYI, remember when I did say that Asuka sounded more appropriate in English? Well, maybe when she's talking, but her attempts at foley (foley being laughs, screams, grunts, et cetera), SUCKS compared to her Japanese counterpart.
June 2009:
"Fasten Your Seatbelts"
"It's gonna be a bumpy ride." Either I'm watching All About Eve again, (one of the best movies ever) or I just scanned the cover of a CCS manga I acquired. Yeah, I made due on my promise to own the CCS manga. Cuteness haters need not apply.
July 2009:
"The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled."
God DAMN the developers of Bioshock! Read this, and you'll understand why I can never look at bunny ears the same way ever again, even if they belong to Reisen and Tewi. Oh, and also, the anime version of Sailor Moon makes me cry . . . for all of the wrong reasons.
August 2009:
"Ode to a Chinese Girl."
Here, I stage a tribute to Meiling Li, who sadly was a no-show in the CCS manga. I then made a heartfelt tribute to the first girl I ever was in love with. (She wasn't Chinese though; she was Caucasian. Would've given the title a double meaning, but I don't care about race, so whatever.) I describe how love, even at an early age, made me passionate for life.
September 2009:
"Everyone, I have another announcement to make"
"I am totally crushing on a new anime girl because she is incredibly cute and one of the most badass characters ever but I'm not admitting to having a platonic crush on her because the series she's from makes me totally tsundere even to this day but she is awesomer than Goku Luffy Naruto and Ichigo combined because of the one and simple fact that KURO-CHAN IS LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yeah, I think I may've gone fanboyish there. Oh well.
October 2009:
"And you thought Final Fantasy II was bad."
A link to the profile of Drakiyth, a guy that reviews shitty RPGMaker games. Funny as Hell. Go there already.
November 2009:
"Cool cat(girl)s are a dime-a-dozen these days."
Having just bought Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger, I got the urge to talk like a girl . . . a catgirl to be more precise. After I do my required gushing, I become attacked by Hakumen,the incredibly broken boss fighter who better be balanced in the next game the badass samurai of the game. And Taokaka becomes the third ever catgirl I ever liked. And no, you don't eat a blog.
December 2009:
"Chrono Crusade: The Manga: The Review"
I review the manga version of Chrono Crusade, comparing it to an ideal woman. That review was something I actually wrote offline when I read the series for the first time back in the day. It was slightly updated to describe the only flaw I found after reading it a second time.
READ CHRONO CRUSADE IF YOU HAVEN'T!!!!!!!1
January 2010:
"Reaction Shots: xm0123 Text-Only Edition."
Inspired by Y Ruler of Time, I quickly assess Chrono Crusade, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kurokami, Lucky Star, (Yes, I really have read parts of Lucky Star at the bookstore, and yes, it is better than the anime version.) and . . . Slayers. I should do that with other manga I'm familiar with.
March 2010:
"Oh to have fast internet"
My fast internet helps me to watch anime. However, the only place that seems to host anime that I'm interested in is Funimation.com. I then begin the running gag of accussing Funimation of trying to turn me into an anime otaku. Which is strange, because Funi isn't my favorite R1 distributor; Bandai is. I've always liked their dubs the most, yes, even more than Disney's dubs. And they have Eureka Seven, my favorite anime of all time. And they're gonna release the Haruhi movie sometime soon, which I want to buy.
Oh gawd.
THIS IS A CONSPIRACY! BANDAI IS ALSO TRYING TO TURN ME INTO AN OTAKU! THEIR ACCESS TO E7, HARUHI, AND CRISPIN FREEMAN IS MAKING ME . . . wait, Bandai was stupid enough to license Code Geass, why would I think they're after me, specifically? Then again, Funi made the mistake of licensing Fruits Basket also.
April 2010:
"Touhou Will Ruin Your Life"
Nearly one year after getting into Touhou, I start an entry almost like my now-legenary entry from April 2009, only now the Innocent Key remix makes the Scarlets moe. I post a ton of Touhou links and try to understand just why the fuck am I so much into Touhou. It's gotta be the cute girls; there's no other viable reason. ZUN knows how to appeal to his target audience.
May 2010:
"If I should fall"
I explain how to write a blog entry like I do. I then make the most stereotypical xm0123 post ever.
June 2010:
"A Distillation: Or How i Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Cute Girls."
The entry begins with a link to an article I wrote that is a distillation of my hatred of anime otakus.
Then I completely derail that with cute girls. Naturally.
First I talk about clubs on MAL that were cute, like a club for pink-haired princesses, and a clue for protecting lolis, then I gush about Ilya, even though she might kill me. And then I admit that I, of all people, was considering reading a "harem" series, namely, Love Hina. The only reasons I had for that were it's highly recommended, and some brown-eyed brunette on the covers was very captivating to my eye. And then I remind everyone that the only club on MAL I'm a member of at the moment is a club for Makoto Sawatari. Why?
BECAUSE SHE'S REALLY REALLY REALLY CUTE! I LOVE HER!
And that she, Tohsaka, and possibly Akiha are awesome "tsundere" girls. The point of this article? Cute girls can foster world peace.
What will I think of next?
March 2009:
"What to do if confronted by a lamer gamer"
Oh man, my most vindictive article against video game otakus. I basically tackle everything that's wrong with modern gamers. But you wanna know how awesome this entry is? I showed this to a friend of mine in the real world, and his reaction was "I agree with everything you said, bro." Indeed. He didn't get the Metroid reference, but I just told him that that version of Kraid's Lair is manly. He also got that that was an anime image, but he didn't know it was TTGL. It fit, though.
April 2009:
"The End Result of a Product based in Doujin."
This article was originated called, "The End Result of a Product With No Trademark," until I learned that doujin technically are trademarked, but honestly, does Touhou make you feel like you'll get sued if you make your own spinoff?
But yes, this began my legendary descent into Touhou madness. Man, you can really see how noobish I was at the time. If I had written that now, it would read,
"Oh god, help me! I've become addicted to an Innocent Key remix of Remilia and Flandre's theme wherein the aforementioned Scarlet sisters molest Sakuya!"
Man, I knew so little back then. I did link Usually Dead's blog, so I was hip in that regard, and I even referenced my entry about the dream I had where I was accused of being a pedobear just because I like Cardcaptor Sakura. And I threw in a picture of CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN! Yeah.
May 2009:
"Okay, Joke's over guys."
I learned that there are some Eva fans that, for whatever reason, prefer the English dub over the Japanese dub. This weirds me out because every Eva fan I had encountered before then, including people in the real world, were super-ultra-hardcore-nerds-to-the-bone, and also dub haters, not to mention I actually agree with the dub haters in regards to Eva.
Oh, and just so you know, I was joking about the reverse psychology bit. So those of you who read that I liked the Japanese voices of Darker Than Black more than the English voices, uh, you were supposed to take that at face value.
Oh, FYI, remember when I did say that Asuka sounded more appropriate in English? Well, maybe when she's talking, but her attempts at foley (foley being laughs, screams, grunts, et cetera), SUCKS compared to her Japanese counterpart.
June 2009:
"Fasten Your Seatbelts"
"It's gonna be a bumpy ride." Either I'm watching All About Eve again, (one of the best movies ever) or I just scanned the cover of a CCS manga I acquired. Yeah, I made due on my promise to own the CCS manga. Cuteness haters need not apply.
July 2009:
"The Prophecy Has Been Fulfilled."
God DAMN the developers of Bioshock! Read this, and you'll understand why I can never look at bunny ears the same way ever again, even if they belong to Reisen and Tewi. Oh, and also, the anime version of Sailor Moon makes me cry . . . for all of the wrong reasons.
August 2009:
"Ode to a Chinese Girl."
Here, I stage a tribute to Meiling Li, who sadly was a no-show in the CCS manga. I then made a heartfelt tribute to the first girl I ever was in love with. (She wasn't Chinese though; she was Caucasian. Would've given the title a double meaning, but I don't care about race, so whatever.) I describe how love, even at an early age, made me passionate for life.
September 2009:
"Everyone, I have another announcement to make"
"I am totally crushing on a new anime girl because she is incredibly cute and one of the most badass characters ever but I'm not admitting to having a platonic crush on her because the series she's from makes me totally tsundere even to this day but she is awesomer than Goku Luffy Naruto and Ichigo combined because of the one and simple fact that KURO-CHAN IS LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!"
Yeah, I think I may've gone fanboyish there. Oh well.
October 2009:
"And you thought Final Fantasy II was bad."
A link to the profile of Drakiyth, a guy that reviews shitty RPGMaker games. Funny as Hell. Go there already.
November 2009:
"Cool cat(girl)s are a dime-a-dozen these days."
Having just bought Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger, I got the urge to talk like a girl . . . a catgirl to be more precise. After I do my required gushing, I become attacked by Hakumen,
December 2009:
"Chrono Crusade: The Manga: The Review"
I review the manga version of Chrono Crusade, comparing it to an ideal woman. That review was something I actually wrote offline when I read the series for the first time back in the day. It was slightly updated to describe the only flaw I found after reading it a second time.
READ CHRONO CRUSADE IF YOU HAVEN'T!!!!!!!1
January 2010:
"Reaction Shots: xm0123 Text-Only Edition."
Inspired by Y Ruler of Time, I quickly assess Chrono Crusade, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Kurokami, Lucky Star, (Yes, I really have read parts of Lucky Star at the bookstore, and yes, it is better than the anime version.) and . . . Slayers. I should do that with other manga I'm familiar with.
March 2010:
"Oh to have fast internet"
My fast internet helps me to watch anime. However, the only place that seems to host anime that I'm interested in is Funimation.com. I then begin the running gag of accussing Funimation of trying to turn me into an anime otaku. Which is strange, because Funi isn't my favorite R1 distributor; Bandai is. I've always liked their dubs the most, yes, even more than Disney's dubs. And they have Eureka Seven, my favorite anime of all time. And they're gonna release the Haruhi movie sometime soon, which I want to buy.
Oh gawd.
THIS IS A CONSPIRACY! BANDAI IS ALSO TRYING TO TURN ME INTO AN OTAKU! THEIR ACCESS TO E7, HARUHI, AND CRISPIN FREEMAN IS MAKING ME . . . wait, Bandai was stupid enough to license Code Geass, why would I think they're after me, specifically? Then again, Funi made the mistake of licensing Fruits Basket also.
April 2010:
"Touhou Will Ruin Your Life"
Nearly one year after getting into Touhou, I start an entry almost like my now-legenary entry from April 2009, only now the Innocent Key remix makes the Scarlets moe. I post a ton of Touhou links and try to understand just why the fuck am I so much into Touhou. It's gotta be the cute girls; there's no other viable reason. ZUN knows how to appeal to his target audience.
May 2010:
"If I should fall"
I explain how to write a blog entry like I do. I then make the most stereotypical xm0123 post ever.
June 2010:
"A Distillation: Or How i Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Cute Girls."
The entry begins with a link to an article I wrote that is a distillation of my hatred of anime otakus.
Then I completely derail that with cute girls. Naturally.
First I talk about clubs on MAL that were cute, like a club for pink-haired princesses, and a clue for protecting lolis, then I gush about Ilya, even though she might kill me. And then I admit that I, of all people, was considering reading a "harem" series, namely, Love Hina. The only reasons I had for that were it's highly recommended, and some brown-eyed brunette on the covers was very captivating to my eye. And then I remind everyone that the only club on MAL I'm a member of at the moment is a club for Makoto Sawatari. Why?
BECAUSE SHE'S REALLY REALLY REALLY CUTE! I LOVE HER!
And that she, Tohsaka, and possibly Akiha are awesome "tsundere" girls. The point of this article? Cute girls can foster world peace.
What will I think of next?
Friday, June 4, 2010
A distillation, Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Cute Anime Girls
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