Woot! The blog is celebrating its 2^nd year anniversary today, Friday the 13^th.      13 is an eerie number don’t you think? Who knows, I might actually be a ghost blogger. In the years to come a legend will be told about a ghost blogger named shinji who roams the anime blogosphere in search for his lost blog. Now there’s a good plot lol. Anyway, ghost or not, I’d like to thank all the commentors and visitors of this blog for the support. Once again, the blog has stayed true to its vision of being a happy-go-lucky-anything-goes-anime-blog. So expect more lazy blogging from me hehe. Kidding aside, minna-san arigatou gozaimasu!

This is a response to Manga’s challenge which is simply to tell 8 facts about yourself. It doesn’t take a deep self-reflection to point out some peculiar things about one’s self but I got to tell something more than my declared adoration for Kintaro Oe’s perversion intelligence. I told Manga this seems to be a fun exercise and it surely is, it’s like introducing yourself to a new pen pal or filling up a slum book. So without further ado, here goes my 8 short facts:

1.       I started wearing eyeglasses about 10 years ago and my nearsightedness gets worse every year. So just look at Itoshiki sensei minus the spikes and that rope around his neck, and you’ll get an idea.

2.       I work for a bank; not the coolest and highest paying job out there but it helps me live by comfortably. I find it odd that my office buddies and I never get tired of discussing Naruto during lunch breaks and how cool his rasen shuriken was. My boss will soon realize he hired a bunch of otakus.

3.       I suck at basketball but I play ping pong pretty well.

4.       My most favorite Japanese and Korean movies are: Tada Kimi Wo Aisheteru and Il Mare, respectively.

5.       I love Magic the Gathering card game. I still play with my old goblin deck with my friends and cousins.

6.       I’d like to learn photography, Macro photo in particular. I’m trying to save up for the proper lens which is quite expensive the last time I checked.

7.       I rarely read novels but I love Paulo Coehlo and Haruki Murakami’s works. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is so far the best book I’ve read.

8.       I’m a lazy blogger.

I bought my Nintendo DS a year ago and I thought an impulsive buyer like me would have been bored with it by this time. I’m surprised I’m still  enjoying it as games get better and better. I was about to buy PSP back then but pulled out the DS in the end after seeing the available games out there. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tekken and God of War, but that just about it. DS, on the other hand, has a horde of games that really suit my taste and style.

My officemate recently introduced me to Time Hollow. This was released last year and I don’t know why a great game like this just passed me by. The game is like a visual novel about Ethan Kairos who has a Hollow Pen that can pierce a whole in time and change the past. The point and click gameplay was a delight for a lazy player like me. The storyline, which reminds me of the movie “The Butterfly Effect” is very entertaining and engaging. There’s an overall anime feel to this game, from the character art, manga-like panels, to the anime cutscenes. The opening anime scene was nothing special but it was fun to watch.

Dragon Ball Origins is also one of the recent games that made its mark in the industry. The game follows the story of young Goku and Bulma in their quest for the dragon balls. It likewise features all the other adorable characters in the anime – Oolong, Chi chi, Yamcha, and my idol Master Roshi. The gameplay is simple and gets monotonous in time. What makes this game click, though, is how it almost accurately relives the wonderful moments of the classic anime and any fan would definitely appreciate it. Go Flying Nimbus!

As for homebrews, VNDS is so far the best app out there. The guys at digital-haze are just brilliant and I thank them for letting me play the ported Tsukihime and Fate Stay Night VNs on my DS. I’ll give Saya no Uta a shot pretty soon.

These games have pretty much occupied my playing time and some more exciting ones will be coming this year. I’m particularly looking forward to the English version of Lux Pain. The game features  ”Atsuki, who by wielding the power of Lux-Pain tries to unravel the mystery of the ‘Silent’; a worm that has infected humans and forced them to commit horrible crimes” (1up.com).  How cool is that? I hope someone could also translate the Higurashi DS series; that would really rock.

I know I’ve been slacking off  but what can I do, the Christmas season makes you lazy. Well I just dropped by (my own blog) to greet everyone an advance Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There are a lot of things to be thankful about and this is a good time to stop and look back. Just be patient, I’m sure that dream of yours will come true. Santa here will knock on your door!

As a Christmas treat, I’ll be watching the notorious Clannad this vacation and to spice things up some To Love-Ru. That would keep me awake till “Noche Buena.” I don’t think I’d post reviews any time soon, I’m still busy playing with my new DSLR. Too bad I don’t have figures to practice with. Again, Merry Christmas to all and see you around.

I remember watching True Tears until episode 10 then all of a sudden, for reasons I could no longer remember, I dropped it. I really don’t know what came over me, I just stopped watching there and then. Well enough with this babble, I’ve finally finished the last episodes and I’m glad I did.

The series started out a bit formulaic – the boy likes the girl, the girl likes the boy but they keep their feelings to themselves. Then enter other girls who also like the boy confusing him even more. It, however, redeemed itself in the last few episodes with very evocative dramatic scenes. I particularly like the scene where Shin was crying, singing, and shouting until he finally dropped to his knees. The voice acting was very good.

I like the animation. Scenes were fluid and vibrant. The characters were also neither too pretty nor too dull, making them more realistic. I thought I sensed some Koi Kaze thing between Noe and her brother which seemed to be a minor thing. It could have been more interesting to see that kind of interaction between Shin and Hiromi. I actually feel sad for Noe since I was rooting for her from the very start. In the end childhood sweethearts got together. Nothing really wrong with that but come on, she’s cuter than Hiromi. Well there goes my bias towards short-haired girls hehe.

Wavering hearts, flowing tears … True Tears was really enjoyable; there was an appealing seriousness in it and at the same time straightforwardness that made it light to watch.

I woke up one morning and it hit me: “Oh, right, I still have an anime blog.. lemme see what’s the url again..?” heheh. After my not so exciting official trip, I had to go back to my hometown, consult with my doctor, settle stuff with my landlady, and deal with excessive amount of work at my office.

I miss this blog and also those blogs on your right. I hope I can visit them one of these days. To freshen things up I decided to change how my blog looks. I realized that this theme is no beginner’s template, I had to fix most of the features manually. It’s alright though, It’s always good to learn new things and I really like the clean look of this theme.

I actually don’t know how to start, what to write about. There are loads of new anime out there but I don’t have any clue about them. Yeah, I promise to write about a Visual Novel I’ve been reading which until now is sleeping in my harddrive. I’ll get to that as soon as I regain my writing mood. For now, let me just share this lovely story from my favorite author, Haruki Murakami:

On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning

One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo’s fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl.

Tell you the truth, she’s not that good-looking. She doesn’t stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn’t young, either – must be near thirty, not even close to a “girl,” properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She’s the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there’s a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert.

Maybe you have your own particular favorite type of girl – one with slim ankles, say, or big eyes, or graceful fingers, or you’re drawn for no good reason to girls who take their time with every meal. I have my own preferences, of course. Sometimes in a restaurant I’ll catch myself staring at the girl at the next table to mine because I like the shape of her nose.

But no one can insist that his 100% perfect girl correspond to some preconceived type. Much as I like noses, I can’t recall the shape of hers – or even if she had one. All I can remember for sure is that she was no great beauty. It’s weird.

“Yesterday on the street I passed the 100% girl,” I tell someone.

“Yeah?” he says. “Good-looking?”

“Not really.”

“Your favorite type, then?”

“I don’t know. I can’t seem to remember anything about her – the shape of her eyes or the size of her breasts.”

“Strange.”

“Yeah. Strange.”

“So anyhow,” he says, already bored, “what did you do? Talk to her? Follow her?”

“Nah. Just passed her on the street.”

She’s walking east to west, and I west to east. It’s a really nice April morning.

Wish I could talk to her. Half an hour would be plenty: just ask her about herself, tell her about myself, and – what I’d really like to do – explain to her the complexities of fate that have led to our passing each other on a side street in Harajuku on a beautiful April morning in 1981. This was something sure to be crammed full of warm secrets, like an antique clock build when peace filled the world.

After talking, we’d have lunch somewhere, maybe see a Woody Allen movie, stop by a hotel bar for cocktails. With any kind of luck, we might end up in bed.

Potentiality knocks on the door of my heart.

Now the distance between us has narrowed to fifteen yards.

How can I approach her? What should I say?

“Good morning, miss. Do you think you could spare half an hour for a little conversation?”

Ridiculous. I’d sound like an insurance salesman.

“Pardon me, but would you happen to know if there is an all-night cleaners in the neighborhood?”

No, this is just as ridiculous. I’m not carrying any laundry, for one thing. Who’s going to buy a line like that?

Maybe the simple truth would do. “Good morning. You are the 100% perfect girl for me.”

No, she wouldn’t believe it. Or even if she did, she might not want to talk to me. Sorry, she could say, I might be the 100% perfect girl for you, but you’re not the 100% boy for me. It could happen. And if I found myself in that situation, I’d probably go to pieces. I’d never recover from the shock. I’m thirty-two, and that’s what growing older is all about.

We pass in front of a flower shop. A small, warm air mass touches my skin. The asphalt is damp, and I catch the scent of roses. I can’t bring myself to speak to her. She wears a white sweater, and in her right hand she holds a crisp white envelope lacking only a stamp. So: She’s written somebody a letter, maybe spent the whole night writing, to judge from the sleepy look in her eyes. The envelope could contain every secret she’s ever had.

I take a few more strides and turn: She’s lost in the crowd.

Now, of course, I know exactly what I should have said to her. It would have been a long speech, though, far too long for me to have delivered it properly. The ideas I come up with are never very practical.

Oh, well. It would have started “Once upon a time” and ended “A sad story, don’t you think?”

Once upon a time, there lived a boy and a girl. The boy was eighteen and the girl sixteen. He was not unusually handsome, and she was not especially beautiful. They were just an ordinary lonely boy and an ordinary lonely girl, like all the others. But they believed with their whole hearts that somewhere in the world there lived the 100% perfect boy and the 100% perfect girl for them. Yes, they believed in a miracle. And that miracle actually happened.

One day the two came upon each other on the corner of a street.

“This is amazing,” he said. “I’ve been looking for you all my life. You may not believe this, but you’re the 100% perfect girl for me.”

“And you,” she said to him, “are the 100% perfect boy for me, exactly as I’d pictured you in every detail. It’s like a dream.”

They sat on a park bench, held hands, and told each other their stories hour after hour. They were not lonely anymore. They had found and been found by their 100% perfect other. What a wonderful thing it is to find and be found by your 100% perfect other. It’s a miracle, a cosmic miracle.

As they sat and talked, however, a tiny, tiny sliver of doubt took root in their hearts: Was it really all right for one’s dreams to come true so easily?

And so, when there came a momentary lull in their conversation, the boy said to the girl, “Let’s test ourselves – just once. If we really are each other’s 100% perfect lovers, then sometime, somewhere, we will meet again without fail. And when that happens, and we know that we are the 100% perfect ones, we’ll marry then and there. What do you think?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is exactly what we should do.”

And so they parted, she to the east, and he to the west.

The test they had agreed upon, however, was utterly unnecessary. They should never have undertaken it, because they really and truly were each other’s 100% perfect lovers, and it was a miracle that they had ever met. But it was impossible for them to know this, young as they were. The cold, indifferent waves of fate proceeded to toss them unmercifully.

One winter, both the boy and the girl came down with the season’s terrible influenza, and after drifting for weeks between life and death they lost all memory of their earlier years. When they awoke, their heads were as empty as the young D. H. Lawrence’s piggy bank.

They were two bright, determined young people, however, and through their unremitting efforts they were able to acquire once again the knowledge and feeling that qualified them to return as full-fledged members of society. Heaven be praised, they became truly upstanding citizens who knew how to transfer from one subway line to another, who were fully capable of sending a special-delivery letter at the post office. Indeed, they even experienced love again, sometimes as much as 75% or even 85% love.

Time passed with shocking swiftness, and soon the boy was thirty-two, the girl thirty.

One beautiful April morning, in search of a cup of coffee to start the day, the boy was walking from west to east, while the girl, intending to send a special-delivery letter, was walking from east to west, but along the same narrow street in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. They passed each other in the very center of the street. The faintest gleam of their lost memories glimmered for the briefest moment in their hearts. Each felt a rumbling in their chest. And they knew:

She is the 100% perfect girl for me.

He is the 100% perfect boy for me.

But the glow of their memories was far too weak, and their thoughts no longer had the clarity of fourteen years earlier. Without a word, they passed each other, disappearing into the crowd. Forever.

A sad story, don’t you think?

Yes, that’s it, that is what I should have said to her.

I just ran out of anime and manga to review and I don’t want to blog about my work or life, that’s just too boring.

While everybody’s enjoying some new season anime, here I am stuck with work. Well I’ve been swamped with a lot of non-anime stuff lately (work, health, etc) and I hope I can catch up soon. I’m supposed to finish Trinity Blood this week but end up rewatching Ranma ½ episodes instead. It may be weird but Ranma ½ never fails to amuse me especially Happosai who I consider a true master of the martial arts.^^ It’s just one of those anime I never get tired of watching over and over. I also started reading a translated visual novel which I find really interesting. I’ll definitely write something about it when I’m done.

I’m leaving for Vietnam for a seminar. So I guess that’s another excuse for not blogging hehe. I don’t know if there are otaku stuff there but I hope I can still buy some nice souvenirs. See ya.

I’m still alive! Just came back from a 2-week seminar on capital markets and derivatives. Interesting stuff actually but it got exhausting later on. At least I now know how to hedge hehe.

Anyway I’ve been playing this old GBA game on the side. It’s entitled Love Hina Advance and I’m sure otakus have already played this a long time ago. The game is basically a visual novel following the same story as the anime (which was one of the best love comedies during its time). It was fun reliving the story through a game. This time I get to play Keitaro and go for the girl I like. Yes my hidden desires finally found their way hehe.

The game starts with Love HIna’s original OP with a rundown of all the characters with whom you can interact. It even includes Keitaro’s aunt Haruka and Sarah Macdogal. I knew right away what my noble task is… make all the girls fall in love with me!! Game proper contains mainly still images from the anime. There are events where Keitaro has to choose a response and then wait to see if the female character liked it or not. If someone’s heart points reach the top, lucky, she’s yours!^^

So I guess I got too kind to Shinobu and won her heart.^^

Speaking of games, I’ve been playing NDS a lot lately. The World Ends with You and Dragon Quest Monster: Joker are so darn addictive!

I wrote my first impressions on Highshool of the Dead some time ago and after reading 12 chapters, I think it’s living up to my expectations. Things are getting complicated and sexier.

George Romero fans would definitely love this manga. It basically works on the same elements – a survival horror with zombies roaming around the town looking for fresh flesh. What makes this manga different, though, are the pretty and hot female protagonists. I wouldn’t mind having zombies around if I get to tag along with them.

Much of the story is being fleshed out but the origin of the pandemic is still vague to me. Characters start to interact with one another, coming up with plans and making compromises. As new friends are found, conflicts also arise. Lots of things are being revealed about the characters, their past and their intents. It’s also interesting to see how a childhood-sweethearts story (as in the case of Komuro and Rei) is integrated in this series as well as a possible love triangle. And yes all of this happening while slicing and dicing zombie butts.

Artwork on characters is really good and fight scenes are getting bloodier as the story progresses. The story is interesting enough for me and I hope I’ll have time to catch up on the next chapters. It would be cool if this gets animated.

So anyone reading this?

While waiting for the second season, let me share some of my thoughts on Season 1 which is probably one of the best anime 2006 had to offer.

It’s not what I can call a unique series. The plot reminds me of the usual war themes in anime but the creators did quite well in presenting the story with all its socio-political elements, all revolving around very consistent characters. I particularly like how the sub-plots and characters are interlaced. The story is fast-paced but progression is smooth. It was exhilarating from its explosive start till the very end.

The ideological clash between Lelouch and Suzaku is a good concept and adds depth to the story. They both have their points and it’s hard to tell which is good or bad. Or perhaps it is not a question of good or bad in the first place. I’ll leave that to the philosophers.

The characters are beautiful; true to the CLAMP artwork (cute faces and seemingly wobbly limbs). I’m more interested in CC, the pretty and mysterious girl who likes pizza. I know a lot of things will be revealed about her. On another note, Geass actually reminds me of Gennouske’s ability in Basilisk – cool and devilish. The ending is a cliffhanger which is a fitting ending for the series in my opinion.

It’s an awesome series and I definitely want to see more.