Hello World.

Have not blogged in such a long time. Amagami SS+, Strike Witches movie. So many things have happened in this past year. What will happen in the future? What of my blog? Who knows.

Special English lesson

Anime: noun
plural-Anime

There’s no such thing as Animes. I will chokeslam whoever uses the word “animes” in front of me.

A little apology for AFA

After I read this article I couldn’t help feel a tiny tinge of pain.They say the truth hurts and it does. AFA’s organization has hardly improved and the increasing price discrimination is abhorrent but I must say something in defense of AFA.

I shall be posting quotes from the article since the link itself is interspersed with many photos.

One week prior to the event, tickets were made available online. However, AFA chose to distribute the tickets through some completely unprofessional blogs. One of them was even some shabbily put together Live Journal page. I sure as hell wasn’t going to trust such a site with my credit card information.

Singapore isn’t well-known for it’s webpage designers. Most of these sites were for real brick-and-mortar stores to update their latest goods and I presume the “shabbily put together LiveJournal page” refers to locally well-known anime goods shop Rapid Culture. As far as the actual stores are concerned they are almost household names in the local otaku community and I could see why AFA chose to distribute them in this way. It was only unfortunate then that the writer seemed unfamiliar with these “blogs”.

…anime, manga and whatever else passes off as “Japanese” culture these days.

and later,

Still would had been nice to have everyone with glow sticks cheering for AKB48, who are currently Japan’s Number One artists, as opposed to a bunch of anisong singers who spend their entire year going from one overseas convention to another.

The name of the convention is  <ANIME FESTIVAL ASIA> of course, these “bunch of anisong singers” are going to get a big reception. Despite its motto of “maximum JPOP culture” AFA is always going to be a anime/manga focused event. AKB48 may be more popular than Aniki, but they were always going to be a side-event. They were probably only flown here thanks to the group’s founder appearance for the Cool Japan conference. Speaking of which, is the Japanese government’s own effort to spread Japanese “culture” to other countries. So can we judge what they claim is their own culture?

What I don’t get is that while the maids cafes are empty throughout the year in Singapore, throwing in the fun of queuing seems to make it a brand new experience.

Well you know how Singaporeans are. And Otakus in general. ‘EXCLOOSIVES?’ QUEUEQUEUEQUEUE This is something I’ve observed from photos and accounts of events like WonFes and Comiket. Really, Singaporeans+Otaku is a class skilled in the art of Queuing. Yours truly is perhaps an exception to that. Blame my ADHD for being unable to stay in a queue for long.

That concludes it for now. It’s only a few paragraphs but this does gives you an idea of how little there is to defend. I would write my own views on the events but it would probably be yet another complaint-filled list that’s similar to everybody else’s.

Blog is dead again

Sorry men have to take what are called “exams” from time to time, whether be it in school or work.

The word “otaku”

Alright, kids I haven’t written on any manly shit lately so I’m kinda making up for this. (I blame moe moe anime like K-on!! for making me soft and unmanly)

As you may already have guessed, I shall be speaking of the word “otaku”. How should a masculine specimen of manhood like yours truly respond when somebody points the accusatory finger of doom and says “you are an otaku”? One should never affirm or deny this. Although some may find it a term to be promoted into, I find it akin to a black calling another black a “nigger”.

“Otaku” was originally a derogatory term and I feel that its negative connotations exist even as this group of people have become a new demographic in the Anime industry. It would be much better if perhaps we can develop a new term to replace otaku. Like Richard Dawkins and his “brights” we may be called…well actually I can’t think of a good name. Can you?

Amagami 5-9

Well, sex-hair arc grew unexpectedly boring after the belly button part and I was about to quit the series until finger sucker Rihoko showed up. Not least because the next arc was to be the girl with the most annoying voice. However the narrator, the breaking of the 4th wall and the newer, more proactive Tachibana has renewed my interest again.

Censorship

Strike witches-style of censorship doesn’t just exist in 2D. It too exists in the real world, although we don’t have well-placed beams of light. (NSFW)

Thoughts on Amagami and Strike Witches

Because I’m too lazy to do a real review.

I’ve personally enjoyed the arc with the exception of perhaps that one fetish scene. Tachibana may have all the personality of a well-grown potato but he does show some creativity. I’m still not sure I can endure a full 13 or 26 episodes of him though.

Haruka has a good VA and wacky personality but that’s about it. She’s also ridiculously easy to chase. The fault probably lies on the 4-episode-long nature of the series. Tachibana definitely has more chemistry with Kaoru. I wonder which body part will she display to Tachibana though?

Strike Witches Episode 3 doesn’t allow one room for much discussion except on censorship in mass media. Strike Witches Episode 4 is definitely one of the best episodes ever though. Delicious fan service, character development and yet another well-animated and choreographed fight. AIC really outdid themselves this time.

Strike Witches S2 02

A little late for this review but what the heck.

The legendary witches: True to the episode’s name, we see the return and the reunion of the heroic strike witches. The battle scene is great even if some footage is reused. I really really like how the service shots blend into the aerial scenes. Much better than most of the talking buttocks in season 1. Of course S1 had the aerial fan-service too but I really prefer these kind of incidental shots. AIC is already giving Gonzo a run for their money in their production.

Mio’s new VA manages to impress, although her laugh will never be the same for me. To be honest though, she has a spot-on imitation of the old voice and dare I say, a much better characterization of Mio.

Props too to Perrine who is no longer such a bitch. She’s kinda cute now in fact.

Sakamoto Mio makes her presence felt despite losing the ability to conjure shields

White suits Mio very well.

Amagami Three

So Amagami Three takes a turn for the slightly weird. Some creative but embarassing roleplaying takes place which caused me to pause while watching it. Seriously, it’s like watching a couple PDA in public. I know how all the people watching them in the cafeteria feel. Also, supposedly the other voice actresses and actors left the sound booth because they couldn’t take it anymore.

Despite what xFarron says

I only laughed zzz omg don’t pollute the anime pleaseee

This episode takes “let’s do some scenes that look wrong but aren’t” into a whole new level. It’s a paradigm shift. No longer will I be satisfied with mere innuendo. I want some downright dirty pretend play. I’m kidding, of course. Enjoy some screenshots I’ve recently relearned to take:

Not so much innuendo but well-placed service shot

Back-of-the-knee will become a listed fetish on wikipedia, mark my words

The pic above had sounds straight out of an ero-anime. I can’t put it here so just imagine or watch the episode.

Yay it's totally-not-body-fluid-soup!

All accusations of pornography aside, episode three felt filler-ish. While the two actually had some decent physical action I just felt like they could have done something else that didn’t involve pretending to be a puppy. I’m still ambivalent towards Tachibana-kun. Obviously he’s VN Protaganist #5601 but he does have a little wit about him. Morishima has grown to me over the 3 episodes from rage inducing flirt to kind of cute. Too bad we only get one more episode of her. But it does mean we’re one episode closer to diet girl Rihiko and her finger sucking. I swear this anime has some really creative substitutes for an actual sex scene