ahbonk in tokyo

New spanking blog!

2009-09-22T14:40:00.000+08:00

My new blog's now @ http://www.ahbonk.net. Do check it out!

Phew!

2009-08-25T14:30:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

She made it! With *a little* guidance, that is. Welcome to one of the three universities that she's partnered with, TUFS.

Mama Gets Into the Tokyo Spaghetti

2009-08-25T13:27:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Today Mama wants to get to her host univesity in the suburbs. As such, my intense leave-her-be navigation training in the super confusing tokyo railway system commences! Will she make it? Stay tuned for the inevitable cluelessness!

I Love You, Internet

2009-08-21T18:55:00.002+08:00

Coz it's now back in my house. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FINALLY!

Many pictures to post, work to do and dungeons to raid. Stay tuned for my epic return to the Net!

Internet Coming Soon!

2009-08-17T16:51:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

This coming Friday, Gyao Hikari will be coming over to set up the Net. Means no more wasting money going to the manga or wireless cafe!

If they can't make it this Friday, I think I'm gonna die.

*signs up for Internet-holic Anonymous Association*

Time to Go Back...

2009-08-15T19:24:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

...after i make my mark (soon to be washed away). To prevent u guys from fainting due to sheer awesomeness, i left my shirt on.

Ooarai Beach

2009-08-15T15:58:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

To have the sea breeze and the sand beneath our feet, it feels so good to get out of Tokyo for a change. Bikini girls are a BIG plus.

For the gentler side

2009-08-14T18:14:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Last night was drums, tonight it's traditional dance performance.

Cosplay Square

2009-08-14T14:14:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

The colours of cosplay is easily seen from the rooftop.

Phew, finally...

2009-08-14T11:41:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

...reached. And shopping begins!

Comic Market 76 (Gulp)

2009-08-14T11:10:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Whoa, look at the number of visitors! And it's only Friday!

ps. Do you have any idea how many times i had to send this MMS? Heavy traffic, gah!

Forget Taiko Drum Master...

2009-08-13T19:44:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

...this is the real thing! Been watching for an hour and a half now. They keep changing diff types of drums from backstage and it's always the same pool of drummers. Lots of stamina, and still going at it!

Tokyo Magnitude Earthquake Warning Poster

2009-08-13T17:50:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

In wake of the recent earthquakes, FujiTV decided to issue some posters to educate the general public of the necessary preps, all this while advertising Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. Even comes with the anime version of the FujiNews anchorlady!

Pronto Cafe Yoyogi

2009-08-13T15:17:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

My mom takes a loooooooog time to check her emails, so I thought I'd take the chance and study some Kanji. Argh can't believe summer holiday's finishing soon!

Ooyokogawa River

2009-08-12T16:05:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Am now at Monzen-Nakacho, going to attend some summer festival. But I will never miss out on a nice river shot!

Sayonara, Old Room

2009-08-06T16:56:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

You will be missed.

Pokemon-JR Summer Campaign

2009-08-06T13:48:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Kids will have to collect different monster stamps from the many train stations in Tokyo into their stamp book, then they're entitled to get rare card items.

Kids have all the fun here. Parents however...lol

Summer Anime Recommendation

2009-08-05T21:44:00.012+08:00

Here I am at a Manga Cafe drinking an endless supply of orange juice and catching up with blogs and Facebook comments, ranting needlessly about how I want the Internet at home. Since I can't blog with pictures, you guys have to make do with YouTube videos!

I promise to have rooms pics and videos once the Net returns. I miss WoW *sob*

Summer has turned out to be a superb season for anime this year; new shows are great and continuing series, even greater. I can't update my sidebar now, as I can't edit pics, but here are my recommendations:

Read more!

NEW SERIES

Bakemonogatari. I love Shaft, again with all their stunning quick-cut visuals. This time it's about gods/demons taking over bodies and the attempts to exorcise them. A lot of yadda yadda, but the characters are quirky enough to get the momentum going (stapler angel ftw). Hauntings are creative too!

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0. What happens when Tokyo is hit with a huge earthquake? This anime is a depiction of that prediction conducted by real-life university researchers. Couple that with my experience in Tokyo and a bunch of characters with personal issues and you have an immersive view of torn-apart Tokyo. PLUS you can trust Noitamina, the studio behind Honey and Clover and my fave last season, Higashi no Eden.

Umineko no Naku Koro ni. Murder mysteries revolving around a group of people in a mansion on an unescapable island? You gotta love that! A seemingly usual family visit turned deadly. A word of caution though: You gotta get ready for the super mindf*ck that I just experienced! Naturally from the makers of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, without the moeblob.

Canaan. Based on the Type-moon's hit game for the Wii (which won perfect score by Famitsu, btw!), this show has that wonderful action adventure pizzazz all over it. Feels so hollywood-like, especially during its opening scene where action takes place during a festival in Shanghai.

Aoi Hana. The intro wastes no time showing what kind of show it is (dzaid, you tak suka ah!). I too feel awkward when I watch this show, but I'm a big fan of the art and the pace of the show. Kamakura is truly a great setting for a slice-of-life show, gotta go there during the summer!

Other honorable mentions: Umi Monogatari, Kanamemo, Taishou Yakyuu Musume, Princess Lover

CONTINUING SERIES

You can see the sidebar for that, but here are some cool new intros for the season!

Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd Season - OP2 @ Yahoo! Video

Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd season new OP last weekend! LOVE the pace, glad Kotoko's back.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei's OP, posted here again for its mockumentary goodness :)

The medieval economy anime is back, it's Spice and Wolf II! Mmmmm Horo...

Spoiler abound! Valkyria Chronicles 2nd opening packs a nice punch, love it.

Watch Saki OP2 bloooomin in ã?¢ã??ã?¡ | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Saki's 2nd OP. Little Non ftw, sounds like they're trying to sing in English but actually it's in Japanese. Cute and strange.

And watch out for Haruhi's Endless Eight, that'll kill you!

Kari Kepala Ikan!

2009-08-04T13:09:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Thanks to my mom and a little Brahim's magic, I get to enjoy one of my fave dishes, the fish head curry!

My mom liked how she did not have to wash the fish thoroughly to get rid of blood clots and what not, as the supplier has done all that already. BUT the lack of siamese fragrant rice in stores was disappointing.

The Special Guest Has Arrived

2009-08-01T20:56:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Yup, it's my mom! She won a research grant from Nippon Foundation to stay in Tokyo for 9 months. Just like good ol' times eh?

Let's Move It Move It

2009-08-01T09:48:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Packing done, now I leave it in the hands of the movers.

My Yet-Unfurnished New Home

2009-07-31T16:27:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Well well, in a surprising unJapanese turn of events, the moving company didn't turn up today. Ran into some problems, they said. Moving starts tomorrow.

I'm here now to unpack the small things and install cockroach repellant! A must for all homes I stay in! My room is on the right, but who'll be in the left?!

Moving Out to Yoyogi

2009-07-31T13:43:00.004+08:00

What's left on the table is just my computer and Miya-chan, ready for the move. I'm gonna shift to a bigger house in Yoyogi, though I'll have a smaller room. Some of you already know why I'm moving out, but let's just say I have a "special guest" staying with me. No it's not a girlfriend :P

Not too sure if the Internet is already set up in the new place, so expect me to be Internet-less for a week or so. I can still blog with my phone though :) See ya at my new loft!

Summer Challenge GET! The Mt Fuji Climb

2009-07-30T00:22:00.014+08:00

It's been one week since the climb, and I STILL can't believe I did that. It's truly an amazing feat, especially for a computer geek like me! If I can do it, you can do it too!

For those who're lazy to read the whole story (you bugger), my schoolmates Jasril from Malaysia, Hakukun from Taiwan and I have climbed all the way to the top of Mount Fuji in the early morning of July 23rd 2009. We reached the summit at 3,756m (bolded for proudness). The true highest point though is 3,776m, at the other side of the crater (Mt Fuji is an inactive volcano), and we couldn't make it there due to bad weather. Just 20 more meters, gah!

(Thanks to Jasril and Hakukun for some of the pics!)

At 9:40 am on 22nd July, we boarded the Keio bus from Shinjuku station. There was a confusion earlier at the ticket counter coz a lot of guides say it's the Kawaguchiko 5th station, but there's no such station. Tell them you wanna go to the Mt Fuji 5th Station.

Both of them slept in the bus, but I was too excited to sleep.

The weather that day was bad, but we had no choice as Hakukun already took leave from his part-time job just for this event.

This is Fuji-kyu Highland, an amusement park very near Mount Fuji. It was even featured in the Amazing Race 9th season. You can watch it here.

And here we are, Fuji-san 5th station. A tourist trap for those who forgot to bring stuff. You can buy those here at very high prices, just for you mr. tourist sir!

But one thing that you gotta get are these, wooden walking sticks. I recommend not to bring your own, you will know why later.

Toilets from here up will cost 100 yen to enter. What? A middle-aged lady at the counter? That's so yesterday!

Gotta practice skiing for the downhill descent.

And the journey starts here! Let's go!

We could also ride a horse all the way to the 7th station, but what's the point then?

The new Windows wallpaper.

It was strange at first coz the road was going downhill. Are we on the right track?

Yes we are! The blind man says so.

I know we're gonna see amazing stuff, but a UFO? No way!

Of course, there were many others climbing with us, especially those packed with tour guides and what not. Come August, it'll be more crowded thanks to the summer holidays.

Felt paranoid throughout the journey. I mean, one of these big rocks could just slip and BAM!

Less than an hour into the journey and we reached the 6th station @ 2,390m above sea level.

The view here is superb. I saw some people who just came to this point to enjoy the scenery and went back down.

The climb from the 6th to the 7th station was on a steady uphill slope all the way.

Special thanks to these construction workers who help build, er, stuff to prevent landslides, making it safe for people to climb the hill safely during the summer. Especially that shovel guy.

Thought I'd practice my kendo on the way there. Hakukun was so bad-ass with that cigarette.

What's nice about this climb is that you can see your next destination, which is a lineup of mountain huts nearly all the way to the summit. Motivated me to climb further and further!

7th Station GET! We're now 2,700m above sea level, if the sign isn't obvious enuff :P

Mt Fuji was too kind until now, now he (she?) throws in a bunch of knee-height rocks to climb, all the way to the 8th station. And it has started to rain too. Evil!

I used all my shaman magic to stop the rain, but to no avail.

Was too tired to take pictures during the rock climb, but here we are! The 8th station at a whopping 3,100m above sea level.

All these mountain huts are tourist traps for those who didn't bring enough food along the way. Well, at least they can warm up your body, unlike my energy bars.

We rested enough, and it was getting dark. Our reserved mountain hut is a long ways from here, so we better get a move on.

Oh, before I forget, at prominent stations you can have your walking stick chopped! That will be clear proof that you made it that far. And that's why the wooden walking stick rocks.

The trail was on the east side, so of course we won't be able to see the sunset clearly.

Well, what d'ya know!

Love this picture, but forgot to switch on the flash :(

Alah, Jasril had a better picture of himself with the sunset. At-- at least I had more clouds!

And finally we reached our reserved mountain hut, Mt Fuji Hotel @ 3,400m. The temperature was a cold freezing 6 degrees celcius.

Nothing like a nice warm meal after that tiring climb! Hakukun was complaining about how expensive and *little* the food was, but what do you expect when you're waaaaaay up here!

We only had one-pillow width of space to sleep, but at least they had warm blankets and sleeping bags to prevent you from hugging each other. Phew!

YAWN! Had to wake up at 1:30 am if you wanna make it in time for the sunrise. What's worse is that we couldn't sleep well at all, with the racket caused by incoming visitors hour after hour. At least I was awake enough to ask Hakukun to take this picture!

Woo we're all fired up, let's go!!!!!

It was dark and cold rain water kept hitting my face.

But at least we were not alone. In fact, at some point we even had to queue up! That's right, it's like queuing up for doughnuts! Japanese people just love queuing. Most guides out there say this is part of the unique Mt Fuji experience. I have to agree.

The 9th station at 3,600m above sea level, but no time for celebration. A little more to go!

I have a bad feeling about this weather, especially when we reach the top.

And wow, we have made it to the summit! Hakukun and Jasril reached first, while I arrived an hour later. They have the stamina of a horse!

To no surprise, the summit greeted us with souvenir shops and vending machines, so very Japanese. Quite anti-climatic, but all I had in my mind was food and a warm place to rest.

This is one of the many souvenir shops cum restaurant lined up at the summit. Problem with these places is that even if it's raining outside, they'll chase you out after a while unless you order more (expensive) food. But until then, we rested as much as we could.

These are faces of three very satisfied gentlemen. Yoku ganbarimashita!

And now it's time for the sunrise! Wooooooo.... so where's the sun?

Sigh, to our disappointment it was raining so heavily that we couldn't even catch a glimpse of the sun through the clouds. It was also around zero degrees celcius and we were chased out of the resting area, so just imagine what horrible depression we went through at that time.

So the next thing to do is to go around the crater to the highest point at 3,776m right? Well we tried, but we saw no one going there. The winds were gusty, it was raining and visibility was horrible, we had to give up for fear of our safety :(

Of course we could wait for the weather to clear up, but no chance in hell are we gonna wait in the cold freezing rain! And we had a 2 o'clock bus to catch, bought the tickets already.

One thing's for sure though, I was at the summit @ 3,756m and am damn proud of it!

Oh, almost forgot! A chop on my walking stick :)

And now the downhill climb. For me, it was worse than the ascent coz I already had a blister on my left toe at the start of the descent. Imagine the pain I had to go through everytime I set my left foot on the ground!

You might have noticed a plot of snow on the mountain in the first picture. Now it's right in front of me!

Oh, how nice. *moves on* Ow, my left toe!

The weather started to clear up early in the descent.

This is God's way of saying "Hah, in your face! You should've waited!"

Well, God gave a lot of breathtaking scenery anyhow.

And I wanna be part of it!

At every rest, I had to open my shoes and cool down my exasperatingly painful left toe.

Meanwhile, Jasril went hours ahead of me and took pictures with cute girls. Way to go wei!

You know you're close to your goal when you see vegetation!

And GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!! Yahooooo, I did i--- *faint*

No time to celebrate though. Had to write a bunch of postcards to family and friends before the bus arrives. Actually there's a post office near the highest point, but due to bad weather we couldn't make it. Postcards sent from there will have the Mt Fuji Summit special chop.

Oh well, a few of you guys have to settle with the Mt Fuji 5th Station chop. Sorry!

Well all in all it was an amazing experience. I'm pretty sure that's the most extreme thing I've ever done in my life, apart from climbing the giants in Shadow of the Colossus. I suggest those who come to visit Japan during the summer to give this a try!

Who said unhealthy fat guys can't climb mountains? Rubbish!

Sumida River Fireworks Competition...

2009-07-25T18:56:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

...starts now!

We got it!

2009-07-25T17:14:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Front row seats to the biggest fireworks festival in Tokyo, w00t!

Sumida River Fireworks Competition

2009-07-25T15:08:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Am now at Asakusa, looking for a good spot to watch the fireworks. Wonder if i could find it :p

OP for Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei parodies UFO cult

2009-07-24T15:29:00.017+08:00

Wah, the proper opening for Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is finally broadcasted, in yummy random artsy goodness! Definitely huge potential to be in the Top 5 best opening in AAA'2009! Big applause to SHAFT again for this one.

Seriously all the characters are charming, one way or another. I love this show. I just realized recently: to parody-invert other animes, all characters except Kaede (a foreigner) have black hair! How cool is that!

This anime, being the Japanese social mockumentary that it is, has this opening as a mock to a Japanese UFO cult. YouTube commenter SchwarzXD describes the parody:

So now it proves to be a parody of "宇宙友好協会"（Cosmic Brotherhood Association), which was a organisation trying to find UFOs but later became a strange religion

They believed that a catastrophe(great flood)(0:18) will kill all humans but the members of CBA and their family will survive as an UFO will transport them to a new world, and their password was "リンゴ送れ、C"(ringo okure C), which is where the song's name came from and the "合言葉"(password) in the song means

If you can read Japanese, all this information is in the cult's wiki.

I have to wait for Hakukun's and Jasril's pictures, so the Mt Fuji post has to wait.

I'm back!!

2009-07-23T17:43:00.003+08:00

Woo we did it! Man I can't believe I just did that!

We reached the summit of the inactive volcano at 3,756m, but couldn't get around the crater to the highest point (3,776m) due to harsh weather conditions. But hey, that's close! And I'm so darn proud of myself right now *pats self on the back*.

Pictures coming up soon, after I have a looonng nice sleep on my comfy bed :3 Oyasumi!

Made it! (sorta)

2009-07-23T09:32:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Sry, the Internet lied to me. The phone signal was gone by the 8th station.

We made it to the summit of the inactive volcano but we couldn't cross to the highest peak due to strong winds and rain.
Now we're climbing down as we speak. Ow my leg!

7th Station, GET!

2009-07-22T14:54:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

I got the previous station's height wrong lol. The 6th station was actually 2,400m :p One more station to our mountain hut!

Oh no, rain!

2009-07-22T14:34:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

The true test starts now!

Happy Birthday, Nyin!

2009-07-22T14:24:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Nothing like having ur name written in the sands of Mt Fuji eh mui!

Above the clouds!

2009-07-22T14:11:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

At 2,700m!

Fuji-san 6th Station

2009-07-22T13:16:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

At 2,600m and still going strong! The wind is pretty strong too.

It's Time!

2009-07-22T12:33:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Ok we have taken the compulsory rest! This is the starting trail. Hazmer starts hiking at 1.15pm. Wish me luck!

Fuji-san 5th Station

2009-07-22T12:00:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Reached the starting point of the hike. Look at that, so near, can la!

Ii tenki desu ne!

2009-07-22T10:06:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Nice weather!... not

My Adventure Buddies

2009-07-22T09:11:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

That's Jasril in front and Hakukun at the back. The adventure of the dua budak melayu and bad-ass Taiwanese dude starts now!

Let's go!... into the Bus

2009-07-22T09:07:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

First stop: Fuji-san 5th Station 「富士山五合目」. Bus leaves at 9.40 am from Shinjuku. It's raining though, but that makes the adventure much more awesome!

Alright, I'm Ready for Mount Fuji!

2009-07-21T23:31:00.007+08:00

This is it, man! Bags packed, clothes all ready, memory card formatted, now it's just sleep and away I go! Bus leaves at 9:40 tomorrow Japan time, so gotta sleep early tonight. Yes, a rarity for me.

My phone is all charged and ready to send pictures to this blog as I brave the hill, so please check it often to see my up-to-the-minute progress. There's phone reception all the way to the top, but don't be surprised if there are no updates as interference is likely to happen in such high places.

Fyi, the plan is:

WEDNESDAY
9:40 am - Bus leaves.
Around 11 am - Reach starting point, but must rest for an hour before climbing as advised.
12 noon - Start climbing. HELL YEA, LET'S CLIMB THIS BITCH!
12:05 pm - Rest.
6 pm (hopefully) - Reach mountain hut, 3,400 m above sea level. Sleep for the night.

THURSDAY
1:30 am - Complain it's too early. Then leave for further climbing.
4~5 am - See sunrise!
7 am - Finish taking all possible pictures of sunrise.
9 am - Reach the very top of Mt Fuji at 3,776 m above sea level.
10 am - Memory card already full. Stop taking pictures. Start descending the hill.
1 pm - Reach the starting point. Talk about how awesome it was.
2 pm - Take the bus back to Shinjuku.
4 pm - Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

FRIDAY
9 am - Wake up. Blog.

Sounds good? Wish me luck!

Rain in Shibuya

2009-07-21T17:34:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Doing a little last-minute shopping in Shibuya now, preparing for tomorrow's epic Mt Fuji journey! Hope the weather won't be as bad tomorrow.

How to Draw Cross Game's Resident Kitty

2009-07-20T23:40:00.006+08:00

I was watching the raws of Cross Game last night (couldn't wait for the subs) and out came the drawing song of Nomo, the cute little cat of the Tsukishima family.

Thought it was smart coz the lyrics described a baseball match which follows the show's premise.

I only saw the Japanese version in YouTube, so I took the liberty of ripping that, reuploading it to my own account and adding little subs of my own :) Hope they're accurate. Enjoy!

Sandbonk.net

2009-07-20T16:38:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Nothing like recalling childhood (anime) memories like playing in a sandbox in a suburban playground.

Nerima Daikon Brothers

2009-07-20T14:37:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Now we're in Nerima, following the footsteps of the cast of Ranma, Urusei Yatsura and Doraemon! It's known as being the birthplace of anime, a home to famed mangaka Takahashi Rumiko and many anime studios. More pics await!

Bus Ticket, GET!

2009-07-19T16:04:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

The bus tickets to the base of Mt Fuji! One for me, one for my Malaysian schoolmate Jasril and one for my Taiwanese schoolmate Hakukun. Getting nervous and excited just looking at the tickets!

Pop'n Wait

2009-07-18T22:02:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

Playing Pop'n Music 17 while waiting for my clothes to be tumbled'n dried in a nearby laundromat.

All game centers were instructed by Konami last week to unlock all songs and bonuses. Those many plays to unlock these secrets, all go to waste!

Flickr x Blogger x Facebook Combo Meal

2009-07-18T19:59:00.001+08:00

Blog updated courtesy of Flickr Mobile,
originally uploaded by ahbonk's mobile phone.

If everything was set up properly, this message from my phone will update Flickr, in turn updating my blog and Facebook. What a convenient age we live in!

Yoi Natsu Yasumi wo! (Have a Great Summer!)

2009-07-17T23:16:00.008+08:00

If I can spend my summer with this girl, it'll be a great summer already. A cute and quiet summer.

Took this picture while spending my time in Akiba today. Yes, what a way to start my summer!

Yup, so my 1-month holiday starts today. It might seem long, but I have a whole lot of things to do and have so little time. Mom coming in August. Mount Fuji to climb. Many games to make. A booth to apply for December's Comiket. Beaches to explore. Fireworks to see. Far distances to cycle.

And with all this, many many things to blog about. Stay tuned!

1:1 Scale Gundam in Odaiba

2009-07-11T23:04:00.023+08:00

Damn I've been starring in too many movies lately.

Daim had a short holiday from his work, and it was a weekday and all. Sounds like a great day to visit the 1:1 scale Gundam in Odaiba! It's very near the Fuji TV station, I'm pretty sure many of you who visited Tokyo have gone there, but that's before the Gundam was built. Hah!

To get there, you can take Yurikamome line which connects to JR Shimbashi station. It's a cool unmanned monorail that passes tall buildings in Southern Tokyo. Then get off at Odaiba station.

Here's the exact location of the model. Don't forget to zoom in fully to experience Odaiba via Street View (of coz you need to zoom into the road, not the park!). Here's a tip: follow the flyover above you and turn right to head north-east, and you'll see Fuji TV!

Anyway there's this Japanese dude right, who put a camera in the front carriage of the train, then edited the video to mirror the top half to the bottom half. The result is a magical trip through the Floating City of Tokyo. Damn watching it makes me wanna play Rez all of a sudden.

As usual I went there with my cousins Dzaid,...

...Daim, and a Chinese boy in a yellow shirt.

Wait, who?!

That's the rainbow bridge, and it connects Central Tokyo and the Yokohama area.

Love it when the train goes through the bridge. Never gets old, this symmetrical shit!

But Daim was driving a little too fast.

And there it is! Just to let you guys know I'm not a mech buff, though there are exceptions especially when it's not too centric on the machines (Gurren Lagann, FMP, Evangelion, Escaflowne, Bokurano), but even so my breath was simply taken away by this majestic beast. I think Gundam fans would've already wet their pants.

Too bad the sun was right behind the Gundam so it wasn't easy to take good pictures.

Guess I'll have to take it from the side!

I was trying to act like Amuro Ray wearing the jacket in the opening. Phail.

Don't I just look good in my shades?!

Waaaaaaah, handsome nyaaaaaaa.... Gundam tuuuuuuu....

Gundam and (fat) terminator.

If those boosters fire up, I'll be the first one to die.

One never forgets to take a group picture!

Actually we went there on 7/7, which was the day for the Tanabata celebration. It's one of those Romeo and Juliet stories where a couple is allowed to meet each other only once a year. People would write wishes on the colored Tanzakus and hang them on a bamboo tree.

Instead of going to festivals and oogle at Kimono girls, we went to see Gundam. Good job guys!

Time for intermission. Pictures after this are gonna get real nasty, so be warned!

Thanks Daim.

Man Gundam Mama has it tough, what with her two human kids.

We will never let you go, Gundam! Don't fly away!

Don't know this Internet meme? Shame on you!

Trust me, it was hard to avoid that Shining Light Punch™.

HELP ME I CAN'T GET DOWN!!!

Ku-chi-koo-chi-koooooooooo~!

This is so gay beyond words.

Whoops, I spoke too soon.

Help my dear cousins! I dunno the romanization of this song!

The white mustache, the symbol of a true gentleman.

I'm at a loss for words to match the sheer stupidity of this pic.

Oh no, watch out! It's gonna lift off anytime n...

...JUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

I recommend anyone who comes to Tokyo to check this beauty out! Not quite sure how long it'll stay standing, so if you don't have your Tokyo plane tickets yet, get them NAO!

Disney Classics in Moonspeak

2009-07-02T00:12:00.018+08:00

(This beautiful wallpaper is courtesy of Mimi-na)

Recently my cousins and I were discussing about Disney princesses. Yes we talk about girls of all formats! Nothing like a bunch of macho guys talking about Disney princesses amirite.

A little trivia: Did you know that I watched Tarzan more than 10 times in the cinema? Don't ask.

To satisfy my curiousity even further *ahem*, I went to ~~Google Image Search with Safesearch off~~ YouTube to check out some clips. Really brings back a lot of memories. Getting past the horribly mushy self-made music videos which I can't stand watching 5 seconds of, I came across official Disney japanese dub clips.

Let's watch them while reminiscing on Disney's magic and wonderfully smooth animation.

The Little Mermaid. I know, should put the signature song Under the Sea. But Ariel's japanese voice sounds great! ... Sure

Beauty and the Beast. It doesn't feel as magical as the English version though.

Aladdin. I'd say this is pretty well done! Aiyoh tarik bawah sikit...

The Lion King. A bit rushed rite the lyrics lol. Do note that some of these videos don't have movie dialogue as the song was extracted from the soundtrack CD.

Pocahontas. Quite ngam!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Wow I quite like Quasimodo's voice in this one! And even in the original it really feels like an intro to a musical. Charming!

Hercules. Dare ga ichiban tsuyoi? Herakuresu! Yes hontou! Too bad the sound effects were not there (again extracted from soundtrack CD). For Megara fans (me), watch this one!

Mulan. I'm guessing Mandarin would be more suitable for this :P

Tarzan. Surprise! It's the Malay version, simply coz Zainal Abidin rox.

I watched the bonus materials on Daim's Prince of Egypt DVD and saw the multilanguage version of When You Believe. Epic and inspirational! And I know it's not Disney k!

Ok so it's another YouTube-ridden blog post. Sue me.

Myzo - An Excuse to Watch Cats Disturb People

2009-06-30T04:53:00.017+08:00

I love cats.

End of last year, an interesting free online service called Myzo was born. It's simply a slew of very unique variety shows, each between 1 to 5 minutes, shown one after another without stop, but you can switch "channels" easily. The videos include:

Stupid short films and commercials
Documentaries of all types, including how to sleep on a hammock
Amazing feats involving tennis
Example scenarios of irritating moments, like using the cellotape
A cooking show with unusual conditions (e.g. cooking fried rice without waking your wife up)
Intentionally unsync-ed national anthems of different countries, with corny graphics and effects with Japanese translation (Malaysia was not spared)

It's like Japanese variety show, Warioware-style.

The videos are crazy random, which is part of the charm. They have that weird but professional and creative aura that surrounds them. Anyone who has played Metal Gear Solid 4 should relate it to the beginning of the game; you know what i'm talking about.

My favourite channel is ShuuChuuRyoku no Tsukekata 「集中力のつけ方」. To test how well they can focus on a certain job/game, they do it in a room of curious cats.

Yup that's it. Hey, told you I love cats rite? I need no other reason to watch this!

Playing the Hyakunin-Isshu, a traditional Japanese game where you're required to choose a card that contains the second half of a given unfinished poem. Love how the guy lifted the cat's tail to see the cards haha.

Jigsaw Puzzle. Awwww there's a kitten in the hood. *heart*

Playing Shogi (Japanese Chess). The cats added more challenge to the game at first, but later they just laid back and watched the game.

Calligraphy. Hard to draw anything especially with a cat wearing a maid suit blocking your way!

GOD, cats are so KEWT!

Rest in Peace, MJ - Micheal Jackson in Games

2009-06-26T12:51:00.013+08:00

As cliche as this might sound, today is a sad day in history. Think what you want of him, but undoubtedly Micheal Jackson is one of the greatest musician that ever lived. As an 80s baby who grew up with his songs, I'm deeply hurt by his death. Moreso for people who are still listening to his songs till this very day, like Zaido.

Before I continue, I would like to say, Screw all MJ haters.

I guess this is supposed to be where I put music videos of him and rank them. Well, you can find that in thousands of blogs on the Net right now. Or if you're like me, just go to Micheal Jackson's YouTube channel and reminiscence on his rockin' songs, his sleek dance moves and well-produced MTVs. Good times, man.

Instead, I'm going to pinpoint the legacy he left behind in video games. That's right, his contributions go well beyond music.

Take, for example, Moonwalker for the Megadrive. I didn't grow up with console games, but I fondly remember the time when Dzaid and Daim showed it to me. It's very well animated and the artists did a good job bringing MJ's spirit into digital design. MJ closely monitored the game too and even requested to have more enemies so that it'll be more awesome!

As such, many gamers deem this game a classic.

Never seen the arcade game before, but it sure looks kewl.

There was quite a controversy revolving around Sonic 3's music. A board claimed that MJ created the music for it but due to scandals, his music got changed... a little. I dunno what to think of it, but there's no doubt that Sonic 3's music is heavily influenced by MJ's style. No wonder it was superb. View the popular documentary here. (Damn disabled embedding)

Sega still loves MJ though. In one of my favourite music games ever, Space Channel 5, you control a cute reporter to save Space Micheal by mimicking and outdancing the enemy! MJ voiced Space Micheal himself and the dance+song used for the rescue sequence is packed full of MJ style.

I used After Effects to cut the above sequence out of the full gameplay footage and uploaded it to YouTube. That shows how much I wanna blog about this!

And finally, his popular song ABC used in Elite Beat Agents.

I would like to end the post by showing you how much NicoNicoDouga users love MJ. Just type Micheal Jackson in the search box, and you'll see a bunch of MAD videos.

No doubt, this is the most popular one. It's Hare Hare Yukai, after all. Love the timing!

Rest in peace, MJ. You'll be forever remembered.

They'd Be Crazy to Follow Us, Wouldn't They?

2009-06-26T01:01:00.013+08:00

Day 5 of my Unity3D trial. Been busy doing other stuffs, but yesterday I tinkled with it again.

Say, ever wanted to drive through an asteroid field above the clouds? Thought as much.

Click here to see it in action!

Don't worry, you're safe! The asteroids are all behind you! (aka lazy to program collisions)

You can always IMAGINE that it's a game where you're running from a horde of Tie Interceptors (left side of the screen, can't see 'em) while having to avoid the asteroids. Have fun!

Unity3D works nicely with Blender! Downloaded an A-wing and an asteroid model, and changed their colours a bit. The model is automatically updated in Unity3D as I save in Blender. Nice.

It's getting close to how a 3d game would feel like (yeeaaaa suuuureee) and it only took at most 6 hours of my time. I'm really liking Unity3D so far. Here are some key points of this update:

No more holy cube :(
Few lines of script to make the 3D ship follow the 2D mouse cursor
Added a bullet generator that responses to the mouse click, again just a few lines
With prefabs, I can change the particles of the bullet easily and it updates all bullet clones
I put a script in an empty game object that acts as the game's control center
Added a generator that spams asteroids with random size, rotation and speed
Actually, the camera and the ship is also moving to the right a'la horizontal shooter, just the stupid BG is not moving... hence the asteroids for added effect :P

Prefabs are fantastic. No it's not Fabian before he was born. They're like classes in OOP and MovieClips in Flash, but it's so easy to change the outlook, the particles, etc since it plays the animated result automatically in the scene/game pane. The scripting part is quite messy, but I'm a messy person anyway :P

Next up, I will add collisions and enemy ships, plus some bullet patterns. Stay tuned!

Click here for the source files.

The Holy Cube and The Raining Shapes of Death

2009-06-22T23:07:00.013+08:00

Day One of using Unity3D.

After reading script references and video tutorials, I decided to take some time and start doing a Unity3D project from scratch. That's right, from scratch, without any of those tutorial files etc. Starting from a completely empty project.

I present to you... The Holy Cube and The Raining Shapes of Death. It is my interpretative art piece of the downfall of humankind (the cube). As holy as they are, humans cannot dismiss their flaws of excess pride (the cylinders) and weakness in judgement (the spheres). But fear not, as parallel planes of existence (the floor) prevent their self-destructive nature.

Let's not forget that humans tend to want to be accepted (the spotlight).

Haha love programmer bullshit.

Click here to see it in action. Use the arrow keys or WASD to move the holy (nuaaaaa) cube.

Time I took to create this: 20 minutes. Amazed? Here's why:

Creating shapes was obviously a cinch, but adding physics to it was also one click away!
Adding those particles was with just a click, and a little mouse drag to attach it to the cube
To move the cube, you just need to add 3 freaking script lines
The script for the camera to look at the cube is 2 freaking lines
The spotlights share the same script as the camera, means they also look at the cube
A few script lines to bring the shapes back up after reaching a certain bottom y-axis
Duplicating the shapes means the script gets duplicated too

I know the shapes go through the platform, as the shapes are too fast and the platforms are too thin to detect collision, but I enjoy looking at them fall like rain lol.

Really, imagine the possibilities if I had a month. Let's see what I can come up with!

Here's the Unity3D source file. Whoever's interested, you can check out Unity3D's website.

Unity3D: Web Games Are Never the Same Again

2009-06-21T17:02:00.013+08:00

I've been exploring options for game engines lately, I wanna get out of my Flash comfort circle. I have many game ideas yet it's been a while since they came into fruition. So I stumbled upon the usual: Torque, Ogre3D, Game Maker, etc.

There's been a game engine that is rising in popularity among indie developers, good for 2D and 3D games alike, has built-in graphics and physics engine, good networking support for MMOs and can be easily published to various platforms such as PC, Wii, iPhone and *gasp* Web browsers?! No! It can't be! Yea, call me outdated, coz I've never seen such impressive 3d in my browser before (except in YouTube lol).

Introducing Unity3D. They just added support for development on Windows a few months back (was only for Apple for years). Maybe that's why their game list is not prolific, considering many game developers use Windows. But by looking at the current games, one can't help but be impressed.

Take, for example, FusionFall, an MMO for teens by Cartoon Network.

Whoa since when did the characters look this awesome? Ah, the good ol' days when I had Astro where I would just watch flip through Discovery, AXN, Star World, Nick and Cartoon Network.

The story starts with matured Dexter wanting to bring you to his timeline via a time machine. As usual Deedee is up to no good again and goes "Oooh what does this button do?". You are accidentally brought way forward to the future, to a world of doom and crisis. (DOTT much?)

Don't I just look so kewt? All these kids and teen MMOs are smart enough to screen your name manually, so I was given a temporary name first.

You are then escorted by Ben and Numbuh Five to a basic combat session. The controls are simple, the interface is intuitive and the tutorials were easy to follow. Cutscenes are shown here and there to describe the current quest. Once you reach Sector V, you are able to invite friends to your group, do trades and what not.

Well not enough to convert me from WoW of coz, but I'm sure it will make any CN fan happy.

The 3D world is convincing enough, especially considering that it's playing in your web browser. And it's an MMO to boot. Of course, the downside is that you need to download the plugin, but it's small and easy to install with just a click of a button at any game launch page.

While you're at it, try this Tropical Paradise demo. Believe it or not, you can navigate through the landscape above with the WASD keys and mouse. And play the free web games at Blurst, they're all using Unity3d. I especially recommend Blush and Paper Moon.

I'm gonna download the trial version of Unity3D and see what I can do with it. Regardless, it's high-time we realize that web browser games have evolved beyond just interfaces and sprites.

Haruhi 2nd Season OP

2009-06-19T02:33:00.013+08:00

The second new episode aired today as part of the Haruhi chronology, which is titled Endless Eight. The first one came with a new ED, this time it comes with a new OP!

The animation is rich and timely, with nice American pop art effects, two complaints though.

First, it now feels more like, how to say ah... like any other comedy anime. It has lost that mysterious feel that was present in the previous OP. Second, and most important, Hirano Aya seriously can't sing alone. She should just stick to voice acting and modeling, or at least sing with the other seiyuus like in the first season :P

This is to say, I prefer the first one. At least the animation is fun to watch, and this time Tsuruya made a small solo appearance :3 Was pleasantly surprised by the computer club members too.

YouTube being YouTube, it might go down in a few hours, I'll try to update it as often as I can when that happens.

...oh, and I'm still freaked out by Shamisen (the cat) moving his head on his own. But if Haruhi's supreme will wants his head to move, so be it.

Azumangaと!

2009-06-17T13:30:00.007+08:00

We all know that I'm a big Azumanga fan. It's been 10 years since its first manga came out (already?!), and this year is a good year for Azumanga fans!

First off, the 2nd volume of the new panels in Shounen Jump Sunday is finally out, and it comes with this wonderful poster! Ah, my bedroom wall is almost complete. Now where's that Aria poster?

Next is a rather strange decision by Kiyohiko Azuma. He actually redrew the entire first volume of Azumanga Daioh with almost no changes to the story. His reason being that he wants to match the manga closer to the art direction of his current work, Yotsubato. Hence, fans fondly call this new version Azumangato!

I LOVE the cover. Minimalistic, simple... ah who am I kidding, it's Osaka! Seriously though, I like the simplicity, feels like a modern 4-koma manga... with Osaka!

Take out the cover and you see her ^_^ face. Makes for good paper animation.

And behind is the beloved father of Chiyo-chan. Yooooooooo *raises rubber-like arms*

Courtesy of yesterday's post in Sankaku Complex, I compiled and put the comparisons between the two in a simple arrangement below.

Osaka looks a little too pretty 10 years ago lol. Still prefer her to have that blank wide-eyed stare. And 2009's Sakaki, mmm mmm :}

Contrary to popular opinion online, I really love the new art direction, even moreso than the old. A little biased coz I prefer stuff that are minimalistic. Not only that, I think such approach suits well with slice-of-life 4-koma comedy. Especially the type with not-so-ordinary humour.

Regardless, old or new, I still love Azumanga Daioh to bits :3

But which do you prefer? The old or the new? Place your answer in the poll on the right!

I Love Tokyo and All, but Where's My Chicken Rice?!

2009-06-15T21:22:00.019+08:00

I've mentioned in the presentation that I might be living my Japanese dream right now, but I still miss my Malaysian food. OH, friends and family too, yeeeaaa :P One thing that I would just not get bored of is Chicken Rice. Nasi Ayam. Ji fan. Gai fan.

*sob* I want to eat chicken rice! Can I get this delectable dish anywhere in Tokyo at all?!

Well here it is! A surprise promotional item in Jonathan's, a nearby family restaurant. I'm guessing it's the summer season special menu. Here's the translation of the text on the bottom-right (sorry if I'm wrong, coz my Kanji sux!):

"With its origins from South-East Asia, you can now enjoy this dish of Jasmine rice (Thailand's fragrant rice), that's boiled in chicken soup, together with poultry steamed in hot water.
The deciding factor of its taste is the sweet chili sauce that's spicy and sweet!
With the chicken as its center and a lot of soup included, it's one happy meal."

Now you know why directly-translated text is weird. All your base are belong to us.

And there you have it. Needless to say, it was a lousy waste of money. Four pieces of chicken. FOUR. Rice has no taste, steamed in chicken soup my ass. Strangely enough, the set comes with some sotong and (ugh) mango.

My desire is not yet fulfilled. Me wants more! MOAR!

Coincidentally Jasril, a Malaysian friend who just enrolled in our school 2 months ago, invited us out to makan together today. Where do 3 Malaysians go to makan in the center of Tokyo?

A Malaysian restaurant in Ikebukuro, of course! Introducing Malaychan, a restaurant opened by a Japanese lady with passion for anything Malaysian. A combo of two words: Malay and Belacan. Hahaha ain't that cute?

"Ha~i, I'm Malaychan!" -- "No, I'm Malaychan!" -- "No way, I am!" -- "No you suck"

Did you notice my new hairstyle btw? ;) My classmate (I call him Mat Blues) who works in a salon cut my hair for a cheap price, then I coloured my hair myself afterwards, no monies ^^;;

The interior is quite comfy, though it shouts "This is Malaysia!" with all the arabic wood carving, traditionally-designed lamps and rows of our favourite tinned items!

A map of Malaysia is a must. Really, Sabah and Sarawak together look like the Japan map.

Ah, Chikin Raisu, there you are! All three of us ordered the same thing lol.

Now that's more like it! Soft juicy piles of chicken meat, woohoo! And the rice wasn't half bad either. Chili sauce went well with the chicken too. Manzoku da! Super satisfied!

Jasril seemed happy about it too. Oh wait, he hasn't touched his food yet :P

The friendly owner talked to us until the store closed. Though she has only gone to Malaysia 3 times, she loves the place! Not only did she savour the best of Malaysian food, she even went to some orang asli village in Pahang and interacted with the locals!

Don't you just love culture exchange? Reminds me of why the three of us are in Japan in the first place. But malu lah, she knows more about Malaysia than we do ^^;; Even down to when the season of each fruit starts and ends.

I know most of the highways in KL, does that count? *hides in a corner*

Oh yea, she loves dried prawns, petai, belacan and manggis. Dzaid, bring back some for her yea!

She even proudly showed us the Halal certificate. Since there's no certified body here to halal-ize her store, she had to ask the help of her Malaysian friend to fill in the application forms. Then the committee flew all the way from Malaysia to Tokyo to inspect the store.

And this is how Malaychan became the first halal-certified restaurant in Japan. Power!

The legendary keris passed down by the Sultan of Food & Beverage. Dengan keris ini yang bagaikan anugerah dari baginda, patik lebih berkenan untuk menyantap di... ah, screw it.

She even had this child's drawing on her wall. According to the label, it was drawn by Loh Hi Yao of SJK (C) Kim Sen. How she got her hands on it, I have no idea.

There were old guidebooks lined up below the TV. The katakana on the blue cover reads "Islam"!

Some bonus pics! After the meal, we strolled around the area and stumbled upon a greenified Rikkyo University. Just look how prestigious it is!

Lush greens with old architecture. This is why I love this kind of university campus. All they had in APIIT were, uh, computer labs, elevators and Adrian (haha kidding!).

The location. The lovey-dovey mood. Ii na~ I am so filled with jealousy right now.

Whenever I think about universities, I think of Love Hina, Honey & Clover and Nodame.

At least I get to live a small part of a life I will never have. Gotta get my kids enrolled in a place like this! Eeeehhh, if I have kids, that is :P

A New Nico Nico Medley!

2009-06-13T19:14:00.018+08:00

Well well, get ready for another installment of Nico Nico madness, by the name of Nanairo no (The 7 colours of) Nico Nico Douga. Made by the same guy who made the first two. Wonder if it'll be more popular than its predecessors.

It has the usual NicoNico recent favourites: K-0N, Miku vids, Macross, Evangelion, Touhou and even Ponyo! Let's test your otaku skillz. See how many anime, memes and MTVs (Genki Rockets w00t) you can identify! If you know more than half of it, you're a certified otaku.

...wait, more than three quarters, THEN you're an otaku :P

To help you out is a popular NicoNico VIP named HongKong (is she really from Hong Kong?!) who has lent her singing voice to many NicoNico vids in the past. Amidst all the chaos she tries her best to sing according to the original source. Then she digitally edits the tone, pitch, etc. The whole video is sung by her, and even some sequences have her trademark character. Cool!

Here's the original song without HongKong's voice: Click here.

I like the last part where the songs from the previous medleys are played in chaotic manner. Brings back memories of the countless wasted hours of surfing Nico Nico Douga ^^;;

What surprised me was the appearence of Tentai Senshi Sunred, a superb anime about a sentai superhero leading a normal married life, drinking tea with weird villains and all that xD

Can Tinkering be an Art Form? Hell Yes.

2009-06-09T21:20:00.007+08:00

Have you had one of those times when you hear someone talking and be awe-struck by his incomprehensible thought process? I present to you "one of those times".

You best remember the name Arthur Ganson for the rest of your life.

Special thanks to Hong for sharing the vid. He's quite the eccentric genius himself ;)

My Top 5 Polysics Songs

2009-06-07T20:30:00.013+08:00

Ok, so I wanted to post about E3 and all that. Suddenly James, a guy I met on Lowyat.NET talked to me on MSN about my favourite Japanese music groups/singers. I'm not THAT much into non-soundtrack music, but first thing that hit my mind was Polysics.

Told James that I talked about them in the blog before, a little here and there, but he asked why I didn't have a single post about Polysics. So yup, here we are!

They like to call themselves the "Technicolor Pogo Punk" group. In simple terms -- trippy! Their songs remind me of old video game soundtrack. The reason I love them is that they're focused on using their instruments to play high energy music rather than just have nice vocals. They are obviously enjoying themselves!

Possibly due to their whackiness, they're one of the few Japanese groups that could do live tours in Europe and the US, and have their albums sold there too. You can see their live concerts on YouTube, in Japan, London, Portland, Bristol and California. You can read more about their worldwide success on their Wiki page.

Ok enough talk! Best to just look at the real thing, rite? Well here are my Top 5, starting from numero uno:

#1 -- I My Me Mine

The song is just so catchy that it plays in my head every so often. And the dances LOL, love the road signs that come with them too, very symbolic. No surprise that it inspired Miku fans to create the popular MMD video.

#2 -- Baby Bias

I love Kayo-chan! She has all the talents that suit 70s/80s trippy music: the keyboard sounds, her vocals and her actions. Just look at how she literally tramples on the keyboard! If you prefer more guitar riffs, you can check out their live concerts. This song is almost always played at the end, so you can see them already sweaty, tired and still going at it at full speed!

#3 -- Computer Obaachan

Song title literally translates to "Computer Granny". Quirky title indeed! The truth is that this song was taken from an old kid's show Minna no Uta, but Polysics took it and brought it to a more awesome level! The MTV's good for typography motion class too.

#4 -- Electric Surfing Go Go

My mouth gaped wide open when I saw the MTV. 'Nuff said.

#5 -- You-You-You

The best intro song of Keroro Gunso. Love the 3D "You" jumping into your face, wonder why they didn't do it often. But the 3d guy being hit by a bunch of balls was totally random lol.

Fabian's Tokyo Trip: 2nd Episode

2009-06-03T19:05:00.011+08:00

Just to let you guys know, there's a great movie called Rookies that just came out last week. Featuring your very own favourite Malaysian baseball player!

ANYWAY, Fabian came to Japan again for a business trip in Yokohama. He spent his last two days in Tokyo, so I thought I'd tag along! He brought his colleague too, Soon Yee, so can't spend too much time in Akiba :P ~~Otaku Tour Package~~

We first went to Imperial Palace. After all the studying and preparation for the pressie, it's nice to walk in a peaceful wide open space. Wide open spaces are scarce in Tokyo!

Then we went to the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku. You can see more pictures of the shrine in my previous trip with my japanese class ex-classmates.

These are emas, similar to the ones you saw during the bus trip. You just write your wish on a wooden board and hang it here, hopefully it'll come true. Above are some interesting ones. The one on the top right is what I would write :P

And as with all the visitors (yes that includes you! when are you coming huh?) , I introduced Fabian to Gonpachi, a restaurant that inspired the set of the first Kill Bill movie. This was also where Dzaid and I spent our birthday.

Hooray for the 4th cameraman, aka the head waiter.

The next day, we went to Tokyo Tower. Weather was not good that day either :(

Ahbonk, casual wear custom edition. People around me know that I'm very fussy about how my picture is taken. I know I'm fat, but that doesn't mean I must LOOK fat!

Fabian shows his reaction to my fussiness.

Ok fine Fabian, I shall let loose this time! Yeh yeh yeh

Tokyo tower has a pink dildo for its mascot. Memang Japan!

I braved my fear of heights once again! Just don't... look.... down...

In the convenience store, we saw this. When a magazine is titled Tarzan and you have Ultraman as its front cover, you know you gotta read it. Nose bleed alert, May Yin! Ah, too late.

Apparently it's a workout magazine. With 3 minutes each day, you can mimic Ultraman's exercise routine and be strong enough to topple monsters and buildings!

Next we went to Tokyo Dome. When you talk about major league baseball in Tokyo, this is the place. Depending on Go-san for a baseball match invite one day!

This is not just any game center. It's more focused on sports, so this is where you can train your batting, pitching, dribbling, kicking and other sports terms that I have no idea what they mean.

Looks familiar? :3 First we tried the batting cages. Ever since I watched Cross Game, I had the urge to try this. Why am I so weak against anime influence, dammit.

There, don't I look like a professional batter now. Gotta straighten 'em shoes!

Moral of the story: Anime makes it look soooooo damn easy :P

We tried the pitching cage next. Gaya kan? Thought if I'd look like this, I could pitch the ball at 160 km/h, you know, like Cross Game LOL

The idea was to hit all 9 squares on the other end with 12 tries. I hit one. ONE! And that was because the ball bounced on the ground! I think my grandmother can run faster than my pitches.

Next, we tried ping pong. A cannon shoots out balls at lightning speed and you gotta land them on the other side. This is where I shine the most. Got most of them, with time extended too!

We played this unique mix of snooker and bowling. Daim said it's popular in clubs and all that. Didn't know that, shows how much I go clubbing :P

And lastly, we tried basketball. It's like the very big version of the one in TimeSquare. You can actually score in any hoop (1 point) but the ones with the blinking light yield 5 points. Being the kiasus that we are, we aimed for those only :P

We got 3 hoops, and 15 points! We actually aimed for, uh... odd numbers, starting from 5... Yeah! We rock, wooo! Yup.

For din-dins, we went to the Baseball Cafe, very near Tokyo Dome. Needless to say, it had that baseball-related decor all over. Felt very the American actually.

It's my first time here as well, and wow, the food was delicious! :9 Had succulent steak and rice. Gah, I get hungry just by typing this sentence!

And that was not the only thing that was delicious :3 Mmmmmmm, waitresses in pink baseball shorts. I declare this my newly born fetish!

Oh, after that we went to Akiba :P I'm sure you've seen enough of those pictures already haha. Thanks to Fabian for the trip and the dinner treat!

So when are YOU coming to Tokyo? ;)

From Tokyo to TOA: Akiba*Doujin Documentary

2009-06-01T21:44:00.008+08:00

Sook Chiung and I thought that while it was nice to have me live in the hall, why not have a real stroll down the streets and make a video? It would really spice up the presentation, we thought.

So I did. And what better place to show doujin culture than Akihabara itself! Enjoy!

From Tokyo to TOA: Doujin Game Presentation

2009-06-01T20:46:00.007+08:00

Phew, finally the presentation has finished. It was nice to see familiar faces in The One Academy again, no matter how pixelated they were :P Man, I miss teaching! Once it was all done, can't help but feel a little lonely (this is where you go "awwwwwwwwwwwwww...")

fyi, I was invited to give a live video feed presentation to The One Academy students, talking about doujin culture and how you can be part of the ever-growing independent spirit.

Thanks to Sook Chiung, Wei Peow and the rest of the team, the session went on smoothly, though there were a few disconnections here and there. Super big arigatou to them!

Before the pressie, Yee Lean enthusiastically showed the V sign to me, hehe. It was as if the students were in Tokyo themselves, considering how common the V sign is here! Pictured also are Benjamin and Sora, otakus themselves I'm sure :P

Poor Joanne. She had to carry that camera so that I could see the audience and my own slides. And look at Sook Chiung's worried face lol. I'm sure this is where she went "Talk S-L-O-W-E-R". Thanks so much, you two. Will you both marry me?

We started with a little exercise session to test the Internet lag. Even from Tokyo, I could control their arms bwahahahaha. Pictured are Aurelia (o rly ah?), Zheng Hong aka "Lechaoz the Level 80 Paladin" xD and Wahyu, the dude who likes to take videos in female toilets.

I talked a little bit about myself, and this is where my /IF/ pictures come in. Nerds rule!

When I showed a pic of some japanese girls (aka my girlfriends) wearing some Tokyo Fashion, Kellie the fashionista seemed to be in awe. "Wah where can I get that skirt..."

My boss Sweii was there, and so was her boss! Beside her is Tatsun, The One Academy's principal. Yikes *nervous*

This is either Wahyu fully paying attention to my presentation, or he's just acting cool in front of Reuben's camera. I'm betting the latter lol

Wow some students DO pay attention. I'm surprised :P

My intention was to make the presentation have a lot of lawls, which turned out to be a success :D Love the laugh on this dude! Diana and Tanyus behind showed everyone their beautiful teeth, and Ifa seemed puzzled "Eh what's so funny?"

Selvia, on the other hand, was bored. Aiyoh Selvia, sakit hati aku tengok gambar ni!

The moral of the story is that you guys have talent, and a whole lot of tools out there are free, so go out there and do great stuff! Thanks so much for coming guys!

Just an additional note, I would like to congratulate two of my favourite students in The One, Yiwei (Hey where's Yenn?!) and Chen aka Mak Datuk. They did so well in their games that they were also invited to give a presentation. You both make me and The One Academy proud!

Thanks to Reuben, Aurelia and Benjamin for the pics!

Some After Effects Fun (for TOA Presentation!)

2009-05-27T16:48:00.003+08:00

Some of you guys already know that I'll be conducting a presentation at The One Academy this Friday. And no, I'm not going back to Malaysia ^^;; I'm excited coz it's my first, also TOA's first, video conference talk ever! Let's hope the Internet and I are best friends that day.

I'll be talking about doujin culture and its impact to the Japanese community. Thought I'd take the initiative and create a nice video of Akihabara. Borrowed my ex-classmate's camera, took a bunch of stuff with Dzaid as cameraman and am now editing the video. Should be done by tonight... I think :S

Only edited video twice in my life LOL, and that's using Adobe Premier. Then I went, what the heck la, let's learn After Effects. People always tell me it's like Photoshop but it's moving, so why not rite. Cool thing is that the trial version is only limited by its 30-day period.

That said, please forgive me if my editing sucks k :P

Big thanks to Sook Chiung and team for getting all this together. Here, she's wearing glasses coz I started wearing one too. hehe *blush*

Alright then. Students of TOA, can't wait to see you guys this Friday! Yoroshiku ne!

Project Trico (Three and Ico, geddit?)

2009-05-25T19:40:00.009+08:00

Welcome to last week's news! Experts in ruin architecture, sunlight rays, unstable braking, giant-climbing and fps-lowering are back in a new PS3 venture. Makers of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus present (though not willingly?)... the trailer of Project Trico!

Ooooh, giant griffin-kitteh!

I have a feeling that Project Trico will be combining both mechanics of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. In other words, you are able to climb a giant friend and go places! Nice... Hope I'm right, coz then it would truly be as awesome as Colossus while retaining the fun and exploratory portion of Ico. In all PS3 graphical glory.

Valkyria Chronicles, Burnout, FFXIII, MGS4, White Knight Chronicles... damn I need a PS3, NAO!

Haruhi New Episode Just Aired

2009-05-22T15:43:00.016+08:00

Wooo just watched the new Haruhi episode. It's great to see them back... ye ke? It's been so long since the last time I've seen MADs of Hare Hare Yukai that it needs some time to get into it again. Got tired thanks to the damn marketing.

For example, just when you thought Haruhi S2 was coming in Spring, they aired the old episodes instead. Countless number of times Kadokawa teased fans with their false advertising of the new season. For 3 freaking years.

Unlike the TV series before (and like the DVD version), they aired the episodes in chronological order instead. Which means that the last episode becomes the 7th. Fans of the Haruhi novels however knew that an important event, which is linked to Tanabata, is to be shown between the 7th and the rest of the first season, if it was truly in chronological order.

Last week a magazine confirmed the 8th episode broadcast to be titled "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", which was never before seen in season 1. The Internet and I got skeptical though, thinking that it's another stupid marketing ploy which might result in 1 minute of new footage.

Saitama TV station is known to show the earliest broadcast of the show. Hotel rooms in Saitama were booked solid to verify the midnight broadcast. Otakus are nuts. If only they had used half of their lifetime to get a real girl into that room instead.

To their delight, the new episode was aired at 12:45am Tokyo time last night. 2ch was flooded with messages even during the broadcast itself, about 100 an hour. Thank god it's not another marketing ploy. Luckily for us Tokyo-ites, there will be no otaku mob strike today.

The new episode has a time-travelling theme *thumbs up* It even comes with a new ED. No dancing sequence this time, which I think is a good thing. But, lack of Tsuruya is UNFORGIVABLE!

Yokohama Trip

2009-05-19T18:43:00.013+08:00

(EDIT: Now with Zettai Shounen references at the end of the post!)

My cousins and I were very determined to go *somewhere* during the Golden Week. Kononnya wanna go Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, Hokkaido... but I ran out of money :( Let me tell ya, being in Tokyo and having no money sux big time.

We went to Yokohama instead, 45 minutes away from Tokyo :P

We landed in Yokohama into a shopping complex called Lumine, where we had our lunch.

I'm pretty sure that the Japanese meant Sea Bus, if you follow the Katakana spelling, but Daim here tries to show how a Sea Bass looks like. Jadi tak?!

Sogo is still very well alive here in Tokyo. Miss the KL one though, in such a nice dodgy place!

And that's our Sea Bus... i mean, Bass.

The boat reminds me of Aria! It has a powerfully-air-conditioned indoor section...

...and an outdoor section. Awwww just look at these two lovebirds, having a time of their life. While they're busy discussing the names of their future kids...

...we're busy posing as pirates. One might fondly remember my plundering experience with Aidi.

Wooo more Aria reference. They should put up more of that wind thingies!

The boat made three stops in total, and this is the first one. Lovely, isn't it? This is where Umino Chika got her pen name, and that's why in Honey and Clover there was such a amusement park beside the sea. We shall revisit this spot soonish!

Too bad for the cloudy weather that day, so my n00b photography skills are easily seen!

And that ends our journey through the seas. We are trying our best to hide our motion sickness.

This... I have no words to describe this picture.

Except it's sorhai. Really sorhai.

We arrived at Yamashita Park, where obvious signs of Spring come to life! A lot of greenery and flora to be seen here. We've been in super modern Tokyo for too long....

...far too long. You should know by now that we just LOVE to frolic through flower beds.

Nice boat. Hehe, sorry couldn't resist.

The sea breeze coupled with greenery. Wonder if I should really move to Yokohama instead.

Unfortunately Daim enjoyed the bay winds a little too much.

I was too late :~( May he rest in peace...

...New jacket w00t!

Park, flowers, fountain, excuse for being late, confession.... now where's the girl?!

After the park stroll, we took a train to Minatomirai for the next itinerary on the list. We had to go through a shopping complex (what is it with Yokohama and shopping complexes?). They had this cool German gibberish on this giant wall. Felt like playing Xenosaga all of a sudden.

I am the Architect. I created Yokohama. I've been expecting you.

And we have arrived at the amusement beside the sea, also known as Yokohama Cosmo World! No Mickey Mouse in sight, just us and the rides.

But first, what the hell is this?!

And this is the famous Ferris Wheel, the Cosmo Clock 21, referenced a lot when artists wanna refer to Yokohama. When it was first built, it was the largest ferris wheel in the world.

According to Wiki Travel, it currently holds the record for the biggest clock in the world. Yea I lol'ed at first, but it has clock mechanisms inside the wheel, making it turn endlessly for many years at a consistent clock-like rate.

After all that trouble setting the timer, one person just had to dist... oh, hey sweetie.

I hate two things: cockroaches and height. But today is the day I overcome my fear of heights!

...Or so I thought. Phailed.

Dzaid seems to be in such a comfortable position right now.

At least I had enough courage to take pictures of the view. So best tak this view?!

Just look at that headache-inducing yellow roller caster ride!

I'm also proud to say that I rode on that pink-railed roller coaster. I haven't ridden on one for more than TEN years! Yes I was a chicken, but no more!

The roller coaster is called Vanish, and it lives up to its name. It vanishes right into that pool as you see in the picture. Hell never looked so pretty.

Oh, the dark sky is like telling us to go home, you old hags.

If this was WoW, I would have already achieved the following that day:

[Look out Below!] - Ride a giant ferris wheel
[Where are we? WHEN are we?] - Ride a pink-railed roller coaster
[Oh no, it's the land crusher!] - Swim on hard ground

Nothing like ruining a kid's amusement ride for your own enjoyment.

Gotta watch out for 'em kid predators.

Daim and Pikachu are best friends.

The night view of the ferris wheel was pretty. Here's the video that I took, with my added commentary in the middle:

And that ends the trip to the amusement park. Time to grab dinner!

And what better place to have dinner than a museum that dedicates itself to dinner! Welcome to the Ramen museum. Or Raumen museum. Sigh damn romaji-fications.

We thought it would be just normal museum detailing the history of ramen and what not...

...but will you look at that! The founder of the museum created a 1:1 replica of a section in Tokyo during the 1950s. Impressive!

Don't you just love old advertisement billboards?

Really, the atmosphere was immersive, to say the least.

They even had this old man in the scene. With headphones though. That spoiled everything.

Come to think of it, why must an age-old place have an old man? They have young people during those days too rite lol

The only problem was the vending machine. As much as they tried to make it look old, modern vending machine is modern.

Just had ramen with this cool Japanese dude.

The ramen was delicious! Too bad the entrance fee alone was 300 yen, else I would come here more often. They even had that sambal-like thing to spice things up!

Uhh Daim, I think that hole is where the... never mind.

And that ends our Yokohama trip. Though it's near, it felt quite different than Tokyo. The sea breeze, the huge space. And I had all those achievements too! Ichinichi tanoshikatta!

Btw, here are some screenshots from the (horrible) Yokohama story arc of Zettai Shounen! Why? Coz I'm an anime fan :P The tower, the sea bass, the ferris wheel, it's all there~!

A!

2009-05-15T18:32:00.006+08:00

Today I bought my first Monthly Shounen Sunday. I really love Cross Game right now, and no slice-of-life connoisseur should pass up on Adachi Mitsuru's new work, Q and A. After all he is said to be a genius at pure storytelling.

But there's a MUCH BIGGER reason why I'm buying this thick book for 500 yen.

New Azumanga Daioh 4-panel manga is out! 7 years after his final panel in Dengeki Daioh, Azuma Kiyohiko pleased Azumanga fans (that's me!) with plans to release 3 new chapters, this edition bearing the first one.

Needless to say, I'm a big fan. It is simply the best slice-of-life comedy out there for me. There was also a poster of this illustration outside the shop. I want it NAO! On my room wall!

But ahhh, it's so great to see the characters back. Especially Osaka of coz :) And the manga starts with Osaka leaving the house for school. I'd say that's a lovely start!

Here, Tomo thinks the Osaka-ben "teten" is cute, so they keep repeating the phrase... to Yomi's annoyance, as usual.

Terebi is the new Ohayou.

Tezuka Osamu Exhibition: Message for the Future

2009-05-13T00:09:00.032+08:00

I have to admit, I have never watched any of his works except for some episodes of Blackjack on Animax. Even so, rightful anime fans who call themselves anime fans should pay their high respects to the great father of anime and manga, Tezuka Osamu.

Needless to say, he's a legend. Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion are just a notable few of his many great works that were way ahead of their time. I mean, seriously, a robot that has cannons for his ass really says something!

It comes to no surprise that it was Astro Boy that inspired the Honda research team to come up with Asimo. No doubt that his works have inspired many others, especially those in contemporary culture and art. I wonder what crazy stuff would he do now if he was alive today.

My cousins and I were free on one weekday holiday, so we decided to be a little, uh, educated and visit an art exhibition. After some research on the Tokyo Art Beat website, we found what we wanted: An exhibition dedicated to Tezuka's works, rightfully titled "Message for the Future".

So off we went to the Edo-Tokyo Museum near Ryogoku station. The exhibition lasts till 21st June, so do visit if you're in Tokyo.

Btw, I bought that t-shirt in Malaysia, never guessed it would come in handy lol

Photography is not allowed in the exhibition, so had to take pictures like a ninja. Worse comes to worst, I'll play the gaijin (foreigner's) card:

Me (speaking in British-accented English): "Oh dear, I do not understand a word of Japanese..."
Security Guard: "The sign was in graphic form, you gaijin bast**d!"
Me: *lifts up monocle and points into the distance* "My word, Tezuka-san's alive!" *runs away*

The 3DCG movie of Astro Boy is coming out October this year. Let's pray that many childhood memories won't be f**ked up once again *cough*dragonball*cough*.

Oooh looks like the last scene of Astro Boy [/spoiler]

The theme of the exhibition is that Tezuka Osamu is delivering a message to future generations with every manga/anime he created. Astro Boy was about the message of hope, Kimba the White Lion was about family and Blackjack was about the importance of life and how we take it for granted.

Hey wallet, did I just hear you cry?

There were many art books and manga on sale. Too bad I had no monies :(

Had just enough money to decorate my room wall :)

What an inspiring message on a nice and simple eco-bag.

Daim actually bought a nice little medal keychain in which you can write a short message, using the above machine. Message mosaic-ed to retain its awesomeness.

"Bontot Meriam". Cannon Ass. All that nice bevel and glitter to bear those awe-inspiring words. Worries me to think what Daim's "message for the future" would be when he's famous enough to hold his own exhibition.

Climbing up the stairs of the museum, people would usually see a h-u-g-e space. We cousins of course saw opportunity.

I took the time to practice my hip-hop breakdance moves, break here referring to how my ankles were when trying to pose for the camera with one leg up. Sorhai-ness in its purest form.

And here we tried the Uniqlo dance. Graceful as a bear.

And another ~~gay~~ Uniqlo dance. I just realized, we're all wearing Uniqlo clothes! Coolz.

As the sun sets, we bid farewell to Tezuka Osamu and the Edo-Tokyo Museum. As I watch the next panty shot in a Hatsukoi Limited episode, I now realize that it all started with Tezuka's greatness! All hail God of anime!

AAA'08 Tribute! Thanks, Fabian!

2009-05-06T23:24:00.005+08:00

I was surfing Facebook like I usually do when I suddenly stumbled upon Fabian's picture gallery.

Wow, I think this is the first ahbonk.net tribute ^_^ Fabian bought a Kagami figma when he was here in Tokyo, and he posed it to look like me on that throphy. Thanks dude!

...which reminds me, I better continue the AAA'08 awards :P

Danny Choo in a Nikon TV Ad

2009-04-30T21:50:00.014+08:00

If there's one guy who's really living the foreigner's dream of being in Japan, it's Danny Choo. He's the very definition of someone who didn't follow his destiny and carved his own path.

His parents are both Malaysian Chinese, Penang-ites, but Danny was born in London. His father is Jimmy Choo, whose shoes have been made for the likes of Princess Diana, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, the cast of Desperate Housewives and other superstars. This popular pop culture icon deserves its own post, but I don't write about fashion designers, sorry :P

Anyway, Danny had something else up, his interest in Japan started with his imported Sega megadrive. He didn't have Chinese education, so when he was young, he pasted Kanji cards all over his bathroom wall! According to both of them, he didn't borrow a single dime from daddy.

From there, he worked in Japan Airlines office in London, hoping to get a head start. Next thing you know, he ended up as a manager in Amazon and Microsoft offices in Tokyo. Now he has a nice startup in Tokyo, serving big-name clients. And he married a Japanese! Easy only. Kantan dake.

He also worked as a stormtrooper before. Sadly, luck would have it that the Death Star blew up and he lost his job, so he ends up dancing in the streets of Tokyo.

Here's a little video introduction. He was featured in CNN.

To show you how far he has come, he's now featured in a Nikon TV commercial. No, not as Guy B running in the background. It's really a proper interview with him. Though he's actually a Panasonic Lumix user :P Shhhhh.

I'm sure he wanted to explain more about the maids XD "This is Zettai Ryouiki..."

He's truly an inspiration for many of us, otakus and non-otakus alike. Congrats, Danny!

All aspiring photographers should also check out the other adverts @ http://www.nikonnext.com/. Very awe-inspiring ads.

Chibi Miku-san

2009-04-27T14:59:00.012+08:00

It's hard enough to resist Miku's charm, but it triples when she's in chibi form! Nom nom nom

I have been following the web comics of doujin creator Minami for almost a year now. Got hooked to them coz Minami simply knows how to make 4-panel comics, and it all started with Hidamari Sketch and Lucky Star doujinshis. All it takes is a Wacom and a great sense of humour.

Minami's latest venture, Chibi Miku-san, has close to no dialogue at all! It has an all-star cast of Vocaloids, even the fan-made ones. Strange thing is that Chibi Miku and Miku herself are sisters. Hard to tell the difference sometimes!

Here are some of my favourites among the almost 300 that I've read so far:

Sankaku Complex just posted this earlier today: One hardcore fan decided to do an animation trailer of Chibi Miku-san. Here's the wonderful MAD:

Miku fans unite! Sign the Chibi Miku anime petition today! *signs*

A Fine Gentleman

2009-04-22T22:47:00.004+08:00

Well as expected, not much comments on the anime post. In response to that, the next thing to do is to show you guys what you want to see most: me!

Hakukun-san took this candid picture of me during lunch.

Oh, please ignore the face pores, thanks.

Spring Anime Recommendation

2009-04-20T21:15:00.051+08:00

I think I have watched enough spring-season anime to judge what's the best out there. Here are my personal recommendations.

Valkyria Chronicles

YouTube >> Valkyria Chronicles OP

Based on a PS3 game by Sega which won many awards in 2008, including Best Game of the Year from GameFAN, Best Artistic Graphics from Gamespot and Best Original Soundtrack from GameSpy. Check out the US game trailer. I wanna play, someone sponsor me a PS3!!!

It's a tale about two nations at war over a mineral and a tank with mysterious power and speed. This is my current favourite this season. Here's why:

A feisty twin-pigtailed girl in a cute uniform holding a rifle? Say it isn't so!
Rich European setting with fantasy elements. In short, fast-moving tanks, hell yeah!
Light-hearted, yet serious, doesn't make sense I know
Storytelling's pacing is just perfect for me
Fantastic art direction, European villages and artillery never looked so good
Main girl voiced by Inoue Marina, also voiced Yoko from Gurren Lagann... yammeh~!
Yes, the uniforms are delicious :9 Would like to order zettai ryouiki with fries, thank you!

K-ON!

YouTube >> K-ON! OP

The moe anime of the season. Naturally coz it's by KyoAni, the people who brought you Haruhi and Lucky Star. A show about girls forming a band and creating a music club.

A little disappointed coz I thought it being a 4-panel manga meant that it's gonna receive the snappy treatment of Lucky Star or Azumanga. Oh well, still great!

Love slice of life! Love music too! Oooooh, what do we have here...
It's KyoAni doood. They make good shows.
Animation is amazing, more natural instrument-playing gestures than Nodame Cantabile
Attention to detail, from the instruments (anime sponsored by Yamaha!) to the existing expensive tea sets, coz one of 'em is rich beyond imagination
Moe characters, and not too irritating too. Mio is <3
Yummy ending sequence :9

Higashi no Eden

YouTube >> Higashi no Eden OP [Sung by Oasis, has great motion graphics, U GOTTA WATCH THIS!]

This is what you get when you combine the brains of Kamiyama Kenji (director of Ghost in the Shell: SAC) and the art of Umino Chika (creator of Honey and Clover). ~~Morita~~ Akira, naked clothes-wise and memory-wise with only a gun and a phone in hand, meets ~~Ayu~~ Saki who happens to be touring around in Washington. Next thing you know, Japan gets hit by missiles. Yikes.

Helloooo~! SAC meets H&C, need I say more?
Animation by Noitamina. Honey and Clover, Paradise Kiss, Moyashimon, Nodame...
Opening song sung by Oasis!! Franz Ferdinand, Oasis... Noitamina knows where to get 'em!
Needless to say, the art so far is fantastic, no, SUPER FANTASTIC
C'mon, a story that starts with a guy found naked in front of the White House doesn't interest you?
Saki is Ayu and Hagu in one character. In short, toooo muchhh loveeeee

Other noteworthy recommendations

Natsu no Arashi: Don't be fooled! This is not just any slice of life show. Won't spoil it for you, but a little hint: it's the type of supernatural/sci-fi story that I like ;) Very very underrated, please watch. Produced by Shaft, though outsourced to another studio.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: An anime that obviously needs no introduction! This is a retelling of the entire first version, by the same studio. One wonders why. I'm late to the party, so I'm glad I now have another chance to watch the show. Love the cute ED.

Cross Game: Ah, classic. Love the art direction. It's by Adachi Mitsuru (H2, Touch), so as usual it's a romance show that revolves around baseball. This is undoubtedly the most pleasant surprise this season. Get your heart ready for the first episode. Don't say I didn't warn ya.

Basquash: You like mechs? You like basketball? Well aren't you a lucky bastard. From the studio that brought you Macross F is a show about, yea you guessed it, people in mechs playing basketball. Gorgeous art direction (it's like a movie!) and sponsored by Nike too, so expect to see Nike shoe designs all over the place.

Ristorante Paradiso: Thought it was gonna be a show about European gourmet food, in the end it's about a bunch of handsome middle-aged men in glasses working in a restaurant in Rome. Geh. Gay. Still the art is not bad. It has that nice European touch, though I can't help but compare to the more breath-taking background art of Aria. And Aria has girls! That's very important.

They're here coz I like the ED

Arad Senki: My favourite ED this season. Retro game graphics synchronized well to an equally awesome retro song. It saved an otherwise mediocre first episode. Seriously, any anime that is derived from a Korean MMORPG is doomed to fail.

~~Hinagiku~~ Hayate no Gotoku!! 2nd season: Any ED that features tsundere Hinagiku is great in my book. Hinagiku dating game, do want! Actually I like Hayate no Gotoku, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's one of my guilty picks, remember?

Anime-based Game Intros

2009-04-16T22:16:00.024+08:00

M`egumi in action.

Alright, getting the blog back on track, it's time to combine the 2 loves of my life: anime and games (I am NOT an otaku!).

Game intros are always fun to watch. They contribute nothing to gameplay, but with a good music montage + quality animation, it gets you in the mood to play the game. And it wastes your time on YouTube too. Bugger.

Nowadays it's all 3d, 3d, 3d. They're nice too, but I still lean towards their 2D counterparts. I know, I hear you. All anime intros are similar. They MUST have:

Character showcases: A depiction of the characters' lives before they joined the fight.
Fights: Said characters show off their specialty, one by one. Used during upbeat chorus.
Daily life scenes: 2 or more characters do typical stuff like drying clothes or eating dinner.
Villain showcases, with the final boss shown as a large shadow to avoid spoilers.
Depressing scenes: Characters are shown as exhausted in an end-of-the-world situation.
Now-there's-hope scenes, with characters staring from a cliff. Add wind for best effect.

Still, I love them. Here are some of my all-time favourites, ordered by category, not preference. Note that I prefer music montages over those storytelling types.

The high-quality button is your best friend.

RPGs

Say anime game intro, then Namco's Tale Of series immediately comes to mind. My current favourite Tales Of intro is still...

Tales Of Eternia (PS1)

The bright colours, the animation, the music, a girl kicking a monster twice her size, a pirate loli... it's all there! Many like the intros of Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss, but I'll stick with this one. Whichever one you choose, Production IG rocks anyway.

Chrono Trigger (DS)

I just finished the classic time-travel RPG Chrono Trigger on the DS. Could only find the PSX version on YouTube though, but it's the same. As you can see, the intro is quite cool, with scenes from different eras and stuff. Gotta love that Toriyama Akira magic. Pity the guy, he just got his famous creation slaughtered by Hollywood.

And let's not forget our favourite western series!

Wild Arms 3 (PS2)

Gotta love cowboys and whistling.

Summon Night 3 (PS2)

Duly underrated in the west, this game allows you to control either that red-haired dude or the long-haired girl with the white beret. I'll take the girl, thank you very much.

You can tell from the quality that it was animated by Studio 4C. Love the soft colour treatment and how the animation was well-timed with great music; I remember watching this again and again. And it has a cute pirate girl. All RPGs must have cute pirate girls.

Let's not forget that fairy who has flowers for her ass. That could be the nicest smelling butt in gaming history.

Treasure Games

Ah, Treasure. How they blessed our childhood with great imaginative games like Gunstar Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, Bangai-O and Ikaruga. Also these:

Guardian Heroes (Sega Saturn)

Gotta admit, Daim was right. The intro does look a bit dated. Still, it holds a special place in all our hearts (awwwwwww). Especially the song, right my dear *coughvideocameracough* cousins?

Silhouette Mirage (Sega Saturn)

The intro rocks just as hard as the game itself! In this unique 2D platformer, you control that half-red half-blue dude . You face right, you become red; you face left, you become blue. Enemies are also in red and blue, and can only be defeated by the opposite colour. Cool huh?

Just looking at the intro alone, you know the art direction is win. Music rocks too. 'Nuff said.

Steam-Industrial Era

Strange category, meknows. When it comes to steam-powered machines, what do you think of?

Sakura Wars 3 (Dreamcast)

Sakura Wars, of course! Beautiful girls in steam-powered robots. A man couldn't ask for anything more. The third one has the best intro, in my opinion.

I can imagine Fabian screaming with glee right about now.

Skygunner (PS2)

This game brings back my love for flight simulations. Simple and fun to play. The intro itself is beaaaauuuuuuutiful, with that kind of art direction and soothing music. And the characters have tails! Reminds me of what Treasure would do minus the zaniness.

And look at that fat plate of spaghetti. I'm so hungry now.

Crazy Intros

Some animation studios take pride in making game intros as incomprehensible as they possibly can.

Musashi Samurai Legend (PS2)

The kind of craziness you'd expect from the team that brought you Gurren Lagann. Throwing a girl up and whacking all the bad guys before catching her again, now that's bad-ass. Time and time again, Gainax cleverly utilizes the angles of a girl in short skirt. Sneaky bastards.

Namco x Capcom (PS2)

The intro best sums up all fanboy dreams to have Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Xenosaga, Rockman, Tales Of series, Vampire Hunter and Klonoa characters all in one game. Done by Production IG, your resident crazy animation studio. Excellent job on this one.

Sonic

I can already hear Dzaid saying "uh-oh".

Sonic CD (Mega CD)

Sorry la Dzaid, I still love this intro. It's during the golden age where a Sonic intro is not ruined by a damn American punk rock song.

But there's still hope!

Sonic Riders (PS2)

Again, Production IG saves the day. Sonic looks so sleek in this one, but still we have to question Sega: why the hell does Sonic need a hoverboard?! Oh, and a sword for that matter too!

Korean Games

Korea has also begun to adapt anime-like characters in their games some time back. Their intros usually feature a more motion-graphic approach, with bright-coloured characters smacked in front.

My cousins would understand me when I say this: The difference with Korean games is that when the characters pop up in the intro, I would go "Ok siapa dia ni? (Who the heck is this?)". Wonder if you get that feeling too.

DJMax Portable 2 (PSP)

From the makers of the EZ2DJ arcade game. It's just a music game, but they always go the extra mile. Cool that it features the mobile phone as a glaring theme to the concert. Samsung is smart.

Yogurting (PC)

Having a title that could be easily misinterpreted, this game is a Korean MMO school-life battle RPG. Power kan the genre. The use of motion graphics in this one is quite intense, though again I ask: Siapa dia ni?!

Dating Sims

Lastly, we go back to where anime came from, this time in a genre only unique to Japan. Though they serve their purpose (in yummy ways, of course), usually the intros, well, suck. They're highly dependent on the illustration and how cute the song is, then after that you could easily use the Flash tweening feature to drag the 2D sprites all over the place.

Of course, time and time again there are a few exceptions to this rule, those being:

Haru no Ashioto (PC)

Well what do you expect, it's by Shinkai Makoto, the guy behind Voices of a Distant Star and 5 Centimeters per Second. His specialty is lighting; in an interview, he said that his first priority is to draw the lines that depict the rays of light.

Wanna see more of his stuff? Sure!

Ef - The First Tale (PC)

Possibly the game company's biggest hit, which turned into an excellent anime series. This time Shinkai Makoto teams up with a 3D animation company for that extra... rotational power.

Any more great anime-based game intros to recommend?

Time to Take Off My Shoes

2009-04-12T23:24:00.007+08:00

I feel so bad for writing my previous rant post. Messages came from all over: calls, emails, SMSes, real-life talk, blog and chatbox comments, etc. Even at such a horrible point in my life, I've been reminded again that I'm blessed with so many family and friends. Thanks so much everyone, how could I ever live without you guys!

Now that I feel much better (took me long enough huh), I owe everyone an explanation as to what kind of resolve did I reach. What better way to explain than to attach the post with pictures from the 2 picnics with my ex-classmates last week!

In my life (oh started la...), whenever I wanna do something, I'll really get fired up about it. As long as I wanna do it, of course :P

I'm sure many of you know that I'm a big fan of Japanese culture. Especially when it comes to games and anime. NO, I'm not an otaku, how many times must I tell you!

Now that I'm in Tokyo, I've been surrounded by situations where I'd go "Damn, wish my Japanese was better". Daily conversations, reading instructions and signs, joining doujin circles, reading manga, understanding anime, joining clubs... the things I could've achieved with better Japanese skills.

So I got into my usual passionate state and studied like mad. Beyond mad. Over 9000 kind of mad. Hence it's only natural that the breakdown happened, as you witnessed in the previous post.

Thanks to everyone's advice, I have come to my senses. I seem to have forgotten what learning a new language is supposed to be: FUN.

This is not Maths. Nor is it science. It's language studies. And in language studies, it's only natural that you suck if you were not born to speak the language. Hell, I started in my 20s. Studying a language is like getting to know another country's culture. This kind of interest sprouts from curiosity for something new.

Brain getting messy. Stress building up. Losing yourself. Are these things really worth it just to chase after something you're interested in? Now I think not. Learning a new culture shouldn't be about fussing over what you don't know; it should be about delighting over what you already know.

I realized that being in a hurry to learn something new is not a good idea after all. Considering that I have other things to do as well, I must focus some of my energy on things that I already have the skills for. 50% game design, 50% Japanese studies.

To sum it all up, I guess I wanna take it slow. Absorb new information as it comes. And Japan is not only about language, it's all about participating in festivals, ceremonies, sports, etc, not just staying at home studying every single kanji in the manga! Should make full use of my time here!

I will still focus on my Japanese studies, just not to the extent of destroying myself :P Seriously, to think that I have forgotten how fun it is to learn Japanese, I must've been out of my mind.

It's time to take off my shoes and take it easy. Thanx so much everyone!

Last Class

2009-04-06T21:15:00.018+08:00

I rarely do rants in this blog. A cousin once told me that it's attention-seekingly stupid to do such things. But please allow me to do it just this once. I really need to get it off my chest. You are free to skip this post completely and move on to the happier ones. After all, it's my blog and it's your right to not read it.

Today, I entered my room and cried.

I'm a guy and it's embarrassing to admit it, but yea I did. The usual happy-go-lucky me, cried. For hours on end, once in a while stopping to think about my situation. Been awhile since I shed tears. Really felt better after that, no regrets.

You see, ever since I came to Japan, I've been praised a lot, maybe too much. Still can't get used to it coz I don't think I'm worthy of such praises. Anyway, apart from the usual friendly, sociable, kind, bla bla bla, friends and teachers alike said that my Japanese is really good. Winning the speech contest helped to build such a rep.

Of course I sincerely reject that notion coz I still have a long way to go. A long, long way to go. Kanji. New words. New grammar constructs. The list goes on. My confidence in Japanese studies often wane whenever I hear a Japanese conversation or read a manga.

For that reason, I study. And I study hard. Yes I do! Heck, I have Kanji writings pinned on my wall, not just anime posters. I study the textbook almost everyday. I take note of every unknown word in the manga I read. All this really takes a lot out of me, but I'm ok. At least, I WAS ok. I had the intense drive to improve myself.

Up till now it might sound like I'm showing off, but that's not true. I'm merely stating the great deal of effort I put into learning Japanese, exactly because I'm weak in it.

Due to this diligence I did very well in class, much better than I expected. I was number one in class for the first semester, and number two for the second. Then there's this separate exam (let's call it ability test) where it tests your level of Japanese, and the school won't tell you the result, just for their own processing.

During the mandatory counselling session, the teacher showered me with sweet words like how good my Japanese is and how well I did during the speech contest. Not even a word of complaint or criticism. Didn't say how badly I did in that ability test either.

You would think that with those praises you'd have a higher expectation of yourself.

Then came the new semester. It was class placement time.

In my school, each class is represented by a letter, then a number. A1 is the same as A2, but B1 is better than B2, which is better than B3, then C1, C2 and C3.

To my utter shock, I was placed in the worst class in the morning session. That's right, I'm in C3. So I thought, hey maybe my close ex-classmates are there too.

Nuh-uh, I was grouped with my ex-classmates who were either not serious or just loves to sleep during class. The others, Nae and Sen Nyeo in A1, Dzaid and Go in A2, Hemming in B1 and Bomi in B2. I sincerely congratulated them, but I couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong.

So I went to my previous homeroom teacher. Maybe I was wrong about the class system. She said nope. I got curious and asked why am I in C3, and she answered "Maybe it was the result of that ability test?". I love my teacher and all, but that answer was so ridiculously ambiguous. No matter how much I pressed, she won't tell me the result of that ability test.

And starting from there, my thoughts were in a mess. I don't expect you to understand how disappointed I was, but seriously I was slumped. Still am now.

You mean, all that studying in hopes to learn more advanced stuff was all for naught? What about that part where I pushed myself to get past all those Chinese and Korean classmates who can read Kanji naturally to get number one and two? I'm not the kiasu type, so I'm not really concerned too much about position in class and stuff, but it's the only measurement of my ability.

Then I thought about it somemore. What am I supposed to do to become better? Must I push myself further? Thanks to today's event, what was waning confidence before is now totally non-existent.

And I'm thinking, this whole adventure is really costing a lot of money. I love being in Tokyo and all, but will I eventually be able to do what I want to do here, or is this a whole big waste of money? I still can stop now and save one whole year worth of school tuition, apartment rent, food, transportation, bills, etc. That amounts to tens-of-thousands of ringgit.

Thinking and thinking and thinking.

The optimistic voice in me is saying "You're not done yet right? You have a long way to go, so prove to them that you can do it!". I'm sure there are more chances to jump to a better class, but that's what I thought last semester too. At least to be at the same pace with my classmates. Now I'm falling behind. WAY behind.

If I continue, what am I supposed to do? Be superhuman and study at least 16 hours a day? Then will I only become better? Or should I channel my energy pursuing other things in life?

My eyes hurt like hell now. I just wanna rest from school for two days and think this over carefully. It'll possibly be one of the biggest decisions of my life. All the best to me.

Thanks for reading, my friend.

Festival Special 9: Haru Matsuri

2009-04-05T22:03:00.010+08:00

w00t it's spring! And when you talk about spring in Japan, there's only one thing that SPRINGS into mind: Sakura! Ah eh oh come and dance with me, deng deng dengen dengen deng deng deng...

A number of parks are great for hanami (flower viewing), but only a select few have an attached festival to it, and one of 'em is Ueno Park.

Last Friday I went there by myself (yea pathetic, meknows). Been working my ass off on the game production side of things, so I thought it'll be nice to go out once in a while. I mean, I'm in Tokyo, for crying out loud!

Then just today, I went there again with my cousins, coz it was just too darn festive to not go the second time! So I mixed the pictures taken on both of these days in the list below. I'm not the type who changes clothes during a festival.

Wearing a suit while sitting below the Sakura trees. Howzzat for a company meeting?

Some people stuffing themselves festively while enjoying the view. What view, you ask?

This view! Ah, nothing like a huge body of water to calm yourself down.

The peace was nice while it lasted. Now it's time for war! War for foodz!

Suddenly it felt like I was brought back to the Matsushita stadium in Shah Alam.

Here, the fish are performing the enchanting vertical dance ritual.

Ah sotong. How I love thee.

Here, they sell the must-have Takoyaki, or octopus balls. Argh screw the flour, can I just grab the whole thing and put it in my mouth?

Mmmmm taiyaki. They put in some lovely paste inside the fish-shaped flour, which came in 4 flavours: red bean, chocolate, cheese and cream.

Some other customers I saw at the stall.

Here's some ~~yong tau foo~~ oden. Didn't bother to buy them coz you can tarpau 'em at 7-Eleven.

This is Manhome's butter potato. Can't beat the Neo-Venezian one for sure (sorry non-Aria fans)

And this is my favourite of the bunch. The sotong that came from the heavens.

KLCC potato swirly. Buy one free one!

Heheh hehehe heheeheheh (they're chocolate-crusted bananas) heheheheh hehe *giggle*

They didn't have the caramel apple candy, but they had caramel any-other-fruit candy. Strange desu ne.

Lemonade, or Ramune. 300 yen for each bottle, and they give you 100 yen back for its return.

Enough of looking, now it's time to savour the spoils of war!

It's strange how you can look so cool with that power hairstyle and sunglasses...

...and look sorhai at the same time.

Daim really got into eating his candied pineapple.

This is my wtf-such-a-big-case-for-a-pathetic-looking-chicken-stick face.

Nothing like enjoying the view while eating ~~ABC~~ kakigoori. You are given the shaved ice and can pour fruit syrup as much as you want. So imagine Daim's reaction when he said "Grape please" and was given plain ice. "Anooo~"

Just watch any festival episode of an anime series (yes, the one right after the hot springs and before the beach trip) and you'll know what this is. It's called Kingyo sukui, or goldfish scooping. With a scoop that tears easily with pressure, you have to scoop up as many goldfish as you can, and that'll be your take-home reward.

Another festival favourite. The gun packed quite a punch, but it's still not enough sometimes to make the prize topple down. You gotta aim carefully too.

Or you can be like Konata and aim for the handsome shopkeeper.

Uh, KL Central Market much?

When there's a beautiful park in Japan, chances are that it shares with the temple grounds.

So here I am at a dating spot... with my... two cousins...

Selamat datang ke Terengganu, di mana anda boleh melawat beberapa kampung nelayan macam ini. Jangan lupa, ada angsa terbesar di dunia kat sini juga! Dalam pelbagai warna!

Of course when people talk about Ueno park, they think about the two extremely long rows of Sakura trees lined up beside the path.

During hanami, you can laze around, let your guard go and drink beer on makeshift tables.

Even with all that drunkenness, they still have the civic-mindedness to recycle stuff.

Humans have it so easy, ducks must fight for their grub man!

The sun is about to set. Better go home... (or to Akihabara!)

Will definitely come here again with my classmates for Hanami, but that'll be a post for another day. Happy springtime folks!

K-ON!

2009-04-02T12:33:00.013+08:00

Well well, will you look at that, another anime post!

With titles like Clannad After Story and Toradora brought to a close (VERY beautiful titles, I may add!), it's time to look forward!

Today is the airing of a new show by Kyoani called K-ON. I was expecting it to be a nice melodrama slice-of-life show like Linda Linda Linda, considering that it's also about a four-high-school-girl band (my type of show!); even the Haruhi concert scene was inspired by the drama.

Well K-ON's nothing like that. I bought the 4-koma manga and it turned out to be a slice-of-life comedy. No disappointment of coz, since that's one of my fave genres. And I was laughing my ass off, it's so damn funny! Till tears come out kind of funny!

Yui, who knows nothing about bands or music, sees a twin-neck guitar for the first time:

"Konnichiwa" XD Yesh, Yui is the girl to look out for! Also Mio (long black hair, Aidi u like ah), for the tsundere love in all of us <3

We know this is all "Here, look at this! *runs away to finish up Haruhi S2*", but after reading the manga I don't mind one bit.

New Stylez

2009-03-31T16:31:00.002+08:00

Like my new look? [^]=[^]

Sayonara Doohee-chan

2009-03-29T18:40:00.009+08:00

So best tak see the DotA post for one whole week?

Anyway, two Saturdays ago was one of the saddest day of my life here in Tokyo. My best friend here, Doohee-chan, had to go back to Korea as her school term here ends.

So Dzaid and I, being the good friends cum gentlemen that we are *ahem*, accompanied her to the airport and helped her with the luggage.

You see, no one speaks English in class, except Janette. With most other classmates, I had to speak formally in Japanese like "What did you do last weekend?", "How much is your house rent?", "How's the food in your country?" etc. You know, the typical culture exchange talk.

Doohee-chan is very fun to talk with. We like to engage in what the Japanese call baka-banashi, or talk crap! Just like how my friends and I talk back in Malaysia, right ppl?! :D We don't care if our Japanese sucks, we just talk about whatever we want to talk about.

To reflect on her down-to-earth personality, she likes to ask funny questions, doesn't mind being in stupid pictures, laughs a lot and likes to jokingly praise herself, like "Well you still have the other classmates, just too bad that I'm the most interesting person to talk to, deshoouuu?!" XD

She wrote a letter for me before she left (awwwww) and reminded me of when we first met (double awwww). She was the first schoolmate who formally introduced herself to me, coz she sat beside me during the opening ceremony. It was a blessing that we landed in the same class.

Unfortunately, she was also the first schoolmate who I had to say goodbye to. Sayonara Doohee-chan, hope we can meet sometime again. When I visit Korea someday, you better keep your promise and take me around yea!

...

And here's some bonus content!

We trained her to say a malay simpulan bahasa. As to why... errr, it's a little of an inside joke among us cousins, but it's still a proper saying. Could you hear it?

Anyone found my Boots of Speed?

2009-03-20T20:45:00.006+08:00

If there's one game that can make you shout Chinese swear words across the room even though you're not Chinese, it's Defense of the Ancients.

I'm not particularly super enthusiastic about the game myself, but as a game designer I know it's a very well-designed game. It's still unbalanced, but at least it's well-designed enough to get players excited to tear each other's throats. The amount of decisions you can make at any given second is abundant, yet such little decisions could either favour or thwart your team's winning chances.

Stay on the road, or help another teammate?
Save up for Divine Rapier?
Kill Roshan? Wait, they're killing Roshan now! Should we attack their base?
Damn, should I use my ulti now?
b b b b b b bb b bb b b b bb b b b
Oi ask you to stun, never stun! Ma c&*$ ha@!

What's even more amazing is that it's just a freaking mod of Warcraft III. Even so, it's being used in tournaments worldwide and Asians in particular have caught its fever, and I'm pretty sure it's more popular than Warcraft III, at least in KL!

Now the game gets the proper analysis it deserves. A writer in Gamasutra, a well-known game design site, has dissected DotA and wrote a nice postmortem on the game. Go read it, and see for yourself what makes DotA fun.

Now seriously where's my Boots of Speed? It goes so well with my Sobi Mask...

Hirano Aya... in Malaysia?!

2009-03-19T17:10:00.004+08:00

That's right! Hirano Aya, known for being the voice actress of Haruhi and Konata of Lucky Star, visited Kuala Lumpur and Kuching few weeks ago! She's also a bikini model, and she's touring around Asia to take photographs and what not.

Mmmmm nothing like a Japanese bikini model in a baju kurung eh guys? ;)

Birdie, this one's for you.

It seems that some stupid computer company took advantage and engaged in her for advertising purposes. Just check out the lovely advertisement spot:

EPIC FAILZ written all over. =_=;;

Well at least better than some dude in Indonesia using a 2D character to boost his political ratings amirite?

Pictures and info courtesy of Sankaku Complex. Click the link for a tale of a crazed Malaysian otaku hunting her down. Scary.

Miku... in Shibuya?

2009-03-16T15:50:00.011+08:00

Hearing Hatsune Miku's voice in the streets of Akihabara is normal. Waaaaaaayyy normal. But how about along the street of Center Gai in Shibuya, the home of the young and trendy?

My cousins and I were having dinner there, and I thought I heard something familiar. It was Miku's voice coming out from the speaker above, singing my fave Miku song "Melt" :3 Her voice resonated throughout the entire street!

To promote the latest album by the synthesizer-voiced wonder, advertisements were placed on the lamp-posts of this busy street. Supercell, a group of composer geniuses in NicoNicoDouga, remastered their Miku songs and came out with a major debut album.

Needless to say, it became a BIG hit. It became 2nd place in the ORICON album chart. It was sold out in Amazon and Sony Music Japan in an instant. Heck, even the TV commercial looks awesome. (Yes there's a TV commercial!)

Looks like it's Akiba time this week! ^_^ I'm just glad that Miku and Supercell are gaining the wider recognition they deserve.

New Computer, Hooray! Bus Trip, Hooray!

2009-03-12T01:01:00.017+08:00

Thanks for everyone's response on the haircut pics. Rest assured, I won't cut my hair that way lol. Oh btw just for pride's sake, I took less than a minute to edit those pics ok!

Yes, that's right suckers! I got myself a new desktop! Am desperate to save money right now, so can't afford to buy a laptop. But it's real sweet, real fast and real cheap!

Alice's big face smacked onto my monitor represents my pent-up anger for not having the internetz for one freaking month! RAWR!

And to celebrate the coming of my new digital life, I present to you photos of my school bus trip yesterday! To make up for lost blogging time, here's 57 freaking photos of me and my schoolmates having fun (ok, I'm just too lazy to choose).

For those who are wondering where Dzaid was, he overslept and didn't make it in time =_= Zannen...

First stop is Enoshima, a nice little island bordering Tokyo and Yokohama. The view of the sea is really a nice change of scenery.

The girls getting ready for a sunny day near the beach.

A refresher intro of my classmates: (L-R) Seon Nyeo-san, Doo Hee-chan, Nae-san, Hemmin-san and another Korean new to the blog, Sojon-san, the most ~~urusai~~ lively girl in class.

Only a few minutes into the trip and they already bought ice cream!

(L-R) Shin Shin-san from China, Doo Hee-chan (duh), Koko-san from China (the most ~~hen~~ "interesting" classmate i will ever have) and Janette, seen during the speech contest.

Malaysian, hakken! He's Ken (hahahahah hakKEN haha... nmind), and is the only other dude I can speak Manglish with.

A must-have group photo at the entrance of the Enoshima shrine. Fifth from the left is my wonderful genki homeroom teacher, Nakazawa-sensei.

As with any tourist spot, the path was filled with souvenir shops trying to grab your attention.

But nothing can grab my attention more than a cat! Awwwww, the cat wanted my lunch. So so so so so so so kewt!

Janette loves cats too. She's cool in my book.

And here's the obligatory orange torii (gate) welcoming visitors to the shrine.

Janette is so cool and all with her sunglasses, and I'm wearing... a Keroro T-shirt...

Love this pic. Doo Hee-chan with her trademark "what am I doing here" face.

I look so cool here... wearing... that Keroro T-shirt...

We had no idea what this was, but as long as it can fit me and two girls, it's picture time!

Remember to cleanse thyself before entering the shrine!

This is me and Go-san at the main part of the Enoshima shrine, Hetsunomiya, where people do their praying... thingy. Hey don't look at me, I ain't no tour guide dude.

Me with Hemin-san and Bomi-san (ok Sora, don't get excited now) in front of the Omikuji-s, randomly drawn pieces of paper containing your life prediction. Tying it here will make good fortunes come true and bad fortunes go away.

Ain't this beautiful? Those are ema-s, written by those who wish for success or health for others or themselves.

Nae-san was generous enough to make me *feel* taller. Notice the elevated platform beneath my feet. Should've eaten those long beans, dammit.

Haven't introduced these two quiet classmates yet. Shashon-san (left) and Kean Boon-san, both from China. One is praying and the other is grinning... god knows what they're up to.

Go-san. The human paradox. Quiet but always at the center of attention.

You know, I intended it to be a joke, but this pic IS creeping me out right out. It's strangely bright and I have the sudden urge to look at the backgr... ok ok next pic!!!

Thank god we're foreigners, or else we might get shot right now.

As you can see, despite the rainy week, it was sunny all day long. Yokatta!

Awww look at that. A smile as bright as the flowers *cough*

Don't you just love these pictures where a group of people *act* like they're interested in something when they're not?

Doo Hee-chan's attempt to contain her laughter for my balding head had finally failed. Throw in sunlight for added reflective effect.

Just when you thought your friend took a great epic picture of yourself, some uncle just *had* to sweep the floor behind you.

To Seon Nyeo-san's disappointment, no hidden underground chamber opened in sight.

I thought I took a great picture, but all Seon Nyeo-san said was, "I look fat". Sheesh, girls.

Bollywood is everywhere man.

Whoo, I could recognize most of the kanji from that banner. That... felt... SO GOOD!

This is a picture of two cats.

Seriously though, in Korea (and I'm sure in Japan as well), Bomi-san is said to be a cat-like girl. Her eyes are squinty-upward-like and her mouth has that :3 shape. With that said...

This is still a picture of two cats.

We found a nice spot to have lunch together. Ah, this is what having friends is all about.

We almost lost track of time. Seon Nyeo-san, Doo Hee-chan and I forgot to take pictures of the sea. Off to the beach!

Again, I look so relaxed... in that... Keroro... ok I'll shut up now.

Being under the sun and blown by the sea breeze with your two great friends, isn't this the life?

'Tis not the season to swim, but rest assured I'll come to the beach in summer. I mean come on, I wanna experience that harem anime episode at least once.

Second destination: Kama~~sutra~~kura! It's a nice little town that houses the popular Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine.

Go-san stole and put Hemmin-san's cap on my head and it automatically made me respond this way. No joke.

WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT?! A half-blooming Sakura tree! I can't wait for spring. Already reserved it as my favourite season of the four!

When Birds Attack, every Thursday night only on AXN.

Here, they have freaking big squirrels. I don't even know if it qualifies as a squirrel anymore.

Looks like it wanted to bathe in the sun!

Amateur Photography 101: Place the camera a few centimeters above the ground, capture something amazing in the bottom corner and you're ready to go!

Sojon-san said it felt like she was clinging to her father *geh* Yup, she's 10 years younger than me :P At least she's the youngest in the class... *phew*...... *sigh*

This is me trying my very best not to buy any of them.

Why hello there!

Just look at the clear sky man! Ok I guess that's not what you're looking at huh, hehehe *blush*

This is Nae-san trying to stand on her tip-toes. Tall girls are EVIL.

But anyway just look at that row of trees. I'm sure it'll look real pretty in spring!

Seriously, when you see a statue of a lion, what would YOU do?

There were long rows of shops beside the road, but this is clearly my favourite one. The hankies look real pretty!

...Yea yea Janette, you too. Stop pestering me already.

Five girls in front of sake barrels. Why do I have this urge to shake down those barrels?! I'm sure it'll turn out to be a fun moe fest.

After all that fun, we returned to our bus.

Starting next month, our class will be reshuffled and start in the morning instead. Hope I get Nakazawa-sensei as my homeroom teacher again!

Hope to be in the same class with Seon Nyeo-san too. Too bad Doo Hee-chan's semester is finished and will be flying back to Korea soon *sob*

Oh yea, here comes the bonus picture...

Go-san and Hemmin-san said they have nothing to do with each other. Yeaaaa suuuureeee...

Nice Haircut

2009-03-02T20:50:00.010+08:00

Was thinking of getting a haircut... what do you guys think?

Damn I look good.

Dzaid wants to get a haircut, so we did a little experiment. This is what happens when you have a list of cool guy pictures and (bad) Photoshop skills.

"Hey duuuuuuudes, wanna partay?"

Kodomo No Jikan and... Offspring?!

2009-02-28T21:59:00.007+08:00

Kodomo no Jikan has sparked controversy in some parts of the world. Usually judged by its so-called "child softporn" surface, it's a comedy drama about how a kintergarden teacher deals with children that have really serious household and personal issues. Kinda like GTO, but with children.

Yes I watch the show too. I watch it for its unique approach to child psychology. Really! Why won't you believe me?!

Anyway, the first TV season had a really cute ending sequence, to which many fans followed up with many fanvids. Hanamaru Sensation by Little Non. That was back in 2007:

Now let's rewind back to 2000 and listen to Offspring's One Fine Day:

So Little Non, is this... coincidence? Borrowing a note or two, or a hundred maybe? Who knows. Regardless, I still like both singers (yes I like Offspring songs, u know!).

Little Non started off from singing in parks to having albums and singing official soundtracks, so she deserves my respect. And I love her latest song for Kodomo no Jikan 2nd season, so all is well!

Expect more NicoNico fanvids for this one. Getsu Ka Sui Moku Kin Do Nichi!

Digital (Zero) Luck Continues

2009-02-24T20:02:00.005+08:00

I think I'm just not cut out to be a computer user. Sony called and told me the repair cost would be 66,000 yen. That's RM 2,640 goddammit. Considering all options, it's time to get a new desktop. *sigh* Am waiting for my mom's money transfer before going out for a little shopping.

So goodbye, dear Vaio *sniff* At least I still have the hard disk.

To make matters worse, the web console to my easyonlygames.com email is down. Been a week plus since it happened. As such, please email me at wanhazmer[at]gmail[dot]com.

Anyone care to guess what's next on my digital luck list? ^^;;

Festival Special 7: Speech Taikai

2009-02-17T19:24:00.019+08:00

(Thanks to Doohee-chan, Hakukun-san and Dzaid for all the photos!)

Amidst all the lousy digital luck (more like digital f... never mind), I have one happy announcement to make. Well, I'll let you know later.

Last friday, my school held its 11th Japanese Speech Contest. Few weeks ago, everyone had to write an essay about anything they like. That's like saying "Hey take your time to think of a theme, and spend the very last hour writing the freaking essay! Wahahahhahaha!" :(

After that, we had to give our 3-minute speech to the class. Two representatives were chosen by classmates of each class. I was among the chosen ones. Oooh, the chosen ones.

For every participant, there is a classmate to introduce him/her before the speech. This is my, uh, "introducer". Hemmin-san from Korea. Pretty, smart and a handy-man (handy-girl?). Bring some materials to her and she'll cook up a beautiful necklace or bracelet. Looks like the real thing in shops, I swear!

And this dude, wow I'm so proud of him. He's usually so quiet, yet he was chosen to participate by his classmates. Go Dzaid!

Two wonderful Koreans from my class. We were all shocked that my classmate Go-san was chosen by the principal to be the MC. He might be tall, but his voice is like a mouse. But he did great that day! And on the right is Bomi-san, the most stylish girl in Japan and Korea! Hell, maybe the world!

My title was "Kodomo mitai ni benyou shimashou" (Let's study like a kid). According to a recent read, the secret to being good in Japanese is to be a kid. Children are curious, love to ask questions and play language games. Thought I'd share it with everyone.

My hands and legs were shaking like hell. Told everyone that there was an earthquake, but noooo they didn't listen. Sheesh. The joke actually worked two-fold in Japanese:

Me: "Jishin ga attan da yo" (There was a jishin!)
Other people: "Te iu ka, jishin ga nakattan desho?!" (Urm, more like there was no jishin rite?!)

Jishin means both earthquake and confidence. Geh...

This is Nae-san, the other representative of my class. Voted by everyone (including me) as the prettiest girl in class! She has a gentle composure and is smart to boot! Uh, perfect being, maybe?

She talked about her home city Seoul. Did you know that there's this wonderful place where you can see people rushing like mad through the streets in a distance, but where you sit is this peaceful and serene park? Must go there one day.

And Dzaid won the biggest surprise of my life award. He's usually very quiet, but wow you gotta see this fella talk that day! Was like a politician! His title was "My life in Japan". He kept complaining about the boring title, but it was the content that mattered.

"...whenever I buy stuff, I have to think in terms of Ringgit. That's FOUR (he shouted here to nice effect) times more expensive! Whenever I go to a restaurant, I must always eat the CHEAPEST item!

...There's one thing I love about Japan though. It's this! (holding up a packet of tissue, like in pic) On the streets, it's given FREEEEEE!!!"

The contest is a vote-by-all system, and I voted for him! Not being biased or anything, but it was truly a great speech. Great job Dzaid!

After 16 speeches, the votes were counted and everyone took a 15-minute rest.

Just to introduce another great classmate of mine, Janette. She's a Taiwanese who lived in Canada for 10 years, and is the only other classmate who can speak English! She loves dancing, and has been in dancing schools for some time. She has intense appreciation for the arts too.

Oh, here comes the great news. I was voted by the majority as the best speaker of the contest ^_^ Won myself a FREAKING TALL trophy (taller than the second prize one in the pic), a Pilot pen with my name printed on it and a cert. I'm so happy, would be nice to win some money though :P

Today, my sensei told me that I really looked like a lecturer when I was giving my speech. He he he he he he he...

And of course, a lovely (and blur) group photo is a must. I dunno what the people on the right are doing though, lol. This was taken by Doohee-chan's camera...

...and this is the exact same moment taken by Hakukun-san's. He's the guy in front, and he's from Taiwan. The cool badass guy of the class.

The lady on the immediate right of the guys is my homeroom teacher, Nakazawa-sensei, and I have her to thank for this win! She's funny, kind and I really enjoy her classes. We all love her!

The event ended early, giving us some time to eat some dinner together!

We ended up in a popular family restaurant chain, Saizeriya, in Ikebukuro. The lady on the bottom-left is my Korean classmate Hekyon-san. She's known for being a strong-willed stylish lady, and all of us just don't understand what she's doing in a Japanese Language school when she speaks like a real Japanese!

You know why we came to this restaurant?

Coz after the meal, she had to start her part-time job in the same place!

Nothing like an after-meal dose of enemy bashing eh? Nae-san loves to play Time Crisis and was real good at it, she even lasted longer than Dzaid! Man, the day is just full of surprises.

Ta-da! A new bishi-bashi game, still having its on-location test. The lady in red on the left is a Konami staff member, recording the time and reactions of our play. The mini-games are totally new, and you even use the yellow Start button to play! That's 4 button mashing action!

Of course, I introduced them to Pop'n Music as well ^_^ Bomi-san was really good, coz she played EZ2DJ since it first came out. Seriously, what next?!

Nothing shouts "Friends Forever!" like a Photo Sticker Booth, or Purikura. Protip: DON'T leave it to the girls to decorate the pics, or you'll have a picture of you with shiny eyes and a pig's nose!

Suzumiya Haruhi-chan on YouTube!

2009-02-17T19:07:00.011+08:00

Probably as a distraction from the announcement (of an announcement) of the second season, Kadokawa and KyoAni have released original Youtube-exclusive videos of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan, the chibi spinoff to the popular series originally in manga form.

They even have versions with English subs. How kind!

Can't embed them, so go click! Everyone needs a healthy dose of Nyoro~n.

Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan OP

Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan #2

Nyoron Churuya-san #2

Wow, Tsuruya-san acting like Osaka in Azumanga Daioh. That just made my day. Oh I just remembered, they both have the same voice actress! No wonder...

EDIT: They took down episode 1 already, and now we have episode 2! Gotta stay tuned, you know! For Kadokawa's up-to-date YouTube channel, click here.

Must.... Use.... Computer....

2009-02-03T20:43:00.002+08:00

Woohoo, I got my computer back. Just kidding, I can't be *that* lucky right? Speaking of which, my lucky streak continues. The repair shop said they don't have the spare parts, so they refunded all my money (yay!) and asked me to go to a proper Sony Service Centre.

Done that and left my Vaio there, yet to know the outcome but I saw their price list... "Notebook hardware repair and replacement: minimum 30,000 yen". That's 1,200 freaking ringgit man *thumbs up* Looking forward to the "great news" tomorrow.

Anyhow, being the anime and Internet addict that I am, I came over to Dzaid's house to blog and watch some nice *cough*downloaded*cough* anime. His room is real nice and comfy, and very Japanese. Let me show you around.

Here he is enjoying his brand-spanking new PSP-3000. Unlike my room, his floor has cool tatami mats, so not much furniture is needed. You can't see it, but the access to this room and to the house itself are by wooden sliding doors. Very Japanese!

And this is his WoW playing area, keke. He even bought a nice little table and low chair that fits right in with the interior. Reminds me of my room back in Malaysia. His favourite colour is green, apparent from his choice of curtains.

And for no apparent reason whatsoever, I want to show you his kitchen.

Vaio, be well. *sob*

Hazmer + Digital Stuff = Fail

2009-01-31T12:27:00.003+08:00

Continuing my recent lucky streak with anything digital, my laptop broke down with nice horizontal and vertical lines swooping across the screen. Diagnosed to be some sort of graphics card problem. _orz

The beautiful part is that the shop with the *cheapest* repair fee charges 25,000 yen. Yes, that's more than freaking 1000 ringgit. I'm already so broke due to the recent move and the clinic visit due to my high fever. And now this.

The other wonderful news is that it takes 1 week MINIMUM to repair the laptop. That said, I won't be blogging till the laptop comes home.

Woooo, I wonder what's next on my %&$#ing lucky streak...

MikuMikuDance, Free Software by a Fan for Fans

2009-01-25T22:28:00.013+08:00

Have you ever wondered how can there be so many 3D miku videos on the Net? No? Then you're in the wrong blog.

Seriously folks, does every freaking Japanese know how to animate 3D models? Apparently not, until a kind guy came along. He programmed a 3D software that has Miku's model data by default, and even a fool (that's me) could make her dance.

It's called MikuMikuDance, or MMD for short. You can download the software here. It's truly amazing, so easy to manipulate the body (oh yeah), even the facial expression! To top it off, he has refused any sort of donation/payment. Not for the money, he says! Damn, where do these Japanese find the time to do such noble things?!

Thanks to him, many have created, to date, 3,118 niconico videos with the tag "mikumikudance". Ranging from just replicating the Virtual Instanity music video to creating original dances for songs like the one from Macross Frontier. The power of creativity are now in hands of the fans!

For that reason, there's a new event in NicoNico called the MikuMikuDance Cup. Participants would enter their videos of Miku using MMD into the contest. The 2nd MMD Cup is due this 30th, so you can expect a lot of crazy innovative videos.

I especially like this entry, pure biasness because it's my favourite song of Polysics.

Love it, so random and has a bunch of cool Japanese Internet Memes inside. I kinda know most of them, wonder if that's good or bad. Can you spot them? There's even the angry german kid in there! And watch out for Miku's hair of doom!

MMD, giving power to the fans.

AAA'08 - Award for Best Anime Moment

2009-01-21T21:57:00.022+08:00

Phew, been awhile eh? Had the WORST FEVER OF MY LIFE for 3 days, plus classes have started so blogging had to wait, till now that is. Continuing AAA'08, here are my favourite 5 moments of 2008:

Click here to reveal best moment #5.

Zetsubou Sensei Art Direction Overhaul

So you walk into class one day and suddenly find your students transformed into chibi cute magical girls. And you have a staff in your hand and wear a cape. It should strike you by now that you'll be having the time of your life.

Just look at the video. Remember, a parody of a magical girl show intro must ALWAYS include sound effects, transformation scenes, a romantic scene, around 3 tragic snapshots and the occasional panty shot. They even managed to sneak in a reference to Contra! Did you spot that?

After this segment, you are served with a whole platter of different art directions for the rest of the episode, from pop art to claymation. Totally mind-blowing and confusing, yet I craved for more. Shaft, you da man.

Click here to reveal best moment #4.

Kurenai the Musical

I salute the director of Kurenai, specially for this episode. He had the balls to have the whole cast burst into a musical. That's right, out of nowhere everyone started singing their hearts out, broadway-style. They didn't do it in other episodes, only this one. A big WTF slammed right into your face.

A move that's totally bold and witty. Truly, it's this kind of random spark that made Kurenai shine. Try it one day, suddenly sing to your mom about what you want for dinner. Who needs a mundane life anyway rite?

Click here to reveal best moment #3.

The Sudden Proposal

"Let's get married."
"Okay."

So one would expect a marriage proposal to come packaged with candlelight dinner, some charming light effects and an expensive ring in one hand right? Nope, not this time. In the spur of a frustrated moment, Tomoya proposed to Nagisa.

Tomoya sincerely wanted Nagisa to be with him for life. He needed her. That's all. Nagisa's reply might be cliche, but it explained why she didn't hesitate to accept: "...There is no else in my mind but you the entire time".

Two people who love each other, to the point that they can't imagine being with any other person. As blatant and early as the proposal was, that was the message it delivered, and it was executed perfectly. A marriage proposal without the fireworks, touched by the magic hands of Kyoani.

Oh the couple also had no money, but that's clearly beside the point. Yup.

Click here to reveal best moment #2.

Muscular Girl Meets Cute Boy

A girl's memory inside a muscular male body. A guy's memory inside a cute girl's body. They met and were unsure of each other's identity. Yet, they felt something for each other, a feeling that neither of them could describe.

At first, this scene didn't make sense. Once I got to know that both of them loved each other when they were in their past bodies, the scene had a whole different meaning. It was a symbol of their love that transcends physical bodies. I'd say that's some pretty strong lovin'!

This scene cleverly utilized the premise, in which people can transfer their memories to other bodies. To make a scene beautiful only a few episodes later is one big triumph in storytelling, imo.

Click here to reveal best moment #1.

Alice's Graduation Ceremony

Here, you have a simple scene where two gloves are removed from the hands of a girl. With the genius mind of Amano Kozue, you can have the same scene with a more epic touch!

In Aria, one glove removed means you are one step closer to being a full-fledged gondolier. Of course if you have two gloves, you have two major tests to pass before you can give tours on a gondola by your own.

Now imagine you have a friend (and her name is Alice... and she's kewt as hell) who wanted to be a gondolier for the longest time. After going through one test, she has both her gloves removed at the same time, a first in gondolier history. Don't you feel so thrilled for her?!

You see, this is what makes Aria beautiful. Simple gestures mean a lot to the audience when it comes in a certain context, and this scene is no exception. Add to the fact that Alice didn't know the whole thing was a test, and sprinkle a dash of beautiful singing amidst Alice's nostalgic takes, and wonderful scenery and colours, and you get what I deem to be the best moment in 2008!

Windows Live Messenger + Nico Nico Douga

2009-01-12T18:09:00.014+08:00

Just read the great news from Danny Choo. Apparently Microsoft is going to release a version of Windows Live Messenger that connects directly to Nico Nico videos! Yay~ :)

It's the first time that a corporate company (apart from Crypton Future Media, duh) used Hatsune Miku in advertising. Microsoft picked out regular contributors of Nico Nico to create the online advert. Microsoft has announced that they'll release it on TV this month.

Here's the CM, showing Miku walking around in Microsoft's Akasaka office:

Look at all those MSN icons flying about! The title is "The Song of Nico Nico Messe", Messe being the abbreviation of Messenger. What better way to teach the software features than to have Miku singing it out. Glad to see a giant company recognize Miku's kyootness :3

Sing along everyone! Messe, messe, messe, messe...

AAA'08 - Award for Best Opening Sequence (OP)

2009-01-11T23:32:00.024+08:00

From now on, I'll just keep things simple and sweet. Reason is that those who watch anime already know what it's about, and those who don't just can't be bothered with this anyway. Lack of comments for these sort of posts kinda discourage me to write a long analysis too. Or maybe it's just sheer laziness lol.

Anyway, here are the winners, from number five:

An OP that parodies those 90s idol animes. Cool thing is that Kannagi has nothing much to do with idols! The producers clearly made this OP to indicate what Kannagi actually is: Cheeky, experimental and fun. Plus a catchy tune and smooth animation? Sweet. Mmmmmmmm, mini-skirt.

Shaft studios again made a whirlwind of crazy montages in this one, well-suited for such a dark comedy. Super artsy, nice tune, and love those random things spewing out of Maria's eyes. No, there's nothing wrong with your computer. The jittering is part of the fun.

A crazy anime deserves an opening injected with maximum sugar rush. Did you see that animation when the chorus kicks in? The replay button is your new friend. Oh, and I love songs by MOSAIC.WAV. The girls spurt out cute gibberish like lightning, and still sound good. They rock.

Kyoto Animation never fails to impress. Fantastic animation. Breath-taking scenery and colours. The song is meaningful in respect to the anime, saying that "you are the only one for me". Also has scenes that, once people know what they are, will make their hearts cry. *sob*

An OP with powerful meaning to an unduly under-rated science fiction anime. Watching the OP will stir your emotions with every passing episode. And look at the art direction. Listen to the music. Is it really a wonder why this is in first place? Always trust Madhouse with OPs. Always.

Idol Sing, Monkey Do

2009-01-11T05:32:00.013+08:00

Not too long ago, I showed almost all my students a game called Rhythm Tengoku Gold for the DS. I made a blog post about it last year.

A refresher. It's a music game that doesn't involve bars or arrows, it's all about testing your pure sense of rhythm in a situational manner, kinda like how you tap your feet to a song.

One of my favourite mini-game was the Idol. You control an audience monkey. All idol fans are monkeys, no? You have to tap 4 times if the idol sings the same word 3 times, and a special action if she ends the lyrics with "kamo ne" or "ii na". Here's a little video of the game in action:

The voice for the girl is an actual junior idol named Eri~na, quite popular among Tokyo idol fans. Even the character design is based on her. But what happens when she sings it live?

You get a live hall full of monkeys.

(Special thanks to Zhi Soon for the video!)

EDIT: Oh just to clarify, this is not a concert for Rhythm Tengoku. It's a concert for the Nice Girls Project, featuring a few idols performing on stage. In fact, the dancers on stage are 2 idol groups that performed before Eri~na.

AAA'08 - Award for Best Ending Sequence (ED)

2009-01-09T20:24:00.016+08:00

2007 was easy. We had the wonderfully Madhouse-crafted Oh-Edo Rocket ED and quirky Moyashimon ED. There were fluid animation, clay-like sequences and cute dangos.

Sadly 2008 had few to none out-of-the-box EDs. Even so, a handpick of them managed to suit the mood and pace of the song, which is the main criteria for this award. A good song alone is not enough to win. Yea tough judge, I know. With that said, the winners are...

When you see an awesome muscled guy wearing a maid dress, you know you're in for a good time (doesn't apply in real life). He is always battle-ready and even graduated from MIT (what?!), so he's somewhat feared by his master and his (yummy) maid colleague.

Madhouse managed to summarize the show well with the ending. With a song likened to great songs in Drummania, the animation even flows smoothly with it. Unlike Kemeko DX's ED which is only funny for the first 3 times, this ED has a longer lasting comedic effect. Pretty much suits the whole panicky feel of the show.

A show about four individuals with different lives and personalities, united by the building they live in called Hidamari apartments. Hidamari means being exposed to the sun. Amidst the ED's simplicity, that's the message that it's trying to express. The circular rays in the ED symbolize the "sun" that unites them together.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it? :P But I think that's the director's intentions!

This ED comes to no surprise when it comes to what Shaft Studio is capable of. Using symbolic markings for each character, the right choice of colours and an artistic impression of the environment. It's simply Shaft doing what they do best. Sprinkle that with great well-to-go music, and it earns its deserving fourth place.

Rather than focusing on sword and sorcery, Spice and Wolf stresses more on the economics and trade of medieval times. It's a simple take on the life on a medieval merchant, who meets sex-ay wolf-deity Horo-sama.

The ED renders the whole show in children storybook form, which I think is genius. Various depictions of apples (that Horo LOVES so much) and the tradesman cart PLUS a playful engrish tune by Rocky Chack helped with the full childlike experience.

A slice of sunshine pie, anyone? :9

After a great journey through the world of Neo-Venezia, why not enjoy a relaxing song with a nice cup of Cafe Latte?

Neo-Venezia (a remake of Venice City) is beautiful because you're constantly surrounded by water, so this ED best describes the serenity in which Aria takes place. How sunlight is refracted through water is similar to how it's refracted through that stone. Ripples forming in the water, clear blue sky in the horizon and lastly a gondola slowly skimming through the waters of Aqua.

Dunno about you, but damn that summarizes Aria pretty well! Ha-hi!

Explaining the premise of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki is like bursting into a laughing gas chamber. I mean, come on, it's a show about cat-eared girl, a government servant, a jellyfish, a talking lion, an android, a homosexual (GASP!) and 2 sisters forced to live as a family for the sake of world peace. It's like the writer put together characters and plots that he pulled from his ass!

Of course not. In fact, the light novel and anime were popularly received in Japan coz it was carefully written, regardless of its zaniness. Every character has a unique past and interweaves well with the plot. For that, the studio came up with 8 character ending sequences. The cool thing is that on every channel it was broadcasted, they changed the order of the EDs.

All of them were nicely crafted, at worst average. But one stood out for me from the rest. Hyouka the Android's ending. Hyouka is yet another android character who wants to blend in with his human counterparts.

The digital undertones and Hyouka's voice merged in harmony, although the last repetition of the chorus was a *little* annoying, though not enough to undermine the whole ED. The visuals were treated tastefully, using 3D and motion graphics in *just* the right scale. The conclusion was the best, showing the 3D house in which Hyouka calls home, coz that's what the show is all about. Best ending of the year for me, no doubt.

You might wanna watch the next best ED of Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Yuka's ending. Loved the morbid lyrics and cute overtones, but for me the 2nd half prevented it from being the Top 5.

Next up, best openings!