Some delivery guy just visited my house to bring me a mysterious package. I was not expecting any parcels since none of my preorders are due for release yet, so it was quite a surprise.
What I found inside was bread. Nine pieces of bread… It’s not everyday that I receive home deliveries full of nothing but bread, so you could say that it’s quite a momentous occasion.
I have EJU tomorrow morning so I’m going to make this quick, hopefully. Gah, curse man’s need to sleep.
Gundam 00 episode 6 introduces the European nation of Moralia, new equipments for Gundam Dynames and Exia and a new foe.
Shingo over at Heisei Democracy has put up a detailed time line of the recent anime-related controversies that are causing niche doujinshi artists to come under fire from mainstream Japanese media. It’s a rather disturbing development which mirrors that of the demonization of video gaming in conservative American media.
While we all had a good laugh over “Nice boat”, I think it’s about time we take a sombre look at what is perhaps the sign of worse to come.
I believe in age restrictions and having laws restricting speech that can cause direct harm (i.e. Rwanda), but I am otherwise against censorship. I have talked about similar issues in the past, so I think it’s pretty clear where I stand. As Evelyn Hall famously said,
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Correlation is not causation, leave harmless deviancy be. It is a slippery slope to hell to persecute someone for harmless drawings. Let’s ban YouTube too?
I have a small personal request. Now, I usually keep personal stuff out of this blog ever since it stopped being a place where I recount my daily activities with great attention to insignificant details and wanton cynicism. (Those were the days.) But I decided that since I have a decent local readership, it won’t hurt to abuse it once. Or twice.
Made in China
So if you are from Singapore, read on because I need your help! Foreign readers, please stay tune as this blog will soon resume its regular coverage of trashy anime series and mass-produced moé merchandises.
The next girl to be featured in Crypton Future Media’s VOCALOID2 software has been revealed. (Check out my previous post if you don’t know what is VOCALOID2.)
Kagamine Rin (é¡éŸ³ãƒªãƒ³) is a loli-looking character voiced by Asami Shimoda (下田麻美), yet another semi-obscure seiyuu who has very few titles under her name. She is most well-known for her role(s) as Ami and Mami Futami in the IDOLM@STER game. I bet it won’t be long now before we have a new IDOLM@STER game that utilizes VOCALOID technology.
Urusei Yatsura was a popular anime/manga series back in the days when dinosaurs and Betamax roamed the Earth (i.e. the 80s). It is a love comedy about an alien princess named Lum/Lamu.
There were other miscellaneous characters but we don’t talk about them any more because records of them have been long lost in the passage of time and everyone watched the show for Lum anyway.
Anyway, some twenty odd modern illustrators and mangaka drew their individualized version of Lum-chan for the new reprints of the Urusei Yatsura manga. Picture and name list after the break.
Or why I think it’s silly to harp on the past.
So, I was just minding my own business and hopping cheerily around a scenic garden with a group of bunny rabbits and frolicking deer, when “BAM!”, wildarmsheero launched a huge flaming fireball in my direction like one of those Undead Mages I had to fend off as a female Night Elf Rogue in World of Warcraft.
She is from the future!
He is hot and bothered mad about my choice of anime and blogging materials, particularly Gundam 00. It’s apparently because G00 is not “classic” enough for him. Although I do agree that G00 has more flaws than Michael Jackson‘s face, not being a “classic” is definitely not one of them.
Read his blog entry where he asserts that my blog “fucking sucks”, presumably because I blog about terrible shows that he hates with a zealous passion.
I don’t really like episode 5. It has zero politics and way too much Louise. Oh my god, what an annoying girl.
“I have no fashion sense.”
The episode does reveal a few things which I will talk about… But mostly it’s predictable fluff. And the next episode looks like Exia-pwnage galore… Sigh, where’s my politics? :(
Everyone enjoys a spot of non-authentic afternoon tea in Cure Maid Cafe or Mai:lish, but apparently letting pretty girls serve you hot beverages is simply not good enough for the fujoshi in Japan. They want cute boys instead. The nerve.
In order to fill this market demand, some consulting firm decided to open a “Boys’ School Cafe” in Harajuku that hires real male students to serve as waiters in school uniforms. The main customer base is women around 20 to 30 years old. The menu is the usual overpriced semi-Western (but not really) fare found in most maid and cosplay cafes, i.e. 1,300 yen for an unappetizing plate of pasta or Japanese curry and 300 yen for a cup of soft drink. The shop functions as a cafe in the afternoon and a bar at night.
Take a look at Cafe Edelstein’s official site. I wonder if they get any male customers?
[ Source: Shibuya Keizai Shinbun ]
Remember the 2ch hit flash animation with the spinning leek? An indie Finnish song that achieved Internet fame thanks to a fateful fusion of Japanese otaku culture, Macromedia and Bleach, Ievan Polkka lives again!
Hatsune Miku
Well, I’m in love with the song all over again thanks to this YouTube video and a crazy piece of software called VOCALOID2. Embedded after the break.
