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Monday, October 9, 2006
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Experimental Comic Kotone #491 "Laika 56"
(Story Arc: Laika story arc)

Comic Strip

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"Laika 56" by Akira
(2006-10-09)

2006/10/09 23:50 - I think I'll be able to finish the page within few hours...

2006/10/10 08:20 - I tried to wake up early in the morning, but failed. I'll try to finish the page when I get back from work.

2006/10/11 2:20 - Page was finally done. Laika's dialogs took more than I thought. It was very difficult, since it's the key point of this flashback. It's clearly explains why Laika became like she is now. It took me 55 pages to reach this point and I'm quite relieved... Now I need to spend additional 50 pages or so to save her from this curse... -_-; Sigh...

Characters tend to monolog a lot in bed in my comic strips. That's because I do that a lot... -_-;

Animation review continues.

  • Kiniro no Corda #2 (B-)
    So now I understand how this series will go. She'll gain experiences through various events and it'll make her music better.

  • Galaxy Angel Rune #2 (B-)
    I kind of enjoy the opening dancing sequence -_-; Story is strange as always, but I really wish they go back to two 15 minutes stories, rather than one 30 minutes episode... I think shorter story best fits Galaxy Angel...

  • Otomeha Bokuni Koishiteru #1 (C+)
    Is it another "Da Carpo"? Character design looks exactly like D.C. Although, I don't know why they changed the character designs so much. I like the original design better... I only finished Kanako scenario, but I enjoyed it very much (she's tsundere, after all).

  • Kujibiki Unbalance #1 (C+)
    Anime series within "Genshiken" anime. Otaku people are complaining that the new episodes of Genshiken (with Chika Ogiue) will be included as OMAKE/extra of "Kujibiki Unbalance" DVD... Anime started out as a typical anime series. Next episode was introduced by Ogiue and Madarame from Genshiken, interesting.

  • Gift #1 (C+)
    It's one of the love-sim (gal-game) with a 'miracle' setting. I assume something really bad happens at the end, but everything will be solved by a miracle. Anyway, I haven't played this game, so I don't know what's about. It's another "Da Carpo" clone?

  • Giniro no Olynssis #1 (C)
    "Gundam Seed"? Maybe "Soukyuu no Fafner" is closer? Story started out in a very typical style... I liked Fafner mecha designs better.

Please write your comment to this strip at pOnju forum

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
"BloodGod" by Konstantin
(2006-10-10)

1 case, 9 hard drives Way back in the dark ages of digital anime distribution, before the advent of BitTorrent, my friends and I have come up with the brilliant idea of pooling our funds to put together a massive (by that era's standards) 400GB FTP server and opening it up to all the anime fans we knew. That way, instead of scouring IRC channels, FTP sites, and Usenet newsgroups for episodes, we could just sit back and let the anime come to us. We named it BloodGod, due to a preponderance of Warhammer 40K fanboys in our group. We even talked Akira into drawing us a mascot for the server, and have been pestering all the artists we knew to put together their own renditions of BiGiko ever since. That machine lasted for a couple of years, eventually fading into obscurity, partly due to Network Services getting wise to all the rampant piracy happening on campus and throttling everyone's bandwidth, partly due to our moving off-campus, and partly due to a hard drive crash that wiped all our data (protip: never put 5 drives in RAID0).

The idea of having a massive server stuck around, though, so once we found gainful employment, money was pooled again and BloodGod2 was born, with six 200GB drives set up in RAID5 for a terabyte of anime goodness. Although BitTorrent was already in full swing at that point, and getting recent shows was as easy as refreshing Animesuki, a server still made sense because storing all those fansubs on redundantly protected hard drives was (and still is) both more reliable and less time-consuming than burning them all to DVD. When I finally assembled the machine, I remember looking at it in awe and wondering how long it would take us to fill it up. Turns out, just a bit over two years. With Japan ramping up anime production, and fansubbers doing a remarkable job keeping up, there's been enough stuff coming out to keep BG2's copy of Azureus busy 24/7 for the past couple of years.

So what do you do when you fill a terabyte server with anime? Build a two-terabyte server, of course, and donate the old one to the storage-starved otaku on campus. Pictured above is BloodGod Mk. 3 in all its terrible glory (or terrible cabling, as the case may be), with eight 320GB drives in RAID5, enough processor power to let it take over as the media box, and a case with enough sound shielding to make it all nearly inaudible.

Finished setting it up over the weekend and been downloading and watching the new season of anime on it since. I'll put up my first impressions next week, but for now I'll just say that the new Kanon series rocks my world, and seems bound to continue doing so for the rest of the year.

Thursday, October 12, 2006
"Saimoe, Fall anime, and Hugurashi Analysis" by Totaku
(2006-10-12)

It seems lately, I keep get myself into lots of perdicerments as I have lots of work that keeps me busy and makes me unable to update, thankfully the pruessure is lifted for now.

Anyways, In Saimoe, we are now in the Block Finals, and it seems the days just continue to get more vicious as we count down to the top Moe.

In the first round Eri from School Rumble just barely managed to overcome the challenge of Mion Sonazaki from Higrashi within 5 votes.

Follow this up with the Fate vs. Nanoha where in the end Fate was the one befriending Nanoha and thus Fate advanced forward.

Just recently, we had saw that Chikaru from StrawBerry Panic made a shocking impression by taking out Shinku.

...and now we are currently in Block D with Suiseiseki of Rozen Maiden vs. Alice Carroll of ARIA.

the rest of the week will continue with more intesne matches including Yuki vs. Mikuru, Shana vs. Aruru, Rin vs. Yurie, Tamoa vs. Eruru...

Once this fight was over, then the remaining eight will be shuffled and placed in the quarter finals....anything can happen at this point and it looks like this year, Saimoe continues to surpise us as ever.

For more info and conversation regarding the event, feel free to come to the thread and we can discuss the remain part of the tournament and also learn how to vote if interested.

The next thing on the list is to talk about Fall animes. It seems this year has been full of good stuff and it seems that it just keeps coming....

As for this season, I have plans to watch 6 different animes (if I have the time). The Kanon remake, Negima?!, Bartender, Death Note, Kujibiki Unbalanced, and Happiness! Lemme give you a quick idea on my thoughts on these...

Kanon- This version is a remake of the old 2002 version and it based on a visual novel by KEY. I've had a chance to see the first episode of this and I was litterally taken off my feet by it's beauty and love. This is an anime that will probably become memorable epecially since Kyoto Animations is working on this. Everything about it is remrkably beautiful and pretty, and yet I feel something tragic will happen as well. I shall be definetely looking at this one.

Negima!?- Ok, I know I didn't see the first Negima, but after hearing how bad off the first anime format of Ken Akamatsu's manga was I knew I needed to stay away. This time however the Pani Poni Dash team is working on this...and it is taking a whole new direction in this revivsion, alot of things are going to change here, I'm not sure if I'll like it or not, but it's worth taking a shot....(PS: Be sure to look at all the quote references to QUALITY anime on the chalk board on the first episode, it's a laugh. XD)

Bartender- Huh? What? An anime about a Bartender.....serve me up a couple of good ones cause this look like it might have some serious potential! (I'll check on this later)

Death Note I'm certain people already heard of this. But as you know Death Note is now in anime format. I had werid thoughts on how they would approch it since I consider Death Notes style is unique compared to most styles....but in the end, this anime has turned out to b a winner. Definetely worth looking into.

Kujibiki Unbalanced This one was sorta a surprise too. Considering how good Genshinken was, I would have never thought the team behind this would even try to make an anime off of the parody anime which the whole club tema form Genshinken watched. XD This might be interesting....but only if it can be good. I noticed some QUALITY moments in it that makes me wonder if it'll be worth it. But I'll give it some time. I expect it'll get better. ^^

Happiness! If you heard of the game and played it from that point and liked it...good. But if you heard of it due to the Jun fandom that has been spread across the net....then you all have probably been facinated in see your lovable trap in anime format. It seems every where I go I hear about Jun and seen Jun all the time. I can see why people like Jun, he is probably the most interesting trap to waltz in since Bridget....ahem....Anyways, the anime is based on the game from the same title. And it'll probably turn out good for a Magical Girl Harem....for all the Jun lovers out there....please don't expect Jun to be the main focus. ^^;; We all know his role is minor even though we love him to death. ^^;;;;;

Hehe, ok now to finsh up my rant with my Analysis on Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni analysis

Welcome to Hinamizawa

The year is 1983, and we are in a small village called Hinamizawa, a small peaceful village where life seems normal...however....things aren't always what they seem....lately a string a murders have been occuring in his small town. During every June on the Watanagashi Festival, somebody dies, and somebody disappears... this leads to many to belive that this is the "curse" from a god known as "Oyashiro-sama". But during this June....things would take a shocking turn as certain charaters fall into the path of insanity within each arc....so what is behind the muders? What is the mystery of the village? Who is Oyashiro-sama? The mystery itself unfold as the viewer watch this horrifiying anime as they try to perdict what is happening. Can you figure out what is behind all this?....

Meeting the people of Hinamizawa

Hinamizawa is full of all sorts of interesting people....and yet in each arc we get to see certain things chance between them.

Keiichi- Keiichi is a young student who moved to Hinamizawa not too long ago. He's been attending a school that he's been having a wonderful time at, He's even made four friends (who are all girls) that he hangs out with and attends thier club. However, Keiichi also has a shadowed past as well. What could he be hiding....I wonder, I wonder....

Rena- Rena Ryuguu, one of Keiichi's friends....she a nice and kind hearted girl, who has a loving way of talking and has an obbsession on cute things. She along with her friends also attendes the club. But like Keiichi, she also has secerts too....

Mion- Mion Sonozaki, another friend of Keiichi, she's the club leader of the club that all her firends attends. She has a nice, sharp, smart aleck personality, and is loveable to live with. But at the same time, she also lives the life of a Yakuza hier to a family organization that runs the village....what could she be hiding?

Satoko-Satoko Houjou, another friend of Keiichi, she may be younger than most of the people in the club, but she also a clever girl and sneaky too. She is also known as the master of the traps. But she has a troubled life as well......what can it be?

Rika- Rika Furude, a friend of Keiichi as well and roughly the same age as Satoko. Rika may be a little girl by nature, but she also is a cute loveable girl because of her nice personality and her cute phrases such as "Mi~" and "Ni-pa~" which makes anyone think of her as cute. She is also the head Priestress that performs in the Feasitval each year....but she has something mysterious about her as well....

Shion- Shion Sonozaki, an identical twin sister of Mion. Work as a waitress in Hinamizawa. Shion has a nice going personality as well and can be smart alecky if she wants...but being that she's connected with Mion....she too is a mystery.....

Tomitake- A camera man, who appears one day in Hinamizawa to take pictures and check out the village, loving guy and nice person. He comes to the village each year, however on June 1983......

Takano-A woman who works a a nurse in Hinamizawa, she also takes a day off to hang with Takano (she knows him) on the day of the Feasitval. Have has a modest like personality...however on June 1983.....

Ooishi- Vertran Police Detective who has been coming to Hinamizawa to invesitgate the scene of murders that have been occuring during the same year. He want to hopfully solve this mystery soon, but can he?

Irie-A doctor in Hinamizawa, works there to help the sick, he also is a nice going man, he also manages a baseball team as well. But can a doctor be hiding something?....

Arasakasa- A young police officer who visits Hinamizawa back in 1978. He came thier to investigate a kidnaping that occured....but he also recives a forwarned message as well form a certain someone....

Looking into the arcs

The Question Arcs

The question arc are 4 dirrent chapters that go through various situations of the same charaters. We get to learn about the charaters and what goes on and we get to see how thing spiral downward as someone goes insane and it leads to some creepy killing. And yet it seems the main charater of each of the story dies....so what do in that occasion? Simply Reset and relook at it in another way. The 4 arc repesent sent the same place, but yet different situations....All you should be doing is gathering information and coming up with theories as of this point....

The Answer Arc

The Answer arc unvails the mysteries in a different light by helping you get some nessary clues to help solve the mystery. there are a total of 4 chapters in this arc as well. And as you look though these,,,,your answers behind who done it, the mystery of the town, and the myths will all be solved over time....The anime however stops after the 6th arc....but by then you should have enough information to center your mystery done to someone at least....

Impression on the anime

Well I've seen the whole thing and I have to say I enjoyed it pretty much. What I explained above, is a good idea of how the atmoshpere of the game is like and you'll learn more as you watch it. You can get really deep into this anime if you like to go solve mystery or just like really scary stuff. While it is promising, I would like to note that the anime only covers roughly 33% of what the sound novel covers. But it does cover the most vital information that you will need. The charaters are all loveable, and the intensity is great but there are times that I wish the animation quality was better As during some animations the charaters looks creepy during certain animation movements. But even though all this, it still somewhat captutes the feel to an extent.

Highlights of the anime

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

1st arc- The whole first arc is very creepy in genral. ALot of scary stuff happens to Keiichi that drives him into panic and fear....And Rena is also got some promising Highlight with her creepy scene (epecially in Episode3 and 4) This also include the scene with the door which is very heart trembling...

Rika's Prohecy This part was a big shock when I saw the 4th arc cause it started to make some of the puzzles I been trying to solve fit together. This part is very crtial too.

Shion's spiral into Insanity: 5th Arc While the second arc, may have left you guessing, the fifth arc let you know alot, epecially since we learn alot about Shion, and watching her fall down instanty road is a trip. The arc was excellent in many ways....

Keiichi vs. Rena rooftop showdown While not as epic as the game, the anime does manage to capture it to a goood extent, even if the animtion is a little jerky. Worth it for finally....

Not a highlight, but an important fact....

Good Ending in my 6th Arc? The way the anime ends is sort of a confusing note...cause it ends like a good ending but not exactly a good ending. For some odd reason DEEN decided to skip the "plot twist" that would explain what happpen and just jumped to a small portion of the 7th arc as it's final piece for the show....not exaclty a good way to end it....but whatever....

END SPOILER

Well that conclude it here...feel free to send comments in the forum if you like...it'll next time.
Ja Matta. ^_^
-Totaku