evangelion : 2.0 you can [ not ] advance

EVANGELION : 2.0 YOU CAN [ NOT ] ADVANCE
studio : Studio Khara
director : Hideaki Anno [ chief ] / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki
theatrical run : June 27, 2009 [ Japan ]
total episode : part 2 of 4
score : ****1/2

ASUKA STRIKES !

i am going to make this one to be much shorter than the brief overview i did for evangelion : 1.0 [ which in turn was greatly lacking in depth etc - well it's the usual thing around here, no ? :3 ]. and when i said i'm gonna make it shorter, well i really really do mean it :3 . okay so anyway, first and foremost, the one most important thing that i find great love in and thus enjoyed the most [ in regard to this second installment of the rebuild of evangelion series ] was that asuka has magnificently made her rebuild debut in such a flashy yet stylish manner, and i am so greatly in love with this new asuka debut-scene - so much more so over the previous one where she elegantly battles gaghiel in open sea - and the new and freshly revamped asuka that is seen throughout the first half of this movie. just for a note, when it comes to evangelion for me it is all about asuka all the way; you may keep shoving me your constant character-campaigning over rei and / or the new badass hottie mari makinami but for me, there can be none other that is just as awesome as asuka in my evangelion. not even misato :3

you can [ not ] advance, in general is a sight and an experience to behold. and i dare say this that evangelion 2.0 was among the greatest anime movie that has been made for 2009, setting a brand new light to the whole evangelion mythos. if the first movie was basically a close retelling of the original series, then the second was however, a major deviation from everything we had seen, known and expected from the evangelion we used to dearly favored and loved. the second movie has properly gave out a much grimmer look at the post-apocalyptic world of evangelion; the red-tainted dead sea and the point of impact is now made to be much more apparent especially when looked from outside the atmosphere. that aside, the moon base were revisited a second time, adding more cryptic and mystery element to the reboot franchise, especially with the revelation of numbers of the iconic 'lance of longinus' that can be seen in the brief flashback as well as being held in possession by seele.

the interaction between the characters were given a much proper development and pacing this time around, despite many of the key scenes were cut from movie such as asuka's flirting over shinji [ who can ever forget the kiss-out-of-random ? ] and misato's harmonic drill for the couple [ as well as the two's conflict prior to the resulting drill - refer to the episode 'dance like you want to win' ]. not to mention that asuka seems to be much less hostile to shinji in evangelion : 2.0, and has warmed herself up to him much sooner than she was in the original tv series, as well as openly developing and acknowledging her feelings for shinji as clearly apparent from her ongoing [ emotional ] confrontation with rei. and speaking of rei, my my i just loved on how well developed her character was this time around, though she still remains to be a somewhat 'tragic' character, especially at the end of the gruesome battle with the tenth angel. but seriously, she had a much and noticeable / proper development and growth this time around, and with that, much justice has finally been given to the ever-deserving rei. with that written, i really do wish that this rei won't get replaced anywhere in the upcoming movie with a new replacement clone.

now back to my greatest attention, asuka; despite being very well developed in character [ she's much psychologically and emotionally stable this time around; less emo and much, much more interesting *thumbs up* ], her screentime however was cut a bit short [ really, and she had only appeared for about half of the movie runtime ;__; ] by the production team decision to swap her place with toji [ interestingly the movie has made such a clever move at fooling us all to still believe that toji would retain his role as the doomed unit 03's test pilot ], and this has proven to be dealing much damage to the fan in me as i can never bare the sight of seeing asuka getting trashed mercilessly by the dummy-controlled eva 01. i really, really don't like how the team decided to rewrite her role and fate; the moment unit 01 chomped on the entry plug in which asuka was contained especially had both my heart and emotion shattered and i was about to gone rabid from the sight. heck this one held twice more impact than the one then when toji was the one been given the role / plot.



visual presentation and general execution-wise, this movie ultimately is a vast, major improvement to both the original franchise as well as the first movie it succeeds from, and it won't hurt much for me to say that evangelion has never tasted and looked this good since 'the end of evangelion' many years ago. the new angels looks much more elaborately badass [ i definitely favor the clock-a-like as well as the redesigned tenth angel ] and that gave quite a huge point to the overall movie. some of them succeeded in providing such an outworld-ly alien look, and you can't help but wanting to get to know more about these giant invaders in the final two movies to come.

oh and btw, there's also several irl references [ or should i properly write them as 'product placement' instead ? ] that can be found scattered around the foreground / background of the movie, but the two most apparent ones were the major tie-ins to the series; the ucc canned coffee and the japanese convenience store lawson which seem to have an outlet running within the nerv complex :D . anyway, if you hadn't watched it yet, i sincerely beg you to do so. and pen pen too, wants you to check this awesome movie out :D

intermission : hime writes on fave characters from spring 2010

spring 2010; another [ ongoing ] anime season in which is currently overflowing with delightful moetastic goodness[es] that greatly pleasures my eyes and the ever rabid moe fan in me; a fact that i will never seek to hide as well as the fact that i will always be so [ greatly ] proud of. and before you [ overly ] criticize my 'questionable' taste in anime as well as moe-centric titles such as k-on !! or working !! [ the two most relevant and prime example as of current ] for 'sucking badly' you must first take a look at their very respective genre - as we all know my dearest good sirs, not all available genre out there touches on deep and thought provoking topics as one might have been expecting from masterpiece such as 'legends of the galactic heroes' for example, especially when it comes to slice of life, shoujo nor harem / romantic comedy titles just to name a few - that, however doesn't mean that i disregard the need and importance of well thought and captivating stories in my anime[s].

series such as k-on !! were often being greatly criticized for being overly pointless aside from lacking very greatly in the story, but little do these 'critics' realize that the series was based on a 4koma / strip comics, and like most strip comics out there, you shouldn't be expecting for any solid ongoing plot / story from them. and not to mention, behind all those pointlessness etc lies a few gems that were often being overlooked upon, especially when it comes to character-driven series such as this.

as for the recent over-reliance on eye candies [ graphics ]; the advent of these so-called moe-series marked a significant improvement in both art and visual presentation, and this aspect of modern anime should be celebrated and looked to upon, instead of being frowned like some may have did. indeed, fancy graphics is just the sweet icing to top the cake so that it looks pretty, and shouldn't have taken away major portion of the appeal that is reserved for good plot and / or story. that much, i greatly agree. but nowadays there aren't much people who would still welcome and savor in the same art / visual style that is seen from the 80's / early 90's. besides, visually grabbing art and animation presentation too held quite a handful of appreciation point [ especially for those who got eyes for the art / visual-aesthetic part of an anime ] as well as adding up to the storytelling mechanism.

culture progresses along time, and so does anime. hotblooded action series may have been a major hit with extensive cult following back then, but nowadays it is a much different story however. besides, the ideas for storytelling has very well expanded to a much broader scale than it was then; with new themes / subject matter were brought into the anime industry every week / month / year and be dealt with [ for example, social satire in most of slice of life series ] and thus i certainly do not understand why certain people keep lamenting on modern animes continuing to progress downhill unlike their much favored classics times. and if moe series really were that bad, then it shouldn't have built such a massive legion [ even inclusive of several open-minded critical watchers ] around itself :3

anyway, enough with our little talk on moe-what and let's get on to the main topic for this post here. the following list below is a brief list of hime's favorite characters for spring 2010 series, although the list is technically made of only 3 series - mayoi neko overrun !, angel beats ! and working !!, all of which respectively ends their titles with one or two exclamation mark.

01. FUMINO SERIZAWA
[ series : Mayoi Neko Overrun ! | CV : Kanae Itou ]

definitely is the most moelicious tsundere of 2010 so to date, and her most recent 'baboo~'-get without doubt might has brutally murdered at least one or two hundreds of her legionnaires in extreme divine happiness, and that includes myself, pity me :3 . art-wise, fumino has among the most wonderful design for a tsundere i have seen for the past few years, not only that she first reminds me of my former love teana lanster but her built and looks were nevertheless considered to be perfect and complete in creation from my very personal perspective. just see for yourself all around this blog and you'l notice just how deep is my love for my dearest fumino, but wait until you see my persocon which has been currently set to heavy rotation of fumino desktop wallpapers - and other related thematic items :3.

02. NOZOMI KIRIYA
[ series : Mayoi Neko Overrun ! | CV : Ayana Taketatsu ]

her constant nyaa~ing is ♥ SO MUCH MOE ♥, most especially as she is CV-ed by none other than ayana taketatsu of whom had bring us azu-nyan [ definitely is her most prominent role to date ] - more moe-get points there. as far as both the manga and anime goes [ haven't read the original light novel yet ], her past still remained a close kept mystery both to the characters as well as to us, the audience. that aside, nozomi has been shown with the remarkable ability to adapt herself easily to her surrounding, much like a cat... despite lacking a bit in common sense as pointed out by fumino [ she seems to be fine being seen in nude, o' god how i wished i had a cute freeloader just like her here :P ]

03. INAMI MAHIRU
[ series : Working !! | CV : Saki Fujita ]

while everyone were celebrating and nourishing their blossoming love for the super cute and busty loli poplar taneshima, i instead found myself to be greatly drawn towards the shy, androphobic waitress of wagnaria, inami - a girl of whom sane men would like to avoid from being in direct contact with. best known for her iconic INAMI PUNCH which has proven to be fatal enough to break a wall or two [ imagine receiving daily blows of her punches much like takanashi did, you may not live long enough to your forties :D ], but still that doesn't mean that she does not have a cute side, which in fact she does have... and to my greatest amusement, hers were among the most moetastic ever for the series.

04. KANADE TACHIBANA
[ series : Angel Beats ! | CV : Kana Hanazawa ]

so tell me people, which angel beats ! fan who does not find themselves to be having such a great love for the ever-formidable council president kanade-san ? especially when she had grown to become much warmer and more human in both character and personality following the infamous mapotofu ticket episode. thanks to maeda-sensei's crafty expertise on emotional warfare, kanade-san has since gathered for herself a large fan [ or more precisely, cult ] following than she ever was when the series first poke its head into the spring 2010 block, even the once mighty yurippe is having quite a hard time to maintain her legion as large as it was before the second and most emotionally heartbreaking operation tornado [ refer to the said 'infamous mapotofu ticket episode' please :3 ].

05. YUSA
[ series : Angel Beats ! | CV : Yui Makino ]

the 'agent smith' of SSS, and possibly is the most enigmatic character in the series aside from the ever mysterious english-sprouting tk. not much has been shown or known from either her past nor her present as of yet, save for the fact that she does not talk nor mix around much with the rest of the field / initiative team [ but instead can often be seen around the distraction party aka the band 'girls dead monster' ]. as much as her myterious and enigmatic character, i find her design and personality to be so much attractive, much more so than the talkative yui and the kuuderes yurippe and shiina. aside from being assigned as the front's field operative, i'm assuming that she as well is responsible for information / intelligence gathering.

06. AOI YAMADA
[ series : Working !! | CV : Ryou Hirohashi ]

my interest in working !! has now double-skyrocketed with the debut of the awesome yamada, and you can mostly never expect what her next antics would be as she pretty much had a few screw looses inside her head. a brilliantly wonderful character she is and if it wasn't for inami's existence it would be easy for her to snatch away the third seat, but still it is much too early for her to be given such a treatment, and i might as well need to monitor her progress for 1 or 2 more episodes yet. just when i'm starting to miss the [ screen ] company of zange [ not our dearest editor, but the character zange from kannagi -crazy shrine maidens- ] yamada pops her head out of nowhere and has begin to made my day once again. thank you working !!, i am now greatly in debt with you x3

honorable mentions [ these were left out from the list as i couldn't find decent images to better represent their respective characters ] : misaki ayuzawa, fujiko etou and korone. nino is fine too, but she is much too weird to be considered as an waifu item... for myself, that is.

p/s : the first portion of this post here was taken from an ever pending, [ halfway ] incomplete post that has been left sitting in the draft bin for so-so long. well, if it wasn't for my extreme laziness to think and write down a much more relevant and proper intro for this post here the aforementioned first three paragraphs might still be sitting in the sad, dusty corner until who knows when.

[ cosplay ] sue : mio akiyama, vol. 2

layer : Sue
character : Mio Akiyama
series : K-On !
score : *****

INB4 LISTEN !!-GET

so as i wait and anticipate for more k-on !! [ read, double exclamation mark, meaning - the second season ] cosplay get - in particularly for those featured in the catchylicious ED, listen !! - as well as some upcoming new ones from sue-san respectively, i've decided to post up a little bit more pictures of her splendid mio-get here. plus, like i've mentioned in my previous post over this cosplay of hers before, this is [ still ] one of the most remarkable gosurori mio-get i have ever come across too, and is one of the best and most refined i has ever laid my eyes on - as well as my standing favorite for gosurori mio-get up until now :3

[ all images are property of yuuro_an | click here for a previous set and overview on the same character by sue-san ]

[ cosplay ] ai toujou : kuroko shirai

layer : Ai Toujou
character : Kuroko Shirai
series : To Aru Kagaku no Railgun
score : *****

BE DEEPLY AMAZED. AND BE GREATLY STRUCK IN AWE, WAHAHA~:D

welcome back. and now here's the winning kuroko-get by ai toujou-san as promised. behold~ it's a magnificently executed cosplay for the ever mischievous lesbianic yuri-centric member of the judgment [ cum self-proclaimed lover of the infamous human railgun ]; and judging from her astounding, breathtaking looks alone, this one is so precisely well presented that it seemed as if kuroko herself has stepped into our reality straight from the fictional medium she originated from. also, as i've mentioned twice before, ai-san's definitely is one of the best kuroko-get i has ever came to see so far, for hers were among the most accurate take / presentation of kuroko alongside midori-san and a few others that i will reveal anytime later.

as you can see from the above pics alone, her flawless execution of kuroko bores almost direct / parallel resemblance to the character and that solidly proves just how much epic this kuroko-get of her is - and we, the editorial team certainly has no doubt about it xD

[ all images are property of lovely_lovely ]

[ cosplay ] midori kanda : himari noihara

layer : Midori Kanda
character : Himari Noihara
series : Omamori Himari
score : *****

A CAT THIS LOVELY IS ALWAYS FINE FOR ME :3

for those who weren't yet familiar with the above character, himari noihara is the titular demon cat / ayakashi character from the supernatural romantic comedy / harem series omamori himari; due to an ancient pact made between her clan and the amakawa demon-slayer family, himari is currently the close guardian cum [ girl ] friend of yuto [ although they both had previously shared an intimate history together while yuto was still a kid ], and can often be seen making flirtatious teasing / advances against him to comedic end [ read, it's an harem ]. long story short, you may read my brief overview upon the series [ here ]

now on to this week's first feature cosplay; upon the very first glimpse one can pretty much tell that this is an obviously easy piece to pull and execute - and anyone could've done this or better. however, what makes a simple cosplay such as this to be just as captivating and astounding as them elaborately flamboyant ones was that midori-san has managed to elegantly pull this one off very nicely [ mostly thanks to the right look she had ] while [ mildly ] maintaining the flirty persona that is presented in himari - not much can be seen and pointed out but the aura is finely there, and that simply adds up to the character presentation point as well as breathing in a bit of life into her character in [ almost ] close reminiscence to the one this cosplay of hers were based on 3

[ all images are property of kimokamehiro ]

intermission : kuroko-san's eventful little theatre

more kuroko-get by ai-san to be posted here very soon... but for now, enjoy this little drama by kuroko [ ai-san ] and the wonderful mikoto layer of whom i wasn't yet familiar with. ima gonna lurk for her CN and details now. brb in a while :D

[ all images are courtesy of ai-san ]

kampfer

KAMPFER
studio : Nomad
director : Yasuhiro Kuroda
serial run : October 2, 2009 - December 17, 2009
total episodes : 12
score : ***

I WANTED TO LOVE KAMPFER, BUT IT DIDN'T RECIPROCATE MY LOVE NOR MY FEELINGS WELL v.v

frankly speaking, to me kampfer is like some sort of a guilty pleasure; it wasn't entirely good as i hoped it to be when i first saw it on chartfag's fall 2009 chart but somehow there's something about the series that has inspired me to once again pick it up and watch it down until it wraps itself up; and that something in particular is none the less was the female natsuru, the one and only solid reason for me to ever bother myself over the series. to be honest, i did find certain episodes of the series to be amusing / enjoying, but sadly there wasn't enough of them.

the entirety of the series is a bit two dimensional; it has plot yet it was flat and a bit uninspiring [ at times ] and didn't really progress anywhere but instead got stuck just a few miles from where it had left, +not to mention the plot / story does not even resolve itself, and even dares enough to throw upon us a cliffhanger much like claymore did then. so much betrayal there, and my hopes as well as enthusiasm was smashed and broken big time to my mildest displeasure. also, the humor / gag were somewhat bland and almost tasteless at times; instead of being funny they felt more like they were being forced into the series just to pull in some silly laugh from the audience, and that is kinda sad for me at least. that said however, i frankly admit that there was some rare instances in which the jokes really does their job well, and i am pretty much thankful for that even if that was somewhat [ mildly ] scarce and brief.

most of the characters had very intriguing, as well as promising background story and personality to them, but sadly those didn't really get fleshed out well in exchange for the ever recurring fourth wall breaker joke circulated around the series' entire run. if given proper treatment and justice, the characters might have taken kampfer to a much better level than it was then, unless studio nomad faced a divine enlightenment and decided to redeem their take on the series by producing a much better sequel for kampfer, perhaps in times to come :3

the visual / art presentation is noticeably inconsistent on certain episodes, but still it didn't went as horrid as akikan ! was [ that one was an all out nightmare, added with the below-decent-to-poor overall execution that was given to the said series ]; other than that, the animation was presented almost fluidly especially on scenes focusing on the main highlight of kampfer; the brawls and the actions. also, i must greatly praise the overall character design of which has appealed much to my taste and extreme liking, despite having not being deployed to their fullest thanks to the inconsistent visual treatment. the female natsuru, most apparently was my most favored design among the rest of the characters, still i must say that they all looked really good especially the kampfers in their school uniforms :3

[ i know some of you must've been dying to experience this very scene :E ]

all in all, the series has quite an interesting premise much like the now-depressing anime take of akikan !, too bad however is that it was handled rather poorly by the wrong hands, and thus the result were somewhat below average / expectation and mildly mediocre, and weren't much convincing enough to tempt me into another re-watch. if you're intrigued over the genderbender thingy then i pretty much welcome you to give kampfer a try, but in case you were looking for some satisfying / fulfilling entertainment then i very much afraid to say that kampfer won't providing nor be living much to your hopes and expectations v.v

baka to test to shoukanjuu : harem report

this entry was supposed to be rolled out between march-april, but somehow it got buried very deeply beneath the other pending drafts we had [ there's about 15+ of them in total, excluding this one ], and were left unchecked for most of the time until recently. so now i shall give the post its well deserved justice by completing whichever part of it that requires expansion / attention before i went and click on the submit button. long story short, i shall now present you our very first +ophanium harem report :3

[ series : baka to test to shoukanjuu | harem status : not available ]

01. HIDEYOSHI KINOSHITA

hideyoshi is the trap hideyoshi half of the kinoshita twins, and is greatly infamous to the fans [ mostly of the male demographics, and fujoshis who've been looking forward to his shipping with the legendary idiot akihisa ] of the series for being subjected to intensive fanservice [ for a male character- wait. okay... he's not a male, he's hideyoshi ], probably more so than the series two proper heroines. despite his killer trap look, hideyoshi is among them students to be cast into the much shunned f class [ although he seemed to be the most normal among his male peers ], becoming part of the band of idiots while retaining his cool and level headed attitude unlike most other members of his class [ especially akihisa and the enigmatic ronery cult ]. interestingly, hideyoshi can often be seen flaunting his prized delicious trap charm / asset by dressing in several costumes / cosplay outfits, among the winning ones being the red china dress / qipao [ ? see header image above ] he had worn somewhere in an earlier episode of the series. akihisa and muttsurini seemed to be very well attracted to him as if he's a natural female, and this can apparently be seen from how rejoiced the two were over the sight of hideyoshi's bare skin. may had an interest on akihisa [ yaoi ? i'd hit it if it's hideyoshi ] but probably nothing more than a friend.

02. MINAMI SHIMADA
the only tsundere of the series, minami's personality definitely is the cutest among all, and at times even mildly rival those of the sweet and fragile ojou-type genius himeji-san, most notably. comedy-wise, minami is never short on her arsenal of bonebreaking submission locks and [ pro-wrestling ] moves in case she'd caught herself in severe jealousy over akihisa [ to whom she affectionately calls aki ] and his perverted antics / unintentional flirting. is very conscious of her flat chested figure, especially when akihisa himself were the one to point them out. there wasn't much of a significant growth can be seen from her character throughout the series run, and she has yet to progress both her feelings and relationship further with akihisa, perhaps we'll be seeing some later in the upcoming second installment.

03. MIZUKI HIMEJI
mizuki himeji is the soft-spoken, fragile beauty of the f class with surprisingly overkill intelligence befitting of the prestigious a class - well if it wasn't for her poor health condition during the placement test she should've been enlisted to the said class. despite of being placed in the most horrible f class however, she is more happy as she gets to be in the same class as her one and only love interest, the ultimate idiot akihisa, though the latter had often came to mislook some of her 'closet advances', as well as having several misunderstanding that she might instead hold a romantic interest against his friend yuuji. himeji-san had, somewhere in the series, shown to be emitting killer aura as well as the oh-so-glorious yandere glare, and is best known for her killer cooking skills which she had never acknowledged herself. and before i forget this, she also had the most winning pair of rac- *FUMINO KICK'd.

04. SHOKO KIRISHIMA
the primary yandere and self-proclaimed future bride of yuuji, shoko will do anything it takes to own both his body and soul, even to the extent of poking his eyes in surprise for either slight misunderstanding or just having a stare at other girls around, and forcing him into a marriage contract eventhough they were both still [ by legal ] unsuitable to be united through marriage. despite her no-nonsense, sadistic personality there lies some cuteness deep within her, which in turn is a great rarity in spectacle, but not much greater than the possibility of minami shoving her confession towards akihisa. as she claimed herself to belong both body and soul to yuuji, her inclusion to the harem path is automatically invalid and thus, rupturing the possibility over the possible manifestation of the path itself.

[ missing from the pic : shoko ]

final verdict; the harem is mostly non-existent here, unless there's a major plot twist in both the original light novel or the upcoming second installment that would bring shoko [ and the other kinoshita twin ] romantic feelings / affection towards akihisa. and much credit to muttsurini for leaving his files on his desk danbooru, making it much easier for me to seek some needed reference[s] for this uberly lacking harem report of mine.

hime's early peek into summer 2010 anime watchlist

preview or download chartfag's summer 2010 chart [ here ]

this won't be much of a commentary as i haven't got enough point to drop here yet. anyway, for now my primary interest lies in the black★rock shooter [ ova ], highschool of the dead, sekirei ~pure engagement~, ookamisan to shichinin no nakamatachi [ i think i heard kuroko in the promotional video ], nurarihyon no mago [ production i.g-get ], mitsudomoe and asobi ni iku yo ! [ credit to shin-dono for instigating my interest over this one :3 ]. as for the ovas, i am somewhat interested in seeing where kissxsis would be taking me to since the tv series is already on the run. also listed on my [ ova ] watchlist were sono hanabira ni kuchizuke wo, kure-nai, the next episode of utawarerumono's ova, hen zemi and *cough*aki sora*cough*. will be monitoring other's impression on the rest of the titles and see if there's anything that would fit my palate well.

let's talk on hime's top five anime series : revised

here's a revised edition for hime's 5 most favored anime series list, with some parts of it been partially rewritten for slight changes in words etc. and please take note that the first three titles remain unchanged while the latter two; the former 4th seater neon genesis evangelion has been set aside as i revisited my watch [ and love ] for kannazuki no miko - my very first venture into the yuri genre [ as well as kaishaku works, of which has since remained as one of my fave artist / circle to date ] and the primary title of the genre which i dearly love the most [ aside from marimite ], while former 5th seater lucky star were swapped back with k-on !, mainly thanks for the arrival of the second [ spring ] season which helps in cementing my love much further into the latter.

01. GA-REI ZERO
simply put, ga-rei zero is the kind of series which i have always been looking forward to, both story and execution wise. prior to ga-rei -zero-, i've had high hopes on nearly similar titles such as shikabane hime and yozakura quartet yet both series doesn't seem to live [ enough ] to my initial expectation [ cool thing however is that yozakura quartet's gonna be receiving a reboot, well that's according to what i've read somewhere ] though i did find both series to be very well entertaining. and not to mention, ga-rei zero is the kind of show that will constantly poke / intrigue your very attention for its action and drama [ the initial episodes, for instance gave out quite a magnificent impact that blows me off upon my contact with the series ], and throughout its run the show has never fail to deliver what it were supposed to do so - the mind-blowing action sequences were magnificently choreographed it'll left you gaping in awe while the drama-portion of the story were so beautifully crafted that emotionally fragile audiences would certainly crumble down and break themselves into tears by the tragic end.

02. HAIBANE RENMEI
the best series ever to be conceived and based upon the subject of 'what might lies ahead in the afterlife' [ a conceptually similar series is currently on air for spring 2010, check out angel beats ! ], with a remarkably interesting conception over the realm of purgatory [ well, probably :P ] itself. nothing morbid to be expected from this series, instead it is a purely heartwarming day-to-day slice of life story of the once lived haibanes, former young humans who were confined within the walls of glie for reason unknown [ yet to me ]. the entire series had an exquisitely tailored folkish feel and atmosphere to it [ as with spice and wolf ], augmented with the winning use of irish folk / celtic inspired music to provide the mood essentially needed for the stories and emotions to grow upon.

03. ARIA [ ALL THREE SERIES +THE OVA ]
a series / franchise that is rich on delightful character development [ most notably the three junior undines - akari, aika and alice ] as well as a wholesome set of pleasantly captivating visuals, finely representing how the lovely city of venice would look and feel like if it were ever to be reconstructed on the artificially-terraformed red planet mars. and despite the fact that whole series were built upon a mild sci-fi foundation, one may barely be aware of this very aspect as the heartwarming slice-of-life portion of aria will eventually steer your attention away from the mild-science fiction stuff throughout the entire course of the series. well it may be kinda slow paced to some but once you went deeper into aria - particularly the [ emotionally ] engaging interaction between its major characters and the overall environment / setting of the series itself, you'll soon get to discover your love for the show given that the slice of life genre is on your palate :3

04. KANNAZUKI NO MIKO
one of the highly celebrated yuri title ever produced, although the series weren't quite remarkable for its anime adaptation [ i won't criticize further here as i prefer to keep my criticism to myself just for a while, in case that i would come up with an overview for the series somewhen later :3 ] as well as several part of its general direction / execution. nevertheless, kannazuki no miko is one of the series which i have dearly loved upon my first watch of it - mainly thanks to the yurilicious drama between the two leads chikane and himeko, of which had grown to root itself quite deep into me emotionally - and has since remained as one of my most prized possession in my current collection. also, i have a standing devotion to the yuri genre [ or more precisely, this series itself ] and it'll be of a great sin if i were not to include nor mention at least kannazuki no miko in any of my preferred fiction-treat list.

05. K-ON !
it has been highly overrated and shunned by them so-called purists during its initial run last year [ and even now, thanks to the current airing of its second season installment, rebranded as k-on !! ], yeap. but nevertheless, i had come to love the series even more so than kyo-ani's previous major hit suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu which had once occupied this very spot here. and though i am also a great fan of lucky star, yet still i find k-on ! to be much more easier for me to adapt / relate myself to as it tackles on the primary subject of interest of mine which is music - another noteworthy point of attention of the series is the delicious character development [ which were instead being denied of / overlooked by some haters ] for the most of its cast, especially the girls from the music club itself namely yui, mugi and azu-nyan among the rest. and just like most of kyoani releases, the art and visual execution / presentation were superbly top notch as prevalent through the series' entire run despite my mild disappointment over the lack of the much anticipated jam / band scenes v.v [ which still remain as a standing issue for the second season ]



on a second thought, it seems that i highly favor series which took place in the all-girls environment [ with less to none appearance from / interaction with a prominent male lead, if there's any :P ].

[ further reading : overview on ga-rei zero | overview on aria the origination | overview on k-on ! ]

intermission : minor changes / updates to +ophanium

recently i've made some slight few changes to the blog [ mostly of minor cosmetic changes ], among which was the relocation of all the links that was previously featured on the sidebar [ that includes all available shortcuts to featured dojin music circles, formerly represented through their respective banners ] into the 'links' page. in case you were lurking for them, just move your cursor slightly to the sidebar and seek for the lovely tsuka-chin banner / button or whatever you may call it. also, i've completely removed the stat counter [ as well as terminating its active monitoring over +ophanium ] at the bottom of the sidebar upon reading several complaints / concerns addressed in regard to the minor issue with its tracking cookies of which has been reported to have triggered a heads up with spybot s&d, as well as providing some more privacy for ye peeps by removing both the feedjit traffic feed [ someone actually finds it a bother, according to an e-mail i've received not so long ago ] as well as the online visitor tracker [ or again, whatever name you may call it with :3 ].

[ EDIT ] okay so the watanagashi matsuri is just a few weeks left, and we at +ophanium has decided [ mostly upon zange-chan's insistence ] to roll out our brand new look as an early offering to the blog's local deity oyashirosama. just as how we first came to be in august 2008, the blog will retain its usage of the template minima; a simple, minimalistic yet flexible default blogger theme which offers a wide possibility of artistic tampering, especially when you had such a great sense and creativity in design. and in order to make up with the vast empty spaces scattered all around this place [ and its apparent lack of visual appeal ] i had commissioned myself a series of fake advertisement banners so to splash in some colors and life to the overly bland walls - well color spam is my newfound specialty, added with a zest of peco-sensei's delightful art touch - thank god we had now reached a whole new level of moe-deco we ever achieved since +ophanium's inception~!

okay so this will be the last and final intermission-post for the month of may. next week we'll be getting back to the usual business with our upcoming entries :3

[ irrelevant ] p/s : me = saten-san / zange-chan = uiharu :D

working !! episode 07 : zange 'hijack' !

[ screencap credit : random curiosity ]

on first thought, i really should quit on posting intermissions such as this. anyway, i greatly thank you dear a1 pictures for 'putting back' my dearest zange-chan~♥ onto the screen [ no, i certainly didn't mean you, zange-chan ]. and whether you peeps agree with me or not, both yamada's personality and attitude [ almost ] seems to mirror those of zange-chan [ even if not THAT perfect ], aside from just sharing the same look.

i will write more over this subject in my next post, thus feel free to look forward to it :3

p/s : i love you, richard cheese.

intermission : kaorin-nee, in my eroge ?

currently playing 完璧お姉さま御子神沙耶の無人島孕ませ修行～ふふ、元気のいい精子だ…早く私に妻の証を宿してくれ～ [ yea, long title is long... as often expected of the publisher ] by norn of which was released [ just recently ] on march 26 this year. anyway, the one major cool thing about the game is that saya-nee [ of whom is the only female of the game ] seems to closely mirror my dearest kaorin-nee in appearance [ refer to the in-game rip above ] - maybe not THAT close, but saya-nee definitely does reminds me of the latter in terms of her looks, and that alone is more than solid enough reason for me to be checking this one out; aside from the eye-pleasing art, plus one other reason of which i prefer not to disclose here :3

the game's pretty lightweight in size, just like sono hanabira ni kuchizuke wo - well, that is somewhat to be expected since like some other norn games, this one here were solely focused on one female character, thus no multiple-path / harem-end for you :3. still, do not let that very fact discourage you anyway ;3

[ i might put up a post on the game somewhen later - but for now, let me savor the game first :3 ]

omamori himari

OMAMORI HIMARI
studio : Zexcs
director : Shinji Ushiro
serial run : January 6, 2010 - March 24, 2010
total episode : 12
score : ***1/2

A CAT IS FINE TOO :3

[ author's note : i am currently in my lazy mood, and thus this post might read 'a bit' forced and bland every here and there :3 ]

story wise, one of the plot drive behind omamori himari mildly mirror those of nyan koi ! in which the male lead [ yuto amakawa ] were burdened with his allergy against cats [ though in his case it was through a curse placed on him in the past ]; well good enough for him that his pet 'cat' comes in the mode where he doesn't have to suffer through this allergy of him all the time. also, having born into a family of exorcist, this by default had as well submitted his name into the hitlist of many vengeful youkais throughout the realm, and it is up to his 'pet' aka youkai guardian himari to ensure his safety against these malicious hordes - thanks to the pact both sides [ the amakawas and the demon cat clan ] has made in the distant past.

with the above para written, omamori himari is one of those generic harem-get with prevalent youkai / supernatural theme; so if you're already familiar with series such as tayutama or rosario+vampire [ the latter didn't get to stay on my list, blame gonzo's mediocre execution for that :3 ] for example then it won't take long for you to become well-accustomed on this one. and as with another splendid harem series of recent [ sora no otoshimono ], omamori himari has very well captivated both my interest and attention from much sector of it; the plot [ generic it may be but somehow i am quite amused by it ], the characters [ i have yet to discover one which i dislike, not sure bout the male lead though :P ] and the art / character design [ among the reason which dragged me into giving omamori himari a second viewing chance ].

frankly speaking, i have yet to read the manga from which the series is based from and so i won't criticize much on the character design done for the anime [ which seems to be quite an issue for a number of fans of the original manga ]. as far as i am concerned however, i certainly love what i have seen from the design conceived for the anime, especially on himari, liz and kuesu... and as for the rest, well they seem to be somewhat generic in design and there is not much interest i can give nor invest into them :3 . production wise zexcs has done a pretty nice job for the series, though i had noticed several moments of consistency at times, but still isn't much enough to disturb my viewing pleasure anyway. the accompanying music however didn't held quite a lasting impression nor being memorable enough to my ears as apparent from how i had forgotten everything since my recent marathon of the series :3

there's a bit much of character for me to firmly remember from the series [ still it is not as much as durarara ! etc ], but those which has been firmly stuck onto my mind until now were the titular cat demon himari - flirty and playful as a cat can be but not without a strict sense of duty / loyalty, the loli mizuchi shizuku - best compared with the hentai liladan korone from ichiban ushiro no daimaou, the tsukumogami teacup liz [ coincidentally i have great fetish interest in maids, especially one as cute as this :E ], the indirect copy of junk gin-sama kuesu and the zashiki warashi kaya [ i dunno, but i seem to have grown a bit fond of her character :3 ]. well having been aired on a pretty much limited episodic run there isn't much development can be seen from some of the characters, though i must say that i am certainly delighted with the character / emotional growth i get to see from himari, shizuku and kuesu, respectively.

[ definitely NOT your gin-sama :3 ]

i sincerely admit that at first i [ hastily ] underestimated the entertainment [ couldn't find a better word for this, my bad v.v ] capability of this title here, having set it aside during its fresh run for others i had on my watchlist then [ i remember swapping omamori himari for ladybato, but not a single regret there since ayako kawasumi = win :3 ]. however, as i went to resume my interest on the series around mid april i somehow rediscovered the charm of which later had me entirely hooked on throughout my marathon over this one - yes sir i certainly am glad to be giving the series a second try even if that desire was fully inspired out of whim :3

p/s : ami koshimizu + himari = WIN.

kissxsis episode 06 : keion hijack !

it's a pretty interesting episode for kissxsis as the trio pay their visit to akihabara, where all sort of references is thrown into this very episode. however, those which captures my attention best were blatant references to 2 of my favorite anime series - k-on ! and mahoromatic :3

ako-nyan~

ako-nee paying homage to ayana-san's [ her seiyuu ] role as azu-nyan, complete with the said chara's twin ponytails [ albeit shorter ] and a complimentary black nekomimi cosplay headband :3

you might as well notice mut-tan's [ azu-nyan's red fender mustang ] cameo in the music store frame, aside from the complete HTT setup with the bass being lefthanded just like mio's [ by now you may call it 'elizabeth' :D ].

lol mahoro-san in my kissxsis, and a blonde moralfag at that :D also, +1 for parodying her trademark quote, now that certainly brings back some good 'ol memories [ not that old actually as there's the 2 episode ova, ~tadaima◇okaeri~ around fall last year :3 ]

nippon ichi~♥ . by the way, there's several more references if you look close enough at this episode, but for today's post its just these that i am interested to point at :3

[ screencaps no. 2, 3 and 5 are courtesy of random curiosity ]