Hey all! Sorry, it’s been a while. No real reason for it. Just neglect D:

Today I’m going to briefly talk about a game I played for the first time today, called Dogs in the Vineyard.

I’m pretty new to tabletop games. Aside from Monopoly, Life, and all of the other classics, I haven’t really explored genre at all. A couple months ago I got into my first serious tabletop game, Warhammer 40k, although that’s another post for another time. Today, I started playing another game, and marked a milestone in my nerdy career; I played my first pen & paper roll playing game.

Now, as someone who is pretty “nerdy” and hardcore when it comes to stuff like this, it may come as a surprise to some that I never played D&D or anything. The story behind this is as follows. You could consider me a “convert” to otakuism. Throughout my (early)childhood, I was like most other kids; I tried to be one of the “cool” kids, and harassed the “nerds” in my class. A typical American kid. I followed trends and fads, and always was trying to fit into the right cliques and all. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this life I used to lead, it’s that kids are much harsher than most people perceive them to be, and that kids start to draw the lines between “in” and “out” at an early age. In any case, that’s the kind of jerk I used to be. I look back at that time and get pissed off at myself, and can only hope that the people that I was mean to can come to forgive me (although I’m not too worried about the forgiveness part-these guys are some of my best friends now). Anyway, in 7th grade I had a bit of a change in heart. I started off the year, more of an asshole than I’d ever been. Cocky, stupid, desperate for attention, etc. However it was around this time that I began to become interested in anime and video games. I began to talk to the people I once dismissed as lame, and realized the mistakes I had made in the past. I realized that the real good guys in the story of life were these guys and not those fuckheads who were busy trying to buy the right clothes and be friends with the right people. That year ended up being a transition year for me. At first I was scared and cynical at the idea of me becoming a nerd. Then I read Catcher in the Rye, and I decided I didn’t care about popularity anymore. Since then, It’s been full time fun. Now I get teased by jerks sometimes, but it feels like a small price to pay for the good times I’m having now. Though, I have a lot of catching up to do- a lot of making up the lost fun times I should have had earlier.

That’s why I haven’t played D&D!

I asked the nice folks at my local game shop about a good rpg, and they recommended a game called Dogs in the Vineyard. It is an rpg set in the American west of the 1850s. For those who do not live in the US, the “western” genre refers to the largely undeveloped/unexplored frontier of the mid-western US in the 1800s. Generally, the setting is in the desert and the land is ruled by bandits and sheriffs. An example of a famous film set in the west is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I organized a meeting for today, at a friends house, and we played! Since it was my idea, and no one had played this particular game before, I was the gamemaster. It was a fun experience. I like to tell stories and all, so creating a world, and playing the roles of many people was fun. The conflicts in the story are resolved through a quick, poker-esque battle system which is very fun when you get the hang of it. Although, the play was a little slow on account of it being our first time. But now that we all know the rules(which are awesome), we’re probably meeting again next weekend to play the next installment in the saga!

-sammyb
Question to readers:

Have you ever been given crap for being otaku/whoever you are. Have you ever been the perpetrator?

Here’s the final scene of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”. Great filmmaking.

Nine Inch Nails has been one of my favorite bands for around 2 years now. Trent Reznor (the bands’ founding member) is one of my musical idols, and I admire him greatly. Around half a year ago(?) Nine Inch Nails left their record label, Interscope(a subsidiary of Universal), and decided to release their music independently. They pretty much said that they were sick of the corporate monster ripping off NIN fans. For a long time, Trent has been a opponent of intellectual property laws such as the DMCA and has often encouraged the sharing of Nine Inch Nails’ music on the internet. For example, during the holiday season of 2006, he leaked the NIN live dvd Closure through The Pirate Bay, and posted on his blog “Happy Holidays! This one is a guilt-free download. (shhhh - I didn’t say that out loud).”

Well, lucky for us, Nine Inch Nails has done it again! Now free of their oppressive record label, they have self-released their newest album, The Slip; for free. You can get the album in a variety of file formats, ranging from an 80 megabyte mp3 file to a 1gb+ WAV file. Of course, those who wish to purchase a CD will be able to sometime in July. I think I will purchase a physical CD; both for collector’s sake and because I believe in supporting artists I love. I think it’s really great that they are giving both their fans and the first-timers a chance to choose whether to buy or not. Also, because they are self releasing the album, I am more confident that my buying the album is actually supporting the artist, and not just adding money to the pocket of some greedy CEO. Massive brownie points for Nine Inch Nails!

Oh yes, and before I forget: NIN also announced a new tour. I’ll be there on the 5th of september, no doubt!

Forgot to say a couple of days ago, in case you didn’t notice the banner at the bottom of the page, the illustrious Danny Choo has registered me at otaku.fm. This is good for me because I hope to increase my readership a bit, and otaku.fm has a lot of readers. For those who don’t know, otaku.fm is a blog feed aggregator for otaku related content. It is very helpful when one is looking for something to read, or the latest breaking news. Well… thanks, Danny! This is a really good opportunity for small-bloggers(I guess I can finally call myself one now) such as myself to expand, and reach a greater audience. The future is looking good.

-sammy

Just read a few minutes ago of the announcement of a Lucky Star OVA. Apparently, it was announced in a flyer put out by Gamers advertising the contents of the June issue of Comptiq. Let me say this very clearly;

I AM SO HAPPY I COULD DIE.

The announcement of an OVA of Lucky Star, being one of my favorite series of all time, makes me extremely happy, since who knows? Is a second season on the way? It may be a stretch, but this could be a prelude to Lucky Star 2. It’s not that I don’t like Haruhi(I love Haruhi), but I would rather see a LS2 than a Haruhi 2. But that’s just me. Long live Lucky Star!

Edit: grabbed the image off of moetron. as my about page says, if anyone takes offense to me posting an image off of their site, or something similar, just email me and we’ll resolve the problem.

Tonight, I am filling out the job application for my local anime shop, Anime V. This summer my family, including myself, will be on vacation during the first few weeks of my holiday. After that, I am completely free, aside from some math and Japanese work. So, I’m going to see if I can nab a job at the best kind of workplace for someone like myself; anime shop! The store is not particularly big. It carries a bunch of DVDs and CDs as well as posters and gunpla models. The owner seems like a pretty nice guy, but I don’t really know much. The store rents out anime on DVD and a couple of hentai titles as well. Don’t know how far that will go in keeping me from getting the job. Anyway, wish me luck!

Oh yeah, I’ve been watching Zero no Tsukaima lately. I’m almost finished with the 2nd season, Futatsuki no Kishi. I’ve really enjoyed it, except it got on my nerves a little bit that Louis and Saito (flatchested-female-lead and good-natured-male-lead) have the exact same voice actors as Shana and Yuji in Shakugan no Shana. Not to mention the art style is similar since both series were adapted by J.C. Staff. Took a while to get used to. It has a pretty good story, and it has a nice musical score as well. Impressions coming in the future maybe?

As I write this, I am in the process of opening my first eroge purchase, Fate/Stay Night. After how much I enjoyed Tsukihime, I went ahead and ordered this on paletweb around a week and a half ago. Since I’m not 18 yet, I had a friend of mine order it using his paypal which his parents don’t check. Ah the antics of youth…

I’m pretty pleased with how it all turned out. I probably won’t start playing until tomorrow night because I want to finish up the Ciel route in Tsukihime; I took a weeklong break after beating the Arcueid route. It was so touching :\ . Please excuse the mediocre picture quality, since I’m using my phone. I guess I’ll just post what is in the box as I open it up. Today, I step into a new world.^^

Whoops! my bluetooth isn’t working well, so I can’t post any other pics for a while. I’ll post the rest of them when I get it working.

Ah, finally I have some time to write up a bunch of mini-reviews. These should be short, and won’t take long to read. Reviews with screencaps after the jump.

To Love Ru

I’ve been watching this one for a while now, just haven’t gotten around to writing something about it. This show is pretty funny, and has some female character designs that are very nice indeed^^. That said, the characters’ archetypes are not by any stretch, original. Furthermore, the story is also pretty ordinary; Mysterious alien girl shows up in the bath out of nowhere. Somehow, the protagonist becomes engaged to
said alien girl, which interferes with his crush on the shy/gentle/super-cute girl at his school. Pervy humor ensues. However, the show is not bad. In fact, it is extremely funny, and is entertaining as a whole. Every episode I’ve seen so far (up to episode 4) delivers the funny, and that’s all I want/expect from it. It has a good OP as well. All in all, If you’re looking for a good story and such, this just isn’t the one. If you want to entertain yourself with good looking females, slapstick humor, and cheesy magic- look no further.

Allison to Lillia

I don’t really have much to say on this one; I don’t particularly like the art style, and the characters seem to be ordinary, to say the least. I’ve really just been watching this for a couple of reasons; it is a change from what I normally watch, the plot seems interesting enough, and it has a good orchestral soundtrack. I know that many people would disagree with me and say that it’s completely different, but Allison & Lillia reminds me of Hayao Miyazaki’s films. The art is far from the moe trend that is sweeping the anime industry, and seems to focus more on nice scenery, and realism over fanservice. You don’t see a lot of that these days. The plot is good, but not great. It’s pretty much your average adventure story. The only quirk that I really love is the emphasis on aviation, which is a prominent theme throughout the story so far. And lastly, the soundtrack is a joy to listen to. I really think it captures the adventurous, youthful nature of the show, and makes me enjoy the show many times more than I would without the music. This is one to catch if you’re aching for something new. Otherwise, you may get bored.

Code Geass - Lelouch of the Rebellion R2

I doubt this really needs much of a build up. Code Geass never ceases to please, and always keeps me looking forward to the next week’s installment. Sometimes, I even measure real-life time in how many episodes back I was at the time (ex: “this homework was due three geasses ago.”). The past couple of episodes have been less eventful than I had hoped for, but even so, I was still satisfied at the end. The addition of Rolo as a principal character should make for some interesting plot twists, though I actually slightly dislike him. I’m probably hesitant to want another character to enter the main cast when there is already so much going on, but I guess that’s just the way stories work; the writers need more to work with. The one new character that I’m anxiously waiting to see more of is Li Xingke, the Chinese general with the long black hair and sword. From what I’ve seen, he defines the term bad ass. Anyway, the Code Geass series is well on its way to becoming one of my favorite mech shows ever. Lets hope they don’t screw up!

mini-Music Review: GAME by Perfume

If you don’t know about them already, Perfume (or パフューム）is an electronica/jpop trio from Hiroshima. They are produced by Nakata Yatsuka, a member of capsule, one of my favorite electronic groups. They have a distinct sound that blends cute vocal harmonies with intense, nearly rave like, synths that still manage to sound gentle and catchy. They also are known for their cool dances during performances and PVs. GAME, perfume’s second album is mostly things I have heard before with a few things I haven’t. Most of the songs had been available as singles for some time now, so I was a bit disappointed. However, this didn’t keep me from loving the stuff I hadn’t heard. It wasn’t anything revolutionary in terms of the group’s musical direction, but there is no problem with it to begin with, so I’m happy. If you like what you read above, check it out. Every song is worth hearing.

So yeah, hope you enjoyed the read. I’ve gotta write up a bunch of history work now =\. See you all in a few years :’( .

EDIT: Something huge has happened. Something definitely worth writing about. Tomorrow, sammyb steps into a new world…

Whew, it’s been a while. Haven’t been able to write as much as I’d like to lately, on account of school and stuff. I’m nearing the end of the school year (summer vacation starts on June 12 for me), so I’ve got a bunch of projects and other things. Also, I’ve been hooked on Beatmania IIDX. It’s pretty interesting; because the arcade version of the game runs on a Windows XP embedded system, I can run the leaked arcade rip using Boot Camp on my computer, and play with the keyboard(until I buy a controller). I’ve wanted to try it out for a while now, but never got around to it. I’ve been a fan of Bemani/rhythm games for a while now, starting with Dance Dance Revolution around 4 years ago. I’m actually not too shabby. I can rock most songs on Heavy mode, with some exceptions. So now I’m experiencing being a Bemani n00b once more.

I’ll do some episode minireviews pretty soon. Until then, here are some crazy IIDX videos.

Bloody Tears from Castlevania. Really cool song, a personal favorite.

Not too sure what this one is, but amazing nonetheless. It gets insane at 0:35.

This guy’s pretty funny. I like his style XD.

Oh, and you can now find me at http://www.bemanistyle.com/ as DJNANA.

Sense is the ending theme for the final episode of Shakugan no Shana Second. It is performed by Kawada Mami, and composed by Nakazawa Tomoyuki. It appears as the seventh track on her newest album, SAVIA.

I can’t stop listening to this song. Yesterday, listening to the song put me in such a good mood, it inspired me to do schoolwork. Today it was my soundtrack for walking in between classes, and I even left class to go listen to it in peace under the guise of using the restroom. Time to take a break!

Anyway, Sense has the same rock instrumentation that songs like JOINT and Get My Way! have, with the same familiar pop feel to the song as a whole. It’s real strong point is the chorus, which can only be described as catchy and fun. Her sound as an artist (or at least in her anime songs) has always had, at the very least, some level of electronic instrumentation, which really brings out the best in her voice and the other sounds surrounding her. Most of all, it’s a blast to listen to this with headphones. I’ll probably pick up the album at some point in the future.

You can grab this song over at gendou, but if you like it a lot, support the artist by buying the album!

In other news I recently “acquired” the Fight Club original soundtrack. Recently rewatched the film, and once again I am blown away. If you haven’t seen it already, I suggest that you see it ASAP. On the soundtrack, the music really brings out the dark essence of the film and makes me feel like a criminal mastermind. If you want it, there are some torrents around the net.

Here are the Sense lyrics(tv size):

嘘なんて多分つけそうにない空美しくて
声を出す事も罪になりそうで涙溢れ出してく

時と時の狭間で
全てを見つかされて確かに見えて来る物がある
悪い予感はしない
きっと未来が僕を待ってるから、昨日までにさよならを
少しずつ満ちてくる感覚を目覚めてく

汚れた気配を夕立ちのせんれい清めて行く
そして現われたちりなき空には浮かぶ決意の光

過去に後悔はない
悲しみは解き放ち今未来へと進む気がする
答えは胸の中に
前をむいて歩き出すその時は、 自分だけの勝利へと
少しずつ近ずいて始まりを感じてる

時と時の狭間で
全てを見つかされて確かに見えて来る物がある
研ぎ澄まされた瞳
そこに映された未来の自分に負けたくない
今はまだ少しずつ近ずいて
始まりを感じてる

English:

The sky that tells no lies is beautiful
Speaking too may be a sin yet tears are pouring out

During those moments
When everything is seen true some things will become clear
But I have no bad feelings
Because the future　is waiting, so I bid yesterday farewell

As I awaken to the sensations that fill me slowly
A shower washes clean this trace of dirt
And the light of determination hangs in the unstained sky
The past holds no regrets
So I set my sorrows free and head towards the future
In my heart is the answer
As I walk towards my own victory
I seem to get closer and closer to the place where it all began

During those moments
When everything is seen true some things will become clear
To these trained eyes
I don’t want to lose to my future self reflected there
Even now it is getting closer and closer
The place where it all began

Episode Review #2

Soul Eater first caught my attention a few weeks back, when I was browsing the list of Spring 08 anime. Initially, what drew me to it was the cool logo and the that it’s being adapted by BONES, but after looking at it some more I noticed its interesting art style, and the cute main character Maka. Based upon these small bits of information, I decided to watch the show. Here is the review of the first episode.

As of now, not much has been revealed about the real premise/conflict in the story. Of course, I have not read the manga, nor read about the plot/characters ahead of time. Thus, if you wish to know about the plot in depth, or learn about any important characters that have yet to show their faces in the anime, go here. This will be a relatively spoiler free summery.

SUMMERY:

In the beginning, it is established that the show is set at Shinigami’s Weapon Artisan Vocational School, or “Shibusen”. Apparently there was once an existence(I still don’t know what) that once wreaked havoc upon humanity, and the Shibusen is a place to study the use of weapons to fight that existence. Essentially, it is an “organization for protecting the peace”. The Shibusen was founded by Shinigami(death god, seen above), who seems to be some godly defender of the world, or something. At the school, Meisters train with Weapons; humans that can turn into weapons and vice/versa; to collect 99 demon souls and the soul of 1 witch. Once they complete this the weapon can turn into a “death scythe”, a weapon worthy of use by Shinigami-sama.

This brings us to our main characters. The Meister, Maka, and the Weapon, Soul Eater(or just Soru for short. I’ll use ’soru’ to keep it unconfusing. You’ll see why.) They first appear confronting their 99th demon soul, Jack the Ripper. Maka kicks some serious ass, using Soru as a scythe, and then Soru eats the demon soul. After that, Soru talks about how they only have to obtain one witch soul before he can become a death scythe, and how it will increase his “cool” level. Maka then goes to inform Shinigami that they have collected the 99th demon soul. She approaches a window, fogs up the window with her breath, and then writes what appears to be a phone number. The image of Shinigami appears on the window and they inform him of the collection. Shinigami praises Maka, and tells her that she is a great scythe meister, much like her mother. Then, Maka’s father who is a death scythe shows up. He yells at Soru, saying that if he ever comes onto Maka, as her father he will have to kill him. Soru makes a comment about Maka having tiny boobs, and pisses off Maka. Her father then says “are you saying she has no charm? Just touch her a bit! Aren’t you a man?”, totally contradicting his prior statement. He then tells Maka he loves her. Maka tells him that she doesn’t love him, and that she doesn’t think of him as her papa. He lapses into depression. Shinigami then tells Maka and Soru to make sure that their last soul is a witch’s, and that if they mess up they have to start all over again.

After the commercial break, you see the witch Blair happily bathing in her home shaped like a pumpkin. Maka and Soru approach the house, and thinking it will be manly and cool, Soru bashes through the bathroom window and accidentally lands with his face in Blair’s chest. Mass nosebleeds ensue. Maka enters the house and tells Blair of her intent to collect her soul. Blair is amazed at how Soru can turn into a scythe, and wants to keep him as a weapon/toy. She blasts them out of her house with a spell called “Halloween Canon”. Maka and Soru return for the next few days only to fail again, and again. Meanwhile, Maka’s father is at a hostess bar with two women. One hostess asks him(they adress him as Death Scythe-sama) about his daughter, but then the other hostess warns agains asking such a question. The two hostesses gossip about the situation with him divorcing his wife, and Maka’s cold comments. Maka’s father starts crying and running around in circles outside the bar like an idiot.

The show then cuts back to Maka and Soru who have finally begun seriously to fight Blair. Blair tries to tempt Soru into becoming her scythe with her sex appeal and Maka gets angry. Blair then says that she’ll just have to kill Maka and take Soru by force. The begin to fight. It is a difficult fight for Maka, and for some reason Soru isn’t speaking. Back at the School, Shinigami and Maka’s father are watching. Maka’s father, for the first time in the entire episode, is serious. Shinigami makes a comment about how Blair is a bit odd. Back at the battle, Maka is thrown off the edge of a roof, but instead of saving her, Soru allows her to fall into a pile of garbage. She gets agitated and asks Soru why he isn’t talking. He says that he has grown tired of Maka and that he is going to become Blair’s scythe. At first Maka thinks that Soru is being manipulated by magic, but then she realizes that he is serious. She gets angry and yells that all men should die. You see some pictures of her father cheating with various women while Maka watches. Then she says that she thought that Soru was different, and it shows a clip of him sitting at a piano and shaking hands with Maka. She then asks if there is anything reasonable about a man cheating. Soru responds by saying, “How should I know? Cool men don’t cheat,” as he wraps his blade around Blair, revealing that it was a bluff. Maka grabs Soru’s hand which turns into the rest of the scythe, and slices Blair.

Soru eats Blair’s soul and power begins to surge within him. But instead of becoming a death scythe, he just burps. It turns out that Blair wasn’t a witch, but a cat with strong magical powers that looks like a witch. Also, since cats have multiple souls, she is still alive. They remember what Shinigami said about what would happen if they messed up, and they get annoyed. Soru says “This isn’t cool at all.”

At the very end, a preview for the next episode is shown. A new character shows up, who is presumably good, called Black Star. His weapon is a pretty girl named Tsubaki. They are shown just before they launch an attack on Al Capone, who is supposedly a demon.

IMPRESSIONS:

My feelings about this first episode are mixed. I’ll point out it’s weaknesses first. To begin with, it does a bad job of introducing the world in which the series takes place. There is no conception of where any of this takes place, other than near the Shibusen. It switches from location to location very abruptly, and it’s impossible to tell how everything is connected. It’s as if they are running around in Halloween Town(see the Nightmare Before Christmas) for most of the episode, with short excursions to Blair’s house with no explanation as to how they got there. Furthermore, it is unclear how the Shibusen is even in the same time zone as Halloween Town, seeing as it is always bright and sunny where Shinigami and Maka’s father are, and always dark and spooky where Maka and Soru are. It never mentions when the story is taking place, nor in what country.

Second, at the moment, the plot seems a bit boring. If the show is just going to be them collecting the 100 souls over again with no larger, more important plot, I will be very disappointed. This first episode raises tons of questions, and answers none, which instead of making me want to watch the next episode even more, it just makes me confused. What is the bad existence? Why is Maka special? Who is Maka’s mother? Why does the sun/moon have a face?

Lastly, I just don’t like Shinigami’s character design, nor do I like his voice actor. More than anything, he is just annoying. Other than him, the character design is pretty good. At this point, I don’t really care for Maka’s father, but when he got serious he seemed cooler, and actually funnier (like when he tells Maka he loves her). Maka is pretty cute in her own way, and Soru is just plane awesome. The fighting was cool, and that’s for sure. It isn’t as exciting as Darker than BLACK, but it was definently still exciting, especially the first fight scene. The animation is very fluid and enjoyable, which is to be expected coming from BONES. All in all, this show started off mediocre. Only time will tell if it will improve.