FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 46

Oh damn…[Eclipse]:[Raw|T-Mkv|T-Avi|DL-Mkv|DL-Avi]

Ps: i Seriously hope they re-release this episode.

Starting off, there was an earthquake that hit Okinawa Japan, 7.0 Magnitude.

A powerful 7 magnitude earthquake has hit Okinawa, Japan.

A tsunami warning was in effect for Japan after the massive earthquake that struck in the early morning hours of Saturday February 27 2010 local time.

The US Geological Survey, who monitor earthquakes world wide said the quake read an initial reading of 7.3 on the Richter scale.

Source : Enpoe.com

*I’m am going to re-do this summary-thingy. Due to i was night dreaming… yes night
Winry arrives, i believe she has returned home… suprised as she heads up stairs[insert fanservice] taking…. damn you Ed; he was there at the best part ;_;
Winry’s grandma shows up, as well as she sees Lin, but says he’s Greed; confuses her O_O
They set to leave to meet up with Al and Hohem; Back where Scar and Marcoh has been staying they meet up with Yoki, and they meet some Ishbalan dude.
Al at the railway(?) gets surprised by Gluttony… his damn saliva, where Gluttony lures Al to Pride’s shadow and paralyzes him.
Back at central, Mustang hands a note in a flower to Olivia[says Bradley is Humonculous] Mustang: “cutie” BOOM(you decide what happens here)
Bradley sets up a massive Arm, Hawkeye prepares to fight, back at central Olivia’s having a meeting and is talking about Bradley and Father and Sloth shows up.

Next Ep: should be action packed, Ed and Lin/Greed goes to help Al.

*If this crap isn’t changed, either i’m watching the Gold Medal Game[Canada Vs USA] can be viewed LIVE here CTVOlympics.ca [On at 12:00pm PST] Or i’m just lazyl it’ll eventually be done.

Pictures: *Theres a map of Japan on it, showing the area where its been hit…. Could be changed.
WINRY!
OHHH SHI–
Granny
Old Man
Gluttony
Pride
Bradley is a…
Hawkeye
Father is not pleased.

[Via http://blah604.wordpress.com]

The desire of Kinoshita Hideyoshi

In light of carefully having examined the content of the past episode of “Baka To Test To Shoukanjuu” I can only submit a heartfelt objection to the current course this series has taken.

Surely you all must have been shocked too upon seeing the appalling lack of screentime for my beloved idol Hideyoshi. A farce… no, a sheer travesty that may not be allowed to continue!

Having been swept away by the early scenes showing images of Hideyoshi in traditional Japanese outfit or changing clothes, which caused a lethal explosive nosebleed, the further lack of this beauty being focused on during the episode is unforgivable!

As such, my desire to see more of the lovely Hideyoshi remains unrelenting!

On a serious note after above silliness, did love all the parodies and Easter eggs in this episode, it featured some great laughs and homages, such as Kouta’s Geass scene.

[Via http://bluebluewave.wordpress.com]

A few thoughts on Early One Piece

I am in the middle of work on a post about the movie Summer Wars, which I had just seen yesterday. I’ll leave you all to the post to get into the details, but in short the film was excellent go see it. The post will not be getting done tonight, because I am 1300 words in and am barely at the middle of what I want to say, so it will have to wait. However, I don’t want to not post for two night in a row, so here is a quickie (not the good kind).

I have been both watching the early episodes and have been reading the early volumes of One Piece again after 6 years and I must say the series has changed alot. No, this post one be a full look at One Piece as a whole because that would take forever, and my eyes are already stinging. Besides, It’ll be forever before One Piece finishes, but that’s okay because it’s current arc is it’s best. Seriously, Everyone should be reading One Piece, it’s easily the best Traditional Shounen Manga ever made. Of course, for all the fans it has in America, there are just as many not willing to give it a chance. Yet, they’ll still read Naruto (which is good) and Bleach (horrible). I don’t get why. These people are idiots.

One Piece has had the ingenious creative spark, and the real adventure feel it gives, since the begining. The quirky, but memorable characters, the fun battles, and the *very* emotional and compeling moments that we’ve come to expect and love in One Piece have been there since the start. What’s gotten better over the years, besides the art, is the quality of the Story Telling. One Piece was Oda’s first major work and it’s pretty apparent that during the first few volumes, One Piece isn’t *quite* where it is today. It does start out good though, just not a master piece. Unlike say bleach, which has a very strong start and turns to shit.

In the begining, Oda still hasn’t settled the character’s personalities 100 percent. In the first few chapters, Luffy, while still aloof, rambunctious, and go getting, comes across alot more intelligent than he does now. Especially in the second chapter when you see him talking to himself in a barrel, he seems alot more rational here than he does later in the series. Luffy is supposed to be a really great guy, but an idiot after all. The anime’s begining was more solid, and more true to how the characters turned out. I suppose this is because when One Piece was adapted to animu, Oda had already figured out who his characters really were, so the anime was able to be consistent.

It’s interesting to go back and revist how  One Piece, which truly is an epic piece of graphic litt, started. Noticing how authors and artists evolve through the same or different series they create has always I’ve loved about graphic litterature. One can clearly see the progression, and their (hopeful) increase to their ability. Doesn’t always work that way though, some people just get worse with their writing. Like Frank Miller (another story for another post). I’ve loved One Piece for over 5 years now , it just keeps getting better and better (not to mention it’s story is one of the most complex works i’ve ever seen) and I really hope every manga reader will give it a shot. This small post will not be the last One Piece related post you’ll see from me <3

[Via http://cimisays.wordpress.com]

Review: The Crazy College Life

Your average college students, an everyday city, ordinary lives doing ordinary things. All these normal elements come together to deliver some fantastic stories, hearty dialogue, and one of the best anime drama stories I’ve seen. The manga earned the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award and the live action film won actor Yu Aoi the award for best actress of 2008 for her role as Hagumi Hanamoto during the Yokohama Film Festival. In total, Honey and Clover had its first run, an anime sequel, two OVAs, a live-action drama, and a manga. Pure success.

Opening

The first opening for H&C was great, but unfortunately, it was dropped and replaced. If I remember correctly, there was some problem with some French guy claiming they were stealing his art style or something. Anyway, I truly liked the art direction that they showed. The staff for H&C had many artists, from clothing to sculptures, they had artists from everything. And I do recall that the setting is based on a real location somewhere in Japan. How awesome is that.

Art Style

H&C’s art style is realistic with a touch of artistry. They mix in enough art that makes it unique and nice for eyes, but doesn’t blind you. It may not be 3D like Ghost in the Shell, but it has its own appeals. With a full team of artists in the staff, one can see how they use softer bright colors during the lighthearted times, then switch to darker colors during the hard-hitting drama moments. There’s one scene that sticks in my mind in particular. I couldn’t really isolate it, so it’s the last two minutes of this(feel free to watch the entire clip though!) :

It’s the lights on the ferris wheel, it feels so melancholic, it’s disturbing. Kind of like I’ve been there, but I haven’t. Anyway, that’s their art, so awesome it reaches the depths of your soul. Or something.

Music

There’s awesome music here, sung by Suga Shikao. He also made music for xxxHolic and and Boogiepop Phantom. Aside from his musical talent, there’s the complete music composition staff of H&C, always there to keep the mood of a certain scene. The music for H&C is essentially precise for the show, enhancing the mood of every scene.

Characters

Yuuta Takemoto

Takemoto is your typical freshman, the last addition to the cast of characters that have been together for years. His naivety had been taken advantage of, his knowledge tested, and his sanity broken. Personally, I found it neat that he got his hair cut at the beginning and it grew back as he “grew”. Through the series, his character has the most development and the most growth, effectively making him the main character.

Takumi Mayama

Mayama is voiced by my favorite male voice actor, Tomokazu Sugita. Tomokazu also voiced Hideki in Chobits, Yuuichi in Kanon, Kyon in Melancholy of Haruhi, and Rin in Shuffle. His good track of voice acting aside, he delivers another good voice in this one. Serving as a the main love interest of one of the female characters, he tries to protect and not hurt her while trying to pursue his own love interest. The drama of his conflicts make up one of the most major plotlines in the story.

Shinobu Morita

Morita is by far my favorite character. He’s spontaneous, wacky, and downright comedic. He has a relatively small part in the story compared to his friends, but still enough that he isn’t a useless side character. His background is also expanded in the sequel. Personally, I think he looks like Takizawa from Eden of the East, but maybe that’s just me.

Ayumi Yamada

Serving as one of the few females in the show, Yamada delivers some comedy with a heaping load of drama. As a character, I think she’s great. But I’ve heard around that people think her character is somewhat unrealistic in some aspects. Can’t be perfect can we?

Hagumi Hanamoto

Hagu, as they call her, is the other new bird besides Takemoto. Burdened by excellent talent, she tries to satisfy the expectations of those around her while dealing with her own problems. Personally, I have to say: why make her tiny? Her character looks like a grade schooler in comparison to the others. Oh well. Her story itself is interesting and her character is a new mold.

Plot

The plot is standard mold, love, academics, and friendship. Although its standard, its done well. The comedy is great, the story is moving. The characters learn, grow, and move on. In a few simple words, its the crazy college life. Following Takemoto through his years through college, the story goes through the hardships of him and his friends. Extremely character-driven, each arc focuses on a few of the characters while putting the others on the sidelines. By the end of the show, all the characters are better than they started off with, and there’s a happy ending.

My Opinions

Time for me to rate it!  Remember my rating of: Extremely good = buy it! Good = Watch it. Okay = At least try it. Poor = Watch it on a rainy day. Bad = Watch it if you want less brain cells. And finally, Horrible = Avoid at all costs.

Honey and Clover gets a Good! It definitely deserves at least a watching.  I’d personally buy it, but I’ve heard it isn’t so highly rated by others. A few complaints include: the women aren’t as realistic as the male characters, once the comedy is gone it gets boring, and its melodramatic. But I don’t care, I thought it was great. H&C is one of the best slice-of-life animes that I’ve ever seen, and I’m sticking to that statement.

ED

First off, I find it funny they started the ED vid showing the last few seconds of that episode. It’s a good closer for a good show.

That’s all! Happy watching folks! Kai out!

[Via http://xanadunet.wordpress.com]

Kirsten Dunst Turning Japanese Music Video

Okay so, my hat’s off to Geekologie for bringing this to my attention.

I don’t know what to say, I really don’t. Except awesome! Which parts you ask? I would say all of them. First off doing an excellent job of showcasing Akihabara and the culture behind it. And for putting Kirsten Dunst in a blue wig and magical fairy girl costume.

I love Akihabara. The last time I was there was on a business trip. We were actually filming 2 documentaries. One on Robotech and the second was on Power Rangers. I had the pleasure of accompanying Tony Oliver who was both the voice actor for Rick Hunter and Saba the talking tiger saber, not to mention the producer of Power Rangers. Unfortunately I only had 2 hours to spend in Akihabara. Which I used the majority of the time in Cospa. This awesome little Anime goods store. Ever wanted a ring that gave you +3 intelligence? Or how about a cup from the White Base cafeteria? You can get it all and more at the Cospa Store!

[Via http://retrodojo.wordpress.com]

Little Tokyo

This is a couple weeks old, but I was over in Little Tokyo checking out Anime Jungle. Walked around for a bit with some friends who had never been.

Yes, a Hello Kitty crane machine. Ironically, not a single Hello Kitty doll inside.

Order some Onigiri (御握り; おにぎり), also known as omusubi (御結び; おむすび) or rice ball, at a ramen shop just to try it out.

And of course. Some ramen.

[Via http://timscribbles.com]

dunk shoot: tuesday bullets

Sword of the Stranger was truly fight choreography porn. The plot was  serviceable and there is not a lot of character depth but what matters is that it was entertaining throughout. The voice acting of main characters (especially Kotaro) could have been better but the film probably wouldn’t have happened without famous singer/actors attached to it – AWO’s review  covers this nicely. I still don’t get why there was a white person in the Chinese camp -was it to appeal to the international audience?

Ero (18+)

DLsite stuff

Yorokobi no Kuni (Joy Ride) – JOY RIDE CG illust collection DX

Joy Ride’s previous cg works – I’m not sure why he(?) released the first three collections if he was going to put it all together

Kyoubou Jyoujo-tai (Yoko Jyuusuke) – Kakutou Musume Survival

Street Fighter heroines doujin soft demo available

[Via http://inazumadunkshoot.wordpress.com]

Spring Season Anime 2010

Here goes the list, thanks to chartfag wordpress we can already see what’s coming this spring in detail. Now let’s check what’s there to follow…

Senko no Right Road - Well, the plot sounds complicated and confusing, I’ve got no clue what it’s gonna be about, special organization? Historical wars?… I don’t really have much faith in that kind of serious show, but who knows, usually these are successful.

Yojo-han Shinwa Taikei - Another ‘What the hell is it going to be’ show, this time based on a novel. That’s some weird shit!

Arakawa Under the Bridge – Some kind of comedy romance – a guy drowns in a river, some girl saves him but in exchange wants him to be hers boyfriend… uh-huh, seems orginal and funny…

‘Seto no Hanayome’s plot: Michishio Nagasumi’s life couldn’t be anymore normal. In an odd twist of events, during his summer vacation he ends up almost drowning in the sea. Luckily, the cute mermaid Seto San appears to save him. However, San is from a yakuza mermaid family and according to their law, if a human is to catch sight of a mermaid, either he or the mermaid must die. The only other way is for Nagasumi to be taken in as a family member, marrying San.‘

Oh wait..

House of Five Leaves – Sounds interesting, I mean, Samurai bodyguard and Gangs, that means cool action scenes!

Heroman – ‘a giant robot he can pilot and fight against evil, alien invaders and other threats.’ Oh dear… That sounds like a comedy for kids, still – BONES, could be good.

Angel Beats – Creators of Clannad throwing another drama. Must… Not… Cry… And yes, I’m definitely watching that one, awesome animation, graphics and music o.o

Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou – Harem/fanservice ecchi show and appearently that Devil King guy stuff is just a trap. Hopeless.

Working – Omoshiroii! Looks like a good comedy, without pink hairs, big boobs and harems, yaaay!

MAJOR, Ring ni Kakero(Wtf saint seiya?), Giant Killing, Ookiku Furikabatte – I’m not into sports anime unless it’s Hajime no Ippo so.. No.

B Gata H Kei – So they thought of a plot to make everyone interested, in other words harem reversed – many guys going for one girl(How unusually real), but in the end it gets to the point of love, romance and no whoring whatsoever. I wouldn’t expect anything special, but there’s just not enough information.

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama! – Oh please, comedy with ‘Maids’ included in it.. 0 hope, yet its manga seems to be popular and has REALLY high ratings so I guess I will have to try it out.
Hakuouki: Shinsegumi Kitan – There’s a PSP game like that, and we can see that there’s whole BUUUNCH of cute-slash-gay looking males and very few females. I guess we can except some fights and romance, but looking at manga, it has really bad ratings so I guess it’s gonna be bad.

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitte Iru(Cool name…) – Sho…Shonen-ai.. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

K-On! Season 2 – Mio? MIO?! MIOOO?! \^o^/ MIOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \^o^/ <3

Do want!

Mayoi Neko Overrun! – That’s. Fucking. Disturbing.

Shin Koihime Musou Otome Tairan – The first season isn’t too popular, seems it’s some crappy Ecchi comedy.

Yutori-chan – Cute anime in 2d or what?… Furthemore it lasts 2min per episode…That’s some weird show out there.. Maybe I will check it out someday… If it gets good ratings (DOUBT IT).

SD Gundam Sangokuden – That one is a comedy/action movie with Gundams in it. *Cough* CHIBI Gundams. I’m completely confused, but since it’s Sunrise I guess I will watch it.

Much more promising shows than in Winter, I hope they will be damn good, just like Baka to Test and Durarara!!.. Can’t wait!

[Via http://mb2shan.wordpress.com]

FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 45

Oh Snap [Pun intended]

[Eclipse]: [Raw|T-Mkv|T-Avi|DL-Mkv|DL-Avi]

Back at where the “cliffhanger” was, the short fight between Bradley and Greed, which he talks about his memories of Bradley killing his henchmen; continues fighting Bradley looks for the finishing kill but the ‘Ultimate Shield’ was used and Greed escapes.

At the Armstrong’s house hold, i believe that’s the head of the Armstrongs; Armstrong shows up; Olivia fights him; Head of the Armstrong leaves.

May Cheng arrives in a town; greeted, shed tears; Envy tricks her into leaving.
[Commerical]
Return to Ed, where he meets up with Lin, which he has about 50% to be able to control his body, where as Greed would take over again. They chat, Greed leaves Ed tries to get him along.

Phone call to Izumi’s husband about Al and Hohn; Izumi is showned; we see Miles back at Briggs; Hawkeye receives a message, small cameo along with Mustang visiting Jean.

Pictures:
‘Ultimate Shield ‘ Prevails
Head of the Armstrongs?
Envyyy
Lin and Ed
Izumi
Jean and Mustang

[Via http://blah604.wordpress.com]

Durarara!! - 07

So this week Shizuo Heiwajima is our narrator and we get his whole back story and some interesting tidbits of information about who know who and for how long.

First off we learn that Shizuo’s little brother is the famous actor Yuuhei Hanejima (real name Kasuka Heiwajima) whose debut role was in the amusingly titled ‘Carmilla Saizo, Ninja Vampire’   Shizuo is approached by Mr Brown Guy from episode 5 (whose name turns out to be Shuji Neikawa) for an interview about his brother.  Shizuo gets irritated and lashes out with a lamp-post….interview over!

Shizuo takes a stroll down memory lane to his childhood with Kasuka – remembering that even though he hates violence he can’t stop his outbursts.  Shizuo reflects that the 1st time was when he picked up the family’s fridge during an argument with his little brother, and escalated from there.  Each time Shizuo snapped be ended up injuring himself, but after healing he became stronger and stronger.

We also discover that Shizuo has known Shinra since elementary school, and Shinra has been fascinated with Shizuo’s strength and abilities ever since.  Chibi-Shinra is just as chatty and slightly off kilter as adult Shinra – twas adorable

Shizuo reflects on an incident that had a particular inpact on him – a lady in a local bakery was always very kind to him and his brother, but one evening they see her being attacked in her shop.  Shizuo looses his temper once again but ends up injuring her and wrecking her store.  Later a depressed Shizuo askes Kasuka if he’s afraid of him – Kasuka replies that he isn’t.  The contrast between these two siblings is as stark as fire and ice!  Shizuo seems to have gotten all the fiery passion, whereas Kasuka is cooly composed and aloof.

Skipping forward to high school now Shizuo is reunited with Shinra, who once again tries to use Shizuo as a research subject and also introduces him to Selty.  Watching a teenage Shinra interact with Selty was amusing, seems he was smitten with her even then.

Shinra also introduces Shizuo to Izaya – seems Izaya and Shinra attended the same middle school.  However Shizuo takes an immediate dislike to Izaya and a brutal fight ensues.  Seems Izaya’s speciality is speed coupled with knife skills, which seems to mostly keep him safe from Shizuo’s brute strength.  While chasing Izaya down Shizuo gets run over by a truck , but Izaya pays the driver off (where did a high-schooler get that kind of money from!?) and runs off again.

Shizuo (remarkably undamaged from his run in with a truck!) track Izaya down to Shinra’s apartment (where Shinra is treating his injuries) and threatens Izaya with Shinra’s door, while Selty implores him to calm down!

Shizuo recalls that from that time on he was constantly being challenged to fights, even though he wanted nothing to do with violence.  It began to dawn on him that someone was pulling the strings and getting him involved in these brawls, suspicion landed firmly at Izaya’s feet turning a dislike for Izaya into out-and-out hatred.  Izaya is shown watching Shizuo’s fights in the background – even back then he was a creepy bastard….gotta love him!

Graduation rolls round and we see Shinra the white coat of an underground doctor and Izaya getting involved with the Yakuza……..and Shizuo?  Well his anger management issues cause him to have difficulties holding a regular job.

Eventually Shizuo ends up in a bartending job and his little brother comes to pay him a visit.  Kasuka expresses concern over Shizuo’s inability to hold down a job in his own way – by giving Shizou two box loads of bartenders uniforms in a show of encouragement to keep this job.

All is going reasonably well for Shizuo until Izaya rears his head again – getting Shizuo arrested and consequently losing him his bartending job.  Now you can really understand why Shizuo completely looses it whenever he sees Izaya.

Fortunately and old school sempai, Tom Tanaka comes along and offers Shizuo his current job – Tom’s bodyguard while he goes about his debt collection job.  This kind of work suits Shizuo’s temperament best it seems – however he still wears the bartender’s uniforms his brother gave him, even though the two are now somewhat estranged.

Back in the present, Shizuo’s black mood caused by his dragging up old memories seems to lift after a chat with Selty, who remarks that he must really love his little brother.  Seems Selty is one of the very few people Shizuo is friendly with – it’s a nice wee scene.

Unfortunately Izaya chooses to show his face again and Shizuo promptly looses whatever composure he regained talking to Selty, the vicious cycle starts again.

Thoughts: Great episode, not much plot progression but a fantastic amount of character development for Shizuo.  He’s quite a sympathetic character, his severe anger management issues and subsequent bouts of super strength, in spite of his claim of being abhorrent of violence, make him a bit like The Hulk.  I’d be interested to hear what Shinra’s speculation about Shizuo’s strength actually is.

I’m also fascinated by Izaya’s actions towards Shizuo.  Izaya is always hovering about the fringes of everyone’s story – but he seems to be determined to mess with Shizuo’s life directly and its hard to see what possible benefit he can gain from pissing Shizuo off to this extent!  Izaya’s motivations remains a mystery, but he’s still the character I’m most interested in – can’t wait till he gets his own episode.

Surprised to learn that Shinra and Shizuo have known each other for so long, but know we know that they, Izaya and Kadota are all roughly the same age.  I’m also wondering if Shizuo’s famous brother is going to play a larger role in the future since Mr Brown Writer Guy seemed so interested in him.

Next week sees the return of the Otaku Quartet and Mikado & Co. as well as more Selty & Shinra – seems Selty is the narrator again, should be interesting!

[Via http://caraniel.wordpress.com]

Ayanami Rei

Finally the shoot i promised you!

These are just a handful of what was taken and are my personal favourites. Personally i think im terrible at posing figures that you can move around, but its still a tonne of fun c:

Probably my favourite shot, i really like how the lighting came out on this~ Haha trying to be all arty here, the neck joint line bothers me though :c

Just a bit of fun with a mini EVA i recently got XD For the landscape pictures id recommend you use their full resolution, i can never get them to fit on any WP theme, well… One i actually like!

The creepy looking doll thing actually comes with the Revlotech Asuka, i’ll do a shoot of her as well for you guys sometime soon

In case youre wondering as well, this shoot has both the regular Rei and bandaged versions, the ice cream and gun come from different figures though… I wonder if you know what theyre from o:

This one was just tinkering with contrast. I wish Rei would of came with a smiling face or something though the depressing bugger!

[Via http://taket0mb0.wordpress.com]