Yes, the title says it all. It becomes viciously apparent that my lifestyle has to change between my increasingly time-consuming hobby, and my responsibilities I have for myself. I made a choice. I have decided to choose the latter. I have decided to set everything aside, and focus on what is most important to me right now; and that is getting into med school. I know. It’s blasphemous, isn’t it? I can already feel

*insert bishoujo/trap here*

’s pleading eyes on me. It was short, but I hope to be back in action asap. Until next time.

I’ve been playing through 11 eyes Tsumi to batsu to Aganai no Shojo – 罪と罰と贖いの少女. It’s quickly rising in my ranks of VNs. Stumbling across this image, I just had to share it. How many items can you identify? The best I can manage is a shaky 8. Have at it.

And so it has arrived. Being a big fan of both the anime and the games, this blu-ray release was a must get. And it didn’t disappoint. Read more after the jump.

Having my laptop HD go south, along with my Ixus camera, I was in despair over the last month or so. That being said, I had to take pictures with my phone to compensate… So yeah… I’ll probably upload better quality pictures when I get a new camera.

I pre-ordered both the Ef-a tale of memories blu-ray boxset and the melodies blu-ray disc 1 through Amazon.jp. My packages arrived a mere 4 days after release. I giddily made my way down to the mail room to pick up my package, and I noticed that the box was slightly crushed. Like so.

Oh the nightmare of every importer

I rushed home immediately, fearing the worst. Upon opening, my fears were unfounded. Safe! Good thing too, plans of holding those responsible at gunpoint were filling my mind. Moving along. Here they are in all their pixelated, ambient lighted glory.

I was really quite impressed with the memories boxset. The box was decently sturdy. What stood out the most was the surface texture. It almost feels like high quality, thick art paper with acrylic. The discs came in a 3 flap fold out. The packaging here feels a little flimsy, however, it’s fine as it will just be sitting on the shelf.

The memories boxset also came with 2 booklets. One being an Original Art Works Collection featuring artwork mostly from promos and dvd covers. The other was an Editorial Book featuring episode summaries, character files, interviews, and the like. This was a nice touch, as something like the Air blu-ray boxset had nothing of the sort.

The melodies boxset featured the same textured surface as the memories. Quite a nice box. Definitely going in the forefront of my collection.

Upon opening the cover, I saw 2 discs, one being the blu-ray, and the other being an extras dvd.

All in all an extremely wonderful purchase. This is a must get for every Ef fan. I apologize for the horrid picture quality, and will reupload when I get a new camera… *sob. Look forward to a post with screenshots of ef in all its blu-ray glory.

*edit
I can’t believe it… Upon receiving art boxsets, I usually throw the cardboard inserts away. Isn’t that their purpose? As I was chucking it into the trash, I noticed that there was something inside… Upon further inspection, to my horror, I found a small booklet with a 2 month calender insert. I never realized that there were extra goodies hidden inside those things. It must have been a one time thing, It must have been a one time thing, It must have been a one time thing… Ignorance is bliss.

If you haven’t heard, the translation for the VN by Leaf, Tears to Tiara, has finished and is currently in beta testing. Noticing that Dakkodango Translation group needed beta testers, I went ahead and applied. Having no previous experience in the translation community, I thought for sure they would pass me up for more talented individuals. ~~Lucky~~

Go here for more info.
The OP for your viewing pleasure.

I'm sure everyone has seen Miku-sama at least once somewhere.

So I was surfing the net, and I inevitably stumbled across some videos with Hatsune Miku goodness.  I just can’t get over on how perfect Miku, as a charcter, is.  From her attractive appearance and attire, to her delectable voice, Miku would make a perfect waifu. In hopes of becoming a Vocaloid god Being inspired by Miku’s perfection, I finally got around to messing with Vocaloid; comparable to opening Pandora’s Box.  Read more after the jump.

Vocaloid 2 has been sitting on my hd for ages, and I remember being scared off on using the program once I started it up.  It looked complex. It looked hard. To my dismay, I was right.  First I tried making my own music.  Quickly realising that I have no musical talent, I tried importing midi files so I could focus on inputing the lyrics.  Apparently Miku hates the midis that I inported.  After hours of frustration, I went in search of Vocaloid tutorials.  Navigating my way through the labyrinth of japanese pages and links(I swear, all japanese sites are like mazes), I found some very useful information.  Not wanting to let my findings go to waste on just me, here’s a pretty good beginning tutorial in english that someone was kind enough to translate.  I can easily see now why Hatsune Miku/vocaloid has become a near phenomenon.  Once you get the hang of it, it is so addicting.  Perfectionists should have a field day.  Once you have the basic layout, you have to tweak it hundreds of times to get it to sound half decent.  Now I know the true scope of skill required to synthesize a song.  Not to mention adding the 3d Miku dance choreography as well.

Well it looks like Miku just adds on to my growing list of addictions.  My view on life has broadened.  My life span, however, has probably shortened.  Ah well.  All hail Miku-sama.

For those of you who don’t know what Vocaloid is, go here and here.

The informative vocaloid tutorial for beginners here and here

Example of Miku-sama’s greatness.

Quite the possibly the most kawaii Miku-sama ever. Enjoy.

And lastly, the best of them all, a collection of 4000+ songs that Miku-sama sings. here

If anyone needs help with Vocaloid, go ahead and comment, and I’ll try to help out as best I can.

Someone pinch me.  The day I have been dreaming of has finally arrived.  There will be a doijin made anime Musou Kakyou ( 夢想夏郷) that will be available on dvd at the upcoming Comiket.  I was surprised to see the names of some professional seiyuu such as Miyuki Sawashiro and Mai Nakahara.  Full details are available here (Jap).  Can’t wait.

The title says it all.  The people over at Non-Directional Translations have released a teaser/beta patch recently.  For those of you who have been waiting, it has been a long wait.  You can get the patch here.

And yes, this blog is still alive.  I just need to survive this final wave of exams, and I should be back to updating regularly.

And just for nostalgia, here’s the OP for kanon for your viewing pleasure.  Ah it’s already bringing back the memories and tears.

Fate/stay night translation is fully completed!  The long awaited translation of the route Heaven’s Feel is now open!  My thousand thanks to Mirror Moon who finished the translation.  What are you doing still reading?  Go.

http://mirrormoon.org/news/2008/11/fatestay_night_english_v3_1_released

Congratulations! You have reached a bad end...lol k wut.

And so It’s finally over.  Having completely finished the VN, I am duly impressed.  My thoughts after the jump.  Warning: SPOILERS ahoy.  *I have also included the beta patch at the end of the post.

In an effort to comfort myself from the fact that I’ve been too lazy to follow through and update this blog, I decided to post a bunch of pictures instead of a real review review of the VN Chaos;Head. I got this as it was released, but decided to wait, as my japanese skills are subpar and the technical terms in Chaos;Head would own me. Having finally found the beta translation patch by lurking around various forums, I sat down and played it through. As stated above, I was duly impressed.

However, the game was a very bumpy ride.  In all honesty, there were a lot of things that could have been better.  I felt that the VN had an identity crisis.  I expected a game simliar to a cross of Ever 17 and Higurashi and Mai-Hime.  As far as genre goes, it is supposed to be a physiological/sci-fi mystery thriller.    Technically it is, however, as I was playing through the VN, there were a lot of other elements thrown in that made it strange.  I feel Chaos;Head is one of those things that is better as a sum of its parts.  Or maybe the trailer was so misleading that I was shocked and disappointed.

I’ll start with a roster of the characters and a brief synopsis of the story.

From left to right: Sena, Kozue, Nanami, Takumi, Rimi, Ayase, Yua

Takumi Nishijō

The main protagonist of the story.  A hikkikomori otaku whose many delusions drive the game.  He looks down on mostly everyone he sees, and is an ass to everyone he knows.  I think he ranks first among the most pathetic, annoying male leads ever conceived, including all the ones from harems.  That reveals a lot.  He combines all of the negative aspects of a hikkikomori, otaku, nerd, pervert, etc.  Prerequisite pathetic male lead.

Nanami Nishijō

The sister of said protagonist.  She puts up a front, but she actually cares deeply for her brother.  Prerequisite younger sister type.

Rimi Sakihata

The main heroine of the story, she has a bright and cheerful personality.  She is one of the few friends that can stand Takumi Takumi has. Prerequisite Child hood friend type.

Sena Aoi

Bad ass girl who is often seen walking around the city holding a sword.  She seems to have all the facts, with the exception of those surronding Takumi.  Prerequisite Tsundere type.

Yua Kusunoki

Discovered stalking Takumi early on, she is also heavily into anime.  She has a graceful and mostly gentle personality.  Prerequisite Elder sister type.

Kozue Orihara

A transfer student who appears later on in the story, she has a very shy personality.  Simliar to Takumi, she has trouble expressing herself to others.  Prerequisite Loli type.

Ayase Kishimoto

A singer for an indies rock band Phantasm, she has a quiet personality.     Prerequisite quiet brooding type.

As far as the story set up goes, you start out as Takumi being the human failure that he is.  Being introduced to his lifestyle, which consists of MMO’s, anime, and eroge.  He lives in a metal storage unit on top of an old apartment building in Shibuya.  He attends Suimei Academy only when absolutely necessary.  His sole reason for existence and desire in life is Seira-tan, an anime character.

Seira in one of Takumi's many fantasies

A pretty normal life, until he is introduced to some guro images depicting a murder in an online chat room by “shogun”, along with the phrase, ” Whose eyes are those eyes”.  Disturbed, the next day he then stumbles upon a blood covered Rimi at murder scene that depicts the guro images that “shogun” showed him.  He realizes later that he witnessed a crime that is connected to the New Gen cases, a strange set of serial murders.  Takumi finds himself caught in the ever mysterious New Gen cases that seems to be targeting him in some way.  The plot thickens as strange girls randomly involve themselves in his life, each of whom has a connection to the new gen incidents.  As Takumi gets himself further involved in the new gen cases, he must separate the delusions from reality to find his way out of the conspiracy, all the while having his mental stability break down.

What sets this VN apart is the unique presentation.  While using a first person perspective is standard, the plot is presented in a realistic way.  Takumi, being the loser that he is, is unable to hold a normal conversation with others, not even with his own sister.  Because of this, a lot of the setup and story is presented in Takumi’s room, which I felt was realistic.

The creators even gave a nod to the otakus by adding in various references that we would be sure to recognize.  Like so.

I squelled like a little girl when I saw these figures.

Even as the plot thickens with additional new gen incidents, Takumi utilizes chat rooms, forums, and teh internet to do his own research.  The enjoyment factor only rose after seeing sites such as Taboo!, Mew Tube, @ chan.

The way the physiological thriller aspect was presented was done well.  All of the new gen cases could get pretty graphic.

It only gets worse.

Some parts were just brilliant, such as the suspense in this scene.

Innocent enough. You've got mail!

At this point, I so did not want to continue.

The phrase,”Whose eyes are those eyes” is a common and recurring theme.  Each of the cases was in some way tied to it.  In fact, this phrase was used so often, it was one of the things that pushed Takumi to near insanity.  Seeing it always gave me the willies.

Another unique presentation was the inclusion of the delusional system.  Instead of presenting you with choices that leads you down different paths, the choices are instead presented through 3 delusional “triggers”.   Each can mirror Takumi’s state of mind.  The choices you choose determines what delusions Takumi can have.  The green one is a stable and positive delusion, usually leading to a humourous or ecchi scene.

The red one is an unstable delusion, and usually leads to something gory.

The third one enables you to skip both delusions.

Nitroplus did a top notch production.  The visuals and character designs are beautiful.  As seen from the above pictures, nitroplus integrates the 3d CG and the 2d really well.  The unusal aspect is that the character’s mouths move when they speak.  Only a couple VNs come to mind(Remember 11), which integrate this feature.  My only complaint here is that some of the background character’s 3d CGs look really subpar.

Rather they used 2d for this.

The VN is also fully voiced, even to the point where the background noise is realistic and decent.  The background chatter in the classroom, the shouts from a crowd, the hum from a computer all add to the realism.  The music, on the other hand, does what it sets out to accomplish.  The only music of note is the insert songs.  The BGM is nothing compared to something like Clannad.

Even the presentation for the menus are top notch.  A neat touch that Nitroplus included was the Extras menu. A very nice touch indeed.

I love little things like this.  It shows how much the producers care about their work.

My biggest disappointment with this VN involves both the delusional system of gameplay and the story itself.  There are only 3 routes and endings, the AA route (good ending), A route (bad ending), and B route (bad ending).  Route AA and A are identical.  The only difference is that AA adds an extra scene at the end.  There are no flags to trigger these endings.  Both  routes are achieved by either answering all of the yes/no questions at the end correctly or incorrectly.  Route B is similiar, however this route explores the new gen cases and the common phrase,”Whose eyes are those eyes” in more detail.  There are several flags that you must trigger to achieve this ending.  This makes the replay value very short.  There are no separate routes for each heroine, etc.  It is basically 1 route with one branching off(B route), and 2 seperate endings(A and AA routes).  Having no knowledge that the routes were so similar, I expected my choices through the delusional system to actually have an effect on the story.  I was thoroughly disappointed when this wasn’t the case.

Another disappointment was the story itself.  Taken as a psychological mystery, it excels.  However, the cross genre elements they tried to put in is made of phails.  They tried to put in action and battles akin to something from Fate Stay Night.  Or so I expected.  That’s what the Di-swords are for right?  No such luck.  In fact, out of all 6 heroines with Di-swords, only 2 ever get really used.  This immediately cheapens the fact that there are Di-swords.  What purpose did they serve other than eyecandy?

Sena is the only one who used her Di-sword with any form of frequency.

Another gripe I have is the ending.  After all the tears, sweat, epic buildup, and work to reach the ending, it feels hollow.  Tacked on.  No form of epilogue whatsoever.  Characters other than Takumi and Rimi gets shafted in terms of story at the end.

I am the bone of my sword....So as I pray, Chaos;Head.

All in all, I would rank this VN in my top 10 purely from the unique and spectacular presentation.  Chaos;Head deviated quite far from the norm of the VN world.  It had its ups and downs, however it should definately make its way on the to play list of every VN fan.  If you do plan to play, ignore and forget anything you saw/read before hand and dive in.  It’s an experience you won’t regret.

Nanami being complete Moe

Better as a sum of its parts indeed.

*edit

You can get the patch here.  However, keep in mind that this is the beta patch.  So expect a lot of errors, untranslated text, etc to go with it.  I don’t believe that there is an official patch out yet.  You can check the progress on the official patch here.

Well it looks like another light novel anime adaptaion by J.C. Staff. It’s off to a good start. Read more after the jump.

Ep 1: Academy City
The OP was done by Mami Kawada, the same person who did the OP’s for SnS. Well done animation and theme song performance. Judging from the OP, the show promises a lot of action with meido, miko and sister.

This episode starts right off with our protagonist, Toma Kamijo, being chased by a bunch of delinquents.

Running for his life

or not...

EXCALIBER!

No. Do not feed the animals.

Nice boat?

Then, would you come follow me to hell?

Omg, a body!

Closing done by Iku. A rather soothing closing with some awesome Index love.

Interesting setup and characters make this full of win. The animation is quite good. There didn’t seem to be any dips in quality either. This episode also had a good blend of humor and action. The setup is quite unusual in that esper abilities seem quite widespread, and yet magic is not. A city full of people with esper abilities ranked from 0-5, along with Toma’s “trump card” right hand ability should make this interesting. I can safely assume that the rest of the season will center around how Toma and co. will deal with the bad guys who are after Index’s archives of knowledge. I rather like the main characters already. Index isn’t an annoying loli that most anime seems to love as an archetype. As for Toma, he doesn’t seem to be a spineless player/bastard(Thank god). The appeal of this series is that it’s a cross genre shonen with an interesting story and likeable characters. This is most likely the only series that I’m blogging that has any sort of action in it. Looking foward to more Index next week.

Preview: Seems that our hero has to save Index from a flame wielding mage.

I summon thee, Ifrit