2011 Autumn Anime Season

I've started watching a number of anime this season. Usually I only watch one or two, but I'm going all out this season since my school work-load should be significantly smaller.
...The key word here being should, of course. Let's just hope I'm right in making that assumption.

Anyway, Over the course of today (or, well, yesterday, since it's an hour into tomorrow, technically) I've watched C3, Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai!!, Kimi to Boku and Tamayura: Hitotose. The first episode of Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai was subbed not long ago, so I'll watch that in the morning, while Mirai Nikki and Guilty Crown should be airing within the next week or so.

First opinions? Well, C3 (Cube X Cursed X Curious) is... uhm... different. I expected a lot from the synopsis. Anything that mentions curses that many times must be good, right? Hm, well, the first episode really disappointed me. Too much fanservice (panty-shots in general are just bleh for me, and the amount in this show is astonishing) and badly placed humour for a show about curses and things like that. I expected it to be dark. It wasn't. At all.
I'll watch the second episode, but I'm not holding my breath on it being worthwhile, to be honest.

Tamayura: Hitotose is a slice-of-life type anime. I think it's kinda dull, but at the same time... it's captivating. The girls are all very sweet and have really different hobbies and personalities, from what I've seen, and I think it could turn into something pretty good. The music and slow pace could be a bit boring for some but I did enjoy it, so I'll be going back.

Kimi to Boku was one of the anime I was looking forward to the most. Too many slice-of-life shows feature a group of girls, so I was looking forward to a group of guys for once.
It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. That's all I really have to say on it. I'm kinda looking forward to the next episode of this one as well.

Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai!! is the one that impressed me the most. I wasn't expecting it to, actually. I quite liked the faux-war thing, and how the girls and guys were all fighting equally for once. There's some ship tease here, but that doesn't seem to be the overarching plot. Even so, I really liked this one.
It has loads and loads of characters though, which tends to confuse me. But hey, apart from that, I'm intrigued by this one. This is one I'm definitely going to continue with.

I don't even know why I want to watch Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai. It's something about the characters, rather than the show itself, I think. Mirai Nikki interests me because it's dark, has supernatural elements and features some sort of battle-to-the-death thing. Actually, from what I've read, it seems kinda similar to The Hunger Games, only with supernatural stuff added to it. Anyway, nothing else is very dark at all out of the shows I'm interested in, so this'll be a nice addition to my anime-I-must-watch list.
I have very little knowledge about Guilty Crown but the trailers look damn interesting. It's airing on noitaminA as well, which is always a plus. It usually shows a lot of deep, complex and/or dark anime, which is always good.

So, overall? So far only Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai!! has really impressed me, though I hold hope for both Tamayura: Hitotose and Kimi to Boku. C3 was... pretty terrible. Maybe it'll get better.
I'm massively looking forward to both Mirai Nikki and Guilty Crown because a girl needs her dark-violent anime in her life, right? And hell, they actually really do look intriguing. Maybe it won't entertain me as much as Death Note but perhaps they'll come close?
I have no real thoughts on Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai. Looks interesting, but I haven't really given it much thought nor have I looked into it much. Let's just see how it goes.

The Day The Music Died♫

That awkward moment when there's nothing awkward to comment on.

It's the holidays again. Third term is over. All that's left is the (supposedly) most laid-back term of our lives. I should be celebrating, I guess, but instead I salvaged my old Sims downloads from the backup of my old harddrive and sung loudly (and terribly) to old music.

I'm being somewhat social these holidays, actually. The formal is this Sunday and I have a sleep over that night. Lainey and I are organising stuff for Wednesday already. Feels good, man. It's nice to get out of the house with mah bros. Usually I don't. Mum's in a good mood, though, so I'm willing to test the boundaries and actually do something with my friends.

Speaking of the formal, I have body tape so I can make sure the dress actually fits around my rib cage properly. It's kind of bulging, rofl. I must have the strangest body shape, because there are other sections of the dress that I almost don't fit into at all.

I've found yet another guide for chest-bindings. Ah, the pain of having boobs and wanting to cosplay as a guy. See, it's okay the other way around, because it's much easier to fake having boobs when you don't. It's a lot more difficult to fake being flat chested when you're quite clearly not. Bah. According to my research, there's a good chance that I'll end up weakening the tissue in my chest due to how much goddamn fat I'm trying to flatten out. Sounds healthy.

...oh well. The things I'll (eventually) do for cosplay. If only there was a female character I actually wanted to cosplay as. All my favourite characters are male. Hm.

I've been on Pottermore recently. My wand is 9 1/2 inches long, and made of cedar with unicorn hair as the core. I was sorted into Slytherin. The unicorn hair means that my wand is less likely to swing to the dark arts, but apart from that, I'm pretty happy with what I've got. My wand is the shortest of my group... but, it's totally not about size, guys. =P
I'm nearing a hundred house points now. Which isn't... bad, but there are plenty of people with 5000 points. How? With dueling down, we can only get points by brewing potions... which takes a good 90 minutes, and you can get a maximum of 11 points per potion. 5000 points from that??? That's... yeah, I'm not going to aspire towards that. I'll just chill here with under 100 points like the cool bro I am.

Slytherin is winning, despite having the least amount of members. This pleases me greatly. 'bout time we knocked Ravenclaw down a peg or two. Heh. No, I'm just kidding, Ravenclaw bros. You guys are cool too, probably.

I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for a few days last week. It's very, very cool, though it's not much different from the original. Just, you know, with vastly better graphics, more item slots and an extra dimension added to the gameplay. That's exactly what I wanted from the remake, though, so that's fine. The 3D really is quite amazing. After awhile I started to get used to it, and figured that I wouldn't notice if I turned the 3D down.
...I did notice. Everything looked so much more flat (durr, GoJo. Well done) and less... I don't know, real, I guess? Not that it looks real in 3D... but I just felt much more immersed in the game world with it in 3D. It was actually quite weird to play the Wii afterwards.

What else has happened recently... No. 6 finished. The last episode was... kind of disappointing. A lot of people will disagree with me there, but... it felt kind of rushed. Not surprising, with how short the anime was, but I still felt it could've been better. I also hate how Nezumi just leaves. For no truly great reason. Was this just some excuse for there to be a bittersweet ending? Instead of saying "and they lived happily ever after", they pretended that Nezumi had some great... something to attend to, and that they couldn't live peacefully together, and ugh it made no sense to me. It just felt contrived and ridiculous.

...not that the book was much better. It ended the same way, but a little less quick and more emotional.

...I was expecting an ending that would leave me in a completely and utter mess. Instead, I just kinda felt tired and annoyed that I'd woken up at 5:30 to watch something that didn't really affect me in any way whatsoever. It was pretty sucky for me, to be honest.

Anyway this entire post has been pointless. It's just been awhile and I thought that I should make up for my lack of interesting topics to blog about. Heh.

Anime Survey Challenge

I am in love with these quizzes right now.

Pick 5 of your anime (in no particular order) and answer the following questions about them:
1. Inuyasha

2. Hetalia

3. Death Note

4. Soul Eater

5. Angel Beats!

Who is your favorite character in #2?
South Italy/Romano/Lovino Vargas. Whatever you want to call him.

Who is your least favorite character in #1?
Hm. Jaken. I have never seen a creature so damn annoying in my life.

What’s your favorite episode of #4?
I haven't seen very much, to be honest. Thus far? Uh, probably when Maka is fighting Crona, and ends up 'embracing' the madness the black blood brings. That was pretty epic.

What is your favorite season of #5?
There are only 13 episodes... so... um... 1?

What’s your favorite relationship in #3?
Rofl. L/Light. Fanfics about these two are so much fun to read, so long as you don't depict them as perfectly happy lovers. C'mon, that just doesn't fit.

Who is your anti-relationship in #2?
Why is there such a fanbase for Itacest and Germancest? Guys. They're brothers. It's weird.

How long have you watched #1?
I first watched an episode of Inuyasha 5 years ago.

How did you become interested in #3?
Uh... hm... I'm not really sure. I probably read good things about it somewhere and then looked it up.

Who is your favourite actor in #4?
Todd Haberkorn who voices Death the Kid. I know he's from the dub and all, but that doesn't mean that I don't love the guy and his voice.

Which show do you prefer out of #1, 2 & 5?
You can't make me choose between Inuyasha and Hetalia! I think I prefer Hetalia in general, but if we're only talking about the anime, than Inuyasha wins out easily. Very easily.

Which show have you seen more episodes of, #1 or 3?
Inuyasha. Death Note doesn't have that many episodes to view, really.

If you could be any character from #4 who would you be?
I know that this is standard and boring, but probably Maka. She's strong, she's pretty, she's smart and her partner is Soul. I also see shipping between her and either Soul or Kid, and hell, I'd date either of them, so that's cool with me. xD

How would you kill off your favorite character in #2?
What. I refuse. No. No. No.
...fine. Well, if I had to kill my precious Lovi off, I guess I'd make it pretty awesome. He's affiliated with the mafia, right? I can't remember if that's canon or fanon... anyway, I'd have him doing something with them, idk what (protecting Spain somehow? Yes. The shipper in me likes that idea), and he'd get shot. What's that cliche? Going down in 'a hail of bullets' or something? Yeah. Like that. Kinda like Scarface, maybe? But more epic and with less drugs involved.

Give a random quote from #1
Miroku: I was wondering if you would bare my children?
There are plenty of epic quotes, but that was seriously all I could think of xD

Would a #3/4 crossover work?

Death Note/Soul Eater? Hm... Soul Eater is so much more lighthearted... but I mean, they both have shinigami... sort of... and Kid kinda resembles L... kinda... yeah I don't think it'd work...

Overall, which show has a better cast, #3 or 5?
3. Death Note.

Which has better music, #2 or 4?
Their soundtracks are so different though... I was never all that keen on Soul Eater's soundtrack though... Kid has some epic themes, but... eh... so I guess I'll go with the happy cuteness that is the Hetalia OST.

Fandom Rant

Sometimes I feel ashamed of the Hetalia fandom.
I'm not the only one, and a quick Google search will show how many others agree with this sentiment. I'm not sure why there's so much hate in this fandom, but it's there, and it gives the rest of the fans a bad name. This is the reason that I've only ever been a lurker on the LJ comm and why I tend to avoid any Hetalia-orientated forums or threads. I love the comic, I love the characters, I love the creator, and I love a great deal of the fans, too. But there's a very vocal minority that absolutely pisses me off, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth every time they get mentioned.

'Hatedom' really shouldn't be such an issue. I figure that, so long as you don't flame others for their opinions and you don't outright denounce another fan for their views, then everything should be fine. Opinions are good. Everyone has them, everyone wants to share them. It just seems that some of the fans can't do so without bashing those with different opinions to them. Variation is good, guys. Stop trying to make everyone think the same way. And no, bashing the views of someone else is not debating. It's bashing. Don't defend yourself by claiming to be starting a good-natured debate.

My biggest issue with the fandom, though? It'd be the useage of the word 'rape'. If someone likes a different 'ship to you, that doesn't give you reason enough to threaten them with rape. Obviously, with the relative anonymity of the internet, it's pretty difficult for you to rape them, but even so, that's not a suitable threat to make. It's totally uncalled for. Don't make threats of a sexual nature. It's just wrong. I do remember at one point, possibly doing the Hetalia Bloodbath updates Himaruya was writing, a fan actually threatened him with rape and murder for not updating fast enough. Why the hell would you threaten the author? If you had any decency, you'd know that Himaruya is human, so he isn't going to update immediately, nor will he bend to your every whim. You'd also realise that things like that would make him less likely to update. I certainly wouldn't be pandering to a fandom who would make such ridiculous and horrid threats to me.

Then again, this is the fandom that once had a group of cosplayers doing the Hitler salute at a Holocaust memorial, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by any of this. Thank God I haven't seen the image myself.

Creating a hategroup is just asking for attention and drama. There's an anti-hetalia page on DevArt, as well as a forum. Get the fuck over it, guys. If you hate the series, then don't pay attention to it. Believe it or not, we're not forcing you to read the comic/watch the anime. And unless you decide to attack us directly, then believe me when I say that none of us are paying attention to your little hateclub. I don't see the point in creating one. I don't see the point in hating something so strongly when you could be putting your time into finding something you do like.

The thing with Hetalia is that there's a lot of love for everyone within the fandom, as well. The 'ship wars aren't very frequent and most members are quick to back up others, regardless of differences between them. The Hetalia Kink Meme, which is where anyone can request anything (not just of R rating, guys. I know it says 'kink', but let's get our minds out of the gutter here...), whether it be fanart or fanfiction, and there's very little judgment for it. There aren't many fandoms where that could happen. But this is usually overshadowed by the more negative things, despite there being more positives.

Yes, the series can be offensive. Yes, the characters are often based off of stereotypes. It's a comedy. South Park is more offensive than this. And if you're easily offended, then maybe you should take a step away from the series and move on.

Truly, most of the arguments against the series are more offensive than the comic has ever been.

(This rant brought to you by a dull afternoon, a Google search on "Hetalia fandom hate" and a read of the Hetalia Wank LJ page, which is not to be confused with the Kink Meme. 'Wank' here is synonymous with 'rant')

The Sadness That is a Holiday.

Most people are excited to go on holiday. Me? Not so much. Well, okay, that's a lie. I love holidays. I just hate leaving the house on the holidays. Especially when the holiday destination(s) won't have internet.

I'm being forced to go on a cruise. I know what you're thinking. Oh no, you have to go on a free holiday (I'm not paying. That's what parents are for) and you get to relax and do nothing. What horror!

Yeah. Well. Shut it. It's not quite like that. Despite being 17, I'm being forced to go to the kids club. Which means I get to hang with a bunch of 12 year olds (pretty sure the younger ones get their own room) in a room full of xBoxes and colouring in books. I don't even like xBox. Now if there were PS3's or Wii's in the room, I might stop complaining.

Nah, really, that's not so bad, I guess. I'll have my laptop. I'll have my MP3 player. I'll have stuff to do. I'd just rather do it at home. Or in the cabin on the ship, if need be. Not with a bunch of pre-teens looking over my shoulder.

I'm also going to be forced to participate in, well, everything. Which includes things like Pirate Night where you dress up like a pirate. Playing dress up can be fun, but my parents are picking out costumes. Well, more to the point, Mum is. And I can't really participate. I'm under 18, so I can't go to the bars or anything. That's where all the drunk, foolish behaviour will be. I'll be, as I said, stuck with the pre-teens. Lovely.

Pretty sure my family is there to eat and do nothing else. There are some epic restaurants on board, sure, but I refuse to have three course meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Goddamn it, I can barely have one three course meal let alone three.

Maybe they're trying to fatten me up? It's Hansel and Gretel except with my sister and I.

I don't want to be eaten.

On the plus side, I now know how lame my wardrobe is. I have a suitcase full of jeans and one dress. Yeah, just jeans. And my T-shirts all proclaim either the name of a band or a logo/character from a Nintendo game. Well, I have a lonely The Big Bang Theory shirt, but that's the only odd one out, really.

Anyway, pre-teens and cruise boats aside, I've had some pretty good holidays thus far. I've met up with some friends twice. Once at the shopping centre, once at the beach. I can't believe I've never gone to the beach with friends before. We spent more time on public transport than we did in the sand, but who cares? It was very, very fun. Definitely a highlight of the year, I'd say. And we didn't even do much. We built a dodgy sandman/elephant/castle/thing and ate icecream. But whatever. I found it to be pretty dang epic. Even when our bus was late and we missed out train, we still found the entire thing to be entertaining.

I don't know how many people have struggled to play uno on the train without losing the cards over every bump, but I can now say that I have. And I am proud of it.

Oooh, something else worth mentioning. I am now watching the anime Soul Eater. I didn't expect to like it, but trust me when I say it is epic. The artwork is very Tim Burton-ish. I do love Tim Burton. The sun looks a bit like the moon from LoZ: Majora's Mask, actually. Anyway. I've only seen 13 episodes thus far (which is like, the entire series of Angel Beats!. Gotta love short anime) and I haven't been disappointed. The basic idea is that there are humans, and humans who can shapeshift into weapons. These 'weapons' find people to wield them (called meisters) and, as a pair (or, in one case, a threesome. Not in a suss way) gather the souls of witches and 'evil' humans. It's pretty good. For such a large cast, the characterisation is surprisingly good. It's a good series if you like dark humour and the contrast of kiddy-ish animation with slightly more adult concepts. I'll write more about it when I return from the cruise and have seen more than just 13 episodes.

Can you tell who the weapons are? It's a bit odd having humans as weapons, if you ask me. In a clockwise direction, starting with the guy in the yellow jacket, you have Soul Eater, Black Star, Tsubaki, Patti, Death the Kid, Liz and Blair (the cat). In the centre is Maka.

I'm actually enjoying the dub, funnily enough. K, so, maybe I started watching because of Todd Haberkorn. Whatever. I love that guy. I'll blog about him when I return as well.
On the cruise I shall restart the series with the sub and make comparisons. This might be another dub that I prefer, meaning that it can be put into the same category as Inuyasha. That's means it's a damn fine dub. Then again, recently I've discovered that I adore Funimation's dubs, so I may have to expand that section of my favourites.

This image is kind of maybe awesome.

Plan to alleviate boredom on the cruise:
- Watch Fruits Basket
- Watch Soul Eater
- Learn more Japanese (Specifically, learn the 'ii' adjectives, learn 4-stroke kanji and put together longer sentences)
- Write blogs while cruisin' it up
- Finish reading Wuthering Heights

Really, that should take quite awhile. Fruits Basket might not, but Soul Eater is 50 episodes long. Le Gasp! I'm watching something longer than 30 episodes! This is amazing.

Or not. I watched the entirety of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z multiple times as a kid. But whatever.

I keep procrastinating with my Japanese study. Ho hum. Guess I should focus on that more, since I want to be a Japanese -> English interpreter/translator one day. Ii-Adjectives are a bitch to conjugate though. Why can't the be as easy as masu-adjectives?

Also, just for the hell of it, here's a screenshot of my desktop with my awesome Luigi's Mansion 2 wallpaper. I may as well show off my desktop occasionally, right? Why not?


Yeah, it's a bit cluttered, but whatever. I'll clean it up eventually. Hey! That's something else I can do on the cruise. xD

The Weirdest Thing I Have Ever Seen

I decided to watch this anime movie tonight. It is called 'Perfect Blue' and is apparently quite similar to Black Swan. Not that I'd know, seeing as I haven't watched Black Swan, but anyway.

I'll attempt to give a synopsis. But man, it's not going to make much sense.

Mima is a pop artist. She ends up being encouraged to become an actress as there's little money in her band. This causes some controversy amongst her fans, especially with one particular stalker. You can tell by the way the camera kept zooming in on him, which was totally not foreshadowing. Nope. Definitely not. Mima's manager, Rumi, is also pretty upset by this, especially when it's revealed that Mima is going to be in this sexually-fueled murder mystery show where she gets to act out a rape scene. Mima goes ahead with it, Rumi and crazed-stalker guy (whose name is actually Me-Mania, but we'll stick with 'crazed-stalker') are annoyed and the world goes on.
Even before she acts out the rape, she ends up with angry 'traitor' faxes and finds out someone has been documenting her life online. Rumi helps her set up a computer and Mima reads the blog entries by whoever her stalker is. These entries end up being so similar to Mima's life that she becomes paranoid. Understandably.

She ends up pretty traumatised after the faux rape-scene and, I think she starts to struggle with distinguishing between imagination and reality. I'm not really sure. This is where the story line gets confusing. There are a series of murders within the industry that Mima is a part of. She starts hallucinating about herself. No, really. She talks to herself and starts to believe that this imaginary Mima is the true one. She also starts to doubt her own innocence with the murders. She seems to remember killing them... but then it appears that she dreamt that... and other times she'll get confused between the on-set murders she 'commits' as an actress and the real murders that she may or may not be a part of. At one point, a doctor explains that she is suffering from multiple personality disorder and that she has taken on the persona of her dead sister, Mima, to help deal with the trauma of her death and her own rape. (At this I was like what, that happened for real?)
Of course, it then tricks things up and makes it look like that could have been filmed for her TV show.... or was it?
No, no, I think it was. Anyway.

Her crazed-stalker attempts to rape her. For real this time. She fights him off and knocks him unconscious but, when she tries to show Rumi his body, it's gone. Later it's shown that he was killed through some other incident. Later, while in her room, she stares out the window and thinks "this isn't my room". Hallucinated Mima comes in and says "no. This is Mima's room"
But wait, in the reflection of the mirror, Mima looks strangely like Rumi wearing a Mima costume...

Later, after an epic fight and some more weirdness (including falling off a balcony, getting stabbed, fighting Rumi off, having her fall onto some glass and start bleeding massively before walking onto the road and almost getting hit by a truck) the scene cuts out and leads to a hospital. Rumi is given some flowers. Mima talks to a doctor, Rumi looks in the mirror and see's Mima. Mima heads to the car, looks in the rear-vision mirror and says 'No, I'm real' and the credits role.

I cut a lot out of that, but I think I shared enough of the confusion there.

What I've gathered is that Mima had doubts and the line between reality and her acting became blurred, but I don't think she was insane. The hallucinations were Rumi the entire time. Rumi is the one with a disorder.
Mima definitely had doubts though. There was a good half hour of epic scenes, only for her to wake up and have another epic scene, only for her to wake up again and then go through her day with more epicness, and then wake up again...
It felt like watching Inception all over again.
I think Rumi was the chessmaster behind all this. OK, I don't think it. I know it. Moving on.

This film is very confusing. Also, there is chest nudity. YAY BOOBS. (Does this make Rumi the chestmaster? *rimshot*)

Really though, I had to read wikipedia to get that much of the story line. I was very lost at the end. I needed to blog about this to get my thoughts straight. I think I get the plot now.

Cosplay!

I have just returned from Supanova, which is the best our country has to offer when it comes to all things fandom-y. Honestly, we're not much when it comes to the otakus and general fanboys and girls. It's not that our country is excessively judgmental or anything (I see plenty of Lolita's around the CBD getting by with no hassle) but... I don't know... I always thought Australia just didn't have that kind of culture.
Well, I'm definitely wrong about that. The turnout at Supanova is always pretty epic. I wonder why we don't have more of these events...

Ah, anyway. It was nothing like what I expected, but it was also more than I expected (I know, that makes no sense). The stalls weren't as great as I wanted them to be (I still spent a good $200, but I was hoping to spend more, you know? There goes my 3DS money) but the crowds were amazing. It seems my fellow nerds are all very kind (I received so many apologies because someone accidentally nudged me) and despite the turnout, I didn't feel claustrophobic at all. Of course, that's not what I really care about... I care about the cosplay. I certainly was not disappointed there. There were the standards, such as storm troopers and Naruto cosplayers, but there were others there as well (with extremely well crafted and elaborate outfits, let me tell you). I found someone do an amazing job of being Chibitalia from Hetalia, btw, which made me grin like a fool. God, I love that show. There was also some guy dressed up as Sailor Moon. Yes, a man in a short skirt and tiara with facial hair even. But he was really kind and posed for some epic pics with my sister. If only I had his confidence xD

Seriously though, the atmosphere was amazing. People were doing sword fights, there were CoD cosplayers with nerf guns shooting each other and people wearing 'glomp me' signs and actually getting hugged (and in some cases, tackled) by strangers and overall it was very jovial and fun. We were all acting like big children, really.
At one point I said "I have never felt more at home. These are my people," and my dad sniggered at me, but oh well. I know he secretly loved it, too. =P

Also, the cosplay show was full of my humour. The tech guy was hilarious, making "my, what a big sword you have" puns and making obscure references that only us geeks would get (I haven't heard someone (other than my close friends) make reference to seme and uke roles in a long time. Well, not including those I talk to online, of course).

It was brilliant.

Anyway, I've spent a good portion of the day wondering what I'm going to wear at next years show. I did a bit of people-watching today, so I have a better idea on what to wear... not that there's a dress code or anything. Basically, don't do things by half. I think I can deal with that.

My favourite choices are all male, sadly, though there's quite a few chicks to choose from as well. I'm thinking either Arthur/England or Gilbert/Prussia from Hetalia, Matt from Death Note, Rena or Hanyuu from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni or maybe Angel from Angel Beats!.
My top choices are the three guys... if I have too much trouble with chest binding (that's going to be fun...) then I'll choose one of the girls. Hopefully that's not going to be a problem though.
Where the hell do you get bindings anyway? That's going to be an awkward question to ask mum... "Hey, help me get chest bindings."

Yeah, really not looking forward to that. =/

My Newfound Love For Drama CD's

Well, drama CD's and image songs, really. I never bothered with them in the past, no matter how much I liked an anime. My current obsession with Hetalia has kind of driven me to this, though. There aren't nearly enough episodes or webcomics to satiate my thirst for this series, unfortunately, and while some of the fanfiction is great, it's just not the same.
So I decided to go look up any official media I could. Turns out there's quite a few extras for Hetalia, which is good. Extra stuff is always good. Most of the image songs are just fun to listen to, though they can give you some epic alternate interpretations of the characters. Germany's song Einsamkeit is depressing and very different from Germany's actual personality, and China's image song... well, I never liked China. But his song Aiyaa, Yonsennen is so, so sad. I hadn't looked up the lyrics when I first heard it... all I knew was that the vocals were extremely emotional and that the melody itself almost brought me to tears. The second half of the track is heart-wrenching.
And then you look up the lyrics.
Oh God, the lyrics. It doesn't go into depth about Japan's betrayal. It just explains the love and adoration China still has for Japan, despite the hurt that he left behind. And the spoken paragraph at the end is so heartbreaking, regardless of whether you've read the English translation or not. As I said, this is a song about a character I don't even like, yet I was driven to tears. Maybe I'm just overly emotional, but trust me when I say that it's been a long time since I last felt that way over a song.

...anyway, that wasn't the point I was trying to make. Back on topic!
I kind of maybe downloaded the drama CD's because I can't get enough of Arthur's/England's voice. In the dub he has an overly attractive British accent (naturally) which automatically endears him to me (Have I ever mentioned how much I love British slang? Because I really, really love British slang). However, after listening to his image songs, I realised that the original Japanese voice actor was just as amazing if not more so. I mean, I don't think he has an accent or anything cool like that (and if he did, I'm certainly unable to detect it), but the VA doesn't need one. He's just... amazing. Noriaki Sugiyama voices him, and seriously, he's epic. I can't believe I'd never noticed before. I mean, he voiced Rivalz in Code Geass, and I certainly didn't notice then...
Anyway, I downloaded the drama CD's so I could fangirl over his voice. And I was not disappointed. Being a drama CD, you need to put a lot of emotion into your acting to get the point across, seeing as there's no images to go with it. Noriaki does an amazing job. A seriously amazing job. His voice is like... there are no words to describe how easily he can portray a character's emotions. I'm in love with his voice~

Wait, wait, bollocks, that wasn't supposed to be the point of this post, either. Ahem.

I'm very into drama CD's, and not just because of the hot VA's that may or may not be voicing them. A drama CD is exactly what it sounds like; a CD (well, a track. On a CD. You get the idea) that features a ~dramatic~ scene depicted entirely with vocals alone. There's no image, obviously. There are sound effects though. It's like the shows that used to air on radio's before the television was created. They aren't usually a part of the main plot (though they can be), instead they're mostly just side stories for those who are bothered to look them up. And, at least in the case of Hetalia, they can be better than the show itself. As I said earlier, you need to overdo everything to get your point across, and that's where the VA's truly shine. That's kinda why I love them at the moment. It's all very raw sounding and has the ability to draw you in even without a visual aid. Hell, not having the visual aid makes it better as you're able to let your imagination run wild.

I'm rather enjoying them, actually. I wish western television companies would create things like this.

Random: I find it very amusing that listening to England's drama thing took up as much time as three episodes of the anime would have. x)

More random: England is now my favourite character. Like, ever. Screw all my previous loves (yes, including Hinata from Angel Beats! and Inuyasha from Inuyasha (obviously) and... yes, even Matt, bloody Matt from Death Note), this guy is where it's at.

Yet Another Hetalia Post

Phantomess just wrote about CLANNAD which reminded me to write about Angel Beats! but... well, I've been obsessing over Hetalia Axis Powers for quite a bit and am in the mood to write about that instead.
Well, not just Axis Powers. I'm sure, once I get my hands on it, the dub version of Hetalia World Series will be just as good, if not better. The show improves dramatically over the first season and continues to get better throughout the second, so I've no doubts that the third and fourth seasons will be amazing.
The sub seems to be epic as well, actually. I'm more into the dub, which is amazing. I've always been a sub fanatic; Inuyasha and Hetalia are the only exceptions to this, thus far.

The comics are very entertaining (I haven't read the manga though, but I will one day), but it's not quite the same. I'm so used to the voices in the dub (funnily enough, I'm also used to the sub voices. I like both, I guess) that it seems strange reading what they say rather than hearing it. Even so, the comics were the originals (and they handle some parts better, such as when America declared independence against Britain/England. It was very emotional in the anime, but I still prefer the comic version. Not to mention that it was dragged out forever in the anime, and in a rather stupid way...) and they have their own quirks that just weren't used in the anime.

If you asked me to give you a plot synopsis, I wouldn't be able to. It's like a series of shorts based on world events. It starts off being based around World War II, mostly (from the perspective of the Axis, though the Allies get a lot of screeentime as well) but it branches off into all sorts of other things later on. And it's all over the place. There's too much to talk about really. And that's without bringing up the shipping.

It's full of HoYay (due to the cast being mostly male, though not entirely) between many bishonen characters, which naturally causes many fangirls to flock towards it.
And most of the dialogue can be interpreted in many different ways... so every character could be seen as the launcher of a thousand ships.

The characters are countries. That sounds weird. They're anthropomorphic countries, sort of. Really, really cute countries. The show has the potential to be really offensive at times, but it's nothing like, say, South Park. The jokes are played for laughs and aren't meant to be insulting.
I'll write up another post later about my favourite characters. Here's my list, in no particular order... except from most favourite to least favourite, of course.
- Japan (not just because I love the country. He's a brilliant character. You can't blame me for liking him though, as he's supposed to represent my favourite place/culture, so...)
- Switzerland
- Britain
- Germany
- Russia
- Italy
- Liechtenstein
- Sealand (hehehe)

That's not very many characters, considering how many there are in the show. It's based off of countries around the world, of course there's going to be plenty of characters...

Random fact: The word Hetalia is a portmanteau of hetare and Italia (Itaria), which means 'hopeless Italy' in Japanese. I didn't steal that from TVTropes. Of course not.

Kill Me Now.

Oh wait, don't kill me, I haven't finished Pokemon Black yet.

I should be doing some last minute study for the Biology test today. But I'm not. That'd involve, you know, effort and stuff. I don't have the motivation to study. I'd rather just go to bed.
Speaking of bed (wow, what a way to start a sentence) I was watching Code Geass at 5 am this morning. It's hard to comfortably watch a handheld while lying down. Anyway, I'm not sure what to think of this show. It's somewhere between good and so-over-the-top-it's-just-plain-narm. Maybe it's both. Any facial expression other than 'neutral' usually looks unintentionally funny... or hilarious, in Lelouch's case. Except Euphie. I haven't giggled at her yet.
And look, the Japanese pronunciation of English words worked in Angel Beats!. It made the show more endearing. In Code Geass? Not so much.

...Ah, before I forget, I must make a post about Angel Beats! tonight. Or tomorrow. Maybe on Wednesday. Whatever. I will make a post. It's one of my favourite anime's so why not? It's only just behind Inuyasha, and Inuyasha is right up there on my list.

I should finish Inuyasha at some point. And Elfen Lied. And Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni. And Lain. Alright, maybe not Lain. That show was weird.

My Impossible Love Affair (With VG OST's)

I love my video game OST's, or, for those not in the know, original soundtracks. There's something oddly comforting about listening to music from games I absolutely adore, not to mention how nice background tracks actually sound. They're more atmospheric, of course. That's what I love about them. Movie OST's are much the same, but I listen to more VG OST's as I'm more intimately acquainted with video games than I am with movies.
I've managed to find many old and new soundtracks, ranging from the entirety of the Super Smash Bros. Brawl soundtrack (approx. 200 tracks or so) to the older, simpler Yoshi's Story for N64 (there's less than 15 tracks on that one, I believe. I'm too lazy to go count). I've never played the Earthbound games, but I still got my hands on the Mother 3 soundtrack. Anime OST's are also something I like to collect. I'm working on downloading the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni soundtrack (both the soundtracks from the anime and the visual novel.)

But I simply cannot find the OST of Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City (City Folk for most of you). I can get some of the main tracks, but not the K.K. Slider tracks or the hourly tunes. I can get most of K.K. Slider's live shows, just not the tracks that play in your house (not that I'm as fond of those, but I'd like them regardless). And I can get the hourly tunes condensed into one track, but not separate tracks. Don't bother looking for the tracks that play when it's raining or during winter; they're even more difficult to find. I can get a handful of them off of Youtube, but that's about all.
It doesn't help that one of the users on Youtube had uploaded quite a few of them, but they were taken down due to copyright issues. I understand the whole copyright thing, but I can't get the soundtrack anywhere else. Not even the official soundtrack seems to feature all the songs, so I'm not even able to get them legally. It's not the first time this has happened, but it's one of the most infuriating. I love AC:CF, especially the music. And I would like a copy to listen to while walking/working/suffering from insomnia. That would indeed be a dream come true.