It’s only Monday, and I’m already feeling kind of blue. Classes have begun yet again. I’m taking a full load of classes, so things might get hectic for me as this semester drags on. I’ll still blog anime and other various stuff, but updates will probably slown down a bit.

P.S. I’ve officially broken my New Year’s Resolution with this Nagisa picture. Boo yeah!

Going into the first season’s final episode, we return to the earlier format of two skits with two different girls. Apparently Itoshiki recovers back to full health from the accident, so we get to meet two more of his deranged students.

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Hirameki International, a US based company that brought over some memorable visual novels to English audiences (Ever17, Hourglass of Summer, and Phantom of Inferno to name a few), has announced their decision to bow out of game publishing on January 2, 2008.

It’s sad to see them go because this really puts a damper on the hope of games like Kanon, Clannad, Higurashi, Fate/Stay Night, etc. getting licensed and translated for a US release. Hirameki’s departure from the scene has only proven that there is no market for reading-oriented games in a country that doesn’t want to read. The funny thing is that the visual novel anime adaptations tend to do really well in North America, but the market for their source material is almost non-existant. What a pity.

Hirameki will be missed, even if their translations were spottier than a Leopard at times. If you’ve ever considered picking up one of their titles, then now would be the time. The games are now officially out-of-print.

P.S. Excuse the somewhat unrelated Rena UBW picture. I couldn’t find anything remotely suitable for the post, so I randomly chose this. It might be suitable in the fact that Hirameki is dead and well… You know what Rena does best.

It’s winter break and the girls criticize a film they have just seen. As they each voice their own complaints about it, the director peeks out from behind a sign and tells them that he was only following the “original way”. Itoshiki helps the director run away from the girls. Together, Itoshiki and the director escape down a street called Original Way. Itoshiki defends the director’s work by telling the girls that the director is not at fault for the movie’s boringness, because he followed the original way. It is further elaborated that people in the movie industry escape criticism by using this excuse.

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I took a good look at Random Curiosity’s Preview, and the new show schedule is lacking. The only decent shows set to air are adaptations and sequels. The few original shows in the lineup don’t really look too interesting. Of course the good shows present are pretty high in quality. I acknowledge Minami-ke and Aria as worthy sequels.

Since a couple Fall 07 shows are now over (ef, Myself; Yourself, Night Wizard), those empty slots will probably be full with Gunslinger Girl 2, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2, and Persona on the way. We’re really just biding our time for the next season of Haruhi at this point. I’m open to recommendations if I overlooked a potentially good show on the list.

Here’s a Hatsune picture for no particular reason. I haven’t been watching Hatsune videos on Youtube. That’s crazy talk. You’re crazy.

Sayako begins this episode with some creative storytelling. According to Saya, Satori Azuma quit Kendo because of the sudden death of her father. Saya’s classmates don’t think too highly of her fictional scenario though. Elsewhere, we get a glimpse of Seimei High’s strict training regimen under the watchful eye of Hayashi-sensei. Several of their freshmen have quit the club and we see two young girls in particular, Mei and Nozomi, that are already thinking about quitting.

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I’m in despair because flash games have eaten up my time recently. The Escape the room genre is uniquely addicting and frustrating. You’re probably already familiar with the likes of the famous Crimson Room. If you aren’t then Google is your friend. Bamboo Blade 12 and Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 11 write-ups will be posted soon. Now on to my personal gaming log.

Super Mario Galaxy - 85 stars and counting. Some of those purple coin missions are a bitch.

Phoenix Wright 3 - Slugging on with the third case. Armstrong scares me a great deal. Hopefully I’ll finish the rest of the game before next week.

Hotel Dusk - A witty and clever Film Noir detective game. I decided to start playing this to get it off my backlog. I’m really digging the art style and the atmosphere. In its own right, it’s sort of a point-and-click game for the new generation.

Pokemon D/P - On the bench indefinitely until I get another urge to play.

10 years ago, the destructive power of the Type-X missile to deal with Thanatos is presented by the Gillard Army to a committee. Mr. Kiril and Sakaki are asked about the shuttle that will transport the missile as per the ISDA’s end of the deal. Kiril informs the committee of the shuttle’s failure, but Sakaki proposes the idea of using dragons to do the job instead. It is here that he conceives the idea of using Earth-born dragons to complete the D-Project.

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