Clearly it is no longer Scanspam Week, as I haven't exactly been keeping up with getting one of these posts out every day. So now it is officially Scanspam Whenever-The-Hell-I-Feel-Like-It, and we're down to our final three posts.

Here, have some Fate/Stay Night stuff.

( Yay, new artwork! )

And that's all for tonight. Coming up next: HELLO KITTY DAY. For great asymmetry!

( Behind the cut: Eureka Seven, Fate/Unlimited Codes, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kyou Kara Maou, Shakugan no Shana, Soul Eater, and PUPPIES! )

Hmmm, I think that's it for tonight's scanspam. For the record, I was going to go the extra mile and scan this piece of terrible beauty for y'all to enjoy...But then I got tired. And the darn poster is too wrinkly to make a decent scan of anyway.

A Sakura Wars game is FINALLY getting a North American release... and it's Sakura Wars V. Yes, V. As in, Five. I dunno... In my humble opinion, V is the best of the games, and it has the best cast. But it was also the least popular on the "main" franchise games in Japan, or so I've heard. And frankly I'm surprised that V is going to be the first game translated into English, as opposed to one of the more classic games with more recognizable characters. Really, it's not like V's graphics and gameplay were much of an improvement over IV, and IV had both the classic Tokyo and the popular Paris cast of characters together, so... Huh. How weird.

And also apparently Fate/Unlimited Codes will be translated and released for the PSP in North America. Despite the fact that neither Fate/Stay Night (the original game) nor Fate/Zero (the novels) have gotten any official translation whatsoever. I mean, I know that the Fate/Stay Night anime was released in North America, and that maaaaay be enough for gamers to make sense of Unlimited Codes... at least until the Fate/Zero characters start showing up and screwing with the storyline. Bwuh?

And then there's this crap.

Dude.

Dude.

I love cute things, and I love dogs, but I haaaaaate the mameshiba commericals, because they are flippin' TERRIFYING.

Jesus F. Christ just LOOK AT THIS OH MY GOD it will give you nightmares!!! And that's sooooo not even the worst one.

I am still in the midst of working on the Soul Eater Scanspam Post that Ate the World. Until that shizbit is ready to post, however, here's a selection of random scans that I've been hoarding on my hard drive. There's a mixture of Teh Pretty and Teh Brain-Breakage behind this cut.

( Cuuuuuut! )

RE: The ending of Toradora!

Epic subversion of the usual shounen romance series ending is EPIC.

asdfjhka; this series is awesome. One of the best 26-episode romance series I've seen in a long, long time. And also proof positive that yes, Virginia, Japan is capable of producing a shounen romance story that wholeheartedly embraces - and ROCKS - a deeply feminist framework. And with a tsundere heroine, to boot.

Normally I don't really like the tsundere character types, because the "attractiveness" of a tsundere is usually wrapped up in the idea that she pretends to be tough and independent but actually isn't. There are notable exceptions, of course - Shana, Suzumiya Haruhi, and Tohsaka Rin immediately come to mind. And now I'm gonna go ahead and add Toradora's Taiga to that list, because she not only maintains her toughness and independence all the way through to the end, but she actually transcends (yes, and subverts) the typical tsundere heroine ending.

It probably helps, though, that the anime is based on a series of novels written by a woman. ;)

( Behind the cut: Ah! My Goddess, Fate/Unlimited Codes, and Soul Eater. Oh yeah and adult!Rin. No, seriously. )

In other news... Oh, Tsubasa. I was going to type up a recap of 210 and 211 last night, but I couldn't find an appropriate South Park clip to open the post with. Over one hundred clips of Kenny's various deaths are available online, but not a single video clip of "Kyle's dead!" to be found.

Come on, South Park. I know that Kyle died onscreen at least once. In "Imaginationland," right?

Because seriously you guys I need a KYLE'S DEAD!!! opening like burning.

Oh snap, spoiler.

Good morning, internet!

I am still on vacation with the lovely meiousei. But while we were in Tokyo, I finally bought a new scanner, as the old one was on its last legs. In order to properly inaugurate said new scanner, here's some high-res scanspam for y'all.

( Behind the cut: Ah! My Goddess, Sakura Wars, Fate/Unlimited Codes, and Soul Eater. )

Aaaaand that's it for this scanspam post. The quadruple-whammy of Animage, Animedia, Newtype, and GanGan are all going to hit the streets in a mere two days, though. I will try to have relevant Soul Eater scans posted in a timely fashion. But no promises, as I am still officially ON VACATION for the next week.

Tagged by xhoshichan!

Rules - That for 8 days you have to post something that made you happy that day. Tag 8 people to do the same~!

Things that made me happy today:

1. Being reminded, many times throughout the day, of how totally awesome my friends are. Seriously, you guys - thank you for all of the birthday warm fuzzies and gifts!!!

2. Cleaning out my refrigerator. Don't laugh. This makes me happy.

3. Discovering that there are hidden Fate/Zero characters in Unlimited Codes. Um, so, like... Amazon.co.jp, where exactly is my copy that I pre-ordered months ago?! Hey meiousei, we could totally battle each other when you come visit me next month, assuming that my copy actually arrives at some point.

I tag anybody who wants to do this, because it is awesome. ^___^

Title: Moonstone
Fandom: Fate/Stay Night
Prompt: Rin, "the end of the day"
Rating: PG-13 for gruesome offscreen demise.
Dedicated to orthoflame
Notes: Heaven's Feel/Hollow Ataraxia continuity. Tsutsuji means "azalea," and Yuriko means "lily."

( Moonstone )

I desperately needed some cheering up this evening. So here are some things that cheered me up when I saw them in the July issues of Hobby Japan and Dengeki Hobby.

( Warning: Very image heavy behind the cut. But worth it if you like awesome things THAT ARE AWESOME. )

I really need to make another Haruhi scans dump. I have such a backlog piled up, it's not even funny.

So. Kadokawa's new Specialized Super-Glossy Super-Expensive Magazine (TM) is Type Moon Ace, a magazine devoted to, you guessed it, Type Moon-created franchises.

(For those of you who don't know, Type Moon is a doujinshi-group-cum-legitimate-publisher that creates novels, manga, games, and animated works that usually center around incredibly kick-ass women. And they are also responsible for some of the finest porn currently available in the Japanese market, nay, the world.)

( So here's what the first issue of Type Moon Ace looks like. WARNING: SUPER IMAGE-INTENSIVE! )

And well, that's it. Overall, it was a really good bargain for only 780 yen. I have no idea if this magazine is going to be monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or what. But I do know that I will be buying the next issue.

We're back in business!

1.45 MB

948 KB

From Chara-Mel volume 4. Now that's more like it.

Chara-Mel, as a magazine, is fairly sucktastic. It's mostly coverage of the most pathetically crappy and generic bishoujo games and anime that you could possibly imagine. BUT for some reason they keep getting Kosuke Fujishima to draw some of the most awesome female characters EVER for the featured illustration of each issue: in the past we've had Saber, Shana, Yoko, and now Horo. And Horo is pretty awesome.

There's such a contrast between the strong, interesting women characters that Fujishima draws on the covers, versus the actual contents of each issue of Chara-Mel, that it's not even funny.

PS - If you can't see the images displayed or linked here, try viewing this post from nenena.livejournal.com instead of from your flist. Sorry, but I've got the anti-hotlinking thing going here.

I think it's kind of awesome that somebody made these. I think it's kind of creepy that some people buy these.

(This is a sequel to this, by the way.)

Yay, Tokyo Revelations today!

( Behind the cut. No real spoilers. )

And now, awesome news for the day: Capcom is finally making a proper Fate/Stay Night 3D fighting game. I say "proper" 3D fighter because I can't quite bring myself to count Fate/Tiger Colosseum as a "proper" fighting game. It's fun to have chibi characters whaling on each other, but I'd rather have the real thing, you know? Now I that I can finally have a properly-rendered Hercules and Gilgamesh whaling on each other, my life is complete.

No, wait. Not quite complete. Somebody still needs to make a Mahabharata fighter.

Death by Awesome: Saber illustrated by Kosuke Fujishima.


4.52 MB

I'd recommend right-clicking and downloading the file, rather than trying to view it online. ;)

Anyway, this is from the inaguaral issue of Chara-Mel magazine. Which, BTW, is full of m'eh. I would never have bought it if not for the Saber-by-Kosuke-Fujishima displayed on the cover. The furoku bonus that came with this issue is a sturdy little desktop standee of Saber, made from the same illustration.

Bonus Death by Awesome: ( Belldandy behind the cut. )

RE: Paris Hilton

My faith in The System has been completely restored. Thank you, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer. I've never met you in person, I've only read about you once in an AP news article, but I think that I love you.

cleolinda has articulated my exact feelings about Paris Hilton here, and in a much smarter way than I ever could have written.

And what bugs me the most about this is that Ms. Hilton STILL refuses to take responsibility for ANYTHING that she's done wrong. Argh, she reminds me of my worst maturity-challenged students. You know, the ones who will blame their parents, their friends, their dog, institutionalized racism, immigration reform, and the failures of the American/Japanese social support system for the fact that I just caught them cheating on a test by copying answers downloaded onto their cell phones.

But enough about Paris Hilton, who sucks. Here are some memes.

One for me to do: Ganked from sam_chan and meiousei: Name any character I know and I'll tell you three reasons why s/he sucks, whether or not I like that character. You can name more than one character. I like a challenge.

One that I am doing: Ganked from evercool. What's in your bag?

( Behind the cut. )

Holy shit.

That was a beautiful moment of WTFery. It was a transcendent moment of WTFery. It was like jumping a shark on waterskis made beautiful by the addition of giant robots and Pizza Hut and a machine gun.

This is why I watch Code Geass. I don't care about any of the characters. I stopped caring about the plot ages ago because it's so damn poorly written. What I do care about, however, is the sheer entertaining awfulness of the whole thing. At first, I thought that nothing could top the insanity of Episode 5. Then I thought that nothing could top the giant-pizza-tossing robot in Episode 21. And then said sheer entertaining awfulness is taken to brilliant new heights in this episode. Just brilliant I tell you.

One reason why I classify this as a WTF moment is that it completely derails the story. It's one of those moments when the metaphorical train that is the plot of the series is chugging along all nice and good, and then all of a sudden it jumps the tracks and plunges off a cliff and explodes in a big fireball of firey doom. And now the rest of us who are watching the series are left thinking, well, where does it go from here?

To illustrate what I mean by "derailing the story," let me give a few hypothetical examples:

Imagine if in the middle of Attack of the Clones, Anakin Skywalker had suddenly been eaten alive by a velociraptor.

Imagine if in the middle of an episode of Ah! My Goddess, Belldandy had dumped Keiichi, confessed her love to Aoshima, and run off with him for a Vegas wedding and a honeymoon in Tijuana.

Imagine if, during the pre-war council at Hastinapura, Yudhisthira had suddenly walked in carrying an AK-47, proceeded to mow down Duryodhana and all of the Kuru elders, and then shoot Krishna just for good measure.

That's what I mean by "derailing the story." In all these instances, we, the audience, are left scratching out heads in the aftermath, asking ourselves, "Well... What now?"

Yeah. That's kind of like what watching episode 22 of Code Geass felt like.

In other news, here's a little something from people who actually know how to write a decent epic story:
New Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua opening!

So yeah, I haven't had any chance to play the Ah! My Goddess game this weekend, due to my house being ripped apart and me living in a hotel. And I'm stuck in the hotel for the remainder of this week, which is lame, but whatever. I'm grateful to be getting a flushing toilet installed and to have the school board pay for it (the toilet, not my hotel fees, unfortunately), so I shouldn't complain. For the record, I HAVE finished half of the Past Zone (i.e., the Urd Zone). I want to double-check some translation bits, and then I'll be able to make another post about the game.

And this week, I finally - finally! - got Paypal to recognize my Japanese bank account. Which means that I can now accept Paypal payments. Which means that I can start selling off the gigantic piles of crap that have been accumulating in my apartment this year. Particularly, I have 20-some Suzumiya Haruhi Figumate figures to get rid off. Yep, I had to buy thirty of them before I got a complete set of the original seven. When they say that cosplay!Yuki is rare, they're not kidding. Anyway, I only want to keep one complete set, so I'm selling the rest. I also have piles of magazine furoku and stuff, too. Some of it is pretty cool. But now I'm torn whether to sell all of this crap NOW and deal with the stress of it when I have a million other things on my plate... Or to wait until May when things calm down more. The thing is, my family is coming to visit me in April, and I am more than slightly embarassed to have an apartment filled with nerdy anime collectibles, most of which - for the record - I got for free, I never wanted, and I have no intention of keeping.

Well, before the orgy of selling begins, here's a little something for free, courtesy of sakuraxsyaoran:

Tainaka Sachi: Symphony of Fate

Sachi Tainaka's debut album (not counting her previous singles) Dear... includes this kick-ass orchestral remix of the two Fate/Stay Night opening themes, "Disillusion" and "Kirameku Namida wa Hoshi ni". Am pimping because this music is simply awesome, even if you have no interest in Fate/Stay Night whatsoever.

Oh, and Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua? Has now officially been pushed back to an April 19th release date. That makes this the third delayed release date since the original December date got pushed back. And BTW, Amazon.co.jp is still telling me that my copy is expected to ship on January 31st. ;)

The other day I was at Heiando and saw a huge display advertising the DVD release of Yoru no Picnic. The lead actress looked veeeery familiar to me, and after a moment of thought I remembered who it was. Oh hey, it's Kou Yaten!!! Well, she's doing well for herself. I think that Tabe Mikako has officially crossed the threshold into Famous Movie Starlet, which is great for her. Yays. Now I want to see this movie just because it has Tabe Mikako in it. I may have to rent the DVD one of these days.

Finally, stolen from ruuger: The FIC WRITING MEME. Yes, this in a post in which I just complained that I'm totally not a nerdy anime dork. Nope, totally not. Not a dork, not me!

( Okay, I'm a dork. )

And now I leave you with this:

How To Be a Writer in Ten Easy Steps. IT TOTALLY WORKS YOU GUYS.