Making the Contract

If I had to choose only one anime series to watch this year, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica would be it. The title makes one think that it will be some Magical-Girl show directed towards adolescents. Do not be fooled! It is much more than that! No anime has gotten this much attention since The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It is captivating, heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, and anger-inducing. It is the best series the anime industry has seen in years.

So make a contract me and watch it.
In return, I will grant you any wish. ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼

A friend of mine posted an AMV in her blog, and I thought I would share it with all of you as well.

Catching up on updates: Gosick

Gosick is an anime that aired for the Winter 2010/2011 cours to July 2011. This 26-episode series takes place in a 1924, in a small European nation called Sauville. It is about a beautiful, mysterious, fairy-like girl by the name of Victorique du Blois, and a young Japanese foreign transfer student, Kazuya Kujo, and their adventures in solving the mysteries behind urban ledgends and horror stories. But Victorique is much more interested in the "real" mysteries, and uses her unrivaled logic to solve those that the town's famous detective can't. It seems like all fun and games until reality catches up with them, and they are faced in a situation that may separate them for good.

This anime isn't as much about the mystery as it is with the adventure, so if you're looking for a hardcore mystery series like Detective Conan, look somewhere else. But if you don't mind a little adventure with a loli detective, this is one for you! Based on the light novel series by Sakuraba Kazuki, Gosick is the show to watch for 2011.

Bass Cover: Destin Histoire - yoshiki＊lisa - Gosick OP


Bass Cover: Resuscitated Hope - Komine Lisa - Gosick ED1

xeron's Life Update

In the months since my review for Amagami SS, I have been extremely busy with real-life stuff: mostly school, and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. One of the things I've learned over this short period of time, though is that things rarely go your way, and I have been screwed over more times than I can count by my university, by Army ROTC, and others.

I walked the stage to graduate from my university just over 2 months ago. Then got an email saying that I was still short a credit, and didn't meet the requirements. The only class offered for me in my position was a 4-credit class, which cost me over $630 out-of-pocket. In addition, last week, my university charged me for on-campus housing for the summer term because I didn't graduate. That's another $2200 in unexpected expenses. Army ROTC is not happy with what's been going on, and are considering "letting me go." Now, I'm at risk for having to pay back over $42,000 in scholarship money, most of which, paid for 5 years of rent, gas, food, and clothes.

Things are looking bleak. During my on-going 6-week course, I have applied to many part-time positions, submitted résumés, even responded to classified ads with absolutely no responses. With no income, I am crashing at a friend's apartment until the summer term ends (I had to move away from home *again* just to take this class). It is the ultimate suckage.

But I still try to keep myself optimistic. I continue to broaden and develop various skills that could help me in the future, although irrelevant in my field of study: photography, coding... heck, I'm even helping a fansubbing group now, so I can brush up on my Japanese. I continue to prepare myself for the OAT exam for optometry school. It's hard, though. I am trying to break free from an uncomfortable "comfort zone" that is making every effort to keep me down. Until August 3rd, I will be doing my fucking best to escape what I have been starting to think is a "conspiracy" against me.


tl;dr - I've been too busy getting screwed over to post anything here. Doing my best to stay sane.

Amagami SS Review

*sigh* It's becoming more and more difficult for me to update on a regular basis.  Luckily I was able to write up a some thoughts about Amagami SS on a couple of Post-It Notes when I finished the series on Dec. 24, 2010.  I didn't go into too much detail, but here is what I wrote:
----

As a series, I think Amagami SS is pretty solid, maybe even something to write home about... It's not "amazing", but it kept me plenty entertained through it's entire run, from the back-of-the-knee-licking, to the so-cute-you'll-melt Sae, to the spit-personality Ayatsuji. Even if none of the arcs really gave enough closure, this will be a series that will not be easily forgotten. For that I'd give this a very generous 8/10. Now, if they sweeten the deal with a Miya-chan OVA arc... just maybe--- lol...

Having the series end on Christmas Eve is a nice touch, though... At first I thought it was a bit awkward having a Christmas theme since it started in the summer, but I guess it was for the "greater good." Bonus points for that.
----

If you didn't know by now, Amagami SS was broken up into separate story arcs, each independent of each other, and each starting from the very beginning.  It might seem repetitive to some, but I thought it was interesting seeing the different storylines-- Kinda like playing the PS2 game :D

Note that I didn't get into character development because there really wasn't much of any. With each character arc being roughly four episodes long, you're pretty much stuck with the heartbroken and hormone-driven Junichi on repeat throughout the entire series.  Not exactly a bad thing, but not necessarily great, either.  Regardless, I can recommend this to anyone who enjoys mild fan-service, harem-type animes, and has a thing for very cute 2D girls.

(hm... I wonder when my next post will be... :p)

Pray For Japan

"Summing up my prayers to 140 characters, I softly devote them to you..."
I spotted this Vocaloid PV titled "Pray for" with the intent of having it translated quickly, but it seems several people beat me to the punch.  So I present to you an English translation by Moetron-Subs.



Japan is undergoing a very rough crisis right now, and it's likely to worsen with the developing situation with the Fukushima nuclear plants. I ask you to please, take the time to donate to the Japanese Red Cross in their time of need. Every little bit you can give will help the countless victims affected by the earthquake and tsunami. You can donate through Google Checkout in the link below:

Japanese Red Cross Society

日本は一人じゃない。#prayforjapan

Two Years Already?

What can I say? Time certainly does fly! Due to my hectic personal schedule, I just haven't had much time to write up anime reviews. It's been a couple of months since I finished K-On!! and Working!, and I just finished watching Amagami SS last week.  I think my favorite series of the Winter 2010 cours would have to go to Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai (My Little Sister Can't Possibly Be This Cute!). I have yet to start on To Aru Majutsu no Index II and Motto To-Love-RU.  In terms of actual reviews, I would like to get stuff written up for Amagami SS and Ore-imo at the very least.  As for what the next round of anime will bring us? Heck, I haven't even checked...orz

In other news, I just wrapped up a side-project remastering some old audio of the Kanon radio series, The Snow Talks Memories.  The project is simply a ten-year tribute to the series which essentially helped promote the Drama CDs and the Sega Dreamcast release of the Kanon Visual Novel.  The final episode should be uploaded to YouTube within a couple of hours. You can find them in the Playlists section of my YouTube channel (link in the side bar).

That's wraps up the two-year anniversary update of Aniphoria--- Hope everyone has had good holiday so far, and is looking forward to the new year!

(Hmm... I should make a new banner at some point.)

Special: New York Anime Festival - Cosplay Videos

I ran into these videos last night on YouTube.  I saw many of these cosplayers in person, and the costumes were very well made.  Maybe I might cosplay next year? Haha...

Special shoutout to acksonl for posting these videos.

Special: New York Anime Festival 2010 - Part 2

I either have to pick a better travel companion next time or train the one I have now. She just would NOT wake up, and to leave her behind would be thoughtless and irresponsible of me. Didn't get to Javits center until around 11:00am, and by that time, the all the autograph tickets for Minori Chihara have been handed out. From my understanding, there have been people camping outside since before 5:00am waiting to get a hold of a ticket, and they didn't even start distribution until 7:00am!

Mourning my loss, I proceeded to go ahead and check out the the Hatsune Miku concert screening at the 1E concourse. The line was already packed, but I went ahead and took my chances and got in line and waited until the current panel was over. Around 11:45am, the doors opened, and... no one came out. Due to the lack of space, staff and security would not let anyone in line inside either. This resulted in many upset Vocaloid fans, including myself. At least I would be able to get a hold of the Miku Hatsune Thanksgiving Day Concert Limited Edition Blu-Ray, which retails at ¥7350 (approx 90 USD). The $100 convention price was nothing to complain about: didn't have to wait for shipping, and heck, it came with a free poster (which I failed to get autographed by Hiroyuki Ito...)

 

It was later announced via the NYAF Official Website that because of the great demand, they would be holding an encore presentation of the Hatsune Miku concert at 8:00pm.  Bah, I would be at the Minori Chihara concert by then.  So mourning my second loss of the day, I went ahead to the show floor and got some cosplay pics and later grabbed lunch.  Unfortunately, I lost track of time and missed the Cristina Vee panel around 12:30pm.  Yeah, Saturday was pretty much a fail day.  Especially when my camera died out in the middle of my photographic shooting spree.

Shortly after, my camera battery gave out (due to doing direct internet uploads from the camera...) Missed out on soooo many good cosplays, but I found a YouTube user who posted a couple of absolutely wonderful cosplay videos, which I will include in another post later on.

The night concluded with the Minori Chihara concert, and with VIP front-row seating, it essentially was one of the major highlights of my waking life.  It was, simply put, incredible, and it more than made up for the things I missed out on earlier in the day. Just a sampling of some of her performances: "Keikenchi Joushouchuu" (経験値上昇中☆) from Minami-ke, "Yasashii Boukyaku" (優しい忘却) from The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, and, of course, "Hare Hare Yukai" (ハレ晴れユカイ), the popular ending theme song from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Part 3 coming soon!