Lightbox JS and Firefox

Posted on August 19, 2006 by DarkMirage

Balancing
The new loading image

I changed the default loading.gif of Lightbox (as you may have noticed in the post below) and modified the CSS file as best as I could to fit the new dimensions and it seems to work fine in Firefox. Click here for a demo.

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Posted in Blog, Tech | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Mahou Sensei Negima! Vol.15 Limited Edition

Posted on August 19, 2006 by DarkMirage

I happened to be near Kinokuniya yesterday when I received a call from the Japanese book counter telling me that my Negima! Vol.15 was ready for collection.

Box - Front

The limited edition is waaaay overpriced but I bought it anyway because I am a tool of the system. It comes with a DVD that contains promotional material for the new Negima! OVA.

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Posted in Manga, Money | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Beginner’s Japanese – Chapter V – Adjectives

Posted on August 16, 2006 by DarkMirage

Suzumiya-sama!!!

Finally, a new chapter! Sorry it took so long, but I’m lazy. :( This time I’ll introduce Japanese adjectives. Adjective is pretty simple in Japanese so this chapter will hopefully be clear and not as confusing as kanji…

Please make sure you’e read the previous chapters first before continuing as I won’t be explaining the things that I’ve already covered before, such as basic sentence structure and kanji, again.

Suzumiya-sama is the image girl for this chapter.

Lacus will be the image girl for the next chapter.

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Posted in Japanese | Tagged , | 35 Comments

Want your own Bunny Haruhi? Now you can!

Posted on August 16, 2006 by DarkMirage

Remember that Bunny Haruhi that everyone wanted but no one could afford?

Well, the HK website e2046 has just started taking preorders for a recast of it today.

These are unbuilt resin kits recasted from the original. It’s probably going to take many days/weeks of work to get it anywhere near the original creator’s finished sample, but hey, at least now you don’t have to pay 50,000 yen on Yahoo Auctions for the original kit only to mess it up…

Chibi Haruhi!
Someone make this into a figurine kthxbye

In fact, for 50,000 yen (400+ USD), you can order ten of those recasts and keep trying until you get it right. :3

Preorder fast if you want it. Restocks are erratic.

P.S. CHIBI HARUHI STRIKES AGAIN!!!

Posted in Figures | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Hare Hare Yukai: 100,000 copies sold

Posted on August 15, 2006 by DarkMirage

Chibi Haruhi!

From animate.tv:

TVアニメーション『涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱』EDテーマ曲「ハレ晴レユカイ」（平野 綾／茅原実里／後藤邑子）の出荷枚数が10万枚を突破したことが、8月10日付け社団法人日本レコード協会の「ゴールド等認定作品認定（2006年7月）」内にて正式に発表された。

「ゴールド等認定作品認定」とは日本レコード協会が毎月、発売日以降の累計出荷枚数に応じてゴールド、プラチナ等の認定を行っているもので、「ハレ晴レユカイ」は5月10日の発売から2ヶ月で10万枚以上出荷の「ゴールド」に認定された。

Lazy DM’s condensed translation:

Recording Industry Association of Japan announced on 10 August that “Hare Hare Yukai” has sold 100,000 copies and has been awarded the “Gold Certified Product Award” (or some silly name like that). RIAJ grades CDs into categories like Gold and Platinum according to the sales. “Hare Hare Yukai” sold 100,000 copies in two months from its release on 10 May.

And yes, I do plan on sticking Chibi Haruhi into every single post related to her from now on. :3

Posted in Anime, Music | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Seiyuu of H&C’s Takemoto hurt in traffic accident

Posted on August 15, 2006 by DarkMirage

Taken from the official Hachikuro site:

竹本役 神谷浩史さんの交通事故に関しまして
竹本役神谷浩史氏が8月7日(月)交通事故に遭われ、現在治療のため入院されております。番組としては第11話（9月7日放送）までは収録が終わっており、最終話１２話（９月１４日放送）のみ代役をたてて放送する予定です。関係者ならびにファンの皆様方には、ご心配おかけ致しまして申し訳御座いません。

Moonspeak to english:

Regarding Takemoto’s seiyuu Hiroshi Kamiya’s traffic accident
The seiyuu of Takemoto, Mr. Hiroshi Kamiya, was met with a traffic accident on 7 August (Monday) and is currently hospitalized for treatment. Recording [for Honey & Clover II] has been completed up to episode 11 (to be aired on 7 September) and the final episode 12 (to be aired on 14 September) will have a replacement seiyuu. To those concerned and to the fans of the show, we sincerely apologize for any worries caused.

I guess the last line seems a little out of place in English, but that’s what it says. It’s just how the Japanese say things, whether or not there’s anything worth apologizing for.

Must… resist… urge to… crack jokes about the dangers of cycling around Japan on the highway…

So, uhmmm, yeah, hope he’ll be alright. Although I heard that it’s not really serious so there’s probably nothing to worry about.

Posted in Anime | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Zero no Waitress

Posted on August 14, 2006 by DarkMirage

As you may have noticed, I don’t like to do episode blog entries. Usually I can’t think of anything clever to say and most anime episodes don’t give much to talk about. Sometimes I do a review of the first episode of a new series but other than that I try to stay away from what are essentially episode recaps with funny side remarks.

But episode 7 of Zero no Tsukaima has a lot of this:

Louise~
“How did I end up here?”

I mean Siesta walks around in a maid costume all the time, but you don’t get to see Louise wearing a maid-waitress hybrid every episode…

:: Potentially spoilerish pictures after the jump ::
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Posted in Anime | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Lost my music

Posted on August 12, 2006 by DarkMirage

Suzumiya-sama!!!

I think this is one of the few times where I feel that my translation actually manages to capture the full meaning of the song. Maybe it’s just my self delusions at work again.

The Japanese lyrics are really short and simple but the translated lines are much longer than average. Maybe it’s just a coincidence due to the nature of Japanese, maybe the lyricist really tried to fit all that emotions into those few lines or maybe it’s Haruhi’s compression algorithm at work again.

Whatever the case is, here’s the translation for “Lost my music“. Tell me what you think. m(_ _)m

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Posted in Anime, Music | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

1/6 Mikuru Asahina Bunny Girl PVC

Posted on August 11, 2006 by DarkMirage

Made by Art Hobby. It’s 1/6 PVC figurine of Mikuru-chan! In three different colours!

So you couldn’t get yourself down to Kobe for WHF and grab the original Haruhi Bunny resin kit, can’t afford to buy a prebuilt one off Yahoo Auctions and desperately waiting for e2046 to hurry up and release their recast already?

Well, then you are just like me. And though it’s no Haruhi, this might just be what you need to get over it:

MIKURU BEAM!!!

For more pictures, please visit Art Hobby. Sadly, the white version is a limited edition available only to those who preorder it through Chara-Ani. For some reason, I like the white one. It’s hopeless… orz

I’m still waiting for Yuki in witch costume…

Posted in Figures | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

More Comiket 70 Talk

Posted on August 11, 2006 by DarkMirage

Comiket 70 day one has ended just a few hours ago. Since Shingo from HD has yet to post his report, here’s a little something for those of you out there with nothing else better to do than to wait (like me)… It’s a bunch of screencaps taken from a TV program covering the 70th Comic Market.

Comiket Interview

Top right corner: 410,000 people over 3 days!? The massive gathering at this summer event.
Left: This person in the queue…
Bottom: …has been queuing since 5 am.

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Posted in Otaku | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments