I GOT IT!

I bought my first visual novel earlier today! Yay, capitalism!

Three guesses as to what I bought.

"Uh, a hentai?"

GOD DAMN IT, NO!

I got episodes 1 through 4 of Umineko, a digital copy no less. (The price is in yen, but it's about 32 American dollars. Still less expensive than a PS3 game on disc.) More of that music I crave, more of that writing that moves me, more of . . . Beatrice.

By the way, I am aware that there's a PS3 version of Umineko, one with updated graphics, audible voices, and stuff like that. I also know that, much like with the patching for Fate/Stay Night, someone's currently making a patch to make the PC copy showcase the visuals and voices of the PS3 version. Granted, I'd rather play through the entire game first before attempting this (don't wanna render my game unplayable by an unforeseen bug) but just hearing this . . .

must . . . resist . . . urge . . . to laugh . . . like . . . Kira . . .

Oh, also, it's too soon to say who my favorite character is, but I can understand why fans hold Battler to a high regard. So far, Natsuhi has earned a lot of favor from me. She also arms herself with a sawed-off Winchester rifle, the same one Steve McQueen used in the vintage tv series Wanted: Dead or Alive. I've never seen that show, but my parents have. I'm honestly surprised to see a Japanese video game reference a popular American culture reference, especially one that I doubt most people of my generation would recognize. Amazing.

Oh, also, there's a lot of usage of the trope, "Everyone is Jesus in Purgatory." The scene I last left off was a Deal With The Devil. After all, when I heard The Golden Land being described, I couldn't help but picture the Judeo-Christian Heaven.

SYMBOLISM!!!!!111!!!1!!

. . . except this game actually makes good use of symbolism. None of that Xenogears horseshit here.

Oh, one last thing. It's about the manga version of Higurashi. Each story arc begins with a cryptic quote . . . by Frederica Bernkastel. Mother of God.

I have a new obsession

I finished episode 1 of When The Seagulls Cry earlier today. Suffice to say, I was not disappointed.

Huh? What's this? There's an envelope on my dresser. How did that get here? Hmm, I wonder who would send me this . . . it's a letter . . . a letter with really ornate penmanship . . . . No! It can't be!

Dearest xm,

It would be uneventful if you were to leave now; the witches' ball has just begun! Direct your web browser back at the website where you acquired the trial, ready your credit card, and make with the purchase of Episodes One through Four of Umineko. Don't keep me waiting. I hate to be bored.

This . . . This is the work of Beatrice! But how can that be possible!? Witches aren't real! My 11th grade English teacher even said so! This must be some kind of trick, I know it! Someone's pulling a prank on me!

Regardless, I do intend to do what the letter says though, soon enough. To say I wasn't curious to see how this unfolds would be about as truthful as saying the Titanic survived its (it's an it, not a she, damn it!) maiden voyage.

And my god, I can't get enough of this music! Music can make such a huge difference, even in visual novels!

No matter what is true or what is not true, there is one absolute truth here; When The Seagulls Cry is a work of genius.

07Ryukishi is awesome

I finished the manga version of the Abducted By Demons arc of Higurashi.

..............

It was chilling.

I don't normally like horror stories. It's not that I have a bias against them. Rather, it's because they are often poorly executed. (Say it with Mathew Buck now, "Jump scare!") Not When the Cicadas Cry, though. This is truly horrifying, in the literal meaning of the word.

I ordered the next arc on Amazon earlier today.

I'm beginning to understand the hype, now. What I'm still curious is how come I've never heard of 07's works until about a year or so ago? And why did I have such a hard time finding information on them until just recently? Did you want to spare me from the anime versions of Cicadas and Seagulls that badly, Internet?

Oh, speaking of When the Seagulls Cry, there is a scene in the first arc . . . that disturbed me so much, I had to stop for an hour or so before I could continue. I can't remember the last time a story shook me up like this. I know this, though; if I could be a literature teacher, and I could teach my students whatever I wanted, I would include Seagulls somewhere in the course.

"For this month, we will read the first arc of Umineko! Fear not, there is an English translation!"

(Three weeks later)

"Professor xm, that was one of the saddest things I ever read! I couldn't stop crying for hours!"

But that's strong literature for you; able to move you in ways you didn't think possible.

Dude, at this rate, Seagulls may become my favorite visual novel of all time.

Will Umineko dethrone Tsukihime? Only time will tell.

(Repeating narration, but now sounding like Funimation's first attempt at dubbing Dragonball Z, just for lulz)

WILL!? UMINEKO!? (pronounced "uh-mih-neck-oh") DE!? THRONE!? TSUKI!? HIME!? Only time . . . . . . will tell.

(If there is one thing to be gained from the dubs I blame for making so many anime fans into dub haters, it's that they're ridiculously easy to make fun of.)

A trip to the bookstore

It was crowded at the bookstore. Perhaps a sign that the American economy is finally recovering? I have read reports that some sectors were showing growth; let's hope that the 2008 meltdown doesn't last much longer.

There were many people in the bookstore; little kids, mothers, teenage girls, (not reading Twilight, thank-you-very-much) and a middle-aged man reading . . . Naruto? Hey, I like the earlier chapters, but why is it, to this day, that I have never seen anyone in a bookstore or library read a manga that wasn't Naruto nor Inuyasha? Ah well, better orange shinobi than painful romance between human and dog-person.

Following the advice of some internet denizens, I was happy to find the manga version of Higurashi, or When Cicadas Cry available. I test-read most of the first volume.

It takes place in 1983, before the internet was used outside of universities, when cellphones were huge and generally used only by the rich, and when Michael Jackson was still universally beloved. (It sucks he's dead now. RIP man.) The protagonist is Keiichi, a . . . high school boy. He's moved into a small town out in the middle of nowhere called Hinamizawa. It's summer, school is on, and, if Evangelion has taught us anything, it's that cicadas will not STFU during summertime. Keiichi meets new friends, all of them . . . girls. Is this a harem comedy? Well, I don't sense much romantic tension (IN YOUR FACE, INUYASHA!), and I like the artwork thus far, so I'll keep reading.

Keiichi meets a freelance photographer. All is well, until the photographer mentions the town's past. Someone tried to build a dam four years ago. The dam would have forced the citizens to evacuate. There was strong opposition. Someone supporting the dam was murdered. The plan was canceled, and Hinamizawa stands. Every year, on the day of cotton drifting, someone is murdered. When Keiichi tries to ask his ladyfriends about this, they say nothing. And it's about to be the cotton drifting day of the year. This . . . is now starting to read like a Stephen King short story.

One of the girls, Rena, goes moe whenever she senses something cute. She says, and I quote, "I'm taking him/her/it home with me!" frequently. Ladies and gentlemen, I have uncovered . . . AN INTERNET MEME!

However, a shocking twist happens early in the third chapter. This . . . is not going to be pleasant. I stopped there, picked up the second volume, and bought both books. Yen Press has done a fantastic job translating Cicadas, leaving in honorifics (I support that if the characters are Japanese), leaving out typos, and having rather glossy and colorful covers.

Even though 07Ryukishi, of 07th Expansion, didn't have a lot to do with the making of the manga, I can see here, much like in Umineko, that he can quickly and effectively establish settings and characters. Wait, being able to do that without being excessively wordy . . . is he the reincarnation of F. Scott Fitzgerald? Regardless, I had a blast sampling When Cicadas Cry, and will read more (and probably buy more) in the future.

-----------

"Visual novel" became a more prominent term than "Sound novel" because sound novel is a trademarked phrase. Is 07 being renegade? So, there's no real distinction between sound and visual novels. I got farther in Umineko . . . this definitely has the best soundtrack I've heard in a VN yet. I noticed there's no choices in this game. Is this a choiceless VN like Planetarian? Wouldn't really be a video game then, now would it? But hey, that's less stress on me; no bad ends!

Oh great 07, you have earned my respect as a storyteller! Please, lend me more of your content in the future!

Remote Island Syndrome

Before I do on, note that this is not going to be about Haruhi.

This is instead going to be about the When They Cry franchise.

Okay, fans of Ask Rachel Alucard, know that you will not get away with making references to Umineko without my knowing any longer. (However, it's easier for me to print the title as "When Seagulls Cry," so I'm going with that instead.)

First, a link.

Witch hunt Translation

Yes, the first 1/8th of Seagulls is available for free, and with the translation and enough money, you can read just about all of the saga. I started the demo yesterday. Here are my thoughts.

Seagulls is a visual novel branded as a "sound novel." Sound novels rely more on sound and music than visuals to set an atmosphere. As such, the sound effects, ambiance, and music are very fitting. I love the music that plays. More on that in a moment.

The best thing about Seagulls so far is characterization. It establishes the characters very quickly, and everyone is distinct from each other. I haven't gotten that far yet, but watch; I can already summarize some characters. Battler is a hot-head, George is straight-laced, Maria notices things before anyone else, Rudolf loves to give Battler a hard time, Eva speaks bluntly all the time, Kanon is quiet yet resentful, Shannon is moe, and so on. Unlike Fate/Stay Night, Seagulls doesn't take pages among pages of text to establish its characters and settings. Even though most of what I've seen is family members talking . . . and talking . . . and talking, what they have to say is actually interesting, and the fleshed-out personalities make me want to learn more.

However, criticism entails both positive and negative observations. I will mention the only negative thing so far. First, the obvious:

TYPE-MOON SPOILED ME!

You know how I keep going on and on about how beautiful Takashi Takeuchi's character designs are? Arcueid the busty blonde that actually is a genuine bombshell, Archer the chiseled veteran of war, Ilya the token loli that's insanely cute, and so on? . . . you won't be seeing any of that in Seagulls. The backgrounds are alright; they're real-life photographs with filters, kind of like the backgrounds of Tsukihime, but there are much fewer CG images than in traditional visual novels. As for the character art? It's lame. Not as bad as whenever CLAMP fucks up, but I know people in real life who can draw better than this, and most of those people are not professional artists. (Hi Mom! Hi Brother!)

But then again, this is advertised as a sound novel. The music that plays whenever the family is mingling is the kind of music you would want to play in the background during a family reunion. I couldn't help but remember the times my own family gets together during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's on a yearly basis while playing this. But then, we see the portrait of the woman known only as Beatrice, and the music then is very unsettling; a creepy composition that entails that not all may be right in this series.

Depending on how much I enjoy this trial, I may consider buying what has been translated into English in the future.

Now, let's move on to Higurashi, or When Cicadas Cry.

There is a website called Mangagamer, where you can buy the sound novel version of Cicadas. It also has a demo. I downloaded the demo . . . and it won't start up. Either it's incompatible with my PC, or it's defective. Drat.

However, the manga version of Cicadas is currently being released by Yen Press. I have free time tomorrow; I'm gonna check out the local bookstore and see if I can test read Cicadas. If not . . . well, I can always buy it online.

However, I am staying away from their anime adaptations. Nobody seems to like the animes based off anything 07th Expansion has made. People have noted that both the Cicadas and Seagulls anime improve the visuals, but seriously dumb down the plot. Ergh! Don't think you can get away with pulling a Michael Bay on me, marketers! Their mangas are also said to improve the art, without sacrificing story.

That's all I have to say for now, save for this one last tidbit. I like Key Visual Arts. They are making a visual novel called Rewrite. They are not making it alone. 07th Expansion, who is quickly earning my respect, is also collaborating with Key in making Rewrite. One of the members of 07th even considers Key to be the makers of "Masterpieces." (Well, Kanon and Clannad are masterpieces.) Not only that, Romeo Tanaka, the author of Cross Channel and Kana: Little Sister ( . . . whatever those VNs are) is also contributing. Whatever the end result, I'm sure Rewrite will be epic, to say the least.

P.S. According to my brother, Michael Bay did make one good movie: The Rock. I haven't seen that, but I'm taking his word for it. But I will never forgive him for Pearl Harbor!

You know you want to

Okay, let me start by copying and pasting my thoughts on the demo for Touhou Ten Desires from Beast's Lair.

Favorite character to play as is Marisa. I'm having a hard time getting used to Youmu's focus attack, since it charges up like Cirno's bullet freeze from TH 12.8, yet has limited range. Still, it's nice to see my favorite Touhou character return in a game that isn't a fighter.

The graphics are great. ZUN's drawing of Yuyuko looks just like his last drawings of her, only better. The player characters look cute, but now look skinnier, save for Sanae's hill formation. Personally, I like Youmu's older hairstyle more, but it's good to see she's trying something different. Don't know what to make of the new characters yet. Music . . . uh . . . I'm not feeling it. I like the stage 3 boss theme, though. Easy mode is actually easy for once. Normal mode is tough, but do-able.

I am curious to see how the retail version will turn out. Who know what surprises will be in store? [out before "Enough with the Kogasa jokes!"]

Alright, now that I have that out of the way, I want to actually explain my own Touhou fanficverse some more.


When I write the fight scenes during the Spell Card era, I picture them being more like the scenes from the fighting games. Characters usually can't fire a ton of danmaku in the fighters unless if they are using a spell card. With magic focused in a spell card, it's easier for someone to fire off hundreds of shots. Okay, granted, there are some characters who can fire off a ton of danmaku without a spell card, but generally, only final bosses can do that.


Expect to see quite a few more OCs as Gensokyan Backstories progresses. There were situations in my first chapter where I had to fill in some gaps. Rest assured, I will see to it that they do not outshine the canon characters. It seems as though I only make up relatives to canon characters; hey, at least they have a connection!


The only Touhou projects (lol) I'm working on now are Gensokyan Backstories (which could run for a really long time, seeing as how many characters there are.), and the sequel to Eternal Blossom. The follow-up to EB won't be as dramatic, but it will still be more serious in tone. Also, it will have a new OC by me. Yay.


The backstories I plan will go as follows (tentative):

1: Sanae. Completed.

2: Reisen. A story I've been wanting to write. FOR. E. VER.

3: Youmu. Because she's my favorite. And there's newfound interest in her.

4: A resident of the SDM. Can't say who just yet, though.

5: ??????? I can't tell you just yet.

6: ??????? That would be cheating.

I'm out of things to say.

EDIT: Almost forgot, wouldn't be a Touhou post without a couple of remixes.

Rock remix of MOF extra stage.

Rumia is fucking metal.

Flandre is creepy yet cool.

A very typical entry by xm0123

Who here wants to talk about magical girls!? (YAAAAAAAAY!)

It should come as no surprise that someone would eventually about a doujin PC game entitled Magical Battle Arena. Having "acquired" the complete version, with latest patching, I have given it a shot.

MBA, as it's called for short, is said to play like a Gundam game . . . which game the fans are referring to, I have no clue. (Hey, don't look at me! I'm not a Gundam fan! I didn't fall for the hype of Gundam Wing back during The First Otakulypse!)

Regardless, it's a fighting game in 3D (NOT AVATAR 3D! Who needs that kind of 3D anyway?) where you fly around and shoot at your opponents. It can support four fighters at once, kind of like The Only Nintendo Series Anyone Gives A Shit About Anymore The Smash Bros. games.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. MBA's selling point is you can play as anime girls gifted in magic. From Nanoha, Fate, (available in both kid and adult forms for double the action figures!), Sakura Kinomoto, Lina Inverse, Naga, two twins from a hentai VN (no worries, no H in MBA), some little girl from an anime from the early 1990s, Vita, Hayate, and two OCs (that I have yet to unlock . . .) Each of them plays somewhat differently, but it is quite a fun game.

Yes, I already know about my feelings with Lyrical Nanoha and Slayers; remember, a fun video game can overwrite storytelling flaws! Besides, the character I'm having the most fun with so far is Vita.

OH NO! NOT VITA!

Oh yes! I finally found a Nanoha character who is just so, soooo, kee-yeute! She may be a (loli) dead ringer for Hong Meiling, but her hair is gorgeous, and she's just so cute!

By the way, is it just me, or are most magical girls red-haired? If you count auburn as red, then it certainly is the case: the auburn Nanoha and Sakura, Lina has reddish-orange hair most of the time, Vita has pure red hair, one of the OCs has red drills for hair, the twins have reddish-purple, and if I may include Nanoha characters that didn't appear in MBA, there's a girl in the third season named Teana who has reddish-orange follicles . . . uh, guys, a redhead every now and then is fine, but I think you might be overdoing it in this field right now.

Oh yeah, all the characters have audible voices. I don't know if the trademarked characters' dialog is ripped from their respective shows, but I keep laughing every time I hear Sakura cry out, "HOEEEEEEEEE!" every time she gets knocked back. Oh, speaking of voices, Adult Fate has a cool voice.

But you know what's weird? I recently bought a game for my Xbox 360, Dynasty Warriors 7. It's a good game, it really is, but its graphics are horrible by today's standards. MBA came out in 2007, and it looks better than DW7. Far out, man. Far-fucking-out . . . either that, or magical girls just look that much better than Ancient Chinese warriors.

Oh, what's a game series with magical girls that fly around and shoot magic at each other on a daily basis? What's the next game the developers of Magical Battle Arena are going to release? Touhou Sky Arena? Uses the same engine? Oh, I'll definitely look into that in the future.

P.S. I noticed Vita's wand/staff/whatever speaks in German. Hurray for multi-culturism!

Notes for a forgotten age

(If you haven't read the chapters in Endless Number of Possibilities entitled Booze, Babes, and Barettas, I suggest you read another entry now.)





In the last scene of Booze, Babes, and Barettas, Archer requests Enjou Tomoe, who is a piano player in this universe, to, "Play Sakuraba for me." Motoi Sakuraba is one of the better video game composers I have had the pleasure of listening to.

This is what Archer heard.

I manage to work in a number of references to other gangster flicks, as well as noir fiction. However, I am slightly disappointed; I really really really wanted to throw in a reference to the PC game Grim Fandango, as that is a prime work of noir. Sadly, I had to cut that reference in the final draft. As for what I did worm in:

-Archer is basically every memorable character Humphrey Bogart played. Appears to not care for anyone, (He even quotes Bogart's iconic hero from Casablanca nearly word-for-word at one point) and yet, is actually quite caring, and quite badass, too. However, there is also a reference to the bumbling PI from Darker Than Black. Gai Kurosawa changed his last name to Kurosawa because it sounded cool; Archer is guilty of that as well. However, unlike Kurosawa, Archer can actually get the job done.

-Gilgamesh is basically still himself; charismatic, has a ton of weapons, (in this case, any firearm made before the 1950s), but is so arrogant, it is also his downfall. However, he has a violent streak that I borrowed from a black-and-white classic entitled White Heat. In that film, legendary screen actor James Cagney played Cody Jarrett, a violent criminal leader. It was actually pretty violent for a film released in 1949. (Keep in mind, the Hays Code was still in effect back then.) Aside from Gil dropping a few S-bombs, my portrayal is not the least bit exaggerated from White Heat, or any other crime drama James Cagney starred in. (He was typecast as this role early in his career.) If that's too far back for you, you could also think of Gangster Gil as a less sadistic, but no less violent version of Ladd Russo.

-In Archer's nightclub of choice, 5th War Rider is a sultry singer of a jazz band. Gee, she's tall, has long legs, voluptuous curves, and . . . the hair color's off, but doesn't that sound like, oh I don't know, Jessica Rabbit? Why yes! However, some people forget that that scene from Who Framed Roger Rabbit is in itself a throwback to an earlier noir feature entitled Gilda. In that film, Rita Hayworth portrayed Gilda, a nightclub singer who was the very embodiment of female sexuality, yet also had deep-seated insecurities. We don't see Rider that much, but she's closer to Gilda in personality.

-In the novel/anime series Baccano, every employee of the Daily Days newspaper is armed with a Thompson Submachine gun, more commonly known as the Tommy Gun. If you draw a weapon in their office, expect to get outgunned, fast. Gilgamesh's goons do a similar scene, but some of them also have Browning Automatic Rifles, or BARs. Many gang and police outfits during Prohibition America were also armed with BARs, which were even more powerful than Tommy Guns. And yes, if you had the cash, you could own your own BAR, which was the closest thing America had to an assault rifle prior to the Second World War. Makes you miss the good ole days, doesn't it?

-Speaking of guns, Gilgamesh's firearm of choice is a pearl-handled revolver. American general George S. Patton fought on the front lines of both World Wars with a pearl-handled revolver. Of course, knowing Gil, he would own such a gun just to show off his wealth, but mind you, revolvers tend to be more accurate and powerful than their cartridge counterparts . . .

-Anyone remember the game Dead to Rights? It was a ripoff of the original Max Payne, with a story no one could take seriously. The only good twist in the entire plot is that the real villain behind everything . . . was a corrupt police chief. DUN DUN DUUUUN!

-Archer mentions that some like it hot, as in jazz, but he prefers classical Asian music. This is a reference to the movie Some Like It Hot. Okay, that was a comedy, but it had Prohibition era gangsters in it. The only difference is Tony Curtis' character just says classical; I had Archer favor not European classical, but the music of his home continent.

Geeze, now I only have one idea for a story involving Type-Moon characters at the moment. My next fanfic update will probably be Touhou-related . . . maybe.

What makes life worth living?

This is a very subjective question. You could give just about any answer, and it will be correct, or wrong, depending on who you ask. For me, there are many things that make my life worth living. For instance, there's a game series I love. This game series, I can't say it's as good as Mario, or Zelda, or Half-Life, or LucasArts adventure games from the 1990s, or Fallout, and yet, I still love it. Why? Beause it has two things that I live for.

"Cute girls and good music?"

Why yes!

"Wait, that could refer to Key Visual Arts games, or Touhou . . . which one?"

Well, I just finished the first part of a new Touhou fanfic series that I'm writing, but first, allow me to sound like a hipster for the next few paragraphs.

(For best effect, read the following section in the voice of The Cinema Snob. In fact, consider this a segment by . . . the Doujin Snob.)

Ever since the announcement of Ten Desires, fans' love of Youmu have been popping up everywhere. You can't go on a messageboard without seeing her face on someone's avatar. Youtubers have been upvoting remixes of Youmu's themes like Takashi Takeuchi sketching the female cast of Fate/Zero in maid costumes. The Boorus have become flooded with even more artwork of her than usual, in some cases, even outnumbering her master and fan-favorite Yuyuko!

Bunch of fucking bandwagon jumpers. I was whoring myself to Youmu long before Ten Desires even existed in ZUN's head!

(Okay, switch back to my normal voice)

Regardless, here's a remix for you, by IOSYS, and about Youmu.

Say, I could do a whole chapter about Youmu in my new series. I think I will in the future.

BEAR-SONA!

I'll just come right out and say it; I consider Persona 3 and 4, from a storytelling perspective, to be works of high art.

Oh, but that doesn't mean Peachi and some fandubbers can't have fun with it, can they?

Presenting: Ryojiventures!

Ah yes, glorious humor.

P.S. I didn't mention this when I first played it, because it was something of a spoiler, but looking back, it won't give away anything plot-relevant.

In Persona 4, you meet Chihiro again, In P4, you can hear her voice, and in the North American version, she has The Voice of God. Come and get me, dub haters!

I will NOT run away

There's a running gag of mine that goes like this: I do not use the internet on April Fool's Day because I hate, hate, hate how webmasters will take down their usual content and replace it with something completely unfunny, and then forget to change back to their usual content, sometimes for weeks on end. This first happened to me in April of 2002, and it happened again and again. It pissed me off so much that I refrained from using the internet for anything other than Yahoo on this day. Notice that there is no blog entry for 4/1/2008, 4/1/2009, and 4/1/2010 on this very blog.

Like a coward, I ran away for many years.

But that ends now.

I checked my usual online haunts. There were no bullshit posts, no layout changes, no unfunny jokes written by people who have no understanding of proper humor. Only one site I went to did any joke, but a quick link led to the usual content; it was like the webmaster/admin made an entrance page for today, nothing more. I used to loathe the online world on this day, but I was wrong. I should . . . I should love using the internet on April Fool's Day, not hate it! The internet brings people together!

That, or other people got tired of what I was complaining about, and now it's much less common, and much less annoying now. But now I don't have to fear the internet on this day anymore!

Okay, okay, let's get to talking about what you've been dying to hear me talk about.

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Maybe I should kick off with some voiceover trivia. Anyone know a seiyu named Maaya Sakamoto? I do. She is Ryougi from Kara no Kyoukai, and also Mari from Rebuild of Evangelion. She is brilliant as Mari; Yay!

But you know who else was good as Mari? Trina Nishimura. Fancy that, she was just as good as her Japanese counterpart. So was J Michael Tatum as Ryoji. Now, I know I've been harsh on the English dub of Eva in the past, and I still prefer the Rebuild movies in Japanese, but if it's any consolidation, Funimation's dubs are a huge improvement over the old dubs. Spike Spencer almost sounds as good as Megumi Ogata at times, almost. Also, Tiffany Grant has returned as Asuka. She can voice a younger teen girl really well . . . even if she sucks at foley effects, unlike her Japanese counterpart Yuko Miyamura. Fear not Mrs. Grant, for even despite that, you will always be Martel, Potato, and Anteaterina in my heart. Fun fact; Tiffany and Yuko are friends in real life. Yuko remarked that Tiffany was "ideal" for the part of Asuka, and that Tiffany said that Yuko's real personality was the polar opposite of Asuka's. That's a relief.

Oh yeah, and in the Funimation dub, Kensuke is now the English voice of Yamazaki from Welcome to the NHK. God help us if Greg Ayres played Kensuke like him. (BE GONE, DIRTY ANGELS!)

But that's not what you want to read, you wanna read my thoughts on Rebuild 2, dont'cha? Well, here's the gist.

Bad Stuff: Needs More Misato; Asuka is not as memorable as her manga coutnerpart, not much is known about Mari, you really need to be familiar with the earlier canons to get what's happening, and also, this film feels incomplete. It's obviously just part of a series, and not a stand-alone feature.

Good Stuff: HOLYSHITVISUALS, music is great, Asuka is more likable than her earlier anime counterpart (phew!), there's a hilarious scene with Ryoji and Shinji, the scenes unique to Rebuild 2 are amazing, AND SHINJI HAS BECOME A MAN! He still is funniest in the manga, BUT HE IS MOST HEROIC IN REBUILD! BOO YA! Basically, his personality is much more believable than in the earlier anime.

But having seen this, I'm gonna ask a question I should've when I first watched the Eva tv series; WHO'S IDEA WAS IT TO GIVE GIANT ROBOTS TO MENTALLY UNSOUND TEENAGERS!?!?!?!?!?

But I have another question; why do I keep having those dreams about me becoming an Eva otaku in the future? If I were to become an otaku for a single anime, it would be for Eureka Seven, not Eva. That makes no sense. Are the third and fourth films gonna be that amazing? Will the manga, once completed, be awesomer than Fullmetal Alchemist? That sounds a bit farfetched . . .

. . . Oh, it's not that farfetched, me.

Oh look, it's the side of me that's an Eva otaku in the future from my dreams. Why do I get the feeling that I'm ripping off Stephen Colbert right now?

Oh, don't be so down on yourself. Remember, without Eva, there would be no Eureka Seven. Also, didn't you admit that the artistry in Eva is superior to the artistry of E7?

Well, yeah, but that's only because the older Eva anime was like the first Japanese tv anime that looked as sharp as all of the American cartoon shows that came out in the early 1990s.

Indeed. But since I'm here, allow me to post a link. Much like how you used to link Touhou music a lot at this point in your life, I like to . . . you know. I found an AMV on youtube that uses an unused piece of music from the soundtrack of The End Of Evangelion.

Everything You've Ever Dreamed of.

It would be a perfect ending for the film, were it to end on a more romantic note.

Ew! You actually watched the End of Eva!?

But of course. I did not want to be left out of the Mindblowing. Besides, it's a beautiful song, and the video celebrates Shinji/Asuka. That should appeal to you.

Ha ha. Hilarious. Though I agree the song is great. I'm still more partial to Beautiful World and those two songs Megumi Hayashibara performed, though. She can sing really well.

Indeed. By the way, have you noticed why my text is red?

I don't know, you . . . Dear God, no! My future self has become an Angel! No wonder; I'm been getting Kaworu vibes from you today! But . . . last time, you all bombastic, all like, "Revel in the Glory of Rebuild!" and all that!

Oh, that. That's only because I was invoking the spirit of The Great Asuka. Today, I feel more like Tabris. I hope that doesn't offend you.

Uh, actually, yeah, it does. Becoming obsessed over a Japanese cartoon, that just isn't cool!

Evangelion is the only thing that will make you happy. You will do well to remember this.

Stop talking like him! This conversation ends now!

............

So how am I supposed to wait for the next films? My anticipation is even worse now than when I saw the first Rebuild! Oh no . . . it's already starting . . . the part of me becoming an Evangelion otaku, it's manifesting further now! Must . . . find . . . something else . . . . . . .

. . . . . .

I really need to finish those fanfics. Yeah.