For all four of you out there that read this, I’ve been looking for a new home to blog at. I had a nice episode blog to post a week ago but the auto formatting Blogspot uses is a nightmare. If anyone has suggestions, my ears are open. I don’t want to jump through five different hosts as that would be too much hassle, so the next home will be stable with any luck.

The girls (and presumably guys but we don’t want to see beefcake) are taking their physical exams and getting their measurements taken. When they return to class, Itoshiki tells them how futile the physical state is and pulls students aside to measure their internal worth. He tests the prematurely balding student by asking for a loan in decreasing amounts as each offer is declined. The student finally accepts to give Itoshiki 50 yen and is promptly judged by Itoshiki to only live a lifestyle befitting his cheap nature. The student’s desk is massively downsized to accomodate the teacher’s decision. The crazy girl obsessed with order goes nuts with this philosophy and goes overboard by harassing her classmates. Itoshiki quickly realizes the error of this belief and instead chooses to live extravagantly by indulging in an lavish lifestyle surrounded by the finest things. He finds himself in despair again and attempts to drown himself in a bowl of wine. His cheap nature saves him as he didn’t fill the bowl up high enough to kill himself.

Moving on to part 2, Itoshiki wins a free trip to a hot spring. Coincidentally enough, all of the girls are there too. He is horrified to learn that the hot spring detoxifies them, reversing all of their bad habits and personalities. I’m getting lazy on the writing now, so go look at some screenshots.

Screenshots

Currently listening to: move - Rage your dream

When looking at viral marketing in the anime industry today, two series cross my mind. Haruhi Suzumiya and Lucky Star. Haruhi started in relative obscurity but quickly became the breakout hit of 2006 thanks to many factors. The out-of-order episode airings and overnight hit Hare Hare Yukai dance helped it soar to the top of the popularity charts. Kyo-Ani’s marketing soon put up their own SOS-Dan webpage to promote the show. The hardcore Haruhi fan checks it out and tells his or her friends about it. Curious anime fans check out the page and decide to watch the show to see what it’s about. Hook, line, and sinker.

Let’s look at the North American release for Haruhi. Bandai USA started hyping the show with live actors in cosplay performing skits relevant to Haruhi’s release date. The aforementioned videos could be found on a site called the ASOS Brigade. Viral marketing at its finest. See example provided above; Lather, rinse, and repeat.

Lucky Star. Self promotion at every turn. Recent episodes have started to feature outright Haruhi promotion with Konata’s Hare Hare dance and cosplay as well as a Haruhi commercial of sorts in episode 19 or 20. Surprised fans tell their friends to watch the show to see that it has Haruhi!!1! Zomg!

That’s my little rant for now. I’m not saying viral marketing is bad. You should just be aware of when it’s happening so you can laugh and have a good chuckle at it.

I’m in despair. School textbook prices have left me in despair. On a lighter note, I’ve been playing Luminous Arc on the DS. This is your standard fare run-of-the-mill Strategy RPG. The plot, characters, and music are really nothing new. Don’t get me wrong though; The game is fun albeit way too easy. If you want a fun fling, this is a fun game to sink your teeth into. I’ll post a more in-depth look later in the week.

Updates will slow down to about 3-4 posts a week with my new semester underway. I’ll still be around so you won’t miss anything. I suppose I should talk about something in this post, so I’ll take the time to discuss some new Super Smash Bros Brawl information released this week. Pokemon Trainer is now a playable character (sort of). Much like Sheik from SSBM, Pokemon Trainer is a bang for your buck character with 3 different fighters to do his bidding. He looks like a worthy addition so far.

The long awaited battle between Nishizawa and Nagi! Summer break has just started and Hayate vows to learn an ultimate attack. He mentions that he wants to show it to Hinagiku later, which angers Nagi. It really is easier to list things that don’t make her mad. Nagi storms away and bumps into Hamster girl. Nishizawa challenges Nagi to a karaoke contest for Hayate’s freedom, resulting in a humiliating Hamster defeat.

Nagi: 1
Nishizawa: 0

Screenshots

Currently listening to: T.M. Revolution - Arterial Fear

Case 1: Itoshiki is sent to investigate to investigate a case of domestic violence concerning a female student. He tails the student’s father as he goes to various shops. Itoshiki’s wild imagination imagines the man doing various dastardly, violent acts with the shopping items ranging from things like air pumps to erasers. Itoshiki soon has the man’s face blacklisted around the shopping district. To his dismay, he later finds out that the student is an animal trainer at the zoo; The origin of the mysterious injuries.

Case 2: Great Teacher Zetsubo deals with a seemingly shy girl who is anything but that. She sends vindictive e-mails to everyone in the class until Itoshiki forces her to trade seats with Kafuka, the only place in the room that doesn’t get phone reception. All in all, another weird episode. The new opening for this episode was strange too. Cough.

Screenshots

The Claymore continue their fight with the three Awakened Beings. Clare and Deneve launch a two-sided attack against the Yoma that manipulated yoki much in the same way as Galatea. Meanwhile Jeane charges her laser - I mean arm to deal with a heavily armored Yoma. Miria and her team really have no trouble dealing with their Yoma seeing as how it is killed off screen. I only have one thing to complain about, and that would be the fact that it seems that every Claymore has the flash sword in this episode. What the heck.

After the battle, Raki seems to be in another village rummaging through the swords in what appears to be a Claymore graveyard. Guess what though. He meets Priscilla and The Abyssal Being of the North. What a convenient plot twist.

Screenshots

Hooray for two new characters. Cue the obligatory multiple personality girl and the illegal alien loli that everyone in the class loves. References I caught in this episode include Light from Desu Note, Phoenix Wright, the Fusion Dance from DBZ, and a possible homage to Ichigo 100%. Without further delay, your much beloved screenshots link. I went a bit crazy with the screen captures because there were so many good ones to show you.

Screenshots

Currently listening to: The Yellow Monkey - Tactics

Visual novels have been around in Japan for a long time. For the uninformed, a visual novel is typically a game that contains a story told in first-person narrative with abundant amounts of text, making it akin to a novel that unfolds on your screen. They started on PCs with these bare essentials and slowly evolved to include voice acting, CG movies, and more user interaction. The basics still remain however, which is that your progress through the game is usually made by a list of choices that are presented to the player.

Most people associate visual novels with H-games/dating sims, but this is not always the case. It’s a major misconception that all visual novels contain hentai. There are a number of games that do not such as the popular handheld game series, Phoenix Wright. This lawyer simulation has you investigating crime scenes and participating in intense court battles to save your clients from going to the big house.

With the unexpected popularity of Phoenix Wright in North America, Capcom is going to give us the sequels to the franchise. While this may mean good things for visual novel enthusiasts, it looks like this genre with still remain a small niche for some years to come. At least it has its foot in the door for more visual novel games to head our way in the future. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.