Mai-Otome Ending Sucked

Posted on April 3, 2006 by DarkMirage

I forgot to blog about this. Please DO NOT CONTINUE reading if you have yet to watch the final two episodes.

Anyway, nothing much to say except that they still haven’t learnt from the horror that was My-HiME ending. Because the ending sucked so much, I will talk about Erstin instead. Erstin was my favourite character. She pwned my heart and my soul. Until Sunrise killed her without a flinch. But it’s okay. There was still hope. I never stopped hoping. There might be a HiME-like reset I told myself. I forced myself to believe in Sunrise even though they failed me the last time. (Stellar… *cries*)

Once again, they betrayed my trust.

Quick recap…

  • Aoi survived falling from a cliff. (perhaps some pillow merchants were taking a break at the bottom of the cliff?)
  • Sergay survived a shot to his fricking head. (titanium skull?)
  • Tomoe fell a few hundred feet and lived but I can accept that she might have survived due to her nano-machines. (who am I kidding?)
  • Nina and Arika can replace NASA’s space shuttle fleet. That’s going a bit too far, no?

So… Why the $#@$@# did Erstin have to die? Obviously she could have survived using whatever mojo powers everyone else is using! What the hell is wrong with those asshats at Sunrise!? *Adds Sunrise to list of companies he has to burn when he goes to Japan in June*

makimakimakimakimaki…

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Maaya Sakamoto’s New Single

Posted on April 1, 2006 by DarkMirage

I totally forgot about it… Maaya’s birthday was yesterday! Argh… I fail as a fanboy. Anyway, happy 26th birthday!

I received the latest Maaya club bulletin today. Looks like those people finally read my snail mail and updated my mailing address… There’s even a piece of notice inside informing members that personal information can now be edited on the club website. It must have been thanks to my complaint.

Anyway, Maaya’s new single will be released on 14th of June! w00t! I’ll be in Japan around that time, so maybe I will finally get to attend one of her live promo events… The single is a double A-side single (which I’m guessing means that both songs are equally good). The songs are “kazemachi JET” and “supika”.

風待ちジェット/スピカ（両A面シングル）
2006年6月14日　発売です。

「風待ちジェット」　作詞：坂本真綾　作曲：鈴木祥子
「スピカ」 　 作詞：坂本真綾　作編曲：h-wonder

いち早く、レギュラーラジオ番組”ビタミンM”の中でオンエアしていきますので、
チェックしてください♪

New Maaya songs are always good, but I can’t help noticing that her partnership with Yoko Kanno seems to be over for good. I sort of miss the type of songs from her Nikopachi days… Maybe I just can’t adapt to change.

Posted in Blog, Music | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

April Fool

Posted on April 1, 2006 by DarkMirage

ZOMG I am actually blogging. Could this be an April’s Fool joke? Maybe. Anyway…

Blizzard is proud to officially announce the second new race of the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion set, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade – the mysterious wisps! At the Battle of Mount Hyjal, the Burning Legion gave the world a taste of its true, terrible power. Archimonde the Defiler himself led the vanguard, crushing all who stood in his way, determined to reach the World Tree at the mountain’s peak. In the end, only one power was strong enough to destroy the insidious Archimonde: the Wisps.

Wisps

The introduction of Wisps allows a new and exciting game mechanic: permanent death. The ability that destroyed Archimonde is available to all Wisps as a racial ability. This power, Detonate, destroys the Wisp in an explosion of energy, sapping the mana of all surrounding adventurers, friend and foe alike. This should provide an extremely interesting addition to the many adventures of Warcraft, particularly when pitted against other players!
Racial Traits:

* Detonate: Destroys the wisp, dispelling all magical buffs and draining 50 mana from each unit in an area around the wisp.
* Gatherer: Skill to herbalism, mining, and skinning increased by 10.
* Permanent Death
* Treeform: Turns the wisp into a tree for 30 seconds. During this time, spirit is increased by 300. However, the wisp’s chance to dodge or parry axes is reduced by 50%.

lol.

On a seperate note, Tokyo Toshokan has been taken down by the Department of Justice! On the first of April no less! Oh noz! No worries, just redirect your browser to http://tokyotosho.com/index.php and note the category icons…

Posted in Anime, Blog, Games | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Mai-Otome GEM List

Posted on March 28, 2006 by DarkMirage

This is a list of all the GEMs in Mai-Otome transliterated and translated (albeit somewhat poorly) by yours truly. I am hardcore!

Name
GEM romaji
Translation
[nationality and/or other notes]

Arika
蒼天の青玉 souten no seigyoku
Sapphire of Azure Sky
[Windbloom, but born in Galleria]

Nina
漆黒の金剛石 shikkoku no kongouseki
Diamond of Pitch Black
[Altai]

Mai
炎綬の紅玉 enju no kougyoku
Ruby of Flaming Ribbon
[Zipang]

Sala
銀河の藍玉 ginga no rangyoku
Aquamarine of Galaxy
[First Pillar]

Natsuki
氷雪の銀水晶 hyousetsu no ginzuishou
Silver Crystal of Ice
[Second Pillar]

Shizuru
嬌嫣の紫水晶 kyouen no murasakisuishou
Amethyst of Graceful Beauty
[Third Pillar; born in Windbloom]

Juliet (Nao)
破弦の尖晶石 hagen no senshouseki
Spinel of Broken Chord
[Fourth Pillar; born in Altai]

Maaya
怜踊の蛍石 reiyou no hotaruishi
Flourite of Spirited Dancing (?)
[Fifth Pillar]

Maria
久遠の碧玉 kyuuen no hekigyoku
Jasper of Eternity
[born in Old Lutecia]

Yukariko
幻惑の瑠璃 genwaku no ruri
Lapis Lazuli of Glamour
[born in Florence]

Tomoe / Chie
呪詛の黒曜石 juzo no kokuyouseki
Obsidian of Malediction
[Valkyrie]

Shiho
螺旋の蛇紋石 rasen no jamonseki
Serpentine of Helix
[Cardea; makimaki]

Fia
塊麗の縞瑪瑙 kenrei no shimamenou
Onyx of Potent Beauty
[Cardea]

Haruka
珠洲の黄玉 suzu no kougyoku
Topaz of Jewelled Island (?)
[Aries]

Ein
慧命の藍銅鉱 emyou no randoukou
Lazurite of Wisdom
[Annam]

Karla
雷鳴の柘榴石 raimei no zakuroishi
Garnet of Thunder
[Lutecia; her master is the queen]

Laura
絢爛の頑火輝石 kenran no gankakiseki
Enstatite of Brilliance
[Lutecia; her master is the king]

Rosalie
清恋の孔雀石（～13話） seiren no kujakuseki (ep 1-13)
Malachite of Pure Love
深淵の翡翠（24話～） shin’en no hisui (ep 24+)
Jade of Abyss
[Florence; she was supposed to retire and get married]

Akane
清恋の孔雀石（13話） seiren no kujakuseki (ep 13)
Malachite of Pure Love
[eloped and ruined Rosalie’s marriage]

Monica
流水の透輝石 ryuusui no toukiseki
Diopside of Flowing Water
[Cardea; not important]

Rena
蒼天の青玉 souten no seigyoku
Sapphire of Azure Sky
[bored in Galleria; shinso of the Valkyries]

Fumi
真白なる金剛石 mashiro naru kongouseki
Diamond of Pure White
[shinso of the Five Pillars]

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Status Report

Posted on March 24, 2006 by DarkMirage

I’m still alive. Yay. I just kept forgetting to blog. ＿|ï¿£|O Here’s what happened in the week that has passed since my last update…

I watched Nana the movie finally. In fact I was writing quite a lengthy review on it but I stopped halfway due to my laziness and now it’s saved as an invisible private entry on this page until the time comes when I feel like finishing it. Mika Nakashima <3<3<3<3<3 The story is quite good although the ending is somewhat… short. I’m somewhat tempted to start collecting the manga but I’ll decide after I watch the upcoming anime series.

I also rewatched Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure and the first few episodes of Kimagure Orange Road… Nostalgia overflow~ Madoka Ayukawa <3<3<3<3<3

I think I’ll be preordering Da Capo II…

Anyway, I was in Funan DigitalLife Mall today and I noticed this peculiar sight…

Xbox 360 in an official Apple store
Someone tell me what the hell is happening here.

Yes, you see that right. There’s a fricking Xbox 360 booth located inside an official Apple store. And the HD monitor isn’t even made by Apple. (It’s LG) I know that almost every store in Funan is promoting Xbox 360 but this is just too weird. Maybe the Apple staff thought that the white colour case matches the iPod display? And before you know it Microsoft will be bundling iPods with 360 premium packs…

Oh well, more blogging tomorrow… possibly. (At least I hope to finish that Nana review.)

Posted in Anime, Blog, Tech | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Fate/Stay Night OP and ED Singles

Posted on March 15, 2006 by DarkMirage

Look at what the postman just brought. I <3 CDJapan.

Fate/Stay Night

First pressing of disillusion by Sachi Tainaka and Anata ga Ita Mori by Jyukai. Woohoo! (Yeah, that’s two copies of each.) I’m still trying to decide if I should open them up.

And speaking of anime music, I need to know the lyrics for the fourth stanza of Hoshi ga Kanaderu Monogatari from episode 22 of Mai-Otome. I’m quite certain that the fansubs are wrong but I can’t make out the singing because of all the fighting that’s going on. Can’t wait till OST 3.

P.S. Miyu may have changed her name, but she still rocks. ^^

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Another Shuffle! Sequel

Posted on March 13, 2006 by DarkMirage

I actually read about this on someone’s blog a while ago but I can’t remember where. Anyway, Shuffle! is getting a second sequel similar to Tick! Tack! except that it continues from Kaede’s ending instead of Nerine’s. As much as I depise everything about Kaede, as a casual fan of the Shuffle! series I must say that it’s a piece of good news. After all, this means that an Asa sequel (with a Kareha path!?) is not an impossibility… Mmmmm…

Apparently Comptiq has all the scoop on this new game and because I have yet to pick up my April issue, here’s a picture of its cover from the latest issue of Newtype instead.

Comptiq April 2006 Cover

*Stabs Kaede*

I wonder what the new game will be called.

Posted in Anime, Games | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments

My New Laptop

Posted on March 13, 2006 by DarkMirage

I went to IT Show 2006 at Suntec City yesterday. Xbox 360 took up a huuuge booth. Meh. Nintendo took two for some reason. And they didn’t even have any DS Lites on display. Anyway, the main reason for my trip was to splurge put my savings to good use and pick up a laptop. My main requirements were:

  1. Intel Core Duo
  2. Less than 2.5 kg
  3. Glossy widescreen
  4. Well-cooled
  5. Non-integrated graphics maybe…

After collecting handouts from every major brand name except Dell and HP (…seriously), I was torn between Asus and Samsung. Both are 15.4 inch WXGA and 80 gb HDD. The Asus one is slightly heavier than my requirement but has dedicated graphics (X1400 Radeon if I remember correctly). The Samsung one is nearly 300 SGD cheaper and weighs only 2.48 kg, but has 512mb of RAM instead of 1gig, and Intel GMA 950 graphics.

I couldn’t decide, so the Samsung salesperson threw in a free upgrade to 1gig RAM (which sealed the deal) and a 100gb USB external harddrive (which I didn’t really care for). And now I’m the proud owner of a Intel Core Duo Samsung X60. Weee.

X60

It’s very cool and quiet, which is probably not possible on a laptop with dedicated graphics. I probably won’t be using it for games anyway. (At least not the ones that require 3D acceleration… if you know what I mean. *cough*)

X60

The full specs are:

  • Intel Core Duo T2300 (1.66 GHz)
  • 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
  • 80GB 5400RPM HDD
  • DVD-RAM drive
  • 15.4 inch TFT WXGA
  • SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, xD reader
  • Bluetooth, Wi-fi a/b/g, Firewire, VGA-out, S-video out

It’s very fast. I don’t notice any performance difference when multi-tasking as compared to my AMD-64 3500 with 2gig RAM desktop. Of course, I don’t think I’ll be running World of Warcraft on it…

Speaking of which…

Zephiris, lvl 60 Night Elf Rogue
Zephiris, lvl 60 Night Elf Rogue

Epic kitties are t3h win! Sadly, I’m only half-equiped with Shadowcraft and my mainhand sword is a lvl 51 quest reward. Sigh… Well that’s one two New Year resolutions done…

More blogging later.

Posted in Blog, Money, Tech | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Myelination

Posted on March 8, 2006 by DarkMirage

Just got home from the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. I’m taking a three-day workshop there on myelin and neurones or something like that. I’m not exactly sure what went on today since I was in a constant state of semi-zombified near coma. It was something about growing processes similar to dendrons and axons of a neurone using tumorous PC12 cells that have the same biohazard safety rating as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Or something like that. Whatever.

Two more days of this to go… Argh. School holidays next week. More blogging then. No, really.

P.S. I’m still trying to decide whether I should preorder Da Capo II.

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WoW Drama

Posted on March 2, 2006 by DarkMirage

I didn’t notice this until I checked through my RSS feeds today. Terrorist Guild Holds WoW Server Hostage.

The Imperial Order, a World of Warcraft guild on the Detheroc server, is holding the server hostage. The guild has completed the various quests needed to obtain a septer used to ring a gong. Ringing the gong will open the gates giving everyone on the server access to new content, but the guild refuses to do it. At least, they refuse to do it until someone pays them 5,000 gold.

They say they’d rather be known as the obnoxious guild that held their server hostage than forgotten as the kind guild that opened new content.

Yeah, that’s the server I’m playing on. No one bothered to pay and IO eventually opened the gate anyway. Seriously, with the stuff you can get in AQ, who needs 5000g?

The second part of the drama.

Just a few hours after we reported on one guild’s apparent vicegrip over a server, the thread has been deleted and the guild, Imperial Order, revealed that it was all just a big joke.

However, just because it was in jest, doesn’t make it any less worth mentioning. Tony over at Clickable Culture didn’t think of it in terms of “terrorism,” but rather “opprotunism.”

Had Imperial Order been serious and the only guild able to open up new content, Blizzard would’ve been effectively stepping aside to allow the players of Detheroc (the realm) tell the story of the opening of the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj. More and more MMOs need to move in this direction. Do I mean promoting terrorism or opprotunism (depending on your view)? No. MMOs need to allow for more player-driven content, there’s a couple out there that do it – EVE immediately comes to mind. If Blizzard (and I mention them because of their success they are most likely to be copycatted) finds a way to allow players to drive the storyline of World of Warcraft and allow players to impact the game world, MMOs in the long run will be much better off for it.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Meh. I’m still lvl 59 so I can’t be bothered either way.

Posted in Games | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments